NewzIntel.com

Category: Europe

  • MIL-OSI USA: Commencement Student Speaker Spotlight: Kristina Delgado

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    Meet Kristina Delgado. She was born in Mexico City, Mexico, raised in Cuenca, Ecuador, and moved to the U.S. at 18. Growing up in a multicultural household, she developed resilience, a strong work ethic, and a deep appreciation for diversity. Seeking purpose, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, where she achieved the highest rank within her enlistment and was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. Her military service strengthened her leadership and teamwork skills while exposing her to critical gaps in healthcare, igniting her passion for biomedical research.

    Why did you choose UConn and your UConn Graduate School program?

    My path to UConn and the Biomedical Science Graduate School program was shaped by a fortunate opportunity to work as a technician in the Spirochete Research Laboratory at UConn School of Medicine. There, my passion for infectious disease research, particularly on Treponema pallidum, was sparked. The hands-on experience and guidance from exceptional mentors solidified my decision to pursue further education at UConn, where I knew I could grow both academically and professionally.

    Tell us more about your path to grad school.

    My career path began with my military service, which strengthened my leadership and teamwork skills while exposing me to critical gaps in healthcare, sparking my passion for biomedical research. Afterward, I earned my B.S. in Biological Sciences from Georgia State University, leading to an opportunity at the USDA Foreign Animal Disease Laboratory at Plum Island. There, I gained hands-on experience in virology, further fueling my interest in infectious diseases. This passion ultimately led me to work as a technician in the Spirochete Research Laboratory at UConn Health, where the mentorship of Drs. Radolf, Hawley, and Caimano solidified my decision to pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences, focusing on infectious disease research and vaccine development.

    What activities were you involved with as a grad student?

    As a graduate student, I was fully immersed in my research, but I also made it a priority to support diversity in STEM. As an active member of the Graduate School DEI Committee, I worked alongside a dedicated team to foster an inclusive academic environment. It was incredibly rewarding to give back by mentoring and advising younger students, sharing the opportunities and experiences that shaped my own journey. Being part of something bigger—helping to support and inspire the next generation of scientists—was one of the most fulfilling aspects of my time at UConn.

    What’s one thing that surprised you about UConn?

    One thing that truly surprised me about UConn was how welcoming and supportive everyone is, as well as the incredible depth and diversity of research being conducted here. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first, but I quickly found myself in a collaborative and inspiring community. Being in an environment driven by innovation and curiosity has made my time at UConn both enriching and rewarding.

    What’s one thing every student should do during their time at UConn?

    Every student should take a moment to step beyond their research or career goals and get involved in the broader community. It’s easy to fall into tunnel vision when you’re deep in academic work, but engaging in other aspects of the UConn community helps you gain perspective, connect with others, and see the bigger picture. Whether it’s through mentorship, outreach, or organizations like the DEI Committee, these experiences help you grow in ways that go beyond the lab or classroom. Stepping back from the laboratory bench every now and then reminds us that we’re part of something bigger—and that we have so much to offer to the people and communities around us.

    Who has inspired you most?

    I was incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by an amazing group of mentors who showed me the true impact of our work. They taught me that what we do in the lab isn’t just about experiments—it’s about making a real difference in healthcare. Beyond my mentors, I was also blessed with the unwavering support of my family and friends, who constantly encouraged me and stood by my decision. Their belief in me kept me moving forward, reinforcing my passion and commitment to this field.

    What are your plans after graduation?

    Ah, the dreaded question! I’m happy to say that I still have a deep passion for research and want to continue expanding my scientific expertise. While I don’t know exactly where my career will take me—whether in academia, industry, or teaching—I do know that I want to bridge the gap between basic science and its real-world applications. My goal is to develop the skills needed to move into translational research, connecting fundamental discoveries with clinical trials and patient care. No matter the path I take, I want my work to have a tangible impact on healthcare and the scientific community.

    What’s one thing that will always make you think of UConn?

    One thing that will always make me think of UConn is the sense of community here. Whether it’s the camaraderie among fellow students, the support from mentors, or the collaborative spirit in research, UConn has a unique way of bringing people together. It’s this feeling of connection and shared purpose that I’ll carry with me long after graduation.

    What does being a part of UConn mean to you?

    Being a part of UConn means being part of a supportive and innovative community that fosters growth, collaboration, and inclusion. It’s where I’ve been able to challenge myself, advance my research, and contribute to a diverse environment. The connections I’ve made here, and the shared purpose have shaped me both personally and professionally, and that’s something I’ll carry with me throughout my career.

    What’s it going to be like to walk across the Commencement stage and get your degree?

    Walking across the Commencement stage will be a moment of immense pride and reflection. It will mark the culmination of years of hard work, challenges, and growth. But beyond the academic achievement, it will be a moment to celebrate the support of my family, friends, mentors, and the UConn community that helped me get here. It will be a symbol of not just earning a degree, but of the journey and the people who’ve shaped my path. It’ll be a bittersweet farewell to this chapter, but an exciting step into the next.

    Any final words of wisdom for incoming students?

    No matter how many roadblocks or challenges life throws your way, the key is to face them head-on, learn from them, and keep moving forward. Don’t give up, and remember to enjoy the journey along the way. It’s easy to get caught up in the stress, but make sure you take time to have fun, find balance, and celebrate the small wins. Growth comes from persistence, and the experience will be all the richer if you embrace both the challenges and the moments of joy.

    Delgado’s doctoral dissertation focused on “Cracking the Code of Treponema pallidum Immunity: Lessons from the Rabbit Model to Drive Syphilis Vaccine Innovation.”

    Watch the livestream of UConn Health’s 54th Commencement on May 12, 2025, at 1:00 p.m.

     

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Europol supports strike-down on criminal organisation smuggling tens of thousands of hazardous salvage cars from the US

    Source: Europol

    The investigation, code-named ‘Nimmersatt’ (‘Insatiable’ in German), extended from the US to Russia, with links to Canada, Hungary, Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK), as well as 11 EU countries. Investigative measures were conducted today and yesterday in Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain.Wrecked cars, fake import papers, cosmetic repairs and tax fraudCriminal organisations…

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: RTI to Exhibit and Speak at DeviceTalks Boston 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Real-Time Innovations (RTI), the infrastructure software company for smart-world systems, will exhibit at DeviceTalks Boston 2025, taking place April 30–May 1 at the Boston Convention Center. At booth #700, RTI will demonstrate how its Connext® software enables intelligent connectivity across complex, distributed medical systems—from remote robotic surgery to next-generation monitoring, imaging, and beyond.

    On day one of the event, RTI CEO Stan Schneider will join NVIDIA’s Senior Director of Business Development for Healthcare, David Niewolny, for a discussion on how next-generation, edge-AI systems operate. NVIDIA provides the AI brain, while RTI delivers the connectivity nervous system for intelligent physical systems. Attendees will learn how AI is being integrated into today’s most advanced systems and what it takes to make them work in real time.

    RTI will also co-present with MedAcuity at the co-located Robotics Summit on “Advancing Remote Surgery: Tackling Latency, Precision, and Security Issues.”

    At booth #700, RTI will demonstrate remote teleoperation technology in collaboration with MedAcuity. The demo will highlight how Connext® software enables real-time control of an off-site robotic arm, showcasing the potential of low-latency connectivity in remote surgery applications.

    With its proven track record among leading healthcare innovators, Connext provides the data backbone that accelerates development and unlocks the potential of intelligent, distributed systems.

    Event Details

    What: RTI at DeviceTalks 2025, Booth #700
    When: April 30 – May 1, 2025
    Where: Boston Convention Center, 415 Summer St, Boston, MA 02210

    Speaking Session Details
    What: Advancing Remote Surgery: Tackling Latency, Precision, and Security Issues
    When: April 30, 2025, from 1:45 PM – 2:30 PM (EDT)
    Where: Room 260, Robotics Summit (co-located with DeviceTalks Boston)
    Who: Darren Porras, Market Development Manager at RTI, and Tom Amlicke, Technical Director, Robotics at MedAcuity

    What: Inside the Machine: How AI Operates in MedTech
    When: April 30, 2025, from 2:30 PM – 3:15 PM (EDT)
    Where: Room 162A, DeviceTalks Boston
    Who: Stan Schneider, CEO at RTI, and David Niewolny, Senior Director of Business Development for Healthcare at NVIDIA

    For more information about RTI at DeviceTalks or to meet with one of our experts, please visit this link.

    About RTI

    Real-Time Innovations (RTI) is the infrastructure software company for smart-world systems. RTI Connext® is the world’s leading software framework for intelligent distributed systems. Uniquely, Connext users can build systems that combine advanced sensing, fast control, and AI algorithms.

    With 2,000 customer designs, RTI excels at getting customers to production. RTI software runs over 300 autonomous vehicle programs, supports dozens of automotive ADAS and software-defined architectures, controls the largest power plants in North America, integrates over 500 major defense programs, drives a new generation of MedTech systems and robotics, and underlies Canada’s air traffic control and NASA’s launch control systems.

    RTI runs a smarter world.

    RTI is the market leader in products compliant with the Data Distribution Service (DDS™) standard. RTI is privately held and headquartered in Silicon Valley with regional offices in Colorado, Spain, and Singapore.

    Download a free trial of the latest, fully-functional Connext software today: www.rti.com/downloads

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: The Board of Directors has resolved to carry out directed issues of units totaling approximately SEK 25 million and a fully underwritten rights issue of units of approximately SEK 15 million

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SINGAPORE, SOUTH AFRICA, SOUTH KOREA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL OR WOULD REQUIRE REGISTRATION OR ANY OTHER MEASURES. PLEASE REFER TO IMPORTANT INFORMATION AT THE END OF THE PRESS RELEASE.

    The Board of Directors of Terranet AB (”Terranet” or the ”Company”) has today, April 16 2025, with authorization from the annual general meeting on May 21, 2024, decided to carry out a directed issue of 2,956,297 units consisting of B-shares and warrants of series TO9 B to a number of qualified investors of approximately SEK 8.8 million (the “First Directed Issue”). The Board of Directors of the Company has further, subject to subsequent approval by the Annual General Meeting, resolved on a directed issue of 5,461,210 units consisting of B-shares and warrants of series TO9 B to members of the Company’s Board of Directors and management as well as external investors, of approximately SEK 16.2 million (the “Second Directed Issue” and together with the First Directed Issue, the “Directed Issues”). One unit in the Directed Issues consists of thirty-three (33) B-shares and five (5) warrants of series TO9 B. To compensate the shareholders who do not participate in the Directed Issues, the Board of Directors of Terranet, subject to subsequent approval by the Annual General Meeting, has resolved on a fully secured rights issue of a maximum of 13,880,714 units consisting of B-shares and warrants of series TO9 B, which, if fully subscribed, will provide the Company with approximately SEK 15 million before deduction of issue costs (the “Rights Issue”). One unit in the Rights Issue consists of twelve (12) B-shares and three (3) warrants of series TO9 B. The Directed Issues and the Rights Issue are carried out at the same subscription price, with the subscription price set at SEK 0.09 per B-share. Through the Directed Issues, Terranet will raise approximately SEK 25 million before deduction of issue costs, and upon full subscription of the Rights Issue, Terranet will raise approximately SEK 15 million before deduction of issue costs. The notice to the Annual General Meeting will be published through a separate press release.

    Comments from Management
    “We are at a very exciting stage as we intensify our commercialization journey with the goal of signing our first agreement to initiate commercialization during this year. In 2024, Terranet achieved success and delivered on previously set milestones with excellence, laying the foundation for the collaborations and ongoing dialogues with leading industrial players in the market. The capital raise enables us to take the next step from a development-stage company to a commercial enterprise, and I see this as an attractive opportunity to personally take part in this journey together with well-renowned investors who recognize the strong potential of Terranet’s technology”, says Lars Lindell, CEO of Terranet.

    Comments from the Board of Directors
    “We are grateful for the strong confidence shown by our shareholders. Their support has enabled a capital raise on favorable terms with committed and reputable investors, despite an eventful and volatile stock market. Given full subscription of the issued warrants, the capital raise secures our liquidity through the second quarter of 2026. This strengthens our negotiating position and provides a solid foundation for converting the potential and interest in our technology into real shareholder value”, says Torgny Hellström, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Terranet.

    Summary of the Directed Issues and the Rights Issue:

    • The First Directed Issue comprises a maximum of 2,956,297 units. Subscribers in the First Directed Issue include, among others, Hunter Capital AB (publ) (“Hunter”). One unit in the First Directed Issue consists of thirty-three (33) B-shares and five (5) warrants of series TO9 B. The subscription price in the First Directed Issue is SEK 2.97 per unit, corresponding to SEK 0.09 per B-share, which represents a premium of approximately 4.0 percent compared to the volume-weighted average price of the Company’s B-share on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market between April 7, 2025, and April 11, 2025. The First Directed Issue will provide Terranet with approximately SEK 8.8 million before deduction of issue costs.
    • The Second Directed Issue comprises a maximum of 5,461,210 units and is directed to members of the Board of Directors, management, and external investors, including Johannes Schildt (one of the founders of Kry), White Eye AB, and Scan Invest Limited (“Scan”). One unit in the Second Directed Issue consists of thirty-three (33) B-shares and five (5) warrants of series TO9 B. The subscription price in the Second Directed Issue is SEK 2.97 per unit, corresponding to SEK 0.09 per B-share, which is the same subscription price as in the First Directed Issue. The Second Directed Issue will provide Terranet with approximately SEK 16.2 million before deduction of issue costs.
    • The Board of Director’s resolution on the Second Directed Issue is conditional upon approval by the Annual General Meeting, scheduled for May 23, 2025. Notice of the Annual General Meeting will be published through a separate press release.
    • The Rights Issue comprises a maximum of 13,880,714 units. One unit in the Rights Issue consists of twelve (12) B-shares and three (3) warrants of series TO9 B. The warrants are issued free of charge.
    • The subscription price per unit in the Rights Issue is SEK 1.08 per unit, corresponding to SEK 0.09 per B-share. The subscription price per B-share is the same as in the Directed Issues. Upon full subscription, the Rights Issue will provide Terranet with approximately SEK 15 million before deduction of issue costs.
    • The right to subscribe for units in the Rights Issue shall, with preferential rights, be granted to shareholders in proportion to the number of B-shares they already own, where one (1) existing B-share entitles the holder to one (1) unit right, and eighty-six (86) unit rights entitle the holder to subscribe for one (1) unit.
    • The last day of trading in Terranet’s B-shares including the right to receive unit rights in the Rights Issue is April 25, 2025. The B-shares will be traded excluding the right to receive unit rights from April 28, 2025.
    • The subscription period for the Rights Issue runs from May 27, 2025, up to and including June 11, 2025.
    • The Rights Issue is covered by subscription commitments of approximately SEK 35.2 thousand, corresponding to 0.2 percent of the Rights Issue, and underwriting commitments of approximately SEK 15 million, corresponding to approximately 99.8 percent of the Rights Issue. Thus, the Rights Issue is covered to 100 percent by subscription commitments and underwriting commitments. Hunter has entered into a underwriting commitment amounting to approximately SEK 7.5 million. Furthermore, Scan has also entered into a underwriting commitment amounting to approximately SEK 7.5 million.
    • The full terms and conditions of the Rights Issue, including additional information about the Company, will be available in an information memorandum expected to be published around May 26, 2025 (the “Memorandum”).
    • The purpose of the Rights Issue is to finance the continued development of the BlincVision product, prepare for future commercialization, and repay an existing interest-bearing debt of approximately SEK 8 million.

    Background and rationale in summary
    Terranet is in an expansion phase with the development of BlincVision and has achieved several important milestones in 2024, including successful tests and partnerships with leading players in the automotive industry. To take the next step, financing is required to complete the development of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and continue the development towards volume production in collaboration with potential future partners.

    In order to carry out the necessary development work required to commercialize BlincVision and repay the Company’s outstanding interest-bearing debt of approximately SEK 8 million, the Board of Directors of Terranet has identified a need for additional capital. Therefore, the Directed Issues and the Rights Issue are being carried out. The proceeds from the Directed Issues and the Rights Issue will primarily be used for:

    •        Repayment of outstanding loans, approximately 20 percent.
    •        External development costs for components for BlincVision, approximately 25 percent.
    •     In-house development work as well as market and sales activities for BlincVision, approximately 25 percent.
    •        Investments in tangible fixed assets, approximately 10 percent.
    •        Working capital, approximately 20 percent.

    The First Directed Issue
    The Board of Directors of Terranet has today, with the support of the authorization from the Annual General Meeting on May 21, 2024, resolved to carry out the First Directed Issue, which comprises a maximum of 2,956,297 units at a subscription price of SEK 2.97 per unit, corresponding to SEK 0.09 per B-share. Each unit in the First Directed Issue consists of thirty-three (33) B-shares and five (5) warrants of series TO9 B. The warrants are issued free of charge. Through the First Directed Issue, the Company will raise approximately SEK 8.8 million before issue costs. The right to subscribe for units will be granted exclusively, deviating from shareholders’ preferential rights, to Hunter and Milad Pournouri.

    The Board of Directors has placed great emphasis on ensuring that the subscription price for the First Directed Issue is market-based in relation to the current share price. After negotiations at arm’s length between the Company and the intended investors, the subscription price has been set at SEK 2.97 per unit, corresponding to SEK 0.09 per B-share, which represents a premium of approximately 4.0 percent compared to the volume-weighted average price of the Company’s B-share on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market between April 7, 2025, and April 11, 2025. Considering this, the Board of Directors concludes that the subscription price is market-based and reflects the demand for the Company’s B-shares.

    The Second Directed Issue
    Further, the Board of Terranet has today, subject to approval by the Annual General Meeting scheduled for May 23, 2025, resolved to carry out the Second Directed Issue. The Second Directed Issue comprises a total of 5,461,210 units and is being implemented, among other things, to enable subscriptions by members of the Company’s Board of Directors and management. Since members of the Company’s board of directors and management are subject to Chapter 16 of the Swedish Companies Act (2005:551) (the so-called Leo Act), the Second Directed Issue requires approval from a shareholders’ meeting in the Company. For the decision of the shareholders’ meeting to be valid, at least nine-tenths of both the votes cast and the shares represented at the meeting must vote in favor of the decision. Following approval at the Annual General Meeting, the right to subscribe for units in the Second Directed Issue will be granted to CEO Lars Lindell, CFO Dan Wahrenberg, CCO Jonas Renander, CTO Pierre Ekwall, Chairman of the Board Torgny Hellström, and Board member Magnus Edman, as well as the current shareholder Oliver Aleksov and external investors Johannes Schildt, White Eye AB, Scan, Alex Ghafori, and Max Björs.

    The subscription price for the Second Directed Issue is SEK 2.97 per unit, corresponding to SEK 0.09 per share, which is the same subscription price as in the First Directed Issue. Through the Second Directed Issue, Terranet will raise approximately SEK 16.2 million before issue costs. Each unit in the Second Directed Issue consists of thirty-three (33) B-shares and five (5) warrants of series TO9 B. The warrants are issued free of charge.

    Deviation from shareholder’ preferential rights
    The reasons for the deviation from shareholders’ preferential rights and the targeting of the Directed Issues to the Board of Directors, management, existing shareholders, and qualified investors are as follows. Prior to the decision on the Directed Issues, the board carefully examined and considered alternative financing options, including raising capital solely through a rights issue. However, after a comprehensive assessment and considering that a directed issue allows the Company to receive capital sooner, the Board of Directors believes that new issues carried out with a deviation from shareholders’ preferential rights, combined with a rights issue, are a more favorable option for the Company and its shareholders than a rights issue alone. Therefore, the Board of Directors’ assessment is that it is in the best interests of both the Company and its shareholders to proceed with the Directed Issues.

    The reason the Directed Issues is aimed at selected institutional and private investors is that such an issue further diversifies and strengthens the Company’s shareholder base. The reason why one existing shareholder is given the opportunity to participate is that this investor has been a shareholder in the Company for a long period and continues to show great interest in the Company. All of the investors in the Directed Issues have expressed long-term interest and commitment to the Company, which the Board of Directors believes provides security and stability for both the Company and its shareholders. At the same time, other shareholders are given the opportunity to subscribe to units on the same terms through the Rights Issue.

    The Company is in an important phase and requires financing to ensure its long-term operations. According to the Board of Directors’ assessment, a more extensive and isolated rights issue would require significantly more time and resources to execute and would also entail a higher risk of a negative impact on the share price, particularly considering the current volatile and challenging market conditions. From a shareholder perspective, an isolated rights issue thus poses a risk of a negative effect on the share price compared to a directed issue combined with a rights issue. In view of the market volatility, the Board of Directors has assessed that a rights issue, without the Directed Issues, would need to be considerably larger and would therefore also require greater underwriting commitments from an underwriting consortium, which would result in additional costs and/or further dilution depending on the type of compensation for such underwriting.

    Considering the above, the Board of Directors’ collective assessment is that the reasons for carrying out the Directed Issues in combination with a compensation issue in the form of the Rights Issue outweigh the reasons for conducting a more extensive isolated rights issue.

    The Board of Directors has, in connection with the decisions on the Directed Issues, placed significant emphasis on ensuring that the subscription price is market-based in relation to the prevailing share price. After arm’s length negotiations between the company and the qualified investors, the subscription price has been set at SEK 2.97 per unit, corresponding to SEK 0.09 per B-share, which represents a premium of approximately 4.0 percent compared to the volume-weighted average price of the company’s B-share on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market between April 7, 2025, and April 11, 2025. Considering this, the board assesses that the subscription price is market-based and reflects the demand for the company’s B-shares.

    The Rights Issue
    To compensate shareholders who do not participate in the Directed Issues, the Board of Directors, subject to subsequent approval by the annual general meeting, has decided to carry out the Rights Issue of up to 13,880,714 units, which, if fully subscribed, could raise approximately SEK 15 million before deduction of issue costs. One unit in the Rights Issue consists of twelve (12) B-shares and three (3) warrants of series TO9 B. The warrants are issued free of charge.

    Those who are registered as shareholders in Terranet on the record date of April 29, 2025 will receive one (1) unit right for each (1) existing B-share, and eighty-six (86) unit rights will entitle the holder to subscribe for one (1) unit. The subscription price in the Rights Issue will be SEK 1.08 per unit, corresponding to SEK 0.09 per B-share, which is the same subscription price as in the Directed Issues. Participants in the Directed Issues will not receive any unit rights in the Rights Issue for the units subscribed through the Directed Issues.

    In the event that not all units are subscribed through the exercise of unit rights, the Board of Directors will decide on the allocation of units subscribed without the support of unit rights, within the framework of the maximum amount of the Rights Issue. The allocation will be made as follows:

    • First, allocation will be made to those who have subscribed for units using unit rights, regardless of whether the subscriber was a shareholder on the record date. In case of over-subscription relative to the number of unit rights each person used for subscription, allocation will be made based on the number of unit rights exercised, and if this cannot be done, by drawing lots.
    • Second, allocation will be made to others who have subscribed for units without the support of unit rights. If they cannot receive full allocation, it will be done based on the number of units they have subscribed for, and if this cannot be done, by drawing lots.
    • Lastly, any remaining units will be allocated to the underwriters who have entered into underwriting commitments in relation to the size of their respective underwriting commitments, and if this cannot be done, by drawing lots.

    The subscription period will run from May 27, 2025, up to and including June 11, 2025. Trading in unit rights will take place on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market from May 27, 2025, up to and including June 5, 2025, and trading in BTU (paid subscribed units) will take place on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market from May 27, 2025, up to and including June 30, 2025.

    The Company will prepare and publish the Memorandum in connection with the Rights Issue.

    Warrants of series TO9 B
    Each warrant of series TO9 B gives the right to subscribe for one (1) new B-share in the Company. One (1) warrant of series TO9 B entitles the holder to subscribe for one (1) B-share in the Company at a subscription price of SEK 0.18 (equivalent to 200% of the subscription price per B-share in the Directed Issues and the Rights Issue). The subscription for B-shares using the warrants of series TO9 B will take place during the period from December 1, 2025, up to and including December 15, 2025.

    If all warrants of series TO9 B are fully utilized within the framework of the units offered, the Company may receive an additional maximum of approximately SEK 15.1 million. The warrants are intended to be admitted to trading on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market.

    Subscription commitments and underwriting commitments
    The Rights Issue is covered by 0.2 percent of subscription commitments, corresponding to approximately SEK 35.2 thousand, and by approximately 99.8 percent of underwriting commitments, corresponding to approximately SEK 15 million. Hunter has entered into a underwriting commitment amounting to approximately SEK 7.5 million. Furthermore, Scan has also entered into a underwriting commitment amounting to approximately SEK 7.5 million.Thus, the Rights Issue is fully covered by subscription commitments and underwriting commitments. The entered subscription commitments and underwriting commitments are not secured by bank guarantees, pledges, or similar arrangements. Subscription commitments have been entered into by Chairman of the Board of Directors Torgny Hellström, CFO Dan Wahrenberg, and CTO Pierre Ekwall. For the underwriting commitments, a underwriting compensation of twelve (12) percent of the underwritten amount will be paid in the form of units. The subscription price for the underwriting compensation amounts to SEK 1.08 per unit, corresponding to SEK 0.09 per B-share, which is the same as the subscription price in the Rights Issue. No compensation is paid for the subscription commitments that have been entered into.

    The Board considers it favorable for the Company to offer compensation to the underwriters in the form of units instead of cash, as it positively impacts the Company’s liquidity. The subscription price in the directed issue to the underwriters was negotiated at arm’s length during the arrangement of the underwriting commitments, in consultation with the financial advisor and after an analysis of usual market factors.

    Shares, share capital and dilution
    Through the First Directed Issue, the number of B-shares in the Company will increase by 97,557,801 B-shares, from 1,193,741,451 B-shares to 1,291,299,252 B-shares. The Company’s share capital will thus increase by SEK 975,578.010, from SEK 11,937,414.510 to SEK 12,912,992.520. The newly issued shares in the First Directed Issue will result in a total dilution effect of approximately 7.6 percent of the number of B-shares and votes in the Company.

    Through the Second Directed Issue, the number of B-shares in the Company will increase by 180,219,930 B-shares, from 1,291,299,252 B-shares to 1,471,519,182 B-shares. The Company’s share capital will increase by SEK 1,802,199.300, from SEK 12,912,992.520 to SEK 14,715,191.820. The newly issued shares in the Second Directed Issue will result in a further dilution effect of approximately 12.2 percent of the number of B-shares and votes in the Company. The dilution effect, the specified number of B-shares and the share capital before and after the Second Directed Issue, consider the B-shares issued in the First Directed Issue.

    The Directed Issues will result in a total dilution effect of 18.9 percent of the number of B-shares and votes in the Company. Through the Directed Issues, the number of B-shares in the Company will increase by 277,777,731 B-shares, from 1,193,741,451 B-shares to 1,471,519,182 B-shares. The Company’s share capital will thus increase by SEK 2,777,777.310, from SEK 11,937,414.510 to SEK 14,715,191.820.

    Upon full subscription in the Rights Issue, the number of B-shares in Terranet will increase by up to an additional 166,568,568 B-shares, from 1,471,519,182 B-shares to 1,638,087,750 B-shares, and the share capital will increase by up to SEK 1,665,685.680, from SEK 14,715,191.820 to SEK 16,380,877.500. For existing shareholders who do not participate in the Rights Issue, this corresponds to an additional dilution effect of approximately 10.2 percent of the votes and share capital in the Company upon full subscription.

    The total dilution effect from full subscription in the Rights Issue, together with the Directed Issues, amounts to approximately 27.1 percent.

    Upon full exercise of all warrants of series TO9 B within the scope of the offered units, the number of B-shares in Terranet will increase by up to an additional maximum of 83,729,677 B-shares, from 1,638,087,750 B-shares to 1,721,817,427 B-shares, and the share capital will increase by up to SEK 837,296.770, from SEK 16,380,877.500 to SEK 17,218,174.270. Full exercise of all warrants of series TO9 B would result in an additional dilution effect of up to 4.9 percent.

    Preliminary timetable for the Rights Issue

    April 25, 2025 Last day of trading in B-shares including the right to receive unit rights
    April 28, 2025 First day of trading in B-shares excluding the right to receive unit rights
    April 29, 2025 Record date for the Rights Issue
    May 26, 2025 Disclosure of the Memorandum
    May 27, 2025 – June 5, 2025 Trading with unit rights
    May 27, 2025 – June 11, 2025 Subscripition period
    May 27, 2025 – June 30, 2025 Trading in paid subscribed units (BTU)
    June 13, 2025 Preliminary date for publication of the outcome in the Rights Issue

    Annual General Meeting
    The Board of Directors’ resolution regarding the Second Directed Issue and the Rights Issue is subject to approval by the Annual General Meeting, which will be held on May 23, 2025. A notice of the Annual General Meeting will be published in a separate press release.

    The Memorandum
    The complete terms and conditions of the Rights Issue, as well as other information about the Company, will be set out in the Memorandum, which will be published by the Company prior to the commencement of the subscription period. The Memorandum is expected to be published on the Company’s website, www.terranet.com, around May 26, 2025.

    Advisers
    Mangold Fondkommission AB is the financial advisor to Terranet in connection with the Directed Issues and the Rights Issue. Eversheds Sutherland Advokatbyrå AB is the legal advisor to the Company in connection with the Directed Issues and the Rights Issue.

    For more information, please contact:
    Dan Wahrenberg, CFO
    E-mail: dan.wahrenberg@terranet.se

    This information is such that Terranet AB is required to make public in accordance with the EU’s Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). The information was made public by the Company’s contact person above on April 16, 2025, at 18:00 CET.

    About Terranet AB (publ) 
    Terranet’s goal is to save lives in urban traffic. The company develops innovative technical solutions for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Vehicles (AV). Terranet’s anti-collision system BlincVision laser scans and detects road objects up to ten times faster than any other ADAS technology available today.
    The company is headquartered in Lund, with offices in Gothenburg and Stuttgart. Since 2017, Terranet has been listed on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market (Nasdaq: TERRNT-B). Follow our journey at: www.terranet.se

    Certified Adviser to Terranet is Mangold Fondkommission AB.

    Important information
    The release, announcement or distribution of this press release may, in certain jurisdictions, be subject to restrictions. The recipients of this press release in jurisdictions where this press release has been published or distributed shall inform themselves of and follow such restrictions. The recipient of this press release is responsible for using this press release, and the information contained herein, in accordance with applicable rules in each jurisdiction. This press release does not constitute an offer, or a solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in Terranet in any jurisdiction, neither from Terranet nor anyone else.

    This press release does not constitute or form part of an offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States. The securities referred to herein may not be sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. There is no intention to register any securities referred to herein in the United States or to make a public offering of the securities in the United States. The information in this press release may not be announced, published, copied, reproduced or distributed, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, within or into Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, South Africa, the United States or in any other jurisdiction where such announcement, publication or distribution of the information would not comply with applicable laws and regulations or where such actions are subject to legal restrictions or would require additional registration or other measures than what is required under Swedish law. Actions taken in violation of this instruction may constitute a crime against applicable securities laws and regulations.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: The UK is deeply concerned at recent political tensions and increased fighting across South Sudan: UK statement at the UN Security Council

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Speech

    The UK is deeply concerned at recent political tensions and increased fighting across South Sudan: UK statement at the UN Security Council

    Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on South Sudan.

    I will make three points. 

    First, the United Kingdom is deeply concerned at recent political tensions and increased fighting across South Sudan between parties to the 2018 peace agreement and other opposition forces. This includes the ongoing conflict in Upper Nile State.

    We are appalled by the attack on a UN helicopter in Nasir which resulted in the death of an UNMISS contractor.

    The current escalation risks South Sudan’s hard-won peace. 

    A return to widespread conflict would devastate the country and have damaging consequences for the broader region, especially in the context of the ongoing crisis in Sudan.

    The escalation of violence in the Upper Nile State has already caused dozens of civilian casualties and displaced at least 120,000 people.  

    So we urge the parties to ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access to civilian populations in Nasir and Ulang who are in need of emergency assistance and protection.

    Second, we are concerned by the arrest and ongoing detention of First Vice President Machar. 

    This action undermines the core principles of the 2018 peace agreement. 

    Alongside the AU and other international partners, we call for this action to be reversed to enable both parties to return to dialogue.

    We welcome efforts by regional partners, including the African Union and IGAD, to work with the South Sudanese leadership to de-escalate tensions. 

    And we call on South Sudan’s collective leadership to cease hostilities, release political detainees, including First Vice President Machar, and to engage seriously with regional mediation efforts.

    Third, President, the recent instability is a reminder of the importance of UNMISS as a peace partner for South Sudan. 

    The United Kingdom commends UNMISS’ work to de-escalate tensions and protect civilians.

    In this challenging context, their work to monitor human rights violations and support the provision of humanitarian assistance is critical. 

    And we call on the South Sudanese leadership to ensure the mission has freedom of movement, without political interference, so that it can effectively carry out its mandate from this Council.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 April 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Grigorenko: Regulation of the platform economy creates conditions for transparent interaction between its participants

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    The development of the platform economy, interaction between business and the state, as well as the urgent need to expand regulatory mechanisms were discussed at the plenary session of the international conference Data Fusion with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister – Head of the Government Staff Dmitry Grigorenko.

    The session participants noted that large digital platforms are emerging in a variety of industries, from public administration and medicine to trade and transport. At the same time, they have been developing separately for a long time, remaining in the grey zone of the rules and regulations that are familiar to trade and market relations.

    “The absence of regulation is not synonymous with freedom. Rather, it means the absence of rules that are clear to all participants in the process. Today, platforms are an important part of our lives. But at the same time, the new order has also identified new tasks in the field of consumer protection and the formation of a transparent legal field. We are creating these rules in close cooperation with businesses, but at the same time we put the interests of our citizens first,” said Dmitry Grigorenko.

    As the Chairperson of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina noted, regulation must always be balanced.

    “We must create conditions for the development of a platform economy. The task is not to limit innovation in any way, but to create conditions for fair competition, for transparent rules for all market participants, including customers and suppliers of goods and services. All this will contribute to the construction of a trusted environment – a platform economy,” said Elvira Nabiullina.

    VTB President and Chairman of the Management Board Andrey Kostin also called for a careful approach to regulating digital platforms and finding a balance of interests. He noted that banks do not feel threatened by marketplaces.

    “Platforms have developed enormously in recent years. Of course, a law is needed. Because even in relation to banks, where regulation is very strict and detailed, the use of their own financial institutions by e-commerce companies gives them certain advantages. But the regulation of digital platforms must be approached carefully, finding a balance of interests,” said Andrey Kostin.

    According to the head of RVB, founder of Wildberries Tatyana Kim, due to its nature, the platform economy covers a wide range of needs of all its participants.

    “The more platforms penetrate the lives of their consumers, trying to satisfy their needs as best as possible, the more data we accumulate. This is a great responsibility, which requires, among other things, state regulation and separate legal development,” said Tatyana Kim.

    The government has developed a bill on the platform economy. It is currently being prepared for submission to the State Duma. Legal regulation is aimed at creating conditions for the development of digital platforms, forming transparent rules of interaction for all participants in this area, and protecting the rights of citizens.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The heating system was adjusted due to warm weather

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    The capital’s heating system has been switched to minimum operating parameters due to warm weather. This was reported by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Housing and Public Utilities and Improvement Petr Biryukov.

    “Due to the sharp increase in average round-the-clock air temperatures, a decision was made to transfer the heating system to the minimum possible parameters for temperature and circulation. Currently, the temperature of the network heat carrier is 75-77 degrees – these are the minimum necessary values that allow heating hot water to the standard 60 degrees,” said Petr Biryukov.

    In the off-season, the outside air temperature fluctuates from below zero at night to above zero during the day. This period is the most difficult in terms of regulating the supply of heat to in-house systems. The side of the building is also important, since the temperature in the rooms is higher on the sunny side.

    The operation of the heating system is adjusted under the control of the dispatch services of PJSC MOEK in automatic mode based on the readings of temperature sensors.

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

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

    https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/152689073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: Ascom Annual General Meeting approves all proposals of the Board of Directors

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR
    Baar, Switzerland, April 16, 2025

    At the Annual General Meeting held on April 16, 2025, in Zug, the shareholders of Ascom Holding AG approved by a large majority all proposals presented by the Board of Directors.

    54 shareholders attended the Annual General Meeting. In total, 20’238’079 registered shares with voting rights were represented, which corresponds to 56.22 % of the share capital. They approved all proposals of the Board of Directors including:

    • Approval of the financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year 2024. The shareholders decided to pay out a gross dividend of CHF 0.10 per share for the 2024 financial year.
    • Approval of the 2024 Remuneration Report and Sustainability Report.
    • All members of the Board of Directors and its Chairman Dr. Valentin Chapero Rueda were re-elected for another one-year term. Nicole Burth Tschudi, Laurent Dubois, and Dr. Monika Krüsi were also re-elected to the Compensation and Nomination Committee.
    • Approval of the future remuneration for the Board of Directors and the Group Executive Board.
    • Approval of an amendment to the Articles of Association stating that the company strives to create sustainable value. Furthermore, the shareholders decided to introduce a term limit of 12 years for members of the Board of Directors, while at the same time abolishing the age limit of 70 years.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Human connections to seagrass meadows date back 180,000 years, study reveals

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Benjamin Jones, Chief Conservation Officer, Project Seagrass & Research Affiliate, Swansea University

    Benjamin Jones/Project Seagrass, CC BY

    For millennia, humans lived as hunter-gatherers. Savannas and forests are often thought of as the cradle of our lineage, but beneath the waves, a habitat exists that has quietly supported humans for over 180,000 years.

    Archaeological evidence suggests that early humans migrated along coasts, avoiding desert and tundra. So, as Homo spread from Africa, they inevitably encountered seagrasses – flowering plants evolved to inhabit shallow coastal environments that form undersea meadows teeming with life.

    Our recently published research pieces together historical evidence from across the globe, revealing that humans and seagrass meadows have been intertwined for millennia – providing food, fishing grounds, building materials, medicine and more throughout our shared history.

    Our earliest known links to seagrass date back around 180,000 years. Tiny seagrass-associated snails were discovered in France at Paleolithic cave sites used by Neanderthals. Too small to be a consequence of food remains, these snails were likely introduced with Posidonia oceanica leaves used for bedding – a type of seagrass found only in the Mediterranean. Neanderthals didn’t just use seagrass to make sleeping comfortable – 120,000 year old evidence suggests they harvested seagrass-associated scallops too.

    A bountiful supply of food

    Seagrass meadows provide shelter and food for marine life, such as fish, invertebrates, reptiles and marine mammals. Because they inhabit shallow waters close to shore, seagrass meadows have been natural fishing grounds and places where generations have speared, cast nets, set traps and hand-gathered food to survive and thrive.

    Long before modern fishing fleets, ancient communities recognised the value of these underwater grasslands. Around 6,000 years ago, the people of eastern Arabia depended on seagrass meadows to hunt rabbitfish – a practice so prevalent here that remnants of their fishing traps are still visible from space.

    Seagrass meadows have even been directly harvested as food. Around 12,000 years ago, some of the first human cultures in North America, settling on Isla Cedros off the coast of Baja California, gathered and consumed seeds from Zostera marina, a species commonly called eelgrass. These seeds were milled into a flour and baked into breads and cakes, a process alike to wheat milling today.

    Further north, the Indigenous Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, as far back as 10,000 years ago, developed a careful and sustainable way of gathering eelgrass for consumption. By twisting a pole into the seagrass, they pulled up the leaves, and broke them off near the rhizome – the underground stem that is rich in sugary carbohydrates. After removing the roots and outer leaves, they wrapped the youngest leaves around the rhizome, dipping it in oil before eating. Remarkably, this method was later found to promote seagrass health, encouraging new growth and resilience.



    Read more:
    Seagrass, protector of shipwrecks and buried treasure

    Today, seagrass meadows remain a lifeline for coastal communities, particularly across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Here, fishing within seagrass habitats is shown to be more reliable than other coastal habitats and women often sustain their families by gleaning – a fishing practice that involves carefully combing seagrass meadows for edible shells and other marine life. For these communities, seagrass fishing is vital during periods when fishing at sea is not possible, for example, during tropical storms.

    When seagrasses returned to the sea around 100 million years ago, they evolved to have specialised leaves to tolerate both saltwater submergence and periods of time exposed to the sun during tidal cycles. This allowed seagrasses to flourish across our coastlines, but also made them useful resources for humans.

    Seagrass leaves, once dry, are relatively moist- and rot-proof – properties likely discovered by ancient civilisations when exploring the uses of plants for different purposes. Bronze age civilizations like the Minoans, used seagrass in building construction, reinforcing mudbricks with seagrass. Analysis of these reveal superior thermal properties of seagrass mudbricks compared to bricks made with other plant fibres – they kept buildings warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

    These unique properties may have been why early humans used seagrass for bedding and by the 16th century, seagrass-stuffed mattresses were prized for pest resistance, requested even by Pope Julius III.

    By the 17th century, Europeans were using seagrass to thatch roofs and insulate their homes. North American colonialists took this knowledge with them, continuing the practice. In the 19th century, commercial harvesting of tens of thousands of tonnes of seagrass began across North America and northern Europe.

    In the US, Boston’s Samuel Cabot Company patented an insulation material called Cabot’s “Quilt”, sandwiching dried seagrass leaves between two layers of paper. These quilts were used to insulate buildings across the US, including New York’s Rockefeller Center and the Capitol in Washington DC.

    A legacy ecosystem – and a living one

    The prevalence of seagrass throughout human civilisation has fostered spiritual and cultural relations with these underwater gardens, manifesting in rituals and historical customs. In Neolithic graves in Denmark, scientists found human remains wrapped in seagrass, representing a close connection with the sea.

    Our new research tells us that seagrass meadows are not just biodiversity hotspots or carbon storage systems. They are ancient human allies. This elevates their value beyond conservation – they’re repositories of cultural heritage and traditional knowledge. They were practical, valuable, and deeply integrated into human cultures.

    We have depended on seagrass for 180,000 years – for food, homes, customs – so investing in their conservation and restoration is not just ecological, it’s deeply human.

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

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

    Nicole Foster receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Training and mobility actions.

    Oscar Serrano receives funding from the Spanish National Research Council

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

    – ref. Human connections to seagrass meadows date back 180,000 years, study reveals – https://theconversation.com/human-connections-to-seagrass-meadows-date-back-180-000-years-study-reveals-253307

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: New business rescue practitioner appointed for troubled North West Transport Investment

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    The appointment of Mahomed Mahier Tayob as the new Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) for the troubled North West Transport Investment (NTI) has been welcomed.

    This follows the recent Gauteng High Court’s ruling in favour of the North West Department of Community Safety and Transport Management, which led to the removal of the then BRP, Thomas Hendrick Samons.

    The department confirmed that NTI had applied for a voluntarily business rescue in July 2022, after facing financial difficulties.

    According to the department, Samons was tasked with turning the entity around to make it more sustainable and to generate income to pay creditors, primarily the employees. 

    However, he failed to account for the funds that the government had injected into the entity.

    The BRP also failed to pay salaries, which resulted in the cancellation of employees’ medical aid coverage, as well as the non-payment of their pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) and Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) contributions.

    The salaries of over 1 500 employees at NTI companies were not paid from September to December 2022, March to May 2023, June to November 2023, and February to March 2024.

    The NTI group, through its subsidiary Northwest Star, was established in 1973 as a wholly owned company of the North West Provincial Government and has served as the primary transport source in the province for decades.

    NTI can still be rescued

    Meanwhile, the Portfolio Committee on Community Safety and Transport Management, led by Freddy Sonakile, said it remains resolute in its belief that NTI can still be rescued. 

    “To this end, we will conduct a follow-up oversight visit to the NTI headquarters and depots within a month to assess the current state of the entity and to receive the official turnaround plan from both the newly appointed BRP and the department.

    “We note with concern that the former BRP, Mr Thomas Sammons, has launched a further appeal against the ruling. However, we take comfort in the fact that the Court invoked Section 18 of the Superior Courts Act, which ensures that the judgment is enforceable despite any application for leave to appeal,” said Sonakile.

    The committee expressed concern that the BRP continues to issue correspondence despite his removal.

    “What is deeply alarming, however, is the information received by the committee indicating that Mr Sammons continues to issue correspondence to NTI staff purporting to act as the BRP, despite his removal. Should these allegations prove to be true, we call on the department to urgently investigate this matter, and to lay criminal charges for fraud where appropriate.” 

    The committee has also called on the new BRP to prioritise a comprehensive turnaround strategy, within the 25-day window prescribed by the Companies Act.

    “At the heart of this plan must be the regularisation of NTI’s structural challenges, the restoration of salary payments to its employees who have suffered prolonged uncertainty, and a clear audit of previous disciplinary processes, many of which were reportedly handled arbitrarily,” said the Chairperson.

    The have since committed to maintaining its strict oversight role to ensure accountability, transparency, and ultimately, the restoration of NTI as a viable public transport entity that can serve the people of the North West with reliability and dignity.

    The department stated that Tayob is a senior BRP with impressive qualifications obtained from South Africa and the United Kingdom.

    “Among other entities Mr Tayob has rescued, include a State bus company in Gauteng and has also investigated R2.6 billion investment scheme on behalf of the Hawks.” 

    According to the department, Tayob will collaborate closely with Dr Ntlhopeng Dikobe, who has been appointed by the department as the Acting CEO of NTI. 

    Tayob is also expected to present a turnaround plan and provide regular reports to the shareholder representative, ensuring that NTI is restored to profitability. – SAnews.gov.za
     

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Patrushev: The working group will continue to make targeted visits to problematic treatment facilities

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev held a meeting within the framework of incident No. 55 “Wastewater Treatment Facilities”. It was attended by the leadership of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Construction, Rosprirodnadzor and other federal executive bodies, representatives of the State Duma and heads of regions.

    “In the first quarter of this year, six more facilities were put into operation. Ensuring the correct operation of treatment facilities is, first and foremost, a direct contribution to the health of our citizens. And we cannot fail to fulfill our obligations to build and reconstruct facilities. This work must be completed as soon as possible, so constant attention from federal agencies and regions is important. Based on the results of the on-site inspection of the working group for each unfinished facility, a set of measures was formed to resolve existing issues. Their implementation will be strictly monitored,” said Dmitry Patrushev.

    Following the results of the last meeting, a working group was formed to promptly visit all unfinished facilities in the regions involved in the incident.

    During the work of the group, the “road maps” for completing the construction of treatment facilities were adjusted jointly. Dmitry Patrushev emphasized that the new deadlines proposed by the regions should not be violated. The working group will continue to make targeted visits to problematic sites to record the dynamics of solving problems. The Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia has also developed a procedure for verifying the eliminated violations for a re-inspection of treatment facilities by Rosprirodnadzor to confirm the required level of regulatory treatment.

    At the meeting it was noted that in relation to regions that did not complete construction work by April of this year, work has been organized to return part of the funds to the federal budget.

    The participants of the event also discussed the regulatory legal act being prepared, which will determine the procedure for establishing standards for the maximum permissible concentration of pollutants in water bodies of fishery importance. Thanks to the new mechanism, the subjects of the Russian Federation will be able to set standards themselves, taking into account the background concentration of substances in water bodies and regional characteristics.

    Incident No. 55 “Wastewater Treatment Facilities” was created on June 15, 2024 to coordinate work on the construction and reconstruction of wastewater treatment facilities implemented within the framework of the national project “Ecology”, as well as to ensure the operation of these facilities with the achievement of the parameters of standard wastewater treatment. Currently, work is being considered at 145 facilities in 19 regions.

    When working in the incident format, a special project management system is used, which is deployed on the basis of the Government Coordination Center. It allows for prompt coordination of the actions of participants and monitoring of project implementation in real time.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Yuri Trutnev: It is necessary to ensure the safety of people during the fire-hazardous season and the flood-hazardous period

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    As part of a working visit to the Magadan Region, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev held a meeting on the readiness of the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District for the fire-hazardous season and flood-hazardous period, visited the Talaya sanatorium in the village of the same name in the Khasynsky Municipal District, and inspected the new terminal of the airport complex of the Magadan (Sokol) International Airport named after V.S. Vysotsky, which was included in the master plan for the development of the regional capital.

    “Today’s meeting is traditional. We always meet with the heads of regions at the beginning of the flood and fire-hazardous period and figure out the state of readiness of the territories to counteract natural hazards. I cannot help but note that there is another important reason: several days ago, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin held a meeting with members of the Russian Government, at which they discussed preparations for the fire-hazardous season and issues of extinguishing fires. It was noted that the situation with forest fires in Transbaikalia requires special attention. The heads of all regions must pay attention to issues of passing the fire-hazardous season. We must figure out where this poses a danger to people and construction sites,” Yuri Trutnev opened the meeting.

    Since the beginning of the year, the Russian Emergencies Ministry has registered 483 wildfires in the Far Eastern Federal District. About 63% of fires are extinguished within the first day of detection. The cause of 69% of wildfires is the population’s violation of fire safety rules in forests.

    The fire season has begun in six regions: the Republic of Buryatia, Zabaikalsky, Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais, Amur Oblast, and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. A special fire prevention regime has been established in 84 municipal districts. A state of emergency has been introduced in regional forests in Zabaikalsky Krai and a state of emergency in municipal forests in the Republic of Buryatia and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

    To combat fires, the number of parachute firefighting personnel has been increased in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Zabaykalsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai and Magadan Oblast. In general, in the Far Eastern Federal District, compared to 2024, the parachute firefighting service has been increased by 352 staff units and now totals 2,227 people. The Far Eastern Federal District Forestry Department continues to check the regions’ readiness for the fire season. The total number of forest firefighting personnel in the district is 4,158 staff units. The overall percentage of forest firefighting equipment readiness in the district’s constituent entities is 98%, including tractor and bulldozer equipment – 98.9%, automobile equipment – 97.9%, and all-terrain vehicles – 98.7%.

    The issues of passing the flood-hazardous period were discussed. In the Far Eastern Federal District, 545 hydroposts are planned to be involved in permanent operational monitoring. During the flood period, it is planned to additionally open 83 temporary posts. Preventive measures are being carried out in preparation for the accident-free passage of spring floods and summer floods, including dredging and bank protection works, clearing and straightening river beds.

    Roshydromet and Rosvodresursy have assessed the readiness of the main large reservoirs to receive flood waters and ensure the safe passage of spring floods.

    In March, the Russian Emergencies Ministry conducted an inspection of the readiness of the management bodies, forces and means of the functional and territorial subsystems of the unified state system for the prevention and elimination of emergency situations in the subjects of the Far Eastern Federal District for actions as intended during the flood-hazardous period of 2025. Based on the results of the inspection, seven subjects (Kamchatka, Primorsky, Khabarovsk Krais, Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin Oblasts, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug) were recognized as ready for the safe passage of flood waters.

    “We hold a meeting every year on the issue of the readiness of the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District for the fire-hazardous season and the flood-hazardous period. Dangerous natural phenomena in the Far East require special attention. Currently, a rather dangerous fire situation has developed in the Zabaikalsky Krai. We proceed from the fact that fires closer than five kilometers from populated areas are unacceptable. There are 19 such fires in Zabaikalsky Krai. It is necessary to ensure the safety of people. The creation of fire-fighting mineralized strips was discussed at the meeting. The prospects for unmanned aviation were considered. In general, there is a lot of work to be done. The heads of the regions understand their responsibility, everyone has experience in this work. We will make every effort to ensure that people in the Far East are safe from fires and floods,” Yuri Trutnev summed up.

    On the same day, Yuri Trutnev visited the Talaya sanatorium in the village of the same name in the Khasynsky municipal district and held a meeting on the progress of the construction of the power transmission line in the village of Talaya.

    The Talaya sanatorium is included in the List of Russian resorts with justification for their uniqueness in terms of natural healing factors, approved by the Russian Ministry of Health. The resort is known for its thermal mineral spring and therapeutic mud, the use of which allows for the treatment of many diseases. The construction, equipment of the treatment base and room stock, as well as the improvement of the sanatorium itself have already been fully completed.

    The launch of the resort is entirely dependent on the construction of a high-voltage power line that will connect Talaya to the region’s energy system.

    “We discussed the progress of the construction of the power transmission line to the village of Talaya. I suggested that colleagues reach an agreement on when the construction of the power transmission line will be completed, and determine the final deadline for the completion of the work. The deadline was postponed three times. This cannot be left unpunished. If a person takes on a job, then he must complete it,” Yuri Trutnev summed up and instructed Magadan Region Governor Sergei Nosov not to lose control over the situation.

    Yuri Trutnev also inspected the new terminal of the airport complex of the Magadan International Airport (Sokol) named after V.S. Vysotsky, which was included in the master plan for the development of Magadan. The area of the new terminal is 14 thousand square meters. The capacity of the new terminal is 800 passengers per hour (the old terminal can handle 600 passengers per hour).

    “The main thing is that people feel comfortable. We looked at the terminal today – people are already using the airport, everything is clean and comfortable there. This is another transport hub that will help develop the Far East, help flights between cities. Therefore, it is good that this work has been done,” said Yuri Trutnev.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why were people so drawn to phrenology?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Fenneke Sysling, Assistant Professor in History of Science, Medicine and Colonialism, Leiden University

    B.erne/Shutterstock

    It’s hard to imagine now, but people once believed that the bumps on your head could reveal your personality. For one thing, it’s so hard to locate the bumps on your head, let alone the thirty or so bumps the phrenologists said could be discerned. So why was phrenology such an attractive idea for such a long time?

    Phrenology was the belief that the brain’s activity could be studied by examining the bumps on the skull, in places where the brain pushed outwards. Phrenologists claimed they could read your personality based on how big different bumps were. Initially, after German physiologist Franz Joseph Gall developed the new doctrine around 1800, it was a subject of serious scientific debate. But it was soon labelled quackery by the academic elite.

    But that wasn’t the end of phrenology. In fact, it became more popular in the 19th century, thanks to physician Johann Gaspar Spurzheim who wrote books and gave public lectures in Britain and France – focusing less on skulls and brains, and more on reading the living people. It remained a popular pastime for more than a century, mainly in English-speaking parts of the world but also outside it, for example in China.

    Front page of the American Phrenological Journal and Science of Health, 1880.
    AKaiser/Shutterstock

    Part of the appeal of phrenology was that it gave people a vocabulary to understand themselves and others. With urbanisation and a growing middle class, outside rigid class and religious structures, people were curious about new ways to categorise humankind. In the city, you wouldn’t necessarily know everyone nearby or even your neighbours, so your place in society was less determined.

    This may have led to more freedom but also to insecurity about what your and everyone else’s place was. Phrenology was a new way of classifying others. But it was not only meant to study others, it was also a way to know yourself, just like diary writing which also gained popularity in this period. With the help of phrenology, people could now see themselves as having an individual self, reflected in the shape of their head.

    Those interested could go to a lecture or read a book about phrenology or – if you lived in New York – visit the Phrenological Cabinet, a display of skulls, busts and portraits. If you really wanted to learn something about yourself, you asked a phrenologist for an examination. In the US this would cost you about half a dollar, (US$20 dollars (£15) today). Many popular phrenologists in the UK and the US offered readings. They were often itinerant, setting up shop in hotel rooms or at Brighton Pier in southern England.

    After a reading, clients sometimes received a written assessment, but more usually
    received a cheaper standardised chart that detailed their characteristics. On it, they received a score for typical phrenological characteristics such as adhesiveness (or friendship), spirituality, benevolence and time (the ability to judge the lapse of time, “essential for musicians”).

    The score was based on the phrenologist’s approach. They tended to gauge the size of the bumps in relative size, compared to your other bumps and to other people’s bumps. They claimed that this was a scientific approach, but it gave phrenologists a great deal of freedom in interpretation.

    And – surprise surprise – my analysis of about 160 charts between 1840 and 1940 showed that every single person who received a chart scored above average in most if not all traits.

    The positive results partly explain the appeal of a visit to the phrenologist. Another explanation, writes history professor Michael Sokal, is the Barnum effect. This is the tendency of people to rate descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored for them as accurate. In fact, they are often so vague and general that they would apply to almost all people.

    Many people, for example, would agree with the suggestion that they are of above-average intelligence but also experience anxiety and self-doubt sometimes. And, indeed, in my collections of phrenological charts, the trait that on average gets the lowest score was “self-esteem”. If only you work a bit on your self-esteem, is the implicit message, you can be an even better version of yourself.

    Phrenologists were often deterministic when they judged criminals or non-white
    people, based on the skulls or busts they had of people from these categories. Their irregular features or skull shapes apparently condemned them to a life in prison or in slavery.

    But they took a different approach to the middle-class visitors of their offices. The character trait of “destructiveness”, for example, was seen the trait of a murderer, but for a middle-class individual was usually explained as energy for overcoming difficulties.

    According to phrenologists, everyone could play a role in their destiny and people could use their self-knowledge for improvement. Taking time to reflect on the relationship between cause and effect, for example, could slowly increase the size of your “causality” bump, phrenologists said.

    According to early 20th-century phrenologist Stephen Tracht, it took three weeks for a child, three years for a young man, and more once you were 45 or 50, to develop a specific part of the brain.

    These practices show how in phrenology self-knowledge and self-improvement came to be seen as two sides of the same coin. And while not everyone will have accepted their phrenological assessment as an absolute truth and customers often took only the information from it that they liked, phrenology did become part of people’s vocabulary, and with it the message that with the right tools, they could become a better version of themselves.

    Fenneke Sysling received funding from the Dutch Research Council

    – ref. Why were people so drawn to phrenology? – https://theconversation.com/why-were-people-so-drawn-to-phrenology-246646

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Low iron is common in teenage girls – with vegans and vegetarians at greatest risk, according to our research in Sweden

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Moa Wolff, Postdoctoral Fellow, Family Medicine and Community Medicine, Lund University

    Teenage girls are particularly at risk of iron deficiency. Perfect Wave/ Shutterstock

    Teenage girls who avoid meat in favour of a plant-based diet are at higher risk of developing an iron deficiency, according to our latest research.

    Our study confirmed that iron deficiency is common among teenage girls, with 38% of participants affected. We also found that risk of iron deficiency was strongly associated with both eating patterns and menstrual blood loss. Girls who reported heavy periods and followed a meat-restricted diet – meaning they were vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian or avoided red meat – had by far the highest risk of developing iron deficiency. We found that nearly 70% of vegans and vegetarians had iron deficiency.

    As a growing number of young people turn to sustainable eating practices, this condition could become even more common. This is why it’s important teenagers are properly informed about the risks of low iron – and how they can get enough iron even while following a plant-based diet.

    The idea for this study came from the personal experience of one of us, whose teenage daughter struggled with fatigue, low mood and poor stamina. After months of assuming it was stress or excess screen time, blood tests revealed the cause: iron deficiency anaemia. The experience made us wonder whether the issue is more widespread. This sparked a research collaboration that brought together clinical and nutritional expertise.

    The study included 475 female high school students from southern Sweden. Participants completed questionnaires about their diet, what supplements they used, as well as their menstrual patterns. They also provided blood samples, which were analysed for haemoglobin and ferritin – the key markers used to assess iron status.

    The body contains about as much iron as a two-inch nail. Around two-thirds of the body’s iron is used in red blood cells to carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of body. This is why a deficiency can cause tiredness, pale skin and shortness of breath.

    But iron isn’t just about oxygen. The remaining one-third plays a key role in brain function, energy metabolism and nerve signalling. Studies show that even without anaemia, low iron can lead to fatigue, poor concentration, reduced academic performance and physical tiredness. Treating iron deficiency has been linked to reduced fatigue.

    Teenage girls are at particular risk of iron deficiency. There are several reasons for this.

    First, the body needs extra iron to keep up with the rapid growth that happens during puberty. Second, menstruation leads to iron loss, with periods often heavy during the first years after menarche (a woman’s first period). Third, diet plays a key role. Many girls also change their eating habits during adolescence, often reducing their intake of red meat or animal products. But even among omnivores, iron intake tends to be too low. It’s not just about what they avoid – it’s that many simply aren’t getting enough iron overall.

    Those who avoided animal proteins were at the highest risk of iron deficiency.
    nadianb/ Shutterstock

    While our findings are from Sweden, the issue is not unique to the country. A European school-based study from 2006-2007 found iron deficiency in 26% of girls aged between 12 and 17. Data from the United States also found that around 17% of girls aged 12 to 21 have low iron stores. Study methods may differ, but the trend is consistent: adolescent girls across countries are at risk of iron deficiency – often without knowing it.

    Despite how common iron deficiency is, several persistent myths can prevent young people from getting the help they need.

    One common belief is that eliminating animal products is inherently healthy, without acknowledging the need to replace the nutrients they supply.

    A plant-based diet can absolutely be healthy and sustainable. But when animal sources of iron are removed, it’s essential to include iron-rich plant foods and to combine them with certain foods for better absorption. Without that knowledge, even well-intentioned choices can lead to nutritional gaps.

    Another common belief is that low iron would be obvious – that you’d feel if you had it.

    In reality, iron deficiency and anaemia often develops slowly and the body adapts over time. Symptoms such as tiredness, poor concentration and low mood can sneak up gradually and become the new normal.

    A third misconception is that iron supplements are dangerous or unnecessary.

    For those diagnosed with a deficiency, supplements are often essential and safe when used properly. Treatment usually needs to continue for at least three months to restore the body’s iron stores.

    Iron intake

    So, what can be done? Here are three simple, evidence-based tips for a sustainable iron-rich diet:

    1. Make iron part of your daily routine. Whole grains, legumes and leafy greens (such as spinach, kale and chard) are good plant-based sources of iron. Even in a balanced diet, where a person consumes a maximum of 500g of red meat per week, more than 80% of daily iron intake comes from plant-based sources.

    2. Help your body absorb it. Plant-based iron is often tightly bound to phytic acid and needs help to be released. So it’s important to combine iron-rich meals with enhancers such as vitamin C (citrus fruits, peppers and cruciferous vegetables) or natural acids (citrus juice, vinegar, soy sauce, miso, kimchi or sauerkraut). These enhancers help improve iron absorption. You can also use fermentation to your advantage. Foods such as sourdough bread have gone through processes that reduce phytic acid, making iron more accessible.

    3. Avoid iron blockers. Skip tea or coffee with meals. The tannins they contain can significantly reduce iron absorption.

    With the right knowledge, young people can eat both sustainably and healthily – and avoid iron deficiency and its consequences.

    Moa Wolff receives funding from the Southern Health Care Region of Sweden, the Lions Research Fund Skåne, and Regional Funding for Clinical Research (USVE). She has also received an honorarium from Pharmacosmos for giving an educational webinar.

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

    – ref. Low iron is common in teenage girls – with vegans and vegetarians at greatest risk, according to our research in Sweden – https://theconversation.com/low-iron-is-common-in-teenage-girls-with-vegans-and-vegetarians-at-greatest-risk-according-to-our-research-in-sweden-253878

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How could Canada deter an invasion? Nukes and mandatory military service

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Aisha Ahmad, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Toronto

    United States President Donald Trump has been loud and clear. America’s liberal democratic allies cannot rely on the U.S. to protect them.

    Trump has also suggested using illegal force to achieve his own imperialist ambitions, even against former allies.

    Message received.

    Canadians and Europeans understand the American partnership is over.

    They’re now processing the implications of America’s apparent democratic collapse for global security.

    Does Trump’s stance mean that liberal democracies are now vulnerable to invasions, annexations and theft of natural resources? Yes, it does.



    Read more:
    An American military invasion of Canada? No longer unthinkable, but highly unlikely

    International security scholarship shows that, unless they are deterred, predatory superpowers use force to seize territory and natural resources for the purpose of aggrandizement.

    While an invasion of Canada is not imminent, the threats to democratic nations are now fully detectable and predictable.

    The responsible time to deter these threats is right now.

    Asymmetric deterrence

    Deterrence works when the imposed cost of an action is higher than its expected benefit. That means a hostile power won’t attack Canada if the risks of invasion are higher than the value of seizing our natural resources.

    Given that Canada is extremely resource-rich, that’s a challenge.

    While the Canadian government can make smart choices on military procurement, there is little any Canadian leader can do to transform the Canadian Armed Forces into a superpower army.

    Even if Canada redirected every penny of its budget to defence spending, it could not catch up with American, Russian or Chinese military power. Given this asymmetry, is deterrence possible?

    Absolutely.

    To get there, Canada must take two big steps: first, adopt a “whole-of-society” defence system to protect the homeland; and second, contribute to a democratic nuclear umbrella.



    Read more:
    Amid U.S. threats, Canada’s national security plans must include training in non-violent resistance

    Whole-of-society defence

    In “whole-of-society” defence, all citizens play a role in national security and emergency response. This approach requires mandatory military service and nationwide civil defence preparations.

    Whole-of-society defence not only improves societal resilience, but it also scares away potential invaders.

    Ordinary citizens can in fact defeat superpowers using nothing more than small arms and light weapons. The U.S. and Russia have both been trounced in the past by well-armed resistance movements.

    For a power-drunk dictator, whole-of-society defence is a sobering reality check.

    The presence of a large, well-armed and well-trained domestic population promises invaders a bloody, expensive and protracted ground war. That means high risks, low rewards, skyrocketing costs and decades-long timelines.

    That’s enough to deter a predatory superpower.



    Read more:
    Why annexing Canada would destroy the United States

    Many of Canada’s democratic allies have already embraced whole-of-society defence. Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland all have mandatory military service and civil defence, and sensible gun regulations that allow law-abiding citizens to contribute to national security.

    Canada has every reason to adopt the Scandinavian approach to national defence, including mandatory military and civil service and the removal of some restrictions on Canadian firearms. An excellent model to consider is Sweden’s brand new “Total Defence” system.

    Norwegians, Finns and Swedes are peaceful people who have learned to survive next to a dangerous superpower. Canadians must look at their own vulnerabilities and see the logic and wisdom behind the Scandinavian approach.

    A democratic nuclear umbrella

    Although the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty prohibits nuclear weapons development, the Trump administration’s utter disdain for democratic allies has prompted a global rethink. Trump has demanded NATO countries stop relying on the U.S. military and spend more on their own defence.

    Nuclear weapons acquisition complies with his demand.

    Germany and Poland have reopened the nuclear debate, but most European democracies lack the materials to develop their own weapons. Instead, they are looking to France and the United Kingdom to create a new European nuclear umbrella.

    Some Canadians hope the U.K. and French umbrellas could protect Canada, too.

    That’s the wrong mentality.

    The U.K. and France have a combined 515 nuclear weapons. Russia has 5,580.

    Instead of asking the U.K. and France to further stretch their limited arsenals, Canada could step up and contribute to the solution.

    Canada is already a nuclear-threshold state with both the know-how and raw materials to develop a nuclear weapon. It would take time and money, but Canada is in a better position to help than most other European countries.

    Once across the nuclear threshold, Canada would have a bulletproof defence of its homeland. It could then work with the U.K. and France as an equal and reliable partner, contributing to a democratic nuclear umbrella to protect vulnerable allies.

    This would require formal withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but that action doesn’t need to be provocative or unilateral. Canada could co-ordinate its withdrawal with European allies as part of a collective defence of liberal democracies.

    In the face of rising tyranny and superpower conquest, Canada can either choose to be a burden on its overstretched French and British allies or a source of renewed safety for its democratic friends.

    Defending democracy

    Deterrence is hard work, but it is infinitely better than the horrors of invasion.

    Mandatory military service and nuclear weapons may be new ideas for Canadians, but other friendly democracies have been using these strategies for decades.

    The good news is that successful deterrence means stability and peace, so citizens can relax and carry on with their lives. Canadians want this safety for themselves, and for their allies, too.

    The time for Canada to act is now, when threats are foreseeable but not imminent. Waiting until an army amasses at the border is too late.

    To deter aggression, Canadians need to step up and be a little more like their Scandinavian, British and French allies. That is the price of continued freedom.

    Aisha Ahmad receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

    – ref. How could Canada deter an invasion? Nukes and mandatory military service – https://theconversation.com/how-could-canada-deter-an-invasion-nukes-and-mandatory-military-service-253414

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to study looking at lab-grown chicken muscle tissue chunks

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    A study published in Trends in Biotechnology looks at lab grown chicken chunks. 

    Dr Rodrigo Amaro-Ledesma, Director of the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein,  Imperial College London, said:

    “One of the key goals for cultivated meat is replicating the texture and structure of whole-cut products, such as chicken breast or steak.  Muscle tissue needs oxygen and nutrients delivered deep into the structure to remain viable.  As a result, most cultivated meat companies have initially focused on producing unstructured or ‘mince-style’ products, which are more feasible to produce at scale with current technologies.

    “This new paper presents an innovative approach to addressing the whole-cut challenge by using a Hollow Fiber Bioreactor (HFB), which mimics a circulatory system to deliver nutrients and oxygen across thick tissue constructs.  What is unique about this system is the cell alignment and muscle cell differentiation, showing potential for fibrous aligned products generated by the cells themselves.

    “It’s a meaningful technical achievement that they have produced a cultivated chicken meat several centimetres thick.  If you combine that with the research we’re conducting at the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein – fine-tuning flavour profiles and exploring alternative, cost-effective raw materials – we’re comfortably on track towards an exciting and appealing new range of products.

    “While the study highlights remaining hurdles such as the use of edible or food-safe materials and improving oxygen delivery at scale, broader challenges for the field remain.

    “Cultivated meat is a promising alternative to conventional meat because it offers the potential to reduce environmental impacts (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions, land and water use), eliminate the need for animal slaughter, and improve food safety by avoiding the use of antibiotics and reducing the risk of zoonotic diseases, amongst other advantages.

    “In order for cultivated meat products to hit the supermarket shelves in a big way, they need to also be a hit with consumers.  In the UK, we have the legacy of alternative proteins like Quorn, which are already more popular here than abroad.  More widely, there’s not only a taste, texture and nutrition barrier, but cultural, religious and habitual factors can prevent people trying new products no matter how appealing they can be.  At the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein at Imperial College London, we are combining cutting edge research, innovation, education and gastronomy to make headway on safety, quality and consumer acceptance.”

    Prof Derek Stewart, Director of the Advanced Plant Growth Centre and Co-Director of the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre, The James Hutton Institute, said:

    “The science on display here is solid and robust, with a significant level of supplementary material to support the conclusions.  This is an exciting advance in the alternative protein sector and specifically culture meat, and addresses many of the challenges that were seen as stumbling blocks such as aligned cell growth to deliver the meat texture sensory experience as well as the fundamental issues of getting nutrients and oxygen to the growing solid meat tissue.  The use of hollow fibre supports (in essence scaffolds) and the advances herein will open up many areas of allied research (and undoubtedly investment) with scaleup options now seemingly achievable with the progression from this paper in terms of better sensors, robotics and ultimately AI for control.

    “Limitations of the system presented are identified with the need to create better conveyable oxygen in the nutrient media, pressure control in media deliver in scaled up systems and the precise removal of the hollow fibres to deliver a uniform and appetising cut of whole meat.  However, these issues seem solvable.

    “As for all cultured meat production, the issues of energy use and associated sustainability need to be addressed but the proliferation of renewables and private wire connections could be a route to solving that conundrum.”

    ‘Scalable tissue biofabrication via perfusable hollow fiber arrays for cultured meat applications’ by Minghao Nie et al. was published in Trends in Biotechnology at 16:00 UK time on Wednesday 16 April 2025. 

    DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2025.02.022

    Declared interests

    Dr Rodrigo Amaro-Ledesma: “Nothing beyond that I am the Director of the Bezos Centre.”

    Prof Derek Stewart: “Prof Stewart has no conflicts of interest in relation to this research.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Marat Khusnullin: Active construction of university campuses continues

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    On the instructions of President Vladimir Putin and the Government, a network of world-class university campuses is being created in Russia. The projects contribute to improving the quality of education and developing adjacent territories. This was reported by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin.

    “One of these campuses is being built on the basis of the Oryol State University named after I.S. Turgenev. Currently, monolithic works are being completed at the construction site in the dormitory complex, which will consist of three buildings. All residential buildings will be connected by overground and underground passages. Thanks to them, students will be able to comfortably move to neighboring buildings without going outside,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

    About 1.5 thousand students will live in comfortable conditions. The new buildings will also have gyms, rooms for independent study and leisure. The construction of the dormitory with a total area of 30 thousand square meters is planned to be completed in 2026.

    “Currently, more than 200 specialists are working at the construction site of the inter-university campus. In addition to the dormitory, an educational and laboratory building with a total area of more than 27 thousand square meters is also being built on its territory. About 2 thousand students will be able to study in the five-story building. Monolithic work is currently underway at the site,” said Karen Oganesyan, General Director of the Unified Customer in Construction.

    The company is also building three more campuses in Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad and Novosibirsk.

    Glazing of the academic buildings on the campus of the Ural Federal University has already been completed. The total area of the three buildings – the Specialized Educational and Scientific Center for Senior Schoolchildren, the Institute of Radio Electronics and Information Technology, and the Institute of Economics and Management – is 100,000 square meters. Work is currently underway on the exterior finishing of the facades, installation of internal engineering systems, and finishing of the premises. The construction of the buildings is planned to be completed by the end of 2025.

    For students of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, it is planned to complete the construction of two dormitories this year – for a total of 2.5 thousand places. In addition, in the first quarter of 2025, a clock tower was erected on one of the buildings of the Kantiana campus.

    Three new modern buildings will also appear on the campus of Novosibirsk State University. One of them, a building for flow auditoriums, has already been put into operation. The buildings will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 people.

    Modern educational campuses are designed taking into account advanced technologies and innovative approaches. They are equipped with high-tech laboratories, libraries, areas for collective work and rest, which creates a comfortable environment for study and scientific activity. An important aspect is the integration of campuses into the city infrastructure.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: 04/16/2025, 14-04 (Moscow time) the values of the lower boundary of the price corridor and the range of market risk assessment for the security RU000A108GC0 (IADOM 1P44) were changed.

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Moscow Exchange – Moscow Exchange –

    04/16/2025

    14:04

    In accordance with the Methodology for determining the risk parameters of the stock market and deposit market of Moscow Exchange PJSC by NCO NCC (JSC) on 16.04.2025, 14-04 (Moscow time), the values of the lower limit of the price corridor (up to 88.13) and the range of market risk assessment (up to 579.02 rubles, equivalent to a rate of 50.0%) of the security RU000A108GC0 (IADOM 1P44) were changed.

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

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

    HTTPS: //VVV. MOEX.K.MO/N89544

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Supplement Manufacturing Partner, Inc. Issues Recall on Dorado Nutrition Brand Spermidine Supplement 10mg Vegetable Capsules (Spermidine 3HCL) Due To Undeclared Wheat Allergen

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 3

    Summary

    Company Announcement Date:
    April 14, 2025
    FDA Publish Date:
    April 16, 2025
    Product Type:
    Food & BeveragesAllergens
    Reason for Announcement:

    Recall Reason Description
    Undeclared wheat

    Company Name:
    Supplement Manufacturing Partners, Inc.
    Brand Name:

    Brand Name(s)
    Dorado Nutrition/Space Garden

    Product Description:

    Product Description
    Spermidine/Spermidin

    Company Announcement
    Supplement Manufacturing Partners, Inc. is recalling Dorado Nutrition brand Spermidine Maximum Strength 10 MG per serving, because it contains undeclared wheat. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to wheat run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume this product.
    Spermidine Maximum Strength 10 MG per serving was sold online at Amazon from 05/22/2024 to 04/04/2025.
    Product was also sold in Germany as Spermidin 60 Kapseln 38g under Deep Green GmbH aka Space Garden.
    The Dorado Nutrition brand Spermidine Maximum Strength 10mg per serving is packaged in a white capsule bottle containing 120 capsules. The product is labeled with a blue outlined label, with a best by date of 04/2026 located on the bottom of the bottle, with Lot Number 12792402-44 and 12792402-44J. No allergic or adverse reactions have been reported to date.
    The recall was initiated after a Supplement Manufacturing Partner investigation following a test of the product. It was discovered that product containing wheat was distributed in packaging that did not reveal the presence of wheat. The mislabeled product has been removed from sale.
    Consumers who have purchased the product are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at SMPQuality@smpnutra.com or at 833-810-9896, 9-5 EST.

    Company Contact Information

    Product Photos

    Content current as of:
    04/16/2025

    Regulated Product(s)

    Topic(s)

    Follow FDA

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Public Health initiative aims to improve the health and safety of Salford taxi and private hire drivers and passengers

    Source: City of Salford

    • Salford Licensing Service has joined up with Salford Public Health to promote good physical and mental health
    • Funded Mental Health First Aid training and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) health checks
    • Public Health initiative part of Salford City Council’s commitment to creating a fairer, greener, healthier and more inclusive city for all.

    To support Salford City Council’s priority to create healthy lives and quality care for all, Salford Licensing Service has joined up with Salford Public Health to offer the opportunity to taxi and private hire licensed drivers, vehicle owners and operators licensed with the Authority, funded Mental Health First Aid training and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) health checks.

    This Public Health initiative aims to improve the health and safety of both taxi and private hire drivers and passengers by providing training that can help to improve mental health awareness, confidence in having mental health and wellbeing conversations and how to support others and signpost to available support and services.

    The CVD health checks are designed to detect early signs of heart disease and provide people with the information they need to reduce their risk of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes or dementia while helping to prevent the onset of serious and long-term health conditions. This initiative also supports people to stay well in work.

    The NHS Health Check programme is a cardiovascular disease programme and after the service was successfully relaunched in Salford in April 2023, 13,232 NHS Health Checks were delivered across the city, equating to 20.3% of the total eligible population by April 2024. This resulted in an increase of Salford’s rank to fourth highest performing local authorities (LA) in England, as well as and the top performing LA in Greater Manchester and the North West.

    Councillor Mishal Saeed, Executive Support Member for Social Care and Mental Health at Salford City Council said: “As a City Council, we are fully invested in the health and wellbeing of everyone in Salford. That’s why it’s important that we support more people to live healthy lives for longer by promoting good physical and mental health.

    “Taxi and private hire licensees deliver important transport services in our communities, to residents and visitors to the city, and supporting school transport. We look forward to positively engaging with licensees, providing health checks and mental health training opportunities, helping to support them in the management of their own health as well as being able to support members of the public, thereby fostering a positive and supportive environment.”

    Share this

    Date published
    Wednesday 16 April 2025

    Press and media enquiries

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: City centre shopping streets formally traffic free

    Source: City of Plymouth

    Old Town Street and New George Street will formally become a pedestrian area, bringing it in line with the rest of the city centre.

    From Monday 28 April a traffic regulation order will come into effect that means traffic restrictions apply to this redeveloped public space, which has been transformed and updated as part of a multi-million investment in the city centre.

    Councillor Mark Lowry, city centre champion said: “This is a major shopping street. More and more people want to sit and eat in some of the new businesses that have opened as well as enjoy the transformation of this area. The place has been packed in recent weekends, with music sessions and a food market. We want more of this.

    “People have always enjoyed strolling around here but the service yard created potential conflict between vehicles and pedestrians.

    “This order makes it clear that the safety of pedestrians and shoppers are the top priority. This is essentially legal paperwork which clarifies what delivery drivers should and should not be doing.”

     Steve Hughes, chief executive of the Plymouth City Centre Company, said: “These changes will make the city centre more welcoming for visitors and enable us to use the fully pedestrianised spaces for events and other street entertainment during the day and at night.

    “It will help us to make the city centre livelier and develop the evening and night-time economy, so will be good news for our businesses.”

    The order means:

    • Deliveries will only be permitted between 4am and 8am seven days a week on Old Town Street and New George Street (up to the service yard next to Tesco’s) – permits for those times are no longer needed.
    • Vehicles will only be allowed between 8am and 6pm (8pm on Thursdays) if the driver has a permit, issued by the Council. This has been introduced to keep pedestrians safe from vehicle movements but recognises many businesses, such as coffee shops open long before 9.30am.
    • The entire city centre pedestrian area including Old Town Street and New George Street is covered by a no loading and no waiting (no parking) restriction.

    Deliveries for businesses in Old Town Street and New George Street have already been restricted to accessing the service yards between 4am and 8am for months, while work to improve the public realm progressed. The order means this will be a permanent fixture.

    Restricting deliveries to this quieter period enables the new areas of public space to be prioritised for pedestrians during the day and evening, particularly with more events being held in the Old Town Square.

    The Council has been in discussions with businesses about concerns they have and has written to all businesses outlining details of the order as well as asking them to ensure their delivery drivers are aware of the access times as well as permit requirements.

    The conditions apply to any vehicle with a licence plate, including vans, mopeds and motorbikes. The Council is also asking businesses who use delivery riders to ensure that the riders comply with the law around electric cycles and cycle responsibly through the pedestrian areas. 

    As the traffic order is an experimental order, there is an open 18-month consultation period, which means the Council can tweak the arrangements where necessary.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Keel Square gets ready to host a street party for Sunderland’s shared celebrations for the 80th Anniversary of VE Day

    Source: City of Sunderland

    Residents are being invited to join in a moment of celebration when Sunderland marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day on Thursday 8 May.

    A day of celebration to mark 80 years since the end of World War 2 in Europe is being held in Keel Square from 11am that day with everyone invited.

    VE Day bunting, World War 2 vehicles with uniformed staff, and a vintage double decker bus will all add to the VE Day spirit in Keel Square, along with deck chairs and picnic tables for people to sit and soak up the atmosphere.

    There’ll also be the chance to enjoy one of the nation’s favourite dishes of fish and chips from a vintage style van on Keel Square. During the war years, many of the ingredients that make up this dish were left unrationed, helping solidify the dish into British cuisine.

    The WI will also be holding a charitable cake sale in the Pavilion beneath the EXPO screen from 11am as well as hosting a tombola, craft demonstrations and a display showcasing the WI during the war to now.

    The street party itself gets underway from 4pm, with a packed programme of performers to enjoy, including singers, dance troupes, a Punch and Judy show, face painters and stilt walkers.

    Residents are also being encouraged to submit any photos that they may have from VE day for display on the EXPO screen on the day alongside archived photos and videos of the 1940s celebrations. These can be sent to: events@sunderland.gov.uk

    Councillor Beth Jones, Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Tourism at Sunderland City Council, said: “Street parties are a traditional way of celebrating VE day by bringing communities together. It will be fantastic to see Sunderland residents and communities coming together on Keel Square to join in this shared moment of celebration.

    “There are so many brilliant things to see and do on the day. Even though it’s a normal working day for residents, I’d like to encourage everyone to come down and join in with Sunderland VE Day celebrations.”

    The celebrations on Keel Square are part of the wider programme of organised events happening across Sunderland.

    Following on from the street party, there’ll be a chance to enjoy the ringing of the Sunderland Minster Church Bells between 5pm and 5:45pm.

    Then, from 7pm, residents can attend a special VE Day concert at the Fire Station. This will include performances from vintage singers, dancers, a big band and a choir. This will be hosted by former breakfast show host, Alfie Joey.

    Tickets for the concert cost £5 and are on sale now. Any residents wishing to purchase tickets can do so on this link: VE Day 80th Anniversary Concert | The Fire Station – Live Music, Theatre & Performance Venue

    The celebrations will end on Keel Square with Lighting Lamplights of Peace, followed by the singing of ‘I vow to thee my country’.

    Further celebrations are taking place throughout the city with schools, care homes and community groups registering to join in. This includes their own flag raisings, VE Day crafts and street parties.

    You can find out more about VE Day celebrations happening across Sunderland by visiting VE Day Celebrations – MySunderland or register your own event be emailing events@sunderland.gov.uk

    Share your celebration photos and videos on social media by using the #SunderlandVEDay80 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: International Conference at the State University of Management: A Look into the Future of Public Administration

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    The International Scientific and Practical Conference “State and Municipal Administration in the Context of the Implementation of National Development Goals of Russia” has begun its work at the State University of Management.

    The official part was opened by the rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroev.

    “The topic of today’s meeting is closer to our university than ever, because the specialty “State and Municipal Administration” was born and developed here, and is now implemented in many universities of the country. Many of our graduates hold positions in the state and municipal service, including top positions in ministries, governments and municipalities. And we are pleased that these careers began within the walls of our university,” Vladimir Vitalievich noted.

    The welcoming speech was given by the Chairman of the Commission on Territorial Development, Urban Environment and Infrastructure of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Board of the NP “Center for Innovations of Municipalities” Andrey Maksimov.

    “I am glad that such a large-scale conference dedicated to the quality of public administration is taking place at the State University of Management. Today we are at an important point: over the past five years, the reform of legislation in the sphere of municipal administration has been completed and the directions for its further development have been laid down. Clear national goals and guidelines for shaping the future of each of us have appeared,” Andrei Nikolaevich emphasized.

    On behalf of the conference organizer, the first adviser to the Mayor of Moscow, professor of the Department of State and Municipal Administration of the State University of Management Vladimir Zotov took the floor.

    “Our traditional conference is taking place within the walls of the first management university, which has a rich history. Tens of thousands of its graduates work in various sectors of our country’s economy and hold high positions in state and municipal government. This year, Russia is moving to a new system of public authority. Well-formulated goals and programs are the key to our future,” concluded Vladimir Borisovich.

    Then the President of the Russian Municipal Academy (RMA) Alexander Aigistov spoke about the history of the development of the new law in the sphere of municipal management and the changes envisaged in it. After that, he presented RMA medals for contribution to the development of local self-government in the Russian Federation to Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Management Elena Khmelchenko and a medal for outstanding labor achievements to Associate Professor of the Department Mikhail Polyakov.

    Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Kherson Technical University Viktor Mokrushin thanked the State University of Management for assistance and support in development.

    “Thank you for the opportunity to participate, for helping our university. We also have a department of state and municipal management. We are starting almost from scratch, but thanks to the help of the GUU management, we are succeeding,” noted Viktor Ivanovich.

    The head of the Vykhino-Zhulebino municipal district Nina Kalkova presented letters of gratitude for their contribution to the training of highly qualified specialists in the field of state and municipal administration to Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Administration Vladimir Zotov and Associate Professor of the department Olga Petrina, as well as gratitude to the specialist in educational and methodological work of the department Valeria Polynnikova.

    The head of the Ryazan municipal district, Anatoly Yevseyev, presented letters of gratitude to the head of the department of “State and Municipal Administration” Sergey Chuyev and the assistant of the department Anna Khaustova.

    The head of the Lefortovo municipal district, Mikhail Surkov, presented letters of gratitude to specialists in educational and methodological work of the Department of State and Municipal Administration, Ekaterina Lavrova and Ekaterina Volodina

    The head of the Tekstilshchiki municipal district, Alexandra Ignatyeva, handed over a letter of thanks to the associate professor of the Department of State and Municipal Administration, Mikhail Polyakov.

    After the formal part, the work continued within the framework of seven thematic sections.

    On April 17, the conference will include the All-Russian competition “History of Local Self-Government in My Region” and the Final of the All-Russian competition of student project (research) works in the field of state and municipal administration “Managers: New Generation”, and on April 19, a meeting of the young scientists section and the Final of the Open competition of projects of students in grades 9-11 “If I were the head of the city (district)” will take place. Details on the official website of the conference.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 04/16/2025

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: EU rolls out plan to promote sustainable, repairable and energy efficient products

    Source: European Union 2

    The EU has issued a list of products that should be prioritised to introduce eco-design requirements and energy labelling over the next five years. The list includes steel, aluminium, textiles, furniture, tyres and mattresses as well as consumer electronics and small household appliances.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Corporate Lawyer from Scott Township Sentenced to More Than 12.5 Years in Prison for Methamphetamine Trafficking

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A resident of Scott Township, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 151 months of imprisonment, to be followed by eight years of supervised release, on his conviction of distributing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

    Chief United States District Judge Mark R. Hornak imposed the sentence on James France, 62, on April 15, 2025. A federal jury found France guilty of the charge in March 2022.

    According to information presented to the Court, France was a lawyer with an Ivy League degree who worked for several Pittsburgh-based law firms before turning to a life of methamphetamine distribution. On March 16, 2015, France was arrested in Illinois after a search of his car revealed approximately 1,344 grams of methamphetamine along with scales, packaging material, syringes, and more than $4,700 in U.S. currency. In May of 2016, an arrest of one of France’s conspirators by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Rochester, New York, led to the identification of France as a major methamphetamine supplier from the Pittsburgh area.

    In late June of 2016, the DEA effectuated a controlled purchase of $2,000 worth of methamphetamine from France at France’s Scott Township residence. A laboratory analysis of the drugs following the controlled purchase found it to be 55 grams of methamphetamine.

    At approximately 1:38 a.m. on July 29, 2016, Scott Township Police responded to a report of a home invasion in progress at France’s residence. When the police arrived, they encountered an individual who appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance and reported that six armed men attempted to break into the residence. The officers called out for anyone inside the house to come to the door and, when no one responded, officers entered to clear the residence.

    Based on the condition of the home, officers believed that the residence could be a methamphetamine laboratory and contacted the DEA, who determined that the house was not a methamphetamine laboratory and obtained a search warrant for the residence. During the search, officers recovered what later laboratory analysis determined was approximately 430 grams of pure methamphetamine, approximately $8,000 in U.S. currency, and other evidence of methamphetamine distribution.

    France was on bond for other offenses when local police officers arrested him on June 30, 2017, after executing another search warrant at his residence. That search resulted in the seizure of a methamphetamine smoking apparatus, syringes, scales, packaging material, large sums of U.S. currency, and quantities of methamphetamine.

    Throughout the judicial proceedings, the defendant attempted to obstruct justice by lying to the Court, violating the conditions of his bond, threatening to beat a person’s grandparents “to within an inch of their lives,” and verbally abusing his court-appointed counsel.

    Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

    Acting United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Drug Enforcement Administration and Scott Township Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of France.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Culture can build a better world: four key issues on Africa’s G20 agenda

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Ribio Nzeza Bunketi Buse, Associate Professor, University of Kinshasa

    The cultural and creative industries are a growing source of income and job creation around the world, generating tens of millions of jobs. The cultural sector is also linked to soft power, to relations between countries.

    Because of this, culture is an active part of the agenda of the G20 global economic forum. Under the presidency of South Africa in 2025, the G20 has chosen four key culture focus areas: heritage restitution; socio-economic strategies for inclusivity; digital technologies; and climate action.

    Here, as a scholar of the sector, I outline why these four priorities are relevant to both the G20 and the African continent, and to South Africa itself as the host country, in the light of current global trends and issues.

    G20 and culture

    The relationship between culture and development is increasingly emphasised. The 2022 Unesco World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – or Mondiacult – recommended that culture be a “stand-alone” sustainable development goal.

    This proposal is underlined by the UN’s Pact for the Future, adopted in 2024. The 17 sustainable development goals, adopted by the UN in 2015, are to ensure peace and prosperity for all people by 2030. They include goals like zero hunger and reduced inequalities.

    Read more: What is Mondiacult? 6 take-aways from the world’s biggest cultural policy gathering

    As the global order shifts, new actors from the global south are emerging as the Brics group. However, the G20 is the only forum that includes countries from both the global north and south.

    The G20, like the G7 and Brics, has a tradition of including culture among the items for discussion at ministerial level, supported by a working group.

    Under Brazil’s presidency in 2024, the G20 Culture Working Group highlighted the relationship between education and culture. This was in line with Unesco’s Framework for Culture and Arts Education. Taking over the G20 presidency, South Africa has expanded on the cultural agenda.

    Cultural heritage

    Priority 1: the safeguarding and restitution of cultural heritage to protect human rights.

    This relates to cultural property, mainly stolen during colonisation and displayed in global south museums. It’s one of the key issues in the heritage sector today.

    After years of demands by formerly colonised countries, there’s a growing list of high profile objects being sent back home. France returned 26 Dahomey Kingdom royal treasures to Benin and the saber of El Hadj Omar Tall to Senegal; 119 Benin bronzes came from the Netherlands to Nigeria. Akan cultural objects were restituted from Japan to Côte d’Ivoire.

    This global issue has particularly affected African countries. South Africa, too, knows its importance, with the repatriation of the human remains of Saartjie Baartman by France.

    Statues of the Kingdom of Dahomey returned to Benin by France. Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images

    The Mondiacult 2022 declaration calls the return of cultural heritage an “ethical imperative”. It’s part of the respect for cultural rights and human rights.

    For South Africa, one of the most influential countries on the continent, this is a good way to support the 2023 position of the African Union (AU) on the urgent return of this heritage. Improving the relationship between the global north and south requires this kind of debate.

    Inclusive development

    Priority 2: integrating cultural policies in socio-economic strategies to ensure inclusive, rights-based development.

    The importance of cultural goods and services in national and international trade has been highlighted many times. Statistics show they make up a healthy share of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

    A 2021 study found that the cultural and creative industries contributed 4.3% to South Africa’s GDP. At African level, they are estimated to generate US$45.35 billion in income and 15.87 million jobs. According to the 2024 UN Creative Economy Outlook, exports of creative services globally rose to $1.4 trillion in 2022, an increase of 29% since 2017. Exports of creative goods reached US$713 billion, an increase of 19%.

    Read more: South Africa has taken over the G20 presidency from Brazil – what lessons can it learn?

    With the development of an African Continental Free Trade Area, the AU revised its plan for action on cultural and creative industries.

    South Africa can play a leading role in this priority, having drafted a national policy paper on trade agreements involving the creative and cultural industries. The country’s Creative Industries Vision 2040 aims for an annual growth rate of 6.8% of GDP for these industries.

    However, the creative economy should be rights-based development and inclusive of local communities, young people and women. The G20 countries will need to work together to support policies that enhance sustainability and equity for creative workers. This is especially important in Africa where the creative economy is largely informal and unprotected.

    Digital technologies

    Priority 3: harnessing digital technologies for the protection and promotion of culture and sustainable economies.

    Digital technology is transforming the creative economy value chain. In my survey of the COVID era’s harsh impact on creative workers, I found that digital media, online games, music and audiovisual content were able to be resilient. Their value chains, from creator to user, don’t require high levels of face-to-face interaction, and online tools can be used effectively.

    Maliyo, a games development company in Lagos, Nigeria. Olympia de Maismont/AFP/Getty Images

    In 2024 the UN Conference on Trade and Development reported that, in 2022, the most exported creative services globally were software services (41.3%), research and development (30.7%), advertising, market research and architecture (15.5%), audiovisual services (7.9%), information services (4%) and cultural, recreational and heritage services (0.6%).

    While digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) can be seen as a threat to creativity and intellectual property, they can also be used to promote respect for communities and creators. The development of monitoring software for collecting music rights payments is an example.

    In 2021 the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adopted a recommendation on the ethics of AI. It proposes that AI tools be used for the benefit of the promotion, preservation, enrichment and accessibility of intangible or tangible cultural heritage. This issue is crucial because Mondiacult 2022 declared that culture is a “global public good” and the G20 must fund research and development of the most appropriate and advanced AI tools.

    Climate change

    Priority 4: the intersection of culture and climate change – shaping global responses.

    The challenges of climate change require a range of responses. Intangible cultural heritage (like oral traditions, social practices, rituals) can help to teach how ancient societies organised their relationships with nature and how they dealt with changes.

    The Herds, touring the world from central Africa for climate awareness. Hardy Bope/AFP/Getty Images

    Art, theatre, film, gaming and many other cultural forms can educate and raise awareness about this urgent issue. The African continent has a rich cultural diversity and is a potential source of many unexpected and insightful solutions.

    Keeping it relevant

    These four priorities reflect what is important on the continent. Africa will benefit from the collective efforts of the G20 countries in implementing such priorities. The presence of the AU as a permanent member of the G20 will support South Africa’s leadership and advance the continent’s cause.

    The challenge to the culture working group is to come up with relevant recommendations that can be endorsed by the G20 Ministerial Meeting. The 2024 G7 Ministerial Meeting on Culture, along with the AU and the African Development Bank, has set the tone. Their Naples Statement on culture for the sustainable development of Africa and the world notes that the G7 countries “intend to work with African governments to harness culture as a key driver of sustainable development”.

    A G20 summit on African soil cannot do less. It has all the potential it needs to support the African cultural sector in a variety of ways.

    – Culture can build a better world: four key issues on Africa’s G20 agenda
    – https://theconversation.com/culture-can-build-a-better-world-four-key-issues-on-africas-g20-agenda-253864

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Ernest Cole: the South African photographer at the centre of a powerful and heartbreaking film

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Kylie Thomas, Senior Researcher and Senior Lecturer (Radical Humanities Laboratory, University College Cork), NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies

    Ernest Cole is famous for photographing the everyday realities of South Africa’s racist apartheid system. His 1967 book House of Bondage ensured his damning critique of the white minority regime was seen by the world. But its publication sent him into exile and was banned at home.

    The startling discovery of a vast archive of his work in a Swedish bank vault in 2017 has returned him to public view.

    House of Bondage was republished in 2023 and then, in 2024, celebrated Haitian film-maker Raoul Peck made Ernest Cole: Lost and Found.

    It would win the documentary prize at the Cannes Film Festival and show around the world, restoring the legacy of a photographer who died penniless in New York in 1990 at the age of 49.

    As a researcher of South African photography under apartheid, I was intrigued by how the film would convey this complex life story.

    It draws extensively on Cole’s images, made in South Africa, Europe and the US. It’s a beautiful, poetic interpretation of how his images mirrored his own experiences of oppression, displacement and the loneliness of exile.

    House of Bondage

    Cole was just 10 when the state introduced the Group Areas Act and entrenched racial segregation. He was 22 when his childhood neighbourhood of Eersterust was razed to the ground. His family was among the thousands forcibly removed to a new township.

    In his second year of high school, he elected to drop out. The state had introduced Bantu Education, designed to ensure Black children learned only enough for a life of servitude.

    Cole began to study by correspondence, taking a course with the New York Institute for Photography. By 18, he’d landed a position as a darkroom assistant at Drum magazine, working alongside German photographer Jürgen Schadeberg.

    Cole captured the everyday realities of Black life in South Africa. Ernest Cole/Magnolia Pictures

    In 1959, Cole saw a copy of French street photography pioneer Henri Cartier-Bresson’s The People of Moscow, and decided he would create a similar book to convey what it meant to live under apartheid.

    He spent six years taking the photographs that would become House of Bondage, a book that exposed the apartheid state.

    Determined to publish his images, he fled to the US in 1966, where his book appeared a year later. Acclaimed internationally, it was banned for 22 years in South Africa. Cole was prohibited from returning home and spent the next 20 years stateless.

    Read more: Ernest Cole: South Africa’s most famous photobook has been republished after 55 years

    He hoped to find freedom in America. Instead he felt pigeonholed as a Black photographer, dismayed at only ever being commissioned to document suffering.

    He made hundreds of photographs of people in Harlem, often drawn to scenes that were impossible in South Africa. Mixed-race couples holding hands in public, young people of different races hanging out, neon signs offering “Sex, sex, sex” rather than the “Whites only” signs of segregation he documented at home.

    Under apartheid, public space was segregated. Ernest Cole/Magnolia Pictures

    Commissioned to take photos in the Deep South, he found the same suffering and racism he’d thought particular to South Africa.

    In a letter to the Norwegian government requesting an emergency travel certificate to leave the US, he wrote:

    Exposing the truth at whatever cost is one thing. But having to live a lifetime of being a chronicler of misery and injustice and callousness is another.

    A life in fragments

    For me, the most poignant moment of the film is the footage of Cole speaking in his own voice in a 1969 documentary. A slight man with a sorrowful gaze, he’s seated at a table with prints of his photos:

    I’ve been banned in absentia, but that doesn’t matter because it (his book) will stand in the future. Because I’m sure South Africa will be free.

    His youthful conviction is undercut by the presence, in his voice, of the weight of all he’s experienced. Correspondence shows Cole’s book was sent to government officials in the US and Europe, and to the United Nations, but it would take decades of resistance before apartheid fell.

    Black life in America was as painful as back home. Ernest Cole/Magnolia Pictures

    Despite his fame, and the support of leading international photographers, writers and editors, Cole’s determination was ground down by the racism he encountered everywhere he went. Although he received grants to continue his work, he descended into poverty and depression.

    By the mid-1980s he stopped taking photos – his cameras were lost, stolen, or sold, and he learned that his belongings, including negatives and prints that he’d left in a hotel storage room in New York, had been discarded. Cole was destitute and ill.

    Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he watched Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990 from his hospital bed. Cole died in New York that same year. All his negatives and the work he’d made during his life in exile were thought to be lost.

    Cole also captured street images of childhood joys wherever he went. Ernest Cole/Magnolia Pictures

    Finding Ernest Cole

    Peck’s meditative film draws on Cole’s notebooks and letters, along with research interviews, in a rather bold attempt to have him “tell his own story”. It’s a story driven by both curiosity and heartbreak, narrated by actor LaKeith Stanfield, whose rather jarring American accent gives voice to a South African experience.

    Although she’s not mentioned in the credits, Peck’s script draws heavily on interviews by Swedish curator and researcher Gunilla Knape. Her association with the Hasselblad Foundation might account for why she remains unacknowledged – the organisation is linked to the ongoing controversy over ownership of Cole’s work.

    Read more: Glimpses into the history of street photography in South Africa

    In 2017, Cole’s nephew, Leslie Matlaisane, received an email requesting that he travel to Sweden to discuss the return of items belonging to his uncle, discovered in a bank vault in Stockholm.

    The film includes footage of Matlaisane’s journey to Sweden and the bizarre scene that unfolds as Cole’s archive is returned without any explanation about how it came to be either lost or found, or who’d placed it there.

    The boxes included 60,000 negatives, and Cole’s notebooks and research materials for House of Bondage. An incredible trove of history has resurfaced, but as Peck’s film shows, Cole himself was irrecoverably lost in exile.

    Ernest Cole: Lost and Found is showing in Johannesburg. It can be streamed on various services.

    – Ernest Cole: the South African photographer at the centre of a powerful and heartbreaking film
    – https://theconversation.com/ernest-cole-the-south-african-photographer-at-the-centre-of-a-powerful-and-heartbreaking-film-254508

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Grenfell Tower site update April 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Correspondence

    Grenfell Tower site update April 2025

    A summary of current activity at the Grenfell Tower site.

    Documents

    Grenfell Tower site update April 2025

    PDF, 140 KB, 3 pages

    Grenfell Tower site update April 2025 – transcript

    PDF, 149 KB, 4 pages

    Details

    In this community update, we provide information on the decision on the future of Grenfell Tower shared in February by the Deputy Prime Minister with bereaved, survivors and local residents. There is also information on the annual Tower rewrapping, site works and maintenance, air quality monitoring, and health and wellbeing support, plus contact details.

    You can watch a recording of the update on the MHCLG YouTube channel:

    Grenfell Tower site update April 2025

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 April 2025

    Sign up for emails or print this page

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Last opportunity for media accreditation for the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands and the End of the Second World War in Europe

    Source: Government of Canada News

    Ottawa, ON – An official Government of Canada delegation will participate in a series of events to commemorate the Liberation of the Netherlands and the 80th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. The delegation will include Second World War Veterans, including some who participated in the Liberation of the Netherlands, representatives from Veterans organizations, and Veterans Affairs Canada officials. A contingent of the Canadian Armed Forces, including units involved in the Liberation of the Netherlands, will also participate in ceremonies and events.

    Events

    All times are Central European Time Zone

    2 May 2025 – 10:00
    Opening of Canada House Pavilion at Oranjepark
    Apeldoorn, Netherlands
    Visitors of all ages are invited to stop by the Canada House Pavilion to learn about Canada’s military service around the world, including the Netherlands.
    Media are asked to register for the opening event at media@veterans.gc.ca
     

    2 May 2025 – 15:00
    Commemorative Ceremony at Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery
    Groesbeek, Netherlands
    Co-hosted by: Faces to Graves and the Government of Canada
    Media Registration: media@veterans.gc.ca
     

    3 May 2025 – 14:00
    Apeldoorn Liberation Parade
    Apeldoorn, Netherlands
    Media Registration: Media must register by email at pers@apeldoorn.nl or by phone at +31 55 580 1363
     

    4 May 2025 – 11:00
    Commemorative Ceremony at Holten Canadian War Cemetery
    Holten, Netherlands
    Media Registration: Media must register here.
    Deadline for registration April 17
     

    5 May 2025 – 11:30
    Wageningen National Commemoration Capitulations 1945 and Liberation Parade
    Wageningen, Netherlands
    Media Registration: Media must register here.

    Notes for media

    Media who wish to be in attendance to cover events must register where indicated above.

    Media in Canada who wish to broadcast events in the Netherlands can contact Veterans Affairs Canada at the address below for information on how to obtain broadcast rights.

    For more information on the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands and the End of the Second World War in Europe, please visit this page.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Previously Convicted Armed Fentanyl Dealer Sentenced to Prison

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ATLANTA – Alexander Arellano has been sentenced to federal prison for distributing large amounts of fentanyl in the Atlanta area while possessing firearms.

    “Fentanyl traffickers pose a tremendous threat to public safety especially when they illegally possess firearms in furtherance of their drug trafficking crimes,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie, Jr.  “Defendants like Arellano who peddle this poison in our communities are being held accountable, including through lengthy prison sentences, thanks to the collaborative work of our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.”

    “Arellano endangered countless lives by trafficking large quantities of deadly fentanyl,” Jae W. Chung, the Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division commented on the case. “The success of this investigation is proof that those destroying our communities with fentanyl will be held accountable.” 

    According to Acting U.S. Attorney Moultrie, the charges and other information presented in court:  On May 3, 2024, special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration saw Arellano sell a half kilogram of fentanyl to another individual in a Marietta gas station parking lot.  Agents followed Arellano back to an apartment on Windy Hill Road in Marietta.  A short time later, Arellano was arrested at the apartment complex and agents obtained a federal search warrant for his apartment. 

    During the search, agents found 10 kilograms of fentanyl, two loaded firearms, including an AK-47 pistol, and $120,000 in cash inside a bedroom belonging to Arellano.  Arellano had been previously convicted for trafficking methamphetamine and was on probation at the time of his arrest. 

    Alexander Arellano, 25, of Atlanta, Ga., was sentenced on April 14, 2025, by United States District Judge William M. Ray II to 13 years, three months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.  He was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, after he pleaded guilty to the charges on August 29, 2024.

    This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with valuable assistance provided by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Cobb County Police Department.

    Assistant United States Attorney Bethany L. Rupert prosecuted the case

    For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6280.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.

    MIL Security OSI –