Category: Asia Pacific

MIL-OSI Video: Coast Guard airdrop and medevac off Hawaii. #USCG #Airdrop #Medevac #SearchandRescue

Source: US Coast Guard (video statements)

Coast Guard crews from units across Hawaii joined forces to help a fisherman, far offshore of the Big Island, who had reportedly been experiencing abdominal pain and fever for 10 days in early May 2025.

On Wednesday, an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew dropped him antibiotics to provide some initial medical relief.

When the vessel came into range for support Friday, a Coast Guard helicopter crew hoisted the 68-year-old man and brought him safely to Hilo Medical Center.

This case illustrates the importance of training, coordination, communication, and the hard work our teams devote to every search and rescue case!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkvvhkbPfB8

MIL OSI Video –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Lim Cosmic Rhapsody: this orchestral journey to outer space aims to deliver hope amid global crisis – but falls short

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gavin Williams, Lecturer in Music, King’s College London

On the evening of May 5, I took my seat in London’s Barbican Centre to experience a programme of interplanetary music. The concert began with the world premiere of Lim Cosmic Rhapsody, a piece by composer Manu Martin, and ended with Gustav Holst’s The Planets (completed in 1916 and first performed in 1920). Athwart these large orchestral works, lasting about 50 minutes each, lay a century’s worth of knowledge about space and music.

Lim Cosmic Rhapsody is a piano concerto, which aspires to tell, according to the work’s creative director Susan Lim, a “compelling story of climate change and humanity’s search for solutions beyond Earth”. Following the premiere, the piece has been released as an album.

Its first performance saw celebrated pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet command the stage in an iridescent dark-blue jacket and crystal-encrusted black slippers. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, led by conductor Robert Ziegler, was excellent and extended for the occasion by a huge choir drawn from the City of London Choir and London Voices, together with duduk (a type of flute), theremin (an electronic instrument), a drum kit and electric guitar and bass.

Additional vocal stylings were supplied by Matthieu Eymard and Britain’s Got Talent 2023 finalist Tom Ball. They jointly closed the concerto with a rock-inspired number celebrating human-alien hybrids.

But it began, with stern minor blows from the piano and an orchestral flurry reminiscent of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. They were intended to conjure up, as the programme notes explained, a “futuristic space lab in California in 2035”.

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The notes told us to expect the “arrival of a Humanimate” – an apparently friendly alien with an “expanded genetic code” containing human and “inanimate” elements. Cue oohs and aahs from the choir. The overall effect was that of a Hollywood soundtrack by James Horner, the composer for Titanic and Avatar.

Using the orchestra to tell stories is an established practice in contemporary film music, and in an earlier tradition of 19th-century programme music. The idea of using orchestral music to narrate global, environmental stories is, however, relatively new — an early example being Michael Abel’s Global Warming (1990), which juxtaposes musical idioms from across the world.

More recent orchestral works in this area, by contrast, tend to avoid “symphonising” the climate crisis – melding together musical differences into optimistic stories about “humanity” overcoming Earth – by sounding out specific ecologies under threat.

In Lim Cosmic Rhapsody, music and story are tightly woven, as in film music. But without the visual dimension, the story is hard to follow. I have reconstructed the following from the album pre-recorded by the record label Decca and released to coincide with the premiere.

The story of the concert follows a purple alpaca named Lavvy, brought back to life by a 3D printer, who guides a delegation from Earth to her homeland on a far-off planet, known as Purple Cave. A Song of a Lost Tribe pays tribute to the indigene-alpaca and her kind. Composed by Indian songwriter Joi Barua and orchestrated by Manu, it sets a melody in the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute (here expertly played by Andrew Findon), against slow-burn motor rhythms and faux-ethnic chanting.

We arrive at the Purple Cave. A martial beat recalls Darth Vader but soon dissolves into an uplifting riff, as Lavvy the resurrected alpaca prepares for her immortalisation. At the work’s peak, she obligingly blows herself up, becoming Star Among the Cosmic Clouds (a twinkling piano Alberti bass paints the scene) and releasing life-saving purple dust to rescue the Earthlings.

Star Among Cosmic Clouds from Lim Cosmic Rhapsody.

The work was conceived by Singaporean composer and surgeon Susan Lim in the early days of lockdown from the ski slopes of Courchevel, France. In this moment of global crisis, she found hope in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon flight, that delivered Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station in May 2020.

Lim prepared for the event by releasing a carefully timed animated tweet that caught the attention of SpaceX’s owner Elon Musk. He replied with a quote from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody: “Open your eyes, look up to the skies.”

From this digital acorn, the Alan trilogy, of which Lim Cosmic Rhapsody is the second instalment, was born and continues to grow. A third part, Lim Symphony of the Oceans, is on the way.

Creativity and privilege

The series’ large creative team includes distinguished artists but is clearly led by Lim and other medics who have “never created art before” (according to the album’s liner notes). This speaks to the money and the power behind the project, together with the ego and eccentricity of its creative director.

Beyond this work’s neocolonial fantasy of an exploding alpaca, it also speaks to the privilege of those who can afford to indulge in implausibly optimistic stories of technocratic overcoming. I was reminded of Indian writer Amitav Ghosh’s argument for the need for new ways to narrate the climate crisis as an urgent problem of human understanding. The combination of music and story on offer here was a serious misstep in this regard.

It was a relief to step back a hundred years in music history and listen with fresh ears, in the second half of the concert, to Gustav Holst’s orchestral take on the galaxy, produced during another time of global crisis, the first world war, albeit on more slender means. Holst’s astrology-inspired suite felt imaginative, fresh and crisp in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s thoroughly committed performance.

As I transitioned from the cosmic clouds and back into the city fumes, ecological questions hung in the air. But not the questions the creators of Lim Cosmic Rhapsody might have hoped (how to save humanity? will science save the day? where to start space mining?) but rather that of the music’s own ecological footprint.

Conspicuous in this last respect was the mindless printing of hundreds of 33rpm records of the work, given away as party favours during a champagne reception before the concert and during the interval. How many times will these records, pressed from fresh plastics derived from oil, be played? Given the large stack left on the table at the end of the evening, I suspect some may never be played even once.

Gavin Williams 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. Lim Cosmic Rhapsody: this orchestral journey to outer space aims to deliver hope amid global crisis – but falls short – https://theconversation.com/lim-cosmic-rhapsody-this-orchestral-journey-to-outer-space-aims-to-deliver-hope-amid-global-crisis-but-falls-short-256384

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Type 5 diabetes is a newly recognised disease – here are all the types of diabetes you need to know about
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Craig Beall, Senior Lecturer in the Neuroscience of Energy Homeostasis, University of Exeter

Suriyawut Suriya/Shutterstock.com

Type 5 diabetes has just been recognised as a distinct form of diabetes by the International Diabetes Federation. Despite the name, there are more than a dozen different types of diabetes. The classification isn’t quite as tidy as the numbering suggests.

Here’s a clear guide to the different types, including some that you may not have heard of, along with information about what causes them and how they are treated.

Type 1

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the body’s immune system mistakenly attacking the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. This autoimmune reaction can occur at any age, from infancy through to old age.

It is not linked to diet or lifestyle. Instead, it probably results from a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental triggers, such as viral infections.

Treatment involves lifelong insulin therapy, delivered through injections or pumps.

A small number of people who struggle with low blood sugars, called hypoglycaemia, can receive new cells in the pancreas that produce insulin from deceased donors. For many, this reduces the number of insulin injections needed. Some can stop taking their insulin altogether.

What’s more, dozens of people have now received stem-cell-derived transplants to effectively “cure” their diabetes, although people still need to take strong immune-suppressing drugs. This treatment is not yet widely available.

Type 2

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the condition and is often linked to having a high BMI (body mass index). However, it can also affect people of normal weight, particularly those with a strong genetic predisposition.

Certain ethnic groups, including south Asians and people of African and Caribbean descent, are at higher risk – even at lower body weights.

Boosting the body’s production of insulin can help to control blood sugar levels. Some drugs boost insulin production from the pancreas, while others improve insulin sensitivity.

Metformin, for example, is taken by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. This drug improves insulin sensitivity and switches off sugar production by the liver.

There are dozens of different drugs to help control blood sugar in type 2 diabetes. Tailoring treatment to the individual has been shown to improve health outcomes significantly.

Lifestyle changes can also reverse diabetes. This can be done by keeping a low-calorie diet of 800 calories a day. In a research trial maintaining this diet for 12 months reversed diabetes in 46% of people.

Gestational diabetes

This type of diabetes develops during pregnancy, typically between weeks 24 and 28. It is triggered by hormonal changes that reduce the body’s sensitivity to insulin.

Risk factors include being overweight or obese, a family history of diabetes, and giving birth to a large baby in a previous pregnancy.

Those from Middle Eastern, south Asian, black and African Caribbean backgrounds are also at higher risk of gestational diabetes. Age is also a factor, as insulin sensitivity declines with age. This can be treated with diet and exercise, tablets or insulin injections.

Gestational diabetes usually develops during the second or third trimester of pregnancy.
Just Life/Shutterstock.com

Rarer forms of diabetes

There are at least nine sub-types of diabetes that include rare genetic forms, sometimes caused by a single genetic change. Others can be caused by treatment, such as surgery or drugs, such as steroids.
- Neonatal diabetes appears early in life. Some of the genetic changes affect how insulin is released from the pancreas. Some people still make their own insulin, so can be treated with tablets that help pancreas cells to push out insulin.
- Maturity onset diabetes of the young, or Mody, occurs later in life and is linked to genetic changes. There are several gene changes, with some affecting how pancreas cells sense sugar and others affecting how the pancreas develops.
- Type 3c diabetes is different. It is caused by damage to the pancreas. People with pancreatic cancer, for example, can develop diabetes after parts of the pancreas are removed. It can also develop after pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).
- Those with cystic fibrosis are also at a higher risk of developing diabetes. This is called cystic fibrosis-related diabetes. The risk increases with age and is very common, with around a third of people with cystic fibrosis developing diabetes by the age of 40.
Type 5

This newly designated form is linked to malnutrition during early life. Type 5 diabetes is more common in poorer countries. It affects around 20-25 million people worldwide.

People have low body weight and lack insulin. But the lack of insulin is not caused by the immune system. Instead, the body may not have received the correct nutrition during childhood to help the pancreas develop normally.

Studies with rodents have shown that a low-protein diet during pregnancy or adolescence leads to poor pancreas development. This has been known for many years. Having a smaller pancreas is a risk factor for different forms of diabetes. Essentially, having fewer reserves of insulin-producing cells.

Diabetes is an umbrella term for a range of conditions that result in raised blood sugar levels, but the underlying causes vary widely. Understanding the specific types of diabetes someone has is crucial to providing the right treatment.

As medical science evolves, so does the classification of diabetes. Recognising malnutrition-related diabetes as type 5 will stimulate discussion. This is a step towards better global understanding and care – especially in low-income countries.

Craig Beall currently receives funding from Diabetes UK, Breakthrough T1D, Steve Morgan Foundation Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge, Medical Research Council, NC3Rs, Society for Endocrinology and British Society for Neuroendocrinology.

– ref. Type 5 diabetes is a newly recognised disease – here are all the types of diabetes you need to know about – https://theconversation.com/type-5-diabetes-is-a-newly-recognised-disease-here-are-all-the-types-of-diabetes-you-need-to-know-about-256262
MIL OSI – Global Reports –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Erick Tsang to visit Hungary, Egypt

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang will conclude his Beijing visit tomorrow and depart for Hungary and Egypt from May 15 to 20 to attend the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Economic & Trade Cooperation Exchange Conferences.

The conferences are jointly organised by the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Macao Special Administrative Region Government, to promote the development opportunities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

While in Beijing, Mr Tsang led the Hong Kong SAR Government delegation to meet Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Hua Chunying and leaders of various bureaus to deepen their understanding of the country’s foreign policies and the latest developments of the international situation.

Mr Tsang thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its staunch and continuous support for the Hong Kong SAR Government.

He hoped it would continue to provide support and guidance to the Hong Kong SAR Government in handling the city’s external affairs, to support Hong Kong in intensifying international interaction and co-operation, and to showcase the successful implementation of “one country, two systems” to the world.

Mr Tsang also met the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the Committee on Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan & Overseas Chinese of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and toured the China Foreign Affairs University.

Before leaving Beijing tomorrow, he will visit the Museum of Early Revolutionary Activities of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, meet Hong Kong students in Beijing, and call on the Office of the Hong Kong SAR Government in Beijing to receive briefings on its work.

Mr Tsang will leave for Budapest, Hungary, in the early hours of May 15 to attend the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area – Europe (Hungary) Economic & Trade Cooperation Exchange Conference the next day.

The conference aims to promote the enormous business opportunities brought about by the GBA to the Hungarian business community and how Hong Kong can play its important function as a “super connector” and “super value-adder” between the two places.

During his stay in Hungary, Mr Tsang will meet local political and business representatives to learn about the latest developments in the region and explore ways to further strengthen co-operation between Hungary and Hong Kong, with a view to opening up new opportunities for enterprises of both places.

He will depart for Cairo, Egypt, on May 17 for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area – Africa (Egypt) Economic & Trade Cooperation Exchange Conference on May 19 to promote the GBA’s latest developments and the development potential as well as Hong Kong’s unique advantages under “one country, two systems”.

During his stay, he will exchange views with representatives of the local political and business circles to understand the local development trends and promote interface between the industries of Hong Kong and Egypt.

Mr Tsang will leave Egypt on the evening of May 19, returning to Hong Kong on May 20. During his absence, Under Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Clement Woo will be Acting Secretary.

Commissioner for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Maisie Chan and Director-General of Investment Promotion Alpha Lau will join the visits.

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

May 14, 2025
PM Modi hails armed forces’ heroism, says India’s response to terror will be on its own terms

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the Air Force Station at Adampur on Monday, hailed the valour and professionalism of the armed forces, declaring that the success of Operation Sindoor had sent a strong and irreversible message to India’s enemies: the country will respond to terror and provocation decisively, on its own terms.

Addressing air warriors and soldiers, PM Modi said the chant of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ was not just a slogan, but a solemn pledge taken by every soldier and citizen to serve and protect the nation. “This slogan is not mere words—it is a vow. It is the voice that echoes from the battlefield, the roar that follows our missiles, and the resolve that terrifies our enemies,” he said.

Referring to the recent military operation, the Prime Minister said the country’s armed forces had demonstrated exceptional courage and capability. “The success of Operation Sindoor is not just a military achievement—it is a reflection of India’s policy, intent and decisive power,” he said, adding that the Indian Army, Air Force, and Navy had acted in perfect coordination to dismantle terror networks deep within Pakistani territory.

He asserted that Indian drones and missiles had struck with such precision and force that the enemy was left stunned. “In just 20-25 minutes, our forces hit their targets with absolute accuracy. The enemy never saw it coming,” he said.

PM Modi revealed that the operation destroyed nine major terrorist hideouts and eliminated over 100 terrorists. “The masterminds of terrorism must now understand that provoking India will lead only to one consequence—total destruction,” he said. He also praised the restraint and responsibility shown by the armed forces during the operation, especially while Pakistan used civilian aircraft to shield its military infrastructure. “Our soldiers operated with precision and caution, upholding both strength and humanity,” he said.

Calling Operation Sindoor a turning point in India’s defence posture, the Prime Minister said the country’s response to future provocations would be guided by three clear principles. “First, if India is attacked, the response will be on our terms. Second, we will not tolerate nuclear blackmail. Third, we will make no distinction between terrorist masterminds and the governments that shelter them,” he said.

He underlined that the Pakistani army, which had long harboured terrorists, had been decisively pushed back. “There is no safe haven left for them. India will strike them in their own territory if necessary,” PM Modi said, adding that the success of Operation Sindoor had not only neutralised threats but also shattered the morale of the enemy.

Addressing the personnel from the Air Force, Navy, Army, and the Border Security Force, PM Modi said, “You have filled every Indian’s heart with pride. The entire country stood with you, praying and supporting your mission. It is because of you that every Indian walks taller today.”

He also paid tribute to India’s military tradition, invoking the legacy of Guru Gobind Singh. “He said, ‘I will make one warrior fight against 125,000… I will make sparrows defeat hawks.’ That spirit lives on in every Indian soldier,” he said.

PM Modi acknowledged the technological edge India has built over the years, crediting the past decade’s reforms and acquisitions for strengthening the armed forces. “Today, the Indian military has some of the most advanced systems in the world. With the Akash missile systems and S-400 air defence platforms, our borders are secure, and our enemies have been forced to retreat,” he said.

He added that India’s modern warfare now extends beyond traditional firepower. “We don’t just fight with weapons anymore—we fight with data, with drones, with intelligence. Our forces have mastered this new battlefield,” he said.

The Prime Minister emphasized that while the current military action has been paused in response to Pakistan’s appeal, India’s forces remain fully alert. “Let me be clear—if there is any further provocation or attack, India’s response will be swift, firm, and uncompromising,” he said.

PM Modi urged the armed forces to continue their vigilance. “This is a new India—an India that seeks peace but will not hesitate to strike back if humanity is threatened,” he said.

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: A Dose of History: Pioneers of UConn Pharmacy

Source: US State of Connecticut

Ann Petry: Making the Impossible Possible

Raised as a third-generation New Englander and Connecticut native, Ann Petry became the first Black woman to graduate from the Connecticut College of Pharmacy in 1931 (now, the UConn School of Pharmacy).

Anna Houston Lane, born in 1908, called Old Saybrook her home. In 1925, Ann graduated from high school as the only person of African American descent. Ann’s parents inspired her to push the limits of what was possible. Change-making didn’t scare the Lane family – Ann’s father, Pete, opened and operated two drugstores as a pharmacist. Her mother, Bertha James Lane, worked in a factory before becoming a shop owner, hairdresser, and chiropodist, and creating her own business, Beautiful Linens for Beautiful Homes. As the youngest of three daughters, Ann and her sisters were raised in “classic New England tradition” with strong familial role models who empowered her in light of systemic racial disadvantages.

“The Lanes were a close-knit, middle-class Black family, which provided the young Ann Lane with a strong sense of herself as well as with a level of confidence…” – A Yęmisi Jimoh (UMass ScholarWorks)

Ann, inspired by her aunt, Anna L. James, the first black woman pharmacist in Connecticut, became determined to continue breaking barriers for Black women and to carry on her family legacy by enrolling in the Connecticut College of Pharmacy in New Haven, which has since been transformed into the School of Pharmacy in Storrs. After receiving her Graduate in Pharmacy degree (Ph.G.) from the School, Ann worked in the family business for several years in Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. While working as a pharmacist, Ann also explored her other interest in writing, crafting short stories in her free time.

Ann Petry (Wikimedia Commons)

In 1938, Anne married George Petry, a Louisiana-born resident of Harlem. Soon after, Ann moved to New York City and set aside her pharmaceutical career to become a journalist and writer. She dove into the world of activism, inspired by the Harlem Renaissance, and wrote for The Harlem Amsterdam News and The People’s Voices while writing short stories and novels focused on the Black experience. While her husband was in service during WWII, Ann began work on her first novel The Street, which became the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than a million copies after its publication in 1946. Ann eventually moved back to Saybrook, where she continued her joy of writing, and passed away in 1997 with her loving husband and only daughter, Elizabeth Petry, by her side. Shortly before her death, she was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in Connecticut where her legacy continues to live.

As the granddaughter of a slave who self-liberated and traveled to Connecticut through the Underground Railroad, Ann Petry had the forces of history against her. Yet, with the support of her loving family and friends, Ann wrote her own story – finding success in both pharmacy and writing.

Varro Tyler: From Pharmacognosist to Philatelist

A successful professor, pharmacognosist, and lifelong scholar, Varro Tyler graduated from UConn’s School of Pharmacy with his M.S. in 1951 and his Ph.D. in 1953, becoming the first individual to be awarded both degrees from the School.

Born in Nebraska in 1926, Varro was a Southern man at heart but moved to Connecticut for his academic pursuits in herbal medicine. Before attending UConn, he received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Nebraska and studied plant sciences at Yale on an Eli Lilly Research Fellowship for a year before attending UConn.

Varro Tyler (Wikimedia Commons)

Having attained his pharmacy degrees from several colleges and universities, Varro couldn’t leave academics behind. His most notable roles include associate professor and chairman of the Department of Pharmacognosy at the University of Nebraska, a similar position at the University of Washington, and Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Purdue University in 1966.

Along with his time in academia, Varro served as the first president of the American Society of Pharmacognosy and president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). As an active member of professional organizations and his community, Varro implemented his work in several settings – writing more than 270 publications and frequently appearing on TV and radio talk shows.

As the dietary supplement industry boomed in the 1990s, Varro urged the FDA to take a more assertive role in regulating product quality and manufacturers’ claims while writing a monthly column on herbal remedies for Prevention magazine. Varro grounded his interests in scientific research, opposing para-herbalism (herbalism based on pseudoscience) throughout his academic career.

Varro’s research interests were wide-ranging, including herbal medicine, medicinal and toxic constituents of higher fungi, drug plant cultivation, and more. In addition to his literature on these pharmaceutical topics, Varro was an avid stamp collector later in life and specialized in the postage stamps of Japan. As a philatelist, Varro wrote substantial literature on stamp forgery and had a long association with the International Society for Japanese Philately.

“Varro had a profound impact on pharmacy education, natural product science, and the use of herbal medicine” and received many awards and accolades.” – James E. Robbers (The American Society of Pharmacognosy)

After retiring in 1996, Varro continued to be passionate about his interests and passed away in 2001 with his loving wife, Virginia, by his side.

Mike Pikal: A Legacy That Lives On

With a UConn career spanning almost twenty-five years, Mike Pikal inspired thousands of students and faculty at the School and left an unmatched legacy.

Born in 1939 in Minnesota to parents Harold and Sophie, Mike was raised in the Midwest. He stayed close to home, earning his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from St. John’s University in Minnesota. He later received a doctorate from Iowa State University in 1966.

Mike started his career as an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee before joining Eli Lilly Research Laboratories in the early 1970s. After years of dedicated research, Mike became a senior research scientist and won the 1996 President’s Award for his work at the company. Years later, in 1996, he joined UConn Nation as a professor of pharmaceutics.

During his time at UConn, Mike made the School proud, serving as the department head of Pharmaceutical Sciences and an Emeritus Professor while maintaining a fully active and highly productive research program. In 2005, he was named the first Pfizer Distinguished Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Technology.

Mike Pikal (UConn Archives)

Mike’s research spanned freeze-drying, solid-state chemistry/materials science of pharmaceuticals and protein stability, which led to more than 170 publications. Particularly interested in freeze-drying, Mike was a leader in this field and its technology and was the main contributor to the School’s successful partnerships with groups like The Center for Pharmaceutical Processing (CPPR) and The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL). He also directed a prominent and diverse research program in freeze-drying. Because of these efforts, as well as his membership in various pharmaceutical associations, Pikal won several awards, becoming one of fewer than twenty scientists to receive the AAPS Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award.

While all his accolades and research pursuits are outstanding, the School is especially grateful for the relationships Pikal formed with his Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scholars. Selflessly giving his time and advice to those starting in the pharmacy field, Pikal was truly an inspiration to those around him.

Surrounded by his loving wife, Janice, five children, and many grandchildren, Pikal passed away in 2018, a year after retiring from UConn.

“Mike is just in a different league than most of the rest of us. One of the many things we love about him is that he never makes us feel that way.” — Steve Nail (Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences)



MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Secretary-General’s remarks to the Ministerial Meeting on the Future of Peacekeeping [bilingual, as delivered; scroll down for all-English]

Source: United Nations – English

ear Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, our generous hosts.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

My thanks to Germany for bringing us together at this consequential moment.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.

Our organization was founded on the conviction that peace is possible if we work as one united human family.

That is what our peace operations are about.

From preventive diplomacy to peacekeeping…

From negotiating ceasefires to helping to implement them…

From electoral support and observer missions to de-mining operations and protection of civilians…

To the focus of today’s Ministerial meeting — peacekeeping.

Excellencies,

UN Blue Helmets are the most globally recognized symbol of the world’s ability to come together to help countries move from conflict to peace.

Peacekeepers hail from every corner of the world.

But they are united in their commitment to peace.

As we meet today, UN peacekeepers are hard at work helping to ensure that ceasefires are respected…

Protecting civilians caught in the line of fire…

Helping provide the conditions for lifesaving aid to flow to those in need…

And laying the foundations for long-term recovery.

In trouble spots around the world, Blue Helmets can mean the difference between life and death.

And they are also a clear demonstration of the power of multilateral action to maintain, achieve and sustain peace.

There is a long list of countries that have achieved durable peace with the support of UN Peacekeeping — including Cambodia, Cote d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Liberia, Namibia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Timor Leste.

Many of these countries now themselves contribute troops.

At the same time, we recognize that peace comes at a price.

Through the decades, 4,400 peacekeepers have fallen in the line of duty.

Their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.

Please join me in a moment of silence to honour all those who lost their lives in the pursuit of peace.

[MOMENT OF SILENCE]

Thank you.

Excellencies,

We owe it to peacekeepers — and the populations they protect — to continue strengthening their ability to answer this call to peace.

And to do so in the face of daunting challenges.

Complex, intertwined and frequently borderless conflicts…

Growing polarization and division around the globe…

Targeting of peacekeepers through deadly misinformation spreading through social media…

Terrorism and transnational crime, which find fertile ground in instability…

The ongoing climate crisis that is exacerbating conflict while leaving more of the planet uninhabitable…

All the continued trampling of international law and international humanitarian law.

As a result, we are now facing the highest number of conflicts since the foundation of the United Nations, and record numbers of people fleeing across borders in search of safety and refuge.

We must recognize that peacekeeping operations are only as effective as the mandates directing them, and can struggle in contexts where political support and clearly defined outcomes and solutions are absent or elusive.

Meanwhile, we see increasing differences of views around how peacekeeping operations should work, under what circumstances, with what mandates they should be deployed, and for how long.

And we face dramatic financial constraints across the board.

We’ve worked to adapt in the face of these challenges.

But we need to do more.

Today, I want to highlight three areas of focus.

First — help us shape peacekeeping operations that are fit for the future.

The Pact for the Future called for a Review of Peace Operations — including peacekeeping.

The review will examine how we can make peacekeeping operations more adaptable, flexible and resilient — while recognizing the limitations in situations where there is little or no peace to keep.

It will also aim to critically examine the tools we have today and propose concrete recommendations to make them fit for the future.

Through this review, we must ensure that the United Nations is prepared to deploy peace operations tailored to each individual conflict, while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow.

We can draw inspiration from our UNIFIL operation, which recently developed an adaptation plan to keep peace along the Blue Line, and ensure lifesaving aid can flow to civilians in southern Lebanon.

In the Central African Republic, we see MINUSCA protecting civilians and assisting the government to extend its reach beyond the capital where people are in desperate need.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite ongoing fighting, UN Peacekeepers remain in the field, protecting vulnerable populations.

We’re also seeking efficiencies through partnerships — from Member States to regional and sub-regional organizations, to local communities.

Most important among them is our strong partnership with the African Union.

Security Council resolution 2719 has lifted this partnership to a new level as we work to establish peace enforcement missions under the AU’s responsibility, supported by the United Nations through assessed contributions.

Today, the Review of Peace Operations will need to be informed — and inspired — by your views.

Member States make peacekeeping possible.

They must lead the way as we strengthen it for the future.

Second — as we make our operations more adaptable and flexible, we need to do the same in the use of our resources.

Peace operations can only succeed when backed by robust mandates and clear, predictable and sustained contributions, both financial and logistical.

But these are tough times for the financing of our work across the board.

Peacekeeping is no exception.

It is crucial that we are able to use the increasingly limited resources we have — and use them well.

That requires more flexible rules and processes.

This means updating our approach to abolishing or establishing positions, and working with troop-contributing countries to ensure we can deliver.

It means working with Member States and the UN Security Council to ensure that any new mandates are prioritized and achievable with the resources available and with a clear exit strategy.

And it means driving efficiencies and improvements across our work in light of the continued funding challenges we face.

Our Review of Peace Operations will work hand-in-hand with our UN80 initiative, to ensure we maximize efficiencies wherever possible, supported at every step by Member States.

We look forward to your governments’ support and ideas as we tackle these challenges together.

Third — we need your political support, including through the pledges you will make tomorrow.

Peace operations cannot succeed in the absence of a political solution.

Together we need to mobilize greater support for political solutions across our peacekeeping missions.

Pursuing these political solutions requires adequate means of delivering our operations — including unified political support from Member States, strong leadership, well-trained troops, equipment and technology.

These can strengthen our operations, and make a real difference in people’s lives.

And it requires the support of all Member States to ensure the safety and security of United Nations peacekeepers in the field, and the full implementation of the relevant privileges and immunities of the Organization and its personnel.

We are deeply grateful for the support and for the concrete pledges so many of you will announce here tomorrow.

Excellencies,

With a budget shared by all 193 Member States and representing a tiny fraction of global military spending — around one half of one per cent — UN Peacekeeping remains one of the most effective and cost-effective tools to build international peace and security.

But it’s only as strong as Member States’ commitment to it.

Unfortunately, peacekeeping operations have been facing serious liquidity problems.
 
It is absolutely essential that all Member States respect their financial obligations, paying their contributions in full and on time.

Now more than ever, the world needs the United Nations.

And the United Nations needs peacekeeping that is fully equipped for today’s realities and tomorrow’s challenges.

Together, let’s shape the UN peacekeeping operations that the challenges require, that Member States demand, and that our peacekeepers and the people they support need and deserve.
Thank you.

MIL OSI Africa –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI: POET Appoints Ghazi Chaoui, PhD, as Senior Vice President – Global Manufacturing and Digital Transformation

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

TORONTO, May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — POET Technologies Inc. (“POET” or the “Company“) (TSX Venture: PTK; NASDAQ: POET), a leader in the design and implementation of highly-integrated optical engines and light sources for artificial intelligence networks, today announced the appointment of Ghazi M. Chaoui, PhD, MBA as its Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Digital Transformation. Dr. Chaoui recently concluded a multi-year assignment as Chief Procurement Officer of Coherent Corp.

An industry veteran of nearly 40 years, Dr. Chaoui (widely known as “Ghazi”) brings his considerable experience and stellar reputation to POET as it gears up manufacturing in Penang, Malaysia, where he will be stationed, reporting to Dr. Suresh Venkatesan, POET’s Chairman & Chief Executive Officer. Ghazi will plan, direct, coordinate, and oversee all operations tied to order fulfillment, and ensure the development and implementation of efficient operations and cost-effective systems to meet the high demand for 800G and 1.6T transceivers needed by hyperscalers and AI cluster operators. Sundar Natarajan Yoganandan, POET’s Director of External Manufacturing and NPI, also a resident of Malaysia, will report directly to Ghazi.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ghazi to the POET team,” said Dr. Venkatesan. “Our relationship with Globetronics in Malaysia is off to a strong start, with a suite of wafer-level assembly and test equipment installed and operational. With full production capacity expected to be on line this quarter, this is the ideal time for Ghazi and Sundar to staff an organization in Penang and establish the systems we need to ensure delivery of optical engines to customers. We have established POET Technologies Sdn. Bhd. as a wholly owned subsidiary and have begun resourcing it accordingly.”

Ghazi holds PhD and MS degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering and an MBA. He began his career as an R&D lead designer and manager with AT&T Bell Labs and AT&T Microelectronics in Reading, PA. Over the next 40 years Ghazi held key manufacturing and supply chain roles in several countries with Lucent Technologies, Corvis Corporation/Broadwin Communications, Infinera, Oclaro, Teraxion, Kaiam Corp. and Macom Technology Solutions Holdings.

“I am pleased to be joining POET at this time to help build a great company in photonics and optoelectronics, serving many customers that I know well and interacting with many suppliers with whom I have strong relationships,” said Dr. Chaoui. “By semiconductorizing optical engine assembly, I am confident we can supply high performance optical engines at high volumes on time to customers.”

About POET Technologies Inc.
POET is a design and development company offering high-speed optical modules, optical engines and light source products to the artificial intelligence systems market and to hyperscale data centers. POET’s photonic integration solutions are based on the POET Optical Interposer™, a novel, patented platform that allows the seamless integration of electronic and photonic devices into a single chip using advanced wafer-level semiconductor manufacturing techniques. POET’s Optical Interposer-based products are lower cost, consume less power than comparable products, are smaller in size and are readily scalable to high production volumes. In addition to providing high-speed (800G, 1.6T and above) optical engines and optical modules for AI clusters and hyperscale data centers, POET has designed and produced novel light source products for chip-to-chip data communication within and between AI servers, the next frontier for solving bandwidth and latency problems in AI systems. POET’s Optical Interposer platform also solves device integration challenges in 5G networks, machine-to-machine communication, self-contained “Edge” computing applications and sensing applications, such as LIDAR systems for autonomous vehicles. POET is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with operations in Allentown, PA, Shenzhen, China, and Singapore. More information about POET is available on our website at www.poet-technologies.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking information” (within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws) and “forward-looking statements” (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Such statements or information are identified with words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “potential”, “estimate”, “propose”, “project”, “outlook”, “foresee” or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding any potential outcome. Such statements include the Company’s expectations with respect to the success of its senior leadership appointments in Malaysia, the success of its newly established Malaysia subsidiary, the success of its agreement with Globetronics, and the Company’s product development efforts, the performance of its products, operations, meeting revenue targets, and the expectation of continued success in the financing efforts, the capability, functionality, performance and cost of the Company’s technology as well as the market acceptance, inclusion and timing of the Company’s technology in current and future products and expectations regarding its successful development of high speed transceiver solutions and its penetration of the Artificial Intelligence hardware markets.

Such forward-looking information or statements are based on a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions which may cause actual results or other expectations to differ materially from those anticipated and which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the success of its senior leadership appointments in Malaysia, the success of its newly established Malaysia subsidiary, the success of its agreement with Globetronics, and the completion of its development efforts with its customers, the ability to build working prototypes to the customer’s specifications, and the size, future growth and needs of Artificial Intelligence network suppliers. Actual results could differ materially due to a number of factors, including, without limitation, the failure of operations in Malaysia to scale to production as expected, the failure of its technology to meet performance requirements, the failure to produce optical engines on time and within budget, the failure of Artificial Intelligence networks to continue to grow as expected, the failure of the Company’s products to be included in products aimed at AI and datacom networks, operational risks in the completion of the Company’s projects, the ability of the Company to generate sales for its products, and the ability of its customers to deploy systems that incorporate the Company’s products. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information or statements are reasonable, prospective investors in the Company’s securities should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because the Company can provide no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information and statements contained in this news release are as of the date of this news release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise this forward-looking information and statements except as required by law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The MIL Network –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI: Helport AI Launches Helport Remote to Redefine Global Contact Center Management
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

AI-Powered Workforce Monitoring Tool Developed for Large-Scale, Global Operations Targets Rapidly Expanding Remote Customer Service Industry

New Offering Pioneers Intelligent Time Management, Video Monitoring, and Performance Insights Across Borders

SINGAPORE and MANILA, Philippines and SAN DIEGO, May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Helport AI Limited (NASDAQ: HPAI) (“Helport AI” or the “Company”), an AI technology company serving enterprise clients with intelligent customer communication software and services, today announced the launch of Helport Remote, a new workforce monitoring and management tool designed to support the evolving needs of remote contact centers. Engineered specifically for large-scale, multinational contact center operations, Helport Remote aims to empower management teams to achieve greater visibility, control, and efficiency in an increasingly decentralized workforce environment.

The launch follows Helport AI’s strategic expansion across Southeast Asia and builds upon the Company’s AI-powered innovations in customer communication software. With remote and hybrid work models becoming the norm for contact centers globally, Helport Remote is designed to address critical challenges in agent oversight, time zone scheduling, and operational transparency.

Bridging the Distance: A Smarter Way to Manage Remote Contact Centers

Helport Remote combines multiple features into an intuitive and scalable solution for enterprise operations, including:
- Dual-Interface Architecture: The product consists of an agent-side client and an operations dashboard. The agent client can be installed seamlessly and runs in the background to automatically track working hours, training time, and meeting participation—without disrupting workflow. Meanwhile, the operations dashboard enables dynamic, time zone-aware scheduling, real-time oversight, and flexible resource deployment across regions.
- Video Monitoring Technology: Leveraging Helport AI’s proprietary WebRTC infrastructure, Helport Remote enables efficient, high-quality video stream monitoring with minimal bandwidth usage. This makes it especially suitable for small and mid-sized businesses concerned about cost, while delivering robust visibility into agent environments. Monitoring intervals and alert methods (e.g., email, SMS) can be customized to meet varying compliance and business needs.
- Data-Driven Decision Support: As user behavior data is accumulated, Helport Remote generates comprehensive performance reports, including time tracking, compliance analysis, and agent productivity metrics. These reports offer actionable insights to optimize shift planning, elevate service standards, and align agent operations with customer expectations.
- Security and Scalability: Designed with enterprise-grade security and modular architecture, Helport Remote has the ability to scale with organizations—whether organizations are operating local teams or managing thousands of agents across borders.
“Our vision with Helport Remote is to bring intelligence, simplicity, and strategic control to the remote operations space,” said Guanghai Li, CEO of Helport AI. “By integrating behavioral data, time-sensitive scheduling, and low-bandwidth video into a single platform, we aim to redefine what it means to manage a global contact center workforce in the age of AI.”

Built on Decades of Contact Center Expertise

With deep roots in the contact center industry, Helport AI’s founding team brings decades of experience delivering enterprise technology solutions tailored for customer service and business process outsourcing (BPO) environments. The Company has built an established base of contact center clients across geographic regions, supporting high-volume, compliance-driven operations. Helport AI’s newly established Philippines office, launched in January 2025, serves as a proving ground for innovation—hosting over 100 AI-enabled contact center agents who are actively delivering proofs of concept and servicing a wide range of clients across sectors and geographies. This operational foundation ensures Helport Remote is built on a rich understanding of real-world agent workflows and global service demands.

Unlocking Global Talent While Staying Compliant

Helport Remote is expected to be particularly relevant to emerging offshore markets such as the Philippines, where millions of agents serve multinational clients across time zones. Helport Remote seeks to facilitate both operational agility and compliance with statutory work-hour regulations, helping enterprise clients meet service-level agreements while maintaining agent performance and well-being.

As the contact center industry continues to evolve, Helport Remote reflects Helport AI’s commitment to empowering businesses with tools that match the speed and complexity of the modern service landscape.

About Helport AI

Helport AI (NASDAQ: HPAI) is a global technology company serving enterprise clients with intelligent customer communication software and services. Its flagship product, AI Assist, acts as a real-time co-pilot for customer contact teams, delivering smart guidance and tools designed to drive sales, improve customer engagement, and lower costs. The Company’s mission is to empower everyone to work as an expert—using AI to elevate, not replace, human capability. Learn more at www.helport.ai.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking, including, but not limited to, Helport AI’s business strategies, expansion plans, and anticipated results. These statements involve risks and uncertainties based on current expectations and projections. Investors can identify these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “approximates,” “believes,” “hopes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Helport AI 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 Helport AI believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and Helport AI 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 Helport AI’s registration statement and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Media Contact
Helport AI Investor Relations
Email: ir@helport.ai
Website: https://ir.helport.ai/

External Investor Relations Contact
Chris Tyson
Executive Vice President, MZ North America
Direct: +1 949-491-8235
Email: HPAI@mzgroup.us
Website: www.mzgroup.us

The MIL Network –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI: Rocket Software Unveils Innovations to Scale IT Impact Through Resilience, Automation, and AI-Powered Agility
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

WALTHAM, Mass., May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Rocket Software, a global technology leader in modernization software, today announced powerful new innovations to its Skills and Efficiency solutions, designed to help enterprises scale IT operations, close the IT skills gap and improve developer experience with intelligence and precision. New product features include automation, productivity-focused tools, and optional AI-driven capabilities, supporting faster development, stronger system performance, and greater IT resilience without adding layers of complexity and risk. By making it easier for developers and infrastructure teams to work more efficiently, the company continues to support businesses in their IT modernization initiatives and transformation journeys.

These latest innovations from Rocket Software empower customers to:
- Boost developer efficiency by cutting task time from hours to minutes and accelerating new developer ramp-up from months to weeks.
- Improve system performance through AI-driven monitoring and anomaly detection for greater reliability across mainframe environments.
- Reduce IT workload with self-service automation to decrease ticket volume by up to 16%, all while maintaining compliance and security.
- Strengthen resilience with advanced, point-in-time data recovery that minimizes downtime and protects mission-critical systems.
Today’s organizations face shifting customer expectations, ongoing talent shortages, and complex hybrid IT environments. That’s why boosting resiliency and agility, especially in mission-critical systems, is a strategic imperative. To meet these challenges, many are turning to AI, automation, and other emerging technologies. According to McKinsey, companies that successfully adopt agile practices can achieve up to 30% gains in efficiency, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and overall performance. And with IT downtime costing more than $5 million per hour in high-risk industries, strengthening infrastructure resilience is now a critical need.

“IT teams are facing unprecedented demands to deliver more while balancing innovation with operational resilience,” said Phil Buckellew, President, Infrastructure Modernization Business Unit at Rocket Software. “These advancements directly address today’s critical needs – closing the IT skills gap, improving operational efficiency, and enabling modernization without disruption. By aligning cutting-edge technology with business goals, we empower IT leaders to simplify their operations, accelerate business outcomes, and future-proof their organizations, without additional risk.”

“One of the most pressing challenges facing enterprise IT teams today is the ability to address the IT skills gap while modernizing core systems and scaling operations,” said Stephen Elliot, Group Vice President, I&O, Cloud Operations, and DevOps, IDC. “AI is a powerful tool that allows IT to effectively align itself to the business by delivering greater insights and efficiency.”

Rocket Software’s approach to enabling IT modernization while reducing the risk of disruption is at the heart of its product development strategy. These advancements reflect the company’s commitment to delivering customer value through innovation, evidenced by the introduction of new optional capabilities for both developers and infrastructure teams, including:
- Rocket® TMON™: Proactively identifies mainframe performance issues and anomalies before they impact operations using AI-powered analytics, machine learning, and KPI measurement to proactively identify performance issues and anomalies before they impact operations.
- Rocket® Zena™: Empowers non-technical users to automate processes independently, resulting in reduced reliance on IT intervention.
- Rocket® EDX: Makes document management and search faster and easier with natural language input, done via voice or text.
- Rocket® Rapid Data Recovery: Reduces downtime through single point in time data recovery.
- Rocket® MultiValue Developer Assistant: Streamlines the generation, autocompletion, and explanation of MV BASIC code, speeding up time to productivity for new developers from months to weeks.
- Rocket® Uniface^® Developer Assistant : Helps users navigate Uniface documentation, learn the platform faster, generate and explain ProcScript code, and enhance code clarity with comments and plain-language explanations.
For more information on these product updates, click here.

To explore the full list of innovations and access additional product-specific information, visit the company’s website here.

About Rocket Software
Rocket Software is a global technology leader in modernization and a partner of choice that empowers the world’s leading businesses on their modernization journeys, spanning core systems to the cloud. Trusted by over 12,500 customers and 750 partners, and with more than 3,200 global employees, Rocket Software enables customers to maximize their data, applications, and infrastructure to deliver critical services that power our modern world. Rocket Software is a privately held U.S. corporation headquartered in the Boston area with centers of excellence strategically located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Rocket Software is a portfolio company of Bain Capital Private Equity. Follow Rocket Software on LinkedIn and X or visit www.RocketSoftware.com.

Media Contact
Lacey Darrow
ldarrow@rocketsoftware.com

The MIL Network –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI: OMS Energy Technologies Inc. Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SINGAPORE, May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — OMS Energy Technologies Inc. (“OMS” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: OMSE), a growth-oriented manufacturer of surface wellhead systems and oil country tubular goods for the oil and gas industry, today announced the pricing of its initial public offering (the “Offering”) of 3,703,704 ordinary shares, par value US$0.0001 per share (the “Ordinary Shares”), at a public offering price of US$9.00 per share, for a total base offering size of US$33.3 million, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ordinary shares, before deducting underwriting discounts and other related expenses.

The Ordinary Shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market (the “NASDAQ”) on May 13 2025, under the ticker symbol “OMSE.” The offering is expected to close on May 14, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.

In addition, OMS has granted the underwriter a 45-day option from the date of the final prospectus to purchase up to 555,555 additional ordinary shares at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.

Roth Capital Partners acted as the sole manager for the Offering. Joseph Gunnar & Co., LLC acted as financial advisor to the Company in connection with the Offering.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) (File Number: 333-282986), as amended, and was declared effective by the SEC on April 28, 2025. Copies of the registration statement can be accessed through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus, forming a part of the registration statement. Copies of the prospectus related to the offering, when available, may be obtained from: Roth Capital Partners, LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 888 San Clemente Drive, Suite 400, Newport Beach, California 92660, United States, or by calling +1 (800) 678-9147, or by email at rothecm@roth.com. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus and other documents the Company has filed or will file with the SEC for more information about the Company and the Offering.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About OMS Energy Technologies Inc.

OMS Energy Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OMSE) is a growth-oriented manufacturer of surface wellhead systems (SWS) and oil country tubular goods (OCTG) for the oil and gas industry. Serving both onshore and offshore exploration and production operators, OMS is a trusted supplier across six vital jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific, Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) regions. The Company’s 11 strategically located manufacturing facilities in key markets ensure rapid response times, customized technical solutions and seamless adaptation to evolving production and logistics needs. Beyond its core SWS and OCTG offerings, OMS also provides premium threading services to maximize operational efficiency for its customers.

For more information, please visit ir.omsos.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that may constitute “forward-looking” statements which are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the anticipated size of the initial public offering and the expected trading commencement and closing dates. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “would,” “may,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “aims,” “future,” “continues,” “could,” “should,” “target,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “likely to,” and similar expressions. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs, plans, and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: uncertainties related to market conditions, the satisfaction of customary closing conditions related to the initial public offering, the completion of the initial public offering on the anticipated terms, or at all, and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of the preliminary prospectus that forms a part of the effective registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

OMS Energy Technologies Inc.
Investor Relations
Email: ir@omsos.com

Piacente Financial Communications
Brandi Piacente
Tel: +1-212-481-2050
Email: oms@thepiacentegroup.com

Hui Fan
Tel: +86-10-6508-0677
Email: oms@thepiacentegroup.com

The MIL Network –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Starlink’s partnership strategy will benefit both telco expansion and underserved customers in India and Africa, observes GlobalData

Source: GlobalData

Starlink’s partnership strategy will benefit both telco expansion and underserved customers in India and Africa, observes GlobalData

Posted in Technology

Airtel Africa is the latest in the line of telecoms operators partnering with LEO (low-earth orbit) operator Starlink to expand its reach and services. The deal was facilitated by parent company Bharti Airtel, which struck its own agreement with Starlink in India in March. The tie-up between Airtel and Starlink will benefit both companies as well as enterprise customers and businesses, pending regulatory approval in India and five African markets within Airtel Africa’s footprint markets where Starlink is not yet currently licensed, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Ismail Patel, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Technology and Services at GlobalData, comments: “For Starlink, partnering with telcos will give it access to points of sale on the ground as it competes with other LEO satellite systems that are vying for position globally. For telcos like Airtel, Starlink can help expand its reach to business customers with rural presence, educational institutions, health centers, logistical firms, agricultural and mining workers, remote tourist hotspots, and others generally requiring a more robust quality of service. There is also an opportunity for the Airtels of both India and Africa to improve their cellular backhaul through Starlink.”

GlobalData analysis revealed the massive micro, small, and medium business opportunity in India, with roughly similar metrics for the African markets where Airtel operates. Airtel Africa and Starlink partnership has the potential to increase digitalization in rural and semi-rural regions in the 14 countries where Airtel Africa operates, especially for micro, small, and medium businesses.

In India, the Confederation of Indian Industry states that of 63 million MSMEs in the country, over 51% are based in rural areas. Fixed broadband penetration of household units in India stood at just 9% as of end-2024, according to GlobalData.

Patel concludes: “Starlink is trying to get a foothold in the global market with a clever combination of D2C and B2B strategies. It already has struck several partnerships with operators in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, and Ukraine. It wants to maximize the head start it has on its rivals – like Amazon Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile, Telesat Lightspeed, and Eutelsat OneWeb (which itself is partly owned by Bharti Airtel) – that are at various stages of deployment and geographical breadth.

“Competition is expected to heat up rapidly as telcos and satellite vendors will be striking a myriad of partnerships with one another to boost connectivity, which will only serve to benefit business and enterprise customers more. With this backdrop, those telcos and LEOs who stand to gain the most are those who get their foot in the door before others and leverage their first-mover advantage.”

MIL OSI Economics –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: How Asian American became a racial grouping – and why many with Asian roots don’t identify with the term these days

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jennifer Ho, Professor of Asian American Studies, University of Colorado Boulder

People gather for a rally in New York on March 16, 2023, to protest racism against Asian Americans. Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

For the first time, in 1990, May was officially designated as a month honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage. Though the current U.S. administration recently withdrew federal recognition, the month continues to be celebrated by a wide array of people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

People from the Pacific Islands have their own distinct histories and issues, delineated in part by a specific geography. Yet when we refer to the even broader category of Asian Americans, a concept with a deep yet often unknown history, who exactly are we referring to?

There are nearly 25 million people of Asian descent who live in the United States, but the term Asian American remains shrouded by cultural misunderstanding and contested as a term among Asians themselves.

As a professor of Asian American studies, I believe it is important to understand how the label came into being.

A long history of Asian people in America

The arrival of people from Asia to the U.S. long predates the country’s founding in 1776.

After visits to modern-day America that began in the late 16th century, Filipino sailors formed – as early as 1763 – what is believed to be the first Asian settlement in St. Malo, Louisiana.

But it wasn’t until the 1849 California Gold Rush that Asian immigration to the U.S. – from China – began on a mass scale. That was bolstered in the 1860s by Chinese laborers recruited to build the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Starting toward the end of the 19th century, Japanese immigration steadily picked up, so that by 1910 the U.S. Census records a similar number for both communities – just over 70,000. Likewise, a small number of South Asian immigrants began arriving in the early 1900s.

An exclusionary backlash

Yet after coming to the U.S. in search of economic and political opportunities, Asian laborers in America were met by a surge of white nativist hostility and violence. That reaction was codified in civil society groups and government laws, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882.

By 1924, federal law had expanded into a virtual ban on all Asian immigration, and through the first half of the 20th century, a multitude of anti-Asian laws targeted areas including naturalization, marriage and housing, among others.

In 1933, Chinese Americans in Sacramento, Calif., protested against deportations of Asian people and for higher unemployment insurance benefits.
Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images

From the start, people from Asian countries in the U.S. were generally identified broadly with identifiers such as “Oriental,” a common term at the time mostly for those from China, Japan and Korea.

As more Asians came to the U.S, other terms were used to denigrate and demean these new immigrants, whose physical appearance, language and cultural norms were distinctly different from their Euro-American neighbors.

‘Asian American’ and the birth of a movement

The desire to claim America was one of the drivers for activists in the 1960s to create the concept of Asian American that we know today.

The movement began in the charged political context of anti-Vietnam War protests and the Civil Rights Movement for Black equality. Students of Asian heritage at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley were organizing for the establishment of ethnic studies classes, specifically those that centered on the histories of Asians in the U.S.

Rejecting the term “oriental” as too limiting and exotic, since oriental literally means “from the East,” the student activists wanted a term of empowerment that would include the Filipino, Chinese, Korean and Japanese students at the heart of this organizing. Graduate students Emma Gee and Yuji Ichioka came up with “Asian American” as a way to bring activists under one radical organizing umbrella, forming the Asian American Political Alliance in 1968.

A contested term

Today, the Asian American label has moved beyond its activist roots. The term might literally refer to anyone who traces their lineage from the whole of the Asian continent. This could include people from South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka to parts of West Asia like Syria, Lebanon or Iran.

Yet not all people who identify as Asian actually use the words Asian American, since it is a term that flattens ethnic specificity and lumps together people with as disparate of backgrounds as Hmong or Bangladeshi, for example.

A 2023 Pew Research Center survey of self-identified Asian adults living in the U.S. revealed that only 16% of people polled said they identified as “Asian American,” with a majority – 52% – preferring ethnic Asian labels, either alone or in tandem with “American.”

Chinese immigrants play cards while waiting to be called in the immigration offices in New York in the 1940s.
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Moreover, unlike the student activists who worked together through their shared Asian American identity, the majority of people of Asian descent living in the U.S. came after the 1965 Immigration Act was passed, which ended all prior anti-Asian immigration laws. This, combined with a subsequent wave of Asian immigration from parts of Asia not represented in the past – including Vietnam, Taiwan and Pakistan – means that most Asian Americans alive today are either immigrants or one generation removed from immigrants.

As a largely immigrant and recently Americanized group, many Asians therefore may not relate to the struggles of an earlier history of Asians in the U.S. That may contribute to why many don’t connect with the term “Asian American.” Korean immigrants, for instance, may not see their history connected with third-generation Japanese Americans, particularly when considering their homelands have been in conflict for decades.

For some, Asian American is too broad a term to capture the complexity of Asian-heritage Americans.

Indeed, Asian Americans come from over 30 countries with different languages, diverse cultures, and histories that have often been in conflict with other Asian nations. Within such a broad grouping as “Asian American,” a wide range of political, socioeconomic, religious and other differences emerge that greatly complicate this racial label.

Even though the term remains contested, many Asians still see value in the concept. Much like the activists who first created the label in the 1960s, many believe it signifies a sense of solidarity and community among people who – despite their many differences – have been treated like outsiders to the American experience, regardless of how American their roots are.

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

– ref. How Asian American became a racial grouping – and why many with Asian roots don’t identify with the term these days – https://theconversation.com/how-asian-american-became-a-racial-grouping-and-why-many-with-asian-roots-dont-identify-with-the-term-these-days-255578

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Why collect asteroid samples? 4 essential reads on what these tiny bits of space rock can tell scientists

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mary Magnuson, Associate Science Editor

The OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule contained rock from the asteroid Bennu. NASA/Keegan Barber

China’s Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission is set to launch this month, May 2025, en route to the asteroid Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3). The country could join the United States and Japan, whose space agencies have both successfully retrieved a sample from an asteroid to study back on Earth.

Several space missions have flown by asteroids before and gotten a peek at their compositions, but bringing a sample back to Earth is even more helpful for scientists. The most informative analyses require having physical samples to poke and prod, shine light at, run through CT scanners and examine under electron microscopes.

These missions require detailed planning and specialized spacecraft, so to shed light on why agencies go through the trouble, we compiled four stories from The Conversation U.S.’s archive. These articles describe the ways asteroid sample return missions generate new scientific insights at every stage – from the collection process, to the container’s return to Earth, to laboratory analyses.

1. Ryugu’s colorful history

The asteroid Ryugu is made of carbon-rich rock. Japan targeted Ryugu for its sample return mission Hayabusa2 in 2020.

A sealed container that holds a piece of the Ryugu sample from Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission.
NASA/Robert Markowitz

As planetary scientist Paul K. Byrne from Washington University in St. Louis described in his article, the Hayabusa2 team shot the asteroid with a metal projectile and collected the dusty debris that floated into space. This process allowed the Hayabusa2 craft to gather a sample to bring home and also get a close-up look at the asteroid’s surface.

One thing the collection team noticed: The material that flew off the asteroid was redder than the surface they shot at, which had a bluer tinge.

Some parts of Ryugu appear almost striped – the middle latitudes are redder, while the poles look more blue. The sample collection process gave researchers some hints about why that is.

“At some point the asteroid must have been closer to the Sun that it is now,” Byrne wrote. “That would explain the amount of reddening of the surface.”

Read more:
Touching the asteroid Ryugu revealed secrets of its surface and changing orbit

2. Return capsules make shock waves

Similar to how researchers gained valuable data just from the Hayabusa2 collection process, atmospheric scientists didn’t even need to open the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule to learn something new.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission traveled to the carbon-rich asteroid Bennu and sent home a small capsule containing a sample in September 2023.

Released from the OSIRIS-REx craft, the sample return capsule hurtled down to Earth in a heavy box about the size of a microwave. Aside from the fact that it had been released from a spacecraft about 63,000 miles (102,000 kilometers) away, the return looked strikingly similar to that of a meteorite hitting Earth.

Scientists don’t often have the advance notice needed to study how real meteoroids – the term given to meteorites before they hit the ground – behave when they enter the atmosphere, so they jumped on the opportunity to study the capsule as it returned to Earth.

As physicists Brian Elbing from Oklahoma State University and Elizabeth A. Silber from Sandia National Laboratories discussed in their article, OSIRIS-REx’s reentry was the perfect opportunity to study what happens in the atmosphere when meteoroid-size objects fly through.

The teams set up networks of sensitive microphones and other instruments – both on the ground and attached to balloons – to log the sound wave frequencies that the capsule generated in the atmosphere. Understanding how waves travel through the atmosphere can help scientists figure out how to detect hazards such as natural disasters.

Read more:
NASA’s asteroid sample mission gave scientists around the world the rare opportunity to study an artificial meteor

3. Building blocks of life on Bennu

Once the OSIRIS-REx return capsule was safely back on Earth, researchers across the world – including geologist Timothy J. McCoy from the Smithsonian Institution and planetary scientist Sara Russell from the Natural History Museum in the U.K. – got to work running tests on its contents, while handling the sample carefully to avoid contaminating it.

As they described in their article, McCoy and Russell found the sample was mostly water-rich clay, which they expected from a carbon-rich asteroid. But they also found a surprising amount of salty and brine-related minerals. These minerals form when water evaporates off a rock’s surface.

Because these minerals – aptly called evaporites – dissolve when they come into contact with moisture, scientists had never seen them in the meteorites that fly through Earth’s atmosphere, even ones with similar compositions to Bennu. The spacecraft’s sample container kept the Bennu sample airtight, so these evaporites stayed intact.

These results suggest that the asteroid used to be wet and muddy. And a salty, water-rich environment like Bennu may have once been a great place for organic molecules to form. Some scientists predict that Earth got its ingredients for life from a collision with an asteroid like Bennu.

Read more:
Bennu asteroid reveals its contents to scientists − and clues to how the building blocks of life on Earth may have been seeded

4. Looking ahead: Asteroid mining

Asteroid sample return missions generate lots of scientific insights. They can also help space agencies and companies understand what exactly is out there, available to bring home from asteroids. While carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu and Ryugu aren’t flush with precious metals, other asteroids have more valuable contents.

Launched in 2023 and currently traveling through space, NASA’s Psyche mission will explore a metallic asteroid. The Psyche asteroid likely contains platinum, nickel, iron and possibly gold – all materials of commercial interest.

Scientists can learn about the formation and composition of Earth’s core from metallic asteroids like Psyche, which is the mission’s main goal. But as planetary scientist Valerie Payré from the University of Iowa wrote in her article, “The Psyche mission is a huge step in figuring out what sort of metals are out there.”

For now, commercial asteroid mining operations are science fiction – not to mention legally fraught. But some companies have started considering early-stage plans for how they one day might do it. Asteroid sample missions can lay some early groundwork.

Read more:
NASA’s robotic prospectors are helping scientists understand what asteroids are made of – setting the stage for miners to follow someday

This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.

– ref. Why collect asteroid samples? 4 essential reads on what these tiny bits of space rock can tell scientists – https://theconversation.com/why-collect-asteroid-samples-4-essential-reads-on-what-these-tiny-bits-of-space-rock-can-tell-scientists-255705

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: China and Central Asian countries ready to deepen cooperation in education

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

URUMQI, May 13 (Xinhua) — The first China-Central Asia Education Ministers’ Meeting was held in Urumqi, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Monday, calling for deeper cooperation in areas such as scientific research, vocational education and more.

Delivering a keynote speech at the meeting, Chinese Education Minister Huai Jinpeng noted that China pays close attention to cooperation with Central Asian countries in the field of education. Over the past two years, the parties have cooperated more closely and achieved fruitful results, he said.

Regarding deepening China-Central Asia educational cooperation, Huai Jinpeng called for building new platforms for comprehensive exchanges and cooperation, forming a new system of higher education cooperation for joint training of professionals, unleashing the potential of cooperation in vocational education, strengthening cooperation in digital education based on resource sharing, and promoting exchanges between civilizations in China and Central Asian countries.

As stated by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sayasat Nurbek, Kazakhstan and China have developed fruitful cooperation in scientific research and education and actively promoted exchanges between specialists, while the youth of the two countries are showing growing interest in studying in each other’s countries.

At the meeting, he also stressed the importance of expanding academic interaction, strengthening cooperation in postgraduate education, and enhancing the integration of artificial intelligence in the education process.

At the meeting, the Minister of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic Dogdurkul Kendirbaeva proposed the development of cooperation in the field of developing a green economy and environmental education, supporting projects on artificial intelligence, digital technologies, e-commerce and innovative business models, as well as the continuous development of relevant projects in the field of biodiversity and climate change.

The Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Tajikistan Rahim Saidzod stated that as the level of informatization of the social sphere increases, Tajikistan will actively promote technological innovations and cooperation in various aspects, including neural networks, robotic automated production, 3D printing, etc.

Minister of Education of Turkmenistan Jumamyrat Gurbangeldiev noted that Turkmenistan and China maintain an active intercultural dialogue, which has laid a solid foundation for the sustainable development of bilateral cooperation in the field of education.

The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan Kongratbay Sharipov put forward an initiative to strengthen cooperation in the “China-Central Asia” format in the field of professional education in such specialized areas as agricultural engineering, green logistics, medical technologies, car maintenance, etc.

Following the meeting, the Working Charter of the Mechanism of the China-Central Asia Education Ministers’ Meeting and the Urumqi Declaration of the China-Central Asia Education Ministers’ Meeting were adopted.

The meeting announced the establishment of the China-Central Asia Alliance for the Integration of Education and Production and the Central Asian branch of the Global Institute for Teacher Education, as well as the launch of several projects in the research field.

Meanwhile, a number of memorandums and agreements between educational institutions were signed at the event. -0-

MIL OSI Russia News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Army kills three militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir

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

NEW DELHI, May 13 (Xinhua) — The Indian army said on Tuesday it killed three militants in a gunfight in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The shootout, according to the military, took place in a forested area of Shopian district, about 75 km south of the city of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The military did not reveal the identities of the killed militants. –0–

MIL OSI Russia News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Xi Jinping congratulates E. Albanese on re-election as Australian Prime Minister

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 13 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday congratulated Anthony Albanese on his re-election as Australian prime minister.

Xi Jinping said that over the past three years, he has met with Prime Minister Eduardo Albanese and held in-depth discussions with him on strategic, comprehensive and direction-setting issues concerning the development of China-Australia relations.

These discussions resulted in an important consensus that provided strategic guidance for improving and developing bilateral ties, he added.

Strengthening cooperation between China and Australia is of great significance to achieving common development and strengthening world peace and stability, Xi said.

The Chinese President also expressed his willingness to cooperate with E. Albanese to promote the sustainable development of the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership, bringing great benefits to the peoples of both countries.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Qiang also sent a congratulatory message to E. Albanese, noting that China stands ready to work with the new Australian government to advance a more mature, stable and fruitful China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership. –0–

MIL OSI Russia News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Using TheirStory to Help Tell Our Stories

Source: US State of Connecticut

UConn professor and Associate Director of Africana Studies, Fiona Vernal, is making strides to preserve oral histories from Connecticut communities using a platform called TheirStory.

TheirStory is an oral history platform and was created during the pandemic. CEO Zack Ellis founded the company as a way to preserve his own family histories.

The platform has grown since its inception and is supported by a nationwide network of universities and historical organizations from UConn to UCLA. It has features to take people through every step of the process of oral history preservation. Users can record, transcribe, index, organize and more to tailor and share their oral histories.

“There are many, many ways that you can record. Recording has never been the problem when it comes to collecting stories. It’s always what happens after you record,” says Vernal. “How do you transcribe it? How do you share it? How do you produce it? How do you package it for preservation? TheirStory fits into that ecosystem by providing the last 50% of the miles that you need for processing.”

Vernal began working with Ellis and TheirStory in 2022. She was working on a project in Hartford on West Indian, African American, and Puerto Rican migrations to the city and received a call from Ellis. “I had been doing oral histories, but experiencing the same bottlenecks as everyone does,” says Vernal. “I ran my oral histories through TheirStory, and I was a convert immediately.”

“I had a vision for how to share this resource with other folks who were doing the same kind of work,” Vernal says. “If you don’t have a good way to process and generate a transcript, an index and a summary, it’s very difficult to do anything. And it was my mission to try and change that landscape.”

A State with Many Stories to Tell

Vernal and UConn began a partnership with Connecticut Humanities a year later. Vernal scaled her use of the platform from a personal level to a statewide collaboration between UConn, Connecticut Humanities, and the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History.

“One of the things that the UConn strategic plan does is that it forces us, as faculty, to figure out what statewide service we can provide to citizens,” Vernal says. “As a state entity, we owe it to the citizens, right? I take it as a serious charge and responsibility that UConn should be benefiting the state.”

Vernal credits Connecticut Humanities for helping expand her individual license as a researcher into a state license for anyone in Connecticut. The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History also helped expand this program into a statewide initiative, “Not just in terms of visibility, but also in terms of service,” says Vernal.

The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History had a COVID-era oral history project about the impact of the pandemic on the state. “They were at the beginning of a new oral history project that was more expansive, and not just focused on COVID, so it made sense for them to be our partners as well,” Vernal says.

The state license for oral history gives everyone in the state free access to the platform. It gives museums, libraries, students, community organizations and more the ability to learn more and utilize information on oral histories around the state.

One of the pilot projects UConn and Vernal worked on included an oral history project for the Connecticut River Museum’s 50^th anniversary. Another was for the Mather Homestead in Darien, “Which involves a house museum connected to the Mather lineage of Increase and Cotton Mather in the 1600s,” says Vernal. The Mather family donated their home to become a museum, and they wanted to gather oral histories of the family for the archives.

Vernal also worked with the Windsor Historical Society, “which was looking at African American civic engagement in the town of Windsor, and also celebrating its own hundredth anniversary,” Vernal says.

Connecticut is rich in both history and communities with rich traditions, as the projects Vernal has been involved with demonstrate. At the Enfield Historical Society, there is an exhibition about African American Heritage. In Bloomfield, an exhibit on the town’s African American, Jewish and West Indian heritage will premiere in September 2025. The Caribbean Heritage Museum will open in October to overlap with Founders Day at the West Indian Social Club of Hartford.

“They are my longest-running collaborators,” says Vernal. “I’ve been collaborating with them since I was in graduate school, and they’re going to lend me a segment of the club to transform it into a permanent gallery for a Caribbean Heritage Museum. Folks can come and have that experience and figure out why Connecticut has West Indians as the largest foreign-born population.” It will be the first Caribbean Heritage Museum in the Northeast.

‘History is Unfolding Now’

Since activating the state license for the platform, Vernal and UConn have reported 107 projects signed up on TheirStory. Of those, about 50% are active, which means that people working on those stories are actively doing interviews and processing oral histories. “We thought we would get 50, and we’ve more than doubled that,” says Vernal. “For me, that’s been a resounding success.”

For people who want to share their own stories, Vernal describes the process as “frictionless.” “If you know how to use Zoom, then the barriers to entry are very low,” she says. “You get a link, curate your background for lighting and make sure you look the way you want to look, and then you can focus on being the center of attention for the moment without having to worry about controls.” The people at TheirStory and UConn take care of all the logistical matters, while participating individuals are only responsible for sharing their history.

Vernal is not worried about people fabricating their stories on the platform. “My mantra is that everyone is an expert in their own life story,” she says. “They might not be an expert into the statistical significance of their experiences, but they’re certainly an expert in their own life experiences and their own emotions.”

The access to these stories is something Vernal is excited about. “We have the State Historical Society, which is well-staffed, and then we have something like the Wintonbury Historical Society, which is all volunteer. So organizations that are poorly staffed or well-endowed can all use this platform and move forward with building up their collection,” says Vernal. “I like that leveling effect, because that’s what investment in infrastructure should do. It should make it possible that no matter what your entry point is, no matter what your size is, you’re getting the skills, training and software that you need to be successful in your specific mission. Whether you’re the kid who wants to interview your parent or you are the organization that wants to do 500 oral histories, you both get exactly what you need to be successful.

“I want to make the official case for oral histories as a way to build inclusive collections that help you document the ‘now.’ UConn has a tradition of robust support for oral history; this is part of our roots and our heritage,” says Vernal. “Organizations are obsessed with documents from the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s and the 1900s. History is unfolding now, we’re living through historic times now. We need to document these stories in real time, and oral histories can do that.”

MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year
Source: Apple

Headline: Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

May 13, 2025

PRESS RELEASE

Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

New features include Accessibility Nutrition Labels on the App Store, Magnifier for Mac, Braille Access, and Accessibility Reader; plus innovative updates to Live Listen, visionOS, Personal Voice, and more

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced new accessibility features coming later this year, including Accessibility Nutrition Labels, which will provide more detailed information for apps and games on the App Store. Users who are blind or have low vision can explore, learn, and interact using the new Magnifier app for Mac; take notes and perform calculations with the new Braille Access feature; and leverage the powerful camera system of Apple Vision Pro with new updates to visionOS. Additional announcements include Accessibility Reader, a new systemwide reading mode designed with accessibility in mind, along with updates to Live Listen, Background Sounds, Personal Voice, Vehicle Motion Cues, and more. Leveraging the power of Apple silicon — along with advances in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence — users will experience a new level of accessibility across the Apple ecosystem.

“At Apple, accessibility is part of our DNA,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Making technology for everyone is a priority for all of us, and we’re proud of the innovations we’re sharing this year. That includes tools to help people access crucial information, explore the world around them, and do what they love.”

“Building on 40 years of accessibility innovation at Apple, we are dedicated to pushing forward with new accessibility features for all of our products,” said Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives. “Powered by the Apple ecosystem, these features work seamlessly together to bring users new ways to engage with the things they care about most.”

Accessibility Nutrition Labels Come to the App Store

Accessibility Nutrition Labels bring a new section to App Store product pages that will highlight accessibility features within apps and games. These labels give users a new way to learn if an app will be accessible to them before they download it, and give developers the opportunity to better inform and educate their users on features their app supports. This includes VoiceOver, Voice Control, Larger Text, Sufficient Contrast, Reduced Motion, captions, and more. Accessibility Nutrition Labels will be available on the App Store worldwide, and developers can access more guidance on the criteria apps should meet before displaying accessibility information on their product pages.

“Accessibility Nutrition Labels are a huge step forward for accessibility,” said Eric Bridges, the American Foundation for the Blind’s president and CEO. “Consumers deserve to know if a product or service will be accessible to them from the very start, and Apple has a long-standing history of delivering tools and technologies that allow developers to build experiences for everyone. These labels will give people with disabilities a new way to easily make more informed decisions and make purchases with a new level of confidence.”

An All-New Magnifier for Mac

Since 2016, Magnifier on iPhone and iPad has given users who are blind or have low vision tools to zoom in, read text, and detect objects around them. This year, Magnifier is coming to Mac to make the physical world more accessible for users with low vision. The Magnifier app for Mac connects to a user’s camera so they can zoom in on their surroundings, such as a screen or whiteboard. Magnifier works with Continuity Camera on iPhone as well as attached USB cameras, and supports reading documents using Desk View.

With multiple live session windows, users can multitask by viewing a presentation with a webcam while simultaneously following along in a book using Desk View. With customized views, users can adjust brightness, contrast, color filters, and even perspective to make text and images easier to see. Views can also be captured, grouped, and saved to add to later on. Additionally, Magnifier for Mac is integrated with another new accessibility feature, Accessibility Reader, which transforms text from the physical world into a custom legible format.

A New Braille Experience

Braille Access is an all-new experience that turns iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro into a full-featured braille note taker that’s deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem. With a built-in app launcher, users can easily open any app by typing with Braille Screen Input or a connected braille device. With Braille Access, users can quickly take notes in braille format and perform calculations using Nemeth Braille, a braille code often used in classrooms for math and science. Users can open Braille Ready Format (BRF) files directly from Braille Access, unlocking a wide range of books and files previously created on a braille note taking device. And an integrated form of Live Captions allows users to transcribe conversations in real time directly on braille displays.

Introducing Accessibility Reader

Accessibility Reader is a new systemwide reading mode designed to make text easier to read for users with a wide range of disabilities, such as dyslexia or low vision. Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro, Accessibility Reader gives users new ways to customize text and focus on content they want to read, with extensive options for font, color, and spacing, as well as support for Spoken Content. Accessibility Reader can be launched from any app, and is built into the Magnifier app for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, so users can interact with text in the real world, like in books or on dining menus.

Live Captions Arrive on Apple Watch

For users who are deaf or hard of hearing, Live Listen controls come to Apple Watch with a new set of features, including real-time Live Captions. Live Listen turns iPhone into a remote microphone to stream content directly to AirPods, Made for iPhone hearing aids, or Beats headphones. When a session is active on iPhone, users can view Live Captions of what their iPhone hears on a paired Apple Watch while listening along to the audio. Apple Watch serves as a remote control to start or stop Live Listen sessions, or jump back in a session to capture something that may have been missed. With Apple Watch, Live Listen sessions can be controlled from across the room, so there’s no need to get up in the middle of a meeting or during class. Live Listen can be used along with hearing health features available on AirPods Pro 2, including the first-of-its-kind clinical-grade Hearing Aid feature.

An Enhanced View with Apple Vision Pro

For users who are blind or have low vision, visionOS will expand vision accessibility features using the advanced camera system on Apple Vision Pro. With powerful updates to Zoom, users can magnify everything in view — including their surroundings — using the main camera. For VoiceOver users, Live Recognition in visionOS uses on-device machine learning to describe surroundings, find objects, read documents, and more.¹ For accessibility developers, a new API will enable approved apps to access the main camera to provide live, person-to-person assistance for visual interpretation in apps like Be My Eyes, giving users more ways to understand their surroundings hands-free.

Additional Updates
- Background Sounds becomes easier to personalize with new EQ settings, the option to stop automatically after a period of time, and new actions for automations in Shortcuts. Background Sounds can help minimize distractions to increase a sense of focus and relaxation, which some users find can help with symptoms of tinnitus.
- For users at risk of losing their ability to speak, Personal Voice becomes faster, easier, and more powerful than ever, leveraging advances in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a smoother, more natural-sounding voice in less than a minute, using only 10 recorded phrases. Personal Voice will also add support for Spanish (Mexico).²
- Vehicle Motion Cues, which can help reduce motion sickness when riding in a moving vehicle, comes to Mac, along with new ways to customize the animated onscreen dots on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
- Eye Tracking users on iPhone and iPad will now have the option to use a switch or dwell to make selections. Keyboard typing when using Eye Tracking or Switch Control is now easier on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro with improvements including a new keyboard dwell timer, reduced steps when typing with switches, and enabling QuickPath for iPhone and Vision Pro.
- With Head Tracking, users will be able to more easily control iPhone and iPad with head movements, similar to Eye Tracking.
- For users with severe mobility disabilities, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS will add a new protocol to support Switch Control for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), an emerging technology that allows users to control their device without physical movement.
- Assistive Access adds a new custom Apple TV app with a simplified media player. Developers will also get support in creating tailored experiences for users with intellectual and developmental disabilities using the Assistive Access API.
- Music Haptics on iPhone becomes more customizable with the option to experience haptics for a whole song or for vocals only, as well as the option to adjust the overall intensity of taps, textures, and vibrations.
- Sound Recognition adds Name Recognition, a new way for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to know when their name is being called.
- Voice Control introduces a new programming mode in Xcode for software developers with limited mobility. Voice Control also adds vocabulary syncing across devices, and will expand language support to include Korean, Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Turkish, Italian, Spanish (Latin America), Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan), English (Singapore), and Russian.
- Live Captions adds support to include English (India, Australia, UK, Singapore), Mandarin Chinese (Mainland China), Cantonese (Mainland China, Hong Kong), Spanish (Latin America, Spain), French (France, Canada), Japanese, German (Germany), and Korean.
- Updates to CarPlay include support for Large Text. With updates to Sound Recognition in CarPlay, drivers or passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing can now be notified of the sound of a crying baby, in addition to sounds outside the car such as horns and sirens.
- Share Accessibility Settings is a new way for users to quickly and temporarily share their accessibility settings with another iPhone or iPad. This is great for borrowing a friend’s device or using a public kiosk in a setting like a cafe.
Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day with Apple

Apple Retail is introducing dedicated tables spotlighting accessibility features on a variety of devices in select store locations throughout the month of May. Additionally, Apple offers accessibility sessions year-round through Today at Apple for deeper learning, tips, and feature customization. Sessions can be scheduled at all Apple Store locations worldwide through Group Booking or by visiting a nearby store.

Apple Music shares the story of artist Kiddo K and the power of music haptics for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, unveils updates to its Haptics playlists, and launches a brand-new playlist featuring ASL interpretations of music videos alongside Saylists playlists.

Apple Fitness+ welcomes Chelsie Hill as a guest in a Dance workout with Fitness+ trainer Ben Allen. Hill is a professional dancer and founder of Rolettes, an L.A.-based wheelchair dance team that advocates for disability representation and women’s empowerment. The workout is available now in the Fitness+ app.

Apple TV+ shares a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new Apple Original film Deaf President Now!, which premieres on Apple TV+ on May 16. The documentary tells the story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard about, which unfolded across eight tumultuous days in 1988. At the world’s only Deaf university, four students must find a way to lead an angry mob — and change the course of history.

Apple Books, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, and Apple News will spotlight stories of people with disabilities and those who are working to make the world more accessible for everyone.

The App Store is sharing a collection of apps and games designed to be accessible to everyone, in addition to featuring the story of Klemens Strasser, a developer guided by a philosophy of making accessible apps and games like The Art of Fauna.

The Shortcuts app adds Hold That Thought, a shortcut that prompts users to capture and recall information in a note so interruptions don’t derail their flow. The Accessibility Assistant shortcut has been added to Shortcuts on Apple Vision Pro to help recommend accessibility features based on user preferences.

New videos on the Apple Support accessibility playlist include features like Eye Tracking, Vocal Shortcuts, and Vehicle Motion Cues, as well as a library of videos to help everyone personalize their iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro to work best for them.

About Apple Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s six software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV+. Apple’s more than 150,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth and to leaving the world better than we found it.
1. Live Recognition should not be relied on in high-risk or emergency situations, in circumstances where the user may be harmed or injured, or for navigation.
2. Personal Voice can only be used to create a voice that sounds like the user on device, using their own voice, and for their own personal, noncommercial use.
Press Contacts

Will Butler

Apple

willbutler@apple.com

Apple Media Helpline

media.help@apple.com
MIL OSI Economics –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Banking: Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year
Source: Apple

Headline: Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

May 13, 2025

PRESS RELEASE

Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year

New features include Accessibility Nutrition Labels on the App Store, Magnifier for Mac, Braille Access, and Accessibility Reader; plus innovative updates to Live Listen, visionOS, Personal Voice, and more

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced new accessibility features coming later this year, including Accessibility Nutrition Labels, which will provide more detailed information for apps and games on the App Store. Users who are blind or have low vision can explore, learn, and interact using the new Magnifier app for Mac; take notes and perform calculations with the new Braille Access feature; and leverage the powerful camera system of Apple Vision Pro with new updates to visionOS. Additional announcements include Accessibility Reader, a new systemwide reading mode designed with accessibility in mind, along with updates to Live Listen, Background Sounds, Personal Voice, Vehicle Motion Cues, and more. Leveraging the power of Apple silicon — along with advances in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence — users will experience a new level of accessibility across the Apple ecosystem.

“At Apple, accessibility is part of our DNA,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Making technology for everyone is a priority for all of us, and we’re proud of the innovations we’re sharing this year. That includes tools to help people access crucial information, explore the world around them, and do what they love.”

“Building on 40 years of accessibility innovation at Apple, we are dedicated to pushing forward with new accessibility features for all of our products,” said Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives. “Powered by the Apple ecosystem, these features work seamlessly together to bring users new ways to engage with the things they care about most.”

Accessibility Nutrition Labels Come to the App Store

Accessibility Nutrition Labels bring a new section to App Store product pages that will highlight accessibility features within apps and games. These labels give users a new way to learn if an app will be accessible to them before they download it, and give developers the opportunity to better inform and educate their users on features their app supports. This includes VoiceOver, Voice Control, Larger Text, Sufficient Contrast, Reduced Motion, captions, and more. Accessibility Nutrition Labels will be available on the App Store worldwide, and developers can access more guidance on the criteria apps should meet before displaying accessibility information on their product pages.

“Accessibility Nutrition Labels are a huge step forward for accessibility,” said Eric Bridges, the American Foundation for the Blind’s president and CEO. “Consumers deserve to know if a product or service will be accessible to them from the very start, and Apple has a long-standing history of delivering tools and technologies that allow developers to build experiences for everyone. These labels will give people with disabilities a new way to easily make more informed decisions and make purchases with a new level of confidence.”

An All-New Magnifier for Mac

Since 2016, Magnifier on iPhone and iPad has given users who are blind or have low vision tools to zoom in, read text, and detect objects around them. This year, Magnifier is coming to Mac to make the physical world more accessible for users with low vision. The Magnifier app for Mac connects to a user’s camera so they can zoom in on their surroundings, such as a screen or whiteboard. Magnifier works with Continuity Camera on iPhone as well as attached USB cameras, and supports reading documents using Desk View.

With multiple live session windows, users can multitask by viewing a presentation with a webcam while simultaneously following along in a book using Desk View. With customized views, users can adjust brightness, contrast, color filters, and even perspective to make text and images easier to see. Views can also be captured, grouped, and saved to add to later on. Additionally, Magnifier for Mac is integrated with another new accessibility feature, Accessibility Reader, which transforms text from the physical world into a custom legible format.

A New Braille Experience

Braille Access is an all-new experience that turns iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro into a full-featured braille note taker that’s deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem. With a built-in app launcher, users can easily open any app by typing with Braille Screen Input or a connected braille device. With Braille Access, users can quickly take notes in braille format and perform calculations using Nemeth Braille, a braille code often used in classrooms for math and science. Users can open Braille Ready Format (BRF) files directly from Braille Access, unlocking a wide range of books and files previously created on a braille note taking device. And an integrated form of Live Captions allows users to transcribe conversations in real time directly on braille displays.

Introducing Accessibility Reader

Accessibility Reader is a new systemwide reading mode designed to make text easier to read for users with a wide range of disabilities, such as dyslexia or low vision. Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro, Accessibility Reader gives users new ways to customize text and focus on content they want to read, with extensive options for font, color, and spacing, as well as support for Spoken Content. Accessibility Reader can be launched from any app, and is built into the Magnifier app for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, so users can interact with text in the real world, like in books or on dining menus.

Live Captions Arrive on Apple Watch

For users who are deaf or hard of hearing, Live Listen controls come to Apple Watch with a new set of features, including real-time Live Captions. Live Listen turns iPhone into a remote microphone to stream content directly to AirPods, Made for iPhone hearing aids, or Beats headphones. When a session is active on iPhone, users can view Live Captions of what their iPhone hears on a paired Apple Watch while listening along to the audio. Apple Watch serves as a remote control to start or stop Live Listen sessions, or jump back in a session to capture something that may have been missed. With Apple Watch, Live Listen sessions can be controlled from across the room, so there’s no need to get up in the middle of a meeting or during class. Live Listen can be used along with hearing health features available on AirPods Pro 2, including the first-of-its-kind clinical-grade Hearing Aid feature.

An Enhanced View with Apple Vision Pro

For users who are blind or have low vision, visionOS will expand vision accessibility features using the advanced camera system on Apple Vision Pro. With powerful updates to Zoom, users can magnify everything in view — including their surroundings — using the main camera. For VoiceOver users, Live Recognition in visionOS uses on-device machine learning to describe surroundings, find objects, read documents, and more.¹ For accessibility developers, a new API will enable approved apps to access the main camera to provide live, person-to-person assistance for visual interpretation in apps like Be My Eyes, giving users more ways to understand their surroundings hands-free.

Additional Updates
- Background Sounds becomes easier to personalize with new EQ settings, the option to stop automatically after a period of time, and new actions for automations in Shortcuts. Background Sounds can help minimize distractions to increase a sense of focus and relaxation, which some users find can help with symptoms of tinnitus.
- For users at risk of losing their ability to speak, Personal Voice becomes faster, easier, and more powerful than ever, leveraging advances in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a smoother, more natural-sounding voice in less than a minute, using only 10 recorded phrases. Personal Voice will also add support for Spanish (Mexico).²
- Vehicle Motion Cues, which can help reduce motion sickness when riding in a moving vehicle, comes to Mac, along with new ways to customize the animated onscreen dots on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
- Eye Tracking users on iPhone and iPad will now have the option to use a switch or dwell to make selections. Keyboard typing when using Eye Tracking or Switch Control is now easier on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro with improvements including a new keyboard dwell timer, reduced steps when typing with switches, and enabling QuickPath for iPhone and Vision Pro.
- With Head Tracking, users will be able to more easily control iPhone and iPad with head movements, similar to Eye Tracking.
- For users with severe mobility disabilities, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS will add a new protocol to support Switch Control for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs), an emerging technology that allows users to control their device without physical movement.
- Assistive Access adds a new custom Apple TV app with a simplified media player. Developers will also get support in creating tailored experiences for users with intellectual and developmental disabilities using the Assistive Access API.
- Music Haptics on iPhone becomes more customizable with the option to experience haptics for a whole song or for vocals only, as well as the option to adjust the overall intensity of taps, textures, and vibrations.
- Sound Recognition adds Name Recognition, a new way for users who are deaf or hard of hearing to know when their name is being called.
- Voice Control introduces a new programming mode in Xcode for software developers with limited mobility. Voice Control also adds vocabulary syncing across devices, and will expand language support to include Korean, Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Turkish, Italian, Spanish (Latin America), Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan), English (Singapore), and Russian.
- Live Captions adds support to include English (India, Australia, UK, Singapore), Mandarin Chinese (Mainland China), Cantonese (Mainland China, Hong Kong), Spanish (Latin America, Spain), French (France, Canada), Japanese, German (Germany), and Korean.
- Updates to CarPlay include support for Large Text. With updates to Sound Recognition in CarPlay, drivers or passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing can now be notified of the sound of a crying baby, in addition to sounds outside the car such as horns and sirens.
- Share Accessibility Settings is a new way for users to quickly and temporarily share their accessibility settings with another iPhone or iPad. This is great for borrowing a friend’s device or using a public kiosk in a setting like a cafe.
Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day with Apple

Apple Retail is introducing dedicated tables spotlighting accessibility features on a variety of devices in select store locations throughout the month of May. Additionally, Apple offers accessibility sessions year-round through Today at Apple for deeper learning, tips, and feature customization. Sessions can be scheduled at all Apple Store locations worldwide through Group Booking or by visiting a nearby store.

Apple Music shares the story of artist Kiddo K and the power of music haptics for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, unveils updates to its Haptics playlists, and launches a brand-new playlist featuring ASL interpretations of music videos alongside Saylists playlists.

Apple Fitness+ welcomes Chelsie Hill as a guest in a Dance workout with Fitness+ trainer Ben Allen. Hill is a professional dancer and founder of Rolettes, an L.A.-based wheelchair dance team that advocates for disability representation and women’s empowerment. The workout is available now in the Fitness+ app.

Apple TV+ shares a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new Apple Original film Deaf President Now!, which premieres on Apple TV+ on May 16. The documentary tells the story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard about, which unfolded across eight tumultuous days in 1988. At the world’s only Deaf university, four students must find a way to lead an angry mob — and change the course of history.

Apple Books, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, and Apple News will spotlight stories of people with disabilities and those who are working to make the world more accessible for everyone.

The App Store is sharing a collection of apps and games designed to be accessible to everyone, in addition to featuring the story of Klemens Strasser, a developer guided by a philosophy of making accessible apps and games like The Art of Fauna.

The Shortcuts app adds Hold That Thought, a shortcut that prompts users to capture and recall information in a note so interruptions don’t derail their flow. The Accessibility Assistant shortcut has been added to Shortcuts on Apple Vision Pro to help recommend accessibility features based on user preferences.

New videos on the Apple Support accessibility playlist include features like Eye Tracking, Vocal Shortcuts, and Vehicle Motion Cues, as well as a library of videos to help everyone personalize their iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro to work best for them.

About Apple Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s six software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, and Apple TV+. Apple’s more than 150,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth and to leaving the world better than we found it.
1. Live Recognition should not be relied on in high-risk or emergency situations, in circumstances where the user may be harmed or injured, or for navigation.
2. Personal Voice can only be used to create a voice that sounds like the user on device, using their own voice, and for their own personal, noncommercial use.
Press Contacts

Will Butler

Apple

willbutler@apple.com

Apple Media Helpline

media.help@apple.com
MIL OSI Global Banks –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/INDONESIA – The Camillians inaugurate a new Social Center in Kupang, on the island of Timor

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Tuesday, 13 May 2025

LG

Kupang (Agenzia Fides) – After more than fifteen years of missionary presence, the Camillian religious in Indonesia are a tangible sign of charity and social commitment. Their work, inspired by the charism of Saint Camillus of Lellis, patron saint of the sick and health workers, has been expressed over time through numerous pastoral, health, and educational activities, especially for the benefit of the most vulnerable sections of the population.After the establishment of the first Saint Camillus Social Center in Maumere, on the island of Flores, in 2018 (see Fides, 2/6/2018), the Camillians inaugurated a second center on May 10 in the city of Kupang, capital of the province of East Nusa Tenggara, on the island of Timor.The inauguration ceremony was attended by the local Bishop Hironimus Pakaenoni, the provincial governor Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, and numerous civil and religious authorities, who expressed their deep admiration for the courage, dedication, and vision of the Camillian missionaries. The initiative was enthusiastically welcomed by the population, who see it as a concrete opportunity for growth and support, especially for young people.The center, built with the support of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and the contributions of numerous donors, is an important response to the educational and social needs of the region. The new facility has 43 rooms for student accommodation, a conference room, several meeting rooms, a dining room with a kitchen, and other spaces that make it an ideal venue for meetings, seminars, and training activities. With this, the Camillians reaffirm their commitment not only to the sick, the poor, and the needy in the area of healthcare, but also to young people, offering them not only hospitality but also the opportunity for human and spiritual growth, thus responding to the most urgent needs of local communities. The new “St. Camillus Social Center” thus sees itself as a point of reference for the local community, a place of encounter and hope, where we can build a better future together. (LG/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 13/5/2025)
LG

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MIL OSI Europe News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Pension schemes back British growth
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

Pension schemes back British growth

Mansion House Accord unlocks up to £50 billion investment for the economy, with first commitments to invest in the UK.
More ambitious targets than 2023 Mansion House Compact will unlock investment into UK businesses and major infrastructure projects, including clean energy developments.

Comes ahead of Pensions Investment Review final report, which will create megafunds to drive more investment, boost pension pots and grow the economy through the Plan for Change.

Up to £50 billion of investment for UK businesses and major infrastructure projects is set to be unlocked through a new agreement with Britain’s biggest pension funds, as the Government goes further and faster to drive growth through the Plan for Change.

Seventeen workplace pension providers managing around 90 percent of active savers’ defined contribution pensions will sign the Mansion House Accord at a roundtable with the Chancellor and Minister for Pensions in the City of London today (Tuesday 13 May).

Signatories to the Accord will pledge to invest 10 percent of their workplace portfolios in assets that boost the economy such as infrastructure, property and private equity by 2030. At least 5 percent of these portfolios will be ringfenced for the UK, expected to release £25 billion directly into the UK economy by 2030.

This investment could support clean energy developments across the country, delivering greater energy security and helping to lower household bills, as well as delivering growth finance to Britain’s world-leading science and technology businesses – creating jobs, boosting businesses and putting more money into people’s pockets.

Pension savers will also benefit from the commitment to invest in private markets. Comparable Australian schemes invest significantly more in private markets and domestic companies than UK schemes, and research suggests greater investment in private markets can deliver security through diversified asset holdings and potentially drive higher returns.

The pledge follows hot on the heels of securing trade agreements with India and the US, which will add billions of pounds to the UK economy and protect thousands of steel and car manufacturing jobs, as well as a fourth interest rate cut since last Summer. This demonstrates the UK’s strength in navigating a changing world, going further and faster through our Plan for Change to drive growth and put more money into people’s pockets.

Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:

Through our Plan for Change, we are choosing to back British businesses and British workers. I welcome this bold step by some of our biggest pension funds, which will unlock billions for major infrastructure, clean energy, and exciting startups — delivering growth, boosting pension pots, and giving working people greater security in retirement.

Torsten Bell, Minister for Pensions, said:

Pensions matter hugely, they underpin not just the retirements we all look forward to, but the investment our future prosperity depends on. I hugely welcome the pensions industry decision to invest in more productive assets, from growing companies to infrastructure. This supports better outcomes for savers and faster growth for Britain.

Today’s announcement is more ambitious than the 2023 Mansion House Compact, where eleven funds committed to the aim of investing 5 percent of their workplace defined contribution default funds – the off-the-shelf funds providers offer to the vast majority of savers – in unlisted companies by 2030. The new commitment involves the vast majority of the industry and brings more assets into scope, doubles the target from 5 percent to 10 percent, and includes a specific commitment to investing 5 percent in the UK.

Progress against the commitment will be monitored and the initiative will be reinforced by measures to be announced in the upcoming final report of the Pensions Investment Review. The final report will tackle fragmentation in the UK pension system, creating pension megafunds that take advantage of scale and consolidation like Australian and Canadian funds do, to invest in productive assets like private markets and big infrastructure projects.

Some pension funds have already indicated privately that they will go beyond the targets agreed through the Mansion House Accord, which could lead to even more direct investment in the UK economy – and is particularly welcomed by the government.

Today’s commitment comes alongside progress in the government’s efforts to help pension savers benefit from the opportunities of investing in UK growth. The British Business Bank has now received regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority to deliver the British Growth Partnership – which will provide UK pension funds and other institutional investors with access to the Bank’s extensive pipeline of UK venture capital opportunities.

The government will continue working with the industry to make sure pension schemes deliver the best possible value for savers — while driving the investment needed to deliver growth and put more money into people’s pockets.

Yvonne Braun, Director of Policy, Long-Term Savings, Health and Protection at the ABI, said:

As major investors, the pensions industry already plays a vital role in driving growth in the UK and globally. The Accord formalises the industry’s ambition to invest more in private markets to diversify investments, support innovation and infrastructure, and ensure prosperity. Investments under the Accord will always be made in savers’ best interests. It is now critical that Government supports the industry’s ambition, by facilitating a pipeline of suitable investment opportunities, tackling barriers to investments, and delivering wider pension reforms effectively.

Alastair King, Lord Mayor of London, said:

The Mansion House Accord builds on the strong foundations of the Compact and signals a step change in ambition: more signatories, deeper allocations to private markets, and a clearer commitment to backing UK assets. That includes a renewed focus on revitalising the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange as well as the Aquis Exchange, which play a critical role in supporting high-growth companies that drive innovation, jobs and productivity. If we want those firms to scale in the UK, we must ensure they have the capital to do so. This is not just about better pension outcomes, it is about building a more dynamic, competitive investment ecosystem. Delivering long-term, sustainable growth is crucial and the City of London Corporation is delighted to have partnered with industry and Government to bring this ambition to life.

Zoe Alexander, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the PLSA, said:

UK pension schemes already invest billions in UK growth assets. This accord demonstrates the collective ambition of the DC sector to do even more, as well as its confidence that the UK will provide the right opportunities to invest, consistent with schemes’ fiduciary duty to members. The Government, in its turn, has committed to take action to ensure there is a strong pipeline of investable assets for pension schemes. With everyone playing their part, there is great potential to boost returns for savers while providing vital funding to productive growth areas.

More information

This is a voluntary expression of intent by seventeen signatories. The Mansion House Accord has been jointly led by the ABI, City of London Corporation and the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.

Signatories to the new commitment include: Aegon, Aon, Aviva, Legal & General, LifeSight, M&G, Mercer, Natwest Cushon, Nest, NOW: Pensions, Phoenix Group, Royal London, Smart Pension, the People’s Pension, SEI, TPT Retirement Solutions and the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).

The signatories to the Accord have stated that £252 billion of assets are subject to the pledge. Based on historical growth rates (which have been halved to reflect a maturing market (17% per annum)) and reflecting further consolidation in the pensions market, this could rise to around £740 billion by 2030.

The £50 billion and £25 billion cash estimates for investment unlocked are indicative and assume current private market investment levels are at 3.5%, of which 40% is UK-based. These are increased to 10% and 50% respectively by 2030 in line with the Accord.

Some providers have indicated they may exceed the private markets investment targets in the Accord, which could lead to additional investment.

Investments will support UK growth sectors, including clean energy infrastructure and innovative small businesses.

Government Actuary Department Analysis from 2024 found that a portfolio with greater exposure to private markets – including infrastructure and private equity – delivered stronger returns than a baseline portfolio comprised largely of overseas equities.

The Pensions Investment Review interim report was published at Mansion House 2024, with the final report due Spring 2025.

Pictures will be published on HMT’s Flickr following the signing event.

Stakeholder commentary:

Andy Briggs, Phoenix Group CEO, said:

This Mansion House Accord will unlock investment in UK private markets while helping deliver better long-term returns and retirements for millions of pension savers. The new commitments have the potential to strengthen the economy by fuelling the growth of British businesses and boosting investment in critical infrastructure.

Phoenix Group has already taken a lead by launching Future Growth Capital — the first private market investment manager formed to deliver the commitments made in the initial Mansion House Compact — committing £2.5bn over three years to the UK’s most exciting, innovative and fastest growing companies. The Accord is the natural next step, and we’re proud to play our part in delivering better outcomes for our customers and for the wider society.

Patrick Heath-Lay, Chief Executive Officer of People’s Partnership, provider of People’s Pension, said:

People’s Pension has a vital role to play in the exciting, shared vision for the future of the pensions’ industry, which will see bigger, stronger, value-driven schemes that will deliver better value to their members. By signing this Accord, we are reaffirming how seriously we take our commitment to delivering better outcomes, as well as helping to drive UK economic growth.

David Lane, Chief Executive of TPT Retirement Solutions, said:

By reaching an agreement with pension providers to invest in UK productive finance in a mutually beneficial way, the Government can achieve its objective and support better outcomes for scheme members. Many pension schemes already invest in productive finance, and most are open to investing more in the UK. Investment in assets such as infrastructure, transportation, housing, venture capital and private markets can play an important role in improving risk-adjusted returns for members while also contributing to economic growth.

Meeting the Government’s objectives while also maintaining fiduciary duty and ensuring strong returns for members are not mutually exclusive ambitions. However, hurdles remain around value for money considerations and the availability of suitable investment opportunities. These should be a focus for Government policy to spur more investment. The most pressing issue to deal with is that provider pricing practices leave very little room in the annual management charge for investment fees. There needs to be a shift to a value for money approach that considers the returns from an investment and not just its fees.

Jelena Croad, Head of LifeSight GB, said:

Signing up to the Mansion House Accord is a significant step for LifeSight. We believe that private market investments can increase overall returns as part of a diversified portfolio and have already begun investing in this way.

Our ability to invest in private markets, without increasing existing fee agreements, showcases our dedication to providing the best possible outcomes for our members. We are excited to be part of this initiative and look forward to contributing to the growth of the economy in which our members live.

We are pleased that the government acknowledges the need to increase the pipeline for UK private market investment opportunities. This recognition aligns with our mission to support the growth of innovative firms and sustainable infrastructure within the UK, ultimately enhancing the retirement incomes of millions of UK pension savers.

For LifeSight members, these investments are being made as part of our main default funds, ensuring that our members benefit from high-quality investment opportunities.

Steve Charlton, a member of SPP’s DC Committee and DC Managing Director at SEI, said:

Due to ongoing collaboration and open dialogue between the industry and the UK government, we have become comfortable with the proposed changes to the Mansion House reforms. This accord demonstrates our collective ambition to have a consolidated workplace pension environment that provides flexibility and choice for pension funds to invest where they see opportunity, whilst balancing their responsibility to members.

We welcome the government’s commitment to ensure a good flow of investable opportunities for pension schemes. This mitigates our previous concerns about the risks of high-priced, poor-quality investments in an environment where the originally proposed investable opportunities are scarce. It enables everyone to play their part in helping to deliver better member outcomes and drive economic growth.

Lorna Blyth, Managing Director – Investment Proposition at Aegon UK, said:

Aegon UK is proud to be a signatory of the Mansion House Accord, which aligns with our aim to deliver better long-term outcomes for our pension scheme members.

We are committed to ensuring our customers can access and share in the potential growth and success of new, innovative companies as part of diversified portfolios. Leveraging our partnership with the British Business Bank, along with our scale and expertise, we are dedicated to developing investment solutions that improve the retirement outcomes of the millions of members of the defined contribution pension schemes we support. We’ve made significant progress in becoming a DC provider fit for the future – but our journey doesn’t end here.

The Accord is a key element of the Government’s growth agenda, alongside other initiatives likely to transform the UK’s DC pensions market. It comes as the conclusions of the Pensions Investment Review are expected imminently and further fundamental changes are expected in the Pension Schemes Bill later this spring. This makes it essential that the Government adopts a pragmatic approach to implementation. Realistic timeframes and a steady supply of high-quality UK investment opportunities across all private asset classes are crucial for ensuring success. This includes collaborating with more organisations such as the British Business Bank to provide access to diverse types of private assets – from private equity to infrastructure, which are all vital for optimising member benefits and developing investment portfolios designed for long term growth.

Amanda Blanc DBE, Aviva Group Chief Executive Officer, said:

This is a major opportunity for the pension and investment industry to support UK growth while delivering improved outcomes for pension savers. As a significant investor in private markets, Aviva has recently launched a number of funds to give over four million workplace pension customers even greater opportunity to invest in UK assets, including innovative, early-stage businesses, and we want to do much more.

Jo Sharples, CIO, DC Solutions at Aon, said:

We believe that investing in private assets will benefit pension scheme members by delivering better expected returns over the long-term, ultimately resulting in higher retirement outcomes. The new Mansion House Accord is a great step forward in achieving this and is a fantastic example of how the UK pensions industry can work together to break down barriers to enable greater investment in private assets.

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Published 13 May 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/PHILIPPINES – Rodrigo Duterte is once again mayor of Davao

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

PPCRV

Davao (Agenzia Fides) – Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, indicted for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court, has been elected mayor of Davao, the city on the island of Mindanao where his political career began and where he served as mayor for more than 20 years before being elected president in 2016.Following yesterday’s vote, May 12, in the mid-term elections in the Philippines, which elect the House of Representatives, part of the Senate, and local governments, Duterte was officially declared the winner today, May 13, by the Davao Electoral Council, receiving an overwhelming majority: over 660,000 preferences compared to 80,000 for his opponent, Karlo Nograles, among others, his former spokesman.The position of mayor of Davao is Duterte’s first official post since the end of his term as president. He previously held the office from February 1988 to June 1998, from July 2001 to June 2010, and then from July 2013 to June 2016. The Duterte family has held this office for 34 years, as Duterte’s children succeeded him. Today, his son, Sebastian Duterte, was elected deputy mayor. Duterte’s son entered politics in 2019 and served as mayor from 2022 to 2025. He succeeded his sister Sara, who ran for and was later elected Vice President of the Philippines. She has held the office to this day.The mid-term elections are crucial for the Duterte family, as they consolidate their control over the city of Davao for the next three years. Duterte’s arrest in March was seen as a factor that could have either a negative or positive impact on the family’s image. Duterte’s victory was a testament to his continued popularity among the Filipino people, both locally and nationally. It is worth noting that at least five candidates backed by the Duterte dynasty are running for 12 Senate seats, and according to initial projections, they appear to have a chance of winning.The outcome of the Senate election will be crucial in the case of Vice President Sara Duterte, against whom the Lower House of Parliament has voted to impeach on a range of charges, including misuse of public funds and conspiracy to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos.The Senate will be asked to confirm or reject the charges in a vote scheduled for next July. Sara Duterte is considered a serious candidate for the 2028 presidential race, but if the Senate confirms the charges, she will be permanently barred from public office. The official results of the mid-term elections will be announced in a week. Meanwhile, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Elections, a monitoring body born within the Catholic Church in the Philippines, actively monitors and oversees electoral transparency at the service of citizens and the entire nation. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 13/5/2025)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

May 14, 2025
Blood Money: Pakistan’s Shadow Economy and the Trade that Fuels Terrorism

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

A Hidden Artery that Predates 9/11

Islamabad has long claimed that terrorist finance seeped in from Afghanistan only after the Twin Towers fell. Yet the sluice gates were prised open a decade earlier. In 1991, then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he received a “blueprint” from Army Chief General Aslam Beg and ISI Director-General Asad Durrani: fund covert wars by selling heroin overseas, according to NATO’s study Narco-Insecurity, Inc. Sharif maintains he rejected the proposal; the generals deny it; but the episode revealed a mindset in which narcotics were deemed an acceptable coin of statecraft—ten years before 9/11 and far from any Afghan battlefield.

The prime minister might have disowned the scheme, yet his party was deeply enmeshed in the narcotics trade. Sharif later admitted to The Washington Post in 1994 that ISI-backed drug profits financed covert operations. Through the ISI, the Pakistan Army set up narcotics routes to bankroll terror campaigns in Jammu & Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Narco-Politics: Heroin as Statecraft

Until the Taliban imposed a ban in August 2022, Afghanistan produced about 80 per cent of the world’s opium, and the cheapest road to blue water runs through Pakistan’s south-western badlands. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime research on the “southern route” names Iran and Pakistan as key springboards for Afghan heroin bound for the Gulf and Europe, generating windfalls well into the billions. By cautious estimates, smuggling through Pakistan alone spins off more than a billion US dollars of largely untaxed cash each year. Militants who guard convoys or refine opium into export-grade heroin take their cut; so do civilians and men in uniform who provide protection.

Moreover, a United Nations report notes that despite the Taliban edict, opium cultivation in 2024 still rose by 19 per cent over the 2023 figure.

Counterfeit Nation: A War Printed Across the Border

If heroin yields a harvest within Pakistan, counterfeit rupees sow chaos next door. In May 2019 Nepalese police seized INR 76.7 million in near-perfect Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) from Kathmandu trafficker Yunus Ansari and three Pakistani couriers. Investigators traced the notes to Karachi presses reportedly run by Dawood Ibrahim’s crime syndicate under ISI protection.

The objective, officials say, is two-fold: finance jihadist allies such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, and erode confidence in India’s currency—a variety of “economic jihad” achievable with little more than a printing plate and diplomatic deniability. The ISI funnels FICN through Nepal and Bangladesh via illicit networks that span their borders with India. In February 2015 a Pakistani diplomat was withdrawn from the High Commission in Dhaka after it was proved he was an ISI operative engaged in terror financing and FICN circulation.

Extortion City: Karachi’s Cash Cow

Drugs and forged money form the overture; raw fear provides the steady bass line. Bank robberies in Karachi once netted the Pakistani Taliban and allied outfits more than US $800,000 after commanders in the tribal belt ordered urban cells to abandon foreign donations and fund themselves through crime, reports the ‘Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point’ in its analysis, The Pakistani Taliban’s Karachi Network. The raids were the visible crest of a broader wave of “bhatta parchis”—monthly protection money squeezed from transporters, timber merchants and even school principals. Karachi’s takings underwrote bombs that shredded markets in Peshawar and ambushes that bled police in Khyber. The pattern never vanished; it migrated. In March 2025 the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan sent letters to sugar-mill owners in Dera Ismail Khan: pay us, not the government, or watch your factories burn.

Hawala: The Invisible Artery

Moving cash is effortless when the state prefers the informal. Terrorist groups draw billions of rupees through hawala, cash couriers and black-market currency dealers; narcotics, kidnapping and extortion are core revenue streams. Hawala’s genius lies in its invisibility: one telephone call links a donor in Dubai to a broker in Lahore, and rupees materialise—unrecorded, untaxed, unseen. The same networks move political kick-backs and corporate tax evasion, ensuring institutional silence so long as every stakeholder’s share arrives on time.

Balochistan and Other Wild Frontiers

Farther west, a smuggler’s paradise of desert tracks and deep-water coves bankrolls both sides of Balochistan’s low-burn insurgency. The Baloch Liberation Army, analysts say, enjoys “well-funded support mechanism”: levies on coal trucks, tolls on diesel convoys and a system to keep the rebellion alive. Every barrel of fuel taxed on the Makran coast, every tonne of chromite shifted from a lawless quarry — deposits fresh ammunition in the rebels’ accounts—and justifies larger counter-insurgency budgets for the security establishment run by the Pakistani generals. Conflict has become profitable to the state here as well.

Who Holds the Purse-Strings?

Official spokesmen of the country blame “rogue elements” or “hostile foreign agencies” for terror finance. Yet evidence places Pakistan’s power elite at every collection point. From the 1991 heroin blueprint to the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba donation buckets in Lahore’s mosques and Jaish-e-Mohammed’s seminary in Bahawalpur, terrorism has long been treated as a strategic hedge, not an existential threat. Only when the guns turned inward did the establishment discover the lexicon of compliance.

Under international pressure, the Financial Action Task Force removed Pakistan from its grey list in October 2022. Television viewers saw frozen accounts, a few celebrity militants behind bars and choreographed press conferences about hawala raids. Yet these gestures were skin-deep. The deeper arteries still pulse: the Pahalgam terror attack traced back to Pakistan is a reminder, and the world community should move to grey-list Islamabad again.

Turning Off the Tap—or Pretending To

Pakistan’s terror economy is no single pipe to be welded shut; it is an underground river fed by narcotics, fake currency, extortion, smuggling and the state’s own cynical bargains. The generals who toyed with heroin, the politicians who wink at hawala donors and the bureaucrats who auction customs posts have all drunk from its waters. Could it end? With an economy edging towards default and a state apparatus that still wields covert terror as policy, the prospect appears bleak. Only an uncompromising audit of power can stem the blood money coursing through Pakistan’s shadow state—yet such scrutiny remains a distant chord in a pseudo-civilian order orchestrated by the army and its ISI handlers.

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: Secretary-General’s remarks to the Ministerial Meeting on the Future of Peacekeeping [bilingual, as delivered; scroll down for all-English]

Source: United Nations secretary general

Dear Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, our generous hosts.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

My thanks to Germany for bringing us together at this consequential moment.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.

Our organization was founded on the conviction that peace is possible if we work as one united human family.

That is what our peace operations are about.

From preventive diplomacy to peacekeeping…

From negotiating ceasefires to helping to implement them…

From electoral support and observer missions to de-mining operations and protection of civilians…

To the focus of today’s Ministerial meeting — peacekeeping.

Excellencies,

UN Blue Helmets are the most globally recognized symbol of the world’s ability to come together to help countries move from conflict to peace.

Peacekeepers hail from every corner of the world.

But they are united in their commitment to peace.

As we meet today, UN peacekeepers are hard at work helping to ensure that ceasefires are respected…

Protecting civilians caught in the line of fire…

Helping provide the conditions for lifesaving aid to flow to those in need…

And laying the foundations for long-term recovery.

In trouble spots around the world, Blue Helmets can mean the difference between life and death.

And they are also a clear demonstration of the power of multilateral action to maintain, achieve and sustain peace.

There is a long list of countries that have achieved durable peace with the support of UN Peacekeeping — including Cambodia, Cote d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Liberia, Namibia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Timor Leste.

Many of these countries now themselves contribute troops.

At the same time, we recognize that peace comes at a price.

Through the decades, 4,400 peacekeepers have fallen in the line of duty.

Their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.

Please join me in a moment of silence to honour all those who lost their lives in the pursuit of peace.

[MOMENT OF SILENCE]

Thank you.

Excellencies,

We owe it to peacekeepers — and the populations they protect — to continue strengthening their ability to answer this call to peace.

And to do so in the face of daunting challenges.

Complex, intertwined and frequently borderless conflicts…

Growing polarization and division around the globe…

Targeting of peacekeepers through deadly misinformation spreading through social media…

Terrorism and transnational crime, which find fertile ground in instability…

The ongoing climate crisis that is exacerbating conflict while leaving more of the planet uninhabitable…

All the continued trampling of international law and international humanitarian law.

As a result, we are now facing the highest number of conflicts since the foundation of the United Nations, and record numbers of people fleeing across borders in search of safety and refuge.

We must recognize that peacekeeping operations are only as effective as the mandates directing them, and can struggle in contexts where political support and clearly defined outcomes and solutions are absent or elusive.

Meanwhile, we see increasing differences of views around how peacekeeping operations should work, under what circumstances, with what mandates they should be deployed, and for how long.

And we face dramatic financial constraints across the board.

We’ve worked to adapt in the face of these challenges.

But we need to do more.

Today, I want to highlight three areas of focus.

First — help us shape peacekeeping operations that are fit for the future.

The Pact for the Future called for a Review of Peace Operations — including peacekeeping.

The review will examine how we can make peacekeeping operations more adaptable, flexible and resilient — while recognizing the limitations in situations where there is little or no peace to keep.

It will also aim to critically examine the tools we have today and propose concrete recommendations to make them fit for the future.

Through this review, we must ensure that the United Nations is prepared to deploy peace operations tailored to each individual conflict, while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow.

We can draw inspiration from our UNIFIL operation, which recently developed an adaptation plan to keep peace along the Blue Line, and ensure lifesaving aid can flow to civilians in southern Lebanon.

In the Central African Republic, we see MINUSCA protecting civilians and assisting the government to extend its reach beyond the capital where people are in desperate need.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite ongoing fighting, UN Peacekeepers remain in the field, protecting vulnerable populations.

We’re also seeking efficiencies through partnerships — from Member States to regional and sub-regional organizations, to local communities.

Most important among them is our strong partnership with the African Union.

Security Council resolution 2719 has lifted this partnership to a new level as we work to establish peace enforcement missions under the AU’s responsibility, supported by the United Nations through assessed contributions.

Today, the Review of Peace Operations will need to be informed — and inspired — by your views.

Member States make peacekeeping possible.

They must lead the way as we strengthen it for the future.

Second — as we make our operations more adaptable and flexible, we need to do the same in the use of our resources.

Peace operations can only succeed when backed by robust mandates and clear, predictable and sustained contributions, both financial and logistical.

But these are tough times for the financing of our work across the board.

Peacekeeping is no exception.

It is crucial that we are able to use the increasingly limited resources we have — and use them well.

That requires more flexible rules and processes.

This means updating our approach to abolishing or establishing positions, and working with troop-contributing countries to ensure we can deliver.

It means working with Member States and the UN Security Council to ensure that any new mandates are prioritized and achievable with the resources available and with a clear exit strategy.

And it means driving efficiencies and improvements across our work in light of the continued funding challenges we face.

Our Review of Peace Operations will work hand-in-hand with our UN80 initiative, to ensure we maximize efficiencies wherever possible, supported at every step by Member States.

We look forward to your governments’ support and ideas as we tackle these challenges together.

Third — we need your political support, including through the pledges you will make tomorrow.

Peace operations cannot succeed in the absence of a political solution.

Together we need to mobilize greater support for political solutions across our peacekeeping missions.

Pursuing these political solutions requires adequate means of delivering our operations — including unified political support from Member States, strong leadership, well-trained troops, equipment and technology.

These can strengthen our operations, and make a real difference in people’s lives.

And it requires the support of all Member States to ensure the safety and security of United Nations peacekeepers in the field, and the full implementation of the relevant privileges and immunities of the Organization and its personnel.

We are deeply grateful for the support and for the concrete pledges so many of you will announce here tomorrow.

Excellencies,

With a budget shared by all 193 Member States and representing a tiny fraction of global military spending — around one half of one per cent — UN Peacekeeping remains one of the most effective and cost-effective tools to build international peace and security.

But it’s only as strong as Member States’ commitment to it.

Unfortunately, peacekeeping operations have been facing serious liquidity problems.
 
It is absolutely essential that all Member States respect their financial obligations, paying their contributions in full and on time.

Now more than ever, the world needs the United Nations.

And the United Nations needs peacekeeping that is fully equipped for today’s realities and tomorrow’s challenges.

Together, let’s shape the UN peacekeeping operations that the challenges require, that Member States demand, and that our peacekeepers and the people they support need and deserve.
Thank you.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: FJCU President Prof. Francis Yi-Chen Lan Pays Courtesy Visit to Director General Wu

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

Fu Jen Catholic University President Prof. Francis Yi-Chen Lan – a true pride of the Taiwanese community in Sydney – visited the city and paid a return call on Director General David Cheng-Wei Wu.
President Lan shared highlights from his first year at FJCU and outlined a bold roadmap for the university’s future. He expressed confidence that FJCU is on track to become one of the top universities in Taiwan.
As 2025 marks FJCU’s centennial anniversary, we warmly wish President Lan every success in leading the university to new heights and further strengthening education ties between Taiwan and Australia.

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Chan Kwok-ki meets Hunan Governor

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Acting Chief Executive Chan Kwok-ki met Hunan Governor Mao Weiming today to exchange views on deepening Hong Kong’s co-operation with the province.

Acting Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Clement Woo and Acting Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Bernard Chan also attended the meeting.

Mr Chan welcomed Mr Mao and his delegation to Hong Kong to organise an exchange conference promoting economic and trade co-operation between Hunan and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Hong Kong and Hunan have been maintaining close economic and trade relations, and Hong Kong has been a significant source of external investment and an important trading partner for Hunan, Mr Chan noted.

The Acting Chief Executive also pointed out that under the “one country, two systems” principle, Hong Kong has the distinctive advantages of enjoying the motherland’s strong support and being closely connected to the world. Hong Kong will fully leverage its strengths as a “super connector” and “super value-adder” to assist Hunan in expanding into international markets.

He believes that the two places can complement each other’s strengths and achieve mutual success through collaboration.

Mr Chan highlighted that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is determined to develop the low-altitude economy and has set up a working group to formulate the development strategy.

Noting that Hunan is the first province in the country to pilot the opening of an entire low-altitude area, and possesses policy and industrial strengths, he said the two places can strengthen exchanges and co-operation in the field of low-altitude economy.

The Acting Chief Executive also mentioned that after the commissioning of Express Rail Link service between Hong Kong and Changsha, the shortest travelling time between the two places was reduced to within three hours. With profound historical and cultural value, Hunan Province has become a popular travel destination for Hong Kong citizens.

He hoped citizens of Hunan would visit Hong Kong more often to experience its charm as an events capital, further promoting cultural exchanges between the two places.

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

May 14, 2025
Russia rejects ‘biased’ UN ruling on 2014 downing of Malaysian airliner

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

The Kremlin on Tuesday rejected as biased a ruling by the U.N. aviation council that Russia was responsible for the downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine in 2014 that killed all 298 passengers and crew.

“Our position is well known. You know that Russia was not a country that took part in the investigation of this incident, so we do not accept any biased conclusions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, and was shot down over eastern Ukraine as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.

The victims included 196 Dutch citizens and 38 Australian citizens or residents.

In November 2022, Dutch judges convicted two Russian men and a Ukrainian man in absentia of murder for their role in the attack. Moscow called the ruling “scandalous” and said it would not extradite its citizens.

(Reuters)

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI: Auto and Property Insurance Shopping in First Quarter 2025 Elevated Compared to One Year Ago
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

CHICAGO, May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Auto insurance shopping in Q1 2025 increased 10% compared to the same period in 2024. Home insurance shopping was up 5% year over year, according to TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) research.

While the trend of elevated shopping levels has been consistent for some time, a key difference emerged over the last quarter for auto insurance. Higher-risk consumers are once again the most active shoppers for the first time since Q4 2021. Insurers may have returned to traditional practices of focusing rate increases on higher risk segments, rather than across the board.

As a result, higher-risk customers are still shopping for lower rates, while mid- and low-risk customers may have seen their rates stabilize. These findings and more are included in TransUnion’s latest quarterly Insurance Personal Lines Trends and Perspectives Report.

“As rates have settled for the majority of auto insurance customers, we are experiencing a return to historical insurance shopping patterns, which correlate price sensitivity closely to relative insurance risk,” said Patrick Foy, senior director of strategic planning for TransUnion’s Insurance business. “However, uncertainty in the cost and availability of parts for vehicle and home repairs, could eventually lead to a return of broad-based price increases, and weather-related catastrophes—while still unpredictable—have also become a far more common and costly phenomenon.”

The report notes that natural disasters have increased substantially, with 27 observed $1 billion dollar-plus disasters in 2024. This is more than double the 2010-2019 average of 13 disasters per year. The overall 2024 total cost was around $183 billion—also more than double the average annual cost in the 2010s.¹

Generational shifts in homeownership
The home insurance landscape is facing other changes as well. In 2009 more than half of Gen X consumers owned homes. However, in 2024, only 41% of Millennials at a similar age were homeowners. This is primarily due to the increasing size and cost of housing inventories that led to delays in homeownership or have priced many young adults out of the housing market entirely.

As a result, there is a shift in home composition, with two- and even three-generation households becoming more common. Only 38% of credit-active occupants were living alone as of 2024, compared to 45% in 2009. Consumers seem to expect this trend to continue. According to a recent TransUnion consumer survey,18% of Gen X, 26% of Millennials and 35% of Gen Z plan to provide financial support to parents and grandparents in the next five years.²

“As consumers are readjusting their lifestyles in the face of new economic realities, insurers must also become flexible with their policy offerings,” said Foy. “Multi-generational households represent a different risk profile as well as a different audience segment for their marketing.”

By acknowledging this emerging trend in household composition, insurers can design products that more effectively price the inherent risks. They can also design advertising campaigns that better reach and resonate with their desired customers.

Insurers can achieve more effective marketing with TransUnion’s TruAudience^® suite of marketing solutions that help with identity resolution, audience building and measurement.

Read the latest Insurance Personal Lines Trends and Perspectives Report.
1. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters | Time Series | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
2. 2025 TransUnion Insurance Summit Consumer Survey
About TransUnion’s Insurance Personal Lines Trends and Perspectives Report
This quarterly publication examines trends in the personal lines insurance industry, including shopping, migration, violation, credit-based insurance stability and more. The Trends and Perspectives Report research is based almost entirely on TransUnion’s extensive internal data and analyses. It includes information on insurance shopping transactions from October 2023 to March 2025. However, the report excludes shopping data from insurance customers in California, Hawaii (auto), Massachusetts (auto), and Maryland (property), where credit-based insurance scoring information is not used for insurance rating or underwriting.

About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)
TransUnion is a global information and insights company with over 13,000 associates operating in more than 30 countries. We make trust possible by ensuring each person is reliably represented in the marketplace. We do this with a Tru™ picture of each person: an actionable view of consumers, stewarded with care. Through our acquisitions and technology investments we have developed innovative solutions that extend beyond our strong foundation in core credit into areas such as marketing, fraud, risk and advanced analytics. As a result, consumers and businesses can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good^® — and it leads to economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for millions of people around the world. http://www.transunion.com/business

The MIL Network –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI: Northstrive Biosciences Signs Binding Term Sheet with Modulant Biosciences for Exclusive Global Animal Health Licensing of EL-22
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
- Binding term sheet grants Modulant Biosciences exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize EL-22 for animal health, enabling a first-of-its-kind probiotic approach to muscle preservation in livestock.
- This collaboration represents a strategic opportunity for Northstrive to monetize the intellectual property of EL-22 in the animal health sector. If EL-22 is successfully developed and brought to market, the license could become a long-term revenue-generating asset.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Northstrive Biosciences Inc. (“Northstrive”), a subsidiary of PMGC Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ELAB) (the “Company,” “PMGC,” “we,” or “our”), today announced the signing of a binding term sheet with Modulant Biosciences LLC (“Modulant”). This binding term sheet outlines the terms for a future definitive licensing agreement for Northstrive’s licensing of certain intellectual property rights related to EL-22 in the field of animal health. This license would allow Modulant to use the relevant intellectual property for uses in animal health (“Intellectual Property”), including use as a feed additive. Excluding the Republic of Korea, the license would be worldwide and exclusive, and give Modulant the exclusive right to sub-license the relevant intellectual property globally.

The Intellectual Property consists of those patents and applications set forth in the definitive licensing agreement, including at least: (i) U.S. Patent 8,470,551, (ii) U.S. Patent Application No. 19/19,191,246, and (iii) U.S. Patent Application No. 19/191,258. The definitive licensing agreement will establish a framework for the parties’ collaboration, sharing of intellectual property, and commercialization oversight, with a focus on livestock and other veterinary markets.

“Targeting the myostatin pathway with a probiotic approach could be a breakthrough for achieving improved body composition in livestock and companion animals,” said Modulant Biosciences CEO Tom Campi. “The licensing of EL-22 will enable us to evaluate the muscle-building properties of the modified lactobacillus casei for treating livestock and supporting the industry’s environmental efforts.”

Modulant Biosciences is led by Tom Campi, a seasoned biotechnology executive with extensive experience in animal drug development and commercialization. Dr. Campi is board certified by the American College of Poultry Veterinarians and has previously worked for Elanco Animal Health and Huvepharma. His more than 25-year career path has included roles in poultry technical consulting, leadership roles in US and European regulatory affairs and technology acquisitions.

As part of the financial terms, Modulant will pay Northstrive a share of all revenues generated from sublicensing and commercial activities. Northstrive will receive a percentage of all such revenues until a certain dollar limit, after which the royalty rate will decrease. The definitive licensing agreement will also include provisions for the parties’ co-ownership of new intellectual property developed by Modulant, certain sublicensing rights, and annual updates from Modulant about licensing and commercialization efforts for the licensed technology.

The parties intend to finalize and execute the definitive license agreement in the coming months, pending necessary approvals from Northstrive’s head licensor for certain intellectual property rights related to EL-22.

About Northstrive Biosciences Inc.

Northstrive Biosciences Inc., a PMGC Holdings Inc. company, is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development and acquisition of cutting-edge aesthetic medicines. Northstrive’s lead asset, EL-22, leverages an engineered probiotic approach to address obesity’s pressing issue of preserving muscle while on weight loss treatments, including GLP-1 receptor agonists. For more information, please visit www.northstrivebio.com.

About PMGC Holdings Inc.

PMGC Holdings Inc. is a diversified holding company that manages and grows its portfolio through strategic acquisitions, investments, and development across various industries. Currently, our portfolio consists of three wholly owned subsidiaries: Northstrive Biosciences Inc., PMGC Research Inc., and PMGC Capital LLC. We are committed to exploring opportunities in multiple sectors to maximize growth and value. For more information, please visit https://www.pmgcholdings.com.

About Modulant Biosciences LLC

Modulant Biosciences is a biotechnology company specializing in veterinary medicine innovation. Led by Dr. Tom Campi, Modulant is focused on developing novel drugs and biologics for livestock and companion animals. Currently, Modulant’s synergistic pipeline includes first in class antivirals for livestock and companion animals and a “One Drug for All Cancers” platform.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Words such as “believes,” “expects,” “plans,” “potential,” “would” and “future” or similar expressions such as “look forward” are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy, activities of regulators and future regulations and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. These and other risks are described more fully in PMGC’s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2025, and its other documents subsequently filed with or furnished to the SEC. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. Except to the extent required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

IR Contact:
IR@pmgcholdings.com

The MIL Network –
May 14, 2025