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Category: Economy

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Maurice Hutton, Research Associate, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester

    Kontuthu Ziyathunqa – Smoke Rising – was what they used to call Bulawayo when the city was the industrial powerhouse of Zimbabwe. Now, many of its factories lie dormant or derelict. The daily torrent of workers flowing eastward at dawn, and back out to the high-density western suburbs at dusk, has diminished to a trickle.

    But there is an intriguing industrial-era institution that lives on in most of the older western suburbs (formerly called townships). It is the municipal beer hall or beer garden, built in the colonial days for the racially segregated African worker communities. There are dozens of these halls and garden complexes, still serving customers and emitting muffled sounds of merriment to this day.

    Read more: Mbare Art Space: a colonial beer hall in Zimbabwe has become a vibrant arts centre

    Like other urban areas in Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe), Bulawayo was informally segregated from its inception, and more formally segregated after the second world war. Under British rule (1893-1965) and then independent white minority rule (1965-1980), municipal drinking amenities were built in the townships to maintain control of African drinking and sociality. At the same time, they raised much-needed revenue for township welfare and recreational services.

    Read more: Zimbabwe’s economy crashed – so how do citizens still cling to myths of urban and economic success?

    I researched the history of these beer halls and gardens as part of my PhD project on the development of the segregated African townships in late colonial Bulawayo. As my historical account shows, they played a key role in the contested township development process.

    From beer halls to beer gardens

    Bulawayo’s oldest and most famous beer hall, MaKhumalo, also known as Big Bhawa, was built more than a century ago. It still stands at the heart of the historic Makokoba neighbourhood. It’s enormous, but austere, and in the early days it was oppressively managed. Drinkers would describe feeling like prisoners there.

    The more picturesque beer gardens began to emerge in the 1950s, reflecting the developmental idealism of Hugh Ashton. The Lesotho-born anthropologist was educated at the Universities of Oxford, London and Cape Town, and took up the new directorship of African administration in Bulawayo in 1949.

    Beer gardens emerged in the 1950s. Bulawayo Housing and Amenities Department

    He was tuned into new anthropological ideas about social change, as well as developmental ideas spreading through postwar colonial administrations – about “stabilising” and “detribalising” African workers to create a more passive and productive urban working class. He saw a reformed municipal beer system as a key tool for achieving these goals.

    Ashton wanted to make the beer system more legitimate and the venues more community-building. He proposed constructing beer garden complexes with trees, rocks, games facilities, food stalls and events like “traditional dancing”. So the atmosphere would be convivial and respectable, but also controllable, enticing all classes and boosting profits to fund better social services. As we shall see, this strategy was full of contradictions…

    Industrial beer brewing

    A colonial beer advert. Masiyepambili

    MaKhumalo, MaMkhwananzi, MaNdlovu, MaSilela. These beer garden names, emblazoned on the beer dispensaries that stick up above the ramparts of each garden complex, referenced the role that women traditionally played in beer brewing in southern Africa. This helped authenticate the council’s “home brew”.

    But the reality was that the beer was now produced in a massive industrial brewery managed by a Polish man. It was piped down from steel tanks at the tops of the dispensary buildings into the plastic mugs of thirsty punters at small bar windows below. (It was also sold in plastic calabashes and cardboard cartons.)

    Masiyepambili

    And the beer garden bureaucracy, which offered a rare opportunity for African men to attain higher-grade public sector jobs, became increasingly complex and strictly audited.

    As the townships rapidly expanded, with beer gardens dotted about them, sales of the council’s “traditional” beer – the quality of which Ashton and his staff obsessed over – went up and up.

    Extensive beer advertising in the council’s free magazine mixed symbols of tradition (beer as food) with symbols of modern middle-classness.

    Beer monopoly system

    The system’s success relied on the Bulawayo council having a monopoly on the sale of so-called “native beer”. This traditional brew is typically made by malting, mashing, boiling and then fermenting sorghum, millet or maize grains. Racialised Rhodesian liquor laws restricted African access to “European” beers, wines and spirits.

    So, the beer hall or garden was the only public venue where Africans could legally drink (apart from a tiny elite, for whom a few exclusive “cocktail lounges” were built). The council cracked down harshly on “liquor offences” like home brewing.

    This beer monopoly system was quite prevalent in southern and eastern Africa, though rarely at the scale to which it grew in Bulawayo. Nearly everywhere, the system caused resentment among African townspeople, and so it became politically charged.

    Beer delivery lorry at Esiqonweni. Maurice Hutton

    In several colonies, beer halls became sites of protest, or were boycotted (most famously in South Africa). And they usually faced stiff competition from illicit drinking dens known as shebeens.

    In Bulawayo, the more the city council “improved” its beer system after the Second World War, the more contradictory the system became. It actively encouraged mass consumption of “traditional” beer, so that funds could be raised for “modern” health, housing and welfare services in the townships. Ashton himself was painfully aware of the contradictions.

    In his guest introduction to a 1974 ethnographic monograph on Bulawayo’s beer gardens, he wrote:

    The ambivalence of my position is obvious. How can one maintain a healthy community and a healthy profit at one and the same time? I can almost hear the critical reader questioning my morality and even my sanity. And why not? I have often done so myself.

    Many citizen groups – both African and European – questioned the system too. They called it illogical, if not immoral; even some government ministers said it had gone too far. And when some beer gardens were constructed close to European residential areas, to cater for African domestic workers, many Europeans reacted with fear and fury.

    As Zimbabweans’ struggle for independence took off in the 1960s, African residents increasingly associated the beer halls and gardens with state neglect, repression, or pacification. They periodically boycotted or vandalised them. Nevertheless, with few alternative options, attendance rates remained high: MaKhumalo recorded 50,000 visitors on one Sunday in 1970.

    After independence

    After Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, the township beer gardens remained in municipal hands. They continued to be popular, even though racial desegregation had finally given township residents access to other social spaces across the city.

    The colonial-era municipal beers continued to be produced, with Ngwebu (“The Royal Brew”) becoming a patriotic beverage for the Ndebele – the city’s majority ethnic group.

    Beer dispensary valves at Umhambi. Maurice Hutton

    But with the deindustrialisation of Bulawayo since the late 1990s, tens of thousands of blue collar workers have moved to greener pastures, mostly South Africa. The old drinking rhythm of the city’s workforce has changed, and for the young, the beer gardens hold little allure. Increasingly, they have been leased out to private individuals to run.

    Read more: Beer, politics and identity – the chequered history behind Namibian brewing success

    Nevertheless, there is always a daily trickle of regulars to the beer gardens, where mugs and calabashes are passed around among friends or burial society members. Some punters play darts or pool. And there are always some who sit alone, ruminating – perhaps in the company of ghosts from the past.

    The beer gardens of Bulawayo embody the moral and practical contradictions of late colonial development – and the ways in which such systems and infrastructures may live on, but change meaning, in the post-colony.

    – Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens
    – https://theconversation.com/alcohol-and-colonialism-the-curious-story-of-the-bulawayo-beer-gardens-256511

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Samora Machel’s vision for Mozambique didn’t survive: what has taken its place?

    Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Luca Bussotti, Professor at the PhD Course in Peace, Democracy, Social Movements and Human Development, Universidade Técnica de Moçambique (UDM)

    Samora Moisés Machel, the first president of independent Mozambique, was born in 1933 in Gaza province, in the south of the country. He died in an unexplained plane crash on 19 October 1986, in Mbuzini, South Africa.

    Authoritarian and popular, humble and arrogant, visionary and tactical. All these words have been used to describe Machel. Despite these contradictions, there was one quality that everyone recognised in him: his charisma. At the time this gift wasn’t lacking in many political leaders of emerging countries, especially those of Marxist-Leninist inspiration. Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro above all.

    Their common faith went beyond any personal or family interest. It was a faith for the progress of humanity, for the liberation of oppressed peoples from the colonial yoke, from the chains of capitalism and from traditional values and practices considered regressive.

    Machel’s enlightenment programme was as fascinating as it was difficult to achieve in Mozambique in the mid-1970s. Small farmers, with all their “traditional” beliefs, made up the majority of the population. It was a political battle for social justice as well as a cultural crusade.

    Machel’s speech on 25 June 1975, at the Machava Stadium in Maputo, proclaiming Mozambique’s independence from Portugal, highlighted the contradictions. The new head of state addressed the “workers”, who represented a small minority of the Mozambican people. At the same time, he called for freedom from colonial-capitalist oppression and the effective, total independence of the new country, already identifying its possible enemies: the unproductive and exploitative bourgeoisie.

    The task of nation-building

    Machel’s charisma recalled that of the proto-nationalist hero Gungunhana, who had tried to resist the Portuguese occupation at the end of the 19th century. Machel’s grandfather, Maguivelani, was related to the “terrible” Gungunhana, the last emperor of Gaza, who was defeated in 1895 by Mouzinho de Albuquerque after years of struggle. He was deported to Portugal, where he died in 1906.

    Paradoxically, the anti-traditionalist Machel was the descendant of a great traditional chief. This heritage played a role in shaping his personality and political action.

    Machel’s main task was to build a nation that only existed because of political unification under the Portuguese. The initial choices, embedded in the Cold War atmosphere, forced the nationalist Machel to opt for a rapprochement with the Soviet Union. Mozambique formally adopted a Marxist-Leninist doctrine at its Third Congress in 1977.

    That approach meant political intolerance and the repression of “dissidents”, as well as the marginalisation of certain ethnic groups, above all the Amakhuwa people, who did not sympathise with Machel’s party, Frelimo.

    The forces opposed to the Marxist-Leninist solution expected democratic elections to be held after the proclamation of independence from Portugal. But this opportunity never came. Portugal handed over power to Frelimo (Lusaka Accords, 1974), ignoring the existence of other political groups.

    The treatment of leaders who opposed Frelimo’s vision was harsh. On their return from abroad, many were imprisoned in concentration camps in the north of the country.

    They included the resistance leader Joana Simeão, along with others such as Uria Simango, former vice-president of Frelimo, his wife, Celina Simango, and Lázaro Kavandame, the former Makonde leader who left Frelimo because he didn’t agree with its political line.

    They were put on arbitrary trial and executed. The dates and the method of execution are still officially unknown, despite the former president Joaquim Chissano’s public apology, in 2014, for these deaths.

    About a year after independence, an armed opposition, Renamo, was formed. It was financed first by Ian Smith’s Southern Rhodesian government, and then by the South African apartheid regime.

    Renamo, contrary to Machel’s expectations, had a solid popular base in central and northern Mozambique, especially among peasant populations who had expressed opposition to the policies of collectivisation and cooperation imposed by the Marxist-Leninist government.

    And it was war which led Machel to a controversial agreement with the South African apartheid enemy. The Nkomati Accords, signed in 1984, provided for the end of Mozambique’s logistical support to the exiled African National Congress in Mozambique and South Africa’s military and financial support to Renamo.

    This agreement did not bring peace. On the contrary, the war intensified, as the South African regime continued to finance Renamo.

    Machel died in 1986, with the war still raging, unable to see the end of a conflict that had devastated Mozambique and which defeated the socialist principles.

    The General Peace Accords between the Mozambican government, represented by the president, Chissano, and Renamo, represented by its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, were only signed in Rome in 1992.

    End of an era

    Machel took the first, important steps towards a rapprochement with the west, as demonstrated by his visit to Ronald Reagan in Washington in September 1985.

    It can be said that with his death the First Mozambican Republic ended, with all its positive and negative elements. The dream of building a fair Mozambique with an equitable distribution of national wealth came to an end.

    Machel had worked hard to ensure that health, education, transport, water and energy were distributed equally among Mozambicans. A poor but fair welfare state was born. But it was quickly dismantled in the years following his death. The Mozambican state had very few resources to devote to the welfare state. The rest was done by the rapid abandonment of an ideology, the socialist ideology, which by then the Frelimo elite no longer believed in.

    In addition, international financial institutions entered the country, with the notorious structural adjustment policies, as early as 1987.

    Corruption, which Machel sought to combat with various measures, and which he addressed at many of his rallies, spread across the country and all its institutions. The Frelimo political elite soon became the richest slice of the nation.

    Several observers began to speak of a kleptocracy. The country suffered from continuous corruption scandals. One of the biggest became known as “hidden debt,” in which the political elite, including one of ex-president Armando Guebuza’s sons and former intelligence chief, Gregório Leão, were convicted of a scheme that cost the public treasury more than US$2 billion.

    However, the main defeat was the fall of an inapplicable socialism.

    The adoption of a capitalist, liberal and democratic model, at least formally, put an end to the arbitrary violations of human rights as in the age of the socialist state, such as “Operation Production” of 1983. The programme aimed to move “unproductive” people living in cities to the countryside to promote agricultural production.

    In reality, it turned into arbitrary detentions and displacement of entire families, increasing the systematic violation of human rights by the state.

    At the same time, the end of socialism meant democratic openness. Since the 1990 constitution, Mozambique has had as its fundamental principles respect for civil and political freedoms based on the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights. Still, socio-economic rights have been denied as a result of the dismantling of the welfare state.

    How he’s remembered

    Today, many people miss Machel’s rule. Those who were close to him, such as José Óscar Monteiro, the former interior minister, recall him as an ethical statesman, intolerant of corruption and abuses against “his” people. So do some of the international media.

    Others, since the 1980s, such as Amnesty International, have denounced the serious violations of the most basic human rights by the Mozambican government and its leader.

    What remains of Machel today is above all his ethical teaching. He died poor, committed to the cause of his nation, leaving his heirs moral prestige.

    It is curious that his figure is associated, even in musical compositions by contemporary rappers from Mozambique, with his historical enemy, Dhlakama, who died in 2018.

    This popular tribute is proof of the distance between the country’s current ruling class and a “people” who are looking to the charismatic figure of Venâncio Mondlane, the so-called “people’s president”. But that’s another story that won’t fit here.

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

    – ref. Samora Machel’s vision for Mozambique didn’t survive: what has taken its place? – https://theconversation.com/samora-machels-vision-for-mozambique-didnt-survive-what-has-taken-its-place-260110

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Maurice Hutton, Research Associate, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester

    Kontuthu Ziyathunqa – Smoke Rising – was what they used to call Bulawayo when the city was the industrial powerhouse of Zimbabwe. Now, many of its factories lie dormant or derelict. The daily torrent of workers flowing eastward at dawn, and back out to the high-density western suburbs at dusk, has diminished to a trickle.

    But there is an intriguing industrial-era institution that lives on in most of the older western suburbs (formerly called townships). It is the municipal beer hall or beer garden, built in the colonial days for the racially segregated African worker communities. There are dozens of these halls and garden complexes, still serving customers and emitting muffled sounds of merriment to this day.



    Read more:
    Mbare Art Space: a colonial beer hall in Zimbabwe has become a vibrant arts centre

    Like other urban areas in Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe), Bulawayo was informally segregated from its inception, and more formally segregated after the second world war. Under British rule (1893-1965) and then independent white minority rule (1965-1980), municipal drinking amenities were built in the townships to maintain control of African drinking and sociality. At the same time, they raised much-needed revenue for township welfare and recreational services.



    Read more:
    Zimbabwe’s economy crashed – so how do citizens still cling to myths of urban and economic success?

    I researched the history of these beer halls and gardens as part of my PhD project on the development of the segregated African townships in late colonial Bulawayo. As my historical account shows, they played a key role in the contested township development process.

    From beer halls to beer gardens

    Bulawayo’s oldest and most famous beer hall, MaKhumalo, also known as Big Bhawa, was built more than a century ago. It still stands at the heart of the historic Makokoba neighbourhood. It’s enormous, but austere, and in the early days it was oppressively managed. Drinkers would describe feeling like prisoners there.

    The more picturesque beer gardens began to emerge in the 1950s, reflecting the developmental idealism of Hugh Ashton. The Lesotho-born anthropologist was educated at the Universities of Oxford, London and Cape Town, and took up the new directorship of African administration in Bulawayo in 1949.

    He was tuned into new anthropological ideas about social change, as well as developmental ideas spreading through postwar colonial administrations – about “stabilising” and “detribalising” African workers to create a more passive and productive urban working class. He saw a reformed municipal beer system as a key tool for achieving these goals.

    Ashton wanted to make the beer system more legitimate and the venues more community-building. He proposed constructing beer garden complexes with trees, rocks, games facilities, food stalls and events like “traditional dancing”. So the atmosphere would be convivial and respectable, but also controllable, enticing all classes and boosting profits to fund better social services. As we shall see, this strategy was full of contradictions…

    Industrial beer brewing

    MaKhumalo, MaMkhwananzi, MaNdlovu, MaSilela. These beer garden names, emblazoned on the beer dispensaries that stick up above the ramparts of each garden complex, referenced the role that women traditionally played in beer brewing in southern Africa. This helped authenticate the council’s “home brew”.

    But the reality was that the beer was now produced in a massive industrial brewery managed by a Polish man. It was piped down from steel tanks at the tops of the dispensary buildings into the plastic mugs of thirsty punters at small bar windows below. (It was also sold in plastic calabashes and cardboard cartons.)

    And the beer garden bureaucracy, which offered a rare opportunity for African men to attain higher-grade public sector jobs, became increasingly complex and strictly audited.

    As the townships rapidly expanded, with beer gardens dotted about them, sales of the council’s “traditional” beer – the quality of which Ashton and his staff obsessed over – went up and up.

    Extensive beer advertising in the council’s free magazine mixed symbols of tradition (beer as food) with symbols of modern middle-classness.

    Beer monopoly system

    The system’s success relied on the Bulawayo council having a monopoly on the sale of so-called “native beer”. This traditional brew is typically made by malting, mashing, boiling and then fermenting sorghum, millet or maize grains. Racialised Rhodesian liquor laws restricted African access to “European” beers, wines and spirits.

    So, the beer hall or garden was the only public venue where Africans could legally drink (apart from a tiny elite, for whom a few exclusive “cocktail lounges” were built). The council cracked down harshly on “liquor offences” like home brewing.

    This beer monopoly system was quite prevalent in southern and eastern Africa, though rarely at the scale to which it grew in Bulawayo. Nearly everywhere, the system caused resentment among African townspeople, and so it became politically charged.

    In several colonies, beer halls became sites of protest, or were boycotted (most famously in South Africa). And they usually faced stiff competition from illicit drinking dens known as shebeens.

    In Bulawayo, the more the city council “improved” its beer system after the Second World War, the more contradictory the system became. It actively encouraged mass consumption of “traditional” beer, so that funds could be raised for “modern” health, housing and welfare services in the townships. Ashton himself was painfully aware of the contradictions.

    In his guest introduction to a 1974 ethnographic monograph on Bulawayo’s beer gardens, he wrote:

    The ambivalence of my position is obvious. How can one maintain a healthy community and a healthy profit at one and the same time? I can almost hear the critical reader questioning my morality and even my sanity. And why not? I have often done so myself.

    Many citizen groups – both African and European – questioned the system too. They called it illogical, if not immoral; even some government ministers said it had gone too far. And when some beer gardens were constructed close to European residential areas, to cater for African domestic workers, many Europeans reacted with fear and fury.

    As Zimbabweans’ struggle for independence took off in the 1960s, African residents increasingly associated the beer halls and gardens with state neglect, repression, or pacification. They periodically boycotted or vandalised them. Nevertheless, with few alternative options, attendance rates remained high: MaKhumalo recorded 50,000 visitors on one Sunday in 1970.

    After independence

    After Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, the township beer gardens remained in municipal hands. They continued to be popular, even though racial desegregation had finally given township residents access to other social spaces across the city.

    The colonial-era municipal beers continued to be produced, with Ngwebu (“The Royal Brew”) becoming a patriotic beverage for the Ndebele – the city’s majority ethnic group.

    But with the deindustrialisation of Bulawayo since the late 1990s, tens of thousands of blue collar workers have moved to greener pastures, mostly South Africa. The old drinking rhythm of the city’s workforce has changed, and for the young, the beer gardens hold little allure. Increasingly, they have been leased out to private individuals to run.



    Read more:
    Beer, politics and identity – the chequered history behind Namibian brewing success

    Nevertheless, there is always a daily trickle of regulars to the beer gardens, where mugs and calabashes are passed around among friends or burial society members. Some punters play darts or pool. And there are always some who sit alone, ruminating – perhaps in the company of ghosts from the past.

    The beer gardens of Bulawayo embody the moral and practical contradictions of late colonial development – and the ways in which such systems and infrastructures may live on, but change meaning, in the post-colony.

    Maurice Hutton received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the University of Edinburgh’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences to conduct the research on which this article is based.

    – ref. Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens – https://theconversation.com/alcohol-and-colonialism-the-curious-story-of-the-bulawayo-beer-gardens-256511

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: 2025 Great New York State Fair Tickets on Sale, July 7

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Kathy Hochul announced that admission and parking for The 2025 Great New York State Fair went on sale today. Packed with value, a single admission ticket costs $8 and includes access to all grounds entertainment and the Chevrolet Music Series, while parking costs $12. In addition, a Frequent Fairgoer ticket option is available for $25. Admission remains free for those aged 65 and older along with children 12 years old and under, continuing to ensure that The Fair is one of the most affordable fairs in the nation, providing an accessible space for the whole family to get offline and get outside.

    For those superfans who are planning to be at The Fair at least four days over its 13-day stretch, the Frequent Fairgoer option again allows the ticket holder to enter The Fair once a day, every day during The Fair. A Frequent Fairgoer ticket is non-transferable and is available exclusively online.

    “The Great New York State Fair is a time-honored tradition and a cornerstone of our summers here in New York State,” Governor Hochul said. “People shouldn’t have to break the bank to have fun. As of today, tickets for this affordable, family-friendly event are now on sale. New Yorkers – get your tickets today and I’ll see you at The Fair this summer!”

    New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “Summer means one thing – it’s time for The Great New York State Fair! I encourage everyone to get their tickets now and start planning their trip to learn about New York agriculture, sample some delicious foods, check out some fantastic entertainment, and so much more.”

    New York State Fair Director Julie LaFave said, “The 2025 Great New York State Fair is just 43 days away, so now’s the time for fairgoers to start planning a day (or 13!) of unforgettable summer fun. From animals, to hundreds of commercial attractions, scores of exciting midway rides, and dozens of big-name entertainers, The Fair has something in store for the whole family and so many great memories waiting to be made. We strongly encourage fairgoers to make their ticket and parking arrangements before arriving at the grounds. With close to 100,000 people in the vicinity of the Fairgrounds daily, purchasing in advance helps to keep lines to a minimum and ensure fairgoers move through the gates as quickly as possible to experience all the fun that The Fair has to offer! From our Fair family to yours – we can’t wait to see you soon!”

    Fair admission includes the ability to watch dozens of national recording acts in the Chevrolet Music Series, including Grammy winners, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performers, and so many more. There will be a daily 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. concert at Chevy Court (located near Gate 1) with an extra show at 9:00 p.m. on Friday nights, as well as a daily 8:00 p.m. concert at Suburban Park (located on the western end of the Fairgrounds, beyond the Midway).

    Updated concert schedules are available on The Fair’s website at pages dedicated to Chevy Court and Suburban Park.

    HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS AND PARKING TO THE GREAT NEW YORK STATE FAIR

    There are three ways to buy admission tickets and/or parking: online, over the phone, and in-person from August 20 through September 1.

    • Online: The link to purchase admission tickets and parking will go live at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, July 7, at The Great New York State Fair’s website.
    • Over the Phone: Starting July 7, tickets and parking may also be purchased over the phone by calling Etix toll-free at 1-800-514-3849 from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday.
    • At the Gate: Beginning Wednesday, August 20, kiosks positioned at all gates will be available for electronic ticket purchases. To minimize waiting time for the kiosks, large signs featuring QR codes will also be available at all entrances and in parking lots so fairgoers can use their smartphone to purchase tickets.

    Including fees, the total cost for fairgoers will be:

    • Admission: $8.32 per ticket ($8 admission, ticket fee of 14 cents, credit card processing fee of 18 cents)
    • Frequent Fairgoer: $25.70 ($25 Frequent Fairgoer pass, ticket fee of 14 cents, credit card processing fee of 56 cents; note that the Frequent Fairgoer passes are available exclusively online)
    • Parking: $12.41 per vehicle ($12 parking, ticket fee of 14 cents, credit card processing fee of 27 cents)

    Upon arrival to The Fair, drivers must show their parking ticket to lot attendants electronically on their phones or through a printed copy. Please note that again this year, EZPass Plus is not an option for parking. Parking passes may be purchased with a credit card at the lots. Please note that cash is not accepted.

    There will be no cash sales at The Fair’s entrance gates or in parking lots. Machines that can convert cash into a usable card will be positioned at The Fair’s Main Gate for those fairgoers bringing cash to the grounds.

    HOURS OF OPERATION

    The Great New York State Fair begins on Wednesday, August 20 and continues through Labor Day, September 1. The Fair’s hours of operation are from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day, except for Labor Day, when The Fair closes at 9:00 p.m. Gates open to the public at 9:00 a.m. and close at 9:00 p.m. every day except for Labor Day, Monday, September 4, when no entry will be permitted after 8:00 p.m.

    Parking Hours: The Orange parking lot opens at 9:00 a.m. daily, with the Brown and Pink lots opening daily at 6:00 a.m., and the Gray lots opening daily at 8:30 a.m. The Willis Ave parking lot opens at 10:00 a.m., but will only be accessible only on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Labor Day.

    Trams: For the convenience of fairgoers, trams will run continuously on the Fairgrounds, stopping at 10 stops from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.* every day. Plus, a dedicated ADA shuttle runs between the Gray Accessible Parking lot, located outside Gate 10, to Tram Stop #3 at the rear entrance of the Horticulture Building from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.* each day.

    *Note, on Monday, September 1, the trams stop running one hour earlier.

    CENTRO’S PARK-N-RIDE DIRECT SHUTTLE SERVICE TO AND FROM THE FAIR

    Centro’s Park-N-Ride direct shuttle service will provide passengers with transportation from the Centro Transit Hub Downtown, Long Branch Park, and Destiny USA to and from the Fairgrounds with drop-off and pick-up points to the left of the Main Gate. To ride the shuttle one way, the fee is $1 for adults, and 50 cents for senior citizens, children six to nine years old, and those who are living with disabilities. The last shuttle leaves the Fairgrounds each day at 11:15 p.m. Shuttles will run on a limited schedule after 9:00 p.m. on September 1 as The Fair closes earlier that day.

    WADE SHOWS MIDWAY: TICKETS ON SALE SOON

    Advance tickets for The Fair’s famous Midway, operated by Wade Shows, will go on sale in the coming weeks. Stay up-to-date with The Fair’s social media and website to be the first to hear when these tickets are available for purchase.

    ABOUT THE GREAT NEW YORK STATE FAIR

    Founded in 1841, The Great New York State Fair showcases the best of New York agriculture, provides top-quality entertainment, and is a key piece of the state’s CNY Rising strategy of growing the Central New York economy through tourism. It is the oldest fair in the United States and is consistently recognized as being among the top five state fairs in the nation.

    The New York State Fairgrounds is a 375-acre exhibit and entertainment complex that operates all year. Audiences are encouraged to learn more about The Great New York State Fair online, browse photos on Flickr, and follow the fun on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: BexBack Announces That All Traders Can Use 100x Leverage for Crypto Futures Trading with Double Deposit Bonus and NO KYC Required

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SINGAPORE, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BexBack Exchange has launched an aggressive new promotion to empower both new and seasoned crypto traders: All eligible new users receive a $50 welcome bonus and a 100% deposit bouns match. As the crypto market braces for another period of high volatility, BexBack is making futures trading more accessible and profitable than ever. With up to 100x leverage, zero KYC requirements, and support for over 50 digital assets, the platform provides an ideal environment for those seeking to capitalize on market swings without large upfront capital.

    Advantages of 100x Leverage Crypto Futures

    1. Amplified Profits: Control large positions with a small amount of capital, capturing more profits from market fluctuations.
    2. Low Capital Requirement: Participate in high-value trades with minimal investment, lowering the entry barrier.
    3. Increased Market Opportunities: Profit quickly from price fluctuations, especially in volatile markets.
    4. High Capital Efficiency: Leverage enables better use of your capital, expanding your investment potential.
    5. Profit from Both Up and Down Markets: Adapt to any market conditions, with opportunities to profit whether the market goes up or down.

    What Is 100x Leverage and How Does It Work?

    Simply put, 100x leverage allows you to open larger trading positions with less capital. For example:

    Suppose the Bitcoin price is $100,000 that day, and you open a long contract with 1 BTC. After using 100x leverage, the transaction amount is equivalent to 100 BTC.

    One day later, if the price rises to $105,000, your profit will be (105,000 – 100,000) * 100 BTC / 100,000 = 5 BTC, a yield of up to 500%.

    With BexBack’s deposit bonus

    BexBack offers a 100% deposit bonus. If the initial investment is 2 BTC, the profit will increase to 10 BTC, and the return on investment will double to 1000%.

    Note: Although leveraged trading can magnify profits, you also need to be wary of liquidation risks.

    How Does the 100% Deposit Bonus Work?
    The deposit bonus from BexBack cannot be directly withdrawn but can be used to open larger positions and increase potential profits. Additionally, during significant market fluctuations, the bonus can serve as extra margin, effectively reducing the risk of liquidation.

    About BexBack?

    BexBack is a leading cryptocurrency derivatives platform offering up to 100x leverage on futures contracts for BTC, ETH, ADA, SOL, XRP, and over 50 other digital assets. Headquartered in Singapore, the platform also operates offices in Hong Kong, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Argentina. Like many top-tier exchanges, BexBack holds a U.S. MSB (Money Services Business) license and is trusted by more than 500,000 traders worldwide. The platform accepts users from the United States, Canada, and Europe, with zero deposit fees and 24/7 multilingual customer support, delivering a secure, efficient, and user-friendly trading experience.

    Why recommend BexBack?

    No KYC Required: Start trading immediately without complex identity verification.

    100% Deposit Bonus: Double your funds, double your profits.

    High-Leverage Trading: Offers up to 100x leverage, maximizing investors’ capital efficiency.

    Demo Account: Comes with 10 BTC in virtual funds, ideal for beginners to practice risk-free trading.

    Comprehensive Trading Options: Feature-rich trading available via Web and mobile applications.

    Convenient Operation: No slippage, no spread, and fast, precise trade execution.

    Global User Support: Enjoy 24/7 customer service, no matter where you are.

    Lucrative Affiliate Rewards: Earn up to 50% commission, perfect for promoters.

    Take Action Now—Don’t Miss Another Opportunity!

    If you missed the previous crypto bull run, this could be your chance. With BexBack’s 100x leverage and 100% deposit bonus and $50 bonus for new users (complete one trade within one week of registration), you can be a winner in the new bull run.

    Sign Up Now on BexBack — Break the 100x Leverage and KYC Barriers, Get Double Deposit Bonus and $50 Welcome Bonus Instantly

    Website: www.bexback.com

    Contact: business@bexback.com

    Contact:
    Amanda
    business@bexback.com

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

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

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4c4d1085-dfc5-4d96-a3e1-20d8439031b3

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/593f7159-c39a-4579-a262-20f47c850c72

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1a2e2f6c-81b6-45f6-bdc7-b6d3166e8b61

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/aa14d60a-eabd-456a-ad08-bdb461b889da

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congresswoman Laurel Lee’s Statement on the Passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Laurel Lee – Florida (15th District)

    Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Laurel Lee joined her House Republican colleagues in passing the amended version of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, through the House of Representatives. This landmark legislation delivers the largest tax cut in decades for working- and middle-class American families. It eliminates the looming $3,650 tax hike threatening the average Florida household, protects nearly 400,000 jobs, and preserves critical benefits like the child tax credit and small business deductions that millions of Floridians rely on. The bill now heads to President Trump’s desk.

    Congresswoman Lee issued the following statement:

    “This legislation gives Florida families real relief—protecting their paychecks, lowering their tax burden, and expanding opportunity. It makes the Trump tax cuts permanent, ends unfair taxes on tips and overtime, and preserves essential benefits like the child tax credit. It also strengthens critical programs like Medicaid and Social Security to ensure they work better and last longer. In addition, it empowers law enforcement to enforce our immigration laws and restore order at the southern border.

    At its core, the One Big Beautiful Bill stands with the hardworking people who make our country strong—American families, small businesses, and the workers who are the foundation of Florida’s economy and our nation’s future.”

    Key Provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill for Florida:

    • Permanently codifies the 2017 Trump tax cuts, preventing a tax increase of up to 24% for families and 43.4% for small businesses in Florida.
    • Eliminates federal taxes on tips, overtime pay, and car loan interest, benefiting workers in Florida’s hospitality, tourism, and service sectors.
    • Provides relief to seniors by increasing their standard deduction and exempting more Social Security income from taxation. 
    • Implements Medicaid reforms to ensure program integrity and long-term sustainability by focusing resources on qualified individuals and preventing fraud.
    • Strengthens border security by expanding immigration enforcement capacity through the 287(g) program, allowing state and local law enforcement to assist in enforcing federal immigration laws and detaining individuals who enter the country illegally.
    • Enhances protections for unaccompanied minors by requiring the federal government to coordinate with states to ensure proper placement, track their whereabouts, and prevent trafficking or exploitation.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Toobit Futures Upgrades Trading with New BBO Feature for Faster, Optimized Execution

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Toobit, the award-winning global cryptocurrency exchange, today launches its Best Bid Offer (BBO) feature for Futures traders, designed to combine the speed of market orders with the precision of limit orders, offering users faster and more effective trade execution.

    In volatile markets, manual price entry for limit orders can lead to costly delays, missed trades, and unfavorable slippage. In 2023, Bitcoin, the leading digital asset, experienced an annualized volatility rate of over 80%, with average daily price swings of around 4%. For instance, a mere 0.5% slippage on a $10,000 trade can result in an immediate $50 loss, a common frustration for active traders.

    Toobit Futures’ new BBO feature gives traders an edge by eliminating the need to manually enter prices. Instead, traders can place limit orders that automatically reference live market data, matching the most competitive bid or ask levels directly from the order book.

    Toobit Futures BBO feature in action, showing the Counterparty 1 option selected for a BTCUSDT limit order.

    “With BBO, traders don’t have to choose between speed and control,” said Mike Williams, Chief Communication Officer at Toobit. “This feature empowers users to act fast without compromising on price accuracy, especially during high volatility.”

    Here’s how BBO works:

    Toobit BBO orders allow traders to instantly place a limit order based on real-time market levels, using preset options such as:

    • Counterparty 1: Matches the top of the opposing order book.
    • Queue 1: Matches the top of the same side of the order book.
    • Counterparty 5 / Queue 5: Reference the fifth-best bid/ask to offer additional control and strategic positioning.

    To place a BBO order, users simply select their desired price level (e.g., Counterparty 1, Queue 5) and click “Open Long” or “Open Short.” This smart order placement greatly increases the chance of immediate execution, making it ideal for traders who need to move quickly in fast markets.

    The BBO feature is now available for all Futures limit orders on the Toobit platform.

    About Toobit

    Toobit is where the future of crypto trading unfolds—an award-winning cryptocurrency derivatives exchange built for those who thrive exploring new frontiers. With deep liquidity and cutting-edge technology, Toobit empowers traders worldwide to navigate the digital asset markets with confidence. We offer a fair, secure, seamless, and transparent trading experience, ensuring every trade is an opportunity to discover what’s next.

    For more information about Toobit, visit: Website | X | Telegram | LinkedIn | Discord | Instagram

    Contact: Davin C.
    Email: market@toobit.com
    Website: www.toobit.com

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

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

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b8677101-0e15-4e57-9931-d00d7ca48125

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e994c53f-5a58-44a8-9aea-28c55f7634ee

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: ALL4 Mining helps cryptocurrency enthusiasts change their investment strategies: easily achieve stable daily returns

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Los Angeles, California, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — With the development of blockchain technology, the problems of high cost and high energy consumption of traditional mining methods have become increasingly prominent. As the world’s top cloud mining platform, ALL4 Mining system uses clean energy and cloud computing to lower the threshold for mining. Users can easily participate in mining and earn profits by simply renting computing power contracts. The system has the advantages of flexibility, real-time monitoring, security, etc., and is suitable for individual users, small enterprises and large mining pools. Users only need to register an account to experience low-cost, high-efficiency mining services and start their journey to wealth, which will create value for more users in the future.

    As an emerging mining method, the ALL4 Mining system has changed the investment rules of traditional mining by applying cloud computing technology, providing miners with a flexible and economical solution, and its daily income is also favored by the market. This article will explore in depth the working principle, advantages, application scenarios of the ALL4 Mining system and how to lead cryptocurrency investors to easily earn stable profits.

    ALL4 Mining Cloud Mining System Overview
    The ALL4 Mining system is a cloud computing-based mining platform that uses clean energy. Users can mine remotely through the online platform cloud computing power without having to purchase and maintain expensive mining equipment. This mode enables users to easily participate in one-click mining activities. Through ALL4 Mining remote mining, users only need to purchase the corresponding computing power contract to enjoy powerful computing power and easily mine Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies with one click.

    How ALL4 Mining works
    The core of the ALL4 Mining system lies in its distributed computing power. The system distributes mining tasks to multiple high-performance data centers, and users connect to the system through the ALL4 Mining network and conduct remote mining.

    Computing power leasing: Users can choose the appropriate computing power contract according to their needs and only need to pay the contract fee, which is extremely flexible.

    Real-time monitoring: The system provides real-time monitoring tools, and users can check the mining progress and income at any time to ensure transparent operation.

    Income distribution: Mining income will be distributed according to the proportion of the user’s computing power contract price to protect the legitimate interests of each user.

    ALL4 Mining platform advantages
    Low threshold: The ALL4 Mining system does not require a high initial investment. Users only need to pay rent to participate, which lowers the entry threshold.

    Flexibility: Users can flexibly adjust computing power leasing according to market conditions and personal needs, and it is highly adaptable.

    Power advantage: The use of new energy to generate electricity comes from the gift of nature. Mining equipment is centralized in the data center, and users do not need to worry about power consumption and heat dissipation issues, thereby greatly reducing operating costs.

    Security: The ALL4 Mining system uses advanced SSL security technology to ensure the security of user accounts and assets and reduce the risk of being attacked.

    Professional service: Our professional customer service team provides 7×24 hours online service to answer any of your questions

    ALL4 Mining application scenarios
    The ALL4 Mining system is suitable for different types of users:

    Individual miners: Individual users without expertise and hardware can get a simple and easy-to-use mining solution through ALL4 Mining.

    Small businesses: Small businesses can use ALL4 Mining to rent computing power and diversify their income without a large capital investment.

    Large mining pools: Large mining pools can quickly expand computing power and improve overall mining efficiency through ALL4 Mining.

    How to start your wealth journey with ALL4 Mining

    First, register an account and receive a $15 welcome bonus from the platform. Click to invest in the daily check-in contract and easily earn $0.6 per day.

    Choose the trial contract, recharge $100 according to the platform process, and earn $8 in 2 days with the trial contract.

    Choose the advanced contract and easily earn up to $$7050 per day according to your personal financial situation.

    Contract package choice
    BTC basic computing power: investment amount: $100, contract period: 2 days, daily income of $4.0, expiration income: $100 + $8
    LTC [classic computing power contract]: investment amount: $600, contract period: 6 days, daily income of $7.26, expiration income: $600 + $43.56
    BTC [classic computing power contract]: investment amount: $3,000, contract period: 20 days, daily income of $42.9, expiration income: $3,000 + $858
    DOGE [classic computing power contract]: investment amount: $5,000, contract period: 30 days, daily income of $75, expiration income: $5,000 + $2,250
    BTC [advanced computing power contract]: investment amount: $10,000, contract period: 40 days, daily income of $166, expiration income: $10,000 + $6,640
    BTC [advanced computing power contract]: investment amount: 50,000 USD, contract period: 48 days, daily income: USD 910, maturity income: USD 50,000 + USD 43,680
    BTC [Super Computing Power Contract]: Investment amount: USD 150,000, contract period: 50 days, daily income: USD 2,925, maturity income: USD 150,000 + USD 146,250

    How to earn $7050 a day by participating in ALL4 mining
    Example: Someone invests $300,000 and can purchase $300,000 worth of BTC [Super Computing Power Contract], with a contract period of 40 days and a contract daily interest rate of 2.35%.

    Passive income after purchase = $300,000*2.35%=$7,050.

    Principal and income after 40 days = $300,000 + $7,050*40 = $300,000 + $282,000 = $582,000

    In summary
    The ALL4 Mining system has set a new benchmark for the mining method in the new era with its flexibility, low threshold and high efficiency. With the continuous development of blockchain technology, the ALL4 Mining system will play a greater role in the future and create more value and opportunities for users.

    For more details, please visit the ALL4 Mining official website: https://all4mining.top/ or (click to download the app)

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Nations are increasingly ‘playing the field’ when it comes to US and China – a new book explains explains why ‘active nonalignment’ is on the march

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Jorge Heine, Outgoing Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

    Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center, flanked by India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaks at the summit of Group of 20 leading economies in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 19, 2024. Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

    In 2020, as Latin American countries were contending with the triple challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global economic shock and U.S. policy under the first Trump administration, Jorge Heine, research professor at Boston University and a former Chilean ambassador, in association with two colleagues, Carlos Fortin and Carlos Ominami, put forward the notion of “active nonalignment.”


    Polity Books

    Five years on, the foreign policy approach is more relevant than ever, with trends including the rise of the Global South and the fragmentation of the global order, encouraging countries around the world to reassess their relationships with both the United States and China.

    It led Heine, along with Fortin and Ominami, to follow up on their original arguments in a new book, “The Non-Aligned World,” published in June 2025.

    The Conversation spoke with Heine on what is behind the push toward active nonalignment, and where it may lead.

    For those not familiar, what is active nonalignment?

    Active nonalignment is a foreign policy approach in which countries put their own interests front and center and refuse to take sides in the great power rivalry between the U.S. and China.

    It takes its cue from the Non-Aligned Movement of the 1950s and 1960s but updates it to the realities of the 21st century. Today’s rising Global South is very different from the “Third World” that made up the Non-Aligned Movement. Countries like India, Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia have greater economic heft and wherewithal. They thus have more options than in the past.

    They can pick and choose policies in accordance with what is in their national interests. And because there is competition between Washington and Beijing to win over such countries’ hearts and minds, those looking to promote a nonaligned agenda have greater leverage.

    Traditional international relations literature suggests that in relations between nations, you can either “balance,” meaning take a strong position against another power, or “bandwagon” – that is, go along with the wishes of that power. The notion was that weaker states couldn’t balance against the Great Powers because they don’t have the military power to do so, so they had to bandwagon.

    What we are saying is that there is an intermediate approach: hedging. Countries can hedge their bets or equivocate by playing one power off the other. So, on some issues you side with the U.S., and others you side with China.

    Thus, the grand strategy of active nonalignment is “playing the field,” or in other words, searching for opportunities among what is available in the international environment. This means being constantly on the lookout for potential advantages and available resources – in short, being active, rather than passive or reactive.

    So active nonalignment is not so much a movement as it is a doctrine.

    Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, right, and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser attend the first Conference of Non-Aligned Countries in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in September 1961.
    Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    It’s been five years since you first came up with the idea of active nonalignment. Why did you think it was time to revisit it now?

    The notion of active nonalignment came up during the first Trump administration and in the context of a Latin America hit by the triple-whammy of U.S. pressure, a pandemic and the ensuing recession – which in Latin America translated into the biggest economic downturn in 120 years, a 6.6% drop of regional gross domestic product in 2020.

    ANA was intended as a guide for Latin American countries to navigate those difficult moments, and it led us to the publication of a symposium volume with contributions by six former Latin American foreign ministers in November 2021, in which we elaborated on the concept.

    Three months later, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the reaction to it by many countries in Asia and Africa, nonalignment was back with a vengeance.

    Countries like India, Pakistan, South Africa and Indonesia, among others, took positions that were at odds with the West on Ukraine. Many of them, though not all, condemned Russian aggression but also wanted no part in the West’s sanctions on Moscow. These sanctions were seen as unwarranted and as an expression of Western double standards – no sanctions were applied on the U.S. for invading Iraq, of course.

    And then there were the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the resulting war in the Gaza Strip. Countries across the Global South strongly condemned the Hamas attacks, but the West’s response to the subsequent deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians brought home the notion of double standards when it came to international human rights.

    Why weren’t Palestinians deserving of the same compassion as Ukrainians? For many in the Global South, that question hit very hard – the idea that “human rights are limited to Europeans and people who looked like them did not go down well.”

    Thus, South Africa brought a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice alleging genocide, and Brazil spearheaded ceasefire efforts at the United Nations.

    A third development is the expansion of the BRICS bloc of economies from its original five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to 10 members. Although China and Russia are not members of the Global South, those other founding members are, and the BRICS group has promoted key issues on the Global South’s agenda. The addition of countries such as Egypt and Ethiopia has meant that BRICS has increasingly taken on the guise of the Global South forum. Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leading proponent of BRICS, is keen on advancing this Global South agenda.

    All three of these developments have made active nonalignment more relevant than ever before.

    How are China and the US responding to active nonalignment – or are they?

    I’ll give you two examples: Angola and Argentina.

    In Angola, the African country that has received most Chinese cooperation to the tune of US$45 billion, you now have the U.S. financing what is known as the Lobito Corridor – a railway line that stretches from the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Angola’s Atlantic coast.

    Ten years ago, the notion that the U.S. would be financing railway projects in southern Africa would have been considered unfathomable. Yet it has happened. Why? Because China has built significant railway lines in countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia, and the U.S. realized that it was being left behind.

    For the longest time, the U.S. would condemn such Chinese-financed infrastructure projects via the “Belt and Road Initiative” as nothing but “debt-trap diplomacy” designed to saddle developing nations with “white elephants” nobody needed. But a couple of years ago, that tune changed: The U.S. and Europe realized that there is a big infrastructure deficit in Asia, Africa and Latin America that China was stepping in to reduce – and the West was nowhere to be seen in this critical area.

    In short, the West changed it approach – and countries like Angola are now able to play the U.S. off against China for its own national interests.

    Then take Argentina. In 2023, Javier Milei was elected president on a strong anti-China platform. He said his government would have nothing to do with Beijing. But just two years later, Milei announced in an Economist interview that he is a great admirer of Beijing.

    Why? Because Argentina has a very significant foreign debt, and Milei knew that a continued anti-China stance would mean a credit line from Beijing would likely not be renewed. The Argentinian president was under pressure from the International Monetary Fund and Washington to let the credit line with China lapse, but Milei refused to do so and managed to hold his own, playing both sides against the middle.

    Milei is a populist conservative; Brazil’s Lula a leftist. So is active nonalignment immune to ideological differences?

    Absolutely. When people ask me what the difference is between traditional nonalignment and active nonalignment, one of the most obvious things is that the latter is nonideological – it can be used by people of the right, left and center. It is a guide to action, a compass to navigate the waters of a highly troubled world, and can be used by governments of very different ideological hues.

    Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentina President Javier Milei at the 66th Summit of leaders of the Mercosur trading bloc in Buenos Aires on July 3, 2025.
    Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images

    The book talks a lot about the fragmentation of the rules-based order. Where do you see this heading?

    There is little doubt that the liberal international order that framed world politics from 1945 to 2016 has come to an end. Some of its bedrock principles, like multilateralism, free trade and respect for international law and existing international treaties, have been severely undermined.

    We are now in a transitional stage. The notion of the West as a geopolitical entity, as we knew it, has ceased to exist. We now have the extraordinary situation where illiberal forces in Hungary, Germany and Poland, among other places, are being supported by those in power in both Washington and Moscow.

    And this decline of the West has not come about because of any economic issue – the U.S. still represents around 25% of global GDP, much as it did in 1970 – but because of the breakdown of the trans-Atlantic alliance.

    So we are moving toward a very different type of world order – and one in which the Global South has the opportunity to have much more of a role, especially if it deploys active nonalignment.

    How have events since Trump’s inauguration played into your argument?

    The notion of active nonalignment was triggered by the first Trump administration’s pressure on Latin American countries. I would argue that the measures undertaken in Trump’s second administration – the tariffs imposed on 90 countries around the world; the U.S. leaving the Paris climate agreement, the World Health Organization and the U.N. Human Rights Council; and other “America First” policies – have only underscored the validity of active nonalignment as a foreign policy approach.

    The pressures on countries across the Global South are very strong, and there is a temptation to give in to Trump and align with U.S. Yet, all indications are that simply giving in to Trump’s demands isn’t a recipe for success. Those countries that have gone down the route of giving in to Trump’s demands only see more demands after that. Countries need a different approach – and that can be found in active nonalignment.

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

    – ref. Nations are increasingly ‘playing the field’ when it comes to US and China – a new book explains explains why ‘active nonalignment’ is on the march – https://theconversation.com/nations-are-increasingly-playing-the-field-when-it-comes-to-us-and-china-a-new-book-explains-explains-why-active-nonalignment-is-on-the-march-260234

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Partners across Derby unite to create a safer, more vibrant city centre

    Source: City of Derby

    A safer, more welcoming and vibrant night-time experience in Derby is being made possible thanks to a powerful partnership between local businesses, organisations, and community leaders. Their collective efforts are helping shape a city centre where people feel confident to visit, explore and enjoy Derby City; especially after dark.

    This work has recently earned Derby the prestigious Purple Flag accreditation, a national recognition awarded by the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) to places that meet high standards for managing the evening and night-time economy.

    Organisations including Marketing Derby, Derby’s Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), the University of Derby, Derbion, Derbyshire Police, Vaillant, and Derby Museums have all played a vital role in improving safety, accessibility, and cultural appeal in the city after hours.

    From student safety initiatives led by the University of Derby, to late-night shopping and events at Derbion, to visible policing and coordinated city centre management by the BIDs, the efforts are wide-ranging and deeply collaborative. Companies like Vaillant are also engaging with community initiatives, reinforcing the importance of a collective approach to civic responsibility. This collaborative work not only supports Derby’s night-time economy, but also builds a stronger, more inclusive city one where everyone can feel proud to take part in its growth.

    Councillor Nadine Peatfield, Cabinet Member for City-Centre, Regeneration, Strategy, Policy and leader of Derby City Council, said:

    The Purple Flag is a powerful symbol of what we can achieve when our city works together. From the police and universities to businesses, venues and volunteers, everyone has a part to play in making Derby safer, more welcoming and more vibrant after dark. This isn’t just about awards — it’s about people in Derby. It’s about making sure everyone, from students to families to visitors, feels proud and confident to enjoy our city centre.

    We’re committed to building on this success, working with partners now and into the future to keep improving Derby’s evening experience for all; this includes the new appointment of a City Centre Manager”

    You can learn more about the Purple Flag award on the ATCM website.

    There is plenty going on in Derby, learn more about what’s on by visiting the Derby LIVE webpage. You can learn more about Derby Nightlife on the Visit Derby webpage.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: BOS Better Online Solutions Secures $425,000 in Orders from New Indian Customers

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RISHON LE ZION, Israel, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BOS Better Online Solutions Ltd. (“BOS” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: BOSC), a global integrator of supply chain technologies, today announced that it has secured orders totaling $425,000 from new customers in India.

    The orders are for wiring and cabling products that BOS began offering at the end of 2024. These products complement the electromechanical connectors that BOS currently supplies, enabling the Company to increase its revenues, particularly within the defense sector.

    Avidan Zelicovski, President of BOS, commented: “The Indian market is a major global hub for subassembly of harnesses for the defense and aerospace sectors. This order from a significant subcontractor in India is a strong indication that we have the right offering in place for the Indian market. We view India as a substantial driver of our future growth, and we intend to further increase our presence in the region.”

    About BOS Better Online Solutions Ltd.

    BOS integrates cutting-edge technologies to streamline and enhance supply chain operations for global customers in the aerospace, defense, industrial and retail sectors. The Company operates three specialized divisions:

    • Intelligent Robotics Division: Automates industrial and logistics inventory processes through advanced robotics technologies, improving efficiency and precision.
    • RFID Division: Optimizes inventory management with state-of-the-art solutions for marking and tracking, ensuring real-time visibility and control.
    • Supply Chain Division: Integrates franchised components directly into customer products, meeting their evolving needs for developing innovative solutions.

    For more information on BOS Better Online Solutions Ltd., visit www.boscom.com.

    Contact Information

    For additional information, contact:

    Matt Kreps, Managing Director
    Darrow Associates
    +1-214-597-8200
    mkreps@darrowir.com

    Eyal Cohen, CEO
    +972-542525925
    eyalc@boscom.com

    Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

    The forward-looking statements contained herein reflect management’s current views with respect to future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of BOS. These risk factors and uncertainties include, amongst others, the dependency of sales being generated from one or few major customers, the uncertainty of BOS being able to maintain current gross profit margins, inability to keep up or ahead of technology and to succeed in a highly competitive industry, inability to maintain marketing and distribution arrangements and to expand our overseas markets, uncertainty with respect to the prospects of legal claims against BOS, the effect of exchange rate fluctuations, general worldwide economic conditions, the effect of the war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hamas and other parties in the region, the continued availability of financing for working capital purposes and to refinance outstanding indebtedness; and additional risks and uncertainties detailed in BOS’ periodic reports and registration statements filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. BOS undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Oportun Board of Directors Reiterates Importance of CEO Raul Vazquez’s Continued Stewardship on the Board

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Urges stockholders to vote “FOR” Mr. Vazquez and Carlos Minetti on the GREEN proxy card

    SAN CARLOS, Calif., July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Oportun (Nasdaq: OPRT) (“Oportun” or the “Company”), a mission-driven financial services company, today issued a letter to stockholders ahead of its July 18 Annual Meeting.

    The Board encourages all Oportun stockholders to vote “FOR” Oportun’s two nominees, CEO Raul Vazquez and Carlos Minetti, using the GREEN proxy card or GREEN voting instruction form. Additional information related to Oportun’s Annual Meeting can be found at VoteForOportun.com.

    The full text of the letter to stockholders follows:

    Dear Fellow Oportun Stockholders,

    We write to you as Oportun’s Board of Directors with critical information ahead of this year’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is scheduled for July 18, 2025. Findell Capital Management, one of our stockholders — who has recently been selling its Oportun stock — is seeking to remove our CEO, Raul Vazquez, from the Board at that meeting.

    This is a highly unusual maneuver and would be greatly damaging to the functioning of the Board and the progress Oportun is making. Under Raul’s leadership, Oportun has been successfully executing a strategic plan to strengthen and reposition the business. These efforts have resulted in improved financial performance and profitability and a stock that is up more than 80% this year.

    Just a few months ago, consistent with its annual practice, the Board — including the two directors previously recommended by Findell — unanimously concluded that Raul is the right leader for Oportun. 

    We are disappointed that Findell would ask stockholders to undermine Raul’s authority and leadership by removing him from the Board. Not only would such an arrangement be unconventional — as nearly all public company CEOs also serve on the board of the company they lead — but it would also erode the confidence of employees, customers, regulators, business partners and other key stakeholders. With our Lead Independent Director retiring this month, it is critical that our chosen executive leader has a clear mandate to direct Oportun’s affairs and speak on the Company’s behalf.

    Moreover, Raul’s presence on the Board promotes clear, effective communication between management and the Board, enabling faster and better-informed decision-making. And Raul — who is a large Oportun stockholder — enhances the functioning of our Board because of his experience on two other public company boards.

    Said plainly, it would be a mistake for stockholders to vote Raul off Oportun’s Board, and there would be very real consequences to doing so.

    Oportun needs strong and steady leadership and disciplined execution. Removing Raul would risk destabilizing Oportun at a critical time. That is apparently not of concern to Findell. But for stockholders who intend to continue to hold their investment in Oportun for the medium- and long-term, it should be of grave concern. It is to us.

    We urge stockholders to vote “FOR” Raul Vazquez by following the instructions on the GREEN proxy card or GREEN voting instruction form.

    Sincerely,

    The Oportun Financial Board of Directors

    Vote the GREEN Proxy Card Today

    To ensure Oportun’s progress continues, the Board urges stockholders to vote “FOR” both of Oportun’s nominees, and “WITHHOLD” on Findell’s candidate, using the enclosed GREEN proxy card ahead of the upcoming Annual Meeting.

    If you have any questions about how to vote your shares, please call the firm assisting us with the solicitation of proxies:

    INNISFREE M&A INCORPORATED
    Shareholders may call:
    (877) 800-5195 (toll-free from the U.S. and Canada) or
    +1 (412) 232-3651 (from other countries)

    About Oportun

    Oportun (Nasdaq: OPRT) is a mission-driven financial services company that puts its members’ financial goals within reach. With intelligent borrowing, savings, and budgeting capabilities, Oportun empowers members with the confidence to build a better financial future. Since inception, Oportun has provided more than $20.3 billion in responsible and affordable credit, saved its members more than $2.4 billion in interest and fees, and helped its members set aside an average of more than $1,800 annually. For more information, visit Oportun.com.

    Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain statements in this communication are “forward-looking statements.” These forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this communication, including statements as to our future performance and stockholder returns, are forward-looking statements. These statements can be generally identified by terms such as “expect,” “plan,” “goal,” “target,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “predict,” “project,” “outlook,” “continue,” “due,” “may,” “believe,” “seek,” or “estimate” and similar expressions or the negative versions of these words or comparable words, as well as future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “likely” and “could.” These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events, financial trends and risks and uncertainties that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These risks and uncertainties include those risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, as well as our subsequent filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and, except to the extent required by federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there is no assurance that the events or results suggested by the forward-looking statements will in fact occur, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

    Investor Contact
    Dorian Hare
    (650) 590-4323
    ir@oportun.com

    Innisfree M&A Incorporated
    Scott Winter / Gabrielle Wolf / Jonathan Kovacs
    (212) 750-5833

    Media Contact
    FGS Global
    John Christiansen / Bryan Locke
    Oportun@fgsglobal.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Executive Secretary affirms UNECE support to implement Sevilla Commitment on development financing

    Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

    The Sevilla Commitment adopted under the Chairmanship of Spain at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) and its related Platform for Action is a powerful recognition of the need to align financial flows and resources with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

    Leading a UNECE delegation in Sevilla, UNECE Executive Secretary Tatiana Molcean welcomed the adoption of the Commitment, and highlighted UNECE’s readiness to support member States’ implementation through its normative work and practical tools.  

    Emphasizing financing for development “as a matter of solidarity, coherence, and shared responsibility”, she stressed that “in the UNECE region, we must not only increase the volume of sustainable finance, but also ensure that its use is strategic, equitable, and effective.” She further underscored UNECE’s commitment to deepen its partnerships with governments, investors, international financial institutions, and civil society to translate these commitments into concrete, measurable progress. 

    In a series of high-profile engagements, the Executive Secretary stressed the need to align financial systems with the imperative of sustainability – from public budgets and tax systems to mobilizing private finance at scale – and to invest in resilient infrastructure, green and digital transitions, trade capacity and industrial policy, social protection and care systems, and climate action. UNECE works with countries to embed sustainability into regulatory frameworks and standards, covering areas including infrastructure, transport, trade, housing, and transboundary environmental governance, thus helping to improve investment conditions. 

    Cooperation to unlock financing in shared basins 

    Among areas of focus was the importance of having strong frameworks in place to finance development in shared basins, showcasing the role of the UN Water Convention, serviced by UNECE. As highlighted in in discussions co-organised with Switzerland and the Netherlands in partnership with the UN Capital Development Fund, water is a key enabler for sustainable development yet faces a huge financing gap: according to OECD, $6.7 trillion are needed by 2030 and $22.6 trillion by 2050 to reach SDG 6. Since 60% of global freshwater is in shared basins, strong cooperation – through legal frameworks, joint institutions, and mechanisms for data sharing and coordination – helps attract and de-risk investment and multiplies benefits for countries. 

    Aiming to realise this potential, countries made a call to action to enhance cross-border cooperation for financing in shared basins, recalling the strong momentum for the UN Water Convention. This is illustrated by the accession just last week of Bangladesh as the first Party from South Asia, joining 55 Parties from across the pan-European region, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. 20 more countries are in the process of accession.  

    Leveraging private finance 

    To complement public financing, the Sevilla Commitment highlights the urgency of mobilizing private investment at scale and, crucially, aligning it with sustainable development. Despite the UNECE region being home to major capital markets and global institutional investors, long-term investment in inclusive, green, and resilient development remains insufficient.  

    In various exchanges, Ms. Molcean welcomed the Commitment’s emphasis on ensuring that private finance is additional to public resources, transparent, and aligned with the SDGs. UNECE contributes to this agenda through the development and application of its Public-Private Partnership and Infrastructure Evaluation and Rating System (PIERS). Already used to evaluate SDG credentials of 284 projects in 60 countries and 24 sectors worth $118 billion, PIERS assesses projects not only for financial viability, but also for their impact on people, planet, prosperity, partnerships, and governance.  

    Regional cooperation  

    Joining forces at FfD4, the UN Regional Commissions emphasized the importance of regional cooperation in financing for development, from unlocking financial innovation to ensuring follow-up of the Sevilla Commitment’s objectives. In particular, the regional level can help identify collective priorities, share policy innovations, and provide peer support.  

    UNECE continues to facilitate such cooperation by convening platforms, producing policy guidelines, and fostering cooperation in areas ranging from transport and trade facilitation to statistics and urban development.  

    Local action 

    The Executive Secretary further highlighted the importance of action at the local level, considering the direct impact on populations of policies and actions in cities. Addressing the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments, the Executive Secretary urged that the local level must be adequately financed to localize the SDGs and to ensure full implementation. UNECE’s pioneering Forum of Mayors provides a platform to promote exchange between cities and give them a voice at the multilateral level. The 5th Forum of Mayors will be held 6-7 October 2025 in Geneva, addressing issues including local climate finance mechanisms.   

    Image credit: UN

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety Visits Latin America to launch UN Global Road Safety Campaign  

    Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

    The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, will visit Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Colombia and Brazil (23-27 June), to launch the UN global campaign #MakeASafetyStatement, in partnership with JCDecaux. During his visit, he will meet with key government officials, representatives of the international community, private and public sector leaders, and representatives of civil society to promote road safety initiatives and advocate for enhanced measures. 

    This mission aligns with the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, which aims to halve road fatalities by 2030. It follows the adoption of a new UN resolution on road safety at the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Marrakech, Morocco, earlier this year (18-19February). 

    A Silent Pandemic

    Road traffic crashes claimed more than 145,000 lives across the Americas in 2021, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), representing 12% of global road fatalities that year. Road crashes remain the leading cause of death for children and young people aged 5 to 29 years old globally imposing a significant social and economic burden. According to the World Bank, the cost of road crashes represents between 3% and 6% of GDP in the region.   

    Across the Americas, deaths on the road have registered a 9.37% drop in the decade to 2021. The region’s progress is above the 5% global drop in deaths in the period but is nowhere near fast enough to meet the global goal of halving road deaths by 2030.  

    Latin America is one of the most urbanized regions in the world, making road safety a crucial component of city development strategies. This underscores the urgent need to rethink mobility and invest in road safety. 

    Solutions exist 

    The good news is that solutions exist. Strengthening law enforcement, investing in education and public transport, enhancing road infrastructure and vehicle safety, developing bicycle lanes and pedestrian pathways — especially around schools —and improving post-crash care are all part of a safe and efficient mobility system. Additionally, mobilizing political leadership is crucial to increase funding and action.  

    A 2019 report commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropies revealed that more than 25,000 lives could be saved and over 170,000 serious injuries prevented by 2030 if United Nations (UN) vehicle safety regulations were applied by four key countries in the region—Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Brazil. 

    “Every year we lose 1.19 million lives on the world’s roads, this is equivalent to the entire population of cities like Monterrey (Mexico), Guatemala or Campinas (Brazil). This is madness, because we know how to stop this carnage. With this campaign we call for urgent action to ensure safe roads for all, everywhere on the continent,” said Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety.   

    Jean-Charles Decaux, Co-CEO of JCDecaux said: “At JCDecaux, we are committed to improving the quality of life for people wherever they live, work and travel, offering innovative, sustainable street furniture and services that meet cities and citizens’ expectations. This is the core of our mission and that is why we are proud to partner with the United Nations and Jean Todt, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, to display this road safety campaign across our global media network. Following its successful rollout in over 50 countries since September 2023, the campaign’s launch in Latin America marks a key milestone, amplifying local road safety efforts and reinforcing public awareness. With our powerful and service-driven media, we are able to relay these vital prevention messages in high-impact locations, promote safe behaviour, and engage all our stakeholders around this major cause. The campaign’s positive tone, supported by international celebrities, helps inspire a new vision for public space: one that is safer, more inclusive, and more harmonious for all.” 

    #MakeASafetyStatement campaign  

    The global #MakeASafetyStatement campaign aims to promote road safety and create secure, inclusive, and sustainable streets worldwide. 

    Celebrities fronting the campaign in Latin America include football icon Ousmane Dembélé, F1 driver Charles Leclerc, tennis legend Novak Djokovic, singer and musician Kylie Minogue, motorcycle racer Marc Marquez, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and actors Patrick Dempsey and Michael Fassbender.  

    Thanks to the support of the International Olympic Committee, Latin American 2024 Olympic champions such as Juan-Manuel Celaya (Mexico, silver medal, diving), Adriana Ruano (Guatemala, gold medal, shooting women’s trap), Atheyna Bylon (Panama, silver medal, boxing), Angel Barajas (Colombia, silver medal, gymnastics), Rebecca Andrade (Brazil, gold medal, artistic gymnastics) have joined the initiative. 

    National focus 

    Mexico 

    In Mexico, 15 to 16,000 people die each year in road accidents.  This puts the fatality rate at 12.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, below the average for the Americas, and for countries such as the USA, Colombia or Brazil, but above Chile or Argentina.  The economic cost of road accidents is estimated at approximately 1.4% of GDP. 

    One third of all road deaths in Mexico are among pedestrians and motorcyclists, so protecting these vulnerable road users should be an urgent priority. It should be noted, however, that road crash statistics are very incomplete. 

    The National Law of Mobility and Road Safety of 2022 called for the adoption of the life-saving ‘safe systems’ approach that makes safety priority in all road-related policies and planning and is laid out in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. An exemplary amendment to Mexico’s constitution underpinned the law, making ‘mobility under the conditions of safety, accessibility, efficiency, sustainability, quality, inclusion and equality,’ a universal right for all Mexicans.  

    Although the law mandated the use of certified helmets at the federal level, most Mexican states have not yet legislated mandatory use, resulting in low compliance rates. 

    Guatemala 

    Road crashes remain a significant public health issue in Guatemala, with some 2,352 deaths registered in 2024 on the country’s roads. This brings the death rate at 12.6 per 100,000 population, as per WHO estimates.  

    Motorcycles are involved in half of the crashes and riders represent some 60% of the victims.  Road crashes happen predominantly in urban areas and among vulnerable road users. 

    In the recent period, Guatemala has made some progress in addressing road safety, both through institutional strengthening and the improvement of monitoring systems, legislative response, and intersectoral coordination. 

    Guatemala is currently a party to only 1 of the 7 core UN Road Safety legals instruments and legislation on pedestrian protection and child restraint systems remains fragmented. Helmet use is mandatory, but technical standards are not fully aligned with international best practices (e.g., UN-certified helmet standards ECE 22.05). Enforcement also remains a key challenge.  

    Guatemala currently participates in a project of the UN Road Safety Fund (UN RSF) Safe School Zones, which supports infrastructure improvements and awareness campaigns to protect children around schools. 

    Panama 

    Panama achieved a 45% reduction in road fatalities between 2016 and 2021, from 440 to 243 deaths. Its rate of 7.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants is the fourth lowest on the continent.  

    However, it records a very high level of people with serious injuries after a crash, with about 21 cases per death.   

    Panama is currently implementing 2 projects under the UN Road Safety Fund: Safe School Zones, aimed at reducing child fatalities near schools, and Strengthening Road Safety Legislation, aiming at aligning national laws with global best practices. Two legislative improvements are currently under discussion, on pedestrian protection and child restraints. 

    Colombia 

    Some 8,146 people died on Colombia’s in 2022, a 24% increase compared to the average from 2017 to 2019, driven by the rise in the number of motorcycles (+ over 100%)  and cars (+58%) registered between 2010 and 2022Motorcyclists represented 60% of the victims, and pedestrians 21%. The death rate is at 16 per 100,000 population (WHO), for an economic toll estimated at some 3% of GDP. 

    In recent years, through ANSV (Agencia Nacional de Seguridad Vial), the government has worked with cities such as Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali to implement urban safety plans, including developing public transport (express buses and cable cars); upgrading pedestrian infrastructure; developing safer intersections and introducing speed control zones. 

    The new Road Safety strategy (2022-2031) adopted in 2022 officially adopted the Safe System approach. 

    Colombia implements three projects financed by the UNRS, focusing on: institutional strengthening and better crash data systems; Safe and Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning; and an Awareness Campaign for Road Safety and Behavior Change addressing National media and school-based outreach initiatives. 

    Brazil 

    In Brazil, the mortality rate is 15.7 per 100,000 inhabitants.  Pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists—compose around 61% of all crash fatalities. The notable rise in motorcycle-related deaths observed over recent years calls for accrued efforts to enforce the use of proper helmets – aligned with UN regulations (e.g., ECE-22.05). 

    Road safety remains a key challenges with the economic toll of road crashes estimated at some 5% of GDP.  This is one powerful reason to rethink mobility and invest in road safety. 

    The adoption of the National Road Safety Plan (2019–2028) , aiming for a 50% reduction in fatalities by 2028, marks a strong direction, and laws exist on helmet usage, child restraints, speed, drink & drug driving, mobile phone ban, etc. However, enforcement gaps remain—especially in speed and seatbelt compliance among rear passengers.   

    Mandatory inspections of vehicles exist, but several modern safety requirements (ABS, Electronic Stability Control, pedestrian protection, etc.) have not yet been made mandatory.   

    The UN RSF Project Improving Crash Prevention on Federal Highways in Brazil develops an interoperable system for road data collection and analysis, enabling effective countermeasures. 

    Photo credit: JCDecaux

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Turbulent research landscape imperils US brain gain − and ultimately American prosperity

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Marc Zimmer, Professor of Chemistry, Connecticut College

    International students have been a big part of American STEM. Rick Friedman/AFP via Getty Images

    Despite representing only 4% of the world’s population, the United States accounts for over half of science Nobel Prizes awarded since 2000, hosts seven of The Times Higher Education Top 10 science universities, and incubates firms such as Alphabet (Google), Meta and Pfizer that turn federally funded discoveries into billion-dollar markets.

    The domestic STEM talent pool alone cannot sustain this research output. The U.S. is reliant on a steady and strong influx of foreign scientists – a brain gain. In 2021, foreign-born people constituted 43% of doctorate-level scientists and engineers in the U.S. They make up a significant share of America’s elite researchers: Since 2000, 37 of the 104 U.S. Nobel laureates in the hard sciences, more than a third, were born outside the country.

    China, the U.S.’s largest competitor in science, technology, engineering and math endeavors, has a population that is 4.1 times larger than that of the U.S. and so has a larger pool of homegrown talent. Each year, three times as many Chinese citizens (77,000) are awarded STEM Ph.D.s as American citizens (23,000).

    To remain preeminent, the U.S. will need to keep attracting exceptional foreign graduate students, budding entrepreneurs and established scientific leaders.

    Funding and visa policies could flip gain to drain

    This scientific brain gain is being threatened by the Trump administration, which is using federal research funding, scholarships and fellowships as leverage against universities, freezing billions of dollars in grants and contracts to force compliance with its ideological agenda. Its ad hoc approach has been described by higher education leaders as “unprecedented and deeply disturbing,” and a Reagan-appointed judge ruled that 400 National Institutes of Health grants be reinstated because their terminations were “bereft of reasoning, virtually in their entirety.”

    Experts caution that these moves not only risk immediate harm to scientific progress and academic freedom but also erode the public’s trust in science and education, with long-term implications for the nation’s prosperity and security.

    Citing national security concerns, the White House has also targeted visas for Harvard University’s international students and instructed embassies worldwide to halt visa interviews for all international students, citing national security and alleged institutional misconduct. Against a backdrop of court injunctions and legal appeals, the government continues its heightened “national-security” vetting, so thousands of international scholars remain in limbo.

    These measures, combined with travel bans, intensified scrutiny and revocations of existing visas, have disrupted research collaborations and threaten the nation’s continued status as a global leader in science and innovation.

    What US misses with fewer foreign scientists

    The U.S. research brain gain starts with the 281,000 foreign STEM graduate students and 38,000 foreign STEM postdoctoral scholars who annually come to the U.S. I am one of them. After earning my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in South Africa, I left in 1986 to avoid the apartheid‑era military service, completed my chemistry doctorate and postdoc in the U.S., and joined the United States’ brain gain. It’s an opportunity today’s visa climate might have denied me.

    Some other countries are eager to scoop up STEM talent that is unwelcome or unfunded in the U.S.
    Clement Mahoudeau/AFP via Getty Images

    Incentives for the best and brightest foreign science students to come to the U.S. are diminishing at the same time its competitors are increasing their efforts to attract the strongest STEM researchers. For instance, the University of Hong Kong is courting stranded Harvard students with dedicated scholarships, housing and credit-transfer help. A French university program, Safe Place for Science, drew so many American job applicants that it had to shut the portal early. And a Portuguese institute reports a tenfold surge in inquiries from U.S.-based junior faculty.

    Immigrants import new ways of thinking to their research labs. They come from other cultures and have learned their science in different educational systems, which place different emphases on rote learning, historical understanding and interdisciplinary research. They often bring an alternative perspective that a homogeneous scientific community cannot match.

    Immigrants also help move discoveries from the lab to the marketplace. Foreign-born inventors file patents at a higher per‑capita rate than their domestic peers and are 80% more likely to launch a company. Such firms create roughly 50% more jobs than enterprises founded by native-born entrepreneurs and pay wages that are, on average, one percentage point higher.

    The economic stakes are high. Growth models suggest that scientific advances now account for a majority of productivity gains in high‑income countries.

    L. Rafael Reif, the former president of MIT, called international talent the “oxygen” of U.S. innovation; restricting visas chokes that supply. Ongoing cuts and uncertainties in federal funding and visa policy now jeopardize America’s scientific leadership and with it the nation’s long‑term economic growth.

    Marc Zimmer received funding from NIH and NSF.

    – ref. Turbulent research landscape imperils US brain gain − and ultimately American prosperity – https://theconversation.com/turbulent-research-landscape-imperils-us-brain-gain-and-ultimately-american-prosperity-258537

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: China’s foreign exchange reserves rose 0.98 percent in June.

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, July 7 (Xinhua) — China’s foreign exchange reserves stood at 3.3174 trillion U.S. dollars as of the end of June 2025, up 32.2 billion U.S. dollars or 0.98 percent from the end of May, data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed Monday.

    In June, the US dollar index fell, while global prices for financial assets generally rose, influenced by factors such as macroeconomic policies in leading economies and the prospects for global economic growth, the State Financial Committee reported.

    The department said the increase in China’s foreign exchange reserves in June was due to fluctuations in exchange rates and changes in asset prices.

    China’s economy continues to grow steadily, showing strong growth momentum, which will contribute to the overall stability of the country’s foreign exchange reserves, the department said. -0-

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI China: China’s foreign exchange reserves increase in June

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    China’s foreign exchange reserves totaled 3.3174 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of June 2025, up by 32.2 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.98 percent, compared to the end of May, official data showed Monday.

    In June, the U.S. dollar index declined while global financial asset prices generally increased due to factors such as macroeconomic policies in major economies and prospects for global economic growth, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said.

    Driven by exchange rate conversions and changes in asset prices, China’s foreign exchange reserves increased during the month, the administration said.

    China’s economy has continued to grow steadily, maintaining a strong development momentum that supports the overall stability of the country’s foreign exchange reserves, said the administration.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI: insightsoftware Research Reveals Nearly Half of Finance Teams Questioning Tariff Preparedness

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RALEIGH, N.C., July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — insightsoftware, the most comprehensive provider of solutions for the Office of the CFO, today released new research showing that 43% of finance professionals are uncertain about their organization’s readiness to navigate tariff impacts. The study reveals that access to modern forecasting tools and real-time data creates a decisive advantage in navigating economic uncertainty.

    Learn how to build tariff-ready finance operations at insightsoftware’s Global Tariff Management Resource Center and discover how AI-powered solutions help bridge the gap between traditional financial planning and modern, insight-driven decision making.

    Among finance professionals confident in their organization’s readiness, 59% credit their success to having adequate forecasting and modeling tools. Organizations with streamlined data access perform significantly better—79% of respondents who can easily access data without IT blockers felt prepared for tariffs. The findings also reveal an untapped AI opportunity––32% of unprepared teams blame their lack of AI capabilities for their uncertainty.

    “The research confirms what we see across the market—finance teams with the right technology foundation are thriving while those stuck with outdated tools are struggling,” said Josh Schauer, Chief Financial Officer at insightsoftware. “The gap between prepared and unprepared teams is widening, and it’s directly tied to the ability to quickly access, analyze, and act on financial data. This isn’t just about tariffs—it’s about building resilient and agile finance operations that can adapt to any economic challenge.”

    The study found that smaller companies demonstrate superior preparedness. Companies with 500-999 employees show 65% readiness and those with 1,000-4,999 employees report 64% preparedness, compared to only 46% of companies with 10,000+ employees. This suggests organizational agility and decision-making speed provide competitive advantages during uncertain times. Millennial finance professionals show the highest readiness rates at 68%, outpacing Gen X (47%) and Baby Boomers (51%).

    The results in this report are from an online survey of 439 finance professionals in firms with 500 or more employees. The survey was fielded from May 9 to June 2, 2025, by Researchscape.

    About insightsoftware

    insightsoftware is a global provider of comprehensive solutions for the Office of the CFO.

    We believe an actionable business strategy begins and ends with accessible financial data. With solutions across financial planning and analysis (FPCA), accounting, and operations, we transform how teams operate, empowering leaders to make timely and informed decisions. With data at the heart of everything we do, insightsoftware enables automated processes, delivers trusted insights, boosts predictability, and increases productivity. Learn more at insightsoftware.com.

    Media Contacts

    Inkhouse for insightsoftware insightsoftware@inkhouse.com

    insightsoftware PR Team PR@insightsoftware.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Plantro Requisitions Shareholder Meeting of Dye & Durham, Nominates Three Highly-Qualified Individuals to Initiate Sale of Company

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Nearly $1 Billion in Shareholder Value Destroyed Under Engine Led Board Since December 2024

    Governance Failures: Four CEOs and Two CFOs in Six Months, an Entrenched Board Ignoring Credible Bids, Insiders Granted ~5% of the Company in Egregious $10 Stock Options, and Investors Actively Directing Management

    If the Current Board and its Misguided Strategy Remain in Place, Shareholders Risk Further Losses – It is Time to Immediately Initiate a Sale Process and Unlock a Change of Control Premium for Shareholders

    Today, a Financial Services Sale for ~$590 million or ~11x EBITDA Still Leaves Leverage at ~4.5x, with No Path to Sub-3x Until 2031

    ST. HELIER, Jersey, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Plantro Ltd. (“Plantro” or the “Concerned Shareholder”) one of the largest shareholders of Dye & Durham Limited (“Dye & Durham” or the “Company”) (DND: TSX) which owns approximately 11% of the Company, today announced that it has requisitioned a special meeting of Dye & Durham shareholders (the “Special Meeting”) and nominated three highly qualified individuals for the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”): Brian J. Bidulka, David Danziger, and Martha Vallance. The requisition also calls for the removal of Board Chair Arnaud Ajdler, and directors Tracey E. Keates, and Ritu Khanna, from the Board.

    The value destruction at Dye & Durham since December of 2024 has reached crisis proportions and threatens the Company’s future. The current Board, steered by Engine Capital (“Engine”), EdgePoint Wealth Management Inc. (“EdgePoint”) and OneMove Capital Ltd. (“OneMove”) (together, the “Engine Activist Group”) has presided over the destruction of nearly $1 billion in shareholder value.

    The Engine Activist Group and the Board have pursued a misguided and haphazard strategy of customer price cuts and overspending. This has led to sharp declines in Adjusted EBITDA, cash flow, and rising debt, as evidenced by the Company’s recent quarterly results and a new debt covenant being imposed. As global real estate markets recently weakened, the Board doubled down on its strategy instead of adjusting course. This has caused a liquidity crisis, forcing the Company to aggressively draw on its revolving credit facility to make its April 2025 interest payment. With no clear or credible plan in place, leverage is expected to approach 6.0x Adjusted EBITDA by September 30, 20251.

    Remaining public is no longer a viable option. If the current Board remains unchanged, the Company will continue down the same failed path, resulting in further shareholder losses. A full sale of the Company is the only way to realize a control premium for current shareholders and restore stability in the business.

    Unfortunately, the current Board and the Engine Activist Group have fought for the past nine months against the sale of the Company or even presenting an offer to shareholders to consider. Before taking control, the Engine Activist Group publicly rejected multiple all-cash offers obtained by the prior board of approximately $25 per share. After the 2024 annual general meeting, as the stock declined significantly, Plantro submitted an offer to acquire the Company for $20 a share in February 2025. This offer was similarly rejected, and Plantro was threatened with litigation for privately submitting it. Furthermore, in April 2025, according to media reports, the Board refused to engage with Advent International, a credible well-funded buyer, who formally submitted offers of approximately $20 per share. The Board has also continued to deny basic due diligence access, actively undermining the possibility of negotiating higher bids.

    As outlined below, and in a presentation available at www.SellDnD.com, a sale of Dye & Durham is the only viable risk-adjusted path, free from execution risk, remaining for shareholders to preserve and maximize their value. Plantro invites its fellow shareholders to join in the push for urgent change. If elected, the Plantro nominees intend to immediately pursue a well-governed and thoughtful process to sell the Company without delay TO THE BUYER WILLING TO PAY THE HIGHEST PRICE.

    Stopgap Solutions Won’t Protect Shareholders: Dye & Durham Cannot Afford to Wait Any Longer and the Company Should Be Sold.

    The Engine Activist Group will try to sell you a half-baked plan — an asset sale and a plea for more time; but they are wrong. Just months ago, a sale of the Financial Services business may have been a viable path to reduce leverage, however, their misguided strategy and poor execution has damaged the business to the point where a sale of the Financial Services business would do little to reduce debt. Even if the Company sells additional assets, there are no realistic paths to reduce leverage below 4.0x any time soon.

    The Engine Activist Group and Engine-led Board have no plan to deliver anywhere near a $20 per share price on a risk- or time-adjusted basis. All they will do is sell you vague and hypothetical outcomes. Shareholders need to immediately realize a sale of the entire Company for the large control premium available for the following reasons:

    • It is Too Risky Not to Sell: A misguided and haphazard strategy, coupled with poor execution has led to significantly declining financial performance and excessive borrowing over the last six months. This has resulted in a new 5.8x debt covenant being imposed on the business, which sell-side analysts estimate the Company will be precariously close to breaching in the coming quarters2, putting shareholder equity at real risk of further erosion.
    • Divesting Financial Services Doesn’t Solve the Problem: Today, a sale of the Financial Services business at ~11x Adjusted EBITDA still leaves leverage at ~4.5x, with no path to sub-3x until 20313. Further, speculative claims of multiple expansion following a sale of the Financial Services business are unfounded as the Company will be a smaller, declining business, with leverage too high for public market investors to tolerate.
    • Generous Assumptions Point to a Lower Share Price: Waiting is not an option. Assuming the Company maintains its current 7.9x trading multiple the implied share price in Q3 FY2026 will be between $4.77 and $7.444, with the low-end of the range assuming the Company misses revenue estimates by only 5%.
    • There Are Still Credible Interested Buyers at the Table Right Now: Given the current negative trajectory, shareholders should pursue a full sale to capture an attractive all-cash change-of-control premium. Credible private equity buyers with the right expertise, risk appetite, and who bring the appropriate capital structure, are interested in acquiring the Company right now.

    The Engine Activist Group Has Usurped the Board and Now Dye & Durham is Not Suited to Operate as a Public Company.

    A revolving door of executives has destabilized the business and eradicated irreplaceable institutional memory at the worst possible time. The Company is now on its fourth CEO in six months, and its second CFO. Numerous other executives and employees at all levels have left or been terminated, with employee turnover now reportedly reaching 25%, compared to low single digits previously, creating paralysis and leaving the business rudderless. Retaining even a portion of this critical institutional knowledge would have informed better decision making and helped avoid multiple strategic blunders.

    In what appears to be an act of desperation, the Board delegated the recruitment of a new CEO and CFO to the principal of OneMove and a representative of EdgePoint, and in doing so appointed an unproven first-time CEO, with no public company or capital allocation experience, and a new CFO. They then granted the pair nearly 5% of the Company in options priced at just $10 per share. The pair stand to pocket over $30 million simply for getting shareholders back to where they were in December 2024.

    Plantro understands there is also ongoing infighting at the Board level that has a created a situation where management cannot operate effectively, and established governance structures are breaking down. Plantro has learned the Company was recently forced to engage an independent third party mediator to help navigate basic internal operations as a result of repeated shareholder-level interference with management. This kind of shareholder “skip-level” behaviour, where investors directly bypass a board of directors and provide instruction directly to management, is confusing and creates potential for further executive attrition. It is also virtually unheard of in a public company and raises serious concerns about accountability and proper oversight.

    Plantro’s Highly Qualified Nominees Are Committed to Leading a Process to Sell Dye & Durham.

    The Plantro nominees collectively bring experience in M&A, capital allocation, operations, technology, governance, public and private board service, and direct senior experience at Dye & Durham (which is necessary given excessive executive turnover under the Engine Activist Group). Together they have the right mix of skills, experience, expertise, and shareholder-centric perspective to stabilize Dye & Durham, and immediately commence a well-governed and thoughtful process to sell the Company for the highest price possible.

    Each of Plantro’s highly qualified individuals is independent of Plantro and each other, and will act as true fiduciaries with a mandate to preserve and maximize shareholder value:

    • Brian J. Bidulka, CPA, CA, is a corporate director and chartered accountant with extensive experience in technology, finance, and business analytics. Brian is the former Chief Financial Officer of Research in Motion. He has also served in senior executive roles at major Canadian companies including Porter Airlines, Postmedia, George Weston Limited, and Molson Coors. Currently, he is a member of the board at Andrew Peller Limited, and is also a board member and treasurer of Canada Basketball.
    • David Danziger, CPA, CA, is an experienced finance leader and corporate director with an extensive background in audit, accounting, and management consulting. Previously, he was the Senior Vice President, Assurance, and the National Leader of Public Companies at MNP LLP, Canada’s fifth largest accounting firm. David continues to serve as a Senior Advisor for MNP LLP working on special projects and supporting the Public Company Audit Team nationally. David has served as a director for a range of technology, mining, and life sciences companies listed on the TSX, TSXV, CSE, and NYSE.
    • Martha Vallance is a corporate director with significant experience in M&A, capital markets and technology. Most recently, Martha was the Chief Operating Officer of Dye & Durham after previously establishing and leading the company’s Corporate Development function and has deep knowledge of the company’s strategy and operations. Prior to this, Martha spent over 12 years in Investment & Corporate Banking at BMO Capital Markets, most recently holding a series of senior roles within both the Mergers & Acquisitions and Equity Capital Markets teams. In addition, Martha served as a Director on the Board of TSX-listed TMAC Resources and was also a member of the Special Committee during the sale of the company which concluded in January 2021.

    Plantro proposes that shareholders support incumbent directors Hans T. Gieskes, the recently deposed independent chairman of the Board, Anthony P. Kinnear, Sid Singh, and Eric Shahinian to maintain continuity on the Board. Both Gieskes and Singh served as interim CEOs of the Company, and collectively, these individuals have relevant C-Suite, public company, and capital markets experience at other companies.

    Plantro remains supportive of management and believes stability is required to execute a successful sales process and restore value to shareholders.

    Shareholders Need to Make their Voices Heard

    There is no debate – Dye & Durham does not have a viable long-term path as a public company and must be sold. The Board and management will claim they need more time, but the status quo for shareholders is simply intolerable. While the business drifts and headwinds build, the risks to Dye & Durham and its shareholders continue to accumulate. The time for decisive action has arrived.

    Plantro has heard from many shareholders who share its contention that the Company must run a formal sale process to preserve and maximize shareholder value. Now is the time to speak up. It is imperative that shareholders communicate their views directly to the Board and urge them to call and hold the Special Meeting without delay so the Company can be sold. Alternatively, the Board can spare shareholders the cost and distraction of a proxy contest, appoint the Plantro nominees to the Board, and commence a formal sale process immediately.

    Please visit www.SellDnd.com to view Plantro’s presentation to fellow shareholders and other important materials.

    Other Information Concerning the Plantro Nominees

    To the knowledge of Plantro, no Plantro nominee is, at the date hereof, or has been, within ten (10) years before the date hereof: (a) a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer of any company that (i) was subject to a cease trade order, an order similar to a cease trade order or an order that denied the relevant company access to any exemption under securities legislation that was in effect for a period of more than thirty (30) consecutive days (each, an “order”), in each case that was issued while the Plantro nominee was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer, or (ii) was subject to an order that was issued after the Plantro nominee ceased to be a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer and which resulted from an event that occurred while that person was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer; (b) a director or executive officer of any company that, while such Plantro nominee was acting in that capacity, or within one (1) year of such Plantro nominee ceasing to act in that capacity, became bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency or was subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold its assets; or (c) someone who became bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency, or became subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors, or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold the assets of such Plantro nominee.

    To the knowledge of Plantro, as at the date hereof, no Plantro nominee has been subject to: (a) any penalties or sanctions imposed by a court relating to securities legislation, or by a securities regulatory authority, or has entered into a settlement agreement with a securities regulatory authority; or (b) any other penalties or sanctions imposed by a court or regulatory body that would likely be considered important to a reasonable securityholder in deciding whether to vote for a Plantro nominee.

    To the knowledge of Plantro, none of the directors or officers of Plantro, or any associates or affiliates of the foregoing, or any of the Plantro nominees or their respective associates or affiliates, has: (a) any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of the Company’s most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction which has materially affected or will materially affect the Company or any of its subsidiaries; or (b) any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter proposed to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the re-constitution of the Board.

    Plantro beneficially owns and controls 7,374,510 common shares representing approximately 11% of the outstanding shares of the Company. Martha Vallance beneficially owns and controls 38,600 common shares, representing approximately 0.06% of the outstanding shares of the Company. She also holds options to acquire an additional 425,433 common shares. Assuming full exercise of these options, she would beneficially own and control 464,033 common shares, representing approximately 0.69% of the then-outstanding shares of the Company, on a partially diluted basis. While the other Concerned Shareholder Nominees may purchase shares in the future, not of the other Concerned Shareholder Nominees currently hold any units of the Company.

    Additional Information

    The information contained in this news release does not and is not meant to constitute a solicitation of a proxy within the meaning of applicable corporate and securities laws. Although Plantro has requisitioned the Special Meeting, there is currently no record or meeting date and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute a proxy in favour of the Plantro nominees or any other matter to be acted upon at the Special Meeting. In connection with the Special Meeting, Plantro may file a dissident information circular (the “Information Circular”) in due course in compliance with applicable corporate and securities laws.

    Notwithstanding the foregoing, Plantro is voluntarily providing the disclosure required under section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous Disclosure Obligations (“NI 51-102”) and has filed this news release containing disclosure prescribed by applicable corporate law and disclosure required under section 9.2(6) of NI 51-102 in respect of Engine’s director nominees, in accordance with corporate and securities laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations. This news release is available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

    This news release and any solicitation made by Plantro in advance of the Special Meeting is, or will be, as applicable, made by Plantro and not by or on behalf of the management of the Company. All costs incurred for any solicitation will be borne by Plantro, provided that, subject to applicable law, Plantro may seek reimbursement from the Company of Plantro’s out-of-pocket expenses, including proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees, incurred in connection with a successful reconstitution of the Board.

    Plantro is not soliciting proxies in connection with the Special Meeting at this time, and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute proxies in favour of the Plantro nominees (in respect of the Special Meeting) or any matter to be acted upon at the Special Meeting. Proxies may be solicited by Plantro pursuant to an Information Circular sent to shareholders after which solicitations may be made by or on behalf of Plantro, by mail, telephone, fax, email or other electronic means as well as by newspaper or other media advertising, and in person by directors, officers and employees of Plantro, who will not be specifically remunerated therefor. Plantro may also solicit proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including through press releases, speeches or publications, and by any other manner permitted under applicable corporate and securities laws. Plantro may engage the services of one or more agents and authorize other persons to assist in soliciting proxies on behalf of Plantro.

    Plantro has retained Morrow Sodali (Canada) Ltd. (“Sodali”) as its proxy advisor to assist Plantro in soliciting shareholders should Plantro commence a formal solicitation of proxies, for which Sodali will receive a fee not to exceed $200,000 plus a per call fee and certain success fees, together with reimbursement for reasonable and out-of-pocket expenses, and will be indemnified against certain liabilities and expenses, including certain liabilities under securities laws. Sodali’s responsibilities will principally include advising Plantro on governance best practices, where applicable, liaising with proxy advisory firms, developing and implementing shareholder engagement strategies, and advising with respect to meeting and proxy protocol.

    Plantro is not requesting that Dye & Durham shareholders submit a proxy at this time. Once Plantro has commenced a formal solicitation of proxies in connection with the Special Meeting, proxies may be revoked by instrument in writing by the shareholder giving the proxy or by its duly authorized officer or attorney, or in any other manner permitted by law (including subsection 110(4) of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario)). None of Plantro or, to its knowledge, any of its associates or affiliates, has any material interest, direct or indirect, (i) in any transaction since the beginning of Dye & Durham’s most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction that has materially affected or would materially affect Dye & Durham or any of its subsidiaries; or (ii) by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter proposed to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the election of directors to the Board.

    Dye & Durham’s principal office address is 25 York St., Suite 1100, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2V5. A copy of this news release may be obtained on Dye & Durham’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

    Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

    Certain information in this news release may constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “should,” “plans,” “continue,” or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking information in this news release may include, but is not limited to, statements of Plantro regarding (i) how Plantro intends to exercise its legal rights as a shareholder of the Company, and (ii) its plans to make changes at the Board of the Company.

    Although Plantro believes that the expectations reflected in any such forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements including, without limitation, the risks that (i) the Company may use tactics to thwart the rights of Plantro as a shareholder and (ii) the actions being proposed and the changes being demanded by Plantro, may not take place for any reason whatsoever. Except as required by law, Plantro does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

    About Plantro

    Plantro is a privately held company, with an established track record of making successful investments in undervalued and high quality legal, financial, and information services businesses.

    Media Contact

    Gagnier Communications
    Riyaz Lalani / Dan Gagnier
    Plantro@gagnierfc.com

    ____________________________________
    1    Source: CapIQ: based off of analyst consensus adjusted EBITDA estimates and Plantro’s calculations which are available within the investor presentation on www.SellDnD.com
    2The Company’s Consolidated First Lien Net Leverage Ratio will be materially higher in two quarters from now when it loses the ability to offset $185 million in restricted cash it holds to repay its 2026 convertible debentures, against its senior debt. Based on sell-side consensus estimates, the Company will be much closer to breaching its Consolidated First Lien Net Leverage Ratio covenant, should it remain in place.
    3Assumes 0.5% annual Adjusted EBITDA growth after the sale of financial services based off trailing 9-month results as at Q3 FY25; Further details on Plantro’s assumptions and calculations are available within the investor presentation on www.SellDnD.com
    4Future share price applies current EV / LTM EBITDA multiple to LTM EBITDA ending March 31, 2026 based on research consensus estimates and adjusting for net debt forecasted as at March 31, 2026 with cash flow assumptions as further detailed in the presentation available at www.SellDnD.com.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Plantro Requisitions Shareholder Meeting of Dye & Durham, Nominates Three Highly-Qualified Individuals to Initiate Sale of Company

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Nearly $1 Billion in Shareholder Value Destroyed Under Engine Led Board Since December 2024

    Governance Failures: Four CEOs and Two CFOs in Six Months, an Entrenched Board Ignoring Credible Bids, Insiders Granted ~5% of the Company in Egregious $10 Stock Options, and Investors Actively Directing Management

    If the Current Board and its Misguided Strategy Remain in Place, Shareholders Risk Further Losses – It is Time to Immediately Initiate a Sale Process and Unlock a Change of Control Premium for Shareholders

    Today, a Financial Services Sale for ~$590 million or ~11x EBITDA Still Leaves Leverage at ~4.5x, with No Path to Sub-3x Until 2031

    ST. HELIER, Jersey, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Plantro Ltd. (“Plantro” or the “Concerned Shareholder”) one of the largest shareholders of Dye & Durham Limited (“Dye & Durham” or the “Company”) (DND: TSX) which owns approximately 11% of the Company, today announced that it has requisitioned a special meeting of Dye & Durham shareholders (the “Special Meeting”) and nominated three highly qualified individuals for the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”): Brian J. Bidulka, David Danziger, and Martha Vallance. The requisition also calls for the removal of Board Chair Arnaud Ajdler, and directors Tracey E. Keates, and Ritu Khanna, from the Board.

    The value destruction at Dye & Durham since December of 2024 has reached crisis proportions and threatens the Company’s future. The current Board, steered by Engine Capital (“Engine”), EdgePoint Wealth Management Inc. (“EdgePoint”) and OneMove Capital Ltd. (“OneMove”) (together, the “Engine Activist Group”) has presided over the destruction of nearly $1 billion in shareholder value.

    The Engine Activist Group and the Board have pursued a misguided and haphazard strategy of customer price cuts and overspending. This has led to sharp declines in Adjusted EBITDA, cash flow, and rising debt, as evidenced by the Company’s recent quarterly results and a new debt covenant being imposed. As global real estate markets recently weakened, the Board doubled down on its strategy instead of adjusting course. This has caused a liquidity crisis, forcing the Company to aggressively draw on its revolving credit facility to make its April 2025 interest payment. With no clear or credible plan in place, leverage is expected to approach 6.0x Adjusted EBITDA by September 30, 20251.

    Remaining public is no longer a viable option. If the current Board remains unchanged, the Company will continue down the same failed path, resulting in further shareholder losses. A full sale of the Company is the only way to realize a control premium for current shareholders and restore stability in the business.

    Unfortunately, the current Board and the Engine Activist Group have fought for the past nine months against the sale of the Company or even presenting an offer to shareholders to consider. Before taking control, the Engine Activist Group publicly rejected multiple all-cash offers obtained by the prior board of approximately $25 per share. After the 2024 annual general meeting, as the stock declined significantly, Plantro submitted an offer to acquire the Company for $20 a share in February 2025. This offer was similarly rejected, and Plantro was threatened with litigation for privately submitting it. Furthermore, in April 2025, according to media reports, the Board refused to engage with Advent International, a credible well-funded buyer, who formally submitted offers of approximately $20 per share. The Board has also continued to deny basic due diligence access, actively undermining the possibility of negotiating higher bids.

    As outlined below, and in a presentation available at www.SellDnD.com, a sale of Dye & Durham is the only viable risk-adjusted path, free from execution risk, remaining for shareholders to preserve and maximize their value. Plantro invites its fellow shareholders to join in the push for urgent change. If elected, the Plantro nominees intend to immediately pursue a well-governed and thoughtful process to sell the Company without delay TO THE BUYER WILLING TO PAY THE HIGHEST PRICE.

    Stopgap Solutions Won’t Protect Shareholders: Dye & Durham Cannot Afford to Wait Any Longer and the Company Should Be Sold.

    The Engine Activist Group will try to sell you a half-baked plan — an asset sale and a plea for more time; but they are wrong. Just months ago, a sale of the Financial Services business may have been a viable path to reduce leverage, however, their misguided strategy and poor execution has damaged the business to the point where a sale of the Financial Services business would do little to reduce debt. Even if the Company sells additional assets, there are no realistic paths to reduce leverage below 4.0x any time soon.

    The Engine Activist Group and Engine-led Board have no plan to deliver anywhere near a $20 per share price on a risk- or time-adjusted basis. All they will do is sell you vague and hypothetical outcomes. Shareholders need to immediately realize a sale of the entire Company for the large control premium available for the following reasons:

    • It is Too Risky Not to Sell: A misguided and haphazard strategy, coupled with poor execution has led to significantly declining financial performance and excessive borrowing over the last six months. This has resulted in a new 5.8x debt covenant being imposed on the business, which sell-side analysts estimate the Company will be precariously close to breaching in the coming quarters2, putting shareholder equity at real risk of further erosion.
    • Divesting Financial Services Doesn’t Solve the Problem: Today, a sale of the Financial Services business at ~11x Adjusted EBITDA still leaves leverage at ~4.5x, with no path to sub-3x until 20313. Further, speculative claims of multiple expansion following a sale of the Financial Services business are unfounded as the Company will be a smaller, declining business, with leverage too high for public market investors to tolerate.
    • Generous Assumptions Point to a Lower Share Price: Waiting is not an option. Assuming the Company maintains its current 7.9x trading multiple the implied share price in Q3 FY2026 will be between $4.77 and $7.444, with the low-end of the range assuming the Company misses revenue estimates by only 5%.
    • There Are Still Credible Interested Buyers at the Table Right Now: Given the current negative trajectory, shareholders should pursue a full sale to capture an attractive all-cash change-of-control premium. Credible private equity buyers with the right expertise, risk appetite, and who bring the appropriate capital structure, are interested in acquiring the Company right now.

    The Engine Activist Group Has Usurped the Board and Now Dye & Durham is Not Suited to Operate as a Public Company.

    A revolving door of executives has destabilized the business and eradicated irreplaceable institutional memory at the worst possible time. The Company is now on its fourth CEO in six months, and its second CFO. Numerous other executives and employees at all levels have left or been terminated, with employee turnover now reportedly reaching 25%, compared to low single digits previously, creating paralysis and leaving the business rudderless. Retaining even a portion of this critical institutional knowledge would have informed better decision making and helped avoid multiple strategic blunders.

    In what appears to be an act of desperation, the Board delegated the recruitment of a new CEO and CFO to the principal of OneMove and a representative of EdgePoint, and in doing so appointed an unproven first-time CEO, with no public company or capital allocation experience, and a new CFO. They then granted the pair nearly 5% of the Company in options priced at just $10 per share. The pair stand to pocket over $30 million simply for getting shareholders back to where they were in December 2024.

    Plantro understands there is also ongoing infighting at the Board level that has a created a situation where management cannot operate effectively, and established governance structures are breaking down. Plantro has learned the Company was recently forced to engage an independent third party mediator to help navigate basic internal operations as a result of repeated shareholder-level interference with management. This kind of shareholder “skip-level” behaviour, where investors directly bypass a board of directors and provide instruction directly to management, is confusing and creates potential for further executive attrition. It is also virtually unheard of in a public company and raises serious concerns about accountability and proper oversight.

    Plantro’s Highly Qualified Nominees Are Committed to Leading a Process to Sell Dye & Durham.

    The Plantro nominees collectively bring experience in M&A, capital allocation, operations, technology, governance, public and private board service, and direct senior experience at Dye & Durham (which is necessary given excessive executive turnover under the Engine Activist Group). Together they have the right mix of skills, experience, expertise, and shareholder-centric perspective to stabilize Dye & Durham, and immediately commence a well-governed and thoughtful process to sell the Company for the highest price possible.

    Each of Plantro’s highly qualified individuals is independent of Plantro and each other, and will act as true fiduciaries with a mandate to preserve and maximize shareholder value:

    • Brian J. Bidulka, CPA, CA, is a corporate director and chartered accountant with extensive experience in technology, finance, and business analytics. Brian is the former Chief Financial Officer of Research in Motion. He has also served in senior executive roles at major Canadian companies including Porter Airlines, Postmedia, George Weston Limited, and Molson Coors. Currently, he is a member of the board at Andrew Peller Limited, and is also a board member and treasurer of Canada Basketball.
    • David Danziger, CPA, CA, is an experienced finance leader and corporate director with an extensive background in audit, accounting, and management consulting. Previously, he was the Senior Vice President, Assurance, and the National Leader of Public Companies at MNP LLP, Canada’s fifth largest accounting firm. David continues to serve as a Senior Advisor for MNP LLP working on special projects and supporting the Public Company Audit Team nationally. David has served as a director for a range of technology, mining, and life sciences companies listed on the TSX, TSXV, CSE, and NYSE.
    • Martha Vallance is a corporate director with significant experience in M&A, capital markets and technology. Most recently, Martha was the Chief Operating Officer of Dye & Durham after previously establishing and leading the company’s Corporate Development function and has deep knowledge of the company’s strategy and operations. Prior to this, Martha spent over 12 years in Investment & Corporate Banking at BMO Capital Markets, most recently holding a series of senior roles within both the Mergers & Acquisitions and Equity Capital Markets teams. In addition, Martha served as a Director on the Board of TSX-listed TMAC Resources and was also a member of the Special Committee during the sale of the company which concluded in January 2021.

    Plantro proposes that shareholders support incumbent directors Hans T. Gieskes, the recently deposed independent chairman of the Board, Anthony P. Kinnear, Sid Singh, and Eric Shahinian to maintain continuity on the Board. Both Gieskes and Singh served as interim CEOs of the Company, and collectively, these individuals have relevant C-Suite, public company, and capital markets experience at other companies.

    Plantro remains supportive of management and believes stability is required to execute a successful sales process and restore value to shareholders.

    Shareholders Need to Make their Voices Heard

    There is no debate – Dye & Durham does not have a viable long-term path as a public company and must be sold. The Board and management will claim they need more time, but the status quo for shareholders is simply intolerable. While the business drifts and headwinds build, the risks to Dye & Durham and its shareholders continue to accumulate. The time for decisive action has arrived.

    Plantro has heard from many shareholders who share its contention that the Company must run a formal sale process to preserve and maximize shareholder value. Now is the time to speak up. It is imperative that shareholders communicate their views directly to the Board and urge them to call and hold the Special Meeting without delay so the Company can be sold. Alternatively, the Board can spare shareholders the cost and distraction of a proxy contest, appoint the Plantro nominees to the Board, and commence a formal sale process immediately.

    Please visit www.SellDnd.com to view Plantro’s presentation to fellow shareholders and other important materials.

    Other Information Concerning the Plantro Nominees

    To the knowledge of Plantro, no Plantro nominee is, at the date hereof, or has been, within ten (10) years before the date hereof: (a) a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer of any company that (i) was subject to a cease trade order, an order similar to a cease trade order or an order that denied the relevant company access to any exemption under securities legislation that was in effect for a period of more than thirty (30) consecutive days (each, an “order”), in each case that was issued while the Plantro nominee was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer, or (ii) was subject to an order that was issued after the Plantro nominee ceased to be a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer and which resulted from an event that occurred while that person was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer; (b) a director or executive officer of any company that, while such Plantro nominee was acting in that capacity, or within one (1) year of such Plantro nominee ceasing to act in that capacity, became bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency or was subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold its assets; or (c) someone who became bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency, or became subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors, or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold the assets of such Plantro nominee.

    To the knowledge of Plantro, as at the date hereof, no Plantro nominee has been subject to: (a) any penalties or sanctions imposed by a court relating to securities legislation, or by a securities regulatory authority, or has entered into a settlement agreement with a securities regulatory authority; or (b) any other penalties or sanctions imposed by a court or regulatory body that would likely be considered important to a reasonable securityholder in deciding whether to vote for a Plantro nominee.

    To the knowledge of Plantro, none of the directors or officers of Plantro, or any associates or affiliates of the foregoing, or any of the Plantro nominees or their respective associates or affiliates, has: (a) any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of the Company’s most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction which has materially affected or will materially affect the Company or any of its subsidiaries; or (b) any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter proposed to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the re-constitution of the Board.

    Plantro beneficially owns and controls 7,374,510 common shares representing approximately 11% of the outstanding shares of the Company. Martha Vallance beneficially owns and controls 38,600 common shares, representing approximately 0.06% of the outstanding shares of the Company. She also holds options to acquire an additional 425,433 common shares. Assuming full exercise of these options, she would beneficially own and control 464,033 common shares, representing approximately 0.69% of the then-outstanding shares of the Company, on a partially diluted basis. While the other Concerned Shareholder Nominees may purchase shares in the future, not of the other Concerned Shareholder Nominees currently hold any units of the Company.

    Additional Information

    The information contained in this news release does not and is not meant to constitute a solicitation of a proxy within the meaning of applicable corporate and securities laws. Although Plantro has requisitioned the Special Meeting, there is currently no record or meeting date and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute a proxy in favour of the Plantro nominees or any other matter to be acted upon at the Special Meeting. In connection with the Special Meeting, Plantro may file a dissident information circular (the “Information Circular”) in due course in compliance with applicable corporate and securities laws.

    Notwithstanding the foregoing, Plantro is voluntarily providing the disclosure required under section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous Disclosure Obligations (“NI 51-102”) and has filed this news release containing disclosure prescribed by applicable corporate law and disclosure required under section 9.2(6) of NI 51-102 in respect of Engine’s director nominees, in accordance with corporate and securities laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations. This news release is available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

    This news release and any solicitation made by Plantro in advance of the Special Meeting is, or will be, as applicable, made by Plantro and not by or on behalf of the management of the Company. All costs incurred for any solicitation will be borne by Plantro, provided that, subject to applicable law, Plantro may seek reimbursement from the Company of Plantro’s out-of-pocket expenses, including proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees, incurred in connection with a successful reconstitution of the Board.

    Plantro is not soliciting proxies in connection with the Special Meeting at this time, and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute proxies in favour of the Plantro nominees (in respect of the Special Meeting) or any matter to be acted upon at the Special Meeting. Proxies may be solicited by Plantro pursuant to an Information Circular sent to shareholders after which solicitations may be made by or on behalf of Plantro, by mail, telephone, fax, email or other electronic means as well as by newspaper or other media advertising, and in person by directors, officers and employees of Plantro, who will not be specifically remunerated therefor. Plantro may also solicit proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including through press releases, speeches or publications, and by any other manner permitted under applicable corporate and securities laws. Plantro may engage the services of one or more agents and authorize other persons to assist in soliciting proxies on behalf of Plantro.

    Plantro has retained Morrow Sodali (Canada) Ltd. (“Sodali”) as its proxy advisor to assist Plantro in soliciting shareholders should Plantro commence a formal solicitation of proxies, for which Sodali will receive a fee not to exceed $200,000 plus a per call fee and certain success fees, together with reimbursement for reasonable and out-of-pocket expenses, and will be indemnified against certain liabilities and expenses, including certain liabilities under securities laws. Sodali’s responsibilities will principally include advising Plantro on governance best practices, where applicable, liaising with proxy advisory firms, developing and implementing shareholder engagement strategies, and advising with respect to meeting and proxy protocol.

    Plantro is not requesting that Dye & Durham shareholders submit a proxy at this time. Once Plantro has commenced a formal solicitation of proxies in connection with the Special Meeting, proxies may be revoked by instrument in writing by the shareholder giving the proxy or by its duly authorized officer or attorney, or in any other manner permitted by law (including subsection 110(4) of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario)). None of Plantro or, to its knowledge, any of its associates or affiliates, has any material interest, direct or indirect, (i) in any transaction since the beginning of Dye & Durham’s most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction that has materially affected or would materially affect Dye & Durham or any of its subsidiaries; or (ii) by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter proposed to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the election of directors to the Board.

    Dye & Durham’s principal office address is 25 York St., Suite 1100, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2V5. A copy of this news release may be obtained on Dye & Durham’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

    Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

    Certain information in this news release may constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “should,” “plans,” “continue,” or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking information in this news release may include, but is not limited to, statements of Plantro regarding (i) how Plantro intends to exercise its legal rights as a shareholder of the Company, and (ii) its plans to make changes at the Board of the Company.

    Although Plantro believes that the expectations reflected in any such forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements including, without limitation, the risks that (i) the Company may use tactics to thwart the rights of Plantro as a shareholder and (ii) the actions being proposed and the changes being demanded by Plantro, may not take place for any reason whatsoever. Except as required by law, Plantro does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

    About Plantro

    Plantro is a privately held company, with an established track record of making successful investments in undervalued and high quality legal, financial, and information services businesses.

    Media Contact

    Gagnier Communications
    Riyaz Lalani / Dan Gagnier
    Plantro@gagnierfc.com

    ____________________________________
    1    Source: CapIQ: based off of analyst consensus adjusted EBITDA estimates and Plantro’s calculations which are available within the investor presentation on www.SellDnD.com
    2The Company’s Consolidated First Lien Net Leverage Ratio will be materially higher in two quarters from now when it loses the ability to offset $185 million in restricted cash it holds to repay its 2026 convertible debentures, against its senior debt. Based on sell-side consensus estimates, the Company will be much closer to breaching its Consolidated First Lien Net Leverage Ratio covenant, should it remain in place.
    3Assumes 0.5% annual Adjusted EBITDA growth after the sale of financial services based off trailing 9-month results as at Q3 FY25; Further details on Plantro’s assumptions and calculations are available within the investor presentation on www.SellDnD.com
    4Future share price applies current EV / LTM EBITDA multiple to LTM EBITDA ending March 31, 2026 based on research consensus estimates and adjusting for net debt forecasted as at March 31, 2026 with cash flow assumptions as further detailed in the presentation available at www.SellDnD.com.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: EXL named a Leader in Everest Group Data and AI Services Specialists PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EXL [NASDAQ: EXLS], a global data and AI company, has been named the top Leader in the Everest Group Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Services Specialists PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2025, for the second consecutive year.

    The Everest Group report examined 32 leading providers who derive more than 50% of their revenue from analytics and AI services on their ability to meet enterprise needs and deliver scalable, secure and high-impact AI and data solutions. EXL secured the top-right Leader position in the assessment for its robust generative AI capabilities, domain-led expertise and IP to accelerate client time-to-value.

    “EXL has invested in advancing its data and AI capabilities, with an emphasis on domain-specific applications across insurance, healthcare, and retail,” said Vishal Gupta, partner at Everest Group. “This is reflected in solutions such as EXL Claims Assist, which leverages GenAI to streamline insurance claims processing. Its growing IP portfolio, including platforms like XTRAKTO.AI™ for intelligent document processing and EXL Code Harbor™ for AI-assisted code generation, enables faster implementation and greater operational efficiency. In addition, its collaboration with NVIDIA, leveraging platforms such as the NVIDIA NeMo™ and AI Enterprise to power offerings such as EXL Insurance LLM™ and EXL Smart Agent Assist™, strengthens its ability to build and scale high-performance AI solutions. These efforts have contributed to EXL’s positioning as a Leader in Everest Group’s Data and AI Services Specialists PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2025.”

    “Many companies have adopted AI, but only the true leaders in the space are going several steps further to integrate AI across enterprise workflows, leveraging the power of this technology to truly transform their operating models,” said Anand “Andy” Logani, chief digital and AI officer at EXL. “EXL’s consistent performance in the Everest Group PEAK Matrix is an affirmation of our efforts to not just play in the AI space, but to be the world leader in helping our clients unlock the full power of AI to improve their businesses.”

    To read more about the Everest Group 2025 report, click here for the custom version of the report. For more information about EXL’s analytics and AI solutions, click here.

    About EXL

    EXL (NASDAQ: EXLS) is a global data and AI company that offers services and solutions to reinvent client business models, drive better outcomes and unlock growth with speed. EXL harnesses the power of data, AI, and deep industry knowledge to transform businesses, including the world’s leading corporations in industries including insurance, healthcare, banking and capital markets, retail, communications and media, and energy and infrastructure, among others. EXL was founded in 1999 with the core values of innovation, collaboration, excellence, integrity and respect. We are headquartered in New York and have approximately 60,000 employees spanning six continents. For more information, visit www.exlservice.com.

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You should not place undue reliance on those statements because they are subject to numerous uncertainties and factors relating to EXL’s operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond EXL’s control. Forward-looking statements include information concerning EXL’s possible or assumed future results of operations, including descriptions of its business strategy. These statements may include words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate” or similar expressions. These statements are based on assumptions that we have made in light of management’s experience in the industry as well as its perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate under the circumstances. You should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. They involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although EXL believes that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect EXL’s actual financial results or results of operations and could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors, which include our ability to maintain and grow client demand, our ability to hire and retain sufficiently trained employees, and our ability to accurately estimate and/or manage costs, rising interest rates, rising inflation and recessionary economic trends, are discussed in more detail in EXL’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including EXL’s Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should keep in mind that any forward-looking statement made herein, or elsewhere, speaks only as of the date on which it is made. New risks and uncertainties come up from time to time, and it is impossible to predict these events or how they may affect EXL. EXL has no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date hereof, except as required by federal securities laws.

    Contacts
    Media
    Keith Little
    +1 703-598-0980
    media.relations@exlservice.com

    Investor Relations
    John Kristoff
    +1 212 209 4613
    IR@exlservice.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: EXL named a Leader in Everest Group Data and AI Services Specialists PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EXL [NASDAQ: EXLS], a global data and AI company, has been named the top Leader in the Everest Group Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Services Specialists PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2025, for the second consecutive year.

    The Everest Group report examined 32 leading providers who derive more than 50% of their revenue from analytics and AI services on their ability to meet enterprise needs and deliver scalable, secure and high-impact AI and data solutions. EXL secured the top-right Leader position in the assessment for its robust generative AI capabilities, domain-led expertise and IP to accelerate client time-to-value.

    “EXL has invested in advancing its data and AI capabilities, with an emphasis on domain-specific applications across insurance, healthcare, and retail,” said Vishal Gupta, partner at Everest Group. “This is reflected in solutions such as EXL Claims Assist, which leverages GenAI to streamline insurance claims processing. Its growing IP portfolio, including platforms like XTRAKTO.AI™ for intelligent document processing and EXL Code Harbor™ for AI-assisted code generation, enables faster implementation and greater operational efficiency. In addition, its collaboration with NVIDIA, leveraging platforms such as the NVIDIA NeMo™ and AI Enterprise to power offerings such as EXL Insurance LLM™ and EXL Smart Agent Assist™, strengthens its ability to build and scale high-performance AI solutions. These efforts have contributed to EXL’s positioning as a Leader in Everest Group’s Data and AI Services Specialists PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2025.”

    “Many companies have adopted AI, but only the true leaders in the space are going several steps further to integrate AI across enterprise workflows, leveraging the power of this technology to truly transform their operating models,” said Anand “Andy” Logani, chief digital and AI officer at EXL. “EXL’s consistent performance in the Everest Group PEAK Matrix is an affirmation of our efforts to not just play in the AI space, but to be the world leader in helping our clients unlock the full power of AI to improve their businesses.”

    To read more about the Everest Group 2025 report, click here for the custom version of the report. For more information about EXL’s analytics and AI solutions, click here.

    About EXL

    EXL (NASDAQ: EXLS) is a global data and AI company that offers services and solutions to reinvent client business models, drive better outcomes and unlock growth with speed. EXL harnesses the power of data, AI, and deep industry knowledge to transform businesses, including the world’s leading corporations in industries including insurance, healthcare, banking and capital markets, retail, communications and media, and energy and infrastructure, among others. EXL was founded in 1999 with the core values of innovation, collaboration, excellence, integrity and respect. We are headquartered in New York and have approximately 60,000 employees spanning six continents. For more information, visit www.exlservice.com.

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You should not place undue reliance on those statements because they are subject to numerous uncertainties and factors relating to EXL’s operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond EXL’s control. Forward-looking statements include information concerning EXL’s possible or assumed future results of operations, including descriptions of its business strategy. These statements may include words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate” or similar expressions. These statements are based on assumptions that we have made in light of management’s experience in the industry as well as its perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate under the circumstances. You should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. They involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although EXL believes that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect EXL’s actual financial results or results of operations and could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors, which include our ability to maintain and grow client demand, our ability to hire and retain sufficiently trained employees, and our ability to accurately estimate and/or manage costs, rising interest rates, rising inflation and recessionary economic trends, are discussed in more detail in EXL’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including EXL’s Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should keep in mind that any forward-looking statement made herein, or elsewhere, speaks only as of the date on which it is made. New risks and uncertainties come up from time to time, and it is impossible to predict these events or how they may affect EXL. EXL has no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date hereof, except as required by federal securities laws.

    Contacts
    Media
    Keith Little
    +1 703-598-0980
    media.relations@exlservice.com

    Investor Relations
    John Kristoff
    +1 212 209 4613
    IR@exlservice.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: From Seattle to Atlanta, new social housing programs seek to make homes permanently affordable for a range of incomes

    Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Susanne Schindler, Research Fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard Kennedy School

    Activists in Seattle gather signatures to put a social housing initiative on the ballot. In early 2025, voters passed the measure, which implements a payroll tax on high incomes to fund the program. House Our Neighbors, CC BY-SA

    Seattle astounded housing advocates around the country in February 2025, when roughly two-thirds of voters approved a ballot initiative proposing a new 5% payroll tax on salaries in excess of US$1 million.

    The expected revenue – estimated to amount to $52 million dollars annually – would go toward funding a public development authority named Seattle Social Housing, which would then build and maintain permanently affordable homes.

    The city has experienced record high rents and home prices over the past two decades, attributed in part to the high incomes and relatively low taxes paid by tech firms like Amazon. Prior attempts to make these companies do their part to keep the city affordable have had mixed results.

    So despite nationwide, bipartisan skepticism of government and tax increases, Seattle’s voters showed that in light of a severe affordability crisis, a new role for the public sector and a new, dedicated fiscal revenue stream for housing were not only necessary, but possible.

    As a trained architect and urban historian, I study how capitalist societies have embraced – or rejected – housing that’s permanently shielded from market forces and what that means for architecture and urban design.

    To me, Seattle’s social housing initiative shows that the country’s traditional, “either-or” housing model – of unregulated, market-rate housing versus tightly regulated, income-restricted affordable housing – has reached its limits.

    Social housing promises a different path forward.

    The rise of the ‘two-tiered’ system

    After World War I, amid a similarly dire housing crisis, journalist Catherine Bauer traveled to Europe and learned about the continent’s social housing programs.

    She publicized her findings in the 1934 book “Modern Housing,” in which she advocated for housing that would be permanently shielded from the private real estate market. High-quality design was central to her argument. (The book was reissued in 2020, reflecting a renewed hunger for her ideas.)

    Early New Deal programs supported “limited-dividend,” or nonprofit, housing sponsored by civic organizations such as labor unions. The Carl Mackley Houses in Philadelphia exemplified this approach: The government provided low-interest loans to the American Federation of Full-Fashioned Hosiery Workers, which then constructed housing for its workers with rents set at affordable rates. The complex was built with community rooms and a swimming pool for its residents.

    Financed by $1.2 million in federal funds, the Carl Mackley Houses, completed in 1935, provided homes for union workers.
    Alfred Kastner papers, Collection No. 7350, Box 45, Record 12, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming

    However, the 1937 U.S. Housing Act omitted this form of middle-income housing. Instead, the federal government chose to support public rental housing for low-income Americans and private homeownership, with little in between.

    Historian Gail Radford has aptly termed this a “two-tiered system,” and it was problematic from the start.

    Funding for public housing in the U.S. – as well as for its successor, private-sector-built affordable housing – has always been capped in ways that fall far short of demand, with access to the homes largely restricted to households with the lowest incomes. Private-sector-built affordable housing depends on dangling tax credits for private investors, and rent restrictions can expire.

    While the U.S. promoted this two-tiered system, cities like Vienna pursued a different path.

    In Austria’s culturally vibrant capital, today half of all dwellings are permanently removed from the private market. Roughly 80% of households qualify to live in them. The buildings take a range of forms, are located in all neighborhoods, and are built and operated as rental or cooperative housing either by the city or by nonprofit developers.

    Rents do not rise and fall according to household income, but are instead set to cover capital and operation expenses. These are kept low thanks to long-term, low-interest loans. These loans are funded through a nationwide 1% payroll tax, split evenly between employers and employees. Renters also make a down payment, priced in relation to the size and age of the apartment, which keeps monthly rents down. To guarantee access to low-cost land, the municipality has pursued an active land acquisition policy since the 1980s.

    Vienna’s Pilotengasse Housing Estate, a social housing development featuring low-rise buildings with abundant greenery, was completed in 1992 and serves a range of income groups.
    Viennaslide/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images

    Housing shielded from the private market

    The inequities created by the two-tiered system – along with the absence of viable options for moderate- and middle-income households – are what social housing advocates in the U.S. are trying to address today.

    In 2018, the think tank People’s Policy Project published what was likely the first 21st-century report advocating for social housing in the U.S., citing Vienna as a model.

    Across the U.S., social housing is being used to describe a range of programs, from limited equity cooperatives and community land trusts to public housing.

    They all share a few underlying principles, however.

    First and foremost, social housing calls for permanently shielding homes from the private real estate market, often referred to as “permanent affordability.” This usually means public investment in housing and public ownership of it. Second, unlike the ways in which public housing has traditionally operated in the U.S., most social housing programs aim to serve households across a broader range of incomes. The goal is to create housing that is both financially sustainable and appealing to broad swaths of the electorate. Third, social housing aspires to give residents more control over the governance of their homes.

    Social housing doesn’t all look the same. But thoughtful design is key to its success. It’s built to be owned and operated in the long-term, not for short-term financial gain. Construction quality matters, and developers realize it needs to be appealing to a range of tenants with different needs.

    Early successes

    In recent years, there have been significant wins for the social housing movement at the state and local levels.

    In 2023, Atlanta created a new quasi-public entity to co-develop mixed-income housing on city-owned land. In 2024, Rhode Island voters and the Massachusetts legislature funded pilot projects to test public investment in social housing. And 2025 has seen the the passage of Chicago’s Green Social Housing ordinance.

    Many of these programs were directly inspired by affordable housing initiatives in Montgomery County, Maryland.

    Since 2021, the county’s housing authority has used a $100 million housing fund to invest in new mixed-income developments. Through these investments, the county retains co-ownership and has been able to bring down the cost of development enough to offer 30% of homes at significantly below market rents, in perpetuity. If Vienna is the global paragon for social housing, Montgomery County has become its domestic counterpart.

    In Seattle, social housing will mean homes delivered and permanently owned by Seattle Social Housing, which is funded through the payroll tax on high incomes. The initiative envisions developments featuring a range of apartment sizes to meet the needs of different family sizes, built to high energy-efficiency standards. Homes will be available to households earning up to 120% of area median income, with residents paying no more than 30% of their income on rent. In Seattle, that means that a single-person household making up to $120,000 will qualify.

    Members of the New York City Council hold a rally with housing activists to promote social housing legislation in March 2023.
    William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit, CC BY-SA

    Ongoing debates

    Despite these successes, many Americans remain skeptical of social housing.

    Sign up for a webinar on the topic, and you’ll hear participants question the term itself. Isn’t it far too “socialist” to be broadly adopted in the U.S.? And isn’t this just “old wine in new bottles”?

    Join a housing task force, and established nonprofits will be the ones to push back, arguing that they already know how to build and manage housing, and that all they need is money.

    Some housing activists also question whether using scarce public dollars to pay for mixed-income housing will yet again shortchange those who most need governmental assistance – namely, the poor. Others point to the need to provide more ways to build intergenerational wealth, especially for racial minorities, who have historically faced barriers to homeownership.

    Urban planner Jonathan Tarleton has highlighted another important issue: the danger of social housing reverting over time to private ownership, as has been the case with some cooperatives in New York City. Tarleton stresses the need for “social maintenance” – the importance of telling and retelling the story of whom social housing is meant to serve.

    These debates raise important questions. Social housing may be a confusing term and an aspirational concept. But it is here to stay: It has galvanized organizers and policymakers around a new approach to the design, development and maintenance of housing.

    Social housing keeps prices down through long-term public investment, ensuring that future generations will still benefit. Developers can design and provide homes that respond to how people want to live. And in an increasingly polarized country, social housing will allow people of various backgrounds, incomes and ideological persuasions to live together again, rather than apart.

    Whether it’s the kind found in Seattle, in Maryland or somewhere in between, I believe social housing is needed more than ever before to address the country’s twin problems of affordability and a lack of political imagination.

    This article is part of a series centered on envisioning ways to deal with the housing crisis.

    Susanne Schindler receives funding from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

    – ref. From Seattle to Atlanta, new social housing programs seek to make homes permanently affordable for a range of incomes – https://theconversation.com/from-seattle-to-atlanta-new-social-housing-programs-seek-to-make-homes-permanently-affordable-for-a-range-of-incomes-255097

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Georgia: how democracy is being eroded fast as government shifts towards Russia

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

    Georgia was once considered a post-Soviet success story. After years of authoritarian rule, followed by independence which brought near state collapse, corruption and chaos, Georgia appeared to have transitioned to democracy.

    In a period after independence in 1991 and before 2020, elections were regularly held and were deemed mostly free and fair, the media and civil society were vibrant and corruption levels had diminished significantly.

    The “Rose revolution” in 2003 ushered in an era of unprecedented reform and suggested a move towards democracy and a closer relationship with the west. Georgians were full of hope for the country’s future, and prospects of joining the European Union – or at least moving closer to Europe.

    Fast forward two decades and Georgia has fully returned to authoritarianism. Six opposition leaders are in prison or facing charges and now thinktank leaders are being targeted with investigations that could land them in prison. Typically these charges centre around accepting foreign funding or criticising the government.

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

    In moves in line with other authoritarian regimes around the world, opposition organisations such as thinktanks are being told to produce financial documents in short timeframes, and accused of financial mismanagement and threatened with prosecution if they don’t.

    In May 2024, Georgia passed a Russian-inspired foreign agent law — which would require non-governmental organisations (NGOs) receiving foreign funding to register themselves and face restrictions. Protests erupted each time Georgia’s parliament debated this measure, but eventually the pro-RussianGeorgia Dream party prevailed. More than 90% of NGOs receive funding from abroad, so the new law cripples the efforts of some 26,000 of them.

    Many Georgians were outraged that the passage of the bill may end dreams of one day becoming a European Union candidate country. Regular surveys have found that about 80% of Georgians have aspirations for their country to join the EU.

    Though Georgia faces a host of economic problems, the Georgia Dream party has campaigned on delivering a return to traditional values. Like Russia they have also passed a series of laws in 2024 that target the LGBTQ+ community, such as banning content that features same-sex relationships and stripping same-sex couples of rights, such as adoption.

    Parallels with Russia?

    Georgia Dream also passed legislation making treason a criminal offence, a clear attempt to eliminate political opponents. Any insults of politicians online are also considered a criminal offence.

    Also, in June of this year civil society organisations in Georgia received court orders requiring them to disclose highly sensitive data. Meanwhile, members of the Georgia Dream party were accused of assaulting opposition party leader Giorgi Gakharia suffering a broken nose and a concussion, which they denied.

    In another effort to exercise greater control over the state, since the beginning of this year more than 800 civil servants have been dismissed. Similar to the purges that took place in Turkey — this is not being done in the name of efficiency, but to ensure that the bureaucracy is loyal to wishes of the Georgia Dream government.

    This hasn’t happened overnight, as the laws had already changed several times to weaken legal protections for civil servants.

    During its time in government, the Georgia Dream party has moved the country much closer to Russia, often by portraying the nation as locked in a cultural struggle against the west. Despite this, 69% of Georgians still see Russia as Georgia’s main enemy, up from 35% in 2012.

    Though the Georgia Dream party faces increasing public opposition to its rule, it gained nearly the same amount of votes in the 2024 elections as it did in 2012 – when it was at its peak of popularity. The election result in October 2024 may be partly explained by accusations of fraud and other irregularities.

    How did this happen?

    One of the first big threats to Georgia’s democracy came in August 2008 when Russia invaded the country to offer support for two breakaway regions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia which declared themselves independent from Georgia. The international community did little to censure Russia, giving Russian president Vladimir Putin the confidence to engage in further acts of aggression.

    Russia has maintained troops in South Ossetia, only about 30 miles from Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, and continues to play an important role in Georgian politics, undermining democracy.

    The next threat came from within. Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili was elected prime minister of Georgia in 2012 as the leader of Georgia Dream. despite the fact that he officially stepped down from this position in 2013, he has wielded power behind the scenes and is still widely considered to be the de facto leader of Georgia.

    Though Georgia did not immediately slide towards autocracy under the Georgia Dream party, today there are few remnants of democracy left. The major opposition parties are banned, opposition politicians and journalists are spied on, and protests are repressed by the police.

    Cameras are now installed on the streets of Tbilisi as part of a crackdown on protest and fines for protesting have increased. Elections are no longer considered to be free and fair by the European Union and others as the Georgia Dream party uses its access to the state resources to dole out patronage to its supporters and intimidate voters.

    In just over two decades, Georgia has managed to plunge back to authoritarianism. Once hailed as a beacon of democratic reform, the country is now gripped by a Russian-influenced ruling party that has consolidated power through repression, surveillance and manipulation.

    But while the Georgia Dream party has tried to dismantle the country’s democratic institutions, support for resistance is high. According to a poll in 2025, more than 60% of respondents supported protests against the government and 45% identified as active supporters. And 82% feel Georgia is in crisis, with 78% blaming Georgian Dream.

    It appears that Russia may have succeeded in undermining democracy in Georgia, but not in shaping hearts and minds.

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

    – ref. Georgia: how democracy is being eroded fast as government shifts towards Russia – https://theconversation.com/georgia-how-democracy-is-being-eroded-fast-as-government-shifts-towards-russia-260430

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Nature-friendly farming budget swells in UK – but cuts elsewhere make recovery fraught

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nathalie Seddon, Professor of Biodiversity, Smith School of Enterprise and Environment and Department of Biology, University of Oxford

    Skylarks are a red-listed species, which means they are of high conservation concern in the UK. WildlifeWorld/Shutterstock

    Nature in the UK appeared to receive a rare funding boost in the June spending review, with the government setting a spending target of up to £2 billion a year for England’s environmental land management (ELM) scheme by 2028-29.

    By steering public funds toward farmers who restore hedgerows, soils and wetlands, England’s ELM programme is meant to renew landscapes that absorb carbon, support pollinators and keep water clean while helping rural businesses stay viable in a changing climate.

    If delivered in full, the package would elevate the UK’s post-Brexit model of investing public money in shared ecological care (rather than payments based on acreage) to one of the most generously funded in the world.

    Yet, scrutinise the details and a more complicated story emerges.

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

    The review has trimmed the day-to-day budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in real terms. Defra now faces the unenviable task of signing and monitoring thousands of new ELM agreements with fewer staff and shrinking data resources. Without the capacity to check whether fields really have become richer in skylarks or streams clearer of fertiliser, large sums could be delayed or misdirected.

    Scale is another challenge. An independent analysis published in 2024 estimated that roughly £6 billion every year across the UK is needed to bring agriculture in line with the Environment Act targets for habitat restoration and net zero commitments.

    Even the full £2 billion promised for England would meet only about half of that evidence-based need. And the “up to” £400 million for trees and peatlands is not new money: it is funding that was first promised in 2024 and the payment schedule has still not been confirmed.

    Money could be paid to farmers for allowing woodlands to regenerate.
    Richard Hepworth, CC BY

    While the review earmarked £4.2 billion for flood and coastal defence, it does not specify how much of that will support nature-based measures such as floodplain restoration, or the creation of saltmarshes or riparian woodlands. The Environment Agency is consulting on a funding model that could embed such solutions, but the Treasury papers are silent on who will pay for that shift.

    Tech spending dwarfs habitat investment

    Contrast this with the sums heading to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

    Roughly £30 billion is earmarked for nuclear fission, fusion research and carbon-capture hubs. These projects are heavy on concrete and steel (materials with a hefty carbon cost) but have no immediate ecological benefit.

    While new low-carbon technologies are crucial, thriving and resilient soils, wetlands and woodlands nourish food systems, safeguard water and hold vast stores of carbon – benefits that deepen and become more cost-effective over time.

    Nature-based solutions can also revitalise local economies. The Office for National Statistics estimates that replacing the benefits flowing from the UK’s forests, rivers and soils – flood buffering, crop pollination, cleaner air, recreation and more – would cost about £1.8 trillion, a figure that only hints at their deeper, immeasurable value.

    Yet the review sets out no plan to safeguard these life-support systems, or to factor their decline into the Treasury’s green book (the rule book used to appraise public investments) or the Bank of England’s stress tests, which check how shocks could ripple through the financial system.

    This is also a matter of fairness and public health. Growing evidence shows that regular contact with nature lowers the risks of heart disease and anxiety, while improving children’s cognitive development. These are benefits with a value that defies any price tag.

    Yet the places with the fewest trees and parks tend to be the same post-industrial towns ministers want to “level up”. The review is silent on biodiversity net gain (the flagship policy meant to channel private finance into local habitats) and on a proposed national nature wealth fund that could blend public and private capital for large-scale restoration.

    Housing money could repeat past mistakes

    One line in the spending review could still shift the balance.

    The chancellor has earmarked £39 billion for building social and affordable housing over the next decade. If every development delivers at least a 10% net gain for biodiversity onsite, and if schemes build in climate-smart design (living roofs, shade-giving street trees, permeable surfaces) with local residents, Britain could pioneer the world’s first large-scale, nature-positive, net-zero housing programme.

    Without those safeguards, “levelling up” risks repeating old mistakes: sealing green space under concrete today and paying tomorrow to retrofit drainage, shade and parks.

    Green space is scarce on this new housing estate near Cardiff, Wales.
    Shutterstock

    That risk is heightened by the government’s planning and infrastructure bill, now before parliament. In an open letter to MPs, economists and ecologists warn that the bill would let developers “pay cash to trash” irreplaceable habitats by swapping onsite protection for a levy, a move they describe as a “licence to kill nature”.

    At the next UN climate summit, Cop30 in Brazil in November 2025, the UK will have to show the world that its domestic spending matches its international rhetoric.

    More than 150 UK researchers made that point in an open letter to the prime minister, urging him to put nature at the centre of the UK’s Cop30 stance. Converting the Treasury’s headline figures into habitat gains and locking robust rules into both the planning bill and the housing drive would give ministers credible proof of progress when they update the UK’s climate and nature pledges on the Cop30 stage.

    The spending review may have nudged farm policy in the right direction and set a new higher water mark for nature-positive agriculture. Yet amid the squeeze on Defra, the recycling rather than expansion of tree and peat budgets and the continued dominance of technology over habitat, nature still comes a distant second to hard infrastructure in the UK growth model.

    There is still time to change course. Guaranteeing Defra’s capacity, publishing a timetable for the tree-and-peat fund, reserving part of the flood budget for community-led nature-based solutions and hardwiring strong biodiversity net gain rules into housing and planning reforms would turn headline promises into projects that enrich daily life while stewarding public money wisely.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Nathalie Seddon receives funding from UKRI and the Leverhulme Trust and sits on the UK Climate Change Committee. She is also a trustee of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and is a non-executive director of the social venture, Nature-based Insights.

    – ref. Nature-friendly farming budget swells in UK – but cuts elsewhere make recovery fraught – https://theconversation.com/nature-friendly-farming-budget-swells-in-uk-but-cuts-elsewhere-make-recovery-fraught-259091

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Polytechnic at INNOPROM-2025: Technologies of the Future Are Already Here

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    On July 7, the INNOPROM-2025 exhibition opened in Yekaterinburg. This is the main industrial exhibition of Russia and one of the key platforms in Eurasia for presenting high-tech solutions, concluding international contracts and exchanging experience between industry leaders. INNOPROM-2025 will cover key industries, including automation, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, materials production, urban technologies and the IT sector.

    More than 1,000 companies from Russia, the Middle East, Europe and Asia will present their products on an exhibition area of 50 thousand square meters. In total, over 47 thousand participants from 60 countries are expected at INNOPROM-2025, including representatives of 11 thousand organizations and companies.

    “I am glad to welcome you to the anniversary XV International Industrial Exhibition INNOPROM! The main theme of INNOPROM-2025 — “Technological Leadership: Industrial Breakthrough” — is fully revealed in the business and exhibition program of the exhibition. And almost every thematic track of the exhibition — be it the development and application of advanced digital and production technologies or effective educational solutions for training a new generation of engineering personnel — corresponds to one or another scientific and technological or practice-oriented educational area of activity of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, — says Rector of SPbPU, Chairman of the SPbB RAS Andrey Rudskoy. — I am convinced that INNOPROM-2025 will become an effective platform for uniting sites for demonstration, interaction, as well as effective business communications with potential customers and investors. The stand of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University is open for constructive dialogue and interaction with all interested participants and partners who are ready, like our university, to actively participate in the implementation of the action program to achieve technological leadership in Russia.”

    Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University presents more than ten advanced developments at the exhibition, which not only demonstrate the level of the engineering school of Russia, but are also ready for implementation in key areas of industry. These are not prototypes “for the future”, but ready-made solutions for the present.

    “Zhuchok” – a transport platform for wheelchairs

    A distinctive feature is that any wheelchair can enter the platform: both electric and mechanical. This allows the platform to be rented on popular tourist routes or beaches, increasing their accessibility for people with disabilities. Equipped with a unique rubber track, which has no analogues in Russia.

    Industrial cartridge – an effective barrier for protecting urban waters

    FOPS filters purify wastewater, turning sewer manholes into eco-stations. The development is entirely Russian and has already been tested in megacities. The solution is scalable and relevant for all urbanized areas. FOPS filters are not thrown away after cleaning, but are included in the composition of nutrient substrates. The new technology closes the ecological cycle, reduces waste and makes agriculture “greener”. The key idea: to use what others throw away.

    Lithium-ion module with smart balancing

    Module for electric vehicles and new generation equipment. Up to 1500 W/kg of power in a compact case. Most of the components are domestically produced, the rest can be replaced in the near future.

    “Nomad” – mobile laser welder

    Mobile laser cladding complex created in the Research Laboratory “LiAT” of the Institute of Metallurgy and Metallurgy of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. The Nomad is designed to restore and modify the surfaces of large-sized and special products using laser cladding. After transportation, the start-up and adjustment time is up to 30 minutes. The laboratory specialists designed the complex to carry out projects to repair components of domestic and imported gas turbine engines. This technology allows applying layers of material to a substrate or a finished product. Metal powders and wires can be used as raw materials. The main feature of the MK is its compactness and the ability to move to the work site, which is convenient for repairing large-sized products.

    Also on the stand you can see nozzle assemblies after restoration repairs using the laser gas-powder surfacing method, working and nozzle blades, welded joints formed using the laser and hybrid laser-arc welding method, and much more.

    New generation unmanned aerial vehicle “Snegir-2”

    The Snegir electric UAV family is a line of multifunctional unmanned vehicles developed by specialists from the Experimental Design Bureau of the Advanced Engineering School of SPbPU “Digital Engineering”. In 2023, the Snegir-1 UAV was created on an initiative basis in just five months, and in 2024–2025, the Snegir-1.5 and Snegir-2 modifications with increased take-off weight and flight range were developed on its basis.

    The new generation UAV Snegir-2 presented at the Polytechnic stand has increased stability due to an improved control system, and is also equipped with an innovative modular system of interchangeable components, which allows the device to be quickly adapted to perform various tasks.

    The SPbPU stand showcased developments of the Polymer Composite Materials laboratory of the SPbPU Advanced Engineering School “Digital Engineering”, including demonstrators of overprinting and induction welding technologies for thermoplastic composite materials, as well as automated laying out of thermoplastic unidirectional prepregs. These solutions were highly praised by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko at the XI International Forum of Technological Development “Technoprom” in 2024.

    Innovative materials and products are presented for the first time: ASM PEEK C140UD toupreg for automated production of highly loaded composite structures, a bracket made of ASM PEEK-C285S-P based on a thermoplastic consolidated plate made of superstructural polyetheretherketone, as well as ASM PEEK-3K filament for 3D printing based on continuous carbon fiber. The production technologies of the materials were developed by engineers of the Polymer Composite Materials laboratory of the Advanced Engineering School “Digital Engineering” of SPbPU in the interests of JSC Prepreg-SKM (part of Rosatom Composite Technologies), and samples of the materials were manufactured by an enterprise of the composite division of the State Corporation specifically for the INNOPROM-2025 exhibition.

    Oil products in water sensor

    The use of the sensor allows determining the concentration of impurities in real time. Analogues allow determining the presence and concentration of impurities only in samples taken at specified time intervals. When creating the sensor, digital design technologies, additive technologies, development of proprietary image processing algorithms, and microcontroller programming were used.

    “ARCitech” – industrial 3D metal printing

    An open-type installation designed for electric arc growing of large-sized metal products. The technological process allows achieving record high speeds of product production (for aluminum alloys (Al) — 2.2 kg/hour, for Fe — 6 kg/hour).

    “The Cable of Life” is a story that has become a symbol of heroism

    An exhibit from the SPbPU History Museum is an engineering solution that saved Leningrad during the siege. A fragment of a high-voltage cable that was laid along the bottom of Lake Ladoga to provide Leningrad during the siege with electricity from the restored Volkhov Hydroelectric Power Station. It is named by analogy with the “Road of Life”.

    There is also an active business program at the Polytechnic stand. On the first day of the exhibition, negotiations were held with representatives of the Industrial Cluster of the Republic of Tatarstan. They were attended by the Scientific Secretary of SPbPU Dmitry Karpov, Chairman of the Board of the Cluster Sergey Mayorov, Member of the Board Aidar Gimadeev, Member of the Board Pavel Loginov, Member of the Board Ilnar Zakirov.

    The Tatarstan Industrial Cluster is an association of enterprises and organizations created to develop industrial production and increase its competitiveness. Founded in 2010, the cluster today includes more than 1,000 enterprises operating in various industries. The goal of the cluster is to develop the republic’s economy through the development of production and increasing the competitiveness of industrial enterprises. The partners discussed promising options for cooperation that can be implemented in joint educational projects. They are aimed at improving production technologies, creating new products and services, and improving the qualifications of personnel.

    Another delegation represented the Moscow Government. The prospects for cooperation and interaction with the Polytechnic were discussed by the Scientific Secretary of SPbPU Dmitry Karpov, the Head of the Department for the Development of International Cooperation of the Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations of the City of Moscow Elena Tikhonova and the Head of the Department of International Relations Anastasia Sibileva. The discussion focused on joint events within the framework of the upcoming BRICS municipal forum.

    Ilya Kobykhno, Head of the Laboratory of Polymer Composite Materials of the Advanced Engineering School of SPbPU “Digital Engineering”, spoke at the session “Thermoplasts – New Materials for Industry”, during which the participants discussed the prospects for the development of the thermoplastic composites market in key areas of industry, as well as the impact of new materials on the competitiveness of the final product.

    The speaker presented advanced developments created for the Rosatom State Corporation and Rostec enterprises, including demonstrators of overprinting and induction welding technologies for thermoplastic composite materials, as well as automated laying of thermoplastic unidirectional prepregs. Let us recall that these solutions were highly praised by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko at the XI International Technological Development Forum Technoprom in 2024.

    Ilya Kobykhno also spoke about the creation of innovative materials and products jointly with Prepreg-SKM JSC (part of Rosatom Composite Technologies) and BI PITRON LLC: ASM REEK C140UD toupreg for automated production of highly loaded structures, a bracket made of ASM REEK-C285S-P based on a thermoplastic consolidated plate made of superstructural polyetheretherketone, as well as ASM REEK-3K filament for 3D printing based on continuous carbon fiber. These exhibits are presented at the SPbPU stand as part of the INNOPROM exhibition program.

    In conclusion of his speech, the speaker emphasized that further development and application of the integrated technology for producing composite structures using the overprinting method for manufacturing products, including aviation equipment, will be carried out within the framework of the key scientific and technological development area of SPbPU “System Digital Engineering”.

    This was the first day of the Polytechnic University at the INNOPROM-2025 exhibition. Follow the work of SPbPU in Yekaterinburg on our website.

    Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    .

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Challenges in the Basic Education and Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres Must Not Become a Phenomenon, Education Committee Chair

    Source: APO


    .

    The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries has called for coordination of resources in order to maximise the impact Early Childhood Development (ECD) have in society.

    The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Makhi Feni, said the ECD centres are an empowerment tool whose role and importance should never be forsaken.

    “It is really concerning to the committee that we read of challenges besieging the ECD sector when we had just transferred the function to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) Surely, our portfolio will not and must not fail our children, as there was a reason to migrate the function to education.”

    “This is a function that requires everyone and any help with regards to the welfare and foundation phase education of our children. We are building a nation; and our actions include budget allocated for this specific function must support that,” emphasised Mr Feni.

    Weekend reports indicated that several ECD centres, and some attached to schools, struggled with basic necessities like water, sanitation and food items especially in the rural Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.

    Mr Feni said the committee would love to receive an update briefing on empirical and manifest challenges since the migration of the function to the DBE.

    “We do not want a system that breaks our children and their early educators either through budget constraints or infrastructure. We call on the minister and the provincial MECs to prioritise the work around ECD centres. These are areas where our children spend the longest time without parental supervision and outside their homes.”

    The committee also noted the challenges around payment of student teachers and tutors in Quintile One schools. Mr Feni said the committee accepted the fiscal constrained environment the DBE operated in. “But we do not want the challenges to become a phenomenon; the DBE must attend to this matter urgently wherever it is manifest.”

    “Salaries of teachers are a no-go area for cuts and hiccups. These are meagre salaries, it is not as if these teachers are paid millions.”

    Mr Feni said the committee’s interest was a functional system where all parents see value and trust that their children will turn out responsible and accountable young adults whose skills will be relevant to a 21st Century economy.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Desert to Power: Independent power production in Sahel takes decisive step forward at fifth ministerial meeting

    Source: APO

    On 30 June 2025 in Ouagadougou, representatives from six member countries of the Desert to Power Initiative (https://apo-opa.co/3GlwfrL) approved key strategic documents to boost independent power production in the Sahel, at the fifth ministerial meeting of the project, spearheaded by the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org).

    This crucial meeting provided an opportunity to take stock of progress made in implementing the Desert to Power Initiative, and to approve two key strategic documents: the Joint Protocol for Independent Power Producers (IPP) and the Strategy for the Promotion of Green Mini-Grids.  

    The IPP Joint Protocol, developed in close collaboration with the Desert to Power Taskforce and the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), establishes standardised principles and documents to facilitate the development of large-scale solar power plants under public-private partnerships (PPPs). The aim of the mini-grid strategy is to determine a framework to accelerate implementation and encourage participation. 

    The meeting was chaired by Yacouba Zabré Gouba, Burkina Faso’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, and attended by the energy ministers of Djibouti, Niger and Chad, as well as representatives of their counterparts from Mali and Mauritania. 

    The ministers welcomed the project’s significant progress, particularly the implementation of over 15 projects, the first few of which are already operational. They also stressed the importance of capacity-building efforts.  

    Discussions continued at a technical workshop on financial modelling, aimed at strengthening financial analysis tools for the viability of Sahelian national utilities. There was active participation by the general managers and financial directors of the national utilities at this meeting. 

    Thanking the African Development Bank for supporting participating countries through the Desert to Power Initiative, Gouba said the meeting had given them a fresh start. “We must double our efforts and work in synergy to achieve the set objectives,” he declared. 

    Dr. Kevin Kariuki, Vice President for f Electricity, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the African Development Bank, congratulated the ministers, observing that the validated Common Protocol constitutes an important lever for accelerating the development of privately financed solar projects for the benefit of the Sahelian people.  

    He also called on countries to take advantage of Mission 300 (https://apo-opa.co/3TVVxzJ), a bold effort between the African Development Bank and the World Bank that seeks to provide electricity access to an additional 300 million people in Africa by 2030.   

    “Mission 300 is a movement based on coordinated action, committed political leadership, and focused delivery from which we cannot afford to leave any country, ”Kariuki said. 

    On the sidelines of the gathering, participants visited the Gonsin photovoltaic power plant, located to the northwest of Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou. The 42 MWp plant, built as part of the Desert to Power Initiative, boasts a 10-megawatt storage system, providing a clear illustration of the tangible results and impact of the Initiative in Burkina Faso. 

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

    Media contact: 
    Communication and External Relations Department, 
    media@afdb.org

    Media files

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    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Minister garners support for upcoming Water Summit 

    Source: Government of South Africa

    Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has mobilised the Committee of Ministers to support the upcoming Africa Water Investment Summit that will be held in August.

    This as she concluded her participation in the 43rd Southern African Development Community (SADC) Joint Meeting of Committee of Ministers responsible for Energy and Water held in Harare, Zimbabwe.

    The meeting was held from 3 -4 July 2025.

    “During day two of the joint meeting, which focused mainly on water issues, Minister Majodina used the platform to mobilise the Committee of Ministers to support the upcoming Africa Water Investment Summit that will be co-hosted by South Africa and the African Union- Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AU-AIP) in the context of South Africa’s G20 Presidency, on 13- 15 August 2025,” said the Minister.

    According to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), the summit seeks to mobilise financial investment for bankable water and sanitation infrastructure projects around the continent.

    The DWS said Africa faces a US$30 billion (around ±R528 billion) annual water investment gap and the summit will mobilise investments in climate-resilient water and sanitation projects, ensuring water security, economic growth, and sustainable development across the continent.

    “We think that from that summit, we will have a concrete plan. As a continent, we must start being serious and start ringfencing budgets to fund our water infrastructure as well as energy. No country, region nor continent can survive without putting water and electricity as the catalyst for economic growth,” said Majodina.

    This as the regional water sector is experiencing infrastructure challenges as a result of growing populations and lack of adequate infrastructure development due to financial investment gap.

    The AU-AIP Africa Water Investment Summit’s key objectives are to: 
    •    mobilise financial commitments towards Africa’s water investment needs; 
    •    advocate for improved access to finance for water and sanitation projects; 
    •     strengthen governance and accountability in the water sector; 
    •    showcase a pipeline of investment-ready projects to funders and investors; and 
    •    promote legal and regulatory reforms to enhance water investments. 
    The SADC Joint Meeting of Ministers is a critical platform for member states to engage on issues to enhance regional collaboration in the energy and water sectors.

    “Minister Majodina engaged with fellow Ministers from across the region on critical issues related to the management of shared water resources and transboundary programmes and projects that are led by the River Basin Organisations and Shared Water Institutions, and on the delivery of regional water projects aimed at improving water and sanitation services in the SADC member states; as well as the status of implementation of previous decisions taken during the 42nd joint meeting held in May last year.”

    South Africa shares transboundary water projects with its neighbouring countries including the Lesotho/Botswana water transfer; Beitbridge/Musina integrated water supply scheme; the Catuane Matutuine groundwater project in Maputo.

    Majodina attended the 43rd SADC Joint Meeting of Committee of Ministers responsible for Energy and Water with Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa whose portfolio is part SADC Committee on Water and Energy.

    The SADC Ministers of Water and Energy Committee are a decision-making body that adopts decisions on regional policies and programmes that are implemented in the entire 16 SADC Member states, both at regional and national level, and Ministers responsible for energy and water direct the regional energy as well as water and sanitation agenda. -SAnews.gov.za
     

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI: USDT-TRC20 and PBK Miner redefine crypto mining through stablecoin-powered cloud contracts

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Achieve stable passive income through USDT-TRC20 payouts and AI-optimized mining.  No hardware or complicated setup needed.

    In a market where volatility can wipe out gains overnight, a new alliance is reshaping the future of cryptocurrency mining. USDT-TRC20, the world’s leading dollar-backed stablecoin, has partnered with PBK Miner, a pioneer in AI cloud mining, to launch a disruptive solution: the new cloud mining contract not only supports top digital assets such as ETH, XRP, DOGE, USDC, and SOL, but now also allows users to mine and earn returns with USDT-TRC20. This strategic partnership brings investors the long-awaited rewards – secure passive income, zero technical setup, and true protection from price fluctuations.

    Explore cloud mining options compatible with USDT-TRC20 by clicking here.

    Cloud mining is more stable – pay and earn USDT-TRC20 now

    Cloud mining typically faces two challenges: complexity and volatility. PBK Miner’s 100% remote mining platform has solved the technical hurdles. Now, with USDT-TRC20 settled contracts, it also eliminates market risk. This new product allows users to earn daily rewards in USDT-TRC20 – a fully regulated, USD-pegged stablecoin – regardless of the movement of Bitcoin, Ethereum or other altcoins. With a contract period of just 2 days, anyone can start making a profit without having to purchase equipment or take the risk of a price crash.

    Main features of PBK Miner and USDT-TRC20 cloud mining contracts:

    – USDT-TRC20-based payouts: Users can purchase mining contracts with USDT-TRC20 and withdraw earnings in USDT-TRC20, ensuring stable returns that are not affected by market fluctuations.

    – Daily income: Get a fixed daily income during each contract period

    – Various contract terms: tailored to your goals (short-term or long-term)

    – Zero hardware required: mine from any device (mobile and desktop) – no rigs, no technical difficulties

    Flexible mining options for every budget

    PBKMiner offers various contract tiers to make cryptocurrency mining accessible to everyone.  All current tiers accept and process USDT-TRC20 payments and withdrawals. Whether you’re a newcomer looking for passive income or a seasoned miner prioritizing risk management, we have a plan tailored to your needs.

    $10 Contract – 1 Day – Earn $0.60 per day (Free Signup Bonus)

    $100 Contract – 2 Days – Earn $3.50 per day

    $500 Contract – 5 Days – Earn $6.50 per day

    $5,000 Contract – 30 Days – Earn $77.50 per day

    $30,000 Contract – 45 Days – Earn $525.00 per day

    These options allow users to keep their cryptocurrencies active without sacrificing peace of mind – ideal for those who want steady growth while avoiding price chart pressure.

    Click here to explore more mining contracts.

    What is the difference between using PBK Miner for USDT-TRC20 mining?

    – Stability over speculation: Unlike traditional mining rewards that fluctuate wildly, all revenue is distributed in the form of stable USDT-TRC20, allowing for predictable reinvestment and better financial planning.

    – Massive AI Optimization: Advanced algorithms automatically adjust performance to maximize daily returns on supported assets.

    – Instant access, completely remote: Contracts can be activated in seconds, without any hardware. Mining is managed entirely in the cloud. Mining can be done anytime, anywhere, just using a browser or the PBK Miner app, without any equipment or technical expertise required.

    – Capital Protection: At the end of each contract, the entire principal is returned, reducing financial risk and building long-term confidence.

    How to start using PBK Miner’s USDT-TRC20 contract:

    1. Sign up now – get a $10 bonus and start earning daily USDT-TRC20 rewards. (Click here to sign up)
    2. Choose a plan – try a short-term 2-day contract or explore higher-level options.
    3. Start mining– let the AI ??engine handle everything while daily USDT-TRC20 rewards arrive automatically.

    A safer, smarter way to mine in volatile markets

    Since 2019, PBK Miner has enabled users around the world to earn passive cryptocurrency income through advanced cloud mining. With the integration of USDT-TRC20 rewards, the platform now offers unparalleled income stability – combining innovation, automation, and financial security into a seamless solution. Whether mining ETH, DOGE, XRP, BTC, or other currencies, all rewards are now pegged to the US dollar and protected from sudden market drops.

    A spokesperson for PBK Miner (Alison Evans) said: “Our partnership with USDT-TRC20 allows users to mine with peace of mind. It’s not just about earning more, it’s about mining more safely. These contracts combine the best of both worlds: strong mining power and predictable returns.”

    The market may continue to fluctuate, but the returns may not. Visit https://pbkminer.com now to experience a stable and stress-free mining experience.

    Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release does not constitute an investment solicitation, nor does it constitute investment advice, financial advice, or a trading recommendation. Cryptocurrency mining and staking involve risks and may result in loss of funds. It is strongly recommended that you perform due diligence before investing or trading in cryptocurrencies and securities, including consulting a professional financial advisor.

    Media Contact:

    Alison Evans

    PBK Miner

    info@pbkminer.com

    Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release does not constitute an investment solicitation, nor does it constitute investment advice, financial advice, or trading recommendations. Cryptocurrency mining and staking involve risks and the possibility of losing funds. It is strongly recommended that you perform due diligence before investing or trading in cryptocurrencies and securities, including consulting a professional financial advisor.

    The MIL Network –