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Category: Europe

  • MIL-OSI: Surfshark becomes the first company to launch privacy-oriented public DNS service

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Surfshark, a cybersecurity company, has taken a step further to benefit the privacy community by launching a public DNS (Domain Name System). Unlike the default DNS servers provided by ISPs (Internet Service Providers), which often track and record user activity, Surfshark’s new public DNS server ensures privacy by not logging browsing history, data transfers, or any other internet behavior. Surfshark DNS was created for privacy-conscious individuals and organizations, helping them to take the first step towards privacy and security by using this tool.

    “This initiative reflects our dedication to the privacy community and addresses the increasing demand for trustworthy, privacy-first DNS solutions. By offering a free, privacy-oriented DNS service, we are not only seeking Surfshark’s commitment to make the internet a safer place for everyone but also encouraging individuals, organisations, as well as NGOs to take their first steps towards enhancing online privacy. Our DNS service is designed with both stable connectivity and privacy in mind, offering a robust network that doesn’t store or track personal data, giving users a private, seamless browsing experience,” says Karolis Kaciulis, Leading System Engineer at Surfshark.

    Many people rely on the default DNS provided by their ISP or other big companies, often overlooking the potential to enhance their browsing experience. A public DNS service hosted by a trustworthy entity would have a positive impact on privacy online and may even improve overall network performance. However, it’s important to note that UDP and TCP DNS queries are still sent over the internet in plaintext, making them susceptible to interception. To counter this, Surfshark’s DNS server supports secure DNS protocols such as DoT, DoH, and DoQ to keep browsing activity private.

    What is a DNS server

    DNS server works as a translator of domain names like bbc.com or thenewyorktimes.com, into IP (Internet Protocol) addresses that computers can understand. K. Kaciulis explained that it acts as the phonebook of the internet, ensuring users can access websites using easy-to-remember names instead of numerical IP addresses.

    “When a person types a domain name like ‘google.com’ into their web browser, a DNS request is created and sent out to find the corresponding IP address for the requested site. Then the internet browser uses this IP address to connect to the origin and load the website. DNS servers, which are dedicated machines that handle and respond to DNS requests, make this seamless process possible,” says K. Kaciulis.

    How does a DNS work

    When a request is made to access any website on the browser, the DNS resolution process is initiated. During this step, the domain name entered into a browser is converted to the corresponding IP address required to locate the desired web resource. The initial DNS query is sent to a resolver, which first contacts a root server to get information about the correct top-level domain (TLD), such as .com or .org. This TLD data then helps direct the request to the server responsible for the specific domain.

    Finally, it reaches the authoritative name server, which holds the exact IP address for the website. This address is then sent back so the site can be loaded.

    Benefits of using Surfshark public DNS

    ISPs may collect and log users’ DNS queries for user identification. They can also monitor DNS traffic, both passively and actively, and are capable of blocking specific hostnames when necessary. Additionally, user data can be used for targeted advertising or sold to third parties. Surfshark DNS server is different, it operates under a strict no-logs policy, which means no collection, storage, or sharing of browsing activity. 

    Using a Surfshark DNS may lead to a positive improvement in overall network performance. Unlike default ISP DNS servers, which can become overloaded. Since the Surfshark public DNS infrastructure is spread out, it has a better understanding of geolocation, which can provide users with closer servers. As a result, it may reduce delays, connection drops, and improve overall browsing reliability.

    According to K. Kaciulis, privacy is essential for this type of service. Surfshark is committed to protecting user privacy and does not process any information related to users’ online behavior. As a result, the company passed an independent no-log audit in 2023 for its VPN service and is planning to have another one conducted on its public DNS server.

    ABOUT SURFSHARK

    Surfshark is a cybersecurity company offering products including an audited VPN, certified antivirus, data leak warning system, private search engine, and tool for generating an online identity. Recognized as a leading VPN by CNET and TechRadar, Surfshark has also been featured on the FT1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies ranking. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Surfshark has offices in Lithuania and Poland. For information on Surfshark’s operations and highlights, read our Annual Wrap-up. For more research projects, visit our Research Hub.

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    The MIL Network –

    May 6, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Hanmi Financial to Participate in the D.A. Davidson 27th Annual Financial Institutions Conference

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LOS ANGELES, May 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Hanmi Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: HAFC, or “Hanmi”), the parent company of Hanmi Bank (the “Bank”), today announced its participation in the D.A. Davidson 27th Annual Financial Institutions Conference on Tuesday, May 6 and Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Scottsdale, AZ.

    Bonnie Lee, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Ron Santarosa, Chief Financial Officer, will host one-on-one and small group meetings during the conference.

    A copy of the presentation being used for meetings with institutional investors will be available in the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at www.hanmi.com.

    About Hanmi Financial Corporation
    Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Hanmi Financial Corporation owns Hanmi Bank, which serves multi-ethnic communities through its network of 32 full-service branches, five loan production offices and three loan centers in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Hanmi Bank specializes in real estate, commercial, SBA and trade finance lending to small and middle market businesses. Additional information is available at www.hanmi.com.

    Investor Contacts:
    Romolo (Ron) Santarosa
    Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
    213-427-5636

    Lisa Fortuna
    Investor Relations
    Financial Profiles, Inc.
    lfortuna@finprofiles.com
    310-622-8251

    Source: Hanmi Bank

    The MIL Network –

    May 6, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Philly’s forgotten history as a hub of anarchism with a thriving radical Yiddish press

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Geoffrey Baym, Professor of Media Studies and Production, Temple University

    The first edition of Bread and Freedom came out on Nov. 11, 1906. From the collection of the National Library of Israel, courtesy of Broyt un Frayheyt (Bread and Freedom)

    On a late summer day in 1906, a small group of newly arrived Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia took a streetcar across town to Fairmount Park. Several miles from the cramped row houses and oppressive sweatshops of the immigrant quarter of South Philly, the neighborhood now known as Queen Village, they enjoyed a sunny picnic.

    They weren’t there to make small talk, though.

    Instead, they wanted to write “revolutionary articles” that would spark the “struggle against all that degrades and oppresses humanity,” as one of the leaders of the group, Joseph Cohen, later wrote in his 1945 memoir.

    More specifically, the picnicgoers wanted to start a newspaper. It would be titled Broyt un Frayheyt – Yiddish for Bread and Freedom – the anarchist reminder that to live the good life, one needs both.

    I’m a professor of media and politics at Temple University in Philadelphia. For the past year I’ve been tracking the life and times of my great-grandfather Max, a radical Yiddish journalist in the early years of the 20th century.

    To my surprise, I found he had lived here in Philadelphia, and his story is part of a largely forgotten moment in U.S. history: when Philly was an epicenter of the national anarchist movement, heartily supported by the city’s burgeoning Jewish immigrant community.

    Beyond the Russian pale

    By 1906, thousands of people like Max had made their way to Philadelphia from the Russian “pale” – the only part of the Russian Empire where they could legally reside. They fled economic isolation and state-sanctioned persecution in search of a more stable life.

    South Philly was better than where they had come from, but immigrant life then, as now, was by no means easy. They had escaped a legal regime of oppression and the perpetual threat of antisemitic mob violence. But in turn they found a world of dark alleys and dead ends. Their labor was exploited, their living conditions meager.

    For some, the American promise of freedom and prosperity seemed to ring hollow.

    They did, however, find one freedom they had not experienced before. They were able to speak, write and publish their ideas no matter how outlandish or against the grain.

    And they could do so in Yiddish, the vernacular of daily life but a language of exile – one that in the old world had often been outlawed in print.

    The Yiddish press in the United States was experiencing extraordinary growth at the time. In New York, Philadelphia and other cities, newspapers quickly emerged – and often disappeared – month over month.

    Jewish anarchists in America

    Max moved to Philadelphia in 1906 to work with another immigrant named Joseph Cohen. Cohen had arrived in Philadelphia three years earlier. He earned a scant living making cigars, but his real work was advocating anarchism.

    At the dawn of the 20th century, anarchism was not the nihilistic chaos the term may bring to mind today. It was a heartfelt dream of a free and egalitarian society.

    The anarchists believed that man-made hierarchies – political, economic and religious – were illegitimate and limited the full expression of humanity. They rejected the authority of the state. That particularly appealed to many Jewish immigrants, for whom laws in the old country had long served as vehicles of oppression.

    Cohen had studied this philosophy of local autonomy and communal life with the Philadelphia activist Voltairine de Cleyre.

    History may remember Emma Goldman, a Lithuanian-born New Yorker and perhaps the leading voice of American anarchism from that era. But de Cleyre was the heart and soul of Philadelphia’s anarchist scene.

    Goldman once described de Cleyre as a “poet-rebel,” a “liberty-loving artist” and “the greatest woman anarchist of America.”

    Voltairine de Cleyre in Philadelphia circa 1901.
    Wikimedia Commons

    A tireless critic of the inequities of the industrial age, de Cleyre had taught herself Yiddish to better serve as “the apostle of anarchism” in the Jewish ghetto.

    While de Cleyre could often be found speaking in front of city hall, Max, Cohen and their colleagues were more likely to gather at the corner of Fifth and South streets, the hub of Philadelphia’s Yiddish press and its culture of rambunctious street debate.

    By 1906, Cohen had co-founded the anarchist Radical Library in the upstairs rooms at 229 Pine St. This provided the Philadelphia anarchists a meeting space and reading room.

    But “the Jewish newspaper men, the radicals and the tireless talkers,” as the Philadelphia historian Harry Boonin wrote, still congregated in the ramshackle cafes lining the 600 block of South Fifth, where they would argue over anarchism and atheism deep into the night.

    Competition with NYC comrades

    Cohen’s goal was to publish a nationally influential anarchist paper that would give voice to the “comrades from Philadelphia.”

    That meant direct competition with the New York Yiddish press and the influential weekly newspaper Freie Arbeiter Stimme, or The Free Voice of Labor. Edited by Saul Yanovksy on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, FAS was the center of the Jewish anarchist movement and of the Yiddish intelligentsia more broadly.

    “To be able to say ‘I have written for Yanovsky,’” wrote the sociologist Robert Park in 1922, “is a literary passport for a Yiddish writer.”

    Freie Arbeiter Stimme (The Free Voice of Labor) was the intellectual center of the Jewish anarchist movement at the turn of the 20th century.
    From the collection of the National Library of Israel, courtesy of Freie Arbeiter Stimme (The Free Voice of Labor)

    Although the FAS masthead said the paper was located in New York and Philadelphia, Yanovksy controlled the operation from New York, much to Cohen’s dismay.

    The Philadelphia anarchists were also routinely disappointed in Yanovsky’s politics. He was too moderate for their tastes. Yanovsky favored organizing labor and voting in elections, while the Bread and Freedom group, according to Cohen, wanted to cultivate “the militancy and fighting spirit which our young comrades brought with them from cold Russia.” They advocated for more aggressive measures to counter “the submissive indifference of the bourgeoisie and the slavish patience of the workers.”

    Cohen had partnered with Yanovsky earlier in 1906 to publish a daily anarchist newspaper. He maintained a small office in the back of Finkler’s cigar store at Fifth and Bainbridge streets. But the paper was printed in New York and delivered back to Philadelphia each morning by courier train.

    Cohen wrote in his memoir that he suspected Yanovsky intentionally sabotaged the effort by insisting that he personally write the daily editorial, but then turning in his copy too late for the paper to make the train. After two months the partnership, and the paper, fell apart.

    For Cohen, the lesson was that to be the genuine voice of the anarchist movement, he had to print the paper locally in Philadelphia.

    A digest of anarchist argument

    Editions of the Bread and Freedom anarchist weekly list the Radical Library at 229 Pine St. as its headquarters.
    From the collection of the National Library of Israel, courtesy of Bread and Freedom

    Bread and Freedom published its first issue on Nov. 11, 1906. The date was symbolic. It was the anniversary of the execution of the “Chicago martyrs” – the four men wrongly sentenced to death for the 1886 bombing at a labor rally at Chicago’s Haymarket Square. The Haymarket affair galvanized the anarchist movement among immigrants, even as it accelerated the wider fear of foreign-born radicalism.

    Over the next three months, the newspaper offered a weekly digest of anarchist arguments. It translated into Yiddish Voltairine de Cleyre’s critique of capitalism and what she called its “moral bankruptcy” – its hunger for wealth, power and material possessions. It attacked what de Cleyre called the “dominant idea” of the times – “the shameless, merciless” exploitation of the worker, “only to produce heaps and heaps of things – things ugly, things harmful, things useless, and at the best largely unnecessary.”

    In the strongest of terms – “bombastic,” in the words of one local historian – the paper echoed de Cleyre’s call for the “restless, active, rebel souls” of immigrant Philadelphia to rise up to oppose the “great and lamentable error” of industrial capitalism.

    Almost as soon as it began, however, Bread and Freedom ran out of money. Its rhetoric was exciting but ineffective. The paper offered no real solutions beyond an impossible demand to dismantle the capitalist state.

    Although two members of the group were briefly detained by the police in Baltimore for selling a radical newspaper, their fiery propaganda lit no revolutionary spark.

    Instead, it disappeared quietly, folding in January 1907.

    Shifting tactics

    Even then, a different kind of immigrant was arriving in the U.S. from Russia. Their radical politics were coupled with organizational acumen.

    Many of the older anarchists would join forces with these newcomers, and the effort morphed into something more pragmatic. They helped build the foundations of the 20th-century labor movement, which successfully fought for once-radical ideals such as the eight-hour workday and paid sick leave.

    Cohen moved to New York and took over as editor of FAS in 1923. That was a tense period for the Jewish left, following the Russian revolution of 1917 and the Communist rise to power. In response, the U.S. government suppressed domestic radicalism, arresting and at times deporting foreign-born leftists, and anarchism fell out of favor.

    A few years earlier, though, the streets of South Philly had been home to a vibrant space of free speech and boundless political imagination. It would not last long, but it is a moment I believe is worth remembering.

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

    – ref. Philly’s forgotten history as a hub of anarchism with a thriving radical Yiddish press – https://theconversation.com/phillys-forgotten-history-as-a-hub-of-anarchism-with-a-thriving-radical-yiddish-press-252869

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    May 6, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: How was the Earth built?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Alexander E. Gates, Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, Rutgers University – Newark

    The Earth formed in a ring of debris around the Sun, like the one around Vega, a bright star, in this artist’s conception. NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

    How was the Earth built? – Noah, age 5, Florida

    It isn’t easy to figure out how the Earth was built, because it happened 4½ billion years ago, and no one was there to watch. So scientists have had to look at what the Earth looks like now and at all of the other planets, moons and debris in the solar system.

    They’ve concluded that the Earth was built in the same way that you would build a big snowball to make a snowman. The mass that would become our home rolled through planetary debris – rocks floating in space – for more than 100 million years, adding more and more material, until it grew into a full-size planet.

    How do scientists like me know this is what happened? First, studies of the size, composition and location of asteroids and comets, many of which are as old as the Earth, indicate that 4½ billion years ago the solar system looked the way Saturn looks today, with rings of space rocks orbiting around the Sun. There’s still one such ring around the Sun – it’s called the asteroid belt and lies between Mars and Jupiter, with the Sun’s gravity holding the rocks in orbit.

    The solar system that includes Earth formed from a spinning disk of dust and gases.

    All of the other bodies that we know as planets today began as similar rings of space debris. An eddy, or area of rolling, developed in each of these rings and caused the debris to clump up in a snowball effect. But these pieces of debris were asteroids that smashed violently into the growing planets.

    We can see those impacts on planets and moons whose surfaces haven’t weathered or reformed. If you look at the Moon or the planet Mercury, you can see that they are covered with craters from asteroid impacts.

    When asteroids or comets struck these building planets, they crashed into their surfaces at speeds as high as 40,000 to 50,000 miles per hour (65,000 to 80,000 kilometers per hour). The impacts caused huge explosions that emitted massive amounts of dust and broken or melted rock.

    In fact, scientists believe that the Moon was once part of the Earth, until a large asteroid crashed into the Earth so hard that the Moon broke away and shot into space. There, it began orbiting the Earth as it does now.

    Still under construction

    Most big asteroids and comets collided with the Earth when it was young, about 4½ billion years ago. The number of such collisions has steadily decreased ever since. However, at least 100 tons of dust-size space rock rains down on the Earth every day, increasing the size of our planet bit by bit.

    The Earth also collides with space rocks, called meteors, that show up as shooting stars in the night sky. Some of these meteors come from an impact that struck Mars at some point, breaking away rock from the planet surface and shooting it into outer space. These rocks have been falling to Earth ever since.

    What’s the difference between an asteroid and a comet? Asteroids are large space rocks, while comets are large, dirty ice balls. Meteors are smaller − typically the size of pebbles or even dust.

    About 65 million years ago, a huge asteroid struck the Earth in the Gulf of Mexico. The enormous Chicxulub explosion drove large tsunamis throughout the ocean and raised so much dust into the air that it made the dinosaurs go extinct.

    Another large asteroid impact, about 35 million years ago, made a huge crater in the area that is now the Chesapeake Bay, near Washington, D.C. More recently, in 1908, an asteroid likely exploded over Tunguska, Russia, flattening 830 square miles (2,150 square kilometers) of trees. Fortunately, no one lived in the area, so there were no known casualties.

    Barringer Crater in Arizona was caused by a meteor strike about 50,000 years ago. It measures about 0.75 miles (1.2 kilometers) across.
    D. Roddy, USGS/Wikipedia

    Once a mass of space debris was assembled into the Earth, many processes continued to shape the planet’s surface. Wind, water, heat and cold cause rocks to weather and break down and soil to erode. Mountains are created as pieces of Earth’s crust collide and crack. Rivers and glaciers wear down the planet’s surface to make it smoother.

    The Earth is a dynamic planet that is constantly being built, and these processes will continue for billions of years into the future.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

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

    – ref. How was the Earth built? – https://theconversation.com/how-was-the-earth-built-254257

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    May 6, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Seeing Is Believing: UConn’s Materials Library Helps Student Researchers Weigh Options

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    If there’s one thing Christopher Sancomb freely admits, it’s that he likes things like foamed aluminum, pieces of copper, chunks of iron, and sticks of ebony.

    “I’ve always been a materials person,” says Sancomb, an assistant professor of industrial design in the Department of Art and Art History. “It’s always been a big part of my work.”

    For 15 years before coming to UConn in 2019, Sancomb designed museum exhibitions for children, a job that required him to carefully consider each material he planned to use: Would it do what he wanted it to do? Is it environmentally friendly? How hard is it to obtain? Can it be ethically sourced?

    “That began my collection and fostered a deeper interest into all the things that go along with the stuff we use in the world,” he says.

    Industrial designers and engineers – really, anyone who builds something from scratch – must think about things like this when working on projects, he says, and until now UConn students studying for these professions had no place to learn about the infinite number of materials available in the world.

    Sancomb has changed that.

    Christopher Sancomb, assistant professor of industrial design at UConn, arranges some of the items in the Materials Library within the Fine Arts Complex on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Sydney Herdle/UConn Photo)

    UConn’s Materials Library, of which he is founder, has been a project five years in the making, stalled by the pandemic but now finishing its first year as a resource for students and faculty.

    In the rear of the Art Design Center – that’s Room 108 in the Art Building – the library houses a collection of raw, manufactured, and reclaimed materials from all over the world that go into the built environment around us, he explains.

    “We want to use this as a hands-on learning space, so you can see the thing, touch the thing, measure it, mark it, uncover where it comes from, learn more about it as a way to understand what we use in the world, what we put into the world as designers,” he says.

    It’s a place where people can feel the weight of a brick of mycelium, the gentleness of a tuft of alpaca wool, the grooves of a crocodile pattern on a piece of bioleather, and the sturdiness of recycled plastic turned into a 1.5-inch-thick felt-like board.

    It’s a place to refine ideas, develop new ones, and spark creativity.

    “Let’s say you came in and were thinking of using an existing plastic that had certain qualities – maybe it needs a high breaking strength and high UV sensitivity. Maybe it needs to be washed and sanitized. Traditional plastics from the petrochemical world might work, but the library would show you there are alternative biomaterials that are just as well-suited and they’re less toxic,” he says.

    Assessing Alternatives Through Hands-on Research

    Samantha Wilkins ’25 (ENG) freely admits that she loves everything about airplanes, from the ailerons to the yaw string. There’s just something about them, she says.

    As one of five interns at the Materials Library this academic year – each with their own research project in addition to helping Sancomb establish the library – she’s been thinking about sustainable aviation.

    What alternative textiles can be used as seat covers and cushions? What plant-based products can form the cabin’s airframe?

    “We have a bunch of different materials in here that I didn’t even know existed,” she says of the library.

    Take hemp, for example.

    “I was doing a lot of research and found an aircraft designer who made a completely sustainable, flyable aircraft out of hemp because it comes in all different forms. He made the entire fuselage structure out of it. This is just the textile version,” Wilkins, a multidisciplinary engineering major who’s concentrating in industrial design, says as she holds a fabric hemp sample in her hand.

    “I’ve been researching a lot about hemp, jute, flax, things like that and the different forms they can take,” she says. “It really intrigues me that you can have so many different forms from one single material and it can serve so many different uses. I love that.”

    Pamela Mackingue ’26 (SFA) says that after working as an intern this year, hemp also has become one of her new favorite things.

    A pile of wool sits on a table as Christopher Sancomb, assistant professor of industrial design at UConn, arranges some of the items in the Materials Library within the Fine Arts Complex on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Sydney Herdle/UConn Photo)

    The double major in digital media and design and art with a concentration in industrial design says she’s focused her research on the fashion industry and finding materials that are more sustainable than many other products used today.

    She’s growing her own leather – out of kombucha – fermenting black tea to create a biofilm that can be dried out to resemble the texture of animal leather, conditioned to restore some of its natural oils, and dyed any color in the rainbow. What she freely admits is that it’s not her own novel idea – it’s a process she came across while researching sustainable leather alternatives.

    “As a designer, you have to think about the product you’re using, why you’re using it, what’s the purpose of it, how does it help your design,” she says. “It’s important information to know and getting that hands-on experience in the Materials Library is equally important.”

    In addition to their research projects, Sancomb says the interns are helping him with the day-to-day work of the library – that is, cataloging each item and deciding what information is important for someone to know, then putting that information into a database, which eventually will go online.

    Nonetheless, Wilkins says, “You can look at a database or inventory, but you don’t really know what you’re looking for until you get in here. The hands-on element is super important. A database can help you grasp the basics, then you can come in here to narrow down the possibilities and interact with the material you settled on.”

    Personal Belongings, Donated Items, Purchased and Procured Objects

    Sancomb opens the lid of an old cardboard box labeled “Constantine’s Rare Collection of the World’s Fine Woods” and carefully lifts out rectangle samples of cabinet wood veneer. They’re about 50 years old, he says, and were a donation from a friend.

    Each of the 50 samples no doubt has a story, he says. Some of the wood might have been over forested and no longer is available. Some might have been the root of a humanitarian conflict. Some might be lost to forest fires and labor disputes.

    “I find it really interesting the stories that can be told just from this collection and what might be in here that’s just gone,” he says.

    With hundreds of items in the library, Sancomb says the collection includes some of his personal belongings like a chunk of marble with machined, cut, and polished faces brought back after a research trip to Italy, along with donated items like a bag of wool from UConn’s farm.

    Other items have been purchased or procured without a cost other than a written request. No hazardous materials are part of the collection, and nothing is of significant monetary value – important things, Sancomb says, to keep the library freely open for all.

    “My students are required at different times to think about the library and work with it, but we want students from other disciplines to know they can come here and access the materials,” he says.

    UConn Bound in April drew dozens of prospective students and their families, and a steady stream of people came through during an open house the month prior, everyone wanting to see the library, which surprisingly isn’t something all schools have.

    A variety of items sit in the Materials Library within the Fine Arts Complex on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Sydney Herdle/UConn Photo)

    The Rhode Island School of Design has a materials library, and so does the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the University of Texas at Austin, but not every school with an industrial design program boasts such a research space, Sancomb says.

    Over the next decade, he says he hopes UConn’s library can outgrow its current home and move into a larger, more permanent location, maybe joining with another library on campus to bring its catalog to the UConn community.

    Its hundreds of items could become thousands, with Connecticut industries and Connecticut products figuring prominently, he envisions. A larger budget would allow for more acquisitions, although donations likely will always be accepted.

    “We recently got a large donation of wood and veneer,” Sancomb says, “so we’re working to catalog that collection and make it available to students through an application process. This way, if someone got an IDEA grant and needed to build some furniture, for instance, they might come to us with a proposal, and we would help supply them.”

    Sancomb reaches across a table and hands off a small block of what looks like compressed soda can flip-tops.

    Imagine that someone dipped a straw into a vat of molten aluminum and blew bubbles, he says. This is the solidified result, light airy panels of foamed aluminum that are sturdy enough for some structural applications, like for insulation or exterior cladding.

    “They’re sound-dampening. They have a high fire retardancy because they’re made of metal, and they’re recyclable,” Sancomb says. “It’s a visually stunning material because you look at it and ask, ‘Is this what I think it is?’ And it is.”

    Donations of raw, manufactured, and reclaimed items can be made to the Materials Library by emailing Sancomb at christopher.sancomb@uconn.edu. Check out @uconnindustrialdesign on Instagram for its Material Monday campaign, featuring materials that might not be in the library but have interesting backstories.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    May 6, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: World Press Freedom Day (3 May 2025)

    Source: Republic of France in English
    The Republic of France has issued the following statement:

    On World Press Freedom Day, France reaffirms its commitment to the freedom to inform and be informed, which is essential to all democratic societies, and condemns the violence committed against journalists and media professionals, information manipulation campaigns, and restrictions on freedom of the press in many countries across the globe.

    France reiterates its commitment to freedom of the press and expression and the protection of journalists and media professionals everywhere in the world. It pays tribute to those who are risking their life on a daily basis to convey free, plural and reliable information that is critical to democracy, as well as to those who have lost their lives doing their job. It is with this in mind that the second annual Anna Politkovskaya-Arman Soldin Prize was awarded in November 2024.

    This year marked the tenth anniversary of UNSC Resolution 2222 on the protection of journalists in armed conflicts, adopted in May 2015 at the instigation of France and Lithuania. This resolution recalls that journalists must be protected, including in the most dangerous contexts, and attacks on their safety are unacceptable. France condemns the increase in the number of journalists killed or wounded on the job. Journalists are protected by international humanitarian law as are all civilians. France will champion a resolution on the protection of journalists at the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva from 16 June to 11 July 2025.

    France is pursuing its efforts to rally support from the international community for a global space of free, democratic and trustworthy information through the Information and Democracy Partnership, which brings together 55 States. France is contributing to media pluralism and economic sustainability of independent media via Canal France International (CFI) and its contribution to the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM). France supports the Journalism Trust Initiative, an international norm developed by Reporters Without Borders to promote reliable information sources and journalism that complies with an ethical framework.

    At a time when artificial intelligence is upending the media ecosystem, new risks are emerging including uncontrolled automation of information, manipulation of algorithms, amplification of unauthentic content, and large-scale manipulation of information. France is working to build inclusive and lasting international governance of artificial intelligence, having it serve the general interest and uphold human rights. It supported the adoption of the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law in 2024 at the Council of Europe. This is also the reason for the Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet adopted on 11 February 2025 at the AI Action Summit. Amid the era of artificial intelligence and in light of Resolution 2222, France reaffirms that informing is not a crime, but a common good to be protected.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    May 6, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Press release – EP TODAY – Monday, 5 May

    Source: European Parliament 3

    Last-minute press briefing at 16:30

    The Parliament’s Spokesperson and the Press Service will hold a press briefing on this week’s plenary session at 16:30. Follow the last-minute briefing live.

    Journalists wishing to take part and ask questions should please connect via Interactio.

    Remembering Pope Francis

    After the opening of the plenary session, EP President Roberta Metsola will make a statement on the passing of Pope Francis, followed by contributions from one speaker per political group. MEPs will then observe a minute’s silence.

    Andreas KLEINER

    (+32) 498 98 33 22

    EuroParlPress

    Estefania NARRILLOS

    (+32) 498 98 39 85

    EuroParlPress

    MEP’s expectations for the EU-UK summit on 19 May

    From around 17:45, MEPs, Commissioner Šefčovič and Polish Minister for EU Affairs Szłapka will debate their priorities and demands for the first EU-UK summit on British soil since Brexit. Among other topics, the 19 May summit is expected to focus on defence cooperation, opportunities for young people, and trade issues.

    Viktor ALMQVIST

    (+32) 470 88 29 42

    EP_ForeignAff

    In brief

    Combating fraud. From around 19:00, MEPs will discuss Parliament’s 2023 report on how to protect the EU’s financial interests and combat fraud with Commissioner Serafin. The vote will take place on Tuesday.

    European Investment Bank. From around 20:00, MEPs, EC Vice-President Fitto and Robert de Groot, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, will assess the Bank’s financial activities in 2023. The vote will take place on Tuesday.

    Economic and social cohesion. From around 21:00, Parliament will debate with EC Vice-President Fitto progress and obstacles to economic and social cohesion in the EU. The vote will take place on Thursday.

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

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

    Find more information regarding plenary.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    May 6, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: BigCommerce Taps Technology Industry Veteran with Strong Record of Innovation as Chief Product Officer

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    AUSTIN, Texas, May 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC), a leading provider of open, composable commerce solutions for B2C and B2B brands, retailers, manufacturers and distributors, today announced that Vipul Shah has joined the company as its new Chief Product Officer, bringing over two decades of experience building innovative products and business models at PayPal, Google, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo.

    At BigCommerce, Shah leads product management, product design and product strategy groups across all three of the company’s products – BigCommerce, Feedonomics and Makeswift.

    “Vipul brings an unmatched record of innovation across a range of industries. That experience will be crucial to helping us unite BigCommerce, Feedonomics, and Makeswift under one holistic product strategy,” said Travis Hess, CEO at BigCommerce. “Beyond that proven technical expertise, he is also a great culture fit for BigCommerce and shares our vision for the company moving forward.”

    Prior to BigCommerce, Shah was president and chief operating officer of venture capital-backed NEXT Trucking, where he helped digitize shipping container movement and modernize broken supply chain processes exposed during the pandemic.

    Passionate about technology and its potential to help people, Shah began his career designing aircraft engines and later worked with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to improve drug development processes. Influenced by the economic disparity he observed growing up in India, Greece and the United States, Shah then tackled the world of banking and fintech with the goal of driving financial inclusion and economic empowerment. Over 20 years at PayPal, Google, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo, Shah has built innovative products and business models to help consumers and businesses worldwide capitalize on the burgeoning digital economy.

    “My personal experiences have always shaped my professional work, and I’m excited to bring my perspective to BigCommerce and the broader ecommerce industry,” Shah said. “As AI ushers in a new era of ecommerce, BigCommerce, Feedonomics and Makeswift have a tremendous opportunity to deliver powerful innovation, engaging customer experiences and meaningful growth for our global community of merchants and partners.”

    Learn more about BigCommerce’s leadership team here: https://www.bigcommerce.com/company/leaders/

    About BigCommerce
    BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC) is a leading open SaaS and composable ecommerce platform that empowers brands, retailers, manufacturers and distributors of all sizes to build, innovate and grow their businesses online. BigCommerce provides its customers sophisticated professional-grade functionality, customization and performance with simplicity and ease-of-use. Tens of thousands of B2C and B2B companies across 150 countries and numerous industries rely on BigCommerce, including Coldwater Creek, Harvey Nichols, King Arthur Baking Co., MKM Building Supplies, United Aqua Group and Uplift Desk. For more information, please visit www.bigcommerce.com or follow us on X and LinkedIn.

    BigCommerce® is a registered trademark of BigCommerce Pty. Ltd. Third-party trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

    Media Contact:
    Brad Hem
    pr@bigcommerce.com

    The MIL Network –

    May 6, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: SHARC Energy Announces Board of Director Changes

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SHARC International Systems Inc. (CSE: SHRC) (FSE: IWIA) (OTCQB: INTWF) (“SHARC Energy” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that Fred Andriano has been named Chairman of the Board of Directors (“BOD”) and Executive Officer. Mr. Andriano replaces SHARC Energy’s founder Lynn Mueller as Executive Chairman. Mr. Mueller will remain on the Board as Vice Chairman and Executive Officer of the Company.

    Mr. Andriano has extensive experience and expertise in finance, accounting, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions. He has been in the heating and cooling energy sector for 20 years. He formally was the Vice President of Finance and Administration – NIBE North America for NIBE Industrier AB. Prior to that he was Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary for WaterFurnace International, Inc. Furthermore, he spent 6 years as Chief Financial Officer of a regional M&A firm.

    “I am very appreciative for the opportunity to help guide the Company’s Board and management team as we strategize for expansion and growth. The Company has tremendous products, applications and dedicated team members and it’s time we leveraged their strengths while we continue to build awareness of the opportunities SHARC Energy’s products present to the heat transfer sector,” stated Mr. Andriano.

    Mr. Mueller added, “The additions of Michael as CEO and Fred as Executive Chair marks a significant day in the evolution of SHARC Energy’s maturity,” says Mr. Mueller. “These moves validate SHARC Energy as an emerging player in the industry with superior Wastewater Energy Transfer products and proven executives with successful track records in the thermal energy, heat transfer and hydronic space to augment the team.”

    The appointment will strategically accelerate the Company’s growth and improve its ability to expand its markets, products and geographical reach. The Company anticipates future strategic moves enabling SHARC Energy to grow revenue and improve profitability.

    The Company also has the bittersweet task of announcing the BOD has accepted the retirement and resignation of Eleanor Chiu. Mrs. Chiu has been a director for just shy of six years, consistently adding valued insight, business acumen and astute counsel to both management and the Board. She leaves SHARC Energy as a strong believer and long-term shareholder, holding 5% of the Company.

    “I am pleased to be leaving the BOD in good hands with addition of Fred as Chairman. In the short time that I have known Fred, he brings a strong understanding of the corporate governance policies and procedures needed for a public company to grow and mature. With the additions of Michael and Fred to augment Lynn and Hanspaul, I remain confident in the opportunity SHARC Energy and Wastewater Energy Transfer present,” says Mrs. Chiu.

    “Eleanor has been an important member of the Board and she will be dearly missed. I have leaned on her for nearly six years. She will always be remembered as one of the instrumental members that built the foundation the Company will grow on for years to come. Thank you Eleanor,” stated Mr. Mueller.

    Mr.Andriano will take over Mrs. Chiu role as Chairman of the Audit Committee going forward.

    About SHARC Energy  
    SHARC International Systems Inc. is a world leader in energy recovery from the wastewater we send down the drain every day. SHARC Energy’s systems recycle thermal energy from wastewater, generating one of the most energy-efficient and economical systems for heating, cooling & hot water production for commercial, residential, and industrial buildings along with thermal energy networks, commonly referred to as “District Energy”.

    SHARC Energy is publicly traded in Canada (CSE: SHRC), the United States (OTCQB: INTWF) and Germany (Frankfurt: IWIA) and you can find out more on our SEDAR profile.

    Learn more about SHARC Energy: Website | Investor Page | LinkedIn | YouTube | PIRANHA | SHARC

    ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

    Fred Andriano
    Chairman of the Board

    The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

    Forward-Looking Statements 

    Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified using words such as “anticipate”, “plan”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “intend”, “should”, and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. SHARC Energy’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information because of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. SHARC Energy believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company’s expectations as of the date hereof and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation. 

    The MIL Network –

    May 6, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Economics Faculty Girls Win Step Aerobics Competition

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

    More than 250 people (39 teams) took part in the traditional championship in fitness aerobics on steps as part of the Spartakiad between faculties and institutes of NSU.

    This year it became truly special. The competition was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and was dedicated to women – soldiers and home front workers.

    Our talented students spent several months preparing programs with mandatory aerobic elements, selecting music and creating costumes for themselves, mostly in Russian folk style. And only after that, a colorful show took place in the large game hall, where the girls showed their compositions, in which strict judges assessed the technique of basic steps, correctness of execution of elements, artistry, synchronicity, performance skills, as well as appearance and originality.

    All teams demonstrated excellent preparation, wonderful grace and team spirit. The atmosphere in the hall was incredible – everyone supported each other, applauded and charged with positive energy. At the end of the holiday, the NSU aerobics team performed their composition.

    And the winners among first-year students were:

    1st place – team of the EF “Quadrille” consisting of: Elizaveta Cheremisina, Ulyana Shepeleva, Ekaterina Ponasenko, Elizaveta Limanova, Arzhaana Saryglar, Anastasia Smorodina and Anastasia Smirnova

    2nd place – team of the Kulemushki EF: Daria Andryushchenko, Angelina Veretennikova, Polina Gnedenko, Maria Komashko, Angelina Lubyagina and Daria Cheremisina

    3rd place was shared by students of the IMPZ “Vasilechki”: Yulia Filatova, Varvara Sebeleva, Alina Shushakova, Elizaveta Chernousova, Daria Sirotkina, Zhanna Matveeva and Anastasia Kopylova and another team from the EF “Nightingales”: Anna Feoktistova, Veronika Pribytkina, Daria Popova, Maria Mozhaitseva, Anastasia Zheravina, Karina Pinoeva and Ulyana Trushkova

    Among 2nd year students:

    1st place – team of the EF “Ivanushki”: Daria Maksimova, Nadezhda Smolyaninova, Victoria Guseletova, Anastasia Surova, Olesya Ustimenko, Velora Obraztsova and Irina Yaroshenko

    2nd place – the team of the State Institution “Deffchonki”: Anastasia Matusevich, Valeria Myakisheva, Alexandra Yatsunova, Vera Chernenkova, Elizaveta Cherepanova, Daria Novoselova, Anna Krivopalova and Alida Ramazanova

    3rd place – team of the EF “Venochek”: Victoria Zotova, Ksenia Ivanova, Angela Shestakova, Anastasia Ganus, Ksenia Stolenskaya and Anastasia Abdulaeva

    Combining the fiery energy of step aerobics with bright folk motifs, the competition became a real celebration of sports, youth and patriotism!

    We congratulate the winners on their awards, thank all the participants for their beautiful performances, and the teachers of the Department of Physical Education Anna Yuzhakova, Olga Maneeva and Olesya Vyshegorodtseva for organizing and holding this wonderful event.

    Link to photos

    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 –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI China: Chinese PLA honor guards will participate in Victory Day military parades in Russia and Belarus 2025-05-05 19:10:04 At the invitation of the defense ministries of Russia and Belarus, the PLA Guard of Honor will dispatch contingents to respectively participate in the Victory Day military parades in Russia and Belarus on May 9.

    Source: People’s Republic of China – Ministry of National Defense

      BEIJING, May 5 — At the invitation of the defense ministries of Russia and Belarus, the Guard of Honor of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will dispatch contingents to respectively participate in the military parades held in Moscow of Russia and Minsk of Belarus on May 9 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

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    MIL OSI China News –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New Council homes handed over in Rattray

    Source: Scotland – City of Perth

    The Rattray project is part of Perth & Kinross Council’s ongoing multi-million-pound new build housing programme, which has seen over 500 new Council homes built for tenants since 2012.

    The properties include a mix of three-bedroom semi-detached homes, terraced two and three-bed homes and semi-detached bungalows providing high-quality accommodation for the new tenants.

    Built to the highest standard by the Council’s construction partner The Springfield Group, the homes have include energy efficiency measures such as solar panels, efficient heating systems and quality insulation to make sure tenants’ bills are kept as low as possible and the development’s carbon footprint is minimised.

    The 20 houses cost almost £3.6m to build. The Council invested £2.54m, with the Scottish Government contributing the rest.

    Housing and Social Wellbeing Convener, Councillor Tom McEwan, visited the development today and said: “This is the third handover of brand-new Council homes we have seen so far in 2025, and it’s fantastic to see these properties in Rattray completed. The properties will provide much-needed affordable accommodation for a wide range of different tenants in an area of high-demand for housing.

    “We have bought these homes ‘off-the-shelf’ from the developer. Working with housing developers and buying new properties is just one of the many ways we provide new homes for affordable social rent for our tenants.

    “Our own ambitious house building programme has delivered additional new homes for affordable social rent in towns and settlements right across the region, including Methven, Scone, Abernethy, Alyth, Inchture, Stanley, Blairgowrie, Meigle, Auchterarder, Balbeggie, Rattray and in many sites in Perth. This programme continues, and we are always looking for sites where more affordable Council housing can be built.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The results of the competition “Do you know the history of your alma mater?” have been announced.

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    Great universities are like monuments of time: they preserve not only scientific discoveries and the names of outstanding graduates, but also the spirit of the eras they have lived through. To touch this heritage, you need to go on a journey through time. This is exactly the chance that undergraduate students of the 1st to 3rd years received thanks to the historical competition of the Polytechnic Museum “Do you know the history of your alma mater?”

    The competition became a real quest through the pages of our university’s past. Participants went through three stages, in each of which they revealed unique facets of the Polytechnic’s history and had the opportunity not only to test their knowledge, but also to feel the atmosphere of bygone years. The main prize – a trip to Kazan – and other valuable gifts became an incentive. But the main thing is that the students received vivid memories and a sense of involvement in great history.

    Of the 26 teams, four reached the final: “de-TOXIC”, “Zaichatki razuma”, “Byvnyy LIST im. Engelsa” and “Polnyy privod”. “de-TOXIC” won, having scored 77 points. Its members are: Ruslan Ablyazov, Anastasia Beresneva, Alexandra Gerasimova and Elena Medvedeva. They will go to Kazan to get acquainted with the history of one of the oldest cities in Russia and, of course, try real chak-chak.

    The second place was taken by the team “Zaichatki razuma” with a score of 76 points: Olga Tarunova, Aryuna Dorzhieva, Maria Abakumova and Diana Akhmetshina. The guys will go to Kholomki, where the estate of Prince Gagarin is located.

    We are very grateful for the ocean of emotions, the sea of knowledge and a small lake of pleasant fatigue! – shared Aruna.

    Third place went to the team “Former LIST named after Engels”, which scored 74.66 points. It included Daniil Zelensky, Ratibor Ryasnyansky, Artur Shakhkulyan, Andrey Shvarev. The guys received branded merch of the university and the museum. They assessed the competition with the following words: History plus excitement plus atmosphere equals delight!

    Also, the finalists of the competition were the participants of the team “Full Drive”: Valeria Yurchenko, Artem Somov, Varvara Kulikova, Eva Doroshenko, Arina Filipova. They enthusiastically passed all the tests and thanked the organizers for the opportunity to learn more about their native university.

    Four-wheel drive – we’ll roll it all the way to space! – that’s how the guys described themselves.

    The competition “Do you know the history of your alma mater?” became not just an intellectual competition, but also an opportunity to feel part of a large polytechnic family. It reminded us that history lives not only in books, but also in walls, routes, meetings, emotions. It is in us.

    We thank all the participants for their genuine interest and sincere enthusiasm. Thanks to them, the history of the Polytechnic University has been resounding with new voices and has come to life in our hearts. Let this immersion into the past inspire new discoveries. The history of the alma mater continues — and we are writing it together! — noted Tatyana Novitskaya, Deputy Director of the SPbPU History Museum.

    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 –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: GUU became the arena for the National Project Management Championship

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    The National Project Management Championship was held at the State University of Management, organized jointly with the youth wing of the project management association SOVNET Young Crew Russia.

    The National Project Management Championship is a two-stage competition consisting of a qualification round and a final. The event aims to increase student involvement in project management, interest in professional project management, and the exchange of knowledge and experience between researchers and the professional community.

    The championship brought together representatives from 24 Russian cities. At the first stage, 93 teams from 47 universities passed the ICB 4.0 standard test prepared by SOVNET Vice President Alexander Kaltykov and consisting of 28 cases. The finalist teams met at the State University of Management to get acquainted, exchange experiences, try their hand at developing a project based on a real case from the Project PRACTICE Group of Companies and compete for the main prize – the opportunity to undergo free IPMA Level D certification.

    To evaluate the teams’ work, a pool of experts was formed, which included seven professionals in the field of project management:

    Dmitry Bryukhanov – Vice-Rector of the State University of Management; Dmitry Medvedev – Director of the SOVNET-SERT Certified Center; Yuri Kim – General Director of ANO TsORPU; Maxim Guzenko – Head of the Department for Work with Universities of the Moscow Bank of PJSC Sberbank; Natalia Starkova – Director of the Department of Academic Policy and Implementation of Educational Programs of the State University of Management; Evgeny Bespalov – Head of the Project Office of JSC GT Energo; Mikhail Zorin – Chairman of the Young Crew SOVNET youth community

    The partners of the event were: – SOVNET – National Project Management Association; – GC “Project PRACTICE”; – PJSC “Sberbank”; – ANO “TsORPU”; – Business Studio “LAB”; – Case Club Garnet.

    Teams from GUU, HSE, RTU MIREA, Financial University, PNIPU and RANEPA defended their projects. Four hours of non-stop brainstorming: participants, like seasoned architects of the future, designed a solution for one of the key national projects, tying it to the region of Russia they had chosen.

    The third place was taken by the team of the National Research University Higher School of Economics with a project to develop a digital product aimed at developing a culture of blood donation in the Samara region. The second place was taken by the team of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, which proposed the development of the SPO program “Innovation Engineer”, which solves the problem of shortage of qualified personnel in the Kaluga region. The well-deserved victory was won by the team of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation with a project to develop and implement stops in the city of Gorlovka that ensure safety for local residents.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 05.05.2025

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: AMENDMENTS 297-298 – REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the screening of foreign investments in the Union and repealing Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the Council – A10-0061/2025(297-298)

    Source: European Parliament 2

    AMENDMENTS 297-298
    REPORT
    on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the screening of foreign investments in the Union and repealing Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the Council
    (COM(2024)0023 – C9-0011/2024 – 2024/0017(COD))
    Committee on International Trade
    Rapporteur: Raphaël Glucksmann

    Source : © European Union, 2025 – EP

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Projects of the Future: The Final of the PROproject Competition Was Held at the State University of Management

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    The final of the All-Russian competition of school projects “PROproject” was held at the State University of Management.

    In total, over 200 projects were submitted for participation, and 72 students from 37 general and vocational educational organizations, as well as institutions of additional education from 22 cities of the Russian Federation reached the final of the competition: Moscow, Obninsk, Ramenskoye, St. Petersburg, Orel, Lugansk, the village of Shira (Republic of Khakassia), Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Vsevolozhsk, Serpukhov, Perm, Borisoglebsk, Krasnoperekopsk, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Magnitogorsk, the urban-type settlement of Mostovskoy (Krasnodar Territory), Sergiev Posad, Nalchik, Rostov-on-Don.

    This year, the competition was held in areas that correspond to the national development goals of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated May 7, 2024 No. 309: long and active life; family; youth and children; personnel; infrastructure for life; efficient transport system; environmental well-being; efficient and competitive economy; international cooperation and export; data economy and digital transformation of the state.

    Due to the large number of participants from different cities, the final was held over several days from April 26 to 28, 2025 in person at the Boiling Point of the State University of Management and the Kuzminki School, as well as on April 29, 30 and May 3, 2025 in an online format.

    The experts and jury members noted the high level of development of the projects: detailed business models, a prototype of the proposed technological solution and the results of laboratory experiments were presented. The high level of presentations and speeches was also pleasing.

    In particular, the following projects were presented in the final:

    Patriotic education of preschoolers through participation in the events of the All-Russian public movement “VOLUNTEERS OF VICTORY”; Potential of Sosnowsky’s hogweed as a source of furanocoumarins; Interactive educational quest “Ecotoxicants”; Solar tracker; Organic glue for painting restoration; Use of hydroponic systems in everyday life; Rubber paint; Moscow cultural lottery; 3D models of photographs; National kaleidoscope; Anti-icing reagents and the environment; Design project “TAKE OFF” for the Center for Children’s Initiatives; Healthy nutrition at school; Ways to improve memory; and others.

    Let us recall that the PROproject competition has been held annually since 2018 by the Project Management Department at the State University of Management with the participation of partner organizations: MIR Moscow State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, the SOVNET Project Management Association, and the Young Crew SOVNET Youth Project Management Association.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 05.05.2025

    PROproject”.

    In total, over 200 projects were submitted for participation,…

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    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 –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Eucharistic Celebration on the ninth day of the Novendiali

    Source: The Holy See

    At 17.00 this afternoon, in the Vatican Basilica, the Eucharistic Celebration in memory of the Roman Pontiff Francis took place, on the ninth day of the Novendiali.
    The Papal Chapel was specially invited to the Celebration.
    The Concelebration was presided over by His Eminence Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Protodeacon of the College of Cardinals.
    The following is the homily delivered by His Eminence Cardinal Dominique Mamberti during the course of the Holy Mass:

    Homily of His Eminence Cardinal Dominique Mamberti
    Venerable Cardinal Fathers,
    Dear brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
    Dear brothers and sisters,
    The Liturgy of the Word of this last of the Novendiali in memory of Pope Francis is that of the day, the third Sunday of Easter, and the page of the Gospel of John just proclaimed presents to us the encounter of the risen Christ with some of the Apostles and disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, which ends with the Mission entrusted to Peter by the Lord and Jesus’ command, “Follow me!”.
    The episode is reminiscent that of the first miraculous catch of fish, narrated by Luke, when Jesus had called Simon, James and John, announcing that the Lord would have become a fisher of men. From that moment, Peter followed him, at times in incomprehension and even betrayal, but in today’s encounter, the last before Christ’s return to the Father, Peter receives from him the task of shepherding his flock.
    Love is the key word of this page of the Gospel. The first to recognize Jesus is the “disciple whom Jesus loved”, John, who exclaims, “It is the Lord!”, and Peter immediately throws himself into the sea to reach the Master. After they have shared the food, which will have kindled in the Apostles’ hearts the memory of the Last Supper, the dialogue between Jesus and Peter begins, the Lord’s threefold question and Peter’s threefold answer.
    The first two times, Jesus adopts the verb to love, a strong word, whereas Peter, mindful of the betrayal, responds [in some translations] with the less demanding expression “to care,” and the third time Jesus stresses the expression to care, adjusting to the Apostle’s weakness. Pope Benedict XVI noted in commenting on this dialogue: “Simon understands that Jesus is satisfied with his poor love, the only one of which he is capable. … It is precisely this divine adjustment that gives hope to the disciple, who has recognized the suffering of infidelity. … From that day on, Peter ‘followed’ the Master with a precise awareness of his own fragility; but this awareness did not discourage him. For he knew that he could count on the presence of the Risen One beside him … and so he shows us the way as well”.1
    In his homily at the Mass for the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pontificate, Saint John Paul II confirmed: “Today, dear brothers and sisters, I am pleased to share with you an experience that has now lasted for a quarter of a century. Every day that same dialogue between Jesus and Peter takes place in my heart. In spirit, I focus on the benevolent gaze of the risen Christ. Although he knows of my human frailty, he encourages me to answer confidently, like Peter: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (Jn 21: 17). And then he invites me to take on the responsibilities that he himself has entrusted to me.”.2
    This mission is love itself, which becomes service to the Church and to all humanity. Peter and the Apostles assumed it immediately, by the power of the Spirit they had received at Pentecost, as we heard in the first reading: “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God raised him to his right hand, as head and Saviour”.
    We have all admired how much Pope Francis, animated by the Lord’s love and carried by his grace, was faithful to his mission to the utmost consumption of his strength. He reminded the powerful that we must obey God rather than men and proclaimed to all humanity the joy of the Gospel, the merciful Father, Christ the Saviour. He did this in his magisterium, in his travels, in his gestures, in his lifestyle. I was close to him on Easter Day, at the Loggia of Blessings in this Basilica, witnessing his suffering but above all his courage and determination to serve the people of God to the end.
    In the second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, we heard the praise that the whole universe gives to the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb: “Praise, honour, glory and power, throughout the ages. And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen.’ And the elders prostrated themselves in worship”.
    Adoration is an essential dimension of the Church’s mission and the lives of the faithful. Pope Francis often recalled this, as for example in his homily for the Feast of the Epiphany last year: “The Magi have hearts bowed in adoration. … They came to Bethlehem, and when they saw the child, ‘they knelt down and paid him homage (Mt 2:11). … A King who came to serve us, a God who became man. Before this mystery, we are called to bow our heart and bend our knee in worship: to worship the God who comes in littleness, who dwells in our homes, who dies for love. … Brothers and sisters, we have lost the habit of adoration, we have lost the ability that gives us adoration. Let us rediscover our taste for the prayer of adoration. … Nowadays there is a lack of adoration among us”.3
    This capacity that gives adoration was not difficult to recognize in Pope Francis. His intense pastoral life, his countless meetings, were grounded in the long moments of prayer that the Ignatian discipline had imprinted in him. Many times he reminded us that contemplation is “a dynamism of love” that “raises us up to God, not to separate us from the world but to ground us more deeply in it” (Audience with Superiors and Delegates of the Discalced Carmelites, 18 April 2024). And everything he did, he did under the gaze of Mary. There will remain in our memory and in our hearts his 126 stops before the “Salus Populi Romani.” And now that he rests at the beloved image, we entrust him with gratitude and confidence to the intercession of the mother of the Lord and our mother.
    _____________________
    [1] General Audience, 24 May 2006).
    [2]  Homily, 16 October 2003
    [3]  Homily, 6 January 2024
    [4] Audience with Superiors and Delegates of the Discalced Carmelites, 18 April 2024

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: NNIT A/S: NNIT adjusts 2025 outlook and publishes Q1 figures

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    The first quarter financial performance was expected to be moderate, but the increased macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty has impacted NNIT to a larger extent than expected. Based on the realized results and the continued uncertainty, NNIT adjusts the 2025 financial outlook.

    Given the current uncertainty, organic revenue growth is expected to be 0% to 5% (previously 7% to 10%), which is due to postponement of projects and the sales pipeline materializing at a slower pace than planned as customers are hesitating to engage in new contracts, especially within Life Science. Expectations for the Group operating profit margin excluding special items are maintained at 7% to 9% as NNIT is significantly reducing its cost base by adjusting capacity and lowering general spending across regions and on corporate level. Special items are expected to be up to last year’s level of DKK 69m (previously expected to be below the 2024 level) mainly driven by further restructuring costs.

    NNIT generated Q1 2025 Group revenue of DKK 464m (Q1 2024: DKK 463m). The organic growth was negative by 0.8% (Q1 2024: 8.0%) due to Region Europe and Region US. Group operating profit excl. special items was DKK 18m (Q1 2024: 24m), equal to a margin of 3.9% (Q1 2024: 5.2%). Profit and margin were mainly impacted by Region Europe and a decrease in Region Denmark driven by overcapacity following the postponement of a large contract, which has been signed in Q2, and the loss of a large public tender. Special items for the Group amounted to DKK 25m (Q1 2024: income DKK 11.3m) primarily driven by restructuring costs.

    Financial figures, DKK million Q1 2025 Q1 2024 FY 2024
    GROUP      
    Revenue 464 463  1,851
    Group operating profit excl. special items 18 24 117
    Group operating profit margin excl. special items 3.9% 5.2% 6.3%
    Special items 25 -11 69
           
    REGION EUROPE      
    Revenue 119 126 512
    Regional operating profit 12 14 67
    Regional operating profit margin 10.0% 11.2% 13.0%
           
    REGION US      
    Revenue 87 93 346
    Regional operating profit 26 18 73
    Regional operating profit margin 30.4% 19.0% 21.2%
           
    REGION ASIA      
    Revenue 37 32 149
    Regional operating profit 3 -2 8
    Regional operating profit margin 7.6% -5.3% 5.2%
           
    REGION DENMARK      
    Revenue 221 212 844
    Regional operating profit 33 48 151
    Regional operating profit margin 15.1% 22.6% 17.9%

    Despite the adjustment of expectations for organic growth, NNIT maintains expectations for the Group operating profit margin excl. special items to reach 7% to 9%. NNIT has executed several cost reducing initiatives, which include capacity adjustments across the group, to minimize the impact on profitability.

    NNIT will publish the Q1 2025 trading statement on May 5, 2025, one day earlier than planned.

    For more information, please contact:

    Investor Relations
    Carsten Ringius            
    EVP & CFO
    Tel: +45 3077 8888
    carr@nnit.com

    Media Relations
    Thomas Stensbøl
    Press & Communications Manager
    Tel: +45 3077 8800
    tmts@nnit.com 

    ABOUT NNIT

    NNIT is a leading provider of IT solutions to life sciences internationally, and to the public and private sectors in Denmark.

    We focus on high complexity industries and thrive in environments where regulatory demands and complexity are high.

    We advise on and build sustainable digital solutions that work for the patients, citizens, employees, end users or customers.

    We strive to build unmatched excellence in the industries we serve, and we use our domain expertise to represent a business first approach – strongly supported by a selection of partner technologies, but always driven by business needs rather than technology.

    NNIT consists of group company NNIT A/S and the subsidiary SCALES. Together, these companies employ more than 1,700 people in Europe, Asia and USA.

    Attachment

    • NNIT_Company announcement__NNIT adjusts FY25 outlook

    The MIL Network –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: NNIT A/S: Business performance impacted by market undercetainty expected to continue. Mitigating actions taken to protect profitability

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Q1 2025 key highlights

    • Financial performance for the first quarter was expected to be moderate, but macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty increased, which impacted NNIT. The uncertainty has influenced customer behavior, especially in the three regions focusing on IT Life Science solutions, where several projects have been postponed, most predominantly in Region Europe. Group revenue amounted to DKK 464.1m, entailing flat revenue growth compared with last year.
    • Despite improving utilization and capacity adjustments made across regions during the quarter as well as tight cost focus across business areas, the group operating profit excl. special items declined to DKK 18.0m in Q1 2025 compared with DKK 23.9m in the same quarter last year. The decline was due to the lower profit generation in Region Europe and Region Denmark, partly offset by improved profitability performance in Region US and Region Asia. Group operating profit margin excl. special items was 3.9% in Q1 2025 compared with 5.2% in the same quarter last year.
    • Region Denmark growth around 4% where selected solution areas focusing on the Public sector in Denmark, is showing growth upwards at 8%. SCALES also contributed to the growth in region Denmark solidifying its position as a leader within D365 solutions.
    • Special items amounted to DKK 25.3m in Q1 2025 covering restructuring costs of DKK 20m impacting all regions, earn-out payments of DKK 3m, and IT systems and integration costs amounting to around DKK 2m.
    • The financial outlook for 2025 was adjusted on May 5, 2025 cf. company announcement 04/2025 as the current macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape has deteriorated materially since the full-year outlook communicated in February. NNIT expects to be further affected by current uncertainty why the organic growth range was adjusted to 0% to 5% (previously 7% to 10%). Group operating profit margin excl. special items was maintained at 7% to 9% due to significant cost reducing initiatives with most already having been executed. As a result of lower revenue generation caused mainly by external factors, NNIT expects to incur additional restructuring costs as special items. Special items are expected to be at up to last year’s level of DKK 69m (previously expected to be significantly below the 2024 level).

    The first quarter was more severely affected by uncertainty than expected at the beginning of the year. Hesitance among several customers of NNIT has resulted in less revenue and sales as projects are being postponed. In general, NNIT has taken action to adjust capacity to fit the current demand with several reductions completed in 2024 and leaving NNIT in a stronger position going into 2025. However, it has been necessary to take further actions to mitigate the business impact from lower revenue generation with a reduction of around 100 employees in Q1 2025. Furthermore, NNIT has carried out several cost-reducing initiatives such as putting new employments on hold and limiting all discretionary spending to a minimum with full impact from the second quarter.

    Given the current macroeconomic environment and geopolitical unrest, NNIT continues to expect that its customers will be affected, which is reflected in the adjusted full-year financial outlook.

    Pär Fors, CEO of NNIT, comments: “The business environment of NNIT has deteriorated in the first quarter of the year as especially our Life Science customers are being negatively impacted by the macroeconomic unrest. Customers are hesitant to engage in new contracts before things are stabilizing, and we are navigating this environment to continue our strategic journey at NNIT. However, the impact from the uncertainty is more severe than initially expected, why the full-year outlook has been adjusted.”

    Financial overview – Selected key figures

    NNIT A/S, DKK million Q1 2025 Q1 2024 FY 2024
    Revenue 464.1 463.4 1,851
    Revenue growth, % 0.2% 12.2% 23.4%
    Revenue growth, organic % -0.8% 8.0% 10.8%
    Group operating profit excl. special items 18.0 23.9 117
    Group operating profit margin excl. special items, % 3.9% 5.2% 6.3%
    Special items .25.3 11.3 -69
    Group operating profit incl. special items -7.3 35.2 48
    Group operating profit margin incl. special items, % -1.6% 7.6% 2.6%
           
    Free cash flow -73 -166 -40

    Conference call

    May 6, 2025, at 3:00 PM CEST: Webcast link 

    Dial in information:
    DK: +45 78 76 84 90
    SE: +46 31-311 50 03
    UK: +44 20 3769 6819
    US: +1 646 787 0157
    Participant Access code: 472855

    For more information, please contact:

    Investor Relations
    Carsten Ringius            
    EVP & CFO
    Tel: +45 3077 8888
    carr@nnit.com

    Media Relations
    Thomas Stensbøl
    Press & Communications Manager
    Tel: +45 3077 8800
    tmts@nnit.com 

    ABOUT NNIT

    NNIT is a leading provider of IT solutions to life sciences internationally, and to the public and private sectors in Denmark.

    We focus on high complexity industries and thrive in environments where regulatory demands and complexity are high.

    We advise on and build sustainable digital solutions that work for the patients, citizens, employees, end users or customers.

    We strive to build unmatched excellence in the industries we serve, and we use our domain expertise to represent a business first approach – strongly supported by a selection of partner technologies but always driven by business needs rather than technology.

    NNIT consists of group company NNIT A/S and the subsidiary SCALES. Together, these companies employ more than 1,700 people in Europe, Asia and the USA.

    Attachments

    • NNIT_Trading Statement_Q1 2025
    • NNIT Factsheet_Q1 2025

    The MIL Network –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Universal Periodic Review 49: UK Statement on Sweden

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    World news story

    Universal Periodic Review 49: UK Statement on Sweden

    UK Statement on Sweden, delivered at Sweden’s Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

    Thank you, Mr Vice President.

    The United Kingdom welcomes Sweden’s long-standing commitment to promoting and protecting human rights. The creation of the Swedish Institute for Human Rights is an important and positive development. We commend Sweden’s steadfast contribution to human rights internationally.

    We recommend that Sweden:

    1. Ensures the institutional independence and provision of sustainable resourcing for the Swedish Institute for Human Rights, so that it delivers on its mandate to promote and protect human rights in Sweden.
       

    2. Works with The Truth Commission for the Sami People to ensure its forthcoming proposals to redress and promote reconciliation are considered in good faith and fairly implemented.  

    3. Continues to combat gender-based violence and oppression, including through implementation of the government action plan.

    The UK thanks the delegation for their participation in this review meeting.

    Thank you.

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    Updates to this page

    Published 5 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Delegation of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University visited the Open Education Center of SPbPU

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

    Representatives of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University once again visited Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and its Open Education Center. The guests learned how the Open Polytechnic Distance Learning System (DLS) works, how educational video programs are created, and much more.

    The KRSU delegation included: Head of the Department of Artistic Design of Products Maksat Maksutova, Associate Professor of the Department of Fundamentals of Architectural Design and Fine Arts Zarina Muksinova, Associate Professor of the Department of Information and Computing Technologies Irina Khmeleva, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Physics and Microelectronics Andrey Malkin and Senior Lecturer of the Department of Architectural Environment Design Yulia Rudenko.

    Director of the SPbPU Open Education Center Svetlana Kalmykova introduced the guests to the possibilities of using online courses in the main educational process. Educational and methodological specialists Larisa Kovtunovich and Margarita Sergeeva spoke about the organization of the distance learning system. The delegation was particularly interested in the selection of tools and resources of the Open Polytech LMS for the existing educational materials, as well as the possibilities of assessing and building individual student learning trajectories.

    Timur Khludeev, Head of the Electronic Resource Development Department at the Open Education Center, shared with his colleagues from KRSU the basics of video production for educational activities. They discussed what an educational video is, how it differs from other formats, and studied trends in this area. They discussed the technical nuances of building video studios for recording educational content. In addition, the guests tried themselves as authors and independently recorded several video lectures in the Open Education Center studio and in a self-recording studio.

    An online advanced training course “Tools for Content Development and Organization of Electronic Learning Service” was also opened for KRSU employees, with almost 150 participants.

    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 –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: CORRECTION: Oma Savings Bank Plc’s Interim Report 1.1.-31.3.2025: High costs and declining market interest rates weighed on the result, work to strengthen OmaSp continues

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    OMA SAVINGS BANK PLC, STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 5 MAY 2025 AT 13.00 A.M. EET, INTERIM REPORT Q1


    CORRECTION: Oma Savings Bank Plc’s Interim Report 1.1.-31.3.2025: High costs and declining market interest rates weighed on the result, work to strengthen OmaSp continues

    This release corrects the January-March interim report published today at 9.45 a.m. EET. The CEO’s review contained an incorrect figure regarding the total investments in the Noste project. The corrected sentence reads: Total investments in the Noste project reached EUR 11.6 million over its duration.

    Below the corrected stock exchange release and the interim report January-March 2025 attached.

    Oma Savings Bank Plc’s Interim Report 1.1.-31.3.2025: High costs and declining market interest rates weighed on the result, work to strengthen OmaSp continues

    This release is a summary of Oma Savings Bank’s (OmaSp) January-March 2025 Interim Report, which can be read from the pdf file attached to this stock exchange release and on the Company’s web pages www.omasp.fi

    CEO Karri Alameri: High costs and declining market interest rates weighed on the result, work to strengthen OmaSp continues

    ”I had the honour of starting as the CEO of Oma Savings Bank at the end of March. In recent weeks, I have engaged with the bank’s personnel, customers, and stakeholders across Finland. These discussions have underscored OmaSp’s strong customer relationships, employee commitment, as well as comprehensive range of services, and personalised service model. These elements provide a solid foundation for OmaSp’s next phase. It is clear that we must continue refining our policies and evolving our ways of working. Trust in the Company is rebuilt through actions.

    The comparable profit before taxes for the first quarter was EUR 4.6 million and the comparable cost/income ratio of 54.4%. Profit and profitability were burdened by increased operating and personnel expenses, as well as lower net interest income due to declining market interest rates.

    The increase in costs is primarily attributed to the implementation of the risk management action plan (the “Noste”) initiated in summer 2024. The final investments in the project were made as planned in the first quarter, and new operating models are being integrated into daily operations. Total investments in the Noste project reached EUR 11.6 million over its duration. What is more, we continue to act on the findings of the supervisory assessment.

    Net interest income decreased by 18.3% compared to the comparison period, totalling EUR 46.9 million. The decline is due to fallen market interest rates. The volumes transferred from Handelsbanken have contributed to the development of net interest income as market interest rates have declined.

    Fee and commission income and expenses (net) remained nearly at the level of the comparison period, amounting to EUR 14.7 million.

    The mortgage loan portfolio increased by 3.0%, the corporate loan portfolio by 0.4%, and the deposit base by 2.7% from the level of the previous year.

    Impairment losses on financial assets totalled EUR -22.3 million in January–March. Approximately one-third was related to the update of the calculation model for expected credit losses (ECL), another third to increased allowances in the portfolio, which is being wound down in a controlled manner, and the remaining third to other impairment losses on the loan portfolio due to the general uncertain economic situation.

    Additionally, a provision of EUR 3.0 million was made for the first quarter to prepare for potential sanctions from the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) due to deficiencies identified in the final inspection report on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. The FIN-FSA’s audit covered the period prior to December 2023. Measures to rectify the deficiencies were initiated while the audit was underway last year.

    Customer and employee satisfaction at an excellent level

    Following the Handelsbanken acquisition, we gained 10,000 new customers last autumn, and the integration has progressed smoothly. We have 48 branches covering all key growth and regional centres in Finland. In January–March, approximately 800 new customer relationships were established organically per month. OmaSp has a strong customer base of over 200,000. We are committed to offering services to households and SMEs across our network.

    Our customer and employee surveys indicated that satisfaction has remained at the excellent level of previous years. I want to extend my gratitude to our personnel for their exemplary work. Committed and motivated personnel are crucial to OmaSp’s future success.

    OmaSp’s financial position is stable, with a good solvency and liquidity position. The total capital (TC) ratio further strengthened to 17.7% at the end of March. The accumulated equity exceeds EUR 583 million.

    I look to the future with confidence. We will continue to develop our operations, invest in our core business, and strengthen the customer experience for both existing and new customers. Our strategy aims for profitable growth.”

    January–March 2025

    • In January–March, net interest income decreased by 18.3% compared with the same period last year. Net interest income totalled EUR 46.9 (57.4) million.
    • Mortgage portfolio increased by 3.0% during the previous 12 months. Corporate loan portfolio increased by 0.4% during the previous 12 months.
    • Deposit base increased by 2.7% over the past 12 months.
    • From January to March, fee and commission income and expenses (net) decreased mainly due to lower lending commissions compared to the comparison period, 2.6%.
    • From January to March, total operating income decreased by 18.9% compared to the comparison period. In the first quarter, comparable total operating income decreased by 19.8% and was EUR 59.5 (74.3) million.
    • From January to March, total operating expenses grew in total by 31.9%. The growth is mainly explained by the costs of the Company’s ongoing extensive risk management development projects, the authority processes and the promotion of a controlled winding down plan related to the non-compliance with the guidelines. In addition, the number of personnel increased compared to the comparison period due to business arrangements, the opening of new branches and the strengthening of the risk management processes. Other operating expenses were in total EUR 22.2 (16.4) million, of which the development costs of the risk management action plan and investigation costs amounted to EUR 5.3 million.
    • Comparable total operating expenses grew by 27.9% in the first quarter and were EUR 32.2 (25.2) million. Of this amount the risk management action plan (the ”Noste”) amounted to EUR 3.3 million. The measures implemented in the first quarter completed the action plan initiated in the summer of 2024.
    • For January-March, the impairment losses on financial assets were in total EUR -22.3 (-23.1) million. During the reporting period, the Company updated the calculation model for expected credit losses (ECL) as part of a larger operational programme and development of risk control. The total impact of the updated model increased the ECL by approximately EUR 8.5 million. In addition, the amount of impairment losses was impacted by an increase in allowances in the controlled winding down of the portfolio, which had an impact of approximately EUR 5.7 million. In other credit portfolio, impairment losses amounted to approximately EUR 8.1 million, and the development was particularly affected by the overall economic uncertainty.
    • For January-March, profit before taxes was EUR 3.1 (24.7) million and comparable profit before taxes was EUR 4.6 (25.6) million.
    • In the first quarter, cost/income ratio was 57.4 (35.2)% and comparable cost/income ratio was 54.4 (34.1)%.
    • In the first quarter, comparable return on equity (ROE) was 2.5 (15.5)%.
    • Total capital (TC) ratio was 17.7 (15.6)%.
    The Group’s key figures (1,000 euros) 1.3.2025 1.3.2024 Δ % 1.12.2024
    Net interest income 46,88 57,369 -18 % 213,097
    Fee and commission income and expenses, net 12,439 12,766 -3 % 50,745
    Total operating income 60,074 74,08 -19 % 270,068
    Total operating expenses -34,24 -25,958 32 % -111,004
    Impairment losses on financial assets, net -22,322 -23,112 -3 % -83,379
    Profit before taxes 3,111 24,668 -87 % 74,589
    Cost/income ratio, % 57.4% 35.2% 63 % 41.3%
    Balance sheet total 7,517,814 7,531,291 0 % 7,709,090
    Equity 583,026 527,426 11 % 576,143
    Return on assets (ROA) % 0.1% 1.0% -88 % 0.8%
    Return on equity (ROE) % 1.7% 14.9% -89 % 10.7%
    Earnings per share (EPS), EUR 0.07 0.60 -88 % 1.80
    Total capital (TC) ratio % 17.7% 16.9% 5 % 15.6%
    Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio % 16.5% 15.4% 8 % 14.4%
             
    Comparable profit before taxes 4,617 25,626 -82 % 86,656
    Comparable cost/income ratio, % 54.4% 34.1% 60 % 37.8%
    Comparable return on equity (ROE) % 2.5% 15.5% -84 % 12.4%

    Outlook for the financial year 2025 adjusted

    OmaSp updated its expected credit loss (ECL) calculation model in the first quarter and made a provision to prepare for possible sanctions following the final inspection report from the FIN-FSA on anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. These had a total one-off impact of approximately EUR -11 million on the results. Overall economic uncertainly has further increased. Therefore, OmaSp maintains its earnings guidance on the Group’s comparable profit before taxes to be EUR 65–80 million for the financial year 2025, with a clarification that the figure is expected to be below the mid-point of the range.

    Business outlook and earnings guidance are as follows:

    The outlook for the Company’s business for the financial year 2025 is affected by the decline in market interest rates and the continued high level of costs due to IT investments and system improvements required by risk management and quality processes. In addition, the Company continues to invest in customer experience on different channels. The uncertainty of the operating environment and economic situation affects the development of balance sheet items and comparable profit for the financial year 2025.

    Oma Savings Bank Plc provides earnings guidance on comparable profit before taxes for 2025. Earnings guidance is based on the forecast for the entire year, which takes into account the current market and business situation. Forecasts are based on the management’s insight into the Group’s business development.

    We estimate the Group’s comparable profit before taxes to be EUR 65–80 million for the financial year 2025, with a clarification that the figure is expected to be below the mid-point of the range (comparable profit before taxes was EUR 86.7 million in the financial year 2024).

    Oma Savings Bank Plc

    Additional information:
    Karri Alameri, CEO, tel. +358 45 656 5250, karri.alameri@omasp.fi

    DISTRIBUTION: 
    Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd
    Major media
    www.omasp.fi

    OmaSp is a solvent and profitable Finnish bank. About 500 professionals provide nationwide services through OmaSp’s 48 branch offices and digital service channels to over 200,000 private and corporate customers. OmaSp focuses primarily on retail banking operations and provides its clients with a broad range of banking services both through its own balance sheet as well as by acting as an intermediary for its partners’ products. The intermediated products include credit, investment and loan insurance products. OmaSp is also engaged in mortgage banking operations.

    OmaSp core idea is to provide personal service and to be local and close to its customers, both in digital and traditional channels. OmaSp strives to offer premium level customer experience through personal service and easy accessibility. In addition, the development of the operations and services is customer-oriented. The personnel is committed and OmaSp seeks to support their career development with versatile tasks and continuous development. A substantial part of the personnel also own shares in OmaSp.

    Attachment

    • Oma Savings Bank Plc Interim Report 1.1.-31.3.2025

    The MIL Network –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Video: “Choose Europe for Science” Event at the Sorbonne in Paris

    Source: European Commission (video statements)

    On Monday, May 5, 2025, President Emmanuel Macron has launched the “Choose Europe for Science” initiative from the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne university. The the aim of the conference is to encourage public and private researchers and entrepreneurs to choose Europe and France as their home.

    Commission President von der Leyen is among the high-ranking attendees and will give a speech.

    Like, comment, and share to support informed discussions on European affairs.

    Watch now & stay informed!

    More information can be found on the EC Press Corner
    Follow us on:
    -X: https://twitter.com/EU_Commission
    -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/europeancommission/
    -Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanCommission
    -LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-commission/
    -Medium: https://medium.com/@EuropeanCommission

    Visit our website: http://ec.europa.eu

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zimXNLPU0r4

    MIL OSI Video –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Press conference following Council of Ministers meeting no. 126

    Source: Government of Italy (English)

    Vai al Contenuto Raggiungi il piè di pagina

    30 Aprile 2025

    Council of Ministers meeting no. 126 was held at Palazzo Chigi today.
    Following the meeting, Minister for Civil Protection and Marine Policies Nello Musumeci, Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara and Minister of Labour and Social Policies Marina Elvira Calderone held a press conference to illustrate the measures approved.

    [Press conference]

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: DUP Sea Border Spin Exposed: Deputy First Minister Admits “Hugely Politically Embarrassing” Truth

    Source: Traditional Unionist Voice – Northern Ireland

    Statement by TUV Leader and North Antrim MP Jim Allister:

    “This morning’s Belfast Telegraph article lays bare the desperate spin the DUP has deployed to conceal the reality of the Irish Sea border. The panic of Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly when her own department advertised for a ‘Divergence Co-ordinator’ confirms what TUV has said all along: the border remains and Stormont is helping to implement it.

    “The role was designed to manage and implement divergence between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, something which would not be necessary if the Irish Sea border were truly gone.

    “Yet the deputy First Minister’s reaction focused not on the substance of the divergence, but on the optics. Her concern wasn’t that Northern Ireland is being separated from Great Britain — it was that people will notice.

    “What we see here is a party obsessed with damage control, not damage repair. It shows a DUP more concerned with hiding the truth than confronting the constitutional implications of the Protocol they are now helping to administer.

    “Their return to Stormont was built on the claim that the Sea Border had been removed. New barriers, like the parcel border, continue to emerge.

    “It is time the DUP stopped insulting the intelligence of the unionist electorate. You cannot ‘safeguard the Union’ by implementing its dismantling.

    “If the DUP were serious about opposing the Protocol, they wouldn’t be sitting in a Protocol-implementing Executive. Not only are they doing that but, as this article shows, the deputy First Minister is using her position in government to try to conceal the truth.

    “Emma Little-Pengelly called this episode ‘hugely politically embarrassing’. And so it is.

    “If the DUP return to power wasn’t built on lies, it wouldn’t be so embarrassing to tell the truth.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Since the beginning of 2025, more than 3 million people have visited the China-Kazakhstan ICBC “Khorgos”

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) — As of April 27, the China-Kazakhstan International Boundary Cooperation Center Khorgos (ICBC Khorgos) has received more than three million visitors since the beginning of this year, Zhongxinshe News Agency reported.

    For comparison, last year the number of visitors to the Khorgos ICBC exceeded the 3 million mark 74 days later – only in July.

    The Khorgos ICBC in the city of the same name in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was commissioned in April 2012. Its total area is 5.28 square kilometers, of which 3.43 square kilometers belong to China and 1.85 square kilometers to Kazakhstan. The center is mainly used as a venue for trade negotiations, exhibitions, sales, storage and transportation of goods, as well as the provision of financial services.

    Currently, there are more than 2,000 retail outlets in the Chinese part of the Khorgos International Centre of Boundary Cooperation, where they sell about a thousand types of goods produced in 40 countries and regions of the world.

    As reported at the Khorgos border checkpoint, the border service has developed measures in advance to provide assistance to various categories of citizens in connection with the expected sharp increase in the number of people crossing the state border during the May Day holidays. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Five trapped in mine accident in southwest China

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    Xinhua | 05. 05. 2025

    Keywords: accident, five people, western china, mine, dry tailings pond, yunnan province county, lufeng chuxiong city, mine area, rescue work, collapse, western china, people, report, monday, found themselves, authorities

    KUNMING, May 5 (Xinhua) — Five people were trapped after a dry-type tailings dam collapsed at a mine in Lufeng City, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Yunnan Province on Monday morning.

    Search and rescue operations are currently underway, local authorities said. -0-

    Source: Xinhua

    Five trapped in mine accident in southwest China Five trapped in mine accident in southwest China

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Yemen’s Houthis Announce ‘Total Air Blockade’ of Israel

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

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

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

    SANAA/JERUSALEM, May 5 (Xinhua) — Yemen’s Houthi group said Sunday it would continue to launch missile strikes on Israeli airports, especially Ben Gurion Airport, as part of its “total air blockade” of the country.

    “We are declaring a comprehensive air blockade against the Israeli enemy in response to its decision to expand its aggression against Gaza,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sari’a said in a statement broadcast by rebel-controlled al-Masirah TV.

    “We will work to impose a blockade, repeatedly targeting airports, in particular Ben Gurion Airport,” he said, calling on international airlines to cancel all their flights scheduled to any Israeli airport.

    Earlier on Sunday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that hit an access road leading to the main terminal of Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel in the morning, leaving four people lightly injured.

    The Israeli army said its air defense systems had attempted to intercept the missile but failed. It later issued a separate statement saying the likely cause of the air defense malfunction was a “technical problem” with the interceptor missile.

    Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video warning to the Houthis, threatening to strike the group. He then wrote on the social media site X that Israel would take revenge on the Houthis in Yemen and their ally Iran. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Iran vows to retaliate if attacked, says ready to launch missiles

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –

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

    TEHRAN, May 5 (Xinhua) — Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh has warned that Iran will strike the interests, bases and troops of the United States and Israel “wherever they are and whenever it deems necessary” if either country starts a war against the Islamic Republic.

    He made the remarks in an interview with Iran’s IRIB news agency published on Sunday, in response to a recent threat from US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who warned that Iran would “pay a price” for its “support for the Houthis.”

    The Iranian minister noted that Iran has a large arsenal of missiles at its bases and will not hesitate to use them against regional targets if a war is forced on the country.

    “If such a war is unleashed by the United States or Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran will strike their interests, bases and troops wherever they are and whenever it deems it necessary,” said A. Nasirzadeh.

    He went on to criticize the “contradictory” behavior of the United States, which declares its openness to negotiations while at the same time threatening Iran through various channels.

    A. Nasirzadeh said that Yemen is an independent country and makes its own decisions, advising the US to refrain from creating crises in the West Asian region. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    May 5, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – EU action to safeguard scientific progress in response to US policies – E-001625/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001625/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Nicola Zingaretti (S&D), Sandro Ruotolo (S&D)

    Since the Trump administration came to power, it has looked as if the US higher education and research system could shrink significantly owing to drastic cuts to public funding. As a result of those policies, the Department of Education’s staff numbers have shrunk considerably and a number of universities have been forced to make plans to axe posts.

    At the same time, the executive has put many universities under intense pressure, threatening further cuts to funding in an attempt to influence how they are run and their internal rules.

    These dynamics raise serious questions about the protection of universities’ independence and of freedom of scientific research, key principles over which doubt cannot be cast.

    In the light of the above:

    • 1.Does the Commission plan to take measures to make European universities more attractive to researchers and scientists who, as a result of the current climate in the US, are looking for new environments in which to continue their work, including Europeans looking to repatriate?
    • 2.With a view to making the policies promoted by the EU more attractive to talent globally, what strategies will the Commission follow to bolster existing funding instruments?

    Submitted: 23.4.2025

    Last updated: 5 May 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    May 5, 2025
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