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  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: OPINION | Sarah Huckabee Sanders: My State is Taking On the Middlemen Who Inflate Drug Prices

    Source: US State of Arkansas

    ICYMI: OPINION | Sarah Huckabee Sanders: My State is Taking On the Middlemen Who Inflate Drug Prices

    The New York Times published “My State is Taking On the Middlemen Who Inflate Drug Prices,“ an op-ed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on what Arkansas is doing to fight anti-competitive practices by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs):

    Behind inflated prescription prices, complicated insurance plans and dying local pharmacies, there is a little-known culprit: pharmacy benefit managers that operate as self-serving middlemen between drug manufacturers, insurance companies and you. Now my home state, Arkansas, is taking action against them.

    I am proud to be the first governor in the country to ban the anticompetitive practices that allow P.B.M.s to dominate the prescription drug market, and to encourage other states and Congress to follow Arkansas’s lead.

    P.B.M.s started as a good idea that quickly went sour. They initially served as negotiators between pharmacies and insurance companies. P.B.M.s are supposed to keep track of fast-changing drug prices, insurance plans and government regulations, and are intended to keep patient costs low and prescriptions filled. But anyone who has had to pay an insurance premium or co-pay recently likely knows they don’t always work as intended.

    Instead, some of these P.B.M.s opened their own pharmacies and others were acquired by existing pharmacy chains, in both cases creating huge conflicts of interest. The result: P.B.M.s forcibly steer patients away from independent operators and inflate drug prices in the vacuum left behind. That consolidation has only hastened in recent years. Today the nation’s three largest P.B.M.s process 80 percent of all prescriptions, and their affiliated pharmacies bring in 70 percent of all specialty drug revenue. They bring in steep profits, too: Pharmacies associated with the nation’s largest P.B.M.s received $1.6 billion in excess revenue from just two cancer drugs in under three years.

    Especially in places like rural Arkansas, that puts patients at risk. I heard from one woman in Camden, Ark., who was a longtime patient at a community pharmacy where she always picked up her prescription in person.

    But when she developed a life-threatening breathing disorder that required an inhaler, she ran into problems with her health plan, which is administered by one of the largest P.B.M.s in the country, CVS Caremark.When it came time for her routine refill, her claim was denied. She was told she had to use one of CVS’s pharmacies (which share a parent company with the P.B.M.), the closest of which was an hour and a half drive away.

    She had three options: drive three hours round-trip, pay hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket at her trusted local pharmacy or risk enrolling in mail-order prescriptions.

    She reluctantly chose mail-order, which required jumping through various hoops, including a new doctor’s appointment and onerous paperwork, only to encounter delays that left her without an inhaler for weeks. After finally getting an inhaler, she went to refill the prescription and was told it was no longer covered for mail orders.

    This red tape isn’t just annoying; it’s also life-threatening. And the only purpose it serves is to line the pockets of corporate suits who stand between patients and the care they need.

    Arkansas is fixing this problem. The legislation I just signed makes it so that a P.B.M. cannot also own a pharmacy. They can still operate in our state; they just can’t continue to mistreat patients and box out other pharmacies.

    Not surprisingly, these multibillion-dollar companies are engaging in an all-out broadside against our new law. CVS flooded Arkansas airwaves with hair-on-fire ads before the legislation was signed. Now, CVS is threatening to close down every pharmacy it operates in our state — preferring to take its ball and go home rather than divest from its P.B.M. and actually serve the patients it claims to care about.

    CVS and another major P.B.M., Express Scripts, are using all the legal firepower their money can buy to take Arkansas to court. And I have no doubt that lobbyists in other states and Washington, D.C., are about to make a pretty penny representing these panicked corporations.

    Arkansas isn’t scared. We won’t sacrifice our veterans, seniors or rural patients in service of P.B.M. stock prices.

    If you’d asked me a year ago if we could change these entrenched interests, I’m not sure I would have thought it possible. But with President Trump in office, everything is changing. He signed an executive order last month that targets P.B.M.s. “We’re going to cut out the middlemen,” he promised in a recent news conference.

    Republicans have a chance to lead on this issue — but we have to act now. My fellow governors and congressional lawmakers should ignore the fear mongering from P.B.M.s and stand up for patients and local pharmacists to end these anti-competitive practices and fix the broken, backward system that has tarnished America’s health care for too long.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congress’ Failure and Devastating, Cruel Bill Could Lead to Tens of Thousands of Coloradans Losing Health Coverage in 2026

    Source: US State of Colorado

    DENVER – This week, the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI) informed health insurance companies that the agency was revising the expected impact of Colorado’s Reinsurance Program to reflect the Republican controlled Congress’s failure to extend enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) market. Governor Jared Polis wrote to Colorado’s Congressional delegation urging them and Congress to help keep thousands of Coloradans on their health care coverage by extending tax credits for those buying insurance off the health exchange. House Speaker Julie McCluskie and Senator Dylan Roberts also expressed concerns. 

    Since the inception of the bipartisan reinsurance initiative from 2020 through 2025, Coloradans will have saved over $2.1 billion dollars. Failing to extend these enhanced tax credits that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, when combined with harmful provisions of the Reconciliation bill, will increase costs on Colorado families and individuals. 

    “On top of the destructive proposed cuts to Medicaid, which will throw hundreds of thousands of Coloradans off of their health care, failure of the Republican controlled Congress to extend these ACA tax credits, which have saved Colorado families hundreds of millions in premiums, will throw even more people off of health insurance who rely on reinsurance and marketplace coverage to save money. While Republicans fight with each other, hardworking Coloradans are focused on keeping health care that is accessible and affordable, and want to see costs go down, not up. The Senate should take action to extend these critical tax credits for hardworking families and start from scratch on the reconciliation bill,” said Governor Jared Polis. 

    The Republican controlled House passed Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” by a one-vote margin, 215 – 214. Representatives Pettersen, Neguse, DeGette, and Crow voted no, while Representatives Hurd, Evans, Crank and Boebert voted yes. 

    Governor Polis wrote to Colorado’s members of Congress today: “Amongst its many failures, the Reconciliation bill passed by the House fails to extend the enhanced tax credits that Coloradans rely on to make their health insurance affordable. If the Republican controlled Congress allows those cuts to go into effect, tens of thousands of Coloradans will no longer be able to afford their health care. 

    Coloradans who receive enhanced tax credits will see net premiums increase on average by 104%, simply due to the expiration of these credits. The end of enhanced tax credits will effectively be a tax increase for Coloradans and, moreover, will usher in the return of the “subsidy cliff” – where Coloradans making more than 400% of the federal poverty level (household income of $84,600 for a family of two) are left paying the full cost of their health insurance premiums without any assistance. The combined effect will disproportionately impact households with enrollees over age 55. 

    The end of the enhanced tax credits would significantly reduce the positive benefits of Colorado’s reinsurance initiative by materially reducing the federal support received to reduce individual market rates. Since the inception of the bipartisan reinsurance initiative in 2020 through 2025, Coloradans will have saved over $2.1 billion dollars. The reinsurance initiative operates under an ACA Section 1332 waiver, and is funded by the dollars that would otherwise flow through premium tax credits without increasing costs for the federal government. If the enhanced tax credits are not extended, state reinsurance initiative would have less funding available to lower premiums for all consumers in the market.” 

    The reconciliation bill would also increase red tape for Coloradans and create new barriers to enrollment. 

    “Between the cuts to Colorado’s Medicaid coverage and the cuts to Colorado’s ACA market, this bill will dramatically increase the uninsured rate in Colorado, rip away people’s access to health care, and lead to a substantially higher amount of uncompensated care that must be absorbed by Colorado’s hospitals and health care providers. That, in turn, will mean that employers will see their health insurance premiums rise as well. No corner of our health care system will be safe from the damage that this bill will inflict,” the Governor continued. “I urge you to take action, either through amendments to the reconciliation bill or through standalone legislation, to extend these enhanced premium tax credits and to scrap additional provisions in the reconciliation bill that will further raise health insurance costs and make health care unaffordable for many Coloradans.” 

    “If Congressional Republicans fail to extend the enhanced ACA tax credits, many Coloradans who buy their own health insurance will lose the coverage they rely on and many more will see their premiums go up, especially in the high country and rural parts of our state,” said Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon. “These premium increases and the loss of insurance coverage, on top of the proposed cuts to Medicaid, will be devastating for families and destabilize rural health care systems that cannot absorb the cost of more uninsured patients at their facilities. In Colorado, we’ve worked together to lower costs for families with the successful reinsurance program. Washington Republicans must extend these ACA credits, or Colorado families will be stuck with the bill.” 

    “It is hard to overstate the negative impact that losing health insurance affordability tax credits would have on Coloradans, especially those in our rural and mountain communities,” said State Senator Dylan Roberts (D-Frisco). “Colorado’s bipartisan leadership in using savings from the ACA to create the Reinsurance and Colorado Option programs has kept insurance rates from spiking and allowed tens of thousands of more Coloradans to have access to the financial security of health insurance coverage. Slashing these tax credits will undermine all of that, spike health insurance rates, and lead to more Coloradans being uninsured, particularly the rural residents our state’s Republican members of Congress represent. It’s truly baffling they’d harm their constituents like this.” 

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta, DA Partners Announce $275,000 Settlement with Magazine Billing Company for Misleading California Consumers

    Source: US State of California

     Announcement comes following robust joint state-local investigation 

    OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta along with San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan, Alameda District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, Marin County District Attorney Lori E. Frugoli, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, and Sonoma District Attorney Carla Rodriguez, today announced a settlement with Pacific Magazine Billing, resolving allegations that the company deceptively disguised solicitation mailers for magazine subscriptions as bills. As part of the settlement announced today, Pacific Magazine Billing agreed to pay $275,000 and is banned from participating in the mail order magazine solicitation industry. 

    “In California, we boast nation-leading consumer protection laws — robust tools my office and the offices of local law enforcement partners can use to protect our residents. Pacific Magazine Billing used dishonest tactics to trick recipients into thinking they owed money to get consumers to sign up for a magazine subscription,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Today, the settlement secured by my office and our law enforcement partners sends a clear message to companies looking to make a buck off unsuspecting Californians: If you deceive consumers, we will go after you, it’s that simple.” 

    “Deceptive business practices that exploit unsuspecting people in Alameda County will not be tolerated, and this joint settlement shows business owners will be held to account for their actions,” said Alameda District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson. 

    “My office will not tolerate unscrupulous companies profiting from deception,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman. “Pacific Magazine Billing is accused of disguising third party offers as legitimate invoices in order to trick consumers into paying fake bills — conduct specifically prohibited by state and federal consumer protection laws. Our office will protect consumers from being tricked by these large companies. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office vigorously fights for consumers in our county, and when companies violate consumer protection laws across the state, we proudly partner with fellow district attorneys and the Attorney General to hold violators accountable.”

    “The Company’s business model was a scheme built on deception,” said Marin County Deputy District Attorney Michael Wear. “Consumers believed they were paying legitimate bills, when in fact they were being scammed. Our action puts a stop to Pacific Magazine Billing’s fraudulent practices.”

    “My office is committed to protecting consumers in San Francisco and around the State from direct mailers that are deceptive or misleading,” said San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. “I encourage any consumer who receives an unsolicited mailer that seems confusing or just not right to contact my office’s consumer protection unit. I also want to thank my fellow District Attorneys and our partners in the Attorney General’s Office for working jointly to address the conduct alleged in this case.”

    “Our Environmental and Consumer Law Division is committed to holding businesses and individuals accountable when they mislead California consumers,” said Sonoma District Attorney Carla Rodriguez. “We are pleased that we were able to work with the California Attorney General and other California District Attorneys around the state to stop this practice.”

    Spurred by consumer complaints, in late 2022 the District Attorneys’ offices and the California Department of Justice launched a joint investigation into Pacific Magazine Billing. The investigation revealed that between 2016 and 2022 the company blasted out tens of millions of mailers that looked like bills for existing magazine subscriptions, when the mailers were in truth solicitations designed to deceive consumers into unknowingly starting or renewing subscriptions. 

    The settlement announced today resolves allegations that in sending the mailers, Pacific Magazine Billing misled consumers and violated California’s False Advertising and Unfair Competition Laws. As part of the settlement, Pacific Magazine Billing will pay a total of $275,000 in combined civil penalties and other payments that will be used to fund the enforcement of consumer protection laws. The company has also agreed to strong injunctive terms that permanently stop it from issuing solicitations for any magazine subscriptions and mailing solicitations designed as bills in any other business effort. 

    Attorney General Bonta is committed working with law enforcement partners up and down the state to protect California consumers. In April, Attorney General Bonta in partnership with Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley and Santa Barbara County District Attorney John T. Savrnoch, announced a settlement with HomeOptions, a realty company based in Oakland that engaged in a predatory real estate scheme impacting over 500 California homeowners, and its Chief Executive Officer. In 2024, Attorney General Bonta, along with Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, announced a $500,000 settlement with Tilting Point Media LLC resolving allegations that the company violated state and federal laws by collecting and sharing children’s data without parental consent in their popular mobile app game “SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off.” In 2023, Attorney General Bonta, along with District Attorneys from Merced, Ventura, and Yolo Counties, announced a settlement against Walmart over allegations that illegal weapons were sold to California consumers by Walmart and by third-party sellers through Walmart’s website.

    A copy of the complaint and final judgement can be found here and here. The settlement is pending court approval.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: With so many parties ‘ruling out’ working with other parties, is MMP losing its way?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University

    There has been a lot of “ruling out” going on in New Zealand politics lately. In the most recent outbreak, both the incoming and outgoing deputy prime ministers, ACT’s David Seymour and NZ First’s Winston Peters, ruled out ever working with the Labour Party.

    Seymour has also advised Labour to rule out working with Te Pāti Māori. Labour leader Chris Hipkins has engaged in some ruling out of his own, indicating he won’t work with Winston Peters again. Before the last election, National’s Christopher Luxon ruled out working with Te Pāti Māori.

    And while the Greens haven’t yet formally ruled anyone out, co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has said they could only work with National if it was prepared to “completely U-turn on their callous, cruel cuts to climate, to science, to people’s wellbeing”.

    Much more of this and at next year’s general election New Zealanders will effectively face the same scenario they confronted routinely under electoral rules the country rejected over 30 years ago.

    Under the old “first past the post” system, there was only ever one choice: voters could turn either left or right. Many hoped Mixed Member Proportional representation (MMP), used for the first time in 1996, would end this ideological forced choice.

    Assuming enough voters supported parties other than National and Labour, the two traditional behemoths would have to negotiate rather than impose a governing agenda. Compromise between and within parties would be necessary.

    Government by decree

    By the 1990s, many had tired of doctrinaire governments happy to swing the policy pendulum from right to left and back again. In theory, MMP prised open a space for a centrist party which might be able to govern with either major player.

    In a constitutional context where the political executive has been described as an “elected dictatorship”, part of the appeal of MMP was that it might constrain some of its worst excesses. Right now, that is starting to look a little naive.

    For one thing, the current National-led coalition is behaving with the government-by-decree style associated with the radical, reforming Labour and National administrations of the 1980s and 1990s.

    Most notably, the coalition has made greater use of parliamentary urgency than any other government in recent history, wielding its majority to avoid parliamentary and public scrutiny of contentious policies such as the Pay Equity Amendment Bill.

    Second, in an ironic vindication of the anti-MMP campaign’s fears before the electoral system was changed – that small parties would exert outsized influence on government policy – the two smaller coalition partners appear to be doing just that.

    It is neither possible nor desirable to quantify the degree of sway a smaller partner in a coalition should have. That is a political question, not a technical one.

    But some of the administration’s most unpopular or contentious policies have emerged from ACT (the Treaty Principles Bill and the Regulatory Standards legislation) and NZ First (tax breaks for heated tobacco products).

    Rightly or wrongly, this has created a perception of weakness on the part of the National Party and the prime minister. Of greater concern, perhaps, is the risk the controversial changes ACT and NZ First have managed to secure will erode – at least in some quarters – faith in the legitimacy of our electoral arrangements.

    The centre cannot hold

    Lastly, the party system seems to be settling into a two-bloc configuration: National/ACT/NZ First on the right, and Labour/Greens/Te Pāti Māori on the left.

    In both blocs, the two major parties sit closer to the centre than the smaller parties. True, NZ First has tried to brand itself as a moderate “common sense” party, and has worked with both National and Labour, but that is not its position now.

    In both blocs, too, the combined strength of the smaller parties is roughly half that of the major player. The Greens, Te Pāti Māori, NZ First and ACT may be small, but they are not minor.

    In effect, the absence of a genuinely moderate centre party has meant a return to the zero-sum politics of the pre-MMP era. It has also handed considerable leverage to smaller parties on both the left and right of the political spectrum.

    Furthermore, if the combined two-party share of the vote captured by National and Labour continues to fall (as the latest polls show), and those parties have nowhere else to turn, small party influence will increase.

    For some, of course, this may be a good thing. But to those with memories of the executive-centric, winner-takes-all politics of the 1980s and 1990s, it is starting to look all too familiar.

    The re-emergence of a binary ideological choice might even suggest New Zealand – lacking the constitutional guardrails common in other democracies – needs to look beyond MMP for other ways to limit the power of its governments.

    Richard Shaw 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. With so many parties ‘ruling out’ working with other parties, is MMP losing its way? – https://theconversation.com/with-so-many-parties-ruling-out-working-with-other-parties-is-mmp-losing-its-way-257974

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI: Nimanode Launches $NMA Token Presale to Power AI Agent Ecosystem on XRP Ledger

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LEEDS, United Kingdom, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nimanode, a pioneering no-code AI agent platform built on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), has officially launched its $NMA token presale, offering early participants the opportunity to engage with a next-generation on-chain automation ecosystem. The presale has already filled over 12% of its softcap, reflecting growing interest in AI-powered blockchain infrastructure.

    With anticipation of a major breakout post-launch, early participants are moving quickly to secure $NMA tokens at presale pricing.

    Join $NMA Presale

    Presale Demand Up as Investors Target $NMA for 10X Growth

    With a total of 90 million $NMA representing 45% of $NMA allocated for the presale, this marks a unique and promising chance to claim early access into one of XRP Ledger’s most innovative projects, spearheading the AI ecosystem on the blockchain.

    As the market is currently clouded by volatility and corrections, Nimanode’s presale is emerging as a rare bright spot. Sparking strong FOMO across the XRP community and beyond as investors position themselves early in what many believe could be the next 100X breakout on XRPL.

    Market Analysts already predict strong upside upon exchange listing of $NMA as demand for agent-based infrastructure gains traction.

    This is a chance to invest in $NMA before its Listing at 25% higher than Presale value, however whales position for more as they eye a 10X surge on Launch.

    Join $NMA Presale

    New Kind of On-Chain Intelligence

    Nimanode agents aren’t just simple bots.These agents think, analyze, and execute on-chain tasks ranging from:

    Smart Contract Generation: AI that turns plain-English prompts into executable XRPL Hook contracts.

    DeFi Yield Optimization: Self-directed agents that shift capital between pools to maximize APY.

    Risk Monitoring: Agents that scan wallets and contracts to flag malicious activity in real-time.

    Web3 Customer Support: Deployable support agents that run 24/7 across DAO forums, dApps, and more.

    RWA Compliance: Regulatory agents that keep tokenized assets aligned with local frameworks.
    And all of it can be created from a zero-code interface, allowing creators, DAOs, or institutions to launch an entire automated ecosystem in minutes.

    How to Join The Nimanode Presale

    Joining in the NimaNode Presale is quite straightforward for seasoned investors and newbies alike.

    Purchase XRP: Acquire XRP from reputable exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, or Bybit.

    Setup an XRP-Compatible Wallet: Send your XRP to an XRP compatible Wallet (e.g. Xaman).

    Participate in the Presale: Visit the NimaNode Presale Page (https://nimanode.com/presale), send your XRP to the provided presale address, and secure your $NMA tokens.

    There is a Limited Time Period of 30 Days for the Presale and it’s pricing is going at 1 XRP = 450 $NMA

    The last cycle gave us DeFi protocols and NFTs. This cycle is shaping up to be about autonomous infrastructure and Nimanode is at the heart of it.

    Don’t Miss Out – Secure your $NMA Tokens

    Connect with Nimanode

    Website: https://nimanode.com

    Twitter/X: https://x.com/nimanodeai

    Telegram: https://t.me/nimanodeAI

    Documentation: https://docs.nimanode.com

    Contact:
    Nick Lambert
    contact@nimanode.com

    Disclaimer: This is a paid post and is provided by Nimanode. 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/8a7a5bf9-217b-4a2e-a549-9e4ba44e7dfa

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Banker confronts criminal behind $50k scam

    Source: Premier of Victoria

    • 84-year-old customer saved from scam
    • Banker confronts “spineless coward” scammer after he threatened elderly customer
    • Customers warned of callers pressuring them to move money

    When Stella* walked into her local NAB branch and asked to increase her internet banking limit, the East Maitland team immediately knew something didn’t add up.

    The 84-year-old nervously asked for her daily limit to be lifted from $5,000 to $50,000 so she could transfer money to her son’s account.

    Behind the counter of the branch in NSW’s Hunter Valley, customer advisor Tiffany Bailey noticed Stella was on the phone to someone.

    “The phone line went dead as soon as the caller heard my voice. Alarm bells started ringing for me straight away. I knew from my training and experience that something is not right here,” Ms Bailey said.

    Tiffany then Googled the phone number, which revealed it was linked to a known scam.

    “That’s when we were able to sit down with Stella and ask what was really going on,” Ms Bailey said.

    “Stella burst into tears, telling us she was being threatened by a man claiming to be from a major tech company. He’d been pressuring her for days into making a $50,000 transfer to settle an outstanding debt. Stella’s adult son was waiting out the front of the branch. He had no idea she was being scammed.”

    The criminal also gained remote access to Stella’s computer, generated images to convince her of the debt and coached her what to say to bank staff.

    It was then he started calling again.

    Branch manager Vanessa Kruger offered to answer the call and Stella agreed. “I told him that we were from NAB and we were on to him,” Ms Kruger said.

    “I told him to stop calling Stella and leave her alone. We’d also be reporting him to police. He hung up straight away like a spineless coward.”

    The branch team put a temporary block on Stella’s accounts and reassured her no money had been taken. They also sought advice from NAB’s Fraud Operations team, based in Melbourne, who advised Stella her computer should be cleaned.

    “She was instantly relieved. It could have so easily been my grandmother in that situation,” Ms Bailey said.

    The following week Stella came back into the branch to thank the team.

    “She came up to me and gave me a big hug to say thank you. She was still rattled but feeling a lot better. Stella told us she would have been wiped out financially,” Ms Bailey said.

    NAB Executive, Group Investigations Chris Sheehan said NAB remained focused on its fight against criminals as part of a bank-wide scam strategy to help protect customers.

    “Remote access scams often start with a phone call or computer pop up from someone claiming there’s a problem they can help ‘fix’,” Mr Sheehan, a former Australian Federal Police executive, said.

    “Recognising scam red flags is crucial. These include a sense of urgency, unexpected contact, being asked to grant someone access to your device and ‘needing’ to move money to keep it ‘safe’.

    “If you’re unsure, call the organisation the person claims to be from using details you’ve found yourself. For example, look up the organisation’s website or log in to its app.

    “Stopping scams is like playing whack-a-mole. That’s why Australia’s all of ecosystem approach to tackling scams is world-leading.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Bacon, Min Reintroduce Orozco Act

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Don Bacon (2nd District of Nebraska)

    Bacon, Min Reintroduce Orozco Act

    The legislation allows immediate relatives of first responders who die in the line of duty to continue to process their immigration application in a timely manner despite the death of their loved one.

    Washington – Yesterday, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE-02), along with Rep. Dave Min (D-CA-47), re-introduced H.R. 3832, the “Kerrie Orozco First Responders Family Act.” This legislation allows immediate relatives of first responders who die in the line of duty to continue to process their immigration application in a timely manner despite the death of their loved one. It simply extends the privilege to first responders that current law affords to spouses of U.S. military serving our country.

    The legislation is named after Omaha Police Officer Kerrie Orozco, who was gunned down ten years ago on May 20 while serving a felony arrest warrant as part of the city’s gang unit. Orozco, who had delayed her maternity leave until her premature baby girl Olivia could come home, was due to pick her up hours later that day. In addition to her husband Hector, she was survived by her stepchildren Natalie and Santiago. 

    “Four years ago, when Officer Kerrie Orozco was killed, her husband Hector was going through the immigration process. His immigration status should not have been put in jeopardy because his wife made the ultimate sacrifice protecting our community,” said Rep. Bacon. “Our first responders put their lives on the line every time they go to work ensuring our families and communities are safe. If they are killed in the line of duty, we owe them peace of mind knowing their families will be taken care of and not forgotten.”

    “Law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe,” said Rep. Min. “The families of the officers who make the ultimate sacrifice for us shouldn’t be forced to deal with extra red tape as they’re grieving. I’m proud to support this common-sense legislation to support the brave law enforcement families around our nation.”
    Under current law, the surviving family members of first responders who have pending immigration applications face delays in the naturalization process. 

    The legislation is supported by: American Business Immigration Coalition (AIBC), FWD.us, National Immigration Forum, Police Officers’ Defense Coalition, and  the U.S. Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

     “This bill is a compassionate, commonsense step toward honoring those who make the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country and local communities, and the families who carry their legacy forward. It recognizes that many of our country’s heroes are part of immigrant families, and that their spouses and children are deeply rooted in our communities. These families embody the strength and values that hold our country together. Protecting them isn’t just the right thing to do, it reflects who we are as a nation,” said ABIC CEO, Rebecca Shi. 

    “In the aftermath of a line of duty death, the FOP, the fallen heroes department and the community grieve together and do what they can to support the family and loved ones they leave behind.  In the tragic case of Officer Kellie Orozco, who was shot and killed just days before she was to bring home her baby—a daughter that was born prematurely—she left behind a husband who faced a lengthy nationalization process while caring for their three children as a single parent.  Modeled on the Gold Star Families program, the legislation would provide that a surviving spouse, child or parent of a U.S. citizen public safety officer who died in service or as a result of their service to apply for U.S. citizenship more quickly by waiving the five-year continuous residence and the 30-month physical presence requirements for naturalization.  The FOP is proud to support the bill,” said Patrick Yoe, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police.

    “The National Immigration Forum supports The Kerrie Orozco First Responders Act, a commonsense, bipartisan immigration reform that recognizes the sacrifice of fallen first responders and their family members. This bill helps surviving non-citizen spouses, parents, or children of U.S. citizen public safety officers by streamlining their process for obtaining citizenship, providing them a measure of stability and peace of mind. This compassionate and sensible reform would afford these family members a more direct path to permanent status and citizenship, an important and well-deserved gesture at a particularly difficult time,” said Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum.

    “This important legislation stands as a profound and compassionate testament to the brave men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. By allowing the spouse, child, or parent of a U.S. citizen public safety officer to be naturalized- provided the officer’s death resulted from a line-of-duty injury and all relevant immigration law requirements are met-this bill affirms a deep moral truth: that our nation not only values the lives of those who serve, but also honors and supports the families they leave behind,” said Bert Eyler, President of the Police Officers’ Defense Coalition.  

    This legislation is part of Rep. Bacon’s overall approach to immigration, which includes securing our borders and fixing our broken immigration system. 

    Click here to read the legislation.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: World’s most powerful ex-New Yorker gets a DC military parade, not a ticker-tape celebration in Manhattan’s Canyon of Heroes

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Lincoln Mitchell, Lecturer, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

    Heavy equipment and military vehicles arrive in Jessup, Md., for the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary parade on June 14, 2025, which coincides with President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

    Donald Trump’s plan for a military parade on June 14, 2025, officially to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army as well as coinciding with the president’s 79th birthday, is yet another indication of his affinity for authoritarian leaders and regimes.

    Although the parade, which will include 6,000 soldiers, 150 military vehicles and 50 helicopters − and will temporarily close Reagan National Airport and cost more than US$45 million − is ostensibly to celebrate the military, the idea is pure Trump.

    When pressed about his desire for the parade, the president has explained his reasoning for having the parade.

    “We had more to do with winning World War II than any other nation. Why don’t we have a Victory Day? So we’re going to have a Victory Day for World War I and for World War II.”

    While big military parades in Washington, D.C., other than immediately following a major military victory, are largely without precedent, there is another American city that has a much richer tradition of parades. That city is New York.

    Melania Trump and President Donald Trump joined French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, to watch the annual Bastille Day military parade in Paris on July 14, 2017, an event that inspired Trump to seek a parade in Washington, D.C.
    Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

    Trump vs. NYC

    New York is a parade town. It’s also a city with which Trump has a long, complex relationship.

    Trump was born in New York and began his business career there. Before Trump was a politician, or even a reality TV star, he was a fixture in the New York tabloids. His marriages, divorces, dating life and business successes and failures were splashed across more headlines than can be easily counted beginning in the early 1980s, but Trump was always presented as a clownish figure, albeit a very rich one.

    In those years, continuing into the first decade of this century, the local media always presented him as gaudy, loud and not quite as business savvy as he claimed – hence the coverage of his bankruptcies.

    While much of the rest of the country bought the Trump narrative that he was a brilliant businessman surrounded by beautiful women, doting staff and fawning celebrities, many New Yorkers never did.

    New Yorkers, including me, remembered an earlier Trump who almost ran the family business into the ground over many years. Nonetheless, New York has always been important to Trump. Although he still is a well-done steak with ketchup kind of guy, while New York is a soup dumplings, or bagels and lox, or arroz con pollo, or even caviar kind of town, Trump still has a connection to this city and wants to be celebrated here.

    Politicians, heroes and ticker tape

    And the city celebrates with big parades honoring everything from sports championships, which used to be much more common for New York teams, to the U.S. winning wars, most recently following the first Gulf War in 1991. Additionally, New York has parades for many of the hundreds of ethnic groups that make up the city.

    For decades on Thanksgiving Day, as they roast their turkey, prepare the stuffing and finalize preparations for the traditional feast, millions of Americans have watched the Thanksgiving parade, which is always held in Manhattan, frequently referred to as the Macy’s Day parade because Macy’s has long sponsored the event.

    In many of New York City’s legendary parades, including those celebrating LGBTQ+ pride, the Puerto Rican Day Parade, St. Patrick’s Day, West Indian American Day and others, politicians march, often in the lead, alongside their constituents.

    Some, like the Thanksgiving parade, have their own rituals, such as watching the balloons being inflated behind the American Museum of Natural History on the evening before Thanksgiving.

    However, the most famous of all parade types in New York is the ticker-tape parade. Dating from the days when paper, not computers, dominated trading floors and offices, people would throw ticker tape and other papers out their windows as the parade passed through the Financial District area that became known as the Canyon of Heroes.

    Not all New York parades are the same. Some, like the Thanksgiving parade, are simply fun and celebratory. Ticker-tape parades honor individuals or groups that have accomplished something significant, like landing on the Moon or winning the Super Bowl. They can recognize important foreign guests and dignitaries, while other parades celebrate the contributions of various peoples or groups of New Yorkers.

    But New Yorkers never throw parades for their politicians and tend to favor drums and floats rather than tanks and soldiers at these events.

    An avalanche of confetti rains down on Aug. 13, 1969, honoring the three astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission, who became the first people to walk on the Moon.
    Bettman/Getty Images

    No ticker tape for Trump

    While there are parades for all kinds of people and events in New York, there has never been a parade there for Donald Trump. There was a pretty massive street party in the city when it was announced that Trump had lost the 2020 election.

    Although Trump changed his primary residence to Florida in 2019, Trump was a New Yorker for many years and like many longtime residents had the chance to see many heroes – Mickey Mantle, John Glenn, Tom Seaver, Derek Jeter, Eli Manning, Nelson Mandela, American war veterans, numerous foreign leaders and many others – feted with a parade down the Canyon of Heroes. Jeter was celebrated five times, John Glenn and Mickey Mantle twice.

    It is impossible to know Trump’s motivations for pushing the parade in the nation’s capital. But we also know that he is a man who holds himself in high regard and craves attention. Trump will likely never get a parade in his erstwhile hometown, so Washington must be the next best thing.

    Trump’s newfound parade fetish underscores his love-hate relationship with New York.

    New York is the city that made him famous and made his family, primarily because of his father’s work, very rich. It is also the city that has repeatedly rejected Trump. It is the home of some of his worst real estate deals, the place where the business community lost patience with his antics and unwillingness to pay contractors, and where three times the voters turned out in huge numbers against him.

    A Washington, D.C., parade celebrating an unappreciated New Yorker who years ago decamped to Florida and Washington is a pale imitation of the Canyon of Heroes, where New Yorkers honor beloved leaders, war heroes, explorers and their favorite sports stars. But it is all Trump has.

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

    – ref. World’s most powerful ex-New Yorker gets a DC military parade, not a ticker-tape celebration in Manhattan’s Canyon of Heroes – https://theconversation.com/worlds-most-powerful-ex-new-yorker-gets-a-dc-military-parade-not-a-ticker-tape-celebration-in-manhattans-canyon-of-heroes-258110

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Reaching out for a clearer view of the economy

    Source: Bank of Canada

    We’re gathering more information

    Traditional data on inflation, jobs and housing are key to our decisions about whether to lower, raise or maintain our policy interest rate. But they often just give the big picture. And they show what has already happened, weeks later.

    Non-traditional data can help us see what’s happening under the surface—and in a timelier way. That’s especially helpful in uncertain and rapidly changing situations.

    • At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we used data on restaurant reservations, flight bookings and credit card transactions to see how consumer spending patterns were shifting in real time.
    • Today, to gauge the early impact of tariffs, we’re looking at changes in the number of trucks crossing the Canada-US border and the volume of ships entering and leaving ports.

    Similarly, our surveys give us a clearer sense of the evolution of the economy, and timelier insights from Canadians across regions and sectors. The quarterly Business Outlook Survey (BOS), the monthly Business Leaders’ Pulse (BLP) and the quarterly Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations have been especially helpful in recent years.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Speech: C.D. Howe Institute

    Source: Bank of Canada

    The Canadian economy ended 2024 in a strong position. However, the trade conflict and tariffs are expected to slow growth and add to price pressures. The outlook is very uncertain because of the unpredictability of US trade policy and the magnitude of its impact on the Canadian economy.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Bank of Canada Media Interview – This Matters podcast

    Source: Bank of Canada

    The Canadian economy ended 2024 in a strong position. However, the trade conflict and tariffs are expected to slow growth and add to price pressures. The outlook is very uncertain because of the unpredictability of US trade policy and the magnitude of its impact on the Canadian economy.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Bank of Canada Media Interview – Des matins en or

    Source: Bank of Canada

    Nicolas Vincent, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, will speak to David Chabot of Ici Radio-Canada Première’s Des matins en or at around 6:45 a.m. (ET). Check your local listings or the Radio-Canada website for programming information. The interview will also be posted online.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Bank of Canada holds policy rate at 2¾%

    Source: Bank of Canada

    The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 2.75%, with the Bank Rate at 3% and the deposit rate at 2.70%.

    Since the April Monetary Policy Report, the US administration has continued to increase and decrease various tariffs. China and the United States have stepped back from extremely high tariffs and bilateral trade negotiations have begun with a number of countries. However, the outcomes of these negotiations are highly uncertain, tariff rates are well above their levels at the beginning of 2025, and new trade actions are still being threatened. Uncertainty remains high.

    While the global economy has shown resilience in recent months, this partly reflects a temporary surge in activity to get ahead of tariffs. In the United States, domestic demand remained relatively strong but higher imports pulled down first-quarter GDP. US inflation has ticked down but remains above 2%, with the price effects of tariffs still to come. In Europe, economic growth has been supported by exports, while defence spending is set to increase.  China’s economy has slowed as the effects of past fiscal support fade. More recently, high tariffs have begun to curtail Chinese exports to the US. Since the financial market turmoil in April, risk assets have largely recovered and volatility has diminished, although markets remain sensitive to US policy announcements. Oil prices have fluctuated but remain close to their levels at the time of the April MPR.

    In Canada, economic growth in the first quarter came in at 2.2%, slightly stronger than the Bank had forecast, while the composition of GDP growth was largely as expected. The pull-forward of exports to the United States and inventory accumulation boosted activity, with final domestic demand roughly flat. Strong spending on machinery and equipment held up growth in business investment by more than expected. Consumption slowed from its very strong fourth-quarter pace, but continued to grow despite a large drop in consumer confidence. Housing activity was down, driven by a sharp contraction in resales. Government spending also declined. The labour market has weakened, particularly in trade-intensive sectors, and unemployment has risen to 6.9%. The economy is expected to be considerably weaker in the second quarter, with the strength in exports and inventories reversing and final domestic demand remaining subdued.  

    CPI inflation eased to 1.7% in April, as the elimination of the federal consumer carbon tax reduced inflation by 0.6 percentage points. Excluding taxes, inflation rose 2.3% in April, slightly stronger than the Bank had expected. The Bank’s preferred measures of core inflation, as well as other measures of underlying inflation, moved up. Recent surveys indicate that households continue to expect that tariffs will raise prices and many businesses say they intend to pass on the costs of higher tariffs. The Bank will be watching all these indicators closely to gauge how inflationary pressures are evolving.

    With uncertainty about US tariffs still high, the Canadian economy softer but not sharply weaker, and some unexpected firmness in recent inflation data, Governing Council decided to hold the policy rate as we gain more information on US trade policy and its impacts. We will continue to assess the timing and strength of both the downward pressures on inflation from a weaker economy and the upward pressures on inflation from higher costs.

    Governing Council is proceeding carefully, with particular attention to the risks and uncertainties facing the Canadian economy. These include: the extent to which higher US tariffs reduce demand for Canadian exports; how much this spills over into business investment, employment and household spending; how much and how quickly cost increases are passed on to consumer prices; and how inflation expectations evolve. 

    We are focused on ensuring that Canadians continue to have confidence in price stability through this period of global upheaval. We will support economic growth while ensuring inflation remains well controlled.

    Information note

    The next scheduled date for announcing the overnight rate target is July 30, 2025. The Bank will publish its next MPR at the same time.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Bank of Canada Media Interview – Midi info

    Source: Bank of Canada

    Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada, will speak to Alec Castonguay of Ici Radio-Canada Première’s Midi info at around 12:10 p.m. (ET). Check your local listings or the Radio-Canada website for programming information. The interview will also be posted online. 

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Bank of Canada Media Interview – The Canadian Press

    Source: Bank of Canada

    The Canadian economy ended 2024 in a strong position. However, the trade conflict and tariffs are expected to slow growth and add to price pressures. The outlook is very uncertain because of the unpredictability of US trade policy and the magnitude of its impact on the Canadian economy.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Speech by Sharon Kozicki, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada

    Source: Bank of Canada

    OTTAWA – On Thursday, June 5, 2025, Sharon Kozicki, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, will speak before C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto.

    Topic

    Talking to Canadians: How real-world insights shape monetary policy

    Time

    12:35 (Eastern Time)

    Place

    Toronto, ON

    Lock-Up

    At 10:50 (ET), journalists are invited to review copies of the speech, under embargo, at the Bank’s head office in Ottawa. Please use the Bank of Canada Museum entrance, located at 30 Bank Street (corner of Bank and Wellington), and bring photo ID.

    For security reasons, journalists wishing to attend must confirm their presence by contacting Media Relations before 14:00 (ET) on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Those who have not registered will not be admitted to the lock-up.

    The embargo will be lifted at 12:20 (ET).

    Distribution

    The Deputy Governor’s text will be available on the Bank’s website at 12:20 (ET).

    Media Availability

    There will be no media availability for this event.

    Accredited journalists who wish to participate remotely must contact Media Relations for connection information before 14:00 (ET) on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

    Audience Q&A

    There will be an audience Q&A period.

    Webcast

    Audio and video webcasts of the speech and media questions will be available.

    Note

    Media wishing to attend the event need to email
    to register.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Israel and the OPTs: Minister for the Middle East Statement

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Written statement to Parliament

    Israel and the OPTs: Minister for the Middle East Statement

    Minister for the Middle East statement to Parliament on UK sanctions on Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich

    With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

    The two-state solution is in peril.

    Catastrophic conflict in Gaza…

    and a shocking deterioration in the West Bank.

    This is an affront to the rights of Palestinians…

    but is also against the interests of Israelis…

    against their long-term security and their democracy.

    Today, I will update the House on new actions we are taking…

    to uphold human rights…

    and defend the vision and viability of two sides living side-by-side in peace.  

    Mr Speaker, 2024 saw the worst settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in the last two decades.

    2025 is on track to be just as violent.

    Between 1996 and 2023, an average of seven illegal settler outposts were established annually.

    In 2024, settlers erected 59.

    These outposts are illegal under both Israeli and international law.

    Two weeks ago, the Israeli government itself announced 22 new settlements in the West Bank.

    Every outpost…

    every building the settlers erect…

    is a flagrant breach of international law…

    and disregards the views of Israel’s partners.

    There are now in excess of five hundred thousand settlers living in the West Bank…

    and over 100,000 in East Jerusalem…

    the territory that must form the heart of a sovereign, viable and free Palestine.

    Mr Speaker, the sharp growth in settlements alone is dangerous enough.

    But it has been accompanied by a steep rise in settler violence and extremist rhetoric.

    Itamar Ben-Gvir has led seven provocative intrusions into Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount since 2022.

    In 2023, settlers rampaged through the village of Huwara…

    in what Israel’s own West Bank military commander described as a “pogrom done by outlaws”.

    Last month, the villagers of Mughayyir ad-Deir fled their homes in fear after the construction of an illegal outpost 100m away.

    This month, settlers attacked the town of Deir Dibwan…

    setting fire to houses and injuring residents.

    This violence and rhetoric is deeply concerning.

    An assault not just on Palestinian communities…

    but on the very fundamentals of a two-state solution.

    An attempt to entrench a one-state reality, where there are no equal rights.

    The two-state solution remains the only viable framework for a just and lasting peace…

    I know it is supported on every side of this House.

    Israelis living in secure borders…

    recognised and at peace with their neighbours…

    free from the threat of terrorism.

    Palestinians living in their own state…

    with dignity and security…

    free of occupation.

    Mr Speaker, we are steadfastly committed to defending that vision…

    not just with words, but with action.

    That is why we have pledged £101m in additional support to the Palestinian people this year.

    Why we are working to strengthen and reform the Palestinian Authority…

    Why My Right Honourable Friend the Foreign Secretary signed a landmark agreement with Prime Minister Mustafa…

    and why my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister welcomed him to Downing Street.

    Why we are clear that Hamas must release the hostages immediately and unconditionally, and that Hamas can have no role in Palestinian governance.

    Why we are committed to working with civil society – Israeli and Palestinian – to support those who believe in peace and coexistence.

    However, Mr Speaker, the gravity of the situation demands further action.

    The reality is that these human rights abuses…

    incitement to violence…

    the extremist rhetoric…

    comes not just from an uncontrolled fringe…

    but from individuals who are Ministers in this Israeli government.

    We have to hold them to account and protect the viability of the two-state solution.

    And so today, we are sanctioning Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir…

    acting alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway…

    who have also announced their own measures today.

    These two men are responsible for inciting settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank…

    violence which has led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians and the displacement of whole towns and villages.

    This violence constitutes an abuse of Palestinians human rights.

    It is cruel and degrading…

    and completely unacceptable.

    We have told the Israeli Government repeatedly that we would take tougher action if this did not stop.

    It still didn’t.

    The appalling rhetoric has continued unchecked.

    Violent perpetrators continue to act with encouragement and impunity.

    So let me tell the House now…

    when we say something, we mean it.

    Today, with our partners…

    we have shown the extremists we will not sit by while they wreck the prospects of future peace.

    Mr Speaker, our actions today do not diminish our support for the security of Israel and the Israeli people.

    The agendas of these two men are not even supported by the majority of Israelis…

    Israelis recognise that these individuals are not working in their interest.

    As the Foreign Secretary said to this House last month…

    we want a strong friendship with Israel based on shared values and our many close ties.

    Our condemnation of Hamas, a proscribed organisation…

    and the appalling attacks of October 7th is unequivocal.  

    Our commitment to Israel’s security and future is unwavering.

    We will continue to press for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza…

    the release of the hostages still held so cruelly by Hamas…

    a ramping up of aid to those Gazans in desperate need.

    The repeated threats by Hamas to the lives of the hostages are grotesque…

    and prolongs the agony of their families and loved ones.

    Hamas should release all the hostages immediately and unconditionally.

    Mr Speaker, the situation in the West Bank cannot be seen in isolation from events in Gaza.

    Extremist rhetoric advocating forced displacement of Palestinians…

    denial of essential aid…

    the creation of new Israeli settlements in the Strip…

    is equally appalling and dangerous.

    This Government will never accept the unlawful transfer of Gazans from or within Gaza…

    nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip.

    The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains catastrophic.

    While Israel’s ground and air operations expand, Gazans have been pushed into less than 20% of the territory.

    Hospitals have been destroyed and damaged.

    Gaza’s entire population is at risk of famine.

    Meanwhile, Israel’s newly introduced measures for aid delivery endanger civilians and foster desperation.

    They are inhumane.

    The Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah reported last week that it has responded to an unprecedented five mass casualty incidents in the two weeks prior…

    in each case, Palestinians have been killed or injured trying to access aid sites in Gaza.

    Desperate civilians who have endured twenty months of war should never face the risk of death or injury simply to feed themselves and their families.

    We need further action from the Israeli government now…

    to lift all restrictions on aid…

    to enable the UN and aid partners to do their work…

    and to ensure food and other critical supplies can reach people safely wherever they are.

    We will continue to support the UN and other trusted NGOs as the most effective and principled partners for aid delivery.

    Our support has meant over 465,000 people have received essential healthcare…

    640,000 have received food…

    and 275,000 people have improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene services.

    We support the efforts led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

    And we welcome France and Saudi Arabia’s initiative to chair an international conference later this month to advance a two-state solution.

    Mr Speaker, it is a two-state solution that is the only way to bring the long-lasting peace that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve.

    But it must not remain an empty slogan…

    repeated by generations of diplomats and politicians…

    but increasingly divorced from the reality on the ground.

    Mr Smotrich said there is no such thing as a Palestinian nation.

    Mr Ben Gvir has spoken of his rights in the West Bank…

    a territory his government is occupying…

    as more important than the rights of millions of Palestinians.

    Their own words condemn them, Mr Speaker.

    To defend those Palestinians’ rights…

    to protect the two-state solution…

    to see Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in safety and security…

    this Government is taking action.

    I commend this statement to the House.

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Talking to Canadians: How real-world insights shape monetary policy

    Source: Bank of Canada

    Surveying Canadians

    Now on to another important tool: surveys.

    Like other central banks, the Bank conducts a number of surveys with the financial sector. The results provide us with information on important issues like lending conditions as well as the demand for and supply of credit. We also gain important insights on risks and resiliency in the financial system. And we talk to financial market professionals to hear their views on where the economy and inflation are headed.

    But today, in talking about surveys, I want to focus more on how our regional offices inform our monetary policy deliberations by reaching out to households and businesses.

    Since the late 1990s, the Bank has been expanding its reach into the diverse regions that make up this great country. This work has included opening regional offices, and surveying businesses and consumers about their economic views. Our regional staff are well positioned to strengthen our ties with key local stakeholders such as industry, government, educational institutions and community organizations.

    Currently, the Bank’s regional offices conduct three key macroeconomic surveys: the Business Outlook Survey, the Business Leaders’ Pulse and the Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations., , 

    I’ll go over each one in greater detail in a moment. But overall, surveys like these accomplish three main goals.

    First, they help inform our outlooks for the economy and inflation. We hear from individuals and businesses about how they’re feeling—a measure of their current levels of confidence. We also ask what they expect to happen to prices and their own spending in the future.

    This gives the Bank forward-looking views on economic activity, demand, capacity pressures and inflation. That makes surveys particularly helpful in providing early indications of how the economy is reacting during times of great uncertainty, like the current trade conflict.

    Surveys also shine a light on trends that may be simmering beneath the surface. They help us understand behavioural changes that don’t always show up in aggregated data reports—at least not immediately.

    Finally, these surveys help us gather a wide range of views on how current economic conditions are playing out in communities across Canada.

    Our national economy is made up of diverse regional economies. Economic conditions may differ across regions, and regions may respond differently to broad-based upswings and downturns. Survey data give us a clearer view of the differences in how households and businesses are experiencing the economy.

    Let me now turn to each of the surveys.

    The Business Outlook Survey—or BOS for short—is a quarterly survey of businesses across the country. It has existed since 1997, which provides us a rich, long dataset for comparisons.

    Staff in our regional offices meet with local business leaders to discuss their views on the economy. We ask about their expectations for sales and demand, as well as their investment intentions. We probe their views about labour shortages, as well as hiring and wages. And we ask for their outlooks on costs and pricing, as well as economy-wide inflation. This gives us a broad range of perspectives about how businesses view the economy.

    For example, the results of the BOS for the fourth quarter of 2021 helped us better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting firms. For the first time since the start of the pandemic, we saw that businesses were planning to pass along cost increases stemming from supply chain pressures. They had concluded that customers understood these pressures and were willing to accept price increases.

    More recently, firms told us that uncertainty about tariffs has been affecting them in multiple ways. These impacts include weaker demand from their business customers that would be directly affected by tariffs.

    Now on to the Business Leaders’ Pulse, or BLP for short. This is our newest survey, created in 2021. It’s a short monthly online questionnaire to assess firms’ expectations for growth in sales and employment. It also asks about perceived risks to their business outlook, and poses other topical questions.

    The BLP provides a flexible and nimble pulse of evolving situations. It complements the BOS with timely feedback from firms about the effects of rapid changes in the economy.

    And the BLP has been very helpful in monitoring effects from the situation south of the border. For example, businesses were reporting an increase in both uncertainty and inflation expectations as early as November 2024. In December, we also began noting a decline in business sentiment—even before the new US administration was sworn in.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: World Bank cuts global growth forecast due to trade barriers and political uncertainty

    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

    NEW YORK, June 10 (Xinhua) — The World Bank on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecast, citing rising trade tensions and political uncertainty.

    The economic turmoil has led to lower growth forecasts for nearly 70 percent of economies across all regions and income groups, according to the bank’s latest semi-annual Global Economic Prospects report, released on Tuesday.

    The report cut its global economic growth forecast for 2025 to 2.3 percent from 2.7 percent projected in January, and its growth forecast for 2026 to 2.4 percent from 2.7 percent.

    Advanced economies are expected to grow by 1.2 percent in 2025, down from the previously forecast 1.7 percent, while emerging market and developing economies have seen their growth forecast cut by 0.3 percentage points to 3.8 percent.

    In particular, in 2025, US GDP is expected to grow by 1.4 percent, which is 0.9 percentage points less than the previous forecast and only half of the 2.8 percent growth recorded in 2024.

    Growth in the eurozone and Japan is expected to be 0.7 percent this year, down 0.3 and 0.5 percentage points respectively from previous estimates, while China’s growth forecasts for 2025 and 2026 remain unchanged.

    The report notes that the global economy is once again facing turbulence, although just six months ago it seemed that it was entering a “soft landing” trajectory.

    “Without a rapid course correction, the damage to living standards could be profound,” the report’s authors warn.

    “Outside Asia, the developing world is becoming a development-free zone,” said Indermit Gill, chief economist and senior vice president for development economics at the World Bank Group. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Nobody beats Alberta drilling

    Alberta is home to the best drilling expertise in the world. Decades of oil and gas development has made the province a proven drilling leader, while Alberta-led advancements in geothermal, lithium and other areas continue growing Alberta’s reputation as a powerhouse in energy innovation.

    However, many promising technologies and products have challenges reaching the market due to high costs and limited access to demonstration sites where testing can be done in real-world settings. With the right resources, Alberta’s energy developers can bring drilling technologies to market faster and more affordably.

    Alberta’s government is investing more than $20 million in industry-funded TIER dollars to launch the Alberta Drilling Accelerator program and keep pushing Alberta’s drilling expertise to greater heights. Delivered through Emissions Reduction Alberta, this funding will help Alberta companies advance new and emerging technologies, reduce emissions and, ultimately, increase responsible energy production around the world.

    “Alberta’s drilling expertise is second to none. The world needs energy and Alberta has the experience, geology, expertise and innovative spirit needed to deliver it. This funding is all about getting the next generation of drilling tech out of the lab and into the field, powering the world and Alberta’s economy at the same time.”

    Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas

    “Drilling technology is highly relevant to Emissions Reduction Alberta’s mandate, as it offers a potential pathway to direct emissions reduction in the oil and gas sector while also playing a critical role in commercializing technologies in emerging areas like geothermal and critical minerals extraction. We look forward to sharing the scope of this funding in the fall.”

    Justin Riemer, CEO, Emissions Reduction Alberta

    This new funding program will help speed up the development of geothermal, helium, critical minerals, carbon capture, utilization and storage, and other technologies and commodities that rely on Alberta’s world-class drilling expertise, further establishing Alberta’s global leadership in providing affordable, reliable, responsibly produced energy.

    More details on the program will be announced when it officially launches this fall.

    This is phase one of the province’s Alberta Drilling Accelerator. Future phases and initiatives will be developed as government continues accelerating new technologies that rely on Alberta’s world-class drilling expertise.

    Quick facts

    • The Alberta Drilling Accelerator program will launch in fall 2025, with planning and engagement taking place this summer.
    • Funding for the program comes from the industry-funded Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund.
    • Demand for new and more efficient technologies is rising globally, and Alberta is well-positioned to capitalize. For example, cumulative geothermal investment is poised to reach $1 trillion by 2050, while investment for oil and gas, carbon capture and storage and other sectors continues to grow.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch Joins 32 Colleagues in Amicus Brief Challenging Trump Administration Abuse of Emergency Powers to Impose Tariffs

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, recently joined Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and 29 of his colleagues in filing an amicus brief in a key case, Oregon v. Department of Homeland Security, challenging the Trump Administration’s abuse of emergency powers to impose tariffs. The brief opposes the Administration’s request for a stay of a recent court decision that struck down these tariffs.  Vermont was a part of the twelve-state coalition that filed this legal challenge.  
    In May, the U.S. Court of International Trade held that the Trump Administration lacked authority to issue the challenged tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)—a statute that no president prior to President Trump has ever tried to use to impose tariffs. The Senators’ amicus brief argues that a stay should be rejected.   
    “Granting a stay will cause irreparable harm to constituents of Amici, particularly thousands of small and medium-sized businesses that will continue to be harmed if the President persists in collecting the unlawful IEEPA tariffs,” wrote the Senators. “Small businesses do not have cash-on-hand or capital reserves to pay the increased tariffs, nor can they quickly adapt to them by modifying supply chains. If they cannot pass on the tariff costs to consumers—which would create additional harms for Amici’s constituents—many face letting employees go or filing for bankruptcy. Even a few weeks of additional tariffs means small businesses will suffer irreparable harm.”  
    “The powers to impose tariffs and regulate international trade were given to Congress for a reason,” continued the Senators. “Absent authorization from Congress to impose tariffs and approval to enter binding, durable trade agreements, it is contrary to the public interest for the President to arrogate Congress’s power to himself.”  
    “Further, the broad-based tariffs, which include extensive levies on treaty allies Japan, Canada, and members of the NATO alliance, undermine U.S. national security by weakening U.S. alliances,” concluded the Senators. “Amici regularly interact with U.S.-allied leaders who want to work with the U.S. on security and economic matters; IEEPA tariffs have been raised as one of the foremost irritants and obstacles to maintaining strong partnerships with the U.S. Multiple allied governments, including Canada, Mexico, and the European Union, have threatened retaliation targeting American exports and American companies—further compounding the economic harm to Amici’s constituents. Denying a stay will ensure the Administration cannot continue to usurp powers granted to Congress, and it will promote U.S. national security and economic interests.” 
    In addition to Senators Welch, Shaheen, Wyden, and Schumer, the letter was cosigned by Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Angus King (I-Maine), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.). 
    Read and download the full amicus brief. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch, Hawley Lead Bipartisan Bill to Raise the Federal Minimum Raise

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee,today joined Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in introducing the Higher Wages for American Workers Act of 2025, bipartisan legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and allow the federal minimum wage to increase with inflation in subsequent years. When adjusted for inflation, the current federal minimum wage is lower than at any point since the 1940s. Meanwhile, the cost of housing, health care, and education has skyrocketed, leaving millions of full-time workers struggling to make ends meet. 
    “We’re in the midst of a severe affordability crisis, with families in red and blue states alike struggling to afford necessities like housing and groceries. A stagnant federal minimum wage only adds fuel to the fire. Every hardworking American deserves a living wage that helps put a roof over their head and food on the table—$7.25 an hour doesn’t even come close,” said Senator Welch. “Times have changed, and working families deserve a wage that reflects today’s financial reality. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan effort to raise the minimum wage nationwide to help more folks make ends meet.” 
    “For decades, working Americans have seen their wages flatline. One major culprit of this is the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep up with the economic reality facing hardworking Americans every day. This bipartisan legislation would ensure that workers across America benefit from higher wages,” Senator Hawley said.    
    Senator Welch has championed efforts in the Senate to boost the minimum wage and help more Vermonters make ends meet. In April, Senator Welch cosponsored the Raise the Wage Act, bicameral legislation to ensure American workers make a living wage, drive economic growth, and reduce income inequality by raising the minimum wage to $17 for all workers by 2030. The bill would also gradually eliminate subminimum wages for tipped workers, workers with disabilities.  
    Last Congress, Senator Welch joined colleagues in introducing the PRO Act to protect the right to unionize and stop predatory behavior from companies trying to hinder workplace organizing. Senator Welch also supported the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, bipartisan and bicameral legislation that would guarantee the right of public sector employees to organize, act concertedly, and bargain collectively in states that currently do not afford these basic protections. 
    Read and download the full text of the bill. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: PKK’s decision to disband shows the benefit of engaging in politics rather than an armed struggle

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rebecca Lucas, Senior Analyst – Defence Economics and Acquisition, RAND Europe

    The recent decision by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to disarm and disband has important lessons for any country facing a seemingly intractable insurgency. On May 12, the group stated that following its 12th Congress it will “dissolve the PKK’s organizational structure and end the armed struggle method”. The organisation has said that it will now pursue its goals “through democratic politics”.

    The PKK’s decision follows talks between the Turkish government and the group’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who has been in Turkish custody since 1998. Regional dynamics, Turkish domestic politics, and personal ambition have all played key roles in bringing the conflict to this point.

    Much uncertainty remains. The PKK and Turkey have embarked on peace processes before, only to return to conflict. But the group’s formal announcement of its intention to disband marks an important step towards ending an insurgency that has lasted over 40 years. If so, it will bring to an end a conflict that has cost all sides involved tens of thousands of lives.

    The possibility of ending this insurgency not only raises questions about this specific conflict, but also what we know more broadly about how insurgencies end.

    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 PKK has a long track record of combining military action with political struggle. As with many other insurgent organisations, the group has worked to gain and maintain public support among ethnic Kurds, despite its use of violence.

    Its strategy has also evolved over the years to adapt to circumstances. It moved away from the its original Marxist beginnings with the end of the cold war and over the years changed its fundamental aim from separatism to increased regional autonomy and local government, through the system of what it calls democratic confederalism. Over the decades the group and its affiliates have also decreased their use of terrorism in Europe and western Turkey.

    This is in keeping with characteristics that researchers have found facilitate the transformation of organisations from armed groups to participants in institutional politics. There are a large number of cases in which insurgencies or terrorist organisations shifted – successfully or unsuccessfully – to either transform into a political party or combine with one.

    There’s no doubt that military pressure has been important in downgrading the PKK as an insurgency. But military victories over the PKK have failed to end the conflict – in fact military oppression against the PKK has often backfired and reinforced public support for the group.

    Many of the factors that have made it possible for the PKK to transform itself have been political, rather than narrowly military. Research by the RAND Corporation thinktank has found that rather than simply aiming to defeat an insurgency, it’s usually more effective to combine military pressure with political reform that aims to remove the reasons for the insurgency.

    Combining armed force with political pressure

    Turkey has taken this mixed approach, something many analysts have attributed to the foreign minister, Hakan Fidan. Ankara has pursued parallel tracks of negotiation and force. This has included improved counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency techniques, investment in drones and other military pressure.

    But Ankara has in parallel cut off financial flows to the organisation, while strengthening economic opportunities for Kurdish citizens – particularly in western Turkey. Many Kurds moved west to escape violence in the traditionally Kurdish regions in Turkey’s southeast: Istanbul is now the city with the largest Kurdish population in Turkey.

    The Turkish government has also strengthened its relationships with other Kurdish groups, primarily the Kurdistan Democratic Party in northern Iraq, to provide both military and political support.

    This case is another example of the importance of blending strictly military tactics with diplomacy, economic policy and strategic communications. The celebrated Prussian military theorist, Carl von Clausewitz said that war is politics by other means – and many insurgencies are fundamentally political in nature. So this requires multiple lines of effort to be pursued in parallel to effectively respond to this – with an emphasis on political solutions rather than just the use of force.

    This has been seen in conflicts with a number of insurgent groups in recent years – including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) or the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (Biaf) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines. In all of these cases, central governments have engaged in constructive political dialogue, providing amnesty and other incentives for fighters to demobilise while offering broader concessions in order to build a more sustainable peace.

    Successfully bringing insurgencies to and through a negotiated settlement requires long-term investment and effort. The issues that caused the insurgency in the first place do not simply disappear when the document is signed. In the case of the PKK, there are a number of ways in which this recent progress could be reversed. Concerns have been raised about whether the Turkish government will deliver on promised constitutional reforms or prisoner releases. There is also the question of whether PKK fighters will be willing and able to demobilise and reintegrate into society.

    Research has indicated that states with flawed democracies have more difficulty ending insurgencies on favourable terms. Freedom House and similar organisations currently rank Turkey as “Not Free”. The country has been backsliding for years under the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

    Despite these misgivings, the initial success of Turkey’s approach support previous research on how insurgencies end, and how armed groups might turn instead to politics. For the governments of countries facing insurgency, it means taking a comprehensive and multi-sectoral approach to encourage this to happen. Governments may also need to move away from a binary definition of “winning” or “losing” to a more nuanced understanding of how all parties stand to gain from the end of an insurgency.

    Rebecca Lucas 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. PKK’s decision to disband shows the benefit of engaging in politics rather than an armed struggle – https://theconversation.com/pkks-decision-to-disband-shows-the-benefit-of-engaging-in-politics-rather-than-an-armed-struggle-258221

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Automated Vehicles Act 2024 implementation

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 2

    Written statement to Parliament

    Automated Vehicles Act 2024 implementation

    An update on the work being done to implement the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act 2024.

    I wish to provide the House with an update on steps the government is taking to implement the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act 2024 and kickstart economic growth, a top priority in the government’s Plan for Change.

    The AV Act delivers one of the most comprehensive legal frameworks of its kind anywhere in the world, with safety at its core, which will give potential operators, tech developers and manufacturers the confidence to invest in the UK. It sets out clear legal responsibilities so businesses know where they stand, establishes a safety framework and creates the necessary regulatory powers.

    The AV Act implementation programme has been designed to maximise innovation, enabling investors and operators to develop and deploy the creative mobility solutions that can drive growth. This comes as part of a government-wide programme of work using artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver the Plan for Change, with AVs being a clear example of how AI will bring tangible benefits to the public.

    Automated passenger services

    Today (10 June 2025) I can announce that the government will accelerate the introduction of automated passenger services (APS) regulations, subject to the outcome of a consultation later this summer. This will provide businesses with the regulatory confidence to invest in testing and deploying these innovative services on our streets, reinforcing the UK’s position among the world leaders in tech deployment. It will help facilitate commercial pilots of services with paying passengers and no safety driver to be deployed from spring 2026.

    The APS permitting regime was created to address complexities of applying current taxi, private hire vehicle, and public service vehicle legislation to passenger services that would operate without a driver.

    Protecting marketing terms for AVs

    Today, I launched a consultation, and an accompanying draft statutory instrument (SI) on protecting marketing terms for AVs; the consultation will run for 12 weeks. The AV Act sets out an authorisation process to determine whether a vehicle can safely drive itself without being controlled or monitored by a human. We want to support the innovators and businesses which are building genuinely groundbreaking tech by protecting certain terms so they can only be used to describe authorised self-driving vehicles, boosting investor confidence, consumer trust and driver certainty.

    This consultation aims to identify the words, expressions, symbols or marks that should only be used to describe authorised AVs. The government expects to bring forward secondary legislation following careful consideration of consultation responses. Our aim is for these regulations to come into effect in early 2026; they will be subject to the negative procedure.

    Statement of safety principles for AVs

    Today, I have published a call for evidence on the statement of safety principles which will consider the safety outcomes that should be sought by self-driving vehicles; the call for evidence will also run for 12 weeks. Public confidence in the safety of these vehicles will be essential to take advantage of the huge economic opportunities they will present.

    The Department for Transport’s monitoring and annual reporting will consider performance against these principles. The AV Act specifies that the safety principles must be framed with a view to securing that authorised AVs achieve a safety level equal to or higher than careful and competent human drivers and that road safety in Great Britain will improve due to the presence of these vehicles.

    I intend to publish a further consultation on the statutory principles in the coming months that will be informed by stakeholder feedback from this call for evidence. The final statutory guidance will be laid in parliament and will be subject to parliamentary approval.

    Transport AI action plan

    The announcements made today are a cornerstone of the Department’s new Transport AI action plan. This publication is a 23-point plan which sets out how the government is using AI to improve transport for everyone in the UK. The plan builds upon the Transport data strategy and the AI opportunities action plan to align the transport sector with the broader AI agenda, drive economic growth and deliver on the Plan for Change.

    A copy of these publications and associated annexes will be placed in the libraries of both Houses and published on GOV.UK.

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General James Sues 23andMe to Protect New Yorkers’ Genetic Data

    Source: US State of New York

    EW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James and a bipartisan coalition of 27 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit against 23andMe to protect Americans’ personal genetic information. 23andMe collected and analyzed people’s genetic code, and in March 2025 the company filed for bankruptcy and announced plans to sell its assets. The attorneys general argue that 23andMe cannot auction 15 million customers’ highly sensitive personal genetic information without their consent or knowledge. Attorney General James and the coalition are objecting to 23andMe’s sale of people’s genetic data to ensure that it isn’t misused, exposed in future data breaches, or used in ways customers never contemplated when they signed up to have their DNA analyzed.

    “23andMe cannot auction millions of people’s personal genetic information without their consent,” said Attorney General James. “New Yorkers and many others around the country trusted 23andMe with their private information and they have a right to know what will be done with their information. My office is joining 27 other attorneys general to protect people’s most private information and to make sure 23andMe abides by the law.”

    23andMe, a popular direct-to-consumer DNA testing company, filed for bankruptcy in March 2025 and is now seeking to sell off its assets, including sensitive genetic and health data. The attorneys general argue that this kind of information, along with biological samples, DNA data, health-related traits, and medical records, is too sensitive to be sold without each customer’s express, informed consent. The coalition asserts that the company and its debtors must comply with states’ laws on the sale or transfer of genetic data. In March 2025, Attorney General James issued a consumer alert urging New Yorkers to contact the company to delete their personal data and destroy any samples of genetic material held by the company.

    Joining Attorney General James in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Life Sciences Investor Forum Agenda Announced for June 11th-12th

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Virtual Investor Conferences, the leading proprietary investor conference series announced the agenda for the Life Sciences Investor Forum June 11th & 12th. This event is co-hosted by Zacks Small Cap Research.

    Individual investors, institutional investors, advisors, and analysts are invited to attend.

    REGISTER HERE

    It is recommended that investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates. There is no cost to log-in, attend live presentations, or schedule 1×1 meetings with management.

    “The life sciences sector is driving breakthrough innovation, and we’re proud to give these pioneering companies a direct line to investors,” said Jason Paltrowitz, Executive Vice President of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group. “This Virtual Investor Conference, co-hosted by Zacks Small Cap Research, offers an essential platform for companies to share their vision, showcase scientific progress, and connect with a wider investment community actively seeking the next wave of healthcare and biotech leaders.”

    June 11th


    June 12    th

    To facilitate investor relations scheduling and to view a complete calendar of Virtual Investor Conferences, please visit www.virtualinvestorconferences.com.

    About Virtual Investor Conferences®

    Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors.

    Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access. Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors.

    Media Contact: 
    OTC Markets Group Inc. +1 (212) 896-4428, media@otcmarkets.com

    Virtual Investor Conferences Contact:
    John M. Viglotti
    SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access
    OTC Markets Group
    (212) 220-2221
    johnv@otcmarkets.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: CEO of Health Care Software Company Convicted of $1 Billion Fraud Conspiracy

    Source: US FBI

    MIAMI – A federal jury convicted the CEO of Power Mobility Doctor Rx, LLC (DMERx) for his role in operating a platform that generated false doctors’ orders to defraud Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs of more than $1 billion.

    According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Gary Cox, 79, of Maricopa County, Arizona, and his co-conspirators targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries who provided their personally identifiable information and agreed to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces, pain creams, and other items through misleading mailers, television advertisements, and calls from offshore call centers. Cox and his co-conspirators owned, controlled, and operated DMERx, an internet-based platform that generated false and fraudulent doctors’ orders for these items. As part of the scheme, Cox connected pharmacies, durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers, and marketers with telemedicine companies that would accept illegal kickbacks and bribes in exchange for signed doctors’ orders transmitted using the DMERx platform. Cox and his co-conspirators received payments for coordinating these illegal kickback transactions and referring the completed doctors’ orders to the DME suppliers, pharmacies, and telemarketers that paid kickbacks and bribes for the orders.

    The fraudulent doctors’ orders generated by DMERx falsely represented that a doctor had examined and treated the Medicare beneficiaries when in fact purported telemedicine companies paid doctors to sign the orders without regard to medical necessity, based only on a brief telephone call with the beneficiary or no interaction with the beneficiary at all. The DME suppliers and pharmacies that paid illegal kickbacks in exchange for these doctors’ orders billed Medicare and other insurers more than $1 billion. Medicare and the insurers paid more than $360 million based on these claims. According to evidence presented at trial, Cox and his co-conspirators concealed the scheme through sham contracts and by eliminating from doctors’ orders what one co-conspirator described as “dangerous words” that might cause Medicare to audit the scheme’s DME suppliers.

    “Medicare fraud undermines the integrity of our nation’s most critical healthcare programs, which are relied upon by millions of patients, doctors and honest healthcare professionals.” said U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida. “Fraud of this kind wastes taxpayer dollars and increases the cost of healthcare for all Americans. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will relentlessly pursue those who steal from taxpayers and exploit our healthcare system for their own personal gain”

    “The defendant orchestrated a scheme to defraud government health care benefit programs on a massive scale, creating fraudulent doctors’ orders used to bill insurers over $1 billion,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Americans are all too familiar with junk mail and spam calls that target seniors to steal their personal information and promote waste, fraud, and abuse in our economy. The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively prosecute health care fraud schemes to hold criminals accountable, protect the vulnerable, and recover financial losses.”

    “Fraud schemes perpetrated against veterans are abhorrent and will be thoroughly investigated,” said Special Agent in Charge David Spilker of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Southeast Field Office. “The VA OIG, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to combat these schemes to ensure the integrity of VA’s healthcare programs for veterans and their families.”   

    “The defendant deliberately exploited the federal health care system by prioritizing personal enrichment over the medical needs of vulnerable patients,” stated Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “By fraudulently billing the government for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment, the defendant not only violated the law but also assaulted the public’s trust placed in health care providers. There is zero tolerance for those who abuse federal health care programs, and HHS-OIG remains steadfast in its commitment to ensure that individuals who engage in such egregious fraud are held fully accountable.”

    “Medicare fraud and other health care related frauds are, unfortunately, nothing new,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Mark McCormick of the FBI Miami Field Office. “As such, the FBI and our partners devote considerable resources to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those committing this fraud. The victims are U.S. taxpayers – you and me.  Our message to those who commit health care fraud and steal from U.S. taxpayers is clear: you will be caught, and you will face justice.”

    Cox was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, three counts of health care fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and make false statements in connection with health care matters. Cox faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud conviction, 10 years for each health care fraud conviction, five years for the conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks conviction, and five years for the conspiracy to defraud the United States and make false statements in connection with health care matters conviction. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    HHS-OIG, FBI, VA-OIG, and DCIS investigated the case.

    Trial Attorneys Darren C. Halverson and Jennifer E. Burns of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Fraud Section Trial Attorneys Andrea Savdie and Shane Butland assisted in the prosecution. Trial Attorney Evan N. Schlom with the Fraud Section’s Special Matters Unit provided valuable assistance.

    The charges contained in an information are merely accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

    Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 23-cr-20271.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: 8th Wall disrupts the legacy game engine model with the official launch of AI-native 3D development platform

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PALO ALTO, Calif., June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, 8th Wall announced the general release of 8th Wall Studio, a 3D game engine purpose-built for the AI era. Designed from the ground up for modern development, 8th Wall eliminates the bloat and limitations of legacy engines to deliver a faster, smarter way to build immersive content.

    Studio graduates from beta with a powerful new feature set designed to accelerate 3D and XR development. From AI-generated assets to native app builds, developers can go from concept to app store with more speed, flexibility, and scale than ever.

    8th Wall has been a pioneer in creating 3D and AR web apps that are instantly accessible in the browser. It is now reaching beyond this foundation to enable iOS, Android, desktop and headset native app development. Beginning today, developers can deploy their content as Android apps with other platforms coming soon. This gives developers the flexibility to meet their audience wherever they are and significantly increases their reach.

    “Today changes what developers can expect from a modern 3D engine,” said Erik Murphy-Chutorian, Founder of 8th Wall. “8th Wall now provides a departure from legacy game engines that originated decades ago. With the launch of our AI and native export features, we are ushering in a new era of game development, one that truly embraces cross-platform and integrates AI as a core part of the creation process.”

    The new 8th Wall Asset Lab gives developers the ability to generate images, 3D models and rigged and animated character models using GenAI and instantly add them to their scene. The system is designed to deliver cutting-edge AI asset creation faster than any other solution on the market. It seamlessly integrates best-in-class generative models, including OpenAI’s GPT Image 1, Flux.1 Kontext, Trellis 3D, Hunyuan3D, and Meshy, into an automated workflow from generation to import. This new capability makes prototyping feel a whole lot more like production by replacing grey boxes and cubes with real content.

    A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link.

    “AI is changing how developers prototype and build content. By equipping developers with AI-first tools, we believe they will be able to create high-quality prototypes and games faster than ever before,” said Joel Udwin, Director of Product at 8th Wall. “This is just the beginning of 8th Wall becoming an AI-first game engine. Developers should soon expect to go beyond assets to be able to use prompts to generate scenes and watch as their experience takes shape in our visual editor.”

    All of these new capabilities and more are now live in 8th Wall. The use of advanced features such as AI-generated assets and native app export require the use of credits. Free plan users get 50 credits every month. Existing developers and anyone who signs up in June get an extra 50 bonus credits to kick things off.

    Developers can build, prototype and publish 3D and XR experiences for free on 8th Wall by visiting 8thwall.com.

    About 8th Wall

    8th Wall is an award-winning 3D & XR development platform that makes it possible to build interactive, immersive content that can be experienced on any device. 8th Wall supports billions of devices globally and has been used by developers, agencies and creative studios to create 3D/AR activations for brands across industry verticals including retail, food and beverage, travel and tourism, automotive, fashion, sports and entertainment. 8th Wall has powered WebAR experiences for top brands such as Nike, Porsche, Sony Pictures, Burger King, General Mills, British Gas, Heineken, McDonald’s, Swiss Airlines, Toyota, Red Bull, Adidas, COACH and more. 8th Wall, LLC is a subsidiary of Niantic Spatial, Inc. Learn more about 8th Wall at www.8thwall.com.

    Media contact

    Joel Udwin
    press@8thwall.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Nick Langworthy Introduces Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act of 2025; Stands with ICE and Condemns Violent Political Protests

    Source: US Congressman Nick Langworthy (NY-23)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Nick Langworthy (NY-23) introduced the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act of 2025 to block federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions that prohibit or restrict local law enforcement from sharing immigration status information or cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts. Sanctuary cities are actively undermining federal immigration enforcement by refusing to cooperate with ICE detainer requests and releasing dangerous criminals back onto our streets. It’s time to hold them accountable. 

    “The violence we are seeing happen in LA right now is a cautionary tale for New York, another sanctuary state catering to criminal illegal immigrants and left-wing extremists,” said Congressman Langworthy. “State and local governments MUST comply with federal immigration enforcement efforts, and if they don’t, the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act would withhold federal financial assistance from them. We must stand with our heroic ICE officers, our men and women in blue, and with the American people who cry out for safety and common sense in their local governments.”

     

    Additionally, this legislation clarifies legal authority for local and state law enforcement to honor federal immigration detainer requests by deeming officers who comply to be acting as federal agents. It protects law enforcement by shielding officers and jurisdictions from liability when they cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The bill also encourages compliance with federal immigration law by targeting jurisdictions that defy lawful detainer requests and shield illegal immigrants from removal. 

     

    Read the bill text here. 

     

    Original cosponsors of this legislation in the House include Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Buddy Carter (R-GA), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Chuck Edwards (R-NC), Dave Taylor (R-OH), Derek Schmidt (R-KS), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), John McGuire (R-VA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Mike Collins (R-GA), Pat Harrigan (R-NC), John Rose (R-TN), Pete Stauber (R-MN), Van Orden (R-WI), and William Timmons (R-SC).

     

    “Sanctuary cities in New York State shield criminal illegals while hurting law-abiding citizens,” said Chairwoman Stefanik. “Under the failed Far Left Democrat leadership of Governor Kathy Hochul, sanctuary cities incentivize illegal migration into New York State overrunning social services, drive up housing costs, and reduce wages.”

     

    The Senate companion, led by Senator Ted Cruz, has the support of Republican Senators Tim Sheehy (MT), Ron Johnson (WI), James Lankford (OK), Ted Budd (NC), Chuck Grassley (IA), Pete Ricketts (NE), Rick Scott (FL), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Kevin Cramer (ND), Deb Fischer (NE), Bill Hagerty (TN), John Hoeven (ND), Cindy-Hyde Smith (MS), Jim Banks (IN), Eric Schmitt (MO), Bernie Moreno (OH), and Katie Britt (AL).

     

    Read the Fox News exclusive here.

     

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SBA Relief Still Available to North Carolina Small Businesses and Private Nonprofits Affected by Drought and Extreme Heat

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

     ATLANTA – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is reminding small businesses and private nonprofit (PNP) organizations in North Carolina of the July 7 deadline to apply for low interest federal disaster loans to offset economic losses caused by drought and extreme heat occurring on May 7- Aug. 8, 2024.

    The disaster declaration covers the North Carolina counties of Camden, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Pasquotank, Perquimans as well as Chesapeake, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach in Virginia.

    Under this declaration SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries and PNPs with financial losses directly related to the disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for small aquaculture enterprises.

    EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the small business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills not paid due to the disaster.

    “Through a declaration by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, SBA provides critical financial assistance to help communities recover,” said Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA. “We’re pleased to offer loans to small businesses and private nonprofits impacted by these disasters.”  

    The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for small businesses and 3.25% for PNPs, with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant’s financial condition.

    To apply online visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

    The deadline to return economic injury applications is July 7, 2025.

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    About the U.S. Small Business Administration

    The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov. 

    MIL OSI USA News –