Category: housing

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Successful community event builds futures for young people in Normanton

    Source: City of Derby

    An “inspiring” community event took place at Akaal Primary School recently which brought together key local partners to support young people and families to identify employment and education options for young people.

    Led by Derby City Council’s Neighbourhood Team, this initiative was a direct response to ideas raised at the recent Normanton Partnership; a collaboration of residents, community groups, schools and councillors.

    The event gave residents the opportunity to ask local organisations about the work taking place in their neighbourhood, and also gave young people and their families the chance to talk about apprenticeship and educational opportunities available to them.

    With the involvement of organisations such as Aspire2Succeed, Derby College, DWP Job Centre, Derbyshire Constabulary, Supporting Communities and many others, the event provided a vital space for engagement, support, and collaboration. Over 60 residents attended, highlighting the community’s desire for accessible, local support.

    A key takeaway from the evening was that young people expressed the importance of having a dedicated space within their community where they feel safe, valued, and represented. The success of this event has laid the foundation for further events in the future at other locations around Derby, so residents learn more about their neighbourhood team and education and employment opportunities available to them.

    Councillor Paul Hezelgrave, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Skills, said:

    It was truly inspiring to see people of all ages, along with their families, come together to discuss their futures and explore the opportunities available to them. I would encourage any young people who would like more information about what opportunities are available to get in touch with the Derby City Council Employment and Skills team who will be able to let you know about all the latest employment opportunities in Derby.

    A huge thank you to all the incredible organisations that played a role in making this happen. Your collaboration and commitment to supporting our young people and communities is what makes events like this so impactful.”

    This event is one of many employment and skills events that have been put on by The Employment Hub. The Hub has been created to help you gain the confidence, support and skills to move into employment. The Hub, is based at the Council House and is open from 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday. You can find one to one employment and careers advice as well as opportunities to get in touch with local employers. If you can’t make it into the council house, you can email employmentandskills@derby.gov.uk or telephone: 01332 956989 for a discussion.

    More information about local opportunities is also available in Derby Jobs Weekly. This free newsletter features all of the latest employment opportunities as well as information about apprenticeships, upskilling courses, and training into employment opportunities.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI: Pipe Continues International Expansion to Canada Through Partnership with Housecall Pro

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN FRANCISCO and SAN DIEGO, Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pipe, a fintech company partnering with software platforms to deliver embedded financial solutions for SMBs, today announced its expansion to Canada through a partnership with Housecall Pro, the go-to software platform for over 45,000 home service companies. Together, the two companies are dramatically improving financial access for the industry by delivering Pipe’s embedded capital through the Housecall Pro platform. The move accelerates Pipe’s strategy of providing capital access to SMBs globally from within the software they already use to run their businesses. With this expansion, Pipe is now live in the U.S., the UK, and Canada, with additional geographies planned in the near future.

    According to a recent study1, 87% of Canadian SMBs are confident in their performance, yet two-thirds struggle with cash flow, and many lack access to capital, hindering their growth and expansion. The situation in Canada is consistent with SMB markets in the United States and the UK, where Pipe Capital is being adopted rapidly to fill the hole left by banks and other traditional capital providers.

    Housecall Pro offers an industry-leading SaaS operating platform combined with modern financial services to help home service professionals, or “Pros,” run all aspects of their business. Traditionally, businesses like the ones served by Housecall Pro have struggled to access the financing needed to grow — running into long application processes, credit checks, and excessive paperwork. With Pipe Capital, Housecall Pro can surface personalized offers to Pros embedded in the same platform they use to run their business. Through the partnership, Pipe is able to assess risk and deliver personalized offers to Pros based on live platform data on revenue streams, cash flow, and business performance.

    Key capabilities of the embedded offering in the Housecall Pro platform include:

    • Customer-friendly financing without requiring credit checks or personal guarantees. No minimum monthly payments are required, and payments align with a Pro’s revenue.
    • Multiple ways to top up and boost financing offers, delivering similar benefits to a line of credit.
    • Access to capital in a few clicks with tailored go-to-market support.

    “At Housecall Pro, we are dedicated to giving home service businesses the tools and resources they need to thrive and grow. Pipe’s customer-friendly capital solution aligns well with that mission,” said Valentina Durand, VP Strategy & Growth, Housecall Pro. “By offering our Canadian customers easy access to capital based on their present and future revenue, we’re helping them knock down common financial hurdles and invest in their growth. This streamlined solution increases our value proposition for customers, increases satisfaction and loyalty for Housecall Pro, and strengthens our position as a leading platform for home service professionals.”

    “By partnering with an industry leader like Housecall Pro in Canada, we’re continuing to expand our global footprint to reach hundreds of thousands of small businesses that need capital to achieve their entrepreneurial dreams,” said Luke Voiles, CEO, Pipe. “The home services industry has historically been underserved by traditional financial organizations. Combining Housecall Pro’s unmatched technology and expertise in supporting this market with Pipe’s tailored risk models, together we’re able to provide the capital these SMBs need to grow and prosper.”

    About Pipe
    Pipe makes customer-friendly capital and smart financial tools accessible to growing businesses inside the software they use every day. Our embedded solutions are built to scale and give business builders across industries the power to grow on their own terms. To learn more, visit www.pipe.com or follow us on X @pipe.

    About Housecall Pro
    Housecall Pro is a top-rated business solution that helps home service professionals save time, sell bigger jobs, and provide best-in-class service. With easy-to-use tools for scheduling, dispatching, payments, and more, Housecall Pro enables Pros to manage every aspect of their business all in one place. The software is available through a mobile app and web portal for Pros across the United States and Canada. Founded in 2013, Housecall Pro has been championing Pros through streamlined solutions and strong community support for over nine years. Housecall Pro’s brand portfolio includes BuildBook, construction management software for builders and remodelers, and CONQUER, a business coaching solution for home service businesses.

    Media Contact
    Merrill Freund
    merrill@freundpr.com

    _____________________

    1 “State of SMB Finance in Canada” survey, conducted at the close of Q3 2024 by Float Financial

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI Security: Defense News: Navy Week Charts Course to Tucson February 17-23

    Source: United States Navy

    This year’s Tucson Navy Week holds special significance as it coincides with the U.S. Navy’s 250th birthday — a historic milestone celebrating a quarter-millennium of maritime excellence, national security and global leadership.

    “As we celebrate 250 years of naval tradition and excellence as a maritime nation, we recognize it’s the combination of the world’s most sophisticated weapons systems, and more importantly our highly skilled people – at sea and ashore – who provide an unmatched advantage in promoting prosperity and security, deterring aggression, and protecting the American way of life,” said Cmdr. Julie Holland, Navy Office of Community Outreach director. “Your Sailors continue a tradition of decisive power from seabed to space and we’re thrilled to bring them to Tucson so you can witness their treendous character, competence, and dedication firsthand.”

    Tucson Navy Week is one of 15 Navy Weeks in 2025, which brings a variety of assets, equipment, and personnel to a single city for a weeklong series of engagements designed to bring America’s Navy closer to the people it protects. Each year, the program reaches more than 140 million people — about half the U.S. population.

    During Tucson Navy Week, more than 50 Sailors, to include those with direct ties to Tucson, will engage in education and community outreach events throughout the city.

    “Participating in Tucson Navy Week is important to me because it brings me back to where it all started,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Sherman, from the city of Tucson, assigned to Naval Information Force Reserve. “Growing up in Tucson, we went to air shows and had a ton of exposure to the Air Force, which is world-class in many respects, but young men and women from Arizona need to know the Navy provides opportunities and experiences that simply cannot be matched by other services. I want to tell them about it firsthand.”

    Tucson Navy Week events include a Navy Week proclamation and recognition ceremony at the Arizona Heroes Memorial; Discovery Night at the Children’s Museum; Navy Day at the Reid Park Zoo; 100th La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo; the Pima Air and Space Museum; and free live music at venues throughout the city performed by Navy Band Southwest. Sailors will also volunteer with organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs; Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids (TRAK); StandUp for Kids; YMCA; Habitat for Humanity; Market on the Move; GAP Ministries; Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona; and Tucson Bicycle Classic, among others.

    Tucson Navy Week senior executive, Vice Adm. James Pitts, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, will participate in community engagements and meet with local businesses, civic, education, and government leaders.

    Other Navy Week Sailors include those from the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Tucson (SSN 770), Virginia-class fast-attack submarine pre-commissioning unit USS Arizona (SSN 803), Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), USS Constitution, Naval Talent Acquisition Group Phoenix, U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard, Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303, Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Band Southwest, Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Vietnam War Commemoration, Navy eSports, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, and The Strike Group virtual reality activation.

    Media organizations wishing to cover Tucson Navy Week events, to include interviewing hometown heroes and the senior Navy executive, should contact Ensign Jordyn Diomede at (901) 232-4450 or jordyn.s.diomede.mil@us.navy.mil.

    Stories featuring Sailors from the Tucson area:

    Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Sherman – 2000 Tucson Accelerated High School graduate

    https://navyoutreach.blogspot.com/2025/02/tucson-accelerated-high-alum-returns.html

     

    Lt. j.g. Gina Gulli – 2018 Cienega High School graduate

    https://navyoutreach.blogspot.com/2025/02/cienega-high-alum-returns-home-for.html

     

    Petty Officer 2nd Class Mason Bricker – 2020 Amphitheater High School graduate

    https://navyoutreach.blogspot.com/2025/02/amphitheater-high-alum-returns-home-for.html

     

    Petty Officer 2nd Class Abrianna Thompson – 2015 Buena High School graduate

    https://navyoutreach.blogspot.com/2025/02/sierra-vista-native-returns-home-for.html

     

    For a list of public events, visit https://outreach.navy.mil/Navy-Weeks/Tucson-2025/

    Follow Navy Outreach on social media:

    About Navy Week:

    Navy Weeks are a series of outreach events coordinated by the Navy Office of Community Outreach designed to give Americans an opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people, and its importance to national security and prosperity. Since 2005, the Navy Week program has brought the Navy’s mission, people, and capabilities to hundreds of communities nationwide, inspiring new generations and strengthening the bonds between the Navy and the American people.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI USA: New Tool Helps Public Find Local Court Civics Resources and Programs

    Source: United States Courts

    Federal courts regularly engage in public outreach and civics education efforts. A new interactive civics map is helping the public more easily find court educational resources and civics program information nationwide.

    The tool, developed by the Federal Judicial Center (FJC), the education and research agency for the federal courts, acts as a central repository for local court-created educational resources and civics programs. It includes, for example, information about notable or historic cases and courthouse history and about recurring programs, such as courthouse tours, institutes for teachers, and civics contests for students. 

    Visitors can navigate across multiple display types and filtering options to view various civics offerings from different judicial districts. One view links to program information pages from the respective court website about its recurring civics programs.

    Learn more about the new tool from the FJC civics education and outreach page.

    Visit the educational resources section on the U.S. Courts website for additional information about the federal Judiciary’s national civics initiatives and educational activities.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI Global: What to do if your partner wants to speak to your baby in a language you don’t understand

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Una Cunningham, Professor emerita, Department of Teaching and Learning, Stockholm University

    Mladen Zivkovic/Shutterstock

    Finding out you and your partner are expecting a baby throws many discussions that might have once been hypothetical into stark relief. This certainly may be the case if your partner speaks another language beyond the one spoken where you live and that the two of you communicate in.

    “I’d like to bring the baby up to speak my language”, they say, and suddenly what seemed a wonderful idea – a bilingual child – might throw up panicked visions of being left out of private jokes and conversations at the dinner table. But growing up with two or more languages can be hugely beneficial for children, and there’s plenty you can do to help out and get involved.

    When children acquire a minority language – a language other than the dominant language or languages in the place they live – spoken by one or both parents, they have the key to that culture. It offers the possibility of a deep relationship with extended family and others they might otherwise not be able to talk to at all. You really want to do everything in your power to support your partner and your child in this venture.

    Learning something of your partner’s language will effectively solve your problem. You may be able to join a class to learn the language or even just use a language app such as Duolingo to get a head start on vocabulary and basic phrases. This becomes more challenging if the language in question is not a standard variety or is a language not spoken by many people.

    If a parent is proficient in a lower-status and higher-status variety of a language – such as Cypriot Greek and standard Greek, or colloquial Singapore English and standard English – it may be tempting to want the child to learn the high-status variety. But the lower-status variety might be the one that the child will need to be able to visit family and feel like an insider. The higher-status variety can be added later if and when your child needs or wants it.

    Even if you’re learning a non-standard language, and it takes time to achieve proficiency, you can learn a lot of useful language along with your baby. You just need to understand the gist of a conversation to be able to join in in your own language, and honestly, most conversations with a baby are not difficult to follow.

    Even minimal effort towards learning to understand the language is worthwhile for the goodwill it encompasses. Just accepting that your partner will use another language with your child is really enough.

    Family language policy

    If your partner is speaking their language most of the time with your child, you don’t need to aspire to do that. Your job is to speak the other language.

    Together you, your partner and your child will develop a family language policy about who speaks which language to whom. A popular approach is one-person-one-language: you speak your language to your child, your partner speaks theirs to them, and as parents you communicate in any available language, usually what you spoke together before you became parents.

    This leads to dinner-table conversations with two or more languages, but children manage this easily. A major advantage of each parent mostly sticking to one language is that it is easier to get into the habit of using the languages, particularly a minority language that might not have had a place in your life as a couple before your baby was born.

    The family linguistic repertoire can be said to be partially shared, with your child as the winner of the jackpot, developing skills in at least a couple of the languages spoken by their parents.

    Learning the language spoken by extended family will help children build a relationship with them.
    Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock

    Welcoming your partner’s language into your home means that you are preparing the ground for them and their extended family to support your child’s language development.

    Grandparents are a powerful resource, especially if they have limited proficiency in the majority language – the language most commonly spoken where you live. They are often very motivated to help your child develop proficiency in their language so that they can have a relationship with them.

    Your partner will face challenges, particularly as the child gets older and has more opportunity to hear and use the majority language with other children. It is likely that the child will at some point answer your partner in the majority language. Help them both to persevere with using the minority language.

    Encourage your partner and child to make trips without you to environments where the minority language is spoken. You can help your partner create a linguistic landscape in your home: put up alphabet posters, and get books and children’s TV shows and films in their language.

    Don’t worry about the majority language – your child has you and the surrounding community to support their majority language development. There is zero risk that your child will end up monolingual in the minority language if they have the opportunity to use the majority language with you and outside the home. Together, you and your partner can give your baby the gift of bilingualism.

    Una Cunningham 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. What to do if your partner wants to speak to your baby in a language you don’t understand – https://theconversation.com/what-to-do-if-your-partner-wants-to-speak-to-your-baby-in-a-language-you-dont-understand-248588

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI China: China’s economy poised for steady growth in 2025: central bank

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

    BEIJING, Feb. 13 — China’s economy is expected to maintain stable growth in 2025, according to the Q4 2024 monetary policy report released by the People’s Bank of China on Thursday.

    Stimulus measures rolled out in late 2024 have already begun to revitalize production, demand, and market sentiment, which will further sustain the recovery momentum, according to the report.

    Domestic demand has shown great potential for improvement, with measures to boost consumption and investment delivering standout results. Notably, retail sales for home appliances jumped 11.8 percent year on year in 2024.

    China will adopt a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy, prioritizing the stabilization of prices at reasonable levels, the central bank said.

    Monetary authorities will deepen market-driven exchange rate reforms, strengthen foreign exchange market resilience, and enhance cross-border capital flow monitoring, in a bid to ensure the yuan remains stable at an equilibrium level.

    China will accelerate institutional reforms and high-standard financial market opening, with measures to advance the yuan’s global use in cross-border trade and investment, and deepen international currency cooperation, the central bank added.

    MIL OSI China News

  • MIL-OSI Global: Sam Kerr verdict: what it means for law in the UK and the star athlete’s soccer career

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Megan McElhone, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Monash University

    A London court has found Sam Kerr not guilty of the racially aggravated harassment of Metropolitan Police officer Stephen Lovell.

    As captain of the Australian women’s national soccer team, Kerr was widely condemned when news broke she had used a “racial slur” against an officer during an altercation.

    The high-profile incident sparked debate across the globe.

    Initially, former Australian soccer player Craig Foster criticised Kerr’s behaviour before retracting it and publicly apologising to her.

    Meanwhile, politicians and academics argued her comments did not amount to racism given the power dynamics at play: not only is Kerr of Indian descent, but official inquiries have found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist.

    Historically, police have played a role in sustaining colonialism, racism and white supremacy. Calling Kerr’s words racist overlooks that they don’t accord with an entrenched, global system of power.

    What happened that night?

    Kerr has maintained she and her partner – United States’ women’s national team player Kristie Mewis – believed they were being kidnapped by a cab driver.

    He refused to let them out of the cab after Kerr vomited, taking them to Twickenham police station instead of their destination.

    There, Mewis broke the cab window in an attempt to get out of the vehicle.

    At the station, Kerr reportedly appealed to officers to “understand the emergency that both of us felt”, referencing the 2021 abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a Metropolitan Police officer.

    The commissioned inquiry into Everard’s murder characterised the Metropolitan Police as institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

    However, Kerr soon faced an allegation of racism after becoming distressed and antagonistic towards the officers.

    Believing they were siding with the cab driver after forming negative preconceptions because of her skin colour, she repeated “you guys are stupid and white, you guys are fucking stupid and white”.

    What are the legal ramifications in the UK?

    Kerr pleaded not guilty to the offence of intentionally causing harassment, alarm, or distress to another by using threatening, abusive, or insulting words under Section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986, and to the racial aggravation of the offence per the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

    She faced a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

    Kerr accepted she used the words “fucking stupid and white”. But it still had to be proven she intended and caused harassment, alarm, or distress to Lovell and that the offence was racially motivated.

    Initially, the Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was not enough evidence to charge Kerr.

    But after receiving a request from the Metropolitan Police to review the case, and a new statement from Lovell about Kerr’s words making him feel “belittled” and “upset”, they authorised police to charge the athlete.

    A jury found her not guilty after a seven-day trial.

    Broadly speaking, public order offences criminalise words and behaviour that might breach the peace. Police have significant discretion to use these offences as tools to regulate people’s uses of public space.

    In Australia and the UK, police have been shown to use these powers in discriminatory ways.

    Kerr has conceded her behaviour was regrettable but the charge against her is difficult to align with the purpose of public order legislation.

    What does it mean for Kerr’s soccer career?

    It is unclear what this verdict means for Kerr’s career.

    Her English club, Chelsea, is anticipating she will return from a long-term knee injury soon.

    It is possible the club was kept in the loop about Kerr’s altercation with police from the beginning, as she reportedly threatened to involve its lawyers in the body-cam footage shown at trial.

    The club is yet to make a statement about the trial or verdict.

    Football Australia is in a different position though, having been blindsided by the news Kerr had been charged by police.

    The fact Kerr is the captain of the Matildas, and the sport’s highest-profile marketing asset, adds layers of complexity to Football Australia’s decision-making.

    CEO of Football Australia James Johnson declined to weigh in on Kerr’s captaincy until her trial concluded.

    It is possible the governing body will impose a sanction, with Kerr falling afoul of clause 2.14 of their national code of conduct and ethics after being charged with a criminal offence.

    Kerr could return to the pitch later this month, but has been left out of the Matildas squad for the SheBelieves Cup in the US because of her fitness.

    With the AFC Women’s Asian Cup on the horizon, interim Matildas head coach Tom Sermanni no doubt hopes her recovery stays on track.

    Meanwhile, Kerr is yet to play under Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor. She could prove crucial as the club chases an elusive UEFA Women’s Champions League title, but faces competition for her spot.

    Megan McElhone 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. Sam Kerr verdict: what it means for law in the UK and the star athlete’s soccer career – https://theconversation.com/sam-kerr-verdict-what-it-means-for-law-in-the-uk-and-the-star-athletes-soccer-career-249153

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: Hate speech on X surged for at least 8 months after Elon Musk takeover – new research

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Michael Jensen, Associate professor, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, University of Canberra

    Kemarrravv13/Shutterstock

    Hate speech on X was consistently 50% higher for at least eight months after tech billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media platform, new research has found.

    The research looked at the prevalence of overt hate speech including a wide range of racist, homophobic and transphobic slurs.

    The study, published today in PLOS ONE, was conducted by a team of researchers led by Daniel Hickney from the University of California, Berkeley.

    It clearly demonstrates how a platform initially invented to help friends and family stay in touch has now metamorphosed into a place where hate speech is prolific. This is especially concerning given hate speech online has been linked to violent hate crimes offline.

    A long list of promises

    On October 27 2022, Musk officially purchased X (then known as Twitter) for US$44 billion and became its CEO. His takeover was accompanied by promises to reduce hate speech on the platform and tackle bots and other inauthentic accounts.

    But after he bought X, Musk made several changes to the platform to reduce content moderation. For example, in November 2022 he fired much of the company’s full time workforce. He also fired outsourced content moderators who tracked abuse on X, despite research showing social medial platforms with high levels of content moderation contain less hate speech.

    The following month, Musk also disbanded the platform’s Trust and Safety Council – a volunteer advisory group of independent human rights leaders and academics formed in 2016 to fight hate speech and other problems on the platform.

    Previous research has shown hate speech increased on X immediately after Musk took over. So too did the prevalence of most types of bots.

    This new study is the first to show that this wasn’t an anomaly.

    Hate speech including homophobic, racist and transphobic slurs was significantly higher on X after Elon Musk bought the platform. The black lines represent standard errors.
    Hickey et al., 2025 / PLOS One

    More than 4 million posts

    The study examined 4.7 million English language posts on X from the beginning of 2022 through to June 9 2023. This period includes the ten months before Musk bought X and the eight months afterwards.

    The study measured overt hate speech, the meaning of which was clear to anyone who saw it – speech attacking identity groups or using toxic language. It did not measure covert types of hate speech, such as coded language used by some extremist groups to spread hate but plausibly deny doing so.

    As well as measuring the amount of hate speech on X, the study also measured how much other users engaged with this material by liking it.

    The researchers’ access to X data was cut off during the study due to a policy change by the platform, replacing free access to approved academic researchers with payment options which are generally unaffordable. This significantly hampered their ability to collect sample posts. But they don’t mention whether it affected their results.

    A clear increase in hate

    The study found “a clear increase” in the average number of posts containing hate speech following Musk’s purchase of X. Specifically, the volume of posts containing hate speech was “consistently” 50% higher after Musk took over X compared to beforehand – a jump from an estimated average of 2,179 to 3,246 posts containing hate speech per week.

    Transphobic slurs saw the highest increase, rising from an average of roughly 115 posts per week before Musk’s acquisition to an average of 418 afterwards.

    The level of user engagement with posts containing hate speech also increased under Musk’s watch. For example, the weekly rate at which hate speech content was liked by users jumped by 70%.

    The researchers say these results suggest either hate speech wasn’t taken down, hateful users became more active, the platform’s algorithm unintentionally promoted hate speech to users who like such content – or a combination of these possibilities.

    The study also detected no decrease in the activity of inauthentic accounts on X. In fact, it found a “potential increase” in the number of bot accounts partly based on a large upswing in posts promoting cryptocurrency, which are typically associated with bots.

    An important data-driving deep dive

    There were a number of limitations to the study. For example, it only measured hate speech posts in English, which accounts for only 31% of posts on the platform.

    Even so, the study is an important, data-driven deep dive into the state of X. It shows it is a platform where hate speech is prolific. It also shows Musk has failed to fulfil his earlier promises to address problems on X such as hate speech and bot activity.

    As Musk himself said at the White House earlier this week: “Some of the things I say will be incorrect and should be corrected”.

    Michael Jensen receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Bayer, and the Australian Department of Defence Science and Technology Group.

    ref. Hate speech on X surged for at least 8 months after Elon Musk takeover – new research – https://theconversation.com/hate-speech-on-x-surged-for-at-least-8-months-after-elon-musk-takeover-new-research-249603

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Michael Mosoeu Moerane was a pioneering composer in South Africa. A new book is restoring his place in history

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Gwen Ansell, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria

    Composer and educator Michael Mosoeu Moerane (1904-1980) is probably best known for a few evergreen choral works, including Della and Sylvia, still sung by choirs across South Africa today.

    And, of course, for his orchestral piece FatŠe laHeso (My Country). It had the distinction of being recorded by both the British and South African public broadcasters in an era when white minority rule denied even the existence of Black classical musicians.

    Moerane teaches his son to play piano. Wits University Press

    Apartheid held the identity of Black people in South Africa to be unchangeingly simple, rural and tribal. Sophisticated activities such as orchestral composing were both beyond their capacity and dangerously subversive.

    But, as South African author and music scholar Christine Lucia’s biography of Moerane, The Times Do Not Permit, reveals, there was more to Moerane’s work than those few compositions. And a far more nuanced relationship with his oppressive political times. Moerane was vocal against the system, yet secured white university supervision. He was consulted by white ethnomusicologists. Yet still he was stereotyped and confined by apartheid rules.

    I am a researcher into South African jazz and other genres and a teacher of writing. (Jazz, incidentally, was a genre that Moerane detested.) From my own work, I recognise many similarities between his story and the lives of jazz musicians I have studied: genteel homes with a piano in the parlour; after-dinner family music hours; the risk of instant dismissal for schoolteachers heard discussing anti-apartheid politics.

    I recognise, too, the gaps in his music story that Lucia finds: the questions that scholars did not ask while more people were still alive to answer them.


    Read more: Mzilikazi Khumalo: a stellar Zulu, African, Pan African and cosmopolitan composer


    Her book matters because, at last, it asks and answers those questions. In how it assembles the answers, it helps us to start mapping the undiscovered continent of Black classical music under apartheid.

    The book’s nearly 300 pages offer a detailed account of Moerane’s life, based on research and conversations with family and still-living contemporaries.

    Lucia takes us through Moerane’s various roles in turn (student, teacher, choralist and more). It also analyses his compositions and their treatment of themes that range from spirituality and tradition to love and loss.

    A reader can view Moerane’s life though these different lenses; together they add up to an intricate, multidimensional portrait.

    Who was Michael Moerane?

    Born in the Eastern Cape province and educated there and in neighbouring Basutoland (today Lesotho), Moerane stitched a music-teaching career together that moved between the two countries.

    The Peka High School Orchestra and Moerane (front centre) in 1965. Courtesy Sophia Metsekae Moerane/Marumo Moerane

    His own radical Africanist politics, the activism of family members, his marriage across apartheid-defined ethnic barriers (he was Sotho, his wife Xhosa) and the simple fact of being a Black composer exploring unconventional, modernist music meant he was often in the sights of repressive authorities in both countries. Lowering his profile every now and then (a new school, a more obscure place to live) was his best protection.

    There’s real fear in some of his letters that all these moves would mean his written compositions would be lost or scattered. Yet remarkably, through all this, he managed to hold a family together, establish music ensembles and a reputation, and graduate with a music degree from the University of South Africa in 1941, a time when it was almost unknown for Black South Africans to receive a university education outside segregated black colleges. He was supported, through a unique arrangement, by supervision from the all-white Rhodes University College in his home province.

    His external examiner, William Henry Bell, said of FatŠe laHeso (Moerane’s examination piece) that he “never had expected such a work to be written in South Africa and less so by a Native”.

    Moerane’s A General Note on Modern Music, in his own handwriting. Courtesy Neo Mahase Moerane

    Lucia’s account of how Moerane got there, and of the many compositions and long music teaching career that followed, is made even clearer through a rich variety of material. There are geographical, historical and musical road-maps, extracts from his manuscripts, evocative photographs of people and places, and probably the most complete catalogue of Moerane’s works to date.

    The catalogue was put together from both archive records and fragments of sheet music surviving in the family piano-stool, where they were stored. It’s a poignant reminder of how much Black South African history is no longer available because of how apartheid repeatedly uprooted people and communities, with little chance to save family memorabilia.

    White minority rule didn’t only restrict where Black South Africans could live and work but even how they could learn music. Tuition for Black music students was limited to writing in tonic sol-fa (doh-re-mi) notation. Excluded from the notation used in classical music, composers and performers who would have occupied concert stages were limited to community choirs and brass bands. That was part of Moerane’s story too.

    Moerane’s Sylvia is still performed by choirs today.

    His life matters because of all this.

    A masterful book

    The book traces the defiant survival and originality of this important figure and restores him in the country’s history. It adds detail and clarification to what was already known. It corrects confusions about dates and place names. If that were all the book had done, it would already have been a worthwhile contribution.

    But Lucia’s way of telling the story adds significantly more. It brings Moerane alive through the texture of human voices and human detail, creating a read that is academic but far from dry. We hear, for example, his children recalling how strict he was during daily piano practice: “You would scramble to get a slot when my father wasn’t at home.”

    The African Springtime Orchestra, 1952. Moerane stands at the back, his wife Betty seated. Courtesy Sophia Metsekae Moerane/Marumo Moerane/Jonathan Ball Publishers

    But more: South African music under apartheid is often shown as the “soundtrack” to history. Or often the history is seen as mere “background” to the music. But Moerane’s music was not a soundtrack to history: it was part of history. His times were not a background to his music, they were an ingredient. Not so much because of the work but because of who he chose to be – and who he could not be.

    The title, The Times Do Not Permit, is taken from a 1966 letter written by Moerane to music academic Percival Kirby, in polite response to a request for detailed information about his life:

    Please be satisfied with the bare statement that the times do not permit.

    That may seem cryptic to anybody who has not felt the iron heel of state repression. For those who have, it’s obvious: the more the authorities know about you, the more power they have over you.


    Read more: An African violin? New study tests which indigenous woods could make one


    So Lucia’s book allows us to enter a world that is distant from today’s experience and rejoice that such a full life was led and that now we know about it. But it also forces us to mourn the opportunities lost for him – and by earlier scholars looking into his life. How many other Black South African musicians have had their lives and legacies obscured like Michael Mosoeu Moerane’s was?

    – Michael Mosoeu Moerane was a pioneering composer in South Africa. A new book is restoring his place in history
    – https://theconversation.com/michael-mosoeu-moerane-was-a-pioneering-composer-in-south-africa-a-new-book-is-restoring-his-place-in-history-248948

    MIL OSI Africa

  • MIL-OSI Global: Michael Mosoeu Moerane was a pioneering composer in South Africa. A new book is restoring his place in history

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Gwen Ansell, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria

    Composer and educator Michael Mosoeu Moerane (1904-1980) is probably best known for a few evergreen choral works, including Della and Sylvia, still sung by choirs across South Africa today.

    And, of course, for his orchestral piece FatŠe laHeso (My Country). It had the distinction of being recorded by both the British and South African public broadcasters in an era when white minority rule denied even the existence of Black classical musicians.

    Apartheid held the identity of Black people in South Africa to be unchangeingly simple, rural and tribal. Sophisticated activities such as orchestral composing were both beyond their capacity and dangerously subversive.

    But, as South African author and music scholar Christine Lucia’s biography of Moerane, The Times Do Not Permit, reveals, there was more to Moerane’s work than those few compositions. And a far more nuanced relationship with his oppressive political times. Moerane was vocal against the system, yet secured white university supervision. He was consulted by white ethnomusicologists. Yet still he was stereotyped and confined by apartheid rules.

    I am a researcher into South African jazz and other genres and a teacher of writing. (Jazz, incidentally, was a genre that Moerane detested.) From my own work, I recognise many similarities between his story and the lives of jazz musicians I have studied: genteel homes with a piano in the parlour; after-dinner family music hours; the risk of instant dismissal for schoolteachers heard discussing anti-apartheid politics.

    I recognise, too, the gaps in his music story that Lucia finds: the questions that scholars did not ask while more people were still alive to answer them.




    Read more:
    Mzilikazi Khumalo: a stellar Zulu, African, Pan African and cosmopolitan composer


    Her book matters because, at last, it asks and answers those questions. In how it assembles the answers, it helps us to start mapping the undiscovered continent of Black classical music under apartheid.

    The book’s nearly 300 pages offer a detailed account of Moerane’s life, based on research and conversations with family and still-living contemporaries.

    Lucia takes us through Moerane’s various roles in turn (student, teacher, choralist and more). It also analyses his compositions and their treatment of themes that range from spirituality and tradition to love and loss.

    A reader can view Moerane’s life though these different lenses; together they add up to an intricate, multidimensional portrait.

    Who was Michael Moerane?

    Born in the Eastern Cape province and educated there and in neighbouring Basutoland (today Lesotho), Moerane stitched a music-teaching career together that moved between the two countries.

    His own radical Africanist politics, the activism of family members, his marriage across apartheid-defined ethnic barriers (he was Sotho, his wife Xhosa) and the simple fact of being a Black composer exploring unconventional, modernist music meant he was often in the sights of repressive authorities in both countries. Lowering his profile every now and then (a new school, a more obscure place to live) was his best protection.

    There’s real fear in some of his letters that all these moves would mean his written compositions would be lost or scattered. Yet remarkably, through all this, he managed to hold a family together, establish music ensembles and a reputation, and graduate with a music degree from the University of South Africa in 1941, a time when it was almost unknown for Black South Africans to receive a university education outside segregated black colleges. He was supported, through a unique arrangement, by supervision from the all-white Rhodes University College in his home province.

    His external examiner, William Henry Bell, said of FatŠe laHeso (Moerane’s examination piece) that he “never had expected such a work to be written in South Africa and less so by a Native”.

    Lucia’s account of how Moerane got there, and of the many compositions and long music teaching career that followed, is made even clearer through a rich variety of material. There are geographical, historical and musical road-maps, extracts from his manuscripts, evocative photographs of people and places, and probably the most complete catalogue of Moerane’s works to date.

    The catalogue was put together from both archive records and fragments of sheet music surviving in the family piano-stool, where they were stored. It’s a poignant reminder of how much Black South African history is no longer available because of how apartheid repeatedly uprooted people and communities, with little chance to save family memorabilia.

    White minority rule didn’t only restrict where Black South Africans could live and work but even how they could learn music. Tuition for Black music students was limited to writing in tonic sol-fa (doh-re-mi) notation. Excluded from the notation used in classical music, composers and performers who would have occupied concert stages were limited to community choirs and brass bands. That was part of Moerane’s story too.

    Moerane’s Sylvia is still performed by choirs today.

    His life matters because of all this.

    A masterful book

    The book traces the defiant survival and originality of this important figure and restores him in the country’s history. It adds detail and clarification to what was already known. It corrects confusions about dates and place names. If that were all the book had done, it would already have been a worthwhile contribution.

    But Lucia’s way of telling the story adds significantly more. It brings Moerane alive through the texture of human voices and human detail, creating a read that is academic but far from dry. We hear, for example, his children recalling how strict he was during daily piano practice: “You would scramble to get a slot when my father wasn’t at home.”

    But more: South African music under apartheid is often shown as the “soundtrack” to history. Or often the history is seen as mere “background” to the music. But Moerane’s music was not a soundtrack to history: it was part of history. His times were not a background to his music, they were an ingredient. Not so much because of the work but because of who he chose to be – and who he could not be.

    The title, The Times Do Not Permit, is taken from a 1966 letter written by Moerane to music academic Percival Kirby, in polite response to a request for detailed information about his life:

    Please be satisfied with the bare statement that the times do not permit.

    That may seem cryptic to anybody who has not felt the iron heel of state repression. For those who have, it’s obvious: the more the authorities know about you, the more power they have over you.




    Read more:
    An African violin? New study tests which indigenous woods could make one


    So Lucia’s book allows us to enter a world that is distant from today’s experience and rejoice that such a full life was led and that now we know about it. But it also forces us to mourn the opportunities lost for him – and by earlier scholars looking into his life. How many other Black South African musicians have had their lives and legacies obscured like Michael Mosoeu Moerane’s was?

    Gwen Ansell 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. Michael Mosoeu Moerane was a pioneering composer in South Africa. A new book is restoring his place in history – https://theconversation.com/michael-mosoeu-moerane-was-a-pioneering-composer-in-south-africa-a-new-book-is-restoring-his-place-in-history-248948

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: Can the president really kill off the penny – and should he?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jay L. Zagorsky, Associate Professor Questrom School of Business, Boston University

    In the middle of Super Bowl LIX, President Donald Trump posted on social media that he was getting rid of the penny. Since the lowly penny in 2024 cost about 3.7 cents to make – meaning the government loses money on every coin – the announcement might seem practical at first glance. But does the president have the power to kill off the penny?

    I’m a business school professor and a longtime advocate for physical money who has written op-eds supporting the penny in The Wall Street Journal and CNN. My forthcoming book, “The Power of Cash,” explores the many advantages of using old-fashioned currency. Yet inflation has slashed the value of the penny by a third in just the past decade, and even I now admit that its time is up.

    But eliminating the penny via a social media post isn’t just legally dubious. It could cause more problems than it solves.

    The penny problem

    Critics see the penny as a shining example of government waste. Last year, the U.S. Mint lost US$85 million making pennies, according to the bureau’s annual report. It also lost about $18 million minting nickels. Now, to be clear, just because the mint didn’t make money on pennies or nickels doesn’t mean it’s losing money overall. In 2024, the mint earned a profit of about $100 million making the country’s pocket change. Still, $85 million is no small sum.

    Meanwhile, public opinion on the penny is split. Some surveys show support for it, but it has plenty of opponents. Many of my students cite carrying around “nuisance coins” like the penny as a reason for switching away from using cash.

    The good news, for those who dislike the penny, is that the coin is disappearing on its own. The U.S. Mint has made about 5 billion pennies annually throughout the 2020s — down from about 11 billion each year in the 1990s. So far in 2025, it has only made about a quarter of a million pennies.

    But is it legal?

    Setting aside people’s feelings toward the penny, the problem with the president’s order, I think, is that only Congress can change the type of coins the mint produces.

    To be fair, some defenders of the president’s order believe his actions are legal. But the U.S. Constitution’s Article 1, Section 8 – which gives Congress the power to do important things like levy taxes, pay debts and declare war – also authorizes Congress “to coin money.”

    Now the phrase “to coin money” is vague. To fix that, the United States’ second Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1792, which was signed into law by President George Washington. The act, which lays out how the mint operates and what it produces, says it must produce “Cents – each to be of the value of the one hundredth part of a dollar, and to contain eleven penny-weights of copper.”

    Congress can modify this act anytime it wants – and it has. The 1792 act also required the mint to produce “Half Cents – each to be of the value of half a cent.” These coins were eliminated in 1857 by an act of Congress. Similarly, before 1965, many U.S. coins were made out of silver. After a 1965 congressional amendment to the act passed, they were made out of a cheaper composite.

    And lawmakers have tried several times to eliminate the penny. In 1989, for example, Arizona Rep. Jim Hayes proposed the Price Rounding Act, which called for cash purchases to be rounded to the nearest nickel. It didn’t pass. More recently, in 2017, Republican Senator John McCain introduced the COINS act, which would have eliminated the minting of pennies. The bill also proposed switching the paper one-dollar bill to a metal coin. It, too, didn’t pass.

    What happens if pennies go?

    Since Congress has failed to eliminate the penny in the past, Trump is trying to do so via a direct order to the Treasury secretary. However, many of Trump’s actions are being challenged in court. For the sake of argument, let’s assume no one challenges the order to kill off production of the penny.

    A big problem remains. Even if the U.S. stopped making pennies, they’d remain legal tender and people would still need them as change. In simple terms, the supply would change, but not the demand.

    Past efforts to phase out the penny have tried to deal with this problem by requiring rounding, but Trump’s effort doesn’t do this. I think it’s entirely possible that people opposed to Trump would organize national “Demand your penny in change” days in an attempt to embarrass the president.

    The U.S. government loses less than $10 million a month minting pennies. In theory, Congress could pass legislation eliminating the penny and requiring rounding within a month or two. The cost to the government for doing things legally is low. If the penny has to go, let Congress do it the right way.

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

    ref. Can the president really kill off the penny – and should he? – https://theconversation.com/can-the-president-really-kill-off-the-penny-and-should-he-249825

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: From Jewish summer camp to gospel to Chabad, Bob Dylan’s faith doesn’t fit in a box − but he’s long had a connection to Israel

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Shalom Goldman, Professor of Religion, Middlebury

    Bob Dylan gives his first concert in Israel in 1987 in Tel Aviv, playing with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. AP Photo/Anat Givon

    James Mangold’s film “A Complete Unknown,” nominated for eight Oscars, captures the elusive, enigmatic quality of Bob Dylan in the early 1960s: the years he emerged as a major musical and cultural phenomenon. A scant few years after he came to New York from Minnesota, and legally changed his name from Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan transformed American music.

    Especially “unknown” and baffling is Dylan’s religious and spiritual identity, one that has undergone many transformations. Mangold’s film avoids these questions, as does his 2005 film “Walk the Line,” a Johnny Cash biopic. The filmmaker – and much of Hollywood in general – must believe religion isn’t good at the box office.

    As a music fan and scholar of religion, I have long been interested in artists’ religious backgrounds. Cash’s tumultuous life, like his friend and collaborator Dylan’s, was rich in religious affiliations and commitments.

    And both of these musical giants shared a connection with Israel, defying calls to cancel performances there over concern for Palestinian rights – similar to artists’ debates in recent years. Dylan’s, in particular, is difficult to parse and part of his larger spiritual journey – one that’s rambled through Judaism and Christianity and back again.

    Bob Zimmerman

    The last time Dylan took the stage in Israel was at Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan Stadium in June 2011. It had been 18 years since his last performance in the country, though he had made many personal visits in the interim.

    He was, of course, a household name in Israel, revered by the young as well as the not so young. The audience members that evening, according to the Haaretz reporter who covered the event, were
    “overwhelmingly young, overwhelmingly native-born Israelis.”

    Surely everyone in attendance knew that Dylan had been born Robert Zimmerman – indeed, that he had a long, complicated relationship with Israel and with Judaism itself.

    Bob Dylan, right, and a friend visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem on April 6, 1971.
    AP Photo

    Young Zimmerman grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota, in a home that emphasized Jewish identity, if not its religious rituals. A visiting Orthodox rabbi had prepared him for his bar mitzvah, which took place in May 1954, with 400 guests in attendance. That summer, Zimmerman attended Camp Herzl in Wisconsin, a Jewish camp with a Zionist orientation; he would return there the following summers as well. At Camp Herzl young Bob formed his first musical group, the Jokers.

    In his mid-20s, he married Sara Lownds, a Jewish woman with whom he had five children. Dylan made his first private visit to Israel in 1969 and returned regularly in the early 1970s. In May 1971, he celebrated his 30th birthday in Jerusalem; photos of him at the Western Wall appeared in Israeli and American newspapers, fueling speculation that he had “found religion” in the holy city.

    In some ways, the young star put distance between himself and his Jewish roots – he was now Dylan, after all, not Zimmerman. But even in these early years, as throughout his career, “Dylanologists” delighted in the biblical allusions in some of his songs – including irreverent ones, at least at first glance.

    Highway 61 Revised,” for example, the title track of a 1965 album, kicks off with the binding of Isaac: a section of the Book of Genesis where God famously tests Abraham with a command – reprieved at the last moment – to kill his beloved child:

    Yeah, God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
    Abe said, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”
    God said, “No”, Abe said, “What?”

    Twists and turns

    But Dylan confounded both his admirers and his critics, turning abruptly in the late 1970s to evangelical Christianity. After his conversion, Dylan took a course at Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Los Angeles, which emphasized the end-time narratives of the New Testament Book of Revelation.

    Bob Dylan performs in November 1979, during his Gospel Tour, in San Francisco.
    Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

    His years as a born-again Christian resulted in a series of gospel-influenced albums and at least one more visit to Israel during this early ’80s period. In 1987 he gave his first concerts there, kicking off his Temples in Flames world tour alongside Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

    Within years of embracing Christianity, however, Dylan’s spiritual life yet again confounded his critics and fans, including the more scholarly obsessives known as “Dylanologists.” Born into Judaism, then a born-again evangelical, the rocker now forged ties to Chabad, an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish movement. Between 1986 and 1991, he made three appearances on the Chabad “To Life” Telethon, an annual fundraiser broadcast from Los Angeles.

    Because Dylan was – and is – so private and publicity-shy, it is difficult to know whether such ecumenism represented true spiritual seeking, a political statement or sheer mischief.

    Whether he was presenting himself as a born-again Christian, a supporter of Chabad or just a rock and roller, Dylan seemed inextricably connected to Israel in all its complexity. For example, many listeners interpreted the song “Neighborhood Bully” on his 1983 “Infidels” album as a “declaration of full-throated Israel support,” as Haaretz wrote.

    Many fans interpret ‘Neighborhood Bully’ as sympathetic to Israel.

    The lyrics presented the title character, the “bully,” as an unrepentant, besieged victim: “His enemies say he’s on their land/ They got him outnumbered a million to one/ He got no place to escape to, no place to run.”

    ‘Dylan lives here’

    Dylan performed again in Israel in June 1993, bringing his summer tour to Tel Aviv, Beersheba and Haifa.

    It would be nearly two decades before his next public performance in Israel, the 2011 concert at Ramat Gan. By then, performing in Israel had become much more controversial, with artists planning to tour there under scrutiny.

    The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement publicly pressured the singer to cancel his Tel Aviv show, appealing to his past support of the American Civil Rights Movement. Activists called on Dylan “not to perform in Israel until it respects Palestinian human rights. A performance in Israel, today, is a vote of support for its policies of oppression, whether you intend for it to be that, or not.”

    Ever the enigmatic artist, Dylan did not respond to the BDS appeal, nor did he cancel his concert. The towering pop-music icon did not say why. But many Israelis and Americans read his return as a gesture of support for the Jewish state in the face of widespread criticism.

    Tel Aviv welcomed him with open arms, including a television news profile of his life, music and Jewish affiliations. Though he said nothing from the stage during the performance – late-career Dylan is notorious for not addressing the audience between songs – Israeli fans saw the concert as a triumphant homecoming.

    “Dylan lives here. He lives in the culture of Israel,” wrote the Haaretz reviewer. “He has influenced Israel for the better more than any other American Jew.”

    Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, international criticism of Israeli policies has become much more strident. Dylan, as cryptic as ever, has neither joined the critics nor identified himself with Israel’s supporters.

    But supporters are postingNeighborhood Bully” wherever and whenever they can.

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

    ref. From Jewish summer camp to gospel to Chabad, Bob Dylan’s faith doesn’t fit in a box − but he’s long had a connection to Israel – https://theconversation.com/from-jewish-summer-camp-to-gospel-to-chabad-bob-dylans-faith-doesnt-fit-in-a-box-but-hes-long-had-a-connection-to-israel-248739

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump and Maduro refresh a complex relationship governed by self-interest and tainted by Venezuela election fraud

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Paul Webster Hare, Master Lecturer and Interim Director of Latin American Studies, Boston University

    Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 31, 2025. Venezuela’s presidential press office, via AP

    In 2019, President Donald Trump recognized then-Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s interim leader over Nicolás Maduro, who has ruled the country since 2013.

    The policy, which led Venezuela to officially sever ties with the United States, was consistent with the first Trump administration’s policy of maximum pressure and a desire for regime change when it came to the socialist government in Caracas.

    Fast forward six years: The early days of Trump’s second administration has seen the U.S. president negotiate with Maduro over the release of detained Americans and an apparent willingness from Venezuela to receive hundreds of thousands of its nationals being deported from the U.S.

    As a diplomat who served in Venezuela and knew Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez, I detect a subtle shift in the evolving Trump administration’s policy toward Venezuela. It’s true that the administration retains a strong dose of the anti-Maduro posture it held last time, particularly in light of Maduro’s widely denounced election fraud in 2024 and an undercurrent of antipathy in Washington toward left-wing authoritarianism in Latin America.

    But U.S.-Venezuela relations under a second Trump term are subject to other factors and dynamics, including Trump’s desire to be known for deal-making and the fulfillment of his campaign promise to deport immigrants back to Latin America. At the same time, Trump needs to balance satisfying anti-Maduro voices in his coalition with not pushing Venezuela further toward China, a country all too willing to exert greater influence in parts of Latin America.

    Deal-making and immigration

    So far, the second Trump’s administration seems to be sticking to the line of not officially recognizing Maduro and preferring his departure from the scene. It has kept sanctions on the country intact and continues to recognize Maduro’s opponent, Edmundo González, as the legitimate president-elect.

    But that hasn’t stopped the administration from pursuing negotiations. In late January, Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell visited Caracas to secure the release of six Americans accused by Venezuela of plotting to destabilize the country. Trump subsequently announced that Maduro would accept repatriation of deportations of Venezuelans in the U.S. The U.S. administration also revoked the Temporary Protected Status, a categorization prioritized by President Joe Biden, for hundreds of thousands of people who fled Maduro’s Venezuela.

    On Feb. 10, two Venezuelan planes returned home from the U.S with nearly 200 deported Venezuelan nationals, a signal that negotiations between the two nations were more than just optics. But news that the Trump administration has sent Venezuelan detainees to a U.S. military camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba – and is trying to send more – could yet prove a thorn in the side of any diplomatic thaw.

    Regardless, the shift in stance on Venezuela has raised eyebrows among some Republicans and Democrats alike. Their concern is that Grenell’s visit – and overtures from the White House – gives Maduro’s regime a veneer of legitimacy.

    But so long as Trump feels Venezuela under Maduro is useful to his aims of deportations, other U.S. issues with the government in Caracas are, I believe, likely to remain of secondary importance.

    Rhetoric vs. reality

    The complicated dynamic of two men, ideologically opposed but aware of the other’s usefulness, is reciprocated by Maduro. The Venezuelan leader congratulated Trump on his election victory in November, and he appears to treat his more powerful adversary with some pragmatism. But Maduro also remains willing to take a strident line rhetorically, even suggesting that Venezuela might “liberate” Puerto Rico if the U.S. keeps meddling with Venezuela’s affairs.

    Rhetoric aside, Maduro – as evidenced by his apparent willingness to deal with the new administration on hostages and immigration – is likely to pursue self-interest where possible. And he will be well aware that the survival of his rule may be tied with his country’s economic situation.

    Venezuela has been hit hard by U.S. sanctions that have been in place since 2017.

    The level of poverty in the country is estimated to be around 80% of the population. This bleak economic picture is improving slowly but is still hampered by sluggish oil production despite having vast reserves.

    Under Biden, the U.S. granted some exemptions for oil companies to work in Venezuela despite sanctions, helping the struggling export industry to recover some of its lost productivity.

    Maduro will want to see where he can work with the Trump team to continue such allowances and avoid a full embargo. But recent noises coming from the administration have been mixed on this front. On Jan. 20, Trump suggested that he may pull the plug on Venezuelan oil exports to the U.S. “We don’t have to buy their oil. We have plenty of oil for ourselves,” he said.

    Such a move would be a severe blow to Venezuela’s economy, which has benefited from increased exports to the U.S. in recent years. But the move will likely face resistance from oil producers like Chevron, the American company that has a license to operate in Venezuela.

    Election fraud and beyond

    It’s plausible Trump will be swayed by the elements of his base or administration who view Venezuela primarily in terms of a socialist authoritarian adversary to be defeated.

    In 2024, Maduro pulled off one of Latin America’s great election frauds. Computer printouts had shown the opposition campaign of González and Maria Corina Machado won the July election by a landslide. And yet, Maduro declared himself the winner with no evidence.

    Many in Trump’s circle viewed the fraudulent election as another reason for being hawkish toward the nation – a position that takes in both ideological and electoral considerations.

    Trump knows there is a strong base of anti-communist Venezuelans in Florida who want to be tough on the Cuban-aligned government of Maduro. The new U.S. administration’s deportation policy has already concerned some among this strongly Trump voting base; any relaxation on Maduro could be seen as a further “betrayal.”

    And Trump has appointed several people who have long been critical of Maduro, including his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

    Rubio, in particular, is a longtime critic of any accommodation with Venezuela. He has spoken to opposition leaders, called González the legitimate president, blasted any relaxation of sanctions and, during his confirmation hearing, labeled Maduro’s government “a narco-trafficking organization.”

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, oversees a ‘seized’ sign being placed on a Venezuelan government airplane on Feb. 6, 2025.
    Mark Schiefelbein/AFP via Getty Images

    And while U.S. envoy Grenell has been shaking hands with Maduro, Rubio has been seizing the Venezuelan leader’s aircraft. On Feb. 6, the U.S. secretary of state personally oversaw its confiscation while visiting the Dominican Republic, where it had been impounded since last year.

    Competition with China

    During his first administration, Trump failed in his efforts to encourage the replacement of Maduro.

    In any case, the Venezuelan government under Maduro, like Chavez before him, has shown itself capable of withstanding U.S. pressure.

    Throwing a further wrinkle to any U.S. intentions of influencing the future of Venezuela is the role China has taken on in the country and Maduro’s increasing closeness with Beijing. In contrast to leaders in the West, China’s president, Xi Jinping, congratulated Maduro following the latter’s claim of victory in 2024. China is the leading importer of Venezuelan crude oil and has signed a series of bilateral trade and tourism pacts that have provided Maduro an economic lifeline.

    To some U.S. hawks, China’s influence with Maduro represents a breach of a long-standing vision of the U.S. as a regional hegemony, as envisioned by the Monroe Doctrine. Yet other voices within the administration – including Trump, who has spoken positively about diplomatic overtures to Beijing, or Elon Musk, who has extensive business interests in China – view the country in far different terms than predecessors.

    Ultimately, whatever path Trump chooses on relations with Venezuela is likely to be conditioned on what factions win out in his administration and which political constituencies the president is most keen to please.

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

    ref. Trump and Maduro refresh a complex relationship governed by self-interest and tainted by Venezuela election fraud – https://theconversation.com/trump-and-maduro-refresh-a-complex-relationship-governed-by-self-interest-and-tainted-by-venezuela-election-fraud-248275

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: 60 years of progress in expanding rights is being rolled back by Trump − a pattern that’s all too familiar in US history

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Philip Klinkner, James S. Sherman Professor of Government, Hamilton College

    There’s a long history in the U.S. of denying the rights, liberties and benefits of democracy to some Americans. rob dobi/Getty Images

    For many Americans, Donald Trump’s head-spinning array of executive orders in the early days of his second term look like an unprecedented effort to roll back democracy and the rights and liberties of American citizens.

    But it isn’t unprecedented.

    As we have written, American history is not a steady march toward greater equality, democracy and individual rights. America’s commitment to these liberal values has competed with an alternative set of illiberal values that hold that full American citizenship should be limited by race, ethnicity, gender and class.

    The most famous example of this conflict is the Jim Crow era after Reconstruction, when many of the political and legal rights gained by African Americans in the Civil War era were swept away by disenfranchisement, segregation and discrimination. From roughly 1870 until 1940, democracy and equal rights were retreating, not advancing, leaving what was described in the 1960s by President Lyndon Johnson as “the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.”

    Today, the Trump administration is seeking to roll back America’s commitment to equality and engaging in a broad effort to limit – if not outright deny – the rights, liberties and benefits of democracy to all Americans.

    President Donald Trump attacked the FAA’s DEI initiatives during a press conference on the D.C. plane crash.

    Progress, then rollbacks

    The biggest gains in African American rights came during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War II and the Cold War, when the United States confronted enemies that Americans believed contradicted its liberal values – the British monarchy, Southern slaveholders, fascist dictators and communist tyrants. The United States highlighted its commitments to democracy and human rights as a way of contrasting itself from its enemies.

    But once the pressures of war faded, America’s illiberal values reasserted themselves. With the end of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, the movement for greater equality stalled and many of the previous gains were rolled back.

    The onset of World War II and then the Cold War forced Americans to renew their commitment to democracy and human rights for all Americans. This period is often described as the Second Reconstruction.

    Like the First Reconstruction a century earlier, the federal government helped to ensure civil and voting rights for African Americans. These efforts laid the groundwork for advancing the political and civil rights of women, other racial and ethnic groups, immigrants, disabled persons and, eventually, members of the gay and lesbian community.

    But like the First Reconstruction, these changes generated intense backlash.

    Bigger than anti-DEI

    Since the demise of the Cold War over 30 years ago, the Republican Party has increasingly sided with those seeking to roll back the gains of the Second Reconstruction.

    Even before Trump first ran for president, the Republican Party began adopting nativist, anti-immigration policies. In 2012, a Republican-dominated Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law barring racial discrimination in voting that was one of the signal achievements of the Second Reconstruction.

    In 2016, Trump rose to the Republican nomination by expressing and amplifying the racist and xenophobic views of many white Americans, including the claim that Barack Obama was born outside of the U.S., that Mexican immigrants were criminals and rapists, and that the U.S. should close its borders to anyone from Muslim countries.

    Since his second inauguration, Trump has mounted a full-scale effort to undermine the policies of the Second Reconstruction. This effort has been masked as an attack on diversity, equity and inclusion – or DEI – policies. According to Trump and other critics of DEI, these policies are themselves racist, since they allegedly single out white Americans for shame and scorn.

    As scholars of race and American politics, we believe that, overall, DEI initiatives have combated racial discrimination and expanded the pools of talented people who can contribute to the nation’s progress.

    The Trump administration’s effort to end DEI programs is really an attack on decades of efforts by the federal government to make good on the promise of America: to engage in rigorous nondiscrimination efforts and open up opportunities for all.

    One of Trump’s first executive orders, which prominently featured abandonment of DEI policies, also repealed a 60-year-old executive order signed by President Johnson mandating “affirmative action” to end widespread discrimination by the federal government and its contractors.

    Antidiscrimination is discrimination?

    These diversity initiatives have for more than 50 years included requirements that beneficiaries of these policies must be qualified for the benefits they obtain.

    But to Trump and many conservatives, such policies force employers to engage in racial and gender quotas to prove that they don’t discriminate. Furthermore, these efforts to end discrimination, according to Trump’s executive order, “diminish the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination,” leading to “disastrous consequences.”

    In other words, Trump and others claim that efforts to end discrimination are themselves a form of discrimination and force the hiring of unqualified and incompetent people.

    Trump made this view clear in his comments on the recent collision between a passenger airliner and a military helicopter in Washington, D.C. Before any formal investigation, Trump alleged that the crash resulted from Obama and Biden administration efforts to diversify the Federal Aviation Administration staff. Such efforts, he suggested, elevate unqualified people.

    “If they don’t have a great brain … they’re not going to be good at what they do and bad things will happen,” he said.

    Efforts to reverse DEI have been accompanied by other antidiversity moves. One example: According to a news release, the Defense Department will no longer use “official resources” to mark “Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month.”

    Undoing 19th-century advances

    The attack on DEI goes beyond the federal government. Other executive orders mandate that K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities end DEI programs, since they are “anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies.”

    Instead, Trump insists that schools engage only in “patriotic education.”

    Such a policy will almost certainly prevent schools from honestly addressing the ways in which racial, ethnic and gender discrimination have influenced America’s past and present.

    The Trump administration is attacking the First Reconstruction as well. Another Trump executive order seeks to end birthright citizenship for children of unauthorized alien residents.

    That move would limit the 14th Amendment, one of the constitutional cornerstones of the First Reconstruction. Passed in 1868 in order to guarantee citizenship rights for African Americans, it begins by stating:

    “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

    This provision was included in order to explicitly overturn the notorious 1857 Supreme Court decision, Dred Scott v. Sandford, that ruled that African Americans were not citizens and consequently “they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

    Pushback capacity

    A protester at a demonstration against the Trump administration at the Texas State Capitol on Feb. 5, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
    Brandon Bell/Getty Images

    How far can the Trump administration go in its efforts to undo the Second Reconstruction?

    Numerous legal challenges have already been filed. In the case of the executive order limiting birthright citizenship, a lower federal court judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan blocked the order, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.”

    Many of these cases will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, which under Chief Justice John Roberts has been willing to overturn long-established equal rights precedents. Besides its 2012 gutting of the Voting Rights Act, in 2022 the court limited the reproductive rights of women by overturning its 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade. Most recently, in 2023 the court ended a 45-year precedent that allowed colleges and universities to engage in limited forms of affirmative action in order to achieve more student diversity.

    Yet despite years of attacks by conservatives and now the Trump administration, most efforts to end discrimination and open doors to all Americans, including DEI, remain popular. And the groups empowered by the Second Reconstruction – racial and ethnic minorities, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ community – are far more numerous and have far more legal and political resources available with which to fight back than those that were aided by the First Reconstruction.

    There are now no government pressures driving Americans to make greater progress toward democracy and equal rights for all, as in the relatively brief earlier periods of significant reform in America.

    But those reforms have given many more Americans the capacity to push back against policies that violate both American values and American interests.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    ref. 60 years of progress in expanding rights is being rolled back by Trump − a pattern that’s all too familiar in US history – https://theconversation.com/60-years-of-progress-in-expanding-rights-is-being-rolled-back-by-trump-a-pattern-thats-all-too-familiar-in-us-history-248526

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Sun Dong visits Hengqin, Zhuhai

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    Secretary for Innovation, Technology & Industry Prof Sun Dong was in Hengqin and Zhuhai today, where he toured the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Co-operation Zone in Hengqin, met officials, and inspected a university and two companies.

    Prof Sun’s first stop was the co-operation zone in Hengqin, with a view to speeding up the implementation of the development planning of the Hong Kong Park at the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science & Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone.

    The tour of the Hong Kong Park project was in accordance with the spirit of the important instructions given by CPC Central Committee Hong Kong & Macao Work Office Director and State Council Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office Director Xia Baolong, when he inspected the park.

    During an engagement session with CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee Hengqin Working Committee Deputy Secretary, Guangdong Province Hengqin Office Director and Executive Committee Deputy Director Nie Xinping, Prof Sun learnt about the in-depth planning and industry development of the co-operation zone, taking into account the development of the Hong Kong Park.

    At the Zhuhai MUST Science & Technology Research Institute in the co-operation zone, the technology chief found out more about its work in promoting the cross-boundary flow of data in the zone.

    The institute is an industry-academia-research demonstration base built by the Macau University of Science & Technology in the Greater Bay Area.

    Prof Sun also met CPC Zhuhai Municipal Committee Deputy Secretary and Zhuhai’s Acting Mayor Wu Zetong as well as the city’s Vice Mayor Huang Zhenqiu, where he introduced the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’s latest policies on leading the city’s innovation and technology (I&T) development and the current developments.

    The tech chief also learnt about Zhuhai’s achievements in I&T and high-tech industrialisation. Both sides exchanged views on promoting I&T collaboration and exchanges between the two places.

    In the afternoon, Prof Sun visited the cell production workshops of the Zhuhai SoleFiori Technology Company.

    He welcomed the enterprise’s plan to expand its business in Hong Kong, which involved the technologies and productivity of new high-efficiency heterojunction solar cells and modules with low energy consumption and low carbon emissions.

    Prof Sun then proceeded to the headquarters of Gree Electric Appliances Inc of Zhuhai, a technology-based household consumer goods and industrial equipment manufacturing group.

    Apart from receiving a briefing on the group’s latest developments in quality assurance, product innovations and talent training, Prof Sun also learnt more about the self-developed industrial robots, computer numerical control machine tools, and smart warehousing products and systems developed by the group.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Samsung Wins Gold in AVA Digital Awards for Integrated Marketing Campaign

    Source: Samsung

    Samsung was named a Gold Winner of the 2025 AVA Digital Awards program, an annual, international competition that recognizes excellence in digital communications. The company received this distinction for its integrated marketing campaign, “Samsung Celebrates Big Ideas, Small Businesses,” which aimed to spotlight the lifeblood of the U.S. economy – small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
    The Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) launched the AVA Digital Awards program over 30 years ago to honor creative professionals and teams from across industries for the planning, concept, direction, design and production of both digital campaigns and projects. Samsung’s multifaceted campaign set itself apart from other nominees through its use of marketing strategy, social media and influencer marketing, content marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) and email marketing, web development and public relations to promote how SMBs are actively using display technology and software to achieve their unique business goals.

    SMBs featured in the campaign included:
    Harvest Gap Brewery
    Wrigleyville Sports
    Figurella
    Beach People Studio
    SB Korean BBQ
    Through the campaign, Samsung garnered over 1 million impressions and 30K engagements across its social channels and notable media placements in publications such as Commerce magazine, the official magazine of the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey (CIANJ). As a result of its product giveaway and a special holiday pricing promotion hosted in tandem with the campaign, Samsung awarded Big Spoon Creamery, an Alabama-based artisan ice cream company, a Samsung Pro TV and a one-year subscription to the all-in-one content management system Samsung VXT.

    “As a long-time partner of SMBs, this campaign served as an amazing opportunity to shine a light on many incredible entrepreneurs currently using our display technology within their businesses,” said Sukhmani Mohta, Chief Marketing Officer of the Display Division, Samsung Electronics America. “We are proud to not only take home Gold in the AVA Digital Awards, but also to amplify the unique brand stories of our SMB customers on a larger stage.”
    To learn more about how Samsung’s digital signage innovations help small businesses engage their customers, please visit samsung.com/us/business/displays.

    MIL OSI Economics

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New report highlights key sources of air pollution in Oxford

    Source: City of Oxford

    A new report has been published by Oxford City Council, providing a breakdown of the key sources of air pollution in the city. 

    The Oxford Source Apportionment report, which was conducted by Ricardo Group, highlights that road transport remains the highest contributor to NOx emissions, while domestic wood burning is the largest contributor to particulate pollution (PM2.5) in the city. 

    The report examines the contributions of different sectors to air pollution in Oxford (transport, domestic combustion, point sources, other transport, and other emissions), focusing on nitrogen oxides (NOX – a combination of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10).  

    The report is based on air pollution data measured in 2022, as well as modelling on the impact of the introduction of 159 electric buses in Oxford through the Government’s ZEBRA scheme. 

    The report found that while road transport remains the largest source of NOX pollution (32%), domestic combustion—particularly wood burning—is the leading cause of harmful PM2.5 emissions (24%). 

    Key findings of the report: 

    • Road transport remains the largest contributor to NOpollution – accounting for 32% of total NOX emissions.
    • Domestic combustion accounts for 26% of total NOX emissions.
    • Point sources (emissions from sources at a known location that can be directly mapped such as industry or commercial buildings) contribute 20% of total NOX emissions.
    • Other road transport (including boats, and military aircraft) accounts for 9% of total NOX emissions.
    • Other emissions (including rail and aircrafts, non-road mobile machinery, industry, waste, solvents, agriculture, and production processes) accounts for 13% of total NOX emissions.
    • Domestic wood burning is the highest contributor to PM2.5 pollution, accounting for 24% of total PM2.5 emissions.
    • Buses contribute 4% to total NOX emissions, reflecting a significant (28%) reduction since the previous source apportionment study, due to Oxford’s transition to electric buses. 

    Road Transport 

    Road transport remains the largest single contributor to NOX pollution, with diesel vehicles dominating emissions: 

    • Cars (petrol and diesel) account for 48% of total NOX emissions.
    • Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) account for 19%.
    • Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs) account for 26%.
    • Buses contribute 4% to total NOX emissions, reflecting a significant (28%) reduction since the previous source apportionment study, due to Oxford’s transition to electric buses. 
    • Private hire and Hackney taxis account for 2%. 

    Since the previous Source Apportionment Study, road transport NOX emissions have dropped from 40% to 32%, primarily due to the introduction of electric buses under the government’s ZEBRA scheme. Buses now contribute to 4% to total NOX emissions in the city. 

    Since the previous Source Apportionment Study, road transport NOX emissions have dropped from 40% to 32%, primarily due to the introduction of electric buses under the government’s ZEBRA scheme. Buses now contribute to 4% to total NOX emissions in the city. 

    Hotspot Locations 

    In addition to transport emissions across the whole city, the report also looked at pollution in three ‘hotspot’ locations – St Clement’s, Botley road and Worcester Street – which have historically seen high levels of air pollution and are key roads for vehicles to travel into and across the city.  

    The findings show: 

    • Cars are the biggest contributors to NOX across all three locations.
    • LGVs and HGVs follow as the next most significant contributors.
    • Buses have seen a reduction in their contribution to NOX emissions, following the transition to electric in 2024.
    • Private hire taxis contribute more to NOX emissions than Hackney Carriages – with both sources combined accounting for 2% of NOX

    Domestic Combustion 

    The report highlights that the domestic combustion sector (which includes emissions from burning wood, coal, and gas to heat homes) is responsible for 35% of total PM2.5 emissions citywide – with wood burning alone accounting for 25%.  

    When looking at the specific sources of PM2.5 within the domestic combustion sector: 

    • Wood burning accounts for 70% of all PM2.5 emissions relating to domestic combustion.
    • Commercial heating (in businesses and institutions) contributes 15%.
    • Gas and coal (domestic others) burning contributes 14%.
    • Smokeless fuels account for just 1%.

    Other sources of emissions 

    Other sources of NOX emissions in Oxford includes: 

    • Point sources (such as industry and commercial buildings) contribute 20% of total NOX emissions.
    • Other road transport (including boats, and military aircraft) accounts for 9% of total NOX emissions.
    • Other emissions (including rail and aircrafts, non-road mobile machinery, industry, waste, solvents, agriculture, and production processes) account for 13% of total NOX emissions. 

    There is no safe level of air pollution  

    In Oxford, the main pollutant of concern is nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Over the past few years, Oxford’s air quality has improved significantly, and since the introduction of the city’s current Air Quality Action Plan in 2021, NO2 levels across Oxford have seen a 18% average reduction.  

    Oxford is currently in compliance with the UK’s legal limit for NO2 in all areas of ‘relevant exposure’ within the city (40 µg/m³). However, there is ultimately no safe level of NO2 exposure.  

    In September 2021 the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended a much ‘safer’ annual mean level of NO2 of 10 µg/m³. Under its current Air Quality Action Plan, which was established in January 2021, Oxford has set its own voluntary annual mean target for NO2 of 30 µg/m³) to be achieved across the city by 2025.  

    Next Steps 

    The report will inform the Council’s upcoming Air Quality Action Plan, which will be updated in 2026 following public consultation later this year.

    An Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) outlines the actions that the Council and its partners will take to improve air quality in Oxford within a certain period of time.The Council’s current Air Quality Action Plan can be read here

    For more information on air quality in Oxford, visit the Council’s Air Quality pages.  

    Comment 

    “This latest source apportionment study shows us to the key sources of toxic air pollution in Oxford, and what areas we need to focus on to improve air pollution across the city.  

    “We can see that there has been a significant reduction in the contribution of buses to NOX levels following the introduction of the 159 electric bus fleet. However, cars remain the largest contributor to this pollution.  

    “The report also highlights that we must address the growing issue of domestic wood burning, which is now the largest source of harmful PM2.5 pollution in Oxford. Many people may not realise that even modern wood stoves produce dangerous emissions. By reducing wood burning and supporting zero-emission transport, we can continue to improve Oxford’s air quality for everyone.” 

    Councillor Anna Railton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Zero Carbon Oxford, Oxford City Council

    “The modelled impact that the new fleet of electric buses is having on air quality in Oxford in such as short space of time is remarkable. We are incredibly proud to have put together the successful bid alongside the bus companies to bring them to the city, and this new report shows why it was such an important initiative in creating a cleaner, greener county.” 

    Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Management

    “We’re proud of the massive step change in emissions buses have delivered in Oxford over the last decade to help provide radically cleaner air for the communities we serve. 

    “This has been sustained over several years with the move to ultra-low emission vehicles and more recently zero emission vehicles, following significant investment by both companies.  

    “However, overall Oxford’s air is not benefitting as much as it could be due to the steadily increasing proportion of car and van emissions. The data clearly demonstrates that it’s vital for Oxford’s health that suitable measures are introduced to help reduce the volume of private vehicles on the city’s roads to achieve even greater improvements in air quality.” 

    Luke Marion, Managing Director of Oxford Bus Company

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Finns travelling to UK need an Electronic Travel Authorisation

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Visitors travelling to the UK on a European passport will need an ETA from 2 April 2025. Travellers can apply for an ETA from 5 March 2025 onwards.

    Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) are being introduced worldwide for visitors to the UK who do not currently need a visa for short stays, or who do not already have a UK immigration status. 

    Eligible Europeans can apply for an ETA from 5 March 2025 and will need an ETA to travel from 2 April 2025. 

    An ETA is a digital permission to travel. Applying for an ETA is quick and simple. The fastest way to apply is using the UK ETA app.  

    An ETA permits multiple journeys to the UK for stays of up to six months at a time over two years or until the holder’s passport expires – whichever is sooner. 

    The introduction of ETAs is in line with the approach many other countries have taken to border security, including the US and Australia.

    How do I apply for an ETA?  

    Information on who can get an ETA and how to apply before coming to the UK is available on GOV.UK

    The easiest way to apply for an ETA is through the UK ETA app, which can be downloaded from Google Play or Apple App Store. You can also apply on GOV.UK.

    Please use the official UK ETA app or the GOV.UK site to apply for your ETA to avoid scam sites. 

    How long does it take? 

    Most applicants get an automatic decision in minutes when applying through the UK ETA app, which means spontaneous trips to the UK are still possible.

    Visitors are advised to allow three working days for a decision on their application, but this is to take account of the small number of cases which need further review. It is always better to apply for your ETA well in advance. 

    To apply for an ETA, applicants need to:

    1. Pay a fee (currently £10)
    2. Provide contact information and passport details
    3. Provide a valid photo, complying with rules for digital photos on GOV.UK
    4. Answer a set of questions

    NOTE: You must travel using the same passport you used when you applied for your ETA. If you get a new passport, you will need to get a new ETA.

    For more information and regular updates on ETAs, please visit GOV.UK 

    Video introduction: What is an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)?  

    Video introduction: How to Apply For a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Assistance needed for people leaving and staying in Goma DRC following weeks of violence

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Hundreds of thousands of displaced people sheltering in camps in and around the city of Goma, in Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, have been severely impacted by extreme violence over the past three weeks, and many are now leaving the camps, according to our Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams on the ground. As departures from the camps accelerate, MSF calls for the movement of people to be voluntary and for urgent humanitarian assistance to be provided wherever it is most needed.

    Since fighting subsided in Goma, and with M23/AFC (Alliance Fleuve Congo) now in control of parts of the region, many movements have been observed in the displaced persons camps and on the roads. Some camps are emptying at speed, with large numbers of people heading towards neighbouring areas, including towards their places of origin. MSF staff have also observed displaced people heading towards the city of Goma, while some displaced people from camps that have been destroyed are heading for the remaining camps west of Goma.

    “This week, some camps have been largely emptied in just a few hours,” says Thierry Allafort-Duverger, head of MSF’s emergency programmes in Goma. “People are leaving with what little they have. We don’t know in what conditions they will travel home or what they will find there. But it is crucial that these movements are voluntary and that the reception conditions in their areas of returns are safe.”

    Numerous internally displaced people in the Bulengo camp, located next to Goma, are leaving the camp, while others are staying. Democratic Republic of Congo, February 2025.
    Daniel Buuma

    Displaced people appear to be leaving the camps for a number of reasons. Many residents of the camps mention evacuation orders that were reportedly given by members of the M23, while others receive official messages to the contrary. Others express a desire to leave after years surviving in desperate conditions. Some people, however, are choosing to stay on in the camps, unsure of security conditions and what they may find at home.

    “The messages remain confused and unclear, but what is certain is that the population is very worried, oscillating between rumours and reality,” says Allafort. “Families are extremely vulnerable. Humanitarian aid is more than necessary, both for those who are leaving and those who are staying. Unfortunately, we are seeing that a number of NGOs have been unable to resume their activities or have suspended their services, dismantling their structures in the camps.”

    People’s vulnerability and need for assistance is illustrated by the fact that, in recent days, MSF teams have witnessed some people dismantling humanitarian facilities and taking with them anything that could potentially be of use: chairs, metal sheeting, tarpaulins, ropes and so on. Other people, however, have tried to protect MSF structures from looting.

    “This happened in several places where MSF was working, such as Lushagala, where an MSF clinic and a cholera treatment centre disappeared in the space of a few hours on Monday,” says Allafort.

    For people leaving the camps, MSF is particularly concerned about the level of access to health services when they get to their places of return. After several years of war, many health facilities have been looted or abandoned and will be unable to provide adequate medical care to those who need it, either now or in the longer term.

    For the past three years, living conditions in the camps around Goma have been desperate, even scandalous. But the situation in people’s places of return is likely to be equally disastrous if NGOs, UN agencies and authorities fail to provide the minimum level of essential services. Humanitarian organisations must be guaranteed access to all places of return, says MSF, and returnees must be able to access essential health services, including support for survivors of sexual violence. Failure to provide these services risks exacerbating people’s health needs.

    To ensure a minimum level of healthcare for displaced people in areas of return, MSF has set up mobile clinics on roads leading out of Goma to the east and the north. We are also carrying out assessments in the areas to which people are returning.

    Even as the situation in and around Goma is evolving rapidly, MSF teams continue to provide vital assistance to people still living in the camps. This includes providing medical care, malnutrition treatment, cholera treatment and care for survivors of sexual violence. MSF is also distributing clean water and food and reinforcing sanitation in the camps. Meanwhile our medical teams in Kyeshero and Virunga hospitals in Goma are caring for people wounded in the violence.

    MIL OSI NGO

  • MIL-OSI China: Hamas says to implement Gaza ceasefire agreement

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Hamas confirmed on Thursday that it would continue implementing the ceasefire agreement with Israel as signed, including the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages according to the agreed timetable.

    In a statement, Hamas said its delegation had held talks in Cairo with mediators to discuss the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the prisoner-for-hostage exchange, especially in the wake of what it described as “the successive Israeli violations” of the deal.

    The discussion focused on the necessity of implementing all provisions of the agreement, especially with regard to securing housing for Gazans and the urgent entry of prefabricated houses, tents, heavy equipment, medical supplies, fuel, and the continued flow of relief, as well as other things as stipulated in the agreement, it said.

    The statement added that mediators from Egypt and Qatar had confirmed their commitment to addressing obstacles and closing gaps to ensure implementation.

    Hamas announced on Monday that the handover of the hostages who were scheduled to be released on Saturday would be postponed until further notice.

    In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that his country would resume “intense fighting” if Hamas fails to meet the deadline, without specifying the number of hostages to be released.

    Hamas’ decision prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to suggest that Israel cancel the agreement entirely, saying all hostages must be freed by noon on Saturday or he would “let hell break out.”

    MIL OSI China News

  • MIL-OSI: Kaltura Recognized in the 2025 Gartner® Market Guide for Meeting Solutions

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York, Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Kaltura (Nasdaq: KLTR), the Video Experience Cloud, today announced that it has been recognized as a Representative Vendor in the Gartner Market Guide for Meeting Solutions.  
     
    Kaltura’s AI-infused, real-time-conferencing experience component, Kaltura Room, powers a wide array of synchronous meeting experiences, from marketing, sales, and customer success to teaching, learning, training, certification, corporate communication, collaboration, and more. Kaltura Room is embedded into numerous Kaltura products, including Video Portal, Virtual Events & Webinars, Virtual Classroom, and LMS & CMS extensions, and is tightly integrated into other experience components that support on-demand and live video streaming.
     
    For virtual events and webinars, Kaltura Room adds powerful synchronous engagement functionalities beyond video, including chat, Q&A, quizzes, and polls along with flexible settings. These settings enable organizers to customize attendee participation, such as the ability to easily bring audience members to the stage or create breakout rooms, add lower thirds and interludes, leverage an advanced scene manager, and more. Event organizers can integrate session content with peace of mind through storyboards, content-sharing integrations, and collaborative whiteboards.   

    Kaltura Room is also infused with AI-powered tools that enhance real-time engagement, content creation, and accessibility. The AI-driven engagement agent continuously monitors session dynamics, provides real-time insights, alerts organizers when participation levels drop and proactively recommends tailored interactive strategies such as polls and notifications to boost re-engagement. Additionally, sentiment analysis monitors chat discussions, helping moderators gauge audience reactions and adjust the session dynamics accordingly. AI-driven Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) ensures accurate captions for recordings, AI-driven while real-time noise cancellation enhances audio clarity during live meetings, creating a seamless and immersive experience for all participants. 
     
    Within Kaltura’s Video Portal, Kaltura Room enables organizations to create a unified learning environment that bridges between live and on-demand content, converting real-time sessions into structured, searchable training modules.  

    In Kaltura’s Virtual Classroom, Kaltura Room is the main experience component. It is used by customers like Berlitz, which delivers language and cultural training to students and professionals across over 70 countries, to provide live synchronous teaching and learning for instructors and students. 

    Kaltura Room generates comprehensive and granular engagement analytics that help marketers and learning and development professionals evaluate participation and knowledge retention, optimize content and campaigns, and adjust workflows. Kaltura Room also offers flexible customization options that enable organizations to create highly branded, bespoke engaging experiences. 

    “At Kaltura, we’re transforming meeting solutions with AI. By embedding real-time engagement analytics, dynamic sentiment analysis, and automated speech recognition, we’re creating adaptive, intelligent meeting experiences that redefine digital collaboration. Our AI-driven approach empowers organizations to connect and innovate more effectively, anticipating needs and driving engagement in ways that traditional solutions simply can’t match. We are honored by Gartner’s recognition and are committed to continue leading the AI transformation in this space, and set new standards for interactive, data-powered communication,” said Navi Azaria, Chief Product and Engineering Officer at Kaltura.  

    To learn more about Kaltura’s interactive, AI-infused video solutions that increase engagement and boost business outcomes, visit here. To view a complimentary copy of the Gartner Market Guide for Meeting Solutions, click here.  

    Gartner Disclaimer 

    Gartner, Inc. Market Guide for Meeting Solutions. Christopher Trueman, Lacy Lei, etl. 28 January 2025.

    GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

    Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
     
    The Gartner content described herein (the “Gartner Content”) represents research opinion or viewpoints published, as part of a syndicated subscription service, by Gartner, Inc. (“Gartner”), and is not a representation of fact. Gartner Content speaks as of its original publication date (and not as of the date of this Earnings Call Script), and the opinions expressed in the Gartner Content are subject to change without notice. 

    About Kaltura 
    Kaltura’s mission is to power any video experience for any organization. Kaltura’s AI Video Experience Cloud offers live, real-time, and on-demand video products for enterprises of all industries, as well as specialized industry solutions, currently for educational institutions and for media and telecom companies. Underlying our products and solutions is a broad set of Media Services that are also used by other cloud platforms and companies to power video experiences and workflows for their own products. Kaltura’s Video Experience Cloud is used by leading brands reaching millions of users, at home, at school, and at work, for events, communication, collaboration, training, marketing, sales, customer care, teaching, learning, and entertainment experiences. For more information, visit www.corp.kaltura.com

    The MIL Network

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

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Nokia Corporation
    Stock Exchange Release
    13 February 2025 at 15:00 EET

    Notice of the Annual General Meeting of Nokia Corporation

    Notice is given to the shareholders of Nokia Corporation (“Nokia” or the “Company”) of the Annual General Meeting to be held on Tuesday, 29 April 2025 at 13:00 EEST at Finlandia Hall, Mannerheimintie 13e, Helsinki, Finland.

    The reception of persons who have registered for the Meeting and the distribution of voting tickets will commence at 12:00 noon EEST. After the Meeting coffee will be served.

    Shareholders can also exercise their voting rights by voting in advance. Instructions for advance voting are presented in this notice under section C.

    Shareholders may follow the Annual General Meeting through a webcast. Following the webcast is not considered participation or exercise of shareholders’ rights in the Meeting. Instructions regarding the webcast are available in this notice under section C. and later on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    A. Matters on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting

    At the Annual General Meeting, the following matters will be considered:

    1. Opening of the Meeting

    2. Matters of order for the Meeting

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

    4. Recording the legal convening of the Meeting

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

    6. Presentation of the Annual Accounts, the review by the Board of Directors and the auditor’s report for the financial year 2024

    – Review by the President and CEO and presenting the auditor’s report and the assurance report of the sustainability statement

    7. Adoption of the Annual Accounts

    8. Resolution on the use of profit shown on the balance sheet and authorization of the Board of Directors to decide on the distribution of dividend and assets from the reserve for invested unrestricted equity

    The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that based on the balance sheet to be adopted for the financial year ended on 31 December 2024, no dividend is distributed by a resolution of the Annual General Meeting. Instead, the Board proposes to be authorized to resolve in its discretion on the distribution of an aggregate maximum of EUR 0.14 per share as dividend from the retained earnings and/or as assets from the reserve for invested unrestricted equity.

    The authorization would be used to distribute dividend and/or assets from the reserve for invested unrestricted equity in four installments during the period of validity of the authorization unless the Board of Directors decides otherwise for a justified reason. The authorization would be valid until the opening of the next Annual General Meeting. The Board would make separate resolutions on the amount and timing of each distribution of the dividend and/or assets from the reserve for invested unrestricted equity so that the preliminary record and payment dates will be as set out below. The Company shall make a separate announcement of each such Board resolution.

    Preliminary record dates Preliminary payment dates
    5 May 2025 12 May 2025
    29 July 2025 7 August 2025
    28 October 2025 6 November 2025
    3 February 2026 12 February 2026

    Each installment based on the resolution of the Board of Directors will be paid to a shareholder registered in the Company’s shareholders’ register maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy on the record date of the payment.

    9. Resolution on the discharge of the members of the Board of Directors and the President and CEO from liability for the financial year 2024

    10. Presentation and adoption of the Remuneration Report

    The Remuneration Report 2024 will be available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025 on week 11 of 2025. The Remuneration Report is presented to the AGM and adopted through an advisory resolution.

    11. Presentation and adoption of the Remuneration Policy

    The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting shall adopt the updated Remuneration Policy. The updated Remuneration Policy is available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025 as of today and published as an attachment to this notice. The Remuneration Policy is adopted through an advisory resolution.

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

    On the recommendation of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee, the Board proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the annual fees payable to Board members for a term ending at the close of the next Annual General Meeting are kept at the current levels:

    • EUR 440 000 for the Chair of the Board;
    • EUR 210 000 for the Vice Chair of the Board;
    • EUR 185 000 for each member of the Board;
    • EUR 30 000 each for the Chairs of the Audit Committee and the Personnel Committee and EUR 20 000 for the Chairs of the Technology Committee and the Strategy Committee as an additional annual fee; and
    • EUR 15 000 for each member of the Audit Committee and the Personnel Committee and EUR 10 000 for each member of the Technology Committee and the Strategy Committee as an additional annual fee.

    The Board proposes that approximately 40% of the annual fee be paid in Nokia shares. The rest of the annual fee would be paid in cash to cover taxes arising from the remuneration. The Directors shall retain until the end of their directorship such number of shares that they have received as Board remuneration during their first three years of service on the Board. If the term of a Board member terminates before the Annual General Meeting of 2026, the Board has a right to decide upon potential reclaim of the annual fees as it deems appropriate.

    In addition, the Board proposes that the meeting fees for Board and Committee meetings remain at their current level. The meeting fees are based on travel required between the Board member’s home location and the location of a meeting and paid for a maximum of seven meetings per term as follows:

    • EUR 5 000 per meeting requiring intercontinental travel; and
    • EUR 2 000 per meeting requiring intracontinental travel.

    Only one meeting fee is paid if the travel entitling to the fee includes several meetings of the Board and the Committees. Moreover, it is proposed that members of the Board shall be compensated for travel and accommodation expenses as well as other costs directly related to Board and Committee work.

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

    On the recommendation of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee, the Board proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the number of Board members be ten (10). However, should any number of the candidates proposed by the Board not be available for election to the Board, the proposed number of Board members shall be decreased accordingly.

    14. Election of members of the Board of Directors

    On the recommendation of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee, the Board proposes to the Annual General Meeting that for a term until the close of the next Annual General Meeting, the following persons are elected as Board members in an individual election:

    1)    Timo Ahopelto (current member);
    2)    Sari Baldauf (current member, Chair);
    3)    Elizabeth Crain (current member);
    4)    Thomas Dannenfeldt (current member);
    5)    Pernille Erenbjerg (new member candidate);
    6)    Lisa Hook (current member);
    7)    Timo Ihamuotila (new member candidate);
    8)    Mike McNamara (current member);
    9)    Thomas Saueressig (current member); and
    10)    Kai Öistämö (current member).

    The biographical details of all Board member candidates are presented on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    The Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee has assessed that the proposed Board members enable the efficient functioning of the Board and are qualified both collectively and individually based on their skills, experience and other personal qualities, taking into account the diversity principles established by the Board as well as the current and anticipated future needs of the Company.

    All proposed Board members have given their consent to be elected to the Board and been determined to be independent of Nokia and its significant shareholders under the Finnish Corporate Governance Code and the rules of the New York Stock Exchange, as applicable.

    The Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee intends to propose in the assembly meeting of the new Board of Directors to be held after the Annual General Meeting that Sari Baldauf be re-elected as Chair of the Board and Timo Ihamuotila be elected as Vice Chair, subject to their election to the Board.

    15. Resolution on the remuneration of the auditor

    On the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the auditor to be elected for the financial year 2026 be reimbursed based on the purchase policy approved by the Board’s Audit Committee and the invoice approved by the Company.

    16. Election of auditor for the financial year 2026

    The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the shareholders would elect the auditor for the financial year commencing next after the election. On the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that Deloitte Oy be re-elected as the auditor of the Company for the financial year 2026.

    Deloitte Oy has informed the Company that the key audit partner would be Authorized Public Accountant Jukka Vattulainen.

    17. Resolution on the remuneration of the sustainability reporting assurer

    On the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the assurer of the sustainability reporting elected for financial year 2026 be reimbursed based on the purchase policy approved by the Board’s Audit Committee and the invoice approved by the Company.

    18. Election of the sustainability reporting assurer for the financial year 2026

    The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the shareholders would elect the assurer carrying out the assurance of the sustainability reporting for the financial year commencing next after the election. On the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that Authorized Sustainability Audit Firm Deloitte Oy be re-elected as the sustainability reporting assurer for the financial year 2026.

    Deloitte Oy has informed the Company that in the event it is elected, the key sustainability partner will be Authorized Public Accountant (KHT) and Authorized Sustainability Auditor (KRT) Jukka Vattulainen.

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

    The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorize the Board of Directors to resolve to repurchase a maximum of 530 million shares, which corresponds to less than 10% of the Company’s total number of shares. The repurchases under the authorization are proposed to be carried out by using funds in the unrestricted equity, as resolved by the Board of Directors, which means that the repurchases will reduce the distributable funds of the Company.

    The price paid for the shares under the authorization shall be based on the market price of the Nokia shares on the securities markets on the date of the repurchase or a price otherwise formed in a competitive process. Shares may be repurchased to be cancelled, held to be reissued, transferred further or for other purposes resolved by the Board of Directors. The Company may enter into derivative, share lending or other arrangements customary in capital market practice. The shares may be repurchased otherwise than in proportion to the shares held by the shareholders (directed repurchase). The Board shall resolve on all other matters related to the repurchase of Nokia shares.

    It is proposed that the authorization be effective until 28 October 2026 and terminate the authorization for repurchasing the Company’s shares granted by the Annual General Meeting on 3 April 2024 to the extent that the Board has not previously resolved to repurchase shares based on such authorization.

    20. Authorization to the Board of Directors to resolve to issue shares and special rights entitling to shares

    The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorize the Board of Directors to resolve to issue in total a maximum of 530 million shares through issuance of shares or special rights entitling to shares under Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Finnish Companies Act in one or more issues during the effective period of the authorization. The Board of Directors may issue either new shares or treasury shares held by the Company. The proposed maximum amount corresponds to less than 10% of the Company’s total number of shares.

    Shares and special rights entitling to shares may be issued in deviation from the shareholders’ pre-emptive rights within the limits set by law. The authorization may be used to develop the Company’s capital structure, diversify the shareholder base, finance or carry out acquisitions or other arrangements, settle the Company’s equity-based incentive plans or for other purposes resolved by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall resolve on all terms and conditions of the issuance of shares and special rights entitling to shares under Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Finnish Companies Act.

    It is proposed that the authorization be effective until 28 October 2026 and terminate the authorization for issuance of shares and special rights entitling to shares resolved at the Annual General Meeting on 3 April 2024.

    21. Closing of the Meeting

    B. Documents of the Annual General Meeting

    This notice and all the proposals by the Board of Directors relating to the agenda of the Meeting, including the updated Remuneration Policy, are available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025. The Remuneration Report as well as the “Nokia in 2024” annual report, which includes the Company’s Annual Accounts, the review by the Board of Directors including the sustainability statement, the auditor’s report and the assurance report of the sustainability statement, are available on the above-mentioned website on week 11 of 2025. The proposals by the Board of Directors and all other meeting documents will be available also at the Meeting. The minutes of the Annual General Meeting will be available on the Company’s above-mentioned website at latest on 13 May 2025.

    C. Instructions for the participants of the Annual General Meeting

    1. The right to participate and registration

    Each shareholder who is registered on the record date of the Meeting on 15 April 2025, in the register of shareholders of the Company maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy, has the right to participate in the Annual General Meeting 2025. A shareholder, whose shares are registered on their Finnish book-entry account, is automatically registered in the register of shareholders of the Company. The shareholders who do not have a Finnish book-entry account, please refer to the section 4. Holders of nominee-registered shares or the section 5. Holders of American Depositary Receipts (ADR) for further instructions.

    The registration period for the Annual General Meeting commences on 11 March 2025 at 10:00 EET. A shareholder, with a Finnish book-entry account, who wishes to participate in the Annual General Meeting, must register for the Meeting by giving prior notice of attendance no later than on 22 April 2025 at 16:00 EEST by which time the registration needs to be received by the Company. Such notice of registration can be given:

    a)   through the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025

    Registration by natural persons requires strong electronic authentication. In connection with the online registration the shareholder may also authorize a proxy representative and vote in advance. Registration by legal persons as shareholders requires them to provide the business identification code and the number of their Finnish book-entry account. For further information, please refer to the section 3. Proxy representatives and powers of attorney.

    b)   by letter to Nokia Corporation, Register of Shareholders, P.O. Box 226, Fl-00045 NOKIA GROUP; or

    c)   by telephone to +358 20 770 6870 from Monday to Friday at 09:00 to 16:00 (Finnish time).

    In connection with the registration, a shareholder is required to notify their name, personal identification number / birth date or the relevant business identification code, address, telephone number, the name of a possible assistant and the name and the personal identification number/birth date of a possible proxy representative.

    2. Advance voting

    Shareholders with a Finnish book-entry account may vote in advance on certain items on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting through the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025, either in connection with their registration or separately.

    The advance voting will open on 11 March 2025 at 10:00 EET and end on 22 April 2025 at 16:00 EEST.

    For natural persons, voting in advance requires strong electronic authentication through personal online banking credentials or a mobile certificate.

    Legal entities voting in advance requires them to provide the business identification code and the number of their Finnish book-entry account. In case a legal entity uses the electronic Suomi.fi authorization service, strong electronic authentication of the authorized individual is required either with personal online banking credentials or a mobile certificate. For further information, please refer to the section 3. Proxy representatives and powers of attorney.

    A proposal subject to advance voting is considered to have been presented unchanged at the Annual General Meeting.

    Shareholders who have voted in advance who wish to exercise their right to ask questions, demand a vote at the Annual General Meeting or vote on a possible counterproposal under the Finnish Companies Act must participate in the Annual General Meeting at the meeting venue in person or by way of proxy representation.

    Further instructions relating to the advance voting will be later available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    For holders of nominee-registered shares, please note that the voting is carried out via the account manager of their custodian. The account manager may cast votes on behalf of the holders of nominee-registered shares that they represent in accordance with the voting instructions provided by the holders of nominee-registered shares during the registration period for the nominee-registered shares.

    3. Proxy representatives and powers of attorney

    A shareholder may participate in the Annual General Meeting by proxy. A proxy representative shall produce a dated proxy authorization document or otherwise in a reliable manner demonstrate their right to represent the shareholder. Should a shareholder participate in the Meeting by means of several proxy representatives representing the shareholder with shares in different book-entry accounts, the shares by which each proxy representative represents the shareholder shall be identified in connection with the registration for the Meeting.

    Proxy authorization documents should be delivered by email to agm@nokia.com or by letter to Nokia Corporation, Register of Shareholders, P.O. Box 226, Fl-00045 NOKIA GROUP at the latest by 22 April 2025 at 16:00 EEST. In case the proxy document is sent as a copy, we kindly ask the authorized person to present the original document at the Meeting venue. In addition to the delivery of proxy documents the shareholder or their proxy shall separately register for the Annual General Meeting.

    A template for the proxy document is available on the company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    Shareholders may also use the electronic Suomi.fi authorization service instead of the traditional proxy authorization document. In this case, the shareholder authorizes a representative in the Suomi.fi service by using the mandate theme “Representation at the General Meeting”. More information available at www.suomi.fi/e-authorizations.

    4. Holders of nominee-registered shares

    A holder of nominee-registered shares has the right to participate in the Annual General Meeting by virtue of such shares, based on which they on the record date of the Annual General Meeting, i.e. on 15 April 2025, would be entitled to be registered in the shareholders’ register of the Company held by Euroclear Finland Oy. The right to participate in the Meeting requires, in addition, that the shareholder on the basis of such shares has been registered into the temporary shareholders’ register held by Euroclear Finland Oy at the latest by 24 April 2025 by 14:00 EEST. As regards nominee-registered shares this constitutes due registration for the Annual General Meeting.

    A holder of nominee-registered shares is advised to request without delay necessary instructions regarding the temporary registration in the shareholders’ register of the Company, the issuing of proxy authorization documents and registration for the Annual General Meeting from their custodian bank.

    The account manager of the custodian bank shall temporarily register a holder of nominee-registered shares, who wants to participate in the Annual General Meeting, into the shareholders’ register of the Company, and if necessary, arrange advance voting on behalf of the holder of nominee-registered shares in accordance with their voting instructions at latest by the time stated above, 24 April 2025 at 14:00 EEST.

    In order to take into consideration possible voting instructions of a holder of nominee registered shares at the Annual General Meeting, it is required that the shareholder has registered and is present or represented at the Annual General Meeting.

    For the sake of clarity, it is noted that holders of nominee-registered shares cannot register for the Annual General Meeting on the Company’s website, but they must be registered by their custodians instead. Further information on these matters can also be found on the Company’s website www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    5. Holders of American Depositary Receipts (ADR)

    A holder of American Depositary Shares (ADR) intending to vote at the Meeting shall without delay notify the Depositary Bank of Nokia, Citibank, N.A., of their intention and shall comply with the instructions provided by Citibank, N.A.

    6. Other instructions and information

    Information on the General Meeting required by the Finnish Companies Act and the Securities Markets Act is available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025. Pursuant to Chapter 5, Section 25 of the Finnish Companies Act, a shareholder who has given prior notice of attendance and is present at the Annual General Meeting has the right to request information with respect to the matters to be considered at the Meeting.

    The shareholders, their representatives and possible assistants are required to prove their identity at the entrance. The personal data collected will only be used in connection with the identity authentications and necessary registrations at the Annual General Meeting and related to it. For more information, please refer to the privacy statement of the Annual General Meeting on the Company’s aforementioned website.

    The Meeting venue can be easily reached by public transportation connections. The shareholders are asked to note that parking is subject to a charge at the nearby parking facilities.

    The Meeting will be conducted primarily in Finnish, but some presentations, such as the review by the President and CEO, will be held in English. Simultaneous translation will be available into Finnish, English and Swedish.

    Shareholders may follow the Meeting via a webcast and ask questions on the agenda items during the AGM through the webcast platform. Following the webcast is not considered participation or exercise of shareholders’ rights in the Meeting. No questions asked through the webcast are deemed to be presented pursuant to Chapter 5, Section 25 of the Finnish Companies Act. The questions may be considered in the Annual General Meeting in connection with each agenda item to the extent deemed appropriate by the Chair of the Meeting. More information on following the webcast will be later available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    Changes in the number of shares held after the record date of the Annual General Meeting shall not have an effect on the right to participate in the Meeting nor on the number of votes held by a shareholder in the Meeting.

    On the date of this notice of the Annual General Meeting the total number of shares in Nokia Corporation is 5 605 850 345, representing the same number of votes.

    13 February 2025

    Nokia Corporation
    BOARD OF DIRECTORS

    About Nokia
    At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together.

    As a B2B technology innovation leader, we are pioneering networks that sense, think and act by leveraging our work across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. In addition, we create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, which is celebrating 100 years of innovation.

    With truly open architectures that seamlessly integrate into any ecosystem, our high-performance networks create new opportunities for monetization and scale. Service providers, enterprises and partners worldwide trust Nokia to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable networks today – and work with us to create the digital services and applications of the future.

    Inquiries:

    Nokia Communications
    Phone: +358 10 448 4900
    Email: press.services@nokia.com
    Maria Vaismaa, Global Head of External Communications

    Nokia Investor Relations
    Phone: +358 931 580 507
    Email: investor.relations@nokia.com

    Attachment

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: LaunchDarkly Announces Snowflake Native App for Data Warehouse Native Experimentation and Product Analytics

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LaunchDarkly, the leading platform for feature management, today announced the private preview of Warehouse Native Experimentation, its Snowflake Native App, to offer Data Warehouse Native Experimentation. In addition, the company announced the acquisition of Houseware, a leader in warehouse-native product analytics and winner of the 2022 Snowflake Startup Challenge. Together, these initiatives enable LaunchDarkly to deliver experimentation designed for engineering teams and loved by product teams, while providing AI-powered analytics for deeper insights into how customers engage with products.

    Today, engineering, product, and data teams want to centralize their source of performance metrics into a single data warehouse. While centralized data is critical, these teams also want to democratize data-driven decision-making and experimentation. Currently in private preview, LaunchDarkly is leveraging the Snowflake Native App framework to integrate its advanced experimentation capabilities within the robust Snowflake data environment, enhancing data governance, scalability, and flexibility. By centralizing data sources and experimentation analysis, this collaboration empowers teams to generate deeper and more actionable insights, accelerating and improving product development cycles.

    Key solutions offered through the Snowflake Native App:

    • Data Seamlessly Available in Snowflake: Data engineers, scientists, analysts, and product managers often face challenges in conducting sophisticated analyses due to data being siloed across tools. With custom warehouse analysis, users can leverage advanced targeting and assignment capabilities in the LaunchDarkly Snowflake Native App. They can then seamlessly export the results back into their Snowflake table for downstream analytics, using their preferred data tools and workflows to enhance decision-making processes.
    • Warehouse Native Experimentation: Users frequently lack a unified platform to design, run, and analyze experiments with enriched warehouse data. Warehouse Native Experimentation is a Snowflake Native App that centralizes comprehensive experimentation data inside customers’ Snowflake accounts. This Snowflake Native App streamlines metric creation and results visualization, making it easier for teams to conduct and analyze experiments alongside data in their environment, fostering quicker and smarter business decisions.

    “With organizations looking to make a greater business impact through new features, it’s now more crucial than ever to not only control these feature releases but also to measure and experiment with them to determine the best ROI,” says Dan Rogers, CEO of LaunchDarkly. “Our integration with Snowflake, combined with the product analytics expertise brought by our acquisition of Houseware, elevates our ability to deliver actionable insights and transform software delivery practices for engineering, product and data teams alike.”

    “Working with LaunchDarkly enhances both companies’ commitment to empowering businesses through data-driven decision-making to drive innovation forward,” said Kieran Kennedy, Global Head, AI Data Cloud Products at Snowflake. “By developing a Snowflake Native App, LaunchDarkly is on a path to making advanced experimentation and analysis more accessible to a wider range of teams, enabling smarter, faster business decisions.”

    The acquisition of Houseware is a major step toward unifying experimentation and analytics within a single platform. Houseware’s warehouse-native, no-code solution sits on top of Snowflake, enabling developers, product, and data teams to integrate analytics into their daily workflows and tools. By monitoring critical release metrics in real-time and measuring feature impact against key business objectives, teams can ensure scalable, reproducible experiments while confidently making data-driven decisions.

    Upcoming Event
    Click here to learn more about this partnership, visit LaunchDarkly.com and see the power of LaunchDarkly and Snowflake together in a joint webinar on March 6, to register, click here.

    About LaunchDarkly:
    LaunchDarkly is a comprehensive feature management platform that equips software teams to proactively reduce the risk of shipping bad software and AI applications while accelerating their release velocity. By progressively rolling out features, monitoring critical metrics in real-time, instantly rolling back flawed code, easily conducting targeted experiments, and quickly iterating on AI prompts and models, development teams can ship innovation consistently and confidently. Serving over 5,500 of the most innovative enterprises, including a quarter of the Fortune 500, LaunchDarkly is trusted around the globe to deliver exceptional customer experiences and maximize business outcomes.

    Media Contact
    Spencer Anopol
    Head of PR
    sanopol@launchdarkly.com

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Salsify Customers Drive Valuable Business Outcomes Through Organizational Efficiency, Increased Performance, and AI Impact in 2024

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BOSTON, Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Salsify, the Product Experience Management (PXM) platform empowering brand manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to win on the digital shelf, today announced another year of double digit ARR growth in 2024, driven by the business value created by its customers using Salsify. In 2024, 70,000 Salsify PXM users in 149 countries used 511 million automated workflow tasks to help publish over 2 billion products across more than 950 destinations worldwide with increased efficiency and performance impact. The number of automated workflow tasks, a critical component of driving efficiency, represents a 40% increase over 2023.

    The early 2024 announcement of Salsify PXM Advance, the company’s new AI-propelled version of its platform, was a significant driver of customer investment in Salsify. The platform’s Grocery Accelerator, which uses AI and automation to speed accurate, validated, and high-quality product data to market, became the company’s fastest-adopted capability ever.

    Over 200 new customers began their partnership with Salsify in 2024, including Virbac and Riviana Foods, Inc. By the end of 2024, 47% of Salsify’s customers had migrated to the new PXM Advance platform, a record-breaking adoption rate. Customers increasing their commitment to Salsify in 2024 included Coty and Fortune Brand Innovations. Driven by the power of the new platform and the excellence of Salsify’s customer success and services teams, the company is extremely proud that its customers continue to make recurring investments in the Salsify platform with a gross retention rate in the mid 90s. Salsify also achieved historic profitability in 2024 with double-digit EBITDA margins, ending the year with over $200 million in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet.

    “In my first six months as Salsify CEO, customers have consistently cited two reasons why they continue to invest in Salsify: our platform and our people,” said Piyush Chaudhari, CEO of Salsify. “In 2025 and beyond, we will continue to direct our own investments to help them achieve both top-line and bottom-line growth through product experiences that truly matter – to their customers, end consumers, and B2B buyers.”

    In 2024, Salsify invested $32 million in product innovation to advance the business value realized by its customers. This investment helped enable documented valuable outcomes across the Salsify customer base, including:

    • Speed to market: Salsify’s investments in automated workflows and AI helped decrease the time it takes to bring products to market.
      • In three months, a global food brand reduced the time to market from seven days to minutes.
      • Using Grocery Accelerator, an ecommerce associate at a global CPG can verify the accuracy of 15 SKUs in 40 minutes, versus eight hours with their prior solution.
      • A national household goods company reduced time to market from six weeks to one week by using Salsify to syndicate content to Dollar General.
    • Performance Improvements: Accurate, complete, optimized product content created and syndicated to retailers using Salsify drives improved SEO and conversions, while increasing retail media Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
      • A global electronics manufacturer improved their content scores on Walmart, rising from an average score of 86% to 94% across their portfolio.
      • A global wine and spirits brand saw their volume grow 24% at one of the largest grocers in the US after implementing a new Salsify direct connection that offered more robust content capabilities.
      • KIND has experienced significant improvement on the digital shelf since implementing Salsify, including a 10% sales lift on Kroger. They’ve also seen average compliance for bullet point product data increase from 17% to 96% and average image compliance from 57% to 90%.
      • A European food manufacturer was receiving daily fines due to submitting product data through a manual excel upload which was both time consuming and open to errors. Since implementing Salsify’s GDSN solution, they have reached 100% compliance with the packaging requirements and zero penalties.
      • Dorel Juvenile invested in several major initiatives to improve their Enhanced Content quality and effectiveness that they saw paid off by more than doubling their conversions at Target.

    “We have always believed in the value that publishing Enhanced Content through Salsify provides to enhance the customer experience and provide more information to help customers feel confident in their decision to buy our products,” said Daniel Desimone, Digital & Ecommerce Product Manager at Dorel Juvenile. “Their Enhanced Content Analytics has taken that a step further, allowing us to make more data-driven decisions about our content development. We invested in several major initiatives around Enhanced Content that we can see paid off by more than doubling our conversions at Target.”

    • Tech Consolidation: In a time when IT organizations are looking to streamline their tech stack for greatest efficiency and ROI, Salsify’s investments in enterprise-scale data governance, global IT administration, and industry-leading workflows has enabled customers to replace legacy PIM solutions and consolidate on Salsify.
      • In 2024, a global CPG brand expanded their use of Salsify PXM Advance to replace their separate legacy PIM solution and launched seven markets in five months.
    • Global PXM Network Growth: The reach and impact of our customers is directly tied to the continually expanding network of retailer, distributor, and commerce endpoints they can reach through Salsify’s network. In 2024, Salsify expanded reach and impact at commerce destinations around the globe:
      • Salsify’s investment in Amazon success paid off in 2024, expanding to 16 markets and launching the Amazon Feedback Status Report, now used by hundreds weekly to optimize listings.
      • In 2024, Salsify connected directly to Walmart’s OmniSpec API Suite, enabling seamless content publishing—over 2.3 million SKUs were uploaded by 1P and 3P sellers.
      • The company also introduced eight new bi-directional retailer connections, breaking down existing walled gardens that prevent the continual collaboration and optimization of product content.
      • Enhanced content expanded with 13 new destinations, enhancing the shopping experience and driving conversions, including Ulta, Staples, and more.
      • Meanwhile, Salsify’s free Open Catalog saw 40% more products added and 41% growth in retailer engagement, ensuring continual access to the industry’s most up-to-date content.

    In addition in 2024, Salsify was recognized as a “Leader” in the IDC’s latest PIM market evaluation, “IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Product Information Management Applications for Commerce 2024-2025 Vendor Assessment, which stated, “Salsify’s PIM provides strong governance, taxonomy, and hierarchy capabilities while remaining flexible enough to support omnichannel data management. It can store a golden product information record while transforming those records to meet endpoint requirements quickly and at scale.”

    As a reflection of their innovation and success with Salsify, many customers shared the stories of their success with the industry. The latest case studies appear on the Salsify website. The most outstanding examples of customer performance, growth, and innovation during 2024 will be recognized with Digital Shelf Transformer Awards at the Digital Shelf Summit in New Orleans from April 7th-9th.

    For more information, visit www.salsify.com.

    About Salsify

    Salsify helps thousands of brand manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in over 140 countries collaborate to win on the digital shelf. The company’s Product Experience Management (PXM) platform enables organizations to centralize all of their product content, connect to the commerce ecosystem, and automate business processes in order to deliver the best possible product experiences across every selling destination.

    Learn how the world’s largest brands, including Mars, L’Oreal, Coca-Cola, Bosch, and ASICS, as well as retailers and distributors such as DoorDash, E.Leclerc, Carrefour, Metro, and Intermarché use Salsify every day to drive efficiency, power growth, and lead the digital shelf. For more information, please visit: www.salsify.com.

    Contact:

    Carolyn Adams
    carolyn@bluerunpr.com

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Enertiv and Voltus Unlock Valuable CRE Energy Usage Data, Provide Demand Response for Tenants

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Voltus, Inc. (Voltus), the leading distributed energy resource (DER) software platform and virtual power plant operator, and Enertiv, the operational intelligence platform for commercial real estate, announced today a strategic partnership that unlocks new demand response revenue opportunities for Enertiv’s commercial real estate customers, by integrating Voltus’s industry-leading demand response offering into Enertiv’s comprehensive platform.

    This partnership allows Enertiv’s customers to participate in Voltus’s demand response programs, earning revenue, reducing monthly electricity bills, and avoiding carbon emissions. The partnership also unlocks additional energy usage data for Enertiv’s customers, which they can then use to further improve their energy procurement and risk management strategies as well as advance sustainability goals within their portfolios.

    “This partnership is a game changer for both owners and their tenants,” said Connell McGill, CEO and Founder at Enertiv. “Capturing utility data for reporting is only the first step. The key to decarbonization across commercial real estate is to transform that data into value. Adding demand response to our existing landlord and tenant portals is a no-brainer, helping our customers and their tenants earn additional revenue while improving their sustainability.”

    The partnership is active across all wholesale markets in the U.S. and Canada. Landlords already signed up with Enertiv can integrate the Voltus platform, leveraging Enertiv’s device-level metering data to analyze and surface demand response opportunities, without the need for additional hardware installations.

    “Commercial buildings in the United States are responsible for 18% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. This partnership allows commercial real estate customers to comply with building regulations while creating new revenue streams,” said Dan Svejnar, SVP of Growth at Voltus.

    About Enertiv
    Enertiv is a SaaS platform built to decarbonize commercial real estate. By collecting and verifying real-time utility data, Enertiv maximizes data coverage, automates reporting, and delivers actionable energy-saving insights for landlords and tenants. The world’s largest real estate owners and operators, including Starwood Capital Group, Prologis, Panattoni, and Related, use Enertiv to power ESG reporting, asset optimization, and decarbonization. Learn more at www.enertiv.com.

    About Voltus
    Voltus is a leading DER technology platform and virtual power plant operator connecting distributed energy resources to electricity markets, delivering less expensive, more reliable, and more sustainable electricity. Our commercial and industrial customers and DER partners generate cash by allowing Voltus to maximize the value of their flexible load, distributed generation, energy storage, energy efficiency, and electric vehicle resources in these markets. To learn more, visit www.voltus.co.

    Media Contact
    Mona Khaldi
    press@voltus.co

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI Europe: VATICAN/GENERAL AUDIENCE – Pope Francis: “God does not dismantle the structures of the world, but wants to recreate them from within”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Wednesday, 12 February 2025

    Vatican Media

    Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – When the Evangelist Luke tells us about the birth of Jesus, he shows us “the humility of a God who comes into history, does not dismantle the structures of the world, but wants to illuminate them and recreate them from within”, says the Pope’s catechesis at the general audience, read for the Pope by a member of the Secretariat of State, Father Pierluigi Giroli.In the cycle of catechesis – Jubilee 2025, Jesus Christ our Hope, the Pope deals with the event of the birth of Jesus with numerous quotes from the book “The Infancy Narratives” by Benedict XVI.The Son of God, says the Pope, “enters history as our travelling companion, and begins to travel while still in His mother’s womb. As soon as He was conceived, He went from Nazareth to the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth; and then, at the end of the pregnancy, from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census. The long-awaited Messiah, allows Himself to be counted, that is, counted and registered, like any other citizen. He submits to the decree of an emperor, Caesar Augustus, who thinks he is the master of all the earth.”Luke places Jesus’ birth in “an exactly datable time” and in “an exactly indicated geographical setting”, so that “the universal and the concrete touch each other”. However, “Jesus is born a way entirely unprecedented for a king. The Son of God is not born in a royal palace, but at the back of a house, in the space where the animals are kept”.The evangelist “shows us that God does not come into the world with resounding proclamations, he does not manifest himself with noise, but begins his journey in humility”. And “the first witnesses” of this event are “the shepherds”, men who are “on the margins of society”. Nevertheless, the Pope said, “they practice the occupation by which God himself makes himself known to his people (cf. Gen 48:15; 49:24; Ps 23:1; 80:2; Is 40:11)”. They are the ones chosen by God “as the recipients of the most beautiful news that has ever resounded in history”.They are the first to learn “that the long-awaited Messiah is born in a very humble place, and he is born for them, to be their Saviour, their shepherd. This news opens their hearts to wonder, praise and joyful proclamation,” so that they “become the first to see the most essential thing of all: the gift of salvation”.At the end of the catechesis and the greetings in the other languages, the Pope took the microphone only for the greetings in Spanish and Italian to make another appeal for peace: “I think of the many countries that are at war. Sisters, brothers, let us pray for peace. Let us do our utmost for peace. Do not forget that war is a defeat. Always. We were not born to kill, but to make peoples grow. May pathways of peace be found. Please, in your daily prayer, ask for peace. Tormented Ukraine… how it suffers. Then, think of Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, North Kivu, South Sudan. So many countries at war. Please, let us pray for peace. Let us do penance for peace,” he concluded. (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 12/2/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Home Secretary to appoint a Windrush Commissioner

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    An advertisement inviting applications to become the Windrush Commissioner has been launched today.

    Windrush communities will be given an independent voice within government as an advertisement inviting applications to become the Windrush Commissioner has been launched today (13 February). This will ensure the lessons of the Home Office Windrush scandal are driven forward, and that justice is finally delivered for victims.

    Having set out a fundamental reset of the government’s response to the scandal, the Home Secretary is committed to working more closely with communities affected by previous scandals as part of the plan for change.

    Delivering on the government’s manifesto promise, she intends to appoint the first ever Windrush Commissioner by the summer, following a rigorous recruitment process to select a candidate capable of driving forward change and holding government to account on its Windrush commitments.

    The commissioner will be an independent advocate for all those affected by the scandal, which saw thousands suffer through no fault of their own because of their inability to prove their right to live in the UK. The commissioner will engage with victims, communities and stakeholder organisations, and provide advice directly to ministers, to lead the change the Home Secretary is committed to delivering.

    The successful candidate will advise on the Home Office’s delivery of the compensation and status schemes and the implementation of the department’s response to the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, as well as acting as a trusted voice for families and communities, driving improvements and promoting lasting change.

    Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra MP said:

    The appointment of a Windrush Commissioner will mark a vital step in resetting the government’s response to the Home Office Windrush scandal and delivering the change that the victims of this scandal want and deserve to see.

    This independent advocate will ensure the voices of victims and communities are heard and acted on throughout government. By engaging with communities, driving improvements, and holding government to account, the commissioner will help ensure that lasting change is delivered and the lessons of the past are truly learned.

    The Home Secretary and I look forward to working side by side with the successful candidate in this crucial work to ensure that such an injustice can never happen again, and that dignity is restored to those who have suffered.

    Jeremy Crook OBE, Chief Executive of Action for Race Equality, stated:

    We want the Windrush Commissioner to have the power and resources to engage with Windrush victims and community advocacy organisations, hold the government to account and drive positive change. Action for Race Equality looks forward to working with the new Windrush Commissioner.

    Upon appointment, the commissioner will work alongside the Windrush Unit, which was re-established by the Home Secretary, to oversee the department’s response to the scandal and embed permanent cultural change.

    This comes after the Home Secretary set out, in October, the first steps the government is taking to fundamentally reset how the government plans to right the wrongs of the Home Office Windrush scandal.

    As well as re-establishing the Windrush Unit, she committed to better supporting victims to apply for compensation with £1.5 million in grant funding to increase advocacy support.

    This government is determined to hear first-hand from the Windrush generation, their families and wider Commonwealth communities to ensure that their experiences are listened to and learned from.

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Thales, Amelia and Breakthrough Energy Contrails launch one of world’s largest Contrail Avoidance campaigns

    Source: Thales Group

    Headline: Thales, Amelia and Breakthrough Energy Contrails launch one of world’s largest Contrail Avoidance campaigns

    • Thales, in collaboration with the airline Amelia, and Breakthrough Energy Contrails, announces the large-scale deployment of a contrail avoidance solution, which has already been tested on the flight routes from Paris and Valladolid (Spain). Contrails are one the major challenges in the ecological transition in aviation and this initiative has helped avoid more than 20 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) in 2024, reducing the climate impact1 of each flight by up to 40%.
    • By modifying the altitude of the planes rather than their lateral trajectory, the solution optimizes flight plans and thus limits the potential overconsumption of fuel to under 3%. Amelia plans to further expand this initiative in 2025, progressively applying it to most of its eligible flight operations, making this experiment one of the largest in the world.
    • With this solution, Thales, a key player in more sustainable aviation, offers a systematic approach that can be quickly integrated by all airlines, seeking to reduce their environmental impact as of today.
    Embraer ERJ145 ​ © Nuno SELETTI” id=”image-1c147064-50ec-4ee9-986b-d5d9003dca99″ data-id=”1c147064-50ec-4ee9-986b-d5d9003dca99″ data-original=”https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/1c147064-50ec-4ee9-986b-d5d9003dca99/-/inline/no/%28c%29+Nuno+SELETTI.png” data-mfp-src=”https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/1c147064-50ec-4ee9-986b-d5d9003dca99/-/resize/1200x/-/format/auto/” alt=”Embraer ERJ145 © Nuno SELETTI”/>
    Embraer ERJ145© Nuno SELETTI

    Thales, in partnership with Amelia and Breakthrough Energy Contrails, takes a major step towards more environmentally friendly aviation, by implementing an innovative contrail avoidance solution.

    Since June 2024, Thales’ contrail avoidance solution has been deployed on all Paris-Valladolid flights operated by Amelia, using Embraer ERJ145 aircraft. This initiative is part of the DECOR project, supported by France’s 2030 investment plan.

    Contrails, the artificial clouds produced by aeroplanes, trap heat from the sun, playing a role similar to that of greenhouse gases and thus significantly contributing to global warming. The impact of contrails can represent a significant part of the total climate footprint of aviation, rivalling even that of CO2.

    By integrating its solution with Amelia’s Operational Control Center (OCC) tools, Thales enables OCC operations agents to directly obtain alternative trajectories to their flight plans, combining controlled operational impact and a significant reduction in contrails.

    When a significant impact of contrails is detected, the Thales solution, Flights Footprint, suggests flight alternatives that allow for a significant reduction in climate impact, with a minimum average decrease of up to 40% in the total climate impact of the flight. This flight optimization relies solely on adjustments to the aircraft’s altitude, without changing their route, which helps to keep additional fuel consumption to below 3%.

    Yannick Assouad, Executive Vice-President, Avionics, Thales said: “Thales’ contrail avoidance solution is a first for France. It is fully aligned with Thales’ strategy aiming to transform the aerospace industry towards a more environmentally-friendly future through technology, for more sustainable and responsible aviation”.

    Based on proven scientific principles, this innovative solution utilizes the latest weather forecasts and the most advanced climate models provided by Breakthrough Energy Contrails to optimize the flight plan. At the end of each flight, these climate models, enriched by meteorological reanalysis data, are applied to the actual flight path of the aircraft to assess the effectiveness of avoiding contrail formation areas. Additionally, the installation of a ground camera, supplied by Reuniwatt, enables the solution’s effectiveness to be validated through the direct observation of contrails, thanks to the analyses conducted in partnership with the digital services company SII.

    This project has prevented an average of more than 4 tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) per flight, initially affected by contrails. Amelia has decided to extend this system to eligible flights in 2025, becoming the first airline to systematically implement a contrail avoidance approach.

    Adrien Chabot, Director of Sustainable Development at Amelia said: “Taking condensation trails into account allows for the analysis of the total climate impact of our operations and thus a better optimization of them. The challenge is to significantly and quickly reduce our impact on climate change by continuing the deployment of the Thales solution initiated in 2022. Today, it is probably one of the most promising approaches in terms of cost/benefit regarding climate impact.”

    This solution, accessible and easily deployable, creates new horizons for all airlines, paving the way for more sustainable and responsible aviation on a global scale.

    Matteo Mirolo, Head of Strategy at Breakthrough Energy Contrails said: “The impact of contrails on the climate, similar to that of CO2, is one of the major challenges of the ecological transition in aviation. We are delighted to collaborate with Thales to implement large-scale pilot avoidance campaigns, like this one done with Amelia, which are crucial when considering the eventual deployment of systematic avoidance measures.”

    1 Cumulative impact of CO2 and non-CO2 effects.

    About Thales

    Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in advanced technologies specialized in three business domains: Defence & Security, Aerospace, and Cyber & Digital.

    It develops products and solutions that help make the world safer, greener and more inclusive.

    The Group invests close to €4 billion a year in Research & Development, particularly in key innovation areas such as AI, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, cloud technologies and 6G.

    Thales has close to 81,000 employees in 68 countries. In 2023, the Group generated sales of €18.4 billion.

    About Amelia

    A major player in the aviation industry in Europe and Africa since 1976, Amelia is a French aeronautics group that ensures flight operations and the monitoring and maintenance of its aircraft.

    Amelia’s fleet, consisting of 18 aircraft, meets the needs of its various activities, chartering on behalf of major international airlines, medical evacuations, and charter flights.

    Amelia is a member of IATA since November 2022, endorsing the wider Fly Net Zero commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

    Press contact : communication@flyamelia.com

    About Breakthrough Energy Contrails

    Breakthrough Energy Contrails is a non-profit initiative aimed at transforming contrail research into climate action. 

    Partnering with academic institutions, airlines, and technology companies, the team develops forecasting and flight planning tools to help airlines avoid high-impact contrail formation. 

    As part of the Breakthrough Energy platform, the initiative integrates technology, operations, and policy expertise to deliver scalable solutions for a clean aviation future.

    For more information, visit contrails.org.

    MIL OSI Economics

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Business Secretary sets out ambition for further, faster growth

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds spoke at Samsung KX in London on 13 February 2025.

    Good morning, and thank you very much for that warm introduction, Alan, and my sincere thanks to the whole team here at Samsung for so generously hosting us, today. 

    It’s actually quite emotional to be honest, it would have been someone like my grandfather who dug out that coal, sent it down here, and a few generations later I get to be on this stage doing this.

    But Samsung is a company synonymous with the best in cutting-edge design and innovation;  and much of it is on full display here within these four walls. 

    It is a fitting venue to discuss this government’s ambition to go further and faster in our growth mission…ensuring that your investments that you outlined here in the UK pay dividends. 

    Three years ago, I gave my first speech as the then Shadow Business Secretary – and I promised we would be both a pro-business and a pro-worker party…  

    …A party rooted not just in the experience of working people, but which recognises, above all else, that you cannot rebuild an economy without a flourishing private sector; backed by an unapologetically pro-business government.  

    I committed to partnering with you in making our offer to the country one you could get behind.  

    And you gave us the ideas, energy and, in some cases, explicit support that was needed to win a strong majority and an even stronger mandate from the British people. A mandate to deliver our Plan for Change.  

    Today, I want to reflect on the progress that we have made as a government. I want to talk candidly about what I believe we need to do; 

    …And I want to provide a clear direction, some reassurance and – I hope – some excitement and optimism about the future.  

    Now I am extremely proud of the work that my department has done in the first seven months of this Government.  

    That includes our record-breaking International Investment Summit…where we secured £63bn of inward investment commitments for the UK… 

    …that was where we published our Industrial Strategy Green Paper… 

    …and where we launched our Industrial Strategy Council expertly led by Clare Barclay. I’m so glad Clare could join us ahead of the council’s meeting later today.  

    Building on from the investment summit, at Davos last month, the Chancellor and I sent a clear message to the international community: that the UK is a great place to invest and do business. We have the lowest corporation tax in the G7, uncapped R&D tax credits, and 100% full expensing on capital allowances.  

    And ahead of our Trade Strategy’s publication, we are leveraging our relationships with Europe, China, India and the Gulf and beyond so businesses can make the UK their base to connect with global markets.  

    And this is important, because in response to the announcements made by the US this week, I want to reiterate that under this government, the UK will always champion free, fair and open trade. That is what is in our national interest. 

    And where we have seen the opportunity for an active government to bring business and workers together, my department has always been on the pitch… 

    …Whether that’s securing a better deal for the workforce at Port Talbot

    …engaging on the takeover of Royal Mail…  

    …Or the renegotiated deal that saw Navantia acquiring Harland and Wolff and protect 1,000 jobs at shipyards across the UK. I will always roll up my sleeves and get involved.

    But – being candid – none of this work in itself is sufficient, if it does not lead across the board to improved business confidence, to greater investment, and to higher household income, in every part of the country. 

    And on that I, and the whole government, recognise the challenge, and we accept it. 

    In the Budget the government had a responsibility to fix the foundations and restore economic stability.  

    And while I recognise that the Budget capped corporation tax, extended capital allowances, and raised the employment allowance threshold from this April, I know it asked a great deal of business. I don’t underestimate that for a second.  

    We will never take that contribution – your contribution – for granted. 

    You are playing your part in fixing this country, in stabilising the public finances, in investing in our people and helping us rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.   

    And we know it is imperative that therefore we clear the path for the private sector to thrive… that we deliver the right conditions for growth.  

    It’s why, on top of the £100 billion of investment unveiled at the Budget, this Government has thrown its full support behind a third runway at Heathrow. 

    It’s why we’re making the Oxford Cambridge growth corridor a success with the right transport and public services to foster growth. 

    It’s why through our expanded Office for Investment and the National Wealth Fund we will be supporting transformative investments throughout the country from West Yorkshire to the West Midlands, and Glasgow and Greater Manchester. 

    The challenges we face as government make all the things we promised to do even more critical.  

    And I relish that. 

    And I don’t believe there are easy answers to complex problems. 

    But I do believe that good policy, good strategies, and good government working hand-in-hand with the private sector, can make a difference. 

    And I want my constituents to feel, and to be, better off. 

    And only a pragmatic, business-orientated government can deliver that. 

    And that to me is what being pro-worker, and pro-business means. 

    And I believe this national UK Government is able to deliver on this mission because, fundamentally, we can offer what no-one else can:  

    First of all, political stability – sadly, a rare commodity in many countries these days. 

    Secondly, openness to the rest of the world – at a time where that is clearly coming under pressure. 

    And most importantly of all, we are offering a willingness to use our mandate in Parliament to transform the business and investor environment. 

    And we are using our Industrial Strategy to ensure that our policies are made with business, for business. 

    As you know, in October last year, we consulted on our Industrial Strategy Green Paper; our blueprint to channel investment and support into our country’s high-growth sectors and high potential places. 

    In that green paper, we posed a series of questions, and you answered in great detail. You told us that you need access to a high-skilled workforce.  

    And that is why we have launched Skills England, bringing in flexibilities for the Growth and Skills levy, allowing for shorter apprenticeships and giving employers more control over training. 

    Meanwhile our Great Britain Working White Paper has already set out detailed plans to support people back into work.  

    And for key sectors such as AI and life sciences, we’ve committed to looking at visa routes for the most highly skilled, ensuring those routes continue to work for the UK. The upcoming Immigration White Paper will set out plans to make our immigration, skills, and visa systems work better and more coherently.   

    You told us that planning has become a by-word for inefficiency.   

    So, we’re making it quicker and simpler for developers to build on brownfield land. 

    We’re making it much easier to build laboratories, gigafactories, data centres, and digital network grid connections.  

    And we’re preventing campaigners from repeatedly launching hopeless legal challenges against planning decisions.   

    You have also told us that access to capital needs drastic improvement.  

    Here again we’re listening and we’re responding. That is why the Government is creating pension megafunds, unlocking billions of pounds of investment. At the same time, we’re delivering on Lord Hill’s Listing Review to allow the FCA to rewrite the UK’s Prospectus Regime for faster fund-raising.

    And, finally, you told us that we need a ‘regulation reset’ in this country.  

    Day in, day out I hear from business leaders who say to me that regulation and regulators are too cumbersome.  

    They’re too slow.  

    They’re too focused on theoretical issues, with little understanding of how businesses and markets actually operate. 

    And I’ve heard that message loud and clear.  

    One of our foremost regulators, the Competition and Markets Authority, has recently made great strides in addressing some of these issues. 

    And today, my department is publishing a consultation on a new Strategic Steer for the CMA to accelerate this work.  

    This isn’t about meaningless platitudes – about the ‘cutting of red tape.’  

    It’s about effective consumer protection, competition law and digital market powers so that we create a level-playing field for businesses to compete on. We need to address genuine harm done by those who are not playing by the rules.  

    Our Strategic Steer asks the CMA to minimise uncertainty for business – by being proactive, transparent, timely, predictable and responsive in its engagement.  

    And I know, under Sarah Cardell and the new Interim Chair, Doug Gurr, the CMA has already taken significant steps in adopting this approach…in always having growth and investment in mind.  

    Its extensive work around the merger of Vodafone and Three is a fantastic example of that…as is the CMA’s launch of a Growth and Investment Council to identify opportunities for greater competition.  

    And there is more to come. 

    I know Sarah and the CMA have set out their plans to deliver real, meaningful reforms to the merger control processes already today. Its eyes are trained firmly on more direct engagement with businesses. On speeding up its decision-making to deliver more certainty for investors. On adopting a faster, more agile approach to protecting competition.  

    I fully endorse these measures because this Government believes in effective, independent institutions. In promoting competition and protecting competition – that is fundamental to our growth mission. And with the current CMA team in place, we want to support them every step of the way in the changes they’re making.  

    I want to see that same level of ambition from our other regulators because right now, I don’t think our regulatory environment is doing enough to drive investor confidence and support growth.  

    So, I’m taking this first step today but watch this space.  

    I’m serious about delivering our wider regulatory reform over the coming weeks and months… 

    …I’m also serious about building the pro-innovation, pro-worker, pro wealth creation economy that we promised at the general election. I know you in the room share that commitment, too. 

    I’m proud of the reforms that we’ve set out in the Employment Rights Bill – of the opportunities they will afford working class families and working-class communities like the one I grew up in.  

    I want everyone to benefit from the stronger economy I know we can have.

    But I always said, however, that we would work with – and not against – business to deliver these generational reforms.  

    I said that we would never introduce changes that would make it harder for firms to hire with confidence.  

    And this is precisely why my department is consulting on many of the key aspects of our Make Work Pay reforms – not least on probationary periods.  

    I want a statutory probation period that lets businesses get a good sense of how new employees are performing.  

    And it’s common sense to ensure that there are lighter touch standards for dismissal during those initial months of people starting a job. 

    I know how important this is for employers. And I get it.  

    It’s why my department will continue to engage face-to-face with business to develop a sensible, balanced proposal before we go out for formal consultation.  

    And we will also consult on the length of the statutory probation period, with our preference being 9 months.  

    We have also made clear that the changes we make to unfair dismissal will come into effect no sooner than the autumn of next year.  

    I want there to be a buffer – a proper, business readiness period – so employers fully understand the details of our reforms, and can prepare long before they enter into force.  

    That is the right thing to do – for both employers and employees.  

    So, let there be no doubt – we are still the party of business.  

    And we are willing to do the difficult things.  

    Be that a third runway at Heathrow, a step change at the CMA, or stopping endless court challenges over the job-creating projects this country needs. 

    We can share our ideas and ambition with each other. 

    Take the big bets.         

    Take some risks.

    Be the disruptors.

    My desire to be your champion in government has never wavered.  

    And it is as resolute now as ever. 

    We have to go further and faster in driving growth.  

    And, friends, together, I know that we will.   

    Thank you very much.

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI: Abaxx Will Expand Battery Metals Product Suite with Launch of Lithium Carbonate Futures on March 7, 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Abaxx Technologies Inc. (CBOE:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) (“Abaxx” or the “Company”), a financial software and market infrastructure company, indirect majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd. (“Abaxx Singapore”), the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, “Abaxx Exchange” and “Abaxx Clearing”), and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast, today announced that it will be expanding its battery metals product suite with the launch of 3 regional physically-deliverable Lithium Carbonate futures on March 7, 2025.

    Abaxx Lithium Carbonate futures mark a significant development as the world’s first physically deliverable lithium carbonate contracts priced in US dollars. These new contracts provide market participants with standardized and globally accessible pricing benchmarks, better aligning trade flows with physical market realities. By introducing a reliable and transparent mechanism for price discovery, the contracts enhance participants’ ability to manage risk in an increasingly dynamic and critical market. Each regional contract is a US dollar-denominated, DAP contract representing 1 tonne of lithium carbonate and is deliverable at ports in either Singapore, Rotterdam, or Baltimore.

    “The launch of Abaxx’s Lithium Carbonate futures introduces much-needed, physically deliverable benchmarks that reflect real market conditions, providing traders with a precise hedging instrument and greater optionality in managing supply chains,” said Sacha Lifschitz, Director of Metals Markets at Abaxx Exchange. “With contracts deliverable in Singapore, Rotterdam, and Baltimore, we’re aligning with global trade flows to offer more effective risk management and price transparency in a rapidly evolving battery metals market.”

    About Abaxx Technologies
    Abaxx is building Smarter Markets — markets empowered by better financial technology and market infrastructure to address our biggest challenges, including the energy transition. In addition to developing and deploying financial technologies that make communication, trade, and transactions easier and more secure, Abaxx is an indirect majority-owner of subsidiaries Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing, recognized by MAS as a “recognised market operator” (RMO) and “approved clearing house” (ACH), respectively.

    Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing are a Singapore-based commodity futures exchange and clearinghouse, introducing centrally cleared, physically deliverable commodities futures and derivatives to provide better price discovery and risk management tools for the commodities critical to our transition to a lower-carbon economy.

    For more information please visit abaxx.techabaxx.exchange and smartermarkets.media.

    For more information about this press release, please contact:

    Steve Fray, CFO
    Tel: +1 647-490-1590

    Media and investor inquiries:

    Abaxx Technologies Inc.
    Investor Relations Team
    Tel: +1 246 271 0082
    E-mail: ir@abaxx.tech

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

    This press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” which do not consist of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe Abaxx’s future plans, objectives, or goals, including words to the effect that Abaxx expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as “seeking”, “should”, “intend”, “predict”, “potential”, “believes”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “estimates”, “may”, “could”, “would”, “will”, “continue”, “plan” or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Since forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to Abaxx, Abaxx does not provide any assurance that actual results will meet respective management expectations. Risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

    Forward-looking information related to Abaxx in this press release includes, but is not limited to: Abaxx’s objectives, goals or future plans; completion and timing of the launch of its lithium carbonate contracts; benefits of the introduction of its lithium carbonate contracts; introduction of new battery materials products; and, positive impacts from the growth of global battery metal demand. Such factors impacting forward-looking information include, among others: risks relating to the global economic climate; dilution; Abaxx’s limited operating history; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; the competitive nature of the industry; currency exchange risks; the need for Abaxx to manage its planned growth and expansion; the effects of product development and need for continued technology change; protection of proprietary rights; the effect of government regulation and compliance on Abaxx and the industry; acquiring and maintaining regulatory approvals for Abaxx’s products and operations; the ability to list Abaxx’s securities on stock exchanges in a timely fashion or at all; network security risks; the ability of Abaxx to maintain properly working systems; reliance on key personnel; global economic and financial market deterioration impeding access to capital or increasing the cost of capital; and volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance. In addition, particular factors which could impact future results of the business of Abaxx include but are not limited to: operations in foreign jurisdictions, protection of intellectual property rights, contractual risk, third-party risk; clearinghouse risk, malicious actor risks, third- party software license risk, system failure risk, risk of technological change; dependence of technical infrastructure; and changes in the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labor and international travel and supply chains, and the risk factors identified in the Company’s most recent management discussion and analysis filed on SEDAR+. Abaxx has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of Abaxx’s normal course of business.

    Abaxx cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. In addition, although Abaxx has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. When relying on forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Abaxx has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraphs will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release represents the expectations of Abaxx as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Abaxx undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and information. Cboe Canada does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

    The MIL Network