NewzIntel.com

Category: Australia

  • MIL-Evening Report: The ‘best comet of the year’ is finally here – here’s everything you need to know

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland

    AstroStar/Shutterstock

    In January 2023, a new comet was discovered. Comets are found regularly, but astronomers quickly realised this one, called C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), had the potential to be quite bright.

    Some hyperbolic reports have suggested it might be the “comet of the century”, but any astronomer will tell you the brightness of comets is notoriously hard to predict. As I explained last year, we’d have to wait until it arrived to be sure how bright it would become.

    Now, the time has come. Comet C/2023 A3 is currently visible with the naked eye in the morning sky in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with its best yet to come in the next few weeks. And it does look promising. It’s unlikely to be the comet of the decade (never mind the comet of the century), but it will almost certainly become the best comet of the year.

    So where, and when, should you look to get your best views of this celestial visitor?

    A show in the morning, before sunrise

    At the moment, comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is a morning object, rising around an hour and a half before sunrise. It is visible to the naked eye, but not yet spectacular. However, with binoculars you can easily see the comet’s dusty tail pointing away from the Sun.

    The comet will remain at about the same altitude in the morning sky until around September 30. It will then get closer to the horizon on each consecutive morning until it’s lost in the glare of the approaching dawn by October 6 or 7.

    If you want to spot the comet in the morning sky, look east. The sliders below will help you orient yourself and choose the best time to look, depending on your latitude.

    During this period, the comet should slowly brighten. It reaches its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) on September 27, when it will be 58 million kilometres from our star.

    As it swings around the Sun, it will continue to approach Earth, and so should continue to brighten. The best show in the morning sky will likely be during the last couple of days of September and the first few days in October, before the comet is lost to view.

    A potential daylight comet

    Thanks to pure good fortune, comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) will then pass almost directly between Earth and the Sun on October 9 and 10.

    This could cause a spectacular brightening of the comet, thanks to “forward scattering” caused by its dust. Imagine looking towards a bright light source through a cloud of dust grains. The grains nearest to the light source will scatter light from the source back towards you.

    As the comet swings between Earth and the Sun, it will be perfectly placed for this forward scattering process to occur. If the comet is particularly dusty, this could cause its apparent brightness to increase by up to 100 times.

    If it does, there’s a small chance the comet could briefly become visible in the daylight sky on October 9 and 10.

    However, it will be very close to the Sun in the sky, and incredibly hard to spot. Only the most experienced observers may be able to detect the comet at this time, and it requires a special technique. Do not try to stare at the Sun to see it.

    The best show could be after October 12

    After swinging between Earth and the Sun, the comet will appear in the evening sky. It will rapidly climb in the western sky, and should be a bright, naked-eye object for a few days from October 12. The sliders below will give you a sense of where to look.

    For the first few days of this period, the comet will still benefit from the forward scattering of sunlight, but this will decrease as it moves away.

    What about the tail?

    The positioning of the comet, Earth and the Sun in the Solar System means the comet’s tail will be streaming outwards, past our planet. This means it could grow to prodigious lengths in the night sky.

    The bulk of that tail will likely be too dim to see easily with the naked eye, but it could be a fantastic spectacle for photographers. Expect to see a wealth of comet images flooding the internet around the middle of October.

    As the days pass and the comet climbs higher, it will fade quite rapidly. It will likely become too faint to see with the naked eye, even for seasoned and experienced observers, before the end of October.

    At that point, the show will be over. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) will continue to flee the inner Solar System, moving into the icy depths of space, never to return.

    How reliable are the predictions?

    At the moment, the comet is already bright enough to consider it the “comet of the year”, outshining comet 12P/Pons-Brooks from earlier this year.

    But remember the classic saying – comets are like cats. They have tails and will often surprise us. For now, comet C/2023 A3 is behaving itself. It’s brightening predictably, and putting on a good show.

    But comets that approach this closely to the Sun often fragment. This is impossible to predict, and far from guaranteed. If the comet did break up, it could become even more spectacular because of all the dust and gas it would release.

    The opposite could still happen, too. The comet could fail to brighten as much as we expect, although that seems unlikely at this stage.

    Whatever happens, we’re in for a fascinating few weeks of comet watching. Hopefully, a real spectacle awaits us.

    Jonti Horner 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. The ‘best comet of the year’ is finally here – here’s everything you need to know – https://theconversation.com/the-best-comet-of-the-year-is-finally-here-heres-everything-you-need-to-know-239300

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: In a too-close-to-call US presidential election, will ‘couch-sitters’ decide who wins?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Bleich, Professorial fellow, Jeff Bleich Centre for Democracy and Disruptive Technologies, Flinders University

    In countries with compulsory voting, such as Australia and many in Latin America, the system usually ensures an overwhelming majority of voters cast their ballots election after election.

    In the United States, it’s a very different story. Two-thirds of eligible voters turned out to vote in the 2020 presidential election – the highest rate since 1900. Turnout in presidential elections before 2020 tended to hover between 50% and 65%.

    Often, it’s the voters choosing to stay home on the couch who effectively decide an election’s outcome.

    Under the United States’ unusual Electoral College presidential voting system, the candidate who wins the most votes nationally does not necessarily win the election. Twice in the past 25 years, Democrats have won the popular vote in the presidential race and still lost the election. That includes Donald Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton in 2016.

    As such, victory depends on getting more voters “off the couch” in key battleground states where the decisive Electoral College votes are up for grabs. In those states, it doesn’t matter what percentage of people show up to vote, or how much a candidate wins by, it is winner take all.

    A voter who doesn’t vote, therefore, actually makes an active choice — they remove a vote from the candidate they would have likely chosen, and so give an important advantage to the person they would not have voted for.

    The “couch” is effectively where Americans go to vote against their self-interest.

    Who is more incentivised to vote?

    As this year’s presidential election between Trump and Kamala Harris approaches, we ask a simple question: whose “couch” will decide one of the most consequential elections in living memory?

    Recent research demonstrates that partisanship is an important driver of voter choice in presidential elections.

    The fact that the US is deeply divided is not news to most, but current survey data show how evenly split along partisan lines it actually is. With about 30% of Americans identifying as a Republican and 30% identifying as a Democrat, there is virtually no difference in the total number of voters who support each major party.

    The remaining 40% of Americans identify as “independent” – that is, not loyal to either major political party. Almost seven decades of research on the American voter shows, however, that independents heavily “lean” towards one party or the other, with about half leaning Republican and the other half leaning Democrat.

    One possible insight into which group has greater incentive to vote is polling on people’s dissatisfaction with their party’s candidate.

    According to the most recent Gallup Poll data, 9% of Republicans currently have an unfavourable opinion of Trump. In contrast, only 5% of Democrats have an unfavourable opinion of Harris.

    Partisan voters who are dissatisfied with their party candidate have a massive incentive to “stay on the couch” and refrain from voting. They don’t really want to vote for “the other team”, but they can’t stand their own team anymore either.

    For example, Republican women in the suburbs, veterans and traditional Republicans have started to abandon Trump over his stances on reproductive rights and national security, and his temperament. The Trump campaign clearly knows this. At a rally in New York a few days ago, he told attendees to “get your fat ass out of the couch” to go vote for him.

    Should these disaffected Republican and Republican-leaning voters stay home on November 5, Harris may well have a decisive edge over Trump.

    When the couch wins, America loses

    In 2016, Trump defied the polls and traditional voter turn-out trends by convincing some disaffected, working-class Democrats to stay on the couch, vote for an unelectable third party candidate or, in some cases, vote for him.

    Could this happen again? Or will Democrats be able to reverse this phenomenon by getting exhausted Republicans suffering Trump fatigue to stay home, while motivating everyone from Taylor Swift fans to “never Trumpers” to veterans of foreign wars to get out to vote.

    Recent trends suggest overall turnout will be comparatively high, in line with the past three federal US elections.

    Democrats have traditionally benefited from higher voter turn-out, but it is not as clear this is still the case in 2024. Recent research shows higher turnout rates seem to have favoured the Republican Party since 2016.

    Yet both parties still have significant numbers of people who don’t vote. According to the Pew Research Center, 46% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents didn’t vote in the past three elections (2018, 2020 and 2022), compared to the 41% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents.

    So again, who sits on the couch matters. Inevitably, many of those who stay home will get precisely what they don’t want. When the couch wins, America loses.

    Jeff Bleich is a former US ambassador to Australia and a member of the National Security Leaders for America, a group of 700 former generals, admirals, service secretaries, ambassadors, and other national security professionals, that has endorsed Kamala Harris in the presidential election. He was also special counsel to President Barack Obama and served as chair of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board under President Donald Trump and as a member of President Joe Biden’s (non-partisan) National Security Education Board.

    Rodrigo Praino receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Government Department of Defence, and SmartSat CRC.

    – ref. In a too-close-to-call US presidential election, will ‘couch-sitters’ decide who wins? – https://theconversation.com/in-a-too-close-to-call-us-presidential-election-will-couch-sitters-decide-who-wins-239394

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: United Kingdom

    Source: Australia Safe Travel Advisories

    We’ve reviewed our travel advice for the United Kingdom and continue to advise exercise a high degree of caution due to the threat of terrorism. The UK is introducing an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme in January 2025. From 8 January 2025, Australians visiting the UK, who do not need a visa for short stays or who do not have any other UK immigration status will need an ETA to travel to or transit through the UK (see ‘Travel’).

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Doorstop – Launceston

    Source: Australian Executive Government Ministers

    ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s fantastic to be here with the Premier of Tasmania, Jeremy Rockliff, with my Education Minister, Jason Clare, with Senator Helen Polley and with Deputy Premier, Michael Ferguson here this morning. And this is a big day for the Commonwealth and a big day for Tasmania. The two services that are most important to people’s lives are health and education. And today, we have some fantastic announcements on both. First of all, it’s great to be here at Launceston General Hospital. I do want to thank the administration and the staff, the doctors, the nurses, the volunteers who’ve shown us around here this morning. It’s been a great privilege, and I do want to take the opportunity to thank them for the difference that they make to people’s lives here in Northern Tasmania. But I want to say that it’s a good day for them too, it’s a good day, most importantly, for the people of Northern Tasmania. Because this announcement today of $120 million from the Federal Government for a Northern Heart Centre will make an enormous difference. People in Northern Tasmania should not have to cross the Bass Strait to the North Island in order to get the health care that they deserve. They should get it here in their local community and this Northern Heart Centre, which is well advanced in terms of its planning, will make an enormous difference for research. Most importantly, to be able to get that early detection and early care here, so that if you avoid a traumatic incident, then you actually save money as well as saving lives. And that’s why I’ve been talking with the Premier about the importance of this. This will mean more beds and less pressure on the hospital’s Emergency Department. The Centre will have its own dedicated lab that can diagnose and treat various heart conditions, allowing patients to bypass the Emergency Department with its own access to the intensive care unit and medical imaging. That will make an enormous difference here in Northern Tasmania. And I’m very proud that this is a part of my Government’s commitment to strengthening Medicare and providing better healthcare for all Australians, regardless of where they live. Further today I can announce that my Government and the Tasmanian Government have signed a historic agreement that means all Tasmanian public schools will be fully and fairly funded. We promised we would fully fund schools in Tasmania and today we deliver. Tasmania is the third state now after Northern Territory and Western Australia to sign up. The Commonwealth has $16 billion on the table to make sure that every school can reach that designation of fair funding that was first put forward by Gonski, by David Gonski, in his Review. The other thing that it will do of course, is the nature of education as well. Because we want to make sure it’s not just about dollars, it’s about how education is delivered. And the signing up of this agreement will make sure that the priorities that parents talk about, making sure that the basics are looked after, make sure that we lift literacy and numeracy right across Tasmania, but right across the country, is what we want to see. We want to make sure that if a child falls behind that a school is in a position to be able to lift them up. Simple as that. During the election campaign in 2022, I spoke about no one being left behind and no one held back. And that’s what education and health are at the centre of. Making sure that no one’s left behind. Every child has the opportunity to fulfil their potential, but also making sure that people are looked after in terms of their healthcare. So, this is a really exciting day and it’s a good day. And I do want to thank Jeremy for the relationship that we have, in spite of the fact we’re from different political parties, we’re just concerned about getting things done. And that’s what this is about today. Getting things done in the interests of Northern Tasmanians when it comes to healthcare and getting things done on behalf of all younger Australians, Tasmanians and their families, importantly going forward as well. So, I want to thank Jason Clare as well for the extraordinary work that he has done. Mark Butler, our Health Minister has worked hard on this as well, and that is a very good thing that we’ve been able to achieve this today. I’ll hand over to Jeremy, I will then hand to Jason Clare, the Education Minister, and then I’m happy to take some questions and I’m sure that Jeremy will as well. And then we have some document signing that we’re going to do to fulfil this delivery that we’re announcing today.

    JEREMY ROCKLIFF, PREMIER OF TASMANIA: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. And it’s great to be here with the Deputy Premier, Michael Ferguson, Federal Minister for Education, Jason Clare and Senator Helen Polley. Thank you Fiona, for your commitment and passion to healthcare across the North. As Chief Executive of the Launceston General Hospital, can I say to you a big thanks to all the people that you work with on a daily basis. From administration to the healthcare professionals, to the volunteers that make up this wonderful institution, the Launceston General Hospital, delivering healthcare for many, many thousands of Tasmanians across north and north west Tasmania. This is a great day for healthcare. This is a great day for our schools, education and public investment in education. And I want to thank the Prime Minister for the great collaboration that we have had over the course of the last couple of years. It’s not the first time I’ve stood alongside the Prime Minister when it comes to announcing key partnerships in health. Whether that be GP recruitment, whether that be Urgent Care Clinics. It’s not the first time, of course – we’ve also got partnerships when it comes to urban renewal projects as well. And so what Tasmanians expect is their federal and state governments to work together in the very best interests of them and in this case the best interests served in healthcare and indeed our schools across Tasmania. We made a very clear commitment at the last election that we will deliver a $120 million Heart Centre and that is exactly what will be delivered at this site over the course of the next few years. That commitment has been realised through the strong collaboration and working relationship with the Federal and State Governments. A $120 million commitment from the Federal Government. And can I say Prime Minister, thank you to you, to Mark Butler – who I worked with very closely as Health Minister for a number of years – but also on behalf of all Tasmanians that will of course be cared for through this facility. Northern and north western Tasmania have the highest rates of cardiovascular disease in the country. This is why this investment is so critical and the partnership will endure. The partnership of capital investment from the Federal Government and of course the operational investment from the Tasmanian Government means that this will be delivered. It will be delivered by 2029 and will be servicing Tasmanians, particularly Northern Tasmanians, for many, many decades to come. Can I also pay tribute to Jason Clare, the Federal Minister for Education, and of course our State Minister for Education, Jo Palmer, who would be here if it wasn’t for Budget Estimates in southern Tasmania. I know Jason and Jo have worked very closely in securing this Agreement on behalf of families across Tasmania, our students, of course, in public schools. There is no better investment in productivity and wellbeing than education. And having been Education Minister for seven years, I can well and truly appreciate the need for fair funding when it comes to our public schools, particularly our schools of disadvantage across the country and indeed in Tasmania. That’s why I was very proud to be part of the Gonski Two Agreement as Education Minister, where you apply that fair funding model to support students across our public school environment. What this will mean is an additional $300 million into our public schools over the course of the next five years, focusing on early intervention when it comes to numeracy and literacy, focusing on students well being as well. And when students have good wellbeing, they have a very strong learning environment as well. And so we are committed as a Tasmanian Government, in partnership with the Federal Government, to deliver significant uplift in funding for our public schools over the next five years or sooner. So, thank you for working with us, Prime Minister and Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare. It is a great example of federal and state governments working together. At the end of the day, what Tasmanians care about is good quality services and what they want to see is cooperation in partnership between federal and state government, irrespective of political colour, to deliver for them. And today we have delivered in spades for our public schools and healthcare across Northern Tasmania. And with those few words, I’ll hand to Jason.

    JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Thanks Premier. Can I start by paying credit to the Prime Minister and the Premier. These are two leaders who know how to get the job done and these are two leaders who understand the power of education. The power of education to change children’s lives. And this investment, this announcement that we’re making today, will change the lives of children here in Tasmania. Can I also thank you Deputy Premier. And can I thank my dear friend, the Education Minister of Tasmania, Jo Palmer, who, as the Premier said, can’t be with us because of Estimates. She is a great Education Minister. It’s a privilege to work with her and I’m looking forward to implementing this Agreement that we’ll sign today with her. This is a historic day for Tasmania. It’s a historic day for public education in Tasmania. Today we sign agreements that will make sure that every public school in Tasmania is fully funded, as the Prime Minister said, at that level that David Gonski set for us all those years ago. And the Premier talked about the money, about $300 million. But he also made the point, and I’m glad you did, Premier, about what this money will be invested in. Because it’s not just about the money, it’s what it does. This money will help us to invest in things like a phonics check and a numeracy check in year one or in the early years, to identify children who are falling behind when they’re little and then make sure that we intervene and provide them with the sort of supports that will help them to catch up and to keep up and to finish school. Things like catch up tutoring. We know that when a child’s falling behind in a classroom of 20 or 30, if you take them out of that classroom, into a classroom of two or three, with one teacher, four days a week, 40 minutes at a time, that they can learn as much in six months as they’d normally learn in a year. In other words, they catch up. And if children catch up when they’re young, they’re more likely to go on and finish high school and then go on to TAFE or to university. And the investment in health and wellbeing is just as important. There’s a real and obvious link between education and health. You see it in these two announcements today, but we also see it in our classrooms. Because children that are experiencing mental health challenges are more likely to not be at school, to be absent from school. And by year nine, they’re about a year and a half or three years behind the rest of the children in their class in literacy and numeracy. So, investments in things like psychologists and counsellors to provide that wrap around support at schools can make all the difference in whether a child finishes school or not. Can I end where I began – this is a fantastic example of our two governments working together. And most importantly, it shows what we can achieve when we work together. And when Parliament returns, I’ll introduce legislation to make this extra investment in our children and in Tasmania a reality.

    PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Jase. Happy to take questions.

    JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, has your Government asked Treasury –

    PRIME MINISTER: We’ve got an announcement to help every child in school and can we have questions about this first? And then I’m happy to go down whatever direction you want. Are there any questions about today’s announcements?

    JOURNALIST: The Education Union has been calling on this for some time. Why are you choosing to fund it now?

    PRIME MINISTER: We’ve been in government for two years and we’re getting it done. We’ve got it done now with the Premier, Roger Cook. We’ve got it done in the Northern Territory, which in particular required a substantial lift up per person in the Northern Territory because so many schools there, particularly in remote areas, have missed out. And we’ve got this done in Tasmania and we’re hopeful of getting it done in other states as well, are imminent. I’ve been speaking with Premiers and Chief Ministers. At the last meeting of the National Cabinet, the Premier and I, as well as other Premiers and Chief Ministers, spoke about how important this was, that we get this done. David Gonski did this work some time ago in the Gillard Government to look at what the level of funding was needed to bring every child up to the best of their potential. And that’s what Jason has spoken about – practical differences that it makes. I think it helps, the fact that Jeremy’s been the Education Minister and gets it. And so I’d encourage the other states to sign up. We’ve got $16 billion on the table. This means that the Commonwealth contribution will be lifted up to 22.5 per cent of that standard and the state contribution will be lifted to 77.5 per cent. Making sure that this is realised, because this is so important and we’ve been able to get it done and we’re getting it done today.

    JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the Heart Centre. We know right across Australia, Tasmania is no exception, that there is a critical shortage of healthcare workers. How confident are you that there will be the workers that are needed to make this Centre a success?

    PRIME MINISTER: We’re very confident that that can be done. One of the things that we’re doing as well is making sure that we train additional doctors, that we train nurses and healthcare professionals. I’ve been into TAFEs here in Tasmania, for example, I met young people and people retraining to go back into the health system. That has been very important. So we’ll work as well, we have – as Jeremy said, we had quite an innovative plan for additional GPs here that we announced. I think just down the road in Devonport at the Mercy Hospital. We are working with the Tasmanian Government to make sure that we have that capacity. We do need an appropriate workforce in order to deliver. But the other thing is, if you don’t do the right thing, sometimes you can end up chasing your tail. So, emergency departments get more and more pressure on them, which creates more difficulties in the system. So, we have, for example, our four Urgent Care Clinics that have opened here in Tasmania. We’ve got a fifth coming and there’s a potential of more there. They have seen tens of thousands of Tasmanians – all Tasmanians have needed is their Medicare card, not their credit card. They’ve got the care that we need. I’ve been into the Urgent Care Clinic there in Hobart that has been an enormous success. There’s one here in Lonnie. And what we do if you do that is you stop people going to the emergency departments of hospitals, if they have a broken arm or the kids fall off the bike or the skateboard, or they cut themselves preparing dinner – they can get that care on the spot when they need it, where they need it and for free as part of our commitment to extending Medicare. So, that’s made a difference as well to the system. Okay. Happy to take other things.

    JOURNALIST: Have you asked for a modelling on the impacts of negative gearing, Prime Minister?

    PRIME MINISTER: Look, I’ve seen those reports and what we do is we value the Public Service. So, from time to time I’m sure the Public Service are looking at policy ideas. That’s because we value them. But we have our housing policy. It’s out there for all to see. It’s currently being blocked. At the risk of being partisan here, it’s currently being blocked by a No-alition of the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens in the Senate. They’re blocking our Help to Buy scheme that’s about increased home ownership. They’re blocking our Build to Rent scheme. I mean, why you would block – the Greens position is that they’re blocking the Build to Rent scheme because if you have medium density housing built, it’ll be built by developers. Well, yeah, hello. I’m not sure who they think builds houses and medium density housing and increases supply. So, our focus as a Government is on supply.

    JOURNALIST: (inaudible)

    PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?

    JOURNALIST: Is your Government considering making changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions?

    PRIME MINISTER: What our Government is considering is fixing housing supply by getting our legislation through the Senate. That’s what we’re considering.

    JOURNALIST: Would you rule out changes to negative gearing and property taxes this term or next?

    PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we’re doing is doing the legislation that we have before the Senate. So, I talk about what we’re doing, not what we’re not doing. And what we’re doing, is trying to get through that legislation through the Senate.

    JOURNALIST: But just to confirm, Prime Minister, your Government has asked Treasury for modelling?

    PRIME MINISTER: No, I didn’t confirm that. Treasury, I’m sure, like other departments do a range of proposals, policy ideas. I want a Public Service that is full of ideas.

    JOURNALIST: The RBA is looking through your rebates (inaudible)?

    PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?

    JOURNALIST: The RBA is looking through your rebates. Have your attempts to get a rate cut failed?

    PRIME MINISTER: What we’ve done is to reduce inflation to half of what it was. Half of what we inherited. Now, there’ll be new figures out tomorrow, or today, actually, we will wait and see what they show in a couple of hours’ time. But we know that the last time around, the monthly figures showed a rate of 3.5 per cent. Which is half, basically, of what we inherited. And we’ve done that, putting that downward pressure on inflation, by producing two budget surpluses, turning a $78 billion deficit into a $22 billion surplus last year. And this year, the financial year just finished, another surplus that will be in double digits in terms of the figures when they’re finally released or finalised in a couple of weeks’ time. So we have as well, we indicated on Monday, that has seen debt decreased by the Commonwealth by around about $150 billion from what was predicted in PEFO, the Pre-Election Forecast, that were there in Treasury of what the former Government was going to deliver. And we’ve done all of that whilst we have given cost of living support. Whether it’s a tax cut for every taxpayer, Energy Bill Relief for every household, 500,000 Fee-Free TAFE places, Cheaper Child Care. While we have delivered all of those measures, as well as delivering important funding, such as what we’ve been able to deliver here in Tasmania. Making sure we’re working to deliver proper services in health and education. That’s what happens when you have responsible economic management. And the Reserve Bank, of course, set interest rates independent of the government – that is their job. Our job is to put downward pressure on inflation, but also look after people. We have had now 980,000 jobs created on our watch. More jobs created since I’ve been elected as Prime Minister than in every previous term of any Prime Minister since Federation. I’m very proud of that. It’s been a difficult economic task, but we have delivered what we have set out to do, which is that downward pressure on inflation whilst we’ve been helping with cost of living relief.

    JOURNALIST: On cost of living, will you introduce new cost of living measures in a pre-election Budget?

    PRIME MINISTER: Well, one of the things that we are going to do, and you will have seen on Monday when it comes to cost of living as well, is take on businesses when they’re not doing the right thing by consumers. Now, this action by the ACCC in taking Woolworths and Coles to court in order to hold them to account for what the ACCC alleges has happened. When you have a packet of Oreos lifted up in prices and by triple the amount in which they’re then decreased and a sign put on them saying that it’s a special, then that is not doing the right thing by consumers. Now people out there are under financial pressure and they’re looking for value, they’re looking for bargains. And so when they go into a supermarket and see ‘special’ or ‘prices down’, they trust that that is the truth. Now it’s not the truth if a supermarket has increased the price by $1.50 from what it was and then a month later put it down by fifty cents and purported to argue that they have decreased the price. That is a breach of trust, it’s a breach of faith. Australians are rightly angry about it, as they should be, and my Government is taking action. The ACCC are taking them to court. We have released on Monday as well exposure drafts of our changes to legislation, as well as our changes to the mandating of the code of conduct for supermarkets, as recommended by Dr Craig Emerson. It is extraordinary that under the former Government you had a voluntary code of conduct, just expecting that people would voluntarily do the right thing. Quite clearly, that’s not good enough, which is why we’re mandating. That’s a part of dealing with cost of living pressures. So we want wages to increase and we’re delivering that, including in Jason’s area, a 15 per cent increase in the wages of early educators in childcare. We have delivered a substantial increase in the wages of aged care workers. We’ve delivered tax cuts on top of that. So we want people to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. That’s all a part of our cost of living measures.

    JOURNALIST: Here in Tasmania, will you exempt the Macquarie Point Stadium from GST calculations?

    PRIME MINISTER: No.

    JOURNALIST: Why not?

    PRIME MINISTER: Because if we did that, we’d have to do the same for the Olympic sites in Queensland, for every infrastructure project in the country.

    JOURNALIST: Wasn’t that done for a stadium in Jim Chalmers electorate?

    PRIME MINISTER: We won’t, well I’m not sure what stadium with hundreds of millions of dollars you’re referring to in Jim’s electorate in Logan. I’m very familiar with the electorate. So we will be, can I make this point. We’ll be exempting this contribution to the hospital, to the Northern Tasmania Heart Centre from the GST. It’s very different. But infrastructure projects, of course, it all adds up. It all evens out. I’m not sure this is understood fully by people in these positions, but when you have the GST equalisation, if you have a proportion of funds invested around the country, then it evens itself out. This is a separate thing which we’ve agreed to exempt from the GST because it’s about healthcare. But infrastructure across the board is not exempt. I was an Infrastructure Minister for six years, I assure you there was no GST exemptions during that period.

    JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, with the Heart Centre comes a lot of money for Northern Tasmania. How concerned are you about your prospects in Lyons?

    PRIME MINISTER: I think Lyons, what I’m doing in every seat, in every state, in the one country of Australia, is governing. We’re doing things here regardless of the political colour. I don’t have a colour coded spreadsheet to determine my funding proposals. And I am working and delivering here in Northern Tasmania, in North West Tasmania, in Hobart. We’re delivering at UTAS down the road here, $65 million each to fix up UTAS and to make it into a much better stadium. We are investing in Macquarie Point, we’re investing throughout Tasmania. We’ll continue to do so and I believe there’ll be an election at some time. If you keep your eye on that white car with the little flag on the front on the day it goes to Yarralumla, then we’ll call an election sometime before, or on or before May, and we’ll put our case to the Australian people. But we have a serious plan for health, a serious plan for education, a serious plan for energy. We’re working here as well. The Marinus Link Project is a great example of the cooperation that was talked about for a long period of time. Well, myself and this Premier have actually got it done. Thanks very much.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Transcript – doorstop – Western Sydney University

    Source: Australian Ministers 1

    ANDY MARKS [PRO VICE-CHANCELLOR WSU]: Morning, everybody. My name is Andy Marks from Western Sydney University. I want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we’re meeting today and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. This is a fantastic next stage on a journey that we’ve been on in [the] Hawkesbury that goes back more than a hundred years, in fact, when this facility was one of Australia’s first in pioneering the education and research of agriculture in Australia. What we see today with the announcement of stage one funding for the Agri Tech Hub is something that takes that to another level. It’s about an array of infrastructure investments in Western Sydney on the part of the Federal Government, and how they can do the main game for [the] Hawkesbury, which is generating jobs and jobs of the future. So I won’t say any more today other than to introduce our distinguished guests. First of all, the most distinguished, our local member, Susan Templeman. Susan, please.

    SUSAN TEMPLEMAN [FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MACQUARIE]: Thanks, Andy.

    ANDY MARKS: No offence, guys.

    SUSAN TEMPLEMAN: Yeah. Susan Templeman, Member for Macquarie. It is such a pleasure to be here to bring to fruition a conversation that started several years ago and followed with an election commitment of $16.7 million, and to now be at this point knowing that the investment that we are making as a federal government is going to have long term benefits economically for this community, and importantly, for agriculture across not just New South Wales, but Australia – and, we hope, the world. What we’re able to bring here and what we’ll see grow over time is an agritech precinct that is really going to, as Andy has said, take that story of agriculture in the Hawkesbury, which began when colonial settlers saw how fertile this area was. This is the area that fed Sydney when it was in famine, and these are really significant things in the settlement of Australia. And of course, we looked at how [the] First Nations used this land – they also found it was bountiful. So, this is an exciting next step to take agriculture for the Hawkesbury region and Western Sydney into the 21st century. I’m very pleased to have the Minister for Infrastructure, Catherine King, who has supported this project from the start and was key to it being an election commitment and being able to announce that. And I’m so delighted that she’s here to take this next step.

    CATHERINE KING [MINISTER]: Thanks.

    [Applause]

    Thanks very much. It’s great to be here. Susan, and also with George as well. And it’s my first opportunity to actually come on site to see the delivery. Now we’re releasing- the stage one funding is being released for this project, and an important project it is, not just for the Hawkesbury but for Western Sydney overall, making sure that we are investing in new technology for agriculture. Agriculture we want to grow to a much more significant level in this country than we have currently. It’s incredibly important, and being able to have the sorts of technology, the research and development here, I’m looking forward to being able to look at some of the research that’s being done on vanilla bean producing, barramundi producing out on this site, but also looking at what that means for the future.

    With only sort of 40 minutes to the new Western Sydney International Airport, this university will also be an incredibly important way that our agriculture sector can look at how it can preserve goods to getting them to market much more quickly. That over $5 billion investment we’re investing in building the airport actually is very critical to this university here as well in making sure that we’ve got the technology, the research into the future. So I do want to commend Western Sydney University for the foresight on actually developing this site in the way in which they have. And really, the investment- we’re going to be looking forward to seeing not only lots of students here involved and being part of this site, but very much the research that is to come out of Western Sydney University for agriculture into the future. Making sure we’ve got a sustainable, good and healthy food supply is pretty critical to not just our nation, but the world. So I do want to commend them and very pleased to be here on site today. I might hand over to George.

    GEORGE WILLIAMS [VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRESIDENT WSU]: Thank you minister, and thank you to the local member for their [sic] steadfast support of this project. This is something special for Western Sydney and Hawkesbury. It’s special because it’s bringing AI to agriculture in a way that’s going to transform jobs in this area. We expect there’ll be 240 jobs supporting this facility. And it’s a really great example of taking Western Sydney to the world. This is a world-leading facility that is going to be looking at how we have sustainable, effective agriculture from the beginning to the end of the food chain, and it’ll be doing that in ways that will be of enormous international interest. In our case, we’ve already got great interest from India, for example, who want to work with us because of this facility to bring the technology, the expertise not only to India, but to Asia and the Middle East. And that will be a great initiative for us to lead in this area with our researchers and partners, to actually deal something quite special that will be transformative here and more broadly.

    It’s also a particularly special investment because of Western Sydney. And of course, it’s not just an investment in agritech we’re seeing, it’s agritech plus the airport, plus the enormous growth in infrastructure, plus all of the great developments we’re seeing in people around this region. And this is the sort of investment that goes back not only to 1891 when the Hawkesbury College was first established, but of course much further back to colonial times. And it’s expression of that now in a world class, high tech way that will not only drive jobs, but actually drive that investment through the airport and the like, to bring this to the world and to do something that we think not just for Western Sydney University, but more importantly for our students, for our staff, but also the community is going to deliver enormous benefits, not just next year, but over the coming decades. So thank you. We appreciate the support and we believe with this, this is going to be a game changer for agriculture and technology in this region.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Joint press conference, Brisbane

    Source: Australian Treasurer

    JIM CHALMERS:

    Thanks, everyone, for coming. I’m going to say a few things about the inflation number. Katy’s going to talk about inflation and the Final Budget Outcome. Then I wanted to preview my trip to China this week, and then obviously happy to take your questions.

    The new inflation numbers for August showed that headline and underlying inflation both went down substantially. Headline inflation went down from 3.5 to 2.7 per cent. This is less than half the 6.1 per cent we inherited, and it’s now less than a third of its peak.

    Trimmed mean inflation went down from 3.8 to 3.4 per cent. That is the lowest in more than 30 months. If you exclude volatile items, it went down from 3.7 to 3. Non‑tradeable inflation, which is what others call homegrown inflation, went down from 4.5 to 3.8 per cent. And services inflation went down as well.

    These are very welcome, very encouraging and very heartening numbers. We expected headline inflation to come down. We’ve also seen underlying inflation come down considerably. That’s a very good thing.

    Our policies are a factor here, but they’re not the only factor. If you look at rents, they went up 6.8 per cent in the year to August, but without our increases to rent assistance, they would have increased by 8.6 per cent. Electricity prices fell 17.9 per cent in the year to August, but without the energy rebates they would have decreased 2.7 per cent.

    But the story here goes beyond the government’s policies, which are helping in the fight against inflation. Whether it’s rent, whether it’s energy rebates, our cost‑of‑living policies are an important part of the story, but they’re not the whole story here. We’re seeing right across a number of measures of inflation, including underlying inflation, that it is has come off considerably in the new numbers that we see today.

    These are heartening numbers, encouraging numbers, they’re welcome numbers. But we’re not getting carried away because we know that the monthly numbers can be volatile. We know that inflation doesn’t always moderate in a straight line and we know that people are still under pressure. That’s why our cost‑of‑living help is so important, and it’s also why our responsible economic management is so important, and Katy’s going to say a few things about that.

    KATY GALLAGHER:

    Thanks, very much, Jim. It’s lovely to be here in your home city today.

    CHALMERS:

    You’re always welcome, Katy.

    GALLAGHER:

    It’s glorious to be here. Thanks, Jim.

    What we’re seeing is our responsible economic management is helping in the fight against inflation, and you’re seeing that in those numbers today.

    That budget management, particularly our returning revenue to the budget, findings savings in the budget and reprioritising spending, has helped us with our budget improvements that we’re seeing.

    On Monday we’ll be releasing the Final Budget Outcome. That will show our second surplus and it will be an improvement on the number that we released during the Budget. That improvement in the budget outcome is not related to increased revenue but is related to less spending on the spending side of the budget. We know from the comments that the RBA Governor has made in the past that surplus budgeting is helping in the fight against inflation. You’ll see that reflected in the FBO that we do on Monday.

    That’s really our approach to budgeting, Jim and mine – find savings, return revenue, deliver budget surpluses when the inflation challenge has been what it has. That’s helping overall in that fight against inflation.

    CHALMERS:

    I’ll just say a few things to preview meetings in China, and then we’re happy to take some questions.

    The key influences on our economy right now are the inflation that we’ve been talking about today combined with global economic uncertainty and the impact of the rate rises which are already in the system. Those 3 things are combining to slow our economy substantially.

    Particularly when it comes to the Chinese economy, we’ve seen a weakness in the Chinese economy which obviously has consequences for us. We’re not immune from weakness in the Chinese economy. That’s why it’s so important that over the next 2 days I’ll be meeting with key Chinese counterparts in Beijing.

    This is another really important step towards stabilising our economic relationship with China. This will be the first visit to China by an Australian Treasurer in 7 years. It will be part of the Albanese Government’s methodical and coordinated efforts to re‑establish dialogue with China, Australia’s largest trading partner.

    The main purpose of this visit is to co‑chair the Australian‑China Strategic Economic Dialogue with the Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission. That will happen tomorrow.

    Our relationship with China is full of complexity and it’s full of opportunity. We recognise that a more stable economic relationship between Australia and China is a good thing for Australian workers and businesses, investors and our country more broadly. That’s why just in the last week in the context of these meetings in China I’ve consulted directly with the chairs, CEOs and senior executives of major China‑facing Australian employers, including Rio Tinto, Wesfarmers, BHP, Woodside, Fortescue, Macquarie, BlueScope, HSBC, King & Wood Mallesons, Port of Newcastle, Sydney Airport, Cochlear, University of NSW and GrainCorp, and I’ve also been consulting with the Business Council of Australia.

    We believe that dialogue and engagement give us the best chance to properly manage and maximise these really important links.

    Our approach to China has been to cooperate where we can, disagree where we must, but always engage in Australia’s national interest.

    The Strategic Economic Dialogue hasn’t been convened since 2017, but our government has agreed with Chinese counterparts to restart it, and I’ll be meeting with other counterparts from the Chinese government during my 2 days of engagements as well.

    We recognise that there’s a lot at stake and a lot to gain from a more stable economic relationship with China.

    We’ve got a big opportunity to make sure that both countries benefit from the complementarity of our economies while always advancing and protecting Australia’s national interests.

    With that, I’m happy to take some questions.

    JOURNALIST:

    Will the Treasury be looking at negative gearing and capital gains tax?

    CHALMERS:

    First of all, the real story today is inflation. The story today is about a substantial moderation in headline and underlying inflation in our economy. We’ve got a housing policy, and that’s not in it. We’ve made that clear today.

    JOURNALIST:

    Did you direct Treasury, though, to look into negative gearing policy changes, perhaps to take to the election?

    CHALMERS:

    Treasury looks at all kinds of policy options all of the time. It’s not unusual for the public service – and in my case, my department, and I’m sure Katy’s department is the same – to examine issues that are being speculated about in the public or in the parliament. That’s how a good public service operates.

    JOURNALIST:

    But you’ve basically agreed with the argument that reining in negative gearing will have a negative impact on rental supplies?

    CHALMERS:

    I’m not going to engage in hypothetical impacts of hypothetical policies when we’ve already got a housing policy. We’ve got a housing policy which is about building more homes for Australians. It’s about making it easier to rent and to buy.

    We know from today’s inflation figures that we’ve taken some of the sting out of rents. But rents are still too high, and that’s because we don’t have enough homes. Our motivation throughout this has been to build more homes for Australians. That’s what our $32 billion of investment, including $6 billion in the last Budget, is all about.

    If our political opponents cared about housing, they would vote for our policies in the Senate. Instead, in their usual, characteristically destructive way, both the Greens and the Coalition are teaming up to prevent more homes being built. Building more homes is the best way to ensure that people can find a home to rent or buy.

    JOURNALIST:

    On the Stage 3 tax cuts you argued several times that the circumstances have changed and that the government has formed a different view. Can voters expect you to make that same argument on negative gearing in the lead‑up to the next federal election?

    CHALMERS:

    I’m very proud of the changes that we made to the Stage 3 tax cuts because it meant that every Australian taxpayer gets a tax cut, not just some. We explained our rationale and our reasoning for that at the time, and you referenced that in your question. The changes to Stage 3 at the beginning of this year meant that more people got a bigger tax cut to help with the cost of living. We’re proud of what we did. We were upfront and we explained that changes that we made. I think the public has recognised that we’re trying to do the right thing.

    JOURNALIST:

    Would your government consider a legitimate use of tax laws and not [indistinct] current negative gearing figures?

    CHALMERS:

    We’ve made it clear that our housing policy is all about building more homes. More homes for Australians, making it easier to rent or buy a home at a time when there aren’t enough homes. That’s what’s pushing rents up, even with our efforts, with Commonwealth Rent Assistance.

    When it comes to tax changes, our priorities have been the PRRT, the biggest balances in superannuation, tax incentives for build‑to‑rent and other tax policies that we’ve already announced.

    JOURNALIST:

    Polling does show the public is open to negative gearing changes, so why not do that?

    CHALMERS:

    We’ve got a housing policy and that’s not in it.

    Our housing policy, I’ve explained answering some of these other questions, is to build more homes for Australians – $32 billion across 20 different policies now. We’ve made it clear what our housing policy is, and we want to see it pass through the Senate. If our political opponents to the left of us and to the right of us really cared about housing, they’d support our policies in the Senate.

    JOURNALIST:

    But I guess policy‑making is dynamic, right? Why not look at negative gearing? Are you insisting that – was it either you or Minister Gallagher that asked Treasury to have a specific [indistinct] negative gearing?

    CHALMERS:

    Treasury looks at all kinds of different policies from time to time. It’s not unusual for us to get advice from departments on issues that are being speculated about in the public or in the Parliament. That’s not an especially unusual thing.

    I couldn’t haven clearer today – we’ve got a housing policy. It’s costing the budget $32 billion. We’ve found room for that even in the context of turning 2 big Liberal deficits into 2 big Labor surpluses for the reasons that Katy outlined a moment ago. We’ve got a housing policy and that’s not in it.

    It’s not unusual for governments to get advice from time to time from departments on issues which are in the public domain.

    JOURNALIST:

    Just going back to inflation, looking at that 3.4 per cent rate, do you think Michelle Bullock needs to look at cuts a bit sooner?

    CHALMERS:

    I’m not going to give free advice to the Governor of the Reserve Bank. I don’t tell Michelle Bullock how to do her job and she doesn’t tell me how to do my job, and that suits us both just fine.

    Underlying inflation has come off substantially in these new numbers today – from 3.8 to 3.4 is very encouraging, very welcome, very heartening when it comes to underlying inflation.

    I refer you back to our political opponents and critics who said that today’s numbers would only reflect the energy bill rebates, which we are proud to be delivering for every Australian household. I wanted to make a couple of points about that.

    They say that that is artificially lowering inflation. There is nothing artificial about helping people with their power bills. We know that the Liberals and Nationals don’t support that, but we’re proud to be helping people with their power bills because we know that people are under pressure. Same when it comes to Commonwealth Rent Assistance, cheaper medicines, getting wages moving again and the tax cuts.

    The other point that I would make about headline versus underlying is you may recall a couple of years ago in the former government’s last Budget they had changes to the fuel excise which had the same impact when it comes to temporarily modifying the headline inflation rate. I don’t remember them making these points then.

    We’re proud to be helping people with the cost of living. We’re proud to be doing that in the context of a responsible budget and a couple of surpluses, which our opponents were incapable of delivering after 9 attempts. We’ve gone 2 from 2.

    So we’re providing cost‑of‑living help. We’re not just seeing headline inflation coming off, we’re seeing underlying inflation coming off as well. Not just the main measure of underlying inflation, headline is down, trimmed mean is down, excluding volatile items is down, non‑tradables is down and services is down as well.

    Across the board, across the main measures, in this data today we’re seeing very welcome, very encouraging progress. We’re not getting carried away because we know that people are still under pressure. That’s why our cost‑of‑living help is so important.

    JOURNALIST:

    When do you expect to receive the Treasury advice on that negative gearing policy?

    CHALMERS:

    As I said a couple of different ways now, we get advice all of the time on different kinds of issues which are in the public domain and before the Parliament. It’s not especially unusual for the public service to be doing that. We’re not expecting one piece of work, which is implied in your question. We get briefed regularly on all sorts of policies and all kinds of issues, and that’s as it should be.

    JOURNALIST:

    I’ll just try one more time: when will Australians know if your government is going to make changes to negative gearing or capital gains reductions?

    CHALMERS:

    I’ll say the same thing I said in response to all of the other questions – and I understand why you’re asking it, I’ve got no problem with you asking these questions – but we’ve got a housing policy and that’s not in it.

    For all of the reasons I’ve gone through a few times today, we think that the highest priority needs to be building more homes. Housing supply is our big priority as a government. It’s not easy to find $32 billion in one policy area, but the fact that we’ve done that, working closely with Julie Collins and now Clare O’Neil, that demonstrates to Australians how serious we are about fixing the issue that we have with housing supply.

    You can’t click your fingers and overnight build the 1.2 million homes that we need over the next 5 years. You need to come at it in a responsible way, a considered, methodical way across a range of different policies.

    We’ve announced our policies on housing. We want to see them pass through the Parliament. We want to see the money flowing, and we want to see the houses being built, because that’s the best way we can make housing more affordable for more Australians.

    JOURNALIST:

    Is it still frustrating to see that the RBA is not taking into account the fact that electricity and fuel is coming down, but they are not enforcing these rate cuts?

    CHALMERS:

    I don’t see it that way, and for the same reasons as in my answer to your earlier question.

    I don’t second guess the decisions taken by the independent Reserve Bank or the commentary that they make about those decisions.

    It’s a good thing that Governor Bullock makes herself available and senior officials make themselves available to talk with the Australian public about how they’re seeing the economy and what that means for inflation and interest rates. That’s a good thing that they take those opportunities to do that. I don’t second guess that. I don’t parse every word that the governor says.

    We’re focused on our, and our job has been to deliver 2 big Labor surpluses, to roll out cost‑of‑living help, to be helpful in the fight against inflation.

    What we see in these numbers today – in these very welcome and encouraging numbers today – is that our policies are helping in the fight against inflation.

    That is a big part of the story but it’s not the only story. That’s why underlying inflation is coming off as well. We’re managing the economy responsibly. The Governor of the Reserve Bank has her own job to do, and it is good and welcome that Governor Bullock takes the opportunity to explain her part of it in the same way that we’ve been explaining our part of it here today.

    Thanks very much.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Politics with Michelle Grattan: Richard Holden says no interest rate fall likely for 12 months

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

    For many Australians, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a fading memory as the world has moved away from lockdowns and masks. However, its lasting impacts, including persistent inflation, remain.

    Academic economists Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden, in their just-published book, Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism, examine how Australia fared in handling the COVID crisis in its economic and health policies.

    We’re joined on the podcast by Holden to talk about the book and also Australia’s economic outlook, during what has been a big week for economic news.

    On COVID, Hamilton and Holden found a mixed picture: Australia scored highly in its economic response but fell down on its vaccine procurement and provision of RATs.

    I think Treasury gave excellent advice to the Treasurer [Josh Frydenberg]  and he not only […] took that advice but was able to sell it to a sometimes sceptical cabinet. […] So I think it was good advice and strong leadership on the economic front. On the health front, I think the advice was really quite poor at times. I mean we make quite a point of Scott Morrison’s use of the phrase when it comes to vaccines “It’s not a race” when clearly it was a race. It was a race against the virus. It was a race to get vaccinated. It was a race to be able to reopen our economy.

    On the RBA and inflation, Holden agrees with this week’s decision to hold rates but believes they should have risen earlier at least once more:

    I have argued […] that late last year or early this year, the Reserve Bank should have raised rates at least one more time to get us closer to what happened in peer jurisdictions overseas, to try and beat inflation faster. The Reserve Bank has taken a different approach. They want to have interest rates peak, maybe a full percentage point lower than in places like the US, and they’re willing to tolerate inflation for longer.

    At least they’re not caving into political pressure from people like Jim Chalmers and Wayne Swan to precipitously cut interest rates and I give the governor, Michele Bullock, great credit for standing firm on that, including in her press conference remarks [on Tuesday].

    On when interest rates will start moving down, Holden gives a grim assessment:

    My view is the most likely case is very late in 2025, somewhere about 12 months from today. Again, it’s going to depend on the inflation numbers and I’d like nothing more [than] for us to be well inside the target band and for interest rates to be able to be moderated.

    I think it’s a real shame that we took a different strategy in Australia to what peer jurisdictions overseas did, which was raise rates more aggressively, take our medicine, have tamed inflation and now be cutting rates. That’s the story in the US and several other jurisdictions.

    Holden warns against RBA Governor Michele Bullock making predictions of future rate moves:

    Governor Bullock, I think, is at risk of repeating, albeit a milder version of, the mistake that Philip Lowe made in providing forward guidance. Now it’s not as dramatic as saying interest rates are not going to rise until 2024, which was sort of three years of forward guidance or thereabouts. Governor Bullock has fallen into, I think, a little bit of a trap by saying over six weeks ago that she and her colleagues on the board didn’t think that interest rates would be cut this calendar year.

    I don’t really understand what the virtue of her doing that was. I think that was probably, in hindsight, something that she may regret. [Although] I don’t think it will do any real damage because I think it’s a prediction that’s incredibly likely to come true.  

    On the government potentially making changes to negative gearing, Holden outlines why it could be a good idea:

    Getting rid of negative gearing would put potential owner-occupiers on a level playing field with investors at an auction. I think it’ll be very good news for people trying to move from the rental market into being owner-occupiers; I think it’ll be good news for the classic Australian dream. To be fair about it, the existence of negative gearing is something that puts downward pressure on rents. So negative gearing, in a funny way, is good for renters who are always going to rent but bad for renters who want to buy. So there are pros and cons.

    It was a good idea eight or nine years ago. I think it’s still a good idea today and I think it’s interesting that the government seems to be at least floating the test balloon.

    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: Richard Holden says no interest rate fall likely for 12 months – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-richard-holden-says-no-interest-rate-fall-likely-for-12-months-239820

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Healthway’s new Executive Director

    Source: Government of Western Australia

    Healthway’s Chief Executive Officer, Colin Smith today announced Carina Tan-Van Baren as the new Executive Director of Healthway.

    Carina has more than 30 years of experience as a lawyer, journalist, communications strategist, government advisor, and commercial executive and will be commencing in her new role on Monday 14 October 2024.

    Carina has delivered positive strategic outcomes for listed and unlisted companies, not-for-profit organisations and government departments and agencies, many in the health sector. Carina brings a strong understanding of the roles played by the wide range of stakeholders participating in Health Promotion across Australia.

    Healthway’s Chief Executive Officer, Colin Smith said that Carina’s multi-disciplined perspective and skill-set means she is well placed to lead Healthway through this next phase to deliver on our new strategic plan.

    “Carina brings a strong understanding of the roles played by the wide range of health promotion stakeholders across Australia,” he said.

    “Her experience will complement the depth and breadth of health promotion experience we already have here at Healthway, with a focus on advocacy, government and stakeholder relations.

    “I look forward to Carina joining us and I’d also like to thank Joanne Graham-Smith for acting in the Executive Director role for 16 months and look forward to her valuable ongoing contribution to achieving our vision of creating a healthier WA together.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Press Conference Government House, Adelaide

    Source: Minister for Trade

    Minister for Trade, Don Farrell: Good afternoon everybody, and please take a seat, don’t stand on formality. I thank the Governor for making her home available to us today to hold this press conference with my very good friend, the Trade Minister for India, Piyush Goyal, it’s absolutely wonderful to have you here.

    When I first became the Trade Minister for Australia, I was lucky enough to be invited to Piyush’s home in New Delhi, and have a wonderful feast with him and his wife, and a little bit later on today I’m going to return the favour. We’re heading out to the magnificent Clare Valley, and we’re going to have a wonderful meal out in the Clare together this evening.

    We’ve just wrapped up our face‑to‑face meeting, and it’s the first meeting that we’ve had since the Modi Government was recently re‑elected, and of course follows on the weekend’s events between our Prime Minister and Prime Minister Modi in Delaware, with the Japanese and the American leaders.

    I think it’s fair to say that the relationship between Australia and India has never, ever been closer. And to reflect that, is the economic relationship between our two countries, and it has never ever been better.

    Following our Trade Agreement that was ratified during the course of this Parliamentary session, trade with India is turning out to be a really big win for Australia, and today we held in‑depth discussions on how to accelerate that trading relationship. And in addition to that, our investment relationship viability on the enormous growth that we’ve just seen in recent times.

    Just to give you some examples of that, in the 18 months since our Trade Agreement with India came into force, nearly $30 billion worth of Australian exports have entered India either with zero tariffs or lower tariffs than any of our competitors.

    Agricultural exports to India are up around 60 per cent to $1.6 billion, and we know how important that is to the South Australian economy.

    Industrial equipment and manufacturing exports are up 66 per cent or $145 million, and our health exports to India have increased by nearly 40 per cent to $33 million.

    Australian consumers are of course benefitting by our trade deals with savings at the checkouts worth around $225 million, thanks to the lower tariffs on products that are coming in from India.

    During our meeting, Minister Goyal and I discussed how we can grow our two‑way trade and investment even more. The key focus of today’s discussion was our next free trade agreement called the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.

    Our trade negotiators recently met in Sydney, and today’s discussions show that there’s real momentum here to get an agreement as we work out the details.

    For Australia, we’ve made it clear that we have much to offer our friends in India, particularly in agriculture, as well as the emerging sectors we are building as part of our Future Made in Australia.

    We also exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding on investment cooperation between Austrade and Invest India, which will help boost two‑way investment between our countries.

    Our Government has also wrapped up consultations on our new India Economic Roadmap. We’ve held over 400 consultation sessions across every Australian State and Territory and in India.

    Over the past two days, Minister Goyal has heard from a range of Australian businesses who see wonderful opportunities to partner with India in sectors like green energy, education skills, tourism, agriculture and technology, and in a few moments the Minister and I will walk up to the Australian Space Agency headquarters to meet some of the Australian space start‑ups that are partnering directly with India.

    Our Government is committed to driving more practical cooperation between Australian and Indian businesses. That’s why today I’m announcing $10 million in new grants for Australian businesses, organisations and universities to boost cooperation with India.

    By extending the $10 million Maitri Grants program, the Government will deliver, firstly, $5 million for Australian organisations working on projects that boost trade and innovation, cultural ties and community leaders, and then a further $5 million for scholars and fellowships to support Australian universities to host some of the brightest Indian students in their research, on some of our biggest shared challenges.

    As I indicated before, the Minister and our wives, will be heading out to the magnificent Clare Valley, and we’ll continue to discuss the wonderful opportunities between our two countries. I’ll invite my good friend Piyush to say some words about today’s events and his time in Australia.

    Indian Minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal: Thank you very much Honourable Don Farrell, Member of Parliament and Minister for Trade and Industry, someone I look upon as not only a friend and well‑wisher, but a brother who has been a guide, who has helped me understand trade nuances, very sensitive, ever‑smiling, and a well‑wisher of the Australia-India partnership.

    Thank you very much for your warm hospitality, thank you very much for bringing me to Adelaide for the first time. What a beautiful city, charming, a place we’ve heard about from childhood. Where cricket matters and in the good old days, we had five‑day test matches where every wicket falling was blown all over the television and radio. But to actually be right across from the Adelaide stadium is truly a memorable visit for me.

    We had very good engagement with Australian business persons in Sydney over the last two days, the excitement is truly palpable on both sides, Australian business and Indian business.

    For the first time ever both our major chambers, the conflagration of Indian industries and the conflagration of Indian chambers of commerce and industry were represented by their top leadership together as a testimony of the importance that the Australia relationship is to India.

    We are looking at significantly upscaling our partnerships in trade, investment, tourism and technology, and therefore one of the first announcements I’d like to make is that we shall shortly be setting up in Sydney an office covering all these four areas, ITTT, investment, trade, technology, and tourism. With representatives of Invest India, representatives of the organisation responsible for building industrial smart cities and townships, meeting representatives of our Export Trade and Guarantee Corporation, and other officials related to trade and tourism.

    Along with the private sector, CII jointly manning these offices to act as a bridge between investors and businesses on both sides and working closely together with Austrade with whom Invest India has today exchanged an MOU for mutual investment promotion, technology and trade facilitation, and other insights into economic trade.

    Thank you very much, Don, for giving us the encouragement to work together on these areas. And I’m sure the unprecedented ties that our two countries are sharing today with nine in‑person meetings since May 2022, in less than three years, nine in‑person meetings of our senior leaders, both Prime Ministers, reflecting the big bonding that both Prime Ministers, political leadership have with business-to-business and people‑to‑people connect that Australia and India share.

    Friends, today is a very important day in India. We are celebrating 10 years of our Making India Program. Prime Minister Modi on 25 September 2014, had launched this initiative, and through the Making India Program over the last 10 years we have significantly had a whole of government approach to addressing the challenges that manufacturing in India increase. Whether it’s provision of plug-and-play infrastructure, a national single window for all approvals, regulators reducing compliance burden or decriminalising laws, opening up foreign direct investment in newer sectors making it easier to invest in India, or encouraging the start of ecosystem. It’s been a multi‑pronged approach to attract manufacturing in India, and I do see a lot of promise between the Making India Program and the Future Made in Australia program that your government has launched, so that we can exchange the technologies, exchange opportunities and encourage businesses on both sides to work with each other.

    This enhanced cooperation via education, via skill development, tourism, investments, critical minerals, which we discussed at length today, or renewable energy, green ecosystem towards sustainability, all of these other areas where this relationship holds tremendous potential. And India is committed to partner with Australia to provide a bouquet of opportunities to our business persons on both sides so that we can work towards a greater and more ambitious relationship on the economic front.

    Friends, as Minister Farrell mentioned, ECTA, and I think some of you may recall, ECTA in India, in Hindi, is unity. This agreement has truly been a game‑changer providing greater market access to businesses on both sides and has resulted in a significant increase in merchandise trade. We’re looking at further strengthening the ECTA through to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the CECA, and we do hope to see a greater flow of goods and services along with investments flowing out of the CECA, which we are looking to conclude at an early date to unlock new dimensions in this partnership and provide further momentum to this business relationship.

    Friends, I must mention that we have also discussed at length greater cooperation at various multilateral fora like the WTO, the G20, the IPEF and other international organisations where Australia and India share common interests.

    India is the world’s fastest growing economy today. We grew at 8.2 per cent last year. The economy today is the fifth largest in the world, expected to become the third largest in the next three years. We will cross the $7 trillion mark by 2030, and the $10 trillion mark by 2034, 10 years from now.

    We are very confident of achieving a developed country status by 2047. [Indistinct] 2047 is our ambition, is our goal, taking up our economy to 10 times today’s size, to $35 trillion economy in the next 25 years or so, so that we can meet the aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians for a better quality of life. And I see Australia playing an important role in this journey towards making India a developed nation, a role to greater trade, a role to exchange of technologies, a role in our common goals for sustainability and a significant role when it comes to provision of high-tech services and investments.

    India offers the advantage of four Ds. The first is our democracy. We have a vibrant democracy, the world’s largest democracy, the Rule of Law prevails, it provides safety and security for investment and people. And I think in today’s day and age, two democracies working together provides a great comfort to investors in the long run.

    The second D is our demographic dividend, a young population with an average age of 28.4 years, expected to remain young for many, many more years to come, with two‑thirds of our population in the working age to providing skills, talent and huge manpower force to help the economy to move faster.

    The third D is demand. 1.4 billion aspirational Indians, demanding high quality goods and services is a huge market opportunity, and growth opportunity.

    And the fourth D is decisive leadership. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Government are willing to reform, transform and perform to take the country to greater heights. I’m very confident that together we shall make the Australia-India partnership a defining partnership of the decade, if not the 21st Century. The kangaroos and the tigers together have a combined strength which is unstoppable. Thank you.

    Minister for Trade: I think we should give Piyush a clap for that. Thank you, very much, my friend, and we’ll open to questions.

    Journalist: This one’s for both Ministers. Can you give an update on the CECA negotiations? You made progress of the outstanding points of difference, and do you see an agreement for Australia [indistinct]?

    Minister for Trade: We are very optimistic that the good work that was done today will result in an expanded agreement. As we saw with the United Arab Emirates, when both parties put their mind to it we can very quickly expedite the discussions to finalise an agreement. I’d be hopeful that goodwill on both sides, and you can see today, that’s been demonstrated here – I think with goodwill we can very quickly resolve this issue, and we can have a new upgraded agreement between Australia and India.

    Piyush Goyal: Madam, I think the important and defining feature of our discussions and negotiations is the sensitivity that both sides have to each other’s issues, defensive interests, offensive interests. All are considered together in a manner which will only result in a win‑win situation. So any issue that I can see Australia will be uncomfortable with I would not like to push, press on that, and likewise our approach has been that if something is very sensitive to a large Indian population given our current status of development, Australia has been very gracious in their understanding of our sensitivities.

    It is my deep confidence in each other that helps us to resolve issues very fast, and I’m very confident that the final agreement will only help grow this relationship. You saw that our first agreement didn’t have any negative press or any negative public outcry. I’m sure the second agreement will correspondingly be a good mix of the good things that people want out of the agreement.

    Minister for Trade: I think it’s worthwhile repeating that when we were last in India together we committed to increasing our trade from its current $49 billion two‑way trade to $100 billion by the end of the decade, and I think we’re ‑ I’m certainly happy, and I think I speak for Piyush here, to restate that today.

    We want to double that trade between our countries between now and the end of the decade.

    Journalist: Just on that, Minister Goyal, India has traditionally been hesitant about removing barriers to Australian exports in sensitive sectors like dairy. Have you had consultations with those domestic producers and has the Government consulted with its Coalition partners on any of those sensitivities?

    Piyush Goyal: First of all, the Government in India is a strong government. The Coalition is a pre‑poll alliance. So we have very seamless consultations and very seamless understanding of any decisions that the Government takes.

    As regards dairy, that sector was discussed even before we started the negotiations with Australia three years ago, and Indian dairy is very significantly different from Australian dairy.

    Our average holding with a farmer is a small two‑acre, three‑acre farm with three or four livestock, whereas Australia’s farms and dairy farms are both very large, and it would be near impossible for these large farms and these small farms to compete with each other on a common footing.

    We have discussed this issue even three years ago and on earlier occasions, and dairy is such a sensitive subject that in any of our FTAs across the world, we have not been able to open up the dairy sector with duty concessions there is permitted in India, but there are certain duties imposed on that.

    This is one sector where there’s no discussion with any Coalition partner, even when we were a full majority government there was no opening up of the dairy. It’s actually two very unequal situations and would not lend themselves to fair trade between the two countries, or between any countries. We have neither opened up dairy in Europe, or planning to open up dairy in Europe, nor have we opened it up even with Switzerland and Norway, with whom we have recently concluded an FTA under the EFTA grouping – Switzerland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland. Even then we have not opened up dairy. It’s the first agreement Switzerland has signed without any component of dairy in it.

    Journalist: You predicted that China will bring its pursuit of all lobster type business. Given your previous predictions on the subject have proven optimistic, why do you have the confidence that this will be resolved in the next few months?

    Minister for Trade: I’m an optimistic sort of person, and I think the only way you can do this job is to be optimistic. If you think about this, when we came to government two and a half years ago, we had $20 billion worth of impediments between Australia and China.

    We have reduced that over time to less than $1 billion and one product that is still outstanding unfortunately is lobster.

    We’ve recently had meetings both with the Chinese Premier, and also my counterpart, Wang Wentao, in fact as Piyush has done. They both came to Adelaide, it’s becoming a bit of a feature of international trade these days, everyone’s coming to Adelaide. I’m confident that we can resolve the outstanding issues in a timely manner.

    It is unfortunate that that issue hasn’t been resolved. The Government is doing its absolute best to resolve it, but these issues do take time, and we’ll continue to work very closely with the Chinese Government to put aside all of the outstanding issues between our two governments.

    Journalist: Paul Starick from The Advertiser in Adelaide. Two questions, one for both ministers. You mentioned agriculture as a significant component of the next stage of your agreement. Do you care to elaborate on that, what particular opportunities do you see? And secondly, for Senator Farrell, regarding an unrelated issue at the Whyalla steelworks. The Premier has talked about the importance of that as a national enterprise. Do you agree, and what response given its current predicament do you think is appropriate at a national level?

    Minister for Trade: Well, look, in terms of agriculture, we’re talking about the removal of all of the tariffs that weren’t removed at the last process, so we’ve made very significant progress, but as the Minister said, some of the more difficult issues were not resolved at that issue, we put them to one side, they’re all back on the table. So things like chickpeas, pistachios, and apples. So, all of the issues, all of the products where there are still tariffs ‑ wine is another one ‑ we are seeking to have those tariffs removed.

    I’m not going to go to the details of the negotiations, it’s not appropriate to do that here, but we’ll continue to work through, and as Piyush said, where issues are difficult, we understand that, and we’re not going to make life any more difficult for the Indian Government.

    On the other issue, I’m aware that there have been some discussions between the Prime Minister and the Premier over the issue of Whyalla. Obviously steel making is a very important business in Whyalla. As a government we want to see steel making continue, and of course all of those jobs be protected, and we will, of course, continue those discussions between the Prime Minister and the Premier.

    Minister, you might like to answer that first question.

    Piyush Goyal: I think as you very rightly put it, we let the negotiators take the discussions forward and give them a chance to look at what other possibilities as we conclude the CEPA.

    Minister for Trade: Well, if there are no other questions, thank you very much for coming along today, and we’ll head up to the Space Agency after a quick lunch with the Premier and the Governor. Thank you very much for attending.

    Piyush Goyal: Thank you friends.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: India to have a trade promotion office in Sydney: Shri Piyush Goyal

    Source: Government of India

    India to have a trade promotion office in Sydney: Shri Piyush Goyal

    Make in India has been a resounding success: Shri Goyal

    India and Australia working to strengthen ECTA through CECA: Shri Goyal

    Posted On: 25 SEP 2024 12:36PM by PIB Delhi

    Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal announced the setting up of an office for trade promotion in Sydney, Australia with representatives of Invest India, NICDC, ECGC, other officials related to trade and tourism along with the private sector represented by CII. While addressing a joint press conference at Adelaide today along with the H.E. Don Farrell, Minister for Trade & Tourism, Australia, Minister Goyal said these offices will act as a bridge between investors and businesses on both sides. Minister Goyal said the focus is to upscale the partnerships in trade, investment, tourism and technology.

    Minister Goyal stated that India celebrates ‘10 years of Make in India’ today. The programme provided a whole of the approach in addressing the challenges of the manufacturing sector, he said. It provided provisions for ‘Plug and play’ for infrastructure, single window system for approvals, easing compliance burden, decriminalising laws, opening up FDI in newer sectors and encouraging the startup ecosystem, signifying a multi-pronged approach to attract manufacturing in India.

    Minister Goyal noted a lot of promise between the Make in India Programme of India and the Make in Australia programme of Australia to exchange technologies, opportunities and encourage businesses to work with each other. The Minister added that enhanced cooperation in education, skill development, investment, tourism, critical minerals, green ecosystem for sustainability are areas where the partnership holds significant potential.

    Speaking about his visit to Australia, Minister Goyal said that for the first time, the leadership of both the CII and FICCI were represented in Australia, signifying the importance of the partnership. He added that the unprecedented ties between the two countries with 9 in-person meetings of senior leaders being held since May 2022 reflected the deep-bonding of leaders and supplements the business-business and people-people to connect.

    Minister Goyal added that India and Australia are working towards strengthening Economic-Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) through Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). He said that the ECTA agreement has resulted in market access to both sides and resulted in significant increase in merchandise trade.

    Shri Goyal highlighted Australia’s role in India’s journey through greater trade, exchange of technologies, common goals for sustainability, and provision of high-tech services and investment. “India offers advantages of 4 Ds- democracy, demographic dividend, demand and decisive leadership with leadership under Shri Narendra Modi, willing to reform, perform and transform the country”, further added the Minister.

     ***

    AD/VN/CNAN

     

    (Release ID: 2058513) Visitor Counter : 92

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Digital switch for community alarms

    Source: Scotland – City of Perth

    Digital telecare systems provide greater reliability as well as faster connections, which means they can send alerts more quickly than analogue ones.

    More than 275,000 calls are made through the alarm system in Perth and Kinross each year.

    In 2017, BT Open Reach declared the termination of analogue telephone networks by 2025, prompting a nationwide shift to digital networks.

    The UK and Scottish Government’s Digital Office, have been collaborating with telecom providers to support this transition. The deadline for the complete switchover has been extended to the end of 2027 to accommodate various challenges faced by local authorities and businesses. However, Perth and Kinross are on track to meet the original 2025 deadline.

    To support the transition in Perth and Kinross, the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) secured £6 million funding from Perth and Kinross Council in February 2022.

    This funding is supporting the replacement of 4,000 analogue alarm units to digital ones.

    To date, 3,850 units have been purchased at a cost of £1.34 million, leaving only 39 units pending replacement.

    The remaining £4.66 million will fund the next phase of the project, including the replacement of peripherals for more complex needs, and addressing future demand due to an ageing population.

    As of June 2024, approximately 2,000 clients have been migrated to the digital network, with the remaining clients expected to transition by the end of the financial year.

    Perth & Kinross HSCP has received national recognition from the Local Government Digital Office, earning a Gold Level 2 Implementation Award for migrating over 50% of clients to a digital service.

    Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership Chief Officer Jacquie Pepper said: “We are committed to completing the digital telecare switchover, ensuring those who rely on this vital service continue to receive reliable and advanced telecare services.

    “We anticipate all of our customers will be fully  switched over to digital by the end of 2024. This will make Perth and Kinross one of the few Scottish local authorities to reach this milestone.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: SCOR Investment Partners unveils second vintage of High-Income Infrastructure Debt Strategy

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PRESS RELEASE | September 25, 2024 N° 02- 2024

    SCOR Investment Partners unveils second vintage of High-Income Infrastructure Debt Strategy

    SCOR Investment Partners announces the launch of SCORLUX High Income Infrastructure Loans II, a sub-fund of SCORLUX SICAV-RAIF.

    The fund marks the second vintage of SCOR Investment Partners’ multi-investor high-income infrastructure debt strategy, following the successful deployment of its inaugural fund, SCORLUX High Income Infrastructure Loans.

    The new fund offers flexible and innovative unitranche or junior/mezzanine secured debt solutions to infrastructure projects or companies. It provides investors with a diversified portfolio, offering attractive risk-adjusted returns for a sub-investment grade profile.

    SCORLUX High Income Infrastructure Loans II will invest in strategically important infrastructure sectors for EU countries, including renewable energy, digital infrastructure and transportation networks. The fund will also support initiatives related to decarbonization, energy efficiency and green mobility.

    In line with SCOR Investment Partners’ sustainable investment philosophy, the fund’s investments will focus on financing low-carbon activities and those with a positive environmental contribution, such as circular economy initiatives and pollution prevention. SCORLUX High Income Infrastructure Loans II is classified as Article 9 under the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and has been granted the LuxFLAG Environment Applicant label. 

    A European Long-Term Investment Fund (ELTIF) and accessible to institutional investors, the fund has already secured an investment commitment of EUR 100 million from the SCOR Group, ensuring strong alignment of interest, and is targeting a total fund size of EUR 500 million.

    Paola Basentini, Head of Infrastructure Debt at SCOR Investment Partners, commented: “Following the success of our first high-income infrastructure debt vintage, we are proud to offer investors access to a new, carefully selected, portfolio of diversified investments. These investments will provide attractive returns while contributing effectively to the energy transition”.

    Louis Bourrousse, CEO of SCOR Investment Partners, added: “We have been an active player in infrastructure debt since 2013. With our second-vintage high-income infrastructure debt fund, we offer access to a valuable niche market that would otherwise be difficult to reach. Our infrastructure team leverages its proven sourcing skills and strong track record to deploy this new fund.”

    With EUR 2.4 billion of investments completed across 80 infrastructure debt transactions since 2013, SCOR Investment Partners’ infrastructure team has been a pioneer in offshore wind, fiber networks, and sustainable datacenters investing. The team focuses on building well-diversified portfolios through secured project structures based on stable, predictable, and generally inflation-protected cash flows.

    – End –

    CONTACTS

    About SCOR Investment Partners

    Financing the sustainable development of societies, together.

    SCOR Investment Partners is the asset management company of the SCOR Group. Created in 2008 and accredited by the Autorité des Marches financiers, the French financial market regulatory body, in May 2009 (no. GP09000006). SCOR Investment Partners has more than 80 employees and is structured around seven management desks: Fixed Income, Corporate Loans, Infrastructure Loans, Direct Real Estate, Real Estate Loans, Insurance-Linked Securities and Fund Selection. Since 2012, SCOR Investment Partners has given institutional investors access to some of the investment strategies developed for the SCOR Group. Assets managed for outside investors totaled EUR 7.6 billion as of June 30, 2024. As of that same date, SCOR Investment Partners had total assets under management of EUR 20.5 billion (including undrawn commitments).

    Visit the SCOR Investment Partners website at: www.scor-ip.com

    This advertising communication, intended exclusively for journalists and professionals of the press and media, is produced for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer, solicitation, invitation, or recommendation to purchase any service or investment product.

    Before making any final investment decision, you must read all regulatory documents of the Fund, available free of charge upon request, from the Sales & Marketing team of SCOR Investment Partners SE.

    All content published by the SCOR group since January 1, 2024, is certified with Wiztrust. You can check the authenticity of this content at wiztrust.com.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: UN Political Declaration on antimicrobial resistance essential step, but concrete action from governments now critical

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières

    AMR remains a leading cause of death worldwide nearly a decade after UN member states agreed to make it a priority.

    Geneva/New York, 25 September 2024 – Ahead of the second-ever United Nations (UN) High Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance* (AMR) tomorrow, where world leaders will come together to agree on commitments to advance the global response to AMR, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called on governments to take swift, bold action to translate this political declaration into meaningful progress against drug resistance. 

    Headway against AMR since the first declaration nearly a decade ago has been inadequate and inequitable, with low- and middle-income countries – and humanitarian contexts, in particular – least equipped to respond despite bearing the highest burdens of drug-resistant infection. 

    Drawing on years of experience tackling drug resistance around the world, MSF urged governments to build on the commitments made and take an ambitious set of follow-on steps to empower those most affected by AMR to prevent, detect, and respond to it. AMR is a leading cause of death worldwide, and contributed to 4.95 million deaths in 2019 alone, with recent estimates showing the threat is still growing at alarming rates, possibly contributing to 8.2 million deaths annually by 2050.

    “We are seeing staggering rates of drug-resistant infections in many of the low-resource and humanitarian settings where we work, in large part because healthcare workers don’t have what they need to prevent, detect, and respond to AMR,” said Dr Christos Christou, International President of MSF. 

    “The UN Political Declaration on antimicrobial resistance is a welcome step towards strengthening the global AMR response and expresses important aspirations for global equity and solidarity. Considering the magnitude of the challenge of AMR though, and how few of the hardest-hit countries have been able to fund and implement national action plans, the declaration text should have been much more concrete and ambitious. 
    “The declaration must now go beyond words on paper: governments must not only enact and be accountable to the commitments they’ve made, but they must also build on and refine them to ensure low-resource and humanitarian settings are no longer left behind.”

    People in low- and middle-income countries experience the highest rates of AMR and infectious diseases globally, but are the least likely to have access to healthcare, including the medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics they need. In humanitarian settings, other factors compound the AMR crisis. Conflicts or natural disasters, for example, can result in traumatic injuries that can easily become infected and force people to take refuge in overcrowded settings where resistant bacteria can spread easily.

    In the political declaration, governments acknowledged the importance of addressing AMR in humanitarian settings like those in which MSF works, as well as several issues that MSF has highlighted as key priorities in responding to AMR. However, the commitments made to address these issues should have been bolder and more precisely calibrated to address global inequities. MSF recommends that governments build on and refine these commitments in the following ways:

    The declaration’s commitment to include affected communities and humanitarian organisations in the governance of platforms and mechanisms to address AMR must now be put into practice. Only by ensuring the inclusive participation of these groups in global AMR initiatives can an effective roadmap for reaching the most underserved settings take shape. 

    For example, if established, the proposed Independent Panel on Evidence for Action Against AMR must adhere to principles of impartiality, transparency, and accountability to all countries, and prioritise research in and for communities most affected by AMR. 
    This is important, because communities in conflict-affected, fragile and humanitarian settings are more vulnerable to AMR, but evidence needed to inform the response in these settings is acutely lacking.
    The declaration recognizes the need for strengthening laboratory capacity and commits to “improve access to diagnosis and care,” but this broad commitment must be made more specific and precise in follow-on agreements and accountability frameworks to ensure expanded and equitable availability of quality-assured microbiology laboratories. Access to microbiology laboratories is a critical foundation for preventing, detecting and controlling AMR more effectively, but many places with high rates of AMR do not have quality laboratories.
    The commitment to increased international financing and technical assistance to enable low- and middle-income countries to implement national action plans to address AMR must result in stronger and more ambitious funding, as the currently proposed US$100 million to see 60 per cent of countries achieve funded plans to tackle AMR by 2030 is not sufficient to address a health issue of this magnitude.
    The commitment to ensure timely and equitable access to affordable medical tools, including antimicrobials and diagnostic tests, must translate into concrete action. The significant global gaps in access to medical tools must be tracked and quantified to guide efforts to achieve more equitable access, and resources allocated accordingly for both access strategies and antimicrobial stewardship programs. 
    Furthermore, when governments provide funding for research and development for new antimicrobials, they should prioritise public and nonprofit initiatives, as these facilitate access, stewardship, and collaborative approaches to research. Funders must also attach upfront conditions ensuring equitable global access to any resulting medical tools into agreements when providing the “push” and “pull” funding called for in the declaration.

    “To effectively combat AMR globally, governments must address the significant discrepancies in the amount of evidence for action available in high-income and low-resource settings,” said Dušan Jasovský, Antimicrobial Resistance Pharmacist with the MSF Access Campaign. 

    “This means that the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action Against AMR proposed in the declaration must prioritise research in communities most affected by AMR, which are often in humanitarian or low-resource settings where there is currently the least evidence to guide action. This panel is in a great position to inform a response to drug resistance in the hardest-hit areas based on interventions that work, but to do so it must operate with transparency, accountability, and impartiality, backed by ambitious financial means of implementation, and in close collaboration with affected communities.”

    *AMR — when microbes like bacteria, viruses, and fungi evolve and survive despite the antimicrobial medicines, such as antibiotics, used against them — can make medical care less effective and much more difficult, prolonged, and costly for patients and treatment providers.

    MSF is a leading actor in preventing, detecting, and responding to AMR in humanitarian settings, with infection prevention and control, and stewardship initiatives across multiple contexts and 50 sites with planned or existing access to diagnostic microbiology in 20 countries worldwide. MSF has developed an interdisciplinary approach to addressing AMR which includes targeted training and support for infection prevention and control, and antimicrobial stewardship, and in some cases also efforts to provide access to microbiology lab-based diagnosis.

    MSF Australia was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF sections committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis. In 2022, more than 120 project staff from Australia and New Zealand worked with MSF on assignment overseas. MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender. For more information visit msf.org.au

    MIL OSI – Submitted News –

  • MIL-OSI: Keiretsu Forum Investor Capital Expo: A Must-Attend Event for Angel Investors, Family Offices, and Venture Capital Professionals

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The upcoming Investor Capital Expo, hosted by Keiretsu Forum in Philadelphia, offers a rare opportunity for accredited investors to engage directly with early-stage companies that have undergone Keiretsu Forum’s rigorous due diligence process. Scheduled for October 31, 2024, at Convene City View in Philadelphia, this event provides a platform for investors to explore diverse high-growth opportunities while building relationships with fellow investors and company founders.

    This year’s twelve presenting companies represent a wide range of sectors, each poised to make a significant impact in their respective industries. Among them are Relavo Medical, Seneca Therapeutics, and Iris Dynamics Limited:

    Relavo Medical is revolutionizing kidney failure treatment with its innovative device, the PeritoneX, which addresses a critical barrier to peritoneal dialysis (PD) adoption by reducing the risk of peritonitis. With only 12% of kidney failure patients currently choosing PD, the PeritoneX’s in-line disinfection system significantly reduces microbial contamination and integrates with existing setups, offering a safer, more accessible option for patients to receive treatment at home. Investors will find a compelling opportunity in Relavo Medical’s mission to improve patient outcomes while reducing healthcare costs.

    Seneca Therapeutics is advancing cancer treatment with its oncolytic immunotherapy, SVV-001. This innovative approach targets solid tumors that express the TEM8 receptor, enhancing the immune response and offering hope for patients with drug-resistant cancers. Having demonstrated safety and potential efficacy in preclinical and clinical trials, Seneca Therapeutics is actively seeking funding to push its promising cancer therapy into later-stage trials.

    Iris Dynamics Ltd., based in Victoria, British Columbia, specializes in advanced motion control systems designed for applications ranging from aerospace to virtual reality simulation. Their Orca Series motors and IO SmartHub are transforming industrial automation with high-precision control and simplified integration. Investors interested in cutting-edge technology will find Iris Dynamics’ expansion plans to be an exciting opportunity in intelligent motion control.

    These companies, along with the other presenters, have comprehensive investment packages and are actively raising capital. Attendees at the Investor Capital Expo will have the chance to engage with these companies’ leadership teams, gaining deeper insights into their growth strategies and potential returns on investment.

    “We’re proud to present such a strong lineup of companies that are actively shaping the future of their industries,” said Howard Lubert, Regional President of Keiretsu Forum. “This Expo is a valuable chance for investors to collaborate with other seasoned professionals and explore opportunities backed by our extensive due diligence process.”

    Networking and Collaboration: The Key to Successful Investing

    In addition to company presentations, the Investor Capital Expo offers unparalleled networking opportunities for investors to connect with peers from across the angel investing and early-stage company landscape. Whether attending in person or virtually, participants will have the chance to build relationships and discover new investment opportunities.

    Event Details:

    Date: October 31, 2024, 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM EDT

    Location: Convene City View, 30 S 17th St, Philadelphia, PA

    Registration: Accredited angel investors can register HERE

    Don’t miss this chance to engage with high-potential companies and collaborate with top investors. Join us in Philadelphia for a day of learning, networking, and discovery.

    For media inquiries, please contact:
    Cindi Sutera
    CindiS@AMSCommunications.net
    610-613-2773

    About Keiretsu Forum

    Keiretsu Forum is the world’s largest private equity angel investment network with 2000+ accredited investors in 35 North American and 23 International chapters, who have invested more than $1B in early-stage companies in the last 23 years.

    The Keiretsu Forum portfolio features Entrepreneurs and Companies from Technology-(Internet, Software, Cyber Security, SaaS, Mobile Systems, IoT, etc.), Life Sciences-(Pharma, Medical Devices, Health IT, etc.), FinServ/FinTech, Consumer Products, Clean-Green Energy, Consumer Products, & more!

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp. Announces Definitive Agreement to Merge with YD Biopharma Limited

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    YD Biopharma is a Clinical-Stage Biopharmaceutical Company Focusing on Cancer Prevention Diagnostics and Seeking to Transform the Treatment of a Wide Spectrum of Diseases

    Pro Forma for the Transaction, Combined Company is Expected to Have an Estimated Enterprise Value of Nearly $700 Million

    The Proposed Merger is Expected to Close by Early 2025; After Closing, the Combined Company is Expected to be Listed on Nasdaq Capital Market

    YD Biopharma has Recently Obtained Patents, Technology, and U.S. Authorization for Core Methylation Detection of Pancreatic Cancer, Along with Entering into an Agreement to Acquire Licenses for Breast Cancer Detection Upon the Closing of the Merger

    IRVING, Texas, Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp. (OTCQX: BRZH, BRZHR, BRZHW) (“Breeze” or the “Company”), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with YD Biopharma Limited (“YD Biopharma”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on cancer prevention medical diagnostics and the development of exosome-based therapeutics with the potential to transform the treatment of a wide spectrum of diseases with high unmet medical need. Following the closing, the combined company is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

    Using Technology to Detect Health Problems Early On
    YD Biopharma specializes in the biopharmaceutical business and serves as a supplier of drugs and medical materials for clinical trials. In 2015, YD Biopharma was appointed as a clinical testing drug supplier by Novartis and has since expanded its offerings to include development and supply of ancillary products post-launch. YD Biopharma’s mission is to create a cancer-free world through advancements in biotechnology.

    More recently, YD Biopharma obtained patent and technology authorization from 3D Global Biotech Inc. (“3D Biotech”) to pioneer the application of corneal mesenchymal stem cells and their exosomes for treating eye diseases. YD Biopharma has introduced new advanced drugs and treatments for conditions such as dry eye disease, glaucoma, and corneal repair. YD Biopharma aims to optimize the treatment market for eye diseases by distribution through pharmacies, optometrists, and other channels.

    Earlier this year, YD Biopharma obtained patents, technology and U.S. market authorization from EG Biomed Taiwan for core methylation detection of pancreatic cancer with high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. This partnership has led to the establishment of an independent laboratory in the U.S. dedicated to pancreatic cancer early detection and monitoring technology that marks a significant expansion of YD Biopharma’s research and development capabilities to collaborate with hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies to reach new patients.

    YD Biopharma has also recently negotiated related authorizations for breast cancer detection to further expand the Company’s product offerings. YD Biopharma is in the process of acquiring licenses from EG BioMed Taiwan for advanced breast cancer detection technology in the U.S., E.U., and Asia-Pacific that has high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. The acquisition of the licenses for EG Biomed’s breast cancer detection technology in the U.S., E.U., and Asia-Pacific is expected to be consummated simultaneously with the closing of the merger with Breeze.

    Management Commentary
    Dr. Ethan Shen, the Founder, Chairman and CEO of YD Biopharma, has an extensive background in the pharmaceutical industry having worked at a well-known global pharmaceutical company. Inspired by his father’s struggle with cancer and subsequent passing, Dr. Shen is dedicated to eradicating cancer and helping people to avoid chronic and painful treatments through early detection.

    Dr. Shen stated the following regarding the proposed transaction, “I’m pleased to announce the next phase of our strategy as we embark on a public listing in the U.S. through the proposed business combination with Breeze. Since our founding in 2013, we’ve made significant strides in expanding our capabilities through organic innovation, licensing agreements, and notable strategic partnerships. We have a strategic roadmap in place for accelerated growth and a compelling story to tell in the U.S. market as we aim to deliver health problem detection at an earlier stage than ever before through minimal intervention.”

    J. Douglas Ramsey, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Breeze, commented, “From day one, it has been our mission at Breeze to find a company with innovative and disruptive technology that has the potential to deliver significant growth to our shareholders. We are highly optimistic about the proposed business combination with YD Biopharma, a company that we believe is a true outlier in the biotech industry with strong growth potential in a variety of healthcare markets. We are working closely with their team to expeditiously close the transaction by early 2025 and move forward with YD Biopharma as a publicly traded company in the U.S.”

    YD Biopharma Key Investment Highlights

    • Proven Capabilities Across a Broad Spectrum of Solutions: YD Biopharma has an extensive suite of solutions ranging from ophthalmology cellular drug development to pancreatic and breast cancer diagnostics to nutritional product sales.
    • Notable Strategic Partnerships, Offering Validation and Growth Potential: YD Biopharma is a clinical testing drug supplier for Novartis, a top five global pharmaceutical company, as well as having licensing partnerships with EG BioMed for pancreatic cancer detection and 3D Global Biotech to develop treatment for eye disorders.
    • Proprietary Technology Supported by Licensing Agreements and IP Portfolio: Multi-decade, exclusive licensing agreements and owned, patented technology provides YD Biopharma with significant competitive first-mover advantage in each of its clinical markets.
    • Large and Underserved Markets for Each Solution Showcase Untapped Growth Potential: Multi-billion-dollar global market sizes and high single digit CAGRs over the next decade provide significant growth potential for YD Biopharma’s solutions.
    • Strong Leadership Team with Deep Expertise in Biotech and Finance: YD Biopharma has a founder-led management team with experience in new drug development, medical-grade health product development, pharmacy channel development, and financial management and accounting.

    Transaction Overview
    Under the terms of the business combination agreement, Breeze and YD Biopharma will each merge into wholly-owned subsidiaries of a newly formed Cayman holding company expected to be named “YD Biopharma Holdings Limited” and is anticipated to be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

    Assuming no redemptions, the combined company will have an estimated post-transaction enterprise value of $694 million, consisting of an estimated equity value of $715 million, $21.0 million in cash and no debt. Cash proceeds raised will consist of Breeze’s $10.1 million cash in trust (before redemptions and payment of any transaction expenses) and $15 million in anticipated new capital.

    YD Biopharma intends to use the proceeds from the transaction to expand production and continue development, approval and launch of new technologies.

    The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both YD Biopharma and Breeze. It is expected to close by early 2025, subject to regulatory and stockholder approvals, and other customary closing conditions. Additional information may be found in the Current Report on Form 8-K that was filed by Breeze Holdings today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Upon completion of the transaction, YD Biopharma will continue to be led by Founder, Chairman, and CEO Dr. Ethan Shen. Wu Cheng-fend will serve as Chief Medical Officer, and May Tsai will serve as Chief Business Officer.

    Advisors
    ArentFox Schiff LLP and Ogier are acting as legal advisors to YD Biopharma. I-Bankers Securities, Inc. is acting as financial advisor to Breeze Holdings. Woolery & Co. PLLC is acting as legal advisor to Breeze Holdings.

    About YD Biopharma
    YD Biopharma Limited is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on cancer prevention medical diagnostics and the development of exosome-based therapeutics with the potential to transform the treatment of a wide spectrum of diseases with high unmet medical need. Through continuous effort and innovation, the Company has also become a recognized supplier of clinical trial drugs and has begun developing and supplying post-market auxiliary products.

    For more information, please visit www.yd-biopharma.com.

    About Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp.
    Breeze Holdings is a blank check company organized for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization, or other similar business combinations with one or more businesses or entities.

    Additional Information and Where to Find It
    This press release relates to a proposed business combination transaction involving Breeze Holdings and YD Biopharma. In connection with the proposed transaction, a newly-formed Cayman exempted company expected to be named “YD Biopharma Holdings Limited” (“YD Holdings”) intends to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) a registration statement on Form F-4 that will include a proxy statement of Breeze and that also will constitute a prospectus of YD Holdings with respect to the ordinary shares of YD Holdings to be issued in the proposed transaction (the “Proxy Statement/Prospectus”). This document is not a substitute for the Proxy Statement/Prospectus. The definitive Proxy Statement/Prospectus (if and when available) will be delivered to Breeze Holdings’ and YD Biopharma’s stockholders. Breeze Holdings may also file other relevant documents regarding the proposed transaction with the SEC. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING OR INVESTMENT DECISION, INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF BREEZE HOLDINGS AND YD BIOPHARMA AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT, PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND ALL OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT ARE FILED OR WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION, INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BREEZE HOLDINGS, YD HOLDINGS, YD BIOPHARMA, THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND RELATED MATTERS.

    Investors and security holders of Breeze Holdings and YD Biopharma may obtain free copies of the Registration Statement and Proxy Statement/Prospectus (if and when available) and other documents that are filed or will be filed with the SEC by Breeze Holdings through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by Breeze Holdings will be available free of charge at Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp., 955 W. John Carpenter Fwy., Suite 100-929, Irving, TX 75039, attention: J. Douglas Ramsey.

    Participants in the Solicitation
    Breeze Holdings, YD Biopharma and certain of their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of Breeze Holdings and YD Biopharma in respect of the proposed transaction. Information about Breeze Holdings’ directors and executive officers and their ownership of Breeze Holdings common stock is set forth in Breeze Holdings’ filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the SEC on April 25, 2024 (the “Annual Report”). To the extent that holdings of Breeze Holdings’ securities have changed since the amounts included in the Annual Report, such changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change in Ownership of Form 4 filed with the SEC. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the Proxy Statement/Prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC in respect of the proposed transaction when they become available. You may obtain free copies of these documents as described in the preceding paragraph.

    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
    This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, among other things, statements regarding the anticipated benefits and impact of the proposed transaction on the combined company’s business and future financial and operating results, the anticipated timing of closing of the proposed transaction, the anticipated growth of the industries and markets in which YD Biopharma competes, the success and customer acceptance of YD Biopharma’s product and service offerings and other aspects of YD Biopharma’s operations, plans, objectives, opportunities, expectations or operating results, the expected ownership structure of the combined company and the likelihood and ability of the parties to successfully consummate the proposed transaction. Words such as “may,” “should,” “will,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimated,” “target,” “project,” and similar phrases or words of similar meaning that denote future expectations or intent regarding the combined company’s financial results, operations and other matters are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and other factors, both known and unknown, which are difficult to predict and generally beyond our control and that may cause actual results and the timing of future events to differ materially from the results and timing of future events anticipated by the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) the ability of the parties to complete the proposed transaction within the time frame anticipated or at all, which may adversely impact the price of Breeze Holdings’ securities; (ii) the failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction or those benefits taking longer than anticipated to be realized; (iii) the risk that the proposed transaction may not be completed by Breeze Holdings’ business combination deadline and the potential failure to obtain further extensions of the business combination deadline if sought by Breeze Holdings; (iv) the failure to satisfy the conditions to the consummation of the proposed transaction, including the adoption of the definitive merger agreement by the stockholders of Breeze Holdings or YD Biopharma, the receipt of any required governmental or regulatory approvals or the failure to meet the Nasdaq listing standards in connection with the closing of the proposed transaction; (v) the lack of a third party valuation in determining whether or not to pursue the proposed transaction; (vi) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the definitive merger agreement; (vii) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or related governmental or regulatory orders ; (viii) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the proposed transaction on YD Biopharma’s business relationships, performance and business generally; (ix) risks that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans and operations of YD Biopharma and any potential difficulties in YD Biopharma employee retention as a result of the proposed transaction; (x) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against YD Biopharma or Breeze Holdings related to the definitive merger agreement or the proposed transaction or any product liability or regulatory lawsuits or proceedings relating to YD Biopharma’s products or services; (xi) the ability to maintain the listing of YD Holdings’ securities on the Nasdaq Capital Market after the closing of the proposed transaction; (xii) potential volatility in the price of Breeze Holdings’ securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which YD Biopharma operates, variations in performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting YD Biopharma’s business, and changes in the combined company’s capital structure; (xiii) the ability to implement business plans, identify and realize additional opportunities and achieve forecasts and other expectations after the completion of the proposed transaction; (xiv) the risk of downturns and the possibility of rapid change in the highly competitive industries in which YD Biopharma operates or the markets that YD Biopharma targets; (xv) the inability of YD Biopharma and its current and future collaborators to successfully develop and commercialize YD Biopharma’s products and services in the expected time frame or at all; (xvi) the risk that the combined company may never achieve or sustain profitability or may need to raise additional capital to execute its business plan, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; and (xvii) the costs of the proposed transaction. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to additional risks, uncertainties and factors, including those described in Breeze Holdings’ most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents filed or to be filed with the SEC by Breeze Holdings from time to time. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a predictor of future performance as projected financial information and other information are based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to various significant risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date hereof. Forecasts and estimates regarding YD Biopharma’s industry and end markets are based on sources we believe to be reliable, however there can be no assurance these forecasts and estimates will prove accurate in whole or in part. Annualized, pro forma, projected and estimated numbers are used for illustrative purposes only, are not forecasts and may not reflect actual results.

    No Offer or Solicitation
    This press release is for informational purposes only and is not intended to and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or to buy any securities or a solicitation of any proxy, consent, vote or approval with respect to any securities in respect of the proposed transaction and is not a substitute for the Proxy Statement/Prospectus or any other document that Breeze Holdings may file with the SEC or send to Breeze Holdings’ or YD Biopharma’s stockholders in connection with the proposed transaction. No offer, sale, issuance or transfer of securities shall be made in any jurisdiction in which such offer, sale, issuance or transfer would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

    Contacts:

    YD Biopharma Limited
    Bob Chiu
    bobc95@udn-pharm.com

    Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp.
    Investor Relations
    Cody Slach and Cody Cree
    Gateway Group

    (949) 574-3860
    BREZ@gateway-grp.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: AGNICO EAGLE PROVIDES NOTICE OF RELEASE OF THIRD QUARTER 2024 RESULTS AND CONFERENCE CALL

    Source: Agnico Eagle Mines

    Stock Symbol:  AEM (NYSE and TSX)

    TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2024 /CNW/ – Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) (TSX: AEM) (“Agnico Eagle” or the “Company“) today announced that it will release its third quarter 2024 results on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, after normal trading hours.

    Third Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call and Webcast

    Agnico Eagle’s senior management will host a conference call on Thursday, October 31, 2024, at 11:00 AM (E.D.T.) to discuss the Company’s financial and operating results.

    Via Webcast:

    To listen to the live webcast of the conference call, you may register on the Company website at www.agnicoeagle.com, or directly via the link here.

    Via Phone:

    To join the conference call by phone, please dial 416.945.7677 or toll-free 1.888.699.1199 to be entered into the call by an operator. To ensure your participation, please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call.

    To join the conference call without operator assistance, you may register your phone number here 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call to receive an instant automated call back.

    Replay Archive:

    Please dial 289.819.1450 or toll-free 1.888.660.6345, access code 80122#. The conference call replay will expire on November 30, 2024.

    The webcast, along with presentation slides, will be archived for 180 days on the Company’s website.

    About Agnico Eagle

    Agnico Eagle is a Canadian based and led senior gold mining company and the third largest gold producer in the world, producing precious metals from operations in Canada, Australia, Finland and Mexico. It has a pipeline of high-quality exploration and development projects in these countries as well as in the United States. Agnico Eagle is a partner of choice within the mining industry, recognized globally for its leading environmental, social and governance practices. Agnico Eagle was founded in 1957 and has consistently created value for its shareholders, declaring a cash dividend every year since 1983.

    View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/agnico-eagle-provides-notice-of-release-of-third-quarter-2024-results-and-conference-call-302258002.html

    SOURCE Agnico Eagle Mines Limited

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: AGNICO EAGLE PROVIDES NOTICE OF RELEASE OF THIRD QUARTER 2024 RESULTS AND CONFERENCE CALL

    Source: Agnico Eagle Mines

    Stock Symbol:  AEM (NYSE and TSX)

    TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2024 /CNW/ – Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) (TSX: AEM) (“Agnico Eagle” or the “Company“) today announced that it will release its third quarter 2024 results on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, after normal trading hours.

    Third Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call and Webcast

    Agnico Eagle’s senior management will host a conference call on Thursday, October 31, 2024, at 11:00 AM (E.D.T.) to discuss the Company’s financial and operating results.

    Via Webcast:

    To listen to the live webcast of the conference call, you may register on the Company website at www.agnicoeagle.com, or directly via the link here.

    Via Phone:

    To join the conference call by phone, please dial 416.945.7677 or toll-free 1.888.699.1199 to be entered into the call by an operator. To ensure your participation, please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call.

    To join the conference call without operator assistance, you may register your phone number here 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call to receive an instant automated call back.

    Replay Archive:

    Please dial 289.819.1450 or toll-free 1.888.660.6345, access code 80122#. The conference call replay will expire on November 30, 2024.

    The webcast, along with presentation slides, will be archived for 180 days on the Company’s website.

    About Agnico Eagle

    Agnico Eagle is a Canadian based and led senior gold mining company and the third largest gold producer in the world, producing precious metals from operations in Canada, Australia, Finland and Mexico. It has a pipeline of high-quality exploration and development projects in these countries as well as in the United States. Agnico Eagle is a partner of choice within the mining industry, recognized globally for its leading environmental, social and governance practices. Agnico Eagle was founded in 1957 and has consistently created value for its shareholders, declaring a cash dividend every year since 1983.

    View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/agnico-eagle-provides-notice-of-release-of-third-quarter-2024-results-and-conference-call-302258002.html

    SOURCE Agnico Eagle Mines Limited

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI USA: U.S. net natural gas exports remain flat in the first half of 2024

    Source: US Energy Information Administration

    In-brief analysis

    September 25, 2024

    In the first six months of 2024, U.S. net natural gas exports (exports minus imports) averaged 12.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), 1% (0.1 Bcf/d) more than the same period last year and 2% (0.3 Bcf/d) less than in 2023, according to our Natural Gas Monthly. Since 2019, increases in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and exports by pipeline to Mexico have led the growth in U.S. natural gas exports. The United States has exported more natural gas than it imports since 2017.

    The United States trades natural gas by pipeline with Canada and Mexico and as LNG with more than 40 countries. The United States imports more natural gas by pipeline from Canada than it exports, and it exports more natural gas by pipeline to Mexico than it imports. The United States has been a net exporter of LNG since 2016.

    The large buildout of LNG export capacity enabled LNG exports to grow from an annual average of 0.5 Bcf/d in 2016 to 11.9 Bcf/d in 2023. Currently, the United States has seven LNG export terminals in operation and five terminals under construction. In 2023, the United States was the world’s largest LNG exporter. By the end of this year, we expect two new LNG export facilities—Plaquemines LNG and Corpus Christi LNG Stage 3 (an expansion of the existing Corpus Christi LNG export terminal)—to start LNG exports.

    Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Monthly
    Note: Includes waterborne liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports by vessel (excludes exports by truck and ISO container). Other includes LNG imports into Northeast Gateway and Cove Point.

    U.S. natural gas pipeline imports from Canada play an important role in balancing the U.S. natural gas market, particularly in the winter. Most natural gas imported by pipeline from Canada arrives in the Western and Midcontinent regions of the United States. In 2023, net U.S. pipeline imports from Canada averaged 5.2 Bcf/d, of which 83% was imported into the western United States. In the first six months of 2024, net U.S. pipeline imports from Canada averaged 5.4 Bcf/d, an increase of 11% (0.5 Bcf/d) compared with the same period in 2023, mainly because of increased imports into the Midcontinent region.

    Since the end of natural gas production in eastern Canada (offshore Nova Scotia) and growth in production in the U.S. Appalachia region, U.S. exports of natural gas by pipeline into eastern Canada exceeded imports from eastern Canada, making the eastern United States a net exporter of natural gas by pipeline to eastern Canada for several years since 2017.

    Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Monthly, U.S. natural gas pipeline exports and imports by point of exit and entry
    Note: Net pipeline imports=imports minus exports. Positive sign denotes net imports. Negative sign denotes net exports. U.S. aggregations by region include the following states: Western (Idaho, Montana, and Washington), Midcontinent (Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota), and Eastern (Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont).

    U.S. net pipeline exports to Mexico averaged 6.3 Bcf/d in the first six months of 2024, 7% (0.4 Bcf/d) more than over the same period last year and 2% more (0.1 Bcf/d) than the 2023 annual average. U.S.-Mexico cross-border pipeline capacity is set to expand as two new natural gas pipeline projects with a total capacity of 5.3 Bcf/d have received regulatory approvals. These projects are primarily targeting LNG export capacity being developed in Mexico that will be supplied with natural gas sourced from the United States.

    Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Monthly, U.S. natural gas pipeline exports and imports by point of exit and entry
    Note: Net pipeline exports are calculated as imports minus exports. Negative sign denotes net exports.

    Principal contributors: Victoria Zaretskaya, Katy Fleury

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Calling All Paw-ty Animals: Trupanion to Connect Families & Shelter Pets for a Frightfully Howling Halloween

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SEATTLE, Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Do you have a Cleocatra? Perhaps a Vampug or Terri-fido. Because whether they’re spooky, sweet or somewhere in between—it’s time to break out the costume box for Trupanion’s Tricked Out for Treats Pet-tacular, a pet costume contest to run throughout October.

    Starting October 1, Trupanion invites pet parents to share photos of their furry friends in (pet safe!) costumes for a chance to win a custom pet portrait, pet-tacular swag, global spotlight opportunities, and ultimate bragging rights. And with eight tricked-out categories like ‘Solo Stunner’ for pet close ups and ‘Clinic Charmer’ spotlighting pets and veterinary team members, there’s something for everyone. Including ‘Adorably Adoptable’, a great way for Trupanion to team up with shelter and rescue organizations nationwide in order to find adoptable pets new homes.

    “When developing this initiative, we knew we wanted to create something fun and lighthearted, but with a deeper purpose,” said Margi Tooth, CEO & President of Trupanion. “That’s why we chose to shine a spotlight on shelter and rescue pets with the Adorably Adoptable category to connect these pets with potential families.”

    Submissions for the Adorably Adoptable category will receive extra attention on the campaign’s showcase page, where visitors will be able to see available pets. They’ll also have the opportunity to learn more about each pet’s shelter/rescue organization and connect with the team directly — whether they’re interested in adopting or want to explore ways to support their mission.

    “We’re looking forward to celebrating the fun, laughter, and love our pets bring into our lives each and every day with this campaign,” added Tooth. “It will be wonderful to share these joyful moments with the world and we are so excited for the opportunity to connect pets available for adoption with their forever homes.”

    Here’s How It Works

    Say Cheese: Starting October 1, trick out your pet in their finest and snap some pics.

    Tag, Brag & Vote: Submit your photos to trickedout.trupanion.com, tag one of the categories that best fits your pet’s paw-some personality, then share one social media to get as many votes as possible.

    Tune In: Don’t miss our virtual pet-tacular, streamed at trickedout.trupanion.com on October 30 at 12pm PST/3pm EST. Come meet the best-dressed pets, have lots of laughs, and find out who’s the “pick of the patch” in select categories.

    Visit trickedout.trupanion.com for more information and to submit your pet’s photo.

    Know a shelter or rescue interested in showcasing adoptable pets? Encourage them to pre-register for the campaign via email at shelterlove@trupanion.com before October 1.

    About Trupanion

    Trupanion is a leader in medical insurance for cats and dogs throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Puerto Rico and Australia with over 1,000,000 pets enrolled. For over two decades, Trupanion has given pet owners peace of mind so they can focus on their pet’s recovery, not financial stress. Trupanion is committed to providing pet owners with the highest value in pet medical insurance with unlimited payouts for the life of their pets. With its patented process, Trupanion is the only North American provider with the technology to pay veterinarians directly in seconds at the time of checkout. Trupanion is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol “TRUP”. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Seattle, WA. Trupanion policies are issued, in the United States, by its wholly-owned insurance entity American Pet Insurance Company and, in Canada, by Accelerant Insurance Company of Canada. Trupanion Australia is a partnership between Trupanion and Hollard Insurance Company. Policies are sold and administered by Trupanion Managers USA, Inc. (CA license No. 0G22803, NPN 9588590). For more information, please visit trupanion.com.

    Contacts:
    Media: Trupanion Corporate Communications
    Corporate.communications@trupanion.com

    Images accompanying this press release are available for use. Pictures are of various pets in their Halloween costumes.

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ea20e913-f4ec-47b5-a39f-8c691c689f7c

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/afb1fff5-3942-49b2-bf5c-082f346ed877

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/742b0d6c-1791-49b4-a200-68e784bf8e76

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Honcho Introduces AI-Enhanced Tools for Simplified Website Building

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SYDNEY, Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Honcho has launched new artificial intelligence (AI) tools to simplify creating and launching business websites. This new suite of enhanced tools aims to make website building even more accessible to startup and small business owners who lack technical, creative, or marketing skills.

    Photo by afotostock

    “Our goal with these AI-enhanced tools is to remove the barriers many small business owners face when trying to establish an online presence – namely creative and technical skills,” said Matt Abrahams, CEO of Honcho. “With Honcho, users can easily create and launch a professional website in minutes without any prior experience.”

    AI streamlines the website creation process. Users can input minimal information, often just a business name and industry, and the AI will automatically generate a customized website complete with text, images, and optimized design elements.

    “Most small business owners just want a fully functioning website up and running … and fast,” added Abrahams. “Using our platform, business owners can begin marketing their business, and in turn, start adding to their bottom line, much faster.”

    Honcho is a well-established Australian business service with over 800,000 clients and has been operating in the website-building space for some time. The prototype version of the newly launched site has been in stealth mode in Australia for two years while the company perfected its operations. While the company will not provide numbers, it is understood thousands of clients have successfully used Honcho’s website-building services to date.

    A minimum viable product aptly named ‘Instant Website’ was launched first on Sept. 18, 2022, prior to AI becoming the hot commodity it is today. Version 2 of Instant Website, incorporating a range of new features, including business and domain name generators, automatic AI text generation and free photo library services, was released in February of 2024. Honcho launched its latest version with a completely new design interface and built for the global market on its premium Honcho.com site in September 2024.

    The company has big plans for the future with more features featuring AI soon to be launched, Abrahams noted. “We are not an AI company. We are service-focused specialists helping business owners globally to design, create and launch professional websites for their business – fast and simply. AI is another technology that adds value to our robust ecosystem, similar to many of the other technology tools we incorporate,” he said.

    About Honcho

    Honcho is a provider of business services to startups and small businesses. The technology company is dedicated to simplifying the process of creating and launching business websites. Honcho has delivered business services to more than 800,000 clients. With a focus on user-friendly design and AI technology, Honcho continues to set standards in the sector. For more information, visit Honcho’s website.

    Contact:

    Name: Morgan Davies
    Company: Honcho
    Website: Honcho.com
    Email: media@honcho.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e20860ed-4d91-46fa-9238-cc480e6365b1

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: 43rd UN/CEFACT Forum | UNECE

    Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

    This Forum will focus on fostering sustainable, transparent and resilient value chains, and enhancing digital connectivity for climate-smart trade and transport corridors. It will also aim to make progress on reviewing the UN/CEFACT standard development and maintenance process, with the goal to align it with the modern needs of trade actors operating along global supply chains.
     

    The 43rd UN/CEFACT Forum will aim at reinvigorating partnerships, demonstrating the impact and relevance of key UN/CEFACT instruments, and making progress on substantive deliverables. It will include sessions featuring interactive thematic discussions, roundtables and working meetings with the engagement of experts from both the public and private sectors, allowing to share experiences and perspectives on the Forum’s themes.

    Access the list of previous fora >…>…>…>

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: VA to review possible service connection between PFAS exposure and kidney cancer

    Source: US Department of Veterans Affairs

    Skip to content

    WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it will conduct a scientific assessment to determine if there is a relationship between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure during military service and kidney cancer among Veterans.

    This scientific assessment — a process codified under the PACT Act — will help VA determine if kidney cancer should be considered a presumptive service-connected condition for Veterans exposed to PFAS. When a condition is considered presumptive, eligible Veterans do not need to prove that their service caused their disease in order to receive benefits for it; instead, if they served in certain locations during certain time periods, VA automatically assumes (or “presumes”) that exposure during military service caused the disease and provides benefits accordingly.

    This review is a part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to expand benefits and services for toxic-exposed Veterans and their families, and helps advance the President’s Unity Agenda and Biden Cancer Moonshot goals to understand and address environmental and toxic exposures and end cancer as we know it. As a part of these efforts, VA expedited health care and benefits eligibility under the PACT Act by several years — including extending presumptions for head cancer, neck cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, reproductive cancer, lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, melanoma, hypertension for Vietnam Veterans, and much more. Since the PACT Act was signed into law, VA has extended presumptions for more than 300 new conditions, including most recently for male breast cancer, urethral cancer, and cancer of the paraurethral glands.

    “At VA, we want to understand the health conditions that Veterans are living with so we can provide them with all of the benefits they deserve — and that’s what this review process is all about,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “As a result of this scientific review, we may be able to make kidney cancer a presumptive condition for Veterans exposed to PFAS, thus lowering the burden of proof on these Veterans. But make no mistake: Veterans should not wait for the outcome of this review to apply for the benefits and care they deserve. If you’re a Veteran and believe your military service has negatively impacted your health, we encourage you to apply for VA care and benefits today.”

    PFAS are a class of over 12,000 chemicals and have been used in the military since the early 1970s. VA’s assessment methodology follows guidance from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and other key stakeholders, and will consider available peer-reviewed scientific literature, Veteran claims data, and other relevant data. Regardless of whether a condition is an established presumptive condition, VA will consider claims on a case-by-case basis and can grant disability compensation benefits if sufficient evidence of service connection is found — and VA is always working to get to yes.

    VA prioritizes claims processing for Veterans with cancer and offers comprehensive cancer care services to Veterans across the nation — from screening through treatment. Since President Biden signed the PACT Act into law, VA has delivered disability compensation benefits to more than one million Veterans and their survivors, amounting to more than $7 billion in earned PACT Act benefits. During the same period, nearly 740,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA care and more than 5.6 million Veterans have been screened for toxic exposures.

    VA is soliciting public comment on the proposed scientific assessment between PFAS exposure and kidney cancer via the Federal Register. The public will have a 30-day period to provide comments. VA will also host a listening session Nov. 19, 2024, to allow individuals to share research and input. Individuals interested may register to participate. The public may also comment via either forum on other conditions that would benefit from review for potential service-connection.

    VA encourages all eligible Veterans and survivors to enroll in health care and file a claim. For more information about the PACT Act and a full list of presumptive conditions covered under the law, visit VA.gov/PACT.

    For more information about VA cancer care, visit cancer.va.gov.

    Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov

    Veterans with questions about their health care and benefits (including GI Bill). Questions, updates and documents can be submitted online.

    Contact us online through Ask VA

    Veterans can also use our chatbot to get information about VA benefits and services. The chatbot won’t connect you with a person, but it can show you where to go on VA.gov to find answers to some common questions.

    Learn about our chatbot and ask a question

    Subscribe today to receive these news releases in your inbox.

    Page load link

    Go to Top

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Fortinet Announces Progress Toward its Mission to Tackle the Cybersecurity Skills Shortage

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

    John Maddison, Chief Marketing Officer at Fortinet
    “Through our longstanding investments to address the cyber talent shortage, Fortinet continues to grow and expand our programs and strategic partnerships by delivering an award-winning cybersecurity training and certification program. Addressing the cyber skills gap is vital to enhancing our society’s collective cyber resiliency and we are committed to developing the current and future cyber workforce through the Fortinet Training Institute. As part of this effort, we remain focused on our pledge to train 1 million individuals in cyber by 2026.”

    News Summary  
    Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today announced significant progress in its mission to address the cybersecurity skills shortage through its Training Institute programs. As part of the company’s commitment to closing the cyber workforce gap, Fortinet pledged to train 1 million people in cybersecurity by the end of 2026 and through the Fortinet Training Institute programs has achieved significant strides toward this goal. With more than half a million people having been trained since the 5-year span pledge was announced, Fortinet is on track to meet this commitment by the end of 2026.

    As the cybersecurity landscape grows increasingly complex, the demand for skilled professionals continues to grow with an estimated 4.8 million cybersecurity professionals required to address the industry’s workforce gap. At the same time, Fortinet’s 2024 Global Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report reveals that 70% of organizations believe the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals is increasing risks to their security.

    Fortinet is at the forefront of working to address the skills gap by providing award-winning training and certification curriculum designed to equip individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to better mitigate cyber risks. Additional recent key initiatives and achievements include:

    • Award-Winning Cybersecurity Curriculum: Fortinet’s most recent industry acknowledgement includes winning the 2024 SC Awards for Best Professional Certification Program. In the fall of 2023, Fortinet introduced enhancements to the Fortinet Network Security Expert (NSE) Certification program, providing multiple certification options focused on role-based training – such as administrator, analyst, architect – as well as a foundational certification level. Fortinet has also been honored with Gold for best cybersecurity training and Gold for best security awareness program from the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards; Gold for cyber and education and training and security awareness and training from the Globee 2024 Cyber Security Global Excellence Awards; and Most Innovative in cybersecurity training and certification, and security awareness and training service from the Global Infosec Awards, among others.
    • European Commission’s Cybersecurity Skills Academy Initiative Pledge: Earlier this year, Fortinet pledged to offer its award-winning cybersecurity training and security awareness curriculum to up to 75,000 individuals for free in Europe over the next three years. Since joining this initiative, Fortinet is offering its Certification program curriculum through the Cybersecurity Skills Academy and expanding learning opportunities for individuals across all 27 countries of the European Union, helping develop critical cyber skills in the region.
    • All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and EduSkills Foundation Partnership: Fortinet is partnering with the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and EduSkills Foundation to offer 100,000 virtual internships in the field of cybersecurity across India, as well as providing our Certification program free of cost.
    • Fortinet Cyber Bootcamps Help Develop the Future Cyber Workforce: Fortinet is partnering with organizations across the world to host cybersecurity and networking bootcamps to further increase access to its training curriculum. Earlier this year, Fortinet hosted a threat hunting workshop for participants of the MITRE Embedded Capture the Flag (eCTF) competition, which included students from around the world. Attendees of the Fortinet workshop gained hands-on cybersecurity experience, assuming the role of a security analyst to identify adversarial behaviors using renowned frameworks and procedures.
    • Continuing to Drive a Diverse Cyber Workforce through Partnerships: Through the Education Outreach program and Veterans program, Fortinet cultivates partnerships to drive a skilled, inclusive and diverse cyber workforce. More recently, Fortinet partnered with the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Cyber Catalyst Talent Solutions, and Tech Vets Canada, among others, on an in-person bootcamp specifically for veterans interested in gaining technical and hands-on expertise in cyber. Fortinet also collaborated with several Fortinet Veteran program and Education Outreach program partners earlier this year – including Cerco, Helping Heroes, Hire Heroes USA, Onward 2 Opportunity, TechVets, and VetSec – to offer a nine-week Networking Fundamentals Bootcamp this year to further upskill and reskill veterans. Additionally, Fortinet is continuing to partner with Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) to offer members a Networking Fundamentals Bootcamp designed as an entry point for those wanting to pursue a career in cybersecurity.

    Building on Fortinet’s Longstanding Commitment to Close the Global Cyber Skills Gap
    These initiatives build on Fortinet’s longstanding commitment to address the cybersecurity skills gap worldwide. The Fortinet Training Institute delivers training and certifications to IT and security professionals, students and educators, and underserved communities, through its various programs. The ecosystem supporting these programs – including the Education Outreach program, the Veterans program and the Academic Partner program – is comprised of more than 700 partners across more than 100 countries globally.

    To further help advance this work, Fortinet is a part of various public-private partnerships, including participating in the White House’s National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy commitments by introducing free security awareness training for primary and secondary school educators and students globally including school districts across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Brazil. All these efforts contribute toward Fortinet’s goal to train 1 million people globally in cyber by 2026.

    Additional Resources

    About Fortinet 
    Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a driving force in the evolution of cybersecurity and the convergence of networking and security. Our mission is to secure people, devices, and data everywhere, and today we deliver cybersecurity everywhere you need it with the largest integrated portfolio of over 50 enterprise-grade products. Well over half a million customers trust Fortinet’s solutions, which are among the most deployed, most patented, and most validated in the industry. The Fortinet Training Institute, one of the largest and broadest training programs in the industry, is dedicated to making cybersecurity training and new career opportunities available to everyone. Collaboration with esteemed organizations from both the public and private sectors, including CERTs, government entities, and academia, is a fundamental aspect of Fortinet’s commitment to enhance cyber resilience globally. FortiGuard Labs, Fortinet’s elite threat intelligence and research organization, develops and utilizes leading-edge machine learning and AI technologies to provide customers with timely and consistently top-rated protection and actionable threat intelligence. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, and FortiGuard Labs.    

    Media Contact:  Investor Contact:  Analyst Contact: 
    Stephanie Lira
    Fortinet, Inc. 
    408-235-7700 
    pr@fortinet.com 
          		 Aaron Ovadia 
    Fortinet, Inc.  
    408-235-7700 
    investors@fortinet.com     		 Brian Greenberg  
    Fortinet, Inc. 
    408-235-7700 
    analystrelations@fortinet.com 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Altus Group Releases Q3 2024 CRE Industry Conditions & Sentiment Survey Findings

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK and TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Altus Group Limited (“Altus” or “the Company”) (TSX: AIF), a leading provider of asset and fund intelligence for commercial real estate (“CRE”), today released the findings from its Q3 2024 CRE Industry Conditions & Sentiment Survey, a quarterly survey that collects insights on current market conditions and future expectations. The latest survey draws on feedback from 437 seasoned CRE professionals representing over 163 firms in the U.S. and Canada from July 11 to August 6, 2024.

    The Q3 2024 CRE Industry Conditions & Sentiment Survey highlights participants’ perspectives on several topics, including:

    • Operating environment expectations: the majority of respondents (69% in the U.S. and 67% in Canada) described the near-term operating environment as “somewhat challenging” – consistent with the sentiment expressed the prior quarter in both markets.
    • Current focus areas: primary focus over the next six months remains on managing existing portfolios and exposures, with an uptick in respondents indicating they plan to deploy capital (up 11 percentage points in the U.S. and up 2 percentage points in Canada over the prior quarter).
    • Transaction intentions over the next six months: a significant majority of respondents (89% in the U.S. and 75% in Canada) signalled intent to transact, nearly 10 percentage points higher than last quarter for both countries.
    • Perception of pricing shifts: across the largest property sectors in the U.S., participants increasingly described current pricing as being “priced about right”, while in Canada respondents still characterized much of the market as largely “overpriced”.
    • Property performance expectations: industrial and multifamily asset classes continued to be top ranked as best performers, with office consistently ranked as a worst performer.
    • Priority issues: the cost of capital/interest rates remained as the top concern, reflecting overall low expectations for capital availability.

    “The survey results revealed lingering concerns in the commercial real estate market in Q3, though there was increasing optimism about future improvements,” commented Omar Eltorai, Director of Research, Altus Group. “While CRE transaction activity remained muted in the face of high borrowing costs and expectations of impending interest rate cuts, last week’s rate cut in the U.S. should boost investor sentiment, potentially encouraging those on the sidelines to re-engage with the market.”

    To download the full reports by country, please use the following links:

    About Altus Group

    Altus Group is a leading provider of asset and fund intelligence for commercial real estate. We deliver intelligence as a service to our global client base through a connected platform of industry-leading technology, advanced analytics, and advisory services. Trusted by the largest CRE leaders, our capabilities help commercial real estate investors, developers, proprietors, lenders, and advisors manage risks and improve performance returns throughout the asset and fund lifecycle. Altus Group is a global company headquartered in Toronto with approximately 2,900 employees across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. For more information about Altus (TSX: AIF) please visit www.altusgroup.com.

    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

    Elizabeth Lambe
    Director, Global Communications, Altus Group
    1-416-641-9787
    Elizabeth.Lambe@altusgroup.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI China: MOFA response to US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Albanese conveying high regard for peace and stability across Taiwan Strait

    Source: Republic of Taiwan – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    MOFA response to US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Albanese conveying high regard for peace and stability across Taiwan Strait

    September 21, 2024  

    US President Joe Biden met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on September 20 in the US state of Delaware. Following the meeting, the White House published a readout stating that the two leaders had discussed their support for maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait; their concerns about the coercive and destabilizing activities of the People’s Republic of China, including in the South China Sea; and the commitment of the United States and Australia to promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable.

     

    Following the public expression of strong, all-round support for Taiwan in the joint statement on the Australia-US Ministerial Consultations in August, the readout of the meeting between the two leaders once again demonstrates both countries’ high regard for maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sincerely appreciates and welcomes this.

     

    The United States, Australia, and other like-minded nations continue to frequently issue statements to express a joint position regarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, fully demonstrating that the safeguarding of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait has become an international consensus. As a responsible member of the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan will continue to work with like-minded nations to defend the common values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law; preserve the rules-based international order; and uphold peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and throughout the Indo-Pacific.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: MOFA response to US, Japan, and other QUAD members reaffirming importance of regional peace and stability

    Source: Republic of Taiwan – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    MOFA response to US, Japan, and other QUAD members reaffirming importance of regional peace and stability

    September 22, 2024 

    US President Joe Biden met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the US state of Delaware on September 21. In a readout released by the White House following the meeting, the two sides reaffirmed their resolve to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and underscored their opposition to any attempts to change the status quo by force. They also addressed shared concerns over coercive and destabilizing activities of the People’s Republic of China, including in the South China Sea. 

     

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sincerely welcomes and appreciates this reiteration by US and Japanese leaders of the importance of cross-strait peace and stability, which came one day after a US-Australia leaders’ meeting. 

     

    Separately, the leaders of the United States, Japan, Australia, and India met in Delaware on September 21 for the fourth Quad Leaders Summit. A joint statement released following the meeting stressed the parties’ support for maintaining regional peace and stability as an indispensable element of global security and prosperity. It also underscored their strong opposition to any destabilizing or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion. The statement further condemned dangerous actions by coast guard or maritime militia forces, again showing the international community’s great concern for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. 

     

    MOFA thanks the United States, Japan, and other like-minded nations for again highlighting the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region. As a responsible stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific, Taiwan will continue to cooperate with like-minded partners to uphold peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and in the region. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: MOFA response to US President Biden reaffirming staunch US support for cross-strait peace and stability in UNGA address

    Source: Republic of Taiwan – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    MOFA response to US President Biden reaffirming staunch US support for cross-strait peace and stability in UNGA address

    September 25, 2024  

    In his remarks before the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 24, US President Joe Biden underlined the United States’ determination to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, push back against unfair economic competition, and oppose military coercion in the South China Sea. He added that the United States would continue to strengthen its network of alliances and partnerships across the Indo-Pacific to build a free, open, secure, and peaceful region.

     

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes and appreciates President Biden’s consistent public support for cross-strait peace and stability during his term in office. Within the past week, in addition to his address at the UNGA, President Biden has reiterated his high regard for and firm commitment to the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific during meetings with the leaders of Australia and Japan. Taiwan will continue to work with the United States and other like-minded countries to safeguard peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and throughout the region. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI: Pixability and Ad Fontes Media Join Forces to Empower Advertisers to Safely Support News Content on YouTube

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BOSTON, Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pixability, (www.pixability.com), a leader in AI-driven contextual targeting, brand suitability and performance on YouTube and CTV, today announced the launch of a brand safety solution for news content with Ad Fontes, a leader in rating news sources for bias and reliability. The new offering will be the only misinformation solution in the marketplace that tackles the two-part problem of protecting advertisers on news channels on YouTube–(1) identifying sources of news that are reputable, trustworthy and not overly biased and (2) screening those reputable news channels for high risk, sensitive news stories. Pixability will combine its brand safety solution, which includes tech and human monitoring, with Ad Fontes’ in depth news ratings system to ensure marketers are running their ads in a trusted news environment.

    “At a time when false and misleading information is rampant across all platforms, it’s important we identify and provide support for sources of news that are trustworthy and not expressing extreme bias,” said Vanessa Otero, founder and CEO of Ad Fontes. “As the largest video platform in the world, YouTube has a vast ocean of content of varying reliability, which presents both huge opportunities and challenges. We believe our solution, combined with Pixability’s brand suitability technology, will together provide a much-needed way to target high-quality journalism and information on YouTube while in turn steering clear of low-reliability content.”

    The new solution will give advertisers the ability to select channels on YouTube that are not overly biased and that follow proper and recognized journalistic practices of fact-checking. It also incorporates Pixability’s brand suitability technology and real-time monitoring of sensitive news to isolate stories, even on reputable sources, that may not be appropriate for certain advertisers.

    “We are thrilled to be partnering with Ad Fontes to bring this solution to the market at a time when supporting reputable news sources matters more than ever,” commented David George, CEO of Pixability. “We’ve seen a pattern of brands and agencies avoiding news content altogether because of a lack of effective brand suitability solutions in the market tailored for news sites and are proud to be solving for this problem on YouTube specifically.”

    Industry leaders are also acknowledging the importance of the new solution for YouTube. AJ Brown, COO of the Brand Safety Institute said the following:
    “Brands play a critical role in safeguarding the future of reliable, quality journalism. The decision to invest in news calls for nuanced buying options that go beyond traditional brand suitability risk categorization, which too often bluntly demonetizes high-quality, high-impact journalism. Bringing together Pixability’s Brand Safety solutions and Ad Fontes Media’s reliability and bias scoring allows marketers to support quality journalism with targeted ad buys on YouTube that align with their brand’s values.”

    Pixability’s insights team recently released data that showed that, on average, 40% of YouTube advertisers ask to avoid news content on YouTube. This not only leads to a lack of funding for reputable news sources but also hurts advertisers as they may miss engagement opportunities with their audiences in key areas of interest.

    Pixability’s insights team also released the following data that demonstrates the value of news content for advertisers:

    • Advertisers from food & beverage, automotive, entertainment, travel and many other industries see that news content drives anywhere from 24%-44% better engagement than the average content category on YouTube
    • The desirable 18-24 year old demographic is most likely to engage with advertising on news content on YouTube
    • Reputable news channels on YouTube have a 99% favorability rating from audiences

    About Pixability

    Pixability is the leading AI-driven technology company empowering the world’s largest brands and their agencies to maximize the value of their video advertising on YouTube and CTV. Leveraging its proprietary technology platform and data, Pixability makes every video impression matter by identifying contextually relevant, brand suitable inventory and maximizing cost efficient outcomes. Pixability’s suite of solutions are used by the top media agencies including IPG, Publicis, Omnicom, Dentsu, Stagwell, and GroupM, as well as brands such as KIND, McDonalds, Salesforce, Lego and CVS. The company is the only YouTube partner certified for brand suitability and contextual targeting as well as content insights, enabling unique solutions for the benefit of brands and their agencies. For more information about Pixability, please visit www.pixability.com.

    About Ad Fontes Media

    Ad Fontes Media is the producer of The Media Bias Chart®, which rates media sources in terms of political bias and reliability. The company was founded with the mission of rating all the news to positively impact the media ecosystem. Ad Fontes Media rates content at the source level, article level, and episode level using a combination of human analysts and AI for the most accurate and real-time ratings available on the market. The company’s Interactive Media Bias Chart Data Platform, API, and direct ad-tech integrations allow Ad Fontes Media’s brand, media, and media technology partners to leverage its comprehensive news source ratings so they can engage with them in real time in media planning, activation, and reporting.

    CONTACT:

    Silicon Alley Media for Pixability
    Alexandra Levy
    alex@siliconalley-media.com 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Recovered appeal: land between Huntingdon Road and Histon Road, Cambridge (ref: 3328390 – 25 September 2024)

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Decision letter and Inspector’s Report for a recovered appeal application.

    Applies to England

    Documents

    Recovered appeal: land between Huntingdon Road and Histon Road, Cambridge (known as Darwin Green phases 2 and 3) (ref: 3328390 – 25 September 2024)

    PDF, 1.15 MB, 150 pages

    Details

    Decision letter and Inspector’s Report for a recovered appeal outline application for up to 1,000 residential dwellings, secondary school, primary school, community facilities, retail uses, open space and landscaped areas, associated engineering, demolition and infrastructure works.

    Updates to this page

    Published 25 September 2024

    Sign up for emails or print this page

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Readout of International Contact Group Meeting on Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response

    Source: United States Department of Defense

    Department of Defense Spokesperson Lisa Lawrence provided the following statement:

    Today, senior representatives from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, convened virtually for a meeting of the International Contact Group on Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response.

    The participants discussed the importance of mitigating civilian harm caused by military operations as well as responding effectively when civilian harm does occur.  The participants also emphasized that efforts to mitigate and respond to civilian harm reflect mutual values and directly contribute to both mission success and public confidence in the armed forces.

    All the representatives from participating countries, guided by their shared values and commitment to preserving international norms, expressed their commitment to promote civilian harm mitigation best practices within their respective armed forces.

    MIL OSI USA News –