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  • MIL-OSI Global: Ukraine ‘spiderweb’ drone strike fails to register at peace talks as both sides dig in for the long haul

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham

    News of the spectacular “spiderweb” mass drone attack on Russian air bases on June 1 will have been uppermost in the minds of delegates who assembled the following day for another round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul. The attack appears to have been a triumph of Ukrainian intelligence and planning that destroyed or damaged billions of pounds’ worth of Russian aircraft stationed at bases across the country, including at locations as far away as Siberia.

    Ukraine’s drone strikes, much like Russia’s intensifying air campaign, hardly signal either side’s sincere commitment to negotiations. As it turned out, little of any consequence was agreed at the brief meeting between negotiators, beyond a prisoner swap, confirming yet again that neither a ceasefire nor a peace agreement are likely anytime soon.

    But the broader context of developments on the battlefield and beyond can offer important clues about the trajectory of the war in the coming months.

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    At an earlier meeting in Istanbul in May, Moscow and Kyiv agreed to draft and exchange detailed proposals for a settlement. The Ukrainian proposal restated the longstanding position of Kyiv and its western allies that concessions on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country are unacceptable.

    In other words, a Russian-imposed neutrality ruling out Nato membership and limiting the size of Ukraine’s armed forces is a non-starter for Kyiv. So is any international recognition of Moscow’s illegal land-grabs since 2014, including the annexation of Crimea.

    The Ukrainian proposal is for an immediate ceasefire along the frontline as “the starting point for negotiations”. Any territorial issues would be discussed “after a full and unconditional ceasefire”.

    In substance, this is very similar to the peace plan presented by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky in late 2022. This was received warmly by Ukraine’s main western allies, but failed to get traction with the broader international community.

    Russia’s proposals, meanwhile, are also mostly old news. Russia maintains its demands for full recognition of Russian territorial claims since 2014, Ukrainian neutrality.

    These stringent Russian demands in return for even a temporary ceasefire are hardly any more serious negotiation positions from Ukraine’s perspective than Kyiv’s proposals are likely to be to Moscow. In fact, what the Kremlin put on the table in Istanbul is more akin to surrender terms.

    Ukraine is in no mood to surrender. The spiderweb drone attack against Russia’s strategic bomber fleet is a significant boost for Ukrainian morale. But, like previous drone strikes against Moscow in June 2023, it means little in terms of signalling a sustainable Ukrainian capability that could even out Russia’s advantages in terms of manpower and equipment.

    The state of the conflict in Ukraine as at June 3 2025.
    Institute for the Study of War

    Closer to the frontlines inside Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces also struck the power grid inside Russian-occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. This may delay any Russian plans to expand its control over the two regions. But, like the latest drone strikes inside Russia, it is at best an operation that entrenches, rather than breaks the current stalemate.

    There is no doubt that Ukraine remains under severe military pressure from Russia along most of the more than 1,000 mile frontline. The country is also still very vulnerable to Russian air attacks.

    But while Russia might continue to make incremental gains on the battlefield, a game-changing Russian offensive or a collapse of Ukrainian defences does not appear to be on the cards.

    International support

    Kyiv’s position will potentially also be strengthened by a new bill in the US senate that threatens the imposition of 500% tariffs on any countries that buy Russian resources. This would primarily affect India and China.

    These are the largest consumers of Russian oil and gas, and if New Delhi and Beijing decide that trade with the US is more important to them cheap imports from Russia, the move could cut Russia off from critical revenues and imports.

    But, given how indecisive Donald Trump has been to date when it comes to putting any real, rather than just rhetorical, pressure on Vladimir Putin, it is not clear whether the proposed senate bill will have the desired effect. The bill has support of over 80 co-sponsors from both the Republican and Democratic caucuses, meaning the senate could overturn a presidential veto. But any delay in imposing tougher sanctions will ultimately play into Putin’s hands.

    By contrast, European support for Ukraine has, if anything, increased in recent months. For example, EU leaders adopted their 17th sanctions package against Russia on May 20. A week later, Germany and Ukraine announced a new military cooperation agreement worth €5 billion (£4.2 billion).

    It still falls short of what Kyiv would require for a major shift in the balance of power on the battlefield. But for now it is enough to prevent Russia from becoming militarily so dominant that Moscow’s current settlement proposals would present the only option for at least some part of Ukraine to survive as an independent state.

    The war remains in a stalemate. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv appear to have the capacity to escalate their military efforts to the degree necessary that would force the other side to make substantial concessions.

    Both sides are playing for time in the hope that their fortunes may change. For Ukraine, this would mean more US military support coupled with more sanctions pressure on Russia, while Europe follows through on building up its own and Ukraine’s defence capabilities.

    Russia’s calculations will be different. Putin will need to keep his few remaining allies – China, Iran and North Korea – on side while trying to make a deal with Trump. This may be impossible to achieve.

    In this case, the Russian dictator’s best hope might be that Trump does not impose any serious sanctions on Russia or its trade partners, let alone lean into increasing military support for Ukraine.

    For both sides, a lot still hinges on Washington. The unpredictability of the Trump White House, much like the self-imposed restraint under Biden, not only makes it unlikely that the war in Ukraine moves beyond the current stalemate, it has become a major, and perhaps the decisive road block that enables both Moscow and Kyiv to dream of victory in a war that has become unwinnable.

    Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.

    Tetyana Malyarenko 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. Ukraine ‘spiderweb’ drone strike fails to register at peace talks as both sides dig in for the long haul – https://theconversation.com/ukraine-spiderweb-drone-strike-fails-to-register-at-peace-talks-as-both-sides-dig-in-for-the-long-haul-257927

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Moby-Dick doesn’t deserve the ‘difficult’ label – this sea romance was once loved by office workers, sailors and children

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Edward Sugden, Senior Lecturer in American Studies, King’s College London

    I am currently writing a biography of Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, Moby-Dick. The most important thing I have learnt is that Moby-Dick is not – as is often presumed – a difficult book. I claim this on the basis of those who read it, how they did so and what they took from it in the first decades of its life.

    Moby-Dick has a fearsome reputation: dense, time-consuming, boring and bizarre. This reputation (although not absolutely unfair) was initially fabricated by a subset of “elite” Anglo-American academic readers in the 1920s to separate it from the very people who had previously sustained its existence.

    In 1994, literature professor Paul Lauter wrote an article that showed how nationalist scholars, looking to forge an American tradition, elevated Moby-Dick to the status of a classic to exclude non-specialist readers.

    But earlier readers knew Moby-Dick for what it was: an extreme and ambitious form of popular genre fiction, like science fiction or fantasy, known as the “sea romance”.

    This article is part of Rethinking the Classics. The stories in this series offer insightful new ways to think about and interpret classic books and artworks. This is the canon – with a twist.

    A romance meant something different in 1851 to what it does now. According to Noah Webster’s Dictionary, then the go-to reference, a romance was “a fabulous relation or story” that went “beyond the limits and facts of real life, and often of probability”.

    Melville was at this time a literary celebrity after his loosely non-fictional debut Typee (1846) became a transatlantic bestseller for its exotic descriptions of South Pacific captivity. In a letter to his publisher, he wrote that Moby-Dick was a “romance of adventure, founded upon certain wild legends in the southern sperm whale fisheries”.

    Herman Melville as painted by Joseph Oriel Eaton in 1870.
    Houghton Library/Harvard University

    You could assume that Melville was being cynical – to sell the book, he misrepresented it as having more commercial potential than he thought it did. But I think he was in earnest.

    The novel’s initial public was, broadly, found among the professional middle classes in America, who had a taste for this genre, dreaming of faraway places while chained to their desks. I know this because I have tracked down around 150 first editions of this book and, with the help of genealogical websites, signatures, dates and locations, worked out who some of the owners were and what they did.

    In the 1860s, Moby-Dick almost disappeared from the historical record, a situation not helped by a fire at his publisher’s works. But silence and absence are different things. There were many readers who still enjoyed Moby-Dick, though they only glancingly show up in print.

    Moby-Dick’s early readers

    My research has found that children read and lived with Moby-Dick in the 19th century. It pops up in memoirs, reminiscences, fictions and juvenile literature.

    They played games based on the book; they took it out from libraries and made it dog-eared; they scrawled odd and eerie images on it; they and elder generations read it out loud together; and Moby-Dick (evidently a familiar character) himself featured in a Christmas tale about mermaids called The Merman and the Figure-Head (1871) by Clara Florida Guernsey.

    If we take children as its audience, rather than scholarly readers, a quite different Moby-Dick appears. The novel’s plot becomes straightforward and exciting, its tone blithe and consumable, its function to teach and to entertain.

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    Other non-specialist readers sustained its reputation on similar terms. It seems very likely working-class sailor readers enjoyed it. That’s because its basic plot appears in a number of dime novels (mass-produced thriller fiction) such as Robert Starbuck’s The Mad Skipper (1866) and Captain Barnacle’s Péhe Nu-é (1877), written by and for such readers.

    It also, sporadically, appears on deck, with one sailor, the future sea fiction writer Louis Becke, learning of it in Apia in the Samoan islands via “a small and sweet-natured English lady” who came on board with it and read it aloud with the captain. Becke recounts this episode in an introduction to Moby-Dick in a reissue of 1901.

    The last known image of Melville.
    New York Public Library

    As time went, on these foundational readers found extra fellow enthusiasts among socialists, queer people, outcasts and travellers, even if things continued much as they always had done. Literature professor Hershel Parker’s “historical note” to the Northwestern-Newberry edition tracks some of these readers down.

    In the early decades of the 20th century, Moby-Dick moved up in the world. But, generally, even if it cultivated a bourgeois reading audience, it did so as a perfect example of the historically remote form of the sea romance, rather than as a classic.

    The major event in Moby-Dick’s reputation in the 1920s was a popular silent film adaptation, The Sea Beast (1926). Collectively, readers thought of it less in analytical terms, than as something that offered guidance on how to live. I have found hundreds of off-hand, ordinary (and moving for that fact) references to it in travel narratives, letters, diaries, novels, poems and anecdotes from this era.

    Making visible these early readers who viewed Moby-Dick as mass cultural genre fiction creates a picture of a substantially different novel. It ceases to rise, Everest-like and admonitory, amid the peaks of the canon. Instead, it descends from the heights to subsist, amiably and openly, in the ardours and passions of the everyday.

    Beyond the canon

    As part of the Rethinking the Classics series, we’re asking our experts to recommend a book or artwork that tackles similar themes to the canonical work in question, but isn’t (yet) considered a classic itself. Here is Edward Sugden’s suggestion:

    I often wonder “what is the Moby-Dick of the 20th century?” I would nominate Gene Wolfe’s science fiction masterpiece, The Fifth Head of Cerberus novellas (1972). The novelist Ursula Le Guin once called Wolfe “our Melville”, so I’m in good company.

    The three novellas are set on the fictional planets Sainte Croix and Sainte Anne. They are about the relationship between (possibly) human settlers and a (possibly) shape-shifting indigenous population who may or may not have existed.

    In a dense, cryptic, visionary, philosophical and astonishingly crisp style, these novellas explore cloning, evil, dreamworlds, alien life, identity, fate, ritual, ethnology and much more besides in ways that defy summary and which far exceed any plot synopsis. It feels – in spirit and in terms of its reception – something like Moby-Dick.

    Edward Sugden 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. Moby-Dick doesn’t deserve the ‘difficult’ label – this sea romance was once loved by office workers, sailors and children – https://theconversation.com/moby-dick-doesnt-deserve-the-difficult-label-this-sea-romance-was-once-loved-by-office-workers-sailors-and-children-252764

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Bloomberg: Senators Revive Bill to Break Big Tech’s Grip on Pentagon Deals

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren

    May 15, 2025

    A bipartisan pair of senators is reviving a bill to break the grip that tech giants like Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have on the Pentagon’s cloud computing and artificial intelligence contracts.

    The Protecting AI and Cloud Competition in Defense Act is set to be reintroduced on Thursday by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Eric Schmitt of Missouri, according to people familiar with the matter. A version of the bill is also being introduced for the first time in the House, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public.

    The goal of the legislation is to increase competition for billions of dollars worth of AI and cloud contracts currently dominated by Big Tech firms. If passed, the Department of Defense would be required to hold a competitive bidding process for deals worth $50 million or more. The bill would also direct the agency to “mitigate barriers” that make it harder for startups and nontraditional contractors to compete.

    The planned legislation reflects a new balancing act for lawmakers. While many in Washington have expressed greater urgency to bolster US technological competitiveness and deploy more AI across the federal government, there are also longstanding concerns on both sides of the aisle about further entrenching the dominance of Silicon Valley’s largest companies.

    “It’s a mistake to let Silicon Valley monopolize our AI and cloud computing tools because it doesn’t just stifle innovation, it increases costs and threatens our national security,” Warren said in statement.

    …

    Read the full article here.

    By:  Jackie Davalos
    Source: Bloomberg

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Bloomberg Tax: Warren Seeks Details From Donors to IRS Pick’s Dormant Campaign

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren

    May 15, 2025

    Senate Finance Committee Democrats say donors to IRS commissioner pick Billy Long’s hibernating campaign fund could have been illegally influencing the former House lawmaker.

    “This brazen attempt to curry favor with Mr. Long is not only unethical—it may also be illegal,” the lawmakers led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote in one of the letters seen by Bloomberg Tax that were sent Thursday. The letters suggest that the circumstances of the donations raise questions over whether they constitute a violation of federal anti-bribery laws.

    Also at issue is the timing and size of the donations that were made to Long, who could soon lead the tax collection agency. Democrats asked donors why they gave, whether their donations were solicited, and whether they had matters currently pending in front of the IRS.

    Long, a former Republican House member from Missouri who has a confirmation hearing with the panel May 20, hasn’t been on any ballot for several years but saw nearly $137,000 flow into his dormant campaign committee for a Senate seat in the first quarter of this year. He also used the funds to repay a $130,000 personal loan. Donors to his campaign included people associated with firms that promoted so-called sovereign tribal tax credits that the Treasury Department and IRS say don’t exist.

    Warren signed the letters along with Finance ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). The Democrats’ letter is the latest in a string of demands from Democrats pressing Long about his dealings with White River Energy Corp., which has been selling the credits to wealthy investors through a network of promoters.

    …

    Read the full article here.

    By:  Chris Cioffi
    Source: Bloomberg Tax

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Sidetrade joins the Euronext Tech Leaders 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Sidetrade, the global leader in AI-powered Order-to-Cash applications, announces its inclusion in the 2025 Euronext Tech Leaders Index, the pan-European initiative spotlighting the continent’s most disruptive and high-growth tech companies.

    Launched by Euronext in 2022, the Tech Leaders brings together the 110 most dynamic listed European tech companies, providing them with enhanced visibility, targeted investor access, and exclusive participation in pan-European innovation forums. Sidetrade’s inclusion reflects its alignment with the criteria of the index:

    • A track record of building technologies with transformative impact,
    • A market cap above €300 million,
    • A CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) above 20% over the last three years.

    The Euronext Tech Leaders Index will be updated after markets close on Friday, 20 June 2025, with effect from Monday, 23 June 2025.

    Delphine d’Amarzit, Euronext Paris Chairwoman and CEO, states: “Sidetrade’s 20th anniversary of being listed coincides with the highest possible recognition of its stock market journey: its inclusion in the Euronext Tech Leaders, which brings together technology companies listed on Euronext that stand out for their growth and innovation. I am pleased that the stock exchange has fully played its role in supporting the growth of a company like Sidetrade, which now ranks among the most promising tech companies in Europe, thanks to the long-term vision of its founder, Olivier Novasque, and the work of its teams.”

    Sidetrade’s trajectory reflects a conviction that the future of enterprise finance lies in autonomous systems capable of acting intelligently in dynamic environments. Innovation is in the DNA of Sidetrade. From the outset, the company has approached AI not as a layer of enhancement, but as the engine driving systemic change.

    Central to this transformation is Aimie, Sidetrade’s agentic AI. Built to go beyond predictive analytics, Aimie is an autonomous agent that makes decisions, initiates actions, and adapts in real-time to optimize cash flow processes. From qualifying invoices to orchestrating engagement strategies and accelerating cash collections, Aimie scales behavior-based decision-making across a global network of over 40 million buyers. This intelligence is grounded in Sidetrade’s Data Lake, the world’s richest behavioral dataset for B2B transactions, encompassing more than $7.2 trillion in payment data. It is this combination of machine learning, behavioral modeling, and collaborative intelligence that positions Aimie as an operator that learns, acts, and evolves in the service of enterprise performance.

    The inclusion in the Euronext Tech Leaders segment is also a tribute to Olivier Novasque’s vision as founder and CEO of Sidetrade. Marking 25 years of innovation at Sidetrade, Novasque has championed a bold roadmap to move finance beyond automation and into real-time intelligent orchestration, transforming the CFO office from a reactive unit to a proactive command center.

    “We are honored to join the Euronext Tech Leaders,” said Olivier Novasque, CEO and founder at Sidetrade. “At Sidetrade, we’ve never followed the market. We’ve questioned its limits and investigated how technology should overcome them. In a financial world that is growing increasingly complex by the day, we believe the real breakthrough lies in augmenting human capacity. Our technology is designed to sharpen judgment, accelerate action, and foster resilience. When machines enhance talents, organizations unlock their full potential.”

    Investor & Media relations @Sidetrade

    Christelle Dhrif                 +33 6 10 46 72 00           cdhrif@sidetrade.com

    About Sidetrade (www.sidetrade.com)
    Sidetrade (Euronext Growth: ALBFR.PA) provides a SaaS platform designed to revolutionize how cash flow is secured and accelerated. Leveraging its new-generation agentic AI, nicknamed Aimie, Sidetrade analyzes $7.2 trillion worth of B2B payment transactions daily in its Cloud, thereby anticipating customer payment behavior and the attrition risk of 40 million buyers worldwide. Sidetrade has a global reach, with 400+ talented employees based in Europe, the United States, and Canada, serving global businesses in more than 85 countries. Among them: AGFA, BMW Financial Services, Bunzl, DXC, Engie, Inmarsat, KPMG, Lafarge, Manpower, Morningstar, Page, Randstad, Safran, Saint-Gobain, Securitas, Siemens, UGI, Veolia.
    For further information, visit us at www.sidetrade.com and follow @Sidetrade on LinkedIn.

    Contact Euronext
    Flavio Bornancin-Tomasella        fbornancin-tomasella@euronext.com

    About Euronext
    Euronext is the leading European capital market infrastructure, covering the entire capital markets value chain, from listing, trading, clearing, settlement and custody, to solutions for issuers and investors. Euronext runs MTS, one of Europe’s leading electronic fixed income trading markets, and Nord Pool, the European power market. Euronext also provides clearing and settlement services through Euronext Clearing and its Euronext Securities CSDs in Denmark, Italy, Norway, and Portugal. As of March 2025, Euronext’s regulated exchanges in Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal host nearly 1,800 listed issuers with around €6.3 trillion in market capitalisation, a strong blue-chip franchise and the largest global centre for debt and fund listings. With a diverse domestic and international client base, Euronext handles 25% of European lit equity trading. Its products include equities, FX, ETFs, bonds, derivatives, commodities and indices. 
    For the latest news, follow us on X (x.com/euronext) and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/euronext).

    In the event of any discrepancy between the French and English versions of this press release, only the English version is to be taken into account.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Exercise proves powerful in preventing colon cancer recurrence – new study

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University

    SUPERMAO/Shutterstock.com

    New evidence has linked physical activity with improved colon health, underscoring the vital role of exercise in cancer prevention and care.

    The landmark international trial – the Challenge study – showed that structured exercise programmes can dramatically improve survival rates for colon cancer survivors.

    The study was unveiled at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Each June, cancer specialists from around the world convene in Chicago for the conference where new research is announced that pushes the boundaries of cancer treatment and this year’s conference featured a wealth of exciting discoveries.

    Conducted across six countries and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Challenge study tracked 889 patients for several years following chemotherapy. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: one received standard post-treatment care, while the other took part in a three-year coaching programme that included personalised exercise plans and regular check-ins with fitness professionals.

    The results were striking. Those in the exercise group experienced 28% fewer cancer recurrences and 37% fewer deaths.

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

    In the programme, people slowly built up how much they exercised, with most choosing to go on brisk 45-minute walks four times a week. Ninety per cent of the people who exercised stayed cancer free for five years, compared with just 74% of those who didn’t.

    This study provides the first strong evidence that exercise not only correlates with better outcomes but directly improves survival rates in cancer patients. While earlier observational studies found a link between being active and better cancer outcomes, this first randomised controlled trial helps show causation, meaning that exercise can directly benefit the survival of cancer patients.

    We don’t know yet if the same goes for other cancers like breast, prostate or lung, but it’s a big step forward.

    The programme’s success hinged on consistent support. Participants met with fitness coaches every two weeks at first, then monthly, which helped them stick to their routines even after treatment ended.

    While minor injuries such as muscle strains were slightly more common among those who exercised (19% compared to 12% in the control group), researchers emphasised that these issues were manageable and far outweighed by the significant survival benefits.

    Potential downsides to exercise?

    In contrast to the encouraging findings on structured exercise, a separate study presented in Chicago has raised questions about the potential downsides of extreme endurance training.

    Researchers tracking marathon runners found a higher rate of polyps (small growths in the colon that can sometimes develop into cancer) compared with the general population. This unexpected finding has sparked a fresh debate about the effect of high-intensity exercise on long-term colon health.

    However, context is needed. The study did not find higher cancer rates among runners, and most of the detected polyps were low risk.

    Several possible explanations have been offered: endurance athletes may simply undergo more frequent screenings, leading to increased detection, or intense exercise might temporarily raise inflammation markers. Crucially, the overall risk of cancer remains lower in active people than in those who are more sedentary, reinforcing the well-established protective benefits of regular exercise.

    Endurance athletes were found to have more polyps than the general population.
    MikeCPhoto/Shutterstock.com

    This apparent contradiction highlights the medical community’s evolving understanding of the “dose” of physical activity. While moderate exercise is consistently linked to significant health benefits, emerging data from endurance athletes suggests that extreme, high-intensity training may place different kinds of stress on the body’s systems.

    Researchers also suggest that factors such as dehydration during long-distance runs, changes in gut function, or the use of certain nutritional supplements common among endurance athletes could play a role in polyp development. These findings don’t diminish the well-documented benefits of physical activity, but instead point to the importance of personalised, balanced health strategies.

    For cancer survivors, the structured exercise study provides a message of practical hope. Participants aimed for the equivalent of about three hours of brisk walking per week, gradually increasing their activity levels over time.

    The programme’s social support was key, with fitness coaches helping participants tailor their routines to match their abilities and recovery needs.

    Exercise is believed to affect key biological processes – including insulin sensitivity, inflammation and immune function – that play important roles in cancer development and progression. Ongoing research is analysing participants’ blood samples to better understand these mechanisms and eventually create personalised exercise “prescriptions” based on an individual’s genetic profile.

    While the findings from marathon runners are less conclusive, they still offer practical takeaways. The research suggests that although vigorous exercise is generally beneficial, high-intensity athletes may face a higher risk of developing polyps and should therefore consider regular colonoscopies as a precaution.

    For the general public, these findings reinforce that combining moderate exercise with timely screenings offers the best protection against colon cancer, a disease that remains the fourth most common worldwide and is alarmingly increasing among young people.

    For both patients and athletes, these findings highlight a central truth: movement matters, but the right approach is crucial. Colon cancer survivors now have proven tools to reduce recurrence through structured exercise, while endurance enthusiasts gain motivation to pair their training with preventative care.

    As science continues unravelling the intricate dance between activity and biology, one message remains clear: whether recovering from illness or chasing personal bests, informed exercise combined with medical guidance is the most reliable path to long-term health.

    Justin Stebbing 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. Exercise proves powerful in preventing colon cancer recurrence – new study – https://theconversation.com/exercise-proves-powerful-in-preventing-colon-cancer-recurrence-new-study-257983

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Your WhatsApp messages could get you sacked

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Lord, Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Employment Law, University of Salford

    Prostock-studio/Shutterstock

    It’s late evening and your phone vibrates with some banter from colleagues. You join the conversation and go to bed feeling part of the work community. You then wake up and have a feeling of apprehension as to how the messages will be perceived.

    WhatsApp might have started as a casual messaging app for friends, but it has now firmly become embedded in workplace communication – and increasingly in workplace conflicts, too.

    WhatsApp chats have also been used to corroborate or refute claims in employment tribunals. An employee might claim they were promised a pay rise or flexible hours via WhatsApp, for example. But on the other hand, employers have also used WhatsApp logs to prove misconduct. This evidence has included sharing confidential information.

    In the workplace, WhatsApp chats have replaced many casual real-life conversations. Colleagues create groups to coordinate work, message each other after hours and vent their frustrations in private messages. Although this feels informal, it can leave employees vulnerable.

    But when disputes escalate to legal action, these messages can help judges understand what really happened. Tribunals treat WhatsApp messages like any other document.

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

    We examined more than 2,000 cases brought to UK employment tribunal’s since 2019 that involved WhatsApp. The findings reveal a surprising range of ways in which these casual chats became evidence.

    WhatsApp conversations have increasingly played a crucial role in misconduct and discrimination disputes, being used as evidence of harassment or inappropriate behaviour. The messages are also cited in unfair dismissal and contract claims, especially where informal work communications and digital records were seen as central to the case.

    In 2018, 48 cases brought to employment tribunals involved WhatsApp messages. By 2024, that had climbed to 562. The cases span a wide range of jurisdictions, but unfair dismissal, contract breaches, harassment and discrimination were dominant. From the cases we examined, several themes were clear.

    1. Removal or exclusion from a WhatsApp group

    In the case of Ms B Djagbo v Women’s Health Dulwich Ltd, the claimant successfully brought a claim for unfavourable treatment due to pregnancy and maternity. This followed a series of incidents that took place after she informed her employer of her pregnancy.

    Several actions made her feel as though her employment was being prematurely ended, including being removed from the workplace WhatsApp group chat. The tribunal awarded her almost £20,000.

    2. Discriminatory messages or harassment via WhatsApp

    In the Mr D Robson v NGP Utilities Ltd case, the claimant is a gay man and brought a complaint of harassment. This included a series of inappropriate and offensive incidents at work, notably, a WhatsApp group message from a colleague.

    The message was part of a wider pattern of jokes targeting gay colleagues. The employment tribunal awarded him more than £36,000.

    3. Termination of employment via WhatsApp

    The case of Miss J Hodkinson v B&R Care Ltd highlights a pregnant care worker who was awarded more than £40,000 in compensation after being unfairly dismissed via WhatsApp. The fact the dismissal was carried out informally and insensitively supported the tribunal’s findings of “procedural and substantive unfairness”.

    4. WhatsApp communications submitted as evidence

    The Mr M D Black v Alain Charles Publishing Ltd tribunal noted that the claimant’s evidence was consistent with WhatsApp message screenshots included in the evidence bundle. As a result, compensation of almost £100,000 was awarded.

    Seized WhatsApp messages can provide an insight into workplace culture.
    Kafka Ibram/Shutterstock

    WhatsApp groups can also offer a window into workplace culture. Tribunals have seen examples of co-workers using WhatsApp to share sexist and racist jokes or to gossip about colleagues.

    With remote and flexible working, these chats illustrate a growing tension between constant connectivity and work burnout.

    The tribunal cases show just how deeply WhatsApp has become part of working life, blurring the line between personal and professional. Colleagues chat the way friends do.

    But when working relationships sour or rules are broken, each of these informal chats carries legal weight. What someone thought was a single throwaway remark in a private conversation can later be dissected as part of a wider body of evidence.

    There have been cases where an employer was ordered to hand over work-related WhatsApp exchanges, and others where an employee’s own messages were used against them.

    It’s a clear lesson. Privacy in digital communication is never guaranteed. Even encrypted messages can become public in a courtroom.

    WhatsApp dos and don’ts

    The volume of references to WhatsApp in tribunal cases frames some key lessons for both employees and employers. In a nutshell, if you wouldn’t write it in a company email or say it in a meeting, don’t put it into WhatsApp.

    Jokes can be misinterpreted and offensive remarks don’t just go away. Many have learned this the hard way.

    Using WhatsApp to share instructions and decisions might seem convenient, but it shouldn’t replace formal process.

    And for employers, it’s time to update communication policies, including guidelines on after-hours messaging, the use of group chats and respecting expectations of inclusivity.

    Banning WhatsApp might not be practical, but setting out expectations is important. Even a policy stating that any work-related communication on personal messaging apps should adhere to the company’s expected code of conduct is a start.

    Many people are unaware that a private chat can reappear as evidence. Knowing that a tasteless joke on WhatsApp could support a harassment claim potentially costing an unlimited fine, or that ignoring a late-night work message might be used as evidence of poor performance, will harden most people to conduct more mindful communication.

    Gordon Fletcher receives funding from InnovateUK.

    Jonathan Lord and Saad Baset do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Your WhatsApp messages could get you sacked – https://theconversation.com/your-whatsapp-messages-could-get-you-sacked-255073

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why the federal government must act cautiously on fast-tracking project approvals

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Mark Winfield, Professor, Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Canada

    The acceleration of federal approvals for “nation-building projects” was the major theme of this week’s first ministers meeting in Saskatoon. A rush to streamline approvals for resource development and infrastructure projects has been central to the Canadian response to United States President Donald Trump’s profound disruptions to longstanding trade and security relationships.

    At the provincial level, Ontario’s Bill 5 and British Columbia’s Bill 15 also propose to move aggressively to fast-track mining and infrastructure projects.

    These fast-tracking efforts are fuelling debate, particularly in terms of the implications for Indigenous rights and the implicit trade-offs pertaining to the environment and climate change.



    Read more:
    Mark Carney wants to make Canada an energy superpower — but what will be sacrificed for that goal?

    Regulations often a minor factor

    Project review and approval processes in Canada have already been aggressively streamlined over the past decade. The 2019 Federal Impact Assessment Act, also known as Bill C-69, was largely modelled on Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 2012 Bill C-38 rewrite of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

    It’s important to determine why projects are delayed in the first place. Most move through assessment processes with little delay or controversy. Problems emerge when proposals are poorly designed, face serious technical or economic doubts, raise major environmental, climate or safety concerns, and spark significant social, political or legal conflicts over their costs, benefits and impacts.

    A recent study on mining approvals in B.C., for example, found that far more mines were approved than ever actually developed. The main cause of delays was changing economic conditions. Regulation was found to be only a minor factor.

    While there are always potential ways to improve review processes, the results of previous streamlining efforts suggest the need for caution about the potential for these initiatives to backfire.

    Impact assessment and similar processes emerged as more than a way to accurately assess projects and their risks and benefits. They also provided a framework for managing intense social and political conflicts those projects may generate.

    If these processes are streamlined too much, the conclusions of these assessments may seem illegitimate. There could be a trade-off between clear, certain outcomes and ensuring the approval process is fair and trustworthy.

    Exacerbating conflict

    The Harper government’s Bill C-38 reforms were intended to facilitate the construction of more oil pipelines. In the end, they only escalated the spiralling political and legal conflicts around projects like the Northern Gateway and Energy East pipelines.

    The accompanying Alberta-to-B.C. Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline was only approved after a tortuous process. That culminated in the federal purchase and completion of the pipeline at a cost to taxpayers of $34 billion.



    Read more:
    Why the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion is a bad deal for Canadians — and the world

    A similar process unfolded under Ontario’s 2009 Green Energy Act. The legislation’s aggressive bypassing of local approvals reinforced a backlash against renewable energy projects in rural communities. The end result was a nearly decade-long de facto moratorium on renewable energy development. The situation has only recently eased.

    The political consequences of these efforts at streamlining are noteworthy. The Bill C-38 episode was seen as playing a role in the Harper government’s defeat in 2015. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s loss of his majority government in 2011 was also partly attributed to the rural response to the Green Energy Act.

    Checks and balances

    Aside from the political aspects, it’s important to recognize the value of thorough reviews for projects that are likely to be high-risk, high-cost and high-impact.

    When past reviews have been rushed or cut short, they’ve undermine confidence in the decisions made — especially when even faster processes could increase the risks and costs passed on to taxpayers.

    The Muskrat Falls and Site C hydro projects in Labrador and B.C., respectively, stand as testament to those risks. Both projects ran years behind schedule and billions over budget and continue to face major technical, environmental and economic challenges. Review processes can be important checks on poorly conceived, politically motivated projects.

    It’s also important to think carefully about the long-term economic rationales being presented for projects. Canada is a relatively high-cost fossil fuel producer, making it unlikely to be among the last standing in a decarbonizing world.

    That should raise serious questions about major investments in new fossil fuel export infrastructure. The irony of developing such projects as major wildfires, widely attributed to the impacts of climate change, burn in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba cannot be overlooked.

    Global markets for commodities like critical minerals are also uncertain and in deep flux.

    The high costs of nuclear projects, as demonstrated by recent experiences in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Europe, also make them unlikely candidates to form the foundation for clean energy superpower status.



    Read more:
    ‘Elbows up’ in Canada means sustainable resource development

    ‘Special economic zones’

    Ontario’s Bill 5 represents the most aggressive streamlining proposal seen so far. The legislation would exempt designated “special economic zones” and even trusted proponents — such as mining companies assigned to lead projects — from all applicable provincial and municipal laws and regulations.

    The province’s approach has raised fundamental questions about the rule of law, democratic governance and Indigenous rights, and jurisdictional boundaries.

    Some commentators have pointed out that these zones are common in authoritarian regimes like China’s, or in jurisdictions in deep economic distress.

    Others have accused Ontario of racing to the bottom in terms of health, safety and environmental standards, respect for the rule of law, Indigenous rights and basic democratic values.

    All of this suggests a need for caution in further streamlining review and approval processes for major projects. These are undertakings with risks and costs that could stretch far into the future and must be properly understood before they proceed.

    Mark Winfield receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

    – ref. Why the federal government must act cautiously on fast-tracking project approvals – https://theconversation.com/why-the-federal-government-must-act-cautiously-on-fast-tracking-project-approvals-257095

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian airfields could derail Russia’s war efforts

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser University

    The drone attacks by Ukrainian Operation Spider’s Web forces on Russian airfields have called into question Russia’s supposed military strength.

    Russian authorities have acknowledged damage from the June 1 attacks — an unusual admission that suggests the strikes were probably effective, given Russia’s usual pattern of downplaying or denying the success of Ukrainian operations.

    The operation’s most significant target was the Belaya air base, north of Mongolia. Belaya, like the other bases targeted, is a critical component in the Russian Air Force’s strategic strike capabilities because it houses planes capable of long-range nuclear and conventional strikes.

    It’s also in Irkutsk, approximately 4,500 kilometres from the front lines in Ukraine.



    Read more:
    Ukraine drone strikes on Russian airbase reveal any country is vulnerable to the same kind of attack

    Ukraine’s ability to successfully strike Belaya — an attempted strike at the even more distant Ukrainka air base failed — probably won’t have much of a military impact on the war. But along with successful attacks on other Russian airfields and the strike at the Kerch Bridge in Crimea, Operation Spider Web’s successes could play a strategic role in the conflict.

    These attacks could shift what has become increasingly negative media coverage and public perception about Ukraine’s chances in the war over the last year. In a war of attrition, which the conflict in Ukraine has become, establishing a belief in victory is a pre-condition for success.

    Explosions hit the Kerch Bridge in Russia on June 3, 2025. (The Independent)

    Increased pessimism

    Policymakers and pundits, instead of recognizing their expectations of a Ukrainian victory in 2023 were unrealistic, have often declared that the war is unwinnable for Ukraine.

    This perspective was even more prevalent following United States President Donald Trump’s resumption of power in January 2025. In the Oval Office spat Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in late February, he declared Ukraine did not “have the cards” to defeat Russia.

    This turned out to be false. Ukraine’s army may possess significantly less military hardware and fewer soldiers than Russia’s, but war is often a continuation of politics. Politically, Russia faces several issues that could derail its war efforts.

    Russian vulnerabilities

    Russia’s military capabilities are important to Russian nationalists, who make up Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s core constituency. Russian military forces have advanced along nearly all fronts in Ukraine over the last year.

    These advances, however, have largely been insignificant. Furthermore, they have emphasized Russia’s military weakness, which is an ongoing affront to Russian nationalists.

    Not only have Russian military advances over the last year not changed the war in a strictly military sense, but the pace of advance has been incredibly slow. Over the last year, Russian forces have captured 5,107 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory. This territory represents less than one per cent of Ukraine’s pre-war territory.

    In exchange for what amounts to negligible gains, Russian armed forces have suffered significant casualties.

    Both Russia and Ukraine carefully guard the number of casualties their forces have suffered in the war. The British Ministry of Defence, however, estimates that Russia will have suffered more than a million casualties in the war by the end of this month. The Russian casualty rate is also accelerating, with an estimated 160,000 casualties in the first four months of 2025.

    Russia attempts to compensate for this battlefield devastation in two ways.

    First, it’s isolated Ukraine by manipulating Trump’s desire for political wins and business deals. Russia, in appearing to seek an end to the conflict while offering no concessions, has stoked tensions between Zelenskyy and Trump, where there was little love lost between the two to begin with.

    Second, Russia has increased its attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Large-scale bombing does little to help Russia on the battlefield. The attacks, in fact, put its forces at a disadvantage by redirecting munitions from military targets.

    Attacks on civilians

    The attacks on civilian infrastructure, however, are more about instilling fear in the Ukrainian population and demonstrating American impotence to a Russian audience.

    Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian cities also highlight Russia’s trump card: nuclear weapons. Russia, and specifically former Russian president Dimitry Medvedev, has repeatedly threatened nuclear war in an attempt to dissuade Ukraine’s supporters.

    By bombing Ukrainian cities, albeit with conventional munitions, Russia seeks to demonstrate its ability to deploy even more destructive weapons should the situation call for it.

    These Russian military missteps, combined with a Russian economy that is structurally unsound, means that Russia’s war effort is increasingly fragile.

    Weakening Asian alliances

    Ukraine’s attack on Belaya also signals Russian weakness to its nominal allies in Asia.

    Since the start of hostilities, Russia has relied on the tacit consent of China. This support has taken the form of China purchasing Russian crude oil to maintain the Russian economy and Chinese citizens unofficially fighting for Russia.

    Belaya has been a vital element of Russia’s deterrence strategy in Asia, which has come to rely more heavily on the Russian strategic nuclear threat. The inability of Russia to protect one of its key strategic assets from a Ukrainian drone attack, combined with the weakness of Russian conventional forces in Ukraine, erodes its ability to position itself as a key ally to China.

    In fact, some Russian authorities continue to view China as a major threat.

    At the same time, Operation Spider’s Web gives hope to the Ukrainian people. It may also cause Trump — who prefers to back winners — to ponder whether it’s Putin, not Zelenskyy, who lacks the cards to win the war.

    James Horncastle 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. How Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian airfields could derail Russia’s war efforts – https://theconversation.com/how-ukraines-drone-attacks-on-russian-airfields-could-derail-russias-war-efforts-258049

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • Shivraj Singh Chouhan interacts with farmers in Pune, announces tough measures against fake agro inputs

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    On the sixth day of the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, visited the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Narayangaon, Pune, where he engaged directly with farmers and agricultural scientists, reaffirming the government’s commitment to farmer welfare, innovation, and modernization in agriculture.

    Earlier in the day, Chouhan toured the Narayangaon APMC, the local tomato market, farms, and a cold storage facility, where he interacted with farmers cultivating tomatoes and other crops.

    During the interaction, the Minister announced that the government is preparing to enact a stringent law aimed at cracking down on the manufacture and distribution of fake fertilizers and pesticides. “Strict action will be taken against any company or individual involved in such malpractices,” Shri Chouhan said, emphasizing the government’s zero-tolerance approach to harmful agricultural inputs that jeopardize both yields and farmer incomes.

    Stressing the importance of practical support, Chouhan urged agricultural scientists to step out of their labs and into the fields. “Scientists must understand local conditions and advise farmers accordingly. Our 16,000 agricultural scientists must work hand-in-hand with farmers to deliver real impact,” he stated.

    He also directed scientists to focus on developing tomato and grape varieties with longer shelf life, and emphasized the need for increased research in agri-processing and adaptation to climate change.

    Chouhan also outlined the government’s revised Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for TOP crops—Tomato, Onion, and Potato. Under this initiative, the Central Government will bear transportation costs when farmers move their produce to other states offering better market prices. The scheme is designed to ensure farmers get remunerative prices while also helping stabilize retail prices for consumers.

    Praising the innovative spirit of Maharashtra’s farmers, the Union Minister noted their contributions to modernized farming practices and increased exports of grapes and bananas. He acknowledged the significant strides made in productivity and development of new crop varieties, affirming Maharashtra’s role as a leader in agricultural innovation.

    During the interaction, local farmers shared their views on critical issues such as Minimum Support Prices (MSP), losses due to unseasonal rains, and climate change impacts. They also raised concerns about timely access to seeds, equipment, cold storage, and agri-processing centres. Chouhan assured that these concerns will be addressed through collaborative efforts between the Centre and State Governments, and announced the creation of an area-wise agricultural roadmap.

     

  • DPIIT and Copyright Office to host event celebrating 68 years of the Copyright Act with focus on digital

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with the Copyright Office, will host a special event on June 4, to mark the 68th anniversary of the Copyright Act, 1957. The event, themed “Reform in Copyright Act in the Digital Era”, will be held at the India International Centre, New Delhi, beginning at 4:30 PM.

    The gathering aims to bring together key stakeholders to reflect on the journey of India’s copyright legislation and explore its future trajectory in light of rapid digital transformation. The discussions will focus on how the legal framework can evolve to address emerging challenges and opportunities presented by digital technologies, including AI-generated content, online piracy, and content monetization platforms.

    The Copyright Act, enacted in 1957, has been the backbone of intellectual property protection in India, safeguarding the rights of creators across literary, musical, artistic, dramatic, and cinematographic works. Over the years, the Act has been amended multiple times to align with international conventions and accommodate technological advancements.

    One of the key highlights shared ahead of the event is the growing adoption of copyright registration in India. Over 3.5 lakh copyrights have been registered since the process was digitized, a significant increase that underscores greater awareness among creators and rights holders about protecting their intellectual property in a digital-first world.

    “The upcoming event provides a timely opportunity to assess how the Copyright Act must continue to evolve in the face of digital disruption,” said an official from the DPIIT. “It will also celebrate the Act’s legacy in empowering India’s creative community for nearly seven decades.”

    Participants at the event will include legal experts, industry leaders, content creators, academics, and policymakers who are expected to share insights on making copyright laws more robust, inclusive, and adaptable to new media landscapes.

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Alan Wilson announces $7.4 Billion settlement against Purdue Pharma, Sackler Family for fueling Opioid CrisisRead More

    Source: US State of South Carolina

    (COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson today announced a major legal victory in the fight to hold those responsible for the opioid crisis accountable. A bipartisan coalition of attorneys general has reached a $7.4 billion settlement in principle with members of the Sackler family and their company, Purdue Pharma, Inc., for their role in creating and driving one of the most devastating public health crises in American history.

    “South Carolina will stop at nothing to protect its citizens and deliver justice to those who have been harmed. I have fought for years to ensure Purdue and the Sacklers face real accountability, and we will continue to pursue every avenue to stand up for the people of this state,” said Attorney General Wilson. “The Sackler family knowingly drove an epidemic that shattered families and took thousands of lives. This settlement sends a powerful and unmistakable message: if you profit from the suffering and death of South Carolinians, we will hold you accountable, no matter how powerful you are.”

    Purdue, under the Sacklers’ leadership, invented, manufactured, and aggressively marketed opioid products for decades, fueling waves of addiction and overdose deaths across the country. Their actions led to widespread addiction, suffering, and death in communities across the country including in South Carolina.

    The settlement permanently removes the Sacklers from control of Purdue and prohibits them from ever selling opioids in the United States again. South Carolina is expected to receive approximately $72.8 million over the next 15 years as part of this landmark settlement. Funding will go directly to communities across the country to support opioid addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery programs.

    South Carolina joins a coalition of attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Man Sentenced to Seven and One Half Years in Federal Prison for Aggravated Sexual Abuse of Victim in Marin Headlands

    Source: US FBI

    SAN FRANCISCO – Esbin Ramirez-Garcia was sentenced today to 90 months in federal prison for committing aggravated sexual abuse while on federal land.  Senior U.S. District Judge William Alsup handed down the sentence.

    Ramirez-Garcia, 28, a national of Mexico, pleaded guilty on Feb. 25, 2025, to one count of aggravated sexual abuse in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2241(a).  According to the plea agreement, Ramirez-Garcia admitted that late in the evening on Aug. 2, 2024, while giving the victim, with whom he had a prior relationship, a ride from her workplace in his truck, he asked her to get back together with him.  The victim refused to resume their relationship and asked to be let out of the vehicle, but Ramirez-Garcia grabbed her with his hand and continued driving, forcing her to accompany him.

    Ramirez-Garcia deviated from the route to the victim’s home and drove his truck to a parking lot in the Marin Headlands, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  Ramirez-Garcia forcibly placed his body on top of the victim’s body while she sat in the passenger seat and sexually assaulted her.

    United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani, and National Park Service Investigative Services Branch Acting Special Agent in Charge Betsy Smith made the announcement.  

    In addition to the prison term, Judge Alsup also sentenced the defendant to a 10-year period of supervised release and ordered that he participate in a sex offense-specific treatment program, among other conditions.  The defendant was immediately remanded into custody.

    Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Chen and Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Wistar Wilson prosecuted the case with the assistance of Sara Slattery, Maureen French, and Fernanda Gonzalez.  This prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch. 
     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Garbarino, LaLota Welcome U.S. Secretary of Labor to Long Island for Workforce Development Tour

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Andrew Garbarino (R-NY)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Long Island Congressmen Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY-02) and Nick LaLota (R-NY-01) today proudly welcomed U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer to Long Island for a workforce development tour highlighting local training programs and labor partnerships. 

    The tour began at the Local 290 Training Center in Hauppauge, where the Secretary, along with Rep. Garbarino, Rep. LaLota, and key leaders from the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters (NASRCC), observed hands-on training in welding, framing, and acoustical work, and engaged with apprentices in the lecture hall. 

    Following the visit, the delegation traveled to Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood to explore the National Offshore Wind Training Center (NOWTC) partnership, a cutting-edge program preparing local workers for jobs in the emerging offshore wind industry. The group toured specialized training facilities focused on fire awareness, sea survival, and working-at-heights safety.

    “Long Island has long been a leader in workforce innovation, and today’s visit showcased the strong partnerships between labor, education, and government that are building pathways to good-paying jobs for local workers,” said Rep. Garbarino. “From apprentices learning the trades at Local 290 to advanced technical training programs at Suffolk County Community College, these initiatives are not only equipping our workforce with the skills they need — they’re also strengthening Long Island’s economic future. I thank Secretary Chavez-DeRemer for making the trip and recognizing the importance of continued investment in our skilled workforce.”

    ”Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer’s visit to Suffolk County and her engagement with Long Island’s blue-collar labor leaders highlight the new Republican Party’s commitment to supporting both business growth and hardworking Americans through fair wages, safe working conditions, and expanded opportunities,” said Rep. LaLota. “To keep our region competitive, we must continue investing in workforce development and modern infrastructure. In Congress, I’ll keep fighting for commonsense solutions that strengthen job training, connect workers to good-paying careers, and grow Long Island’s economy from the ground up.”

    “Long Island’s skilled workforce is thriving under President Trump’s leadership, with thousands of new jobs created since he took office. I saw that firsthand today – from top-notch training programs to the small businesses driving local growth. When we invest in skills and opportunity, we empower our men and women to build better lives. I look forward to continuing to work with Congressmen Garbarino and LaLota to advance President Trump’s America First agenda and deliver for American workers,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

    “The Carpenters were honored to host the Secretary and our local members of Congress, and we look forward to continuing our work together on behalf of our members and all blue collar workers across Long Island and throughout New York State. The construction industry is critical to New York’s economy, and our world-class training center ensures that the next generation of carpenters have the skills they need to be successful,” said Anthony Villa, Local 290 Business Manager, North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

    The visit brought together leadership from local labor unions, educational institutions, and county agencies, reflecting a collaborative effort to strengthen the pipeline of talent supporting Long Island’s construction, energy, and manufacturing sectors.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two West Covina Women Arrested on Indictment Alleging $4.8 Million Hospice Services Scheme to Defraud Medicare

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    LOS ANGELES – The owner and operator of two West Covina hospices was arrested today on a 14-count federal grand jury indictment alleging she filed more than $4.8 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare – which paid more than $3.8 million on those claims – for medically unnecessary services for people not terminally ill and for paying kickbacks to marketers to procure patients.

    Normita Sierra, 71, a.k.a. “Normie,” of West Covina, is charged with nine counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy, and four counts of illegal remuneration for health care referrals.

    Also arrested today was Rowena Elegado, 55, a.k.a. “Weng,” also of West Covina, who is charged with one count of conspiracy, and four counts of illegal remuneration for health care referrals. 

    Both defendants are expected to make their initial appearances and be arraigned this afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

    According to the indictment, Sierra owned and operated Golden Meadows Hospice Inc., and D’Alexandria Hospice Inc., which billed Medicare for hospice services for patients who were not terminally ill during a scheme that lasted from September 2018 to October 2022.

    Sierra and Elegado allegedly worked together to pay marketers to recruit patients to the hospices, knowing that most of those patients had not been referred by their primary care physicians for such services. Those kickbacks, often referred to internally using the code words “girl scout cookies,” amounted to as much as $1,300 per patient, per month that the patient stayed on hospice service. 

    Others involved in the scheme included Carl Bernardo, 53, of Chino, who pleaded guilty in September 2024 to one count of receiving kickbacks in connection with a federal health care program and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 23. Relyndo Salcedo, 60, of Fontana, a nurse practitioner involved in the scheme, pleaded guilty on May 22 to one count of health care fraud and is scheduled for sentencing on November 20.

    Salcedo, a nurse practitioner, conducted initial assessments for the hospice and found many of the patients ineligible for hospice. But, under pressure from Sierra, who made the ultimate enrollment decisions even though she wasn’t a medical professional, and marketers such as Bernardo, Salcedo exaggerated and falsified the patients’ conditions to make them seem terminally ill. Hospice physicians then relied on Salcedo’s records to certify the patients as hospice appropriate.

    Once enrolled, those patients – who were not in fact terminally ill – rarely died, and instead were often discharged at around six months at Sierra’s direction, sometimes to her home health company or the other hospice company.

    During the scheme, Golden Meadows submitted at least approximately $3,870,642 in fraudulent claims, on which Medicare paid approximately $2,912,187. D’Alexandria submitted approximately $945,647 in fraudulent claims, on which Medicare paid approximately $894,199.

    An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime.  Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. 

    If convicted of the charges, Sierra would face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for each health care fraud count. Sierra and Elegado would face up to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count and up to 10 years in federal prison for each illegal kickback count. 

    The United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General and the FBI investigated this matter.

    Assistant United States Attorney Kristen A. Williams of the Major Frauds Section is prosecuting this case.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: FastBots Launches Groundbreaking Hybrid AI and Live Chat Feature to Transform Customer Support Operations

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    London, UK , June 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FastBots.ai, a leading innovator in AI-powered chatbot solutions, today announced the launch of its cutting-edge Hybrid AI and Live Chat feature. This significant enhancement enables businesses to manage customer interactions seamlessly by combining automated AI chat with the personalized support only human agents can deliver.

    The new Hybrid AI and Live Chat feature is designed explicitly for customer support teams dealing with large volumes of routine inquiries. By utilizing sophisticated artificial intelligence, FastBots effortlessly manages common queries, reducing the workload on human agents. When customer interactions become more complex or nuanced, support agents can easily and instantaneously take control of conversations, providing a personalized and effective solution without disruption.

    “Our Hybrid AI and Live Chat feature offers an optimal balance between automation and personal human support,” said Jason West, CEO of FastBots.ai. “We’ve observed the increasing need for businesses to scale customer support without compromising on quality or personalization. This innovative solution allows companies to enhance operational efficiency while delivering exceptional customer experiences.”

    Businesses across various sectors, from e-commerce to professional services, can significantly benefit from this feature, which integrates seamlessly into existing workflows. By adopting this technology, companies have the opportunity to significantly decrease response times, improve customer satisfaction, and allow support teams to concentrate on more critical, high-touch customer interactions.

    Key benefits of the Hybrid AI and Live Chat feature include:

    • Enhanced Operational Efficiency: AI effectively handles routine customer queries, enabling support teams to focus on complex issues.
    • Seamless Handover Process: A real-time transition between AI chatbots and human agents ensures smooth and uninterrupted customer interactions.
    • Increased Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty: Faster response times combined with tailored, human-driven support enhance overall customer experience and loyalty.
    • Scalability: Businesses can manage growth more efficiently, reducing the need for significant expansions in customer support teams.
    • Analytics and Insights: Comprehensive analytics provide deep insights into customer interaction patterns, allowing continuous improvement and optimization of customer service operations.

    FastBots.ai is committed to staying at the forefront of customer service innovation. The introduction of this Hybrid AI and Live Chat capability underscores the company’s dedication to enhancing user experiences through intelligent technology. Companies can now leverage the full power of AI while maintaining the indispensable human touch in customer interactions.

    To learn more about how FastBots.ai’s Hybrid AI and Live Chat can revolutionize your customer support operations, schedule a demonstration or sign up for a free trial, visit fastbots.ai.

    About FastBots.ai: FastBots.ai is a leading provider of AI chatbot solutions, dedicated to helping businesses of all sizes enhance their customer support through intelligent automation. With a robust and user-friendly platform, FastBots.ai empowers companies to deliver superior customer interactions, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiency.

    About FastBots

    FastBots.ai is a UK-based SaaS platform that helps businesses create smart, custom AI chatbots for their websites, social media, and messaging apps. Designed for ease of use, FastBots allows companies to automate customer support and sales conversations using their own content, with advanced features like live chat handover and multi-channel integration.

    Press inquiries

    FastBots
    https://fastbots.ai
    Jason West
    info@fastbots.ai
    71-75 Shelton Street
    Covent Garden
    London
    WC2H 9JQ

    A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.youtube.com/embed/yBpew36wUws

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Police Officers Plead Guilty to Federal Charges in Connection With Insurance Fraud Scheme

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Greenbelt, Maryland – Two Prince George’s County men have pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with an auto-insurance fraud scheme. Michael Anthony Owen, Jr., 36, of Accokeek, Maryland pled guilty to falsification of records, and Jaron Earl Taylor, 31, of Ft. Washington, Maryland, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

    Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the guilty pleas with Acting Special Agent in Charge Amanda M. Koldjeski, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office, and Chief Malik Aziz, Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD).

    According to the guilty pleas, between August 2018 and February 2020, Owen and Taylor, who were PGPD and Anne Arundel County Policy Department officers, respectively, at the time, conspired with fellow police officers to engage in mail and wire fraud. Owen and Taylor, along with officers Candace Tyler, Conrad D’Haiti, and Davion Percy, and others, devised a scheme for insurance companies to pay out the remaining financing costs of unwanted vehicles. 

    Members of the conspiracy reported fictitious losses to insurers to obtain money or avoid paying off vehicles that were now worth less than the amount owed on them. The co-conspirators used their statuses as police officers to assist each other’s claims by writing false police reports. Then co-conspirators submitted fictitious police reports to insurers to validate the claim. The false police reports were intended to impede, obstruct, or influence subsequent investigations of the false insurance claims.

    In August 2018, Owen and Taylor staged the theft of Taylor’s Chevrolet Tahoe. After Taylor filed a fraudulent police report, Owen and Taylor stripped the vehicle and drove it deep into the woods of a Maryland State Highway property near Largo, Maryland. Taylor then made a false claim to the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) for the loss, for which USAA paid out a total of $38,670.

    Then in January 2020, Owen assisted D’Haiti in avoiding payment on the loan balance of a Jaguar XKR. In cooperation with D’Haiti and Percy, Owen devised a scheme to fake the vehicle’s theft. On January 4, D’Haiti parked his Jaguar behind Marlow Heights Shopping Center where Percy worked as police chief.

    D’Haiti then paid Percy $350 to arrange for another co-conspirator to tow the vehicle and extensively vandalize it for the purpose of creating a total insurance loss. Tyler subsequently filed the fictitious police report which D’Haiti used to substantiate his claim against Liberty Mutual Insurance. In February 2020, Liberty Mutual paid the Jaguar’s lienholder, Navy Federal Credit Union, $17,585, on the false claim.

    Additionally, in January 2020, Owen and Taylor assisted with disposing of an Infiniti sedan to help a co-conspirator avoid making further payments on the vehicle while on extended overseas duty.  The co-conspirator gave Taylor $1,000 via CashApp to stage the theft. Taylor then forwarded the money to Owen who filed a false police report with PGPD, stating the vehicle was stolen.

    In reality, Owen, Taylor, and others moved the car to the top floor of a Camp Springs, Maryland apartment-complex parking garage.  The co-conspirators attempted to conceal the car’s identity by removing the vehicle’s license plates and replacing them with different ones registered to another vehicle. Then the owner and co-conspirator filed a claim with GEICO that was eventually denied on grounds of fraud.

    Owen faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.  Taylor faces a maximum sentence of three years in federal prison if the court fully accepts the plea deal. Both sentencings are scheduled for Tuesday, September 23. Taylor’s sentencing is at 10:30 a.m., and Owen’s sentencing is at 2:30 p.m.

    U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI and PGPD for their work in the investigation.  Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Baldwin and LaShanta Harris who are prosecuting the case.

    For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to report fraud, visit justice.gov/usao-md  and justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

    # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: AI and Practice: What Should Be the System for Training the Next Generation of IT Specialists

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –

    © Higher School of Economics

    What IT specialists the Russian economy needs, how to train them correctly and why it is important to include industry professionals in the educational process were discussed by officials, companies and universities at the session “Personnel for the Data Economy. Training of the New Generation of IT Specialists”, which was held as part of the tenth annual CIPR conference in Nizhny Novgorod. HSE Vice-Rector Elena Odoevskaya took part in the session.

    Thanks to the joint efforts of business, government and educational institutions, Russia has begun to graduate more IT specialists, stated Deputy Director of the Department of the Ministry of Digital Development Anastasia Kazantseva. In recent years, a lot of work has been done to increase the budget admission to the relevant specialties. The Digital Departments project was also launched and implemented, which was also aimed at “increasing the funnel of IT specialists.”

    Today, the question of “how exactly do we train personnel and what competencies should they have at the end” is relevant. Companies are not always satisfied with the knowledge and skills of graduates upon leaving the university. Therefore, within the framework of the national project “New Data Economy and Digital Transformation of the State”, new projects “Top-AI” and “Top-IT” were launched, aimed at training top specialists in the field of artificial intelligence and information technology. It is envisaged to train university teachers and attract industry professionals for teaching, as well as generally increase the practical orientation of the programs, noted Anastasia Kazantseva. For universities participating in the projects, an important condition was that the educational institution must “definitely bring an industrial partner” that will invest resources and funds in the training of IT specialists, she added.

    The operator of these projects is the Center for Expertise of Educational Programs of the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation. The head of the center, Sergey Astakhov, said that competitive selections have already been held and the winning universities have been determined: Innopolis, ITMO, MIPT, HSE, and Southern Federal University. They will train research scientists and developers of fundamentally new models of artificial intelligence.

    Director of Artificial Intelligence Development at Yandex Alexander Kraynov said that the company has to interview 25 candidates to hire one. He believes that universities should “produce” ready-made specialists who can start working right away. According to him, there are literally several universities that “generate such people.” In his opinion, “we need to learn to measure the quality of the guys at the entrance, because if the quality is low at the entrance, then we need to go down and prepare schoolchildren.” Also, according to him, it is necessary to increase the number of good teachers, and due to the high rate of change, training programs need to be changed every six months.

    Vladimir Averbakh, Senior Managing Director — Director of the Directorate for the Implementation and Popularization of AI Initiatives at Sber, noted that a very successful tandem of business and the state has developed in Russia in the training of IT personnel. At the same time, if “we believe that artificial intelligence significantly changes any sphere of activity, and in particular the industry, then when training IT specialists, we must introduce, maybe, a 12-level, maybe a 120-level, I don’t know, competency model using AI,” he noted. True, it is not yet very clear how to do this, since the world is changing very quickly. But in any case, he believes, AI must be introduced into the entire education system, and not just for training IT specialists.

    In turn, the director of the Institute for Economic Research “Yakov and Partners” Elena Kuznetsova noted that, despite complaints, employers “are scooping up all graduates quite briskly.” “And the median salary of fresh graduates and graduates in the second year after graduation, no matter how you look at it, is growing at a very brisk pace, many times outpacing inflation,” the expert says. And this “reflects precisely the shortage of these people on the market.” At the same time, Elena Kuznetsova noted that the most advanced employers of technology personnel have moved from the position of “the university should give us ready-made personnel” to the position of “we will have to go to universities ourselves and work with these universities so that these personnel become better.”

    “A university is more than just training personnel for the needs of a specific company. It is impossible to ask a university to change its educational program every month, otherwise it will not be a university. If we are talking about the cycle of personnel training, then it solves a systemic problem – training personnel for the country,” noted HSE Vice-Rector Elena Odoevskaya.

    She agreed that changes are happening very quickly now, but to take them into account, the university does not need to change the entire curriculum, but rather adjust the content of the disciplines, introducing the most relevant knowledge into them. HSE and companies are constantly in dialogue, agreeing on these changes, she emphasized. “We need to talk and agree. It is important for companies to be able to sometimes side with the university, and for the university to side with the company,” Elena Odoevskaya added. At the same time, in her opinion, it is necessary to creatively rethink approaches to training and competency models.

    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: Kanen Wealth Management Urges EZCORP (NASDAQ: EZPW) Board to Authorize Immediate Buyback Program

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    COCONUT CREEK, Fla., June 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

    Dear Members of the Board and Management,

    As long-term shareholders of EZCORP (NASDAQ: EZPW), and owners of over 1.5% of the company’s outstanding shares, we write to urge the Board to immediately authorize and begin executing on a $100 million share repurchase program.

    The company raised $300 million in part to settle the convertible notes in cash. Instead, management opted to settle entirely in equity in Q4 2024, assuming the convertible note would remain out of the money. As the stock moved higher, this miscalculation resulted in unexpected and avoidable dilution—despite the company having both the intent and resources to avoid it. This misstep should now be addressed through a meaningful and accretive share repurchase.

    A buyback program is the clearest way to re-establish credibility—not only with shareholders, but also with employees (many of whom are stakeholders), analysts, and the broader investment community, all of whom are increasingly questioning the company’s capital allocation discipline.

    We previously urged the company in December 2022 to begin executing on a $200 million buyback over five years when the stock was trading at just $8.00 per share1. At that valuation, aggressive repurchases would have been extremely accretive. Instead, EZCORP has repurchased only $33 million in stock over 2.5 years—missing a clear, high-return opportunity. We now face a similar setup—but with stronger earnings momentum, a fortified balance sheet, and even more excess cash—much of which was explicitly earmarked for shareholder value preservation. EZCORP cannot afford to make the same mistake twice.

    Today, EZPW trades at approximately 4.5x LTM Adj. EBITDA, adjusting for its valuable minority stakes in Simple Management and Cash Converters International2. By contrast, FirstCash (FCFS) trades at over 12x EBITDA—despite EZCORP’s more focused strategy and operational momentum. The disparity is glaring and reflects a serious credibility gap with the market—one that can only be resolved through meaningful, shareholder-aligned action.

      Simple Management (at cost)   60.0
      Cash Converters Int. (at market)   37.5
      Rich Data Corp   6.0
      Off-balance Sheet investments $ 103.5
           

    With $100 million more in proceeds than initially anticipated from the capital raise, the company is in a strong position to correct course and act decisively. The time to act is now—not months from now, not after yet another “strategic review.” Inaction at these levels would be a profound signal of weakness and indecision. We also strongly caution against a “balanced” or “measured” approach. These platitudes do nothing to repair the credibility lost from the convert settlement, nor do they instill confidence in the company’s governance. Why defer action when the stock trades at a multi-year valuation trough and there is a clear, high-return use of capital available?

    Assuming we can execute the repurchase at an average price of $13.75 (vs. the current $13.05), the company could retire over 7 million shares—more than offsetting the 6.1 million shares issued to settle the convert. The downside of repurchasing shares at these levels is de minimis—this is not a business in distress, and we have plenty of excess cash for tuck-in M&A. This is a business generating strong free cash flow with a clear runway for continued growth.

    While the convert settlement was a misstep, you now have the chance to deliver a decisive, high-ROI action that course-corrects the narrative and reaffirms your commitment to shareholder value. Do not miss it.

    We urge you to act immediately.

    Sincerely,

    David Kanen
    President
    Kanen Wealth Management, LLC
    dkanen@kanenadvisory.com

    ________________________

    1 https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/12/07/2569780/0/en/Activist-investor-David-Kanen-writes-letter-in-response-to-EZPW-news-of-convertible-debt-offering-excoriating-Chairman-Phillip-Cohen.html
    2 EZPW SEC Filings, KWM Calculations

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Annual Report for the year ended 31 January 2025 and Notice of Meeting

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    OCTOPUS APOLLO VCT PLC

    Annual Report for the year ended 31 January 2025 and Notice of Meeting

    Further to the announcement of annual results for the year ended 31 January 2025, Octopus Apollo VCT plc (the ‘Company’) announces that the Annual Report has been posted or otherwise made available to shareholders. A copy of the Annual Report is also available to view on the Company’s website at octopusinvestments.com/apollovct/

    The Annual Report includes the Notice of Meeting for the Annual General Meeting (‘AGM’) of the Company to be held on 10 July 2025.

    The Annual Report, together with the Form of Proxy, has been submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority’s Electronic Submission System and will shortly be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

    For further information please contact:

    Rachel Peat

    Octopus Company Secretarial Services Limited
    Tel: +44 (0)80 0316 2067

    LEI: 213800Y3XEIQ18DP3O53

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: XRP News: Major Investors Flock to Nimanode’s $NMA Presale to secure access to AI x Blockchain Wave

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LEEDS, United Kingdom, June 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nimanode, the first no-code AI agent platform built natively on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), is gaining momentum with its ongoing $NMA token presale. As investor confidence in AI infrastructure and XRP-based innovation grows, Nimanode is drawing serious attention from early adopters seeking exposure to the next phase of Web3 automation.

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

    Join $NMA Presale

    New Kind of On-Chain Intelligence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Join $NMA Presale

    How to Join The Nimanode Presale

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

    Setup an XRP-Compatible Wallet: Ensure you have a non-custodial wallet capable of receiving XRP native tokens like Xaman Wallet.

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

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

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

    Don’t Miss Out – Secure your $NMA Tokens

    Connect with Nimanode

    Website: https://nimanode.com

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

    Telegram: https://t.me/nimanodeAI

    Documentation: https://docs.nimanode.com

    Contact:
    Nick Lambert
    contact@nimanode.com

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

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

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0042cfb6-ccd0-4221-b89b-ff1136aeb0b0

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Matador Technologies Inc. to Present at the Blockchain and Digital Assets Virtual Investor Conference June 5th

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, June 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Matador Technologies Inc. (TSXV: MATA, OTCQB: MATAF, FSE: IU3), a publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company, today announced that Deven Soni, CEO, will present live at the Blockchain and Digital Assets Virtual Investor Conference hosted by VirtualInvestorConferences.com, on June 5th, 2025.

    DATE: June 5th
    TIME: 1:30 PM ET
    LINK: REGISTER HERE

    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

    Secured $1.5 Million Strategic Investment from Arrington Capital
    Matador Technologies Inc. received a CAD $1.5 million investment from Arrington Capital, a prominent digital asset management firm.

    Entered Binding LOI with Indian Digital Asset Firm HODL Systems
    Matador signed a binding letter of intent to invest up to USD $3.2 million in HODL Systems, an Indian technology company. This investment could grant Matador up to a 24.95% ownership stake.

    Completed $3 Million Non-Brokered Private Placement
    Matador successfully closed a non-brokered private placement, raising approximately CAD $3 million.

    Unveiled New Bitcoin-Centric Brand Identity
    Matador announced a refreshed brand identity, emphasizing its evolution into a vertically integrated Bitcoin ecosystem company. The new branding reflects Matador’s core principles: prioritizing Bitcoin, aligning with the broader Bitcoin network, and designing strategies to compound Bitcoin per share, underscoring its commitment to building financial infrastructure on the Bitcoin blockchain.

    About Matador Technologies Inc.
    Matador Technologies Inc. is a publicly traded Bitcoin ecosystem company that holds Bitcoin as its primary treasury asset and builds products to enhance the Bitcoin network. Through a self-reinforcing model that combines strategic Bitcoin accumulation, Bitcoin-native product development, and participation in digital asset infrastructure, Matador aims to grow long-term shareholder value without dilution.

    The Company’s flagship offering, the Digital Gold Platform, allows users to buy, sell, and trade 1-gram gold units on the Bitcoin blockchain—bridging traditional value with decentralized technology. With a Bitcoin-first strategy, a debt-free balance sheet, and a clear focus on innovation, Matador is helping shape the future of financial infrastructure on Bitcoin. Visit us online at https://www.matador.network/.

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

    NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

    This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.

    Forward Looking Statements – Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with the implementation of the Company’s treasury management strategy, risks relating to whether the transaction with HODL will be concluded as currently proposed or at all, risks relating to the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the launch of the Company’s mobile application as currently proposed or at all. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including with respect to the potential acquisition of digital assets and/or US dollars, the pricing of such acquisitions and the timing of future operations. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.

    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:
    Matador Technologies Inc.
    Sunny Ray
    President
    647-496-6282
    sunny@matador.network 

    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 United Kingdom: Motorists advised of road closures as Summer Jamm comes to town

    Source: Northern Ireland – City of Derry

    Motorists advised of road closures as Summer Jamm comes to town

    3 June 2025

    The highly anticipated Summer Jamm Festival is set to return to Strabane town centre this Saturday, June 7th from 12-late, promising a day filled with entertainment, family activities, and community celebration that will transform the heart of Strabane into a vibrant hub of creativity and excitement.

    The event attracts hundreds of visitors every year, and anyone planning on going along this weekend is encouraged to plan their trip, with some road closures and diversions in place to facilitate the event. From 7am-7pm the following roads will be closed to traffic, Railway Street, Main Street, Castle Street and Castle Place. Traffic diversions will be in place with alternative routes signposted.

    Visitors are advised that streets will be busy with lots of activities taking place in and around the town centre, so motorists should use the town centre car parks, or if possible travel to the event using public transport. Please note that Canal Street car park will be closed to facilitate Cullen’s Fun Fair. Disabled parking will be available in the car parks at Canal Basin North, Railway Street, Butcher Street and in Upper and Lower Main Street.

    Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Ruairí McHugh said: “I am absolutely delighted that one of my first major engagements as Mayor will be celebrating Summer Jamm with the people of Strabane. This fantastic festival has become a cornerstone of our community calendar, bringing together residents and visitors alike to celebrate the best of what our town has to offer. There is so much happening in the town on Saturday and there will be a real festival buzz about the place. I just want to remind people that there will be some minor disruption to traffic flow in some areas, so anyone driving to the event should follow directions and plan ahead for parking.

    “This is a great day for families to come out and enjoy a wonderful summer event together, and of course the additional visitors to the town bring a welcome boost to local business owners. As your new Mayor, I can’t wait to meet people throughout the day and see everyone enjoying this fantastic celebration of our community spirit.”

    Visitors to the town during Summer Jamm are also urged to be aware of the ‘Love Strabane’ campaign spearheaded by Strabane Business Improvement District (BID).

    Chair of Strabane BID Kieran Kennedy explained: “We want to showcase the fantastic offering we have here in the town and encourage locals and visitors to call in and support local businesses. Strabane is renowned for being a hotspot for independent businesses which offers unique one-off pieces that you can’t find anywhere else so we’d encourage everyone to love local and support local on the day and we can’t wait to see the town transformed into a hub of activity and vibrancy.

    “We have an incredibly strong hospitality sector in Strabane and this year we are particularly looking forward to the evening Music Trail. This will showcase the town’s fantastic venues as visitors can enjoy live music performances in our local bars throughout the evening.”

    There’s a packed programme of entertainment planned throughout Saturday for all the family from 12noon – late, with street performances, street drumming, and circus school skills aplenty. New to this year’s event will be the Street Art Festival which features interactive selfie murals and live street art demonstrations throughout the town. Artists will showcase their talents, offering visitors a chance to engage with the art and even try their hand at creating their own masterpieces.

    The popular Bear Run ’74 Supercar is making its first appearance at this year’s Summer Jamm. Featuring an impressive display of supercars, the Bear Run will also raise funds for the Mayor’s chosen charities – PIPS Suicide Prevention Derry and The Castlederg Patient and Comfort Terminally Ill Fund.

    Families will find plenty to enjoy with the Kidz Farm petting zoo, dinosaur encounters, urban sports activities, an interactive drumming circle, and face painting. Street performers, including magicians, dancers, and musicians, will entertain crowds throughout the town centre. Scheduled performances will take place at various locations, ensuring entertainment is always just around the corner.

    The Arts and Crafts and Food Quarter will have a variety of crafts stalls to explore along with a diverse range of culinary cuisine and delicious treats to satisfy everyone’s appetite.

    The Alley Theatre will host additional family-friendly entertainment, including the FizzWizzPop Magic Show at 12noon (tickets £2), this is an interactive magical experience designed to delight children and parents alike. The Alley will also offer face painting, Barry McGowan Art exhibition, and Arts and Crafts Workshops from 12noon.

    Cullen’s Funfair will be taking up residence in the Canal Carpark from June 5th – 8th for anyone who wants to start the celebrations early.

    Keep an eye on the Summer Jamm website: www.derrystrabane.com/summerjamm and Whats On Derry Strabane and The Alley Theatre Facebook pages for further updates.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Kehoe Announces FEMA to Participate in Joint Damage Assessments in 5 Southwest Missouri Counties for May 23-26 Severe Storms and Flooding

    Source: US State of Missouri

    JUNE 3, 2025

    Jefferson City — Today, Governor Mike Kehoe announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will participate in joint Preliminary Damage Assessments (PDAs) of public infrastructure and response costs in Dade, Douglas, Ozark, Vernon and Webster counties after severe storms, straight-line winds, excessive rain, large hail and flooding caused heavy damage there from May 23 through May 26.   

    “The long Memorial Day weekend brought four consecutive days of damaging severe storms and flooding to southwest Missouri and led to the destruction of public infrastructure and emergency response costs that are well-beyond the capacity of Dade, Douglas, Ozark, Vernon, and Webster counties,”  Governor Kehoe said. “Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) personnel have been working with local officials as they have been preparing initial damage estimates and we believe the destruction requires joint reviews by FEMA, SEMA, and our local partners, in anticipation for a request for a federal disaster declaration.”

    Additional counties may be added as damage information is received from local officials.

    Joint PDA teams are made up of representatives from FEMA, SEMA and local emergency management officials. Beginning Tuesday, June 10, three teams will verify documented damage to determine if Public Assistance can be requested through FEMA. Public Assistance allows local governments and qualifying nonprofit agencies to seek federal assistance for reimbursement of emergency response and recovery costs, including debris removal and repair and replacement of damaged roads, bridges and other public infrastructure.

    SEMA continues to coordinate with local officials, other state agencies, and volunteer and faith-based partners to identify needs and assist impacted families and individuals in areas of the state affected by this spring’s destructive severe weather. If you have damage, you should contact your insurance company and file a claim as soon as possible.

    Missourians with unmet needs are encouraged to contact United Way by dialing 2-1-1 or the American Red Cross at 1-800-733-2767. For additional resources and information about disaster recovery in Missouri, including general clean-up information, housing assistance, and mental health services, visit recovery.mo.gov.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Global Bioenergies is looking for a buyer

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PRESS RELEASE

    Global Bioenergies is looking for a buyer

    Evry, 03 June 2025 – 05:40 p.m.: Despite all the efforts and discussions established over the last few months with major industrial players, the Company acknowledges that it has been unable to find strategic investors to finance the continuation of its business.

    At the date of publication of this press release, the Company has a gross cash position of 3.0 million euros. As a reminder, the 13.1 million euros in bank debt recorded at December 31, 2024 remain fully on the balance sheet, thanks to the deferral of repayments obtained on a month-by-month basis with the Company’s bank creditors.

    In view of its limited cash position, the Company is now forced to launch an official search for buyers in the form of a “pre-pack sale” as part of a conciliation procedure. The pre-pack sale enables potential buyers to position themselves for the acquisition of all or part of a company’s business and assets. Completion of the sale plan, once decreed by the Commercial Court, will be followed by the liquidation of the Company, involving the uncollectibility of all or part of its liabilities, notably bank debts, and will result in the delisting of its securities.

    Marc Delcourt, co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Global Bioenergies, explains: “As a reminder, we were unable to finance our first plant project and switched in the autumn of 2024 to an R&D collaboration project with a major international industrialist, aiming to combine its technology with ours to produce particularly competitive sustainable aviation fuels. In this context, we had to finance our share of this project until profitability was reached.

    We contacted numerous potential investors, mainly large industrial companies who would play an operational role in the project in addition to their investment. Despite several promising discussions and significant expressions of interest, we regret to say that none of these players is interested in acquiring a minority or majority stake in the Company in its current configuration and in the current geopolitical climate, which is adverse to investment in solutions to fight global warming and promote the energy transition. As a result, we are now looking for a buyer for the business.

    In the context of a business acquisition through a pre-pack sale, the proceeds from the sale would most probably not be sufficient to repay shareholders, who would then suffer a total loss. As one of Global Bioenergies’ largest shareholders myself, I am fully aware of the financial loss this will represent for the many existing shareholders.

    Other options, which would allow the Company to continue in its current form, remain theoretically possible, even if this pre-pack sale procedure is launched, but are now highly unlikely.”

    The deadline for submitting offers is July 9, 2025. The offers of the potential buyers will then be examined, and the buyer will be chosen by the Commercial Court of Evry. The closing could take place in September or October 2025.

    Interested candidates are invited to submit their offer to:

    Maître Joanna Rousselet – SCP Abitbol et Rousselet
    joanna.rousselet@fajr.eu

    About GLOBAL BIOENERGIES

    As a committed player in the fight against global warming, Global Bioenergies has developed a unique process to produce SAF and e-SAF from renewable resources, thereby meeting the challenges of decarbonising air transport. Its technology is one of the very few solutions already certified by ASTM. Its products also meet the high standards of the cosmetics industry, and L’Oréal is its largest shareholder with a 13.5% stake. Global Bioenergies is listed on Euronext Growth in Paris (FR0011052257 – ALGBE).

    Contacts

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Quadient Q1 2025 sales at €258m, with strong performance in Digital and Lockers. FY 2025 guidance maintained

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Key highlights

    • Q1 2025 consolidated revenue of €258 million, down 1.1% on a reported basis, including the contribution of Package Concierge, and down 2.5% organically(1)
    • Continued good momentum in Digital and Lockers, with double-digit growth in subscription-related revenue
    • Low point in the renewal cycle of mail equipment installed base, as expected
    • Positive current EBIT evolution supported by all three Solutions
    • Acceleration of digital financial automation strategy in Europe with the acquisition of Serensia, a leading French electronic invoicing certified platform
    • Stronger H2 anticipated on the back of continued strong momentum in Digital and Lockers with further improvement in profitability, expected Mail recovery and good order pipeline across Solutions
    • FY 2025 guidance maintained, i.e. organic growth acceleration in both revenue and current EBIT

    Paris, 3 June 2025

    Quadient S.A. (Euronext Paris: QDT), a global automation platform powering secure and sustainable business connections, today announces its 2025 first quarter consolidated revenue (period ended on 30 April 2025).

    Geoffrey Godet, Chief Executive Officer of Quadient S.A., stated:

    “The first quarter of 2025 has been another strong quarter for our Digital and Lockers solutions, which delivered solid levels of subscription-related revenue organic growth at +11.1% for Digital and +12.7% for Lockers, demonstrating the strength and success of our two fast growing solutions as well as the quality of our recurring business model.

    As expected, our Mail performance was softer, reflecting the low point in the renewal cycle and a tough comparison base following the decertification-driven boost in 2024 in the United-States. The situation was further exacerbated by a particularly challenging American macroeconomic environment during the first quarter.

    Despite these headwinds in the quarter, we achieved current EBIT organic growth, supported by EBITDA margin positive development in all three solutions.

    With the acquisition of Serensia, a leading French electronic invoicing certified platform, Quadient is accelerating its digital financial automation strategy in Europe and will bring superior digital intelligent automation capabilities to its 300K+ customers worldwide, and notably to its 60K+ French customers, further accelerating their digital transformation, as they anticipate the 2026 mandatory e-invoicing law in France.

    While we expect the same uncertainty and market conditions to continue in Q2, we remain confident in our ability to deliver a stronger second half. As a result, we are maintaining our full-year 2025 guidance of acceleration in both organic revenue growth and organic EBIT growth compared to the 2024 growth rates.”

    Comments on Q1 2025 performance

    Group revenue came in at €258 million in Q1 2025, down 1.1% on a reported basis, and 2.5% organically compared to Q1 2024. Reported growth includes a positive scope effect of €4 million from the acquisition of Package Concierge in December 2024. The currency impact was broadly flat over the period.

    Subscription related revenue (€193 million, 75% of total sales) increased by +1.2% organically over Q1 2025, reflecting the continued strong momentum in Digital and Lockers. In contrast, non-recurring revenue declined by 12.0% organically against Q1 2024, due to a low point in the renewal cycle of mail equipment installed base, as expected. The decline in hardware sales has however been amplified by the challenging macroeconomic environment in the United States.

    By geography, North America (59% of revenue) declined organically by 2.4% in Q1 2025, impacted by macroeconomic uncertainty in the US delaying customer decision making and a strong comparison base in Mail following last year’s decertification-driven uplift in sales. The Main European countries (33% of revenue) recorded a 2.8% organic decline, while the International segment (8% of revenue) was down 2.0% organically.

    Consolidated revenue by Solution

    Q1 2025 consolidated revenue

    In € million Q1 2025 Q1 2024 Change Organic change
    Digital 67 63 +6.5% +7.2%
    Mail 164 178 (7.9)% (7.9)%
    Lockers 27 20 +35.4% +12.2%
    Group total 258 261 (1.1)% (2.5)%
     

    Digital

    In Q1 2025, revenue from Digital reached €67 million, up 7.2% organically and up 6.5% on a reported basis compared to Q1 2024.

    This solid performance was driven by a strong 11.1% organic growth in Q1 2025 in subscription-related revenue, in acceleration compared to the previous quarter. Growth was broad-based across all regions, including a double-digit growth in North America. Subscription-related revenue represented 85% of Digital total sales, a further increase compared to 82% in Q1 2024.

    At the end of Q1 2025, annual recurring revenue (ARR) reached €237 million(2), vs. €232 million at the end of FY 2024, representing a 9.6% organic growth on an annualized basis.

    The Digital solution continued to demonstrate healthy booking trends, highlighted by:

    • Robust cross-selling bookings with Mail customers, up c. +50% year-on-year;
    • Double-digit growth in new customer acquisition within the Enterprise business.

    During the quarter, Quadient’s Digital Automation platform received several leadership recognitions across multiple analyst rankings, notably in AP/AR financial automation, where it is now ranked on par with its high positions in CCM/CXM.

    Quadient is accelerating its digital financial automation strategy in Europe, with the acquisition on 2nd June 2025 of Serensia, a leading French electronic invoicing certified platform, trusted by more than 160 customers (including TotalEnergies, Dalkia, RATP…), processing nearly 200 million invoices annually. This acquisition provides Quadient with:

    • First-class software Intellectual Property for its PDP platform (Partner Dematerialization Platform, registered by the French State), and
    • Access to Pan-European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) market.

    This acquisition further strengthens Quadient’s Finance Automation portfolio (which includes online payment, e-invoicing, account payable and account receivable automation, credit analysis, hybrid mail, …), and further accelerates Quadient’s Mail customers’ digital transformation, by providing additional pathways towards the necessary adoption of e-invoicing solutions, legally mandated across Europe. Please refer to our dedicated press release published on 2nd June for more details.

    Mail

    Mail revenue reached €164 million in Q1 2025, down 7.9% organically and on a reported basis compared to Q1 2024.   

    Hardware sales recorded a 15.8% organic decline in the first quarter of 2025. This decrease was primarily driven by:

    • A softer performance across all regions. This was expected, given the echo effect of the COVID period, with fewer contracts for renewal, reflecting the lower level of hardware placements made during the pandemic 5 years ago;
    • The United States was particularly affected, with a strong comparison base in Q1 2024, which had benefited from the decertification boosting effect (which ended in Q4 2024), as well as by increased economic uncertainty that delayed customer decision-making.

    Subscription-related revenue (72% of Mail sales) recorded an organic decline of 4.4% in the quarter.

    Despite these headwinds, Quadient continued to outperform the market this quarter.

    The Mail automation platform continued to show good commercial momentum, and double-digit growth in cross-sell order intake with Lockers and +50% for Digital bookings in Q1 2025. This dynamic is illustrated by the expansion of the partnership with the University of Pittsburgh, which has long relied on Quadient’s parcel locker systems to facilitate on-campus student and staff deliveries and is now extending the relationship to include a comprehensive mail management solution.

    At the end of April 2025, already 44.0% of Quadient installed base has been upgraded with its newest technology, compared to 42.4% at the end of January 2025.

    H2 2025 performance is expected to recover as the Mail equipment business will be supported by a stronger pipeline of contracts up for renewal over the second part of the year.

    Lockers

    Lockers revenue reached €27 million in Q1 2025, a 12.2% increase on an organic basis. The reported growth stood at 35.4% year-on-year, reflecting the positive contribution from Package Concierge (€4 million in Q1 2025).

    Subscription-related revenue increased by 12.7% organically in Q1 2025, benefiting from:

    • The outstanding strong volumes ramp up in the UK and French open networks;
    • The continued momentum in the US, driven by higher monetization of usage fees.

    Overall, subscription-related revenue stood at 65% of total revenue in Q1 2025 (vs. 68% in Q1 2024, this small drop reflecting the different revenue mix at the recently acquired Package Concierge).

    Non-recurring revenue (license & hardware sales and professional services) grew strongly by 11.4% organically in Q1 2025, driven by a significant locker placement in International, which more than offset the softer performance in North America. Moreover, another hardware sales deal for circa €5 million has been signed in International and will be recognized in H2 2025

    Quadient’s global locker installed base reached c.26,100 units at the end of Q1 2025, with 600 new lockers deployed over the quarter. This reflects the accelerated pace of new locker installations, particularly in the UK open network, which has expanded nearly fourfold over the last 15 months. This growth is driven by partnerships signed in recent quarters to host parcel lockers in new prime locations.

    In the UK, Quadient extended its partnership with EVRi, with a new large and long-term deal signed, including the consolidation of returns (Drop Box functionality). Quadient also signed a strategic partnership with Stasher, offering travelers a nationwide luggage storage service through Quadient’s smart locker network. These partnerships are expected to further drive volume and support continued adoption growth. In Japan (International segment), Quadient expanded the access to its network so that Amazon parcels can be delivered within approximately 6,000 “PUDO Stations” nationwide.

    LIQUIDITY MANAGEMENT

    In May 2025, Quadient proactively extended the maturity of its €300 million undrawn Revolving Credit Facility by an additional year, pushing it to 2030.

    FY 2025 GUIDANCE MAINTAINED

    While Q2 is expected to face similar markets conditions to the previous quarter and continued macroeconomic uncertainty, Quadient remains confident in its ability to deliver a stronger performance in the second half of the year. This confidence is supported by:

    • A good profitability start of the year, with an improvement in EBITDA margin across solutions;
    • Moving forward:
      • Sustained strong momentum in Digital and Lockers, with further improvement in profitability;
      • An expected recovery in Mail in H2, as the renewal cycle of the mail equipment installed base should reverse and provide greater opportunities;
      • A promising order pipeline across solutions.

    In this this context, Quadient maintains its full-year 2025 guidance, of acceleration in both organic revenue growth and organic current EBIT growth compared to the 2024 growth rates, while acknowledging that ongoing global economic disruptions and their impact, in particular on the US market, remain difficult to predict at this stage.

    Q1 2025 BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

    Quadient Recognized in Inaugural 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Accounts Payable Applications
    On 4 April 2025, Quadient announced it has been recognized in the first ever 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Accounts Payable Applications. A Gartner Magic Quadrant is a culmination of research in a specific market, giving a wide-angle view of the relative positions of the market’s competitors3.

    Quadient Receives SBTi’s Validation of its GHG Emission Reduction Targets
    On 7 April 2025, Quadient announced that the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has validated its greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. SBTi is a corporate climate action initiative that provides companies with science-based guidance to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. This validation confirms that Quadient’s commitments align with scientific requirements to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

    Quadient Recognized in Analyst Report on Top AI Use Cases for Finance Automation
    On 16 April 2025, Quadient announced it has been recognized in a recent Forrester report on ways artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming accounts receivable (AR) processes. The report, “Top AI Use Cases for Accounts Receivable Automation In 2025,” includes mentions of Quadient AR for cash application and payment notice. Quadient considers its inclusion in the report as proof of the impact its AI- and machine learning-powered financial process automation offer, enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and decision-making capabilities.

    Quadient Named a Leader in the SPARK Matrix™: Customer Communication Management Report for 2025
    On 24 April 2025, Quadient has been recognized as a Leader in the SPARK Matrix™: Customer Communication Management (CCM), Q2, 2025 report by global advisory and consulting firm QKS Group. This marks the fifth consecutive year Quadient has been named a Leader in the SPARK Matrix for CCM, a strategic vendor performance assessment tool that ranks vendors across the categories of Technology Excellence and Customer Impact.

    Quadient: 11% Increase in Software Sales to Mail Clients in 2024 Reflects Rising Demand for Smarter, Multichannel Communications
    On 30 April 2025, Quadient shared that businesses are increasingly turning to digital solutions to meet rising customer expectations for modern, multichannel communication. This shift is driving tangible growth: in fiscal year 2024, Quadient recorded a record 11% increase in cross-sales of its Digital automation solutions within its Mail customer base.

    POST-CLOSING EVENTS

    Stasher and Quadient Partner to Launch Nationwide Luggage Storage Using UK Smart Locker Network
    On 7 May 2025, Quadient announced a strategic partnership with Stasher, the world’s first luggage storage platform. This partnership marks a significant expansion of Stasher’s UK network and will provide travelers in key cities throughout the UK, including London, Birmingham, York, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Cardiff and Manchester, with more convenient, secure, and accessible luggage storage options through more than 1,640 Parcel Pending by Quadient smart lockers.

    Quadient and Nuvei Sign New Partnership to Enhance Cloud Payment Capabilities for Businesses Globally
    On 13 May 2025, Quadient and Nuvei announced a strategic technology partnership to enhance cloud payment capabilities for businesses globally. Through this partnership, Nuvei’s advanced payment processing technology is now integrated into Quadient’s cloud-based Accounts Receivable (AR) and Accounts Payable (AP) automation solutions, providing businesses of all sizes across North America, the UK, and Europe with a unified platform to manage B2B payments more efficiently, securely, and at scale.

    AI-powered Automation and Real-Time Payments Secure Quadient Leader Position in SPARK Matrix for Accounts Receivable
    On 15 May 2025, Quadient has been positioned as a Leader in the SPARK Matrix™: Accounts Receivable Applications, 2025. This marks the fourth consecutive year Quadient has been named as a leader in the report produced by the technology advisory and research firm QKS Group. Quadient believes this recognition is a testament to its continuing commitment to help businesses accelerate digital transformation, automate financial processes to increase business performance and create high-value customer interactions.

    Quadient Surpasses 300 Higher Education Locker Customers, Helping Campuses Modernize Logistics and Tackle Food Insecurity
    On 27 May 2025, Quadient announced that more than 300 higher education institutions in the U.S. are now relying on Parcel Pending by Quadient Lockers for streamlined package pickup and drop-off, bookstore merchandise, class and IT equipment exchange points, and addressing the challenge of student food insecurity.

    Quadient Advances AI Capabilities to Help Organizations Power Better Customer Interactions and Revenue Growth
    On 28 May 2025, Quadient announced the release of advanced AI capabilities designed for crafting and orchestrating highly personalized, omnichannel customer interactions. The extended AI is part of the latest release of Quadient Inspire, an industry-leading customer communications management (CCM) solution, and represents Quadient’s continued investment in transforming the way businesses dynamically communicate with customers.

    Quadient Accelerates its Digital Financial Automation Strategy in Europe with the Acquisition of Serensia
    On 2 Juin 2025, Quadient announced the acquisition of Serensia, a highly recognized a leading French electronic invoicing platform provider accredited by the French government as a Partner Dematerialization Platform (PDP). This strategic acquisition strengthens Quadient’s position in digital compliance and its ability to support both its 150,000 European customers and the more than 8 million businesses impacted in France as they transition to mandatory electronic invoicing.

    To know more about Quadient’s news flow, previous press releases are available on our website at the following address: https://invest.quadient.com/en/newsroom.

    CONFERENCE CALL & WEBCAST

    Quadient will host a conference call and webcast today at 6:00 pm Paris time (5:00 pm London time).

    To join the webcast, click on the following link: Webcast.

    To listen to the presentation by phone, please register using the following link to receive the dial-in details: Conference call.

    A replay of the webcast will also be available on Quadient’s Investor Relations website for 12 months.

    Calendar

    • 13 June 2025: Annual General Assembly
    • 24 September 2025: Half-year results and Q2 2025 sales

    About Quadient®

    Quadient is a global automation platform provider powering secure and sustainable business connections through digital and physical channels. Quadient supports businesses of all sizes in their digital transformation and growth journey, unlocking operational efficiency and creating meaningful customer experiences. Listed in compartment B of Euronext Paris (QDT) and part of the CAC® Mid & Small and EnterNext® Tech 40 indices, Quadient shares are eligible for PEA-PME investing.

    For more information about Quadient, visit https://invest.quadient.com/en/.

    Contacts

    APPENDIX

    Digital: New name for Intelligent Communication Automation

    Mail: New name for Mail-Related Solutions

    Lockers: New name for Parcel Locker Solutions

    Q1 2025 consolidated revenue

    Q1 2025 consolidated revenue by geography

    In € million Q1 2025 Q1 2024 Change Organic
    change
    North America(a) 151 150 +0.6%(d) (2.4)%
    Main European countries(b) 86 89 (2.9)% (2.8)%
    International(c) 21 23      (5.6)%(d) (2.0)%
    Group total 258 261 (1.1)% (2.5)%
    (a)  Including the United States and Canada. Brazil and Mexico are also part of this segment as of 1stJanuary 2025.
    (b)  Including Austria, Benelux, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy (excluding Mail), Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
    (c)  International includes the activities of Digital, Mail and Lockers outside of North America and the Main European countries. From 1stJanuary 2025, Brazil and Mexico are no longer included and are now part of North America.
    (d)  The reported changes reflect a €0.9m reclassification effect due to the transfer of Brazil and Mexico from International to North America as of 1stJanuary 2025.

    (1) Q1 2025 sales are compared to Q1 2024 sales, to which is added pro rata temporis the revenue of Package Concierge for a consolidated amount of €4 million. The currency impact is broadly neutral in the period.
    (2) Q1 2025 ARR includes a €1.3 million positive currency effect vs 31 January 2025.
    (3) Gartner Research Methodologies, Gartner Magic Quadrant, 28 March 2025

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Egypt’s renewable power capacity to reach 31.6GW in 2035, forecasts GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    Egypt’s renewable power capacity to reach 31.6GW in 2035, forecasts GlobalData

    Posted in Power

    Egypt is endeavoring to augment the proportion of renewable energy within its electricity mix to 42% by the year 2035. The nation is actively expanding its capacity through the implementation of large-scale solar and wind energy initiatives. Against this backdrop, renewable power capacity in the country is expected to reach 31.6GW in 2035, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.4% during 2024-35, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    GlobalData’s latest report, “Egypt Power Market Outlook to 2035, Update 2025 – Market Trends, Regulations, and Competitive Landscape,” reveals that annual renewable power generation in Egypt is expected to increase at a CAGR of 19.4% during 2024-35 to reach 88.9TWh.

    With its advantageous conditions to harness solar and wind power, Egypt recognizes renewable energy as a pivotal factor for its economic growth. The country possesses considerable wind energy potential, particularly in the Gulf of Suez area, where stable wind speeds average 8-10 meters per second at a height of 100 meters.  Furthermore, Egypt enjoys between 2,800 and 3,200 hours of sunshine annually, with daily sunshine ranging from 9-11 hours from north to south.

    Attaurrahman Ojindaram Saibasan, Power Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Egypt’s primary opportunity resides in the exponential growth of electricity consumption, which correlates directly with the increasing population size. This trend presents a significant investment opportunity for companies specializing in power generation equipment.”

    The adoption of renewable energy could enhance Egypt’s energy security while preserving foreign exchange income through continued gas exports. Additionally, it has the potential to reduce GHG emissions and mitigate environmental impacts.

    Saibasan concludes: “Electricity consumption is increasing across all sectors, including residential, industrial, and commercial, in Egypt. Growing demand is driving the need for new power generation projects and grid upgrades. Egypt has one of the fastest-growing populations in the region, with over 107.8 million people as of 2024. Urbanization is increasing, with new housing developments and smart cities like the New Administrative Capital requiring large-scale electricity infrastructure. The country is focusing on renewables to meet increasing demand.”

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Enterprises need to jump on opportunities presented by global AI sovereignty strategies, says GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    Enterprises need to jump on opportunities presented by global AI sovereignty strategies, says GlobalData

    Posted in Technology

    AI is no longer simply a competitive differentiator for enterprises; the technology is increasingly critical to national security and economic empowerment, prompting countries across the globe to implement strategies that support AI sovereignty. While narrowly defined by some as a focus primarily on infrastructure, AI sovereignty should include a broad swath of capabilities that relate to a country’s (or region’s) ability to produce and maintain its own AI prowess. Enterprises need to exploit the opportunities presented by AI sovereignty strategies globally, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    Rena Bhattacharyya, Chief Analyst and Practice Lead for Enterprise Technology and Services at GlobalData, comments: “AI sovereignty should consist of capabilities related to chip design, chip manufacturing, AI processing facilities, data sovereignty, AI models (including LLMs), an appropriate regulatory environment, and AI talent.”

    GlobalData notes that given the rapid pace of innovation prompted by sovereign AI strategies, enterprises need to implement solutions that allow them to remain agile as their needs and the competitive landscape evolve.  They need a strategy that supports business continuity and resiliency and encompasses AI requirements.

    Bhattacharyya notes: “Organizations need to be able to pivot, when necessary, which could mean implementing solutions available in their own backyards, should the need arise.  Foundational to this is a strategy that avoids vendor lock-in and cultivates the skills to take advantage of new technology, new solutions, and new standards as they come to market.”

    Additionally, building in-country expertise will be foundational to implementing a sovereign AI strategy. Enterprises and governments outside the US should jump on the opportunity to expand their talent pools.

    Bhattacharyya concludes: “Immigration and visa turmoil in the US, combined with AI investments by governments around the world, present an opportunity for other countries to lure tech-savvy individuals that would normally study and then stay in the US. Additionally, AI professionals that may have considered US-based employment will be attracted to the growing number of opportunities with organizations across the globe.”

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: EyePoint’s Duravyu holds potential to become new treatment option for wAMD, says GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    EyePoint’s Duravyu holds potential to become new treatment option for wAMD, says GlobalData

    Posted in Pharma

    EyePoint Pharmaceuticals’ Duravyu (vorolanib) is in the spotlight following its recent advancements in its Phase III trial. The company recently announced the completion of patient enrollment for LUGANO, its pivotal Phase III clinical trial. The current wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) treatment landscape is largely dominated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors. Duravyu is expected to introduce a novel mechanism of action, offering enhanced durability and consistent dosing in the wAMD therapeutic arena, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    Duravyu is a sustained-release intravitreal implant that selectively inhibits tyrosine kinase activity by targeting all three VEGF receptors: VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, and VEGFR-3, as well as the platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), while sparing the TIE-2 receptor. It is being evaluated in the LUGANO trial, a randomized, active-controlled, quadruple-masked, multi-center Phase III study designed to assess Duravyu’s efficacy, safety, and durability at two dosage levels in patients with wAMD. Enrollment for this trial has been completed across multiple sites in the US.

    Data from the completed Phase II DAVIO2 trial, presented by Dr. Katherine Talcott, Vitreoretinal Surgeon at the Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, during the 2025 ARVO Annual Meeting, demonstrated that both 2mg (n=50) and 3mg (n=52) doses of Duravyu were statistically non-inferior to aflibercept administered every eight weeks (n=54) in terms of improvement in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), thereby meeting the primary endpoint.

    Additionally, BCVA and central subfield thickness (CST) were maintained over one year. Remarkably, 63% of eyes treated with Duravyu did not require supplemental aflibercept treatment for up to six months post-insertion. The treatment burden was reduced by 80% among trial participants compared to their pre-trial regimen, whereas those previously on standard care experienced a 70% reduction.

    Sara Reci, MSc, Managing Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “These findings highlight Duravyu’s potential to significantly alleviate treatment burden while maintaining efficacy and durability, a critical consideration for patients managing wAMD.”

    Key opinion leaders (KOLs) interviewed by GlobalData have praised Duravyu’s initial clinical data, emphasizing its promising potential in the wAMD patient population. They noted that Duravyu has demonstrated a level of durability that surpasses many currently approved therapies on the market.

    Reci concludes: “Duravyu shows considerable promise as a treatment option for wAMD patients and clinicians, given its encouraging efficacy, safety, and durability profiles. Should the LUGANO trial confirm these benefits, Duravyu could emerge as a leading therapy, offering much-needed durability in wAMD management.”

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Major step forward for homes on another brownfield site

    Source: City of Stoke-on-Trent

    Published: Tuesday, 3rd June 2025

    A former Stoke-on-Trent school site which has been vacant for almost two decades is being given a new lease of life as a brand-new housing estate for almost 120 homes.

    Plans to transform the former Brookhouse Green Primary School site in Wellfield Road, Bentilee, into 117 new, affordable homes were approved in April as part of the city council’s mission to ensure everyone has access to a decent home. 

    Now the authority has entered into a pre-construction services agreement with GRAHAM – and work is expected to start on site before the start of next year.

    The national company will work collaboratively with the council to ensure that homes are of high quality and energy efficient.

    The plans include a mix of homes for older people to live independently, dormer bungalows, apartments and family houses. Construction is expected to last approximately two years.

    Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for transport, infrastructure and regeneration, said: “We have got a fantastic opportunity here to transform derelict brownfield land into new homes, creating new jobs and a sense of community.

    “We know people are in desperate need of new, affordable homes so I’m delighted that we have appointed GRAHAM and we are looking forward to working with them in future.

    “By working together, we’re making great strides to bring much-needed new homes to the city to ensure families can live their best lives now and in the future.”

    Councillor Sarah Jane Colclough, ward councillor for Bentilee, Ubberley and Townsend, added: “The redevelopment of this site will make a massive difference to local residents. This is a large piece of land which has been empty since the old school closed back in 2006, so I’m really pleased to see progress being made to bring it back into use.”

    The Wellfield Road site was deemed surplus to requirements in 2020. The redevelopment is being supported by a £1.8 million government grant from the Brownfield Land Release Fund 2.

    Ronan Hughes, Regional Director at GRAHAM,said: “We’re proud to be working in partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Council to bring this long-vacant site back into productive use.

    “By delivering a mix of high-quality, energy-efficient homes, we’re helping to address local housing needs and support wider regeneration goals. This project is a great example of how collaboration can unlock social value and long-term benefits for communities.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –