Category: Business

MIL-OSI Security: Former CEO of Crescenta Valley Investment Firm Sentenced to Over Three Years in Federal Prison for Fraudulently Charging Clients Millions of Dollars

Source: US FBI

LOS ANGELES – The founder and former CEO of an investment firm that specializes in debt instruments was sentenced today to 40 months in federal prison for falsifying financial records to fraudulently inflate the value of the funds he managed, allowing him to charge investors millions of dollars in unauthorized fees.

Brendan Ross, 52, of La Cañada Flintridge, was sentenced by United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer, who also ordered him to pay $5.9 million in restitution.

Ross pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of wire fraud.

In 2012, Ross founded Direct Lending Investments LLC (DLI), a La Cañada Flintridge-based investment firm. He served as the firm’s sole owner and CEO until his resignation in March 2019.

By the summer of 2017, the firm had more than $1 billion in assets under management. According to the indictment, Ross directed DLI to invest the funds’ assets in, among other things, a company that loaned money to small businesses and retailers. The DLI funds made money when the loans performed, meaning that the borrowers made timely payments. Rather than disclose some of the loans were not performing, Ross falsified monthly reports to make it appear borrowers were making payments. The “payments” came from fee rebates given by the company originating the loans.

By lying about the true status of the loans, Ross caused DLI to overstate the value of these loans on the funds’ books and fraudulently inflate the funds’ value. Specifically, Ross caused the monthly asset values of the funds to be cumulatively inflated by more than $300 million over the course of about four years. By fraudulently inflating the value of the funds, Ross was able to collect millions of dollars in fees he otherwise would not have been able to charge to clients.

To further his scheme and help conceal it, Ross arranged for the sale of approximately $55 million of the loans to a third-party buyer in the summer of 2017. Ross once again inflated the value of these loans by lying about their status, falsely telling the buyer that borrowers had been making payments on many of these loans.

“These losses reflect intense financial hardships, including the decimation of retirement and investment accounts, as well as negative professional and reputational consequences suffered by many of the investors…and even DLI employees who were defrauded by [Ross],” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum.

The FBI investigated this matter. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed a civil complaint against Ross in August 2020, provided substantial assistance.

Assistant United States Attorney Scott Paetty of the Major Frauds Section prosecuted this case.

MIL Security OSI –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI: TSplus Unveils a Redesigned Interface for Remote Support Software
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

PARIS, June 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TSplus is proud to announce the release of Remote Support 4.1, featuring a completely redesigned interface that elevates the user experience to a new level. This major update reflects our ongoing commitment to innovation, usability, and delivering value to IT professionals worldwide.

Driven by feedback from customers and partners, and brought to life by the talent of our in-house UX expert, Remote Support’s makeover introduces a more intuitive, streamlined, and modern interface aimed at making remote assistance faster, easier, and more reliable—for both support agents and end users.

“Our goal was simple but ambitious: make the software feel as powerful as it is easy to use,” said Eleana Pace, User Experience Lead at TSplus. “We’ve rethought every screen, every interaction, and every detail to remove friction and deliver a seamless experience.”

A preview of the new interface is shown below.

Remote Support Constantly Evolving to Meet Customer Expectation

In addition to the new design, Remote Support 4.1 introduces technical improvements and critical bug fixes, among which:
- Improved API behavior for better integration (passes UTC in responses to avoid proxy issues)
- Complete UI redesign for improved usability and aesthetics
- Improved translation handling for international users
More exciting enhancements are already underway, reaffirming TSplus’ commitment to continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.

For a full list of changes, visit the changelog.
To download the update, visit the TSplus Store.

About TSplus
TSplus provides secure, cost-effective, and user-friendly remote access and IT management solutions to organizations around the world. With a focus on innovation and customer needs, TSplus offers alternatives to traditional remote desktop tools that are simple to deploy, scale, and maintain.

Press Contact:

Caleb Zaharris
Marketing Director for TSplus
Caleb.zaharris@tsplus.net

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c85b4700-c3e1-4cdd-953b-95c0b634f59c
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/76529f24-faea-4d91-bd33-dce63d1d6612

The MIL Network –
June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI: IDEX Biometrics ASA: Mandatory notification of trade – 11 June 2025
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Kristian Flaten, CFO in IDEX Biometrics ASA, has bought 1,608,809 shares in IDEX Biometrics ASA, at a price of NOK 0.01 per share through the subsequent offering.

After this transaction, Flaten owns 2,608,809 shares in IDEX Biometrics ASA.

Please refer to the attached notification for further details.

For further information contact:

Kristian Flaten, CFO, Tel: +47 95092322

E-mail: ir@idexbiometrics.com

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Article 19 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation and Section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachment
- 2025-06-11 Notice Kristian Flaten
The MIL Network –
June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Inside the chimpanzee medicine cabinet: we’ve found a new way chimps treat wounds with plants

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Elodie Freymann, Post-doc affiliate, University of Oxford

Robin Nieuwenkamp/Shutterstock

As it turns out, chimpanzees make pretty good doctors. For decades, scientists have been studying what chimpanzees do when they fall ill. This search has led to the identification of medicinal behaviour, which often involves the ingestion of plants with chemical or physical properties that can help the animal’s recovery.

My team’s recent study in the Budongo Forest of western Uganda found its chimpanzees show a range of healthcare behaviour – one of which, applying chewed botanical material to wounds, had never before been documented in chimpanzees.

Previous studies have shown that wild chimpanzees appear to treat their wounds and maintain sexual hygiene using medicinal plants found in their environment. What’s more, they treat other group members, even ones who are unrelated to them.

In 2022, a study in Gabon, west Africa found that wild chimpanzees catch and apply insects to their wounds as well as the wounds of non-kin community members. A previous study had reported that chimpanzees in the Kibale Forest of Uganda occasionally dab the wounds of unrelated group members with leaves.

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

Now our research, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, shows the chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest engaging in topical healthcare, both on themselves and others.

To figure out whether the Budongo chimpanzees practice first aid, we combed through more than three decades of hand-written observations from field staff and researchers who have worked in this forest, and searched video archives by Budongo primatologists. We also headed into the field to collect eight months of our own behavioural data. The aim: to accumulate all the cases we could find of external healthcare behaviour and see if a pattern emerged.

What we found surprised us. The Budongo chimpanzees appear to have quite a diverse behavioural toolkit for tending to their own wounds and maintaining hygiene in the wild. This behaviour ranges from simple actions like wound licking, to more complicated behaviour such as applying plant material to an injury.

In some cases, chimpanzees dabbed their open wounds with leaves. In rarer cases, they chewed up plant material (like leaves or stem bark) and applied it directly to the affected area with their mouths. Similar behaviour was shown in Sumatran orangutans in 2024.

Read more:
What the hidden rhythms of orangutan calls can tell us about language – new research

But these chimpanzees don’t limit their self-care to treating wounds. We recorded them freeing themselves from wire snares set by hunters, and cleaning their genitals with leaves after mating. In one notable case documented in the forest’s logbook from 2009, a chimpanzee wiped herself with a leaf after defecating.

Chimpanzees are known to tend each other’s wounds.
Patrick Rolands/Shutterstock

We also wanted to determine which plants the Budongo chimpanzees were selecting. We discovered that some of these plants, such as Alchornea floribunda and a species of Acalypha, have traditional medicinal uses and chemical properties related to wound-healing or infection prevention. Whether this is a coincidence, or an indicator that chimpanzees can identify medicinal plants helpful for wound care, is a question for future research.

Chimpanzee doctors

Buried in logbooks and video archives, we also found seven cases of chimpanzees providing healthcare for others in their community. Even more interesting, the demographics of the providers and receivers of this healthcare varied dramatically – occurring between both genetically related and unrelated chimpanzees.

Our study includes cases of chimpanzees licking each other’s wounds and applying plant material to the wounds of injured group members. This kind of wound care, directed toward others, is considered “prosocial” as it offers no obvious or immediate benefit to the carer. In fact, this kind of direct interaction with the wounds of others can pose risks for the carer, exposing them to infectious pathogens or infections.

As far as we know, this is the first time prosocial wound care has been reported among chimpanzees in the Budongo forest reserve. We also noted cases in which chimpanzees helped free others from nylon snares, and one case in which a female wiped the genitals of a male in her group with leaves after mating.

Our findings add this site to the growing list of places where altruistic healthcare has been observed among non-kin, advancing our understanding of chimpanzees’ capacity for compassion and empathy.

Survival of the kindest?

Chimpanzees are often painted as aggressive, Machiavellian and self-interested, especially in comparison to their peace-loving bonobo cousins. But it appears that these highly social animals have a softer side.

Chimpanzees are not the only animals who have been observed administering first aid to others. Recently, a US study found that mice help pull the tongues out of the mouths of unconscious cage companions, clearing their air passages. The carer mice were more likely to do this if they were familiar with the incapacitated mouse.

Even Matabele ants from sub-Saharan Africa will help treat nest mates’ infected wounds with self-generated antibiotic secretions.

Non-human healthcare may take different forms, but it appears that animals throughout the animal kingdom can administer first aid to themselves and others. It may not be such a dog-eat-dog world after all.

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

– ref. Inside the chimpanzee medicine cabinet: we’ve found a new way chimps treat wounds with plants – https://theconversation.com/inside-the-chimpanzee-medicine-cabinet-weve-found-a-new-way-chimps-treat-wounds-with-plants-258094

MIL OSI Analysis –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Spending review delivers big boosts for health and defence – but Rachel Reeves is focused on investment

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Linda Yueh, Fellow in Economics/Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of Oxford

UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered the government’s spending review, setting out its plans and priorities for the next three years. The aim of the review is of course to allocate spending over that time period – but this government is keen for economic growth and so has directed the funds to try to boost GDP. This approach could work but is particularly challenging in an uncertain global environment.

The parameters of the UK’s fiscal policy were set in the budget last October and the spring statement in March when the chancellor confirmed her fiscal rules, which allowed borrowing only for investment. Day-to-day spending on public services like the NHS and schools has to be met by tax revenues.

As a result of an earlier tweak to the fiscal rules, public investment – spending on things like roads and hospitals – will total about £113 billion from now until nearly the end of this parliament.

Many investors and creditors will have been looking out for this boost, as the UK has lagged behind comparable economies partly due to its lower levels of investment. The announcements have the potential to bring in private funding if more investors see an opportunity to benefit from increased economic growth, particularly if the UK’s relatively high energy costs are also addressed.

Also in line for government investment is social and affordable housing. The announcement of £39 billion for this sector in England was a centrepiece of Reeves’ announcement. Coupled with planning reforms, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) judged in March that this could indeed boost growth.

There will be more money for social housing – £39 billion over ten years in England.
Irene Miller/Shutterstock

In terms of day-to-day spending, health and defence received the biggest increases among government departments because of, respectively, pressures on the NHS arising from COVID-19 and the ageing population, and from geopolitical challenges like the war in Ukraine.

Both departments, though, also have the potential to raise economic growth. Rates of economic inactivity (people who aren’t in paid work, for example) in the UK have not fallen back to their pre-COVID levels as they have in other major economies such as the US, France and Germany. Improving health services, cutting waiting lists and widening access to mental health support could help get more people back to work, which would boost employment and support growth.

And on defence, spending in this area has the potential (depending greatly on the type of spend) to create technology that could eventually boost the nation’s productivity. GPS, for example, was developed by the US Department of Defense, as were many innovations now used in smartphones. Boosting UK defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by 2027 and investing in technology has the potential to unlock advances in equipment for the UK.

Who loses out?

This is not to say that increasing the settlements to other government departments would not support growth too. But some of those departments, including the Home Office, Foreign Office and transport, are now facing cuts in real terms to their spending. And they may find themselves under even more pressure should GDP growth slow.

This is because of the chancellor’s fiscal rule about funding current spending from taxes. This would mean cuts if these receipts fall as a result of slowing growth, since Reeves has very little “fiscal headroom” (spare cash) to ensure she can meet her rules – only £9.9 billion.

But the reverse may also prove to be true. Should investment in research and development (£22.6 billion per year by 2029‑30), renewable energy and infrastructure, alongside planning reforms, increase GDP growth, then the chancellor may find that she has more funding to allocate to day-to-day departmental spending to support public services.

However, it takes time for investment to generate growth. OBR forecasts only expect increased growth of around 1.7% to 1.8% in the second half of this parliament. But those growth forecasts pre-date the US president Donald Trump’s tariffs announced in April, which are causing turmoil in global trade.

This is why it is even more important for the UK to raise domestic economic growth through investing in people, technology and productivity. To govern is to choose, as the saying goes, and the government will hope that these are the right trade-offs to have made in order to grow during such shaky times. Despite the uncertain global picture, the chancellor has laid some promising foundations. Now the challenge will be delivering the growth.

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

– ref. Spending review delivers big boosts for health and defence – but Rachel Reeves is focused on investment – https://theconversation.com/spending-review-delivers-big-boosts-for-health-and-defence-but-rachel-reeves-is-focused-on-investment-258746

MIL OSI Analysis –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: E-bikes are becoming e-waste – here’s how to reduce the environmental cost

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Yvonne Ryan, Associate Professor in Environmental Science, University of Limerick

Electric e-bikes make cycling easier, faster and more accessible. They are already playing an important role in reducing the environmental impact of transport, particularly when they replace a trip in a private car.

But when you scrap an e-bike, you also have to scrap its battery. And these batteries can be particularly dangerous and tricky to dispose of. This means the growth of e-bikes is leading to at least one related environmental problem: a rise in electronic or e-waste.

The sector needs stronger regulations to encourage it to cut its waste. This includes encouraging bikes to be designed to be easier to repair or recycle, and establishing universal standards that allow parts to work across different brands and models, so components can be reused instead of thrown away.

However, e-bikes often fall between legislative cracks, and their exclusion from the priority products under the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, introduced in 2024, was unfortunate.

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

At the University of Limerick in Ireland, colleagues and I have been researching the environmental impact of e-bikes. We’re interested in their full lifecycle, from metals in rocks to extraction, manufacturing, years of use and eventual disposal – to see if there are ways to reduce the materials they use.

We interviewed retailers and people who work in waste management. They expressed concerns about online sales of lower-quality e-bikes with easily broken components, as well as the high turnover rates of e-bikes.

E-bike rental services like this one in Dublin, Ireland are growing fast.
Brendain Donnelly / shutterstock

Using data from the fleet of e-bikes loaned out at our university, we noted issues with design and compatibility of components. Bike tyres, for instance, have become increasingly non-standard and specialised.

Additive manufacturing, such as 3D printing, may become more important for bike retailers and repairers, who could use it to “print” themselves replacements nuts, screws or even seats. This may be particularly needed in island states such as Ireland, where there are often delays in sourcing parts.

But first, the e-bikes must be of sufficient quality to be repaired. Then, to create the replacement parts, people will need to access the necessary data – digital files with precise designs of objects such as a bicycle tyre or handlebar.

Keeping e-bikes in use

New business models are emerging. Some companies are lending e-bikes to their employees, with a management company taking care of maintenance and repair.

There are also a growing number of mobile e-bike repair services, and specialist training for e-bike repair and retail through manufacturer platforms like Bosch and Shimano.

E-bike brands are shifting from a focus on selling bikes towards offering ongoing services. For example, e-bike retailer Cowboy offers a subscription to mobile bike mechanics, and VanMoof partners with authorised repair services. But while these models work well in big towns and cities, they may not be suitable for rural and smaller urban areas.

Care needs to be taken to ensure that consumers are not disadvantaged or locked out from repair options. In the US, e-bike manufacturers have been requesting exceptions to laws designed to make products easier to repair – while urging that the public should not be allowed to access data needed to make repairs.

E-bikes can be hard to spot

On the waste handling side, some of the innovations that have made e-bikes more accessible are also creating new problems.

For example, e-bikes have evolved to be sleeker and sometimes indistinguishable from regular bikes. This makes it easier for them to end up in regular waste management facilities that aren’t equipped for electronic waste. If a lithium-ion battery inside an e-bike still holds charge and gets crushed or shredded, it can start a fire.

But this is a problem we can solve. Computer vision and other AI technologies could help to recognise e-bikes and batteries at waste management facilities. QR codes on bike frames could be used to provide information on the entire product lifecycle, including repair manuals and service history – just like the EU’s proposed product passports.

Consumer awareness, choice and education are key. While it’s up to consumers to initiate the maintenance and repair of e-bikes, policymakers need to ensure these options are available and affordable, and that consumers are aware of them.

Retailers need support to embed “repair and reuse” in their business models. This includes cycle-to-work schemes for people to buy e-bikes, as well as better access to insurance and legal protections for selling refurbished e-bikes, and a workforce with the skills to repair these bikes.

Across the world, bike libraries and “try before you buy” schemes are helping consumers make better decisions, as people can test an e-bike before committing. Moving away from traditional ownership – especially for expensive e-bikes – could make active mobility more accessible.

Policies that drive sales, such as grants and incentives for new bike purchases, can work against efforts to reduce waste. We need more policies that support refurbished and repaired e-bikes.

The e-bike sector is one with great potential to improve both environmental and public health. But to realise these benefits, we need to focus on making them last longer and use less resources.

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

– ref. E-bikes are becoming e-waste – here’s how to reduce the environmental cost – https://theconversation.com/e-bikes-are-becoming-e-waste-heres-how-to-reduce-the-environmental-cost-258367

MIL OSI Analysis –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Hidden gems of LGBTQ+ cinema: Saving Face is a complicated romcom that tenderly depicts the experiences of queer Asians

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eva Cheuk-Yin Li, Lecturer in Media & Cultural Studies, Lancaster University

As a queer woman of East Asian descent who researches transnational queer media and culture, Saving Face (2004), the debut feature by Alice Wu, holds a special place in both my heart and my research.

Set in the tightly knit Chinese-American community of Flushing, New York, Saving Face follows Wil (Michelle Krusiec), a young, promising yet closeted surgeon whose carefully balanced life is thrown into chaos when her widowed mother, Hwei-Lan (Joan Chen), shows up on her doorstep. Hwei-Lan is pregnant and has been banished by her community, and is refusing to name the father.

What unfolds is a story that blends romantic comedy with drama. As well as Wil’s budding relationship with a dancer named Vivian (Lynn Chen), the film explores the tensions between mothers and daughters, identity and duty, and the quiet pressure of silence and the fear of coming out.

But what makes Saving Face stand out two decades after its release is its portrayal of love and family – through a lens of tenderness and care. It was one of the first mainstream films to centre a queer Asian American woman.

The emotional heart of the film lies in the layered interplay between personal desire and cultural expectation, which is felt not only by Wil but also by her mother. While Wil is carefully exploring a same-sex romance, Hwei-Lan’s unexpected pregnancy has left the family reeling with shame. The film explores how these two women of different generations are pushed to perform “respectability”, even as they long for love and self-determination on their own terms.

This article is part of a series highlighting brilliant films that should be more widely known and firmly part of the canon of queer cinema .

In many East Asian societies, the idea of “face” – a person’s reputation, dignity and social currency – shapes the way they move through the world. To “lose face” is to lose one’s social standing, bringing shame on oneself and one’s family.

Growing up as a tomboyish daughter in Hong Kong, I was acutely aware of how even my clothing, hairstyle or mannerisms could be read as a reflection of my parents’ success or failure in raising me. In other words, my gender expression could make my family lose face, something that queer ethnographer Denise Tang has also observed in the experiences of her lesbian informants in Hong Kong. This social pressure – the way neighbours stare and talk, the way family reputation hinges on everyday interaction – can be exhausting.

And like Wil in the film, I channelled my energy into academic achievement. This was perhaps to compensate for my (unspoken-yet-socially recognised) queerness, to prove my worth and save face – both mine and my family’s. In environments where silence is preferred, excelling becomes a form of camouflage – a way of negotiating who you are without having to say it aloud.

Wu’s film captures this perfectly. Both Wil and her mother are caught in webs of expectation: to be the “dutiful daughter” and “respectable mother”.

But what I love about Saving Face is that it doesn’t demonise culture or community. Instead, it invites viewers to witness how love – queer love, maternal love, self-love – can expand our understanding of what it means to belong. The mother-daughter dynamic is just as central as the romantic plot, and it is rare to see this kind of intergenerational, diasporic storytelling rendered with such care and grace.

Shot on 35mm, Saving Face is a visual joy. The warm, lived-in colours and soft, quiet richness give the film a timeless, intimate feel. There is a restrained elegance to Wu’s direction that lets the emotional currents breathe.

Joan Chen is magnetic as Wil’s mother, bringing unexpected comedic charm alongside poignancy. Krusiec and Lynn Chen, as Wil and Vivian, bring a nuanced chemistry that feels genuine. Their connection has all the longing and awkwardness that makes a romcom work, without falling into cliché.

Despite its cult status in queer Asian and Sinitic-language communities, Saving Face is still often left out of broader LGBTQ+ film canons – even though it was recently added to the Criterion Collection, known for curating significant classic and contemporary cinema. But it should not be.

This film is far more than a “representation win”. It’s a sharp, funny and emotionally rich story that complicates the binary between personal freedom and responsibility. And queer Asian characters are still rarely portrayed with this much nuance, complexity – and joy.

For viewers unfamiliar with the cultural backdrop, Saving Face offers a glimpse into the negotiations many of us make within families and communities who prioritise harmony and silence over disruption. For those of us who know this world intimately, the film is a gift. It is a recognition that our experiences are not only valid, but beautiful.

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

– ref. Hidden gems of LGBTQ+ cinema: Saving Face is a complicated romcom that tenderly depicts the experiences of queer Asians – https://theconversation.com/hidden-gems-of-lgbtq-cinema-saving-face-is-a-complicated-romcom-that-tenderly-depicts-the-experiences-of-queer-asians-258520

MIL OSI Analysis –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Anxiety is the most common mental health problem – here’s how tech could help manage it

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Cambridge

Anxiety disorders are the world’s most common mental health problem. But it isn’t always easy to get professional help, with long waiting lists in many countries.

Worldwide, only about 28% of people with anxiety receive treatment. The figure is similar for the UK, and in the US about 37% receive a treatment. This is due to a number of factors such as lack of resources, including mental health staff, and stigma associated with mental health problems.

But if you’re struggling to get help, there are things you could try at home in the meantime – including some novel technologies. To understand how they work, let’s first take a look at how anxiety is expressed in the brain and body.

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

The symptoms of anxiety are cognitive and emotional as well as physiological. They can include trouble concentrating and making decisions, feeling irritable or tense and having heart palpitations or shaking. Trouble sleeping and feelings of panic or impending danger are also common.

These symptoms often start in childhood and adolescence. Sadly, it frequently continues into adulthood, especially if untreated.

There are many genetic and environmental factors involved in the development of anxiety. These can include competition and pressure at school, university or work or financial worries and lack of job security. Social isolation and loneliness are also common factors, often a result of retirement, home working or stemming from bullying or maltreatment in childhood.

Such experiences may even rewire our brains. For example, our neuroimaging study has shown that maltreatment in childhood is linked to changes in the connectivity of the brain’s centromedial amygdala, which plays a key role in processing emotions, including fear and anxiety, and the anterior insula, which processes emotion among other things.

Anxiety is commonly associated with depression or other conditions, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder. During the COVID pandemic when the prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25%, people with such neurodevelopmental conditions exhibited more emotional problems than others.

According to the Children’s Commissioner this is still on the rise with 500 children per day being referred to mental health services for anxiety, more than double the rate pre-pandemic.

Researchers are still uncovering new ways for professionals to help treat such people. For example, in our recent study, we noticed that suicidal thoughts and depression were more common in children with anxiety who were also very impulsive. This could impact the treatments they receive. So the science of how to best treat anxiety is constantly moving forward.

Young people are increasingly anxious.
PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

Tech solutions

Unfortunately though, waiting lists for even receiving a diagnosis can sometimes take years. Neurotechnology can, at least in part, help fill the gap before symptoms get worse. There are a number of startup companies in the anxiety space, working on both hardware and software for anxiety management.

Technology for managing anxiety is rapidly advancing, offering alternatives and complements to traditional therapies. Moonbird, for example, uses a handheld device that guides users through paced breathing with gentle physical movements. You essentially feel the device move in your hand and breathe along with it. Research has shown that such breathing can help the nervous system to reduce anxiety symptoms.

The company Parasym influences brain regions involved in mood and stress regulation. People can use it by wearing a small device that applies mild electrical micro impulses running through the vagus nerve, which runs from the ears and downwards trough the neck and activates a key part of the nervous system.

Neurovalens and Flow Neuroscience are exploring non-invasive brain stimulation, such as transcranial “direct current stimulation (tDCS)”. This can be applied by using electrodes placed on the scalp to deliver a mild, constant electrical current to alter brain activity. These devices ultimately target the prefrontal cortex to support the regulation of emotions. One scientific review of tDCS studies in anxiety has concluded that some research clearly showed benefits of tDCS for treating anxiety symptoms, although larger scale and longer duration studies were needed.

How we experience life events and feel or react to them also influences physiological functions such as our heart rate. You will have experienced how having a meaningful conversation creates a special connection between two people. This can actually manifest in the body as increased synchronisation of your heart rates and other functions. This is termed “physiological synchrony” and is thought to be important for positive social interaction.

Unfortunately, in common conditions of anxiety, including social anxiety and postpartum maternal anxiety, heart rate can become less variable and therefore less able to synchronise. Therefore, a device that promotes physiological synchrony would be beneficial. The company Lyeons is currently developing such a device, targeting anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and ADHD.

On the digital side, Headspace offers structured meditation and cognitive behavioural therapy based programmes. Similarly, ieso offer typed text-based CBT therapy for mild to moderate anxiety and low mood. These platforms use guided meditation, breathing exercises and behavioural tools to help users build emotion resilience and reduce anxious thought patterns.

Other emerging tools also include virtual reality, which is being explored for exposure therapy and immersive stress reduction, in particular. All these technologies have used scientific and medical information to offer diverse options that address both mind and body.

If we can halt the trend towards increasing numbers of people suffering from anxiety and find ways to improve access to effective treatments, it will lead to a better quality of life for individuals and their families, improved productivity and wellbeing at work and promote a flourishing society.

Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian receives funding from the Wellcome Trust. Her research work is conducted within the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Mental Health and Neurodegeneration Themes.

Christelle Langley receives funding from the Wellcome Trust. Her research work is conducted within the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Mental Health and Neurodegeneration Themes.

– ref. Anxiety is the most common mental health problem – here’s how tech could help manage it – https://theconversation.com/anxiety-is-the-most-common-mental-health-problem-heres-how-tech-could-help-manage-it-258116

MIL OSI Analysis –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: NEWS: National Weather Service Reverses Cuts after Harder’s Outcry
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Josh Harder (CA-10)

Sacramento, Hanford stations were targeted for reduction of operations

Loss of 24/7 service would be catastrophic for disaster weather response

WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Josh Harder (CA-09) announced that the National Weather Service (NWS) is implementing emergency hiring plans to keep two Valley weather stations open in response to Harder’s advocacy. The Sacramento and Hanford stations were poised to lose 24/7 service because of staffing cuts which would have been catastrophic for emergency response to floods, wildfires, and severe storms. On Friday, Rep. Harder demanded the National Weather Service reverse its cuts and keep the only two Valley stations fully staffed.

NWS service crisis by the numbers:
- DOGE terminated 500 NWS employees, representing a 12% reduction in force.
- Sacramento has 7 vacancies out of 16 meteorologist positions, and Hanford has 8 vacancies across 13 positions – leaving the Valley half-staffed amid peak wildfire season.
- Decreased service capacity leaves California water managers without critical forecasts needed to make life-or-death water supply decisions.
“Ending 24/7 service operations that keep our families safe from floods and fires makes absolutely no sense – that’s why I called on NWS to immediately reverse these plans,” said Rep. Harder. “Today’s announcement is a step back towards sanity, but Valley communities need more than a temporary fix. I’m going to keep fighting to get these vacancies filled permanently, and I won’t rest until Valley families can rest assured that the federal government is actually at work keeping them safe.”

In his letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Harder urged Washington to:
- Reinstate all terminated workers at the Sacramento and Hanford offices.
- Ensure that the Sacramento and Hanford weather forecast offices are adequately staffed to maintain 24/7 operations.
Read the full letter here.

###

MIL OSI USA News –
June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: A portrait taken in North Philly in the 1980s reconnects poet with cherished memories of her own beloved father
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, Professor of Theater, Temple University

Local residents sitting on the steps in the shade at 3106 N. Broad St. in North Philadelphia in 1986.
Joseph V. Labolito/Philadelphia Collections

To celebrate Father’s Day, The Conversation U.S. asked Philadelphia anthropologist, playwright and poetic ethnographer Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon to reflect on a poem she recently performed to accompany a 1986 photograph by Philadelphia photographer Joseph V. Labolito.

Williams-Witherspoon, who also serves as senior associate dean of the Center for the Performing and Cinematic Arts at Temple University, shares how the collaboration came about, and why one of Labolito’s photos in particular brought back a rush of cherished memories of being a little girl hanging out with her dad.

Local residents sitting on the steps in the shade at 3106 N. Broad St. in North Philadelphia in 1986.
Joseph V. Labolito/Philadelphia Collections
There Are Black Fathers To Daddy, Father’s Day, June 19, 1983 I’ve known men Who rise at dawn To run a sort of race; Working through sleep Stopping long enough to yawn Providing for their families Just a little place. Black men going, going, going (sometimes, till their gone.) I’ve known men Who trudge home after long hours And an even longer pain, And still manage to smile, Warmed by the voice of a child. "Hi, Daddy!" "How was your day?" I’ve known men Who take care Even when Mommy can’t. And, even though they can only Cook hamburgers really good, They put band-aids on awfully well. I’ve known men Who loving replace lost teeth With shiny new dimes; Remember birthdays and Christmas’. Dutifully repair Old, broken toys And, even, sometimes, Wipe away salty tears. I’ve known men Who reprimand, Teach us values And, if we’re lucky, Along with Mom, Help us take a stand. Who calm us when we’re frightened; Scare us when we’re bad — Hold our hands. I’ve known men, Not just as Fathers; But, more so, as "Dads" — Who give us what we get And gave us what we had. Loving and kind; Stern, yet strong, I’ve known men Who’ve guided generations along As provider, supporter, parent — Pop, Dad! There are Black fathers Who would gladly do it again Parenting future generations. Yes, I have known These men. © 2025 Kimmika L. H. Williams-Witherspoon
What do you want people to take away from the poem?

The whole poem is a tribute to my father, Samuel Hawes Jr., who lived from 1920 to 1989, and the many men like him who were always present and participatory in the parenting of their children and the providing for their families.

Because of stereotypes and popular culture – media, movies, news stories – that tend to demonize and pathologize Black men, there’s a myth that men in our communities are all cut from the same cloth.

For me, the poem discounts that stereotypical narrative and celebrates the African American men that I knew growing up – Daddy, my uncles, the deacons in our church, the neighborhood dads on my block.

The men in this photograph represent men like Daddy, who at one point worked two jobs to provide for his family. He drove a yellow cab and worked the graveyard shift as a presser at the U.S. Mint. He took me to school every morning when I was in high school. He made it to every school function or occasion, drove me to and from parties so I could hang out with friends, took me to church every Sunday morning and on those special road trips to Cleveland, Akron, Ohio, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, throughout my life.

Tell us about your collaborator for this piece

Joe Labolito is a Philadelphia photographer whose work, I believe, is visual ethnography at its best. Throughout the ‘80s, ’90s and 2000s, he documented the people, streets and neighborhoods of Philadelphia. His photographs are housed in several public and private collections, including the Special Collections Research Center at Temple University and the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Print and Picture Collection.

About a year ago, I saw an exhibit of Joe’s work at Temple. Since that time, I have been using some of his photographs as a visual prompt for my students, while he and I talked about doing something together down the road.

When I was asked to participate in Temple University President John Fry’s investiture events in March 2025, I asked Joe if he wanted to do something with me. Right away he said “Yes … whatever it is.” I asked him to send me maybe 25 of his favorite photos, and instead, he sent me about a hundred. When I got a minute to sift through them, there were 11 that, as soon as I looked at them, immediately prompted lines of poetry.

This photograph of the two men and the little girl, however, made me remember an old poem, “There Are Black Fathers,” I had written a long time ago – on Father’s Day on June 19, 1983 – for my father before he passed away from prostate and bone cancer. I went digging through my old journals until I found the poem that I had written for Daddy, and I performed that poem to this photograph at the event.

What stood out to you about this photograph?

The juxtaposition between the men and the little girl – their beautiful, bright smiles, the joy they seemed to radiate – it all made me think about and remember how much I loved Daddy my entire life but especially as a little girl.

That’s the power in these kinds of artistic, material and visual artifacts. This photograph transported me right back to my childhood, filled with the warmth of a summer’s day, hanging out with my dad, and the promise of a banana Popsicle later in the afternoon.

What is your process for writing a poem to accompany a photograph?

Whatever the prompt – a photograph, a landscape, a person I’ve passed on the street, a word or phrase – the first draft is a free-write sensory download dump. I ruminate and then write down everything that comes to me in whatever order it comes.

And then with each subsequent draft or pass at it, I start reading the poem out loud and tweaking it, making edits, moving and changing things while crafting lines that frame and build the story. I read the piece aloud over and over and over again until the poem tells me when I’ve got it right. I don’t know how, but my ear will tell me when it’s done and right with my spirit.

What is poetic ethnography?

Ethnography is an area of anthropology. From the Greek word “ethnos,” ethno simply means people or culture, and graphy, from the Greek word “graphia,” is the writing about said people or culture.

Traditional ethnographies are usually written in a diarylike journal form. You end up jotting things down – thoughts, feelings, expressions, verbatim texts from interview participants – alongside bits and pieces of theory that correlate. Field notes are a combination of prose and scientific inquiry. I am a proponent of compiling poetic ethnographies – turning my observation and investigation of cultures, communities, and my field notes, into poetic form.

Growing up in Philadelphia and a product of Philadelphia public schools, my primary language is mainstream U.S. English, but I tell people that my actual language is poetry. I see the world through poetry, and through the medium of poetry, I think I am better able to articulate the world I see.

Read more of our stories about Philadelphia.

Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon has received funding from Lumena Foundation’s Fund for Racial Justice and Equity (2018-19) and PEW Charitable Trusts Arts Grant (2020).

Joseph V. Labolito owns the copyright to Philadelphia Collections. Philadelphia Collections research and operations is supported and partially funded by the Bridge award; an internal grant provided by the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) at Temple University for the 2024 – 2025 year.

– ref. A portrait taken in North Philly in the 1980s reconnects poet with cherished memories of her own beloved father – https://theconversation.com/a-portrait-taken-in-north-philly-in-the-1980s-reconnects-poet-with-cherished-memories-of-her-own-beloved-father-255810
MIL OSI Analysis –
June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: President of Uzbekistan meets with EBRD head

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

Tashkent, June 11 (Xinhua) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Wednesday received a delegation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) led by its President Odile Renaud-Basso, the presidential press service reported.

“On June 11, on the eve of the third meeting of the Foreign Investors Council, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received a delegation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development headed by its President Odile Renaud-Basso,” the statement said.

It is reported that issues of further expansion of strategic cooperation between Uzbekistan and this authoritative international financial institution were discussed.

“We are pleased to note the expansion of the portfolio of joint projects: EBRD investments in Uzbekistan have already exceeded EUR 5.5 billion. Plans for the current year include attracting another EUR 1.1 billion, a significant portion of which will be directed to support the private sector,” the statement says. –0–

MIL OSI Russia News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Davids Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Give Expecting Parents Choice Over Child Health Care Insurance

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Sharice Davids (KS-3)

Today, Representative Sharice Davids reintroduced her Empowering Parents’ Healthcare Choices Act, a bipartisan bill designed to cut insurer red tape, avoid surprise medical bills, and give parents decision-making power over their infant’s health care — not the insurance company. She was joined by Congressman Gabe Evans (R-CO-08).

Currently, many expecting parents with separate health insurance policies are subject to an obscure and often undisclosed rule known as “the birthday rule,” which determines the insurance policy that will cover a new baby — regardless of what the parents want. Insurance companies often do not inform parents of this policy, which can result in surprise medical bills for growing families.

That’s what happened to the Kjelshus family of Olathe, KS, when they welcomed their daughter Charlie into the world — leaving them with a $270,951 out-of-network hospital bill even though they had planned for Charlie’s birth based on the coverage they expected to use.

“Every parent should be able to focus on the health of their newborn — not on navigating fine print or fighting surprise bills,” said Davids. “This bipartisan bill puts families first by giving them the power to choose the best health care coverage for their child. I’m proud to work across the aisle with Congressman Evans to cut red tape and protect new parents from being blindsided during one of the most important moments of their lives.”

The Empowering Parents’ Healthcare Choices Act would give parents 60 days after the birth of their child to choose which insurance policy will cover their new baby. It would also give the Administration authority to instruct insurers on how and when to notify parents of their rights, helping more families avoid frustrating red tape, surprise bills, and insurance policy mazes.

“As a parent of a medically complex kid who spent years in and out of hospitals receiving specialty care, I understand firsthand how critically important it is to make sure every family has a say in the best care for themselves and their child,” said Congressman Gabe Evans (R-CO-08). “I’m proud to co-lead the Empowering Parents’ Healthcare Choices Act to ensure that new parents across the country have the freedom to choose what insurance plan works best for their family’s needs.”

“First Focus Campaign for Children applauds the introduction of the Empowering Parents’ Healthcare Choices Act by Representatives Sharice Davids and Gabe Evans,” said Bruce Lesley, President, First Focus Campaign for Children. “This legislation is a vital step toward ensuring that every child receives the health care coverage they need and deserve starting at birth. By giving parents the freedom to choose the best insurance for their newborn, we can eliminate unnecessary financial burdens and protect families from the confusion and hardship caused by outdated insurance rules. Every child should have access to comprehensive, affordable health care — and this bill helps make that a reality for more children across the United States.”

Davids is a fierce advocate for making health care affordable and accessible to all Kansans. She supported legislation to protect patients from out-of-network surprise medical bills, which shielded patients from millions of surprise bills since passage. This law included Davids’ original legislation to improve insurer transparency, helping patients avoid unintentional out-of-network health care visits.

Davids also voted for major legislation that gives Medicare the power to negotiate down the price of prescription drugs, which will save 74,000 Kansans up to 79 percent on their prescriptions. The law also capped insulin costs for Kansans on Medicare at $35 a month and capped Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 per year.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Indoor farming helps community members bring healthy food to northern Manitoba

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ruchira Nandasiri, Instructor, Agrology, University of Manitoba

Northern communities in Manitoba contend with health issues related to the difficulty of accessing health food. (Shutterstock)

Healthy food is hard to come by in northern Manitoba. Food shipped from the south is prohibitively expensive and is often stale, and the climate and soil in the region don’t support much traditional outdoor farming.

This issue disproportionately impacts northern Indigenous communities, many of which have moved away from traditional food practices, creating a supply problem with far-reaching health consequences.

The 10-year First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study, funded by Health Canada and published in 2018, found that one in four First Nations people in Manitoba is affected by diabetes. Those living in Manitoba’s vast but sparsely populated portion of the Boreal Shield Ecozone experience poorer health outcomes compared to their southern neighbours.

Community rates of diabetes in northern Manitoba are much higher than the Canadian average.
(Unsplash/isens usa), CC BY

A lack of employment opportunities, combined with limited food accessibility and high prices, contributes to food insecurity and poor nutrition. With few affordable, healthy food options — especially fresh produce — communities in the region are grappling with rising rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension.

To address these inequities effectively, solutions must respect Indigenous autonomy and self-determination, which have been critical to the success of an especially innovative, community-led initiative.

Addressing health challenges

The Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN), located south of Flin Flon near the Saskatchewan border, has taken bold steps to address diabetes and other health challenges facing its residents.

According to the OCN Health Authority, more than 40 per cent of adults in the community live with hypertension and diabetes. The implications of this epidemic are profound: not only are health-care costs soaring, but resources that could be allocated to other critical areas, such as infrastructure and education, are being diverted to manage the growing health crisis. In response, OCN has made improved access to nutritious foods a priority.

In 2016, the community launched a smart vertical farm (SVF), a cutting-edge indoor facility designed to grow fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs year-round. The SVF employs computer-controlled smart technology that optimizes growing conditions by adjusting factors such as light, humidity and CO2 levels, and nutrient delivery. This advanced system ensures that the farm produces high-quality produce, despite the harsh northern climate.

Overcoming the climate

The benefits of the SVF go beyond access to fresh vegetables. The system uses energy-efficient LED lights and a closed-loop water and nutrient system, making it both environmentally friendly and economically sustainable.

By growing food locally, the OCN reduces its reliance on expensive and hard-to-access groceries. This also enhances food security and fosters community empowerment and self-sufficiency.

Healthy foods

Among the fresh produce grown, vegetables from the Brassica family — such as broccoli, kale and cabbage — are especially valued for their healthy properties. These vegetables can aid in the management of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension.

Microgreens like broccoli sprouts are of special interest for their bioactive compounds, including phenolics and glucosinolates. These compounds have been linked to improved health outcomes, including improved blood sugar levels and reduced inflammation.

Vegetables like broccoli, kale and cabbage are packed with nutrients.
(Shutterstock)

Optimizing harvests

The health benefits can be further enhanced by optimizing growing conditions such as light intensity, nutrient levels and water supply.

The OCN Health Authority, in collaboration with a research team at the University of Manitoba, has been investigating the most effective methods for cultivating these high-value crops in the SVF and exploring post-harvest processing techniques to maximize their bioactive potential.

Research has shown that air frying vegetables, for example, helps retain nutritional value while enhancing bioactive compounds. The high heat and minimal oil that characterizes air frying preserves nutrients, making it an ideal preparation technique.

The potential for these optimized vegetables to help manage Type 2 diabetes is significant.

Community care

By increasing access to nutrient-dense, bioactive-rich foods, the OCN aims not only to improve community health but also to reduce the burden on the health-care system. As the community continues to explore innovative solutions, its goal is to build a sustainable, locally controlled food system that addresses both immediate health concerns and long-term economic resilience.

The success of the OCN’s vertical farm demonstrates the powerful interactions of Indigenous knowledge, technological innovation and community-led action in tackling complex health and food security challenges. By empowering local communities to take charge of their own food systems, the OCN is setting an example for other Indigenous and remote communities, striving for self-sufficiency and health equity.

Ultimately, the collaborative journey toward health equity in northern Manitoba is just beginning. But the lessons learned from the OCN’s innovative approach to food production and diabetes prevention offer valuable lessons and a blueprint for other communities across Canada.

With continued support and investment in Indigenous-led initiatives, a future where healthy, affordable and culturally appropriate food is accessible to all is within reach.

Miyoung Suh receives funding from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP)

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

– ref. Indoor farming helps community members bring healthy food to northern Manitoba – https://theconversation.com/indoor-farming-helps-community-members-bring-healthy-food-to-northern-manitoba-256295

MIL OSI Analysis –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Federal Court Orders Michigan Man, California Man, and Two Nevada Companies to Pay Over $25 Million for Digital Asset Fraud

Source: US Commodity Futures Trading Commission

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered a final default judgement against Mark Gillespie of Michigan, John Roche of California, My Big Coin Pay, Inc., and My Big Coin, Inc., both of Nevada.

The order requires Gillespie, My Big Coin Pay, Inc., My Big Coin, Inc., and Roche to pay, jointly and severally a $19,326,324 civil monetary penalty and $6,442,108 in restitution to defrauded victims in connection with their role in a digital asset fraud scheme. The order also imposes a permanent injunction against the defendants and bans them from trading in any CFTC-regulated markets; entering into any transactions involving commodity interests or digital asset commodities; and registering with the CFTC.

Case Background

The default order finds from at least January 2014 through June 2017, Gillespie, My Big Coin Pay, Inc., My Big Coin, Inc., and Roche, together with co-defendant Randall Crater, one of the other co-defendants named in the CFTC’s amended complaint, operated a digital asset scheme in which they fraudulently offered the sale of a fully-functioning virtual currency, My Big Coin (MBC), a commodity in interstate commerce. The CFTC dismissed its enforcement action against named co-defendant Michael Kruger because of his death.

The defendants obtained more than $6 million from at least 28 customers through fraudulent solicitations, including false and misleading claims and omissions about MBC’s value, usage, and trade status, and that MBC was backed by gold. Crater misappropriated virtually all the money solicited from customers, using those misappropriated funds wrongfully.

The order resolves the claims against Gillespie, Roche, My Big Coin Pay, Inc., and My Big Coin, Inc., in the CFTC’s enforcement action. [See CFTC Press Release 7678-18] The court had previously entered a consent order resolving the CFTC’s claims against Crater, who is currently imprisoned for his role in the scheme. [See CFTC Press Release 9051-25]

The CFTC cautions that orders requiring repayment of funds to victims may not result in the recovery of any money lost because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets. The CFTC will continue to fight vigorously for the protection of customers and to ensure the wrongdoers are held accountable.

Parallel Criminal Action

On January 18, 2022, a grand jury returned an eight-count superseding indictment charging Crater with wire fraud, unlawful monetary transactions, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business based on the same conduct alleged in the CFTC’s amended complaint. [United States v. Randall Crater, No. 1:19-cr-10063-DJC (D. Mass. Jan. 18, 2022)).] Crater was found guilty of those charges on July 21, 2022, and was sentenced to 100 months in prison and ordered to pay $7,668,317.50 in restitution to defrauded customers and to forfeit $7,668,317.50, which represented the proceeds he received from his violations.

The CFTC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the FBI.

Division of Enforcement staff responsible for this case are Traci Rodriguez, Daniel Ullman II, Chrystal Gonnella, Dmitriy Vilenskiy, Paul G. Hayeck, and former Division staff members Jonah E. McCarthy, Jason Mahoney, John Einstman, Hillary Van Tassel, Patricia Gomersall, and Kyong J. Koh.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Foreign Minister Lin meets with Eswatini delegation led by Foreign Minister Shakantu

Source: Republic of Taiwan – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

June 4, 2025
No. 194

On the afternoon of June 4, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung met with a delegation from the Kingdom of Eswatini led by Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Pholile Shakantu. During their meeting, they had an extensive exchange of views on such topics as bilateral cooperation, trade, and investment.

In his remarks, Minister Lin stated that he had visited Eswatini in late April as presidential special envoy to join the birthday celebrations for King Mswati III. He added that this meeting with Minister Shakantu and other ministerial-level officials from Eswatini just over one month later demonstrated the close and frequent interactions between the two countries and symbolized the strength of their diplomatic alliance.

Minister Lin took the opportunity to express appreciation once again to King Mswati III and the Eswatini government for their long-standing and staunch support for Taiwan in the international arena, such as at the recently concluded World Health Assembly, the United Nations, and other multilateral forums. He stressed that Eswatini’s consistent advocacy for Taiwan had touched the hearts of the people of Taiwan.

Minister Lin said that during his trip to Eswatini in April, he and King Mswati III had discussed such topics as strengthening bilateral economic, trade, investment, and tourism exchanges, as well as Taiwan’s assistance in building 5G smart cities and developing energy resources in Eswatini. He expressed confidence that the close collaboration between the two countries would spur Eswatini’s national development and better ensure the welfare of both peoples, stating that this would realize Taiwan’s vision of advancing allies’ prosperity and demonstrate that Taiwan could help and that Eswatini could serve as a leader on the African continent.

Minister Shakantu thanked Minister Lin for rapidly formulating a series of concrete plans following his trip to Eswatini in April that would advance bilateral cooperation and Eswatini’s development, underscoring Taiwan’s high regard for and steadfast commitment to its allies. She also expressed the hope to see greater investment and more tourists from Taiwan in Eswatini through the Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project, thereby fueling bilateral exchanges.

Earlier on June 4, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs François Chihchung Wu hosted a luncheon for the delegation. Attendees at the luncheon included International Trade Administration Secretary General Amelia W. J. Day, Export-Import Bank of the ROC President Hsieh Fu-hua, Hua Nan Bank Vice Chairman T. Lin, MOFA Department of International Cooperation and Economic Affairs Director General Lien Yu-ping, and MOFA Department of West Asian and African Affairs Deputy Director General Chen Yung-po. They exchanged views with the members of the Eswatini delegation on a variety of issues.

Eswatini is an important diplomatic ally of Taiwan in Africa. MOFA will continue to maintain close interactions with the Eswatini government and actively seek to enhance mutually beneficial collaboration in all fields so as to realize the vision of advancing allies’ prosperity and thereby deepen and consolidate diplomatic relations between the two countries. (E)

MIL OSI China News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Powering Data: NREL Partner Forum Puts Everything on the Table

Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

NREL Announces Chip-to-Grid Consortium, Invites Collab Around Energy-Data Integration

Andrea Watson, associate laboratory director for Innovation, Partnering, and Outreach at NREL, introduces the 2025 NREL Partner Forum. Photo by Agata Bogucka, NREL

Over the past decade, energy demand from U.S. data centers has tripled—doubling in just the last two years. And the growth is not slowing down.

Utilities are wondering where to add generation. Meanwhile, companies queue for that power. Governments are deciding what to permit, and residents are voicing their priorities. Rarely are they all in the same room, but for a productive two days, more than 300 participants gathered in Golden, Colorado, at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to strategize powering data centers during the 2025 NREL Partner Forum.

For an issue that is fundamentally about connections—connecting data centers to the grid and connecting people to each other—NREL was a natural place to collaborate. In the shadow of full-scale grid assets, and next to an eminently efficient data center that supplies leading artificial intelligence (AI) research, attendees worked through the details of data and power systems.

“That’s the magic of the Partner Forum,” said Andrea Watson, associate laboratory director for Innovation, Partnering, and Outreach at NREL. “We know we can do so much more together than on our own, so we host events like Partner Forum to facilitate better engagement with stakeholders and to develop better solutions for everyone. It’s how we drive NREL’s research impact.”

Yes, More Power. And Different Power.

“We are just getting warmed up,” keynote speaker Dean Nelson said, after showing numbers that prove the recent climb in data center capacity. Nelson’s career followed that same trajectory, and his insight helped frame both the big picture and the finer points.

“We have to do this the right way, to balance the social, economic, ecological, and community preference. Like a Rubik’s Cube,” Nelson said.

Dean Nelson, CEO of Cato Digital and Founder and Chairman of Infrastructure Masons, keynotes the NREL Partner Forum. Image by Agata Bogucka, NREL

He ran through many of the major topics—like flexibility (“data centers must become active grid participants”), siting (“not moving power to data center, but data center to power”), and community approval (“master planning has to be with the communities”)—including one that resurfaced several times later: “Data centers create a giant amount of instantaneous demand.”

“It’s like starting an engine a thousand times in a second,” Nelson remarked. “That’s why NREL is so important: Data centers can stabilize or destabilize the grid, and we have to know how.”

Recent breakthroughs in chip design have packed more power consumption into the same-sized server rack, which means large and fast swings in electrical load. For the grid planners in the room, this was the crux of the problem.

How To Connect Petaflops and Gigawatts

When dealing with loads that are “the equivalent of bringing cities to the grid”—as Mason Emnett, senior vice president of Constellation Energy put it—competitive jostling for new generation might not work anymore.

“What keeps me up at night is infighting over pieces of the pie, even though the pie is big enough,” Emnett said, responding to a panel prompt. “It creates friction in the regulatory space, instead of collaboration.”

This map layers U.S. data infrastructure alongside power infrastructure to help visualize the overlap and simplify co-system planning. Perhaps with a holistic, nation-to-local perspective, there is enough of the “pie” to go around. Image by Billy Roberts, NREL

Taking the whole-nation view, power transmission exists along certain corridors, as do data centers. If utilities, regulators, companies, and communities can collaborate, perhaps there is enough “pie,” including generation sources such as natural gas, solar and storage, hydrogen fuel, and in the case of Constellation’s planned restart of Three Mile Island, nuclear.

Attendees bounced through many options to bring more power online and to better use the power that already exists.

“There is no silver bullet,” emphasized Prasanna Joshi, vice president of low-carbon solutions technology at ExxonMobil. “We look at all solutions—carbon capture, natural gas generation, hydrogen-powered turbines. But equally important is software: using that chip more efficiently.”

“Why not think about new market structures to incentivize large rotating machines?” asked a panelist from Idaho National Laboratory, in reference to the extra grid services that nuclear and other inertial plants provide but are uncompensated for.

“Systems are in place to unlock grid flexibility, but the markets are not,” another agreed.

“We need some form of battery to support that large on-off ramp of power,” added a panelist from an engineering firm.

“Power electronics are the only way to overcome stability issues,” agreed another.

Naturally, talk of more generation gave way to talk of local politics and whether people will accept any of this.

Transmission Lines Over Vineyards

A new power plant in the neighborhood is not on most residents’ wish list, and plenty of energy projects have met their fate at the picket line. But maybe people would play ball if they were on the pitch to start.

“People want to make sure they’re benefiting at least as much as it’s costing them,” remarked Sherry Stout, laboratory program manager for NREL’s State, Local, and Tribal activities.

Stout, who works closely with Tribes, reminded the forum that communities want to be part of the conversation. To get projects passed, everyone must be at the negotiation table.

“You have to intentionally bring detractors,” Stout said. “The more you sideline, the more you might bring out a grassroots rejection.”

Panelists discussed ideas like local incentive packages, such as development of a STEM workforce center to train for incoming jobs or diverting waste heat toward community buildings at no cost.

Marc Aveni, assistant director with Loudoun County Virginia’s, Department of General Services, speaks about key considerations for optimal placement of new data centers at NREL’s Partner Forum. Image by Agata Bogucka, NREL

In Loudoun County, Virginia, data center expansion caught the community off guard but resulted in a booming tax base. Loudoun’s Assistant Director of General Services Marc Aveni joined a panel to add the “local county employee” perspective.

“It’s been a bit of a mixed bag. We’ve seen lots of positive revenues, but we didn’t have a good handle on energy and natural resource requirements. It presented a lot of challenges at the local government level,” Aveni explained.

“We’re very happy to be partnering with NREL to work through our challenges,” Aveni said.

Chip-to-Grid

Like Loudon County, NREL has partnered with many, if not all, of the attendees, often helping partners evaluate pivotal energy investments. In the spirit of the forum, NREL Partnership Development Manager Bill Livingood announced an evolution of NREL capabilities: Chip-to-Grid.

[embedded content]

Text version

Chip-to-Grid is a planned initiative aimed at creating a more seamless and integrated approach to data center development and “to address the problems that one stakeholder alone can’t solve,” Livingood said, like problems of interoperability and especially end-to-end utility to data center compatibility.

Livingood presented Chip-to-Grid alongside Kent Crawford, director of engineering at Schneider Electric, which supports creating the consortium.

“It takes us all,” Crawford reiterated. “None of this works unless it’s an interoperable system. We’ve got to go faster than faster, which means bringing together all the players.”

This builds on NREL’s renowned Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) platform, as well as NREL’s work in projects like ARPA-E COOLERCHIPS. Forum attendees later toured NREL’s Energy Systems Integration Facility to appreciate the globally unique research capacity that makes endeavors like Chip-to-Grid feasible.

Emerging Innovations With Appeal

On day two, industry partners and investors alike heard about emerging technology ventures. Four startups, selected by NREL’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, showcased how their technologies could transform the energy performance of data centers.

Palanquin Power, a participant in NREL’s West Gate program, is rethinking rack-level power conversion with a DC-direct-to-server approach. Lucidean’s CEO introduced the company’s custom photonic chip that enables direct fiber optic networking with greater efficiency. Flexnode pitched modular, rapidly deployable data centers tailored for compute-intensive AI workloads. And Flux XII shared its vision for transforming intermittent energy sources into reliable baseload power using low-cost, long-duration storage.

From optical switches to power electronics to flow batteries, the technical topics ran deep. But the predominant themes were never lost: collaborate to add new generation, innovate to advance chips and energy, and evaluate solutions collectively supported by NREL’s resources and expertise.

Decide How To Power Data With NREL

From decision support to whole-system analysis to real-power demonstrations, NREL is a leading institution for energy integration. It is where crosstalk occurs for industry, utilities, and governments and where solutions can move from concept to implementation.

“Getting technology into the marketplace is in our DNA,” NREL Director Martin Keller said. “Our power is bringing everyone together to move this forward as fast as possible.”

Learn more about partnering with NREL.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Urges Immediate Action by Meta to Prevent Investment Scam Advertisements on its Platforms

Source: US State of California

Meta must do better to protect consumers from financial harm

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 42 attorneys general, today sent a letter to Meta expressing deep concern regarding a flurry of investment scam advertisements (ads) running on its platforms — including Facebook newsfeeds. These investment scam ads threaten the pockets of consumers nationwide and Meta’s existing systems have been shown to be insufficient to address the problem. In response to this concerning trend, the attorneys general ask Meta to take immediate action to improve its capabilities to detect and respond to these ads.

“It’s alarming to see how easy investment scam ads — which have cost some consumers their life savings — can be created and disseminated on Meta platforms. This growing trend, combined with Meta’s inadequate method of identifying these ads and its significant delay in removing them, makes this a recipe for disaster,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today, I urge Meta to prioritize the safety of its users against investment scam ads — Meta can and must do right by the millions of people that use its platforms.”

Investment scam ads running on Meta’s platforms deceive consumers with images of well-known investors. Upon clicking on the ads, users are prompted to download WhatsApp and become members of groups that are not in fact sponsored or affiliated with the investors identified in the ads.  They are then targeted in an illegal investment scheme, commonly known as a “pump and dump” scheme. As part of the scheme, scammers encourage users to invest in penny stocks, thus inflating or pumping up the stock price. Then the scammers quickly sell the stocks — leaving the users holding worthless stock that they can no longer sell to recover their losses. In some cases, these scams have resulted in users losing their life savings. The impact on victims is devastating, leading not only immense financial losses, but also significant psychological and social consequences.

In the letter, the attorneys general urge Meta to adopt protocols to properly tackle this pervasive issue — or otherwise ban all investment ads on its platforms. Although Meta uses a combination of automated systems and occasional human review to try to detect, block, and remove these advertisements, these systems do not work and allow vast numbers of scam ads to get through to publication.

The letter sent today highlights the latest way Meta fails to protect its users against harmful content. In 2023, Attorney General Bonta, along with a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general, sued Meta for its role in designing and deploying harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children and teens to their mental and physical detriment. This lawsuit remains ongoing. Last year, Attorney General Bonta sent a letter to Meta expressing concern regarding the increase in account takeovers and lockouts on Facebook and Instagram and the inadequacy of the company’s response to prevent and address consumer harm from these takeovers.

In sending today’s letter to Meta, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washinton, West Virginia, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A copy of the letter can be found here.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Justice Department and FTC to Host Listening Sessions on Lowering Americans’ Drug Prices Through Competition
Source: US State of California

Sessions to Discuss Generic and Biosimilar Availability, Prescription Drug Formularies and Benefits, and Regulatory Barriers
As part of implementing President Trump’s Executive Order No. 14273, Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission, along with the Department of Commerce and the Department of Health and Human Services, will jointly host listening sessions to discuss ways to make prescription drugs more affordable for Americans by promoting competition. The three listening sessions will occur under the direction of Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater and FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson.

The listening sessions will focus on improving the affordability of pharmaceuticals by increasing generic and biosimilar availability and promoting competition through drug formularies and benefits. The sessions, which will feature remarks by practitioners and scholars, will cover anticompetitive practices as well as eliminating regulatory barriers and rent seeking. The listening sessions will inform the FTC and DOJ’s joint report on combatting anticompetitive practices in pharmaceutical markets, as mandated by President Trump’s Executive Order.

The dates for the sessions are as follows:
- Monday, June 30 at 2 p.m. ET – Anticompetitive Conduct by Pharmaceutical Companies Impeding Generic or Biosimilar Competition
- Thursday, July 24 at 2 p.m. ET – Formulary and Benefit Practices and Regulatory Abuse Impacting Drug Competition
- Monday, August 4 at 2 p.m. ET – Turning Insights into Action to Reduce Drug Prices
The listening sessions will be streamed on the FTC and DOJ websites, with videos and transcripts posted after the events. Additional information will be posted to the event page to each session.
MIL OSI USA News –
June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Justice Department and FTC to Host Listening Sessions on Lowering Americans’ Drug Prices Through Competition
Source: United States Attorneys General

Sessions to Discuss Generic and Biosimilar Availability, Prescription Drug Formularies and Benefits, and Regulatory Barriers
As part of implementing President Trump’s Executive Order No. 14273, Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission, along with the Department of Commerce and the Department of Health and Human Services, will jointly host listening sessions to discuss ways to make prescription drugs more affordable for Americans by promoting competition. The three listening sessions will occur under the direction of Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater and FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson.

The listening sessions will focus on improving the affordability of pharmaceuticals by increasing generic and biosimilar availability and promoting competition through drug formularies and benefits. The sessions, which will feature remarks by practitioners and scholars, will cover anticompetitive practices as well as eliminating regulatory barriers and rent seeking. The listening sessions will inform the FTC and DOJ’s joint report on combatting anticompetitive practices in pharmaceutical markets, as mandated by President Trump’s Executive Order.

The dates for the sessions are as follows:
- Monday, June 30 at 2 p.m. ET – Anticompetitive Conduct by Pharmaceutical Companies Impeding Generic or Biosimilar Competition
- Thursday, July 24 at 2 p.m. ET – Formulary and Benefit Practices and Regulatory Abuse Impacting Drug Competition
- Monday, August 4 at 2 p.m. ET – Turning Insights into Action to Reduce Drug Prices
The listening sessions will be streamed on the FTC and DOJ websites, with videos and transcripts posted after the events. Additional information will be posted to the event page to each session.
MIL Security OSI –
June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Chancellor pledges at least £445 million of rail investment as part of biggest ever Welsh funding boost
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

Chancellor pledges at least £445 million of rail investment as part of biggest ever Welsh funding boost

Major transport upgrade to drive growth and unlock economic potential across Wales, as UK Government delivers on Plan for Change.  
Spending Review: Investing in Wales’ future.

Investment is part of comprehensive spending package to invest in UK’s renewal, creating thousands of jobs in clean energy, manufacturing and defence 

The Welsh Government will receive the largest real terms settlement since devolution began in 1999, with an average settlement of £22.4 billion per year, enabling the Welsh Government to deliver for working people in Wales.

Working people across Wales will benefit from better access to jobs and opportunities thanks to a Welsh rail investment worth at least £445 million announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves today as part of the UK Government’s Spending Review which will invest in UK’s renewal.

The transformative rail package will reconnect Wales’s industrial heartlands, improve commuter journeys and drive economic growth in communities that have long suffered from poor transport links. 

The package will invest in both north and south Wales, fixing level crossings, building new stations, and upgrading existing lines 

This strategic rail investment forms the cornerstone of the UK Government’s plan to reconnect, reindustrialise and renew Wales – addressing decades of underinvestment in critical infrastructure that has held back the Welsh economy. 

The rail upgrades will specifically link centres of advanced manufacturing excellence in North Wales and improve vital connections between Cardiff and Bristol, making it easier for businesses to invest and for workers to access employment opportunities. 

Alongside this major transport investment, the Spending Review delivers significant backing for Wales’s key industrial sectors. 

In Port Talbot, a combined investment of up to £580 million will secure the future of steelmaking while transforming the port into a clean energy hub. Within this, £500 million for Tata Steel’s new Electric Arc Furnace will protect 5,000 jobs while reducing carbon emissions. 

Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens, said: 

This UK Government is investing in Wales’ future and driving economic growth across the country. 

We promised we would deal with the historical under-investment in Wales’ rail network and the funding announced today in this Spending Review shows we are delivering on that pledge. 

Along with a record financial settlement for Welsh Government to improve public services, £118m more to help keep coal tips safe and investment in growing industries like aerospace, we are backing Wales’ potential and delivering for working people.”   

Growing Wales’ domestic aerospace and defence industries 

Speaking in the House of Commons today, the Chancellor reaffirmed the government’s commitment to increase defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by April 2027, backing our Armed Forces, creating British jobs in British industries, and prioritising the security of Britain when it is most needed. 

The Spending Review also backed Welsh industry by continuing investment in the defence industry right across the UK, including Wales. 

Wales’s aerospace and automotive industries, already employing over 15,000 people, also stands to gain through UK-wide funding announced for the advanced manufacturing sector, enabling the development and delivery of ultra-low and zero-carbon emission vehicles and aircraft.  

Coal tip safety  

The Spending Review also confirms a further £118 million between 2026-27 and 2028-29 for the Welsh Government to maintain the safety of disused coal tips, on the back of £25 million already committed in 2025-26 during 2024 Autumn Budget. The money will see tips secured, homes protected and land unlocked for housing, industry and recreation.  

The UK Government also pledged continued support for Welsh Investment Zones in Cardiff City Region and Wrexham and Flintshire, which will receive £160 million each over 10 years, driving growth and jobs. 

Supporting Welsh businesses 

The new Industrial Strategy and Public finance Institutions will collaborate with the devolved governments and local stakeholders to drive growth across the UK. Through the Nations and Regions Investment programme the British Business Bank is delivering £130 million across Wales to break down access to finance barriers and drive economic growth. 

Local growth funding 

A new local growth fund, and investments in up to 350 deprived communities across the UK, will maintain the same cash level as in 2025-26 under the Shared Prosperity Fund. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Wales Office will work with local partners to ensure money goes to projects that matter to local people. This investment will help drive growth and improve communities across all parts of Wales. 

A record settlement for Welsh public services 

The Welsh Government will receive the largest settlement in real terms since devolution in 1999, with an average settlement of £22.4 billion per year to deliver against the priorities of working people in Wales. 

This comprehensive investment package is further delivery of the UK Government’s promise to invest in Britain’s renewal and ensure that economic growth benefits every part of the United Kingdom.

ENDS

Share this page

The following links open in a new tab

Share on Facebook (opens in new tab)

Share on Twitter (opens in new tab)

Updates to this page

Published 11 June 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Springwood Leisure Centre’s outdoor pitches to get major upgrade

Source: City of Derby

Derby City Council’s Springwood Leisure Centre is delighted to announce a major refurbishment of both its outdoor 3G football pitches, thanks to the successful acquisition of £147,000 in Section 106 funding. The funding will enable a comprehensive upgrade, including the installation of a state-of-the-art artificial playing surface, permanent line markings, and brand-new fencing around the pitches, to be completed at no cost to the Council.

Work will start at the end of July and is expected to take five weeks, which means the refurbished pitches will be fully operational in time for the winter sports season, providing a much-improved playing experience for local clubs, teams, schools, and recreational users.

This is the second time Springwood Leisure Centre has successfully secured Section 106 funding for infrastructure improvements. In 2023, the Centre received £190,000 to develop its immersive Spin Studio, which has been widely praised for its innovative design and contribution to local health and wellbeing. Together, these investments reflect the Centre’s growing role as a cornerstone of the local community and its commitment to expanding the range and quality of sports and leisure opportunities available to residents.

In celebration of this latest milestone, Springwood Leisure Centre is also planning to launch its first-ever Springwood Community Cup. The tournament aims to showcase the upgraded pitches and create a legacy of community engagement through sport. Full details of the Community Cup will be shared in the coming weeks.

Councillor Ndukwe Onuoha, Derby City Council Cabinet Member for Streetpride, Public Safety and Leisure, said:

This is great news for the local community. The new pitches will support grassroots sport, improve facilities for residents, and it’s all been achieved at no cost to the Council. I look forward to seeing the pitches in use and to the first Springwood Community Cup. Investments like this show our commitment to accessible, high-quality leisure for all.

The upgraded facilities will support increased participation in grassroots football, provide a safe and durable all-weather playing surface, and accommodate a wide range of users, from casual kickabouts to league matches and school sports programmes. The work will be carried out by S&C Slatter, a leading UK specialist in sports construction and artificial pitch installations.

Nathaniel Leney, Business Development Manager at S&C Slatter, said:

S&C Slatter are proud to have been appointed by Derby City Council to deliver the resurfacing of the 3G pitches at Springwood Leisure Centre. As a valued community facility, it deserves a first-class refurbishment, and we are committed to providing a safe, high-performance all-weather surface that will support and inspire local players, teams, and residents for years to come.

Working in close partnership with the Council, we’ve developed a specification that meets the latest industry standards and ensures long-term performance and durability. We’re excited to begin work on this important project and contribute to the continued growth of sport and recreation in Derby.

The Centre welcomes casual and block bookings for the new pitches. Whether you’re part of a club, organising a tournament, or just looking for a space to play, Springwood Leisure Centre offers a welcoming and professional environment.

For booking enquiries or further information, please see our website or contact: springwood.sports@derby.gov.uk

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: SWALWELL INTRODUCES BICAMERAL BILL TO REPEAL THE GUN INDUSTRY’S LEGAL LIABILITY SHIELD

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15)

Legislation would give victims of gun violence their day in court & enable them to hold manufacturers accountable for negligence

Legislation would give victims of gun violence their day in

court & enable them to hold manufacturers accountable for negligence

Video of a virtual press conference announcing

the bill is available here

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – During the first week of Gun Violence Awareness Month, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) and U.S. Representatives Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Jason Crow (D-CO), Dwight Evans (D-PA), and Mike Thompson (D-CA) led a group of 81 Members of Congress in introducing the bicameral Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act, legislation to ensure that victims of gun violence have their day in court and that negligent gun companies and gun sellers are not shielded from liability when they disregard public safety. The bill would repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), passed by Congress in 2005, which gives the gun industry a unique and unjustifiable legal liability shield that protects gun manufacturers from lawsuits.

Blumenthal, Swalwell, Schiff, Murphy, Evans, and Thompson announced the legislation this week during a virtual press conference joined by leading gun violence prevention advocates: Kris Brown, President of Brady; Angela Ferrell-Zabala, Executive Director of Moms Demand Action; and Adam Skaggs, Chief Counsel and Vice President of GIFFORDS Law Center. Video of the press conference is available here.

“PLCAA is the ultimate sweetheart deal – legal immunity afforded to basically no other industry for a product that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year,” Blumenthal said. “Despite the strength and perseverance of the Sandy Hook, Uvalde, and Highland Park families – and the tenacity of their legal teams – this is a problem that cannot be solved only through the courts. PLCAA must be repealed by Congress.”

“No industry in American has a liability shield like gun manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers,” said Swalwell. “The NRA and their GOP stooges made sure that the gun industry has a unique immunity from accountability. This bill ends that ridiculous carve out. The Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act will finally repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) once and for all, allowing victims of gun violence to bring civil suits against gun producers and sellers. The time has long since come for Congress to be clear – if you put the most dangerous weapons in the hands of the most dangerous people, you will be held accountable.”

“More than a 100 Americans are killed by a gun every single day in America. And yet, Congress does nothing to hold the gun industry accountable when the negligence of gun makers and dealers is responsible for the tragic consequences their products have on our kids, our families, and our communities. As long as gun violence continues to take the lives of so many in California and across the nation, I will fight to repeal the liability shield that wrongly protects negligent gun industry actors from liability,” said Schiff.

“There’s absolutely no reason why the gun industry should get special treatment when it comes to negligence. Their immunity from lawsuits effectively gives them a license to kill. It’s past time for Congress to repeal PLCAA and allow gun violence victims their day in court,” said Murphy.

“Victims and survivors should be able to hold the gun industry accountable in court for negligent behavior. But right now, the gun industry is shielded from any liability when they disregard public safety. That’s wrong,” said Crow. “I’m introducing this bill so we can finally hold the gun industry responsible.”

“As someone who’s advocated for this concept in Pennsylvania’s legislature and now in Congress, I’m proud to be a co-lead on this bill to restore this basic right of victims and survivors – a right that a heavy-handed federal government took away 20 years ago. So many American gun deaths could be avoided if we held companies accountable for things like illegal sales, defective guns and irresponsible marketing. State attorneys general were able to hold Big Tobacco accountable in the 1990s, and they should be able to hold gun manufacturing companies accountable in the 21st century since thousands of lives depend on it. This legislation would be an important tool in the toolbox to protect our citizens from gun violence,” said Evans.

“In the 20 years since PLCAA was passed, it’s become clear that negligent gun manufacturers and dealers have taken advantage of the law. Responsible manufacturers and dealers don’t need this legal protection – and irresponsible ones are hiding behind it. As a hunter, combat veteran and responsible gun owner, I’m proud to work with Senator Blumenthal and Representative Swalwell to introduce this sensible legislation,” said Thompson, Chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.

When Congress passed PLCAA, its supporters argued that it was necessary to protect the gun industry from frivolous lawsuits, and that victims of gun violence would not be shut out of the courts. In reality, numerous cases around the nation have been dismissed on the basis of PLCAA, even when the gun dealers and manufacturers acted in a fashion that would qualify as negligent if it involved any other product. Victims in these cases were denied the right to even discover or introduce evidence. This legislation allows civil cases to go forward against irresponsible bad actors.

In 2005, the National Rifle Association (NRA) identified PLCAA as their “number one” legislative priority, and the NRA celebrated the passage calling it the “most significant piece of pro-gun legislation in twenty years.” Letting courts hear these cases would provide justice to victims and their families, while creating incentives for responsible business practices that would reduce injuries and deaths. Effectively, the gun industry would once again be subject to the same laws as every other industry, just as it was prior to 2005.

The legislation is endorsed by Brady, GIFFORDS Law Center, Everytown for Gun Safety, March for Our Lives, Guns Down America, Newtown Action Alliance, Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund, and Equality California.

“PLCAA gives the gun industry a free pass to put profits over people—legally. When defective firearms or irresponsible gun sellers cause harm, victims are left powerless and justice is delayed or denied. No other industry gets this kind of special treatment,” said Mark Collins, Director of Federal Policy at Brady. “The gun industry has made it clear: they won’t change on their own, no matter how much devastation they leave behind. So the law must change. Brady is proud to endorse Senator Blumenthal’s bill to end the gun lobby’s stranglehold on accountability and remove the option of hiding behind PLCAA to dodge responsibility. The gun industry shouldn’t get special protection while communities suffer.”

“For too long, gun lobby CEOs have operated above the law, shielded from accountability while families of gun violence victims are denied their day in court. The Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act will finally repeal the gun lobby’s sweetheart deal and restore Americans’ right to seek justice. When companies can be held responsible for harm, they have a reason to act more safely—it’s time to hold the gun industry accountable and put people over profits. We applaud Senator Blumenthal for championing this critical legislation and for his commitment to reducing gun violence and improving public safety,” said Emma Brown, Executive Director of GIFFORDS and GIFFORDS Law Center.

“The gun industry has a long track record of putting profits over public safety – and it’s the American people who are paying the price,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We’re proud to stand with Senator Blumenthal and Representative Swalwell as they work to hold the gun industry to the same rules as every other industry.”

“Every student in America goes to school wondering if today will be the day they don’t come home. They practice lockdown drills while gun manufacturers hide behind PLCAA, a law that shields them from any accountability,” said Jackie Corin, Executive Director of March For Our Lives. “The families of Parkland victims fight for justice while gun companies profit from illegal gun sales and reckless marketing practices that fuel mass shootings, all while being protected from consequences. When grieving families are denied their day in court because of special protections for gun manufacturers, that is not justice. That is cruelty. Every family shattered by gun violence deserves a system that protects them, not the companies profiting off their pain. That’s why March For Our Lives is proud to support the Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act and ensure the gun industry finally has to answer to us.”

“The Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act restores the rights of the American people to seek justice from negligent corporations. People, families, and communities have been systematically denied access to valid litigation against the gun industry since President George W. Bush signed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in 2005. This legal shield has privileged the gun industry with sweeping immunity, leading them to lean into more aggressive, more deadly, and ever more avaricious corporate actions that endanger every American,” said Hudson Munoz with Guns Down America. “We commend Senator Blumenthal and Representative Swalwell for their dedication to seeing that shield fall so every person impacted by gun violence has the ability to pursue justice again.”

“As a neighbor of the Sandy Hook shooter and many victims, I carry the heartbreak of that day every single moment,” said Po Murray, Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance. “I’m grateful to Senator Blumenthal for reintroducing the Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act—because no industry that profits from death should be shielded from accountability. The gun industry’s unique civil legal protection has allowed it to market weapons of war and other deadly firearms and accessories with impunity, fueling an epidemic that steals thousands of lives each year. The families impacted by gun violence from Sandy Hook to Chicago to Monterey Park—and every family member shattered by gun violence—deserve their day in court.”

“The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) provides a pathway for the firearms industry to continue irresponsible practices in ways that no other industry is permitted to conduct. Under this legislation, the rights of victims – some of whom have been irrevocably harmed by these deadly products – are shown to be less important than the special interests of manufacturers, distributors, and dealers. This cannot be allowed to continue. We applaud Senator Blumenthal and his team for their leadership in re-introducing the Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act, and call upon Congress to pass this bill,” said Mark Barden, co-founder and co-CEO of the Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund and father of Daniel, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

The legislation is also co-sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The bill is also cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Gabe Amo (D-RI), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Wesley Bell (D-MO), Don Beyer (D-VA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Shontel Brown (D-OH), Julia Brownley (D-CA), Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Sean Casten (D-IL), Judy Chu (D-CA), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Danny Davis (D-IL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), John Garamendi (D-CA), Daniel Goldman (D-NY), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Robin Kelly (D-IL), Timothy Kennedy (D-NY), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Betty McCollum (D-MN), LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), Joe Morelle (D-NY), Kelly Morrison (D-MN), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Joe Neguse (D-CO), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Scott Peters (D-CA), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Andrea Salinas (D-OR), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), David Scott (D-GA), Lateefah Simon (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Jill Tokuda (D-HI).

Text of the legislation can be found here.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: PASSED THE SENATE: Senators Hassan, Ernst, Slotkin, and Banks’s Bipartisan Legislation to Crack Down on Foreign Adversaries Directing Violent Crimes in the U.S.

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Maggie Hassan
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Jim Banks (R-IN) to increase criminal penalties for individuals who commit, or attempt to commit, violent crimes in the United States on behalf of foreign adversaries. The DETERRENCE Act would both hold offenders accountable and deter criminals, including criminal organizations, from taking money from foreign adversaries in exchange for committing crimes on American soil.
“It is a direct assault on our national security when foreign adversaries recruit criminals to commit violence on American soil,” said Senator Hassan. “This bipartisan legislation will strengthen criminal penalties on gangs and criminals who engage in violent behavior on behalf of a foreign government. The Senate has sent a clear message that such behavior will be met with severe consequences, and I urge my colleagues in the House to quickly pass this bill to strengthen our national security.”
“America will not allow foreign adversaries, like Iran, to finance violent crimes on our soil,” said Senator Ernst. “Peace through strength is back and that includes right here at home. I look forward to the House swiftly passing this commonsense bill to create severe consequences for those who wish to harm our citizens.”
“If you commit crimes in America on behalf of foreign adversaries, you must face serious consequences,” said Senator Slotkin. “The bipartisan Deterrence Act helps strengthen penalties for these crimes and sends a clear message about how seriously we take our national security and how we will hold accountable those who commit crimes against our nation.”
Under the DETERRENCE Act, criminals working for foreign adversaries can be sentenced to longer prison sentences. The bill specifically increases criminal penalties for the following federal crimes when the crimes are committed under U.S. jurisdiction on behalf of foreign governments:
Engaging in a murder-for-hire scheme
Murdering or attempting to murder certain federal officials, including the President
Murdering or attempting to murder certain former federal officials, or their families, because of their official actions
Assaulting certain former federal officials, or their families, because of their official actions
Kidnapping or attempted kidnapping
Threats of violence using a dangerous weapon against certain current and former federal officials, as well as their families, because of their official actions
Stalking
This legislation follows reports that foreign adversaries are increasingly turning to criminals to commit violent crimes against their critics, including those who reside in the United States. In November, the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged an Iranian asset and two members of his criminal network for their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a U.S. citizen who has spoken out against the Iranian regime. Senators Hassan, Ernst, and a bipartisan group of colleagues previously wrote to DOJ calling for more information – and discussing the need for increased criminal penalties – to address this troubling trend of foreign-directed violence.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI: Toobit Launches Up to 200x Leverage for BTCUSDT and XAUTUSDT Perpetual Contracts

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, June 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Toobit, an award-winning global cryptocurrency exchange, today announces the launch of up to 200x leverage for BTCUSDT and XAUTUSDT perpetual contracts. This enhancement will grant traders the ability to control larger positions with a smaller capital outlay, offering greater flexibility and precision in fast-moving markets.

The new leverage allows users to respond and profit more effectively from price movements. BTCUSDT, representing Bitcoin, the world’s most actively traded digital asset, and XAUTUSDT, a leading gold-backed token, now support advanced strategies through more dynamic position sizing and risk management.

“By extending leverage up to 200x, we’re giving our users more control over their capital and exposure,” said Mike Williams, Chief Communication Officer at Toobit. “Whether they’re navigating crypto volatility or seeking the stability of Tether Gold, traders now have the tools to act with greater agility.”

With 200x leverage, a trader can control a $20,000 position with just $100 in margin. This magnifies both potential gains and losses, making it a powerful tool for experienced traders looking to respond to fast-moving markets, hedge risk, or enhance short-term trading strategies.

This update builds on Toobit’s recent adjustment to maintenance margin requirements, which gave traders greater room to maneuver during volatile market conditions. Now, with higher leverage and more breathing space on margin, users can scale positions with increased efficiency and control.

To learn more or start trading with 200x leverage, visit www.toobit.com.

About Toobit

Toobit is where the future of crypto trading unfolds—an award-winning cryptocurrency derivatives exchange built for those who thrive exploring new frontiers. With deep liquidity and cutting-edge technology, Toobit empowers traders worldwide to navigate the digital asset markets with confidence. We offer a fair, secure, seamless, and transparent trading experience, ensuring every trade is an opportunity to discover what’s next.

For more information about Toobit, visit: Website | X | Telegram | LinkedIn | Discord | Instagram

Contact: Davin C.

Email: market@toobit.com

Website: www.toobit.com

Disclaimer: This is a paid post and is provided by Toobit. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. We do not guarantee any claims, statements, or promises made in this article. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice.Investing in crypto and mining-related opportunities involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. It is possible to lose all your capital. These products may not be suitable for everyone, and you should ensure that you understand the risks involved. Seek independent advice if necessary. Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. However, due to the inherently speculative nature of the blockchain sector—including cryptocurrency, NFTs, and mining—complete accuracy cannot always be guaranteed.Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility. Globenewswire does not endorse any content on this page.

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

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/08cefc49-ea31-4cf0-a148-c23bef27e92e

The MIL Network –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI: AVAILABILITY OF THE 2024-2025 UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

AVAILABILITY OF THE 2024-2025 UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT

Bernin (Grenoble), France, June 11, 2025 – Soitec (Euronext Paris) announces the filing today of its 2024-2025 Universal Registration Document in European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) with the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorité des Marchés Financiers – AMF) under number D.25-0439.

The 2024-2025 Universal Registration Document is made available to the public in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and a French and English version is available for consultation on the Company’s website (www.soitec.com under Investors section – Regulated Information – Financial reports and results & other regulated releases). A French version is also available on the website of the AMF (www.amf-france.org).

The 2024-2025 Universal Registration Document, comprising the annual financial report, notably contains:
- the management report, the consolidated and statutory financial statements and related Statutory Auditors’ reports, the information on the fees paid to the Statutory Auditors and the declaration by the person responsible for the Universal Registration Document ;
- the Board of Directors’ report on corporate governance;
- the description of the share buyback program ;
- the sustainability report;
- the explanatory notes and the draft resolutions submitted to the approval of the Annual General Meeting of July 22, 2025.
*****

Agenda

First-quarter 2025-2026 revenue: July 22, 2025, after market close.

Annual General Meeting: July 22, 2025.

*****

About Soitec

Soitec (Euronext – Tech Leaders), a world leader in innovative semiconductor materials, has been developing cutting-edge products delivering both technological performance and energy efficiency for over 30 years. From its global headquarters in France, Soitec is expanding internationally with its unique solutions, and generated sales of 0.9 billion Euros in fiscal year 2024-2025. Soitec occupies a key position in the semiconductor value chain, serving three main strategic markets: Mobile Communications, Automotive and Industrial, and Edge and Cloud AI. The company relies on the talent and diversity of more than 2,200 employees, representing 50 different nationalities, working at its sites in Europe, the United States and Asia. Nearly 4,300 patents have been registered by Soitec.

Soitec, SmartSiC™ and Smart Cut™ are registered trademarks of Soitec.

For more information: https://www.soitec.com/en/ and follow us on LinkedIn and X: @Soitec_Official

*****

Media Relations: media@soitec.com

Investor Relations: investors@soitec.com

Attachment
- Communiqué de mise à disposition_EN
The MIL Network –
June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI: BoldSign® Wins Developer’s Choice in the 2025 Postman API Network Awards
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., June 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Syncfusion^®, Inc., the enterprise technology provider of choice, today announced that its eSignature solution, BoldSign^®, won the Postman Developer’s Choice Award. Selected by Postman’s worldwide developer community, the award spotlights APIs that deliver exceptional user experience, measurable business value, and active community engagement. Syncfusion coming in at number one is a result of its commitment to building tools that developers and businesses trust.

“BoldSign started with a simple goal: give developers an eSignature API that lets them plug in, sign, and ship without friction,” said Daniel Jebaraj, CEO of Syncfusion. “This award tells us we’re on the right path and motivates us to keep raising the bar with features that help our customers move their products forward.”

Businesses choose BoldSign due to its:
- Fast, friction-free signing: Legally binding signatures captured in seconds.
- Easy implementation: Most teams roll out in under a day with no heavy IT lifting.
- Web-to-mobile flexibility: Seamless experience for in-office and on-the-go staff.
- Bank-grade security and compliance: Robust encryption and compliance with SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and eIDAS regulations.
- Scalability: Usage-based plans stay cost-effective for individuals, startups, and large enterprises.
- Real-time human support: Direct access to BoldSign experts whenever questions arise.
- Customer-driven roadmap: Continuous feature drops shaped by user feedback.
“Winning Developer’s Choice is both humbling and energizing,” added Jebaraj. “We’re just getting started—look for new features, expanded SDKs, and deeper integrations so teams can scale from 10 to a million documents without switching platforms.”

Learn more about the BoldSign^® eSignature APIs in Postman. For more information about fast, secure, and scalable eSignature functionality in BoldSign, visit its website.

About Syncfusion, Inc.
Headquartered in the technology hub of Research Triangle Park, N.C., Syncfusion^®, Inc. delivers an award-winning ecosystem of developer control suites, embeddable BI platforms, and business software. Syncfusion was founded in 2001 with a single software component and a mission to support businesses of all sizes—from individual developers and start-ups to Fortune 500 enterprises. Though its pilot product, the Essential Studio^® suite, has grown to over 1,900 developer controls, its mission remains the same. With offices in the U.S., India, and Kenya, Syncfusion prioritizes the customer experience by providing feature-rich solutions to help developers and enterprises solve complex problems, save money, and build high-performance, robust applications.

Contact: Brittany Kearns
Phone: 571-271-7211
Email: brittany@crossroadsb2b.com

The MIL Network –
June 12, 2025

MIL-OSI USA: Pfluger Participates in Energy Hearing with Secretary Wright

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11)

Pfluger Participates in Energy Hearing with Secretary Wright

Washington, June 11, 2025

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, participated in the Committee’s Energy Subcommittee hearing entitled “The Fiscal Year 2026 Department of Energy Budget.”

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright testified before the subcommittee. During the hearing, Rep. Pfluger asked Secretary Wright about his top priorities for the year, for an update on the Mexico Pacific LNG export site, and how we can legislatively protect the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Click HERE or the image below to watch their full exchange.

Watch their full exchange HERE or read highlights below.

Rep. Pfluger: You have extreme expertise about how energy in this country works. I am worried about everybody who has testified here, especially those who have recently talked about data centers and the demand that we are going to see—rising demand for electricity consumption, and how we’re going to keep up with manufacturing. Just big picture priorities that you have set out that will enable us as a country to set the conditions for private industry to meet that demand with adequate supply. Love to hear your thoughts.

Secretary Wright: Look, as you know, over the years, we’ve created huge regulatory burdens on building infrastructure, on building pipelines, on building power plants, on building transmission lines. If you make it harder and harder and more and more expensive to do things, well, guess what? You get less of them. And that’s what’s happened in the United States. I heard a comment earlier that U.S. oil and natural gas production were at all-time highs in 2023, which was true, but that’s because it’s dominantly on private land and state land, and it’s not on federal land. We’ve had huge federal obstruction efforts. They haven’t been entirely effective on oil and gas that’s produced on private lands and on state lands. But when you restrict the ability to build pipelines and grow the transportation, you ultimately restrict the growth of it. Power plants with the Clean Power Plan, if you build a new power plant today, you have to have carbon capture and sequestration injected underground, like 11 years from now. That’s a technology we don’t have at a commercial scale. A massively expensive parasitic load of maybe a third of the power plant has to go to that thing. People aren’t going to invest money and build power plants with constrictions like that. There are a lot of reasons we haven’t built as much new capacity as we should. And it’s critical for this administration and this Congress that we work together to remove these obstacles and barriers that chill investment. Because we need to lead in AI. We need to win in AI. We can lead and we can win in AI. But to do that, we need to get overly burdensome, truly not focused on the environment, regulations out of the way so that capital will flow and things will be built. We need some simplification with permitting. We need to make FERC move more efficiently. But I will tell you, in this administration, and I know in this Congress, there are many people working tirelessly to achieve just that, so I’m optimistic, but yes, big changes need to be made.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 12, 2025

MIL-OSI USA: Congresswoman Schrier Demands Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Immediately Reinstate All Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in New Letter

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08)

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08), pediatrician and member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, led 86 of her colleagues, with the support of Democratic members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, on a letter demanding that Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. upholds his oath to protect the health of the American people by immediately reinstating the seventeen members of Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that were recently fired.

“Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous decision to fire all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is a direct attack on science and a threat to our public health,” said Congresswoman Schrier, M.D. “For 61 years, this integral committee of seasoned health care experts has been trusted to evaluate scientific evidence, ask questions, and ultimately make fully transparent recommendations about vaccines. But now, Secretary Kennedy is gutting that expertise and may well use this opportunity to elevate conspiracy theorists and social media influencers to these decision-making positions. As a pediatrician and a member of Congress, I am outraged that the Secretary of Health and Human Services would dismiss science and the medical community and instead welcome those with fringe healthcare ideas into the heart of our public health system. It is just plain dangerous.”

Today’s letter comes on the heels of Congresswoman Schrier introducing the Family Vaccine Protection Act that will protect the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) and remove politics from the life-saving immunization schedule.

A copy of the letter is below.

Dear Secretary Kennedy,

For over 60 years, in both Republican and Democratic Administrations, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has played a pivotal role in keeping Americans healthy and safe. As Members of Congress, we are outraged at your decision to unilaterally remove all 17 individuals from ACIP on June 9th. As Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), your duty to this country is to enhance the well-being of all Americans and this decision will cost lives. Your decision to disband the ACIP, a committee of medical and public health experts whose sole focus is to develop vaccine recommendations, completely undermines ACIP’s critical role and endangers this nation’s public health.

On June 9th, in your opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, you blame conflict of interests and a lack of curiosity as a rationale for removing this panel of experts from their roles. Your statement belies the rigorous vetting process for ACIP members, including financial disclosures and a review of their previous work on clinical trials. ACIP members must recuse themselves from votes and discussions on vaccines they are studying, or on any other vaccines manufactured by companies that fund their research. In fact, just this year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set up a public, searchable database allowing transparency for any conflicts of interest for voting ACIP members dating back to 2000.

These actions upend ACIP’s thoughtful, evidence-based decision-making and will weave unfounded or disproven theories into what has traditionally been a science-based process trusted by our health care providers. Conducting immunization reviews takes months of deliberation and review of research, and your unilateral decision to abruptly end ACIP’s existing work is detrimental. It has become abundantly clear that your intent is to sow doubt and fear in the American public that will cost lives. With an ongoing measles outbreak and the decline of routine child immunizations, we will see the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases across the country. Your politicization of vaccines has made American families less safe and will return the US to an era before mass vaccination prevented millions of infections and early deaths.

We demand that you reinstate the fired 17 members to ACIP and uphold your oath to the American people.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Luis Silvas Appointed Western Territory Special Representative

Source: US GOIAM Union

IAM International President Brian Bryant has announced the appointment of Luis Silvas as a Special Representative in the Western Territory, effective June 7, 2025. Silvas is moving from his role as an Education Representative at the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center.

“Luis embodies what it means to be a union leader, grounded in experience, driven by purpose, and committed to empowering our members,” said Bryant. “His new role will only amplify the impact he’s already made.”

Silvas brings a wealth of relevant and practical knowledge to the role and has been active in Local and District leadership since the beginning of his union journey. His knowledge and experience will immediately benefit IAM members.

“Luis’s deep understanding of local procedures, coupled with his skills in organizing, negotiating, and servicing, as well as his background in developing and delivering training, will allow him to make an immediate and positive impact,” said IAM Western Territory General Vice President Robert “Bobby” Martinez.

Silvas began his IAM career in Southern California with Local 1125 in 2013, quickly rising through the ranks as Shop Steward, Recording Secretary, and later Local President. In 2017, he became a Business Representative for District 725, where he also served as Political Facilitator and elected Trustee for the California Conference of Machinists.

The post Luis Silvas Appointed Western Territory Special Representative appeared first on IAM Union.

MIL OSI USA News –

June 12, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Orange Middle East and Africa and risingSUD join forces to facilitate the establishment and development of startups in the South of France

At the Viva Technology trade show in Paris, Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA) (www.Orange.com), represented by its CEO Jérôme Hénique, and risingSUD, represented by its President Bernard Kleynhoff, signed a strategic partnership to support the establishment and growth of African startups in the Orange Digital Center network in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, in the South of France.

This three-year partnership aims to bring together innovation ecosystems in Africa, the Middle East, and the South of France. Specifically, startups from the Orange Digital Center network will benefit from tailored support from the teams at risingSUD, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region’s economic attractiveness and development agency, to establish themselves in the South of France. They will thus join a dynamic region that is already home to 500,000 companies, including global leaders and startups that are inventing the world of tomorrow.

With this partnership, OMEA strengthens its support for the internationalization of startups from Africa and the Middle East and reaffirms its commitment to developing the continent’s entrepreneurial ecosystems. Deployed in 17 countries in Africa and the Middle East and eight countries in Europe, the Orange Digital Center network is a free and accessible ecosystem for all. It brings together, in one place, digital skills training for young people, support for project leaders, incubation, acceleration, and startup financing.

In 2024 alone, risingSUD supported the establishment of 14 African companies in the South of France, including the startup from the Orange Digital Center in Tunisia, Guépard, which opened an office in Marseille. This partnership will allow more startups from Africa and the Middle East to benefit from risingSUD’s expertise, ranging from project development to access to financing and networking with international partners. It will also facilitate access for talent and startups from the South region to the Orange Digital Centers network.

Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, commented: “This partnership with risingSUD marks a key step in our ambition to promote African innovation internationally. It is a continuation of the support we offer startups through our Orange Digital Centers. By facilitating their establishment and acceleration in France, particularly in the South region, we are giving young African companies the means to accelerate their growth.”

Bernard Kleynhoff, President of risingSUD and President of the Economic and Digital Development, Industry, Export, Attractiveness and Cybersecurity Commissions of the Sud Region, added: “Thanks to its strategic position, its historical trade flows and its commitment to innovation, the South of France is a natural bridge between Europe, Africa and the Middle East. It is now the leading French region for hosting African investment projects. This partnership opens up new economic opportunities and constitutes a real springboard for the development of businesses on both sides of the Mediterranean.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Orange Middle East and Africa.

MIL OSI Africa –

June 12, 2025

Category: Business

Chimpanzee doctors

Survival of the kindest?

Who loses out?

Keeping e-bikes in use

E-bikes can be hard to spot

Tech solutions

Sacramento, Hanford stations were targeted for reduction of operations

Loss of 24/7 service would be catastrophic for disaster weather response

What do you want people to take away from the poem?

Tell us about your collaborator for this piece

What stood out to you about this photograph?

What is your process for writing a poem to accompany a photograph?

What is poetic ethnography?

Addressing health challenges

Overcoming the climate

Healthy foods

Optimizing harvests

Community care

NREL Announces Chip-to-Grid Consortium, Invites Collab Around Energy-Data Integration

Yes, More Power. And Different Power.

How To Connect Petaflops and Gigawatts

Transmission Lines Over Vineyards

Chip-to-Grid

Emerging Innovations With Appeal

Decide How To Power Data With NREL

Chancellor pledges at least £445 million of rail investment as part of biggest ever Welsh funding boost

Growing Wales’ domestic aerospace and defence industries

Coal tip safety

Supporting Welsh businesses

Local growth funding

A record settlement for Welsh public services

ENDS

Share this page

Updates to this page

Legislation would give victims of gun violence their day in court & enable them to hold manufacturers accountable for negligence