NewzIntel.com

Category: China

  • MIL-OSI USA: Padilla Appointed to Senate National Security Working Group

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) appointed him to another term serving on the National Security Working Group, a bipartisan group of Senators founded 40 years ago to address critical national security and foreign policy issues.
    Padilla was appointed to fill Senator Dianne Feinstein’s position on the working group after her passing in 2023. Feinstein served as a member of the group for over a decade.
    “As the United States faces increasing threats from adversaries like China and Russia, safeguarding our national security is a key priority,” said Senator Padilla. “I am honored to serve another term to advance emerging technologies essential for our national security, while striving to uphold Senator Feinstein’s legacy of working across the aisle to strengthen our alliances and protect human rights around the globe.”
    Senator Padilla has fought to protect American national security interests and is a staunch advocate for defending human rights. As a Commissioner of the bipartisan National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB), Padilla recently introduced the bipartisan National Biotechnology Initiative Act of 2025 to set in motion a whole-of-government approach to advancing biotechnology for U.S. national security, economic productivity, and competitiveness. The bill followed the Commission’s release of their major report and action plan, urging Congressional action to protect U.S. national security by bringing the full weight of American innovation to improve and maintain U.S. global leadership in biotechnology.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Dan Goldman, Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Organized Labor, Energy Advocates Slam Trump Administration’s Stop Work Order on New York’s Second Largest Offshore Wind Project

    Source: US Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10)

    Trump Administration Illegally Ordered Construction to Cease at Empire Wind 1, Threatens Offshore Wind Projects Nationwide 

     

    Empire Wind 1 Development Employs 1,500 Union Workers, Will Power 500,000 NYC Homes Upon Completion 

     

    See Pictures and Video from Event Here

    New York, NY – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) was today joined by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, organized labor, and industrial workforce and energy advocates for a press conference slamming the Trump administration’s unlawful stop work order for the fully-permitted Empire Wind 1 wind farm — the second-largest wind farm project in New York State — and urging the administration to reverse course. 

    The project employs 1,500 union workers and was set to deliver clean, renewable energy to over half a million New York City homes, provide over $100 million in supply chain economic investments across New York, and make significant progress toward the city’s climate and energy goals. 

    “Trump’s decision to halt the Empire Wind 1 project, and all offshore wind development, is a betrayal of his own ‘America first’ agenda,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “If executed, this directive would kill thousands of union jobs, reduce American manufacturing, increase energy prices, weaken our national security, and hand the clean energy future to China. In the name of his assault on climate initiatives, the President is actually undermining his own agenda and reducing American energy independence and dominance. I urge my Republican colleagues to work together to reverse this ill-advised decision.”

    Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said, “Donald Trump has made it clear that he is hellbent on keeping our air polluted and putting Americans out of work. The President claims to be all about creating blue collar jobs, but here he is erasing over 1,000 union jobs in what remains of Brooklyn’s working waterfront. With Empire Wind, Brooklyn is leading the nation’s transition toward renewable, reliable, and affordable energy. We won’t back down just because Trump says so. I’m proud to stand with Rep. Goldman and so many other partners today to reject this reckless decision.”

    State Senator Andrew Gounardes said, “The Trump Administration’s decision to revoke approval for Empire Wind 1 is a slap in the face to all New Yorkers. Empire Wind 1 isn’t just about power generation—it’s about powering our economy with good-paying union jobs, apprenticeships for our young workers, and billions in economic investment in neighborhoods like Sunset Park and Red Hook. This project was fully permitted. Shovels were already in the ground, creating jobs. We cannot sit by quietly while this administration blocks the path toward affordable energy, resilient infrastructure, and jobs that support families.”

    Councilmember Alexa Avilés said, “I am profoundly concerned by the decision to stop the ongoing offshore wind project in New York. Our community has fought for years to ensure that Sunset Park would be part of solutions to reduce carbon emissions, build healthier and green energy, and provide new local union jobs. It is undeniable that we must build offshore wind to address our energy needs while recognizing the climate crisis. Thank you to all the community partners, city agencies, unions and Equinor for their commitment to our community and offshore wind. We stand in deep support.”

    Glen Siegel and Michael Stamatis, Managing Partners of SSBMT L.P., Operators of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, said, “We are deeply disappointed by the Trump Administration’s abrupt and shortsighted decision to halt all construction of Equinor’s Empire Wind project in federal waters. This decision undermines years of planning, investment, and collaboration between public and private partners working together to realize New York’s clean energy goals and create good-paying union jobs right here in Brooklyn. Equinor’s Empire Wind project is not only essential to our state’s energy future—it is the catalyst for revitalizing SBMT as a national hub for offshore wind staging, assembly, and operations. This project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform New York’s working waterfront, drive economic development, and deliver sustainable, renewable energy to millions of residents.”

    Vincent Alvarez, President of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and Climate Jobs New York Director, said, “Hundreds of workers were prepared to start jobs on the offshore construction of Empire Wind 1 in just a few weeks, but now, their financial futures have been pulled out from under them. Thousands more jobs supporting the offshore wind industry – on the port at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, assembly and staging at Arthur Kill Terminal on Staten Island, and component manufacturing in Albany and across the country, to name a few – are also all now at risk. Our union members and our communities are counting on clean energy jobs. We need to protect them.”

    Gary LaBarbera, President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, and Climate Jobs New York Director, said, “This announcement is a blow to New York’s hardworking tradesmen and tradeswomen who are counting on this project to create high-quality, long-lasting jobs, and to everyone in New York who is struggling to afford their electric bills right now. Empire Wind was going to bolster the middle class, make our air cleaner, and bring much-needed local power to our energy grid to lower costs. This stop work order on a shovel-ready energy project is a massive step backward for union workers and our quest to build more domestic energy, and it sends a chilling effect to any developers looking to build energy projects here in America.”

    Christopher Erikson, Business Representative for Local Union No. 3 IBEW, said, “The nearly 29,000 members of Local Union No. 3, IBEW are disappointed with the federal government’s decision to pause construction on the Empire Wind 1 project. This action is detrimental to my members, other Building Trades workers, Sunset Park, and the surrounding communities who were counting on clean energy to be added to the grid to help power our neighborhoods. Local 3, IBEW members have been preparing for this project for years in anticipation of the union wages and benefits that would support them and their families. We stand in solidarity with Congressman Goldman, Equinor, and the team behind Empire Wind to express our dismay, disappointment, and anger at this shortsighted decision by the Trump administration. We hope this is only a pause, so that we can get to work on securing a clean energy future in our city and a healthier planet for ourselves and our families.”

    Jesse Solomon, Executive Director of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Corporation, said, “For the past year, SBIDC has been working directly with small businesses in Brooklyn to help them access offshore wind contracts and prepare for a generational economic opportunity. Empire Wind 1 is central to that progress. This is one of the most important climate and economic development projects New York has ever seen – we stand with Rep. Goldman in urging the federal government to reinstate this project.” – Jesse Solomon, Executive Director, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation.” 

    Chris Ward, Interim President and CEO at Waterfront Alliance said, “Clean, affordable, and reliable power for 500,000 homes. 1,000 jobs. A billion-dollar port. Yesterday, the Trump administration decided that New Yorkers do not need these. With the scratch of a pen, an incredible $2 billion investment to make the world better was halted. Waterfront Alliance is confident that wiser minds will prevail. We will offer every support to Equinor, the State and City of New York, and our partners in offshore wind and port development to see that this decision is reversed,”

    Esther Rosario, Executive Director of Climate Jobs New York, said, “If we stall these projects, we don’t just jeopardize our energy grid’s stability—we put workers’ livelihoods at risk. These aren’t abstract ideas — they’re real paychecks that were promised to working people in our unions and our communities. Local businesses, from bodegas to gas stations, also benefit when these projects are underway. We urge our federal government to reverse their decision to halt this project and our leaders in New York to stay the course and invest in and protect the union jobs that are rebuilding our middle class and building our future.”

    Julie Tighe, President of the New York League of Conservation Voters, said, “The federal government is placing American energy independence and abundance, thousands of union jobs, and clean air at risk with the reckless stop work order for Empire Wind. This project is fully permitted and will provide energy for half a million homes – there are no other ways to get that amount of energy into New York’s grid in the near term when electric demand is growing. We are proud to stand with Governor Hochul, Congressman Goldman, our friends in labor, and the environmental movement to fight this attempt to derail our clean energy future and hurt New York’s nation-leading progress to develop offshore wind power.”

    Allyson Samuell, Sierra Club’s Senior Campaign Organizer in New York said, “Offshore wind creates good jobs with good salaries and doesn’t pollute our air and water. This is the future for our energy system. The downstate New York region is incredibly dense, we don’t have a lot of space for large scale energy infrastructure on land. Offshore wind projects, like Empire Wind 1, are the ideal solution for providing electricity to the entire New York City metro-area. This project is essential to helping downstate New York meet the rising demand for electricity and ensure reliable energy for families. For New Yorkers, this is local power that is generated near where it’s needed, bringing us closer to energy independence.”

    Spurred by clean energy subsidies in President Biden and House Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project would be the first of its kind to plug directly into the New York City power grid, ultimately powering over 500,000 homes. The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal would also be the largest offshore wind Operations and Maintenance hub as well as staging area in the United States.  

    Congressman Goldman has championed the Empire Wind 1 project and offshore wind energy as a national security and economic imperative since taking office. 

    Last June, Congressman Goldman joined elected officials to break ground on the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which would serve as the largest offshore wind staging and maintenance port in the nation and connect offshore wind power to over 500,000 homes across New York City. 
    Last Spring, Congressman Goldman led a walking tour of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal to tout the role that Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits played in making Brooklyn the future offshore wind capital of America.  
    Congressman Dan Goldman is a member of the Congressional Offshore Wind Caucus, which pushes for policies to improve offshore wind technology, increase investment in the offshore wind workforce, and position the United States as a global leader in the industry. 

     ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: EUROPE/ITALY – Farewell to Father Angelo Lazzarotto, a great friend of Chinese Catholics

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    photo Lino Giudice

    by Gianni ValenteRancio di Lecco (Agenzia Fides) – The old group photo chosen to accompany this memory portrays him in civilian clothes, just behind Deng Xiaoping. It was May 22, 1978. At 53 years old, the priest and PIME missionary – his friend Lino Giudice tells us today – had managed to be included in the delegation, accredited in his visa application as a “spiritual advisor” to the Milanese politician Vittorino Colombo, visible in the photo to the left of the “Little Helmsman.”Colombo, a Christian Democrat senator, was at the time one of the “bridge builders” with post-Maoist China led by Deng on the path of open-minded reforms. Father Angelo took advantage of even the smallest opportunity to reach out and see how he could support the Chinese Catholic communities, severely affected by the turbulent years of the Red Guards and Cultural Revolution.Father Lazzarotto died this Tuesday, April 15, at the nursing home for missionaries of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) in Rancio di Lecco, where he had been receiving care since 2017. He would have turned 100 on May 14. The photo published in the “Quotidiano del Popolo” in 1978 sums up a long and passionate life dedicated to bearing witness to Christ, with a special love for his Chinese brothers and sisters.Born in Falzè di Piave, in the province of Treviso, Father Angelo discovered his missionary vocation during high school in Conegliano Veneto. He entered the PIME high school seminary in Genoa at the age of 15 and was soon impressed by the stories of faith shared by missionaries in China. He was ordained a priest on December 20, 1947, and the following year began studies in Missiology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, where he earned a degree three years later. In 1955, he also earned a degree in Missionary Law from the same university. During his time in Rome, he became acquainted with the Focolare Movement and immersed himself in the spirituality of unity and communion of Chiara Lubich.Throughout his life, Father Lazzarotto served the universal Church and especially the Church in China in many ways. Sent for the first time to Hong Kong in 1956, then a British colony, he experienced first-hand the difficulties faced by Chinese Catholic communities. After several years of service at his missionary Institute, he returned to Hong Kong in 1979. From 1985 to 1990, he was appointed Rector of the Pontifical Urban College of Propaganda Fide, by Cardinal Prefect Jozef Tomko. Later, in the 1990s, as the PIME website notes, “he actively collaborated with the CUM (United Center for the Missionary Cooperation among Churches ) in Verona, especially in the sections dedicated to Africa and Asia, for which he was responsible.”His passion for the Church in China can also be seen in his countless publications, books, articles, conferences, speeches and numerous trips to maintain contact with Chinese Catholic communities, listening first-hand to their desires, sufferings and prayers.Father Angelo was part of that group of missionary-Sinologists who, with different sensibilities but a common passion, helped in the decades following the Cultural Revolution to understand and accompany the reality of the Catholic Church in China and its journey in following the faith of the Apostles. Among them were Frenchman Jean Charbonnier, Polish Roman Malek, and his PIME confrere Giancarlo Politi, who preceded him in eternal rest.His intentions and speeches, always aimed at recognizing living faith in the midst of difficulties, promoted paths of communion and reconciliation, encouraging Chinese Catholic communities to overcome, or at least not exacerbate, contrasts and divisions.Father Lazzarotto’s funeral will be held on Thursday, April 17, 2025, at the PIME house in Rancio, Lecco. His remains will rest in the PIME Missionaries Cemetery in Villa Grugana, in the province of Lecco, Lombardy (Italy). (Agenzia Fides, 16/4/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Unleashes American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    UNLEASHING OPPORTUNITY IN THE PACIFIC: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a proclamation to unleash American commercial fishing in the Pacific Ocean—a key component of the America First Fishing Policy.
    The proclamation opens the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) to commercial fishing, boosting the economy of American Samoa.
    It allows U.S.-flagged vessels to fish commercially within 50 to 200 nautical miles of the PRIMNM’s boundaries.
    EMPOWERING AMERICAN COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN: President Trump believes that removing unnecessary restrictions on American fishermen will strengthen the U.S. economy, support local communities, and restore fairness to an industry disadvantaged by overregulation and foreign competition.
    The PRIMNM was first established by President Bush in 2009 and then expanded by President Obama, closing off over 400,000 square miles of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone in the Pacific.
    The ban on commercial fishing within the PRIMNM did little to guard fish populations against overfishing, as tuna and other pelagic species are migratory in nature and do not permanently reside within the PRIMNM.
    As a result of the prohibitions on commercial fishing, American fishing fleets have lost access to nearly half of the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone in the Pacific Islands.
    This has driven American fishermen to fish further offshore in international waters to compete against poorly regulated and highly subsidized foreign fleets, most notably from China.
    By supporting honest American fishermen, we combat the rampant illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing by foreign fleets.

    This disadvantages United States commercial fishermen and is detrimental for United States territories like American Samoa, whose private sector economy is dependent on the fishing industry.
    American Samoa is home to the only Buy American-compliant tuna processing facility for U.S. military rations and school lunch programs.
    This cannery is the largest employer on the island, providing about 5,000 jobs.  In fact, the cannery accounts for 99.5% of American Samoa’s exports and 84% of the private employment in the territory.

    ADVANCING U.S. ECONOMIC INTERESTS: President Trump’s actions to revitalize commercial fishing are part of his broader strategy to unleash the full potential of the American economy by prioritizing deregulation and cutting red tape.
    President Trump launched a 10-to-1 deregulation initiative, ensuring every new Federal rule is justified by clear benefits and accompanied by much larger deregulatory measures.
    President Trump established the National Energy Dominance Council to cut red tape, enhance private sector investments, advance innovation, and streamline the permitting process across all forms of American energy.
    President Trump established the “Department of Government Efficiency” to examine how to streamline the operations of the Federal Government, eliminate unnecessary programs and wasteful spending, and reduce bureaucratic inefficiency.
    President Trump has already reduced unnecessarily large governmental entities and terminated numerous harmful Biden expansions of governmental authority.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Murray, Kaptur Call on Energy Department to Reverse New Indirect Cost Cap That Will Gut Funding for Cutting-Edge Research

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray

    Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, sent a letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright expressing deep concern about how the Department’s recently announced cap on indirect costs for DOE research will jeopardize critical research and innovation—and calling on him to immediately reverse the policy.

    “We write to express our deep concern regarding the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent decision to impose a cap on indirect cost rates for DOE-funded research. This change threatens to destabilize America’s scientific research infrastructure, delay critical energy innovation, and result in widespread economic harm,” write Murray and Kaptur. “At a time when China is investing billions to catch up to the scientific advancements driven by decades of DOE investments, the U.S. should be accelerating its technological leadership, but this policy does the opposite.”

    The lawmakers note the cap will cut funding essential to conducing cutting-edge DOE research: “This cap represents a sweeping, indiscriminate funding cut that will jeopardize not just projects at universities but also university partners at the national laboratories and in industry. Scientists could be forced to scale back or shutter vital studies; collaboration across sectors may be frozen; and the next generation of clean energy technologies could be delayed or lost entirely.”

    Murray and Kaptur also underscore the implications of DOE’s new policy for the economy, stating: “Beyond its scientific implications, this policy change has serious economic consequences. DOE-funded research supports tens of thousands of jobs—from researchers and engineers to technical staff and support personnel—across all 50 states. In fiscal year 2024 alone, federal energy research investments generated billions in economic activity and helped anchor American competitiveness in global innovation markets. Weakening that support will reverberate through entire regions and industries, putting livelihoods at risk.”

    The lawmakers press Secretary Wright to explain the abrupt new policy change and call on him to reverse it, concluding: “[W]e also ask that you to immediately reverse this shortsighted and harmful new cap, which amounts to nothing short of a disastrous funding cut. DOE’s mission is too important to allow political interference to undercut America’s progress in energy research, climate resilience, and economic development. Let our scientists, engineers, and institutions continue their lifesaving, world-shaping work—uninterrupted.”

    The full letter is available HERE and below:

    April 16, 2025

    The Honorable Christopher Wright
    U.S. Department of Energy
    1000 Independence Ave SW
    Washington, DC 20585

    Dear Secretary Wright:

    We write to express our deep concern regarding the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent decision to impose a cap on indirect cost rates for DOE-funded research. This change threatens to destabilize America’s scientific research infrastructure, delay critical energy innovation, and result in widespread economic harm. At a time when China is investing billions to catch up to the scientific advancements driven by decades of DOE investments, the U.S. should be accelerating its technological leadership, but this policy does the opposite.

    DOE has long played a crucial role in supporting cutting-edge research in energy, climate science, advanced manufacturing, and national security. By capping indirect cost rates at 15 percent, this new policy undermines the essential support systems that make this research possible—such as the operation and maintenance of research facilities, labs, and technical infrastructure. Research institutions depend on these funds to conduct safe, innovative, and effective science.

    This cap represents a sweeping, indiscriminate funding cut that will jeopardize not just projects at universities but also university partners at the national laboratories and in industry. Scientists could be forced to scale back or shutter vital studies; collaboration across sectors may be frozen; and the next generation of clean energy technologies could be delayed or lost entirely. Even more worrying is the impact on our future science workforce, particularly in energy and critical and emerging technologies, where our nation has long struggled to recruit and train the best talent into roles at the intersection of technology and national security. 

    Beyond its scientific implications, this policy change has serious economic consequences. DOE-funded research supports tens of thousands of jobs—from researchers and engineers to technical staff and support personnel—across all 50 states. In fiscal year 2024 alone, federal energy research investments generated billions in economic activity and helped anchor American competitiveness in global innovation markets. Weakening that support will reverberate through entire regions and industries, putting livelihoods at risk.

    The policy’s abrupt implementation—absent consultation with the research community or Congress—has also introduced confusion and uncertainty into the energy research ecosystem. Programs will be paused, partnerships disrupted, and project leaders left with no clarity about how to proceed. In a moment that demands bold, collaborative leadership to meet America’s energy needs, these actions cause paralysis instead.  In regards to this new policy cap, please provide answers to the following questions:

    1. What will happen to existing awards at universities if they do not meet the new terms and conditions in this policy?
    2. What specific data or analysis did DOE use to determine that a 15% cap on indirect costs is appropriate and sustainable for research institutions?
    3. How does DOE justify this cap given that many universities currently operate with indirect cost rates significantly higher than 15% to cover essential research infrastructure and compliance?
    4. Was there any consultation with academic stakeholders, such as university administrators or research organizations, prior to implementing this policy change?
    5. What impact assessments has DOE conducted to understand how this cap will affect the financial viability of ongoing and future research projects at universities?
    6. Has DOE evaluated how this cap could influence the United States’ position in global research and innovation competitiveness?
    7. What are the long-term implications of this policy on the pipeline of future scientists and researchers trained through university programs?

    Particularly in light of the lack of information justifying this policy we also ask that you to immediately reverse this shortsighted and harmful new cap, which amounts to nothing short of a disastrous funding cut. DOE’s mission is too important to allow political interference to undercut America’s progress in energy research, climate resilience, and economic development. Let our scientists, engineers, and institutions continue their lifesaving, world-shaping work—uninterrupted.

    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Conference on Simplification of Procedures and Best Practices for E-commerce concludes (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    Conference on Simplification of Procedures and Best Practices for E-commerce concludes       
         This marks the first time for Hong Kong Customs to organise a large-scale A/P regional conference focusing on e-commerce, bringing together more than 200 representatives from the WCO, A/P Customs administrations, ASEAN members, and international and local industries. This Conference was also supported by the Economic and Technical Co-operation Work Programme under the ASEAN-Hong Kong, China Free Trade Agreement. 
          
         The event commenced with a ceremony officiated by the Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Dr Bernard Chan; the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Chan Tsz-tat; and the Head of Trade Facilitation Division of ASEAN Secretariat, Mr Cuong Ba Tran.

         Speaking at the commencement ceremony, Dr Chan highlighted that e-commerce is rapidly expanding across the globe, and Hong Kong is at the forefront to connect with global markets, in particular with ASEAN and other close partners in the A/P region. Noting that it is imperative for policymakers to closely collaborate with stakeholders to create a conducive environment for the healthy growth of e-commerce, he said that the Government is committed to developing Hong Kong into a cross-boundary e-commerce logistics and distribution centre, focusing on enhancing the efficiency of cross-boundary goods distribution and improving infrastructure connectivity, thereby strengthening Hong Kong’s competitiveness to position Hong Kong as a leading hub for e-commerce.Issued at HKT 18:52

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Warren, Sánchez, Chu Lead Democrats in Raising Concerns about Corruption Risks from Trump Chaotic Tariff Scheme

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren

    April 17, 2025

    Over 45 lawmakers sound alarms about possible illicit payments, influence-peddling, insider trading

    Text of Letter (PDF) 

    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, along with Representatives Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, and Judy Chu (D-Calif.), led a group of 44 Congressional Democrats in writing to Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer with concerns over  the potential for corruption in the implementation of the administration’s tariff policy. 

    The Trump administration’s tariffs rollout is rife with opportunities to unduly influence President Trump and other administration officials. The chaotic nature of the tariffs, including announcing them and pausing them shortly after they went into effect, provides ample opportunity for private sector corporations or sovereign nationals to corruptly seek exemptions. 

    “Corporations and sovereign nations facing existentially high stakes, and knowing tariffs are controlled by a small circle in the White House, can petition officials not to apply tariffs to them after the 90-day pause, to grant them exemptions, to decrease tariffs, or to impose tariffs on competitors — and can quietly offer something in return,” wrote the lawmakers. 

    President Trump’s record on tariffs in his first term illustrates his willingness to give preference to donors and allies while punishing enemies. Politically loyal companies that donated to Republican candidates, as well as companies with financial or political ties to President Trump, were more likely to be granted tariff exemptions after President Trump imposed them in his first administration. After auditing the Trump Administration’s tariff exclusion practices in 2018 and 2019, the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General found evidence of “off-record communications” and an “appearance of improper influence in decisionmaking for tariff exclusion requests.”

    “We fear the Administration is once again turning its tariffs policy into an underground market of exemptions in exchange for financial and political favors,” said the lawmakers. 

    President Trump has said he will consider exemptions and make decisions “instinctively,” while bragging about global leaders calling him in search of exemptions. 

    Trump’s ad-hoc process has started to bear fruit for special interests. Last week, the White House exempted smartphones and certain other high-end electronics from tariffs targeting China. Within hours, Big Tech stock prices soared — particularly the value of Apple, which makes the vast majority of its iPhones in China. Apple CEO Tim Cook donated to President Trump’s inauguration and cultivated a strong relationship with him in recent months, as he did during Trump’s first term to win tariff exemptions.  

    The on-and-off nature of President Trump’s tariffs also opens the door to rampant insider trading. Administration officials — and their families and friends — with early knowledge of changes in tariff policy can buy positions they expect will rise and sell those that will fall. On April 9, 2025, minutes before the administration announced a pause on most tariffs, the trading market began to skyrocket — suggesting that insiders acted on non-public information about the coming pause. President Trump then posted on social media “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!,” still before any official announcement, causing stocks to further spike.

    Members of Congress, including Senator Warren, have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and ethics officials to investigate whether any securities laws were violated with this announcement.

    At the same time, the top ethics watchdog who can hold the administration accountable appears poorly positioned to tackle tariff-related corruption. In late March 2025, USTR Ambassador Greer was named Acting Director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and now serves in both roles simultaneously. Therefore, a top tariff policy official is responsible for ensuring that tariff policy decisions are made free of financial conflicts.

    “This dual appointment raises blatant conflicts that risk undermining OGE’s ability to independently monitor trade officials’ conduct and recommend investigations into misconduct when necessary,” concluded the lawmakers. 

    The lawmakers asked the officials to provide clarity on the Trump administration’s exemption policy, if any official exemption request processes exist, where exemptions will be reported, whether an appeals process exists, the administration’s plans to ensure tariff exemptions are not corrupted, and more, by April 29, 2025.

    Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) joined in signing the letter. 

    The following Representatives joined in signing the letter: Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), Greg Casar (D-T.X.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Cleo Fields (D-La.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Al Green (D-Texas), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Timothy Kennedy (D-N.Y.), John Larson (D-Conn.), Summer Lee, (D-Pa.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Representatives Castor & Wittman Introduce Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill to Strengthen U.S. Role in Mapping Global Critical Mineral Resources

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Reprepsentative Kathy Castor (FL14)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor (FL-14) and Rob Wittman (VA-1) introduced the Finding Opportunities for Resource Exploration (Finding ORE) Act to strengthen U.S. mineral security and reduce strategic vulnerabilities. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) introduced a companion bill in the U.S. Senate.

    Critical minerals are essential to producing technologies for the defense, semiconductor, automotive, and energy sectors—industries that will determine America’s economic future and global influence. Although we have an abundance of domestic mineral resources, demand already outstrips this supply – we must work with allies and partners to achieve mineral security.  Additionally, the U.S. is heavily dependent on China for the production and processing of many key critical minerals.  This bill would leverage the strengths of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in geological mapping of critical mineral reserves while giving U.S. firms a leg up in responsibly developing global mineral resources around the world with strong environmental and labor standards.

    This bill builds upon the bipartisan legislation of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Critical Minerals Working Group, which Reps. Castor and Wittman co-chaired in the 118th Congress.

    “America’s dependence on adversarial nations for critical minerals poses a significant threat to our national security and our clean energy future,” said Representative Castor. “The Finding ORE Act leverages our expertise in geologic mapping to promote the sustainable development of critical mineral supply chains through international partnerships. This legislation will make our nation safer and stronger while supporting our strategic alliances. I’m grateful to my bipartisan colleagues for working together to enhance U.S. leadership in the clean energy transition.”

    “Critical minerals and rare earth elements are the building blocks of our modern economy and our national security,” said Representative Wittman. “This bill ensures that the United States can work hand-in-hand with like-minded nations to identify and responsibly develop these essential resources, while strengthening supply chain resilience and promoting American leadership in mineral exploration. Through this bill, we are reinforcing our alliances, building technical capacity, and supporting global standards in responsible mineral development. I’m proud to introduce the Finding ORE Act as a forward-looking solution to this pressing global challenge.” 

    “From the technology that powers the cell phones in our pockets to the systems that keep us safe, Americans depend on critical minerals for our economic strength and national security,” said Senator Coons. “The Finding ORE Act makes sure that our nation will have access to the essential materials we need to keep innovating, growing our economy, and deterring our enemies. I’m grateful for the bipartisan and industry support this bill has received and look forward to pushing for its enactment.”

    “Many countries are unmapped or reliant on outdated geological surveys. Our bill would create opportunities for collaboration between the United States and these countries to update geological mapping with the goal of locating critical mineral deposits. These partnerships would be mutually beneficial and provide the United States access to more critical minerals, reducing our dependence on China,” said Senator Todd Young.

    “We can’t solve climate change or strengthen national security without harnessing the power of critical minerals,” said Senator Hickenlooper. “Better and more accurate maps will help us and our allies safely and ethically explore untapped critical mineral deposits.”

    “Access to a reliable supply chain of critical minerals is essential to meet our nation’s defense, manufacturing, and energy needs,” said Senator Cornyn. “By shoring up alliances with trusted allies and promoting geological mapping of critical mineral reserves, this legislation would ensure America has the resources needed to keep up with global demand and bolster both our mineral security and national security in the years ahead.”

    “The United States has too often watched from the sidelines as our adversaries explored, invested in, and secured the world’s most promising mineral deposits,” said Abigail Hunter, Executive Director of SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy. “This bill changes that. It positions the United States—our geological experts and industry—to help identify and potentially develop the next generation of great deposits. It ensures we show up in resource-rich nations, rather than leaving them to deepen their ties with China.” 

    “The American Critical Minerals Association welcomes the bipartisan, bicameral introduction of the Finding ORE Act by Senators Coons, Young, Hickenlooper, and Cornyn and Representatives Wittman and Castor,” said Sarah Venuto, Executive Director of ACMA.  “Expanding our knowledge base of global minerals resources and growing partnerships with our allies will ensure the United States is a leading force in resourcing critical minerals in a responsible way.” 

    “Colorado School of Mines commends Senators Coons, Young, Hickenlooper, and Cornyn and Reps. Wittman and Castor for their bipartisan efforts to leverage U.S. expertise in mineral mapping to support safe, secure, and responsible mineral supply chains,” said Dr. John Bradford, Vice President for Global Initiatives at Colorado School of Mines. “When called upon to contribute, institutions with strong partnerships with USGS, like Colorado School of Mines, seek to support America’s government and industry partners to advance the technology, knowledge, and workforce required to responsibly identify, assess, and produce mineral resources in the U.S. and around the world.”

    “BPC Action applauds the bipartisan introduction of the Finding ORE Act. The bill will strengthen U.S. supply chain security by enhancing coordination with allies on critical mineral development, helping secure new critical minerals sources free from adversary control,” said Michele Stockwell, president of Bipartisan Policy Center Action (BPC Action).

    “Terra AI celebrates this forward-thinking, bi-partisan critical minerals exploration legislation introduced by Senators Coons, Young, Hickenlooper, and Cornyn and Reps. Wittman and Castor,” said John Mern, CEO of Terra AI. “The Finding ORE Act would empower America’s agencies and private firms to explore and claim the next major deposits of critical minerals which will supply our industries for decades to come; supporting manufacturing, aerospace, energy, and artificial intelligence. We support this act’s unique approach to winning the critical minerals race by leveraging America and Her Allies’ relative advantages — strong diplomatic relations, world-leading technology, and entrepreneurial spirit. This act is the essential early stage first step to establishing US global mineral dominance and winning this generational opportunity.  As a mineral exploration AI company, we see huge value in collaboration between the private sector and our nation’s diplomatic, geologic and financial agencies abroad. It is a winning playbook, and we look forward to seeing more legislation in this area.” 

    The Finding ORE Act would authorize the Director of USGS to enter into memoranda of understanding (MOU) with foreign partner countries related to the mapping of critical minerals. The bill identifies four objectives for these MOUs:

    • Committing USGS to assist the partner country with a range of critical mineral mapping activities;
    • Committing the partner country to offer a right of first refusal to private companies based in the United States or an allied country in the further development of mapped critical minerals;
    • Facilitating investment in the development of critical minerals in the partner country, including by leveraging financing from the U.S. Development Finance Corporation and Export-Import Bank;
    • Ensuring that mapping data created through a partnership with USGS is not disclosed to governmental or private entities in non-allied countries. 

    The bill requires USGS to collaborate with both the State Department and the private sector in identifying which countries to prioritize for the negotiation of an MOU, and would involve the State Department in the negotiation and implementation process.

    A one-pager on the bill is available here.

    The full text of the bill is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump takes a line from ‘world’s coolest dictator’

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor

    What a difference a dictator makes. Some world leaders get a rough ride in their Oval Office meetings with Donald Trump – most famously, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who the US president and his entourage publicly disparaged in their now-notorious meeting at the end of February. But not El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, the self-styled “world’s coolest dictator” – an autocrat whose country’s incarceration rate is the highest in the world – with whom Trump swapped a few friendly quips this week about authoritarian leadership.

    “They say that we imprisoned thousands. I say we liberated millions,” said Bukele about his record of jailing people without due process, adding that: “To liberate that many, you have to imprison some.”

    “Who gave him that line? You think I could use that?” replied Trump to general merriment.

    Bukele has obliged Trump by incarcerating hundreds of Venezuelan and Salvadoran migrants deported from the US on suspicion of being members of criminal gangs – none of whom have had their day in court. One person of particular interest to the journalists was Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man deported due to an “administrative error”. The US Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to do everything in its power to “facilitate” his return to his wife and family in the US.

    “Of course I’m not going to do it,” Bukele said, when asked if he would send Abrego Garcia back to the US, adding that it would be like “sending a terrorist back to the United States”. Smiles all round from the US officials. This apparently makes it a matter of foreign policy rather than a failure of US justice – or, just as crucially, an impending constitutional crisis over the Trump administration’s failure to obey a Supreme Court ruling.

    Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

    Bukele knows a thing or two about circumventing constitutional law, writes Amalendu Misra, a professor of international politics at Lancaster University, who has written extensively about Latin America for The Conversation. The Salvadoran president is serving a second term, despite his country’s constitution previously restricting a president from serving two consecutive terms.

    Critics say Bukele used his considerable majority to replace five members of El Salvador’s Supreme Court in order to get the decision he wanted – which may also have raised him in the US president’s estimation.

    Misra charts Bukele’s rise to power and his achievements in office, which include transforming El Salvador from the murder capital of the world to having one of the lowest homicide rates in the western hemisphere. But not without considerable infringements of human rights and civil liberties – something to which, as we’ve seen, Bukele unabashedly owns up.



    Read more:
    Nayib Bukele: El Salvador’s strongman leader doing Donald Trump’s legwork abroad

    Meanwhile, constitutional scholars are picking apart the US Supreme Court’s ruling in the matter of Abrego Garcia, who is currently sitting in El Salvador’s notorious Center for Terrorism Confinement (Cecot) mega-prison.

    What exactly did the court mean when it instructed the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return to the US? The US attorney-general, Pam Bondi, offered her interpretation on Wednesday – saying the decision was completely up to Bukele, and that if he wanted to send Abrego Garcia back, “we would give him a plane ride back”.

    Trump’s relationship with US constitutional law is already coming under a fair bit of scrutiny, as he and his senior officials have embarked on a concerted effort to push back against court rulings which seek to reverse or delay some of his policies.

    “Trump’s approach seems to be one of testing the limits of the law,” writes Stephen Clear, a constitutional law expert at Bangor University. Clear believes that Trump’s second term is going further, faster, than his first in putting pressure on the system of checks and balances on which the US constitution depends.

    Clear looks at Trump’s strategy of using executive orders to make policy – there have been 124 in his first 85 days (executive orders don’t need congressional approval). The federal courts are now examining many of these orders, which have been challenged on the grounds of unconstitutionality. The US Supreme Court is already facing an unprecedented number of emergency applications, and it remains to be seen when the justices will decide – and, crucially, how the administration responds to the Supreme Court’s decisions.



    Read more:
    Trump’s tactics for creating disruption are testing the limits of presidential power – a legal expert explains

    A federal court judge whose ruling regarding the deportation of 100 migrants to El Salvador was apparently disregarded by the Trump administration has released an opinion that this failure to comply constitutes “probable cause” to hold members of the administration in criminal contempt.

    US district court judge James Boasberg wrote that a judicial order “must
    be obeyed – no matter how erroneous it may be – until a court reverses it”. US legal scholar Cassandra Burke Robertson answers our questions about this matter.



    Read more:
    Federal judge finds ‘probable cause’ to hold Trump administration in contempt – a legal scholar explains what this means

    In the end, the most reliable test of Trump and the Republican party is still at the ballot box. The mid-term elections, the first real test of the US public’s approval of Trump 2.0, are more than 18 months away. But how is the second Trump administration going down with Americans?

    It depends who you ask, writes Paul Whiteley of the University of Essex. Whiteley, an expert scrutineer of public opinion, was interested to see whether the recent upheaval created by Trump’s tariffs plan had affected the way the US public views his performance.

    Committed Republicans still tend to give credit to Trump that he knows what he is doing, while Democrats, as you’d expect, remain fundamentally opposed to the administration. And the same goes, broadly speaking, for their respective views on his handling of trade policy. But the big shift, Whiteley observes, is among people identifying as independents, where Trump’s approval rating has fallen considerably, particularly over the tariffs.

    This is significant, Whiteley believes, because independents now make up the largest voter group in the US. He concludes: “If this shift continues, and independent voters support Democrat candidates in the 2026 mid-term elections, it means that the Democrats are likely to take control of Congress.”



    Read more:
    Have Trump’s tariffs affected his popularity? Here’s what approval data shows

    A tale of two peace talks

    Another Trump campaign promise is coming under increasing scrutiny: his pledge to end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours”. The US president now insists he was “being sarcastic” when he made that claim – but, after nearly three months, Trump’s efforts to end the war are “struggling to get off the starting blocks”, writes Jennifer Mathers from Aberystwyth University.

    Despite Zelensky having unconditionally accepted the initial proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and backing US efforts to establish a limited ceasefire – applying to energy infrastructure and on the ocean – Russia has redoubled its attacks. The recent Palm Sunday strikes, which killed at least 35 civilians in the border town of Sumy, appeared particularly gratuitous given that the two sides are supposed to be talking peace.

    Mathers writes that Vladimir Putin is deliberately doing all he can to drag his feet over negotiations, while maintaining Russia’s original demands for huge swaths of Ukrainian territory, guarantees that Kyiv will drop its plan to join Nato, and for elections to be held in Ukraine. You’d have to imagine that Moscow will pull out all the stops to ensure the winner is more to its liking than Zelensky.

    One of the main problems, as Mathers sees it, is that the various American diplomats keep repeating Putin’s demands, lending them legitimacy. It goes without saying that these demands find no favour with Kyiv, as they amount to virtually complete Ukrainian capitulation.



    Read more:
    Why is Donald Trump failing to bring peace to Ukraine like he promised?

    The other big diplomatic gambit involving the Trump White House is in Oman this weekend, as representatives from the US and Iran meet to discuss the possibility of a new deal on Iran’s nuclear programme. The initial signs aren’t good. Trump has threatened dire consequences unless Iran is willing to give up its nuclear ambitions. Iran refuses to countenance this idea.

    But there are signs that behind the scenes, there may be some progress. Iran’s leaders are under heavy domestic pressure to get sanctions lifted as its economy continues to tank. And it has been reported that Trump refused to approve joint US-Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

    Simon Mabon from Lancaster University – a specialist in Middle East security and particularly the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran – examines what the talks mean for the broader stability of the Middle East. He believes the outcome of the talks are being watched particularly closely by China, which has its own ambitions for the region.



    Read more:
    US-Iran: future stability of Middle East hangs on success of nuclear deal – but initial signs are not good

    Indian democracy

    Last year’s election in India was the biggest democratic exercise the world has ever seen, involving upwards of 642 million people casting their votes in seven phases across this vast country. It was, in fact, the biggest election ever to be held in India, surpassing the first elections held in 1951-52 after the country achieved independence from Britain.

    Tripurdaman Singh, a fellow of the University of London’s School of Advanced Study, has traced the progress of democracy in India from what he describes as “a moment of such staggering idealism and exuberance, a leap of faith so audacious, that the famous jurist and scholar Kenneth Wheare termed it ‘the biggest liberal experiment in democratic government’ that the world had seen”.

    Singh takes a detailed look at this experiment in democracy, examining the fledgling country’s constitution and how it has been interpreted since. He finds that this “idealism” was more of an aspiration than an actuality, and that power has always been firmly held by the executive. But, he writes, the sheer diversity of the electorate has – in the main at least – successfully prevented tyrannical impulses from India’s leaders. At least, it has thus far.



    Read more:
    Birth of India: ‘biggest experiment’ with democracy was a huge gamble. Happily the people have made it work – here’s how

    World Affairs Briefing from The Conversation UK is available as a weekly email newsletter. Click here to get updates directly in your inbox.

    – ref. Trump takes a line from ‘world’s coolest dictator’ – https://theconversation.com/trump-takes-a-line-from-worlds-coolest-dictator-254809

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Magaziner Leads Roundtable on Impact of Trump Tariffs on Rhode Islanders

    Source: US Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02)

    CRANSTON, RI — Today, U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02) hosted a roundtable discussion with representatives of the construction, hospitality, health care and manufacturing sectors in Rhode Island to address the negative impact of President Trump’s recent tariffs on workers, consumers and small businesses.

    “Presient Trump’s tariffs are the largest tax increase on the Middle Class in decades,” said Magaziner. “Tariff rates now are the highest that we have had since before the Great Depression.”

    View full video remarks from all speakers during today’s press conference here.

    View or download photos from today’s full roundtable discussion here.

    Speakers included:

    • Justin Kelley, Director of Organizing and Strategic Planning for the Rhode Island Building & Construction Trades Council, who spoke about the risk of construction projects being cancelled or scaled back due to tariffs imposed on building materials.
    • Ryan Moot, Manager of Business Development and Government Affairs, Rhode Island Hospitality Association, who spoke on the impact tariffs would have on local restaurants due to rising food costs and decreased tourism.
    • Lauryn T. Estrella, Executive Director, Home Medical Equipment and Services Association of New England (HOMES), who spoke about how the tariffs will make durable medical equipment more expensive and harder for patients to access.
    • Darryl Lindie, Owner of AA Sign & Awning in Warwick, who spoke about the impact to project-based small businesses.

    BACKGROUND

    The roundtable comes less than two weeks after President Trump’s unprecedented and chaotic tariff rollout on over 90 countries. A 10 percent tariff tax remains on goods from most countries, with significantly higher tariffs on many goods from China, Mexico and Canada.. Trump’s erratic tariff policy has resulted in continued sharp changes in the stock market, fueling economic uncertainty for consumer prices and businesses. 

    The group discussed how tariffs affect the cost of construction and housing materials, increase prices on medical devices that raise healthcare costs, impact Rhode Island’s vital tourism and travel industry, and make it difficult for Rhode Island small businesses to manage the cost of their inputs. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Biotech IPOs surge 68.4% YoY to $8.52 billion in 2024 amid public market recovery, reveals GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    Biotech IPOs surge 68.4% YoY to $8.52 billion in 2024 amid public market recovery, reveals GlobalData

    Posted in Business Fundamentals

    Biopharmaceutical initial public offerings (IPOs) saw an upturn in 2024, with 50 completed IPOs raising $8.52 billion, a 68.4% increase from the $5.06 billion raised in 2023 and marking the highest total IPO value raised since 2021. This rebound, driven by US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, marks the highest total since 2021. While cautious, investors are showing increased interest in companies with strong clinical data, signaling a recovery in the public markets and a shift toward more advanced-stage biopharmaceuticals, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    According to GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center Deals Database, completed IPOs that raised more than $100 million almost doubled, from $4.39 billion across 15 IPOs in 2023 to $7.88 billion across 24 IPOs in 2024.

    Alison Labya, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The increase in the number of high-value IPOs in 2024 suggests that while public investors remain selective, increased capital availability due to interest rate cuts has facilitated investments in biopharmaceutical companies with a strong value proposition.”

    The largest biopharmaceutical IPO completed in 2024 was Switzerland-based dermatology company Galderma, which raised $2.48 billion. Galderma’s IPO followed a planned IPO in February 2022 that did not close, as well as Galderma postponing its IPO in March 2023 amid market volatility.

    Labya adds: “Despite the overall increase in IPO value raised, discovery and preclinical-stage companies saw a four-fold drop in total IPO value from $490.6 million in 2023 to $112.5 million in 2024, indicating a shift in public investor preference towards more advanced stage companies.”

    However, IPO activity could be dampened by an anticipated increase in private biopharmaceutical M&A in 2025 as companies seek to refill their pipelines ahead of upcoming patent expirations.

    Labya concludes: “The US President Donald Trump’s administration has introduced uncertainty to the biopharmaceutical industry across healthcare policies, drug pricing reforms, and regulatory frameworks, all of which could impact investor confidence. Additionally, Trump’s recent tariff announcement on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China has led to increased market volatility, potentially delaying IPOs as investors await the countries’ responses to the tariffs.”

    Note: Includes all completed IPO deals for companies headquartered globally from 2020–2025 YTD. Includes deals where deal values are disclosed in the public domain.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Tariffs don’t just affect the global economy, but create political instability as well

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

    United States President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have created economic chaos in their aftermath. The stock markets are off to their worst start to a presidential term in modern history.

    The economic implications of Trump’s actions are well-documented. Furthermore, despite Trump’s temporary halt to the tariffs, their impact will resonate well into the future.

    But it’s important to understand that the economy is not detached from broader society. Trump’s disruption of the global economy could also lead to an increase in global conflict.

    Economic prosperity and war

    Economic prosperity does not automatically equate with political stability. Europe prior to the First World War was both prosperous and integrated. Nevertheless, while scholars and activists at the time argued these favourable conditions made war impractical, one of the worst conflicts in human history came to pass.

    Domestic economic prosperity can bind societies together. But tensions that otherwise might not be brought into focus, such as regionalism, emerge in times of economic hardship and transition. Reform Party founder Preston Manning’s recent stoking of separatist sentiments in Canada’s West is a case in point.

    Trump’s tariffs, if fully implemented, will result in economic recession for dozens of countries throughout the world. They will first impact the world’s most vulnerable countries, many of which have institutions that are either unstable or lack the fiscal backing needed to weather the storm.

    An example of such a development in recent history was the emergence of the Arab Spring in 2011. The 2008 financial crisis and ongoing agricultural failure created political strain for authoritarian states in the Middle East. They could not absorb the increased cost of grain to stabilize their societies.

    Governments, cognizant of this fact, will look for any means of retaining their power. Redirecting local disappointment abroad can be one such measure, much as Saudi Arabia did by blaming Iran during the Arab Spring.

    Look outwards, point fingers

    Governments have, historically, used foreign affairs as a means of distracting their populations from domestic problems. This feature occurs regardless of a state’s ideology. The banality of its occurrence in international relations is such that Hollywood made a satirical film, Wag the Dog, on the subject.

    Authoritarian states, however, are more susceptible to this phenomenon. Their governments’ lack of popular legitimacy means that an economic downturn weakens one of the levers they use to buy acquiescence from its citizens.

    Furthermore, economic uncertainty undermines authoritarian governments’ patronage networks. Not only do such governments lose the support of a majority of citizens to the economic uncertainty, but they also lose the important minority groups they use to maintain their rule.

    As such, authoritarian governments in the face of economic uncertainty will look outwards to build their legitimacy. But these governments need an ideology that will motivate their societies. For contemporary governments, one of the most effective mechanisms is nationalism.



    Read more:
    Argentina’s Javier Milei is playing the democratic game, but using authoritarian tactics

    The power of nationalism

    Nationalism’s utility for authoritarian states is twofold. First, nationalism emphasizes the collective over the individual. States, by stressing the importance of the nation, can encourage individuals to overlook the personal struggles they face in times of economic uncertainty.

    Second, nationalism by its nature creates an “in group” and an “out group.” Governments can use the out group as a rallying cry for its local population. While there are several instances where such developments are possible, China’s increasingly antagonistic stance towards Taiwan is an example.

    Governments, by rallying nationalist sentiment, will either indirectly or actively stoke the potential for conflict.

    Extending conflict

    Economic downturns, furthermore, force governments to make difficult decisions on what programs to cut. Some of the first programs governments chop in uncertain times are those focused on international aid. This phenomenon was already occurring, but tariffs will exasperate it.

    These cuts pose a problem for several reasons. Right-wing politicians have alleged in recent months that international aid is ineffective. But that’s not accurate — international aid benefits the countries that provide it; it’s not just a moral imperative. Specifically, it facilitates trade as well as accruing political advantages to the giving state.

    The more immediate concern, however, is that many states were dependent upon foreign aid for political stability. The loss of international aid will increase internal instability in vulnerable countries. Just look to the current instability in South Sudan as declining aid weakens South Sudanese social and government institutions.

    Not only is this development bad for the societies in question, but it will invariably increase the number of refugees seeking aid and safety beyond their borders.

    Individual choice

    It’s not just state responses to the tariffs that will create instability. The unilateral application of tariffs, and resulting economic and political fallout, will significantly increase the number of people seeking a better life.

    Economic migration is not a new phenomenon. While conflict-centred migration remains the focus of international law, economic migration continues to occur unabated.

    The lost economic opportunities in various states affected by tariffs will cause their populations to seek economic prosperity, at first internally and then abroad. This is not to suggest that migration itself creates instability. Instead, large-scale and unplanned migration will create strain both in countries that people leave and in the nations receiving them.

    Economic affairs rarely stay within the realm of business. Instead, Trump’s tariffs will create greater instability in international affairs for the foreseeable future.

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

    – ref. Tariffs don’t just affect the global economy, but create political instability as well – https://theconversation.com/tariffs-dont-just-affect-the-global-economy-but-create-political-instability-as-well-254045

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Deputy Secretary-General’s remarks at the Opening of the 4th Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals (P4G) Summit [as delivered]

    Source: United Nations secretary general

    Your Excellency To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam,
    Your Excellency Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam,
    Your Excellency Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,
    Your Excellency Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia,
    Excellencies,
    Distinguished guests,

    On behalf of the Secretary-General, António Guterres, I thank the Government of Viet Nam and the co-chairs H.E. Mr. Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and the Prime Minister of Denmark for organizing this year’s P4G Summit.

    This year marks a crucial inflection point: the tenth anniversary of both the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.

    A decade has passed, and much progress has been made.

    But let’s state what we all know to be true: we are nowhere near where we need to be.

    As I speak, there are 750 million people who do not have access to electricity.

    2 billion people have no clean cooking solutions to cook their dinner tonight.

    Children across the world are breathing air increasingly filled with fossil fuel emissions affecting their health.

    Not only are we not where we need to be, but  intensifying climate shocks and geopolitical turmoil threaten to push back some of the progress and development wins of the past decade.

    These statistics, and the picture I have painted is enough to make some give up. But as the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, ‘Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness’.

    Excellencies, three things give me hope today.

    First, what I see in this room today – leaders, representatives of governments, businesses, investors, and civil society from around the world. By showing up, you are showing your commitment to building societies that are more sustainable, more resilient, more inclusive, and more prosperous. You are not giving up.

    Second, the relentless human endeavor for genuine collaboration gives me hope. The Just Energy Transition Partnerships and the P4G’s public-private partnership are just two examples.  By working together for a common purpose, we can help emerging and developing economies transform their energy, water, and food systems to become zero-carbon and more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable.

    Third, the economic imperatives of taking climate action have never been stronger and more urgent.

    Last year, climate disasters caused 320 billion dollars worth of damage worldwide.

    The climate crisis is draining our pockets of resources that we desperately need for development.

    Yet experts estimate that every dollar invested in climate adaptation generates a return of up to 10 times.

    Meanwhile, the costs of wind, solar, and battery storage have plummeted so much that they have become the cheapest source of new electricity across most markets.

     Last year, renewables accounted for 92.5% of all new power capacity added globally, and clean power surpassed 40% of global electricity generation for the first time.

    This is not just an opportunity for tomorrow – the clean energy sector is already driving development and boosting jobs, accelerating digitalization and granting energy access to a wider range of people .

    1.5 million jobs and 10 per cent of GDP growth globally were added in 2023 across the sector.

    And crucially, most economies are now breaking the link between GDP growth and rising emissions.

    Viet Nam is setting the pace on clean energy. Its bold shift from coal isn’t just fighting climate change, it’s fuelling a fairer, more equal future for all.

    Excellencies,

    We have a rare opportunity in our hands.
     
    A new economic era is about to begin — and we’re right at the cusp of setting a concrete pathway to green growth.

    One that can ensure energy access, affordability, and security, and one that can create zero-carbon, disaster-resilient, and sustainable societies while protecting people and planet. At the UN, we have translated that vision and what it means for the multilateral system, under the Pact for the Future.

    Yet time is a luxury we do not have.

    The climate crisis is setting the pace and scale. It’s our responsibility to keep up.

    Investment is critical.

    To keep 1.5 degrees in reach and deliver on the SDGs, experts estimate that 2.4 trillion dollars per year will need to flow to emerging and developing economies outside China by 2030.

    That means around 1.6 trillion dollars of that going to the clean energy transition.

    And it means around 250 billion dollars to strengthen adaptation and resilience.

    And so, I urge every government leader here today to use the tools at your disposal.

    Accelerate the readily available, cost-effective solutions.

    And drive change with smart policies and reforms at every level – locally, nationally, and globally.

    The next round of national climate plans — or Nationally Determined Contributions — due well before COP 30 present a unique opportunity in this mission. As does meeting the Baku Road Map to deliver 1.3 trillion in Belém.

    They are the key to syncing energy and development plans, building energy efficient infrastructure that aligns with a country’s climate goals, developing industries of the future in green energy, as Vietnam has demonstrated, and creating clear, consistent policies that draw big investments.

    This means aligning national energy and development strategies, including regulatory framework to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with sustainable agricultural systems, digitalization, job creation, and clean energy access – fostering policy coherence and predictability to attract investments at scale.

    Viet Nam is demonstrating that attracting investments, even in challenging times, is not only possible but achievable. With FDI reaching impressive new levels of $2-3 billion every month, Vietnam stands as a powerful example for others to follow. 

    To the corporate, financial, and civil society leaders in the room, I urge you to keep up the pressure. Keep innovating and collaborating and shifting obstacles into business opportunities.

    And keep creating new models and partnerships that can mobilize finance at scale to drive commitments on climate and sustainable development into real investments in peoples’ lives.

    Finally, let us commit to deliver on the promise of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement to our people today and for future generations.

    Thank you.                                                    
    ***
     

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: US-Iran: future stability of Middle East hangs on success of nuclear deal – but initial signs are not good

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Simon Mabon, Professor of International Relations, Lancaster University

    For the second week in a row, senior officials from the United States and Iran will get together to take part in talks about the Iranian nuclear programme. It’s the second round in the latest negotiations – the first having taken place in Oman on April 12.

    But recent statements from both the White House and senior Iranian officials, including a difference of opinion on where the talks should be held, suggest that rapid diplomatic successes may not be forthcoming.

    Donald Trump’s stance on Iran has been unsurprisingly belligerent. It was the first Trump administration that withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed the policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran. Since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has reimposed this policy of maximum pressure.



    Read more:
    Donald Trump backs out of Iran nuclear deal: now what?

    Posting on X, the US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, declared that “Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program”. He also called for verification of any missiles stockpiled in the Islamic republic.

    Iranian officials vociferously rejected these US demands, with the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, asserting that the missile programme is not for discussion.

    Tehran needs a deal

    There is little doubt that Iran wants a deal, perhaps even needs a deal. It has been hit hard by sanctions over the past decade, which have hollowed out the country’s middle class.

    Israel’s military strikes on Iran and its allies over the past year have eroded the ideological and military clout of the Islamic Republic and wider “axis of resistance”. With the weakening of many of its allies, Iran’s missiles possess even greater importance as a deterrence.

    The strong line taken by the Trump administration leaves little room for manoeuvre. It risks further emboldening hardline elements in Iran, who are perhaps less willing to engage diplomatically. But any belligerent rhetoric from voices in Iran risks pouring fuel on an already incendiary situation.

    At the same time, the Islamic Republic faces a range of serious pressures domestically, such as that seen in the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, as well as increasingly vocal opposition from abroad – notably from the self-proclaimed Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah who was ousted in 1979.

    Though Iran may want a deal, it cannot capitulate – particularly after the events of the last year. And nor should it.

    US weighs its strategy

    Hawks in the US, Israel and elsewhere have, of course, heralded the Trump administration’s stance. Fears of an Iranian nuclear programme continue to drive the actions of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and others – although reports have just emerged that proposed Israeli strikes on targets in Iran were vetoed by Trump in favour of more negotiation.

    While the Gulf states would once have celebrated a tough stance on Iran, the situation is different now. Iran’s long-time rival, Saudi Arabia, has put aside decades of animosity in the hope of a more prosperous shared future.

    In a 2023 agreement mediated by China, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to normalise relations, reopening embassies and embarking on a series of coordinated military exercises. For Saudi Arabia, and in particular its crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, regional stability is essential in realising the ambitious Vision2030 programme – which leans heavily into global investor confidence and trust.

    As a result, the kingdom undertook a pragmatic shift in its regional affairs, embarking on a process of diplomatic rapprochement that surprised many observers. Riyadh has also taken steps towards normalisation with Israel, though the ongoing destruction of Gaza has paused such moves, at least for now.

    At the same time as the nuclear negotiations take place, Israeli strikes on targets in Syria continue. The fall of the Assad regime at the end of 2024 – and the back seat taken by its long-time supporter, Russia – has dramatically altered the political landscape of Syria.

    Though its former president, Bashar al-Assad, has found refuge in Russia, Moscow has taken a watching brief, eager not to antagonise Syria’s new regime and jeopardise its strategically important military bases on the Mediterranean coast. Members of groups previously favoured by the Assad regime, notably the Alawi communities, have fled to the Russian naval base at Latakia in search of protection.

    But thousands of others have been killed amid increasing violence as the forces of the new regime, led by Ahmad al-Shara, seek to extinguish all remnants of the Assad regime – a series of events that looks eerily similar to what occurred in Iraq 20 years ago, when the process of “de-Ba’athification” attempted to remove all traces of Saddam Hussein’s regime from public life.

    Fragile regional order

    The situation across the region is precarious, with the actions of global powers continuing to reverberate. While Washington puts pressure on Tehran and Moscow waits, the scope for Chinese influence in the region increases.

    Ironically, Trump’s tariffs on China may push Beijing further into the Middle East, seeking to capitalise on available opportunities. Its Belt and Road Initiative positions the Middle East firmly within China’s strategic interests. This is likely to open up a new front in the rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

    All the while, it is the people of the Middle East who continue to pay the heaviest price. Ongoing wars and insecurity, fears of a regional conflict, and precarious political conditions – as well as rising food prices and healthcare pressures – are creating a perfect storm that heightens the pressures and challenges of daily life.

    Simon Mabon receives funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.

    – ref. US-Iran: future stability of Middle East hangs on success of nuclear deal – but initial signs are not good – https://theconversation.com/us-iran-future-stability-of-middle-east-hangs-on-success-of-nuclear-deal-but-initial-signs-are-not-good-254817

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: AI-controlled fighter jets may be closer than we think — and would change the face of warfare

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Arun Dawson, PhD Candidate, Department of War Studies, King’s College London

    F-35 Lightning II combat jet. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Darlene Seltmann

    Could we be on the verge of an era where fighter jets take flight without pilots – and are controlled by AI? US R Adm Michael Donnelly recently said that an upcoming combat jet could be the navy’s last one with an pilot in the cockpit. That marks a striking, if not entirely surprising, shift in thinking about the future of aerial warfare.

    The US Navy is not alone. Other programmes to develop next generation fighter jets are also touting uncrewed options as a distinct possibility.

    However, we have been here before. Senior leaders in the US Navy said they believed the last crewed fighter jet had been procured in 2015. As far back as 1957, premature obituaries were being written for the fighter pilot era. So is there anything different now?

    The ability of a fighter jet to manoeuvre, accelerate, and maintain high speeds, crucial for air combat, is called kinematic performance. Estimates are as high as 80% on how much pilots reduce kinematic performance. Though this figure may be disputed, there is no question that uncrewed aircraft enjoy several key advantages.

    Without the need for life support systems such as ejection seats and oxygen supplies, these aircraft can perform in ways that are beyond the scope of piloted aircraft. But additional trends are pushing militaries to reconsider the role of the human pilot altogether.

    Systems enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) are already demonstrating superior performance in military exercises. In existing remotely piloted aircraft, a human operator remains in control. This model is known as “human-in-the-loop”. AI is now enabling the possibility of human-on-the-loop (where humans take a step back, supervising and intervening if necessary) and even “human-out-of-the-loop” systems (in which AI selects and engages targets autonomously).

    The latter category, while controversial, may offer decisive advantages. In scenarios where milliseconds matter, a fully autonomous system could outperform any human operator, to the extent that senior defence leaders have expressed a willingness to trust AI with lethal decision-making under certain conditions. Others add that autonomous systems could adhere more rigorously to the laws of armed conflict compared with a human operator.

    Unpiloted combat jets also offer potential financial savings. Fighter jets are expensive to build, operate and maintain, not least because of the training and equipment needed to support pilots. A 2011 study found that the life cycle cost of a surveillance drone was roughly half that of a comparable piloted platform. And cheaper aircraft are important because of the likely losses which will be inflicted on air forces in the event of a conflict with Russia or China.

    Another advantage of fully autonomous aircraft is risk mitigation. As Nato militaries grapple with a shortage of trained pilots for potential conflicts between states, uncrewed systems offer a way to restore the balance without putting lives at risk of death or capture.

    An F-16 Fighting Falcon undergoes modifications as part of the Venom autonomous fighter jet programme at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
    US Air Force / Samuel King Jr

    Therefore, one option for militaries is to expand the use of remotely piloted aircraft – drones similar to those deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Crucially, this would ensure humans maintain control over weapons use. The only difference with the present would be in making these systems the backbone of the fleet, rather than supplementary systems struggling to operate in hostile airspace. This would require upgrading them with state-of-the-art technologies like stealth. This helps fighters jets reduce their chances of being detected by the enemy’s radar and infrared (heat) sensors.

    A step up from this would be autonomous combat aircraft, carrying the advantages of on- or off-the-loop technologies. The US Air Force’s Project Venom is training AI in modified F-16 jets for eventual transfer to drones. These drones will operate alongside crewed aircraft, as part of mixed human and machine teams. But if this AI software was retained on the F-16s (or transferred to more advanced fighter jets), it could produce a squadron of autonomous jets just as capable as those piloted by humans.

    A more radical idea is to forgo traditional fighter jets altogether. Proponents of this vision imagine swarms of low-cost, expendable drones working together to overwhelm enemy defences. While current drones have limitations in range, payload, and labour requirements, true “swarming” could change the equation.



    Read more:
    How a new wave of fighter jets could transform aerial combat

    Current limitations

    So what is stopping militaries from pressing ahead with these options? A few things. AI isn’t ready, yet. Machine learning – a subset of AI where algorithms learn from experience – underpins all this. But it still struggles with the inherent ambiguity and creativity of war. Simply putting tyres on an aircraft can thwart computer vision – the field of AI that allows computers to interpret images and videos. So training AI to operate in the full range of possible combat situations is a mammoth task. In the words of one air force commander, “robotified warfare…is centuries away”.

    The US military has used AI agents to pilot the X-62A Vista aircraft.
    USAF / Kyle Brasier

    Another issue concerns communications, since remotely operated drone systems, especially interconnected, swarming ones, need data links. Given how much adversaries are investing in jamming these signals, designs may be pushed in opposite directions: either keeping a pilot onboard or embracing autonomy so the aircraft can keep fighting, even if it is cut off.

    Yet the real limit may be a fear of crossing the Rubicon. While the US and its allies have a de facto “no first use” policy on fully autonomous weapons, the demands of warfare against an enemy willing to use such systems may erode these norms.

    So, the navy’s statement is a warning: the age of the human fighter pilot might be ending. But it’s the next war that could make that decision for us.

    Arun Dawson 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. AI-controlled fighter jets may be closer than we think — and would change the face of warfare – https://theconversation.com/ai-controlled-fighter-jets-may-be-closer-than-we-think-and-would-change-the-face-of-warfare-254447

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: CHERRY Unveils MX Northern Light – A Limited-Edition Linear Switch Crafted for the Keyboard Community

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    The CHERRY MX NORTHERN LIGHT is a limited-edition linear switch engineered for peak smoothness and precision.

    K5V2 Keyboard + GP6 Northern Light Bundle also available for a limited time.

    KENOSHA, Wis. and AUERBACH IN DER OBERPFALZ, Germany, April 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CHERRY, the global leader in mechanical keyboard switch innovation, is proud to introduce the MX Northern Light, a limited-edition, community-crafted linear switch delivering the smoothest typing experience CHERRY has ever engineered.

    Developed by CHERRY’s in-house team of switch enthusiasts, MX Northern Light is a love letter to the keyboard community. It blends the latest MX2A innovations with never-before-seen enhancements, including an ultra-polished top housing and a custom-engineered blue bottom, resulting in a switch that’s as smooth as it is striking.

    “This is our most refined linear switch to date, and it’s made for the people who helped inspire it,” said Joakim Jansson, Managing Director of CHERRY. “MX Northern Light reflects what happens when CHERRY listens closely to its community and pushes the limits of precision engineering.”

    This exclusive set pairs the ultra-customizable K5V2 compact keyboard, featuring the new CHERRY MX Northern Light switches and uniquely designed PBT keycaps, with the matching GP6 Northern Light XL mousepad.

    Bold Bundle

    To celebrate the launch of MX Northern Light, CHERRY XTRFY is also releasing a limited-edition K5V2 + GP6 Northern Light Bundle. This exclusive set pairs the ultra-customizable K5V2 compact keyboard, featuring the new CHERRY MX Northern Light switches and uniquely designed PBT keycaps, with the matching GP6 Northern Light XL mousepad. Designed for performance and built to stand out, the bundle offers enthusiasts a premium typing and gaming experience with a cohesive, aurora-inspired aesthetic.

    Crafted by CHERRY’s in-house switch enthusiasts, the MX Northern Light features a polished top housing and a striking blue base, and is designed for the smoothest typing experience yet.

    Built by Enthusiasts, for Enthusiasts

    Crafted by CHERRY’s in-house team of engineers and enthusiasts, the MX Northern Light features a polished top housing and a striking blue base, and is designed for the smoothest typing experience yet.

    At its core, Northern Light delivers a smooth, dampened linear feel with whisper-quiet performance. Every keystroke is refined, responsive, and satisfying, and ideal for gaming, deep focus sessions, or simply enjoying the pure pleasure of a perfectly tuned mechanical switch.

    The switch is fully enhanced with the latest MX2A technology stack, including factory-applied premium lubricant that reduces friction, a noise-dampening barrel spring that softens the sound profile, and glide-optimized stem geometry paired with a polished top housing for ultra-smooth actuation.

    Built with CHERRY’s iconic Gold Crosspoint technology, Northern Light guarantees consistent performance and incredible durability, rated for over 50 million keystrokes without loss of quality. Add in its <1ms bounce time, and you have a switch that doesn’t just feel great, it keeps up with your fastest moves.

    Visually, the blue bottom housing sets Northern Light apart from every other CHERRY switch. It’s a bold look that reflects the bold thinking behind its design, which is eye-catching, distinct, and impossible to mistake for anything else.

    Northern Light (36 piece switch kit) Product Info

    • US availability: April 17
    • MSRP: $29.99
    • Amazon: Link

    K5V2 GP6 Northern Light Bundle

    • US availability: May
    • MSRP: $129.99
    • Amazon: Link

    This is a collector’s drop for the true keyboard connoisseurs, the enthusiasts who crave something rare, premium, and purpose-built.

    About Cherry

    Cherry SE [ISIN: DE000A3CRRN9] is a globally operating manufacturer of high-end mechanical keyboard switches and computer input devices such as keyboards, mice, and headsets for applications in the worlds of gaming, e-sports, office and hybrid workplaces, industry, and healthcare. Since it was founded in 1953, Cherry has been synonymous with innovative, high-quality products developed specifically to meet the various needs of its customers.

    Cherry has its operational headquarters in Auerbach in Germany’s Upper Palatinate region and over 400 employees in production facilities in Auerbach, Zhuhai (China), and Vienna (Austria) as well as in various sales offices in Auerbach (Germany), Munich (Germany), Landskrona (Sweden), Paris (France), Kenosha (USA), Chicago (USA), Taipei (Taiwan), and Hong Kong (China).

    More information is available online at https://www.cherry.de/en-us.

    Media Contact

    CHERRY@maxborgesagency.com

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f2727fda-81c8-473a-b375-a56e56583d7f

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e911935a-a210-432b-b5c3-d8606ec90ba0

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/55a9db02-375c-46e7-9b22-9931184d99c9

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: International students infuse tens of millions of dollars into local economies across the US. What happens if they stay home?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Barnet Sherman, Professor, Multinational Finance and Trade, Boston University

    The Trump administration has recently revoked the visas of more than 1,300 foreign college students – detaining some – and launched immigration enforcement actions on college campuses across the country. This has raised concerns among the more than 1.1 million international students studying at U.S. universities.

    Headlines are filled with perspectives from immigration and civil rights experts, but one aspect of the story often goes overlooked: the tremendous economic impact international students have on local communities.

    Although the actual impact on enrollment won’t be known until the next academic year, interest from foreign students in pursuing graduate-level education in the U.S. fell sharply in the early days of the Trump administration, one analysis showed.

    If these global scholars stay home, that’s bad economic news for cities and towns across the United States.

    A $44 billion economic impact

    Higher education is America’s 10th-largest export, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. (Yes, even though students are coming into the U.S. for their education, economists consider it an export.)

    Last year, U.S. colleges and universities attracted international students from 217 nations and territories, including one student from the island nation of Niue in the South Pacific. Their economic contributions added up to more than the value of U.S. telecommunications, computer and information services exports combined.

    While the national impact is impressive, the effects at the local level are even more important. After all, nearly every city across the U.S. has at least one institution of higher learning.

    The average international student brings a wallet stuffed with about $29,000 to spend on everything from tuition to pizza. As these students rent apartments, buy books and order DoorDash delivery to fuel all-nighters, they’re pumping money into the local community.

    This money translates into American jobs. On average, a new job is created for every four international students enrolled in a U.S. college or university. In the 2023-24 academic year, about 378,175 jobs were created. And that’s just counting jobs that are directly supported by international students, such as local business hiring to staff retail shops and restaurants. If you count those jobs indirectly supported by international students, such as employees at a distribution center, the number is even higher.

    A boon to local economies

    In any of the 50 largest American cities, you’ll find at least one college or university with international students on campus. For these communities, global learners bring a most welcome financial aid package.

    Consider Boston. Greater Boston hosts more than 50 colleges and universities, including Boston University, where I teach multinational finance and trade. The city’s economic gains from the more than 63,000 international students attending these schools are huge: about $3 billion.

    Prestigious private schools are a draw, but hands down the biggest pull for international students are state universities and colleges. Of the nation’s top schools enrolling these students last year, 29 were state colleges and universities, attracting over 251,300 students.

    In the top three of those public institutions alone − Arizona State University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Berkeley − international students contributed nearly $1.7 billion, supporting over 16,800 jobs. Expand that to the top 10 − the University of California system takes four of those spots − and the numbers pop up to $4.68 billion and 47,136 jobs.

    Bringing the world to Mankato

    Yet international students aren’t just boosting the economies of major university towns. Consider Mankato, a small city of 45,000 about 80 miles from Minneapolis that hosts a Minnesota State University campus. In the 2023-24 academic year, about 1,716 international students called Mankato their home away from home.

    Those students brought an infusion of $45.9 million into that community, supporting around 190 jobs. There are dozens of similar campuses in cities and towns like Mankato across the country. It adds up quickly.

    In addition to private and public universities, community colleges attract thousands of global scholars. Although their international enrollment declined during Covid-19, community colleges are resurgent, attracting some 59,315 international students in 2024, with China, Vietnam and Nepal leading the countries-of-origin list.

    Generating about $2 billion and supporting 8,472 jobs, they have a major economic impact − particularly in Texas, California and Florida, where the majority of these students come to learn.

    Texas leads the nation with the three community colleges with the largest international enrollment: Houston Community College, Lone Star College and Dallas College. Of the $256.7 million and 1,096 jobs international students brought into those institutions, Lone Star led the pack with $102.3 million and 438 jobs, nearly one job created for every two international students − double the national average.

    Due to changing demographics, American colleges enroll 2.3 million fewer domestic students than they did a decade ago − a decline of 10.7%. Colleges and universities are increasingly looking to international students to fill the gap. What’s more, universities tend to see international students as subsidizing domestic students, particularly since international students are generally ineligible for need-blind admissions.

    Moreover, the vast majority of international students are funded by family or foreign sponsors. Few require student aid packages. In fact, less than 20% of all international students receive grant funding from a federal source, and most of that goes to postgraduates doing advanced research. If you look at undergraduate exchange students alone, just 0.1% receive any sort of public funding.

    One thing’s for sure: Whether they’re attending small-town community colleges or the Ivies in big cities, international students bring a “high degree” of economic impact with them.

    This is an updated version of a story originally published Aug. 13, 2024.

    Barnet Sherman 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. International students infuse tens of millions of dollars into local economies across the US. What happens if they stay home? – https://theconversation.com/international-students-infuse-tens-of-millions-of-dollars-into-local-economies-across-the-us-what-happens-if-they-stay-home-254539

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The Thucydides Trap: Vital lessons from ancient Greece for China and the US … or a load of old claptrap?

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Andrew Latham, Professor of Political Science, Macalester College

    Retreat of the Athenians from Syracuse during a battle of the Peloponnesian War, from Cassell’s ‘Universal History,’ published in 1888. Ken Welsh/Design Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

    The so-called Thucydides Trap has become a staple of foreign policy commentary over the past decade or so, regularly invoked to frame the escalating rivalry between the United States and China.

    Coined by political scientist Graham Allison — first in a 2012 Financial Times article and later developed in his 2017 book “Destined for War” — the phrase refers to a line from the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, who wrote in his “History of the Peloponnesian War,” “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable.”

    At first glance, this provides a compelling and conveniently packaged analogy: Rising powers provoke anxiety in established ones, leading to conflict. In today’s context, the implication seems clear – China’s rise is bound to provoke a collision with the United States, just as Athens once did with Sparta.

    But this framing risks flattening the complexity of Thucydides’ work and distorting its deeper philosophical message. Thucydides wasn’t articulating a deterministic law of geopolitics. He was writing a tragedy.

    History repeats as tragedy?

    Thucydides fought in the Peloponnesian War on the Athenian side. His world was steeped in the sensibilities of Greek tragedy, and his historical narrative carries that imprint throughout. His work is not a treatise on structural inevitability but an exploration of how human frailty, political misjudgment and moral decay can combine to unleash catastrophe.

    That tragic sensibility matters. Where modern analysts often search for predictive patterns and system-level explanations, Thucydides drew attention to the role of choice, perception and emotion. His history is filled with the corrosive effects of fear, the seductions of ambition, the failures of leadership and the tragic unraveling of judgment. This is a study in hubris and nemesis, not structural determinism.

    Much of this is lost when the phrase “Thucydides Trap” is elevated into a kind of quasi-law of international politics. It becomes shorthand for inevitability: power rises, fear responds, war follows.

    But Thucydides himself was more interested in why fear takes hold, how ambition twists judgment and how leaders — trapped in a narrowing corridor of bad options — convince themselves that war is the only viable path left. His narrative shows how conflict often arises not from necessity, but from misreading, miscalculation and passions unmoored from reason.

    Even Allison, to his credit, never claimed the “trap” was inescapable. His core argument was that war is likely but not inevitable when a rising power challenges a dominant one. In fact, much of Allison’s writing serves as a warning to break from the pattern, not to resign oneself to it.

    Traditional Russian wooden dolls depict China’s President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.
    AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky

    In that sense, the “Thucydides Trap” has been misused by commentators and policymakers alike. Some treat it as confirmation that war is baked into the structure of power transitions — an excuse to raise defense budgets or to talk tough with Beijing — when in fact it ought to provoke reflection and restraint.

    To read Thucydides carefully is to see that the Peloponnesian War was not solely about a shifting balance of power. It was also about pride, misjudgment and the failure to lead wisely.

    Consider his famous observation, “Ignorance is bold and knowledge reserved.” This isn’t a structural insight — it’s a human one. It’s aimed squarely at those who mistake impulse for strategy and swagger for strength. Or take his chilling formulation, “The strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must.” That’s not an endorsement of realpolitik. It’s a tragic lament on what happens when power becomes unaccountable and justice is cast aside.

    Seen in this light, the real lesson of Thucydides is not that war is preordained, but that it becomes more likely when nations allow fear to cloud reason, when leaders mistake posturing for prudence and when strategic decisions are driven by insecurity rather than clarity.

    Thucydides reminds us how easily perception curdles into misperception — and how dangerous it is when leaders, convinced of their own virtue or necessity, stop listening to anyone who disagrees.

    It ain’t necessarily so.
    Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

    The real lessons of Thucydides

    In today’s context, invoking the Thucydides Trap as a justification for confrontation with China may do more harm than good. It reinforces the notion that conflict is already on the rails and cannot be stopped. But if there is a lesson in “The History of the Peloponnesian War,” it is not that war is inevitable but that it becomes likely when the space for prudence and reflection collapses under the weight of fear and pride. Thucydides offers not a theory of international politics, but a warning — an admonition to leaders who, gripped by their own narratives, drive their nations over a cliff.

    Avoiding that fate requires better judgment. And above all, it demands the humility to recognize that the future is not determined by structural pressures alone, but by the choices people make.

    This article is part of a series explaining foreign policy terms commonly used, but rarely explained.

    Andrew Latham 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. The Thucydides Trap: Vital lessons from ancient Greece for China and the US … or a load of old claptrap? – https://theconversation.com/the-thucydides-trap-vital-lessons-from-ancient-greece-for-china-and-the-us-or-a-load-of-old-claptrap-252954

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Thailand’s fragile democracy takes another hit with arrest of US academic

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer, International Studies, University of South Australia

    Despite the challenges faced by local democratic activists, Thailand has often been an oasis of relative liberalism compared with neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

    Westerners, in particular, have been largely welcomed and provided with a measure of protection from harassment by the authorities. Thailand’s economy is extremely dependent on foreign tourism. Many Westerners also work in a variety of industries, including as academics at public and private universities.

    That arrangement now seems under pressure. Earlier this month, Paul Chambers, an American political science lecturer at Naresuan University, was arrested on charges of violating the Computer Crimes Act and the lèse-majesté law under Section 112 of Thailand’s Criminal Code for allegedly insulting the monarchy.

    Chambers’ visa has been revoked and he now faces a potential punishment of 15 years in jail.

    The lèse-majesté law has become a common tool for silencing Thai activists. At least 272 people have been charged under the law since pro-democracy protests broke out in 2020, according to rights groups.

    Its use against foreigners has, until now, been limited. No foreign academic has ever been charged with it. Because of the law, however, most academics in Thailand usually tread carefully in their critiques of the monarchy.

    The decision to charge a foreign academic, therefore, suggests a hardening of views on dissent by conservative forces in the country. It represents a further deterioration in Thailand’s democratic credentials and provides little optimism for reform under the present government.

    Thailand’s democratic deficit

    Several other recent actions have also sparked concerns about democratic backsliding.

    Following a visit by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to China in February, the government violated domestic and international law by forcibly returning 40 Uyghurs to China.

    The Uyghurs had fled China a decade earlier to escape repression in the western Xinjiang region and had been held in detention in Thailand ever since. They now potentially face worse treatment by the Chinese authorities.

    Then, in early April, Thailand welcomed the head of the Myanmar junta to a regional summit in Bangkok after a devastating earthquake struck his war-ravaged country.

    Min Aung Hlaing has been shunned internationally since the junta launched a coup against the democratically elected government in Myanmar in 2021, sparking a devastating civil war. He has only visited Russia and China since then.

    In addition, the military continues to dominate politics in Thailand. After a progressive party, Move Forward, won the 2023 parliamentary elections by committing to amend the lèse-majesté law, the military, the unelected Senate and other conservative forces in the country ignored the will of the people and denied its charismatic leader the prime ministership.

    The party was then forcibly dissolved by the Constitutional Court and its leader banned from politics for ten years.

    In February, Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission criminally indicted 44 politicians from Move Forward for sponsoring a bill in parliament to reform the lèse-majesté law. They face lifetime bans from politics if they are found guilty of breaching “ethical standards”.

    Even the powerful former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, whose daughter is also the current prime minister, is not immune from the lèse-majesté law.

    He was indicted last year for allegedly insulting the monarchy almost two decades ago. His case is due to be heard in July.

    This continued undermining of democratic norms is chipping away at Thailand’s international reputation. The country is now classified as a “flawed democracy” in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, with its ranking falling two years in a row.



    Read more:
    Thailand’s democracy has taken another hit, but the country’s progressive forces won’t be stopped

    Academic freedom at risk

    The lèse-majesté law has always represented something of a challenge to academic freedom in Thailand, as well as freedom of speech more generally. Campaigners against the law have paid a heavy price.

    The US State Department has provided a statement of support for Chambers, urging the Thai government to “ensure that laws are not used to stifle permitted expression”. However, given the Trump administration’s attacks on US universities at the moment, this demand rings somewhat hollow.

    Academic freedom is a hallmark of democracies compared with authoritarian regimes. With the US no longer so concerned with protecting academic freedom at home, there is little stopping flawed democracies around the world from stepping up pressure on academics to toe the line.

    The undermining of democracy in the US is already having palpable impacts on democratic regression around the world.

    With little international pressure to adhere to democratic norms, the current Thai government has taken a significant and deleterious step in arresting a foreign academic.

    In the future, universities in Thailand, as in the US, will find it harder to attract international talent. Universities – and the broader society – in both countries will be worse off for it.

    Adam Simpson 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. Thailand’s fragile democracy takes another hit with arrest of US academic – https://theconversation.com/thailands-fragile-democracy-takes-another-hit-with-arrest-of-us-academic-254706

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Global Drone Market Projected to Reach $57.8 Billion By 2030 as Usage and Demands Soars

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PALM BEACH, Fla., April 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FN Media Group News Commentary – Industry experts are predicting a bright spot of good news about the drone industry value in 2025. New estimates project that the global drone market will be worth $57.8 billion by 2030. That’s a huge increase from previous forecasts, which had the drone industry worth $40.6 billion in 2025. That’s according to a fresh report, dubbed the Drone Market Report 2025-2030. It’s put out by Drone Industry Insights, which is a German consulting group. DII has been putting out similar reports for years now — and this latest report starts by looking at the drone industry value in 2025. From there, it looks at where the commercial drone space is headed over the next five years. As it turns out, the numbers are bigger than experts previously expected. The report said: “So why is the forecast different (and better) than usual? After all, the consumer drone market has not been doing well. But as is the case with many industries, the money is in the business side — not the consumer side. And for the former, drones have become essential tools in industries like construction, agriculture, and energy. Plus, they are increasingly finding their way into fields like logistics (as evidenced by growing drone deliveries, and public safety. As it turns out, most people are making money in drones not by building them, but by actually operating them. The commercial services segment is by far the largest within the drone industry. That’s people who fly for everything from wedding photography to making advanced maps. There’s also increasing military use of small, portable drones. That’s evidenced by groups like Dignitas fighting the war in Ukraine with drones. “Drones as a service” is a broad, widely-encompassing segment, but nonetheless it’s expected to reach $29.4 billion by 2025.  Behind that is the drone hardware industry. In 2025, drone hardware is worth $6.7 billion — but it’s also the fastest-growing segment. That’s likely fueled by recent innovations in BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) technology. It also has to do with growing trends like the proliferation of automated drone docking stations.” Active Companies in the drone industry today include ZenaTech, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZENA), Draganfly Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRO), Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCAT), Safe Pro Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SPAI), EHang Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: EH).

    The report continued: “Around the world, the number of global drone flights jumped 25% in 2024. Yes, takeoffs rose from an estimated 15.5 million to 19.5 million. Asia saw the most flights at 6.3 million, followed by North America (3.9 million) and Europe (3.8 million). We’ve seen this trend of Asian dominance in all sorts of facets of the industry… it’s impossible to ignore to China’s dominance in drone manufacturing. Of course, recent U.S. economic news around tariffs and free trade could upend this at any time. Just this month, China sanctioned a handful of companies, including some American drone companies. The retaliatory move is China’s way of hurting the U.S. drone industry — but it could also upend who really is the leader. Drone pilots around the world even wonder what the news — which on the surface only impacts the U.S. — could mean for prices and availability of drones for sale in their own countries (even if there isn’t a formal ban on DJI drones imposed on those countries). And with that, pay attention to the emerging role of Latin America and Africa. As drone accessibility improves and local ecosystems flourish, these regions could be the next big thing.”

    ZenaTech (NASDAQ:ZENA) to Showcase Drone as a Service (DaaS) and AI Drone Innovation for Commercial and Defense Markets at Two Premier Investor Conferences — D. Boral Capital Conference and Ladenburg Technology Innovation Expo25 – ZenaTech, Inc. (FSE: 49Q) (BMV: ZENA) (“ZenaTech”), a technology company specializing in AI (Artificial Intelligence) drone, Drone as a Service (DaaS), enterprise SaaS, and Quantum Computing solutions, announces that the company was invited and will participate at two prominent investor conferences next month: the D. Boral Capital Conference and the Ladenburg Thalmann Technology Innovation Expo.

    These high-profile investor events bring together a variety of institutional investors to explore cutting-edge technologies and investment opportunities. ZenaTech’s leadership team will present an overview of the company and engage in one-on-one meetings on the latest developments regarding its AI drone solutions for commercial and defense markets and the expansion of its Drones as a Service (DaaS) business model.

    Conference Details:

    D. Boral Capital Inaugural Global Conference: One of the most prestigious events for emerging growth issuers and institutional investors in the world, it showcases dynamic public and private companies across multiple sectors in an intimate setting. Approximately 75 presenting companies and hundreds of institutional investors are expected to attend. Date and Venue: May 14, 2025, The Plaza Hotel — 5th Avenue at Central Park South, New York, NY 10019

    Ladenburg Thalmann Technology Innovation Expo25: The Expo is a full-day event showcasing approximately 50 AI-driven technology companies through presentations, live demos, and one-on-one meetings. Designed to foster meaningful investor engagement, the conference brings together public company executives, institutional investors, and industry professionals. Date and Venue: May 21, 2025, Convene — 101 Park Avenue, New York, NY

    To book a one-on-one meeting with ZenaTech at one of these events, please refer to the conference website links. Continued… Read this full release by visiting: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-zena/

    Other recent developments in the markets include:

    Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCAT), a drone technology company integrating robotic hardware and software for military, government, and commercial operations, has recently said that it has successfully closed the previously announced registered direct offering with certain institutional investors for the purchase and sale of 4,724,412 shares of common stock resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $30 million, before deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses. The offering closed on April 11, 2025.

    “We believe this financing positions Red Cat for significant growth in the drone industry focused on aerospace and defense technologies, establishing Red Cat as one of the fastest growing drone companies based in the United States,” said Jeff Thompson, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Red Cat.

    EHang Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: EH), the world’s leading urban air mobility (“UAM”) technology platform company, recently announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on April 15, 2025. The annual report can be accessed on the Company’s investor relations website at http://ir.ehang.com/ and on the SEC’s website at https://www.sec.gov/.

    The Company will provide a hard copy of its annual report containing the audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to the Company’s Investor Relations Department at ir@ehang.com.

    Draganfly Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRO), an industry-leading developer of drone solutions and systems, recently announced that it has been selected by SafeLane Global Ltd. (“SafeLane”) as its preferred unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and aerial survey provider.

    SafeLane, a world-renowned specialist in explosive threat mitigation, is one of only two private organizations licensed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to conduct landmine and explosive ordnance clearance operations in Ukraine. With over 30 years of experience across more than 60 countries, SafeLane supports governments, humanitarian organizations, and commercial clients in the clearance and disposal of landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and explosive remnants of war (ERW), both on land and underwater.

    Under the agreement, Draganfly will provide advanced drone solutions, including UAVs, specialized sensors, and data analysis services, to support SafeLane’s global mine action initiatives. The collaboration aims to enhance the speed, accuracy, and safety of explosive threat detection and removal operations in high-risk environments.

    Safe Pro Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SPAI), a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven security solutions, recently announced that its white paper, “Drone-Based AI for Landmine and UXO Detection and Mapping” has been accepted for presentation at the Annual Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems (SAGEEP) 2025 event hosted by The Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society (EEGS). The paper showcases the Company’s patented, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered, drone-based imagery analysis technology’s application in the rapidly growing defense and humanitarian sectors.

    SAGEEP is a premier international conference focusing on the near surface, where practitioners, academics, researchers, consultants, students, and government representatives gather to hear presentations or view posters representing the latest in new approaches and methods in environmental and engineering geophysics. The technical program will also incorporate special sessions planned in Future of Geophysics- Innovative Geophysics and Engineering (FOG), Unmanned Vehicles and Drones, Geophysics for Archaeology and Forensics, GPR Platforms and case studies, HVSR, and Underwater Munitions Response Operations.

    About FN Media Group:
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    DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates FinancialNewsMedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM’s market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM has been compensated fifty one hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by ZenaTech, Inc. by the Company. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE

    This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. “Forward-looking statements” describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as “may”, “future”, “plan” or “planned”, “will” or “should”, “expected,” “anticipates”, “draft”, “eventually” or “projected”. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company’s annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

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    SOURCE: FN Media Group

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Wall Street caught between a rock and a hard place as tensions between US and China rise

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Johannes Petry, CSGR Research Fellow, University of Warwick

    American investment bank JP Morgan’s logo on its Hong Kong office. Tada Images / Shutterstock

    The trade war between China and the US has spiralled into unchartered territory. On April 10, the Trump administration imposed a tariff of 125% on all Chinese imports. China called the actions unfair and responded with similar measures.

    Within the broader debate around unravelling economic ties between the US and China, where economic interdependence has increasingly been viewed as a threat to US national security, this escalation raises questions about whether global finance is also reducing its presence in China.

    After all, the risks of financial connectivity with China have been discussed prominently by US policymakers in recent years. And many financial analysts have spent much of the past year discussing whether China has become “uninvestable” due to rising geopolitical tensions.

    However, as I show in a recently published study, most global financial firms have continued to expand their presence in Chinese markets over the last decade, even as tensions have intensified.

    Crucially, they have done so on China’s terms, operating within a system that prioritises government oversight and policy goals over liberal market norms. This pragmatic accommodation is quietly reshaping the global financial order.

    China’s capital markets, which have historically been sealed off from the rest of the world, have been opening up in recent decades. This has prompted global financial firms to expand their footprint in China.

    Investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have taken full ownership of local joint ventures. And asset managers like BlackRock or Invesco have established fund management operations on the Chinese mainland.

    Yet China has not liberalised in the way many in the west expected. Rather than conforming to global norms of open, lightly regulated markets, China’s financial system remains largely guided by the state.

    Markets there operate within a framework shaped by the policy priorities of the central government, capital controls remain in place, and foreign firms are expected to play by a different set of rules than they would in New York or London.

    Foreign investors have been allowed to buy into mainland markets, but through infrastructure that limits capital outflows and preserves regulatory oversight.

    Rather than adapting China to the global financial order, Wall Street has accommodated China’s distinct model. The motivation behind this is clear: China is simply too big to ignore.

    Take China’s pension system as an example. Whereas pension assets in the US amount to 136.2% of GDP in 2019, in China these only amounted to 1.6%. The growth potential in this market is enormous, representing a trillion-dollar opportunity for global firms.

    Consequently, index providers such as MSCI, FTSE Russell, and S&P Dow Jones – key gatekeepers of global investment – have included Chinese stocks and bonds in major benchmark indices.

    These decisions, taken between 2017 and 2020, effectively declared Chinese markets “investment grade” for institutional investors around the world. This has helped legitimise China’s market model within the architecture of global finance.

    America strikes back

    In recent years, Washington has sought to curtail US financial exposure to China through a growing set of measures. These include investment restrictions, entity blacklists, and forced delisting for Chinese firms on US stock exchanges. Such actions signal a broader effort to use finance as a tool of strategic leverage.

    The moves have had some effect. Some US institutional investors and pension funds have declared China “uninvestable”, and are reducing their exposure. American investments in China have roughly halved since their US$1.4 trillion (£1.1 trillion) peak in 2020.

    But attributing this solely to geopolitical pressure overlooks another key factor: China’s underwhelming market performance. A protracted property crisis, a government crackdown on tech companies, and a weak post-pandemic economic recovery have made Chinese markets less attractive to investors in purely financial terms.

    More strategically oriented investors from Asia, Europe and the Middle East have invested more into Chinese markets, filling gaps left by US investors. Sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East, especially, have engaged in more long-term investments as part of broader efforts to strengthen economic cooperation with China.

    And at the same time, many western financial firms have doubled down on their presence in China, expanding their onshore footprint. Since 2020, institutions like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and BlackRock have opened new offices, increased their staff, acquired new licences and bought out their joint venture partners to operate independently as investment banks, asset managers or futures brokers.

    It has become more difficult to invest foreign capital in China. But western financial firms are positioning themselves to tap into China’s huge domestic capital pools and capture its long-term growth opportunities – even as they tread carefully around geopolitical sensitivities.

    Fragmenting financial order

    It is too early to predict the long-term effects of the current geopolitical tensions. But Wall Street is trying to placate both sides. On the one hand, it is adapting to capital markets with Chinese characteristics. And on the other, it is trying not to antagonise an increasingly interventionist America.

    However, while holding its breath amid further escalation and having scaled back some of its activities, Wall Street has not left China. It is instead learning how to work within the constraints of a system shaped by a different set of priorities.

    This does not necessarily signal a new global consensus. But it does suggest that the liberal financial order, once defined by Anglo-American norms, is becoming more pluralistic. China’s rise is showing that alternative models – where the state retains a strong hand in markets – can coexist with, and even shape, global finance.

    As tensions between the US and China continue to rise, financial firms are learning to navigate a world in which existing relationships between states and markets are being reconfigured. This process may well define the future of global finance.

    Johannes Petry receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the German Research Foundation (DFG).

    – ref. Wall Street caught between a rock and a hard place as tensions between US and China rise – https://theconversation.com/wall-street-caught-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-as-tensions-between-us-and-china-rise-254490

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How petrostates succeeded in watering down the world’s plan to cut shipping emissions

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christiaan De Beukelaer, Senior Lecturer in Culture & Climate, The University of Melbourne

    The UN’s International Maritime Organization has just agreed to start charging ships for the greenhouse gases they emit. After decades of ineffective incremental tweaks to shipping emissions, the breakthrough came on April 11 at a summit in London. It makes shipping the first industry subject to a worldwide – and legally binding – emissions price.

    The positive spin is that getting any sort of deal is a major win for multilateral climate action, especially considering two strong headwinds.

    From within the meeting, there was sustained opposition to ambitious action from Saudi Arabia and other petrostates, as well as from China and Brazil. Second, the US had already disengaged from negotiations. Even so, from outside the meeting, the US administration’s tariff war and explicit threat to retaliate against states supporting a shipping pricing regime could have affected talks far more than they did.

    But we’re not sure that this agreement can be considered a success. While there is little traditional climate change denial at the IMO, “mitigation denial” is alive and kicking. Mitigation denial means making lofty promises, often in line with scientific evidence, but not adopting concrete measures able to deliver on these targets. This is exactly what petrostates pushed the IMO to do last week.

    Ultimately, the IMO has well and truly failed the most climate vulnerable, by favouring a more gradual and less certain transition to low-carbon shipping. It’s even effectively making these countries pay the price.

    What are the measures?

    The IMO agreement introduces a global fuel standard for shipping, with financial penalties for ships that don’t meet emissions targets. This is effectively a carbon-trading scheme.

    It sets two targets, both of which get tougher every year: a “base” level and a stricter “direct compliance” level. Ships that miss the direct target have to buy “remedial units”, and more expensive ones if they also fail the base level. Ships that go beyond their targets earn “surplus units”, which they can trade or save for up to two years.

    In practice, this means that the companies and countries that can invest in new technologies will earn a double dividend: they won’t pay for emissions and they will receive rewards for using low-emission fuels.

    At the same time, countries and shipping companies lacking the means to invest will effectively subsidise those early movers by paying penalties that reward them. Hardly any revenues will be available for the promised “just and equitable” transition that would ensure no country is left behind. No wonder nearly all delegates from vulnerable Pacific nations abstained from the vote at the IMO.

    For a typical ship burning heavy fuel oil in 2028, it works out at around US$25 (£19) per tonne of greenhouse gas. That’s far lower than needed to drive a rapid transition to cleaner fuels. We also still don’t know exactly how the money raised will be used.

    Delegates also agreed to update the IMO’s “carbon intensity” policy, which now requires ships to be 21.5% more fuel efficient by 2030 compared to 2019. This is a modest 2.5% improvement per year.

    Pacific island states and the UK were among those arguing for bigger cuts (up to 47%). China pushed for 15% and the EU proposed the surprisingly low 23%. The final result of 21.5% is a bad compromise that does not reflect scientific recommendations on meeting the IMO’s goals or what is possible with available technology.

    Climate action at the IMO

    This geopolitical struggle goes back decades. Following the adoption of the Kyoto protocol (a precursor of the Paris agreement) in 1997, the UN tasked the IMO with reducing shipping emissions. After two decades of little progress, in 2018 the IMO eventually set a weak target to cut emissions by 50% from 2008 levels. In 2023, that goal was strengthened to net-zero emissions “by or around 2050”, with interim targets of 20-30% cuts by 2030 and 70-80% by 2040.



    Read more:
    Why the shipping industry’s increased climate ambition spells the end for its fossil fuel use

    Most importantly, the 2023 strategy also committed to adopting legally binding measures in April 2025 to deliver on these targets. This has now happened.

    In light of that history, the new measures do constitute progress. However, their success has to be judged on whether they can actually meet the IMO’s targets.

    The 2030 goal is especially important as climate damage is proportional to cumulative emissions over time, so it’s important to cut emissions as soon as possible. If the shipping sector misses its 2030 target, it may have emitted too much carbon to still make a fair contribution to the Paris agreement.

    Academics at UCL have analysed the new IMO agreement. Unfortunately, they calculated the new policies will only deliver a 10% reduction by 2030 – that’s not even close to the 20% goal the IMO set, let alone the “strive” target of 30%.

    Mitigation denial?

    At the IMO’s closing meeting, Harry Conway, chair of its Marine Environment Protection Committee, held up a glass of water and remarked that at the start of the week, the glass was empty, now the glass is half full.

    As political spin, that image might work. But when it comes to setting a clear and ambitious path forward, the measures fall well short.

    The 2023 strategy committed nations to “strive” to deliver 30% emissions cuts by 2030. Last week’s meeting might yield 10%. Another reason why Pacific delegates abstained from voting. There is a lot more striving – and delivering – to be done.

    A credible pathway to reach net-zero by 2050 is now at risk. Strong pushback by the US, Saudi Arabia, China and Brazil, and weak leadership from the EU all played a role. Even adopting these modest measures – which requires a vote in October – and specifying operational “guidelines” afterwards will be an uphill battle.

    Christiaan De Beukelaer receives funding from the ClimateWorks Foundation.

    Simon Bullock is a member of the Institute for Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST)

    – ref. How petrostates succeeded in watering down the world’s plan to cut shipping emissions – https://theconversation.com/how-petrostates-succeeded-in-watering-down-the-worlds-plan-to-cut-shipping-emissions-254638

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI China: China slams US low-value package tariff as ‘disruptive’

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    This undated file photo shows the entrance to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in Beijing, capital of China. [Photo/Xinhua]

    China’s Ministry of Commerce on Thursday slammed the U.S. tariff adjustment on low-value packages as “disruptive,” noting that the move will “severely impact the interests of American consumers.”

    Spokesperson He Yongqian made the remarks at a regular press briefing, stressing that cross-border e-commerce offers unique advantages like high efficiency, fast delivery and low costs.

    The spokesperson went on to add that it not only caters to consumers’ growing demand for personalized and diverse products but also represents a key trend in the innovation of international trade, and has become an integral part of people’s lives.

    Cross-border e-commerce is a new form of trade that closely aligns with global consumption trends and effectively serves numerous consumers, she said.

    “Policy adjustments in this area should aim for facilitation,” the spokesperson said, adding that China is ready to work with other countries to enhance exchanges and cooperation, and jointly promote the sound and sustainable development of cross-border e-commerce.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: China to work with EU to safeguard rules-based multilateral trading system: Commerce ministry

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    The 100,000th China-Europe freight train, coded X8083, waits for departing at the Tuanjiecun Station in Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 15, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

    China is ready to work with the European Union (EU) to strengthen dialogue and communication, expand mutual opening-up, deepen practical cooperation, and jointly safeguard the rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core, a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said on Thursday.

    Spokesperson He Yongqian noted that the year 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the EU, and both sides are advocates of economic globalization and trade liberalization, and firm defenders and supporters of the WTO.

    He added that China is willing to work with the EU to maintain the stability of global industrial and supply chains, and inject more certainty and positive energy into the world economy through the independence and stability of China-EU economic and trade relations.

    The spokesperson made the remarks when responding to a question at a regular press conference.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: China’s commerce ministry maintains trade communication with U.S. counterpart

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    A file photo taken on Nov. 23, 2016 shows the national flags of the United States and China during the 27th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) in Washington D.C., capital of the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

    China’s Ministry of Commerce has maintained working-level communication with its U.S. counterpart, the ministry said on Thursday.

    China’s position has been clear and consistent, which is being open to consultations with the U.S. side on economic and trade issues, said spokesperson He Yongqian at a regular press conference.

    He said the unilateral tariff hikes were initiated entirely by the U.S. side, and it is up to the one who tied the bell to untie it.

    China urges the U.S. side to immediately stop exerting maximum pressure on China, cease its acts of coercion and blackmail, and resolve differences through equal dialogue based on mutual respect, He said.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: APAC deal activity dips 4% in Q1 2025 as slowdown in some key markets offsets gains in India and Japan, reveals GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    APAC deal activity dips 4% in Q1 2025 as slowdown in some key markets offsets gains in India and Japan, reveals GlobalData

    Posted in Business Fundamentals

    The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region has witnessed a 4% year-on-year (YoY) decline in deal volume* during the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, driven primarily by a slowdown in venture capital (VC) activity. Despite the overall dip, the region showcased mixed dynamics, with India and Japan reporting double-digit growth in deal volume, offsetting notable contractions in China, Australia, South Korea, and Singapore, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database revealed that the total number of VC deals announced in the APAC region YoY fell by more than 10%. In contrast, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal volume registered a YoY growth of around 1% while the number of private equity deals were up by around 4%.

    Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The APAC deal landscape presents a mixed picture reflecting both resilience and challenges across different markets within the region. While the overall deal volume has seen a slight YoY decline in Q1 2025, certain countries have exhibited notable growth showcasing their potential even in a challenging environment.”

    China, traditionally a powerhouse in the APAC deal landscape, experienced a notable YoY decline with deal volume dropping by approximately 18%. Australia, South Korea and Singapore also experienced fall in deal activity during the review period.

    Conversely, India emerged as a bright spot, with deal volume increasing by more than 14% during Q1 2025 compared to the same period in the previous year. Japan also showcased a remarkable growth, with deal volume surging by around 27% YoY.

    Bose concludes: “The diverging trends in deal activity across APAC underscore the shifting investor sentiment and evolving macroeconomic dynamics. As capital allocation becomes more selective, regional agility and policy stability will be the key determinants of future deal momentum.”

    *Coverage includes mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity and venture financing deals.

    Note: Historic data may change in case some deals get added to previous months because of a delay in disclosure of information in the public domain.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: China’s tech self-reliance accelerates amid sanctions, reshaping global innovation landscape, says GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    China’s tech self-reliance accelerates amid sanctions, reshaping global innovation landscape, says GlobalData

    Posted in Strategic Intelligence

    Geopolitical tensions and domestic challenges are accelerating China’s push toward technological self-sufficiency. As US sanctions intensify, China is doubling down on innovation across artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, robotics, and 5G. Strategic investments in critical minerals, digital infrastructure, and automation are positioning China to lead the next industrial revolution, reshaping global supply chains and creating a parallel tech ecosystem independent of Western influence, observes GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    GlobalData’s latest Strategic Intelligence report, “China Tech,” discusses the issue of whether China will lead the world into the Fourth Industrial Revolution by 2030, spurred towards greater self-reliance by the imposition of increasingly stringent US tariffs and sanctions. It looks at how things may play out for China in 14 of the key next-generation technology markets, namely semiconductors, 5G, robotics, consumer electronics, electric vehicles and energy storage, space technology, military technology, high-performance computing, biotechnology, alternative energy, autonomous vehicles, AI, smart cities, and internet platforms

    Isabel Al-Dhahir, Principal Analyst, Strategic Intelligence at GlobalData, comments: “One of China’s most prescient early moves was its upstream investment in mining and processing various critical minerals. This strategic decision has allowed the country to secure a pivotal position in global supply chains. China has seen consolidation of its midstream and downstream capabilities through investment into end-use products and the build-out of digital infrastructure to support the evolution of emerging technologies”.

    Beyond the influence of US restrictions, China’s technological landscape has been significantly molded by internal factors, particularly its aging demographics and contracting workforce. In response, China has championed using robots to mitigate the impact of these demographic challenges. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) reports that, as of 2023, China boasts 470 robots per 10,000 workers—a figure that has doubled since 2019, placing it third in the global rankings, just behind South Korea and Singapore. Both of these nations are similarly grappling with the implications of aging populations.

    Al-Dhahir continues: “AI and robotics are central to China’s growth strategy. China is the world’s manufacturing hub but faces rising labor costs and a shrinking labor force. Japan dominates the robotics supply-side market. However, China has articulated objectives to strengthen its home-grown R&D.”

    Another item high on China’s agenda is the further development and deployment of 5G networks and, by the late decade, the creation of almost zero-latency 6G wireless networks. This vision includes deploying a vast number of connected devices enhanced by real-time sensor data, leading to the creation of ultra-smart cities and digital ecosystems.

    Al-Dhahir concludes: “China is engaged in every significant technological frontier of the 21st century. The attempts to impede its advancement have, paradoxically, only hastened its progress. For some time, China has sought to expand its influence across developing markets, financing infrastructure projects and making recipient countries dependent on its technologies. This trend will likely continue, with further fragmentation of global supply chains and even the creation of separate technospheres with competing standards.”

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI: Former Australian Ambassador to the United States, The Hon. Arthur Sinodinos AO, Joins Cove Capital as Special Advisor to Bolster Strategic Growth in its global Critical Minerals Operations

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, April 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cove Capital LLC (“Cove” or the “Company”), a company at the forefront of developing critical minerals projects and advanced downstream technologies globally, is proud to announce the appointment of The Hon. Arthur Sinodinos AO, former Australian Ambassador to the United States, as a Special Advisor.

    Ambassador Sinodinos brings to Cove Capital a wealth of experience at the highest levels of diplomacy, business, and government policy. His tenure as Ambassador to the United States (2020–2023) was marked by a strong focus on deepening U.S.-Australia cooperation on energy security and critical minerals supply chains — priorities that align directly with Cove Capital’s mission. His leadership was instrumental in forging the U.S.-Australia Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact, which laid the foundation for collaborative investment and innovation in the sector.

    “We are honored to welcome Ambassador Sinodinos to the Cove Capital team,” said Pini Althaus, Chairman and CEO of Cove Capital. “His unique ability to navigate the intersection of diplomacy, policy, and strategic industry partnerships — particularly between Australia and the United States — is invaluable as we continue to scale our global ambitions in critical minerals and downstream technology development.”

    Cove Capital is actively engaged in the advancement of critical minerals projects in Central Asia, with a particular focus on Kazakhstan through its Portfolio company Kaz Resources, and in Uzbekistan. In these regions, with support from the U.S. government and under the framework of various Critical Minerals Agreements, the company is working alongside local governments and partners to unlock high-grade deposits of rare earth elements, lithium, and other key critical materials vital to national security and advanced manufacturing applications. These projects are designed not only to meet growing United States demand, but also to establish long-term, transparent supply chains that support a supply chain independent of China.

    In addition to its upstream activities, Cove Capital is strategically invested in downstream technology, including its Portfolio company, REEMAG LLC. REEMAG has developed an innovative and proprietary carbon-free and chemical-free recycling process for end-of-life rare earth NdFeB (neodymium-iron-boron) magnets — a critical bottleneck in today’s supply chain. The collaboration positions Cove Capital as a vertically integrated player in the rare earths sector, from resource development to refined materials.

    Ambassador Sinodinos will play a key role in advising Cove Capital on international government relations, stakeholder engagement, and strategic alliances — particularly as the company expands its presence in North America and Central Asia.

    “This is an exciting opportunity to support a company that is both innovative and strategically aligned with national and international priorities,” said Ambassador Sinodinos. “Cove Capital is contributing meaningfully to the resilience and diversification of critical mineral supply chains. I look forward to helping advance their mission in collaboration with key allies and partners.”

    As global demand for critical minerals accelerates, Cove Capital remains committed to being a reliable partner for governments, technology firms, and defense companies seeking reliable supply chains and ethically sourced and responsibly processed materials that power the future.

    About Cove Capital LLC

    Cove Capital was founded in 2015. With offices in Melbourne and New York (head office), Cove Capital invests in mining, processing and renewable energy technology. Since 2018, Cove Capital has been at the forefront of investment and development in critical minerals projects in the United States, Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region. Cove Capital, under the visionary leadership of Mr. Pini Althaus, brings unparalleled knowledge and extensive experience to the critical minerals industry.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: KE Holdings Inc. Files Its Annual Report on Form 20-F

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BEIJING, April 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — KE Holdings Inc. (“Beike” or the “Company”) (NYSE: BEKE; HKEX: 2423), a leading integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services, today announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 17, 2025. The annual report can be accessed on the Company’s investor relations website at http://investors.ke.com.

    The Company will provide a hard copy of its annual report containing the audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to the Company’s Investor Relations Department at ir@ke.com.

    About KE Holdings Inc.

    KE Holdings Inc. is a leading integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services. The Company is a pioneer in building infrastructure and standards to reinvent how service providers and customers efficiently navigate and complete housing transactions and services in China, ranging from existing and new home sales, home rentals, to home renovation and furnishing, and other services. The Company owns and operates Lianjia, China’s leading real estate brokerage brand and an integral part of its Beike platform. With more than 23 years of operating experience through Lianjia since its inception in 2001, the Company believes the success and proven track record of Lianjia pave the way for it to build its infrastructure and standards and drive the rapid and sustainable growth of Beike.

    For more information, please visit: https://investors.ke.com.

    For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

    In China:
    KE Holdings Inc.
    Investor Relations
    Siting Li
    E-mail: ir@ke.com 

    Piacente Financial Communications
    Jenny Cai
    Tel: +86-10-6508-0677
    E-mail: ke@tpg-ir.com 

    In the United States:
    Piacente Financial Communications
    Brandi Piacente
    Tel: +1-212-481-2050
    E-mail: ke@tpg-ir.com

    Source: KE Holdings Inc. 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: U.S. Air Force Capt. Logan Andrews, assigned to COMLOG WESTPAC, is named the 2025 Air Force Logistician of the Year

    Source: United States Navy (Logistics Group Western Pacific)

    Issued by: on

    SINGAPORE (Apr. 17, 2025) U.S. Air Force Capt. Logan Andrews, assigned to Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific/Task Force 73 (COMLOG WESTPAC/CTF 73), poses for a photo after being named the 2025 Air Force Logistician of the Year at Sembawang Naval Installation, Apr. 17, 2025. COMLOG WESTPAC supports deployed surface units and aircraft carriers, along with regional Allies and partners, to facilitate patrols in the South China Sea, participation in naval exercises and responses to natural disasters. (U.S. Navy
    photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jordan Jennings/Released)

    Date Taken: 04.17.2025
    Date Posted: 04.17.2025 07:02
    Photo ID: 8978759
    VIRIN: 250417-N-YV347-1001
    Resolution: 7286×4911
    Size: 29.46 MB
    Location: SG
    Web Views: 0
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN  

    This work, U.S. Air Force Capt. Logan Andrews, assigned to COMLOG WESTPAC, is named the 2025 Air Force Logistician of the Year, by PO2 Jordan Jennings, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.

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