Category: Business

MIL-OSI USA: Cassidy Announces $22.6 Million for Caddo-Bossier Parish Port Commission from his Infrastructure Law

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) announced the Caddo-Bossier Parishes Port Commission will receive $22,595,853.00 for the Port of Caddo-Bossier I-69 Connector from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s INFRA grant program. The project will connect I-49 to the future I-69 Corridor Project Frontage Road by upgrading and extending Stonewall Frierson Road.
“Having reliable roads to connect our ports to the rest of the state is essential for doing business,” said Dr. Cassidy. “The Caddo-Bossier I-69 connector will be yet another reason companies choose to invest in North Louisiana and allow us to build an economy for 2050.”
Cassidy’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act increased the money available for the INFRA grant program, helping make this project possible.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Banking: Gartner Says Enterprise Risk Management Leaders are Challenged With a Lack of Pricing Transparency in GRC Tools

Source: Gartner – IT Research

Headline: Gartner Says Enterprise Risk Management Leaders are Challenged With a Lack of Pricing Transparency in GRC Tools

Due to widely varying government, risk, and compliance (GRC) tool pricing, enterprise risk management (ERM) leaders must understand four different pricing-tier categories of GRC solutions and apply a scoping framework to further estimate likely costs ahead of vendor selection, according to Gartner Inc.

“There are no shortcuts to avoiding demos and time-intensive sales processes,” said Joel Backaler, Director Analyst in the Gartner Audit & Risk Practice. “However, understanding four pricing categories that vendors generally fall into, and applying a scoping framework accordingly, can save time and narrow the focus of an RFP to vendors that are likely to fit within budget constraints.”

Gartner experts advise ERM leaders should address several key questions to understand what tier of GRC solution will meet their needs (see Figure 1).

MIL OSI Global Banks –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: School of Pharmacy Symposium Honors Freeze-Drying Pioneer Michael J. Pikal

Source: US State of Connecticut

The event highlighted advancements and challenges in freeze-drying, a process essential for preserving life-saving drugs.

Freeze-drying, or lyophilization, is a method that turns pharmaceutical solutions, such as vaccines and injectable medications, into powders. This helps preserve them for longer periods, making them easier to store and transport.

“It’s important for us to get the right drugs to patients. A lot of antibiotics couldn’t be made into injectable solutions unless they were freeze-dried,” says Robin Bogner, a professor of pharmaceutics at UConn and colleague of Pikal. “It’s about making sure that drugs are accessible to patients.”

Freeze-drying is crucial for otherwise unstable drugs, so they can be stored and transported to patients across the country and the world.

“One example is the covid vaccine,” said Xiuling Lu, who is also a professor of pharmaceutics at UConn and colleague of Pikal. “You have to freeze the covid vaccine in a very, very cold freezer,” Lu says.

By freeze-drying, vaccines and other sensitive pharmaceuticals can be stabilized, making them easier to store and transport at reasonable temperatures while reducing the risks associated with temperature fluctuations.

The symposium, officially known as the Michael J. Pikal Symposium, was established to honor Pikal’s contributions to this field.

“Dr. Pikal was a colleague of ours who specialized and was known worldwide in the area of pharmaceutical freeze drying. So, to honor him, we decided to hold this symposium every other year,” Bogner said. Pikal’s work enabled deep understanding of freeze-drying process, smart freeze-drying to streamline the process optimization and control and effective drying through in-line monitoring.

“We wanted to have this first symposium as a means to remember our colleague’s contribution and then bring our current research forward to exciting advancement and breakthrough,” Lu said.

In addition to recognizing Pikal’s work, the symposium also serves as a platform for sharing new research and reconnecting with experts in the field. “We were able to gather very important researchers in this area for the conference,” Lu said.

Students and postdocs trained at UConn have played a significant role in advancing freeze-drying research. The symposium brought them back to campus not only to present their research but also to interact with colleagues and students in the department. This created opportunities for communication, networking and encouraged reconnection.

“We’re always trying to reconnect with our alumni,” Bogner said.

Even with its benefits, freeze-drying has its challenges. “In this area, for sensitive proteins and mRNA or other entities, it’s not a simple process. It could even cause a loss in potency if the process is not well controlled,” Lu said. This highlights the importance of carefully handling sensitive drugs during freeze-drying. If the conditions aren’t properly monitored, the freeze-drying process can weaken these products, potentially leading to treatment failures.

The symposium also highlighted the life and legacy of Dr. Pikal, who passed away in 2018, a month after retiring. His wife, Janice, passed away two years later. Michael J. and Janice L. Pikal Fellowship was established to supports graduate students studying pharmaceutical technology at UConn. This fellowship ensures that his passion for research and education continues. Proceeds from the symposium went toward the Michael J. and Janice L. Pikal Fellowship.

The event featured presentations from leading researchers, including keynote speaker Steven L. Nail, a distinguished expert in pharmaceutical freeze-drying. Nail, a former Senior Research Scientist at Baxter Biopharma Solutions and a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, discussed the evolution of freeze-drying technology and its implications for the future of pharmaceutical development.

The symposium also brought together experts from major research institutes, universities and pharmaceutical companies to present their latest research findings. Attendees from more than 25 entities engaged in meaningful discussions aimed at advancing knowledge and innovation in freeze-drying processes.

The symposium was sponsored by several major Pharmaceutical companies and specialty companies including AstraZeneca, Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, ATS Scientific Products, Millrock Technology, Lyonavigator, and Tempris.

The symposium, which will be held every other year around Pikal’s birthday in August, is already inspiring further advancements in the field. Attendees were encouraged to submit their research to a special issue dedicated to freeze-drying technologies in AAPS Open, a major pharmaceutical journal.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Senator Peters Helps Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Strengthen Cybersecurity at U.S. Ports

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Michigan Gary Peters

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) helped introduce bipartisan legislation to strengthen cybersecurity at U.S. ports. Port security is critical to the success of our nation’s economy, supply chains, industrial base, and national security. However, cybersecurity vulnerabilities continue to threaten their security. For instance, many U.S. ports, including strategic ports used by the military, utilize Chinese-made cranes that could expose the port to malicious cyber activity and disrupt port operations. The Protecting Investments in Our Ports Act would strengthen the security of U.S. ports by requiring all applicants for competitive grant funding from the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) to have necessary digital infrastructure or software in place to address cybersecurity threats.

“This commonsense, bipartisan bill would help strengthen our nation’s defenses against cyberattacks by making sure ports have the necessary digital infrastructure and safeguards in place to protect both U.S. national security and supply chains as goods move throughout our waterways,” said Senator Peters.

“Senator Peters’ steadfast approach to legislating in a technology driven age will continue to provide critical protections for U.S. Ports and the infrastructure investments being made by the American taxpayer. The Senator clearly understands that as Port investment evolves with technology, that proactive cybersecurity planning must accompany federal spending,” said Captain Paul C. LaMarre III, President of the American Great Lakes Ports Association.

The PIDP, which falls under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Maritime Administration, helps ports on our Great Lakes, coasts, and rivers improve the movement of goods and services. The Protecting Investments in Our Ports Act would ensure applicants of the program have certified that they have an approved National Maritime Transportation Security Plan to reduce cybersecurity risks. Peters introduced the legislation with U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).

In 2021, Peters helped Congress pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provided robust funding for transportation and port infrastructure projects across the country. The historic law invested more than $17 billion in U.S. port infrastructure to make needed repairs and upgrades, reduce congestion to strengthen our supply chains and expedite commerce, and lower harmful emissions near ports to reduce environmental impacts on local communities.

As Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Peters has led also numerous efforts to ensure our nation is better prepared to defend against cyberattacks. His historic, bipartisan provision to require critical infrastructure owners and operators to report to CISA if they experience a substantial cyberattack or if they make a ransomware payment was signed into law. Peters’ bipartisan bill to enhance cybersecurity assistance to K-12 educational institutions across the country was also signed into law. Peters’ bipartisan bills to bolster cybersecurity for state and local governments, strengthen the federal cybersecurity workforce, and help secure federal information technology supply chains have been signed into law.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Cantwell, Murray, Kilmer Announce $51M Federal Grant to Repair Hood Canal Bridge

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
10.16.24
Cantwell, Murray, Kilmer Announce $51M Federal Grant to Repair Hood Canal Bridge
Hood Canal Bridge is a vital link between Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas & helps more than 30,000 daily commuters avoid a 100-mile detour around Puget Sound; As the longest floating saltwater bridge in the world, the structure is deteriorating in the harsh marine environment
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) and U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer (D, WA-06) announced that the Washington State Department of Transportation will receive $51,125,917 in federal funds to repair the Hood Canal Bridge.
The funding comes from the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) Grant Program, which provides grants to nationally and regionally significant transportation projects to improve the country’s freight network.
“Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Hood Canal Bridge will receive the repairs it needs to continue providing a vital connection between Kitsap, Jefferson, and Clallam Counties, with more than 30,000 crossings per day. Without this bridge, drivers would need to take a 100-mile detour around Puget Sound. And if the bridge’s retractable span were to fail, submarines and other vessels would be cut off from Naval Base Kitsap – Bangor,” Sen. Cantwell said. “This bridge is critical to the quality of life for residents and our national security.”
“The Hood Canal Bridge is an absolutely critical connection for people and businesses on the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas,” said Sen. Murray. “This is a piece of infrastructure that must remain safe and reliable so people can get to where they need to go—whether that’s work, a doctor’s appointment, or anything else. With thousands of travelers relying on this bridge just about every day, I’m proud to have worked together with Senator Cantwell and Representative Kilmer to ensure we bring these federal dollars home to replace outdated portions of this bridge.”
“The Hood Canal Bridge is often a lifeline for folks on the Olympic Peninsula, enabling them to get where they need to go,” said Rep. Kilmer. “This federal funding is a major step toward improving the safety and reliability of the bridge, helping ensure that it will remain open, accessible and resilient for years to come. And with federal support it means this project can move forward without the costs falling solely on the backs of taxpayers in our state. That’s a win-win.”
This project will replace over 3,400 linear feet of the western half of the bridge including the replacement of 55 reinforced concrete crossbeams and 216 prestressed concrete girder lines and the placement of nearly 4,800 cubic yards of concrete. Preliminary design work is scheduled to begin in November 2025, with project completion scheduled for June 2027. The project’s total budget is $85.2 million.
The Hood Canal Bridge links the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas, allowing over 30,000 motorists to get to and from work each day. As the longest floating bridge in the world over saltwater, this unique structure sits in a harsh marine environment that’s deteriorated its condition over the past 40 years. Currently, vehicles that can cross the bridge are weight-restricted at 17,000 lbs per axle or less, and overweight vehicles are forced to drive nearly 100 miles around Puget Sound. If the bridge’s condition goes unaddressed, further deterioration and restrictions would have severe impacts on commerce and the livelihood of those who depend on the bridge every day.
The Hood Canal Bridge also crosses a channel used by U.S. Navy submarines to reach the Pacific Ocean from Naval Base Kitsap -Bangor. Should the bridge’s retractable span become unusable, those vessels would be cut off from the base.
Sen. Cantwell authored the INFRA Grant Program in the FAST Act of 2015, to provide grants to nationally and regionally significant freight and highway projects. This grant program was the first discretionary grant program to focus on improving the multimodal freight network and addressing freight bottlenecks. In 2022, as chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Sen. Cantwell helped secure $8 billion over five years for the INFRA Grant Program as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a 78 percent increase in funding. Additionally, in August 2024, Sen. Cantwell wrote a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in support of the Hood Canal Bridge project’s INFRA grant application. The State of Washington has received 11 INFRA Grants, for a total of $532,300,108 since the start of the program.
Sen. Murray, as a senior appropriator and then Assistant Majority Leader, helped secure $3.2 billion for the INFRA grant program in advance appropriations in addition to the $4.8 billion funded through the Highway Trust Fund when she helped pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, for a total of $8 billion over five years.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Sullivan Legislation Protects Alaska Native Artists’ Cultural Heritage and Economic Opportunities

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Alaska Dan Sullivan
10.16.24
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced the Alaska’s Right to Ivory Sales and Tradition (ARTIST) Actand the Archie Cavanaugh Migratory Bird Treaty Amendment Act to protect the legal rights of Alaska Native artists using natural materials, such as walrus ivory or migratory bird feathers, in traditional handicrafts, art, ceremonial regalia, and clothing. These bills would clarify that existing laws do not prohibit the use or sale of these materials in Alaska Native handicrafts by Alaska Native artists who are partaking in centuries-old cultural practices.
“Alaska Native artists, who have sustainably used natural materials in traditional art and cultural practices for thousands of years, are negatively impacted by overly broad bans on materials like walrus ivory and bird feathers,” Senator Sullivan said. “The products made with these materials provide not just valuable artistic and cultural expressions, but also vital income for many rural Alaskans. Many of these restrictions have been enacted without consultation from indigenous communities and local lawmakers—and can have devastating consequences. Archie Cavanaugh, a renowned Alaska Native artist, faced jail time and legal challenges for using these materials in his traditional art. This is completely unacceptable. Not only do we need to cut through the confusion and affirm the legal rights of Alaska Native people to use these materials, we need justice for those who have been unfairly targeted for taking part in centuries-old, sustainable cultural practices. My legislation listens to stakeholders and carries out the true intent of our existing laws to allow Alaskan Native artisans to use these resources without the threat of misguided legal repercussions.”
Below are statements from Alaska leaders and stakeholders in support of Sen. Sullivan’s legislation.
Vera Metcalf, Director of the Eskimo Walrus Commission: “The Eskimo Walrus Commission (EWC) strongly supports this bill and thanks Senator Sullivan and his staff for working with us on it. We also greatly appreciate the support from Kawerak, the Indigenous People’s Council on Marine Mammals (IPComm), the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), WWF Arctic Program, and especially our Alaska Native communities. The Pacific walrus remains a significant component of our Indigenous food security and remains a major feature of Alaska Native cultural heritage. Our use of ivory gives full expression to our traditional relationship with the Pacific walrus and our way-of-life. EWC asks Congress to pass this bill to ensure the cultural and economic well-being of Alaska Native communities to thrive.”
Steve MacLean, WWF US Arctic Program managing director: “The creation of handicrafts using legally sourced walrus ivory is a longstanding cultural tradition for Alaska Natives and a vital source of economic opportunity and income for their communities. This bill affirms the enduring rights of Alaska Native artists to continue creating these authentic handicrafts and bring them to market for sale. We know that words matter, particularly those that are written into law in DC and affect the everyday lives of people in places like Alaska. WWF is grateful to the Eskimo Walrus Commission for ensuring that the language in this bill meets the needs of the subsistence community, and we thank Senator Sullivan for his leadership in reintroducing this legislation. We encourage Congress to pass it into law.”
Rosita Worl, President of Sealaska Heritage Institute: “The Archie Cavanaugh Migratory Bird Treaty Amendment Act is a bill that is much about justice as it is about the preservation of Native cultures. The legislation carries the name of the gifted musician and an award-winning Tlingit artist, Archie Cavanaugh. Archie was Tlingit Raven from the G_aanax_teidí clan of the Xíxch’I Hít (Frog House) in Klukwan. On his father’s side, he was a Was’ineidí yádi (child of the Was’ineidí clan). He had three Tlingit names: Shaas Táak, given to him by his late great uncle, Harold Donnelly of Sitka, and Shkein and Ldaagoohaa, adopted names given to him by the K_aach.ádi clan in Kake. He was born in Wrangell and raised in Kake.
“It was through his art that Archie suffered a grueling ordeal that we hope will result, through this legislation, in new federal protections for Native artists. In 2012, federal agents fined Archie for including raven and flicker feathers on a hat and headdress he crafted for sale. The agents confiscated the feathers and a rifle previously owned by his father that Archie used to hunt for and feed his family. Archie also faced jail time for using the feathers, which is an ancient art practice.
“When Congress enacts this bill into law, Congress will take the critical step towards restoring our rights to practice traditional arts that require the use of bird feathers, while retaining existing protections for the animals. In our vision, Archie would have someday gained the right to replace the flicker feathers back on his headdress and the raven feathers back on his hat. Sadly, Archie has passed without having that opportunity. But our collective commitment to do right by our Native artists who carry forward our traditions today—and those who will carry forward those traditions tomorrow—remains with us, and that commitment in turn is carried forward by this legislation.”
The full bill texts can be found here and here.
Background:
In September 2020, Sen. Sullivan led a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on the Empowering Rural Economies Through Alaska Native Sustainable Arts and Handicrafts Act, Sen. Sullivan’s bill to preempt states from banning walrus ivory, whale bone, and other marine mammal products that have been legally carved by Alaska Native people under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
Sen. Sullivan advocated for Etsy and Facebook to amend their guidelines on handicraft sales to include products or artwork made by Alaska Native artists using sealskin, otter, walrus ivory, and other protected materials.
In September 2017, Sen. Sullivan wrote the National Governors Association and National Conference of State Legislatures with the Alaska congressional delegation to highlight the “potentially devastating and unintended consequences of broadly crafted state ivory bans that are currently in place or under consideration in nearly half of the United States.”
In September 2017, Sen. Sullivan introduced the Allowing Alaska IVORY Act, legislation to preempt states from banning walrus ivory or whale bone products that have been legally carved by Alaska Native people under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Events – Zero Waste Summit focused on waste and climate solutions

Source: Zero Waste Network

The national Zero Waste Summit in Wellington on 18-20 November will zero in on practical solutions to waste, plastic pollution and wider ecological crises.

A public event on Monday night, Zero Waste Solutions to Planetary Crises, will be facilitated by veteran broadcaster, Kim Hill.

It will feature two panels with experts and politicians speaking to a range of promising zero waste solutions. These include Bottle Deposits, Product Stewardship, the Right to Repair, using organic waste to restore degraded soils, and a Global Plastics Treaty. False solutions such as incineration, that we must avoid will also be discussed.

MPs from across the political spectrum will get a chance to respond to the information raised by the panel of experts and to outline their policy positions. This public event has been organised in collaboration with the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance thanks to the support of Re.Group.

“We all know we need to reduce waste. But it’s the upstream impacts of overconsumption that are the most critical right now: climate change, ecosystem damage, biodiversity loss, pollution and human health impacts.” says Sue Coutts from the Zero Waste Network.

“To fix these problems we need to go up the supply chains and to put in place practical policies that solve our waste problems for once and for all. This will be the focus of discussions at the summit and we will be looking to our political leaders to implement some real solutions.”

The Summit is hosted by the Zero Waste Network Aotearoa. This three day event includes keynotes, panel discussions, and site tours exploring all aspects of zero waste from source reduction and redesign, to repair, recovery, repurposing and recycling. Special thanks to Rothbury Insurance and Wellington City Council for their sponsorship of the Summit.

“People working on zero waste projects across the country will come together at the Summit to talk about the challenges, the practical solutions we are already delivering, and what we can all do to significantly expand our impacts.”

“We’ll also be walking the talk, with all catering being provided according to zero waste practices, by local businesses and organisations thanks to the support of Reuse Aotearoa who are sponsoring the zero waste catering during summit day sessions.

Panel discussions will consider social and economic dimensions, including social justice, sustainable financing for zero waste business models, the growth of zero waste towns, cities and regions, and practical tools and strategies for ensuring the wellbeing of those who work at the frontlines of resource recovery.

Full information and tickets are available at https://www.summit.zerowaste.co.nz/

More about us and our sponsors

The Zero Waste Network is a membership organisation with 120+ members across the country who work towards Zero Waste with their local communities, providing practical resource recovery and behaviour change services. One of these members is Para Kore which is a network in its own right. Our members employ 1,239 people who work in resource recovery and environmental education. Collectively we recover 29,000 tonnes of material each year and feed $88 million dollars back into local economies through our enterprises.

Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance is a collaborative forum of researchers, educators, artists, activists and community leaders working to prevent plastic pollution in Aotearoa, Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, and beyond.

Reuse Aotearoa is an organisation dedicated to building the momentum to grow and strengthen reusable packaging systems in New Zealand, through evidence-based research, advice and workshops.

Wellington City Council are working to implement their zero waste strategy

Re.Group are a recycling and resource recovery company specialised in designing, managing and operating resource recovery facilities and systems for a waste less society.

Rothbury Insurance helps protect the assets of over 53,000 Kiwis and businesses, from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Interview with Nick Bryant, RN Drive, ABC Radio

Source: Australian Treasurer

NICK BRYANT:

So, with the cost of living biting and a national election looming, the federal government is threatening to ban debit card surcharges from the start of 2026, a plan which has been slammed on the other side of politics. Stephen Jones is the Assistant Treasurer. Stephen, welcome back to Radio National Drive.

STEPHEN JONES:

Good to be with you, Nick.

BRYANT:

The RBA reckons Australians are losing about a billion dollars a year to surcharges. Take me through what the government is proposing and what it would look like in practice?

JONES:

Well, this is understandably in response to consumers saying, ‘why am I having to pay money to access my own money to pay for a cup of coffee or a grocery – a basket?’ That’s a pretty reasonable concern by Australians. The plan, we want to ensure that we remove those surcharges, but we want to do it in a way that doesn’t lump the cost of that on small businesses, a simple ban on its own would mean that small businesses are picking up the tab. So, we’ve got to go upstream to look at that whole network of charges that is leading or ending in a small business and their customers. So, it’s the banks, it’s the card service providers, Visa, Mastercard, EFTPOS, but it’s also the payment systems operators. So, we’ve got to look at all of that, untangle it, work out what a reasonable cost for providing those services is, and ensuring that Australians aren’t being slugged by these unreasonable surcharges just to access their own money.

BRYANT:

This would only apply to debit cards, but a lot of people use their credit cards to pay for things. Why not have those surcharges go as well?

JONES:

Good point. Around about 90 per cent of the exchanges that we’re talking about are done on a debit card, particularly for younger Australians who are more likely not to have a credit card. They might have a buy now, pay later account and a debit card, but more and more people are using debit cards for their day‑to‑day retail transactions. So, the case is cut and dried in this area. Credit products are a little bit different and are treated differently, always have been. So, the biggest part of the big problem is the debit cards, where people are being slugged a surcharge to use their own money, many times in instances where they can’t get the cash out or they can’t use it.

BRYANT:

Now, the Head of the Commonwealth Bank basically said during parliamentary proceedings or in this parliamentary committee, that this issue was being infused with populist politics, that the bank’s payment operations are actually making a loss. So, is this performative politics? Is this a bit of bank‑bashing?

JONES:

Absolutely not. And as I said in response to your earlier question, it’s not just the banks, it’s the card providers, the system providers such as Visa, Mastercard, EFTPOS, they’ve got charges in the system. It’s the payment network systems who run the rails around which our payments run throughout the country. Most of them not known to everyday consumers, but they’ve got charges in the system as well. So, it’s about untangling all of that. We’ve got the Reserve Bank looking at what it actually costs to run those rails, to run those charge systems, and what is being passed on to the consumer and where the excessive charging is. Job of work between now and Christmas. We’ll get the results of that, we’ll move on that early in the year – new year – and giving the whole system clear signal from the 1 January 2026. If they haven’t moved on it, we will.

BRYANT:

Now, the Opposition has been critical of your proposals. Here’s what the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton, had to say today.

[Excerpt]

PETER DUTTON:

This is actually a plan for a plan. I mean, this Prime Minister always promises but never delivers. And we’re very happy to look at anything the government’s going to propose. It’s not an announcement, it’s just that they’re looking at it and it could come in, in 2026. Australian families need help now from this government. And instead of making good decisions, the government’s made bad decisions.

[End of excerpt]

BRYANT:

I mean, he’s got a point, hasn’t he? This is a plan for a plan. It’s what Donald Trump had in that debate, a concept for a plan.

JONES:

Peter Dutton’s got no plan for the economy and no economic policies. He had 9 years to do something about this. It wasn’t a priority for him then. It wasn’t a priority for any of the 3 years when he had my job. It wasn’t a priority for any of the 9 years when he sat around the cabinet table. And now he’s criticising the government for wanting to do something which needs to be done. We’ve got a clear process for dealing with it. It’s not populist; it’s about ensuring we do the right thing, which is about ensuring we take all the evidence. We ensure that we don’t have any unintended consequences, such as having small business pick up the costs for a ban on surcharging. So, we’ll do it in the right way. We’d expect Peter Dutton to support it because it’s in the interests of consumers. But we remember that he’s voted against every single measure that we’ve put in place to provide cost‑of‑living relief for Australians. Whether it’s energy bill relief, whether it’s provisions which enable workers to get better pay rises, whether it’s medicines relief. In every opportunity Peter Dutton has had to vote in favour of cost‑of‑living relief for Australians, he’s done the opposite.

BRYANT:

If you just join me here on Radio National Drive, I’m speaking with the Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones, about the government’s promise to crack down on debit card surcharges. There is a process underway. You’re waiting for the Reserve Bank to finish its review into retail payments regulation. They’ve been waiting for you to pass legislation to provide them with more powers, which is now stuck in parliament. You’re saying this change won’t happen until 2026. People are hurting now. Why can’t this be expedited?

JONES:

Well, it can be expedited if the Opposition votes for the bill, which is before the Senate right now. That’s available for them to do that. They’ve said they’ll oppose it. They can vote in favour of the bill, the payment systems reform bill, which is in the Senate now, and that would give the government the additional powers. At the moment, those powers sit solely with the Reserve Bank of Australia. We’ve given a pretty good indication about what we’ll do as a government. Of course, the bloke who wants to be the alternative Prime Minister for Australia could announce his policy, but he hasn’t.

BRYANT:

And let’s talk about the man who is the Prime Minister at the moment. There has been a lot of talk today about the PM’s new luxury ocean view home he’s bought on the Central Coast in NSW. Isn’t this a bit tone‑deaf at the time of a cost‑of‑living crisis ahead of what will surely be a cost‑of‑living election and in the middle of the housing crisis? The optics of this just aren’t very good.

JONES:

Look, the PM and his fiancée Jodie are planning to get married next year. They wanted to buy a place in the area where Jodie grew up and 3 generations of her family live, and I think they’re entitled to do so. The housing that we’re focused on is our housing program, our plan to build new homes to ensure that we have a roof over the head of every Australian. We’ve got legislation before the parliament which is being blocked by the Coalition and the Greens. They should get out of the way and enable that to occur so we can help everyday Australians, through our Help to Buy Scheme, get access to the housing market. This is the housing issue that everyday Australians are focused on and it’s the focus of our government.

BRYANT:

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, thank you for joining me on Radio National Drive.

JONES:

Good to be with you.

MIL OSI News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Ray White Oakleigh faces court action for alleged misleading practices

Source: Government of Victoria 2

Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) is taking Ray White Oakleigh and estate agent Nick Strilakos to the Federal Court for alleged misleading and deceptive conduct and making false and misleading statements in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.

CAV’s Underquoting Taskforce investigated the agency and estate agent after receiving multiple complaints from prospective buyers.

CAV alleges that Ray White Oakleigh advertised properties at prices well below their market value in at least 11 property sales across Melbourne’s southeast, in Rowville, Mulgrave, Bentleigh East, Oakleigh South and Blackburn South from February 2022 to November 2023.

In most of these cases, after entering into agreements with sellers, the agency subsequently dropped their estimated selling prices and then advertised the properties at those lower prices. The properties then sold for prices well above the advertised price ranges.

Ray White Oakleigh agents also sent messages to each other indicating they believed properties would sell for considerably higher prices and in some cases, taking bets or guesses on the higher price.

In 7 of the 11 cases, the vendors agreed to pay the agency a low flat commission, typically between 2.2 to 2.5 % of the sale price, up to the vendor’s reserve. If the sale price went above the reserve, the agents would be paid a much higher rate of 22 to 25 % of the sale proceeds above the reserve. The vendors typically set their reserve prices in line with the lower estimates.

CAV is seeking declarations, pecuniary penalty orders, adverse publicity orders and orders that the agents establish compliance and training programs.

Penalties for making a false or misleading statement in relation to land under the Australian Consumer Law are up to $2.5 million for an individual and $50 million for a company.

CAV Director Nicole Rich said the Federal Court action serves as a warning to real estate agents that deceptive conduct has no place in Victoria’s real estate market.

“Underquoting is an unfair practice that can mislead prospective buyers into spending time and money on properties that were always outside their budget and can distort the market.”

“While prospective purchasers are more likely to report suspected underquoting to us, it is very concerning to see that underquoting practices may also deceive vendors and leave them significantly out of pocket.”

“It is critical that estate agents act in the best interests of the clients who trust them to sell their properties. This case raises serious new concerns about the impacts of underquoting.”

“Our underquoting taskforce was recently made permanent in recognition that there is more for us to do. We continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to detect and stamp out underquoting for good.”

CAV encourages anyone buying or selling a property to report any concerns about underquoting or deceptive practices in property sales on our website through our dedicated complaints webform.

MIL OSI News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Economy – Transmission of monetary policy to financial conditions: A speech by RBNZ Assistant Governor Karen Silk

Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand

16 October 2024 – A speech will be delivered by Assistant Governor Karen Silk at the Citi Australia and New Zealand Investment Conference in Sydney, Australia.

Financial conditions are significantly influenced by monetary policy settings and are therefore something that we monitor closely. The banking system is a key channel through which monetary policy settings influence financial conditions in New Zealand.

Specifically, monetary policy affects bank funding costs and, in turn, the lending rates banks offer. This impacts the amount of money that households and businesses have to spend and shapes their inclination to save and invest.

During the post-COVID period, tight monetary policy settings implemented to reduce inflation have made financial conditions more restrictive. This has contributed to a weakening of aggregate demand in the economy and increased our confidence that consumer price inflation is moving sustainably back to its target mid-point of 2%.

However, the ongoing effects from the monetary and fiscal policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly increased liquidity in the banking system, have supported lower bank funding costs. This has impacted the extent to which banks have increased their lending rates.

The upshot of this is that financial conditions were less restrictive during the recent tightening cycle for the same level of the Official Cash Rate (OCR) when compared with previous cycles. However, through ongoing monitoring we have been able to identify and factor this into our decision-making to ensure that financial conditions have been where we needed them to be to achieve our monetary policy objectives.

As liquidity is being drained from the banking system, bank funding conditions have been normalising towards their pre-COVID state. Over time, this is likely to influence the amount of decline in bank lending rates, even as wholesale rates fall, as banks seek to maintain their net interest margins.

The factors discussed in this speech are important for understanding the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission, but there are many others that are considered in monetary policy decision-making. While we remain confident that inflation will converge back to the 2% target midpoint in the medium term, we will continue to assess and respond to the risks arising from broader economic conditions to manage inflation back to this level.

More information

Read the related Bulletin here: https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=b1b3bdc72d&e=f3c68946f8

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: DOORSTOP INTERVIEW BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE MEDISHIELD LIFE 2024 REVIEW, 11 OCTOBER 2024

Source: Asia Pacific Region 2 – Singapore

Appreciation to Council

I want to first thank the MediShield Life Council for working so hard. I think they did a very thorough analysis and came up with very comprehensive recommendations. I want to thank Mrs Fang Ai Lian and the team for their contributions. Also not forgetting the Secretariat, who has been working very hard for over one year to support the Council.

2. Let me just go through some salient points of this package of measures, which I think is quite a significant one.

Package of Measures in a Glance

3. Number one is to recognise the rising healthcare costs. In particular we are most concerned about unexpected health episodes that require you to stay in hospital for a long time, maybe even in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Some unfortunate things happen, and you chalk up a big bill that is unexpected. And that bill is rising and therefore we are increasing the claim limits for such bills.

4. It is quite a significant increase. For two-day normal ward charges, the claim limits have gone up from $1,000 to about $1,600 – a 50 percent increase. The increase for ICU is significant. It does not happen very often but should it be needed, daily claims have gone up from $2,200 to over $5,000 or more than double. So it is a very good safety net and peace of mind.

5. The second salient point is outpatient treatment. That is also rising, and I think it is hurting the pockets of patients, so we are also raising the claim limits for outpatients. In particular, one area we are quite concerned about is kidney dialysis. The costs have been going up. If nothing is done, it is only a matter of time before kidney dialysis patients have to pay cash out of their own pockets for dialysis. So we are increasing the claim limits from $1,100 per month to about $1,700 per month.

6. Third area is out-of-hospital bills. One major trend in healthcare is that more and more treatments are done outside the hospital, in the community and home settings. We are increasing coverage for such treatments, such as wound dressing, and treatment for depression. This is being done for the first time and some of the services that are done in home settings are now also covered.

7. Number four is technological advances. New and novel drugs, such as cell, tissue, gene therapy products (CTGTP), can be very expensive, but they are breakthroughs. They are one-time expensive treatments that promise to cure severe diseases like cancer. If we do nothing, chances are, in time only the rich can access these treatments. So we need to bring some of them into both our subsidy as well as MediShield Life framework.

8. We have done so for subsidies, provided they are proven to be clinically effective and cost-effective. So just very few drugs but it is a starting point. Today we agree with the recommendations of the Council to also bring these same drugs into the MediShield Life framework. That way, at least for these drugs, all Singaporeans can access them.

9. Number five is that we are increasing the deductibles. I think it is necessary to do that because that way, we focus the resources and help on the bigger bills which is what we are most concerned about. Your smaller bills will rise a little bit, deductibles will go up, but you can pay for it with MediSave.

10. And finally, the Council recommended that with all these changes, strengthening of the claim system and the safety net, premiums will have to go up by quite a significant number. But we should have a comprehensive package of measures to support these increases so that the great majority of Singaporeans can continue to pay for these increases using their MediSave and they do not have to come up with cash from their own pocket.

11. We agree with that, and we are doing so. If we take the cumulative increase in premiums across the population, it is $1.8 billion. We have come up with a package that costs $4.1 billion over the next review cycle, which is about three years. So the package far exceeds the increase in premiums. Therefore, in other words, we are taking this opportunity to also build up the MediSave balances for Singaporeans.

Support Package

12. What is this package? Let me elaborate. There are two parts to this.

13. Out of this $4.1 billion, $700 million or $0.7 billion, is to increase MediShield Life premium subsidies. Another $3.4 billion is for MediSave top-ups. So added together, it is $4.1 billion.

14. First on the $700 million of MediShield Life premium subsidies. This will be focused especially on those who are older. The increase is about 5 to 10 percentage points. In the past, the maximum subsidy was 50%, meaning 50% of premiums is subsidised, paid for by the government. That will now increase to 60%, so it will help many people and cost us $700 million.

15. The MediSave top-ups are much more complicated. What we have done, actually is quite a long exercise. Essentially, we identified every single MediSave Life top-up initiative and tried to strengthen every one of them. Why did we do it that way? I think by so doing, we try to cover as many age groups as possible, practically all age groups. So what are they?

16. Let me start with the oldest which is Pioneer Generation (PG). As you know, PG can get MediSave top-ups every year throughout their life. For the older PG who are 90 years this year, born in 1934 or earlier, they will have top-ups that will basically offset all the premium increases. Their top-ups are enough for them to pay their MediShield premiums throughout their lives. For the younger PG, their top-ups will be sufficient to cover two-thirds of the premium increases.

17. At last year’s National Day Rally, then-Prime Minister Lee announced the Majulah Package. Basically for all those born in 1973 or earlier – that means it covers PG, Merdeka Generation (MG), as well as the new term, Young Seniors who are in their 50s and 60s – will receive MediSave top-ups. For this whole group, the MediSave top-ups will be enhanced by $500. In the past, the MediSave top-up was $1,500 maximum. Now, the maximum goes up to $2,000.

18. Third, within a subset of this group, there is a group which is born between 1950 and 1973. These are the MG, as well as the young seniors. They, unlike the PG, do not have any more MediSave top-ups. So, some of them, because of their work history, do not have sufficient MediSave balances. So, for this group we will do something extra for them – an extra $500 per person.

19. Number four, at Budget 2024 this year, Finance Minister and current Prime Minister announced that a younger group born between 1974 and 2003 will get MediSave top-ups. We will enhance their MediSave top-ups by another $200. For this group, their premiums are not as high because they are relatively younger, so their top-ups are less.

20. Finally, newborns get a newborn grant of $4,000. The newborn grant will be enhanced to $5,000, so this is sufficient to pay for their MediShield Life premiums up to the age of 21.

21. So, this is the package that we are putting out – $4.1 billion over the next few years.

Encouraging Healthier Lifestyles

22. The Council has always recommended that we should encourage Singaporeans to lead healthier lifestyles. This year, they went a bit further. Since we have Healthier SG, they asked why not link the two together.

23. It makes a lot of sense, because adopting a healthier lifestyle is something we can choose to do. We can do more exercises, eat healthy, sleep better, quit smoking, sign up for Healthier SG and go for regular screenings. All these are within our control, and if we do them, we get a discount on our MediShield Life premiums.

24. We decided to try this out. After all, many Singaporeans have already joined the Health Promotion Board’s Healthy 365 programme to collect Healthpoints.

25. From the third quarter of 2025, we will start to allow Singaporeans 40 and above to use their Healthpoints and convert them to discounts or deductions in MediShield Life premiums.

26. We will work in a fairly favourable conversion rate. All in all, this means that if you are someone who is quite active, who exercises for about 30 minutes every day, you should have enough Healthpoints to receive a discount of about $80 per year off your annual MediShield Life premium. For a young person, this discount is slightly less than or almost half of their premium. So this is the whole package.

Multiple Layers of Safety Net

27. It has been many months in the making. Late last month, I announced the change in our effective date of the change in our subsidy system.

28. Essentially we are changing the per capita household income (PCHI) thresholds, such that more Singaporeans are eligible for higher subsidies. 1.1 million Singaporeans will benefit.

29. Today, we are strengthening our MediShield Life system as well as the MediSave system. This is our classic S+2M framework. We are strengthening both and it is very important that these two safety nets work hand in hand.

30. There are many countries that focus a lot on subsidies. When you focus a lot on subsidies, it is funded by taxation. When funded by taxation, things tend to be cheap or free and this causes excess demand, so waiting time becomes very long in the hospitals and the clinics. While it is very affordable, it is not very accessible.

31. Then there are other countries who focus a lot on insurance. Insurance has much less of a problem of excess demand, because when you fall sick, you have to file a claim, and there is a certain discipline in the application process around it. It is accessible, but, if you do not have insurance, it is not affordable. So all countries, in the end, realise you have to have both subsidy and insurance.

32. That is what we have done. S+2M has worked well for us and we will continue to improve our system.

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: Financial support for women’s health: UNFPA and Charité present new “WomenX Collective” programme in Berlin

Source: United Nations Population Fund

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, launched its new “WomenX Collective” programme at the World Health Summit in Berlin on October 15, in conjunction with the opening of its first hub office in a global network of centres specializing in the promotion of women’s health, especially sexual and reproductive health, in the German capital.

The Berlin office will be run in cooperation with Charité – Universitätsmedizin and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH). With their new partnership, UNFPA and Charité aim to promote women’s health, particularly in middle and low income countries and to address the lack of solutions and financial resources in this field.

“Every minute, at least two women die globally from breast or cervical cancer or from pregnancy-related complications due to inequitable access to healthcare,” says Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UNFPA. “Through the WomenX Collective, UNFPA and Charité aim to help bring innovative health solutions to underserved communities, closing the health gap for women worldwide.”

Initial financing commitments in place

With initial funding commitments from international donors, including the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Organon & Co., as well as a donation from Deutsche Postcode Lotterie, the WomenX Collective programme aims to raise at least $100 million in catalytic investment by 2030 to support women’s health projects, scale innovative solutions locally and promote these solutions across sectors. This has the potential to avert more than 10.4 million unintended pregnancies, 3.2 million unsafe abortions, and 21,000 maternal deaths. With the network of hub offices, the programme aims to bring together experience and technical expertise from different countries and regions, as well as modern technologies and sustainable financing. The office in Berlin will be followed by a hub in Nairobi in 2025.

To mark the opening of the hub office and the ceremonial signing of the partnership between UNFPA and Charité, partners of the WomenX Collective programme will be joined by Dr. Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, as well as representatives of the German healthcare sector and stakeholders from the Global South.

Additional quotes from participating organisations:

“The investment in women’s health is convincing with numbers: Through new, women-centred evidence-driven investment opportunities, we want to show that for every euro invested, a dividend of over 7 euros is possible by 2030″, says Dr. Nigina Muntean, Chief of Innovation at UNFPA. “By investing in women’s health and fostering innovation, we can unlock significant economic returns and ensure advancements reach those most in need.”

“Women’s health is still under-researched and under-funded,” says Prof. Dr. Heyo K. Kroemer, Chairman of the Board of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and partner of the WomenX Collective initiative. “We are convinced of the collaborative and integrative approach of WomenX, so I am pleased that Charité can make a contribution here. In order to address women’s health in a sustainable way, we need strong partnerships with institutions from the global North and South.”

“We are delighted to welcome the WomenX Collective programme under our roof and to contribute to the success of this important project,” says Prof. Dr. Christopher Baum, Chairman of the BIH Board of Directors at Charité and Chairman of the Translational Research Department at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. “WomenX Collective aims to leverage proximity to innovations and experts and Berlin features an outstanding ecosystem of health and innovation.”

“The opening of UNFPA programme in Berlin in partnership with the Charité/BIH offers an opportunity to intensify the diverse initiatives in the field of women’s health and to make this even more effective,” says Prof. Dr. Jalid Sehouli, Medical Director Department of Gynecology including center of oncological surgery (Campus Virchow Klinikum) and Department of Gynaecology (Campus Benjamin Franklin).

About UNFPA:

UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. UNFPA’s mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA calls for the realization of reproductive rights for all and supports access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, quality maternal health care and comprehensive sexuality education.

About Charité:

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, a cutting-edge medical institution, is a leader in diagnosis and treatment, with a special focus on severe, complex, and rare diseases and health conditions. A medical school and university medical center in one, Charité has earned an outstanding reputation worldwide, combining first-class patient care with excellence in research and innovation, state-of-the-art teaching, and high-quality training and education. At Charité, people and their health come first. Charité is dedicated to transformative translational research, applying the very latest scientific findings to prevention, diagnostics, and treatment and harnessing clinical observations to develop new lines of research and scientific questions. Charité’s foremost goal is to actively help shape the medicine of the future, all with one aim in mind: improving patients’ lives and quality of life.

With more than 100 departments and institutes spanning four campuses and 3,293 beds, Charité is one of Europe’s largest university medical centers. At Charité, the areas of research, teaching, and medical care are closely interconnected. Averaging about 23,500 across the entire group of companies, Berlin’s university medicine organization remained one of the capital city’s largest employers in 2023. Last year, Charité provided care for some 138,000 inpatients and day case patients and about 788,000 outpatients. There are 9,879 students enrolled in medicine, dentistry, health care sciences, and nursing programs here, at one of Germany’s largest medical schools. https://www.charite.de/en/ 

About the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité:

The mission of the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) is medical translation: transferring biomedical research findings into novel approaches to personalized prediction, prevention, diagnostics and therapies and, conversely, using clinical observations to develop new research ideas. The aim is to deliver relevant medical benefits to patients and the population at large. As the translational research unit within Charité, the BIH is also committed to establishing a comprehensive translational ecosystem – one that places emphasis on a system-wide understanding of health and disease and that promotes change in the biomedical translational research culture. The BIH was founded in 2013 and is funded 90 percent by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and 10 percent by the State of Berlin. The founding institutions, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max Delbrück Center, were independent member entities within the BIH until 2020. Since 2021 the BIH has been integrated into Charité as its so-called third pillar. The Max Delbrück Center is now the Privileged Partner of the BIH.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI China: 7th CIIE to offer platform for showcasing Tanzanian goods, services: official

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

DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 15 — The seventh edition of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) will provide a platform for showcasing Tanzanian products and services to one of the largest consumer markets in the world, an official said on Monday.

Tanzania’s Zanzibar Minister for Trade and Industrial Development Omar Said Shaaban revealed that 34 Tanzanian exhibitors will attend this year’s CIIE, which will be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10, to display goods, including agricultural produce, textiles, minerals, handicrafts, and industrial goods.

“This is not just a journey across the continents, but a leap towards showcasing the vibrancy, richness, and diversity of Tanzania commerce on the international stage,” said Shaaban at a send-off ceremony for the exhibitors at the Chinese embassy in the port city of Dar es Salaam.

He noted that the exhibits represented not just the diversity of Tanzania’s resources but also the ingenuity and craftsmanship of its people.

“Through the 7th CIIE, we aim to raise global awareness of the ‘Made in Tanzania’ brand, which reflects the quality, sustainability, and uniqueness of our products,” Shaaban said.

Speaking on behalf of the exhibitors, Elizabeth Kalambo, chief executive officer of sisal product manufacturer Sisalana (Tanzania) Company Limited, said attending the seventh CIIE will enable them to meet directly with customers and expand new client base in foreign markets.

Kalambo said that participation in the CIIE has large economic multiplier effects for both China and Tanzania.

Chen Mingjian, Chinese ambassador to Tanzania, said the CIIE created opportunities for companies and commodities worldwide to “buy globally, sell globally” and effectively promoted the growth of international trade volumes.

Chen said that over the past six years, over 180 countries, regions, and international organizations have participated in the CIIE.

“China is facilitating the participation of the least developed countries in the expo by providing preferential treatment in booth construction, exhibit transportation, and personnel reception,” she said, noting that China is Tanzania’s largest trading partner and source country of investment.

According to the Chinese ambassador, China-Tanzania bilateral trade volume reached 8.78 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, recording an increase of 8.9 percent year on year.

MIL OSI China News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Major crackdown on NHS waste
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

A new strategy is being published to radically cut the number of single-use medical devices in the health service.
Move to scrap single-use MedTech as Health and Social Care Secretary launches waste blitz

Tens of millions of disposable items are binned after just one use

MedTech companies incentivised to produce sustainable products – pumping millions back to NHS frontline and cash into economy

The government is launching a major crackdown on waste in the NHS to save millions of pounds a year, helping to divert more resources to frontline care.

A new strategy – the Design for Life Roadmap – is being published to radically cut the number of single-use medical devices in the health service and reduce our reliance on foreign imports.

Disposable medical devices substantially contribute to the 156,000 tonnes of clinical waste that the NHS produces every year in England alone. The roadmap paves the way to slashing this waste and maximising reuse, remanufacture and recycling in the NHS.

Doing so will create thousands more UK jobs and help transform the country into a life sciences superpower. As it stands, millions of devices like walking aids and surgical instruments are thrown away after just one use.

Harmonic shears – surgical devices which seal patients’ wounds using ultrasound waves – each cost more than £500 and around 90% of them are binned after a single use. Innovative companies are already purchasing these used devices and safely remanufacturing them at a lower price.

The government will encourage more of this kind of innovation to safely remanufacture a wider range of products and drive costs down, including by changing procurement rules to incentivise reusable products and rolling out examples where hospitals are already leading the way on cutting wasteful spending and practices.

Approximately £10 billion each year is spent on medical technology like this in the NHS, but too much of it is imported via vulnerable routes that risk disrupting patient care.

A Circular Economy Taskforce has already been created to foster more highly skilled green jobs and smarter use of our resources. An economy wide shift to a circular economy could add £75 billion to the economy and create 500,000 jobs by 2030.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

The NHS is broken. It is the mission of this government to get it back on its feet, and we can’t afford a single penny going to waste.

Because the NHS deals in the billions, too often it doesn’t think about the millions. That has to change. This government inherited a £22 billion blackhole in the public finances, so we will have a laser-like focus on getting better value for taxpayers’ money.

Every year, millions of expensive medical devices are chucked in the bin after being used just once. We are going to work closely with our medical technology industry, to eliminate waste and support homegrown medtech and equipment.

The below case studies illustrate the potential savings:

Mid Yorkshire Trust uses 330,000 single use tourniquets in a year, but a single reusable tourniquet can be used 10,000 times. In a one-year trial, reusable alternatives saved £20,000 in procurement costs and 0.75 metric tonnes of plastic waste.

In Northampton Hospitals NHS Trust, a single Ophthalmology department saved 1,000 pairs of disposable scissors and £12,000 in a year by switching to reusable pairs. Single-use scissors are often used in surgical settings. NHS procurement data shows that several million pairs of single-use scissors were purchased by the NHS in a single year (2022-23). That is the equivalent of hundreds of pairs of scissors thrown away every hour.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust saved £76,610 in costs purchasing 604 remanufactured Electrophysiology (EP) Catheters, and generated a further £22,923 for selling used devices for collection. If the same approach were to be scaled up across the UK, the NHS could save millions of pounds per year on EP catheters alone, just a few product lines among hundreds of thousands.

Harmonic shears are complex devices for performing surgical procedures and cost more than £500 each, yet around 90% are binned after a single use. Leeds University Teaching Hospitals Trust has demonstrated that companies can safely remanufacture them, giving up to 50% cost savings.

The Design for Life programme will reduce this kind of waste and achieve an NHS-wide move to sustainable alternatives– also supporting the government’s net zero goals.

A new roadmap sets out 30 actions to achieve this shift – including how the government will work with companies to encourage the production of more sustainable products, along with training for NHS staff on how to use them.

Taking this approach will mean more money can be spent in the UK, driving growth, creating more engineering, life sciences and research jobs – all while securing savings for the NHS budget.

Many of these products include precious metals such as platinum and titanium which are in high demand but go to landfill when they could be recovered and sold. A reduction in the amount of disposed single-use devices will also reduce the country’s carbon footprint and plastic pollution.

The government will encourage industry figures to innovate by making sure benefits of reusable MedTech are part of how the NHS chooses the products it buys.

Baroness Merron visited University College London Hospital on Tuesday, 15 October. The hospital is a member of the Circular Economy Healthcare Alliance, which advocates for sustainable practices within the NHS.

Health Minister Baroness Gillian Merron said:

Design for Life doesn’t just deliver on the Health Mission, to build an NHS fit for the future, it also delivers on our Growth Mission to make the UK a life science superpower and our commitment to get the NHS to net zero by 2045.

She toured a mock operating theatre and was shown various sustainable products its NHS staff use – from simple products like gowns and scissors to sophisticated, expensive products like harmonic shears.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, National Medical Director of NHS England, said:

While the NHS is treating record numbers of patients, we know there is much more to do to ensure taxpayers get value for money.

The NHS made a record £7.25bn worth of efficiency savings last year and is targeting a further £9bn of savings for 2024/25. But we are rightly still looking for ways to get our money’s worth for every penny we spend.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The Design for Life programme was developed with more than 80 stakeholders from the UK MedTech industry, the health and care system, and research organisations.

It forms part of the government’s ambition to transform the UK into a life sciences superpower and ensure sustainability.

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Published 16 October 2024
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI: EBC Financial Group Expands Asset Management Capabilities with Second Australian Financial Services Licence

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SYDNEY, Oct. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a significant move toward expanding its global asset management footprint, EBC Financial Group (EBC) has successfully obtained an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) for Asset Management from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). This acquisition strengthens EBC’s ability to provide sophisticated investment solutions to institutional investors, professional investors, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) worldwide. By securing the AFSL, EBC is not only deepening its presence in Australia but also enhancing its capacity to serve clients across global markets, aligning with its broader strategy to offer diversified and regulated asset management services on a global scale.

The new licence, issued to EBC Asset Management Pty Ltd, strengthens the group’s existing offerings. It complements EBC’s existing AFSL for General Financial Advice, enhancing the group’s ability to deliver a comprehensive range of investment strategies across asset classes such as real estate, fixed income, equities, and alternative investments, including private equity and venture capital funds. This marks a key milestone in EBC’s continued effort to expand its global financial ecosystem.

Global Strategy: Addressing an Evolving Investment Landscape
As global economic uncertainties and market volatility increase, more HNWIs and institutional investors are seeking stable asset management solutions. EBC’s acquisition of the AFSL for Asset Management is a strategic response to these changing dynamics, enabling the company to offer flexible investment options and enhanced market access. By securing this licence, EBC is well-positioned to address the growing demand for reliable, diversified investment strategies, not just in Australia but across global markets, ensuring clients worldwide can benefit from EBC’s expertise in regulated and transparent environments like Australia’s.

Previously, under the AFSL for General Financial Advice, EBC provided a wide range of financial products and services to both retail and wholesale clients. The new licence empowers EBC to offer specialised services exclusively for wholesale clients globally. These services include general financial product advice on managed investment plans (excluding investor-directed portfolio services) and securities. Additionally, EBC is now authorised to facilitate financial product transactions, including issuing, applying for, acquiring, varying, or disposing of interests in managed investment schemes and securities. This also extends to offering custodial services that provide enhanced protection and transparency for client assets.

Kris Wang, Country Head of EBC Financial Group in Australia, stated, “The acquisition of this licence reflects our commitment to maintaining the highest regulatory standards while broadening our asset management capabilities. We are dedicated to delivering a diversified and robust investment portfolio designed to meet the varied requirements of high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors.”

Strategic Expansion into Australia’s High-Net-Worth Market
Australia is home to a substantial number of HNWIs, with approximately 400,000 individuals whose assets exceed USD 1 million. By obtaining the AFSL for Asset Management, EBC is positioned to capitalise on this market, offering investment strategies that cater specifically to the wealth management needs of Australia’s growing high-net-worth population, including family office solutions and international investment products. EBC’s global experience will also help clients navigate regulatory complexities and optimise cross-border investments.

“We see immense potential in Australia’s growing high-net-worth segment,” added Wang. “Our goal is to leverage our global expertise to help investors optimise their portfolios through diversified and innovative investment strategies. We also plan to expand our services to include family office management and other global investment products in the near future.”

Custody and Family Office Services: Core to Future Growth
Custody services, which are a core component of EBC’s long-term strategy, are a vital addition to EBC’s Australian service offerings. Through custodial services, EBC ensures the segregation of client funds, enhancing asset transparency and compliance. EBC’s planned family office services will offer bespoke wealth management support to HNWIs and institutional clients, addressing complex cross-asset and cross-border wealth management needs, including tax optimisation and wealth inheritance, further strengthening EBC’s ability to serve clients worldwide.

With the new asset management licence, EBC Financial Group continues to solidify its global presence, offering premium financial services to wholesale clients in both developed and emerging markets. This strategic move aligns with EBC’s broader mission of delivering sophisticated investment solutions that meet the evolving demands of investors worldwide.

About EBC Financial Group
Founded in the esteemed financial district of London, EBC Financial Group (EBC) is renowned for its comprehensive suite of services that includes financial brokerage, asset management, and comprehensive investment solutions. EBC has quickly established its position as a global brokerage firm, with an extensive presence in key financial hubs such as London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, the Cayman Islands, and across emerging markets in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and India. EBC caters to a diverse clientele of retail, professional, and institutional investors worldwide.

Recognised by multiple awards, EBC prides itself on adhering to the leading levels of ethical standards and international regulation. EBC Financial Group’s subsidiaries are regulated and licensed in their local jurisdictions. EBC Financial Group (UK) Limited is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), EBC Financial Group (Cayman) Limited is regulated by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), EBC Financial Group (Australia) Pty Ltd, and EBC Asset Management Pty Ltd are regulated by Australia’s Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

At the core of EBC Group are seasoned professionals with over 30 years of profound experience in major financial institutions, having adeptly navigated through significant economic cycles from the Plaza Accord to the 2015 Swiss franc crisis. EBC champions a culture where integrity, respect, and client asset security are paramount, ensuring that every investor engagement is treated with the utmost seriousness it deserves.

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The MIL Network –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Joint doorstop interview, Brisbane

Source: Australian Treasurer

JIM CHALMERS:

Welcome to the most important electorate in Australia, the People’s Republic of Rankin. Welcome to the PM, Clare, Meaghan, this is our home patch. Cameron Dick and I and Shannon Fentiman, we’re really proud to represent this part of South East Queensland. We’ve got really 2 fantastic announcements to be making today.

The first one which Clare will elaborate on is that we are announcing more money for this part of the world for more housing. More housing for Meadowbrook, more housing for South East Queensland, more housing for middle Australia, and most importantly, more housing for essential workers and social housing tenants near where the jobs and essential services are being provided. The wonderful thing about this part of South East Queensland – we’ve got a university there, a hospital and a TAFE there, a retail centre there, 2 motorways, a train station – and this is all about making sure that we build more homes for Australians where the jobs and essential services are. And so it’s a really important day to be making this announcement. This kind of funding is at risk with the worst combination of David Crisafulli and Peter Dutton and we make that clear as well today.

More homes for our local community. Our highest priorities are housing and the cost of living and the Albanese Labor government, the Miles Labor government, we work together really closely to do whatever we can to build more homes and to ease the cost of living for more people. And a really important part of what we’re announcing today are our efforts to crack down on excessive charges when it comes to using credit cards and debit cards and tapping your phone. Too many Australians are paying too much when they tap their phone or use their credit cards. Too many Australians are paying too much when it comes to excessive fees on debit cards, in particular. We are cracking down on excessive fees for debit cards and we are funding the ACCC to do their important work in this regard as well. We are prepared to ban surcharges on debit cards subject to the important work that the RBA is doing, and also making sure that there aren’t unintended consequences for small businesses and for consumers. This is all about a better deal for consumers and small businesses. People are paying surcharges which are too high just to use their own money, and we want to see what we can do to crack down on that. We are prepared to ban the surcharges on debit cards subject to making sure that consumers and small businesses are the beneficiaries of any change. This is a really complex system. There are a number of fees at play in this system. It’s why the RBA’s work is so important, and it’s why it’s so important that this Albanese Labor government is taking action to crack down on excessive fees. While this work is being undertaken, we will provide $2.1 million to the ACCC for their education and monitoring and to make sure that businesses are doing the right thing when it comes to the charging of these fees and surcharges. We are making it really clear today. This Albanese Labor government is about easing the cost of living and building more homes. Whether it’s excessive surcharges using debit cards, whether it’s building more homes in communities, just like the Miles government, we are focused on the main game for middle Australia and that’s why we’re here today. I’ll throw you over to the Deputy Premier and Treasurer of Queensland, Cameron Dick.

CAMERON DICK:

Well, thanks, Jim. It is terrific to have the Prime Minister, Jim, Clare and Meaghan in Logan here today to announce more homes for Queenslanders. And this is what happens when you have a State Labor government and a Federal Labor government working together to deliver for the people of Queensland. This isn’t something you get from the Greens and it is certainly something you would never get from the LNP. It’s also great to have 2 Queensland based institutions, the Australian Retirement Fund and the Brisbane Housing Company, collaborating together to deliver on this project. We’ve already got homes through that collaboration coming out of the ground in Redcliffe, Chermside and Southport and now we will see more homes right here in Logan for hardworking Queenslanders. And so we very much welcome this announcement today and we thank the Prime Minister and his federal team for supporting Queensland.

I just wanted to say something briefly before I hand over to the Prime Minister on David Crisafulli and the LNP’s election commitments, their costings and of course, their plan for cuts. Yesterday, David Crisafulli said he wouldn’t borrow for the operational costs of government. That would mean David would have to cut $3 billion as soon as he took office in October. It means David Crisafulli would have to cut $10 million a day, each and every day until the 30th of June next year to deliver on his promise. That means there are 17,000 Queenslanders whose jobs are now on the line under David Crisafulli and the LNP. And that is before he even finds one cent to pay for the $18 billion in election commitments that are unfunded and that he has already announced in this campaign. David Crisafulli won’t even tell Queenslanders the total of the election commitments he’s made in this campaign so far. That’s because he would have to tell Queenslanders what he would have to cut to deliver on those promises.

I’ll hand over to the Prime Minister and thank him again for coming to Queensland and making this important announcement for the people of our state.

ANTHONY ALBANESE:

Well, thanks very much, Treasurer. And it’s great to be here with 2 treasurers and 2 housing ministers and I think 3 local members here in Logan. It’s fantastic to be, particularly to be in my friend, the Treasurer’s electorate of Rankin, and to show what happens when good Labor governments work together. This is about 1,100 new homes for Queenslanders – 1,100 new homes that will be built, including right here on this site, but throughout South East Queensland as well. It comes on top of, just a couple of weeks ago, the announcement we made in Cairns with about 500 new affordable and social homes being built there. This is about increasing housing supply, which is what our commitment is to do.

It’s also about easing the cost of living and the measures that the Treasurer spoke about before in outlawing debit card surcharges, having a real crack at making sure that people, when they use their own money, there shouldn’t be surcharges on them using their money. And that’s why we are providing additional funds – $2.1 million for the ACCC – but also the Reserve Bank doing their inquiry to make sure that the details of this are got right, that small businesses looked after on the way through. This is my government’s priority, looking after the cost of living whilst also delivering on housing supply in partnership with state and territory governments. And it stands in stark contrast to our opponents. Be it David Crisafulli, who doesn’t seem to have too many policies I’ve got to say, at the Queensland election, and certainly no costed ones, and the Federal Opposition that today Michael Sukkar was out there once again just being opposed to our investment in new housing. They said they’ll get rid of the Housing Australia Future Fund. They’ve said they’re against the targets that we’ve set in partnership with state and territory governments, with those financial incentives for better planning for state and territory governments to make sure that we increase the supply. This project here as well is about our support for infrastructure in order so that homes can be built. It’s one of the missing pieces in the puzzle of housing supply that we are addressing. Making sure that energy, sewerage, water can all be connected so that new homes can be built. Something that we are providing that was never provided under the former government that didn’t for a while even bother to have a Housing Minister. I’ll turn to Clare and then we’re happy to take questions.

CLARE O’NEIL:

Thank you, PM and Treasurer, can I thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful electorate. We all know a bit about Jim Chalmers and one way to get the guy talking is to ask him about his community here in Rankin and you won’t hear the end of it. He is a huge advocate for this local area, he’s very proud of where he comes from, and it’s fantastic to be here. This is a really big and important announcement for South East Queensland where the Albanese government and the Miles Labor government here are announcing 1,100 new homes for Queenslanders. Five hundred will be constructed on this site here in Meadowbrook and 600 others will be scattered around some of the nearby suburbs. This is a reflection of what gets done when state and federal governments identify something that matters hugely to our constituents and that’s housing, and then works together to make a difference to that problem. We are, without question, one of the boldest and most ambitious Commonwealth governments on housing that we have seen for a generation in this country. We came from a standing start. The Prime Minister here mentioned that for most of the time the Coalition were in power, they didn’t even have a Housing Minister. Didn’t even have a Housing Minister. That’s how tapped out they were on this critical problem. Well, we have changed all that. Our country, led as it is by a Prime Minister whose access to housing in his childhood totally transformed the rest of his life. So, what are we doing? We’re building more homes. An ambitious target to build 1.2 million homes around the country over the coming 5 years. We’re helping renters through the work we’re doing with National Cabinet and lifts to the Commonwealth Rent Assistance payment. And we’re making sure that more Australians can own their own homes. We’ve helped 120,000 citizens get into home ownership in the time we’ve been in government. And we would be able to do more if other parties in the Parliament would come together and work with us. Now, we’ve got boldness and we’ve got ambition. But what do I see when I look at other parties in the Parliament? Well, I see the Greens who say some of the right things about housing. But when it comes time to make real progress for real people, instead of helping childcare workers and aged care workers get into housing, they instead try to play politics and stand in their path. And then I see the Liberals who have not a shred of credibility when it comes to housing. We heard this morning the Shadow Housing Minister, Michael Sukkar, make extraordinary admissions in a radio interview where, firstly, he said that the government is being too ambitious about housing. He says that if the Liberals are elected federally, they will scrap having a housing target altogether. Well, it’s that kind of low ambition that got us to where we are right now. And that is in a housing crisis where this is affecting the lives of millions of people in our country and the Liberals want us to lower our ambitions. The second thing he told us is that they want to make more cuts to states and territories in the funding that we’re giving them to make housing possible. Well, this is where we are right here. 1,100 new homes that’s made through that partnership that we’ve worked through with National Cabinet and we know with the Liberals we’ll get what we always get. That is cuts, cuts, cuts that hurt real people.

ALBANESE:

Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST:

PM, on the banking surcharge, it’s been welcomed by some, but others are saying that a few cents here and there might not save people that much in a cost living crisis. I guess, how do you expect it to assist people if they’re only saving small amounts on these surcharges?

ALBANESE:

We think it’ll make a difference. And when people go and they see a price up on the board at the business where they’re making a purchase – that should be the purchase price. There shouldn’t be hidden charges and surcharges there when people are using their own money. Bear this in mind – a debit card is taking money directly from people’s accounts. It is their money and there shouldn’t be surcharges on it.

JOURNALIST:

Prime Minister, this is a housing announcement, do you think it’s a good look to be buying a $4.2 million home during a cost‑of‑living crisis?

ALBANESE:

Well, Jodie and I are getting married, as is known, and I’m pleased about that. And Jodie’s a Coastie. She’s a proud Coastie. She’s as proud of being a Coastie as Jim is here, of being a Logan lifelong resident. There are 3 generations of Haydons on the coast there. And when your relationship changes, your life changes and you make decisions. But what I’m focused on is making sure that everyone can get a roof over their head. I’m focused on increased public housing and social housing investment. That’s why we have our Housing Australia Future Fund. We’re focused on increased rentals, which is why we have our Build to Rent scheme. And we’re focused, in addition to that, in getting more housing supply, such as the 1,100 homes for Queenslanders that we’re announcing right here.

JOURNALIST:

PM, buying a $4 million dollar home is very different to buying a modest family home or living on a block like this. Do you think it’s a good look?

ALBANESE:

I have – of course, I am much better off as Prime Minister. I earn a good income. I understand that. I understand that I’ve been fortunate, but I also know what it’s like to struggle. My mum lived in the one public housing that she was born in for all of her 65 years. And I know what it’s like, which is why I want to help all Australians into a home, whether it be public homes or private rentals or home ownership.

JOURNALIST:

PM, it’s been reported that Australia is seeking an assurance from PNG it won’t sign new security agreements with China in return for the $600 million assistance package for its NRL bid. Can you confirm if there is a security element in this agreement and what exactly it says?

ALBANESE:

This is a relationship between friends and what we don’t do is have our security arrangements out there in public. What we do is to work with our friends and partners. Papua New Guinea has made it very clear that Australia is their security partner of choice.

JOURNALIST:

PM, do you plan to retire at that house on the New South Wales Central Coast?

ALBANESE:

Sorry?

JOURNALIST:

Are you planning to retire there?

ALBANESE:

I’m planning to be in my current job for a very long period of time.

JOURNALIST:

Are you going to rent it out in the meantime?

ALBANESE:

I’m planning to be in my current – I haven’t bought it yet. To be clear, it hasn’t settled yet, these arrangements, I’m very transparent. I declare everything. I’ve declared, some time ago, if you followed the story that I was selling a house in the Inner West that will make a contribution towards this.

JOURNALIST:

There’s been a lot of commentary around the hope from Federal Labor that some of the frustration may be taken out on October 26 and then maybe go easy at the federal election. What do you make of this and are you concerned about support for Labor in Queensland?

ALBANESE:

I want people to vote Labor in Queensland and to return Steven Miles as the Premier and this bloke here as the Deputy Premier, because I want a government that actually cares about Queenslanders. It’s a government that’s committed to increasing housing supply, that’s committed to dealing with cost‑of‑living pressures, including the 50 cent fares. I had the privilege of going on Gold Coast Light Rail yesterday. It’s committed to the free school lunches to make sure that people are looked after. This is a government that is getting things done and is worthy of re‑election and I’m very pleased to campaign with them.

JOURNALIST:

PM, Canada has expelled 6 Indian diplomats, accusing them of being part of a criminal network targeting the Sikh diaspora. Have you spoken, or do you plan to speak with Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau about this?

ALBANESE:

I speak with the Prime Minister of Canada all the time.

JOURNALIST:

Does Australia –

ALBANESE:

I speak with the Prime Minister of Canada all the time. And what I do in my relationships with international leaders is I have proper discussions with them and that’s how we get things done. And that’s why – one of the reasons why my government has been so effective in international diplomacy.

JOURNALIST:

On the Bruce Highway, why won’t you match Peter Dutton’s commitment for an 80/20 split.

ALBANESE:

He hasn’t done anything. His commitment? He was part of a government that didn’t fund things, that was good at media releases. I’ll give you the big clue. You can’t drive on a media release. What you can drive on is a road. And to build a road, you need money. So, Rockhampton Ring Road, for example, was $700 million short in terms of its funding. The former government made announcements with $0 attached to it, from time to time. When we came into government last time, we put record funding into the Bruce Highway. $1.3 billion under the Howard government, $7.6 billion under us, and we have $10 billion in our plan for the Bruce Highway, including additional money that we put in in the last Budget.

JOURNALIST:

So, those accusations are credible that we were talking about just before?

ALBANESE:

I’ve answered your question.

JOURNALIST:

Queensland has – you took a 50 cent fare yesterday. Obviously it’s a fair bit more expensive in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, to take a light rail, in Canberra. Should it not be? I mean, it’s increased our patronage in Queensland and would not do the same thing elsewhere?

ALBANESE:

Well, it’s a matter for state and territory governments. But I say this, that the Queensland government – and Cameron or Meaghan might want to comment on this as well – it’s been a huge success. Increasing patronage gets cars off the road, saves people money and also it’s good for people’s health. It’s good for a range of reasons to increase public transport patronage and from a Commonwealth government perspective, I make this point, when it comes to infrastructure. Gold Coast Light Rail, $365 million in the 2009 budget from the government when I was the Infrastructure Minister and now stage 3 underway, will be completed next year. It was opposed by the LNP – state and federal. You had federal LNP members like Steve Ciobo collecting petitions against Gold Coast Light Rail. Cross River Rail, major project to increase the whole capacity of the network was funded $715 million from the Commonwealth with an availability payment going forward each year in partnership with what was the Queensland LNP government then, originally started under the Labor government. Tony Abbott got elected, the whole thing crashed, and then they came up with this ridiculous plan that didn’t go anywhere. Cross River Rail would be open today if Labor governments had kept being elected. That’s why we believe in this. That’s why we’re funding Sunshine Coast Rail as well.

JOURNALIST:

Question for Mr Dick, please.

ALBANESE:

Sure.

JOURNALIST:

Credit rating agency S&P Global has warned Queensland’s AA+ credit rating is in danger of being downgraded due to your spending. How concerning is that?

DICK:

Well, S&P Global and Moody’s went through the Queensland Budget books top to bottom, left to right, up and down after our Budget, and they reaffirmed our AA+ credit rating. And when you look at our competitor states, our comparative states in New South Wales and Victoria, we are streets ahead of them when it comes to budget management and fiscal management in this state. Just a week ago, I announced the unaudited financial results for Queensland. Our net debt for last financial year has been halved from $12 billion to just under $6 billion. Our surplus went up from $600 million to $1.7 billion. And let’s put that in comparison to New South Wales and Victoria. So, our net debt at the end of last financial year was $5.7 billion. In New South Wales , it was $97 billion. In Victoria it was $136 billion. So, that means New South Wales debt is 16 times higher than Queensland and Victoria’s debt is 22 times higher. And so we are in a really strong position to make commitments and deliver on them because our commitments are fully funded. And the question for David Crisafulli and David Janetzki, who did 2 train wreck interviews today, the Shadow Treasurer who’s been in an LNP witness protection program, has not been seen with the Leader on the campaign trail for 2 weeks. And that is disrespectful to train wrecks because a train needs momentum and forward movement before it can run off the rails. We haven’t seen or heard from that bloke. And when he came out today, he didn’t say to Queenslanders – he couldn’t even tell Queenslanders what the total cost of their commitments would be, nor how they would pay for them. Now, their election commitments in this campaign are twice as high as ours. The LNP election commitments in this campaign now total $18 billion, twice as high as Labor. We’ve been upfront about how we’re paying for that. The only way that David Crisafulli can deliver on his promise of not borrowing for operational costs of government, by spending more, reducing taxation, lowering debt, delivering balanced budgets, not having a fiscal deficit, having a fiscal surplus. He has promised all of those things in this campaign. The only way he can deliver that is by cutting and that is what he is going to do. And that should put a shiver down the spine of every Queenslander, because the last LNP leader who offered to the community that he would look after the money of the people of Queensland, the last LNP leader who said that he would deliver a fiscal surplus was Campbell Newman. And 14,000 Queenslanders paid for that promise with their jobs. They built nothing for 3 years. So, they cut operating expenditure and they cut infrastructure expenditure. And the hide of David Crisafulli to say to Queenslanders that he respects money. The hide of David Crisafulli. David Crisafulli doesn’t respect public or private money. This is a man who was responsible for a training company that collapsed under $3 million of debt and owed the Australian Taxation Office $750,000. That’s not a man who respects money. That’s a man who disregards every single creditor of that company, including creditors that came from this community. And so we are fighting hard for the future of Queensland. Fully costed, fully funded plans, our promises will be delivered within the budget envelope and the funding envelope we’ve set aside. You cannot say the same for David Crisafulli.

JOURNALIST:

He wouldn’t have said what they’d said if they didn’t have concerns, though, surely?

DICK:

Well, let’s see what happens when I do – if I have that privilege – when I do the Budget update in December and when I do the Budget next year. Because there are 2 aspects to budgets, one’s expenditure and one’s revenue. And so you have to look at the budget position in total before we go to the ratings agencies and before they look at us. And so we’ll continue to deliver as we’ve delivered for every budget, except my first one, we’ve beaten our debt projections in every budget that I’ve delivered as Treasurer and we’ll continue to work hard to maintain that AA+ credit rating. We are the only state of the big 3 states that didn’t have a credit rating downgrade during or subsequent to COVID. That was because of our effective and appropriate financial and budgetary management and we’re going to continue on that path and people can trust us to deliver on our promises. The only thing you can trust David Crisafulli to do if he’s elected Premier is to cut. Anything else?

JOURNALIST:

Mr Janetzki was on radio this morning that he would release his costings once they make their final announcement. Is that the typical convention? Are you aware of that? And do you think it’s good enough considering voters already going to the polls?

DICK:

Look, this is all just a smokescreen for David Crisafulli to hide his plan for cuts. Our Party, Queensland Labor, has been the most transparent of any political party in any election in history. We put our costings live 2 weeks ago. We said upfront what we would do and how we would pay for it. And I released a budget economic and tax plan 2 weeks ago. Two years ago, David Crisafulli promised to release a tax and debt plan for Queensland. It is now 11 days until the election. David Crisafulli has been the Leader of the LNP now for more than 1,200 days and he still won’t be honest with the people of Queensland. And look, it’s just obvious the reason they won’t tell Queenslanders the total of their election commitments is because they would have to reveal to Queenslanders what they need to cut to deliver those election commitments. Which is why they’re hiding their costings, hiding their funding sources, because their single biggest funding source is to cut. And that’s why they’re not being honest with you.

JOURNALIST:

Amy McMahon from the Greens reckons you’re a hypocrite for recommending a preference for the Katter Australia Party in North Queensland. Are you not assisting an anti‑abortion party here by putting them above the Liberal Party?

DICK:

I don’t take political advice from the Queensland Greens Political Party. I never have and I never will. Anything else?

JOURNALIST:

What have you made of voter sentiment on the ground?

CHALMERS:

I don’t like being called the other Treasurer, but sure, you go ahead.

JOURNALIST:

What have you made of voter sentiment around the area? How closely will you be watching the result, particularly around this area?

CHALMERS:

Oh, look, Queenslanders right around our state desperately need a re‑elected Miles Labor government. You know, I was listening to Cameron and to the PM a moment ago. You know, Cameron is running one of the strongest budgets in the Commonwealth and that’s because we have a couple of things in common. You know, we are all about responsible economic management so that we can afford to provide cost‑of‑living relief for people who really need it, whether it’s in our community right around Queensland or indeed right around Australia. So, we have that in common and we want to work with the Miles Labor government after the election in a couple of weeks’ time. Now, as Cameron rightfully pointed out a moment ago, David Crisafulli and Peter Dutton have got something in common as well. Neither of them will come clean on their secret cuts. And those cuts that Peter Dutton and David Crisafulli won’t tell us about will make Queenslanders and Australians personally financially worse off. They’ll come after wages, they’ll come after housing, they’ll come after health. They will absolutely gut the joint. And we know this because Peter Dutton did that last time with Medicare when he was the Health Minister. And we know this because David Crisafulli is essentially Campbell Newman 2.0. And that was devastating for our local community. That has been a real low point for this part of the world seeing the way that Campbell Newman slashed and hacked at the essential services that local people desperately need. You asked a moment ago about our surcharging change and what it will mean for the cost of living. Now, that’s an important step that we are taking to help ease the cost of living, but it’s not the only step. Tax cuts for every taxpayer, Energy Bill Relief for every household, cheaper medicines, Rent Assistance, cheaper early childhood education, getting wages moving again. And here we have an enthusiastic and willing partner in the Miles Labor government. Cheaper fares for these communities in the outer suburbs are absolutely transformational. I’ve lost count of the amount of times that people have come up to me and said, ‘if you run into Cameron, or if you run into Steven, can you tell him how much we value those 50 cent fares?’ So, I’ll do that in front of all of our friends now, Cam. People appreciate the Energy Bill Relief that we’re working together with Steven and Cameron and Meaghan to provide. And so we desperately need a Miles Labor government re‑elected. We love working with these guys, not because we always have an identical view about every single issue, but because we’ve got a heart for local people. And that shows when it comes to housing, when it comes to health, and when it comes to cost of living.

JOURNALIST:

Sorry, just on the sentiment, you pick up anything on the ground around you?

CHALMERS:

Yeah, well, in our communities, people are desperately relying on the cost‑of‑living help that the Miles government and the Albanese government are providing. Now, we know that people are under pressure. You know, we know that people are doing it tough, but more than acknowledge that, we’re doing something about it. In all of the ways that I ran through a moment ago. And today, in addition, when it comes to surcharging on people’s debit cards, people shouldn’t be paying huge fees to use their own money. The Prime Minister has made that clear and we’ve made that clear today. So, in these local communities, we take no votes for granted. We don’t take any outcome for granted in this election. But I know I’ve seen what it’s like to have mostly state LNP members around here. I’ve seen what it’s like to have mostly Labor state members around here. We desperately need Labor members in this part of the world to look after the interests of the people and to work with Albo and I to make sure we’re rolling out that cost‑of‑living help.

JOURNALIST:

So, Queensland has – the Liberal National Party in Queensland has 21 of the federal seats in Queensland. Do you think that a plebiscite on nuclear power might change that?

CHALMERS:

Oh, we need to do better federally in Queensland. We’ve made that clear. You know, Anthony is an honorary Queenslander. You know, he spends a lot of time here in Queensland and I think Queenslanders understand because he is a practical, pragmatic leader and we are practical and pragmatic people in Queensland. And so, we need to do better, we’ve acknowledged that. Queensland is front and centre when it comes to our efforts as a Federal Labor government, including in the upcoming federal campaign. But first, we’ve got to re‑elect these guys because 2 Labor governments working together are better for local communities like this one.

JOURNALIST:

Queensland Labor has announced help for GP clinics that bulk bill. Isn’t that a tacit admission that Federal Labor hasn’t done enough to stop the gap, the Medicare gap, which has led to this?

CHALMERS:

No, I think it’s a tacit admission that both Labor governments are investing, in our case, billions and billions of dollars in strengthening Medicare. Now, there’s an Urgent Care Clinic down the road in Browns Plains which is making a major difference, taking the pressure off Logan Hospital, which is just next door. These are the investments that Labor governments make in local communities in getting out of pocket health costs down. And we welcome the contribution that the Miles Labor government comes to the table with when it comes to providing more money for health, so that we can get out of pocket costs down, so we can get the waiting times down, so that we can take pressure off local hospitals. But most importantly, make sure that we’re providing the healthcare that local families and pensioners need.

JOURNALIST:

When you were in Opposition, how many days before the election did you announce your costings?

CHALMERS:

Well, we did, unfortunately, we had a couple of goes at it when we were in Opposition and the timing of that varied. The difference was, you know, we didn’t have a big agenda for secret cuts like David Crisafulli does, and like Peter Dutton has. You know, Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor say that there’s $315 billion of spending in the Commonwealth Budget that they don’t support. That includes pension indexation, that includes Medicare funding, that includes funding for veterans, it includes funding for housing. And David Crisafulli and Peter Dutton are joined at the hip when it comes to their secret plans for cuts. I don’t think Queenslanders are asking too much when they say to David Crisafulli, ‘come clean in time for us to make an informed decision.’ And when they do, and if they do, they will understand that the Miles Labor government is providing cost‑of‑living relief, investing in housing and health, and David Crisafulli will cut all of those things as sure as night follows day.

JOURNALIST:

Why upgrade the travel advice to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories?

ALBANESE:

It’s a dangerous place at the moment. We know that that’s the case. So, what we do is we take advice from our security agencies and the government then implements that advice. We know that travelling into an area where there is conflict is a dangerous thing to do and it’s appropriate that the federal government make announcements in accordance with that advice from the security agencies. Can I just make one further point before we wrap up, which is that I was noticing – Clare probably noticed as well this morning – Michael Sukkar actually speak about the delay in implementing the Housing Australia Future Fund roll out and Help to Buy scheme that’s stuck in the Senate. Well, Labor are the builders, they’re the blockers. Between the LNP and the Greens, they blocked the Housing Australia Future Fund and now they’re still blocking the Help to Buy scheme. They could vote for it tomorrow or the next day that Parliament sits, but they don’t. So, they vote against it, block it and then complain that there’s a delay in its implementation. That says it all about how hopeless the Opposition are when it comes to policies that will actually deliver more housing supply. Thanks very much.

MIL OSI News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: AG Ferguson statement on defeating Meta’s attempt to dismiss his lawsuit accusing it of harming youth mental health
Source: Washington State News

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued the following statement today after a federal court rejected Meta’s attempt to dismiss his lawsuit accusing the company of knowingly harming youth mental health.

“Meta can’t get off the hook that easily. This ruling brings us one step closer to accountability. Meta and its top executives disregarded their own research and publicly downplayed the risks Facebook and Instagram posed to its most vulnerable users. I am committed to protecting the mental health of Washington youth.”

Ferguson is suing Meta in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 42 state attorneys general. The federal lawsuit, filed by 33 of those states, accuses Meta of putting profits before the well-being of millions of children and teens by intentionally targeting them with harmful features to get them hooked for life. Internal documents show the tech company knew the risks those features posed and not only ignored them, but publicly downplayed them in violation of the Consumer Protection Act. Read more about the lawsuit here.

The judge’s order

In the order, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied most of Meta’s motions to dismiss the case. Judge Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Ferguson’s asserted violations of the Washington state Consumer Protection Act and federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act can proceed. The judge wrote: “Meta’s alleged yearslong public campaign of deception as to the risks of addiction and mental harms to minors from platform use fits readily within these states’ deceptive acts and practices framework. Meta’s design, development, and deployment of certain product features plausibly constitutes unfair or unconscionable practices under all at-issue federal and state standards.”

The judge also denied Meta’s attempt to dismiss state claims that it failed to warn users of known risks of addiction. The judge kept in claims regarding Meta specifically using its programming to target younger users, which include:
- appearance altering filters;
- features that hindered time restrictions; and
- and Instagram’s “multiple accounts” function.
However, the judge dismissed other claims that Meta’s programming violated state and federal laws, including:
- infinite scroll and autoplay;
- how Meta designed and deployed audiovisual and vibration notifications and alerts;
- the quantification and display of “likes;” and
- how Meta algorithmically served content to young users.
Case background

Ferguson’s lawsuit accuses Meta’s top leaders of knowingly targeting youth — calling them a “valuable, but untapped” market — with harmful features designed to get them hooked for life to maximize profits. Meta simultaneously and publicly downplayed the associated risks for those users, including disregarding its own research. These tactics contradicted the company’s public-facing claims that it puts user safety first.

The federal lawsuit also alleges that Meta knew young users, including those under 13, were active on the platforms and knowingly collected data from those users without parental consent.

The lawsuit claims these unfair and deceptive practices violate state consumer protection laws, including here in Washington, and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Meta designed features to provide prolonged and repeated dopamine, or “feel-good,” responses that discourage users from leaving Meta’s apps once they open them, tapping into their “fear of missing out,” and offering facial filters that mimic plastic surgery.

Internal documents show that Meta knew about the wide variety of harms its features could cause young users. Not only did Meta disregard and fail to mitigate the risks, the company exploited them. According to internal documents included in the lawsuit:
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ignored internal documents on detailed consultation with “21 independent experts around the world” who found that filters with cosmetic surgery effects “can have severe impacts on both the individuals using the effects and those viewing the images.” Experts told Meta that children were particularly vulnerable as well as those with a history of eating disorders and mental illness. Instagram’s head of public policy wrote to Zuckerberg that outside experts were “nearly unanimous on the harm here.” Zuckerberg canceled a meeting to discuss these issues, then subsequently vetoed a proposal to ban the filters. He dismissed the concerns as “paternalistic.”
- In response to the veto, then-vice president of product design wrote in an email to Zuckerberg: “I respect your call on this and I’ll support it, but want to just say for the record that I don’t think it’s the right call given the risks . . . I just hope that years from now we will look back and feel good about the decision we made here.”
- Meta executives repeatedly ignored or declined requests to fund proposed well-being initiatives and strategies to reduce harmful features on Instagram and Facebook. For example, in April 2019, Meta’s then-vice president of research emailed Zuckerberg proposing well-being investments on the platforms, pointing out, “there is increasing scientific evidence (particularly in the US…) that the average net effect of [Facebook] on people’s well-being is slightly negative.” Meta’s leadership team declined to fund the initiative. Requests like these, which involved internal discussions between multiple top executives at both Instagram and Facebook over several years, were repeatedly denied.
The coalition seeks to stop Meta from engaging in unlawful practices that deceive and harm youth, including fundamentally changing the user experience for all adolescent users.

-30-

Washington’s Attorney General serves the people and the state of Washington. As the state’s largest law firm, the Attorney General’s Office provides legal representation to every state agency, board, and commission in Washington. Additionally, the Office serves the people directly by enforcing consumer protection, civil rights, and environmental protection laws. The Office also prosecutes elder abuse, Medicaid fraud, and handles sexually violent predator cases in 38 of Washington’s 39 counties. Visit to learn more.

Media Contact:

Brionna Aho, Communications Director, (360) 753-2727; Brionna.aho@atg.wa.gov

General contacts: Click here

MIL OSI USA News –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Fogbow, solar eclipse and an aurora captured in 2025 Australian Weather Calendar

Source: Weather Warnings – Australia

15/10/2024

Issued: Tues 15 October 2024

An elusive optical effect caused by light bending through fog, space weather and a total solar eclipse are among the weather phenomena captured in the Bureau of Meteorology’s Australian Weather Calendar for 2025.

Photos submitted by professional and amateur photographers from across the country are featured in the latest edition of the popular annual calendar.

The photos in the 2025 calendar takes viewers on a journey throughout the country’s many climate zones from Tasmania’s central highlands in the south to the Arafura Sea off the Northern Territory.

The calendar features photos from across Australia which were entered and judged through the Bureau’s yearly photo competition.

National Community Information Manager Andrea Peace said the images were selected from a strong offering of over 500 entries.

“Each month features a photo of a different weather phenomenon alongside a meteorological description written by the Bureau’s meteorologists,” Ms. Peace said.

“The photos offer a glimpse into the science behind how the weather works, and how the Bureau’s services meet the needs of the Australian community and industries.

“Some of the fascinating weather phenomena captured on camera in this year’s selection include unusual cloud formations known as Cirrus uncinus, glowing anticrepuscular sun rays, a glorious sunrise in regional WA, a colourful Aurora australis and moody thunderstorms.”

Featured as the February photo is a waterspout, captured by hobby photographer Cathryn Vasseleu off the Arafura Sea in the NT, after she spotted the unusual sight by chance while birdwatching.

The phenomenon is a tornado that occurs over water and forms a twisting funnel of liquid and vapour, usually only lasting about 5-10 minutes but which can create havoc with winds of over 100km/h.

The much less destructive phenomenon of a fogbow — an optical effect caused by light bending through fog, producing a colourless rainbow — was captured by weather chaser David Metcalf in country NSW and features as the June image.

The perfectly wintery scene of a wombat braving the snow as it journeys through Tasmania’s central highlands was captured by Tassie local Gill Dayton and selected as the cover image for the 2025 edition.

Several of the photos within the calendar reflect the dedication often needed to capture fleeting weather phenomena on camera like spectacular lightning strikes captured in split-second moments.

The December photo of a dazzling Aurora australis display taken by weather-obsessed photographer Rusli Hashim in Northern Tasmania was the photographer’s dream image, captured in the early hours of the morning following an all-night aurora stakeout.

Now in its 41st year, the weather calendar has been celebrating the best of Australian weather photography since 1983.

The 2025 Australian Weather Calendar is on sale now.

Order online at https://shop.bom.gov.au/

ENDS

More information, including detailed meteorological information and photographer profiles, is available by contacting media@bom.gov.au.

Please contact media@bom.gov.au for high-res copies of all images in this year’s Calendar.

Detailed information on each photo’s location and weather phenomenon are listed below, with photo credits.

Per the conditions of entry when photos are submitted, all winning images can only be published in support of Australian Weather Calendar promotion or story. The images cannot be used for any other purpose or project, or in conjunction with any other Bureau media. The photographers retain all rights so image copyright line must accompany each image.

Photo credits:

Cover – Snow, Central Highlands, Tas – Gill Dayton

January – Sunrise and fog, Mornington, WA – Bernard Shaw

February – Water spout, Rapid Creek, NT – Cathryn Vasseleu

March – Lightning strike, Sydney, NSW – Philipp Glanz

April – Solar eclipse, Exmouth, WA – Barend Becker

May – Rainbow and lightning, Derby, WA – JJ Rao

June – Fogbow, Tuena, NSW – David Metcalf

July – Streaky clouds, Yamanto, Qld – Sharon Smolenski

August – Lightning strike, San Remo, Vic – Anna Carson

September – Dust cloud, Merredin, WA – Grant Stainer

October – Rainbow and storm, Nightcliff, NT – Patch Clapp

November – Fog, Mount Beerwah, Qld – Billy Tillott

December – Aurora australis, Squeaking Point, Tas – Rusli Hashim

MIL OSI News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Socially distanced layout of the world’s oldest cities helped early civilization evade diseases

Source: The Conversation – USA – By R. Alexander Bentley, Professor of Anthropology, University of Tennessee

Excavations at Çatalhöyük show how closely people lived before the settlement collapsed. Mark Nesbitt/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

In my research focused on early farmers of Europe, I have often wondered about a curious pattern through time: Farmers lived in large dense villages, then dispersed for centuries, then later formed cities again, only to abandon those as well. Why?

Archaeologists often explain what we call urban collapse in terms of climate change, overpopulation, social pressures or some combination of these. Each likely has been true at different points in time.

But scientists have added a new hypothesis to the mix: disease. Living closely with animals led to zoonotic diseases that came to also infect humans. Outbreaks could have led dense settlements to be abandoned, at least until later generations found a way to organize their settlement layout to be more resilient to disease. In a new study, my colleagues and I analyzed the intriguing layouts of later settlements to see how they might have interacted with disease transmission.

Modern excavations at what was once Çatalhöyük, where inhabitants lived in mud-brick houses that weren’t separated by paths or streets.
Murat Özsoy 1958/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Earliest cities: Dense with people and animals

Çatalhöyük, in present-day Turkey, is the world’s oldest farming village, from over 9,000 years ago. Many thousands of people lived in mud-brick houses jammed so tightly together that residents entered via a ladder through a trapdoor on the roof. They even buried selected ancestors underneath the house floor. Despite plenty of space out there on the Anatolian Plateau, people packed in closely.

Homes at Çatalhöyük were so tightly packed that people entered through the roof and even buried some ancestors beneath the floor.
Illustration by Kathryn Killackey and The Çatalhöyük Research Project

For centuries, people at Çatalhöyük herded sheep and cattle, cultivated barley and made cheese. Evocative paintings of bulls, dancing figures and a volcanic eruption suggest their folk traditions. They kept their well-organized houses tidy, sweeping floors and maintaining storage bins near the kitchen, located under the trapdoor to allow oven smoke to escape. Keeping clean meant they even replastered their interior house walls several times a year.

These rich traditions ended by 6000 BCE, when Çatalhöyük was mysteriously abandoned. The population dispersed into smaller settlements out in the surrounding flood plain and beyond. Other large farming populations of the region had also dispersed, and nomadic livestock herding became more widespread. For those populations that persisted, the mud-brick houses were now separate, in contrast with the agglomerated houses of Çatalhöyük.

Was disease a factor in the abandonment of dense settlements by 6000 BCE?

At Çatalhöyük, archaeologists have found human bones intermingled with cattle bones in burials and refuse heaps. Crowding of people and animals likely bred zoonotic diseases at Çatalhöyük. Ancient DNA identifies tuberculosis from cattle in the region as far back as 8500 BCE and TB in human infant bones not long after. DNA in ancient human remains dates salmonella to as early as 4500 BCE. Assuming the contagiousness and virulence of Neolithic diseases increased through time, dense settlements such as Çatalhöyük may have reached a tipping point where the effects of disease outweighed the benefits of living closely together.

A new layout 2,000 years later

By about 4000 BCE, large urban populations had reappeared, at the mega-settlements of the ancient Trypillia culture, west of the Black Sea. Thousands of people lived at Trypillia mega-settlements such as Nebelivka and Maidanetske in what’s now Ukraine.

If disease was a factor in dispersal millennia before, how were these mega-settlements possible?

Geophysical plot of Nebelivka settlement shows its circular layout, divided into neighborhoods.
Duncan Hale and Nebelivka Project, CC BY-NC

This time, the layout was different than at jam-packed Çatalhöyük: The hundreds of wooden, two-story houses were regularly spaced in concentric ovals. They were also clustered in pie-shaped neighborhoods, each with its own large assembly house. The pottery excavated in the neighborhood assembly houses has many different compositions, suggesting these pots were brought there by different families coming together to share food.

This layout suggests a theory. Whether the people of Nebelivka knew it or not, this lower-density, clustered layout could have helped prevent any disease outbreaks from consuming the entire settlement.

Archaeologist Simon Carrignon and I set out to test this possibility by adapting computer models from a previous epidemiology project that modeled how social-distancing behaviors affect the spread of pandemics. To study how a Trypillian settlement layout would disrupt disease spread, we teamed up with cultural evolution scholar Mike O’Brien and with the archaeologists of Nebelivka: John Chapman, Bisserka Gaydarska and Brian Buchanan.

Simulating socially distanced neighborhoods

To simulate disease spread at Nebelivka, we had to make a few assumptions. First, we assumed that early diseases were spread through foods, such as milk or meat. Second, we assumed people visited other houses within their neighborhood more often than those outside of it.

Would this neighborhood clustering be enough to suppress disease outbreaks? To test the effects of different possible rates of interaction, we ran millions of simulations, first on a network to represent clustered neighborhoods. We then ran the simulations again, this time on a virtual layout modeled after actual site plans, where houses in each neighborhood were given a higher chance of making contact with each other.

Based on our simulations, we found that if people visited other neighborhoods infrequently – like a fifth to a tenth as often as visiting other houses within their own neighborhood – then the clustering layout of houses at Nebelivka would have significantly reduced outbreaks of early foodborne diseases. This is reasonable given that each neighborhood had its own assembly house. Overall, the results show how the Trypillian layout could help early farmers live together in low-density urban populations, at a time when zoonotic diseases were increasing.

The residents of Nebilevka didn’t need to have consciously planned for their neighborhood layout to help their population survive. But they may well have, as human instinct is to avoid signs of contagious disease. Like at Çatalhöyük, residents kept their houses clean. And about two-thirds of the houses at Nebelivka were deliberately burned at different times. These intentional periodic burns may have been a pest extermination tactic.

Re-creation of a Trypillian house-burning, with additional straw and wood necessary to burn hot enough to match archaeological evidence.
Arheoinvest/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

New cities and innovations

Some of the early diseases eventually evolved to spread by means other than bad foods. Tuberculosis, for instance, became airborne at some point. When the bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, became adapted to fleas, it could be spread by rats, which would not care about neighborhood boundaries.

Were new disease vectors too much for these ancient cities? The mega-settlements of Trypillia were abandoned by 3000 BCE. As at Çatalhöyük thousands of years before, people dispersed into smaller settlements. Some geneticists speculate that Trypillia settlements were abandoned due to the origins of plague in the region, about 5,000 years ago.

The first cities in Mesopotamia developed around 3500 BCE, with others soon developing in Egypt, the Indus Valley and China. These cities of tens of thousands were filled with specialized craftspeople in distinct neighborhoods.

This time around, people in the city centers weren’t living cheek by jowl with cattle or sheep. Cities were the centers of regional trade. Food was imported into the city and stored in large grain silos like the one at the Hittite capital of Hattusa, which could hold enough cereal grain to feed 20,000 people for a year. Sanitation was helped by public water works, such as canals in Uruk or water wells and a large public bath at the Indus city of Mohenjo Daro.

These early cities, along with those in China, Africa and the Americas, were the foundations of civilization. Arguably, their form and function were shaped by millennia of diseases and human responses to them, all the way back to the world’s earliest farming villages.

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

– ref. Socially distanced layout of the world’s oldest cities helped early civilization evade diseases – https://theconversation.com/socially-distanced-layout-of-the-worlds-oldest-cities-helped-early-civilization-evade-diseases-239586

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Tech – Lenovo’s Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA Accelerates Smarter Decision Making and Enhances Operations Processes for Improved Business Outcomes

Source: Lenovo

At Lenovo Tech World, Companies Expand Collaboration to Deliver Full-Stack Hybrid AI Capabilities and Customized Generative AI Agents Leveraging Enterprise Data to Unlock Intelligence Across Platforms

SEATTLE – Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang, in his keynote presentation with NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang, unveiled Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA at this year’s Lenovo Tech World—Lenovo’s annual global technology innovation event. Enabled by Lenovo’s full-stack capabilities and Lenovo AI Library, together with NVIDIA AI software, accelerated computing, and networking, Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA empowers organizations to turn data and intelligence into business outcomes faster and more efficiently, accelerating AI adoption and delivering greater return on investment (ROI).

Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA debuts at a time when businesses are increasingly focused on proven solutions to drive innovation and address unique business challenges. A recent Lenovo survey found that 61% of CIOs find it very challenging to demonstrate ROI from their AI investments. Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA enables customers to benefit from pre-validated and industrialized solutions for accelerated deployment.

“Delivering Hybrid AI requires leveraging a purpose-built portfolio and AI services expertise that simplifies the path to AI and enables real-world applications for businesses. Our collaboration with NVIDIA brings together the best of both companies to ensure rapid and reliable AI outcomes for businesses across industries. Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA helps customers achieve outcomes faster by enabling their people to access relevant intelligence across personal, enterprise and public AI platforms,” said Yang.

“AI is reinventing computing and accelerating businesses and industries globally,” said Huang. “Lenovo and NVIDIA’s collaboration is revolutionizing enterprise computing, helping transform companies into platforms of AI agents and digital intelligence that drive incredible speed, innovation, and productivity.”

Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA combines full-stack AI capabilities optimized for factory-like industrialization and reliability with a library of ready-to-customize AI use-case solutions that help customers break through the barriers to ROI from AI. The two companies have partnered closely to integrate NVIDIA accelerated computing, networking, software, and AI models into the modular Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA solution framework for optimized performance. On the Tech World keynote stage, Lenovo and NVIDIA announced solutions designed to help customers maximize speed, innovation, productivity, and energy efficiency:

Lenovo AI Fast Start: Accelerated Deployment

Lenovo AI Fast Start helps organizations prove the business value of use cases on Personal AI, Enterprise AI, and Public AI platforms within weeks. Leveraging the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform, which includes NVIDIA NIM microservices and NVIDIA NeMo for building AI agents, Lenovo AI Fast Start gives customers access to AI assets, experts, and partners that help organizations rapidly build generative AI use case solutions with their own data and tailor them to meet the unique needs of their businesses, maximizing relevance in real-world environments and speeding progress to deployment at scale.

Lenovo AI Library

The Lenovo AI Library brings Hybrid AI to life with proven AI use case accelerators, including domain-specific language models and functional and vertical agents. Spanning key use cases across multiple domains, including marketing, IT operations, legal, product development, and customer service, the pre-validated solutions in the Lenovo AI Library help customers speed deployment to accelerate outcomes from AI. Lenovo and NVIDIA are building ready-to-customize functional and vertical AI solution accelerators on the NVIDIA AI Enterprise and, in the future, NVIDIA Omniverse platforms for the Lenovo AI Library. Together with a curated ecosystem of AI Innovators and partners, Lenovo AI Services will also customize and integrate the recently announced NVIDIA NIM Agent Blueprints, also part of the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform.

Data and Technology Foundations for AI

Many organizations are carrying a technology debt and need help to modernize their platforms to realize value from AI. The Lenovo Data and Tech Foundations for AI service helps customers assess the readiness of their platforms, then take pragmatic and cost-effective actions to modernize their data, apps, and cloud technologies with proven accelerators, tools, and methodologies. Across the full stack, Lenovo will leverage NVIDIA accelerated computing, networking, software, and AI models to enable customers to drive maximum value from their data and technology investments.

AI-Ready Infrastructure and Lenovo Neptune Liquid Cooling

As AI demands surge, enterprise computing must evolve to meet the need for processing more data everywhere while addressing increasing power demands. Since first announcing Lenovo’s hybrid AI approach with NVIDIA in October 2023, the Lenovo portfolio has expanded to include 80+ higher performance, energy-efficient platforms1. With more than a decade of leadership in liquid-cooling innovation, the sixth generation of Lenovo Neptune delivers supercomputing to organizations of all sizes with water cooling that efficiently powers the NVIDIA Blackwell platform and AI at scale. Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA ensures greater energy efficiency2 with a portfolio of powerful AI-ready infrastructure, workstations, PCs, and management software.

Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA represents a new era of AI deployment for businesses worldwide by effectively resolving a primary obstacle to AI ROI. Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA gives organizations access to relevant intelligence from Hybrid AI platforms so they can make smarter decisions – optimizing processes, increasing productivity, improving efficiency, and maximizing innovation for growth. By simplifying the deployment process and unlocking intelligence with AI agents, Lenovo and NVIDIA help organizations achieve faster, more reliable AI outcomes that allow them to modernize and stay competitive in today’s fast-paced and evolving digital landscape.

For more information about Lenovo’s Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA, visit: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/services/ai-services/

1. Based on Lenovo data from internal Lenovo ISG research

2. Based on Lenovo data

LENOVO and NEPTUNE are trademarks of Lenovo. NVIDIA is a trademark of NVIDIA Corporation, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2024 Lenovo Group Limited.

About Lenovo

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$62 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #217 in the Fortune Global 500, employing 77,000 people around the world, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company by further expanding into growth areas that fuel the advancement of ‘New IT’ technologies (client, edge, cloud, network, and intelligence) including server, storage, mobile, software, solutions, and services. This transformation together with Lenovo’s world-changing innovation is building a more inclusive, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com.

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI China: China, Nordic countries see expanding trade cooperation

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

BEIJING, Oct. 15 — China and Nordic countries have broadened their trade and economic cooperation in recent years, with expanded scale and improved quality, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

During the first eight months of this year, trade volume between China and five Nordic countries, including Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark, reached 35.44 billion U.S. dollars, up 5.7 percent year on year, Wang Yupeng, a commerce ministry official, told a press conference in Beijing.

Wang said that high value-added products such as computers, communication equipment, pharmaceuticals, ships, autos and their parts constituted the mainstay of bilateral trade.

Given the current momentum, annual trade between China and the five Nordic countries is expected to exceed 50 billion U.S. dollars this year, Wang said.

For China, the Nordic countries are important sources of foreign investment and destinations for outbound investment, official data showed.

The cumulative direct investment from the five Nordic countries in China has exceeded 15 billion U.S. dollars so far. In the first eight months of this year, China’s direct investment in these countries amounted to approximately 1 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for over one-fifth of China’s total investment in Europe.

“We look forward to working with the Nordic countries to uphold the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, maintain the stability of the China-Europe industrial and supply chains, and jointly oppose protectionism in the field of trade and investment,” Wang said.

The 2024 China-Nordic Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum will be held this week in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, according to the press conference.

MIL OSI China News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI China: China’s methane-tracking satellite to join fight against global warming

Source: China State Council Information Office 2

China’s 2024 schedule of intense spacecraft launches will include the launch of a methane tracker — a commercial satellite designed to monitor methane emissions worldwide.
Coded XIGUANG-004, the 75-kg satellite will carry multiple payloads, including a methane concentration detector and an imaging camera. These payloads are capable of identifying sources of methane emissions in coal mines, landfills, and oil and gas fields.
Scientists say it is important to monitor methane emissions as the colorless, odorless gas is the second-largest contributor to climate warming, after carbon dioxide.
“The duration of methane in the atmosphere is shorter than that of carbon dioxide, making it more urgent to reduce its emissions,” said Liu Yi, director of the Carbon Neutrality Research Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
According to Liu, scientific and technological methods can help reduce methane emissions in the short term, facilitating the utilization of otherwise wasted methane produced during coal and oil mining. Increasing the number of methane-monitoring satellites is also crucial for emissions cuts.
“One of the major challenges we are facing is that current satellites cannot provide sufficient global coverage, resulting in a lack of data,” Liu said in a media interview.
The development of international standards for methane emissions is underway. With a sufficient number of satellites, it will become possible to effectively monitor the methane emissions of enterprises.
“If an enterprise exceeds the set emissions standards, it will be required to provide economic compensation for failing to do so,” Liu said, explaining the role such satellites play in reducing methane emissions.
China has set the goals of peaking its carbon emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060. This has been reinforced by its comprehensive approach to green and low-carbon development, and the new satellite is part of the efforts.
The satellite was developed by Xiopm Space, a commercial satellite maker in Xi’an, capital city of northwestern Shaanxi Province. The firm launched a satellite into space in August 2023, and it aims to develop a constellation of 108 hyperspectral satellites by 2030.
Qin Xiaobao, deputy director in charge of the company’s data application, said that existing technology cannot efficiently and accurately monitor small-scale human-made emissions sources, also known as point sources. In China, the main point sources of methane gas emissions are coal mining, landfill sites, rice farming areas and livestock raising areas.
The new XIGUANG-004 satellite is capable of detecting methane leaks at such specific sources and evaluating the extent of those leakages in high spatial resolution, thus filling the gaps in existing technology, Qin said.
“With the help of this satellite, we can effectively monitor and track point source methane emissions worldwide,” Qin added.

MIL OSI China News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Allens advises TPG Telecom on $5.25bn sale of fibre network and Enterprise, Government and Wholesale fixed line business to Vocus

Source: Allens Insights

Allens has advised TPG Telecom on an agreement to sell its fibre network infrastructure and its enterprise, government and wholesale (EGW) fixed line business to Vocus Group Limited for an enterprise value of $5.25 billion.

The sale will include all of TPG Telecom’s fibre and fixed line network infrastructure, its EGW fixed line business, its PPC-1 international submarine cable system and its wholesale broadband business, Vision Network.

The sale price is inclusive of a potential $250 million contingent value payment related to subscriber targets for the Vision Network business.

TPG will retain its mobile and radiocommunications network infrastructure, consumer and EGW mobile business and its consumer and small office/home office fixed retail business, including fixed wireless.

The deal also includes a long-term strategic partnership between TPG and Vocus, with Vocus to provide TPG with ongoing access to its fibre infrastructure.

Allens acted for TPG Telecom on the strategic review of its Vision Network business in 2022. The firm then advised TPG Telecom on negotiations with Vocus and its owners, Macquarie Asset Management and Aware Super, when the parties decided to explore a larger transaction.

‘This transaction demonstrates that telecommunications infrastructure continues to be a highly attractive asset class for financial investors,’ said co-lead Partner and Head of Allens’ Technology, Media & Telecommunications group, Gavin Smith.

‘The pace of digitisation, and the continued growth in requirements for data transmission and storage, means that the physical infrastructure underpinning that trend is highly valued.

‘Allens has had a long-standing relationship with TPG Telecom. We are delighted to advise it on this transformational transaction which allows it to unlock the value of its fixed line networks.’

Co-lead Partner Julian Donnan said: ‘This deal will allow TPG Telecom to focus on its mobile and its consumer and small office/home office fixed retail business, including fixed wireless. We congratulate the teams at TPG Telecom and its financial adviser, Bank of America, with which we worked closely. We also congratulate the Vocus, Macquarie Asset Management and Aware Super teams’.

The deal cements Allens’ position as the leading advisor on telecommunications M&A activity in Australia.

The firm advised on all major Australian and New Zealand telecommunications tower transactions between 2021 and 2024, including: the Morrison and Future Fund investment into Amplitel (Telstra towers); the sale by TPG Telecom of its towers portfolio to OMERS/Waveconn; AustralianSuper on its acquisition of a majority stake in ATN (Optus towers) and the acquisition by ATN of Axicom; Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s acquisition of a majority stake in Connexa, the Spark New Zealand tower company; Connexa’s acquisition of the 2degrees NZ tower portfolio; and NorthLeaf Capital Partners and InfraRed Capital Partnerson their acquisition of Fortysouth, the Vodafone New Zealand towers business. Allens also advised Morrison and Brookfield on its acquisition of Uniti Group.

Allens legal team

Lead partners

Gavin Smith, Julian Donnan

M&A and Capital Markets

Tom Story (Partner), Kimberley Lowrie (Managing Associate), Stephanie Rowan (Senior Associate), Harry Martin (Associate), Will Brown (Senior Associate), Sophie Stitch (Lawyer)

Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Jessica Mottau (Partner), Isabelle Guyot (Managing Associate), David Liao (Senior Overseas Practitioner), Alexandra Martin (Senior Associate), Isaac Nankavill (Associate), Isabelle Orazio (Lawyer), Tasnim Ahsan (Lawyer), Matilda Winnell (Lawyer)

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MIL OSI News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Latta Presents Paulding County Veteran with Overdue Bronze Star

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green Ohio)

Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH5) today presented Paulding County Veteran William Young with a Bronze Star for his meritorious service in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Young served as one of the members of the ‘B’ Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, Military Police Brigade.

This Bronze Star awarded to Young is part of a larger effort by Latta’s office, spearheaded by a group of the members of the ‘B’ Company in their appeal to obtain the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) to recognize their service during the Vietnam War. After Latta worked alongside the veterans, the Department of the Army concluded the men of ‘B’ Company performed actions essential to the success of the entire 720th MP Battalion during the Vietnam War, and they were recognized with Bronze Stars for their service.

Last year, Latta held a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol for 35 Vietnam Veterans to receive their Bronze Stars. To date, 74 Bronze Stars have been awarded to the men of ‘B’ Company.

“It was a true honor to present a Bronze Star to Mr. William Young, a Paulding County resident, who honorably served our great nation in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War,” Latta said. “Mr. Young was trained to be a Military Policeman (MP) but when he arrived in Vietnam, his unit became part of the Bushwhackers whose duties included heading into the jungle to interdict North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. And since they were MPs, the Army would not issue them the Combat Infantry Badge. I was pleased to work with the veterans to make sure they received the recognition they deserve – the Bronze Star. We are forever grateful and indebted to our servicemembers for serving and sacrificing for our people and country.”

Additional background on the Bronze Stars:

Three years ago, Latta received a copy of a book written by Robert Bogison, entitled Up Close & Personal, that detailed the service and history of ‘B’ Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade during the Vietnam War.

The book came with a letter appealing for assistance with their effort to obtain the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) to recognize their unique service during the Vietnam War. While they were classified as Military Police during their service, the Battalion unofficially performed infantry missions on the front lines.

After contacting the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of the Army to inquire as to the possibility of the group receiving the CIB recognition, officials within the Defense Department undertook an extensive search at multiple personnel records facilities to locate official documentation that could back up claims that the company performed infantry actions. The veterans group also provided documentation for the Army to consider.

After the Department of the Army concluded ‘B’ Company performed actions essential to the success of the entire 720th MP Battalion during the Vietnam War, it was announced these individuals would be recognized with Bronze Stars for their service.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Release: Sluggish economy means struggles ahead for Kiwis
Source: New Zealand Labour Party

While today’s inflation numbers are good news for Kiwis, there are still struggles ahead with rising rents, rates, insurance and high unemployment.
“Inflation is at 2.2 percent, but the rest of the economy is sluggish,” Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said.

“The Reserve Bank was already on track to get inflation back into the target band. However, non-tradable inflation is still high. Rents are up 4.5 percent, local authority rates and payments are up 12.2 percent.

“Skilled workers are leaving the country in droves, and with cuts to the apprenticeship boost, the workers to fill the gaps simply won’t exist.

“New Zealand continues to grapple with a growing infrastructure deficit that has been generations in the making. If the Government was truly serious about tackling it, you would think having a skilled workforce would be critical.

“Nicola Willis wants to take credit for getting inflation down. She should take responsibility for these statistics as well:
- Net New Zealand citizen migration has never been higher at 56,100
- There are 10,000 fewer people working in construction than when this Government took over
- 22,000 more people are on Job Seeker Benefit
“This Government’s decisions have led to a stagnant economy with fewer jobs,” Barbara Edmonds said.

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MIL OSI New Zealand News –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI: Constellation Software Inc. Announces Release Date for Third Quarter Results

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Constellation Software Inc. (TSX:CSU) announced today it intends to release its third quarter results on November 8, 2024.

The Company’s quarterly results will be disseminated via press release and made available on the Company’s website (http://www.csisoftware.com) and the SEDAR website (http://www.sedarplus.ca), after markets close on Friday, November 8, 2024. As outlined in Constellation’s press release on February 23, 2018, Constellation has ceased holding conference calls to discuss the Company’s quarterly financial results. In lieu of the quarterly calls the Company has created a link on its website where shareholders can submit questions to management. Periodically the Company will publish responses to selected questions received. The Company believes this Q&A facility will eventually prove to be a more effective tool than the conference calls because it will be searchable and will provide an archive of all previous responses.

The Company’s goal in establishing this policy is to allow all investors ongoing access to information disclosed about Constellation’s strategy, operations, and ongoing business plans.

Website link: https://www.csisoftware.com/investor-relations/shareholder-q-and-a

About Constellation Software Inc.
Constellation Software acquires, manages and builds vertical market software businesses.

Contact:

Jamal Baksh
Chief Financial Officer
416-861-9677

The MIL Network –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Beijing explores new growth avenues by nurturing high-tech industries

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

A technician operates a device at a workshop of Beijing CRS Medical Device Co., Ltd., a precision manufacturing company specializing in the research, production and sales of sterile dental implants in Beijing, Oct. 13, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING, Oct. 15 — In a sleek, automated workshop at the Daxing International Airport Economic Zone in southern Beijing, technicians from dental implant manufacturer CRS are meticulously checking their implants for any defects under microscopes.

CRS, a precision manufacturing company specializing in the research, production and sales of sterile dental implants, began production here last month. The firm aims to produce one million implants annually. Its products are designed to be competitive by minimizing stress on bone and soft tissues, improving structural stability and simplifying clinical procedures.

Su Hanqi, general manager of Beijing CRS Medical Device Co., Ltd., recalls that it took just an hour to choose the economic zone for their operations. “The one-stop services offered by the zone significantly reduced our efforts in navigating processes and approvals, while a range of supportive policies has fostered an exceptionally conducive entrepreneurial environment for us,” Su said.

To promote the development of the medical and health industry, the economic zone and Daxing District offer policies that include monetary incentives for R&D, innovation application, mass production and space rentals.

Su said that due to the support, overall operating costs are estimated to decrease by 30 percent. “For a manufacturing enterprise like ours, being able to focus on production and R&D is crucial.”

The economic zone where Su’s firm operates aims to develop a series of industrial clusters in sectors such as life sciences, health, medical devices, logistics and international aviation. This aligns with the city’s broader goal of becoming a global hub for scientific and technological innovation.

Data from the Beijing municipal government shows that, from January to August this year, investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services grew by 72.7 percent and 19.4 percent year on year, respectively, driven by policies aimed at accelerating the development of new quality productive forces. This surge has fostered deeper integration between technological and industrial innovation, aligning with the national push for new quality productive forces.

According to the resolution adopted at the third plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in July this year, the country seeks to establish a mechanism for ensuring funding increases for industries of the future, and improve the policy and governance systems to promote the development of strategic industries such as next-generation information technology, AI, aviation and aerospace, new energy and biomedicine, among others.

The picture taken on Aug. 20, 2024 shows the Daxing International Hydrogen Energy Demonstration Zone in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

A 20-minute drive from Daxing airport is the Daxing International Hydrogen Energy Demonstration Zone, home to Hypower, one of the world’s largest hydrogen refueling stations. With a maximum daily capacity of 4.8 tonnes, the station can meet the hydrogen needs of 800 hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles.

Nearby, a workshop of SinoHytec, a Chinese high-tech company specializing in the R&D and commercialization of hydrogen fuel cells, showcases fuel cells of various capacities to visitors.

A technician is pictured working at a hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing company located at Daxing International Hydrogen Energy Demonstration Zone in Beijing, Aug. 20, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

According to Bao Jianpeng, deputy director of production operations at SinoHytec, the company’s fuel cells have been used in more than 15,000 vehicles.

“All the components of our fuel cell systems are home-grown. Another significant breakthrough is that the fuel cells we produce, which previously could only operate above zero degrees Celsius, can now function at temperatures as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius,” he said.

The demonstration zone is focused on creating an industrial ecosystem incorporating hydrogen production, storage, transportation and refueling, fuel cell and components production, as well as testing and certification services for fuel cell vehicles and core components.

The demonstration zone has already attracted over 20 enterprises in the hydrogen industry, including Hypower and SinoHytec, according to the Daxing district government.

MIL OSI China News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: More good news for Kiwis

Source: New Zealand Government

Today’s inflation figures are more good news for New Zealanders, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says.

Stats NZ reported today that the inflation rate had dropped from 3.3 per cent in the year to June to 2.2 per cent in the year to September. That is down from 5.6 per cent just a year ago and over 7 per cent in 2022.

“At 2.2 per cent inflation, it is also the first time the rate has been back within the Reserve Bank’s target range of 1 to 3 per cent since March 2021.

“The era of crushing price rises is now over.

“Kiwis can look forward to mortgage rate reductions and businesses will find it easier to invest and innovate with a lower cost of borrowing.

“The steps the Government is taking to reduce inflationary pressures by restoring discipline to public spending, reducing the red tape that is stifling innovation and development, and rebuilding business confidence are working.

“Together with the tax relief that took effect on 31 July, and the FamilyBoost childcare payments that many families are now receiving, falling inflation and interest rates mean large numbers of families are now better off than they were a year ago.

“There is more work to be done to get the economy growing, but New Zealanders can be confident we are headed in the right direction.”

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI China: UK has no plans for EU-style tariffs on Chinese EVs

Source: China State Council Information Office

British Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said that the United Kingdom (UK) has no plans to follow the European Union’s (EU) decision to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports.

Reynolds said that there had not been any complaints from the UK automative industry to the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA), and he would not seek to follow the EU in pursuing tariffs, the Reuters reported on Monday.

“We keep it under close analysis, but I think it’s important our industry is different, and as of yet industry itself hasn’t asked for that referral to the TRA,” Reynolds told reporters on the sidelines of the International Investment summit in London.

Britain was an “outlier” in how little it had done in terms of building trade links with China, and engagement was a good thing, Reynolds added.

Reynolds had made similar remarks at the G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Italy in July, reaffirming that the UK would not impose punitive tariffs on Chinese EVs like the EU.

China and the EU are yet to reach a mutually acceptable solution on the issue, despite important progress in certain areas, China’s commerce ministry said on Saturday.

The EU’s move has also sparked criticism from several European countries and auto industries, who warn the move could backfire by undermining the EU’s own competitiveness.

MIL OSI China News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Large-scale debt swap eyed to boost economy

Source: China State Council Information Office

A worker counts Chinese currency renminbi at a bank in Linyi, East China’s Shandong province. [Photo/Xinhua]

China is likely to approve a debt swap program worth trillions of yuan as the beginning of a broader plan to decisively forestall any downward economic spiral, economists and policy advisers said.

The debt resolution program — set to be the biggest of its kind in recent years — reflects policymakers’ priority not only to stimulate short-term growth, but also to proactively tackle major structural challenges, opening the door to further substantive policy support, they said.

The policy focus for the coming quarters should include further addressing local governments’ delayed payments to businesses, acquiring idle housing and helping struggling real estate developers overcome difficulties, they said.

The economists and advisers added that by alleviating debt pressures facing local governments, the debt swap plan will improve corporate performance, reinvigorate business expectations and serve as an important stepping stone to economic stabilization.

Noting that this approach is as essential as direct demand stimulus, Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, said, “Resolving the debt issue is a critical step in stopping a key deflationary downward spiral.”

Xing added that the debt swap program would go beyond merely reducing interest payments. “It can improve the liquidity and balance sheets of local businesses (as local governments honor payables), but more fundamentally, restore stability in the regulatory environment and thus business expectations.”

He estimated that the debt swap program will be no less than 6 trillion yuan ($843 billion) over multiple years, with the central government taking over some local debt burdens, and added that this year may see a 2 trillion yuan supplementary fiscal package for local debt resolution and bank recapitalization.

Finance Minister Lan Fo’an said on Saturday that the Finance Ministry plans to increase the debt limit by a large scale at once and replace the hidden debt of local governments, without disclosing the specific size of the plan.

The market is waiting for the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature, to convene in late October or early November to approve the specifics of the plan.

Sheng Zhongming, a research fellow at the CF40 Institute, which is affiliated with the China Finance 40 Forum think tank, said that a debt swap would convert high-cost and structurally complex implicit debt into more sustainable low-cost and standardized government bonds, reflecting a policy orientation of securing this year’s growth target while tackling persistent structural problems.

China must confront the key structural issues of local debt risks, outstanding government payments to businesses, real estate concerns and the recapitalization needs of banks, Sheng said, which will require at least 10 trillion yuan in additional public funds over several years in order to be effectively addressed.

Wang Yiming, vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, suggested leveraging central government funding to address local governments’ overdue payments to businesses that accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To further address the real estate downturn, a feasible solution could be establishing a special fund, financed by fiscal funds, to acquire housing stock and convert it into government-subsidized rental housing for new urban residents, said Wang, who also serves as a monetary policy committee member of the nation’s central bank.

Li Daokui, director of Tsinghua University’s Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking, said it is imperative to address the situation in which local governments face extremely tight cash flows while banks are flush with liquidity.

Li suggested that local debt at least equivalent to 20 percent of the country’s GDP, or around 30 trillion yuan, should be replaced with longer-term treasury bonds.

MIL OSI China News –

January 23, 2025