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Category: Asia Pacific

  • MIL-OSI: Drones Used for Power Line Inspection Industry Exploding, Expected to Reach $323 Billion By 2032

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PALM BEACH, Fla., May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FN Media Group News Commentary – The Global Drone Power Line Inspection Market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. A report from Wise Guy Reports projected that the Drone Power Line Inspection Market Industry is expected to grow from 26.66(USD Billion) in 2024 to 323.8 (USD Billion) by 2032. The Drone Power Line Inspection Market CAGR (growth rate) is expected to be around 36.63% during the forecast period (2025 – 2032). The report said: “Key market drivers propelling the growth of the drone power line inspection market include increasing demand for reliable and efficient power transmission and distribution, rising emphasis on safety and regulatory compliance, and technological advancements in drone technology. Moreover, government initiatives and support for drone-based inspections and the growing need for remote inspection solutions amidst challenging terrains and weather conditions further contribute to the market expansion. Opportunities for exploration and capture reside in the integration of AI and machine learning capabilities into drones, enabling more accurate and efficient inspection processes. Additionally, the development of autonomous drones with advanced navigation and obstacle avoidance systems holds significant potential for reducing inspection time and costs. Recent trends in the drone power line inspection market revolve around the adoption of multi-rotor drones for enhanced stability and maneuverability. Furthermore, the integration of advanced sensors, such as thermal imaging and high resolution cameras, provides detailed and comprehensive inspection results. The use of drone-mounted LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) systems is also gaining traction, offering precise measurements and 3D mapping capabilities, allowing for thorough and reliable assessments of power lines.” Active Companies in the markets today include ZenaTech, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZENA), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA), AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. (NYSE: UAVS), AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), EHang Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: EH).

    Wise Guy Reports continued: “Stringent government regulations and safety standards are also driving the growth of the Global Drone Power Line Inspection Market Industry. In many countries, regular inspections of power lines are mandatory to ensure the safety and reliability of the power grid. Traditional inspection methods, such as manual inspections or the use of helicopters, can be time-consuming, expensive, and hazardous. Drones provide a safer and more efficient alternative, enabling utilities to comply with regulatory requirements while reducing the risk to human inspectors.” It concluded: “Major players in Drone Power Line Inspection Market industry are continuously striving to gain a competitive edge by developing innovative and cost-effective solutions. Leading Drone Power Line Inspection Market players are investing in research and development to improve the capabilities of their drones and enhance the efficiency of their inspection services. The Drone Power Line Inspection Market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period, owing to the growing demand for drones for power line inspection tasks. Technological advancements and the increasing adoption of drones for various applications are driving the growth of the Drone Power Line Inspection Market. Partnerships and collaborations among market participants are also contributing to the development of the Drone Power Line Inspection Market Competitive Landscape.”

    ZenaTech (NASDAQ:ZENA) National Drone as a Service (DaaS) Grows Through Closing a Fifth Acquisition, Adding Powerline Inspection Capabilities – ZenaTech, Inc. (FSE: 49Q) (BMV: ZENA) (“ZenaTech”), a technology company specializing in AI (Artificial Intelligence) drones, Drone as a Service (DaaS), Enterprise SaaS, and Quantum Computing solutions, today announces the closing of its fifth US acquisition as part of its national DaaS rollout. The acquisition of Laventure & Associates, Inc. boosts in-house expertise to service the fast-growing powerline inspection market. The Fort Pierce, Florida land surveying, mapping, and services firm with more than two decades of experience brings a strong portfolio of repeat customers, including for multi-year power line inspections. It further enhances the services capabilities of ZenaTech’s DaaS business and provides operational synergies with other recent Florida acquisitions, further solidifying a strategic foothold in the state.

    “Laventure & Associates is an important addition that will leverage new capabilities for AI drones to conduct powerline inspections, potentially adding to our overall DaaS services portfolio future growth. This marks our fifth US acquisition to date, demonstrating steady progress toward acquiring and integrating up to 20 additional companies and new services growth over the next 12 months,” said CEO Shaun Passley, Ph.D.

    The global drone power line inspection market was valued at approximately USD 26.66 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to USD 323.8 billion by 2032, exhibiting a remarkable CAGR of 36.63% during the forecast period, according to market research company WiseGuy Reports.

    Powerline inspections are important in assessing transmission infrastructure for damage, wear, or vegetation interference to ensure safety and reliability. Traditionally performed by ground crews or helicopters, these inspections are often slow, costly, and hazardous. ZenaTech plans to combine industry land survey and inspections expertise with advanced drone capabilities to deliver faster, safer, and more precise inspections, helping power companies reduce downtime, improve maintenance, and streamline operations.

    ZenaTech’s DaaS business will incorporate the ZenaDrone 1000 and the IQ series of multifunction autonomous drones to provide a variety of solutions from land surveys and power line inspections to power washing and bar code scanning inventory management automation, made accessible and cost effective through an Uber-like business model paid for on a regular subscription or pay-per-use basis. Customers can conveniently access drones for eliminating manual or time-consuming tasks and achieving superior results.

    The DaaS business model offers customers reduced upfront costs and convenience ─ there is no need to purchase drone hardware and software, find a drone pilot, manage maintenance and operation, or acquire regulatory approvals. The model also offers scalability to use more often or less often based on business needs. Continued… Read this full release by visiting: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-zena/

    In Additional ZENA News: ZenaTech’s (NASDAQ:ZENA) Advances Its US Southeast DaaS Business with a Bolt-On Land Survey Company Acquisition Offer – ZenaTech, Inc. (FSE: 49Q) (BMV: ZENA) (“ZenaTech”), a technology company specializing in AI (Artificial Intelligence) drones, Drone as a Service (DaaS), enterprise SaaS, and Quantum Computing solutions, announced it has extended an offer to acquire a well-established Florida land survey engineering firm that could serve as a bolt-on to another recently acquired land survey company. The acquisition would strengthen ZenaTech’s Drone as a Service presence in the high-growth Florida market and would be the fourth acquisition in the Southeast region and the fifth acquisition nationally.

    “This target acquisition will strengthen our regional Florida coverage by delivering faster and more precise drone-powered surveys to construction, real estate and government customers, while accelerating our broader US DaaS rollout,“ said Shaun Passley, Ph.D., CEO of ZenaTech. “With the global drone survey market growing at over 19% a year, we plan to leverage this growth by building a scalable, recurring revenue business that captures long-term value across land surveys and other legacy industries ripe for drone innovation.”

    Accurate land surveys are essential for the planning, design, and execution of roads, bridges, and building projects for cities, commercial, and residential projects, and are required for legal purposes. Remotely piloted drones with an array of sensors and cameras, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and GPS systems for capturing high-resolution pictures and data are revolutionizing the land survey industry, gathering aerial data across expansive terrains in a matter of hours instead of weeks or months using more traditional photogrammetry methods.

    The Drone as a Service or DaaS business model works similarly to Software as a Service (SaaS), but instead of providing software over the internet, this model offers drone technology solutions and services on a subscription or pay-per-use basis. Both business and government customers can conveniently access drones for tasks such as surveying, inspections, security, law enforcement, power washing or precision agriculture solutions without having to buy, operate, or maintain the drones themselves. Continued… Read this full release by visiting: https://www.zenatech.com/newsroom/

    Other recent developments in the markets include:

    NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) – AI is transforming industries and tackling global challenges. The NVIDIA Jetson™ platform drives this revolution by providing tools to develop and deploy AI-powered robots, drones, IVA applications, and autonomous machines. Powered by generative AI at the edge, as well as NVIDIA Metropolis and Isaac™ platforms, Jetson offers scalable software, modern AI stack, flexible microservices and APIs, production-ready ROS packages, and application-specific AI workflows.

    The new Jetson Orin™ platform also gives you up to 275 trillion operations per second and 8X the performance of the last generation. Seven different modules based on the same architecture—from the entry-level Jetson Orin Nano™ to the highest performance Jetson AGX Orin—make this the ideal platform for the new age of robotics.

    Tomahawk GCS, an AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) product line specializing in autonomous and intelligent multi-domain systems, has recently been awarded a $5.1 million contract to support the U.S. Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) Human-Machine Integrated Formations (HMIF) rapid prototyping project. Following a rigorous selection process, AV’s Tomahawk’s Grip TA5 was selected as the Dismounted Common Controller (DCC) to significantly enhance human-machine teaming for battlefield operations.

    The HMIF initiative, led by the U.S. Army RCCTO, is accelerating the integration of autonomous and robotic systems into formations to enhance situational awareness, lethality, and survivability. With its modular architecture and multi-platform compatibility, the Grip TA5 provides operators command-and-control of multiple robotic assets in real-time, enhancing mission adaptability and response speed.

    EHang Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: EH), the world’s leading Urban Air Mobility (“UAM”) technology platform company, recently announced that it will release its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025 on Monday, May 26, 2025, before the U.S. market opens.

    EHang’s management team will host an earnings conference call at 8:00 AM on Monday, May 26, 2025, U.S. Eastern Time (8:00 PM on Monday, May 26, 2025, Beijing/Hong Kong Time).

    AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. (NYSE: UAVS), a leading provider of best-in-class unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and sensors for military, public safety, and commercial use, recently announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, highlighted by gross margin improvement and significant reduction in operating expenses.

    AgEagle CEO Bill Irby commented, “In the first quarter of 2025 we delivered a significantly improved financial performance marked by strong gross margin improvement and a meaningful reduction in operating expenses. This pivotal milestone is a clear validation of the strategic decisions we have made to streamline operations, sharpen our commercial focus, and prioritize higher-margin product lines. With a strengthened balance sheet, improved cash position, and reduced cash burn, AgEagle is now operating from a healthier and more resilient financial foundation.

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    SOURCE: FN Media Group

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: XRP News: XenDex Presale Ends in 6 Days, Secure $XDX Before Listings Go Live on Binance, FirstLedger, Gate.io, Magnetic & More

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SYDNEY, Australia, May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As XRP makes waves across the global crypto landscape, XenDex is quickly becoming the most talked-about DeFi launch on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). With just 6 days left in the presale, urgency is at an all-time high as early investors race to secure $XDX tokens before exchange listings go live.

    Having already filled its soft cap and with the hard cap nearly complete, the XenDex presale has entered its final stretch, fueled by overwhelming demand from both retail and institutional investors.

    Buy $XDX Now Before Listing On Binance

    Riding on the recent news of the possibility of XRP price hitting all time high, CME launching XRP Futures, SEC lawsuit withdrawal, and XRP breaking resistance levels, XenDex is building the DeFi infrastructure XRP has long needed. It’s all-in-one decentralized exchange (DEX) is in active development, and the Version 1 of the DEX will be unveiled soon, showcasing every feature in action.

    With speculation mounting that XRP could reach $1,000 in the long term, XenDex is launching at the perfect moment, offering the tools, speed, and accessibility XRPL has long needed.

    What Is XenDex?

    XenDex is developing the first all-in-one decentralized exchange (DEX) on the XRP Ledger, designed for both beginners and seasoned traders. With Version 1 in active development, a platform mockup will be revealed in the coming days and only presale participants will receive early access.

    Purchase $XDX At A low Price

    Key Features of XenDex

    • AI Copy Trading – Mirror the strategies of elite traders
    • Lending & Borrowing – Borrow or lend XRP and $XDX securely
    • Cross-Chain Trading – Swap XDX across Ethereum, Solana, and BNB
    • Staking & Yield Farming – Earn rewards while providing liquidity
    • DAO Governance – Shape the platform’s direction via voting with $XDX

    Why Join Now?

    • Price: 1.25 XRP = 10 XDX
    • Minimum Buy: 150 XRP
    • Soft Cap: Filled
    • Hard Cap: Almost Filled

    Buy Now Before the Presale Ends: https://xendex.net/presale

    Confirmed Exchange Listings:

    After the presale, $XDX will be listed on exchanges like; Binance, Gate.io, MEXC, BitMart, FirstLedger, MagneticX.

    With just 6 days left, shrinking token supply, and a full launch imminent, this may be your final chance to buy before price surges on listing.

    Join XenDex Community Below:

    Website: xendex.net
    Presale: xendex.net/presale
    Telegram: t.me/xendexcommunity
    Twitter/X: x.com/xendex_xrp
    Docs: xdxdocs.gitbook.io

    Contact:
    Frank Richards
    Frank@xendex.net

    Disclaimer: This is a paid post provided by XenDex. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. We do not guarantee any claims, statements, or promises made in this article. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice.

    Investing in crypto and mining-related opportunities involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. It is possible to lose all your capital. These products may not be suitable for everyone, and you should ensure that you understand the risks involved. Seek independent advice if necessary. Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. However, due to the inherently speculative nature of the blockchain sector—including cryptocurrency, NFTs, and mining—complete accuracy cannot always be guaranteed.
    Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility. Globenewswire does not endorse any content on this page.

    Legal Disclaimer: This media platform provides the content of this article on an “as-is” basis, without any warranties or representations of any kind, express or implied. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information presented herein. Any concerns, complaints, or copyright issues related to this article should be directed to the content provider mentioned above.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6ffce0c1-f614-4d73-9e2f-3801cd590f64

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Work requirements are better at blocking benefits for low-income people than they are at helping those folks find jobs

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Anne Whitesell, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Miami University

    Meeting work requirements to get government benefits can lead to burdensome paperwork. JackF/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    Republican lawmakers are battling over a bill that includes massive tax and spending cuts. But they’re having trouble agreeing on provisions intended to reduce the cost of Medicaid.

    The popular health insurance program, which is funded by both the federal and state governments, covers about 78.5 million low-income and disabled people – more than 1 in 5 Americans.

    The House is getting ready to vote on a budget bill designed to reduce federal Medicaid spending by requiring anyone enrolled in the program who appears to be able to get a job to either satisfy work requirements or lose their coverage. It’s still unclear, however, whether Senate Republicans would support that provision.

    Although there are few precedents for such a mandate for Medicaid, other safety net programs have been enforcing similar rules for nearly three decades. I’m a political scientist who has extensively studied the work requirements of another safety net program: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

    As I explain in my book, “Living Off the Government?
    Race, Gender, and the Politics of Welfare,” work requirements place extra burdens on low-income families but do little to lift them out of poverty.

    Work requirements for TANF

    TANF gives families with very low incomes some cash they can spend on housing, food, clothing or whatever they need most. The Clinton administration launched it as a replacement for a similar program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, in 1996. At the time, both political parties were eager to end a welfare system they believed was riddled with abuse. A big goal with TANF was ending the dependence of people getting cash benefits on the government by moving them from welfare to work.

    Many people were removed from the welfare rolls, but not because work requirements led to economic prosperity. Instead, they had trouble navigating the bureaucratic demands.

    TANF is administered by the states. They can set many rules of their own, but they must comply with an important federal requirement: Adult recipients have to work or engage in an authorized alternative activity for at least 30 hours per week. The number of weekly hours is only 20 if the recipient is caring for a child under the age of 6.

    The dozen activities or so that can count toward this quota range from participating in job training programs to engaging in community service.

    Some adults enrolled in TANF are exempt from work requirements, depending on their state’s own policies. The most common exemptions are for people who are ill, have a disability or are over age 60.

    To qualify for TANF, families must have dependent children; in some states pregnant women also qualify. Income limits are set by the state and range from US$307 a month for a family of three in Alabama to $2,935 a month for a family of three in Minnesota.

    Adult TANF recipients face a federal five-year lifetime limit on benefits. States can adopt shorter time limits; Arizona’s is 12 months.

    An administrative burden

    Complying with these work requirements generally means proving that you’re working or making the case that you should be exempt from this mandate. This places what’s known as an “administrative burden” on the people who get cash assistance. It often requires lots of documentation and time. If you have an unpredictable work schedule, inconsistent access to child care or obligations to care for an older relative, this paperwork is hard to deal with.

    What counts as work, how many hours must be completed and who is exempt from these requirements often comes down to a caseworker’s discretion. Social science research shows that this discretion is not equally applied and is often informed by stereotypes.

    The number of people getting cash assistance has fallen sharply since TANF replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children. In some states caseloads have dropped by more than 50% despite significant population growth.

    Some of this decline happened because recipients got jobs that paid them too much to qualify. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan office that provides economic research to Congress, attributes, at least in part, an increase in employment among less-educated single mothers in the 1990s to work requirements.

    Not everyone who stopped getting cash benefits through TANF wound up employed, however. Other recipients who did not meet requirements fell into deep poverty.

    Regardless of why people leave the program, when fewer low-income Americans get TANF benefits, the government spends less money on cash assistance. Federal funding has remained flat at $16.5 billion since 1996. Taking inflation into account, the program receives half as much funding as when it was created. In addition, states have used the flexibility granted them to direct most of their TANF funds to priorities other than cash benefits, such as pre-K education.

    Many Americans who get help paying for groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are also subject to work requirements. People the government calls “able-bodied adults without dependents” can only receive SNAP benefits for three months within a three-year period if they are not employed.

    A failed experiment in Arkansas

    Lawmakers in Congress and in statehouses have debated whether to add work requirements for Medicaid before. More than a dozen states have applied for waivers that would let them give it a try.

    When Arkansas instituted Medicaid work requirements in 2018, during the first Trump administration, it was largely seen as a failure. Some 18,000 people lost their health care coverage, but employment rates did not increase.

    After a court order stopped the policy in 2019, most people regained their coverage.

    Georgia is currently the only state with Medicaid work requirements in effect, after implementing a waiver in July 2023. The program has experienced technical difficulties and has had trouble verifying work activities.

    Other states, including Idaho, Indiana and Kentucky, are already asking the federal government to let them enforce Medicaid work requirements.

    Then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks during a news conference in 2017, in Little Rock, Arkansas, calling for Medicaid work requirements.
    AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo

    What this may mean for Medicaid

    One version of the Republican budget bill floated in 2025 would introduce Medicaid work requirements nationwide for childless adults age 19 to 64, with some exemptions.

    But most people covered by Medicaid in that age range are already working, and those who are not would likely be eligible for work requirement waivers. An analysis by KFF – a nonprofit that informs the public about health issues – shows that in 2023, 44% of Medicaid recipients were working full time and another 20% were working part time. In 2023, that was more than 16 million Americans.

    About 20% of the American adults under 65 who are covered by Medicaid are not working due to illness or disability, or because of caregiving responsibilities, according to KFF. This includes both people caring for young children and those taking care of relatives with an illness or disability. In my own research, I read testimony from families seeking work exemptions because caregiving, including for children with disabilities, was a full-time job.

    The rest of the adults under 65 with Medicaid coverage are not working because they are in school, are retired, cannot find work or have some other reason. It’s approximately 3.9 million Americans. Depending on what counts as “work,” they may be meeting any requirements that could be added to the program.

    The Congressional Budget Office estimates that introducing Medicaid work requirements would save around $300 billion over a decade. Given past experience with work requirements, it is unlikely those savings would come from Americans finding jobs.

    My research suggests it’s more likely that the government would trim spending by taking away the health insurance of people eligible for Medicaid coverage who get tangled up in red tape.

    Anne Whitesell is a 2024-2025 PRRI Public Fellow.

    – ref. Work requirements are better at blocking benefits for low-income people than they are at helping those folks find jobs – https://theconversation.com/work-requirements-are-better-at-blocking-benefits-for-low-income-people-than-they-are-at-helping-those-folks-find-jobs-256839

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Empathy can take a toll – but 2 philosophers explain why we should see it as a strength

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Emad H. Atiq, Professor of Law and Philosophy, Cornell University

    Empathy isn’t just about feelings. It’s also an aspect of knowledge. AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo

    In an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, billionaire and Trump megadonor Elon Musk offered his thoughts about what motivates political progressives to support immigration. In his view, the culprit was empathy, which he called “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.”

    As shocking as Musk’s views are, however, they are far from unique. On the one hand, there is the familiar and widespread conservative critique of “bleeding heart” liberals as naive or overly emotional. But there is also a broader philosophical critique that raises worries about empathy on quite different and less political grounds, including findings in social science.

    Empathy can make people weaker – both physically and practically, according to social scientists. Consider the phenomenon known as “empathy fatigue,” a major source of burnout among counselors, nurses and even neurosurgeons. These professionals devote their lives to helping others, yet the empathy they feel for their clients and patients wears them down, making it harder to do their jobs.

    As philosophers, we agree that empathy can take a toll on both individuals and society. However, we believe that, at its core, empathy is a form of mental strength that enables us to better understand the impact of our actions on others, and to make informed choices.

    The philosophical roots of empathy skepticism

    The term “empathy” only entered the English language in the 1890s. But the general idea of being moved by others’ suffering has been a subject of philosophical attention for millennia, under labels such as “pity,” “sympathy” and “compassion.”

    One of the earliest warnings about pity in Western philosophy comes from the Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus. In his “Discourses,” he offers general advice about how to live a good life, centered on inner tranquility and freedom. When it comes to emotions and feelings, he writes: “He is free who lives as he wishes to live … And who chooses to live in sorrow, fear, envy, pity, desiring and failing in his desires, attempting to avoid something and falling into it? Not one.”

    Feeling sorry for another person or feeling pity for them compromises our freedom, in Epictetus’s view. Those negative feelings are unpleasant, and nobody would choose them for themselves. Empathy would clearly fall into this same category, keeping us from living the good life.

    A similar objection emerged much later from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche framed his discussion in terms of “Mitleid” – a German term that can be translated as either “pity” or “compassion.” Like Epictetus, Nietzsche worried that pity or compassion was a burden on the individual, preventing them from living the good life. In his book “Daybreak,” Nietzsche warns that such feelings could impair the very people who try to help others.

    Epictetus’s and Nietzsche’s worries about pity or compassion carry over to empathy.

    Recall, the phenomenon of empathy fatigue. One psychological explanation for why empathic people experience fatigue and even burnout is that empathy involves a kind of mirroring of other people’s mental life, a mirroring that can be physically unpleasant. When someone you love is in pain, you don’t just believe that they are in pain; you may feel it as if it is actually happening to you.

    From a philosophical standpoint, empathy is intimately related to the domain of knowledge.
    AP Photo/Elise Amendola

    Results from neuroscience and cognitive psychology research indicate that there are different brain mechanisms involved in merely observing another’s pain versus empathizing with it. The latter involves unpleasant sensations of the type we experience when we are in pain. Empathy is thus difficult to bear precisely because being in pain is difficult to bear. And this sharpens the Stoic and Nietzschean worries: Why bother empathizing when it is unpleasant and, perhaps, not even necessary for helping others?

    From understanding knowledge to appreciating empathy

    The answer for why one should see empathy as a strength starts with a key insight from 20th century philosophy about the nature of knowledge.

    That insight is based on a famous thought experiment by the Australian philosopher Frank Jackson. Jackson invites us to imagine a scientist named Mary who has studied colors despite having lived her entire life in a black and white room. She knows all the facts about the spectrum distribution of light sources and vision science. She’s read descriptions of the redness of roses and azaleas. But she’s never seen color herself. Does Mary know everything about redness? Many epistemologists – people who study the nature of knowledge – argue that she does not.

    What Mary learns when she sees red for the first time is elusive. If she returns to her black and white room, never to see any colored objects again, her knowledge of the colors will likely diminish over time. To have a full, rich understanding of colors, one needs to experience them.

    Bertrand Russell was actively involved in political activism on behalf of the experiences of others.
    Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images

    Thoughts like these led the philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell to argue that experience delivers a special kind of knowledge of things that can’t be reduced to knowledge of facts. Seeing, hearing, tasting and even feeling delivers what he called “knowledge by acquaintance.”

    We have argued in a book and recent articles that Jackson’s and Russell’s conclusions apply to pain.

    Consider a variation on Jackson’s thought experiment: Suppose Mary knows the facts about pain but hasn’t experienced it. As before, it would seem like her understanding of pain is incomplete. In fact, though Mary is a fictional character, there are real people who report having never experienced pain as an unpleasant sensation – a condition known as “pain asymbolia”.

    In Russell’s terminology, such people haven’t personally experienced how unpleasant pain can be. But even people without pain asymbolia can become less familiar with pain and hardship during times when things are going well for them. All of us can temporarily lose the rich experiential grasp of what it is like to be distressed. So, when we consider the pain and suffering of others in the abstract and without directly feeling it, it is very much like trying to grasp the nature of redness while being personally acquainted only with a field of black and white.

    That, we argue, is where empathy comes in. Through experiential simulation of another’s feelings, empathy affords us a rich grasp of the distress that others feel. The upshot is that empathy isn’t just a subjective sensation. It affords us a more accurate understanding of others’ experiences and emotions.

    Empathy is thus a form of knowledge that can be hard to bear, just as pain can be hard to bear. But that’s precisely why empathy, properly cultivated, is a strength. As one of us has argued, it takes courage to empathically engage with others, just as it takes courage to see and recognize problems around us. Conversely, an unwillingness to empathize can stem from a familiar weakness: a fear of knowledge.

    So, when deciding complex policy questions, say, about immigration, resisting empathy impairs our decision-making. It keeps us from understanding what’s at stake. That is why it is vital to ask ourselves what policies we would favor if we were empathically acquainted with, and so fully informed of, the plight of others.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Empathy can take a toll – but 2 philosophers explain why we should see it as a strength – https://theconversation.com/empathy-can-take-a-toll-but-2-philosophers-explain-why-we-should-see-it-as-a-strength-254554

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: FDA will approve COVID-19 vaccine only for older adults and high-risk groups – a public health expert explains the new rules

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Libby Richards, Professor of Nursing, Purdue University

    Older adults will continue to receive yearly COVID-19 shots, but lower-risk groups will not, says the FDA. dusanpetkovic via iStock / Getty Images Plus

    On May 20, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration announced a new stance on who should receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

    The agency said it would approve new versions of the vaccine only for adults 65 years of age and older as well as for people with one or more risk factors for severe COVID-19 outcomes. These risk factors include medical conditions such as asthma, cancer, chronic kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes.

    However, healthy younger adults and children who fall outside of these groups may not be eligible to receive the COVID-19 shot this fall. Vaccine manufacturers will have to conduct clinical trials to demonstrate that the vaccine benefits low-risk groups.

    FDA Commissioner Martin Makary and the agency’s head of vaccines, Vinay Prasad, described the new framework in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine and in a public webcast.

    The Conversation U.S. asked Libby Richards, a nursing professor involved in public health promotion, to explain why the changes were made and what they mean for the general public.

    Why did the FDA diverge from past practice?

    Until the May 20 announcement, getting a yearly COVID-19 vaccine was recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older, regardless of their health risk.

    According to Makary and Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration is moving away from these universal recommendations and instead taking a risk-based approach based on its interpretation of public health trends – specifically, the declining COVID-19 booster uptake, a lack of strong evidence that repeated boosters improve health outcomes for healthy people and the fact that natural immunity from past COVID-19 infections is widespread.

    The FDA states it wants to ensure the vaccine is backed by solid clinical trial data, especially for low-risk groups.

    Was this a controversial decision or a clear consensus?

    The FDA’s decision to adopt a risk-based framework for the COVID-19 vaccine aligns with the expected recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an advisory group of vaccine experts offering expert guidance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy, which is scheduled to meet in June 2025. But while this advisory committee was also expected to recommend allowing low-risk people to get annual COVID-19 vaccines if they want to, the FDA’s policy will likely make that difficult.

    Although the FDA states that its new policy aims to promote greater transparency and evidenced-based decision-making, the change is controversial – in part because it circumvents the usual process for evaluating vaccine recommendations. The FDA is enacting this policy change by limiting its approval of the vaccine to high-risk groups, and it is doing so without any new data supporting its decision. Usually, however, the FDA broadly approves a vaccine based on whether it is safe and effective, and decisions on who should be eligible to receive it are left to the CDC, which receives research-based guidance from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

    Change is coming to COVID-19 vaccine policy.
    Rock Obst, CC BY-SA

    Additionally, FDA officials point to Canada, Australia and some European countries that limit vaccine recommendations to older adults and other high-risk people as a model for its revised framework. But vaccine strategies vary widely, and this more conservative approach has not necessarily proven superior. Also, those countries have universal health care systems and have a track record of more equitable access to COVID-19 care and better COVID-19 outcomes.

    Another question is how health officials’ positions on COVID-19 vaccines affect public perception. Makary and Prasad noted that COVID-19 vaccination campaigns may have actually eroded public trust in vaccination. But some vaccine experts have expressed concerns that limiting COVID-19 vaccine access might further fuel vaccine hesitancy because any barrier to vaccine access can reduce uptake and hinder efforts to achieve widespread immunity.

    What conditions count as risk factors?

    The New England Journal of Medicine article includes a lengthy list of conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 and notes that about 100 million to 200 million people will fall into this category and will thus be eligible to get the vaccine.

    Pregnancy is included. Some items on the list, however, are unclear. For example, the list includes asthma, but the data that asthma is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 is scant.

    Also on the list is physical inactivity, which likely applies to a vast swath of Americans and is difficult to define. Studies have found links between regular physical activity and reduced risk of severe COVID-19 infection, but it’s unclear how health care providers will define and measure physical inactivity when assessing a patient’s eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines.

    Most importantly, the list leaves out an important group – caregivers and household members of people at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection. This omission leaves high-risk people more vulnerable to exposure to COVID-19 from healthy people they regularly interact with. Multiple countries the new framework refers to do include this group.

    Why is the FDA requiring new clinical trials?

    According to the FDA, the benefits of multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccines for healthy adults are currently unproven. It’s true that studies beyond the fourth vaccine dose are scarce. However, multiple studies have demonstrated that the vaccine is effective at preventing the risk of severe COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death in low-risk adults and children. Receiving multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccines has also been shown to reduce the risk of long COVID.

    The FDA is moving to risk-based access for COVID-19 vaccines.

    The FDA is requiring vaccine manufactures to conduct additional large randomized clinical trials to further evaluate the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 boosters for healthy adults and children. These trials will primarily test whether the vaccines prevent symptomatic infections, and secondarily whether they prevent hospitalization and death. Such trials are more complex, costly and time-consuming than the more common approach of testing for immunological response.

    This requirement will likely delay both the timeliness and the availability of COVID-19 vaccine boosters and slow public health decision-making.

    Will low-risk people be able to get a COVID-19 shot?

    Not automatically. Under the new FDA framework, healthy adults who wish to receive the fall COVID-19 vaccine will face obstacles. Health care providers can administer vaccines “off-label”, but insurance coverage is widely based on FDA recommendations. The new, narrower FDA approval will likely reduce both access to COVID-19 vaccines for the general public and insurance coverage for COVID-19 vaccines.

    The FDA’s focus on individual risks and benefits may overlook broader public health benefits. Communities with higher vaccination rates have fewer opportunities to spread the virus.

    What about vaccines for children?

    High-risk children age 6 months and older who have conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 are still eligible for the vaccine under the new framework. As of now, healthy children age 6 months and older without underlying medical conditions will not have routine access to COVID-19 vaccines until further clinical trial data is available.

    Existing vaccines already on the market will remain available, but it is unclear how long they will stay authorized and how the change will affect childhood vaccination overall.

    Libby Richards has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Nurses Foundation, and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute

    – ref. FDA will approve COVID-19 vaccine only for older adults and high-risk groups – a public health expert explains the new rules – https://theconversation.com/fda-will-approve-covid-19-vaccine-only-for-older-adults-and-high-risk-groups-a-public-health-expert-explains-the-new-rules-257226

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Billions of cicadas are emerging, from Cape Cod to north Georgia – here’s how and why we map them

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Chris Simon, Senior Research Scientist of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut

    Three cicadas in North Carolina during the 2003 Brood IX emergence Chris Simon, CC BY-ND

    If they’re in your area, you’ll know it from their loud droning, chirping and buzzing sounds. Cicadas from Brood XIV – one of the largest groups of cicadas that emerge from underground on a 13-year or 17-year cycle – are surfacing in May and June 2025 across 12 states. This large-scale biological event reaches from northern Georgia up into Indiana and Ohio and eastward through the mid-Atlantic, extending as far north as Long Island, N.Y. and Massachusetts.

    Through mid-June, wooded areas will ring with cicadas’ loud mating calls. After mating, each female will lay hundreds of eggs inside small tree branches. Then the adult cicadas will die. When the eggs hatch six weeks later, new cicada nymphs will fall from the trees and burrow back underground, starting the cycle again.

    We are evolutionary ecologists who study periodical cicadas to understand questions about the natural history, genetics and geographic distribution of life. This work starts with mapping where they appear.

    We’ve been doing this for decades, updating a process begun by entomologists in the mid-1800s. Our latest maps are published online and searchable.

    Periodical cicadas emerge on 13- or 17-year cycles in enormous numbers, which increases their odds of finding mates and avoiding predators long enough to reproduce.

    Mapping the presence of such a noisy species might seem straightforward, but it’s actually complex. And accuracy matters because there are seven species of periodical cicadas — four with 13-year life cycles and three with 17-year cycles. Different broods can share boundaries, and some cicadas that emerge this year may be members of broods other than XIV, coming out early or late.

    A lot of work goes into verifying the data in our maps so that they show the status of these unique insects as accurately as possible. Here’s a look at the process, and at how you can contribute:

    Refining past records

    We first started creating our maps on paper by collecting all known specimen records of 13- and 17-year periodical cicadas from past scientific studies and museums large and small across the eastern U.S., where these broods are located. For centuries, museum specimens have been the gold standard for documenting the presence of a species.

    But past standards for labeling specimens were different. Many old museum labels simply noted very approximate locations where specimens were collected. Sometimes they just recorded the city, county or state.

    Today we collect our records along roads. We listen for species-specific songs and then record the cicada species identity on computers, with their GPS locations. Often we’ll stop to examine a patch of forest. If the cicadas are singing, we note whether the chorus is light, moderate, loud or distant.

    If stormy weather damps down the cicada songs, we look for signs of emergence, such as cast-off skins, adult cicadas on plants, or egg scars on branches.

    Dozens of small brown cicadas climb grass stems during a Brood VIII emergence in Rector, Pa.
    Chris Simon, CC BY-ND

    Connecting the data dots

    In some regions, such as the U.S. Midwest, roads are arranged on a grid that reflects land survey lines. Networks like these can be ideal for mapping species distributions. Delineating an area that’s occupied by a specific cicada brood may be as simple as connecting the dots that represent our positive sightings.

    In other places, such as Appalachia, roads often follow ridges or valleys and miss many areas. Here, it’s harder to infer where cicadas are present between data points, especially when those data points are located on different roads.

    Drawing a boundary that contains every data point in a survey area usually will end up overstating the area where periodical cicadas are emerging. We intentionally design our maps to be conservative, so we display our information as point data and do not attempt to draw brood boundaries or generalize our data to counties.

    It’s equally important to record absence points – places where no cicadas are present. Otherwise, an area might be blank either because a species is absent or simply because no one looked for cicadas there.

    A cicada nymph from Brood X sheds its skin during an emergence in Herndon, Va.
    Chris Simon, CC BY-ND

    We have been verifying periodical cicada records and updating maps since the late 1980s. Our more recent maps include geographic information for data collection points.

    Where our maps show the presence of cicadas, a senior member of our project has verified that cicadas were present at that place and date. The insects may have been just emerging, singing loudly, or on their way out.

    Where our maps show the absence of cicadas, that means that one of us or a collaborator visited that location under appropriate conditions and verified that no cicadas were present. Where our maps show no records, we have no information on presence or absence.

    Each color on this map represents a different periodical cicada brood. Brood XIV is the darker green extending from the Midwest to eastern Massachusetts.
    University of Connecticut, used with permission., CC BY-ND

    Crowdsourcing the emergence

    In recent years, citizen scientists – members of the public collecting data for scientific research – have revolutionized mapping efforts, using apps and the internet. Apps such as iNaturalist and Cicada Safari allow users to submit geolocated photos, sounds and videos with a few clicks.

    When we receive these records, our colleague Gene Kritsky, an emeritus entomologist at Mount St. Joseph University, vets them with his team. Then they are uploaded to a map on Cicada Safari.

    Citizen science maps have different biases from those that are created by our expert teams. Members of the public tend to collect their data in areas where residents are familiar with cicadas, there is good internet connectivity and media stories have piqued volunteer reporters’ interest. These maps don’t show absence records or all localities, especially in sparsely populated areas.

    Even records supported by sounds or photographs may not be accurate. They may capture “stragglers” from broods that are not part of the current year’s cycle but are emerging one to four years early or late.

    This phenomenon may become more commonplace in response to changing climates. Warming temperatures create longer growing seasons, which can enable at least some fraction of a periodical cicada population to develop faster and be ready to emerge earlier.

    For this reason, maps based on citizen science reports are most valuable if the same observers report back from the same locations repeatedly over several weeks. The longer-term presence of periodical cicadas indicates that what’s being tallied is a non-straggler population, or a straggler population on its way to permanently shifting the timing of its emergence.

    An evolving story

    Maps are valuable tools for understanding how species fit into their environment, how they interact with other species and how they respond to change. However, it is important to be aware of any map’s biases and limitations when interpreting it. Research requires dedication and repetition over many years.

    Our research suggests that climate warming has resulted in more four-year-early straggling events that are increasingly dense, widespread and likely to leave offspring. The result is a mosaic of broods that makes the jigsaw puzzle of periodical cicada distribution more complicated, but more interesting. Understanding how these four-year shifts are encoded in cicadas’ genes is a mystery that remains to be solved.

    Chris Simon has received funding from The National Science Foundation, The National Geographic Society, The Marsden Fund of New Zealand, and the University of Connecticut.

    John Cooley has received funding in the past from NSF and National Geographic Society. There are no current grants funding this work.

    – ref. Billions of cicadas are emerging, from Cape Cod to north Georgia – here’s how and why we map them – https://theconversation.com/billions-of-cicadas-are-emerging-from-cape-cod-to-north-georgia-heres-how-and-why-we-map-them-255461

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • Two galaxies seen in a ‘joust’ preceding a cosmic mega-merger

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Astronomers have observed two distant galaxies – both possessing roughly as many stars as our Milky Way – careening toward each other before their inevitable merger at a time when the universe was about a fifth its current age, a scene resembling two knights charging in a joust.

    The galaxies, observed using two Chile-based telescopes, were seen as they existed about 11.4 billion years ago, approximately 2.4 billion years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe.

    At the heart of one of the galaxies resides a quasar, a highly luminous object powered by gas and other material falling into a supermassive black hole. The intense radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum unleashed by the quasar is seen disrupting clouds of gas and dust, known as molecular clouds, in the other galaxy.

    It is molecular clouds that give rise to stars. But the effects of the quasar’s radiation turned the clouds in the affected region into “only tiny dense cloudlets that are too small to form stars,” said astrophysicist Sergei Balashev of the Ioffe Institute in Saint Petersburg, Russia, co-lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

    This is the first time such a phenomenon has been observed, Balashev said.

    Stars form by the slow contraction under gravity of these clouds, with small centers taking shape that heat up and become new stars. But the galaxy affected by the quasar’s radiation was left with fewer regions that could serve as such stellar nurseries, undermining its star formation rate.

    The interaction between the two galaxies reminded the researchers of a medieval joust.

    “Much like jousting knights charging toward one another, these galaxies are rapidly approaching. One of them – the quasar host – emits a powerful beam of radiation that pierces the companion galaxy, like a lance. This radiation ‘wounds’ its ‘opponent’ as it disrupts the gas,” said astronomer and co-lead author Pasquier Noterdaeme of the Paris Institute of Astrophysics in France.

    Supermassive black holes are found at the heart of many galaxies, including the Milky Way. The researchers estimated the mass of the one that serves as the engine of the quasar studied in this research at about 200 million times that of our sun.

    The intense gravitational strength of the supermassive black hole pulls gas and other material toward it. As this stuff spirals inward at high speed, it heats up due to friction, forming a disk that emits extremely powerful radiation in two opposite directions, called biconical beams.

    The ultraviolet light from one of these beams is what played havoc with the gas in the companion galaxy.

    This supermassive black hole is much more massive than the one at the center of the Milky Way – called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* – which possesses roughly 4 million times the mass of the sun and is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

    The researchers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, to characterize the two galaxies and used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, or VLT, to probe the quasar as well as the gas in the companion galaxy.

    The configuration of the galaxies as viewed from the perspective of Earth enabled the researchers to observe the radiation from the quasar passing directly through the companion galaxy.

    Most galactic mergers that have been observed by astronomers occurred later in the history of the universe.

    “Galaxies are typically found in groups, and gravitational interactions naturally lead to mergers over cosmic time,” Noterdaeme said. “In line with current understanding, these two galaxies will eventually coalesce into a single larger galaxy. The quasar will fade as it exhausts the available fuel.”

    (Reuters)

  • MIL-Evening Report: Govt should defuse NZ’s social timebomb – but won’t

    We have been handed a long and protracted recession with few signs of growth and prosperity. Budget 2025 signals more of the same, writes Susan St John.

    ANALYSIS: By Susan St John

    With the coalition government’s second Budget being unveiled, we should question where New Zealand is heading.

    The 2024 Budget laid out the strategy. Tax cuts and landlord subsidies were prioritised with a focus on cuts to social and infrastructure spending. Most of the tax package went to the well-off, while many low-income households got nothing, or very little.

    Even the tiny bit of the tax package directed to low-income people fell flat. Family Boost has significantly helped only a handful of families, while the increase of $25 per week (In Work Tax Credit) was denied all families on benefits, affecting about 200,000 of the very poorest children.

    In the recession, families that lost paid work also lost access to full Working for Families, an income cut for their children of about $100 per week.

    No one worked out how the many spending cuts would be distributed, but they have hurt the poor the most. These changes are too numerous to itemise but include increased transport costs; the reintroduction of prescription charges; a disastrous school lunch system; rising rents, rates and insurance; fewer budget advisory services; cuts to foodbank funding and hardship grants; stripping away support programmes for the disabled; inadequately adjusted benefits and minimum wage; and reduced support for pay equity and the living wage.

    The objective is to save money while ignoring the human cost. For example, a scathing report of the Auditor General confirms that Oranga Tamariki took a bulldozer to obeying the call for a 6.5 percent cut in existing social services with no regard to the extreme hurt caused to children and struggling parents.

    Budget 2025 has already indicated that Working for Families will continue to go backwards with not even inflation adjustments. The 2025 child and youth strategy report shows that over the year to June 2024 the number of children in material poverty continued to increase, there were more avoidable hospitalisations, immunisation rates for babies declined, and there was more food insecurity.

    Human costs all around us
    We can see the human costs all around us in homelessness, food insecurity, and ill health. Already we know we rank at the bottom among developed countries for child wellbeing and suicide rates.

    Abject distress existing alongside where homes sell for $20 million-$40 million is no longer uncommon, and neither are $6 million helicopters of the very rich.

    Changes in suicide rates (three-year average), ages 15 to 19 from 2018 to 2022 (or most recent four-year period available). Source: WHO mortality database

    At the start of the year, Helen Robinson, CEO of the Auckland City Mission, had a clear warning: “I am pleading with government for more support, otherwise what we and other food relief agencies in Auckland can provide, will dramatically decrease.

    “This leaves more of Auckland hungry and those already there become more desperate. It is the total antithesis of a thriving city.”

    The theory held by this government is that by reducing the role of government and taxes, the private sector will flourish, and secure well-paid jobs will be created. Instead, as basic economic theory would predict, we have been handed a long and protracted recession with few signs of growth and prosperity.

    Budget 2025 signals more of the same.

    It would be a mistake to wait for simplistic official inequality statistics before we act. Our current destination is a sharply divided country of extreme wealth and extreme poverty with an insecure middle class.

    Underfunded social agencies
    Underfunded and swamped social agencies cannot remove the relentless stress on the people who are invisible in the ‘fiscally responsible’ economic narrative. The fabricated bogeyman of outsized net government debt is at the core, as the government pursues balanced budgets and small government-size targets.

    A stage one economics student would know the deficit increases automatically in a recession to cushion the decline and stop the economy spiralling into something that looks more like a depression. But our safety nets of social welfare are performing very badly.

    Rising unemployment has exposed the inadequacy of social protections. Working for Families, for instance, provides a very poor cushion for children. Many “working” families do not have enough hours of work and face crippling poverty traps.

    Future security is undermined as more KiwiSavers cash in for hardship reasons. A record number of the talented young we need to drive the recovery and repair the frayed social fabric have already fled the country.

    The government is fond of comparing its Budget to that of a household. But what prudent household would deliberately undermine the earning capacity of family members?

    The primary task for the Budget should be to look after people first, to allow them to meet their food, dental and health needs, education, housing and travel costs, to have a buffer of savings to cushion unexpected shocks and to prepare for old age.

    A sore thumb standing
    In the social security part of the Budget, NZ Super for all at 65, no matter how rich or whether still in full-time well-paid work, dominates (gross $25 billion). It’s a sore thumb standing out alongside much less generous, highly targeted benefits and working for families, paid parental leave, family boost, hardship provisions, accommodation supplement, winter energy and other payments and subsidies.

    Given the political will, research shows we can easily redirect at least $3 billion from very wealthy superannuitants to fixing other payments to greatly improve the wellbeing of the young. This will not be enough but it could be a first step to the wide rebalancing needed.

    New Zealand has become a country of two halves whose paths rarely cross: a social time bomb with unimaginable consequences. It is a country beguiled by an egalitarian past that is no more.

    Susan St John is an associate professor in the Pensions and Intergenerational Equity hub and Economic Policy Centre, Business School, University of Auckland. This article was first published by Newsroom before the 2025 Budget and is republished with permission.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Anti-environmentalism is on the rise but it’s full of contradictions

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Alastair Bonnett, Professor of Geography, Newcastle University

    Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock

    Anti-environmentalism is gaining ground. Attacks on the net zero goal and hostility to conservation measures and anti-pollution targets are becoming more common. And, as recent election results have shown, these tactics are reshaping politics in Britain and across the west.

    Anti-environmentalism is a rejection of both environmental initiatives and activism. But despite its sudden rise and bold rhetoric, it is built on shaky foundations. The messages it offers are often contradictory and row against the tide of everyday experience.

    Take the US president, Donald Trump. He dismantled many environmental protections in his last term of office, and is now removing those that are left – including support for research that even mentions the word climate. Yet he told a rally in Wisconsin in 2024: “I’m an environmentalist. I want clean air and clean water. Really clean water. Really clean air.”

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    Some of the contradictions of anti-environmentalism reflect its departure from traditional conservatism. Although routinely identified as “conservative”, the populist anti-green politics of Republicans in the US and Reform in the UK, along with the AfD in Germany and National Rally in France, represent a radical challenge to the ideals of continuity and conservation that were once at the heart of conservatism.

    The Conservative Environment Network is an organisation which pitches itself as an “independent forum for conservatives in the UK and around the world who support net zero, nature restoration and resource security”. Much of this network’s work involves reminding people that important environmental protections, from America’s national parks to controls on pollution and climate change in Britain and elsewhere, were introduced by conservatives.

    But few on the right appear to be listening. A populist tide is washing this conservative tradition away, despite the fact that support for environmental protection remains very popular.

    Polling indicates that 80% of people in the UK worry about climate change. Public backing for the work of the US Environmental Protection Agency is also overwhelming, including among Republican voters.

    In part, this support reflects the fact that environmental damage is an everyday reality: unpredictable weather, the collapse of animal and insect populations, and a range of other challenges are not just on the TV, they are outside the window.

    In my research for a forthcoming book on environmental nostalgia across the world, I keep bumping into an irony. In western nations, voices from the right say they want their country back, yet appear hostile to environmental policies that would protect their country and ensure its survival.

    There are many reasons for this disconnect, including resentment against initiatives that require lifestyle and livelihood changes. However, the enmity and disengagement is more complicated than a simple rejection of nature.

    Many people – including Trump himself – claim they are environmentalists even when the evidence suggests otherwise. The signs and symbols of environmental care are knitted into every aspect of our commercial and cultural life: if wildlife could sue for copyright, there would a lot of rich bears.

    I argue that a distinction can be made between what I call “cold” and “hot” forms of environmentalism. The former values and mourns the loss of nature, but as a spectacle to be observed – a set of appealing images of flora and fauna – while the latter feels implicated and anxious.

    The former position allows people to claim they love nature yet be indifferent or even hostile to initiatives to save it. However, the line between cold and hot, or between anti- and pro-environmentalist, is neither fixed nor hard.

    Another quality of anti-environmentalism is that its beliefs are changeable, even quixotic. Climate change is an example.

    Reform’s leaders have long flirted with climate change denial. “Climate change has happened for millions of years,” explained former Reform UK leader Richard Tice in 2024, adding that “the idea that you can stop the power of the Sun or volcanoes is simply ludicrous”. Tice has not changed his views but later the same year, the party’s new leader, Nigel Farage, told the BBC that he was “not arguing the science”.

    Like other populist parties, Reform adopts a mobile position on the environment, moving between denying that climate change is happening or that humans are causing it, and the very different contention that anthropogenic climate change is real but that environmental targets are unreachable and unfair, given that other nations (China is often mentioned) supposedly do so little.

    A post-western paradox

    Researchers are only just starting to think about anti-environmentalism. One key analysis is environmental politics researcher John Hultgren’s The Smoke and the Spoils: Anti-Environmentalism and Class Struggle in the United States. This new book explains how Republicans managed to convince working-class voters that there is “zero-sum dichotomy between jobs and environmental protection, workers and environmentalists”.

    This kind of binary has also been found by contributors to The Handbook of Anti-Environmentalism, who identify and critique the stereotyping of environmentalism as middle-class and elite in several western countries.

    Yet the geographical focus of these pioneering works misses yet another of the paradoxes of anti-environmentalism: that although its rhetoric often accuses China and other non-western countries of doing little, there has been a significant environmental turn in both policy and public attitudes beyond Europe and the US.

    Environmentalism is becoming post-western. This is partly because the realities of environmental damage are so stark across much of Asia and Africa.

    Extreme temperatures and unpredictable rainfall are leading to food insecurity and community displacement. Environmentalism in the African Sahel and south Asia might better be called “survivalism”.

    And despite its continuing reliance on fossil fuels, China’s state-led vision of a transition to a conservationist and decarbonised “ecological civilisation” is positioning it as a global environmental leader.

    Stereotypes of environmentalism being primarily a western concern are crumbling. Because of this, along with the many contradictions that beset it, the rise of anti-environmentalism appears not only complex, but curious and unsustainable.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Alastair Bonnett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Anti-environmentalism is on the rise but it’s full of contradictions – https://theconversation.com/anti-environmentalism-is-on-the-rise-but-its-full-of-contradictions-256911

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Primech AI Commences 2-Year Lease Deployment of HYTRON Autonomous Bathroom Cleaning Robot at Major Singapore Shopping Mall

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SINGAPORE, May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Primech AI Pte. Ltd. (“Primech AI” or the “Company”), a subsidiary of Primech Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: PMEC), today announced the successful deployment of its state-of-the-art autonomous bathroom cleaning robot, HYTRON, at one of Singapore’s premier lifestyle and shopping destinations. This deployment represents a significant milestone in the Company’s mission to revolutionize facility services through advanced robotics and AI-driven technology.

    The HYTRON robot, powered by NVIDIA’s Jetson Orin Super module, delivers exceptional performance in real-time AI processing, energy efficiency, and intelligent decision-making capabilities within a compact design specifically engineered for high-traffic public environments.

    “Our deployment at this shopping mall demonstrates how advanced robotics and AI can dramatically improve cleanliness and hygiene standards in busy commercial spaces,” said Charles Ng, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Primech AI. “HYTRON represents our commitment to addressing real-world challenges in facilities management through purpose-built technological solutions.”

    HYTRON’s sophisticated capabilities leverage NVIDIA’s comprehensive suite of technologies, including CUDA for high-performance parallel computing, cuDNN for accelerated deep learning performance, TensorRT for optimized AI inference, and NVIDIA Driver for stable hardware-software communication. These technologies enable HYTRON to maintain consistent cleanliness standards with minimal human intervention.

    Visitors can now observe HYTRON in operation, working efficiently to maintain restroom cleanliness with precision and reliability throughout the mall’s operating hours. The robot’s presence has already generated significant interest among shoppers and facilities management professionals alike.

    This latest HYTRON deployment at one of Singapore’s busiest lifestyle destinations underscores Primech AI’s expanding market presence and mission to transform urban hygiene solutions through innovative robotics. The Company continues to focus on creating tailored solutions for space-constrained environments typical in urban settings across Asia and Europe.

    About Primech AI
    Primech AI is a leading robotics company dedicated to pushing the boundaries of innovation in technology. With a team of passionate individuals and a commitment to collaboration, Primech AI is poised to revolutionize the robotics industry with groundbreaking solutions that make a meaningful impact on society. For more information, visit www.primech.ai.

    About Primech Holdings Limited
    Headquartered in Singapore, Primech Holdings Limited is a leading provider of comprehensive technology-driven facilities services, predominantly serving both public and private sectors throughout Singapore. Primech Holdings offers an extensive range of services tailored to meet the complex demands of its diverse clientele. Services include advanced general facility maintenance services, specialized cleaning solutions such as marble polishing and facade cleaning, meticulous stewarding services, and targeted cleaning services for offices and homes. Known for its commitment to sustainability and cutting-edge technology, Primech Holdings integrates eco-friendly practices and smart technology solutions to enhance operational efficiency and client satisfaction. This strategic approach positions Primech Holdings as a leader in the industry and a proactive contributor to advancing industry standards and practices in Singapore and beyond. For more information, visit www.primechholdings.com.    

    Forward-Looking Statements
    Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements, including, for example, statements about completing the acquisition, anticipated revenues, growth, and expansion. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on the Company’s current expectations and projections about future events that the Company believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are also based on assumptions regarding the Company’s present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future. Investors can find many (but not all) of these statements by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “likely to” or other similar expressions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure that such expectations will be correct. The Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results and encourages investors to review other factors that may affect its future results in the Company’s registration statement and other filings with the SEC.

    Company Contact:
    Email: ir@primech.com.sg

    Investor Relations Contact:        
    Matthew Abenante, IRC
    President                                        
    Strategic Investor Relations, LLC                                         
    Tel: 347-947-2093
    Email: matthew@strategic-ir.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Chinese and Central Asian Youth Discuss Friendship and Cooperation in Shaanxi Province

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) — Representatives of Chinese youth and Central Asian students studying in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province recently gathered to share their experiences and deepen mutual understanding and friendship, the Sanqing Dushibao newspaper reported.

    The event took place on May 17 in Xi’an (the capital of Shaanxi Province). More than 20 young people from China and Central Asian countries took part in it.

    Nastya from Kazakhstan, who is studying Business Chinese at Xi’an Jiaotong University, noted that intercultural exchanges bring her new knowledge.

    “I enjoy experiencing the charm of different cultures through humanitarian exchange events and actively organizing sports competitions so that young people from different countries have more opportunities for deep interaction,” she said.

    Elnura Mambetova from Kyrgyzstan, a doctoral student in Chinese language and Chinese culture dissemination at Shaanxi Normal University, has been fascinated with Chinese culture since childhood. After graduating from university in Kyrgyzstan, she worked as a Chinese language teacher at one of the universities in Kyrgyzstan, and then moved to China for further education.

    “I can personally feel how the friendship between the countries of Central Asia and China is becoming deeper and deeper,” she said.

    Wang Lewei, a student at Xi’an Foreign Studies University, spent a year in Kazakhstan as an exchange student. “In Kazakhstan, my local friends took me sightseeing and invited me to traditional festivals. I realized that language is the key to culture,” he said, expressing his desire to become an envoy of friendship between China and Kazakhstan.

    Shaanxi Province, relying on its rich educational resources, has been actively developing humanitarian exchanges with Central Asian countries in recent years. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • VP calls for evidence-based validation, digitisation, translations, and cross-disciplinary studies of ancient texts

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (2)

    lign=”center”>Focus on alternative medicine, says VP
    VP lauds global centre for traditional medicine in Jamnagar
    Belief that anything Indic or ancient is regressive has no place in modern India-VP
    VP commissions the statue of “Charaka -Father of Ayurveda” and Statue of “ Sushruta- Father of Surgery” at Raj Bhavan, Goa

    The Vice-President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar today called for focussing on alternative medicine and for evidence based validation of our ancient texts to make them accessible  and applicable to contemporary challenges. Speaking at an event in RajBhavan, Goa he said, “ We are a nation with a difference….We are rediscovering our roots, and we will get rooted in our roots. I strongly focus on alternative medicine because India is the home of alternative medicine. It is being practiced now very extensively….Let us not confine our ancient texts to libraries. They are not meant for shelf of library.  They are meant to be widely disseminated. Let us bring timeless ideas to life through research, innovation, and reinterpretation using modern scientific tools.  Let us pursue evidence-based validation, digitisation, translations,  and cross-disciplinary studies to make these treasures  accessible  and applicable to contemporary challenges….. am extremely happy that World Health Organisation has recognised it by establishing a global centre for traditional medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat. What a powerful recognition of universal relevance of our systems like Ayurveda.”

    “Time for us  to look back in our Vedas, in our Upanishads, in our Puranas, in our history and time to tell our children from birth about our civilizational depth of knowledge”, he added

    https://twitter.com/VPIndia/status/1925442859010036125

    Addressing the gathering after commissioning the statutes, Shri Dhankhar stated,   “We are celebrating today, those who epitomize knowledge — Charak. Charak was a royal physician in Kushan Kingdom. Charak is known as father of medicine and Charak author Charak Samhita, it is a foundational text for Ayurveda.  The other one, Sushrut, father of Surgery, then. I had the occasion to see what you had put in paintings. Surgical instruments during those days, so forward looking and we must always remember. Sushrut was a disciple of Dhanvantari, another celebrated name. ….Let the lives and works  of Charaka and Sushruta be a source of inspiration and motivation for all,  particularly our impressionable minds.”

    https://twitter.com/VPIndia/status/1925425566821621965

    Reflecting on the need to take pride in our ancient knowledge, Shri Dhankhar underscored, “ I wish to also focus on,  also highlight a particular cultural trait.  It is our cultural trait.  Within sections of our society, there is a belief.  Anything Indic or ancient is a regressive. This trait has no place in modern India. This trait has no place in our times. The world has realised our importance.  Time for us also to realise it. We cannot afford a situation to believe West is modern and progressive. Look at the current scenario  and you will find it is far from it. India is the center. International Monetary Fund was not wrong and must have said with great difficulty, we are center of excellence. We are a hot spot of golden opportunities, opportunity for investment. That being the situation, let us believe in Indic situations. West is far behind us.  In their own mind, they are learning from us.”

    https://twitter.com/VPIndia/status/1925445876149100705

    Underlining the ancient civilizational knowledge, the Vice-President said, “ The entire West will be stunned if we learn  more about our treasure of knowledge…. Charaka, Sushruta, Dhanvantri, Jivaka,  renowned Ayurvedic  physician. And he was  Buddha’s personal doctor…..When it comes to mathematics and astronomy,  Aryabhatta,  we have named our satellites after him,  a great name,  and during those times  we had Baudhayana, great mathematician, and we have Varahamihira…. He was there when Chandragupta  Vikramaditya court was there…..he was one of those.  He was having an observatory  at Ujjain during those times.”

    https://twitter.com/VPIndia/status/1925442964870111623

    “We are a unique civilisation….Long before we came to be abreast of the modern surgical situations, 300 surgical procedures, plastic surgery, fracture management, and even caesarean delivery. Just imagine. We need to take great pride in it.  At that point of time,  what we call super specialty hospitals. The things they transact  in medical science,  we had it already. And it is not only that. They put it in writing for academicians. Sushruta’s writings reflect  not just merely  anatomical knowledge,  but a profound scientific spirit  emphasising accuracy,  training, hygiene  and patient care”, he added

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Chinese Premier to Visit Indonesia, Attend ASEAN-GCC-China Summit in Malaysia

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang will pay an official visit to Indonesia from May 24 to 26 at the invitation of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, and attend the ASEAN-GCC-China summit in Kuala Lumpur from May 26 to 28 at the invitation of Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia, which holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Samoa at Osaka World Expo 2025

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    By: Asuisui Fofoa Matafeo

    Samoas’ presence and visibility is on the global stage at Osaka Japan World Expo 2025.

    Capitalizing on the international stage to profile Samoa’s export commodities and goods complemented by Samoa’s revere tourism profile in bids to attract more visitors to Samoa, the Expo held every five years was officially opened on April 12th 2025.

    Her Excellency (H.E) Fa’alava’au Perina Sila Tualaulelei, Ambassador of Samoa to Japan led Samoa contingent at the official opening ceremonies.

    She was accompanied by Paul Oteta Ane, Representative of the Samoa Chamber of Commerce and Industry and representative from Government Press Secretariat and Savali Newspaper Principal Videographer and Filming, Asuisui Fofoa Matafeo.

    Samoa’s delegation also joined their global counterparts in commemorating the beginning of Expo activities, signaling Samoa’s readiness to share its distinctive culture, innovations, and future-focused vision with the world.

    Samoa’s exports and profile will remain on display at her pavilion showcasing handicrafts, clothing, food, and much more providing a wider platform for Samoa’s products to be noticed on the world stage.

    With millions in attendance, the Expo reaffirms unity and portray a future society through the ideas of life, world and the future.

    Osaka previously hosted a World Expo in 1970 that attracted 64 million visitors.

    The Expo is for 6 months and will close this October.

    Photos: Asuisui Fofoa Matafeo (Savali Newspaper)

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: SAMOA TRAINS 30 ECO-GUARDIANS TO LEAD ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGN

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    [PRESS RELEASE 25 April 2025] – Conservation International (CI) and the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) co-hosted a comprehensive Training of Teachers (TOT) workshop at the Elisa Hotel Conference Room in Sogi from the 22 – 25 April. The event equipped 35 educators from Sagaga and Anoamaa districts and partners, for the next implementation sites for the Guardians Environmental Education Campaign, with innovative tools and strategies to promote environmental stewardship among students and communities.

    The workshop focused on familiarizing participants with the Guardians Manual, experiential teaching techniques, and practical methods to deliver engaging environmental education programs. Key sessions included interactive modules on multiple learning styles, effective teaching practices, and trial runs of campaign themes such as Trash Star, Coral Champion, Wise Fisher, Tree Guardian, and Samoa Voyager. Participants collaborated to design activity plans, resource materials, and delivery methods tailored to their communities.

    A dedicated session on social and environmental safeguards emphasized child protection, prevention of exploitation, and logistical best practices to ensure safety during campaign activities. The workshop concluded with certificate presentations, recognizing participants’ commitment to advancing environmental education.

    “This workshop was very valuable and important and I appreciate the generous resources invested in us as educators to be able to support the Guardians Environmental Education modules” said Maria Fonofili from Sauano Primary School. “I am very grateful to the organizers for the past four days for all the informative sessions and knowledge shared which have greatly expanded our understanding for the benefit of teaching our children .”

    The training and campaign ahead is made possible through foundational funding from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Manaaki Programme, with additional support from the Blackmore Foundation, Waitt Foundation and the Blue Nature Alliance. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) and the Samoa Voyaging Society (SVS) were also able to support the facilitation of the programme modules and strengthening its impact. Conservation International and the Ministry of Education and Culture, extend their deepest gratitude to these partners for their commitment to environmental education and sustainable development in Samoa.

    “We’re deeply grateful to our partners and donors for their continued support of the Guardians Programme,” says Le’ausalilo Leilani Duffy-Iosefa, Director of Conservation International. “Our goal is to ensure the programme leaves a lasting impact on Samoa’s children by helping protect their environmental and cultural heritage for generations to come”

    The Guardians Campaign, now in its fifth year, continues to engage schools and communities in hands-on conservation efforts, building a generation of environmental Guardians, enhancing Samoa’s Ocean Strategy.

    For more information about the Guardians programme, please contact Samantha Kwan on 21593.

    END.

    SOURCE – Conservation International Pacific Islands

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: SWEARING IN OF NEW CITIZENS

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    KEYNOTE ADDRESS by the Prime Minister Hon. Fiame Naomi Mataafa – (Thursday 24th April 2025)

    Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet

    The cohort of new Samoan citizens who have taken oaths this morning

    Families and friends.

    Talofa lava,

    Today marks a significant milestone of your journey by virtue of taking your oaths as citizens of our country. It reflects your commitment, loyalty, and devotion to serve Samoa and her people.

    On behalf of the government and the people of Samoa, I extend to you our congratulations, and am very pleased to welcome you as fellow citizens of Samoa.

    The wake of the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 caused delays in the processing of citizenship applications in accordance with requirements of the Citizenship Act 2004.

    We have not had a swearing in ceremony for new Samoan citizens since 2020.

    I am aware that some of you have qualified for Samoan citizenship by virtue of years of your marriage to Samoan citizens, and some by virtue of your permanent residency status. To many of you, it has been a long wait, but as you will appreciate, these things take time.

    The Samoan citizenship is dear to us for it is our identity and freedom to live harmoniously and peacefully in our lands. But it comes with responsibility. Responsibility to care and to love, to be law abiding, to respect others, and to use God given talents, wisdom and knowledge to work together for the common good of Samoa. Today, you have been entrusted with that responsibility as citizens of Samoa to serve your country.

    I thank you for years of your contribution to Samoa in various sectors you are working in. Do continue to excel in what you do to serve our people. We have our own challenges as a small island state, but our resilience as people of the Blue Pacific begins with us.

    At the heart of our progress is the recognition of our shared responsibilities as citizens. Our strength lies in our unity, for it is the cornerstone of our identity, people to people linkages, and our culture and traditions.

    We are duty bound to build a country where Samoans want to live in the future, and to nurture responsible future custodians of our scarce resources.

    Today, I urge you to serve Samoa with humility, integrity, and dedication. Let us never lose sight of our duties as Samoan citizens, nor take for granted the trust of our fellow countrymen.

    As a nation founded on the Christian faith, we proclaim our dependence on God. He has been faithful to Samoa, and we trust that He will continue to guide us through His grace and abundance.

    God bless you and your families, God bless Samoa.

    Soifua ma ia manuia.

    Photos by : Leota Marc Membrere

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: FOR YOUTH, FOR SAMOA AND CHINA-SAMOA RELATIONS

    Source:

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    REMARKS by H.E. Fei Mingxing at Alo Paopao Academy (April 19 2025)

    Reverend Tuia Peseta,

    Hon Minister of Sports and Recreation Laumatiamanu Ringo Purcell,

    Hon Tuuu Anasii Leota,

    President Schuster of Alo Paopao Academy,

    Parents, boys and girls and friends,

    My colleagues and I are very pleased to join you on the beautiful beach on such a lovely day. First of all, my arm congratulations on the opening of Le Miti Aito International 2025. We are proud to be associated with the return of the international solo paddling competition and the official launch of the Village and Va’a Scholarship Program.

    Seeing so many young faces today, I cannot help quoting Chairman Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China: “The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you.” This has inspired generations and generations of young Chinese. I hope it could

    be inspirational to our young Samoans too.

    Actually, young people have been the backbone for China-Samoa relations. The first Chinese arrived in Samoa was a young sailor in 1876. Early 1900s, thousands young Chinese laborers were employed by owners of coconut plantations in Samoa.

    Some of them stayed and married with local girls. That is why 20% Samoan population could trace their roots to China and our relations runs deep and sound.

    In 1975, Samoa and China established diplomatic ties. Since then, our young people of both countries have been builders of our close relations. In 2024 for example, more than 20 young Samoans went to China for study under the Chinese government scholarship scheme; most of 110 plus officials and professionals who traveled to China for training are young men and women.

    In Samoa, all Chinese medical specialists working in the national hospital are young ones. So are teachers of the Confucius Institute in NUS and most of SCATAP experts.

    This year, while celebrating the 50th anniversary of establishment of our diplomatic ties, we count on our young Samoan and Chinese people, to bring our two countries closer and more benefits to our two peoples. President Xi Jinping said, “I care about young people wherever I go.”

    This is why since my arrival in Samoa early last year, I have been trying my best to work with the Samoan government and institutions, to help young people in Samoa whenever possible. The sports is strength of individuals and the nation. The youth is the wealth of the community and the country.

    When young people are more capable, our countries have better hope, and China-Samoa relations are more promising. I wish Alo Paopao Academy and the Siumu community as well as wider regions of Samoa good luck.

    I wish you all a nice day.

    Thank you.

    Fa’afetai!谢谢！

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: LE MITI AITO INTERNATIONAL 2025 – OPENING CEREMONY & MITI VAA SCHOLARSHIP FUND

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    KEYNOTE ADDRESS by the Minister of Sports and Recreation Hon. Laumatiamanu Ringo Purcell (Saturday 19 April 2025)

    Lau susuga Taitai o le Sauniga

    Your Excellencies and Esteemed Guests

    Your Excellency Fei Mingxing, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Samoa

    Your Excellency Will Robinson, Australian High Commissioner

    Your Excellency Si’alei Van Toor, New Zealand High Commissioner

    Esteemed village leaders of Siumu, Maninoa, and A’aga Ulugia Jay Schuster and the Alo Paopao Committee Distinguished paddlers, supporters, families, and guests

    Talofa lava and warm greetings to you all.

    Ua motu i le vasa le su’igaula nai le papa. O loo ua musa foi i Foga’a le Sanalaala. O Talaleomalie le alo o le Tuiatua, ae ta’alo i le vai le ataata o le tama o Samoanagalo.

    E matagofie, ē latou te aumaia le Talalelei ma le finagalo o le Atua, e le tau faailo ina foi le lupe ua mua, auā ua mua mea i Matautu Sa, ua motu i le lagi ona vi’i, auā ua lele malie le siufofoga o le Auauna a le Atua i lenei taeao fou. Viia le Atua soifua.

    Talitonu ua fa’afofoga le lagi i talosaga molia ma ua nofo fale foi ia Satuiama’a le feau mo tatou i lenei aso. Malō le folau i lagimā. Ae manatu ona o lo o filogia la tatou mafutaga, o le a faaaoga ai le gagana faafaigofie mo a tatou Malō.

    It is with great honor that we convene today to formally inaugurate the Le Miti Aito International 2025. More significantly, we embark on a new journey of community, culture, and opportunity for our youth through the establishmentof the Miti Va’a Scholarship Fund.

    This event, which originated in 2016 as Le Aito Samoa in collaboration with Tahiti’s Te Aito Race, returns today with profound significance, reborn as Le Miti Aito International in tribute to the late Miti Cheung Fuk.

    Miti was not merely a business leader; she was a mother who transformed adversity into hope. When her son faced challenges in his youth, she recognized the ocean as his sanctuary and source of strength.

    Her decision to uplift him and others in similar circumstances led to her support of paddling programs for over two decades. Her benevolence extended beyond her own child, reaching every young individual in need of guidance and belonging.

    Her compassion for children, her vision for community, and her unwavering support of paddling are the reasons we honour her name today. This race perpetuates her spirit.

    In furtherance of her legacy, we are proud to introduce the Miti Va’a Scholarship Fund, commencing here in the District of Siumu. Forty young paddlers from the villages of Siumu, Maninoa, and A’aga will receive comprehensive scholarships covering: School fees, Uniforms, Equipment and; Training

    This marks only the beginning, with plans to expand to Apia and Vaiala, and eventually across Samoa. This initiative transcends paddling; it is about cultivating confident leaders, reconnecting with our heritage, and fortifying our villages through teamwork, resilience, and identity.

    The Ministry of Sports and Recreation is dedicated to elevating sports and recreational activities of all types, recognizing their pivotal role in the development of our people and our nation. This program and the scholarships offered align with the Ministry’s goals and objectives by fostering personal growth, community engagement, and national pride through sports.

    I am therefore especially delighted to witness this important milestone in your journey. We have already witnessed the potential of this program, as it has nurtured paddlers who achieved bronze and silver medals at the 2023 World Distance Championships held here in Samoa.

    Today, we are privileged to welcome World Champion Anne Cairns and Carl Barnes, both exemplary role models for our youth.

    To our partners, we extend our deepest gratitude to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China for supporting the growth of this program. To Ulugia Jay Ah Fook Schuster, we thank you for your leadership in paddling since 1987.

    To all our paddlers today, race with heart, race with courage, and race with pride in your culture.

    With that, I hereby officially declare Le Miti Aito International 2025 open and launch the Village and Va’a Scholarship Program.

    Fa’afetai tele lava.

    Soifua ma ia manuia.

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: ANZAC DAY COMMEMORATION IN SAMOA 2025

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    KEYNOTE ADDRESS by the Deputy Prime Minister Hon Tuala Tevaga Ponifasio [25th April 2025]

    Rev Mariota Siaea

    Afioga ile Ao Mamalu ole Malo ma lau Masiofo

    Your Excellencies High Commissioners of Australia and New

    Zealand

    Members of the Diplomatic Corps

    Distinguished Guests

    Ladies and Gentlemen

    Every year at the break of dawn of 25 April, we come to

    remember the sacrifices made by the hundreds of thousands of

    New Zealanders, Australians and nationals of Pacific Island

    countries including Samoa who fought in WW1, WW2 and other

    subsequent conflicts.

    Today we are all united in remembrance of their fight for our

    freedom, independence and for our future as peaceful

    communities. Let us not forget those who answered bravely the

    call of their country and then fall in its name. We wear on our

    hearts the poppy of remembrance.

    In many ways, the ANZAC ideals go far deeper than war; it is

    what makes one a patriot of one’s country. Despite the

    devastation of war, we have learnt lessons from it. Our

    knowledge of war defines who we are and where we draw our

    boundaries. Even though many of us have not experienced war

    first hand, we all understand the horror it results in.

    Our hopes and prayers are that we will not experience watching

    our children go to destinies unknown in this restless world we

    no longer understand.

    But for today and forever, let us never forget those who had

    made the greatest contribution to ensure our security.

    We will remember.

    End

    Photo by the Government of Samoa (Leota Marc Membrere)

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: USP SAMOA CAMPUS AND MNRE FORESTRY DIVISION JOIN FORCES FOR THE 3 MILLION TREE PLANTING CAMPAIGN AT USP POP-UP MARKET

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    [PRESS RELEASE 25 April 2025] – The University of the South Pacific (USP) Samoa Campus, in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) Forestry Division, is thrilled to announce a special event promoting environmental sustainability. On Saturday, April 26th, 2025, from 8 AM to 1 PM, the USP Samoa Campus will host a Pop-up Market dedicated to bringing the community together and supporting the MNRE’s 3 Million Tree Campaign.

    This family-friendly event invites community members to bring the family to the campus and will have the opportunity to receive free tree seedlings as part of the campaign efforts to encourage tree planting across Samoa.

    The USP Pop-up Market promises a vibrant atmosphere with an array of attractions including fresh vegetables, root plants, fresh flowers, kombucha drinks, BBQ food stalls, and handmade crafts by local artisans. Additionally, there will be fun activities for children like a bouncy castle and more.

    Visitors can also look forward to a variety of delicious food from Vanuatu and Fiji, locally made and freshly baked goodies, fresh local produce, and an array of pre-loved clothing and household goods.

    Event Details:

     Date: Saturday, April 26th, 2025

     Time: 8 AM – 1 PM

     Location: USP Samoa Campus Front Lawn

    Join us at this special event where you can enjoy a delightful family day while contributing positively towards our environment by planting trees!

    For further inquiries: Contact: Ronna Lee Email: ronna.lee@usp.ac.fj

    END.

    SOURCE – The University of the South Pacific – Samoa Campus, Apia and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Samoa

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: LD reminds employers and employees to take heat stroke preventive measures in times of Heat Stress at Work Warning

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    LD reminds employers and employees to take heat stroke preventive measures in times of Heat Stress at Work Warning 
    Employees who work outdoors or in non-air-conditioned indoor environments face high levels of heat stress and are at a relatively higher risk of heat stroke. Employers should assess the risk factors of heat stress for employees at work and, based on the identified risk factors, take necessary preventive and control measures, including rescheduling work periods, setting up shading covers, providing ventilation and heat dissipation equipment, and reminding employees to replenish water and rest in a timely manner.
     
    The Heat Stress at Work Warning is formulated by the LD based on the Hong Kong Heat Index. There are three levels of the warning: Amber, Red and Black, which help employers and employees better understand the level of heat stress while working outdoors or indoors without air-conditioning systems.
     
    A spokesman for the LD said that when the department issues the Heat Stress at Work Warning, employers must refer to the criteria and recommendations provided in the “Guidance Notes on Prevention of Heat Stroke at Work 
    Employees must also follow instructions to rest on time. Whenever there are any symptoms of heat-related illnesses, such as headache, dizziness, thirst, and nausea, they should rest in a cool and shady place, drink water, and inform employers/supervisors to take appropriate action immediately.
     
    The LD issued the “Guidance Notes on Prevention of Heat Stroke at Work”, detailing the various risk factors that should be considered when conducting heat stress risk assessments and recommending corresponding control measures for identified risk factors for employers’ and employees’ reference. For the Heat Stress at Work Warning and related guidelines, please refer to the department’s thematic webpage:     www.labour.gov.hk/eng/news/prevention_of_heat_stroke_at_work.htmIssued at HKT 13:34

    NNNN

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  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: CEREMONY FOR THE AUXILIARY WORKS OF THE NINTH-PHASE CHINA AID SAMOA APIA COMPREHENSIVE SPORTS VENUES TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROJECT

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    REMARKS by the Ambassador Fei Mingxing [24 April 2025]

    Hon. Laumatiamanu Ringo Purcell, Minister of Sports and Recreation,

    Ladies and gentlemen,

    Talofa lava! I am delighted to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Auxiliary Works of the Ninth-Phase China Aid Samoa Apia Comprehensive Sports Venues Technical Assistance Project today. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy, I would like to expressappreciation for your long-term support for China-Samoa relations!

    The year 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Samoa. Over the past half century, upholding the principle of mutual respect, equal treatment and win-win cooperation, China and Samoa have maintained traditional friendship, close economic and trade exchanges, and fruitful cooperation in various fields, which have delivered tangible benefits to our two peoples. In addition to the Apia Park stadium project, training sessions of Samoan althlets in China, and recent badmington day and table tenis day and others, the Samoa Aquatic Center is a historic witnesses of the friendship and cooperation between China and Samoa.

    Since the Samoa Aquatic Center was put into use in 2006, China has sent 9 batches of 29 technical experts to Samoa to provide maintenance support. It has been 20 years. As an important public sports facility, it has promoted the fitness and public health development of Samoa communities. During this period, large-scale events such as the 2006 “Miss South Pacific Pageant” and the 2007 South Pacific Games were held here, which exerted the economic effect of the events and promoted international exchanges.

    The purpose of this auxiliary project is to ensure the continued safe use of the Aquatic Center. I hope that the construction teams of both sides will work closely together to ensure the high standards and high quality of the project construction, and train on site as many as possible Samoan workers, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Samoa.

    Looking into the future, China will further its joint efforts with with Samoa, actively expand practical cooperation in various fields including sports, fully implement the outcome of Hon Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa’s visit to China last November, continuously deepeningthe comprehensive strategic partnership towardthe closer China-Samoa community with a shared future.

    I wish China-Samoa cooperation in sports sector fruitful, and prosperity for China and Samoa and our two peoples!

    Fa’afetai!

    Now, I announce the Hilary construction of the Ninth-Phase China Aid Samoa Apia Comprehensive Sports Venues Project started.

    Photo by the Government of Samoa (Leaosa Faaifo Faaifo)

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: YOUNG SAMOAN WOMEN WRITE MORE HEADLINES AT DALLAS CUP

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    [PRESS RELEASE – 24 April 2025] – The Samoa U17 women’s team continues to write history by becoming the first-ever Pacific Island team to reach the semi-finals of the prestigious Dallas Cup in the United States.

    Under the leadership of Head Coach Juan Chang Urrea, the first Pacific Island team to participate in the Dallas Cup delivered a historic performance by winning their pool and advancing through the quarter-finals to secure a top 4 finish in one of the most competitive youth football tournaments in the world.

    The Dallas Cup appearance was part of Samoa’s preparation for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco in October, after they became the first Samoan football team to qualify for a FIFA tournament when they finished second in the OFC U16 championship.

    “This level of preparation is unheard of in the Pacific Islands,” says coach Chang Urrea.

    “We are all working together in the Federation to give our team the best preparation possible to make our country and the Oceania Region proud at the World Cup.”

    With the support of FIFA Forward Operational funding and OFC, the federation created a detailed plan to prepare the players, scattered across Samoa, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

    Football Federation Samoa (FFS) earlier this year had gathered the team in California for a training camp and coach Urrea says that this time together was already bearing fruit during the Dallas Cup.

    In front of huge crowds of US-based Samoan fans who had travelled from different states, the team opened their campaign with a dominant 7-1 win against DKSC, before shocking the Spanish professionals from Villareal with a 2-0 victory.

    A 2-2 hard-fought draw against the strong local Dallas Texans completed an unbeaten run and top spot in Pool A.

    The fairytale continued in the quarter-finals where the DKSC ECNL team was dispatched 2-0 to set up an intimidating semi-final clash with the FC Dallas.

    The academy team from the host city’s professional club proved to be as good as their reputation and despite valiant Samoan resistance, FC Dallas ran out comfortable 5-0 winners to advance to the final.

    The stand-out player at the tournament for Samoa was top goal scorer Makea Leonard who bagged 5 goals in 5 games.

    Chang Urrea says the wins, but especially the semi-final loss, will provide essential experience against elite opposition and showcased the continued evolution of the team’s style, resilience, and confidence.

    “We are incredibly proud of how far these girls have come. This wasn’t just a tournament – it was a major stepping stone toward our World Cup ambitions,” says Chang Urrea.

    “Placing in the top 4 of this prestigious tournament is an indication that we are on the right track to compete in the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in October this year.”

    The team will have their final training camp in June in the United States, before they plan to organise two friendly international matches on their way to Morocco once the World Cup draw has been completed.

    END.

    SOURCE – Samoa Football

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • Philippines accuses China of aggressive tactics in South China Sea

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    The Philippines’ fisheries bureau said the lives of a civilian crew were put at risk when the Chinese Coast Guard fired water cannons and sideswiped one of its vessels while it conducted marine research around a disputed South China Sea reef.

    The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources condemned what it said was the “aggressive interference” of the Chinese Coast Guard against the Datu Sanday and a second ship in Wednesday’s incident, saying its vessels had not previously been subjected to water cannons in the area. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s statement by the bureau.

    Sandy Cay is close to Thitu Island, the largest and most strategically important of the nine features the Philippines occupies in the Spratly archipelago, where China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have a presence.

    Last month, China said its Coast Guard had landed on Sandy Cay as part of operations to exercise its sovereignty. The Philippines has denied Beijing has seized control of the disputed reef.

    China claims sovereignty over nearly all the South China Sea, including areas claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

    A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal found Beijing’s sweeping claims had no basis under international law, a decision China rejects.

    (Reuters)

  • MIL-OSI USA: DHS Reacts to Activist Judge Ruling to Halt the Deportation of Barbaric Criminal Illegal Aliens Including Murderers, Rapists, and Pedophiles

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: DHS Reacts to Activist Judge Ruling to Halt the Deportation of Barbaric Criminal Illegal Aliens Including Murderers, Rapists, and Pedophiles

    WASHINGTON – DHS conducted a deportation flight to remove some of the most barbaric, violent individuals illegally in the United States

    All of these individuals had final orders of removal

      Now a federal judge in Massachusetts is halting their deportation and trying to force President Trump to bring these criminals back to American soil

    “This ruling is deranged

    These depraved individuals have all had their day in court and been given final deportation orders

     A reminder of who was on this plane: murderers, child rapists, an individual who raped a mentally & physically disabled person,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin

    “The message this activist judge is sending to victims and their families is we don’t care

    President Trump and Secretary Noem are working every day to get vicious criminals out of our country while activist judges are fighting to bring them back onto American soil

    ” 

    Below are the individuals ICE removed from American communities:  
    Enrique ARIAS-Hierro, a Cuban national, was arrested by ICE Miami on May 2, 2025

    His criminal history includes convictions for homicide, armed robbery, false impersonation of official, kidnapping, robbery strong arm

    He was issued a final order of removal on September 13, 1999

    Image

    On April 30, 2025, ICE Miami arrested Cuban national, Jose Manuel RODRIGUEZ-QUINONES

    He has been convicted of attempted first degree murder with a weapon, battery and larceny, cocaine possession and trafficking

    He was issued a final order of removal on December 4, 2012

    Image

    Thongxay NILAKOUT, a citizen of Laos, was arrested by ICE Los Angeles on January 26, 2025

    NILAKOUT is Convicted of first-degree murder and robbery; sentenced to life confinement

    He was issued a final order of removal on July 12, 2023

    Image

    On May 12, 2025, ICE Miami arrested Mexican national, Jesus MUNOZ-Gutierrez

    He is Convicted of second-degree murder; sentenced to life confinement

    He was issued a final order of removed on June 16, 2005

    Image

    Dian Peter DOMACH, a citizen of South Sudan, was arrested by ICE St

    Paul on May 8, 2024

    DOMACH is convicted of robbery and possession of a firearm, of possession of burglar’s tools and possession of defaced firearm and driving under the influence

    He was issued a final order of removal on July 19, 2011

    Image

    Kyaw MYA, a citizen of Burma was arrested by ICE St

    Paul on February 18, 2025

    MYA is convicted of Lascivious Acts with a Child-Victim less than 12 years of age; sentenced to 10 years confinement, paroled after 4 years

    He was issued a final order of removal on March 17, 2022

    Image

    Nyo MYINT, a citizen of Burma was arrested by ICE St

    Paul on February 18, 2025

    MYINT is convicted of first-degree sexual assault involving a victim mentally and physically incapable of resisting; sentenced to 12 years confinement

    MYINT is also charged with aggravated assault-nonfamily strongarm

    He was issued a final order of removal on August 17, 2023

    Image

    On May 3, 2025, ICE Seattle arrested Tuan Thanh PHAN, a Vietnamese national

    PHAN is Convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree assault; sentenced to 22 years confinement

    He was issued a final order of removal on June 17, 2009

    Image

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Bitget Wallet Unveils Full-Stack Roadmap Across Trade, Earn, Pay, and Discover

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitget Wallet, the leading non-custodial crypto wallet, has unveiled its product roadmap following a recent brand overhaul, outlining a series of updates designed to simplify crypto and expand real-world use. The roadmap is built around four core functions—Trade, Earn, Pay, and Discover—and is backed by a $1 million community incentive campaign and the launch of a global Champion Program aimed at accelerating adoption. These initiatives are part of Bitget Wallet’s broader Crypto for Everyone movement, which focuses on making self-custody tools more accessible, intuitive, and useful in everyday life.

    “Bitget Wallet is no longer just a place to store tokens — it’s becoming the starting point for how people trade, earn, pay, and explore onchain,” said Alvin Kan, COO of Bitget Wallet. “This roadmap is about delivering smarter, simpler crypto experiences that solve real user pain points and bring crypto closer to everyday life.”

    With over 80 million users globally, Bitget Wallet has evolved from a basic wallet app into a full-featured gateway for onchain activity. Its trading experience now covers the entire flow — discover, analyze, and execute — with tools like Hot Picks, real-time alerts, and curated token insights designed to surface early-stage opportunities. Through Bitget Wallet Alpha, users can monitor smart money movements, onchain behaviors such as sniper bots and dev wallet activity, and access tools including market charts, AI-generated summaries, and sentiment feeds. Trades are executed through a one-click, gas-free Super DEX that aggregates liquidity across 100+ DEXs and supports tokens across 130+ blockchains, with MEV protection and dynamic slippage built in.

    To help users grow their assets, Bitget Wallet currently offers one-click staking and automated yield generation, and will soon launch its Simple Yield Vault, enabling balances to earn interest automatically while remaining instantly spendable. Future updates include support for tokenized real-world assets, such as stocks, bonds, and gold, allowing users to manage diversified portfolios directly within the app. An upgraded Earn Dashboard will offer performance tracking with gain charts and detailed earning breakdowns.

    On the payments front, Bitget Wallet is one of the first wallets to integrate a built-in shop page, where users can purchase goods and services from over 300 brands using crypto — without needing to convert to fiat. From mobile top-ups and gaming to travel and e-commerce, the shop covers major global merchants like Amazon, Google Play, Shopee, and more. Through Payfi integrations, the wallet is the only self-custodial wallet supporting maximum payment flexibility via crypto cards, QR code scans, and in-app purchases. Integrations with national QR code systems in Asia and Latin America are also underway to support local merchant payments. The Bitget Wallet Card is already live in Asia, with further expansion in Europe and Latin America to support everyday crypto spending globally.

    To make onboarding easier, Bitget Wallet will soon launch Simple Mode in selected regions, offering a streamlined interface where the concept of gas and chains are completely abstracted away and tailored to Web3 newcomers. A new AI-powered support chatbot is in development to assist users in real time. In parallel, the platform’s Discover page is being upgraded into a central hub for onchain activity, featuring a smart DApp browser, testnet tools, multi-chain playbooks, and push notifications for airdrops and project updates, making it easier for users to navigate the broader Web3 ecosystem.

    Security continues to be a core focus. Bitget Wallet uses advanced encryption and MPC-based recovery to simplify account access without relying on traditional seed phrases. Real-time risk detection, phishing alerts, and smart transaction protections work together to help users stay safe. As wallets expand from basic storage into multi-functional financial apps, Bitget Wallet continues to prioritize both security and simplicity across user experience.

    Bitget Wallet’s roadmap highlights its broader vision of building a crypto wallet for everyone — from first-time users to advanced traders. With nearly 100 Web3 projects joining its Crypto for Everyone Movement, Bitget Wallet is launching new user onboarding programs, educational initiatives, and ecosystem partnerships — backed by a $1 million incentive campaign to drive adoption. Complementing these efforts, the Bitget Wallet Champion Program empowers community leaders and content creators worldwide to drive Web3 adoption through education, engagement, and exclusive rewards. The wallet aims to close the gap between crypto and real-world usage, enabling anyone to benefit from Web3 — wherever they are on their journey.

    For more details on the product roadmap, please visit the Bitget Wallet blog.

    About Bitget Wallet
    Bitget Wallet is a non-custodial crypto wallet designed to make crypto simple and secure for everyone. With over 80 million users, it brings together a full suite of crypto services, including swaps, market insights, staking, rewards, DApp exploration, and payment solutions. Supporting 130+ blockchains and millions of tokens, Bitget Wallet enables seamless multi-chain trading across hundreds of DEXs and cross-chain bridges. Backed by a $300+ million user protection fund, it ensures the highest level of security for users’ assets.

    For more information, visit: X | Telegram | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn | TikTok | Discord | Facebook

    For media inquiries, contact media.web3@bitget.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4ceb2d7f-2514-45ba-9ea9-1764091b44c8

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Secretary-General of ASEAN to participate in the 46th ASEAN Summit, 2nd ASEAN- GCC Summit and ASEAN-GCC-China Summit, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Source: ASEAN

    At the invitation of The Honourable Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia and Chair of ASEAN for 2025, Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, will lead the ASEAN Secretariat Delegation to participate in the 46th ASEAN Summit, 2nd ASEAN Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and ASEAN-GCC-China Summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 26-27 May 2025, under the theme “Inclusivity and Sustainability.”
     
    The series of meetings will also include the ASEAN Leaders’ Interface with Representatives of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), ASEAN Leaders’ Interface with Representatives of ASEAN Youth, and ASEAN Leaders’ Interface with Representatives of ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC).
     
    Prior to the Summits, Dr. Kao will also take part in the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM), 29th ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) Council Meeting, 25th ASEAN Economic Community Council (AECC) Meeting and the 36th ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) Meeting, on 25 May 2025.
     
    Dr. Kao is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with high-level dignitaries from ASEAN, ASEAN’s external partners as well as from international organisations to exchange views on enhancing existing cooperation, exploring new areas for collaboration and advancing ASEAN Community-building efforts. Dr. Kao will also engage in media interviews to promote ASEAN’s diplomacy, visibility and awareness.
     
    The series of high-level meetings will provide an excellent opportunity to take stock of ASEAN’s progress, set future directions and reaffirm ASEAN’s commitment to regional peace, stability, and sustainable development, especially in a time when ASEAN embarks on ASEAN Community Vision 2045, a historic 20-year vision of ASEAN
    The post Secretary-General of ASEAN to participate in the 46th ASEAN Summit, 2nd ASEAN- GCC Summit and ASEAN-GCC-China Summit, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Secretary-General of ASEAN meets with the President of ERIA and the Dean of the ERIA School of Government

    Source: ASEAN

    Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, this afternoon held a meeting with President of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) Professor Tetsuya Watanabe and Dean of the ERIA School of Government Professor Nobuhiro Aizawa, at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat. The meeting discussed ERIA’s ongoing work and its strategic direction. Both sides emphasised their continued collaboration to promote regional integration, peace, and prosperity. ERIA also expressed its appreciation to Dr. Kao for his leadership in facilitating the official visit of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, President of the Senate of Cambodia, to the ERIA School of Government’s Leadership Lecture, on 6 May 2025.

    The post Secretary-General of ASEAN meets with the President of ERIA and the Dean of the ERIA School of Government appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Development Asia: Women as Agents of Change: Shaping Resilience through Sponge Cities

    Source: Asia Development Bank

    One of the strongest success factors behind SZWG’s gender action plan was leadership commitment, particularly from senior champions like Vice President Ji, who modeled inclusive leadership and advocated for key reforms such as the Childcare Leave policy.

    Another key enabler was the Women’s Committee, which acted as an internal driver for change. By working closely with HR and the Labor Union, the committee translated employee needs into concrete actions—such as the successful launch of subsidized psychological counseling during the pandemic. This responsiveness built trust and ensured that such initiatives were grounded in workforce needs.

    Setting measurable targets for women in leadership also proved effective in raising awareness and accountability, particularly in a sector with historically low female representation.

    What could have made this even stronger? Formalizing these successes into policy. Making inclusion targets part of official HR practices, like setting leadership benchmarks, would help ensure long-term progress, not just one-time wins.

    Inclusion should not be isolated to certain departments or administrative roles. Women have a crucial role to play in water management itself. At SZWG, female staff are increasingly involved in technical training, innovation, and knowledge-sharing on sponge city development and smart water systems. Their growing presence in technical roles has improved outcomes and sparked more holistic, community-minded solutions.

    Key takeways for other organizations

    • Find and empower visible champions who can push for bold, practical reforms.
    • Establish women-led groups to keep inclusion efforts grounded in staff needs.
    • Turn early wins into long-term policy—think beyond awareness and into accountability.
    • Actively involve women in innovation, decision-making and technical fields.
    • Support employee well-being, not as an add-on, but as a foundation for inclusive culture.

    When women are empowered—not only in the workplace but also as decision-makers and innovators in the water sector —they become powerful agents of change. SZWG’s experience shows that by investing in women’s leadership, both within the organization and across the sector, it’s possible to drive smarter solutions and build more resilient cities. This is how resilience is built—through inclusive leadership and smart urban water systems shaped by diverse voices.

    [1] SZWG’s sponge city development is guided by modeling of surface water, weather patterns, drainage systems, and groundwater. It involves low-impact development techniques such as the use of wetlands, permeable pavements, rainwater gardens, green roofs, storage facilities, wastewater reuse, and managed aquifer recharge.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Legal academic says Samoa’s criminal libel law should go after charge

    By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist

    An Auckland University law academic says Samoa’s criminal libel law under which a prominent journalist has been charged should be repealed.

    Lagi Keresoma, the first female president of the Journalists Association of Samoa (JAWS) and editor of Talamua Online, was charged under the Crimes Act 2013 on Sunday after publishing an article about a former police officer, whom she asserted had sought the help of the Head of State to withdraw charges brought against him.

    JAWS has already called for the criminal libel law to be scrapped and Auckland University academic Beatrice Tabangcoro told RNZ Pacific that the law was “unnecessary and impractical”.

    “A person who commits a crime under this section is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 175 penalty units or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months,” the Crimes Act states.

    JAWS said this week that the law, specifically Section 117A of the Crimes Act, undermined media freedom, and any defamation issues could be dealt with in a civil court.

    JAWS gender representative to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Keresoma’s arrest “raises serious concerns about the misuse of legal tools to independent journalism” in the country.

    Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson called on the Samoan government “to urgently review and repeal criminal defamation laws that undermine democratic accountability and public trust in the justice system”.

    Law removed and brought back
    The law was removed by the Samoan government in 2013, but was brought back in 2017, ostensibly to deal with issues arising on social media.

    Auckland University’s academic Beatrice Tabangcoro . . . reintroduction of the law was widely criticised at the time. Image: University of Auckland

    Auckland University’s academic Beatrice Tabangcoro told RNZ Pacific that this reintroduction was widely criticised at the time for its potential impact on freedom of speech and media freedom.

    She said that truth was a defence to the offence of false statement causing harm to reputation, but in the case of a journalist this could lead to them being compelled to reveal their sources.

    The academic said that the law remained unnecessary and impractical, and she pointed to the Samoa Police Commissioner telling media in 2023 that the law should be repealed as it was used “as a tool for harassing the media and is a waste of police resources”.

    Tonga and Vanuatu are two other Pacific nations with the criminal libel law on their books, and it is something the media in both those countries have raised concerns about.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –