NewzIntel.com

Category: Asia

  • MIL-OSI China: Xi says friendship forged with blood, lives inexhaustible source of China-Russia amity

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Xi says friendship forged with blood, lives inexhaustible source of China-Russia amity

    Xinhua | May 7, 2025

    Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the profound friendship forged with blood and lives in the World Anti-Fascist War has become an inexhaustible source of the everlasting amity between China and Russia.

    Xi made the remarks in a signed article published Wednesday by the Russian Gazette newspaper ahead of his arrival in Russia for a state visit and the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War.

    Noting that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the victories of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War and the World Anti-Fascist War, as well as the founding of the United Nations, Xi said that together with the heroic Russian people, he will honor the past and pay tribute to the martyrs.

    Xi said that all those who made great contributions to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War — from generals to soldiers — will never be forgotten, noting that the people of China and Russia fought side by side and supported each other during the war.

    Eighty years ago, just forces all over the world, including China and the Soviet Union, united to fight a common enemy and triumphed over fascism, Xi said.

    Today, eight decades later, unilateralism, hegemony and acts of bullying are inflicting severe harm, and humanity once again stands at a crossroads — between unity or division, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum, he added.

    The world must take history as a mirror, draw wisdom and strength from the profound lessons of World War II and the great victory in the World Anti-Fascist War, resolutely oppose all forms of hegemonism and power politics, and jointly create a brighter future for humanity, Xi said. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: UN chief calls for military restraint from India, Pakistan

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

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for military restraint from India and Pakistan.

    In a note to correspondents issued by his spokesperson, the UN chief expressed deep concern over Indian military operations across the Line of Control and the international border with Pakistan.

    “The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,” the note said.

    On Monday, the secretary-general warned that the tensions between the two South Asian neighbors had reached “their highest in years.”

    He offered his good offices to both governments to help defuse tensions and promote diplomacy, stressing that “a military solution is no solution.”

    Guterres once again strongly condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. “Targeting civilians is unacceptable — and those responsible must be brought to justice through credible and lawful means,” he said.

    Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated following a deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: 26 civilians killed, 46 injured in Indian attack on Pakistani civilian settlements

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

    Photo taken with a mobile phone on May 7, 2025 shows a building destroyed in an Indian missile attack in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. [Photo/Xinhua]

    At least 26 people were killed and 46 others injured after India carried out strikes on six civilian settlements in Pakistan, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistani army, confirmed during a press briefing on Wednesday.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Sherman Statement on India’s Military Strike Against Pakistan

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brad Sherman (CA-32), senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement:

    “As Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged both India and Pakistan, we must avoid armed conflict and escalation. India has not provided the world with strong evidence that the terrible terrorist attack in Kashmir was the result of actions taken by the Pakistani government. Let us hope that the Pakistani government does not escalate this crisis and that its response is de-escalatory.”

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Xi calls for safeguarding post-war order, defending int’l justice

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

    Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the international community to uphold the correct view of the history of World War II (WWII), firmly safeguard the post-war international order, and resolutely defend international fairness and justice.

    Xi made the remarks in a signed article published Wednesday in the Russian Gazette newspaper ahead of his arrival in Russia for a state visit and attendance at the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War.

    He noted that China and the Soviet Union stood as the backbone in the fight against Japanese militarism and German Nazism, making decisive contributions to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.

    Any attempt to distort the historical truth of WWII, deny the outcomes of the victory, or smear the historical contributions of China and the Soviet Union is doomed to fail, Xi added.

    Xi said that the most important decision made by the international community at the end of WWII was the founding of the United Nations. Facing the complex and turbulent international situation, all countries should firmly safeguard the UN-centered international system, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and advance an equal and orderly multi-polar world and an economic globalization that benefits all, he said.

    Xi also urged the international community to uphold dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance, and win-win cooperation over zero-sum games.

    True multilateralism must be practiced, legitimate concerns of all parties should be taken into account, and international rules and order need to be jointly upheld, said Xi.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Full text of Xi’s signed article in Russian media

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday published a signed article titled “Learning from History to Build Together a Brighter Future” in the Russian Gazette newspaper ahead of his arrival in Russia for a state visit and attendance at the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War.

    The following is the full text of the article:

    Learning from History to Build Together a Brighter Future

    H.E. Xi Jinping

    President of the People’s Republic of China

    This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War, and the World Anti-Fascist War. It also marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN). In this season when “apple and pear trees are blossoming,” I will soon pay a state visit to Russia and attend the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War, joining the heroic Russian people in honoring the history and the fallen heroes.

    Ten years ago around this time, I came to Russia to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victory. During that visit, I made a special arrangement to meet with 18 representatives of Russian veterans who endured the blood and fire of battlefields during the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War and the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Their unyielding resolve and indomitable bearing left an indelible impression on me. In the past few years, General M. Gareyev, Major General T. Shchudlo and other veterans passed away. I pay my deepest tribute to them and to all veterans-from generals to the rank and file-for their extraordinary service and heroic feats in securing the victory over fascists around the world. We will never forget them. Heroes never perish; their noble spirit lives forever.

    During the World Anti-Fascist War, the Chinese and Russian peoples fought shoulder to shoulder and supported each other. In the darkest hours of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Volunteer Group, which was part of the Soviet Air Force, came to Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing to fight alongside the Chinese people, bravely engaging Japanese invaders in aerial combat-many sacrificing their precious lives. At the critical juncture of the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War, Yan Baohang, a legendary intelligence agent of the Communist Party of China (CPC) who was hailed as the “Richard Sorge of the East,” provided the Soviet Union with primary-source intelligence. In the crucible of the war-torn years, the Soviet Union provided China with large quantities of weapons and equipment. China, for its part, shipped much-needed strategic supplies to the Soviet Union. The two countries jointly established a supply line spanning the treacherous Gobi Desert. It was an international lifeline, vital for our mutual support in fighting fascists. The strong camaraderie between our two nations, forged in blood and sacrifice, surges onward unceasingly, mighty as the Yellow River and the Volga. It is an eternal wellspring nourishing our everlasting friendship.

    Eighty years ago, the forces of justice around the world, including China and the Soviet Union, united in courageous battles against their common foes and defeated the overbearing fascist powers. Eighty years later today, however, unilateralism, hegemonism, bullying, and coercive practices are severely undermining our world. Again humankind has come to a crossroads of unity or division, dialogue or confrontation, win-win cooperation or zero-sum games. In War and Peace, the great writer Leo Tolstoy observed, “History is the life of nations and of humanity.” Indeed, historical memory and truth will not fade with the passage of time. They serve as inspirations that mirror the present and illuminate the future. We must learn from history, especially the hard lessons of the Second World War. We must draw wisdom and strength from the great victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, and resolutely resist all forms of hegemonism and power politics. We must work together to build a brighter future for humanity.

    — We must uphold a correct historical perspective on WWII. China and the Soviet Union were the principal theaters of that war in Asia and Europe respectively. The two countries served as the mainstay of resistance against Japanese militarism and German Nazism, making pivotal contribution to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War. The Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began the earliest and lasted the longest. United as one under the banner of the Chinese united front against Japanese aggression, which was advocated and established by the CPC, the Chinese people launched a relentless struggle against and defeated the brutal Japanese militarists. With immense sacrifice, they carved out an immortal epic of heroic resistance and ultimate victory against Japanese aggression. In the European theater, the Soviet Red Army advanced like an iron tide with unwavering fortitude and valor, crushed Nazi Germany’s ambitions and liberated millions from its brutal occupation, writing an epic of victory in the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War.

    History teaches us that light will always overcome darkness, and that justice will ultimately prevail over evil. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East condemned the convicted war criminals to perpetual infamy. The justice and integrity of the two landmark trials, their historic significance, and their contemporary relevance stand beyond challenge. Any attempt to distort the historical truth of WWII, deny its victorious outcome, or defame the historic contribution of China and the Soviet Union is doomed to fail. Neither of our two nations will tolerate any act to reverse the course of history-nor will the people of the whole world.

    — We must resolutely uphold the postwar international order. The most significant decision by the international community around the end of WWII was to establish the UN. China and the Soviet Union were among the first to sign the UN Charter. Our permanent membership in the UN Security Council is a product of history, earned through blood and sacrifice. The more turbulent and complex the international situation becomes, the more we must uphold and defend the authority of the UN, firmly uphold the UN-centered international system, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and steadily promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

    This year also marks the 80th anniversary of the restoration of Taiwan. Taiwan’s restoration to China is a victorious outcome of WWII and an integral part of the postwar international order. A series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, have all affirmed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan. The historical and legal fact therein brooks no challenge. And the authority of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 brooks no challenge. No matter how the situation on the Taiwan island evolves or what troubles external forces may make, the historical trend toward China’s ultimate and inevitable reunification is unstoppable.

    China and Russia have all along firmly supported each other on issues bearing on our respective core interests or major concerns. Russia has reiterated on many occasions that it strictly adheres to the one-China principle, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, it opposes any form of “Taiwan independence,” and it firmly supports all measures of the Chinese government and the Chinese people to achieve national reunification. China highly commends Russia’s consistent position.

    — We must firmly defend international fairness and justice. Now, the global deficits in peace, development, security and governance continue to widen unabated. To address these deficits, I have proposed to build a community with a shared future for mankind and put forward the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative as a way forward to steer the reform of the global governance system toward greater fairness and justice.

    The world needs justice, not hegemonism. History and reality have proven that to meet global challenges, it is important to uphold the vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit. It is also important to choose dialogue over confrontation, build partnerships over alliances, and pursue win-win cooperation over zero-sum games. It is equally important to practice true multilateralism, accommodate the legitimate concerns of all parties, and safeguard international norms and order. We firmly believe that people around the world will choose to stand on the right side of history and the side of fairness and justice.

    China and Russia are both major countries with significant influence in the world. The two nations are constructive forces for maintaining global strategic stability and for improving global governance. Our bilateral relationship is founded upon a clear historical logic, sustained by strong internal drive, and rooted in profound cultural heritage. Our relationship is neither directed against nor swayed by any third party. Together we must foil all schemes to disrupt or undermine our bonds of amity and trust, and we must not be baffled by transient matters or unsettled by formidable challenges. We must leverage the certainty and resilience of our partnership of strategic coordination to jointly accelerate the shift toward a multipolar world and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

    China and Russia are both great nations with splendid civilizations. The Chinese and Russian peoples are both great peoples defined by heroic legacies. Eighty years ago, our peoples won the anti-fascist war through heroic struggles. Eight decades later today, we must take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard our sovereignty, security, and development interests. We should be guardians of historical memory, partners in national development and rejuvenation, and champions of global fairness and justice, and work together to forge a brighter future for humanity.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: China main car supplier to Uzbekistan in Q1 2025: report

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

    China was the top supplier of passenger cars to Uzbekistan in the first quarter of 2025, according to a report released on Tuesday by the country’s National Statistics Committee.

    “In January-March 2025, Uzbekistan imported 6,950 passenger cars from abroad, with a total value of 115.1 million U.S. dollars,” said the report.

    It noted that among the partner countries, China ranked first with 5,235 vehicles delivered to Uzbekistan. South Korea was ranked second with 1,425 units, and India third with 144 units.

    In 2024, Uzbekistan imported 74,700 passenger cars, of which approximately 61,000 were supplied by China. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: MSF – Israel’s New INGO Registration Measures Are a Grave Threat to Humanitarian Operations and International Law – 55 Organisations Say

     Source: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – Doctors Without Borders

    The undersigned 55 organisations operating in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) call for urgent action from the international community against new Israeli registration rules for international NGOs. Based on vague, broad, politicised, and open-ended criteria, these rules appear designed to assert control over independent humanitarian, development and peacebuilding operations, silence advocacy grounded in international humanitarian and human rights law, and further entrench Israeli control and de facto annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory.

    For over a year and a half, humanitarian organisations have continued operating despite unprecedented constraints. In 2024, they reached millions of people across the oPt with essential services – from food and water to mobile clinics, legal aid, and education. The new registration rules now threaten to shut this work down. These measures go beyond routine policy. They mark a serious escalation in restrictions on humanitarian and civic space and risk setting a dangerous precedent.

    Under the new provisions, INGOs already registered in Israel may face de-registration, while new applicants risk rejection based on arbitrary, politicised allegations, such as “delegitimising Israel” or expressing support for accountability for Israeli violations of international law. Other disqualifiers include public support for a boycott of Israel within the past seven years (by staff, a partner, board member, or founder) or failure to meet exhaustive reporting requirements. By framing humanitarian and human rights advocacy as a threat to the state, Israeli authorities can shut out organisations merely for speaking out about conditions they witness on the ground, forcing INGOs to choose between delivering aid and promoting respect for the protections owed to affected people.

    INGOs are further required to submit complete staff lists and other sensitive information about staff and their families to Israel when applying for registration. In a context where humanitarian and healthcare workers are routinely subject to harassment, detention, and direct attacks, this raises serious protection concerns.

    These new rules are part of a broader, long-term crackdown on humanitarian and civic space, marked by heightened surveillance and attacks, and a series of actions that restrict humanitarian access, compromise staff safety, and undermine core principles of humanitarian action. They are not isolated but part of a wider pattern that includes:

    Blocking or delaying aid through arbitrary bureaucratic restrictions, logistical obstacles, and complete sieges, denying essential lifesaving supplies to Palestinians.
    Killing more than 400 humanitarian workers in Gaza, injuring and detaining countless others, and repeatedly attacking marked and notified humanitarian premises, facilities or convoys.
    Passing legislation aimed at curtailing the operations of UNRWA, the largest provider of essential services for Palestinians.
    Advancing legislation to impose a tax of up to 80 per cent on foreign government funding to Israeli NGOs, while barring them from seeking recourse through the Israeli court system – including organisations that serve as partners for INGOs to deliver assistance and uphold protections in communities facing displacement, demolitions, or settler violence.
    Suspending work visas for international staff and revoking permits for Palestinians residing in the West Bank to access Jerusalem, severely disrupting operations.

    And now, making INGO registration conditional on political and ideological alignment, undermining the neutrality, impartiality and independence of humanitarian actors.

    Under international humanitarian law, occupying powers are obligated to facilitate impartial humanitarian assistance and ensure the welfare of the protected population. Any attempt to condition humanitarian access on political alignment or penalise organisations for fulfilling their mandate risks breaching this framework. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to allow unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza in three legally binding provisional measures orders in 2024. Yet, these new rules expand and institutionalise existing barriers to aid.

    We call on States, donors, and the international community to:

    • Use all possible means to protect humanitarian operations from measures that compromise neutrality, independence, and access – including staff list requirements, political vetting, and vague revocation clauses.
    • Take concrete political and diplomatic action beyond statements of concern to ensure unhindered humanitarian access and prevent the erosion of principled aid delivery.
    • Support INGOs and Palestinian and Israeli civil society organisations through legal assistance, diplomatic support, and flexible funding to help mitigate legal, financial, and reputational risks. Donors must defend principled humanitarian and human rights work.

    The undersigned 55 organisations stress that engagement with the registration process to preserve critical humanitarian operations should not be misinterpreted as endorsement of these measures.

    These 55 organisations remain committed to the delivery of humanitarian aid, along with development and peacebuilding services and activities that are independent, impartial, and based on need, in full accordance with international law and the humanitarian principles derived from it. INGOs stand ready to engage with Israeli authorities in good faith on administrative processes but cannot accept measures that penalise principled humanitarian work or expose staff to retaliation. These measures not only undermine assistance in the oPt but also set a dangerous precedent for humanitarian operations globally.

    1. Act Church of Sweden
    2. ActionAid
    3. Alianza / ActionAid Spain (ApS/AAS)
    4. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
    5. Anera
    6. Asamblea de Cooperación Por la Paz (ACPP)
    7. Asociación Paz con Dignidad
    8. CARE International
    9. CESVI
    10. Children Not Numbers
    11. Christian Aid
    12. CIDSE – International family of Catholic social justice organisations
    13. Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (CISS)
    14. COSPE
    15. DanChurchAid (DCA)
    16. Danish House in Palestine
    17. Diakonia
    18. Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
    19. forumZFD
    20. Global Communities
    21. HEKS/EPER
    22. Humanity First UK
    23. Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International
    24. IM Swedish Development Partner
    25. International Media Support (IMS)
    26. Islamic Relief Worldwide
    27. Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
    28. KURVE Wustrow
    29. MedGlobal
    30. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
    31. Médecins du Monde (MdM) France
    32. Médecins du Monde (MdM) Spain
    33. Médecins du Monde (MdM) Switzerland
    34. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
    35. medico international
    36. Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
    37. Movement for Peace (MPDL)
    38. Muslim Aid
    39. Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
    40. Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
    41. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
    42. Oxfam
    43. Pax Christi International
    44. Plan International
    45. Polish Medical Mission Association (PMM)
    46. Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)
    47. Relief International (RI)
    48. Save the Children International (SCI)
    49. Secours Islamique France (SIF)
    50. Terre des Hommes (Tdh) Italia
    51. Terre des Hommes (Tdh) Lausanne
    52. The Center for Mind-Body Medicine
    53. War Child
    54. Weltfriedensdienst e.V. (world peace service)
    55. West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC).

    MSF is an international, medical, humanitarian organisation that delivers medical care to people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, or political affiliation. MSF has been working in Haiti for over 30 years, offering general healthcare, trauma care, burn wound care, maternity care, and care for survivors of sexual violence. MSF Australia was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF sections committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis. In 2022, more than 120 project staff from Australia and New Zealand worked with MSF on assignment overseas. MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender. For more information visit msf.org.au  

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Parliament Hansard Report – Tuesday, 6 May 2025 – Volume 783 – 001467

    Source: Govt’s austerity Budget to cause real harm in communities

    Question No. 8—Health

    8. Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour) to the Minister of Health: Is his first priority as Health Minister still “focusing Health New Zealand on delivering the basics and achieving targets”; if so, why have wait times for first specialist assessment and elective treatments worsened?

    Hon SIMEON BROWN (Minister of Health): Yes, you cannot manage what you don’t measure, and that’s why this Government reinstated health targets: to drive accountability and ensure access to timely, quality healthcare. Too many New Zealanders are waiting too long for first specialist assessments and elective treatments, and addressing this is a priority. Wait-lists have been growing over several years. Despite an increase in elective procedures and first specialist assessments being completed last year, the rate at which people were being referred on to wait-lists continues to outpace the rate at which people were receiving treatment or being seen. However, I’m pleased to inform the member that Health New Zealand advises me that the number of patients waiting for a first specialist assessment in the week ending 13 April has reduced by over 8,000 since the first week of January.

    Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: How can he expect others to be accountable for targets, if he doesn’t own up that there has been a 6 percent deterioration in first specialist assessments, and a 3 percent deterioration in elective treatments since the change of Government?

    Hon SIMEON BROWN: If we’re going to talk about percentages, we could talk about the 6,500 percent increase in the number of people waiting more than four months for a first specialist assessment when that party was in Government; or we could talk about the 2,500 percent increase in the number of people waiting for an elective treatment more than four months, while that party was in Government. The wait-list ballooned. We’ve put in place targets. Now we’re focusing the system on delivery so that people can get the healthcare they need in a timely and quality manner.

    Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Who does he expect to do the additional procedures, when Health New Zealand’s last quarterly workforce report shows 310 fewer nurses and 47 fewer doctors employed in our health system?

    Hon SIMEON BROWN: There are more doctors and more nurses working at Health New Zealand than in 2023. We’re investing in front-line services and we’re focusing on ensuring that we treat the patients and get the timely and quality access to healthcare that is needed. As I said in my primary answer, I’m pleased to inform the member that Health New Zealand advises me that the number of patients waiting for a first specialist assessment in the week ending 13 April has reduced by over 8,000 since the first week of January. That is progress. Because of the huge wait-list that we inherited, it’s going to take time to deliver. I’m focused on delivery.

    Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Does he stand by his statement “There is no such thing as a hiring freeze.”, or does he accept that official statistics now show hiring has been frozen?

    Hon SIMEON BROWN: There are more doctors and more nurses working at Health New Zealand today than there were in 2023. We’re investing in front-line health workforces and we’re focusing on delivery. We’re investing $16.68 billion over three Budgets, so we can invest in the front-line services that New Zealanders need.

    Rt Hon Winston Peters: Could the Minister confirm that with the last three answers on the statistical improvements that he gave in those answers, the primary question, or the questioner, was demonstrably, deliberately false?

    Hon SIMEON BROWN: We’re focused on delivery. We’re focused on outcomes. We have more doctors and more nurses working at Health New Zealand today than in 2023. We’re focused on outcomes. As I said in my primary answer, 8,000 fewer people are waiting on the first specialist assessment wait-list for the week ending 13 April than in the first week of January. That’s progress. We inherited massive wait-lists which ballooned under the previous Government, and we are focused on getting patients the care they need.

    Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Why did he try to blame senior doctors for longer waits for treatment, when it is his Government’s hiring freeze that means New Zealanders are going without the care they need?

    Hon SIMEON BROWN: I was very clear when it came to the union deciding to go on strike that they should have put the offer that was presented to them a week prior to the strike to their members to vote on, rather than going on a strike which has caused 4,300 elective treatments or first specialist assessments to be delayed. That’s unacceptable. We must put patients first.

    Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Supplementary.

    SPEAKER: Question No. 9—just waiting for a bit of quiet.

    Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Supplementary.

    SPEAKER: Oh, supplementary. Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

    Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Thank you. How does the ministry’s decision to remove ethnicity as a factor in wait-times align with his targets to reduce wait-times when Māori are still waiting longer for treatment than non-Māori?

    Hon SIMEON BROWN: Our Government is very clear: we are focusing on need and we’re focusing on making sure that we are ensuring that patients get the treatment they need in a timely and quality manner, and that applies to all New Zealanders.

    Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Point of order. That was a mischaracterisation of the actual question. The question, which is an equity-based, policy-based, needs-based—

    Hon Judith Collins: Just ask the question.

    Debbie Ngarewa-Packer:—addresses Māori and Pacific Islanders, and there wasn’t actually an answer in that—thanks, Judith.

    SPEAKER: Well, the Minister could say the same thing again if he likes.

    Hon SIMEON BROWN: The Government is focusing the health system to treat people based on the needs that they have and ensuring that all New Zealanders can get the access to timely and quality healthcare.

    Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Supplementary.

    Rt Hon Winston Peters: Supplementary question.

    SPEAKER: Supplementary—Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

    Rt Hon Winston Peters: How did that go?

    SPEAKER: Because she was faster off her feet.

    Rt Hon Winston Peters: No, she wasn’t.

    SPEAKER: Yes, she was. I’m pretty sure. Debbie Ngarewa-Packer—it was like a blur; you could hardly see it.

    Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Thank you. How will proposed cuts to Māori and Pacific health and immunisation providers, many of whom serve high needs and hard to reach whānau, achieve his target to increase immunisation rates for children to 95 percent at 24 months?

    Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, this Government is very much focused on delivering on the basis of need. We continue to invest in providers who serve a variety of communities to ensure that we are reaching out into Māori and Pacific communities so that we can meet those targets. But as I said in the previous answer, we are focusing healthcare delivery on the basis of need so that all New Zealanders can access timely and quality healthcare.

    Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can I ask the Minister as to why on earth he hasn’t consulted with Ayesha Verrall, who’s an absolute expert on medical waiting lists and endless delays?

    SPEAKER: No. Is there another question?

    Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Yes. How does his decision to cancel bowel cancer screening for Māori and Pasifika from the age of 50 align with his target of faster cancer treatment for 90 percent of patients when these groups have the highest rates of bowel cancer in the country with 18 percent of cases diagnosed under the age of 50?

    Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, we’re focusing on, as I said, healthcare delivered on the basis of need. We are lowering the age for all New Zealanders to be able to access bowel cancer screening to the age of 58. We are also making targeted investments to target those communities—Māori, Pasifika, Asian communities—where they have lower bowel cancer screening rates, to lift those rates so that we can save as many lives as possible.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI: Mizuho Names 2023 Mizuho Americas Open Junior Winner Yana Wilson as Brand Ambassador

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    The Epson Tour’s newest champion joins Legend Michelle Wie West and LPGA stars Rose Zhang and Ayaka Furue to form Team Mizuho

    Wilson to compete in 2025 Mizuho Americas Open as sponsor exemption

    NEW YORK, May 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mizuho Americas, the Americas arm of Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE: MFG), one of the largest financial institutions in the world and title sponsor of the Mizuho Americas Open, today announced Yana Wilson, 2023 American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Player of the Year and current rookie on the Epson Tour, as an official brand ambassador. Wilson – who earned her first professional victory on the Epson Tour this past Sunday in her hometown of Las Vegas – joins Michelle Wie West, Rose Zhang and Ayaka Furue in representing “Team Mizuho.”

    After advancing to Qualifying in the LPGA Q-Series, Wilson secured guaranteed Epson Tour status for 2025 and ultimately decided to bet on herself and go pro. Prior to joining the Epson Tour, Wilson secured four AJGA victories, including winning the amateur tournament at the inaugural 2023 Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club.

    “Watching Yana transition from a top-ranked amateur to a dedicated pro, has been an inspiring journey,” said Cheryl Gilberg, Chief Marketing Officer, Mizuho Americas. “Her win at the inaugural Mizuho Americas Open in 2023 and her impressive second-place finish in 2024 showcased not just her incredible talent, but also her unwavering determination and grace. We are thrilled to have her as part of Team Mizuho and look forward to supporting her every step of the way.”

    As previously announced at the Mizuho Americas Open media day in April, Mizuho has extended a sponsor exemption for Wilson to compete in the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open May 8 – 11, at the iconic Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City. She will make history as the first player to win the tournament as a junior and return to compete as a professional.

    “It’s an honor to join Team Mizuho alongside such inspiring women and accomplished golfers,” said Wilson. “Mizuho’s commitment to providing a championship experience for amateur and professional players alike is something I have been fortunate enough to experience through the Mizuho Americas Open. I am proud to represent Mizuho as they continue to help advance the next generation of talent and level the playing field for women.”

    Mizuho recently renewed its title sponsor agreement for the Mizuho Americas Open through 2030 and will raise the purse to $3.25 million in 2026, one of the largest outside of the Major championships. The tournament will maintain its successful format where the AJGA’s future stars compete alongside the best women golfers in the world. The new five-year agreement will allow the marquee tournament to remain in the New York City Metro area, providing unmatched benefits to the LPGA players, AJGA junior golfers, and the local community.

    The expanded ambassador program is a key component of Mizuho’s support of the LPGA. As the title sponsor of the Mizuho Americas Open, Mizuho is committed to enhancing the player experience while providing opportunity and mentorship through a new standard of competition with its pro/junior format, world-class golf course, player accommodations, and longstanding partnership with Girls Inc.

    About Mizuho
    Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. is one of the largest financial institutions in the world as measured by total assets of ~$2 trillion, according to S&P Global 2024. Mizuho’s 65,000 employees worldwide offer comprehensive financial services to clients in 36 countries and 850 offices throughout the Americas, EMEA, and Asia.

    Mizuho Americas is a leading Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB) that provides a full spectrum of client-driven solutions across strategic advisory, capital markets, corporate banking, and fixed income and equities sales & trading to corporate, government, and institutional clients in the US, Canada, and Latin America. Through its acquisition of Greenhill, Mizuho enhanced its M&A, restructuring, and private capital advisory capabilities across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Mizuho Americas employs approximately 4,000 professionals. For more information, visit www.mizuhoamericas.com.

    About the Mizuho Americas Open
    The Mizuho Americas Open is a purpose-driven tournament on the LPGA Tour. As title sponsor, Mizuho Americas created and drove the vision for a distinctive and premium event that celebrates women and advances the next generation, with a charitable focus on providing leadership and life skills to young girls from underserved communities. Played at the prestigious Liberty National Golf Club, with LPGA icon Michelle Wie West as celebrity host, the tournament features an elevated purse and a unique junior component where the AJGA’s stars of tomorrow compete alongside the best women golfers in the world. The tournament is also home to the Mizuho Americas DrivHER Summit, an inspirational day of learning and activities for Girls Inc., the official charitable partner of the Mizuho Americas Open. The Summit leverages the game of golf and the LPGA to inspire the members of Girls Inc. to discover the confidence they need to become leaders in their communities.

    Media Contacts

    For Mizuho:
    Laura London
    Director, Media Relations, Mizuho
    (917) 446-5226
    laura.london@mizuhogroup.com

    Jon Schwartz
    Head of Sports, Prosek Partners
    (347) 794-9633
    jschwartz@prosek.com

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d4b7ec21-1e15-4b10-9012-601c7b5dec5a
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0a3bc026-d816-486f-9906-ade8df91f1f0
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/58b485e7-cef7-4f36-8957-b30ce9423d54
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1345499e-6536-41eb-887e-043748d4ca82

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Xbox showcases Asian and Pacific Islander voices enriching the gaming world

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Xbox showcases Asian and Pacific Islander voices enriching the gaming world

    Windbound – Shipwrecked on an uncharted island, explore, adapt and navigate the land and seas to stay alive. You are a warrior, caught at sea and tossed on to the shores of a mysterious paradise. With no boat, food or tools, just the will to survive, craft tools and weapons to hunt and defend yourself against nature itself. Explore and secrets of the past are revealed.

    Play Windbound Today

    Coral Island – Coral Island is a vibrant, laid-back reimagining of farm sims. Be who you want and experience enchanting island living at your own pace. Live off the land, tend animals, build relationships with a diverse cast of townsfolk, and make the world a more harmonious place.

    Play Coral Island Today

    Summer in Mara – Take care of your own island and explore the ocean in this farming adventure. Summer in Mara mixes farming, crafting and exploring mechanics in a tropical archipelago with a colorful style and strong narrative. Unravel the mystery and find your way home.

    Play Summer in Mara Today

    Discover Movies highlighting Asian and Pacific Islander Cultures on Xbox:

    Moana 2 – Walt Disney Animation Studios’ animated musical reunites Moana and Maui three years later for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. After hearing from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey into long-lost waters for an adventure. Warning: Some flashing-lights scenes in this film may affect photosensitive viewers. 

    Watch Moana 2 Today

    Raya and the Last Dragon – Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Raya and the Last Dragon” travels to the fantasy world of Kumandra, where humans and dragons lived together in harmony long ago. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it’s up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people. 

    Watch Raya and the Last Dragon Today

    Lilo & Stitch – On the lush and tropical Hawaiian Islands, an independent little girl named Lilo adopts what she thinks is an innocent puppy, completely unaware that he is a mischievous creature who has escaped from a faraway planet. 

    Watch Lilo & Stitch Today

    Big Hero 6 – From Walt Disney Animation Studios comes an action-packed comedy adventure about robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada and his personal companion robot Baymax, who team up with a band of unlikely heroes to save the city of San Fransokyo from a criminal plot. 

    Watch Big Hero 6 Today

    Spotlighting Ecco the Dolphin Creator Ed Annunziata

    Q: Ecco the Dolphin has been praised for raising awareness about ocean conservation. What inspired you to use a video game to communicate such an important environmental message, and what do you hope players take away from their experience in the ocean world you created? 
     
    A: Long ago, back in the 8-bit days, I used to make educational games for the Apple II. I knew even then the potential of games to enlighten. I made a bunch of games in 6502 Assembler, or my favorite, Machine Language.

    Eventually, I got to work on ‘Voyage of the Mimi’, a TV show about a young boy (Ben Affleck at 12) and his grandfather, who studied whale migration on his boat, Mimi. It was a great show, and I got to work on the Apple II science games that went along with it.

    Once I started learning about whales (and making games about them), I became obsessed with the subject matter.

    I read everything I could get my hands on. No internet, only libraries and books that I purchased from bookstores. Like the novel, ‘The Sounding’, by Hank Searls. This story was from the point of view of a sperm whale. I was enthralled by the notion that not only were these creatures sentient but probably as smart as we are! 

    My heart was always in video games, even though I made learning games for a living at the time. I started to dream about a game where you experience life as a dolphin. I chose a dolphin because I figured it’s as close to a person as all the whales. But when I considered the actual play mechanics, I had to prototype it. 

    Q: The Pacific Islander community holds a deep spiritual and practical connection to the ocean, which is central to their culture. How do you think games like Ecco the Dolphin can help players understand the significance of ocean preservation and the cultures that rely on it?

    A: Imagine a culture connected directly to the ocean’s ecosystems over generations. Growing and evolving together, humans contribute to the ecosystem rather than taxing it. Over time, they would learn about all the ocean cycles and how to get into sync with them. Anything that fosters a connection between humans and the ocean should be enthusiastically embraced. 

    Q: As a pioneer in the gaming industry, what role do you think the gaming community plays in raising awareness about global issues like environmental sustainability, particularly when it comes to protecting ocean ecosystems? 

    A: If I may be forthright with my bias about gamers. I feel gamers possess a higher than average IQ than the average human. Not only because they are frequently fully engaged and challenged mentally with real-time systems and information technology, but they are highly socially connected as well. Like the ocean, a gaming community is an ecosystem – games like Ecco can and should be a conduit to join these realms.

    A big part of the game is understanding the ocean as a singular biological system that is made up of systems that interact with each other. This is a complex biological dance that humans can be a part of.  

    I have high expectations of gamers for all the above-stated reasons. But there is something else gamers possess that can make the difference, and that is love. A universal love of games and gaming gives us all something we all share, when games like Ecco reach the hearts of gaming communities, that love can really make things happen in the real world.  

    Q: What does the future hold for gaming’s favorite Dolphin?  

    A: Me and the entire original team are going to Remaster the original Ecco the Dolphin and Tides of Time games. Then we will make a new, third game with contemporary play and GPU sensibilities. Stay tuned to eccothedolphin.com

    Gaming with Impact  

    Rewards members in the United States can earn and donate points to organizations supporting Asian and Pacific Islander communities with Xbox. The organizations below will be available on the Rewards hub: 

    • Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC – AAJC works through strategic policy advocacy, active community education, and impactful litigation to advance the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and to build and promote a fair and equitable society for all. 

    Xbox players 18 and older can earn Rewards points in various ways, such as playing games, completing Game Pass Quests (terms apply), and purchasing games and other eligible items at the Microsoft Store (exclusions apply). Start earning for impact today and redeem your points for great rewards. Donate your points on the Rewards hub or on the Rewards redeem page. 

    Wallpapers and Dynamic Backgrounds 

    The Xbox Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month design is available today as an Xbox wallpaper and dynamic background on console – follow these steps to apply the dynamic background:  

    • Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide.  
    • Select Profile & system > Settings > General > Personalization > My background > Dynamic backgrounds.  

    You can choose between Games, Xbox, or Abstract dynamic backgrounds. Choose the background art that you want with the A button. 

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Registered Sex Offender Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Using Instagram to Prey on Minors

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    EVANSVILLE— William Virgil Russell, II, 33, of Evansville, has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to possession of sexually explicit material involving minors.   

    According to court documents, on April 3, 2023, social media application, Instagram, reported that an account owned by William V. Russell had accessed at least one video suspected of containing child sexual abuse material. The video depicted an adult male attempting to rape a prepubescent minor female.

    Working with Instagram to review the account, law enforcement investigators found additional child sexual abuse material, as well as posts by Russell soliciting underage videos that stated, “Looking for freaks with young kids or siblings that need $$” and “Looking for under l2 to buy from hit me up.”

    On September 26, 2023, investigators searched Russell’s home in Evansville and recovered his cellphone. Further investigation uncovered 21 sexually explicit images involving minors, as well as numerous chat session transcripts in which Russell describes himself as a pedophile, says he prefers toddlers, and asks women to provide him with nude and sexually explicit images of their children. Russell often offered to pay for the images.

    At the time of the offenses described above, Russell was a registered sex offender based on a felony conviction for Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material in Warrick County, Indiana. Following his release, Russell must continue to remain registered as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school.

    “Every parent should know that social media apps like Instagram are not safe spaces for young children and are often hunting grounds for predators who seek gratification from their exploitation,” said John E. Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “I commend the investigators with FBI, Evansville PD, and the efforts of our AUSA for working together to ensure more vulnerable individuals are not victimized.”

    The FBI and Evansville Police Department investigated this case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young

    Acting U.S. Attorney Childress thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger, who prosecuted this case.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

    If you are a victim of child sexual exploitation, please contact your local police department. Resources for victims of child exploitation can be found on our website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/project-safe-childhood

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: CREDIT AGRICOLE S.A. ANNOUNCES REDEMPTION OF ¥105,500,000,000 Japanese Yen Callable Senior Non-Preferred Bonds issued on June 4, 2020 (ISIN: JP525022AL60)

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

                                                     Montrouge, May 6, 2025

    CREDIT AGRICOLE S.A. ANNOUNCES REDEMPTION OF

    ¥105,500,000,000 Japanese Yen Callable Senior Non-Preferred Bonds

    issued on June 4, 2020 (ISIN: JP525022AL60)*

    Crédit Agricole S.A. (the “Issuer”) announces today the redemption (the “Redemption”) with effect on June 4, 2025 (the “Redemption Date”) of all of its outstanding ¥105,500,000,000 Japanese Yen Callable Senior Non-Preferred Bonds – issued on June 4, 2020 (ISIN: JP525022AL60) (the “Bonds”) pursuant to Condition 7 (4) (Redemption at the option of the Issuer) of the Conditions of the Bonds (the “Conditions of the Bonds”), at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount together with interest accrued to and including the date fixed for redemption (the “Redemption Amount”).

    On the Redemption Date, the Redemption Amount shall become due and payable and, in accordance with Condition 6 (3) of the Conditions of the Bonds, unless the Redemption Amount is improperly withheld or refused, each Bond shall cease to bear interest on the Redemption Date.

    The holders of the Bonds will receive formal notice of the Redemption in accordance with the Conditions of the Bonds.

    For further information on Crédit Agricole S.A., please see Crédit Agricole S.A.’s website: https://www.credit-agricole.com/en/finance.

    DISCLAIMER

    This press release does not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell the Bonds in the United States of America, Canada, Australia or Japan or in any other jurisdiction. The distribution of this press release in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required to inform themselves about, and to observe, any such restrictions

    No communication or information relating to the redemption of the Bonds may be distributed to the public in a country where a registration obligation or an approval is required. No action has been or will be taken in any country where such action would be required. The redemption of the Bonds may be subject to specific legal and regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions; Crédit Agricole S.A. accepts no liability in connection with a breach by any person of such restrictions.

    This press release is an advertisement; and none of this press release, any notice or any other document or material made public and/or delivered, or which may be made public and/or delivered to the holders of the Bonds in connection with the redemption of the Bonds is or is intended to be a prospectus for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council dated 14 June 2017 (as amended, the “Prospectus Regulation”). No prospectus will be published in connection with the redemption of the Bonds for the purposes of the Prospectus Regulation.

    This press release does not, and shall not, in any circumstances, constitute an offer to the public of Bonds by Crédit Agricole S.A. nor an invitation to the public in connection with any offer in any jurisdiction, including France.

    * The ISIN number is included solely for the convenience of the holders of the Bonds. No representation is being made as to the correctness or accuracy of the ISIN number either as printed on the Bonds or as contained herein and the holder may rely only on the identification numbers printed on its Bond.

    モンルージュ、2025年5月6日

    クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エー

    第7回期限前償還条項付非上位円貨社債（2020）

    （2020年6月4日発行、1,055億円（ISIN: JP525022AL60）*）の

    期限前償還を公表

    クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エー（「発行会社」）は、2020年6月4日に発行したクレディ・アグリコル・エス・エー第7回期限前償還条項付非上位円貨社債（2020）（ISIN: JP525022AL60）（「本社債」）の1,055億円全額について、本社債の要項（「社債要項」）第7項（4）（発行会社による任意償還）に基づき、2025年6月4日付（「償還期日」）で、本社債の金額の100％に償還期日（その日を含む。）までの経過利息を付して（「償還金額」）期限前償還（「本償還」）することを本日公表いたしました。

    償還期日に償還金額の支払期限が到来し、社債要項第6項（3）に基づき、償還金額の不当な留保又は拒絶がなされない限り、償還期日をもって各本社債にかかる利息の付与が停止されます。

    本社債の所持人は、社債要項に従い、本償還に関する正式な通知を受ける予定です。

    クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エーの詳細については、クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エーのWebサイト（https://www.credit-agricole.com/en/finance）をご参照ください。

    免責事項

    本プレスリリースは、米国、カナダ、オーストラリア、日本またはその他の法域において、本社債の購入の申込みまたは売却の申込みの勧誘を構成するものではありません。一定の法域においては、本プレスリリースの配布が法律によって制約される場合があります。本プレスリリースを入手した者には、かかる制約について自ら調査し、遵守することが要求されます。

    登録義務または承認が要求される国においては、本社債の償還に関するコミュニケーションまたは情報を公に配布してはなりません。かかる措置が要求される国において、いかなる措置も講じられておらず、または講じられる予定もありません。本社債の償還は、一定の法域において、特定の法律および規制上の制約を受ける可能性があります。クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エーは、かかる制約に対するいかなる者の違反についても、一切責任を負いません。

    本プレスリリースは広告にすぎず、本プレスリリース、または本社債の償還に関連し本社債の債権者に対し公表および／もしくは交付された、または公表および／もしくは交付される通知その他の文書または資料は、2017年6月14日付欧州議会および理事会の規則（EU）第2017/1129号（その後の改正を含み、以下「目論見書規則」）上の目論見書ではなく、かかる目論見書を意図したものでもありません。目論見書規則の適用上、本社債の償還に関して目論見書は発行されません。

    本プレスリリースは、いかなる場合においても、クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エーによる本社債の公募を構成するものではなく、またフランスを含むいかなる法域における申込みに関連しても、勧誘を構成するものではありません。

    * ISIN番号は、本社債の債権者の便宜のためにのみ付されたものです。本社債に印刷されたまたは本プレスリリースに記載されたISIN番号の正しさまたは正確性を表明するものではなく、債権者は、本社債に印刷された識別番号にのみ依拠することができます。

    CRÉDIT AGRICOLE S.A. PRESS CONTACT

    Alexandre Barat                             + 33 1 57 72 12 19                                      alexandre.barat@credit-agricole-sa.fr
    Olivier Tassain                               + 33 1 43 23 25 41                                      olivier.tassain@credit-agricole-sa.fr

    Find our press release on: www.credit-agricole.com – www.creditagricole.info

      Crédit_Agricole   Groupe Crédit Agricole   créditagricole_sa

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: CREDIT AGRICOLE S.A. ANNOUNCES REDEMPTION OF ¥5,800,000,000 Japanese Yen Callable Subordinated Bonds issued on June 4, 2020 (ISIN: JP525022CL68)

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

                                                     Montrouge, May 6, 2025

    CREDIT AGRICOLE S.A. ANNOUNCES REDEMPTION OF

    ¥5,800,000,000 Japanese Yen Callable Subordinated Bonds

    issued on June 4, 2020 (ISIN: JP525022CL68)*

    Crédit Agricole S.A. (the “Issuer”) announces today the redemption (the “Redemption”) with effect on June 4, 2025 (the “Redemption Date”) of all of its outstanding ¥5,800,000,000 Japanese Yen Callable Subordinated  Bonds – issued on June 4, 2020 (ISIN: JP525022CL68) (the “Bonds”) pursuant to Condition 7 (5) (Redemption at the option of the Issuer) of the Conditions of the Bonds (the “Conditions of the Bonds”), at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount together with interest accrued to and including the date fixed for redemption (the “Redemption Amount”).

    On the Redemption Date, the Redemption Amount shall become due and payable and, in accordance with Condition 6 (3) of the Conditions of the Bonds, unless the Redemption Amount is improperly withheld or refused, each Bond shall cease to bear interest on the Redemption Date.

    The holders of the Bonds will receive formal notice of the Redemption in accordance with the Conditions of the Bonds.

    For further information on Crédit Agricole S.A., please see Crédit Agricole S.A.’s website: https://www.credit-agricole.com/en/finance.

    DISCLAIMER

    This press release does not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell the Bonds in the United States of America, Canada, Australia or Japan or in any other jurisdiction. The distribution of this press release in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required to inform themselves about, and to observe, any such restrictions

    No communication or information relating to the redemption of the Bonds may be distributed to the public in a country where a registration obligation or an approval is required. No action has been or will be taken in any country where such action would be required. The redemption of the Bonds may be subject to specific legal and regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions; Crédit Agricole S.A. accepts no liability in connection with a breach by any person of such restrictions.

    This press release is an advertisement; and none of this press release, any notice or any other document or material made public and/or delivered, or which may be made public and/or delivered to the holders of the Bonds in connection with the redemption of the Bonds is or is intended to be a prospectus for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council dated 14 June 2017 (as amended, the “Prospectus Regulation”). No prospectus will be published in connection with the redemption of the Bonds for the purposes of the Prospectus Regulation.

    This press release does not, and shall not, in any circumstances, constitute an offer to the public of Bonds by Crédit Agricole S.A. nor an invitation to the public in connection with any offer in any jurisdiction, including France.

    * The ISIN number is included solely for the convenience of the holders of the Bonds. No representation is being made as to the correctness or accuracy of the ISIN number either as printed on the Bonds or as contained herein and the holder may rely only on the identification numbers printed on its Bond.

    モンルージュ、2025年5月6日

    クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エー

    第7回期限前償還条項付円貨社債（劣後特約付）（2020）

    （2020年6月4日発行、58億円（ISIN: JP525022CL68）*）の

    期限前償還を公表

    クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エー（「発行会社」）は、2020年6月4日に発行したクレディ・アグリコル・エス・エー第7回期限前償還条項付円貨社債（劣後特約付）（2020）（ISIN: JP525022CL68）（「本社債」）の58億円全額について、本社債の要項（「社債要項」）第7項（5）（発行会社による任意償還）に基づき、2025年6月4日付（「償還期日」）で、本社債の金額の100％に償還期日（その日を含む。）までの経過利息を付して（「償還金額」）期限前償還（「本償還」）することを本日公表いたしました。

    償還期日に償還金額の支払期限が到来し、社債要項第6項（3）に基づき、償還金額の不当な留保又は拒絶がなされない限り、償還期日をもって各本社債にかかる利息の付与が停止されます。

    本社債の所持人は、社債要項に従い、本償還に関する正式な通知を受ける予定です。

    クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エーの詳細については、クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エーのWebサイト（https://www.credit-agricole.com/en/finance）をご参照ください。

    免責事項

    本プレスリリースは、米国、カナダ、オーストラリア、日本またはその他の法域において、本社債の購入の申込みまたは売却の申込みの勧誘を構成するものではありません。一定の法域においては、本プレスリリースの配布が法律によって制約される場合があります。本プレスリリースを入手した者には、かかる制約について自ら調査し、遵守することが要求されます。

    登録義務または承認が要求される国においては、本社債の償還に関するコミュニケーションまたは情報を公に配布してはなりません。かかる措置が要求される国において、いかなる措置も講じられておらず、または講じられる予定もありません。本社債の償還は、一定の法域において、特定の法律および規制上の制約を受ける可能性があります。クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エーは、かかる制約に対するいかなる者の違反についても、一切責任を負いません。

    本プレスリリースは広告にすぎず、本プレスリリース、または本社債の償還に関連し本社債の債権者に対し公表および／もしくは交付された、または公表および／もしくは交付される通知その他の文書または資料は、2017年6月14日付欧州議会および理事会の規則（EU）第2017/1129号（その後の改正を含み、以下「目論見書規則」）上の目論見書ではなく、かかる目論見書を意図したものでもありません。目論見書規則の適用上、本社債の償還に関して目論見書は発行されません。

    本プレスリリースは、いかなる場合においても、クレディ・アグリコル・エス・エーによる本社債の公募を構成するものではなく、またフランスを含むいかなる法域における申込みに関連しても、勧誘を構成するものではありません。

    * ISIN番号は、本社債の債権者の便宜のためにのみ付されたものです。本社債に印刷されたまたは本プレスリリースに記載されたISIN番号の正しさまたは正確性を表明するものではなく、債権者は、本社債に印刷された識別番号にのみ依拠することができます。

    CRÉDIT AGRICOLE S.A. PRESS CONTACT

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    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why a hotline is needed to help bring India and Pakistan back from the brink of a disastrous war

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Syed Ali Zia Jaffery, Deputy Director at the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research, University of Lahore

    Two weeks after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, that claimed 26 lives, India and Pakistan are getting perilously close to a dangerous military confrontation.

    Pakistan carried out two missile tests in three days over the weekend of May 3-5, while India announced that it will conduct on Wednesday May 7 its largest civil defence drill since the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

    The countries have closed their borders and shut down their airspace to each other and have suspended all trade. With both countries possessing nuclear weapons, the rising tension makes managing escalation particularly urgent.

    A key factor in the de-escalation of past crises has been Washington’s role as a third-party crisis manager. While the recent call for restraint from the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, shows US concerns over the gathering crisis, there are considerable uncertainties surrounding what role the US is prepared to play in de-escalation.

    US president Donald Trump remarked after the attack that he is “sure they’ll figure it out one way or the other … There’s great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been”, which appears to put the onus of de-escalation on New Delhi and Islamabad.

    What is needed now is robust, real-time crisis communication between the two nations. Instead, both sides appear ready to ratchet up tensions further, with inflammatory rhetoric, enhanced military preparedness and skirmishing along the so-called line of control which separates the two countries in Kashmir.

    The need to give reassurance to each party through empathetic communication is particularly important in the India-Pakistan context. First, the risks of escalation between India and Pakistan are greater than they were in 2019 after the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist bombing, which killed 40 Indian troops at Pulwama near to Kashmir’s main town of Srinagar.

    India identified the Pakistani state as responsible for the attack and responded with airstrikes against what it claimed was a JeM training camp at Balakot in north-western Pakistan. The absence of a trusted channel of communication brought both countries closer than ever to a missile exchange.

    Mike Pompeo, then secretary of state in the first Trump administration, claimed in a 2023 memoir that both sides had readied their nuclear deterrents. Whatever the veracity of Pompeo’s claims, it’s clear that mutual restraint is critical to avoiding miscalculations.

    But Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s delegation of greater operational freedom to the Indian military after the Pahalgam attack has raised concerns that India’s use of force could be more extensive than in 2019. Modi has vowed to pursue and punish the terrorists and their abetters “to the ends of the Earth”, a pledge that raises domestic political costs for him and his government if there is no military follow-through.

    Lessons from the Cuban missile crisis

    One important lesson from past nuclear standoffs – especially the Cuban missile crisis – is that leaders of adversarial nuclear states can sometimes forge empathetic channels of communication that help pull their countries back from the brink. There was no established hotline in October 1962. But US president John F. Kennedy and his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, exchanged a series of letters in which they acknowledged and expressed their shared vulnerability to nuclear war.

    There was no talk of nuclear jingoism or the manipulation of nuclear threats. Instead, as one of us (Nicholas) has argued in a study co-authored with US academic Marcus Holmes, the nuclear shadow that hung over the two leaders encouraged the development of mutual empathy and a bond of trust that were both critical to the peaceful resolution of the crisis.

    Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev and US president John F Kennedy established a leader-to-leader hotline in 1963.
    US State Department

    Kennedy and Khrushchev could have responded to the condition of mutual nuclear vulnerability with brinkmanship, and turned the crisis into what Thomas Schelling – one of the most prominent US nuclear strategists and an advisor to the Kennedy administration – called a “competition in risk-taking”. But instead, they recognised that competitive manipulations of risk could only lead to mutual disaster, which enabled them to avert a potential nuclear exchange.

    Indian and Pakistani leaders could take their cue from this episode. A recent report by the nuclear thinktank Basic (co-edited by Nicholas) urged policymakers to avoid viewing crises as “zero-sum tests of will”. Instead, they should see them as opportunities for cooperation to avert catastrophe.

    Why an India-Pakistan hotline is vital

    But the absence of a trusted confidential line of communication between the leaders of India and Pakistan is a major barrier to empathetic communication. It prevents the two reaching a proper appreciation of shared vulnerabilities that is so critical to crisis de-escalation. As Basic recommended in a 2024 report, the most important contribution to crisis de-escalation between the two countries would be to establish a leader-to-leader hotline.

    Schelling called the US-Soviet hotline agreement of 1963
    the “best single example” of a measure that increased confidence in mutual restraint on both sides, and virtually ruled out what he called the “anxiety to strike first”.

    Such a hotline between the highest levels of Indian and Pakistani diplomacy would be an important step towards preventing these crises from spinning out of control. More crucially, it could play a pivotal role in managing crises when they do occur, offering a vital channel for reassurance and de-escalation.

    Crucially, real-time, reliable and empathetic communication would allow each side to clarify the other’s intent, signal reassurance, correct misperceptions and demonstrate restraint.

    India and Pakistan should not see these mechanisms as concessions or signs of weakness, but as instruments for enhancing mutual security between two nuclear adversaries. In a nuclear age where the margin for error is vanishingly small, overconfidence and brinkmanship must give way to prudence and restraint.



    Read more:
    Moscow-Washington nuclear hotline has averted war in the past – but cool heads will be needed in Trump’s White House and Putin’s Kremlin

    Syed Ali Zia Jaffery is Deputy Director, Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research, University of Lahore, and Associate Editor, Pakistan Politico Ali was a Visiting Fellow at the Stimson Center, Washington, D.C. Ali regularly writes on strategic issues for national and international publications, to include Routledge, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, South Asian Voices , The National Interest, The Atlantic Council, Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN), CSIS, The Diplomat, Dawn, and 9DashLine, among others. Ali is an alumnus of Woodrow Wilson Center’s Nuclear Proliferation International History Project’s Nuclear History Boot Camp. He is also an alumnus of the International School on Disarmament and Research on Conflicts( ISODARCO). Ali often shares his perspectives on major strategic developments on national and international media. Ali is associated with the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) both as part of its Programme on Nuclear Responsibilities and the Emerging Voices Network. His research interests lie in the fields of nuclear deterrence, strategic stability, and geopolitics. He taught undergraduate level courses on foreign policy, national security, arms control& disarmament, and non-proliferation from 2018 until 2023. He is also a Graduate Research Assistant at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

    Nicholas John Wheeler is a non-resident Senior Fellow at BASIC where he works on the Nuclear Responsibilities Programme with special reference to South Asia.

    – ref. Why a hotline is needed to help bring India and Pakistan back from the brink of a disastrous war – https://theconversation.com/why-a-hotline-is-needed-to-help-bring-india-and-pakistan-back-from-the-brink-of-a-disastrous-war-255727

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Chinese and Russian students from Moscow music universities performed the music of Victory

    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

    Moscow, May 6 (Xinhua) — Chinese and Russian students from Moscow music universities performed at a concert dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory on May 5 as part of the 14th Moscow Spring Festival. They performed Chinese and Russian songs from the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People against Fascism.

    The concert program, compiled by Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Zuo Zhenguan, included musical masterpieces of China and Russia. Chinese and Russian students from the Gnessin Academy of Music, the Moscow Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky, the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts /GITIS/ and the Moscow State Pedagogical University performed excerpts from the legendary cantata by Xian Xinghai “Yellow River”, arias from operas by modern composers Luan Kai and Zhang Zhuo, as well as works by the classic Russian musician Sergei Rachmaninoff and Soviet songs about the war.

    The concert took place with the active support of the Russian-Chinese Friendship Society, the Center for Russian-Chinese Musical Relations, the Center for International Humanitarian Cooperation and Development, and the Chinese Embassy in the Russian Federation. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: ‘Milkshake tax’: there’s growing evidence that expanding the UK’s sugar levy could help tackle obesity

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By David M. Evans, Professor of Sociotechnical Futures, University of Bristol Business School, University of Bristol

    Luis Molinero/Shutterstock

    The UK government is considering expanding its sugar tax on fizzy drinks to include milkshakes and other sweetened beverages, as part of new proposals announced in April 2025. The Treasury confirmed it plans to move forward not only with broadening the tax but also with lowering the sugar threshold that triggers it from 5g to 4g of sugar per 100ml.

    The changes, dubbed by critics as the “milkshake tax”, would end the current exemption for dairy-based drinks, as well as plant-based alternatives such as oat and rice milk. Chancellor Rachel Reeves first signalled the potential expansion in the 2024 budget, suggesting the soft drinks industry levy (SDIL), to give it its official name, could be widened to cover a broader range of high-sugar drinks.

    Based on our research into dietary change, conducted as part of the H3 project on food system transformation, we see this as a welcome and timely development.

    Not everyone shares this optimism. Opponents of what they see as “nanny state” interventionist policies argue that the SDIL has failed to deliver any real improvements to public health. In a UK newspaper’s straw poll, for example, 88% of respondents claimed the sugar tax has not significantly reduced obesity rates. Shadow Chancellor Melvyn Stride described the proposed expansion as a “sucker punch” to households, particularly given the ongoing cost of living crisis.

    Scepticism around these proposals is not surprising. Many people, regardless of political affiliation, are wary of additional taxation. And indeed, there is evidence suggesting that fiscal tools such as taxes and subsidies can be blunt instruments. They are also often regressive, placing a disproportionate burden on lower-income households.

    These concerns are valid – but they don’t quite apply to the SDIL.

    Crucially, the SDIL is not a tax on consumers. It is levied on manufacturers and importers, who are incentivised to reduce the sugar content of their products to avoid the charge. According to Treasury figures, since the introduction of the SDIL, 89% of fizzy drinks sold in the UK have been reformulated to fall below the taxable threshold.

    For instance, the Japanese multinational brewing and distilling company group Suntory invested £13 million in reformulating drinks like Ribena and Lucozade, removing 25,000 tonnes of sugar, making the products exempt from the levy. This means households aren’t priced out of soft drinks – they can simply choose reformulated and presumably cheaper versions.

    It’s true that the UK is still grappling with a serious obesity problem. In England alone, 29% of adultsand 15% of children aged two to 15 are obese.

    But the SDIL is having an effect. Excessive sugar consumption is consistently associated with rising obesity rates in the UK and globally. There has been a clear reduction in the sales of sugar from soft drinks, and the SDIL is reported to have generated £1.9 billion in revenue since its introduction in 2018.

    Early signs suggest health benefits, too. One study found a drop in obesity rates among 10 to 11-year-old girls following the levy’s implementation. Another analysis suggests that the greatest health benefits will be seen in more deprived areas, and that it may actually help to narrow some health inequalities for children in England.



    Read more:
    Child obesity is linked to deprivation, so why do poor parents still cop the blame?

    Shifting responsibilty

    The government’s 2016 announcement of the sugar tax gave manufacturers time to reformulate products before the tax’s introduction in 2018.

    Of course, the SDIL is no silver bullet. There are many contributing factors to the obesity epidemic, ranging from genetic predisposition to “obesogenic” environments – social contexts that promote unhealthy eating and sedentary behaviour, such as areas with a lot of fast food restaurants, limited access to healthy food options and a lack of pavements, parks, or safe places to exercise.

    Questions remain about the negative health effects of reformulated drinks, some of which still contain high levels of sweeteners or additives. And in the broader context of the need for food system transformation, focusing solely on soft drinks may be too narrow an approach.



    Read more:
    Are artificial sweeteners okay for our health? Here’s what the current evidence says

    But the SDIL’s success lies not just in outcomes but in its design. It shifts responsibility from individuals to industry, encouraging systemic change rather than simply blaming people for making “bad” choices. The government’s 2016 announcement of the levy gave manufacturers a two-year head start, allowing them to reformulate and get their products to market before it took effect in 2018.

    It’s also telling that the idea of taxing milkshakes has sparked such outrage, while most people now accept the high taxation of tobacco. That’s because smoking, as a public health issue, has matured: its risks are well understood and widely acknowledged. Obesity, meanwhile, is still catching up, despite posing similar health threats, including as a leading cause of cancer.

    In the UK, there’s still a strong social stigma around discussing diet and weight. But given the scale and urgency of the obesity crisis, it could be time to overcome this reluctance. Effective change will require bold, systemic policies – not just public awareness campaigns – but multipronged and targeted interventions that reshape the economic and cultural environments in which people make food choices.

    Expanding the SDIL may not be a cure-all, but the evidence so far suggests it’s a smart step in the right direction.

    David M. Evans receives funding from the UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund (grant ref: BB/V004719/1).
    He is affiliated with Defra (the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) as a member of their Social Science Expert Group.

    Jonathan Beacham receives funding from the UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund (grant ref: BB/V004719/1).

    – ref. ‘Milkshake tax’: there’s growing evidence that expanding the UK’s sugar levy could help tackle obesity – https://theconversation.com/milkshake-tax-theres-growing-evidence-that-expanding-the-uks-sugar-levy-could-help-tackle-obesity-255646

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Luján Recognizes National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

    US Senate News:

    Source: US Senator for New Mexico Ben Ray Luján
    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, issued the following statement regarding Senate passage of a resolution recognizing the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls:
    “Today and every day, we must continue to shed light on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in New Mexico and across the country. For decades, our legal system has failed Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and their families, and we must do more to bring attention to this injustice and stand with our Tribal Nations and Pueblos. I am proud to have cosponsored the resolution to remember the countless Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and I will continue to fight to deliver justice, the truth, and accountability for these women, girls, and their loved ones.”
    Last week, Senator Luján cosponsored a resolution designating May 5, 2025, as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed the resolution by unanimous consent.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: BexBack Launches No-KYC Crypto Trading Platform with 100x Leverage and $100 Bonus

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SINGAPORE, May 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

    As the global demand for high-performance crypto trading platforms surges, BexBack, a fast-growing cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, is redefining access and opportunity for traders worldwide. With a commitment to no-KYC onboarding, up to 100x leverage, and generous promotions including a 100% deposit bonus and $100 trading bonus, BexBack is quickly emerging as a trusted platform for both seasoned investors and new entrants in the crypto space.

    Founded in Singapore and operating globally with offices in Hong Kong, Japan, the U.S., and the U.K., BexBack is a FinCEN-registered MSB (Money Services Business), ensuring compliance with U.S. regulations while offering users privacy, speed, and freedom.

    “At BexBack, we believe crypto trading should be fast, secure, and accessible to everyone—regardless of where they live or what ID they have,” said Amanda, Business Manager at BexBack. “That’s why we offer no-KYC registration and tools that empower users to trade freely in today’s volatile markets.”

    Key Features That Set BexBack Apart:

    • 100x Leverage: Trade BTC, ETH, ADA, XRP, SOL, and over 50 other crypto futures with maximum capital efficiency.
    • No KYC Required: Users can register and start trading with just an email—no personal data needed.
    • Zero Spread: Transparent pricing with no hidden costs between buy/sell.
    • $100 Trading Bonus: Available to new users who deposit ≥ 0.01 BTC or 1000 USDT and complete their first trade.
    • 100% Deposit Bonus: Double your capital—bonus can be used as margin to expand trading power.
    • Demo Account: Practice risk-free with 10 BTC or 1M USDT in virtual funds.
    • 24/7 Global Support: Multi-language assistance and live chat available around the clock.
    • Robust Security: Multi-signature cold wallets, SSL encryption, 2FA, and DDoS protection safeguard user assets.
    • Fair Price Index: BexBack’s pricing is based on real-time data from Binance, Bybit, OKX, Bitget, and Kraken.

    A Platform Designed for Every Trader

    Whether you’re just beginning your crypto journey or you’re an experienced trader seeking greater privacy and performance, BexBack delivers a complete ecosystem tailored to your needs. Its intuitive interface, mobile compatibility, and educational resources make it accessible, while its high-leverage infrastructure attracts professionals aiming to capitalize on short-term market movements.

    Start Trading Today

    If you missed the previous crypto bull run, this could be your chance. With BexBack’s 100x leverage and 100% deposit bonus and $50 bonus for new users (complete one trade within one week of registration), you can be a winner in the new bull run.

    Sign up on BexBack now, claim your exclusive bonus and start accumulating more BTC today!

    Website: www.bexback.com

    Contact: business@bexback.com

    Contact:
    Amanda
    business@bexback.com

    Disclaimer: This content is provided by BexBack. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. We do not guarantee any claims, statements, or promises made in this article. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice. Investing in crypto and mining-related opportunities involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. It is possible to lose all your capital. These products may not be suitable for everyone, and you should ensure that you understand the risks involved. Seek independent advice if necessary. Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. However, due to the inherently speculative nature of the blockchain sector—including cryptocurrency, NFTs, and mining—complete accuracy cannot always be guaranteed.

    Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility. Globenewswire does not endorse any content on this page.

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

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e3067e8f-9b47-40a1-9ef2-f678f5f0d9d3

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/79202373-df68-4789-a5aa-092b370b1356

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4209e972-4590-4201-84d0-104e90226b42

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/MYANMAR – The new Bishop of Mindat and the 17th diocese: a gift of divine mercy

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    diocese of Mindat

    Yangon (Agenzia Fides) – The episcopal ordination of Msgr. Augustine Thang Zawm Hung and the erection of the new Diocese of Mindat in the Burmese state of Chin, in northwestern Myanmar, were considered a gift of divine mercy by the Catholic people of Myanmar. Amidst difficulties, conflicts, and the consequences of the violent earthquake that devastated the country a month ago, the baptized in Myanmar wanted to gather around the new bishop and gathered on April 27, Divine Mercy Sunday, at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Yangon, where the establishment of the Diocese of Mindat and the episcopal ordination of Bishop Augustine Thang Zawm Hung took place. The faithful also gave an emotional farewell to the late Pope Francis, recalling that on January 25, 2025, the Pontiff had officially proclaimed the establishment of the Diocese of Mindat, which was based on part of the Diocese of Hakha and is now the 17th diocese in Myanmar.The faithful prayed and were moved by the figure of Pope Francis, who repeatedly mentioned the tragic situation in Myanmar in his appeals, “which showed that he carried Myanmar in his heart,” they said.Also thanks to that special closeness expressed by the Holy See, the Burmese faithful have shown great resilience in faith, in dramatic times: the creation of a new diocese testifies to the dynamism and growth of the Church in Myanmar, “it is a reason for joy for the universal Church and a reason for hope for the future” they said. The Bishop – they emphasize in the new diocese – is not alone in his mission: priests, nuns, catechists, volunteers and faithful all have a great spirit of collaboration. The faithful of Mindat have shown, in these times of serious crisis, that they want to build bridges of friendship, brotherhood and reconciliation. In one of the poorest regions of the country, in the Chin state, crossed by armed conflicts, the population of the new diocese of Mindat and its Bishop are ready to “give a testimony of Christian life, practicing the culture of dialogue and encounter, with closeness to the people, good works and the construction of fraternal and welcoming communities: in this way it is possible to hope and see God at work”, they note.The principal consecrator of the ordination ceremony was Archbishop Marcus Tin Win of Mandalay, as the Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, was in Rome for the Pope’s funeral and the Conclave. Archbishop Marco Tin Win said, “God wants us to recognize that his mercy is greater than our sins, so that we can invoke him with confidence, receive his mercy, and through us, it will be passed on to others. In this way, everyone will be able to share his joys.” The Archbishop spoke about the various difficulties facing the people of Chin State, Burma, due to the political situation and the suffering following the great earthquake. He said, “Amidst hardships and difficulties, we cannot limit ourselves to looking down, but are invited to raise our gaze to the Lord,” recalling Christ’s promise “to always be with us.” At the end of the celebration, Archbishop Andrea Ferrante, Chargé d’Affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Myanmar, recalled Pope Francis, who was close to the Burmese people in recent years with his prayers and constant appeals for dialogue and peace. He also encouraged the new Bishop of Mindat, who is called to the great responsibility of “bringing the peace of Christ to the flock entrusted to him.” A path that “is not easy, but not impossible, if it is stimulated and nourished by prayer and fraternal cooperation within and outside the Church.” “The new bishop,” he recalled, “has the task of making the community grow in faith, hope, and charity, and of ensuring communion with the Episcopal Conference and the universal Church, under the guidance of the Pope.” He added: “Amidst insecurity, the ongoing armed conflicts, the poverty of the population, the dramatic situation of families and young people, which generates fear, we must remember the words of Pope Francis: ‘War strikes in a special way the most vulnerable and leaves indelible marks on families… the paths of peace are paths of solidarity, because no one is saved alone. Peace is possible.” He concluded by encouraging everyone to work with the new bishop to carry out effective and fruitful missionary work, to “build bridges of friendship, fraternity, and reconciliation.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 6/5/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: VATICAN – Conclave: More and more Cardinals from the countries entrusted to the Dicastery for Evangelization gather in the Sistine Chapel

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Tuesday, 6 May 2025

    Foto d’archivio

    by Fabio BerettaVatican City (Agenzia Fides) – With the image of Christ and the Last Judgment painted by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, the Cardinals are gathering in Conclave to elect the successor of Peter. An election in which an increasing number of cardinals from the countries under the jurisdiction of the Dicastery for Evangelization – Section for the First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches – are participating.To date, a total of 1,123 ecclesiastical districts (i.e., Archdioceses, Dioceses, Territorial Abbeys, Apostolic Vicariates, Apostolic Prefectures, Missions sui iuris, Apostolic Administrations, and Military Ordinariates) are subject to the Dicastery for Evangelization. Most of them are in Africa (525) and Asia (481), followed by the Americas (71) and Oceania (46).The Conclave of June 1963When John XXIII died on June 3, 1963, 82 Cardinals were still alive, all of whom had the right to participate in the election of the Successor of Peter. The rule that today prohibits Cardinals over the age of 80 from participating in the Conclave was introduced by Paul VI in 1970. Thus, the College of Cardinals that elected Pope Paul VI included Cardinals over the age of 80.Nevertheless, only 80 of them entered the Sistine Chapel. Two Cardinals did not come to Rome: the Hungarian József Mindszenty (the communist regime forbade him from leaving the country) and Carlos María Javier de la Torre, Archbishop of Quito, Ecuador (absent due to health reasons). A total of 29 nations were represented.A total of seven cardinals from the territories then under the jurisdiction of the Congregation Propaganda Fide participated in the Conclave that year: Peter Tatsuo Doi (Japan, Archbishop of Tokyo, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan), Valerian Gracias (India, Archbishop of Bombay, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India), Laurean Rugambwa (Tanzania, Bishop of Bukoba), Thomas Tien Ken-sin (China, Archbishop of Beijing, Apostolic Administrator of Taipei), and Norman Thomas Gilroy (Australia, Archbishop of Sydney, Primate of Australia, Grand Prior for Australia-New South Wales of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem).The Conclaves of 1978Paul VI was the first Pope to expand the boundaries of the College of Cardinals by appointing numerous non-European cardinals. After the death of the Pope (on August 6, 1978), who decided to exclude Cardinals over eighty from voting with the Motu Proprio “Ingravescentem Aetatem” of 21 November 1970 and modified some norms of the Conclave with the Apostolic Constitution “Romano Pontifici Eligendo” of 1 October 1975, a total of 111 cardinals were eligible to vote.At the conclave in August 1978, however, only 108 people entered the Sistine Chapel: Valerian Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, John Joseph Wright, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and Bolesław Filipiak, Dean Emeritus of the Roman Rota, were all absent from the Conclave for health reasons.A total of 18 cardinals from the so-called mission territories took part in the election of John Paul I, including one cardinal who works in the Roman Curia and one French cardinal who heads an archdiocese in North Africa: Bernardin Gantin (Benin, President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”), Lawrence Trevor Picachy (India, Archbishop of Calcutta, President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India), Justinus Darmojuwono (Indonesia, Archbishop of Semarang), Joseph Marie Anthony Cordeiro (Pakistan, Archbishop of Karachi), Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (South Korea, Archbishop of Seoul, Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang), Thomas Benjamin Cooray (Sri Lanka, Archbishop of Colombo, President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Sri Lanka), Joseph Marie Trinh-nhu-Khuê (Vietnam, Archbishop of Ha Noi), Maurice Michael Otunga (Kenya, Archbishop of Nairobi, President of the Episcopal Conference of Kenya, Military Vicar for Kenya), Victor Razafimahatratra (Madagascar, Archbishop of Antananarivo, President of the Episcopal Conference of Madagascar), Dominic Ekandem (Nigeria, Bishop of Ikot Ekpene, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria), Hyacinthe Thiandoum (Senegal, Archbishop of Dakar, President of the Episcopal Conference of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau), Owen McCann (South Africa, Archbishop of Cape Town), Laurean Rugambwa (Tanzania, Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam) Emmanuel Kiwanuka Nsubuga (Uganda, Archbishop of Kampala), Paul Zoungrana (Burkina Faso, Archbishop of Ouagadougou), Joseph-Albert Malula (Democratic Republic of Congo, Archbishop of Kinshasa), Pio Taofinu’u (Samoa, Bishop of Samoa and Tokelau), Reginald John Delargey (New Zealand, Archbishop of Wellington, President of the New Zealand Bishops’ Conference).In 1978, a second Conclave took place just over a month after the first, as John Paul I died after only 33 days of pontificate. During this brief period, there were no Consistories, and when the cardinals met again in the Sistine Chapel in October of that year, the cardinals were the same ones who had met a few weeks earlier. They all held the same offices. Forty-six nations were represented in both Conclaves.The 2005 ConclaveThe first Conclave of the third millennium began with the reform of the conclave, which John Paul II initiated in 1996 with the Apostolic Constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis.” That year, the cardinals were accommodated for the first time in the new guesthouse Casa Santa Marta (instead of in the halls of the Apostolic Palace), which had been built specifically for this purpose. In the conclave that led to the election of Benedict XVI, 117 Cardinals were eligible to vote. A total of 115 entered the Sistine Chapel: Adolfo Antonio Suárez Rivera (Archbishop Emeritus of Monterrey, Mexico) and Jaime Lachica Sin (Archbishop Emeritus of Manila, Philippines) were unable to travel to Rome for health reasons.At the time of John Paul II’s death, the eligible Cardinals came from 52 nations on all continents. In total, there were seventeen cardinals from countries entrusted to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, some of whom headed dicasteries and bodies of the Holy See: Wilfrid Fox Napier (South Africa, Archbishop of Durban), Gabriel Zubeir Wako (Sudan, Archbishop of Khartoum), Telesphore Placidus Toppo (India, Archbishop of Ranchi), Armand Gaétan Razafindratandra (Madagascar, Archbishop of Antananarivo), Bernard Agré (Ivory Coast, Archbishop of Abidjan), Emmanuel Wamala (Uganda, Archbishop of Kampala), Christian Wiyghan Tumi (Cameroon, Archbishop of Douala), Frédéric Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi (Democratic Republic of Congo, Archbishop of Kinshasa), Francis Arinze (Nigeria, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments), Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi (Japan, Archbishop Emeritus of Tokyo), Michael Michai Kitbunchu (Thailand, Archbishop of Bangkok, President of the Thai Bishops’ Conference), Stephen Fumio Hamao (Japan, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People), Anthony Olubunmi Okogie (Nigeria, Archbishop of Lagos), Ivan Dias (India, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples), Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja (Indonesia, Archbishop of Jakarta, Military Bishop of Indonesia), Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Mân (Vietnam, Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh), Peter Turkson (Ghana, Archbishop of Cape Coast).The 2013 ConclaveWhen Benedict XVI announced to the world his resignation from the Petrine Ministry during a Consistory in February 2013, 117 eligible cardinals were present, but only 115 entered the Sistine Chapel. Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja (Archbishop Emeritus of Jakarta, Indonesia) and Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien (Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland) were absent for health reasons.During the conclave that led to the election of Pope Francis, 17 Cardinals from the territories entrusted to the Missionary Dicastery arrived in Rome. As in previous Conclaves, several of these cardinals served in the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia: Peter Turkson (Ghana, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace), Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don (Sri Lanka, Archbishop of Colombo), Robert Sarah (Guinea, President of the Pontifical Council ‘Cor Unum’), George Alencherry (India, Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly), Oswald Gracias (India, Archbishop of Bombay), Polycarp Pengo (Tanzania, Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam), John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan (Nigeria, Archbishop of Abuja), John Njue (Kenya, Archbishop of Nairobi), Wilfrid Fox Napier (South Africa, Archbishop of Durban), Gabriel Zubeir Wako (Sudan, Archbishop of Khartoum), Telesphore Placidus Toppo (India, Archbishop of Ranchi), Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya (Democratic Republic of Congo, Archbishop of Kinshasa), John Tong Hon (China, Bishop of Hong Kong), Théodore-Adrien Sarr (Senegal, Archbishop of Dakar), Anthony Olubunmi Okogie (Nigeria, Archbishop of Lagos), Ivan Dias (India, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples), Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Mân (Vietnam, Archbishop of Hô Chí Minh).The 2025 ConclaveAt the time of Pope Francis’s death, there are 252 cardinals alive, of whom 135 arepotential electors for the Conclave that begins on May 7. Of these, 133 will enter the Sistine Chapel, as two of them, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Archbishop Emeritus of Valencia, and Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi, are absent for health reasons.It will be a Conclave with Cardinals from 66 nations. Among them are 34 from the territories under the jurisdiction of the Dicastery for Evangelization. Some of them come from other countries but exercise their ministry in these mission countries, just as some are active in the Roman Curia: Giorgio Marengo (Italy, Apostolic Prefect of Ulan Bator, Mongolia), Virgílio do Carmo da Silva (East Timor, Metropolitan Archbishop of Dili), Dieudonné Nzapalainga (Central African Republic, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangui), Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla (South Sudan, Metropolitan Archbishop of Juba), Jean-Paul Vesco (France, Metropolitan Archbishop of Algiers), Soane Patita Paini Mafi (Tonga, Bishop of Tonga), Anthony Poola (India, Metropolitan Archbishop of Hyderabad), Ignace Bessi Dogbo (Ivory Coast, Metropolitan Archbishop of Abidjan), Protase Rugambwa (Tanzania, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tabora), Fridolin Ambongo Besungu (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kinshasa), Stephen Chow Sau-yan (China, Bishop of Hong Kong), Antoine Kambanda (Rwanda, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kigali), Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi (Japan, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tokyo), William Goh Seng Chye (Singapore, Archbishop of Singapore), John Ribat (Papua New Guinea, Metropolitan Archbishop of Port Moresby), Stephen Brislin (South Africa, Metropolitan Archbishop of Johannesburg), Désiré Tsarahazana (Madagascar, Metropolitan Archbishop of Toamasina), Filipe Neri Ferrão (India, Metropolitan Archbishop of Goa and Damão), Cristóbal López Romero (Spain, Archbishop of Rabat, Morocco), Lazarus You Heung-sik (South Korea, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy), Sebastian Francis (Malaysia, Bishop of Penang), Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo (Indonesia, Metropolitan Archbishop of Jakarta), Arlindo Gomes Furtado (Cape Verde, Bishop of Santiago de Cabo Verde), Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij (Thailand, Archbishop Emeritus of Bangkok), Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda (Japan, Metropolitan Archbishop of Osaka-Takamatsu), Charles Maung Bo (Myanmar, Metropolitan Archbishop of Yangon), Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (Ghana, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences), John Atcherley Dew (New Zealand, Archbishop Emeritus of Wellington), Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don (Sri Lanka, Metropolitan Archbishop of Colombo), Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo (Burkina Faso, Archbishop Emeritus of Ouagadougou), Jean-Pierre Kutwa (Ivory Coast, Archbishop Emeritus of Abidjan), Joseph Coutts (Pakistan, Archbishop Emeritus of Karachi), Robert Sarah (Guinea, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments), Peter Ebere Okpaleke (Nigeria, Bishop of Ekwulobia). (Agenzia Fides, 6/5/2025)
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  • MIL-OSI USA: Dingell Remarks on H.J.Res.88

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (12th District of Michigan)

    WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06) spoke on the House Floor on H.J.Res.88. Dingell’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below.

    See a video of her remarks here.
     
    Thank you, M. Speaker. 
     
    I rise today in opposition to H.J.Res.88.
     
    As a staunch defender of Michigan’s auto industry — the backbone of the American economy — and someone who cares deeply about the environment, I do not take this vote lightly. I have spoken to all the stakeholders involved multiple times.
     
    I believe in preserving consumer choice, maintaining American leadership in innovation, defending the future of domestic manufacturing, and protecting the environment. These are not mutually exclusive.
     
    Michigan, and the United States, put the world on wheels, and now, we are leading the transition to the next generation of vehicles.
     
    We cannot afford to cede that leadership to our adversaries. I will remind my colleagues that it wasn’t that long ago when gasoline prices went up and American consumers wanted smaller cars, Japanese carmakers flooded our market with smaller vehicles, caught our domestic industry flat-footed, and U.S. manufacturers paid the price for a decade. 
     
    We must innovate, adapt, and build vehicles competitively here at home. The global marketplace wants EVs, hybrids, and internal combustion engines.
     
    To lead globally, we must accelerate the manufacturing of cleaner vehicles in a practical, affordable, and inclusive way. That means building out EV charging infrastructure, keeping hybrids and plug-in hybrids available, and ensuring affordability, which is becoming one of the biggest issues in this country. Especially when competing with at least one country where the government subsidizes manufacturing, uses forced labor, and manipulates currency.
     
    We cannot cede our leadership to China or any other country. This also means investing in advanced manufacturing, securing domestic battery supply chains, and protecting the Inflation Reduction Act’s historic EV investments.
     
    California’s Advanced Clean Cars 2 program would impose EV sales mandates across nearly 30 percent of the U.S. market. While that may work for California, it isn’t working in some other states.
     
    Let me be clear: this is not the time to ban gas-powered vehicles. CARB and Governors must be able to adjust these programs if market conditions change. Maryland Governor Wes Moore recently did just that, easing compliance enforcement. 
     
    I share concerns about consumer choice, but this Congressional Review Act resolution has serious legal flaws. The Government Accountability Office and the Senate Parliamentarian both ruled that these waivers are not subject to the CRA. Proceeding sets a dangerous precedent. 
     
    Misusing the CRA today could open the door to striking down a wide range of federal programs tomorrow, including Medicaid waivers, which worries me greatly. I don’t sleep at night on that one. 
     
    We are here today because some states have adopted stricter rules that could ban new gas-powered vehicles by this summer. I support the EV transition, but we are simply not there yet.

    For model year 2026, ACC 2 states would require 35 percent of new car sales to be a mix of electric or hybrid, yet the national average is still around 10 percent. That jumps to 68 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035. For most states, this is not realistic today.
     
    We need all stakeholders at the table — labor, manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, environmental groups, and consumers — to work together for the American people, and figure it out so we stay competitive in a global marketplace, meet consumer demand, take care of the environment, sell affordable cars, and keep manufacturing in this country.
     
    This resolution would be unprecedented federal overreach. While I disagree with California’s timeline, I also disagree with misusing the CRA to address it.
     
    If we’re serious about American leadership, EVs must be in our portfolio. I remain committed to protecting American jobs, expanding consumer choice, and ensuring U.S. leadership in global automotive innovation.
     
    The American people sent us here to solve problems. Let’s stop wasting time on illegitimate messaging CRAs and work together to support innovation, build out the infrastructure, and ensure access to affordable, American-made vehicles — whether gas-powered, hybrid, or electric.
     
    Let’s work together for our country. With that, I will be voting ‘no’.
     
    Thank you, M. Speaker, and I yield back.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: 374 MDG hosts Navy Corpsman for TCCC training

    Source: United States Navy

    YOKOTA AIR BASE, TOKYO, Japan — The 374th Medical Group hosted Sailors from the U.S. Navy 7th Fleet for two iterations of tactical combat casualty care training at Yokota Air Base, Japan, March 30 – April 4 and April 13 – 18.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: KMS Technology Appoints Choon Aun Quek as Chief Growth Officer to Accelerate Global Growth and Innovation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ATLANTA, May 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — KMS Technology, a leading digital engineering and technology solutions provider, is excited to announce the appointment of Choon Aun “Chewie” Quek as Chief Growth Officer. With over 20 years of leadership experience at global technology firms—including Google, IBM, and VMware—Chewie brings a wealth of expertise in digital transformation, AI/ML, and cloud solutions. His appointment follows KMS Technology’s recent growth investment from Sunstone Partners, a growth-oriented private equity firm known for backing AI- and tech-enabled services companies. This partnership positions KMS to execute on its long-term vision with greater speed, scale, and business impact.

    Chewie brings a proven track record of leadership and execution to this next phase of growth. Most recently, he held a senior executive role leading operations across the Americas for a global IT and digital services organization. In that position, he was instrumental in building and scaling high-performing technology teams, driving revenue growth, and expanding market presence. Drawing on his experience with industry leaders like Google and other big tech firms, Chewie has consistently driven strategic growth initiatives, addressed complex enterprise challenges, and helped accelerate upmarket expansion.

    “As KMS continues to scale upmarket and lead with innovation, Chewie’s leadership will be essential in driving our next phase of growth,” said Leo Tucker, CEO of KMS Technology. “His experience building and leading technology services teams, coupled with his deep expertise in AI, cloud, and data, will help us enhance our delivery services, accelerate business impact, and drive even greater value for our clients.”

    In his role as Chief Growth Officer, Chewie will lead KMS Technology’s go-to-market and long-term growth roadmap, focusing on expanding the company’s global delivery model, enhancing AI-driven engineering solutions, and driving client success across a broad range of industries.

    “KMS has built an impressive reputation as a trusted technology partner, helping clients accelerate product development and drive successful business outcomes,” said Chewie. “With our global talent, robust knowledge of emerging tech, and powerful engineering capabilities, I’m excited to lead the company in delivering the next generation of digital solutions.”

    This marks an exciting new chapter for KMS as the company continues to evolve and scale its impact globally. With a strong leadership team in place, KMS remains committed to driving innovation, fostering long-term client success, and maintaining its position as a trusted digital engineering partner.

    About KMS Technology
    Founded in 2009, KMS Technology is a leading provider of Digital Engineering, data, AI, and premier consulting services. Our global engineering teams deliver an integrated suite of innovative solutions designed to help businesses accelerate their digital product development and speed-to-market. Headquartered in Atlanta, with additional offices in Mexico and Vietnam, KMS Technology is committed to driving innovation and delivering exceptional value through a technology-focused, customer-centric approach. For more information, visit www.kms-technology.com.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: FDA Announces Expanded Use of Unannounced Inspections at Foreign Manufacturing Facilities

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 3

    For Immediate Release:
    May 06, 2025

    Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced its intent to expand the use of unannounced inspections at foreign manufacturing facilities that produce foods, essential medicines, and other medical products intended for American consumers and patients. This change builds upon the agency’s Office of Inspection and Investigations Foreign Unannounced Inspection Pilot program in India and China and aims to ensure that foreign companies will receive the same level of regulatory oversight and scrutiny as domestic companies.  
    “For too long, foreign companies have enjoyed a double standard—given advanced notice before facility inspections, while American manufacturers are held to rigorous standards with no such warning. That ends today. This is a key step for the FDA as part of a broader strategy to get foreign inspections back on track,” said FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, M.D, M.P.H.  
    In addition, the FDA will evaluate the agency’s policies and practices for improvements to the foreign inspection program to ensure that the FDA is the gold standard for regulatory oversight. These changes will include clarifying policies for FDA investigators to refuse travel accommodations from regulated industry including lodging and transportation arrangements (taxi, limousine, and for-hire vehicle transit), to maintain the integrity of the oversight process.
    The FDA conducts approximately 12,000 domestic inspections and 3,000 foreign inspections each year in more than 90 countries. While U.S. manufacturers undergo frequent, unannounced inspections, foreign firms have often had weeks to prepare, undermining the integrity of the oversight process. Despite the advanced warning that foreign firms receive, the FDA still found serious deficiencies more than twice as often than during domestic inspections.  
    Only in specific programs and cases are the FDA’s domestic inspections pre-announced to assure that appropriate records and personnel will be available during the inspection. But regulated companies do not have the authority to negotiate the day or time of the inspection— nor should foreign companies have the capability to do so either. With this shift, the FDA is further ensuring that every product entering the U.S. is safe, legitimate, and honestly made. Unannounced inspections will also help expose bad actors—those who falsify records or conceal violations—before they can put American lives at risk. The FDA is authorized to take regulatory action against any firm that seeks to delay, deny, or limit an inspection, or refuses to permit entry for an unannounced drug or device inspection.
    “The FDA’s rigorous, science-based global inspections of manufacturing facilities ensure that the food and drug products that enter the U.S. marketplace, and the homes of American consumers, are safe, trusted, and accessible,” said FDA Assistant Commissioner for Inspections and Investigations Michael Rogers. “These inspections provide real-time evidence and insights that are essential for making fact-based regulatory decisions to protect public health.”
    The FDA’s global inspections generate real-time intelligence that strengthens enforcement and keeps American families safe. Every inspection goes through a classification assignment process to enable an appropriate regulatory response. Even inspections that yield a “No Action Indicated” provide important regulatory intelligence that strengthens the safety net for American consumers.   This expanded approach marks a new era in FDA enforcement—stronger, smarter, and unapologetically in support the public health and safety of Americans. For more information about FDA inspections, visit the Inspections Database Frequently Asked Questions and Inspections Yield Valuable Results, Regardless of Classification.
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    The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, radiation-emitting electronic products, and for regulating tobacco products.

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    Content current as of:
    05/06/2025

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  • MIL-OSI USA: Newhouse Leads Resolution Designating National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Dan Newhouse (4th District of Washington)

    Headline: Newhouse Leads Resolution Designating National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) introduced a bipartisan resolution in the House of Representatives to designate May 5, 2025, as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.  

    “The rate of missing and murdered indigenous women cases increase every year, and impacted communities continue to suffer,” said Rep. Newhouse. “Designating May 5 as National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls sheds light on this crisis and serves as a reminder that we must better equip our native communities to solve these devastating cases. I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for joining me on this important issue.” 

    “The U.S. can no longer look away from the pain and injustice endured by Indigenous families whose mothers, daughters, sisters, and relatives have gone missing or been murdered,” said Rep. Leger Fernández. “Honoring the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is one way to bring national attention to this issue. As a nation, we have a moral responsibility to confront this crisis head-on—to honor the lives lost, support the families who continue to grieve, and make sure that Native communities have the resources, authority, and protection they deserve. We must uplift Native voices and invest in services for Indian Country so there are no more stolen sisters and no more stolen joy.” 

    Newhouse and Leger Fernández were joined by Reps. Tom Cole (R-OK), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Ed Case (D-HI), María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Stephanie Bice (R-OK), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Adrian Smith (R-NE), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), and Mark Pocan (D-WI) in introducing the resolution.  

    Rep. Tom Cole, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee said, “For far too long, dangerous predators have disproportionately targeted indigenous women and girls, with violence against Native women greatly exceeding the national average. Ending this crisis starts with awareness. Thanks to the leadership of Rep. Newhouse, this legislation designates May 5th as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which is critical to increasing awareness of this issue and stopping this terrible crisis once and for all.” 

    Rep. Jared Huffman, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee said, “Although the epidemic of missing Indigenous people spans the country, these tragic crimes are often ignored. Tribal members in my district and across the country have been putting in the hard work on the ground to protect their people – but they can’t do it all alone. We have to shine a light on this crisis, and by designating May 5th as the National Day of Awareness for MMIW, we can call attention to this pervasive issue and get tribal communities the focus and support needed to end this injustice.” 

    Rep. Dusty Johnson said, “Every life is worth fighting for. I’ve worked with South Dakota’s tribal leaders to advocate for additional tribal law enforcement resources and it’s important more than ever to continue focused efforts on our missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. According to the South Dakota Missing Persons Clearinghouse, nearly 60% of all missing persons in South Dakota are Native American. I’m grateful to partner with Rep. Newhouse to bring hope and healing to families across South Dakota.” 

    Rep. Greg Stanton said, “It’s one of our nation’s greatest shames that such violence is perpetuated against Native communities, especially Native women, to this day. By designating May 5 as a National Day of Awareness for MMIP, this resolution honors the many victims and their families while calling on us all to finally end this crisis of violence. I’m proud to reaffirm my commitment to ensuring Native communities have all the necessary resources to seek justice and healing.” 

    Rep. Stephanie Bice said, “I strongly express my support for the designation of May 5th as the ‘National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’. Not only are Indigenous people disproportionately the victims of violence in America, but also in Oklahoma. A study by the Urban Indian Health Institute rated Oklahoma in the top 10 states for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. I’m grateful that my colleague, Congressman Dan Newhouse, introduced this critical legislation. We must continue working to bring awareness to these heartbreaking tragedies so that affected families may find justice.” 

    Rep. Adrian Smith said, “The prevalence of violence against indigenous women and girls is a tragedy which calls for action. I thank Rep. Newhouse for his leadership on this resolution honoring survivors, families, and those we have lost.”

    The legislation is supported by stakeholder groups including the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Tulalip Tribes, the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, and the National Congress of American Indians.

    Gerald Lewis, Chairman, Yakama Nation Tribal Council said, “The Yakama Nation appreciates Congressman Newhouse continuously acknowledging the ongoing crisis of violence against Indigenous people throughout Indian Country. The hardship of having missing and murdered relatives at a regular and increasing rate causes distress for the Yakama Nation and other tribal nations with significant land bases; many times, we lack resources and support to adequately patrol our homelands. Preventative action could assist in combating this issue that continues to engrain generational trauma into our people. To accomplish this, support must be provided to tribal nations’ public safety, law enforcement, and justice systems through legislative action and collaboration from all governing bodies; no matter if they are local or federal. We can work together to bring our people home.” 

    Charlene Tillequots, Yakama Nation Tribal Council, Chair for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Committee said, “Indian Country has dealt with crime and harm against our people for far too long. Today many families grieve the loss of a loved one, with no justice or closure to comfort them, because of shortfalls that obstruct initiatives that could combat this issue. The Yakama Nation and tribes across the United States desperately need resources for safety measures and justice services to protect the communities on our Reservation – this help includes recognition that this needs to be addressed immediately. Congressman Newhouse’s gesture, this resolution, addresses an impediment to Tribal sovereignty and public safety work we face today. We hope to continue making progress for future generations to be in a safer place than we are now – we’re simply aiming, at the very least, to have our family members make it home each night.” 

    Jarred-Michael Erickson, Chairman, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation said, “The Colville Tribes appreciates and supports the efforts of Rep. Dan Newhouse and others in Congress to keep attention focused on the problem of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Despite receiving greater attention in recent years, the problem persists as Native women continue to suffer violence at rates much higher than the national average. The Colville Tribes supports the designation of a ‘National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ and continues to support a federal MMIW law enforcement presence specifically dedicated to serve the Pacific Northwest.” 

    Teri Gobin, Chair, Tulalip Tribes said, “Every Native community in the nation has been touched by the epidemic of violence against Native people. Four out of five native women have experienced violence and more than half have been sexually assaulted by their intimate partners. Shining a light on the harm our people have experienced is a step towards fixing it. We urge our lawmakers to continue to fight for more resources for Tribes to create safe communities, including recognizing tribal court jurisdiction over cases that involve violence against our people. On May 5th, we will remember the lives taken too soon. We will drum and sing and cry together. We will pray and advocate. Together, we will build a future with no more stolen sisters” 

    Lucy R. Simpson, Executive Director, The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center said, “The National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls serves as a commitment to honor those we have lost, amplify the voices of survivors and families, and address this crisis of violence directly. The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) sincerely thanks Representatives Newhouse and Leger Fernandez for their ongoing efforts to end violence against Indigenous people. Together, we must continue to seek justice, healing, and meaningful change.”  

    Shannon Holsey, President, NCAI Violence Against Women Task Force Co-Chair said, “May 5th is more than a day of remembrance—it is a call to action. The epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives is a direct result of systems that have failed to protect us for generations. To end this crisis, we must continue to fully implement the tribal provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and return authority to Tribal Nations to safeguard our people. We must act with urgency and unity to strengthen tribal jurisdiction and invest in Indigenous-led solutions. This starts with strengthening tribal sovereignty, restoring the rightful authority of Tribal Nations to protect our people, and honoring the sacredness of every life stolen. Every Native relative deserves to be safe, seen, and honored.” 

    Full resolution text here. 

    ### 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Global CEO pay increased by 50 percent since 2019, 56 times more than worker wages

    Source: Oxfam –

    • Average CEO pay surged by 50 percent in real terms since 2019, while average worker wages increased by just 0.9 percent.
    • Every hour, billionaires pocket more wealth than the average worker earns in an entire year.  
    • The average gender pay gap in 11,366 corporations worldwide narrowed slightly from 27 percent to 22 percent between 2022 and 2023 ―yet their average female employee still effectively works for free on Fridays, while their average male employee is paid through the week.
    • Oxfam and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are calling for higher taxes on the super-rich to invest in people and planet.

    Average global CEO pay hit $4.3 million in 2024, reveals new analysis from Oxfam ahead of International Workers’ Day (1 May). This is a 50 percent real-term increase from $2.9 million in 2019 (adjusted for inflation) —a rise that far outpaces the real wage growth of the average worker, who saw a 0.9 percent increase over the same five-year period in the countries where CEO pay data is available.

    The figures are median averages, based on full executive pay packages, including bonuses and stock options, from nearly 2,000 corporations across 35 countries where CEOs were paid more than $1 million in 2024. The data, analyzed by Oxfam, was sourced from the S&P Capital IQ database, which uses publicly reported company financials.

    • Ireland and Germany have some of the highest-paid CEOs, earning an average of $6.7 million and $4.7 million a year in 2024 respectively.
    • Average CEO pay in South Africa was $1.6 million in 2024, while in India, it reached $2 million.

    “Year after year, we see the same grotesque spectacle: CEO pay explodes while workers’ wages barely budge. This isn’t a glitch in the system —it’s the system working exactly as designed, funnelling wealth ever upwards while millions of working people struggle to afford rent, food, and healthcare,” said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.

    Boosts to global CEO pay come as warnings grow that wages are failing to keep pace with the cost of living. While the International Labor Organization (ILO) global reports real wages grew by 2.7 percent in 2024, many workers have seen their wages stagnate. In France, South Africa and Spain for example, real wage growth was just 0.6 percent last year. While wage inequality had decreased globally, it remains very high, particularly in low-income countries, where the share of income of the richest 10 percent is 3.4 times higher than the poorest 40 percent.

    Billionaires —who often fully, or in part, own large corporations— pocketed on average $206 billion in new wealth over the last year. This is equivalent to $23,500 an hour, more than the global average income in 2023 ($21,000).
    Beyond runaway CEO pay, the global working class is now facing a new threat: sweeping US tariffs. These policies pose significant risks for workers worldwide, including job losses and rising costs for basic goods that would stoke extreme inequality everywhere. 

    “For so many workers worldwide, President Trump’s reckless use of tariffs means a push from one cruel order to another: from the frying pan of destructive neoliberal trade policy to the fire of weaponized tariffs. These policies will not only hurt working families in the US, but especially harm workers trying to escape poverty in some of the world’s poorest countries,” said Behar.   

    Increasingly, corporations are being required by law to report their gender pay gaps ―the average difference in earnings between women and men. Oxfam’s analysis of the S&P Capital IQ database found that among 11,366 corporations across 82 countries that reported gender pay gap data, the average gap narrowed slightly from 27 percent to 22 percent between 2022 and 2023. Yet, on average, women in these corporations still effectively work without pay on Fridays, while their male counterparts are paid for the full week.

    Corporations in Japan and South Korea reported some of the highest average gender pay gaps in 2023 (around 40 percent). The average gap in Latin America was 36 percent in 2023, up from 34 percent the previous year. Corporations in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK reported average pay gaps of 16 percent.

    Oxfam’s analysis also found that out of 45,501 corporations across 168 countries where the CEO is paid more than $10 million and their gender is reported, fewer than 7 percent have a female CEO.

    “The outrageous pay inequality between CEOs and workers confirms that we lack democracy where it is needed most: at work. Around the world, workers are being denied the basics of life while corporations pocket record profits, dodge taxes and lobby to evade responsibility,” said Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

    “Workers are demanding a New Social Contract that works for them —not the billionaires undermining democracy. Fair taxation, strong public services, living wages and a just transition are not radical demands —they are the foundation of a just society. It’s time to end the billionaire coup against democracy and put people and planet first.”

    Oxfam and the ITUC are calling on governments to sustain and accelerate momentum on taxing the super-rich, both nationally and globally. This includes introducing top marginal rates of tax of at least 75 percent on all personal income for the highest earners to discourage sky-high executive pay. Governments must also ensure minimum wages keep up with inflation, and that everyone has the right to unionize, strike and bargain collectively.
     

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Launch of the UK–ADB Nature and Food Partnership

    Source: Asia Development Bank

    This session highlighted key initiatives, including the Central and South Asian Flyways, regenerative agriculture, natural capital and biodiversity credits, and the UK Conservation Learning Week. The launch event was held on the sidelines of the 58th Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors in Milan, Italy.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK-India Free Trade Deal: A Deal For Growth

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    UK-India Free Trade Deal: A Deal For Growth

    The UK has secured the best deal India has ever agreed, providing businesses with security and confidence to trade with the fastest-growing economy in the G20.

    Secretary of State Jonathan Reynolds with Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal

    Delivering Economic Growth 

    The core mission of this Government is to deliver economic growth that raises living standards and puts money in people’s pockets, and that is exactly what this deal will do. We estimate that it will increase bilateral trade by £25.5 billion, add £4.8billion a year to our economy and boost wages by £2.2 billion every year in the long run. footnote 1 This is the best deal India has ever agreed to. It delivers on our manifesto commitment to create trade relationships that unlock new opportunities for businesses across all our nations and regions. 

    Case study – Standard Chartered 

    Standard Chartered is a leading UK-based international banking group with a presence in 53 of the world’s most dynamic markets. It is the largest and oldest foreign bank in India, acting as a ‘super connector’ of cross-border trade and investment by driving commerce and prosperity through its unique diversity for more than 165 years.   

    Saif Malik, CEO, UK and Head of Coverage, UK, Standard Chartered, said:

    The UK-India Free Trade Agreement is a significant achievement. It will create new opportunities for UK and Indian businesses, enable greater access to one of the world’s largest and most dynamic markets, and drive growth and innovation across the UK-India corridor.

    We welcome this strong commitment to partnership and prosperity.

    Case study – UPS

    UPS is one of the world’s largest companies, with 2024 revenue of $91.1 billion, and provides a broad range of integrated logistics solutions for customers in more than 200 countries and territories, including connecting the United Kingdom and India. 

    Markus Kessler, Managing Director, UPS UK, Ireland and Nordics, said:

    We welcome the announcement of this important agreement between two countries that are both vital markets in our global network.

    We look forward to continuing to help businesses of all sizes across the UK reach new customers in one of the world’s most populous and dynamic countries.

    Future-Proofing Our Economy 

    This deal gives UK businesses first-mover advantage with a new economic superpower. Currently the biggest country in the world by population, India is projected to move from its fifth-largest global economy to third in the next three years, thanks to the highest growth rate in the G20. footnote 2 By the end of the decade, it will be home to an estimated 60 million middle-class consumers, whose numbers are projected to grow to a quarter of a billion by 2050. footnote 3 And by 2035, their demand for imports is on course to top £1.4 trillion. footnote 4 The enormous scope of this market, where British goods and services are already sought after, represents an equally huge opportunity for UK businesses in the decades to come. 

    Case study – John Smedley Ltd

    Established in 1784 in Lea Mills, Derbyshire, John Smedley Ltd is a UK-based manufacturer and retailer of luxury knitwear. 

    Bill Leach, Global Sales Director, John Smedley Ltd, said:

    India is one of the fastest growing luxury markets in the world, and we are very excited about the UK- India Free Trade Agreement coming to fruition.

    John Smedley knitwear is already sold in over 50 countries around the world, and now that the FTA has been finalised, we shall very much look forward to ensuring that an ever-increasing number of discerning luxury consumers in India will enjoy greater access to The World’s Finest Knitwear.

    We are thankful to DBT for their significant efforts in bringing this FTA to successful conclusion.

    Cutting costs for UK-India trade 

    From day one, this deal will support businesses across the United Kingdom by making it cheaper, easier, and quicker to trade with India. The deal will slash costs on UK exports, including whiskies and gin, cosmetics, medical devices, advanced machinery and lamb. Based on current trade alone, India’s tariff cuts amount to £400m in the first year, going up around £900m after 10 years. footnote 5 And that’s before factoring in the savings from speedier and easier trade from improved customs and digital commitments. This immediate relief represents a major advantage our businesses will enjoy over their international competitors, helping them to invest, expand, and support more high-quality jobs. 

    Case study – Smith+Nephew

    Smith+Nephew designs and manufactures technology that takes the limits off living. Smith+Nephew’s products include: Advanced Wound Management; orthopaedics and a robot assisted surgery system; and joint preservation and soft tissue orthopaedics.

    Deepak Nath, Chief Executive Officer, Smith+Nephew, said:

    Given the size of the Indian economy and its healthcare system, India is an important location for Smith+Nephew. The Free Trade Agreement offers the potential to build trading links in the healthcare sector.

    We hope that the Free Trade Agreement will enable Smith+Nephew’s innovative medical technologies to support more healthcare professionals to return their patients to health and mobility.

    Delivering opportunities for High-Growth Sectors 

    This deal supports the UK’s world-leading high-growth sectors identified in the Industrial Strategy, including:  

    • Slashing tariffs for UK’s large and varied advanced manufacturing sectors, including for automotives, electrical machinery and high-end optical products.  

    • Giving the clean energy industry brand new and unprecedented access to India’s vast procurement market, as India makes the switch to renewable energy, alongside their growing energy demand. 

    • Unlocking new opportunities for medical devices firms within the life sciences sector, with reduced tariffs and rules of origin that factor in the UK’s complex supply chains and ensure that businesses can reap the benefits.  

    • Enshrining copyright protections for the creative sector, enabling our exporters to feel confident exporting to India with a commitment that works will continue to be protected for at least 60 years. India will also commit to engaging on aspects of Copyright and Related Rights. This deal addresses the interests of UK creators, rights holders, and consumers, including around Public Performance Rights and Artist Resale Rights, which acknowledge the importance of payment rights. India will also conduct an internal review of their copyright protection terms.   

    • Guaranteeing access for the UK’s world-class financial and professional business services sectors to India’s growing market. This is on top of securing India’s foreign investment cap for the insurance sector, ensuring UK financial services companies are treated equally to domestic suppliers, and encouraging the recognition of professional qualifications. 

    • Securing India’s best ever commitments on digital trade for our Digital and technology sectors, such as promoting digital systems and paperless trade, helping UK businesses of all sizes take the opportunities on offer in this huge and rapidly expanding market.  

    Case study – Premier League

    The Premier League is the world’s most-watched football competition, reaching 1.6 billion viewers in 189 countries around the world. The global success of the Premier League makes it one of the UK’s most significant soft power assets, amplifying British cultural values and generating economic growth and inward investment. 

    Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said:

    India continues to be incredibly important to the Premier League and its clubs. It is a vibrant country that presents exciting opportunities and significant potential. The Premier League’s recent announcement of an office opening in Mumbai demonstrates our commitment to build on longstanding work to engage local fans, develop grassroots and elite football and further promote the game in India.  

    The continued growth of the Premier League and UK businesses in India will have a positive impact on our domestic economy and we welcome the news of this new trade deal secured by Government, which will support UK businesses operating in India.

    Case study – EY

    EY teams work across a full spectrum of services in assurance, consulting, tax, strategy and transactions. Fuelled by sector insights, a globally connected, multidisciplinary network and a diverse ecosystem of partners, EY teams provide services in more than 150 countries and territories. 

    Rohan Malik, EMEIA and UKI Government & Public Sector Managing Partner, EY, said:  

    This agreement is poised to accelerate an economic partnership that is already thriving, with the value of total trade between the UK and India having more than doubled from £16.6bn to £40bn over the last decade.

    British businesses stand to benefit substantially from enhanced access to one of the world’s largest export markets and a skills pool that can fuel strategically important UK sectors, including professional services and emerging industries based around data and AI.

    Case study – Concrete Canvas Ltd

    Concrete Canvas Ltd is a Wales-based low-carbon concrete manufacturer. 

    William Crawford, Director of Concrete Canvas Ltd, said: 

    India is a dynamic and vibrant economy and an increasingly important market for Concrete Canvas products. A UK-India FTA will help to accelerate our plans for growth by reducing trade barriers and making us more competitive.

    This is welcome news for both UK and Indian businesses!

    Case study – Biopanda

    Biopanda is a Belfast-based medtech manufacturer which exports in vitro test kits for clinical laboratories, veterinary practice, and food safety laboratories.

    Philip McKee, Sales Manager at Biopanda, said:  

    Biopanda have been supplying a range of diagnostic products to the Indian market throughout the past ten years.

    We value the business we have done already throughout India and with the introduction of the UK-India FTA this should benefit in increased trade with the removal of export barriers.

    This will hopefully increase the market access, allowing our distributors throughout India to provide a larger range of our highly accurate clinical diagnostic products at a lower price to the consumer.

    Unlocking Opportunities Nationwide 

    Through our Plan for Change, this government will raise living standards in every part of the United Kingdom. This deal supports that goal, unlocking new opportunities in every region and nation.  

    This deal also opens a huge new market for iconic UK brands, securing India’s best ever tariff offer and providing access to India’s growing middle-class consumer base, which will give iconic UK brands the opportunity to expand their reach and influence. This access includes cutting tariffs on whiskies from 150% to 75% at entry into force, following to 40% after 10 years, as well as on other agri-food products such as soft drinks dropping from 33% to 0% after seven years, and lamb dropping from 33% to 0% at entry into force. Separately high-end cars will benefit from a drop from over 100% to 10% under a quota. We have also secured India’s best ever agreement on Rules of Origin, which enables UK businesses to take advantage of these new lower tariffs.

    This deal will also support consumers as they benefit from the best of India and greater variety as our trading relationship grows, including clothing, footwear, and iconic food and drink. New commitments will also help protect consumers from spam texts from India, which could include requiring opt-out or prior consent.

    Case study – Chivas Brothers Ltd

    Chivas Brothers Ltd is part of the Pernod Ricard group of companies and exports over £2bn of Scotch whisky and gin every year, including brands like Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s, The Glenlivet and Beefeater. India is amongst Chivas Brothers’ largest export markets and the biggest consumer of whisky worldwide by volume. The UK-India trade agreement will help solidify and potentially expand on Pernod Ricard’s existing investments, which includes a €200m distillery construction in the Indian state of Maharashtra and £100m in bottling facilities in Dumbarton, Scotland. 

    Jean-Etienne Gourgues, Chivas Brothers Chairman and CEO, said:

    The announcement of a free trade agreement in principle between the UK and India is a welcome boost for Chivas Brothers during an uncertain global economic environment.

    India is the world’s biggest whisky market by volume and greater access will be a game changer for the export of our Scotch whisky brands, such as Chivas Regal and Ballantine’s. The deal will support long term investment and jobs in our distilleries and bottling plants in Scotland, as well as help deliver growth in both Scotland and India over the next decade. Slàinte to the UK Ministers and officials who steered the deal though long negotiations.

    Case study – Diageo

    Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with a collection of brands across spirits and beer categories sold in more than 180 countries around the world. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B and Buchanan’s whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.  

    Diageo is a leading player in India’s beverage alcohol sector and is among the top 10 fast-moving consumer goods companies in India by market capitalisation. Diageo has 50 manufacturing facilities across India, employs over 3,300 people directly in market with a further 100,000 jobs supported throughout its value chain. India is one of Diageo’s largest markets globally and accounts for almost half of its total global spirits volume.

    Diageo Chief Executive Debra Crew said:

    The UK-India Free Trade Agreement is a huge achievement by Prime Ministers Modi and Starmer and Ministers Goyal and Reynolds, and all of us at Diageo toast their success. It will be transformational for Scotch and Scotland, while powering jobs and investment in both India and the UK.

    The deal will also increase quality and choice for discerning consumers across India, the world’s largest and most exciting whisky market.

    Enhancing Security through our partnership

    The UK and India already enjoy a deep and broad partnership built on our shared principles as two democracies, our commitment to the rules-based international order, strong ties in areas including culture, education, food, and sport, and of course through our living bridge – with some 1.9 million people with Indian heritage calling the UK their home. footnote 6

    This agreement encourages collaboration between our two complementary economies. It creates a framework to promote closer ties on innovation – including on new technologies in areas like agriculture, health, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy. And our agreement on business mobility will help experts on both sides deliver their services, enabling us to capitalise on the economic transformation that technology will bring over the course of this century. 

    Through this deal, we are showing the world that we stand for free, fair, and open trade. In an increasingly unstable and volatile world, this provides businesses with the confidence that they need to grow and expand. And as India’s approach to global trade changes, so can this deal. We have agreed in numerous areas that, if India offer a better deal to a different country, we can come back to the table to renegotiate for the UK. 

    Case study – Coltraco Ultrasonics

    Coltraco Ultrasonics are high-exporting advanced manufacturers of ultrasonic instrumentation and systems, exporting 90% manufactured output to 120 countries. Coltraco have twice won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade and have exported to India for 30 years. Since 2019, Coltraco have won the contract for nearly 200 ships of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard and support in-service use and maintenance of their ultrasonic watertight integrity instrumentation on board. 

    Professor Carl Stephen Patrick Hunter OBE, Chairman Coltraco Ultrasonics Limited & Director-General The Durham Institute of Research, Development & Invention, said:

    Coltraco Ultrasonics is strongly supportive of the India FTA Trade Agreement and proud to have modestly contributed to and advising the British negotiating team on various chapters.

    The UK private sector can now, because of the India FTA, the Windsor Framework CPTPP, and a variety of other UK FTAs, look out to the world, balancing our exporting and investment opportunities between the USA, the EU and Asia Pacific.

    It is a tremendous success and we thank British and Indian Civil Servants for their public service in the UK-India FTA.

    Unlocking Access to India’s Untapped Procurement Market 

    For the first time, UK businesses will have guaranteed and unprecedented access to India’s vast procurement market, covering goods, services and construction. UK businesses will be granted brand new access to approximately 40,000 tenders with a value of at least £38 billion a year. footnote 8 This will unlock significant opportunities spanning a range of sectors, including transport, healthcare and life sciences and green energy. Alongside this UK firms will, for the first time, have access to India’s procurement portal, connecting them to the information they need to make the best out of these opportunities – which will grow as India builds the infrastructure necessary for an economic superpower with the world’s largest population. 

    UK companies will also get exclusive treatment under the ‘Make in India’ policy, which currently provides preferential treatment for federal government procurement to businesses who manufacture or produce in India. However, this unprecedented treatment will mean that if at least 20% of a company’s product or service is from the UK, they will be treated as a ‘Class Two local supplier’– granting them the same status that is currently only ever given to Indian businesses.  

    Protecting Our Values 

    Throughout the negotiations, we have championed our values – securing India’s first ever chapters on anti-corruption, consumer protections, labour rights, the environment, gender equality, and development. We have protected the NHS, defended the UK’s interests, ensured the points-based immigration system is not affected, upheld our high food standards, and maintained our animal welfare commitments throughout. This deal demonstrates our commitment to both workers and businesses, staying true to our values while driving economic growth.

    1. DBT CGE modelling. See Technical Annex

    2. World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024

    3. Projections are calculated using the methodology described in DBT’s Global Trade Outlook, February 2023

    4. Ibid.

    5. The methodology for estimating the value of duties can be found in Annex 5 of the technical annexes accompanying the UK-India FTA Scoping assessment

    6. 2021 England and Wales Census; 2021 NI Census; 2011 Scottish Census

    7. DBT inward investment results 2023 to 2024 (HTML version) – GOV.UK; ; Grant Thornton, Britain meets India 2024; Grant Thornton, India meets Britain tracker: 2023.

    8. This analysis utilises Top 200 Entity data from India’s e-procurement dashboard, for the financial years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, which is not exhaustively used by all federal government agencies for all procurements. Therefore, several entities included within India’s market access schedule cannot be included within the analysis. This analysis does not take into account restrictions on access as a result of Make in India, the chapter thresholds and tenders for goods or services not covered by the government procurement chapter.

    Updates to this page

    Published 6 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK concludes trade deal with India

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    UK concludes trade deal with India

    Multi-billion-pound boost to UK economy with landmark India trade deal to make working people better off

    • Huge economic win for UK as trade deal with India agreed which will deliver for working people and British businesses 

    • Deal will slash Indian tariffs on key products such as whisky, cosmetics and medical devices, locking in reductions on 90% of tariff lines for UK exports to unleash opportunities for businesses across regions and nations of UK 

    • Delivers on Plan for Change as £4.8 billion added to UK economy and £2.2 billion in wages every year in the long run under deal 

    The UK and India have today agreed a landmark trade deal which delivers on this government’s core mission of growing the economy, raising living standards, and putting money in people’s pockets. 

    Indian tariffs will be slashed, locking in reductions on 90% of tariff lines, with 85% of these becoming fully tariff-free within a decade. 

    Whisky and gin tariffs will be halved from 150% to 75% before reducing to 40% by year ten of the deal, while automotive tariffs will go from over 100% to 10% under a quota. 

    Other goods with reduced tariffs, which can open markets and make trade cheaper for businesses and Indian consumers, include cosmetics, aerospace, lamb, medical devices, salmon, electrical machinery, soft drinks, chocolate and biscuits.  

    British shoppers could see cheaper prices and more choice on products including clothes, footwear, and food products including frozen prawns as UK liberalises tariffs. 

    The deal is expected to increase bilateral trade by £25.5 billion, UK GDP by £4.8 billion and wages by £2.2 billion each year in the long run. 

    UK businesses gain a competitive edge over international competitors when entering India’s enormous market as it gets even bigger, forecasted to become the 3rd largest global economy within three years. 

    Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal held final talks in London last week after relaunching negotiations only two months ago. Negotiators across both sides have worked around the clock since February to get this deal done, which is the biggest and most economically significant bilateral trade deal the UK has done since leaving the EU, and the best deal India has ever agreed. 

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: 

    We are now in a new era for trade and the economy. That means going further and faster to strengthen the UK’s economy, putting more money in working people’s pockets.  

    Through this government’s stable and pragmatic leadership, the UK has become an attractive place to do business. Today we have agreed a landmark deal with India – one of the fastest growing economies in the world, which will grow the economy and deliver for British people and business.  

    Strengthening our alliances and reducing trade barriers with economies around the world is part of our Plan for Change to deliver a stronger and more secure economy here at home.   

    Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: 

    This government’s number one mission is growing the economy as part of our Plan for Change so we can put more money in people’s pockets.  

    By striking a new trade deal with the fastest-growing economy in the world, we are delivering billions for the UK economy and wages every year and unlocking growth in every corner of the country, from advanced manufacturing in the North East to whisky distilleries in Scotland. 

    In times of global uncertainty, a pragmatic approach to global trade that provides businesses and consumers with stability is more important than ever.

    At least 1.9 million people with Indian heritage call the UK their home and striking this deal will strengthen the vital partnership between our two democracies. 

    The benefits for UK businesses and consumers under this deal are massive, with wins across an array of sectors.  

    Notes to editors 

    Benefits for businesses of all sizes 

    Barriers to trading will be dropped, with India agreeing to reduce tariffs on a whole host of products including whisky, medical devices, advanced machinery, and lamb, making UK exports more competitive. Based on 2022 trade alone, this amounts to India cutting tariffs worth over £400 million when the deal comes into force, which will more than double to around £900 million after 10 years.  

    Exporting to this huge market will be easier than ever before thanks to India agreeing to release goods as quickly as possible after arrival at customs, work with the UK on one streamlined portal for trade and publish customs procedures and laws online in English. In addition, new digital commitments will support electronic contracts and transactions. These changes could particularly support small and medium-sized businesses, making it easier for them to enter the Indian market. 

    Delivering for high-growth sectors 

    High-growth sectors identified in the Industrial Strategy are supported through this deal, including: 

    • Tariffs cut on the UK’s large and varied advanced manufacturing sectors from aerospace and automotive, electrical circuits and conductors, and high-end optical products. 

    • The clean energy industry will have brand new, unprecedented access to India’s vast procurement market as the country makes the switch to renewable energy and continues to see growing energy demand. 

    • Reduced tariffs on medical devices that take the UK’s complex supply chains into consideration will unleash new opportunities for the UK life sciences sector. 

    • Enhanced copyright protections for the creative sector will give exporters confidence thanks to a commitment that their work will continue to be protected for at least 60 years. 

    • World-class UK services sectors – who export just over £500 billion worldwide will now benefit from market certainty when trading into the growing Indian market. 

    More choice and protections for consumers 

    As bilateral trade grows under this deal, the UK will benefit from the best India has to offer with British shoppers enjoying access to a greater variety of clothes and shoes.  New commitments will also help protect consumers from spam texts from India, which could include requiring opt-out or prior consent. 

    Mark Kent, Chief Executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, welcomed the “transformational” deal: 

    The UK-India free trade agreement is a once in a generation deal and a landmark moment for Scotch Whisky exports to the world’s largest whisky market. It shows that the UK government is making significant progress towards achieving its growth mission, and the Scotch Whisky industry looks forward to working with the UK and Indian governments in the months ahead to implement the deal, which would be a big boost to two major global economies during turbulent times. 

    The reduction of the current 150% tariff on Scotch Whisky will be transformational for the industry, and has the potential to increase Scotch Whisky exports to India by £1bn over the next 5 years, creating 1,200 jobs across the UK. It will also give discerning consumers in India far greater choice of brands, as more SME Scotch Whisky producers have the opportunity to enter the market.” 

    Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said:  

    India continues to be incredibly important to the Premier League and its clubs. It is a vibrant country that presents exciting opportunities and significant potential. The Premier League’s recent announcement of an office opening in Mumbai demonstrates our commitment to build on longstanding work to engage local fans, develop grassroots and elite football and further promote the game in India. 

    The continued growth of the Premier League and UK businesses in India will have a positive impact on our domestic economy and we welcome the news of this new trade deal secured by Government, which will support UK businesses operating in India.” 

    Bill Winters CBE, Group CEO of Standard Chartered and Co-Chair of the UK-India Financial Partnership, said:

    The UK-India Free Trade Agreement is a significant achievement. It will create new opportunities for UK and Indian businesses, enable greater access to one of the world’s largest and most dynamic markets, and drive growth and innovation across the UK-India corridor. We welcome this strong commitment to partnership and prosperity.   

    Markus Kessler, Managing Director, UPS UK, Ireland and Nordics said: 

    We welcome the announcement of this important agreement between two countries that are both vital markets in our global network. We look forward to continuing to help businesses of all sizes across the UK reach new customers in one of the world’s most populous and dynamic countries.

    Richard Heald, OBE, UK-India Business Council Chair said: 

    The UK India Business Council (UKIBC) welcomes the agreement of the new Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom and India. This marks a significant milestone in the deepening of economic and strategic ties between our two nations.  

    It matters when the fifth and sixth largest economies in the world reach a trade agreement. Such an agreement is illustrative of the positive momentum in the UK-India relationship, the commitment and ambition of both Governments, and the opportunities for greater trade, investment and collaboration between our countries.

    Notes to editors 

    • We have championed our values – securing India’s first ever chapters on anti-corruption, consumer protections, labour rights, gender, and development. We have protected the NHS, ensured the points-based immigration system is not affected, upheld our high food standards, and maintained our animal welfare commitments throughout. 

    Data sources for this release include: 

    • FTA economic impacts: DBT Technical Note: The preliminary economic impacts of the UK-India Free Trade Agreement 

    • India forecast to become the 3rd largest global economy within three years: IMF World Economic Outlook April 2025

    • India is the fastest growing economy in the world: IMF World Economic Outlook April 2025

    • India and the UK are the fifth and sixth largest economies: IMF World Economic Outlook April 2025 

    • 1.9 million people with Indian heritage live in the UK: ONS 2021 Census

    • UK services exports are worth over £500 billion: ONS UK trade February 2025

    Updates to this page

    Published 6 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –