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Category: Entertainment

  • MIL-OSI Economics: The Nobel-Winning Material at the Heart of Samsung QLEDs [Interview on Real Quantum Dots Part 1.]

    Source: Samsung

    “One of the reasons Samsung focused on quantum dots is their exceptionally narrow peaks of the emission spectrum.”
    — Sanghyun Sohn, Samsung Electronics
     
    In 2023, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. The Nobel Committee recognized the groundbreaking achievements of scientists in the field — noting that quantum dots have already made significant contributions to the display and medical industries, with broader applications expected in electronics, quantum communications and solar cells.
     
    Quantum dots — ultra-fine semiconductor particles — emit different colors of light depending on their size, producing exceptionally pure and vivid hues. Samsung Electronics, the world’s leading TV manufacturer, has embraced this cutting-edge material to enhance display performance.
     
    Samsung Newsroom sat down with Taeghwan Hyeon, a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU); Doh Chang Lee, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST); and Sanghyun Sohn, Head of Advanced Display Lab, Visual Display (VD) Business at Samsung Electronics, to explore how quantum dots are ushering in a new era of display technology.
     

    Understanding the Band Gap

    Quantum Dots – The Smaller the Particle, the Larger the Band Gap

    Engineering Behind Quantum Dot Films

    Real QLED TVs Use Quantum Dots To Create Color

     

     
     
    Understanding the Band Gap
     
    “To understand quantum dots, one must first grasp the concept of the band gap.”
    — Taeghwan Hyeon, Seoul National University
     
    The movement of electrons causes electricity. Typically, the outermost electrons — known as valence electrons — are involved in this movement. The energy range where these electrons exist is called the valence band, while a higher, unoccupied energy range that can accept electrons is called the conduction band.
     
    An electron can absorb energy to jump from the valence band to the conduction band. When the excited electron releases that energy, it falls back into the valence band. The energy difference between these two bands — the amount of energy an electron must gain or lose to move between them — is known as the band gap.
     
    ▲ A comparison of energy band structures in insulators, semiconductors and conductors
     
    Insulators like rubber and glass have large band gaps, preventing electrons from moving freely between bands. In contrast, conductors like copper and silver have overlapping valence and conduction bands — allowing electrons to move freely for high electrical conductivity.
     
    Semiconductors have a band gap that falls between those of insulators and conductors — limiting conductivity under normal conditions but allowing electrical conduction or light emission when electrons are stimulated by heat, light or electricity.
     
    “To understand quantum dots, one must first grasp the concept of the band gap,” said Hyeon, emphasizing that a material’s energy band structure is crucial in determining its electrical properties.
     
     
    Quantum Dots – The Smaller the Particle, the Larger the Band Gap
     
    “As quantum dot particles become smaller, the wavelength of emitted light shifts from red to blue.”
    — Doh Chang Lee, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
     
    Quantum dots are nanoscale semiconductor crystals with unique electrical and optical properties. Measured in nanometers (nm) — or one-billionth of a meter — these particles are just a few thousandths the thickness of a human hair. When a semiconductor is reduced to the nanometer scale, its properties change significantly compared to its bulk state.
     
    In bulk states, particles are sufficiently large so the electrons in the semiconductor material can move freely without being constrained by their own wavelength. This allows energy levels — the states that particles occupy when absorbing or releasing energy — to form a continuous spectrum, like a long slide with a gentle slope. In quantum dots, electron movement is restricted because the particle size is smaller than the electron’s wavelength.
     
    ▲ Size determines the band gap in quantum dots
     
    Imagine scooping water (energy) from a large pot (bulk state) with a ladle (bandwidth corresponding to an electron’s wavelength). Using the ladle, one can adjust the amount of water in the pot freely from full to empty — this is the equivalent of continuous energy levels. However, when the pot shrinks to the size of a teacup — like a quantum dot — the ladle no longer fits. At that point, the cup can only be either full or empty. This illustrates the concept of quantized energy levels.
     
    “When semiconductor particles are reduced to the nanometer scale, their energy levels become quantized — they can only exist in discontinuous steps,” said Hyeon. “This effect is called ‘quantum confinement.’ And at this scale, the band gap can be controlled by adjusting particle size.”
     
    The number of molecules within the particle decreases as the size of the quantum dot decreases, resulting in weaker interactions of molecular orbitals. This strengthens the quantum confinement effect and increases the band gap.1 Because the band gap corresponds to the energy released through relaxation of an electron from the conduction band to the valence band, the color of the emitted light changes accordingly.
     
    “As particles become smaller, the wavelength of emitted light shifts from red to blue,” said Lee. “In other words, the size of the quantum dot nanocrystal determines its color.”
     
     
    Engineering Behind Quantum Dot Films
     
    “Quantum dot film is at the core of QLED TVs — a testament to Samsung’s deep technical expertise.”
    — Doh Chang Lee, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
     
    Quantum dots have attracted attention across a variety of fields, including solar cells, photocatalysis, medicine and quantum computing. However, the display industry was the first to successfully commercialize the technology.
     
    “One of the reasons Samsung focused on quantum dots is the exceptionally narrow peaks of their emission spectrum,” said Sohn. “Their narrow bandwidth and strong fluorescence make them ideal for accurately reproducing a wide spectrum of colors.”
     
    ▲ Quantum dots create ultra-pure red, green and blue (RGB) colors by controlling light at the nanoscale, producing narrow bandwidth and strong fluorescence.
     
    To leverage quantum dots effectively in display technology, materials and structures must maintain high performance over time, under harsh conditions. Samsung QLED achieves this through the use of a quantum dot film.
     
    “Accurate color reproduction in a display depends on how well the film utilizes the optical properties of quantum dots,” said Lee. “A quantum dot film must meet several key requirements for commercial use, such as efficient light conversion and translucence.”
     
    ▲ Sanghyun Sohn
     
    The quantum dot film used in Samsung QLED displays is produced by adding a quantum dot solution to a polymer base heated to a very high-temperature, spreading it into a thin layer and then curing it. While this may sound simple, the actual manufacturing process is highly complex.
     
    “It’s like trying to evenly mix cinnamon powder into sticky honey without making lumps — not an easy task,” said Sohn. “To evenly disperse quantum dots throughout the film, several factors such as materials, design and processing conditions must be carefully considered.”
     
    Despite these challenges, Samsung pushed the boundaries of the technology. To ensure long-term durability in its displays, the company developed proprietary polymer materials specifically optimized for quantum dots.
     
    “We’ve built extensive expertise in quantum dot technology by developing barrier films that block moisture and polymer materials capable of evenly dispersing quantum dots,” he added. “Through this, we not only achieved mass production but also reduced costs.”
     
    Thanks to this advanced process, Samsung’s quantum dot film delivers precise color expression and outstanding luminous efficiency — all backed by industry-leading durability.
     
    “Brightness is typically measured in nits, with one nit equivalent to the brightness of a single candle,” explained Sohn. “While conventional LEDs offer around 500 nits, our quantum dot displays can reach 2,000 nits or more — the equivalent of 2,000 candles — achieving a new level of image quality.”
     
    ▲ RGB gamut comparisons between visible light spectrum, sRGB and DCI-P3 in a CIE 1931 color space
    * CIE 1930: A widely used color system announced in 1931 by the Commission internationale de l’éclairage
    * sRGB (standard RGB): A color space created cooperatively by Microsoft and HP in 1996 for monitors and printers
    * DCI-P3 (Digital Cinema Initiatives – Protocol 3): A color space widely used for digital HDR content, defined by Digital Cinema Initiatives for digital projectors
     
    By leveraging quantum dots, Samsung has significantly enhanced both brightness and color expression — delivering a visual experience unlike anything seen before. In fact, Samsung QLED TVs achieve a color reproduction rate exceeding 90% of the DCI-P3 (Digital Cinema Initiatives – Protocol 3) color space, the benchmark for color accuracy in digital cinema.
     
    “Even if you have made quantum dots, you need to ensure long-term stability for them to be useful,” said Lee. “Samsung’s industry-leading indium phosphide (InP)-based quantum dot synthesis and film production technologies are testament to Samsung’s deep technical expertise.”
     
     
    Real QLED TVs Use Quantum Dots To Create Color
     
    “The legitimacy of a quantum dot TV lies in whether or not it leverages the quantum confinement effect.”
    — Taeghwan Hyeon, Seoul National University
     
    As interest in quantum dots grows across the industry, a variety of products have entered the market. Nonetheless, not all quantum dot-labeled TVs are equal — quantum dots must sufficiently contribute to actual image quality.
     
    ▲ Taeghwan Hyeon
     
    “The legitimacy of a quantum dot TV lies in whether or not it leverages the quantum confinement effect,” said Hyeon. “The first, fundamental requirement is to use quantum dots to create color.”
     
    “To be considered a true quantum dot TV, quantum dots must serve as either the core light-converting or primary light-emitting material,” said Lee. “For light-converting quantum dots, the display must contain an adequate amount of quantum dots to absorb and convert blue light emitted by the backlight unit.”
     
    ▲ Doh Chang Lee
     
    “Quantum dot film must contain a sufficient amount of quantum dots to perform effectively,” repeated Sohn, emphasizing the importance of quantum dot content. “Samsung QLED uses more than 3,000 parts per million (ppm) of quantum dot materials. 100% of the red and green colors are made through quantum dots.”
     
    
     
    Samsung began developing quantum dot technology in 2001 and, in 2015, introduced the world’s first no-cadmium quantum dot TV — the SUHD TV. In 2017, the company launched its premium QLED lineup, further solidifying its leadership in the quantum dot display industry.
     
    In the second part of this interview series, Samsung Newsroom takes a closer look at how Samsung not only commercialized quantum dot display technology but also developed a cadmium-free quantum dot material — an innovation recognized by Nobel Prize-winning researchers in chemistry.
     
     
    1 When a semiconductor material is in its bulk state, the band gap remains fixed at a value characteristic of the material and does not depend on particle size.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Death in Northland, Wellington being treated as homicide

    Source: New Zealand Police (National News)

    Attributable to Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard:

    Following a post-mortem examination, Police can confirm the death of a man in Northland, Wellington is being treated as a homicide, and we are appealing to the public for information.

    The deceased is 65-year-old Simon Bird, who lived at the Albemarle Road property where his body was found on Tuesday morning.

    Mr Bird had not been heard from for several days, prompting a concerned friend to carry out a welfare check – leading to the discovery of his body.

    We have established Mr Bird was last seen alive on Thursday 27 March, however we are continuing to piece together his last movements and the events that led to his death.

    A scene examination is ongoing at the property and is expected to continue for the next couple of days. A silver Honda Odyssey (pictured) has been recovered from the address by Police and will be forensically examined.

    Police are going to have an ongoing presence in the Northland community over the coming days. I urge anyone with information that could help our investigation to contact us as soon as possible.

    We also want to speak to anybody who knew Mr Bird, as well as those who saw him, or his vehicle in the last week. This includes any CCTV or dashcam footage you may have of him or his vehicle.

    As part of the investigation, we also want to hear from anybody in the Northland area who has noticed suspicious activity or movements in and around Mr Bird’s address on Albemarle Road.

    What might seem like an insignificant detail to you, could be a missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle for us.

    If you have any information that could assist Police, please contact us at 105, using reference number 250401/4530 and/or referencing Operation North. You can also provide information anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

    ENDS

    Issued by the Police Media Centre

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Food cuts and an earthquake bring double the devastation for children in Thai refugee camps – Save the Children

    Source: Save the Children

    Food cuts this month and an earthquake that has devastated Myanmar and parts of Thailand will exacerbate living conditions for more than 110,000 refugees living along the Thai-Myanmar border and could force some children out of school, Save the Children said.
    Due to budget shortfalls, The Border Consortium (TBC), a government and non-government organisation funded provider of food assistance for refugees living on the border, has said it will have to reduce food support this month, affecting more than 80% of families in nine camps. [1]
    The situation inside the camps was already dire, with schools saying limited funding was leaving them unable to pay some teachers or repair school structures [2] ahead of the new academic year starting next month.
    Now, parents struggling to put food on the table are being forced to make impossible choices, with many considering pulling their children out of school to help earn money or support the family’s basic needs.
    With school fees now falling more heavily on parents, many families can no longer contribute towards school running costs, deepening the financial crisis for schools and risking the collapse of basic education services inside the camps.
    “Even if you are not educated, everyone has to eat,” said Saw Paw, the parent of one refugee student. “Livelihood comes first now.”
    Many teachers in the camps are refugees themselves and some have had to seek work outside the camps to support their families.
    Thant Zin-, a teacher who lives inside the camps, said: “I can’t buy a sack of rice with the total amount my family receives through the food card support system. I have children, and to ensure they have food every day, I may have to give them porridge instead of rice a few days a week.”
    Guillaume Rachou, Executive Director, Save the Children (Thailand) Foundation said:
    “Save the Children, along with local partners, is assessing the safety of school structures following the 28 March earthquake including in 58 schools inside the refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border.
    “We must ensure schools, teachers and students in the camps are prepared to respond to natural hazards and mitigate their impact.”
    The death toll from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar has risen to more than 2,000 with nearly 4,000 injured, according to the country’s state television channel MRTV, although these numbers are likely to rise as rescue efforts continue. In Thailand, at least 20 people have died and several buildings across the capital Bangkok have been deemed unsafe.
    Save the Children supports 28,000 children living across nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. It is also responding to the mental health and well-being of Thai and Burmese teachers and their families across Thailand following the earthquake.
    The child rights organisation is calling on donors to ensure children in these refugee camps are not forgotten in earthquake response and recovery efforts. Urgent humanitarian aid-including food, education, infrastructure, and psychosocial support-is critical to their recovery.
    Save the Children has worked in Thailand since 1979 and works to support children who are most impacted by discrimination and inequality through programmes on education, child protection, livelihood and child rights governance.
    About Save the Children NZ:
    Save the Children works in 120 countries across the world. The organisation responds to emergencies and works with children and their communities to ensure they survive, learn and are protected.
    Save the Children NZ currently supports international programmes in Fiji, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Areas of work include child protection, education and literacy, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, and alleviating child poverty.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Transcript: Governor Hochul is a Guest on Bloomberg TV

    Source: US State of New York

    arlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on Bloomberg TV’s “Balance of Power”.

    AUDIO: The Governor’s conversation is available in audio form here.

    A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

    Kailey Leinz, Bloomberg TV:  President Trump announcing steep tariffs on all exporters to the US yesterday with rates ranging from 10 percent to over 50 percent, which his administration says aimed to counter large trade imbalances with other countries. But the levies are also expected to have consequences here at home. And for a look at how individual states are bracing for them, we turn now to the Democratic Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul.

    Governor, thank you for joining us here on Bloomberg TV and radio. I’m curious what you’re already hearing from businesses and companies in your state and whether they are already suggesting they are making changes on hiring practices on pricing, for example, or if they’re playing, “wait and see” here to see whether or not this actually sticks.

    Governor Hochul: Thank you for having me. No, the impact is immediate. I mean, this is nothing short of the largest tax increase in American history. And the impact on New York — let me explain. This is the 10th largest economy in the world. We have Wall Street, we have farms, we have a border of 450 miles with Canada, so we have a trade relationship with Canada of over $50 billion.

    So already, here’s what we’re seeing: Droppings in bookings from Canadians coming to New York State. A huge source of tourism all the way to New York City, but certainly my hometown in Buffalo, where Canadians come over all the time and they go to our sport events. They shop at our stores.

    So here’s number one: Sales tax revenues are dropping already. Now, speaking to a farmer in a very Republican part of our state — I’d call it Stefanik Country in the North Country — he told me that as a dairy farmer, he gets his shavings, he gets his fertilizer, he gets all these products from Canada and his costs are going up $10,000 a month. A dairy farmer. Not the total cost, but an increase of $10,000 a month.

    So, there’s such anxiety now. Not to mention the Walmart mom who goes to Walmart like I did when my kids were little — that giant grocery cart with the oversized diapers and lots of baby food and paper towels — that’s going to have an impact on people shopping at Walmart who come out of the trailer park like the one my parents grew up in.

    So I have to say, it goes all the way from Wall Street to the farmers to the small towns, Main Street to Wall Street — there is a cataclysmic effect on this, and New Yorkers are reeling right now.

    Joe Mathieu, Bloomberg TV: I hear where you’re coming from here Governor. I wonder if there’s a silver lining in any of this for the great industrial towns of your state from the last century: Syracuse, Rochester. Based on what we’re hearing from this administration, they will again have a seat at the manufacturing table. Do you believe that?

    Governor Hochul: I hope so, but we already have advanced manufacturing coming to New York. I literally got off the phone with someone who’s in a pharmaceutical business looking all over the world, and he is very likely with the deal I’m making, to come to New York.

    So we have advanced manufacturing, we have pharmaceuticals. In fact, I was able to lure Micron with a $100 billion investment, the largest in our nation’s history, to build semiconductors in the Syracuse area. So we are already reimagining our economy based on manufacturing. So that’s important to me.

    I come from Buffalo. I mean, my dad worked at the steel plant. I know how hard it is when businesses leave, but we are backfilling in with businesses that we think will have a long-term future, and they’ll be affected by this, the component parts to what they’re building and the supply chain. They’re going to see an increased cost, not just because they’re in New York, but because they’re in America.

    And that’s what worries me. There could be a silver lining, as you say. I don’t know how old I’m going to be when that happens. I mean, what are they going to do? Start building factories now? And, you know, I just don’t know. All I know is that people were promised lower prices on Inauguration Day, and guess what? They’re going up.

    Kailey Leinz, Bloomberg TV: Well, is there anything you can do about that Governor? Regardless of what policy is set by the federal executive, you as a state executive, are there levers you can pull to help offset any economic pain that results from these tariff policies?

    Governor Hochul: Well, I’ve had to have this conversation. I’m assembling some of the smartest economists in the country to help give us advice on this. This is an unforced error. This did not have to be this way. And yes, you can use tariffs as a tool to negotiate or, you know, have something in moderation. But this is so extreme and so immediate that I need to figure out with some real experts on what this is going to do.

    But I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. Wall Street goes down, next January, when I’m looking at my revenues that are coming in from Wall Street bonuses where I fund a lot of the generous programs we hear in our state, that’s going to be lower. I’m going to have to look at where we’re going to have to cut there. I have to look at the whole picture.

    Now in the context of the Budget, I’m negotiating the revenues I count on, the revenues I’m going to lose, but also the impact on our businesses who may not be expanding now. So I have to find ways we can use state resources to say, “We’ll help calm it down.” What can I do for a farmer in upstate New York? That’s a good question. I don’t want them to suffer. Thirty two thousand farms in our state. People think of New York as just Manhattan. I know they do. But it’s so much more than that. An important part of our economy is our agricultural sector.

    So all of our sectors are going to be hurt. So I have to look at our Budget, what we can do to help other incentives for economic development. And as I’m doing, I’m trying to put money back in people’s pockets. I mean, the average New Yorker will have $6,000 less in their pockets because of these tariffs. And that’s an opinion by a number of economists.

    I have a budget I’m negotiating right now that puts $5,000 back in people’s pockets: Child tax credits, a middle class tax cut, the largest in 70 years, the largest tax rate decrease in 70 years, and an inflation rebate for people who paid so much more in sales tax. So I have a path to put all this money back in their pockets. But you know what’s really sad? That’s going to be sucked right out with $6,000 that they’re going to lose because of tariffs. So I’ll keep fighting, I’ll keep doing what I can do, but this is a real hit on New Yorkers.

    Joe Mathieu, Bloomberg TV: So it sounds like the potential for state tax cuts in the year ahead depend on tax receipts from Wall Street, Governor. Is that right?

    Governor Hochul: Oh, it always does. I mean, I’ve not had an increase in our income tax because I want to make sure high net worth people know we appreciate them and I don’t want to drive them out of our state. So that’s my view.

    Joe Mathieu, Bloomberg TV: But does it increase the urgency behind extending the Trump tax cuts and eliminating the SALT cap? Because a lot of Republican members of Congress in your state are working to do that now.

    Governor Hochul: Well, they better be successful. We want to make sure that the SALT deduction, state local tax deduction, is brought back 100 percent. Absolutely. And I have seven Republican members of Congress — you better win on this one because you promised your voters you would.

    Kailey Leinz, Bloomberg TV: Governor, before we let you go, our time is short here, but I do want to ask you about New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, who of course had charges against him dismissed. He now says he will continue his mayoral campaign for reelection, but as an independent. During the height of that controversy, you said it will be up to the voters to choose who they want to be Mayor. You opted not to force him out of the position. Even if you’re not going to endorse anyone, would you encourage New Yorkers to reconsider a vote for him as an independent?

    Governor Hochul: All I’m going to say is my job is to work with whomever’s in the White House — I have a relationship with Donald Trump based on our mutual interest in building infrastructure and working on projects like Penn Station, but not allies when I don’t support many of his policies. Same thing with the Mayor of New York, no matter who is sitting in that seat that the voters of New York decide they want me to work with. I will do that, but always stand up for the rights of the entire state and focus on my agenda of affordability and public safety.

    Joe Mathieu, Bloomberg TV: It’s great to have you with us, Governor. Come see us again. New York Governor Kathy Hochul with us on “Balance of Power”.

    Governor Hochul: Will do. Thank you.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Central China’s Hunan Province promotes culture, tourism in London

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

    LONDON, April 3 — Central China’s Hunan Province, known for the towering natural pillars in Zhangjiajie that inspired the movie Avatar, showcased its rich cultural and tourism resources in London on Thursday.

    Dozens of government officials and tourism industry representatives from China and Britain attended the promotional event, which aimed to explore potential partnerships in the fields of culture and tourism.

    “Tourism is a powerful way to build people-to-people and cultural connections between our two nations,” said Rachael Farrington, head of tourism (government) affairs at VisitBritain, the national tourism agency. She said she was “thrilled” by the prospect of the two countries “working further together” and strengthening ties through “a shared love of travel and culture.”

    The event spotlighted the province’s deep-rooted history, stunning landscapes, and signature cuisine – all of which have made lasting impressions on international visitors, including Ben Hardy from Bristol.

    Hardy said he “was blown away” by his trip to Hunan in 2019, during which he made friends and experienced China’s high-speed rail, traditional tea-making, Chinese calligraphy, among others.

    Hunan governor Mao Weiming emphasized the province’s unique fusion of ancient heritage and vibrant modern culture. He invited attendees to visit Hunan, underscoring the importance of deepening cooperation and exploring fresh opportunities in the tourism market.

    Cultural performances by artists from both China and Britain added a dynamic touch to the event, featuring traditional Chinese instruments such as the Changde string alongside the Western cello.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Durbin Speaks In Support Of Bipartisan Legislation To Impose Hard-Hitting Sanctions On Russia If It Does Not Negotiate In Good Faith To End The War In Ukraine

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin

    April 03, 2025

    Durbin: “As the President negotiates away Ukraine’s freedom and America’s credibility, Congress has an obligation and a Constitutional responsibility to act.”

    WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Co-Chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, spoke in support of new, bipartisan legislation he introduced this week with Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), which would impose primary and secondary sanctions against Russia and actors supporting Russia’s ongoing illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine. The bipartisan legislation is cosponsored by 50 U.S. Senators, evenly divided by party affiliation. These sanctions would be imposed if Russia refuses to engage in good faith negotiations for a lasting peace with Ukraine or initiates another effort, including military invasion, that undermines the sovereignty of Ukraine after any such peace agreement is potentially reached. The legislation also imposes a 500 percent tariff on imported goods from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium, and other products.

    Durbin began his floor speech by reminding his colleagues that instead of ending the war in Ukraine, President Trump has alienated and bullied our allies around the world with Russia still raining death and destruction upon Ukraine. 

    “Anyone here remember how Donald Trump promised to end Russia’s war on Ukraine in one day if he was elected? That’s right, in one day. Well, we are now 73 days into his term with Russia still raining death and destruction upon the people of Ukraine. And instead of ending the war, Donald Trump has alienated and bullied our allies around the world—our allies,” Durbin said. “By turning our backs on the rest of the world, Donald Trump has undermined the promise of America as a beacon of democracy, freedom, and human rights. And all the while, Russian President Putin is laughing at us—watching with glee as America destroys its own leadership and credibility, something he could only have dreamed of in his former KGB days.”

    Durbin went on to argue that the last few months of so-called negotiations between President Trump and President Putin have led nearly nowhere and have emboldened Russia, including a supposed ceasefire, narrowly limited to stop Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, which was followed by relentless Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian targets, including a hospital; and a supposed deal to stop fighting in the Black Sea—a giveaway to Russia undermining Ukrainian successes there—which was manipulated to try and squeeze maximum sanctions relief from Russia.

    “Consider President Trump’s special peace envoy Steve Witkoff, a real estate tycoon from New York, who is in competition with Neville Chamberlain for the world’s most naïve appeaser. Witkoff recently told another Putin apologist, Tucker Carlson, that he liked Putin and didn’t regard him as a bad guy,” Durbin said. “The same Witkoff groveled over Putin’s obviously manipulative portrait gift to Trump and he said those forced at gunpoint in occupied eastern Ukraine to vote in a sham referendum actually really wanted to be part of Russia. He’s buying the Kremlin talking points.”

    Durbin concluded, “But as the President negotiates away Ukraine’s freedom and America’s credibility, Congress has an obligation and a Constitutional responsibility to act. So, I am glad this week that dozens of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle introduced legislation to make it clear to Russia that broad sanctions will be imposed if Russia does not negotiate in good faith and end this war soon. We owe Ukraine—and we certainly owe our own country—nothing less.”

    Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

    Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

    Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

    Last month, Durbin asked for unanimous consent (UC) to pass a simple resolution he introduced condemning Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children and called on Russia to work with the international community to return all abducted Ukrainian children to their families. Senate Republicans rejected Durbin’s UC request.

    In February, Durbin introduced the Protecting our Guests During Hostilities in Ukraine Act, legislation that would provide temporary guest status to Ukrainians and their immediate family members who are already in the United States through the “Uniting for Ukraine” parole process. The bill allows Ukrainians to stay and work in the U.S. until the Secretary of State determines that hostilities in Ukraine have ceased and it is safe for them to return.

    In February, Durbin also joined U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and others in leading a simple resolution that expresses continued solidarity with the people of Ukraine and condolences for the loss of thousands of lives to Russian aggression; rejects Russia’s attempts to militarily seize sovereign Ukrainian territory; reaffirms U.S. support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine; and states unequivocally that Ukraine must be at the table for negotiations on its future.

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. Announces Date for Q1 2025 Operating Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    DALLAS, April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI), the parent company of Texas Capital Bank, today announced that it expects to issue financial results for the first quarter of 2025 before market on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Executive management will host a conference call and webcast to discuss first quarter 2025 operating results on Thursday, April 17, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. EDT.

    Participants may pre-register for the call by visiting https://www.netroadshow.com/events/login?show=c5d392d2&confId=80603 and will receive a unique PIN number to be used when dialing in for the call for immediate access.

    Alternatively, participants may call 833.470.1428 and use the access code 580174 at least fifteen minutes prior to the call to join through an operator.

    The live webcast can be found at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/299753902. Corresponding presentation slides can be accessed on the company’s investor website at http://investors.texascapitalbank.com.

    An audio replay will be available one hour after the conclusion of the call on the company’s investor website.

    ABOUT TEXAS CAPITAL BANCSHARES, INC.
    Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ®: TCBI), a member of the Russell 2000® Index and the S&P MidCap 400®, is the parent company of Texas Capital Bank (“TCB”). Texas Capital is the collective brand name for TCB and its separate, non-bank affiliates and wholly-owned subsidiaries. Texas Capital is a full-service financial services firm that delivers customized solutions to businesses, entrepreneurs and individual customers. Founded in 1998, the institution is headquartered in Dallas with offices in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth, and has built a network of clients across the country. With the ability to service clients through their entire lifecycles, Texas Capital has established commercial banking, consumer banking, investment banking and wealth management capabilities. All services are subject to applicable laws, regulations, and service terms. Deposit and lending products and services are offered by TCB. For deposit products, member FDIC. For more information, please visit www.texascapital.com.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Virginia Tangvald’s Ghosts of the Sea opens in Quebec theatres on May 9 after screenings on the festival circuit

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    March 27, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

    Virginia Tangvald’s documentary Les enfants du large (Ghosts of the Sea), a family investigation shot all over the world, opens in Quebec theatres on May 9. The theatrical release will follow the film’s festival tour, first in Quebec and then in Toronto at the prestigious Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, in the Canadian Spectrum Competition. The filmmaker will be attending several screenings of her documentary on the tour.

    The film is a Canada-France co-production, produced by micro_scope with the NFB and Urban Factory, distributed by the NFB in Canada and Reservoir Docs internationally.

    Watch the trailer

    About the film

    Les enfants du large (Ghosts of the Sea) by Virginia Tangvald (micro_scope/NFB/Urban Factory, 97 min)

    While searching for clues about the death of her brother Thomas, who was lost at sea, the filmmaker embarks on a fascinating investigation into her family’s dark secrets. Calling into question the idyllic life of her father, legendary sailor Peter Tangvald, her quest dismantles the myth of absolute freedom. The film won the TV5 Audience Award for best French-language film at the Festival du nouveau cinéma last October.

    In 2024, Virginia Tangvald published her autobiographical story, Les enfants du large, alongside the launch of Ghosts of the Sea, her first feature documentary. A true literary success, the novel has sold more than 25,000 copies in France and Quebec, winning the Discovery of the Fall prize awarded by the French literary organization Société des gens de lettres.

    Festival tour – dates

    • Vues sur mer – Festival du cinéma documentaire de Gaspé
      Thursday, April 10, 9:15 p.m.
      Screening

    – 30 –

    Stay Connected

    Online Screening Room: nfb.ca
    NFB Facebook | NFB Twitter | NFB Instagram | NFB Blog | NFB YouTube | NFB Vimeo
    Curator’s perspective | Director’s notes

    About the NFB

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: ICON SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS INVESTORS WITH LOSSES IN EXCESS OF $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuits Against ICON plc – ICLR

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW ORLEANS, April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until April 11, 2025 to file lead plaintiff applications in securities class action lawsuits against ICON plc (the “Company”) (NasdaqGS: ICLR), if they purchased the Company’s shares between July 27, 2023 and January 13, 2025, inclusive (the “Class Period”). These actions are pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

    Get Help

    ICON investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nasdaq-iclr/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options.

    About the Lawsuits

    On October 23, 2024, the Company reported financial results for 3Q 2024, disclosing quarterly revenues of just $2.03 billion, revealing a shocking “revenue shortfall” that significantly missed consensus estimates of $2.13 billion by more than $100 million, that quarterly net new business wins had declined sequentially to $2.3 billion during the quarter, and that its book-to-bill ratio fell sequentially to 1.15, down from 1.22 in the prior quarter, due to ongoing cost containment measures by customers. On this news, the price of ICON’s shares fell from $280.76 per share on October 23, 2024 to $220.47 per share on October 25, 2024. Then, on January 14, 2025, the Company disclosed financial guidance for 2025 well below analysts’ expectations due to “trial activity [that] has been impacted by cautious spending from biopharma customers” and “a headwind from our top two customers.” On this news, the price of ICON’s shares fell from $217.99 per share on January 13, 2025, to $200.24 per share on January 14, 2025.

    The first-filed case is Shing v. ICON plc, No. 25-cv-00763. A subsequent case, Police and Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit v. ICON plc, No. 25-cv-1807, updated the Class Period.

    About ClaimsFiler

    ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations.

    To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: After Winning an Oscar for No Other Land, Palestinian Filmmakers Returned Home to ‘Same Reality’ of Occupation, Violence, Palestinian Rights Committee Hears

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

    Speakers Discuss Growing Collusion Between Israeli Settlers, State Apparatus

    After winning the Oscar for No Other Land, the film’s Palestinian co-directors returned to occupation and violence, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People heard today in a meeting where several speakers drew attention to the increasing collusion between Israeli settlers and the State apparatus.

    Basel Adra, one of the three co-directors of No Other Land, said he grew up seeing bulldozers entering Palestinian communities and destroying homes.  But this was so routine that journalists were not interested in covering it.  So, as a teenager, he started carrying a camera and filming because he wanted the world to see what it was like to live under brutal occupation. 

    Five years ago, he started working on the documentary with friends, he said, adding that the movie succeeded beyond expectations.  “But even after winning the Oscar, we went back to the same reality,” he observed.  He detailed many harrowing stories of violence, destruction and arbitrary detention.  Three weeks after the Oscars, settlers attacked a mosque in the village of one of his co-directors, Hamdan Ballal.  About 20 settlers started vandalizing the village.  Hamdan tried to protect his family by locking the door of his house and standing outside, but two soldiers started beating him, and then abducted him and two other Palestinians to a military base.  He spent 20 hours in the base, handcuffed and blindfolded while soldiers mistreated him — when he was brought to interrogation, he was accused of attacking the settler and only after he paid a fine was he able to leave and get medical treatment.

    Detailing several such stories of violence, destruction and detention, Mr. Adra said it is Israeli State policy to enable radical right-wing terrorist settlers.  The soldiers and police provide not only impunity but also support to settlers attacking communities in the West Bank.  He also highlighted an Israeli court decision to designate the area of Masafer Yatta, which contains several Palestinian villages, as a “firing zone” for the Israeli military to do military exercises.  The struggle against the occupation is something he inherited from his father and grandfather, he said, hoping that his daughter will be able to live without the weight of occupation.

    Events in Masafer Yatta Village in West Bank Part of Larger Policy to Create Settler Regime

    What is happening in Masafer Yatta is part of a larger policy of creating a “settler regime”, Netta Amar-Shiff, human rights lawyer, speaking via video, said.  The village of Jinba in Masaffer Yatta that was attacked repeatedly last week was long a vital economic and cultural centre, she said.  She also detailed a court case in which Palestinians presented the history of Masafer Yatta and requested that its designation as a “firing zone” be overturned.  Sharing some of the historical evidence presented to the court, she showed an 1879 Palestine Exploration Fund Map as well as pages from a book about the Hebron Hill cave dwellers.  The book details an archaeological study of the region, including the discovery of ancient grain containers called ”suma’a” — the author concludes that their presence is a signal of historic permanent residency.  Regardless, the court dismissed all these findings. 

    Masafer Yatta has been a target of extensive settlement activities since 7 October 2023, she said.  But “this is not the same military we know from before 7 October,” she said, adding that while settler violence has long been linked with Israel’s expansion, now armed settlers have been formally incorporated into the regular military forces — they receive drones, vehicles, arms and technology.  Human rights lawyers such as her are fast running out of solutions as judicial remedies disappear, she said, adding that an immediate international intervention is crucial.  From her Mizrahi Jewish perspective, she said, “it is not just a necessity to end the conflict, it is an honour and a blessing.”

    Humanitarian Workers, More Aid Cannot Resolve Conflict; Solution Is Political

    The Committee also heard from Younis Khatib, President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, who recalled how his organization used to have a training centre in Masafer Yatta to train young Palestinians until six years ago when the Israeli army prevented the Red Crescent from reaching that area.  Recently, the Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said that the West Bank is the heart of Israel, he said, adding that what is happening right now in Masafer Yatta is part of the larger Israeli plan for the West Bank.  Most Palestinian cities in the West Bank are totally controlled by Israel.

    “There will be more and more evictions if the international community allows it,” he said, asking how the two-State solution can be implemented if one side does not believe that the other side should be able to exercise their rights as human beings.  He also highlighted the dehumanization of Palestinians, noting that pre-fab building materials for temporary housing in Gaza had to be negotiated in the recent ceasefire agreement.  Denying Palestinians a dignified life is intentional — from day one, the objective was to push the Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.  “This is a continuation of 1948,” he said. 

    This cannot be solved with more humanitarian aid to the West Bank and Gaza, he said, stressing that the resolution is political.  “Don’t expect that humanitarians will do your job,” he stressed.  It is the responsibility of the United Nations and the international community to stop the killing of aid workers.  Referring to the aid workers — including the eight staff from his organization — who were killed and buried in a mass grave in Rafah, the bodies discovered a few days ago, he said:  “We don’t train our paramedics to risk their lives; we train them to save lives.”  The war in Gaza has been the conflict with the largest number of killed aid workers.  “Khalas, stop counting for God’s sake,” he said, underscoring that these are not numbers, but lives.  These are colleagues, friends and sons, he said, adding:  “The souls of our colleagues ask for justice.”

    No Other Land Brings to Life How Land Is at Heart of Illegal Occupation 

    James Turpin, Chief of the Prevention and Sustaining Peace Section of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the documentary film, No Other Land, brings to life, in a compelling and accessible way, what the UN has documented in countless reports.  Land is at the heart of the occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, he said, detailing how Israel’s settlement policy is eroding Palestinian rights.  Israel continues to transfer its civilian population to East Jerusalem — there are now around 737,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and almost a third of them are in East Jerusalem alone.  Steps are regularly taken to accelerate construction of additional housing units.  “This is accompanied by demolition of Palestinian properties and structures — mostly under the pretext of lacking building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain,” he pointed out. 

    Israel also undertakes the illegal appropriation of occupied land for Israeli settlements through declarations of “State land”, and the establishment of military zones (as seen in No Other Land), nature reserves, and cultural and archaeological sites.  Livelihoods centred around olive production are particularly targeted by Israeli State and settler violence, he said, adding that “many Palestinian farmers are unable to harvest their trees due to violence and movement restrictions”.  Israel’s provision of services for settlers in settlements and outposts institutionalizes control of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  “The line between settler and State violence has blurred to a vanishing point, further enabling violence and impunity,” he said.

    But “while there may be obfuscation on the ground”, international law is very clear, he said, stressing that Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory must end, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice. 

    Return to Ceasefire Key for Implementing Arab Plan for Gaza’s Reconstruction 

    Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, also briefed the Committee, noting that he just came from a meeting with the Group of Friends of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), stressed the indispensable role of that Agency.  The group was formed when the Israeli Government started unleashing its campaign against UNRWA.  There is tremendous frustration in the international community, from the Arab Group to European countries, that the Israeli authorities broke the ceasefire, he said.  Highlighting the Arab plan for reconstruction of Gaza, he said that the first stage of the plan is to build temporary housing in the Gaza Strip.  In order to make that happen, “we need this ceasefire to be put back in place,” he underscored.

    Early next month, a meeting will take place in Egypt to move the Plan forward, he said, also noting the conference to be held in New York in June, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, towards creating conditions conducive to the implementation of a two-State solution.  Ending the illegal Israeli occupation is crucial for that, he said.  His delegation will continue its “political offensive” in the General Assembly in order to take actions on the decisions that will be taken in Cairo and New York.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: Compass Diversified Declares First Quarter 2025 Distributions on Common and Series A, B and C Preferred Shares

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    WESTPORT, Conn., April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Compass Diversified (NYSE: CODI) (“CODI” or the “Company”), an owner of leading middle-market branded consumer and industrial businesses, announced today that its Board of Directors (the “Board”) has declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.25 per share on the Company’s common shares (the “Common Shares”). The distribution for the three months ended March 31, 2025, is payable on April 24, 2025, to all holders of record of Common Shares as of April 17, 2025.

    The Board also declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.453125 per share on the Company’s 7.250% Series A Preferred Shares (the “Series A Preferred Shares”). The distribution on the Series A Preferred Shares covers the period from, and including, January 30, 2025, up to, but excluding, April 30, 2025. The distribution for such period is payable on April 30, 2025, to all holders of record of Series A Preferred Shares as of April 15, 2025.

    The Board also declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.4921875 per share on the Company’s 7.875% Series B Preferred Shares (the “Series B Preferred Shares”). The distribution on the Series B Preferred Shares covers the period from, and including, January 30, 2025, up to, but excluding, April 30, 2025. The distribution for such period is payable on April 30, 2025, to all holders of record of Series B Preferred Shares as of April 15, 2025.

    The Board also declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.4921875 per share on the Company’s 7.875% Series C Preferred Shares (the “Series C Preferred Shares”). The distribution on the Series C Preferred Shares covers the period from, and including, January 30, 2025, up to, but excluding, April 30, 2025. The distribution for such period is payable on April 30, 2025, to all holders of record of Series C Preferred Shares as of April 15, 2025.

    CODI’s common and preferred cash distributions should generally constitute “qualified dividends” for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent they are paid from “earnings and profits” (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles), provided that the requisite holding period is met. To the extent that the amount of cash distributions exceeds earnings and profits, such distribution will first be treated as a non-taxable return of capital to the extent of the holder’s adjusted tax basis in the shares and thereafter be treated as a capital gain from the sale or exchange of such shares.

    About Compass Diversified
    Since its IPO in 2006, CODI has consistently executed its strategy of owning and managing a diverse set of highly defensible, middle-market businesses across the branded consumer, industrial, and healthcare and critical outsourced services sectors. The Company leverages its permanent capital base, long-term disciplined approach, and actionable expertise to maintain controlling ownership interests in each of its subsidiaries, maximizing its ability to impact long-term cash flow generation and value creation. The Company provides both debt and equity capital for its subsidiaries, contributing to their financial and operating flexibility. CODI utilizes the cash flows generated by its subsidiaries to invest in the long-term growth of the Company and has consistently generated strong returns through its culture of transparency, alignment, and accountability. For more information, please visit compassdiversified.com.

    Forward-Looking Statements
    This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements, including statements with regard to the future performance of CODI and its subsidiaries. Words such as “believes,” “expects,” and “future” or similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Certain factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements, and some of these factors are enumerated in the risk factor discussion in the Form 10-K filed by CODI with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2024 and in other filings with the SEC. Except as required by law, CODI undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    Investor Relations
    Compass Diversified
    irinquiry@compassdiversified.com

    Gateway Group
    Cody Slach
    949.574.3860
    CODI@gateway-grp.com

    Media Relations
    Compass Diversified
    mediainquiry@compassdiversified.com

    The IGB Group
    Leon Berman
    212.477.8438
    lberman@igbir.com

    Source: Compass Diversified Holdings

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Employers Holdings, Inc. Schedules First Quarter 2025 Earnings Release and Conference Call

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RENO, Nev., April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Employers Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYSE:EIG) today announced that it will release its first quarter 2025 financial results after market close on Thursday, May 1, 2025, after which these materials will be available on the Company’s website at www.employers.com through the “Investors” link.

    Conference Call Details
    The Company will then review these financial results via a conference call and webcast on Friday, May 2, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. EDT / 8:00 a.m. PDT.

    To participate in the live conference call, you must first register here. Once registered you will receive dial-in numbers and a unique PIN number. The webcast will be accessible on the Company’s website at www.employers.com through the “Investors” link.

    An archived version of the webcast will be accessible on the Company’s website following the live call.

    About EMPLOYERS

    Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EIG), is a holding company with subsidiaries that are specialty providers of workers’ compensation insurance and services (collectively “EMPLOYERS®”) focused on small and mid-sized businesses engaged in low-to-medium hazard industries. EMPLOYERS leverages over a century of experience to deliver comprehensive coverage solutions that meet the unique needs of its customers. Drawing from its long history and extensive knowledge, EMPLOYERS empowers businesses by protecting their most valuable asset – their employees – through exceptional claims management, loss control, and risk management services, to create safer work environments.

    EMPLOYERS is also proud to offer Cerity®, which is focused on providing digital-first, direct-to-consumer workers’ compensation insurance solutions with fast, and affordable coverage options through a user-friendly online platform.

    EMPLOYERS operates throughout the United States, apart from four states that are served exclusively by their state funds. Insurance is offered through Employers Insurance Company of Nevada, Employers Compensation Insurance Company, Employers Preferred Insurance Company, Employers Assurance Company, and Cerity Insurance Company, all rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best. Not all companies do business in all jurisdictions. EIG Services, Inc., and Cerity Services, Inc., are subsidiaries of Employers Holdings, Inc. EMPLOYERS® is a registered trademark of EIG Services, Inc., and Cerity® is a registered trademark of Cerity Services, Inc. For more information, please visit www.employers.com and www.cerity.com.

    Contact: Michael Pedraja mpedraja@employers.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: MONSOON FORECAST AND CLIMATE RESILIENCE

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 03 APR 2025 6:43PM by PIB Delhi

    The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has adopted a new strategy for issuing monthly and seasonal operational forecasts for the southwest monsoon rainfall over the country based on both the statistical forecasting system and the newly developed Multi-Model Ensemble (MME) based forecasting system. The MME approach uses the coupled global climate models (CGCMs) from different global climate prediction and research centers, including IMD’s Monsoon Mission Climate Forecasting System (MMCFS) model. The MMCFS and MME forecasts are updated every month. This was to satisfy the demands from different users and Government authorities for the forecasts of the spatial distribution of monthly and seasonal rainfall along with the regionally averaged rainfall forecasts for better regional planning of activities.

    Since introducing the Statistical Ensemble Forecasting System (SEFS) in 2007 and implementing the MME approach in 2021 for seasonal forecasting, IMD operational forecast for the monsoon rainfall has shown noticeable improvement. For example, the average absolute forecast error in the forecasting of all India’s seasonal rainfall has reduced by about 21% during the recent 18 years (2007-2024) compared to the same number of  previous years (1989-2006), which indicates a highly successful forecast in recent years compared to previous years. The anomaly correlation between the observed and forecast ISMR during 2007-2023 was 0.55 compared to -0.21 during 1989-2006. It may be noted that IMD was able to correctly forecast the twin deficient monsoon years of 2014-2015, as well as the below-normal rainfall in 2023 and above-normal rainfall in 2024. These clearly indicate improvement made in the operational forecast system in the recent 18 years period compared to the earlier 18 years period. For 2025, the MME approach will continue to be used as this method introduced in 2021 has shown good skill in forecasting both the area-averaged rainfall at various geographical regions and spatial distribution of rainfall across the country at monthly as well as seasonal scales.

    To strengthen weather and climate services for the agriculture sector, the MoES has launched the Mission Mausam, which is envisaged to be a multi-faceted and transformative initiative to boost India’s weather and climate-related science, research, and services. The Mission is launched to make Bharat a weather-ready and climate-smart nation with the aim that no weather will go undetected and early warning for all. It will help monsoon-dependent agricultural regions, citizens, and last-mile users to tackle extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change in a better way.

    Further, the Mission’s focus includes improving the observations by augmenting various observational networks throughout the country to provide highly accurate and timely weather and climate information across temporal and spatial scales, capacity building, and awareness generation. Apart from physics-based numerical models, the Ministry is developing new methods based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies for weather, climate, and ocean forecasting systems. And the formulation of collaborative research projects with academic institutions to share knowledge and develop innovative solutions for weather forecasting and climate modeling capabilities. Local user communities such as farmers/agricultural authorities, aviation authorities, power generation & distribution agencies, industries, health agencies, etc., are constantly involved/engaged, and periodic familiarization is imparted through user meet/stakeholder meet awareness programs, etc. The feedback is taken from the communities for the improvement of all-weather & climate services. Extensive use of local languages in forecast dissemination and regularly organizing workshops and awareness programs for community outreach is being undertaken.

    By strengthening the observational network will also help to observe the changes in long-term weather patterns compared to past years to assess the changes in the climate and take measures towards climate resilience.

    The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been using satellite technology extensively for weather monitoring and forecasting. This started with the use of photographs from Television Infrared Observation Satellites (TIROS-1) launched by the United States of America (USA) in April 1960. These photographs provided new information on cloud systems, including spiral formations associated with large storms, immediately proving their value to operational meteorologists. Over the years, IMD has embraced new developments in satellites and their applications, boosted through global coordination and support, such as geostationary satellites in 1974 and polar-orbiting satellites. With the advent of Indian National Satellites (INSAT) developed by the Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellites in 1982, IMD has augmented satellite applications utilizing image and data products in collaboration with the ISRO. Currently, IMD is utilizing available international satellites, including European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and INSAT-3DR/3DS, as well as polar-orbiting satellites, including Oceansat-3 and Metop-B/C. The utilization of satellite data and products has improved nowcasting and severe weather along with timely detection of large-scale systems like monsoon circulation, cyclones, western disturbances, thunderstorms, etc. Above 90% of the data in the numerical models run by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is satellite-based. The assimilation of satellite data in the models has improved the accuracy in short to medium range forecasting by about 20% to 30%. Algorithms/tools developed by IMD/ISRO and other international institutes, such as EUMETSAT, like nowcast tools, RAPID, Dvorak technique, etc., have improved decision-making and forecasting. These data and products are proven to be useful for disaster preparedness. However, there are still gaps in detecting small-scale weather events, such as cloudbursts, thunderstorms, localized heavy rainfall, squalls, hail storms, etc., due to a lack of high-resolution data, products, and satellite-based tools. Considering this, IMD and ISRO are working together for the development of the INSAT-4 series with better sensors and resolution.

    This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, Department of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.   

    ***

    NKR/PSM

    (Release ID: 2118393) Visitor Counter : 30

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: UPDATES ON THE SPACE APPLICATIONS CENTRE OF ISRO

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 03 APR 2025 5:11PM by PIB Delhi

    The genesis of the Centre dates back to 1966, with establishment of the Experimental Satellite Communication Earth Station (ESCES), by late Dr. Vikram A Sarabhai in Ahmedabad. In 1972, the different units of ISRO in Ahmedabad pursuing research in applications of space technology were merged to form Space Applications Centre (SAC). A unique experiment called the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was conducted by SAC/ISRO during 1975-76. Hailed as ‘the largest techno-social experiment in the world’, SITE demonstrated the potential of satellite technology as an effective mass communication media, aimed at socio-economic development of rural India.

    Space Applications Centre (SAC), is a major and unique multi–disciplinary research and development Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). SAC today stands high in each of its endeavour with its strong space research & development capabilities and continues to deliver world-class technologies and applications for various national, strategic, societal and technology demonstration missions of ISRO. These applications are in diverse areas and primarily meet the communication, navigation and remote sensing needs of the country. Located at Ahmedabad, SAC is spread across three campuses having multi-disciplinary activities apart from Delhi Earth Station (DES), which is located in New Delhi.

    SAC has state-of-the-art electronic and mechanical fabrication facilities, highly sophisticated payload integration, climatic & environmental test facilities, systems reliability area, image processing and analysis facilities and project management support group.

    SAC is the lead centre in the development of key payload technologies for Earth Observation, Communication, Navigation and Space Exploration. Further, the Centre also develops various applications that cater to various user ministries in the field of Agriculture, Meteorology, Fisheries, Oceanography, Environment, Forest, Railways, Urban development etc.

    The notable technologies that were developed by the Space Applications Centre for spacecraft payloads including S-Band SAR for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, C-Band and X-Band Microwave Radars for RISAT series, Lander/Rover Cameras, Ka Radar Altimeters, Hazard Detection and Avoidance  Sensors for Lunar Landing for Chandrayaan-3, demonstration of spectrum sensing, ADS-B, GNSS-R reflectometry, Pseudolite systems for RLV, High resolution Electro-optical payloads, Ka-band payload for high throughput satellites (50 Gbps), spread-spectrum modems for Gaganyaan crew communication system, Indian Atomic clock-Indian Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard (IRAFS) for NavIC and Travelling Wave Tube Amplifiers (TWTA) for Communication satellites. Currently, a large number of payloads are under various stages of realization at SAC including, GSAT-7R, HRSAT Series, Resourcesat-3 series, Oceansat-3A, G20- Satellite, Indian Mauritius Joint Satellite (IMJS), GSAT-N3, IDRSS-2, payloads for Quantum Communication.

    Various downstream applications developed and demonstrated for users include National Drought Portal for Krishi-Decision Support System (DSS), application development for Yield Estimation System based on Technology (YES-Tech) program under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Geospatial Energy map portal of India, Sea Ice Advisories for polar expedition routes for National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), System for national scale Crop Yield Estimation, Very short range weather forecast, Value added Agro-Met products for Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS), Hybrid weather prediction system for customized station specific weather forecast (transferred to Bihar Mausam Sewa Kendra (BMSK) for operational use), Satellite and in situ based data assimilative technique for ocean wave forecasting (transferred to Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Hyderabad), High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) methodology for using Doppler Weather Radars (DWR) data (transferred to India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi), Satellite-based ocean drift model for search and rescue (transferred this application to National Operational Data Processing and analysis Centre (NODPAC)/ Indian Navy, Kochi), Monitoring of fishing boats with keel lengths <24m which is now being rolled-out nationally, Locomotive-mounted satcom terminals for tracking of trains for safety-of-life & train information, real-time aircraft tracking for aviation safety & fleet management, authentication geo-fixes for Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) – Aadhar enrolment operatives, Indus river-level monitoring system, high-accuracy NavIC receivers for e-tolling applications for National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

    SAC objectives are realized and met with a well-planned strategy for a sustained capacity building through skilled human resources, establishment of state-of-the-art facilities, industry and academia participation and international cooperation under a well-defined policy support of ISRO. SAC has been proactively enhancing and upgrading the skills and competencies of internal human resource through standard as well as tailored training and development programs. SAC has systematic capacity enhancement plans at individual level to meet the organizational objectives, which also includes non-training interventions such as conferences, seminars, workshops at national as well as international levels. Higher education in premier academic institutions is also a part of the capacity enhancement strategy.

    SAC has built a strong partnership with over 300 small, medium and large scale industries and commercial organizations specialized in various fields including RF, Digital, Optical, Microwave, Mechanical, Electrical, Antenna, Scientific software, specialized materials etc. are presently associated with SAC. SAC has a well-established academia partnership programs for research in the areas associated with space technology, space science and exploration including RESPOND, STC etc.

    SAC has state-of-the-art highly sophisticated payload integration laboratories, electronic & Mechanical fabrication facilities, environmental test facility, image processing, and analysis facilities.

    SAC has outlined a detailed technology roadmap, as a part of space vision 2047. It is envisioning a new paradigm of space borne observations for Earth system and Planetary studies with special emphasis on developing advanced Radars, LIDAR, Hyperspectral and Terahertz technologies with high quality analysis-ready data products and also advanced techniques for geophysical parameters retrieval and customised web-based solutions to meet various User requirements in the domain of Agriculture, Forestry, Coastal Zone Management, Meteorology, Fisheries, Urban Planning, Oceanography etc.

    SAC has defined roadmap for development of Quantum technologies including Space Based Quantum Communication, Quantum Sensing and Quantum computing.

    SAC has evolved roadmap for competitive & advanced Satellite Navigation (SATNAV) services and achieve larger penetration of NavIC applications across strategic, civilian and scientific domains; secure and self-reliant Satellite Communication (SATCOM) systems and applications; NavCom systems and applications for various Users all of which will be enabled by indigenous technology, products & services and propelled by Indian Industries/NGEs.

    SAC has defined roadmap for state-of-the art capability and self-reliance in design and development of crew centric systems for Human Space Programme and ensure crew safety through specific human-rated R&QA practices.

    This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, Department of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.   

    ***

    NKR/PSM

    (Release ID: 2118301) Visitor Counter : 75

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Accelerating our customer-first strategy with industry-leading 3-year price lock and free phone guarantee for everyone

    Source: Verizon

    Headline: Accelerating our customer-first strategy with industry-leading 3-year price lock and free phone guarantee for everyone

    NEW YORK – Verizon today announced the next evolution of its multi-year consumer business transformation, with a strong value commitment designed to strengthen long-term customer relationships across its mobile and home portfolio. This strategic advancement builds on the company’s successful execution of myPlan and myHome, positioning Verizon to further extend its industry leadership.

    “Today marks the next strategic step of the consumer business transformation journey that began two years ago,” said Verizon Chairman and CEO, Hans Vestberg. “We are redefining our relationship with consumers by building on our industry-leading network and innovative offerings. By giving unprecedented value and predictability across both mobile and home, we are establishing the new industry standard for a long-term customer relationship, supporting our path to improved retention, sustainable revenue growth, and long-term shareholder value.”

    “We’re committed to delivering what our customers want and need, offering more control, value and simplicity,” added Sowmyanarayan Sampath, Verizon Consumer CEO. “That’s why we’re proud to introduce this industry-leading guarantee: a 3-year price lock across mobile and home, which provides peace of mind, and a free phone on every myPlan, giving customers even more value. We have the most ways to save with offers you can’t find anywhere else including free satellite texting and the Verizon Openbank High Yield Savings Account.”

    Effective today, Verizon introduces three ways to add even more value for its customers, further strengthening its unique market position:

    1.      Price Lock Guarantee on all plans:

    • Verizon is the first and only carrier in the industry offering new and existing customers a three-year price lock guarantee on all myPlan and myHome network plans.
    • Customers don’t have to take any action. All existing myPlan customers will automatically be enrolled. And, every time you change your myPlan, the price lock resets for another 3 years.
    • This industry-first guarantee ensures your core monthly plan price for calling, data and texting will not change, excluding taxes, fees and perks.

    2.    Free phone and home router guarantee:

    • Now, new and existing customers are guaranteed the same great deals on any myPlan with trade-in. Today that means a free phone when they trade-in any phone, any condition from Apple, Google or Samsung.
    • Home internet routers are included at no additional cost with every myHome plan. No extra fees, just included.

    3.    The most ways to save, only at Verizon:

    • Verizon is the first and only in the industry to guarantee free satellite text messaging on qualifying devices on any myPlan. We don’t believe that people should have to pay for this. It’s value and peace of mind, on us.
    • myPlan and myHome customers can save over 40% on five of the most popular subscription services, Netflix & Max and Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. All 5 for just $20/mo.
    • Plus, customers save an additional $15/mo when they have myPlan and myHome, and they get a perk on us with our best Internet plans.
    • And now, customers can save big on their Verizon bill with the Verizon Visa Credit Card and the Verizon Open bank High Yield Savings Account.

    For more information, visit verizon.com.

    myPlan: Applies to the then-current base monthly rate for your talk, text, and data. Excludes taxes, fees, surcharges, additional plan discounts or promotions, and third-party services. Void if any of the lines are canceled or moved to an ineligible plan. Plan perks, taxes, fees, and surcharges are subject to change. myHome: Price guarantee for 3-5 years, depending on internet plan, for new and existing myHome customers. Applies only to the then-current base monthly rate exclusive of any other setup and additional equipment charges, discounts or promotions, plan perk and any other third-party services.

    Minimum $599.99 up to $999.99 purchase with new or upgrade smartphone line on any eligible postpaid plan for 36 months (+taxes/fees) required. iPhone 16e, Galaxy S24FE, Pixel 9a on Unlimited Ultimate, Unlimited Plus or Unlimited Welcome plan (minimum $65/month with Auto Pay), iPhone 16, Galaxy S25, Pixel 9 on Unlimited Ultimate or Unlimited Plus plan (minimum $80/month w with Auto Pay) or iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, Galaxy S25+, Pixel 9 Pro on Unlimited Ultimate plan (minimum $90/month with Auto Pay) required. Less up to $1,000 trade-in/promo credit applied over 36 mos.; promo credit ends if eligibility requirements are no longer met; 0% APR. For upgrades, trade-in phone must be active on account for 60 days prior to new device purchase. Trade-in must be from Apple, Google or Samsung; trade-in terms apply.

    Free Perk Credit: Availability of each perk is subject to specific terms, and age requirements. Requires one paid perk on eligible Verizon mobile phone line or eligible home internet plan. Up to $10/month credit will be applied to your mobile or Fios Internet bill as long as one paid perk remains active on either account. Perk credit canceled if paid perk removed, mobile line or home internet plan canceled, or home internet moved to ineligible plan. Perk promotional offers are not eligible for the perk discount. Credit applied in 1-2 billing cycles.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI: Míla Holding hf. announces Consolidated Condensed Annual Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Míla Holding hf.
    Storhofdi 22-30,
    110 Reykjavik,
    Iceland

    Míla Holding hf. announces Consolidated Condensed Annual Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024

    Consolidated condensed annual financial statements, for the year 2024, ended 31 December 2024 of Míla Holding hf. were approved at a Board of Directors meeting and Annual General Meeting on 3 April 2025.

    The financial statements are enclosed and can also be found on the Company’s website:
    https://www.mila.is/um-milu/fjarmal/

    For more information please contact:
    Inga Helga Halldórudóttir
    Compliance officer
    Míla Holding hf.
    ingah@mila.is

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: BloFin Powers Up Platform Efficiency with Unified Trading Account Expansion

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BloFin is a global crypto trading platform built with a user-first mindset. It offers professional-grade trading tools, a seamless product experience, and a secure trading environment. BloFin is now enhancing its trading infrastructure with the platform-wide expansion of Unified Trading Account Mode. This strategic upgrade merges spot and futures trading into a streamlined structure. This marks a significant leap in trading efficiency, offering users a unified interface and a consolidated margin system for managing all market positions.

    Unified Trading Account Mode is now fully available for all sub-accounts. It allows users to trade spot and futures markets seamlessly, without switching between different account types or interfaces. This results in simplified asset management, faster trade execution, and enhanced control over trading activities. Moreover, the new Cross-Currency Margin Mode is currently in grey release and will be gradually rolled out to more users. This gradual transition will allow users to adapt smoothly while maintaining their trading habits and interface preferences. This move reflects BloFin’s long-term vision to build a secure, scalable, and user-focused trading environment that meets the evolving needs of both beginners and experienced futures traders.

    March–April Upgrades: BloFin Enhanced Unified Trading, Smarter Margin Mechanism, Strategy-Based Copy Bot, and Advanced Grid Trading for Perpetuals

    In March, BloFin upgraded its Unified Trading Interface to support seamless interaction between spot and perpetual, and optimized the Cross-Collateral Margin Formula for better capital efficiency. April saw the launch of Copy Bot for strategy-based copy trading and Perpetual Grid Trading for automated derivatives strategies. BloFin remains committed to continuous infrastructure upgrades and delivering an institutional-grade trading experience for advanced users.

    Learn more about Unified Mode and how to activate it within your sub-accounts on BloFin: https://support.blofin.com/hc/en-us/articles/11050152535311-Terms-of-Use-for-Unified-Trading-Account

    Follow us X（Twitter）｜Telegram｜Instagram｜YouTube

    About BloFin

    ​BloFin is a top-tier cryptocurrency exchange that specializes in futures trading. The platform offers 460+ USDT-M perpetual pairs, spot trading, copy trading, API access, unified account management, and advanced sub-account solutions. Committed to security and compliance, BloFin integrates Fireblocks and Chainalysis to ensure robust asset protection. By partnering with top affiliates, BloFin delivers scalable trading solutions, efficient fund management, and enhanced flexibility for professional traders. ​As the constant sponsor of TOKEN2049, BloFin continues to expand its global presence, reinforcing its position as the place “WHERE WHALES ARE MADE.” For more information, visit BloFin’s official website at https://www.blofin.com.

    Contact 
    Annio W.
    annio@blofin.io

    Disclaimer: This press release is provided by BloFin. 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. 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. 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.Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose.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.

    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 do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information presented herein. Any concerns, complaints, or copyright issues related to this article should be directed to the content provider mentioned above.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/74946fcc-d32c-473b-89e3-fee2cc45e061

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Application period extended for Governor’s Band/Orchestra and Choral programs

    Source: US State of North Dakota

    Gov. Kelly Armstrong today announced the application period has been extended until April 14 for school, community and church bands, orchestras and choirs across North Dakota interested in serving as the Governor’s Official State Band/Orchestra Program and Choral Program for the 2025-2026 school year.

    From the applications received, the Governor and First Lady will select the two groups based on musical talent, achievement and community involvement. The governor may invite them to perform at official state functions held throughout the year, including the State of the State Address.

    Interested groups should submit an application, references and a musical recording to the Governor’s Office by 5 p.m. Monday, April 14. The Governor’s Band/Orchestra Program and Governor’s Choral Program will be announced in April and may be invited to perform at the Capitol in May 2025 and at events throughout the 2025-2026 school year. Please complete the application and provide materials at https://www.governor.nd.gov/governors-chorus-and-bandorchestra-program-application.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From Tiffany earrings to mobile phones – this is what happens when you swallow something you shouldn’t

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy, Lancaster University

    Even small items, such as earrings or keys, can become lodged in the body. Anzay/ Shutterstock

    A man in Florida recently visited a Tiffany & Co jewellery store posing as a buyer for a professional US athlete. While viewing the items, together worth well over £1 million, the thief tried to grab them and run from the store.

    The ensuing struggle saw one diamond ring get dropped – but the thief still made off with two pairs of diamond earrings valued at £600,000. In a bid to avoid arrest, the suspect consumed a different kind of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” – swallowing the jewellery. After he was later taken into custody some 340 miles away, he was quoted as saying: “Am I going to be charged for what is in my stomach?”

    This certainly isn’t the first time a thief has hoped that swallowing stolen valuables would help them get away with their crime. One of the UK’s most notorious jewel thieves, whose exploits were captured in the ITV series Joan, also consumed jewels in order to steal them.

    But while in this recent instance the stolen jewels were recovered after naturally passing through the thief’s body, this isn’t always the case when things are swallowed that shouldn’t be. Foreign body ingestion, as it’s called, accounts for approximately 1,500 deaths per year in the US alone.

    Although most of the time, ingested foreign bodies pass naturally, around 10-20% of cases require endoscopic retrieval (a camera and small tools entering your mouth to get to your stomach) – and 1% require emergency surgery. In adults, the most commonly ingested foreign bodies are fish or chicken bones. In children, it’s coins, button batteries and toy parts.

    Small items, such as earrings, aren’t too difficult for the body to pass if swallowed accidentally or on purpose. This is because the oesophagus, which carries food to the stomach, is up to 3cm in diameter.



    Read more:
    Weird and wonderful things lost then found inside the human body

    But if objects are too large and get stuck in the oesophagus, they can tear and perforate it. A tear to the oesophagus requires immediate medical intervention – without emergency care, this tear has a mortality rate of up to 40%.

    The stomach, a J-shaped sac, has a much larger diameter than the oesophagus. It then connects to the small intestines and subsequently the large intestines. But because of the stomach’s unique shape and the way it tightly narrows as it joins the small intestines, objects can easily get lodged in this join.

    In one case study, doctors in Iran removed more than 450 metallic items from a man’s stomach – including screws, keys, nuts and other metal parts. These objects weren’t able to pass naturally due to the narrowing of the digestive tract – subsequently building up in the stomach, leading to abdominal pains and digestive issues in the patient that required immediate surgery.

    Just as problematic are prisoners who swallow mobile phones, as these are too large to progress beyond the stomach, so they get stuck. The only way to remove the phone in these instances is by endoscopy or surgery – which is what had to happen when a prisoner in India swallowed four mobile phones.

    If the phone isn’t removed, the stomach’s acid may dissolve many of the phone’s components. This could potentially expose its battery, which contains chemicals that can burn the stomach lining or cause it to rupture.

    In one case study, a diamond earring got lodged inside a patient and caused appendicitis.
    AKpicartist/ Shutterstock

    Should an item manage to pass through the stomach, it then has to move through 12 feet of small intestines before entering the large intestines. The appendix is located where these intestines meet – and any foreign objects that enter this tube are unlikely to get back out the way they came. So, this is another site where items can easily become stuck, causing infection and the need for emergency surgical removal.

    In one rare case, a diamond earring caused appendicitis in a person who had swallowed it by accident. There are also cases of this happening after screws, stones and pins became lodged in the appendix.

    The large intestines, where faeces begin to form, gradually begin to narrow in diameter, especially near the rectum. This makes it even more likely that the intestinal wall may be perforated by foreign objects – particularly sharp things such as the post of an earring or even packets of smuggled drugs.

    Perforation of the bowel anywhere through the gastrointestinal tract is a surgical emergency, as it means the contents of the tract – which includes billions of bacteria – can leak into the membrane that lines your pelvis and abdomen. This can cause serious and often fatal infections such as peritonitis and sepsis, which can have mortality rates of almost 50%.

    Spare a thought

    Putting anything that isn’t food or drink into your body carries a significant risk of getting stuck, tearing through delicate walls of the digestive tract, or reacting with the lining in a way that damages your intestines.

    As ever in these cases, spare a thought for the poor person who has to “check through what came out” – or the person who had to clean the recovered jewellery.



    Read more:
    Whether inserted, ingested or implanted, batteries are a matter of life and death

    The good news for thieves who are desperate enough to try this route of “acquisition” is that valuable metals such as gold, silver and many of the precious stones embedded in them don’t change when touched by stomach acid.

    However, it’s hard to say whether these particular Tiffany earrings will go up or down in value, given the journey they’ve endured.

    Adam Taylor 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. From Tiffany earrings to mobile phones – this is what happens when you swallow something you shouldn’t – https://theconversation.com/from-tiffany-earrings-to-mobile-phones-this-is-what-happens-when-you-swallow-something-you-shouldnt-252962

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A brief history of dance music – from basements to beaches, dancefloors have mirrored social change

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Simon Morrison, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for Music Journalism, University of Chester

    When US rock’n’roll arrived in the UK in the mid-1950s, there were few places for British teenagers to dance to this exciting new genre. But by the early 1960s, dance venues specifically aimed at teenagers began to open in towns and cities.

    Unlike the sometimes grand and opulent ballrooms that had been the stomping grounds of their parents, the new teen-oriented discotheques of the 1960s tended to be located in altogether contrasting spaces, in terms of architecture and atmosphere.

    Several of these new youth nightclubs were in cellars of somewhat dilapidated buildings. They were often unlicensed and aimed at teenagers younger than the legal drinking age.

    Sometimes described as “coffee dance clubs” or “continental style”, the novelty of these new spaces was reflected an the uncertainty of how to describe them. The dancing was predominantly fuelled by recorded music. This allowed British teenagers, many of them identifying as mods (the stylish youth subculture that flourished in the early to mid 1960s) to hear electrifying rhythm and blues artists from America.

    In our new book, Transatlantic Drift: The Ebb and Flow of Dance Music, we discuss these pioneering clubs and the innovative musicians, performers and DJs that have inspired people to congregate and dance.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    In the basement

    Being based underground enhanced the atmosphere in the clubs. Attendees were simultaneously part of an underground movement and also literally hidden from view from the adult world.

    For a few years between 1963 and 1966, subterranean hedonism existed under the surface – and the mod club scene flourished. The architecture of these spaces provided distinctive environments for the young dancers which led to notably visceral experiences. These were hot, dimly lit, crowded, smoke and sweat-filled spaces where the music ricocheted off surfaces and fed directly back into the dancing bodies.

    The subterranean location sometimes emphasised in the choice of name for these clubs – Cavern, Dug Out, Dungeon, Catacombs, Heaven and Hell.

    The Sinking Ship club in Stockport was located in a cave carved out of red sandstone rocks. The condensation that dripped back on to the dancers was infused with red mineral deposits, leaving a particularly vibrant sensory memory of an all-night dance session.

    At the tail end of the mod club era, in 1966 US R&B stars Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto released the track In the Basement – Part 1. Although the song refers to a house party rather than a nightclub, it captured the zeitgeist of the mid 1960s mod dance era, and the locations in which it flourished. DeSanto, in particular, was hugely popular with the mod crowd.

    Alongside the trend for naming the clubs in reference to their below-ground location, another tendency was for clubs to be named with reference to places outside of the UK, giving a sense of escapism and glamour.

    This was often in the form of words of Latin origin, such as La Discotheque, The Bodega and El Partido. This reference to Europe chimed with the mod passion for continental European style. It was also arguably a portent of what was to come as these locations transformed.

    Let there be light

    The latter part of the 20th century finally brought club culture into the light. A glorious confluence of musical, meteorological and pharmaceutical effects combined to form, it might be argued, the last great “spectacular” subculture.

    In the 1980s, raw, electronic beats filtered out of American cities such as Chicago and Detroit and travelled across the Atlantic, first in trickles then ultimately in waves, consuming willing European DJs.

    In Ibiza, for instance, Argentinian Alfredo Fiorito (having fled the restrictions of the junta in his native Argentina), played Chicago house and Detroit techno along with his usual Euro pop and electronica. His canvas was the dance floor of the nightclub Amnesia, where he deejayed through the night and into morning. It was not so much that his deejaying blew the roof off the place – more that Amnesia had no roof in the first place.

    In the sunshine, vitamin D mingled and reacted to the rather less natural flow of drug E around the body. MDMA or ecstasy and shortened to E, presented another intriguing combination – this time of German engineering and American appropriation. For users, it became the perfect pharmaceutical filter to enjoy house music through.

    Brits holidaying on Ibiza in 1987 experienced something of an epiphany and took the party drug culture back to the UK. Back home, parties erupted like magical crops with illegal raves in farms and fields around the M25 orbital motorway.

    Events like Sunrise, Energy and Biology eschewed nightclubs completely, preferring to set up in the great outdoors. Ravers found that partying in the sunshine took them back to something primal and pagan. They celebrated in, and with, nature in a reconstituted Shakespearean Arden, powered by the sun from above and the energy from the ground beneath.

    In this way, the story of club culture emerged from the cellars and basements of a subterranean, nocturnal world and found its way into the light.

    The repercussions of this transatlantic drift, this musical flow of beats and ideas, then spread out further like sonic waves across the planet. We can see traces in festivals like the Notting Hill Carnival. We can further trace that beat as it broke out of the weekend and then the UK completely – a neo-hippy trail taking in the free party scene across Europe, and particularly eastern Europe, and on, to the trance scene in Goa and Thailand’s full-moon parties.

    In Ibiza, new laws and noise regulations means that they have literally been able to put the roof back on, but elsewhere the spirit of raves and rays, of disco al fresco, seems unstoppable.

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

    – ref. A brief history of dance music – from basements to beaches, dancefloors have mirrored social change – https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-dance-music-from-basements-to-beaches-dancefloors-have-mirrored-social-change-251509

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the UK and Europe could respond to Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University

    In a carefully choreographed address from the White House Rose Garden, US president Donald Trump announced a massive package of trade tariffs. These include 20% on imports from the European Union, 24% on those from Japan, 27% for India, and 34% for China. The UK gets the lowest rate, at 10%.

    A tariff is a tax on imports, paid by producers and consumers of the importing country.

    US producers will pay more for their inputs – the things they need to produce their goods – from the rest of the world. US consumers will pay more for foreign products. But they will also pay more for US-made goods, because production costs will increase, and US producers will face higher demand from consumers seeking to substitute imports.

    Tariffs serve a role in protecting nascent industries, or in countries with limited state capacity. They may protect some strategic or politically powerful firms and workers from international competition. But mostly they just hurt everyone directly or indirectly involved.

    So what is the Trump administration trying to achieve?

    The official goal is to have a tax that is sufficiently high to reduce the trade imbalance between the US and the rest of the
    world. Every month, the US imports goods and services worth tens of billions of US dollars more than those it sells to other countries.

    Since Donald Trump returned to office, US firms have anticipated future tariffs by importing more. This has increased this deficit to a record-high of US$131 billion (£99.7 billion) in January, twice as large as it was only a year ago.

    The way the US trade deficit works is simple. US consumers buy cheap products from other countries in exchange for printing money at little cost. The trick is that the rest of the world buys US currency as a reserve of value, or to invest in US assets. This seems like the dream deal. Americans get richer and the country is flooded with investment, making it the technological centre of the world. This in turn keeps the dollar strong.

    But there is a counterpoint, increasingly prevalent in the circles that surround the US president. This dream deal is bad for US manufacturing and creates a dependency on foreign producers and investors. Crucially, it depends on the US remaining the ultimate currency in perpetuity.

    So, will Trump’s plan help him achieve his goal of reducing US imports relative to exports? Tariffs will not increase exports. But by making foreign products more expensive, they can massively decrease imports.

    In practice, this is only sustainable if the US wants to become permanently poorer. If the US economy becomes weak enough that the US dollar is not a desirable investment, it could become the factory of the world and sell cheap products, while not being able to afford what foreigners produce. This was China’s development strategy in the mid-2000s.

    Time to choose a response

    Whether this is what US citizens want to achieve is a question for them. As for the rest of the world, the time has come to decide how to react.

    The reasonable take, favoured by British prime minister Keir Starmer, is this: if tariffs are bad, adding more in retaliation will not be better.

    The UK is therefore poised not to retaliate, but to seek a trade deal with the US instead and to give Trump enough rope to climb down.

    Removing bilateral trade barriers would be good for both economies. But it would also send a message that the way to obtain concessions from the UK is to bully it. The US and everyone else will learn the lesson, and act accordingly in future.

    A deal will also end the embryonic tax collected since April 2020 on the revenues of tech giants like Amazon, Google and Meta. Given their increasing importance, such a de facto tax exemption would mean ever-increasing rates on British workers and businesses.

    The tit-for-tat path, taken by the European Commission, is to retaliate and hope that it will force the US to climb down.

    As happened during Trump’s first administration, the EU will tax a chosen subset of US products like Harley Davidson motorbikes and bourbon. But the goal is to do much more and to use the size of the EU’s single market to attack the driving force of US economic growth: its tech giants.

    The boldest tool is the new “anti-coercion instrument”, developed by the European Commission in anticipation of a second Trump mandate. This is a very slow but potentially devastating legislative process that goes as far as allowing the suspension of intellectual property rights for companies based in countries that attempt to coerce member states through economic warfare. What this could mean, in effect, is the EU choosing not to enforce international laws protecting the intellectual property of American firms.

    No password required. EU retaliation could see US tech firms powerless to fight back against piracy.
    wisely/Shutterstock

    In essence, the EU would say: if you do not respect the international order, from the rules of trade to international law and climate agreements, we do not respect your rules either. In practice, no one within the EU would be sued for pirating a Netflix show, or for creating a free clone of US software or apps, until the US returns to a more cooperative pattern of behaviour.

    The obvious problem with this approach is what to do if the US does not embrace more cooperative behaviour.

    This may lead to the most dramatic path – a reorganisation of the world order that more or less avoids the US. Chinese media have reported, for instance, that China is trying to work with US allies Korea and Japan to overcome global tariffs.

    A sort of “coalition of the willing” with a larger group of countries to recreate global cooperation seems far-fetched today. But it would end the US dollar dominance, allowing the country to balance its trade deficit. It would also take the world to uncharted economic and political territories.

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

    – ref. How the UK and Europe could respond to Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs – https://theconversation.com/how-the-uk-and-europe-could-respond-to-trumps-liberation-day-tariffs-253650

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the ‘manosphere’ spreads through online gaming, influencers and algorithms

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Lisa Sugiura, Associate Professor in Cybercrime and Gender, University of Portsmouth

    HenadziPechan/Shutterstock

    The Netflix series Adolescence has generated discussions about masculinity, male violence and the effect of “manosphere” content on boys. The manosphere is a collection of men’s rights and misogynistic groups that are interconnected through websites, blogs and forums that promote masculinity, misogyny and opposition to feminism.

    Interest in the programme has even led to it being discussed in UK parliament. What is missing from these discussions, though, is a consideration of how online games, and the influencers associated with them, are also contributing to the dissemination of misogynistic ideologies and, ultimately, the radicalisation of young boys.

    Generally, people associate gaming with young men, but research has shown that the number of female gamers has slowly increased in recent years. Nevertheless, the same research argued that young boys spend more time playing games.

    There is a sizeable body of research looking at how gender, sexuality and interconnecting identities are represented in video games. Much of this highlights the problematic (but complex) ways such identities are portrayed. Many video games rely on stereotypical representations of gender, which position “successful” men as strong, wealthy, aggressive and heterosexual. Meanwhile, women are represented as highly sexualised, or as taking supportive roles.

    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    This kind of discrimination features within the underlying philosophies of the manosphere – but misogyny and male supremacism are the central factors.

    Incels, specifically referred to in Adolescence, are just one of the groups of the manosphere, but they are by far the most notorious, given misogynist incels association with violence.

    Incels (which stands for “involuntarily celibate”) view themselves as unsuccessful in obtaining sex and romantic relationships with those they desire. Importantly, they view their lack of sexual or romantic partners as being beyond their own control.

    Their ideologies involve viewing women as genetically inferior, manipulative and stupid. Women are simultaneously shamed for having sex while expected to owe men sex, and different men are appraised based on the degree to which they show off their “manliness”.

    There is a fixation on rigid gender roles as well as perceived hierarchies based on race and gender. Within online incel spaces, any deviation from the strict gender dichotomy is vilified, weaving together misogyny, transphobia and homophobia – among multiple other prejudices.

    Many of these prejudices resonate with the same ideologies held by the so-called “alt-right”, and some previous research has identified a manosphere to alt-right pipeline.

    Keir Starmer has backed Netflix’s move to show Adolescence in UK schools.

    The exact mechanisms by which impressionable boys are “recruited” to join incel communities are somewhat unknown. The way people join these communities is more complex than someone on social media specifically asking people to join or promising to fix all their woes. However, work has explored how men and boys’ repeated exposure to social media that perpetuates incel ideology can normalise such worldviews.

    Research on incels has shown how spending long periods on social media and gaming sites exposes young men and boys to incel content. Too much time playing video games, along with a lack of a social life and limited interaction with women and girls, have been stated by men as reasons for identifying themselves as an incel.

    Playing games can be a healthy hobby, and not all gamers should be equated with incels. Indeed, multiple video game companies and gaming communities are actively working to combat prejudice. Engagement with video games alone, like any form of media, does not immediately mean that someone will adopt the underlying ideologies that media conveys.

    However, the number of problematic representations within media like this creates a baseline from which manosphere ideologies can resonate and might become an entry point to more severe misogynistic ideologies. Many incels find comfort in the escapism offered by video games and online environments where prejudice is less likely to be challenged.

    Radicalisation by algorithm

    Due to platforms, such as TikTok, X, and Instagram prioritising engagement and profit over content quality or equality, diversity and inclusion, algorithms further contribute to the spread of incel ideologies.

    Misogynistic content elicits strong reactions and controversial discussions, which tend to attract more likes, shares, comments and views. Such content is therefore more likely to be recommended and circulated by algorithms, regardless of the harms it may cause.

    Video game streamers who espouse rightwing views often use streaming platforms like Rumble and social media websites such as X to spread gender-based hate. While some may not identify as incels or explicitly tell followers to join incel communities, their views align with incel ideologies.

    Controversial content is more likely to be recommended by algorithms.
    Shutterstock/mooremedia

    These platforms regularly praise themselves for being immune to “cancel culture”. However, this means that they often allow video game streamers (among other influencers) to disseminate misogynistic worldviews, conspiracy theories and ideologies associated with the manosphere more broadly.

    The increase in behaviour associated with incel radicalisation does not happen in isolation. Both offline and digital environments (including online games), which normalise misogyny and interconnected prejudice, lead to societies validating impressionable young boys’ anger towards women.

    One way such misogyny is validated is through repeated patterns of representation and discussions that position women as inferior to men. The onus is on us, as a society, to tackle misogyny and intersectional prejudices wherever we see them.

    As researchers, we welcome the new guidance on teaching about misogyny in schools. But there is a need for more support from broader social institutions to develop interventions to prevent incel radicalisation.

    We need to learn more about the specific mechanisms by which young and impressionable people are influenced to join misogynistic incel spaces, including what specific streamers and influencers they engage with. And we also need specific government policy that is explicitly informed by research on gender-based violence to tackle incel radicalisation as a gender-based issue.

    Lisa Sugiura is affiliated with the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism.

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

    – ref. How the ‘manosphere’ spreads through online gaming, influencers and algorithms – https://theconversation.com/how-the-manosphere-spreads-through-online-gaming-influencers-and-algorithms-253275

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: MediaCity Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub (MITIH) has been awarded new funding to boost the innovation ecosystem and support innovative businesses, start-ups and scale-ups in Greater Manchester

    Source: City of Salford

    The one year investment will foster further collaboration between businesses, research institutions and local government. The funding includes a grant which is part of a £30m funding extension of Innovate UK’s Innovation Accelerator (IA) programme, which focuses on locally-led innovation to drive economic growth and technological advancement in three key regions – Greater Manchester, Glasgow City Region and the West Midlands.

    MITIH was launched in 2023 to rejuvenate the region’s innovation ecosystem through collaboration, co-investment, and partnerships with the aim of providing innovators and businesses with access to expertise, funding and state-of-the-art technologies and facilities.

    Paul Dennett, Salford City Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Greater Manchester said: “I am delighted that through The Landing company, Salford City Council colleagues will continue to play a pivotal role in leading, fostering, and supporting innovation through the use of immersive and creative technologies across many sectors of Greater Manchester’s economy.

    “MITIH’s success in revitalising the innovation ecosystem at MediaCity and supporting creative businesses across the city region exemplifies true collaboration and proves the power of devolution. I welcome the confidence the Government has placed in us through this extension and look forward to working with businesses, and local and national Government colleagues, to shape a robust Industrial Strategy that reflects the importance of the creative and cultural industries, not only for Salford and Greater Manchester, but for the whole of the north of England.”

    Professor Simon Green, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Salford, said: “This new investment in the MediaCity Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub is a significant step forward for Greater Manchester’s innovation ecosystem. By fostering collaboration in this way, we are creating a dynamic environment where cutting edge ideas can thrive. “The funding will provide vital support to innovators, start-ups and scale-ups, ensuring they have access to the expertise, resources and technologies needed to drive economic growth and technological advancement in the region. As an institution, we are proud to play our role in this and look forward to seeing the impact it will have on the future of innovation in Greater Manchester.”

    Martin Chown, Interim Managing Director, MediaCity, added: “Innovation is embedded in the fabric of MediaCity and the continued presence of MITIH is crucial to its long-term success as the UK home of immersive media. The next cohort of innovators, technologists and creators will break boundaries on a global scale and we’re proud to support their presence here.”

    To date, MITIH has engaged and supported over 250 businesses, channelled more than £1million into 26 innovative projects, employing 99 staff and 77 subcontractors, and launched a new innovation lab which has assisted more than 50 businesses and artists. It launched the Cultural Accelerator programme, delivered in partnership with Future Everything, which supported eleven digital artists. The programme has reached more than 4,000 people through partnerships in events across the animation, broadcast, media production, music, audio, immersive experience, games, advertising, marketing, built environment, health and education sectors.

    Anthony Hatton, MITIH Programme Director, The Landing at MediaCityUK said: “The new funding will allow us to continue to support entrepreneurs and innovators and grow our creative economy. We’ve already worked with hundreds of creative and digital businesses to connect them with fellow professionals, test and develop their ideas and to bring their innovations to market.

    “We aim to increase our impact by leveraging local assets and national programmes, such those delivered by the CoSTAR and Creative UK Enterprise teams, to offer local businesses the technical and research expertise and access to state-of-the-art facilities at MediaCity and across Greater Manchester to maximise their economic opportunities.”

    Professor Mandy Parkinson, Professor of Business Innovation, University of Salford said: “Over the next year we aim to assist a further 40 businesses to fast-track their innovative ideas through tailored support and collaborations building on our network of academic and industry experts.

    “MITIH will continue to nurture our growing community and expand our expert network to ensure that the best ideas can be identified, developed and commercialised. We will also leverage programmes at the University of Salford’s Centre for Sustainable Innovation and increase our collaboration with other GM programmes such as the Centre for Digital Innovation, Turing Innovation Catalyst and Health Innovation Manchester.”

    Any companies or talented individuals who wish to take part in or contribute to the programme can contact the MITIH team via Office Forms.

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    Date published
    Thursday 3 April 2025

    Press and media enquiries

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: BitMart to Host Seine & Crypto Connect — An Unmissable Paris Blockchain Week Afterparty on April 8

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Mahe, Seychelles, April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As Paris Blockchain Week 2025 draws near, BitMart is excited to announce Seine & Crypto Connect, an exclusive afterparty hosted in collaboration with Paybis, MetaEra, and other esteemed partners. The event will take place on April 8, 2025, from 7 PM to 11 PM CET at Les Jardins du Pont Neuf, a private waterfront venue along the iconic Seine River.

    Seine & Crypto Connect will bring together top leaders, investors, and innovators from the blockchain space for a night of strategic networking and high-level discussions. Co-hosted by Paybis, a leading cryptocurrency platform operating across the US, UK, and Europe; MetaEra, a pioneering Web3 news platform; and sponsored by Blockdaemon, the institutional gateway to Web3; and ZetaChain, a universal EVM-compatible Layer 1 bringing cross-chain interoperability to the blockchain ecosystem, this event will provide unparalleled opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

    What to Expect at Seine & Crypto Connect:

    • Exclusive Venue – Guests will enjoy a private riverside reception, offering an elegant atmosphere and stunning views of Paris.
    • Gourmet Experience – Attendees will indulge in premium wines, artisanal cheese, and expertly crafted hors d’oeuvres, creating a sophisticated setting for networking.
    • Engaging Entertainment – A live DJ and ambient lighting will add to the immersive atmosphere, providing a lively backdrop for the evening.
    • High-Impact Networking – Attendees will connect with industry leaders, investors, and innovators shaping the future of Web3, Crypto, and Blockchain technology.
    • Exclusive Seine Cruise – A limited opportunity to board a 20-minute scenic tour along the Seine River directly from the venue, offering a unique Parisian experience.

    This exclusive event serves as an opportunity to engage with some of the most influential players in the blockchain and digital assets space, fostering collaboration and sparking meaningful conversations in a relaxed yet vibrant atmosphere.

    To join the event, please RSVP here: https://lu.ma/a97zotmk

    Proudly Co-Hosted by:

    • Paybis – A leading cryptocurrency platform offering secure, compliant services across the US, UK, and Europe.
    • MetaEra – A Web3 news pioneer shaping the next wave of tech innovation.

    Sponsored by:

    • Blockdaemon – The institutional gateway to Web3, trusted by 400+ institutions and securing over $110B in digital assets.
    • ZetaChain – A universal EVM-compatible L1 bringing cross-chain interoperability to Solana, Bitcoin, and beyond. 

    Come for the innovation. Stay for the magic of Paris.

    About BitMart
    BitMart is the premier global digital asset trading platform. With millions of users worldwide and ranked among the top crypto exchanges on CoinGecko, it currently offers 1,700+ trading pairs with competitive trading fees. Constantly evolving and growing, BitMart is interested in crypto’s potential to drive innovation and promote financial inclusion. To learn more about BitMart, visit their Website, follow their X (Twitter), or join their Telegram for updates, news, and promotions. Download BitMart App to trade anytime, anywhere.

    Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release is not a solicitation for investment, nor is it intended as investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. It is strongly recommended you practice due diligence, including consultation with a professional financial advisor, before investing in or trading cryptocurrency and securities.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: The Last Dwarfs Announces Play-to-Invest Web3 Game Merging Strategy, Action, and Crypto Utility

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    London, UK, April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Last Dwarfs, an innovative Web3 gaming project, is reshaping how users interact with blockchain ecosystems by introducing a fully live Play-to-Invest platform. Positioned at the intersection of strategy gaming and decentralized finance, The Last Dwarfs offers a new kind of crypto experience—one where users play, earn, and grow inside an evolving token-based economy.

    As blockchain gaming gains traction across global markets, The Last Dwarfs is emerging as one of the most operationally advanced projects in the space, with over 300,000 users already onboarded and integrated directly into Telegram and the TON blockchain.

    The Last Dwarfs – A Kingdom in Ruins, A Heroic Mission

    Set in a once-prosperous dwarven kingdom devastated by a Mole invasion, players take on the role of the last surviving dwarves, tasked with rebuilding their homeland through combat, mining, and resource management.

    The game combines interactive action mechanics, like the fast-paced whack-the-mole minigame, with deeper strategy elements. Players collect and refine materials such as Stone, Bronze, Gold, Moonstone, and Sunstone, and use them to craft tools, open Mystery Boxes, upgrade pickaxes, and enhance their mining power.

    Every in-game action generates xTLD, a point-based system that reflects a player’s overall performance, efficiency, and commitment. These points unlock exclusive in-game benefits and offer users an engaging way to build their influence in the ecosystem.

    From Telegram to Treasure: How the Game Works

    Unlike most Web3 games that require complex onboarding, The Last Dwarfs is designed for frictionless access. The game runs natively as a Telegram mini-app, allowing users to jump in with just one tap—no extensions, wallets, or downloads required.

    Once inside, players can mine resources, craft items, and level up their dwarves to unlock new gameplay features and increase their strategic potential. As players progress, they gain access to exclusive systems like the Gamified Launchpad, which connects users with real blockchain opportunities through interactive challenges and future integrations.

    Crafting and Strategy – Not Just Clicks, But Choices

    Progressing in The Last Dwarfs isn’t about grinding mindlessly. It’s about smart resource management and making meaningful decisions.

    Players can:

    • Craft Mystery Boxes containing gems, extra pickaxe durability, or bonus diamonds.
    • Upgrade pickaxes to mine more efficiently and access rarer materials.
    • Balance combat, mining, and crafting to optimize their growth and unlock new tools.

    This creates a dynamic loop where strategic choices amplify progress, making the game both satisfying for casual players and deeply engaging for those who enjoy optimization and planning.

    Final Thoughts – Why The Last Dwarfs Is More Than Just Play-to-Earn

    By blending gameplay, token mechanics, and investment strategy, The Last Dwarfs is building an entirely new genre in the blockchain space: Play-to-Invest. This model transforms traditional gaming incentives into strategic, crypto-powered progress, empowering users not just to play, but to build real value.

    With ongoing updates, new features in development, and a growing user base already in place, The Last Dwarfs is poised to become one of the most disruptive and accessible projects in Web3 gaming.

    For More Information:

    Website: https://thelastdwarfs.com

    Whitepaper: https://whitepaper.thelastdwarfs.com

    Telegram: https://t.me/TheLastDwarfsCommunity

    Twitter: https://x.com/TheLastDwarfs

    Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release is not a solicitation for investment, nor is it intended as investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. It is strongly recommended you practice due diligence, including consultation with a professional financial advisor, before investing in or trading cryptocurrency and securities.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Three men sentenced for brutal attack on teenager

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    A Met investigation into a savage attack where a man suffered life-changing injuries after he was shot and stabbed in broad daylight has led to three men being handed lengthy prison sentences.

    Caleb Wallace, 18 (05.01.07), of Beam Avenue, Barking and Dagenham, Hayat Umar, 18 (13.03.07) of Stern Close, Barking and Dagenham and Joshua Amoaka, 18 (03.08.2006), of Cornflower Road, Chelmsford were sentenced at the Old Bailey on Thursday, 3 April.

    Wallace and Umar, who were both convicted of attempted murder, possession of a firearm with intent and possession of a knife following a trial earlier this year were sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment each.

    Amoaka, who was previously found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent and possession of a knife, was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment.

    All three were subject to between a third to a half reduction to their sentence due to being aged under 18 at the time the offence was committed.

    The court heard that on Thursday, 2 May 2024 the victim, who was 18 at the time of the incident, was cycling along Whalebone Lane South in Dagenham when Wallace, Umar and Amoaka jumped out of a vehicle and chased him.

    While attempting to escape from his attackers, the victim briefly collided with a member of the public and fell off his bike. In CCTV footage seen by the jury in court, Umar can be seen firing a sawn-off shotgun into the back of the victim at point-blank range before Wallace stabs him with a machete. Amoaka is also seen in the footage standing nearby, all during the day and in full-view of passers-by.

    Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and treated the victim at the scene before he was taken to hospital. His injuries were life-changing and he required a number of significant surgeries and extensive time spent in hospital recovering.

    Detective Inspector Iain Wallace from the Specalist Crime Command, who led the investigation, said: “The brutality displayed by Wallace and Umar, while Amoaka stood menacingly by, all in broad daylight and in full view of passers-by is shocking.

    “This has been an incredibly distressing time for the victim and his family. Equally, many of those who witnessed such a vicious attack will still be deeply traumatised and concerned about safety in the community.

    “I hope these lengthy sentences will give the victim some small sense of closure, and allow those in the community to feel safer knowing that Wallace, Umar and Amoaka are no longer on the streets.”

    A determined manhunt began immediately following the attack, with officers speaking to witnesses at the scene as well as painstakingly combing through hours of CCTV footage to understand what took place and to track the movements of the attackers after they fled the scene.

    Umar and Wallace were arrested at an address in Kent on 10 May 2024. During a search of the address, officers found the distinct red trainers that Umar wore during the incident, as well as the multi-coloured trainers Wallace could be seen wearing on CCTV as he attacked the victim. A large black machete matching the one seen on CCTV was also discovered hidden under a bed at the property.

    Amoaka was arrested at an address in Birmingham on 17 May 2024, where officers found a quantity of class A drugs as well as a hunting knife.

    Wallace and Amoaka’s hats were both discarded at the scene after each came off while they chased the victim. They were sent for forensic testing. DNA found on the hats provided a match to both – further proof they had been at the scene.

    Officers also discovered a series of TikTok videos by a gang affiliated with the three men, where those in the videos brazenly claim responsibility for the attack while mocking the victim.

    This helped to further establish a watertight case against Wallace, Umar and Amoaka.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Canmore — RCMP Southern Alberta District Crime Reduction Unit recover e-bikes after rash of thefts

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    On March 25, 2025, Canmore RCMP received multiple reports regarding the theft of e-bikes and mountain bikes which were stolen from locked bike racks near the 1200 block of Bow Valley Trail in Canmore.

    RCMP Southern Alberta District Crime Reduction Unit (SAD CRU) was requested to assist Canmore RCMP with the investigation. Through the investigation, a suspect was identified on CCTV footage.

    On March 27, 2025, SAD CRU located and arrested a 38-year-old individual, a resident of Calgary, and recovered all four stolen bikes. The individual has been charged with the following:

    • Trafficking of Property Obtained by Crime Under $5000 (x2)
    • Possession of Proceeds of Property Obtained by Crime Under $5000
    • Theft of Bicycle Under $5000 (x2)
    • Fail to Comply with Release Order (x2)

    After a judicial interim release hearing, the individual was remanded into custody to appear in Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary on April 3, 2025.

    RCMP would like to thank the victims for their speedy reporting of the thefts, which aided in a quick and successful investigation.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: H2 Clipper Transforms Aviation and Aerospace Manufacturing with Patented Swarm Robotics Innovation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SANTA BARBARA, Calif., April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — H2 Clipper, Inc. (“H2C”), a leader in sustainable hydrogen-based infrastructure and transportation, has been granted U.S. Patent No. 12,234,035 for the company’s innovative approach to using autonomous and semi-autonomous robotic swarms in aircraft and aerospace manufacturing. This milestone marks H2C’s 15th awarded patent.

    The newly issued patent is a continuation of H2C’s foundational robotics patent (U.S. Patent No. 11,851,214) granted on December 26, 2023. It extends the scope of H2C’s proprietary robotics claims to expressly cover large-scale aviation and aerospace manufacturing. The use of Swarm Robotics in aerospace production significantly reduces manufacturing time and costs, while enabling unparalleled precision and continuous round-the-clock autonomous production.

    “The issuance of this patent marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of aerospace and aviation manufacturing. By replacing traditional assembly lines with robotic swarms, this breakthrough enables aircraft and large aerospace assets to be built faster, at a significantly lower cost, and with far greater precision,” said Rinaldo Brutoco, H2C Founder and CEO. “Conservative estimates based on current aerospace production benchmarks suggest this approach can reduce total manufacturing costs by 40% or more, and cut production timeframes by up to 60%, while simultaneously improving quality.”

    H2C’s newly patented system employs a network of robots that operate collaboratively and autonomously to construct large aerospace structures with unprecedented efficiency and a significantly smaller production facility footprint. The innovation includes:

    • Automated Manufacturing: Robots work in a coordinated “swarm” to assemble airframes, attach the exterior skin, install structural and internal components, perform bonding and fastening operations, conduct in-process quality inspections, and carry-out other complex, high-precision tasks.
    • AI-Driven Optimization: Machine learning and generative AI guide the robotic swarm to self-correct, improve manufacturing precision, reduce errors, and optimize construction timelines.
    • Scalability and Safety: The system uses built-in sensors and AI-driven oversight to safely manage all operations, assuring collision-free operation and eliminating the need for workers to operate at dangerous heights. With no fixed assembly line or gantries required, manufacturing can be supervised remotely and scaled across multiple locations.
    • Heavy-Lift Robotics Integration: The technology enables large-scale structures to be constructed entirely in place—horizontally or vertically—using autonomous robots capable of repositioning and aligning major components. This flexibility supports multiple assembly approaches while reducing infrastructure requirements and improving safety.

    Whereas traditionally, aircraft must be moved through multiple stages, requiring massive facilities, complex scheduling and high logistical overhead, these assets are built in place using H2C’s approach, eliminating costly movement, saving time, and reducing the need for assembly line infrastructure. H2C’s focus on Swarm Robotics arose from its pursuit of a manufacturing approach that would be suited for constructing its Pipeline-in-the-Sky™ airships. But it soon realized the applicability of the novel approach to addressing multiple challenges faced in all aviation and aerospace manufacturing. With the continuation patent now issued, the company plans to assemble a select group of industry leaders in aerospace engineering, robotics, artificial intelligence, regulatory affairs, and advanced manufacturing to guide the next phase of development and demonstration. This expert team will play a key role in shaping a technology roadmap that supports potential licensing to OEMs—and may lay the groundwork for a broader industry consortium to accelerate adoption of Swarm Robotics across the aerospace sector.

    “This patent represents a game-changing moment for aerospace manufacturing—a shift as significant as the invention of the assembly line itself,” added Brutoco. “Swarm Robotics gives OEMs the ability to build aircraft and spacecraft smarter, faster, and more affordably than ever before, opening the door to a new era in aviation and the future of flight.”

    H2C was selected in 2021 for inclusion in Dassault Systèmes’ prestigious 3DEXPERIENCE® Lab accelerator program; and in 2024, H2C and Dassault agreed on a renewed three-year contract to further develop robotic software for this novel construction method.

    H2C is represented in intellectual property matters by John C. Serio, a Partner in the Boston Intellectual Property and Technology Group at Withers Worldwide.

    About H2 Clipper, Inc. (H2C)
    H2C is the developer of high-speed, Pipeline-in-the-Sky™ hydrogen-powered airships for long distance global transport that use no fossil fuels and have a host of commercial and humanitarian applications, and of the novel H2C Safety Pipe™ for “last mile” distribution of hydrogen to end users. Since 2008, the company has made significant strategic investments to research, develop, and patent core IP in modern airship design, including advanced software systems, and midstream solutions for efficient delivery of both gaseous and liquid hydrogen.

    Media Contact:
    Lisa Murray
    Trevi Communications, Inc.
    lisa@trevicomm.com

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d82ad9a1-9fa0-4c84-8753-303feda9ea1f
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/313f4f34-bd77-4122-bdd0-244873dba26d
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9d5d0cb1-06e7-472b-a293-62f3a6e8a432

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: AssetVal and Restb.ai to Modernize Broker Price Opinions with AI-Powered Visual Validation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    DALLAS, April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AssetVal, a valuation industry leader known for delivering high-quality Broker Price Opinions (BPOs), is partnering with Restb.ai, a trusted innovator in computer vision AI for the mortgage industry, today announced the integration of Restb.ai’s advanced computer vision technology to elevate the consistency and accuracy of its residential BPO offerings. This AI-driven enhancement enables AssetVal to validate the condition and quality of both subject properties and comparables, helping reduce valuation drift and deliver more consistent price opinions at scale.

    Broker Price Opinions – long a staple of real estate’s valuation ecosystem – are often vulnerable to variation between agents and assignments. Deploying Restb.ai’s property intelligence capabilities helps AssetVal deliver a new level of objectivity and precision to BPO analysis, modernizing the process while maintaining its trusted human foundation.

    “At AssetVal, we’ve built our reputation on delivering high-quality valuations – and BPOs are no exception,” said Tami Rund, CEO at AssetVal. “Restb.ai’s AI solutions allow us to validate property condition and quality more consistently to improve BPO accuracy, giving our clients greater confidence in every price opinion we deliver.”

    Enhancing BPO accuracy leveraging visual intelligence
    AssetVal’s integration of Restb.ai brings powerful automation to its BPO workflow, enabling:

    • Heightening the quality of BPOs: Leveraging Restb.ai solutions to detect property conditions and quality more consistently and objectively.
    • Greater BPO accuracy: By more accurately matching comparables of similar condition and quality, AssetVal improves alignment with true market value.
    • Reduced valuation drift: The new capabilities help mitigate inconsistencies between multiple BPOs on the same property, an ongoing challenge in high-volume servicing environments.

    “AssetVal is setting a new standard for BPO quality,” said Tony Pistilli, President, Valuation at Restb.ai. “By embedding our computer vision capabilities, they’re enabling their broker network to focus on valuation insights instead of subjective image review, all while improving consistency across the board.”

    A legacy of quality powered by innovation
    Founded in 1995, AssetVal has built a legacy of valuation excellence delivering BPOs, appraisals, inspections, and data and analytics to some of the nation’s largest servicers and investment banks. The company’s reputation for meeting tight timelines and exceeding compliance standards is bolstered by meeting the highest standards in data protection and privacy (SOC 2 Type II certification) and proprietary compliance tools supported by a robust vendor panel.

    With offices in Colorado and Texas, AssetVal is known as the leading valuation firm with a strong focus on BPOs. Its latest innovation with Restb.ai further reflects its commitment to quality and modernization.

    For more information, visit assetval.com and restb.ai.

    About AssetVal
    AssetVal, Valuation Solutions, AssetVal Inc., a woman owned business, was founded on May 5, 1995. AssetVal is a full spectrum valuation provider working with servicers, investors and originators. Founded in the real estate and valuation space, AssetVal has spent the last 30 years developing and continuously improving upon its proprietary web application, building the most experienced vendor panel, and perfecting its ordering and QC processes to provide top-tier products and services.

    AssetVal was one of the first to develop an advanced proprietary web-based valuation application. Its in-house development team – taking advantage of emerging technologies – has continuously enhanced and upgraded its application. AssetVal has been providing products and services to some of the nation’s largest servicers, investment banks and originators for over 30 years. With the use of in-house technology and third-party partners such as Restb.ai, AssetVal provides some of the best technology and industry leveraged products for an integrated approach.

    About Restb.ai
    Restb.ai, the leader in AI-powered computer vision for real estate, provides image recognition and data enrichment solutions for many of the industry’s top brands and leading innovators in the mortgage industry with AI solutions for valuations and appraisals. Its advanced AI-powered technology automatically analyzes property imagery to unlock visual insights at scale – including property conditions – empowering mortgage, valuation, and appraisal firms with relevant and actionable property intelligence. Its proprietary artificial intelligence technology transforms property imagery into actionable insights, helping clients unlock new value from visual data and providing deep insight into each of the 1 million property photos uploaded daily.

    Media contacts:
    Restb.ai
    Maya Makarem | maya@restb.ai
    or
    Kevin Hawkins | WAV Group
    206-866-1220
    kevin@wavgroup.com.

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1511c311-9e06-4a26-8393-afe1c4c4127e

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/557f4111-5294-459d-ba8f-4b809a43f94d

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Tunisia’s rap revolution: 5 women who are redefining hip-hop

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Jyhene Kebsi, Director of Learning & Teaching (Gender Studies), Macquarie University

    Women rappers were not really a feature of Tunisia’s typically masculine and chauvinist hip-hop scene until the revolution that overthrew Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

    Now there are several politically conscious female voices rising in the rap scene. Gender studies scholar Jyhene Kebsi has published a research paper on how their lyrics highlight the multiple inequalities that women in Tunisia – and the world – must overcome.

    How have male Tunisian rappers generally treated women in their songs and videos?

    The gender politics of Tunisian men’s rap is complex, but we can talk about one of its tendencies. Although there are men who’ve supported their female colleagues and collaborated with them on songs, their portrayals tend to lump women into one of two groups: virtuous or promiscuous; madonnas or whores.

    Read more: Senegal’s female rappers aren’t letting obstacles get in their way – who the rising voices are

    This is clear in their use of obscene words that aim to degrade the “fallen” women they rap about. Their sexual references can be seen as a way to debase the “easy girls and immoral women” who challenge patriarchal norms.

    This is in sharp contrast to the love and indebtedness they express towards their mothers and sisters. In contrast to western rap, the mother figure is central in Tunisian rap.

    The sacredness of the mother in Tunisian Muslim culture is seen in songs full of gratitude towards those who brought them into the world.

    Their reliance on this male-centred division between “respectable” and “unrespectable” women spreads a toxic masculinity that supports harmful gender stereotypes.

    This strengthens men’s social dominance and their policing of women’s bodies. Having said that, it is very important to highlight that sexism is not limited to the Arab rap scene. As I explain in my paper, many western male rappers objectify, humiliate and degrade women in their songs too.

    Who are the four female rappers you discuss?

    The four Tunisian women rappers I analyse are Sabrina, Medusa, Queen Nesrine and Tuny Girl.

    There’s a common perception that Medusa was Tunisia’s first female rapper. In reality, Sabrina began performing rap in 2007 and Tunisia’s other female artists joined the rap scene after the 2011 revolution.

    Medusa is Tunisia’s most famous female rapper in the west – her migration to France boosted her international profile. Although Tuny Girl and Queen Nesrine have not gained the fame of Medusa or Sabrina, they’ve released powerful feminist songs that criticise the status quo in post-revolutionary Tunisia.

    These artists have mainly relied on digital media to share their songs with the public through social platforms like YouTube and Facebook. Unfortunately, all four of them have faced opposition because they’re women.

    Rap is considered a masculine musical genre. Tunisian women’s initial entry into this male-dominated world was not easily accepted. Attitudes towards female rappers have evolved thanks to women’s gradual success in attracting a larger fan base.

    But these four artists share a strong resistance to sexism. Most importantly, while being aware of patriarchal pressures, they’re conscious of the many different forms of oppression that intersect to keep women less equal than men.

    This is evident in their songs, which reflect a strong awareness of intersectionality.

    What is intersesectionality?

    The black US feminist Kimberle Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 to describe the double discrimination of sexism and racism faced by black women. So, she used the term to discuss the multiple forms of inequality that compound themselves and create interlocking obstacles that shape black women’s experiences of discrimination.

    Intersectionality highlights the experiences of multiple forms of discrimination when these categories of social identity interact with and shape one another.

    We see an understanding of intersectionality in a song like Hold On, where Medusa raps about illiteracy, political struggle and motherhood:

    I am watching the floating misery / Illiteracy has spread and made us go from one extreme to the other / Where is the freedom for which activists struggled? / I am the free Tunisian who exposed their chest to bullets / I am the mother, the mother of the martyr who has not gotten his revenge.

    Or, in her song Arahdli, Sabrina raps about a range of social ills:

    Leave me alone / The police catch you and harm you / Don’t believe the corrupt state / Unemployment and poverty will not make you happy.

    I found that what Medusa, Sabrina, Queen Nesrine and Tuny Girl have in common is their rejection of, as Crenshaw puts it, the “single-axis framework”. The one-sided narrative that reduces women’s problems solely to men and patriarchy.

    Instead, these artists highlight the damaging impact – for women – of the intersection of gender inequality, political corruption, unjust laws, ineffective local policies, the collapse of Tunisia’s economy and the country’s weak position in the global geopolitical landscape.

    Their songs are united in their recognition that Tunisian women’s lives are shaped by all these overlapping power structures, exposing them to marginalisation and discrimination.

    So, their songs identify hidden, interrelated structural barriers to their freedom. Misogyny is just one element that needs to be considered alongside other local and global issues when we discuss gender politics in Tunisia.

    What other new trends are female rappers ushering in?

    Women are at the forefront of innovation in Tunisian rap. Take Lully Snake. She’s a Tunisian-Algerian rapper based in Tunisia. This 24-year-old artist was previously a breakdancer. Her passion for hip-hop culture and her love for US artists like Tupac, Kool G Rap, Queen Latifah and Foxy Brown led her to start rapping.

    Like all Tunisian women rappers, she considers her entry into rap to have been a long and difficult journey. Starting in 2019, her first song was only released in 2024.

    Lully Snake first uploaded her debut song Zabatna Kida on Instagram. Its uniqueness lies in its combination of rap and mahraganat, an Egyptian street music that emerged in Cairo’s ghettos. Its success encouraged her to carry on rapping in both Tunisian and Egyptian, alongside other western languages and Maghrebi dialects.

    Lully Snake’s experimentation proves that female rappers are innovating while spreading messages that empower women. This has ultimately enriched Tunisian rap.

    – Tunisia’s rap revolution: 5 women who are redefining hip-hop
    – https://theconversation.com/tunisias-rap-revolution-5-women-who-are-redefining-hip-hop-253066

    MIL OSI Africa –