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  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Israel: Netanyahu considering early election but can he convince people he’s winning the war?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Brian Brivati, Visiting Professor of Contemporary History and Human Rights, Kingston University

    Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile coalition is fracturing. Gil Cohen Magen / Shutterstock

    One of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, Shas, has announced it will resign from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The party said its decision was made due to the government’s failure to pass a bill exempting ultra-Orthodox students from military service.

    Its exit increases the political pressure on Netanyahu. Days earlier, six members of another ultra-Orthodox coalition partner, the United Torah Judaism party, also quit the government citing the same concerns. The moves leave Netanyahu with a minority in parliament, which will make it difficult for his government to function.

    Opposition leader Yair Lapid says the government now “has no authority”, and has called for a new round of elections. But even before these developments, Netanyahu was reportedly considering calling an early election in a bid to remain in power despite his unpopularity.

    To win another term he would, in my view, have to spin a narrative of victory on three fronts: securing the release of the hostages, defeating Hamas and delivering regional security. It is a tall order.

    In his visit to Washington in early July, Netanyahu emphasised his pursuit of a ceasefire in Gaza that facilitates the return of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

    Israelis have grown increasingly weary of the war, with recent surveys showing popular support for ending it if this brings back those still held captive. A ceasefire that sees hostages released would probably help Netanyahu generate support during an election campaign.

    But Netanyahu has insisted that, while he wants to reach a hostage-ceasefire deal, he will not agree to one “at any price”. This indicates not only Israel’s refusal to compromise on security but also that any deal Netanyahu does make – whether or not it sees the release of all the hostages – will be presented as a victory to Israeli voters.

    To provide the electorate with further hope of an end to the fighting, Netanyahu will also have to claim that the military campaign in Gaza is nearing its goals. Senior military officials stated recently that they have “almost fully achieved” their objectives – namely, defeating Hamas.

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    Netanyahu has, so far, prolonged the war to remain in power. But he will now need to spin the military campaign as a victory if he wants to win votes. This will be especially hard as critics like Yitzhak Brik, a retired Israeli general, claim that the number of Hamas fighters is now back to its pre-war level.

    The hard-right members of Netanyahu’s government add another dimension to this equation. His two ultranationalist coalition partners, Jewish Power and Religious Zionism, oppose ending the war entirely. They insist on fighting Hamas to the finish.

    Netanyahu will most likely want to keep his options open during an election campaign to then form a coalition with whatever he can pull together at the time. He may calculate that a short-term pause in fighting to free hostages can be spun as a victory to win votes, after which military operations could resume to appease hardliners if he needs them.

    A final part of Netanyahu’s electoral strategy will be to push the message that he has delivered regional security. He has declared the war with Iran in June a success, saying “we sent Iran’s nuclear program down the drain”.

    And Israel has also continued its campaign of strikes to assert its military dominance in the region, the latest in Syria and Lebanon.

    Slim peace prospects

    Observers warn that Netanyahu’s approach is about political survival, and will come at the expense of long-term peace prospects for Israelis and Palestinians. According to New York Times, he seems to be “kicking the Palestinian issue once again down the road”.

    Indeed, part of Netanyahu’s mooted strategy for claiming victory in Gaza involves supporting a constrained political outcome for the Palestinians that ends the fighting without Israel conceding on core issues.

    In this scenario, the Gaza Strip would be carved up and demilitarised under prolonged Israeli security oversight. Some areas would be annexed by Israel. Remaining parts of Gaza, along with fragments of the West Bank, would be handed over to an interim authority to create the appearance of a nascent Palestinian state.

    The goal would be to declare that Israel has facilitated Palestinian statehood – but strictly on Israel’s terms – while eliminating Hamas’s rule in Gaza. The reality would probably be a designed chaos to force as many Palestinians as possible to leave.

    Such a state, lacking full sovereignty and territorial continuity, would fall far short of the independent state that Palestinians seek. Crucially, this imposed outcome would also bypass substantive negotiation of issues like borders, refugees and Jerusalem, which both Israel and Palestine claim as their capital.

    Palestinian leaders would almost certainly reject a curtailed state. And if they did not then ordinary Palestinians – reeling from the war’s devastation – are unlikely to view it as a just peace. A new cycle of violence would probably begin and the Palestinian population will have been heavily concentrated into restricted spaces that would be wide open to Israeli bombardment.



    Read more:
    Netanyahu’s occupation plan for Gaza means more suffering for Palestinians and less security for Israel

    As Netanyahu weighs pulling the election trigger, he is effectively writing the next chapter of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The outcome of this manoeuvring is highly uncertain.

    If his three-pronged victory narrative convinces Israeli voters, he could return to power with a fresh mandate and perhaps a retooled coalition. He might seek a broader unity government after an election, sidelining his most hardline partners in favour of centrist voices to navigate post-war diplomacy.

    But if the public deems his victories hollow or indeed false, an election could sweep him out of office. This would open the door for opposition leaders who may take a different approach to Gaza and the Palestinians.

    Brian Brivati is executive director of the Britain Palestine Project. He is writing this article in a personal capacity.

    – ref. Israel: Netanyahu considering early election but can he convince people he’s winning the war? – https://theconversation.com/israel-netanyahu-considering-early-election-but-can-he-convince-people-hes-winning-the-war-261141

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Japan and South Korea can show governments how to compete with China and US

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Robyn Klingler-Vidra, Vice Dean, Global Engagement | Associate Professor in Political Economy and Entrepreneurship, King’s College London

    Governments around the world are hustling. European policymakers, for example, are eager to boost the region’s industrial relevance in a world where the US and China dominate cutting-edge technologies. They want to move beyond the adage that “the US innovates, China replicates and the EU regulates”.

    As part of this, policymakers worldwide are striving to foster their own versions of Silicon Valley. They have invested to create ecosystems abundant with ambitious startups backed by venture capital investors. Their ultimate aim is to see these firms develop into what are known as scale-ups and compete in global markets.

    But if governments – from Berlin and Brussels to Ho Chi Minh City – are to find their edge, I argue they should follow a model closer to Seoul or Tokyo’s playbook than that of Silicon Valley.

    South Korean and Japanese policymakers have long understood that the proliferation of startup activity should not be an isolated aim. In our 2025 book, Startup Capitalism, my colleague Ramon Pacheco Pardo and I revealed that the approach of these countries sees national champion firms like Samsung and Toyota use startups as resources to help them compete internationally.

    As the head of a government-backed startup centre in Seoul told me, a key aim of South Korean government policy for startups is to “inject innovative DNA” into the country’s large firms. Policies attempt to embed startups into the fabric of lead firms, and do not try to disrupt their competitive positions.

    The ‘traitorous eight’ group of employees.
    Wayne Miller / Magnum Photos

    For this objective, the Silicon Valley playbook is sub-optimal. US government policy has enabled venture capital investment through regulatory changes and has ensured that talented people are free to challenge their former employers. Classic examples include the so-called “traitorous eight” who left Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in 1957 to found Fairchild Semiconductor.

    A more recent example is Anthony Levandowski, who left Google’s self-driving car project to start his own company, Otto, in 2016. The competition was so close that Google sued Uber – as it had acquired Otto – in 2019 over the trade secrets Levandowski allegedly used to develop his self-driving truck company. Uber eventually paid Google a “substantial portion” of the US$179 million (£134 million) it was awarded initially in arbitration.

    Injecting innovative DNA

    The Japanese and Korean formula is distinct. South Korea’s 17 Centres for the Creative Economy and Innovation, established about ten years ago to drive innovation and entrepreneurship, each have one of the country’s large firms (chaebol) as an anchor partner. The chaebol’s industrial focus – whether it’s shipbuilding, electronics or heavy machinery – is reflected in the focus of the startups engaging with that centre.

    The startups work on issues “that keep the large firm up at night” and, in return, the startups have unparalleled access to distribution channels, marketing and proof-of-concept testing. While the centres have not produced volumes of globally competitive scale-ups, they have delivered on the aim of injecting innovative ideas and talent into large companies like Hyundai, LG Electronics and SK Group.

    In Japan, tax incentives encourage big businesses to acquire startups. The “open innovation tax incentive” allows a 25% deduction from the price of the acquisition. The aim here is to encourage Japan’s national champion firms to integrate startups into their core businesses. In 2024, for example, Toyota integrated high-tech wheelchair startup, Whill, into its mobility services offering.

    Various government initiatives also aim to provide coaching and mentoring for startups around raising venture capital funding and sharpening a pitch for demo day. In Japan and Korea, these initiatives embed big business throughout.

    In J-Startup, an initiative aimed at creating a cohort of so-called unicorns (startups valued at over US$1 billion), the Japanese government involves industrial leaders as judges that help select applicants for the programme. These people then act as coaches and mentors to the startups. Japan’s lead firms are, in return, exposed to innovative technologies and startup culture.

    In a similar way, Korea’s K-Startup Grand Challenge connects participating foreign startups with the country’s chaebol for proof-of-concept development. The Korean government cites partnership and licensing agreements between the parties as an important outcome of the programme. Through these connections, Korea’s big businesses have another mechanism for accessing innovative ideas and talent from abroad.

    Samsung Electronics is the largest chaebol in South Korea.
    Sybillla / Shutterstock

    Governments that want to compete with China or the US cannot continue on their existing path. They need to do something different, and Japan and South Korea’s approach offers an alternative.

    These approaches are not without downsides. There is, of course, the risk of well-resourced corporations operating “kill zones” around their business lines. This might involve early low-value mergers and acquisitions, or even copying their products in a bid to eliminate them.

    The central position of large firms to the economy also means that the innovation agenda of startups is set by incumbent firms. This fosters complementary products, and not those that disrupt – and ultimately improve – domestic firms or technologies. There’s also the worry of perceived corruption.

    But I argue that pursuing a half-committed strategy is riskier. If governments maintain a wall between big business and startups, believing this is essential to minimise corruption and that large firms will innovate just as startups will scale-up into larger firms, they risk underwhelming outcomes on all levels.

    We may see flailing productivity in the sectors in which countries have excelled. And scale-ups will fail to materialise while populations of “zombie startups”, that simply stagnate while propped up on state largesse, increase.

    Startups should be considered as resources to boost nationwide industrial capabilities, not efforts aimed at seeding a country’s answer to Silicon Valley’s Google or OpenAI.

    Robyn Klingler-Vidra 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. Japan and South Korea can show governments how to compete with China and US – https://theconversation.com/japan-and-south-korea-can-show-governments-how-to-compete-with-china-and-us-260623

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: UK to lower voting age to 16 – a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure the future health of British democracy

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Andrew Mycock, Chief Policy Fellow, University of Leeds

    The UK government has announced that the voting age will be lowered to 16 at the next election as part of a wider effort to restore trust in and “future-proof” democracy.

    Votes at 16 has grown from a niche concern to become a salient – if contentious – issue supported by most UK political parties and electoral reform groups. The Conservative party remains a holdout – but has never acknowledged the contradiction of its continued opposition to the universal lowering of the voting age while empowering the Scottish and Welsh parliaments to enact the measure during its time in government.

    This is a policy response to concerns about declining youth democratic engagement since the late 1990s. Since 1997, the UK general election turnout rate for those aged 65 years and over has consistently been at least 20 percentage points higher than for those aged 18-24.

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    Some opponents argue that the Labour government is lowering the voting age to 16 for its own electoral interest, but we should remember this was a clearly stated election manifesto commitment. Votes at 16 was part of the package that delivered Labour to government in 2024 on a huge majority.

    That said, public opinion remains steadfastly opposed. The government will need to handle this tension carefully, ensuring that 16- and 17-years-olds are not treated as second-class members of the electorate as this debate pushes forward.

    For and against

    As when the voting age was universally lowered to 18 in 1969, the case for change has pivoted on perceptions of maturity and markers of adulthood. There was considerable political and public consensus in the 1960s that 18 was the appropriate age of majority and enfranchisement. This link has endured, and many people continue to think under 18s are too socially and politically immature to vote responsibly or regularly.

    Supporters of reform emphasise the need to align enfranchisement with other rights realised before or at age 16 – such as paying tax, medical consent, working, autonomy to make decisions about future education and work lives, and undertaking military (if not frontline) service.

    Opponents respond by noting the age of majority remains 18, and that the minimum age for many protective and social rights, such as marriage and leaving full-time education, has been pushed upwards to 18 in the past decade or so.

    But while 18 remains the legal marker of adulthood, transitions from youthhood to adulthood have become extended and complex. There is no single age point at which young people realise all the social and economic rights and responsibilities associated with adulthood.

    Biological maturation extends from late-stage childhood until early adulthood (mid-20s). Traditional markers of adulthood such as financial independence, owning a property, or getting married and having children are occurring later in life than in previous generations.

    It is more than 50 years since parliament last reflected and reviewed how society understands, and frames, issues of adulthood and citizenship linked to the ages of majority and enfranchisement. Lowering the voting age to 16 offers a timely opportunity to do so again.

    Extensive parliamentary debate lies ahead as this bill makes its way through to becoming law. MPs should take that time to discuss and build consensus around what British democracy should offer young people, and how enfranchisement should be conceptualised for future generations.

    Lowering the age is just the start

    Now that 16- and 17-year-olds are part of the electorate, we can hope that political parties will improve their responsiveness to the interests of young people.

    Unfortunately, where the voting age has already been lowered, we’ve not yet seen parties address their skewed decision-making, representation or electoral behaviour, which continues to favour older voters. The average age of elected representatives has remained around 50 years of age in all UK national and devolved parliaments, and higher in local government. Few young people join political parties or are active in their campaigning.

    There is also significant evidence that, regardless of whether the voting age has been lowered or not, young people are not appropriately supported to be politically and media literate to understand how and when to vote, and to make informed and independent voter choices.

    So, lowering the voting age should only be the first step in a more concerted effort to improve political literacy and democratic engagement as young people grow up. This should begin in primary, not secondary, school and continue through further and higher education.

    Elected representatives should hold regular school surgeries where they meet children and young people, and listen and respond to their issues and concerns. Young people need to learn to discuss political issues in school settings, and political parties should host election hustings in schools and colleges. Young people should also be involved in decision-making in their schools and communities.

    Lowering the voting age offers an opportunity to reinvigorate how we host elections to ensure young people enjoy voting for the first time – and encourage their future participation.

    Making electoral registration automatic, as the government has promised, will help. But joining the electoral roll is a significant civic moment in young people’s lives. Schools should host electoral registration ceremonies where pupils are welcomed into the electorate by local elected representatives, and automatically given a voter authority certificate so they have an appropriate piece of voter ID.

    Political parties need to embrace this once-in-a-generation opportunity that voting age reform presents to secure the future health of British democracy.

    Andrew Mycock 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. UK to lower voting age to 16 – a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure the future health of British democracy – https://theconversation.com/uk-to-lower-voting-age-to-16-a-once-in-a-generation-opportunity-to-secure-the-future-health-of-british-democracy-261411

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Will Donald Trump get Vladimir Putin (before Maga gets Trump)?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor

    This article was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email newsletter. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox.

    You know when the Kremlin is worried about something – it starts talking about nuclear weapons. And so it was, just two days after Donald Trump revealed he had decided to lift his administration’s pause on the supply of US-made weapons to Ukraine, that Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, raised Russia’s nuclear doctrine. In response to a handy question from a friendly reporter as to whether Russia’s nuclear doctrine was still active, Peskov said: “Russia’s nuclear doctrine remains in effect, and thus, all its provisions continue to apply.”

    By saying “all its provisions”, he was emphasising the changes made in December last year which significantly lowered the bar for Russia to use its nuclear deterrent. It states that Russia “reserves the right to employ nuclear weapons” in response to nuclear weapons or “other types of weapons of mass destruction” against itself or its allies.

    Whether Putin and his team consider the sorts of weapons the US is prepared to allow Ukraine to use against Russia as weapons of mass destruction is not clear as yet. The US president specifically said that a fresh supply of Patriot systems was already en route to Ukraine from Germany. But he also hinted that other more offensive weapons could also be in the mix. And in a July 4 phone call he is reported to have asked the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, whether he could hit Moscow or St Petersburg, to which Zelensky replied: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.”

    Trump is reported to have gone on to say that it was important to “make [Russians] feel the pain”.

    At the beginning of the week, the US president was also keen for Russia to feel the economic pain of indirect sanctions, with 100% tariffs promised against any country buying Russia’s oil. Could this be a turning point?

    Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

    Interesting question, says David Dunn. Dunn, professor of international relations at the University of Birmingham, says Trump’s decision – if he follows through with it – pretty much brings the US back in line with its policy under the Biden administration. Particularly now that Trump appears to have ruled out, for the time being, allowing Ukraine to use long-range offensive missiles against targets in Moscow.

    As Dunn points out, there’s no sense that Trump has changed his overall tack on what he is looking for from Putin: a ceasefire, rather than, as Biden repeatedly insisted, a settlement that respects Ukrainian sovereignty and restores the land occupied illegally by Russian troops.

    Meanwhile the economic pain he promised to inflict on Russia has been scheduled to begin in 50 days. This – as many commentators have been quick to point out – has irresistible echoes of his off-again, on-again tariff regime. So will these sanctions actually happen?



    Read more:
    What Trump’s decision to send more weapons to Ukraine will mean for the war

    The Russian stock market certainly wasn’t that worried. Shortly after trump made his announcement, the Moscow stock exchange increased by 2.7% and the rouble strengthened. Oil markets also appear to have relaxed, suggesting traders see no imminent risks. Maybe this is another case of “Taco” (Trump always chickens out)?

    Patrick O’Shea, an international relations and global governance specialist at the University of Glasgow, believes that the markets’ reaction is more than just indifference to what Trump was threatening. It was relief.

    “Trump’s threat isn’t just non-credible, the positive market reaction in Russia suggests it is a gift for Moscow,” O’Shea writes. “The 50-day ultimatum is seen not as a deadline but as a reprieve, meaning nearly two months of guaranteed inaction from the US.”

    What has not been widely reported in the UK is that a bipartisan bill making its way through the US congress would have been far more punitive that anything Trump is threatening. Now this has been paused pending Trump’s initiative in 50 days’ time.



    Read more:
    Why Russia is not taking Trump’s threats seriously

    Back in Europe, meanwhile, Ukraine’s allies got together in Rome last weekend to discuss what will be needed to rebuild the war-torn country and how to raise the necessary funds. Stefan Wolff was watching proceedings and believes that while countries in the “coalition of the willing” are ready to open their coffers to help Ukraine get back on its feet, the funds so far pledged will not touch the sides.

    Ukraine’s allies at the conference have pledged more than €10 billion (£8.7 billion). But, Wolff – an expert in international relations at the University of Birmingham who has contributed regular analysis of the war in Ukraine – points out that this sum looks minuscule alongside the World Bank’s latest assessment that Ukraine will need at least US$524 billion (£388 billion) over the next decade to fund its recovery.

    There have been some fairly upbeat forecasts about Ukraine’s potential for growth. The IMF forecasts growth for Ukraine of between 2% and 3% for 2025, which is likely to grow to over 4% in 2026 and 2027. But it cautions that this will not happen without considerable overseas support. And an end to the war. Neither is certain anytime soon.



    Read more:
    Over €10 billion has now been pledged for Ukraine’s recovery. It’s nowhere near enough

    Maga moves – but will Trump take responsiblity?

    To Washington, where the US president is having what would probably count as the worst week of his second administration so far. Large sections of his faithful Maga base are in almost open revolt at his seeming reluctance to release what have become known as the “Epstein files”. You may remember he littered his election campaign last year with dark hints about the revelations the files must surely contain about the possible involvement of the rich and powerful in child-sex exploitation. But this week he essentially said it was old news, which was “pretty boring”, adding that “I think, really, only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.”

    This is not only at odds with what he spent much of 2024 saying. It also flies in the face of what his own attorney general, Pam Bondi, said in February when she said Epstein’s client list was “sitting on [her] desk right now to review”. Now of course, the justice department says there is no list. This is not what much of his base wants to hear.

    Rob Dover, an intelligence specialist at the University of Hull who has researched conspiracy theories and the people who obsess about them, says this is a dangerous moment for the Trump presidency. He points to Maga unrest over Trump’s decision to bomb Iran and to resume military aid to Ukraine, both of which appear to contradict his pledge to keep the US out of foreign conflicts. Trump’s “big beautiful bill”, which has cut medicaid and other benefits to the poorest people in the US, will also inflict hurt on many is his base. Even his recent musing that he agrees with his health secretary’s questionable assertion that Coca-Cola should be made with sugar cane not corn syrup to “make America healthy again” is sure to anger corn farmers in the Midwest, another core Trump constituency.

    “Maga is not a uniform group in belief or action. But if Trump loses either the loyalty of some or they refuse to flex their beliefs as they have done before, it will be politically dangerous for him,” Dover concludes.



    Read more:
    Trump’s changing stance on Epstein files is testing the loyalty of his Maga base

    Trouble brewing in Bosnia

    I had the great good fortune to visit Sarajevo in December last year where I spent a few days exploring, taking a walking tour of the old town and a wider tour of the whole city which took us across the notional border with the Republika Srpska, one of the two main constituent parts of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    Sarajevo: a beautiful but troubled city.
    Julian Nyča via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-SA

    The country was created by the Dayton accord, bringing an end to the ethnic conflict in the mid-1990s that saw whole populations displaced as ethnic Serbs and Croats sought to create new pure mini-states by expelling mainly Muslim Bosniaks.

    When visiting, I felt a pervading sense that the two parts of the new country sit uncomfortably next to each other – and in recent months the friction has intensified considerably. Birte Julia Gippert of the University of Liverpool, who has researched extensively the conflict in the Balkans and the attempts to bring peace to the region, explains how the situation has become so tense.



    Read more:
    Bosnia and Herzegovina in crisis as Bosnian-Serb president rallies for secession

    Why is Israel bombing Syria?

    Conflict in Syria escalated again this week, with Israeli warplanes launching airstrikes against government buildings in Damascus this week. A Netanyahu government minister, Amichai Chikli, referred to Syria’s leader, Ahmed al-Shara, as “a terrorist, a barbaric murderer who should be eliminated without delay”.

    Mixed up in all this is sectarian fighting in southern Syria was has been going on sporadically since al-Shara took power at the end of last year. But, as Ali Mamouri of Deakin University explains, Israel wants to see the emergence of a federal Syria, which the new regime has ruled out. It also want to retain influence in the region and secure its northern border with Syria.

    While a ceasefire is in place for now, Mamouri sees the situation as extremely fragile with further clashes “not only possible but highly probable”.

    World Affairs Briefing from The Conversation UK is available as a weekly email newsletter. Click here to get updates directly in your inbox.

    – ref. Will Donald Trump get Vladimir Putin (before Maga gets Trump)? – https://theconversation.com/will-donald-trump-get-vladimir-putin-before-maga-gets-trump-261416

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: In Reframing Blackness, Alayo Akinkugbe challenges museums to see blackness first

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Wanja Kimani, Associate Curator, The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

    In Reframing Blackness, writer and curator Alayo Akinkugbe explores the way that art history is taught, and the impact this has had on what we see in national museums in western cities. This teaching has often led to the exclusion of blackness from mainstream art spaces. Akinkugbe challenges this by shifting our gaze – to see blackness first.

    Her book interrogates the place of blackness in relation to art history in several ways. First, she observes that the lack of black curators within national museums in western cities means that blackness is subject to “reactive responses”.

    For example, when there was a global outcry after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, institutions reacted by foregrounding their efforts to support black artists and pledging commitments for future initiatives.

    But many of these initiatives remain on the surface level and temporary, rather than permanently embedded into the institutional fabric. In my experience, long-term change is unlikely to occur when progress is measured by individual projects, while the decision-making remains in the same hands.

    Next, the book draws on Akinkugbe’s experience as a history of art student at the University of Cambridge, during which time there was a call to “decolonise” the curriculum.

    She then explores the intersection of race, gender and class, highlighting the double-bind of racial and gender bias that black women may encounter. She suggests ways to shift the gaze by focusing on people of colour depicted in historic artworks, including Portrait d’une Femme Noire (Portrait of a Black Woman) (1800) by Marie-Guillemine Benoist.

    Along the way, we are acquainted with figures that have always been present on museum and gallery walls – albeit often ignored or faded into obscurity. Akinkugbe speculates about who some of these unnamed figures were, and what worlds they inhabited.

    In Jacques Amans’ painting, Bélizaire and the Frey Children (1837), for example, Bélizaire, a black enslaved child, was over time painted over and faded into the background.

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    Akinkugbe provides an overview of exhibitions held between 2022 and 2024 at the Royal Academy in London and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. And she has conversations with curators at other museums, whose work contributes to the understanding of the complexity of black life experiences reflected in contemporary art.

    These include Antwaun Sargent (curator of The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion) and Ekow Eshun (curator, In the Black Fantastic and The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure). Akinkugbe also discusses the late Koyo Kouoh’s When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration exhibition. Kouoh, who died in May, was the first African woman to curate the Venice Biennale.

    By engaging in dialogue with the curators of these pivotal exhibitions, Akinkugbe demonstrates a shared commitment to uncovering what has been overlooked – and a commitment to deepening the discourse around blackness.

    Cautious optimism

    Reframing Blackness draws attention to important considerations for museums, curators and higher education institutions. There’s also food for thought for students who are keen to understand some of the factors that have contributed to the historic exclusion of blackness within museum walls and art education.

    The book raises key questions that black cultural producers have grappled with in the UK since the 1960s, at the height of the Caribbean artists movement, and during the British black arts movement of the early 1980s. These movements created vital opportunities for discussion around issues of racial justice, visibility and representation.

    Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in mainstream media in 2020, institutions reacted with pledges for self-reflective work that would lead to more black artists’ work being exhibited and collected. Numerous large exhibitions across national museums followed – some of which are discussed in the book, as are the departmental overhauls of art curricula within higher education.

    Portrait d’une Femme Noire by Marie-Guillemine Benoist (1880).
    Louvre Museum

    I share in some of Akinkugbe’s optimism – but I do so cautiously.

    Following the call to decolonise the curriculum, some art departments in UK higher education have expanded their geographic focus beyond the west. Others have stated their intention to address the legacies of enslavement and colonialism through a commitment to diversity and equality in their job advertisements. Some have done both.

    But there are a few hurdles that may limit these efforts. First, newer courses that may not attract sufficient interest are often the first to be cut when budgets are constrained.

    Second, if courses offer additional modules that attempt to cover vast areas in the global south, there is a risk of overgeneralising entire continents, marginalising them further. Such symbolic gestures fall short in an attempt to challenge art historical frameworks.

    Finally, by adding works by black scholars to reading lists as supplementary instead of core reading, their contributions are treated as being on the margins rather than key producers of knowledge.

    Museums have a responsibility to reflect the communities they serve, in a way that respects the individual and collective autonomy of that community. This may be counterintuitive to the museum’s original purpose, which may have been to serve the upper class, showcasing its founders’ interests.

    Museums are better equipped to engage communities as partners in shaping their future when permanent staff reflect the diversity of these communities across the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality and disability. Museum directors have a duty to serve these communities with a long-term commitment to care and accountability.

    This book asks us to see blackness first. Akinkugbe guides us closer to a vision that does not require black people to reinsert ourselves, but insists on our resolute presence – both then and now.

    This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

    Wanja Kimani 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. In Reframing Blackness, Alayo Akinkugbe challenges museums to see blackness first – https://theconversation.com/in-reframing-blackness-alayo-akinkugbe-challenges-museums-to-see-blackness-first-260734

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI: EMC Empowers 6,000 Homebuyers in H1, Sets Eyes on Even Greater Q3 Impact

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    IRVINE, Calif., July 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As the mortgage industry faces continued headwinds in 2025, E Mortgage Capital (EMC) is showing what forward momentum looks like.

    With nearly 6,000 families helped into homeownership in just the first half of the year, EMC is proving that disciplined leadership, modern infrastructure, and a people-first culture can still win in today’s market.
    “Our focus this year has been on clarity,” says Wesam (Sam) Hijazin, President of E Mortgage Capital. “Clarity in how we serve our clients, how we support our loan officers, and how we move the business forward without the noise or distractions that hold others back.”

    At a time when much of the industry is navigating uncertainty, EMC is leaning into opportunity with purpose. The company’s investments in technology, marketing infrastructure, and training have allowed its loan officers to stay sharp, competitive, and fully equipped to serve buyers in any rate environment.
    But for EMC, the number of families served is only part of the story. The deeper impact lies in how those outcomes are achieved: with care, consistency, and a relentless drive to improve. EMC’s loan officers continue to meet buyers where they are, educating, advising, and delivering the kind of experience that builds long-term trust.

    With the second half of the year underway, EMC is moving into Q3 with renewed energy and a refined strategy. From empowering homebuyers to supporting the growth of its loan officers, the company’s mission remains constant: to elevate the standard for what a modern mortgage company can deliver.
    “The momentum is real,” adds Hijazin. “And we’re just getting started.”

    About E Mortgage Capital
    E Mortgage Capital is a leading mortgage brokerage headquartered in Irvine, California, committed to providing best-in-class service to clients and partners. With a national presence and a growing team of dedicated loan officers, EMC delivers innovative lending solutions and a people-first approach to home financing.

    Media Contact:
    Contact Person: Sam Hijazin
    Email: sam@emortgagecapital.com
    Phone: +1 855-569-3700

    Disclaimer: This press release is provided by the E Mortgage Capital. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice. Investing involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility.

    Legal Disclaimer: This media platform provides the content of this article on an “as-is” basis, without any warranties or representations of any kind, express or implied. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information presented herein. Any concerns, complaints, or copyright issues related to this article should be directed to the content provider mentioned above.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2350e155-c1af-47e0-9509-10bab122a1d7

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Sanborn Map Company, Inc. Expands Geospatial Footprint and Deepens Collaboration with Google Maps Platform and Google Cloud Products

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., July 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Sanborn Map Company, Inc. (“Sanborn”), a national leader in geospatial data and mapping solutions, today announced its continued expansion into the enterprise and public sector markets currently leveraging Google Maps Platform and Google Cloud to advance their business applications. This strategic move significantly expands Sanborn’s customer base across critical sectors including logistics, utilities, real estate, transportation, and public safety.

    The transition reflects a growing demand for integrated geospatial and cloud-based solutions and positions Sanborn as a premier provider of location intelligence services to both public and private sector organizations. In addition to onboarding these customers, Sanborn will offer expanded support services, consulting, and customized solutions designed to maximize the value of their geospatial and cloud investments.

    “Sanborn is eager to welcome our new customers and provide them with the highest level of geospatial services and support,” said Maurice Khollman, Vice President of Content Sales at Sanborn. “This acquisition reinforces our commitment to providing tailored mapping and cloud-based solutions and strengthens our ongoing relationship with Google as we support these clients across the Google Maps Platform and Google Cloud platforms.”

    Sanborn will continue to work closely with Google to ensure a seamless transition for customers, offering comprehensive onboarding, technical support, and managed services through its team of experts in mapping, data analytics, and cloud infrastructure.

    With this expansion, Sanborn builds on more than 150 years of mapping expertise and a growing portfolio of cutting-edge solutions including aerial imagery, LiDAR, 3D modeling, and cloud-native geospatial platforms.

    About The Sanborn Map Company, Inc.
    Founded in 1866, Sanborn is a leading provider of end-to-end geospatial solutions, serving federal, state, and local governments, utilities, and Fortune 500 companies. Sanborn’s offerings include high-resolution aerial imagery, LiDAR, oblique and 3D mapping, cloud-hosted geospatial platforms, and advanced analytics services.

    Maurice Khollman
    VP Sales | Content Division
    The Sanborn Map Company Inc.
    information@sanborn.com 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Sanborn Map Company, Inc. Expands Geospatial Footprint and Deepens Collaboration with Google Maps Platform and Google Cloud Products

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., July 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Sanborn Map Company, Inc. (“Sanborn”), a national leader in geospatial data and mapping solutions, today announced its continued expansion into the enterprise and public sector markets currently leveraging Google Maps Platform and Google Cloud to advance their business applications. This strategic move significantly expands Sanborn’s customer base across critical sectors including logistics, utilities, real estate, transportation, and public safety.

    The transition reflects a growing demand for integrated geospatial and cloud-based solutions and positions Sanborn as a premier provider of location intelligence services to both public and private sector organizations. In addition to onboarding these customers, Sanborn will offer expanded support services, consulting, and customized solutions designed to maximize the value of their geospatial and cloud investments.

    “Sanborn is eager to welcome our new customers and provide them with the highest level of geospatial services and support,” said Maurice Khollman, Vice President of Content Sales at Sanborn. “This acquisition reinforces our commitment to providing tailored mapping and cloud-based solutions and strengthens our ongoing relationship with Google as we support these clients across the Google Maps Platform and Google Cloud platforms.”

    Sanborn will continue to work closely with Google to ensure a seamless transition for customers, offering comprehensive onboarding, technical support, and managed services through its team of experts in mapping, data analytics, and cloud infrastructure.

    With this expansion, Sanborn builds on more than 150 years of mapping expertise and a growing portfolio of cutting-edge solutions including aerial imagery, LiDAR, 3D modeling, and cloud-native geospatial platforms.

    About The Sanborn Map Company, Inc.
    Founded in 1866, Sanborn is a leading provider of end-to-end geospatial solutions, serving federal, state, and local governments, utilities, and Fortune 500 companies. Sanborn’s offerings include high-resolution aerial imagery, LiDAR, oblique and 3D mapping, cloud-hosted geospatial platforms, and advanced analytics services.

    Maurice Khollman
    VP Sales | Content Division
    The Sanborn Map Company Inc.
    information@sanborn.com 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Iceland

    Source: European Commission (video statements)

    On 17 July 2025 Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travels to Iceland.
    Discussing in a press point with the Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadottir.

    Follow live events and access media content here:
    https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/

    Stay updated — follow us on X: https://x.com/EC_AVService

    Follow us on:
    -X: https://twitter.com/EU_Commission
    -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/europeancommission/
    -Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanCommission
    -LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-commission/
    -Medium: https://medium.com/@EuropeanCommission

    Check our website: http://ec.europa.eu/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6jiuKfKNVo

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Breaking: Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Personae Non Grata

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

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

    LJUBLJANA, July 17 (Xinhua) — The Slovenian government on Thursday declared Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich personae non gratae, claiming that the two far-right ministers are inciting violence and gross violations of Palestinian rights with their “genocidal” statements. –0–

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Personae Non Grata

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

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

    LJUBLJANA, July 17 (Xinhua) — The Slovenian government on Thursday declared Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich personae non gratae, claiming that the two far-right ministers are inciting violence and gross violations of Palestinian rights with their “genocidal” statements.

    Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon noted that Slovenia was the first EU member state to take such measures against two Israeli ministers.

    The decision came after EU foreign ministers failed to reach a consensus on joint action against Israel during a meeting in Brussels on July 15.

    Slovenia, which officially recognized the State of Palestine in June 2024, criticizes Israel’s intense military operations in the Gaza Strip. Ljubljana calls on the Jewish state to immediately stop the offensive and allow rapid and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. –0–

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: CORRECTION – Ad Age lists Advantage Solutions among 2025 Largest Agencies

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ST. LOUIS, July 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a release issued under the same headline on July 2 by Advantage Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: ADV), please note that Advantage’s domestic ranking should have been listed as “12th in the United States” instead of “9th in North America.” It has been removed from the subhead. The corrected release follows:

    Advantage Solutions (NASDAQ: ADV) ranks as the 12th largest agency company in the United States and No. 18 worldwide, according to the Ad Age Agency Report 2025. With revenue of $1.2 billion in 2024, Advantage was one of only two Midwest-based agencies in the top 25 list, which is based on worldwide revenue.

    “Our agency work is one of the many ways we’re shaping how people shop and building momentum in the marketplace. We continue to deliver for our clients and customers, infusing high-tech, high-touch, high-value solutions with the creativity and artistry to bring campaigns to life,” says Advantage CEO Dave Peacock.

    The Ad Age Agency Report, which evaluates the state of the agency market and includes listings and analysis, cited three major trends emerging in 2025: AI reshaping creativity, evolving client expectations, and agencies being asked to do more with greater precision and agility.

    “We’re staying sharp — solving the challenges our clients face today while anticipating what’s next. Our ability to unify sales and marketing delivers an award-winning shopper experience while redefining what’s possible across omnicommerce,” says executive vice president of agency at Advantage and head of AUC and AMP Christi Geary.

    Sitting at the intersection of CPGs, retailers and eCommerce, Advantage leads from the center of commerce by connecting people with experiences and products that enrich their lives. The company continues to grow its relationship with the world’s largest retailer, Amazon, and was honored with Amazon’s inaugural Gold Tier award, which recognizes excellence in providing on-time, accurate delivery. Advantage offers a full suite of omnichannel services across the path to purchase including branding; retail media and promotion; creative services; media; marketing technology; events and conferences; packaging design; as well as sampling and demonstration.

    About Advantage Solutions
    Advantage Solutions is the leading omnichannel retail solutions agency in North America, uniquely positioned at the intersection of consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands and retailers. With its data- and technology-powered services, Advantage leverages its unparalleled insights, expertise and scale to help brands and retailers of all sizes generate demand and get products into the hands of consumers, wherever they shop. Whether it’s creating meaningful moments and experiences in-store and online, optimizing assortment and merchandising, or accelerating e-commerce and digital capabilities, Advantage is the trusted partner that keeps commerce and life moving. Advantage has offices throughout North America and strategic investments and owned operations in select international markets. For more information, please visit YourADV.com.

    Follow Advantage Solutions on social media

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/advantagesolutionsinc/

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/advantage_solutions/

    Media Contact:
    Jeffrey Levine
    jeff.levine@youradv.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: American Tower Corporation (ATC) Kenya Partners with Mawingu Foundation to Launch Digital Communities

    Source: APO

    • Through American Tower’s Digital Communities program, the three-year partnership will provide technology-equipped spaces that offer digital literacy for youth, vocational training for adults, and access to healthcare services.
       
    • The initiative will benefit institutions such as vocational training centers, dispensaries, secondary schools and special schools, directly impacting over 50,000 beneficiaries.

    ATC Kenya (www.AmericanTower.com/en-KE), a leading provider of telecommunications infrastructure, and the Mawingu Foundation—the social impact arm of Mawingu Networks Limited—are proud to announce a strategic partnership aimed at bridging the digital divide across Kenya. This partnership will provide underserved and unserved communities with access to connectivity, digital learning materials, modern equipment, and essential digital skills.

    This initiative will benefit a wide range of institutions including Vocational Training Centers (VTCs), dispensaries, secondary schools, special schools, and surrounding communities. The program is expected to directly impact more than 50,000 individuals over the life of the partnership.

    Central to this effort is ATC’s Digital Communities program, which offers technology-equipped spaces that deliver digital literacy for youth, vocational and financial training for adults, and access to healthcare services. By combining this model with the Mawingu Foundation’s community reach and expertise, the partnership aims to foster inclusive development and equitable access to digital opportunities.

    “At ATC Kenya, we are driven by our commitment to bridging the digital divide and by the belief that connectivity—especially in underserved and unserved areas—is essential to transforming lives and empowering communities,” said George Odenyo, CEO of ATC Kenya. “This is why partnerships with entities like the Mawingu Foundation are vital to achieving our vision of building a more connected Kenya.”

    Mawingu CEO, Farouk Ramji, noted that “As Mawingu Foundation, we believe that closing the digital divide must start where the gap is widest, and this is in the heart of rural and peri-urban communities that we are dedicated to transforming. The Digital Communities initiative is proof that with the right partnerships, we can deliver meaningful, sustainable internet access where it matters most.”

    The collaboration will focus on identifying and supporting institutions most in need, ensuring that digital tools and connectivity are accessible where they can make the greatest impact. By addressing educational disparities and promoting digital inclusion, the partnership is set to create lasting change across Kenya.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of American Tower Corporation.

    Media Contacts:
    American Tower
    media.relations@americantower.com

    Mawingu Foundation
    press@mawingu.co

    About ATC Kenya:
    ATC Kenya is a subsidiary of American Tower Corporation, one of the largest global telecommunications Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate.

    ATC Kenya owns and operates over 4,200 telecommunications sites across the country, helping mobile network operators and other telecommunication providers confidently deliver communications connectivity to consumers throughout Kenya. For more information, visit: www.AmericanTower.com/en-KE

    About Mawingu Foundation:
    Mawingu Foundation is the philanthropic and community development arm of Mawingu, dedicated to bridging the digital divide in underserved regions of Africa. The Mawingu Foundation is committed to expanding access to meaningful internet connectivity, digital infrastructure, and learning tools that empower youth, educators, and community institutions.

    Through strategic partnerships and on-the-ground initiatives, Mawingu Foundation focuses on enabling inclusive access to knowledge, opportunity, and innovation, ensuring that no community is left behind in the digital age.

    Media files

    .

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Ambassador Yin Chengwu attended 2025 Liberia Investment Conference

    Source: APO


    .

    On July 16, Ambassador Yin Chengwu attended the 2025 Liberia Investment Conference. The event was also attended by Hon. Jeremiah Kpan Koung, Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, Hon. Magdalene Ellen Dagoseh, Representatives from relevant UN agencies and diplomatic missions in Liberia.

    At the conference, Ambassador Yin briefed the outcomes of the recent Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). He particularly highlighted the new measures such as China’s zero-tariff treatments for 100% of taxable items originating from African countries with diplomatic relations with China. He stressed the principles of openness and cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, as well as trustworthy partnership. Furthermore, he proposed five key recommendations for further advance China-Liberia cooperation, including enhancing strategic synergy, streamlining the business environment, pioneering emerging sectors, strengthening institutional frameworks, and fostering people-to-people bonds.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Liberia.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Germany announces €10 million euro investment in Africa’s development

    Source: Government of South Africa

    Germany announces €10 million euro investment in Africa’s development

    German Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil has announced that Germany will provide an initial contribution of €10 million towards the Group of Twenty (G20) Compact for Africa initiative, which promotes private investment in Africa.

    “This is not only a strategic investment, it is one that can boost the growth, create business opportunities and reduce pressure on public budgets in important Member States,” Klingbeil said on Thursday in Durban during the G20 Finance Track Meeting. 

    Established under the German G20 Presidency in 2017, the initiative’s primary objective is to increase attractiveness of private investment through substantial improvements of the macro, business and financing frameworks.

    Under the G20 Finance Track, the Compact for Africa is governed through the G20 Africa Advisory Group (AAG), co-chaired by Germany and South Africa. 

    The African Development Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank Group coordinate the initiative. 

    “To help these partners, with the support of the Compact with Africa, Germany will provide an initial contribution of €10 million to the World Bank’s Trust Fund this year.

    “We are convinced that this is a worthwhile investment and we will be pleased to see other G20 members to join us, therefore, we call on all G20 partners to consider making their own contribution to the World Bank Trust Fund to help ensure the Compact’s long term success.

    “Only through our joint efforts we can truly unlock the potential of the Compact with Africa and make a lasting impact for the benefit of our African partners and the global community,” Germany’s Vice-Chancellor said.

    According to Klingbeil, Compact members have higher levels of foreign direct investments.

    “It is important to recognise the initiative’s full potential impact is still emerging, partly due to unexpected external challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and global uncertainties.

    “This highlights the necessities for continued political and financial commitment to unlock the Compact’s full potential for sustainable and inclusive growth across Africa,” he said.

    The German Vice-Chancellor emphasised that Germany’s new government wants to deepen its engagement with South African partners.

    “We will continue to provide strong support with the Compact but more generally we also want to engage in new thinking about development partnerships.

    “The German government has committed itself to establish a new North-South Commission to set up an international forum where experts from politics, civil society, business and research can meet on a regular basis to search for new and efficient solutions. I envision the independent experts from relevant areas from all parts of the world coming together on a regular basis,” he said.

    The new German government agreed to establish a new North-South Commission to jointly suggest new North-South policies for a multipolar world.

    Klingbeil stressed the importance of the Global North and Global South working together on equal footing while also highlighting the need for equitable partnerships and mutual respect between developed and developing nations. 

    “It’s important that we don’t have a platform where the North is telling the South what to do. We have to come together on the same level to find common answers to address the challenges we are facing in the world.

    “At the same time, we will continue to make use of the existing instruments of the G20 Compact with Africa is one of them, it’s dynamic and results driven initiative that demonstrates the power of partnerships and peer to peer learning,” Klingbeil said.

    Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana indicated that the Compact for Africa has grown into a dynamic initiative that has mobilised over $191 million dollars in private capital, supported by the development of bankable projects and improved access to services for over 13.5 million people.

    “It has also fostered a peer learning network among participating countries supported by institutions like the African Centre for Economic Research and provided a structured framework for reform through regular monitoring and technical assistance.

    “As we look ahead, the success of the Compact with Africa will depend on our collective commitment. We must ensure that this initiative remains country-owned, reform driven and result orientated,” the Minister said.

    Godongwana called on governments, multilateral institutions and the private sector to create enabling conditions for sustainable development and inclusive growth.

    “Africa’s development trajectory is at a crossroad, while the continent is rich in opportunity, it continues to face significant challenges ranging from infrastructure deficit and climate vulnerability to constrained fiscal space and limited access to long term private capital

    “In this context, the compact with Africa initiative remains a promising platform for fostering reformed driven investment partnership between African countries and the private sector,” he said.

    South Africa assumed the G20 Presidency on 1 December 2024, which runs to 30 November 2025, under the theme: “Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability”. – SAnews.gov.za

    nosihle

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • Piyush Goyal engages with Indian Missions abroad to boost global trade

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal held a virtual meeting on July 16, with Heads of Commercial Wings in 74 Indian Missions across 61 countries to strengthen India’s global trade and commercial engagement strategy. The interaction, conducted via video conference, focused on reviewing trade promotion activities and addressing market access challenges.

    During the meeting, key Indian Missions presented detailed insights into their trade promotion efforts, sectoral developments, and challenges related to market access. Shri Goyal acknowledged the Missions as critical pillars of India’s economic diplomacy, emphasizing their role as the first point of contact for promoting Indian exports and fostering stronger ties with host countries.

    The Minister urged the Missions to proactively gather trade intelligence, including updates on market trends, regulatory frameworks, and sectoral developments. He highlighted the importance of sharing innovative strategies and best practices that have successfully boosted trade and attracted investment to India. Shri Goyal stressed the need to focus on four key performance indicators—Investment, Trade, Tourism, and Technology—as outlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as pillars of India’s growth.

    The discussion also covered the importance of regular trade advisories to identify demand-supply gaps and opportunities for Indian exporters. The Minister called for strategic interventions to address market access barriers, such as non-tariff barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade. He emphasized enhanced alignment between the Missions and the Department of Commerce through data-driven planning and effective use of digital platforms like the DGFT Trade Connect Portal.

    Goyal also urged collaborative efforts to support India’s objectives in multilateral forums like the World Trade Organization, particularly in areas such as agriculture, public stockholding for food security, and fisheries subsidies. The meeting addressed operational challenges, including the need for adequate resources, efficient posting of commercial officers, and improved coordination to support initiatives like Make in India and Production Linked Incentive schemes.

  • MIL-OSI USA: Sherman Announces $14.5 Million in Funding for Valley & Westside Projects Advanced by Key Congressional Panel

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

    Sherman Oaks, CA – Congressman Brad Sherman (CA-32) announced today his requests of $14.5 million in federal funds for projects that will address vital needs across the San Fernando Valley and Westside of Los Angeles have been advanced by a key Congressional panel.

    Two relevant subcommittees of the House Committee on Appropriations voted to approve all 15 of the community projects Congressman Sherman submitted for consideration in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 appropriations process. The underlying legislation will now proceed to a vote by the full membership of the Appropriations Committee before the whole House of Representatives can consider the measure. Funding Members’ community projects in FY2026 will require full-year spending bills rather than a Continuing Resolution. Should FY2026 spending bills pass the House with community projects included, these same bills must also pass the Senate before they can be signed into law.

    The projects include:

    Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) – Santa Monica Mountains Brush Clearance & Wildfire Mitigation
    Committee Approved Amount: $1,031,000

    Lands within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) are in need of habitat restoration, in particular brush clearance and the removal of invasive plant species. This project is critical to reducing wildfire risk and preserving the wildlife habitat.

    City of Los Angeles – The Crisis and Incident Response through Community – Led Engagement Program
    Committee Approved Amount: $2,062,000
    The funding will be used to help to expand the Crisis and Incident Response through Community-led Engagement (CIRCLE) program, a 24/7 unarmed response program that deploys trained teams to address non-urgent LAPD calls related to unhoused individuals.

    California State University, Northridge – High Bay Structural Test Lab
    Committee Approved Amount: $1,031,000
    The technology and equipment in this 1,100-square-foot lab will expand research opportunities, through testing on structural systems using different types of loads that reflect real-world conditions. In addition, the laboratory provides workforce training to CSUN students in STEM pathways as the lab’s projects has real-world applications.

    Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles – Community Security Initiative Program
    Committee Approved Amount: $1,031,000
    The funding will be used to strengthen the security of Jewish schools, synagogues, camps, groups, and organizations. 

    Labor Community Services Food Bank Equipment Upgrades
    Committee Approved Amount: $1,200,000
    The funding will be used for modernizing and upgrading the Labor Community Services (LCS) Food Bank Warehouse equipment to serve the Los Angeles community. 

    Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs – West Los Angeles VA Modular Home Construction
    Committee Approved Amount: $850,000
    Los Angeles County will partner with West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs for the acquisition and installation of modular housing to serve as temporary housing under the VA’s Care, Treatment, and Rehabilitative Services (CTRS) Program.

    Los Angeles Fire Department Station Renovations 
    Committee Approved Amount: $2,000,000
    The funding will be used to improve several of the 20 fire stations in California’s 32nd Congressional District. 

    City of Los Angeles – Grancell Village Affordable Senior Housing Project
    Committee Approved Amount: $850,000
    The funding will be used to build affordable senior housing units at Grancell Village campus in Reseda, supporting low-income and disabled seniors.

    Los Angeles Pierce College – Community Engagement and Enrichment Center
    Committee Approved Amount: $250,000
    The funding will be used to create the Pierce College Community Engagement & Enrichment Center, which will provide underserved populations of the San Fernando Valley with a safe and enriching environment.

    Los Angeles Police Department – West LA Real Time Crime Center
    Committee Approved Amount: $1,031,000
    The funding will be used to install a Real Time Crime Center in the West Los Angeles LAPD Division and expand the camera network around the community to reduce burglaries.

    Los Angeles River Greenway Studio City Habitat Restoration, Beautification, and Safety Project
    Committee Approved Amount: $250,000 
    The project will occur along the south bank of the Los Angeles River from Whitsett Avenue to Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Studio City and include new, native landscaping to replace existing, non-native plants. The project will also install public lighting, both along the path and along access pathways and seating areas.

    Malibu Canyon Road and Kanan Dume Road Tunnel Lighting Upgrade Project 
    Committee Approved Amount: $250,000
    The project will result in enhanced visibility and improve driver safety conditions for the tunnels along Malibu Canyon Road, Kanan Road, and Kanan Dume Road.

    Sepulveda Basin Pedestrian Safety & Access Improvements
    Committee Approved Amount: $850,000
    The project will provide new and enhanced pedestrian pathways into the Sepulveda Basin recreation area, providing car-free access to LA28 Olympic Games venues. 

    Southwest Valley Park Improvements – City of Los Angeles
    Committee Approved Amount: $850,000
    The funding will be used to improve parks in the City of Los Angeles. 

    Beit T’Shuvah – Combatting Crime Through Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment, Education and Prevention Program
    Committee Approved Amount: $1,039,000
    This project seeks to reduce the prevalence of drug-related crime in Los Angeles County, Congressional District 32, through addiction treatment, prevention, and education opportunities.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a big threat to women’s health, but it’s still under-recognized, under-diagnosed and under-treated

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jamie Benham, Endocrinologist & Assistant Professor, Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary

    Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal imbalance that affects ovaries, periods and fertility in about one in 10 Canadian women. Different from ovarian cysts, PCOS is associated with infertility, pregnancy complications, heart disease and a general decreased quality of life, and yet fewer than half of those affected even know they have it.

    This under-recognition and under-diagnosis is a significant problem, because a recent Canadian study suggests these women are 20 to 40 per cent more likely to experience negative health outcomes during their lifetime than the general population, including hypertension (high blood pressure), kidney disease, gastrointestinal disease, eating disorders, depression and anxiety.

    Heart disease risk

    The Canadian researchers also found obesity, dyslipidemia (abnormal levels of fat in your blood) and Type 2 diabetes to be two to three times more common for women with PCOS. And most importantly, cardiovascular disease, which causes heart failure and stroke, was not only 30 to 50 per cent more likely, but occurred three to four years earlier than average in women with PCOS.

    Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, so when PCOS symptoms are missed and untreated, women’s health is at risk.

    Women with PCOS are more likely to experience negative health outcomes.
    (Photo: Colourbox.com)

    High cost

    There is undoubtedly a personal cost to individual women, both physically and mentally, and living with PCOS can be a significant financial, health-care and work-life burden for many women, too, which may disproportionately affect those in lower socioeconomic groups.

    These experiences are further compounded by a system failure to properly diagnose and manage their symptoms. Women report doctors ignoring or dismissing their concerns, not believing them and struggling to make a diagnosis. In fact, a large international survey reported it can take several months, and even several years, before women are diagnosed.

    Common PCOS symptoms

    PCOS symptoms can vary between different women, but it is important to discuss the possibility of PCOS with your doctor, because careful management and/or treatment can help protect against developing more serious related health issues. Common symptoms include:

    • Irregular periods
    • Excess body hair, called hirsutism (usually darker hair on the face, arms, chest or abdomen)
    • Thinning or loss of hair (like excess body hair, this is caused by high levels of male hormones, or androgens)
    • Acne and/or oily skin
    • Weight gain

    Managing and treating PCOS

    Despite PCOS first being diagnosed almost a century ago, there is no single test to confirm whether a woman has it, and there is no cure. If your doctor suspects you may have PCOS, they may order blood work to check your hormone levels and an ultrasound to check your ovaries.

    Unlike ovarian cysts, which are fluid-filled sacs that develop on or inside an ovary and can be painful, polycystic ovaries are enlarged, with multiple follicles that can be seen on ultrasound.

    PCOS is a chronic condition that needs lifelong management.
    (Photo: Colourbox.com)

    If PCOS is diagnosed, further testing for cholesterol and glucose levels is likely in order to manage heart disease and diabetes risk.

    Researchers also suggest ways women with PCOS can help manage their condition, which include:

    PCOS research underway

    Despite the current problems, improvement is possible, and there have been sustained efforts in recent years — all over the world — to advocate for women with this condition and invest in PCOS research.

    In 2023, an International PCOS Guideline, led from Australia, was published. It recommends an individualized approach to PCOS treatment, including lifestyle modifications (for example, healthy eating and exercising), medical management to treat symptoms and regular checkups to provide support and screen for related complications.

    In Canada, the province of Alberta recently launched a much-needed clinical pathway to recognize, treat and advocate for PCOS that could be adopted more widely.

    At the University of Calgary, Dr. Jamie Benham, one of the authors of this story, leads EMBRACE (Endocrine, Metabolic and Reproductive Advancements), a new women’s health research lab where a team of clinical researchers is focusing on reproductive disorders across the whole of a woman’s life system, including PCOS and gestational diabetes.

    This work, supporting patients’ PCOS care, includes a current online needs-assessment survey, and focus groups beginning later this year, to inform the development of a co-designed patient tool to support PCOS management.

    Patient engagement

    With such a huge demand for answers, the EMBRACE team works closely with a PCOS Patient Advisory Council, chaired by Robyn Vettese, another author of this story, to uncover complex connections between hormones and health, promote screening, find solutions and provide answers. Importantly, the lab’s research questions come directly from clinic patients, and the answers the lab finds go back to those patients and are then shared more widely.

    Other recent PCOS advocacy events include Dr. Benham’s presentation at the inaugural Sex, Gender and Women’s Health Research Hub’s Women’s Health Symposium event in Calgary, and her interview with the Libin Cardiovascular Institute.

    PCOS awareness

    Another exciting research program in Alberta is PCOS Together. Researchers with this group are working to establish methods that will detect early disease risk in all women with PCOS, as well as clinical interventions that will help prevent disease in high-risk women.

    Similar organizations exist in the United Kingdom and Australia, including Verity PCOS, a volunteer-based charity, and Ask PCOS, a researcher- and clinician-led organization. Both organizations provide a wealth of information online.

    This is a critical (albeit often overlooked) area of women’s health that needs greater awareness and attention so that we can improve and save women’s lives.

    Jamie Benham receives funding from the M.S.I. Foundation, Diabetes Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

    Robyn Vettese receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

    Pauline McDonagh Hull 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. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a big threat to women’s health, but it’s still under-recognized, under-diagnosed and under-treated – https://theconversation.com/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos-is-a-big-threat-to-womens-health-but-its-still-under-recognized-under-diagnosed-and-under-treated-259602

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Elbows down? Why Mark Carney seems to keep caving to Donald Trump

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sam Routley, PhD Candidate, Political Science, Western University

    Prime Minister Mark Carney has suggested a new trade deal with the United States is now most likely to include tariffs. There is, in his own words, “not a lot of evidence right now” that the Donald Trump administration is willing to stand down from imposing levies on Canadian imports.

    In making this acknowledgement, Carney has backed down from his previous insistence that Canada would “fight to bring these tariffs to an end.”

    But rather than continuing to retaliate with tariffs of its own, the government has begun to confess that such a tactic may be a losing battle.

    Carney has instead announced Canada will restrict the tariff-free import of cheap, foreign steel to help domestic manufacturers reeling from American tariffs.

    In the wake of the federal government’s recent concession on the Digital Services Tax levied against big American tech companies, it’s another indicator that — unlike the hawkish “elbows up” rhetoric used throughout the federal election campaign — the Canadian government has taken on a more conciliatory tone in advance of the Aug. 1 deadline for a new economic and security deal between Canada and the U.S..

    Dual purposes

    The timing of Carney’s comments can be interpreted two ways.

    Their first and primary purpose is about message control and the need to manage expectations. In announcing this now, the government is not only better able to keep its justification for conceding to Trump at the forefront of media narratives, but it can also prepare Canadians for any further potential concessions in the course of trade negotiations.

    The fact that these comments were made prior to a cabinet meeting could be seen as Carney’s attempt to isolate any cabinet ministers who may still favour a more aggressive stance.

    More substantively, however, the pivot is also a reflection of the realities of both Canada’s actual position vis-à-vis the U.S. and the pragmatism needed to accomplish real trade agreements.



    Read more:
    U.S. tariff threat: How it will impact different products and industries

    Although Trump is unpredictable, it increasingly seems that levies on imports are among his genuinely held and signature policy commitments. As Carney noted, the administration’s recent trade deals with both the United Kingdom and Vietnam included tariffs. And, despite the president’s talk of annexing Canada, Carney’s new stance suggests a more reasonable, albeit very costly, deal is possible — even amid Trump’s bluster.

    Still, for all the attention they’ve received, tariffs are only part of the ongoing negotiations on the economic and security deal.

    What does Trump want?

    The U.S. administration, for example, continues to justify higher tariff threats not just for economic purposes, but ostensibly to counter the illegal drug trade.

    The fact that the Canadian government has already allotted $1 billion to border defence makes it difficult to assess what would satisfy American negotiators.

    More broadly, Trump has expressed a desire to push Canada for changes in security, supply management of the dairy industry, fresh water use and access to rare earth minerals, among others.



    Read more:
    Zombie water apocalypse: Is Trump’s rhetoric over Canada’s water science-fiction or reality?

    Regardless of how the trade talks proceed in the coming weeks, though, the domestic consequences for Carney will be determined by how willing Canadians are to continue trusting and supporting him.

    On the one hand, his comments that tariff-free trade deals with the U.S. aren’t realistic could be costly given the fact that more than two-thirds of Canadians continue to favour a hard-line stance with little to no concessions on key files.

    This could result in voters viewing Carney as weak and shifting their support to other leaders. No incumbent stands to benefit from the detrimental effects on economic growth, investments and employment rate Trump’s tariffs will cause.

    But support also depends on Carney’s legitimacy. He could maintain public support despite the fact that, on paper, they oppose his actions. Taking a “hard” versus “soft” line in negotiations is itself an ambiguous and fluid set of designations.

    A major reason why Canadians elected Carney is because they viewed him as having sound personal judgment and the skill set to deal with Trump. This is why, rather than challenging the value of the decision to compromise on tariffs, the Conservatives and other opponents have focused on conveying him as an unreliable and dishonest leader.

    What’s ahead for federal politics?

    At this point, polls suggest that Canadians are generally split down the middle on Carney. While around 50 per cent of Canadians are supportive, the other half remain divided between those strongly opposed and those with a more ambiguous position.

    Could Carney win over the support of those with an unambiguous view? It seems unlikely. Leaders are the usually the most impactful when they enter office. And while rally-around-the-flag effects are real, they are short-lived. That means the long-term challenge for Carney remains maintaining the support of the voters that brought him to power.



    Read more:
    How Canadian nationalism is evolving with the times — and will continue to do so

    The Canada-U.S. relationship will continue to develop in a dynamic and unpredictable fashion, even if the economic and security deal is reached soon.

    After voters dramatically consolidated around the Liberals and Conservatives in the 2025 election, the most important question for federal Canadian politics moving forward in this shifting global environment is which electoral coalition will endure.

    Carney seeks to preserve trust, while the Conservatives search for a compelling alternative. Who will come out on top in the Trump 2.0 era?

    Sam Routley 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. Elbows down? Why Mark Carney seems to keep caving to Donald Trump – https://theconversation.com/elbows-down-why-mark-carney-seems-to-keep-caving-to-donald-trump-261304

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Canada Partners With Trees For Life to Grow Southern Ontario’s Urban and Suburban Canopy

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    July 17, 2025                                                        Whitby, Ontario                                                               Natural Resources Canada

    Canada and Trees For Life are driving urban and suburban tree-planting projects that will expand local green spaces, improve air and water quality and provide natural shade to cool our cities and communities, making them healthier and more climate resilient.

    Today, Ryan Turnbull, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and to the Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions) and Member of Parliament for Whitby, highlighted a $4-million federal investment for tree-planting projects in urban and suburban areas in southern Ontario. Trees For Life will collaborate with planting partners to plant an average of 24,000 trees annually over five years, for a total of 120,000 trees in communities across southern Ontario.

    The collaboration with Trees For Life is already ahead of target, supporting the planting of 83,000 trees in southern Ontario with 35,000 trees planted in 2024 and 48,000 trees planted across 40 projects in 2025 to date.

    This project builds on a successful regional model piloted in the Durham Region. Trees For Life worked with local municipalities, conservation authorities, non-profits and other partners to assess how many more trees could be planted, as well as how to meet the unique tree-planting needs of each area. With strong support across the Durham Region and funding from the 2 Billion Trees Program (2BT), Canadian Trees for Life is now expanding this successful model to other regions.

    By investing in greener communities today, the federal government is planting the seeds for a more sustainable Canada. Through collaboration and long-term commitment, these efforts will leave a lasting legacy for future generations.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Canada to honour dairy access under CPTPP dispute agreement

    Source: New Zealand Government

    Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has announced agreement between Canada and New Zealand resolving a long running dairy dispute under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) saying that it will deliver up to $157m per year in export value for New Zealand dairy exporters.

    “Canada had failed to meet its obligation to New Zealand in respect of dairy access, today’s agreement means they will now do so,” Mr McClay says.

    New Zealand initiated formal dispute settlement proceedings in respect of restrictive access to the Canadian market for dairy exports under the CPTPP in 2022. A dispute panel found in New Zealand’s favour however Canada failed to fully comply with the panel’s ruling. New Zealand threatened further action last year including the imposition of retaliatory tariffs against Canadian exporters.

    “We notified Canada of retaliatory action last year unless they met their obligations to us, Mr McClay said. 

    “The Government is pleased that this dispute has now been settled, and New Zealand exporters are guaranteed better access to the Canadian market,” Mr McClay says

    Under the agreement, Canada has committed to making commercially meaningful changes to the way it administers its dairy quotas under CPTPP, including faster and more efficient access to quotas for New Zealand exporters, reallocation of underused quotas, and penalties for importers who misuse quotas.

    “The CPTPP is a world leading agreement that unlocks significant opportunities for all parties, but its obligations must be upheld. Today’s agreement reinforces support for the rules-based trading system,” Mr McClay says.

    “Canada is a close and long-standing friend and trading partner of New Zealand, and I want to thank them for their constructive engagement in reaching this resolution.”

    For more information, go to https://www.mfat.govt.nz/CPTPPCanadaTRQ.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former semi-professional Rugby Player sentenced to prison for cryptocurrency mining Ponzi scheme

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Promised big returns on investment in crypto mining; never set up computers to mine crypto

    Seattle –A 37-year-old Seattle semi-pro rugby player was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 30 months in prison for wire fraud, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Shane Donovan Moore operated Quantum Donovan LLC – a Washington company Moore claimed was purchasing and operating cryptocurrency mining equipment. In fact, the company never invested in such equipment and operated as a Ponzi scheme, with the investments from later investors being used to pay off earlier investors. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Tana Lin told him, “Most people have suffered serious trauma like you, but you have also had many opportunities and advantages that many people have not.” Judge Lin also noted Moore “caused emotional and psychological damage to the victims” by his execution of his scheme.

    “Mr. Moore used the newness of cryptocurrency, to commit an age-old fraud – a Ponzi scheme,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Miller. “He solicited more than $900,00 from some 40 investors claiming it would be used for ‘mining cryptocurrency.’ Instead, the money went to support a lavish lifestyle, and to pay off the earliest investors to keep the fraud going. He left a path of damaged relationships in his wake.”

    Between January 2021 and October 2022, Moore made fraudulent promises to obtain investor money. Moore claimed both verbally and in writing that the invested money would be used to purchase computers for a cryptocurrency mining operation. He told investors they would receive 1% of their investment daily based on the work of the mining machines. However, Moore never purchased the mining machines. He comingled the investor money with his personal accounts and used some of those funds to live a lavish lifestyle. Some of the funds were used to purchase cryptocurrency so that a portion of the funds could be sent to investors to lull them into believing the cryptocurrency mining operation existed. Early investors recruited their friends and family to invest, leading to anger and recriminations when the losses mounted.

    Moore recruited investors in Utah, Oregon, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Washington. Many of the investors are people he knew from his rugby activities.

    In asking for a three-year prison sentence, Assistant United States Attorney Brian Wynne wrote to the court, “Instead of purchasing cryptocurrency mining equipment, Moore comingled victim-investor funds with his personal accounts and used victim-investor funds to finance his lifestyle and pay his personal living expenses. … He used victim-investors’ funds to purchase luggage, travel, clothing, electronics, and pay for a deposit for a luxury apartment. All told, victim-investors suffered a loss of more than $387,000.”

    The case was investigated by the FBI.

    The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Brian Wynne and Casey Conzatti.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Coface SA: Coface agrees to acquire Novertur International SA (business-monitor.ch), enhancing its Business Information offer in Switzerland

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Coface agrees to acquire Novertur International SA (business-monitor.ch), enhancing its Business Information offer in Switzerland

    Paris, 17 July 2025 – 18.30

    Coface announces the signing of an agreement to acquire 100% of Novertur International SA.

    Novertur International SA, a Swiss startup based in Lausanne, has developed strong digital expertise in managing data on Swiss companies, which it distributes through its platform business-monitor.ch. Launched in 2016, the platform has become a key tool for SMEs and large companies in Switzerland for risk management and B2B prospecting. It offers simple, fast and reliable access to up-to-date information on more than 730,000 active Swiss businesses.

    The technological innovations developed by Novertur International SA – particularly in data structuring and user experience – combined with Coface’s expertise in credit risk, will significantly strengthen Coface’s Business Information offering in Switzerland.

    This acquisition strengthens the Group’s data, technical capabilities and expertise, in full alignment with its strategic plan Power the Core, which aims to enhance its high value-added services while strengthening its local presence.

    Florent Schlaeppi, CEO and Founder of business-monitor.ch, commented:

    “From day one, we designed business-monitor.ch to be intuitive, fast, and useful for anyone analyzing companies. Joining Coface is a tremendous opportunity to take our mission to the next level by putting our technology at the service of a global player in business risk.”

    Christian Moins, Country Manager Coface Switzerland, commented:

    “We are particularly excited to welcome the Business Monitor team to Coface. The acquisition of Business Monitor demonstrates Coface’s ambition to establish itself as a key player in Business Information. This transaction significantly strengthens our position in the Swiss market, making Coface an even more attractive partner for its clients. “

    The completion of the acquisition remains subject to the usual closing conditions.

    CONTACTS

    ANALYSTS / INVESTORS
    Thomas JACQUET: +33 1 49 02 12 58 – thomas.jacquet@coface.com
    Rina ANDRIAMIADANTSOA: +33 1 49 02 15 85 – rina.andriamiadantsoa@coface.com

    MEDIA RELATIONS
    Saphia GAOUAOUI: +33 1 49 02 14 91 – saphia.gaouaoui@coface.com
    Adrien BILLET: +33 1 49 02 23 63 – adrien.billet@coface.com

    FINANCIAL CALENDAR 2025
    (subject to change)
    H1-2025 results: 31 July 2025 (after market close)
    9M-2025 results: 3 November 2025 (after market close)

    FINANCIAL INFORMATION
    This press release, as well as COFACE SA’s integral regulatory information, can be found on the Group’s website: http://www.coface.com/Investors

    For regulated information on Alternative Performance Measures (APM), please refer to our Interim Financial Report for H1-2024 and our 2024 Universal Registration Document (see part 3.7 “Key financial performance indicators”).

    Regulated documents posted by COFACE SA have been secured and authenticated with the blockchain technology by Wiztrust.
    You can check the authenticity on the website www.wiztrust.com.
     

    COFACE: FOR TRADE
    As a global leading player in trade credit risk management for more than 75 years, Coface helps companies grow and navigate in an uncertain and volatile environment.
    Whatever their size, location or sector, Coface provides 100,000 clients across some 200 markets with a full range of solutions: Trade Credit Insurance, Business Information, Debt Collection, Single Risk insurance, Surety Bonds, Factoring.
    Every day, Coface leverages its unique expertise and cutting-edge technology to make trade happen, in both domestic and export markets.
    In 2024, Coface employed ~5,236 people and registered a turnover of €1.84 billion.

    www.coface.com

    COFACE SA is quoted in Compartment A of Euronext Paris
    Code ISIN: FR0010667147 / Ticker: COFA

    DISCLAIMER – Certain declarations featured in this press release may contain forecasts that notably relate to future events, trends, projects or targets. By nature, these forecasts include identified or unidentified risks and uncertainties, and may be affected by many factors likely to give rise to a significant discrepancy between the real results and those stated in these declarations. Please refer to chapter 5 “Main risk factors and their management within the Group” of the Coface Group’s 2024 Universal Registration Document filed with AMF on 3 April 2025 under the number D.25-0227 in order to obtain a description of certain major factors, risks and uncertainties likely to influence the Coface Group’s businesses. The Coface Group disclaims any intention or obligation to publish an update of these forecasts, or provide new information on future events or any other circumstance.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Trump’s changing stance on Epstein files is testing the loyalty of his Maga base

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Robert Dover, Professor of Intelligence and National Security & Dean of Faculty, University of Hull

    During his 2024 US presidential election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said he would declassify and release the files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting his sex trafficking trial.

    The so-called Epstein files are thought to contain contacts, communications and – perhaps most crucially – flight logs. Epstein’s private aircraft was the means by which to visit what has been later termed “paedophile island”, where he and his associates allegedly trafficked and abused children.

    Conspiracy-minded Trump supporters, many of whom believe Epstein was murdered by powerful figures to cover up their roles in his child sex crimes, think the Epstein files will provide them with a who’s who of the supposed elites involved in child-sex exploitation.

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

    During his campaign, Trump hinted that the Epstein files would compromise powerful people – suggesting he knew their identities and what they had done. It was simultaneously a warning shot to these individuals and a way to energise his “Make America Great Again” (Maga) support base. It also validated part of the so-called QAnon conspiracy theory around a “deep-state” cover-up of an elite child sex abuse network.

    But the justice department recently announced that its review of these papers revealed no client list of politically important men, and also that Epstein had died by suicide. This struck down two of the most important beliefs of Trump’s base. For a large section of the Maga movement, this somewhat dull set of conclusions has felt like a betrayal.

    Musk smells opportunity

    Trump’s former close ally, funder and adviser, Elon Musk, has used the Epstein files imbroglio to go on the attack via social media. Musk has, without offering evidence, repeatedly insinuated that Trump’s name is in the files. Trump has responded by accusing Musk of “losing his mind” and used evidence from Epstein’s former lawyer, David Schoen, to refute Musk’s accusations.

    Musk’s allegations could be toxic for Trump. A good portion of the Maga movement think the QAnon conspiracy has some truth to it. So being potentially tied to a child sex exploitation ring would damage Trump’s reputation with his base on a subject they care about strongly. Musk has caused some Maga activists to wonder if Trump is part of a cover up.

    The Maga base largely remains loyal to Trump. But this loyalty has required considerable pragmatism since Trump was reelected. A key position supported by Maga voters, Trump’s opposition to foreign military adventures, was reversed by his attack on Iranian military sites in June.

    Maga-aligned spokespeople justified these actions on the grounds they were limited and a response to exceptional provocation. They are portrayed as a counterpoint to the near open-ended commitment of former US president George Bush in Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s.

    Further Maga pragmatism has been required over the so-called Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will add trillions of US dollars to national debt, as well as the cuts to healthcare and food stamp funding. These latter actions have removed coverage and aid from a good portion of Maga-aligned voters.

    Despite the personal financial pain, Maga loyalists have couched their support in terms of reducing waste and shrinking the size of the government. These loyalists have faith in Trump’s word that they will ultimately not be disadvantaged – though the implementation phase will be the test of this.

    Trump has also stretched the patience and loyalty of corn farmers in mid-western states, a natural base for him. He has called for Coca-Cola to use cane sugar rather than corn syrup in the full-sugar version of its drink. Trump and his controversial health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, have argued that cane sugar is healthier – which is open to question – and will “make America healthy again”.

    While the question of which sweetener is used in Coke is marginal, supporting something that damages mid-western farmers will be difficult for Maga loyalists to reconcile. In having to find a way of overcoming the tensions in the policy, they may begin to question Trump’s wisdom.

    A Trump supporter sporting a red ‘Keep America Great’ hat at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
    Aspects and Angles / Shutterstock

    The arguments surrounding the Epstein files might be uniquely dangerous for Trump and his relationship with his Maga base. The QAnon paedophile ring conspiracy is core to a great number of Maga loyalists, and Trump was their man to reveal “the truth”.

    But the justice department has now effectively rejected that part of their world view. And the response of some has been to question whether Trump is also part of a cover up.

    Worse still, Trump has gone on the attack. He has said the Epstein conspiracy was never real and has described some of his supporters as “gullible weaklings” for continuing to believe in it. For some supporters this has been too much, and they have aired their frustration on Trump’s Truth Social media platform as well as on right-leaning blogs and podcasts.

    Trump has begun to soften his critique of those believing in the Epstein conspiracies, saying he would want to release any credible information. He has also returned to a campaigning tactic of whataboutery, pointing at what he says is the unfair treatment he receives compared to his predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

    The Epstein files episode might well pass. But the question of whether Maga is now bigger than Trump will not. For a president who once joked that his support was so strong he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” without losing voters, the loyalty and pragmatic flexibility of his supporters is important.

    Maga is not a uniform group in belief or action. But if Trump loses either the loyalty of some or they refuse to flex their beliefs as they have done before, it will be politically dangerous for him. From beyond the grave, Epstein might have helped begin a new era in American politics.

    Robert Dover 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. Trump’s changing stance on Epstein files is testing the loyalty of his Maga base – https://theconversation.com/trumps-changing-stance-on-epstein-files-is-testing-the-loyalty-of-his-maga-base-261406

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Bosnia and Herzegovina in crisis as Bosnian-Serb president rallies for secession

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Birte Julia Gippert, Reader in International Relations, University of Liverpool

    The country of Bosnia and Herzegovina is embroiled in a crisis that may affect its political future and the stability of the western Balkans. Recent events in the bitterly divided country read a little like a spy novel. But the tensions that threaten three decades of tenuous peace since the region was torn apart by ethnic strife in the 1990s are only too real.

    On February 26, 300 armed Hungarian police officers in civilian clothes crossed into Republika Srpska without approval from the Sarajevo state government. Republika Srpska is one of the two territorial entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Hungarian police were there, ostensibly, to train local police.

    But they were reportedly sent to be ready to extract Republika Srpska president, Milorad Dodik, who had the same day been convicted by a Bosnian court for “separatist actions”. These included suspending rulings of the Bosnian constitutional court and refusing to publish decisions by the Bosnian high representative, which prevents them from becoming law in contravention of Bosnia’s constitution.

    He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and handed a six-year ban from all political activities. Within days of the verdict, Dodik reacted by banning all Bosnian state prosecutorial, police and court institutions from Republika Srpska, in what the Bosnian constitutional court ruled was a move to “effectively abolish state authority over part of its territory”.

    In March, Bosnia’s state court issued an arrest warrant against Dodik for ignoring a court summons over his alleged secessionist activity. In April, the Bosnian state investigation and protection agency, Sipa, attempted to arrest him in East Sarajevo, which is part of Republika Srpska.

    An armed stand-off followed between Sipa officers and local police. Eventually the Sipa officers withdrew.

    So it came as a surprise for many when Dodik and his lawyer attended a scheduled hearing for his case on July 4. The court duly lifted its arrest warrant pending further proceedings with a requirement that he report in on a periodical basis.

    Two days later, despite only being on conditional release, Dodik restated his claim for the unification of Republika Srpska with Serbia, saying: “Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a state of Serbs but only a temporary refuge.”

    The burden of history

    The state of Bosnia and Herzegovina emerged from the horrors of the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. The country’s political form was part of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement, which was both a peace deal and a state-building blueprint.

    To accommodate, rather than solve, the tensions between the three main ethnic groups – Bosniak Muslims, Serbs and Croats – the state was divided into two entities: the Serb-majority Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    Both parts of the country hold considerable autonomous powers, but are bridged by the weak federal political institutions. Like many power-sharing deals, Dayton ended the fighting but failed to build an integrated state.

    The two entities guard their autonomy fiercely. Attempts by the European Union to push for constitutional changes to pave the way to closer relations with the Bosnian state, for example by reforming the country’s police force, have been rebuffed by nationalist politicians.

    The Republika Srpska has been vocal in defence of its autonomous rights. And the most prominent voice among them has been Dodik, who consistently portrays Republika Srpska as a bulwark for Serbs against a hostile Bosnian-majority state imposing its will.

    Serbs only account for about 30% of the total population of Bosnia, and clearly chafe at the power-sharing arrangement. Ever since the Dayton accords brought a halt to the fighting, Serb nationalist politicians have toyed with the idea of a “Greater Serbia”.

    This encompasses Serbs living in Serbia, Republika Srpska and Serbia’s breakaway province in Kosovo. Dodik’s statement from July 6 has stirred up these sentiments once more, almost to the day on the anniversary of the first-ever pan-Serbian assembly held in Belgrade on June 8 2024 and co-hosted by Dodik and and the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić.

    At a crossroads

    Bosnia is at a crossroads. Internally divided in whether populations see their future in their past, retaining a semi-autocratic, ethno-nationalist government, or whether they see their future as a democratic, accountable and multiethnic state. The former, of course, would look to – and remain within the sphere of influence of – Russia. The latter prefer to look westward for their future.

    Bosnia, like its neighbours, is an EU candidate country. It began accession negotiations in March 2024, but many of the reforms required to meet EU accession criteria clash with Bosnia’s constitution.

    Among other things, this restricts who can join the tripartite federal presidency and the House of Peoples, the upper-chamber of the federal parliament, excluding Jews, Roma and other minorities. This would have to change for Bosnia to join.

    But the Bosnian constitution is anchored in the Dayton peace agreement, so nationalist politicians threaten that constitutional reform will endanger Bosnia’s peace and integrity.

    Embracing constitutional reforms to fulfil EU entry requirements is risky for nationalist politicians as it undercuts their ethnic powerbase. However, turning fully away from the EU, and possibly towards Russia, carries a hefty price-tag in foregone direct financial support and economic integration. So far, Dodik and Vučić have managed to somewhat balance these seemingly contradictory courses of action. However, they are facing increasing headwinds.

    Both the ongoing Serbian protests and recent polls from Bosnia showing that 70% of Bosnians (but only 50% of Bosnian Serbs) want to join the EU, question whether this course remains viable. With increased popular calls for democracy, accountability and fair elections, the recent actions by Dodik and his allies may be a reaction to these demands, rather than a separate agenda.

    An old elite desperately clinging to power? Given the political fragility of Bosnia, reform appears inevitable. But the choice is a contested one.

    One way the country breaks into its constituent parts along ethnic lines. The other prospect is that Bosnia embraces reform and progresses to become a democratic multi-ethnic state with a European future. Either way may spell turbulent times ahead.

    Birte Julia Gippert 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. Bosnia and Herzegovina in crisis as Bosnian-Serb president rallies for secession – https://theconversation.com/bosnia-and-herzegovina-in-crisis-as-bosnian-serb-president-rallies-for-secession-260618

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Miller-Meeks Leads Bipartisan Bill to Stop Fentanyl Sales on Social Media

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ (IA-02)

    Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) today announced the reintroduction of the bipartisan Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act, legislation aimed at cracking down on the sale of deadly fentanyl on social media platforms and giving law enforcement the tools to combat this growing threat.

    The bipartisan bill, led by Miller-Meeks and Congresswoman Angie Craig (D-MN), requires social media companies and other communication service providers to alert federal law enforcement when illicit drug activity, including fentanyl trafficking, is detected on their platforms.

    “Fentanyl is tearing apart families and devastating communities across America,” said Miller-Meeks. “The Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act gives law enforcement the tools they need to stop the online sale of deadly fentanyl and hold those targeting our kids accountable. By requiring social media and communication platforms to report fentanyl activity, we can save lives and shut down this growing threat. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan, bicameral effort to protect our youth and strengthen our national response to the fentanyl crisis.”

    “Fentanyl has wreaked havoc on Minnesota communities, and we know that too many fentanyl overdoses have been caused by drugs that were sold through social media,” said Rep. Craig. “We can and should hold social media companies accountable for drug trafficking on their platforms. That’s why I’m proud to be working across the aisle to pass this common-sense legislation that will force social media companies to report drug trafficking to the authorities, help law enforcement curb the sale of illicit drugs and keep Minnesotans safe online.”

    Background:

    The bill is named for two teenagers: Cooper Davis of Kansas and Devin Norring of Minnesota, who died after unknowingly taking counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl purchased through Snapchat. The National Crime Prevention Council estimates that eight in ten teen and young adult fentanyl overdose deaths are associated with social media contact.

    “Our family and the Devin J. Norring Foundation wholeheartedly support the Cooper Davis & Devin Norring Act – legislation that serves as a critical step toward protecting families from the deadly threat of fentanyl sold through social media,” said the family of Devin J. Norring and the Devin J. Norring Foundation. “This bill honors the lives of Cooper and Devin by holding tech companies accountable and giving law enforcement the tools they need to respond to this crisis. No parent should have to search for answers in a system that shields predators. It’s time for truth, transparency, and action.”

    “Our family continues to be extremely grateful for Senator Marshall and his colleagues’ dedication to this legislation,” said Libby Davis, mother of Cooper Davis. “We are both honored and saddened to have another name, Devin Norring, added to this bill. However, the harsh reality is that there are thousands of other teenagers’ names that could be added to this bill because they too lost their lives in this same tragic way. Each with a story demonstrating that this can happen to any family. We, as parents and grandparents, do so many things to keep our kids safe, from baby gates, car seats, and seatbelts, to bike helmets, sunscreen, and vaccinations. This is no different. We need our legislators to come together and get this bipartisan bill across the finish line so that countless children can be saved, theirs being no exception.”

    This reintroduction builds on Miller-Meeks’ leadership on fentanyl policy. Just yesterday, President Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act into law, a bill Miller-Meeks helped introduce and champion in the House as an original cosponsor. The new law permanently criminalizes fentanyl-related substances and gives law enforcement the authority they need to get synthetic opioids off the streets.

    The Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act is endorsed by the Alexander Neville Foundation, the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, the American College of Emergency Physicians, Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Community Anti-Drug Coalition, the Cooper Davis Memorial Foundation, the Devin J. Norring Foundation, Houston HIDTA, Mothers Against Prescription Drug Abuse, the National Association of Counties, the National District Attorneys Association, the National HIDTA Directors Association, the Partnership for Safe Medicines and Snap, Inc..

    Representatives Kim Schrier (D-WA), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Addison McDowell (R-NC), Thomas Suozzi (D-NY), Derek Schmidt (R-KS) and Jefferson Van Drew (R-NJ) are original co-sponsors of the legislation in the House. 

    It is sponsored in the Senate by Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Todd Young (R-IN).

    Read the bill text HERE.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • Amit Shah highlights cooperative movement and agricultural growth at Rajasthan’s ‘Sahkar & Rojgar Utsav’

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah, addressed the ‘Sahkar & Rojgar Utsav’ in Jaipur, Rajasthan, marking the International Year of Cooperatives – 2025. The event, attended by dignitaries including Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, Union Minister of Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat celebrated the cooperative movement’s role in rural and agricultural development.

    During the event, Shah virtually inaugurated 24 grain storage warehouses and 64 millet outlets, distributed ₹12 crore in loans to 1,400 cowherds under the Gopal Credit Card Scheme, and provided micro-ATMs to over 2,300 milk-producing committees. He also launched the White Revolution 2.0 online registration platform for Primary Dairy Cooperative Societies (PDCS) and released a compilation of success stories under the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Gareebi Mukt Gram Abhiyan and Vande Ganga Water Conservation Campaign. Additionally, 100 new vehicles for Rajasthan Police and armed forces were flagged off.

    Shah emphasized that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s establishment of the Union Ministry of Cooperation has extended cooperative benefits to villages, farmers, and the poor. He noted that cooperatives are active in 98% of rural areas, contributing significantly to India’s agricultural and economic landscape, including 20% of paddy and wheat procurement, 35% of fertilizer production, and 30% of sugar production. Over 31 crore people are connected to 8.5 lakh cooperative bodies.

    Highlighting the Ministry’s achievements, Shah stated that within four years, 61 initiatives have strengthened cooperatives, including the creation of 40,000 new Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) out of a target of two lakh, full computerization of PACS, and the establishment of cooperative institutions for organic products, exports, and seed promotion. He also underscored the Modi government’s commitment to purchasing pulses, oilseeds, and maize at Minimum Support Price (MSP) through NAFED and NCCF, ensuring farmers’ financial security.

    Rajasthan’s agricultural prominence was a key focus, with the state leading in the production of cluster beans (90%), mustard (46%), pearl millets (44%), oilseeds (22%), and millets (15%). The state ranks second in groundnut and third in jowar, gram, pulses, and soybean production. Shah noted that MSP for wheat, gram, mustard, and groundnut has increased significantly over the past 11 years. He also highlighted cooperative-led research on camel breed conservation and the medicinal properties of camel milk to ensure the species’ survival.

    Shah praised the Rajasthan government’s efforts under Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, including cracking down on paper leaks through a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and signing MoUs worth ₹35 lakh crore at the Global Investment Summit. Other initiatives include reducing VAT on fuel, providing LPG cylinders for ₹450, and advancing water supply projects under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

    Shah lauded the PM Modi government’s welfare schemes, which have provided housing, electricity, gas, free food grains, and healthcare to 60 crore poor people over the past 11 years. He credited PM Modi with elevating India to the world’s fourth-largest economy and lifting 27 crore people out of poverty. On national security, he highlighted decisive actions like surgical and air strikes in response to terrorist attacks, reinforcing India’s strong stance against threats.

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Hundreds of new jobs created by Sheffield manufacturing investment

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Press release

    Hundreds of new jobs created by Sheffield manufacturing investment

    Hundreds of high skilled jobs are to be created in Sheffield after Walsin Lihwa (WL) announced a major investment that boosts the UK’s steel industry and advanced manufacturing sector.

    • Vote of confidence in UK steel and manufacturing as Taiwanese investor Walsin Lihwa brings new capabilities to the UK and expands its aerospace and energy materials portfolio.
    • Hundreds of well-paid and skilled jobs to be created, delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change for economic growth and higher living standards.
    • Investment Minister, Baroness Gustafsson, visited Sheffield site today to celebrate investment.

    Hundreds of high skilled jobs are to be created in Sheffield after Taiwanese advanced manufacturing company Walsin Lihwa (WL) announced a major investment that boosts the UK’s steel industry and advanced manufacturing sector.

    The positive news will create over 200 jobs by 2028 in a first phase, and marks the first step towards the company’s plans for a major presence in the UK, with further job creation and investment expected from WL in South Yorkshire and the UK in the coming years.

    The investment from WL will establish a new superalloy forging facility and plans for a research and development centre and come through an upgrade of its existing Special Melted Products (SMP) factory in Sheffield, which will be focused on producing speciality steel and nickel parts for aerospace jet engines and energy industry products.

    Delivering on the government’s economic growth mission at the heart of the Plan for Change, the investment will create good, well-paid jobs for local workers, with average salaries expected to be over £40,000 a year.

    The news follows Deloitte’s latest survey of finance officers which has found the UK is the joint top location for investment in the world and data out this week from Make UK and BDO which finds that manufacturing in the UK has recovered to 2019, pre-pandemic, levels in every region.

    The investment is a major boost to the government’s modern Industrial Strategy which launched last month and had identified opportunities in growth-driving sectors like this as priorities for government support. A vote of confidence in South Yorkshire’s world-class strengths in advanced manufacturing, clean energy and defence, it will back the growth corridor across the northern city regions.

    Notably the investment will introduce new melting and superalloy forging capabilities – a new strategic manufacturing capability to the UK – which will reduce domestic producers’, such as Rolls Royce, reliance on imports.

    These capabilities will aid the UK’s aspirations in aerospace, steel, nuclear and defence as set out in the modern Industrial Strategy, contribute resilience towards supply shocks and will help grow Sheffield’s manufacturing sector, which was valued at £1.4bn in 2023.

    Minister for Investment Baroness Gustafsson CBE said:

    Our modern Industrial Strategy is all about having more high paid jobs in the industries of the future, in communities right around the UK. This investment is a major vote of confidence in Sheffield’s world-class manufacturing sector and couldn’t match our ambitions better.

    Our Steel Strategy later this year will set out further support we will take to boost the steel sector and encourage investments like this, and we look forward to hearing from Walsin Lihwa about their ambitious UK growth plans, delivering on our Plan for Change.

    Once the forging facility is established, WL have also set out plans to set up a research and development centre in the UK in a next phase later in the decade, focused on strengthening the company’s capabilities in materials and digital technology innovation and contributing to a growing aerospace and defence cluster in South Yorkshire.

    The centre will generate hundreds of new well-paid jobs and apprenticeships, with a range of future-proof skills and expertise in manufacturing operations, welding, melting, metallurgy, engineering, machining, material science, data analytics, and other high value career opportunities.

    The Investment Minister, Baroness Gustafsson, attended the site today with WL’s Chairman, Yu-Lon Chiao, to celebrate the investment and to hear more about the company’s plans for UK growth.

    Walsin Lihwa Chairman, Yu-Lon Chiao, said:

    The United Kingdom possesses a vast market in aerospace, energy, and nuclear power sectors that is unparalleled by Taiwan. This investment marks a significant milestone in SMP’s development and underscores Walsin Lihwa’s firm determination for global expansion strategy. 

    Looking ahead, we plan to establish an R&D centre in the UK to further strengthen our capabilities in materials and digital technology innovation, while deepening our collaborative ties with the European market to jointly promote industrial upgrading and sustainable development.

    Gareth Stace, Director-General, UK Steel, said:

    The substantial investment that Special Melted Products is making in expanding its capability and capacity is tremendous news for local people, and UK plc.  This is sign of trust in British steelmaking and manufacturing, pushing forward valuable investment plans and establishing skilled careers.  Special Melted Products plans mean we are onshoring supply chains for industry giants like Rolls Royce, meaning investment goes directly back into UK jobs and the economy.

    South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard said:

    Walsin Lihwa choosing to invest in SMP and build their new research and development centre in South Yorkshire is a huge vote of confidence in our region’s talent, innovation and expertise, and the advanced manufacturing ecosystem we’re creating here. 

    I promised to build a bigger and better economy in South Yorkshire, creating good jobs in the industries of the future. So I’m proud my office has been able to provide support that has helped to unlock this major investment, offering new jobs and opportunities, and bolstering our world leading steel industry. 

    We have always been known for our strengths in cutting-edge manufacturing technologies and industrial excellence. Walsin Lihwa’s investment builds on our legacy, reaffirming South Yorkshire’s place at the heart of UK high-value manufacturing and innovation.

    Cllr Tom Hunt, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said:

    This significant investment in Sheffield’s advanced manufacturing sector is a major milestone for our city and strengthens our global reputation for innovation and excellence.

    The investment is a strong sign of recognition in our city’s capabilities, talent, and ambition. It will create new high-quality local jobs and training opportunities as next generation technologies are developed in Sheffield. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Walsin and Special Melted Products long into the future.

    Notes to editors:

    • Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy and Defence are three of eight growth-driving sectors in the UK Government’s modern Industrial Strategy: a 10-year plan to make it quicker and easier for businesses to invest in the UK, provide them with certainty and stability to make long term decisions and ensure they benefit from the UK’s openness to the world.
    • Information on recent government actions to support the steel sector can be found here.
    • You can find all our recent and upcoming announcements relating to the Steel Strategy on our GOV.UK Collection page
    • Deloitte’s latest survey of UK Chief Financial Officers can be found here.
    • Make UK and BDO’s annual Regional Manufacturing Outlook report can be found here.
    • Walsin Lihwa will confirm the total investment figure in the coming weeks.

    Updates to this page

    Published 17 July 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Engines of AI primed to accelerate new breakthroughs, economic growth, and transform the UK into an AI maker

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Press release

    Engines of AI primed to accelerate new breakthroughs, economic growth, and transform the UK into an AI maker

    The government’s new Compute Roadmap will harness AI to deliver on the UK’s national priorities under the Plan for Change.

    New Compute Roadmap to boost AI breakthroughs.

    • UK to develop new medical cures and tools to cut emissions by delivering the processing power needed to fuel AI on British shores.  
    • Projects supporting the government’s Plan for Change – particularly on economic growth and building a better NHS will be prioritised access, with the UK’s most powerful supercomputer coming online from today. 
    • Edinburgh also set to become the first National Supercomputing Centre, while Scotland and Wales are poised for billions in private investment and thousands of new jobs as future sites of AI Growth Zones. 

    Artificial Intelligence will be used to deliver the UK’s national priorities under  the government’s Plan for Change and position the country as an AI maker rather than an AI taker – accelerating economic growth and transforming public services, as a new strategy looks to bolster the country’s compute capacity to power new breakthroughs in AI.  

    Businesses and researchers use compute – essentially the computer chips that process huge amounts of data – to train and build AI models or process prompts and questions through AI to discover everything from new drugs which treat and beat diseases to new tools to tackle climate change. Demand for cutting-edge compute power is already expected to surge by 5.7x between now and 2035, with the government taking vital steps to ensure the UK can stay ahead of the curve as the technology develops.  

    Published today (Thursday 17 July), the Compute Roadmap will deliver on the £1 billion set aside in the Spending Review to increase the UK’s compute infrastructure – allowing us to drive forward AI development on our own terms to ensure the technology can deliver for the British people. This will mean reducing our reliance on foreign computing power to deliver the transformations which will improve public services and help to fix the foundations of the economy. The Roadmap also builds on the ambition of the 10-year infrastructure strategy and the Modern Industrial Strategy to put the government’s vision into action – increasing investment and growing the industries of the future.

    Compute is the raw processing power that drives AI’s development. Without enough power, we cannot deliver the breakthroughs to treat and beat diseases, make industries cleaner and greener, or find new ways to fight climate change. To help deliver on these shared national priorities, we will expand the UK’s AI Research Resource (AIRR) twenty-fold over the next 5 years. The system, delivered in partnership with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Nvidia, HPE,  Dell Technologies and Intel, brings together the country’s most powerful supercomputers – Isambard-AI based in Bristol and Dawn in Cambridge.  

    The Technology Secretary flicked the switch on the Isambard supercomputer at its formal launch in Bristol today, meaning the AI Research Resource (AIRR) is now fully up and running - transforming the UK’s public compute capacity by being able to process in one second what it would take then entire global population 80 years to achieve. When the AIRR’s planned expansion is complete in the coming years, it will be vastly more powerful than the world’s current leading supercomputers. 

    University College London researchers are already using Isambard to line up pioneering AI tools which could revolutionise NHS cancer screening. Using prostate cancer as its initial test case, they are harnessing the system to develop one of the first scalable AI models dedicated to medical imaging – using AI to analyse MRI scans and identify patients in need of treatment sooner.  

    Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Peter Kyle said:  

    Britain has top of the class talent in AI and our plan will put a rocket under our brilliant researchers, scientists, and engineers – giving them the tools they need to make Britain the best place to do their work.

    This will mean we can harness the technology in Britain to transform our public services, drive growth, and unlock new opportunities for every community in the country.

    Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said:

    We are harnessing the power of AI to transform our public services, drive innovation and fuel economic growth that puts money in people’s pockets.

    As technology advances, our Plan for Change is ensuring we are ahead of the curve, expanding our sovereign AI capabilities so we can make scientific breakthroughs, equip businesses with new tools for growth, and create new jobs across the country.

    The AIRR will see the UK’s compute capacity increase to 420 AI exaFLOP by 2030 – the equivalent of one billion people spending 13,316 years doing what the full AIRR will do in one second. That means all one billion people would have needed to start calculating more than 8,000 years before Stonehenge was built, without taking a break. Projects that matter most to the UK and align with national priorities will be prioritised access to the AIRR to help deliver the Plan for Change - as well as those which will have a real-world impact and deliver breakthroughs that change lives and grow the economy. 

    Researchers at the University of Liverpool meanwhile have been using Isambard to develop their EIMCRYSTAL system. Their model harnesses AI to speed up the discovery of new chemical reactions for use in industry, sifting through 68 million chemical combinations to find new solutions which will decarbonise British industry to make it greener, cleaner, and more sustainable. Isambard is already supporting other areas of highly ambitious AI research. The Sovereign AI Unit has launched an early pilot supporting academic researchers in AI for biosciences, foundational AI research, and advanced materials. These will be some of the most compute-intensive training runs that academics have carried out on UK infrastructure. 

    Working alongside the AI Research Resource, a network of National Supercomputing Centres will also be set up across the country – with the first based in Edinburgh, the future home of the UK’s most powerful research supercomputer. These will work as dedicated centres of expertise, connecting users not only with access to cutting-edge processing power, but catalysing greater collaboration between industry, academia, and researchers. They will help to build stronger links with existing talent in their regions – giving all areas of the country a supporting role in the UK’s ability to be an AI maker.  

    To further support the UK’s AI sovereignty ambitions, the Sovereign AI Unit has been established in the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, backed with £500 million of funding. Strengthening the UK’s domestic AI capabilities, including by developing the UK’s compute ecosystem, will be a key focus for the unit. 

    The strategy set out today and the work of the Sovereign AI Unit will ensure the UK can roll out the next generation of champions in compute technology – sparking the creating of leaders in a range of fields to put British innovation and expertise on the map. 

    Today’s Compute Roadmap also puts Scotland and Wales in the frame to benefit from billions in private investment and thousands of new jobs as future homes to AI Growth Zones. These dedicated AI hotbeds offer accelerated planning permissions to speed up the roll-out of data centres, which will be powered by responsible and cutting-edge energy sources like small modular reactors (SMRs). 

    AI Growth Zones will not only deliver the infrastructure we need but also support the technology’s evolution in a range of other areas. These will include R&D and Innovation Platforms, Adoption Testbeds and taking on a role as skills and talent hubs which will give people the tools they need to develop, use, and work with the technology. Further details of where these Growth Zones will be based in Wales and Scotland will be confirmed in due course.   

    Capitalising on the ambition of today’s announcements, the Technology Secretary is also launching a dedicated AI for Science strategy. This will set out the clear steps the government will take forward to cement the UK’s position as a global leader in AI-enabled science breakthroughs, explore ways to boost adoption of the technology across the science sector and spark new commercial opportunities created by AI for science. 

    An expert group of senior academics, industry leaders and representatives of science institutions will advise on the strategy:

    • Alison Noble CBE FRS, Vice-President of the Royal Society and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford.
    • Antony Rowstron, Chief Technical Officer at the Advanced Research and Invention Agency.
    • Charlotte Deane, Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Professor of Structural Bioinformatics at the University of Oxford.
    • Chris Bishop, FRS FREng FRSE and Technical Fellow, Microsoft Research AI for Science.
    • Pushmeet Kohli, VP, Science and Strategic Initiatives, Google DeepMind.

    Published in the Autumn, the strategy will help to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery through AI, maximising its potential to drive innovation and growth.  

    The roadmap set out today lays the groundwork for a golden age for British AI – supporting innovation, growth, and new opportunities in all sectors of the economy. It is a plan which delivers certainty to researchers, industry, and investors alike, cementing the UK’s position as a world leader in artificial intelligence.  

    Reaction to today’s announcements

    On the Compute Roadmap

    Josh Payne, CEO, Nscale said:

    Nscale strongly welcomes the UK Government’s compute roadmap.

    As the only full stack sovereign AI infrastructure provider in the UK, we are delighted that the Government recognises the importance of sovereign capability in this area.

    We look forward to working with the Government and our partners to deliver this ambitious agenda.

    Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh said:

    To be named the UK’s first national supercomputing centre is a significant recognition of the University of Edinburgh’s longstanding leadership in advanced computing. For more than thirty years, we have hosted the UK’s national supercomputer and further developed our globally respected expertise in computer science and artificial intelligence.         The new designation as the first national supercomputing centre will provide new opportunities for research and innovation across the UK, attracting further investment and talent. We look forward to working alongside the UK government and partners to bring this ambitious plan to life.

    Carolyn Dawson OBE, CEO of Founders Forum Group and Tech Nation:  

    We know the UK’s AI ecosystem is brimming with talent and ambition, but to lead globally, we must anchor this ambition in cutting-edge, sovereign compute infrastructure.

    Bold investment in compute power is exactly what’s required to accelerate innovation and secure a leading role for Britain in the global AI race. By bringing together world-class supercomputers in partnership with industry leaders like Nvidia and Intel, and expanding access through National Supercomputing Centres and AI Growth Zones in Scotland and Wales, this roadmap demonstrates the UK’s ambition to shape the future of AI.

    Julian David OBE, CEO of techUK, said: 

    This ambitious roadmap, underpinned by actions with dates for delivery, shows that the UK Government is serious in its ambition to deliver innovative and real-world impact through transformative AI, compute and cloud technologies.

    We are particularly encouraged to see alignment between compute recommendations and AI Growth Zones – a vital move to better connect expertise, support UK innovators, and maximise the value of UK research and innovation. 

    While there are still certain aspects to be explored, such as how these Growth Zones will develop the testbeds and platforms to help the most innovative emerging tech businesses grow and scale, techUK remains committed to working with government and our members to build on this ambition to power the next generation of AI.

    Walter Goodwin, founder and CEO of Fractile, said: 

     >I wholeheartedly welcome the Compute Roadmap. The Roadmap is a joined up strategy that will both drive an immediate expansion of AI compute capacity in the UK, but further will ultimately see pull-through of breakthrough AI compute platforms being built by UK semiconductor companies, like Fractile’s AI accelerators, into widespread commercial deployment. > > This will close the loop on sustainable sovereign compute capacity and ensure the UK will be an AI compute maker, not just a taker.

    On the AI for Science Strategy

    Dr Antony Rowstron, CTO of ARIA, said:

    I’ve built my career at the intersection of computing and science, and seen firsthand how the right technological leap can redefine what’s possible. AI represents just such a leap – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform the speed of research and invention.

    I’m looking forward to bringing that experience, and my perspective from ARIA, to help put the UK at the forefront of this revolution.

    Chris Bishop, FRS FREng FRSE and Technical Fellow, Microsoft Research AI for Science said: 

    I personally believe that scientific discovery represents the most important and promising opportunity for AI in our generation. The consequences are far-reaching, from the discovery of life-saving drugs to the efficient design of sustainable materials.

    I am therefore delighted to participate, alongside other leading experts, in the new government strategic advisory panel on AI for Science. Together, I know that we will ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of AI development, in an area that is key to the future success of our society.

    Pushmeet Kohli, VP, Science and Strategic Initiatives, Google DeepMind said:  

    Science can help us address some of humanity’s greatest challenges, from climate change to disease.

    I’m excited to collaborate with the UK government and other industry leaders, experts and academics to help the nation leverage AI to accelerate scientific progress, and build upon the UK’s strong history of scientific leadership.

    Professor Alison Noble, Vice-President of the Royal Society, said:  

    The Royal Society welcomes the government’s commitments to growing the UK’s computing power and AI research resources. Today’s launch of the government’s AI for Science Strategy is an important step to advance the responsible use of AI across scientific disciplines. 

    From drug discovery to robot-assisted laboratories, AI is already reshaping how science is done and enabling new discoveries that were previously out of reach. To fully realise its benefits, we must ensure that advances in speed and scale do not come at the expense of rigour, transparency, or trust.

    By embedding principles of openness, reproducibility, and collaboration, this strategy could help ensure AI-based science has a strong foundation.

    Charlotte Deane, Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Professor of Structural Bioinformatics at the University of Oxford said: 

    AI will completely change the way research is done, from the way we ask questions to the questions we can ask. It has the power to transform so many areas across science and innovation, and we need to ensure that the UK is at the forefront of this change.

    It is an exciting time to be involved in driving the potential of AI in science and for me an honour to be part of trying to make this change happen.

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    Updates to this page

    Published 17 July 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Premier Moe Calls on Canadian Premiers to Join New West Partnership Trade Agreement

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on July 17, 2025

    Canada’s largest barrier-free interprovincial market with combined GDP of over $818 billion

    Today, Premier Scott Moe encouraged all Canadian jurisdictions to join the New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA). Barrier free internal trade is crucial to creating a competitive and resilient trade environment and the NWPTA is one more way government can prioritize their commitment to a strong domestic economy.

    “Joining the New West Partnership is an opportunity for all provinces and territories to work together to strengthen internal trade and to grow Canada’s economy,” Moe said. “For almost two decades, western provinces have enhanced free flowing trade through the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, fostered strong economic growth and created opportunities for communities and residents.” 

    The NWPTA was established in 2010 by Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia – with Manitoba later joining. Through the NWPTA, member provinces have committed to fully recognize or reconcile rules affecting trade, investment and labour mobility, allowing for Canada’s largest barrier-free interprovincial market. It has lower procurement thresholds and fewer exceptions than the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).

    Companies across Saskatchewan have benefitted from the NWPTA, including Crestline, a manufacturing company located in Saskatoon that builds buses for public transit, health care, shuttle, tour and charter industries.

    “We commend the Government of Saskatchewan and its partners in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba for their continued leadership in strengthening interprovincial trade,” Canada for Crestline President Steve Hoffrogge said. “The modernization of the New West Partnership Trade Agreement reflects a shared commitment to transparency, fairness and reducing barriers to doing business across Western Canada. These steps create a more competitive environment that benefits businesses, workers and consumers alike.” 

    Saskatchewan remains a strong advocate for free and fair trade and has always been a national leader on this front, with some of the fewest exceptions of any province within the CFTA. All Provinces and Territories have committed to reviewing their existing exceptions and reducing these barriers when possible. 

    The province continues to take part in the Committee on Internal Trade, which includes enhancing the CFTA, reducing regulatory and administrative burdens to interprovincial trade and facilitating labour mobility.

    Saskatchewan is co-leading a framework to advance direct-to-consumer (DTC) alcohol sales for Canadian products. On July 8, Saskatchewan agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with nine other jurisdictions committing to support the ability for consumers to order alcoholic beverages directly from producers.

    In June, Saskatchewan signed an MOU with Ontario to collaborate on the removal of trade barriers across the two jurisdictions. This includes commitments to facilitate mutual recognition of goods, workers and investment, while strengthening public safety and respecting the integrity and role of Crown corporations.

    The NWPTA makes it easier for businesses to expand into other provinces and lowers costs for businesses and taxpayers. It represents Canada’s largest barrier-free interprovincial market, with an economic region of over 11 million Canadians and a combined GDP of over $818 billion.

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