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Category: Europe

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Stoke-on-Trent children’s services to exit Government intervention following significant transformation

    Source: City of Stoke-on-Trent

    Published: Monday, 10th February 2025

    Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Children and Families service will exit government intervention.

    It comes after achieving substantial improvements in outcomes for children and families.

    The Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed consistent progress and recommended lifting the intervention – which has been in place since 2019.

    The intervention followed an Ofsted inspection that rated the service as ‘Inadequate’. A subsequent inspection in October 2022 saw the service rated as ‘Requires Improvement’, highlighting significant advancements. There were key improvements in services for individuals or professionals to report concerns or request support and in outcomes for children in care. Follow-up visits have demonstrated continued, sustained improvement.

    The DfE review outlines several key achievements:

    • The number of children in care is at its lowest level in 18 months, with fewer children on Child Protection plans.
    • The quality of social work practice has remained strong, with an increasing number of audits rated ‘Good’.
    • Early support services are now more effective at preventing issues from escalating.
    • Stronger partnerships with local agencies are ensuring families receive the tailored support they need, with a clear focus on community-based solutions.
    • A robust leadership team continues to drive positive change and improvement.

    The city council’s focus on early intervention and partnership working has been fundamental in reducing the number of children in care and making sure that families receive the right support at the right time.  

    Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for children’s services at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “This is a significant milestone for services for children and families in Stoke-on-Trent. We’ve made great progress, and we’re pleased to be moving forward without government intervention. 

    “The Family Matters programme has been central to this transformation, providing families with the early support they need to thrive. 

    “While we recognise there is still work to be done, I am confident that under the leadership of our incoming Corporate Director, Neil Macdonald, we will continue to build on this momentum, ensuring every child in Stoke-on-Trent gets the care and support they deserve.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: City’s latest young poets unveiled at major literature festival

    Source: City of Wolverhampton

    Young Poet Laurate Agneta Krieva, from Ormiston SWB Academy, and Primary Poet Champion Florence Ehigie, from SS Mary & John’s Primary Academy, were chosen from dozens of budding poets after winning a competition organised by Wolverhampton’s library service.

    This year, children and young people are asked to write a poem about friendship entitled ‘Life is better with friends’.

    Councillor Obaida Ahmed, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Digital and Community, said: “For the past five years, our library service has been running this competition with local schools and each year the quality and presentation of the poems has been fantastic.

    “This year was no exception, and I would like to congratulate Agneta and Florence on becoming our newest Young Poet Laureate and Primary Poet Champion respectively. They now have the chance to have their voices heard by thousands of people across the city.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: The iconic Austin 7 is back

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    By Tom Stacey, Anglia Ruskin University

    In perhaps one of the greatest brand comeback stories in automotive since the Fiat 500 in 2007, British car company Austin announced the return of the Austin Arrow.

    Its name is an unashamed reference to one of the most memorable Austin 7 models – first introduced in the 1920s the Arrow was the original “everyman sportscar”, before the muscle cars (think of the Dodge Challenger) of the US became popular in the 1960s. Now reimagined as an electric Vehicle (EV), the Arrow is designed and made in the UK and aims to be to 2020s consumers what the original was 90 years ago.

    A number of cars are synonymous with the British car industry. In fact, as a small nation, Britain punches above its weight when it comes to classic automobile brands – The Mini, the Range Rover, London black cabs, James Bond’s Aston Martins, and even the London red bus. However, if one car can be credited for creating the dawn of the motor vehicle in the UK, it would be the diminutive Austin 7.

    The car was created in the 1920s at the time when Austin was struggling. New laws were pushing manufacturers to produce smaller, less powerful cars. But Austin’s board of directors didn’t support a cheap, small car with low profit margins. Austin was known for its larger, luxury products.

    However, Sir Herbert Austin and his 18-year-old apprentice Stanley Edge decided to secretly create a small car. Thank god they didn’t heed the board, because they ended up creating the greatest democratising automotive product Britain had ever seen (until they repeated it with the Austin Mini).

    The reason why products such as the Austin 7 come to define their period is rarely due to their technical prowess or exhilarating performance – it’s because they bring to the masses a technology that is both useful and traditionally seen as out of reach.

    The Austin 7 was a bit like the iPhone. There were smartphones that came before it, like the Sony Ericsson p800. However, these were considered expensive and out of reach for the average consumer. The Iphone did the same thing but at a cheaper price and so came to be the definitive smartphone.

    With the Austin 7, Herbert Austin’s team applied the key lessons from Ford’s Model T – creating a simple, modestly powered car with just enough features for mass appeal while incorporating clever design elements that earned the respect of car enthusiasts.

    When the Austin 7 was unveiled in July 1922, it was priced at just £165, when an Austin 20 was between £600 and £700. At a time when the average British worker earned around £5 per week, the only real affordable car had been Ford’s basic and utilitarian Model T at around £250.

    The 7’s ingenious design was the key to its success. With a shared base frame for the car, it could be a four-seater family car, a stylish coupe, or even a racing car.

    This cheap, tiny car not only was a legend in its own right and familiar around the world, but it influenced other legends too.

    Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars, based his first Lotus 1 on the Austin 7. What is less known is that German car manufacturer BMW built Austin 7s under licence in the 1920s and 30s but called them “Dixis”. Nissan did the same in Japan in the pre-war period. Such licensing deals helped set up both manufacturers’ future success as the powerhouses they are today.

    Austin 7s were produced all over Europe, Asia and even in Australia. The 7 was also produced in the US as the “American Bantam” and its design contributed to the “Willy’s Jeep”, one of the US’s most famous vehicles.

    Ultimately, the beginning of the second world war marked the end of Austin 7 production as the Austin factory at Longbridge, near Birmingham, needed to be repurposed to produce munitions. When the war ended, tastes for vehicles had changed and factories started to produce more modern designs, and not those from the 1920s, marking the end of a British automotive icon in 1939.

    Now it’s back, thanks to the engineer John Stubbs who bought the Austin brand after noticing the brand and trademarks were available. The rights to these had been owned by the Nanjing Automobile Group, which bought MG Rover when it collapsed in 2005. However, Nanjing had let these lapse and Stubbs bought them for £170 in 2015.

    The new Essex-based Austin Motor Company aims to recreate this classic brand, tugging at the heartstrings of those looking nostalgically at Britain’s automotive heyday. The announcement featured images of fun, cheap (£31,000) and light cars driving around the B-roads of Britain, or perhaps being taken to a racetrack for an amateur competition, harking back to earlier days. However, this car is thoroughly modern, featuring an electric motor.

    The new Austin Arrow is not meant to be the usable “everyman” car the original 7 was. For starters, to be compliant with quadricycle (a micro car with less than 6kW of power and an unladen mass no more than 425 kg) legislation it is limited to 60mph as a top speed and the range will be a maximum of 100 miles on one charge.

    However, as that fun, racy, open-top car that it’s predecessors were, it very much captures the spirit of the original Austin 7 Arrow.

    Tom Stacey, Deputy Head of the School of Economics, Finance and Law, Anglia Ruskin University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    The opinions expressed in VIEWPOINT articles are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARU.

    If you wish to republish this article, please follow these guidelines: https://theconversation.com/uk/republishing-guidelines

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ARU studies the health benefits of herring eggs

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is partnering with Norwegian biotechnology company Arctic Bioscience to carry out the largest research project to date exploring how nutrients derived from fish eggs can support a healthy and active lifestyle across all ages.

    Omega-3 fatty acids are essential nutrients that can play an important role in maintaining overall health. However, the general population typically consumes few foods that are rich in omega-3, such as oily fish.

    The new three-year project, called Active Romega, is investigating the benefits of omega-3 phospholipid fish oil and proteins derived from herring roe, which are the eggs of the fish. Unlike other omega-3 supplements, herring roe omega-3 contains a higher concentration of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and specialised pro-resolving mediators (SPMs).

    DHA and SPMs have been shown to have potent anti-inflammatory effects and are also believed to benefit muscle function, metabolism, and cognitive function, which are all key to supporting a healthy lifestyle. 

    The Active Romega project comprises two distinct research strands led by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) PhD students Dani Dalmay and Jorge Pinto. These are exploring the effects of herring roe omega-3 on exercise metabolism and recovery, specifically focusing on active females, and how herring roe omega-3 can support the healthy ageing process in older adults.

    The overall project is being led by Dr Sanjoy Deb, Associate Professor in Exercise and Nutritional Science at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU).

    “The use of fish oils has shown promise across various health parameters, with emerging research indicating particular benefits for women and in supporting healthy ageing.

    “This new partnership with Arctic Bioscience allows us to undertake robust research to explore the public health benefits of herring-derived omega-3, alongside exercise. This will be the first time this specific type of omega-3 has been tested to investigate its benefits in these areas.

    “One of the reasons herring roe omega-3 is unique is its higher concentration of DHA [docosahexaenoic acid] compared to EPA [eicosapentaenoic acid] – most fish oils have more EPA than DHA – and the oil is naturally rich in the metabolites of DHA and EPA, namely specialised pro-resolving mediators such as resolvins, protectins and maresins. Herring roe omega-3 also has a phospholipid chemical structure, rather than a more typical triglyceride structure.

    “Some studies suggest better absorption and improved health outcomes from marine-based phospholipids, although research is still in its infancy. Our Active Romega project should contribute significantly to this area of research.”

    Dr Sanjoy Deb 

    “Arctic Bioscience is honoured to be a part of this project with Anglia Ruskin. We have been working with herring roe phospholipids and proteins for many years now, both in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical field, and see many potential health benefits for their use in sports nutrition.”

    Hogne Hallaråker, founder and Chief Science Officer of Arctic Bioscience 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Derby Libraries awarded grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund

    Source: City of Derby

    Derby City Council’s Derby Libraries team will receive a £130,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

    The money will fund a two-year project at Derby Local Studies and Family History Library to encourage greater use of the library and create a fun way for young people to engage with their local heritage.

    The exciting project will see young volunteers create a fantasy role-playing game, based on Dungeons and Dragons from Wizards of the Coast. They’ll work alongside library staff, a games-master and a range of professional creatives to uncover stories from the library’s collection and weave them into the game.

    The two-year project, made possible thanks to National Lottery players, will include the production of video shorts and podcasts to introduce and follow the game, while the library will host a range of family-friendly activities and events that tie in too.
     
    Eventually, people will be able to download a game pack to allow them to play themselves. There will also be a club at the library with support people to play the game, welcome new players and even research new characters, locations and adventures to expand the game world.

    Councillor Sarah Chambers, Derby City Council Cabinet Member for Cost of Living, Equalities and Communities, said:

    We are thrilled to have received this support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

    Thanks to National Lottery players, we’ll be able to broaden access to the library’s collections, engage new audiences with their history and retell stories that would otherwise remain unheard.

    The Local Studies library holds a unique and rich collection of paper materials on Derby and Derbyshire – its people, communities, topography, history and development.

    Unpublished manuscripts, old newspapers, photographs, broadsides and antiquarian books sit alongside more recent publications and official information, forming an unmatched and irreplaceable record of our city’s heritage.

    More details of the project and how to get involved will be available later this year. To stay updated, sign up for the Derby Libraries eNewsletter on the Derby Libraries website.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Viridien: Information on the total number of voting rights and shares

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Viridien

    A French société anonyme
    with a share capital of € 7,161,465
    Registered office: 27 avenue Carnot, 91300 Massy, France
    Evry Trade and Companies Register 969 202 241

    Information on the total number of voting rights and shares

    Pursuant to Article L. 233-8 II of the French Commercial Code and Article 223-16 of the General Regulation of the French Financial markets authority
    (AMF- Autorité des Marchés Financiers)

    Date of the information Total number of issued shares Number of actual voting rights* Number of theoretical voting rights**
    January 31, 2025 7,161,465 7,186,734 7,186,983

    *         All of the Company shares have the same voting rights, except for treasury shares which do not have voting rights and registered shares held for more than two years, which have double voting rights.

    **         Pursuant to Article 223-11 of the General Regulation of the French Financial markets authority, the number of theoretical voting rights is calculated based on the shares having either single or double voting rights, including treasury shares which are deprived of voting rights.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: ASM named in CDP’s ‘A List’ for climate and water

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Almere, the Netherlands
    February 10, 2025

    ASM has been awarded CDP’s prestigious ‘A List’ ranking for both climate and water reporting, recognizing its corporate sustainability leadership, performance, and transparency.

    This is the first time ASM has achieved A List status with the global environmental non-profit, CDP, the organization that runs the world’s most recognized environmental disclosure system and sets the standard for environmental reporting. From over 22,000 annual reporting submissions this year, CDP has awarded its highest A List ranking to only a select group of companies demonstrating the strongest sustainability leadership.

    ASM is among very few companies in the semiconductor industry to score an A in CDP’s 2024 assessment, with even fewer reaching the A List for both climate and water. This marks a significant milestone in our sustainability journey and is a testament to our continued commitment to environmental progress.

    ASM has been reporting into CDP for thirteen consecutive years, consistently strengthening our environmental strategy and performance. In 2024, we reached 100% renewable electricity across our global operations, reinforcing our commitment to sustainable business practices.

    Inclusion in CDP’s prestigious A List highlights the strides we have made in reducing our operational carbon footprint and exemplifies our focus on meaningful climate action. In addition to decarbonizing our own operations, we are investing in research and development to enhance the energy efficiency of our deposition equipment, enabling our customers to reduce their energy consumption while maintaining high-performance production capabilities. This ensures our technologies contribute to lower emissions in semiconductor manufacturing and the broader tech ecosystem.

    In 2021, ASM published an ambitious target of reaching net zero by 2035. In 2023, ASM’s net zero target was approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), a first in the semiconductor industry. ASM’s Climate Transition Plan, released in early 2024, details how we target to achieve this goal by decarbonizing our products, optimizing our operations, and collaborating with our value chain to drive sustainability improvements to ensure ASM remains at the forefront of sustainable innovation.

    As ASM expands, we are focused on achieving green standards such as LEED building certification, which rates buildings for energy efficiency and sustainability across multiple environmental aspects. Our new facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is currently in design, aims to reuse more than 80% of the water it consumes, significantly reducing ASM’s water footprint and supporting circular resource use.

    John Golightly, ASM VP of Sustainability remarked: “We are honored to receive this recognition for our efforts in climate and water. CDP’s A List is the gold standard for environmental reporting, so our inclusion for the first time is a proud moment, for our company and everyone who worked so hard on our sustainability journey. Our resolute focus on transparently reporting our progress has led us to this point and we will continue to push the boundaries of sustainable semiconductor manufacturing, with cutting-edge innovation and collaborative partnerships to create a greener, more resilient future. Accelerating Sustainability is a strategic objective at ASM for good reason. We believe our products and operations enable positive impact for society and our planet.” 

    About ASM International

    ASM International N.V., headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands, and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and process solutions to produce semiconductor devices for wafer processing, and have facilities in the United States, Europe, and Asia. ASM International’s common stock trades on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol: ASM). For more information, visit ASM’s website at www.asm.com.

    Contact

    Investor and media relations

    Victor Bareño
    T: +31 88 100 8500
    E: investor.relations@asm.com

    		  

    Investor relations

    Valentina Fantigrossi
    T: +31 88 100 8502
    E: investor.relations@asm.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The EU was built for another age – here’s how it must adapt to survive

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Francesco Grillo, Academic Fellow, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University

    Shutterstock/gopixa

    To European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Europe is like a Volkswagen Beetle – an iconic car produced by a once-mighty German manufacturer which has been struggling to adapt to a new world.

    “Europe must shift gears,” she urged in a speech to business executives gathered in Davos, Switzerland at the beginning of the year. Yet, her call to arms failed to raise more than an eyebrow. After all, she has repeated the same call many times since she was elected six years ago. So far, there has been little result.

    The US president, Donald Trump, may now even be tempted to finish off the EU (the most developed of the world’s multilateral organisations) by dividing its members over the single market for trade. This arrangement is the cornerstone upon which the union was built, but can it withstand Trump’s attempts to play European nations off against each other in order to get the best deal for himself?

    The problem is that Trump is simply bringing to its most extreme consequences the weakness of a system that was built for stable times which are long gone. We urgently need a new idea, and it cannot be for a “United States of Europe”. That is a dream from the past that could not be more at odds with Europe’s current political climate.

    Mini unions

    Europe is unable to chart a path forward because it needs unanimity among its member states in order to make any major decision. Votes are not even weighted to reflect the different sizes of each of the club’s members.

    This is a weakness that would gradually cause the deterioration of any international organisation. But in the case of the EU, the crisis is more serious because member states have surrendered part of their decision power. As a result, if the EU cannot move quickly, even member states turn out to be paralysed.

    Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, has often been singled out as the bad guy especially – this has happened every time the EU has tried to approve sanctions against Russia or aid to Ukraine. But examples of free riding abound even among the founding parties.

    For decades, France has resisted any attempt to reorganise the common agricultural policy that sends a third of the EU’s budget to farmers, many of them French. Italy has halted the ratification of the reform of the European stability mechanism that should protect states from financial instability, out of the assumption among part of the Italian electorate that this may compromise further sovereignty.

    Elsewhere, Germany’s constitutional court has derailed the reform of the EU electoral law that divides the election of the European parliament into a dysfunctional system of 27 national contests, because of the resistance of the German political system to any electoral law which is not proportional.

    We need to find a way to change all this. And the solution cannot be the rather abstract idea of a union that proceeds at different speeds, where the older members are supposed to be part of an inner circle. Nor is it feasible to expect the abolition of unanimous voting for the simple reason that to forgo unanimity, you need a unanimous vote.

    Instead, the EU should become the coordinator of multiple unions, each formed by the member states themselves around specific policies. A union might form around defence, for example, among member states which are ready for such a partnership, such as Poland, the Baltics and Finland.

    Another might bring together countries that wish to collaborate on large projects such as a pan-European high-speed train, or a fully integrated energy market that may allow Italy, France and Spain to save billions of euros and decarbonise more quickly.

    This is not entirely new. Arrangements like the euro and the free circulation of people (the Schengen area) follow this principle. Only a subset of EU nations are part of these projects, and offers have even been extended to join beyond the EU’s borders. Monaco is in the euro, for example, while Norway is in Schengen, despite neither being an EU member state.

    The problem with these unions is that they are incomplete. The complement to the monetary union is a recently reformed “stability pact” that leaves so many loopholes that 11 out of its 20 members do not comply. And even within Schengen, there are still no proper common borders. The result is continuous reciprocal accusations of exporting each other’s illegal migrants.

    The solution here is to fully share the levers within a certain policy area on terms which are more flexible and voluntary for the union’s members.

    The possibility of calm divorce

    Resilience is achieved through adaptability. Therefore, these new arrangements must make divorce between union members possible from the outset – and establish the terms of such a rupture in advance.

    And in the event of an extreme case, the other parties should also be able to ask one of the members to leave their union (so as to avoid being systematically held to ransom by a free rider). The current union treaty does contain a provision (article 50) that enables a member to leave, as the UK did – but if Brexit showed anything, it was that this mechanism has limited use at preventing a divorce from descending into chaos.

    People should always be part of these decisions, of course. When states decide to surrender some of their sovereignty to a larger organisation such as the EU, it changes the nature of the pact between the citizens of a country and the people who make decisions on their behalf. This evident truth has been ignored for decades as the EU has gradually been built from the top down.

    The European Union currently resembles the marriages we once had in Europe (until well into the 20th century), before it was acknowledged that they are a civil (not necessarily religious) contract that can be dissolved through divorce – not some divine construct that can never be undone.

    The marriage between EU countries is blighted by cheating and empty rhetoric. This is an issue we can no longer avoid if Europe wants to do more than just “shift gears”. The EU was the most successful political project of the 20th century. If it wants to continue to be so in the 21st, it has to learn to be flexible. Only those who can adapt survive.

    Francesco Grillo is Director of the think tank Vision. Vision is convenor of three global conferences on the future of the EU, climate change and AI .

    – ref. The EU was built for another age – here’s how it must adapt to survive – https://theconversation.com/the-eu-was-built-for-another-age-heres-how-it-must-adapt-to-survive-248811

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the war in Ukraine has made flying worse for the climate

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Viktoriia Ivannikova, Assistant Professor in Aviation Management, Dublin City University

    UladzimirZuyeu/Shutterstock

    Some long-haul flights connecting Europe and Asia are emitting 40% more CO₂ since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, my new study shows. The spike is largely due to airspace closures above conflict zones which are forcing airlines to seek alternative routes, significantly increasing flight times. Longer flights consume more fuel and increase the operating costs for airlines, quite apart from their contribution to climate change.

    The research I led with colleagues highlights how conflicts contribute to climate change in unexpected ways. Understanding this is crucial for tackling aviation’s environmental footprint.

    The war in Ukraine closed the country’s airspace and limited access to the airspace of the Russian Federation and Belarus. This amounts to the biggest closure of airspace since the cold war, spanning 18 million km².

    Airlines that previously flew in Russian or Ukrainian airspace on routes between Europe and Asia, North America and Asia, and North America and the Middle East now take significant detours. For example, Finnair’s flight AY73 from Helsinki to Tokyo now covers an additional 3,131 kilometres, extending flight times by up to 3.5 hours. North American flights to Asia have been rerouted over the Arctic and Central Asia.

    Safety concerns and geopolitical sanctions have forced airlines to carefully navigate around restricted zones.

    The situation is further complicated by restrictions in other conflict regions – including the Middle East, where the airspaces of Syria, Yemen and Iraq are also considered no-fly zones for many airlines. The global aviation map has been redrawn, forcing airlines to adapt quickly to a new and challenging reality.

    Several international flights now skirt war zones.
    Viktoriia Ivannikova

    This has been accompanied by significant costs, both financially and to the climate. We analysed 14 long-haul routes between Europe and Asia that were affected by airspace restrictions and operated by three European airlines: Finnair, LOT Polish and Lufthansa.

    The findings are striking: rerouted flights burn an additional 23 to 28.5 tonnes of fuel per journey, releasing an extra 72 to 90 metric tonnes of CO₂. That’s equivalent to the annual emissions of several cars for a single flight.

    Airlines have also reported significant operating cost increases due to the extra flight hours, including higher fuel consumption, air navigation charges and crew salary increases. Our analysis showed that on certain routes between Europe and Asia, costs have risen by between 19% and 39%, while emissions have increased by between 18% and 40%, depending on the airline.

    On routes from Warsaw to Beijing, Warsaw to Tokyo and Warsaw to Seoul, LOT Polish Airlines has reported an increase of 23% in average aircraft operating costs following flight restrictions. CO₂ emissions on these routes have increased by 24% and ticket prices have also risen.

    Finnair, which historically relied on Russian airspace for efficient Europe-Asia connections, appears to be the most affected carrier. Following flight restrictions, aircraft operating costs on the routes from Helsinki to Shanghai, Helsinki to Tokyo and Helsinki to Seoul have risen by 39%, while average CO₂ emissions on these routes have increased by 40%.

    Our findings shed new light on the massive carbon footprint of war, which is often overlooked in climate policy. Using a forecasting model with specialised software, we found that continued avoidance of the airspaces of Russia and Ukraine could increase all aviation-related CO₂ emissions globally by up to 29% in 2025, compared with 2022.

    Aviation already accounts for 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions, and this figure is expected to grow as air travel expands.

    Aeroplanes seed heat-trapping clouds that amplify their climate impact.
    Peter Gudella/Shutterstock

    Our findings demonstrate that the need to decarbonise transport cannot be separated from broader geopolitical issues. As wars and conflicts reshape airspace availability, they also worsen aviation’s carbon footprint. It’s not just the airline industry that bears these costs – we all do, in the form of rising temperatures and a changing climate.

    What action needs to be taken?

    While the challenges are significant, there are solutions.

    Upgrading airline fleets with more fuel-efficient aircraft, such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, can help to reduce CO₂ emissions by roughly 20%–25% compared with older aircraft models, such as the Boeing 777-200ER or Airbus A330-200.

    Optimising flight paths using advanced air traffic management systems could help too. These systems, allow aircraft to choose the shortest and most efficient paths and can reduce unnecessary detours.

    International agreements to manage airspace collectively during times of conflict can keep essential flight corridors open and ensure airlines avoid inefficient rerouting.

    Airlines are investing in sustainable aviation fuels, which emits less than traditional kerosene – but insufficient supplies, high costs and other challenges make this an expensive and partial solution. With no viable low-carbon alternatives for aircraft, reducing air travel should be the priority.

    As researchers, we see our findings as a call to action. By understanding the environmental consequences of conflict, we can work towards a more sustainable future for aviation and the planet.

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

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

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

    – ref. How the war in Ukraine has made flying worse for the climate – https://theconversation.com/how-the-war-in-ukraine-has-made-flying-worse-for-the-climate-249039

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI China: New freight train route links China’s Chongqing with Afghanistan

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    A freight train, loaded with communication equipment and other products, departed from southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality on Monday and is expected to arrive in Afghanistan in 12 to 15 days.

    This marked the inauguration of a new direct freight train route, which passes through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries, between Chongqing and Afghanistan.

    The communication equipment aboard the train, manufactured by Chinese telecom firm ZTE, will be used in the development of local communication networks in Afghanistan.

    “Via direct freight train services, the transportation duration has been reduced by three to five days compared to previous road transport, and logistics costs are expected to be cut back by 15 to 20 percent,” said Liu Jianfeng with ZTE.

    “The successful launch of the direct freight train from Chongqing to Afghanistan marks another effort in deepening our economic and trade cooperation with Central Asian countries,” said Xu Runqiu, an executive at the Yuxin’ou (Chongqing) supply chain management company.

    In recent years, Chongqing has been striving to elevate itself into a comprehensive inland hub, with the number of China-Europe freight trains and those heading to Central Asian countries departing from the city, along with cargo volumes, growing.

    To date, more than 18,000 trains covering over 50 regular routes linking the city with European and Central Asian countries have been dispatched, reaching over 100 hub cities and regions across Asia and Europe.

    In March 2011, the China-Europe freight train (Yuxin’ou) service was launched from Chongqing to Duisburg, establishing a direct overland trade corridor between China and Europe.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/MYANMAR – A Catholic church hit by bombing in Chin State

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    diocese of Mindat

    Mindat (Agenzia Fides) – The Myanmar army has carried out air strikes that have seriously damaged the Catholic church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Mindat, in the state of Chin, in the northwest of the country. This church had recently been chosen as the cathedral of the diocese of Mindat, erected on January 25 by Pope Francis, separating the territory from the diocese of Hakha.According to local sources of Fides, in recent months Mindat has been the scene of clashes between the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) and the Myanmar army. The CDF, which emerged in opposition to the military junta, managed to take control of the territory and, in January, officially declared the area as “liberated”. In several border regions, these militias have allied themselves with ethnic armed groups that have been fighting for greater autonomy for decades.The bombing of the cathedral took place on February 6, but news of it has only just come to light. Several bombs hit the building, damaging the roof and stained glass windows, rendering it unusable. No injuries were reported, as priests and faithful had left the area due to insecurity and fighting. In recent days, local priests had carried out inspections of the church to plan for upcoming liturgical celebrations, including the consecration of the newly appointed bishop, Father Augustine Thang Zawm Hung, until now parish vicar of the Sacred Heart in Mindat. The attack has caused consternation among the faithful, although the community has expressed its determination to repair the church. “We are very sad that our church has been hit by the bombs. It is a wound in our heart. But we will not let ourselves be defeated. We will rebuild it,” said the local priest, Fr. Paulinus. “We are certain that the Lord will ‘bombard’ us with his grace and blessing: this will bring peace and prosperity to our people.” The diocese of Mindat, located in the south of Chin State, has a population of about 360,000 inhabitants, of whom about 15,000 are Catholics, in a region that is predominantly Christian of other denominations. The diocese has 23 parishes, 48 diocesan priests, three religious men, 21 nuns, as well as 40 minor seminarians and seven major seminarians. As the faithful of Chin face these difficult times, in the archdiocese of Yangon a special jubilee pilgrimage was held on February 9 to the Marian shrine of Nyaungbelin, in the Bago region, on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. More than 3,000 people took part in the pilgrimage, praying for peace and entrusting themselves to the Virgin Mary.“Bishops, priests, religious and Catholic faithful, together with Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus, have prayed to Our Lady of Lourdes for peace in Myanmar and in the world,” said a statement from the diocese. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 10/2/2025)
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  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/HOLY LAND – Israeli Jesuit David Neuhaus: the plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza feels like a kick in the stomach

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    youtube

    Jerusalem (Agenzia Fides) – “We are in no hurry”. This is how US President Donald Trump yesterday offered an important detail regarding the plan for the reconstruction and development of the Gaza Strip under the direct control of the United States that he presented last week during the visit to Washington of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One that was taking him to New Orleans to watch the Superbowl, the US President said that Gaza must be thought of as “a large real estate site, and the United States will take possession of it, and develop it slowly, very slowly”, to bring “stability to the Middle East”.From Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked about the ‘Trump plan’ on Gaza, also took his time, reporting that “For now we do not know the details, so we must be patient”.On the other hand, Father David Neuhaus, interviewed by Fides, has no hesitation. For him, the conjectures circulating in recent days on the future of the Gaza Strip felt like “a kick in the stomach”.Israeli Jesuit and professor of Sacred Scripture, David Neuhaus was born in South Africa to German-Jewish parents who fled Germany in the 1930s, he was also in the past Patriarchal Vicar for the Hebrew-speaking Catholics and for the Pastoral Among Migrants.Father Neuhaus, what considerations can be made in view of the recent proposals that have emerged on the future of Gaza?DAVID NEUHAUS: Trump, the president of the United States has a vision for Gaza, which he shared with the world on February 4, 2025. Mr. Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, was visiting him. It felt like a kick in the stomach. And I am not even a Palestinian. I am an Israeli.What in particular are you referring to?NEUHAUS: Trump’s boldly proclaimed plan is to transform the Gaza Strip from the heaps of rubble left by Israel’s military campaign, into a luxurious riviera. In that vision, there is no place for the people who call Gaza home. That population must be moved out (to where is far from clear). This is yet another stage in the removal of Palestinians from Palestine…Do you see what is happening as part of a process?NEUHAUS: Yes. It is a process that began long time ago. E che ha causato anche la concentrazione di popolazione palestinese nella Striscia di Gaza. It was back in 1947/1948 that the population of Gaza more than tripled with the influx of those expelled by the Israelis from their homes inside Israel, making Gaza one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Mr. Trump spoke only about Gaza but Mr. Netanyahu’s administration has already begun to work on the West Bank, sowing Gaza-like destruction in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm. Thousands of Palestinians have already been expelled from their homes.Are the new ideas about the future of Gaza the only way to imagine the present and future of the Jewish state in the context of the current Middle East?NEUHAUS: Trump and Netanyahu’s vision is quite different from that of Peter Beinhart, a Jewish American journalist. I strongly recommend his latest book, “Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning” as an antidote to the discourse coming from US and Israeli leadership. Beinhart reconstructs Jewish identity in the light of what has been happening in the past months, adamantly insisting that Israel’s only way forward is to ensure equality for all its citizens. Beinhart, whose parents were Jewish South Africans, has fully assimilated the message of the struggle against apartheid. Another prophetic voice, that of Israeli activist Orly Noy, the chair of the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories B’tselem, proclaimed unequivocally: “The war will end only when Israeli society realizes that it is not only immoral but also impossible to secure our existence through the oppression and subjugation of another people — and that the people we imprison, bomb, starve, and rob of their freedom and land are entitled to the exact same rights as we are, down to the last note”. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 10/2/2025)
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  • MIL-OSI: Groundbreaking Formal Verification Further Enhances the Quality of CHERIoT-Ibex

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — lowRISC C.I.C., the open silicon ecosystem organisation, today announced the addition of formal verification to the toolbox of open source design verification (DV) techniques used to ensure the commercial level quality of the Microsoft-created CHERIoT-Ibex core, the processor at the heart of the UKRI-funded Sonata™ platform.

    CHERIoT-Ibex pipeline with specification installed using a pipeline follower

    Prof. Tom Melham and Louis-Emile Ploix of the University of Oxford, and Alasdair Armstrong of the University of Cambridge, have created an extensive formal verification framework to establish observational equivalence, using unbounded proofs, between the hardware and the RISC-V International Sail specification of instruction behaviour. This greatly strengthens confidence in the design’s conformance to the specification. The verification uses the Cadence Jasper™ tool, along with new Sail support to automatically build a SystemVerilog reference model from the specification. They describe their work in a pre-print paper published on arXiv, and have collaborated with Microsoft to upstream this into the open source CHERIoT-Ibex repository.

    CHERIoT-Ibex is Microsoft’s open-source extension of lowRISC’s Ibex®, a 32-bit RISC-V processor. CHERIoT provides fine-grained memory protection for embedded systems, which deterministically mitigates over two thirds of memory vulnerabilities and enables efficient compartmentalization. Of course, it is critical that the hardware correctly implements the CHERIoT extension to ensure that the security guarantees it offers are valid. “Correct” implementation is defined in a standardised way for RISC-V using Sail. This is a domain-specific language which describes, in a formal but readable fashion, exactly what each processor instruction does.

    This new formal verification framework and proof developed by the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and lowRISC takes the formal specification for CHERIoT — written in Sail — and checks that for any stream of instructions the CHERIoT-Ibex implementation performs the same memory operations. This equivalence checking is decomposed into multiple steps to help the tool converge, by first proving simple properties, then using those to prove more and more complex ones. It is important to note that the proofs developed as part of this work are different from the more common bounded proofs, where only a limited amount of system evolution is explored for counter-examples. By contrast, unbounded proofs hold true for all possible executions. While no single verification technique should be relied on in isolation, a formal proof (in combination with a traditional functional verification flow) significantly increases confidence in the design.

    Besides the work on CHERIoT-Ibex, lowRISC has also published an adaptation of this proof for regular Ibex (which of course also has extensive conventional DV), the main microprocessor core used in the OpenTitan® root of trust.

    “We’re thrilled to see the achievement of this milestone, demonstrating that well managed open-source silicon designs can not just match the DV quality of commercial IP, in some cases they’re beginning to lead the field,” said Dr. Gavin Ferris, CEO of lowRISC. “The successful formal verification of CHERIoT-Ibex exemplifies our Silicon Commons approach, bringing the best of industry, academia and the open source community together through collaborative engineering — and moving the game forward for everyone. Now, not only can companies bring products to market cheaper and faster by leveraging open-source silicon designs, they can do so with the strongest possible assurance that specification fidelity has been maintained. We’re proud to have worked with Microsoft, the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Cadence to help make this fantastic result possible.”

    “The CHERIoT-Ibex project has been an ideal challenge for our formal verification research at Oxford, which aims at both scientific innovation and strong real-world impact,” Professor Tom Melham and lead verification engineer Louis-Emile Ploix said. “We are delighted that our work has significantly helped to increase confidence in the commercial-grade quality of Microsoft’s CHERIoT-Ibex core, driven by the development of a new Sail to Verilog compiler by our colleagues at the University of Cambridge, and demonstrated new methodology for RISC-V formal verification. Our hope is that other RISC-V verification projects can substantially benefit from our experience, through our publications and open source formal verification code.”

    “We are excited to see this formal verification milestone, building on the Sail formal specifications of RISC-V, CHERI RISC-V, and CHERIoT developed by multiple partners over recent years,” said Professor Peter Sewell at the University of Cambridge. “This links formal specifications of the instruction set, previously used for architecture design, hardware testing, software development, and formal reasoning about software, all the way down to the detailed hardware design. The work shows that full formal verification is viable for such designs with reasonable effort.”

    “Finding and fixing bugs early in the design cycle is crucial to address the fast growing complexity of chip design. Formal verification is a key technology that allows teams to boost the functional verification productivity, reduce costs, improve quality, and ensure more reliable designs in less time,” Ziyad Hanna, Corporate Vice President of Cadence Design Systems, said. “We’re delighted that Cadence Jasper Formal Verification Platform has been instrumental in supporting this effort, contributing to the future of secure computing.”

    lowRISC would like to thank all the supporters of the Sunburst project, with special thanks to Microsoft for contributing the core CHERI implementation within the CHERIoT-Ibex processor and making it open source. “Microsoft is thrilled to upstream an extensive formal verification framework and proof to the open-source CHERIoT-Ibex repository. The CHERIoT-Ibex core augments lowRISC’s Ibex with the CHERIoT ISA extension,” said Tony Chen, Partner Security Architect at Microsoft. “The formal verification pioneered by Oxford University has instilled an unmatched level of confidence in the CHERIoT-Ibex core.”

    CHERIoT-Ibex is the processor core of Sonata which puts CHERI technology into the hands of embedded-system engineers. Sonata is part of the Sunburst project, which is funded by DSbD and UKRI (Grant Number 107540). The early, foundational work at Oxford on the formal verification of CHERIoT-Ibex was funded by DSbD and UKRI as part of the SCorCH project (EPSRC Grant Number EP/V000225/1).

    About lowRISC®
    Founded in 2014 at the University of Cambridge Department of Computer Science and Technology, lowRISC is a not-for-profit company/CIC that provides a neutral home for collaborative engineering to develop and maintain commercial-quality open source silicon designs and tools for the long term. The lowRISC not-for-profit structure combined with full-stack engineering capabilities in-house enables the hosting and management of high-quality projects like OpenTitan and Sunburst via the Silicon Commons® approach.

    Media Contact
    lowRISC@w2comm.com

    An infographic accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/432a234b-dca0-44be-9118-91ca2b8996c4

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Kvika banki hf.: Correction: Publication of annual financial statements on Wednesday 12 February

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    On Monday 10 February 2025 Kvika announced that a meeting to present financial results to shareholders and market participants will be held at 08:30 on Thursday 15 August. However, the meeting will be held at 08:30 on 13 February 2025. The revised announcement is as follows: 

    The Board of Directors of Kvika banki hf. is set to approve the financial statements of the Group for the year 2024 at a board meeting on Wednesday 12 February. The financial statements will subsequently be published after the domestic market has closed.

    A meeting to present the results to shareholders and market participants will be held the next day, at 08:30 on Thursday 13 February, at the bank’s headquarters on the 9th floor at Katrínartún 2, where Ármann Þorvaldsson, CEO of Kvika, and Eiríkur Magnús Jensson, CFO, will present the company’s financial results.

    The presentation will be conducted in Icelandic and will be streamed live. Further, a recording of the meeting with English subtitles will later be made available on Kvika’s website.

    Meeting participants will be able to send questions before or during the meeting via ir@kvika.is

    The investor presentation will be made public before the meeting.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Murder investigation launched after woman found dead in Hammersmith

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    The Met has launched a murder investigation following the death of a 36-year-old woman in Hammersmith.

    Police were called to a residential property in Coulter Road, on Sunday, 9 February at 22:13hrs following reports that a man was attempting to force entry into one of the flats.

    Officers arrived and having gained entry to the property found a woman, aged 36 who had sadly died, following what appears to be a head injury.

    A 38-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and remains in custody.

    Next of kin has yet to be informed. We await formal identification.

    A post-mortem examination will take place in due course.

    Officers are appealing for anyone with information or any witnesses to call 101 and quote CAD 6487/9Feb. To remain anonymous, please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

    Detective Chief Inspector, Ollie Stride who is leading the investigation, said:

    “We are saddened to hear about the loss of this young woman and are working to ensure that her family are informed and supported by specialist officers as soon as possible.

    “I understand the impact this incident will have had on neighbours and the community and we are doing everything we can to investigate the circumstances.

    “Although we have made an arrest, we still need to have an understanding of what took place last night in Coulter Road. Did you see or hear anything unusual on Sunday, 9 February? If you did, then please speak with us by contacting 101, and quoting CAD 6487/9Feb. You can otherwise contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Kvika banki hf.: Publication of annual financial statements on Wednesday 12 February

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    The Board of Directors of Kvika banki hf. is set to approve the financial statements of the Group for the year 2024 at a board meeting on Wednesday 12 February. The financial statements will subsequently be published after the domestic market has closed.

    A meeting to present the results to shareholders and market participants will be held the next day, at 08:30 on Thursday 15 August, at the bank’s headquarters on the 9th floor at Katrínartún 2, where Ármann Þorvaldsson, CEO of Kvika, and Eiríkur Magnús Jensson, CFO, will present the company’s financial results.

    The presentation will be conducted in Icelandic and will be streamed live. Further, a recording of the meeting with English subtitles will later be made available on Kvika’s website.

    Meeting participants will be able to send questions before or during the meeting via ir@kvika.is

    The investor presentation will be made public before the meeting.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: D. Boral Capital Served as Co-placement Agent to MicroVision, Inc. (Nasdaq: MVIS) in Connection with its up to $17.0 Million Private Placement

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MicroVision, Inc. (NASDAQ:MVIS), a leader in MEMS-based solid-state automotive lidar and ADAS solutions, today announced that it has bolstered its financial position by entering into an agreement to raise up to $17 million in new capital and reducing future cash obligations stemming from its $75 million senior secured convertible note facility with High Trail Capital.

    “Strengthening our financial position through this infusion of new capital and reduction of debt buoys our efforts to advance and secure revenue opportunities with several industrial customers in the heavy equipment segment. As announced last month, we have increased production capacity with our manufacturing partner to support high-volume orders from industrial customers in 2025 and beyond,” said Sumit Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of MicroVision, Inc. “At this exciting time for MicroVision, we continue to work to secure multiple partnerships with industrial customers, as well as advance our partnerships with automotive OEMs, with RFQs in flight and new RFQs expected in 2025. We appreciate High Trail’s partnership at this pivotal time.”

    Continued Sharma, “With our MAVIN and MOVIA S products, we remain actively engaged with global automotive OEMs in seven high-volume RFQs and custom development explorations for future passenger vehicle programs. With the size, power, and specifications of our lidar, combined with our integrated perception software, I believe we remain the solution frontrunner with automotive OEMs. Given automotive OEMs’ latest start-of-production timelines, the opportunity to ramp up significant recurring revenues in 2025 with our industrial customers puts MicroVision in the best position in the market. We remain the only multifaceted company with potential for significant revenues from the industrial segment starting in 2025 and much higher automotive revenues expected in the coming years.”

    “With the announcement of this transaction, our overall debt obligation has now been reduced by $12.25 million in principal or over 27% of the convertible note. In addition, this new round of equity investment by our strategic financing partner provides up to $17 million in new equity capital and also defers a portion of the remaining repayments. This bolsters MicroVision’s balance sheet and positions it well with its ongoing customer engagements,” said Anubhav Verma, Chief Financial Officer of MicroVision, Inc. “We believe that our strong balance sheet and strategic financing partner help to competitively position MicroVision for today’s marketplace and business outlook.”

    D. Boral Capital LLC and WestPark Capital, Inc. acted as co-lead agents for the transaction.

    Key Terms of the Transactions

    In connection with the $45 million senior secured convertible note issued by the Company on October 23, 2024, cash payments totaling approximately $9.6 million that would have been payable during the period from March 1, 2025 through May 1, 2025 will be converted into approximately 11.7 million shares of the Company’s common stock. In addition, pursuant to an agreement dated February 3, 2025, the note holder has agreed to defer payments due from June 1, 2025 to August 1, 2025, instead ratably allocating such payments to the payments due from September 1, 2025 through March 1, 2026. The Company and the note holder entered into a securities purchase agreement dated February 3, 2025 pursuant to which the Company issued approximately $8 million of shares of the Company’s common stock to the holder at a 12.5% discount to the market price and warrants to purchase up to an additional $9 million of common stock at an exercise price per share of $1.57, which warrants expire five years from the initial exercise date.

    Disclosures

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

    Additional information, including the full terms of the financing transaction, is available in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by MicroVision with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    About MicroVision

    With offices in the U.S. and Germany, MicroVision is a pioneering company in MEMS-based laser beam scanning technology that integrates MEMS, lasers, optics, hardware, algorithms and machine learning software into its proprietary technology to address existing and emerging markets. The Company’s integrated approach uses its proprietary technology to provide automotive lidar sensors and solutions for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and for non-automotive applications including industrial, smart infrastructure and robotics. The Company has been leveraging its experience building augmented reality micro-display engines, interactive display modules, and consumer lidar modules.

    For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.microvision.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/microvisioninc, and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/microvision/.

    MicroVision, MAVIN, MOSAIK, and MOVIA are trademarks of MicroVision, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain statements contained in this release, including expected benefits and closing of financing transactions; customer engagement and the likelihood of success; opportunities for revenue and cash; market position; product volumes, performance and capabilities; and expected revenue, expenses and cash usage are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements include the risk its ability to operate with limited cash or to raise additional capital when needed; market acceptance of its technologies and products or for products incorporating its technologies; the failure of its commercial partners to perform as expected under its agreements; its financial and technical resources relative to those of its competitors; its ability to keep up with rapid technological change; government regulation of its technologies; its ability to enforce its intellectual property rights and protect its proprietary technologies; the ability to obtain customers and develop partnership opportunities; the timing of commercial product launches and delays in product development; the ability to achieve key technical milestones in key products; dependence on third parties to develop, manufacture, sell and market its products; potential product liability claims; its ability to maintain its listing on The Nasdaq Stock Market, and other risk factors identified from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other reports filed with the SEC. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the general or specific factors that may affect the Company. It should be recognized that other factors, including general economic factors and business strategies, may be significant, now or in the future, and the factors set forth in this release may affect the Company to a greater extent than indicated. Except as expressly required by federal securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in circumstances or any other reason.

    Contact Us:

    D. Boral Capital
    590 Madison Avenue, 39th Floor
    New York, NY 10022
    Main Phone: +1 (212) 970-5150
    www.dboralcapital.com
    info@dboralcapital.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Wärtsilä introduces next-generation engine to balance renewables and improve power plant performance

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HOUSTON, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Technology group Wärtsilä launches today its next generation 46TS engine, which is designed to balance renewable energy, provide highly efficient baseload power, and can run on sustainable fuels in future.

    The Wärtsilä 46TS large-bore engine has evolved from a long line of proven and reliable power plant engines, including the Wärtsilä 50 engine platform. The W50 engine is one of the world’s most successful power generating engines of all time, having delivered 55 million running hours around the world since 2008.

    Using balancing engines to support intermittent renewables is a more viable path towards a net zero power system than a renewables-only pathway. Balancing power can reduce costs, emissions, and land use, as revealed in Wärtsilä’s recent global power system modelling report, Crossroads to Net Zero, which detailed the vital role of balancing power in delivering the energy transition.

    Anders Lindberg, President of Wärtsilä Energy, says: “The energy transition cannot be achieved by renewable power alone – we need flexible, highly efficient engines to support wind and solar power during times of low generation. The flexible 46TS engine offers exactly that, expanding our existing technology offering to balance renewables and operate cost- effectively on baseload power.

    “This engine is built on our 85 years of engine expertise, incorporating everything we have learned to develop our latest and greatest solution.”

    The Wärtsilä 46TS is designed with sustainable fuels in mind, to ensure that when they become readily available, these engines can play an essential role in delivering 100% renewable power systems.

    The engine provides a myriad of benefits for power producers, including:

    • Next level efficiency and performance: Significantly improved over 51% engine efficiency saves fuel and reduces emissions, with excellent performance in extreme ambient conditions and at high altitudes.
    • Improved output: The 46TS generates 23.4 MW/unit, meaning that fewer engines are needed to achieve large plant sizes.
    • Greater flexibility: Rapid response to fluctuations with even faster ramp-up time (2 minutes) and no minimum up- or down-time requirements.
    • Fast and cost-efficient installation: Fast and easy modular plant installation with high-quality, factory-tested modules bringing significant savings in total installed cost.

    To support the W46TS, Wärtsilä provides tailored high-quality services to maximise reliability and profitability. Wärtsilä Lifecycle services, with optimised operations and guaranteed performance, ensure the power plant’s performance and competitiveness. A technical service network provides expertise and support near customer and via remote monitoring.

    The Wärtsilä 46TS engine will be available from 2025. Last month, Wärtsilä announced the first order for the 46TS engines placed by Kazakhstan Caspian Offshore Industries (KCOI). The engines will support KCOI’s new 120 MW power plant and additionally, the first hybrid power project of its kind in Kazakhstan, which integrates the engine power plant with wind and solar power.

    Media kit

    Media contacts:

    Katri Pehkonen
    Communications Manager
    Wärtsilä Energy
    Mob: +358 50 591 6180
    katri.pehkonen@wartsila.com

    Elena Hale
    Wärtsilä Energy
    Mob: +1 865 329 0553
    elena@piper-communications.com

    All Wärtsilä releases are available at www.wartsila.com/media/news-releases and at news.cision.com/wartsila-corporation where also the images can be downloaded. Use of the image(s) is allowed only in connection with the contents of this press release. Wärtsilä images are available at www.wartsila.com/media/image-bank.

    Wärtsilä Energy in brief
    Wärtsilä Energy is at the forefront of the transition towards a 100% renewable energy future. We help our customers and the power sector to accelerate their decarbonisation journeys through our market-leading technologies and power system expertise. Our solutions include flexible engine power plants, energy storage and optimisation technology, and services for the whole lifecycle of our installations. Our engines are future-proof and can run on sustainable fuels. Our track record comprises of 79 GW delivered power plant capacity and over 130 energy storage systems in 180 countries around the world. Over 30% of our operating installed base is under service agreements.
    www.wartsila.com/energy

    Wärtsilä in brief
    Wärtsilä is a global leader in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. We emphasise innovation in sustainable technology and services to help our customers continuously improve environmental and economic performance. Our dedicated and passionate team of 17,800 professionals in more than 280 locations in 79 countries shape the decarbonisation transformation of our industries across the globe. In 2023, Wärtsilä’s net sales totalled EUR 6.0 billion. Wärtsilä is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
    www.wartsila.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1313b4ea-2fcb-4d25-8bb1-f6c7d6ad3691

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: NXP Agrees to Acquire Edge AI Pioneer Kinara to Redefine the Intelligent Edge

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • Enhances NXP’s leading processing portfolio with cutting edge NPUs and AI software, driving intelligent system solutions across the industrial and automotive edge markets.
    • Delivers high-performance neural network processing with advanced generative AI to create transformative edge use cases.
    • Establishes a scalable platform for AI-powered edge systems, combining NXP’s broad portfolio of processing, connectivity, security, and advanced analog solutions, with Kinara’s AI hardware and software.

    EINDHOVEN, the Netherlands, Feb. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Kinara, Inc., an industry leader in high performance, energy-efficient and programmable discrete neural processing units (NPUs). These devices enable a wide range of edge AI applications, including multi-modal generative AI models. The acquisition will be an all-cash transaction valued at $307 million and is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances.

    The future of intelligent systems will require secure, cost-effective and energy efficient AI processing at the edge. As a result, the edge AI processing market is growing rapidly. Advanced AI at the edge enables critical decisions to be made locally and independently from the cloud, leading to faster responses, improved data privacy, and reduced costs.

    Kinara’s innovative NPUs and comprehensive software enablement deliver energy-efficient AI performance across a range of neural networks, including conventional AI, as well as generative AI, to address the rapidly growing AI needs of industrial and automotive markets. The acquisition will enhance and strengthen NXP’s ability to provide complete and scalable AI platforms, from TinyML to generative AI, by bringing discrete NPUs and robust AI software to NXP’s portfolio of processors, connectivity, security, and advanced analog solutions.

    As existing partners, Kinara and NXP make it easy to pair Kinara’s NPUs with NXP’s industry-leading portfolio of industrial and IoT processors. Together, the companies will create tighter integration of solutions to deliver scalable AI platforms for a variety of industrial and automotive AI inference needs.

    “The industrial market is going through a transformation, with new innovations like generative AI helping to deliver major improvements in efficiency, sustainability, safety and predictability, and in many instances, unlock new use cases and functionality,” said Rafael Sotomayor, executive vice president and general manager, Secure Connected Edge at NXP. “Adding Kinara’s AI capabilities to our broad intelligent edge portfolio creates a scalable platform for new classes of AI-powered systems. Together, we can help our customers simplify complexity and accelerate time to market as they create transformative AI systems.”

    Advancing Edge AI Innovation with Kinara Discrete NPUs
    Kinara’s discrete NPUs, including the Ara-1 and Ara-2, are among the industry leaders in performance and power efficiency. This makes them the preferred solution for emerging AI applications in vision, voice, gesture, and a variety of other generative AI-powered multi-modal implementations. Both devices feature an innovative architecture that enables mapping of the inference graphs for efficient execution on Kinara’s programmable proprietary neural processing units for maximizing edge AI performance. This programmability ensures adaptability as AI algorithms continue to evolve from CNNs to generative AI and new approaches such as agentic AI in the future.

    Ara-1 is the first generation discrete NPU, capable of advanced AI inferencing at the edge. Ara-2, capable of up to 40 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second), the second generation NPU, is optimized for achieving system-level high performance for generative AI. The Ara-1 and Ara-2 NPUs can be easily integrated with embedded systems to enhance their AI capabilities, including upgrading existing in-field systems.

    Kinara also provides a complete software development kit enabling customers to optimize AI model performance and streamline the deployment. Kinara’s AI software portfolio includes extensive model libraries and model optimization tools, which will be integrated into NXP’s eIQ AI/ML software development environment to enable customers to quickly and easily create end-to-end AI systems.

    Embedded World 2025
    The combined innovations of NXP and Kinara will be on display at Embedded World 2025 in Nuremberg. For more information, visit NXP.com/EmbeddedWorld or visit NXP’s Booth #4A-222.

    Forward Looking Statements
    This document includes forward-looking statements which include statements regarding NXP’s acquisition of Kinara, Inc. as well as any other statements which are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Except for any ongoing obligation to disclose material information as required by the United States federal securities laws, NXP does not have any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after NXP distributes this document, whether to reflect any future events or circumstances or otherwise. For a discussion of potential risks and uncertainties, please refer to the risk factors and other cautionary statements included in NXP’s SEC filings. Copies of NXP’s SEC filings are available on NXP’s Investor Relation website, https://investors.nxp.com or from the SEC website, www.sec.gov.

    About NXP Semiconductors
    NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) is the trusted partner for innovative solutions in the automotive, industrial & IoT, mobile, and communications infrastructure markets. NXP’s “Brighter Together” approach combines leading-edge technology with pioneering people to develop system solutions that make the connected world better, safer, and more secure. The company has operations in more than 30 countries and posted revenue of $12.61 billion in 2024. Find out more at www.nxp.com.

    NXP, eIQ and the NXP logo are trademarks of NXP B.V. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. © 2025 NXP B.V

    For more information, please contact:

    Americas & Europe Greater China / Asia 
    Phoebe Francis            Ming Yue
    Tel: +1 737-274-8177 Tel: +86 21 2205 2690
    Email: phoebe.francis@nxp.com Email: ming.yue@nxp.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/27fb23b7-451d-40a6-906f-9935570a1b44

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: A Stronger Engine for Middle East and North Africa’s Growth

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    The Managing Director’s Keynote Speech at the Ninth Arab Fiscal Forum, Dubai, UAE

    February 10, 2025

    Assalamu alaikum, your excellencies. I would like to thank Minister Al Hussaini for the United Arab Emirates’ continued warm hospitality in hosting this important annual event, as well as his excellent leadership of the World Bank’s Development Committee.

    It is a privilege to address you at the ninth Arab Fiscal Forum. Over the years, the IMF and Arab countries have always had a strong and productive partnership. Today, this partnership is more vital than ever as the world and this region undergo significant economic, technological, and geopolitical shifts—a point that I will reflect on later.

    In my remarks, I will explore how Arab countries can leverage fiscal policy to transform their economies for the future, and harness technology and investment opportunities for the benefit of their people.

    Global outlook and transformations

    Let me start with an overview of the global and regional economic outlook.

    Global growth is projected to hold at 3.3 percent this year and the next, and then to slow over the next five years, to just above 3 percent. This is well below the historical average.

    For the Middle East and North Africa, we expect growth to rebound to about 3.6 percent in 2025, driven by a recovery in oil production and an easing of regional conflicts. However, as with the global economy, our medium-term outlook still sees growth weaker than before the pandemic.

    Policymakers have generally succeeded in taming inflation, but not everywhere, with inflation picking up again in some countries. This could lead to a divergence in interest rates across countries and higher borrowing costs for emerging market and developing economies.

    On the fiscal side, the legacy of the multiple shocks from the last years leaves public finances under significant strain in many countries. Global public debt is projected to hit 100 percent of global GDP by 2030. Many countries in this region face similar pressures, with debt levels exceeding 70 percent of GDP. This poses the risk of them becoming trapped in a low-growth, high-debt scenario.

    Governments have the difficult task of containing high debt levels in the face of rising spending needs. This region faces the pressing need to create jobs, enhance social safety nets, build resilience to more frequent natural disasters, and support economic diversification. The demands of national security and post-conflict reconstruction are also substantial.

    This is all happening at a time of significant global transformations, which are creating a more uncertain and challenging environment for policymaking. We know, for instance, that trade is no longer the engine of growth that is used to be—unlike the decades of the 1990s and 2000s when global trade grew much faster than global GDP, the two are now growing at roughly the same rate. Governments around the world are shifting policy priorities: the new US administration has been clear that it intends to take action in the areas of trade, tax and spending, deregulation, and technology/digital assets. And the technology revolution—especially AI—is upon us and is set to transform the way we live and work, perhaps as early as the next five years.

    These rapid transformations mean the recipes of the past may no longer provide the path to prosperity. Economies will need to be agile, adaptable and resilient—these will be the ingredients for future success.

    How can the MENA region find these ingredients for success and avoid a low-growth, high-debt scenario?

    Building adaptable and more resilient economies

    First, focus on structural changes that increase economic resilience, agility, and long-term growth potential. Too often, countries use fiscal stimulus to boost short-term domestic demand. While this “sugar rush” provides temporary growth, it often fuels inflation and financial turbulence. Instead of merely stepping on the gas, we need a stronger engine.

    Productivity growth is essential for stronger growth and driving up economic performance. Our research in the Arab region shows how to do it: accelerate digitalization, reduce the state’s footprint in the economy, foster trade diversification, and encourage the free flow of capital to dynamic firms.

    Countries in the region that are more digitalized have substantially higher productivity than less-digitalization ones. Some countries are among the most developed in the world in this area. Digital innovation, with AI technologies, is expected to raise UAE’s GDP significantly by 2030. More R&D spending will further enhance productivity.

    Reducing the state’s footprint in the economy and strengthening governance can yield significant benefits. For example, Saudi Arabia’s regulatory improvements have fostered private sector investment, especially in the non-oil economy. The UAE’s National Agenda for Entrepreneurship has supported a vibrant startup community, and Morocco’s New Model of Development aims to spur markets by improving public sector governance.

    Encouraging employment is also a key ingredient for stronger growth. With a growing working-age population, the region has to make the most of its demographic advantage. Creating more private jobs, for women and youth in particular, can lead to more vibrant and inclusive economies. This requires more-flexible labor markets, and investment in education and vocational training. We have recently seen impressive developments in this regard in Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain.

    A second priority is economic diversification. Today’s transformations provide an excellent opportunity to stimulate and reallocate resources toward new economic sectors and services. This could become a robust new growth engine, particularly for oil-exporting countries. Many countries are already investing in new technologies, such as batteries for electric cars; in improving connectivity and in green supply chains, for example.

    Third, in a world where patterns of cooperation are shifting, countries need to look for opportunities to cooperate in new ways. In many cases, this means deepening regional cooperation. The GCC is an excellent example of the benefits of regional integration—one that I can imagine can be emulated elsewhere.

    Building fiscal buffers and institutions  

    Let me turn to the fiscal side.

    Prudent fiscal stance is essential for macroeconomic stability — a prerequisite for a vibrant private sector and economic growth. An overarching priority today is to decisively use fiscal policy to build fiscal buffers, which is essentially the capacity to spend when needed – for example, to respond to shocks, manage and mitigate risks, and meet pressing development and climate-related needs.

    Many countries will need to pursue fiscal consolidation. It is crucial to carefully calibrate the size, pace, and composition of fiscal adjustments, to avoid unduly hampering growth. Tailoring budgetary reforms to each country’s circumstances, with a helping hand for those who lose out, is vital to ensure public support.

    In this context, increasing tax revenues remains a priority. Our research finds significant potential in strengthening domestic tax systems. This requires expanding tax bases, especially as economies diversify. For example, as new sectors grow, including through digitalization, they can become an important source of tax revenues. In addition, digitalization and AI can help modernize tax administrations.

    Domestic taxes will remain the primary source of funding government spending. However, private domestic and external financing will be needed to support the spending needs in the region. Addressing the impact of more frequent natural disasters will potentially require a cumulative $1 trillion in investment by 2030. The financial sector must play a larger role, while governments can enable an investment-friendly environment.

    Several countries in the region require special attention, either to resolve ongoing conflicts or to advance post-conflict reconstruction. I pray that peace and stability can be delivered in Sudan and Yemen. I hope that the ceasefire in Gaza, along with political changes in Syria and Lebanon, can mark new beginnings. The international community’s reconstruction efforts provide a unique opportunity to rebuild better and lay the foundations for stronger growth.

    Let me conclude

    In a world of rapid transformations, it is critical for countries to become more agile, adaptable, and resilient. They need to look for new engines of growth, which will also help avoid a low-growth, high-debt trap.

    The private sector has to be in the lead in transforming economies in the region through entrepreneurship, job creation, and innovation.

    The role of governments is to foster the right environment for this private sector-led growth: by strengthening governance, modernizing public institutions, reducing bureaucracy, encouraging youth and female employment, and improving access to capital. And by designing and communicating policies that put people first and increase social support.

    The IMF remains fully committed to supporting the Middle East and North Africa. Since early 2020, we have approved about $33 billion in financing for the region, most recently in 2024 to help mitigate the impact of conflict. We have also recently reformed our surcharge policy, resulting in important savings for some countries. We have also expanded our capacity development and strengthened our regional presence with resident representative offices, technical assistance centers, and the new regional office in Riyadh.

    We are now stepping up our efforts to support the private sector, with the creation of a new IMF Advisory Council on Entrepreneurship and Growth. I can assure you, this region will be represented on it. And we look forward to the upcoming Al-Ula conference with emerging market economies, to discuss key issues affecting your economies. Jobs, innovation, and productivity—combined with a sound fiscal approach—will mean better prospects for citizens in this region and ultimately more peace and stability.

    Let’s get to work, or as you say, “linabda al-âmal”—let’s start the work together!

    I wish you all many insightful discussions and meaningful outcomes today.

    Shukran!

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER:

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/02/10/sp-021025-md-keynote-speech-ninth-arab-fiscal-forum

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ACMD appoints new members

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Four more experts have been appointed members to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

    Following the announcement of 10 leading experts joining the ACMD’s Advisory Council in January, 4 more appointments have been made today.

    • Professor Karen Ersche
    • Professor Sunjeev Kamboj
    • Doctor Lorna Nisbet
    • Jon Privett

    The 4 will be joining the ACMD which provides advice and makes recommendations to the government on the harms caused by drugs.

    Professor Ersche is Professor of Addiction Neuroscience at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, whilst Professor Kamboj is Professor of Translational Clinical Psychology at the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at University College London.

    Doctor Nisbet is Senior Lecturer (teaching and research) at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, at the School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee.

    Jon Privett will bring his extensive knowledge as an expert witness in drug trafficking with the Metropolitan Police to the ACMD.

    The appointments have been made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Senior IT service manager vacancy at MAIB

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    We have an exciting opportunity to join the technical department at MAIB, Southampton on a 6-month contract.

    The MAIB is looking for a senior IT service manager on a 6-month temporary contract.

    Applicants must have active SC clearance to apply.

    This is a hybrid role, requiring 3 days per week working in the MAIB office.

    For further information about the post and how to apply, go to: Senior IT Service Manager – Southampton, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – 2436 – AMS PSR

    Closing date: Thursday 13th February 2025.

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Embaixada do Reino Unido abre ed. 2025 do Embaixadora Por um Dia

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Mulheres de 18 a 25 anos, com histórico de engajamento social e interesse em política, poderão concorrer a uma experiência imersiva na diplomacia britânica.

    A Embaixada do Reino Unido no Brasil se prepara para lançar a edição 2025 do concurso cultural “Embaixadora Por um Dia”, uma iniciativa que celebra o Dia Internacional da Mulher e incentiva a participação feminina na política e nas relações internacionais.

    O concurso busca identificar jovens líderes mulheres (cis e trans) pretas, pardas ou indígenas, com idade entre 18 e 25 anos, que tenham interesse em diplomacia e engajamento político. A vencedora terá a oportunidade de vivenciar de perto a rotina diplomática, participando de reuniões, eventos e experiências imersivas na Embaixada do Reino Unido e em Brasília.

    Como participar

    As inscrições serão abertas em 10 de fevereiro de 2025. Para concorrer, as candidatas deverão produzir um vídeo de até 90 segundos, respondendo à pergunta:

    “Como o engajamento político pode transformar sua comunidade e o mundo?”

    Os vídeos deverão ser publicados no Instagram, com a hashtag #AmbassadorForADayUK, mencionando os perfis @UKinBrazil e @embaixadorabritanica. O perfil da participante deve estar público durante o período de avaliação.

    Quem pode participar?

    O concurso é destinado a mulheres que atendam aos seguintes critérios:

    • Idade entre 18 e 25 anos;
    • Pretas, pardas ou indígenas;
    • Ensino médio cursado em escola pública e/ou renda familiar de até três salários mínimos;
    • Interesse por política e relações internacionais;
    • Experiência em projetos sociais;
    • Passaporte válido e disponibilidade para viajar em março de 2025.

    O que a vencedora ganha?

    • Uma viagem surpresa de cinco dias para participar de reuniões diplomáticas;
    • Um dia na Embaixada do Reino Unido, acompanhando a Embaixadora britânica no Brasil;
    • Oportunidade de compartilhar ideias com líderes políticos;
    • Tour por Brasília/DF;
    • Custos de hospedagem, alimentação e deslocamento cobertos.

    Critérios de seleção

    A escolha da vencedora será baseada em criatividade, história de vida e engajamento com questões políticas e sociais. A seleção é subjetiva e busca reconhecer jovens que demonstrem potencial para promover mudanças positivas em suas comunidades.

    Para mais informações entre em contato com:

    Embaixada do Reino Unido no Brasil

    Mariana Luz – Gerente de Imprensa

    Mariana.luz@fcdo.gov.uk

    (61) 98187-8240

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: HIV Testing Week urges people to get tested regularly

    Source: City of Wolverhampton

    Run by HIV Prevention England, the annual event highlights how regular testing is helping to reduce the number of people living with undiagnosed HIV, or who are diagnosed late.

    Testing is free, quick and confidential, and the only way for people to know their HIV status. Anyone diagnosed with HIV will be able to access free treatment and support. Testing for HIV is also useful for HIV-negative people who are considering interventions such as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis).

    Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Wellbeing, said: “Testing has a key part to play in our efforts to stop HIV, and it’s a good idea to get checked once a year.

    “People can live with HIV for a long time without any symptoms, and an estimated 4,700 people are currently living with undiagnosed HIV in England.

    “If you have HIV, finding out means you can start treatment, stay healthy and avoid passing the virus onto anyone else. There are many ways to test – at a sexual health clinic, your GP or by ordering a test online, so please take up the offer this National HIV Testing Week.”

    Dr Prita Banerjee, Consultant/Clinical Director in Sexual Health and HIV at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, added: “It’s time we made every effort to end the stigma around HIV and normalised HIV testing for everyone.”

    To order free test kits, please visit It Starts With Me or Free Testing HIV.  For more information about HIV, and confidential and non-judgemental advice and support, please visit Embrace, the Wolverhampton sexual health service, at Embrace.

    National HIV Testing Week runs from today (Monday 10 February, 2025) until Sunday 16 February. For more details, visit HIV Prevention England.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Isle of Wight Council launches 2025 National Apprenticeship Week 10 February 2025 Today (10th February) marks the start of this year’s Apprenticeship Week.

    Source: Aisle of Wight

    Today (Monday 10th February) marks the start of this year’s Apprenticeship Week and the Isle of Wight Council celebrated by raising the apprenticeship flag outside County Hall alongside council staff and apprentices.

    Since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in 2017, more than 500 council and maintained school staff have embarked on their apprenticeship journeys. These individuals have benefited from over 70 different apprenticeship programmes, showcasing the diverse opportunities available. In 2024 alone, the Isle of Wight Council invested over half a million pounds in apprenticeship programmes, all funded by the apprenticeship levy.

    This brings the total investment to over £2.25 million, emphasising a commitment to developing the island’s workforce and fostering professional growth. Councillor Jonathan Bacon, cabinet member for Children’s Services, Education and Corporate Functions, said: “We are incredibly proud to be able to provide islanders with professional opportunities like apprenticeships through the Apprenticeship Levy.”

    “Apprenticeships give people a chance to build on their skills, knowledge and confidence in their career journey, no matter the stage of their life or circumstances.”

    “Anyone over the age of 16 can do an apprenticeship, and I’d encourage everyone to make use of the resources provided during this year’s National Apprenticeship Week to find the one that suits you best.”

    Stay tuned to the Isle of Wight Council’s social media channels where we’ll be highlighting apprenticeship stories, sharing resources to get you started on your own apprenticeship journey and celebrate the achievements of current apprentices on the island.

    For more information on National Apprenticeship Week: https://nationalapprenticeshipweek.co.uk/

    To explore apprenticeship opportunities at the Isle of Wight Council: https://www.iow.gov.uk/council-and-councillors/jobs-and-careers/apprenticeships/

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Statement by President Meloni on day of remembrance for the victims of the Foibe massacres and the exodus from Istria, Rijeka and Dalmatia

    Source: Government of Italy (English)

    10 Febbraio 2025

    ‘Ricordare’, the Italian for ‘to remember’, means ‘to bring back to the heart’, or in other words, to place what is dearest to us back at the centre of our being.  Today, we ‘bring back to our hearts’ hundreds of thousands of stories, restoring the dignity they deserve. Today, we honour the memory of the martyrs of the Foibe massacres and once again embrace all our compatriots who chose to leave everything behind rather than give up their identity. Italians twice over: by birth and by choice. 

    On this day of remembrance, we bring back to our hearts each and every story of that tragedy, and renew a solemn promise. We will continue to write new pages in our history and to tell the younger generations about what happened to the people of Rijeka, Istria and Dalmatia. For their story does not belong to just a section of the border or what remains of the community of exiles; it belongs to the whole nation. It is a story that has overcome a conspiracy of silence and no attempt to deny or justify what happened will ever again be able to hide or erase it.

    [Courtesy translation]

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Growing Orkney’s renewables potential

    Source: Scottish Government

    Investment in significant offshore wind project.

    Ambitious plans to create a major new renewables hub in Orkney have been accelerated with a £5 million grant to help take the project to the next stage.

    The funding will further the development of a new harbour facility for the assembly of offshore wind turbines at Scapa Flow – the largest natural harbour in the northern hemisphere.

    The Scapa Deep Water Quay will help to attract inward investment to the area, creating a new, cutting edge hub for offshore wind – supporting the expansion of windfarms off the coast of Scotland and Europe.

    The grant comes from Highlands and Islands Enterprise and is part of the Scottish Government’s wider strategic investment of up to £500 million over five years to develop the offshore wind supply chain.

    Announcing the new funding whilst in Orkney, First Minister John Swinney said:

    “Accelerating Scotland’s offshore wind capabilities is crucial as we prioritise maximising Scotland’s vast potential in renewable energy. Not only are we striving to take our place at the forefront of the global green energy revolution, investments like this help us guarantee a just transition for our existing skilled workforce, maintaining their vital role in Scotland’s energy landscape.

    “This landmark project will help attract private investment in the area, creating new highly paid jobs and unlocking enormous economic opportunities for the Orkney Islands and Scotland as a whole. This is another example of how, together with local government and our partners, we are delivering on our collective priorities of growing the economy and protecting the planet.”

    Director of Strategic Projects at HIE David Oxley said:

    “Scotland has been at the forefront of renewable energy development and Orkney has been at the heart of this for the past 20 years. The proposed Scapa Deep Water Quay is set to help advance the industry to the next level It will help attract inward investment, create jobs and drive economic growth in Orkney, the Highlands and Islands and across Scotland, as well as contributing to the country’s net zero ambitions.

    “This funding for the PCSA will ensure the council has access to all the information it needs to make an informed decision and bring the project to the next stage.”

    Leader of Orkney Islands Council Councillor Heather Woodbridge said:

    “This funding award from HIE, demonstrates the Scottish Government’s understanding of the importance of the energy sector, not only here in Orkney but to Scotland as a whole.  Securing the funding unlocks the potential for Orkney – alongside the wider industry – to further explore and develop a vision for our role in the continued growth of renewable energy, and is reflective of the good work, prominence, and reputation of our islands in this.

    “Development of facilities in Scapa Flow could deliver considerable economic benefits to the area – especially as we look to counterbalance any potential downturn in the oil industry. Enhancing our marine capabilities and strengthening our capacity to support future industrial and commercial activities is key to this.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK-India defence agreements boost ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ ambition

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    The UK-India strategic partnership has taken another major step forward with the formal launch of Defence Partnership – India (DP-I) and the signing of several defence agreements at Aero India 2025.

    Announcing DP-I, UK Defence Minister Lord Vernon Coaker opened the UK-India Defence Partnership Pavilion, establishing a dedicated programme office within the UK’s Ministry of Defence that will serve as a one-stop shop for strengthening bilateral defence collaboration between the two countries.

    The UK and India have today agreed to expand their collaboration on next-generation weapons with Thales and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL). Thales and BDL have signed a contract that will deliver Laser Beam Riding MANPADs (LBRM), with an initial supply of High Velocity Missiles (STARStreak) and launchers to be delivered this year. This contract represents an important next step for UK-Indian defence co-operation in the critical area of air defence.

    Lord Vernon Coaker, UK Defence Minister, said:

    It was a pleasure to visit India and continue to grow our already strong defence relationship. Our Defence Partnership and the UK-India Defence Partnership Pavilion will help strengthen our cooperation further, supporting economic growth in both our countries and India’s Atmanirbhar ambition.

    This event showcases our collaboration in next generation capability, and the massive potential the UK and India can unlock by working together.

    Following the signing of this initial LBRM contract, both Thales and BDL will further collaborate to produce Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMM). This develops and expands the partnership between Indian and British industry, laying the foundation for BDL and Indian industry to form an integral part of Thales’ global supply chain. It will address mutual security concerns, create jobs in both countries and enable interoperability by both armies.

    Lindy Cameron, British High Commissioner to India, said:

    India is taking significant steps in its journey to become Atmanirbhar in its defence capabilities. The UK is really looking forward to working with India as a partner of choice in supporting this ambition: collaborating on defence technologies lies at the heart of this. These are landmark agreements that support our economic growth and joint security.

    In a separate development, MBDA UK and BDL have been working together on the installation of a first of its kind Advanced Short-Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM) assembly and test facility in Hyderabad, arming current fleet of India’s fighter jets as well as exporting to the world.

    On the maritime front, the UK and India have signed a Statement of Intent to design and develop an Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) system for India’s next generation Landing Platform Dock (LPD) fleet. As next steps, GE Vernova and BHEL are working to develop India’s first maritime Land Based Testing Facility to deliver LPD in the water by 2030.

    The strengthening of UK-India partnership will directly support India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ ambition and deliver the UK Government’s growth agenda and Plan for Change.

    Further information

    • Free-to-use high resolution images of the UK delegation at Aero India will be uploaded online: www.flickr.com/photos/ukinindia.

    • The British companies at Aero India 2025 are Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, MBDA UK, Thales UK, GE Vernova, Leonardo, Strongfield Technologies, ASL, SEKO Logistics, Jaguar Engineering Centre of Excellence, Aviation Defence Supplies Ltd and Ricardo.

    • Following the signing of the LBRM contract both Thales UK and BDL will further collaborate to co-produce Lightweight Multirole Missiles with BDL forming an integral part of the Thales supply chain, increasing manufacturing capacity for global export.

    • UK Defence invested £69 million to secure Thales UK supply chain for key components used in the manufacture of missiles in 2024.

    • The landmark maritime electric propulsion capability transfer will ensure self-reliance in the power and propulsion of the Indian Navy’s next generation fleets.

    Media

    David Russell, Communications Counsellor and Spokesperson,
    British High Commission, Chanakyapuri,
    New Delhi 110021. Tel: 24192100

    Media queries: BHCMediaDelhi@fcdo.gov.uk

    Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Youtube and LinkedIn

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Grigorenko: The first regional services “life situations” have been launched

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    Regional services “life situations” have been launched in Russia for the first time. 85 services “life situations” have been launched on the unified portal of state services and regional portals for the provision of services, which include services provided by the subjects of the Russian Federation. With the help of the services “life situations” the time for receiving state services is reduced, as well as the number of visits to departments and documents that need to be provided.

    Life situations services combine services that are needed by people and businesses in certain circumstances, provided comprehensively and in one place.

    At the federal level, the “life situations” services are being implemented since 2023. 34 federal “life situations” services have already been launched. In particular, these are services for large families, replacement and restoration of documents, moving to another region, opening a business.

    To date, more than 1.5 million people have used the federal “life situations” services.

    Within the framework of one regional service, “life situation” has decreased on average:

    – the time to receive services is almost 2 times shorter – up to 25 days;

    – the number of documents that need to be submitted to departments is doubled – up to 4 units;

    – the number of in-person visits to departments has increased fourfold, to one.

    “Citizens are faced with the need to receive government services that are provided both at the federal and regional levels. It is important that a person receives a comfortable service regardless of whether these services are federal or regional. For this purpose, we have launched the “life situations” services, including those that combine regional services. The practice of using the most successful of them will be extended to other regions. That is, some of the “life situations” created in a specific region will become federal,” commented Deputy Prime Minister – Chief of the Government Staff Dmitry Grigorenko.

    For example, in the Republic of Buryatia, the service “life situation” helps in arranging care for an elderly relative at home and in providing the relative with assistance from a social worker. A person interacts with all departments in the “one-stop shop” mode on the page of the service “life situation”.

    The service “life situation” in the Yaroslavl region allows you to learn about the procedure for filing an application to receive the title “Veteran of Labor”. The service informs about the rights arising in connection with the assignment of the status “Veteran of Labor”, about the possibility of receiving regional social support measures, about the conditions for their appointment and provision.

    The service “life situation” in the Ryazan region helps to undergo a medical examination and preventive examination. Thanks to the service, you can sign up for a medical examination, fill out the documents required to visit the clinic, and get information on preparing for diagnostic tests. The results of the tests are sent to the citizen’s personal account on the public services portal.

    The “life situations” services launched in other regions allow one to solve a wide range of social issues, such as entering college or technical school, receiving regional support measures for the birth of children, and others.

    By the end of 2025, another 340 regional “life situations” services are planned to be launched. Thus, it is planned that by the end of 2025, 425 regional “life situations” services will be available.

    Work on the formation and launch of the “life situations” services is being carried out within the framework of the implementation of the federal project “State for People”.

    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: Italy and WFP partner to reduce malnutrition in Eastern Sudan

    Source: World Food Programme

    PORT SUDAN/NAIROBI– The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan welcomes a contribution of EUR6.55 million from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). This vital funding will enable WFP to provide specialized nutritious foods and cash-based nutrition assistance to nearly 200,000 young children and pregnant or nursing women in Gedaref and Kassala states.

    This support will help prevent malnutrition in eastern Sudan, which is critical as some 3.7 million children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers across the country are malnourished.     

    “Amid Sudan’s deepening hunger crisis, this generous contribution will help to improve diets among vulnerable women and children, which is key to reducing malnutrition. We are extremely grateful to the Government of Italy,” said Mr. Laurent Bukera, WFP Regional Director for Eastern Africa. 

    Sudan continues to face a catastrophic humanitarian situation with approximately 24.6 million people – nearly half of Sudan’s population – facing acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3+). Twenty-seven locations across Sudan are either in famine or at risk of famine, while more than one-third of children in the hardest hit regions are acutely malnourished.

    “With this project, Italy is at the forefront in Sudan in supporting the most vulnerable populations. The partnership with WFP is a tangible example of our commitment in the fight against malnutrition, ensuring access to essential nutritional support for those most in need. This initiative also reflects Italy’s broader strategy of humanitarian assistance and sustainable development, reinforcing long-term resilience and food security in the region” – stated the Ambassador of Italy to Sudan, Michele Tommasi. 

    Since the start of Sudan’s conflict nearly 22 months ago, WFP has provided nutrition assistance to prevent and treat malnutrition to nearly 2.5 million women and children. WFP is working tirelessly to expand food and nutrition assistance to millions more people across Sudan – aiming to triple the number of people it supports to 7 million. Italy has been a long-time supporter of WFP in Sudan, contributing nearly EUR15 million since 2021.   

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    The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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    MIL OSI United Nations News –