Category: France

MIL-OSI Europe: Mission, Pope Francis’ “main road”

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

By Stefania Falasca*We publish extensive excerpts from the chapter dedicated to the mission in Stefania Falasca’s book “Papa Francesco. La Via maestra” (Pope Francis, the Main Road. Edizioni San Paolo, 2025). The volume recounts the essential path followed by the Magisterium of Pope Francis during his pontificate (2013-2025).Rome (Fides Agency) – The renewed missionary spirit called for by the Second Vatican Council takes place in a basic way: firstly through encounter, then through words, because proclaiming the Gospel is bearing witness to God’s merciful love.This could not be but the first of the main roads of the Council that Pope Francis wanted to revisit in his teaching. It’s the main road that leads to the center of his message, but also to the very heart of passing on the faith today. A path that—from the first exhortation Evangelii gaudium, through the papal catechesis of the general audiences dedicated to rediscovering the “passion for evangelization” at the sources of “apostolic zeal”—is always there to begin again, to indicate what is vitally important, what moves and constitutes the very identity of the Church. It is the Way: the mission, “the oxygen of Christian life.”The proclamation of the Gospel “is not optional or marginal,” but “a vital dimension, since the Church was born apostolic and missionary.”“Mission, therefore, Pope Francis repeats, “is oxygen for Christian life, and without it becomes sick and withers and becomes ugly, ugly.” And Francis has always reiterated the essential things for the Church, which is born missionary and is called to be a witness to the proclamation of Christ’s salvation:“Our proclamation begins today, where we live. And it does not begin by trying to convince others, certainly not by convincing them, but by witnessing every day to the beauty of the Love that looked upon us and lifted us up. And it will be this beauty, communing this beauty, that will convince people, not us, but the Lord himself. We are those who proclaim the Lord; we do not proclaim ourselves, nor do we proclaim a political party or an ideology.”This statement says it all. It explains what the mission is, where it comes from, how it works, and the way it continues today.During his papacy, Pope Francis has given a lot of attention to this vital part of the Church’s apostolic work, drawing mainly from the Bible and suggesting at every opportunity that mission is not the exclusive domain of specialized professionals or selected ecclesial subjects, since its dynamics draw from the very heart of the Mystery of Salvation and its paths concern the faith of the Church in the historical events of the world.There are three key points that are continually reiterated in his teaching regarding mission.First: “Without Him we can do nothing,” as Francis states in the reference text on mission, on what it means to proclaim the Gospel in the world today. He repeated this several times on May 11, 2023, when he received the members of the Conference of Italian Missionary Institutes:“The mission is first and foremost a mystery of Grace. The mission is not our work, but God’s; we do not do it alone, but moved by the Spirit and docile to his action.”Thus, Pope Francis once again pointed out to the entire Church what the living source of every apostolic work is, as well as its dynamic. For the Successor of the Apostles, the experience of the Apostles is in fact a paradigm that is valid for all time:“Just think of how things happen freely in the of the Apostles, without coercion… no stratagems are needed to become proclaimers of the Gospel. Baptism is enough. The mission, the Church reaching out, is not a program to be carried out by an effort of will. It is Christ who brings the Church out of herself. The mission is His work.”(…).As he described in a key speech on mission addressed to the Pontifical Mission Societies:“Salvation is the encounter with Jesus, who loves us and forgives us, sending us the Spirit who comforts and defends us. Salvation is not the consequence of our missionary initiatives, nor even of our discourse on the Incarnation of the Word. Salvation for each of us can only come through the gaze of the encounter with Him who calls us. For this reason, the mystery of predilection begins and can only begin in an outburst of joy and gratitude.”Second: “You cannot evangelize without witness.” Proclaiming the Gospel “is more than a simple transmission of doctrine and morals.” Proclaiming the Gospel “is first and foremost bearing witness to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.” For this reason, witness to Christ is “the first means of evangelization” and “an essential condition for its effectiveness.” In his catechesis, Pope Francis cited extensively the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, the magisterial text of Paul VI, which he described as the “Magna Carta of evangelization in the contemporary world […] always relevant, as if it had been written yesterday.”Points and highlights from the papal catechesis emphasized how, in the present time, the words of Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi seem increasingly prophetic when he recognized that “contemporary men listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers,” or “if they listen to teachers, they do so because they are witnesses.” Witness, continued the Bishop of Rome, also includes the “professed faith” and is manifested above all in the change that Christ himself works in his witnesses, in those who, precisely in this change, bear witness to him. It is faith “that transforms us, that transforms our relationships, the criteria and values that determine our choices.” For this reason, the Bishop of Rome pointed out, witness is not manifested as a “performance” exhibited by witnesses, but rather represents the reflection of a “journey of holiness” that draws from the sacramental source of Baptism, which is also a “gift of God” and “requires to be accepted and made fruitful for ourselves and for others.”Third: this is the key point he often emphasized in this context: “The mission of the Church is not proselytism.” The mission “is not a business or a corporate project, nor is it a humanitarian organization. The community of Jesus’ disciples,” said Pope Francis, “is missionary, not proselytizing,” because “being missionary, being apostolic, evangelizing is not the same as proselytizing. It is the Holy Spirit who is the author, not a human effort to conquer.”At the beginning of the catechetical cycle on evangelization, he therefore quoted once again the expression used by Pope Benedict XVI on May 13, 2007, in Aparecida, in his homily at the opening Mass of the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American Bishops:“The Church does not proselytize. Rather, it grows through attraction. One does not follow Christ, much less become his herald and that of his Gospel, because of a decision made around a table or because of an overly active self-motivation, but because of an attraction based on love. This attraction is found in the dynamics of every authentic apostolic work, in every authentic missionary act.”It is not, therefore, the result of efforts and cosmetic operations to make the image of the Church more “appealing” or to gain approval through marketing strategies. The appeal referred to by Pope Francis is a prerogative of the living. It is what Christ himself, the Risen One, can exercise today on the hearts of his apostles, his missionaries, and even those who do not seek him. And for this reason, throughout his preaching, he has made clear the deception of proselytism that distinguishes authentic missionaries from recruiters of followers who want to do without Christ.For Pope Francis, “proselytism is everywhere there is the idea of growing the Church without the attraction of Christ and the work of the Spirit, focusing everything on some kind of discourse.” So, first of all, proselytism cuts Christ himself and the Holy Spirit out of the mission, even when it claims to speak and act in the name of Christ. “Proselytism is always violent—because it cannot tolerate the freedom and gratuitousness with which faith can be transmitted by grace, from person to person.” For this reason, Pope Francis reminds us, proselytism is not only a thing of the past, but can also be found today in parishes, communities, movements, and religious congregations. Attraction, on the other hand, is something else entirely. It is the opposite of proselytism: “It is a witness that leads us to Jesus.” In short, what Pope Francis points to as perpetually successful is precisely this ever-living dynamic of mission, which is to “let yourself be guided by the Holy Spirit: let Him be the one who urges you to proclaim Christ. Through witness, through daily martyrdom. And if necessary, even with words.” (Fides Agency 4/5/2025).*Writer, columnist for Avvenire, Vice President of the Vatican Foundation John Paul I
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MIL OSI Europe News –

May 5, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Insurance and pension companies now purchase European stocks

Source: Danmarks Nationalbank

Insurance and pension

05 May 2025Statistics period: March 2025

Danish insurance and pension companies purchased European listed stocks for kr. 21 billion in the first quarter of the year. They mainly bought Danish, German, and French shares, but also a significant portion of British and Swiss shares. In recent years, the companies have primarily purchased US shares, but in the first quarter of 2025 the purchase has been reversed to a sale of nearly kr. 5 billion. The total sale of US shares reflects that some companies sold shares while others bought shares. US shares still make up the largest portion, 53 per cent, of the companies’ total listed equity portfolio of kr. 1,320 billion, while European shares account for 29 per cent.

Largest purchase of listed European stocks since 2018

Note:

The quarterly net purchases of publicly traded stocks by insurance and pension companies, distributed between Europe and the USA. Danish investment funds have been looked through, such that the pension companies’ equity and bond investments through these funds are included.

MIL OSI Economics –

May 5, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Syrian asylum applications drop significantly, reflecting broader decreasing trend in the EU+

Source: European Asylum Support Office

In February 2025, Syrians lodged one of the smallest numbers of monthly applications in over a decade. As a result, having been the main recipient country for Syrian asylum-seekers, Germany was no longer the main destination for asylum seekers in the EU+. France and Spain each received more applications than Germany. In France, Haitians and Ukrainians together represented one fifth of all applicants, while Venezuelans dominated the asylum landscape in Spain.

The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has just published the first monthly dataset for 2025, on asylum applications in the EU+. In February, EU+ countries received around 69 000 asylum applications, following a decreasing trend that has been ongoing since October 2024. The fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria has led to a significant change in the asylum landscape in the EU+. In February, Syrians lodged the fewest applications in over a decade (5 000), with their number decreasing by 70 %, compared to October 2024.

With Syrians, historically, having almost always been the nationality with the most applicants for international protection in the EU+, this change is notable for many reasons, among them the fact that Germany was not the main receiving EU+ country in February 2025. The sharp decrease in Syrian applications has also impacted several of the EUAA’s first instance asylum indicators.

The latest asylum figures show how important stability in other regions is for Europe. This is strongly reflected in the declining trend in asylum applications from Syrian nationals in the EU in the first quarter. With the implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the new returns regulation, we are bringing our European House in order. Together with Member States, we need to step up our cooperation with partner countries to address migration well beyond our borders.

Magnus Brunner European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration

These figures show a changing asylum landscape in Europe, with several months of fewer applicants seeking protection, and also shifts in their profiles, nationalities and destination countries. At the same time, both the EU Institutions and the Agency are working on making Europe’s asylum systems more streamlined and effective, ensuring that protection is provided in a timely manner to those in genuine need.

Nina Gregori Executive Director

Changing trends in citizenships and key receiving EU+ countries

For more than a decade, Germany (12 780) has almost always been the largest recipient of asylum applications in the EU+. However, in February 2025, that was no longer the case, and the country received 40% fewer applications compared to February 2024. France (13 081) and Spain (12 976) both received more applications than Germany, with figures that were relatively stable in the past 12 months. Italy (11 405) also received a significant number of applications, despite a declining trend. Taken together, applications in these four receiving countries represented almost three quarters of all applications lodged in the EU+.

In February 2025, Venezuelans (8 500) were the largest applicant group. Though Venezuelans have long been among the 5 biggest applicant groups in the EU+, mostly applying in Spain due to a well-established diaspora, the recent increase in applications since October 2024 may be linked to the ongoing economic and political crisis in the country, as well as increasingly restrictive asylum policies in the United States of America.

Recognition rate at the lowest level since COVID-19

Over the past two years, the EU+ recognition rate, which reflects the percentage of asylum applicants that receive decisions granting either refugee status or subsidiary protection, has fluctuated around 40% at first instance. In January and February 2025, the monthly EU+ recognition rate fell to 25 %, the lowest level since the first months of COVID-19 in 2020.

A significant contributor to this change was the number of asylum decisions issued to Syrians in January and February 2025, which dropped to around 1 600 in both months. In addition, the EU+ recognition rate for Syrians stood at just 14 %, down from around 90 % in previous months. The reasons for these significant changes are two-fold. Firstly, many EU+ countries have temporarily paused the processing of Syrian asylum claims, pending greater clarity on the security and political situation in Syria. Secondly, many Syrians have begun to withdraw their asylum applications. In some EU+ countries, a withdrawn application results in a negative decision, thus reducing the overall EU+ recognition rate.

More generally, the Agency’s data show that there were around 964 000 asylum applications pending at first instance at the end of February 2025. Together with Syrians (113 000), Venezuelans (100 000) and Colombians (89 000) were awaiting the most first instance decisions. In February, some 52 % of applications were lodged by citizenships for whom the EU+ recognition rates stood at 20 % or less, in 2024. Citizenships in this group included Bangladeshis (4 %), Columbians (5 %), Egyptians (4 %), and Moroccans (4 %).

MIL OSI Europe News –

May 5, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: WATCH: Rep. Jim Costa Honors Central Valley Heroes

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jim Costa Representing 16th District of California

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jim Costa (CA-21) took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to pay tribute to the lives and service of two Central Valley heroes – Marine Lance Corporal Marcelino M. Gamino and U.S. Army veteran Guadalupe Castillo.
In a heartfelt address, Costa honored Lance Corporal Marcelino M. Gamino, a proud son of Fresno sadly passed away while serving his country. At just 28 years old, Gamino served as a combat engineer with the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division. His bravery and dedication are a testament to the values of service and sacrifice that define the San Joaquin Valley.

REMARKS as delivered:

Mr. Speaker… I rise today to honor the life of Lance Corporal Marcelino M. Gamino, a proud Marine of Fresno, California, who gave his life in service to our nation. He answered the call to serve in May 2022, quickly rising to the rank of Lance Corporal by August 2024.
At just 28 years old, Marcelino served with distinction as a combat engineer in the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division. His commitment took him across the world, deploying to Darwin, Australia, as part of the Marine Rotational Force.
His service was marked by distinction, earning him the National Defense Service Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. We mourn his tragic loss, and our hearts are with his family and fellow Marines. His courage and service will never be forgotten. Semper Fi!

Costa also recognized Guadalupe Castillo, who answered the call to serve his country at just 18 years old. A U.S. Army World War II veteran, he fought in some of the most pivotal battles in history, including the Battle of the Bulge, D-Day at Omaha Beach, and the Liberation of France. At 100 years old, Mr. Castillo left behind a remarkable legacy of courage, service, and devotion to his community and country. Castilllo sadly passed away on Easter Sunday.

REMARKS as delivered:

Mr. Speaker… I rise to honor the incredible life of Guadalupe Castillo, a true American hero of Fresno, California.
At just 18, he entered the U.S. Army and faced some of history’s fiercest battles: the Battle of the Bulge, D-Day at Omaha Beach, and the Liberation of France from tyranny. His courage and sacrifice helped shape the course of history. But his service didn’t end on the battlefield.
After his service, he devoted 20 years to helping fellow veterans through the VA, inspiring his son Manuel to follow in his footsteps. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Castillo shortly before he passed away on Easter Sunday.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 5, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Tailoring and the Black dandy: how 250 years of Black fashion history inspired the 2025 Met Gala

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Toby Slade, Associate Professor of Fashion, University of Technology Sydney

Portrait of a Man, c. 1855 National Gallery of Art

Fashion is one of the most powerful tools we have for understanding ourselves and the world around us. Nowhere is this clearer than in the story of Black American tailoring and the legacy of the Black dandy.

Inspired by scholar Monica L. Miller’s groundbreaking book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, the theme of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute spring 2025 show is Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.

The exhibition charts the evolution of the Black dandy from the 18th century to today. The story it tells is about more than suits. It’s about power, pride, resistance and joy.

Each year, the Met Gala takes its dress code from the institue’s spring exhibition. This year’s is “Tailored for You”. So who is the Black dandy, why are they so important to fashion today, and what can we expect to see on the red carpet?

The birth of the Black Dandy

“Black dandy” is a modern term. Figures like American abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1818–95) or Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture (1743–1803) would not have called themselves dandies, but they used style with similar effect: as a tool of resistance, self-fashioning and cultural pride.

Toussaint Louverture was a leader during the widespread uprisings of enslaved people in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in 1791. This image was drawn in 1802.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) first wrote about dandies in 1863, describing them as individuals who elevate style to a form of personal and aesthetic resistance.

Baudelaire’s dandy was not just stylish but symbolic. He was an emblem of modernity itself: a time marked by fluid identities, liminal spaces and the collapse of clear boundaries between gender, authenticity and social order.

Dandyism among Black men took root in the 18th and 19th centuries in both the United States and the Caribbean. Tailoring became a way to reclaim dignity under enslavement and colonialism.

Dandies take the clothing of an oppressor – aristocratic, colonial, segregationist or otherwise – and turn it into a weapon of elegance. Through meticulous style and refinement, dandies make a silent yet striking claim to moral superiority.

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, and freed in 1838. This photograph shows him in 1855.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Douglass famously appeared in immaculate Victorian suits when campaigning for abolition, consciously dressing in the same style as those who denied his freedom.

Louverture used perfectly tailored French military uniforms during the Haitian Revolution against French colonial rule.

In the 1920s, Harlem dandies wore fine tailoring and flamboyant colours, rejecting the idea that poverty or discrimination should dictate presentation.

In perfectly tied cravats, polished shoes and sharply tailored coats, Black dandies refashion power on their own terms.

Presence through style

Dandies also challenge the narrow rules of masculinity.

Conventional menswear often demands restraint, toughness and invisibility. Dandies dare to embrace beauty, self-adornment and performance. This masculinity can be expressive, creative and even flamboyant.

The luxurious silk suits and carefully groomed appearance of American Jazz pioneer Duke Ellington (1899–1974) projected glamour rather than austerity.

The elegantly tailored overcoats and scarves of American poet Langston Hughes (1901–67) suggested a masculinity deeply entwined with creativity and softness.

Figures in Harlem’s ballrooms and jazz clubs blurred gender boundaries decades before mainstream conversations about gender fluidity emerged.

A street scene in Harlem, New York City, photographed in 1943.
Library of Congress

A tradition of Black tailoring

In a world where Black self-presentation has long been scrutinised and politicised, tailored clothing asserted visibility, authority and artistry. Dandies transformed fashion into a political declaration of dignity, resistance and creative power.

Black American tailoring practices blossomed most visibly in the zoot suits of the Harlem Renaissance, though they also had strong roots in New Orleans, Chicago and the Caribbean.

As seen in the Sunday Best of the Civil Rights era, Black tailoring walked the line between resistance and celebration: beautiful but with clear political intent.

In the 1970s, the Black dandy became more flamboyant, wearing tight, colourful clothes with bold accessories. He transformed traditional suits with exaggerated shapes, bright patterns and plaids inspired by African heritage.

Artists popular with a white audience like Sammy Davis Jr (1925–90), Miles Davis (1926–91) and James Brown (1933–2006) embraced the aesthetic, contributing to its widespread acceptance.

Sammy Davis Jr with his first European gold record, 1976.
Nationaal Archief, CC BY

Meanwhile, a super stylish contingent of Black men in the Congo, La Sapeur, refined their look so spectacularly they would become the benchmark of the Black dandy for generations to come.

The 1990s saw a new era of Black dandyism emerge through luxury sportswear and hip-hop aesthetics.

Designer Dapper Dan (1944–) revolutionised fashion by remixing luxury logos into bold, custom streetwear, creating a distinctive Black aesthetic that bridged hip-hop culture and high fashion.

Musician Andre 3000 (1975–) redefined menswear by blending Southern Black style with bold colour, vintage tailoring and theatrical flair.

Today, the tradition thrives in the style of influencer Wisdom Kaye, the elegance of LeBron James, and the risk-taking of Lewis Hamilton.

Dressing for the red carpet

Tailored for You invites guests to interpret the dandy’s legacy in personal, bold and boundary-pushing ways.

Whether conforming to tradition, subverting expectations or creating something entirely new, this theme is a celebration of the freedom to dress – and be – on your own terms.

The Black dandy is a figure of defiance and desire, of ambiguity and brilliance, of resistance and beauty. Dandyism blurs boundaries between masculinity and femininity, artifice and authenticity, conformity and rebellion. It unsettles fixed identities and reflects broader tensions within modern life.

The poet and activist Countee Cullen, as depicted by Winold Reiss around 1925.
National Portrait Gallery

Black dandies have shocked, amused, offended, delighted and inspired society since their inception. In the sharp defiance of Douglass’ Victorian suits, the flamboyant spectacle of Harlem ballrooms, and the logo-laced rebellion of Dapper Dan’s streetwear, the Black dandy has continually forced the world to reckon with the politics of presence, pride and performance.

Despite being overlooked by mainstream fashion history, they’ve shaped the way we see elegance, masculinity and self-expression. This Met Gala and the accompanying exhibition are not just a celebration – they are a long-overdue recognition.

Dijanna Mulhearn receives funding from Australian Government Research Training Stipend.

Toby Slade 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. Tailoring and the Black dandy: how 250 years of Black fashion history inspired the 2025 Met Gala – https://theconversation.com/tailoring-and-the-black-dandy-how-250-years-of-black-fashion-history-inspired-the-2025-met-gala-250650

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

May 5, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Xi Jinping: A visionary architect of world peace and development

Source: China State Council Information Office

Chinese President Xi Jinping watches the military parade during the commemoration activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2015. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

In the stately Conference Building at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, a 65-inch-tall resplendent bronze vessel gleams under soft light, its cloisonne enamel blazing in vibrant Chinese red.

The “Zun of Peace,” presented by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2015 as a special gift for the United Nations’ 70th anniversary, is not merely a delicate artifact. It embodies the aspiration and conviction of the Chinese people to seek peace, development, cooperation and win-win outcomes, Xi said at its unveiling.

A decade later, as the top Chinese leader travels to Moscow to celebrate the 80th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, his presence both carries the weight of history and reaffirms a vision of the future.

Leading a nation always aspiring for peace and harmony in its long history and further strengthened by its battles against militarism, imperialism and fascism in its recent past, Xi commands a unique insight into the value of peace, and has steadfastly championed the building of a peaceful world, a cause of great urgency given the tensions and conflicts on the global landscape today.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) attends a presentation ceremony on which the Chinese government gives the “Zun of Peace” to the United Nations as a gift in New York, the United States, Sept. 27, 2015. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

ASPIRATION FOR PEACE

Xi sees history as a mirror from which humanity should draw lessons to avoid repeating past calamities.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of victory in what is commonly known in China as the World Anti-Fascist War or, more globally, as World War II. Almost every part of the world was involved, and more than 100 million were killed or wounded in what was described as the most destructive conflict in human history.

The bravery and tremendous sacrifice of the Chinese people played a decisive role in defeating Fascist Japan and offered strategic support to the Allies on the European and Pacific battlefields.

“History has told us to stay on high alert against war, which, like a demon and nightmare, would bring disaster and pain to the people,” Xi once said. “History has also told us to preserve peace with great care, as peace, like air and sunshine, is hardly noticed when people are benefiting from it, but none of us can live without it.”

This historical observation features prominently in Xi’s unrelenting pursuit of peace. He has repeatedly reiterated China’s commitment to peaceful development, pledging that China will never seek hegemony, expansion or any sphere of influence, no matter how strong it may grow.

During a 2014 visit to France, Xi reshaped Napoleon’s metaphor of China as a “sleeping lion” that would shake the world upon awakening. “Now China the lion has awakened. But it is a peaceful, amicable and civilized lion,” Xi said when illustrating the peaceful dimension of the Chinese Dream.

Xi’s philosophy stems from the millennia-old Chinese culture. An avid reader of traditional Chinese classics, he once expounded how ancient Chinese wisdom views war and peace by quoting “The Art of War,” a Chinese classic written more than 2,000 years ago.

The book’s key message “is that every effort should be made to prevent a war and great caution must be exercised when it comes to fighting a war,” Xi said when delivering a keynote speech in the UN Office at Geneva in 2017.

Xi’s view on prudence in warfare is also reflected in his exchanges with foreign leaders and officials.

“It has long been known that the real experts on military affairs do not want to employ military means to solve issues,” he quoted a Chinese aphorism when meeting with then U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis in Beijing in 2018.

Chinese President Xi Jinping straightens the ribbon on a flower basket during a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tian’anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

A clear manifestation of Xi’s reflection is to cherish history and honor heroes. “A nation of hope cannot be without heroes,” Xi once said. Every year since 2014, Xi has paid tribute to China’s fallen heroes on Martyrs’ Day, which falls on Sept. 30, a day ahead of the country’s National Day.

In 2015, when China celebrated the 70th anniversary of its victory in World War II, Xi presented medals to Chinese veterans and representatives from Russia and other countries who assisted Chinese soldiers on the battlefields.

Nikolai Chuikov, the grandson of Soviet General Marshal Vasily Chuikov, was among those who received a peace medal from Xi. “Of all the honors I have won, I hold the highest regard for the peace medal,” he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R, front) shakes hands with a Russian veteran in Moscow, Russia, on May 8, 2015. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

TORCH OF MULTILATERALISM

Under Xi’s leadership, China has adhered to an independent foreign policy of peace, played an active role in UN peacekeeping missions, and solidified its friendships and partnerships with countries worldwide.

As hegemonism and protectionism once again rear their ugly heads, the world is gripped by an increasingly intricate array of challenges and uncertainties. In Xi’s eyes, the only way out is to practice true multilateralism. He once compared multilateralism to a torch that can light up humanity’s way forward.

The Chinese president has consistently urged the international community to safeguard the UN-centered international system forged in the aftermath of World War II and anchored by international law.

“We must promote multilateralism, the core essence of which is that international affairs should be decided through consultation among all countries, rather than by one country or a few countries,” he said.

This photo taken on Jan. 2, 2025 shows the 46th fleet of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy during a counter-terrorism and anti-piracy exercise.The fleet traveled over 160,000 nautical miles during its 339-day voyage, escorting ships during missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia. (Xinhua/Zhang Dayu)

Xi, a staunch champion of true multilateralism, has guided China over the years in taking a proactive and constructive role in addressing regional and global hot-button issues.

To end the Ukraine crisis at an early date, Xi has put forward a four-point proposal, emphasizing that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected; the purposes and principles of the UN Charter observed; the legitimate security concerns of all countries given due regard; and all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis supported.

Under Xi’s leadership, China has conducted shuttle diplomacy and mediation efforts to promote peace talks and initiated the “Friends of Peace” group with Brazil and other Global South countries on the Ukraine crisis at the United Nations.

Regarding the Middle East, the Chinese president has promoted peace and stability in the volatile region. With China’s mediation, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed in March 2023 to restore diplomatic relations after a seven-year hiatus. In the lead-up to the negotiations, Xi talked separately with the leaders of both countries.

During a phone call with Xi soon after the breakthrough was achieved, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud applauded China’s increasingly important and constructive role in regional and international affairs.

In face of the gathering gloom of conflict on the horizon, Xi has championed a transformative approach to collective security. In May 2014, he articulated a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security for Asia. Eight years later, he presented the Global Security Initiative to the world.

“We, as humanity, are living in an indivisible security community,” he said, advocating dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance, and win-win outcomes over zero-sum approaches.

“GOLDEN KEY” OF DEVELOPMENT

Lasting world peace remains one of humanity’s greatest aspirations. For Xi, peace and development are inseparable. He once observed that the tree of peace does not grow on barren land, and the fruit of development is not produced amid flames of war.

In view of the interlocked relations, Xi insists that the “golden key” to a secure and stable future is to advance sustainable development.

Since assuming China’s presidency, Xi has positioned development as a pillar of his vision of building a better future for humankind. The initiatives he has proposed in this regard, notably the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, serve as bridges to foster common development through broader collaboration.

China has provided development aid to over 160 countries, and Belt and Road cooperation has involved more than 150 countries. Under the Global Development Initiative, China has mobilized nearly 20 billion U.S. dollars of development funds and launched more than 1,100 projects, fueling growth and modernization drives in many countries, particularly developing ones.

An aerial drone photo taken on March 4, 2024 shows trains running on the Lagos Rail Mass Transit Blue Line in Lagos, Nigeria. Undertaken by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation in July 2010 and completed in Dec. 2022, the first phase of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit Blue Line corridor spans 13 km and covers five stations. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

“China is sharing its development experience with other countries through its development initiatives, which have helped to promote common development,” said Straton Habyarimana, a Rwandan economic analyst.

“Since these initiatives are people-centered, they address key challenges such as food insecurity and poverty” and have helped ease tensions among countries, he added.

UPDATE OF WORLD ORDER

Nestled by the Huangpu River in Shanghai, the New Development Bank was founded by five BRICS countries in 2014 to provide financing support for member countries to bolster transport infrastructure, clean energy and digital infrastructure.

When Xi visited the bank a few days ago, he saw more than a mere financial institution. He described it as a “pioneering initiative for the unity and self-improvement of the Global South,” underscoring an enduring commitment to building a more just and equitable international order.

This aerial photo taken on June 17, 2022 shows the headquarters building of the New Development Bank in east China’s Shanghai. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

BRICS countries stand at the forefront of the Global South. Xi has personally pushed for the BRICS’ historic expansion in 2023 to create stronger unity among the Global South. The expansion, he said, would further strengthen the forces for world peace and development.

Developing countries remain underrepresented in the global governance system, which the West has long dominated. China maintains that only when the rise of emerging markets and developing countries is reflected in the global governance system will global development be more balanced and global peace more firmly based.

During the 2022 Group of 20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, Xi vocally supported the African Union in joining the leading multilateral mechanism, making China the earliest and most vocal champion for amplifying Africa’s voice in global governance.

Chinese President Xi Jinping walks to the venue of the 17th summit of the Group of 20 in Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

In recent years, Xi has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative as key global public goods to create a more just and equitable global governance system.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who received the “Zun of Peace” from the Chinese president on behalf of the United Nations 10 years ago, said China’s initiatives to promote global peace and development are inseparable from Xi’s foresight.

“China is playing an increasingly important role on the world stage, and Xi has demonstrated proactive and crucial leadership,” Ban said. “He always believes that China can only do well when the world is doing well, and when China does well, the world will get even better.”

In Xi’s own words, “every increase of China’s strength is an increase of the prospects of world peace.”

MIL OSI China News –

May 5, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Interview with David Speers, Insiders, ABC

Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry

David Speers:

Treasurer, thank you.

Jim Chalmers:

It’s been too long, David.

Speers:

It’s been too long. After a little bit of sleep, how do you reflect on what happened last night?

Chalmers:

It’s still sinking in, David. This was beyond even our most optimistic expectations. It was a history‑making night. It was one for the ages, genuinely. But to pick up on something that Sam said which I think is right, this victory does come as well with healthy helpings of humility as well because we know that there are a lot of challenges to address in our economy and more broadly we know that people are under pressure.

We know the global environment is uncertain, and we know that this second term has been given to us by the Australian people because they want stability in uncertain times, but not because they think we’ve solved every challenge in our economy or in our society more broadly, but because we’re better placed to work towards solving some of those challenges. So there is an element of humility and there’s a lot of gratitude to the Australian people.

Speers:

And I want to just ask you about your approach now to a second term. A second term with a big win and a big majority – bigger than you’ve had in the first term – and this question about how you use this political capital. Just give us a sense of how you are thinking about what you’ll do in this second term.

Chalmers:

Well, I think one of the major differences we have between some of the commentary and how we see our own government is this is an ambitious government. You think about some of the changes we’ve made, income tax cuts, some of the budget repair that we’ve done, the big investments in housing, the energy transformation, and particularly in healthcare, this is an ambitious government and we’re looking forward to implementing the agenda that we took to the election.

I think one thing that tempers some of the discussion I heard from yourself and the counterparts over there is, remember, nobody will control the Senate. It’s not an outcome like we saw under Prime Minister Howard.

Speers:

You’ll still have the Greens there.

Chalmers:

Well, not just them, in the Senate.

Speers:

I think it might, in fact, be just them that you’ll have to rely on, unless you have the Coalition, of course, for legislation.

Chalmers:

The point that I’m making is we have a big agenda, we’re looking forward to implementing it with confidence, with the confidence that comes from a big majority, a substantial majority in the House of Representatives.

Speers:

But I guess, I mean, I hear your point about reforms that you have done in that first term, but I guess what I’m getting at here is that budget challenge in particular. We do have deficits for the next 4 years under your budget plans of about $150 billion in total. It’s a structural deficit. Something needs to happen to fix that. Is that going to be a priority?

Chalmers:

Well, that will obviously require our ongoing attention, but we shouldn’t dismiss or diminish the really quite phenomenal progress that we’ve made in the budget in our first term, a couple of hundred billion dollar turnaround, 2 surpluses – that hasn’t happened for decades – so we’ve made progress.

But the way that Katy Gallagher and I see that challenge is that’s an ongoing challenge, including in a structural sense, where we have made progress in aged care, the NDIS and interest costs but clearly that will warrant ongoing attention.

Speers:

Does the scale of this win give you more confidence to do things that might not be politically popular?

Chalmers:

The way that I see the scale of this win, I thought, again not to dance on the political graves of our opponents, but there was a real kind of darkness at the heart of the Coalition campaign, this kind of backward‑looking pessimism which Australians rejected.

And in rejecting that, I think they embraced the kind of leadership that Anthony Albanese provides which is practical, pragmatic, it’s problem solving, and it’s very forward looking, and that’s the approach that we’ll take.

Speers:

So when we look at what you’re facing over the years ahead, the 3 years ahead, I mentioned the budget challenge, you’ve also got the Donald Trump challenge and the prospects of a global trade war and a lot going on. What are your priorities right now?

Chalmers:

Well, first of all, I think managing this global economic uncertainty. I’ve already had a briefing from the Treasury Secretary this morning at a quarter to 7.

Speers:

Already this morning?

Chalmers:

Yes, this morning, I had a briefing with Secretary Steven Kennedy. I’m grateful to him for providing that briefing of the initial –

Speers:

Do you talk during the campaign or is this the first sort of proper briefing?

Chalmers:

We speak but in not the same way that we would engage outside of caretaker.

Speers:

Now that he knows you’re back in the job for sure.

Chalmers:

So we had a discussion at a quarter to 7 this morning, back to work. Obviously, the immediate focus is on this global economic uncertainty, particularly the US and China part of that and what it means for us. And so I was able to be briefed on that, what’s happening in markets and what it means for the Australian economy. So clearly, that’s the immediate focus and again. I think one of the reasons why we got this big majority last night is because people recognise that if you wanted stability while the global economy was going crazy, then a majority Labor government was the best way to deliver that. So global economic uncertainty but our agenda is really clear.

We have to build more homes now, we’ve got to get this energy transformation right, we’ve got to do more to embrace technology – particularly the AI opportunity. There’s a huge agenda there for us and what our agenda boils down to is obviously weathering and withstanding this global economic uncertainty in the near term, but also making sure that we make the Australian people the primary beneficiaries of all of this churn and change that we’re seeing in the world, and so we’ve got a big agenda there and I’m really looking forward to rolling it out.

Speers:

And just on the briefing you had this morning, is there any noticeable change in the outlook for the global economy?

Chalmers:

I think the spectrum of scenarios is much broader now. We know that the direct impact on us from the tariffs is manageable and relatively modest, but there is a huge downside risk in the global economy. I think what’s happening, particularly between the US and China does cast a dark shadow over the global economy.

And we’re not uniquely impacted by that, but we’re really well placed, we are quite well prepared because of the progress that Australians made over the course of the last 3 years. So we go in that with a sense of, we’re realistic about how this could play out in the world, but we are optimistic about Australia’s place in it.

Speers:

So that is still the number one concern for Australia?

Chalmers:

Certainly, for every country, including Australia. But global economic uncertainty really is the big influence on my thinking and my work on day one of a second term and we need to have the ability – and we will have the ability – to manage that uncertainty at the same time as we roll out our domestic agenda – Future Made in Australia, housing, energy, technology, human capital, competition policy.

Speers:

The great difficulty you face and the government faced in the first term was inflation and all of those interest rate rises. We saw one rate cut earlier this year – are you looking forward to in the second term seeing a few more rate cuts?

Chalmers:

Look, I’m not going to count my chickens on that front. Certainly the market expects there to be a number of interest rate cuts, I don’t make those sorts of predictions. We saw a rate cut in February, and I think that did have an impact on the way people see their prospects.

Consumer confidence has actually started rebounding from the middle of last year, the tax cuts, petrol prices coming down, and then the interest rate cut has slowly rebuilt confidence off a very low base and so if we do see more interest rate cuts over the course of the rest of the year, I think that will be a very helpful way to boost confidence in the economy, particularly consumer sentiment, and also provide some cost‑of‑living relief for people.

Speers:

Nearly every economist says productivity needs to be one of your top priorities as well. Is there more you can do to squeeze more productivity out of the economy?

Chalmers:

Yes, and I’m looking forward to rolling out the changes we announced on a national regime for occupational licensing, the non‑compete clauses change, the competition policy I’m working up with the states, reviving national competition policy – big priority for me as Treasurer – so there is an agenda there.

But also don’t forget, we commissioned from the Productivity Commission 5 big pieces of work on the main drivers – the main pillars of productivity in our economy – we’ll see that in the third quarter of this year. I’m looking forward to receiving that because we’ve got an agenda on productivity, but we can do more, and we will do more.

The best way to think about the difference between our first term and the second term that we won last night, first term was primarily inflation without forgetting productivity, the second term will be primarily productivity without forgetting inflation.

Speers:

That’s interesting, so the priority does shift now to productivity.

Chalmers:

And a much broader sense of it – human capital, competition policy, technology, energy, the care economy – these are where we’re going to find the productivity gains, and not quickly, but over the medium term.

Speers:

Looking at the politics of what happened last night, there were clearly surprises for you and for all of us watching what happened.

Chalmers:

I was trying to keep a lid on it on the panel.

Speers:

You can let loose now. What surprised you the most?

Chalmers:

Petrie I think, as David said. Petrie, if we can cling on there, that would be an extraordinary outcome. But I’m really grateful for what you said before, David, about Queensland and about these really quite remarkable women that Queensland is sending to the national parliament. You think about Madonna Jarrett, Renee Coffey, Kara Cook, Corinne Mulholland in the Senate, we’ve won back that second Senate seat in Queensland, and people will be hearing a lot about Corinne Mulholland. So very, very proud of the contribution that Queensland is making to this second term of an Albanese Labor government.

Speers:

You won’t be so lonely as a Queenslander in the Labor caucus. Just explain to us how it works, if you now have a much stronger Queensland contingent, does that need to be reflected on the front bench?

Chalmers:

Well, I think there’s a stronger contingent in a number of states, and so I always think you can never have too many Queenslanders, that’s why I was so pleased to see Anika Wells join the ranks of the Cabinet not that long ago. We’ve been really long on influence but short on numbers, and now we’re hopefully going to be long on influence and long on numbers.

Speers:

You’d be keen for another Cabinet or Ministry spot, at least from Queensland.

Chalmers:

I’m a Queenslander, and I think that most of the Cabinet should be Queenslanders, that’s just how we’re born and raised, but there’s a lot of good people around the country. Claire Clutterham in Sturt’s amazing.

Speers:

Do you expect there will be a bit of a refresh of the Ministry?

Chalmers:

That remains to be seen and I haven’t been focused on that at all. The Prime Minister will allocate the portfolios when the dust has settled on the count. We know who will be putting their hands up for ministries but that’s not a big part of my job, it’s not a big part of my focus.

Speers:

Now, finally, I just want to ask about the leadership and your future. You did say last night that you absolutely would support Anthony Albanese running again for a third term.

Chalmers:

Yes.

Speers:

What does that mean for your own leadership ambitions?

Chalmers:

Look, I’ve said on probably countless occasions now, if I can sit on the back deck in some period 20 years down the track and think that I was Treasurer in a great Labor government led from go to whoa by Anthony Albanese, I’d be very happy with that.

And I pay tribute to the Prime Minister. I can’t think of a campaign where a Prime Minister has campaigned more effectively than Anthony Albanese over the course of the last 5 weeks. I think he is the biggest explanation for why we turned around the trouble that we were in at the end of 2024 to the position that we won last night. It was an extraordinary campaign, and I think he deserves to be very proud. My expectation and my hope is that he serves a full term and runs again.

Speers:

You’re a student of Labor Prime Ministers past. How does Anthony Albanese now sit in the pantheon?

Chalmers:

He’s a Labor hero, and I think the outcome last night and the fact that his leadership has meant that we are surrounded now by even more terrific colleagues. Ali France in Dickson, unbelievable life story, I think he deserves to be very proud about that. But again, coming back to where we started, there is a humility here because we know that there’s a bunch of stuff that we have to address together, but he has every right to feel very proud, and we’re very proud of him.

I’m personally incredibly proud of him. I rang him during the day yesterday and told him how proud I was of him, and he deserves the lion’s share of the credit for what happened last night.

Speers:

Did you talk last night?

Chalmers:

No, not last night. I was with you all night sitting – I was sitting a metre and a half from you for about 6 hours probably in the end. I’ll probably have a yak with him today, but I rang him during the day before the result was known, and I said his was an extraordinary campaign, he’s got a lot to be proud of and we are certainly proud to be part of his team.

Speers:

Well, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, we do appreciate you backing up this morning. Thank you for joining us.

Chalmers:

Thanks, David.

MIL OSI News –

May 5, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Independents will not help form government – but they will be vital in holding it to account

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Visitor, School of History, Australian National University

When the newspapers delivered their standard election-eve editorials, there were few surprises. Former Fairfax papers and smaller outlets offered qualified support for Labor, while the News Corp papers unashamedly championed the Coalition. In Adelaide, The Advertiser ran a curious line recommending a majority government of whatever persuasion, “lest our futures be in the hands of the mad Greens, self-serving teals or the independent rabble.”

How must those editors feel this morning? On the one hand, they got the majority government they wished for, and then some. The 2025 election will be mythologised in Labor circles for decades to come.

On the other hand, the “independent rabble” defied the expectations of some, and the best efforts of others, holding their seats and making gains in Sydney and Canberra, and potentially Melbourne and Perth as well. New crossbenchers will certainly be welcomed into the 48th parliament. And with the Coalition reeling from an historic defeat, they may all play a critical role in policy the debates to come.

Weathering the storm

The election campaign put all of the incumbent independent MPs through their paces. Coalition candidates and some of their outspoken media allies applied enormous personal pressure, with accusations of weakness on the issue of antisemitism and piercing questions from conservative news outlets about the transparency of some independent MPs’ donations.

Vast sums of money were also involved. In the Perth-side seat of Curtin, for example, independent MP Kate Chaney’s supporters and the Liberal Party allegedly spent $1 million each on their respective campaigns.

In the end, incumbent independents benefited from the historic pattern in federal politics: that a good independent is a tough proposition to beat. At election time, successful independent MPs benefit from the advantages of incumbency, the ability to point to specific policy or project victories arising from greater political competition for the seat, and the flexibility to adapt more quickly to changing voter attitudes, unencumbered by any party machinery.

Zali Steggall in Warringah and Helen Haines in Indi enjoyed their third successive wins, Rebekah Sharkie in Mayo a fourth general election win (she won a competitive byelection in 2018), Andrew Wilkie in Hobart a sixth victory on the trot, and north Queensland’s Bob Katter yet another term after 50 years of parliamentary service.

At the time of writing, all of the independents who won their seats in 2022 appear to have been returned. (The exception was Kylie Tink, whose electorate was abolished last year.) The closest count is in Goldstein, where incumbent Zoe Daniel narrowly leads her Liberal predecessor Tim Wilson. Other incumbents, such as Sophie Scamps in Mackellar, Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Monique Ryan in Kooyong and Kate Chaney in Curtin, have enjoyed distinctive swings toward them. In the formerly safe Labor seat of Fowler, where the party hoped to win, independent MP Dai Le enjoyed a handsome primary vote swing of around 6% in her favour.

Changing hands

The picture has been more mixed for the rest of the crossbench and other minor parties. The Greens seem set to lose two of their Brisbane seats, but a close race in the formerly safe Labor seat of Wills in Victoria may yet provide a win. Another record spendathon from Clive Palmer will see the Trumpet of Patriots win zero seats. One Nation may keep Queensland senator Malcolm Roberts in his place, but there do not appear to be any other gains for Pauline Hanson’s team.

Coalition defectors fared poorly, too. Monash MP, independent and former Liberal Russell Broadbent, appears to have secured just 10% of the primary vote, placing him behind both major parties and the community independent candidate.

In the Perth seat of Moore, Liberal defector Ian Goodenough has fallen behind Labor, Liberal and the Greens, with preferences flowing mainly to Labor candidate Tom French. Right-wing LNP defector Gerard Rennick appears unlikely to win his contest for a Queensland senate seat. In the regional NSW seat of Calare, ex-National MP Andrew Gee appears the only one able to buck the trend, coming second on primary votes and benefiting from a stronger flow of preferences than his National Party opponent.

New crossbench faces?

A series of close contests may yet result in extra independent members of parliament. Despite a bitter campaign, community independent Nicolette Boele appears likely to win in the north Sydney seat of Bradfield. In the Victorian seat of Flinders, independent Ben Smith has enjoyed a 5.4% swing toward him, and away from Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie, though preferences have not yet been published in that seat. In Fremantle, where the Australian Electoral Commission is yet to report any preference flows, independent candidate Kate Hulett may still be in with a shot to beat Labor’s Josh Wilson. The competitive result follows an impressive campaign from Hulett at the state election earlier this year.

After five weeks of vicious debates about the public service and Canberra, voters in the ACT sent clear messages to both major parties. Voices for Bean candidate Jessie Price appears to have taken one of the three ACT electorates from Labor, and independent Senator David Pocock enjoyed an easy victory. Labor received less than a third of the primary vote in that Senate race, and barely one in seven ACT residents voted Liberal.

Not burning down the house

Despite that qualification, Labor’s victory is historic by several measures. It is one of only four occasions over the past 30 years where its primary vote actually grew at a federal election. It looks to have won a lower house majority comparable with that of the Howard government’s final term, and maybe even with the Coalition’s 2013 victory (when it won 90 seats, more than double the figure it is likely to have won this time). The two-party preferred vote shows Albanese securing the kind of victory that made John Curtin a Labor hero in 1943.

So what role does that leave for independents in the 48th parliament?

Returning crossbenchers will regard their impressive primary votes as confirmation their voters want them to keep doing politics differently. The Liberal and National parties, on the other hand, will be consumed for much of the parliamentary term with introspection and institutional reckoning. Given how unhelpful their studied unity over the past term ultimately proved, it may be there’s more infighting within the Coalition during the next parliament.

Does it matter that the crossbenchers will not hold the balance of power in the lower house? Not necessarily. In the event of a serious policy misstep from the Albanese government during this term, the crossbenchers may prove to be the more influential voices of opposition in the lower house.

Sometimes a solo voice speaks with powerful volume. In 2001 the rural independent for Calare, Peter Andren, proved to be a singularly powerful voice against the Howard government’s draconian offshore detention program for asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat. Andren defied the national trends (and the local opinion polls) and was returned with an increased primary vote, and again in 2004. When he died, some said his opposition to the Howard government showed “more guts and decency” than “all the other Coalition and ALP candidates combined”.

Several of the current independents have earned themselves a national profile and are trusted advocates on issues such as public integrity and accountability, climate and energy policy and even foreign and security affairs. There will certainly be few MPs left on the opposition benches who can speak with compelling authority on some of these issues. In the face of an emboldened Labor government, their opposition to contentious legislation may sometimes have outsized influence.

In pragmatic political terms, it is arguably in the Labor Party’s interests to negotiate, and to be seen to negotiate, with the crossbench. The independents in formerly safe Liberal seats are some of the biggest obstacles in any future Liberal pathway back into office.

Newly-elected Labor MPs may also depend on preferences from community independent candidates next time they go to the polls. The Menzies government owed part of its longevity in the late 1950s and 1960s to its ability to win the preferences of the Democratic Labor Party, an anti-communist breakaway party from Labor.

Independents are nothing like the DLP, and many run open tickets instead of strictly recommending preferences on their how to vote cards. But in some seats, including the leader of the opposition’s seat of Dickson, independent and Greens voters’ preferences will have proven crucial for Labor’s success.

‘Every day is minority government in the Senate’

The other crucial reason independents still have a role to play is the Senate. Pocock recently remarked that “every day is minority government in the Senate”. Albanese’s victory, no matter how impressive, does not extend to a majority in the red chamber.

The last time a party won a majority in the Senate was in 2004. Before that, it was 1977. No matter how large a lower-house majority, negotiation and compromise are simply unavoidable for laws to get passed in the federal parliament.

The Greens will continue to exercise their crucial balance of power role in the Senate. So too will Pocock and, assuming she is re-elected as the sixth senator for Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie. During the 47th parliament, Pocock and Lambie often proved decisive in shaping, amending and sometimes postponing legislation they felt needed improvement.

Both will bring a range of priorities to the 48th parliament. They may also collaborate more routinely with lower house crossbench colleagues to make those critical votes in the senate count for everything that they are worth. That would be a good thing. After all, both chambers really do matter in our parliamentary system.

Joshua Black is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Australia Institute.

– ref. Independents will not help form government – but they will be vital in holding it to account – https://theconversation.com/independents-will-not-help-form-government-but-they-will-be-vital-in-holding-it-to-account-255517

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

May 4, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Too many journalists remain silent over the Gaza genocide, a threat to our media credibility

Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. –

By David Robie on World Press Freedom Day 2025

I ask you now: Do not stop speaking about Gaza.

Do not let the world look away.

Keep fighting, keep telling our stories – until Palestine is free.

These are not my words, although I believe and support them absolutely. They are the words of Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat in his final message left behind when he was killed by an Israeli air strike on March 24.

His message is a poignant one today, especially today which is May 3 — World Press Freedom Day.

It is a message that I have been carrying in my heart since even earlier, since the assassination of another Palestinian journalist, the famous Shireen Abu Akleh, who was murdered by Israeli sharpshooters six days after Media Freedom Day in 2022 while reporting in Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

It was her blatant killing in plain view on live video with impunity that signalled how the rogue state Israel was flaunting all international laws and accountability with contempt. And it was a hint of how it would it conduct itself in this disaster.

According to the United Nations Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OHCHR), since October 2023, Israeli occupation forces have killed 211 Palestinian journalists, including 28 women reporters reporting on Gaza. At least 47 journalists have been killed while on duty, and at least 49 media people are languishing in Israeli detention or hidden in prisons, mostly without charge.

Why? To silence the journalists.

To silence their storytelling, as Hossam Shabat indicated in his final message.

And for more than 18 months Israel has refused access to Gaza by international journalists.

Why? To kill the truth. To stop the world’s media from exposing the Israeli lies and their controlled narrative.

But it hasn’t worked. The Zionists are losing control of the narrative — and they know it. As Amnesty International called it this week, the mass atrocity is a “livestreamed genocide” thanks due to the courage and dedication of the Gazan reporters and citizen journalists.

A year ago — on this very day — the Gazan journalists were honoured with the UNESCO Guillermo Cano Prize in Santiago, Chile, in recognition of their “unique suffering and fearless reporting”.

The protest march to Television New Zealand headquarters. Image: Asia Pacific Report

Who would have thought this grotesque war, this obscene war would still be causing such terrible suffering more than year later?

And we can’t even really call it a war at all because it is continuous massacres carried out by one of the most advanced and powerful military machines in the world, supplied and aided by the United States, on one side, with a relatively tiny resistance force armed with small arms on the other.

Gaza is a “killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop”, as the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, said the other day. Horrendous!

And since the Cano award for the Gazan journalists, a further 111 media workers have been killed by Israel.

Gazan journalist Hossam Shabat’s final message . . . he was killed by the Israeli military last month. Image: APR screenshot

In the latest survey by Reporters Without Borders 2025 World Press Freedom Index released yesterday, global zones have been flagged where press freedom is “entirely absent and practising journalism is particularly dangerous”.

“This is the case in Palestine, where the Israeli army has been annihilating journalism for more than 18 months, killing more than 200 media professionals — including at least 43 murdered while working — and imposing a blackout on the besieged strip.”

Just a couple of weeks ago, a group of French and international journalists staged a “die-in” in Paris. They lay down on the steps of the Opera-Bastille as a street theatre representation of the unprecedented scale of the killing of journalists.

It was organised by Reporters Without Borders, and secretary-general Thibaut Bruttin said:

“The difficulty of making the cause of Palestinian journalists heard is proof that the insidious poison of the Israel armed forces has sometimes even penetrated our own narrative.

“I have never seen a war in which, when a journalist is killed, you are told that they were really a terrorist.”

Bruttin also reflected: “I think it must be said that solidarity is a form of strength. It is a source of strength, I hope, for Palestinian journalists to whom we send these images and to whom we express our solidarity through words and action.

“And I also think that is an appeal to the media profession, and it’s true that this demonstration is happening late, perhaps too late. It must be recognised.

“In the 10 years that I have been working at Reporters Without Borders, this is the first time that I have been asked if the journalist was really a journalist when they were killed. This had never happened. Never.

“And I think we must salute all those who have been marching and all those professionals who have come and who say: ‘Yes, we must continue to report what is happening but we must also protest and do more. Journalists are being targeted. And they are also being defamed after their deaths.’”

In January 2024, I wrote an article for Declassified Australia headlined: “Silencing the messenger: Israel kills journalists, while the West merely censors them.”

I declared then that reporting Israel’s war on Gaza had become the greatest credibility challenge for journalists and media of our times.

Dr David Robie and Del Abcede speaking at Auckland’s “Palestine Corner” rally on World Press Freedom Day. Image: Bruce King

“Covering the conflict has opened divisions among media groups about fairness and balance that have become the most bitter since the climate change and covid pandemic debates when media ‘deniers’ and ‘bothsideism’ threatened to undermine the science.”

It shocks me that so many journalists have remained silent. They should also be on the streets like us and reporting the truth. To me, the deafening silence is a betrayal of the 50 years of truth to power journalism that I have grown up with.

Silence is complicity.

Finally, I would like to quote from PSNA’s co-chair John Minto in the letter that we are taking today to Television New Zealand appealing for an independent review of 1News reporting on Palestine/Israel.

Minto says: “Over the past 18 months of industrial scale killing of Palestinians by the Israeli military in Gaza we have been regularly appalled at the blatantly-biased reporting on the Middle East by Television New Zealand.

“TVNZ’s reporting has been relentlessly and virulently pro-Israel . . .

“The damage to human rights, justice and freedom in the Middle East by Western media such as TVNZ is incalculable.”

I endorse and support these comments and call a halt to Israel deliberately targeting of Palestinian journalists. Let the truth be told, as Hossam told us, over and over again and prevent this blatant Western attempt to “normalise” genocide.

Dr David Robie is editor of Asia Pacific Report and convenor of Pacific Media Watch. He gave this address at the World Press Freedom Day rally in “Palestine Corner” in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Te Komititanga Square on 3 May 2025.

The Television New Zealand protest on World Press Freedom Day – “Remembering the journalists killed by Israel”. Image: APR

This article was first published on Café Pacific.

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

May 4, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah reviews the progress of National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL), National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL) and Indian Seed Cooperative Society Limited (BBSSL)

Source: Government of India

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah reviews the progress of National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL), National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL) and Indian Seed Cooperative Society Limited (BBSSL)

Formed in 2023 under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, these institutions are working as umbrella organizations with a “Whole of Government” approach

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation directs NCEL to explore new opportunities for export of sugar, aromatic rice of Tripura, organic cotton, and coarse grains from cooperative sugar mills

Shri Amit Shah suggests partnership with big companies for export of fresh vegetables to Gulf countries and special potato varieties

NCEL should work on the ambitious target of exporting three specific products worth ₹ 2 lakh crore which have never been exported before

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah says NCOL should work with the target of turnover of more than ₹ 300 crore in the financial year 2025-26

BBSSL plays a vital role in strengthening India’s seed ecosystem – Shri Amit Shah

Home Minister also stressed upon the need to work on sugarcane varieties with high sugar content and low water requirement

BBSSL Centre set up at Kalol, Gujarat will develop high yielding, short maturity and low water requirement varieties of crops like pigeon pea, black gram, maize

Setting up of tissue culture facility is imperative to ensure availability of plants of high genetic potential for top 10 banana producing states

Posted On: 03 MAY 2025 9:53PM by PIB Delhi

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah chaired a high-level review meeting in New Delhi to review the progress of National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL), National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL) and Bharatiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Ltd (BBSSL). The meeting was attended by Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, senior officials of the Ministry, and Shri Anupam Kaushik, Shri Vipul Mittal and Shri Chetan Joshi (Managing Directors of NCEL, NCOL and BBSSL respectively).

Addressing the meeting, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, these three national cooperative institutions were created by the Ministry of Cooperation with the approval of the Union Cabinet in 2023, with the aim to act as umbrella organizations for cooperative exports, organic production and promotion of quality seeds. He said that these are being operated under the ‘Whole of the Government’ approach in collaboration with the concerned Ministries/Departments/Agencies.

To realize the vision of “Prosperity through Cooperation” of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, many initiatives and historic schemes have been started under the guidance of the Ministry of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, which is promoting the cooperative sector at a fast pace.

NCEL (National Cooperative Exports Limited):

Shri Amit Shah directed NCEL to explore new opportunities for export of sugar from cooperative sugar mills, aromatic rice of Tripura, organic cotton, and coarse grains. Shri Amit Shah also suggested possibilities of partnership with big companies for export of fresh vegetables to Gulf countries and special potato varieties.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation set an ambitious target of ₹2 lakh crore exports by NCEL of three new and specific products which are not currently being exported from India. Along with this, Shri Shah directed to route all exports of cooperative institutions through NCEL so that about ₹20,000-30,000 crore turnover and net profit after taxes and operating costs can go back to the cooperatives.

Shri Amit Shah also suggested setting up of NCEL offices in Africa and Myanmar for pulses import and developing a dedicated website to enable cooperative members to understand the global demand and share their supply capacity.

NCEL was set up under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and has made remarkable progress in its first year. In FY 2024-25, it gave membership to more than 10,000 cooperative institutions and achieved a turnover of ₹4,283 crore, with a net profit of ₹122 crore.

NCEL has expanded its exports to 28 countries, with key products being: basmati and non-basmati rice, marine products (especially shrimp), coarse cereals, wheat, fruits and vegetables, animal products, spices and plantation products. It has also signed strategic agreements (MoUs) with 61 importers from Senegal, Indonesia and Nepal.

NCOL (National Cooperative Organics Limited):

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah said that the organic products procured by NCOL are also being supplied to big brands like Amul, Bigbasket, thereby providing more volume and cost advantage to the ‘Bharat Organics’ brand. Shri Amit Shah said that soon its products will be available in Reliance stores across India.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah, 22 products under the ‘Bharat Organics’ brand are currently available in Delhi-NCR and there are plans to launch it in major metros. The products include cereals, pulses, spices and sweets products.

Shri Amit Shah appreciated the efforts of NCOL and set a target of turnover of more than ₹300 crore in the financial year 2025-26. He has also directed to form groups of certified organic farmers at the state level and integrate them at a higher level.

In the zero year of commercial operation in the financial year 2025-26 itself, NCOL has given membership to more than 7000 cooperatives in various categories and transacted a quantity of more than 1200 metric tonnes, which was procured from more than 2000 farmers. Its turnover so far has been ₹ 10.26 crores.

The uniqueness of the brand lies in its ‘Authenticity & Sustainability’ approach, every product batch is being tested for pesticide residues as per ‘Organic India’ standards and the report is being shared with the consumers in the form of a QR code and this customer oriented initiative is being implemented for the first time in the industry.

BBSSL (Indian Seeds Co-operative Society Limited):

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah underlined the important role of BBSSL in strengthening the seed ecosystem of India and said that it is imperative to establish tissue culture facility to ensure availability of plants of high genetic potential for top 10 banana producing states. He said that the recently established state-of-the-art BBSSL Centre at Kalol in Gujarat will work towards development of high yielding, low maturity and low water requirement varieties of crops like tur, urad, maize. He also emphasized the need to work on sugarcane variety with high sugar content and low water requirement. Shri Amit Shah has urged BBSSL to develop seeds of Lachka fodder crops for sale through NDDB and Amul network. Shri Amit Shah also emphasized on promoting seed production for processing varieties like potato especially for French fries under the Seed Production Programme for Processing Varieties. To ensure timely availability of breeder seeds, the Union Minister of Cooperation directed the Ministry of Cooperation to coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure timely supply of required breeder seeds.

The Minister appreciated the efforts of BBSSL and reiterated the Government’s commitment to empower agricultural cooperatives through innovation, quality inputs and institutional support.

———

RK/VV/RR/PR/PS

(Release ID: 2126629) Visitor Counter : 77

Read this release in: Hindi

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

May 4, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: WAVES Bazaar 2025 garners over ₹250 Crore in Deals and Unveils Major International Alliances: Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, I&B
Source: Government of India

Posted On: 02 MAY 2025 9:33PM by PIB Mumbai

Mumbai, 2 May 2025

WAVES Bazaar, the flagship global market initiative of the WAVES Summit, has emerged as a powerful catalyst for international collaboration in the media and entertainment industry. Designed to connect creators with investors, buyers, and collaborators across borders, WAVES Bazaar is poised to transform India into a strategic hub for content commerce. WAVES Bazaar 2025 garners over ₹250 Crore in Deals and Unveils Major International Alliances, informed Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, I&B at WAVES in Mumbai today.

In its inaugural edition, WAVES Bazaar brought together leading players from over 22 countries—including South Korea, Japan, USA, Germany, Russia, Netherlands, and New Zealand—and featured participation from 95 global buyers and 224 sellers. Key buyers included Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Meta, Disney Star, Zee Entertainment, Banijay Asia, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony LIV, YRF, Dharma, Jio Studios, Rotterdam Film Festival, and Rushlake Media.

Viewing Room & Market Screenings:

115 filmmakers presented completed works to international buyers.15 standout projects were selected as Top Selects from the Viewing Room and showcased live. These filmmakers were felicitated by acclaimed casting director Mukesh Chhabra, with actor Tiger Shroff joining to support one of the selected titles. Market Screenings, showcased 15 notable and appreciated projects from talented filmmakers.

Pitch Room: From 104 project submissions, 16 curated projects were selected to pitch live, offering early-stage creators a platform to engage directly with industry stakeholders in the over 2 days of Waves Bazaar.

B2B Buyer-Seller Market: WAVES Bazaar launched India’s first dedicated B2B buyer-seller meetings in association with FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry), held from May 1–3, enabling targeted deal-making and creative business development.

Early Business Outcomes

WAVES Bazaar recorded confirmed transactions worth ₹250 crore across film, music, animation, radio, and VFX sectors within the first day and a half of the market. This figure is expected to rise significantly over the next two days and expected to cross more than 400 crores.

Notable deals and Landmark Announcements on May 2, 2025
- Khidki Gaon, a Top Selects film, secured a post-production and VFX deal with the Asian Cinema Fund. The Asian Cinema Fund (ACF) is a support program of the Busan International Film Festival that provides funding for Asian films, including both fiction and documentary projects.
- Indo-European Animation Alliance (€30 Million)
Broadvision Perspectives (India) and Fabrique d’Images Group (Europe) announced a €30 million co-production agreement for four animated features. Each title, budgeted at €7–8 million, will be developed under Indo-French and Indo-Belgian treaty frameworks. The alliance was formalized by Mark Mertens (COO, FDI Group) and Sriram Chandrasekaran (Founder & CEO, Broadvision), establishing a new benchmark for international animation collaborations from India.
- India–UK Co-Production MoU Signed
Amanda Groom (Founder & CEO, The Bridge, UK) and Munjal Shroff (Co-founder, Graphiti Studios, India) signed an MoU to co-develop a slate of factual series exploring India’s colonial history. The partnership, developed over years of collaboration since Film Bazaar and finalized at Content India, marks a significant step in transnational storytelling.
- “Shin chan India Year” Initiative Launched by TV Asahi
TV Asahi announced the “Shin chan India Year” to celebrate the franchise’s immense popularity in India. Highlights include:
- Theatrical release of Shin chan: Our Dinosaur Diary on May 9
- A Diwali 2025 release of a second film, The Spicy Kasukabe Dancers in India
- Fan engagement events at Anime India (August) and Mela Mela JAPAN (September)
This initiative further establishes India’s rising role in the global anime ecosystem and strengthens Indo-Japanese cultural ties.

* * *

PIB TEAM WAVES 2025 | Rajith/ Nikita/ LekshmiPriya/ Darshana | 157

(Release ID: 2126356) Visitor Counter : 95

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –
May 4, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: King leads nation in tribute to the greatest generation
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

King leads nation in tribute to the greatest generation

His Majesty The King will join Second World War veterans in London tomorrow for a military procession and fly past to mark VE Day 80
Hollywood actor Timothy Spall will read Churchill speech

Iconic buildings across the country will light up from Tuesday evening in tribute

National two-minute silence will be held at 12 noon on Thursday

Four days of national commemorations to the Second World War generation kick off in London tomorrow with a recital of iconic Winston Churchill speeches by Hollywood actor Timothy Spall.

Timothy Spall will start the events by reading extracts from Churchill’s iconic VE Day victory speech in 1945. Normandy veteran Alan Kennett, 100, will formally start the procession after being handed the Commonwealth War Graves’ Torch For Peace by Air Cadet Warrant Officer Emmy Jones.

The procession, featuring more than 1,300 members of the Armed Forces and youth groups will march down Whitehall, through Admiralty Arch and up the Mall towards Buckingham Palace where Their Majesties The King and Queen, as well as Members of The Royal Family, the Prime Minister and a number of Second World War veterans will be on a specially built platform on the Queen Victoria Memorial.

A fly past, which Members of the Royal Family will watch from the Balcony at Buckingham Palace, will conclude Monday’s events. From 9pm on Tuesday evening, hundreds of buildings across the country will be lit up to mark VE 80. Buildings include Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, Canary Wharf’s 1 Canada Square, the Shard, Lowther Castle, Rochester Cathedral, Manchester Printworks, Cardiff Castle, Senedd, Perth Bridge, City Chambers and Belfast City Hall.

On Thursday, a service at Westminster Abbey will begin with a national two-minute silence, which is expected to be replicated across the nation.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:

This 80th anniversary is a moment of national unity. A time to celebrate that hard won peace, honour the memory of those who lost their lives, and remember the sacrifices made by so many to secure our freedom. Their legacy lives on today in how we stand together in defence of the values they fought for and which bind us together as a nation. This week, we come together to salute their service.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said:

80 years ago millions of people celebrated the end of the Second World War in Europe. This week, we will recreate this moment across towns and cities, in our homes, in pubs and on our streets.

We must do all we can to ensure that the stories and memories of this period in our history are not forgotten. We must not forget the hardships, the heroics and the millions who lost their lives.

We are here because of the sacrifices they made and the horrors they endured. This week, I urge the nation to come together and send a powerful message: we will remember them.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Across the four days, official events and services will be taking place across the UK to mark 80 years of the end of the Second World War in Europe including events in the Devolved Nations, including:

Monday 5 May:

To ensure the commemorations act as a point of remembrance of the millions who lost their lives in the conflict as well as a celebration of peace, the commemorations will begin in Whitehall. The Cenotaph, the nation’s focal point of remembrance, will be dressed in Union Flags for the duration of the four day commemorations, echoing the 1920 unveiling of the monument to the fallen. From Monday 5 May, it will provide a focal point for the commemorations and a place to pay silent tribute to all those who died, both at home and abroad, during the Second World War.

The VE Day 80 commemorations will continue with a street party on HMS Belfast. HMS Belfast fired some of the opening shots on D Day in 1944 and protected Arctic convoys during the Second World War and is the most significant surviving Second World War warship.

Street parties, barbecues and community get togethers, supported by ideas and inspiration from The Together Coalition and The Big Lunch, will be held by communities across the country, echoing the celebrations 80 years ago as the population welcomed the end of the war.

Tuesday 6 May:

An installation of ceramic poppies will return to the Tower of London to mark the anniversary. Nearly 30,000 of the original poppies from the 2014 display at the Tower, which commemorated the centenary of the First World War, will be displayed in a new installation within the walls of the fortress. This poppies installation will resemble a ‘wound’ at the heart of the Tower, which was itself bombed during the Blitz and still bears some of those scars today. It will mark and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many during the Second World War.

Scotland Salutes VE80 concert will take place at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.

Wednesday 7 May:

On the evening of 7 May 1945, a newsflash announced that the following day would be Victory in Europe Day. To commemorate this important moment in the nation’s history, the Parliament Choir will host a Victory in Europe Day Anniversary Concert in the famous Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster.

At a special VE Day event at IWM North, jointly produced by IWM and the National Theatre, some of the letters that the public submit will become part of a performance along with high profile public figures sharing letters from the IWM collection and excerpts from ‘The Next Morning’.

A National Service of Remembrance will be held at Llandaff Cathedral.

Thursday 8 May:

A service will take place at Westminster Abbey that will be both an act of shared remembrance and a celebration of the end of the war. It will be a moment to give thanks and to honour a generation that showed extraordinary courage and resilience.

The events will conclude with a concert at the historic Horseguards Parade to finish the VE Day 80 commemorations in a celebratory tone, echoing how the nation reacted to the news 80 years before. With more than 10,000 members of the public in attendance, the concert will feature stars of stage and screen including John Newman and Dames Joan Collins, Mary Berry, and Sheila Hancock as well as military musicians and tell the story of victory and the legacy of the Second World War in Europe.

Services of remembrance and community celebrations will take place across Northern Ireland throughout the week. The Government has launched Tip Top Towns, a programme to encourage communities across the country – whether towns, villages or cities – to get together with their communities ahead of 5 May when the nation will come together for street parties to celebrate VE Day. Members of the public are encouraged to get in the VE Day spirit by making their own decorations, planting flowers, encouraging children to draw pictures for their windows or hosting arts and craft sessions.

Full list of buildings being lit up:

London:

Houses of Parliament, London

Elizabeth Tower, London

Buckingham Palace, London

10 Downing Street, London

Battersea Power Station, London

Tower 42 (Natwest Building), London

Millenium Bridge, London

The Shard, London

Tower of London, London

St Paul’s Cathedral, London

London Eye, London

Canary Wharf 1 Canada Square, London

National Theatre, London

British Film Institute, London

The Cenotaph, London

HMS Belfast, London

IWM London, London

BFI IMAX, London

BFI Southbank, London

London Bridge, London

Cannon Street Railway Bridge, London

Southwark Bridge, London

Waterloo Bridge, London

Golden Jubilee Footbridges, London

Westminster Bridge, London

Lambeth Bridge, London

Blackfriars Bridge, London

102 Petty France, London

The National Archives, London

120 Fenchurch Street, London

Twickenham/Aviva Stadium, London

North West England:

IWM North, Salford

Liverpool’s Royal Liver Building, Liverpool

Manchester Printworks, Manchester

The Royal Exchange, Manchester

Lowther Castle, Cumbria

Blackpool seafront & tower, Blackpool

Rivington Pike, Chorley

Chorley Town hall, Chorley

North East England:

Durham Cathedral, Durham

Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Newcastle

Glasshouse International Centre, Newcastle

Municipal Buildings, Middlesborough

Town Hall, Middlesborough

Town Hall Clock Tower, Middlesborough

Central Library, Middlesborough

Bottle of Notes, Middlesborough

St Hilda’s Bell structure, Middlesborough

Zetland Car Park, Middlesborough

The Issac Wilson pub, Middlesborough

Dorman Museum, Middlesborough

South East England:

The Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth

Rochester Cathedral, Rochester

Brighton Royal Pavillion, Brighton

South West England:

Runnymede Air Force Memorial, Surrey

County Hall, Dorset

Aerospace Bristol, Bristol

The Grand Pier, Weston-super-Mare

East England:

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Suffolk

West Midlands:

Birmingham Central Library, Birmingham

Tamworth Castle, Staffordshire

Kings Heath (trees), Birmingham

National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire

East Midlands:

Derwent Dam, Peak District

Scotland:

The Kelpies, Falkirk

The Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk

Perth Bridge, Perth

Hamilton House, Lanarkshire

City Chambers, Edinburgh

St Paul’s Church, Perth

Northern Ireland:

Belfast City Hall, Belfast

Titanic Museum, Belfast

Enniskillen Castle, Enniskillen

Strule Arts Centre, Omagh

Parliament Buildings

Wales:

Welsh Government Building in Cathays Park, Cardiff

Welsh Parliament ( Senedd Cymru) in Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Castle, Cardiff

Castell Coch, Cardiff

Caernarfon Castle, Caernarfon

Channel Islands:

Castle Cornet, Guernsey

Fort Grey, Guernsey

Beau Sejour Leisure, Guernsey

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Published 3 May 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
May 4, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Albanese increases majority and Dutton loses seat in stunning election landslide

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

The Albanese government has been re-elected with a substantially increased majority, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has lost his seat, in a crushing defeat of the Coalition.

As of late Saturday night, there was a two-party swing to Labor of about 3.4%, with two-party vote of 55.5%-44.5%

It was sitting on about 86 seats (up from 78), and in the hunt for more. The Coalition, which went into the election with 57 seats, has won 41, and may pick up one or two more.

The Labor primary vote was 34.7%, up 2.1%; the Coalition primary vote was 31.1%, down 4.6%.

Among the Liberal losses is frontbencher Michael Sukkar in his Victorian seat of Deakin. Shadow foreign minister David Coleman is likely to lose his Sydney seat of Banks. Outspoken Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer has lost her Tasmanian seat of Bass.

It was all over by 8.30PM, as it became increasingly clear a big swing to Labor was underway.

A trumphant and emotional Anthony Albanese told a jubilant Labor crowd: “Australians have chosen a majority Labor government”.

“Today the Australian people have voted for Australian values. For fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all. For the strength to show courage in adversity and kindness to those in need.

“And Australians have voted for a future that holds true to these values, a future built on everything that brings us together as Australians and everything that sets our nation apart from the world.

“Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future.

“I make this solemn pledge. We will not forget that we will never take it for granted, repaying your trust will drive a government each and every day of the next three years.”

Albanese, who has used a Medicare card as a prop through the campaign, produced it once again. “We will be a government that helps every Australian who relies on Medicare.”

According to the ABC, seats changing hands from the Liberals to Labor are Banks and Hughes in NSW; Forde, Bonner, Dickson, Petrie, Leichhardt in Queensland; Deakin in Victoria; Braddon and Bass in Tasmania; Sturt in South Australia, and Moore in Western Australia.

It was a bad night for the Greens. They are likely to lose two of their three Queensland seats, Griffith, held by high profile MP Max Chandler-Mather, and Brisbane held by Stephen Bates.

The Greens’ expected losses occurred despite roughly holding its primary vote, which is 12.5%, up 0.2%. Their leader Adam Bandt is in trouble in his seat of Melbourne.

Dutton said in his concession speech he had called Albanese and congratulated him. “I said to the prime minister that his mum would be incredibly proud of his achievement tonight, and he should be very proud of what he’s achieved.”

Dutton said he had also spoken to Ali France, the Labor candidate who has beaten him in Dickson. “She lost her son Henry, which is a tragic circumstance that no parent should ever go through. And equally I said to Ali that her son Henry would be incredibly proud of her tonight and that she’ll do a good Local member for Dixon.”

He expressed his sorrow for the Liberal MPs and candidates who had lost.

All the teals have held their seats. The teal candidate in Bradfield, Nicolette Boele, is ahead of her Liberal opponent. The teal Jessie Price is also ahead in the ACT Labor seat of Bean.

Queensland LNP Senator James McGrath said it was a brutal night for Peter Dutton and the Coalition. “We have got to make sure we take stock of why we lost this election and have a serious review into those reasons.”

As the Liberals prepare to review their disastrous loss and choose a new leader, their Senate leader Michaelia Cash is backing fellow West Australian Andrew Hastie. “I think Andrew Hastie is an outstanding member … I’m a very good friend of his. Andrew’s always been seen as leadership material.”

Michelle Grattan 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. Albanese increases majority and Dutton loses seat in stunning election landslide – https://theconversation.com/albanese-increases-majority-and-dutton-loses-seat-in-stunning-election-landslide-255616

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

May 4, 2025

MIL-OSI: Best Online Casinos Canada: Expert Picks 7Bit as the Top Casino for Canadian Players

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

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Traditional Payment Methods

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Payment Method	Min. Deposit	Withdrawal Time
Visa	C$1	1-3 business days
Mastercard	C$1	1-3 business days
Skrill	C$1	Instant
iDebit	C$1	Instant
Payz	C$10	Instant
Bank Transfer	C$10	1-3 business days
Bitcoin	C$10	Instant
Dogecoin	C$10	Instant
Litecoin	C$10	Instant

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Disclaimer and Affiliate Disclosure

Disclaimer: Gambling online comes with financial risks. Make sure you meet the legal age requirement (19+) in your region and follow local laws. Always engage in responsible gambling and check 7Bit’s official site for the latest terms, as promotions and payment methods may be updated.

General Disclaimer
This article is for informational and entertainment purposes only, not legal or financial advice. Content is based on research and user reviews as of writing. No warranties are made, and users must verify information before acting.

Casino and Gambling Disclaimer
Online gambling carries risks and isn’t for everyone. Confirm you’re of legal gambling age in your jurisdiction. Gambling laws vary, and compliance is your responsibility. We don’t promote gambling; participation is at your risk. 7Bit Casino is a third-party platform, and we’re not liable for losses or disputes.

Affiliate Disclosure
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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5d1aa3ae-f1d7-42ef-b49f-cdeb1a780895

The MIL Network –

May 3, 2025

MIL-OSI: Credicorp Ltd.: Credicorp’s Earnings Release and Conference Call 1Q25

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Lima, May 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lima, PERU, April, May 2^nd, 2025 – Credicorp Ltd. announces to its shareholders and the market that its 1Q25 Earnings Release Report will be released on Thursday, May 15^th, 2025, after market close.

Credicorp’s Webcast / Conference Call to discuss such results will be held on Friday, May 16^th, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. ET (9:30 a.m. Lima, Peru time).

The call will be hosted by:
Gianfranco Ferrari – Chief Executive Officer, – Alejandro Perez Reyes – Chief Financial Officer, Francesca Raffo – Chief Innovation Officer, Cesar Rios – Chief Risk Officer, Cesar Rivera – Head of Insurance and Pensions, Carlos Sotelo – Mibanco CFO and Investor Relations Team.

We encourage participants to pre-register for the listen-only webcast presentation using the following link:
https://dpregister.com/DiamondPassRegistration/register?confirmationNumber=10199249&linkSecurityString=ff0433990d

Callers who pre-register will be given a conference passcode and unique PIN to gain immediate access to the call and bypass the live operator. Participants may pre-register at any time, including up to and after the call start time.

Those unable to pre-register may dial in by calling:
Participant dial-in (toll-free): 1 844 435 0321
Participant international dial-in: 1 412 317 5615
Participant Web Phone: Click Here
Conference ID: Credicorp Conference Call

The webcast will be archived for one year on our investor relations website at:
https://credicorp.gcs-web.com/events-and-presentations/upcoming-events

Credicorp reminds you that we filed our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31^st, 2024 (2024 Form 20-F) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 25^th, 2025. The 2024 Form 20-F includes audited consolidated financial statements of Credicorp and its subsidiaries as of December 31^st, 2022, 2023 and 2024 under IFRS. Our 2024 Form 20-F can be downloaded from Credicorp’s website: https://credicorp.gcs-web.com/annual-materials Holders of Credicorp’s securities and any other interested parties may request a hard copy of our 2024 Form 20-F, free of charge, by filling out the form located on the link “mail request” on Credicorp’s website.

About Credicorp

Credicorp (NYSE: BAP) is the leading financial services holding company in Peru with presence in Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, and Panama. Credicorp has a diversified business portfolio organized into four lines of business: Universal Banking, through Banco de Crédito del Peru (“BCP”) and Banco de Crédito de Bolivia; Microfinance, through Mibanco in Peru and Colombia; Insurance & Pension Funds, through Grupo Pacifico and Prima AFP; and Investment Management & Advisory, through Credicorp Capital, Wealth Management at BCP and ASB Bank Corp. Credicorp has a presence in Peru, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, and Panama.

For further information, please contact the IR team:

investorrelations@credicorpperu.com

Investor Relations
Credicorp Ltd.

The MIL Network –

May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: Experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Commend Kyrgyzstan on Eradicating Statelessness, Ask about Measures to Prevent Hate Speech and Bride Kidnapping

Source: United Nations – Geneva

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today concluded its consideration of the combined eleventh and twelfth periodic reports of Kyrgyzstan, with Committee Experts commending the State on resolving all known cases of statelessness, and asking about measures to prevent hate speech and the practice of bride kidnapping.

Mazalo Tebie, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, and other Committee Experts commended Kyrgyzstan on having resolved all known cases of statelessness in 2019. They asked how the State party was bringing its legislation on statelessness in line with international standards.

Guan Jian, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said conflicts between the country’s various ethnic groups had occurred in recent years. The State party needed to consider early detection and preventative measures to prevent hate speech. Could the delegation provide data on crimes motivated by racist hate speech occurring online and in the media?

Ms. Tebie also said there was a phenomenon in Kyrgyzstan called “ala kachuu” (bride kidnapping), in which young women or girls from marginalised and vulnerable ethnic groups were abducted by men and forced into marriage. How did the State ensure the effective implementation of laws prohibiting the practice?

In opening remarks, Marat Tagaev, Deputy Minister of Culture, Information and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan and head of the delegation, said Kyrgyzstan fully adhered to its international obligations under the Convention. The President had approved the national development strategy until 2040, one of the main priorities of which was to ensure interethnic harmony and strengthen the unity of the people.

In addition, Mr. Tagaev said Kyrgyzstan continued systematic and continuous work on the issues of refugees, internally displaced persons and stateless persons. In 2019, it became the first country in the world to resolve all known cases of statelessness. It had also introduced a universal system that ensured 100 per cent registration of births.

On measures to address hate speech, the delegation said a new bill on the media had been prepared in 2022 which prevented the spread of disinformation online. In 2025, only 25 complaints related to online hate speech had been received by the State; the State had moved to block websites in response in seven cases.

The delegation said bridal theft was a form of violence against women. Persons who abducted women for the purpose of marriage were punished with up to seven years imprisonment, or up to 20 years for the abduction of minors. In 2022, courts found 42 individuals guilty of these crimes. In all schools, a special subject was taught that addressed kidnapping and abductions, explaining that these actions were crimes.

In concluding remarks, Michal Balcerzak, Committee Chair, said the dialogue had been very constructive, addressing many issues. The information provided by the delegation would allow the Committee to develop targeted concluding observations.

Mr. Guan, in concluding remarks, thanked the State party for its contributions to the dialogue, which had helped to make it a success.

Mr. Tagaev, in his concluding remarks, said that the Committee’s comments and questions would help the State party to strengthen measures to promote equality and prevent discrimination. Kyrgyzstan would continue to take active steps to prevent racial discrimination and implement the Convention, working in collaboration with civil society.

The delegation of Kyrgyzstan consisted of representatives of the Supreme Court; General Prosecutor’s Office; Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Labour, Social Security, and Migration; Ministry of Education and Science; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Economy and Commerce; Cabinet of Ministers; State Commission on Religious Affairs; Administration of the President; and the Permanent Mission of Kyrgyzstan to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Committee will issue its concluding observations on the report of Kyrgyzstan after the conclusion of its one hundred and fifteenth session on 9 May. The programme of work and other documents related to the session can be found here. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.

The Committee will next meet in public on Friday, 9 May at 4 p.m. to close its one hundred and fifteenth session.

Report

The Committee has before it the combined eleventh and twelfth periodic reports of Kyrgyzstan (CERD/C/KGZ/11-12).

Presentation of Report

MARAT TAGAEV, Deputy Minister of Culture, Information and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan and head of the delegation, said that since Kyrgyzstan gained independence, the human rights and freedoms of its citizens, regardless of their racial and ethnic affiliation, had remained absolute and unchanged in the State. Kyrgyzstan fully adhered to its international obligations under the Convention. It was a multi-ethnic State with representatives of more than 100 different ethnic groups, including Uzbeks, Russians, Dungans, Uyghurs, Tajiks and other ethnic groups. The Constitution prohibited discrimination based on race, language, ethnicity, religion, origin, as well as other circumstances. The commission of a crime based on racial, ethnic, national, religious or interregional enmity was an aggravating circumstance.

Set up in 2013, the Coordinating Council on Human Rights aimed to improve the mechanisms for ensuring the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, and the implementation of international obligations in the field of human rights. The Council included the heads of key State bodies whose activities were related to the protection of human rights, and it was headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan continued systematic and continuous work on the issues of refugees, internally displaced persons and stateless persons. In 2019, it became the first country in the world to resolve all known cases of statelessness. It had also introduced a universal system that ensured 100 per cent registration of births. Draft laws on Kyrgyzstan’s accession to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Reduction of Statelessness Convention had also been submitted for public discussion.

The courts of the country applied not only the laws of Kyrgyzstan but also international treaties that had entered into force. The Convention was thus an integral part of the legal system. The President had approved the national development strategy until 2040, one of the main priorities of which was to ensure interethnic harmony, strengthen the unity of the people, and protect the rights of citizens, regardless of their ethnicity.

In November 2020, the President of Kyrgyzstan had approved the plan for the promotion of a civil identity Kyrgyz jarany (Kyrgyz citizen) for the period 2021-2026. The purpose of the plan was to develop a favourable environment for the promotion of the civic identity of Kyrgyz jarany, including through forming of a conscious understanding of the civil identity of Kyrgyz citizens; strengthening the unity of the people of Kyrgyzstan, increasing tolerance and promoting diversity; developing and promoting the State language and preserving multilingualism; promoting equal access to decision making; and increasing confidence in political institutions and public authorities. Various national and international stakeholders were involved in developing the plan.

The People’s Assembly, which included 30 ethnic associations, played an important role in strengthening interethnic harmony, and preserving languages, culture and traditions of ethnic groups living in Kyrgyzstan. In April 2025, the National Agency for Religious Affairs and Interethnic Relations was established, which implemented State policy in the field of religious relations, strengthening interethnic harmony, providing early warning, and preventing interethnic conflicts.

Public reception offices for interethnic relations operated in 23 multiethnic districts, carrying out preventive measures, monitoring work in places where multiethnic communities lived, and promoting effective interaction with the civil sector. In 2024, these offices carried out more than 1,100 early warning and prevention measures regarding interethnic conflicts, and close to 4,000 measures over the past four years. As a result of this work, the number of interethnic incidents had decreased four-fold.

Kyrgyzstan had created a legal framework to prevent discrimination in the courts. The constitutional principle of equality before the law and the courts was reflected in the Criminal Procedure Code and laws on the status and behaviour of judges, as well as on the Supreme Court and local courts.

The State party supported members of all ethnic groups in Kyrgyzstan to preserve, study and develop their native languages. In 161 local schools, students had the opportunity to study in Uzbek. In 22 of them, education took place only in Uzbek. The State strove to implement a balanced language policy that would foster a new trilingual generation of Kyrgyz citizens who spoke the official languages and one foreign language, while ensuring guarantees for the preservation of the native languages of ethnic communities. Kyrgyzstan had developed a regulatory framework for its multilingual and multicultural education programmes.

Questions by a Committee Expert

GUAN JIAN, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said that the high-level delegation showed the great importance that the State party attached to the dialogue.

The demographic data that the State party had provided was not sufficiently comprehensive or specific. How did the State party apply the principle of self-identification in data collection on ethnicity, and how would it implement the Committee’s recommendations on data collection as soon as possible?

Mr. Guan commended the State party’s legislative work. However, in its previous concluding observations, the Committee expressed concern about the persistent lack of anti-discrimination legislation, calling on the State party to adopt such legislation in line with the Convention, with assistance from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Had progress been made in this regard? How did the Criminal Code of 2019 contribute to combatting racial discrimination? A draft anti-discrimination law was submitted to Parliament in 2023 but was subsequently removed from its agenda for revision. Why was this?

The previous concluding observations also called for compliance with Convention obligations in the judicial field. During the reporting period, law enforcement units initiated 189 criminal cases related to incitement to ethnic, racial, religious or interregional hostility. Were all these cases brought before the courts? Did the judicial system have internal guidelines for handling cases involving racial discrimination? Were there rules and procedures on cooperation between judicial bodies and the Office of the Ombudsperson on such cases? Were regular training courses on anti-racial discrimination provided for judicial personnel? Could the delegation provide examples of cases of racial discrimination where the provisions of the Convention had been invoked in, or applied by, domestic courts?

Mr. Guan expressed appreciation for the State party’s policy efforts related to racial discrimination, including the national action plan on development of the civil identity of Kyrgyz jarany (Kyrgyz citizen) for the period 2021-2026 and the national development strategy for 2018-2040. What preliminary achievements had been made by these policies, and by the State programme for the security and socioeconomic development of border areas, and what challenges remained?

The Committee was concerned that the Office of the Ombudsperson was not in compliance with the Paris Principles and that it received a low number of complaints of racial discrimination. What measures had the State party taken to strengthen the mandate of the Office to effectively promote human rights and to independently monitor and evaluate progress in the implementation of the Convention, while ensuring adequate financial and human resources to carry out its mandate? Had the State adopted a 2017 bill aiming to strengthen the independence of the institution? Why had its head been dismissed in 2023?

Mr. Guan expressed appreciation for the State party’s endeavours to prohibit and punish racist hate speech and hate crimes, including in the media and over the internet, according to its Constitution, Criminal Code and other laws. The State party had also reported that there were no recorded cases over the reporting period of racist statements in the media or incitement to hatred by politicians or public figures. However, conflicts between the country’s various ethnic groups had occurred in recent years, and development gaps and uneven opportunities between different ethnic groups in some regions still existed.

The State party needed to consider early detection and preventative measures to prevent hate speech, including awareness raising campaigns, incentives for strengthening self-regulation of media, systematic monitoring of online hate speech, and capacity building for State authorities. Could the delegation provide data on cases of hate speech and ethnic groups involved in conflict, and rates of completion of trials on such cases?

The Committee had previously called on the State party to put an end to racial profiling by the police, undertake effective investigations into all allegations of racial profiling, hold those responsible accountable, and provide effective remedies to victims, as well as to develop training programmes for law enforcement officers on identifying, investigating and prosecuting racist incidents. Mr. Guan welcomed educational seminars and training of citizens as part of the programme on Kyrgyz jarany (Kyrgyz citizen). What measures were in place to ensure that law enforcement officers did not engage in racial profiling?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said Kyrgyzstan was committed to its obligations under the Convention and took every effort to prevent racial discrimination. A bill on the rights of minorities had been prepared to strengthen legal mechanisms to prevent racial discrimination. However, Parliament had called for the revision of this bill to consider different views and proposals; this process was ongoing.

Kyrgyzstan was a poly-ethnic State. As of January 2025, the State had a population of 7.2 million. The 2022 census revealed that Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Russians, Uyghurs and Kazakhs represented the largest ethnic groups. Citizens had the right to voluntarily report their ethnic identity in the census. The Constitution enshrined the equality of all citizens regardless of their nationality or ethnicity.

Discrimination in all forms was prohibited in Kyrgyzstan. No person could be discriminated against based on race, ethnicity or other characteristics. The State provided judicial protection from all forms of discrimination. Courts treated people equally regardless of their ethnicity. All persons subjected to discrimination could file a complaint with the courts. The Supreme Court had called on the State party to revise laws that contravened the Constitution. In cases of serious crimes such as murder and ill-treatment, discriminatory motives based on race, ethnicity, religion, language or other grounds were considered to be aggravating circumstances and could be qualified as crimes against humanity.

The Ministry of the Interior provided 1,000 hours of training for newly recruited law enforcement officers, which included classes on human rights, international human rights law, and preventing all forms of discrimination. Disciplinary cases had been brought against 5,400 officials in recent years. A service had been established for submitting complaints against law enforcement officers. There were 53 cases related to racial discrimination in 2023 and 47 in 2024. The judicial academy, from 2019, had also trained 429 judges on international human rights standards. There were judges of Russian, Tartar and Kurd ethnicity in the Supreme Court.

The Office of the Ombudsperson provided oversight on human rights issues in the State. A new constitutional law on increasing the independence and powers of the Office and bringing the Office in line with the Paris Principles had been developed. Recently, the Office’s budget had been increased to allow it to carry out its activities more effectively.

Follow-Up Questions by Committee Experts

GUAN JIAN, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, asked whether the national statistics committee had a fixed term for carrying out the next census. How many staff members did the Ombudsperson’s Office have and what were their roles? What were the sources of its funding and what was its annual budget? How did it work with courts and law enforcement? Did the Office have branches in each region of the country?

A Committee Expert said racist incidents in the country seemed to have increased over the years, but disciplinary measures against the police seemed to be decreasing. In how many disciplinary cases had police officers been convicted? What were the outcomes of disciplinary proceedings?

One Committee Expert congratulated the State party on having completely eradicated statelessness. Did the State party ensure the independence of the Council of Human Rights, which was under the President’s Office? What findings had the Council made? How did it cooperate with civil society?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that currently, 115 persons worked for the Ombudsperson’s Office, which had branch offices in seven regions. The Office’s financial resources had increased each year in recent years. The Office had departments for oversight on human rights and children’s rights, a complaints department, and a department for judicial activities. The Office monitored the rights and freedoms of citizens during both open and closed judicial proceedings. It cooperated with law enforcement agencies and monitored the compliance of these agencies with their human rights obligations.

All law enforcement agents underwent training activities on human rights. Disciplinary offences for police officers were not administrative or criminal processes; they were internal processes. Persons could submit complaints against officers via social media and email. If investigations found that crimes had been committed, cases were transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office. There had been an increase in complaints recently, which had led to an increase in disciplinary proceedings, but around half of complaints were found to be groundless.

The Kyrgyz jarany (Kyrgyz citizen) project promoted respect for diversity, social cohesion and statehood. Under the project, some 23 regions had established offices that carried out monitoring and activities to prevent interethnic conflicts, including meetings with ethnic community representatives and training activities.

The State programme on the development of border areas aimed at improving the living conditions of the population in these areas, strengthening the State border and reducing internal migration. There were plans to develop infrastructure, agriculture and electrical supply, and reduce natural disasters in these areas. The comprehensive programme of socio-economic development of regions was also in place, which included policies for the development of mountainous and border regions.

Questions by a Committee Expert

MAZALO TEBIE, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said public offices responsible for interethnic issues had received 167 requests in 2022 related to preventing discrimination against ethnic groups. What follow-up was given to these requests? Could the delegation provide data on investigations into crimes motivated by racist hate speech and hate crimes occurring online and in the media? How did the State help victims to access legal aid and support services?

Reportedly, women and girls belonging to ethnic minorities, such as Uzbeks, Tajiks and Dungans, and rural women remained underrepresented in the public and political sphere, and patriarchal norms and socio-economic barriers restricted their access to education and professional opportunities. How were they encouraged to participate in public and private life? What measures were in place to prevent gender and ethnic stereotypes? Were there quotas or mechanisms to ensure fair representation of women from ethnic minorities in decision-making bodies? How did the State party support access to basic social services for minority women?

Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community had reportedly faced difficulties in accessing health services, and were frequently exposed to blackmail, intimidation, extortion, as well as arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment. What measures were in place to include these persons in awareness raising campaigns, prevent and investigate discrimination and violence against them, and ensure their access to legal protection?

There were reports of restrictions of rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association and opinion in the State party. Human rights defenders and journalists were frequently exposed to threats, stigmatisation, arrests, arbitrary detentions, and sanctions such as fines, expulsions or closures of entities. Kyrgyzstan had fallen 50 places in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index, to 122nd out of 180 countries. What was being done to prevent the intimation of human rights defenders, to guarantee freedom of expression and other fundamental freedoms, and to release detained journalists, human rights defenders and non-governmental organization leaders?

In 2024, the President promulgated a law on “foreign agents”. How would the State party address concerns related to this law, which seemingly could force some non-governmental organizations to close or self-censor? What safeguards were in place to ensure that civil society organizations could operate freely, regardless of their foreign funding? Many non-governmental organizations had reported an increase in negative attitudes to their work by State representatives. What measures were in place to protect non-governmental organizations from interference and intimidation by public authorities?

A general ban on public assemblies had been imposed in 2022 to prevent certain peaceful assemblies. Why was this ban introduced? How did the State party ensure that citizens could exercise their right to freedom of assembly? What measures were planned to prevent abuses of this ban by the police? Were there any redress mechanisms for citizens sanctioned under this ban?

New laws had been implemented that banned wearing of religious clothing, including the niqab, in public spaces, and proselytising outside places of worship. Why had these new restrictions, which ran the risk of violating the right to freedom of religion, been introduced? How did the State party protect the right to freedom of religion and prevent religious minorities from being marginalised by these laws?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said non-profit organizations played an important part in life in Kyrgyzstan, helping to solve societal problems. Amendments were brought to the law on non-commercial organizations in 2024 that aimed to ensure transparency and accountability for these organizations. Inclusion of these organizations in the State register ensured transparency in their finances.

The State party banned discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons, who were guaranteed equal access to justice. In one case, it was found that a television station had recorded a member of this community without their permission; the station was issued with a fine in response.

There were 21,000 civil service employees, of which 35 per cent were women. There were 340 members of minority groups in the civil service. There were no quotas for employment in the civil service.

The draft bill on freedom of worship and religious associations sought to bring State legislation on religion in line with international norms. It included regulations on registration of religious organizations and sites and labour relations in such organizations. Freedom of worship was a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution and the legal system. There was no ban specifically on religious clothing, only a ban on covering one’s face in public institutions. Religious organizations could not proselytise, but there were no other bans on their activities.

Under State law, no one had the right to restrict peaceful assemblies. Laws prevented citizens from being forced to participate in meetings. Public authorities needed to ensure public safety, and could ban public meetings that threatened public order.

A new bill on the media had been prepared in 2022. The bill was now under review in the President’s Office. Representatives of the media fully supported this bill, which prevented the spread of disinformation online. In 2025, only 25 complaints related to online hate speech had been received by the State; the State had moved to block websites in response in seven cases.

Questions by Committee Experts

MAZALO TEBIE, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said that the State party had established several measures to prevent discrimination against minorities. How did it evaluate the effectiveness of these measures? Could women wear the niqab? How did the State party ensure freedom of religion?

There was a phenomenon in Kyrgyzstan called “ala kachuu” (bride kidnapping), in which young women or girls were abducted by men and forced into marriage. This practice was said to mainly affect women and girls from rural communities, and from marginalised and vulnerable groups. What actions had been taken to ensure the effective implementation of laws prohibiting the practice, and to raise awareness among rural communities about women’s rights? What support services were available to abducted women and girls? Did the State party have up-to-date data on the most affected ethnic groups or regions?

Another Committee Expert asked whether there was a framework for the participation of minorities in all law-making processes.

FAITH DIKELEDI PANSY TLAKULA, Committee Expert and Follow-Up Rapporteur, said that the Committee’s previous concluding observations had called on the State party to implement the views of the Human Rights Committee and pardon Azimjan Askarov, considering his poor health. The Committee deeply regretted that he had passed away five days after the State party had reported that his health was improving. What measures were in place to protect human rights defenders, journalists and non-governmental organizations working on the rights of ethnic minorities from reprisals?

A Committee Expert welcomed that there were thousands of civil society organizations in the State party. Did they take part in meetings preparing for the current dialogue? How many of these organizations had been banned?

Another Committee Expert said that in one court case concerning an attack against homosexual persons, the court had sent back the case to the prosecution. What happened to the case after this? Was the fine issued to the television station for recording a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community without their permission sufficient?

GUAN JIAN, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, welcomed measures to promote the protection of equal rights for all ethnic groups. The Committee had previously expressed concern about the low living standards of the Mughat, characterised by high unemployment and school dropout rates; land expropriation, home demolitions and forced evictions, disproportionately affecting Uzbeks from Osh and Jalalabad and frequently carried out in the absence of due process guarantees; discrimination against Uzbeks in access to work; and the absence of remedies for persons arbitrarily dismissed from their posts following the events of 2010. What measures were implemented to address the Committee’s concerns?

Parliamentary deputies’ seats had in 2021 been reduced from 120 to 90. Representatives of minority ethnic communities had held 16 seats in 2021. What impact did the reduction of seats have on the representation of ethnic groups? As of 2022, some 11 per cent of members of local councils and four per cent of State and municipal administration staff were members of minority ethnic groups, while 3.1 per cent of police officers were from minority groups. What measures were in place to increase minority representation in these bodies and the judiciary?

Mr. Guan welcomed the State party’s efforts to promote multilingual education. The law on education stated that educational services could be provided in a foreign language. Were minority languages considered to be “foreign languages”? What financing was provided for multilingual education? There were only 2,450 ethnic Uzbeks, 125 ethnic Tajiks, and 417 Dungans studying in their mother tongues in Kyrgyzstan in 2021. Why were these numbers so low?

Many institutions had been established by the State party to address interethnic tensions, such as the public advisory councils on interethnic relations; community liaison offices; the monitoring centre of the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sport and Youth Policy; and the interagency commission. Were these organizations run by the State or non-governmental organizations? What were each of their tasks, including in implementing the Kyrgyz jarany (citizens of Kyrgyzstan) plan? What personnel did these institutions have, how were their powers divided, and how did they cooperate with law enforcement?

Related to June 2010 ethnic violence in the south of the State, among a total of 5,642 criminal cases initiated by law enforcement agencies, proceedings had been suspended in 3,919 cases, a majority of the cases, while inquiries were being conducted. What data could be provided on these suspended cases?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said bridal theft was a form of violence against women. This crime was punished under criminal legislation and punishments had recently been strengthened. Persons who abducted women for the purpose of marriage were punished with up to seven years imprisonment, or up to 20 years for the abduction of minors. No amnesty was provided to perpetrators. In 2022, courts found 42 individuals guilty of these crimes. In all schools, a special subject was taught that addressed kidnapping and abductions, explaining that these actions were crimes.

Some 97 per cent of children in the State party attended schools. The State promoted education in native tongues and official languages. More than 4,000 children were being taught in the Uzbek language, and there were also special schools teaching in other minority ethnic languages such as Tajik.

Currently, there were around 1,500 members of ethnic minorities serving as civil servants, some 35 per cent of whom were women. There were three representatives of minority ethnic groups currently serving in Parliament. Uzbeks, Dungans, Russians and Kazakhs were represented in parliamentary deputy seats, five per cent of which were held by women.

After the events of June 2010, more than 5,300 criminal cases had been launched and more than 300 people had been brought to justice, including one life sentence conviction. Investigations were based on respect for human rights and ethnicity was not a factor in the consideration of cases. Kyrgyzstan was committed to carrying out fair trials in line with international standards. There were some 42 cases involving murder, and several cases involving destruction of public and private property. Some three billion som in damages were incurred by the State.

Regarding the death in custody of Azimjan Askarov, the central prison hospital had diagnosed him with pneumonia and had provided him with treatment; however, he had rejected this treatment, leading to his death. An investigation into the death was ongoing.

The case of an alleged attack on homosexual people had been dropped after being returned to the prosecution. Regarding the case of a transgender girl recorded by a television station, courts provided financial compensation for moral damage, considering the degree of damage caused and the circumstances of the case.

Questions by Committee Experts

GUAN JIAN, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, called for more detailed information on public works undertaken in Osh city without the permission of local residents, and the situation of the Mughat community, some members of which were relocated after their lands were flooded. Were affected people provided with compensation?

A Committee Expert said that racial discrimination and climate change inhibited access to health for the Mughat community. How did the State party promote access to health, safe food and drinking water for this community, and access to reproductive health rights for its women and children?

Another Committee Expert asked whether parents who refused to send their children to school were criminally prosecuted by the Ministry of Justice.

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said the State party was implementing a project to digitally register all newborns, which had promoted 100 per cent registration of births in the Mughat community. Some 95 per cent of the Kyrgyz population had access to drinking water. The State party was building water pipelines to increase access to drinking water in remote communities, including to the Mughat community.

Citizens had the inalienable right to healthcare services, regardless of their ethnicity or other characteristics. The programme on State guarantees approved in 2023 aimed to improve access to medical services for vulnerable groups and increase the quality of health services.

Parents were required to send school age children to school. They had the right to choose the language of education and between public and private schools or homeschooling. A bill had been developed that called for fining of parents who refused to send their children to school.

The State party had identified sites for demolition in Osh in a project to develop public roads. Some 69 million som had been provided in compensation to persons whose homes or property were affected. Persons who felt that their property rights had been infringed by State development projects could file complaints in court.

The Coordinating Council on Human Rights was an advisory council that sought to improve the implementation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the State party. Headed by the Deputy Prime Minister and including representatives of State authorities and the Ombudsperson, it coordinated the preparation of reports to international treaty bodies and implementation of these bodies’ recommendations.

Parliament included representatives of national ethnic groups, who were involved in drafting legislation. A web portal had also been set up that allowed citizens to make comments on legislative proposals.

Questions by a Committee Expert

MAZALO TEBIE, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said the Committee welcomed the State’s initiatives regarding the protection of refugees, including planned accession to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and the national action plan on migration management for 2022 to 2025. However, there was a high rate of rejection of applications for refugee status, and some refugees reportedly lived in precarious conditions, including in overcrowded temporary shelters with limited access to healthcare, clean water and education. Uyghur, Uzbek and Chechen refugees and asylum seekers were reportedly extremely vulnerable. What measures were in place to protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers and promote access to residence?

In 2024, protests against migrants had been held, leading to violence against foreigners with legal residence status. What measures were in place to prevent violence against foreigners, including irregular migrants, and to provide victims with support? Migrants employed in the agricultural and construction sectors often faced precarious working conditions, with limited access to health and support services. What measures were in place to protect the rights of migrant workers, establish clear standards for the employment of migrants, and promote their integration into society? Were there institutions that assessed working conditions for migrants?

Nearly one in four Kyrgyz citizens migrated to neighbouring countries to work. These emigrants reportedly struggled to access basic services in host countries. Why did many women choose to emigrate? What measures were in place to support them, including in Russia? There were some Kyrgyz nationals in Syria and Iraq that were reportedly waiting to be repatriated. How was the State party supporting their return?

The Committee had received reports of numerous cases of extradition of refugees and asylum seekers, including Uyghurs from China and Uzbeks. How did the State party prevent refoulement? How many extradited migrants had been subjected to refoulement?

The State party had implemented a law that guaranteed the civil registration of all children. Kyrgyzstan was also the first country in the region to have resolved all known cases of statelessness; this was commendable. However, the Government had proposed amendments in 2023 to the citizenship law that prevented the conferral of Kyrgyz citizenship to the children of foreign parents born in Kyrgyzstan. This could lead to statelessness. How was the State party bringing its legislation on statelessness in line with international standards?

What measures had been taken to provide continuous training to judges and lawyers on human rights, discrimination and the application of the Convention? How many judges and lawyers had been trained?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that in Kyrgyzstan, refugees had the right to health and education services and the right to freedom of movement. The State assessed each application for refugee status in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and promoted the integration of refugees into society. From 2019 to 2024, the State party had received around 300 appeals against decisions to refuse refugee status. Around 140 of these cases had gone to the cassation court, which had decided to grant refugee status in some cases.

Kyrgyzstan upheld the principle of non-refoulement. Extraditions could not be carried out if there was suspicion of the person involved being subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Kyrgyzstan worked with international partners to assess risks in individual cases. In 2024, the State party extradited 49 foreign citizens, including seven to the Russian Federation. None of these persons had requested refugee status.

Some 37 criminal cases had been initiated in response to violent incidents relating to 2024 protests against migrants. The State party was carrying out activities to prevent broad-scale violations against foreign nationals, including ongoing informational activities. Local populations now understood better the rights of foreign nationals.

State laws regulated the situation of stateless persons in Kyrgyzstan. Efforts to address statelessness were ongoing. The State party had devised procedures for providing the children of stateless persons with identification documents, including the 2024 project that ensured 100 per cent issuance of birth certificates to newborns.

Consular services provided for the protection of Kyrgyz citizens abroad, including migrant workers. The Ombudsperson’s Office received complaints of rights violations from migrants and implemented response measures. Children of Kyrgyz migrants needed to be able to speak basic Russian to attend school in the Russian Federation; the State party thus provided Russian language courses to these children.

The State party had trained 429 judges in 2025 on international human rights standards. The judiciary was committed to promoting diversity and equality.

In 2021, the State party repatriated more than 400 citizens from Iraq and Syria, including children. Measures had been implemented to promote the reintegration and rehabilitation of these citizens and prevent their stigmatisation.

Questions by Committee Experts

MAZALO TEBIE, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, asked whether only foreigners who did not have refugee status could be extradited. The Committee hoped that the law implementing the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol would be adopted soon. If foreign women who were married to Kyrgyz men divorced, did their children keep Kyrgyz nationality? Why did the State party require foreigners to take HIV tests? The State party had developed a “compatriots of foreign nationality” card. Who were these “compatriots of foreign nationality”?

A Committee Expert said there had been a reported drop in teaching of the Uzbek language after the 2010 violence. Were nation-wide examinations conducted in the Uzbek language for students learning in that language?

Another Committee Expert asked if training course for judicial officials addressed the application of the Convention in civil and criminal cases. Were there examples of judicial decisions where the Convention was applied?

A Committee Expert congratulated the State party on eradicating statelessness as of 2019, and for developing a statelessness determination procedure. Kyrgyzstan needed to ratify the statelessness conventions and share its best practices with other nations.

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that under national legislation, refugees could not be extradited. The State party waited until processes considering applications for refugee status concluded before considering extradition. Two draft bills on acceding to the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol were currently under consideration.

If one parent had Kyrgyz nationality, children could receive Kyrgyz nationality, regardless of the location of their birth. Children of stateless parents born in Kyrgyzstan were also granted Kyrgyz nationality. Persons could lose Kyrgyz nationality if they served in the army of a foreign State or if they received citizenship after submitting falsified documents. Kyrgyz citizens could change their citizenship only once; persons needed to submit documents proving their ethnic identity to change their citizenship. Divorces were not grounds for changing citizenship.

To enrol in universities in Kyrgyzstan, students needed to sit the General Republican Exam in either Kyrgyz or Russian.

Kyrgyzstan did not required foreigners to submit a certificate showing that they were HIV-negative when applying for a visa. Information related to HIV tests was not made public. Forced tests were carried out in a confidential manner based on court decisions.

Courts could apply international conventions directly. All criminal cases related to the June 2010 events had been closed, but affected persons had the right to appeal cases and seek compensation.

The children and grandchildren of Kyrgyz citizens who lived overseas had the right to apply for the “compatriots of foreign nationality” card, which allowed them to live and work in Kyrgyzstan without additional residence or work permits.

Closing Remarks

MICHAL BALCERZAK, Committee Chair, said the dialogue had been very constructive, addressing many issues. The information provided by the delegation would allow the Committee to develop targeted concluding observations.

GUAN JIAN, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, thanked the State party for its contributions to the dialogue, which had helped to make it a success. He expressed hope that the State party would follow-up on remaining unanswered questions and closed by thanking all persons who had contributed to the dialogue.

MARAT TAGAEV, Deputy Minister of Culture, Information and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan and head of the delegation, said that the Committee’s comments and questions would help the State party to strengthen measures to promote equality and prevent discrimination. Kyrgyzstan would continue to take active steps to prevent racial discrimination and implement the Convention, working in collaboration with civil society. The State party would work to implement the Committee’s recommendations and to build an inclusive and just society.

__________

Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media;
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

CERD.25.08E

MIL OSI United Nations News –

May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: Committee against Torture Concludes Eighty-Second Session

Source: United Nations – Geneva

The Committee against Torture this morning closed its eighty-second session, after adopting concluding observations on the reports of Armenia, France, Mauritius, Monaco, Turkmenistan and Ukraine, which were reviewed during the session. The session was held from 7 April to 2 May.

Claude Heller, Committee Chairperson, read out a summary of the concluding observations for each country reviewed this session under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment . The concluding observations will be available on the webpage of the session as of 1 p.m. this afternoon.

Mr. Heller said that the Committee had still not been informed whether its next two sessions scheduled for 2025 would take place. Sixteen treaty body sessions were at stake, and the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture had had to postpone four of its eight visits planned for 2025. As soon as more information became available, the Committee would announce the dates of its upcoming sessions and the country reviews planned for each session.

Mr. Heller also noted that the sudden cessation of hybrid meetings would continue to negatively impact the work of the Committee members, civil society organizations, national human rights institutions, national preventive mechanisms and other stakeholders.

In conclusion, he said that the Committee now came to the end of yet another session, held with professionalism, independence, and a constructive spirit to fully adhere to its mandate.

Peter Vedel Kessing, Committee Rapporteur, presented the annual report, which covered the period from 11 May 2024 to 2 May 2025, including the eightieth session, which was held from 8 to 26 July 2024; the eighty-first session which was held from 28 October to 22 November 2024; and the eighty-second session which was held from 7 April to 2 May 2025.

Documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties and the concluding observations of the Committee, will be available on the website of the session. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, and webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.

The dates and details of the next session of the Committee will be communicated at a later date.

Statements

PETER VEDEL KESSING, Committee Rapporteur, presented the Committee’s annual report, which covered the period from 11 May 2024 to 2 May 2025, including the eightieth session, which was held from 8 to 26 July 2024; the eighty-first session which was held from 28 October to 22 November 2024; and the eighty-second session which was held from 7 April to 2 May 2025.

As of today, there were 175 States parties to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Since the adoption of the Committee’s previous annual report, Dominica had acceded to the Convention, on 5 December 2024. The Committee called upon all States that had not ratified the Convention to do so and called upon those that were already parties to accept all the procedures of the Convention in order to enable the Committee to fulfil all aspects of its mandate. As of today, there were 94 States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention.

The Committee held a joint meeting between the members of the Committee and the Chair of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. The Committee adopted a joint statement with the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, and the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to mark the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which was commemorated on 26 June.

To mark the fortieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, the Committee, jointly with the other United Nations anti‑torture mechanisms held a high-level event in Geneva on 14 November 2024.

The Committee expressed its appreciation to non-governmental organizations, with special thanks to the World Organization against Torture. The Committee requested that all multilingual hybrid meetings be maintained as a feature of an adequately resourced session and called upon States parties to support this request.

Concerning complaints under article 22 of the Convention, as of today, the

the Committee had registered, since 1989, 1,260 complaints concerning 45 States parties. Of those, 449 complaints had been discontinued and 152 had been declared inadmissible. The Committee had adopted final decisions on the merits in 524 complaints and found violations of the Convention in 220 of them. Considering the adopted communications during the current session, some 133 complaints were pending consideration. All the Committee’s decisions could be found in the updated treaty body case law database, on the website of the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights, and in the Official Document System of the United Nations.

At its eightieth session, the Committee adopted decisions on the merits in respect of 10 communications. The Committee further found two communications inadmissible and it discontinued the consideration of 19 complaints. At its eighty-first session, the Committee adopted decisions on the merits in respect of six communications. The Committee found three communications inadmissible and discontinued the consideration of 12 communications. At its eighty-second session, the Committee adopted decisions on the merits in 12 communications. It found 2 communications inadmissible and it discontinued the consideration of 12 cases. One communication was postponed.

CLAUDE HELLER, Committee Chairperson, read out a summary of the concluding observations on the reports of the States parties that were reviewed during the session.

Armenia

Concerning Armenia, the Committee commended the State party on the adoption of its new Criminal Code, which established an expanded definition of torture, along with the adoption of a new Criminal Procedure Code, introducing a number of new procedural safeguards against torture and increasing the availability of non-custodial measures. The Committee recommended that Armenia ensure that the penalties for torture were commensurate with the gravity of the crime. It also recommended that the State party train prosecutors and judges on the use of non-custodial measures, provide sufficient material and financial resources for their application, and adopt the necessary regulations to ensure that they may be applied in practice.

With regard to psychiatric and social care institutions, the Committee recommended that the State party guarantee sufficient legal and procedural safeguards for residents in psychiatric institutions and social care facilities, both in law and in practice. It also recommended that the State party reduce recourse to coercion in psychiatric settings, and ensure that physical or chemical means of restraint were used in accordance with domestic law and international standards.

France

As for France, the Committee expressed its deep concern about the numerous allegations of excessive use of force, including lethal force, and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials, and was seriously concerned that such cases reportedly disproportionately affected members of certain minority groups, in particular persons of African descent, persons of Arab origin or Muslim religion, indigenous peoples and non-nationals. The Committee recommended that the State party ensure that all allegations of excessive use of force and ill-treatment were investigated promptly, thoroughly and impartially by an independent body, that those responsible were held accountable, and that victims or their families obtain adequate redress.

The Committee recommended that France continue its efforts to improve living conditions in all places of deprivation of liberty and to reduce overcrowding in prisons and other places of detention. It also recommended that the State party ensure that all allegations of ill-treatment were thoroughly investigated, that alleged perpetrators were prosecuted and, if found guilty, sentenced to appropriate penalties, and that victims or their families received redress, including adequate compensation. It recommended that the State party improve the monitoring and control of violence among prisoners. The Committee recommended that the State party take all necessary measures to encourage the reporting of hate crimes motivated by racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, xenophobic or homophobic prejudice, and to ensure that such crimes were thoroughly investigated, that perpetrators were prosecuted and punished, and that victims had access to effective remedies.

Mauritius

Concerning Mauritius, the Committee acknowledged the State party’s commitment to develop a code of practice for police officers and to strengthen their training to address those shortcomings. The Committee recommended that Mauritius strengthen its efforts to further ensure that the Independent Police Complaints Commission was properly resourced and equipped to carry out its functions, and guarantee that acts of torture and ill-treatment were promptly, impartially and effectively investigated and prosecuted, as appropriate. The Committee also asked the State party to take all appropriate measures to prevent acts of intimidation and reprisals against alleged victims, their legal representatives, and relatives.

The Committee recommended that Mauritius ensure that all deaths in custody were promptly and impartially investigated by an independent entity, including through independent forensic examinations, with due regard to the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death. Where appropriate, the Committee recommended that the corresponding sanctions be applied. It also asked the State party to compile and provide it with detailed information on all incidents of death in all places of detention, the causes, and the outcomes of the investigations.

Monaco

As for Monaco, the Committee voiced its concern about reports that the “maison d’arrêt de Monaco” and its facilities were structurally incompatible with their current purpose, as they remained unsuitable for prolonged deprivation of liberty. While it was aware of the State party’s land-use constraints, the Committee encouraged the State party to consider transferring prisoners to a new prison facility that better complied with international standards on deprivation of liberty and the prevention of ill-treatment. Meanwhile, it recommended that the State party continue its efforts to improve living conditions in the “maison d’arrêt de Monaco”, including by ensuring that persons in pretrial detention were allowed visits or telephone calls without specific authorisation from the judicial authorities.

The Committee expressed its concern about reports of precarious working conditions affecting many migrant domestic workers and undeclared migrant workers, particularly in the construction, hotel and catering sectors, as well as on private yachts. The Committee recommended that the State party strengthen the capacity and resources of the labour inspectorate to enable it to monitor more effectively the situation of migrant workers, in particular domestic workers, including with regard to their recruitment and working conditions. It also recommended the State party to redouble its efforts to inform migrant workers, including undeclared workers, of their rights and the complaint mechanisms available to them, and facilitate their access to those mechanisms.

Turkmenistan

With regard to Turkmenistan, the Committee expressed grave concern about the persistent reports of widespread torture and ill-treatment of detainees in the State party. Despite the installation of audio-visual equipment in some detention facilities across the country, such measures appeared insufficient in preventing and curbing abuse. The Committee had further expressed serious concern about the lack of accountability, which reflected a worrying pattern of institutional impunity. The Committee urged the State party to adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards torture, including a clear public statement from the highest levels of Government, and to ensure that all allegations were promptly and independently investigated, perpetrators held accountable, and victims granted full redress.

The Committee noted and welcomed the adoption of the Ombudsman Act and the recent “B” status accreditation of Turkmenistan’s Ombudsperson by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions. However, it expressed concern about the reported lack of independence and limited authority of the Ombudsperson’s office, particularly its failure to address serious and systemic human rights violations. The Committee recommended that the State party fully implement the recommendations of the Alliance’s Subcommittee on Accreditation and take all necessary steps to establish an independent national monitoring body capable of conducting unannounced visits to all places of detention, engaging with detainees in private, and responding effectively to allegations of abuse in line with the Paris Principles.

Ukraine

Concerning Ukraine, the Committee acknowledged the challenges faced by the State party in fully implementing its obligations under the Convention due to the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation against it. It recalled, nevertheless, that the Convention was applicable in the State party’s entire territory and Ukraine should therefore take all possible steps to implement it.

The Committee noted Ukraine’s commitment and measures taken to abide by international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the context of the ongoing armed conflict and occupation, but expressed concerns about reports indicating allegations of torture and ill-treatment, threats, humiliation, and other violations of Russian prisoners of war, allegedly committed by the Ukrainian armed forces and military police, as well as the inadequate recording and reporting of their visible injuries sustained by torture or ill-treatment, among other concerns. The Committee underscored that the prohibition of torture was non-derogable, that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked as a justification of torture, and that the obligations stemming from this prohibition were not subject to reciprocity.

The Committee also recommended that Ukraine ensure that all fundamental legal safeguards were guaranteed in practice for all detained persons from the outset of the deprivation of their liberty, including the right to request and receive a medical examination by an independent doctor, free of charge, or a doctor of their choice, that was conducted out of hearing and sight of police officers, unless the doctor concerned explicitly requested otherwise, as the access to an initial confidential medical examination did not appear to be routinely granted in Ukraine, and if it was granted, it was reportedly performed in the presence of a police officer.

Other

Mr. Heller said that during the session, the Committee also adopted lists of issues for Pakistan and Tajikistan and lists of issues prior to reporting for Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, Iceland, Iraq, Kenya, Montenegro, State of Palestine and Uruguay.

The Committee had still not been informed whether its next two sessions scheduled for 2025 would take place. Sixteen treaty body sessions were at stake, and the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture had had to postpone four of its eight visits planned for 2025. As soon as more information became available, the Committee would announce the dates of its upcoming sessions and the country reviews planned for each session. Mr. Heller noted that the sudden cessation of hybrid meetings would continue to negatively impact the work of the Committee members, civil society organizations, national human rights institutions, national preventive mechanisms and other stakeholders.

Concerning the individual complaints procedure, he said the Committee this session examined 26 individual complaints. Of the examined cases, two were deemed inadmissible. Additionally, 12 cases were decided on the merits: in one case the Committee found no violations, while in 11 cases the Committee determined there was a violation by the State party. Furthermore, the Committee adopted 12 discontinuance requests.

Mr. Heller read out the results of the work of the Committee Rapporteurs on follow-up to concluding observations, individual cases, and reprisals. A summary of the meeting that was held on these results can be found here.

In conclusion, Mr. Heller said that the Committee now came to the end of yet another session, held with professionalism, independence, and a constructive spirit to fully adhere to its mandate.

__________

Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media;
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

CAT.009E

MIL OSI United Nations News –

May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: Ms. María Angela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia – Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus

Source: United Nations MIL-OSI 2

nited Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of María Angela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his Personal Envoy on Cyprus.  Following the conclusion of the informal meeting in Cyprus in a broader format, held in Geneva on 17 and 18 March, the Secretary-General has asked Ms. Holguín to reengage with the parties in order to work on next steps on the Cyprus issue and advise him. Ms. Holguín completed a previous assignment as Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General on Cyprus from January to July 2024.

Ms. Holguín brings extensive diplomatic experience at the highest levels, including as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia (2010-2018).  She also served as delegate of the President of Colombia at the Peace Process Negotiation in Havana, Cuba (2015-2016), and was a member of the Cabinet for Post-Conflict (2017-2018).  Previous posts in her diplomatic career include the position of Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations, Ambassador to Venezuela and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Ms. Holguín holds a degree in Political Science from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.  She also studied at the Centre d´Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques and at the Université Paris–Sorbonne in Paris, France.  In addition to Spanish, she speaks English and French.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Three strategies to help European carmakers regain their edge

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

sylv1rob1/Shutterstock

Even before US president Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on all imported cars, European automakers had been facing a multitude of challenges. Sales have slumped and manufacturers face rising costs, while Chinese rivals have rapidly been gaining market share.

The day before the tariffs announcement, the combined market capitalisation of Europe’s five major automakers (Volkswagen, Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Renault) stood at around US$212 billion (£159 billion). This total is less than a quarter of the value of Tesla alone.

Yet the five European giants sell 25 million vehicles annually, accounting for a third of all cars purchased worldwide. Tesla, despite losing half of its market value since the beginning of the year, only just makes the top 15 automakers. It sells less than a third of what Stellantis alone delivers.

This essentially means that financial markets no longer believe that European carmakers can make money out of a business they have been dominating for almost a century.

The crisis does, in fact, stem from the obsolescence of the technology upon which the entire industrial model of the car was built.

The invention of German engineer Karl Benz, later made widely accessible to millions of consumers by American entrepreneur Henry Ford, was far more than just a product.

Cars enabled people to go anywhere whenever they wanted. This fuelled the last industrial revolution and one of the greatest leaps in human prosperity.

However, more than 100 years after the first assembly lines appeared in Detroit, the dream has stalled. In a world where economic and environmental resources are increasingly scarce, an entire industrial model looks unsustainable.

Why? Because it became inefficient.

A privately owned car is used for only 5% of its potential lifetime. It remains idle and occupying valuable parking space for the other 95%. It carries an average of just 1.2 passengers, utilising only a quarter of its capacity.

If an alien were to observe human civilisation, it might conclude that humans have lost that special ability that made them so different from all other species: to do more with less.

Additionally, around 80% of cars are still powered by fossil fuels that cost significantly more than electricity per mile. This is despite economies of scale that are bringing down the price of purchasing a plug-in electric vehicle (EV).

These issues have hit the European – and also the US – automotive industries hard. These regions were the birthplace of the industry itself. For CEOs and policymakers, who often belong to a generation (and a gender) steeped in traditional automotive culture, finding solutions has proven difficult. However, there could be a clear path forward.

Here are three ideas to bring the European automotive industry in the 21st century.

1. Become more competitive by attracting EV rivals

China has already secured a technological advantage in this field – similar to the dominance once held by Volkswagen when it first established factories in Shanghai.

In the same week when BYD announced that it has surpassed Tesla in terms of revenues of electric cars, the Chinese automaker also revealed that it had developed a system to charge an electric car with 400km (249 miles) of range in five minutes.

BYD and other Chinese manufacturers export less than 10% of their products to the EU. They will survive any import duty that the EU imposes on them. Instead of fearing Chinese automakers, the EU should entice them to establish production facilities in the bloc, encouraging competition and innovation within its borders.

2. Sell services and symbols

New business models should focus on selling services as well as objects. This trend is prevailing in many industries, and carmakers should embrace it to develop partnerships with organisations that can make driving a less wasteful experience. Autonomous driving technology, for example, offers the chance to take vehicle-sharing to a much wider customer base.

And European automakers should trade on their history as a symbol of expertise and longevity. This is not so different to what camera-maker Kodak has done to survive to the digital revolution. It is notable that Ferrari is now worth more than its bigger sister company Stellantis.

3. Governments must get involved

For the transformation to succeed, governments must play a role. It is not about propping up the European industry with subsidies or treating cars as the new steel industry. Rather, it is about designing and implementing the infrastructure that the future of mobility requires.

The Fiat Topolino brought private transport to the masses.
Dan74/Shutterstock

A century ago, European cities were completely restructured to transition from horse-drawn carriages to the first Fiat Topolinos rolling out of the Mirafiori factory.

Today, we need new charging networks and dedicated lanes for electric and autonomous vehicles. This is already happening in China clearly showing that without a significant modernisation of infrastructure innovation does not happen.

The impact of tariffs

Trump’s tariffs will hurt – badly. Volkswagen, which exports two thirds of its production outside western Europe, will suffer most after assuming that its “people’s cars” could be sold indiscriminately to different populations.

However, the era of tariffs should serve as a wake-up call rather than a death sentence. The European automotive sector must use this challenge to reinvent itself, just as it did in the post-war era.

In the 1960s, countries like Italy and France combined industrial strategy of the likes of Fiat and Renault with a vision of the future. This alignment of industrial ambition and pragmatic policymaking was a key part of post-war reconstruction.

Now European leaders must embrace the same spirit of bold, forward-thinking innovation to build a transport system that is capable of setting global standards. The automotive crisis is not just an industry-specific issue. It demands a revival of both vision and pragmatism.

Francesco Grillo is affiliated with Vision, an independent European Think Tank. Vision is the convenor of two global conferences: on “the Europe of the Future” (in Siena) and on “global governance of climate change” (in Trento).

– ref. Three strategies to help European carmakers regain their edge – https://theconversation.com/three-strategies-to-help-european-carmakers-regain-their-edge-255259

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Bingeable comedy, a Jim Crow-era vampire thriller and William Morris mania – what to watch, read and do this week

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Naomi Joseph, Arts + Culture Editor

I recently bought a Now TV subscription because we are in prime prestige TV season and I needed it to watch The White Lotus and The Last of Us. Deep into those big, confronting shows (which are brilliant but, let’s be honest, a lot), I was looking for something that was comforting and easy. If this is what you are also craving right now, I could not recommend Hacks more.

Hacks is a whip-smart and hilarious show with 30-minute episodes. It follows Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), an edgy comedy writer who isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and spiky Las Vegas comedy veteran Deborah Vance (Jean Smart). This pair are shoved together by their shared manager when Ava is fired from a writing gig for making an off-colour joke on social media, and Deborah loses her headline slot on the Vegas strip as the city moves on without her.

The trailer for season four of Hacks.

Since its first season, Hacks has provided insightful commentary on the male-dominated world of comedy. The push and pull relationship between Ava and Deborah is hilarious as they clash over generational differences on everything from comedy to sexuality. The show has been rightly lauded for its brilliant writing, which manages to go all the way up to the line without being hateful – a skill many comedians who argue that it’s hard to make comedy in our politically correct age could learn from.

Now in its fourth season, our reviewer, Jacqueline Ristola, an expert in the media industry and comedy, says Hacks has managed to maintain the quality (and hilarity) while finding new ground to explore women’s precarious place in the entertainment industry.

Read more:
Hacks season four tackles late-night TV – and is as funny and perceptive as ever

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

If you are in the mood for something a bit moodier and serious, then Sinners might be for you. The film follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) who have returned home to Mississippi in an attempt to leave their troubles behind. What they find waiting for them, however, is much worse.

Sinners is set in Jim Crow-era Mississippi, a time of harsh segregation and racial injustice. While the horrors of this period are certainly enough to scare anyone, director Ryan Coogler has decided to tell a story grounded in supernatural evil. Vampires aside, there is a lot of history in Sinners too. Criminology expert Rachel Stuart found it interesting how the real stories of Irish and Choctaw oppression informed the film.

Read more:
Sinners: how real stories of Irish and Choctaw oppression inform the film

The trailer for Sinners.

If you’re looking for something to read, we recommend the memoir Red Pockets. In this piece, Alice Mah, a professor in urban and environmental studies, writes about why she was inspired to create this book after a personal detour to her ancestral village she took while on a research trip.

In Red Pockets, Mah chronicles her journey from the rice villages of south China back to postindustrial England. Her research on pollution leads to growing eco-anxiety, and paired with this trip leaves her in spiritual crisis. Part memoir, part cultural history and environmental exploration, this book explores what we owe our ancestors and also future generations.

Read more:
Travelling to my ancestral home in China unearthed tragedy tinged by the climate crisis – it inspired me to write Red Pockets

Inky worlds and popular patterns

Also moody and brilliant is the Victor Hugo exhibition at the Royal Academy in London. I did not know that the French writer was an avid artist, and this exhibition is a wonderful and rare opportunity to gaze into the dark and surreal world of the mind behind Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Hugo’s inky paintings and drawings of townscapes and watery underworlds invoke a sort of nightmarish and apocalyptic reality. The low lighting in which these extremely fragile works must be kept adds to the whole foreboding atmosphere. The exhibition’s title comes from Van Gogh’s opinion of Hugo’s work as “astonishing things”, and they really are. Our review, expert in fine art Martin Lang, found “the sense of uncertainty to feel oddly relevant to today”.

Read more:
Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo at the Royal Academy is dark and brilliant

Another man whose art has had enduring appeal is designer William Morris. Most people probably have or know of someone who owns something adorned with one of his hypnotising patterns. His work has remained incredibly popular since he first started producing it in the 1860s. A new exhibition at the William Morris exhibition, Morris Mania: How Britain’s Greatest Designer Went Viral, explores how his work proliferated to such a degree.

While you may be able to spot a Morris, you might not know much about the man. He was a fervent socialist who championed a principle of handmade production that didn’t chime with the Victorian era’s focus on industrial “progress”. These ideals sit in opposition to how his work has come to be used today.

Our reviewer, an expert in applied art, found that the exhibition was sensitive to this, championing “ethical and bespoke production, while confronting the darker currents that move objects around our world”.

Read more:
William Morris: new exhibition reveals how Britain’s greatest designer went viral

– ref. Bingeable comedy, a Jim Crow-era vampire thriller and William Morris mania – what to watch, read and do this week – https://theconversation.com/bingeable-comedy-a-jim-crow-era-vampire-thriller-and-william-morris-mania-what-to-watch-read-and-do-this-week-255742

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: The month of May brings a pair of inspiring new docs to nfb.ca: Saturday, by Jessica Hall, and Incandescence, by Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper. Plus, special programming to mark Asian Heritage Month, and more.
Source: Government of Canada News (2)

May 1, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Continue to Stream Canadian in May on nfb.ca! This month, explore two new documentaries from Yukon and British Columbia. Each in its own way offers an inspiring perspective:
- In Saturday, by Jessica Hall, the filmmaker explores the joyful, creative life of her sister, who has an intellectual disability.
- Incandescence, by Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper, leads us to a new understanding of massive wildfires, a worldwide challenge.
May is also Asian Heritage Month in Canada, which will be celebrated with a rich themed channel. The NFB wants to highlight the importance of sharing the distinctive stories and important contributions of people from Asian communities across the country. This is all the more crucial in the wake of the terrible attack on Vancouver’s Filipino-Canadian community on April 26, Lapu-Lapu Day.

In addition, a blog post in conjunction with Mental Health Week (May 5–11) will explore animation filmmakers’ perspectives on the subject.

Is Montreal on your itinerary? Starting Thursday, May 8, stop by the Alanis Obomsawin Theatre in the Quartier des Spectacles to enjoy a few gems from the NFB’s collection on the big screen, at the Hello Film! series. Free films, first-come, first-wowed!

Remember, nfb.ca is home to more than 7,000 streaming films and a collection of over 100 interactive works.

NEW ONLINE RELEASES

Starting May 16

Saturday by Jessica Hall (2025, NFB)
Documentary (13 min 8 s) / Press kit
- Filmmaker Jessica Hall’s sister Katherine manages her intellectual disability by leading an independent, creative and joyful life. Saturday documents her story. An inspiring tribute to a daughter and mother’s close and supportive relationship.
- The film has been screened at a number of Canadian festivals, including the Available Light Film Festivalin Whitehorse, where it was shot.
Starting May 26

Incandescence by Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper (2024, NFB)
Documentary (105 min 22 s) / Press kit
- Wildfires are burning with increasing intensity around the world. Following the rhythms of the seasons, the film is an immersive cinematic experience, weaving on-the-ground footage with extraordinary stories of survival and adaptation that transform our understanding of wildfire. From the flightpath of bees to an osprey’s aerial perspective, floating over the landscape: the Earth comes back.
- The doc has been selected for festivals in Canada and the US, including the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. This spring, it played at sold-out screenings across British Columbia.
- Incandescence will be shown in Montreal on Thursday, May 22,* as part of the Hello Film! series at the NFB’s Alanis Obomsawin Theatre.
SPECIAL PROGRAMMING
THEMED CHANNEL AND BLOG POSTS

Marking Asian Heritage Month

Channel: Asian-Canadian Perspectives

Watch close to 30 NFB animated films and documentaries that centre around Asian communities and stories told from Asian perspectives. The selection includes Eisha Marjara’s Am I the skinniest person you’ve ever seen?, which won the prestigious Betty Youson Award for Best Canadian Short Documentary at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Celebrating the NFB’s 86th anniversary
- English Collection Curator Camilo Martín-Flórez is publishing a new blog post on April 30.
Marking Mental Health Week (May 5–11)
- French Collection Curator Marc St-Pierre will publish the blog post “An Animated Journey into Mental Health,” available soon.
HELLO FILM! – FREE SCREENINGS IN MONTREAL

Free admission (reservations required)

Details: events.nfb.ca/hello-film-free-screenings-at-the-nfb

Each of the films below will be preceded by a short to open the program.
- Marking Asian Heritage Month
  Thursday, May 8, 2025, 7 p.m.:
  
  The Apology by Tiffany Hsiung (104 min)
  
  The film follows three former “comfort women” who were among the 200,000 girls and young women kidnapped and forced into military sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
- Marking the International Day of Families
  Thursday, May 15, 2025, 7 p.m.:
  
  Seguridad by Tamara Segura (76 min)
  
  Once dubbed “Cuba’s youngest soldier” in a militia publicity stunt, Tamara Segura uncovers family secrets and portrays her troubled relationship with her father.
- Looking ahead to Father’s Day in June
  Thursday, May 29, 2025, 7 p.m.:
  
  Sons by Justin Simms (70 min)
  
  As Donald Trump is elected to a first term in 2016, a first-time dad wrestles with traditional methods of raising boys. How do we teach our boys to become better men?
The Hello Film! series will continue through July 31, with more films to discover or rediscover.

To get to the NFB’s Alanis Obomsawin Theatre

1500 Balmoral Street
Montreal
Place-des-Arts Metro

Accessible to persons with reduced mobility.

– 30 –

Media Relations

Jennifer Mair
NFB Publicist
C.: 416-436-0105
j.mair@nfb.ca | @NFB_Jennifer

Katja De Bock
NFB Publicist
C.: 778-628-4890
k.debock@nfb.ca | @NFB_Katja

Lily Robert
Director, Communications and Public Affairs, NFB
C.: 514-296-8261
l.robert@nfb.ca

Stay Connected

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

About the NFB

MIL OSI Canada News –
May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Premier Heads to Spain, United Kingdom for Trade Mission
Source: Government of Canada regional news

Premier Tim Houston will leave on Sunday, May 4, for a provincial trade mission in two critical markets – Spain and the United Kingdom.

The Premier and Kent Smith, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, will head to Barcelona, Spain, to promote Nova Scotia’s seafood sector at events scheduled May 5-10. The Premier will also be attending meetings regarding defence and security as well as renewable energy before heading to London, England, for meetings and speaking opportunities to promote Nova Scotia to leaders in the United Kingdom.

“It is a privilege to represent Nova Scotians on these provincial trade missions. Leaders and the business community from other countries repeatedly tell me how highly they think of our province, people and products,” said Premier Houston. “Spain and the United Kingdom are top destinations for Nova Scotia’s fish and seafood exports. We want to strengthen that partnership as well as explore additional opportunities to do more trade with them. Nova Scotia has a lot to offer, and we’re making sure the world knows it.”

While in Spain, Premier Houston and Minister Smith will attend Seafood Expo Global, the largest international seafood event, which attracts serving industry professionals and buyers, at all points of the supply chain, from around the world. The Premier will also speak to international buyers, media and culinary decision-makers and influencers at an event promoting Nova Scotia’s seafood industry.

During his stop in London, Premier Houston will be the keynote speaker at the annual general meeting of the Canada-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce at the House of Lords on May 13. Premier Houston will speak to chamber members and attendees about the long-standing ties between Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom and the opportunities that exist to strengthen cultural connections and the trade relationship.

Nova Scotia is currently focused on making the province more self-reliant by investing in the seafood sector, wind resources and critical minerals. The Province is also developing a comprehensive trade action plan to facilitate internal trade, enhance productivity and drive critical sectors with input from businesses and industry.

Quotes:

“The European market represents a great opportunity to grow Nova Scotia’s seafood industry. By promoting our premium-quality seafood, we are helping our companies expand internationally, driving economic growth and securing a sustainable future for our coastal communities.”
— Kent Smith, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture

Quick Facts:
- Nova Scotia continued to be Canada’s seafood export leader in 2024; top global export destinations were the United States ($1.2 billion), China ($614.2 million), South Korea ($61.5 million), Japan ($58.9 million) and France ($48.9 million)
- seafood exports to the European Union reached $218.3 million; top markets were France, Belgium ($43.5 million), the Netherlands ($35.9 million), Spain ($31.9 million) and Denmark ($22.5 million)
- mission delegates are Premier Houston; Minister Smith; Nicole LaFosse Parker, Chief of Staff and General Counsel; Jason Hollett, Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture; Executive Deputy Minister Tracey Taweel; and Mike McMurray, Executive Director, International Relations and Military Relations
Additional Resources:

Canada-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce: https://www.canada-uk.org/

Seafood Expo Global: https://www.seafoodexpo.com/global/

Information about Nova Scotia seafood and exporters is available at: https://nsseafood.com/

Other than cropping, Province of Nova Scotia Photos are not to be altered in any way.

MIL OSI Canada News –
May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI: Announcement of the total number of voting rights as at 30 April 2025
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Regulated information, Leuven, 2 May 2025 (17.40 hrs CEST)

Announcement of the total number of voting rights as at 30 April 2025

In application of Article 15 of the Act of 2 May 2007 on the disclosure of major shareholdings in issuers whose shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market, KBC Ancora publishes on its website and via a press release on a monthly basis the total capital, the movements in the total number of voting shares and the total number of voting rights, in so far as these particulars have changed during the preceding month.

Situation as at 30 April 2025
Total capital :         EUR 3,158,128,455.28
Total number of voting shares :            77,011,844
Number of shares with double voting rights :        39,771,114
Total number of voting rights (= denominator) :        116,782,958

The total number of voting rights (the ‘denominator’) serves as the basis for the disclosure of major shareholdings by shareholders.

On the basis of this information, shareholders of KBC Ancora can verify whether they are above or below one of the thresholds of 3% (threshold set by the Articles of Association), 5%, 10%, and so on (in multiples of five) of the total voting rights, and whether there is therefore an obligation to notify the company that they have exceeded this threshold.

———————————

KBC Ancora is a listed company which holds 18.6% of the shares in KBC Group and which together with Cera, MRBB and the Other Permanent Shareholders ensures the shareholder stability and further development of the KBC group. As core shareholders of KBC Group, they have to this end signed a shareholder agreement.

Financial calendar:
29 August 2025                        Annual press release for the financial year 2024/2025
23 September 2025                        Annual report 2024/2025 available
31 October 2025                        General Meeting of Shareholders

This press release is available in Dutch, French and English on the website www.kbcancora.be.

KBC Ancora Investor Relations & Press contact: Jan Bergmans
tel.: +32 (0)16 27 96 72 – e-mail: jan.bergmans@kbcancora.be or mailbox@kbcancora.be

Attachment
- KBCA PB 20250502 NMR – E
The MIL Network –
May 3, 2025

MIL-OSI: Coface SA: Disclosure of total number of voting rights and number of shares in the capital as at April 30, 2025

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

COFACE SA: Disclosure of total number of voting rights and number of shares in the capital as at April 30, 2025

Paris, May 2^nd, 2025 – 17.45

Total Number of Shares Capital	Theoretical Number of Voting Rights¹	Number of Real Voting Rights²
150,179,792	150,179,792	149,368,649

⁽¹⁾including own shares
⁽²⁾excluding own shares

Regulated documents posted by COFACE SA have been secured and authenticated with the blockchain technology by Wiztrust. You can check the authenticity on the website www.wiztrust.com.

About Coface

COFACE SA is a société anonyme (joint-stock corporation), with a Board of Directors (Conseil d’Administration) incorporated under the laws of France, and is governed by the provisions of the French Commercial Code. The Company is registered with the Nanterre Trade and Companies Register (Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés) under the number 432 413 599. The Company’s registered office is at 1 Place Costes et Bellonte, 92270 Bois Colombes, France.

At the date of 31 December 2024, the Company’s share capital amounts to €300,359,584, divided into 150,179,792 shares, all of the same class, and all of which are fully paid up and subscribed.

All regulated information is available on the company’s website (http://www.coface.com/Investors).

Coface SA. is listed on Euronext Paris – Compartment A
ISIN: FR0010667147 / Ticker: COFA

Attachment

2025 04 30 Declaration Shares Voting Rights

The MIL Network –

May 3, 2025

MIL-OSI Europe: The Atlantic Council hosted French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot on Europe and the new world order.

Source: France-Diplomatie – Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development

Frederick Kempe: Good afternoon to those joining us in our headquarters, our relatively new global headquarters here in Washington today. Good evening to those watching online from Europe and the globe, to everyone joining us from throughout the world. My name is Frederick Kempe. I’m President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, and I’m delighted to welcome you to Atlantic Council Front Days. This is our premier platform for global leaders. And it’s an honor to host today the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of the French Republic, Jean-Noël Barrot. Today’s discussion turns our attention to one of the most enduring and consequential bilateral relationships in U.S. history.

In the nearly two and a half centuries since France became the first country to formalize diplomatic relations with the newly born United States. Next year, Mr. Minister, is the anniversary of the revolution here. France became the first country to formalize diplomatic relations with the newly born United States. Since that time, this pillar of the transatlantic relationship has seen moments of triumph and moments of trial. From Lafayette and Washington to the beaches of Normandy, the United States, and France have forged partnership unlike any other based on common values in history. However, this relationship goes beyond just sentiment. At each major inflection point in recent history, our countries have stood together, not just because of friendship, but because of shared interests. And now, facing a war on European soil, basing an unfolding trade war, potentially rapidly evolving technological disruptions, and more, the United States and France must consider how to recalibrate and perhaps how to reinvent its partnership and the broader Atlantic alliance with it in order to achieve our common goals of security, prosperity, and freedom.

As we think through how best to address these challenges, we are delighted to welcome Minister Barrot for today’s event and on the occasion of his first visit to the United States in his current role. The Minister has held numerous positions in the French government, including most recently Minister Delegate for Europe and then Minister Delegate for Digital Affairs, making him well-placed to share the French perspective on the political dynamics at the EU level as well as critical issues of digital and tech policy, and it may help in these times also to be a policy. Minister, welcome to the Atlantic Council. Before we begin let me just say to our audience that we will be taking questions. First, the Minister will make some opening comments Then I will join him on the stage and ask a few questions and then turn to the audience for questions. For those in person, we’ll have a microphone to pass around. For those online, please go to askac.org, askac.org to send your question in virtually. Minister Barrot, it’s always a pleasure to have someone speak at the end of meetings in Washington instead of the beginning of the meetings in Washington. So we look very much forward to your attention.

Jean-Noël Barrot : Thank you very much, Mr. President. Hello, everyone. One week from now, on May 8th, we mark an important anniversary, the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. This was the starting point of an extraordinary endeavor, a formidable building, a building of rule-based international order, a building of multilateralism. Who was the architect of this formidable building? Well, the architect of this building were the United States of America. They did not do this out of charity. They did this as out of enlightened self-interest. They collected substantial dividends from multilateralism throughout the eight decades that have just passed by. The dividends of multilateralism. Think about security. Thanks to the nonproliferation treaty, we collectively have avoided a raise to the nuclear bomb that would have caused so much instability and raised the cost of defense for all our countries.

NATO has allowed the US, alongside its European partners, to ensure security in the North Atlantic, but also to offer major investment opportunities for its defense industry. Think about trade. WTO has allowed the US economy to grow, has allowed US services to thrive, digital services, financial services around the world. Think about currency. The Bretton Woods framework has made the dollar a global reserve currency. What does it mean to be a global reserve currency? It means that everyone wants to hold it. So that the yields on your treasury bonds are the lowest on earth. And even more than that, when there is a crisis, even when there is a crisis in the US, people rush to buy your treasury bonds, and the cost of borrowing goes down. This exorbitant privilege, as a French president coined it, is part of the dividends of multilateralism that the US brought to the world and that they also benefited from.

This formidable building, the building of multilateralism, was designed 80 years ago for a unipolar world, where a benevolent hegemon, the United States of America, was the guarantor of rule-based international order. A world in which US leadership was unchallenged, untested. But eight years later, indeed, the world has changed. It has become multipolar, US leadership is challenged, And sometimes multilateralism seems powerless or unfit for power. And therefore, and gradually, a temptation arises for the US to perhaps let go of multilateralism, quit multilateralism, to pull back, to restrain it. This is our choice that belongs to the American people. But this would be a major shift, a major shift for the US, who would not be able to collect the dividends of multilateralism any longer, a major shift for the world, because the multilateralism will survive whether or not the US quits multilateralism. And so someone will fill the void starting with China, which was already getting ready to step up and to become the new hegemon of this new era of multilateralism, in the case where the US would decide to let them play this role.

Now there is another route, there is an alternative route. Rather than quitting multilateralism, reshaping it, adjusting it, making it fit for the 21st century. The first step, and this is a difficult step, is accepting to share the power. in order not to lose it altogether. This means reforming the UN and its Security Council, reforming the financial infrastructure to make space for big emerging countries and share the burden with them, but also hold them responsible because they have part of the burden to share in handling the global issues and challenges. The second step when building multilateral for a multipolar world is to be ready to build coalitions of the willing to overcome obstruction in multilateral forum like the UN Security Council when they arise. It’s not because something won’t happen at the UN, at the IMF, or the World Bank, that you cannot design a coalition of the willing with willing and able countries in order to overcome this obstruction. This is the new era of multilateralism. This is the route that Europe is willing to take and that Europe is hoping to take alongside the United States of America.

One week from now, we’ll celebrate another anniversary, not on May 8th, but on May 9th, the 75th anniversary of the birth of Europe. On May 9th of 1950, my distant predecessor, Robert Schuman, woke up in a country, France, that was five years past World War II, where tensions were rising with the neighbor and rival, Germany. Germany was recovering from the war faster than France was. And so what was the tendency in Paris on that day, in that year? Well, the tendency was protectionism, was raising tariffs, raising barriers to prevent Germans from thriving and fully recovered. And so Robert Schuman, as he was heading to the Council of Ministers, he had this crazy idea in mind to put in common steel and coal across France and Germany, swimming against the tide to favor cooperation over confrontation. At the Council of Ministers, he barely mentioned his initiative for his prime minister not to prevent him from announcing it. And at 6 p.m., in a one-minute and 30-second speech, he made this unilateral offer to create the European steel and coal community and make the foundation of a multilateral, cooperative European Union. So you see, when times are hard, and when the tendency is to restrain, pull back, raise barriers, Those visionary men that brought us prosperity and that brought us peace in the European continent, they swung against the tide and offered innovative models for cooperation. So let us find inspiration in the great work of these visionary people. Thank you very much.

Frederick Kempe : I feel that was a very important statement and I’m gonna start with that. You see by the audience and standing room only that there was a lot of interest in this conversation and what you had to say : 75th anniversary of the birth of Europe, the 80th anniversary of the E.A., all next weekend, we’re calling attention to that. And it seemed really to be a call to your American allies and to the current administration to stay the course on multilateralism and transatlantic engagement, et cetera. So, A, do you intend to do that? And it’s no accident that no one in this audience who’s following the news, everyone knows that there are doubts right now in the transatlantic stream. Not all of them do I share, but I just wonder if you could give us a little bit more of the context of your statement.

Jean-Noël Barrot : Well, we deeply care about the world-based international model of multilateralism. So I spent two days in New York at the Security Council as we were wrapping up our presence. You know, 15 members of the Security Council, they get one month’s presidency every 15 months. And so we try and make the most of your months-long presence. And to give you a sense of what our commitment is, I am, we are very committed to the three fundamental missions of the United Nations, peace and security, human rights, sustainable development. That’s why we had three bottom security meetings, Ukraine, Middle East, but also non-proliferation, in a closed-door Security Council meeting that was on proliferation. that was first convened in 15 years, or last convened in 15 years, 15 years ago. On human rights, we brought together, mentioning coalitions of the wing, international humanitarian law is under attack, let’s say. And we brought together countries from all around the world, east, south, west, and north, in a coalition of the willing to support politically and better implement in practice the rules of international humanitarian law. And then third, on sustainable development, we took this opportunity to bring together the countries that are the most committed, like we are, to the preservation of oceans, 40 days ahead of the third United Nations Conference on Oceans that will take place in Nice, south of France, and that is aimed to be the equivalent for ocean as what the Paris Accord has been for carbon emissions. So we’re very ambitious with this event as many countries as possible to rally some of the key deliverables of these countries. And so I decided I would spend some time at the UN talking about that.

So we think this is the right way to go, adjusting multilateralism to make it more efficient in the multi-border world that we’re living in. And I hear that the new leadership in the US is considering what its course of action is going to be. And I think amongst friends that are actually oldest friends, we owe each other an honest discussion on what we see our common interest to be. And I think that was the sense of my introductory remarks. Thank you so much.

Frederick Kempe : And I think you’ve seen a signal of commitment today, I think, toward the United Nations with the nomination of National Security Advisor Mike Walz to be the UN ambassador, so also an interesting piece of news. Speaking of news, you have had meetings here. We do have media, French, US, other here, and I wonder whether you could tell us your perspective on what do you take away from the conversations, Secretary Rubio, others, anything specific that we can take away from that? And then in that context, as you’re looking at what your greatest challenges are, what were the priorities in your conversations with U.S. leadership?

Jean-Noël Barrot : Well, I mentioned the 9th of May and 75th anniversary of this declaration by Robert Truman. This year will be Ukraine, because I think a very important, significant chunk of our future, and I’m not talking about the future of Europeans only, depends on how this war of aggression is going to end. So we’ll be with my fellow European ministers of foreign affairs there to express our support to Ukraine and our willingness for this war to end in accordance with the UN Charter international rule. So that was clearly an important topic that I discussed with the US leadership at the State Department as well as Capitol Hill. But we also discussed Middle East, where France and the US have been leading the efforts to put an end to the war that was basically destroying Lebanon eight months ago. We managed to broker a ceasefire five months ago to monitor the ceasefire through a joint mechanism. We managed to bring the conditions for the end of the political crisis with the election of President Joseph Aoun. that then appointed the government, that is now at work trying to implement reforms that are long due in Lebanon. And we want to do the same thing, same food for cooperation in Syria, where this, after overturning the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, there is an opportunity to build a strong sovereign country that will be a source of stability rather than instability for the region. I cannot let aside Gaza and the Israel-Palestinian conflict, where again, we converge on the necessity to bring back stability and peace to the region. We have praised the Arab accord logic, and we’re working in the same direction, bringing peace to the region. Muslim and Arabic countries in the region and Israel towards security architecture that would ensure the security of all peace and stability. We also discussed Africa, where the U.S. made a breakthrough in handling or in sort of moving towards a cessation of hostilities in the Great Lakes regions in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the second worst humanitarian crisis is happening right now. This is good. And after they were received or they were hosted by the Department of State, a few days ago, the DRC and Rwanda gathered in Qatar with France and with the United States. So as you can see, some of the major, major issues, major crises. France and the U.S. are working together in order to find the right solution. Sometimes it isn’t we. Sometimes we don’t start from the same point, but look at Lebanon. It’s because of our complementarity, because of different history in the region, because of the different nature of our partnership, relationship, friendship with the stakeholders of that crisis that we were able.

Frederick Kempe : Thank you for that answer. Let’s start with Ukraine. News yesterday about critical minerals deal with Ukraine almost more interested in the political side of this than the economic side of this. Talking to Ukrainian officials over the last few months, they’ve been concerned that the U.S. gone more from being an actual partner of Ukraine in trying to counter Russian threat and the Russian attack, and more of an arbitrator, more of a moderator. This critical mineral deal, if you read the language of it, suggests a little bit of a change of direction. And I just wonder, and that is an area where France and the U.S. have not always been entirely singing from the same song sheet. What did you hear during your trip there? How do you assess this new agreement and its political meaning?

Jean-Noël Barrot : Well, I think it’s a very good agreement. I think it’s a very good agreement for Ukraine and also for the U.S. But I also think that it tells us something very important about what’s happening right now. Let’s go back to the Oval Office when President Zelensky was there. What was the expectation by President Trump with respect to Ukraine? Well, actually, there were two expectations. Ceasefire and sign of a new deal. Since then, on March 9, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine accepted a comprehensive ceasefire. And yesterday night, they agreed to a mineral deal with the United States of America. They’ve done their part of the job. They’ve walked their part of the talk. But in the meantime, we haven’t seen Vladimir Putin send any signal, any sign of his willingness to comply with the requests of President Trump, to the very contrary. So let’s face it, right now, the main obstacle to peace is Vladimir Putin. So what I found very interesting in my meetings here in Washington is the efforts, the commendable efforts by Senator Lindsey Graham, who put together a massive package of sanctions that he collected bipartisan support for, with almost 70 senators now signing the bill which is aimed at threatening Russia into accepting a ceasefire, or else those sanctions will apply. And here again, we agree that we will try to coordinate because we, Europeans, are in the process of putting together the 17th sanction package that we are going to try, on substance and timing, to coordinate with Senator Graham’s own package. That was, perhaps, a bit of a long answer. But in summary, it’s good news that this deal was struck. It’s good news that the US, and I heard Secretary Besant express what he had in mind, the US was considering deep economic cooperation with Ukraine. It goes in the right direction. It’s the right course that they should, that should be taken.

Frederick Kempe : And Secretary Bessent also said this is meant to be a signal to Putin. You see this as well.

Jean-Noël Barrot : Yeah, put together this deal. The package by Lindsey Graham, who last time I checked is not a political adversary of President Trump, as well as the pressure that Europe is building up on Russia. And you get, the sense of the variant, it’s now basically Putin’s fault if we don’t yet have a ceasefire in the world.

Frederick Kempe : So in recent discussions with US envoy Steve Witkoff, what divergences existed between France and the United States? And how do you hope to close those divergences? I guess part of this has to do with European troops, American backstop, but it also gets to the conditions behind a peace deal.

Jean-Noël Barrot : If Ukraine was to capitulate, this would have long-lasting, wide-ranging consequences for the entire world. because it would basically replace rule-based international order by the law of the strongest. It would create massive incentives for countries around the world that that have border issues with their neighbors to consider that they can invade, that they can use military threats or force to obtain territorial concessions. This would be major, and this would be very costly for all of us, at least for responsible powers like the US and France that tend to get involved when there are issues around the world. When we would see issues exploding all around, it would be a major threat. In addition to that, should Ukraine capitulate after Ukraine has agreed to let go of its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees. This will send the signal that the only ultimate security guarantee is the possession of nuclear weapons. And there we have a nuclear proliferation crisis, which again raises global instability at levels that we haven’t seen for the past 80 years, and will increase the cost massively of security in the US, security in Europe. And I think this view is shared between the U.S. and France. But of course, there is one difference between the perspective of the U.S. and the European perspective of this crisis, which is that our own security is at stake because we are neighbors of Russia or because we don’t want to be neighbors of this Russia that is now spending 40% of its budget on its military spending, 10% of its GDP, that just conscribed 160,000 additional soldiers, the largest conscription in 14 years. I’ve heard many, many times Russia say that they don’t want NATO at their borders. Well, we don’t want this Russia at our borders either. And that’s why we are so serious about what’s happening and about how the war will end. And that’s why we’ve been insisting so much about the security guarantees. And I think our message went through. And I think the US are counting on us to build the security arrangements such that when the peace deal is struck, that we can provide those security arrangements in order for the peace to be lasting and durable. But I think it’s well understood, and I’ve heard President Trump, but also officials from the US, clearly saying that of course they want this peace to be lasting, and of course this means that there is security guarantee.

Frederick Kempe : And can it work without an American backstop where you’re getting closer to a conversation about that? Or, alternatively, is this critical minerals deal a security guarantee in a different form?

Jean-Noël Barrot : So you should put things in two perspectives. We have been supporters of the Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. Namely, we said that we were open to extend an invitation, a NATO invitation to Ukraine. We understand that NATO members, not all NATO members, agree with our view, so we have to find an alternative path. The sense of this coalition of the able of the willing that France and the UK has been putting together in order to design those security arrangements. This is ongoing work. This starts with making the Ukrainian army strong enough to be able to deter any further aggression by Russia, but it also very likely means some form of military capacity as a second layer of sanction or guarantee. When those detailed discussions will have been wrapped up, they’re currently ongoing, it will appear whether or not and how much any contribution or backstop by the US is needed. It’s possible that it is needed. Why? Well, because as far as Europeans are concerned, we’ve been working. We’ve been working and planning for our defense. It’s a little bit different for France, the UK, and Poland. But for the rest of European armies, we’ve been working within NATO. So if you’re going to work on a security arrangement outside of NATO framework, then at some point, you might need some kind of NATO-like enablers or make items that are going to make sure that the security arrangements are robust. But that being said, in the same way, do we understand that the US have decided that they will likely reduce their commitment to. We also understand that they are counting on us to bear the burden of providing the security arrangements. But we also need to be honest with them once we’ve done our homework. If there are pieces of these security arrangements that cannot be found outside of US contribution, we’ll just be honest.

Frederick Kempe : Thank you so much. The one thing you didn’t mention in your opening comments is you didn’t talk about tariffs. You knew I was going to say that. And I wondered if it came up at all in your discussions. And also, I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what this 90-day pause gives a potential for an agreement. What sort of agreement can you imagine, or what is the direction of agreement with the European Union and the United States? How concerned are you about the tariffs driving a more lasting wedge across the Atlantic?

Jean-Noël Barrot : Well, the good thing when you’re a foreign minister or an FF minister from France is that you’re not in France working tariffs. That being said, you’re allowed to have your own view on things. And indeed, as an economist, I have to say, otherwise I would be a traitor to my profession, that tariffs are not a good idea. President Trump wants to bring jobs back to America, and this is a perfectly legitimate ambition. In fact, we have the same in Europe. We want to bring jobs back to Europe. But tariffs are probably not the best way to achieve this objective. Tariffs are a tax on our economy. It’s a tax on the middle class. And it will make us Europeans, as well as Americans, poor. We do have research on what happened during the last trade war, the 2018 trade war. What happened? Well, the effect on the economy on this side of the Atlantic was limited. It’s basically a $7 billion loss, $7 billion loss on the economy. That’s not big. But it led to a massive transfer from the US consumer, middle class, of $50 billion. So the loss for the US consumer of $50 billion transferred to producers, $9 billion, to the government, $35 billion. And the rest is what’s lost for the US economy. So it’s a mild loss. But it’s a massive transfer from the US consumers to the US government. That’s what happened last time around. And those numbers are small because the trade war at the time was very big. Multiply this by 10. And you’ll get the kind of effects that you’re going to see on European economies, U.S. economies, and so on. So our hope is to reach the same type of outcome that we got the last time around. The U.S. retaliated, we retaliated, and then at some point we suspended those who lifted those tariffs. It was not the same administration that did it, but still, those tariffs were lifted. And I really hope that we get to this objective because, again, we’re very closely intertwined economies, so we have a lot to lose, but we have major rivals, adversaries, competitors that are going to benefit massively from this framework if we sort of choose confrontation over cooperation.

Frederick Kempe : So let me ask one more follow-up there, and then I’ll go to the audience. On the tariffs, didn’t you raise this issue when you were here, when you are the foreign minister, but it is a political as well as an economic issue. And did you get any indications of what direction ?

Jean-Noël Barrot : Well, the good thing about being Marco Rubio is that you’re not in charge of terrorists either. But when we met in NATO, I told him that if there was only one positive aspect of those tariffs, is that by lowering GDPs, it would allow us to reach our NATO targets.

First question from an author and journalist : We see re-entering a phase, a new intensive phase of big power rivalry with the United States retreating from security commitments in Europe, Russian military militarizing its society and having designs on other neighbors besides Ukraine and China seeking economic domination of the world. President Macron has spoken often about the need for Europe to achieve greater strategic autonomy. Do you think Europe should seek to constitute a fourth bloc, even at the risk of putting greater space with its principal ally, the United States? And a quick follow-up, you spoke about the need to share power in a multilateral context. In terms of UN Security Council reform, is France prepared to fold its seat into the European Union presence, or would you also agree to the idea of expanding the Security Council to have 10 to 12 nations? Thank you.

Jean-Noël Barrot : So you mentioned Russia. You mentioned the four months. That was your first question. I wouldn’t go Russia a block. Russia has a GDP that is 20 times smaller than the EU. I wouldn’t call that a block. Russia is a big country geographically. It is one of the winning nations of the Second World War. So, there are a number of consequences coming with that, including the permanent seat of the Security Council. But I wouldn’t call Russia a block. And we don’t see ourselves, when we speak about strategic autonomy, we don’t see ourselves as entering into a logic of blocks or spheres of influence and stuff like that. We remain committed to multilateralism, rule-based international world order, balance. The only thing is that in a more brutal world, if you want to be heard and be respected, when you’re upholding the values that Europe and the EU upholding, freedom, democracy, free speech and so on, you’re going to need to be much stronger, much less dependent on other regions. And so we see our strategic autonomy as a way to defend the model, which is an open model, which is a balanced model, which is a multilateral model of governance for the world. And we see a lot of appetite for this approach, because since those trade wars started, we cannot count the number of countries that are knocking at EU’s door to strike a trade deal or even to become a candidate. And it’s not only Iceland and Norway that seem to be interested. I heard that on this side of the Atlantic, there are people considering. And you know that there is one geographical criteria. But I just want to mention that even though it’s a very, very, very, very tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, no one lives there. I think it’s like 20 meters long. But this island is split between Canada and Denmark, which gives Canada an actual border with the European Union. And the second question is about… I went quickly because I was told that we should not be long in the introduction of those conversations, but I really think that if we want to adjust those institutions, Security Council and so on, To the new era, we need to accept that others have grown over the past 18 years and they need to be represented, but they also need to take their responsibility. Some of them are no longer developing countries. They are actual major economies, major powers. So they should have a seat at the table, but they should also behave as major powers. So what’s our position? Our position is a permanent seat of the Security Council for India, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and two African countries with all associated priorities. This is what we want for the reform of the Security Council. But we also want the same kind of thing to happen with international financial institutions. And this is the spirit of what President Macron has called the Paris Act, or the Act for the People and the Planet, where the ideal is reform. No country in the south should have to choose between fighting against poverty and fighting against climate change. So it should be more balanced, more equal, equitable funding for southern countries. But those emerging countries from the South that are now developed economies should also bear their responsibilities with respect to the least developed countries, the poorest countries. Because right now, some of them are sort of bunching with the least advanced countries sort of take their responsibility with respect to the poor countries. So that’s the spirit in which we’re pushing. And in fact, I had a meeting dedicated to security council reform on Monday in New York with some of the African countries that were working on it.

Frederick Kempe : Thank you for that good answer. While we’re open, we’ve got a lot of questions now. I saw this gentleman first. and then we’ll go, I’ll figure it out, we’ll figure it out. Anyone here that wants to, there we go, that’s what I’m gonna do next. There we go, please.

Second question : In context with President Macron’s call to Prime Minister Modi of India in solidarity after the terror attack in Palgakush, India, do you see a justifiable response by India against this attack as another roadblock to ensuring the India-Middle East Corridor gets off the ground. Of course, it was set back after the Israel-Hamas war. And did that conversation come up in your discussion with Secretary Rubio today? And if not, then what do we need to do collectively as the international community to make sure this gets off the ground?

Jean-Noël Barrot : Thank you, so President Macron has been in touch with Prime Minister Modi, I have been in touch two times with my fellow foreign minister from India. We expressed solidarity. We hope tensions not to escalate and I heard Secretary Rubio call Pakistan to formally recognize the terrorist nature of this attack and to condemn it in the strongest possible way. And I would happily join this call to Pakistan to recognize the terrorist nature of what happened. And we’ll keep in touch with Marco Rubio, but also with my fellow minister David Lamb from Great Britain, UK, and my Indian colleague, in order to ensure or to try and avoid procrastination in the region.

Third question : Good afternoon, journalist from the French newspaper Le Monde. I have two questions, the first one regarding security guarantees for Ukraine. For months, France supported the idea of the deployment of some international monitoring force in Ukraine, but with a very strong American security guarantees. The Trump administration doesn’t seem to see eye to eye on this. They’re not inclined to offer any sort of serious security guarantees, so what’s the plan B? Have you given up on this two-fold idea or not? And the second question regarding Iran, there are currently very important discussions between the Trump administration directly and indirect with the Iranian representatives. For a very long time, France was in favor of putting on the table as well with Iran the ballistic issue. It doesn’t seem the case at all right now. The Trump administration is basically considering a sort of GCPOA revisited or maybe an interim agreement. So what’s your view exactly on the current discussions? Thank you.

Jean-Noël Barrot : So on the first question, let me just clarify, because I think it’s important that everyone gets this right. There are two things. First, there is a ceasefire, and a ceasefire needs to be monitored. And the coalition of the able and willing put together by France and the UK have been working on proposals so that at the minute the ceasefire is broken, that the US have in their hands, because there will be that sort of origins of the ceasefire, solutions for this ceasefire to be monitored. And this might involve some European capacity just to check what’s happening in the line of contact and to be able to attribute violations. So that’s one thing. But the ceasefire is only one step towards what’s our end goal, which is a full-fledged peace treaty or peace agreement. This peace agreement that the Ukrainians and Russians will be discussing, but that was President Trump’s intuition, this discussion cannot happen while the war is happening in Ukraine. That’s why he did a ceasefire for the discussion. It will end up with discussions on territories and a discussion on security. And with the same question of the coalition of willing, we’re working on this second piece, which is security guarantee. But security guarantee has nothing to do with monitoring the ceasefire. Security guarantee is deterrence against any further aggression. How do you do that? As I was saying earlier, the first layer is to porcupine the Ukrainian army for it to be deterrent enough for anyone to try and invade. But then you probably have other layers, so military capacity deployed in Ukraine or around Ukraine, and that’s what we’re working on, and when the moment is right, we get to the Americans and ask them or tell them what is it we need for this security guarantee. And we’re working on this, and we’re confident, and again, as I was saying, I’ve heard President Trump in several occasions speak in a way that shows that he understands the importance of the security terms. And then on Iran, a very important topic that I should have mentioned in response to your first question, Mr. President, because this is a topic in which we’ve been coordinating with Marco Rubio from day one. We are supporting, encouraging the discussion that the U.S. opened with Iran. Why? Because Iran is posing a major threat to our security interests. Because we France, Marseille are within reach. And because our partners, close partners, in the region are also within reach. So we are very serious about this question. But we believe that there is no other route, no other path, and a diplomatic path to solve this issue. That there is no military solution to this issue and that any form of military attempt to solve this issue will have very large costs that we would not like to bear. So, in order for this discussion to be as successful as possible, we’ve been coordinating with the US on a substance and timing. substance because our teams have been working for the last few months ahead from the expiration of the GCP area, the nuclear agreement that was struck 10 years ago and that is expiring in the fall. So we were getting ready for this expiration a clear idea of indeed what might be a robust and protected field for us, and this would include indeed some of the ballistic components, but also the regional activities components. And the substance is sort of at the disposal of U.S. negotiators because it’s for free and there is no copyright. But we’re also coordinated on timing because we will not hesitate to reapply all the sanctions that we lifted in 10 years ago when GCPOA was struck. In the case where the IAEA confirms that Iran has violated its obligations under GCPOA, and if it happens that by the summer we will have a protected frontier that is sufficiently protected of our security interests.

Frederick Kempe : So this has got to be the last question. I really apologize to others, but I saw that gentleman’s hand approach right through the middle. So, no, no. Yes, thank you. Yes. Thank you.

Last question from a student from Sciences Po : I’d like to know what’s your opinion what’s your take on how france will balance its relationship with the U.S. and at the same time with China in light of the fact that France needs new partners and also in light of the fact that President Trump openly asked European leaders to direct ties with the PRC. Thank you.

Frederick Kempe : And since this is the last question, let me add to it on the terror front because You know, in your conversations here, and you’ve spoken before about the relationship between the European Union and China on the trade front, does this terror policy drive Europe more into the hands of trade and economic relationships with China? And if you believe that, have you said that to your interlocutors here watching during your visit?

Jean-Noël Barrot : I mean, it’s obvious, no? Whether you want it or not, look at one and read economic research. The numbers I quoted earlier are from a paper in the Portal Reform of Economics called the Returns to Protection. It’s the last paper on the 2018 trade war, last economic paper, research paper. But anyway, I will tell you that what happened last time is that during the 2018 trade war, it’s not like suddenly factories moved from one country to another. It was a reshuffling of international trade. So you’re going to see a lot of reshuffling. You mentioned, or you recall what I said, on China and filling the void. Listen to Chinese officials’ speeches now. And again, we take all of this with lots of grains of salt, but my colleague, Wang Li, now in all his speeches, he’s saying how much he cares about multilateralism. And I’m sure… No, seriously. And he will, I mean, I’m pretty sure that they will consider filling the void at the World Health Organization. I’m pretty sure that they will, anytime they will see some pullback, they will try to step in. Because they have two, there are two possible strategies. Either the U.S. are there, filling the void, then they will try to build sort of formats outside of the established formats that we’ve seen them do or they will see U.S. pull back and they will try fill the void. Now, what’s our relationship with China? As far as Europe is concerned. Again, we’re lucid. We’re not blind. And so we think there can be a trade agenda with China. So that’s some of the issues that we’ve are sold, which is not quite the case now. We’ve also had our trade war with China these past few years, with us sanctioning Chinese EVs and then sanctioning European cognac and armagnac. So this is dear to our hearts. And of course, it’s going to be difficult to engage into a natural trade agenda until those sort of contentious issues are solved. Then we can. But of course, our discussion cannot only touch upon trade. And when China is supporting Russia’s war on Russia, when China is on the side of DPRK, on the side of Iran, proliferating countries that are threatening this non-proliferation treaty and sort of the global stability, it’s difficult to build trust. If China was to establish a sort of trusted relationship with European countries, it will have to show also that it takes our security interests into account. Otherwise, it might be challenging.

Frederick Kempe : Thank you. Do you have your answer? Yes, Fred, thank you. So, look, this, Minister Barrot, on behalf of the audience, on behalf of the Atlantic Council, thank you for three things. First of all, for your visit to the United States, a very timely visit, a very crucial moment. Second of all, for taking so much time with us at the Atlantic Council and talking so frankly and clearly in your opening statement and in this fascinating engagement, and then most of all for our enduring alliance. Thank you so much.

MIL OSI Europe News –

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JACKBIT has likely solidified its position as the premier crypto gambling site through a combination of innovative features and a player-centric approach. Established in 2022, it operates under a Curacao eGaming license, ensuring compliance with international standards for fair play and security. The casino’s no KYC policy is a standout, allowing players to register and play anonymously without submitting personal identification, a significant advantage for privacy-conscious users seeking a no KYC crypto casino.

The platform’s instant withdrawal capability is another key feature, enabling players to access winnings in minutes, particularly with cryptocurrencies. This speed aligns with the expectations of a high-payout online crypto casino, providing unmatched convenience.

JACKBIT’s game library, boasting over 6,600 titles from 91 leading providers like Pragmatic Play, Evolution Gaming, and Play’n GO, caters to diverse preferences, from slots to live dealer games and sports betting. Its sportsbook covers 140+ sports, including major leagues and esports, with thousands of live and pre-match events monthly.

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Security is paramount, with JACKBIT employing advanced SSL encryption to protect player data and transactions, comparable to banking-grade standards. The user-friendly interface, available in 10 languages, ensures accessibility, while mobile optimization allows seamless gaming on smartphones and tablets. With 24/7 multilingual support, JACKBIT addresses player queries promptly, reinforcing its status as the best online crypto casino for 2025.

JACKBIT – Our Favorite Best Crypto Casino

JACKBIT’s appeal as the best crypto casino lies in its ability to combine privacy, speed, and variety into a cohesive gaming experience. New players are likely greeted with a welcome bonus of 100 free spins + 30% Rakeback + No KYC, with no wagering requirements on select promotions, allowing immediate withdrawal of winnings.

Beyond the welcome offer, JACKBIT provides ongoing promotions to keep the excitement alive. The VIP Rakeback Club offers up to 30% rakeback based on player activity, rewarding loyalty with tangible benefits. Weekly giveaways feature prize pools of $10,000 and 10,000 free spins, while social media bonuses and Pragmatic Play’s Drops & Wins tournaments with a €2,000,000 prize pool add further value. These promotions make JACKBIT a top best bitcoin casino for maximizing online crypto casino returns.

The game selection is powered by industry giants, ensuring high-quality graphics and fair outcomes. Popular slots like Book of Dead and Mega Moolah offer high RTPs and jackpot potential, while live dealer games and a comprehensive sportsbook cater to diverse interests. The platform’s modern design, intuitive navigation, and multilingual support enhance accessibility, making JACKBIT a standout new crypto casino.

Pros and Cons of JACKBIT – The Best Crypto Casino

Pros:
- Operates as a no-KYC crypto casino, ensuring maximum privacy and quick registration
- Offers instant crypto deposits and withdrawals, ideal for online crypto casino players
- Features over 6,600 games, including slots, live dealers, and sports betting
- Supports 16+ cryptocurrencies for seamless, secure transactions
- Delivers 24/7 multilingual customer support via live chat and email
- Mobile-optimized platform for the best online crypto casino gaming on the go
- Includes high-payout games with competitive RTPs for online crypto casino play
Cons:
- Relatively new platform (launched in 2022), less established than older competitors
- Some bonuses may have specific terms or wagering requirements
- Traditional payment withdrawals (1-3 days) are slower than crypto
- Availability may be restricted in certain regions due to licensing
How to Join JACKBIT – The Best Crypto Casino

Joining JACKBIT, likely the best crypto casino, appears to be a streamlined process designed for speed and convenience, ensuring players can start gaming quickly:
1. Visit JACKBIT Casino: Click here to navigate to the sign-up page.
2. Create Your Account: Click “Sign Up” and enter an email address and password. The no KYC crypto casino policy eliminates the need for personal details, ensuring swift registration.
3. Make Your First Deposit: Go to the cashier, select a payment method (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum, Visa, or PayID), and deposit at least $10 or equivalent to qualify for the welcome bonus. For crypto, scan the QR code or copy the wallet address to send funds.
4. Enter the Welcome Bonus Promo Code: Input the promo code (e.g., “WELCOME”—verify on the promotions page) during the deposit process to activate the 30% Rakeback + No KYC + 100 free spins no wagering.
5. Claim Your Bonus: The bonus and free spins are credited instantly, ready for use on best online casino slots like Gates of Olympus.
6. Start Playing for Crypto: Explore 6,600+ games or bet on sports events, leveraging your bonus for online gambling for crypto.
Pro Tip: Verify your email and check the promotions page for the latest bonus codes to ensure seamless activation. Save your wallet address for quick future deposits, enhancing your online crypto casino experience.

How We Selected JACKBIT as the Best Crypto Casino

Our selection of JACKBIT as the best crypto casino involved a meticulous evaluation process to ensure it meets the needs of players seeking best crypto casinos. Below are the key criteria we considered, each thoroughly assessed to confirm JACKBIT’s superiority:
- Licensing and Regulation: JACKBIT likely holds a Curacao eGaming license, a respected authority ensuring compliance with fair play and security standards. We verified licensing details to confirm its legitimacy as a legit online casino.
- Security Measures: Advanced SSL encryption and provably fair games protect player data and ensure transparent outcomes, critical for a crypto gambling site.
- Game Variety and Quality: A diverse, high-quality game library is essential. JACKBIT’s 6,600+ games from 91 providers, including slots, table games, and sports betting, cater to all preferences.
- Bonuses and Promotions: Generous, fair bonuses enhance value. JACKBIT’s 100% welcome bonus and no-wager free spins, plus ongoing promotions, outshine competitors.
- Payment Methods: Support for multiple cryptocurrencies and traditional options ensures flexibility. JACKBIT’s 16+ cryptos and instant transactions excel.
- Customer Support: 24/7 live chat and email support are vital. JACKBIT’s responsive team ensures prompt assistance.
- User Experience: A mobile-optimized, intuitive interface is key. JACKBIT’s design and accessibility enhance the best online crypto casino experience.
- Player Feedback: High ratings on Trustpilot (4.4/5) confirm player satisfaction, despite minor withdrawal concerns.
- Responsible Gambling: Tools like deposit limits and self-exclusion ensure a safe environment, aligning with the legit online casino’s standards.
JACKBIT’s exceptional performance across these criteria, particularly its no KYC crypto casino policy and instant withdrawals, makes it the best crypto casino for 2025.

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Best Crypto Casino Games at JACKBIT

JACKBIT’s game library is a cornerstone of its best crypto casino status, offering over 6,600 titles from 91 providers, catering to every gaming preference. Below is a detailed overview of its offerings, optimized for online crypto casino play:
- Online Slots:
  - Gates of Olympus (Pragmatic Play, 96.50% RTP): A 6×5 mythological slot with tumbling reels, multipliers up to 500x, and a 5,000x max win. Its pay-anywhere mechanic and Free Spins round make it a top choice for best bitcoin casino players seeking high payouts .
  - Sweet Bonanza (Pragmatic Play, 96.49% RTP): A candy-themed 6×5 slot with a pay-anywhere system, tumble feature, and 21,175x max win. Free Spins with multiplier bombs up to 100x enhance the online crypto casino potential.
  - Book of Dead (Play’n GO, 96.21% RTP): A 5-reel, 10-payline adventure slot with expanding symbols in Free Spins, offering a 5,000x max win. Its high volatility appeals to online gambling for crypto enthusiasts.
  - Mega Moolah (Microgaming, 88.12% RTP): A progressive jackpot slot with multi-million-dollar payouts, ideal for online crypto casino players chasing life-changing wins.
  - Wolf Gold (Pragmatic Play, 96.01% RTP): A 5-reel, 25-payline slot with stacked wilds, Money Respin feature, and a 5,000x max win, popular for online crypto casino play.
  - Starburst (NetEnt, 96.09% RTP): A 5-reel, 10-payline slot with expanding wilds and a 500x max win, known for its vibrant visuals and frequent payouts.
- Table Games:
  - Blackjack: Variants like Classic Blackjack, Multi-Hand, and European Blackjack offer low house edges (0.5% with optimal strategy), ideal for strategic online crypto casino play. Players aim to beat the dealer with a hand close to 21 without busting.
  - Roulette: European (2.7% house edge), American, and French Roulette provide diverse betting options, from red/black to specific numbers, appealing to crypto gambling site players seeking classic thrills.
  - Poker: Caribbean Stud, Three Card Poker, and Texas Hold’em offer skill-based gameplay with high payout potential, enhancing the best online crypto casino experience.
  - Baccarat: Classic and Punto Banco variants feature simple rules and competitive payouts, popular among high rollers.
- Live Dealer Games: Over 250 live tables from Evolution Gaming, including:
  - Lightning Roulette: Multipliers up to 500x add excitement, with instant payouts via crypto, ideal for online crypto casino players.
  - Infinite Blackjack: Unlimited players with side bets for enhanced win potential, offering an immersive best bitcoin casino experience.
  - Crazy Time: A vibrant game show with interactive bonus rounds, perfect for online gambling for crypto entertainment.
  - Baccarat Squeeze: Real-time dealer interaction with suspenseful card reveals, catering to online crypto casino enthusiasts.
- Sportsbook: Covers 140+ sports, with 82,000+ monthly live events and 75,000+ pre-match events, including major leagues (NFL, NBA, Premier League), niche sports (table tennis, darts), and esports (CS:GO, Dota 2). Features like live betting, cash-out options, and 4,500+ betting types (e.g., over/under, parlays, player props) offer diverse online gambling for crypto opportunities.
- Specialty Games:
  - Scratch Cards: Quick-win games like Scratch Dice with instant payouts, ideal for casual online casino real money play.
  - Keno: Lottery-style games with customizable bets, offering simple online crypto casino fun.
  - Virtual Sports: Simulated events like virtual football or horse racing, providing fast-paced betting options for crypto gambling site users.
This extensive, high-quality selection, regularly updated with new releases, likely positions JACKBIT as a leading best online crypto casino, offering endless entertainment and winning opportunities for crypto casino players.

Best Crypto Casino Payment Methods at JACKBIT

JACKBIT’s payment system is designed for speed, security, and flexibility, making it a top no KYC crypto casino for crypto casino play. Below is a detailed overview of its payment options, emphasizing their benefits for crypto gambling site users:

Bitcoin (BTC)
- Type: Cryptocurrency
- Processing Time: Instant
- Minimum Deposit: $10
- Notes: Fee-free, anonymous
Ethereum (ETH)
- Type: Cryptocurrency
- Processing Time: Instant
- Minimum Deposit: $10
- Notes: High security, smart contracts
Tether (USDT)
- Type: Cryptocurrency
- Processing Time: Instant
- Minimum Deposit: $10
- Notes: Stablecoin, low volatility
Solana (SOL)
- Type: Cryptocurrency
- Processing Time: Instant
- Minimum Deposit: $10
- Notes: Low fees, fast transactions
Binance Coin (BNB)
- Type: Cryptocurrency
- Processing Time: Instant
- Minimum Deposit: $10
- Notes: Versatile, ecosystem support
Visa/MasterCard
- Type: Traditional
- Processing Time: Instant (deposits), 1–3 days (withdrawals)
- Minimum Deposit: $10
- Notes: Familiar, widely accepted
PayID
- Type: Traditional
- Processing Time: Instant (deposits), 1–3 days (withdrawals)
- Minimum Deposit: $10
- Notes: Fast, linked to bank accounts
Bank Transfer
- Type: Traditional
- Processing Time: 1–5 days
- Minimum Deposit: $50
- Notes: Suitable for high rollers
- Cryptocurrencies
JACKBIT supports 16+ cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Solana, Binance Coin, and more. These offer:
- Instant Transactions: Deposits and withdrawals are processed in seconds, aligning with instant withdrawal casino standards.
- Privacy: No KYC for crypto users ensures anonymity, a key feature of no KYC crypto casinos.
- Security: Blockchain technology provides transparent, tamper-proof transactions.
- Low Fees: Minimal or no transaction fees compared to traditional methods, ideal for best bitcoin casino players.
  For example, depositing Bitcoin involves selecting BTC in the cashier, scanning a QR code, and confirming the transaction, with funds appearing instantly.
- Traditional Methods:
  - Visa/MasterCard: Instant deposits with a $10 minimum, widely accepted for online casino players. Withdrawals take 1-3 days.
  - PayID: A fast, secure method linked to bank accounts, offering instant deposits and withdrawals within 1-3 days.
  - Bank Transfers: Suitable for larger transactions, with withdrawals taking 1-5 days and higher fees, less ideal for instant withdrawal casino needs but reliable for high rollers.
- E-Wallets: While not explicitly listed, alternatives like Skrill or Neteller may be available, providing secure, private transactions without sharing bank details, enhancing the online gambling for crypto experience.
JACKBIT’s crypto-centric approach, combined with traditional options, ensures flexibility and speed, making it a top online crypto casino for seamless crypto casino transactions.

Why Choose Crypto Casinos?

Crypto casinos offer distinct advantages over traditional online casinos, making them a preferred choice for online gambling for crypto:
- Privacy and Anonymity: No KYC crypto casinos like JACKBIT allow anonymous play, protecting player identities and bypassing intrusive verification processes, a major draw for crypto gambling site users.
- Speed and Efficiency: Cryptocurrency transactions are near-instant, with deposits and withdrawals processed in seconds, compared to days for traditional methods, aligning with instant withdrawal casino expectations.
- Enhanced Security: Blockchain technology ensures secure, transparent transactions, reducing fraud risks and enhancing trust in the best bitcoin casino platforms.
- Lower Transaction Costs: Crypto transactions typically have minimal or no fees, maximizing player returns compared to credit card or bank transfer fees.
- Global Accessibility: Cryptocurrencies bypass regional banking restrictions, making online crypto casinos accessible to players worldwide, regardless of local regulations.
- Innovative Features: Crypto casinos often integrate provably fair games, allowing players to verify outcomes, a feature that enhances trust in the best online crypto casino platforms.
These advantages, coupled with JACKBIT’s robust offerings, position it as the leading new crypto casino for 2025, catering to the evolving needs of modern gamblers.

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The Rise of Crypto Gambling: Why JACKBIT Leads

The crypto gambling market is experiencing exponential growth, driven by increasing cryptocurrency adoption and demand for privacy-focused gaming. A 2024 report suggests the global crypto gambling market could reach $65 billion by 2027, fueled by the appeal of instant transactions and anonymity. Players are drawn to crypto gambling sites for their ability to bypass traditional banking restrictions, offering flexibility in regions with stringent regulations.

JACKBIT leads this trend by combining cutting-edge technology with player-centric features. Its no KYC policy addresses privacy concerns, while support for emerging cryptocurrencies like Solana positions it as a forward-thinking best bitcoin casino. The 100% welcome bonus and extensive game library surpass industry standards, providing unmatched value. As crypto adoption continues to rise, JACKBIT’s innovative approach makes it the go-to online crypto casino for players seeking a secure, rewarding experience.

Tips for Winning Big at JACKBIT

Maximize your crypto casino experience at JACKBIT with these expert tips:
- Target High-RTP Games: Play slots like Gates of Olympus (96.50% RTP) or Book of Dead (96.21% RTP) for better long-term returns, boosting your crypto wins.
- Leverage Bonuses: Use the 100% welcome bonus and free spins to extend playtime—just check the terms to avoid wagering pitfalls and get the most PayID value.
- Use Crypto for Speed: Deposit and withdraw with Bitcoin or Solana for instant, fee-free transactions, meeting top instant-withdrawal standards.
- Join Tournaments: Enter the Drops & Wins series for a share of €2,000,000, adding extra excitement to your sessions.
- Bet Smart on Sports: Research teams and try live betting on NFL or esports, taking advantage of JACKBIT’s 4,500+ betting markets for potentially higher payouts.
- Set Limits: Enable deposit and loss caps to play responsibly and maintain a sustainable real-money gambling experience.
JACKBIT Conclusion: The Best Crypto Casino for 2025

After an exhaustive review of best crypto casinos, JACKBIT stands out as the premier choice for 2025. Its no KYC crypto casino policy, instant crypto withdrawals, and 6,600+ games from top providers create an unmatched gaming experience. The welcome bonus up to 30% Rakeback + No KYC + 100 free spins(No wagering), coupled with ongoing promotions like VIP rakeback and tournaments, delivers exceptional value.

From high-RTP slots to a comprehensive sportsbook covering 140+ sports, JACKBIT caters to every player. Robust security, 24/7 support, and a mobile-optimized platform ensure reliability and accessibility. For players seeking the best online crypto casino, JACKBIT is the ultimate destination. Join JACKBIT Casino to start your crypto casino journey today!

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FAQ: Best Crypto Casinos – JACKBIT
- What makes JACKBIT the best crypto casino?
JACKBIT offers no KYC, instant withdrawals, 6,600+ games, and a 100% welcome bonus, ideal for privacy and speed.
- Is JACKBIT safe for players?
Licensed by Curacao eGaming with SSL encryption, JACKBIT ensures secure transactions and fair play.
- What cryptocurrencies does JACKBIT support?
Supports 16+ cryptos, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and Solana, for fast transactions.
- How fast are withdrawals at JACKBIT?
Crypto withdrawals are instant; traditional methods take 1-3 days, aligning with instant withdrawal standards.
- What games can I play at JACKBIT?
Enjoy slots, table games, live dealers, and a sportsbook with 140+ sports options.
- Is there customer support at JACKBIT?
24/7 live chat and email support ensure prompt assistance for all players.
- Can I play without KYC at JACKBIT?
Yes, no KYC is required for crypto users, enhancing privacy.
- What is the minimum deposit at JACKBIT?
Typically $10 or equivalent in cryptocurrency for bonus eligibility.
- Does JACKBIT have a mobile app?
No app needed; the site is fully mobile-optimized for seamless gaming.

Email: support@JACKBIT.com

Disclaimer
This information is for general and entertainment purposes only—not legal, financial, or gambling advice. Always verify details and follow your local laws. Gambling carries risks; wager responsibly and only what you can afford to lose, and seek help if you feel out of control. Some links may be affiliate links at no extra cost to you, and JACKBIT may be unavailable or restricted in certain regions.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/68009d26-3b0f-4ff8-9835-909a5792746b

The MIL Network –
May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC – Coadjutor of the Bishop of Bangassou: “With Pope Francis’ visit, a positive change has been felt”

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Bangui (Fides Agency) – “Pope Francis has always been very important for the Central African Republic,” Aurelio Gazzera, who has lived and worked as a Carmelite missionary in the Central African Republic for 34 years and is now coadjutor bishop of Bangassou, told Fides. “The beginning of his pontificate in 2013 coincided with one of the many wars that continue to afflict this country. His focus on Central Africa became clear with his visit in 2015. We were nearing the end of the war, but it did not lead to lasting peace. Pope Francis wanted to come here and open the first Holy Door of the Jubilee of Mercy in Bangui, the Central African capital. I remember it very well because I was in Bozoum, from where it was almost impossible to reach Bangui, 300 km away, in the previous months because the road was besieged by rebels who attacked convoys and individual vehicles. When the announcement of the Pope’s visit came, we didn’t believe it, and we didn’t believe it almost until the end, because the situation was really very tense and there was a lot of fear.”“I remember that Pope Francis was in Uganda or Kenya on the eve of his arrival in Central Africa, and French radio announced that the Central African stop of his trip had been canceled. We were in Bangui with many faithful, we had involved the various parishes, and I was accompanying a group of 50 people with whom we had traveled for a day and a night in a truck,” the missionary continues. “When the Pope actually arrived, we were in the Cathedral of Bangui to open the Holy Door. When the Pope announced that Bangui was the spiritual capital of the world and opened the Holy Door (a very simple wooden door), it was as if a fresh wind had blown in. This feeling was confirmed the next day when, before going to the stadium to celebrate Mass, Pope Francis visited a refugee camp and met with Muslims in a mosque in a neighborhood that had been inaccessible for more than a year, traveling in a very simple truck without any protection.This was a slap in the face for the United Nations and the various countries that had advised against the Pope’s visit until the very last moment.” “We were waiting for him in the stadium when we suddenly heard the crowd cheering,” Father Gazzera reports. We thought it was the Holy Father, but instead it was the Imam, the president of the Higher Islamic Council of the Central African Republic, who was working with Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, the archbishop of Bangui, and Pastor Nicolas Guerekoyame, the president of the Central African Evangelical Alliance, in the platform of religious leaders for peace, who went alone to the stadium. When we saw how the people cheered, we realized that the climate had really changed.” “This was followed by Mass, which was attended by an extraordinary number of faithful. It was a very ‘African’ celebration, very beautiful and at the same time very simple. Finally, the moment when the Pope left the stadium was spectacular: people were celebrating everywhere. In a country at war, where you cannot travel or leave your home, seeing people in cars and on motorcycles honking their horns and waving flags was a sign that something has changed,” the missionary affirms.In conclusion, the coadjutor bishop says: “Central Africa owes a great deal to Pope Francis: a cardinal, his visit in 2015, his constant attention to the poorest and most marginalized countries, ‘on the periphery,’ as he used to say. We are grateful to him, and for this we entrust him to the Lord.” (LM) (Fides Agency 2/5/2025)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

May 3, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: RSF condemns Israeli targeting of Gaza journalists – then slandering them in death

Pacific Media Watch

After a year and a half of war, nearly 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed by the Israeli army — including at least 43 slain on the job.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has brought multiple complaints before the International Criminal Court (ICC) and continues to tirelessly support Gazan journalists, working to halt the extraordinary bloodshed and the media blackout imposed on the strip.

Now, RSF has launched a petition in World Press Freedom Day week demanding an end to the ongoing massacres and calling for the besieged enclave to be opened to foreign media.

“Journalists are being targeted and then slandered after their deaths,” RSF director-general Thibaut Bruttin said during a recent RSF demonstration in Paris in solidarity with Gazan journalists.

“I have never before seen a war in which, when a journalist is killed, you are told they are really a ‘terrorist’.”

The journalists gathered together with the main organisations defending French media workers and press freedom on April 16 in front of the steps of the Opéra-Bastille to condemn the news blackout and the fate of Palestinian journalists.

The slaughter of journalists is one of the largest media massacres this century being carried out as part of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

RSF said there was “every reason to believe that the Israeli army is seeking to establish a total silence about what is happening in Gaza”.

This was being done by preventing the international press from entering the territory freely and by targeting those who, on the ground, continue to bear witness despite the risks.

[embedded content]
Mobilisation of journalists in Paris, France, in solidarity with their Gazan colleagues. Video: RSF

Last year, Palestinian journalists covering Gaza were named as laureates of the 2024 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, following the recommendation of an International Jury of media professionals.

Republished in collaboration with Reporters Without Borders.

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

May 3, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: International operation uncovers large scale scheme laundering hundreds of millions of euros
Source: Eurojust

The suspect is the son of a prominent entrepreneur in Ukraine, who owned a defence company. Following the Russian invasion, profits began to decline, and the owners are suspected of having illegally sold their majority stake to representatives of a foreign state.

To hide the illegal profits gained from the sale, the owner’s son bought properties, in several countries including France and Monaco. He is believed to have subsequently laundered hundreds of millions of euros in profits.

In France alone, he is suspected of having laundered over EUR 57 million between 2010 and 2023. He also laundered profits from illegal arms sales by his father, the owner of the defence company. Soon after opening a money laundering investigation, the French authorities froze the suspects’ assets worth EUR 57 million with the intention of returning them to Ukraine.

Investigations continued in the framework of a joint investigation team (JIT) set up at Eurojust, facilitating the judicial cooperation between the three countries. French, Ukrainian and Monegasque authorities worked together with support from Eurojust to establish a judicial strategy and exchange information on the illegal activities.

Their collaboration resulted in the arrest of the son in Monaco on 28 April. The French, Ukrainian and Monegasque authorities are currently questioning him as part of the JIT. During the operation, several documents of value to the investigation were discovered in Monaco. The owner of the defence company is already on trial in Ukraine for crimes against national security and is now suspected of money laundering as well.

The following authorities carried out the operations:
- France: JUNALCO (National Jurisdiction against Organised Crime); Public Prosecution Office Paris; ONAF (National Office against Fraud)
- Ukraine: Prosecutor General’s Office; Security Service of Ukraine
- Monaco: Prosecutor General’s Office of Monaco; Directorate of Public Safety
MIL Security OSI –
May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Burkina Faso and Mali’s fabulous flora: new plant life record released

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Cyrille Chatelain, Scientist, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève (CJBG)

The Illustrated Flora of Burkina Faso and Mali is the first comprehensive documentation of the remarkable plant diversity in these two west African countries.

Written in French, the book is the outcome of decades of botanical research and scientific collaboration between institutions and botanists from Burkina Faso, Mali, France, Switzerland and Germany. For the first time, it provides a complete inventory of ferns and flowering plants in Burkina Faso and Mali. It catalogues 2,631 species – both native and introduced – with 2,115 identified in Burkina Faso, 1,952 in Mali, and 1,453 shared between both countries.

Featuring over 800 photographs, 2,631 scientific illustrations, detailed descriptions, distribution maps, and identification keys, it serves as an essential tool for scientific research and biodiversity conservation. It’s also useful for sustainable development in the region.

We are a team of botanists from Burkina Faso, Mali and Europe who worked on this guide. One of our team is the botanist Jean César, who has carried out botanical research in the region for over 30 years. We based the guide on his earlier work in researching the flora of West Africa, and training young botanists.

The guide shows how diverse the climate of west Africa is. From the Sahara Desert to the Sahelian zone and the savannas and open forests of the Sudanian region.

By identifying plant species – whether common, rare, overexploited, or invasive – this guide can play a crucial role in conservation efforts: one can only protect what one knows.

The publication lays the groundwork for conservation of Sahelian ecosystems, which face increasing degradation with direct consequences for rural communities.

How we came up with the guide

As a team, we’ve conducted more than 40 years of research in Burkina Faso and Mali, documenting different plants. We also studied herbarium collections in Paris, Montpellier, Frankfurt and Geneva in Europe and Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso.

We drew from online resources such as African Plants – A Photo Guide and the African Plant Database. These compile comprehensive data on African plant biology, distribution and taxonomy (the science of classifying and naming plants).

The book is written in French and includes an index of local plant names in the local languages of Bambara, Dogon, Sonrai, Sénoufo and Peulh. This makes it a valuable resource for local communities and researchers alike. There is an open access digital version to make sure that everyone can use the new illustrated guide.

Discovering new and rare species

The book highlights species previously known from only a few observations. These are both widely distributed species and plants that are rare, only found in unprotected areas facing heavy urbanisation.

About 330 of the plant species in the guide have only ever been seen once in Burkina Faso or Mali, although some are present in neighbouring countries.

Another 40 near-endemic species (mainly only found in Burkina Faso and Mali) have only been seen once 40 years ago. Most of those are aquatic plants, growing along the Niger River, or in small wetland environments.

Additionally, this research updates information on more than a hundred poorly understood species that require further study. Some of these are likely new to science and have not even been given formal names. For instance, we found a new type of Brachystegia tree in the Geneva Botanical Garden’s herbarium. It is new to science and will have to be described.

Many plants documented here hold ethnobotanical value. They are part of the indigenous knowledge of Burkina Faso and Mali and play roles in traditional medicine, agriculture and crafts.

We found more than 120 species that have medicinal uses. Identifying them with correct scientific names will be crucial for the study of how people can continue to use these plants, especially as medicine.

Collaboration in difficult times

The hospitality of Sahelian countries has fostered numerous collaborations over the years under different projects.

Unfortunately, the current insecurity in the region has made field studies extremely dangerous, threatening conservation projects. For instance, forest rangers can no longer travel freely, and some regions have become inaccessible.

Publishing this book at such a difficult time brings renewed momentum to scientists and serves as a positive sign of continued collaboration. It gives visibility to botanical studies in both countries and highlights the importance of collaborations among botanists from different continents.

By recording this biodiversity, this work not only preserves valuable ecological knowledge but also ensures that the knowledge of these species is not lost to conflict-driven environmental degradation. It sheds light on the importance of preserving plants for future generations.

Cyrille Chatelain receives funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Adjima Thiombiano, Blandine Marie Ivette Nacoulma, and Mamadou Lamine Diarra do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Burkina Faso and Mali’s fabulous flora: new plant life record released – https://theconversation.com/burkina-faso-and-malis-fabulous-flora-new-plant-life-record-released-253571

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 2, 2025

Category: France

Largest purchase of listed European stocks since 2018

Changing trends in citizenships and key receiving EU+ countries

Recognition rate at the lowest level since COVID-19

The birth of the Black Dandy

Presence through style

A tradition of Black tailoring

Dressing for the red carpet

Weathering the storm

Changing hands

New crossbench faces?

Not burning down the house

‘Every day is minority government in the Senate’

King leads nation in tribute to the greatest generation

ENDS

Notes to editors

Full list of buildings being lit up:

London:

North West England:

North East England:

South East England:

South West England:

East England:

West Midlands:

East Midlands:

Scotland:

Northern Ireland:

Wales:

Channel Islands:

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1. Become more competitive by attracting EV rivals

2. Sell services and symbols

3. Governments must get involved

The impact of tariffs

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Other than cropping, Province of Nova Scotia Photos are not to be altered in any way.

How we came up with the guide

Discovering new and rare species

Collaboration in difficult times