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  • MIL-OSI USA: King, Murkowski Introduce Bill to Strengthen Maine’s Coastal Workforce, Fisheries and Infrastructure

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King
    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced legislation that would lay the groundwork to boost the workforce, energy and shoreside infrastructure, food security, and economies of coastal communities in Maine and across the country. The Working Waterfronts Act, which is also co-sponsored by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), is comprised of more than a dozen provisions, would support efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change and strengthen federal conservation research projects. Included in the legislation is Senator King’s Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act which would allow businesses that provide direct assistance to fishing operations — like gear producers or cold storage — to access loans from the Farm Credit System (FCS) that are already offered to service providers for farmers, ranchers and loggers. 
    “Maine’s coastal communities are changing. From a warming climate to an evolving economy, the Gulf of Maine faces both historic opportunities and challenges that will define our state’s success for generations,” said Senator King. “The Working Waterfronts Act would provide Maine’s working waterfronts up and down the coast with the necessary financial, energy and infrastructure resources to adapt to the rapidly shifting dynamics of natural disasters affecting economic and tourism operations. It would also help support the necessary workforce to sustain our coastal businesses. Thanks to my colleagues for working with me to ensure our waterfronts have the necessary tools and resources to thrive for years to come.”
    “One of my priorities this Congress was reintroducing the Working Waterfronts Act, a comprehensive and collective effort to harness the potential of the blue economy for Alaska’s coastal communities,” said Senator Murkowski. “With 66,000 miles of coastline, it is vital Alaska strengthens our shoreside infrastructure and supports workforce development to ensure the sustainability and growth of our fisheries, tourism, and mariculture sectors. This legislation will provide essential resources for alternative energy initiatives, improve community processing facilities, and promote safety and wellness in the maritime workforce. Together, we can build a resilient future for our coastal communities while addressing climate change and preserving our precious marine ecosystems.”
    “The men and women who make their living in Maine’s blue economy face growing challenges, including rising costs, workforce shortages, and changing ocean conditions,” said Senator Collins. “This bipartisan legislation would help address these issues by improving shoreside infrastructure, supporting the next generation of maritime workers, and investing in ocean ecosystem maintenance to ensure that Maine’s coastal communities remain strong for years to come.”
    Bill Highlights:
    Investing in Energy and Shoreside Infrastructure
    Tax Credits for Marine Energy Projects supports projects that produce electricity from waves, tides, and ocean currents.
    Fishing Vessel Alternative Fuels Pilot Program provides resources to help transition fishing vessels from diesel to alternative fuel sources such as electric or hybrid, and funds research and development of alternative fuel technologies for fishing vessels.
    Rural Coastal Community Processing and Cold Storage Grant increases support for community infrastructure such as cold storage, cooperative processing facilities, and mariculture/seaweed processing facilities by establishing a competitive grant program through the Department of Commerce for rural and small-scale projects.
    Working Waterfronts Development Act establishes a grant program for infrastructure improvements for facilities benefitting commercial and recreational fishermen, mariculturists, and the boatbuilding industry.
    Boosting Maritime Workforce Development and Blue Economy
    Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act strengthens financial support for fishery operations by expanding Farm Credit eligibility to fishing industry support businesses.
    Maritime Workforce Grant Program establishes a Maritime Workforce Grant Program, directing the Maritime Administrator to award competitive grants supporting entities engaged in recruiting, educating, or training the maritime workforce.
    Fishing Industry Safety, Health, and Wellness Improvement (FISH Wellness) Act expands the Coast Guard and CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fishing Safety Research and Training (FRST) Grant Program to include projects supporting behavioral health in addition to the projects currently supported dedicated to occupational safety research and training.
    Ocean Regional Opportunity and Innovation Act establishes at least one ocean innovation cluster in each of the five domestic NOAA Fisheries regions, as well as the Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico regions. The ocean cluster model fosters collaboration between different sectors – including public, private, and academic – within a geographic region to promote economic growth and sustainability in the Blue Economy.
    Supporting Sustainable and Resilient Ecosystems
    Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act enhances collaboration on ocean acidification research and monitoring through ongoing mechanisms for stakeholder engagement on necessary research and monitoring. This provision would also establish two Advisory Board seats for representatives from Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, Tribal organizations, and Tribal consortia affected by ocean acidification and coastal acidification.
    Vegetated Coastal Ecosystem Inventory establishes an interagency working group for the creation and maintenance of a comprehensive national map and inventory detailing vegetated coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems. This inventory encompasses habitat types, species, ecosystem conditions, ownership, protected status, size, salinity and tidal boundaries, carbon sequestration potential, and impacts of climate change.
    Marine Invasive Species Research and Monitoring provides resources and tools to mitigate the impact of invasive species and help limit their spread by authorizing research and monitoring grants for local, Tribal, and regional marine invasive prevention work. This includes training, outreach, and equipment for early detection and response to invasions.
    Senator King is a longtime supporter of working waterfronts and small businesses. He previously introduced the bipartisan Providing Resources for Emergency Preparedness and Resilient Enterprises (PREPARE) Act to reauthorize the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Pre-Disaster Mitigation Pilot Program, which would give small businesses the opportunity to take out low-interest loans for the purpose of proactively implementing mitigation measures that protect their property from future disaster-related damage. He also led a bipartisan bill to provide working waterfronts with a 30 percent tax credit on up to $1 million in mitigation expenses, adjusted for inflation annually. In 2024, he was named a Hero of Main Street for his support of small businesses across Maine.
    Senator Collins has consistently fought to strengthen Maine’s working waterfronts. Earlier this year, she successfully pushed the Department of Commerce to restore full funding for Maine Sea Grant, ensuring continued support for coastal research and marine industries in Maine. She secured $15 million in federal funding in the 2024 funding package to help coastal communities recover from storm damage and to launch a new grant program at the Economic Development Administration for working waterfronts. She previously introduced the bipartisan Working Waterfront Preservation Act to create a $20 million annual grant program to support working waterfronts nationwide.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: The Largest Tax Cut in History for Working and Middle-Class Americans

    Source: US Whitehouse

    Even Democrats admit the tax policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill are needed and popular — but they still oppose the bill.

    To be clear, that means they’re opposing:

    • The largest tax cut in history for working and middle-class Americans.
    • A 15% tax cut for Americans making between $30,000 and $80,000 per year.
    • NO TAX ON TIPS and NO TAX ON OVERTIME.
    • Boosting the Child Tax Credit to $2,500 for 40 million families.
    • Historic tax cuts for seniors.
    • No tax on car loan interest for American-made cars.
    • Preserving the doubled standard deduction for 91% of taxpayers.
    • Expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to give Americans greater choice and flexibility in how they spend their money on their health.
    • Investment savings accounts to set all newborn American kids on the path to financial security from the very beginning.
    • Increasing the Death Tax exemption for two million family farms. 

    Failing to extend the Trump Tax Cuts alone would stick Americans with the largest tax hike in history.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: EBA publishes No Action letter on the interplay between Payment Services Directive (PSD2/3) and Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)

    Source: European Banking Authority

    The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a No Action letter advising the EU Commission, EU Council and EU Parliament to ensure that, in the long term, EU law needs to avoid a dual authorisation under two pieces of EU law for the activity of transacting electronic money tokens (EMTs). While the existing Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) still applies, the letter advises national competent authorities (NCAs) to enforce authorisation of PSD2 for a specified subset only of crypto asset service providers (CASPs) that transact EMTs, to do so only after a transition period that ends on 2 March 2026, and then to deprioritise specified PSD2 provisions.

    The letter assesses the provisions set out in MiCA and PSD2 and advises NCAs under PSD2 to view the transfer of crypto assets as a payment service under PSD2 where they entail EMTs and are carried out by the entities on behalf of their clients. It sets out provisions to regard the custody and administration of EMTs as a payment service and to regard a custodial wallet as a payment account where the wallet is held in the name of one or more clients and allows to send and receive EMTs to and from third parties.

    For these services, the No Action letter advises NCAs to require an authorisation under PSD2 only from 2 March 2026 onwards and, during the authorisation process, to apply streamlined procedures that make maximum use of information that legal entities provide during their CASP authorisation process.

    Once an authorisation as a payment services provider is held, NCAs are advised not to prioritise the supervision and enforcement of several elements of PSD2, such as safeguarding, the disclosure of information to consumers (pertaining to the level of applicable charges, the maximum execution time of payment transactions, the unique identifier such as IBAN, and open banking). However, NCAs are also advised to insist on the compliance with other PSD2 provisions, such as strong customer authentication (SCA) for accessing custodial wallets that qualify as payment account and the initiating of EMT transfers, the reporting of payment fraud, and the cumulative calculation of own funds requirements. This is to ensure equally high standards of consumer protection regardless of whether a consumer is using EMTs or more traditional funds as a means of payment.

    Furthermore, NCAs are advised not to consider as payment services (and therefore not to subject to the application of PSD2, including its provisions on licensing) the ‘exchange of crypto-assets for funds’ and ‘exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets’ as defined in MiCA. Additionally, the EBA advises NCAs not to regard as a payment service cases where crypto-asset service providers intermediate the purchase of any crypto-assets with EMTs, and, therefore, not to enforce the application of PSD2 nor to require an authorisation under PSD2 in such cases.

    This advice will result in a large number of EMT transactions not being subject to PSD2 requirements during the intervening period while the Directive still applies. The EBA bases this advice solely on the acknowledgement that any alternative advice would require a much larger number of CASPs to obtain a second authorization. The EBA considers such an alternative to be undesirable, given the burden that dual authorisation would impose on CASPs.

    By contrast, the EBA does not base this advice on the conviction that an authorisation as a CASP under MiCA is sufficient to address the risks that arise from EMT transactions. On the contrary, the success of PSD1, PSD2 and EMD over the past 15 years in bringing about a secure and competitive market for payment services in the EU has shown that for retail payments to be able effectively to fulfil their role in a modern society, consumers and other market actors should be adequately protected and have a high degree of confidence in the stability of the market and the reliability of payment transactions.

    Legal basis and background

    The EBA has issued the letter in response to a request received from the European Commission in December 2024 to address, in close cooperation with ESMA, issues arising from the interplay between MiCA and PSD2. The EBA’s competence to deliver the letter in the form of an Opinion is based on Article 9c of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The policy of blockade and pressure is not capable of stopping the scientific and technological development of China – Consul General of the PRC in Yekaterinburg

    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

    Moscow, June 10 /Xinhua/ — The success of the Chinese language model DeepSeek proves that the American policy of blockade and pressure is not able to stop the scientific and technological development of China. This is stated in an article by the Consul General of the PRC in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg Luo Shixiong, published on Tuesday in the “Oblastnaya Gazeta” of the Sverdlovsk Region.

    As a breakthrough technology based on the Transformer architecture, DeepSeek not only provides a leap in algorithm efficiency and application scope, “but also promotes a paradigm shift in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) from ‘instrument support’ to ‘cognitive synergy’,” writes Luo Shixiong.

    According to him, DeepSeek’s success was made possible by China’s institutional advantages and large-scale talent training. “In China, technological innovation is regarded as a key driving force for high-quality development and is enshrined in the national development strategy. In recent years, China has consistently issued and steadily implemented such policy documents as the “New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan”, “Three-Year Action Plan to Promote the Development of the Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence Industry /2018-2020/”, “National Guidelines for the Establishment of a Comprehensive Standardization System for the Artificial Intelligence Industry”, etc.,” the Chinese diplomat noted.

    The US government has already tightened export controls on semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China four times, and in January 2025, it introduced global restrictions on AI chip exports, seeking to increase pressure, cut off China’s access to high-performance chips and advanced computing power, and limit the development of Chinese AI technologies, Luo Shixiong recalls.

    In response, Chinese companies were forced to find alternative ways to train AI models. It was DeepSeek that developed a highly efficient AI model based on limited-performance chips, proving that the US technological blockade only encouraged China to breakthrough in independent innovation.

    DeepSeek’s success has become a powerful impetus for achieving global “tech equality,” the article says. DeepSeek has broken the US scientific and technological monopoly in this area, making AI accessible and applicable to all countries.

    The policy of blockade and containment will not only fail to reduce any threats, but, on the contrary, will undermine the global competitiveness of the United States, writes Luo Shixiong.

    “The US must realize that by setting a ceiling for other countries’ development, they are ultimately sealing their own growth space. If they really want to maintain their leading position in high-tech industries, they should accept and respect the principles of fair competition,” the Chinese diplomat emphasizes. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: A chance to spend an unforgettable autumn: the competitive selection for the 11th shift at the All-Russian Children’s Center “Ocean” has started

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    The State University of Management announces the start of a competitive selection for participation in the additional general development program “Course on Business and Entrepreneurship”, implemented within the framework of a thematic shift at the All-Russian Children’s Center “Ocean” from September 29 to October 19, 2025.

    The program is being implemented by the State University of Management on the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, with the support of the regional social programs fund “Our Future” and PJSC Sberbank of Russia.

    The “Business and Entrepreneurship Course” is designed for students aged 14 to 17 years and is aimed at developing project thinking, forming entrepreneurial competencies, as well as motivation for making an informed professional choice in the field of business and management.

    Implementation stages: — The first stage of the competition will be held online from June 1 to June 22, 2025. Participants must register in the Personal Account of the State University of Management and complete competition tasks, including tests, open-ended questions, and essays. Total time for completion is 240 minutes. — The results of the first stage will be summarized by July 21, the results will be published, and certificates will be sent to the participants. — The second stage will be held from July 28 to August 10, 2025 — registration of winners in the automated information system “Putyovka”. — The final list of participants who have passed the shift at the All-Russian Children’s Center “Ocean” will be published by August 15.

    The shift program includes: – educational seminars, master classes and business games from teachers and experts of the State University of Management; – project sessions and development of own initiatives in the field of business; – meetings with entrepreneurs, mentors and representatives of the professional community; – defense of projects before an expert committee; – a rich cultural and team program.

    Participants who successfully complete the program receive a certificate, which gives additional points for the Unified State Exam when entering the State University of Management.

    Detailed information about the program and conditions of participation is available on the official website of the project.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: Giftbit Expands Global Footprint, Emphasizes Ease

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SEATTLE and CALGARY, Alberta, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Giftbit, a digital payouts and gift card platform for businesses, has launched new features to improve reward management and expand its international offering. Highlights include one-click add-to-wallet functionality for prepaid Visa® cards, enhanced reporting, and a major expansion of its global gift card catalog.

    One-Click Add-to-Wallet Feature

    Recipients of prepaid Visa rewards can now instantly add their balance to Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay with a single click. No apps, logins, or manual data entry required.

    “Smooth activation matters,” said Leif Baradoy, Giftbit’s CEO and founder. “Other vendors make people jump through hoops which lead to frustration and user fatigue. We’re focused on a seamless cardholder experience.”

    The update also includes PIN support for spending at gas stations and convenience stores.

    Reward Management a Breeze With New Reporting Dashboard

    Giftbit is proud to launch one of its most highly requested features: an intuitive reward history dashboard. Customers can now easily view, sort, and filter sent rewards by date, status, brand, or campaign, all within the Giftbit web application. This update helps program managers track unclaimed rewards, resend with ease, and monitor contact list health, making it easy to find key details and take action across multiple orders all in one place.

    “The new Rewards History view has made it so much easier for us to stay on top of undeliverable rewards,” said Giftbit customer Hunter Lisenby of United Communications. “We can quickly spot bad contact email addresses and fix the issue without digging through individual orders.” 

    Expanded Global Reach

    Giftbit believes incentive programs should have the ability to reach entire audiences no matter where they reside. That’s why it’s proud to support local currency rewards in over 30 countries, enabling businesses to send payouts in the recipient’s currency for a more personal and seamless experience.

    Supported regions now include:

    Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United States.
    (Prepaid Mastercard®available globally wherever Mastercard is accepted)

    Strategic Partnerships Expand Catalog Offering

    New partnerships make Giftbit’s gift card catalog more reliable and diverse. Built-in backups prevent outages and strengthen a smooth end-to-end reward experience.

    “A strong catalog is key,” said Nat Salvione, Giftbit’s Chief Commercial Officer. “These partnerships help us deliver stable rewards anytime, anywhere.”

    In addition, Giftbit has upgraded their funding and payment processes to allow customers to fund their accounts in their preferred currency for easier operational control.

    Simplifying Global Rewards, Now and Ahead

    Giftbit continues to invest in the future of global digital rewards. The platform now supports:

    • 1,000+ payout products
    • 30+ local currencies
    • 25 funding currencies
    • Regional brand support in 40+ countries
    • Global prepaid card options in 100+ countries

    These enhancements make it easier than ever for businesses to scale their reward programs across borders with built-in flexibility, choice, and regional support.

    About Giftbit

    Giftbit helps companies send digital payouts and rewards at scale. Its platform offers branded gift cards, prepaid cards, and global payout options, making it easy to incentivize and reward employees, customers, and partners anytime, anywhere.

    Learn more at: www.giftbit.com.

    Media Contact: Zoe North — pr@giftbit.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: AssureSoft Partners with Databricks to Enhance Real-Time Data & AI Solutions

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • The partnership reinforces AssureSoft‘s commitment to ensuring high-quality software solutions that create real value for its clients.
    • The company has maintained a 35% year-over-year growth rate over the last five years.

    MIAMI, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AssureSoft, a nearshore software outsourcing company with operations in Latin America and the United States, announced its partnership with Databricks. This enhances the firm’s ability to deliver advanced data analytics, AI, and cloud-native solutions to clients.

    Since 2006, AssureSoft specializes in time zone-aligned staff augmentation and software outsourcing services for US companies across industries such as Technology (SaaS), Healthtech, Fintech, E-commerce, Telecommunications, and Cybersecurity. Over the past five years, AssureSoft has maintained an annual growth rate of 35%.

    As AssureSoft continues to expand, partnering with leading tech organizations like Databricks, which represent the highest industry standards, remains a core pillar of its growth strategy.

    “Joining the Databricks Partner Network means delivering the best real-time data and AI solutions to our clients, so they can rely on fast, intelligent decision-making to stay competitive,” said Daniel Gumucio, CEO of AssureSoft. “Our certified teams bring the expertise and skills needed not only to help companies leverage data as a strategic asset, but also to build the AI-driven capabilities that define the next generation of business.”

    Databricks is built to unify real-time data processing with advanced AI, enabling businesses to act on up-to-the-minute insights. Furthermore, Databricks’ scalable AI and machine learning tools allow companies to develop and deploy models that adapt to evolving data patterns, enhancing predictive accuracy and operational efficiency.

    The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform democratizes access to analytics and intelligent applications by marrying customers’ data with powerful AI models tuned to their business’s unique characteristics. The platform is built on a lakehouse foundation of open data formats and open governance to ensure that all data is completely within the customers’ control.

    AssureSoft leverages these capabilities to deliver real-time insights that help clients stay agile in a fast-changing market.

    How Databricks is Driving Real Business Impact

    Organizations across sectors are using Databricks to improve customer experiences, streamline operations, and make faster, smarter decisions.

    • Healthcare: Early ICU risk detection and optimized patient flows improve care and efficiency.
    • Fintech: Real-time fraud alerts and dynamic credit assessments reduce risk.
    • E-commerce: Personalized promotions and intelligent inventory management boost sales.
    • Telecom: Anomaly detection and usage-based retention strategies enhance service.
    • Cybersecurity: Live threat intelligence and behavioral analytics improve protection.

    This partnership with Databricks reflects AssureSoft’s ongoing evolution as a strategic technology partner. By aligning with one of the most advanced data and AI platforms on the market, the company is positioned to help clients unlock the full potential of their data, delivering smarter insights, faster decisions, and stronger outcomes.

    About AssureSoft

    AssureSoft is a nearshore software outsourcing company with 19 years of experience. With a team of 500+ developers distributed across Latin America, the company provides tailored solutions to U.S. and Canada-based clients through staff augmentation, dedicated software development teams, and end-to-end software outsourcing services. AssureSoft’s headquarters are located in Miami; it operates offices in California and has development centers in four cities across Bolivia and Paraguay. Additionally, the company has development teams in Brazil, Colombia and Peru.

    AssureSoft adheres to global standards in information security compliance and talent development. The company is ISO 27001-certified and has been recognized as a Great Place to Work® for five consecutive years. Discover more at www.assuresoft.com

    For Media Inquiries:
    Catalina Soto Pizano
    Corporate Communications Manager
    AssureSoft
    catalina.soto@assuresoft.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Industry Veteran John A. Norris Joins LoCorr to Support Distribution Efforts

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MINNEAPOLIS, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  LoCorr Funds, a leader in low-correlating alternative investments, is pleased to announce the hiring of industry veteran John A. Norris to accelerate the distribution of LoCorr investment strategies and solutions through financial intermediaries. With over two decades of experience in private wealth management, Norris brings deep knowledge along with a proven track record of driving growth and fostering strong relationships with partner firms.

    In this role, Norris will be responsible for enhancing existing relationships with LoCorr’s broker-dealer partners, as well as expanding distribution through new selling agreements, and placement in models and on recommended lists.

    “We are thrilled to welcome John to LoCorr,” said Kevin Kinzie, CEO of LoCorr Funds. “John’s depth of experience distributing alternative investments will be instrumental as we continue to expand our distribution platform and product placements.”

    Previously, Norris served as Director of Investor Relations for Crowd Street Capital, where he focused on investor fundraising and relationship management. Before that, he spent 18 years with Black Creek Capital Markets (now Ares Management Corporation) as Director of National Sales, leading equity capital raising and focusing on key broker-dealer distribution partners to expand and strengthen home office relationships.

    In addition, LoCorr has welcomed two new internal wholesalers, Drew Dean and Brody Munger, to further strengthen the firm’s distribution efforts with financial advisors. Both support the broader sales team.

    About LoCorr Funds
    LoCorr Funds is a leading provider of low-correlating investment strategies, founded on the belief that non-traditional investment strategies with low correlation to stocks and bonds can reduce risk and help increase portfolio returns. LoCorr offers investment solutions that not only provide the potential for positive returns in rising or falling markets but also help to achieve diversification in investment portfolios. LoCorr Funds is headquartered in Excelsior, MN. For more information, please visit www.LoCorrFunds.com or call 1.888.628.2887.

    For additional information, contact:
    Jenny Brookfield, 952-767-6906

    Past performance does not guarantee future results. There can be no guarantee that any strategy (risk management or otherwise) will be successful. All investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Correlation measures how much the returns of two investments move together over time. Diversification does not assure a profit nor protect against loss in a declining market.

    The Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information about the investment company, and it may be obtained by calling 1.855.LCFUNDS, or visiting www.LoCorrFunds.com. Read it carefully before investing.

    The LoCorr Funds are distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Bitcoin Bull Market is Back — BexBack Offers Double Deposit Bonus, 100x Leverage, and No KYC for Crypto Futures Trading

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SINGAPORE, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As Bitcoin surges past the $100,000 mark, analysts and investors are forecasting a new bull market filled with high volatility. In this market environment, savvy traders are turning to high-leverage futures trading to maximize profits with smaller capital. Recognizing this shift, BexBack has stepped up its efforts to help traders capitalize on the bull market with powerful promotional offers. The platform now features a 100% deposit bonus, a $50 welcome bonus for new users, and 100x leverage on cryptocurrency futures trading, offering unparalleled opportunities for both new and seasoned investors.

    What is 100x Leverage and How Can You Maximize Profit?

    100x leverage allows you to control a larger position with a smaller amount of capital. For example, if you have 1 BTC and use 100x leverage, you can control 100 BTC. A small price movement in Bitcoin can lead to significant profits, which is why many experienced traders are turning to high-leverage futures trading on BexBack to amplify their returns in this volatile market.

    100% Deposit Bonus: How to Claim and Use It

    BexBack is offering a 100% deposit bonus for all users who make a deposit into their trading accounts. This bonus can be used to increase your trading capital. For instance, if you deposit 1 BTC, you will receive an additional 1 BTC as a bonus, effectively doubling your trading funds. However,please note that this bonus can only be used as a margin and cannot be withdrawn directly. If you make a profit by trading with the bonus, these profits can be withdrawn in full.

    Why Choose BexBack for Crypto Futures Trading?

    • 100x Leverage: Maximize your trading potential with high leverage on BTC, ETH, ADA, XRP, and 50+ other crypto futures contracts.
    • No KYC Required: Enjoy the freedom of trading without the hassle of identity verification, preserving your privacy.
    • Generous Deposit Bonus: Receive a 100% deposit bonus to amplify your trading capital and increase potential profits.
    • No deposits Fees: Enjoy fee-free deposits, allowing you to maximize your profits without extra costs.
    • Global Access: BexBack supports users from multiple countries, including the United States, Canada, and Europe, providing 24/7 customer support.

    About BexBack

    BexBack is a leading cryptocurrency derivatives platform headquartered in Singapore with operational offices in Hong Kong, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Argentina. It offers 100x leverage on BTC, ETH, ADA, SOL, XRP, and over 50 other cryptocurrency futures contracts. The platform is licensed under the US MSB (Money Services Business) regulations and has built a trusted reputation with more than 500,000 traders worldwide. With zero deposit fees and comprehensive customer support, BexBack is a reliable choice for crypto traders looking for a seamless and secure trading experience.

    Join BexBack and Experience Rapid Wealth Accumulation

    Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity! The crypto bull market is heating up, and with 100x leverage, a 100% deposit bonus, and no KYC, BexBack gives you the tools you need to succeed. Take advantage of the promotions and start trading on BexBack today to maximize your potential profits in this volatile market.

    Sign up now on BexBack and claim your exclusive bonus. Experience the fast accumulation of wealth with BexBack!

    Website: www.bexback.com

    Contact: business@bexback.com

    Contact:
    Amanda
    business@bexback.com 

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    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c154ab6e-22c3-4f3c-905b-0cefad2b1be1

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7a9722af-274e-4909-9e49-98dd3f7bec67

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/97f324a6-d76a-45ad-85d8-d9d0f9723270

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Onfolio Holdings Inc. Launches Referral Partner Program to Accelerate Adoption of AI Visibility Services

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    WILMINGTON, Del., June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Onfolio Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: ONFO, ONFOW) (OTCQB: ONFOP) (“Onfolio” or the “Company”) today announced the official launch of its Referral Partner Program to support the rapid growth of its Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) business. The program offers recurring income and long-term upside to professionals who refer clients to Pace Generative LLC, Onfolio’s GEO subsidiary, which helps businesses gain visibility in AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok, and Perplexity. For Onfolio, the program should help to capture the demand and scale revenues significantly faster.

    Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is a fast-emerging discipline that positions businesses inside AI-generated responses, rather than simply helping them rank in traditional search engines. When prospective clients ask tools like ChatGPT, “Who’s the best cosmetic surgeon in Miami?” or “Which estate planning firm in NYC is most reputable?”, GEO helps to determine whether a business is mentioned in that real-time answer.

    “With the way people now search for trusted services, the brands that show up in AI answers will win the next decade,” said Dominic Wells, CEO of Onfolio. “Our mission is to ensure that great companies don’t get left behind – and our referral partners will be essential to helping us scale that impact.”

    “AI is now the first stop for answers,” Wells continued. “If a company isn’t cited, it’s not just ranked lower, it’s invisible. GEO addresses that. And our referral program allows trusted professionals to help their clients while building a new revenue stream for themselves.”

    For more information about Pace Generative LLC, visit www.pacegenerative.com. For more information about our referral program, visit www.pacegenerative.com/partner or contact Michael Carwile at partners@pacegenerative.com

    About Onfolio Holdings Inc.

    Onfolio acquires, operates, and scales a diversified portfolio of digital companies. The Company focuses on businesses with strong cash flows, long-term growth potential, and experienced leadership—or those that can be effectively managed by Onfolio’s in-house team. By targeting under-optimized businesses with untapped potential, Onfolio adds value through operational expertise, strategic guidance, and advanced technologies. For more information, visit www.onfolio.com.

    Safe Harbor Statement

    The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words “may,” “will,” “should,” “plans,” “explores,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “continues,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” and similar expressions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expected operating results, such as revenue growth and earnings, and strategy for growth and financial results. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing new customer offerings, changes in customer order patterns, changes in customer offering mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, delays due to issues with outsourced service providers, those events and factors described by us in Item 1.A “Risk Factors” in our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, other risks to which our Company is subject, and various other factors beyond the Company’s control. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

    Company Contact:
    Investor Communications
    Onfolio Holdings Inc.
    Investors@Onfolio.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: AutoScheduler Named to Supply Chain Visibility Award Shortlist for the Supply Chain Excellence Awards USA

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    AUSTIN, Texas, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AutoScheduler.AI, a leader in Agentic AI Warehouse Orchestration, announces the company has been shortlisted for a Supply Chain Visibility Award for the Supply Chain Excellence Awards USA. AutoScheduler was chosen for increasing pick rates, reducing dock congestion, improving productivity, and optimizing operations for a global consumer packaged goods (CPG) company with an extensive portfolio of beloved food and beverage brands.

    “The global CPG company has hundreds of distribution centers, manufacturing plants, and thousands of vehicles in its distribution network. As the company continued to grow, it faced increasing operational challenges, especially around warehouse visibility, cost control, and overall efficiency,” says Keith Moore, CEO, AutoScheduler.AI. “The AutoScheduler warehouse orchestration platform orchestrates all critical activities inside and around facilities, leading to greater efficiencies and improved operations. We are proud to be shortlisted for this prestigious award.”

    As its scale and complexity grew, the global CPG faced increasing operational challenges, particularly in areas such as warehouse visibility, cost control, and overall efficiency. Complex data systems hindered decision-making and daily operations. Rising costs and a lack of unified optimization tools made controlling expenses difficult. AutoScheduler.AI deployed its warehouse orchestration platform which utilizes advanced algorithms to optimize labor, tasks, and resource allocation, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiencies.

    AutoScheduler integrated seamlessly with the client’s existing systems, consolidating data, automating workflows, and optimizing operations for maximum efficiency. Other benefits included:

    • Eliminating data silos and providing leadership with a single, real-time view of operations.
    • Predicting future bottlenecks and disruptions, allowing leadership to address potential issues before they impact operations proactively.
    • Balancing activities across the warehouse environment based on what happens inside the warehouse every few minutes.
    • Identifies inventory, capacity, and shipping constraints that will cause future challenges and then dynamically schedules shipments to ensure that when an inbound or outbound shipment arrives, the dock staff can act on it.
    • Full-scale orchestration enables AutoScheduler to create opportunities, such as shipping directly from the production line or scheduling additional cross-docks.
    • Proactively creates lower-touch opportunities, such as cross-docking, to help streamline operations.
    • Streamlines planning processes, reducing the time required to plan operations and freeing up leadership to focus on strategic decisions while day-to-day operations are automatically optimized.

    AutoScheduler’s client experienced a 30% increase in pick rates, faster load readiness to reduce dock congestion, increased product flow, increased productivity, decreased detention and dwell times, and reduced costs. AutoScheduler aggregates multi-site data and, using predictive analytics, enables supply chain top officers to rank the sites, quickly identify areas across the network that are out of tolerance or at risk, and take corrective action to mitigate risk before chaos occurs.

    The Supply Chain Excellence Awards, judged by a panel of top supply chain professionals, recognize innovation, supply chain excellence, outstanding business performance, and overall achievements for both supply chain service providers and users. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, in Miami at a glamorous black-tie event hosted by The Supply Chain Excellence Awards USA.

    About AutoScheduler.AI
    AutoScheduler.AI empowers your supply chain with its Agentic AI-based warehouse orchestration platform that integrates with your existing WMS/LMS/YMS or any other solution to drive value across the supply chain by improving throughput, cutting labor costs, and ensuring customer service goals are met. AutoScheduler automates critical tasks for the warehouse like labor scheduling, task sequencing, and dock management, ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Our Agentic AI-based platform makes better decisions to create an adaptive, living supply chain. For more information, visit: http://www.AutoScheduler.AI.

    Contact:
    Becky Boyd
    MediaFirst PR
    Becky@MediaFirst.Net
    Cell: (404) 421-8497

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Personal Loans for Bad Credit Guaranteed Approval Direct Lenders | No Credit Check Payday Loans Online – Loans At Last

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York City, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bad credit should not stand between a borrower and the funds they need when they are in a financial crisis. If a borrower has a less-than-perfect credit score a traditional bank may not lend the necessary money, but, fortunately, the lending landscape has evolved significantly.

    >>>Visit Official Site To Get Instant Tribal Loans>>>

    If you are looking for the best personal loans for bad credit you can rely on legitimate lenders who specialize in helping Americans with low credit scores. There are lenders who do not judge a person’s credibility with just their credit score.

    This piece will guide you with the knowledge a borrower with a bad credit score needs to possess while looking to get a personal loan or any alternatives.

    >>>Visit Official Site To Get Instant Tribal Loans>>>

    How Is It Possible to Get the Best Personal Loans With a Bad Credit? 

    Now, a low credit score does not automatically mean one will be rejected for a personal loan. Many lenders have started to focus more heavily on the borrower’s current income and financial stability rather than considering only the credit mistakes of the past.

    The new approach has opened doors for borrowers who have faced rejections by traditional financial institutions just a few years ago. The key difference lies in how modern lenders assess risk.

    >>>Visit Official Site To Get Instant Tribal Loans>>>

    Instead of relying solely on credit scores, they are considering factors like:

    • Current monthly income and employment stability
    • Debt-to-income ratio
    • Banking history and account management
    • Overall financial picture and repayment capacity

    How Bad Credit Personal Loans Work? 

    The key difference between typical personal loans and bad credit personal loans are the APRs and fees. When the borrower has bad credit, the APRs and fees are much higher. Otherwise, traditional personal loans and personal loans for bad credit work similarly.

    You, as a borrower, get the necessary amount at once, and after a fixed tenure, you repay the debt. You also have to pay a fixed interest rate (on a monthly basis) over the course of your tenure.

    What’s the Difference Between Personal Loans and Payday Loans?

    Both personal loans and payday loans can help borrowers with bad credit. However, there are significant differences between these financial products. 

    Borrowers should understand the following before making a decision:

    Payday Loans:

    • It is designed for small amounts (typically around $500) with very short repayment periods
    • These loans require minimal documentation and no credit checks which makes them easily accessible
    • They come with extremely high interest rates, often averaging 400% APR or even higher (780%)
    • These loans must be repaid by your next paycheck, usually within a couple of weeks
    • It often includes hidden fees and late payment penalties that can push you toward a debt cycle
    • These loans generally don’t help build credit history since most lenders don’t report to credit bureaus

    Personal Loans:

    • These loans are available for larger amounts with flexible repayment terms ranging from months to years
    • It requires a formal application process including credit checks and income verification
    • It offers significantly lower interest rates compared to payday loans
    • It allows borrowers more time to repay which reduces financial stress
    • These loans may be secured (requiring collateral) or unsecured depending on creditworthiness
    • Payments of these loans are reported to credit bureaus which helps borrowers build or improve credit scores

    If your credit score is low enough to make availing traditional personal loans an impossibility, you can consider payday loans as an alternative. If you avail it from credible lenders, it can be one of the best personal loans for bad credit.

    Loans At Last Connects Bad Credit Borrowers with Lenders

    Loans At Last operates as a loan matching service. It connects borrowers with a network of reputable lenders who specialize in serving customers with varied credit profiles.

    Platforms like Loans At Last are not direct lenders. They act as a bridge between borrowers seeking funds and lenders willing to work with bad credit applicants.

    Their approach offers several advantages for borrowers:

    • Access to multiple lenders through a single application
    • Increased chances of approval by matching with appropriate lenders
    • Competitive comparison of loan terms and rates
    • A streamlined process that saves time and effort

    These platforms have built relationships with lenders who understand the needs of bad credit borrowers. They are willing to look beyond credit scores to assess loan applications.

    They offer personal loans ranging from $100 to $5,000. This range allows enough flexibility for various financial needs.

    For example, with this money borrowers can:

    • Address Small Emergencies: Lower amounts ($100-$500) can cover unexpected bills or short-term cash flow gaps.
    • Handle Moderate Expenses: Mid-range amounts ($500-$2,000) work well for medical bills, larger car repairs, or small home improvements.
    • Manage Significant Financial Needs: Higher amounts ($2,000-$5,000) can address substantial unexpected expenses or major emergencies, and debt consolidation.

    What Types of Payday Loans Are There? 

    If you go for platforms like Loans At Last, you can expect a variety of loans. Here are some of the primary loan types one can avail:

    1. Payday Loans

    Payday loans provide small, short-term funds to bridge gaps until the next paycheck. While some lenders offer up to $5,000, most borrowers typically request $100 to $2,000. These loans are often for urgent needs like bills or minor repairs.

    Key features include:

    • Quick Access: Funds often arrive within hours of approval.
    • Short Repayment: Loans align with the borrower’s next payday.
    • Automatic Debit: Lenders set up auto payments for convenience.
    • High Acceptance: Even unemployed borrowers may qualify with alternative income.

    Although high interest rates are applicable, the fast and easy process makes these loans ideal for emergencies.

    1. Installment Loans

    With installment loans borrowers can repay the loan over time through fixed monthly payments. Depending on affordability, these loans range from $100 to $5,000. If you need larger amounts or require more time to repay it, this loan is ideal.

    Key features include:

    • Flexible Terms: Repayment spans 3 to 24 months.
    • Predictable Payments: Fixed installments simplify budgeting.
    • Larger Amounts: Borrowers access more funds than typical payday loans.
    • Credit Flexibility: Lenders often approve despite poor credit.

    Installment loans make repayment easy for people who manage bigger expenses or prefer extended repayment.

    1. Bad Credit Loans

    Bad credit loans are most suitable for borrowers with less-than-perfect credit scores. In this case, lenders focus on income and affordability, not credit history. Loan amounts range from $100 to $5,000, with terms up to 24 months.

    Key features include:

    • No Hard Credit Checks: Lenders use soft inquiries or alternative data.
    • Accessible Approval: Borrowers with low credit scores often qualify.
    • Flexible Use: Funds cover emergencies, repairs, or personal needs.
    • Quick Processing: Approvals happen within minutes.

    These loans help borrowers access funds without worrying about credit scores.

    1. Same-Day Loans

    Same-day loans deliver funds within hours for urgent financial needs. Borrowers can apply online and often receive approval in minutes. Loan amounts range from $100 to $5,000, which can be repaid within weeks to months.

    Key features include:

    • Fast Funding: Money reaches bank accounts on the same business day.
    • Simple Application: Online forms take minutes to complete.
    • Broad Eligibility: Lenders accept various income sources, including benefits.
    • Flexible Terms: Borrowers choose repayment periods that suit their budget.

    Same-day loans ensure quick relief for unexpected expenses incurred during medical or similar emergencies.

    1. Loans for Unemployed

    There are solutions for unemployed borrowers who have alternative income sources. These loans range from $100 to $5,000. Its repayment terms are up to 24 months. Here, lenders assess affordability and not employment status.

    Key features include:

    • Alternative Income: Benefits, freelance earnings, or other income qualify.
    • Quick Approval: Loan decisions arrive in as little as two minutes.
    • Flexible Repayment: Terms adjust to the borrower’s financial situation.
    • No Job Required: Eligibility focuses on income, not traditional employment.

    These loans empower borrowers to access emergency funds without having traditional jobs.

    What are the Basic Eligibility Criteria for Personal Loans for Bad Credit?

    The best personal loans for bad credit come with minimum eligibility requirements. It means that they are more flexible than traditional bank loans but they will still ensure that a borrower has the capacity to repay the loan.

    Standard eligibility criteria include:

    • Age Requirement: Must be at least 18 years old (21 in some states)
    • Citizenship/Residency: Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident with a permanent address
    • Income Verification: Demonstration of regular income (more than $1,000) from employment or other sources
    • Banking Relationship: Active checking account for direct fund deposit and payment processing

    Note: To be eligible for Loans At Last you have to demonstrate an income of at least $1,000 per month.

    A Step-By-Step Guide for Applying for a Personal Loan with a Bad Credit Score

    Generally, the application process for a guaranteed approval personal loan with bad credit is not that complicated. It consists of three to four simple steps. Go through the following steps if you are going to apply for a loan soon.

    Step 1: Choose Your Loan Amount and Term. 

    • The first step is to determine how much money you need and how long it will take you to repay it. Your application approval, total interest cost, and monthly payment amount depend on this decision.
    • Before you determine the amount and the term you should carefully consider your need for the money, the total cost of the loan, and your repayment ability.

    Step 2: Complete The Online Application. 

    • Most online application processes are simple and take a couple of minutes to complete. It generally requires basic information about yourself, your income, and your banking details.
    • An online application section for personal loans or payday loans for bad credit would include personal information including names and social security numbers, employment details, and banking details.

    Step 3: Get Matched With Lenders. 

    • Once you submit your application, the matching service starts working. It finds the lenders that are most likely to approve loans for your specific situation. This process can happen within minutes and may result in multiple loan offers.
    • The system considers your credit profile and score, your employment status and income level, your requested loan amount and term, geographic location and applicable state laws, and lender specialization and preferences.

    Step 4: Receive Funds Within 24 Hours

    • After accepting a loan offer and completing any final verification requirements, approved borrowers typically receive funds within 24 hours through direct deposit to their bank account.
    • The funding timeline depends on application time, verification requirements, and banking processing time. A borrower can also monitor funding status with the tracking information that the lender provides.

    Final Thoughts on Best Personal Loans for Bad Credit

    The modern lending landscape offers legitimate alternatives through specialized lenders. They do not focus on past credit mistakes but approve a loan by evaluating your current financial capacity.

    The best personal loans for bad credit, however, come with higher interest rates. They are there to provide relief when traditional banks are not an option. Platforms like Loans At Last streamline the process by connecting you with appropriate lenders, offering amounts from $100 to $5,000 with flexible repayment terms.

    You should carefully assess your repayment ability, compare loan offers, and choose reputable lenders who report payments to credit bureaus before borrowing. You should also remember that these loans are for temporary financial problems and not for solving long-term debts.

    Frequently Asked Questions 

    1. Can I get a personal loan with a credit score under 600?

    Yes, it is possible to get a personal loan with a credit score under 600, but it is going to be difficult. Because only some lenders may consider this credit score “fair”. If your credit score is below 600, you can consider alternative options to traditional banking.

    1. How quickly can I get approved and funded?

    Most bad credit personal loan lenders approve loans quickly, often within minutes of submitting an application. Once they approve the application, the funding can occur within 24 hours.

    1. What income do I need to qualify? 

    Most lenders require borrowers to demonstrate a regular monthly income of at least $1,000 or more. This income can come from various sources, but it has to be verifiable and sufficient to cover both loan payments and daily living expenses.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Nika Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to Present at the Life Sciences Virtual Investor Forum June 11th-12th

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HENDERSON, Nev., June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nika Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB:NIKA), based in Colorado, focused on cures for life-threatening diseases, today announced that Dimitar Savov, CEO, will present live at the Life Sciences Virtual Investor Frum hosted by VirtualInvestorConferences.com, on June 11th, 2025

    DATE: June 11th
    TIME: 1:00 PM ET
    LINK: REGISTER HERE
    Available for 1×1 meetings: June 12th-17th between 09:00am ET and 11:30am ET

    This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event.

    It is recommended that online investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.  

    Learn more about the event at www.virtualinvestorconferences.com.

    Recent Company Highlights

    • On May 19, 2025, NIKA published a market analysis for the countries of Ukraine, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, UAE, where NIKA has exclusive distribution agreements and has estimated a total of around €656 million in potential revenue.
    • NIKA’s partner company, Nika Europe, has made the second $195,554 payment for the vial production line and is currently finalizing the details of the clean rooms design in order to start construction. The production facility is expected to be completed in H2, 2025.
    • On April 11, 2025, Nika Pharmaceuticals, Inc. published a report on the therapeutic effect and potential economic impact of ITV-1, which can be found  here.
    • On July 11, 2024 Nika Pharmaceuticals, Inc. signed an exclusive distribution agreement for the Republic of Nigeria. Under the terms, NIKA will receive €1,980 per each set of ITV-1 with two sets necessary for each treatment, which could result in €7.9 billion revenue.


    About Nika Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

    Nika Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NIKA) is a pharmaceutical company, specializing in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Cancer, Diabetes, and all diseases, for which strengthened cell immunity is of vital importance. NIKA’s intellectual property includes six drugs in injection form – two of which have successfully undergone clinical trials with good treatment results – four drugs in tablet form, and eleven dietary supplements. NIKA’s goal is to not only achieve corporate profits, but to provide better and easier access to life-saving medicinal drugs and useful dietary supplements. Find more on www.nikapharmaceuticals.com.

    Forward-looking Statement:

    This press release contains forward-looking statements. Certain statements, other than purely historical information, including estimates, projections, statements relating to our business plans, objectives, and expected operating results, and the assumptions upon which those statements are based, are “forward- looking statements.” These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,”” estimates,” “intends,” “strategy,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Our ability to predict results or the actual effect of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain.

    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.

    CONTACTS:
    Nika Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
    Name Clifford P. Redekop
    Title Corporate Secretary
    Phone (702) 326-3615        
    Email cliffredekop@gmail.com 

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

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Astral Dynamic Networks Selects Palni as Strategic Partner to Advance Next-Gen Communication Products

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LAS VEGAS, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Astral Dynamic Networks (Astradyne, Inc.), a forward-thinking leader in software-defined communication systems, today announced a strategic partnership with Palni, Inc. via its Strategic Partnership Initiative. This collaboration is designed to accelerate the development and refinement of Astradyne’s next-generation platform, a foundation specifically focused on advancing communication technology through intelligent, software-first products that aim to redefine global interaction, commerce, and connectivity.

    This partnership represents an additional step forward in Astradyne’s mission to bring transformative products to market, providing solutions that are not just technologically advanced but purpose-built to impact how people, businesses, and governments connect and operate. Palni was selected for its deep technical expertise and proven ability to scale complex communication technologies. Working closely with Astradyne’s engineering team, Palni will help optimize and expand the capabilities and reach of these products for global impact.

    “Together, we aim to push the boundaries of communication technology, enhancing our platform’s capabilities and delivering transformative products to a rapidly evolving world,” said Fabrizio Boccardi, CEO of Astradyne. “This partnership reflects our commitment to innovation and our belief in the power of strategic collaboration to drive meaningful change.”

    “We’re proud to join forces with Astradyne on this ambitious initiative,” said Marty Chintakindi, CEO at Palni Inc. “Our team is excited to contribute to a platform that’s not just about infrastructure but about delivering real-world products that can shape the future of communication and connectivity.”

    This collaboration is part of Astradyne’s broader strategy to engage with top-tier partners who can help bring its visionary technologies to market with precision, resilience, and global scalability.

    About Astradyne
    Astradyne is a visionary technology company pioneering software-first solutions for commerce, communication, and social interaction. With a relentless focus on innovation, Astradyne is developing intelligent systems and products that transform and expand connectivity, interaction, efficiency, and security.

    About Palni, Inc.
    Palni Inc. is a well-regarded developer of cutting-edge communication technologies, recognized for providing high-performance, scalable solutions with its software development and Gen AI capabilities. Through a collaborative approach and extensive technical expertise, Palni helps partners create the infrastructure and products of the future.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Vyla announces new CEO

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vyla, a technology platform built to drive transparency, efficiency and collaboration across the food ecosystem, today announced the appointment of Peter Frey as chief executive officer. Yoav Levsky, co-founder and chairman, and Tim Taylor, who has served as chief executive officer, will continue to play active roles at the strategic and governance level of Vyla.

    Frey, a founding member of Vyla and former chief operating officer, played a central role in shaping the company’s shared data platform and advancing its mission to improve visibility, efficiency and collaboration across the global food system. Under his leadership, Vyla has launched a growing suite of software applications, including Ascend Mobile and DairyInsight, designed to help dairy producers, processors and retailers unlock insights, improve operations and meet rising expectations for traceability and accountability.

    “Peter understands this mission better than anyone,” Taylor said. “From day one, he’s helped shape Vyla into a platform that’s not just solving technical problems, it’s reshaping the way the food supply chain operates.”

    “We’re here to transform the technology upon which the entire food chain relies,” said Frey. “The work ahead is challenging, but it’s also incredibly meaningful, and I’m proud to lead this team into the future.”

    Vyla’s platform enables stakeholders across the dairy supply chain to collect, integrate and act on data from every stage of production — from herd health and feed to sustainability indicators and market trends. By improving connectivity across farms, suppliers, processors and retailers, Vyla helps accelerate measurable outcomes and drive business growth.

    The company’s momentum has been further strengthened through partnerships with global organizations, including Nestlé, Danone and Grande Cheese, who share Vyla’s goal of transforming agriculture through collaboration and technology.

    For a full executive bio and headshot, view the media kit here.

    About Vyla

    Vyla is an enterprise software company serving the food ecosystem with data aggregation, connecting technologies and decision analytics. Founded in 2020 and catalyzed by Nestlé, Land O’Lakes and Lely Group, Vyla is building a collaborative and connected agricultural industry. Its cloud-based platform helps producers, processors and retailers accelerate progress by integrating data across key performance areas, enabling more informed decisions and measurable outcomes. For more information, visit www.vyla.com.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Numem Addresses AI’s Dirty Secret: Memory Is the Real Bottleneck

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AI has a memory problem. Traditional SRAM and DRAM were never designed to meet the scale and intensity of today’s AI workloads – and their limitations in power, bandwidth and density are slowing progress. As models grow and inference demands surge across data centers and edge environments, memory has become the critical bottleneck. Processing performance has skyrocketed by 60,000X over the past 20 years, but DRAM bandwidth has improved only 100x creating a mismatch known as the “memory wall,” where the faster processors are limited by the slower memory access speeds.

    The urgency of this challenge is now widely acknowledged – reflected in government-backed initiatives such as the CHIPS Act, which supports broader semiconductor innovation, including next-generation memory technologies designed to overcome the memory wall.

    Memory That Moves at the Speed of AI
    Numem is scaling the memory wall with a purpose-built solution. The company’s AI Memory Engine is a fully synthesizable, highly configurable memory subsystem IP that enables significant improvements in power efficiency, performance, intelligence, and endurance not only for Numem’s patented MRAM-based architecture, but also third-party MRAMs, RRAM, PCRAM, and Flash Memory, making it a versatile solution for a wide range of emerging memory technologies.

    By combining Numem’s patented AI Memory Engine with its MRAM architecture and deep expertise in memory architecture and performance optimization, the company has developed a next-generation MRAM supporting die densities up to 1GB. This optimized, foundry-ready MRAM delivers SRAM-class performance with up to 2.5X higher memory density in embedded applications and 100X lower standby power consumption. With these advancements, Numem has transformed MRAM into a production-ready, scalable memory building block for next-generation, AI-focused workloads.

    “AI’s momentum is at risk because memory systems are still stuck in the past,” said Max Simmons, CEO of Numem. “We built our technology from the ground up to eliminate that bottleneck and unlock the full potential of next-generation AI.”

    Innovative Answers – Without the Wait
    Unlike theoretical solutions still on the drawing board, Numem’s AI Memory Engine – combined with the company’s MRAM architecture – is foundry-ready and production-capable today. Operating under a fabless, capital-efficient model, the company leverages standard foundry environments to enable rapid, scalable deployment with minimal investment risk and maximum flexibility.

    Added Simmons, “Every week, I hear the same thing from customers: their memory can’t keep up. Not enough performance, not enough density, and way too much power consumption. AI workloads are pushing existing architectures to the limit – especially in areas like automotive, where in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems now rely on multiple cameras and real-time AI. DRAM just isn’t cutting it. It’s too slow to boot, consumes too much power, and simply can’t meet the performance demands of modern systems.”

    From designing custom SoCs to chiplet-based memory expansion, Numem provides integration-ready IP and silicon to accelerate cutting-edge product roadmaps.

    Key Benefits of Numem’s AI Memory Engine:

    • SRAM-class performance with up to 2.5X higher memory density in the same embedded footprint
    • Flexible power management architecture supporting multiple power modes
    • Seamless integration into both data center and edge environments
    • High endurance, enabling MRAM to support SRAM- and DRAM-like architectures
    • Scalable, software-defined memory without requiring costly hardware overhauls
    • Enables high-performance MRAM with a significantly lower power profile than SRAM through precise management of MRAM’s non-volatile characteristics

    Additionally – and importantly – Numem’s AI Memory Engine delivers 30–50% power savings over existing high-bandwidth memory solutions. These savings translate directly into lower operating costs and a reduced carbon footprint, making it an ideal solution for companies prioritizing both performance and environmental responsibility. As the industry moves toward more energy-efficient infrastructure, Numem is strategically positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for low-power, high-efficiency memory technologies.

    Meeting the Market Where AI Is Headed
    According to a report by Polaris Market Research, the total addressable market (TAM) for MRAM is projected to grow to USD 25.1 billion by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.3%. Numem is poised to play a pivotal role in this growing market, sitting at the intersection of AI acceleration and memory modernization. Backed by production-ready technology, proven performance, and a scalable architecture, Numem is well positioned to power the next generation of AI infrastructure – where memory is no longer a bottleneck but a performance enabler.

    About Numem
    Founded in 2016 in Sunnyvale, Calif., Numem is transforming AI and data center efficiency from edge to core. By reimagining AI memory hierarchies, Numem eliminates bottlenecks that constrain power and performance. Its patented, innovative solutions, including the Numem AI Memory Engine SOC subsystem IPs, and Memory SOC Chip/Chiplets, enable high-performance MRAM. These technologies address memory bottlenecks with a fraction of the power consumption of traditional SRAM and DRAM, delivering faster and more efficient data processing. For more information, please visit www.numem.com or connect with the company on LinkedIn.

    Media Contact:
    Stephanie Olsen
    Lages & Associates
    (949) 453-8080
    stephanie@lages.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0711851b-4d6d-439f-93b8-3b19236366e4

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: American National Insurance Company Introduces Smart Start Accumulator Series

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HOUSTON, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — American National Insurance Company announces the launch of its innovative Smart Start Accumulator Series, a series of single premium fixed indexed annuities designed to provide clients with the opportunity for significant growth by maximizing accumulation potential from day one.

    The series, which includes Smart Start Accumulator and Smart Start Accumulator Plus, leverages Nobel Prize-winning research to offer easy-to-understand portfolio allocation options based on their individual risk tolerance and retirement goals1. A conservative, moderate, and aggressive portfolio option is available along with a custom allocation option. This helps policyholders confidently navigate their financial future with a strategy that meets their individual needs.

    One of the key features of the Smart Start Accumulator Series is the Best Entry Window, which sets all the selected index starting values at their lowest point in the initial 90-day period, which can help clients maximize their first-year growth potential. Additionally, the Smart Start Accumulator Plus offers premium enhancement options that can provide an immediate boost to the annuity’s value. Clients choose the enhancement level that best suits their savings goals and financial strategy.

    “We are proud to bring practical financial solutions that help our clients build a secure future with confidence,” said Chad Ferrell, Senior Vice President and Chief of Annuity Distribution at American National. “By integrating strategic indexing options and enhancement features, this series empowers individuals to make smart investment choices that align with their long-term financial goals while minimizing exposure to unnecessary risks.”

    The series also includes various strategies for interest crediting based on market index performance, including the S&P 500® Value Cap2, S&P 500® Dynamic Intraday TCA Index2, S&P MARC 5% Excess Return Index2, Invesco QQQ Portfolio Plus Index3, and Morningstar® Global Wide Moat VC 7 Index4.

    For more information, please visit AmericanNational.com.

    ABOUT AMERICAN NATIONAL

    Founded in 1905 and based in Galveston, Texas, American National Insurance Company (American National) is dedicated to being a source of certainty for millions of Americans through a comprehensive range of wealth protection, retirement, and insurance products and services. American National combines our expertise and resources to cater to the diverse needs of our clients, guiding them towards financial security and peace of mind. For more information, visit our website at AmericanNational.com.

    Annuities, life insurance and other products and services are written through multiple companies. Property and casualty insurance is written through American National Property And Casualty Company, Springfield, Missouri, and affiliates. In New York, business is written through Farm Family Casualty Insurance Company, United Farm Family Insurance Company, and American National Life Insurance Company of New York, Glenmont, New York. Not all products and services are available in all states. Not all companies are licensed in all states. Each company has financial responsibility only for the products and services it issues.

    ______________________________

    1 Markowitz, H.M. (1959). Portfolio Selection: Efficient Diversification of Investments. New York: John Wiley & Sons. (reprinted by Yale University Press, 1970, ISBN 978-0-300-01372-6; 2nd ed. Basil Blackwell, 1991, ISBN 978-1-55786-108-5). “Nobel Prize”. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Archived from the original on 29 April 2015.

    2 The S&P MARC 5% Index, S&P 500®Index, and S&P 500®  Dynamic Intraday TCA Index are products of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC or its affiliates (“SPDJI”) and have been licensed for use by American National Insurance Company. S&P®, S&P 500®, US 500, The 500, iBoxx®, iTraxx® and CDX® are trademarks of S&P Global, Inc. or its affiliates (“S&P”); Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”) and these trademarks have been licensed for use by SPDJI and sublicensed for certain purposes by American National Insurance Company. American National Insurance Company’s products are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by SPDJI, Dow Jones, S&P, their respective affiliates, and none of such parties make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s) nor do they have any liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions of the S&P MARC 5% Index, S&P 500®Index, and S&P 500®  Dynamic Intraday TCA Index.

    3 Invesco Indexing LLC (“Licensor”) has licensed the Index to American National Insurance Company to be used as a component of certain fixed index annuity products (the “Products”). The Index may be calculated by a third party or contain third-party data, each third-party provider and Licensor are collectively “Licensor Parties”. The Products are not sponsored, operated, endorsed, sold, or promoted by Licensor Parties. The Index, the proprietary data therein, and related trademarks, are intellectual property licensed from Licensor, and may not be copied, used, or distributed without Licensor’s prior written approval. The Products have not been passed on as to their legality or suitability, and are not regulated, issued, endorsed, sold, guaranteed, or promoted by Licensor Parties. Licensor Parties make no express or implied warranties, and hereby expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose with respect to the Index or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall Licensor Parties have any liability for any special, punitive, indirect, or consequential damages (including lost profits), even if notified of the possibility of such damages.

    4 The Morningstar Indexes are the exclusive property of Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc., its affiliates and subsidiaries, its direct and indirect information providers and any other third party involved in, or related to, compiling, computing or creating any Morningstar Index (collectively, “Morningstar Parties”) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness and/or timeliness of the Morningstar Indexes or any data included therein and shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein. None of the Morningstar Parties make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained from the use of the Morningstar Indexes or any data included therein.

    Form Series: FIA25; ICC25 (Forms may vary by state). When a person buys this annuity, the person is not buying an ownership interest in any stock or index. Not FDIC/NCUA insured / Not a deposit / Not insured by any federal government agency / No bank/CU guarantee / May lose value.

    Contact: Scott Campbell
    SVP, Corporate Communications
    Scott.Campbell@AmericanNational.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Ipsos MMA Announces Continued Record Growth for its Unified Measurement Solution Driven by Next Generation Innovation Initiative

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York, NY, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ipsos MMA announced today that it continues to experience strong demand for its unique ability to scale Unified Measurement globally, and its ‘Next Generation’ unified measurement platform that enables clients to not only optimize their marketing, sales and operations investments, but plan for, track and manage them to achieve targeted revenue, brand and operating profit objectives at the speed and level of granularity needed to run their businesses. “We saw record growth again in Q1 with our business up 31% over the same period last year,” said Patrick Cummings, CEO of Ipsos MMA. “Demand remains strong, and we are excited about the innovation and marketplace transformation that Ipsos MMA is driving, and more importantly, the measurable, incremental value we are creating for our client partners.” The company has aggressively hired in the US and EMEA this year to support its growth and innovation initiatives, expanding headcount by almost 30% in those markets to meet current and anticipated demand.

    Last year Ipsos MMA launched its NextGen initiative, supported by investment funding from Ipsos SA, a global market research, analytic and consulting firm operating in over 90 countries. The Ipsos MMA NextGen investment supports expanded data partners to drive automated ingestion and global taxonomy-driven benchmarks, AI-guided data management, analytics, insights, campaign planning tools linked to measurable incremental revenue, and downstream AdTech integrations that automate investment decisions. The partnership between Ipsos MMA and its parent company also creates unique opportunities for the integration of brand, creative, and customer experience data into our unified measurement platform to ensure consumer insights are embedded into today’s modern measurement toolkit.

    “Our ability to enable our client partners to understand, trust, and successfully adopt these capabilities to achieve their financial and brand objectives continues to be central to driving incremental revenue and operating profits for our clients, and subsequently Ipsos MMA through our partners’ success,” said Cummings. “As we have seen an accelerated adoption of Unified Measurement cross-functionally and across executive levels, the focus on value creation and transparency has been critically important.  We continue to identify opportunities for incremental value and growth for our client partners, helping them navigate some of the uncertainty in the marketplace. This positions them for both short- and longer-term success as their brands and businesses continue to grow.”

    “We see growth continuing throughout the back half of 2025. We continue to advance our NextGen capabilities and organization as marketplace needs evolve. Transparency, speed, and abilities to not only plan buy dynamically recalibrate and adjust investments to maximize financial and brand value are key to success,” said Cummings.

    About Ipsos MMA

    Ipsos MMA is the leading global data, analytics and software consultancy in the Unified Measurement Industry. The company enables its clients to achieve higher revenues and operating profits by optimizing their media, sales and operational investments via significantly enhanced and forward-looking planning, measurement, execution and re-calibration. Ipsos MMA is headquartered in New York, NY and is a part of the leading global custom market research company Ipsos, which has major offices in over 90 locations worldwide. For more information on Ipsos MMA visit www.mma.com

    Press inquiries

    Ipsos MMA
    https://mma.com
    Joseph LaSala, VP Marketing
    joseph.lasala@ipsos.com
    200 Park Avenue, 11th fl, New York, NY 10017

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Chairmen Guthrie and Bilirakis Announce Release of E&C NIL Discussion Draft

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Gus Bilirakis (FL-12)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, released the following discussion draft as part of a tri-committee effort to stabilize the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) marketplace and strengthen college athletics.

    “As a part of a coordinated multi-Committee effort to improve the student-athlete experience and preserve the educational mission of the institutions they represent, Energy and Commerce plans to consider a discussion draft to help address the broad set of challenges facing college athletics. NIL presents outstanding opportunities for student-athletes, but the volatility and frequency of changes have left both teams and players without a reliable foundation on which to plan,” said Chairman Guthrie. “I want to thank Chairman Bilirakis for his hard work on this issue and this draft, and I am hopeful that upcoming conversations can build a strong coalition and make college athletics the best it can be.”

    “College athletics are a cornerstone of American culture, and it’s clear from student-athletes and universities alike that we need a national framework for name, image, and likeness that ensures fairness, consistency, and opportunity,” said Congressman Bilirakis. “The SCORE Act will create stability and transparency while empowering student-athletes to benefit from their own NIL without compromising their academic mission or reclassifying them as employees. It’s a balanced, modern approach that protects the integrity of college sports and honors both the student and the athlete.”

     Background:

     

    CLICK HERE to read the discussion draft.

    CLICK HERE to read more in the story.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What keeps girls from school in Malawi? We asked them and it’s not just pregnancy

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Rachel Silver, Assistant Professor, York University, Canada

    Coverage of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns on girls in Malawi emphasised the risks they faced as a result of not attending school. In particular, concerns about pregnancy garnered significant media attention.

    The United Nations Children’s Fund, for example, published an article in March 2021 entitled “Schoolgirl shakes off COVID-19 regret: Lucy’s return to school”. Under a glossy photograph of a smiling girl, readers learn about 16-year-old Lucy, one of 13,000 Malawian students who became pregnant during COVID-19 school closures. The story went on to detail the dire consequences of sexual activity to Lucy’s well-being, and the redemptive power of an eventual return to school.

    The Unicef piece echoed thousands of similar publications circulated after March 2020 that analysed COVID-19’s unique risk for girls in the global south and lamented lost returns to girls’ education.

    In response to COVID-19 surges, Malawian schools closed for over seven months, during which the percentage of pregnancies to young women aged 10-19 did increase from 29% to 35% of total pregnancies.

    Yet, our research has demonstrated that international development organisations and media outlets focused mostly on narrow, sexualised framings of risk to African girls and women rather than on the many intersecting and ongoing barriers to their well-being and school retention. These challenges both predate and extend beyond COVID-19.

    As scholars of international development education who have conducted research in Malawi for over a decade, we decided to join Malawian educational activist and collaborator Stella Makhuva to research how girls themselves narrated their experiences of the COVID-19 years. What did they consider a risk to their schooling?

    Together, we designed a longitudinal study from 2020 to 2023 that included multiple rounds of interviews and participatory journalling methods with 22 upper primary and secondary school girls in southern Malawi.

    We found that for girls in our study, COVID-19 was less a rupture – an unusual event that threatened their education in unprecedented ways – than an added variable in the already complex calculations girls and their families made about whether and how to remain in school.

    We argue that it was not pregnancy itself, but escalating resource constraints, that kept girls from school. And that interventions must do something about the real problem: inequitable systems.

    The stories told by the girls illustrate this. (All the names are pseudonyms.)

    Their stories

    When Faith joined our study in 2020, she was attending a peri-urban
    primary school near her home. She lived in a mud and grass-thatched house with her parents, both subsistence farmers who supported Faith’s and her siblings’ education. During school closures, she studied with friends to keep up with academic content when she was not helping with her parents’ farm.

    Yet school costs threatened Faith’s return to school upon reopening. Despite primary school being officially “free” by government mandate, students at her school were required to contribute 800 Malawi kwacha (close to US$1 at the time) per term to a school fund for infrastructure projects and upkeep. Not paying into the fund resulted in exclusion from classes.



    Read more:
    Does free schooling give girls a better chance in life? Burundi study shows the poorest benefited most

    When Faith eventually passed the Primary School Leaving Certificate Exam and enrolled in secondary school, the costs to schooling rose from 5,000 kwacha (about US$6.50 in early 2021) to 20,000 kwacha (about US$19 in late 2022). Faith worried about whether her parents, whose maize and tomato yields suffered from poor rains, would be able to pay.

    On top of this, Faith paid other costs, from exam fees and bicycle rental fees to supplemental lessons in which she learned material never covered during school hours. She said she and her family often sacrificed eating sufficiently to save money.

    Still, Faith was repeatedly pushed out of school until her fee balance was met. Before, during, and after COVID-19 school closures, girls like her were pushed out of school for a lack of regular fee payments.

    Faith’s school-going was also threatened by warming temperatures and new rain patterns that left her family with diminished food and income. Added to this were volatility in government agricultural subsidies to small farmers, inflated school fees, and the increasing privatisation of public education in Malawi.



    Read more:
    Malawi faces a food crisis: why plans to avert hunger aren’t realistic and what can be done

    Like Faith, all of the girls in our study worked to supplement their schooling with part time lessons, holiday classes, or by repeating grades given educational quality concerns. Based in under-resourced schools with low exam pass rates, girls knew that they were provided an incomplete education.

    According to Brightness,

    We do not learn fully what we are supposed to cover, and some teachers tend to be absent during their lessons. This makes us lag behind … As a result during exams they ask some questions which some of us … did not learn.

    Empirical evidence has shown how teacher engagement has long been influenced by the region’s high disease burden, especially due to HIV/Aids. This has left teachers both ill and caring for ill relatives.

    While teacher disengagement, therefore, reflected factors such as competing care responsibilities, professional dissatisfaction and stress, girls were deeply frustrated by what felt like abandonment.

    Rethinking pregnancy and parenting

    Mainstream discourses that missed key barriers to girls’ school retention and performance, such as privatisation and food insecurity, misrepresented student pregnancy as an emergent “crisis”.

    Prior to the pandemic, sexuality and school-going already overlapped for many girls in Malawi, where adolescent pregnancy rates were threefold the global average. Still, girls in our study countered the idea that schooling and sex were incompatible. They also challenged the idea that school was inherently safe and that it was pregnancy that kept them from school.



    Read more:
    Education and gender equality: focus on girls isn’t fair and isn’t enough — global study

    Many of the girls’ stories emphasised continuity with what came before the pandemic.

    We have found this in past research. Schooling and sexuality are not necessarily opposed; but parents and teachers try to protect girls from sexuality; and parenting and non-parenting girls alike face significant resource-related barriers to schooling.

    Conclusion

    If girls’ choices, particularly around sexuality, do not represent the greatest or only source of risk for girls’ schooling, interventions must respond to this reality. They should support well-being and address the broader conditions in which girls live and learn. The problem is inequity, not pregnant girls.

    Rachel Silver has received funding from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    Alyssa Morley 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. What keeps girls from school in Malawi? We asked them and it’s not just pregnancy – https://theconversation.com/what-keeps-girls-from-school-in-malawi-we-asked-them-and-its-not-just-pregnancy-258401

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Is Israel’s interception of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla legal?

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Priya Gupta, Associate Professor of Law, McGill University

    Israel’s interception of a ship launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) — a grassroots group that campaigns in solidarity with the Palestinian people — in international waters approximately 185 kilometres from Gaza has raised serious questions about the legality of its actions.

    The Madleen — a small, British-flagged civilian vessel named for Gaza’s first fisherwoman — was carrying 11 activists, one journalist and a small cargo of humanitarian aid, including flour, baby formula and children’s prostheses. Israeli forces detained all passengers, including well-known Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and French European Parliamentarian Rima Hassan.

    The FFC uses non-violent direct action to attempt to break the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza since 2007, and to raise awareness about the “ongoing brutality inflicted upon civilians in Gaza.”

    At approximately 3 a.m. local time on June 9, Israeli forces rammed and boarded the Madleen. Shortly before that, military drones hovered above it and the activists took video of Israeli forces of spraying a white substance on board that “caused burning eyes and general discomfort.”

    Israel says it intercepted the Madleen to enforce “a legal naval blockade.” The FFC, however, has called Israel’s actions an “illegal attack” and “a small extension of their war crimes in Gaza.”

    Past attacks on humanitarian flotillas

    Israel’s interception of the Madleen is not without precedent. On May 2, the FFC ship Conscience was seriously damaged during a drone attack while carrying humanitarian aid bound for Gaza. The attack ended its journey.

    In 2010, a group of six vessels called the Gaza Aid Flotilla sailed to Gaza to breach the Israeli blockade. The largest of the ships, the Mavi Marmara, was carrying more than 500 passengers when it was raided by Israeli forces in international waters, killing 10 people and wounding 56.

    Israel’s attack on the Mavi Marmara triggered international legal scrutiny and condemnation. The United Nations secretary-general immediately established an inquiry that determined the Israeli attack had resulted in “unacceptable” death, injury and mistreatment of detainees.

    Additionally, the UN Human Rights Council established a fact-finding mission that found that “no case can be made for the legality of the interception.”

    The Union of the Comoros, where the vessel was registered, referred the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC), alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity. A chamber of the court found there was evidence Israeli soldiers committed “systematic abuse” of detained passengers.

    In the end, the case did not proceed because the prosecutor decided the incident was of “insufficient gravity,” in part because they could not identify a plan or policy on the part of Israel to carry out war crimes on a large scale.

    Israel’s ongoing crimes in Gaza

    It would be difficult to make the same conclusion regarding the situation in Gaza today.

    Israel is downplaying the severity of its attack on the Madleen, casting it as a sort of rescue mission as the Israeli foreign ministry posted a photo of activists being offered sandwiches. But Israel’s actions must be evaluated within the context of legal findings that have already been made by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the ICC.

    In January 2024, the ICJ found there was a “real and imminent risk” that Israel would commit genocide in Gaza. Two months later, it ordered Israel not to impede the provision of humanitarian assistance.

    In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant based on reasonable grounds that they “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival” and that this deprivation “created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population.”

    In separate proceedings in July 2024, the ICJ found that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, including Gaza and its surrounding waters, was unlawful and must come to an end “as rapidly as possible.”

    Against this backdrop, the interception of the flotilla could be seen as furthering Israel’s unlawful blockade, occupation and attack against the civilian population of Gaza, in addition to constituting unlawful targeting of the civilians on board. Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, has accused Israel of once again flouting “its legal obligations towards civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip” with the interception of the boat.

    Arbitrary detention, degrading treatment

    Thunberg, along with four other activists, has already been deported from Israel. Eight passengers who Israel says chose not “to sign deportation documents” remain in detention in an Israeli prison and will soon appear in court.

    Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said they would be forced to watch video footage of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel. He later said they refused to watch the video.

    This detention and its circumstances may constitute violations of the protection against arbitrary deprivation of liberty under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Israel is a signatory.

    Israel cannot legally block aid

    Israel is not permitted to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians in Gaza. The ICJ has ordered Israel to “ensure the unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed humanitarian assistance” and not do anything that would constitute a violation of the Genocide Convention “including by preventing, through any action, the delivery” of aid.

    The Geneva Convention also outlaws collective punishment of civilian populations and requires free passage of aid.

    Israel seemingly anticipated these arguments. Israeli officials mocked the Madleen, calling it a “selfie yacht” carrying a “tiny amount of aid” and proclaiming that “the show is over.” These statements could serve to cast the FFC as a disingenuous humanitarian mission.

    Israel also claims that the aid on board will be distributed through “real humanitarian channels.” This is likely an attempt by Israel to signal it’s not violating international humanitarian law by blocking assistance.

    These arguments, however, fail to acknowledge that the size of a humanitarian mission is irrelevant to the protection accorded to civilians and the requirement to allow delivery of aid.

    Disregarding the courts

    Israel has disregarded the ICJ’s orders to facilitate the delivery of urgently needed food and supplies to Gaza and has been accused of gunning down starving civilians at aid distribution centres.

    The Madleen’s mission was to force the world to acknowledge, in real time, Israel’s disregard for international law. In this aim, it succeeded. Israel’s interception of the Madleen could end up being prosecuted in the domestic courts of the passengers’ home countries, in the United Kingdom — where the boat was registered — or at the ICC.

    Humanitarians have vowed to continue to try to breach Israel’s blockade on Gaza. The Madleen’s voyage is a precursor to the March on Gaza scheduled for June 15, where thousands of activists will attempt to reach the Rafah crossing. The world will be watching.

    Heidi Matthews receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and is an advisor to the Legal Centre for Palestine.

    Priya Gupta 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. Is Israel’s interception of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla legal? – https://theconversation.com/is-israels-interception-of-the-gaza-freedom-flotilla-legal-258511

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Labour’s nuclear plans won’t cut household bills

    Source: Scottish Greens

    10 Jun 2025 Energy

    Scotland’s future lays in renewable energy, we must reject new nuclear plans.

    More in Energy

    The UK Government’s plans to spend billions of pounds of taxpayers money on new nuclear power stations across the UK will not cut energy bills, and will only line the pockets of profiteers, warns Scottish Greens co-leader and energy spokesperson Patrick Harvie MSP.
     
    Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and MP Michael Shanks have been touting building so-called ‘small modular reactors’, despite the catastrophic failure of the nuclear power industry running over schedule and over budget in the UK, and a long record of nuclear accidents and near misses; such as fires and radiation leaks.
     
    The first nuclear power plant to be built in the UK for over 30 years, at Hinkley Point, is nearing £28 billion over its original budget and despite the construction phase beginning in 2016, it will likely not generate any electricity until at least 2029 but possibly 2031.
     
    Mr Harvie said:
     
    “The only people set to benefit from new nuclear power are the shareholders and executives of big energy companies, not the families who urgently need support with energy bills.
     
    “Nuclear power takes decades and billions of pounds to construct, as we’ve seen with the shambles of Hinkley Point. Households need help with energy bills now, and we have renewable energy sources in Scotland already generating abundant, cheap-to-produce energy. People can’t afford to wait twenty years for a new power station to come online.
     
    “Without real action to fix the broken energy market, bill payers will continue to come second to energy company profits.
     
    “Scottish Greens are clear that we want to see real investment in cheap, clean renewables such as wind, solar and tidal to bring down household bills and create green jobs without the extreme cost, time or safety risks of nuclear power.
     
    “Scotland already produces a majority of our energy from cheap, clean, renewable sources, and we have so much potential to go even further. What governments need to do is end our reliance on fossil fuels, cut the artificial high price of electricity, and commit to a renewable future, not toxic, dangerous, expensive nuclear power.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Alibaba’s Grand Plan: Express Delivery Around the World by Rocket

    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

    BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) — Chinese private rocket company SEPOCH recently completed a successful experiment to transport packages from the country’s largest e-commerce platform Taobao, owned by tech giant Alibaba, using a reusable rocket. The rocket was retrieved from seawater after the test, symbolizing China’s major breakthrough in commercial space logistics.

    SEPOCH, a Beijing-based startup, carried out its first “rocket delivery” experiment on May 29 when the XZY-1 test rocket blasted off from the east China coast with 20 kg of cargo parcels on board.

    During the test, the 26.8-meter-long, 57-ton stainless steel rocket flew for 125 seconds and reached an altitude of about 2.5 kilometers, after which it made a successful vertical landing on the sea surface off the coast of Shandong province.

    It took only 18 hours to remove the missile from the water, clean it and transport it to the maintenance plant. According to the preliminary inspection, there was no damage or leakage on the missile’s steel body, and its engine and electrical devices were in good condition, SEPOCH reported.

    Unlike other missiles, the test prototype’s warhead is equipped with a 120-cubic-meter cargo compartment, which is designed to carry up to 10 tons of cargo, so theoretically it can even carry a passenger car or a small truck.

    The experimental cargo in the recent launch included products from two stores on the Taobao marketplace, including products from the National Library’s official flagship store and commemorative cards specially dedicated to the launch.

    Alibaba’s Taobao platform’s partnership with the rocket company demonstrates China’s commitment to aggressively developing the promising field of point-to-point rocket cargo transportation, in which a connection is established directly between two endpoints without intermediate hubs or intermediaries. The practice, industry experts say, will revolutionize global logistics by cutting the time it takes to ship goods transcontinentally from one region to another from days to minutes.

    While express delivery for ordinary consumers using a rocket is expensive, SEPOCH founder Wei Yi acknowledged, noting that the rocket is initially intended for scenarios such as emergency delivery, delivery of humanitarian supplies to help eliminate natural disasters, and airlifting goods to remote and hard-to-reach areas.

    “As reusable rockets become more common and stainless steel is widely used in their construction, the cost of rocket delivery is expected to drop significantly,” Wei Yi said.

    Before the launch of the “rocket delivery” services, numerous tests are still required, including tests on the reusable rocket’s return technology, as well as the strength and durability of its body, said aerospace expert Cao Meng.

    SEPOCH has now announced plans to launch its rocket into orbit and return by the end of 2025, where it will carry seven tons of cargo into orbit 1,100 km from Earth using a liquid oxygen and methane engine.

    The company is further prepared to expand the range of goods transported by rocket, including fresh food and fragile items, as well as to develop an evacuation system to ensure the safety of cargo. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Head of Justice Department’s Criminal Division Matthew R. Galeotti Delivers Remarks at American Conference Institute Conference

    Source: US State of California

    Thank you, Lisa and Paige, for having me here today. And thank you to the American Conference Institute for hosting this conference.

    Under my leadership, the Criminal Division has been tirelessly working to execute on all of the Department’s priorities, holding criminals to account and seeking justice for victims.

    Today, I’m here to talk about the Criminal Division’s renewed efforts to combat white-collar crime in the new Administration.

    Let me first say a few words about FCPA enforcement before I discuss in detail the Criminal Division’s policies, approach, and initiatives in the white-collar space.

    The Deputy Attorney General sent me a memorandum, which he publicly released, detailing the new FCPA Enforcement Guidelines called for by the President’s Executive Order. These Guidelines provide evaluation criteria and a non-exhaustive list of factors to balance when deciding whether to pursue an FCPA case.

    As detailed in the DAG’s memo, the factors include — but are not limited to — whether the alleged misconduct deprived specific and identifiable U.S. entities of fair access to compete; involves key infrastructure or assets; bears strong indicia of corrupt intent tied to particular individuals and serious misconduct; or is associated with the criminal operations of a Cartel or Transnational Criminal Organization. No one factor is necessary or dispositive.

    The through-line is that these Guidelines require the vindication of U.S. interests. People have speculated about the meaning of that phrase, but the DAG’s memo makes it clear. It is not about the nationality of the subject or where the company is headquartered. In plain terms, conduct that genuinely impacts the United States or the American people is subject to potential prosecution by U.S. law enforcement. Conduct that does not implicate U.S. interests should be left to our foreign counterparts or appropriate regulators. And in those cases, the Criminal Division won’t hesitate to work with our foreign counterparts or domestic regulators to provide assistance and ensure that those countries and regulators can vindicate their interests and pursue their mandates.

    The memo also directs other common-sense principles, such as focusing on specific misconduct of individuals, rather than collective knowledge theories. All of these propositions are not controversial; in fact, we’ve heard them many times from counsel advocating on behalf of their clients. 

    Under the DAG’s leadership, the Department has reviewed FCPA matters, closing certain cases and proceeding with others by applying the criteria set forth in the Guidelines. With these Guidelines now in place, and consistent with the Executive Order, the Criminal Division will enforce the FCPA — firmly but fairly — by bringing enforcement actions against conduct that directly undermines U.S. national interests without losing sight of the burdens on American companies that operate globally.

    Now, let me shift from the FCPA to the extremely broad swath of white-collar and corporate misconduct not governed by that particular statute.

    As many of you know, four weeks ago, I released the Criminal Division’s enforcement plan for white-collar crime and discussed how we will ensure justice and fairness in those cases. To the extent anyone may have misread these remarks, let me be clear: Under my leadership, the Criminal Division has not and will not close meritorious investigations or dismiss meritorious cases. Indeed, consistent with the principles set forth in my memorandum, we will vigorously pursue these investigations and open new ones. We will move them expeditiously. And we will resolve them, fairly and justly.

    Let me make one other broad, related point. Be conscientious about what, when, and how you appeal the decisions of Trial Attorneys and AUSAs. White-collar and corporate defendants are fortunate to have sophisticated counsel. We do not begrudge defense counsel for zealously advocating for their clients. And we hold our prosecutors to the highest standards. These are central tenets of our system.

    But seeking premature relief, mischaracterizing prosecutorial conduct, or otherwise failing to be an honest broker actively undermines our system. It also will be counter-productive to your appeals, coloring arguments that may carry more weight, especially when made judiciously at the appropriate time. Clients deserve your wise counsel about how to handle the most significant and sensitive matters, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, that’s what they get. We should all strive to keep it that way.

    In the Criminal Division, we are focused on the work. So, let’s talk about that.

    Fighting white-collar and corporate crime is a critical component of the Criminal Division’s priorities. From procurement to health care fraud, and money laundering to sanctions evasion, white-collar and corporate crimes steal from taxpayers, inhibit American prosperity, and impact national security. These crimes rob U.S. citizens and investors of their hard-earned savings, disturb markets, hurt the economy, and victimize vulnerable Americans.

    Protecting the American people requires an aggressive and robust strategy to investigate and prosecute white-collar and corporate crime. Almost a month ago, you heard me say that you have a role to play in this fight. Indeed, business and compliance leaders, and the counsel who advise them, have a critical role to play. You can do the right thing, report potential crimes, root out misconduct, cooperate with the Department, and help the company remediate. And when you do, significant benefits are available to your clients.

    But there is an important corollary to that — and I want to make sure you hear it clearly and take it to your stakeholders and clients. For those who do not come forward despite all the benefits available: we will move aggressively — yet fairly — to prosecute white-collar offenders whose crimes undermine U.S. interests. We will hold accountable those who victimize the most vulnerable among us and defraud the government. We will root out those who abuse the American economy and exploit law-abiding businesses. We will swiftly bring charges against individuals and companies, and all the benefits of our policies will not be available to these offenders.

    So let me take a few minutes to speak at a more granular level about what our policies mean in practice. The memo and policies I issued last month demonstrate our commitment to this approach. We clarified the Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy and expanded the Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program because these policies work. They incentivize companies and individuals to report crime to let us go after bad actors. 

    Indeed, these policies and incentives work best when we are clear and transparent with the public, including American businesses and the defense bar. That is why I issued the white-collar memo last month. The memorandum clearly articulated key areas of enforcement for the Criminal Division and directed our prosecutors to move quickly to bring charges. As an aside, and this should go without saying, priority connotes precedence, not exclusivity.

    Let me dig in on three key areas of change.

    First, declinations. The benefits to companies that voluntarily self-report, cooperate, and remediate have never been clearer and more certain: those companies will receive a declination, not just a “presumption.”

    While we have maintained our discretion to deviate where there are aggravating circumstances, this is not a game of “gotcha.”  We cannot envision every fact pattern imaginable, and we must retain some flexibility where the aggravating factors are such that a declination simply is not appropriate. But I can tell you that I am closely reviewing all corporate resolutions, and I am standing behind this policy. Indeed, the revised CEP narrowed what constitutes an “aggravating factor,” giving even more transparency and certainty for companies deciding whether or not to come forward. Issuing declinations for voluntary self-reports is sound policy — both to hold the most culpable individuals accountable and as a preventative measure to deter misconduct from happening in the first place — and I will closely scrutinize any VSD that is not recommended for a CEP declination. The circumstances would have to be truly aggravating and sufficient to outweigh the fact that the company voluntarily came forward.

    Next, monitors. We are nearing the end of our review of all Criminal Division corporate monitors. And, as the revised monitor policy lays out, we have learned some important lessons. Under my leadership, the Criminal Division has proceeded with some monitorships but terminated others where circumstances permitted companies to achieve compliance with our agreements on their own, including by self-reporting, compliance certifications, and other requirements.

    Monitors are meant to be a temporary bridge and accountability measure to move a company quickly and efficiently to full compliance. We believe the measures we’ve instituted in place of monitorships — including putting additional burden on the Criminal Division — more quickly transition companies to full compliance. These self-directed measures limit the wasted effort and financial resources that are expended when companies are more focused on “teaching to the test,” so to speak, rather than make lasting improvements.

    And finally, on efficiency. The Criminal Division’s experts tackle the most complex criminal cases. These take significant effort and resources, but they don’t need to take unreasonable time. Lengthy and sprawling investigations do not serve the Department, our prosecutors, the American public, or those under investigation. Under my leadership, the Criminal Division will do its part to charge or decline quickly.

    Since issuing our new policies, I have met with the leaders in all my Sections and made it clear: we must move more quickly to get criminals off the streets and bring clarity to those under investigation. Moving cases quickly will ensure that we use our resources efficiently in service of all of the Department’s priorities.

    But you play a role in efficiency, too. Producing documents swiftly in response to requests, promptly identifying key evidence, quickly making witnesses available, and effectively navigating complex global legal regimes are just part of what we expect cooperating companies to do. To state the obvious: when the delay is due to the conduct of a subject or target, arguments regarding a supposed lack of efficiency will not resonate.

    Finally, we also expect you to work closely with our teams, to follow the process, to narrow disagreements, and to raise up issues after exhausting discussions. I rely on my prosecutors to educate me on the facts of their cases and the issues you raise. When you reach out to me or other Department leadership, you, your client, and I can all move more efficiently when those issues have been appropriately narrowed.

    Where are we now?  We’re less than thirty days since I issued the white-collar enforcement plan. In even just this short period, I can tell you we are happy with the results.

    Since the memo was issued, we have seen new voluntary self-disclosures — including for potential FCPA violations. And as you know, when one company reports misconduct, it typically leads to the discovery of similar misconduct at other companies, so you benefit from being first in the door.

    We have seen continued robust tips from whistleblowers, including in each of our newly added categories. These reports and tips cover many of the areas of focus in the white-collar memo. Just days after I announced the expansion, we received tips related to drug trafficking and corruption, procurement fraud, healthcare fraud, and more. This is just the beginning, so stay tuned.

    With these policies in place, now is the time to get to work. We’ve made changes to effectuate my mandate to charge cases in a variety of areas. The Criminal Division is full of prosecutors, who, working with our partners in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and law enforcement agencies, must be focused on just that — bringing cases. Of note to this audience, in the coming weeks I anticipate significant announcements in key priority areas, including corporate resolutions across the white-collar landscape.

    What do I want you to take away from today?  This is the time for companies to self-report. It is the time to do the work, come in early, cooperate, and remediate. The Criminal Division’s policies give clear benefits to those who do. And for those who don’t, we will move swiftly and aggressively to bring cases against individuals and companies. We will use all our tools and seek strong sentences. We will hold culpable companies and individuals to account for misconduct. 

    Thank you.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: President Trump Approves Governor Kehoe’s Requests for Major Disaster Declarations to Assist Missourians Impacted by April 29 and May 16 Severe Storms and Tornadoes

    Source: US State of Missouri

    JUNE 10, 2025

    Jefferson City — Governor Mike Kehoe has announced that President Donald J. Trump has approved two additional requests from the State of Missouri for major disaster declarations in response to the severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding that impacted the state, this time for events that occurred on April 29 and May 16.

    “We are grateful for President Trump acting quickly to get vitally needed federal assistance to the thousands of Missourians hit hard by the violent severe weather that struck our state and who are now struggling to rebuild their lives and homes,” Governor Kehoe said. “We urge all eligible residents to apply now. The faster you apply, the faster you will receive assistance.”

    Individual Assistance:

    The President’s actions, which follow Governor Kehoe’s May 25 request, make Individual Assistance available to eligible residents in the City of St. Louis, and St. Louis and Scott counties impacted by the May 16 storms. Individual Assistance allows eligible residents to seek federal assistance with temporary housing, housing repairs, replacement of damaged belongings, vehicles, and other qualifying expenses.

    Individuals who sustained damage or losses due to the May 16 severe weather may now apply for FEMA disaster assistance online at www.disasterassistance.gov or by calling FEMA’s toll-free registration line at 1-800-621-3362 from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. They can also download the FEMA app to apply. Affected individuals are encouraged to document losses, photograph damage, and retain receipts. The faster Missourians register with FEMA, the faster they may be able to receive assistance.

    The deadline for most Individual Assistance programs is 60 days following the President’s major disaster declaration. Disaster assistance to eligible individuals generally falls into the following categories:

    • Housing Assistance may be available for up to 18 months for displaced persons whose residences were heavily damaged or destroyed. Funding also can be provided for housing repairs and replacement of damaged items to make homes habitable.
    • Disaster Grants are available to help meet other serious disaster related needs and necessary expenses not covered by insurance and other aid programs. These may include replacement of personal property, and transportation, medical, dental, and funeral expenses.
    • Low-Interest Disaster Loans are available after a disaster for homeowners and renters from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to cover uninsured property losses. Loans may be available for repair or replacement of homes, automobiles, clothing, or other damaged personal property. SBA loans are also available to businesses for property loss and economic injury. Businesses can visit sba.gov or call 1-800-569-2955.
    • Other Disaster Aid Programs include crisis counseling, disaster-related unemployment assistance, legal aid and assistance with income tax, Social Security, and veterans’ benefits.

    Public Assistance:

    The President’s actions also make the FEMA Public Assistance program available to local governments and qualifying nonprofits for the repair of damaged roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure as well as reimbursement of emergency response costs and debris removal.

    For the April 29 storms, public assistance is available in the following six counties: Barry, Greene, Lawrence, McDonald, Newton, and Washington.

    The Governor’s May 19 request for the April 29 storms included more than $16.5 million in Public Assistance qualifying expenses already identified through joint Preliminary Damage Assessments conducted with FEMA. FEMA Individual Assistance was not requested for these storms.

    For the May 16 storms, Public Assistance is available in the City of St. Louis, and St. Louis and Scott counties.

    The Governor’s May 25 request for the May 16 storms included more than $57.9 million in Public Assistance qualifying expenses already identified and at least $18.7 million in qualifying Individual Assistance needs already identified through joint Preliminary Damage Assessments conducted with FEMA.

    For more information on the federal disaster declaration process, visit this link.

    For additional resources and information about disaster recovery in Missouri, please visit recovery.mo.gov.

    SEMA continues to coordinate with local officials and volunteer and faith-based partners to identify needs and assist impacted families and individuals. Missourians with unmet needs are encouraged to contact United Way by dialing 2-1-1 or www.211helps.org or the American Red Cross at 1-800-733-2767.

    The following outlines the current status of Governor Kehoe’s additional federal assistance requests from this spring:

    March 14 – 15 Storms

    Status: Major Disaster Declaration Approved

    March 30 – April 8 Storms

    Status: Major Disaster Declaration Approved

    April 29 Storms

    Status: Major Disaster Declaration Approved

    May 16 Storms

    Status: Major Disaster Declaration Approved

    May 23 – 26 Storms

    Status: FEMA currently participating in joint damage assessments

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler Calls on California Governor Gavin Newsom to Request Disaster Declaration for Small Businesses Impacted by L.A. Riots

    Source: United States Small Business Administration

    WASHINGTON — Today, Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), called on California Governor Gavin Newsom to request an SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Declaration to authorize the agency to begin delivering urgent assistance to small businesses across Los Angeles that have been ransacked by rioters since civil unrest began last week. The agency stands ready to deliver critical aid to innocent American victims – whose storefronts have been looted and destroyed by the migrant mob that is wreaking havoc in defense of criminal illegal aliens.

    “We’re giving Gavin Newsom the opportunity to stop siding with criminal illegal aliens and start siding with law-abiding Americans – many of whom have lost everything to the violent and destructive riots across Los Angeles,” said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. “The migrant mob has looted stores, destroyed storefronts, and committed criminal acts of vandalism against our small businesses. Although local leaders are allowing Los Angeles to burn, federal partners are ready to help American citizens rebuild – and we will do so, as soon as the Governor answers their call for help.”

    For the safety of employees and small business owners, Administrator Loeffler recently announced that SBA would be relocating its Regional Office out of Los Angeles due to the city’s refusal to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Regional Office is located mere steps from the violence that continues to occur in downtown Los Angeles – and where U.S. Marines have been deployed to restore order.

    The SBA has provided the state of California with all relevant information needed to request an EIDL Declaration – which will allow small businesses in Los Angeles to apply for low-interest, long-term loans of up to $2 million to help them rebuild following the catastrophic violence of this weekend. Given the urgency of the situation, the SBA is committed to approving any such disaster declaration as soon as it is submitted by Governor Newsom.

     

    # # #

     

    About the U.S. Small Business Administration
    The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of entrepreneurship. As the leading voice for small businesses within the federal government, the SBA empowers job creators with the resources and support they need to start, grow, and 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 –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Natasha Vij Greiner Will Conclude Her Tenure as Director of Investment Management

    Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

    The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Natasha Vij Greiner, Director of the Division of Investment Management, will depart the agency effective July 4, 2025, after more than 23 years of public service.

    “Natasha’s steadfast leadership and strong judgment have been invaluable assets to the SEC throughout her long and distinguished career,” said SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “I am grateful for her strategic counsel since I’ve become Chairman. Her unwavering commitment to the agency’s mission and her ability to navigate complex regulatory landscapes with clarity will have a lasting effect.”

    The Division of Investment Management’s work is critical to ensuring that investors have access to high-quality investment opportunities from which they can make well-informed investing decisions. It has primary responsibility for administering the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, which includes overseeing investment companies (e.g., mutual funds, closed-end funds, business development companies, unit investment trusts, variable insurance products, and exchange-traded funds) and investment advisers.

    “As I reflect on my 23 years at the SEC, I am filled with gratitude for the incredible journey across the divisions of Investment Management, Enforcement, Examinations, and Trading and Markets,” said Ms. Greiner. “It has been an extraordinary privilege to serve in various capacities at the SEC, culminating as Director of the Division of Investment Management. Throughout my tenure, I have witnessed firsthand the dedication and integrity of the staff that define this remarkable agency.”

    Ms. Greiner was named Director of the Division of Investment Management in March 2024. She previously served as Deputy Director of the Division of Examinations and as the National Associate Director of the Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program, which includes the Private Funds Unit, and was the Associate Director of the Home Office IA/IC examination program.

    She began her SEC career in the Division of Examinations (formerly OCIE) as a broker-dealer examiner and has served in a variety of roles across the agency, including Acting Chief Counsel and Assistant Chief Counsel in the Division of Trading and Markets, where she provided legal and policy advice to the Commission on rules affecting market participants and the operation of the securities markets. Before that, Ms. Greiner worked in the Division of Enforcement, including in its Asset Management Unit, where she investigated possible violations of the federal securities laws and litigated matters in federal district court and administrative proceedings.

    Throughout her career at the SEC, Ms. Greiner has been consistently recognized for her outstanding achievements and efforts. She received the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in 2015 and again in 2018, and she received the Chairman’s Award for Serving the Interests of Main Street Investors in 2019.

    Ms. Greiner received her J.D. from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and graduated cum laude with a B.S. degree from James Madison University.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Foreign Ministers joint statement on measures targeting Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Foreign Ministers joint statement on measures targeting Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich

    Joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom on measures targeting Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich

    Joint statement:

    “Today, the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom have announced sanctions and other measures targeting Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

    “Settler violence is incited by extremist rhetoric which calls for Palestinians to be driven from their homes, encourages violence and human rights abuses and fundamentally rejects the two-state solution. Settler violence has led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians and the displacement of whole communities.

    “We are steadfastly committed to the two-state solution which is the only way to guarantee security and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians and ensure long term stability in the region, but it is imperilled by extremist settler violence and settlement expansion. 

    “Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous. These actions are not acceptable. We have engaged the Israeli Government on this issue extensively, yet violent perpetrators continue to act with encouragement and impunity. This is why we have taken this action now – to hold those responsible to account. The Israeli Government must uphold its obligations under international law and we call on it to take meaningful action to end extremist, violent and expansionist rhetoric. 

    “The measures announced today do not deviate from our unwavering support for Israel’s security and we continue to condemn the horrific terror attacks of 7 October by Hamas.  Today’s measures are targeted towards individuals who in our view undermine Israel’s own security and its standing in the world. We continue to want a strong friendship with the people of Israel based on our shared ties, values and commitment to their security and future.

    “Today’s measures focus on the West Bank, but of course this cannot be seen in isolation from the catastrophe in Gaza. We continue to be appalled by the immense suffering of civilians, including the denial of essential aid. There must be no unlawful transfer of Palestinians from Gaza or within the West Bank, nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip. We will continue to work with the Israeli Government and a range of partners. We will strive to ensure an immediate ceasefire, the release now of the remaining hostages and for the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid including food. We want to see a reconstructed Gaza no longer run by Hamas and a political pathway to a two state solution.”

    Media enquiries

    Email newsdesk@fcdo.gov.uk

    Telephone 020 7008 3100

    Email the FCDO Newsdesk (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance, and we will respond as soon as possible.

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK and partners unite to sanction ministers inciting West Bank violence

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Press release

    UK and partners unite to sanction ministers inciting West Bank violence

    UK sanctions Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in response to their repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities, alongside partners Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway

    • UK sanctions Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich today, in response to their repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities
    • alongside partners Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway, the UK calls for immediate action against extremist settlers
    • measures announced today demonstrate UK commitment to challenging those inciting hatred and violence

    As Palestinian communities in the West Bank continue to suffer from severe acts of violence by extremist Israeli settlers which also undermine a future Palestinian state, the United Kingdom has joined Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in stepping up the international response. 

    In their personal capacity, Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are now sanctioned for their repeated incitement of violence against Palestinian civilians, effective immediately. 

    The UK has made clear in public and private to the Netanyahu government that Israel must cease expansion of illegal settlements which undermine a future Palestinian state, clamp down on settler violence, and condemn inflammatory and extremist statements from both individuals. 

    The measures announced by international partners today demonstrate commitment to ensuring the individuals are held accountable for encouraging and inciting human rights abuses. 

    Foreign Secretary David Lammy, along with the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway said in a joint statement:   

    We are steadfastly committed to the two-state solution and will continue to work with our partners towards its implementation. It is the only way to guarantee security and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians and ensure long term stability in the region, but it is imperilled by extremist settler violence and settlement expansion. 

    Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now – to hold those responsible to account. 

    We will strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate release of the remaining hostages by Hamas which can have no future role in the governance of Gaza, a surge in aid and a path to a two-state solution.

    As of April 2025, extremist settlers have carried out over 1,900 attacks against Palestinian civilians since January last year. The UK is committed to protecting the viability of a two-state solution and human rights, including by challenging those inciting violence. 

    In a joint statement with partners, the UK reiterated its commitment to continuing “a strong friendship with the people of Israel based on shared ties, values and commitment to [its] security and future.”

    The Foreign Secretary was also clear that the UK will “continue to work with the Israeli Government and a range of partners” to deliver long-term peace and security. 

    Alongside partners Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway, the UK is clear that the rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank must stop. Measures today cannot be seen in isolation from events in Gaza where Israel must uphold International Humanitarian Law. 

    The UK and partners support Israel’s security and will continue to work with the Israeli Government to strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas must release the hostages immediately, and there must be a path to a two-state solution with Hamas having no role in future governance. 

    Background

    Individuals and entities sanctioned today: 

    • Itamar BEN-GVIR (hereafter “BEN-GVIR”) – is an involved person within the meaning of the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 on the basis of the following ground: BEN-GVIR is responsible for, engaging in, inciting, promoting and/or supporting activity which amounts to a serious abuse of the right of individuals not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in particular acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals in the West Bank. BEN-GVIR is now subject to an asset freeze, travel ban, and director disqualification. BEN-GVIR is Minister for National Security but is sanctioned in his personal capacity. 

    • Bezalel Yoel SMOTRICH (hereafter “SMOTRICH”) – is an involved person within the meaning of the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 on the basis of the following ground: SMOTRICH is responsible for engaging in, inciting, promoting and/or supporting activity which amounts to a serious abuse of the right of individuals not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in particular acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals in the West Bank. SMOTRICH is now subject to an asset freeze, travel ban, and director disqualification. SMOTRICH is Minister for Finance and Additional Minister of Defence but is sanctioned in his personal capacity. 

    • Joint statement signed by the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway: Foreign Ministers joint statement on measures targeting Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – GOV.UK

    Definitions 

    • asset freeze: where an asset freeze applies, in summary, it is generally prohibited within the UK, and for UK persons outside the UK, to: 

    o       Deal with funds or economic resources, owned, held or controlled by a designated person 

    o       Make funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to, or for the benefit of, a designated person 

    o       Engage in actions that, directly or indirectly, circumvent the financial sanctions prohibitions 

    • director disqualification sanctions: Where director disqualification sanctions apply, it will be an offence for a person designated for the purpose of those sanctions to act as a director of a company or to take part in the management, formation or promotion of a UK company 

    • travel ban: an individual subject to a travel ban will be an excluded person under section 8B of the Immigration Act 1971, meaning that they must be refused leave to enter or to remain in the United Kingdom

    Media enquiries

    Email newsdesk@fcdo.gov.uk

    Telephone 020 7008 3100

    Email the FCDO Newsdesk (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance, and we will respond as soon as possible.

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Head of Justice Department’s Criminal Division Matthew R. Galeotti Delivers Remarks at American Conference Institute Conference

    Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

    Thank you, Lisa and Paige, for having me here today. And thank you to the American Conference Institute for hosting this conference.

    Under my leadership, the Criminal Division has been tirelessly working to execute on all of the Department’s priorities, holding criminals to account and seeking justice for victims.

    Today, I’m here to talk about the Criminal Division’s renewed efforts to combat white-collar crime in the new Administration.

    Let me first say a few words about FCPA enforcement before I discuss in detail the Criminal Division’s policies, approach, and initiatives in the white-collar space.

    The Deputy Attorney General sent me a memorandum, which he publicly released, detailing the new FCPA Enforcement Guidelines called for by the President’s Executive Order. These Guidelines provide evaluation criteria and a non-exhaustive list of factors to balance when deciding whether to pursue an FCPA case.

    As detailed in the DAG’s memo, the factors include — but are not limited to — whether the alleged misconduct deprived specific and identifiable U.S. entities of fair access to compete; involves key infrastructure or assets; bears strong indicia of corrupt intent tied to particular individuals and serious misconduct; or is associated with the criminal operations of a Cartel or Transnational Criminal Organization. No one factor is necessary or dispositive.

    The through-line is that these Guidelines require the vindication of U.S. interests. People have speculated about the meaning of that phrase, but the DAG’s memo makes it clear. It is not about the nationality of the subject or where the company is headquartered. In plain terms, conduct that genuinely impacts the United States or the American people is subject to potential prosecution by U.S. law enforcement. Conduct that does not implicate U.S. interests should be left to our foreign counterparts or appropriate regulators. And in those cases, the Criminal Division won’t hesitate to work with our foreign counterparts or domestic regulators to provide assistance and ensure that those countries and regulators can vindicate their interests and pursue their mandates.

    The memo also directs other common-sense principles, such as focusing on specific misconduct of individuals, rather than collective knowledge theories. All of these propositions are not controversial; in fact, we’ve heard them many times from counsel advocating on behalf of their clients. 

    Under the DAG’s leadership, the Department has reviewed FCPA matters, closing certain cases and proceeding with others by applying the criteria set forth in the Guidelines. With these Guidelines now in place, and consistent with the Executive Order, the Criminal Division will enforce the FCPA — firmly but fairly — by bringing enforcement actions against conduct that directly undermines U.S. national interests without losing sight of the burdens on American companies that operate globally.

    Now, let me shift from the FCPA to the extremely broad swath of white-collar and corporate misconduct not governed by that particular statute.

    As many of you know, four weeks ago, I released the Criminal Division’s enforcement plan for white-collar crime and discussed how we will ensure justice and fairness in those cases. To the extent anyone may have misread these remarks, let me be clear: Under my leadership, the Criminal Division has not and will not close meritorious investigations or dismiss meritorious cases. Indeed, consistent with the principles set forth in my memorandum, we will vigorously pursue these investigations and open new ones. We will move them expeditiously. And we will resolve them, fairly and justly.

    Let me make one other broad, related point. Be conscientious about what, when, and how you appeal the decisions of Trial Attorneys and AUSAs. White-collar and corporate defendants are fortunate to have sophisticated counsel. We do not begrudge defense counsel for zealously advocating for their clients. And we hold our prosecutors to the highest standards. These are central tenets of our system.

    But seeking premature relief, mischaracterizing prosecutorial conduct, or otherwise failing to be an honest broker actively undermines our system. It also will be counter-productive to your appeals, coloring arguments that may carry more weight, especially when made judiciously at the appropriate time. Clients deserve your wise counsel about how to handle the most significant and sensitive matters, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, that’s what they get. We should all strive to keep it that way.

    In the Criminal Division, we are focused on the work. So, let’s talk about that.

    Fighting white-collar and corporate crime is a critical component of the Criminal Division’s priorities. From procurement to health care fraud, and money laundering to sanctions evasion, white-collar and corporate crimes steal from taxpayers, inhibit American prosperity, and impact national security. These crimes rob U.S. citizens and investors of their hard-earned savings, disturb markets, hurt the economy, and victimize vulnerable Americans.

    Protecting the American people requires an aggressive and robust strategy to investigate and prosecute white-collar and corporate crime. Almost a month ago, you heard me say that you have a role to play in this fight. Indeed, business and compliance leaders, and the counsel who advise them, have a critical role to play. You can do the right thing, report potential crimes, root out misconduct, cooperate with the Department, and help the company remediate. And when you do, significant benefits are available to your clients.

    But there is an important corollary to that — and I want to make sure you hear it clearly and take it to your stakeholders and clients. For those who do not come forward despite all the benefits available: we will move aggressively — yet fairly — to prosecute white-collar offenders whose crimes undermine U.S. interests. We will hold accountable those who victimize the most vulnerable among us and defraud the government. We will root out those who abuse the American economy and exploit law-abiding businesses. We will swiftly bring charges against individuals and companies, and all the benefits of our policies will not be available to these offenders.

    So let me take a few minutes to speak at a more granular level about what our policies mean in practice. The memo and policies I issued last month demonstrate our commitment to this approach. We clarified the Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy and expanded the Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program because these policies work. They incentivize companies and individuals to report crime to let us go after bad actors. 

    Indeed, these policies and incentives work best when we are clear and transparent with the public, including American businesses and the defense bar. That is why I issued the white-collar memo last month. The memorandum clearly articulated key areas of enforcement for the Criminal Division and directed our prosecutors to move quickly to bring charges. As an aside, and this should go without saying, priority connotes precedence, not exclusivity.

    Let me dig in on three key areas of change.

    First, declinations. The benefits to companies that voluntarily self-report, cooperate, and remediate have never been clearer and more certain: those companies will receive a declination, not just a “presumption.”

    While we have maintained our discretion to deviate where there are aggravating circumstances, this is not a game of “gotcha.”  We cannot envision every fact pattern imaginable, and we must retain some flexibility where the aggravating factors are such that a declination simply is not appropriate. But I can tell you that I am closely reviewing all corporate resolutions, and I am standing behind this policy. Indeed, the revised CEP narrowed what constitutes an “aggravating factor,” giving even more transparency and certainty for companies deciding whether or not to come forward. Issuing declinations for voluntary self-reports is sound policy — both to hold the most culpable individuals accountable and as a preventative measure to deter misconduct from happening in the first place — and I will closely scrutinize any VSD that is not recommended for a CEP declination. The circumstances would have to be truly aggravating and sufficient to outweigh the fact that the company voluntarily came forward.

    Next, monitors. We are nearing the end of our review of all Criminal Division corporate monitors. And, as the revised monitor policy lays out, we have learned some important lessons. Under my leadership, the Criminal Division has proceeded with some monitorships but terminated others where circumstances permitted companies to achieve compliance with our agreements on their own, including by self-reporting, compliance certifications, and other requirements.

    Monitors are meant to be a temporary bridge and accountability measure to move a company quickly and efficiently to full compliance. We believe the measures we’ve instituted in place of monitorships — including putting additional burden on the Criminal Division — more quickly transition companies to full compliance. These self-directed measures limit the wasted effort and financial resources that are expended when companies are more focused on “teaching to the test,” so to speak, rather than make lasting improvements.

    And finally, on efficiency. The Criminal Division’s experts tackle the most complex criminal cases. These take significant effort and resources, but they don’t need to take unreasonable time. Lengthy and sprawling investigations do not serve the Department, our prosecutors, the American public, or those under investigation. Under my leadership, the Criminal Division will do its part to charge or decline quickly.

    Since issuing our new policies, I have met with the leaders in all my Sections and made it clear: we must move more quickly to get criminals off the streets and bring clarity to those under investigation. Moving cases quickly will ensure that we use our resources efficiently in service of all of the Department’s priorities.

    But you play a role in efficiency, too. Producing documents swiftly in response to requests, promptly identifying key evidence, quickly making witnesses available, and effectively navigating complex global legal regimes are just part of what we expect cooperating companies to do. To state the obvious: when the delay is due to the conduct of a subject or target, arguments regarding a supposed lack of efficiency will not resonate.

    Finally, we also expect you to work closely with our teams, to follow the process, to narrow disagreements, and to raise up issues after exhausting discussions. I rely on my prosecutors to educate me on the facts of their cases and the issues you raise. When you reach out to me or other Department leadership, you, your client, and I can all move more efficiently when those issues have been appropriately narrowed.

    Where are we now?  We’re less than thirty days since I issued the white-collar enforcement plan. In even just this short period, I can tell you we are happy with the results.

    Since the memo was issued, we have seen new voluntary self-disclosures — including for potential FCPA violations. And as you know, when one company reports misconduct, it typically leads to the discovery of similar misconduct at other companies, so you benefit from being first in the door.

    We have seen continued robust tips from whistleblowers, including in each of our newly added categories. These reports and tips cover many of the areas of focus in the white-collar memo. Just days after I announced the expansion, we received tips related to drug trafficking and corruption, procurement fraud, healthcare fraud, and more. This is just the beginning, so stay tuned.

    With these policies in place, now is the time to get to work. We’ve made changes to effectuate my mandate to charge cases in a variety of areas. The Criminal Division is full of prosecutors, who, working with our partners in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and law enforcement agencies, must be focused on just that — bringing cases. Of note to this audience, in the coming weeks I anticipate significant announcements in key priority areas, including corporate resolutions across the white-collar landscape.

    What do I want you to take away from today?  This is the time for companies to self-report. It is the time to do the work, come in early, cooperate, and remediate. The Criminal Division’s policies give clear benefits to those who do. And for those who don’t, we will move swiftly and aggressively to bring cases against individuals and companies. We will use all our tools and seek strong sentences. We will hold culpable companies and individuals to account for misconduct. 

    Thank you.

    MIL Security OSI –