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  • MIL-OSI Security: Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim Remarks at the American Bar Association Antitrust Section Fall Forum

    Source: United States Attorneys General 13

    “November Rain”: Antitrust Enforcement on Behalf of American Consumers and Taxpayers

    Good morning, and thank you for the kind introduction.  I’d like to thank the American Bar Association for your invitation to this year’s Fall Forum and Deb Garza for her leadership of the Section this year. 

    I find it hard to believe it’s been only a little more than a year since I was confirmed as AAG and spoke at last year’s Fall Forum.  Over the past year, the Antitrust Division has been hard at work on behalf of American consumers. We made a number of significant enforcement actions this week, but before I turn to those, I’d like to update you on a few recent changes in the Front Office. 

    First, Michael Murray recently joined us from the Deputy Attorney General’s office, where he served as Associate Deputy Attorney General.  Mike now will be a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Front Office, where he will be overseeing our Appellate Section and our 4A damage actions on behalf of the American taxpayer.  Mike has significant appellate experience, including as a law clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy. 

    In addition, our new acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics is Jeff Wilder.  Jeff received his Ph.D. from MIT and has distinguished himself as an outstanding economist serving as one of the leaders in the Division’s Economic Analysis Group, and we’re happy to have him join us in the Front Office.

    Some of you may remember that at last year’s Fall Forum, I spoke about antitrust and deregulation.  In those remarks, I focused on remedies, including our preference for structural remedies and our emphasis on making consent decrees more enforceable.  I also discussed our commitment to the view that antitrust enforcement is law enforcement, not industrial regulation, and that the Antitrust Division should strive to accomplish its law enforcement mission in the most efficient and effective way possible.  The Division has stood by those principles. 

    More recently, in a speech at Georgetown, I announced several improvements to the merger review process.  We are making good on those changes as well.  Today, we posted a model timing agreement and a model voluntary request letter on our website.  Those documents increase transparency and predictability and will help merging businesses and their counsel know what to expect as part of the merger review process.  We’ve also begun tracking the duration of merger reviews more carefully, so that we can monitor our performance and factors affecting it.  You will recall our goal is to resolve investigations within six months of filing, provided that the parties cooperate and comply with our document and data requests during the entire process.

    I would like to focus the remainder of my remarks today on four important settlements in the last week that reflect the Antitrust Division’s commitment to vigilant and effective antitrust enforcement. 

    As some of you may have seen, the Division announced just yesterday a set of global settlements with three South Korean companies.  Those unprecedented settlements resolve criminal charges and civil claims arising from a bid-rigging conspiracy that targeted fuel supply contracts to U.S. military bases in South Korea.  They are the result of tremendous hard work in parallel criminal and civil investigations by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section, the Transportation, Energy, and Agriculture Section, and the Fraud Section of the Civil Division.  We were assisted ably by our partners at the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

    The United States currently maintains numerous military bases in South Korea, housing American soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors in the region.  These military bases need fuel for various purposes, and two Department of Defense agencies, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), contract with South Korean companies to supply fuel to the numerous U.S. military bases throughout South Korea. 

    Our investigation, which is ongoing, revealed that SK Energy, GS Caltex, Hanjin Transportation, along with other co-conspirators, rigged bids and fixed prices for fuel supply contracts issued by the U.S. military in South Korea for over a decade.  They cheated the Military and American taxpayers out of precious limited resources.  As a result of the conspiracy, the Department of Defense paid substantially more for fuel supply services.  Although the immediate victim here was the U.S. military, the American taxpayer, you and me, ultimately footed the bill. 

    The three companies agreed yesterday to plead guilty to criminal charges under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, and they will pay at least $82 million in criminal fines for their involvement in the conspiracy.  Importantly, the three defendants have also agreed to cooperate with the ongoing criminal investigation of the conduct. 

    Robert Jackson, who is one of my legal heroes, recognized that bid rigging is particularly harmful to government purchasers.  When he served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, Jackson broadly denounced arrangements that “compel purchasers to pay a price based on calculation, not competition,” and specifically emphasized that “[w]hatever the effect of this on private buyers, it completely destroys the mechanism set up by federal, state, and municipal governments to keep favoritism and corruption out of public buying.”

    The harm Jackson recognized still exists today, and these settlements serve as an important reminder that the Justice Department and its law enforcement partners will investigate aggressively and prosecute without hesitation companies who cheat the United States government and the American taxpayer. 

    We did not stop there.  We are committed to using all authorities Congress has granted to us to remedy antitrust injuries to the American taxpayer.  Those tools include the authority conferred in Section 4A of the Clayton Act.  Section 4A is an important but underused enforcement tool that allows the government to recover treble damages for antitrust violations when the government itself is the victim. 

    To that end, the Division established a parallel civil enforcement team, led by Kathy O’Neill and a group of capable litigators from the Transportation, Energy, and Agriculture Section to pursue parallel civil actions for damages.  We negotiated separate civil resolutions with each of the three defendants on behalf of American taxpayers.  We also worked alongside our partners in the Civil Division’s Fraud Section, who pursued charges against the defendants under the False Claims Act for making false statements to the government in connection with their conspiracy. 

    To resolve both the civil antitrust and the False Claims Act violations, these three defendants have agreed to pay an additional $154 million in total.  They also have agreed to cooperate fully with the Division’s ongoing civil investigation and to implement effective antitrust compliance programs.

    These historic cases mark the first significant settlements under Section 4A in many years.  In fact, as far as we can tell based on our records, they are the largest settlements the government has ever recovered since the enactment of Section 4A.    

    Let me take a step back to review the history of Section 4A. 

    When Congress enacted the Sherman Act in 1890 and the Clayton Act in 1914, neither statute contained a provision specifically allowing the government to recover damages it suffered as a result of an antitrust violation.  In 1939, the United States, led by Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold, brought its first-ever antitrust suit for damages on its own behalf.   The government claimed authority to do so under Section 7 of the Sherman Act, which was the predecessor of Section 4 of the Clayton Act.  As most of you know, Section 4 permits “any person” injured by an antitrust violation to recover the damages they suffered. 

    In that pioneering case, United States v. Cooper, the government alleged that eighteen defendants had “collusively fixed” bids that were “identical to the penny on eighty-two different sizes of tires” sold to the United States.  The defendants successfully moved to dismiss the action on the question of whether the government is a “person” entitled to bring an action for damages under the statute.  The Second Circuit affirmed, and the Supreme Court ultimately held that the United States is not a “person” entitled to sue. 

    In 1955, Congress amended the Clayton Act in response to the Court’s ruling in Cooper by adding Section 4A.  As originally enacted, Section 4A allowed the government to recover only single damages, so that the government could recover damages where it was the victim of an antitrust violation. 

    At first, the Division used Section 4A aggressively, filing numerous cases for damages throughout the 1960s and 1970s.  In the 1980s, however, the government brought only four cases under Section 4A—a remarkable decline from the prior two decades.  Some attributed this drop, in part, to the Supreme Court’s Illinois Brick decision in 1978, because many of the cases brought in the ‘60s and ‘70s involved claims by the United States as an indirect purchaser.  The government, however, increasingly purchases goods and services directly.

    The next milestone came in 1990, when Congress amended the Clayton Act again to allow the government to seek treble damages in Section 4A cases. 

    Since 1990, a span of nearly thirty years, only three Section 4A cases have been filed.  In 1991, the Division recovered $250,000 from two companies for rigging bids to purchase surplus gunpowder.  In 1994, the Division filed suit against two defense contractors for entering into a “teaming” arrangement that eliminated competition in supplying the Department of Defense with cluster bombs.  In that case, the Division recovered $4 million on behalf of American taxpayers and obtained an $8 million discount on the bid price.  In 2012, the Division challenged collusion between two companies bidding on four natural gas leases at auctions run by the Bureau of Land Management.  The Division recovered $275,000 from each company. 

    The American Taxpayer deserves to see a revitalization of the government’s Section 4A authority.  This week’s settlements are only the first in that direction.  Going forward, the Division will exercise 4A authority to seek compensation for taxpayers when the government has been the victim of an antitrust violation.  We hope that these efforts will also deter future violations. 

    In light of our policy of seeking damages under Section 4A where available, I would like to address how parallel criminal and civil enforcement will proceed going forward. 

    First, the Division’s new focus on Section 4A enforcement will not require any changes to the Division’s leniency policy.  The Division offers strong incentives to come forward to report criminal antitrust violations in exchange for leniency, and those incentives do not change when the government is harmed by the violation. 

    The Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004, better known as ACPERA, created another valuable incentive for leniency applications.  Under ACPERA’s detrebling provision, those who successfully qualify for leniency will be subject only to single damages in follow-on civil suits, rather than treble damages.  In addition, those who successfully qualify for leniency are not subject to joint and several liability.

    This detrebling incentive will apply to any Section 4A claims brought by the government.  We will also follow the underlying requirements for ACPERA in Section 4A cases: companies will need to cooperate with the civil team, as they would with any private plaintiff, in order to reap the detrebling benefits.

    The bottom line is that the Division’s enforcement of Section 4A will increase the incentive for co-conspirators in cartel cases to come forward. 

    Separately, I should note that global resolutions like the ones announced yesterday should serve the interests of the parties as well.  Cooperating companies subject to penalties under multiple statutes can gain certainty and finality.  Employees, customers, and investors can resolve the problem and move on. This is consistent with the Department’s broader policies on coordination of corporate penalties.

    Next, as we pursue Section 4A damages going forward, global resolutions of criminal and civil antitrust liability will help maintain a consistent policy on how to calculate civil damages.  Yesterday’s settlements underscore this point.  They provide that SK Energy, GS Caltex, and Hanjin each will pay an amount calculated to exceed the overcharge paid by the government.  At the same time, the amount reflects both the value of the cooperation commitments each defendant made as a condition of settlement and the cost savings the Division realized by avoiding extended litigation.  

    As a general matter, if the government is required to litigate claims it brings under Section 4A, the government will seek treble damages.  In addition, we anticipate that earlier cooperators will benefit by paying a lower multiple of damages, because the value of their cooperation is higher earlier in our investigation. 

    I will turn now to another significant settlement the Division filed this week, one which resolves a complaint against six broadcast television companies alleging that they engaged in widespread, unlawful sharing of non-public, competitively sensitive information.  Along with the complaint, the Division filed proposed final judgments requiring the companies to cease such conduct and to undergo rigorous compliance and reporting measures for the next seven years.

    We uncovered this conduct during our investigation into Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s proposed acquisition of Tribune Media Company, which has since been abandoned. 

    As we allege in the complaint, the defendants agreed in local broadcasting markets throughout the United States to exchange revenue pacing information and other competitively sensitive information.  “Pacing” compares a broadcast station’s revenues booked for a certain time period to the revenues booked in the same point in the previous year.  Pacing indicates how each station is performing versus the rest of the market and provides insight into each station’s remaining spot advertising for the period. 

    We discovered that the defendants had been exchanging pacing information either directly between stations or corporate headquarters, or indirectly through national representatives that help local stations sell advertisements to national advertisers.  By exchanging this information, the broadcasters were better able to anticipate whether their competitors were likely to raise, maintain, or lower spot advertising prices, which in turn helped inform the stations’ own pricing strategies and negotiations with advertisers.  As a result, the information exchanges harmed the competitive price-setting process.

    We have not heard any legitimate pro-competitive justification for this conduct.  We are therefore pleased that these companies recognized that a protracted investigation and litigation would serve no purpose, and we welcome their cooperation as our investigation continues.  We also want to remind businesses, as well as the antitrust practitioners that advise them, that agreements between competitors to exchange competitively sensitive information can violate the antitrust laws and lead to a civil enforcement action even if the conduct does not amount to the type of hard core cartel conduct that the Antitrust Division prosecutes criminally.

    Finally, this morning we announced the third significant enforcement resolution this week—a settlement with Atrium Health, formerly known as Carolinas Healthcare System.  We were joined in the settlement by the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, and we thank them for their partnership in this action.  The settlement resolves over two years of civil antitrust litigation challenging the hospital system’s use of anticompetitive steering restrictions in its contracts with major health insurers.  These steering restrictions prevented health insurers from promoting innovative health plans and more cost-effective healthcare providers.  

    Atrium is the dominant hospital system in the Charlotte, North Carolina metropolitan area.  It used its market power to limit major health insurers’ ability to introduce plans designed to encourage consumers to choose cost-effective healthcare providers.  Specifically, Atrium would agree to participate in a broad network plan only if the insurer would commit not to introduce other plans that would steer patients away from Atrium.  The steering restrictions also deliberately constrained insurers from providing consumers with transparency into the comparative cost and quality of their healthcare alternatives.

    Because the steering restrictions were in place, insurers could not introduce more innovative health insurance plans that create financial incentives for patients to use lower-cost healthcare services.  Needless to say, competition for patients encourages healthcare providers to reduce costs, lower prices, and increase quality.  These steering restrictions inhibited competition among healthcare providers to provide higher quality, lower-cost services.  

    The resolution prevents Atrium from enforcing the steering restrictions in its contracts with major health insurers.  If approved by the Court, it will restore competition between healthcare providers in Charlotte, North Carolina.

    I would like to make a broader point about the Division’s settlements this week.  The consent decrees in all three cases, like all other decrees the Division has entered into the past 13 months, include specific new provisions designed to improve their enforceability. 

    These provisions (i) address the burden of proof in a civil contempt action by providing that the preponderance standard will apply; (ii) make defendants responsible for reimbursing the government for all costs it incurs in connection with enforcing the decree; (iii) allow the United States to seek a one-time extension of the term of the decree in the event of a violation, or to terminate the decree early if continuation is no longer necessary or in the public interest.  Another provision addresses interpretation of the decree by stating that courts can enforce any provisions that are stated specifically and in reasonable detail, whether or not they are clear and unambiguous on their face.

    The Division serves as a guardian of American consumers, and we act in the public’s trust.  When the Division enters into a consent decree to resolve charges of anticompetitive conduct, we will hold parties’ feet to the fire and enforce the decrees. 

    Finally, last Friday, three defendants pled guilty to conspiring to rig bids and allocate the market in auctions of foreclosed properties in Palm Beach County, Florida.  This case is unlike the Division’s prior foreclosure auction prosecutions because the auction occurred online rather than in-person, and the collusion occurred primarily by text message rather than in-person.  It is a good illustration of the fact that while defendants may use new platforms and technologies to commit antitrust crimes, the Division too is evolving and stands ready to prosecute these crimes in the digital age.

    The conspiracy took place in the aftermath of the financial crisis, which affected the housing market nationwide and the Florida real estate market in particular.  Defendants and their affiliated business entities were the largest buyers of foreclosed properties in Palm Beach County.  Together, the commerce affected by the defendants’ collusion was $25 million. 

    The Division began an investigation into possible collusion in online foreclosure auctions in Palm Beach County, Florida after receiving an anonymous citizen complaint that included a link to a YouTube video detailing the collusion. 

    Co-conspirators texted each other to coordinate their bidding and facilitate the conspiracy to obtain foreclosed homes at suppressed prices.  Most commonly, bidders would agree to stop bidding or to refrain from bidding at their co-conspirators’ request.  In some instances, they lowered bids for each other’s benefit. 

    After learning of the investigation, one of the defendants used and encouraged other co-conspirators to use a text messaging application to continue colluding.  He believed that law enforcement would be unable to read or trace any messages sent through the application.

    The three defendants were indicted by a grand jury in November 2017.  Since then, all three have pleaded guilty.

    I will conclude by taking this opportunity to highlight the outstanding attorneys and economists at the Antitrust Division.  They are the core of executing the Division’s mission and work tirelessly in their commitment to protect competition and consumers.    

    It has been a busy year at the Antitrust Division.  We have been working hard on behalf of America’s consumers and taxpayers, and look forward to continuing our efforts on their behalf in the year to come. 

    Thank you.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Assistant Attorney General Delrahim Delivers Remarks at the Antitrust Division’s Seventh Annual Diversity Celebration

    Source: United States Attorneys General 13

    Thank you, Matthew, for that kind introduction.

    And good afternoon everyone.  It is great to be joined by so many colleagues from across the Antitrust Division and beyond. 

    I would also like to acknowledge our special guest from the FBI, Special Agent Voviette Morgan.  I’m honored to be introducing Ms. Morgan and grateful she accepted my invitation to this year’s Annual Diversity Celebration. 

    This is my fourth Annual Diversity Celebration as Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division.  In my tenure, we have had some incredibly inspiring speakers: former Treasurer of the United States Anna Cabral, former FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie Liu. This annual event complements the regular opportunities we have throughout the year to discuss diversity and inclusion with distinguished guests.  Some of those outstanding events included Roberta Cordano, the President of Gallaudet University; Leslie Overton, a former DAAG at the Division; and Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison of Johns Hopkins University. 

    Before I hand things over to Special Agent Morgan, I’d like to pick up where Matthew left off and touch briefly on the Antitrust Division’s enduring commitment to diversity and inclusion.  When I rejoined the Division in 2017 as AAG, I pledged to build upon the Division’s robust support for diversity and inclusion to ensure a workplace tolerant and representative of a full diversity of ideas and backgrounds.  The Diversity Committee has helped ensure we honor that pledge, and I thank them for constantly bringing new ideas for furthering the Antitrust Division’s record as a place that welcomes diversity in all its forms. 

    This has been an extraordinarily challenging year for all of us.  We’ve been trying to do our part to advance the Division’s mission while trying to stop the spread of coronavirus in our communities, homeschooling our kids, providing eldercare, and supporting our families and neighbors in countless other ways.  All of this against a backdrop of recent events in our country that strike at our collective conscience. 

    I commend the Diversity Committee for juggling all of these challenges and yet remaining incredibly productive.  The Division remains a leader in advancing diversity within the Department because of this Committee’s innovation and sustained diligence.

    Matthew spoke about some of the recent Diversity Committee initiatives.  I’ll note that several of these key recommendations are the work of the newest subcommittee, the Women’s subcommittee.  Launched in 2019, this subcommittee hit the ground running and has made an indelible impact on the Division with initiatives such as the Stork program, the Parental Leave Q&A, and the Wellness/Lactation Rooms, all initiatives I am proud to have worked with you on these past several years.   

    Not to put too much pressure on the 2021 members of the Diversity Committee, but it is my hope that you will be just as successful as the 2020 and 2019 members have been.  Indeed, you’ll have an early opportunity to leave your mark on the Division as well with the creation of a new Subcommittee within the Diversity Committee – the Veterans Subcommittee.

    This subcommittee will launch next year with a focus on increasing awareness of reservists’ and veterans’ valuable contributions to the Division’s mission, and addressing some of the issues unique to their circumstances, with the overarching goal of improving recruiting and retention of veterans and reservists. 

    As you all know, in addition to recapping the Committee’s recent accomplishments, and previewing plans for the coming year, the Annual Celebration is also an opportunity to hear from a special guest speaker.

    Today’s speaker is in the mold of the impressive leaders who have celebrated with us in past years: I could not be happier to introduce FBI Special Agent in Charge, Voviette Morgan.  

    Special Agent Morgan is a trailblazing public servant that has inspired others to careers in public service and law enforcement.  A Los Angeles native, she joined the Bureau more than two decades ago focusing on white-collar crime.  She’s risen through the ranks and held several leadership positions in the Office of Public and Congressional Affairs and the Counterterrorism Division.  She has also served as the chief of the Internal Investigations Section in the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

    In August 2017, FBI Director Christopher Wray named Special Agent Morgan as the Special Agent in Charge of the Criminal Division for the Los Angeles Field Office, which is responsible for investigating all federal crimes in the Los Angeles area.[1]  

    Her office investigates everything from public corruption including police, law enforcement, legislative and judicial corruption, to organized crime and drug offenses, to a laundry list of white-collar crimes including antirust, financial institution and healthcare fraud.  Her office also investigates civil rights violations and human trafficking.  

    We know just how busy Special Agent Morgan is and we very much appreciate her spending time with us this afternoon. 

    From one Angeleno to another, I thank you, Voviette, for your tireless work protecting my beloved hometown.  It is my distinct privilege to welcome you to the Antitrust Division.

    I now will hand things over to our moderator, Michelle, and thank you for being with us today.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Serial Fraudster Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Stealing Nearly $3 Million and Five Indianapolis Homes

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    EVANSVILLE— James Henley, 35, of Greenwood, Indiana, has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, two counts of money laundering, and eight counts of wire fraud. Henley has also been ordered to pay $1,887,426.63 in restitution.

    According to court documents, over the course of three years, Henley orchestrated multiple large and complex fraud schemes, resulting in a total loss of $2,927,758.95 to individual homeowners, an Indiana attorney, a bank, and ten state governments. As part of his fraud schemes, Henley registered five fake businesses (OnTrack Real Estate Solutions, LDI Investments Corp, Lucario Investments, 317 Traffic, and Henley Real Estate Solutions) with the states of Indiana and Kentucky, claiming to serve as the Chief Executive Officer for most of them. None of the businesses were legitimate. Instead, Henley used the businesses to mask his identity, make his schemes appear more credible, and launder the stolen money.

    Henley’s schemes are broken down as follows:

    COVID-19 Fraud:

    Between May 2020 and March 2021, James Henley, his wife Jameka Henley, and his associate Jimmie Bickers used the stolen personally identifiable information of 76 real individuals to submit 120 unemployment insurance applications to ten states during the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the applications were approved, the trio used 65 unemployment insurance debit cards to make purchases at retailers and withdraw cash at ATMs in the Evansville and Indianapolis areas. The states paid a total of $1,119,426.63 in unemployment benefits in connection with the group’s fraudulent applications.  In July 2020, Henley used funds withdrawn from ATMs to buy a Chevrolet Camaro for $22,801.

    Bickers and Jameka Henley have been formally charged for their roles in this scheme but have not pleaded guilty.

    Home Title Fraud:

    Between December 2021 and May 2023, Henley stole five homes in Indianapolis by filing fraudulent deeds with the Marion County Recorder’s Office. Through the filings, Henley claimed that the homeowners had sold their homes to his fake businesses, but, in reality, he had never even spoken with the homeowners.  Unbeknownst to the victims, Henley filed these fraudulent deeds and then sold the homes for significantly less than their market value, pocketing more than $260,000 in profits.

    Henley also attempted to steal and sell an additional 14 homes in Indianapolis and Evansville.  With one exception, the individuals who bought the homes from Henley took possession and ultimately kept the homes.

    For one homeowner, the property Henley stole was her childhood home. She purchased the home while her mother was in the hospital with the hope that, when her mother’s condition improved, her mother would be able to live out her remaining years in the house.

    Mortgage Fraud:

    In November 2021, an associate of Henley’s purchased a home in Indianapolis, using a mortgage loan from a bank.  In April 2022, Henley filed a fraudulent document with the Marion County Recorder’s Office to make it seem as if the mortgage loan had been paid off, when it had not been paid. Henley then filed a deed naming himself a joint owner of the home. Henley and his associate subsequently sold the property for $255,000, pocketing all the proceeds, even though the bank should have received the majority of the funds.

    Auto Loan Fraud:

    In March 2023, Henley purchased a Dodge Durango in Indianapolis for $71,479, using an auto loan from Everwise Credit Union. A few months later, in June 2023, Henley purchased a Chevrolet Silverado in Plainfield for $54,270, using a second loan from Everwise Credit Union.

    In October 2023, Henley connected a JPMorgan Chase bank account to his auto loans, via Everwise’s online payment portal.  Henley falsely represented that the Chase account belonged to Jimmie Bickers, and that he had authority to make payments on his loans using funds from the Chase account.

    The Chase account was actually an Indiana attorney’s Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOLTA), which is a highly regulated bank account used by lawyers to hold client funds.  The interest earned on IOLTA accounts is used to fund grants for nonprofit groups that promote pro bono and access to justice programs. Henley did not have the attorney’s permission to access or withdraw funds from the IOLTA account.

    Between October and November 2023, Henley used the IOLTA account to make two payments, totaling $98,000, toward his auto loans.

    Henley has prior felony convictions for financial crimes, including theft, forgery, and fraud.

    “James Henley went to great lengths to coordinate exceptionally greedy, complex schemes that exploited hard-working families and state government programs,” said John E. Childress, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “Undeterred by prior felony convictions for the same conduct, this defendant stole over a million dollars, wreaking financial and logistical havoc on hundreds of victims. The Department of Justice will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of fraud and seek prosecution as appropriate.”

    “James Henley filed fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) claims in the names of identity theft victims in order to receive UI benefits to which he was not entitled. He enriched himself by defrauding a program that was intended to assist struggling American workers during an unprecedented global pandemic,” said Megan Howell, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Great Lakes Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General. “We and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting the integrity of the UI system from those who seek to exploit this critical benefit program.”

    “This lengthy prison sentence sends a clear message: individuals who attempt to exploit and commit financial crime and identity theft will be brought to justice,” said Ramsey E. Covington, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office. “IRS Criminal Investigation and our fellow law enforcement partners are committed to protecting the integrity of our financial institutions and will continue to hold criminals like James Henley accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

    “This case should serve as a powerful reminder that individuals with a history of financial crimes will face significant consequences when they demonstrate a blatant disregard for the law and continue to exploit and deceive others for personal gain,” said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Herbert J. Stapleton. “The FBI, working alongside our law enforcement partners, will continue to hold those who perpetuate such offenses accountable and protect the public from those who manipulate the system for their own benefit.”

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Department of Labor-Office of the Inspector General, and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office Homeowner Protection Unit investigated this case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Matthew B. Brookman.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Childress thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Miller, who prosecuted this case.

    On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID‑19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.

    Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID‑19  can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Jacksonville Convicted Child Sex Offender Pleads Guilty To Attempting To Entice A 13-Year-Old To Engage In Sexual Activity

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Jeremy Wayne Leggett (38, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a child to engage in sexual activity. Leggett faces a minimum penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison, and a potential lifetime term of supervised release. Leggett is a registered child sex offender, having been previously convicted in Florida in 2020 of traveling to meet a minor to commit an unlawful sexual offense and transmitting harmful materials to a minor. Leggett was arrested on June 19, 2023, and has been in custody since then. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 28, 2025.   

    According to court documents, on June 16, 2023, an undercover FBI agent (UC) in the Jacksonville area, posing as a minor child, was working online in a particular social media application (app) to identify individuals seeking to contact and engage in sexual activity with children. The UC engaged in an online conversation with an app user “dAddi” who posted a notice in a public chatroom that read “Lookingfor[under 18 emoji] wannaspoiladaughter.” During this online conversation, user “dAddi,” who was subsequently identified as Leggett, was advised that the “child” was 13 years old. Leggett asked if the “child” “[l]ike[d] older men,” and sent the “child” a photo of himself. After more conversation, Leggett suggested that they meet in person for sexual activity, and he sent the “child” an explicit photo of himself. On June 17, 18, and 19, 2023, Leggett reinitiated text messages with the UC and continued attempting to persuade the “child” to meet for sex and to send him sexually suggestive photos.

    On June 19, 2023, Leggett and the “child” made arrangements to meet at a location in Jacksonville. Later that evening, Leggett went to the agreed-upon location and drove around the parking lot for about 30 minutes. When law enforcement officers attempted to make contact with Leggett, he quickly reversed his vehicle and fled the scene. A short time later, officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and FBI agents located Leggett at a home in Jacksonville and he was arrested. 

    This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

    It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue child victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Devolution revolution: six areas to elect Mayors for first time

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Deputy Prime Minister brings six areas onto the Devolution Priority Programme with Mayors to be elected by May 2026 plus four new devolved institutions created.

    A major package of devolution has been announced today – with six new areas confirmed to join the government’s Devolution Priority Programme. 

    Delivering on the government’s commitment to widen devolution, areas will be given sweeping new powers, putting them on the fast track to deliver growth, opportunities, transport and housing for local communities.  

    The programme – one of the largest ever single packages of mayoral devolution in England – will support the areas to move towards devolution at pace, becoming mayor-led strategic authorities by May next year if they proceed.

    Today’s measures brings another 8.8m people under mayoral devolution – or another 15.38% of the population – bringing the total population who will see the benefit from devolution to over 44 million – close to 80% of the country.

    Greater devolution is key to unlocking regional growth, delivering on the government’s Plan for Change and putting more money into working people’s pockets, while also empowering them to direct change in their communities.

    For too long, political power has been hoarded in Whitehall. That’s why the government set out its proposals in the landmark English Devolution White Paper.

    The following areas agreed to join the programme:

    • Cumbria
    • Cheshire & Warrington
    • Norfolk & Suffolk
    • Greater Essex
    • Sussex & Brighton
    • Hampshire & Solent

    These six successful areas will now work to an ambitious devolution timetable, with full government backing, with consultations set to launch shortly. 

    In a further step forward for devolution being delivered at pace, today legislation comes into force to establish four new devolution institutions – as a result of devolution agreements confirmed by the Deputy Prime Minister last year

    This includes establishing two new mayoral authorities in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire, and the formation of combined county authorities in Devon and Torbay, and Lancashire.

    The government is also focused on fixing the foundations of local government, with simpler and more effective structures and a reduction in unnecessary layers of bureaucracy. Through a national programme of ambitious local government reform, the government will cut waste and improve accountability, ensuring taxpayers get value for money from their services. To achieve this, all councils in two-tier areas and small neighbouring unitary authorities are now being formally invited to develop unitary proposals – which will bring together lower and upper tier local government services in new unitary councils.   

    Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Angela Rayner said:

    The truth is that for all the promises of levelling up, central government’s first instinct is all too often to hoard power and hold our economy back. Too many decisions affecting too many people are made by too few.

    We promised to achieve a devolution revolution by overseeing the greatest transfer of power from Westminster in a generation, and today’s announcement will help raise living standards, improve public services and build the homes we so desperately need.

    By taking a common-sense approach to reorganisation, boosted by our reforms to give mayors a suite of vital new powers, we will make sure areas can truly deliver on our Plan for Change.

    Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon OBE MP said:

    In December, we asked areas to come forward to be part of our Devolution Priority Programme. The response was clear—this country is ready for change.

    While devolution can be hard to understand sometimes, the aims of this programme are simple: it puts more money in people’s pockets,  leads to quicker, better, cheaper transport, designed with local people in mind and puts politics back in the service of working people.

    Today’s announcements come just weeks after plans were set out in the English Devolution White Paper to grant mayors control over key areas including strategic planning, housing, transport and skills.

    This will equip these local leaders with the tools they need to deliver for their communities, putting England’s regions centre stage in the government’s Plan for Change missions to grow the economy, deliver 1.5 million homes, and boost opportunity across the country.

    The English Devolution Bill – which is due to be brought forward later this year – will also hardwire proposed new mayoral powers into law.

    In order to allow areas to deliver devolution to this ambitious timetable, the government has carefully considered requests from local councils to postpone a number of May 2025 local elections.

    The bar to postpone elections has been extremely high, and the government has been clear that delays will only be agreed where there is strong justification set out by the local authority. The government has agreed to half of these requests, and will postpone elections due in May 2025 until May 2026 for nine local councils. These councils made the strongest possible case that this is strictly necessary to deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe.

    There is an established precedent, including in the cases of North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Somerset elections, and Buckinghamshire district councils elections, under the previous government when reorganisation happened there. The legislation to enable this  will shortly be laid, subject to Parliamentary timetables. 

    In North Yorkshire, unitarisation enacted in 2023 has enabled the council to manage financial pressures though structural changes and service transformation, which is expected to achieve more than £40m in savings by March 2026. 

    Ministers will also continue to work with Lancashire, which is in a unique position as it is establishing a non-mayoral institution and is committed to reviewing its future devolution arrangements by the autumn, including steps to deepen devolution. This review will consider all options available for the area, including aligning with the Devolution Priority Programme when it concludes. 

    Also, given the urgency of creating sustainable unitary local government for Surrey, we will postpone the county election for that area from May 2025 to May 2026, helping to speed up reorganisation and deliver the local ambitions for devolution with the benefits it will bring.

    Updates to this page

    Published 5 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Ukraine has every right to determine its own future: UK Statement to the OSCE

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    UK Military Advisor, Joby Rimmer, says Russia’s war of aggression has achieved little except the catastrophic loss of life, the loss of Russia’s military credibility, and the loss of Russia’s international reputation.

    Thank you, Mr Chair. Sadly, we have started this year like the last, and the overwhelming concern of this forum remains: Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine. The UK remains resolutely committed to supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend their homeland. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the UK has provided over £3 billion per year in military, humanitarian and financial assistance, and this support will continue for as long as necessary to ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully restored.

    What has Russia accomplished so far? Russia’s full-scale invasion has been nothing short of a disaster. The Russian state’s bold assertion that the subjugation of Ukraine would be accomplished within a matter of days was made almost three years ago. Having failed in pursuit of its own strategic aims, the campaign has achieved little except the catastrophic loss of life on both sides, the loss of Russia’s military credibility, and the loss of Russia’s international reputation.

    The UN estimates that more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians and some 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed as a direct result of Russian aggression. Independent reports suggest approximately 830,000 Russian casualties, a number that demonstrates President Putin’s disregard for his own countrymen sent to fight in a war they did not choose. On 29th January alone, the Russian military lost 1,670 men with Russian casualties for January averaging over 1,500 per day. At the current rate of loss, Russia will have suffered over 1 million casualties by June 2025. As Russian casualties mount, Russian recruitment in Moscow has reduced, with military recruitment currently at 40 personnel a day, five times lower than the Summer-Autumn 2024 average of 200 recruits a day. Half of these recruits are reportedly indebted Russians and foreign nationals. The direct participation of DPRK troops in combat operations is another dangerous expansion of Putin’s illegal war. Of the 11,000 DPRK troops deployed in Kursk, reporting indicates that 4,000 are already casualties, including 1,000 fatalities.

    What has Russia accomplished militarily? Reports from the region paint a stark image of Russian military mediocrity. Russia has reportedly now lost over 3,700 Main Battle Tanks, over 8,000 armoured vehicles and 1,800 pieces of artillery. Any marginal Russian gains around Donetsk, Toretsk and Pokrovsk have been extremely costly, with progress augmented through the cynical use of glide bombs, drone and missile attacks, causing widespread damage to local housing, medical facilities and critical infrastructure. Independent reports state that Russia launched over 1,250 aerial bombs and over 1,000 attack drones into Ukraine in the last week of January. Nearly all resulted in civilian casualties.

    Last week, the Ukrainian army’s general staff reported that Russian forces bombed a boarding school in an area of Kursk under Ukrainian control, where civilians were sheltering and preparing to evacuate. Four people were killed and dozens injured. Russia’s continued disregard for human life cannot, and will not, be overlooked.

    Russia is also suffering the cost to its international reputation. The war in Ukraine clearly violates the UN Charter and contravenes our shared commitments of the Helsinki Final Act – respecting sovereignty, territorial integrity and the non-use of force. This full-scale invasion is not just an illegal act that contravenes international law; it is a serious miscalculation and one that fundamentally represents loss; most appallingly, the loss of human life, the loss of Russia’s international reputation, and the loss of Russia’s military credibility.

    Finally, the UK remains firm in its belief that any path to peace must be grounded in a position of strength for Ukraine. Ukraine must not be coerced into peace talks under duress or pressure from the aggressor. Ukraine has every right to determine its future, and its right to self-determination must be upheld. The UK is proud to be a steadfast friend of Ukraine and will not rest until Ukraine achieves peace on its own terms – Russia must cease hostilities in Ukraine and remove its forces from Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders. Thank you, Mr Chair.

    Updates to this page

    Published 5 February 2025

    Invasion of Ukraine

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Ivo raises $16M Series A to deliver reliable AI contract review at scale, as it launches Ivo Search Agent

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    San Francisco , Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Contract negotiation remains the most challenging bottleneck in the contract lifecycle, with legal teams spending hours on manual redlining and revisions while ensuring perfect accuracy. As contract volumes surge, in-house lawyers face mounting pressure to review more agreements than ever before – yet traditional automation tools prioritize speed over accuracy, forcing legal teams to choose between efficiency and reliability. Today, Ivo announces a $16 million Series A funding round to scale its AI-powered contract review solution that has already helped over 150 corporate legal teams negotiate their agreements. Ivo’s customers include companies like Canva, Fonterra, Pipedrive, Weightwatchers, Eventbrite, Blue Cross Blue Shield Kansas City, and several Fortune 500’s.

    The Series A funding round is led by Costanoa Ventures, with participation from Fika Ventures, Uncork Capital, NFDG, Blackbird VC, GD1, and Phase One Ventures. It brings Ivo’s total funding to $22.2 million, following early backing from Daniel Gross and a $4.8 million seed round led by Fika Ventures and Uncork Capital. 

    Ivo founders: Jacob Duligall and Min-Kyu Jung.

    Ivo has developed a breakthrough approach to contract review that sets new standards for accuracy. The platform automatically checks agreements against company requirements, generates specific suggestions for resolving discrepancies, and creates compromise language between conflicting clauses. Unlike competitors that treat legal review as a simple automation problem, Ivo’s sophisticated AI produces naturalistic redlines that mirror the work of experienced attorneys, maintaining consistent terminology and making minimal necessary changes. 

    “When I was a corporate lawyer, contract review was amongst the most manual and time-consuming tasks,” says Min-Kyu Jung, CEO and Co-founder of Ivo. Determined to solve this problem himself, Jung left his legal career, taught himself to code, and began building what would become Ivo. After speaking with hundreds of legal professionals and iterating through multiple versions of the product, his team developed a solution that lawyers could use in confidence.

    The impact on legal teams has been immediate and significant. “Ivo reduced our average time to approve counterparty NDAs for signatures from four days to two, while first pass turn improved from an average of 11 hours to 5 minutes,” says Adrie Christiansen, Legal Operations Lead at Quora. Similarly, Geotab’s legal team reports an average savings of 45 minutes per contract review – a 75% efficiency gain that allows their lawyers to focus on strategic work. This improvement comes without sacrificing accuracy, as Ivo’s transparency allows lawyers to understand and validate every suggestion. The platform has proven particularly valuable for high-volume contract review, where maintaining consistency across thousands of agreements is critical. Through extensive customization options and playbook features, legal teams can establish clear guardrails that enable business users to handle initial contract reviews while ensuring proper escalation protocols.

    The timing of Ivo’s expansion is critical. As artificial intelligence emerges as potentially the most transformative technology since the internet, legal teams face mounting pressure to adopt solutions that can scale their capabilities. Yet most AI tools lack the sophistication to handle complex legal analysis, creating more work for lawyers who must double-check every output. With its team of in-house lawyers continually refining and enhancing the platform, Ivo has developed an approach that augments rather than replaces legal judgment – acting as a “powerful force multiplier” for teams handling increasingly large volumes of contracts.

    The Ivo Search Agent: running a query.

    Today’s launch of Ivo Search Agent marks another milestone in the company’s mission to transform how legal teams work. This new capability revolutionizes contract search and analysis by eliminating the need for manual metadata tagging — a significant pain point in traditional contract lifecycle management systems. Legal teams can now search and generate reports across their entire contract portfolio regardless of where documents are stored, whether in cloud storage solutions like Box and SharePoint or local computers. The system works seamlessly across various data sources, including CLM integrations, requiring minimal implementation while delivering comprehensive insights.

    “Ivo is fundamentally transforming contract review for lawyers and legal teams,” said Amy Cheetham, Partner at Costanoa Ventures. “By leveraging AI to manage the meticulous, painstaking work of contract review, Ivo gives legal teams tools designed by lawyers to work faster with greater accuracy. In a world where legal organizations are constantly under pressure to meet business demands and improve efficiency, the launch of Ivo’s new search tool will allow legal teams to search and generate reports across their entire contract portfolio, significantly reducing their workload and increasing efficiency.”

    “The legal profession is in the early stages of an AI-driven transformation,” adds Min-Kyu Jung. “We’re building Ivo to ensure this change enhances rather than diminishes the crucial role of legal judgment. Our vision is to give every legal team the power to handle enterprise-scale contract volumes while maintaining the highest standards of accuracy and control.”

    Ends 

    Media images can be found here.

    About Ivo
    Ivo is on a mission to reduce the time, effort and cost spent on contracts. Ivo was founded out of a belief that contracts are foundational to commerce. The founders saw first-hand how contract review was slowing down mission-critical projects, and decided to do something about it.

    Founded in New Zealand and now headquartered in San Francisco, Ivo powers the world’s most comprehensive and accurate AI Contract Review platform, designed to help legal and business teams accelerate time-to-close and unblock contracts from key business processes.

    By using AI to reduce the time, effort, and cost of negotiating contracts, Ivo makes it easier for businesses to work together. For more information please visit https://www.ivo.ai/ or follow via LinkedIn 

    About Costanoa Ventures
    Founded in 2012, Costanoa Ventures partners with technical and product founders as early as company formation, with a focus on apps and infrastructure in data, dev and fintech. Costanoa is a long-term partner to entrepreneurs who want hands-on help in their earliest company stages on all things go-to-market and talent. For more information, please visit https://costanoa.vc/

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch: “We need an Attorney General who will share my shock in a President acting in such a lawless way.”

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)

    Before voting NO on Bondi’s nomination for Attorney General, Welch took to the Senate Floor to urge his colleagues to stand up against Trump’s illegal power grab
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, took to the Senate Floor late last night before voting against Pam Bondi’s nomination for Attorney General of the United States. Senator Welch cited President Trump’s lawlessness, and Ms. Bondi’s unwillingness to stand up against President Trump and preserve an independent Department of Justice. He called on his colleagues to  stop enabling Trump’s illegal and cruel overreach of his authority.  
    Watch more here:  

    Senator Welch’s Committee and Subcommittee Assignments for the 119th Congress include:   
    Senate Committee on Finance 
    Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry   

    Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit   

    Senate Committee on the Judiciary   

    Ranking Member, Subcommittee on the Constitution   

    Senate Committee on Rules & Administration  
    Senator Peter Welch has spent the bulk of his life working to improve the lives of folks who too often get left behind. After fighting housing discrimination in Chicago, he enrolled in law school at the UC-Berkeley, and later settled in White River Junction, Vermont, where he worked as a public defender before founding a small law practice. He was first elected to represent Windsor County in the Vermont Senate in 1980. Senator Welch was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served for 16 years before being elected to the Senate in 2022. In the Senate, he’s focused on lowering costs for Vermonters, making Washington work better for Vermont, and protecting civil rights and democracy in America and abroad.   

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: A Warning from GAO – America’s Fiscal Health at Risk

    Source: US Government Accountability Office

    WASHINGTON (February 5, 2025) As the federal government’s publicly held debt continues to grow, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) today issued its annual report on the nation’s fiscal health. The report again warns Congress and the Administration about the federal government’s long-term fiscal path and calls for decisive action. As it has since 2017, GAO recommends a strategy be developed to inform the difficult policy choices in addressing our unsustainable fiscal path. 

    “With this report, we project that public debt will reach an unprecedented level by 2027,” said Gene L. Dodaro, U.S. Comptroller General and head of the GAO. “We’re calling on Congress and the Administration to act now to develop and implement a strategy to address this acute challenge. Inaction could result in great difficulties for many Americans and impede policymakers’ flexibility to respond to future economic recessions or unexpected events.”

    Unless spending and revenue policies change, the debt will continue to grow faster than the economy—even during times of growth. This is unsustainable. In fiscal year (FY) 2024, the government spent over $1.8 trillion more than it took in, marking the fifth year in a row with a deficit above $1 trillion. This gap will continue to grow as revenue is not expected to cover growing spending for mandatory programs like Social Security and Medicare. The government will have to keep borrowing to finance budget deficits each year. GAO projects that, absent a change in fiscal policy, debt held by the public will grow more than twice as fast as the economy over a 30-year period and will be double the size of the U.S. economy by 2047.

    Similar to other borrowers, the government has to pay interest on its debt. As the debt increases and interest rates rise, the government’s annual spending on interest costs have grown dramatically—and will continue to grow without policy changes. In FY 2024, the government spent $882 billion on net interest—more than was spent on national defense or Medicare. Annual spending on net interest has more than tripled since FY 2017, when it was $263 billion. We estimate spending on interest will be more than $1 trillion in FY 2025.  The growing debt and interest costs pose serious economic, security, and social challenges to the U.S.

    Higher interest rates for the government mean higher interest rates for individuals, households, and businesses. This adversely impact the lives of Americans who may experience higher borrowing costs, stagnant wages, and more expensive goods and services. Find out more with GAO’s new resource, How Could the Federal Debt Affect You?

    GAO’s past and current work supports a strategy for long-term fiscal sustainability. That strategy, outlined in today’s report, calls on the federal government to:

    • Establish fiscal rules and targets to address spending and revenue imbalances
    • Address financing gaps for Social Security and Medicare
    • Reduce improper payments and improve fraud risk management
    • Replace the debt limit with an approach linking debt decisions to spending and revenue decisions. Statutory changes are needed to avert the risk of government default and its potentially severe consequences.

    The sooner the federal government takes action to address the nation’s fiscal outlook, the less drastic those efforts will need to be. Congress and the administration will need to make difficult budgetary and policy decisions to address the key drivers of the debt and alter the government’s fiscal trajectory.

    For more information, visit GAO’s web page, America’s Fiscal Future, or contact Jessica Baxter at media@gao.gov.

    #####

    The Government Accountability Office, known as the investigative arm of Congress, is an independent, nonpartisan agency that exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities. GAO also works to improve the performance of the federal government and ensure its accountability to the American people. The agency examines the use of public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies; and provides analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO provides Congress with timely information that is objective, fact-based, nonideological, fair, and balanced. GAO’s commitment to good government is reflected in its core values of accountability, integrity, and reliability.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why is Trump’s preferential treatment of Russia shifting? Because there’s nothing in it for him

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser University

    When Donald Trump assumed power in the United States for a second time, it was initially assumed that it didn’t bode well for Ukraine.

    During his first term, Trump maintained questionable connections to Russia. Furthermore, his claim that he would end the Russia-Ukraine conflict in a day — with Russia still occupying much of Ukraine — led many analysts to believe that any such policy would favour the Russians.



    Read more:
    Can Trump deliver on his promise to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?

    These fears, at least so far, have not come to pass. In Trump’s inaugural address, many of the items he highlighted on the campaign trail figured prominently.

    Noticeably absent, however, was Ukraine. When it comes to Trump’s “America First,” philosophy, Ukraine and Russia have seemingly lost significance.

    Strategy of distraction

    Trump, with his bombastic nature, dominates the media cycle. His proclamations, social media statements threats and insults occur with such regularity that it’s difficult for anyone to keep pace.

    Just as one news item comes into focus, a new comment or ultimatum overtakes it.

    In many ways, this works to Trump’s advantage. People can be too distracted by the latest outlandish statement to pay close attention as Trump pursues his ambitious domestic policy goals. Lost in the media turmoil of Trump’s executive orders, tariff threats and heightened deportation campaign has been a shift on Russia and Ukraine.

    Ukraine, for Trump, is a secondary concern. His priorities, first and foremost, are domestic and aimed at remaking America.

    As such, rather than being driven by any foreign policy goals, Trump’s engagement with Ukraine and Russia will be determined by how he perceives he can benefit domestically in return. His calculations, in this regard, appear to have shifted.

    Complicated relationship with Ukraine

    Trump’s relationship with Ukraine during his first term was, to put it mildly, difficult. His infatuation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and Russia’s open disdain for Ukraine, caused him to largely ignore the country.

    When he did pay attention to Ukraine, it was as part of an effort to acquire information to damage his presumed political rival, former president Joe Biden. This effort resulted in Trump withholding aid from Ukraine unless it acquiesced to his demands.

    Trump’s position on Ukraine, however, has shifted over time. His antagonistic relationship with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has seemingly improved.

    While there are still tension points, most notably when Zelenskyy visited Pennsylvania during the U.S. presidential election campaign, Trump has moderated his comments on his Ukrainian counterpart. Ukraine’s purchase of American equipment and ammunition, furthermore, supports Trump’s focus on domestic production.

    Lastly, Trump has expressed interest in accessing Ukraine’s rare earth metals. China currently dominates the rare earth metal market, which puts the U.S. at a disadvantage due to the minerals’ importance for future technological innovation. That means Trump has a stake in Ukraine’s future.

    These developments don’t mean the relationship is perfect. Instead, Trump is unlikely to be a burden to Ukraine, and this development is in part due to his declining view of Putin.

    Trump/Putin relationship

    The initial assumption of many analysts when Trump came to power again was that he would immediately favour Putin. The close relationship between the two is well-documented, and has been open to considerable speculation as to why Trump courted such favour with Putin in his first term.

    Trump, however, has upped his rhetoric against Russia since assuming the presidency. First, he threatened Putin with additional economic sanctions. Second, he stated that he would like OPEC to increase oil production and therefore inhibit Russia’s war effort by undermining its primary source of revenue.

    Why the pivot? It likely goes to the core foundation of Trump’s persona: he likes winners. Regardless of the ultimate outcome of the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia and Putin have displayed considerable weakness in execution during the war. The Russian military, once feared globally, has largely proven to be a paper tiger.

    While Russia still has several advantages in the war, it is only doing so by leveraging its future. According to Trump, Russia is in “big trouble” in terms of its economic woes. Trump is not alone in this view. Analysts, as well as perhaps Putin himself, recognize the serious challenges facing the Russian economy.

    It’s not just economically that Russia has leveraged its future. To avoid straining the Russian people, Putin has reached a deal with North Korea, which is providing soldiers for the war against Ukraine.



    Read more:
    Amid the West’s wavering aid to Ukraine, North Korea backs Russia in a mutually beneficial move

    Furthermore, Russia has deepened ties with Iran in exchange for Iranian drones.

    What Putin has provided North Korea and Iran in exchange for these soldiers is unclear. That said, Russia can only provide any technological exchanges for these soldiers and drones one time, as once shared, the same technology cannot be part of other arrangements. This reality limits Russia’s influence in the years ahead.

    The new art of the deal?

    Trump, almost certainly, wants to make a peace deal on Ukraine. It would burnish his reputation as a statesman while simultaneously demonstrating American strength and influence to the world at a minimal cost to the U.S.

    The terms of that deal, however, have shifted in the face of Russian weakness.

    That’s why it’s not surprising that the mercurial Trump has pivoted his stance on Russia. Until Russia can display the strength that Trump thought it possessed, he’s unlikely to do the Russians any favours in the future.

    James Horncastle 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. Why is Trump’s preferential treatment of Russia shifting? Because there’s nothing in it for him – https://theconversation.com/why-is-trumps-preferential-treatment-of-russia-shifting-because-theres-nothing-in-it-for-him-248365

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: E Ink to Showcase 75” E Ink Kaleido™ 3 Outdoor Large Area Color Signage at Integrated Systems Europe 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BILLERICA, Mass., Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — E Ink (8069.TWO), the originator, pioneer, and global commercial leader in ePaper technology, today announced they will be showing their largest color signage offering to date, a 75” E Ink Kaleido™ 3 Outdoor, at the Integrated Systems Europe 2025 (ISE) show in Barcelona starting February 4. Attendees of ISE can experience the 75” display at the Fira Barcelona from February 4 through February 7 in the Samsung Electronics booth (#3F500), LG Electronics booth (#3K100), the DynaScan booth (#3C700) and the Agile Display Solutions booth (#4A500).

    “As more countries look to reduce their carbon footprint and increase the sustainability of their communities, the benefits of an E Ink display, with its low power consumption and non-light pollution characteristics, can bring real change to indoor and outdoor DOOH signage,” said Dr. F.Y. Gan, President of E Ink. “Our largest E Ink Kaleido display to date offers a compelling solution to address the need for a dynamic display that also provides environmental solutions.”

    The 75” E Ink Kaleido 3 Outdoor display offers print-color ePaper designed specifically for Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising signage market, and it is suitable for outdoor use in varying temperature ranges. It offers dynamic color display capabilities, poster-like visual quality, and a low-carbon and eco-friendly display solution.

    E Ink Kaleido Outdoor 3 is based on print-color ePaper technology and utilizes an RGB color filter array on black and white electronic paper film to create a warm and colorful display, offering 4,096 colors and clear text, providing a comfortable and non-irritating color digital content viewing experience with a visual impact close to that of color printed paper signage. E Ink Kaleido 3 Outdoor’s operating temperature range is between -15°C to 65°C, which allows it to operate in extremely cold or hot areas without the need for expensive, high-energy-consuming heating or cooling devices, reducing additional power consumption.

    Many European countries are facing an energy crisis and new regulations have been put in place to limit the operating hours of digital signage. However, E Ink Kaleido 3 Outdoor uses very little power, and can even run on renewable energy from solar panels, without relying on electricity from the grid. That means it can replace energy-hungry digital signage and conform to the new restrictions. When used for outdoor information displays, E Ink Kaleido 3 Outdoor color ePaper allows for quick and easy updates of information. It’s much more functional and environmentally friendly than traditional paper posters and display boards.

    E Ink adheres to its commitment to sustainable development by leveraging its unique PESG framework to provide low-carbon display solutions, contributing to the realization of a net-zero society. According to FTSE Russell’s assessment, 99.9% of E Ink’s product sales revenue qualifies as green revenue. Additionally, Moody’s Ratings has issued a Second Party Opinion (SPO) on E Ink’s green loans, confirming their compliance with the Green Loan Principles (2023) and assigning a high sustainability score of “SQS2 Very Good,” recognizing the exceptional environmental contributions and international standards compliance of E Ink’s ePaper products.

    E Ink is dedicated to providing energy-efficient, light-pollution-free, eco-friendly, and visually beneficial products for smart cities and broader communities. Research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health highlights that ePaper, operating without self-lighting and emitting no blue light, does not harm human eyes, and provides up to three times better eye health compared to LCD displays. Furthermore, ePaper is the first display technology globally to receive certification from the International Dark-Sky Association. Compared to paper and LCD displays, ePaper offers significant energy savings and low-carbon benefits. For example, ePaper used in smart bus stop signage, powered by solar energy systems, enables 100% renewable energy usage without requiring connection to the power grid, making it an ideal solution for achieving global net-zero carbon goals.

    About E Ink
    E Ink Holdings Inc. (8069.TWO), based on technology from MIT’s Media Lab, provides an ideal display medium for applications spanning eReaders and eNotes, retail, home, hospital, transportation, logistics, and more, enabling customers to put displays in locations previously impossible. E Ink’s electrophoretic display products make it the worldwide leader for ePaper. Its low power displays enable customers to reach their sustainability goals, and E Ink has pledged using 100% renewable energy in 2030 and reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040. E Ink has been recognized for their efforts by receiving, validation from Science-Based Targets (SBTi) and is listed in both the DJSI World and DJSI Emerging Indexes. Listed in Taiwan’s Taipei Exchange (TPEx) and the Luxembourg market, E Ink Holdings is now the world’s largest supplier of ePaper displays. For more information please visit www.eink.com. E Ink. We Make Surfaces Smart and Green.

    Contacts
    V2 Communications on behalf of E Ink
    eink@v2comms.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/83d1ff0d-018c-459d-87fe-b2295ec0050e

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Mass influxes of wounded patients arrive at hospitals across Sudan as “war on people” continues

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    • MSF teams have responded to mass casualty events in three areas in Sudan in the last few days.
    • These deplorable attacks on people show how little respect is being given towards civilian life.
    • We are urging the warring parties to protect civilian life.

    Port Sudan – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in three different parts of Sudan – Khartoum, North Darfur, and South Darfur states – treated mass influxes of war-wounded patients in the last few days. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues, with little respect shown for civilian life.

    On 4 February in Nyala, South Darfur, 21 injured patients were brought to the MSF-supported Nyala Teaching hospital after airstrikes by the SAF hit a peanut oil factory, with reports of 25 people killed. On 3 February, airstrikes hit residential areas of Nyala, destroying civilian houses. The airstrikes took place in the afternoon when many people were around. Thirty-two people were reportedly killed and dozens injured, with many patients brought to the Nyala Teaching hospital.

    An MSF doctor was working in the hospital when the airstrikes took place.

    “The bombing was near the hospital. We felt the building shaking. Once I went to the emergency room the situation was horrible,” they say. “Blood was everywhere, some patients were suffering from fractures, some had limbs amputated. While I was going around the ER, I saw two children. One was four years old; the other was two years old. Their aunt told us that this child had lost three of her siblings and her mother had died, and only her older brother and father survived because they were at work.”

    Civilians have also been killed in El Fasher, North Darfur state, the scene of fierce clashes in recent months. Over the last few days MSF teams have been treating wounded civilians in Zamzam camp after escalating heavy fighting between the RSF and SAF and their Joint Forces allies resulted in scores of casualties. On 2 February, the MSF field hospital in Zamzam camp received 21 wounded patients, more than half of whom were children, who had been injured while fleeing Shagra, a village in El Fasher locality.

    MSF’s field hospital in Zamzam is for paediatric and maternal healthcare and not equipped to handle trauma injuries requiring surgery. The only remaining surgical services were a few kilometres away, yet people were unable to use the road between Zamzam and El Fasher due to the ongoing fighting and shifting frontlines.

    Patients in critical condition were trapped in Zamzam camp with no access to lifesaving care. Four patients were among the wounded who passed away, five patients were successfully referred to El Fasher on 3 February, where Saudi hospital remains somewhat functional despite relentless attacks, with a recent bombing of the facility on 24 January reportedly killing 70 people.

    Thousands of people fleeing from Shagra have arrived in Zamzam in recent days, leaving everything behind in desperate search of safety. They have told our teams of horrific violence in the area. About 60 families from Shagra also reached Tawila, where MSF runs an emergency programme providing emergency, nutritional, paediatric, and maternal healthcare. They told MSF teams that people were robbed and attacked as they fled along the road.  

    Violence has also intensified in Khartoum state since the beginning of February. On 4 February, during RSF shelling of Omdurman there were explosions within 100 metres of the MSF-supported Al Nao hospital. The Ministry of Health reported that 38 people were injured and six people were killed, including a volunteer from the Al Nao initiative, in which people volunteer to assist in running the hospital.

    This is the second time medics working at the hospital have responded to a mass influx of wounded patients in recent days. On 1 February, an RSF attack on a market on killed 54 people, according to the Ministry of Health. Since the war in Sudan started Al Nao hospital has been hit by explosions three times; in August 2023, October 2023 and June 2024.

    “The violence that the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces are inflicting on civilians right across Sudan is tragic and appalling,” says Ozan Agbas, MSF’s emergency manager. “The violence continues ruining lives, making it harder for people to access healthcare and putting healthcare workers at risk. We urge the warring parties to protect civilian life and spare them from this war on people.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Mississippi Man Sentenced to Over Eight Years in Federal Prison After Being Convicted for Being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition

    Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

          JONESBORO—Robert Wilburn, a multi-convicted felon, will spend the next 100 months in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced the sentence, which was handed down today by United States District Lee P. Rudofsky.

          On March 15, 2022, deputies from the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Office responded to a vehicle that was stopped on the side of the road. Deputies located Wilburn asleep behind the wheel of the vehicle. While attempting to wake Wilburn, deputies noticed the smell of intoxicants and marijuana in the vehicle. After repeated attempts, deputies were finally able to wake Wilburn, whose speech was incoherent. Deputies removed Wilburn from the vehicle and placed him in handcuffs. During a search of Wilburn’s vehicle, deputies located in plain view next to the center console a Glock 43, 9mm firearm that contained a loaded magazine and one round in the chamber. In the center console, deputies located a box of 9mm ammunition that matched the ammunition found inside of the firearm. Deputies also located a second magazine in the glovebox. Deputies found an open beer can in the center cup holder that was cold to the touch and a small amount of marijuana in the pocket of the driver’s side door.

          On February 9, 2023, Wilburn, 32, of Inverness, Mississippi, was indicted on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. On August 21, 2024, a jury found Wilburn guilty after a two-day jury trial conducted in the Jonesboro federal courthouse.

          Judge Rudofsky also sentenced Wilburn to three years’ supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

          The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with assistance from the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Office. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Erin O’Leary and Katie Hinojosa.

    # # #

    Additional information about the office of the

    United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, is available online at

    https://www.justice.gov/edar

    X (formerly known as Twitter):

    @USAO_EDAR 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Annual general meeting of Ringkjøbing Landbobank A/S

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Nasdaq Copenhagen
    London Stock Exchange
    Euronext Dublin
    Other stakeholders

    Date        5 February 2025

    Annual general meeting of Ringkjøbing Landbobank A/S

    The bank will hold its annual general meeting at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 5 March 2025 at the ROFI Centre, Kirkevej 26, Rindum, 6950 Ringkøbing, Denmark.

    Agenda as per the bank’s articles of association:

    1. Election of chairperson

    The board of directors proposes that Allan Østergaard Sørensen, attorney-at-law, chair the general meeting.

    2. The board’s report on the bank’s activities in the previous year

    The board of directors proposes that the board’s report on the bank’s activities in the previous year be adopted.

    3. Presentation of the annual report for approval

    The board of directors proposes that the annual report for 2024 be approved.

    Further reference is made to the published annual report for 2024.

    4. Decision on allocation of profit or covering of loss under the approved annual report

    The board of directors proposes that the distribution of profit be approved.

    Further reference is made to the published annual report for 2024.

    5. Consultative vote on the remuneration report

    The board of directors proposes that the remuneration report for 2024 be approved.

    Further reference is made to the published remuneration report for 2024.

    6. Approval of the remuneration of the board of directors for the current financial year

    The shareholders’ committee and the board of directors propose that the remuneration of the board of directors for the current financial year be approved.

    Further reference is made to the full proposals.

    7. Remuneration policy

    The board of directors proposes that the updated remuneration policy be approved.

    Further reference is made to the full proposals.

    8. Election of members to the shareholders’ committee

    In accordance with the decision made by the bank’s annual general meeting held on 28 February 2024, the following members of the shareholders’ committee, whose terms of office end in 2025 and 2026, are resigning: Mette Bundgaard, Per Lykkegaard Christensen, Ole Kirkegård Erlandsen, Thomas Sindberg Hansen, Tonny Hansen, Kim Jacobsen, Morten Jensen, Kasper Lykke Kjeldsen, Lotte Littau Kjærgaard, Niels Erik Burgdorf Madsen, Martin Krogh Pedersen, Poul Kjær Poulsgaard, Kristian Skannerup, Allan Østergaard Sørensen, Jørgen Kolle Sørensen, Sten Uggerhøj, Lasse Svoldgaard Vesterby and Christina Ørskov.

    In addition, Lars Møller and Yvonne Skagen must retire from the shareholders’ committee due to the age requirement in the articles of association.

    The shareholders’ committee and the board of directors propose re-election of the following members, whose terms of office end in 2025 and 2026:

    • Mette Bundgaard, police superintendent, No, born 1966
    • Per Lykkegaard Christensen, farmer, Hjallerup, born 1959
    • Ole Kirkegård Erlandsen, butcher, Snejbjerg, born 1962
    • Thomas Sindberg Hansen, grocer, Kloster, born 1978
    • Tonny Hansen, former college principal, Ringkøbing, born 1958
    • Kim Jacobsen, manager, Aalborg, born 1969
    • Morten Jensen, attorney-at-law (Supreme Court), Dronninglund, born 1961
    • Kasper Lykke Kjeldsen, timber merchant, Højbjerg, born 1981
    • Lotte Littau Kjærgaard, manager, Holstebro, born 1969
    • Niels Erik Burgdorf Madsen, manager, Ølgod, born 1959
    • Martin Krogh Pedersen, CEO, Ringkøbing, born 1967
    • Poul Kjær Poulsgaard, farmer, Madum, born 1974
    • Kristian Skannerup, manufacturer, Tim, born 1959
    • Allan Østergaard Sørensen, attorney-at-law (High Court), Ringkøbing, born 1982
    • Jørgen Kolle Sørensen, sales representative and branch manager, Hvide Sande, born 1970
    • Sten Uggerhøj, car dealer, Frederikshavn, born 1959
    • Lasse Svoldgaard Vesterby, manager, Ringkøbing, born 1978
    • Christina Ørskov, manager, Gærum, born 1969

    The shareholders’ committee and the board of directors propose the following for election:

    • Rasmus Alstrup, farmer, Videbæk, born 1985
    • Rikke Ahnfeldt Kjær, CFO, Gistrup, born 1980
    • Pia Stevnhøj Sommer, sales director, Lind, born 1979

    In recruiting and proposing candidates for the shareholders’ committee (election and re-election), the committee and board of directors have focused on ensuring a diverse committee membership in terms of business experience, professional qualifications and expertise, gender, age etc.

    9. Election of one or more auditors

    In accordance with the audit committee’s recommendation, the shareholders’ committee and the board of directors propose that PricewaterhouseCoopers, Statsautoriseret Revisionspartner-selskab be re-elected as external auditor and sustainability auditor.

    Further reference is made to the full proposals.

    10. Authorisation for the board of directors to permit the bank to acquire its own shares

    The board of directors proposes that it be granted authorisation to permit the bank to acquire its own shares, in accordance with current legislation, until the next annual general meeting, to a total nominal value of ten percent (10%) of the share capital, such that the shares can be acquired at current market price plus or minus ten percent (+/-10%) at the time of acquisition. 
    Further reference is made to the full proposals.

    11. Any proposals from the board of directors, the shareholders’ committee or shareholders

    11.a. Proposed amendments to the articles of association

    The shareholders’ committee and the board of directors propose the following amendments to the articles of association:

    Art. 2a-2b:
    It is proposed that the authorisations in articles 2a and 2b be extended to 4 March 2030.
    If the proposal is approved, the wording of articles 2a and 2b of the bank’s articles of association will be changed to the following:

    Art. 2a:
    “The general meeting has decided to authorise the board of directors to increase the share capital in one or more rounds by up to nom. DKK 5,341,347 with right of pre-emption for the bank’s existing shareholders. The capital increase shall be fully paid up in cash. The capital increase may be below the market price. This authorisation shall apply until 4 March 2030.”

    Art. 2b:
    “The general meeting has decided to authorise the board of directors to increase the share capital in one or more rounds by up to nom. DKK 2,670,673 without right of pre-emption for the bank’s existing shareholders. The capital increase may be by cash payment or contribution of an existing company or specific asset values corresponding to the value of the shares issued. The capital increase shall be fully paid up at the market price ascertained by the board of directors. This authorisation shall apply until 4 March 2030.”

    The background to the proposal is that the board of directors wants to ensure continued flexibility regarding the granting of authorisations to the board of directors.

    The proposed amendments to the articles of association are also given in the full proposals to which we refer and which are available on the bank’s website, www.landbobanken.com.

    11.b. Proposal to reduce the bank’s share capital by nom. DKK 1,315,042 by cancellation of its own shares

    The board of directors proposes a reduction in the bank’s share capital from nom. DKK 26,706,739 to nom. DKK 25,391,697 by cancellation of 1,315,042 nom. DKK 1 shares from the bank’s holding of its own shares of a nominal value of DKK 1,315,042.

    Please note that, in accordance with section 188(1) of the Danish Companies Act, the purpose of the reduction in the bank’s share capital is payment to shareholders. The amount of the reduction has been used as payment to shareholders for shares acquired by the bank under the authorisation previously granted to the board of directors by the general meeting.

    The share capital will consequently be reduced by nom. DKK 1,315,042 and the bank’s holding of its own shares will be reduced by 1,315,042 nom. DKK 1 shares. Please note that, in accordance with section 188(2) of the Danish Companies Act, the shares in question were acquired for a total sum of DKK 1,524,948,149. This means that, apart from the reduction in nominal capital, DKK 1,523,633,107 has been paid to shareholders.

    The purpose of the board of directors’ proposed reduction of the share capital is to maintain flexibility in the bank’s capital structure.

    If the proposal is adopted, the following changes will be made to articles 2, 2a, 2b and 2c of the articles of association:
    Art. 2: The amount of “26,706,739” will be changed to “25,391,697”, Art. 2a: The amount of “5,341,347” will be changed to “5,078,339”, Art. 2b: The amount of “2,670,673” will be changed to “2,539,169”, and Art. 2c: The amount of “5,341,347” will be changed to “5,078,339”.

    11.c. Proposed authorisation for the board of directors or its appointee

    The board of directors proposes that the board of directors, or its appointee, be authorised to report the decisions which have been adopted at the general meeting for registration and to make such changes to the documents submitted to the Danish Business Authority as the Authority may require or find appropriate in connection with registration of the decisions of the general meeting.

    11.d. Proposal from a shareholder

    Proposal from shareholder Poul Aksel Andersen, Hobro:

    Reason for the proposal:
    The minutes of the 2024 annual general meeting state that: “In recruiting and proposing candidates for the shareholders’ committee (election and re-election), the committee and board of directors have focused on ensuring a diverse committee membership in terms of business experience, professional qualifications and expertise, gender, age etc.”

    Despite this, it is evident from the minutes that all of the elected members of the shareholders’ committee in 2024 were in leading positions. The shareholders’ committee is therefore hardly representative of the bank’s shareholders or customers in terms of business experience, professional qualifications or expertise.

    Proposal:
    It is proposed, that Ringkjøbing Landbobank’s work of recruiting and proposing of candidates in the future should focus on making the composition of the shareholders’ committee representative of the bank’s shareholders and customers; that the bank should make the process of admitting committee members transparent for all shareholders who might be interested in joining the shareholders’ committee; and that the bank’s work should focus specifically on ensuring that at least 25% of the members of the shareholders’ committee are employees without responsibilities for managing other staff.

    The board of directors’ recommendation regarding the proposal:

    The members of the bank’s board of directors are elected by the shareholders’ committee. Six of the eight current board members elected by the shareholders’ committee came from the membership of the shareholders’ committee. The shareholders’ committee is thus a recruitment channel for the board of directors. It is relevant, therefore, that the members of the shareholders’ committee possess the right competences for onward recruitment to the board of directors. In addition, the authorities nowadays impose a number of requirements on serving members of boards of directors of financial undertakings, including in relation to their competences, and there are also requirements regarding the collective competences of the plenary board of directors.

    The board of directors, the board of directors’ nomination committee and the shareholders’ committee are already working to promote diversity in the shareholders’ committee.

    The board of directors does not consider it appropriate to tie the board of directors’ nomination committee, the board of directors and the shareholders’ committee to a specific framework in future recruitment processes for nominations of candidates to the shareholders’ committee.

    For the above reasons, the board of directors does not support the proposal.

    Validity requirements for resolutions

    The proposals under items 11.a. and 11.b. of the agenda require adoption by at least two-thirds (2/3) both of votes cast and of the share capital with voting rights represented at the general meeting. Other proposals can be adopted by simple majority vote, except item 5 on the agenda which is a consultative vote.

    Amount of share capital and the shareholders’ voting rights and date of registration – the right to attend and vote at the general meeting

    Please note that the amount of the share capital is nom. DKK 26,706,739 consisting of 26,706,739 nom. DKK 1 shares.

    As for shareholders’ voting rights, each share of nom. DKK 1 carries one (1) vote when the share is recorded in the company’s share register, or when the shareholder has reported and documented their right. However, a shareholder may cast no more than 3,000 votes.

    The right to attend and vote at the general meeting may only be exercised by shareholders who, by 11:59 p.m. on the date of registration, Wednesday, 26 February 2025, are listed as shareholders in the register of shareholders or have submitted a request to the bank, which the bank has received by that deadline, for inclusion in the register of shareholders.

    Registration for the general meeting, questions and admission cards

    Registration for the general meeting can be made

    • by contacting Euronext Securities A/S by phone +45 4358 8866 or email to CPH-investor@euronext.com or
    • by contacting one of the bank’s branches.

    In accordance with the bank’s articles of association, the deadline for registering for the general meeting is 11:59 p.m. on Friday 28 February 2025, after which admission cards for the general meeting can no longer be ordered.

    Shareholders or proxies may be accompanied by an adviser, provided the adviser’s attendance has been notified on time.

    Shareholders may ask questions in writing about the agenda items or the bank’s position in general, to be answered at the general meeting. Questions may be sent by letter to Ringkjøbing Landbobank A/S, for the attention of: General Management, Torvet 1, 6950 Ringkøbing, Denmark, or by email to regnskab@landbobanken.dk.

    Voting

    Shareholders may attend and vote in person or by proxy at the general meeting. Postal voting is also possible before the general meeting.

    Shareholders may grant proxy to the bank’s board of directors or a third party by 11:59 p.m. on Friday 28 February 2025. The proxy may be issued electronically on InvestorPortal at Euronext Securities, via the bank’s website www.landbobanken.com or in writing on a proxy form which is available from the bank’s branches.

    If a written proxy is used, it must be completed and signed, and received at the bank by the above deadline, i.e. 11:59 p.m. on Friday 28 February 2025.

    The proxy may be sent by post for the attention of: Accounts Department, Ringkjøbing Landbobank A/S, Torvet 1, 6950 Ringkøbing, Denmark, by email to regnskab@landbobanken.dk or by fax to +45 7624 4913.

    Shareholders may also send a postal vote before the general meeting.

    Postal votes may be cast electronically on InvestorPortal at Euronext Securities, via the bank’s website www.landbobanken.com or in writing on a postal vote form which is available from the bank’s branches.

    If a postal vote is cast, the ballot paper must be returned for the attention of: Accounts Department, Ringkjøbing Landbobank A/S, Torvet 1, 6950 Ringkøbing, Denmark, by email to regnskab@landbobanken.dk or by fax to +45 7624 4913.

    Electronic postal votes must be cast by 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 4 March 2025, by which time a postal ballot paper must also be received by the bank.

    Exercising financial rights

    Ringkjøbing Landbobank’s shareholders can choose Ringkjøbing Landbobank A/S as the account-holding institution for the purpose of exercising the financial rights through Ringkjøbing Landbobank A/S.

    Further information

    The annual report, agenda and full proposals with the proposed amendments to the articles of association, the remuneration report, other documents under section 99(1) of the Danish Companies Act and information on the collection and processing of personal data in connection with the annual general meeting will be published on the bank’s website www.landbobanken.com and made available for inspection by shareholders on Wednesday, 5 February 2025.

    Recording and webcast

    The general meeting will be recorded and the recording will subsequently be uploaded to the bank’s website, www.landbobanken.com.

    The general meeting will also be webcast via the bank’s website, www.landbobanken.com and can be viewed by everyone. It will not be possible to ask questions or vote via the webcast.

    Personal data

    For details on the bank’s processing of personal data in respect of general meetings, please see Ringkjøbing Landbobank’s privacy policy for shareholders etc., which is available on the bank’s website, www.landbobanken.com.

    Dividend

    Any dividend is expected to be available in shareholders’ return accounts on 10 March 2025.

    Yours sincerely

    Ringkjøbing Landbobank

    On behalf of the board of directors

    Martin Krogh Pedersen
    Chair of the board of directors

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Update on fire at Mount Edgcumbe

    Source: City of Plymouth

    Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park has been closed to all visitors today (Wednesday) following a fire at the Barrow Centre yesterday evening.

    Two flats and two holiday lets at the Centre have been seriously damaged by the fire, which was put out by crews from Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service assisted by Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, who are still on site this morning.

    The Barrow Centre was evacuated as soon as the fire was discovered and fortunately no one was injured.

    Other sections of the Barrow Centre housing businesses and flats are now being assessed. Mount Edgcumbe House itself has not been impacted.

    Sadly, those living in the damaged flats have lost their personal belongings. They were provided with temporary accommodation elsewhere in the park last night.

    The cause of the fire is being investigated.

    The buildings will now be assessed by structural engineers and the area around the Barrow Centre made safe and cordoned off.

    The park is expected to reopen tomorrow and an update on when businesses in the Barrow Centre can re-open will be provided once all the assessments have been completed.

    The Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park team is contacting anyone who have any upcoming events or bookings that may be affected by the fire.

    Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park is jointly owned and managed by Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council.

    Plymouth councillor Tom Briars-Delve, Joint chair of the Mount Edgcumbe Joint Committee, said: “Everyone here is obviously devastated by the damage caused to the properties on the estate and our sympathies are with the families who have lost their possessions and the affected business owners. We will be supporting those families and the affected businesses however we can.

    “We are very thankful no one was injured by the fire and will leave it to the fire service to investigate its cause and how it spread. We are grateful for the efforts of the fire crews throughout the night.

    “Our priority is to support the families affected and to make the area safe so we can reopen the park and help the businesses resume their operations as soon as possible.”

    Cornwall councillor Kate Ewert, Joint chair of the Mount Edgcumbe Joint Committee, said: “The fire is devastating for everyone involved and I know there is a sense of shock amongst those who live and work here but we can be thankful that no one has been hurt. The fire service did an incredible job in getting to the site quickly and protecting the remainder of the property.

    “Our thoughts are with those who have lost all their possessions and I know the community is keen to pull together and provide support in whatever way it can. We will all be working together to help those impacted by this to get the Barrow Centre back up and running as soon possible.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Community Housing Capital and Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta Award $750,000 for Affordable Housing in Southfield

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Community Housing Capital (CHC) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (FHLBank Atlanta) announced today an investment of $750,000 in grant funding designated for John Grace Arms, a project to construct 60 multifamily rental units in Southfield, Michigan.

    The funding, sourced from FHLBank Atlanta’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP) General Fund and administered through CHC, a member of FHLBank Atlanta, will help address the critical need for affordable housing in the community.

    Located in the heart of Southfield, John Grace Arms involves the adaptive reuse of a former, historic school building into modern, affordable housing units and 5,000 square feet of community space. The project is prioritizing the use of sustainable building materials to minimize environmental impact and promote healthier living conditions.

    CHC, a financial supporter of John Grace Arms, applied for FHLBank Atlanta’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP) General Fund in 2024, which helps organizations to acquire, construct, rehabilitate or preserve affordable housing units. In December 2024, FHLBank Atlanta announced John Grace Arms as one of 66 grant recipients to receive a total of $55 million in funding to support 4,200 housing units.

    “Community Housing Capital is proud to have supported the project developer MiSide in successfully securing $750,000 in AHP grant funding through FHLBank Atlanta. These funds will support the development of John Grace Arms, a transformative housing community that will offer 60 senior apartments, with a focus on fostering community engagement and recreation,” said Dana Chestnut, CHC’s Chief Lending Officer. “CHC has a long history of partnering with NeighborWorks America organizations to facilitate impactful projects, having sponsored successful applications that have collectively secured $4.8 million in grant funding to date. We are committed to leveraging opportunities like the AHP grant to amplify the impact of affordable housing initiatives nationwide.”

    “John Grace Arms is a fantastic example of progress that can happen when organizations come together to execute on a vision,” said Kirk Malmberg, President and CEO of FHLBank Atlanta. “We are pleased to partner with member financial institutions like Community Housing Capital and proud to see this funding go toward turning an existing, unused building into safe, affordable homes for Southfield residents.”

    John Grace Arms is located at 21030 Indian Street, Southfield, Michigan and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.

    About Community Housing Capital
    Community Housing Capital (CHC) is a 24-year-old Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and 501(c)(3) created to facilitate the creation and preservation of affordable housing. Since 2000, CHC has, through its lending activity, created or preserved over 24,792 units of affordable housing and facilitated $3.8 billion in total development. Community Housing Capital is headquartered in Decatur, Georgia.

    About Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta
    FHLBank Atlanta offers competitively-priced financing, community development grants, and other banking services to help member financial institutions make affordable home mortgages and provide economic development credit to neighborhoods and communities. The Bank’s members – its shareholders and customers – are commercial banks, credit unions, savings institutions, community development financial institutions, and insurance companies located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. FHLBank Atlanta is one of 11 district Banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System. Since 1990, the FHLBanks have awarded approximately $9.1 billion in Affordable Housing Program funds, assisting more than 1.2 million households. For more information, visit www.fhlbatl.com.

    MEDIA CONTACTS:

    Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta
    Sheryl Touchton
    stouchton@fhlbatl.com

    Community Housing Capital, Inc.
    Mona Elminyawi
    melminyawi@communityhousingcapital.org

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, December and Annual 2024

    Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis

    The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $98.4 billion in December, up $19.5 billion from $78.9 billion in November, revised.

    U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services Deficit
    Deficit: $98.4 Billion  +24.7%°
    Exports: $266.5 Billion  –2.6%°
    Imports: $364.9 Billion  +3.5%°

    Next release: Thursday, March 6, 2025

    (°) Statistical significance is not applicable or not measurable. Data adjusted for seasonality but not price changes

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis; U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, February 5, 2025

    Exports, Imports, and Balance (exhibit 1)

    December exports were $266.5 billion, $7.1 billion less than November exports. December imports were $364.9 billion, $12.4 billion more than November imports.

    The December increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $18.9 billion to $123.0 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.6 billion to $24.5 billion.

    For 2024, the goods and services deficit increased $133.5 billion, or 17.0 percent, from 2023. Exports increased $119.8 billion or 3.9 percent. Imports increased $253.3 billion or 6.6 percent.

    Three-Month Moving Averages (exhibit 2)

    The average goods and services deficit increased $4.7 billion to $83.8 billion for the three months ending in December.

    • Average exports decreased $1.2 billion to $268.8 billion in December.
    • Average imports increased $3.5 billion to $352.7 billion in December.

    Year-over-year, the average goods and services deficit increased $19.2 billion from the three months ending in December 2023.

    • Average exports increased $9.8 billion from December 2023.
    • Average imports increased $29.0 billion from December 2023.

    Exports (exhibits 3, 6, and 7)

    Exports of goods decreased $7.5 billion to $170.2 billion in December.

      Exports of goods on a Census basis decreased $6.7 billion.

    • Consumer goods decreased $1.8 billion.
      • Pharmaceutical preparations decreased $1.4 billion.
    • Industrial supplies and materials decreased $1.8 billion.
      • Crude oil decreased $0.9 billion.
      • Other petroleum products decreased $0.3 billion.
      • Other precious metals decreased $0.3 billion.
      • Fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides decreased $0.3 billion.
    • Capital goods decreased $1.4 billion.
      • Computers decreased $0.9 billion.
      • Civilian aircraft increased $1.4 billion.
    • Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines decreased $0.9 billion.
      • Trucks, buses, and special purpose vehicles decreased $0.4 billion.
      • Other automotive parts and accessories decreased $0.3 billion.

      Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $0.8 billion.

    Exports of services increased $0.4 billion to $96.3 billion in December.

    • Travel increased $0.3 billion.
    • Financial services increased $0.1 billion.

    Imports (exhibits 4, 6, and 8)

    Imports of goods increased $11.4 billion to $293.1 billion in December.

      Imports of goods on a Census basis increased $11.3 billion.

    • Industrial supplies and materials increased $10.8 billion.
      • Finished metal shapes increased $9.2 billion.
      • Nonmonetary gold increased $1.0 billion.
    • Consumer goods increased $2.2 billion.
      • Toys, games, and sporting goods increased $0.8 billion.
      • Cell phones and other household goods increased $0.8 billion.
    • Capital goods increased $1.3 billion.
      • Computers increased $1.2 billion.
      • Computer accessories increased $0.9 billion.
      • Civilian aircraft decreased $1.1 billion.
    • Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines decreased $2.2 billion.
      • Passenger cars decreased $1.6 billion.

      Net balance of payments adjustments increased $0.1 billion.

    Imports of services increased $1.0 billion to $71.8 billion in December.

    • Transport increased $0.5 billion.
    • Travel increased $0.3 billion.

    Real Goods in 2017 Dollars – Census Basis (exhibit 11)

    The real goods deficit increased $14.9 billion, or 15.4 percent, to $111.9 billion in December, compared to a 17.3 percent increase in the nominal deficit.

    • Real exports of goods decreased $5.4 billion, or 3.7 percent, to $141.9 billion, compared to a 3.8 percent decrease in nominal exports.
    • Real imports of goods increased $9.5 billion, or 3.9 percent, to $253.8 billion, compared to a 4.0 percent increase in nominal imports.

    Revisions

    In addition to revisions to source data for the November statistics, the seasonally adjusted goods data were revised for January through November so that the totals of the seasonally adjusted months equal the annual totals.

    Revisions to November exports

    • Exports of goods were revised up $0.1 billion.
    • Exports of services were revised up $0.1 billion.

    Revisions to November imports

    • Imports of goods were revised up $0.8 billion.
    • Imports of services were revised up $0.1 billion.

    Goods by Selected Countries and Areas: Monthly – Census Basis (exhibit 19)

    The December figures show surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Netherlands ($5.0), South and Central America ($3.5), United Kingdom ($2.3), Hong Kong ($0.7), Brazil ($0.4), Saudi Arabia ($0.4), Belgium ($0.3), and Australia ($0.2). Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with China ($25.3), European Union ($20.4), Mexico ($15.2), Switzerland ($13.0), Vietnam ($11.4), Canada ($7.9), Germany ($7.6), Taiwan ($6.9), Ireland ($6.2), South Korea ($5.6), Japan ($5.5), India ($4.9), Italy ($4.1), Malaysia ($2.5), France ($1.1), Israel ($0.8), and Singapore ($0.4).

    • The deficit with Switzerland increased $9.1 billion to $13.0 billion in December. Exports decreased $0.7 billion to $1.2 billion and imports increased $8.4 billion to $14.2 billion.
    • The deficit with Canada increased $2.9 billion to $7.9 billion in December. Exports decreased $0.4 billion to $29.1 billion and imports increased $2.5 billion to $37.0 billion.
    • The deficit with Ireland decreased $3.1 billion to $6.2 billion in December. Exports decreased $0.1 billion to $1.2 billion and imports decreased $3.2 billion to $7.5 billion.

    Annual Summary for 2024

    Exports, Imports, and Balance (exhibit 1)

    For 2024, the goods and services deficit was $918.4 billion, up $133.5 billion from $784.9 billion in 2023. Exports were $3,191.6 billion, up $119.8 billion from 2023. Imports were $4,110.0 billion, up $253.3 billion from 2023.

    The 2024 increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $148.5 billion, or 14.0 percent, to $1,211.7 billion and an increase in the services surplus of $14.9 billion, or 5.4 percent, to $293.3 billion.

    The goods and services deficit was 3.1 percent of current-dollar gross domestic product in 2024, up from 2.8 percent in 2023.

    Exports (exhibits 3, 6, and 7)

    Exports of goods increased $38.6 billion to $2,083.8 billion in 2024.

      Exports of goods on a Census basis increased $47.1 billion.

    • Capital goods increased $40.2 billion.
      • Computer accessories increased $11.3 billion.
      • Civilian aircraft engines increased $8.7 billion.
      • Computers increased $8.2 billion.
      • Semiconductors increased $8.1 billion.
    • Other goods increased $17.9 billion. (See the “Notice” for more information.)
    • Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines decreased $10.8 billion.
      • Other automotive parts and accessories decreased $4.3 billion.
      • Passenger cars decreased $4.0 billion.
      • Trucks, buses, and special purpose vehicles decreased $3.0 billion.

      Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $8.5 billion.

    Exports of services increased $81.2 billion to $1,107.8 billion in 2024.

    • Travel increased $26.3 billion.
    • Other business services increased $16.0 billion.
    • Telecommunications, computer, and information services increased $11.9 billion.
    • Financial services increased $11.6 billion.

    Imports (exhibits 4, 6, and 8)

    Imports of goods increased $187.1 billion to $3,295.6 billion in 2024.

      Imports of goods on a Census basis increased $187.2 billion.

    • Capital goods increased $103.3 billion.
      • Computer accessories increased $33.5 billion.
      • Computers increased $28.3 billion.
      • Semiconductors increased $9.4 billion.
      • Other industrial machinery increased $9.0 billion.
    • Consumer goods increased $48.4 billion.
      • Pharmaceutical preparations increased $43.6 billion.
    • Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines increased $16.1 billion.
      • Passenger cars increased $10.0 billion.
      • Other automotive parts and accessories increased $4.8 billion.
    • Foods, feeds, and beverages increased $15.9 billion.
      • Meat products increased $3.5 billion.
      • Fruits, frozen juices increased $2.3 billion.
      • Bakery products increased $2.2 billion.
      • Other foods increased $2.0 billion.
      • Vegetables increased $1.7 billion.

      Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $0.2 billion.

    Imports of services increased $66.2 billion to $814.4 billion in 2024.

    • Travel increased $19.2 billion.
    • Charges for the use of intellectual property increased $12.2 billion.
    • Transport increased $11.7 billion.
    • Insurance services increased $11.5 billion.

    Real Goods in 2017 Dollars – Census Basis (exhibit 11)

    The real goods deficit increased $98.8 billion, or 9.6 percent, to $1,132.4 billion in 2024, compared to a 13.2 percent increase in the nominal deficit.

    • Real exports of goods increased $41.7 billion, or 2.5 percent, to $1,737.8 billion, compared to a 2.3 percent increase in nominal exports.
    • Real imports of goods increased $140.5 billion, or 5.1 percent, to $2,870.2 billion, compared to a 6.1 percent increase in nominal imports.

    Goods by Selected Countries and Areas – Census Basis (exhibits 14 and 14a)

    The 2024 figures show surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Netherlands ($55.5), South and Central America ($47.3), Hong Kong ($21.9), Australia ($17.9), and United Kingdom ($11.9). Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with China ($295.4), European Union ($235.6), Mexico ($171.8), Vietnam ($123.5), Ireland ($86.7), Germany ($84.8), Taiwan ($73.9), Japan ($68.5), South Korea ($66.0), Canada ($63.3), India ($45.7), Thailand ($45.6), Italy ($44.0), Switzerland ($38.5), Malaysia ($24.8), Indonesia ($17.9), France ($16.4), Austria ($13.1), and Sweden ($9.8).

    • The deficit with the European Union increased $26.9 billion to $235.6 billion in 2024. Exports increased $2.6 billion to $370.2 billion and imports increased $29.4 billion to $605.8 billion.
    • The deficit with Taiwan increased $26.1 billion to $73.9 billion in 2024. Exports increased $2.4 billion to $42.3 billion and imports increased $28.5 billion to $116.3 billion.
    • The surplus with the Netherlands increased $12.7 billion to $55.5 billion in 2024. Exports increased $8.3 billion to $89.6 billion and imports decreased $4.4 billion to $34.1 billion.

    All statistics referenced are seasonally adjusted; statistics are on a balance of payments basis unless otherwise specified. Additional statistics, including not seasonally adjusted statistics and details for goods on a Census basis, are available in exhibits 1-20b of this release. For information on data sources, definitions, and revision procedures, see the explanatory notes in this release. The full release can be found at www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/index.html or www.bea.gov/data/intl-trade-investment/international-trade-goods-and-services. The full schedule is available in the Census Bureau’s Economic Briefing Room at www.census.gov/economic-indicators/ or on BEA’s website at www.bea.gov/news/schedule.

    Next release: March 6, 2025, at 8:30 a.m EST
    U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, January 2025

    Notice

    Impact of Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) Release of CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM)

    The CBSA introduced a new accounting system (CARM) on October 21, 2024. As a result, importers in Canada have experienced delays in filing shipment information. These delays affected the compilation of statistics on U.S. exports of goods to Canada for September through December 2024, which are derived from data compiled by Canada through the United States – Canada Data Exchange. A dollar estimate of the filing backlog is included in estimates for late receipts and, following the Census Bureau’s customary practice for late receipt estimates, is included in the export end-use category “Other goods” as well as in exports to Canada. This estimate will be replaced with the actual transactions reported by the Harmonized System classification in June 2025 with the release of “U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, Annual Revision.” Until then, please refer to the supplemental spreadsheet “CARM Exports to Canada Corrections,” which provides a breakdown of the late receipts by 1-digit end-use category. This spreadsheet will be updated as late export transactions are received to reflect reassignments from the initial “Other goods” category to the appropriate 1-digit end-use category.

    If you have questions or need additional information, please contact the Census Bureau, Economic Indicators Division, International Trade Macro Analysis Branch, on 800-549-0595, option 4, or at eid.international.trade.data@census.gov or BEA, Balance of Payments Division, at InternationalAccounts@bea.gov.

    Upcoming Changes to the Real (Chained-Dollar) Series

    Effective with the release of the February 2025 statistics on April 3, 2025, the Census Bureau will continue to use the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes to calculate the chained-dollar series (exhibits 10 and 11). The BLS will be implementing changes to the indexes with the release of the February 2025 U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes on March 18, 2025. The changes to the indexes could impact the chained-dollar values. Please refer to the BLS notice for additional information on the Upcoming Change to Data Source for Import and Export Price Indexes: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the Census Bureau, Economic Statistical Methods Division, International Trade Statistical Methods Branch, on 301-763-3080.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why Democrats are switching off the news – a psychologist explains

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Geoff Beattie, Professor of Psychology, Edge Hill University

    Many Democrats appear to be switching off mainstream news channels and other media, following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.

    Around 72% of Democrats say they feel a need to limit their consumption of news about politics and government, according to a recent poll by AP-NORC.

    Research has highlighted the negative effects of news avoidance (resistance to, or avoidance of, news) on people’s political knowledge and civic engagement, the cornerstones of democratic thought and action.

    Research also shows what prompts news avoidance generally – and the return of Trump may be increasing the percentage of people in the US who are turning away from news and current affairs.

    Research from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland measured how news avoidance varied across several nations between 2016 and 2019. It also attempted to identify the drivers of news avoidance.

    Researchers found the proportion of consumers who actively avoided the news varied significantly from one country to another – and for some, it was temporary.

    In their sample of five countries, they found news avoidance was highest in Argentina (45%) and the US (41%) and lowest in Finland (17%) and Japan (11%), with Israel somewhere in between. The US, it seems, has always been high but there are some suggestions it is getting worse.

    People made conscious decisions about what news to consume and what to avoid, given the amount of news available. News overload and cognitive fatigue (where people feel worn out by the amount of news they feel they should listen to) were especially important when there was intense national news focus on certain individuals. Examples of this could be coverage of the corruption case involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, or Trump’s recent stream of executive orders.

    But factors can vary. The study found that in Japan, the main cognitive driver was “a reluctance to discuss or be exposed to subjective and often extreme opinions”. In Argentina, it was a distrust of politicians generally.

    However, emotional factors were also critical to news avoidance. Many interviewees reported feeling emotional distress, sadness, fear and anger with certain types of negative news, to the extent that it sometimes affected their mental health.

    But emotional factors also affect specific behaviour. News avoidance can become “news aversion” (more emotional, more visceral), turning away from the news not because of some deliberate rational judgment (“I’ll reduce my viewing a little, according to American Psychological Association guidelines”) but because of overwhelming feelings of anxiety or disgust when confronted by certain stories or individuals.

    Disgust is a powerful negative emotion linked to very quick responding, and could create a need to turn away from something immediately. Feelings of anxiety may be linked to images of political figures, for instance.

    I have just finished writing a book exploring climate anxiety. For some, this can be a debilitating form of anxiety, and it is growing globally especially among young people. It can be overwhelming, affecting study, work and sleep.

    What can you do about news avoidance?

    The recent image of Trump yelling that “we’re going to drill, baby, drill” has been implanted in the minds of many who suffer from climate anxiety, possibly intensifying their distress.

    For many Democrats, the aftermath of Trump’s victory was emotionally devastating. On October 24 2024 (two weeks before the election), an open letter was published in the New York Times signed by 233 mental health professionals with the following warning: “We have an ethical duty to warn the public that Donald Trump is an existential threat to democracy. His symptoms of severe, untreatable personality disorder – malignant narcissism – makes him deceitful, destructive, deluded and dangerous. He is grossly unfit for leadership.”

    For Democrats in particular, Trump may display many negative features including his lack of remorse or self-awareness, his break from traditional political norms and use of populist, nationalist rhetoric, or his rejection of civil discourse in favour of divisive and inflammatory language.

    So Trump’s victory seemed, to many Democrats, to signal the triumph of ignorance, bigotry and authoritarianism. An emotional response from them was always likely, and chimes with this avoiding of news.

    Cognitive dissonance

    Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that when individuals are confronted with information (in this case from Trump) that contradicts their deeply held beliefs but they still sit and listen dutifully, this can create considerable psychological discomfort.

    To reduce this discomfort, people often engage in behaviour that avoids or minimises this conflict. But they can’t change their political views, and they can’t change Trump or his policies (he has got an incredibly powerful mandate), so that leaves few other options. Or perhaps just one: avoiding the relentless media cycle of Trump’s tweets, policies, pronouncements, presidential pardons, and executive orders.

    By switching off, Democrats – and even some Republicans – can temporarily ease the cognitive dissonance they feel, and this may allow some emotional relief.

    Moreover, this avoidance might help protect them against the further erosion of their political and social identity. They might feel that if they continue to consume news that reaffirms Trump’s power, or as if they are accepting their defeat and their misreading of the American public and, by extension, the legitimacy of his presidency.

    But where will that disengagement take them? And how easy will it be for them to overcome their visceral response to reengage, to reassert themselves and fight back? It’s always more difficult when thoughts and emotion are so tightly intertwined like this.

    But for US Democrats, engagement based on accurate information is critical for the ongoing democratic process, regardless of how painful this might feel right now.

    Geoff Beattie 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. Why Democrats are switching off the news – a psychologist explains – https://theconversation.com/why-democrats-are-switching-off-the-news-a-psychologist-explains-248512

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: September 5: tense and taut drama vividly recreates the Munich massacre

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Barry Langford, Professor of Film Studies, Royal Holloway University of London

    In the 21st-century, it’s become horrifyingly normal for terrorist atrocities to play out over live visual media. Countless millions watched the fall of the twin towers on television in September 2001. The 2019 Christchurch mass murderer live streamed his assault on Facebook Live. Hamas commandos on October 7 wore bodycams.

    Director Tim Fehlbaum’s new film September 5 vividly recreates the historical moment when this relationship arguably snapped into sharp focus for the first time. The US network ABC’s live coverage of the Black September attack on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics introduced the term “terrorist” to many viewers for the first time.

    The Munich attack unfolded over a single day and culminated in the murder of all nine Israeli hostages. Two athletes were also killed during the initial attack on their residence, as were all of the Palestinian gunmen during a firefight with West German police.

    There have been numerous film and television treatments of the Munich attack. One of the best-known is Kevin Macdonald’s Oscar-winning 1999 documentary One Day in September, which prosecutes the negligence and incompetence of the German authorities. Another is Steven Spielberg’s drama Munich (2005). A heavily fictionalised account of the Mossad reprisals against Palestinians allegedly associated with the Munich attack, it includes a detailed and graphic flashback of the massacre itself.

    The trailer for September 5.

    Fehlbaum opts against providing another synoptic overview of this well-known sequence of events. Instead, September 5 focuses exclusively on the ABC Sports team whose assignment switched in an instant from broadcasting the achievements of record-breaking athletes to covering the unfolding crisis and its bloody denouement.

    Running a tense and taut 94 minutes, the drama unfolds almost entirely within the cramped, sweaty confines of the ABC control room. Located adjacent to the athletes’ village, the sports reporters must suddenly adapt to documenting actual, not sporting, disaster. We share their perspective on the unravelling catastrophe, from a distance, trying to cut through the chaotic and confused stream of conflicting information, all filtered through the cumbersome broadcast technologies of the time.

    Decades before smartphones and the internet, ABC Sports chief Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) and inexperienced director Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) battle myriad challenges. They haggle with rival networks for scarce satellite time (live satellite transmission was used for the first time at the Munich Games). They struggle to manoeuvre a weighty studio camera rig outdoors to gain a precious live feed on the apartment where the athletes are being held hostage. They even have to turn around magazines of 16mm film (in 1972 still the standard format for TV news reporting) in just minutes from negative to broadcast-ready clips.

    The meticulous period recreation, low-light filming and handheld camerawork lend the film an immediacy and a grainy intensity. It recalls classic journalistic 1970s thrillers such as All the President’s Men (1976).

    The unit transforms from a hardworking but relaxed outfit choosing whether to cover water polo or “soccer” to a team covering a grimly determined band of brothers (and one crucial sister, German translator Marianne, played by Leonie Benesch). Overcoming the odds to pursue the story to its bitter end, the story takes on the quality of a classic platoon movie.

    The film’s real focus is not so much the technical, but rather the novel ethical challenges the team must confront and decide, live and on-air. The young Peter Jennings (an uncanny impersonation by Benjamin Walker) is their sole trained news correspondent. But the sports crew need to parse the complex contexts of the conflict for a home audience far less steeped than today’s in Middle Eastern geopolitics.

    At the same time, they must fend off the intrusions of West German authorities increasingly panicked by the unfolding PR catastrophe, as Jews once again fall victim on German soil, less than three decades after the Holocaust.

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

    Meanwhile, it becomes increasingly clear that the Palestinian guerrillas have chosen the Olympics precisely because of the opportunity to stage their cause to a global audience. Hence, the broadcasters are inescapably complicit in the crisis. They’re not simply reporters, but participants.

    In the film’s highest stakes sequence – and a moment of head-spinning reflexivity – the team become aware the terrorists are watching their live broadcast. It means they are able to see the German police manoeuvring into place as they ineptly prepare a rescue.

    Predictably, the pressure to nail the story in an era of scarce information collides with the ethical imperative to get the story right. This leads to the film’s grim climax, where Arledge initially directs anchor Jim McKay (seen only in archive broadcast footage) to repeat the German authorities’ claim that the hostages have been successfully rescued. Only to have to go back on his words when the awful truth emerges and McKay is forced into his famous declaration: “They’re all gone.”

    In the aftermath, the reporters must prepare for another day’s work, while wondering to what degree they may have contributed to the disaster. September 5 is all the more powerful for leaving us, like its protagonists, without ready answers to the weighty questions it so deftly raises, and which have become only more pressing over half a century later.

    Barry Langford 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. September 5: tense and taut drama vividly recreates the Munich massacre – https://theconversation.com/september-5-tense-and-taut-drama-vividly-recreates-the-munich-massacre-248725

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Marat Khusnullin discussed the development of the region with the Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

    Marat Khusnullin held a working meeting with the Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev

    February 5, 2025

    Marat Khusnullin held a working meeting with the Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev

    February 5, 2025

    Marat Khusnullin held a working meeting with the Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev

    February 5, 2025

    Previous news Next news

    Marat Khusnullin held a working meeting with the Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev

    Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin held a working meeting with the Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, at which issues of the region’s socio-economic development were discussed.

    “The region is developing systematically in various directions, including the region showing good results in construction. The implementation of integrated development projects for territories with an urban development potential of 1 million square meters of housing has begun. Large-scale road projects are being implemented. Thus, in July last year, the President opened traffic on the bypass of the city of Tolyatti with a bridge across the Volga. This road is part of the international corridor Europe – Western China. In addition, we are upgrading public transport. Due to federal support measures, 306 buses and 22 trolleybuses have been delivered to the Samara Region since 2020,” said Marat Khusnullin.

    The meeting also discussed the progress of the construction of the Teatralnaya metro station, for which an infrastructure budget loan was allocated. The Deputy Prime Minister noted the importance of this project for increasing the mobility of residents and the overall comprehensive development of Samara.

    “The Tolyatti bypass has significantly relieved the road on the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station dam from traffic congestion and is globally helping the export, industrial, logistics and tourism potential of the region. The opening of the new highway is a long-awaited event for residents of the Samara-Tolyatti agglomeration. But a number of financial issues remain. Regional expenses for the concession fee, compensation for costs associated with the rise in the cost of the facility, and the return of the attracted infrastructure budget loan will amount to more than 91.5 billion rubles in the period from 2024 to 2037, with the majority of them, in the amount of 59 billion rubles, falling on the first 5 years of operation of the facility. Today we considered the possibility of allocating up to 10 billion rubles annually from the federal budget to the budget of the Samara Region from 2025 to 2031 for the implementation of the project to build a bypass of Tolyatti with a bridge crossing over the Volga until the mandatory payments from the region are reduced to an acceptable level,” said the Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev.

    The parties also discussed the region’s work within the framework of the new national project “Infrastructure for Life”.

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

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rarely used oil, coal helped power New England during recent cold snap

    Source: US Energy Information Administration

    In-brief analysis

    February 5, 2025

    Below average temperatures in the eastern United States during the week of January 19, 2025, resulted in high demand for electricity. On January 21 at 6:00 p.m. eastern time, ISO-New England (ISO-NE), the organization operating an integrated grid in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, recorded peak hourly demand of 19,600 megawatts (MW). Although demand was elevated, it was lower than the 20,308 MW that ISO-NE forecast peak demand would be in its 2024/2025 winter assessment published on November 7, 2024. Temperatures were more moderate in New England than in the Midwest, which tempered electricity demand somewhat in New England.

    Although the grid had sufficient generating capacity to satisfy demand, a significant share of that supply came from sources that rarely operate. The grid required running older thermal generating plants that burn oil and coal. Between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. eastern time on January 20, 2025, and between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on January 21, 2025, thermal plants that burn oil provided more electricity to the ISO-NE electricity grid than plants that burn natural gas, which is relatively uncommon. On January 21, 2025, the same group of thermal plants in ISO-NE provided more than 4,000 MW of electricity per hour to the grid between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. At the same time, one of the two remaining coal-fired plants that burns coal in the region, the Merrimack facility in New Hampshire, supplied close to 300 MW to the grid from the evening of January 19 to the morning of January 25.

    Oil and coal offset curtailed generation from natural gas-fired power plants from January 18 to January 22. Prices for natural gas were high, and supplies were short during this period because of more demand for natural gas from other consumers, such as homes and businesses. Later in the week, more natural gas was made available, including supply received from a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. This supply helped boost generation from natural gas-fired power plants beginning on January 22.

    Two other major sources of electricity in New England were steady suppliers during the cold snap. The region’s three nuclear reactors steadily provided 3,350 MW of power throughout the period, joined by consistent imports of power from Canada. At 11:00 p.m. on January 18, imports of electricity from Canada surpassed 4,200 MW and averaged 2,886 MW per hour between midnight on January 18 and midnight on January 26.

    Principal contributors: Kimberly Peterson, Sue Smith

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: American Rebel CEO Andy Ross to Appear on ABC-TV Tampa Weekday Morning Show Morning Blend

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Appearance Scheduled to Air on Friday, February 7 Broadcast Between 10 – 11 am Eastern

    Nashville, TN, Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — American Rebel Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AREB) (“American Rebel” or the “Company”), creator of American Rebel Beer (americanrebelbeer.com) and a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of branded safes, personal security and self-defense products and apparel (americanrebel.com), is excited to announce that its CEO Andy Ross will appear on the Friday, February 7 broadcast of Morning Blend (abcactionnews.com/morning-blend) on ABC Action News Tampa. Andy’s segment will appear between 10- 11 am Eastern Standard Time. Andy will promote the SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout (prosuperstarshootout.com) and his Saturday concert appearance on the American Rebel Beer stage near the starting line at the conclusion of racing, discuss the company’s sponsorship of Tony Stewart Racing’s Funny Car driven by Matt Hagan and the ongoing launch of American Rebel Beer.

    “The PRO Superstar Shootout is the Pro Bowl of the NHRA drag racing season,” said Andy Ross. “Last year’s debut event was a massive success and American Rebel and I are honored to participate. The PRO Superstar Shootout is a chance for the race teams to have some friendly competition and a dress rehearsal for the NHRA season. There’s nothing better than a weekend at the track, except a weekend at the track with an after party. I can’t wait to play my brand of country patriotic rock ‘n’ roll for these great fans.”

    “Coming to Florida to support the PRO Superstar Shootout and the Matt Hagan Dodge//SRT Hellcat American Rebel Light Funny Car is very important for American Rebel,” continued Andy Ross. “We recently had a launch party for American Rebel Beer in Nashville at Kid Rock’s bar on Broadway and Tony, Matt and some of the other Tony Stewart Racing Team folks came into town to support us…it meant the world to me and our company. It’s more than business, it’s family.”

    “I can’t wait to unleash the American Rebel Beer Funny Car with Andy Ross at Bradenton,” said Matt Hagan. “Andy and the American Rebel Beer Team are going full throttle as they launch a new premium domestic light beer. We’re proud to promote his brand and watch them expand into more states and bars nationwide. I’m honored to represent them and stand behind their bold American spirit.”

    “It’s always a good time when Andy plays a concert at the racetrack,” continued Matt Hagan. “He likes to rock and that suits us just fine.”

    About American Rebel Light Beer

    Produced in partnership with AlcSource, American Rebel Light Beer (americanrebelbeer.com) is a premium domestic light lager celebrated for its exceptional quality and patriotic values. It stands out as America’s Patriotic, God-Fearing, Constitution-Loving, National Anthem-Singing, Stand Your Ground Beer.

    American Rebel Light is a Premium Domestic Light Lager Beer – All Natural, Crisp, Clean and Bold Taste with a Lighter Feel. With approximately 100 calories, 3.2 carbohydrates, and 4.3% alcoholic content per 12 oz serving, American Rebel Light Beer delivers a lighter option for those who love great beer but prefer a more balanced lifestyle. It’s all natural with no added supplements and importantly does not use corn, rice, or other sweeteners typically found in mass produced beers.

    About Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Nitro

    As tenacious as Stewart is in the cockpit of a racecar, he’s proven equally adept at providing cars and equipment for racing’s elite. The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion can also list 31 owners’ titles to his resume, from NASCAR to USAC to the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. In 2023 Stewart earned his 31st owner title when Matt Hagan and the TSR Funny Car team earned the championship on November 11th. His team, Tony Stewart Racing, fields a powerhouse lineup in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series with Tony in Top Fuel and Matt Hagan in Funny Car. After more than four decades of racing around in circles, Stewart has embarked on a straight and narrow path, albeit at more than 300 mph. For more information on TSR Nitro go to tsrnitro.com.

    About American Rebel Holdings, Inc.

    American Rebel Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AREB) has operated primarily as a designer, manufacturer and marketer of branded safes and personal security and self-defense products and has recently transitioned into the beverage industry through the introduction of American Rebel Light Beer. The Company also designs and produces branded apparel and accessories. To learn more, visit www.americanrebel.com and www.americanrebelbeer.com. For investor information, visit www.americanrebel.com/investor-relations.

    American Rebel Holdings, Inc.
    info@americanrebel.com

    American Rebel Beverages, LLC
    Todd Porter, President
    tporter@americanrebelbeer.com

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. American Rebel Holdings, Inc., (NASDAQ: AREB; AREBW) (the “Company,” “American Rebel,” “we,” “our” or “us”) desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words “forecasts” “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include benefits of marketing outreach efforts, actual placement timing and availability of American Rebel Beer, success and availability of the promotional activities, our ability to effectively execute our business plan, and the Risk Factors contained within our filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

    Company Contact:
    tporter@americanrebelbeer.com
    info@americanrebel.com

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: TransUnion Introduces TruVision Alternative Bank Risk Score to Help Lenders Better Assess Consumers with Limited Credit Histories

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CHICAGO, Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Despite a strong employment picture, some consumers are still struggling financially due to elevated inflation and higher than normal interest rates. The lowest income households (those earning less than $50,000) face another challenge, with only 35% indicating they have sufficient access to credit and lending products.i In an effort to provide lenders with a clearer picture of thin- or no- file consumers, including those who may not be gaining sufficient access to credit, TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) introduced today the TruVision Alternative Bank Risk Score.

    This score includes checking and banking data applicable to the short-term lending space and can be used to enhance lenders’ existing underwriting scores. It offers a more holistic view of a consumer’s financial behavior and enhances the accuracy of credit risk decisions. The TruVision Alternative Bank Risk Score is enabled by TransUnion’s OneTru™ solution enablement platform, which now houses the company’s short-term lending data.

    This solution evaluates a consumer’s banking activities to assist in predicting their future financial behavior, particularly their likelihood of defaulting on loans or other credit obligations. The score complements the existing suite of tools that TransUnion already provides to lenders to help them in determining credit risk. It can be used with existing risk scores or as a standalone tool for underwriting.

    “The addition of the TruVision Alternative Bank Risk Score to TransUnion’s existing Alternative Lending suite of credit risk scores offers lenders a deeper look at potential borrowers who may otherwise have no, or very limited, credit history, as well as subprime borrowers,” said Liz Pagel, senior vice president of consumer lending at TransUnion. “It can aid in improving the predictive power of risk models, helping to identify potential risks that might be missed when relying on a single data source.”

    In addition to helping lenders make more informed decisions, this score can potentially offer some consumers with limited credit histories an alternate pathway to credit, by providing a more comprehensive view of their financial behavior, identifying those creditworthy consumers who may lack a traditional credit history but demonstrate responsible banking behavior.

    A recent report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) revealed that one in six households had no mainstream credit, and this percentage was significantly higher among lower-income households, those with a lower educational ceiling, and minority households. The report also indicated that those households without mainstream credit likely did not have a credit score with credit bureaus, making it that much harder to obtain credit moving forward.

    TransUnion’s Q4 2024 Consumer Pulse found that lower-income consumer households have a much more difficult time accessing credit.

    Lower Income Households Do Not Feel They Have Sufficient Access to Credit and Lending Products.

      Low (<$50K) Medium ($50-99K) High ($100k+)
    Have Sufficient Access 35% 64% 80%
    Neither Agree nor Disagree 31% 21% 11%
    Do Not Have Sufficient Access 34% 15% 8%

    Source: TransUnion Consumer Pulse, November 2024

    “TransUnion has long provided lenders with access to a wide range of tools, resources, and data with which informed lending decisions can be made,” said Jason Laky, executive vice president and head of financial services at TransUnion. “In this increasingly complex economic environment, many consumers, lower income or otherwise, are seeking credit with limited or non-existent traditional credit histories. The use of a broad suite of alternative credit data tools offers lenders a new and important tool in assessing risk among these consumers.”

    To learn more about how TransUnion gives lenders a Tru picture of consumers – helping them better assess creditworthiness and expand access to credit, click here.

    For consumers looking to learn more about how to build their credit, click here.

    About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)

    TransUnion is a global information and insights company with over 13,000 associates operating in more than 30 countries. We make trust possible by ensuring each person is reliably represented in the marketplace. We do this with a Tru™ picture of each person: an actionable view of consumers, stewarded with care. Through our acquisitions and technology investments we have developed innovative solutions that extend beyond our strong foundation in core credit into areas such as marketing, fraud, risk and advanced analytics. As a result, consumers and businesses can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good® — and it leads to economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for millions of people around the world.

    http://www.transunion.com/business

    i Q4 2024 TransUnion Consumer Pulse study

    Contact Dave Blumberg
      TransUnion
       
    E-mail david.blumberg@transunion.com
       
    Telephone 312-972-6646

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: ChargeAfter Teams Up with Bread Financial to Offer Flexible Payment Options through its Embedded Lending Network

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

    With the addition of Bread Pay® pay-over-time options to its network of lenders, ChargeAfter enables merchants to provide qualified customers with instant access to its installment programs.

    ChargeAfter, the embedded lending platform for point-of-sale financing, announced today it has added Bread Pay pay-over-time financing to its network of lenders. Bread Pay is offered through Bread Financial® (NYSE: BFH), a tech-forward financial services company that provides simple, personalized payment, lending and saving solutions. This long-term agreement will enable merchants to offer their customers seamless access to Bread Pay’s suite of long- and short-term financing options through ChargeAfter’s platform. Johnson Health Tech is among the first of ChargeAfter’s merchant partners to offer Bread Pay through its platform, enabling shoppers to finance purchases of BowFlex, Schwinn Fitness, and Horizon Fitness products.

    ChargeAfter’s waterfall technology enables merchants to deliver instant access to financing choices for customers across the credit spectrum. This is especially crucial for retailers and service providers that sell big-ticket items such as home improvement, electronics, jewelry, furniture, home appliances, healthcare, and automotive. Bread Financial is offered to prime credit customers through the platform, with merchants providing fast and frictionless access to Bread Pay pay-over-time options at every point of sale. 

    “We know that some big-ticket purchases can be an important decision for many consumers, and we’re committed to helping merchants offer flexible financing options to customers to make those purchases as seamless and affordable as possible,” said Rick Cunningham, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Bread Financial. “Our data shows consumers often choose a retailer based on their financing availability when purchasing these big ticket items*. By integrating Bread Pay at the point of sale through the ChargeAfter platform, we’re proud to empower consumers with greater choice and accessibility, taking the stress out of the purchasing process.”

    Meidad Sharon, CEO and founder of ChargeAfter added, “We are delighted that Bread Financial has joined our embedded lending network. The integration of Bread Pay products into our platform alongside a Bread Financial retail credit card offering enables merchants to seamlessly provide customers with a broader range of financing options. It is exciting to see merchants such as Johnson Health Tech enhance their prime financing offering with this product through ChargeAfter’s platform. As embedded lending becomes the new industry standard, ChargeAfter empowers merchants to deliver personalization and choices at every point of sale, providing an instant waterfall financing solution that benefits customers, merchants, and lenders alike.” 

    *From a Bread Financial proprietary survey published in 2023

    About ChargeAfter 
    ChargeAfter is pioneering the embedded lending network for point-of-sale consumer financing for merchants and financial institutions. Powered by a network of lenders and a data-driven matching engine, ChargeAfter streamlines the distribution of credit into a single, secure, and reliable embedded lending platform. Merchants can rapidly implement ChargeAfter’s omnichannel platform online, in-store, and at every point of sale, enabling them to provide personalized financing choices to their customers. 

    ChargeAfter is backed by payment expert investors including Visa, Citi Ventures, Synchrony Financial, Banco Bradesco, MUFG, PICO Venture Partners, Propel Venture Partners, and The Phoenix. ChargeAfter is headquartered in New York with an R&D center in Tel Aviv. Users can learn more at chargeafter.com.

    About Bread Financial® 
    Bread Financial® (NYSE: BFH) is a tech-forward financial services company that provides simple, personalized payment, lending, and saving solutions to millions of U.S. consumers. Our payment solutions, including Bread Financial general purpose credit cards and savings products, empower our customers and their passions for a better life. Additionally, we deliver growth for some of the most recognized brands in travel & entertainment, health & beauty, jewelry, and specialty apparel through our private label and co-brand credit cards and pay-over-time products providing choice and value to our shared customers. 

    To learn more about Bread Financial, its global associates, and its sustainability commitments, users can visit breadfinancial.com or follow them on Instagram and LinkedIn. 

    Contact

    Director of Marketing
    Varda Bachrach
    ChargeAfter
    varda.bachrach@chargeafter.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/89c2d85d-db29-4ec8-891e-f46e0c535c10

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Nigeria’s Brics partnership: economist outlines potential benefits

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Stephen Onyeiwu, Professor of Economics & Business, Allegheny College

    During its 16th annual summit in Kazan, Russia, Brics – a group of emerging economies determined to act as a counterweight to the west and to whittle down the influence of global institutions – invited Nigeria and eight other countries to join it as “partner” countries. Nigeria formally accepted the invitation in January 2025. That invitation has generated questions about how Nigeria stands to benefit, especially when US president Donald Trump is threatening to sanction members of the group if they replace the US dollar as reserve currency. It was established in 2006 and initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa joined in 2010 and the bloc added four new members (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates) in 2023. In this interview, development economist Stephen Onyeiwu argues that Nigeria stands to gain from a Brics partnership, but would have to carefully balance its domestic interests with those of its western allies and Brics.

    What does it mean to be a Brics ‘partner’ country?

    The introduction of Brics partnership is an expansion mechanism designed to bring in more participants without giving them full membership. It is akin to “observer” status.

    Brics partners can participate in special sessions of summits and foreign ministers’ meetings, as well as other high-level events. Partners can also contribute to the organisation’s official documents and policy statements.

    But partners cannot host annual Brics summits or determine the venue. Neither can they select new members and partners.

    How beneficial is Brics partnership to Nigeria?

    The main benefit would be access to finance offered by Brics’ New Development Bank.

    The New Development Bank was established as an alternative to western-dominated international financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. These institutions are sometimes used by the leading western countries to keep developing countries in line on global issues.

    Some developing countries are reluctant to criticise western countries for fear of losing access to funding by western-backed international financial institutions.

    Nigeria has been running a budget deficit of about 5% of GDP since 2019, and it needs funding to pay for the deficits. The New Development Bank could be an important source of funding for investment in Nigeria’s infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, and so on.

    New Development Bank loans are also available in member countries’ local currencies. They don’t have to earn foreign exchange to repay the loans. This fosters exchange rate stability and promotes economic growth. The New Development Bank raises funds in member countries’ local currencies, and lends them to member countries.

    Nigeria could use its Brics partnership to garner the group’s support in matters that affect Nigeria globally. For instance, there have been requests for African countries to be included as permanent members (without veto power) of the UN security council. South Africa and Nigeria have been touted as potential candidates. Should this issue be raised at the UN, Nigeria can count on the support of its Brics allies, which includes two permanent members (China and Russia) of the security council.

    Mutual understanding and cooperation with other Brics members and partners might spill over into economic, trade and investment agreements. Friendly countries are more likely to trade with each other and invest in each other’s economy.

    How can Nigeria maximise its status as a Brics partner?

    Nigeria should use it to attract foreign direct investment in strategic sectors of the economy, such as infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture and technology.

    Some Brics members, like China, India, and the UAE, have investors that are seeking investment outlets abroad. Nigeria could use the bloc’s annual summits to showcase investment opportunities.

    The global economy is transitioning into “frontier industries and technologies”, such as big data, artificial intelligence, solar, drones, gene editing, 3D printing, blockchains, Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, robotics and nanotechnology. China, India and Brazil are already well advanced in these technologies.

    Nigeria should use its partnership with these countries to build capabilities in frontier industries and technologies. It could get favourable terms in the transfer of these technologies.

    Nigeria seeks to diversify its economy from reliance on the export of hydrocarbons. But Nigerian producers have had a hard time accessing global markets. The country should negotiate trade deals that provide access to Brics markets, especially agricultural and agro-processed products, arts and crafts.

    But Nigeria has to promote economic growth and structural transformation at home. If the Nigerian economy falters, it is unlikely the country will be invited to become a full member of Brics.

    Would adding new members and partners reduce western dominance?

    Brics has so far not been able to significantly change the dynamics of the international political economy. Adding new members and partners, while symbolic, will not act as an effective counterweight to the influence of the G7 and G20 groups of nations.

    Most of the countries and partners in Brics are either allies of western countries or neutral on global issues. They are unlikely to support decisions or actions that are grossly inimical to western interests.

    Egypt and the UAE, for instance, receive military aid from the United States. Ethiopia and Nigeria are top recipients of foreign aid in Africa, much of it from western-backed financial institutions.

    The only outlier in the mix is Iran, whose membership was promoted by Russia. But Iran has no leverage to influence others in the bloc.

    On balance, therefore, Brics will not be a threat to western countries.

    Brics aspires to weaken the dominance of the US dollar for international transactions. Close to 90% of international trade transactions are conducted with the US dollar.

    Brics countries plan to reduce dollar dominance by encouraging member countries to settle their trade and financial transactions using their domestic currencies. For instance, South African businesses could purchase Chinese goods using the South African rand, while the Chinese could do the same for South African goods using the Chinese yuan. The more members you have in Brics swapping their currencies, the less important the US dollar will be.

    It is unlikely, however, that an increase in the number of Brics members and partners will weaken the dollar. Most will continue to have significant economic relationships with the west, including trade and foreign aid.

    They will also continue to conduct business with many non-Brics countries, which also have economic relationships with the west. They will need the US dollar to transact with many other countries.

    So increasing the number of Brics members and partners does not pose a threat to dollar dominance.

    Stephen Onyeiwu 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. Nigeria’s Brics partnership: economist outlines potential benefits – https://theconversation.com/nigerias-brics-partnership-economist-outlines-potential-benefits-248943

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why Trump’s rage defies historical and literary comparisons, according to a classics expert

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Rachel Hadas, Professor of English, Rutgers University – Newark

    Donald Trump’s anger has been building and now seems volcanic. Abstract Aerial Art/Getty Images

    The Greek divinity Nemesis, rarely depicted in art, has no place in the Olympian pantheon of a dozen gods and goddesses. But she’s an omnipresent force of retribution, an implacable force of punishment that arrives, if not sooner, then later.

    Nemesis can bide her time for generations, but there’s no escaping her.

    So too, it seems, with President Donald Trump, who is “clearly not a man who discards his grudges easily,” William Galston of the Brookings Institution said recently. This observation is an understatement.

    Trump’s resentment has been steaming since the 2020 presidential election. Now that he is again president, he’s far from appeased; his ire is boiling over.

    “Flooding the zone,” a term borrowed from football, was former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s way of describing the Trumpian tactic of issuing a barrage of statements whose sheer pace and multiplicity, not to mention contents, are intended to stymie any impulse at rational response.

    As he has gained fame and power, Trump’s contemptuous rage at his opponents and his appetite for vengeance appear to have sharpened.

    Like Nemesis, Trump is now pursuing his perceived enemies, using the power of the presidency. Among his recent retribution: He has
    fired Department of Justice officials and staff who worked on criminal investigations and prosecutions of him; he has revoked security clearances for intelligence officials to “punish his perceived opponents,” as one news story put it. And he has removed the portrait of Gen. Mark Milley from the Pentagon wall that traditionally features portraits of the retired chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as Milley was. In 2024, journalist Bob Woodward reported that Milley had told him, “No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump. Now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country” – clearly sparking Trump’s ire.

    As a poet and student of the classics, my impulse is to find analogs for this behavior, this temperament – precedents that might help provide some perspective.

    Trump displays his anger during a rally on Nov. 3, 2024, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

    Tyrants, heroes and horses

    Historians, I thought, would be able to come up with analogs. For example, Trump’s initial choice of a political ally, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, as attorney general – widely seen as unqualified for the post and who later withdrew – was likened to the Roman emperor Caligula, who made his horse a senator. Figures from Greek history, from the Athenian tyrant Pisistratus to Alexander the Great, could be famously power-hungry and vindictive.

    Classical epic and drama furnish plenty of rage, which is the first word of the Homeric epic “The Iliad.”

    Since epic and tragic heroes are in positions of power, temperament and action mesh. The Greek hero Achilles’ clash with the Greek army’s commander Agamemnon at the outset of “The Iliad” is psychologically plausible. Each man feels insulted and slighted by the other; both have cause for resentment.

    Achilles nurses his rage at all his fellow Greeks until, much later in the epic, his grief at the death of his beloved Patroklos sends him back into battle. This larger-than-life hero is vulnerable, changeable and human.

    Perhaps the most famous example of vengeance in Greek tragedy is Aeschylus’ trilogy, “The Oresteia.” When Clytemnestra murders her husband, Agamemnon, on his return from Troy, she has three comprehensible motives. Agamemnon has sacrificed their daughter; he has brought home a mistress, Cassandra; and Clytemnestra feels loyalty, both personal and political, to Aegisthus, her husband’s cousin, whom she has taken as a lover in her husband’s absence and who has his own reasons for hating Agamemnon.

    So vindicated does Clytemnestra feel in having murdered Agamemnon – and Cassandra as well – that she proudly compares her action to rain that fertilizes the crops. As rain is part of the cycle of the seasons, her act has righted the balance of justice.

    Agamemnon was murdered in cold blood by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, in vengeance for Iphigenia’s death and all the grief he’d given them both.
    Flaxman, artist, from The Print Collector/Getty Images

    Cunning rage leads to death

    Turning to a few of Shakespeare’s more vengeful characters, Iago in “Othello” is an embodiment of a cunning rage that leads him to systematically destroy the innocent Othello’s marriage. He does this by falsely hinting – and then planting a chain of evidence suggesting – that Othello’s bride, Desdemona, is unfaithful.

    Othello eventually kills both Desdemona and himself. But the Romantic critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge famously referred to Iago’s “motiveless malignancy,” since it’s hard to be sure exactly why Iago is so set on destroying Othello.

    Hamlet himself is a reluctant avenger who keeps putting off the act of revenging his father’s murder. In the history play named for him, Richard III’s resentment, going back to having been a deformed and unloved child, makes more sense. Richard lusts after power; he systematically and clandestinely murders his own brother and nephews, who would stand between him and his elder brother Edward’s throne.

    Whether motivated by political ambition, generalized rancor or an inherited assignment, none of these figures ends well. They all have enemies, and they all – except Iago, who will be tortured and executed – die on stage. All have done plenty of damage; none survives long to feel vindicated. Even Clytemnestra’s triumph is short-lived, since her own son, Orestes, will soon avenge his father’s death by murdering his mother – Clytemnestra.

    But all these figures seem to feel personal passion. Even the opaque Iago has one chief target: Othello. They don’t present compelling parallels to Trump, whose anger appears to be simultaneously private and public.

    Easily offended, Trump is quick to strike back with insults; but he also seems to have an insatiable appetite for broader and deeper punishment, meted out to more people and even after a lapse of time. Hence literary parallels are less than compelling.

    Trump’s anger seems more general than personal. His aggrieved sense of having been wronged, victimized by his enemies, is a constant in his career. But his targets shift. One day it’s judges; another day it’s election officials. Yet another day, it’s the “deep state.”

    And Trump’s implacable resentment has struck a chord among many Americans whose resentment has a more rational basis. Trump’s base may believe he is speaking for them – “I am your warrior. I am your justice,” he said in a speech at a conservative forum, but his first priority has always been himself.

    A spirit, ranging for revenge

    The damage done by Trump is often inflicted by others. Their threats, harassment and even violence are done in the name of Trump.

    He has pardoned almost all of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, some of whom have now boasted they will acquire guns.

    Trump has removed government protection from figures who have dared to disagree with him and have received death threats, including Dr. Anthony Fauci.

    Shakespeare, turning history into great poetry, comes to mind after all. In “Julius Caesar,” knowing that his funeral oration over the body of the assassinated Caesar will stir up an angry mob, Mark Antony muses:

    “And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,
    With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
    Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
    Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war”

    Antony imagines Caesar’s vengeful spirit rising from the underworld to incite further violence. Not only will Caesar’s assassins be punished, but the hell of civil war will be let loose to cause widespread suffering. Precisely who Trump wants to punish appears secondary to his delight in releasing precisely those hellish dogs. Everyone is a potential enemy and a potential victim.

    “I am your retribution,” Trump has said. Nothing in Trump’s continuing story more clearly echoes the classics than this ominous melding of self with a superhuman principle of revenge.

    Such a merging of a mortal individual with a pitilessly abstract power like Nemesis is closer to myth than to history. Or so it would be comforting to assume.

    Rachel Hadas 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. Why Trump’s rage defies historical and literary comparisons, according to a classics expert – https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-rage-defies-historical-and-literary-comparisons-according-to-a-classics-expert-248510

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: As Trump tries to slash US foreign aid, here are 3 common myths many Americans mistakenly believe about it

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joannie Tremblay-Boire, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland

    U.S. lawmakers and employees and supporters of the U.S. Agency for International Development speak outside the agency’s headquarters on Feb. 3, 2025. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

    U.S. foreign aid is in disarray.

    The Trump administration froze most aid disbursements on Jan. 20. According to billionaire Elon Musk, an adviser to President Donald Trump with “special government employee status,” the U.S. Agency for International Development, widely known as USAID, had been shut down as of Feb. 3, 2025.

    Although the Trump administration lacks the legal authority to do this, hundreds of people on the agency’s staff have been put on unpaid leave or fired, according to news reports.

    And the agency’s official website wasn’t working. A partial replacement, however, had appeared within the State Department’s website.

    I’m a scholar of public policy who researches nonprofits, which in the foreign aid sphere are often called nongovernmental organizations. These groups are responsible for carrying out many programs funded by foreign aid from governments such as the United States.

    In light of the Trump administration’s attack on the government’s main foreign aid agency and the disruption of this funding, I believe it’s important to debunk three common myths:

    1. The U.S. spends too much on foreign aid.
    2. The U.S. spends more than its fair share on foreign aid compared with other countries.
    3. Corrupt governments squander U.S. foreign aid.

    What is foreign aid?

    Foreign aid consists of money, goods and services – such as training – that government agencies provide to other countries. Foreign aid falls into two broad categories: economic assistance and military – sometimes called security – aid.

    Economic assistance includes all programs with development or humanitarian objectives. That tends to include projects related to health, disaster relief, the promotion of civil society, agriculture and the like. Most U.S. economic aid dollars come from the State Department budget, including spending allocated by USAID, which has operated as an independent agency since the Kennedy administration.

    On Feb. 3, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that he was serving as USAID’s acting director, indicating that the agency was no longer independent of the State Department.

    While U.S. taxpayers have long spent just a few bucks each on foreign aid every year, the impact is profound, saving millions of people from hunger, averting the worst of natural disasters such as droughts and flooding, tackling life-threatening diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, and more.

    Myth No. 1: US spends too much on foreign aid

    The United States consistently spends only about 1% of its budget on foreign aid, including military and economic support. The 2023 aid managed by USAID totaled about US$40 billion.

    Americans tend to believe that their government spends a far bigger share of its budget on foreign aid than it does.

    In a survey the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted in 2015, it found that, on average, Americans believed that foreign aid accounts for nearly one-third of the budget. Only 3% of those polled answered correctly that foreign aid constituted 1% or less of total federal spending.

    Myth No. 2: US spends more than its fair share

    According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States is by far the leading national source of economic assistance dollars. In 2023, it contributed $64.7 billion in overseas development assistance, far outpacing the $37.9 billion spent by Germany, the second-biggest source of that kind of aid. Some of this assistance is managed by USAID, some by the Department of State, and a small portion by other government agencies, such as the Treasury and Health and Human Services departments.

    That tells only part of the story, however. The United States spends very little on foreign aid relative to the size of its economy, particularly compared with other rich countries. The U.S. spent about 0.24% of its gross national income on overseas development assistance in 2023. By comparison, Norway, the top contributor by this metric, gave 1.09% of its gross national income in overseas development aid that year. The United States ranks toward the bottom of OECD countries, close to Portugal and Spain, by this measurement.

    In 1970, the United Nations General Assembly agreed that “economically advanced countries” would aim to direct at least 0.7% of their national income to overseas development assistance. Although developed countries have repeatedly mentioned this target in agreements and at summits since then, very few countries have reached that goal. In 2023, only five countries met the 0.7% target.

    The OECD average was just 0.37% in 2023 – far higher than the 0.24% the U.S. provided that year.

    Myth No. 3: Corrupt governments squander US aid

    You may think that foreign aid consists of government-to-government transfers of money. But governments channel most aid through nonprofits such as Catholic Relief Services, public-private partnerships, private companies such as Chemonics International and Deloitte, and multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank.

    In fact, according to the Congressional Research Service, between 2013 and 2022, most U.S. foreign assistance bypassed governments altogether: NGOs received 24% of the money, for-profit companies 21%, multilateral organizations 34%, and other organizations, such as universities, research institutes and faith-based organizations, 7%.

    When the political scientist Simone Dietrich researched this question, she found that the United States outsources a lot of its foreign aid to NGOs. This is especially the case with the support it provides countries with bad governance and rampant corruption such as Sudan and Sri Lanka, which could be likely to squander or swipe those funds.

    To be sure, corrupt governments sometimes do squander U.S. foreign aid. But it is important to understand that most aid never enters the coffers of those corrupt governments in the first place.

    Even without Trump’s proposed cuts, US fails to lead

    Even if Trump fails at his current bid to greatly reduce foreign aid spending, other countries, including the United Kingdom and Denmark, are spending far more on economic assistance for the world’s poorest people, as a share of their economies, than the U.S. does.

    Slashing foreign aid would damage U.S. credibility with American allies, reduce U.S. influence around the globe and – as a group of more than 120 retired generals and admirals predicted when Trump tried to slash foreign aid in his first administration – make Americans less safe.

    Parts of this article appeared in a story first published on April 6, 2017, and have been updated.

    Joannie Tremblay-Boire 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. As Trump tries to slash US foreign aid, here are 3 common myths many Americans mistakenly believe about it – https://theconversation.com/as-trump-tries-to-slash-us-foreign-aid-here-are-3-common-myths-many-americans-mistakenly-believe-about-it-248979

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Reverence for the sacred waters of the Ganga and belief in its power to wash away sins bring millions to India’s Maha Kumbh festival

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sudipta Sen, Professor of History, University of California, Davis

    Pilgrims take a dip in the sacred waters of Sangam, at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj on Jan.13, 2025. Niharika Kulkarni/AFP via Getty Images

    Millions of people have been visiting Prayagraj, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, to take part in the Maha Kumbh festival – a six-week-long event that began on Jan. 13, 2025.

    Called the world’s largest religious gathering, the event has already drawn 148 million people. Attendance is expected to exceed 400 million by the time it ends on Feb. 26, and surging crowds have already claimed dozens of lives at the sacred site.

    Attendees range from Indian business tycoons and members of parliament to social media personages, film stars and celebrities, including the philanthropist billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, who is a member of an ashram in Prayagraj.

    As a historian of the Ganga and its ecology, I am captivated by the enduring power of unwavering devotion that continues to drive pilgrims to this sacred site, despite the dangers posed by surging crowds and the spread of contagion. At least 30 people have been trampled to death and 60 have been injured in the stampede that followed this year.

    Ritual bathing at the confluence of large rivers has always had a special significance in Hindu rituals. Of such places, the Sangam, or confluence, at the city of Prayagraj is the most revered because this is where the rivers Ganga and Yamuna meet with the fabled Saraswati, also known as the goddess of learning and the arts – the unseen, mythical river that flows underneath.

    Hindus believe that bathing at the pilgrimage of Prayag has the power to wash away every sin known to humankind.

    Mythology behind the Kumbh

    The Kumbh festival is named after the celestial pitcher or “kumbha” that held the much coveted “amrita,” the nectar of immortality. In Hindu mythology, during what is known as the Age of Truth, the powerful clans of the asuras (demons) and devas (gods) fiercely battled over the source of eternal life.

    The cosmic ocean then was filled with milk, which they churned to draw out the nectar that would make them immortal. According to mythology, the asuras succeeded in the beginning, but their exertions disturbed Vasuki, the coiled, eternal snake at the Earth’s core, releasing a deadly poison that threatened to destroy the heavens. When the turn of the devas came, nectar was finally released from the depths of the netherworld. They drank the elixir and defeated the asuras.

    An illustration of the cosmic churning of the ocean.
    245CMR via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

    During this epic battle, four drops of the nectar fell to the Earth in places that are held scared. Two are cities in present-day northern India, Haridwar and Prayag, and two in central India, Nashik and Ujjain – all located along meeting points of rivers.

    An overwhelming multitude of people

    The festival of the Kumbh also marks the 12-year orbital circuit of the planet Jupiter, or Brihaspati, the harbinger of good fortune and wealth.

    The present gathering commemorates the Maha Kumbh, or “Great” Kumbh, which is an exceptionally rare and auspicious event that takes place once every 144 years, following the completion of 12 regular Kumbh cycles. This sacred gathering is celebrated exclusively at Prayag.

    A gathering of this immense scale presents a monumental challenge for local and national authorities, testing their ability to coordinate the arrival and departure of hundreds of millions of people and housing them in thousands of tents in a city that is assembled just for the few weeks of the gathering.

    It serves as a showcase of the nation’s organizational prowess while striving to preserve the sanctity of this ancient festival. Not only have sandbags been laid for miles along the banks where pilgrims are congregating, local authorities have deployed 2,760 CCTV cameras to keep track of the throngs, prevent stampedes and prevent families from being separated.

    The 2025 event has been dubbed the first digital Maha Kumbh, where police and volunteers are using artificial intelligence-based software to locate missing people and deliver emergency alerts during unexpected crowd surges. They have also installed underwater drones to monitor bathers and prevent drowning. The state government allocated US$765 million (64 billion rupees) for infrastructure and support of police, medical staff and ambulances.

    Despite extensive preparations, the early rush for a bathing spot in the Ganga spiraled out of control just before dawn on Jan. 26 and many people were trampled. Such tragedies are not new to the Kumbh gathering. During the 1954 Kumbh, a much more devastating stampede resulted in the deaths of nearly 800 people. A melee at the train station during the 2013 Kumbh killed 36 people.

    The enduring appeal

    Over the centuries, countless pilgrims have bathed and prayed in the Ganga, driven by the enduring belief that its waters possess the power to cleanse the spirit and cure diseases.

    However, throngs of people wading into the Ganga often stoked the dread of infection and disease. In the latter half of the 19th century, during the heyday of British colonial rule, administrative officials considered mass ritual bathing at festivals such as Kumbh a great threat to public sanitation and hygiene and a potential source of cholera outbreaks. The colonial empire grew increasingly concerned after the number of pilgrims arriving in Prayag rose exponentially after the advent of the railways in the 1860s.

    Despite such fears, barring isolated episodes of cholera – the last one being in 1906, attributed to pilgrims drinking water from polluted pools – there has been little evidence of a major epidemic at the Kumbh in recorded history.

    Faith in the river’s purity has also been emboldened by research on high levels of oxygenation of the river water from algae and concentrations of the bacteriophage virus in the Ganga’s shallow pools, capable of eliminating harmful bacteria like E. coli.

    The magnificent celebration of the Kumbh and the enduring reverence for the sacred waters of the Ganga reflect a live connection to both myth and history across the great subcontinent of India.

    For the millions of pilgrims who bathe in the sacred waters, it is a continuation of the enduring belief in healing and spiritual redemption, both in this life and the next.

    Sudipta Sen 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. Reverence for the sacred waters of the Ganga and belief in its power to wash away sins bring millions to India’s Maha Kumbh festival – https://theconversation.com/reverence-for-the-sacred-waters-of-the-ganga-and-belief-in-its-power-to-wash-away-sins-bring-millions-to-indias-maha-kumbh-festival-247676

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s administration seems chaotic, but he’s drawing directly from Project 2025 playbook

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Zachary Albert, Assistant Professor of Politics, Brandeis University

    The Heritage Foundation flag flies over its building in July 2024 in Washington. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    In his first few days back in office, President Donald Trump engaged in a whirlwind of executive actions, from exiting the World Health Organization, to deploying military personnel and National Guard troop to the U.S.-Mexico border.

    Many of these actions are unprecedented. Some appear to be illegal and unconstitutional, according to legal experts and judges. But none of them should come as a surprise – nearly all of them were outlined in 2022 in a plan called Project 2025.

    A Heritage Foundation representative attends a Moms for Liberty National Summit in Washington on Aug. 30, 2024.
    Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

    Project 2025 is top of Trump’s to-do list

    Project 2025 is a multifaceted strategy to advance conservative policies in the federal government. Part of this effort revolves around the “Mandate for Leadership,” a 922-page document published in April 2023 that outlines a slew of proposed governmental policy changes.

    The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and advocacy group, organized the collaborative effort. A long list of other right-leaning research organizations and interest groups, like Moms for Liberty and Turning Point USA, also participated in Project 2025.

    In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, Project 2025 participants wrote on the plan’s website that “to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left,” they would “need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration.”

    In my research on think tanks, I’ve investigated how these research organizations can influence public policymaking. The most potent strategy is to ally with a political party and support its objectives through research and advocacy. This is exactly what the Heritage Foundation has done via Project 2025.

    Even though Trump said during his 2024 campaign that he was not affiliated with the project, evidence of Project 2025’s agenda can be seen throughout the beginning of his second term – as well as in his first administration.

    For example, on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump echoed the plan’s statement that “men and women are biological realities” when he signed an executive order that, in part, recognizes “two sexes, male and female” that are “not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” This order led to the removal of transgender references from government websites.

    Other orders are similarly aligned with Project 2025. Take Trump’s executive order that, in part, eliminated the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, or OFCCP, a government office previously charged with ensuring companies working with the government did not discriminate against any employees. Project 2025 recommended, quite simply, to “eliminate OFCCP.”

    Some news reports have found that there are already many other examples of Trump policy decisions and executive orders that appear to mirror Project 2025 recommendations.

    One CNN analysis from Jan. 31 found that more than two-thirds of the 53 executive orders Trump issued during his first week in office “evoked proposals outlined in [the] ‘Mandate for Leadership.‘”

    Heritage Foundation’s decades of activism

    Project 2025’s influence on Trump reflects the Heritage Foundation’s growing importance to the Republican Party.

    In my forthcoming book about the polarization and politicization of policy research organizations, I show the many ways that think tanks like the Heritage Foundation have become embedded within partisan networks and intimately connected to politicians. Increasingly, Heritage and other partisan-aligned think tanks, including progressive groups like the Center for American Progress, use their research to consistently support partisan agendas that align with their policy goals.

    The relationship between the Heritage Foundation and the GOP represents the most extreme version of this dynamic. The think tank has supported Republican presidents as far back as Ronald Reagan, using another policy document – also called the “Mandate for Leadership” – to secure significant policy gains through his administration. But the symbiosis between the Heritage Foundation and the GOP has been particularly notable since Trump gained more influence in the party.

    At the start of Trump’s first term, as one Heritage Foundation researcher told me in 2017, the think tank recognized that the “administration didn’t have much policy depth, so when they won the election they were sort of like, ‘Now what do we do?’ And that’s where Heritage comes in. … We work on these issues year-round, so we’ll stand by your side.”

    The Heritage Foundation also vetted potential staffers for federal government positions. This led to more than 66 Heritage employees or former employees working for the Trump administration by the middle of 2018.

    But Heritage has not entirely dictated Trump’s agenda. While the group did say that Trump “embraced 64 percent of our 321 recommendations” by the end of 2017, the think tank has also revamped its agenda to align with Trump on the issues he cared most about, like trade and culture wars.

    As the think tank’s president, Kevin Roberts, said in 2024, Heritage views its job as “institutionalizing Trumpism.”

    The people connecting Trump to Project 2025

    Many of the contributors to the “Mandate for Leadership” had been Trump administration officials, like Russ Vought, the former director of the Office of Management and Budget and current nominee for the same position.

    This list also includes John Ratcliffe, the former director of National Intelligence and incoming CIA director, and Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and current border czar.

    In all, more than half of the plan’s 312 authors, editors and contributors previously worked in the first Trump administration.

    An incredibly important but often underappreciated part of Project 2025 was its staffing effort: The coalition worked to identify, vet and train potential staffers and appointees who are now making their way into the Trump administration and executive agencies.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gestures toward a visual aid about Project 2025 during a news conference in September 2024 in Washington.
    Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

    What people – and the law – say about Project 2025

    Polling from January 2025 shows that a majority of Americans oppose many of Trump’s actions since retaking office, sometimes by large margins.

    Even during the presidential campaign, both Project 2025 itself and the policy ideas it advocated were broadly unpopular. Democrats consistently warned about the plan in their attacks against Republicans.

    The lack of popular approval for Project 2025 and its proposals is notable because the Heritage Foundation has historically invested time and money into gaining public support for its work. It even operates an initiative that polls citizens on how they “interpret arguments for and against our policy recommendations and how we can best gain their understanding and support.”

    There are also legal considerations.

    Many of Trump’s actions – like saying the government will deny citizenship to children born to some immigrants in the U.S. – rest on potentially unconstitutional interpretations and expansions of presidential power.

    This represents another about-face for the think tank, which has historically opposed efforts to empower the president at the expense of congressional authority. Indeed, the Heritage Foundation was founded to work through Congress to accomplish its goals. But with Project 2025, it seems it is pursuing a new strategy.

    How successful the Heritage Foundation is in helping Trump implement Project 2025 proposals will partially depend on how the public reacts. Whether Congress asserts its control over budgetary matters and exercises general oversight of the executive branch will also matter, as will the decisions made by the American judicial system.

    These checks and balances have helped sustain American democracy for nearly 250 years – whether they will continue to do so remains to be seen.

    Zachary Albert 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’s administration seems chaotic, but he’s drawing directly from Project 2025 playbook – https://theconversation.com/trumps-administration-seems-chaotic-but-hes-drawing-directly-from-project-2025-playbook-248821

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Lightning strikes link weather on Earth and weather in space

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Lauren Blum, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder

    Lightning, when coupled with solar flares, can knock electrons flying above the Earth out of place. AP Photo/David Zalubowski

    There are trillions of charged particles – protons and electrons, the basic building blocks of matter – whizzing around above your head at any given time. These high-energy particles, which can travel at close to the speed of light, typically remain thousands of kilometers away from Earth, trapped there by the shape of Earth’s magnetic field.

    Occasionally, though, an event happens that can jostle them out of place, sending electrons raining down into Earth’s atmosphere. These high-energy particles in space make up what are known as the Van Allen radiation belts, and their discovery was one of the first of the space age. A new study from my research team has found that electromagnetic waves generated by lightning can trigger these electron showers.

    A brief history lesson

    At the start of the space race in the 1950s, professor James Van Allen and his research team at the University of Iowa were tasked with building an experiment to fly on the United States’ very first satellite, Explorer 1. They designed sensors to study cosmic radiation, which is caused by high-energy particles originating from the Sun, the Milky Way galaxy, or beyond.

    James Van Allen, middle, poses with a model of the Explorer 1 satellite.
    NASA

    After Explorer 1 launched, though, they noticed that their instrument was detecting significantly higher levels of radiation than expected. Rather than measuring a distant source of radiation beyond our solar system, they appeared to be measuring a local and extremely intense source.

    This measurement led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts, two doughnut-shaped regions of high-energy electrons and ions encircling the planet.

    Scientists believe that the inner radiation belt, peaking about 621 miles (1000 kilometers) from Earth, is composed of electrons and high-energy protons and is relatively stable over time.

    The outer radiation belt, about three times farther away, is made up of high-energy electrons. This belt can be highly dynamic. Its location, density and energy content may vary significantly by the hour in response to solar activity.

    Charged particles, with their trajectories shown as blue and yellow lines here, exist in the radiation belts around Earth, depicted here as the yellow, green and blue regions.

    The discovery of these high-radiation regions is not only an interesting story about the early days of the space race; it also serves as a reminder that many scientific discoveries have come about by happy accident.

    It is a lesson for experimental scientists, myself included, to keep an open mind when analyzing and evaluating data. If the data doesn’t match our theories or expectations, those theories may need to be revisited.

    Our curious observations

    While I teach the history of the space race in a space policy course at the University of Colorado, Boulder, I rarely connect it to my own experience as a scientist researching Earth’s radiation belts. Or, at least, I didn’t until recently.

    In a study led by Max Feinland, an undergraduate student in my research group, we stumbled upon some of our own unexpected observations of Earth’s radiation belts. Our findings have made us rethink our understanding of Earth’s inner radiation belt and the processes affecting it.

    Originally, we set out to look for very rapid – sub-second – bursts of high-energy electrons entering the atmosphere from the outer radiation belt, where they are typically observed.

    Many scientists believe that a type of electromagnetic wave known as “chorus” can knock these electrons out of position and send them toward the atmosphere. They’re called chorus waves due to their distinct chirping sound when listened to on a radio receiver.

    Feinland developed an algorithm to search for these events in decades of measurements from the SAMPEX satellite. When he showed me a plot with the location of all the events he’d detected, we noticed a number of them were not where we expected. Some events mapped to the inner radiation belt rather than the outer belt.

    This finding was curious for two reasons. For one, chorus waves aren’t prevalent in this region, so something else had to be shaking these electrons loose.

    The other surprise was finding electrons this energetic in the inner radiation belt at all. Measurements from NASA’s Van Allen Probes mission prompted renewed interest in the inner radiation belt. Observations from the Van Allen Probes suggested that high-energy electrons are often not present in this inner radiation belt, at least not during the first few years of that mission, from 2012 to 2014.

    Our observations now showed that, in fact, there are times that the inner belt contains high-energy electrons. How often this is true and under what conditions remain open questions to explore. These high-energy particles can damage spacecraft and harm humans in space, so researchers need to know when and where in space they are present to better design spacecraft.

    Determining the culprit

    One of the ways to disturb electrons in the inner radiation belt and kick them into Earth’s atmosphere actually begins in the atmosphere itself.

    Lightning, the large electromagnetic discharges that light up the sky during thunderstorms, can actually generate electromagnetic waves known as lightning-generated whistlers.

    Lightning strikes generate electromagnetic waves, which can travel into the radiation belts above the Earth’s atmosphere.
    mdesigner125/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    These waves can then travel through the atmosphere out into space, where they interact with electrons in the inner radiation belt – much as chorus waves interact with electrons in the outer radiation belt.

    To test whether lightning was behind our inner radiation belt detections, we looked back at the electron bursts and compared them with thunderstorm data. Some lightning activity seemed correlated with our electron events, but much of it was not.

    Specifically, only lightning that occurred right after so-called geomagnetic storms resulted in the bursts of electrons we detected.

    Geomagnetic storms are disturbances in the near-Earth space environment often caused by large eruptions on the Sun’s surface. This solar activity, if directed toward Earth, can produce what researchers term space weather. Space weather can result in stunning auroras, but it can also disrupt satellite and power grid operations.

    We discovered that a combination of weather on Earth and weather in space produces the unique electron signatures we observed in our study. The solar activity disturbs Earth’s radiation belts and populates the inner belt with very high-energy electrons, then the lightning interacts with these electrons and creates the rapid bursts that we observed.

    These results provide a nice reminder of the interconnected nature of Earth and space. They were also a welcome reminder to me of the often nonlinear process of scientific discovery.

    Lauren Blum receives funding from NASA and the NSF.

    – ref. Lightning strikes link weather on Earth and weather in space – https://theconversation.com/lightning-strikes-link-weather-on-earth-and-weather-in-space-243772

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –