NewzIntel.com

Category: Asia

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Press Release 06 March 2025 La Niña event is expected to be short-lived

    Source: World Meteorological Organization

    Infographic on ENSO probabilities for March-May 2025

    “Seasonal forecasts for El Niño and La Niña and the associated impacts on weather and climate patterns globally are an important tool to inform early warnings and early action and are one of a wide suite of services offered by the WMO community to support decision-making,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

    “These forecasts translate into millions of dollars worth in economic savings for key sectors like agriculture, energy and transport, and saved thousands of lives over the years by enabling disaster risk preparedness,” she said.

    La Niña refers to the large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, coupled with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation, including changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns. Typically, La Niña brings climate impacts that are the opposite of El Niño, especially in tropical regions.

    However, the impacts of naturally occurring climate events such as La Nina and El Nino on climate patterns are taking place in the broader context of human-induced climate change, which is increasing global temperatures, exacerbating extreme weather and climate, and impacting seasonal rainfall and temperature patterns.

    Thus, January 2025 was the warmest January on record, despite weak La Niña conditions being present since December 2024, when observed sea surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial Pacific crossed the La Niña threshold.

    While the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a key driver of global climate patterns, it is not the only factor shaping the Earth’s climate. To provide a more comprehensive climate outlook, WMO also issues regular Global Seasonal Climate Updates (GSCU). These updates  take into account the influence of key climate variability patterns, including the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Arctic Oscillation and the Indian Ocean Dipole. The updates also monitor the status of North Tropical Atlantic (NTA) and South Tropical Atlantic (STA) Sea Surface Temperature index anomalies, as well as the global and regional anomalies of surface temperature and precipitation and their evolution over the upcoming season.

    With above-normal sea surface temperatures expected to persist across all major oceans—except for the near-equatorial eastern Pacific—the latest GSCU forecasts above-average temperatures over nearly all land areas worldwide.

    Probabilistic Multi-Model Ensemble Forecast – 2m Temperature – February 2025

    Probabilistic Multi-Model Ensemble Forecast – Precipitation – February 2025

    The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation in atmospheric science and meteorology.

    WMO monitors weather, climate, and water resources and provides support to its Members in forecasting and disaster mitigation. The organization is committed to advancing scientific knowledge and improving public safety and well-being through its work.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Woolly mice are cute and impressive – but they won’t bring back mammoths or save endangered species

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Roycroft, Research Group Leader & ARC DECRA Fellow, Monash University

    Colossal Biosciences

    US company Colossal Biosciences has announced the creation of a “woolly mouse” — a laboratory mouse with a series of genetic modifications that lead to a woolly coat. The company claims this is the first step toward “de-extincting” the woolly mammoth.

    The successful genetic modification of a laboratory mouse is a testament to the progress science has made in understanding gene function, developmental biology and genome editing. But does a woolly mouse really teach us anything about the woolly mammoth?

    What has been genetically modified?

    Woolly mammoths were cold-adapted members of the elephant family, which disappeared from mainland Siberia at the end of the last Ice Age around 10,000 years ago. The last surviving population, on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean, went extinct about 4,000 years ago.

    The house mouse (Mus musculus) is a far more familiar creature, which most of us know as a kitchen pest. It is also one of the most studied organisms in biology and medical research. We know more about this laboratory mouse than perhaps any other mammal besides humans.

    Colossal details its new research in a pre-print paper, which has not yet been peer-reviewed. According to the paper, the researchers disrupted the normal function of seven different genes in laboratory mice via gene editing.

    By tinkering with different genes, researchers produced mice with different kinds of fur.
    Colossal Biosciences

    Six of these genes were targeted because a large body of existing research on the mouse model had already demonstrated their roles in hair-related traits, such as coat colour, texture and thickness.

    The modifications in a seventh gene — FABP2 — was based on evidence from the woolly mammoth genome. The gene is involved in the transport of fats in the body.

    Woolly mammoths had a slightly shorter version of the gene, which the researchers believe may have contributed to its adaptation to life in cold climates. However, the “woolly mice” with the mammoth-style variant of FABP2 did not show significant differences in body mass compared to regular lab mice.

    What would it mean to de-extinct a species?

    This work shows the promise of targeted editing of genes of known function in mice. After further testing, this technology may have a future place in conservation efforts. But it’s a long way from holding promise for de-extinction.

    Colossal Biosciences claims it is on track to produce a genetically modified “mammoth-like” elephant by 2028, but what makes a mammoth unique is more than skin-deep.

    De-extinction would need to go beyond modifying an existing species to show superficial traits from an extinct relative. Many aspects of an extinct species’ biology remain unknown. A woolly coat is one thing. Recreating the entire suite of adaptations, including genetic, epigenetic and behavioural traits that allowed mammoths to thrive in ice age environments, is another.

    Prehistoric drawings of an ibex (left) and a mammoth (right) found at Rouffignac cave in France.
    Cave Painter / Wikimedia

    Unlike the thylacine (or Tasmanian tiger) — another species Colossal aims to resurrect — the mammoth has a close living relative in the modern Asian elephant. The closer connections between the genomes of these two species may make mammoth de-extinction more technically feasible than that of the thylacine.

    But whether or not a woolly mouse brings us any closer to that prospect, this story forces us to consider some important ethical questions. Even if we could bring back the woolly mammoth, should we? Is the motivation behind this effort conservation, or entertainment? Is it ethical to bring a species back into an environment that may no longer sustain it?

    Focus on conserving what remains

    In Australia alone, we’ve lost at least 100 species to extinction since European colonisation in 1788, largely due the introduction of feral predators and land clearing.

    The idea of reversing extinction is understandably appealing. We might like to think we could undo the past.

    According to Colossal’s website,

    Extinction is a colossal problem facing the world. And Colossal is the company that’s going to fix it.

    It’s hard to argue with the first part of that. But focusing on bringing back extinct species distracts from a more urgent reality: species are going extinct right now, and we are not doing enough to save them.

    We should first focus on promises to save surviving species, rather than promises to bring back the dead.

    With more investment in threatened species monitoring, new pest control methods, and conservation genetic management, we can turn the tide of extinction and secure the future for species that remain.

    There’s a long list of threatened species that are still alive now. With the right funding and conservation attention, we can do something to save them before it’s too late.

    Emily Roycroft receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Programme, and the Australian Academy of Science.

    – ref. Woolly mice are cute and impressive – but they won’t bring back mammoths or save endangered species – https://theconversation.com/woolly-mice-are-cute-and-impressive-but-they-wont-bring-back-mammoths-or-save-endangered-species-251595

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Nigerian Citizen Admits Guilt in Bank Fraud and Money Laundering Conspiracies Causing More Than $1.7 Million in Losses

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    David Daniyan Admits Supervising Conspiracies Led by Nigerian Citizen Oluwaseun Adekoya

    ALBANY, NEW YORK – David Daniyan, a/k/a “Bamikole Laniyan,” a/k/a “David Enfield,” a/k/a “Africa,” age 60, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty today in connection with his role in bank fraud and money laundering conspiracies led by Oluwaseun Adekoya, age 39, also a Nigerian citizen, of Cliffside Park, New Jersey.  Acting United States Attorney Daniel Hanlon and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

    Daniyan pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft. Daniyan admitted that, working with Adekoya, he obtained the personal identifying information of people residing all over the United States and recruited lower-level conspirators to impersonate those people using fake driver’s licenses to fraudulently obtain cash, checks, and loans at their financial institutions and obtain merchandise using credit at retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue.  Daniyan also admitted to conspiring with Adekoya and others to launder the proceeds of their bank fraud by, among other things, using fraudulently obtained funds to purchase additional fake driver’s licenses and depositing fraudulently obtained checks into accounts in the names of identity-theft victims that were controlled by coconspirators.  Daniyan admitted that the bank fraud conspiracy netted over $1.7 million in fraud proceeds, and was perpetrated in the Northern District of New York and all over the country. 

    According to documents previously filed in the case, Daniyan, a citizen of Nigeria, has been living in the United States without authorization under numerous aliases since at least the 1990s when he was first investigated, charged, and convicted in another federal district under the stolen identity of a U.S. citizen. 

    The following defendants are charged as follows in the superseding indictment: 

    • Adekoya is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and nine counts of aggravated identity theft;
    • Kani Bassie, age 36, of Brooklyn, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft;
    • Davon Hunter, age 27, of Richmond, Virginia, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft;
    • Jermon Brooks, age 20, of Richmond, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft;
    • Christian Quivers, age 20, of Richmond, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft; and
    • Crystal Kurschner, age 44, of Brooklyn, is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

    As to these defendants, the charges in the superseding indictment are merely accusations. These remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

    The prosecution is the result of an ongoing investigation led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI-Albany, which began after the May 2022 arrest of Daniyan, Gaysha Kennedy, age 46, of Brooklyn, and Victor Barriera, age 64, of the Bronx, New York, by the Cohoes Police Department after the trio traveled to the Capital Region to commit bank fraud. 

    Adekoya, Daniyan, Kennedy, and Barriera were originally indicted, along with coconspirators Jerjuan Joyner, age 50, of Brooklyn, Akeem Balogun, age 56, of Brooklyn, Danielle Cappetti, age 46, of the Bronx, and Lesley Lucchese, age 53, of Brooklyn, in connection with the conspiracy in an indictment returned in December 2023. 

    Sherry Ozmore, Kennedy, Barriera, Joyner, Balogun, Cappetti, and Lucchese have pled guilty to bank fraud conspiracy.

    At sentencing on July 10, 2025, Daniyan faces a maximum term of 30 years in prison for the bank fraud conspiracy, 20 years in prison for the money laundering conspiracy, and a mandatory consecutive term of 2 years in prison for his conviction of aggravated identity theft; as well as an order of restitution of at least $1,776,705.43 and a term of supervised release of up to 5 years.  Daniyan also agreed to forfeit nearly $100,000 in proceeds of the bank fraud conspiracy seized by federal authorities. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statutes the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

    Following his term of imprisonment, Daniyan will be placed into immigration removal proceedings.

    FBI Albany is investigating the case, with assistance from the FBI Field Offices in New York, Newark, Richmond and Resident Agencies in Westchester, New York; Brooklyn/Queens, New York; Garrett Mountain, New Jersey; and Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  Additional assistance was provided by other law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement & Removal Operations (New York Field Office & Albany sub-office); U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (Buffalo Field Office & St. Albans Resident Office); U.S. Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General; New York law enforcement agencies including the New York State Police; Cohoes PD; Colonie PD; Elmira PD; Corning PD; Plattsburgh PD; Florida law enforcement agencies including the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office; the Pennsylvania State Police; Alabama law enforcement agencies including the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, Gasden PD, and Rainbow City PD; Georgia law enforcement agencies including the Georgia State Patrol, Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, and Morrow PD; Kansas law enforcement agencies including Lawrence PD and Overland Park PD; New Hampshire law enforcement agencies including Rochester PD, Manchester PD, and Amherst PD; the Delaware State Police; Maryland law enforcement agencies including the Maryland State Police, Harford County Sheriff’s Office and Baltimore County Sheriff’s Office; Wisconsin law enforcement agencies including Onalaska PD and Eau Claire PD; and Indiana law enforcement agencies including the Allen County Sheriff’s Office.

    Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin S. Clark and Joshua R. Rosenthal are prosecuting this case.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Money Market Operations as on March 05, 2025

    Source: Reserve Bank of India
    (Amount in ₹ crore, Rate in Per cent)
      Volume
    (One Leg)    		 Weighted
    Average Rate    		 Range
    A. Overnight Segment (I+II+III+IV) 5,33,909.03 5.94 5.00-6.87
         I. Call Money 13,251.02 6.23 5.25-6.40
         II. Triparty Repo 3,43,188.10 5.90 5.65-6.87
         III. Market Repo 1,75,708.01 6.00 5.00-6.25
         IV. Repo in Corporate Bond 1,761.90 6.24 6.15-6.35
    B. Term Segment      
         I. Notice Money** 145.75 6.16 5.95-6.25
         II. Term Money@@ 247.00 – 6.25-7.25
         III. Triparty Repo 1,035.50 6.02 5.90-6.20
         IV. Market Repo 1,055.00 6.60 6.60-6.60
         V. Repo in Corporate Bond 0.00 – –
      Auction Date Tenor (Days) Maturity Date Amount Current Rate /
    Cut off Rate
    C. Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) & Standing Deposit Facility (SDF)
    I. Today’s Operations
    1. Fixed Rate          
    2. Variable Rate&          
      (I) Main Operation          
         (a) Repo          
         (b) Reverse Repo          
      (II) Fine Tuning Operations          
         (a) Repo Wed, 05/03/2025 1 Thu, 06/03/2025 5,089.00 6.26
         (b) Reverse Repo          
      (III) Long Term Operations^          
         (a) Repo          
         (b) Reverse Repo          
    3. MSF# Wed, 05/03/2025 1 Thu, 06/03/2025 189.00 6.50
    4. SDFΔ# Wed, 05/03/2025 1 Thu, 06/03/2025 1,83,358.00 6.00
    5. Net liquidity injected from today’s operations [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*       -1,78,080.00  
    II. Outstanding Operations
    1. Fixed Rate          
    2. Variable Rate&          
      (I) Main Operation          
         (a) Repo Fri, 21/02/2025 14 Fri, 07/03/2025 41,046.00 6.26
         (b) Reverse Repo          
      (II) Fine Tuning Operations          
         (a) Repo          
         (b) Reverse Repo          
      (III) Long Term Operations^          
         (a) Repo Fri, 21/02/2025 45 Mon, 07/04/2025 57,951.00 6.26
      Fri, 14/02/2025 49 Fri, 04/04/2025 75,003.00 6.28
      Fri, 07/02/2025 56 Fri, 04/04/2025 50,010.00 6.31
         (b) Reverse Repo          
    3. MSF#          
    4. SDFΔ#          
    D. Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) Availed from RBI$       8,546.88  
    E. Net liquidity injected from outstanding operations [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*     2,32,556.88  
    F. Net liquidity injected (outstanding including today’s operations) [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*     54,476.88  
    G. Cash Reserves Position of Scheduled Commercial Banks
         (i) Cash balances with RBI as on March 05, 2025 9,04,929.46  
         (ii) Average daily cash reserve requirement for the fortnight ending March 07, 2025 9,22,740.00  
    H. Government of India Surplus Cash Balance Reckoned for Auction as on¥ March 05, 2025 5,089.00  
    I. Net durable liquidity [surplus (+)/deficit (-)] as on February 07, 2025 -1,973.00  
    @ Based on Reserve Bank of India (RBI) / Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL).
    – Not Applicable / No Transaction.
    ** Relates to uncollateralized transactions of 2 to 14 days tenor.
    @@ Relates to uncollateralized transactions of 15 days to one year tenor.
    $ Includes refinance facilities extended by RBI.
    & As per the Press Release No. 2019-2020/1900 dated February 06, 2020.
    Δ As per the Press Release No. 2022-2023/41 dated April 08, 2022.
    * Net liquidity is calculated as Repo+MSF+SLF-Reverse Repo-SDF.
    ¥ As per the Press Release No. 2014-2015/1971 dated March 19, 2015.
    # As per the Press Release No. 2023-2024/1548 dated December 27, 2023.
    ^ As per the Press Release No. 2024-2025/2013 dated January 27, 2025, Press Release No. 2024-2025/2138 dated February 12, 2025, and Press Release No. 2024-2025/2209 dated February 20, 2025.
    Ajit Prasad          
    Deputy General Manager
    (Communications)    
    Press Release: 2024-2025/2307

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Security: USINDOPACOM commander addresses Comprehensive Security Cooperation 25-1 Course participants

    Source: United States INDO PACIFIC COMMAND

    Following an overview of USINDOPACOM strategy, Paparo answered questions from the CSC participants regarding regional security, highlighting allies and partners. 

    CSC is a five-week course attended by more than 80 mid-level military, government and non-government professionals from 33 nations in the Indo-Pacific to enhance security collaboration and strategic dialogue. After providing an overview, participants seek to develop resilient solutions to real organizational and regional security issues.

    DKI APCSS is a DoD institute that addresses regional and global security issues, inviting military and civilian representatives of the U.S. and Asia-Pacific nations to its comprehensive program of executive education and workshops, both in Hawaii and throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

    USINDOPACOM is committed to enhancing stability in the Indo-Pacific region by promoting security cooperation, encouraging peaceful development, responding to contingencies, deterring aggression and, when necessary, prevailing in conflict.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: The IMF at Eighty

    Source: International Monetary Fund

    Keynote Speech by Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke
    at a Symposium on the Future of International Cooperation on the 80th Anniversary of the End of World War II
    Tokyo, Japan, March 6, 2025 

    March 5, 2025

    (As Prepared for Delivery)

    A very good morning to you all. Kudo-san: thank you so much for those kind words. It is a great pleasure to be here in Japan.

    Dear colleagues, let me begin by relaying Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s regret for not being able to be with us today. She was very much looking forward to her trip to Tokyo, and has asked me to share with you her best wishes.

    I would like to start with a deep note of appreciation for our host country: a pillar of regional and global stability, a tireless advocate of trade, a technology leader and innovator, and a nation proudly on the move. For the IMF, Japan is a true partner, always generous in its support for our work. To the people of Japan the IMF says: arigatō goza‑i‑mas—thank you.

    As this conference reflects on the state of the world 80 years after the end of World War Two, let me also salute the post-war rebirth of Japan. Who in 1945 could have imagined the economic miracle that would come—and the transformation of former foes into friends and allies? Living proof that prosperity and friendship can triumph.

    So much of the global progress of the post-war decades was the result of a grand experiment in economic cooperation whose roots traced back to a conference of forty nations at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in July 1944. The core idea at Bretton Woods was both bold and simple: a system where interests would be secured not only by geopolitical heft, but by mutually beneficial cooperation. This is the core principle behind the creation of the IMF. It is the principle we still serve today.

    After the war, reconstruction progressed rapidly, giving rise to new structures, new jobs, new trade, and new members. In 1952, Japan and West Germany were welcomed into the IMF’s family of nations.

    The Fund played its designated part not so much by financing global reconstruction and development—that was the World Bank’s job—but by supporting financial stability. A system of regular peer review of national economic prospects and policies was transformed from the black ink of Article IV of our founding Treaty to a familiar and appreciated reality.

    And thus were established the three core functions of the IMF:

    • First, our macroeconomic surveillance, which would bring in many newly independent nations starting in the late 1950s, followed by the Russian Federation and all the nations of the former Soviet bloc in the 1990s, such that today it spans almost all countries—a global perspective unique to the Fund.
    • Second, our support for macroeconomic programs to restore economic and financial stability to countries rich and poor alike when in distress, combining agreed policy actions to remedy underlying economic weaknesses with IMF lending and reserve creation—the latter again being a unique capacity bestowed upon the Fund.
    • And third, our support for capacity development, most generously financed from the start by Japan, alongside others.

    Through the many post-war episodes of mistrust and confrontation, the IMF has always remained a place where governance works; where information and knowledge are freely exchanged; where policy lessons from one country are shared for the benefit of many others; where efficiency meets effectiveness; and where members at odds with each other sit at one table and discuss matters calmly. This is the tangible, everyday reality of the Fund.

    Over the years we have, of course, had both successes and failures, but I would argue that the former outnumber the latter. I think for instance of our programs with the UK in 1977, India in 1991, or Brazil in 2002, and indeed of the examples being set today by the former program countries of East Asia and the euro area. Successes, yet each difficult in its own way when crisis raged.

    As finance minister of Jamaica during difficult times, I had the opportunity to see the Fund in action from the other side of the table. It was obvious to me then—as it is now—that the IMF teams had the knowledge, the experience, and the systems. They knew what they were doing.

    At the Fund, one foundational reality is well understood: countries are not companies, and in hard times the hardships of the people must always be addressed. It is the IMF that provides the closest thing sovereign states have to a framework to secure a fresh start. It is a unique and vital function for the world.

    And rarely does the IMF see a quiet moment. Today, as we confront a world of low growth, high prices, and high debt, we are warning countries that there is no room for complacency on inflation; advising them on how best to rebuild their macroeconomic buffers for the new shocks that will inevitably come; and getting more granular in our engagement on policies to lift productivity and create better jobs.

    Colleagues, we are at a new time of great flux for the world economy, with many countries reassessing their approaches, including in the face of structural transformations related to technology, demographics, and energy. Across the globe, voters have voiced anger at high prices and, in some cases, mistrust for an internationalist system they perceive as elitist and exclusionary. A chasm has opened between aspiration and reality—and that, in part, is fueling a challenge to the old system, with all the attendant uncertainty.

    So let me conclude by sharing a few forward-looking thoughts on how, as the world navigates these choppy waters, the Fund can help steady the ship.

    Four points:

    • First, in a tightly interconnected world, stability matters to everybody. Our mandate to promote international monetary cooperation sits at the heart of what we do, and has never mattered more than now, after 80 years of ever-closer integration. Like a fireman who douses a fire in one house and thus saves the neighborhood, when the IMF helps stabilize one country, it helps all others—we know how easily something small can become something big. The Fund is a seasoned repository of knowledge on how to do this, and so we shall remain. Whether it be crisis prevention through surveillance, crisis management through policy advice and lending, or resilience through capacity development, stability will remain our core mission. This means helping countries to design well phased and well communicated plans for budget consolidation; to maintain effective monetary policies to contain inflation; to safeguard external stability; to ensure financial systems are robust; and much more. This is our bread and butter.
    • Second, growth requires stability and stability requires growth. Ultimately, the way to ensure that economies can create jobs for their people and shoulder debt is through robust trend growth. And here I mean growth built on productivity gains and efficient resource allocation, not temporary stimulus. At the IMF, helped by our new Advisory Council on Entrepreneurship and Growth, we intend to identify positive lessons wheresoever they may be, and share them across our membership—while also helping countries harness technological advancement, notably in AI. Smaller government footprints will help in some cases, as will smarter tax regimes, more efficient public spending and better infrastructure, stronger bankruptcy frameworks, simpler and better regulations, more flexible labor markets with strong social safety nets, and deeper, more liquid capital markets, including venture capital. It is a broad and ambitious agenda.
    • Third, stability requires global macroeconomic balance. The IMF’s purposes include not only facilitating the expansion of international trade to contribute to the promotion and maintenance of high levels of employment and real income, but helping ensure that trade growth is balanced. Yet we live in an imbalanced world, with excessive external surpluses for some countries and excessive deficits for others, potentially sowing the seeds of future instability. At the Fund we understand that external imbalances reflect domestic imbalances, with some countries consuming or investing too much and others too little: a challenge calling out for the concerted deployment of the full macroeconomic policy toolkit. These are deep-seated problems, reflecting policy-induced distortions, exchange rates, institutional depth, reserve currencies, demographics, wealth and income levels, technology, culture, history, and more. We will continue to work with our members to lessen the degree of disequilibrium in their international balances of payments.
    • Fourth and last, as the global system reconfigures, agility will be key. Already in recent years, as geoeconomic fragmentation set in, many countries coalesced into groupings of common interest. Now, the trend continues, with an increasing emphasis on regional trade and regional financing arrangements. In a variable-geometry world, the IMF will respond as needed, flexibly, including to serve regional needs and explore ways to strengthen the global financial safety net for the good of all. For 80 years, from the gold standard to flexible exchange rates, from engaging with advanced economies to rescuing emerging markets to supporting low-income countries, the Fund has responded to changing circumstances and evolved with the times. We will preserve this tradition.

    In these four points I am offering a vision of an IMF that will remain faithful to, and be guided by, its core purposes as laid out in our 191‑nation Articles of Agreement—yet will be nimble, responding to the changing environment as necessary so that we can continue to serve our membership to good effect. So without further ado, let me leave you to reflect, perhaps, on my four themes—stability, growth, balance, and agility—and how they can fit together to shape a Fund for our changing times.

    I look forward to hearing your discussions today—and will be particularly interested in hearing your thoughts on Japan’s role in this new world as a champion of regional and global economic cooperation.

    Thank you

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER:

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The IMF at Eighty

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    Keynote Speech by Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke
    at a Symposium on the Future of International Cooperation on the 80th Anniversary of the End of World War II
    Tokyo, Japan, March 6, 2025 

    March 5, 2025

    (As Prepared for Delivery)

    A very good morning to you all. Kudo-san: thank you so much for those kind words. It is a great pleasure to be here in Japan.

    Dear colleagues, let me begin by relaying Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s regret for not being able to be with us today. She was very much looking forward to her trip to Tokyo, and has asked me to share with you her best wishes.

    I would like to start with a deep note of appreciation for our host country: a pillar of regional and global stability, a tireless advocate of trade, a technology leader and innovator, and a nation proudly on the move. For the IMF, Japan is a true partner, always generous in its support for our work. To the people of Japan the IMF says: arigatō goza‑i‑mas—thank you.

    As this conference reflects on the state of the world 80 years after the end of World War Two, let me also salute the post-war rebirth of Japan. Who in 1945 could have imagined the economic miracle that would come—and the transformation of former foes into friends and allies? Living proof that prosperity and friendship can triumph.

    So much of the global progress of the post-war decades was the result of a grand experiment in economic cooperation whose roots traced back to a conference of forty nations at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in July 1944. The core idea at Bretton Woods was both bold and simple: a system where interests would be secured not only by geopolitical heft, but by mutually beneficial cooperation. This is the core principle behind the creation of the IMF. It is the principle we still serve today.

    After the war, reconstruction progressed rapidly, giving rise to new structures, new jobs, new trade, and new members. In 1952, Japan and West Germany were welcomed into the IMF’s family of nations.

    The Fund played its designated part not so much by financing global reconstruction and development—that was the World Bank’s job—but by supporting financial stability. A system of regular peer review of national economic prospects and policies was transformed from the black ink of Article IV of our founding Treaty to a familiar and appreciated reality.

    And thus were established the three core functions of the IMF:

    • First, our macroeconomic surveillance, which would bring in many newly independent nations starting in the late 1950s, followed by the Russian Federation and all the nations of the former Soviet bloc in the 1990s, such that today it spans almost all countries—a global perspective unique to the Fund.
    • Second, our support for macroeconomic programs to restore economic and financial stability to countries rich and poor alike when in distress, combining agreed policy actions to remedy underlying economic weaknesses with IMF lending and reserve creation—the latter again being a unique capacity bestowed upon the Fund.
    • And third, our support for capacity development, most generously financed from the start by Japan, alongside others.

    Through the many post-war episodes of mistrust and confrontation, the IMF has always remained a place where governance works; where information and knowledge are freely exchanged; where policy lessons from one country are shared for the benefit of many others; where efficiency meets effectiveness; and where members at odds with each other sit at one table and discuss matters calmly. This is the tangible, everyday reality of the Fund.

    Over the years we have, of course, had both successes and failures, but I would argue that the former outnumber the latter. I think for instance of our programs with the UK in 1977, India in 1991, or Brazil in 2002, and indeed of the examples being set today by the former program countries of East Asia and the euro area. Successes, yet each difficult in its own way when crisis raged.

    As finance minister of Jamaica during difficult times, I had the opportunity to see the Fund in action from the other side of the table. It was obvious to me then—as it is now—that the IMF teams had the knowledge, the experience, and the systems. They knew what they were doing.

    At the Fund, one foundational reality is well understood: countries are not companies, and in hard times the hardships of the people must always be addressed. It is the IMF that provides the closest thing sovereign states have to a framework to secure a fresh start. It is a unique and vital function for the world.

    And rarely does the IMF see a quiet moment. Today, as we confront a world of low growth, high prices, and high debt, we are warning countries that there is no room for complacency on inflation; advising them on how best to rebuild their macroeconomic buffers for the new shocks that will inevitably come; and getting more granular in our engagement on policies to lift productivity and create better jobs.

    Colleagues, we are at a new time of great flux for the world economy, with many countries reassessing their approaches, including in the face of structural transformations related to technology, demographics, and energy. Across the globe, voters have voiced anger at high prices and, in some cases, mistrust for an internationalist system they perceive as elitist and exclusionary. A chasm has opened between aspiration and reality—and that, in part, is fueling a challenge to the old system, with all the attendant uncertainty.

    So let me conclude by sharing a few forward-looking thoughts on how, as the world navigates these choppy waters, the Fund can help steady the ship.

    Four points:

    • First, in a tightly interconnected world, stability matters to everybody. Our mandate to promote international monetary cooperation sits at the heart of what we do, and has never mattered more than now, after 80 years of ever-closer integration. Like a fireman who douses a fire in one house and thus saves the neighborhood, when the IMF helps stabilize one country, it helps all others—we know how easily something small can become something big. The Fund is a seasoned repository of knowledge on how to do this, and so we shall remain. Whether it be crisis prevention through surveillance, crisis management through policy advice and lending, or resilience through capacity development, stability will remain our core mission. This means helping countries to design well phased and well communicated plans for budget consolidation; to maintain effective monetary policies to contain inflation; to safeguard external stability; to ensure financial systems are robust; and much more. This is our bread and butter.
    • Second, growth requires stability and stability requires growth. Ultimately, the way to ensure that economies can create jobs for their people and shoulder debt is through robust trend growth. And here I mean growth built on productivity gains and efficient resource allocation, not temporary stimulus. At the IMF, helped by our new Advisory Council on Entrepreneurship and Growth, we intend to identify positive lessons wheresoever they may be, and share them across our membership—while also helping countries harness technological advancement, notably in AI. Smaller government footprints will help in some cases, as will smarter tax regimes, more efficient public spending and better infrastructure, stronger bankruptcy frameworks, simpler and better regulations, more flexible labor markets with strong social safety nets, and deeper, more liquid capital markets, including venture capital. It is a broad and ambitious agenda.
    • Third, stability requires global macroeconomic balance. The IMF’s purposes include not only facilitating the expansion of international trade to contribute to the promotion and maintenance of high levels of employment and real income, but helping ensure that trade growth is balanced. Yet we live in an imbalanced world, with excessive external surpluses for some countries and excessive deficits for others, potentially sowing the seeds of future instability. At the Fund we understand that external imbalances reflect domestic imbalances, with some countries consuming or investing too much and others too little: a challenge calling out for the concerted deployment of the full macroeconomic policy toolkit. These are deep-seated problems, reflecting policy-induced distortions, exchange rates, institutional depth, reserve currencies, demographics, wealth and income levels, technology, culture, history, and more. We will continue to work with our members to lessen the degree of disequilibrium in their international balances of payments.
    • Fourth and last, as the global system reconfigures, agility will be key. Already in recent years, as geoeconomic fragmentation set in, many countries coalesced into groupings of common interest. Now, the trend continues, with an increasing emphasis on regional trade and regional financing arrangements. In a variable-geometry world, the IMF will respond as needed, flexibly, including to serve regional needs and explore ways to strengthen the global financial safety net for the good of all. For 80 years, from the gold standard to flexible exchange rates, from engaging with advanced economies to rescuing emerging markets to supporting low-income countries, the Fund has responded to changing circumstances and evolved with the times. We will preserve this tradition.

    In these four points I am offering a vision of an IMF that will remain faithful to, and be guided by, its core purposes as laid out in our 191‑nation Articles of Agreement—yet will be nimble, responding to the changing environment as necessary so that we can continue to serve our membership to good effect. So without further ado, let me leave you to reflect, perhaps, on my four themes—stability, growth, balance, and agility—and how they can fit together to shape a Fund for our changing times.

    I look forward to hearing your discussions today—and will be particularly interested in hearing your thoughts on Japan’s role in this new world as a champion of regional and global economic cooperation.

    Thank you

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER:

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/03/05/sp030625-dmd-imfat80

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Ritual bronzes from ancient China on display in New York City

    Source: China State Council Information Office 3

    Photo taken on March 5, 2025 shows ancient Chinese bronze vessels on display during a press preview of an exhibition titled Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, at China Institute Gallery in New York, the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

    Over 70 Chinese ritual bronzes from 12th century BC in the Shang dynasty to 1st-2nd century AD in the Han dynasty will be on display at China Institute Gallery in Lower Manhattan, New York City, according to China Institute in America.

    Organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the exhibition will run from March 6 to July 13, 2025.

    The idea to hold such an exhibition was raised five or six years ago but the COVID-19 pandemic impeded the original plan, according to Tracy Jiao, coordinator with China Institute Gallery.

    “We’re really grateful that this is taking place and we’re excited to show you all the things from Minneapolis,” said Jiao at a press preview on Wednesday.

    From vessels for food and wine as well as imaginative animal sculptures, the objects are selected from around 220 pieces of such a collection by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, according to Liu Yang, chair of Asian Art and curator of Chinese Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

    Objects on the exhibition are complimentary with Chinese bronzes collected by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and “I hope visitors could get to know Chinese bronze culture, which is a very important chapter in Chinese history or Chinese art history,” said Liu.

    The exhibition provides viewers with a unique window into the extraordinary artistic creativity, masterful craftsmanship, and captivating belief systems of ancient China, Liu said.

    “Together, these creative artworks provide extraordinary clues about early humans in China including how they honored their ancestors, worshipped their deities, and prepared for the afterlife,” said George S. Geh, chief executive officer of China Institute in America.

    Founded in New York City in 1926, China Institute in America is an internationally renowned U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to deepening the world’s understanding of China through programs in art, business, cuisine, culture, and education. 

    1   2   3   4   5   6   >  

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Trump Touts Alaska LNG as a Top Priority of New Administration

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Alaska Dan Sullivan
    03.05.25
    WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) today celebrated President Donald Trump’s endorsement of the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project as a top priority of his new administration in the President’s joint address to Congress last night.
    Sen. Sullivan has been a relentless advocate for the Alaska LNG Project as an opportunity to provide abundant, clean-burning, low-cost energy to Alaskans, promote American energy security, and deepen America’s alliances with its Indo-Pacific partners, particularly Japan and South Korea. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sen. Sullivan has taken four trips to Japan and South Korea to promote the project, talking to numerous potential investors and the senior-most government and private sector officials in each country. More recently, he has spoken directly with President Trump on several occasions about the project and gave him the comprehensive document called, “America’s Gasline.” The senator has also had extensive conversations with nearly all of President Trump’s cabinet officials about the Alaska LNG Project, garnering their support.
    “My administration is also working on a gigantic natural gas pipeline in Alaska, among the largest in the world, where Japan, South Korea and other nations want to be our partner with investments of trillions of dollars each,” President Trump said. “There’s never been anything like that one. It will be truly spectacular. It’s all set to go. The permitting is gotten.”
    [embedded content]
    “The fact that the President of the United States was highlighting the Alaska LNG Project as one of the biggest things he wants to get done for America was huge for our state and huge for our country,” Sullivan said in an interview following the address. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but the fact that we have the President and his entire cabinet fully putting their shoulder into this was quite remarkable…Governor Dunleavy and I pitched the Trump administration on having the President mention this in his State of the Union…I hope a lot of Alaskans saw that we have been working this really hard, because we have a great opportunity—the private sector elements of this are coming together, the foreign government elements of this giant project are coming together. But when you get the President and his entire cabinet saying, we’re going to get this done, and he tells the American people that, I don’t think that’s ever happened before for Alaska…It was a big night for us, and I’m really excited.”
    The Alaska LNG Project will be capable of providing more than three billion cubic feet of low-cost, low-emission natural gas to Alaskans, Americans, and to allied nations around the world each day. It is also projected to create up to 10,000 construction and 1,000 operations jobs.
    Below is a timeline of Sen. Sullivan’s recent work on advancing the Alaska LNG Project and deepening the energy security ties between the U.S. and America’s Japanese and Korean allies.
    On February 24, 2025, Sen. Sullivan had an Alaska LNG focused meeting with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum at the Department of the Interior.
    On February 7, 2025, President Trump announced a “joint venture” on Alaska oil and gas between the United States and Japan.
    On January 8, 2025, Sen. Sullivan personally pitched President Trump on the Alaska LNG Project.
    On December 17, 2024, Sen. Sullivan focused on the Alaska LNG Project in his meeting with now-Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.
    In August of 2024, Sen. Sullivan participated in a bipartisan Senate delegation visit to Japan and South Korea, and discussed the Alaska LNG Project with numerous senior government and business leaders in both countries.
    In February 2024, Sen. Sullivan and seven of his Senate colleagues introduced a Senate resolution recognizing the importance of trilateral cooperation among the United States, Japan, and South Korea.
    On October 8, 2023, Sen. Sullivan penned an op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News urging Alaskans to unite in advancing the Alaska LNG Project as a critical solution to Alaska’s energy needs.
    In June 2023, Sen. Sullivan visited South Korea and Japan, where he met with senior government and private sector officials about the Alaska LNG Project. Similar to his October 2022 visit to Tokyo, Sen. Sullivan convened an Alaska LNG Summit of U.S. and Korean energy and policy leaders with the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. Following the visit, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul established an Alaska LNG Task Force.
    On May 18, 2023, Sen. Sullivan introduced the Indo-Pacific Strategic Energy Initiative Act, legislation to promote the financing and development of new energy infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific region—with a focus on natural gas—in order to end U.S. allies’ dependance on Russian natural gas in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
    In May 2023, Sen. Sullivan spoke at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference about the Alaska LNG Project and opportunities to deliver clean-burning, low-cost gas to Alaskans and to America’s Indo-Pacific allies.
    In May 2023, Sen. Sullivan, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) welcomed a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of the Alaska LNG Project.
    On March 6, 2023, Sen. Sullivan led a letter with his Senate colleagues to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel urging the Biden administration to publicly support the export of abundant U.S. natural gas to America’s allies in Europe and Asia, particularly Japan, which has prioritized energy security in its term leading the G7.
    On December 16, 2022, Sen. Sullivan welcomed a new national security strategy and related documents released by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that focuses on deepening Japan and the U.S.’s national security cooperation.
    In October 2022, Sen. Sullivan visited Japan and South Korea to advocate for the Alaska LNG Project. In Tokyo, Sen. Sullivan and Ambassador Emanuel convened an Alaska LNG Summit of U.S. and Japanese energy and policy leaders. Prior to the summit, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo established an Alaska LNG Task Force.
    In June 2022, Sen. Sullivan and Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-Alaska) visited Japan to meet with Japanese companies, utilities, and government ministries about the Alaska LNG Project.
    In August 2021, Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan secured a provision in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act making the Alaska LNG Project eligible for a federal loan guarantee of roughly $30 billion that is indexed to inflation.
    In August 2020, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued a final, unconditional order authorizing the Alaska LNG Project to export LNG.
    In May 2020, FERC granted the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) authorization to construct and operate the Alaska LNG Project.
    Between 2014 and 2022, the Alaska LNG Project secured all of its necessary federal permits and authorizations.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: 3rd MLG Conducts Instream Offload with USN, ROKMC During Freedom Banner 25

    Source: United States INDO PACIFIC COMMAND

    The instream offload is part of the overarching Maritime Prepositioning Force strategy, which sees these supplies transported by ship and offloaded and distributed to III Marine Expeditionary Forces in-country prior to the Korean Marine Exchange Program. The instream variation of an MPF offload is designed to be conducted without routine logistical support systems.

    “This operation simulates an offload of equipment from a United States Naval Ship vessel directly to the shore and providing that equipment quickly to the (Marine Air-Ground Task Force) commander on the ground in locations where docking pierside for offload is untenable,” said 1st Lt. Rafael Almodovar Sanabria, assistant current operations officer with 3rd MLG. “This sealift capability allows equipment to flow in a non-permissive environment, where the ship anchors in a safe haven to provide that gear to shore in a rapid manner without use of a pier to dock at.”

    Off the coast of Dogu Beach outside ROKMC Base Pohang sat the USNS Dahl (T-AKR 312), one of four MPF ships as part of the USN’s Military Sealift Command, designed to sustain a MAGTF for up to 30 days. The USNS Dahl transferred the vehicles and equipment by crane onto an Improved Navy Lighterage System, a mobile platform used as the transportation asset between ship and shore. The INLS sails as close to the beach as possible before the equipment is taken off and staged for follow-on actions.

    However, the beach must be prepared beforehand, or as much as the conditions of operations can allow. ROK Marines with the ROKMC MLG laid expeditious roadway mats from the nearest road down to the edge of the surf, providing a cleared path for the equipment to exfiltrate the beach as quickly as possible.

    In addition to the instream offload refining the MLG’s ability to transport equipment in a contested environment, nearly 900 additional Marines and Sailors and additional vehicles and equipment was concurrently offloaded at Pohang Port via a High-Speed Transport vessel. The dual operations, both in support of upcoming III MEF bilateral training evolutions alongside the ROKMC forces, flexed the MLG’s ability to logistically support such a large force.

    “It’s been a significant exercise for us so far, conducting offload both pierside and instream of one of our MPF vessels, then transporting the equipment to multiple sites throughout the country,” said Brig. Gen. Kevin Collins, commanding general of 3rd MLG. “It’s important to demonstrate we can get our equipment to the peninsula, create a composite combat-credible force, and employ those forces and assets in a field training exercise.”

    The ability to conduct an instream offload is critical to logistical operations during a contingency or disaster relief event. Rather than being forced to rely on preexisting infrastructure to support the movement of warfighting or lifesaving equipment and supplies, the capability to execute sealift operations provides the ability to offload at virtually any feasible coastal location, rallying ashore, and moving inland where required. Coupled with the HST offload, MLG logisticians facilitated the doubling of III MEF forces and equipment in South Korea in a single day.

    “Most MEF level deployments require you to marshal hundreds of troops and cargo at some point, but never have I ever expected to marshal and stage almost 1,000 personnel plus cargo in a single rotation,” said Cpl. Matthew Mulherin, Jr., embarkation chief with G3, 3rd MLG. “We have reached a milestone with these offloads, raising the bar for future iterations of the exercise.”

    Freedom Banner is the validation and improvement of the MLG’s expeditious sealift capability and integrated logistics operations. This training strengthens the MLG’s ability to embark, offload and distribute gear and equipment across a contested environment in support of combat or humanitarian events alongside the command and support structure of the ROKMC MLG.

    “This is not just a relationship of warriors, but one of friends,” said Collins. “The ROK Marine Corps and U.S. Marine Corps are very close, but our MLGs are even closer.”

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: National Guard Space Operators Train with Allies at Cobra Gold

    Source: United States INDO PACIFIC COMMAND

    The Guard units are here to train alongside partner nations, showcasing the crucial role of space in modern military operations and highlighting the DoD’s commitment to peace through strength.

    “The whole point of this is to show them what the Space Force can do for commanders,” said Lt. Gabrielle Zamojski, 216 EWS, space operator. “When we come out to exercises and show them different space systems, they can see what the electromagnetic warfare spectrum is and what the space link can look like.”

    The Guard units brought two systems to Cobra Gold: Honey Badger and Kraken. These systems passively observe and characterize signals in the space domain.
    “This is the first time my unit has supported this exercise and we’re slowly getting more Space Force integrated into it this and other exercises as well,” said Zamojski. “We’re a new branch, and we’re plugging into more exercises to highlight our strategic value to our allies and partners.”

    This training enhances interoperability with ally and partner nations and demonstrates the Space Force’s dedication to working as part of the Joint force.

    The countries involved in the space joint multinational component command for the exercise are the U.S., Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, and Japan.

    “I am learning a lot about the space environment out here and this exercise is a great learning opportunity for space operators to go out and integrate with different nations while working on different types of missions from what we normally do at our home units,” said Senior Airman Michael Caravalho, 150 EWS, space operator. “Once they see what we can do, I can explain in detail the type of work I am doing and how the systems work together to accomplish the overall mission.”

    Joint Exercise Cobra Gold demonstrates the U.S. commitment to the region by building interoperability, multilateral cooperative arrangements, advancing common interests, and a commitment to our allies and partners in ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

    The U.S. DoD’s participation in Cobra Gold showcases the critical role of Joint Force space professionals in supporting global security objectives, demonstrating the value of their unique skills and experience in the space domain.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group Arrives in Busan, Republic of Korea

    Source: United States INDO PACIFIC COMMAND

    The visit to Busan exemplifies the U.S. commitment to the region, further enhancing relationships with ROK leaders and the local population.

    “An aircraft carrier port visit demonstrates our commitment to the alliance between the U.S. and the Republic of Korea,” said Rear Adm. Michael Wosje, commander, CSG-1. “Our alliance remains the linchpin of peace and security in Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula, and we are dedicated to working with our ROK Navy counterparts to ensure stability in the region.”

    For 250 years, the U.S. Navy has forged enduring alliances that are essential to its maritime warfighting capabilities. These partnerships have allowed us to project power, protect sea lanes, and safeguard global security.

    Additionally, the visit provides the opportunity for strike group Sailors and civilians to rest and recharge while being able to experience the city of Busan. During the port visit, Vinson is scheduled to host ship tours for several U.S. and ROK leaders, conduct multiple key leader engagements ashore, and participate in community relations and sporting events.

    “We are excited to pay another visit to the Republic of Korea, and we are grateful to the people of Busan for such a warm welcome,” said Capt. Matthew Thomas, commanding officer of Vinson. “Our Sailors look forward to participating in professional engagements and community service projects while meeting and engaging with the local community of South Korea.”

    Prior to their Busan port call, CSG-1 participated in Pacific Steller 2025, a multi-large deck event in the Philippine Sea. The exercise provided the strike group the opportunity to work and train alongside allies and partners to include the French Carrier Strike Group and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, fostering the alliance and maritime security in support of a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

    CSG-1 consists of Vinson, embarked staffs of CSG-1 and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) One, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59), and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett (DDG 104) and USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110).

    CVW-2 is composed of nine squadrons flying the F-35C Lightning II, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growler, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, CMV-22 Osprey and MH-60R/S Seahawks.

    The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

    For more news from CSG-1 and Carl Vinson visit: https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/CSG1, https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/CVN70

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Politics with Michelle Grattan: James Curran on Trump, Ukraine, shifting tectonic plates, and a bigger Australian defence bill

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    The Trump presidency is turning much of the world order on its head. Tne United States president is arm-twisting Ukraine, playing nice with Russia, and using protection as an economic and political weapon.

    The Australian government is pessimistic about escaping American tariffs on aluminium and steel when a decision is announced next week. Meanwhile, the message from the US is clear: we need to boost defence spending.

    To discuss Trump Mark 2 on the world stage and what that means for Australia, we’re joined by James Curran, professor of modern history at the University of Sydney.

    Curran says,

    One gets the sense that we are looking at the kind of tectonic plates of world politics shifting before our very eyes.

    Trump is about might is right. He does have an expansionary view of American power in the western hemisphere if we are to judge him by his statements on the Panama Canal and Greenland. But I think more broadly, his interpretation of American power is to simply “get out of America’s way”.

    In terms of economic implications, [it’s] a confirmation that we are looking at the permanence of protectionism in the United States. This administration, along with the Biden administration and the first Trump administration, have been putting a wrecking ball through the multilateral trading system and the WTO. And that is certainly a not a good thing for free trade and for countries like Australia.

    Curran explains what America’s expectation that countries need to spend more on defence would mean for Australia,

    This has been the great concern, if you like, over a number of years – that Australia has got defence on the cheap, that it’s put so much of its national wealth into the middle class and welfare and infrastructure and developing the nation that it’s been able to rely on the American blanket of protection while it pursues its prosperity.

    So if [defence spending] is to rise to 3% [of GDP], then that’s going to mean, firstly, a concentration on what are the lower cost alternatives to defend this continent? And secondly, where will the trade offs come? What will be sacrificed from the national budget? And what political leader in this country will front the Australian people and squarely and honestly and earnestly have a conversation about these dramatic strategic circumstances and why greater sacrifice is required from Australians to enable a higher defence expenditure.

    Is the Trump world the new normal, or will this be over when Trump eventually leaves the White House?

    I’m a little bit sceptical about this idea that we grit our teeth and close our eyes and hope that the nightmare is over in four years time. There is a really big question mark over how America can snap back in terms of its institutional robustness. The pressure that the courts, the media and the Congress are under. Does this all just snap back in four years time? Do we really think that either a Republican or a Democrat successor to Trump will ride into Washington, down Pennsylvania Avenue in a glittering chariot of liberal internationalism? To say everyone shouldn’t worry because the liberal international order is back and it’s gleaming and it’s working.

    I really think this is up to America’s allies, both in Europe and in East Asia, to continue to protect as many of those rules and those institutions that have worked so well for so many of us, as much as they possibly can.

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

    – ref. Politics with Michelle Grattan: James Curran on Trump, Ukraine, shifting tectonic plates, and a bigger Australian defence bill – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-james-curran-on-trump-ukraine-shifting-tectonic-plates-and-a-bigger-australian-defence-bill-251486

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Global: Electric shock equipment widely abused by law enforcement agencies due to alarming lack of regulation – Amnesty International

    Source: Amnesty International

    States and companies are manufacturing, promoting and selling electric shock equipment that is being used for torture and other ill-treatment, said Amnesty International, in a new report calling for a global, legally-binding treaty to regulate the unchecked production of and trade in law enforcement equipment.

    “I Still Can’t Sleep at Night” – The Global Abuse of Electric Shock Equipment, documents how law enforcement agencies are using inherently abusive direct contact electric shock weapons – including stun guns and electric shock batons– on the street, at borders, in migrant and refugee detention centres, mental health institutions, police stations, prisons, and other places of detention.

    These inherently abusive devices, which deliver painful shocks at the press of a button, have been used against protesters, students, political opponents, women and girls (including pregnant women), children and human rights defenders, among others. Survivors have suffered burns, numbness, miscarriage, urinary dysfunction, insomnia, exhaustion and profound psychological trauma.

    The report also looks at the escalating misuse of Projectile Electric Shock Weapons (PESWs), which can have a legitimate role in law enforcement, but are often misused. Cases include the unnecessary and discriminatory use against vulnerable groups resulting in serious injuries and in some cases even death.

    “Direct contact electric shock weapons can cause severe suffering, long-lasting physical disability and psychological distress. Prolonged use can even result in death,” said Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International’s researcher on military, security and policing issues.

    “PESWs are being used against individuals who pose no risk of violence, simply for punishment or compliance with orders. They are also being used in direct contact ‘drive stun’ mode, which should be prohibited. Despite the clear human rights risks associated with their use, there are no global regulations controlling the production of and trade in electric shock equipment. Direct contact electric shock weapons need to be banned immediately and PESWs subject to strict human-rights-based trade controls.”

    The extensive report draws on research carried out by Amnesty International from 2014 to 2024 in over 40 countries across all regions across the world, where cases involving torture and other ill-treatment using electric shock equipment have been documented.

    Vulnerable groups targeted by electric shock weapons

    Testimonies gathered by Amnesty International are harrowing.

    During the 2022 “Woman Life Freedom” uprising in Iran, the military unit IRGC Basij battalion forced several boys to stand with their legs apart in a line alongside adult detainees and administered electric shocks to their genitals with stun guns.

    In another case, several schoolboys were abducted for writing the protest slogan “Woman Life Freedom” on a wall. One of the boys told Amnesty International: “They hit my face with the back of a gun, gave electric shocks to my back, and beat me with batons on the bottom of my feet and hands…”

    PESWs have often been used as de facto direct contact electric shock weapons when deployed in “drive stun” mode.

    Recounting a raid by border guards on the Medininkai detention centre in Lithuania on 2 March 2022, one detainee from Sub-Saharan Africa said: “I was lying on the ground and still they have used tasers on me three times, and at the same time they beat me with the batons.” Another described being threatened by police officers who placed a “taser” on her forehead, telling her “‘Shut up or I will shoot you!’”

    “Even when used as a stand-off weapon, PESWs have been linked to serious injuries and deaths,” said Patrick Wilcken. “These include dart lacerations and penetration of the skull, eye, internal organs, throat, fingers and testis; electrical discharge induced burns, seizures and arrythmias; and a variety of injuries and deaths from falls.”

    Amnesty’s report reveals patterns of PESWs’ discriminatory deployment against racialized and marginalized groups, such as young Black men. In April 2024, police in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, were filmed using a TASER directly on the leg of a Black protester at a Palestine solidarity demonstration while he was pinned to the ground by three police officers and handcuffed.

    “Given the high risks of primary and secondary injuries, the use of PESWs must be set at a high threshold. These weapons should only be used only in situations involving a threat to life or risk of serious injury which cannot be contained by less extreme options,”said Patrick Wilcken.

    The urgent need for prohibitions and trade regulation

    At least 197 companies from all regions manufactured or promoted direct contact electric shock equipment for law enforcement between January 2018 and June 2023 – with most companies based in countries such as China, India and the USA.

    According to US-based Axon Enterprise, Inc., their TASER brand models are currently used by over 18,000 law enforcement agencies in more than 80 countries.

    “There is an urgent need for a legally-binding treaty which would prohibit inherently abusive electric shock equipment and strictly control the trade in PESWs,” said Patrick Wilcken.

    “Companies should implement robust human rights due diligence and mitigation measures to ensure their products and services are not being systematically misused for torture or other ill-treatment. This includes ceasing production of direct contact electric shock devices and removing the ‘drive stun’ function from PESWs.”

    Amnesty International, along with a global civil society network of over 80 organizations worldwide, is campaigning for the negotiation of a Torture-Free Trade Treaty that would introduce global prohibitions and controls on a wide range of law enforcement equipment, including electric shock weapons and equipment.

    Background

    In September 2017, the EU, Argentina and Mongolia launched the Alliance for Torture-Free Trade at the margins of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. The Alliance currently comprises 62 states from all regions of the world pledging to “act together to further prevent, restrict and end trade” in goods used notably for torture or other ill-treatment. In October 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture presented a thematic report on the torture trade at the UNGA which argued for a legally binding instrument to regulate the production of and trade in law enforcement equipment and included lists of goods considered prohibited and controlled.

    This is one of a series of in-depth research reports showing the devastating human rights impact of law enforcement equipment; previous reports include work on tear gas, batons, rubber bullets, and the trade in less lethal weapons used to repress protesters.

    MIL OSI – Submitted News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cortez Masto’s Bills Supporting Tribal Communities Pass Senate Indian Affairs Committee with Bipartisan Support

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto
    Washington, D.C. – Today, three of Senator Cortez Masto’s (D-Nev.) bills supporting Tribal communities passed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs with bipartisan support. The Bridging Agency Data Gaps & Ensuring Safety (BADGES) for Native Communities Act, the Indian Health Service (IHS) Workforce Parity Act, and the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act now all head to the Senate floor. Last Congress, each of these bills passed the Senate unanimously, but did not receive votes in the House of Representatives.
    “Whether it is by advancing public safety, expanding health care access, or ensuring the federal government pays the debts it owes, I will always fight to support Tribal communities,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “I am glad these commonsense bills were voted out of committee with bipartisan support, and I urge my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to swiftly pass them into law.”
    The BADGES for Native Communities Act would support the recruitment and retention of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement officers, bolster federal missing persons resources, and give Tribes and states tools to combat violence.
    The IHS Workforce Parity Act would improve health care in Tribal communities by allowing providers working part-time to access IHS scholarship and loan repayment programs.
    The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act would allow the Tribes to collect over $5 million in interest they are owed for their 2009 water rights settlement, which left out commonplace interest payments.
    Senator Cortez Masto has long been a champion for Tribal communities. She repeatedly called on the Biden administration to do more to address the epidemic of violence against Native women and girls, including securing federal funding to protect Native communities, urging the administration to draft a plan to address this issue, and requesting the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate the federal response to this crisis.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: PREPARED REMARKS: Sanders, Democratic Senators Force Republicans to Confront Hypocrisy on Ukraine and Putin

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders

    WASHINGTON, March 5 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), alongside Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), today asked for unanimous consent on the Senate floor to pass a series of straightforward resolutions condemning Russia’s illegal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The senators offered six resolutions clarifying that the United States stands with the people of Ukraine in defense of their democracy and condemns the dictator Vladimir Putin’s crimes against humanity. Republicans rose in opposition to every one. 

    The senators’ resolutions are statements of fact and principle, backed by evidence and long-standing American foreign policy, including:

    • Clarifying that Russia started the war against Ukraine.
    • Condemning Putin and Russian forces for their widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
    • Condemning Russia’s forcible abduction of at least 20,000 Ukrainian children and calls for their return to their families.
    • Reaffirming the support of the United States for Ukraine’s sovereignty in the face of Russia’s invasion.
    • Restating a simple but fundamental principle of international law and global stability: that you do not take the territory of another country by force.
    • Demanding that Putin immediately withdraw Russian forces from Ukraine, cease his attacks, and end this terrible war.

    Sanders’ remarks on the Senate floor were livestreamed here and are available below. 

    I am here tonight with colleagues who have worked extremely hard to protect the sovereignty of Ukraine and to defend democracy in that country and, in fact, throughout the world. 

    And I thank my colleagues for getting on the floor this evening and for the resolutions that they will be bringing forth. 

    M. President, I am not a historian. But I do know that for the last 250 years, since the inception of our great country, despite our imperfections, the United States has stood in the world as a symbol of democracy. And all over the world people have looked to our country as an example of freedom and self-governance to which the rest of the world could aspire. People have long looked to our Declaration of Independence and Constitution as blueprints for how to establish governments of the people, by the people and for the people. 

    M. President, tragically, all of that is now changing. As President Trump moves this country towards authoritarianism, he is aligning himself with dictators and despots who share his disdain for democracy and the rule of law. 

    Just last week, in a radical departure from long-standing U.S. policy, the Trump administration voted against a United Nations resolution which clearly stated that Russia began the horrific war in Ukraine. 

    That U.N. resolution also called on Russia to withdraw its forces from occupied Ukraine, in line with international law. The resolution was brought forward by our closest allies, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and dozens of other democratic nations. Ninety-three countries at the U.N. voted YES on that resolution. 

    Rather than side with our long-standing allies to preserve democracy and uphold international law, President Trump voted with authoritarian nations like Russia, North Korea, Iran and Belarus to oppose the resolution. Many of the other opponents of that resolution are undemocratic nations propped up by Russian military aid. 

    But it wasn’t just the U.N. vote. Pathetically, President Trump also told an outrageous lie, claiming that it was Ukraine that started the war, not Russia. He also called President Zelensky a dictator, rather than the leader of a democratic nation, as he is. 

    M. President, as we discuss Ukraine tonight, it is terribly important that we not forget who Vladimir Putin is and why he is no friend of the United States, and why we should not be in an alliance with him against Ukraine. 

    Putin is the man who crushed Russia’s movement towards democracy after the end of the Cold War. Putin is a man who steals elections, murders political dissidents and crushes freedom of the press. He has maintained control in Russia by offering the oligarchs there a simple deal: If they grant him absolute power and share the spoils, he would let them steal as much as they wanted from the Russian people. The result: while the vast majority of the Russian population struggles economically, Putin and his fellow oligarchs stash trillions of dollars in offshore tax havens. 

    And so today, 26 years after he took power, Putin is the absolute ruler of Russia. And I think as everyone knows, Russia’s elections are blatantly fraudulent. A sham. 

    And Putin is the man who sparked the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II. 

    More than three years ago, on February 24, 2022, Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations and international law. Russian land, air and naval forces have attacked and occupied territory across Ukraine. 

    Since that terrible day, more than a million people have been killed or injured because of Putin’s war. Putin’s forces have massacred civilians and kidnapped thousands of Ukrainian children, bringing them back to Russian “re-education” camps. These atrocities led the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023 as a war criminal. That’s who we are allying ourselves with. 

    And still, today, Russia continues its attacks, raining down hundreds of missiles and drones on Ukrainian cities. Russian forces illegally occupy about 20 percent of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. 

    M. President, this war could end today if Putin gave up his outrageous effort to conquer a neighboring country. The war could end today. The killing could stop right now, if Putin gave that order. 

    And that, simply, M. President, is what my resolution says to Vladimir Putin: Stop the killing. Obey international law. Withdraw your forces and cease your attacks on Ukraine. And I, honestly, don’t understand how anyone in the United States Senate could object to that simple demand. 

    M. President, now, more than at any time in recent history, it is imperative that the Senate come together in a bipartisan manner to make it clear that we stand for democracy, not authoritarianism; that we stand for international law, not conquest by force; and that we stand with Ukraine and fellow democracies throughout the world, and not with the murderous dictator of Russia. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: NZ Post cost-cutting another blow to Kiwi employment – E tū

    Source: Etu Union

    Workers at NZ Post’s call centre have been told their jobs are being gradually moved to Manila, in the Philippines, as part of NZ Post’s need to cut costs.

    While workers’ jobs are safe for now, they will be replaced by workers in Manila by attrition, with people not being rehired in Aotearoa New Zealand when one leaves.

    NZ Post worker and E tū delegate Samatha Boe says the move is out of line with NZ Post’s values.

    “I find it disappointing a government-owned business is looking to send jobs offshore, thus taking away from everyday New Zealanders trying to earn a living in a difficult economic climate,” Samantha says.

    “The Government should be prioritising having Kiwis in jobs. They might save in some running costs, but they’ll lose out in tax revenue and unemployment benefits.

    “One of NZ Post’s values is ‘stronger together’ – we should be keeping these values here in Aotearoa.”

    E tū Negotiation Specialist Joe Gallagher fears this is just another signal of the Government’s overall goal of preparing NZ Post for privatisation.

    “Our postal network is core infrastructure designed to help our communities and businesses, not just another thing to make a quick buck on,” Joe says.

    “We’re deeply concerned that the Government is allowing NZ Post to make these kinds of changes in preparation to sell off this service to the highest bidder.

    “The state-owned enterprise model has been appropriate for NZ Post, and we have worked very constructively with the company through some significant changes, always putting the interests of workers and the wider community who use the services first.

    “Offshoring work, inadequate government support, and the talks of privatisation all point to an abdication of responsibility for both New Zealand’s workforce and the services we need.”

    ENDS

    For more information and comment:
    Joe Gallagher, 027 591 0015

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Europe Subcommittee Chairman Self Delivers Opening Remarks at Hearing on Turkey

    Source: US House Committee on Foreign Affairs

    Media Contact 202-226-8467

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe Chairman Keith Self delivered opening remarks at subcommittee hearing titled, “Bridging the Gap: Turkey Between East and West.”

    WATCH HERE

    -Remarks-

    I welcome everyone to the first Europe subcommittee hearing. It is an honor to chair this subcommittee that deals with a dynamic and potentially dangerous environment in a crucial region for U.S. national interests. I look forward to our work as a subcommittee.

    Today, our objective is to examine Turkey’s roles in NATO and necessarily the Middle East, even though this is the Europe Subcommittee.  It will be necessary to look at Turkey’s track record in NATO and the Middle East, in order to gain perspective on their role going forward in both regions. As a NATO member, historically Turkey has operated as a member of the NATO alliance, often aligning their foreign policy interests with the goals of NATO, but in the last decade there have been some actions that don’t line up with the NATO goals.  

    Take for example the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the barbaric October 7th attacks on Israel in 2023. While Turkey supports most of the agenda within the NATO alliance, it did operate as NATO’s lone member refusing to condemn the actions of nefarious players in the Middle East. The world is changing quickly and Turkey’s geographic location places it at the epicenter of the most tumultuous regions as conflicts rage in Europe and the Middle East. Turkey has also assumed the position of power broker in the vacuum created by Syria’s regime change but is vexed by their unresolved issues with the Kurds going forward. The world, particularly the United States, is watching closely as Turkey decides rather or not to ease tensions with the Kurds.  America has relied on the Kurds partnership in the region and opposition to their success will be a major sticking point in Turkey’s relationship with the United States. 

    Turkey is also unique in that geographically it straddles both Europe and Asia.  It is a prominent member of the Minerals Security Partnership and could be a strategic partner for the West by operating as an alternative to Beijing. Recently, Turkey laid claim to one of the largest rare-earth element reserves in the world with a rare earth 694-million ton deposit.

    Historically, Turkey was the anchor for NATO’s Southeast corner against the old Soviet Union, but over the past decade Turkey’s commitment to anchoring that region has begun to crack. They have the second largest military in NATO – only behind the United States – which makes Turkey a key asset to the alliance, but their geographic location also makes them vulnerable to bad actors in the region. 

    I look forward to hearing testimony from our three experts today as they share their views on Turkey’s role in both Europe and the Middle East.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Weakening currents in the Atlantic may mean a wetter northern Australia and drier New Zealand

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Himadri Saini, Research Associate at Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney

    Deborah Wallace Tasmanian/Shutterstock

    Europe is warmed by heat from ocean currents, which move water from the warm tropics to the colder North Atlantic. Once the warm, salty water from the tropics reach the polar region, they cool enough to sink to the depths and flow back towards the Southern Ocean.

    This enormous system of currents is known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Climate scientists are increasingly worried about the AMOC, which appears to be slowing down.

    While there’s still debate over whether the AMOC has weakened over the last decades, climate models consistently show the AMOC will significantly weaken over the coming century due to the increase in heat-trapping atmospheric greenhouse gases. As more heat stays in the system, the ocean heats up and ice melts, adding fresh water to polar oceans. The overall effect is to slow these currents. The AMOC could weaken 30% by 2060.

    A weaker AMOC would mean big changes in Europe, which benefits directly from the warmer waters it brings. But it would also change the climate in the Southern Hemisphere. Our new research shows a weakening of the AMOC would lead to a large change in rainfall patterns, leading to wetter summers in northern Australia and a drier New Zealand year-round. Indonesia and northern Papua New Guinea would also become drier.

    Running AMOC?

    In the Earth’s long history, the AMOC has gone through many periods of weakening. These were most common during ice ages, when glaciers expanded, but they also occurred during periods as warm as today.

    To reconstruct past climates, researchers use data from ice cores, marine sediment cores and speleothems (mineral deposits in caves such as flowstone and stalagmites), as well as simulations performed with climate models. These data show a weaker AMOC strongly affected the climate in the Northern Hemisphere. When flows of warmer water faltered, sea ice expanded in the North Atlantic, while Europe endured colder, drier conditions and the northern tropics became drier.

    If the AMOC weakens significantly, it will mean major change for Northern Hemisphere nations. Average temperatures could actually drop 3°C in Western Europe.

    At present, the AMOC’s flows of warmer water give European nations more pleasant climates and keeps ports ice free, while the Canadian side of the North Atlantic has a much more severe climate.

    What does it mean for the Southern Hemisphere?

    Data from ice cores and marine sediment cores also showed Antarctica and the Southern Ocean became warmer during these past AMOC weakening events. Until now, we haven’t understood what an AMOC weakening would mean for rainfall in the Australasian region.

    To find out, we ran climate model simulations with the Australian Earth system model, ACCESS-ESM1.5. Our modelling reveals a complex and regionally varied response, primarily shaped by large-scale atmospheric changes.

    As the AMOC weakens, it sets off a chain reaction in the oceans and atmosphere which alter rainfall and temperatures across Australasia.

    A weaker AMOC would affect ocean temperatures, cooling surface waters in the northern hemisphere and warming waters in the southern hemisphere. This would push the Intertropical Convergence Zone – a belt of heavy rain near the equator – further south.

    This means areas such as northern Papua New Guinea and Indonesia will get less rain, while northern Australia will cop wetter summers.

    Next, a warmer south equatorial Atlantic triggers atmospheric waves – large-scale movements of air that travel across the globe. These waves lower air pressure over northern Australia, pulling in more moisture and making summer rainfall even heavier.

    At the same time, a weaker AMOC disrupts the usual tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean dynamics, altering wind patterns and pressure systems in the Southern Hemisphere. High pressure systems shift southward, affecting storm tracks. The overall effect is fewer storms reaching southern Australia and New Zealand, leading to drier winters.

    Last, as the Atlantic currents peter out, heat builds up in Southern Hemisphere oceans rather than being carried to the poles. This results in hotter summers, particularly in southern Australia and New Zealand.

    Deluges and droughts

    It’s likely we will see these important currents weaken this century, bringing major change to both hemispheres.

    Those in Australia and New Zealand are likely to see a magnification of some existing climate shifts, such as a drier south and wetter north.

    Policymakers and resource managers need to prepare for a future where water becomes an increasingly uncertain resource.

    In the north, more rain over summer could mean a greater reliance on water storage and flood mitigation. In the south, drier conditions may force increased water use efficiency and drought planning.

    In New Zealand, a year-round drying trend could challenge farm productivity and hydropower generation. Long-term water management will be critical.

    What happens in the North Atlantic doesn’t stay there. It ripples through the atmosphere and oceans, with far-reaching consequences.

    Himadri Saini receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    Laurie Menviel receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

    – ref. Weakening currents in the Atlantic may mean a wetter northern Australia and drier New Zealand – https://theconversation.com/weakening-currents-in-the-atlantic-may-mean-a-wetter-northern-australia-and-drier-new-zealand-248679

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Tribal Water Rights Settlements Legislation Passes Unanimously Out of Senate Committee

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico)
    Washington, D.C. – A slate of Tribal water rights settlement bills introduced by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) passed unanimously out of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs today. The legislation next heads to the Senate floor for consideration.
    The full slate of Tribal water rights settlements legislation includes:
    The Rio San José and Rio Jemez Water Rights Settlements Act;
    The Ohkay Owingeh Rio Chama Water Rights Settlement Act;
    The Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act; and
    The Navajo Nation Rio San José Water Rights Settlement Act.
    Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments;
    The Technical Corrections to the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act, Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, and Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act;
    “I’m proud to fight for these bills to finally unlock critical water infrastructure funding from these water rights settlements and ensure Tribes have the resources to use the water they own,” said Heinrich. “These settlements are supported by all parties involved, including Tribal and non-Tribal communities. Congress should pass these urgently needed bills to help communities manage their precious and limited water resources.”
    “Water rights are part of the federal trust responsibility for our Tribal communities,” said Luján, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. “I’m proud to have helped advance this critical legislation, allowing our Tribal communities to promote water security and complete much-needed water infrastructure projects. I’m particularly proud that my legislation to amend the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project has advanced, ensuring the resources and time needed to deliver clean drinking water to communities in northwestern New Mexico. These pieces of legislation will help fulfill our trust responsibility and promote water security for Tribes and Pueblos, as well as non-Tribal users, in New Mexico.”
    “This legislation upholds our trust responsibility to Tribes and helps bring certainty to disputes about water across the Southwest. The settlements included in these bills secure clean, reliable water for Navajo Nation, Jicarilla Apache Nation, 11 pueblos, and the rural communities that are their neighbors across New Mexico,” said Leger Fernández. “It is with great expectation that I reintroduce this legislation which reflects decades of negotiation and collaboration. We must pass these bills so the scarce water resources our communities need to thrive for generations to come are available to all.”
    “In New Mexico, we know water is life,” said Stansbury. “That’s why these Tribal Water Settlement bills are so important. These pieces of legislation will give water rights back to our Tribes and Pueblos, ensuring the federal government upholds our Trust and Treaty Responsibilities. Indigenous people have been stewards of the land and water since time immemorial, and now is the time for them to lead these efforts.”
    “New Mexicans know the importance of safe and reliable water access, and today’s progress brings us one step closer to securing these fundamental resources for our Tribal communities. I’ll continue to honor my commitment to our Tribes and Pueblos to ensure they have the water infrastructure they need to thrive,” said Vasquez.
    The Rio San José and Rio Jemez Water Rights Settlements Act is led by Heinrich and Leger Fernández. Luján, Stansbury, and Vasquez are original cosponsors. The bill would implement two fund-based water settlements: one between the Pueblos of Jemez and Zia, the United States, the State of New Mexico, and non-Tribal parties; and another between the Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna, the United States, the State of New Mexico, and non-Tribal parties. The settlements are strongly supported by all parties involved.
    Heinrich and Leger Fernández previously introduced this legislation in March 2023. The bill received a hearing and was reported out of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in December 2023. The House version of this bill received a legislative hearing in the House Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee in July 2024.
    Read the full bill text here.
    The Ohkay Owingeh Rio Chama Water Rights Settlement Act is also led by Heinrich and Leger Fernández. Luján and Stansbury are original cosponsors. The bill establishes a trust fund to implement the negotiated settlement between the United States, the State of New Mexico, the City of Española, the Asociación de Acéquias Norteñas de Rio Arriba, El Rito Ditch Asociación, La Asociación de las Acéquias del Rio Tusas, Vallecitos y Ojo Caliente, the Rio de Chama Acéquia Association, and Ohkay Owingeh to settle the Pueblo’s water claims in the Rio Chama Basin. The funding will be used for Ohkay Owingeh’s development of water resources to ensure the Pueblo has appropriate water infrastructure to use the water that they have claim to in the basin.
    Heinrich and Leger Fernández initially introduced the bill in June 2024. The bill then received a key hearing before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in July 2024.
    Read the full bill text here.
    The Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act is led by Heinrich and Vasquez. Luján, Stansbury, and Leger Fernández are original cosponsors. The bill authorizes $685 million to support a trust for sustainable water management and infrastructure development that upholds the federal government’s trust responsibility while protecting the sacred Zuni Salt Lake. The bill ratifies the settlement between the federal government, State of New Mexico and Zuni Tribe that affirms their water rights for irrigation, livestock, storage, and domestic and other uses.
    Heinrich and Vasquez initially introduced the bill in July 2024. The bill received a key hearing before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in September 2024.
    Read the full bill text here.
    The Navajo Nation Rio San José Water Rights Settlement Act is led by Heinrich and Leger Fernández. Luján, Stansbury, and Vasquez are original cosponsors. This bill would approve the water rights settlement for the Navajo Nation as well as participating non-Tribal parties in the Rio San José watershed.
    Heinrich and Leger Fernández initially introduced this bill in September 2024. The bill then received a key hearing before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that same month.
    Read the full bill text here.
    The Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments is led by Luján and Leger Fernández. Heinrich and Stansbury are original cosponsors. The bill amends the Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project to ensure it has the resources and time needed to reach completion to deliver drinking water to northwestern New Mexico communities.
    The Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project was first authorized as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which settled the Navajo Nation’s water rights in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and funded the design and construction of the waterline to reach an estimated 250,000 people by the year 2040. Upon completion, the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project will provide a long-term, sustainable water supply from the San Juan River to roughly 43 Chapters on the eastern Navajo Nation, the southwestern portion of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the City of Gallup, which currently rely on a rapidly depleting groundwater supply of poor quality.
    Luján, Leger Fernández, and Heinrich initially introduced the bill in June 2023. The bill was passed out of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November 2023.
    Read the full bill text here.
    The Technical Corrections to the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act, Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, and Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act is led by Luján and Leger Fernández. Heinrich and Stansbury are original cosponsors. This bill authorizes the appropriation of $6.3 million for the Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Fund; $7.8 million for the Taos Pueblo Water Development Fund; and $4.3 million for the Aamodt Settlement Pueblos’ Fund, which covers Nambé, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, and Tesuque Pueblos. It will support water resources development projects for the Tribes.
    Luján and Leger Fernández initially introduced this bill in December 2023.
    Read the full bill text here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Grassley Works to Empower Patients, Boost Transparency Through Improved Data on Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley

    WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is pushing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide clear and accessible information on inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs) to better support patients and their families. While CMS has supported web-based tools to find and compare providers, the agency lacks a tool for comparing IPFs so that families can make fully-informed decisions.

    “This is the kind of information that patients and their families care about…In all states, patients and their families deserve to have access to all IPF inspection/survey reports through a user-accessible website, no matter whether the survey was performed by a state or local survey agency, CMS, or an accrediting organization,” Grassley wrote.

    Grassley is an outspoken advocate for improved oversight and transparency at health care facilities that care for vulnerable Americans, such as nursing homes and IPFs. His past work revealed that inspection reports are completely inaccessible to consumers in most states. Grassley has previously called for improving the quality of information available to the public about nursing homes. He’s also pushed for greater transparency of financial relationships between drug makers and providers and of the misuse of psychotropic drugs in nursing homes and foster youth.

    “Currently, a search for an IPF on the Care Compare website yields little to no information that would allow a consumer to determine the safety of the facility…There is no information regarding assaults, abuses, suicides, and [unauthorized departures], particularly information regarding facilities that have had repeated and/or potentially preventable events. There is no information regarding Medicare Conditions of Participation violations, citations, penalties, or enforcement actions,” Grassley continued.

    Grassley requested the agency provide details on plans to improve public access to IPF data and any possible barriers to CMS’s progress.

    Text of the letter to Acting CMS Administrator Carlton follows:

    February 28, 2025

    VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

    The Honorable Stephanie Carlton

    Acting Administrator

    Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

    Dear Acting Administrator Carlton:

    I have long advocated for improved oversight and transparency at health care facilities that care for vulnerable Americans, such as nursing homes and inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs).[1]  My oversight has resulted in improvements to the Nursing Home Care Compare website, which has been found to help consumers find their way to higher quality nursing homes and encourage providers to improve quality.[2]  Yet, after more than twenty-five years of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) supporting web-based tools for consumers to find and compare providers, the mechanism for comparing IPFs is still lacking. [3]  Like nursing home residents, psychiatric inpatients are at high risk for abuse, neglect, and harm, and the public deserves to be able to readily access information regarding quality, safety, and regulatory citations at IPFs in all states.[4] 

    According to a recent report, it took weeks to compile information regarding safety and regulatory issues at two IPFs because there is no place to readily access that information.[5]  The report noted that, “the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has a robust database of hospital inspections, quality of care and staff ratings.  However, when you try to search many inpatient mental health hospitals, every category says information is not available.”[6]  In response to questions about the lack of information, the prior administration stated that “although CMS doesn’t give star ratings for psychiatric hospitals, consumers can still find valuable quality information by using [other] CMS resources.”[7]  However, a review of those resources found them to be insufficient.[8]

    Currently, a search for an IPF on the Care Compare website yields little to no information that would allow a consumer to determine the safety of the facility.  After searching for an IPF on Care Compare, the website launches a webpage showing that the facility’s “Overall Star Rating” and “Patient Survey Rating” are not available.[9]  Under a drop down, Care Compare primarily presents process measures, including COVID-19 vaccinations for providers, influenza vaccinations and body mass index screenings for patients.[10]  While there is information regarding potentially harmful mechanical restraints and seclusions, there is no data regarding physical holds and chemical restraints, which surveyors have also found to be used inappropriately and with incorrect technique.[11]  There is no information regarding assaults, abuses, suicides, and elopements (unauthorized departures), particularly information regarding facilities that have had repeated and/or potentially preventable events. [12]  There is no information regarding Medicare Conditions of Participation violations, citations, penalties, or enforcement actions.[13]  This is the kind of information that patients and their families care about.

    While Care Compare provides access to inspection reports for nursing homes, this capability is missing from the hospital section of the website.[14]  In all states, patients and their families deserve to have access to all IPF inspection/survey reports through a user-accessible website, no matter whether the survey was performed by a state or local survey agency, CMS, or an accrediting organization, such as The Joint Commission.  While some hospital inspection reports may be accessible through the CMS 2567 Statement of Deficiencies data file, this is not a consumer-facing or readily accessible resource.[15]  Additionally, my past oversight work revealed that inspection reports from accrediting organizations are completely inaccessible to consumers in most states.[16]  Despite my advocacy on the issue, in 2017, CMS reversed course on a proposal to require accrediting organizations to post provider survey reports on their public-facing websites, but noted that, “CMS is committed to ensuring that patients have the ability to review the findings used to determine that a facility meets the health and safety standards required for Medicare participation.”[17]  Seven years later, it still doesn’t appear that patients, or even CMS, have the ability to readily conduct that review.[18]  There also still appears to be incongruity between safety violations and accreditation.[19] 

    For Congress to understand CMS’s current actions to increase the relevance of information regarding IPFs on the Care Compare website as well as any barriers impeding CMS’s progress, please provide answers to the following questions no later than March 14, 2025.

    1. Does CMS plan to take steps to improve how information regarding IPF quality, safety, and regulatory issues are displayed on Care Compare?  If not, why not?  If so, please describe.
    1. Are there any barriers to displaying information regarding patient harm, including abuses, assaults, suicides, and elopements with harm, for IPFs on Care Compare?
    1. Are there any barriers to displaying citations, safety violations, licensure suspensions or limitations, immediate jeopardy findings, Medicare program terminations, monetary penalties, enforcement actions, or any other remediation actions for IPFs on Care Compare?
    1. Are there any barriers to integrating the CMS 2567 Statement of Deficiencies data file in a user-accessible way on Care Compare?
    1. What surveys are included in the CMS 2567 Statement of Deficiencies data file and which surveys are excluded?  For example, does the data file contain surveys conducted by all state and local survey agencies?  Are there any circumstances in which the file would contain surveys conducted by accrediting organizations?
    1. Why are the findings from the following surveys/inspections not included in the 2567 Statement of Deficiencies data file posted on the CMS Hospital website?[20]  What are the barriers to making the following reports accessible on Care Compare?
      1. The survey that corresponds with the nine patient rapes at Options Behavioral Health Hospital.[21]
      2. The February 2022 survey with immediate jeopardy findings for Brynn Marr Hospital.[22]
      3. The survey that corresponds with the sexual assault at Psychiatric Institute of Washington.[23]
      4. The survey conducted at Holly Hill Hospital after the escape of five children in March 2024.[24]
      5. The survey that corresponds with Aurora Vista Del Mar’s loss of permission to admit involuntary patients.[25]
      6. The survey that corresponds with the suicide at Morton Plant North Bay Hospital Recovery Center.[26]
    1. How does CMS assess the usability and relevance of the information regarding IPFs on the Care Compare website from the perspective of patients and their families?
    1. How does CMS validate the data currently contained in Care Compare for IPFs?  For example, what was CMS’s process for validating Harborview Medical Center’s 2022 restraint rate of 22.44 hours per 1000 patient care hours, when the national average was 0.32, and the 2022 seclusion rate of 81.73, when the national average was 0.36?[27] 
    1. How does the data currently contained in Care Compare for IPFs inform the survey/inspection process?  For example, have surveyors examined the restraint and seclusion practices at Harborview Medical Center?[28]
    1. How does CMS “ensur[e] that patients have the ability to review the findings used to determine that a facility meets the health and safety standards required for Medicare participation,” including when those findings come from accrediting organizations?[29]
    1. What role does CMS play in the accreditation process for IPFs?  How do the deficiencies listed in the CMS 2567 Statement of Deficiencies data file factor into accreditation?
    1. How does CMS partner with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on the Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting (IPFQR) program and ensure consistency between the IPFs listed on the Care Compare website and the IPFs listed on the FindTreatment.gov website?[30]  How does CMS use data collected through the National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey (N-SUMHSS)?[31]

    Thank you for your prompt review and response.  If you have any questions, please contact my Judiciary Committee staff at (202) 224-5225.

    Sincerely,

    Charles E. Grassley

    Chairman

    Committee on the Judiciary

    [1] Press Release, Warren, Grassley Lead the Call for Greater Transparency in Nursing Home Ownership, Off. of Senator Charles E. Grassley (May 19, 2023), https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/warren-grassley-lead-the-call-for-greater-transparency-in-nursing-home-ownership; Press Release, After Year-Long Push for Transparency In Nursing Homes, Grassley Urges Improvements to CMS’s Care Compare, Off. of Senator Charles E. Grassley (June 21, 2023), https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/after-years-long-push-for-transparency-in-nursing-homes-grassley-urges-improvements-to-cmss-care-compare; Press Release, Grassley Welcomes CMS Action Following His Decades-Long Push to Increase Nursing Home Transparency, Off. of Senator Charles E. Grassley (Nov. 15, 2023),  https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-welcomes-cms-action-following-his-decades-long-push-to-increase-nursing-home-transparency; Press Release, Grassley: Alarming Pattern of Conduct Reported at UHS Facilities, Off. of Senator Charles E. Grassley (Dec. 18, 2017), https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-alarming-pattern-conduct-reported-uhs-facilities.

    [2] R. Tamara Konetzka, Kevin Yan, and Rachel Werner, Two Decades of Nursing Home Compare: What Have We Learned?, Medical Care Research and Review (June 13, 2020), https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1077558720931652?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed.

    [3] Report, Nursing Homes: CMS Offers Useful Information on Website and Is Considering Additional Steps to Assess Underlying Data, Government Accountability Office, GAO-23-105312, (May 2023), https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-105312.pdf.

    [4] Morgan Shields, Maureen Stewart, and Kathleen Delaney, Patient Safety in Inpatient Psychiatry: A Remaining Frontier for Health Policy, Health Affairs (Nov. 18, 2018), https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.0718; Hospital Surveys with 2567 Statement of Deficiencies through 2024 Q3 data file, Hospital webpage, Ctrs. for Medicare & Medicaid Services (accessed Feb. 3, 2025),  https://www.cms.gov/files/document/hospital-surveys-2567-statement-deficiencies-through-2024-q3.xlsx, (Surveyors described findings of abuse, neglect, or harm during numerous surveys listed in the 2567 Statement of Deficiencies data file, such as 6G7O11/October 16, 2023, 52U911/March 4, 2024, VN4211/June 13, 2024, QD1O11/January 6, 2021, ZX8G11/April 8, 2022, YMU211/June 7, 2021, SSIO11/February 23, 2023, 00IG11/June 10, 2022, P33211/April 10, 2024, RKRS11/October 5, 2022, and CYVY11/September 23, 2022).

    [5] Randall Kerr, WRAL Investigates why the truth about mental health hospitals remains hidden, WRAL News (May 7, 2024), https://www.wral.com/story/wral-investigates-why-the-truth-about-mental-health-hospitals-remains-hidden/21418636/.

    [6] Id.

    [7] Id.

    [8] Id, (As described by WRAL, “those resources included with the statement were a spreadsheet you could download, but can’t even decipher considering all of the categories, acronyms and codes that don’t necessarily reflect the actual quality of care.  The other resource was the same online database that again has no information about the hospital’s performance.”).

    [9] Care Compare entry for Aurora Vista Del Mar, Care Compare, Medicare.gov (accessed Feb. 3, 2025), available at https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/details/hospital/054077?id=a96bf388-2fd6-460f-bca4-d70b1eeb862d&city=Ventura&state=CA&zipcode=.

    [10] Psychiatric unit services drop-down for Aurora Vista Del Mar, Care Compare, Medicare.gov (accessed Feb. 3, 2025), https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/details/hospital/054077?id=a96bf388-2fd6-460f-bca4-d70b1eeb862d&city=Ventura&state=CA&zipcode=&measure=hospital-psychiatric-surveys. 

    [11] Surveys ZF7G11/June 4, 2024 and D0SD11/July 11, 2024, 2567 data file, supra note 4, (For example, during an inspection of Destiny Springs Healthcare in June 2024, surveyors found that “the Hospital failed to ensure staff did not utilize a chemical restraint as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation for one (1) patient.” One month later, surveyors found that “the hospital failed to ensure restraints were conducted safely, resulting in Patient #1 suffering a fractured humerus.”).

    [12] Ross Jones, Congressman, local leaders want answers over Detroit hospital patient abuse, suicide, ABC WXYZ Detroit (Oct. 10, 2024),  https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/congressman-local-leaders-want-answers-over-detroit-hospital-patient-abuse-suicide; Surveys 366M11/June 6, 2024 and 31M611/July 3, 2024, 2567 data file, supra note 4, (In 2024, at Detroit Receiving Hospital, in the span of 73 days, two different female patients were sexually assaulted by two different male patients while sedated and confined to four-point restraints, which is a time when patients should be continuously monitored by staff, and another patient died by suicide in her room in the setting of missed safety checks.); Maddie Kirth, ‘Were they not trained?’ Family of missing Hammond Alzheimer’s patient demands hospital reform, Fox 8 (June 23, 2023),  https://www.fox8live.com/2023/06/24/were-they-not-trained-family-missing-hammond-alzheimers-patient-demands-hospital-reform/; Survey 1UQQ11/June 21, 2023, 2567 data file, supra note 4, (In 2023, a patient with severe dementia was able to walk out of a locked unit at Oceans Behavioral Hospital of Hammond in Louisiana and was found dead in a field one day later. It took nearly an hour for staff to realize that the patient was gone and another ninety minutes to call 911.).

    [13] Heather Catallo, ‘He didn’t deserve this.’ Patient dies after being restrained in psych ward, family speaks out, WXYZ (Dec. 19, 2024), https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/he-didnt-deserve-this-patient-dies-after-being-restrained-in-psych-ward-family-speaks-out; Medicare notice to the public regarding termination of Pontiac General Hospital effective November 24, 2024 (Nov. 8, 2024), https://www.cms.gov/files/document/michigan-pontiac-general-hospital-11/08/2024.pdf, (There is no information regarding Michigan’s Pontiac General Hospital’s termination from the Medicare program on November 24, 2024, after a patient died in the setting of improper restraint technique and a delayed and disorganized resuscitation effort.); Surveys R5UY11/March 22, 2024, 24E111/April 3, 2024, M4B411/June 6, 2024, QORQ11/July 31, 2024, and NB8H11/August 15, 2024, 2567 data file, supra note 4 (There is no information regarding the 30 deficiencies, including three condition-level deficiencies and two immediate jeopardy findings, listed in the CMS 2567 Statement of Deficiencies data file for Oceans Behavioral Hospital of Hammond in Louisiana during the first three quarters of 2024.); Alex Lubben, State gives troubled Mandeville psychiatric hospital one last chance to stay open, NOLA (Apr. 19, 2024), https://www.nola.com/news/northshore/what-is-the-future-of-northlake-behavioral-health-system/article_e5218958-f90a-11ee-ab91-072e26520f37.html, (There is no information regarding Northlake Behavioral Health System’s reported agreement with the Louisiana Department of Health to “pay an $18,000 fine, hire a consultant, cover the cost of all future LDH inspections, and suffer additional penalties for any repeat deficiencies found in the course of those inspections” in order to maintain a provisional license.).

    [14] GAO-23-105312, supra note 3.

    [15] 2567 data file, supra note 4.

    [16] Press Release, Grassley Presses Agency On Statutory Changes Needed to Make Hospital Inspection Reports Public, Off. of Senator Charles E. Grassley (Sep. 20, 2017), https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-presses-agency-statutory-changes-needed-make-hospital-inspection-reports.

    [17] Charles Ornstein, Secret Hospital Inspections May Become Public At Last, ProPublica (April 18, 2017), https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-hospital-inspections-may-become-public-at-last; Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Final Rule(CMS-1677-F), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Aug. 2, 2017), https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/fiscal-year-fy-2018-medicare-hospital-inpatient-prospective-payment-system-ipps-and-long-term-acute-0; Charles Ornstein, Accreditors Can Keep Their Hospital Inspection Reports Secret, Feds Decide, ProPublica (Aug. 3, 2017), https://www.propublica.org/article/accreditors-can-keep-their-hospital-inspection-reports-secret-feds-decide; Letter from Senator Charles E. Grassley to Administrator Seema Verma, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Sep. 18, 2017), https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2017-09-18%20CEG%20to%20CMS%20(Joint%20Commission).pdf.

    [18] Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Proposed Rule, Medicare Program; Strengthening Oversight of Accrediting Organizations (AOs) and Preventing AO Conflict of Interest, and Related Provisions, Section G, Federal Register (Feb. 15, 2024), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/02/15/2024-02137/medicare-program-strengthening-oversight-of-accrediting-organizations-aos-and-preventing-ao-conflict#footnote-4-p12000. 

    [19] Press Release, Grassley, Stark hold officials accountable for improper approval of specialty hospital in West Texas, U.S. Comm. on Finance (Mar. 6, 2007), https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/grassley-stark-hold-officials-accountable-for-improper-approval-of-specialty-hospital-in-west-texas; Letter from Senator Charles E. Grassley to Mr. Mark Chassin, The Joint Commission (Apr. 14, 2017), https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2017-04-14%20CEG%20to%20Joint%20Commission%20(UHS).pdf; Stephanie Armour, Hospital Watchdog Gives Seal of Approval, Even After Problems Emerge, The Wall Street Journal (Sep. 8, 2017), https://www.wsj.com/articles/watchdog-awards-hospitals-seal-of-approval-even-after-problems-emerge-1504889146; Surveys 2DCB11/March 5, 2024, S6IC11/June 13, 2024, WKNI11/July 12, 2024, 7VB511/April 11, 2024, DICQ11/July 12, 2024, ZF7G11/June 4, 2024, and D0SD11/July 11, 2024, 2567 data file, supra note 4; Search for Mesa Springs, Crestwyn Behavioral Health, Del Amo Hospital, and Destiny Springs Healthcare on The Joint Commission’s “Find Accredited Organizations” webpage, The Joint Commission (accessed Feb. 11, 2025), https://www.jointcommission.org/who-we-are/who-we-work-with/find-accredited-organizations/#q=mesa%20springs&numberOfResults=25, https://www.jointcommission.org/who-we-are/who-we-work-with/find-accredited-organizations/#q=Crestwyn%20Behavioral%20Health%20&numberOfResults=25, https://www.jointcommission.org/who-we-are/who-we-work-with/find-accredited-organizations/#q=Del%20Amo%20Hospital&numberOfResults=25, https://www.jointcommission.org/who-we-are/who-we-work-with/find-accredited-organizations/#q=Destiny%20Springs%20Healthcare&numberOfResults=25, (For example, Mesa Springs in Texas is currently shown as having a gold seal on The Joint Commission website, while the hospital had 14 condition-level deficiencies across three surveys listed in the CMS 2567 Statement of Deficiencies data file for the first three quarters of 2024. Crestwyn Behavioral Health in Tennessee with four condition-level citations in the first three quarters of 2024, Del Amo Hospital in California with three condition-level citations, and Destiny Springs Healthcare in Arizona with three condition-level citations are also currently shown as having Joint Commission accreditation.).

    [20] 2567 data file, supra note 4.

    [21] Joe Ulery, Whistleblower exposes dangers at Indiana facility, Public News Service (Dec. 18, 2024), https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2024-12-18/mental-health/whistleblower-exposes-dangers-at-indiana-facility/a94122-1.

    [22] Letter from the Ctrs. for Medicare & Medicaid to Universal Health Services regarding notification of possible termination from the Medicare program (Mar. 27, 2023), https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Brynn-Marr-Hospital-CCN-344016-90-day-3-27-2023.signed-002-3.pdf; Taylor Knopf, NC psych hospital failed to provide ‘safe and therapeutic’ environment, feds say, NC Health News (May 10, 2023), https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2023/05/10/nc-psych-hospital-failed-to-provide-safe-and-therapeutic-environment-feds-say/.

    [23] Peter Herman, Psychiatric health aide in D.C. charged with sexual abuse of a patient, The Washington Post (Dec. 21, 2023), available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/21/sexual-assault-dc-psychiatric/.

    [24] Heidi Kirk, WRAL Investigates: Holly Hill violated standards of care that could’ve prevented patient escapes, inspection says, WRAL News (July 15, 2024), available at https://www.wral.com/story/wral-investigates-holly-hill-violated-standards-of-care-that-could-ve-prevented-patient-escapes-inspection-says/21526230/.

    [25] Nick Welsh, Santa Barbara County’s Psych-Bed Pinch Tightens as Key Mental-Health Safety Valve Shuts Down, Santa Barbara Independent (Nov. 1, 2023), https://www.independent.com/2023/11/01/santa-barbara-countys-psych-bed-pinch-tightens-as-key-mental-health-safety-valve-shuts-down/.

    [26] Adam Walser, Florida grandmother outraged after 13-year-old dies by suicide inside mental hospital, ABC Action News (July 11, 2023),  https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/lutz-grandmother-outraged-after-13-year-old-commits-suicide-inside-mental-hospital.

    [27] “Inpatient psychiatric facility quality measure data – by facility” data set, Ctrs. for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Oct. 30, 2024),  https://data.cms.gov/provider-data/dataset/q9vs-r7wp; “Inpatient psychiatric facility quality measure data – national” data set, Ctrs. for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Oct. 30, 2024), https://data.cms.gov/provider-data/dataset/s5xg-sys6.

    [28] Id.

    [29] Fact sheet, supra note 17.

    [30] Mental health and substance use treatment locator website, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Admin. (accessed Feb. 11, 2025), https://findtreatment.gov/locator.

    [31] National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Admin. (accessed Feb. 11, 2025), https://info.nsumhss.samhsa.gov/.

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Asia New Zealand – Top Asia experts gather in Auckland to discuss New Zealand’s progress in and with Asia

    Source: Asia New Zealand Foundation

    Top Asia experts from across New Zealand and the Asia region will meet in Auckland from 9 to 11 March to share their perspectives on New Zealand’s Asia relations.
    The experts are part of the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s Honorary Advisers Network and include current and former ministers, academics, businesspeople and other sector leaders.
    As a network, they help to guide the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s work and support its mission of being one of New Zealand’s leading non-profit, non-partisan providers of Asia insights and experiences that help New Zealanders to excel in Asia.
    During the two-day meeting, members of the network will meet with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Foreign Minister Winston Peters (who is also chair of the network) and a range of New Zealand’s top public and private sector leaders.
    Attendees from Asia will include key figures such as Dr Ng Eng Hen, Singapore’s Minister for Defence; Ms Heekyung Jo Min, Executive Vice President of major Asian media and entertainment company CJ Cheiljedang; trade expert and former ASEAN Secretariat head Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria; and Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Thailand’s leading international relations authority.
    “The advisers are vital advocates for New Zealand in Asia, bringing deep expertise and longstanding ties. As New Zealand’s relationships with Asia evolve and as the Foundation’s work develops across the region, their contributions become even more critical,” says Foundation Chief Executive, Suz Jessep.
    “At a time of profound change in our region, this in-person meeting provides an opportunity to really unpick how other small and medium sized countries are responding to challenges and opportunities in Asia and to hear free and frank assessments from trusted advisers who know us well and who want to see New Zealand succeed.” Jessep noted.
    The advisers have supported New Zealand’s connections with Asia in several ways. In addition to their honorary role, they have also supported educational scholarships, paid internships for New Zealand students in Asian companies and facilitated and participated in Track II (informal diplomacy) dialogues between New Zealand and Asian experts.
    List of Honorary Advisers attending:
    Asia Honorary Advisers
    • Ms Adaljiza Magno – Timor Leste
    • Mr Amane Nakashima – Japan
    • Mr Guillermo M. Luz – Philippines
    • Ms Heekyung Jo Min – South Korea
    • Ms. Helianti Hilman – Indonesia
    • Prof Jolan Hsieh – Taiwan
    • Dr Ng Eng Hen – Singapore
    • Prof Pavida Pananond – Thailand
    • Ms Pham Thi My Le – Viet Nam
    • Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria – Malaysia
    • Dr Reuben Abraham – India
    • Mr Stanley Tan ONZM – Singapore
    • Prof Thitinan Pongsudhirak – Thailand
    New Zealand Honorary Advisers 
    • Rt Hon Sir Anand Satyanand
    • Mr Danny Chan
    • Rt Hon Sir Don McKinnon (Foundation Founder) 
    • Mr Josh Wharehinga
    • Mr Kyle Murdoch 
    • Hon Lianne Dalziel 
    • Prof Manying Ip
    • Ms Nicola Ngarewa 
    • Ms Paula Tesoriero
    • Hon Philip Burdon (Foundation Founder) 
    • Ms Sachie Nomura
    • Mr Sameer Handa 
    • Mr Simon Murdoch 
    • Ms Tania Te Whenua 
    • Ms Traci Houpapa
    • Mr Warrick Cleine (Viet Nam)
    About the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono
    Established in 1994, the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono is New Zealand’s leading provider of Asia insights and experiences. Its mission is to equip New Zealanders to excel in Asia, by providing research, insights and targeted opportunities to grow their knowledge, connections and experiences across the Asia region. The Foundation’s activities cover more than 20 countries in Asia and are delivered through eight core programmes: arts, business, entrepreneurship, leadership, media, research, Track II diplomacy and sports.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Elon Musk thinks the US should leave the UN – what if Trump does it?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Ogden, Associate Professor in Global Studies, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    Getty Images

    When Donald Trump’s benefactor and cost-cutter-in-chief Elon Musk recently supported a call for the United States to quit NATO and the United Nations, it should perhaps have been more surprising.

    But the first months of the second Trump presidency have already seen key parts of the current international order undermined. Musk’s position fits a general pattern.

    Aside from the tilt towards a multipolar world order, the US now refuses to recognise the International Criminal Court, has slashed its foreign aid contributions, and has withdrawn from the World Health Organization, the UN Human Rights Council and the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA.

    With Trump’s domestic politics displaying a clear autocratic edge, the rejection of the founding principles and ideals of the UN comes into sharper relief. The intolerant and impatient negotiating approach he displayed with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky also belies a disregard for cooperative and consensus-based diplomacy.

    The drive to slash the federal deficit dovetails with this general abandonment of expensive international commitments. If the Trump regime follows through on its apparent strategy of manufacturing crises to advance its agenda, then leaving the UN entirely is a logical next step.

    Undermined ideals

    This is all in stark contrast to the central role the UN has traditionally played within the US-led international order since 1945.

    Along with other institutions, the UN allowed the US to shape the international system in its own image and spread its domestic values and interests across the world. Along with NATO, the UN was designed as a global security institution to produce global stability.

    In theory at least, the political and economic values of the US and other democracies enabled the construction of the postwar order. According to political scientist John Ikenberry, this was based on “multilateralism, alliance partnerships, strategic restraint, cooperative security, and institutional and rule-based relationships”.

    But by the 21st century, US actions had undermined many of these principles. The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 bypassed the authority of the UN, causing then secretary-general Kofi Annan to declare that “from the charter point of view [the invasion] was illegal”.

    This undermined the legitimacy of the UN and America’s place within it. But it also diminished the organisation as a force for maintaining international security and national sovereignty in global affairs.

    The subsequent human rights violations by the US through its use of rendition, torture and detention at facilities such as Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib further weakened the UN’s credibility as a protector of liberal international values.

    The US has also been a regular non-payer of UN fees, owing US$2.8 billion in early 2025. And it is one of the lowest contribtuors of military and police personnel to UN peacekeeping operations, despite paying nearly 27% of the overall budget.

    US versus UN

    Since the 1990s, several Republican politicians have argued for the US to withdraw entirely from the UN. In 1997, senator Ron Paul introduced the American Sovereignty Restoration Act, aimed at ending UN membership, expelling the UN headquarters from New York and ending US funding.

    Although it received minimal support and never reached committee hearings, Paul reintroduced the act in every congressional session until his 2011 retirement. It was then taken up by other Republicans, including Paul Broun and Mike Rogers.

    In December 2023, senator Mike Lee and representative Chip Roy led the introduction of the “Disengaging Entirely from the United Nations Debacle (DEFUND) Act”.

    Roy referenced the perceived negative treatment of Israel, the promotion of China, “the propagation of climate hysteria” and the US$12.5 billion in annual payments. Lee added:

    Americans’ hard-earned dollars have been funnelled into initiatives that fly in the face of our values – enabling tyrants, betraying allies, and spreading bigotry.

    Public polling in 2024 also showed only 52% of Americans had a favourable view of the UN. This opposition has deeper historical roots, too.

    In 1920, US isolationists blocked the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, and with it US participation in the League of Nations (the predecessor to the United Nations). Although the US would interact with the League of Nations until the UN’s formation in 1945, it never became an official member.

    Criticism of the UN also has a bipartisan angle, with the US withdrawing funding of UNRWA in 2024 during Joe Biden’s presidency after Israel accused the agency of links to Hamas.

    A diminished UN

    If Trump harnesses these historical and modern forces to pull the US out of the UN, it would fundamentally – and likely irrevocably – undermine what has been a central pillar of the current international order.

    It would also increase US isolationism, reduce Western influence, and legitimise alternative security bodies. These include the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which the US could potentially join, especially given Russia and India are both members.

    More broadly, the reduced influence of the UN will endanger general peace and security in the international sphere, and the wider protection and promotion of human rights.

    There would be greater unpredictability in global affairs, and the world would be a more dangerous place. For countries big and small, a UN without the US will force new strategic calculations and create new alliances and blocs, as the world leaps into the unknown.

    Chris Ogden is a Senior Research Fellow with The Foreign Policy Centre, London.

    – ref. Elon Musk thinks the US should leave the UN – what if Trump does it? – https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-thinks-the-us-should-leave-the-un-what-if-trump-does-it-251483

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Budget 2025: Investing in Alberta’s future | Budget 2025 : Investir dans l’avenir de l’Alberta

    As Alberta continues work to address increasing domestic and international economic pressures, Budget 2025 works to strengthen Alberta’s economy. This budget helps build communities, secure Alberta’s southern border and boost investments in the province’s economic future.

    “While we work closely with partners to find solutions to a possible trade conflict, we will continue our work to make sure Alberta’s economy is strong – in and outside of the energy sector – so that we can manage any turbulence that comes our way. Budget 2025 carves our path forward in the face of this uncertainty.”

    Nate Horner, President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance

    Budget 2025: Supporting a strong workforce

    Alberta’s workforce is the backbone of the provincial economy. Budget 2025 continues the commitment to training and developing a skilled and resilient labour force to further grow Alberta’s economy and help businesses succeed, including: 

    • $26.1 billion over three years from the Capital Plan, to support about 26,500 direct and 12,000 indirect jobs each year through 2027-28.
    • $135 million for skilled trade programs such as apprenticeship and adult learning initiatives to help Albertans gain the skills and training needed for successful careers, and support access to job opportunities.
    • $2 billion in 2025-26 to support and expand early learning and child-care system so parents and caregivers can participate in training, education or work opportunities.  

    Budget 2025: Securing our borders

    • Alberta’s government is committed to being a good neighbour and trading partner, and part of this commitment involves taking measures to secure the Alberta-US border. Budget 2025 includes $29 million in 2025-26 for a new Interdiction Patrol Team within the Alberta Sheriffs to tackle illegal drug and gun smuggling, human trafficking, apprehension of persons attempting to cross the border illegally, and other illegal activities along Alberta’s international land border. Budget 2025 also includes a $15 million investment over two years for three new vehicle inspection stations located near borders to the USA.

    Budget 2025: Investing in post-secondary education

    Budget 2025 invests a total of $7.4 billion in post-secondary education, with an operating budget of $6.6 billion in 2025-26. This includes:

    • $78 million per year over the next three years to create more seats in apprenticeship classes across the province to build skilled trades and apprenticeship education that will respond to the needs of industry, support the economy and connect Albertans with jobs.
    • $113 million to support greater demand for scholarships and the Alberta Student Grant, with $60 million funded from the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund.
    • $4 million to the First Nations Colleges Grant which is distributed equally across five colleges in rural and remote Indigenous communities.

    “Our government is ensuring that Alberta students have the skills and training they need to meet the needs of today while preparing for the economy of the future. Budget 2025 makes foundational investments to meet the challenge of a rapidly growing population while supporting a sustainable post-secondary education system.”

    Rajan Sawhney, Minister of Advanced Education

    Budget 2025: Building communities

    Alberta’s vibrant communities make Alberta the best place in Canada to live, work and raise a family. Budget 2025 invests in stronger communities across Alberta, including:

    • $17.2 million to increase grants made to municipalities in lieu of property taxes on government-owned property to 75 per cent, up from the current 50 per cent. By next year, the province will cover 100 per cent of the amount that would be paid if the property was taxable.
    • $820 million this year and $2.5 billion over three years in Local Government Fiscal Framework capital funding to help fund local infrastructure priorities.

    Budget 2025: Supporting trade and diversification

    Alberta continues to champion economic growth and policies that support productivity. Through Budget 2025, Alberta’s government will continue to build on current successes through:

    • Attracting more investment through low corporate income taxes. At eight per cent, Alberta’s corporate income tax rate is 30 per cent lower than the next lowest province.
    • Providing greater incentive for small- and medium-sized firms that increase their spending on research and development, with Alberta’s Innovation Employment Grant.
    • Promoting Alberta as a reliable partner in supporting North American and global energy security to investors. The province will optimize new and existing infrastructure to access new markets for Alberta’s energy and mineral resources.
    • Supporting Alberta’s agriculture producers and value-added processors, addressing barriers to trade by cultivating export markets, and working to increase market access for Alberta products.
    • Reinforcing Alberta as a critical contributor to North American energy security by continuing to advocate for our remarkable energy sector across Canada, the U.S., Germany, Japan and the rest of the world.

    Budget 2025: Investing in business and industry

    Budget 2025 continues to find ways to help Alberta’s economy grow through investments in business and industry and help our economy grow, including:

    • Support to attract investment in Alberta’s energy and mineral resource sector to accelerate opportunities in emerging resources.
    • $45 million over three years for the Investment and Growth Fund to attract investment into Alberta’s economy.
    • $1.8 million in Western Crop Innovations for industry-leading crop research.
    • $780,000 to support small- and medium-sized meat processors.
    • $3.1 million for the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine to expand toward a full-service veterinary diagnostic laboratory. This will give livestock producers and vets access to quicker, more affordable livestock diagnostics closer to home.

    “Budget 2025 builds a stronger Alberta by growing industries, creating high-quality jobs and expanding opportunities for workers and families. With strategic investments in innovation, infrastructure and workforce development, Alberta is rising to the challenge, strengthening our province for many years to come.”

    Matt Jones, Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade

    “We are advancing cutting-edge research in agriculture and supporting small and medium-sized businesses. Additionally, we are strengthening our agricultural infrastructure, ensuring quicker and more affordable services for livestock producers and veterinarians. We’re supporting innovation, attracting investment, and building a resilient economy for the future.”

    RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation

    Budget 2025 is meeting the challenge faced by Alberta with continued investments in education and health, lower taxes for families and a focus on the economy.

    Related information

    • Budget 2025

    Related news

    • Budget 2025: Meeting the challenge (Feb 27, 2025)
    • Budget 2025: Meeting the challenge in health and education (Feb 27, 2025)

    Multimedia

    • Watch the Budget address
    • Watch the news conference
    • Listen to the news conference

    Le budget de 2025 relève le défi de l’incertitude en matière de commerce et de sécurité en mettant l’accent sur l’économie.

    À mesure que l’Alberta continue de répondre aux pressions économiques intérieures et internationales, le budget de 2025 vise à renforcer l’économie albertaine. Il contribue à bâtir des communautés, à assurer la sécurité de la frontière au sud de la province et à renforcer les investissements dans notre avenir économique.

    « Alors que nous travaillons en étroite collaboration avec des partenaires pour trouver des solutions à un différend commercial potentiel, nous poursuivons notre travail pour nous assurer que l’économie de l’Alberta est forte, dans le secteur de l’énergie et ailleurs, afin de pouvoir gérer toute perturbation. Le budget de 2025 trace la voie à suivre face à cette incertitude. »

    Nate Horner, président du Conseil du Trésor et ministre des Finances

    Budget 2025 : Soutenir une main-d’œuvre solide

    La main-d’œuvre albertaine est l’épine dorsale de l’économie provinciale. Le budget de 2025 maintient l’engagement envers la formation et le perfectionnement d’une main-d’œuvre qualifiée et résiliente de sorte à faire croître l’économie et aider les entreprises à réussir : 

    • 26,1 milliards de dollars sur trois ans provenant du plan d’immobilisations afin d’appuyer environ 26 500 emplois directs et 12 000 emplois indirects chaque année jusqu’en 2027-2028.
    • 135 millions de dollars pour des programmes de métiers spécialisés, comme des initiatives d’apprentissages et d’éducation des adultes de sorte à aider les Albertains à acquérir les compétences et à suivre la formation nécessaires pour mener des carrières fructueuses, ainsi qu’à soutenir l’accès aux possibilités d’emploi.
    • 2 milliards de dollars en 2025-26 pour appuyer et élargir le système d’apprentissage et de garde des jeunes enfants afin que les parents et les gardiens tirent parti de possibilités de formation, d’éducation ou d’emploi.  

    Budget 2025 : Assurer la sécurité de nos frontières

    • Le gouvernement de l’Alberta est résolu à être un bon voisin et un bon partenaire commercial, ce qui implique la prise de mesures pour assurer la sécurité de la frontière entre l’Alberta et les États-Unis. Le budget de 2025 prévoit 29 millions de dollars en 2025-26 pour une nouvelle équipe de « patrouille d’interdiction » (Interdiction Patrol Team) qui fait partie des shérifs de l’Alberta et sera chargée de lutter contre le trafic de drogue et d’armes et la traite de personnes, d’appréhender les personnes qui tentent de traverser la frontière illégalement et de surveiller d’autres activités illégales le long de la frontière internationale de la province. Le budget de 2025 comprend en outre un investissement de 15 millions de dollars sur deux ans pour trois nouveaux postes d’inspection de véhicules près de la frontière des États-Unis.

    Budget 2025 : Investir dans l’enseignement postsecondaire

    Le budget de 2025 investit en tout 7,4 milliards de dollars dans l’enseignement postsecondaire, le budget d’exploitation étant de 6,6 milliards de dollars en 2025-2026. Cette somme comprend :

    • 78 millions de dollars par années sur trois ans pour créer un plus grand nombre de places dans les cours d’apprentissage de toute la province en vue de renforcer les métiers spécialisés et les formations en apprentissage qui répondront aux besoins de l’industrie, soutiendront l’économie et mettront les Albertains en rapport avec des emplois.
    • 113 millions de dollars pour contribuer à satisfaire à la demande croissante de bourses et appuyer la bourse aux étudiants de l’Alberta (Alberta Student Grant), dont 60 millions de dollars provenant de l’Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund.
    • 4 millions de dollars pour la subvention aux collèges des Premières Nations (First Nations Colleges Grant), cette somme étant répartie également entre cinq collèges dans des communautés autochtones rurales et éloignées.

    « Notre gouvernement veille à ce que les étudiants en Alberta possèdent les compétences et la formation nécessaires pour répondre aux besoins actuels, tout en se préparant à l’économie future. Le budget de 2025 réalise des investissements fondamentaux de sorte à relever les défis posés par une population en pleine croissance, tout en appuyant un système d’éducation postsecondaire durable. »

    Rajan Sawhney, ministre de l’Enseignement postsecondaire

    Budget 2025 : Bâtir des communautés

    Les communautés dynamiques de notre province font de l’Alberta le meilleur endroit au Canada où vivre, travailler et élever une famille. Le budget de 2025 investit dans des communautés plus fortes partout en Alberta :

    • 17,2 millions de dollars pour augmenter de 50 % à 75 % les subventions accordées aux municipalités en remplacement d’impôts fonciers à l’égard des propriétés qui appartiennent au gouvernement. D’ici l’année prochaine, la province couvrira 100 $ du montant qui serait versé si la propriété était imposable.
    • 820 millions de dollars cette année et 2,5 milliards de dollars sur trois ans en dépenses en capital du cadre fiscal des administrations locales (Local Government Fiscal Framework) afin d’aider à financer les travaux d’infrastructures prioritaires.

    Budget 2025 : Soutenir le commerce et la diversification

    L’Alberta continue de favoriser la croissance économique et des politiques qui appuient la productivité. Par l’entremise du budget de 2025, le gouvernement de l’Alberta continuera de tirer parti des réussites actuelles en faisant ce qui suit :

    • Attirer plus d’investissements grâce à un faible taux d’imposition sur le revenu des sociétés. En Alberta, le taux de 8 % est de 30 % inférieur à celui de la province qui se classe deuxième.
    • Offrir de plus grands stimulants aux petites et moyennes entreprises qui augmentent leurs dépenses en recherche et développement, par l’entremise de la subvention pour l’emploi et l’innovation (Alberta’s Innovation Employment Grant).
    • Promouvoir l’Alberta en tant que partenaire fiable pour soutenir la sécurité énergétique nord-américaine et mondiale auprès des investisseurs. La province optimisera les infrastructures nouvelles et existantes afin d’accéder à de nouveaux marchés pour les ressources énergétiques et minérales de l’Alberta.
    • Soutenir les producteurs agricoles albertains et les transformateurs à valeur ajoutée de l’Alberta, s’attaquer aux obstacles au commerce en cultivant les marchés d’exportation et s’employer à améliorer l’accès au marché pour les produits de l’Alberta.
    • Renforcer la position de l’Alberta en tant que contributrice essentielle à la sécurité énergétique de l’Amérique du Nord en continuant de promouvoir notre secteur énergétique remarquable au Canada, aux États-Unis, en Allemagne, au Japon et dans le reste du monde.

    Budget 2025 : Investir dans les entreprises et les industries

    Le budget de 2025 continue de trouver des moyens de favoriser la croissance de l’économie albertaine en investissant dans les entreprises et les industries :

    • Soutien visant à attirer des investissements dans le secteur de l’énergie et des ressources minérales de sorte à accélérer les possibilités dans le domaine des ressources émergentes.
    • 45 millions de dollars sur trois ans pour le fonds d’investissement et de croissance (Investment and Growth Fund) en vue d’attirer des investissements dans l’économie albertaine.
    • 1,8 million de dollars versés à Western Crop Innovations au titre de la recherche de pointe sur les cultures.
    • 780 000 $ pour appuyer les petites et moyennes entreprises de transformation de viande.
    • 3,1 millions de dollars pour la Faculté de médecine vétérinaire de l’Université de Calgary en vue d’un agrandissement menant à un laboratoire de diagnostic vétérinaire complet. Les éleveurs de bétail et les vétérinaires auront alors accès à un diagnostic plus rapide, plus abordable et plus proche.

    « Le budget de 2025 bâtit une Alberta plus forte en développant les industries, en créant des emplois de haute qualité et en élargissant les possibilités offertes aux travailleurs et aux familles. Grâce à des investissements stratégiques en innovation, infrastructure et perfectionnement de la main-d’œuvre, l’Alberta relève le défi pour être plus forte pendant de nombreuses années à venir. »

    Matt Jones, ministre de l’Emploi, de l’Économie et du Commerce

    « Nous faisons progresser la recherche de point en agriculture et nous appuyons les petites et moyennes entreprises. De plus, nous renforçons notre infrastructure agricole pour offrir des services plus rapides et plus abordables aux éleveurs de bétail et aux vétérinaires. Nous soutenons l’innovation, nous attirons les investissements et nous bâtissons une économie résiliente pour l’avenir. »

    RJ Sigurdson, ministre de l’Agriculture et de l’Irrigation

    Le budget de 2025 relève le défi auquel fait face l’Alberta grâce à des investissements continus dans l’éducation et la santé, une baisse des impôts pour les familles et un accent sur l’économie.

    Renseignements connexes

    • Budget 2025

    Nouvelles connexes

    • Budget 2025: Meeting the challenge | Budget 2025 : Relever le défi (27 février 2025)
    • Budget 2025: Meeting the challenge in health and education | Budget 2025 :  Relever le défi dans la santé et l’éducation (27 février 2025)

    Multimédias

    • Regarder le discours du budget
    • Regarder la conférence de presse
    • Écouter la conférence de presse

    Translations

    • Arabic
    • Simplified Chinese
    • Traditional Chinese
    • Hindi
    • Korean
    • Persian
    • Punjabi
    • Somali
    • Spanish
    • Tagalog
    • Ukrainian
    • Urdu
    • Vietnamese

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Funding cuts jeopardize global fight against tuberculosis, WHO warns

    Source: United Nations 2

    Health

    The UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday that severe funding cuts – particularly in the United States – are threatening decades of progress in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), still the world’s deadliest infectious disease.

    The health agency highlighted that essential prevention, testing and treatment services are collapsing, leaving millions at risk.

    The hardest-hit regions include Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific, where national TB programmes depend heavily on international support.

    “Any disruption to TB services – whether financial, political or operational – can have devastating and often fatal consequences for millions worldwide,” said Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO Global Programme on TB and Lung Health.

    Last week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres also raised the alarm over funding cuts, noting the immediate impact on key health programmes combatting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and cholera.

    A devastating setback

    Over the past two decades, global TB programmes have saved more than 79 million lives, averting approximately 3.65 million deaths last year alone.

    A significant portion of this success has been driven by US Government funding, which has provided about $200 to $250 million annually – approximately a quarter of the total international donor funding secured.  

    The US has been the largest bilateral donor for programmes combatting the disease.

    However, newly announced cuts for 2025 through executive orders will have devastating impacts on TB response efforts in at least 18 high-burden countries, where 89 per cent of expected US funding was allocated for patient care.

    The impact will be particularly devastating in Africa, where treatment disruptions and staff layoffs could exponentially increase TB transmission rates.

    Immense burden

    Early reports from TB-affected countries indicate that funding constraints are already dismantling essential health services.

    Among the most pressing concerns are health worker layoffs, drug shortages and supply chain breakdowns, data and surveillance systems are collapse, and disruptions to TB research and funding.

    “Without immediate action, hard-won progress in the fight against TB is at risk. Our collective response must be swift, strategic and fully resourced to protect the most vulnerable and maintain momentum toward ending TB,” urged Dr. Kasaeva.

    Call for urgent action

    WHO reaffirmed its commitment to supporting governments and global partners in the fight against TB.

    “In these challenging times, WHO remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting national governments, civil society and global partners in securing sustained funding and integrated solutions to safeguard the health and well-being of those most vulnerable to TB,” the agency said.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Alberta pushes back on illegal U.S. tariffs

    As part of its non-tariff retaliatory measures, Alberta is altering its procurement practices to ensure Alberta’s government, as well as agencies, school boards, Crown corporations and Alberta municipalities, purchase their goods and services from Alberta companies, Canadian companies or countries with which Canada has a free trade agreement that is being honoured.  

    “I will always put the best interests of Alberta and Albertans first. These non-tariff actions are measured, proportionate and put an emphasis on defending Alberta and Canada against these economically destructive tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, while breaking down restrictive provincial trade barriers so we can fast-track nation building resource projects and allow for the unrestricted movement of goods, services and labour across the country. I understand this is an uncertain time for many Albertans, and our government will continue to do all it can to prioritize Alberta’s and Canada’s world-class products and businesses as we face this challenge together. I also look forward to working with my provincial counterparts to help unite Canada and ensure free and fair trade throughout our country.” 

    Danielle Smith, Premier

    Alberta’s government has also directed Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis to suspend the purchase of U.S. alcohol and video lottery terminals (VLTs) from American companies until further notice. This will ensure Alberta and Canadian brands take priority in restaurants, bars and on retail shelves.

    “We are committed to putting Canadian businesses first. By suspending the purchase of U.S. produced alcohol, slot machines and VLTs, we are ensuring that Alberta and Canadian brands take priority in our restaurants, bars and retail stores. We will continue to take bold steps to support local industries and strengthen our economy.”

    Dale Nally, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction

    To encourage the purchase of stock from vendors in Alberta, Canada and other countries with which Canada has a free trade agreement, the government will help all Alberta grocers and other retailers with labelling Canadian products in their stores. In the coming weeks, Alberta’s government will augment these efforts by launching a “Buy Alberta” marketing campaign. Spearheaded by Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson, this campaign will remind Albertans of their options for local food and the importance of supporting Alberta’s agriculture producers and processers.

    “Alberta’s agriculture producers and processers are the best in the world. Although these U.S. tariffs are incredibly concerning, this “Buy Alberta” campaign will put a spotlight on Alberta’s farmers, ranchers and agri-food businesses and support Albertans in choosing goods from right here at home.”

    RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation

    Building on Alberta’s reputation as a leader in removing barriers to trade within Canada, Alberta’s government will continue to push other provinces to match our ambition in providing full labour mobility and eliminating trade barriers through work like mutual recognition of regulations. This will allow for goods, services and labour from other provinces to flow into and out of Alberta without having to undergo additional regulatory assessments.

    “While no one wins in a tariff war, this situation underscores the need to develop Canada’s trade infrastructure and the diversification of our trading partners and could be the catalyst to unlocking Canada’s true potential. As we look at how best to support Albertans and our businesses, we must also work to reduce internal trade and labour mobility barriers while expanding markets for Alberta energy, agricultural and manufactured products into Europe, Asia, the Americas and beyond. Albertans and Canadians are counting on us.”

    Matt Jones, Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade

    Alberta’s government is also focused on doubling oil production. With U.S. tariffs in place on Canadian energy products, Alberta is looking elsewhere for additional pipeline infrastructure, including east and west, in order to get our products to new markets.

    Alberta’s government will continue to engage with elected officials and industry leaders in the U.S. to reverse these tariffs on Canadian goods and energy and rebuild Canada’s relationship with its largest trading partner and ally.   

    Quick facts

    • On March 4, U.S. President Trump implemented a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods and a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy.
    • The U.S. is Alberta’s – and Canada’s – largest trading partner. 
    • Alberta is the second largest provincial exporter to the U.S. after Ontario.
      • In 2024, Alberta’s exports to the U.S. totalled C$162.6 billion, accounting for 88.7 per cent of total provincial exports.
      • Energy products accounted for approximately C$132.8 billion or 82.2 per cent of Alberta’s exports to the U.S. in 2024.
    • About 10 per cent of liquor products in stock in Alberta are imported from the United States.
      • U.S. products represent a small minority of the beer and refreshment beverage categories; however, a significant number of wines originate in the U.S.
      • In 2023-24, about $292 million in U.S. liquor products were sold in Alberta.
    • Alberta has been a longstanding supporter of reducing barriers to trade within Canada. In 2019, the province removed 21 of 27 exceptions, including all procurement exceptions, and narrowed the scope of two others. Since then, the province has only added 2 exceptions, which allow for the management the legalization of cannabis.
      • Removing party-specific exemptions has helped facilitate even greater access to the Alberta market for Canadian companies in the areas of government tenders, Crown land acquisition, liquor, energy and forest products, among others.

    Related information

    • Premier Smith’s speaking notes
    • Response to U.S. tariffs: Premier Smith

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: ACM Research to Participate at the 37th Annual ROTH Conference

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    FREMONT, Calif., March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ACM Research, Inc. (“ACM”) (NASDAQ: ACMR), a leading supplier of wafer processing solutions for semiconductor and advanced packaging applications, today announced its participation in the 37th Annual ROTH Conference in Dana Point, California on Monday, March 17, 2025.

    Management will be available for one-on-one and small group meetings with institutional investors on Monday, March 17, 2025. For more information about the conference or to request a one-on-one meeting, please contact a Roth sales representative.

    About ACM Research, Inc.

    ACM develops, manufactures and sells semiconductor process equipment spanning cleaning, electroplating, stress-free polishing, vertical furnace processes, track, PECVD, and wafer- and panel-level packaging tools, enabling advanced and semi-critical semiconductor device manufacturing. ACM is committed to delivering customized, high-performance, cost-effective process solutions that semiconductor manufacturers can use in numerous manufacturing steps to improve productivity and product yield. For more information, visit www.acmr.com.

    © ACM Research, Inc. The ACM Research logo is a trademark of ACM Research, Inc. For convenience, this trademark appears in this press release without a ™ symbol, but that practice does not mean that ACM will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, its rights to such trademark.

    For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

    In the United States: The Blueshirt Group
    Steven C. Pelayo, CFA
    +1 (360) 808-5154
    steven@blueshirtgroup.co
       
    In China: The Blueshirt Group Asia
    Gary Dvorchak, CFA
    gary@blueshirtgroup.co

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Silvaco Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Achieved record gross bookings of $65.8 million and revenue of $59.7 million in full-year 2024

    Signed 46 new customers in 2024 and expanded relationship with existing customers across key markets including power, automotive, memory, foundry, and display

    Expanded Product Portfolio with the Acquisition of Cadence’s Process Proximity Compensation Product Line

    SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Silvaco Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SVCO) (“Silvaco” or the “Company”), a provider of TCAD, EDA software, and SIP solutions that enable innovative semiconductor design and digital twin modeling through AI software and automation, today announced its fourth quarter and full year 2024 results.

    “We are proud to close out the year with strong momentum and growing customer traction, including 46 new customer wins in 2024 and multiple bookings on our AI based, flagship FTCO platform,” said Dr. Babak Taheri, Silvaco’s Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Taheri continued, “Our first acquisition as a public company marks a significant milestone in executing our M&A strategy for talent, technology and expanding through inorganic growth. With a continued focus on innovation and execution, we are well-positioned to build on this success and drive further growth in 2025 for our EDA and TCAD product lines.”

    Fourth Quarter 2024 and Recent Business Highlights

    • Acquired 13 new customers across key markets including Photonics, Power, Automotive, Memory, and Foundry, which represented approximately 9% of gross bookings for the quarter.
    • Announced a partnership with Micon Global to expand Silvaco’s reach across the EMEA market, leveraging Micon’s expertise to deliver cutting-edge TCAD, EDA, and SIP solutions to new customers.
    • Joined the SMART USA Institute under the CHIPS Manufacturing USA program to advance digital twin technologies in semiconductor manufacturing, reinforcing Silvaco’s leadership in innovation. We received our first booking from this program.
    • Received a $5.0 million follow-on order for FTCO™ digital-twin modeling product from a strategic memory customer. This order extends the footprint of our FTCO™ product line and further validates our strategic focus on this unique technology.
    • Achieved ISO 9001 certification, underscoring Silvaco’s commitment to quality and continuous improvement across its TCAD, EDA, and SIP product portfolio.
    • On March 4, 2025, Silvaco closed the acquisition of the Process Proximity Compensation (PPC) product line from Cadence Design Systems, Inc. The addition, an optical proximity correction suite of tools, is highly complementary to Silvaco’s EDA and TCAD tool suites.

    Full Year 2024 Business Highlights

    • Acquired 46 new customers across key markets including Power, Automotive, Government/Mil-Aero, Photonics, IOT, 5G/6G, Memory, and Foundry, which represented approximately 10% of gross bookings for the year.
    • Expanded Victory TCAD and Digital Twin Modeling Platform to Planar CMOS, FinFET and Advanced CMOS Technologies which is a necessary step to enable FTCO for Advanced Process.
    • Silvaco Announced that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of all claims against Silvaco brought by Aldini AG.
    • Silvaco was added to the Russell 2000®, Russell 3000®, and Russell Microcap® indexes in September 2024.
    • Completed initial public offering in May 2024, raising $106 million net of underwriters’ fees.

    Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Results

    GAAP Financial Results

    • Revenue of $17.9 million, up 43% year-over-year and up 63% quarter-over-quarter.
      • TCAD revenue of $12.7 million, up 65% year-over-year.
      • EDA revenue of $4.2 million, up 57% year-over-year.
      • SIP revenue of $0.9 million, down 57% year-over-year.
    • GAAP gross profit and GAAP gross margin were $15.4 million and 86%, respectively, which includes the impact of $194,000 stock-based compensation expense, $249,000 amortization of acquired intangible assets, and $80,000 payroll taxes from the RSU lockup release, up from $9.8 million and 79% in Q4 2023.
    • GAAP net income of $4.2 million, compared to a GAAP net loss of $2.2 million in Q4 2023.
    • GAAP basic and diluted net income per share of $0.14, compared to GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share of $(0.11) in Q4 2023.
    • As of December 31, 2024, cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $87.5 million.

    Key Operating Indicators and Non-GAAP Financial Results:

    • Gross bookings were $20.3 million, up 30% year-over-year.
    • As of December 31, 2024, the remaining performance obligation balance of $34.3 million, 46% of which is expected to be recognized as revenue in the next 12 months.
    • Non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP gross margin were $16.0 million and 89%, respectively, up from $9.8 million and 79% year-over-year.
    • Non-GAAP net income of $4.3 million, compared to Non-GAAP net loss of $(1.6) million in Q4 2023.
    • Non-GAAP diluted net income per share of $0.15, compared to Non-GAAP diluted net loss per share of $(0.08) in Q4 2023.

    Full Year 2024 Financial Results

    GAAP Financial Results

    • Revenue of $59.7 million, up 10% year-over-year.
      • TCAD revenue of $40.2 million, up 25% year-over-year.
      • EDA revenue of $14.6 million, up 4% year-over-year.
      • SIP revenue of $4.9 million, down 40% year-over-year.
    • GAAP gross profit and GAAP gross margin were $47.6 million and 80%, respectively, which includes the impact of $3.0 million stock-based compensation expense, $747,000 amortization of acquired intangible assets, and $80,000 payroll taxes from the RSU lockup release, up from $44.9 million and down from 83% in 2023.
    • GAAP net loss of $(39.4) million, compared to $(0.3) million in 2023.
    • GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share of $(1.53), compared to $(0.02) in 2023.

    Key Operating Indicators and Non-GAAP Financial Results:

    • Gross bookings were $65.8 million, up 13% year-over-year.
    • Non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP gross margin were $51.4 million and 86%, respectively, up from $44.9 million and 83% year over year.
    • Non-GAAP net income of $6.7 million, compared to $3.4 million in 2023.
    • Non-GAAP diluted net income per share of $0.25, compared to $0.17 in 2023.

    For a discussion of the non-GAAP metrics presented in this press release, as well as a reconciliation of non-GAAP metrics to the nearest comparable GAAP metric, see “Discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliation” in the accompanying tables below.

    Supplementary materials to this press release, including our fourth quarter 2024 financial results, can be found at https://investors.silvaco.com/financial-information/quarterly-results.

    First Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Outlook

    As of March 5, 2025, Silvaco is providing guidance for its first quarter of 2025 and its full-year 2025, which represents Silvaco’s current estimates on its operations and financial results. The financial information below represents forward-looking financial information and in some instances forward-looking, non-GAAP financial information, including estimates of non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating income (loss) and non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share. GAAP gross margin is the most comparable GAAP measure to non-GAAP gross margin, GAAP operating income (loss) is the most comparable GAAP measure to non-GAAP operating income (loss). GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share is the most comparable GAAP measure to non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share. Non-GAAP gross margin differs from GAAP gross margin in that it excludes items such as stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquired intangible assets, and payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release. Non-GAAP operating income (loss) differs from GAAP operating income (loss) in that it excludes items such as acquisition-related estimated litigation claim and legal costs, stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquired intangible assets, payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release, IPO preparation costs, and executive severance costs. Non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share differs from GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share in that it excludes certain costs, including IPO preparation costs, acquisition-related estimated litigation claim and legal costs, stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquired intangible assets, payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release, executive severance costs, change in fair value of contingent consideration, foreign exchange (gain) loss, loss on debt extinguishment, and the income tax effect on non-GAAP items. Silvaco is unable to predict with reasonable certainty the ultimate outcome of these exclusions without unreasonable effort. Therefore, Silvaco has not provided guidance for GAAP gross margin, GAAP operating income or GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share or a reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP gross margin or non-GAAP operating income or non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share guidance to GAAP gross margin or GAAP operating income or GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share, respectively. However, it is important to note that these excluded items could be material to our results computed in accordance with GAAP in future periods.

    Based on current business trends and conditions, the Company expects for first quarter 2025 the following:

    • Gross bookings in the range of $16.0 million to $19.0 million, which would compare to $16.1 million in the first quarter of 2024.
    • Revenue in the range of $14.5 million to $17.0 million, which would compare to $15.9 million in the first quarter of 2024.
    • Non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 84% to 87%, which would compare to 88% in the first quarter of 2024.
    • Non-GAAP operating income in the range of ($1.0) million loss to $1.0 million income, compared to $3.3 million in the first quarter of 2024.
    • Non-GAAP diluted net income per share in the range of ($0.03) loss to $0.03, compared to $0.12 in the first quarter of 2024.

    For full year 2025, the Company expects:

    • Gross bookings in the range of $72.0 million to $79.0 million, which would represent a 9% to 20% increase from $65.8 million in 2024.
    • Revenue in the range of $66.0 million to $72.0 million, which would represent a 11% to 21% increase from $59.7 million in 2024.
    • Non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 84.0% to 89.0%, which would compare to 86% in 2024.
    • Non-GAAP operating income in the range of $2.0 million to $7.0 million, which would compare to $5.5 million in 2024.
    • Non-GAAP diluted net income per share in the range of $0.07 to $0.19, compared to $0.25 in 2024.

    Q4 2024 Conference Call Details

    A press release highlighting the Company’s results along with supplemental financial results will be available at https://investors.silvaco.com/ along with an earnings presentation to accompany management’s prepared remarks on the day of the conference call, after market close. An archived replay of the conference call will be available on this website for a limited time after the call. Participants who want to join the call and ask a question may register for the call here to receive the dial-in numbers and unique PIN.

    Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2025
    Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern time
    Webcast: Here (live and replay)

    About Silvaco

    Silvaco is a provider of TCAD, EDA software, and SIP solutions that enable semiconductor design and digital twin modeling through AI software and innovation. Silvaco’s solutions are used for semiconductor and photonics processes, devices, and systems development across display, power devices, automotive, memory, high performance compute, foundries, photonics, internet of things, and 5G/6G mobile markets for complex SoC design. Silvaco is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and has a global presence with offices located in North America, Europe, Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan.

    Safe Harbor Statement

    This press release contains forward-looking statements based on Silvaco’s current expectations. The words “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “project”, “will”, and similar phrases as they relate to Silvaco are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views and assumptions of Silvaco and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations.

    These forward-looking statements include but are not limited to, statements regarding our future operating results, financial position, and guidance, our business strategy and plans, our objectives for future operations, our development or delivery of new or enhanced products, and anticipated results of those products for our customers, our competitive positioning, projected costs, technological capabilities, and plans, and macroeconomic trends.

    A variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements including, without limitation, the following: (a) market conditions; (b) anticipated trends, challenges and growth in our business and the markets in which we operate; (c) our ability to appropriately respond to changing technologies on a timely and cost-effective basis; (d) the size and growth potential of the markets for our software solutions, and our ability to serve those markets; (e) our expectations regarding competition in our existing and new markets; (f) the level of demand in our customers’ end markets; (g) regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; (h) changes in trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs; (i) proposed new software solutions, services or developments; (j) our ability to attract and retain key management personnel; (k) our customer relationships and our ability to retain and expand our customer relationships; (l) our ability to diversify our customer base and develop relationships in new markets; (m) the strategies, prospects, plans, expectations, and objectives of management for future operations; (n) public health crises, pandemics, and epidemics and their effects on our business and our customers’ businesses; (o) the impact of the current conflicts between Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Hamas and the ongoing trade disputes among the United States and China on our business, financial condition or prospects, including extreme volatility in the global capital markets making debt or equity financing more difficult to obtain, more costly or more dilutive, delays and disruptions of the global supply chains and the business activities of our suppliers, distributors, customers and other business partners; (p) changes in general economic or business conditions or economic or demographic trends in the United States and foreign countries including changes in tariffs, interest rates and inflation; (q) our ability to raise additional capital; (r) our ability to accurately forecast demand for our software solutions; (s) our expectations regarding the outcome of any ongoing litigation; (t) our expectations regarding the period during which we qualify as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act and as a smaller reporting company under the Exchange Act; (u) our expectations regarding our ability to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce intellectual property protection for our technology; (v) our status as a controlled company; (w) our use of the net proceeds from our initial public offering, and (x) our ability to successfully integrate, retain key personnel, and realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisition of Cadence’s PPC product line.

    It is not possible for us to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. Accordingly, you should not rely on any of the forward-looking statements. Additional information relating to the uncertainty affecting the Silvaco’s business is contained in Silvaco’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents are available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Relations section of Silvaco’s website at http://investors.silvaco.com/. These forward-looking statements represent Silvaco’s expectations as of the date of this press release. Subsequent events may cause these expectations to change, and Silvaco disclaims any obligations to update or alter these forward-looking statements in the future, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    Discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    We use certain non-GAAP financial measures to supplement the performance measures in our consolidated financial statements, which are presented in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures include non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating income (loss), non-GAAP net income (loss), and non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share. We use these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision-making and as a mean to assist us in evaluating period-to-period comparisons.

    We define non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP gross margin as our GAAP gross profit and GAAP gross margin adjusted to exclude certain costs, including stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquired intangible assets and payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release. We define non-GAAP operating income (loss), as our GAAP operating income (loss) adjusted to exclude certain costs, including IPO preparation costs, acquisition-related estimated litigation claim and legal costs, stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquired intangible assets, payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release, and executive severance costs. We define non-GAAP net income (loss) as our GAAP net income (loss) adjusted to exclude certain costs, including IPO preparation costs, acquisition-related estimated litigation claim and legal costs, stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquired intangible assets, payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release, executive severance costs, change in fair value of contingent consideration, foreign exchange (gain) loss, loss on debt extinguishment, and the income tax effect on non-GAAP items. Our non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share is calculated in the same way as our non-GAAP net income (loss), but on a per share basis. We monitor non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating income (loss), non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share as non-GAAP financial measures to supplement the financial information we present in accordance with GAAP to provide investors with additional information regarding our financial results.

    Certain items are excluded from our non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating income (loss), non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share because these items are non-cash in nature or are not indicative of our core operating performance and render comparisons with prior periods and competitors less meaningful. We adjust GAAP gross profit, GAAP gross margin, GAAP operating income (loss), GAAP net income (loss), and GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share for these items to arrive at non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating income (loss), non-GAAP net income (loss), and non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share because these amounts can vary substantially from company to company within our industry depending upon accounting methods and book values of assets, capital structure and the method by which the assets were acquired. By excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our recurring core operating results, we believe that non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating income (loss), non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP diluted net income (loss) per share provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance.

    We believe these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors and others because they allow for additional information with respect to financial measures used by management in its financial and operational decision-making and they may be used by our institutional investors and the analyst community to help them analyze our financial performance and the health of our business. However, there are a number of limitations related to the use of non-GAAP financial measures, and these non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for or in isolation from, our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate these non-GAAP financial measures differently or not at all, which reduces their usefulness as comparative measures.

           
    SILVACO GROUP, INC.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (Unaudited, in thousands except share and par value amounts)
      December 31,   December 31,
      2024   2023
           
    ASSETS      
    Current assets:      
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 19,606     $ 4,421  
    Short-term marketable securities   63,071       –  
    Accounts receivable, net   9,211       4,006  
    Contract assets, net   11,932       8,749  
    Prepaid expenses and other current assets   3,460       2,549  
    Deferred transaction costs   –       1,163  
    Total current assets   107,280       20,888  
    Non-current assets:      
    Non-current marketable securities   4,785       –  
    Property and equipment, net   865       591  
    Operating lease right-of-use assets, net   1,711       1,963  
    Intangible assets, net   4,369       342  
    Goodwill   9,026       9,026  
    Non-current portion of contract assets, net   12,611       6,250  
    Other assets   1,698       1,825  
    Total non-current assets   35,065       19,997  
    Total assets $ 142,345     $ 40,885  
           
    Liabilities and stockholders’ equity      
    Current liabilities:      
    Accounts payable $ 3,316     $ 2,495  
    Accrued expenses and other current liabilities   19,801       10,255  
    Accrued income taxes   1,668       1,626  
    Deferred revenue, current   7,497       7,882  
    Operating lease liabilities, current   744       735  
    Related party line of credit   –       2,000  
    Vendor financing obligations, current   1,462       –  
    Total current liabilities   34,488       24,993  
    Non-current liabilities:      
    Deferred revenue, non-current   3,593       5,071  
    Operating lease liabilities, non-current   946       1,198  
    Vendor financing obligations, non-current   2,928       –  
    Other non-current liabilities   307       221  
    Total liabilities   42,262       31,483  
    Commitments and contingencies      
    Stockholders’ equity      
    Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2024; no shares authorized as of December 31, 2023   –       –  
    Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 500,000,000 shares authorized; 28,526,615 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2024; 25,000,000 shares authorized; 20,000,000 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2023   3       2  
    Additional paid-in capital   130,360       –  
    (Accumulated deficit) Retained earnings   (28,012 )     11,392  
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss   (2,268 )     (1,992 )
    Total stockholders’ equity   100,083       9,402  
    Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 142,345     $ 40,885  
           
    SILVACO GROUP, INC.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
    (Unaudited, in thousands except share and per share amounts)
                   
      Three months Ended December 31,   Twelve months Ended December 31,
        2024       2023       2024       2023  
                   
    Revenue:              
    Software license revenue $ 13,870     $ 8,738     $ 43,991     $ 39,331  
    Maintenance and service   3,989       3,748       15,689       14,915  
    Total revenue   17,859       12,486       59,680       54,246  
    Cost of revenue   2,422       2,682       12,042       9,354  
    Gross profit   15,437       9,804       47,638       44,892  
    Operating expenses:              
    Research and development   5,283       3,337       20,740       13,170  
    Selling and marketing   3,983       3,833       18,300       12,707  
    General and administrative   7,529       4,570       37,571       17,881  
    Estimated litigation claim   (3,782 )     –       11,306       –  
    Total operating expenses   13,013       11,740       87,917       43,758  
    Operating (loss) income   2,424       (1,936 )     (40,279 )     1,134  
    Loss on debt extinguishment   –       –       (718 )     –  
    Interest income   1,077       2       2,976       6  
    Interest and other expenses, net   (67 )     (95 )     (899 )     (630 )
    (Loss) income before income tax provision   3,434       (2,029 )     (38,920 )     510  
    Income tax provision (benefit)   (723 )     218       484       826  
    Net (loss) income $ 4,157     $ (2,247 )   $ (39,404 )   $ (316 )
    (Loss) earnings per share attributable to common stockholders:              
    Basic and diluted $ 0.14     $ (0.11 )   $ (1.53 )   $ (0.02 )
    Weighted average shares used in computing per share amounts:              
    Basic and diluted   28,734,082       20,000,000       25,672,845       20,000,000  
                   
    SILVACO GROUP, INC.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
    (Unaudited, in thousands)
      Year Ended December 31
        2024       2023  
    Cash flows from operating activities:      
    Net loss $ (39,404 )   $ (316 )
    Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash (used in) provided by operating activities:      
    Depreciation and amortization   1,285       601  
    Stock-based compensation expense   26,915       –  
    Provision for credit losses   351       220  
    Accretion of discount on marketable securities, net   (1,685 )     –  
    Estimated litigation claim   11,306       –  
    Loss on debt extinguishment   718       –  
    Change in fair value of contingent consideration   (27 )     325  
    Changes in operating assets and liabilities:      
    Accounts receivable   (5,971 )     1,378  
    Contract assets   (10,293 )     (5,208 )
    Prepaid expense and other current assets   (790 )     133  
    Other assets   57       (267 )
    Accounts payable   1,326       156  
    Accrued expenses and other current liabilities   (2,160 )     2,015  
    Accrued income taxes   74       (23 )
    Deferred revenue   (1,585 )     2,268  
    Other non-current liabilities   109       (102 )
    Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities   (19,774 )     1,180  
    Cash flows from investing activities:      
    Purchases of marketable securities   (99,630 )     –  
    Maturities of marketable securities   33,600       –  
    Purchases of property and equipment   (505 )     (339 )
    Net cash used in investing activities   (66,535 )     (339 )
    Cash flows from financing activities:      
    Proceeds from initial public offering, net of underwriting fees   106,020       –  
    Proceeds from issuance of convertible note, net of debt issuance costs   4,852       –  
    Proceeds from loan facility   4,250       –  
    Repayment of loan facility   (4,250 )     –  
    Proceeds from related party line of credit   –       1,000  
    Repayment of related party line of credit   (2,000 )     (1,000 )
    Proceeds from issuance of common stock for share-based awards   315       –  
    Payroll taxes related to shares withheld from employees   (4,575 )     –  
    Deferred transaction costs   (2,649 )     (650 )
    Contingent consideration   (74 )     (1,002 )
    Payments of vendor financing obligation   (588 )     –  
    Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities   101,301       (1,652 )
    Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash and cash equivalents   193       (246 )
    Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents   15,185       (1,057 )
    Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period   4,421       5,478  
    Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 19,606     $ 4,421  
           
    SILVACO GROUP, INC.
    REVENUE
    (Unaudited)
                             
        2023   2024
        Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Year   Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Year
    Revenue by Region:                        
    Americas   35 % 29 % 31 % 29 % 31 %   27 % 51 % 31 % 40 % 38 %
    APAC   51 % 62 % 61 % 63 % 59 %   62 % 41 % 58 % 52 % 53 %
    EMEA   14 % 9 % 8 % 8 % 10 %   11 % 8 % 11 % 8 % 9 %
    Total revenue   100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %   100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %
                             
    Revenue by Product Line:                        
    TCAD   62 % 62 % 52 % 62 % 59 %   66 % 69 % 59 % 71 % 68 %
    EDA   29 % 20 % 31 % 22 % 26 %   30 % 20 % 24 % 24 % 24 %
    SIP   9 % 18 % 17 % 16 % 15 %   4 % 11 % 17 % 5 % 8 %
    Total revenue   100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %   100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %
                             
    Revenue Item Category:                        
    Software license revenue   75 % 71 % 74 % 70 % 73 %   77 % 74 % 62 % 78 % 74 %
    Maintenance and service   25 % 29 % 26 % 30 % 27 %   23 % 26 % 38 % 22 % 26 %
    Total revenue   100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %   100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %
                             
    Revenue by Country:                        
    United States   34 % 28 % 28 % 28 % 30 %   51 % 30 % 39 % 39 % 37 %
    China   19 % 29 % 16 % 29 % 23 %   17 % 25 % 23 % 23 % 18 %
    Other   47 % 43 % 56 % 43 % 47 %   32 % 45 % 38 % 38 % 45 %
    Total revenue   100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %   100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %
    SILVACO GROUP, INC.
    GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliation
    (Unaudited, in thousands except per share amounts)
                   
      Three Months Ended   Twelve Months Ended
      12/31/2024   12/31/2023   12/31/2024   12/31/2023
                   
    GAAP Cost of revenue $ 2,422     $ 2,682     $ 12,042     $ 9,354  
    Less: Stock-based compensation expense   (194 )     –       (2,974 )     –  
    Less: Amortization of acquired intangible assets   (249 )     –       (747 )     –  
    Less: Payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release   (80 )     –       (80 )     –  
    Non-GAAP Cost of revenue $ 1,899     $ 2,682     $ 8,241     $ 9,354  
    GAAP Gross profit $ 15,437     $ 9,804     $ 47,638     $ 44,892  
    Add: Stock-based compensation expense   194       –       2,974       –  
    Add: Amortization of acquired intangible assets   249       –       747       –  
    Add: Payroll tax from the IPO lockup release   80       –       80       –  
    Non-GAAP Gross profit $ 15,960     $ 9,804     $ 51,439     $ 44,892  
    GAAP Research and development $ 5,283     $ 3,337     $ 20,740     $ 13,170  
    Less: Stock-based compensation expense   (535 )     –       (5,091 )     –  
    Less: Executive severance   (215 )     –       (215 )     –  
    Less: Payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release   (397 )     –       (397 )     –  
    Less: Amortization of acquired intangible assets   (43 )     (82 )     (206 )     (339 )
    Non-GAAP Research and development $ 4,093     $ 3,255     $ 14,831     $ 12,831  
    GAAP Sales and marketing $ 3,983     $ 3,833     $ 18,300     $ 12,707  
    Less: Stock-based compensation expense   (388 )     –       (4,319 )     –  
    Less: Payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release   (85 )     –       (85 )     –  
    Less: IPO preparation costs   –       –       (178 )     –  
    Non-GAAP Sales and marketing $ 3,510     $ 3,833     $ 13,718     $ 12,707  
    GAAP General and administrative $ 7,529     $ 4,570     $ 37,571     $ 17,881  
    Less: Stock-based compensation expense   (1,410 )     –       (14,531 )     –  
    Less: Acquisition-related estimated litigation claim and legal costs   (523 )     (515 )     (4,629 )     (1,707 )
    Less: Executive severance   (200 )     –       (200 )     –  
    Less: Payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release   (163 )     –       (163 )     –  
    Less: IPO preparation costs   –       (45 )     (695 )     (1,221 )
    Non-GAAP General and administrative $ 5,233     $ 4,010     $ 17,353     $ 14,953  
    GAAP Estimated Litigation claim $ (3,782 )   $ –     $ 11,306     $ –  
    Add (Less): Acquisition-related estimated litigation claim and legal costs   3,782       –       (11,306 )     –  
    Non-GAAP Litigation claim $ –     $ –     $ –     $ –  
    GAAP Operating expenses $ 13,013     $ 11,740     $ 87,917     $ 43,758  
    Less: Stock-based compensation expense   (2,333 )     –       (23,941 )     –  
    Less: Acquisition-related estimated litigation claim and legal costs   3,259       (515 )     (15,935 )     (1,707 )
    Less: Executive severance   (415 )     –       (415 )     –  
    Less: Payroll tax from the IPO lock-up release   (645 )     –       (645 )     –  
    Less: IPO preparation costs   –       (45 )     (873 )     (1,221 )
    Less: Amortization of acquired intangible assets   (43 )     (82 )     (206 )     (339 )
    Non-GAAP Operating expenses $ 12,836     $ 11,098     $ 45,902     $ 40,491  
    GAAP Operating (loss) income $ 2,424     $ (1,936 )   $ (40,279 )   $ 1,134  
    Add: Stock-based compensation expense   2,527       –       26,915       –  
    Add (Less): Acquisition-related estimated litigation claim and legal costs   (3,259 )     515       15,935       1,707  
    Add: Payroll tax from the IPO lockup release   725       –       725       –  
    Add: Executive severance   415       –       415       –  
    Add: IPO preparation costs   –       45       873       1,221  
    Add: Amortization of acquired intangible assets   292       82       953       339  
    Non-GAAP Operating (loss) income $ 3,124     $ (1,294 )   $ 5,537     $ 4,401  
    GAAP Net (loss) income $ 4,157     $ (2,247 )   $ (39,404 )   $ (316 )
    Add: Stock-based compensation expense   2,527       –       26,915       –  
    Add: Amortization of acquired intangible assets   292       82       953       339  
    Add (Less): Acquisition-related estimated litigation claim and legal costs   (3,259 )     515       15,935       1,707  
    Add: Payroll tax from the IPO lockup release   725       –       725       –  
    Add: Executive Severance   415       –       415       –  
    Add: IPO preparation costs   –       45       873       1,221  
    Add: Loss on debt extinguishment   –       –       718       –  
    Add (Less): Change in fair value of contingent consideration   (9 )     (7 )     (27 )     325  
    Add (Less): Foreign exchange (gain) loss   (14 )     (3 )     404       335  
    Add: Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustment   (566 )     (27 )     (831 )     (169 )
    Non-GAAP Net (loss) income $ 4,268     $ (1,642 )   $ 6,676     $ 3,442  
    GAAP Net income (loss) per share:              
    Basic and diluted: $ 0.14     $ (0.11 )   $ (1.53 )   $ (0.02 )
    Non-GAAP Net income (loss) per share:              
    Basic $ 0.15     $ (0.08 )   $ 0.26     $ 0.17  
    Diluted $ 0.15     $ (0.08 )   $ 0.25     $ 0.17  
    Weighted average shares used in GAAP and non-GAAP net income (loss) per share:              
    Basic   28,734,082       20,000,000       25,672,845       20,000,000  
    Diluted   28,849,041       20,000,000       26,841,901       20,000,000  
                   

    Investor Contact:
    Greg McNiff
    investors@silvaco.com

    Media Contact:
    Farhad Hayat
    press@silvaco.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ending US birthright citizenship could have consequences for LGBTQ+ couples, lower-income parents and the surrogacy market

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Ashley Mantha-Hollands, Max Weber Fellow, Max Weber Programme for Postdoctoral Studies, European University Institute

    The first month of US President Donald Trump’s second term saw an onslaught of executive orders. The order aiming to change how birthright citizenship – the constitutional guarantee of citizenship to most children born within US territory – is granted could be the most consequential. Federal judges in Maryland, Washington state, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have issued nationwide injunctions against the order, and the San Francisco-based US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the Trump administration’s appeal.

    To date, most media outlets, civil and human rights organisations, and activist groups have expressed concern about how a change to birthright citizenship would impact undocumented people and their children. However, a change could also have a series of further consequences, particularly for children of LGBTQ+ couples and children born through assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as surrogacy.

    There are at least three related outcomes to consider: tension between federal and state definitions of parentage, a heightened administrative burden for establishing proof of citizenship, and the potential harm to what is the world’s largest surrogacy market.

    Who are the parents? Not so simple

    In countries where children obtain citizenship based on the citizenship of their parents, the legal parameters of the family are of utmost importance. For this reason, countries often provide specific definitions of who “counts” as a parent. In the US, this responsibility falls to the states, which provide their own definitions. One common practice is known as the “parturient” rule, which holds that the person giving birth is the legal “mother” and her spouse the legal “father”. This practice is increasingly contested. With the rise of ART and, in particular, surrogacy, the person giving birth is not always the intended parent. In fact, at least 14 US states have recognized that the parturient rule does not encompass many types of family arrangements and have altered their administrative frameworks so that “intended parents” can be immediately placed on birth certificates.

    While the establishment of parentage occurs at the state level, establishing citizenship is a federal responsibility. As a result, the federal government also provides its own legal definition of parenthood. This definition includes the following family roles: a genetic parent, a non-genetic gestational parent, a non-genetic and non-gestational spouse of a genetic and/or gestational parent, and parents of an adopted child. By contrast, the definitions in Trump’s executive order would spark a return to traditional heteronormative definitions of parentage. The mother is defined as “the immediate female biological progenitor” and the father as “the immediate male biological progenitor”. Such definitions leave out not only most LGBTQ+ couples, but also some families seeking ART, because children born through these modalities may not be biologically related to the intended parents.

    If the order comes into force, it would result in a mismatch between federal and state definitions of parentage and likely invite many legal disputes, while leaving some children born through ART at risk of statelessness if their parents are unrecognized as such. Citizenship is vital to an individual’s personal security: stateless children can, in some cases, be separated from their intended parents. Moreover, without a legal status, children and their families cannot benefit from the full range of federal and state services, including access to the child welfare system, funding opportunities for higher education and health care. For example, according to officials in 24 states, children would lose benefits from the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which all US-born babies are currently eligible to receive.

    The bureaucratic burden

    The administrative burden of citizenship recognition for newborns is another overlooked issue in discussions about Trump’s order. In most cases, a birth certificate from a US state is sufficient to prove one’s citizenship status. After a child is born, hospitals normally transmit birth-certified information to the local municipality. The child’s birth certificate is then issued three-to-five business days later. The certificate suffices for recognition of citizenship and for federal documentation such as a passport.

    The executive order would increase the administrative burden for recognising citizenship. It is unclear, however, whether this burden would fall on the states or the federal government.

    In the first scenario, state bureaucracies would need to check the parents’ immigration status prior to issuing a birth certificate. This would undoubtedly cause confusion, as each state would need to provide new guidance and training to local bureaucrats on the medley of US immigration statuses and their attendant rights. The processing times for issuing birth certificates would increase, as verification procedures would require additional documentation. The fees for issuing certificates, currently between $7 and $35, would likely rise as well, since bureaucrats would need to investigate each birth rather than issue certificates automatically.

    If the administrative burden falls on the federal government, birth certificates would be issued in the same way and at the same cost by the states, but they would no longer be sufficient to prove a child’s citizenship. In this case, the government would need to issue citizenship certificates, which are normally reserved for proof of citizenship for children born abroad. Each case would require an individual investigation rather than being automatic, and while it’s hard to say how much fees could rise, current fees for citizenship certificates for children born abroad are north of $1,300. The processing of passport applications would take longer and likely be more costly, too, because a system to verify the immigration status of a child’s parents will need to be set up.

    In 2012, the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) released a report that outlined the potential impacts of ending the current approach to birthright citizenship. The report estimates, based on the costs of US citizenship certificates for children born abroad, that changing the existing law – which Trump’s order seeks to reinterpret – would cost parents “approximately $600 in government fees to prove the citizenship status of each baby and likely an additional $600 to $1,000 in legal fees”. The report describes these costs as a “tax” on “each baby born in the United States”.

    Alternately, the US could establish a new national ID card system, but this would also have bureaucratic costs. This type of ID card is common in European countries: with some variation between systems, cards can be used for travel within the EU (as an alternative to a passport) and are generally used to prove citizenship status to vote or receive certain social services. But unlike in the European states that issue these cards, the US government has no registry of vital records and would need a new administrative structure to create one. When the UK government discussed such a system in 2007, its total cost was estimated to be at least 5.75 billion pounds.

    The NFAP report mentions the federal systems that rely on the current practice of state-administered birth certificates and automatic citizenship to function. These systems include the Social Security Administration, which handles retirement, disability and family benefits, and the E-Verify system, which determines whether a person has authorisation to work in the US. The report states that systems such as E-Verify “have cost the American taxpayer billions of dollars. There is no reason to believe that a change to the Citizenship Clause requiring the verification of parents’ immigration status would be any less expensive.”

    Costs to the US surrogacy market

    The US surrogacy industry is the largest in the world. It is valued at over $20 billion (and is expected to grow to $195 billion by 2034), and attracts families from European and Asian countries where surrogacy is not as prevalent or is illegal. An important factor in the size of this market is the attractive environment for surrogacy arrangements. First, surrogacy is relatively mainstreamed in the US, and there are many companies that help with finding donors, surrogates and with navigating the legal process. Second, intended parents have the security of knowing their children will have immediate access to travel documents, such as a US passport, after birth. If a new definition of parentage goes into effect, thus removing the guarantee of US citizenship, the status of children born through surrogacy could be at risk. The attractiveness of the US surrogacy market would likely suffer, because parents would face time-consuming and costly steps to secure status and immigration documents to allow travel between the US and their home country.

    An unclear fate

    The approach to parenthood in the executive order on birthright citizenship aligns with the Trump administration’s overall push toward pronatalism and traditional heterosexual family models. Trump has also signed another executive order expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) for “longing mothers and fathers”. The definition of parentage in this order also leaves out same-sex couples, who often receive IVF treatments.

    The fate of the birthright citizenship order is unclear, and it will likely end up reaching the Supreme Court. Legal debates must include the constitutionality of denying automatic citizenship to US-born children, the effect on children born via assisted reproductive technologies, and the bureaucratic and financial burdens placed on states and parents. While an end to birthright citizenship would immediately affect the children of undocumented people, taking a step back reveals other consequences that could impact the broader US public for generations to come.

    Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.

    – ref. Ending US birthright citizenship could have consequences for LGBTQ+ couples, lower-income parents and the surrogacy market – https://theconversation.com/ending-us-birthright-citizenship-could-have-consequences-for-lgbtq-couples-lower-income-parents-and-the-surrogacy-market-250846

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Security: ROK, USFK, CNFK Embark USS Carl Vinson, Exploring Operations and Capabilities

    Source: United States Navy (Fleet Command)

    by Ensign Rachael Jones

    03 March 2025

    AT SEA —

    Gen. Xavier T. Brunson, Commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and U.S. Forces Korea, ROK Navy Rear Adm. Kim Jihoon, Deputy Commander of Republic of Korea Fleet, and other guests, met with Rear Adm. Michael Wosje, commander, CSG-1, spoke to subject matter experts about carrier operations on the bridge and observed flight operations from the flight deck.

    General Brunson emphasized the carrier strike group’s capabilities and shared his thoughts on the critical role these forces play in maintaining regional security and a free and open Indo-Pacific. He also emphasized how they directly support USFK’s mission in the region.

    “The Carl Vinson’s carrier strike group operations demonstrate our commitment to bolster the defense of allies and partners and strengthen our ability to ‘fight tonight and win.’ This visit, especially when coupled with realistic all domain, joint and combined training, increases interoperability and ensures we build the readiness posture to deter aggression and maintain stability in the Republic of Korea and the region,” Brunson said. “The Carl Vinson’s presence here not only underscores the importance of both the maritime and air domains but also reaffirms our commitment to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific by integrating these unique capabilities into our comprehensive all-domain approach.”

    The group observed flight operations and discussed how to enhance capabilities of future combined operations between ROK and U.S. Navy. Rear Adm. Kim’s visit aboard Carl Vinson highlighted the partnership and collaboration between the U.S. and ROK and demonstrated the U.S. commitment to security and stability in the region.

    “Deployment of the carrier strike group to the Korean peninsula is evidence that shows the determined willingness and executive ability for a robust combined defense posture of the Republic of Korea,” said Rear Adm. Kim.

    USFK’s mission is to deter aggression, and if necessary, defend the ROK to maintain stability in Northeast Asia.

    “Bringing senior U.S. and ROK leadership out to Vinson is an opportunity to showcase the strength, capability and lethality of a carrier strike group,” said Rear Adm. Neil Koprowski, commander, CNFK. “This visit reinforces our ironclad commitment to the ROK-U.S. alliance, supporting stability and security in the region.”

    CNFK is the U.S. Navy’s representative in the ROK. It provides leadership and expertise in naval matters that support the mission of USFK. CNFK works closely with the ROK Navy to improve institutional and operational effectiveness and to strengthen collective security efforts in the Korean Theater.

    The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group consists of USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), embarked staffs of Carrier Strike Group ONE and Destroyer Squadron ONE, Carrier Air Wing Two, Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett (DDG 104) and USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110). Carrier Air Wing Two is composed of nine squadrons flying the F-35C Lightning II, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growler, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, CMV-22 Osprey and MH-60R/S Seahawks.

    The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

    For more news from CSG-1 and Carl Vinson visit: https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/CSG1, https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/CVN70

    MIL Security OSI –