Category: Economy

MIL-OSI: South Bow Reports Fourth-quarter and Year-end 2024 Results, Provides 2025 Outlook, and Declares Dividend

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

CALGARY, Alberta, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — South Bow Corp. (TSX & NYSE: SOBO) (South Bow or the Company) reports its fourth-quarter and year-end 2024 financial and operational results and provides its 2025 outlook. Unless otherwise noted, all financial figures in this news release are in U.S. dollars.

Highlights

Spinoff transaction

Launched as an independent company on Oct. 1, 2024, completing the planned separation (the Spinoff) from TC Energy Corp. (TC Energy).
Completed an initial notes offering on Aug. 28, 2024, raising approximately $5.8 billion, in aggregate, of U.S. and Canadian dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes and U.S. dollar-denominated junior subordinated notes. As part of the Spinoff, South Bow repaid the outstanding long-term debt owed to affiliates of TC Energy on Oct. 1, 2024.

Safety and operational performance

Demonstrated safety excellence in 2024, achieving record occupational and process safety performance during a transformative period.
Delivered record system availability in 2024, with an annual System Operating Factor (SOF) of 95% for the Keystone Pipeline due to continued improvements in system reliability.
Recorded annual average throughput on the Keystone Pipeline of approximately 626,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2024, an increase of 5% relative to 2023. Throughput on the U.S. Gulf Coast segment of the Keystone Pipeline System averaged approximately 795,000 bbl/d, increasing by 15% relative to 2023.
- Fourth-quarter 2024 throughput on the Keystone Pipeline and the U.S. Gulf Coast segment of the Keystone Pipeline System averaged approximately 621,000 bbl/d and approximately 784,000 bbl/d, respectively.
Advanced the Blackrod Connection Project in Alberta, anticipated to be ready for in-service in early 2026. South Bow is in the final stages of completing construction of the project’s 25-km crude oil and natural gas pipeline segments, with welding complete and hydrostatic testing activities underway. Facility construction, including the tank terminal, is expected to be completed in late 2025.
Received approval from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in Jan. 2025 of South Bow’s remedial work plan, substantially completing the conditions in the Amended Corrective Action Order (ACAO) related to the Milepost 14 incident (MP-14). In early March 2025, South Bow received approval from PHMSA to lift the pressure restriction on the affected segment to 72% of the specified minimum yield strength of the pipeline. The affected segment includes the section of the pipeline where the MP-14 incident occurred.

Financial performance

Delivered strong financial performance in 2024, underscored by the highly contracted nature of South Bow’s assets. Revenue and normalized earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation, and amortization (normalized EBITDA) increased relative to 2023 due to significant demand for uncommitted capacity on the Keystone Pipeline in the first quarter of 2024, and strong demand for capacity on the U.S. Gulf Coast segment of the Keystone Pipeline System throughout the year.
- Generated revenue of $488 million and $2,120 million for the three months and year ended Dec. 31, 2024, respectively.
- Recognized net income of $55 million ($0.26/share) and $316 million ($1.52/share) during the three months and year ended Dec. 31, 2024, respectively.
- Recorded normalized EBITDA¹ of $290 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2024, an increase of 11% from the three months ended Sept. 30, 2024, primarily due to the timing of trade settlements within South Bow’s Marketing segment. Normalized EBITDA for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024 was $1,091 million, an increase of 2% from 2023.
- Delivered distributable cash flow¹ of $183 million and $608 million for the three months and year ended Dec. 31, 2024, respectively.
Exited 2024 with total long-term debt and net debt¹ outstanding of $5.7 billion and $4.9 billion, respectively. South Bow’s net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio¹ was 4.5 times at Dec. 31, 2024, supported by the Company’s starting working capital balances and strong normalized EBITDA generated in 2024.
- South Bow expects that its net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio will increase modestly through the course of 2025 as the Company continues to invest in the Blackrod Connection Project and incur one-time costs of approximately $40 million to $50 million associated with the Spinoff. Consistent with the Company’s outlook on leverage, South Bow anticipates exiting 2025 with a net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio of approximately 4.8 times and that the Company will begin reducing its leverage once the Blackrod Connection Project starts generating cash flow in 2026.

Returns to shareholders

Committed to paying a strong and sustainable dividend, declared South Bow’s inaugural quarterly dividend of $104 million ($0.50/share) on Nov. 7, 2024. The dividend was paid on Jan. 31, 2025 to shareholders of record on Dec. 31, 2024.
South Bow’s board of directors (the Board) has approved a quarterly dividend of $0.50/share, payable on April 15, 2025 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 31, 2025. The dividends will be designated as eligible dividends for Canadian income tax purposes.

South Bow’s audited consolidated financial statements and notes (the financial statements), management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A), and annual information form (AIF) as at and for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024 are available on South Bow’s website at www.southbow.com, under South Bow’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca, and in South Bow’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at www.sec.gov. The disclosure under the section “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” in South Bow’s MD&A as at and for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024 is incorporated by reference into this news release.

South Bow’s standalone financial statements were prepared using information derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of TC Energy, including the historical cost basis of assets and liabilities comprising the Company, as well as the historical revenues, direct costs, and allocations of indirect costs attributable to the operations of the Company, using the historical accounting policies applied by TC Energy. The presentation of certain prior period comparatives have been updated for consistency with current year presentation.

_________________________

¹ Non-GAAP financial measure or ratio that do not have standardized meanings under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and may not be comparable to measures presented by other entities. See “Non-GAAP financial measures” of this news release.

Financial and operational results

$ millions, unless otherwise noted	Three Months Ended					Year Ended
$ millions, unless otherwise noted	Sept. 30, 2024		Dec. 31, 2024	Dec. 31, 2023		Dec. 31, 2024	Dec. 31, 2023
FINANCIAL RESULTS
Revenue	534		488	540		2,120	2,005
Income from equity investments	12		12	13		49	50
Net income	61		55	103		316	442
Per share¹	0.29		0.26	0.50		1.52	2.13
Normalized net income²	86		112	94		383	504
Per share^{1 2}	0.41		0.54	0.45		1.84	2.43
Normalized EBITDA²	262		290	278		1,091	1,074
Keystone Pipeline System	257		250	264		1,028	981
Marketing	(7	)	24	(2	)	12	42
Intra-Alberta & Other	12		16	16		51	51
Distributable cash flow²	163		183	161		608	785
Dividends declared	—		104	—		104	—
Per share¹	—		0.50	—		0.50	—
Capital expenditures³	61		28	11		122	37
Total long-term debt	10,452		5,716	5,967		5,716	5,967
Net debt^{2 4}	4,827		4,901	5,715		4,901	5,715
Net debt-to-normalized EBITDA (ratio)²	4.5		4.5⁵	5.3		4.5⁵	5.3
Common shares outstanding, weighted average diluted (millions)⁶	207.6		208.4	207.6		208.2	207.6
Common shares outstanding (millions)⁶	207.6		208.0	207.6		208.0	207.6

OPERATIONAL RESULTS
Keystone Pipeline SOF (%)	95		96	92		95	93
Keystone Pipeline throughput (Mbbl/d)	616		621	612		626	595
U.S. Gulf Coast segment of Keystone Pipeline System throughput (Mbbl/d)⁷	815		784	783		795	694
Marketlink throughput (Mbbl/d)	636		615	610		614	537

Per share amounts, with the exception of dividends, are based on weighted average diluted common shares outstanding.
Non-GAAP financial measure or non-GAAP ratio that do not have standardized meanings and may not be comparable to measures presented by other entities. See “Non-GAAP financial measures” of this news release.
Capital expenditures per the investing activities of the consolidated statements of cash flows of the financial statements.
Includes 50% equity treatment of South Bow’s junior subordinated notes.
South Bow expects that its net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio will increase modestly through the course of 2025 as the Company continues to invest in the Blackrod Connection Project and incur one-time costs of approximately $40 million to $50 million associated with the Spinoff. Consistent with the Company’s outlook on leverage, South Bow anticipates exiting 2025 with a net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio of approximately 4.8 times and that the Company will begin reducing its leverage once the Blackrod Connection Project starts generating cash flow in 2026.
The common shares issued on Oct. 1, 2024 have been used for comparative periods, as the Company had no common shares outstanding prior to the Spinoff. For periods prior to Oct. 1, 2024, it is assumed there were no dilutive equity instruments, as there were no equity awards of South Bow outstanding prior to the Spinoff.
Comprises throughput originating in Hardisty, Alta. transported on the Keystone Pipeline, and throughput originating in Cushing, Okla. transported on Marketlink for destination in the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Outlook

Capital allocation priorities

South Bow takes a disciplined approach to capital allocation to preserve optionality and maximize total shareholder returns over the long term. The Company’s capital allocation priorities are built on a foundation of financial strength and supported by South Bow’s stable, predictable cash flows. South Bow’s capital allocation priorities include:
- paying a sustainable base dividend;
- strengthening the Company’s investment-grade financial position; and
- leveraging existing infrastructure within South Bow’s strategic corridor to offer customers competitive connections and enhanced optionality.

Market outlook

Every day, South Bow safely and reliably transports crude oil to key demand and refining markets in the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast. With substantially all of the crude oil imported into the U.S. Midwest originating from Canada, and refining facilities in the U.S. Gulf Coast set up to process heavy crude oil, these markets rely heavily on Canadian crude oil supplies to meet their energy needs.
While approximately 90% of South Bow’s normalized EBITDA is contracted through committed arrangements, which carry minimal commodity price or volumetric risk, demand for uncommitted capacity on the Keystone System is anticipated to remain subdued in 2025 as Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) crude oil pipeline capacity exceeds supply.
The potential for, and continuation of, tariffs on energy imposed by the U.S. government and counter-tariffs imposed by the Canadian government have created economic and geopolitical uncertainty, resulting in volatility in pricing differentials. Persistence of this uncertainty may create additional headwinds for uncommitted capacity on South Bow’s pipeline systems and impact South Bow’s Marketing segment results. Given the uncertainty, South Bow’s guidance for 2025 does not account for the future potential impact of sustained tariffs.

2025 guidance

South Bow’s guidance aims to inform readers about Management’s expectations for financial and operational results in 2025. Readers are cautioned that these estimates may not be suitable for any other purpose. See “Forward-looking information and statements” of this news release for additional information regarding factors that could cause actual events to be significantly different from those expected.
The financial outlook for South Bow in 2025 is supported by the Company’s highly contracted cash flows and strong structural demand for services. Normalized EBITDA is projected to be approximately $1.01 billion, within a range of 3%, with approximately 90% secured through committed arrangements. South Bow reaffirms its long-term normalized EBITDA growth outlook of 2% to 3%.
South Bow has reduced its outlook for normalized EBITDA for its Marketing segment by approximately $30 million relative to 2024, due to continued impacts of WCSB crude oil pipeline capacity exceeding supply and South Bow’s response to market uncertainty caused by the potential for, and continuation of, tariffs, including the unwinding of certain positions to minimize South Bow’s exposure to further pricing volatility.
South Bow anticipates that its interest expense for 2025 will be approximately $325 million, within a range of 2%, and that the Company’s current tax rate will range from 23% to 24%.
Distributable cash flow is expected to be approximately $535 million, within a range of 3%, which South Bow will use to fund its expected annual dividend of $416 million ($2.00/share), subject to approval and declaration by the Board, and investments required to continue advancing the Blackrod Connection Project.
South Bow expects that its net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio will increase modestly through the course of 2025 as the Company continues to invest in the Blackrod Connection Project and incur one-time costs of approximately $40 million to $50 million associated with the Spinoff. Consistent with the Company’s outlook on leverage, South Bow anticipates exiting 2025 with a net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio of approximately 4.8 times and that the Company will begin reducing its leverage once the Blackrod Connection Project starts generating cash flow in 2026.
South Bow plans to invest approximately $110 million, within a range of 3%, in growth capital expenditures for the Blackrod Connection Project in 2025. The total expected capital cost of the project is estimated to be $180 million, targeted to be ready for in-service in early 2026. As of Dec. 31, 2024, South Bow has invested $62 million in the project.
Maintenance capital expenditures are estimated to be approximately $65 million, within a range of 3%, in 2025, as South Bow proactively completes maintenance activities while demand for uncommitted capacity is expected to be subdued, and invests in information services infrastructure. These expenditures are generally recoverable through South Bow’s tolling arrangements.

South Bow’s 2025 annual guidance and a review of 2024 actual results are outlined below:

$ millions, except percentages ¹	2024 Actuals	2025 Guidance
Normalized EBITDA	1,091	1,010 ± 3%
Interest expense	388	325 ± 2%
Current tax rate (%)	23%	23% – 24%
Distributable cash flow	608	535 ± 3%
Capital expenditures
Growth	73	110 ± 3%
Maintenance ²	61	65 ± 3%

Assumes average foreign exchange rate of C$/U.S.1.4286.
Maintenance capital expenditures are generally recoverable through South Bow’s tolling arrangements.

Refer to the section entitled “Guidance” in South Bow’s MD&A as at and for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024, available on South Bow’s website at www.southbow.com, under South Bow’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca, and in South Bow’s filings with the SEC at www.sec.gov.

Conference call and webcast details

South Bow’s senior leadership will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the Company’s fourth-quarter and year-end 2024 results and 2025 outlook on March 6, 2025 at 8 a.m. MT (10 a.m. ET).


Date	March 6, 2025
Time	8 a.m. MT (10 a.m. ET)
Webcast link	https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/fqe5oacv
Conference call link	https://register.vevent.com/register/BIbb6663202d26443895983db438ccaf6e

Register ahead of time to receive a unique PIN to access the conference call via telephone. Once registered, participants can dial into the conference call from their telephone via the unique PIN or click on the “Call Me” option to receive an automated call directly on their telephone.

Visit www.southbow.com/investors for the replay following the event.

Non-GAAP financial measures

In this news release, South Bow references certain non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios that do not have standardized meanings under GAAP and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. These non-GAAP measures include or exclude adjustments to the composition of the most directly comparable GAAP measures. Management considers these non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios to be important in evaluating and understanding the operational performance and liquidity of South Bow. These non-GAAP measures and non-GAAP ratios should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP.

South Bow’s non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios include:

normalized EBITDA;
normalized net income;
normalized net income per share;
distributable cash flow;
net debt; and
net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio.

These measures and ratios are further described below, with a reconciliation to their most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Normalizing items

Normalized measures are, or include, non-GAAP financial measures and ratios and include normalized EBITDA, normalized net income, normalized net income per share, distributable cash flow, and net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio. Management uses these normalized measures to assess the financial performance of South Bow’s operations and compare period-over-period results. During certain reporting periods, the Company may incur costs that are not indicative of core operations or results. These normalized measures represent income (losses), adjusted for specific normalizing items that are believed to be significant; however, they are not reflective of South Bow’s underlying operations in the period.

These specific items include gains or losses on sales of assets or assets held for sale, unrealized fair value adjustments related to risk management activities, acquisition, integration, and restructuring costs, and other charges, including but not limited to, impairment, contractual costs, and settlements.

South Bow excludes the unrealized fair value adjustments related to risk management activities, as these represent the changes in the fair value of derivatives, but do not accurately reflect the gains and losses that will be realized at settlement and impact income. Therefore, South Bow does not consider them reflective of the Company’s underlying operations, despite providing effective economic hedges. Realized gains and losses on grade financial contracts are adjusted to improve comparability, as they settle in a subsequent period to the underlying transaction they are hedged against.

Separation costs relate to internal costs and external fees incurred specific to the Spinoff. These items have been excluded from normalized measures, as Management does not consider them reflective of ongoing operations and they are non-recurring in nature.

Normalized EBITDA

Normalized EBITDA is used as a measure of earnings from ongoing operations. Management uses this measure to monitor and evaluate the financial performance of the Company’s operations and to identify and evaluate trends. This measure is useful for investors as it allows for a more accurate comparison of financial performance of the Company across periods for ongoing operations. Normalized EBITDA represents income before income taxes, adjusted for the normalizing items, in addition to excluding charges for depreciation and amortization, interest expense, and interest income.

The following table reconciles income (loss) before income taxes to normalized EBITDA for the indicated periods:

$ millions	Three Months Ended						Year Ended
$ millions	Sept. 30, 2024		Dec. 31, 2024		Dec. 31, 2023		Dec. 31, 2024		Dec. 31, 2023
Income before income taxes	90		72		131		418		562
Adjusted for specific items:
Depreciation and amortization	61		62		61		246		244
Interest expense	115		84		105		388		220
Interest income and other	(27	)	28		(7	)	(12	)	(32	)
Risk management instruments	(23	)	57		(15	)	8		25
Keystone variable toll disputes	11		(3	)	—		8		42
MP-14 costs	—		4		—		4		—
Separation costs	20		(1	)	3		29		3
Keystone XL costs and other	15		(13	)	—		2		10
Normalized EBITDA	262		290		278		1,091		1,074

The following table reconciles income (loss) before income taxes to normalized EBITDA by operating segment for the indicated periods:

$ millions	Three Months Ended Sept. 30, 2024
$ millions	Keystone Pipeline System		Marketing		Intra-Alberta & Other		Total
Income (loss) before income taxes	173		17		(100	)	90
Adjusted for specific items:
Depreciation and amortization	59		—		2		61
Interest expense	(1	)	—		116		115
Interest income and other	—		(1	)	(26	)	(27	)
Risk management instruments	—		(23	)	—		(23	)
Keystone variable toll disputes	11		—		—		11
MP-14 costs	—		—		—		—
Separation costs	—		—		20		20
Keystone XL costs and other	15		—		—		15
Normalized EBITDA	257		(7	)	12		262

$ millions	Three Months Ended Dec. 31, 2024
$ millions	Keystone Pipeline System		Marketing		Intra-Alberta & Other		Total
Income (loss) before income taxes	205		(32	)	(101	)	72
Adjusted for specific items:
Depreciation and amortization	59		—		3		62
Interest expense	(1	)	—		85		84
Interest income and other	(1	)	(1	)	30		28
Risk management instruments	—		57		—		57
Keystone variable toll disputes	(3	)	—		—		(3	)
MP-14 costs	4		—		—		4
Separation costs	—		—		(1	)	(1	)
Keystone XL costs and other	(13	)	—		—		(13	)
Normalized EBITDA	250		24		16		290

$ millions	Three Months Ended Dec. 31, 2023
$ millions	Keystone Pipeline System		Marketing		Intra-Alberta & Other		Total
Income (loss) before income taxes	203		14		(86	)	131
Adjusted for specific items:
Depreciation and amortization	60		—		1		61
Interest expense	3		1		101		105
Interest income and other	(2	)	(2	)	(3	)	(7	)
Risk management instruments	—		(15	)	—		(15	)
Keystone variable toll disputes	—		—		—		—
MP-14 costs	—		—		—		—
Separation costs	—		—		3		3
Keystone XL costs and other	—		—		—		—
Normalized EBITDA	264		(2	)	16		278

$ millions	Year Ended Dec. 31, 2024
$ millions	Keystone Pipeline System		Marketing		Intra-Alberta & Other		Total
Income (loss) before income taxes	778		6		(366	)	418
Adjusted for specific items:
Depreciation and amortization	238		—		8		246
Interest expense	1		1		386		388
Interest income and other	(3	)	(3	)	(6	)	(12	)
Risk management instruments	—		8		—		8
Keystone variable toll disputes	8		—		—		8
MP-14 costs	4		—		—		4
Separation costs	—		—		29		29
Keystone XL costs and other	2		—		—		2
Normalized EBITDA	1,028		12		51		1,091

$ millions	Year Ended Dec. 31, 2023
$ millions	Keystone Pipeline System		Marketing		Intra-Alberta & Other		Total
Income (loss) before income taxes	687		19		(144	)	562
Adjusted for specific items:
Depreciation and amortization	239		—		5		244
Interest expense	7		2		211		220
Interest income and other	(4	)	(4	)	(24	)	(32	)
Risk management instruments	—		25		—		25
Keystone variable toll disputes	42		—		—		42
MP-14 costs	—		—		—		—
Separation costs	—		—		3		3
Keystone XL costs and other	10		—		—		10
Normalized EBITDA	981		42		51		1,074

Normalized net income and normalized net income per share

Normalized net income represents net income adjusted for the normalizing items described above and is used by Management to assess the earnings that are representative of South Bow’s operations. By adjusting for non-recurring items and other factors that do not reflect the Company’s ongoing performance, normalized net income provides a clearer picture of the Company’s continuing operations. This measure is particularly useful for investors as it allows for a more accurate comparison of financial performance and trends across different periods. On a per share basis, normalized net income is derived by dividing the normalized net income by the weighted average common shares outstanding at the end of the period. This per share measure is valuable for investors as it provides insight into South Bow’s profitability on a per share basis, assisting in evaluating the Company’s performance.

The following table reconciles net income to normalized net income for the indicated periods:

$ millions, except common shares outstanding and per share amounts	Three Months Ended						Year Ended
	Sept. 30, 2024		Dec. 31, 2024		Dec. 31, 2023		Dec. 31, 2024		Dec. 31, 2023
Net income	61		55		103		316		442
Adjusted for specific items:
Risk management instruments	(23	)	57		(15	)	8		25
Keystone variable toll disputes	11		(3	)	—		8		42
MP-14 settlement	—		4		—		4		—
Separation costs	20		27		3		67		3
Keystone XL costs and other	15		(13	)	3		2		17
Tax effect of the above adjustments	(8	)	(15	)	—		(22	)	(25	)
Normalized net income	76		112		94		383		504
Common shares outstanding, weighted average diluted (millions)	207.6		208.4		207.6		208.2		207.6
Normalized net income per share	0.41		0.54		0.45		1.84		2.43

Distributable cash flow

Distributable cash flow is used to assess the cash generated through business operations that can be used for South Bow’s capital allocation decisions, helping investors understand the Company’s cash-generating capabilities and its potential for returning value to shareholders. Distributable cash flow is based on income before income taxes, adjusted for depreciation and amortization, interest income and other, the normalizing items discussed above, and further adjusted for specific items, including income and distributions from the Company’s equity investments, maintenance capital expenditures, which are capitalized and generally recoverable through South Bow’s tolling arrangements, and current income taxes.

The following table reconciles income before income taxes to distributable cash flow for the indicated periods:

$ millions	Three Months Ended						Year Ended
$ millions	Sept. 30, 2024		Dec. 31, 2024		Dec. 31, 2023		Dec. 31, 2024		Dec. 31, 2023
Income before income taxes	90		72		131		418		562
Adjusted for specific items:
Depreciation and amortization	61		62		61		246		244
Interest income and other	(27	)	28		(7	)	(12	)	(32	)
Normalizing items, net of tax¹	18		34		(9	)	39		62
Income from equity investments	(12	)	(12	)	(13	)	(49	)	(50	)
Distributions from equity investments	17		20		15		70		71
Maintenance capital expenditures²	(22	)	(15	)	(2	)	(61	)	(19	)
Current income tax recovery (expense)	38		(6	)	(15	)	(43	)	(53	)
Distributable cash flow	163		183		161		608		785

Normalizing items per normalized EBITDA reconciliation, net of tax.
Maintenance capital expenditures are generally recoverable through South Bow’s tolling arrangements.

Net debt and net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio

Net debt is used as a key leverage measure to assess and monitor South Bow’s financing structure, providing an overview of the Company’s long-term debt obligations, net of cash and cash equivalents. This measure is useful for investors as it offers insights into the Company’s financial health and its ability to manage and service its debt obligations. Net debt is defined as the sum of total long-term debt with 50% treatment of the Company’s junior subordinated notes, operating lease liabilities, and dividends payable, less cash and cash equivalents, per the Company’s consolidated balance sheets.

Net debt-to-normalized EBITDA ratio is used to monitor the South Bow’s leverage position relative to its normalized EBITDA for the trailing four quarters. This ratio provides investors with insight into the Company’s ability to service its long-term debt obligations relative to its operational performance. A lower ratio indicates stronger financial health and greater capacity to meet its debt obligations.

$ millions, except ratios	Sept. 30, 2024		Dec. 31, 2024		Dec. 31, 2023
Current portion of long-term debt to affiliates of TC Energy	4,677		—		—
Senior unsecured notes	4,686		4,629		5,967
Junior subordinated notes	1,089		1,087		—
Total long-term debt	10,452		5,716		5,967
Adjusted for:
Hybrid treatment for junior subordinated notes¹	(545	)	(544	)	—
Operating lease liabilities	22		22		10
Dividends payable	—		104		—
Cash and cash equivalents	(622	)	(397	)	(262	)
Restricted cash held in escrow²	(4,480	)	—		—
Net debt	4,827		4,901		5,715
Normalized EBITDA	1,079		1,091		1,074
Net debt-to-normalized EBITDA (ratio)	4.5		4.5		5.3

Includes 50% equity treatment of South Bow’s junior subordinated notes.
Senior unsecured notes and junior subordinated notes were issued on Aug. 28, 2024, of which $1.25 billion was used to repay long-term debt to affiliates of TC Energy; the remaining proceeds were held in escrow until completion of the Spinoff on Oct. 1, 2024.

Forward-looking information and statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, forward-looking statements), including forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of applicable securities legislation, that are based on South Bow’s current expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends. All statements other than statements of historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as, “anticipate”, “will”, “expect”, “estimate”, “potential”, “future”, “outlook”, “strategy”, “maintain”, “ongoing”, “intend”, and similar expressions suggesting future events or future performance.

In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements, including certain financial outlooks, pertaining to, without limitation, the following: South Bow’s corporate vision and strategy, including its strategic priorities and outlook; the Blackrod Connection Project, including completion of crude oil and natural gas pipeline segments, testing activities, in-service dates, and costs thereof; expected in-service dates and costs related to announced projects and projects under construction; PHMSA approvals and completion of the ACAO; expected interest expense and tax rate; expected capital expenditures; expected dividends; expected one-time costs relating to the Spinoff; expected shareholder returns and asset returns; demand for uncommitted capacity on the Keystone System; treatment under current and future regulatory regimes, including those relating to taxes, tariffs, and the environment; South Bow’s financial guidance for 2025 and beyond, including 2025 normalized EBITDA and long-term normalized EBITDA growth, 2025 interest expense, 2025 distributable cash flow, and 2025 capital expenditures; and South Bow’s financial strength and flexibility.

The forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that South Bow has made in respect thereof as of the date of this news release regarding, among other things: oil and gas industry development activity levels and the geographic region of such activity; that favourable market conditions exist and that South Bow has and will have available capital to fund its capital expenditures and other planned spending; prevailing commodity prices, interest rates, inflation levels, carbon prices, tax rates, and exchange rates; the ability of South Bow to maintain current credit ratings; the availability of capital to fund future capital requirements; future operating costs; asset integrity costs; that all required regulatory and environmental approvals can be obtained on the necessary terms in a timely manner; and prevailing regulatory, tax, and environmental laws and regulations.

Although South Bow believes the assumptions and other factors reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date hereof, there can be no assurance that these assumptions and factors will prove to be correct and, as such, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially, including, but not limited to: the regulatory environment and related decisions and requirements; the impact of competitive entities and pricing; reliance on third parties to successfully operate and maintain certain assets; the strength and operations of the energy industry; weakness or volatility in commodity prices; non-performance or default by counterparties; actions taken by governmental or regulatory authorities; the ability of South Bow to acquire or develop and maintain necessary infrastructure; fluctuations in operating results; adverse general economic and market conditions; the ability to access various sources of debt and equity capital on acceptable terms; and adverse changes in credit. The foregoing list of assumptions and risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. For additional information on the assumptions made, and the risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from the results implied by forward-looking statements, refer to South Bow’s AIF dated March 5, 2025, available under South Bow’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca and, from time to time, in South Bow’s public disclosure documents, available on South Bow’s website at www.southbow.com, under South Bow’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca, and in South Bow’s filings with the SEC at www.sec.gov.

Management approved the financial outlooks contained in this news release, including 2025 normalized EBITDA and long-term normalized EBITDA growth, 2025 interest expense, 2025 distributable cash flow, and 2025 capital expenditures as of the date of this news release. The purpose of these financial outlooks is to inform readers about Management’s expectations for the Company’s financial and operational results in 2025, and such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of the date hereof. South Bow does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information contained herein, except as required by applicable laws. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

About South Bow

South Bow safely operates 4,900 kilometres (3,045 miles) of crude oil pipeline infrastructure, connecting Alberta crude oil supplies to U.S. refining markets in Illinois, Oklahoma, and the U.S. Gulf Coast through our unrivalled market position. We take pride in what we do – providing safe and reliable transportation of crude oil to North America’s highest demand markets. Based in Calgary, Alberta, South Bow is the spinoff company of TC Energy, with Oct. 1, 2024 marking South Bow’s first day as a standalone entity. To learn more, visit www.southbow.com.

Contact information

*Investor Relations*	*Media Relations*
Martha Wilmot investor.relations@southbow.com	Katie Stavinoha communications@southbow.com

The MIL Network –

March 6, 2025

MIL-Evening Report: Creative Australia’s decisions should be peer reviewed and at arm’s length. Where did things go wrong?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne

For the past three weeks the arts have been dominated by a recent decision made by the board of Creative Australia. On February 7 it was announced Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino had been chosen as the artistic team to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale in 2026.

One week later, the board announced Sabsabi and Dagostino would no longer be representing the country because their selection would cause “a prolonged and divisive debate”.

This about-turn represents a low point in the relationship between artists and their funding body, Creative Australia.

Creative Australia (known as the Australia Council until 2023) has historically endured many attacks from the public, the media and political parties. This past weekend, for example, The Weekend Australian published three different stories critiquing Creative Australia and its arts funding processes.

While the amount of money Creative Australia receives is minuscule in relation to overall government spending (in 2023–24 it received A$258 million), the arts themselves enjoy a profile much greater than their monetary value.

So how does Creative Australia operate? And what does this decision on Sabsabi mean for its relationship with artists?

What is the peer review system?

Funding decisions at Creative Australia are based on two key principles: peer review, and arm’s length funding.

Peer review means decisions on who is funded are made by artists and arts workers with a deep understanding of the artform at hand.

Arm’s length funding means that, while the government funds Creative Australia, artists are supported free from direct political intervention.

The Australia Council, established in 1975, was originally structured around several artform boards, made up of peers from each of the artform sectors. These peers were given the task of overseeing their artforms and making funding decisions. Peers were selected by the government, usually after nomination by the Australia Council, and served terms of between two to five years.

Membership of an artform board was seen as an honour as well as a duty by those selected: a way of influencing funding decisions, but also a way of giving back to the sector.

As a result of an internal review in 2012, the process of peer decision making changed dramatically. The Australia Council in 2013 removed the artform boards (with a couple of exceptions) and introduced an ad hoc peer system where individuals were asked to self-nominate if they wanted to be part of the selection process. Staff then chose individuals, from a large pool of peers, to sit on a panel for each funding round.

As a result of the 2013 reforms the relationship with the minister for the arts was also changed. Up till then, the minister only had the power to appoint the members of the Australia Council board and the members of the various artform boards. In 2013 the act was changed so the minister could also give policy direction to the Australia Council.

In 2019, another category of selector was introduced. Industry advisors advise on multi-year funded applications, with the final decision made by Creative Australia staff.

The changing make-up of decision makers

The membership of the Australia Council’s governing board was historically more politicised, but its members were also often leading figures in the field.

The chair position was usually a leading figure from the arts and cultural field, including writers Donald Horne, Rodney Hall and Hilary McPhee, and music specialist Margaret Seares.

In the 2000s this changed under the Howard government, with the re-framing of the arts as businesses. This led to the appointment of business-people onto the board, particularly as chairs. Chairs this century have included business leaders David Gonski, James Strong, Rupert Myer and now Robert Morgan.

This meant priorities other than artform quality were introduced into the overall decision making.

The Venice Biennale process

Australia has been participating in the Venice Biennale since 1954.

Until 2019 there was a commissioner responsible for the selection of the Australian artist. The role was occupied by notable individuals in the arts world, such as philanthropist and art collector Simon Mordant. Artists would be individually invited by the commissioner to be the Venice representative.

In 2019 the Australia Council took over the role, and the process changed to an application system where artists were assessed by a panel of experts, before the final representatives (such as Sabsabi and Dagostino for 2026) were selected from a shortlist of six.

While all of the details of what happened in the lead up to rescinding Sabsabi’s invitation are unknown, some facts have been laid out: The Australian published an article criticising his selection; Coalition arts spokesperson Claire Chandler asked about his selection in Question Time; and Arts Minister Tony Burke phoned Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette.

That night, Collette and the board decided Sabsabi’s invitation would be rescinded.

Who gets a say in the arts?

It seems now the funding model that Australia has created for the arts may no longer be serving the artists. The board’s decision following Burke’s phone call to Collette calls into question the principles of peer review and arm’s length funding.

The structure and decision-making processes of Creative Australia should now be reviewed as a matter of urgency. The peer system works remarkably well if structured appropriately. At present it would seem it is not.

Artists deserve a body that defends their rights, so they are not sacrificed for political needs.

Jo Caust has previously received funding from the Australia Council. She is a member of NAVA and the Arts Industry Council(SA). She also worked at the Australia Council in the 1980s.

– ref. Creative Australia’s decisions should be peer reviewed and at arm’s length. Where did things go wrong? – https://theconversation.com/creative-australias-decisions-should-be-peer-reviewed-and-at-arms-length-where-did-things-go-wrong-251153

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI China: China unveils resilient growth target with strong policy support

Source: China State Council Information Office 2

China has set an economic growth target of around 5 percent for 2025, reflecting a sound economic outlook despite increasing global uncertainties, as policymakers are determined to secure steady recovery through decisive and effective measures.
Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday announced the goal when delivering the government work report to the annual session of the National People’s Congress for deliberation. The report outlines an array of other key development goals for this year, including a surveyed urban unemployment rate of around 5.5 percent, over 12 million new urban jobs, and an around 2 percent increase in the consumer price index.

This photo shows the booth of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited at the 22nd Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition at the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, Nov. 15, 2024. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
The country achieved economic growth of 5 percent in 2024 as an impactful policy package, along with other pro-growth measures, helped fuel strong economic momentum.
As 2025 marks the final year of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period and is crucial for crafting the next five-year blueprint, observers believe that the government policies will not only drive sustained growth this year but also lay the groundwork for the country’s modernization drive in the long run.
REASONABLE, ACHIEVABLE GOAL
Why has the Chinese government maintained the growth target at around 5 percent?
The premier explained that the goal, backed by growth potential and favorable conditions, meets the need to stabilize employment, prevent risks and improve the people’s wellbeing, while also being well aligned with the country’s mid- and long-term objectives.

An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 6, 2025 shows a view of the Shichengzi photovoltaic power station in Hami City, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo by Feng Yang/Xinhua)
Huang Qunhui, a national political advisor from the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, described this year’s economic growth target as scientifically grounded and realistic.
“In the face of a challenging global environment, the proactive and resilient goal suggests that China is braving uncertainties with a clear, determined approach to growth,” he said.
On a global scale, an around 5-percent growth rate places China among the world’s fastest-growing major economies, with the economic increment equating to the annual output of a mid-sized nation.
“Achieving this year’s targets will not be easy, and we must make arduous efforts to meet them,” the premier said, citing challenges from an increasingly complex and severe external environment, including rising unilateralism and protectionism, and domestic difficulties, such as insufficient effective demand.
The premier called for facing difficulties head-on with stronger confidence in development.
According to the report, China will adopt a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy.

This photo taken on Nov. 13, 2024 shows exhibits related to low-altitude economy at Airshow China in Zhuhai, south China’s Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)
Specific measures include a new government debt increase to enable a notably higher level of spending, with 5.66 trillion yuan (about 790 billion U.S. dollars) of government deficit, up 1.6 trillion yuan from a year ago, and the issuance of 4.4 trillion yuan of local government special-purpose bonds, an increase of 500 billion yuan over last year.
The monetary policy will ensure adequate liquidity by making timely cuts to required reserve ratios and interest rates, and offering more support for innovation, green development, consumption, private businesses and small firms, as well as the real estate and stock markets.
The policy mix will play a crucial role in ensuring that the strong economic momentum seen in the fourth quarter of 2024 will be sustained this year, said Tian Xuan, a national lawmaker and president of the National Institute of Financial Research of Tsinghua University.
Recently, the International Monetary Fund, Nomura, and other global institutions raised their growth forecasts for China.

A person uses DeepSeek app on a mobile phone on Feb. 17, 2025. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)
Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura, said the forecast upgrade was due to the better-than-expected economic performance in the fourth quarter of 2024, growing investment in emerging sectors from AI to cloud computing, a stock market rally, and the improving real estate market.
China’s mid-March economic data will show a solid start for 2025, a Citi Research report said, highlighting a rebound in consumer confidence.
MORE DYNAMIC, SUSTAINABLE
Fostering high-quality development is a key focus on this year’s government agenda, with priorities ranging from stimulating domestic demand to developing new quality productive forces.
“We will take a people-centered approach and place a stronger economic policy focus on improving living standards and boosting consumer spending,” the premier said.

Consumers learn about relevant policies during a consumer goods trade-in event in Qingdao City, east China’s Shandong Province, May 17, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)
Domestic demand will be made the main engine and anchor of economic growth, the report said. Ultra-long special treasury bonds totaling 300 billion yuan will be issued to support consumer goods trade-in programs.
New quality productive forces will be nurtured in line with local conditions, according to the report. China aims to foster emerging and future industries, such as quantum technology and the low-altitude economy, accelerate the upgrading of traditional industries, and combine digital technologies such as AI with manufacturing and market strengths.
The pursuit of new momentum has led to renewed vitality in the Chinese economy since the start of the year, with a vibrant consumer market mirrored by Chinese animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” and major breakthroughs in cutting-edge technology, including the rise of DeepSeek.
Analysts highlighted the resilience of China’s tech industry amid a complex international landscape and the vast potential of the domestic market.

People watch “Ne Zha 2” in 4D at a cinema in Dongcheng District in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 16, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)
The new economic trend is also creating fresh opportunities for foreign investors and businesses.
Reaffirming China’s commitment to opening up, the report laid out a series of initiatives, including expanding trials to open telecom, medical services, and education, supporting foreign enterprises in joining industrial chain collaboration, and ensuring national treatment in fields such as government procurement.
Foreign-funded businesses actively embraced these measures.
The report sent a strong signal that the country will continue to expand opening up and improve its business environment, said Nancy Liu, president of luxury travel retailer DFS China.
China’s opening up has created enormous opportunities for the company, which has made its largest single investment in 60 years in the country’s southern Hainan Province, Liu said. “We are fully confident in the long-term development of the Chinese market.”

MIL OSI China News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: ADM Recalls Select Pelleted Cattle Nutrition Feed Products

Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 3

Summary

Company Announcement Date:
March 05, 2025
FDA Publish Date:
March 05, 2025
Product Type:
Animal & VeterinaryFood & BeveragesLivestock Feed
Reason for Announcement:

Recall Reason Description
Elevated levels or deficient levels of nutrients which may be harmful to cattle

Company Name:
ADM Animal Nutrition
Brand Name:

Brand Name(s)
ADM Animal Nutrition

Product Description:

Product Description
Cattle Feed

Company Announcement
Specific lots may contain elevated or deficient levels of nutrients which may be harmful to cattle
CHICAGO, March 5, 2025 – ADM Animal Nutrition, a division of ADM (NYSE: ADM), is recalling specific pelleted animal feed products because they may contain elevated levels of copper or have levels of zinc below the represented amounts which could be harmful to cattle.
Possible impacts of chronic copper toxicity include: gastroenteritis characterized by anorexia, signs of abdominal pain, depression, lethargy, diarrhea, and dehydration. Possible impacts of zinc deficiency include: decreases in feed intake, feed efficiency, and growth.
No illnesses or deficiency impacts have been reported to date.
There are 33 lot numbers involved in this recall. The pelleted products were distributed between January 16, 2025 and February 27, 2025, and could have been purchased in Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Iowa, Georgia, and Ohio. All of the products listed, except for GROFAST32, have elevated levels of copper. GROFAST32 has levels of zinc below the represented amounts.
ADM discovered this issue during routine production. The company immediately began investigating and initiated the recall upon receiving confirmation that the pelleted feed had varying levels of copper and zinc that can impact animals. ADM is in the process of notifying customers and distributors involved in this recall, and all affected products are currently being removed from retail shelves.
The lot number of ADM products can be found at the bottom of the label. Click here to view an image of the label. Customers who have purchased the recalled pelleted feed should immediately stop using it and return it to their distributor or directly to ADM for a full replacement or refund. Please direct any customer inquiries to 800-217-2007 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Central time Monday through Friday.
Below is the list of products included in this recall.
Link to Product List
About ADMADM unlocks the power of nature to enrich the quality of life. We’re an essential global agricultural supply chain manager and processor, providing food security by connecting local needs with global capabilities. We’re a premier human and animal nutrition provider, offering one of the industry’s broadest portfolios of ingredients and solutions from nature. We’re a trailblazer in health and well-being, with an industry-leading range of products for consumers looking for new ways to live healthier lives. We’re a cutting-edge innovator, guiding the way to a future of new bio-based consumer and industrial solutions. And we’re leading in business-driven sustainability efforts that support a strong agricultural sector, resilient supply chains, and a vast and growing bioeconomy. Around the globe, our expertise and innovation are meeting critical needs from harvest to home. Learn more at www.adm.com.
ADM Media RelationsJackie Andersonmedia@adm.com312-634-8484

Company Contact Information

Consumers:
800-217-2007

Product Photos

Content current as of:
03/05/2025

Regulated Product(s)

Follow FDA

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025

MIL-OSI: Wilmington Announces 2024 Fourth Quarter Results

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

CALGARY, Alberta, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wilmington Capital Management Inc. (TSX: WCM.A, WCM.B) (“Wilmington” or the “Corporation”) reported a net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2024, of $0.9 million or ($0.07) per share and net income for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024 of $0.4 million or $0.03 per share, compared to net loss of $0.2 million or ($0.02) per share and $2.3 million and $0.18 per share for the same periods in 2023.

Beginning in August 2023, the Corporation took steps to monetize a significant number of its investments in order to unlock the embedded value which had been substantially realized, simplify its business and return capital to its shareholders. The Corporation has been able to reward shareholders through the payment of a dividend and return of capital in May 2024 totaling $2.75 per share.

Outlook
As at December 31, 2024, the Corporation had substantially completed the monetization of its investments and had cash on hand of approximately $36 million. The Corporation is currently reviewing a range of alternatives aimed at providing liquidity to shareholders by scaling its public platform or alternatively by other means.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (LOSS) AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

(audited)	Three months ended December 31,				Twelve months ended December 31,
($ thousands, except per share amounts)	2024		2023		2024		2023
Revenues
Management fee revenue	221		193		861		833
Distribution income	—		(18	)	68		1,276
Interest and other income	474		427		1,807		1,793
	695		602		2,736		3,902
Expenses
General and administrative	(1,955	)	(789	)	(3,842	)	(2,120	)
Amortization	(7	)	(6	)	(28	)	(28	)
Finance costs	(1	)	(2	)	(5	)	(7	)
Stock-based compensation	—		(23	)	(18	)	(117	)
	(1,963	)	(820	)	(3,893	)	(2,272	)
Fair value adjustments and other activities
Fair value changes to investments	—		397		164		1,577
Gain (loss) from sale of investments	—		(52	)	947		(52	)
Share of equity accounted loss	—		(116	)	—		(122	)
	—		229		1,111		1,403
Income (loss) before income taxes	(1,268	)	11		(46	)	3,033
Current income tax recovery (expense)	47		294		(434	)	(246	)
Deferred income tax recovery (expense)	399		(531	)	852		(493	)
Provision for income taxes	446		(237	)	418		(739	)
Net income (loss)	(822	)	(226	)	372		2,294
Other comprehensive income
Items that will not be reclassified to net income (loss):
Fair value changes to investments	(60	)	1,471		(60	)	783
Related income taxes	37		53		73		36
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of income taxes	(23	)	1,524		13		819
Comprehensive income (loss)	(845	)	1,298		385		3,113


Net income (loss) per share – basic	(0.07	)	(0.02	)	0.03		0.18
Net income (loss) per share – diluted	(0.07	)	(0.02	)	0.03		0.18

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(audited)	December 31,	December 31,
($ thousands)	2024	2023

Assets
NON-CURRENT ASSETS
Investment in Maple Leaf Partnership	—	22,910
Investment in Bay Moorings Partnership	850	—
Investment in Sunchaser Partnership	—	4,700
Investment in Energy Securities	—	7,584
Land held for development	—	6,632
Deferred income tax assets	240	—
Right-of-use asset	36	64
	1,126	41,890
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash	36,307	10,664
Short term securities	—	17,000
Amounts receivable and other	1,253	4,616
Total assets	38,686	74,170

Liabilities
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Deferred income tax liabilities	—	1,773
Lease liabilities	52	85
	52	1,858
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Lease liabilities	38	38
Income taxes payable	725	171
Amounts payable and other	1,638	800
Total liabilities	2,453	2,867

Equity
Shareholders’ equity	35,619	51,324
Contributed surplus	—	1,132
Retained earnings	418	10,364
Accumulated other comprehensive income	196	8,483
Total equity	36,233	71,303
Total liabilities and equity	38,686	74,170

Executive Officers of the Corporation will be available at 403-705-8038 to answer any questions on the Corporation’s financial results.

STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND OTHER MEASUREMENTS
Certain statements included in this document may constitute forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, include statements regarding the operations, business, financial conditions, expected financial results, performance, opportunities, priorities, ongoing objectives, strategies and outlook of the Corporation and its investee entities and contain words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “estimate”, “propose”, or similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation.

While the Corporation believes the anticipated future results, performance or achievements reflected or implied in those forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, the reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the Corporation’s control, which may cause the actual results, performance and achievements of the Corporation to differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information.

Factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by forward-looking statements include but are not limited to: the ability of management of Wilmington and its investee entities to execute its and their business plans; availability of equity and debt financing and refinancing within the equity and capital markets; strategic actions including dispositions; business competition; delays in business operations; the risk of carrying out operations with minimal environmental impact; industry conditions including changes in laws and regulations including the adoption of new environmental laws and regulations and changes in how they are interpreted and enforced; operational matters related to investee entities business; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; fluctuations in interest rates; stock market volatility; general economic, market and business conditions; risks associated with existing and potential future law suits and regulatory actions against Wilmington and its investee entities; uncertainties associated with regulatory approvals; uncertainty of government policy changes; uncertainties associated with credit facilities; changes in income tax laws, tax laws; changes in accounting policies and methods used to report financial condition (including uncertainties associated with critical accounting assumptions and estimates); the effect of applying future accounting changes; and other risks, factors and uncertainties described elsewhere in this document or in Wilmington’s other filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities.

The foregoing list of important factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. When relying on the forward-looking statements, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Except as required by law, the Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information, that may be as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are effective only as of the date of this document.

The MIL Network –

March 6, 2025

MIL-OSI: Bread Financial Announces Pricing of Private Offering of $400 million of Subordinated Notes

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bread Financial^® Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BFH) (“Bread Financial” or the “Company”) announced today the pricing of its previously announced offering of $400 million in aggregate principal amount of its 8.375% fixed-rate reset subordinated notes due 2035 (the “Notes”), in a private offering that is exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Notes will be sold at a price of 100% of the principal amount thereof. The closing of the issuance of the Notes is expected to occur on March 10, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to result in approximately $395 million in net proceeds to the Company, after deducting the initial purchasers’ discount but before the Company’s estimated offering expenses.

The Company intends to lend no less than $250 million of the net proceeds of the Notes offering as subordinated debt to one of its subsidiary banks, Comenity Capital Bank, with the remaining proceeds intended to be used for general corporate purposes, which may include share repurchases.

The Notes will not be registered under the Securities Act, or any state securities laws. The Notes may not be offered or sold in the United States absent an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from registration requirements under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. Accordingly, the Notes were offered only (A) to persons reasonably believed to be “qualified institutional buyers” under Rule 144A of the Securities Act or (B) outside the United States to non-U.S. persons in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

About Bread Financial^®
Bread Financial^® (NYSE: BFH) is a tech-forward financial services company that provides simple, personalized payment, lending and saving solutions to millions of U.S. consumers. The Company’s payment solutions, including Bread Financial general purpose credit cards and savings products, empower its customers and their passions for a better life. Additionally, the Company delivers growth for some of the most recognized brands in travel & entertainment, health & beauty, jewelry and specialty apparel through their private label and co-brand credit cards and pay-over-time products providing choice and value to their shared customers.

Forward-looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements related to the Notes offering described above. Forward-looking statements give the Company’s expectations or forecasts of future events and can generally be identified by the use of words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “project,” “plan,” “likely,” “may,” “should” or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe the Company’s business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements made regarding, and the guidance given with respect to, the Company’s anticipated operating or financial results, future financial performance and outlook, future dividend declarations or stock repurchases and future economic conditions.

The Company believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions. Forward-looking statements, however, are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and, in many cases, beyond its control. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially from the projections, anticipated results or other expectations expressed in this release, and no assurances can be given that the Company’s expectations will prove to have been correct. Factors that could cause the outcomes to differ materially include, but are not limited to, the following: macroeconomic conditions, including market conditions, inflation, interest rates, labor market conditions, recessionary pressures or concerns over a prolonged economic slowdown, and the related impact on consumer spending behavior, payments, debt levels, savings rates and other behaviors; global political, public health and social events or conditions, including ongoing wars and military conflicts, and natural disasters; future credit performance of the Company’s customers, including the level of future delinquency and write-off rates; loss of, or reduction in demand for services from, significant brand partners or customers in the highly competitive markets in which the Company competes; the concentration of the Company’s business in U.S. consumer credit; increases or volatility in the Allowance for credit losses that may result from the application of the current expected credit loss (CECL) model; inaccuracies in the models and estimates on which the Company rely, including the amount of the Company’s Allowance for credit losses and its credit risk management models; increases in fraudulent activity; failure to identify, complete or successfully integrate or disaggregate business acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic initiatives, including, with respect to divested businesses, any associated guarantees, indemnities or other liabilities; the extent to which the Company’s results are dependent upon brand partners, including brand partners’ financial performance and reputation, as well as the effective promotion and support of the Company’s products by brand partners; increases in the cost of doing business, including market interest rates; the Company’s level of indebtedness and inability to access financial or capital markets, including asset-backed securitization funding or deposits markets; restrictions that limit the ability of the Company’s subsidiary banks, Comenity Bank and Comenity Capital Bank (the “Banks”), to pay dividends to it; pending and future litigation; pending and future federal, state, local and foreign legislation, regulation, supervisory guidance and regulatory and legal actions including, but not limited to, those related to financial regulatory reform and consumer financial services practices, as well as any such actions with respect to late fees, interchange fees or other charges; increases in regulatory capital requirements or other support for the Banks; impacts arising from or relating to the transition of the Company’s credit card processing services to third party service providers that it completed in 2022; failures, or breaches in operational or security systems, including as a result of cyberattacks, unanticipated impacts from technology modernization projects, failure of information security controls or otherwise; loss of consumer information or other data due to compromised physical or cyber security, including disruptive attacks from financially motivated bad actors and third-party supply chain issues; any tax or other liability, or adverse impacts arising out of or related to the spinoff of the Company’s former LoyaltyOne segment or the bankruptcy filings of Loyalty Ventures Inc. (LVI) and certain of its subsidiaries, and subsequent litigation or other disputes. If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary materially from what we projected. In addition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a final rule in 2024 that, absent a successful legal challenge or other invalidation of the rule, will place significant limits on credit card late fees, which would have a significant impact on the Company’s business and results of operations for at least the short term and, depending on the effectiveness of the mitigating actions that the Company has taken or may in the future take in anticipation of, or in response to, the final rule, may potentially adversely impact it over the long term; the Company cannot provide any assurance as to the effective date, if any, of the rule, the result of any pending or future challenges or other litigation relating to the rule, or its ability to mitigate or offset the impact of the rule on its business and results of operations. The foregoing factors, along with other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements, are described in greater detail under the headings “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year, which may be updated in Item 1A of, or elsewhere in, the Company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed for periods subsequent to such Form 10-K. The Company’s forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and it undertakes no obligation, other than as required by applicable law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events, anticipated or unanticipated circumstances or otherwise.

Contacts

Brian Vereb — Investor Relations
Brian.Vereb@breadfinancial.com

Susan Haugen — Investor Relations
Susan.Haugen@breadfinancial.com

Rachel Stultz — Media
Rachel.Stultz@breadfinancial.com

The MIL Network –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Development – OPEC Fund supports Burkina Faso’s cotton industry with €26 million trade finance facility

Source: OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund)

March 5, 2025: The OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund) is providing €26 million to support Burkina Faso’s strategic cotton sector. The financing is part of a €100 million trade finance facility arranged by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC). It will enable Société Burkinabè des Fibres Textiles (SOFITEX), the country’s largest cotton company and a key player in the sector, to purchase seasonal seed cotton from local farmers at harvest point, ensuring timely payments and financial stability for smallholder farmers.

OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: “The OPEC Fund is proud of its commitment to Burkina Faso’s cotton industry, a key economic driver that sustains millions of livelihoods. By enabling the timely purchase of cotton from smallholder farmers, this financing not only supports rural communities, but also promotes economic resilience and strengthens Burkina Faso’s position in global cotton markets.”

Cotton is the backbone of Burkina Faso’s rural economy, generating 5 percent of GDP and providing income for millions. As Africa’s third-largest producer the country exports the vast majority of its cotton, making it a key driver of foreign exchange earnings and economic growth. The sector supports livelihoods from smallholder farmers to workers across the supply chain. Often referred to as “white gold,” cotton remains essential to Burkina Faso’s economic resilience and rural development.

The OPEC Fund has a long-standing partnership with SOFITEX dating back to 2009. Since the inception of this partnership, the OPEC Fund has approved 11 operations to support cotton export financing for a combined net amount of US$373 million.

The OPEC Fund’s recent financing is aligned with the institution’s commitment to sustainable economic growth and trade finance in Africa. Over four decades the OPEC Fund has supported Burkina Faso’s economic development, financing projects in agriculture, energy, and infrastructure with over US$800 million financing across public and private sector loans and trade finance.

About the OPEC Fund

The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) is the only globally mandated development institution that provides financing from member countries to non-member countries exclusively.

The organization works in cooperation with developing country partners and the international development community to stimulate economic growth and social progress in low- and middle-income countries around the world.

The OPEC Fund was established in 1976 with a distinct purpose: to drive development, strengthen communities and empower people. Our work is people-centered, focusing on financing projects that meet essential needs, such as food, energy, infrastructure, employment (particularly relating to MSMEs), clean water and sanitation, healthcare and education.

To date, the OPEC Fund has committed more than US$29 billion to development projects in over 125 countries with an estimated total project cost of more than US$200 billion. The OPEC Fund is rated AA+/Outlook Stable by Fitch and AA+, Outlook Stable by S&P. Our vision is a world where sustainable development is a reality for all.

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Economy – Tariffs are an act of economic war – The global fallout begins – deVere Group

Source: deVere Group

March 5 2025 – Tariffs are “an act of economic war,” and the latest US tariffs are a direct assault on the global economy, warns the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial and asset management organizations.

The comments from deVere Group’s Nigel Green comes as President Donald Trump’s joint congressional address made it clear: his administration is deploying tariffs as a weapon, not just a policy.

The sweeping 25% duties on Canada and Mexico, an additional 10% on Chinese imports, and threats against the European Union mark an economic confrontation that will redefine global markets.

Beijing wasted no time in firing back, saying they are prepared for a tariff war or “any other type of war,” signaling that the world’s second-largest economy is ready to retaliate with full force.

Investors are now bracing for a prolonged and destabilizing economic war, with market volatility and financial uncertainty taking center stage.

Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, warns: “Tariffs are an act of economic war.

“This aggressive escalation could cause the most severe economic disruption since the global financial crisis, barring the pandemic.

“The fallout will extend far beyond tariffs themselves, with ripple effects threatening corporate profits, inflation levels, and supply chains.

“Trade barriers of this scale are not a pathway to strength. They’re self-inflicted wounds that create higher costs for businesses, dampen consumer spending, and erode economic resilience.

“Tariffs are not a show of power; they are a tax on prosperity.”

Despite Trump’s insistence that tariffs will restore America’s economic dominance, reality is painting a different picture.

Increased costs on imports mean businesses will either absorb the financial hit or pass it along to consumers, leading to inflationary pressures that weaken household purchasing power. The result? A slowing economy disguised as a policy win.

“From manufacturing to tech, industries are now forced to face a storm of rising costs and shrinking global competitiveness,” says Nigel Green.

“This is not a win, it’s reckless brinkmanship with high stakes for the US and global economy.”

Trump’s vow to roll out even more trade penalties by April 2 is triggering concern through global markets.

Washington’s latest trade war salvos are setting off countermeasures from Beijing, Brussels, and beyond.

China’s retaliatory tariffs are expected to hit US exports where it hurts—targeting agriculture, technology, and other key industries with strategic precision. The European Union is weighing its response, while Mexico and Canada have already signaled their intent to push back.

“Trade conflicts don’t happen in isolation. They trigger chain reactions—capital flight, fractured supply chains, and heightened uncertainty for investors,” explains the deVere CEO.

The notion that tariffs will fortify the US economy is fundamentally flawed.

“The cost of this economic war will be borne by households, businesses, and investors worldwide. And unless there’s a change in course, the worst may still be ahead.”

deVere Group is one of the world’s largest independent advisors of specialist global financial solutions to international, local mass affluent, and high-net-worth clients. It has a network of offices around the world, more than 80,000 clients, and $14bn under advisement.

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: VIDEO: Hickenlooper Defends American Consumers on Senate Floor as Trump Admin Guts CFPB

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Colorado John Hickenlooper
Hickenlooper: “If the Trump administration gets its way, it’s clear who the winners will be: loan sharks, shady mortgage companies, junk fee merchants. And the losers will be the rest of America”
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper spoke on the Senate floor against the Trump administration’s effort to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the federal agency responsible for protecting American consumers from financial abuse. Hickenlooper spoke before a Senate vote on a Republican-led resolution to strip the CFPB’s power to supervise popular digital payment apps like Venmo and PayPal in order to prevent harms to consumers.

“Today’s Republican-led resolution weakens the CFPB’s ability to protect consumers. And it’s part of a broader effort by the administration to shut down consumer protections entirely,” said Hickenlooper. “Bottom line: More money in the pocket of fraudsters, scammers, and the unscrupulous. Less for the little guy to save.”
At the beginning of February, the Trump administration shut down the CFPB headquarters and ordered all employees to immediately stop all of the agency’s work. On Monday, a federal judge extended an order pausing mass firings at the CFPB.
Since its founding, the CFPB has recovered $20 billion for Americans who have been taken advantage of by scams, junk fees, and high-cost loans. In Colorado, nearly 67,000 people have sought the help from CFPB, including more than 6,200 service members. Thousands of those complaints led to relief for consumers.
To download a full video of Hickenlooper’s remarks, click HERE. A full transcript of his remarks is available below:
“Mr. President,
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is, at its core, a law enforcement agency.
“Congress established the CFPB 15 years ago to protect Americans from fraud, from getting ripped off by banks, and credit card companies, financial institutions.
“Today’s Republican-led resolution weakens the CFPB’s ability to protect consumers. And it’s part of a broader effort by the administration to shut down consumer protections entirely.
“Let’s take a minute to go back in time to the time before the CFPB existed – right before the 2008 financial meltdown.
“Back then, abusive fees and misleading disclosures meant that Coloradans paid more for mortgages. More for credit cards. More for student loans.
“Fly-by-night lenders made massive profits by targeting vulnerable families with excessively high-cost loans – turning credit from a tool for opportunity into a tool for scams.
“Financial scammers could all too easily slip through the cracks in oversight. There just wasn’t enough oversight. In some case, there was no oversight.
“Our neighbors were getting hit with hidden fees and frauds when they took out a mortgage, when they used a credit card, or if they were just paying for school.
“There was no cop on the beat. The result?
“By 2008, years of this shady, abusive practice helped spark a devastating global financial crisis.
“Six million households lost their homes to foreclosure. A quarter of our families lost 75% of their wealth.
“Americans lost faith in our financial system.
“In 2010, Congress created the CFPB to help make sure that this could never happen again.
“Congress gave it a simple job: to protect Americans from getting ripped off.
“The Bureau cleaned up mortgage markets, debt collection, student loans, and much, much more. It worked to protect veterans and other service members.
“Fast forward to today and the CFPB’s results really speak for themselves. The Bureau has delivered 20 billion dollars – that’s billion dollars with a B – back to Americans through its enforcement actions.
“It’s brought relief to 200 million Americans and small businesses facing scams or abusive practices.
“In Colorado, nearly 67,000 people have sought the help from CFPB, including more than 6,200 service members. Thousands of those complaints led to relief for consumers.
“It really is a remarkable track record.
“That is, until it’s been decided by Republicans that they wanted to eliminate many of these protections – if not all of them.
“This vote today would unwind protections designed for the modern financial system – for the everyday payment apps we all use, like Venmo or PayPal. It would allow some of the largest financial firms in a consumer’s life to stay in the shadows, to operate outside of any oversight.
“That’s exactly the approach to consumer protection we had 20 years ago, before the CFPB, before the 2008 financial crisis.
“This is but the latest attempt to leave consumers vulnerable to scams. In fact, the Trump administration is trying, I think many people believe illegally, to abolish the CFPB entirely.
“They fired dedicated staff who protect consumers. They cancelled the lease on the CFPB’s office. And they literally ordered a total shutdown of the agency – an unprecedented effort to defy Congress.
“The administration believes that CFPB doesn’t deserve to exist. And maybe they think that scammers and fraudsters have finally hung it up and have gone to find honest work.
“But I think the American people know better.
“The administration wants to take our economy back to the time before the financial crisis of [2008] – with weaker protections and no one looking out for consumers.
“If the Trump administration gets its way, it’s clear who the winners will be: loan sharks, shady mortgage companies, junk fee merchants.
“And the losers will be the rest of America – any Coloradan that wants a fair deal on a credit card or a mortgage.
“Bottom line: More money in the pocket of fraudsters, scammers, and the unscrupulous. Less for the little guy to save.
“I urge my colleagues to stand up for American consumers and vote no on this resolution.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Capitol Hill Highlights Key Pillars of President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress in Op-Ed Blitz

US Senate News:

Source: The White House
America Is Back. President’s Joint Address Will Celebrate ItU.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)
The last four years were a dumpster fire—a total disaster. “Sleepy Joe” was worn slap out as soon as he got up in the morning. Thinking back on it now, I really don’t know how our country survived. It’s a miracle that we made it through those dark days. One thing is for sure: President Trump’s address will be nothing like the clown show we endured the last four years.
But today, America is ready to usher in its golden age under President Donald J. Trump. We’re only a month and a half in, and President Trump is well on his way to renewing the American dream by reversing some of the Democrats’ most destructive policies. Most importantly, President Trump is keeping his promises to the 77 million Americans who voted for him and his “America First” agenda. A recent poll showed 70 percent of Americans believe President Trump is doing what he said he would do.
Read full op-ed here.
It’s Time To Take Trump’s Win On Women’s Sports To The Next LevelU.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS)
Democrat politicians and extreme woke ideologues have shrugged their shoulders at the humiliation and disenfranchisement of millions of young women and girls, even though 80% of Americans agree with President Trump’s view that biological boys should not compete in girls’ sports.
I believe America’s women and girls deserve to know that someone is fighting to protect the integrity and fairness of their competitive sports and standing up for their right to safe and protected spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms.
Thankfully, President Trump has taken up the mantle. Last month, he signed an executive order protecting women’s and girls’ sports.
Read full op-ed here.
Renewing the American Dream for the American WorkerU.S. Senator Jim Banks (R-IN)
President Trump is renewing the hope of the American Dream from the ashes of an historic low point. Our nation has emerged stronger with a leader and an administration whose defining feature is their commitment to working families.
Despite the downturn in prosperity and security America faced over the last four years, the American Dream is not an outdated ambition.
Under President Trump, the possibility of achieving the American Dream is back and within the grasp of every hard-working American.
Already, President Trump has made good on a range of his promises, reinvigorating American society across the board—an achievement that’s unheard of for a president only 44 days into his term.
Read full op-ed here.
President Donald Trump is keeping his promise to Jewish studentsHouse Committee on Education and Workforce Chairman, U.S. Congressman Tim Walberg (MI-05)
Columbia [University] leaders have made public and private promises to Jewish students, faculty, and Members of Congress that the university would take the steps necessary to combat the rampant antisemitism on its campus. Columbia has failed to uphold its commitments. But that is coming to an end. Now, the Committee and Jewish students and faculty have a strong ally in the White House. During the campaign Trump promised his administration would combat antisemitism on American campuses.
On day one, the Trump administration signed an executive order to combat antisemitism. As part of the executive order, the Department of Education has launched investigations into five universities for tolerating “widespread antisemitic harassment” in violation of Title VI.
The disease of antisemitism must be rooted out before it spreads to the next generation. President Trump’s firm hand on this issue is the remedy we need. We owe it to our youth to ensure they never face harassment, threats, or violence because of their faith. This is a promise we should always honor because it goes hand in hand with the promise of the American Dream. Thankfully, President Trump is delivering on this promise.
Read full op-ed here.
America is backU.S. Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-09)Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Donald J. Trump has worked tirelessly to restore border security, enforce our nation’s laws and make clear that your constitutional rights shall not be infringed. Following four years of chaos, Trump has sent a clear message: America is back, and he’s just getting started.
After just one month back in office, Trump reestablished the successful “Remain in Mexico” policy, restarted construction of the border wall, ramped up deportation flights of criminal illegals, and ended the dangerous Biden-era “catch-and-release” policy. These are just a few of the actions Trump has taken to regain control of our border and crack down on illegal immigration.
Trump’s efforts to secure the border have been nothing less than historic, including sharply reducing illegal border crossings in just his first 11 days back in office. This is the “Trump Effect” in action, and it’s only just the beginning.
Read full op-ed here.
Under President Trump, America’s Borders Are Secure AgainU.S. Congressman Andy Biggs (AZ-05)
In a few weeks, Donald Trump has done what his prevaricating predecessor declared to be impossible: he has brought the border under control.
The policies of Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas will forever be a stain on America. The border is now almost completely controlled by America, not Mexican drug and human trafficking cartels. That only has happened because President Trump has the will and leadership skills to allow our law enforcement to actually enforce the law. Trump said he would do it. He is doing it.
America is safer now. Our borders are better now. Trump is delivering on one of his signature campaign promises. While the Left in America is face-melting, the majority of us recognize the success on the border of President Trump.
Read full op-ed here.
Trump Gives America A Much-Needed Shot Of OptimismU.S. Congressman Ralph Norman (SC-05)
We’re now 44 days into President Donald Trump’s second term, and a renewed sense of optimism is sweeping across America, reminiscent of the enduring promise of the American Dream. Central to this resurgence is the administration’s policies aimed at reigniting prosperity for small businesses, particularly evident in South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District.
President Trump has been keen on drawing back the red tape in the federal bureaucracy and reminding everyone in the swamp that our government is supposed to serve the American worker, not the other way around.
Last night the president made it clear: ‘We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in 4 years…and we are just getting started!’
Read full op-ed here.
Trump is Reviving the American Dream and Common SenseU.S. Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (TN-01)
Tuesday night, President Donald Trump did what he does best — he told it like it is. He reviewed his administration’s impressive accomplishments, laid out his action plan to put our economy back on track, urged Congress to deliver additional funding for the United States Border Patrol, and shared his bold vision to bring peace and stability around the world.
Only weeks ago, the president signed an executive order keeping men out of women’s sports. I attended the signing, and it was a sight to see — the president with dozens of female athletes and young women who would now have a level playing field because of Republicans’ commitment to this cause — Trump’s commitment to this cause.
The president reiterated this commitment Tuesday night when he spoke on this issue, highlighting the story of Payton McNabb, saying, “When her girls’ volleyball match was invaded by a male, he smashed the ball so hard in Payton’s face, causing traumatic brain injury … ending her athletic career.
This story has become all too common. When Trump told Payton’s story, not a single Democrat stood in solidarity.
Read full op-ed here.
Ending Biden’s disgraceful erosion of American deterrence U.S. Congressman August Pfluger (TX-01) andU.S. Congressman Zach Nunn (IA-03)
With Trump back in the White House, alongside Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and national security adviser Mike Waltz, we’re setting a clear path forward for the U.S.: rebuild the military, restore our warrior ethos, and reestablish American deterrence.
Unlike his predecessors, who viewed the military through the lens of social experimentation, Hegseth recognizes that the Department of Defense has one primary mission: to produce the most lethal fighting force on Earth. Under his leadership, we’re already seeing a renewed focus on combat training, eliminating wasteful programs, and stripping away ideological distractions.
Read full op-ed here.
Congress Must Act to Solidify Trump’s Border WinsU.S. Congressman Mark Harris (NC-08)
For the past four years, the most powerful nation in the history of the world has been under attack. Deadly cartels, gangs, human smugglers, and other criminal aliens flooded American communities and harmed our citizens. This chaos was an orchestrated attack led by the last administration not only on our nation, but on the American dream.
But on January 20th, a new era of leadership began. After being sworn into office, President Trump wasted no time taking action to take back our country and set our nation back on course.
Last night, President Trump said, “The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation to secure the border. But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president.” And he is exactly right.
President Trump’s decisive action and bold leadership has drastically changed the state of our border for the better.
Read full op-ed here.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Energy – United Kingdom (UK) Looks to Deepen Energy Trade, Investment Ties with Africa

SOURCE: African Energy Chamber

Through new trade agreements, energy investments and development initiatives, the UK’s role in shaping the continent’s energy future will be a key focus at African Energy Week 2025 and within the G20 agenda

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, March 5, 2025/ — Trade relations between the UK and Africa are gaining momentum. Last month, UK Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security Douglas Alexander visited South Africa and Botswana to strengthen trade ties and create opportunities for businesses on both sides. The UK aims to expand trade and investment across the continent, fostering mutually beneficial growth by addressing trade barriers, facilitating exports and supporting trade-focused development programs. With South Africa as the UK’s largest trading partner in Africa and set to assume the G20 Presidency, this marks an important moment for deepening economic collaboration.

This builds on the UK’s 2019 Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the Southern African Customs Union member states – Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa – and Mozambique. This agreement eliminates tariffs and quotas on all goods imported from these countries into the UK, facilitating smoother trade relations and economic cooperation. The EPA aims to bolster economic ties and create a conducive environment for investments, including in the energy sector.

The UK is expanding its engagement across Africa, including in West and North Africa. In February 2024, it signed the Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership (ETIP) with Nigeria – the first such agreement with an African nation – marking a significant milestone. The partnership builds on a trade relationship valued at £7 billion in the year leading up to September 2023. The ETIP focuses on key sectors such as financial and legal services, fostering economic growth and attracting investment across industries, including energy.

Globeleq, a UK government-backed independent power producer, has been instrumental in advancing gas-powered energy projects across Africa. Alongside its 153 MW Red Sands project in South Africa – set to become the continent’s largest standalone battery energy storage system – the company recently acquired a stake in a solar plant at Egypt’s Benban Solar Complex and secured $99 million in debt financing for Mozambique’s first wind project. Supported by shareholders such as British International Investment and Norfund, Globeleq continues to invest in upgrading existing assets and developing new utility-scale power projects, strengthening Africa’s energy infrastructure.

In the oil and gas sector, bp achieved first gas from the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project offshore Senegal and Mauritania at the start of this year, marking a major step in boosting regional energy production and supply. Shell is advancing its $5 billion Bonga North deepwater project in Nigeria and, alongside bp, has agreed to cover operational costs for the buyer of South Africa’s Sapref refinery – a move that could revitalize the country’s largest refinery and secure oil supply. Meanwhile, Harbour Energy, one of the UK’s largest independent oil and gas companies, is looking to expand into African markets following its acquisition of concessions in Egypt’s Nile Delta and the Mediterranean Sea.

The UK is also a major investor in Africa’s clean energy sector and a key partner in the Mission 300 initiative to expand electricity access to 300 million people by 2030. Last month, British International Investment (BII) committed £5.3 million to UK cleantech firm MOPO to scale battery rental operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where over 80% of the population lacks electricity. In December 2024, BII and GuarantCo announced a $500 million renewable power deal with South Africa’s Etana Energy, providing $100 million in guarantees to support the country’s largest energy wheeling framework and unlock new projects. Beyond direct investments, the UK government continues to provide funding and technical assistance for energy infrastructure projects across Africa, aiming to improve energy reliability and efficiency, drive economic growth, and enhance the quality of life for local communities.

As a G20 member, the UK plays a pivotal role in shaping global energy investment strategies, with Africa positioned as a key partner in its trade and energy agenda. The UK’s investments in oil and gas, renewables and energy infrastructure align with broader G20 goals of energy security, sustainability and economic growth.

“These initiatives not only strengthen the UK’s economic ties with Africa, but also support the continent’s transition to cleaner, more reliable energy. With African Energy Week: Invest in African Energies 2025 set to convene global stakeholders, the UK’s role in advancing energy partnerships will be in focus, offering a platform to drive further investment, policy collaboration, and infrastructure development across Africa’s energy landscape,” says Johnson Kayode Obembe, Director of Sales and Partnerships, African Energy Week.

AEW: Invest in African Energies is the platform of choice for project operators, financiers, technology providers and government, and has emerged as the official place to sign deals in African energy. Visit www.AECWeek.com for more information about this exciting event.

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Business – Andersen Global Strengthens Saudi Arabia Presence with Al-Sharif Law Firm

Source: Andersen Global

SAN FRANCISCO – Andersen Global continues to enhance its multidisciplinary capabilities in the Middle East through a Collaboration Agreement with Al-Sharif Law Firm, a full-service international law firm based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Active in the Kingdom since 1978, the firm’s professionals offer a comprehensive range of legal services, including mergers and acquisitions, company formation, liquidation, corporate restructuring, corporate secretarial services, labor and employment law, intellectual property, construction and engineering, business intelligence and litigation. With a blended team of both U.S. trained and licensed attorneys and local talent, Al-Sharif Law is uniquely suited to provide comprehensive services for some of the largest companies in the world with deep experience in the finance, defense and oil & gas sectors.

“The demand is high for a strong quarterback and local correspondent to support international companies and investors in Saudi Arabia,” said Chris Johnson, Managing Attorney for Al-Sharif Law. “Our approach combines Western-style service with deep local expertise, assuring clients practical and comprehensive legal solutions. By collaborating with Andersen Global, we broaden our reach and ability to offer seamless service that combines international standards of service with a deep understanding of Saudi Arabia’s legal and regulatory landscape.”

“Al-Sharif Law Firm is one of the largest law firms in Saudi Arabia, with a reputation for serving major international companies,” said Andersen Global Chairman and CEO of Andersen Mark L. Vorsatz. “Saudi Arabia continues to grow as a significant global hub, with its economy rapidly diversifying and presenting new opportunities for businesses and investors. The addition of this firm reinforces our ability to provide a suite of integrated, seamless services through our member and collaborating firms in one of the region’s rapidly evolving markets.”

Andersen Global is an international association of legally separate, independent member firms comprised of tax, legal, and valuation professionals around the world. Established in 2013 by U.S. member firm Andersen Tax LLC, Andersen Global now has more than 19,000 professionals worldwide and a presence in over 500 locations through its member firms and collaborating firms.

MIL OSI – Submitted News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Senator Marshall to NIH Director Nominee Dr. Bhattacharya: We Need to Get to the Bottom of the Chronic Disease Epidemic

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Kansas Roger Marshall
Washington – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas) today participated in the confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director nominee, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, in the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).
Dr. Bhattacharya, M.D., PhD, is a professor of health policy at Stanford University, where he directs the Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. Having published 135 articles in top peer-reviewed scientific journals, Dr. Bhattacharya’s research has focused on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations with a particular emphasis on the role of government programs, biomedical innovation, and economics. Most recently, Dr. Bhattacharya focused on the epidemiology of COVID-19 and evaluated policy responses to the epidemic, advocating for focused protection over widespread lockdowns.
Senator Marshall questioned Dr. Bhattacharya on scientific progress, the concept of ‘Food is Medicine,’ and his strategy to tackle the chronic disease epidemic America is facing.
You may click HERE to watch Senator Marshall’s full remarks.
Highlights from Dr. Bhattacharya’s confirmation hearing include:
On humility as the key to scientific progress:
Senator Marshall: “As I listen to the conversation today, I’m reminded that we all should doubt our own infallibility, and we should doubt the infallibility of the NIH as well. I’m flabbergasted as I listen to this conversation of people that really have never been involved in the scientific process and that they don’t understand infallibility.”
Dr. Bhattacharya: “I agree with you about humility. That’s the key to scientific progress. We have to as scientists say we might be wrong, because when we meet data that disagrees with us, where we have ideas that we disagree with, maybe that other idea is right, and we’re the one that’s wrong. It’s only if I’m confirmed as NIH Director, I want to make sure that all the range of hypotheses are supported. That’s how you make progress. One of the reasons I think that we have not made progress in Alzheimer’s as much as we ought to have is because the NIH has not supported a sufficiently wide range of hypotheses.”
On the chronic disease epidemic and the concept of ‘Food is Medicine’:
Senator Marshall: “Let’s talk about chronic disease just for a second. The NIH has spent a disproportionate amount of money on research on diseases that impact a very small, minuscule amount of Americans. Meanwhile, 60% of Americans have a chronic disease. Speak a little bit about your vision of researching for figuring out the causes and treatments of chronic disease, specifically how food is medicine might be intertwined in your in your vision.”
Dr. Bhattacharya: “Senator, I think the chronic disease problem is something that the NIH ought to have done a better job in the last several decades. The mission of the NIH is to address the health needs the American people have, and to expand life expectancy of the American people and we have not achieved that. It’s flat-lined.”
“I think we should expand the set of ideas to address a problem that we don’t know how to address. The chronic disease problems in the United States are so broad. We need to have a lot more tolerance that the top scientists who control the ideas in their fields may be wrong. We need to allow other scientists who have other ideas, and food as medicine might be one of them, to have support.”
Senator Marshall: “Are you committed to helping us figure out the causes of these chronic diseases?”
Dr. Bhattacharya: “I absolutely am, Senator…That is the heart and soul of the Make America Healthy Again movement, and millions and millions of Americans have been looking to us to do that. If I’m confirmed, I absolutely commit to you.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Government bolsters employment support to unlock work for sick and disabled people
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 2

Press release

Government bolsters employment support to unlock work for sick and disabled people

Work will be unlocked for thousands of sick and disabled people through new measures that will bolster the support offered in Jobcentres and make the welfare system more sustainable, the Department for Work and Pensions has announced today [Thursday 06 March].
New plans to improve employment support brought forward ahead of wider reform package to fix broken welfare system.

1,000 work coaches deployed to deliver intensive employment support to sick and disabled people as part of the government’s Plan for Change which will break down barriers to opportunity.

It comes as a new survey reveals scale of the broken system with nearly half of disabled people and those with a health condition saying they don’t trust DWP to support them.

The plans will see 1,000 existing Work Coaches deployed in 2025/26 to deliver intensive voluntary support to around 65,000 sick and disabled people – helping them to break down barriers to opportunity, drive growth and unlock the benefits of work.

This intensive support for people on health-related benefits – including those furthest away from work – will see Work Coaches providing tailored and personalised employment support, and help claimants access other support such as writing CVs and interview techniques. They will also access a range of DWP employment programmes to help claimants unlock work based on conversations with their Work Coaches.

The additional help will be delivered by reprioritising work coach time so they can focus on tackling economic inactivity in order to make the welfare system more sustainable. The 1,000 redeployed Work Coaches are a “downpayment” on wide-ranging plans to overhaul employment support, which are set to be unveiled in just a few weeks’ time.

It is part of the Government’s Plan for Change – which will boost living standards and grow the economy by unlocking work for the 2.8 million people who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness – the highest in the G7 – and bring down spending on incapacity benefits which is expected to reach £70 billion by the end of this parliament.

It comes as new survey results show the current system isn’t just failing the taxpayer, it’s also failing the people it’s meant to help, with 44% of disabled people and people with a health condition believing DWP does not provide enough support to people who are out of work due to disability, ill health, or a long-term health condition.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP said:

We inherited a broken welfare system that is failing sick and disabled people, is bad for the taxpayer, and holding the economy back.

For too long, sick and disabled people have been told they can’t work, denied support, and locked out of jobs, with all the benefits that good work brings.

But many sick and disabled people want and can work, with the right support. And we know that good work is good for people – for their living standards, for their mental and physical health, and for their ability to live independently.

We’re determined to fix the broken benefits system as part of our Plan for Change by reforming the welfare system and delivering proper support to help people get into work and get on at work, so we can get Britain working and deliver our ambition of an 80% employment rate.

The data from the DWP Perceptions Survey – soon to be published in full – also shows:

35% of disabled people and people with a health condition believe DWP does not provide enough support to people of working age who are out of work, to help them get back into work.

44% of disabled people and people with a health condition don’t trust the DWP to help people reach their full career potential.

Nearly 2 in 5 (39%) disabled people and people with a health condition do not trust DWP to take its customers’ needs into account in how it provides services.

These figures follow recently released data which shows that there are over three million people on Universal Credit with no obligation to engage in work-related activity, despite over a quarter (27%) of health and disability benefit claimants believing that work could be possible in the future if their health improves and 200,000 saying they would be ready to work now.

Data also shows the number of working-age people on the health element of Universal Credit or claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA) has risen to 3.1 million, a staggering 319% increase since the pandemic, reflecting the alarming rate at which young and working aged people are increasingly falling out of work and claiming incapacity benefits.

Behind each of these statistics is a person with hopes and ambitions, who can provide businesses with much-needed skills and experience, helping to grow our economy.

To give people the support they deserve, and restore trust and fairness to our welfare system, reforms to the welfare system are expected to be announced in just a few weeks.

These reforms will recognise that some people will be unable to work at points in their life and ensure they are provided with support while transforming the broken benefits system that:

Asks people to demonstrate their incapacity to work to access higher benefits, which also then means they fear taking steps to get into work.

Is built around a fixed “can versus can’t work” divide that does not reflect the variety of jobs, the reality of fluctuating health conditions, or the potential for people to expand what they can do, with the right support.

Directs disabled people or those with a work-limiting health condition to a queue for an assessment, followed by no contact, no expectations, and no support if the state labels them as “unable” to work.

Fails to intervene early to prevent people falling out of work and misses opportunities to support a return to work.

Pushes people towards economic inactivity due to the stark and binary divide between benefits rates and conditionality rules for jobseekers compared to those left behind on the health element of Universal Credit.

Has become defined by poor experiences and low trust among many people who use it, particularly on the assessment process.

The government’s plans to fix the broken benefit system will build on the biggest employment reforms in a generation announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper, which will empower mayors to drive down economic inactivity, deliver a Youth Guarantee so every young person is either earning or learning, and overhaul jobcentres across the country.

Former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield is leading an independent review investigating how government and employers can work together to help disabled people and those with ill health who may be at risk of falling out work stay on in employment, with the findings of the discovery phase expected in the spring.

The government is also investing an additional £26 billion to cut NHS waiting lists and get Britain back to health and back to work.

The government has already delivered on its pledge, providing two million extra appointments in five months and as a result, around 160,000 fewer patients on waiting lists today than in July.

Teams of clinicians will also introduce new ways of working at 20 hospital sites in areas with the highest levels of economic inactivity to help patients return to the workforce faster. This is alongside the recruitment of an additional 8,500 mental health workers to ensure mental health is given the same attention as physical health.

Further information:

For the DWP Public Perception Survey, Ipsos interviewed 5,002 people aged 16+ in the UK between 16 and 29 October 2024, some of whom had used DWP services in the past year. Of the total sample, 1,705 described themselves as having a long-term health condition or disability that affects their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. Data was weighted to be representative of the general population in terms of age, gender, and region.

Latest Universal Credit data: Universal Credit statistics, 29 April 2013 to 9 January 2025 – GOV.UK

Over a quarter (27%) of health and disability benefit claimants believing that work could be possible in the future, if their health improves: Work Aspirations Survey

The Get Britain Working White Paper was published in November last year: Biggest employment reforms in a generation unveiled to Get Britain Working again – GOV.UK

The Keep Britain Working Review officially started its work in January: Ex-high street chief to keep Britain working with review into business support for disabled and long-term sick – GOV.UK

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Published 6 March 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Klobuchar, Marshall Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Help Americans Afford Skills Training

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Minnesota Amy Klobuchar
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) introduced the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act, which would allow Americans to use 529 education savings accounts to pay for training programs. By broadening the scope of qualified expenses under 529 savings plans to include postsecondary training and credentialing, the bill would expand tax-advantaged resources to families, students, and workers who are pursuing career growth outside of a traditional four-year degree. This will expand Americans’ access to well-paying jobs that require training and credentialing such as licenses and certifications.
“Workforce training is key to expanding opportunity and strengthening our economy by providing workers with the tools and resources they need to succeed,” said Klobuchar. “By allowing Americans to use their ‘529’ educational savings to pay for training and certification outside of a four-year degree, our bipartisan legislation will enable more people to access these valuable programs and open doors to good-paying jobs.”
“Back home, not a day goes by that I don’t hear about the workforce shortages across the state. We have high-paying jobs at the ready but struggle to find qualified employees. Our bill helps fill these workforce gaps and empowers Kansans to pursue non-traditional educational opportunities more easily,” said Marshall. “Allowing 529 funds to be used beyond a four-year education makes sense. Whether it’s a bachelor’s degree or an apprenticeship opportunity, 529 savings plans need to be flexible to meet the growing demands of our workforce.”
The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Peter Welch (D-VT) and Susan Collins (R-ME). Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA) leads companion legislation in the House. This bill has garnered the support of more than 800 trade associations, professional societies, and businesses.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Sen. Warner Slams Trump Administration Plan to Cut over 80,000 Employees from Veterans Affairs

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released the following statement on Trump administration’s short-sighted plan to slash over 80,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs:

“Our nation’s veterans have served our country valiantly and we owe it to them to take care of them when they come home. The Department of Veterans Affairs serves nearly 10 million veterans nationwide providing quality health care, disability services, and financial and career counseling. In recent years, with legislation like the PACT Act, we have made significant improvements to delivering quality care to these heroes. This move by the Trump administration would completely erase that progress. Eliminating over 80,000 jobs would not only decimate our workforce, but would hurt the veterans who too often struggle to access the benefits they have earned. To put it simply: our veterans deserve better, and I’m going to fight this move tooth and nail.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Breakfast with Steve Martin, ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria

Source: Australian Ministers 1

STEVE MARTIN [HOST]: And in our news this morning has been a story about a major funding announcement for the Western Freeway, Western Highway as well. The sections towards Melbourne that will be upgraded, there are bridges in the west which will be subject of some of this. And the area of the Western Highway around Warrenheip is also being talked about. Catherine King is the federal member for Ballarat, but also the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. And Catherine King is our guest this morning. Minister, good morning.

CATHERINE KING [MINISTER, MEMBER FOR BALLARAT]: Good morning, Steve. How are you?

STEVE MARTIN: Very well. $1.1 billion you’re announcing this morning for the Western Freeway and the Western Highway. Can you just explain what the money goes towards?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, I can. So the first thing is that the Victorian Government and the Federal Labor Government have undertaken a business case along the Western Highway. In particular, the areas that we’ve been concerned about is around where there’s been significant housing development between Melton and Caroline Springs. And you see that really significant bottleneck that’s occurring there. The West Gate Tunnel will help alleviate some of that, but the road really is not in a condition to deal with the volume of traffic there. And we of course know there continue to be problems along the whole corridor. So we’re announcing today $1.1 billion to go into the Western Highway. A billion of that is focused on the Melton and Caroline Springs area to try and alleviate that congestion, 100 million to go towards trying to find a solution for Brewery Tap Road, that Warrenheip area where we know there’s a very dangerous intersection. We’ve had multiple complaints about that, multiple near-misses, and know that needs to be resolved. We continue to do the work. There’s already a billion dollars committed to the west, and so there’s projects right the way along the corridor. But we’re adding in an additional project today around fixing some couple of the bridges around the west, which again, are proving to be bottlenecks. And they are around the Dimboola Bridge, over the Melbourne Adelaide railway line and the Dadswell Bridge over Mount William Creek floodplain. So both of those bridges getting money for upgrades as well.

STEVE MARTIN: Okay, can I just ask, is this money that is allocated and locked in, or is this dependent on an election outcome?

CATHERINE KING: No, we are making this as a decision of government. So we are not in an election campaign yet. We are governing, and so this is a decision of government. So that will appear in the pre-election financial outlook, which is how the- what the state of the books are before the election. So that will appear there. Of course, there are risks that if there is a change of government, that a new government makes a different decision and is obviously- when we’re seeing that they’re looking for cuts, that these sorts of things can get cut. But these are in the budget. They are a decision of government.

STEVE MARTIN: Okay. When you mentioned it could be cut, in a similar manner to what you had to do around November 2023, where you had to cut back- I think it was about $80 billion worth of promises, including ones on the Western Freeway at that stage for- I think it was the M80 Ring Road to Ferris Road.

CATHERINE KING: Yeah. Well, what I had to do is that what we’d seen is a really, to be blunt, pretty appalling management of the infrastructure investment pipeline. What they’ve done is used it, frankly, to stand up and make election announcements without having any idea about how much the cost of projects were going to be, and not doing the planning work alongside the Victorian state government, and really using it to- you know, to pork barrel, to be frank. And so what we’ve had to do is really look at the pipeline, do planning work first, do business cases, get a good understanding of what is needed and also what the costs of projects are. So we didn’t cut $80 billion because that’s in fact almost the entire infrastructure investment program. We cut projects that had no hope of proceeding because they were woefully underfunded and also just hadn’t been done in conjunction with Victorian state government.

So I think there was $50 million that was allocated there, 50 million to the quarter. But no, it had- it sat there on the books for years not having any work done on it. So what we’ve done here is we’ve done the planning work, done the business case, got a fairly good understanding of what’s needed and are now working with the Victorian government, you know, hand-in-glove really to make sure we can actually deliver these projects along the highway.

STEVE MARTIN: When would we see works commence? Because I believe the bridge is different in the far west to some of the other work. And you did mention that for Warrenheip and Brewery Tap Road, that’s a planning process. So when will people start to see works happening, do you think?

CATHERINE KING: Well, there’s some safety works that can happen pretty quickly and they can be around shoulder widening and certainly making sure that we’ve got the- you know, mostly the highways covered by barriers. But, you know, some of the shoulder widening that may be needed, some of the resealing work that can happen fairly quickly. But obviously when you’re talking about things like overpasses or new interchanges, they are significant pieces of work, and they do require some planning to make sure that they can be delivered. So, you know, our view is the money is available, we’ll make the money available the minute the project is ready to go. But again, you have to do these things properly. And we’re in the hands of the Victorian Government when it comes to the delivery.

STEVE MARTIN: I did have a question that came in specifically from our team in western Victoria, just wanting to know a bit more about the bridges in the west. The Dimboola Bridge upgrades, they’re asking specifically when that might be rolled out. But as you just said, there is still some work to be done before this begins. Is that right, Catherine King?

CATHERINE KING: Well, in terms of those two projects. So the total cost of those, it’s a 50/50 project with the state government. So it’s a $12.2 million project. They will match that project. That’s expected to commence in 2025 with an estimated completion date of ‘26. So it’s meant to actually be starting this year in relation to those two projects. They were – have already been in planning for a while, so we know what we want to do there. So those projects should come on train fairly quickly.

STEVE MARTIN: Rightio Catherine King, thanks for your time this morning.

CATHERINE KING: Terrific to be with you, Steve.

STEVE MARTIN: Catherine King is the Federal Member for Ballarat, but also, of course, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

MIL OSI News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Senator Collins Announces that Department of Commerce has Agreed to Renegotiate Maine Sea Grant
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Maine Susan Collins

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins today announced that the Department of Commerce has agreed to renegotiate funding for Maine Sea Grant. At the urging of Senator Collins, Secretary Lutnick is directing NOAA to renegotiate the terms and conditions of the work to be performed by Maine Sea Grant to ensure that it focuses on advancing Maine’s coastal economies, working waterfronts and sustainable fisheries. The announcement comes following a conversation Tuesday between Secretary Lutnick and Senator Collins in which Senator Collins explained all that is at stake for Maine’s coastal communities with the loss of Sea Grant funding.

“I appreciate the Secretary’s willingness to work together to ensure that Maine Sea Grant can continue to conduct research, support a robust pipeline of skilled labor, and ensure that our coastal economies remain profitable hubs for fishermen, lobstermen, and hospitality workers. It is important that Maine Sea Grant can continue to provide valuable services for communities across the state for years to come,” said Senator Collins.

In a memo from the Department of Commerce, Vice Admiral Nancy Hann said, “After productive conversations with Senator Susan Collins and her staff, the Department of Commerce is committed to engaging in bilateral negotiations to modify the Year 2 award requirements and related funding of the Maine Sea Grant Omnibus Award.

“Through these bilateral negotiations, the Department will ensure that the American people, including hardworking Mainers like lobstermen and fishermen, receive the benefit of the bargain consistent with the Administration’s priorities and continued relevance to program objectives.”

Read the full memo here.

“I am so grateful for Senator Collins’ unwavering dedication to sustaining our fisheries, working waterfronts, and local communities,” said Gayle Zydlewski, Director, Maine Sea Grant.

“We deeply appreciate Senator Collins, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and NOAA for restoring funding to Maine Sea Grant. This investment ensures continued collaboration between scientists and fishermen, supporting sustainable fisheries and Maine’s coastal communities. UMaine remains committed to advancing research that strengthens our blue economy and marine industries,” said University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy.

Maine Sea Grant is a direct investment in Maine’s coastal communities, driving economic growth, creating jobs, and supporting fisheries and the seafood industry, including local businesses like Ready Seafood:

“Maine Sea Grant has been supporting Ready Seafood since we started as a small lobster company on Hobson’s Pier in Portland in 2004, and helped propel our business to become the largest lobster processing company in the world,” said Curt Brown, lobsterman and marine biologist for Ready Seafood. “Senator Collins’ tireless leadership has once again delivered a huge victory for Maine’s coastal communities. From Kittery to Cutler, Maine’s coastal economy is stronger today, thanks to her efforts!”

Senator Collins has been in contact with the Trump Administration and University of Maine leadership since the news broke Friday evening that the program was being defunded. Tuesday, Senator Collins met with the Director of Maine Sea Grant and other program advocates in her office. She spoke with Commerce Secretary Lutnick later that day.

Facts about Maine Sea Grant:
- Maine Sea Grant contributed to $23.5 million in documented economic benefits in 2023 alone. For every $1 of funding, there’s a $15 return.
- Sea Grant has more than 700 established partnerships with businesses, researchers, community organizations, and local and county governments.
- In 2023, Sea Grant created or supported 332 businesses and 565 jobs.
- Sea Grant supports American Seafood Competitiveness by enhancing the sustainability and profitability of Maine’s $600 million lobster industry and growing aquaculture sector, helping maintain American leadership in global seafood markets.
MIL OSI USA News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: AI pioneers Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton win 2025 Turing Award for groundbreaking contributions to reinforcement learning
Source: US Government research organizations

NSF funded Barto’s research journey from basic science to pioneering breakthroughs in artificial intelligence
The computing world is celebrating a major milestone as Andrew Barto, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Richard Sutton, professor of computer science at the University of Alberta, Canada, have been awarded the 2024 Association for Computing Machinery A.M. Turing Award — often called the “Nobel Prize of computing” — for “developing the conceptual and algorithmic foundations of reinforcement learning.”

The legacy in reinforcement learning

Barto and Sutton are widely recognized as pioneers of the modern computational reinforcement learning (RL), a field that addresses the challenge of learning how to act based on evaluative feedback. Their work has laid the conceptual and algorithmic foundations of RL, shaping the future of artificial intelligence and decision-making systems.

The influence of RL extends across multiple disciplines, including computer science (machine learning), engineering (optimal control), mathematics (operations research), neuroscience (optimal decision-making), psychology (classical and operant conditioning) and economics (rational choice theory). Researchers in these fields continue to be profoundly shaped by the contributions of Sutton and Barto.

From NSF Grants to AI Breakthroughs

Barto’s contributions were made possible through a series of U.S. National Science Foundation-funded projects that sustained AI research long before its recent boom. His research was supported through grants from NSF programs including the National Robotics Initiative, Robust Intelligence, Collaborative Research in Computation Neuroscience, Human-Centered Computing, Biological Information Technology and Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, which have driven the long-term, fundamental advances in machine learning that we see today.

“Barto’s research exemplifies the power of foundational computational research that has not only advanced state-of-the-art decision-making machines and intelligent systems but has also provided critical insights into understanding intelligence itself,” said Greg Hager, NSF assistant director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering.

“Andy Barto’s work laid the foundation for modern reinforcement learning, influencing generations of researchers, including myself. His insights with Rich Sutton into how agents can learn and adapt in complex environments form the backbone of how automated behavior is generated in the field of artificial intelligence. Without his pioneering research, many of today’s — and tomorrow’s — AI breakthroughs wouldn’t be possible,” said Michael Littman, director for the NSF Division of Information and Intelligent Systems.

The impact of Barto and Sutton’s work

For decades, NSF has supported fundamental research in AI, with Barto’s work being among the most influential. Barto and Sutton formalized RL concepts through decades of research, beginning with Sutton’s time as Barto’s first doctoral student. Their collaboration continued as Sutton later joined Barto at the UMass Amherst as a senior research scientist from 1995 to 1998 and beyond, producing many of the foundational RL approaches that remain in use today.

Reinforcement learning methods built on Sutton and Barto’s work today underpin:
- Chatbots: Conversational AI agents learn to answer questions helpfully and accurately with the help of a technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback, as deployed in ChatGPT and other leading bots.
- Games: From Jeopardy to Go to video games, RL algorithms have made it possible for computer players to achieve world-class performance and have even influenced the strategies of the best human players.
- Robot motor skill learning: RL enables robots to learn autonomously through trial and error how to carry out intricate tasks.
- Microprocessor layout and circuit design: RL systems make decisions for composing components that make up computer chips
- Personalized recommendations: Online services like Netflix and YouTube rely on RL techniques to tailor recommendations.
- Autonomous vehicles: RL models help self-driving cars learn how to navigate complex traffic environments.
- Supply chain optimization: RL-enabled systems learn what items need to be stored where so that customers can receive goods quickly and cheaply.
- Algorithm design: Researchers have broken new ground and solved long-standing problems with the help of RL systems.
Breakthroughs in RL have fueled a multibillion-dollar industry, with major companies like DeepMind and OpenAI relying on RL as a core technology. Additionally, many major tech firms now have dedicated RL research teams. It is also recognized as a core topic of study. For example, RL was added to the Computer Science Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools earlier this year.

Bridging AI and neuroscience

The influence of Barto and Sutton’s work extends far beyond computer science and AI, forging crucial connections between RL and brain sciences, including cognitive science, psychology and neuroscience. Their research has provided groundbreaking insights into how learning can occur, both in machines and in the human brain.

One of their earliest breakthroughs came in 1981 when they showed that temporal difference (TD) learning could explain certain learning behaviors that the existing Rescorla-Wagner model couldn’t. This discovery opened the door to a new way of understanding how learning happens. Building on this idea, a 1995 study found a connection between the TD algorithm and how dopamine neurons in the brain behave. This insight laid the groundwork for later experiments that confirmed that TD learning accurately describes how dopamine influences reward-based learning.

With the 2025 A.M. Turing Award recognizing Barto and Sutton’s lifetime achievements, their legacy underscores the importance of sustained federal investment in basic research — the kind of support that has fueled AI’s breakthroughs over the last four decades.

For more details on this year’s award, please visit https://amturing.acm.org/
MIL OSI USA News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Stein Urges Congress to Protect North Carolinians’ Health Care and Oppose Cuts to Medicaid Funding

Source: US State of North Carolina

Headline: Governor Stein Urges Congress to Protect North Carolinians’ Health Care and Oppose Cuts to Medicaid Funding

Governor Stein Urges Congress to Protect North Carolinians’ Health Care and Oppose Cuts to Medicaid Funding
lsaito
Wed, 03/05/2025 – 17:35

Raleigh, NC

Governor Josh Stein today sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to change course on proposed federal cuts to the Medicaid program and laying out what’s at stake in North Carolina.

“Medicaid is a lifeline for more than 3 million North Carolinians and disproportionately serves our rural population,” said Governor Josh Stein. “I strongly urge Congress to oppose cuts to Medicaid funding so that hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians do not lose their health care and our rural health care system is not devastated.”

North Carolina’s Medicaid program contributes at least $28 billion to the state’s economy every year and is crucial to the wellbeing of the state’s most vulnerable people, including children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities. In 29 mostly rural counties, 40 percent or more of the population depends on Medicaid for health care. Over the past 11 years, North Carolina’s Medicaid program has been efficiently managed with no cost overruns.

In March 2023, North Carolina’s General Assembly passed Medicaid expansion with overwhelming bipartisan support. Since it passed, Medicaid expansion has enabled more than 640,000 North Carolinians to access affordable health care, and it has stabilized struggling rural hospitals to maintain health care access throughout the state. One of the proposed cuts would lower the enhanced federal match for the expansion population, which would trigger an immediate end to Medicaid expansion in North Carolina, leaving 640,000 North Carolinians without health care coverage immediately.

Any reductions in Medicaid funding would jeopardize access to critical health care for these groups, putting their well-being and the stability of the health care system at risk, including a loss of $6 billion in federal funds to health care providers.

Click here to read the full text of Governor Stein’s letter to Congress.

Mar 5, 2025

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: OPINION: Keith Rankin – Germany’s Election 2025: Far Establishment-Right versus Far Non-Establishment-Right?

Opinion/Analysis by Keith Rankin.

Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Germany’s important election last week struggled to make the news cycle, even on Germany’s own Deutsche Welle(DW), Germany’s equivalent of Britain’s BBC. Especially (but not only) in the international media, most of the focus was on a single party (AFD, Alliance for Germany) that was never going to have the most votes and was (almost) never going to become part of the resulting government.

Germany is the world’s third largest national economy, and traditionally dominates the politics of the European Union; an important example of this dominance was the Eurozone financial crisis of the first-half of the 2010s; a crisis that was (unsatisfactorily) resolved, thanks to a problematic and controversial program of fiscal austerity.

At present, Germany, like New Zealand, is experiencing an economic recession. (Provisional annual economic growthwas -0.2% in 2024 and -0.3% in 2023.) The cause is similar, too, in both countries: the same ‘balance the Budget’ mentality that gave the world the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Election Result

The ‘winner’ of the German election was the CDU/CSU Alliance (see Wikipedia for a better presentation of the results), which works a bit like the Liberal/National Coalition in Australia. (The Christian Social Union functions in Bavaria much like Australia’s National Party functions in rural Queensland.) CDU/CSU (like National in New Zealand) comfortably prevailed with 28.5 percent of the vote, entitling that alliance to 33 percent of the seats in the Bundestag (Parliament).

The new Chancellor (equivalent to Prime Minister) will be Friedrich Merz; a 69-year-old version of our own Christopher Luxon, as far as I can tell. He is strongly anti-Putin and pro-Israel. He has come to power well and truly under the international media radar; and will be in a strong position to exert near-absolute power, given that he will always be able to turn to the AFD (who got more votes than the Social Democrats; 20.8%) for support in the Bundestag for any measure that is not palatable to Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats. In the new Parliament, the Greens and the Left merely make up the numbers.

Merz’s Christian Democrats will form a coalition government with the losing SPD (Social Democratic Party, like Labour in New Zealand) who came third with 16.4 percent of the vote; 19 percent of the seats. Together these two parties of the establishment centre hold 52% of the new parliament, despite having less than 45% of the vote. (The outgoing minority government was a centrist coalition of the SPD and the Greens; the election was held early because the ACT-like Liberal Party – the FPD, Free Democrats – withdrew from the coalition. The FPD vote shrunk from 11.4 percent in 2021 to just 4.3 percent of the vote this time.)

The result in Germany proved to be very much like that of the United Kingdom in 2024: a slide in support for the two major parties (‘the establishment centre’), a consolidation of power to the self-same establishment centre, and a shift of that establishment centre to the right. (See my chart in Germany’s stale (and still pale) political mainstream, Evening Report 27 February 2025, for a timeline of decline.) While both countries technically underwent a change of government, in both countries the establishment has entrenched its power, and in both countries the political assumptions of the power centre have shifted to the right.

Clearly this is problematic for democracy, because historically disastrous popular support for the ‘broad church’ parties of the establishment centre has coincided with increased power to those parties, as well as policy convergence between them. Further, based on legislative electoral requirements, neither Germany nor the United Kingdom (nor the United States for that matter) will have a new government until 2029. At a time when a week is a long time in international politics, 208 weeks is an eternity. World War Three, a distinct possibility, may be in its second or third year by then.

Voting System

Germany represents the prototype upon which New Zealand’s MMP voting system is based. There are some differences though, and some recent changes.

Germany calls its all-important ‘party vote’ the ‘second vote’, disguising its importance. It is possible that many German voters do not fully appreciate its significance. The electorate vote is called ‘first vote’, and winners (by a plurality, not necessarily a majority) are elected ‘directly’. The second (party) vote is understood as a top-up vote to ensure proportionality.

Party lists are regional in Germany. And ‘ethnic parties’ may get special privileges.

In one respect the German version is more proportional than the New Zealand version of MMP, in that it no longer allows overhang MPs. (However, the most recent result is not proportional in the important sense that two parties together with less than 45% of the vote have 52% of the seats.) In MMP, one can easily imagine an overhang situation being frequent if the ‘major’ parties, which win most electorates, only get between 16% and 29% of the party vote.

In 2013, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court decided that overhang seats were too big a threat to proportionality. So, they introduced ‘levelling seats’. In effect, it meant that if one party gets an overhang, then all parties get an overhang. The result was, in 2013, that a parliament that should have had 598 members (Deputies) ended up with 631, an effective overhang of 33. In 2017 that effective overhang grew to 111, and to 137 in 2021.

For 2025, they decided to abandon overhang representation altogether, by not guaranteeing direct election through the first vote. And they fixed the size of the Bundestag to 630 Deputies, up from a base-size of 598.

If the new German system was in place in New Zealand in 2023, then two of the Te Pati Māori electorate seats from 2023 would have been forfeit, going instead to second placed candidates; proportionality in 2023 entitled Te Pati Māori to four seats, not the six which they have. However, we should note that, if New Zealand was using the present German version of MMP, there would be no special Māori electorates, but the Māori Party would be exempt the five percent party threshold. Ethnic-privileged parties in Germany are incentivised to focus on the party vote, not the electorate vote. In Germany there is a Danish ethnic party (South Schleswig Voters’ Association) which is exempt the threshold. Its leader, Stefan Seidler, did not win his electorate. But his party got 0.15% of the nationwide vote, meaning it qualified for 0.15% of the 630 places in the Bundestag; one seat, for him.

New Zealand voters seem to have more tactical and strategic political nous than do German voters. Thus, it has been very rare for a party in New Zealand to miss out qualifying for Parliament because of getting between 4% and 5% of the party votes (noting that both countries operate a 5% disqualification threshold). In Germany, party-vote percentages just below 5% are not uncommon. In New Zealand, voters, conscious that they want to play a role in coalition-building, actively help parties near the threshold to get over the line. (Indeed, I voted New Zealand First in 2023, because I was 99.9% sure that the only post-election coalition options would be National/ACT or National/ACT/NZF; I favoured the three-party alternative, so I used my vote strategically to help block a National/ACT government.)

Indeed the latest German result was a bit like the latest New Zealand result, but with a party resembling New Zealand First (BSW) getting 4.972% of the vote, so getting no seats at all. BSW getting just a few more votes would have meant a substantial erosion of the two-party power result which eventuated. It is extremely difficult for new non-ethnic parties to get elected in Germany.

In 2025, two parties scored just under five percent of the vote. As well as the BSW, the (ACT-like) Free Democrats who had been part of the previous government, and who had indeed precipitated the early election, scored 4.3%. Indeed, fifteen percent of the votes were ‘wasted’ – that is, cast for ultimately unsuccessful parties. In New Zealand the wasted vote is typically around four percent. Indeed, this high wasted vote turns out to be a more serious challenge to proportionality in German than uncompensated overhang seats.

Both Germany and New Zealand have the contentious (in New Zealand) ‘electorate MP’ rule; the rule that’s misleadingly dubbed in New Zealand as the ‘coat-tail’ rule. (Misleading, because most MPs come in on the coat-tails of their party leadership, and always have.) In Germany the rule is stricter than in New Zealand. In order to avoid disqualification by getting less than 5% of the party vote, New Zealand requires that the party get one electorate MP. In Germany the rule (initially the same as New Zealand), since 1957 has been a requirement for three electorate MPs. In Germany in 2021, the Left Party got 4.87% of the vote and three electorate MPs; they just squeezed in, on both criteria!

Overall, United States’ Vice-President JD Vance’s pre-election comments about democracy in Germany were valid. German politics continues to exclude the non-establishment parties of both the right and the left, despite support for these parties having been increasing for a while, and now representing the majority of German voters.

Media Framing

German television electoral coverage, if DW is anything to go by, is superficial; indeed, is quite insensitive to the national and local dramas taking place. I watched the coverage live. In the hour before the Exit Poll results were announced, the discussion barely mentioned the potential dramas taking place, despite both the BSW and FDP parties pre-polling only just under the five percent threshold. The state of the economy was mentioned in a perfunctory way; clearly it was not a big issue for the political class on display.

At 6 o’clock exactly, the exit-poll results were read out, as if they were the election result. As indeed they turned out to be, more-or-less; the same as the pre-election polls. The subsequent uninterested attitude towards the actual counting of the votes was disappointing. There had been a bit of this in the 2024 UK election as well; as if the exit poll was the election result. In the UK case, Labour’s actual result (for the popular vote) was well under the exit poll result, while the Conservatives did significantly better than their exit poll tally; those facts, though, were for the nerds and psephologists.

In my observation, early votes and exit polls favour the parties supported by the political class; election day votes much less so. So, in New Zealand in 2023 it was initially looking like there would be a two-party coalition of the right. But, to the attentive, as the night wore on, the National Party percentage fell from 41% to 38%, meaning that NZF would have to be included in any resulting coalition.

I suspected something quite similar would happen in Germany, and I was only partially wrong. The exit poll results, and the subsequent counts, were presented to just one decimal place; indeed, the presentation of the numbers was very poor throughout. So, it was hard to see to what extent BSW was improving as the votes were counted.

In the exit poll, two parties – FPD and BSW – were shown as being on 4.7%, and the AFD was on 19.5%. So, the two 4.7% parties were largely written out of the subsequent discussion. We did see an early concession by the FPD, who – representing a segment of the political class – understood the polling dynamics rather well. And we did see the AFD’s Alice Weidel being asked if she was disappointed to get under 20%. Ms Weidel put on a brave face, but she did seem disappointed. When the votes were actually counted, her party got 20.8% exactly on Weidel’s prior expectations.

BSW was completely ignored. There was simply no interest in the possibility that they might reach the 5% threshold, even when the vote count had them upto 4.9%. In the end BSW reached 4.972%; so close! Out of sight, out of mind! In the official results the BSW were lumped with ‘Other Parties’. The DW election panel were too unaware to make any comments about the party itself, its philosophies, or how its possible success might influence the process of forming a coalition government. (Of particular importance was that, with just a few more votes, BSW might have given Eastern Germany a voice in a three-way coalition government.)

For DW, their perennial concern is the place of Germany within Europe and the World; they had little time to give the outside world a glimpse into the domestic lives and politics of ordinary Germans. And we heard nothing about the ‘ethnic vote’, the privileged Denmark Party notwithstanding. I suspect that many if not most of the recent immigrants who do much of the work in Germany either could not vote or did not vote. The election was about them, not for them; denizens, not citizens.

However, DW did invite on a gentleman who mildly focussed the attention of the discussants by suggesting that one of the priorities of the new Chancellor – Friedrich Merz – would be to acquire nuclear weapons! I don’t think the rest of the world had any prior insights into that; ordinary Germans were probably equally in the dark.

Who is Friedrich Merz? Who knows? It turns out that he dropped out of politics for a while, to play a leading role in BlackRock, the international acquisitions company which until recently owned New Zealand’s SolarZero (refer Update on SolarZero Liquidation by BlackRock, Scoop, 29 January 2025). Our media told us that the election was all about the “far-right” AFD Party; that is, the far non-establishment-right. We in New Zealand heard nothing about the far establishment-right; the shadowy man (or his party). Some now fear Merz will be an out-and-out warmonger. Even Al Jazeera, which can be relied upon to cover many stories about places New Zealand’s media barely touches (and in a bit more depth), had the portraits of Olaf Scholz and Alice Weidel on the screen, on 22 February, the day before the election, despite the certainty that Merz world become the new Chancellor.

In that vein, I heard a German woman interviewed in Christchurch, on RNZ on 25 February. She, disappointed with the election result, spent her whole edited four minutes railing about the AFD, as if the AFD had won. There was no useful commentary, by her or RNZ, of the actual result of Germany’s election.

Are we so shallow that we don’t care; that some of us with the loudest voices only want to rail against a non-establishment party, and to see the democratic support for alternative parties as being somehow anti-democratic?

East Germany

People of a certain age in New Zealand will remember the former East Germany; the DDR, German ‘Democratic’ Republic. Most people in Germany itself will have had knowledge of it, including the Berlin-based political staff of DW who were mostly in their thirties, forties and fifties. But the ongoing issues of Eastern Germany were barely in their mindframes.

In Eastern Germany – the former DDR – (especially outside of Berlin), support for the AFD was close to 40%, for BSW over 10%, and the Left much higher than in Western Germany. In the former East Berlin (which I visited in 1974), the Left seems to have been the most popular party. Support in the East for the establishment parties combined was between 25% and 30%, and with a lower turnout.

BSW, it turns out, is Left on economic policy and Right on social policy. And, in the German discourse, is categorised by the political class as ‘pro-Putin’. If BSW had got 5% of the vote, Merz could have tried to bring them into his government; or Merz might have turned to the Green Party instead of a ‘pro-Putin’ party. But I cannot see even the German Greens being able to govern as a junior partner to a belligerent establishment-right CDU-led government. BSW’s failure to get 5% of the vote may turn out to be one of the great ‘might-have-beens’ of Germany’s future history.

As JD Vance stated, this Eastern German situation poses a danger for democracy in Germany and in Europe. Eastern Germany is where the German state is at its most vulnerable. The majority of voters there have voted for ‘pro-Putin’ parties; and, significantly, parties prioritising the problems of economic failure over the big-politics of extranational power-plays.

The new German government, it would seem, is set to aggravate (or, at best, ignore) the problems of Germany’s ‘near-East’, while setting out to inflame the problems of Europe’s ‘far-East’.

The Debt Brake

This is Germany’s equivalent of Ruth Richardson’s 1994 ‘Fiscal Responsibility Act’ (now entrenched in New Zealand law and lore). This is the major single reason why New Zealand has had so many infrastructure problems this century, and why so many young men and families emigrated to Australia in the 1990s, with some of these emigrants coming back to New Zealand in recent years as ‘501s’.

The Merkel debt-brake is the self-inflicted single major reason why many European economies are in such a mess today; and Germany in particular. Germany is congenitally deeply committed to all kinds of financial austerity, with government financial austerity being the most ingrained. Rather than circulating as it should, money is concentrating. The debt-brake is “a German constitutional rule introduced [in 2009] during the Global Financial crisis to enforce budget discipline and reduce [public] debt loads in the country” (see Berlin Briefing, below).

Germany still has a parliamentary session under the old Parliament, before the new parliament convenes. Michaela Küfner (see Berlin Briefing, below) suggests the possibility that the old “lame duck” Parliament could remove the debt-brake from the German constitution, because she sees the make-up of the new more right-wing parliament as being less amenable to address this ‘elephant in the room’. Seems democratically dodgy to me, even talking about pushing dramatic constitutional legislation through a ‘lame duck’ parliament; like Robert Muldoon, pushing through a two-year parliamentary term for New Zealand in the week after the 1984 election!

(Two-year parliamentary terms are not unknown, by the way; the United States has a two-year term for its Congress. This is almost never mentioned when we discuss the parliamentary term in New Zealand. In the United States at present, there will be many people for whom the 2026 election cannot come fast enough; an opportunity to reign-in Donald Trump.)

Future German relations with the United States

On 27 February (28 Feb, New Zealand time) – before the fiasco in the White House on 28 February – I watched Berlin Briefing on DW. This programme is a regular panel discussion of the political editorship of Deutsche Welle.

The context here is that Friedrich Merz made an important speech the evening after the election; a speech that had the Berlin beltway – “people behind the scenes here in Berlin” – all agog. Merz said: “For me the absolute priority will be strengthening Germany so much so that we can achieve [defence] independence from the United States.”

The discussion proceeded as follows:

“How important is this anchoring in Nato of the idea of the United States as ‘The Great Protector’?” Nina Haase, DW political correspondent: “I don’t think there’s a word, ‘massive’ is not enough; people behind the scenes here in Berlin … they talk about are we going to part with the United States amicably or are we going to become enemies [my emphasis] … Europe has relied on the US so much since the Second World War is completely new thinking; just to prepare for a scenario with, if you will, would-be enemies on two sides; in the East with Russia launching a hybrid attack and then [an enemy] in the West as well.” They go on to talk about the possible need for conscription in Germany.

The political correspondents were talking like bourgeois brat adult children who had expected that they should be able to enjoy a power-lifestyle underwritten by ‘big daddy’ always there as a financial and security backstop; and just realising that the rug of entitlement might be being pulled from under them. Michaela Küfner (Chief Political Editor of DW) goes on to talk about an “existential threat from the United States”, meaning the withdrawal (and potential enmity) of the great protector. “Like your Rich Uncle from across the ocean turning against you”, she said.

Nina Haase: “Pacifism, the very word, needs to be redefined in Germany … Germans are only now able to understand that you have to have weapons in order not to use them.” She was referring to earlier generations of pacifists (like me) who saw weapons as the problem, not the solution.

Ulrike Franke: “Everything needs to change for everything to stay the same”, basically saying Germany itself may have to pursue domestic Rich Uncle policies to maintain the lifestyles of the (entitled) ten percenters.

Michaela Küfner, towards the end of the discussion: “The AFD is framing [the supporters of] the parties which will make up the coming coalition as the political class who we will challenge”. And she noted, but only at the very end of the long discussion, that the effectively disenfranchised people in Eastern Germany are “a lot more Russia-friendly”.

Maybe Merz has a plan to build employment-rich munitions factories in Eastern Germany, to address both his security concerns and the obvious political discontent arising from unemployment and fast-eroding living standards? But Merz will have to abandon his innate fiscal conservatism before he can even contemplate that; can he do a Hoover to Hitler transition? Rearmament was Hitler’s game; his means to full employment after the Depression.

Implications for Democracy

I sense that Friedrich Merz will become the face of coming German politics, just as Angela Merkel once was, and as Trump and Starmer are very much the faces of government in their countries; becoming – albeit through democratic means – similar to the autocrats that, in Eastern and Middle-Eastern countries, they [maybe not Trump] rail against.

We might note that if we look carefully at World War One and World War Two, the core conflict was Germany versus Russia. Will World War Three be the same? And which side will ‘we’ (or ‘US’) be on? In WW1 and WW2, we were on Russia’s side. (Hopefully, in the future, we can be neutral with respect to other countries’ conflicts.)

Democracy is under strain worldwide. The diminishing establishment-centre – the political and economic elites and the people with secure employment and housing who still vote for familiar major parties – is clinging on to power, and for the time-being remains more powerful than ever in Europe.

In the Europe of the early 1930s, it was the Great Depression as a period of abject political failure that resulted in the suspension of democracy. All the signs are that the same failures of democratic leadership – worldwide from the 1920s – will bring about similar consequences.

For democracies to save themselves, they should bring non-establishment voices to the table. In 2025. Germany will be another important test case, already sowing the seeds of political failure. We should be wary of demonising the far non-establishment-right while lionising the far establishment-right.

*******

Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Ref.

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Stats NZ information release: Environmental-economic accounts: Data to 2023
Source: Statistics New Zealand

Environmental-economic accounts: Data to 2023 – 6 March 2025 – Environmental-economic accounts show how our environment contributes to our economy, the impacts of economic activity on our environment, and how we respond to environmental issues.

Stats NZ’s environmental-economic accounts show the interactions between the environment and the economy to provide a clearer understanding of environmental-economic pressures, dependencies, trade-offs, and impacts. It is done within the United Nations’ System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) framework, which specifies how environmental data can be integrated coherently with economic data from the System of National Accounts.

All accounts are expressed in monetary units and in current prices for the year to March.

Key facts
In the year to March 2023:

Total environmental taxes were $5.2 billion, most of which were transport (51 percent) and energy (45 percent) taxes. From 2022–2023, environmental taxes decreased 21 percent ($1.4 billion).

Marine economy contributed $4.6 billion to New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP). This was an increase of 7.9 percent compared with 2022. The contribution of the marine economy to GDP in 2023 was 1.2 percent.

The total asset value of renewable energy was $13.7 billion. Hydro generation made up 69 percent of total asset value, followed by geothermal (21 percent).

Central and local government expenditure on environmental protection (on a final consumption basis) increased 15 percent ($381 million) to total $2.9 billion. Local government contributed 68 percent ($1.9 billion) to this total, and central government 32 percent ($904 million).

Files:

Environmental-economic accounts: Data to 2023

CSV files for download
MIL OSI –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Cornyn, Markey Reintroduce Legislation to Fund Sea Turtle Research and Rescue Assistance

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Texas John Cornyn

Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) reintroduced their bipartisan and bicameral Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act, legislation to establish funding at the Department of Commerce for the rescue, recovery and research of sea turtles in Texas and across the United States. Text of the bill can be found, here.

“Sea turtle strandings are rising at an alarming rate along the Texas Gulf Coast,” said Sen. Cornyn. “This bill would help identify the causes of these strandings and invest in rescue and recovery efforts to better protect Texas’ endangered and storied sea turtle population.”

“Sea turtles are the canaries in the coal mine. Right now, every known species of sea turtles found in US waters is either threatened or endangered and faces extinction and environmental wipeout due to the human-caused climate crisis. We have the responsibility to act,” said Sen. Markey. “I am reintroducing the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance Act to financially support ongoing rescue and rehabilitation efforts of our shelled friends.”

The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Cory Booker (D-NJ, and Tom Tillis (R-NC). In January, Representative Bill Keating (MA-09) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

Background:

In 2000, fewer than 50 sea turtles were found stranded on the beaches of Cape Cod; by 2022, that number had skyrocketed to 866. During the 2021 cold snap in Texas, more than 12,100 turtles were cold-stunned, and rescue organizations were able to save and return only 4,000 of the stranded turtles to the wild. Rescue efforts are predominantly volunteer led and underfunded despite sea turtles facing increasing environmental and human-caused threats that make strandings more likely, including rapid temperature changes, red tide events, and entanglement in marine debris. This bill would provide stability and support to efforts that rehabilitate and aid in the recovery of sea turtles along the coastal US. Specifically, the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance Act would create a new grant program to fund rescue, recovery, and research of sea turtles in the U.S., and authorize $5 million annually for awarding of grants to further that purpose from 2025 through 2030.

The Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act is endorsed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the New England Aquarium, the National Aquarium, ABQ BioPark, Acadia Institute of Oceanography, Adventure Aquarium, Allied Whale – College of the Atlantic, Assateague Coastal Trust, Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, Aquarium of the Pacific, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Audubon Nature Institute, Bird River Beach Community Association, Blank Park Zoo, Brevard Zoo / East Coast Zoological Park, Brookfield Zoo Chicago, Buttonwood Park Zoo, Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens, Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo, Conservation Council For Hawaii, El Paso Zoo and Botanical Garden, Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, Georgia Aquarium, Georgia Sea Turtle Center / Jekyll Island Authority, Georgia Wildlife Federation, Gladys Porter Zoo, Gulf World Marine Institute, Healthy Ocean Coalition, Houston Zoo, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Jenkinson’s Aquarium, John Ball Zoo, John G. Shedd Aquarium, Kansas City Zoo, Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center, Loggerhead Marinelife Center, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, Marine Education – Research & Rehabilitation Institute, Inc. (MERR), Marine Conservation Institute, Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket, Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Mass Audubon, Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, National Marine Life Center, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Newport Aquarium, New York Marine Rescue Center, North Carolina Aquariums, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, OdySea Aquarium, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, Racine Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, Saint Louis Zoo, SEA LIFE Aquariums, Sea Turtle Recovery, Inc., Seattle Aquarium, Seatuck Environmental Association, SeaWorld Parks, Sociedad Ornitologica Puertorriquena Inc., South Carolina Aquarium, South Carolina Wildlife Federation, Sunset Zoo, Surfrider Foundation, Texas Conservation Alliance, Texas Sealife Center, Texas State Aquarium, The Florida Aquarium, The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, The Ocean Project, The Turtle Hospital, Upwell Turtles, Vancouver Aquarium, Virgin Islands Conservation Society, Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience at University of Florida, WIDECAST: Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network, Wildlife Restoration Foundation, and Woodland Park Zoo.

“We are grateful for Sen. Markey’s continued partnership as he reintroduces the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act of 2025 in the U.S. Senate. Each year, the New England Aquarium rescues and rehabilitates hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles that wash onto the beaches of Cape Cod Bay. This bill would help fill a critical gap in sea turtle conservation efforts by providing much-needed financial support to organizations across the country like ours that help return these endangered animals to the ocean,” said Vikki N. Spruill, President and CEO of the New England Aquarium.

“The National Aquarium applauds the reintroduction of the bicameral, bipartisan Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act. We are proud to be part of the nationwide network of organizations engaged in sea turtle conservation and in educating the public on the challenges facing these threatened and endangered species. Sea turtle strandings are on the rise, as are the expenses related to rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing them back to their ocean home. The level of voluntary contribution from stranding network partners is not sustainable. We thank the champions in the House and Senate for their leadership in creating a much-needed federal grant program to support this important work,” said John Racanelli, President & CEO of the National Aquarium.

“Each year, aquariums, zoos and other organizations selflessly rescue and rehabilitate thousands of stranded and injured sea turtles with little to no federal support. They do it because it is the right thing to do,” said Dan Ashe, President and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. “This bipartisan Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act would help to fill a critical gap in support for these federally protected sea turtles.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: VIDEO: Cornyn Debunks Media Attacks on DOGE

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Texas John Cornyn

WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) praised President Trump, Elon Musk, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for their work to root out fraud and put an end to the federal government’s frivolous spending of taxpayer dollars and called out the media for spreading falsehoods about DOGE’s efforts. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“Right now the U.S. national debt—that’s like our credit card—sits at over $36.4 trillion.”

“Washington, D.C. is addicted to spending and has been for a long, long time, and we have no responsible choice but to address it. So I’m glad that Mr. Musk and his team have stepped up, and while DOGE may not erase that national debt overnight, they are certainly highlighting the problems that those taxpayer expenditures present.”

“There are many in Washington who want nothing to change. I think we saw some of them last night sitting on their hands during the President’s… speech.”

“Some in the media have created, for their own reasons, misperceptions that Mr. Musk and his team are going in and making personnel and financial decisions on their own or forcing these decisions on the respective agencies that they are researching, but that’s simply false.”

“The reality on the ground is that DOGE employees are reviewing systems, processes, data, personnel, and making recommendations to the agency heads. Then the agency head, in most cases a cabinet member appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate, is the one with the authority to make those discretionary calls.”

“To have someone like Elon Musk and DOGE come in and shake things up is just exactly what Washington needs.”

“We know there’s always been waste, fraud, and abuse within the government, but it does not have to be that way.”

“I support the efforts that the Department of Government Efficiency are undertaking, and I look forward to continuing to work with Mr. Musk and President Trump as a member of the Senate Caucus for DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, so that we can get our nation’s fiscal trajectory back on track. It’s absolutely essential that we do so.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Stats NZ information release: Environmental-economic accounts: Data to 2023
Source: Statistics New Zealand

Environmental-economic accounts: Data to 2023 – 6 March 2025 – Environmental-economic accounts show how our environment contributes to our economy, the impacts of economic activity on our environment, and how we respond to environmental issues.

Stats NZ’s environmental-economic accounts show the interactions between the environment and the economy to provide a clearer understanding of environmental-economic pressures, dependencies, trade-offs, and impacts. It is done within the United Nations’ System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) framework, which specifies how environmental data can be integrated coherently with economic data from the System of National Accounts.

All accounts are expressed in monetary units and in current prices for the year to March.

Key facts
In the year to March 2023:
- Total environmental taxes were $5.2 billion, most of which were transport (51 percent) and energy (45 percent) taxes. From 2022–2023, environmental taxes decreased 21 percent ($1.4 billion).
- Marine economy contributed $4.6 billion to New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP). This was an increase of 7.9 percent compared with 2022. The contribution of the marine economy to GDP in 2023 was 1.2 percent.
- The total asset value of renewable energy was $13.7 billion. Hydro generation made up 69 percent of total asset value, followed by geothermal (21 percent).
- Central and local government expenditure on environmental protection (on a final consumption basis) increased 15 percent ($381 million) to total $2.9 billion. Local government contributed 68 percent ($1.9 billion) to this total, and central government 32 percent ($904 million).
Files:

MIL OSI New Zealand News –
March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI: Mount Logan Capital Inc. Schedules Release of 2024 Fiscal Year Results

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

TORONTO, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mount Logan Capital Inc. (CBOE: MLC) (“Mount Logan” or the “Company”) will release its financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 after market close on Thursday, March 13, 2025. The Company will host a conference call on Friday, March 14, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss these results. Shareholders, prospective shareholders, and analysts are welcome to listen to the conference call. To join the call, please use the dial-in information below. A recording of the conference call will be available on Mount Logan’s website www.mountlogancapital.ca in the Investor Relations section under “Events”.

Canada Dial-in Toll Free: 1-833-950-0062
US Dial-in Toll Free: 1-833-470-1428
International Dial-in:
Access Code: 601424

About Mount Logan Capital Inc.

Mount Logan Capital Inc. is an alternative asset management and insurance solutions company that is focused on public and private debt securities in the North American market and the reinsurance of annuity products, primarily through its wholly owned subsidiaries Mount Logan Management LLC (“ML Management”) and Ability Insurance Company (“Ability”), respectively. Mount Logan also actively sources, evaluates, underwrites, manages, monitors and primarily invests in loans, debt securities, and other credit-oriented instruments that present attractive risk-adjusted returns and present low risk of principal impairment through the credit cycle.

ML Management was organized in 2020 as a Delaware limited liability company and is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. The primary business of ML Management is to provide investment management services to (i) privately offered investment funds exempt from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) advised by ML Management, (ii) a non-diversified closed end management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company, (iii) Ability, and (iv) non-diversified closed-end management investment companies registered under the 1940 Act that operate as interval funds. ML Management also acts as the collateral manager to collateralized loan obligations backed by debt obligations and similar assets.

Ability is a Nebraska domiciled insurer and reinsurer of long-term care policies acquired by Mount Logan in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021.

This press release is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, a prospectus or an advertisement and the communication of this release is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, an offer to sell or an offer to purchase any securities in the Company or in any fund or other investment vehicle. This press release is not intended for U.S. persons. The Company’s shares are not and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Company is not and will not be registered under the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”). U.S. persons are not permitted to purchase the Company’s shares absent an applicable exemption from registration under each of these Acts. In addition, the number of investors in the United States, or which are U.S. persons or purchasing for the account or benefit of U.S. persons, will be limited to such number as is required to comply with an available exemption from the registration requirements of the 1940 Act.

Contacts:
Mount Logan Capital Inc.

365 Bay Street, Suite 800
Toronto, ON M5H 2V1
info@mountlogancapital.ca

Nikita Klassen
Chief Financial Officer
Nikita.Klassen@mountlogancapital.ca

Scott Chan
Investor Relations
Scott.Chan@mountlogan.com

The MIL Network –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI: Capstone Infrastructure Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2024 Results and Declares a Quarterly Dividend
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Toronto, Ontario, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Capstone Infrastructure Corporation (TSX: CSE.PR.A) (the “Corporation” or “Capstone”) today announced and filed its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. The Corporation’s 2024 Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) and audited consolidated financial statements are available at www.capstoneinfrastructure.com and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Capstone’s MD&A details the “Results of Operations” and provides a “Financial Position Review” for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

Dividend Declarations

Today, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend on the Corporation’s Cumulative Five-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series A (the “Preferred Shares”) of $0.2314 per Preferred Share to be paid on or about April 30, 2025 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 15, 2025. The dividend on the Preferred Shares covers the period from January 31, 2025 to April 29, 2025.

The dividends paid by the Corporation on its Preferred Shares are designated “eligible” dividends for the purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada). An enhanced dividend tax credit applies to eligible dividends paid to Canadian residents.

About Capstone Infrastructure Corporation

Capstone is generating our low-carbon future, driving the energy transition forward through creative thinking, strong partnerships, and a commitment to quality and integrity in how we do business. A developer, owner, and operator of clean and renewable energy projects across North America, Capstone’s portfolio includes approximately 885 MW gross installed capacity across 35 facilities, including wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and natural gas power plants. Please visit www.capstoneinfrastructure.com for more information.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain of the statements contained within this document are forward-looking and reflect management’s expectations regarding the future growth, results of operations, performance and business of the Corporation based on information currently available to the Corporation. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of presenting information about management’s current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. These statements use forward-looking words, such as “anticipate”, “continue”, “could”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “intend”, “estimate”, “plan”, “believe” or other similar words. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements and, accordingly, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. The forward-looking statements within this document are based on information currently available and what the Corporation currently believes are reasonable assumptions, including the material assumptions set out in the management’s discussion and analysis of the results of operations and the financial condition of the Corporation (“MD&A”) for the year ended December 31, 2024, as updated in subsequently filed MD&A of the Corporation (such documents are available under the Corporation’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca).

Although the Corporation believes that it has a reasonable basis for the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements, actual results may differ from those suggested by the forward-looking statements due to inherent risks and uncertainties. For a comprehensive description of these risk factors, please refer to the “Risk Factors” section of the Corporation’s Annual Information Form dated March 21, 2024, as supplemented by disclosure of risk factors contained in any subsequent annual information form, material change reports (except confidential material change reports), business acquisition reports, interim financial statements, interim management’s discussion and analysis and information circulars filed by the Corporation with the securities commissions or similar authorities in Canada (which are available under the Corporation’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca).

The assumptions, risks and uncertainties described above are not exhaustive and other events and risk factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results and events discussed in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements within this document reflect current expectations of the Corporation as at the date of this document and speak only as at the date of this document. Except as may be required by applicable law, the Corporation does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Attachment
- 2024 Annual Report
The MIL Network –
March 6, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Australia’s major sports codes are considered not-for-profits – is it time for them to pay up?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Nichol, Lecturer in Law, CQUniversity Australia

Not-for-profit organisations support a range of needs and activities, such as financial disadvantage, health and education.

Governments support these entities through various measures, notably exemption from income tax and other taxes.

Some of Australia’s major professional sports – such as the Australian Football League (AFL) and its clubs, the National Rugby League (NRL) and its clubs and Cricket Australia – are treated as not-for-profits. This means they do not pay income tax.

Not-for-profits and charities

The not-for-profit sector in Australia consists of about 600,000 organisations, 59,000 of which contributed $43 billion to Australia’s economy in 2010 (2010 is the most recent available data).

Some not-for-profit organisations receive special designation as charities and must have a charitable purpose that benefits the public.

A charity is not permitted to distribute profits to its members and must be registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is aware of more than 200,000 entities that receive one or more tax concessions. But only 61,010 are registered charities.

Professinal sports and tax

Within the regulation of not-for-profits exists professional sport.

Sports receive an exemption from income tax if, under section 50-45 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, a club or association encourages or promotes a game or sport.

In addition, the organisation must not conduct business for the purpose of profit for members.

The sports exemption does not differentiate between professional and community (or amateur) sport, as is the case in New Zealand, where charities and taxation law limit a sports charity to an amateur organisation.

Therefore, major Australian professional sports are considered not-for-profits and do not pay income tax.

None of these entities are registered charities.

This raises questions of fairness: these organisations receive revenue that ranges from tens of millions of dollars in the case of clubs to hundreds of millions and even billions for leagues.

When the sports exemption was introduced in the 1950s, it was designed to assist small community clubs. This might include the local golf club that operates on a public course and has operating revenue of $10,000, or the local tennis or football club with similar revenues.

The big business of pro sports

In recent years, the revenues of professional sport have ballooned, primarily due to lucrative broadcasting deals.

For example, in 2023, the AFL had revenues of $1.06 billion and recently announced its 2024 profit of $45.4 million, putting it in Australia’s 30 largest charities by income.

In 2023, the revenues of the AFL’s clubs ranged from $50.4-$105.7 million.

The NRL earned $744.9 million in revenue in 2024.

Also, the AFL and NRL receive a percentage of the income of betting agencies, reportedly $30 million a year for the AFL and $50 million for the NRL.

Half of the NRL clubs are sponsored by betting companies and three NRL stadiums are named after betting agencies.

Some non-Victorian AFL clubs, such as Brisbane and Greater Western Sydney, have gambling sponsorships, but Victorian clubs have signed up to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation’s “Love the Game, Not the Odds” program.

This reliance on sports betting revenues raises issues as to the public benefit of these organisations and whether they should receive tax exemptions.

Read more:
Will the government’s online gambling advertising legislation ever eventuate? Don’t bet on it

The issue of unrelated business income

The issue of unrelated business income (the income a not-for-profit earns from commercial activities not related to its charitable purpose), especially from gambling and poker machines, raises concerns.

North Melbourne was the first Victorian AFL club to sell its poker machines in 2008. In 2016, it was the only club without pokies.

Collingwood sold its machines in 2018 and Hawthorn sold its two poker machine venues in 2022. But Carlton, Essendon, Richmond and St Kilda earned a collective $40 million from poker machines in 2022/2023.

The profits of poker machines by Victorian AFL clubs can be distinguished from sports clubs in New South Wales, where not less than 0.75% of poker machine profits must be distributed to charities under community development and support expenditure.

Poker machine venues are a considerable source of revenue in the NRL. In 2021, rugby league received $9.8 million from regional licensed clubs – $7.28 million to grassroots rugby and $2.52 million to NRL clubs.

Metropolitan venues gave $29.67 million to rugby league – $17.09 million to grassroots rugby and $12.58 million to NRL clubs.

A possible solution

Unrelated business income tax (UBIT) is a tax on the unrelated business income of not-for-profits. Related business income for a not-for-profit is membership fees and services directly related to the members such as restaurants or meals.

However, the major source of unrelated business income for sports are sponsorship and income from gambling companies and poker machines.

A UBIT has a long history in the United States and was proposed by the Gillard government in 2011, only to be postponed in 2013 and eventually abandoned by the Abbott government in 2014.

In the context of professional sport, a UBIT would fairly treat leagues and clubs, which increasingly engage in commercial activities outside their charitable activities, with a public benefit without removing the tax exemption.

For example, a UBIT would tax the profits of clubs with poker machines. It would also tax some of Australia’s most profitable professional sports clubs and leagues for revenue not related to promoting the sports.

It would also help distinguish between “real” not-for-profits and professional sports.

In doing so, it would also create a fair regulatory environment for the operation of for-profit and not-for-profit businesses.

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

– ref. Australia’s major sports codes are considered not-for-profits – is it time for them to pay up? – https://theconversation.com/australias-major-sports-codes-are-considered-not-for-profits-is-it-time-for-them-to-pay-up-250914

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: High quality Kiwi beef and lamb helps lead economic recovery

Source: New Zealand Government

Strong demand and favourable export prices combined with new export opportunities in Europe and the Middle East will see New Zealand’s beef and lamb farmers add an extra $1.2 billion to their bank accounts this year as the primary sector helps to grow the economy, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said during a farm visit in Canterbury today.
“This is extremely positive news for sheep and beef farmers who have been doing it tough over the last six years,” Mr McClay says.
“Red meat exports are forecast to grow by 13 per cent this year which will have a positive economic impact on many of our provincial towns.
“New Zealand’s trade is extremely diversified with our network of FTAs offering exporters choices about where they send their products. For example, the newly enacted trade agreement with the European Union has seen goods exports to Europe increase by more than 24 per cent over the last year with sheep meat playing a big part in this growth.”
Mr McClay says lamb prices have increased by 20 per cent over the last year and mutton prices up by 70 per cent.
“It’s good to see farmers starting to receive recognition for what their high quality product is worth.”
Total red meat exports are expected to reach $10.2 billion this year with increased demand from key markets seeking high quality, safe, grass-fed food and fibre from New Zealand.
“New Zealand red meat is some of the safest environmentally friendly food produced on the planet. We can continue to meet our environmental and climate obligations without shutting down farms or sending jobs and production overseas.”
Mr McClay says that the Government will continue to back sheep and beef farmers by reducing red tape and compliance costs and ensuring they can farm on a level playing field.
“We have already announced a ban on full farm to forest conversions from entering the ETS on some of our most productive food producing land from 4 December last year and will shortly introduce legislation to Parliament to enact this decision.
“The Government has set an ambitious goal of doubling exports by value in 10 years. It’s important to recognise that our hard-working sheep and beef farmers are doing their bit to grow the New Zealand economy.”

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

March 6, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Crown settles eight years of Treaty negotiations

Source: New Zealand Government

The Government is demonstrating its commitment to prioritising treaty settlements with the Te Korowai o Wainuiārua Claims Settlement Bill passing third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.
“It is a privilege to conclude eight years of negotiations between the Crown and the three central North Island iwi who comprise Te Korowai o Wainuiārua: Tamahaki, Tamakana and Uenuku ki Manganui-o-te-Ao, nā Tūkaihoro.
“The settlement addresses the historical grievances endured by the three iwi, which include 19th century warfare and land purchased or taken for public works.
“The settlement includes an agreed historical account, Crown acknowledgements of its historical breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and a Crown apology. Te Korowai o Wainuiārua will receive financial and commercial redress of $21.7 million, a cultural revitalisation fund of $6.85 million and cultural redress, including the return of 19 sites of cultural significance.
“The settlement will contribute towards supporting the aspirations of Te Korowai o Wainuiārua. The redress will help the iwi to grow their economic base, provide housing for their whānau, develop their culture and enhance the natural environment.
“The historical grievances of Te Korowai o Wainuiārua with the Crown relate to 19th century warfare and land purchased or taken for public works. That land was then used for the North Island Main Trunk railway, power generation projects and it was included in two National Parks.
“This led to Te Korowai o Wainuiārua becoming virtually landless.
“It is my hope that this settlement can form the basis of a positive future for the people of Te Korowai o Wainuiārua, and a renewed relationship with the Crown.
“I want to acknowledge Te Korowai o Wainuiārua for working so tirelessly during the negotiations process to reach this significant milestone.”
Copies of the Te Korowai o Wainuiārua Deed of Settlement are available at Te Tari Whakatau – Central Whanganui (Te Korowai o Wainuiārua)

The Te Korowai o Wainuiārua Claims Settlement Bill can be found at: Te Korowai o Wainuiārua Claims Settlement Bill 286-2 (2023), Government Bill – New Zealand Legislation

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

March 6, 2025

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Updates to this page

Not-for-profits and charities

Professinal sports and tax

The big business of pro sports

The issue of unrelated business income

A possible solution