NewzIntel.com

Category: Europe

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Rosneft has introduced contactless payment services for fuel at its filling stations in Khakassia

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Rosneft – Rosneft – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Rosneft continued its joint work with the Yandex Zapravki service to expand the geography of contactless payment for fuel. The service became available at all Rosneft gas stations in the Republic of Khakassia. You can now refuel your car using a mobile application at 95% of the network’s stations in almost all regions where the Company operates.

    Today, Rosneft has one of the largest retail sales networks in Russia, including about 3,000 petrol stations/gas stations. The geography of the Company’s retail business covers 61 regions of Russia. In the Republic of Khakassia, the Rosneft petrol station network covers highways in the main directions – Abakan-Krasnoyarsk, Abakan-Ak-Dovurak, Abakan-Sayanogorsk. Almost all stations of the network are presented in a new format – with a set of services and an expanded range of cafes “ZERNO”.

    Yandex Gas Stations are integrated into Yandex Go, Maps and Navigator, and are also available in a separate application. Drivers can select the pump number, fuel brand, volume and pay for refueling with a bank card or through the Fast Payment System without leaving their cars.

    You can also use points to pay for fuel – members of the Family Team loyalty program can accumulate them by adding their card details to the Yandex Fueling service profile, as well as if you have an active Yandex Plus subscription. In addition, for motorists who refuel using the digital service, there is a special offer until March 7, 2025.

    Developing convenient customer services to increase the speed and improve the quality of customer service is one of the priority goals of Rosneft’s retail business.

    Department of Information and Advertising of PJSC NK Rosneft February 12, 2025

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: Intapp opens Lisbon Research and Development Centre

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Intapp (NASDAQ: INTA), a leading global provider of AI-powered solutions for professionals at advisory, capital markets, and legal firms today announced that it has opened a new office in Lisbon, Portugal. The Lisbon Research and Development (R&D) Centre will be an innovation hub for the Intapp R&D team based in western Europe. There they will help develop the Intapp vertical AI solutions that top global accounting, consulting, investment banking, legal, private capital, and real assets firms rely on for modernization and growth.

    “We’re excited to open the Lisbon R&D Centre,” said Michele Murgel, Chief People and Places Officer at Intapp. “Our first priority is to build a world-class team that will develop new solutions that bring the power of automation and intelligence to professional and financial services firms. Lisbon’s tech ecosystem — including top engineering and tech talent –– along with its reputation for innovation and a vibrant community — make it the perfect location for our innovation hub.”

    Intapp has more than 10 professionals already working in Portugal, and is currently recruiting for 15 additional roles. Many of these roles will focus on R&D, including front- and back-end developers, quality assurance specialists, application security professionals, and DevOps engineers. Support, services, and operational roles are also open.

    Intapp’s Lisbon R&D Centre will also offer an internship program in 2025 to provide engineering and computer science students with hands-on project experience, and to develop a pipeline of entry-level talent.

    “We’re thrilled to launch our internship program at Intapp’s Lisbon R&D Centre. It provides a unique opportunity for talented students to gain hands-on experience with the latest technology,” said Hugo Sampaio, Director of Product Development Operations and Strategy at Intapp. “This program allows us to mentor the next generation of innovators while benefiting from fresh perspectives that drive creativity and enhance our AI-powered solutions.”

    “We are delighted with Intapp’s decision to locate its new R&D Centre in Lisbon. This new venture reflects confidence in Portugal and exemplifies the type of projects AICEP aims to attract — ventures that add value to our economy and leverage the exceptional quality of local talent,” said Ricardo Arroja, Chairman & CEO of AICEP – Portugal Trade & Invest. “In Lisbon, Intapp will find a local vibrant and multicultural ecosystem, where talent plays a strategic role in the success of ventures such as the new R&D Centre. We are confident that the services and products developed locally will have a global impact and contribute to further develop Intapp’s product portfolio. We wish all the best to Intapp’s Lisbon R&D Centre. Bem-vindos!”

    Intapp’s Lisbon R&D Centre is located in Parque das Nações, a vibrant area in the heart of Lisbon’s tech corridor. Intapp chose Parque das Nações for its blend of modern infrastructure, accessibility, and technological innovation. Well located near Oriente Station, and surrounded by green spaces and a scenic riverside promenade, the area offers a perfect balance of convenience and leisure.

    As a hub for tech companies and startups, Parque das Nações fosters a dynamic professional community, making it an ideal location for Intapp. The office’s open-concept design encourages collaboration, while modern meeting rooms and workspaces — equipped with advanced technology and ergonomic standing desks — reflect Intapp’s commitment to innovation and employee well-being.

    Since going public in 2021, Intapp has expanded to over 1,200 employees globally across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Intapp’s culture emphasizes accountability, responsibility, and growth in a diverse, inclusive, and collaborative environment. Team members support each other in a positive, open atmosphere that fosters creativity, approachability, and teamwork. The company is committed to creating a modern work environment that’s connected yet flexible, supporting both professional success and work-life balance.

    About Intapp 
    Intapp software helps professionals unlock their teams’ knowledge, relationships, and operational insights to increase value for their firms. Using the power of Applied AI, we make firm and market intelligence easy to find, understand, and use. With Intapp’s portfolio of vertical SaaS solutions, professionals can apply their collective expertise to make smarter decisions, manage risk, and increase competitive advantage. The world’s top firms — across accounting, consulting, investment banking, legal, private capital, and real assets — trust Intapp’s industry-specific platform and solutions to modernize and drive new growth. For more information, visit intapp.com and LinkedIn.

    Contact:
    Ali Robinson
    Global Media Relations Director
    press@intapp.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Chris Hedges: The US empire self-destructs

    Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. –

    The United States shares the pathologies of all dying empires with their mixture of buffoonery, rampant corruption, military fiascos, economic collapse and savage state repression.

    ANALYSIS: By Chris Hedges

    The billionaires, Christian fascists, grifters, psychopaths, imbeciles, narcissists and deviants who have seized control of Congress, the White House and the courts, are cannibalising the machinery of state. These self-inflicted wounds, characteristic of all late empires, will cripple and destroy the tentacles of power. And then, like a house of cards, the empire will collapse.

    Blinded by hubris, unable to fathom the empire’s diminishing power, the mandarins in the Trump administration have retreated into a fantasy world where hard and unpleasant facts no longer intrude. They sputter incoherent absurdities while they usurp the Constitution and replace diplomacy, multilateralism and politics with threats and loyalty oaths.

    Agencies and departments, created and funded by acts of Congress, are going up in smoke.

    The rulers of all late empires, including the Roman emperors Caligula and Nero or Charles I, the last Habsburg ruler, are as incoherent as the Mad Hatter, uttering nonsensical remarks, posing unanswerable riddles and reciting word salads of inanities. They, like Donald Trump, are a reflection of the moral, intellectual and physical rot that plague a diseased society. Cartoon: Mr Fish/The Chris Hedges Report

    They are removing government reports and data on climate change and withdrawing
    from the Paris Climate Agreement,. They are pulling out of the World Health Organisation.

    They are sanctioning officials who work at the International Criminal Court — which issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes in Gaza.

    They suggested Canada become the 51st state. They have formed a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias.” They call for the annexation of Greenland and the seizure of the Panama Canal.

    They propose the construction of luxury resorts on the coast of a depopulated Gaza under US control which, if it takes place, would bring down the Arab regimes propped up by the US.

    Uttering nonsensical remarks
    The rulers of all late empires, including the Roman emperors Caligula and Nero or Charles I, the last Habsburg ruler, are as incoherent as the Mad Hatter, uttering nonsensical remarks, posing unanswerable riddles and reciting word salads of inanities. They, like Donald Trump, are a reflection of the moral, intellectual and physical rot that plague a diseased society.

    I spent two years researching and writing about the warped ideologues of those who have now seized power in my book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. Read it while you still can. Seriously.

    These Christian fascists, who define the core ideology of the Trump administration, are unapologetic about their hatred for pluralistic, secular democracies. They seek, as they exhaustively detail in numerous “Christian” books and documents such as the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, to deform the judiciary and legislative branches of government, along with the media and academia, into appendages to a “Christianised” state led by a divinely anointed leader.

    They openly admire Nazi apologists such as Rousas John Rushdoony, a supporter of eugenics who argues that education and social welfare should be handed over to the churches and Biblical law must replace the secular legal code, and Nazi party theorists such as Carl Schmitt.

    They are avowed racists, misogynists and homophobes. They embrace bizarre conspiracy theories from the white replacement theory to a shadowy monster they call “the woke.” Suffice it to say, they are not grounded in a reality based universe.

    Christian fascists come out of a theocratic sect called Dominionism. This sect teaches that American Christians have been mandated to make America a Christian state and an agent of God. Political and intellectual opponents of this militant Biblicalism are condemned as agents of Satan.

    “Under Christian dominion, America will no longer be a sinful and fallen nation but one in which the 10 Commandments form the basis of our legal system, creationism and ‘Christian values’ form the basis of our educational system, and the media and the government proclaim the Good News to one and all,” I noted in my book.

    “Labour unions, civil-rights laws and public schools will be abolished. Women will be removed from the workforce to stay at home, and all those deemed insufficiently Christian will be denied citizenship. Aside from its proselytising mandate, the federal government will be reduced to the protection of property rights and ‘homeland’ security.”


    Chris Hedges talks to Marc Lamont Hill on Up Front on why “democracy doesn’t exist in the United States” today.   Video: Al Jazeera

    Comforting to most Americans
    The Christian fascists and their billionaire funders, I noted, “speak in terms and phrases that are familiar and comforting to most Americans, but they no longer use words to mean what they meant in the past.”

    They commit logocide, killing old definitions and replacing them with new ones. Words — including truth, wisdom, death, liberty, life and love — are deconstructed and assigned diametrically opposed meanings.Life and death, for example, mean life in Christ or death to Christ, a signal of belief of unbelief. Wisdom refers to the level of commitment and obedience to the doctrine.

    Liberty is not about freedom, but the liberty that comes from following Jesus Christ and being liberated from the dictates of secularism. Love is twisted to mean an unquestioned obedience to those, such as Trump, who claim to speak and act for God.As the death spiral accelerates, phantom enemies, domestic and foreign, will be blamed for the demise, persecuted and slated for obliteration.

    Once the wreckage is complete, ensuring the immiseration of the citizenry, a breakdown in public services and engendering an inchoate rage, only the blunt instrument of state violence will remain. A lot of people will suffer, especially as the climate crisis inflicts with greater and greater intensity its lethal retribution.

    The near-collapse of our constitutional system of checks and balances took place long before the arrival of Trump. Trump’s return to power represents the death rattle of the Pax Americana. The day is not far off when, like the Roman Senate in 27 BC, Congress will take its last significant vote and surrender power to a dictator. The Democratic Party, whose strategy seems to be to do nothing and hope Trump implodes, have already acquiesced to the inevitable.

    The question is not whether we go down, but how many millions of innocents we will take with us. Given the industrial violence our empire wields, it could be a lot, especially if those in charge decide to reach for the nukes.

    The dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) — Elon Musk claims is run by “a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America” — is an example of how these arsonists are clueless about how empires function.

    Foreign aid is not benevolent. It is weaponised to maintain primacy over the United Nations and remove governments the empire deems hostile. Those nations in the UN and other multilateral organisations who vote the way the empire demands, who surrender their sovereignty to global corporations and the US military, receive assistance. Those who don’t do not.

    Building infrastructure projects
    When the US offered to build the airport in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, investigative journalist Matt Kennard reports, it required that Haiti oppose Cuba’s admittance into the Organisation of American States, which it did.

    Foreign aid builds infrastructure projects so corporations can operate global sweatshops and extract resources. It funds “democracy promotion” and “judicial reform” that thwart the aspirations of political leaders and governments that seek to remain independent from the grip of the empire.

    USAID, for example, paid for a “political party reform project” that was designed
    “as a counterweight” to the “radical” Movement Toward Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo) and sought to prevent socialists like Evo Morales from being elected in Bolivia. It then funded organisations and initiatives, including training programmes so Bolivian youth could be taught the American business practices, once Morales assumed the presidency, to weaken his hold on power.

    Kennard in his book, The Racket: A Rogue Reporter vs The American Empire, documents
    how US institutions such as the National Endowment for Democracy, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, USAID and the Drug Enforcement Administration, work in tandem with the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency to subjugate and oppress the Global South.

    Client states that receive aid must break unions, impose austerity measures, keep wages low and maintain puppet governments. The heavily funded aid programmes, designed to bring down Morales, eventually led the Bolivian president to throw USAID out of the country.

    The lie peddled to the public is that this aid benefits both the needy overseas and us at home. But the inequality these programmes facilitate abroad replicates the inequality imposed domestically. The wealth extracted from the Global South is not equitably distributed. It ends up in the hands of the billionaire class, often stashed in overseas bank accounts to avoid taxation.

    Our US tax dollars, meanwhile, disproportionately funds the military, which is the iron fist that sustains the system of exploitation. The 30 million Americans who were victims of mass layoffs and deindustrialisation lost their jobs to workers in sweatshops overseas. As Kennard notes, both home and abroad, it is a vast “transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich globally and domestically”.

    Legitimises theft at home
    “The same people that devise the myths about what we do abroad have also built up a similar ideological system that legitimises theft at home; theft from the poorest, by the richest,” he writes. “The poor and working people of Harlem have more in common with the poor and working people of Haiti than they do with their elites, but this has to be obscured for the racket to work.”

    Foreign aid maintains sweatshops or “special economic zones” in countries such as Haiti, where workers toil for pennies an hour and often in unsafe conditions for global corporations.

    “One of the facets of special economic zones, and one of the incentives for corporations in the US, is that special economic zones have even less regulations than the national state on how you can treat labour and taxes and customs,” Kennard told me in an interview.

    “You open these sweatshops in the special economic zones. You pay the workers a pittance. You get all the resources out without having to pay customs or tax. The state in Mexico or Haiti or wherever it is, where they’re offshoring this production, doesn’t benefit at all. That’s by design. The coffers of the state are always the ones that never get increased. It’s the corporations that benefit.”

    These same US institutions and mechanisms of control, Kennard writes in his book, were employed to sabotage the electoral campaign of Jeremy Corbyn, a fierce critic of the US empire, for prime minister in Britain.

    The US disbursed nearly $72 billion in foreign aid in fiscal year 2023. It funded clean water initiatives, HIV/Aids treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work. In 2024, it provided 42 percent of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations.

    Humanitarian aid, often described as “soft power,” is designed to mask the theft of resources in the Global South by US corporations, the expansion of the footprint of the US military, the rigid control of foreign governments, the devastation caused by fossil fuel extraction, the systemic abuse of workers in global sweatshops and the poisoning of child labourers in places like the Congo, where they are used to mine lithium.

    The demise of American power
    I doubt Musk and his army of young minions in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — which isn’t an official department within the federal government — have any idea about how the organisations they are destroying work, why they exist or what it will mean for the demise of American power.

    The seizure of government personnel records and classified material, the effort to terminate hundreds of millions of dollars worth of government contracts — mostly those which relate to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the offers of buyouts to “drain the swamp” including a buyout offer to the entire workforce of the Central Intelligence Agency — now temporarily blocked by a judge — the firing of 17 or 18 inspectors generals
    and federal prosecutors, the halting of government funding and grants, sees them cannibalise the leviathan they worship.

    They plan to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education
    and the US Postal Service, part of the internal machinery of the empire. The more dysfunctional the state becomes, the more it creates a business opportunity for predatory corporations and private equity firms. These billionaires will make a fortune “harvesting” the remains of the empire. But they are ultimately slaying the beast that created American wealth and power.

    Once the dollar is no longer the world’s reserve currency, something the dismantling of the empire guarantees, the US will be unable to pay for its huge deficits by selling Treasury bonds. The American economy will fall into a devastating depression. This will trigger a breakdown of civil society, soaring prices, especially for imported products, stagnant wages and high unemployment rates.

    The funding of at least 750 overseas military bases and our bloated military will become impossible to sustain. The empire will instantly contract. It will become a shadow of itself. Hypernationalism, fueled by an inchoate rage and widespread despair, will morph into a hate-filled American fascism.

    Relentless hunt for plunder, profit
    “The demise of the United States as the preeminent global power could come far more quickly than anyone imagines,” the historian Alfred W. McCoy writes in his book In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power:

    Despite the aura of omnipotence empires often project, most are surprisingly fragile, lacking the inherent strength of even a modest nation-state. Indeed, a glance at their history should remind us that the greatest of them are susceptible to collapse from diverse causes, with fiscal pressures usually a prime factor. For the better part of two centuries, the security and prosperity of the homeland has been the main objective for most stable states, making foreign or imperial adventures an expendable option, usually allocated no more than 5 percent of the domestic budget. Without the financing that arises almost organically inside a sovereign nation, empires are famously predatory in their relentless hunt for plunder or profit — witness the Atlantic slave trade, Belgium’s rubber lust in the Congo, British India’s opium commerce, the Third Reich’s rape of Europe, or the Soviet exploitation of Eastern Europe.

    When revenues shrink or collapse, McCoy points out, “empires become brittle.”

    “So delicate is their ecology of power that, when things start to go truly wrong, empires regularly unravel with unholy speed: just a year for Portugal, two years for the Soviet Union, eight years for France, 11 years for the Ottomans, 17 for Great Britain, and, in all likelihood, just 27 years for the United States, counting from the crucial year 2003 [when the US invaded Iraq],” he writes.

    The array of tools used for global dominance — wholesale surveillance, the evisceration of civil liberties, including due process, torture, militarised police, the massive prison system, militarised drones and satellites — will be employed against a restive and enraged population.

    The devouring of the carcass of the empire to feed the outsized greed and egos of these scavengers presages a new dark age.

    Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author and journalist who was a foreign correspondent for 15 years for The New York Times. This article was first published on his Substack page. Republished from the Chris Hedges X page.

    This article was first published on Café Pacific.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Support for reconstruction: Federal Council adopts 2025–28 country programme for Ukraine

    Source: Switzerland – Federal Council in English

    The 2025–28 country programme marks the start of a twelve-year federal support process for reconstruction, reform and sustainable development in Ukraine. At its meeting on 12 February, the Federal Council defined the priorities of the country programme, namely protection of the civilian population, peace, economic recovery and strengthening institutions. CHF 1.5 billion from the international cooperation budget has been earmarked up to 2028. Ambassador Jacques Gerber, the Federal Council’s delegate for Ukraine, is responsible for implementing the country programme.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: A new leader & new challenges for London Fire Brigade

    Source: Mayor of London

    In January this year, Andy Roe announced his retirement from the role of London Fire Brigade (LFB) Commissioner.

    LFB is the largest fire and rescue service in the UK and among the largest in the world. It deals with a range of serious incidents, notably fires in residential and non-residential buildings, wildfires, terrorist incidents, flooding, road traffic collisions and other incidents where Londoners are in need of rescue. 

    As an organisation, it employs over 5,800 people made up of firefighters, control officers and fire rescue staff (non-operational). LFB is one of very few fire and rescue services in the UK whose firefighters are all full-time. 
    LFB has faced a number of challenges in recent years which have had a significant impact on how it operates in London as well as having a national impact for the Government and all fire and rescue services. These include the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, two His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services reports, being placed into the Engage process (which it exited in March 2024[1]), an Independent Culture Review and a transformation programme.

    Tomorrow, London Assembly Members will discuss those challenges, as well as building safety, lithium-ion battery powered e-bikes and e-scooters, EV buses fire risk, home fire safety visits and more, with guests:

    • Jules Pipe CBE, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and the Fire Service 
    • Andy Roe KFSM, London Fire Brigade Commissioner

    Following the discussion, London Assembly Members will debate these motions. 
     
    The meeting will take place on Thursday 13 February 2025 from 10am in the Chamber at City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, E16 1ZE.
     
    Media and members of the public are invited to attend.
     
    The meeting can also be viewed LIVE or later via webcast or YouTube.
     
    Follow us @LondonAssembly.
     

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Working with nature to boost nation’s flood resilience: New evidence of natural flood management benefits

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Environment Agency publication captures latest research about natural flood management to help understand what works best where

    Nature can play a major role in improving the nation’s resilience to flooding and coastal erosion, updated research from the Environment Agency underlines.  

    The Environment Agency has today (Wednesday 12 February) published a new Working with Natural Processes Evidence Directory, updating the internationally recognised product first released in 2017.  

    Informed by significant scientific research including more than 700 papers, the directory summarises the latest evidence for 17 natural flood management (NFM) measures relating to river and floodplain, woodland, run-off, and coast and estuary management.  

    NFM protects, restores and emulates the natural functions of rivers, floodplains, catchments and the coast to reduce flooding and coastal erosion. It takes many different forms and can be implemented in urban and rural areas, on rivers, and on estuaries and coasts.   

    The directory shows the wide variety in the benefits of the different measures.   

    Among the findings, catchment woodland is shown not only to help reduce flood risk but also to provide benefits for soil, biodiversity and water quality, alongside access to nature.  

    The review showed catchment woodland can reduce the height of flood water, with the greatest reductions during smaller events. One study in Cumbria suggested the flow of flood water was slowed by 14-50% in woodland compared to pasture.  

    The latest science also showcases the significant wider benefits of saltmarsh and mudflat restoration, including their ability to store large amounts of carbon, helping to mitigate climate change. They can also filter sediments and nutrients, improving water quality.    

    Managed realignment at Steart Marshes in Somerset created 250 hectares of saltmarsh. A recent study showed the marsh was storing 36.6 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year following restoration, a number which compares favourably with woodland.  

    For the first time, the updated directory includes emerging evidence for three new measures, highlighting the potential flood risk reduction and wider benefits of coastal reefs, submerged aquatic vegetation, and beavers. There is still more to learn about these measures, including understanding what the best depth for oysters to grow and develop while also effectively reducing wave energy is. 

    The new Working with Natural Processes directory demonstrates that the evidence for NFM has grown significantly, building confidence in the flood risk reduction and wider benefits.  

    The directory provides a new evidence baseline for NFM, helping to inform future investment decisions and support the selection of measures on the ground.  

    Julie Foley, Environment Agency Director of Flood Risk Strategy and National Adaptation, said:

    With climate change increasing the threats of flooding and coastal erosion, we must work together with nature to boost resilience across the country.  

    That’s why the Environment Agency is mainstreaming the use of natural flood management alongside the use of traditional engineered defences.  

    Our £25 million Natural Flood Management Programme was shaped by the Working with Natural Processes Evidence Directory. Through this fund we are testing our approaches to future investment and the delivery of natural flood management.

    New evidence also demonstrates the benefits of combining multiple NFM measures. The five-year Littlestock Brook trial on the River Evenlode in Oxfordshire tested several measures at the same time, including putting in woody dams, creating 230m of new water courses, and planting 14.4 hectares of new woodland. Results from the trial show reductions in the height of flood waters of up to 55.2% across all the storms analysed. 

    Research suggests the Evenlode project will help remove 8,199 tonnes net of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, attributed to creating the woodland and agroforestry. 

    The Salmons Brook NFM project in Enfield, north London, combined planting 200 hectares of woodland with reducing the width of the channel by 75% and installing 46 bunds in a rural catchment. Modelling found that, during a once-in-a-25-year storm, the combination could reduce flood flows by half and peak water levels by 10-30cm in the urban areas downstream, with the effectiveness expected to increase with the woodland’s maturity. 

    Kathryn Brown, The Wildlife Trusts Director of Climate Change and Evidence, said:

    Getting the best evidence to support our collective efforts to build resilience is critically important.  

    I’m delighted to see the latest science on natural flood management coming together in one place through the Environment Agency’s Evidence Directory, with a focus on co-benefits – and to see new recognition of the role beavers can play in natural flood management.

    This well-used directory has been pivotal in supporting NFM work across the country, including through The Wildlife Trusts.

    The findings of the original report are widely referenced in the International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management, an international guide produced by the US Army Corps of Engineers.  

    Publishing the new Working with Natural Processes evidence directory meets the Environment Agency’s commitment in its Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy Roadmap to update the report by 2026.

    Updates to this page

    Published 12 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Tatyana Golikova: The main objective of the national project “Family” is to ensure sustainable growth in the birth rate, increase the number of large families and the growth of their well-being

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova addressed the participants, guests and organizers of the forum “Social Priorities in the Development of Responsible Business – Contribution to Achieving National Goals” with a video greeting.

    Video greeting from Tatyana Golikova to the participants, guests and organizers of the forum “Social priorities in the development of responsible business – contribution to the achievement of national goals”

    12 hours ago

    From the transcript:

    T.Golikova: Dear colleagues! I am pleased to welcome the participants, guests and organizers of the forum “Social Priorities in the Development of Responsible Business – Contribution to Achieving National Goals”, which is being held by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

    Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has defined the key national goal as preserving the population, strengthening health and improving the well-being of people, and supporting families. To solve these problems, new national projects have been launched since January 2025.

    The work that was done within the framework of the national projects “Demography”, “Healthcare”, “Culture”, as well as the Year of the Family, laid a reliable foundation that allows us to build and strengthen a system of comprehensive support for motherhood, fatherhood and childhood, care for the older generation and the preservation of our traditional cultural values within the framework of the national project “Family”. Its main task is to ensure a sustainable increase in the birth rate, increase the number of large families and the growth of their well-being.

    Thanks to the measures taken, the poverty level is gradually decreasing. Compared to 2018, the decrease was 37% – to 8% by the end of the third quarter of 2024.

    At the same time, within the framework of the national project “Family”, we set ourselves a more serious task – reducing the level of poverty among large families.

    In conditions where more and more young people are focused on building a career, the issue of combining family responsibilities, education and professional prospects is becoming increasingly relevant. Both social and financial support measures for families with children, accessibility of preschool education, and the opportunity to maintain competencies and receive additional education while on maternity leave are important.

    Within the framework of the national project “Demography”, almost 1 million citizens received free training, including 260 thousand women with preschool-age children.

    We continue this event within the framework of the national project “Personnel”, which is aimed at training specialists for the needs of the economy. Its goal is to coordinate the efforts of educational institutions, employment centers, companies and the state. We need to form a flexible, effective system of training specialists, focused on the needs of the economy.

    The national projects “Long and Active Life” and “New Health Preservation Technologies” are aimed at increasing life expectancy, increasing the duration of healthy and active life, improving the availability and effectiveness of medical care, introducing modern medical technologies, and preserving the life and health of our citizens.

    To successfully solve problems of this scale, it is necessary to consolidate the efforts of the state, business and the whole society.

    We are pleased to note the desire of businesses to participate in social projects. In order to maintain the health of workers and stimulate a healthy lifestyle within the framework of the national project “Demography” in 85 regions, enterprises implemented corporate programs to improve the health of workers.

    To increase the birth rate and large families, companies are actively implementing healthy lifestyle programs, introducing measures to support employees with family responsibilities, which are aimed not only at employees, but also at creating favorable conditions in the territories where the organizations are present.

    The most common corporate social practices are assistance in organizing summer vacations for children, organizing leisure activities for families with children, additional leave in connection with the birth of a child, the possibility of remote work for employees with children, and one-time financial assistance in connection with the birth of a child.

    The head of state has made a number of decisions to develop corporate family policy: payments by employers in the amount of up to 1 million rubles at the birth of children have been exempted from personal income taxes, and a decision has been made to introduce a national ranking of employers based on the number of employees with preschool-age children.

    On behalf of the President of the country, the National Award “Leaders of Responsible Business” was established in 2023, which emphasizes the importance of social responsibility of business and its contribution to improving the demographic situation, supporting families with children, youth, and developing human capital.

    Responsible business leaders invest significant resources in creating jobs based on advanced technologies, training personnel, improving working conditions, providing social guarantees to employees, and participate in solving socially significant problems in the regions where they operate.

    Best practices are encouraged within the nominations of the All-Russian competition “Russian Organization of High Social Efficiency” and the All-Russian competition of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs “Business Flagships: Dynamics, Responsibility, Sustainability”. Based on the best practices of our companies, recommendations of the Russian Tripartite Commission for the Regulation of Social and Labor Relations to the parties to social partnership on the development and implementation of corporate social policy measures to support employees with family responsibilities by employers have been developed and approved.

    By acting responsibly, companies strengthen their market positions, their reputation as a responsible employer, entrepreneur, partner, use opportunities related to sustainable development, and at the same time contribute to positive changes not only in the economy, but also in the social sphere, in the implementation of national projects and the achievement of national development goals.

    I wish you interesting discussions, constructive communication, expansion of the circle of responsible companies and new successes!

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Global financial reform addresses challenges facing developing nations: UN deputy chief

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

    SDGs

    Decisive action is needed to address the financial challenges facing developing nations, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Tuesday in remarks to the Second Preparatory Committee for the Forth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4).

    The four-day meeting at UN Headquarters began with discussions on international debt architecture, feminist fiscal policy for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and global tax reform.

    “The SDGs have stalled,” Ms. Mohammed said, emphasising that their revival depends on “unlocking the scale and quality of finance required to power investments, loosening the grip of debt service that is crippling dozens of countries and protecting economies from external shocks”. 

    Preparation for Seville Conference 2025

    This preparatory meeting, which follows a first session in Addis Ababa in July, has already generated nearly 300 stakeholder contributions ahead of the main conference scheduled for June 2025 in Seville, Spain. 

    These inputs have informed an Elements Paper containing proposals for transformative change across the Addis action areas, which will be central to discussions at the main conference next year.

    Key proposals for financial reform

    Ms. Mohammed outlined several key proposals under consideration. A central focus is domestic resource mobilisation, which she described as “the core of development financing and the compact between citizens and states”. 

    One concrete proposal calls for ensuring all developing countries can raise their tax-to-GDP ratio above 15 per cent. The conference is also tackling the challenge of private investment mobilisation.

    “After 10 years of billions-to-trillions discussions, we still don’t see results at the scale or impact required,” Ms. Mohammed emphasised, calling for firm commitments “to do better on blending: to focus on impact, to utilise instruments at scale and to align with national priorities”.

    Reforming financial architecture  

    The Deputy Secretary-General also highlighted the FfD4’s important role in fulfilling the vision articulated in the recently adopted Pact for the Future on financial architecture reform. Ms. Mohammed called for “bold ambition to create a debt architecture that truly empowers sustainable development”.

    Proposals for this include “expanding the capital bases of Multilateral Development Banks” she said.

    The conference also aims to transform Special Drawing Rights to make them more effective for future crises response.

    Concrete action needed in the future

    A key focus will be strengthening the voice and representation of developing countries in International Financial institutions. “This would be real and transformative change,” Ms. Mohammed said.

    Additionally, she stated that “we must pledge concrete actions to strengthen the voice and representation of developing countries in International Financial Institutions, ensuring that they become genuinely inclusive and more effective”.  

    The Deputy Secretary-General also called on participants to “push boundaries” and ensure that reforms match the ambition needed for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted nearly a decade ago. 

    “Together, let us honour our 2015 commitments for a more sustainable, peaceful and prosperous world for all,” she concluded.   

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Medicinal Products Licensing Ordinance modified

    Source: Switzerland – Federal Council in English

    The Federal Council resolved at its meeting of 12 February 2025 to enable international organisations headquartered in Switzerland to import non-authorised medicinal products into the country for their own personnel under certain conditions. The new provisions cover medicinal products such as vaccines for employees of the United Nations and its specialised agencies.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Minutes – Tuesday, 11 February 2025 – Strasbourg – Final edition

    Source: European Parliament 2

    PV-10-2025-02-11

    EN

    EN

    iPlPv_Sit

    Minutes
    Tuesday, 11 February 2025 – Strasbourg

    IN THE CHAIR: Christel SCHALDEMOSE
    Vice-President

    1. Opening of the sitting

    The sitting opened at 09:00.


    2. Preparedness for a new trade era: multilateral cooperation or tariffs (debate)

    Council and Commission statements: Preparedness for a new trade era: multilateral cooperation or tariffs (2025/2551(RSP))

    Adam Szłapka (President-in-Office of the Council) and Maroš Šefčovič (Member of the Commission) made the statements.

    The following spoke: Jörgen Warborn, on behalf of the PPE Group, Iratxe García Pérez, on behalf of the S&D Group, Klara Dostalova, on behalf of the PfE Group, Daniele Polato, on behalf of the ECR Group, Karin Karlsbro, on behalf of the Renew Group, Anna Cavazzini, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Manon Aubry, on behalf of The Left Group, René Aust, on behalf of the ESN Group, Michał Szczerba, Kathleen Van Brempt, Christophe Bay, Stephen Nikola Bartulica, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, who also answered a blue-card question from Manon Aubry, Diana Riba i Giner, Lynn Boylan, Fabio De Masi, Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez, who also answered a blue-card question from Petras Gražulis, Yannis Maniatis, Anna Bryłka, Svenja Hahn, who also answered a blue-card question from Damian Boeselager, Majdouline Sbai, Rudi Kennes, Lídia Pereira, who also answered a blue-card question from João Oliveira, Bernd Lange, Jorge Buxadé Villalba, who also answered a blue-card question from Cristina Maestre, Sophie Wilmès, Virginijus Sinkevičius, Željana Zovko, Stefano Bonaccini, András László, who also answered a blue-card question from Radan Kanev, Barry Cowen, Luděk Niedermayer, who also answered a blue-card question from Maria Grapini, Raphaël Glucksmann, Ľubica Karvašová, Sebastião Bugalho, Javier Moreno Sánchez, Nicolás Pascual de la Parte, Loucas Fourlas, Dirk Gotink and Salvatore De Meo.

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Sebastian Tynkkynen and Billy Kelleher.

    IN THE CHAIR: Roberts ZĪLE
    Vice-President

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Lukas Sieper.

    The following spoke: Maria Grapini on the organisation of the debate.

    The following spoke: Maroš Šefčovič and Adam Szłapka.

    The debate closed.


    3. Continuing the unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after three years of Russia’s war of aggression (debate)

    Council and Commission statements: Continuing the unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after three years of Russia’s war of aggression (2025/2528(RSP))

    Adam Szłapka (President-in-Office of the Council) and Marta Kos (Member of the Commission) made the statements.

    The following spoke: Michael Gahler, on behalf of the PPE Group, Yannis Maniatis, on behalf of the S&D Group, Csaba Dömötör, on behalf of the PfE Group, Adam Bielan, on behalf of the ECR Group, Petras Auštrevičius, on behalf of the Renew Group, Villy Søvndal, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Danilo Della Valle, on behalf of The Left Group, Petras Gražulis, on behalf of the ESN Group, Rasa Juknevičienė, Kathleen Van Brempt, Pierre-Romain Thionnet, Reinis Pozņaks, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who also answered a blue-card question from Alexander Sell, Mārtiņš Staķis, Jonas Sjöstedt, Petar Volgin, Ľuboš Blaha, Sandra Kalniete, Sven Mikser, Viktória Ferenc, Alberico Gambino, Hilde Vautmans, Sergey Lagodinsky, Hans Neuhoff, Fabio De Masi, Michał Szczerba, Thijs Reuten, Petra Steger, Jaak Madison, Bernard Guetta, Markéta Gregorová, Zsuzsanna Borvendég, Pekka Toveri, Pina Picierno, Michał Dworczyk, Helmut Brandstätter, Nicolás Pascual de la Parte, Raphaël Glucksmann, Sebastian Tynkkynen, Davor Ivo Stier, Marcos Ros Sempere, Arkadiusz Mularczyk, Reinhold Lopatka, who also answered a blue-card question from Alexander Jungbluth, Tonino Picula, Mika Aaltola, who also answered a blue-card question from Merja Kyllönen, Tobias Cremer, Riho Terras and Ana Miguel Pedro.

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Hélder Sousa Silva, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Dainius Žalimas, Siegbert Frank Droese and Ondřej Dostál.

    The following spoke: Marta Kos and Adam Szłapka.

    Motions for resolutions to be tabled under Rule 136(2) would be announced at a later stage.

    The debate closed.

    Vote: next part-session.

    (The sitting was suspended for a few moments.)


    IN THE CHAIR: Roberta METSOLA
    President

    4. Resumption of the sitting

    The sitting resumed at 12:22.


    5. Formal sitting – Address by Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada

    The President made an address to welcome Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada.

    Ruslan Stefanchuk addressed the House.

    (The sitting was suspended for a few moments.)


    6. Resumption of the sitting

    The sitting resumed at 12:42.


    7. Voting time

    For detailed results of the votes, see also ‘Results of votes’ and ‘Results of roll-call votes’.


    7.1. Conclusion of an agreement between the European Union and the government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on certain aspects of air services *** (vote)

    Recommendation on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on certain aspects of air services [10844/2024 – C10-0111/2024 – 2015/0188(NLE)] – Committee on Transport and Tourism. Rapporteur: Tomas Tobé (A10-0005/2025)

    (Majority of the votes cast)

    DRAFT COUNCIL DECISION

    Approved (P10_TA(2025)0008)

    Parliament consented to the conclusion of the agreement.

    (‘Results of votes’, item 1)


    7.2. Conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Protocol (2024-2029) implementing the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Cabo Verde *** (vote)

    Recommendation on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Protocol (2024-2029) implementing the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Cabo Verde [11267/2024 – C10-0087/2024 – 2024/0133(NLE)] – Committee on Fisheries. Rapporteur: Paulo Do Nascimento Cabral (A10-0004/2025)

    (Majority of the votes cast)

    DRAFT COUNCIL DECISION

    Approved (P10_TA(2025)0009)

    Parliament consented to the conclusion of the agreement.

    (‘Results of votes’, item 2)


    7.3. Renewal of the Agreement on cooperation in science and technology between the European Community and Ukraine *** (vote)

    Recommendation on the draft Council decision on the renewal of the Agreement on cooperation in science and technology between the European Community and Ukraine [14848/2024 – C10-0196/2024 – 2024/0240(NLE)] – Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. Rapporteur: Borys Budka (A10-0007/2025)

    (Majority of the votes cast)

    DRAFT COUNCIL DECISION

    Approved (P10_TA(2025)0010)

    Parliament consented to the renewal of the agreement.

    (‘Results of votes’, item 3)


    7.4. European Central Bank – annual report 2024 (vote)

    Report on European Central Bank – annual report 2024 [2024/2054(INI)] – Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. Rapporteur: Anouk Van Brug (A10-0003/2025)

    The debate had taken place on 10 February 2025 (minutes of 10.2.2025, item 13).

    (Majority of the votes cast)

    MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION

    Adopted (P10_TA(2025)0011)

    (‘Results of votes’, item 4)

    (The sitting was suspended at 12:53.)


    IN THE CHAIR: Javi LÓPEZ
    Vice-President

    8. Resumption of the sitting

    The sitting resumed at 12:58.


    9. Approval of the minutes of the previous sitting

    The minutes of the previous sitting were approved.


    10. The need to address urgent labour shortages and ensure quality jobs in the health care sector (debate)

    Commission statement: The need to address urgent labour shortages and ensure quality jobs in the health care sector (2025/2529(RSP))

    Roxana Mînzatu (Executive Vice-President of the Commission) made the statement.

    The following spoke: Dennis Radtke, on behalf of the PPE Group, Gabriele Bischoff, on behalf of the S&D Group, Gerald Hauser, on behalf of the PfE Group, Ruggero Razza, on behalf of the ECR Group, Vlad Vasile-Voiculescu, on behalf of the Renew Group, Maria Ohisalo, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Leila Chaibi, on behalf of The Left Group, Tomislav Sokol, Estelle Ceulemans, Marie-Luce Brasier-Clain, Aurelijus Veryga, Brigitte van den Berg, Tilly Metz, Catarina Martins, Jan-Peter Warnke, Liesbet Sommen, Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Pál Szekeres, Adrian-George Axinia, Olivier Chastel, Pernando Barrena Arza, Maria Zacharia, András Tivadar Kulja, Marianne Vind, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión, Michele Picaro, Kathleen Funchion, Adam Jarubas, Nicolás González Casares, Marie Dauchy, Beatrice Timgren, Elena Nevado del Campo, Johan Danielsson, Valérie Deloge, Mariateresa Vivaldini, Romana Tomc, who also answered a blue-card question from João Oliveira, and Alessandra Moretti.

    IN THE CHAIR: Roberts ZĪLE
    Vice-President

    The following spoke: Philippe Olivier, Claudiu-Richard Târziu, Marit Maij, Malika Sorel, Francesco Ventola, Victor Negrescu and Evelyn Regner.

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Sérgio Humberto, Maria Grapini, Oihane Agirregoitia Martínez, Ana Miranda Paz, João Oliveira, Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos, Dennis Radtke, Idoia Mendia and Rudi Kennes.

    The following spoke: Roxana Mînzatu.

    The debate closed.


    11. Boosting vocational education and training in times of labour market transitions (debate)

    Council and Commission statements: Boosting vocational education and training in times of labour market transitions (2025/2530(RSP))

    Adam Szłapka (President-in-Office of the Council) and Roxana Mînzatu (Executive Vice-President of the Commission) made the statements.

    The following spoke: Dennis Radtke, on behalf of the PPE Group, Romana Jerković, on behalf of the S&D Group, Catherine Griset, on behalf of the PfE Group, Chiara Gemma, on behalf of the ECR Group, Brigitte van den Berg, on behalf of the Renew Group, Li Andersson, on behalf of The Left Group, Marcin Sypniewski, on behalf of the ESN Group, Maravillas Abadía Jover, Hannes Heide and Pál Szekeres.

    IN THE CHAIR: Pina PICIERNO
    Vice-President

    The following spoke: Georgiana Teodorescu, Laurence Farreng, Nikos Pappas, Fidias Panayiotou, Gheorghe Falcă, Idoia Mendia, Elisabeth Dieringer, Marlena Maląg, Anna-Maja Henriksson, Andrzej Buła, Marc Angel, Mélanie Disdier, Ivaylo Valchev, Sérgio Humberto, who also answered a blue-card question from João Oliveira, Sabrina Repp, Annamária Vicsek, Elena Donazzan, Eleonora Meleti, Isilda Gomes, Juan Carlos Girauta Vidal, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė and Marie Dauchy.

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Nina Carberry, Nikolina Brnjac, Marcos Ros Sempere, Alicia Homs Ginel, Kateřina Konečná and Lukas Sieper.

    The following spoke: Glenn Micallef (Member of the Commission) and Adam Szłapka.

    The debate closed.


    12. Wider comprehensive EU-Middle East strategy (debate)

    Council and Commission statements: Wider comprehensive EU-Middle East strategy (2024/3015(RSP))

    Adam Szłapka (President-in-Office of the Council) and Dubravka Šuica (Member of the Commission) made the statements.

    The following spoke: David McAllister, on behalf of the PPE Group, Yannis Maniatis, on behalf of the S&D Group, Jorge Martín Frías, on behalf of the PfE Group, Ana Miranda Paz, on certain remarks made by the previous speaker, Rihards Kols, on behalf of the ECR Group, Hilde Vautmans, on behalf of the Renew Group, Hannah Neumann, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Lynn Boylan, on behalf of The Left Group, Petras Gražulis, on behalf of the ESN Group, Antonio López-Istúriz White, Hana Jalloul Muro, António Tânger Corrêa, Joachim Stanisław Brudziński, Urmas Paet, Villy Søvndal, João Oliveira, who also answered a blue-card question from Ana Miranda Paz, Alexander Sell, Nikolaos Anadiotis, Hildegard Bentele, Francisco Assis, György Hölvényi, Marion Maréchal, Irena Joveva and Martin Schirdewan.

    IN THE CHAIR: Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ
    Vice-President

    The following spoke: Ruth Firmenich, Ingeborg Ter Laak, Lucia Annunziata, Cristian Terheş, Abir Al-Sahlani, Elena Yoncheva, Andrey Kovatchev, Evin Incir, Emmanouil Fragkos, Billy Kelleher, Alice Teodorescu Måwe, Davor Ivo Stier, Michał Szczerba, Wouter Beke, Nicolás Pascual de la Parte and Reinhold Lopatka.

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Sebastian Tynkkynen, Ana Miranda Paz, Marc Botenga and Diana Iovanovici Şoşoacă.

    The following spoke: Dubravka Šuica and Adam Szłapka.

    The debate closed.


    13. Escalation of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (debate)

    Council and Commission statements: Escalation of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (2025/2553(RSP))

    Adam Szłapka (President-in-Office of the Council) and Dubravka Šuica (Member of the Commission) made the statements.

    The following spoke: Ingeborg Ter Laak, on behalf of the PPE Group, Marit Maij, on behalf of the S&D Group, Thierry Mariani, on behalf of the PfE Group, Alberico Gambino, on behalf of the ECR Group, Hilde Vautmans, on behalf of the Renew Group, Sara Matthieu, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Marc Botenga, on behalf of The Left Group, Petras Gražulis, on behalf of the ESN Group, Wouter Beke, Francisco Assis, György Hölvényi, Charles Goerens, Majdouline Sbai, Marcin Sypniewski, Lukas Mandl, Laura Ballarín Cereza, Jan-Christoph Oetjen, Saskia Bricmont, Hildegard Bentele, Murielle Laurent, Yvan Verougstraete, Giorgio Gori and Udo Bullmann, who also declined to take a blue-card question from Lukas Sieper.

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Juan Fernando López Aguilar.

    The following spoke: Dubravka Šuica and Adam Szłapka.

    The following spoke: Hilde Vautmans, again on the subject of the debate.

    Motions for resolutions tabled under Rule 136(2) to wind up the debate: minutes of 13.2.2025, item I.

    The debate closed.

    Vote: 13 February 2025.


    14. Welcome

    On behalf of Parliament, the President welcomed a delegation from the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, who had taken a seat in the distinguished visitors’ gallery.


    15. Political crisis in Serbia (debate)

    Council and Commission statements: Political crisis in Serbia (2025/2554(RSP))

    Adam Szłapka (President-in-Office of the Council) made the statement on behalf of the Council.

    IN THE CHAIR: Katarina BARLEY
    Vice-President

    Marta Kos (Member of the Commission) made the statement on behalf of the Commission.

    The following spoke: Davor Ivo Stier, on behalf of the PPE Group, Tonino Picula, on behalf of the S&D Group, Annamária Vicsek, on behalf of the PfE Group, Alessandro Ciriani, on behalf of the ECR Group, Helmut Brandstätter, on behalf of the Renew Group, Vladimir Prebilič, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Konstantinos Arvanitis, on behalf of The Left Group, Petr Bystron, on behalf of the ESN Group, Loucas Fourlas, Alessandra Moretti, Thierry Mariani, Şerban Dimitrie Sturdza, Eugen Tomac, Gordan Bosanac, Kostas Papadakis, Reinhold Lopatka, Thijs Reuten, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Rasmus Nordqvist, Zoltán Tarr, Matjaž Nemec, Irena Joveva (The President explained how the interpreting system worked), Matej Tonin, Andreas Schieder, Dan Barna and Tomislav Sokol.

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Seán Kelly, Nikos Papandreou, Sebastian Tynkkynen, Lukas Sieper and Diana Iovanovici Şoşoacă.

    The following spoke: Marta Kos and Adam Szłapka.

    The debate closed.


    16. US AI chip export restrictions: a challenge to European AI development and economic resilience (debate)

    Question for oral answer O-000001/2025 by Borys Budka, on behalf of the ITRE Committee, to the Commission: US AI chip export restrictions: a challenge to European AI development and economic resilience (B10-0002/2025) (2025/2539(RSP))

    Borys Budka moved the question.

    Henna Virkkunen (Executive Vice-President of the Commission) answered the question.

    The following spoke: Wouter Beke, on behalf of the PPE Group, Matthias Ecke, on behalf of the S&D Group, Kris Van Dijck, on behalf of the ECR Group, Bart Groothuis, on behalf of the Renew Group, András László, on behalf of the PfE Group, Virginijus Sinkevičius, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Dario Tamburrano, on behalf of The Left Group, Eszter Lakos, who also answered a blue-card question from András László, Lina Gálvez and Barbara Bonte.

    IN THE CHAIR: Ewa KOPACZ
    Vice-President

    The following spoke: Francesco Torselli, Michał Kobosko, Alexandra Geese, Aura Salla, Maria Grapini, Paulius Saudargas, Elisabeth Grossmann, Mirosława Nykiel, Brando Benifei, Paulo Cunha and Oliver Schenk.

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz, Marc Botenga, Kateřina Konečná, Seán Kelly and Lukas Sieper.

    The following spoke: Henna Virkkunen.

    The debate closed.


    17. Protecting the system of international justice and its institutions, in particular the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice (debate)

    Council and Commission statements: Protecting the system of international justice and its institutions, in particular the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice (2025/2555(RSP))

    Adam Szłapka (President-in-Office of the Council) and Michael McGrath (Member of the Commission) made the statements.

    The following spoke: Alice Teodorescu Måwe, on behalf of the PPE Group, Francisco Assis, on behalf of the S&D Group, András László, on behalf of the PfE Group, Małgorzata Gosiewska, on behalf of the ECR Group, Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle, on behalf of the Renew Group, Mounir Satouri, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Mimmo Lucano, on behalf of The Left Group, Hana Jalloul Muro, Alessandro Ciriani, who also answered a blue-card question from Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle, Catarina Vieira, Gaetano Pedulla’, Brando Benifei, Jaume Asens Llodrà, who also answered a blue-card question from João Oliveira, Rima Hassan (the President reminded the speaker of the rules on conduct), Chloé Ridel, Benedetta Scuderi, Alessandro Zan and Ana Miranda Paz.

    The following spoke under the catch-the-eye procedure: Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Billy Kelleher, Tineke Strik, João Oliveira, Lukas Sieper and Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis.

    The following spoke: Michael McGrath and Adam Szłapka.

    The following spoke: Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle, concerning the last intervention by the Council (the President gave explanations).

    The debate closed.


    18. Explanations of vote

    Written explanations of vote

    Explanations of vote submitted in writing under Rule 201 appear on the Members’ pages on Parliament’s website.


    19. Agenda of the next sitting

    The next sitting would be held the following day, 12 February 2025, starting at 09:00. The agenda was available on Parliament’s website.


    20. Approval of the minutes of the sitting

    In accordance with Rule 208(3), the minutes of the sitting would be put to the House for approval at the beginning of the afternoon of the next sitting.


    21. Closure of the sitting

    The sitting closed at 20:52.


    ATTENDANCE REGISTER

    Present:

    Aaltola Mika, Abadía Jover Maravillas, Adamowicz Magdalena, Aftias Georgios, Agirregoitia Martínez Oihane, Agius Peter, Agius Saliba Alex, Alexandraki Galato, Allione Grégory, Al-Sahlani Abir, Anadiotis Nikolaos, Anderson Christine, Andersson Li, Andresen Rasmus, Andriukaitis Vytenis Povilas, Androuët Mathilde, Angel Marc, Annemans Gerolf, Annunziata Lucia, Antoci Giuseppe, Arias Echeverría Pablo, Arimont Pascal, Arłukowicz Bartosz, Arnaoutoglou Sakis, Arndt Anja, Arvanitis Konstantinos, Asens Llodrà Jaume, Assis Francisco, Attard Daniel, Aubry Manon, Auštrevičius Petras, Axinia Adrian-George, Azmani Malik, Bajada Thomas, Baljeu Jeannette, Ballarín Cereza Laura, Bardella Jordan, Barley Katarina, Barna Dan, Barrena Arza Pernando, Bartulica Stephen Nikola, Bartůšek Nikola, Bay Nicolas, Bay Christophe, Beke Wouter, Beleris Fredis, Bellamy François-Xavier, Benea Adrian-Dragoş, Benifei Brando, Benjumea Benjumea Isabel, Beňová Monika, Bentele Hildegard, Berendsen Tom, Berger Stefan, Berg Sibylle, Berlato Sergio, Bernhuber Alexander, Biedroń Robert, Bielan Adam, Bischoff Gabriele, Blaha Ľuboš, Blinkevičiūtė Vilija, Blom Rachel, Bloss Michael, Bocheński Tobiasz, Bogdan Ioan-Rareş, Bonaccini Stefano, Bonte Barbara, Borchia Paolo, Borrás Pabón Mireia, Borvendég Zsuzsanna, Borzan Biljana, Bosanac Gordan, Bosse Stine, Botenga Marc, Boyer Gilles, Boylan Lynn, Brandstätter Helmut, Brasier-Clain Marie-Luce, Braun Grzegorz, Brejza Krzysztof, Bricmont Saskia, Brnjac Nikolina, Brudziński Joachim Stanisław, Bryłka Anna, Buchheit Markus, Buczek Tomasz, Buda Daniel, Buda Waldemar, Budka Borys, Bugalho Sebastião, Buła Andrzej, Bullmann Udo, Burkhardt Delara, Buxadé Villalba Jorge, Bystron Petr, Bžoch Jaroslav, Camara Mélissa, Canfin Pascal, Carberry Nina, Cârciu Gheorghe, Carême Damien, Casa David, Caspary Daniel, Cassart Benoit, Castillo Laurent, del Castillo Vera Pilar, Cavazzini Anna, Cavedagna Stefano, Ceccardi Susanna, Ceulemans Estelle, Chahim Mohammed, Chaibi Leila, Chastel Olivier, Chinnici Caterina, Cifrová Ostrihoňová Veronika, Ciriani Alessandro, Cisint Anna Maria, Clausen Per, Cormand David, Corrado Annalisa, Costanzo Vivien, Cotrim De Figueiredo João, Cowen Barry, Cremer Tobias, Crespo Díaz Carmen, Cristea Andi, Crosetto Giovanni, Cunha Paulo, Dahl Henrik, Danielsson Johan, Dauchy Marie, Dávid Dóra, David Ivan, Decaro Antonio, de la Hoz Quintano Raúl, Della Valle Danilo, Deloge Valérie, De Masi Fabio, De Meo Salvatore, Deutsch Tamás, Dibrani Adnan, Diepeveen Ton, Dieringer Elisabeth, Dîncu Vasile, Disdier Mélanie, Dobrev Klára, Doherty Regina, Doleschal Christian, Dömötör Csaba, Do Nascimento Cabral Paulo, Donazzan Elena, Dorfmann Herbert, Dostalova Klara, Dostál Ondřej, Droese Siegbert Frank, Düpont Lena, Dworczyk Michał, Ecke Matthias, Ehler Christian, Ehlers Marieke, Eriksson Sofie, Erixon Dick, Eroglu Engin, Estaràs Ferragut Rosa, Ezcurra Almansa Alma, Falcă Gheorghe, Farantouris Nikolas, Farreng Laurence, Farský Jan, Ferber Markus, Ferenc Viktória, Fernández Jonás, Fidanza Carlo, Firea Gabriela, Firmenich Ruth, Fita Claire, Flanagan Luke Ming, Fourlas Loucas, Fourreau Emma, Fragkos Emmanouil, Freund Daniel, Frigout Anne-Sophie, Friis Sigrid, Fritzon Heléne, Froelich Tomasz, Funchion Kathleen, Furet Angéline, Furore Mario, Gahler Michael, Gál Kinga, Gálvez Lina, Gambino Alberico, García Hermida-Van Der Walle Raquel, Garraud Jean-Paul, Gasiuk-Pihowicz Kamila, Geadi Geadis, Geese Alexandra, Geier Jens, Geisel Thomas, Gemma Chiara, Georgiou Giorgos, Gerbrandy Gerben-Jan, Germain Jean-Marc, Gerzsenyi Gabriella, Geuking Niels, Gieseke Jens, Giménez Larraz Borja, Girauta Vidal Juan Carlos, Glavak Sunčana, Glück Andreas, Glucksmann Raphaël, Goerens Charles, Gomart Christophe, Gomes Isilda, Gómez López Sandra, Gonçalves Bruno, Gonçalves Sérgio, González Casares Nicolás, González Pons Esteban, Gori Giorgio, Gosiewska Małgorzata, Gotink Dirk, Gozi Sandro, Grapini Maria, Gražulis Petras, Gregorová Markéta, Grims Branko, Griset Catherine, Gronkiewicz-Waltz Hanna, Groothuis Bart, Grossmann Elisabeth, Grudler Christophe, Gualmini Elisabetta, Guarda Cristina, Guetta Bernard, Guzenina Maria, Hadjipantela Michalis, Hahn Svenja, Haider Roman, Halicki Andrzej, Hansen Niels Flemming, Hassan Rima, Hauser Gerald, Häusling Martin, Hava Mircea-Gheorghe, Hazekamp Anja, Heide Hannes, Heinäluoma Eero, Henriksson Anna-Maja, Herbst Niclas, Herranz García Esther, Hetman Krzysztof, Hohlmeier Monika, Hojsík Martin, Holmgren Pär, Hölvényi György, Homs Ginel Alicia, Humberto Sérgio, Ijabs Ivars, Imart Céline, Incir Evin, Inselvini Paolo, Iovanovici Şoşoacă Diana, Jalloul Muro Hana, Jamet France, Jarubas Adam, Jerković Romana, Joński Dariusz, Joron Virginie, Jouvet Pierre, Joveva Irena, Juknevičienė Rasa, Jungbluth Alexander, Kabilov Taner, Kalfon François, Kaliňák Erik, Kaljurand Marina, Kalniete Sandra, Kamiński Mariusz, Kanev Radan, Kanko Assita, Karlsbro Karin, Kartheiser Fernand, Karvašová Ľubica, Katainen Elsi, Kefalogiannis Emmanouil, Kelleher Billy, Keller Fabienne, Kelly Seán, Kemp Martine, Kennes Rudi, Kircher Sophia, Knafo Sarah, Knotek Ondřej, Kobosko Michał, Köhler Stefan, Kohut Łukasz, Kokalari Arba, Kolář Ondřej, Kollár Kinga, Kols Rihards, Konečná Kateřina, Kopacz Ewa, Körner Moritz, Kountoura Elena, Kovatchev Andrey, Krah Maximilian, Krištopans Vilis, Kruis Sebastian, Krutílek Ondřej, Kubín Tomáš, Kuhnke Alice, Kulja András Tivadar, Kulmuni Katri, Kyllönen Merja, Kyuchyuk Ilhan, Lagodinsky Sergey, Lakos Eszter, Lalucq Aurore, Lange Bernd, Langensiepen Katrin, Laššáková Judita, László András, Latinopoulou Afroditi, Laurent Murielle, Laureti Camilla, Laykova Rada, Lazarov Ilia, Lazarus Luis-Vicențiu, Le Callennec Isabelle, Leggeri Fabrice, Lenaers Jeroen, Lewandowski Janusz, Lexmann Miriam, Liese Peter, Lins Norbert, Løkkegaard Morten, Lopatka Reinhold, López Javi, López Aguilar Juan Fernando, López-Istúriz White Antonio, Lövin Isabella, Lucano Mimmo, Luena César, Lupo Giuseppe, McAllister David, Madison Jaak, Maestre Cristina, Magoni Lara, Maij Marit, Maląg Marlena, Manda Claudiu, Mandl Lukas, Maniatis Yannis, Maran Pierfrancesco, Marczułajtis-Walczak Jagna, Maréchal Marion, Mariani Thierry, Marino Ignazio Roberto, Marquardt Erik, Martín Frías Jorge, Martins Catarina, Marzà Ibáñez Vicent, Matthieu Sara, Mavrides Costas, Mayer Georg, Mazurek Milan, Mažylis Liudas, Mebarek Nora, Mehnert Alexandra, Meimarakis Vangelis, Meleti Eleonora, Mendes Ana Catarina, Mendia Idoia, Mertens Verena, Mesure Marina, Metsola Roberta, Metz Tilly, Mikser Sven, Milazzo Giuseppe, Minchev Nikola, Miranda Paz Ana, Montero Irene, Montserrat Dolors, Morace Carolina, Moreira de Sá Tiago, Moreno Sánchez Javier, Moretti Alessandra, Motreanu Dan-Ştefan, Mularczyk Arkadiusz, Müller Piotr, Mureşan Siegfried, Nagyová Jana, Nardella Dario, Navarrete Rojas Fernando, Negrescu Victor, Nemec Matjaž, Nesci Denis, Neuhoff Hans, Neumann Hannah, Nevado del Campo Elena, Nica Dan, Niebler Angelika, Niedermayer Luděk, Niinistö Ville, Nikolaou-Alavanos Lefteris, Nikolic Aleksandar, Ní Mhurchú Cynthia, Noichl Maria, Nordqvist Rasmus, Novakov Andrey, Nykiel Mirosława, Obajtek Daniel, Ódor Ľudovít, Oetjen Jan-Christoph, Ohisalo Maria, Oliveira João, Olivier Philippe, Omarjee Younous, Ó Ríordáin Aodhán, Ozdoba Jacek, Paet Urmas, Pajín Leire, Palmisano Valentina, Panayiotou Fidias, Papadakis Kostas, Papandreou Nikos, Pappas Nikos, Pascual de la Parte Nicolás, Patriciello Aldo, Paulus Jutta, Pedro Ana Miguel, Pedulla’ Gaetano, Pellerin-Carlin Thomas, Peltier Guillaume, Penkova Tsvetelina, Pennelle Gilles, Pereira Lídia, Pérez Alvise, Peter-Hansen Kira Marie, Petrov Hristo, Picaro Michele, Picierno Pina, Picula Tonino, Piera Pascale, Pimpie Pierre, Piperea Gheorghe, de la Pisa Carrión Margarita, Pokorná Jermanová Jaroslava, Polato Daniele, Polfjärd Jessica, Popescu Virgil-Daniel, Pozņaks Reinis, Prebilič Vladimir, Princi Giusi, Pürner Friedrich, Rackete Carola, Radev Emil, Radtke Dennis, Rafowicz Emma, Ratas Jüri, Razza Ruggero, Rechagneux Julie, Regner Evelyn, Repasi René, Repp Sabrina, Ressler Karlo, Reuten Thijs, Riba i Giner Diana, Ricci Matteo, Ridel Chloé, Riehl Nela, Ripa Manuela, Ros Sempere Marcos, Roth Neveďalová Katarína, Rougé André, Ruissen Bert-Jan, Ruotolo Sandro, Rzońca Bogdan, Saeidi Arash, Salini Massimiliano, Salis Ilaria, Salla Aura, Sanchez Julien, Sancho Murillo Elena, Saramo Jussi, Sardone Silvia, Šarec Marjan, Sargiacomo Eric, Satouri Mounir, Saudargas Paulius, Sbai Majdouline, Sberna Antonella, Schaldemose Christel, Schenk Oliver, Scheuring-Wielgus Joanna, Schieder Andreas, Schilling Lena, Schwab Andreas, Scuderi Benedetta, Seekatz Ralf, Sell Alexander, Serrano Sierra Rosa, Serra Sánchez Isabel, Sidl Günther, Sienkiewicz Bartłomiej, Sieper Lukas, Simon Sven, Singer Christine, Sinkevičius Virginijus, Sippel Birgit, Sjöstedt Jonas, Śmiszek Krzysztof, Smith Anthony, Smit Sander, Sokol Tomislav, Solier Diego, Solís Pérez Susana, Sommen Liesbet, Sonneborn Martin, Sorel Malika, Sousa Silva Hélder, Søvndal Villy, Staķis Mārtiņš, Stancanelli Raffaele, Ştefănuță Nicolae, Steger Petra, Stier Davor Ivo, Storm Kristoffer, Stöteler Sebastiaan, Stoyanov Stanislav, Strack-Zimmermann Marie-Agnes, Streit Joachim, Strik Tineke, Strolenberg Anna, Sturdza Şerban Dimitrie, Stürgkh Anna, Sypniewski Marcin, Szczerba Michał, Szekeres Pál, Szydło Beata, Tamburrano Dario, Tânger Corrêa António, Tarczyński Dominik, Tarquinio Marco, Tarr Zoltán, Târziu Claudiu-Richard, Tavares Carla, Tegethoff Kai, Teodorescu Georgiana, Teodorescu Måwe Alice, Terheş Cristian, Ter Laak Ingeborg, Terras Riho, Tertsch Hermann, Thionnet Pierre-Romain, Timgren Beatrice, Tinagli Irene, Tobé Tomas, Tolassy Rody, Tomac Eugen, Tomašič Zala, Tomaszewski Waldemar, Tomc Romana, Tonin Matej, Topo Raffaele, Torselli Francesco, Tosi Flavio, Toussaint Marie, Tovaglieri Isabella, Toveri Pekka, Tridico Pasquale, Trochu Laurence, Tsiodras Dimitris, Tudose Mihai, Turek Filip, Tynkkynen Sebastian, Uhrík Milan, Vaidere Inese, Valchev Ivaylo, Vălean Adina, Van Brempt Kathleen, Van Brug Anouk, van den Berg Brigitte, Vandendriessche Tom, Van Dijck Kris, Van Lanschot Reinier, Van Leeuwen Jessika, Vannacci Roberto, Van Overtveldt Johan, Van Sparrentak Kim, Varaut Alexandre, Vasconcelos Ana, Vasile-Voiculescu Vlad, Vautmans Hilde, Vedrenne Marie-Pierre, Ventola Francesco, Verougstraete Yvan, Veryga Aurelijus, Vešligaj Marko, Vicsek Annamária, Vieira Catarina, Vilimsky Harald, Vincze Loránt, Vind Marianne, Vistisen Anders, Vivaldini Mariateresa, Volgin Petar, von der Schulenburg Michael, Vondra Alexandr, Voss Axel, Vozemberg-Vrionidi Elissavet, Vrecionová Veronika, Vázquez Lázara Adrián, Waitz Thomas, Walsh Maria, Walsmann Marion, Warborn Jörgen, Warnke Jan-Peter, Wąsik Maciej, Wawrykiewicz Michał, Wcisło Marta, Wechsler Andrea, Weimers Charlie, Werbrouck Séverine, Wiesner Emma, Wiezik Michal, Wilmès Sophie, Winkler Iuliu, Winzig Angelika, Wiseler-Lima Isabel, Wiśniewska Jadwiga, Wölken Tiemo, Wolters Lara, Yar Lucia, Yoncheva Elena, Zacharia Maria, Zalewska Anna, Žalimas Dainius, Zan Alessandro, Zarzalejos Javier, Zdechovský Tomáš, Zdrojewski Bogdan Andrzej, Zijlstra Auke, Zīle Roberts, Zingaretti Nicola, Złotowski Kosma, Zoido Álvarez Juan Ignacio, Zovko Željana, Zver Milan

    Excused:

    Andrews Barry, Di Rupo Elio, Strada Cecilia, Temido Marta

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Growing evidence of the benefits of natural flood management

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    We reviewed the latest research on natural flood management and updated the Working with natural processes evidence directory.

    Saltmarsh restoration. Image credit: Environment Agency

    Working with natural processes (WWNP) or natural flood management (NFM) protects, restores or emulates the natural functions of rivers, floodplains, catchments and the coast to reduce flooding and coastal erosion.   

    The updated Working with natural processes evidence directory was published in February 2025. It summarises the latest evidence for 17 NFM measures relating to river and floodplain, woodland, run-off, and coast and estuary management.

    The directory shows NFM evidence has grown in recent years, building our confidence in the flood risk and wider benefits these approaches can bring.   It provides a new evidence baseline for NFM, helping to inform future investment decisions and support the selection of measures on the ground.

    These benefits vary across measures and help us understand what works best and where. There is still more to learn about NFM, but the research gaps are closing and are becoming more detail orientated.  

    Among the findings, the evidence is telling us that:

    • catchment woodlands can reduce the height of flood water, with the greatest reductions during smaller events
    • there is growing research that soil and land management can help with flood resilience, especially in grasslands
    • for some NFM measures, the wider benefits are even greater than the benefits to flood risk such as with floodplain or river restoration
    • ponds in floodplain areas can reduce flood risk by decreasing flows and storing water
    • run-off pathway management can reduce flood risk by storing water, and slowing the flow downstream and includes wider benefits related to water resources and biodiversity
    • the flood risk benefits of saltmarsh and mudflat restoration, dune management and beach nourishment is consolidating 
    • restoring salt marshes and mudflats offers significant environmental benefits including storing carbon 
    • there is emerging science on the flood reduction benefits of beavers, coastal reefs, and submerged aquatic vegetation – these are new additions to the directory

    Further details about the findings are available in the Working with natural processes research report and literature review.

    Quick guides for each of the 17 NFM measures covered in the evidence directory are included on the summaries page.

    Updates to this page

    Published 12 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Still time to get your tickets to Mayor’s fashionable fundraiser

    Source: City of Wolverhampton

    Charity Fashion and Fizz takes place at the Beacon Centre, Wolverhampton Road, on Tuesday 25 February. Doors open at 6pm and the fashion show, featuring over a dozen models, starts at 6.30pm.

    Tickets, which must be booked in advance, are available at Beacon Centre for the Blind and cost £15, including a glass of prosecco or alcohol free alternative on arrival. Clothing will be on sale on the night.

    All proceeds will go to the Mayor’s chosen charities, the Beacon Centre, Age UK Wolverhampton and Samaritans Wolverhampton.

    Mayor Councillor Leach said: “Join us for an unforgettable evening of style, fun and community as we come together to support good causes that truly make a difference.

    “This Charity Fashion and Fizz show is more than just a runway – it’s an opportunity to make a lasting impact. For only £15, you’ll experience a great charity fashion show using sustainable clothes from the Beacon’s amazing network of charity shops. Please come along and support these 3 fantastic local charities.”

    Beacon Centre Chief Executive Lisa Cowley added: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting a fabulous fashion show on behalf of the Mayor of Wolverhampton here at the Beacon Centre.

    “It promises to be an evening full of style, all in support of some great causes. Whether you’re a fashion enthusiast or just looking for a fantastic night out, we’d love to welcome you. Come along, bring your friends, and let’s make it an event to remember!”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Free and low-cost half term activities in Leeds

    Source: City of Leeds

    Leeds Valentine’s Fair at Millennium Square, Victoria Gardens and Cookridge Street

    The UK’s best known Valentine’s event returns to Leeds with a range of rides, attractions and games will be available for families and thrill seekers to enjoy.

    Friday 14 to Sunday 23 February, cost: free admission with individual admission fees for all rides and attractions.

    Find out more: Leeds Valentine’s Fair

    Sparkle and Shine at Temple Newsam House

    Visit the brand new Butler’s Pantry and celebrate all things sparkly and shiny at Temple Newsam!

    Saturday 15 and Tuesday 18 February, cost: included in general admission

    Find out more: Sparkle and Shine

    The Bug Bigrade at Leeds Discovery Centre

    Join for this free family workshop and explore Leeds Museums & Galleries’ amazing insect collection.

    Monday 17 February, cost: free

    Find out more: The Bug Bigrade

    Wrongsemble presents… ‘The Lost Property Library’ at Leeds libraries

    An interactive performance welcoming you to the Lost Property Library – a place where lost stories, memories, and objects come to be archived and kept safe.

    Monday 17 to Wednesday 19 February, cost: pay what you can

    Find out more: The Lost Property Library

    Who Do You See in the Gallery? at Leeds Art Gallery

    Have fun drawing people in this school holiday workshop in Artspace, Leeds Art Gallery’s relaxed, family friendly, creative studio space.

    Tuesday 18 to Friday 21 February, cost: free

    Find out more: What Do You See in the Gallery?

    Roller Skating at Kirkgate Market

    Take a spin with LS-TEN who will be doing guided roller-skating sessions. For ages 6+. Skates provided. No need to book, drop-in sessions.

    Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 February, 11am to 3pm

    Find out more: Roller Skating at Kirkgate Market

    Miffy’s 70th birthday celebration at Leeds City Museum

    Celebrate Miffy’s 70th birthday at Leeds City Museum by experiencing the exhibition, trail, crafts, and workshops taking place over half term.

    All half term, cost: free

    Find out more: Exhibition, Trail, Crafts, Workshop

    Springtime Babies at Temple Newsam Home Farm

    Visit Home Farm as the farm team gear up for Spring and welcome their new born lambs, piglets and other farm animals!

    All half term, cost: free

    Find out more: Springtime Babies

    Love Birds at Lotherton

    Join the team at Lotherton for some feathered, family fun.

    All half term, cost: included in general admission

    Find out more: Love Birds

    Mystery Matinees at Leeds Industrial Museum

    Enjoy a family film in Leeds Industrial Museum’s mini cinema, the Palace Picture House.

    All half term, cost: included in general admission

    Find out more: Mystery Matinees

    Perfect Partners at Tropical World

    Help your little Explorers discover how our cute couples show their love for each other! Find out who likes to show off their dance moves, which animal changes colour and who loves to sing to their sweetheart.

    All half term, cost: free

    Find out more: Perfect Partners

    Superheroes at Royal Armouries Museum

    Experience an action-packed week of combat demos, special effects shows, catwalks, plus meet and greets with your favourite costumed characters.

    All half term, cost: free and paid activities

    Find out more: Superheroes

    Story Time at Abbey House Museum

    Are you sitting comfortably? Uncover a love of reading in this family-friendly exhibition. A playful look at children’s story telling and imagination, featuring younger children’s books, songs and games from the museum collections.

    All of 2025, cost: included in general admission

    Find out more: Story Time

    You can find out more about what’s happening this February half term by visiting Leeds Inspired.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The NSU Scientific Library has begun preparing to move to a new building housing flowing lecture halls

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

    The NSU Scientific Library will be located on the first floor of the flow auditorium building, which is part of the facilities modern campus of NSU, being built as part of the national project “Youth and Children”, and is part of a multifunctional space with an area of about 2.5 thousand square meters. Permission to commission the new facility was received on December 28, 2024. In total, more than 600 thousand books with a total weight of about 180 tons will be transported in the coming months. In total, the capacity of the book depository in the new building will be almost 1 million copies.

    — The locations in the flow auditorium building will be equipped with technologies from the NSU Artificial Intelligence Center based on the “smart home” principle. The state-of-the-art scientific library with elements of artificial intelligence in the new NSU campus is part of a multifunctional space: it includes a free-plan area where students can gather and work in groups, as well as quiet areas with media screens, acoustic panels with content generation that will be selected to suit the mood of the students. This is the most comfortable environment that sets students up not only for learning, but also for full self-realization, which corresponds to the objectives of the new national project “Youth and Children”, developed on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation, — noted Vice-Governor Irina Manuilova.

    Library staff have already started packing books into bundles; the actual move will begin at the end of May, when the new building is completed with the necessary furniture and equipment. By September, the entire library collection will need to be moved and all books and magazines will need to be placed on shelves.

    — The new building will have comfortable rooms for independent work of students with 24-hour access. Students will be able to use self-service stations to check out books that will appear in the open collection. They will be able to take them home and return them at any time. In the reading room, all literature will also be in open access — students will have the opportunity to independently choose the textbook or scientific publication of recent years that they are interested in, — said Tatyana Markova, Deputy Director of the NSU Scientific Library.

    The library will have modern technical capabilities for its employees. Publications with open access will be equipped with radio frequency tags, which will allow for an automated inventory of this part of the collection.

    The library will be equipped with a machine for automatic dust removal and maintenance of stored books, Depulvera. Books are cleaned of dust and particles of harmful microorganisms from six sides, directly in the machine chamber. Rotating self-cleaning brushes made of natural materials that are safe for processing books and documents are used for this.

    The book depositories will also be equipped with mobile shelves with an electric drive and computer control. The compact storage system will allow free placement of library funds, while the capabilities of the existing book depository of NSU have long been exhausted.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: EU invests €200 billion in AI

    Source: European Union 2

    The EU has launched a new initiative to boost AI in Europe, InvestAI. This will mobilise €200 billion for investment in the sector, including in AI gigafactories. A large AI infrastructure will allow open, collaborative development of the most complex AI models and make Europe an AI continent.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: New measures to cut excessive packaging enter into force

    Source: European Union 2

    • News article
    • 11 February 2025
    • Directorate-General for Environment
    • 1 min read

    The fresh measures will enhance resource efficiency, encourage a more circular use of materials, increase competitiveness and improve economic security.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Polytechnic University presented the book “Peter the Great: Meanings and Discourses of Time”

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    On February 7, in anticipation of two important dates in Russian history – the 300th anniversary of the death of Russian Emperor Peter I and Russian Science Day, the House of Books hosted a presentation of the monograph “Peter the Great: Meanings and Discourses of Time”, written by Marina Arkannikova, Director of the Higher School of Media Communications and Public Relations of the SPbPU Institute of Geography.

    The Arts Hall of the Book House brought together students and teachers of the Polytechnic University, residents and guests of the city for an important conversation about the legacy of the first Russian emperor. The discussion combined a historical assessment and analysis of existential threats, geopolitical challenges to Russia’s sovereignty, as well as tools for protecting the Russian world. Introducing her scientific work, Marina Sergeevna spoke about the idea of the publication and emphasized that the key task of the book was to rethink the contours of Russia’s civilizational future through the prism of Peter’s legacy.

    “Three centuries later, the genius of Peter the Great not only continues to amaze and excite the imagination, but has also determined the development of Russian social and political thought throughout this time, and has been the starting point for discussions about the historical fate of Russia and discussions about Russian civilization. His geopolitical vision and political rhetoric today, more than ever, are in tune with the country’s national security strategy, which defends sovereign rights to identity and statehood, the preservation of the nation’s cognitive code, and the protection of the mentality of the Russian world,” Marina Arkannikova addressed the meeting participants. “And today, on the eve of the date of Peter I’s death, this is not only a tribute to his memory, but also a relevant dialogue with the past, which helps us understand the present and future of our country.”

    The research conducted by Marina Sergeevna is fundamentally important for modern science, since it is a calm constructive attitude to the colossal potential of the Peter the Great theme, which records the museumification of Peter’s legacy, the politics of memory. Therefore, this book is very important today, – noted the author of the preface to the publication, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation Grigory Tulchinsky.

    Speaking about the empirical part of the study, Marina Sergeevna thanked the Director General of the State Hermitage, Honorary Doctor of SPbPU Mikhail Piotrovsky for the opportunity to carry out sociological research of visitors to the Peter the Great Gallery, as well as for the provided photo materials from the exhibition. She expressed sincere gratitude for the support in the work on the publication to the reviewers, designer, editor, and administration of the Publishing and Printing Center of the Polytechnic University.

    Marina Arkannikova emphasized the value of the fact that the book presentation took place in the year of the 115th anniversary of the Polytechnic being given the name “St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute of Emperor Peter the Great”. She told the audience that on January 19, 1910, Emperor Nicholas II signed a decree on assigning this status, which the university held until 1918, and only in 2015, on the initiative of SPbPU Rector Andrei Rudskoy, the Polytechnic was returned to its historical name.

    After the presentation, the audience asked questions. They noted the multifaceted and contradictory nature of Peter’s image, the influence of his reforms on Russian society and culture. Concluding the meeting, the presenter reminded that the book can be purchased at the Dom Knigi store.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Will COP29 deliver the trillions needed to tackle the man-made climate crisis?

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

    Climate and Environment

    The latest round of UN climate negotiations, COP29, opened this past Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan, following a year that broke multiple extreme heat records and saw widespread climate-driven chaos – from wildfires to destructive floods and hurricanes – hit nearly every corner of the world. A major increase in financial commitments to assist vulnerable countries in mitigating and adapting to climate impacts is the main goal of this year’s conference, which has been dubbed the “climate finance COP.”

    Can countries agree on a new climate finance target?

    The UN’s main climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has issued increasingly dire warnings about the accelerating pace of global warming. To limit temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, substantial investments are needed in clean energy technologies, infrastructure, and adaptation measures.

    Developing countries, particularly small island nations and least developed countries, are disproportionately vulnerable to climate impacts like sea level rise, extreme weather events, and droughts. They require significant financial support to build resilience, transition to low-carbon economies, and compensate for loss and damage.

    The midway point at COP29 comes as leaders are heading to Brazil for next week’s G20 summit. 

    Round-the-clock negotiations in Baku on the always thorny topic of money are reportedly moving slowly. Delegates from developing nations are calling for more and faster progress on new funding for loss and damage and accelerated clean energy goals.

    Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which convenes the annual COP meetings, had a message for G20 leaders early on Saturday before they hopped on their planes for Rio de Janeiro:

    “Climate finance progress outside of [the UNFCCC process] is equally crucial, and the G20’s role is mission-critical…the global climate crisis should be order of business Number One, in Rio next week. The [G20] Summit must send crystal clear global signals. That more grant and concessional finance will be available; that further reform of multilateral development banks is a top priority, and G20 governments – as their shareholders and taskmasters – will keep pushing for more reforms.”

    Finally, the UN climate chief said that “in turbulent times and a fracturing world, G20 leaders must signal loud and clear that international cooperation is still the best and only chance humanity has to survive global heating. There is no other way.”

    Earlier in the week, Mr. Stiell gave a stark assessment of the stakes: Worsening climate change and the socioeconomic damage it inflicts mean “billions of people simply cannot afford for their government to leave COP29 without a global climate finance goal.”

    “So, for leaders here and back in capitals – make it clear that you expect a strong set of outcomes. Tell your negotiators – skip the posturing – and move directly to finding common ground,” he said.

    In his opening remarks on Tuesday to the World Leaders Climate Action Summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that 2024 has been “a masterclass in climate destruction.” He emphasized the critical role of climate finance in addressing the crisis: “The world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price…climate finance is not charity, it’s an investment. Climate action is not optional, it’s an imperative.”

    Mr. Stiell later echoed this sentiment: “Let’s dispense with the idea that climate finance is charity. An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every single nation, including the largest and wealthiest.”

    Beyond the $100 billion pledge

    In 2009 at the 15th Conference of UNFCCC Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen, developed countries committed to mobilizing $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020. While this target was finally met in 2022, it has been criticized as insufficient and delayed.

    At COP29, negotiators are aiming to set a new, more ambitious target for climate finance. Developing countries are pushing for a significantly higher figure, potentially in the trillions of dollars per year. However, discussions on the exact amount and the modalities for delivering the funds remain contentious.

    An early breakthrough on carbon

    A significant breakthrough on the opening day at COP29 was the adoption of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, paving the way for a UN-backed global carbon market. This market will facilitate the trading of carbon credits, incentivizing countries to reduce emissions and invest in climate-friendly projects.

    James Grabert, head of the Mitigation Division at UN Climate Change, the shorthand by which the UNFCCC secretariat is known, said that this historic agreement will provide countries with a “valuable tool” to meet their climate targets and drive sustainable development.

    With COP29 coming on the heels of presidential polls in the United States, impact of a new US Administration on global climate action has been on the minds of many in the corridors of Baku Centre.

    At a press conference, President Hilda Heine of the Marshall Islands and Ireland’s Environment Minister Eamon Ryan stressed that despite worries about a US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the combat against climate change is a global effort that requires global cooperation towards a better economy for all. The two leaders also cited the ongoing progress by states and cities as reasons for hope.

    UNFCCC/Kiara Worth

    Around the clock negotiations are underway at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on a new global climate finance deal.

    A just transition, not a ‘stampede of greed’

    Before heading to the G20 summit in Brazil, Mr. Guterres held several climate-related meetings, including one on critical minerals essential for renewable energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles.

    These minerals, such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements, are crucial for the transition away from fossil fuels, with demand expected to triple by 2030.

    Many of these minerals are found in Africa, which could benefit financially. However, there’s concern about a “resource curse,” where countries where these resources are located don’t benefit.

    Mr. Guterres emphasized managing demand without triggering a “stampede of greed” that exploits and crushes the poor but instead ensures local communities benefit.

    Dario Liguti from the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) also highlighted the need for “sustainable exploitation of these minerals”, especially in emerging markets, to protect the environment and support local communities. In April, the UN chief formed a High-Level Panel to ensure countries and communities with these resources benefit the most.

    © UN Office for Partnerships

    Youth activism and climate justice

    Young people around the world are increasingly demanding climate action and climate justice. They are calling on governments and businesses to take bold steps to reduce emissions, protect vulnerable communities, and create a sustainable future for all.

    After meeting with youth representatives and climate advocates at COP29, the Secretary-General posted on social media that he understood their frustrations: “You have every right to be angry. I am angry too…because we are on the verge of the climate abyss, and I don’t see enough urgency or political will to address the emergency.”

    Basmallah Rawash, a Climate Activist with Care About Climate, said, “We are not the ones that are supposed to carry the burden of mitigation. We are not the ones who have caused this, but we are the ones that will carry the burden of the biggest struggle at the moment.”

    The decisions made in Baku will have far-reaching consequences for generations to come. It is imperative that negotiators reach an ambitious agreement that delivers the finance needed to build a resilient and low-carbon future for all.

    Stay tuned to UN News! Our team in Baku will be following the action through the end of next week.

    Want to know more? Check out our special events page, where you can find all our coverage of COP29, including stories and videos, explainers and our newsletter.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: UK Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) – 12 February 2025

    Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)

    Watch PMQs with British Sign Language (BSL) – https://youtube.com/live/TkPeopL_z9M

    Prime Minister’s Question Time, also referred to as PMQs, takes place every Wednesday the House of Commons sits. It gives MPs the chance to put questions to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer MP, or a nominated minister.

    In most cases, the session starts with a routine ‘open question’ from an MP about the Prime Minister’s engagements. MPs can then ask supplementary questions on any subject, often one of current political significance.

    The Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch MP, asks six questions and the leader of the second largest opposition party asks two. If another minister takes the place of the Prime Minister, opposition parties will usually nominate a shadow minister to ask the questions.

    Want to find out more about what’s happening in the House of Commons this week? Follow the House of Commons on:

    Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/HouseofCommons
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukhouseofcommons
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukhouseofcommons

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVPN8q_Hb0M

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Video: UK Prime Minister’s Questions with British Sign Language (BSL) – 12 February 2025

    Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)

    Prime Minister’s Question Time, also referred to as PMQs, takes place every Wednesday the House of Commons sits. It gives MPs the chance to put questions to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer MP, or a nominated minister.

    In most cases, the session starts with a routine ‘open question’ from an MP about the Prime Minister’s engagements. MPs can then ask supplementary questions on any subject, often one of current political significance.

    The Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch MP, asks six questions and the leader of the second largest opposition party asks two. If another minister takes the place of the Prime Minister, opposition parties will usually nominate a shadow minister to ask the questions.

    Want to find out more about what’s happening in the House of Commons this week? Follow the House of Commons on:

    Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/HouseofCommons
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukhouseofcommons
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukhouseofcommons

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkPeopL_z9M

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: EU external borders: Irregular border crossings fall 22% in January

    Source: Frontex

    The number of irregular border crossings into the European Union fell to just over 13 400 in January, marking a 22% decrease compared to the same month last year.

    Despite this overall decline, the Central Mediterranean route saw an increase in activity, although the increase also highlights the very low figure a year ago.

    Despite a 34% decline from a year ago, the Western African remained the most active migratory route with 4 740 of arrivals in the first month of 2025. The largest share of the irregular migrants came from Mali, Morocco and Guinea.

    In January, the Eastern Mediterranean was the second most active route for arrivals in the European Union, with almost 3 500 arrivals. Yet it recorded a 21% decrease in detections compared to the same month last year.

    The Central Mediterranean route saw the biggest rise in arrivals of 43% (year-on-year) to 3 275.

    The sea crossings, usually orchestrated by organised criminal networks, continue to pose an extreme danger to migrants. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 93 people lost their lives at sea in January. In all of last year, this figure reached 2 300, underscoring the tragic human cost of these hazardous routes.

    On the Channel route, the number of detections of people seeking to cross into the United Kingdom fell by more than a fifth from a year ago to slightly above 2 500.

    The latest data reflect shifting migration trends compared to last year. As authorities work to address these evolving challenges, monitoring and cooperation remain key in managing Europe’s external borders.

    With 2 700 officers and staff deployed along the EU external borders, Frontex supports the national authorities with their efforts to safeguard the European borders.

    * Note: The preliminary data presented in this statement refer to the number of detections of irregular border crossing at the external borders of the European Union. The same person may cross the border several times in different locations at the external border.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Career changer thanks Teach Portsmouth for employment success

    Source: City of Portsmouth

    A career changer who moved from the hospitality sector to education has shared her journey into the profession thanks to a Teach Portsmouth event.

    Teach Portsmouth, a Portsmouth City Council service is set to host the city’s largest education recruitment fair on Wednesday 26 February from 10am – 2pm at Guildhall.

    The Teach Portsmouth Jobs and Opportunities Fair invites people to meet schools, academies, colleges, training providers and employment specialists.

    Arianna Marino attended the Teach Portsmouth Jobs and Opportunities Fair 2024 and met the Community Learning Service. The service supports individuals to learn new skills through training. With Arianna’s child starting school, she had the time to pursue a new career. Arianna said:

    “The Community Learning Service has offered guidance on the steps I needed to take to transition into the education sector. I have completed several training courses. Every course I’ve completed has not only enhanced my skills but also improved my confidence.

    “The event has given me access to resources, advice, and opportunities I would not have discovered otherwise. It helped me visualise a future in education and set realistic steps to become a teaching assistant.

    “For anyone who is wanting to attend a Teach Portsmouth event, my advice would be simple: go for it! It is a fantastic opportunity to explore new career paths, meet supportive professionals, and gain clarity about your goals.”

    Arianna has completed a range of courses including maths and English refreshers alongside education specific training.

    Cllr Steve Pitt, Leader of Portsmouth City Council, said:

    “The Teach Portsmouth Jobs and Opportunities Fair welcomed over 300 people last year to discover careers in the classroom. The event connects the community with employers to explore career paths, gain valuable insights and match up with training providers.

    “Recruitment fairs can act as an important first step if you are new to the profession or can reinforce aspirations you already have. The jobs fair is a one-stop shop for all things education, and I would recommend those interested to attend.”

    For those who need to build confidence before applying for a job, people can sign up to a taster session at the event.

    The scheme allows attendees to visit a participating school or college, meet staff and learn more about their employment opportunities.

    Attendees can also visit the opportunities room throughout the day. The room offers a range of presentations from local experts providing advice on writing job applications, interview techniques, how to become a teaching assistant and teacher training routes.

    Registration is now open for the Teach Portsmouth Jobs and Opportunities Fair. For more information and to get a ticket, visit www.teachportsmouth.co.uk/jobsfair.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Notice of the Annual General Meeting of WithSecure Corporation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    WithSecure Corporation, Stock Exchange Release, 12 February 2025, 10:00 EET

    Notice of the Annual General Meeting of WithSecure Corporation                                                   

    The shareholders of WithSecure Corporation are invited to the Annual General Meeting, which will be held on Tuesday, 18 March 2025 starting at 3:00 p.m. EET.

    The meeting will be held as a hybrid meeting in accordance with chapter 5, section 16(2) of the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act (624/2006, as amended, the ‘Companies Act’), so that shareholders may exercise their shareholder rights fully during the meeting either via remote connection or at the meeting venue at event venue Bysa in Clarion Hotel Helsinki at the address Tyynenmerenkatu 2, 00220 Helsinki. Shareholders may also exercise their voting rights by voting in advance.

    The reception of persons who have registered for the meeting and the pre-meeting coffee service will commence at the meeting venue at 2:15 p.m. EET. The participants of the General Meeting are welcome to enjoy meeting refreshments before the meeting. Instructions concerning participation via remote connection are provided in section C. 2. of this notice and instructions concerning advance voting in section C. 3.

    After the meeting, the participants of the General Meeting have the opportunity to participate in guided tours at the Museum of Malware Art and the new office premises, both of which are located at the Company headquarters at the address Välimerenkatu 1, 00180 Helsinki.

    A. Matters on the agenda of the General Meeting

    1. Opening of the meeting

    2. Calling the meeting to order

    3. Election of the person to scrutinise the minutes and to supervise the counting of votes

    4. Recording the legality of the meeting

    5. Recording the attendance at the meeting and adoption of the list of votes

    6. Presentation of the annual accounts, the consolidated annual accounts, the report of the Board of Directors as well as the auditor’s report and the assurance report on sustainability reporting for the year 2024

    The CEO will give a review of the year 2024 and tell about the Company’s prospects for the year 2025.

    WithSecure Corporation’s annual review, including WithSecure Corporation’s annual accounts, consolidated annual accounts, report of the Board of Directors as well as the auditor’s report and the assurance report on sustainability reporting, shall be available on the Company’s website at www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance as of 12 February 2025.

    7. Adoption of the annual accounts and the consolidated annual accounts

    The Board of Directors proposes that the General Meeting adopts the annual accounts and the consolidated annual accounts for the financial year 1 January 2024–31 December 2024.

    8. Resolution on the use of the loss shown on the balance sheet and the distribution of dividend

    The Company’s dividend policy is to pay approximately half of its profits as dividends. Subject to circumstances, the Company may deviate from this policy. On 31 December 2024, WithSecure Corporation’s distributable funds totalled EUR 77.5 million of which the net result for the financial year was EUR -44.0 million. No material changes have taken place in the Company’s financial position after the end of the financial period.

    The Board of Directors proposes that no dividend will be paid for 2024 due to the loss-making result of the year. The Company will focus on funding its growth and developing the business. The net loss for the year is retained in the shareholders’ equity.

    9. Resolution on the discharge of the members of the Board of Directors and the CEO from liability

    10. Consideration of the remuneration policy for governing bodies

    The previous specified version of the remuneration policy has been considered and approved as an advisory resolution by the Annual General Meeting on 24 March 2021.

    The remuneration policy for governing bodies shall be available on the Company’s website at www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance as of 12 February 2025 at the latest.

    11. Consideration of the remuneration report for governing bodies

    The remuneration report for governing bodies shall be available on the Company’s website at www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance on 12 February 2025 at the latest.

    12. Resolution on the remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors

    The Board of Directors proposes upon recommendation of the Personnel Committee that the annual remuneration of the Board of Directors shall remain unchanged and be paid as follows: EUR 80,000 for the Chairman of the Board of Directors, EUR 48,000 for the Committee Chairmen, EUR 38,000 for the members of the Board of Directors and EUR 12,667 for a member of the Board of Directors employed by the Company. Approximately 40% of the annual remuneration be paid as the Company’s shares acquired on the Board members’ behalf. The commission for acquiring the Company shares will be given immediately after the publication of the interim report for the period 1 January–31 March 2025. The Company will be responsible for the possible transaction costs and possible transfer tax levied in connection with purchase of the shares.

    According to the proposal, the travel expenses and other costs of the members of the Board of Directors directly related to board work are paid in accordance with the Company’s compensation policy in force from time to time. Each member of the Board of Directors is paid a predetermined travel fee in addition to travel expenses for meetings held outside their country of residence in accordance with the Company’s travel policy in force from time to time. According to the travel policy, a separate travel fee of EUR 1,000 is paid to the members of the Board of Directors who travel from another European country to attend an on-site meeting. The travel fee is EUR 2,000 for intercontinental travel. No separate travel fee is paid to a member of the Board of Directors employed by the Company. In addition, the Chairman of the Board of Directors is offered assistant and administrative services.

    13. Resolution on the number of members of the Board of Directors

    The Board of Directors proposes upon recommendation of the Personnel Committee that the number of members of the Board of Directors be seven (7).

    14. Election of members of the Board of Directors

    The Board of Directors proposes upon recommendation of the Personnel Committee that Risto Siilasmaa, Amanda Bedborough, Niilo Fredrikson, Ciaran Martin, and Tuomas Syrjänen are to be re-elected as ordinary members of the Board of Directors and that Mervi Kerkelä-Hiltunen and Artturi Lehtiö, who is employed by WithSecure Corporation, are to be elected as new members of the Board of Directors. Of the current Board members, Harri Ruusinen and Kirsi Sormunen have stated that they will no longer be available as Board members.

    The Board member candidates’ CVs and assessments of independence are available on the Company’s website at www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance.

    15. Resolution on the remuneration of the auditor

    The Board of Directors proposes upon recommendation of the Audit Committee that the remuneration to the auditor be paid in accordance with the approved invoice.

    16. Election of the auditor

    The Board of Directors proposes upon recommendation of the Audit Committee that audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy be re-elected as auditor of the Company. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy has stated that Mr Jukka Karinen, APA, will act as the responsible auditor.

    17. Resolution on the remuneration of the authorised sustainability auditor

    The Board of Directors proposes upon recommendation of the Audit Committee that the remuneration of the authorised sustainability auditor be paid in accordance with the approved invoice.

    18. Election of the authorised sustainability auditor

    The Board of Directors proposes upon recommendation of the Audit Committee that PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy be elected as the Company’s authorised sustainability auditor. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy has stated that Mr Jukka Karinen, ASA, will act as the responsible authorised sustainability auditor.

    19. Authorising the Board of Directors to resolve on the repurchase of the Company’s own shares

    The Board of Directors proposes that the General Meeting authorise the Board of Directors to resolve upon the repurchase of a maximum of 17,609,870 of the Company’s own shares in total. The proposed maximum amount equals to approximately 10% of all the shares in the Company, in one or several tranches with the Company’s unrestricted equity.

    The authorisation entitles the Board of Directors to resolve on the repurchase also in deviation from the proportional holdings of the shareholders (directed repurchase). The authorisation comprises the repurchase of shares either in the public trading or otherwise in the market at the trading price determined for the shares in public trading on the date of purchase, or with a purchase offer to the shareholders, in which case the repurchase price must be the same for all shareholders. The Company’s own shares shall be repurchased to be used for carrying out acquisitions or implementing other arrangements related to the Company’s business or for optimising the Company’s capital structure, to be used as part of the implementation of the Company’s incentive scheme or otherwise to be transferred further or cancelled. The authorisation includes the right of the Board of Directors to resolve on all other terms related to the repurchase of the Company’s own shares.

    The Board of Directors proposes that the authorisation be valid until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting, in any case no later than until 30 June 2026. The Board of Directors proposes that this authorisation terminate the authorisation given to the Board of Directors by the Annual General Meeting of 20 March 2024 concerning the repurchase of the Company’s own shares.

    20. Authorising the Board of Directors to resolve on the issuance of shares as well as the issuance of options and other special rights entitling to shares

    The Board of Directors proposes that the General Meeting authorise the Board of Directors to resolve on the issuance of a maximum of 17,609,870 shares in total through a share issue as well as by issuing options and other special rights entitling to shares pursuant to chapter 10, section 1 of the Companies Act in one or several tranches. The proposed maximum number of the shares corresponds to approximately 10% of all shares in the Company.  The authorisation concerns both the issuance of new shares and the transfer of treasury shares held by the Company.

    The authorisation entitles the Board of Directors to resolve on all terms related to the share issue as well as the issuance of options and other special rights entitling to shares. The issuance of shares may be carried out in deviation from the shareholders’ pre-emptive subscription right (directed issue). The authorisation may be used for potential acquisitions or other arrangements, for share-based incentive schemes or otherwise for purposes resolved by the Board of Directors. Of the authorisation, a maximum of 2,000,000 shares may be used as part of the above-mentioned share-based incentive schemes, which corresponds to approximately 1% of all shares in the Company.

    The Board of Directors proposes that the authorisation be valid until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting, in any case no later than until 30 June 2026. The Board of Directors proposes that this authorisation terminate the authorisation given to the Board of Directors by the Annual General Meeting of 20 March 2024 concerning the issuance of shares as well as the issuance of options and other special rights entitling to shares.

    21. Closing of the meeting

    B. Documents of the General Meeting

    The resolution proposals for the matters on the agenda of the General Meeting mentioned above and this notice are available on WithSecure Corporation’s website at www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance. WithSecure Corporation’s annual review including the Company’s annual accounts, consolidated annual accounts, the report of the Board of Directors as well as the auditor’s report and the assurance report on sustainability reporting, as well as the remuneration policy and remuneration report for WithSecure Corporation’s governing bodies are available on said website 12 February 2025 at the latest. The resolution proposals and other documents mentioned above will also be made available at the General Meeting.

    The minutes of the General Meeting will be available on the above-mentioned website at the latest on 1 April 2025.

    C. Instructions for the participants in the General Meeting

    1. Shareholders registered in the shareholders’ register

    Each shareholder who is registered on 6 March 2025, the record date of the General Meeting, in the shareholders’ register of the Company held by Euroclear Finland Oy, has the right to participate in the General Meeting. A shareholder whose shares are registered on the shareholder’s Finnish book-entry account is registered in the shareholders’ register of the Company.

    Changes in shareholding after the record date of the General Meeting do not affect the right to participate in the General Meeting or the number of voting rights.

    Registration for the General Meeting begins on 13 February 2025 at 10:00 a.m. EET. A shareholder whose shares are registered on the shareholder’s Finnish book-entry account and who wishes to participate in the meeting must register for the meeting at the latest on 11 March 2025 at 4:00 p.m. EET, by which time the notice of participation must be received by the Company. Shareholders can register for the meeting by one of the following means:

    1. Online through the Company’s website at www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance. Online registration requires strong electronic identification from the shareholder or the shareholder’s statutory representative or proxy representative using Finnish, Swedish or Danish online banking credentials or a mobile certificate.
    2. By email to the address agm@innovatics.fi or by mail to the address Innovatics Ltd, General Meeting/WithSecure Corporation, Ratamestarinkatu 13 A, 00520 Helsinki. The registering shareholder must include in the registration the registration form and advance voting form available on the Company’s website www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance or equivalent information.

    The requested information, such as the shareholder’s name, date of birth or business ID, contact information as well as the name of the shareholder’s possible assistant and/or proxy representative and date of birth of proxy representative as well as telephone number and/or email address of proxy representative must be provided in connection with the registration. The personal data disclosed by the shareholders to WithSecure Corporation or Innovatics Ltd will only be used in connection with the General Meeting and the processing of related necessary registrations.

    It must also be stated in connection with the registration whether the shareholder or the shareholder’s proxy representative will participate in the General Meeting at the meeting venue or via remote connection. Instructions concerning remote participation are provided in section C. 2. of these instructions.

    Upon request, shareholders, their representatives, or proxy representatives must be able to prove their identity and/or right of representation at the meeting venue.

    Additional information on registration, remote participation and advance voting is available by telephone at +358 10 2818 909 during the registration period of the General Meeting between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. EET and between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. EET on weekdays.

    2. Remote participation in the meeting

    Shareholders who have the right to participate in the General Meeting may participate in the meeting and exercise their shareholder rights fully during the meeting either at the meeting venue or via remote connection.

    A notice given by shareholders or proxy representatives that they will participate in the General Meeting via remote connection is binding, and after the end of the registration period the shareholders or proxy representatives do not have the right to change their means of participation or participate in the meeting at the meeting venue. However, a notice of participation via remote connection given by a shareholder’s proxy representative does not limit the right of the shareholder’s other proxy representatives to participate in the meeting at the meeting venue.

    The remote connection to the General Meeting will be implemented through Inderes Oyj’s virtual AGM service using the Videosync platform, which includes video and audio access to the General Meeting. Using the remote connection does not require software or downloads subject to a charge. In addition to an internet connection, participation requires a computer, smartphone or tablet with speakers or headphones for audio playback as well as a microphone for oral questions and comments. The following browsers are recommended for remote participation: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, or Opera. Shareholders are responsible for their internet connections and devices during the meeting. In order to prepare for technical failures, it is recommended that shareholders who participate in the meeting remotely vote in advance.

    The participation link and password for remote participation will be sent by email and/or SMS to the email address and/or mobile phone number provided in connection with the registration by the day before the meeting, 17 March 2025 at the latest. It is recommended to log in to the meeting system in good time before the meeting starts.

    For more information on the AGM service, additional instructions for proxy holders representing more than one shareholder, contact details and instructions of the service provider in case of possible disruptions, please visit https://vagm.fi/support and a link to test the compatibility of your computer, smartphone or tablet with the internet connection can be found at https://b2b.inderes.com/fi/knowledge-base/yhteensopivuuden-testaaminen. It is recommended to consult the detailed attendance instructions before the start of the General Meeting.

    3. Advance voting

    A shareholder whose shares are registered on the shareholder’s Finnish book-entry account can vote in advance on certain matters on the agenda between 13 February 2025 at 10:00 a.m. EET and 11 March 2025 at 4:00 p.m. EET in the following ways:

    1. Online through the service available on the Company’s website at www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance. Shareholders can sign into the advance voting service the same way as to the online registration service referred to above in section C. 1. a) of these instructions.
    2. By email or mail by sending the advance voting form available on the Company’s website at www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance or corresponding information to Innovatics Ltd, by email to the address agm@innovatics.fi or by mail to the address Innovatics Ltd, General Meeting/WithSecure Corporation, Ratamestarinkatu 13 A, 00520 Helsinki. Advance votes must be received before the advance voting period ends.

    A proposed resolution that is subject to advance voting is considered to be presented unchanged in the General Meeting, and the advance votes are taken into account in a vote at the real-time General Meeting also in circumstances where an alternative resolution has been proposed concerning the matter. Taking the votes into account requires that the shareholders who voted in advance are registered in the Company’s shareholders’ register maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy on the record date of the General Meeting. Sending the votes in advance by mail or email so that they are received before the end of the time limit of the registration and advance voting period constitutes registration for the General Meeting, provided that the shareholder’s notice of participation includes the above information required for registration. Unless shareholders voting in advance participate at the General Meeting at the meeting venue in person or by way of proxy representation or participate in the General Meeting via remote connection, they will not be able to use their rights under the Companies Act to request information or a vote.

    Holders of nominee registered shares can vote in advance through their account operators. Account operators can vote in advance on behalf of the holders of nominee registered shares they represent in accordance with the shareholders’ voting instructions during the registration period applicable to holders of nominee registered shares.

    4. Holder of nominee registered shares

    A holder of nominee registered shares has the right to participate in the Annual General Meeting by virtue of such shares, based on which the holder of nominee registered shares on the record date of the General Meeting, 6 March 2025, would be entitled to be registered in the shareholders’ register of the Company held by Euroclear Finland Oy. In addition, the right to participate requires that the holder of nominee registered shares be temporarily entered into the shareholders’ register held by Euroclear Finland Oy based on these shares at the latest by 13 March 2025 at 10:00 a.m. EET. As regards nominee registered shares, this constitutes due registration for the General Meeting. Changes in shareholding after the record date of the General Meeting do not affect the right to participate in the General Meeting or the number of voting rights.

    A holder of nominee registered shares is advised to request in good time the necessary instructions regarding the temporary registration in the shareholders’ register of the Company, the issuing of proxy documents and voting instructions, registration for the General Meeting, and advance voting from such shareholder’s custodian bank. The account management organisation of the custodian bank shall temporarily register a holder of nominee registered shares who wishes to participate in the General Meeting into the shareholders’ register of the Company at the latest by the time stated above. When necessary, the account management organisation of the custodian bank shall also arrange advance voting on behalf of the holder of nominee registered shares before the end of the registration period applicable to holders of nominee registered shares.

    A holder of nominee registered shares who has registered for the General Meeting may participate in the General Meeting at the meeting venue or via remote connection. Remote participation requires temporary entry into the shareholders’ register held by Euroclear Finland Oy and submission of an email address and telephone number of the holder of nominee registered shares by email to the address agm@innovatics.fi by mail to the address Innovatics Ltd, General Meeting/WithSecure Corporation, Ratamestarinkatu 13 A, 00520 Helsinki before the registration period applicable to holders of nominee registered shares ends so that an attendance link and password can be sent to the holder of nominee registered shares for participating in the General Meeting remotely.

    5. Proxy representative and powers of attorney

    A shareholder may participate in the General Meeting and exercise the shareholder rights at the meeting by way of proxy representation. The proxy representative may also vote in advance in the manner instructed in section C. 3. of these instructions.

    The proxy representative shall produce a dated proxy document or power of attorney or otherwise in a reliable manner demonstrate such representative’s right to represent the shareholder at the General Meeting. If a shareholder participates in the General Meeting by means of several proxy representatives representing the shareholder with shares in different book-entry accounts, the shares by which each proxy representative represents the shareholder shall be identified in connection with the registration for the General Meeting. 

    A proxy template is available on the Company’s website at www.withsecure.com/en/about-us/investor-relations/governance.

    Possible proxy documents are to be delivered primarily as an attachment in connection with the electronic registration, or alternatively by email to Innovatics Ltd to the address agm@innovatics.fi or by mail to the address Innovatics Ltd, General Meeting/WithSecure Corporation, Ratamestarinkatu 13 A, 00520 Helsinki before the end of the registration period, by which time the proxy documents must be received. WithSecure Corporation may, if it so wishes, demand original proxy documents if regarded necessary by the Company.

    In addition to submitting a proxy document, shareholders or their proxy representatives shall ensure that they register for the General Meeting in the manner described above in section C. 1. of these instructions.

    If a proxy representative represents more than one shareholder at the General Meeting, it is recommended to vote in advance. Even if the proxy representative represents more than one shareholder at the General Meeting either at the meeting venue or via remote connection, only one attendance link and password will be provided to the proxy representative for all shareholders the proxy representative represents. The proxy representative will therefore not need to log into the service separately on behalf of each shareholder but shall ensure the exercise of shareholders’ rights by voting on behalf of each shareholder separately.

    A shareholder may authorise a proxy representative by using the Suomi.fi e-authorisation service as an alternative to a traditional proxy document. The proxy representative is authorised via the Suomi.fi service at www.suomi.fi/e-authorizations (authorisation for ‘Representation at the General Meeting’). When registering for the General Meeting service, the proxy representative must identify themselves by using strong electronic identification, after which the proxy representative can register and vote in advance on behalf of the shareholder the proxy representative represents. Strong electronic identification requires a Finnish bank ID or mobile certificate. For more information on e-authorisation, please see www.suomi.fi/e-authorizations.

    6. Other instructions and information

    The language of the General Meeting is Finnish.

    A shareholder present at the meeting has the right to ask questions referred to in chapter 5, section 25 of the Companies Act with respect to the matters to be considered at the General Meeting.

    On the date of this notice, Wednesday, 12 February 2025, the total number of shares in WithSecure Corporation is 176,098,739 shares, which represent an equal number of votes. On the date of this notice, the Company holds 81,890 treasury shares. Treasury shares do not produce any rights in the Company and do therefore not entitle to participation in the General Meeting.

    Helsinki, 12 February 2025

    WITHSECURE CORPORATION 
    Board of Directors

    Contact information:

    Tiina Sarhimaa, Chief Legal Officer
    WithSecure Corporation

    Laura Viita
    VP, Controlling, Investor relations and Sustainability
    WithSecure Corporation
    +358 50 487 1044
    investor-relations@withsecure.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Press release – EP TODAY, Wednesday, 12 February

    Source: European Parliament 3

    Commission 2025 Work Programme and new competitiveness strategy

    At 9.00, Commissioner Śefčovič will present the Commission’s 2025 work programme, followed by a discussion with MEPs and Polish EU Affairs Minister Szłapka. In an afternoon debate, starting around 14.00, plenary will review the recently tabled proposal for a new competitiveness roadmap, with Commission Vice-President Séjourné and Minister Szłapka.

    Andreas KLEINER

    (+32) 498 98 33 22

    EuroParlPress

    Estefania NARRILLOS

    (+32) 498 98 39 85

    EuroParlPress

    Repression in Russia one year after Navalny’s murder

    MEPs will examine the Kremlin’s continued repression of Russia’s political opposition a year after the murder of Alexei Navalny, in a debate starting around 10.30.

    US withdrawal from WHO and the Paris deal and suspension of external aid

    Starting around 16.30, MEPs and Commissioner Lahbib will debate the consequences of the US Administration’s decision to pull out of the World Health Organisation and the Paris Agreement on climate change, as well as the impact of the suspension of US humanitarian and development aid.

    Dana POPP

    (+32) 470 95 17 07

    EP_Environment

    Thomas HAAHR

    (+32) 470 88 09 87

    EP_Environment

    Eoghan WALSH

    (+32) 485 39 94 43

    EP_Development

    In brief

    Support to EU regions bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. From around 15.00, plenary will debate with Commission Vice-President Fitto and Minister Szłapka EU support to regions sharing borders with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

    Seven years after the Kuciak murders: threats to journalists in the EU. MEPs will assess with Commissioner McGrath the state of media freedom across the EU and discuss how to ensure the protection of journalists.

    Mental health of Europe’s youth. MEPs and Commissioner Micallef will discuss how to tackle increasing mental health issues among European young people.

    Human rights in Türkiye, Nicaragua and Nigeria. MEPs and Commissioner Micallef will consider the recent dismissals and arrests of mayors in Türkiye, repression in Nicaragua and the risk of the death penalty in Nigeria for blasphemy charges. Three draft resolutions will be put to a vote by plenary on Thursday.

    Collaboration between conservatives and far right. In this session’s topical debate at 13.00, MEPs will discuss with Commission Vice-President Séjourné and Polish Minister Szłapka whether collaboration between conservatives and far right threatens competitiveness in the EU.

    Votes

    At noon, plenary will vote, among others, on:

    • New VAT rules for the digital age, and
    • Improved administrative cooperation in the field of taxation.

    Live coverage of the plenary session can be found on Parliament’s webstreaming and on EbS+.

    For detailed information on the session, please also see our newsletter.

    Find more information regarding plenary.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Message of the Holy Father Francis to the President of the French Republic on the occasion of the “AI Action Summit” in Paris

    Source: The Holy See

    Message of the Holy Father Francis to the President of the French Republic on the occasion of the “AI Action Summit” in Paris, 11.02.2025
    The following is the Message sent by the Holy Father Francis to the President of the French Republic, His Excellency Mr. Emmanuel Macron, on the occasion of the AI Action Summit taking place in Paris (10-11 February 2025):

    Message of the Holy Father
    Message of His Holiness Pope Francis
    to the President of the French Republic
    His Excellency Emmanuel Macron
    on the occasion of the
    “Artificial Intelligence Action Summit”
    Paris, 10 to 11 February 2025
    Mr President, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Participants,
    Upon learning of your praiseworthy initiative to convene a Summit on Artificial Intelligence in Paris from 10 to 11 February 2025, I was pleased to see, Mr President, that you chose to devote the Summit to action in the area of artificial intelligence.
    During our meeting in Puglia in the context of the G7, I had occasion to stress the urgent need to “ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programmes”. I am convinced that, lacking such control, artificial intelligence, albeit an “exciting” new tool, could show its most “fearsome” side by posing a threat to human dignity (cf. Address to the G7 Session on Artificial Intelligence, 14 June 2024).
    I therefore appreciate the efforts under way to embark with courage and determination upon a political process aimed at defending humanity from a use of artificial intelligence that could “limit our worldview to realities expressible in numbers and enclosed in predetermined categories, thereby excluding the contribution of other forms of truth and imposing uniform anthropological, socio-economic and cultural models” (ibid.). I am likewise pleased that in this Paris Summit you have sought to include the greatest possible number of actors and experts in a reflection meant to produce concrete results.
    In my most recent Encyclical Letter Dilexit Nos, I distinguished between the operation of algorithms and the power of the “heart”, a concept dear to the great philosopher and scientist Blaise Pascal, to whom I devoted an Apostolic Letter on the fourth centenary of his birth (cf. Sublimitas et Miseria Hominis, 19 June 2023). I did so in order to emphasize that, while algorithms can be used to manipulate and mislead, the “heart”, understood as the seat of our deepest and most authentic sentiments, can never deceive (cf. Encyclical Letter Dilexit Nos, 24 October 2024, 14-20).
    I ask all those attending the Paris Summit not to forget that only the human “heart” can reveal the meaning of our existence (cf. Pascal, Pensées, Lafuma 418; Sellier 680). I ask you to take as a given the principle expressed so elegantly by another great French philosopher, Jacques Maritain: “L’amour vaut plus que l’intelligence” (Réflexions sur l’intelligence, 1938).
    Your efforts, dear friends, represent an outstanding example of a healthy politics that situates technological innovations within a greater project that seeks the common good and is thus “open to different opportunities which do not imply stifling human creativity and its ideals of progress, but rather directs that energy along new channels” (Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 24 May 2015, 191).
    Artificial intelligence, I believe, can become a powerful tool in the hands of those scientists and experts who cooperate in finding innovative and creative solutions that promote the eco-sustainability of the earth, our common home, while not overlooking the high consumption of energy associated with the operation of artificial intelligence infrastructures.
    In my Message for the 2024 World Day of Peace, which was devoted to artificial intelligence, I insisted that “in debates about the regulation of artificial intelligence, the voices of all stakeholders should be taken into account, including the poor, the powerless and others who often go unheard in global decision-making processes” (cf. Message for the LVII World Day of Peace, 1 January 2024, 8). In this regard, I trust that the Paris Summit will work for the creation of a platform of public interest on artificial intelligence, so that every nation can find in artificial intelligence an instrument for its development and its fight against poverty, but also for the protection of its local cultures and languages. Only in this way will every people on earth be able to contribute to the creation of the data employed by artificial intelligence, so that the latter will reflect the true diversity and richness that is the hallmark of our human family.
    This year, the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education jointly produced a “Note on the Relationship between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence”. That document, published on 28 January last, examines several specific issues concerning artificial intelligence that this Summit is considering, as well as others that I believe to be of particular concern. It is my hope that future Summits will consider in greater detail the social effects of artificial intelligence on human relationships, information and education. Yet the fundamental question is, and will continue to be, human, namely: whether amid these technological advances, “man, as man, is becoming truly better, that is to say, more spiritually mature, more aware of the dignity of his humanity, more responsible, more open to others, especially the neediest and weakest” (cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis, 15). Our ultimate challenge will always remain mankind. May we never lose sight of this!
    I thank you, Mr President, and I express my gratitude to all of you who have contributed to this Summit.
    From the Vatican, 7 February 2025
    FRANCIS

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: In 2024, investors purchased more than 250 thousand square meters of non-residential real estate from the city

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    Last year, entrepreneurs and individuals purchased more than one and a half thousand commercial real estate properties from the capital. This was reported by the Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Department of City Property Maxim Gaman.

    “In 2024, following the results of auctions and the preemptive right of purchase, investors acquired over 1.7 thousand premises and buildings with a total area of 254.3 thousand square meters from the city. Two-thirds of the objects were sold through electronic auctions, which allowed attracting the maximum number of applicants and revealing the investment potential of the lots,” Maxim Gaman emphasized.

    The new owners use the acquired premises for various types of business activities, including opening offices, cafes, and order pick-up points. This contributes to the development of infrastructure and the creation of jobs in the capital.

    Commercial real estate objects are located in different areas of the city. The most popular with investors were those located in the Central, Western and Southwestern administrative districts. Thus, in the center of Moscow, entrepreneurs and individuals purchased more than 300 non-residential premises with an area of 46.1 thousand square meters, in the west – over 240 with an area of about 28.6 thousand square meters, and in the southwest – about 230 objects with a total area of 34.4 thousand square meters.

    “The opportunity to purchase commercial real estate directly from the city is in demand among entrepreneurs. In 2024, at auctions for the sale of such properties, an average of eight participants bid for one lot,” noted the head of the capital’s Department of Competition Policy

    Kirill Purtov.

    Information about current offers from the city is published onMoscow investment portal. To participate in the auction, you will need registration on the Roseltorg platform and an enhanced qualified electronic signature. The organizer of the auction is Moscow City Department of Competition Policy.

    Development of electronic services for business corresponds to the objectives of the national project “Data Economy and Digital Transformation of the State” and the regional project of the city of Moscow “Digital Public Administration”.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/149985073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: 897 old houses have been completely resettled since the beginning of the renovation program

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    Since the beginning of the renovation program, residents of more than 1,200 old houses have begun to move or have already moved into new apartments with improved finishing and high-quality repairs. This was reported by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Urban Development Policy and Construction Vladimir Efimov.

    “Since the start of the renovation program in the capital, residents of 1,208 old houses have begun resettling. 897 of these buildings have already been completely resettled. The pace is growing: if in 2018-2019, 26 buildings were completely resettled, then in 2024 their number reached 307. Completely resettled houses are dismantled using smart demolition technology. New residential complexes with accompanying infrastructure are being built on the vacated sites,” said Vladimir Efimov.

    Thus, in 2020, residents moved out of 56 old buildings, in 2021 – from 69, in 2022 and 2023 – from more than 400 in total.

    “The largest number of houses were completely resettled in the South-Eastern Administrative District – 148 buildings were vacated there. In the east and west of the capital – 130 and 115 respectively. Almost 360 new buildings have been prepared for residents of old houses since the beginning of the renovation program. As part of the creation of a high-quality urban environment, the areas around residential complexes are being improved: comprehensive landscaping is being carried out, children’s and sports playgrounds, recreation areas are being equipped. In addition, video surveillance cameras are being installed for the safety of residents,” added the Minister of the Moscow Government, head of the capital’s Department of Urban Development Policy

    Vladislav Ovchinsky.

    In exchange for old housing, the city provides participants in the renovation program with comfortable apartments that are no less in area and number of rooms than the previous ones or have a larger area due to more spacious kitchens, corridors and bathrooms.

    According to the Minister of the Moscow Government, head of the capital’s Department of City Property Maxim Gaman, 148.5 thousand people lived in 897 houses resettled under the renovation program. All of them have already become owners of equivalent housing in new buildings. In the southeast of the capital, more than 26.9 thousand people who lived in 148 old buildings signed contracts for apartments in modern complexes. In the east, more than 20.4 thousand city residents from 130 such houses became new residents. In the west, more than 18.4 thousand Muscovites from 115 resettled buildings received the keys to comfortable apartments.

    The first floors of the constructed complexes are non-residential. They are intended for the placement of social and commercial facilities.

    Previously Mayor of Moscow congratulated The 200,000th resident who has begun resettlement under the renovation program.

    The renovation program was approved in August 2017. It concerns about a million Muscovites and provides for the resettlement of 5,176 houses. Earlier, Sergei Sobyanin instructed to double the pace of implementation of the renovation program.

    Moscow is one of the leaders among regions in terms of construction volumes. High rates of housing construction correspond to the goals and initiatives of the national project “Infrastructure for life”.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/149987073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: JLT Mobile Computers AB (publ) publishes 2024 Year-end report

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Växjö, Sweden, 12 February 2025 * * * JLT Mobile Computers, a leading supplier of rugged computers for demanding environments, today publishes its Year-end report for the full year 2024.

    Summary of key figures

    • Order intake MSEK 103.0 (135.4)
    • Net revenues MSEK 118.4 (158.8)
    • EBITDA MSEK -2.1 (4.8)
    • Depreciation and amortization of development expenses MSEK -8.1 (-2.5)
    • Operating profit MSEK -9.7 (1.9)
    • Profit after taxes MSEK -7.7 (1.6)
    • Cashflow +6.8 (-21.5)
    • No dividend is proposed (SEK 0.00)

    In short

    • Challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions resulted in lower-than-normal demand for JLT products, a rough year for JLT as well as for many other industry colleagues where reports of layoffs and closures occurred.
    • Order intake for the year amounted to MSEK 103 compared to MSEK 135 last year, and sales amounted to MSEK 118, a decrease from MSEK 159 last year.
    • Starting to see a recovery in the market – several major deals booked in the US during the first quarter of 2025, of which one for a leading American food producer to a value of MSEK 22 plus service agreements (press release 2025-01-10). The total order intake in Q1 2025 so far exceeds MSEK 40.
    • To create a more cost-effective and market-adapted structure that enables efficient management and customer-driven development of JLT’s software solutions, the operations of the subsidiary JLT Software Solutions AB have been discontinued (press release 2025-01-17). Capitalized development expenses in the company have been written down and, together with other discontinuation costs, impact the group’s results in the fourth quarter by MSEK 5.0, of which MSEK 1.2 affects cash flow. Software development, including the JLT Insights product, has been integrated with the group’s other product development.
    • Development expenses related to Android have been written down by MSEK 1.7, as the product’s sales did not develop as expected.
    • In 2024, organizational and R&D costs were reduced by MSEK 5.4, despite one-time costs of MSEK 1.2. EBITDA ended at MSEK -2.1, compared to MSEK 4.8 the previous year. For 2025, the mentioned measures are expected to provide additional savings of MSEK 1.5 and reduce amortization of development expenses to MSEK 0.5 compared to MSEK 8.1 for 2024.
    • The core products in JLT’s VERSO and JLT1214™ series have been upgraded with new processors and new technology during the year to maintain JLT’s strong market position (press release 2024-06-13: VERSO and press release 2024-10-22: JLT1214).
    • In October, a senior marketing manager with extensive industry experience was recruited to JLT’s American subsidiary to lead marketing and partner strategy in the USA (press release 2024-10-15).
    • The organization in the French subsidiary, JLT France, has been expanded with a salesperson, and a planned generational shift in leadership has been carried out (press release 2024-10-01).
    • As a result of strategic measures implemented during 2024, inventory was reduced by 6.9 MSEK. Cash flow was positively impacted, and JLT added 6.8 MSEK to its cash reserves. Inventory is expected to be gradually reduced further during 2025.
    • 2024 marked an important milestone for JLT, celebrating 30 years as an innovator of rugged computer solutions (press release 2024-12-12). Since its inception in 1994, JLT has been part of the extensive transformation that the rugged IT solutions industry has undergone.        

    The full interim report is attached to this press release and available for download at the company’s website, jltmobile.com. Additional financial information is available online on JLT’s investor pages.

    This information is information that JLT Mobile Computers AB (pub) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out below, at 08:00 pm CET on Wednesday, February 12, 2025.

    About JLT Mobile Computers

    JLT Mobile Computers is a leading supplier of rugged mobile computing devices and solutions for demanding environments. 30 years of development and manufacturing experience have enabled JLT to set the standard in rugged computing, combining outstanding product quality with expert service, support and solutions to ensure trouble-free business operations for customers in warehousing, transportation, manufacturing, mining, ports and agriculture. JLT operates globally from offices in Sweden, France, and the US, complemented by an extensive network of sales partners in local markets. The company was founded in 1994, and the share has been listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market stock exchange since 2002 under the symbol JLT. Eminova Fondkommission AB acts as Certified Adviser. Learn more at jltmobile.com.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: New Sampo shares issued in the share split registered with the Finnish Trade Register

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Sampo plc, stock exchange release, 12 February 2025 at 8:30 am EET

    New Sampo shares issued in the share split registered with the Finnish Trade Register

    Sampo plc announced on 5 February 2025 the resolution by the Board of Directors of Sampo on a share split by way of a share issue without consideration in proportion to shares owned by shareholders. The new Sampo A and B shares are issued to shareholders in proportion to their existing holdings on the record day of the share issuance on 12 February 2025, so that four (4) new A shares are issued for each existing A share and four (4) new B shares are issued for each existing B share. After the share split, shareholders will have five Sampo shares for each old existing Sampo share. The new shares have been registered with the Finnish Trade Register today, 12 February 2025.

    In total, 2,152,191,088 new Sampo A shares and 800,000 new B shares were issued in the share split. Following the registration of the new shares, Sampo’s total share count amounts to 2,691,238,860 shares. The total number of A shares is 2,690,238,860 and the total number of votes attached to these shares is 2,690,238,860. The total number of B shares is 1,000,000 and the total number of votes attached to the shares is 5,000,000.

    Trading in the new A shares on Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Stockholm (in the form of Swedish depository receipts) and Nasdaq Copenhagen (in the form of share entitlements) is expected to commence on or about 13 February 2025. However, the new Swedish depository receipts are expected to be available on the accounts in Euroclear Sweden on or about 14 February 2025. The share split does not require any action from shareholders nor holders of Swedish depository receipts. The share split will not affect Sampo’s ISIN codes.

    SAMPO PLC
    Investors Relations and Group Communications

    For further information, please contact:

    Sami Taipalus
     Head of Investor Relations
    tel. +358 10 516 0030

    Distribution:
    Nasdaq Helsinki
    Nasdaq Stockholm
    Nasdaq Copenhagen
    London Stock Exchange
    FIN-FSA
    The principal media
    www.sampo.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Year End Report 2024

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Highlights

    • The Company added a total of 50 GWh of annual long-term proportionate power generation through acquisitions in 2024, reflecting a five percent increase in long-term power generation, of which 20 GWh was added in the fourth quarter.
    • Power generation amounted to 907 GWh for the year, in line with the updated outlook, and power generation of 287 GWh during the fourth quarter marks the Company’s highest ever quarterly production.
    • Reached the ready-to-permit milestone for the Company’s first large-scale project in the UK, a 1.4 GW solar and 500 MW battery project, and initiated a sales process to assess divestment options.
    • Achieved carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions.

    Consolidated financials – 12 months

    • Cash flows from investing activities amounted to MEUR 32.6 and was positively impacted by the sale of the Leikanger hydropower plant in the second quarter.
    • Cash flows from operating activities amounted to MEUR -6.3.

    Proportionate financials – 12 months

    • Achieved electricity price amounted to EUR 34 per MWh, which resulted in a proportionate EBITDA of MEUR 7.0.
    • Proportionate net debt of MEUR 65.0, with significant liquidity headroom available through the MEUR 170 revolving credit facility.

    Financial Summary

    Orrön Energy owns renewables assets directly and through joint ventures and associated companies and is presenting proportionate financials to show the net ownership and related results of these assets. The purpose of the proportionate reporting is to give an enhanced insight into the Company’s operational and financial results.

    Expressed in MEUR

    		 1 Jan 2024-
    31 Dec 2024
    12 months    		 1 Oct 2024-
    31 Dec 2024
    3 months    		 1 Jan 2023-
    31 Dec 2023
    12 months    		 1 Oct 2023-
    31 Dec 2023
    3 months
    Consolidated financials        
    Revenue 25.7 7.1 28.0 8.4
    EBITDA -1.6 -2.5 -5.1 -0.9
    Operating profit (EBIT) -17.5 -6.3 -17.0 -4.4
    Net result -13.3 -6.6 -7.6 8.0
    Earnings per share – EUR -0.05 -0.02 -0.03 0.03
    Earnings per share diluted – EUR -0.05 -0.02 -0.03 0.03
    Proportionate financials1        
    Power generation (GWh) 907 287 765 226
    Average price achieved per MWh – EUR 34 30 47 43
    Operating expenses per MWh – EUR 17 14 18 16
    Revenue 30.7 8.7 36.2 9.6
    EBITDA 7.0 0.1 5.3 1.3
    Operating profit (EBIT) -12.9 -4.8 -11.0 -3.2

    1 Proportionate financials represent Orrön Energy’s proportionate ownership (net) of assets and related financial results, including joint ventures. For more details see section Key Financial Data in the Year End Report 2024.

    Comment from Daniel Fitzgerald, CEO of Orrön Energy AB
    “2024 marks another year of good progress despite challenging market conditions. We added around 50 GWh of long-term annual power generation through value-accretive acquisitions in Sweden, strengthened our balance sheet with the sale of the Leikanger hydropower asset, and launched our first sales process in the UK having reached the ready-to-permit stage on a project with 1.4 GW solar generation capacity and a 500 MW battery. In response to the volatile market conditions experienced in 2024, we initiated voluntary production curtailments across a portion of our portfolio, and started providing ancillary services to the market via some of our windfarms. These initiatives have helped us to reduce the impact of negatively priced hours and take advantage of alternative revenue streams. We remain focused on delivering profitable growth and are consistently looking for ways to improve performance during challenging market environments.

    Proportionate power generation amounted to 907 GWh for the year, which was in line with our updated outlook. We delivered a record quarterly power generation of 287 GWh in the fourth quarter, despite the impact of voluntary production curtailments during periods of low electricity prices. While the overall power generation in 2024 was impacted by lower-than-average wind speeds, we hope to see more normalised weather conditions in 2025, following four consecutive years of wind speeds below the historical long-term average. Taking into account this variability, the acquisitions made in 2024, and the potential for future curtailment, we expect our power generation in 2025 to be between 900 and 1,050 GWh, which gives some margin both for weather and market conditions.

    Capitalising on market opportunities
    The renewable energy industry continued to face headwinds in 2024, as elevated interest rates, inflation, and periods of low electricity prices led to downward pressures on valuations and stock prices across the sector. Uncertainty in the US and political shifts across Europe further impacted investor confidence regarding the pace and support for the energy transition. However, the long-term fundamentals for renewable energy remain strong, where onshore wind and solar continue to have the lowest breakeven cost by a significant margin compared to other sources. Despite political or economic headwinds, these investments are poised to stand the test of time. We maintained our strategic focus, adding over 50 GWh of long-term proportionate power generation in 2024 at a cost of less than 0.5 MEUR per MW. We have now replaced 50 percent of the production sold of the Leikanger asset, at a significantly lower unit cost, demonstrating a highly accretive and efficient recycling of capital.

    In the Nordics, electricity prices remained highly volatile, which impacted our financial results. This was largely driven by periods of oversupply due to lower seasonal demand, high hydrological balances, elevated gas storage and surplus electricity from interconnected European markets. Looking ahead, energy demand is forecast to grow, fuelled by GDP growth, continued electrification and increased power needs for data centres and artificial intelligence.

    First UK project reached ready-to-permit stage, sales process commenced
    We continued advancing our project development platform in the fourth quarter, and I am excited to announce that we achieved a significant milestone by having our first large-scale project in the UK reach the ready-to-permit stage. The project is a 1.4 GW solar and 500 MW co-located battery development, and we have initiated a sales process to evaluate divestment options. This is the first project from our pipeline to reach this milestone, and we expect to have a number of follow-on projects reaching the same stage in 2025 both in the UK and Germany. In the UK, two key regulatory reforms are currently ongoing; the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and the grid connections reform. Both aim to simplify and enhance the ability for renewable energy projects to obtain a grid connection more efficiently based on zonal capacity expectations. These reforms have had an impact on our prioritisation of projects and created some uncertainty for investors in the UK, and we will continue to monitor developments aiming to ensure our projects remain well-positioned in this evolving regulatory landscape.

    Financially resilient
    We remain in a financially robust position, with liquidity headroom exceeding MEUR 100. Proportionate revenues and other income amounted to MEUR 8.9 for the fourth quarter and MEUR 42.1 for the year, which was impacted by low electricity prices, resulting in a proportionate EBITDA of MEUR 0.1 for the fourth quarter and MEUR 7.0 for the year. Our full-year expenditure guidance for 2025 remains largely in line with 2024 and the business strategy remains unchanged as we enter the new year.

    Entering the next chapter of growth
    Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, I believe this will be a transformational period for Orrön Energy on many fronts. The Nordic business continues its organic growth with a good pipeline of projects, 1,000 GWh of long-term proportionate power generation and plenty of acquisition opportunities. The UK and German teams are rapidly reaching key milestones and we expect to see results from our project sales throughout 2025, with a material pipeline of opportunities to follow. We have now passed the halfway point of the Sudan legal case, and expect the District Court trial to finish during the second quarter of 2026, which will significantly reduce our future legal costs and positively impact our financial results thereafter. With the end of the Sudan trial in sight and our two organic growth platforms running, we can now start shaping the next strategic growth chapter for our business, and over the next year we will explore new opportunities to expand our portfolio and unlock additional value for our shareholders. I would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support and look forward to sharing updates on the exciting growth opportunities that lie ahead of us.”

    Webcast
    Listen to Daniel Fitzgerald, CEO and Espen Hennie, CFO commenting on the report and presenting the latest developments in Orrön Energy and its future growth strategy together with members of Orrön Energy’s management team at a webcast during the Company’s Capital Markets Day today at 14.00 CET. The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

    Follow the presentation live on the below webcast link:
    https://orron-energy.events.inderes.com/cmd-2025

    For further information, please contact:

    Robert Eriksson
    Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations
    Tel: +46 701 11 26 15
    robert.eriksson@orron.com

    Jenny Sandström
    Communications Lead
    Tel: +41 79 431 63 68
    jenny.sandstrom@orron.com

    Orrön Energy is an independent, publicly listed (Nasdaq Stockholm: “ORRON”) renewable energy company within the Lundin Group of Companies. Orrön Energy’s core portfolio consists of high quality, cash flow generating assets in the Nordics, coupled with greenfield growth opportunities in the Nordics, the UK, Germany and France. With financial capacity to fund further growth and acquisitions, and backed by a major shareholder, management and Board with a proven track record of investing into, leading and growing highly successful businesses, Orrön Energy is in a unique position to create shareholder value through the energy transition.

    This information is information that Orrön Energy AB is required to make public pursuant to the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the contact persons set out above, at 07.30 CET on 12 February 2025.

    Forward-looking statements
    Statements in this press release relating to any future status or circumstances, including statements regarding future performance, growth and other trend projections, are forward-looking statements. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “expect”, “intend”, “plan”, “seek”, “will”, “would” or similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that could occur in the future. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to several factors, many of which are outside the company’s control. Any forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date on which the statements are made and the company has no obligation (and undertakes no obligation) to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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