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Category: Justice

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Wales well-placed to benefit from increased spending on defence

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Press release

    Wales well-placed to benefit from increased spending on defence

    • English
    • Cymraeg

    Latest figures show the Ministry of Defence spends £290 for every person in Wales.

    Wales Office Minister Dame Nia Griffith at Teledyne Qioptiq.

    • Wales a key player in the defence industry providing critical technology and innovation
    • Latest figures show the Ministry of Defence spends £290 for every person in Wales and directly supports over 7,000 jobs
    • Increased spending on defence recently announced by the Prime Minister boosts national security and drives economic growth

    The cutting-edge work being carried out by defence sector firms in Wales has been highlighted on a visit by a UK Government Minister to North Wales.

    Wales Office Minister Dame Nia Griffith visited Teledyne Qioptiq Ltd in St Asaph today (Thursday 3rd April).

    The firm specialises in advanced electro-optic technology which is integral to a wide range of defence programmes including the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft and Challenger 2 tanks. The firm also plays a key supporting role for the infantry through the STAS contract.

     Wales Office Minister Dame Nia Griffith said:

    The defence industry is a cornerstone of our national security and economic prosperity.

    All of the Ministry of Defence’s top five suppliers have a footprint in Wales and so we are well placed to benefit from an increase in defence spending.  

     > “Companies like Qioptic are not only driving innovation but also providing high-quality jobs and contributing significantly to our local and national economy.

    The UK Government’s number one mission is kickstarting economic growth. By investing in the defence sector we safeguard our national security, create new jobs and put more money in people’s pockets.

    Peter White, Managing Director of Qioptiq said:

    It is a privilege to continue to play our part in keeping our troops and society safe.

    Wales plays a key role in the UK’s defence industry with over 160 companies employing more than 20,000 people and is well placed to benefit from increased defence spending.

    Last month, the Prime Minister made a commitment to increase UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027.  

    According to the most recent figures the UK Government’s Ministry of Defence spent £914m in 2023-24 with industry and commerce in Wales, an increase from 2022-23 of £86m and directly supported 7,700 jobs in the country.

    In the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor committed £975 million over the next five years to the aerospace sector, with £49 million already confirmed for projects in Wales.    

    While in North Wales, Dame Nia also visited Wagtail UK in Mostyn.

    Wagtail is an award-winning company which provides detection dogs and dog trainer handling and supplies bodies including UK Border Force, HM Revenue & Customs, Police, Trading Standards and Armed Forces.

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    Published 8 April 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Rivers are increasingly being given legal rights

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    The River Ouse in East Sussex, which has been given rights by Lewes District Council

    By Oluwabusayo Wuraola, Anglia Ruskin University

    A district council in England has passed a motion to grant its local river the rights to flow freely, to be free from pollution and to enjoy its native biodiversity. The move by Lewes District Council in East Sussex to recognise the fundamental rights of the River Ouse is the first of its kind in the UK.

    The Ouse (not to be confused with larger rivers of the same name in Yorkshire and East Anglia) flows southwards for 35 miles into the English Channel and suffers from the usual problems afflicting many rivers in the UK: chemical pollution, sewage dumping and so on.

    As a legal academic who researches exactly these sorts of rights, I was excited to see the news from Lewes (even if the council’s motions ultimately can’t overrule national laws). But simply granting a river some rights isn’t enough. We now need to think about who will actually defend these rights.

    This may mean appointing someone to represent the rights of the river. Who these representatives are, and how they think about nature and conservation, can be as important as the granting of these rights in the first place.

    Appointing representatives who care about their own personal and property interests would be a grave mistake, as would appointing anyone who prioritises the rights of humans to a healthy environment over a more intrinsic right of nature (remember: the idea is that the River Ouse has rights in itself and shouldn’t need to demonstrate its worth to humans).

    As further rivers, lakes, forests and more are granted rights like the Ouse, we’ll need to train up an army of people willing to represent the rights of nature.

    Natural entities should have legal rights

    The law professor Christopher Stone pioneered the rights of nature concept back in the 1970s. He argued that natural entities, like rivers or forests, should have legal rights and that a “guardian” or representative should be appointed to defend those rights in court when they are threatened.

    Some legal systems have adopted this model. For example, in New Zealand, the Whanganui River was granted legal personhood, and two “human faces” were appointed to act and speak on its behalf. Their duties are outlined in a 2017 act, which specifies that these representatives must have the skills, knowledge and experience needed to effectively advocate for the river’s rights.

    But even as rights of nature are being considered in many countries, there is still little consideration of who will represent these rights effectively. For instance, back in 2008 Ecuador became the first country to grant the rights of nature in its constitution. However the constitution states that “all persons” are representatives of the rights of nature. This is simply impractical: we can’t expect every citizen to truly care about the rights of nature.

    Efforts to apply the rights of nature in Ecuador have often failed. Legal challenges can become highly politicised and there is little legal infrastructure beyond general constitutional principles.

    For example, in a case brought after road builders had dumped material into the Vilcabamba River, plaintiffs claimed to represent nature in court. However, they were not genuinely advocating for the river’s rights – their main concern was protecting their downstream property.

    An ecocentric perspective

    Ultimately, defending the rights of nature in court will be a struggle if the nature in question – the river, forest or lake – is not represented by someone with an ecocentric perspective. That means prioritising the intrinsic value of nature itself, rather than focusing on how it can serve human interests.

    Ecocentric advocates have proved to be the most effective defenders of the rights of nature in many court cases. For example, in lawsuits involving Ecuador’s Los Cedros cloud forest and its marine ecosystems, ecocentric arguments helped secure stronger legal protections and even inspired the courts to grant further rights of nature.

    One of the most common legal frameworks involves appointing “all persons”, “a person”, or “a resident” as representatives or protectors. For instance, Uganda’s National Environment Act 2019 states that anyone has the right to bring an action before a court “for any infringement of rights of nature”.

    Similarly, the city of Toledo, Ohio, tried to introduce the Lake Erie bill of rights which stated that the city or any resident could act on behalf of the lake’s ecosystem. (The bill was declared unconstitutional by a federal court in 2020 and did not become the law).

    Having such broad representation can make these legal protections less effective. This is what Stone, the law professor, envisioned back in the 70s: representatives should be trained to view nature as having intrinsic value – the very reason it is granted rights – and to protect it on that basis.

    There are some promising examples. Guardians were appointed to protect the Magpie River in Canada, for instance, after it was granted legal personhood in 2022. Their responsibilities include participating – on behalf of the river itself – in any consultations on projects that might affect the river.

    When the River Atrato in Colombia was also granted legal rights, the court required the formation of a commission (with representatives from the state and local communities) to train and oversee the work of the guardians.

    Moves to give rights to nature are promising. But from Colombia to Canada to Sussex, we’ll need a whole army of nature protectors to actually enforce those rights.

    Oluwabusayo Wuraola, Lecturer in Law, Anglia Ruskin University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    The opinions expressed in VIEWPOINT articles are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARU.

    If you wish to republish this article, please follow these guidelines: https://theconversation.com/uk/republishing-guidelines

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Lexington Man Sentenced for Production of Child Pornography

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Lexington man, Eric Kelsey Shepherd, 30, was sentenced on Friday, by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, to 50 years in prison, for production of child pornography. 

    According to his plea agreement, in January 2022, law enforcement was contacted about a 12-year-old victim who was sexually exploited by an adult male. Further investigation revealed that Shepherd, then 27 years-old, met the victim on Snapchat, where he initially claimed he was 17 years-old. Shepherd met the minor victim on numerous occasions to engage in sexual activity, some of which the victim alleged involved violence against the victim. Shepherd took images and videos of many of the sexual interactions, which were located on both the victim’s and Shepherd’s cellphones. Shepherd has a prior state conviction for sexual abuse and unlawful transaction with a minor and, as a result, will face enhanced penalties.    

    Under federal law, Shepherd must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life.

    Paul McCaffrey, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Rana Saoud, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Chief Lawrence Weathers, Lexington Police Department; and Sheriff Mike Coyle, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, jointly announced the sentence.

    The investigation was conducted by HSI; Lexington Police Department; and Madison County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Roth is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

    – END –

     

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Hopedale — Hopedale RCMP arrests two impaired snowmobile operators

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    Over the weekend, Hopedale RCMP stopped two snowmobile operators, a 27-year-old man and a 26-year-old man, and arrested both for impaired operation.

    On Saturday, April 5, 2025, shortly before 9:30 p.m., Hopedale RCMP received a report of theft of a snowmobile. The snowmobile‘s owners located the stolen snowmobile outside of a local store and confronted the driver. Police attended and stopped the suspect who was now walking away from the store. The 27-old man from Natuashish showed signs of alcohol impairment and was arrested for impaired operation and theft of a motor vehicle. He was released from custody to appear in court at a later date. His license was suspended.

    On Sunday, April 6, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., Hopedale RCMP observed a snowmobiler operating erratically on Berry Road. Moments later, the snowmobile tipped over. Officers spoke to the operator, a 26-year-old man, who showed signs of alcohol impairment. The man was arrested for impaired operation. He was released from custody to appear in court at a later date. His license was suspended and snowmobile impounded.

    Impaired operation of any motor vehicle is a choice that unnecessarily places the driver and all others who share the roadway at an increased level of risk. If you suspect an individual is driving while impaired, please immediately call your local police or 911 to make a report.

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Appeal for witnesses following a serious collision in Hackney

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    Detectives are appealing for information after a serious collision in Hackney which left a male pedestrian in a life-threatening condition.

    At 05:52hrs on Tuesday, 8 April police were called to reports of a collision between a car and a pedestrian on New North Road at the junction with Mintern Street, Hackney.

    Officers attended alongside the London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance. The pedestrian, a 60-year-old man, was taken to hospital and remains in a life-threatening condition.

    The driver of the car stopped at the scene and no arrests have been made.

    Detective Constable Bruce White, of the Met’s serious collisions investigation unit who is leading the investigation, said: “Our thoughts remain with the man who was injured and his family at this difficult time.

    “We are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area of New North Road between 05:30hrs and 06:00hrs – were you commuting to work or within the area at this time and saw something that might be helpful to us?

    “If you were driving past or live in the area, please check any dashcam or doorbell camera footage to see if you may have captured what happened.”

    “We believe that there may be witnesses who have yet to come forward. No matter how small, anyone with any information is urged to contact us immediately by calling 101 and quoting CAD/1015.”

    Detectives from the Met’s serious collision investigation unit are asking anyone who saw the incident or who may have captured it on dash cam or similar to contact 101, quoting CAD 1015/08APR25.

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: Reps. Cleaver, Pappas, 88 House Democrats Call on Trump Administration to Reverse Cuts to Home Energy Assistance Program

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II (5th District Missouri)

    Last week, all HHS staff who manage LIHEAP were fired, leaving the program at risk and the families that rely on it vulnerable to higher energy costs

    (Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) announced he has joined Rep. Chris Pappas and 88 other House Democrats in calling for the protection of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the rehiring of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff who manage the LIHEAP program that were fired last week by the Trump Administration.

    In a letter to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, the lawmakers wrote, “This program is vital for millions of families, and in fact is oversubscribed. More than 25 million American households report foregoing food and medicine to pay their energy bills, and of those, 7 million households report that they face that decision every month. LIHEAP benefits target households who need the assistance the most, particularly those that have a high home energy burden and or have household members who are elderly, disabled, and or young children.”

    “In Fiscal Year 2023, nearly 6 million households received LIHEAP assistance, and LIHEAP restored power or prevented disconnections over 2.7 million times for American families,” the lawmakers continued. “Moreover, LIHEAP supported 1.4 million households in crisis assistance. This is not funding that can wait; a team must be in place to support this program’s work. By removing the staff responsible for managing this vital program, this administration has directly burdened the families in our country who need our support most.”

    “Gutting this program’s staff is a reckless and irresponsible decision which may cost these families’ lives. We urge you to immediately reverse this decision and do all you can to support the work of this vital program,” the members concluded.

    LIHEAP assists low-income individuals and families with the costs of heating and cooling their homes and helps to mitigate the impacts of rising energy costs and extreme weather events. Across the nation, LIHEAP helps nearly 6 million households afford their energy bills. In Fiscal Year 2023, over 130,000 Missouri households benefited from an average savings of $1,533.

    Congressman Cleaver has been a strong advocate for the LIHEAP program and efforts to lower energy costs for Missouri families. In 2023, Cleaver joined 115 House lawmakers to request increased home heating assistance funding through LIHEAP. In 2021, Cleaver supported efforts to increase funding for LIHEAP in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provided additional investments that lowered energy costs for Missouri households. Moreover, Cleaver supported the Inflation Reduction Act, which supported and created numerous federal programs to lower energy costs for Missourians. 

    The official letter from lawmakers is available here.

     

    Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee’s Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Greenwood, Blue Springs, North Kansas City, Gladstone, and Claycomo. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee and Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: Scott and Kaine to Introduce Bill to Protect Miners’ Safety

    Source: {United States House of Representatives – Congressman Bobby Scott (3rd District of Virginia)

    Headline: Scott and Kaine to Introduce Bill to Protect Miners’ Safety

    This bill coincides with the 15th anniversary of the Upper Big Branch (UBB) Mine Disaster, reflecting lessons learned from the deadly explosion on April 5, 2010, that killed 29 miners. Weakening the Labor Department’s ability to inspect mines at a time when the White House seeks to ramp up mining is a recipe for more mine disasters.

    As originally released by the Committee on Education and Workforce, Democrats

    WASHINGTON – Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce, and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) will introduce the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act of 2025. 

    This bill coincides with the 15th anniversary of the Upper Big Branch (UBB) Mine Disaster, reflecting lessons learned from the deadly explosion on April 5, 2010, that killed 29 miners.  The bill improves mine safety and closes glaring loopholes in our nation’s mine safety laws that could help save miners’ lives.  The bill would further prioritize the safety of miners by holding rogue mine operators accountable.

    “The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act of 2025 is a critical step toward protecting the health and safety of mine workers across the country.  Coal miners, mine safety regulators and the UBB families have asked Congress to address long, overdue reforms to the nations’ mine safety laws.  The reforms in this bill would ensure that all miners are able to return home safely to their families at the end of their shift,”said Ranking Member Scott.  “The tragedy of the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster will be in vain if Congress does not close the loopholes that have allowed a small minority of mine operators to put profit ahead of their miners’ safety.”

    “Miners take incredible risks to power our nation.  While we’ve made progress to support them—like extending the Black Lung Disability Trust excise tax at a higher rate and strengthening silica standards—the recent actions of the Trump Administration have undermined decades of work to enhance protections for coal miners,” said Senator Kaine. “This legislation is critical to strengthening safety standards and holding mine operators accountable for unsafe working conditions.” 

    The comes at a time when the Trump Administration is abandoning the nation’s commitment to protect miners.  The Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has fired inspectors and appears to be closing offices across the country.  That agency has yet to answer congressional queries.  Meanwhile, in a secretive and apparently arbitrary process, the Trump Administration terminated thousands of Health and Human Services (HHS) employees—including many scientists and researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) who focus on black lung and innovative technologies to keep mines safe. 

    Eliminating so much of the government’s mine safety capacity, especially as we near the fifteenth anniversary of the UBB Mine Disaster, is reckless and nonsensical.  Congress permanently established NIOSH’s Office of Mine Safety and Health in the aftermath of the deadly Sago Mine Disaster.

    Weakening the Labor Department’s ability to inspect mines at a time when the White House seeks to ramp up mining is a recipe for more mine disasters.  The Trump Administration’s actions will waste decades of life-saving innovations and put miners’ lives at risk. 

    The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act protects miners’ health and safety by:

    • Expanding the authority of the MSHA to strengthen safety regulations and enforce penalties against mines with repeat violations.

    • Increasing penalties for mines violating health and safety standards.

    • Providing the MSHA with better enforcement tools to allow proper inspection and investigation.

    • Protecting whistleblowers from retaliation and loss of income.

    • Updating mine safety standards to prevent explosions.

    • Increasing accountability for the MSHA to ensure that inspectors are independent and qualified to provide quality oversight.

    The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act of 2025 is endorsed by Appalachian Citizens Law Center, Appalachian Voices, United Mine Workers of America, and United Steel Workers.

    Read the full text of the bill here.

    Read a section-by-section summary of the bill here.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: UConn Law Rises in U.S. News Rankings

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    UConn School of Law is once again on the rise in the U.S. News & World Report Best Law Schools rankings, moving up five points to a rank of 50. The School’s part-time Evening Division program is ranked seventh in the country, up from tenth in last year’s edition.

    “At UConn Law, our dedication to excellence is unwavering, and we work diligently to ensure the success of our students and institution,” says Dean Eboni S. Nelson. “We have extraordinary faculty, staff, students, and alumni whose collective achievements drive our progress. I am proud and greatly appreciative of their many contributions to UConn Law and beyond.”
    UConn Law’s employment outcomes and bar passage rates are strengths recognized by U.S. News & World Report. Approximately 96 percent of the Class of 2023 was employed 10 months after graduation or enrolled in graduate studies. Among graduates who took the Connecticut bar exam for the first time in July 2023, 84 percent passed, which was 17 points above the state average.

    The Class of 2024 enjoyed similar achievements, with an 85 percent first-time Connecticut bar exam passage rate. Approximately 93 percent of the Class of 2024 was employed 10 months after graduation or pursuing graduate studies.

    “These metrics reflect many of UConn Law’s qualities, such as academic rigor; career preparation; and a supportive, inclusive campus,” says Nelson. “Through our scholarship, teaching, and programs, we are addressing some of the greatest legal challenges facing our country and world. We take great pride in our commitment to serving our community through our experiential and pro bono programs while advancing the rule of law. As funding for non-profits and legal services providers is increasingly scarce, our mission to help close the access to justice gap is more crucial than ever.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Minnesota Man Pleads Guilty in ‘Cryptojacking’ Scheme

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    ST. PAUL, Minn. – Joshua Paul Armbrust, currently of St. Paul, Minnesota, pleaded guilty for his role in an illegal “cryptojacking” scheme that caused significant financial losses, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.

    According to court documents, in February 2020, Joshua Paul Armbrust, 44, formerly of Orr, Minnesota, resigned from his employment at Digital River, a Minnetonka-based global e-commerce and payment processing company. After leaving his job, between December 2020 and May 2021, Armbrust engaged in a cryptojacking scheme using accounts belonging to his former employer. Cryptojacking is a form of cybercrime where an unauthorized party uses someone else’s computing resources to mine cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, by leveraging the victim’s hardware, which can lead to reduced system performance, increased energy consumption, and higher operating costs.

    As part of the scheme, Armbrust remotely accessed the company’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) account on multiple occasions without authorization and utilized AWS computers to mine Ethereum cryptocurrency. This unauthorized access resulted in substantial costs for the company, totaling over $45,000. The mined Ethereum was directed into a digital wallet and subsequently transferred to Armbrust’s Coinbase accounts. Armbrust then liquidated the mined Ethereum, totaling over $7,000, and transferred the proceeds to his Wells Fargo banking account.

    “Cryptojacking is simply high-tech thievery,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. “Cybercriminals like Armbrust—who use their technical skills to victimize others—will continue to see federal justice.”

    Armbrust pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court before Judge Jerry W. Blackwell to one count of computer fraud. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.

    This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley M. Endicott is prosecuting the case.

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Global: Why Nato is struggling to rebuild itself in an increasingly threatening world

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Amelia Hadfield, Head of Department of Politics, University of Surrey

    In the years after Nato was formed in 1949, its US and European members had a collective approach to defence with clear goals in common, largely built around the protection of western Europe against the Soviet Union. Throughout this era, the US and Europe both relied on the stability of the international system by creating international cooperation on shared dilemmas.

    Fast forward more than 70 years, and there is now a ticking clock on reinventing the transatlantic alliance.

    European security and US-led Nato security are no longer one and the same. Certainly, recent statements from US leaders that the US will prioritise empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security has made for tough listening in Europe.

    For some, this may be an overdue opportunity to fundamentally rework the transatlantic security relationship. For others, such statements are worryingly set against the backdrop of Trump’s pro-Russia stance, with Trump’s demands sounding sinister at best.

    Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte recently outlined a need to “build a stronger, a fairer and more lethal NATO”. Global threats were creating a more dangerous world, he argued.

    Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general, speaks at a 2025 meeting in Brussels,

    From its establishment by 12 states on April 4, 1949, until the end of the cold war era, Nato was focused on one big thing: deterring Soviet aggression. Ultimately, Nato had one job, one enemy, one threat, one theatre and one instrument of power.

    It was a partnership that enabled the US to build and maintain a more permanent role in European security. This collective security plan prevented the US from falling back into isolationist foreign policies that it had held before the second world war

    Arguably, US attitudes fluctuated throughout this era. Initially the country sought a temporary role in Nato, with limited military commitment. It also encouraged western European Nato members to take early and primary responsibility for defence.

    However, the huge Soviet nuclear threat hardened US attitudes. And Nato came to be seen as key to the US’s overall ability to prevent a Soviet invasion of western Europe. Equally important was the role of the Marshall Plan, a massive post-war reconstruction plan for Europe, which (in conjunction with Nato) represented the US’s desire to work with European partners to both stabilise the region, and ensure democracy.

    Through the decades that followed, the US saw Nato as a cornerstone of its foreign policy. It is important to remember that transactionality has always been an integral part of the transatlantic relationship, but it was never at the expense of the values that underpinned it, and indeed reinforced both US national and European regional interests in doing so.

    Throughout the 1990s, and well into the 2000s, Nato clearly represented the US’s preferred method of maintaining its military presence in Europe (including US bases, weapons and troops stationed in member countries). The US drove the redefinition of post-cold war Nato, to include former Warsaw Pact countries including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.




    Read more:
    US and Russia squabble over Arctic security as melting ice opens up shipping routes


    The question now is whether US leadership in Nato was focused so extensively on security of Europe and pushing back against the Soviets that for a long time the dilemma of who paid for what was essentially set aside.

    Long overdue problems?

    But two wake-up calls were to come. The first was the increasingly clear indications from US administrations from Barack Obama’s presidency onwards that the US was ill at ease with Nato as a whole, and it was unhappy with the lower financial commitment, than the US, coming from European members.

    The second was in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. Unfortunately, the first warning sign by Obama was largely ignored; and when Russia invaded Crimea, Nato did not step up to push back against Putin’s expansionism.

    Now, Nato finds itself once again in the crosshairs of US anger about funding, and with Trump furious at European defence spending levels, and determined to massively revise the transatlantic bargain.

    Trump’s first administration put spending from European Nato members firmly on the table. His recent position is merely a continuation of that theme.

    From the European perspective, the US was, and is, a key part of the collective security structure that has empowered European defence and deterrence, but possibly with an out-of-date funding model.

    Trump, meanwhile, appears to see the US’s involvement as politically naïve. He seems to view Nato as strategically futile and defence spending imbalances as an indication that Nato is nothing more than a giant security racket.

    What is stark is the reversal between the US having helped found Nato and as the leading nation backing of a rule-bound global system under international law and Trump’s preference to reject any responsibilities for global leadership and stability.

    What has come as a shock to European members is not perhaps the demands regarding improving defence funding, but the abdication of US leadership and the threat to leave Nato completely, with no ongoing US responsibility to defend the world order.

    The onus is now on European Nato members to make both serious and swift changes. Indications of far more serious financial commitments, including from Germany, are emerging. European defence spending overall increased by 11.7% over the last year to roughly €423.3 billion (£371 billion), representing ten years of consecutive regional growth.

    Next steps include focusing on AI-led technologies, cheap drones, digital tech and improved commitments to joint projects.

    But the hardest task is also the most urgent. Namely, to avoid the chaos of a unilateral US withdrawal from Nato.

    There’s a need to move the financial and military burden to Europe in a way agreeable to the US before the Nato summit in June. Discussions on how to achieve this need to cover everything from nuclear deterrence to challenges arising from the conflict in Ukraine.

    Whether Rutte and European states can indeed preserve and maintain the collective security foundations on which Nato was first built remains to be seen. But, certainly, the current world situation is no less dangerous that the world in which Nato itself was first built.

    Amelia Hadfield 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 Nato is struggling to rebuild itself in an increasingly threatening world – https://theconversation.com/why-nato-is-struggling-to-rebuild-itself-in-an-increasingly-threatening-world-253494

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Columbia Citizens Academy Application Period Extended

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    LEXINGTON, SC—The FBI Columbia field office announced today the FBI Citizens Academy nomination period has been extended. As the spring session has been postponed, nominations are now due June 1. The class begins Thursday, August 7 and meets every Thursday from 4—6 p.m., culminating with a graduation on Sept. 18.

    The mission of the FBI Citizens Academy is to foster a greater understanding of the role of federal law enforcement in the community through frank discussion and education.

    More information about Citizens Academy can be found on the Community Outreach section of our website at: fbi.gov/columbia. The nomination form can be accessed directly by clicking on the following hyperlink: https://forms.fbi.gov/fbi-citizens-academy-nomination-form-columbia/view.

    Candidates must meet the following criteria:

    • Be a recognized business, religious, or community leader
    • Live and/or work within the division’s jurisdiction
    • Be at least 21 years old
    • Consent to a limited background investigation, to include fingerprint checks
    • Agree to attend all sessions, with no more than two excused absences

    Individuals chosen through the selection process will be notified by email. There is no cost to attend the academy.

    Questions can be emailed to the Community Outreach team at Columbia_Outreach@fbi.gov.

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Boone Man Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Attempting to Transfer Obscene Material to a Minor

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    DES MOINES, Iowa – A Boone man was sentenced on March 28, 2025, to five years in federal prison for attempted transfer of obscene material to a person he believed to be a minor.

    According to public court documents, Travis Lee Morgan, 40, used a Facebook account to communicate with a person he believed to be a 13-year-old female, but was instead a law enforcement officer. Between June and August 2023, Morgan sent numerous videos and images to the female, including images of his genitals and himself engaged in a sex act, and discussed in-person sex acts Morgan desired to occur with the minor female.

    After completing his term of imprisonment, Morgan will be required to serve a three-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

    United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the FBI Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Task Force, the Altoona Police Department, and the Iowa Department of Public Safety-Division of Criminal Investigation-Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, with assistance from the Boone Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the resources tab.

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Charles County Man Pleads Guilty to Four Armed Commercial Robberies

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

    Greenbelt, Maryland – Today, Daniel Michael Harris, Sr., 43, of Waldorf, Maryland, pleaded guilty to committing an armed robbery while using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

    Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the plea with Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office; Chief Malik Aziz, Prince George’s County Police Department; Sheriff Troy D. Berry, Charles County Sheriff’s Office; and Chief Marc Yamada, Montgomery County Police Department. 

    According to his guilty plea, Harris and his co-conspirators planned and committed armed robberies of two businesses in Prince George’s County, one business in Charles County, and one business in Montgomery County.  On March 23, and March 28, 2023, Harris and his co-conspirators robbed two convenience stores in Prince George’s County and stole cash from the registers and several packs of cigarettes.  Harris brandished a pistol-grip shotgun during both robberies.

    Then on April 5, 2023, Harris and his co-conspirators robbed a convenience store in Charles County and stole cash from the registers and the wallet and phone of a store employee.  Harris also brandished a pistol-grip shotgun and held the store employee at gunpoint while pinning a customer into a wall corner with his forearm.

    On April 6, 2023, Harris and his co-conspirators robbed a convenience store in Montgomery County, stealing cash from the register and a store employee’s purse and phone.  Harris also brandished the same pistol-grip shotgun used in the earlier robberies.

    Then on April 12, 2023, a Prince George’s County Police Department officer observed the getaway vehicle used by Harris and his co-conspirators in two of the robberies, resulting in a traffic stop.  The occupants of the vehicle fled and escaped.  Law enforcement recovered several items from the vehicle and submitted the items for Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) testing.  A subsequent DNA report revealed a high stringency match between Harris and a DNA sample from a bottle recovered from the vehicle.

    On November 9, 2023, Charles County Sherriff’s Office detectives obtained and executed a search warrant for Harris’s storage unit.  Detectives accessed the storage unit and identified the clothing items Harris wore and the same pistol-grip shotgun he used during the robberies.

    Harris and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, he faces 13 to 17 years in federal prison.  U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow scheduled the sentencing for Friday, July 18, 2025, at 9:30 a.m.

    This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

    U.S. Attorney Hayes praised the FBI, Prince George’s County Police Department, Charles County Sheriff’s Office, and Montgomery County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan S. McKoy who is prosecuting the case.

    For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

    # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI: Convocation of the General Ordinary Shareholders Meeting of INVL Technology and draft resolutions on agenda issue

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Special closed-ended type private equity investment company INVL Technology, legal entity code 300893533, the registered address Gyneju str. 14 Vilnius, Lithuania (hereinafter – “the Company” or “ INVL Technology”), informs that on the initiative and decision of the management company UAB „INVL Asset Management“ (hereinafter – “the Management Company“) , the General Ordinary Shareholders Meeting (hereinafter – “the Meeting”) is to be held on 30 April 2025.

    The place of the Meeting: the office of Company, the address Gyneju str. 14, Vilnius.

    The Meeting will start at 9:30 a.m. (registration starts at 9:00 a.m.).

    The Meeting’s accounting day 23 April 2025 (the persons who are shareholders of the Company at the end of accounting day of the Meeting or authorized persons by them, or the persons with whom shareholders concluded the agreements on the disposal of voting right, shall have the right to attend and vote at the Meeting).

    The total number of the Company’s shares is 12,175,321 shares. Considering that the Company has acquired its own shares, the total number of votes at the Company’s shareholders’ meeting is 12,009,566 votes.

    Agenda of the Meeting:

    1. Presentation of the Company‘s annual management report for 2024.
    2. Presentation of the independent auditor’s report on the financial statements and annual management report of the Company.
    3. Presentation of the Company‘s investment committee‘s recommendation on the draft of the profit (loss) distribution (including the formation of the reserve) and the draft of the information about remuneration.
    4. Regarding the assent to the information about remuneration of the Company, as a part of the annual management report of the Company for the year 2024.
    5. Approval of the stand-alone financial statements for 2024 of the Company.
    6. Deciding on profit distribution of the Company.
    7. Presentation of the Company‘s Management Company‘s statement on the share purchase price.
    8. Regarding the purchase of own shares of the Company.
    9. Presentation of the Report of the Audit Committee of the Company.
    10. Regarding the election of the Audit Committee members of the Company.
    11. Regarding the determination of the remuneration of the Audit Committee members of the Company.
    12. Regarding the approval of new version of Regulations of Audit Committee of the Company.

    Draft resolutions of the Meeting:

    1. Presentation of the Company‘s annual management report for 2024

    1.1. Shareholders of the Company are presented with the annual management report of the Company for 2024 (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

    2. Presentation of the independent auditor’s report on the financial statements and annual report of the Company

    2.1. Shareholders of the Company are presented with the independent auditor’s report on the financial statements and annual report of the Company (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

    3. Presentation of the Company‘s investment committee‘s recommendation on the draft of the profit (loss) distribution (including the formation of the reserve) and the draft of the information about remuneration.

    3.1. Shareholders of the Company are presented with the Company‘s investment committee‘s recommendation on the draft of the profit (loss) distribution (including the formation of the reserve), and the draft of the information about remuneration (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

    4. Regarding the assent to the information about remuneration of the Company, as a part of the annual management report of the Company for the year 2024

    4.1. To assent to the information about remuneration of the Company, as a part of the annual management report of the Company for the year 2024 (attached).

    5. Approval of the stand-alone financial statements for 2024 of the Company

    5.1. To approve the stand-alone financial statements for 2024 of the Company.

    6. Deciding on profit distribution of the Company

    6.1. To distribute profit of the Company as follows:

    Article (thousand EUR)
    Retained earnings (loss) at the beginning of the financial year of the reporting period 21,673
    Net profit (loss) for the financial year 8,089
    Profit (loss) not recognized in the income statement of the reporting financial year –
    Shareholders contributions to cover loss –
    Distributable profit (loss) at the end of the financial year of the reporting period   29,762
    Transfers from reserves –
    Distributable profit (loss) in total 29,762
    Profit distribution:  
    – Profit transfers to the legal reserves –
    -Profit transfers to the reserves for own shares acquisition –
    – Profit transfers to other reserves –
    – Profit to be paid as dividends –
    – Profit to be paid as annual payments (bonus) and for other purposes 29,762
    Retained earnings (loss) at the end of the financial year  

    7. Presentation of the Company‘s Management Company‘s statement on the share purchase price

    7.1. Shareholders of the Company are presented with the Company‘s Management Company‘s statement on the share purchase price (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

    8. Regarding the purchase of own shares of the Company

    8.1. To authorise the Management Company to use the formed reserve (or the part of it) for the purchase of its own shares and after evaluation of the economic viability to purchase shares in INVL Technology by the rules mentioned below:

    1. The goal for the purchase of own shares – to meet obligations arising from share option programs, or other allocations of shares, to employees of subsidiary companies and/or to reduce the authorized capital of the Company by cancelling the shares purchased by the Company.
    2. The maximum number of shares to be acquired could not exceed 1/10 of the authorised capital INVL Technology.
    3. The period during which INVL Technology may purchase its own shares is 18 months from the day of this resolution.
    4. The maximum and minimal shares acquisition price of INVL Technology:  the maximum one-share acquisition price – is the last announced net asset value per share, and the minimal one-share acquisition price – is EUR 0.29.
    5. the conditions of the selling of the purchased shares and minimal selling price – the purchased shares are not planned to be sold and therefore the minimum selling price and the selling procedure for the shares are not determined. Own shares purchased by INVL Technology can be granted (given the right to purchase them) to the employees of the subsidiary companies by the decision of the Management Company, in accordance with the Rules on granting the shares. The shares acquired by the Company may be cancelled by decision of the General Meeting of Shareholders.
    6. the Management Company is delegated on the basis of this resolution, the Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania and other legal acts, to make specific decisions regarding the purchase of the Company’s own shares, to organize procedure of purchase of own shares, determine the method and procedure for purchase of own shares (including the right to buy back shares in accordance with the provisions of Article 5, paragraph 1 of the European Parliament and Council Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 on market abuse), timing as well as the amount of shares and shares’ price, and to complete all other actions related with purchase procedure of own shares.

    8.2.   To initiate the reduction of the Company’s authorized capital by cancelling the shares purchased by the Company, only if the amount of own shares purchased will exceed the amount of shares required to grant shares to the employees of the Company’s subsidiaries, by 100,000 units or more of the Company’s shares.

    8.3.   To establish that after adopting this resolution the resolution of the General Meeting of Shareholders of 30 April 2024 regarding acquisition of the Company’s own shares shall expire.

    9. Presentation of the Report of the Audit Committee of the Company

    9.1. In accordance with the rules of procedure of the Audit Committee of the Company (approved on 28 April 2023 by decision of the General Meeting of Shareholders of the Company), the shareholders are hereby briefed on the activity report of the Audit Committee of the Company (attached) (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

    10. Regarding the election of the Audit Committee members of the Company

    10.1. Given that in 2025, the term of office of the members of the Audit Committee of the Company expires, to elect three members: Dangutė Pranckėnienė, Andrius Lenickas and Tomas Bubinas to the Audit Committee of the Company for new 4 (four) years term of office.

    11. Regarding the determination of the remuneration of the Audit Committee members of the Company

    11.1. To set the hourly remuneration for each member of the Audit Committee of the Company at EUR 200 per hour (before taxes) for the service on the Audit Committee of the Company. The remuneration is paid for actual hours spent while performing the activities of the Audit Committee member.

    12. Regarding the approval of new version of Regulations of Audit Committee of the Company

    12.1. Considering the changes in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Audit of Financial Statements and Other Assurance Services regarding the obligations of the Audit Committee as well as the election of three Audit Committee members for the new term of office, the Regulations of the Audit Committee are updated accordingly. It is proposed to the shareholders of the Company to approve the new version of the Regulations of Audit Committee (attached).

    The documents related to the agenda, draft resolutions on every item of the agenda, documents that have to be submitted to the General Ordinary Shareholders Meeting and other information related to the realization of shareholders’ rights are published on the Company’s website www.invltechnology.lt section For investors, and also by prior agreement available at the premises of the Company, located at Gyneju str. 14, Vilnius (hereinafter – “the Premises of the Company”) during working hours. Phone for information +370 5 279 0601.

    The shareholders are entitled:

      1. to propose to supplement the agenda of the Meeting by submitting a draft resolution on every additional item of the agenda or, then there is no need to make a decision – explanation of the shareholder (this right is granted to shareholders who hold shares carrying at least 1/20 of all the votes). A proposal to supplement the agenda is submitted in writing sending a proposal by registered mail to the Company at Gyneju str. 14 LT-01110 Vilnius, Lithuania, or, by prior agreement, delivered in person to the representative of the Company at the Premises of the Company on business hours or by sending proposal to the Company by e-mail info@invltechnology.lt. The agenda is supplemented if the proposal is received no later than 14 days before the Meeting.  In case the agenda of the Meeting is supplemented, the Company will report on it no later than 10 days before the Meeting in the same way as on convening of the Meeting;
      2. to propose draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the Meeting at any time prior to the date of the Meeting (in writing, sending a proposal by registered mail to the Company at Gyneju str. 14 LT-01110 Vilnius, Lithuania, or, by prior agreement, delivered in person to the representative of the Company at the Premises of the Company on business hours or by sending a proposal to the Company by e-mail info@invltechnology.lt or in writing during the Meeting (this right is granted to shareholders who hold shares carrying at least 1/20 of all the votes);
      3. to submit questions to the Company related to the issues of the agenda of the Meeting in advance but no later than 3 business days prior to the Meeting in writing sending the proposal by registered mail to the Company at Gyneju str. 14 LT-01110 Vilnius, Lithuania, or, by prior agreement, delivered in person to the representative of the Company at the Premises of the Company on business hours or by sending a proposal to the Company by e-mail info@invltechnology.lt. All answers related to the agenda of the Meeting to questions submitted to the Company by the shareholders in advance, are submitted in the Meeting or simultaneously to all shareholders of the Company prior to the Meeting. The Company reserves the right to answer to those shareholders of the Company who can be identified and whose questions are not related to the Company’s confidential information or commercial secrets.
      4. The shareholder participating at the Meeting and having the right to vote, must submit the documents confirming personal identity. A person who is not a shareholder shall, in addition to this document, submit a document confirming the right to vote at the Meeting. The requirement to provide the documents confirming personal identity does not apply when voting in writing by filling in a general ballot paper.

        Each shareholder may authorize either a natural or a legal person to participate and to vote on the shareholder’s behalf at the Meeting. An authorised person has the same rights as his represented shareholder at the Meeting unless the authorized person’s rights are limited by the power of attorney or by the law. The authorized persons must have the document confirming their personal identity and power of attorney approved in the manner specified by law which must be submitted to the Company no later than before the commencement of registration for the Meeting. The Company does not establish special form of the power of attorney. A power of attorney issued by a natural person must be certified by a notary. A power of attorney issued in a foreign state must be translated into Lithuanian and legalised in the manner established by law. The persons with whom shareholders concluded the agreements on the disposal of voting right, also have the right to attend and vote at the Meeting.

        Shareholder is entitled to issue power of attorney by means of electronic communications for legal or natural persons to participate and to vote on its behalf at the Meeting. No notarisation of such authorization is required. The power of attorney issued through electronic communication means must be confirmed by the shareholder with a safe electronic signature developed by safe signature equipment and approved by a qualified certificate effective in the Republic of Lithuania. The shareholder shall inform the Company on the power of attorney issued through the means of electronic communication by e-mail info@invltechnology.lt not later than on the last business day before the Meeting. The power of attorney and notification must be issued in writing and could be sent to the Company by electronic communication means if the transmitted information is secured and the shareholder’s identity can be identified. By submitting the notification to the Company, the shareholder shall include the internet address from which it would be possible to download software to verify an electronic signature of the shareholder free of charge.

        Shareholders of the Company are urged to use the right to vote on the issues in the agenda of the Meeting by submitting properly completed general voting bulletins to the Company in advance. The form of general voting bulletin is presented at the Company’s webpage www.invltechnology.lt section For Investors. If shareholder requests, the Company shall send the general voting bulletin to the requesting shareholder by registered mail or shall deliver it in person no later than 10 days prior to the Meeting free of charge. If general voting bulletin is signed by a person authorized by the shareholder, it should be accompanied by a document certifying the right to vote.

        The Company invites its shareholders who decide to participate in the Meeting to choose one of the alternatives presented below:

        __________

        Alternative No. 1:

        A shareholder or person authorised by them should complete and sign a written voting bulletin and send it to the Company by e-mail (info@invltechnology.lt) and send the original bulletin by registered or ordinary post to the address Gynėjų str. 14, LT-01110 Vilnius. Properly completed written voting bulletins may be sent by registered or ordinary post to the address Gynėjų str. 14, LT-01110 Vilnius without submitting a copy to the e-mail address specified or delivered in person to the Company on business days at the Company‘s registered address mentioned above . Along with a bulletin, a document confirming the right to vote must also be sent. Those voting bulletins shall be deemed valid which are correctly completed and are received before the start of the general shareholders meeting.

        __________

        Alternative No. 2:

        A shareholder or person authorised by them should complete a written voting bulletin, save it on their computer and sign it with a qualified electronic signature. Send the written voting bulletin which is properly completed and signed with a qualified electronic signature to the Company by e-mail at info@invltechnology.lt.

        The Company suggests using the following free qualified electronic signature systems: Dokobit and GoSign.

        __________

        Alternative No. 3:

        If shareholders of the Company do not have the possibility to use voting alternatives No. 1 or No. 2, the Company will provide conditions for the shareholders or persons duly authorised by them to come on 30 April 2025 to the address Gyneju str. 14 in Vilnius, to the Company’s Meeting.

        The person authorized to provide additional information:
        Kazimieras Tonkūnas
        INVL Technology Managing Partner
        E-mail k.tonkunas@invltechnology.lt

        Attachments

      The MIL Network –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Dallas Conducts Federal Civil Rights Training with San Angelo-Area Law Enforcement

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    SAN ANGELO, TX—The FBI Dallas Field Office and FBI San Angelo Resident Agency partnered with the Angelo State University Police Department (ASUPD) to serve as the host for federal civil rights training for regional law enforcement this week.

    The interactive training explains how federal criminal statues related to law enforcement misconduct applies to local and state agencies, and outlines the roles of the FBI and Department of Justice. Presentation materials included body camera footage, scenario-based discussions and case study review.

    Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock explained, “Training is critical to the continued education of our law enforcement population to recognize and prevent potential civil rights violations. We are grateful for Angelo State University Police Department’s commitment to host this session for regional law enforcement, and thank them for their continued partnership.”

    The FBI is the primary federal agency responsible for investigating allegations regarding possible violations of federal civil rights statutes and works closely with its partners to prevent and address hate crimes and color of law violations.

    More than 25 law enforcement officers from 10 departments participated.

    For additional information on the FBI’s Civil Rights program please visit https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/civil-rights.

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Bank Contractor Admits to Conspiracy to Load Debit Cards with Fraudulent Funds

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    HOUSTON – A 23-year-old Houston woman has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

    Jaysha Victorian worked for a bank contractor from late 2020 to early 2021. She used her access to the systems of a national banking institution to load prepaid debit cards with fraudulent funds. These included prepaid cards that were used to provide unemployment benefits, including for the state of California. 

    The cards were distributed to other recipients, who withdrew the funds at ATMs and other locations. In total, Victorian credited at least 187 cards with nearly $8.6 million in fraudulent funds. Over $7.6 million of that amount had been withdrawn or spent before the bank could freeze the cards.

    Victorian admitted she used some of the funds to conduct ATM transactions on her own, including a $1,000 withdrawal at a branch in Houston.

    She also received approximately $300,000 in cash proceeds from her role in the scheme.  

    U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen will impose sentencing July 7. At that time, Victorian faces up to five years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine.

    She was permitted to remain on bond pending that hearing. 

    The FBI, Houston Police Department, Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General’s Covid Fraud Unit and Department of Labor conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brad Gray and Karen Lansden are prosecuting the case.

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Sixteen Charged in Sweeping Houston-Based Multimillion-Dollar Illegal Gambling and Money Laundering Conspiracy

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    “Operation Double Down” leads to seizure of over $16 million in currency, accounts, and assets, as well as arrest of illegal aliens

    HOUSTON – Several Houston-area residents are now in custody on various charges including conspiracy, operating illegal game rooms, bribery and money laundering in one of the largest ever law enforcement operations in the Southern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

    They are expected to make their initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christina Bryan at 2 p.m.

    In addition to those indicted in the scheme, authorities also arrested 31 illegal aliens on various immigration and firearms charges during the operation April 2. One of those included an illegal alien who allegedly assaulted a law enforcement officer.

    The indictment, returned March 26 and unsealed upon the arrests, alleges Nizar Ali, 61, Richmond, and others allegedly conspired to own, operate or assist in the operation of illegal game rooms. All also conspired to conduct financial transactions to conceal and disguise the nature and source of the proceeds of the illegal gambling business, which totaled more than $22 million, according to the charges.

    More than 700 law enforcement officers from 18 agencies served a total of 45 search and 40 seizure warrants at locations throughout Houston and the surrounding area. The locations included 30 illegal game rooms with names such as El Portal and Yellow Building.

    During the operation, authorities recovered more than $4.5 million in cash as well as $5 million in property and vehicles, 2000 slot machines, 100 Rolex watches and eight firearms. Law enforcement also seized approximately $6.5 million from bank accounts and other financial institutions pursuant to the court-issued warrants.

    In addition to Ali, others taken into custody include Naeem Ali, 33, and Amer Khan, 68, both of Richmond; Ishan Dhuka, 33, and Sahil Karovalia, 32, both of Rosenberg; Sarfarez Maredia, 38, and Shoaib Maredia, 40, both of Sugar Land; Yolanda Figueroa, 40, Pasadena; Viviana Alvarado, 45, LaPorte; and Anabel Eloisa Guevarra, 46, Precela Solis, 27, Maria Delarosa, 53, Claudia Calderon, 37, and Lucia Hernandez, 34, all of Houston.

    Two others – Sayed Ali, 59, Richmond, and Stephanie Huerta, 35, Houston – are considered fugitives and warrants remain outstanding for their arrests.

    All are charged with conspiracy, operating an illegal gambling business and interstate travel in aid of racketeering which each carry possible prison terms of five years as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering which has a maximum 20-year possible prison term.

    Ali is also charged with 32 counts of federal program bribery for allegedly paying more than $500,000 to an undercover officer in an attempt to protect the illicit game rooms from law enforcement intervention. If convicted, he faces up to 10 more years in prison on each count.

    With the exception of the money laundering charge which has the possibility of a $500,000 maximum fine or twice the value of the property involved, the remaining counts carry a maximum $250,000 potential fine.

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) led the investigation along with IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) and the assistance of Houston Police Department (HPD); FBI; High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program; Harris County Constable’s Office – Precinct One; Harris County District Attorney’s Office; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Drug Enforcement Administration. Other agencies providing support include ICE – Enforcement and Removal Operations, Customs and Border Protection, sheriff’s offices in Harris and Montgomery Counties, Houston Fire Department, Texas Attorney General’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety and police departments in Baytown and Pasadena.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Mark McIntyre, John Marck and Carolyn Ferko are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brandon Fyffe and Tyler Foster are handling the seizure and forfeiture of assets.

    An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Washington Man Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Murder on the Colville Reservation

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    Spokane, Washington – Acting United States Attorney Richard R. Barker announced that United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Steven Joseph Zacherle, age 38, to 204 months in prison for Second Degree Murder in Indian Country and Threats in Interstate Commerce. Judge Rice also imposed 5 years of supervised release and restitution payable to the Colville Confederated Tribes for the murder victim’s funeral expenses.

    According to court documents and information presented at the sentencing, on the evening of October 18, 2022, Zacherle was in a domestic dispute with his intimate partner (Victim 1) near a gas station on the Colville Indian Reservation. During the dispute, Victim 1 drove away from the area without Zacherle, who had gone inside a nearby store.

    When Zacherle realized Victim 1 had left him, he began calling and texting her, demanding she return, or he was going to “kill” and “hurt people.” About the same time as Zacherle was making these threats to Victim 1, Dion Boyd, an elder within the Colville Tribe, exited the nearby gas station. Zacherle and Mr. Boyd walked the same direction for a short distance. Zacherle then attacked Mr. Boyd, striking him in the head.

    Within minutes of that attack, Zacherle called Victim 1 and referenced the assault, bragging that he had knocked someone out.  He then asked Victim 1 whether she wanted to see what Zacherle had done.  Victim 1 reported that she could hear garbled breathing and snorting on the phone line.

    Shortly after the assault, Omak Police and first responders located Mr. Boyd, who was unresponsive and face down, bleeding from his head. Medical providers later determined Mr. Boyd was braindead and that Mr. Boyd would never recover from the injuries Zacherle inflicted. Mr. Boyd’s family spent the next twenty days at Mr. Boyd’s bedside in the hospital hoping for a miracle, but Mr. Boyd ultimately died as a result of the injuries sustained in the assault.  The Medical Examiner determined Mr. Boyd suffered a severe brain hematoma and cracked skull because of the unprovoked attack.

    “My heart goes out to the Boyd family, who have suffered so much pain as a result of Mr. Zacherle’s unprovoked attack,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Barker. “My office is fully committed to working federal, state, local, and Tribal leaders to fully prosecuting violent crimes on Tribal land. The victims and survivors of these terrible crimes deserve nothing less.”

    At sentencing, MMIP AUSA Bree Black Horse explained “Mr. Boyd’s family and friends have uniformly described Mr. Boyd as a kind, generous person who helped raise his younger siblings and later his own children. Mr. Boyd also served his Tribe as an IT technician, ensuring Colville Tribal members living in rural areas could have cell service.”

    In recommending the Court impose a 17-year sentence, MMIP AUSA Black Horse explained “Mr. Boyd’s violent and senseless death at the hands of Zacherle has severely impacted the large family Mr. Boyd has left behind. And, Mr. Boyd is now among the disproportionate number of murdered Indigenous people and Mr. Boyd’s family has joined the ranks of too many other MMIP families throughout Eastern Washington and elsewhere.”

    “This appalling attack was truly senseless.” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. “Mr. Zacherle displayed a shocking disregard for the value of human life when he took his frustrations out on an innocent bystander, recklessly costing that person his life.  The Colville Indian Reservation is a safer place with him off the streets.”

    This case is part of the Department of Justice’s Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Regional Outreach Program, which aims to aid in the prevention and response to missing or murdered Indigenous people through the resolution of MMIP cases and communication, coordination, and collaboration with federal, Tribal, state, and local partners.  The Department views this work as a priority for its law enforcement components.  Through the MMIP Regional Outreach Program, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify MMIP cases and issues in Tribal communities and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.

    This case was investigated by the FBI and the Colville Tribal Police Department. It was prosecuted by Acting United States Attorney Richard R. Barker and Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Assistant United States Attorney Bree R. Black Horse.

    2:23-cr-00007-TOR

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: Foster Leads Bipartisan Effort to Keep STEM Graduates in America

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Bill Foster (11th District of Illinois)

    Washington, DC – Today, Reps. Bill Foster (D-IL) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) announced the reintroduction of the bipartisan Keep STEM Talent Act to make certain advanced Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degree holders eligible for permanent resident status. This would allow these graduates to remain in the United States following their graduation and would remove barriers for them to work in the United States.

    The Senate companion bill is led by Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD). 

    “We must expand America’s STEM workforce to compete in the global economy,” said Congressman Bill Foster. “Our country gives international STEM students a world-class education, only to turn them away when they want to stay in the United States after graduation and contribute their skills to our economy. Allowing these graduates to stay would help put our country on the cutting edge of scientific research and technological development and create good-paying American jobs along the way. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan effort to build up our STEM workforce.”

    “I’m proud to reintroduce the bipartisan Keep STEM Talent Act of 2025. Our universities attract some of the brightest minds from around the world, yet too often, these students leave the United States after graduation. This bill will incentivize international STEM graduates to stay and contribute to our economy, ensuring America continues to lead the world in science and technological innovation,” said Congressman Mike Lawler.

    “Maintaining a strong STEM workforce strengthens our economy, creates jobs, and enhances our ability to compete on the world stage,” Senator Dick Durbin said. “By denying international students with advanced STEM degrees the opportunity to continue their work in America, we are losing their talents to countries overseas and won’t see the positive impacts of their American education. I thank Senator Rounds for joining me in this commonsense and bipartisan effort.”

    “Legal, highly skilled STEM immigration is crucial for our nation and has opened doors for talented immigrants like Albert Einstein to come to America,” said Senator Mike Rounds. “Particularly with the advancements of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, we must keep talent in the United States and stay ahead of our near peer competitors such as China and Russia. This bill enhances national security by imposing new, stringent vetting requirements, while also making certain talent stays serving the United States, not our adversaries.”

    The Keep STEM Talent Act is endorsed by the American Mathematical Society, the American Physical Society, the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, MIT Graduate Student Council, MIT Science Policy Initiative, and the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students.

    A copy of the bill is available here.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: RELEASE: REP. RO KHANNA RECEIVES PUBLIUS AWARD FROM THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF THE PRESIDENCY AND CONGRESS

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Rep Ro Khanna (CA-17)

    On March 25th, Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17), alongside Senator Todd Young, received the Publius Award from the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress –– a non-partisan, non-profit dedicated to promoting bipartisan leadership. The award honors political leaders who put the public good and pragmatism over partisanship and special interests. Past recipients include Secretary Ash Carter, Senator Tim Kaine, Congressman Mike Gallagher, and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. 

    “I was honored to receive the Publius Award alongside Senator Young, with whom I co-authored the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to invest in innovation, good-paying jobs, and the revitalization of communities left behind by the offshoring of manufacturing. At a moment of deep division in Washington, we can’t lose sight of delivering for working-class people and strengthening our economy. Thank you to President Glenn Nye and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress for this honor and for your work to promote cooperation and innovative problem solving,” said Rep. Ro Khanna. 

    “CSPC is proud to honor Rep. Ro Khanna, together with Senator Todd Young, with our Publius Award, recognizing their bipartisan leadership on American competitiveness and innovation. This kind of cooperation doesn’t usually make headlines, but it is vital for our country to honor such statesmanship,” said CSPC President and CEO Glenn Nye. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Two charged following Westfield criminal damage incident

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    Two teenagers have been charged with criminal damage with intent to endanger life.

    A 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy, from Hackney, east London were charged on Tuesday, 8 April and will appear at Stratford Youth Court on Tuesday, 6 May.

    The pair – who cannot be named for legal reasons – were arrested on Tuesday, 4 March following reports of furniture being thrown from the top level of Westfield in Stratford on Saturday, 1 March.

    MIL Security OSI –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Global: The founder kings of Silicon Valley: Dual-class stock gives US social media company controllers nearly as much power as ByteDance has over TikTok

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Gregory H. Shill, Professor of Law & Michael and Brenda Sandler Faculty Fellow in Corporate Law, University of Iowa

    When Congress passed a law in 2024 to ban TikTok unless it came under U.S. ownership, lawmakers argued that the app’s Chinese parent company posed national security concerns. The Trump administration, which had granted the viral video app a reprieve shortly after taking office in January 2025, extended that pause again on April 4 after the Chinese government reportedly scuttled a planned deal.

    Regardless of how this all shakes out, the TikTok fight underscores deeper concerns about who controls social media in the United States.

    Given that worry, it might surprise Americans to learn that nearly every social media giant is controlled by just one or two men. For example, Mark Zuckerberg controls Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, while Larry Page and Sergey Brin control Alphabet, which owns YouTube and Google.

    What does “control” mean? These companies are publicly traded – anybody can buy or sell their shares – but a legal mechanism known as dual-class stock gives founders extra votes in shareholder decisions. The dual-class structure crowns these men “corporate royalty,” as one former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner has put it, granting them near-absolute control of corporate policy and resources without requiring them to take on commensurate financial risk.

    While TikTok is unusual in many respects, the way it vests power in one man is actually quite banal. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is privately held, but it’s reportedly controlled by a co-founder, Chinese national Zhang Yiming, via a dual-class structure.

    As a professor of corporate law, I’d urge policymakers and the public to consider the societal risks of a system that allows a single person to wield full control over a major corporation through dual-class stock.

    The dual-class effect: Meta as a case study

    In a standard single-class structure – where voting power tracks the amount of company equity a shareholder owns – someone seeking total control of a company must ordinarily spend a lot of money buying up shares, which also means assuming a lot of risk. This “skin in the game” requirement limits how much influence a single person can exert on a company.

    That safeguard is informal, not mandatory, and dual-class structures do away with it. Ascendant among Silicon Valley firms since Google’s 2004 initial public offering in the U.S. and recently legalized in the U.K., the dual-class model is fiercely debated in corporate governance circles. To date, however, its downsides have been understood only as a problem for shareholders, not society, despite broad and bipartisan concern about the influence of Big Tech.

    Let’s pick on Meta as an example. Zuckerberg reportedly owns just 13.5% of the company’s equity, but because he owns 99.7% of the supervoting shares, he controls 61% of the company’s votes.

    This setup gives him a lock on corporate policy as a controlling shareholder, even though he only owns a bit over one-eighth of Meta stock by value. He has full control of the company without placing anywhere near an equivalent amount of money at risk.

    You don’t have to be the parent of an Instagram-addicted teenager to see that Meta has generated what might be described as social costs. For example, Amnesty International has alleged that Facebook algorithms “substantially contributed to the atrocities perpetrated by the Myanmar military” in 2017. Facebook has also been criticized for promoting misinformation during past U.S. elections and for suppressing embarrassing stories about Hunter Biden.

    These examples underscore broader social concerns around content moderation, privacy and tech titans’ outsized political influence. Notably, Zuckerberg – who has been associated with progressive causes in the past – has moved to embrace President Donald Trump strongly in recent months and asked for Trump’s support for Meta in a legal battle with the European Union.

    When corporate control meets the Supreme Court

    In a 2023 law journal article, I noted that recent Supreme Court decisions expanding corporate constitutional rights stand to give company founders unprecedented power to shape society. While the rise of founder-controlled social media giants with distinct political agendas has gotten a lot of attention, the widening scope of what is deemed protected corporate speech and religious exercise hasn’t been a part of that conversation.

    I think there’s a real possibility that these two streams will converge, granting constitutional protection to “founder kings” who wish to leverage company resources for private agendas. Two recent legal developments raise the stakes.

    First, the courts – and in particular the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts – have been expanding corporate constitutional rights, which could allow dual-class founders to carve out exceptions to generally applicable laws.

    Second, recent legal changes in Delaware – which despite its tiny size is the leading corporate law jurisdiction in the U.S. – could make it easier for dual-class controlling shareholders to exercise power within their companies.

    To get a sense of the potential consequences, suppose the controlling shareholder of a dual-class company were to cause it to defy a federal mandate – for example, a requirement to offer health insurance plans that cover contraception – on the grounds that complying would violate their religious beliefs. The Supreme Court in Hobby Lobby v. Burwell recognized exactly this sort of faith-based exception for a large family-owned but privately held business.

    Would it recognize such an exception for a company like Snap? The company, best known for its app Snapchat, is publicly traded, but just two men, Robert Murphy and Evan Spiegel, control 99.5% of the voting power.

    We can’t be sure. Hobby Lobby is different from Snap in many ways. Yet what they have in common is the ability of their owners to plausibly claim a unitary speech or religious exercise interest that would not characterize a typical large business. Snap’s public owners have no say at all – zero votes – in the company’s affairs. If the controllers of Snap asserted a religious basis for exempting the company from a regulation – and to be clear, this is a purely hypothetical example – the courts might well indulge the claim.

    The judicial system’s expanding view of corporate constitutional rights – seen not just in Hobby Lobby but in Citizens United v. FEC and a number of more recent and ongoing cases in state and lower federal courts – could empower founders to leverage their businesses for private agendas. Whether or not this is likely for Snap in particular, the combination of the dual-class model and changes in the law would seem to leave the door open.

    Elon Musk vs. the dual-class model

    A fitting contrast might be none other than Twitter – renamed X after Elon Musk acquired it and who recently merged it into xAI, another Musk-led venture.

    As a privately held company, xAI is not required to file public investor reports, and much about its ownership structure remains opaque. But let’s assume the company is majority-owned by Musk in a conventional single-class structure – the type Twitter had before he bought it. Given a chance to provoke, Musk has consistently proved eager to raise his hand. Couldn’t he use his control to get X or xAI – we’ll stick with “X” for simplicity – to exercise the same vast control that Murphy and Spiegel could at Snap, or Zuckerberg at Meta?

    Yes – but with a subtle yet important difference.

    There’s a certain logic to X’s key corporate decisions being vested in Musk. Quite famously, he ponied up US$44 billion to buy the entire company. Legal prohibitions on the deployment of private resources for influence are confined to a small universe of cases – antitrust, bribery, certain types of campaign contributions. Those resources include businesses, which are a form of property, that are owned by wealthy individuals or groups. With limited exceptions, people can use their own property as they wish.

    In a dual-class company, though, controllers use other people’s property as they wish. They can get the immense legal, economic and organizational power of the corporate form without having to put much skin in the game.

    Beyond TikTok: The conversation the US should be having

    Traditionally, questions of rich-guy influence have been seen through the lens of politics, taxes or public regulation. But seeing them as questions about the exercise of private corporate control makes clear the special social challenges posed by dual-class stock.

    Wall Street has mostly accepted the bargain: ironclad insulation of Zuckerberg in exchange for rock-solid Meta returns. But this debate is not only of interest for the investment community. Everyone has a stake in its outcome.

    It’s fair for the public to question the wisdom of allowing company founders to leverage the resources and newly jumbo-sized constitutional rights of large corporations in service of a special agenda – be it for a foreign government, a political party or a religious faith – that isn’t even connected to classical purposes of the corporation or advantages of the dual-class model.

    The distinctive risks posed by TikTok are mostly unrelated to its share structure. But the debate over the ban-or-sell law offers a reminder: The powers created by dual-class stock aren’t unique to Chinese control. America’s homegrown-found kings wield them, too.

    Gregory H. Shill 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. The founder kings of Silicon Valley: Dual-class stock gives US social media company controllers nearly as much power as ByteDance has over TikTok – https://theconversation.com/the-founder-kings-of-silicon-valley-dual-class-stock-gives-us-social-media-company-controllers-nearly-as-much-power-as-bytedance-has-over-tiktok-253671

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Global: The ‘courage to be’ in uncertain times − how one 20th-century philosopher defined bravery

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Mordechai Gordon, Professor of Education, Quinnipiac University

    Over the past few weeks, as negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine drag on, I’ve thought back to Feb. 28, 2025: the day of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s heated visit to the Oval Office.

    Zelenskyy has called the tone of the meeting “regrettable” as he tries to salvage support for Ukraine. But in some ways, he has stood by his decision to speak up as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated his country, calling it ungrateful for foreign assistance. “In that conversation, I was defending the dignity of Ukraine,” he told Time magazine.

    Watching Zelenskyy left me thinking about political courage. Philosophers have written about bravery for thousands of years, but what is it?

    Plato, for instance, wrote about courage as an important virtue that can assist political leaders. Plato scholar Linda Rabieh argues that courage is the ability to be steadfast in the moment of truth. Angela Hobbs, a British scholar, says that courage might be called “spiritedness”: the ability to act boldly in adverse situations.

    Some of my own recent research in philosophy of education has also focused on courage. In particular, I have been interested in Paul Tillich’s notion of the “courage to be,” as well as its implications for politics and education. Tillich was a German philosopher and theologian who left the country after the Nazis rose to power.

    Tillich Park in New Harmony, Ind., dedicated to the philosopher and theologian.
    christina rutz/Flickr, CC BY-SA

    More than a mindset

    Born in a village in eastern Germany in 1886, Tillich lived in a Europe ravaged by two world wars. As such, he experienced firsthand the fundamental anxiety that many felt during this period of prolonged violence and destruction.

    In the early 1930s, Tillich wrote “The Socialist Decision,” which can be interpreted as a challenge to right-wing populist movements. The Nazis banned the book, and he soon immigrated to the United States, where he would spend the rest of his life and write his most important philosophical and theological works.

    Tillich’s book “The Courage to Be,” published in 1952, is based on a series of lectures that he delivered at Yale University. Tillich was inspired to address courage, since he viewed this concept as one that integrates theological, sociological and philosophical problems. Moreover, Tillich suggests that this concept was useful for understanding societies’ challenges after World War II.

    Tillich moved to the U.S. in the 1930s, after the Nazis’ rise to power.
    Fritz Eschen/ullstein bild via Getty Images

    At its core, the book springs from an attempt to respond to anxiety: people’s anxious search for meaning and security, especially as many people lost faith in the religious traditions that once anchored their sense of purpose and reality. There is courage, Tillich writes, in affirming oneself despite that sense of emptiness, and despite the knowledge that our lives are short and uncertain.

    Tillich defines “the courage to be” as “the ethical act in which man affirms his own being in spite of those elements of his existence which conflict with his essential self-affirmation.” In other words, it is not simply an attitude or disposition. The courage to be is a deed – the ability to stay true to oneself.

    When it comes to ethics or politics, Tillich’s idea of courage entails the ability to sacrifice things such as pleasure, happiness and, in the most extreme cases, one’s life for some higher cause. Such acts of courage are praiseworthy because they suggest that the most ethically essential parts – the noble aspects – of our being are prevailing over the less essential.

    In spite of, a part of

    What Tillich calls “courage to be” consists of two indivisible parts or aspects.

    The first is what he refers to as “the courage to be in spite of”: courageously choosing to affirm one’s essential being, one’s core values, despite tough and even daunting forces of resistance.

    Martin Luther King Jr.’s struggle for civil rights during the 1960s provides a good example of this aspect of the courage to be. Documentary evidence indicates that the FBI tried to destroy his reputation with blackmail and wiretaps, not to mention the close to 30 times he was jailed.

    Martin Luther King Jr., kneeling on left, leads marchers singing and praying during a protest against segregated housing policies in Chicago in August 1966.
    AP Photo/File

    The second aspect Tillich describes in his book is “the courage to be as a part,” to partake in something larger than oneself. Tillich writes that “the self is self only because it has a world, a structured universe, to which it belongs.” The courage to be as a part could mean participating in a political movement, a religious community, a worker strike, or any other initiative that involves people coming together for a common purpose.

    For Tillich, these types of courage should not be considered separate qualities but two interrelated aspects of the courage to be.

    At Zelenskyy’s meeting in the Oval Office, I believe we witnessed a leader embodying both senses of the courage to be. As a president, Zelenskyy stood up for the right of his country to defend itself in the face of Russia’s assault. He remained steadfast in spite of efforts by Trump and Vance to pressure him to accept an agreement that would not have provided security guarantees for Ukraine.

    Yet it seemed to me the plainspoken, animated Zelenskyy also displayed Tillich’s notion of the courage to be as a part. He acted not only as an individual, or a politician, but as a Ukrainian trying to defend his country from an invader − a cause that has inspired protests around the globe.

    Mordechai Gordon 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. The ‘courage to be’ in uncertain times − how one 20th-century philosopher defined bravery – https://theconversation.com/the-courage-to-be-in-uncertain-times-how-one-20th-century-philosopher-defined-bravery-250576

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: UConn Graduate Programs Ranked Among the Best in the Nation

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    The University of Connecticut offers graduate programs across a wide variety of fields and disciplines that rank among the very best in the United States, according to rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

    Programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, the Neag School of Education, and UConn School of Law were all singled out as being among the best among their peers. The recognition highlights UConn’s commitment to student excellence and support generally, as well as the efforts of the schools and colleges measured in the rankings.

    “We are proud to see our graduate programs recognized among the nation’s best in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings,” says Provost and Chief Academic Officer Anne D’Alleva. “This achievement reflects the exceptional dedication of our faculty, the talent of our students, and our continued investment in graduate education.”

    The School of Business’ Flex MBA programs ranked No. 33 in the nation for the second consecutive year, up from 37 two years ago. Executive Director Mia Hawlk credits the program’s commitment to innovation for its continued success.

    “The MBA market is very competitive, and we’ve worked hard to pair the best of a traditional business education with new, relevant, and current course topics. It is a constant cycle of re-examining and updating programs,” she says.

    The MBA program offers optional “MBA Now’’ courses which have included special courses on topics such as sustainability and artificial intelligence for managers.

    “I think our success is testament to the commitment of the University and the School of Business to deliver outstanding business education to our students and to the Connecticut workforce,’’ Hawlk says.

    For the second year in a row, multiple graduate programs within UConn’s Neag School of Education have earned recognition as among the best in the country.

    In addition, the Neag School appears for the tenth consecutive year as one of the top 30 public graduate schools of education in the United States, tied at No. 28. Among all graduate schools of education across the nation, both public and private, the Neag School stands tied at No. 37.

    All of the Neag School’s three departments are represented in the 2025 specialty education program rankings: No. 18 (tie) in Special Education Programs; No. 28 (tie) in Educational Administration Programs; and No. 34 in Curriculum and Instruction programs.

    “For more than a decade, the Neag School has been recognized as one of the preeminent schools of education in the nation,” Dean Jason G. Irizarry says. “The longevity of our impressive national rankings are a direct result of the unwavering dedication of faculty, staff, and students, and I’m proud that several of our individual programs are once again featured in the specialty rankings. This achievement reflects the pride we all share in our collective commitment to excellence and further solidifies our position as a leader in higher education.”

    Among graduate programs within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences ranked by U.S. News, the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences has long been renowned for its education, research, clinical practice, and public outreach missions. The new rankings reflect that, with the Audiology program rising 5 points to No. 14 in the country, and the Speech Language Pathology program rising seven points to No. 32 in the country.

    The UConn School of Public Policy, within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, earned praise for its Public Affairs program, which was ranked No. 36 in the country, up three places from last year. The School’s Public Finance and Budgeting Program was ranked No. 9 in the country.

    UConn School of Law rose 5 points to the rank of 50, up 21 from two years ago, and the school’s part-time Evening Division rose from No. 10 to the seventh best in the country. The overall rank in the magazine’s 2024-25 Best Law Schools list reflects particular strength in bar passage and employment outcomes for UConn Law graduates.

    In addition to U.S. News, in recent years The National Jurist’s preLaw magazine has listed the UConn School of Law among the best value law schools in the nation. It has also recognized UConn Law as a top school in environmental law, tax law, intellectual property, alternative dispute resolution, child and family law, and human rights law.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: Extending the TikTok Enforcement Delay

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    class=”has-text-align-left”>By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
    Section 1.  Extension.  (a)  The enforcement delay specified in section 2(a) of Executive Order 14166 of January 20, 2025 (Application of Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok), is further extended until June 19, 2025.  During this period, the Department of Justice shall take no action to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the “Act”) (Public Law 118-50, Div. H) or impose any penalties against any entity for any noncompliance with the Act, including for distributing, maintaining, or updating (or enabling the distribution, maintenance, or updating) of any foreign adversary controlled application as defined in the Act.  In light of this direction, even after the expiration of the above-specified period, the Department of Justice shall not take any action to enforce the Act or impose any penalties against any entity for any conduct that occurred during the above-specified period or any period prior to the issuance of this order, including the period of time from January 19, 2025, to the date of this order.
    (b)  The Attorney General shall take all appropriate action to issue written guidance to implement the provisions of subsection (a) of this section.
    (c)  The Attorney General shall further issue a letter to each provider stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred during the above-specified period, as well as for any conduct from the effective date of the Act until the date of this order.
    (d)  Because of the national security interests at stake and because section 2(d) of the Act vests authority for investigations and enforcement of the Act only in the Attorney General, attempted enforcement by the States or private parties represents an encroachment on the powers of the Executive.  The Attorney General shall exercise all available authority to preserve and defend the Executive’s exclusive authority to enforce the Act.
    Sec. 2.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
    (i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
    (ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
    (b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
    (c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA News: Extending the TikTok Enforcement Delay

    Source: The White House

    class=”has-text-align-left”>By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

    Section 1.  Extension.  (a)  The enforcement delay specified in section 2(a) of Executive Order 14166 of January 20, 2025 (Application of Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok), is further extended until June 19, 2025.  During this period, the Department of Justice shall take no action to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the “Act”) (Public Law 118-50, Div. H) or impose any penalties against any entity for any noncompliance with the Act, including for distributing, maintaining, or updating (or enabling the distribution, maintenance, or updating) of any foreign adversary controlled application as defined in the Act.  In light of this direction, even after the expiration of the above-specified period, the Department of Justice shall not take any action to enforce the Act or impose any penalties against any entity for any conduct that occurred during the above-specified period or any period prior to the issuance of this order, including the period of time from January 19, 2025, to the date of this order.

    (b)  The Attorney General shall take all appropriate action to issue written guidance to implement the provisions of subsection (a) of this section.

    (c)  The Attorney General shall further issue a letter to each provider stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred during the above-specified period, as well as for any conduct from the effective date of the Act until the date of this order.

    (d)  Because of the national security interests at stake and because section 2(d) of the Act vests authority for investigations and enforcement of the Act only in the Attorney General, attempted enforcement by the States or private parties represents an encroachment on the powers of the Executive.  The Attorney General shall exercise all available authority to preserve and defend the Executive’s exclusive authority to enforce the Act.

    Sec. 2.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

    (i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

    (ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

    (b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

    (c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: National security symposium held

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    A symposium on safeguarding national security for Hong Kong’s social welfare sector, jointly organised by the Labour & Welfare Bureau, the Social Welfare Department and Connecting Hearts, was held today.

     

    Officiated by Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki, the symposium attracted over 8,000 participants from the local social welfare sector who took part both online and offline.

     

    Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun and Director-General of the Social Work Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Liu Songlin also attended the symposium.

     

    While addressing the forum, Mr Chan highlighted that the Government has achieved fruitful results in safeguarding national security and promoting patriotic education over the past year or so.

     

    Such achievements include the completion of the legislation on Article 23 of the Basic Law that ensures the smooth implementation of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance as well as the amendments to the Social Workers Registration Ordinance which foster a better environment for social welfare professionals to leverage their expertise.

     

    Mr Chan said that the social welfare sector is charged with the important and long-term responsibilities in serving the community and caring for the public. It is also their mission and duty to safeguard national security.

     

    He urged the sector to continue collaborating with the Government to sustain efforts in safeguarding national security, thereby ensuring the healthy development of welfare services in Hong Kong and enhanced safeguards for public well-being.

     

    A sharing session was held at the symposium where Mr Sun was joined by representatives from the social welfare sector, including professors from education institutions, management of social welfare organisations and professional social workers, to explore how the sector can fulfil its responsibility of safeguarding national security and promote patriotic education.

     

    Mr Sun said that the Labour & Welfare Bureau and the Social Welfare Department have been working closely with social welfare organisations in the previous year to promote national security education within the sector through organising symposiums, seminars and visits with a view to enhancing the sector’s understanding of national affairs.

     

    He added that a dedicated fund of $500 million was rolled out last year, in which $100 million was allocated to non-governmental organisations operating subvented welfare services to arrange Mainland exchange tours and national studies programmes for their staff.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI: Plantro Ltd. Announces Amendments to Terms and Extension to Premium All-Cash Tender Offer to Acquire up to 15% of Class A Limited Voting Shares of Information Services Corporation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • Tender Offer expiry extended to April 28, 2025 to allow shareholders more time to consider the Tender Offer
    • Amendments and extension, which will benefit ISC shareholders, following constructive engagement with the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan and the Ontario Securities Commission

    ST. MICHAEL, Barbados, April 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Plantro Ltd. (“Plantro”) today announced amendments to the terms of, and an extension of, its offer to acquire up to 2,777,342 Class A Limited Voting Shares (the “Class A Shares”) in the capital of Information Services Corporation (TSX: ISC) (“ISC” or the “Company”), (the “Tender Offer”) at a price of $27.25 per Class A Share, payable in cash (the “Tender Price”). The amendments and extension, which will benefit ISC shareholders, were made following constructive engagement with the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan and the Ontario Securities Commission.

    Plantro continues to believe the Tender Offer is an opportunity for ISC shareholders to receive an attractive premium, amid volatile markets, for a highly illiquid stock. Plantro was surprised and disappointed at the aggressive and hyperbolic posture adopted by ISC’s board of directors (the “ISC Board”) in response to the Tender Offer. Plantro has made repeated requests to meet with the Chair, other members of the ISC Board and management. However, the ISC Chair, Board and management have not responded, opting instead to have their legal counsel issue hostile letters to Plantro explicitly stating that ISC has rejected the opportunity to meet.

    Plantro respectfully urges the ISC Board to reconsider its current approach, particularly regarding personal attacks and mischaracterizations. For example, ISC referenced Dye & Durham, an unrelated company to this matter, in which both Plantro and ISC were shareholders in 2015. At that time, ISC acquired a 30% stake in Dye & Durham for $3.3 million. If ISC had the business acumen and foresight to hold onto and maintain this 30% investment until Dye & Durham’s most recent annual meeting of shareholders, the value of that stake at that time would have exceeded ISC’s entire unaffected market capitalization of approximately $450 million.

    In light of the changes made to the Tender Offer for the benefit of ISC shareholders, Plantro strongly encourages the ISC Board to reconsider its recommendation to shareholders.

    Important Amendments for ISC Shareholders

    The terms of the Tender Offer and related Letter of Transmittal are amended as follows:

    • Extended Tender Offer Period – The Tender Offer is now open for acceptance by shareholders of the Company until 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on April 28, 2025 (the “Expiry Time”), unless the Tender Offer is further extended, varied or withdrawn.
    • Tender Offer Made to All Shareholders – Plantro is making the Tender Offer to all shareholders of the Company, including shareholders who were not holders of record on March 13, 2025 and the Crown Investment Corporation of Saskatchewan.
    • No Longer Acquiring Shares on a First Come First Serve Basis – Plantro will only take up and pay for Class A Shares that are deposited pursuant to the Tender Offer as at the Expiry Time, and not on a “first come, first served” and/or “rolling” basis. As a result, if more than the maximum number of Class A Shares for which the Tender Offer is made are delivered in accordance with the Tender Offer and not withdrawn at the time of take up of the Class A Shares, the Class A Shares to be purchased from each depositing shareholder will be determined on a pro rata basis according to the number of Class A Shares delivered by each shareholder, disregarding fractions, by rounding down to the nearest whole number of Class A Shares.
    • Shareholders Have the Right to Opt Out of Voting Tender – Plantro has further amended the Tender Offer to allow Class A Shareholders of record on March 13, 2025, to opt out of appointing representatives of Plantro as their nominees and proxy in respect of such shares owned by a shareholder that are not deposited pursuant to the Tender Offer and ultimately taken up and paid for. For clarity, such opt out right will not apply to Class A Shares of record on March 13, 2025, which are deposited pursuant to the Tender Offer and ultimately taken up and paid for, and the holder of such shares will be required to appoint representatives of Plantro as its nominees and proxy for the Company’s annual meeting of shareholders to be held on May 13, 2025 in respect of such shares.

    Plantro is relying on the exemption under section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous Disclosure Obligations to the circular requirements of applicable Canadian proxy solicitation laws. For further details, please see below under the heading “Information in Support of Public Broadcast Exemption Under Canadian Law”. The Tender Offer is not a formal or exempt take-over bid under Canadian securities laws and regulations. In no event will Plantro (or its affiliates or associates) make any such purchases of Class A Shares that would result in Plantro, together with its affiliates and associates, beneficially owning or exercising control or direction over more than 15% of the outstanding Class A Shares upon completion of the Tender Offer.

    Full details of the Tender Offer are included in the Offer Documents and are available online on the Company’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

    Plantro’s Advisors

    Plantro has engaged Goodmans LLP as its legal advisor, Carson Proxy as its information agent, Odyssey Trust Company as depositary, and Gagnier Communications as its strategic communications advisor.

    About Plantro

    Plantro is a privately-held company, with an established track record of making successful investments in undervalued and high quality legal, financial, and information services businesses.

    Shareholder Questions

    Shareholders who have questions with respect to the Tender Offer, or who need assistance in depositing their Class A Shares, please contact the depositary and information agent for the Tender Offer:

    Depositary: Odyssey Trust Company

    Toll Free (US & Canada): 1-888-290-1175
    Calls (All Regions): 587-885-0960
    Email: corp.actions@odysseytrust.com

    Information Agent: Carson Proxy

    North America Toll Free: 1-800-530-5189
    Local and Text: 416-751-2066
    Email: info@carsonproxy.com

    Information in Support of Public Broadcast Exemption Under Canadian Law

    Plantro is relying on the exemption under section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous Disclosure Obligations to make this public broadcast solicitation. The following information is provided in accordance with corporate and securities laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations.

    This solicitation is being made by Plantro, and not by or on behalf of management of ISC. The information agent will receive a fee of up to $250,000 for its services as information agent under the Tender Offer, plus ancillary payments and disbursements. Based upon publicly available information, ISC’s registered and head office is located at 300 – 10 Research Drive, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 7J7, Canada. Plantro is soliciting proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including press release, speech or publication, and by any other manner permitted under applicable Canadian securities laws. In addition, this solicitation may be made by mail, telephone, facsimile, email or other electronic means as well as by newspaper or other media advertising and in person by representatives of Plantro. All costs incurred for such solicitation will be borne by Plantro.

    A registered shareholder who has given a proxy under the terms of the Letter of Transmittal may, prior to its Class A Shares being taken up and paid for under the Tender Offer, revoke the proxy by instrument in writing, including a proxy bearing a later date. The instrument revoking the proxy must be deposited at the registered office of ISC at least 48 hours, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, preceding the date of the meeting or an adjournment or postponement thereof, or with the Chair of the meeting on the day of the meeting, or in any other manner permitted by law, provided that, in each circumstance, a copy of such revocation has been delivered to the depositary, at its principal office in Toronto, Ontario, Canada prior to the Class A Shares relating to such proxy having been taken up and paid for under the Tender Offer.

    A non-registered shareholder may revoke a form of proxy or voting instruction form given to an intermediary at any time by written notice to the intermediary in accordance with the instructions given to the non-registered shareholder by its intermediary. Non-registered shareholders should contact their broker for assistance in ensuring that forms of proxies or voting instructions previously given to an intermediary are properly revoked.

    None of Plantro nor, to its knowledge, any of its associates or affiliates, has any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of ISC’s most recently completed financial year, or in any proposed transaction which has materially affected or will materially affect ISC or any of its subsidiaries. None of Plantro nor, to its knowledge, any of its associates or affiliates, has any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter to be acted upon at any upcoming shareholders’ meeting, other than as set out herein.

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

    This press release may contain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Specifically, certain statements contained in this press release, including without limitation statements regarding the Tender Offer, taking up and paying for Class A Shares deposited under the Tender Offer, and the expiry of the Tender Offer, contain “forward-looking information” and are prospective in nature. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as “plans”, “targets”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “an opportunity exists”, “is positioned”, “estimates”, “intends”, “assumes”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate” or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might”, “will” or “will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved”. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking statements.

    Statements containing forward-looking information are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the future outcomes expressed or implied by the statements containing forward-looking information.

    Although Plantro believes that the expectations reflected in statements containing forward-looking information herein made by it (and not, for greater certainty, any forward-looking statements attributable to the Company) are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Material factors or assumptions that were applied in formulating the forward-looking information contained herein include the assumption that the business and economic conditions affecting the Company’s operations will continue substantially in the current state, including, without limitation, with respect to industry conditions, general levels of economic activity, continuity and availability of personnel, local and international laws and regulations, foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates, inflation, taxes, that there will be no unplanned material changes to the Company’s operations, and that the Company’s public disclosure record is accurate in all material respects and is not misleading (including by omission).

    Plantro cautions that the foregoing list of material factors and assumptions is not exhaustive. While these factors and assumptions are considered by Plantro to be appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances as of the date of this press release, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Plantro and there is no assurance that they will prove correct.

    Important facts that could cause outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information include, among other things, actions taken by the Company in respect of the Tender Offer, the content of subsequent public disclosures by the Company, the failure to satisfy the conditions to the Tender Offer, general economic conditions, legislative or regulatory changes and changes in capital or securities markets. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the opinions, estimates or assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results or future events might vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Although Plantro has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other risk factors not presently known to Plantro or that Plantro presently believes are not material that could also cause actual results or future events to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking information.

    Statements containing forward-looking information in this press release are based on Plantro’s beliefs and opinions at the time the statements are made, and there should be no expectation that such forward-looking information will be updated or supplemented as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise, and Plantro disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by applicable law. All of the forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements.

    1380-9916-3157

    The MIL Network –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI: LightSolver Appoints Former HSBC CEO Colin Bell to Advisory Board

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TEL AVIV, Israel, April 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LightSolver, inventor of a new laser-based computing paradigm, today announced the appointment of financial and banking expert Colin Bell to its Advisory Board. Bell will assist LightSolver with its go-to-market strategy for the financial industry and global enterprise market.

    Colin Bell is a Non-Executive Director of Serendipity Capital. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank plc and HSBC Europe and as Executive Director of HSBC Bank plc. Bell has deep experience in the banking and financial industry, having also served as the Group Chief Compliance Officer and Group Head of Financial Crime Risk at HSBC Group and Head of Compliance and Operational Risk Control at UBS. Additionally, Bell has held appointments with the UK Ministry of Defence and NATO.

    LightSolver has developed an all-optical Laser Processing Unit™ (LPU) that leverages laser interactions to compute large and complex problems faster and more efficiently than the most advanced classical HPC systems. The LPU processes at the speed of light and is ideally suited for computations that require massive numbers of iterations, such as combinatorial optimization problems encountered in transport scheduling, production and supply chain optimization, or trading and portfolio optimization, as well as physical simulations for computer-aided engineering (CAE) and scientific computations.

    “The potential of LightSolver’s all-optical technology to solve complex, compute-intensive challenges is remarkable and can open up new opportunities in the financial sector,” said Bell. “The outcomes of many challenges across risk management, investment and trading could be enhanced by this advanced computing method. I look forward to working with LightSolver to shape its offering and provide impactful solutions for financial institutes and beyond.”

    LightSolver recently announced a partnership with engineering software simulation provider Ansys focused on accelerating simulations for automotive, aerospace, and other industries. It also received a €12.5M grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) to advance its all-optical supercomputer.

    “Colin Bell brings invaluable business insight and a deep network across the financial and enterprise sectors,” said LightSolver CEO and co-founder Ruti Ben-Shlomi, Ph.D. “His experience leading major institutions will be a key asset as we scale LightSolver’s commercial efforts and position our laser-based computing platform for real-world adoption. We’re excited to work with him to accelerate our growth and bring transformative computing power to the industries that need it most.”

    About LightSolver
    LightSolver is developing an all-optical supercomputer capable of solving complex and large computational problems at the speed of light. Utilizing the interference patterns of lasers, the Laser Processing Unit™ (LPU) can tackle challenges that were previously constrained by the limits of electronics, while fitting into a rack unit and operating at room temperature. Dr. Ruti Ben-Shlomi and Dr. Chene Tradonsky, physicists from the world-renowned Weizmann Institute, founded the company in 2020. More than 2/3 of the team are physics, math and computer science PhDs. LightSolver has secured investment from TAL Ventures, Entree Capital, IBI Tech Fund, Angular Ventures, Maverick, and Artofin. The company has also received a €12.5M grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) to advance its all-optical supercomputer. Connect with LightSolver @LightSolverCo on X and on LinkedIn. For more information, visit lightsolver.com or email info@lightsolver.com.

    Media Contact:
    Seth Menacker
    Fusion PR
    lightsolver@fusionpr.com

    The MIL Network –

    April 9, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: Law Library Publishes New Report Titled “Israel: Interstate Legal Assistance”

    Source: US Global Legal Monitor

    The Law Library of Congress recently published a report, Israel: Interstate Legal Assistance, which addresses the conditions, scope, and procedures for provision of legal assistance to foreign states under Israel’s Interstate Legal Assistance Law, 5758-1998, as amended.

    In accordance with Israel‘s Interstate Legal Assistance Law, 5758-1998, as amended, legal assistance to other countries may be provided in connection with the service of documents, collection of evidence, and other legal actions related to civil or criminal matters. The competent authority to receive and decide on requests for legal assistance in Israel under the law is the Minister of Justice or the minister’s designee. To be considered, the request must be submitted on behalf of a competent foreign authority, the designation of which is conveyed to its Israeli counterpart.

    Assistance is not provided, among other reasons, in connection with arrest or other procedure pending extradition, or in connection with an offense considered a military offense, or offenses of a political nature under definitions provided in the law. The law provides for the procedures that must be followed by foreign states in filing requests for interstate legal assistance.

    To find out more, we invite you to review our report, here. 

    Information on Israel’s extradition law and procedures is available at a Law Library report titled Israel: Extradition Law Evolution from Sheinbein to Rosenstein. Note that we have also previously blogged on the Sheinbein Saga and the Evolution of Israel’s Extradition Law.

    Our recently published report on Israel’s interstate legal assistance is an addition to the Law Library’s Legal Reports (Publications of the Law Library of Congress) collection, which includes over 4,000 historical and contemporary legal reports covering a variety of jurisdictions, researched and written by foreign law specialists with expertise in each area. To receive alerts when new reports are published, you can subscribe to email updates and the RSS feed for Law Library Reports (click the “subscribe” button on the Law Library’s website). The Law Library also regularly publishes articles related to Israel in the Global Legal Monitor.

    Subscribe to In Custodia Legis – it’s free! – to receive interesting posts drawn from the Law Library of Congress’s vast collections and our staff’s expertise in U.S., foreign, and international law.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    April 9, 2025
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