Category: Business

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Young India Rises to Solve for Tomorrow: Samsung’s Innovation Drive Takes Flight

    Source: Samsung

     
    Solve for Tomorrow 2025: Nudging young minds to see problems as opportunities and innovation as a way of life
     
    A quiet revolution is underway. With Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Season 4 in full swing, India’s youth is rising to the challenge with ideas that aim to transform lives, communities, and the country.
     
    After a successful launch earlier this year, the programme has now entered a dynamic phase: Design Thinking Workshops for school students and Open House sessions for college innovators. These events are not just about learning, they are about sparking a mindset shift, nudging young minds to see problems as opportunities and innovation as a way of life.
     
    With roadshows already underway in nine cities – New Delhi, Gurugram, Jaipur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ranchi and Sonepat, the excitement is palpable. Thousands of students from 20 schools and colleges have participated so far. And this is just the beginning. Samsung plans to take this initiative to every corner of India, including the North East.
     
    “Solve for Tomorrow is important because it gives students the tools and mindset to identify real problems around them and create practical, innovative solutions, something traditional classrooms often miss,” said Dr. Ashish Dwivedi, a faculty member at O.P. Jindal Global University, which recently hosted a Design Thinking Open House.
     
    At the university, curious students spent the day immersed in the design thinking process. The energy in the room was electric. Ideas were born, problems dissected, and visions shared. The students emerged inspired, transformed, and ready to take on the world.
     
    “It helped turn a vague idea into a clearer, actionable solution,” said Aditya Naresh, a student at O.P. Jindal Global University.
     
    Similarly, another student, Riddhima Sharma said that she learnt how to work in a team and listen to different perspectives while solving a problem.
     
    In schools, the Design Thinking Workshops from Samsung left an equally indelible mark.
     
    Young minds at work during a Design Thinking Workshop at a school
     
    “The workshop conducted by Samsung and FITT-IIT Delhi has been really insightful,” said Surbhi, a teacher at ITL Public School, Delhi. “Many students from the first batch have already approached me for help with the application process.”
     
    At Mother’s Mary School in Delhi, the girls of Classes 9 and 10 are dreaming big.
     
    Aanya, for instance, wants to build an AI-powered app to help design sustainable homes, while Kritika is working on an eco-friendly Kindle to replace school textbooks. Interestingly, Kriti, a Class 12 student, is exploring safer menstrual products to prevent cervical cancer, all under Solve for Tomorrow’s key themes.
     
    The passion to solve and lead, is just about as fierce among college students.
     
    “There are many problems in the world but very few solvers,” said R. Deepika, a Business Analytics student at University of Hyderabad. “This workshop made me want to be one of them.”
     
    “It’s helped me figure out how to build a startup and chalk out my ideas better,” said Sawan Kesari from the BA programme at University of Hyderabad. “I want to improve diagnostic services in rural India through telemedicine.”
     
    With roadshows already underway in nine cities, the excitement is palpable as students queue up to apply for Solve for Tomorrow 2025
     
    The clarity and purpose with which these students are identifying community problems is nothing short of inspiring. Whether it’s Aditya’s mission to make clean drinking water accessible in rural areas, Riddhima’s drive to tackle plastic waste, Prerna’s dream of assistive devices for visually impaired students, every idea echoes the larger purpose of Solve for Tomorrow, to empower the next generation of changemakers.
     
    “Our students are eager to connect with mentors and experts through Solve for Tomorrow to bring their ideas to life.” said Poonam Verma, Principal of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.
     
    The application window for the initiative will be open till June 30, 2025.
     
    After the initial application phase, the top 100 teams will be chosen, with 25 teams selected from each of the themes. At this stage, participants will undergo online training led by thematic experts, followed by a video pitch round where 40 teams will be shortlisted – 10 teams from each theme.
     
    With thousands of students now engaged and more joining each week, Solve for Tomorrow is no longer just a competition, it’s a national innovation movement.

    MIL OSI Economics

  • MIL-OSI Global: Putin is testing how far he can push Trump by not turning up for Istanbul talks

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natasha Lindstaedt, Professor in the Department of Government, University of Essex

    Over three years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the countries are finally meeting for direct peace talks in Istanbul. Vladimir Putin will be not be attending.

    Ironically, given his no-show, it was Putin who suggested the peace talks instead of immediately agreeing to a proposed 30-day ceasefire. But like Russia’s 2024 presidential elections, from the outside the peace talks appear to be a total farce. Putin is not just stringing the international community along, he is also testing his “friendship” with the US president, Donald Trump.

    Trump ran on a platform that he would he end the war in Ukraine quickly (in 24 hours), arguing that he was the only one with the gravitas and strength to handle the Russian leader. Yet Putin has repeatedly ignored Trump’s warnings.

    Two days after Trump was inaugurated, the US president posted that new sanctions would be imposed on Russia if the conflict did not end quickly. Then in early and late March, Trump again threatened sanctions if there was no ceasefire. Most recently, on May 8, Trump called for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, warning that violations would be met with sanctions.

    Putin disregarded every threat, and Trump did nothing to follow through. The pattern seems to be repeating itself.

    Now, Trump is trying to save face by claiming that peace talks are only possible if he and Putin meet in person. If that was the case, why didn’t Trump himself attend? He was only a four-hour plane flight away, making billion dollar deals in the Gulf. But as recently as Thursday, Trump floated the idea that he would only attend if “something happened”.

    Given how important these peace talks should be, it’s odd that there’s so much confusion about why Putin and Trump are not attending. US special envoy Keith Kellogg stated that if Putin had attended, Trump would be there. Trump, meanwhile, has framed Putin’s snub the other way around, claiming the only reason Putin did not attend was because he was not there.


    Institute for the Study of War, CC BY-ND

    Meanwhile, Europeans had warned Putin that if he did not attend and the talks failed to produce a ceasefire, he would face tougher sanctions. But Putin was never going to attend these peace talks even as his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, goaded him to do so by arriving in Ankara a few days ahead of time.

    What could still happen?

    Representatives from the Turkish, Ukrainian and American delegations were due to meet on the morning of May 16, followed by a session with Russia. Reportedly, Turkey is doing everything it can to get the two sides in the same room.

    But hopes are not high for any breakthrough. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he has no expectations, and Zelensky believes Russia is not serious about achieving anything at these talks.

    Though Putin was the one who suggested the peace talks “without preconditions”, he has sent a low-level delegation. Zelensksy promised to attend if Putin did, but has interpreted the Russian president’s absence as a sign of disrespect.

    Given this backdrop, what can be achieved? Putin has sent his aide (and former minister of culture) Vladimir Medinsky, who Zelensky describes as a “theatre prop”. In Zelensky’s place, the Ukrainian delegation is led by Kyiv’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov.

    Umerov has an impossible task, but will be trying to use the peace talks to take the first steps towards de-escalation. The only real winner in these talks is Turkey, which is playing a much bigger role than expected on the international stage as a power broker and mediator, since Putin didn’t come. Turkey also has good relationships with both Putin and Zelensky.

    It’s certainly hard to take peace talks seriously when there is an awkward back-and-forth just about who is going to attend. And while Trump thinks peace is only possible through bilateral meetings between himself and Putin, it’s clear he can’t even influence Putin to show up to peace talks that the Russian president himself suggested.

    This should give the world little confidence that Putin will agree to a 30-day ceasefire, Ukraine’s main proposal, let alone ever agree to any wider concessions. What’s not clear is what Trump is going to do about it.

    Natasha Lindstaedt 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. Putin is testing how far he can push Trump by not turning up for Istanbul talks – https://theconversation.com/putin-is-testing-how-far-he-can-push-trump-by-not-turning-up-for-istanbul-talks-256820

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: Governments continue losing efforts to gain backdoor access to secure communications

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Richard Forno, Teaching Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, and Assistant Director, UMBC Cybersecurity Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

    Signal is the poster child for strong encryption apps. AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato

    Reports that prominent American national security officials used a freely available encrypted messaging app, coupled with the rise of authoritarian policies around the world, have led to a surge in interest in encrypted apps like Signal and WhatsApp. These apps prevent anyone, including the government and the app companies themselves, from reading messages they intercept.

    The spotlight on encrypted apps is also a reminder of the complex debate pitting government interests against individual liberties. Governments desire to monitor everyday communications for law enforcement, national security and sometimes darker purposes. On the other hand, citizens and businesses claim the right to enjoy private digital discussions in today’s online world.

    The positions governments take often are framed as a “war on encryption” by technology policy experts and civil liberties advocates. As a cybersecurity researcher, I’ve followed the debate for nearly 30 years and remain convinced that this is not a fight that governments can easily win.

    Understanding the ‘golden key’

    Traditionally, strong encryption capabilities were considered military technologies crucial to national security and not available to the public. However, in 1991, computer scientist Phil Zimmermann released a new type of encryption software called Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). It was free, open-source software available on the internet that anyone could download. PGP allowed people to exchange email and files securely, accessible only to those with the shared decryption key, in ways similar to highly secured government systems.

    Following an investigation into Zimmermann, the U.S. government came to realize that technology develops faster than law and began to explore remedies. It also began to understand that once something is placed on the internet, neither laws nor policy can control its global availability.

    Fearing that terrorists or criminals might use such technology to plan attacks, arrange financing or recruit members, the Clinton administration advocated a system called the Clipper Chip, based on a concept of key escrow. The idea was to give a trusted third party access to the encryption system and the government could use that access when it demonstrated a law enforcement or national security need.

    End-to-end encryption and backdoor access explained.

    Clipper was based on the idea of a “golden key,” namely, a way for those with good intentions – intelligence services, police – to access encrypted data, while keeping people with bad intentions – criminals, terrorists – out.

    Clipper Chip devices never gained traction outside the U.S. government, in part because its encryption algorithm was classified and couldn’t be publicly peer-reviewed. However, in the years since, governments around the world have continued to embrace the golden key concept as they grapple with the constant stream of technology developments reshaping how people access and share information.

    Following Edward Snowden’s disclosures about global surveillance of digital communications in 2013, Google and Apple took steps to make it virtually impossible for anyone but an authorized user to access data on a smartphone. Even a court order was ineffective, much to the chagrin of law enforcement. In Apple’s case, the company’s approach to privacy and security was tested in 2016 when the company refused to build a mechanism to help the FBI break into an encrypted iPhone owned by a suspect in the San Bernardino terrorist attack.

    At its core, encryption is, fundamentally, very complicated math. And while the golden key concept continues to hold allure for governments, it is mathematically difficult to achieve with an acceptable degree of trust. And even if it was viable, implementing it in practice makes the internet less safe. Security experts agree that any backdoor access, even if hidden or controlled by a trusted entity, is vulnerable to hacking.

    Competing justifications and tech realities

    Governments around the world continue to wrestle with the proliferation of strong encryption in messaging tools, social media and virtual private networks.

    For example, rather than embrace a technical golden key, a recent proposal in France would have provided the government the ability to add a hidden “ghost” participant to any encrypted chat for surveillance purposes. However, legislators removed this from the final proposal after civil liberties and cybersecurity experts warned that such an approach would undermine basic cybersecurity practices and trust in secure systems.

    In 2025, the U.K. government secretly ordered Apple to add a backdoor to its encryption services worldwide. Rather than comply, Apple removed the ability for its iPhone and iCloud customers in the U.K. to use its Advanced Data Protection encryption features. In this case, Apple chose to defend its users’ security in the face of government mandates, which ironically now means that users in the U.K. may be less secure.

    Apple pulled its advanced encryption service from the U.K. market rather than grant the U.K. government backdoor access.

    In the United States, provisions removed from the 2020 EARN IT bill would have forced companies to scan online messages and photos to guard against child exploitation by creating a golden-key-type hidden backdoor. Opponents viewed this as a stealth way of bypassing end-to-end encryption. The bill did not advance to a full vote when it was last reintroduced in the 2023-2024 legislative session.

    Opposing scanning for child sexual abuse material is a controversial concern when encryption is involved: Although Apple received significant public backlash over its plans to scan user devices for such material in ways that users claimed violated Apple’s privacy stance, victims of child abuse have sued the company for not better protecting children.

    Even privacy-centric Switzerland and the European Union are exploring ways of dealing with digital surveillance and privacy in an encrypted world.

    The laws of math and physics, not politics

    Governments usually claim that weakening encryption is necessary to fight crime and protect the nation – and there is a valid concern there. However, when that argument fails to win the day, they often turn to claiming to need backdoors to protect children from exploitation.

    From a cybersecurity perspective, it is nearly impossible to create a backdoor to a communications product that is only accessible for certain purposes or under certain conditions. If a passageway exists, it’s only a matter of time before it is exploited for nefarious purposes. In other words, creating what is essentially a software vulnerability to help the good guys will inevitably end up helping the bad guys, too.

    Often overlooked in this debate is that if encryption is weakened to improve surveillance for governmental purposes, it will drive criminals and terrorists further underground. Using different or homegrown technologies, they will still be able to exchange information in ways that governments can’t readily access. But everyone else’s digital security will be needlessly diminished.

    This lack of online privacy and security is especially dangerous for journalists, activists, domestic violence survivors and other at-risk communities around the world.

    Encryption obeys the laws of math and physics, not politics. Once invented, it can’t be un-invented, even if it frustrates governments. Along those lines, if governments are struggling with strong encryption now, how will they contend with a world when everyone is using significantly more complex techniques like quantum cryptography?

    Governments remain in an unenviable position regarding strong encryption. Ironically, one of the countermeasures the government recommended in response to China’s hacking of global telephone systems in the Salt Typhoon attacks was to use strong encryption in messaging apps such as Signal or iMessage.

    Reconciling that with their ongoing quest to weaken or restrict strong encryption for their own surveillance interests will be a difficult challenge to overcome.

    Richard Forno has received research funding related to cybersecurity from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the US Army during his academic career since 2010.

    ref. Governments continue losing efforts to gain backdoor access to secure communications – https://theconversation.com/governments-continue-losing-efforts-to-gain-backdoor-access-to-secure-communications-253016

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: Placenta bandages have far more health benefits than risky placenta pills − a bioengineer explains

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Marley Dewey, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, University of California, Santa Barbara

    With some bioengineering, placentas can be recycled for various medical treatments. mikroman6/Moment via Getty Images

    Eating a placenta may not give you the health benefits some people want you to believe it has, but using it as a bandage might.

    The placenta is an organ created during pregnancy that provides nutrients to a growing fetus through an umbilical cord. It’s usually large and relatively flat, composed of blood vessels, stem and immune cells, and collagen. It doesn’t look particularly appetizing to most people, and those who have eaten placentas often mention an unpleasant taste or smell.

    But in the early 2000s, the practice of mothers eating their placenta after childbirth, claiming health benefits and mood improvement, gained mainstream attention. This trend typically involves putting your placenta into capsules you can take as pills, and there are even companies selling custom-made and do-it-yourself products online.

    While some mammals may eat their own placentas due to limited nutritional resources in the wild, the benefits people might get from eating placentas is unclear.

    If boiled and dehydrated, the useful components of the placenta may be altered and reduced. If ingested raw, pathogens may remain on the surface of the placenta. In 2016, after a newborn was hospitalized multiple times from an infection potentially resulting from the mother ingesting her placenta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended mothers avoid taking placenta pills.

    I can’t personally speak to the taste of placentas. However, as a bioengineer who designs materials to regenerate injured bones and other tissues, I along with my colleagues have uncovered a much clearer picture of the benefits placentas can offer as a biomaterial to repair wounds – if used properly.

    The placenta contains many medically useful components – just not when eaten.
    Sinhyu/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    Placenta as biomaterial

    Biomaterials are materials designed to interface with your body to repair damage. If you burned your skin, for example, your doctor may use a biomaterial such as a skin graft to help your body repair the damaged tissue, ideally providing nutrients to the damaged area to promote cell growth.

    Researchers have been exploring recycling placentas, which are often thrown away after delivery, as a type of biomaterial to regrow wounded tissue in patients. Because the placenta is rich in nutrients and stem cells that give it antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and pro-regenerative properties, this organ is a particularly good candidate for medical applications.

    Your body normally responds to a wound with inflammation, which is an immune reaction that clears harmful stimuli and pathogens, often resulting in swelling and pain around the injury site.

    Unfortunately, sometimes this inflammatory process can get out of hand and lead to chronic wounds and prevent healing. But the active biomolecules within the placenta work with your immune system to promote repair by reducing inflammation and preventing scar formation.

    For example, chronic diabetic foot ulcers are a challenging injury that sometimes never closes and leads to foot amputation. Researchers found that using biomaterials made of parts of the placenta to treat these injuries resulted in a wound closure rate 6.24 times higher than conventional treatments. Researchers have also found that placenta-based biomaterials can reduce scarring after heart injury.

    I have used human placentas in my own research to study how they work in a variety of wound repair scenarios. I can take a volunteer patient’s donated placenta and remove factors that may negatively affect healing, such as all cells, blood and other components that may cause inflammation. Then I can take the material that’s left – primarily containing essential growth nutrients and the tissue foundation that cells used to live in – and use it to improve bone or tendon repair.

    Placentas undergo significant processing before they can be used in biomaterials.
    Kolliopoulos et al./Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, CC BY-SA

    Moreover, placentas contain stem cells that can also be useful for medicine. These cells are able to turn into various other types of cells of your body. This can be particularly helpful for repairing organs that are difficult to directly harvest cells from, such as the heart, liver and nerves. For example, placental stem cells can be added to an injured heart and become heart cells themselves to aid in repair.

    Researchers have also used stem cells from the placenta and the umbilical cord for applications such as stem cell transplantation to treat disease and injury. Studies have found that placenta-derived stem cells transplanted into rats could reverse Parkinson’s and nerve death. Stem cells from the placenta can also serve as a more promising source of cells for cell transplantation therapies compared with stem cells from fat and bone marrow.

    On your skin, not in your stomach

    So placentas do have some clear health benefits. But why are they more useful as a biomaterial bandage than as a pill or food, taste considerations aside?

    Unlike placenta products that are ingested – pills, dried jerky or raw placenta – biomaterials have undergone rigorous testing to ensure they are safe and effective. They are processed and handled in a controlled laboratory environment and often sterilized to ensure no bacteria or other pathogens can enter the patient. The Food and Drug Administration has approved several placenta-based biomaterials for use in the clinic, including to treat diabetic foot wounds, surgical wounds and tissue replacement.

    In contrast, placentas and placenta products eaten at home may not receive proper treatment to kill the many harmful pathogens that may be present during transport. The processing to turn placentas into something ingestible may also damage their beneficial components, leading to increased health risks and reduced benefits. No ingested placenta products have received FDA approval to date.

    Eating placentas won’t make you any healthier. But science says applying a lab-processed, placenta-based biomaterial to a recent wound might speed up healing and result in smoother, scar-free skin.

    Marley Dewey receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

    ref. Placenta bandages have far more health benefits than risky placenta pills − a bioengineer explains – https://theconversation.com/placenta-bandages-have-far-more-health-benefits-than-risky-placenta-pills-a-bioengineer-explains-256075

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: Landing on the Moon is an incredibly difficult feat − 2025 has brought successes and shortfalls for companies and space agencies

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Zhenbo Wang, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Tennessee

    Several missions have already attempted to land on the lunar surface in 2025, with more to come. AP Photo

    Half a century after the Apollo astronauts left the last bootprints in lunar dust, the Moon has once again become a destination of fierce ambition and delicate engineering.

    This time, it’s not just superpowers racing to plant flags, but also private companies, multinational partnerships and robotic scouts aiming to unlock the Moon’s secrets and lay the groundwork for future human return.

    So far in 2025, lunar exploration has surged forward. Several notable missions have launched toward or landed on the Moon. Each has navigated the long journey through space and the even trickier descent to the Moon’s surface or into orbit with varying degrees of success. Together, these missions reflect both the promise and difficulty of returning to the Moon in this new space race defined by innovation, competition and collaboration.

    As an aerospace engineer specializing in guidance, navigation and control technologies, I’m deeply interested in how each mission – whether successful or not – adds to scientists’ collective understanding. These missions can help engineers learn to navigate the complexities of space, operate in hostile lunar environments and steadily advance toward a sustainable human presence on the Moon.

    Why is landing on the Moon so hard?

    Lunar exploration remains one of the most technically demanding frontiers in modern spaceflight. Choosing a landing site involves complex trade-offs between scientific interest, terrain safety and Sun exposure.

    The lunar south pole is an especially attractive area, as it could contain water in the form of ice in shadowed craters, a critical resource for future missions. Other sites may hold clues about volcanic activity on the Moon or the solar system’s early history.

    Each mission trajectory must be calculated with precision to make sure the craft arrives and descends at the right time and place. Engineers must account for the Moon’s constantly changing position in its orbit around Earth, the timing of launch windows and the gravitational forces acting on the spacecraft throughout its journey.

    They also need to carefully plan the spacecraft’s path so that it arrives at the right angle and speed for a safe approach. Even small miscalculations early on can lead to major errors in landing location – or a missed opportunity entirely.

    Once on the surface, the landers need to survive extreme swings in temperature – from highs over 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) in daylight down to lows of -208 F (-133 C) at night – as well as dust, radiation and delayed communication with Earth. The spacecraft’s power systems, heat control, landing legs and communication links must all function perfectly. Meanwhile, these landers must avoid hazardous terrain and rely on sunlight to power their instruments and recharge their batteries.

    These challenges help explain why many landers have crashed or experienced partial failures, even though the technology has come a long way since the Apollo era.

    Commercial companies face the same technical hurdles as government agencies but often with tighter budgets, smaller teams and less heritage hardware. Unlike government missions, which can draw on decades of institutional experience and infrastructure, many commercial lunar efforts are navigating these challenges for the first time.

    Successful landings and hard lessons for CLPS

    Several lunar missions launched this year belong to NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. CLPS is an initiative that contracts private companies to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon. Its aim is to accelerate exploration while lowering costs and encouraging commercial innovation.

    An artist’s rendering of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander, which navigated and avoided hazards during its final descent to the surface.
    NASA/GSFC/Rani Gran/Wikimedia Commons

    The first Moon mission of 2025, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, launched in January and successfully landed in early March.

    The lander survived the harsh lunar day and transmitted data for nearly two weeks before losing power during the freezing lunar night – a typical operational limit for most unheated lunar landers.

    Blue Ghost demonstrated how commercial landers can shoulder critical parts of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon later this decade.

    The second CLPS launch of the year, Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission, launched in late February. It targeted a scientifically intriguing site near the Moon’s south pole region.

    An artist’s rendering of Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission, which is scheduled to land near the lunar south pole for in-situ resource utilization demonstration on the Moon.
    NASA/Intuitive Machines

    The Nova-C lander, named Athena, touched down on March 6 close to the south pole. However, during the landing process, Athena tipped over. Since it landed on its side in a crater with uneven terrain, it couldn’t deploy its solar panels to generate power, which ended the mission early.

    While Athena’s tipped-over landing meant it couldn’t do all the scientific explorations it had planned, the data it returned is still valuable for understanding how future landers can avoid similar fates on the rugged polar terrain.

    Not all lunar missions need to land. NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, a small lunar orbiter launched in February alongside IM-2, was intended to orbit the Moon and map the form, abundance and distribution of water in the form of ice, especially in shadowed craters near the poles.

    Shortly after launch, however, NASA lost contact with the spacecraft. Engineers suspect the spacecraft may have experienced a power issue, potentially leaving its batteries depleted.

    NASA is continuing recovery efforts, hoping that the spacecraft’s solar panels may recharge in May and June.

    An artist’s rendering of NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft. If recovered, it will orbit the Moon to measure the form and distribution of water on the lunar surface.
    Lockheed Martin Space

    Ongoing and future missions

    Launched on the same day as the Blue Ghost mission in January, Japanese company ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission 2 (Resilience) is on its way to the Moon and has successfully entered lunar orbit.

    The lander carried out a successful flyby of the Moon on Feb. 15, with an expected landing in early June. Although launched at the same time, Resilience took a longer trajectory than Blue Ghost to save energy. This maneuver also allowed the spacecraft to collect bonus science observations while looping around the Moon.

    The mission, if successful, will advance Japan’s commercial space sector and prove an important comeback for ispace after its first lunar lander crashed during its final descent in 2023.

    The Resilience lunar lander days before its launch in the payload processing facility at the U.S. Space Force station. The Resilience lander has completed its Earth orbit and a lunar flyby. It is now completing a low-energy transfer orbit and entering an orbit around the Moon.
    Business Wire

    The rest of 2025 promises a busy lunar calendar. Intuitive Machines plans to launch IM-3 in late 2025 to test more advanced instruments and potentially deliver NASA scientific experiments to the Moon.

    The European Space Agency’s Lunar Pathfinder will establish a dedicated lunar communications satellite, making it easier for future missions, especially those operating on the far side or poles, to stay in touch with Earth.

    Meanwhile, Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission-1 is scheduled to deliver NASA’s VIPER rover to the Moon’s south pole, where it will directly search for ice beneath the surface.

    Together, these missions represent an increasingly international and commercial approach to lunar science and exploration.

    As the world turns its attention to the Moon, every mission – whether triumph or setback – brings humanity closer to a permanent return to our closest celestial neighbor.

    Zhenbo Wang receives funding from NASA.

    ref. Landing on the Moon is an incredibly difficult feat − 2025 has brought successes and shortfalls for companies and space agencies – https://theconversation.com/landing-on-the-moon-is-an-incredibly-difficult-feat-2025-has-brought-successes-and-shortfalls-for-companies-and-space-agencies-256046

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: 16 May 2025 Departmental update Neglected tropical diseases centre-stage at the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly

    Source: World Health Organisation

    Sunday 18 May 2025 10:30−13:30
     
    Restaurant Vieux-Bois, Avenue de la Paix 12
    Snakebite envenoming : reaching our 2030 targets
     
    Host: Ministry of Health, Kenya
    The objective of this meeting is to build visibility for snakebite on the global health agenda
     
    Sunday 18 May 2025
    17:30−19:30
     
    Restaurant Vieux-Bois, Avenue de la Paix 12
     
     
    Shared progress: how collaborative philanthropy can accelerate country-led health goals
     
    Host: Mohammed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity
    Under the theme Shared Progress: How Collaborative Philanthropy Can Accelerate Country-led Health Goals, the reception will convene country representatives; global health leaders; philanthropic organizations; and multilaterals to discuss how countries and donors can work collaboratively to forge new pathways for global health progress. 
    Monday 19 May 2025
    13:00−14:30
     
    Centre d’Accueil de la Genève Internationale (CAGI), La Pastorale, Route de Ferney 106
    Protecting Progress: Integration for Infectious Disease Elimination in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape
     
    Host: Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE)
    The global health landscape is undergoing tectonic shifts, driven largely by the recent significant changes in traditional donor priorities. This, compounded by ongoing challenges of climate change and humanitarian crises threatens to erode decades of progress in eliminating preventable infectious diseases such as malaria, polio, and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Given this new reality, integration—both across disease programs and within broader health and development efforts—has never been more urgent.
    Tuesday 20 May 2025
    08:00−10:00
     
    Hôtel Royal, Rue de Lausanne 41
    Health financing : what now ? What next? Insights from malaria, dengue & NTDs
     
    Hosts: Health Finance Coalition (HFC); Malaria No More; and the International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases (ISNTD)
    The world is witnessing major shifts in the global health landscape. Among these, the decrease in donor funding for climate-sensitive infectious and tropical diseases on the one hand, and the explosive growth of health threats such as arboviruses including dengue, as well as the persistent threat of malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) on communities worldwide are likely to be among the most defining factors of future health policy.
    Tuesday 20 May 2025 17:00−19:00
     
    Pavillon Gallatin, Domaine de Penthes, Route de Pregny 26
    5 Billion Mectizan Treatments Donated and Counting
     
    Hosts: Mectizan Donation Program, Task Force for Global Health
    The event will celebrate the tremendous progress made towards the elimination of onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis, notably the 5 billion ivermectin (Mectizan) treatments that have been donated. Since 1987 MSD and the Mectizan Donation Program have provided Mectizan to eliminate onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis worldwide.
    Tuesday 20 May 2025 18:00−20:00
     
    Hôtel Président Wilson, Quai Wilson 47
    Skin diseases as a global public health priority
     
    Hosts: International Alliance of Dermatology Patient Organizations (GlobalSkin), International League of Dermatology Societies (ILDS), Anesvad Foundation, Health Diplomacy Alliance
    The event will discuss the importance of addressing skin diseases as a public health problem, and will provide critical discussions on the groundbreaking WHA resolution, “Skin Diseases as a Global Health Priority”.
    Wednesday 21 May 2025
    08:00−09:30
     
    Restaurant Vieux-Bois, Avenue de la Paix 12
     
    Strengthening Strategic Partnerships to fight VBDs, NTDs, and Emerging Infectious Diseases
     
    Hosts: Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Assoc. (JPMA), Permanent Mission of Japan, IFPMA
    As the field of global health undergoes significant transformation, we aim to raise global awareness of the challenges and solutions related to infectious diseases such as VBDs, NTDs, and emerging infectious diseases that have long affected LMICs. As part of this effort, we would like to overview the progress made and the challenges we face, as well as showcase strategic initiatives/contributions in this field by governments, private sector and international organizations
    Wednesday 21 May 2025
    09:00−13:30
     
    Campus Biotech Innovation Park, Avenue de Sécheron 15
    Economics of elimination and NTDs
     
    Host: Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE)
    The event will initiate an International Economics Working Group (IEWG) dialogue, share current work, and explore collaboration on the economics of elimination and neglected tropical diseases.
    Wednesday 21 May 2025
    12:00−15:00
     
    Geneva Press Club,
    Domaine de Penthes,
    Chemin de l’Impératrice 18
    Accelerating NTD elimination through country-driven efforts and cross-border collaboration
     
    Hosts: Global Onchocerciasis Network for Elimination (GONE), African Union, END Fund, DNDi
     
    Member State Leadership: Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda
    The purpose of the meeting is to share progress and celebrate successes of NTD elimination milestones, share cross-border collaboration examples, celebrate the endorsement of cross-border agreements and a Call for Action which will inspire and further enhance cross-border and multi-disease collaboration to accelerate progress towards global disease elimination targets. Ministers of Health of Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda will sign a MoU to End VL in Africa. The event will stress the importance of country ownership and strategies to reach NTD public health target and to mitigate the risk of losing the gains made over the past decades, highlighting the opportunity of the implementation of the proposed resolution on skin diseases at WHA78. A signature of an MoU for Visceral Leishmaniasis in East African countries will take place during the ceremony.
    Wednesday 21 May 2025 18:00−20:00
     
    Hõtel Royal, Rue de Lausanne 41
    Roundtable dinner: The Future of Funding for NTDs
     
    Hosts: The END Fund, DEVEX
    The event will be hosted by Kate Warren EVP and Executive Editor, Devex and Dr Solomon Zewdu, CEO, The END Fund. The roundtable dinner will bring together a select group of 10–12 senior stakeholders from the private sector, philanthropy, global health, policy and international financing organizations to engage in meaningful dialogue , enabling key decision-makers to share insights, align priorities and identify actions to accelerate progress in combating NTDs. Roundtable dinner: The Future of Funding for NTDS
    Wednesday 21 May 2025 18:30−19:30
     
    Colladon Parc Restaurant,
    Chemin Colladon 5,
    Petit-Saconnex
    Reception for countries endemic for dracunculiasis (Guinea-worm disease) and in pre-certification Guinea
     
    Hosts: Ministry of Health, Chad and The Carter Center
    The reception will be an occasion to celebrate the tremendous progress toward eradication, rally behind the WHA Resolution being voted on, reflect on commitments made in the Abu Dhabi Declaration and N’Djamena Commitment, and look ahead to what remains to achieve Guinea worm eradication by the year 2030.
    Wednesday 21 May 2025 18:30−20:30
     
    The International Red Cross & Red Crescent Museum, Geneva, Avenue de la Paix 17
    “A seat at the table” – art installation
     
    Hosts: Gilead Sciences, Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care Program in Global Primary Health Care, International Alliance of Patient Organizations (IAPO) and UNAIDS
    Frontline AIDS in collaboration with the Female Genital Schistosomiasis Integration Group (FIG), Education as a Vaccine, Alliance for Public Health, and LVCT Health will contribute artwork to this important event. It will feature stories and an art installation that bring the importance of people-centered care into focus— addressing the imbalance of power in which people with lived experience of disease are too often left out of health system decision-making.
    Wednesday 21 May 2025 18:30−21:00
     
    Hôtel Mandarin Oriental,
    Quai Turrettini 1
    Ministerial summit: REACH network
     
    Hosts: Nigeria, REACH Network (Chairs: Minister Muhammad Ali Pate [Nigeria] and Professor Samba Sow [former Minister of Health, Mali])
    The event is convened to reinforce ministerial commitment from existing REACH countries and expand the network’s impact by engaging potential new member countries. It will emphasize integrated, equitable and evidence-driven child survival strategies, particularly mass drug administration of azithromycin
    Thursday 22 May 2025
    08:00−10:00
     
    Hôtel Président Wilson,
    Quai Wilson 47
    Surveillance and innovation for dengue & arboviruses: international unity to avert future health emergencies
     
    Host: the International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases
    The event will focus on updates on the progression of the arboviral threat worldwide (dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, Oropouche fever), will provide a platform for Member States to make statements on arboviruses experiences and collaborative surveillance strategies, will enable discussions among participants, will serve as a forum for exchange of best practices and networking among participants
    Thursday 22 May 2025
    12:00−14:00
     
    Hôtel Intercontinental,
    Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 7−9
    Innovation Meets Unity: Advancing Global Health Solutions for Africa
     
    Host: Merck KGaA, Circle Diplomatique Genève
    Global health leadership discussion to discuss diminished engagement with multilateral institutions which has resulted in weakened health systems in Africa and diminished international support

    MIL OSI United Nations News

  • MIL-OSI Security: Florida Pharmacy Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud and Agrees to Pay More Than $1 Million Settlement

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    BOSTON – On May 13, 2025, a Florida-based pharmacy, OHM Pharmacy Services, aka “Benzer,” aka “Auburndale,” pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay restitution of $82,000. As part of the global resolution, Benzer also agreed to pay $1,018,000 to resolve False Claims Act violations.

    According to OHM’s admissions in the global resolution of criminal charges and civil claims, the pharmacy dispensed Evzio, one of several naloxone products on the market indicated for use on an emergent basis in the case of opioid overdose. Due to Evzio’s high price, insurers (including Medicare Part D plans) frequently required that health care providers submit prior authorization requests before they approved coverage. OHM completed prior authorization forms in place of prescribing physicians, and in some instances OHM personnel signed the prior authorization forms without the physician’s authorization and submitted information to insurers that made it appear as though a physician, and not OHM, was submitting the information. Moreover, OHM also submitted prior authorization requests to insurers, including Medicare Part D plans, that contained false information. For example, OHM staff filled out and submitted dozens of Evzio prior authorization request forms that falsely asserted that patients had previously tried and failed to successfully use Narcan or naloxone.  

    In connection with the resolution, Benzer entered into an integrity agreement (IA) with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). The IA requires, among other things, that Benzer implement measures to ensure that its submission of claims for pharmaceutical products complies with applicable law relating to prior authorizations.  

    The civil settlement concludes the government’s resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by a former employee of kaleo Inc., Evzio’s manufacturer. The qui tam case is captioned United States ex rel. Socol v. Benzer Pharmacy Holding, LLC, et al., No. 18-cv-10050-RGS (D. Mass.). As part of the civil resolution, the whistleblower will receive $285,040 of the civil settlement amount.  

    In 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced settlements with kaléo Inc. for $12.7 million and with other pharmacies for $1 million relating to their submission of false claims for Evzio. In 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced a $1.31 million deferred prosecution agreement and civil settlement with another pharmacy.

    United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Kim Milka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge, Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General; the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service; Office of Personnel Management, Office of Inspector General; and the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General made the announcement.

    The matter was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abraham R. George, Chief of the Civil Division, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mackenzie A. Queenin, Chief of the Health Care Fraud Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren A. Graber, Deputy Chief of the Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit.
     

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI: Precious Metals & Critical Minerals Hybrid Investor Conference Agenda Announced for May 22nd

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Virtual Investor Conferences, the leading proprietary investor conference series, today announced the agenda for the Precious Metals & Critical Minerals Hybrid Virtual Investor Conference. Individual investors, institutional investors, advisors, and analysts are invited to attend.

    This in-person and virtual event will showcase live company presentations and interactive discussions featuring Precious Metals and Critical Minerals including Gold, Silver, Antimony, Copper, Lithium, Nickel, PGM, Rare Earth Elements, Uranium and Vanadium.   Company executives and industry experts will present live from the OTC Markets Group headquarters at 300 Vesey Street in New York City. All presentations will be broadcast to the Virtual Investor Conferences community. For those who are interested in attending, there are two ways to register:

    Register for IN-PERSON attendance: register here
            
    Register for ONLINE attendance: register here

    For individuals joining online, it is recommended that investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates. There is no cost to attend and schedule 1×1 meetings with management.

    “OTC Markets is proud to host the Precious Metals & Critical Minerals Hybrid Investor Conference, presented in collaboration with Murdock Capital, TAA Advisory LLC, The Prospector, and Resource World,” said John Viglotti, SVP of Corporate Services, Investor Access at OTC Markets Group. “We are especially honored to welcome our distinguished keynote speakers, Jeff Christian, Managing Partner at CPM Group, and Jack Lifton, Senior Advisor at Energy Fuels, Inc., whose insights will be invaluable to this premier industry event.”

    May 22nd

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

    About Virtual Investor Conferences®

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

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

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

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

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Medallion Bank Announces Pricing of Series G Preferred Stock Offering

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Medallion Bank (Nasdaq: MBKNP), an FDIC-insured bank providing consumer loans for the purchase of recreational vehicles, boats, and home improvements, along with loan origination services to fintech strategic partners, announced today that it has priced a public offering of 3,000,000 shares of its Fixed-Rate Reset Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series G, par value $1.00 per share, with a liquidation amount of $25 per share (the “Series G Preferred Stock”) and an aggregate liquidation amount of $75 million.

    Dividends will accrue on the liquidation amount of $25 per share of the Series G Preferred Stock at a fixed rate per annum equal to (i) 9.00% from the original issue date of the Series G Preferred Stock to, but excluding, July 1, 2030, and (ii) from and including July 1, 2030, at a rate equal to the five-year U.S. Treasury rate plus 4.94% per annum. Dividends will be payable in arrears on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 of each year, commencing October 1, 2025. In each case, dividends will be paid only when, as and if declared by the board of directors of Medallion Bank (or a duly authorized committee of the board) and to the extent Medallion Bank has legally available funds to pay dividends.

    Medallion Bank’s Series G Preferred Stock is expected to trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “MBNKO.” The underwriters have also been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 450,000 shares of the Series G Preferred Stock solely to cover over-allotments, if any. Medallion Bank will remain a wholly owned subsidiary of Medallion Financial upon completion of the offering.

    Medallion Bank intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things, increasing Medallion Bank’s capital levels, growing its consumer loan portfolios or redeeming some or all of its outstanding Series F Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock (the “Series F Preferred Stock”), subject to the prior approval of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The offering is expected to close on May 22, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.

    Piper Sandler & Co. and Lucid Capital Markets, LLC are acting as joint book-running managers. A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners, B. Riley Securities, Inc., InspereX LLC, Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., Muriel Siebert & Co., LLC, Wedbush Securities Inc., and William Blair & Company, L.L.C. are acting as lead managers.

    The offering of the Medallion Bank’s Series G Preferred Stock is exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 pursuant to Section 3(a)(2) of that Act and will be made only by means of an offering circular. This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction. The securities are neither insured nor approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other Federal or state regulatory body.

    The preliminary offering circular relating to the offering is available at medallionbankoffering.com. In addition, copies of the preliminary offering circular may also be obtained from: Piper Sandler & Co.; Attn: Debt Capital Markets, 1 Greenwich Plaza, 1st Floor, Suite 111, Greenwich, CT 06830, or by email at fsg-dcm@psc.com.

    About Medallion Bank

    Medallion Bank specializes in providing consumer loans for the purchase of recreational vehicles, boats, and home improvements, along with loan origination services to fintech strategic partners. The Bank works directly with thousands of dealers, contractors and financial service providers serving their customers throughout the United States. Medallion Bank is a Utah-chartered, FDIC-insured industrial bank headquartered in Salt Lake City and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Medallion Financial Corp.

    This press release contains “forward-looking statements”, which reflect Medallion Bank’s current views with respect to future events and which address matters that are, by their nature, inherently uncertain and beyond Medallion Bank’s control. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as “expect” and “intend” or the negative version of those words or other comparable words or phrases of a future or forward-looking nature. These statements relate to the offering of shares of the Series G Preferred Stock, the anticipated use of the net proceeds by Medallion Bank and the grant to the underwriters of an option to purchase additional shares of the Series G Preferred Stock. No assurance can be given that the transaction discussed above will be completed on the terms described, or at all, or that Medallion Bank will decide to redeem its Series F Preferred Stock or, if it does, the amount to be redeemed and the timing of redemption and required regulatory approval. Completion of the offering on the terms described, including the grant of the option to the underwriters, and the application of net proceeds, are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of Medallion Bank. Medallion Bank undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. For a description of certain risks to which Medallion Bank is or may be subject, please refer to the factors discussed under the headings “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors,” in Medallion Bank’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025.

    This press release does not constitute a notice of redemption with respect to the Series F Preferred Stock. If Medallion Bank decides to redeem the Series F Preferred Stock, it intends to announce its decision by press release and an appropriate notice of redemption during the applicable notice window.

    Company Contact:
    Investor Relations
    212-328-2176
    InvestorRelations@medallion.com

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: insightsoftware Launches Spreadsheet Server Integration with Infor M3 Cloud, Accelerating Self-Service Reporting in Excel

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RALEIGH, N.C., May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — insightsoftware, the most comprehensive provider of solutions for the Office of the CFO, today announced Spreadsheet Server from insightsoftware now integrates with the Infor M3 Cloud ERP platform. This integration empowers finance teams in manufacturing and distribution to build and refresh reports directly in Excel – eliminating manual work, streamlining reporting cycles, and enabling faster, more confident decision making.

    With over 2,000 customers in manufacturing and distribution, Spreadsheet Server is designed to streamline financial reporting. Now with Lineos, AI powered by insightsoftware, Spreadsheet Server enhances productivity by surfacing trends and identifying data anomalies. It provides finance professionals with accurate, actionable insights on operations including inventory, sales, orders, invoices, and vendor performance.

    “Finance teams live in Excel, and getting real-time data from other systems has always been a challenge that slows down reporting, analysis, and decision making,” said John Miller, VP, Product Management, ERP Reporting & BI at insightsoftware. “By embedding AI into a tool finance relies on and integrating with a commonly used cloud-based ERP, insightsoftware is removing friction and giving teams immediate access to deeper, more actionable insights. We make it easier for finance professionals to get the information they need, right in the tools they love and use every day.”

    With Spreadsheet Server, finance teams can seamlessly access Infor data in Excel and build reports using the skills they already have—without relying on IT, manually configuring data in a browser, or second-guessing outdated numbers. This translates to faster cash flow visibility, more accurate insights into operations, and less time spent cleaning data. Instead of chasing numbers, finance professionals can focus on driving performance and strategic value.

    Discover practical solutions for overcoming common reporting challenges for Infor ERP users by watching Five Effective Strategies for Infor ERP Reporting Challenges.

    About insightsoftware
    insightsoftware is a global provider of comprehensive solutions for finance, accounting, and operations teams. We believe an actionable business strategy begins and ends with accessible data. With solutions across business intelligence, embedded analytics, data integration, and data management, we transform how enterprises operate with data; be that of application, data, IT and product teams, as well as independent software vendors (ISVs) for their customers. We bring data and insights anywhere, with an emphasis on seamless integration, customization, and composability. With data at the heart of everything we do, we enable product teams to drive decision intelligence, improve customer retention and engagement, and monetize data through self-service analytics. Learn more at insightsoftware.com.

    Media Contacts
    Inkhouse for insightsoftware
    insightsoftware@inkhouse.com

    Daniel Tummeley
    Corporate Communications Manager
    PR@insightsoftware.com

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Nutanix Announces Updates to its Board of Directors

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New Board Member Eric K. Brandt Brings Extensive Leadership and Finance Experience to Nutanix Board

    David Humphrey Resigns from Nutanix Board

    SAN JOSE, Calif., May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in hybrid multicloud computing, announced today that it has added Eric K. Brandt to its board of directors, effective May 15, 2025.

    “Eric brings deep expertise in both CEO and CFO roles across a variety of industries. His long-term service on boards of public companies also gives him a richness of experience from which Nutanix is sure to benefit,” said Virginia Gambale, Chair of the Board at Nutanix. “I look forward to serving with him together on the Nutanix board as the company continues to focus on driving sustainable, profitable growth while providing customers with a single platform for running applications and managing data, anywhere.”

    Brandt is a seasoned executive and board director with more than 30 years of global experience spanning finance, operations, and corporate governance. He served as Chief Financial Officer of Broadcom Corporation from 2007 until it was acquired by Avago Technologies Limited in 2016, where he played a pivotal role in the company’s growth into one of the world’s largest semiconductor firms. Prior to that, he held senior executive positions, including President and CEO of Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Chief Financial Officer of Allergan, Inc. Brandt currently serves on the boards of Gen Digital Inc., Lam Research Corporation, The Macerich Company, and Option Care Health, Inc. He previously served on the boards of Altaba Inc. and DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc., among others. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

    Additionally, David Humphrey resigned from Nutanix’s board of directors, effective May 15, 2025. Humphrey, a Partner at Bain Capital, joined the Nutanix Board as part of Bain Capital’s $750 million investment in September 2020. Following Humphrey’s resignation, Max de Groen, another Partner at Bain Capital, will continue to serve as a member of Nutanix’s board of directors.

    “We thank David for the constructive engagement, guidance and expertise that he brought to the board during a period of significant transformation and growth for Nutanix,” said Gambale. “We are grateful for his valuable contributions and the investment of service he has made over the past four years.”

    “Since Bain Capital’s investment in September 2020, Nutanix has grown substantially, evolved into a hybrid multicloud leader, and scaled its profits and cash flows significantly. We are impressed by the company’s performance and believe it has significant opportunity ahead as well,” said Humphrey. “Bain Capital remains a significant stockholder of Nutanix and continues to value its partnership with Nutanix,” added de Groen. “I look forward to my continued service on the Nutanix Board.”

    About Nutanix

    Nutanix is a global leader in cloud software, offering organizations a single platform for running applications and managing data, anywhere. With Nutanix, companies can reduce complexity and simplify operations, freeing them to focus on their business outcomes. Building on its legacy as the pioneer of hyperconverged infrastructure, Nutanix is trusted by companies worldwide to power hybrid multicloud environments consistently, simply, and cost-effectively. Learn more at www.nutanix.com or follow us on social media @nutanix.

    © 2025 Nutanix, Inc. All rights reserved. Nutanix, the Nutanix logo, and all Nutanix product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or unregistered trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. (“Nutanix”) in the United States and other countries. All other brand names or marks mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s). This press release is for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes a warranty or other binding commitment by Nutanix. This release contains express and implied forward-looking statements. Such statements are not historical facts and are instead based on Nutanix’s current expectations, estimates and beliefs. The accuracy of such statements involves risks and uncertainties and depends upon future events, including those that may be beyond Nutanix’s control, and actual results may differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied by such statements. Any forward-looking statements included herein speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, Nutanix assumes no obligation to update or otherwise revise any of such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

    Investor Contact:

    Richard Valera
    ir@nutanix.com

    Media Contact: Jennifer Massaro
    pr@nutanix.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6fcb69a5-92eb-43fd-b900-5322ebf501cc

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Rate Welcomes Mike Buffler to Expand Mortgage Access for Entertainment Clients

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CHICAGO, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Rate, a leader in fintech mortgage solutions, today announced the addition of Mike Buffler to its team of expert loan originators. With more than 13 years of experience in the entertainment banking industry, Buffler brings specialized knowledge in serving high-net-worth clients, including athletes and musicians.

    Buffler joins Rate to offer his clients broader access to home financing options. “Unlike traditional banks that often offer a limited range of products, my goal is to provide access to a wide variety of mortgage solutions tailored to each client’s unique circumstances,” said Buffler. “I believe that every borrower, regardless of their wealth status, requires expert advice and guidance when financing a home.”

    “Through my work with athletes and entertainers, I have had the privilege of advising borrowers and their management teams on how to incorporate leverage into their wealth strategies effectively,” continued Buffler. “It is fulfilling to see an athlete retire or a musician return from touring, knowing they are returning to a home financed not out of necessity, but as part of a well-considered, strategic plan—one that ensures their financial future is built on a solid foundation.”

    Buffler joins Rate to leverage the company’s broad loan product offerings and deliver flexible, strategic mortgage solutions to his uniquely qualified clients nationwide.

    “We are thrilled to welcome Mike Buffler to the Rate family,” said Jeff Nelson, Chief Production Officer-East. “With over a decade of mortgage lending expertise specializing in the sports and entertainment industry, Mike brings unparalleled knowledge and passion to our team.”

    About Rate

    Rate Companies is a leader in mortgage lending and digital financial services. Headquartered in Chicago, Rate has over 850 branches across all 50 states and Washington D.C. Since its launch in 2000, Rate has helped more than 2 million homeowners with home purchase loans and refinances. The company has cemented itself as an industry leader by introducing innovative technology, offering low rates, and delivering unparalleled customer service. Honors and awards include: Top 5 Mortgage Lender by Inside Mortgage Finance for 2024; Best Mortgage Lender for First-Time Homebuyers by NerdWallet for 2023; HousingWire’s Tech100 award for the company’s industry-leading FlashClose℠ digital mortgage platform in 2020, MyAccount in 2022, and Language Access Program in 2023; the most Scotsman Guide Top Originators for 11 consecutive years; Chicago Agent Magazine’s Lender of the Year for seven consecutive years; and Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces list for seven straight years. Visit rate.com for more information.

    Media Contact:
    press@rate.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/75758699-67d1-494a-a17c-fda2d452ee2e

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Onfolio Holdings Inc. Announces First Quarter 2025 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    WILMINGTON, Del., May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Onfolio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ONFO, ONFOW) (OTC: ONFOP) (“Onfolio” or the “Company”), a company that primarily acquires and manages a portfolio of digital marketing and online education businesses, announces financial results for the first quarter ended March 31st 2025.

    Financial Highlights

    • First quarter revenue increased 77% to $2.81M vs. $1.58M in the prior year period and increased 12.8% from $2.49M in Q4 of 2024
    • First quarter gross profit increased 70% to $1.7M vs. $1M in the prior year period and increased 28% from $1.32M in Q4 of 2024
    • First quarter total operating expenses increased 71% to $2.49M vs. $1.45M in the prior year period and increased 23% from $2.01M in Q4 of 2024
    • First quarter net loss increased 72% to $0.80M vs. $0.47M in the prior year period and vs. a $0.14M gain in Q4 of 2024
    • Cash at 3/31/25 was $0.67M vs. $0.48M at 12/31/24

    “We substantially increased our revenue and gross profit during the first quarter of 2025. Our cash used in operations decreased to $0.14M, reflecting improvements in both operational discipline and revenue contribution,” said Onfolio Holdings CEO Dominic Wells.

    “While our net loss increased from $0.47M in Q1 2024, to $0.80M in Q1 2025, $0.27M of this was stock-based-compensation, most of which was a one-time expense, as well as $0.17M in higher amortization expense compared to the prior year. Taking these non-cash increases into account, our net loss improved year-on-year. During the first quarter of 2025, we continued our effort to improve operations within our portfolio companies, which has resulted in reduced cost, better efficiency, a renewed focus on organic growth and the development of new services.

    “During the first quarter of 2025, we also raised non-dilutive capital through the sale of our Series A Preferred Shares, which have consistently paid a 12% annual dividend for over four years. The additional capital was primarily used to strengthen our balance sheet and prepare for our next acquisition.

    “We remain highly focused on continued organic growth within our core digital marketing and online education business units and are pursuing strategic acquisitions to strengthen those businesses.

    “If we continue to execute well on our organic and strategic growth initiatives, we could achieve profitability during the second half of 2025,” concluded Dominic Wells.

    About Onfolio Holdings

    Onfolio Holdings acquires controlling interests in and actively manage small online businesses that we believe (i) operate in sectors with long-term growth opportunities, (ii) have positive and stable cash flows, (iii) face minimal threats of technological or competitive obsolescence and (iv) can be managed by our existing team or have strong management teams largely in place. Through the acquisition and growth of a diversified group of online businesses with these characteristics, we believe we offer investors in our shares an opportunity to diversify their own portfolio risk. Visit www.onfolio.com for more information.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words “may” “will,” “should,” “plans,” “explores,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “continues,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” and similar expressions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expected operating results, such as revenue growth and earnings, and strategy for growth and financial results.

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

    Onfolio Holdings, Inc.
    Consolidated Balance Sheets
     
          March 31       December 31  
          2025       2024  
                     
    Assets                
    Current Assets:                
    Cash   $ 666,115     $ 476,874  
    Accounts receivable, net     688,763       755,804  
    Inventory     47,027       65,876  
    Prepaids and other current assets     200,763       138,007  
    Total Current Assets     1,602,668       1,436,561  
                     
    Intangible assets     3,022,099       3,323,211  
    Goodwill     4,203,145       4,210,557  
    Fixed Assets     4,707       5,135  
    Due from related party     128,385       126,530  
    Investment in unconsolidated joint ventures, cost method     213,007       213,007  
    Investment in unconsolidated joint ventures, equity method     269,140       268,231  
    Other assets     3,495       9,465  
                     
    Total Assets   $ 9,446,646     $ 9,592,697  
    Liabilities and Stockholders Equity                
                     
    Current Liabilities:                
    Accounts payable and other current liabilities   $ 1,018,752     $ 969,068  
    Dividends payable     105,468       100,797  
    Notes payable, current     526,010       702,634  
    Notes Payable – Related Party, current           400,000  
    Contingent consideration     308,943       981,591  
    Deferred revenue     654,971       589,913  
    Total Current Liabilities     2,614,144       3,744,003  
                     
    Notes payable     790,000       450,000  
    Notes payable – related parties     1,049,000       1,049,000  
    Due to joint ventures – long term            
    Total Liabilities     4,453,144       5,243,003  
                     
    Commitments and Contingencies                
                     
    Stockholders’ Equity:                
    Preferred stock, $0.001 per value, 5,000,000 shares authorized                
    Series A Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized, 165,260 and 134,460 issued and outstanding at March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024     165       134  
    Common stock, $0.001 par value, 50,000,000 shares authorized, 5,127,395 issued and outstanding at March 31, 2025 December 31, 2024     5,128       5,128  
    Additional paid-in capital     23,459,650       22,316,751  
    Accumulated other comprehensive income     97,152       68,105  
    Accumulated deficit     (19,976,595 )     (19,078,287 )
    Total Onfolio Inc. stockholders equity     3,585,500       3,311,831  
    Non-Controlling Interests     1,408,002       1,037,863  
    Total Stockholders’ Equity     4,993,502       4,349,694  
                     
    Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity   $ 9,446,646     $ 9,592,697  
                     
    The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements  
       
    Onfolio Holdings, Inc.
    Consolidated Statements of Operations
     
             
        For the Three Months Ended March 31,
        2025   2024
             
             
    Revenue, services   $ 1,796,595     $ 723,551  
    Revenue, product sales     1,015,348       863,351  
    Total Revenue     2,811,943       1,586,902  
                     
    Cost of revenue, services     1,016,860       366,706  
    Cost of revenue, product sales     87,963       215,860  
    Total cost of revenue     1,104,823       582,566  
                     
    Gross profit     1,707,120       1,004,336  
                     
    Operating expenses                
    Selling, general and administrative     2,221,346       1,185,184  
    Professional fees     237,905       180,190  
    Acquisition costs     33,410       94,341  
    Impairment of goodwill and intangible assets            
    Total operating expenses     2,492,661       1,459,715  
                     
    Loss from operations     (785,541 )     (455,379 )
                     
    Other income (expense)                
    Equity method income (loss)     909       (5,154 )
    Dividend income     2,250        
    Interest income (expense), net     (100,720 )     (17,720 )
    Other income     4,983       427  
    Gain on change in fair value of contingent consideration     54,173        
    Impairment of investments            
    Gain on sale of business            
    Total other income     (38,405 )     (22,447 )
                     
    Loss before income taxes     (823,946 )     (477,826 )
                     
    Income tax (provision) benefit     17,518        
                     
    Net loss     (806,428 )     (477,826 )
                     
    Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest     12,041       664  
    Net loss attributable to Onfolio Holdings Inc.     (794,387 )     (477,162 )
                     
    Preferred Dividends     (103,921 )     (81,645 )
    Net loss to common shareholders   $ (898,308 )   $ (558,807 )
                     
    Net loss per common shareholder                
    Basic and diluted   $ (0.18 )   $ (0.11 )
                     
    Weighted average shares outstanding                
    Basic and diluted     5,127,395       5,107,395  
                     
    The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements  
       
    Onfolio Holdings, Inc.
    Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity
    For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 and 2024
     
        Preferred Stock,
    $0.001 Par value
      Common Stock,
    $0.001 Par Value
       Additional    Accumulated   Accumulated
    Other
       Non    Stockholders’ 
        Shares   Amount   Shares   Amount   Paid-In Capital   Deficit   Comprehensive
    Income
      Controlling
    Interest
      Equity
                                         
    Balance, December 31, 2024     134,460     $ 134       5,127,395     $ 5,128     $ 22,316,751     $ (19,078,287 )   $ 68,105     $ 1,037,863     $ 4,349,694  
                                                                 
    Sale of preferred stock for cash     28,000       28                   699,972                         700,000  
    Preferred stock and common stock options issued for payment of contingent consideration     2,800       3                   169,997                         170,000  
    Stock-based compensation                             272,930                         272,930  
    Payment of note payble by NCI                                                             400,000       400,000  
    Preferred dividends                                   (103,921 )                 (103,921 )
    Foreign currency translation                                         29,047             29,047  
    Distribution to non-controlling interest                                                             (17,820 )     (17,820 )
    Net loss                                   (794,387 )           (12,041 )     (806,428 )
                                                                             
    Balance, March 31, 2025     165,260       165       5,127,395       5,128       23,459,650       (19,976,595 )     97,152       1,408,002       4,993,502  
                                                                             
    Balance, December 31, 2023     92,260       93       5,107,395       5,108       21,107,311       (16,957,854 )     182,465             4,337,123  
                                                                             
    Acquisition of Business     17,000       17                   484,983                   126,000       611,000  
    Sale of preferred stock for cash     400                         10,000                         10,000  
    Stock-based compensation                             17,887                         17,887  
    Preferred dividends                                   (81,645 )                 (81,645 )
    Foreign currency translation                                         (39,134 )             (39,134 )
    Distribution to non-controlling interest                                                      
    Net loss                                   (477,826 )           (664 )     (478,490 )
                                                                             
    Balance, March 31, 2024     109,660     $ 110       5,107,395     $ 5,108     $ 21,620,181     $ (17,517,325 )   $ 143,331     $ 125,336     $ 4,376,741  
                                                                             
    The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements
     
    Onfolio Holdings, Inc.
    Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
    For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 and 2024
     
             
          2025       2024  
                     
    Cash Flows from Operating Activities                
    Net loss   $ (806,428 )   $ (477,826 )
    Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities:                
    Stock-based compensation expense     272,930       17,887  
    Equity method loss (income)     (909 )     5,154  
    Dividends received from equity method investment            
    Amortization of intangible assets     301,112       125,219  
    Depreciation expense     428          
    Impairment of intangible assets            
    Change in FV of contingent consideration     (54,173 )      
    Net change in:                
    Accounts receivable     67,041       (33,681 )
    Inventory     18,849       117  
    Prepaids and other current assets     (56,786 )     (81,328 )
    Accounts payable and other current liabilities     49,684       (33,390 )
    Due to joint ventures     (1,855 )     3,557  
    Deferred revenue     65,058       34,284  
    Due to related parties           9,000  
                     
    Net cash used in operating activities     (145,049 )     (431,007 )
                     
    Cash Flows from Investing Activities                
    Cash paid to acquire businesses           (240,000 )
    Investments in unconsolidated entities           (10,000 )
    Investment in cryptocurrency            
    Net cash used in investing activities           (250,000 )
                     
    Cash Flows from Financing Activities                
    Proceeds from sale of Series A preferred stock     700,000       10,000  
    Proceeds from exercise of stock options            
    Payments of preferred dividends     (99,250 )     (70,122 )
    Distributions to non-controlling interest holders     (17,820 )      
    Proceeds from notes payable           350,000  
    Payments on note payables     (176,624 )     (25,743 )
    Payments on acquisition note payables            
    Proceeds from notes payable – related parties            
    Payments on note payables – related parties            
    Payments on contingent consideration     (108,475 )      
                     
    Net cash provided by financing activities     297,831       264,135  
                     
    Effect of foreign currency translation     36,459       (35,612 )
                     
    Net Change in Cash     189,241       (452,484 )
    Cash, Beginning of  Period     476,874       982,261  
                     
    Cash, End of Period     666,115     $ 529,777  
                     
    Cash Paid For:                
    Income Taxes   $     $  
    Interest   $ 100,720     $ 18,360  
                     
    Non-cash transactions:                
    Preferred dividends accrued   $ 103,921     $ 81,645  
    Notes payable issued for asset acquisitions   $     $ 440,000  
    Preferred stock issued for acquisitions   $     $ 425,000  
    Settlement of contingent consideration   $ 510,000     $  
    Non-controlling interest issued for settlement of note payable   $ 400,000     $  
                     
    The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements         

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Occidental and ADNOC’s XRG Agree to Evaluate Joint Venture to Develop South Texas Direct Air Capture Hub

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HOUSTON, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Occidental (NYSE: OXY) and its subsidiary 1PointFive today announced an agreement with XRG, ADNOC’s investment company, to evaluate a potential joint venture to develop a Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility in South Texas. As part of the joint venture, XRG will consider investing up to $500 million for the development of a DAC facility designed to capture 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The Strategic DAC Framework Agreement was signed by Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub and ADNOC Group CEO Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, during U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s state visit to the United Arab Emirates.

    The announcement follows several significant milestones in the development of DAC, including Occidental’s progress on STRATOS, its first DAC facility in West Texas, which is on-track to start commercial operations in 2025; further de-risking of Occidental’s DAC technology; and an award from the U.S. Department of Energy for up to $650 million to support development of the South Texas DAC Hub.

    “We are proud to advance our decades-long partnership with ADNOC and XRG on our South Texas DAC Hub, which we believe will deliver game-changing technology to support U.S. energy independence and global goals. Agreements like this, along with U.S. DOE support, demonstrate continued confidence in DAC as an investable technology that can create jobs and economic value in the United States and Texas,” said Hollub.

    Khaled Salmeen, Chief Operating Officer, XRG, said: “Our longstanding partnership with Occidental continues to drive scalable, high-growth and strategically attractive projects that create long-term sustainable value. The U.S. is a priority market for XRG and we look forward to building on this partnership as we continue to invest in strategic projects across the energy value chain.”

    Occidental and ADNOC have been discussing opportunities to collaborate on carbon capture, utilization and storage projects in the United States and UAE since signing a memorandum of understanding in 2023.

    The South Texas DAC Hub, located on the King Ranch in Kleberg County, Texas, will be close to industrial facilities and energy infrastructure along the U.S. Gulf Coast, where CO2 can be transported for use or securely stored in geologic formations. The site comprises approximately 165 square miles of acreage with the potential to store up to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2). The first DAC facility at the Hub is expected to capture 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and is currently in front-engineering and design.

    XRG focuses on transformational global investments that create value across natural gas, chemicals and lower-carbon energy solutions. Occidental and ADNOC have a long-standing partnership at Al Hosn Gas, one of the largest Middle Eastern natural gas developments, and onshore oil and gas development projects in the UAE.

    About Occidental

    Occidental is an international energy company with assets primarily in the United States, the Middle East and North Africa. We are one of the largest oil and gas producers in the U.S., including a leading producer in the Permian and DJ basins, and offshore Gulf of America. Our midstream and marketing segment provides flow assurance and maximizes the value of our oil and gas, and includes our Oxy Low Carbon Ventures subsidiary, which is advancing leading-edge technologies and business solutions that economically grow our business while reducing emissions. Our chemical subsidiary OxyChem manufactures the building blocks for life-enhancing products. We are dedicated to using our global leadership in carbon management to advance a lower-carbon world.

    About 1PointFive

    1PointFive is a Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS) company that is working to help curb global temperature rise to 1.5°C through the deployment of decarbonization solutions, including Carbon Engineering’s Direct Air Capture and AIR TO FUELS™ solutions alongside geologic sequestration hubs. Visit 1PointFive.com for more information.

    AIR TO FUELS™ is a registered trademark of Carbon Engineering ULC.

    About XRG

    XRG is a transformative international energy investment company, focused on lower-carbon energy and chemicals, and headquartered in Abu Dhabi. Wholly owned by ADNOC, XRG has an enterprise value of over $80 billion. Its portfolio includes interests in industry-leading companies that are meeting rapidly increasing global demand for lower carbon energy and the chemicals that are essential building blocks for products central to modern life.

    To find out more, visit: www.xrg.com

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the agreement’s benefits and related impact on carbon emissions and Occidental’s and 1PointFive’s deployment and use of DAC technology, which are based on Occidental’s current expectations, beliefs, plans, estimates, and forecasts. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements for purposes of federal and state securities laws. Words such as “believe,” “will,” “may,” “expect,” “plan,” or similar expressions that convey the prospective nature of events or outcomes are generally indicative of forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Unless legally required, Occidental does not undertake any obligation to update, modify, or withdraw any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

    These statements are not guarantees of future performance as they involve assumptions that may prove to be incorrect and risks and uncertainties, including those that are beyond Occidental’s control. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements include Occidental’s and 1PointFive’s ability to access necessary technology, to develop and employ existing or new technology on a commercial scale, to access capital, to collaborate with third parties and customers, and to receive approvals from regulatory bodies, as well as market conditions, geopolitical events, and scientific developments. Additional factors that may affect the agreement’s benefits and related impact on carbon emissions and Occidental’s and 1PointFive’s deployment and use of DAC technology can be found in Occidental’s public disclosure and its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which may be accessed at Occidental’s website at oxy.com or the SEC’s website at sec.gov. Information included herein is not necessarily material to an investor in Occidental’s securities.

    Contacts

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Security National Financial Corporation Reports Financial Results for the Quarter Ended March 31, 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SALT LAKE CITY, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Security National Financial Corporation (SNFC) (NASDAQ symbol “SNFCA”) announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2025.

    For the three months ending March 31, 2025, SNFC’s after tax earnings decreased approximately 42%, or $3.1MM, from $7,475,000 in 2024 to $4,338,000 in 2025. Pre Tax earnings decreased approximately 42%, or $4.05MM, to $5.571MM (please see the table below).

    Scott Quist, Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of SNFC, said, “A decrease in quarterly income is never our goal and falls below our self-set standards. Despite the decrease in net income, I believe that as a Company we performed operationally pretty well. Our Insurance Segment had its second best Q1 out of the last 5 years and our Death Care Segment had its 3rd best Q1 out of the last 5 years, which time period, it is important to note, includes the pandemic. Speaking now of our decrease in net income, of the approximate $4.05MM decrease in pretax quarterly income (see the table below), about 75%, or roughly $3MM, is attributable to decreases in both our realized and unrealized investment income. Our investment income can be, and is, “lumpy” between quarters and years, primarily due to its close relationship to real estate activities (home closings/lot sales) and secondarily to public equity markets.

    Speaking to our $3MM decline in investment income, and referring to that portion directly related to real estate activities, roughly 56%, or $1.7MM, is related to decreased construction profits and decreased gains on the sale of residential lots from our builder relationships. We simply participated in fewer home closings in Q1 2025 than in Q1 2024. I believe it is fair to say that in Q1 2025 the builders with whom we have profit-sharing relationships had more homes in the process of being built, but fewer closings. Margins appear to be consistent with 2024’s experience, but margins are always in issue until a home sale closes. Lastly, as a general real estate market comment, housing inventories and “days on market” appear to have increased, but not to a degree that causes alarm.

    Roughly 42%, or $1.25MM of our $3MM investment income decline, is due to stock market declines in Q1. Generally speaking, we have chosen to not liquidate our positions, so the aforementioned loss is simply a recognized, but unrealized, stock market loss as of March 31, 2025.

    Roughly $900K, or 22%, of the $4.05MM decrease in pretax income is related to an increase in our bad debt expense as prescribed by the adoption of CECL (Current Expected Credit Losses) in Q1 2024. Arguments can be credibly made that this accounting rule is simply another element of our investment income. In my view, CECL is a very formulaic and forward-looking calculation that places a heavier weight on outside factors at the time an asset is acquired and less weight on the company’s experience over the course of time. Time will tell if the Company’s allowances are appropriate, but in my view CECL did change, and does have the potential to further change in the future, the Company’s bad debt allowances based on factors that are outside of its control.

    After accounting for the investment income and related decreases, the remaining elements causing the decrease in income are smaller in net impact and are much more numerous and nuanced. One element that probably merits comment is Personnel Costs. Personnel Costs rose 11.7%, or roughly $2.2MM, over 2024. Roughly speaking 5 percentage points of that increase relates to general annual compensation increases for both staff and management. We find it important to remain marketplace competitive in our compensation or our experienced staff are recruited away from us. The remaining increase relates to increased staffing, pretty much across all levels. We are constantly reviewing operational costs to ensure that we remain operationally efficient, but the majority of this increase represents very deliberate strategic hirings of high-quality, high-performing individuals to augment our sales and fulfillment staffs where we determined that we needed greater capability to reach our growth goals. Growth is expensive but is nevertheless our constant goal. We believe these increased Personnel Costs to be necessary investments which will yield returns in the years to come.

    Despite the decrease in income, many accomplishments were made in the first quarter. In our Death Care Segment we increased families served by 4%, in what we believe to be a flat to declining mortality climate. In our Insurance Segment we have improved our premium margin by several percentage points, reflecting the increased premium rates we have been implementing over the last several years. The full effect of those margin increases will not be apparent for several years hence. In our Mortgage Segment we increased volume by 11% in Q1 2025 over Q1 2024, with an improved mix of products. Importantly, our Mortgage Segment was both profitable and cash flow positive in March.”

    SNFC has three business segments. The following table shows the revenues and earnings before taxes for the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to 2024, for each business segment:

      Revenues   Earnings before Taxes
       2025    2024         2025       2024      
    Life Insurance $ 49,287,000   $ 49,971,000   (1.4%)   $ 5,327,000     $ 8,530,000     (37.5%)
                           
    Cemeteries/Mortuaries $ 8,119,000   $ 8,787,000   (7.6%)   $ 2,238,000     $ 3,053,000     (26.7%)
                           
    Mortgages $ 25,334,000   $ 22,430,000   12.9%   $ (1,994,000 )   $ (1,964,000 )   (1.5%)
                           
    Total $ 82,740,000   $ 81,188,000   1.9%   $ 5,571,000     $ 9,619,000     (42.1%)
                           

    Net earnings per common share was $.18 for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to net earnings of $.31 per share for the prior year, as adjusted for the effect of annual stock dividends. Book value per common share was $14.68 as of March 31, 2025, compared to $14.45 as of December 31, 2024.

    The Company has two classes of common stock outstanding, Class A and Class C. There were 23,601,718 Class A equivalent shares outstanding as of March 31, 2025.

    This press release contains statements that, if not verifiable historical fact, may be viewed as forward-looking statements that could predict future events or outcomes with respect to Security National Financial Corporation and its business. The predictions in the statements will involve risk and uncertainties and, accordingly, actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed or implied in such forward-looking statements.

    If there are any questions, please contact Mr. Garrett S. Sill or Mr. Scott M. Quist at:

    Security National Financial Corporation
    P.O. Box 57250
    Salt Lake City, Utah 84157
    Phone (801) 264-1060
    Fax (801) 265-9882

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Intercom Team Jets into FundedNext for Exclusive AI Collaboration

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    AJMAN, United Arab Emirates, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On May 7–8, FundedNext hosted Intercom’s senior delegation, led by Phil Moore (Head of Sales Engineering) and Ciaran Nolan (Senior Director, EMEA), for a focused two-day collaboration at FundedNext’s Operations & Support Hub. FundedNext is one of Intercom’s most strategic and high-impact clients globally. The partners leveraged this event to significantly enhance Fin AI, Intercom’s next-generation AI support assistant, by advising on advanced, agentic layers capable of handling personalized, high-volume queries at an unprecedented scale.

    FundedNext has been working with Intercom since Fin AI’s early days—nearly a year ago. From the start, they fully integrated Fin, tested it extensively, and pushed its limits through hands-on experimentation. The partnership grew deeper with early access to roadmap features, dedicated engineering support, and participation in closed betas and focused six-week sprints to help refine the product.

    Workshop Overview
    Over two intensive days, FundedNext and Intercom teams co-built strategies to evolve Fin AI into a sophisticated, agentic support layer. Day one began with a comprehensive review of Fin AI’s business impact at FundedNext, spotlighting significant boosts in productivity and customer satisfaction. This was followed by live demonstrations of advanced features, prompting FundedNext’s leadership to provide deep insights on security protocols, regulatory compliance, and integration priorities informed by extensive operational expertise.

    On day two, Intercom’s delegation collaborated directly with FundedNext’s Client Experience team. Together, they analyzed customer scenarios across the spectrum—from basic informational queries to personalized, high-volume, and highly complex cases demanding precise human intervention. These interactive sessions will help to refine Fin AI’s ability to deliver automated and semi-automated workflows tailored specifically to FundedNext’s operational scale.

    Both teams committed to industry-leading AI safety protocols and proactive regulatory compliance—ensuring every automated decision is transparent, auditable, and built on iron-clad data protections.

    Phil Moore, Head of Sales Engineering at Intercom, said:
    “Workshops like these deliver results that months of Slack messages or video calls simply can’t. When we collaborate side by side, ideas flow instantly, alignment happens naturally, and we leave with a shared vision that drives real progress.”

    Why FundedNext is the Ultimate Proving Ground for Fin AI
    Serving retail traders globally with highly diverse and complex trading programs, FundedNext generates a large volume of data, providing Fin AI with a uniquely challenging environment to rapidly advance its predictive capabilities. Successfully managing FundedNext’s diverse requirements positions Fin AI to perform exceptionally across any global customer support context.

    Tanzim Hasan Fahim, VP of Technology at FundedNext, commented:
    “At FundedNext, we manage some of the industry’s most demanding environments. Integrating Fin AI requires meticulous execution, particularly around security and compliance. Our close collaboration ensures we’re not just adopting technology, but actively setting standards for how AI transforms customer support.”

    Syed Abdullah Galib, Chief Strategy Officer at FundedNext, said:
    “Our partnership with Intercom is already robust, but this workshop pushes our collaboration even further. We are co-shaping the future of AI support—leveraging our unique operational scale to finetune agentic solutions capable of handling hundreds of thousands of complex, personalized interactions seamlessly and securely.”

    A Generational Breakthrough for Customer Support
    This engagement represents a new paradigm in AI-powered customer service—uniting global technology leaders and enterprise innovators to co-build intelligent, agentic support systems. By merging AI-driven efficiency, human expertise, and rigorous security standards, FundedNext and Intercom are defining the future, ensuring every customer interaction is handled with precision, empathy, and unmatched reliability.

    About the Partners

    Intercom
    Intercom enables customer engagement for 30,000+ businesses with a unified platform combining chat, automation, and AI workflows. Its latest roadmap introduces proprietary AI-agent features that blend Fin’s automation with expert human handoffs.

    FundedNext
    FundedNext is a UAE based global proprietary trading platform offering simulated funding to traders in 180+ countries. FundedNext further supports trader development through expert educational resources, a thriving trading community, strategic networking opportunities, and advanced analytical tools. They recently launched their futures prop firm and are expanding their market by introducing its brokerage division in mid-May.

    Contact:
    Namia Mursalin
    namia.mursalin@fundednext.com
    Website: fundednext.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d97359e3-3c79-4ffe-919a-1d3e29a69b45

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: NordVPN launches full GUI for its Linux app

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LONDON, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NordVPN, a cybersecurity company, has announced an update for its Linux application – the launch of a full graphical user interface (GUI). This marks a new era for Linux users, making it easier to connect securely online without compromising on the powerful features the community expects.

    The new GUI brings visually rich elements and ease of use without compromising advanced features. With just a few clicks, users can connect to a server, manage preferences, and monitor their VPN connection – no commands required. The app supports both light and dark modes.

    “Linux users are an incredibly important part of our community, and we’re thrilled to make their experience even better,” says Marijus Briedis, CTO of NordVPN. “The new GUI brings the familiar simplicity of our apps on Windows and macOS to Linux, all while preserving the reliability, speed, and security NordVPN is known for.”

    While this isn’t a brand-new application, it’s a significant upgrade to the trusted CLI-based version that many Linux users already know and love. With this new GUI, NordVPN brings its protection closer to Linux users of all experience levels, reinforcing its mission to provide top-tier digital privacy across every platform.

    “This launch is a natural progression of our mission to make cybersecurity accessible and seamless for everyone. Whether you’re a seasoned Linux user or new to the OS, we believe this GUI will enhance your NordVPN experience,” adds Briedis.

    The GUI will initially be available through DEB and RPM packages, with a Snap version coming soon. Installation is quick and familiar to those who’ve used the CLI before – simply modify the command to install the GUI version:
    sh <(wget -qO - https://downloads.nordcdn.com/apps/linux/install.sh) -p nordvpn-gui

    Notably, some features – such as Meshnet – remain accessible only via the CLI, which will continue to be supported in full. Users can choose the interface that best suits their needs and switch between them freely.

    The new app also includes support for post-quantum encryption and NordWhisper, ensuring users are protected against future cryptographic threats.

    NordVPN is committed to continuous improvement, thus, the company plans to expand the GUI’s capabilities with ongoing updates and enhancements based on user feedback.

    People can download NordVPN on Linux here: https://nordvpn.com/download/linux/

    ABOUT NORDVPN

    NordVPN is the world’s most advanced VPN service provider, chosen by millions of internet users worldwide. The service offers features such as dedicated IP, Double VPN, and Onion Over VPN servers, which help to boost your online privacy with zero tracking. One of NordVPN’s key features is Threat Protection Pro, a tool that blocks malicious websites, trackers, and ads and scans downloads for malware. The latest creation of Nord Security, NordVPN’s parent company, is Saily — a global eSIM service. NordVPN is known for being user friendly and can offer some of the best prices on the market. This VPN provider has over 7,600 servers covering 118 countries worldwide. For more information, visit https://nordvpn.com.

    More information: brigita@nordsec.com

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Pope Leo to the Diplomatic Corps: Peace, Justice and Truth, ‘key words’ of papal diplomacy

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    VaticanMedia

    Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Peace, Justice, Truth. These are the three words Pope Leo XIV chose in his address to members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See. Peace which is “the first gift of Christ”, an “active and demanding gift. It engages and challenges each of us”. Justice, which is also denied by “global inequalities – between opulence and destitution – that are carving deep divides between continents, countries and even within individual societies”. Truth, which “can never be separated from charity, always has at its root a concern for the life and well-being of every man and woman”.The “sui generis” Nature of Papal DiplomacyPope Leo began by thanking the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, for his cordial greeting, and recalling the tireless work that he has carried out with his characteristic energy, commitment and kindness”, stressing that papal diplomacy is “an expression of the very catholicity of the Church. In its diplomatic activity, the Holy See is inspired by a pastoral outreach that leads it not to seek privileges but to strengthen its evangelical mission at the service of humanity.” For this reason it appeals to consciences, as witnessed by the constant efforts of my venerable predecessor, ever attentive to the cry of the poor, the needy and the marginalized, as well as to contemporary challenges, ranging from the protection of creation to artificial intelligence”. The Pope born in Chicago then referred to his “own life experience, which has spanned North America, South America and Europe, has been marked by this aspiration to transcend borders in order to encounter different peoples and cultures. Through the constant and patient work of the Secretariat of State”, Pope Leo continued, “I intend to strengthen understanding and dialogue with you and with your countries, many of which I have already had the grace to visit, especially during my time as Prior General of the Augustinians. I trust that God’s providence will allow me further occasions to get to know the countries from which you come and enable me to have occasions to confirm in the faith our many brothers and sisters throughout the world and to build new bridges with all people of good will”.Human Nature and the Gift of PeaceThen, recognizing, with the Christian realism with which Saint Augustine and the Fathers of the Church also contemplated the condition of the human race, marked by Original Sin, the Pope said: “it is part of human nature and always accompanies us, pushing us too to live in a constant “state of conflict” at home, at work and in society”. And “no matter how hard we try, tensions will always be present, a little like embers burning beneath the ashes, ready to ignite at any moment”.In this state of affairs – the Bishop of Rome added – “peace is first and foremost a gift. It is the first gift of Christ”. Yet it is “an active and demanding gift. It engages and challenges each of us, regardless of our cultural background or religious affiliation, demanding first of all that we work on ourselves. Peace – he added -is built in the heart and from the heart, by eliminating pride and vindictiveness and carefully choosing our words. For words too, not only weapons, can wound and even kill”. Looking at global scenarios, Pope Leo recognized “the fundamental contribution to fostering a climate of peace. This naturally requires full respect for religious freedom in every country, since religious experience is an essential dimension of the human person. Without it, it is difficult, if not impossible, to bring about the purification of the heart necessary for building peaceful relationships”. The Pontiff also reiterated that “there is a need to give new life to multilateral diplomacy and to those international institutions conceived and designed primarily to remedy eventual disputes within the international community”. Furthermore – he added – “there must also be a resolve to halt the production of instruments of destruction and death, since, as Pope Francis noted in his last Urbi et Orbi Message: No peace is “possible without true disarmament [and] the requirement that every people provide for its own defence must not turn into a race to rearmament.”Justice and the faces of the new “Social Question”“I chose my name,” Pope Leo XIV repeated, introducing the reflections on justice – “thinking first of all of Leo XIII, the Pope of the first great social Encyclical, Rerum Novarum. In this time of epochal change, the Holy See cannot fail to make its voice heard in the face of the many imbalances and injustices that lead, not least, to unworthy working conditions and increasingly fragmented and conflict-ridden societies.”To build “harmonious and peaceful civil societies”- the Pontiff underlined in this passage of his speech – it is necessary to invest “in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman”, and to ensure that “respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike. My own story”, he added, making another reference to his personal story in his speech, “is that of a citizen, the descendant of immigrants, who in turn chose to emigrate. All of us, in the course of our lives, can find ourselves healthy or sick, employed or unemployed, living in our native land or in a foreign country, yet our dignity always remains unchanged: it is the dignity of a creature willed and loved by God”.Truth is an encounter“Truly peaceful relationships cannot be built, also within the international community,” the Pontiff remarked, dwelling on the third key word of his speech – apart from truth. Because “where words take on ambiguous and ambivalent connotations, and the virtual world, with its altered perception of reality, takes over unchecked, it is difficult to build authentic relationships, since the objective and real premises of communication are lacking.” The Church, for her part –Pope Prevost added – “can never be exempted from speaking the truth about humanity and the world, resorting whenever necessary to blunt language that may initially create misunderstanding. Yet truth can never be separated from charity, which always has at its root a concern for the life and well-being of every man and woman”. And from the Christian perspective – the Pontiff clarified – “truth is not the affirmation of abstract and disembodied principles, but an encounter with the person of Christ himself, alive in the midst of the community of believers. Truth, then, does not create division, but rather enables us to confront all the more resolutely the challenges of our time, such as migration, the ethical use of artificial intelligence and the protection of our beloved planet Earth”. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 16/5/2025)
    Share:

    MIL OSI Europe News

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Extensive Failures

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Extensive Failures

    In a public inquiry at the end of April, Deputy Traffic Commissioner Nick Denton revoked the standard international goods vehicle operator’s licence held by Transglobal Solutions Ltd with immediate effect.

    He cited extensive and persistent breaches of statutory obligations under the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995.

    Following a pattern of non-compliance, the company and its director, Maricel Taranu, have also been indefinitely disqualified from holding or obtaining an operator’s licence. Mr. Taranu is further barred from acting as a transport manager for any operator.

    The inquiry was unattended by either the company or Mr. Taranu.

    The revocation follows serious concerns uncovered during multiple investigations by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), including vehicles operated without MOTs and road tax presenting a direct risk to public safety, failure to download tachograph data, and extended operation of vehicles without driver cards – both clear violations of drivers’ hours regulations.

    There was a shocking lack of maintenance, culminating in one vehicle being stopped with four loose wheel nuts, a disintegrated tyre, and a defective indicator. On top of this, there was no engagement with the DVSA or the Office of the Traffic Commissioner, despite repeated attempts to obtain essential compliance records.

    Further DVSA inspections revealed that the company had no legitimate maintenance arrangements, minimal operating facilities, and an exceptionally high prohibition and MOT failure rate— double and triple the national average respectively. In addition, false information was provided to authorities regarding vehicle operations, and a warrant for Mr. Taranu’s arrest remains active in Romania for unrelated driving offences.

    Mr Denton said “This is one of the worst operators I have ever come across. Mr Taranu has refused to engage both with DVSA and the traffic commissioner. He has overseen illegal and dangerous operations in the UK and appears to be wanted by the Romanian authorities for serious motoring offences… I cannot allow the company’s vehicles to operate and pose a danger to other road users for a moment longer.”

    He concluded that there should be no room in the industry for Mr Taranu, who has shown an utter indifference to the law and to road safety. The full written decision can be found here.

    For any further details or enquiries, please contact: Email : pressoffice@otc.gov.uk

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI Russia: International logistics operator Tablogix shared its experience of digital product labeling with students of the State University of Management

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    The State University of Management hosted a lecture by the industrial partner of the State University of Management – the international logistics operator Tablogix. The lesson was held as part of the course “Cargo Science” for students of the educational program “Logistics and Supply Chain Management”. The lesson was devoted to digital marking of goods in the “Honest Sign” system.

    The speaker was Anna Shchukina, Head of Project Management and Business Analysis at Tablogix. The specialist analyzed real cases, mistakes to avoid, and shared life hacks that will save budgets. The session was practice-oriented.

    During the lesson, students learned: – Why the “Honest Sign” is needed by businesses, and not just the regulator; – How to properly implement labeling in logistics and warehouses; – Why you can’t do without adapting WMS and ERP; – How Tablogix reduces risks and improves the accuracy of product accounting; – How to properly prepare for an interview with an employer and what qualities a logistician needs today.

    Of particular value to the students were the expert’s advice in the field of team management, the use of project management tools, which can be used in the implementation of their own projects in the field of logistics.

    The Department of Transport Complex Management thanks the Tablogix company and the speaker Anna Shchukina for the lecture.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 05/16/2025

    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 Russia: “In the next 20 years we will stop aging”

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    Jose Luis Cordeiro

    © Higher School of Economics

    Leading Russian and Western scientists gathered at the anniversary XXV Yasin (April) International Scientific Conference. One of the guests at the special foresight session was Doctor of Philosophy Jose Luis Cordeiro, member of the World Academy of Art and Science, chairman of the Venezuelan node of the Millennium Project, former professor at MIPT and HSE, author of the book Death Must Die.

    — Dear Jose Luis, we are glad that you accepted our invitation to participate in the foresight session dedicated to the future of AI. This is not your first visit to HSE. How would you rate your experience of cooperation with our university?

    — I am always happy to return to HSE, which, by the way, many call the Russian Harvard, because I sincerely believe that it is one of the best universities in Russia, in Europe and in the world. All research and all academic work here is conducted at the highest level. And so I am inspired and happy to collaborate in any way possible.

    — Which areas of research and topics covered during the foresight session seem most relevant today?

    — I am interested in following the path from narrow AI to general AI and going even further, looking into the area of artificial superintelligence. Because this will be a level of AI that surpasses human in everything. I think this is inevitable and we need to be prepared for it.

    — Artificial intelligence causes both fear and excitement in society. What does this new technology generate more — threats or opportunities?

    — Every technology can be used for good and for bad, starting with one of the first human technologies, fire, which was probably developed by humans about half a million years ago. Obviously, it could be used for many good things, like cooking, heating, and so on. But it could also be used to kill, destroy, and burn cities. Same with nuclear energy. It can be used to make electricity or to make nuclear weapons. So all technologies can be used for good or for bad. But again, in general, technologies are used for good purposes. They are developed by people for people in cooperation with other people. So I am actually very inspired by the incredible capabilities of artificial intelligence.

    Maybe I’m not so afraid of AI because I’m more worried about human stupidity. Human stupidity is really my main concern! And so if we can become smarter with AI, I’ll be very happy about it.

    — Each person draws a certain image of the future, preferable, possible or undesirable, clear or vague, a certain picture where he places himself. What place does artificial intelligence occupy in your image of the future?

    — AI will be everywhere, it will assist us in everything constantly and continuously. It will be as natural as mobile phones are now, or earlier — the Internet, and even earlier — just ordinary landline phones.

    So AI will be everywhere. It is a general purpose technology, like electricity, which is everywhere today.

    — What, in your opinion, are the most important challenges facing humanity today? Have they changed much in recent years?

    — Look, there are different challenges in different historical periods. This is reasonable. Once, you know, fire was a big challenge. And a few thousand years later, nuclear weapons became a challenge. For a long time after World War II, humanity lived in fear of the constant threat of nuclear destruction. Until biochemical weapons were added to it. And now there are two challenges. But today, it seems to me, in terms of the greatest threat, environmental challenges are in the foreground. I believe that they are the main modern problem for humanity.

    But AI, like all technology, is actually more of a help than a problem. So I’m very optimistic about AI and I’m looking forward to AI finally helping us solve previous problems and challenges before it becomes a problem itself.

    — During the foresight session, some speakers criticized foresight, claiming that it is experiencing a decline in public interest because it is too old-fashioned. Do you agree with this statement?

    — I think that foresight and future studies in general, on the contrary, are becoming more and more relevant, because the world is changing faster and faster. When things, ways of life and technologies had not changed for centuries, when everything happened very slowly, then foresight was not so important. But now, when everything happens almost instantly, we need more, not less foresight.

    So no, I don’t think it’s old-fashioned. In fact, I think foresight is coming into fashion and it should become even more common in the future. Well, look, it’s like saying that mathematics is old-fashioned or physics is outdated. Well, they’re not, they’re not old-fashioned. We need mathematics, we need physics, and we need foresight. And I repeat: we need it more than ever.

    — You were one of the founders of the Millennium Project, which unites futurologists from all over the world. HSE Foresight Center is also active in futures research. In what areas do you see the greatest synergy from collaboration?

    — In many. If you remember, I already mentioned that HSE, ISSEK, Institute for Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge. — Ed.) and the Foresight Center are at the forefront of modern scientific forecasting. They have achieved incredible success in the field of technological and scientific foresight. I like their forecasting tool for processing big data (iFORA. — Ed.). By the way, iFORA is something we could collaborate on, we could help promote it on the market, already at the international level. iFORA is just one example.

    Now, as part of the Millennium Project, we are working on developing State of the Future Indexes. We are creating indices of the future states of companies, cities, countries, industrial sectors and the world as a whole. So, since HSE is very strong in statistics, we could collaborate on state of the future indices. Choose a direction and create an index.

    Or a third example: we are assembling a navigator for Futures Research Methodologies. And a Foresight Center that develops such methodologies and has most of the foresight methods in its arsenal would be indispensable in our work.

    And finally, we conduct international Delphi surveys annually, now online surveys. And of course, we want to involve Russian scientists in our expert circle. Russia is one of those countries in the world where a lot of expertise has been collected in various technological areas, and we will be very happy to include it in our Delphi surveys.

    So, a lot, a lot of things. The future is open, and foresight and future research are the future.

    — Could you tell us about your current research interests?

    — Right now I am mainly interested in three areas. The first is space. Space is an important part of the history and future of humanity. And in the next decade we will have space colonies on the Moon and Mars. Life on other planets will radically change the attitude and view of our own tiny planet Earth. So space is very important. And of course, Russia, remaining one of the leading countries in space research, will participate in this space expansion.

    The second area that interests me is artificial intelligence and the transition to superintelligence. As soon as we create a new machine-human civilization, the world around us will change radically. For this, we will need a lot of intelligence, both natural and artificial. I really want to look into the future, in which superintelligence operates.

    And the third area of my interest is biotechnology, health and longevity. Now with new medical technologies we have the ability to increase the life expectancy of people, and soon we will be able to rejuvenate people. It seems incredible, but the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2012 was awarded to Shinyo Yamanaka, who discovered a way to reprogram cells to change their biological age. After that, other scientists began to do this at the organ level, in 12 years we moved from cells to organs. And now many people are working on the transition from organs to whole organisms, to animals. Of course, they usually start with simpler and smaller animals, and then move on to more complex and larger ones, so that eventually we can try it on people. I believe that in the next 20 years we will stop aging. We will take control of the aging process and begin to rejuvenate people. This was the first dream of mankind – immortality. And now we are very close to making it come true thanks to biotechnology. And so I’m very excited about this. So, three areas: space, artificial intelligence and longevity.

    The interview was prepared by Sergey Sychev, leading expert of the Department of Science Statistics ISSEK HSE

    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: FRO – Invitation to Q1 2025 Results Conference Call and Webcast

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Frontline plc.’s preliminary first quarter 2025 results will be released on Friday May 23, 2025, and a webcast and conference call will be held at 3:00 p.m. CET (9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time). The results presentation will be available for download from the Investor Relations section at www.frontlineplc.cy ahead of the conference call.

    In order to attend the conference call you may do one of the following:

    a. Webcast
    Go to the Investor Relations section at www.frontlineplc.cy and follow the “Webcast” link, or access directly from the link below.

    Frontline plc Q1 2025 Webcast

    b. Conference Call
    Participants will need to register online prior to the conference call via the link below. Dial-in details will be available when registered.             

    Frontline plc Q1 2025 Conference Call

    A Q&A session will be held after the teleconference/webcast. Information on how to submit questions will be given at the beginning of the session.

    The presentation material which will be used in the teleconference/webcast can be downloaded from https://www.frontlineplc.cy/

    This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: No Credit Check Loans Guaranteed Approval Direct Lender: Instant Small Payday Loans Online – No Denial, Direct Lenders Only! – 

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Brisbane, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

    Do you have bad credit but require instant financial help? It can be difficult to know where to get loans guaranteed approval direct lender products without credit checks.

    This in-depth guide discusses how Viva Payday Loans matches bad credit borrowers with direct lenders providing no credit check loans with guaranteed approval. We’ll discuss everything from application procedures to funding times so you can make informed choices about these financial products.

    Why Viva Payday Loans is the Best Option for No Denial Payday Loans

    Viva Payday Loans has become the leading match service for those who are looking for a payday loan with no credit check services. Unlike other lenders that base their decisions heavily on credit scores, Viva Payday Loans’s database of direct lenders places more emphasis on other parameters when considering loan requests, making it simpler for individuals with bad credit to borrow money when they need it.

    What separates Viva Payday Loans from others is its large network of lenders that provide offerings that cater directly to credit-strained borrowers. By negotiating with multiple direct lenders at once, Viva Payday Loans improves approval odds for those who would otherwise be rejected.

    Most customers select Viva Payday Loans due to their honest loan terms and responsible lending principles. With guaranteed approval from direct lenders in their portfolio, Viva Payday Loans ensures that borrowers realize the total effect of their loan contract prior to proceeding.

      >>>> Viva Payday Loans Offers Instant No Credit Check Loans – Apply Today! <<<<

    Learning About No Credit Check Loans with Guaranteed Approval from Direct Lenders

    What is a No Credit Check Loan?

    A no credit check loan is a financial product whereby lenders extend cash advances without carrying out conventional credit checks via significant credit bureaus. In place of credit history, no credit check guaranteed approval direct lender alternatives weigh other criteria such as:

    • Recent income
    • Job stability
    • Banking history
    • Utility company payment history
    • Rent payment history

    This method makes these loans especially available to those with bad credit or limited credit history who may not be able to qualify for traditional financing.

    Direct lenders of no credit check loans tend to utilize income verification instead of credit scores to assess borrowers’ repayment capability. This basic distinction provides opportunities for many Americans who have been shut out of the conventional financial system because of previous credit errors.

     <<<< Viva Payday Loans – Get Cash Now, No Credit Check! >>>

    How Do No Credit Check Loans Exactly Work?

    When you request a loan with no credit check via a site such as Viva Payday Loans, the process differs from traditional loans. Rather than checking your credit report, lenders provide approval based mainly on your present financial status and ability to repay.

    The application process usually takes these steps:

    • Fill out a simple online application with financial and personal details
    • Viva Payday Loans immediately connects your application with their group of direct lenders
    • Your information is reviewed by the lenders, and you get rapid approval decisions
    • You are offered loan terms directly by the lender in case of approval
    • After you accept the loan offer, money is usually transferred by direct deposit
    • Money tends to reach your account within one business day

    The whole process—application to funding—is optimized for speed and convenience, which makes these loans especially suitable for emergency spending when time is of the essence.

    No Denial Payday Loans Direct Lenders Only No Credit Check from Viva Payday Loans

     

    Viva Payday Loans’s Unique Lending Platform – No Credit Check Loan Services

    Viva Payday Loans serves as an intermediary between borrowers and a wide range of direct lenders. This arrangement makes it more likely for bad credit individuals to be approved, as lenders on the site provide no credit check loans and make decisions based on other criteria.

    Some of the main features of Viva Payday Loans’s platform are:

    • Proprietary matching algorithm that effectively matches borrowers with appropriate lenders
    • Higher chances of loan approval than applying directly with individual lenders
    • Sophisticated encryption to secure sensitive personal and financial data
    • Efficient process eliminating the agony of repeated rejections

    Time-efficient method for borrowers looking for payday loans online with no credit check facilities

    Viva Payday Loans platform is unique in providing online payday loans that are fast, safe, and available 24/7. By emphasizing speed and confidentiality, Viva Payday Loans has emerged as the first choice for online credit check loans.

     <<<< Apply with Viva Payday Loans Today – Even If Credit Isn’t Perfect! >>>>

    How Viva Payday Loans’s Direct Lender Network Ensures No Denial Loans

    Viva Payday Loans’s network consists of direct lenders specializing in guaranteed approval loans. The lenders do not solely depend on conventional credit checks but rather on your present financial standing. By considering factors like income and employment, Viva Payday Loans provides no denial of payday loans, even for individuals with a bad credit history.

    This large network provides Viva Payday Loans a competitive advantage when it comes to providing guaranteed approval loans and direct lender access, better ensuring you secure the loan that you need.

    Why Viva Payday Loans Provides Guaranteed Approval for Bad Credit Borrowers

    Viva Payday Loans has established its name by offering access to approval for individuals typically not accepted by mainstream lending avenues. Their emphasis on guaranteed approval for bad credit borrowers is based on their knowledge that credit scores don’t always paint the full picture of a person’s financial situation.

    Most individuals with poor credit histories are financially stable but have encountered temporary financial setbacks such as:

    • Medical crises
    • Loss of employment
    • Divorce
    • Natural disasters
    • Other situations beyond their control

    Viva Payday Loans understands that such individuals are entitled to financial products even with bad credit and operates only with lenders having this value system.

    The “guaranteed approval” feature is derived from Viva Payday Loans’s belief in their large pool of lenders and matching process. Although no financial product can guarantee 100% approval for all applicants, Viva Payday Loans’s method maximizes the chances of identifying a matching lender for each borrower’s case.

    The Viva Payday Loans Advantage for Credit-Challenged Borrowers

    Poor credit or credit-invisible borrowers frequently find themselves with no good lender to turn to. Viva Payday Loans offers a reputable site that welcomes a wide variety of credit profiles and matches users with lenders that provide payday loans and no credit online.

    Viva Payday Loans also streamlines the process of obtaining a loan through a simple online application and a high approval rate, making it well-suited for people in an emergency situation that requires immediate money.

     <<<< Need Fast Funds? Viva Payday Loans Approves You in Minutes! >>>>

    Viva Payday Loans’s Application and Funding Process – Instant Payday Loans Online Guaranteed Approval

    Viva Payday Loans has developed one of the most streamlined application and funding processes in the industry, allowing them to make good on the guarantee of instant payday loans online with guaranteed approval.

    Their simplified application process includes the following:

    Simple Online Application

    • Only takes around 5-10 minutes to fill out
    • Can be completed on any device with an internet connection
    • Gathers basic information regarding identity, income, employment, and banking information

    Immediate Matching System

    • Links applications with suitable lenders in real-time
    • Offers real-time processing of data

    Rapid Approval Decisions

    • The majority of borrowers have decisions within minutes
    • Permits instant examination of loan terms and offers

    Quick Funding Capabilities

    • Several borrowers receive money through direct deposit within the next business day
    • Some lenders provide same-day funding opportunities
    • Ideal for urgent financial requirements

     <<<< Your Emergency Cash Solution: Viva Payday Loans – Click to Qualify! >>>>

    Viva Payday Loans’s Small Payday Loan Options

    Viva Payday Loans’s rapid funding ability makes it a valuable asset for emergency financial circumstances. Whether you’re looking for a $100 emergency payday loan or a $500 cash advance no credit check, Viva Payday Loans has you covered. These small payday loans online are tailored for short-term expenses and are available even for individuals with poor credit.

    Benefits of small payday loans through Viva Payday Loans include:

    • Loan amounts start from as little as $100
    • Simplified approval processes
    • Faster funding times compared to larger loans
    • More manageable repayment terms
    • Shorter repayment periods
    • Potentially lower total costs

    Viva Payday Loans also offers flexibility in repayment, enabling borrowers to align their loan terms with their pay cycle, minimizing the likelihood of default.

    Viva Payday Loans’s No Credit Check Options vs. Traditional Loans

    Traditional bank loans usually involve high credit scores, extensive paperwork, and days (or even weeks) of waiting for approval. Viva Payday Loans, by contrast, offers online no credit check loans with quick approval and quick funding.

    This makes Viva Payday Loans’s services suitable for urgent requirements and easier for borrowers with bad credit who would otherwise be turned down because of previous credit records.

     <<<< Viva Payday Loans – Instant Payday Relief Is One Click Away! >>>>>

    Features and Benefits of No Credit Check Loans

    No credit check loans have a number of advantages:

    • Fast Approval: The majority of applicants are instantly approved.
    • Bad Credit Friendly: For people with bad credit or poor credit.
    • Direct Lender Access: No intermediaries—Viva Payday Loans links you directly to lenders with guaranteed approval loans.
    • Flexible Terms: Choice of payday loans, installment loans, and personal loans based on your requirements.

    Eligibility Criteria for Loans Without Credit Check

    Most direct lenders ask for:

    • Age 18+ (or age of majority in your state)
    • Valid government-issued ID
    • Active checking account for direct deposit
    • Regular income from employment or other source that is verifiable
    • Citizenship in the U.S. or permanent resident status

    Credit score is not a high consideration, so loans without credit are available to nearly anyone who qualifies based on the minimal requirements.

    Documents Usually Required:

    • Identification (driver’s license or state ID)
    • Income verification (recent paycheck stubs or bank statements)
    • Active bank account information (account number and routing number)
    • Contact information
    • Social Security Number

    Various Types of Emergency Loans | Instant Payday Loans Online Guaranteed Approval for Borrowers Looking for No Credit Check Payday Loans

    • Personal Loans

    Personal loans are utilized for multiple purposes and tend to have longer repayment periods. Traditional personal loans look into your credit score, but no credit check personal loans for bad credit individuals are provided by certain direct lenders.

    • Credit Card Cash Advances

    This provides you with the ability to withdraw cash against your credit limit. Yet, excessive interest charges and fees may turn this into an expensive proposition.

    • Payday Loans

    Short-term payday loans are ideal for emergencies. Viva Payday Loans offers online payday loans with guaranteed approval direct from lenders who don’t require a credit check.

    •  Title Loans

    These require a car title as collateral. While easy to obtain, the risk of losing your vehicle makes them a last resort.

    • Paycheck Advances

    Usually provided by an employer or a third-party software program, they enable access to earned wages before receiving a payday. They could act as payday loan alternatives.

      <<<< Viva Payday Loans – Get Cash Now, No Credit Check! >>>

    How Long Does It Take to Get Approved?

    With sites such as Viva Payday Loans, the majority of borrowers get immediate approval once they finish filling out the online application. The assessment is determined by income and employment status, not credit score.

    Payday Loans Online No Credit Check Instant Approval

    • Disbursement Schedule for Quick Loans No Credit Check

    Direct deposit of payday loans online guaranteed approval funds are typically made within 24 hours. 1-hour payday loans can be issued in some instances.

    • 1 Hour Payday Loans Online No Credit Check Instant Approval

    These are best in emergencies that necessitate same-day funding. Viva Payday Loans gives you access to direct lenders with 1-hour payday loans online with no credit check and instant approval.

    • $255 Payday Loans Online Same Day

    A fast way to borrow among Californians and residents in other states, the $255 payday loan has no credit check and is simple to obtain. Access to this loan can be obtained through the network of direct Viva Payday Loans lenders.

    Pros and Cons of No Credit Check Loans

    Pros:

    • Accessibility: Available to subprime borrowers with bad credit
    • Speed: Easy, rapid process to apply for and get money
    • Convenience: Easy online application with few documents required
    • No credit hit: Application doesn’t harm credit score
    • Flexibility: Money can be spent on many things
    • No collateral needed: Most are unsecured

    Cons:

    • High expense: Much higher interest rates and fees than regular loans
    • Short payment terms: Creates pressure to repay
    • Risk of debt cycles: Can cause renewal or rollover cycles
    • Limited credit building: Most don’t report a good payment history
    • Size restrictions: Usually, smaller loan sizes
    • Regulatory differences: Availability and terms differ by state

    For borrowers considering these loans, the most important point is grasping whether the short-term advantage is worth the long-term expense. These products should ideally be considered emergency measures and not part of general money management.

      <<<< Apply with Viva Payday Loans Today – Even If Credit Isn’t Perfect! >>>>

    No Credit Check Loan Scenario in the USA

    The demand for payday loans and no credit checks is growing as many Americans face falling credit scores. Sites such as Viva Payday Loans offer an essential solution to cope with this demand by providing loans with guaranteed approval and direct lender access.

    Small Payday Loans Online With No Credit Check

    1. Options to Small Payday Loans Online No Credit Check and Urgent Loans No Credit Check

    Other alternatives are credit unions, peer-to-peer loans, or a secured loan. These can have more favorable terms and lower interest.

    2. $500 Cash Advance No Credit Check Loans

    Viva Payday Loans’s network provides cash advances of up to $500 for borrowers who need money urgently. These loans are available with rapid approval and guaranteed approval even for bad credit borrowers.

    3. Emergency Loans No Credit Check

    These loans are only for medical bills, car repairs, or emergencies. Viva Payday Loans facilitates your timely access to these emergency loans with no credit check.

    How to Apply for No Denial Payday Loans Direct Lenders Only With No Credit Check?

    • Go to Viva Payday Loans’s website.
    • Complete the loan application.
    • Matched with a direct lender.
    • Accept the loan offer.
    • Fund via direct deposit.

    Types of Alternatives to No Credit Check Loans Guaranteed Approval: Direct Lenders for Instant Cash

    1. Payday Loans Online No Credit Check Instant Approval Alternatives up to $5000

    Sites such as Upstart or LendingClub provide greater loan amounts to those with better financial health, although they do involve a soft credit check.

     2. $255 Payday Loans Online Same Day No Credit Check Alternatives

    Apps such as Earnin or Dave provide paycheck advances with low fees and no conventional credit checks.

    3. 1 Hour Payday Loans Online No Credit Check Instant Approval

    These are ideal for emergencies, as provided by Viva Payday Loans and some select guaranteed approval direct lenders.

      <<<< Your Emergency Cash Solution: Viva Payday Loans – Click to Qualify! >>>>

    Alternatives to Loans for Bad Credit No Credit Check

    Consider alternatives such as secured loans, installment loans, or financial aid programs through community organizations.

    Some Risk-Free Alternatives to No Credit Check Loans – Alternatives to Unsecured Installment Loans

    1. Secured Loans

    Employ collateral such as a vehicle or savings account to secure lower rates and improved terms.

    2. Credit Unions

    Credit unions tend to provide improved rates and lenient approval for bad credit members.

    3. Peer-to-Peer Lending

    Sites such as Prosper or LendingClub provide personal loans with less stringent credit check requirements.

    4. Tribal Loans No Credit Check

    These are provided by Native American tribes and are not subject to state regulations, but costs can be high.

    What Are the Risks of No Credit Check Loans?

    Although no credit check loans offer useful access to capital for many borrowers, they involve serious risks that must be carefully weighed:

    • High APRs
    • Short time to repay
    • Risk of debt trap if not used responsibly
    • No Credit Building Benefits
    • Limited Regulation in Some States
    • Aggressive Collection Practices

    Why Go For No Credit Check Loans?

    These loans open the door to funds when conventional banks close them because of bad credit or no credit history. These loans offer instant approval, are simple to apply for, and are ideal for emergencies.

    Loan Services and Borrowing Options – How to Find a Reputable No Credit Check Loan Direct Lender?

    Always choose licensed and transparent websites like Viva Payday Loans. Search for lenders who provide:

    • Simple loan terms
    • No concealed charges
    • Direct access to the lender
    • Reasonable repayment solutions

    Where to Get The Best No Denial Payday Loans From Direct Lenders Only With No Credit Check?

    Viva Payday Loans is the best lender platform for bridging borrowers and direct lenders of good standing, providing no-denial payday loans. They have a comprehensive network, fast application process, educational tools, and transparency guarantees that make them the best alternative for credit-hard-pressed borrowers looking for guaranteed funding solutions with approval possibilities.

      <<<< Need Fast Funds? Viva Payday Loans Approves You in Minutes! >>>>

    Final Thoughts

    No credit check loans with guaranteed approval direct lenders such as Viva Payday Loans provide a convenient solution for individuals facing bad credit or financial crises. From personal loans to payday loans, Viva Payday Loans provides quick approval, flexible terms, and peace of mind. Whether you require a small cash advance or an emergency loan, the correct platform can be the difference-maker.

    Secure your financial future—begin your online loan process with Viva Payday Loans today.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is the easiest loan to get with no credit?

    Payday and installment loans are generally simplest to obtain with no credit.

    Who is the easiest lender to get a loan from?

    Online lending platforms such as Viva Payday Loans, which have big networks of lenders, usually have the easiest requirements.

    Can I get a loan with a 450 credit score in USA?

    Yes, you can get a short-term loan with 450 credit score from Viva Payday Loans.

    Can I get a loan with a 500 credit score?

    You can get a small personal loan or payday loan with your 500 credit score from direct lenders like Viva Payday Loans.

    Which loan company is best for bad credit?

    Viva Payday Loans is one of the best companies to locate lenders who accept bad credit.

    What is the best legit payday loan app?

    Viva Payday Loans is a legitimate and secure method to locate payday loan offers.

    Can I get a loan without a credit check?

    Yes, there are lenders like Viva Payday Loans that will lend you money without doing a hard credit check.

    Which loan company is easiest to get?

    Viva Payday Loans is undoubtedly one of the easiest sites to have a quick loan approved.

    Disclaimer: This announcement contains general information about Get Payday Loan loan services and should not be considered financial advice. Loans are available to US residents only.

    Media Details:

    Website – https://vivapaydayloans.com/

    Company name – Viva Payday Loans

    Email – support@vivapaydayloans.com

    Address – 4/134 Constance St, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006, Australia

    Phone – +61 455 466 131

    Attachment

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Awarded “Best Public Closed‐End CLO Fund” by Creditflux 

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    GREENWICH, Conn., May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Oxford Lane Capital Corp. (NasdaqGS: OXLC) (NasdaqGS: OXLCP) (NasdaqGS: OXLCL) (NasdaqGS: OXLCO) (NasdaqGS: OXLCZ) (NasdaqGS: OXLCN) (NasdaqGS: OXLCI) (NasdaqGS: OXLCG) (“Oxford Lane,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) has been named “Best Public Closed-End CLO Fund” by Creditflux, a leading global information source covering credit funds and CLOs.

    The award was presented at Creditflux’s Credit Symposium and Manager Awards, which took place in London on May 15th. The annual Creditflux Manager Awards recognize leading managers and funds based purely on data over the applicable review period. The “Best Public Closed-End CLO Fund” award category measured the change in value of eligible funds between December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024.

    “We are very pleased to have received this recognition from Creditflux,” said Jonathan Cohen, CEO of the Company. “We’d like to thank our team for their efforts in achieving this success, and also recognize the many collateral managers and counterparties we’ve worked with over the years.”

    About Oxford Lane Capital Corp. 

    Oxford Lane Capital Corp. is a publicly-traded registered closed-end management investment company principally investing in debt and equity tranches of CLO vehicles. CLO investments may also include warehouse facilities, which are financing structures intended to aggregate loans that may be used to form the basis of a CLO vehicle.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words “believes,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “estimates” and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Certain factors could cause actual results and conditions to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. These factors are identified from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect subsequent events, except as may be required by law.

    Contact:
    Bruce Rubin
    203-983-5280

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI Global: ‘Manu jumping’: The physics behind making humongous splashes in the pool

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Pankaj Rohilla, Postdoctoral Fellow in Fluid Dynamics, Georgia Institute of Technology

    Maybe you’ve unknowingly tried to do a manu jump. Isabel Pavia/Moment via Getty Images

    Whether diving off docks, cannonballing into lakes or leaping off the high board, there’s nothing quite like the joy of jumping into water.

    Olympic divers turned this natural act into a sophisticated science, with the goal of making a splash as small as possible. But another sport looks for just the opposite: the extreme maximum splash, one as high, wide and loud as possible.

    Welcome to the world of “manu jumping.” Although not a familiar term in the United States, manu jumping is beloved throughout New Zealand. The sport originated in the Māori community, where popping a manu is a way of life. There, manu jumpers leap from bridges, wharves and diving platforms to make the giant splashes.

    The sport is playful yet competitive. At the Z Manu World Champs, you win based on the height and width of your splash. The current record: a splash more than 32 feet high (10 meters).

    The concept sounds simple, but like Olympic diving, it turns out there’s a science to manu jumping.

    In New Zealand, manu jumping is an obsession.

    The Worthington splash

    As fluid dynamicists, we study the way living organisms interact with fluids – for instance, how flamingos feed with their heads underwater,
    or how insects walk on water.

    So when we stumbled upon viral videos of manu jumping on TikTok and YouTube, our curiosity was triggered. We launched a scientific investigation into the art of making a splash.

    Our research was more than just fun and games. Optimizing how bodies enter fluids – whether those bodies are human, animal or mechanical – is an indispensable branch of science. Understanding the physics of water entry has implications for naval engineering, biomechanics and robotics.

    We discovered that creating the perfect manu splash isn’t just about jumping into the water. Instead, it’s about mastering aerial maneuvers, timing underwater movements and knowing exactly how to hit the surface.

    The microsecond the manu jumper hits the water is critical. Two splashes actually occur: The first, the crown splash, forms as the body breaks the surface. The next, the Worthington splash, is responsible for the powerful burst of water that shoots high into the air. Manu jumping is all about triggering and maximizing the Worthington splash.

    So we analyzed 75 YouTube videos of manu jumps. First, we noticed the technique: Jumpers land glutes first, with legs and torso scrunched up in a V-shaped posture.

    But the moment they go underwater, the divers roll back and kick out to straighten their bodies. This expands the air cavity, the space of air created in the water by the jump; then the cavity collapses, detaching itself from the body. This period of detachment is known as “pinch-off time” – when the collapse sends a jet of water shooting upward. All of this happens within a fraction of a second.

    The science behind making a big splash.

    Answers from Manubot

    We found that jumpers entered the water at a median V-angle of about 46 degrees. Intrigued, we recreated these movements in a lab aquarium, using 3D-printed, V-shaped projectiles to test different V-angles.

    The result? A 45-degree angle produced the fastest, tallest splashes, virtually matching what we observed in the human jumpers. V-angles greater than 45 degrees increased the risk of injury from landing flat on the back. We found it interesting that the jumpers very nearly hit the optimal angle largely through what appeared to be intuition and trial and error.

    Note how the splash of the V-shaped projectiles was highest at 45 degrees.

    Digging deeper, we then built Manubot, a robot that mimics human body movements during manu jumps. It’s able to switch from a V-shape to a straight posture underwater. This is how we learned the optimal timing to maximize splash size.

    For instance, for someone who’s 5-foot-7 and jumping from 1 meter, opening their body within 0.26 to 0.3 seconds of hitting the water resulted in the biggest splash. Open too soon or too late, and splash size is compromised.

    Here’s how the Manubot worked.

    One caveat: Humans are far more complex than any 3D-printed projectile or a Manubot. Factors such as weight distribution, flexibility and anatomical shape add nuance that our models can’t yet replicate.

    For now, though, our findings highlight a simple truth: Creating the perfect manu splash isn’t the result of luck. Instead, it relies on a carefully tuned symphony of aerial and underwater maneuvers. So the next time you see someone spray everyone in the pool with a gigantic jump, remember – there’s a beautiful science behind the splash.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    ref. ‘Manu jumping’: The physics behind making humongous splashes in the pool – https://theconversation.com/manu-jumping-the-physics-behind-making-humongous-splashes-in-the-pool-255837

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: New chancellor, old constraints: Germany’s Friedrich Merz will have a hard time freeing the country from its self-imposed shackles

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Mark I. Vail, Worrell Chair of Politics and International Affairs, Wake Forest University

    German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has had an uncertain start to his tenure. John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images

    Friedrich Merz received a rude shock on the morning of May 6, 2025, as he prepared to lose the “in-waiting” qualifier from his title as German chancellor.

    After weeks of negotiations following February’s federal election, Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) had struck a coalitional bargain with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), giving the bloc a thin majority of 13 seats in the 630-member Bundestag, the lower house of Germany’s parliament. Yet, Merz still struggled to ratify his chancellorship.

    He fell short of the majority he needed on the first vote, with 18 members of his coalition voting against him.

    Though he was elected on a second ballot, the initial “no” vote was unprecedented for an incoming chancellor in the postwar federal republic, with insiders claiming that some of those voting “no” were conservatives opposed to Merz’s push to loosen German fiscal rules. Aside from the immediate political embarrassment, the vote was symptomatic of something else: a more deep-seated weakness in both the new chancellor and his government. As a scholar of German politics and history and the author of a forthcoming book on German state traditions and economic governance, I see Merz’s problems, and those of his country, as having deep historical roots.

    Taking the brakes off?

    For Germany and Europe, the stakes in the run-up to the vote to ratify Merz as chancellor could not have been higher – a cascade of crises confronts both. As SPD’s parliamentary leader Jens Spahn noted in the run-up to the May 6 vote: “All of Europe, perhaps the whole world, is watching this ballot.”

    The German chancellor is looking to strengthen both Europe and Germany through firm leadership and heavier spending. He has promised a massive increase in defense outlays in order to create the “strongest conventional army in Europe,” to counter the threat from a bellicose Russia and the United States’ wavering over traditional security commitments to the continent.

    This broad vision, however, is confronted by a number of obstacles, most importantly the so-called “debt brake.” Adopted after the 2008 financial crisis, this “brake” limited annual deficits to a paltry 0.35% of gross domestic product and proscribed any debts at all for the German “Länder,” or regions.

    In March, soon after the February election but before the seating of the new Bundestag, then-presumptive Chancellor Merz called for an exemption to the debt brake for defense spending above 1% of annual gross domestic product, with a promise to do “whatever it takes” to bolster Germany’s military and verbally committing to spend up to US$1.12 trillion (1 trillion euros) over 10 years. The outgoing parliament agreed and also created a $560 billion (500 billion euros) fund dedicated to rehabilitating Germany’s crumbling infrastructure.

    But Merz’s plans to revitalize Germany’s military and infrastructure could be seriously undermined by domestic forces – both within and outside of his coalition. It runs up against long-standing German norms and ideologies that threaten to hamper the state’s capacity and the government’s ability to act decisively.

    Ambivalence about state power

    This wobbly start to the new government hearkens back to old and deeply rooted divisions about the character of the post-World War II German state.

    In the late 1960s, West German Chancellor-to-be Willy Brandt quipped that the federal republic had become an “economic giant but a political dwarf.”

    Though the phrase would become a cliché, it captured both the fraught legacies of World War II and older German ambivalence about state power, which had long been associated with authoritarian politics under both the Nazis and the Wilhelmine Reich following German unification under Bismarck in 1871.

    U.S. President John F. Kennedy, left, rides through the streets of Berlin with West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt, center, and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
    Bettmann/Contributor

    Until the 1980s, such constraints posed relatively few problems. The country’s postwar “economic miracle” legitimized the fledgling democratic state, while empowering capital and labor within the export sectors that fueled the boom. This effectively devolved political power to economically strategic actors.

    These institutional features also reflected a distinctive postwar model of German politics that weakened centralized power. Achieved in the late 1940s by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, West German sovereignty was fragmented: domestically by federalism and decentralized political institutions, and internationally through integration into NATO and the European Economic Community.

    This “semi-sovereign state,” in political scientist Peter Katzenstein’s famous formulation, helped reclaim German moral credibility from the ashes of fascism and genocide. A decentralized state with robust checks and balances was viewed as both a bulwark against authoritarianism and a recipe for export-led growth and political stability.

    Even after the restoration of full sovereignty with German reunification in 1990, German officials still trod lightly. Their concern was that a more assertive Germany would reawaken old fears about German militarism. Moreover, they were content to privilege economic rather than military power as the coin of their peculiar realm.

    A nation of Swabian housewives?

    The historical ambivalence about the German state’s role and related dilemmas about German power will not be easy for Merz to resolve.

    With respect to Germany’s capacity for decisive leadership, the past three years suggest that much work remains to be done. Confronted with a series of unprecedented shocks − from Russian military aggression in Ukraine, to the attendant energy crisis that exposed German dependence on imported Russian gas, to the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) − Merz’s predecessor, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, called in 2022 for a “Zeitenwende,” or “epochal change,” in defense and energy policy.

    But instead, Scholz’s “traffic light coalition” of (yellow) Liberals, Greens, and (red) Social Democrats dithered and bickered, eventually succumbing to a rare – in German politics – public interparty squabble that ultimately brought down the government in late 2024.

    Reluctant to send its most advanced weapons – notably long-range Taurus cruise missiles – to Ukraine, and unable to overcome the Liberals’ hostility to badly needed fiscal expansion, Scholz was criticized for leading from behind, wary of backlash from pacifist currents in the German electorate and captive to long-held German concerns over expanding the national debt.

    Merz is looking not to repeat the same mistakes. But to accomplish his vision of a revitalized and more secure Germany, he has to overcome both the debt brake and, even more important, the deep ideological currents that gave rise to it.

    These factors intensified long-standing constraints on defense spending, which had failed to keep up with inflation for much of the 2000s and remained far below the NATO norm of 2% of annual gross domestic product.

    The “brake” was subsequently embraced by governments of both left and right, from SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s “Red-Green” coalition of 1998 to 2005 to the governments of Christian Democrat Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2021. As is abundantly clear in the pages of Merkel’s recent memoir, the proverbial character of the frugal “Swabian housewife” was one that she relished rather than resisted.

    But to many observers, this fetishization of austerity has contributed to decades of underinvestment in domestic infrastructure − from roads, to schools, to public buildings, to broader public services − failures which the AfD has been eager to exploit. And as promising as it seems, Merz’s commitment of $560 billion (500 billion euros) is approximately equivalent to the country’s existing needs, without accounting for future depreciation.

    Far-right activists gather near the Ostkreuz railway station in Berlin, Germany, on March 22, 2025 .
    Omer Messinger/Getty Images

    Even Germany’s traditionally punctual train service has become a laughingstock, with jokes about late or canceled trains now standard fare for German comics.

    Going beyond rhetoric

    It remains unclear whether Merz’s rhetorical shift and a constitutional change that permits but does not in itself create more robust defense spending augur a new direction in German politics, or whether Europe’s largest economy will continue to be hobbled by self-imposed constraints and parliamentary squabbling. If the latter happens, Germany risks both continued economic decline and bolstering the AfD, whose support comes disproportionately from economically stagnant former Eastern regions, and which last month surpassed Merz’s CDU in public opinion polls.

    And despite Merz’s commitments, not a single euro of the promised military and infrastructure funds has yet been budgeted. And even if it were, that would not address the country’s yawning needs in other areas, such as state-funded research and development and education.

    Europe, too, needs Merz’s words to turn into action − and soon. The threat of Russia to the east and the turning tide of relations with Trump’s America to the west has put the EU in a bind and in need of strong leadership.

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

    ref. New chancellor, old constraints: Germany’s Friedrich Merz will have a hard time freeing the country from its self-imposed shackles – https://theconversation.com/new-chancellor-old-constraints-germanys-friedrich-merz-will-have-a-hard-time-freeing-the-country-from-its-self-imposed-shackles-256048

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: NDA appoints two new Non-Executive Board Members

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    NDA appoints two new Non-Executive Board Members

    NDA announces Catriona Schmolke CBE FREng and Dr Neil Bruce OBE CEng as NDA Board members.

    NDA logo

    The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has announced that Catriona Schmolke CBE FREng and Dr Neil Bruce OBE CEng have been appointed to the NDA Board as Non-Executive Board members.

    Neil and Catriona will begin their three-and-a-half-year term on 1 June 2025.

    Catriona brings 40 years of expertise in the infrastructure sector as a hydrogeologist and engineer, with significant experience in Chief Executive, Board Chair and Non-Executive roles. Her career has spanned numerous sectors and major programmes, including nuclear, energy, water, waste, and contaminated land.

    She served as the Chief Safety Security and Sustainability Officer at Jacobs from 2014 to 2020. Catriona currently holds the position of Chair at Artus Air Ltd. Additionally, she serves as a Non-Executive Director and member of the Audit & Risk Committee for the National Physical Laboratory and Scottish Water Group. She is also a Non-Executive Director with NES Fircroft Ltd.

    Catriona is a former Visiting Professor of Sustainability at Newcastle University and serves as a lay member and Chair of the Statutory Safety Committee at Strathclyde University.

    Neil has 40 years of experience, including as a Chief Executive, Board Chair, and Non-Executive Director, in the maritime, resources, nuclear, built environment, and energy sectors. He has managed global and regional markets in over 50 countries, working with public, private, and PE-backed companies.

    Neil’s current roles include Non-Executive Director at McDermott International and Dar Groups; Executive Advisor and Chair with two private equity groups; Chair of a start-up waste-to-biofuels technology business and Visiting Professor at Robert Gordon University Aberdeen.

    His previous roles include President and CEO of SNC Lavalin Group Inc, Group COO at AMEC plc, and various leadership and delivery positions in major projects and in industry associations.

    Peter Hill CBE, the Chair of the NDA, said:

    I am delighted that Catriona and Neil are joining us. Their extensive experience will be invaluable in helping us to drive forward our nationally important mission.

    Catriona Schmolke CBE FREng said:

    I am honoured to join the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority as a Non-Executive Director. As we navigate the complexities of decommissioning and environmental stewardship, I look forward to contributing my expertise and experience in sustainable solutions to this nationally important mission, thus safeguarding the future for generations to come.

    Dr Neil Bruce OBE CEng said:

    It is a privilege to join the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority at this important juncture, as the breadth of its decommissioning work is set to expand. I am committed to leveraging my experience in energy and nuclear markets to support the NDA’s efforts in decommissioning the UK’s nuclear legacy, ensuring we meet the highest standards of safety and efficiency.

    Catriona and Neil were appointed to the NDA Board by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) following a fair, open and transparent selection process.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI: MicroAlgo Inc. Announces a Quantum Entanglement-Based Novel Training Algorithm — Entanglement-Assisted Training Algorithm for Supervised Quantum Classifiers

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    shenzhen, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Shenzhen, May. 16, 2025––MicroAlgo Inc. (the “Company” or “MicroAlgo”) (NASDAQ: MLGO), today announced the development of a novel quantum entanglement-based training algorithm — the Entanglement-Assisted Training Algorithm for Supervised Quantum Classifiers. They also introduced a cost function based on Bell inequalities, enabling the simultaneous encoding of errors from multiple training samples. This breakthrough surpasses the capability limits of traditional algorithms, offering an efficient and widely applicable solution for supervised quantum classifiers.
    The core of MicroAlgo’s entanglement-assisted training algorithm for supervised quantum classifiers lies in leveraging quantum entanglement to construct a model capable of simultaneously operating on multiple training samples and their corresponding labels. Unlike traditional machine learning methods, quantum classifiers can not only process information from individual samples but also perform parallel processing of multiple samples in quantum states, thereby significantly enhancing training efficiency.
    The algorithm represents multiple training samples as qubit vectors using quantum superposition, and encodes their label information into quantum states through quantum gate operations. Due to the entangled relationships between qubits, the classifier can simultaneously operate on multiple samples at once. This characteristic breaks away from the conventional sample-by-sample processing paradigm, greatly improving both training speed and classification performance.
    Furthermore, the algorithm introduces a cost function based on Bell inequalities—an important theorem in quantum mechanics that highlights the distinction between quantum entanglement and classical information processing. By encoding classification errors of multiple samples simultaneously into the cost function, the optimization process is no longer limited to individual sample errors but instead considers the collective performance of multiple samples. This approach overcomes the local optimization issues common in traditional algorithms and significantly enhances classification accuracy.
    The implementation of MicroAlgo’s entanglement-assisted training algorithm for supervised quantum classifiers relies on several core components of current quantum computing technology: qubits, quantum gate operations, and quantum measurement. With these fundamental building blocks, the algorithm can efficiently process input data on a quantum computer.
    Representation and Initialization of Qubits: at the initial stage of the algorithm, the input training samples are transformed into qubits. Each training sample corresponds to one or more qubits, which are initialized into specific quantum states. To enable entanglement, entangling operations are performed between multiple qubits so that they can collaboratively process sample data in the subsequent steps.
    Construction of Quantum Entanglement: quantum entanglement is one of the core features of quantum computing. In this algorithm, training samples are arranged into an entangled state, meaning that information between samples is shared and processed through entanglement. This not only improves data processing efficiency but also accelerates convergence during the training process.
    Application of Bell Inequalities and Cost Function Optimization: a key application of quantum entanglement is in the use of Bell inequalities. In the algorithm, Bell inequalities are employed to construct the cost function, with the objective of minimizing classification errors. Unlike traditional methods, this cost function simultaneously accounts for errors from multiple samples, allowing the optimization process to focus on the collective performance of all samples rather than optimizing on a per-sample basis. Through rapid quantum algorithmic computation, the cost function can be efficiently minimized to achieve optimal classification results.
    Interpretation and Output of Classification Results: finally, the algorithm outputs the classification results through quantum measurement. In binary classification tasks, the input training samples are divided into two categories, while in multi-class tasks, they are assigned to multiple classes. The advantage of quantum computing lies in its parallel processing capability, enabling the system to complete complex classification tasks in a significantly shorter amount of time.
    The greatest advantage of this technology lies in its ability to leverage the unique properties of quantum entanglement to parallelize the training process across multiple training samples. This not only accelerates the training speed but also effectively enhances classification accuracy. Especially in problems involving large datasets, traditional methods often face computational bottlenecks, whereas quantum computing can easily overcome these limitations.
    In addition, the cost function based on Bell’s inequality is theoretically more robust than traditional error minimization methods. It can simultaneously handle the errors of multiple training samples, thereby avoiding the local optimum problems that may occur in conventional approaches. This makes the supervised quantum classifier particularly effective in complex classification tasks.
    However, quantum computing still faces many challenges. For instance, the stability and computational scale of quantum computers remain limiting factors. The number of qubits and their error rates can both impact the practical performance of the algorithms. Therefore, how to implement efficient algorithms on existing quantum computing platforms remains a technical hurdle that needs further breakthroughs.
    With the continuous advancement of quantum computing technology, quantum machine learning is bound to become a key direction for future technological innovation. The entanglement-assisted training algorithm of the MicroAlgo supervised quantum classifier opens up new possibilities in this field. By integrating quantum entanglement with traditional classification algorithms, this technology demonstrates great potential in improving training efficiency and enhancing classification accuracy. Although quantum computing still faces numerous challenges, with ongoing progress in hardware and deepening theoretical research, we have every reason to believe that quantum computing will bring about a revolution in the field of machine learning. In the future, quantum classifiers may not be limited to traditional binary classification tasks—they could potentially exhibit unparalleled advantages in even more complex domains.

    About MicroAlgo Inc.

    MicroAlgo Inc. (the “MicroAlgo”), a Cayman Islands exempted company, is dedicated to the development and application of bespoke central processing algorithms. MicroAlgo provides comprehensive solutions to customers by integrating central processing algorithms with software or hardware, or both, thereby helping them to increase the number of customers, improve end-user satisfaction, achieve direct cost savings, reduce power consumption, and achieve technical goals. The range of MicroAlgo’s services includes algorithm optimization, accelerating computing power without the need for hardware upgrades, lightweight data processing, and data intelligence services. MicroAlgo’s ability to efficiently deliver software and hardware optimization to customers through bespoke central processing algorithms serves as a driving force for MicroAlgo’s long-term development.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains statements that may constitute “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of MicroAlgo, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of MicroAlgo’s periodic reports on Forms 10-K and 8-K filed with the SEC. Copies are available on the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov. Words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “believes,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, MicroAlgo’s expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the business transaction.

    MicroAlgo undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as may be required by law.

    Contact

    MicroAlgo Inc.

    Investor Relations

    Email: ir@microalgor.com

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: NowVertical Group Announces First Quarter 2025 Earnings Release Date and Financial Update Webinar

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NowVertical Group Inc. (TSXV: NOW) (“NowVertical” or the “Company”), a leading data and AI solutions provider, will announce its 2025 first quarter results after the market close on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. This will be followed by a webinar at on Thursday May 22, 2025, at 10:00 AM EST (7:00 AM PST), to discuss the Company’s financial results and provide a business outlook.

    Q1 2025 Financial Results Investor Webinar:

    NOW invites shareholders, analysts, investors, media representatives, and other stakeholders to attend our upcoming earnings webinar to discuss Q1 2025 results. Participants will include Sandeep Mendiratta, Chief Executive Officer; Christine Nelson, Interim Chief Financial Officer; and Andre Garber, Chief Development Officer. A live question-and-answer session will follow.

    Investor Webinar Registration:

    Time: Thursday, May 22, 2025, 10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

    Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_81iVl2rzQrS7E0lJ7xjlPA

    A recording of the webinar and supporting materials will be made available in the investor’s section of the company’s website at https://ir.nowvertical.com/news-and-media.

    About NowVertical Group Inc.
    The Company is a global data and analytics company which helps clients transform data into tangible business value with AI, fast. Offering a comprehensive suite of solutions and services the Company enables clients to quickly harness the full potential of their data, driving measurable outcomes and accelerating potential return on investment. Enterprises optimize decision-making, improve operational efficiency, and unlock long-term value from their data using the Company’s AI-Infused first party and third-party technologies. NowVertical is growing organically and through strategic acquisitions.

    For further details about NowVertical, please visit www.nowvertical.com.

    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.

    For further information, please contact:

    Andre Garber, CDO 
     IR@nowvertical.com 
    +1(647)947-0223 

    Investor Relations:

    Bristol Capital Ltd.
    Stefan Eftychiou
     stefan@bristolir.com
    +1(905)326-1888 x60 

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws (together “forward-looking statements”). Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, and contingencies, certain of which are unknown. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “may”, “should”, “will”, “could”, “intend”, “estimate”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “believe” or “continue”, or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by inherent risks and uncertainties, including: adverse market conditions; risks inherent in the data analytics and artificial intelligence sectors in general; regulatory and legislative changes and other risk factors identified in documents filed by the Company under its profile at www.sedarplus.com, including the Company’s management’s discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2024. Further, these forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as expressly required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: NextNRG Reports Preliminary April 2025 Revenues up 154% Year-over-Year

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MIAMI, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NextNRG, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXXT), a pioneer in AI-driven energy innovation—transforming how energy is produced, managed and delivered through its advanced Utility Operating System, smart microgrid technology, wireless EV charging and on-demand mobile fuel delivery solutions— today announced preliminary unaudited financial results for April 2025.

    April 2025 Highlights:

    • Revenue: $5.82 million, up 154% year-over-year
    • Gallons Delivered: 1.78 million, up 207% year-over-year

    April marks another strong month of growth, supported by sustained volume increases and recent expansion into Oklahoma, alongside rising demand from national fleet clients using NextNRG’s on-demand fueling platform.

    “Our April performance further validates the strength of our business model and execution strategy,” said Michael D. Farkas, Executive Chairman and CEO of NextNRG. “With year-over-year revenues more than doubling, we are seeing growing demand from national fleet operators who value the reliability, efficiency and sustainability of our smart fueling solutions. We’re not just delivering fuel, we’re laying the groundwork for a cleaner energy future. As we prepare to scale our Next Utility Operating System, our AI-powered microgrid systems, and wireless EV charging products, April’s results reflect our ability to grow rapidly while staying focused on operational efficiency and long-term value creation.”

    Note on Preliminary Results
    The financial results for April 2025 are preliminary and unaudited. Final results may differ and will be confirmed upon the completion of standard month-end and quarter-end closing procedures.

    About NextNRG, Inc.
    NextNRG, Inc. (NextNRG) is Powering What’s Next by implementing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into renewable energy, next-generation energy infrastructure, battery storage, wireless electric vehicle (EV) charging and on-demand mobile fuel delivery to create an integrated ecosystem.

    At the core of NextNRG’s strategy is its Utility Operating System, which leverages AI and ML to help make existing utilities’ energy management as efficient as possible, and the deployment of NextNRG smart microgrids, which utilize AI-driven energy management alongside solar power and battery storage to enhance energy efficiency, reduce costs and improve grid resiliency. These microgrids are designed to serve commercial properties, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, parking garages, rural and tribal lands, recreational facilities and government properties, expanding energy accessibility while supporting decarbonization initiatives.

    NextNRG continues to expand its growing fleet of fuel delivery trucks and national footprint, including the acquisition of Yoshi Mobility’s fuel division and Shell Oil’s trucks, further solidifying its position as a leader in the on-demand fueling industry. NextNRG is also integrating sustainable energy solutions into its mobile fueling operations. The company hopes to be an integral part of assisting its fleet customers in their transition to EV, supporting more efficient fuel delivery while advancing clean energy adoption. The transition process is expected to include the deployment of NextNRG’s innovative wireless EV charging solutions.

    To find out more, visit: www.nextnrg.com.

    Forward-Looking Statements
    This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statement describing NextNRG’s goals, expectations, financial or other projections, intentions, or beliefs is a forward-looking statement and should be considered an at-risk statement. Words such as “expect,” “intends,” “will,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those related to NextNRG’s business and macroeconomic and geopolitical events. These and other risks are described in NextNRG’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. NextNRG’s forward-looking statements involve assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove correct, could cause its results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although NextNRG’s forward-looking statements reflect the good faith judgment of its management, these statements are based only on facts and factors currently known by NextNRG. Except as required by law, NextNRG undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason. As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements.

    Investor Relations Contact
    NextNRG, Inc.
    Sharon Cohen
    SCohen@nextnrg.com

    The MIL Network