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Category: KB

  • MIL-OSI: Columbus Circle Capital Corp I Announces the Separate Trading of its Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants, Commencing June 9, 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York, NY, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Columbus Circle Capital Corp I (Nasdaq: CCCMU) (the “Company”) announced today that, commencing June 9, 2025, holders of the units sold in the Company’s initial public offering may elect to separately trade the Company’s Class A ordinary shares and warrants included in the units. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. The Class A ordinary shares and warrants that are separated will trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbols “CCCM” and “CCCMW,” respectively. Those units not separated will continue to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “CCCMU.”

    Cohen & Company Capital Markets, a division of Cohen & Company Inc.’s broker-dealer subsidiary, J.V.B. Financial Group, LLC, acted as the lead book-running manager for the offering. Clear Street LLC acted as joint book-runner.

    This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities of the Company, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

    About Columbus Circle Capital Corp. I

    The Company is a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The Company may pursue an initial business combination target in any industry or geographical location.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release may include, and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of the Company may include, “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements regarding possible business combinations and the financing thereof, and related matters, as well as all other statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions, as they relate to us or our management team, identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company’s management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are qualified in their entirety by this paragraph. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the Company’s registration statement and prospectus for the Company’s initial public offering filed with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law.

    Contact Information:

    Columbus Circle Capital Corp I

    Gary Quin, Chief Executive Officer

    gquin@cohencm.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP : Form 8.3 – Aviva plc

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    FORM 8.3

    PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY
    A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE
    Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the “Code”)

    1.        KEY INFORMATION

    (a)   Full name of discloser: Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP
    (b)   Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):
            The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named.    		  
    (c)   Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:
            Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree    		 Aviva Plc
    (d)   If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:  
    (e)   Date position held/dealing undertaken:
            For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure    		 04/06/2025
    (f)   In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?
            If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state “N/A”    		 Yes, Direct Line Insurance group PLC

    2.        POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

    If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

    (a)      Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

    Class of relevant security: 32 17/19p ordinary
    (ISIN -GB00BPQY8M80)
      Interests Short positions
    Number % Number %
    (1)   Relevant securities owned and/or controlled:        
    (2)   Cash-settled derivatives:     10,815,442 0.4
    (3)   Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:        

            TOTAL:

    		     10,815,442 0.4

    All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

    Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

    (b)      Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors’ and other employee options)

    Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists:  
    Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:  

    3.        DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

    Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

    The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

    (a)        Purchases and sales

    Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit

    (b)        Cash-settled derivative transactions

    Class of relevant security Product description
    e.g. CFD    		 Nature of dealing
    e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position    		 Number of reference securities Price per unit
    32 17/19p ordinary
    (ISIN -GB00BPQY8M80)    		 CFD Increasing a short position 705,282 GBP 6.1000

            
    (c)        Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

    (i)        Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

    Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type
    e.g. American, European etc.    		 Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

    (ii)        Exercise

    Class of relevant security Product description
    e.g. call option    		 Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit

    (d)        Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

    Class of relevant security Nature of dealing
    e.g. subscription, conversion    		 Details Price per unit (if applicable)

    4.        OTHER INFORMATION

    (a)        Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

    Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:
    Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”

    None

    (b)        Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

    Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:
    (i)   the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or
    (ii)   the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:
    If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”

    None

    (c)        Attachments

    Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO
    Date of disclosure: 05/06/2025
    Contact name: Alex McMillan
    Telephone number: 646 282 5805

    Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

    The Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code’s disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

    The Code can be viewed on the Panel’s website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Apple Arcade welcomes nine new games

    Source: Apple

    Headline: Apple Arcade welcomes nine new games

    June 5, 2025

    UPDATE

    Apple Arcade welcomes nine new games

    UNO: Arcade Edition is a new take on the global card game phenomenon, and Angry Birds Bounce is an exciting addition to the legendary mobile franchise

    Exciting new additions are expanding Apple Arcade’s dynamic catalog of more than 200 games, all without ads or in-app purchases. Today, a new take on Mattel’s classic card game UNO is available on the service with UNO: Arcade Edition. The game features three modes where fans can enjoy solo matches with classic UNO rules in Single Player, play with others in Quick Match, or turn up the heat in Custom Games that feature special twists like Wild Swap Hands and Color Showdown. Also released today are: WHAT THE CAR? for Apple Vision Pro, a spatial adaption of the 2024 D.I.C.E. Awards’ Mobile Game of the Year; physics-based racing game LEGO Hill Climb Adventures+; wholesome interactive adventure Lost in Play+; and hit 3D arcade game Helix Jump+.

    Next month, four fun games bring even more reason to jump in and play. Launching exclusively on Apple Arcade on July 3, Angry Birds Bounce is a new take on one of the most iconic mobile game series of all time with over 5 billion lifetime downloads. The new game blends Angry Birds’ classic slingshot gameplay with arcade-style brick-breaker mechanics, creating an all-new adventure full of chaotic charm and action-packed fun.

    “Angry Birds Bounce reinvents the classic Angry Birds formula with a vertical twist, refreshing the gameplay while staying true to the brand’s DNA,” said Bryan Cook, Angry Birds Bounce game lead at Rovio. “We are thrilled to bring this new experience exclusively to Apple Arcade, featuring the largest roster of Angry Birds characters ever, and we can’t wait to see our players’ reactions to this new title.”

    Three more popular games will also be added from the App Store on July 3: Kingdom Rush 5: Alliance TD+, the most recent entry in the acclaimed tower defense franchise; Suika Game+, a delightful fruit-merging puzzle game; and Crayola Scribble Scrubbie Pets+, which transforms Crayola’s favorite kids’ pet toys into digital companions.

    Angry Birds Bounce by Rovio
    Join Red, Chuck, Bomb, and the rest of the gang on a brand-new adventure. Angry Birds Bounce combines the classic charm of Angry Birds with an innovative arcade brick-breaker twist. When the pigs take over their islands, the birds must bounce back — literally — combining into powerful flocks and launching themselves to defeat an army of piggies and reclaim their home. With strategic rogue-lite gameplay, each level is a new challenge where players will master precision shots, unlock exciting power-ups, and build unique combos during each run.

    Kingdom Rush 5: Alliance TD+ by Ironhide Game Studio
    The latest game in the award-winning tower defense saga builds upon the lightning-paced and captivating gameplay of its predecessors, but raises the stakes with more power, chaos, and strategy than ever before. For the first time in the series, players can command two heroes in each stage. With 15 epic heroes to choose from, 17 unique towers, 32 upgradable characters, 22 detailed campaign stages, and over 40 types of enemies, Kingdom Rush 5: Alliance TD+ offers thrilling gameplay, the signature humor that fans love, and endless replay. The game includes all DLCs and is playable across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

    Suika Game+ by XGIMI
    The viral puzzle game where players drop fruits into a box is coming to Apple Arcade. The goal of Suika Game – Aladdin X+ is to combine matching fruits into bigger creations, culminating into the ultimate fruit: a watermelon. The game’s energetic physics add a fun challenge. When dropping and merging bouncing fruits, players must strategically keep them from overflowing out of the box. They will compete with other players around the world and aim for the top of the daily, monthly, or all-time leaderboards.

    Crayola Scribble Scrubbie Pets+ by Red Games Co.
    Creativity meets responsibility as players immerse themselves in vibrant 3D worlds to color, care, and play with over 90 adorable digital pets. Inspired by the top-selling Crayola toy, this game lets young players nurture empathy and responsibility through interactive pet care activities like grooming, feeding, and washing, while also boosting attention and memory skills with detail-oriented play. With endless creative fun using digital Crayola art tools and imaginative journeys across colorful 3D environments, Crayola Scribble Scrubbie Pets+ transforms the traditional pet toy into an engaging digital experience.

    In addition to new games, players can also look forward to brand-new updates to their favorite Arcade games, playable across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro.

    • Fruit Ninja Classic+ by Halfbrick Studios: On June 19, Bluey takes over Fruit Ninja Classic+ in this limited-time, Apple Arcade-exclusive crossover event. Featuring special Bluey-themed wands, wand powers, dojos, and many easter eggs, players of all ages will slice fruits and unlock exclusive rewards.
    • Bloons TD 6+ by Ninja Kiwi: On June 19, the popular tower defense game adds the all-new Desperado monkey tower, map, and legend.
    • WHAT THE CLASH? by Triband: On June 26, 50 new golf mini-games, cosmetics, missions, and achievements based on Triband’s other Arcade hit title, WHAT THE GOLF?, are introduced to the game.

    This month also brings updates to highly rated games like Sonic Dream Team, Crayola Create and Play+, Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE, Tomb of the Mask+, Disney Dreamlight Valley Arcade Edition, Asphalt 8: Airborne+, and more.

    Pricing and Availability

    • Apple Arcade is available for $6.99 (U.S.) per month with a one-month free trial. Customers who purchase a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV receive three months of Apple Arcade for free.1
    • Apple Arcade is part of Apple One’s Individual ($19.95 U.S.), Family ($25.95 U.S.), and Premier ($37.95 U.S.) monthly plans, with a one-month free trial.2
    • Arcade Originals are playable across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro. App Store Greats are available on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro.
    • An Apple Arcade subscription gives a family of up to six unlimited access to all the games in its catalog.
    • Availability for the 200+ games across devices varies based on hardware and software compatibility. Some content may not be available in all areas.
    1. This offer is available to new subscribers only. One subscription covers one Family Sharing group. The offer is good for three months after eligible device activation. The plan automatically renews until cancelled. Restrictions and other terms apply.
    2. The Apple One free trial includes only services that are not currently used through a free trial or a subscription. The plan automatically renews after the trial until cancelled. Restrictions and other terms apply.

    Press Contacts

    Peter Nguyen

    Apple

    pete_nguyen@apple.com

    Jennifer Tam

    Apple

    jennifer_tam@apple.com

    Apple Media Helpline

    media.help@apple.com

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: People killed by landmines in Deir ez-Zor Syria

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Amsterdam/Deir ez-Zor – People returning to their war-torn homes and villages in Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria, are being wounded or even killed after encountering unexploded devices. Between 28 May and 1 June, four incidents resulted in eight casualties, including the deaths of four children, highlighting the urgent need for the area to be cleared of explosive remnants of war and landmines. As Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams supported the reopening of the emergency room at Deir ez-Zor National hospital in response to a high number of injuries caused by explosive devices, we call for the scale-up of landmine clearance, and for medical care in response to be bolstered.

    “Since 7 April, our teams working in the emergency room in Deir ez-Zor hospital have been seeing around one patient per day who has been wounded by explosions of landmines, unexploded ordnance, and booby traps,” says Will Edmond, MSF head of mission in Syria. “People have been injured mostly in the fields or on the road.”

    “Of the people who have arrived to our emergency room, nearly two-thirds have life-threatening or severe injuries, and nearly a quarter have traumatic amputations,” says Edmond. “Shockingly, two out of five of the people we’ve seen have been children.”

    Abdulrazzaq Mustafa Saeed, seen here with his mother, was injured while herding sheep in the desert area of the town of Al-Asharah in the Deir ez-Zor countryside. His right leg was amputated below the knee as a result. Syria, May 2025.
    Asmar Al-Bahir/MSF

    Years of armed conflict have destroyed critical infrastructure in Deir ez-Zor governorate, including healthcare facilities. Streets and fields across the governorate are contaminated with mines and explosive devices, making daily life hazardous for returnees and hampering rehabilitation efforts. MSF teams have already discovered four unexploded devices in health facilities we had planned to support, with more likely hidden underground.

    In Syria, Deir ez-Zor governorate has the highest number of recorded incidents with explosive remnants of war; in the five months to 6 May 2025, just over one-quarter – 26 per cent – of the 471 incidents recorded in the country occurred in Deir ez-Zor.

    Ahmad, a teenage boy from Hawaij, 50 kilometres southeast of Deir ez-Zor city, lost his right leg and part of his left foot while herding sheep in the desert.

    “I feel sad now because I can’t run anymore,” says Ahmad. “But I like playing marbles and riding a motorbike.”

    “He is not the only one from Hawaij,” his mother, Umm Mohammad, added. “The same thing happened to one of his friends, and to other people in the village.”

    Between 8 December 2024 and 14 May 2025, 91 children were killed and 289 injured in accidents involving explosive ordnance across the country, according to Mine Action Area of Responsibility. Many of these tragic cases involve children who come across mines while collecting truffles, herding sheep, or playing in contaminated areas.

    Ali Abd Khalaf, a former wheat farmer, also stepped on a landmine near Az-Zabari, close to Al-Mayadin.

    “Two months ago, I was travelling with my brother on our motorbike,” says Ali. “We decided to stop along the way, so I stepped off the motorbike, took just a few steps, and the explosion happened – I stepped on a landmine.”

    Ali received initial care in a private clinic and was later transported to Deir ez-Zor National hospital, where he underwent two surgeries and had his left leg amputated above the ankle.

    A view of Deir ez-Zor, which has suffered huge destruction throughout more than a decade of armed conflict. Syria, May 2025.
    Asmar Al-Bahir/MSF

    Patients have reported severe challenges in accessing healthcare. Most are forced to rely on expensive private transportation due to an overstretched ambulance network; as a result, many patients from remote towns do not return for follow-up care. Others speak of the high cost of private care.

    “We hurried Ali to a private clinic in Al-Mayadin, where we were required to pay an upfront fee of US$80 to initiate his treatment,” said Ali Abd Khalaf’s relatives. “Though it was a considerable amount, we paid it. Afterwards, we swiftly moved him to the hospital in Deir ez-Zor, where he received comprehensive medical care, free of charge.”

    Urgent funding is needed to support mine action organisations, to scale-up explosive device and landmine clearance, and improve mapping of contaminated areas. This is essential for people to safely return, rebuild their lives, and recover from conflict.

    We also urge the government of Syria, donors, and medical organisations to bolster emergency care capacity, referral systems, and blood banks. Supporting physical rehabilitation, mental health, and psychosocial services is crucial for helping survivors recover as fully as possible.

    Since the fall of the previous Syrian government in December 2024, MSF has been able to gain access to new areas, including Deir ez-Zor governorate where we support public health facilities. In Deir ez-Zor city, MSF is supporting the emergency department of Deir ez-Zor National hospital. In Al-Bukamal, MSF has opened an emergency room in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and is planning obstetric and newborn care services, while rehabilitating a medium-size hospital that will offer additional services.

    MSF was able to support the reopening of the emergency room at Deir ez-Zor National hospital on 7 April after needed rehabilitations were complete and the emergency room in Al-Bukamal on 28 May.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: EPIC FIVE-YEAR BRIAN FRIEL CENTENARY CELEBRATION BEGINS THIS AUGUST WITH 35 PERFORMANCES OF FIVE

    Source: Northern Ireland – City of Derry

    EPIC FIVE-YEAR BRIAN FRIEL CENTENARY CELEBRATION BEGINS THIS AUGUST WITH 35 PERFORMANCES OF FIVE

    5 June 2025

    Audiences to experience Brian Friel’s award winning plays – Dancing at Lughnasa, Transla1ons Faith Healer – in the places that inspired them and two rarities, Volunteers (a co-production with The Playhouse Derry) on its 50th anniversary and The Home Place on its 20th anniversary .

    Special Closing 50th anniversary performances of Friel’s Volunteers and the poetry collection North by close friend and colleague Seamus Heaney across Derry~Londonderry

    Festival spreads into a 19th century ghost village in Donegal’s Gaeltacht (Friel’s Transla1ons), Derry’s Bogside (Heaney’s North) and Ebrington Keep (Friel’s Volunteers) and the school by the house in Glenties which became the setting for Dancing at Lughnasa.

    Dancing at Lughnasa to open on the festival day of Lughnasa, 1 August, complemented by a four-day community led-festival for the beginning of the harvest season in Glenties.

    FrielDays features 365 performances in 100 productions of 29 Brian Friel plays from 2025 until 2029, the centenary of Brian Friel’s birth in Omagh Northern Ireland.

    Friel is the ultimate ‘shared island’ dramatist, the 86 years of his life shared almost equally between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

    LAST DAYS OF EARLY BIRD TICKETS: ON SALE AT WWW.ARTSOVERBORDERS.COM . For tickets and full information please visit www.artsoverborders.com

    An unprecedented five-year theatrical celebra5on building to the centenary of one of Ireland’s great literary figures, Brian Friel (1929-2015), will begin this summer.

    FrielDays – A Homecoming will begin with a 35th anniversary production of his most celebrated play, Dancing at Lughnasa, staged just metres from the house in which it is set, and close with a combined 50th anniversary celebration of the work of Ireland’s greatest poet – and Friel’s close friend – Seamus Heaney.

    Curated by Ireland’s Arts Over Borders, FrielDays will bring 29 plays to loca5ons of resonance across Brian Friel’s homeland of the three north-west border coun5es of Donegal, Tyrone and Derry, a part of Ireland he rarely left.

    FrielDays will build each year adding new plays and places, so that by 2029, the centenary of Friel’s birth, all 29 plays will be performed across the full calendar year Five anniversary plays will be rolled out this August, with each opening at the time of year in which it was set by Friel and taking place in resonant settings which will become a newly chosen ‘Ballybeg’ and ‘Ballymore’, the fictional towns at the heart of 14 of Friel’s 29 plays.

    On its 35th anniversary, Dancing at Lughnasa will be presented at St Columba’s School in Glenties, Co. Donegal, close to The Laurels, the home of Friel’s grandparents and the five daughters who inspired the play’s central characters, the Mundy sisters. In 1990, Dancing at Lughnasa opened to widespread acclaim and, soon after garnered multiple theatrical awards, and received further plaudits when it was adapted for a film starring Meryl Streep in 1998.

    This August’s production, with a commissioned score by electro-acoustic composer John D’Arcy, will be the first multi-racial reading of the play in Ireland and the UK, as a series of stage and screen actors reads the role of The Narrator, Michael. During the run of Dancing at Lughnasa, Faith Healer will also take place in Glenties and west Donegal, with audiences boarding the FrielDays bus for unique site-specific readings in three west Donegal community halls and the Highlands Hotel, an area that was the boyhood summer idyll for Friel.

    Over four acts, Faith Healer weaves an unreliable narrative about the life and death of the charismaticc Frank Hardy, apparently gifted in his ability to perform healing miracles. A play about language, colonialism and identity, Translations will be performed on its 45th anniversary at the Dunlewey Centre in north-west Donegal, a Gaeltacht, Irish-speaking area. The play is set in Donegal in the 1830s, a time when place names were being translated into English for Ordnance Survey maps. While the FrielDays presentation will be in English, the Irish roles will be taken by actors who can also speak Gaelic, while the two English soldier roles will be filled by English actors coming to Donegal for the first time. As part of their ticket, audiences will take a short trip across Lake Dunlewey to visit Glentornan, an early 19th century ghost village, where they will experience a Seanchaí, traditional Gaelic storyteller and music.

    2025 marks the 50th golden anniversary of Volunteers, which premiered in 1975 at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Friel’s tale of excavation by political prisoners is reflected by its FrielDays stage setting of an archaeological site overlooking the River Foyle in the Keep area at Ebrington Square, a former British army barracks in Derry~Londonderry.

    The first professional production this century of Friel’s most contentious play, is a co-production with The Playhouse Derry~Londonderry, staged by Kabosh Theatre in a specially constructed outdoor ‘dig’ set. The opening night on August 29th will be the whole performance in one sitting, while the performances on August 30 and 31 will follow Friel’s scenography with Act 1 at 8.30am and Act 2 at 4.30pm. Between Acts 1 & 2, FrielDays will celebrate the power of Seamus Heaney’s poetry collection, North, in its 50th anniversary year with a series of community-led readings across four city venues in Derry, weaving together diverse voices from across the city and emphasising the links between the works of Friel and his great friend. Tickets for North will be on sale from 9 June at www.artsoverborders.com.

    Rounding off this year’s programme is The Home Place; Friel’s final full-length play will be staged at Sion Stables Heritage Education Centre in Co. Tyrone, close to his own childhood home in Killyclogher, in a building constructed at the time when the play takes place. The 42 cast members spanning all five plays will be announced through June and July.

    Please visit www.artsoverborders.com for latest news.

    FRIELDAYS – A HOMECOMING 2025 SCHEDULE AND INFORMATION

    Dancing at Lughnasa (35th anniversary production): 1-23 August at St. Columba’s Comprehensive School, Glenties, Co. Donegal.

    Faith Healer: 8-10 & 15-17 August at Edeninfagh, Portnoo, Ardara and Glenties, west Donegal.

    Translations (45th anniversary production): 22-25 August at Gweedore, Co. Donegal

    The Home Place (20th anniversary production): 23-25 August at Sion Stables Heritage Education Centre, Co. Tyrone.

    Volunteers (50th anniversary co-production with The Playhouse): 29-31 August at The Keep, Ebrington Square, Derry~Londonderry.

    North (50th anniversary production) 30-31 August in Derry~Londonderry. Brian Friel had a transnational outlook, having been born, in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, NI, soon after the partition of Ireland and spending the first half of his life in Northern Ireland. For the last 43 years of his life, when most of his work was written, he lived in the Inishowen Peninsula, the most northerly part of Ireland, in the Republic. FrielDays is conceived and produced by Arts Over Borders, Ireland’s leading producer of cross-border arts festvals. It follows the recent comple5on of Arts Over Borders’s largest project to date, the pan-European ULYSSES European Odyssey 2022-2024 project (hkps://ulysseseurope.eu/) which celebrated James Joyce’s masterpiece in 18 European cities.

    Seán Doran and Liam Browne (DoranBrowne) of Arts Over Borders said: “We are on the eve of arguably the largest and most ambitious cross border cultural initiative celebrating the work of a single Irish artist and his relationship with the landscape and communities he grew up in and worked within. Brian Friel was very particular about the seasons, months, days and times of day in which his plays took place, so we will present each play in a setting relevant to its theme and at the time, of year and day, in which it was set. Friel is Ireland’s preeminent dramatist of the late 20th century. He is the ultimate ‘shared island’ dramatist, the 86 years of his life shared almost equally between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Therefore, FrielDays is a truly transnational cross-border project, bringing the stories and characters of Friel’s life’s work to the very locations that inspired their creation.”

    Friel Days – A Homecoming 2025 is funded by Donegal County Council Arts Office, Donegal County Council Tourism Office, the NI Executive, The Playhouse Derry and Fáilte Ireland. 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Historic images of Aberdeen Harbour to go on display at the Art Gallery

    Source: Scotland – City of Aberdeen

    With the arrival in Aberdeen of the Tall Ships Races just weeks away, a new exhibition of historic photographs from the archive of Aberdeen Harbour Board is going on display at the Art Gallery from Sunday (8 June). 
     
    The photographs were taken in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Harbour Engineer Robert Gordon Nicol (1858-1934). As well as showing views of the Harbour, the images serve as a record of many other aspects of life around the port, including vessels and people at work. 
     
    The Port of Aberdeen, previously known as Aberdeen Harbour Board, is the UK’s oldest existing business. Established by King David I of Scotland in 1136, it has played a vital role in the city’s development and prosperity. 
     
    The records of Aberdeen Harbour Board, spanning 1800 to 1960, were transferred to Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives in 2019. The collection is diverse, containing ledgers, correspondence, building plans, salmon sale registers and detailed logbooks of vessels leaving and entering the harbour.  
     
    There are thousands of photographs in the archive, including many glass negatives taken by Nicol. He also took his camera on family holidays and on visits he undertook in his capacity as advising engineer to the Scottish Fishery Board. His images convey the importance of these bustling havens to their local communities including Peterhead, Stonehaven, Cullen and Lerwick. 
     
    Many of the photographs in the collection include people, which show details of how people dressed and the types of occupations that were frequently seen around the harbour at the beginning of the 20th century. In one image from around 1910, two divers are pictured, probably at Mearns Quay, with Pocra Quay behind. They are with support crew of five men on a diving punt, one holding an air line to the diver.  
     
    The range of ships and boats shown illustrates the diversity of trade and goods that came and went from the harbour in the early 20th century. Dredgers, tugs and small fishing boats were a common sight, alongside much larger cargo vessels importing goods such as coal and timber. Exports included woollen goods, granite, beef and salt herring 
     
    Bob Sanguinetti, CEO of Port of Aberdeen, said, “Robert Nicol’s photographs of the port provide a fascinating insight into Aberdeen’s rich maritime heritage. Fishing, shipbuilding, textiles and global transportation of stone from the city’s famous quarries all relied on our essential gateway to the North Sea. In years to come we’ll look back on the now expanded Port of Aberdeen and its role supporting today’s industries of energy, trade, and tourism.” 
     
    Councillor Martin Greig, Aberdeen City Council’s culture spokesperson, said, “As we prepare to welcome the Tall Ships Races back to Aberdeen, this exhibition is a timely reminder of how central the Harbour has been to the city’s fortunes over the past 800 years. The lives of generations of Aberdonians have been affected and shaped by the Port of Aberdeen and Robert Nicol’s atmospheric photographs are a fascinating record of an earlier era.” 
     
    From the Archive: Aberdeen Harbour
    Sunday 8 June until 11 January 2026
    Aberdeen Art Gallery
    Admission free 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: IMF Staff Concludes Mission to Lebanon

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    June 5, 2025

    End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. This mission will not result in a Board discussion.

    • The IMF mission held productive discussions with the Lebanese authorities on a comprehensive economic reform program. Discussions are expected to continue, both from IMF headquarters and through follow-up missions.
    • Bank restructuring remains a critical priority to restore the health of the banking sector, move away from the cash-based economy, restart credit to the private-sector, and protect depositors to the maximum extent possible.
    • Given Lebanon’s substantial reconstruction needs, limited fiscal space, and lack of capacity to borrow, the country will require significant support from external partners on highly concessional terms.

    BEIRUT, Lebanon: At the authorities’ request, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Ernesto Ramirez Rigo visited Lebanon from May 28 to June 5, 2025, to initiate discussions on policies and a reform program that could be supported by an IMF arrangement.

    At the conclusion of the mission, Mr. Ramirez Rigo issued the following statement:

    “The IMF mission held productive discussions with the Lebanese authorities on a comprehensive economic reform program aimed at restoring macroeconomic sustainability and supporting financing for reconstruction. These initial discussions covered several reform areas, including (i) restoring the viability of the banking sector and protecting depositors to the maximum extent possible, (ii) achieving fiscal and debt sustainability, while enhancing social safety nets and rebuilding institutional capacity, (iii) establishing credible monetary and exchange rate policy frameworks, (iv) strengthening governance and transparency, (v) enhancing the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, and (vi) reforming state-owned enterprises.

    It was agreed that the rehabilitation of the banking system remains a critical priority to rebuild confidence in banks, move away from the current cash-based economy, and restart credit to the private-sector, which is necessary for growth. The authorities have made some progress recently, including the amendment of the Bank Secrecy Law and submission of a new bank resolution law to Parliament. The next step is for Parliament to approve this legislation, which will establish powers to underpin the recovery of orderly banking intermediation, while safeguarding the public interest. The mission also engaged with the authorities on their emerging bank restructuring and deposit recovery strategy. More work in close cooperation with the authorities will be needed to ensure this strategy is aligned with international standards and debt sustainability requirements.

    “The mission also discussed the 2026 Budget and the development of a medium-term fiscal framework. For the 2026 Budget, given the limited fiscal space and available financing, it is critical that any additional expenditures be fully offset by corresponding revenue efforts, including by strengthening enforcement and compliance in tax and customs administration. An ambitious medium-term revenue mobilization and expenditure rationalization strategy along with improved fiscal transparency and public financial management is needed to strengthen public finances and create space for increased social protection and capital expenditures. The medium-term fiscal framework should also support the restructuring of Eurobonds to restore debt sustainability. Given Lebanon’s substantial reconstruction needs, the authorities’ reform efforts will require significant support from external partners, preferably on highly concessional terms. Enhanced support to Lebanon is also needed to help the country shoulder the continued burden of hosting a large refugee population.

    “Building on these key reform pillars, discussions on formulating a comprehensive reform program are expected to continue, both from IMF headquarters and through follow-up missions. The mission reaffirmed the Fund’s commitment to supporting Lebanon during this challenging period, consistent with its mandate and policies.

    “The mission thanks the Lebanese authorities and all stakeholders for their cooperation and constructive engagement.”

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Wafa Amr

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/06/05/pr-25182-lebanon-imf-staff-concludes-mission-to-lebanon

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Secretary-General’s remarks at the Annual Memorial Service to honour United Nations Personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty from 1 January to 31 December 2024 [as delivered]

    Source: United Nations

    Dear colleagues, family members and friends,

    We gather to pay tribute to the 168 women and men who lost their lives in 2024 in the line of duty.

    We honour those who gave everything in the pursuit of peace, justice, and human dignity.  

    Not only were they dear colleagues, they were sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters.

    We extend our deepest condolences to the families with us today, both in person and online.

    Our thoughts and our hearts are with you.

    Your grief is shared by the entire United Nations family.

    Your sorrow is our sorrow.

    Please join me in a moment of silence to honour our fallen colleagues.

    [MOMENT OF SILENCE]

    Thank you.

    The women and men we honour today embodied the very essence of our mission.

    They were driven by the cause of peace, by the need to alleviate human suffering, and to ensure dignity for all.

    They came from all countries of the world, representing 31 nationalities.

    They were teachers, engineers, doctors, and administrators.

    They were military, police and civilian personnel.

    They were humanitarians, peacekeepers, and peacemakers and so much more.

    When conflict erupted, they worked for peace…

    When violence and disasters hit, they provided life-saving assistance…

    When human rights were trampled, they lifted people up …

    And when the vulnerable needed help, they worked to ensure no one was left behind.

    Recent years have been devastating for the UN family.

    We have suffered unspeakable and unprecedented losses in Gaza.

    This past year alone, 126 of our colleagues were killed in Gaza, including 125 women and men who worked for UNRWA.

    Some were killed with their families.

    I repeat my call for full accountability.

    Excellencies, dear colleagues, friends,

    Our work is far more than just a job.

    It is a calling. 

    All our fallen colleagues answered the call to serve humanity. 

    They did so in their own ways – without fanfare – and with determination. 

    They represented humanity in action.

    At a time when some may question international cooperation or the very notion of multilateralism, we would all do well to remember these lives taken far too soon.

    Let us take inspiration from how they lived.

    Let us commit to provide support and comfort to their families.

    Let us keep working to improve the safety and wellbeing of our staff.

    And let us vow that the memory and mission of our fallen colleagues will endure. 

    They were the best of us.

    Let them live on through our work.

    Thank you.
     

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Competition Bureau issues final guidelines regarding environmental claims

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    June 5, 2025 – GATINEAU (Québec), Competition Bureau

    Today, the Competition Bureau released its final guidelines on environmental claims following two rounds of public consultations conducted throughout the past year.

    The guidelines were designed to help businesses ensure compliance with the Competition Act when making environmental claims. This includes the new greenwashing provisions added to the Act through a series of amendments that became law on June 20, 2024.

    The guidelines do not prescribe when or how businesses can make environmental claims. Companies are free to make any environmental claims they wish, as long as they are not false or misleading, and have been adequately and properly tested or substantiated where required.

    After carefully considering all of the over 400 submissions, the Bureau finalized its guidelines. A backgrounder with more information on the Bureau’s consultations is available on our website.

    The Bureau sincerely thanks everyone who took part in the public consultations and encourages businesses to carefully review the guidelines before making any environmental claims.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Backgrounder: Consultation on environmental claims and the Competition Act

    Source: Government of Canada News

    June 5, 2025 – GATINEAU (Québec), Competition Bureau

    For a long time, the Competition Act has included provisions that prohibit businesses from engaging in misleading advertising and deceptive marketing practices when promoting their products or business interests.

    In June of 2024, new sections were added to the Act. These new provisions require that businesses have evidence to back up certain environmental claims.

    In July of 2024, the Competition Bureau launched the first phase of consultation to gather insights from Canadians on specific questions related to the new greenwashing provisions of the Act.

    This winter, the Bureau conducted a second phase of consultation to seek feedback on its proposed guidelines. The guidelines were designed to help businesses ensure compliance with the Competition Act when making environmental claims.

    The Bureau carefully considered all of the over 400 submissions collected from both consultations. While a lot of the feedback in the submissions is reflected in the final guidance, some is not. The following provides information about a few common themes that did not make their way into the document, as well as the Bureau’s reasons for not including them.

    The scope of the guidance

    We heard that the guidelines should tell businesses exactly what environmental claims they can make in their marketing material, and when they can make them. However, the Act does not create rules about when a particular environmental claim can be made to the public. Instead, the Act allows businesses to make whatever environmental claims they wish, as long as those claims are not false or misleading, and as long as those claims are adequately and properly tested or substantiated where required. This requires an assessment not only of the literal wording of a claim, but also of the general impression created by the advertisement as a whole, including the words, images and layout.

    The Bureau’s role in the legal system

    Some people advised that the Bureau should act beyond its authority, such as repealing or delaying the amendments. It is important to note that Parliament is responsible for creating legislation such as the Competition Act, while the Bureau’s role is to enforce the laws within its mandate, including those prohibiting deceptive environmental claims.

    Some also encouraged the Bureau to take on the role of gatekeeper for those applying for private access to challenge certain types of anti-competitive conduct. This is, however, the responsibility of the Competition Tribunal.

    Finally, some suggested that the Bureau should interpret the new provisions rather than deferring to the courts. However, it is the role of the courts to interpret the law, including the new provisions of the Act.

    The impact of the guidance on securities-related claims

    Some people said that the Bureau should interpret the Act the same way many securities laws are enforced. However, not only are the requirements of securities laws different from those of the Act, but so are the objectives.

    The deceptive marketing practices provisions of the Act are intended to protect consumers of all kinds from deceptive advertising, whereas securities law is specifically intended to protect current and potential securities investors. In the Bureau’s view, the protections afforded to ordinary consumers under the Act should not be limited to the protections afforded to people who are seeking to invest in capital markets.

    Final guidance

    The Bureau greatly appreciates all the thoughtful input received in both rounds of consultation.

    For further details, we invite you to consult our final guidance on Environmental Claims and the Competition Act.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Flip-Flopping David Jolly Enters Florida’s Gubernatorial Race

    Source: US Republican Governors Association

    The following text contains opinion that is not, or not necessarily, that of MIL-OSI –

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – As David Jolly announces he’s throwing his hat into the Florida gubernatorial race, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) issued the following statement:

    “David Jolly has spent his flailing political career leaning whichever way the wind blows in an attempt at political opportunity and relevancy. Floridians have seen this show before, and they won’t buy it,” said RGA Communications Director Courtney Alexander. “There is no appetite among Florida voters to turn the successful leadership of state government over to a failed, out-of-touch swamp creature who just found religion in MSNBC’s green room.”

    David Jolly’s Record: 

    • In 2015, while in the process of losing another campaign, Jolly called for President Trump to get out of the presidential race.
    • Jolly lost his congressional race in 2016 to his future mentor and personal idol, Charlie Crist (R-I-D).
    • Jolly subsequently left the GOP and joined the ranks of MSNBC as a contributor, writing “the fight for the heart and soul of the Republican party has been lost to darker angels — to a darker leader.”
    • Since then Jolly has been a reliable Democrat mouthpiece, even defending Biden’s candidacy after his disastrous debate performance.
    • In 2022, Jolly even praised the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act that drove up costs and encouraged Joe Biden to take a victory lap.
    • In 2025 Jolly completed the “Full Crist” by changing his voter registration to Democrat – formalizing a conversion that was already evident to anyone unfortunate enough to be subjected to his appearances on MSNBC.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General James Defends Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan Immigrants 

    Source: US State of New York

    EW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today co-led a coalition of 17 attorneys general in defending hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants who have had their legal status threatened after the Trump administration attempted to eliminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelan immigrants. The TPS program is a critical humanitarian lifeline established by Congress in 1990 that protects immigrants from being returned to certain countries deemed unsafe, allowing them to work and build a life in the United States. In an amicus brief filed in National TPS Alliance v. Noem, Attorney General James and the coalition urge the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court’s decision postponing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s early termination of TPS for Venezuelan immigrants. The attorneys general support the lower court’s finding that the termination is likely arbitrary and unlawful.  

    “The Department of Homeland Security’s decision to strip TPS from Venezuelan immigrants is an affront to our nation’s core values and a dangerous attempt to undermine the rule of law,” said Attorney General James. “I will not sit idly by while this administration undermines the safety of hundreds of thousands of people and violates the rights of those seeking a better life for their families while contributing to our communities.”  

    New York is a safe home to approximately 56,800 TPS holders from all countries. Nationwide, more than 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants were residing in the United States with TPS as of January 2025. The termination of TPS for Venezuelan immigrants will force hardworking people to make a devastating choice between:

    • Returning to their country of origin alone, leaving their families behind;
    • Taking their family members, some of whom are American citizens, with them to a dangerous country that they do not know; or
    • Staying in the United States and retreating into the shadows, knowing that they cannot work legally and could be ripped from their families at any time.

    Attorney General James and the coalition previously filed an amicus brief in this case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The court sided with the coalition, postponing the mass cancellation of TPS for Venezuelan immigrants while the case could be argued. Attorney General James and the coalition are now urging the Ninth Circuit to affirm the District Court’s decision, which the Supreme Court stayed on May 19. The brief argues that terminating TPS for Venezuelan immigrants will:  

    • Harm states’ economies and workforces because immigrants with TPS, including those from Venezuela, are dynamic contributors to the states’ economies;
    • Raise health care costs and pose substantial risks to public health by eliminating TPS holders’ work authorization and thereby jeopardizing employer-sponsored health insurance for many families;
    • Create challenges in protecting public safety for jurisdictions nationwide. 

    Attorney General James and the coalition emphasize that when former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Mayorkas extended Venezuela’s TPS designation in January of this year, he cited 52 sources indicating that Venezuela remained in a state of “humanitarian emergency.” When current DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination of Venezuela’s TPS designation, she baselessly claimed there have been “notable improvements in several areas” in Venezuela. The brief notes that Venezuela remains on the U.S. Department of State’s list of “Level 4: Do Not Travel” countries.  

    Attorney General James and the coalition also argue that TPS enhances public safety by allowing immigrants to contact law enforcement without jeopardizing their immigration status. As the brief notes, immigrants who lack legal status are less likely to report crime, and ending TPS protections for Venezuelan immigrants would make it harder for states to keep their communities safe. TPS applicants must meet specific criteria to be granted protection, including screenings for criminal history and background checks, and can lose their status if convicted of certain crimes.

    Joining Attorney General James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta in filing the brief are the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Up to $100M Available for Community Centers

    Source: US State of New York

    overnor Kathy Hochul today announced that funding is available from the new $100 million Building Recreational Infrastructure for Communities, Kids and Seniors (NY BRICKS) capital grant program. Governor Hochul secured this funding in the FY 2026 Enacted Budget to support municipalities and nonprofit organizations in building or renovating community centers that promote physical health, mental well-being, and community connections for youth and older adults. NY BRICKS will offer grants of up to $15 million to fund design, construction, renovation, and land acquisition for these centers. Priority will be given to projects in underserved communities, as well as those offering affordable services like childcare, eldercare, and mental health counseling. The program aims to make transformative, high-impact investments in local communities. This announcement builds on Governor Hochul’s ‘Unplug and Play’ initiative to get kids off of their phones by funding playgrounds, community centers, affordable sports programs and recreational opportunities.

    “Every New Yorker deserves a safe, welcoming space to grow, connect, and thrive,” Governor Hochul said. “We’re investing in the future of our communities — creating vibrant centers where kids can play, seniors can stay active, and families can access the support they need. This is about building more than infrastructure — it’s about building opportunity, equity, and well-being in every corner of our state.”

    As part of Governor Hochul’s FY 2026 Enacted Budget and State of the State proposals, NY BRICKS offers grants between $250,000 and $15 million to acquire, design, construct or reconstruct facilities, provide major renovations, improvements, and modernization or rehabilitation of community centers. The Request for Applications (RFA) for funding was posted today at dasny.org and parks.ny.gov.

    The application period for the NY BRICKS capital grant program will open on July 14, 2025 and applications must be submitted by August 15, 2025. Awards are expected to be announced no earlier than November 1, 2025. Applications will be evaluated on characteristics of projects’ need, impact, and viability. NY BRICKS grants will require applicants to provide a 20 percent matching contribution towards the overall project cost. Not-for-profit entities must receive approved prequalification status in the Statewide Financial System (SFS) prior to the submission of their application and must remain prequalified through the execution of the Grant Disbursement Agreement and payment of all requisitions.

    Dormitory Authority of the State of New York President and CEO Robert J. Rodriguez said, “DASNY is proud to administer NY BRICKS grants that will strengthen communities across New York State. These investments in community centers represent more than just buildings — they’re foundations for healthier, more connected neighborhoods. We thank Governor Hochul for her leadership in securing this critical funding that will help municipalities and nonprofits create spaces where families and communities can thrive.”

    New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Pro Tempore Randy Simons said, “I applaud Governor Hochul for prioritizing strategic investments in New Yorkers’ mental and physical wellness. The NY BRICKS program will offer New York families more options to disconnect from life’s daily stresses and incorporate healthy activity into their lives. Our agency looks forward to working with DASNY to launch this initiative with community partners across the state and help New Yorkers enjoy the proven benefits that come with year-round recreation and physical activity.”

    State Senator José Serrano said, “As the Chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation, I am a firm believer that community centers serve as a way to connect with one another and promote physical and mental well-being. The NY BRICKS capital grant program would help to expand much-needed services to people of all ages in today’s fast-paced world. My sincere thanks to Governor Kathy Hochul, the OPRHP, and DASNY for these transformative, high-impact investments in our communities.”

    Governor Hochul’s Unplug and Play Initiative
    The Governor’s new Unplug and Play initiative earmarks $100 million for the construction and renovation of community centers through the Build Recreational Infrastructure for Communities, Kids and Seniors (NY BRICKS); $67.5 million for the Places for Learning, Activity and Youth Socialization (NY PLAYS) initiative helping New York communities construct new playgrounds and renovate existing playgrounds; and an additional $90 million for the continuation of the Statewide Investment in More Swimming (NY SWIMS) initiative including $50 million for a competitive grant program supporting municipalities in the renovation and construction of swimming facilities and $40 million for other swimming-based investments. Additionally, “Get Offline, Get Outside,” is an initiative launched by Governor Hochul to promote physical and mental health by encouraging kids and families to put down their screens, take a break from social media, enjoy recreation and the outdoors, and put their mental and physical health first.

    The Governor’s Office, NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) and DASNY are committed to helping potential applicants prepare competitive applications. The open application question period begins on June 5, 2025, and all questions must be submitted via the NY BRICKS SurveyMonkey form accessible here. A webinar video will be posted on the NYS OPRHP and DASNY NY BRICKS websites (www.dasny.org and www.parks.ny.gov) on June 25, 2025. This video will address questions received by June 20, 2025 and review the RFA and application process. Questions received after the webinar video has been posted on June 25, 2025, and prior to 3:00 p.m. on June 27, 2025 will be made available on the same websites by July 11, 2025. Details regarding the submission of questions are provided in the RFA and on the NYS OPRHP and DASNY websites. All potential applicants are strongly encouraged to review the RFA, submit questions in writing, and view the Webinar as the NY BRICKS Grant Application process will be explained in the webinar video.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Stamper Announces Proposed Brokered Private Placement of Subscription Receipts of BISP Exploration Inc.

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for release publication, distribution or dissemination directly, or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States.

    VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Stamper Oil & Gas Corp. (“Stamper” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: STMP) is pleased to announce that further to the Company’s press release dated May 14, 2025 announcing the entering into of an acquisition agreement dated May 12, 2025 with BISP Exploration Inc. (“BISP”) pursuant to which the Company will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of BISP (the “Transaction”), BISP will undertake a “best efforts” brokered private placement of subscription receipts (the “Financing”).

    In connection with the Transaction, BISP has engaged Ventum Financial Corp. (the “Lead Agent”) to act as lead agent and sole bookrunner (on its own behalf and on behalf of a syndicate of agents which may be formed, and collectively with the Lead Agent, the “Agents”) in connection with the Financing of up to 80,000,000 subscription receipts (the “Subscription Receipts”) at a price of $0.20 per Subscription Receipt (the “Offering Price”) to raise gross proceeds of up to $16 million (the “Escrowed Funds”), which will be held in escrow by Endeavor Trust Corporation (the “Subscription Receipt Agent”). BISP has granted to the Agents an over-allotment option, exercisable at any time prior to the Closing Date (as defined below), to offer up to an additional 15% of the Subscription Receipts at the Offering Price. The Subscription Receipts will be issued pursuant to a subscription receipt agreement (the “Subscription Receipt Agreement”) to be entered into among BISP, the Lead Agent, and the Subscription Receipt Agent. Upon satisfaction of the escrow release conditions, which will be further outlined in the Subscription Receipt Agreement and include, but not limited to, satisfaction of all conditions precedent of the Transaction, each Subscription Receipt will entitle the holder thereof, without payment of any additional consideration and without further action on the part of the holder thereof, to one unit of BISP (a “BISP Unit”), and the Escrowed Funds, together with any interest earned thereon, will be released to BISP. If the escrow release conditions are not satisfied or waived within six (6) months of the Closing Date, the Subscription Receipts will be cancelled, and the Escrowed Funds, together with any interest earned thereon, will be returned by the Subscription Receipt Agent to subscribers on a pro rata basis.

    Each BISP Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of BISP (a “BISP Share”) and one-half (0.5) of one (1) common share purchase warrant of BISP (each whole warrant, a “BISP Warrant”). The BISP Shares and the BISP Warrants will then be exchanged for common shares of Stamper (on a post-Split (as defined herein) basis) (the “Resulting Issuer Shares”) and common share purchase warrants of Stamper (on a post-Split basis) (the “Resulting Issuer Warrants”), respectively, on a one-for-one basis. Each whole Resulting Issuer Warrant will be exercisable to purchase one post-Split Resulting Issuer Share at an exercise price of $0.35 for a period of 36 months from the closing date of Financing (the “Closing Date”). In connection with the Transaction, Stamper will subdivide the common shares in the capital of Stamper (the “Stamper Shares”) on the basis of 3.8 post-split Stamper Shares for each one (1) pre-split Stamper Share (the “Split”). All Stamper Shares issued in connection with the Transaction will be on a post-Split basis.

    BISP will pay the Agents a cash commission equal to 7.0% of the gross proceeds of the Financing which shall be reduced to 2.0% with respect to any subscriptions received from subscribers on the president’s list provided by BISP, such president’s list to be a minimum of $10,000,000 and up to a maximum of $12,000,000 in the aggregate (the “President’s List”), and issue broker warrants (the “Broker Warrants”) exercisable to acquire that number of BISP Units equal to 7.0% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold under the Financing, which shall be reduced to 2.0% with respect to any subscriptions from subscribers on the President’s List. Such Broker Warrants shall be exercisable at a price of $0.20 per BISP Unit, for a period of 36 months from the Closing Date. BISP will pay to the Agents, on the completion of the Financing, the cash commission and issue the Broker Warrants to the Agents. Provided the escrow release conditions are satisfied, pursuant to the Transaction, each Broker Warrant will be exchanged for one broker warrant of the Resulting Issuer, which shall entitle the holder thereof to subscribe for post-Split Resulting Issuer units on the same terms as the BISP Units. BISP will also reimburse the Agents for all reasonable expenses and fees incurred with respect to the Financing. BISP will have the right to include on the President’s List subscribers that will purchase up to 60,000,000 Subscription Receipts at the Offering Price for gross proceeds of up to $12,000,000.

    The Subscription Receipts will be subject to resale restrictions under applicable securities legislation. The Subscription Receipts will not be transferable under the laws of Canada, except pursuant to applicable statutory exemptions, until the date that is four months and a day after the date BISP becomes a reporting issuer in any province or territory of Canada. The Resulting Issuer Shares and the Resulting Issuer Warrants issuable upon the exchange of the BISP Shares and the BISP Warrants that are issued upon conversion of the Subscription Receipts will be freely tradeable for Canadian holders pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws. The net proceeds of the Financing will primarily be used to fund the cash portion of the Transaction, fund exploration operations, to meet the working capital requirements of the Resulting Issuer, and for general corporate purposes.

    This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States or to any “U.S. Person” (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”)) of any equity or other securities of the Company. The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or under any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to a U.S. Person absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable securities laws or an applicable exemption therefrom. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of U.S. securities laws.

    About Stamper Oil & Gas

    Stamper Oil & Gas Corp. (TSX-V: STMP) is an “Energy Commodity Focused” resource company, seeking to acquire interests in mineral and/or oil & gas resource properties focused on energy creation, storage or delivery. The Company is committed to creating sustainable shareholder value by evaluating and developing future prospects into commercially viable assets.

    ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

    “Bryson Goodwin”
    Bryson Goodwin, President & CEO
    Chairman of Board of Directors

    For further information, please contact:
    Phone: 604-341-1531
    Email: brysongoodwin@shaw.ca

    Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements”. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “projects”, “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will”, “would”, “may”, “could” or “should” occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this news release include the closing of the Financing and Transaction, the issuance of securities of the Company and the Resulting Issuer pursuant to the Subscription Receipts, and the anticipated use of proceeds of the Financing. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the receipt of regulatory approvals, market prices, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company’s management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management’s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Homeless Veterans in America Relief Foundation Receives the SBB Research Group Foundation Grant 

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CHICAGO, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Homeless Veterans in America Relief Foundation received a $5,000 grant from the SBB Research Group Foundation, which awards monthly grants to support impactful organizations.

    Chicago-based Homeless Veterans in America Relief Foundation (HVIARF) supports Veterans who are at-risk of, or who are experiencing homelessness by providing them essential products and connecting them with long-term services. From the streets to stability, HVIARF works to restore dignity, hope, and direction to those who have served, ensuring they are not forgotten once their military service ends.

    U.S. Navy Veteran Michael Pedroza founded HVIARF to bring greater awareness to the issue of Veteran homelessness and to advocate for more effective solutions to address and prevent it. His firsthand understanding of the struggles service members face when transitioning back to civilian life drives his mission to ensure no Veteran is left behind.

    “We don’t wait for Veterans to come to us, and we’re not just roaming the streets hoping to stumble upon someone in need,” Pedroza explains. “We depend on everyday people—neighbors, friends, community members—to help us locate homeless Veterans so we can step in and make that critical connection to resources and support.”

    With a Veteran-first mission, HVIARF addresses both urgent survival needs and the deeper challenges tied to homelessness. Volunteers regularly distribute essentials such as food, clean water, and clothing—items crucial for those living exposed to harsh conditions.

    But the organization’s mission goes beyond immediate relief. HVIARF is committed to linking Veterans with resources that can change the trajectory of their lives. Whether it’s securing temporary shelter, accessing housing programs, or connecting Veterans to job training and health services, HVIARF’s goal is to help every Veteran build a path toward stability, independence, and renewed self-worth. HVIARF also plays a role in advocacy and awareness, amplifying the voices of homeless Veterans, raising public consciousness about Veterans facing unique challenges, and transitioning service members as they reenter civilian life.

    By addressing the unique needs of each Veteran and partnering with the community, the Homeless Veterans in America Relief Foundation offers not just support—but a renewed sense of hope and direction for those who have served our nation.

    “Supporting those who have served is a responsibility we share, and we’re proud to help the Homeless Veterans in America Relief Foundation make a lasting impact,” said Matt Aven, co-founder and board member of the SBB Research Group Foundation.

    About the SBB Research Group Foundation

    The SBB Research Group Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that furthers the philanthropic mission of SBB Research Group LLC (SBBRG), a Chicago-based investment management firm led by Sam Barnett, Ph.D., and Matt Aven. The Foundation provides grants to support ambitious organizations solving unmet needs with thoughtful, long-term strategies. In addition, the Foundation sponsors the SBBRG STEM Scholarship, which supports students pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics degrees.

    Contact: Erin Noonan
    Organization: SBB Research Group Foundation
    Email: grants@sbbrg.org
    Address: 450 Skokie Blvd, Building 600, Northbrook, IL 60062, United States
    Phone: 1-847-656-1111
    Website: https://www.sbbrg.org

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: 11th.com Named Tech Disruptor Finalist in the Wealth Management 2025 Industry Awards

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York, New York, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — 11th.com, the leading automated investor recovery platform for RIAs, announced today that it has been named a Finalist in the Wealth Management 2025 Industry Awards (the “Wealthies”) for Disruption in Investor Recovery Technology.

    11th.com Named Finalist for Tech Disruptor at the Wealth Management Industry Awards

    11th.com is a first-of-its-kind technology that automates the recovery of funds owed to investors from securities class actions and shareholder settlements. Built for RIAs, wealth managers, and financial institutions, it identifies, files, and collects eligible claims on behalf of their clients—with no manual effort required. 11th.com turns a historically overlooked process into a seamless, value-added service that strengthens client relationships and enhances firm growth.

    “We’re honored to receive this prestigious award from WealthManagement.com,” said Stan Vick, Founder & CEO. “Being recognized alongside some of the most influential players in wealth management reinforces our mission to modernize the recovery of billions in missed investor funds.”

    Now in its 11th year, the Wealth Management Industry Awards is the only awards program of its kind to honor outstanding achievements by companies, organizations, and individuals that support financial advisor success.

    A panel of judges made up of top names in the industry, led by WealthManagement.com director of editorial strategy and operations David Armstrong, chose the finalists and will determine the winners, which each year recognizes the firms and individuals who are bringing new innovations to market that make a real difference to the daily activities of financial advisors. Winners will be announced at a gala and awards ceremony in New York City on September 4th.

    “The Industry Awards are a beacon, illuminating the trailblazers and innovators who are shaping the future of the financial services industry,” said David Armstrong, director of editorial strategy and operations. “They serve as a leading indicator of future activity, and as a barometer for the dynamic ecosystem of companies and organizations that empower, support and enable advisor success who are driving the industry forward.”

    About 11th.com

    11th.com is the first technology platform that empowers RIAs and wealth managers to automatically recover funds from securities class actions and shareholder settlements. Through its patented engine, 11th.com has claimed over $250 million for more than 50,000 clients—including RIAs, wealth managers, and individual investors. Designed for scale, the platform handles unlimited clients and claims, no matter the legal or technical complexity.

    About WealthManagement.com

    WealthManagement.com, an Informa business, provides everything wealth professionals need to know to stay knowledgeable about the industry, build stronger relationships, improve their practice, and grow their business. WealthManagement.com offers financial services organizations a broad array of marketing services designed to help them influence the industry’s leading audience of wealth management professionals.

    Press inquiries

    11th.com
    https://11th.com
    Stan Vick
    pr@11th.com
    (302) 261-8626

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Databricks and Noma Security Announce Partnership to Accelerate Enterprise AI Security

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TEL AVIV, Israel, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Noma Security, the unified AI security and governance platform, today announced a strategic partnership with Databricks, the Data and AI company, to address the challenge of balancing rapid enterprise AI innovation and adoption with robust AI security and governance.

    Noma Security also announced today a strategic investment from Databricks Ventures. This investment comes after Noma Security launched from stealth with a $32M Series A funding round led by Ballistic Ventures and Glilot Partners.

    “Many Databricks customers are already using Noma Security for security and governance across the AI lifecycle. The Noma Security platform directly addresses the AI security uncertainties that often hinder enterprise AI adoption,” said Andrew Ferguson, Vice President of Databricks Ventures. “Our partnership and investment underscore our commitment to equipping Databricks customers with trusted, secure AI solutions that accelerate innovation.”

    The partnership integrates the Noma Security end-to-end AI security and governance platform directly into Databricks AI environments, creating a comprehensive solution that secures AI systems from initial development through production deployment. This integration helps Fortune 500 organizations accelerate AI adoption while maintaining security, compliance, and governance standards required by emerging regulations like the EU AI Act.

    The integrated Noma Security and Databricks solution delivers value to innovative organizations and enterprise CISOs in these four categories:

    • AI discovery and governance for complete visibility into AI assets generating an AI bill of materials;
    • Secure AI by design through proactive vulnerability detection and automated policy enforcement through AI infrastructure and supply chain scanning, and AI red teaming;
    • AI runtime protection against prompt attacks and data leakage;
    • AI agent security covering complex AI agent architectures and MCP server scanning.

    “As enterprise organizations race to deploy AI at scale, security and governance is at the top of every CISOs priority list,” said Niv Braun, CEO and co-founder of Noma Security. “Our partnership with Databricks creates a comprehensive and secure AI environment for enterprise organizations – from supply chain protection to runtime monitoring to AI agent governance. Together, we’re enabling confident and responsible AI innovation.”

    The partnership also supports alignment with leading AI security frameworks including OWASP Top 10 for LLMs, MITRE ATLAS, and Databricks AI Security Framework (DASF 2.0), helping organizations prepare for evolving regulations such as the EU AI Act and achieve certifications like ISO 42001.

    Connect at Databricks Data + AI Summit next week
    Join Noma Security and Databricks at the Databricks Data + AI Summit in San Francisco, June 9-12, 2025, to see the integrated solution in action. Contact us to schedule time with our experts on site or if you can’t attend in person, request a demo.

    Attend the Databricks and Noma Security webinar on June 26
    Learn the top best practices to secure and govern AI using Databricks and Noma Security by registering for this joint webinar titled, “AI Security Best Practices to Confidently Accelerate Enterprise AI Adoption.” Register today and join Databricks and Noma Security experts on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at 11:00pm Eastern.

    About Noma Security
    Noma Security is the AI security and governance platform giving enterprise organizations the confidence to rapidly build and deploy AI at scale. Noma Security uniquely provides cybersecurity teams with control of AI risk through continuous discovery and inventory, supply chain security, red teaming, and runtime protection to ensure compliance and risk mitigation. Backed by Ballistic Ventures, Glilot Capital, Cyber Club London, Databricks Ventures and SVCI, Noma Security is widely adopted by Fortune 500 customers and has been recognized by Gartner as a leading AI TRiSM solution. For more information visit https://noma.security

    About Databricks
    Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide — including Block, Comcast, Condé Nast, Rivian, Shell and over 60% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to take control of their data and put it to work with AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe, and was founded by the original creators of Lakehouse, Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow. To learn more visit www.databricks.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: No KYC, 100x Leverage for All — Double Deposit Bonus & $50 Welcome Now on BexBack

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SINGAPORE, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As the price of Bitcoin surpassed the $100,000 mark and subsequently stabilized above $100,000, many analysts believe that it will enter a long-term high-volatility market. Holding spot positions may not continue to generate profits in the short term. BexBack Exchange is stepping up its efforts to provide traders with irresistible preferential packages. The platform now offers a 100% deposit bonus, a $50 welcome bonus for new users, and a 100x leverage on cryptocurrency trading, creating unparalleled opportunities for investors.

    What Is 100x Leverage and How Does It Work?

    Simply put, 100x leverage allows you to open larger trading positions with less capital. For example:

    Suppose the Bitcoin price is $100,000 that day, and you open a long contract with 1 BTC. After using 100x leverage, the transaction amount is equivalent to 100 BTC.

    One day later, if the price rises to $105,000, your profit will be (105,000 – 100,000) * 100 BTC / 100,000 = 5 BTC, a yield of up to 500%.

    With BexBack’s deposit bonus

    BexBack offers a 100% deposit bonus. If the initial investment is 2 BTC, the profit will increase to 10 BTC, and the return on investment will double to 1000%.

    Note: Although leveraged trading can magnify profits, you also need to be wary of liquidation risks.

    How Does the 100% Deposit Bonus Work?
    The deposit bonus from BexBack cannot be directly withdrawn but can be used to open larger positions and increase potential profits. Additionally, during significant market fluctuations, the bonus can serve as extra margin, effectively reducing the risk of liquidation.

    About BexBack?

    BexBack is a leading cryptocurrency derivatives platform that offers 100x leverage on BTC, ETH, ADA, SOL, XRP,and 50+ others futures contracts. It is headquartered in Singapore with offices in Hong Kong, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Argentina. It holds a US MSB (Money Services Business) license and is trusted by more than 500,000 traders worldwide. Accepts users from the United States, Canada, and Europe. There are no deposit fees, and traders can get the most thoughtful service, including 24/7 customer support.

    Why recommend BexBack?

    No KYC Required: Start trading immediately without complex identity verification.

    100% Deposit Bonus: Double your funds, double your profits.

    High-Leverage Trading: Offers up to 100x leverage, maximizing investors’ capital efficiency.

    Demo Account: Comes with 10 BTC and 1M USDT in virtual funds, ideal for beginners to practice risk-free trading.

    Comprehensive Trading Options: Feature-rich trading available via Web and mobile applications.

    Convenient Operation: No slippage, no spread, and fast, precise trade execution.

    Global User Support: Enjoy 24/7 customer service, no matter where you are.

    Lucrative Affiliate Rewards: Earn up to 50% commission, perfect for promoters.

    Take Action Now—Don’t Miss Another Opportunity!

    If you missed the previous crypto bull run, this could be your chance. With BexBack’s 100x leverage and 100% deposit bonus and $50 bonus for new users (Deposit greater than 0.001BTC or 100 USDT, complete one trade within one week of registration), you can be a winner in the new bull run.

    Sign up on BexBack now, claim your exclusive bonus and start accumulating more BTC today!

    Website: www.bexback.com

    Contact: business@bexback.com

    Contact:
    Amanda
    business@bexback.com 

    Disclaimer: This content is provided by BexBack. he statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. We do not guarantee any claims, statements, or promises made in this article. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice. Investing in crypto and mining-related opportunities involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. It is possible to lose all your capital. These products may not be suitable for everyone, and you should ensure that you understand the risks involved. Seek independent advice if necessary. Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. However, due to the inherently speculative nature of the blockchain sector—including cryptocurrency, NFTs, and mining—complete accuracy cannot always be guaranteed. Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility. Globenewswire does not endorse any content on this page.

    Legal Disclaimer: This media platform provides the content of this article on an “as-is” basis, without any warranties or representations of any kind, express or implied. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information

    Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6c8ebafa-00e4-4543-9b07-e65790e4713a

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/828c2294-7355-42e4-8b31-3989f17b37ca

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9f37cd71-1603-4d60-9fef-38177448a291

    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/329ecdb9-cda3-4d25-a997-e7755e463fb8

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: DNO Annual General Meeting Held; All Resolutions Passed by Shareholders

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Oslo, 5 June 2025 – DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, today held its 2025 Annual General Meeting in Oslo, Norway. All resolutions received shareholder approval. The minutes from the meeting are attached.

    –

    This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How a postwar German literary classic helped eclipse painter Emil Nolde’s relationship to Nazism

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Ombline Damy, Doctorante en Littérature Générale et Comparée, Sciences Po

    Emil Nolde, _Red Clouds_, watercolour on handmade paper, 34.5 x 44.7 cm. Emil Nolde/Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, CC BY-NC-ND

    Paintings by German artist Emil Nolde (1867-1956) were recently on display at the Musée Picasso in Paris as part of an exhibition on what the Nazis classified as “degenerate art”. At first glance, his works fit perfectly, but recent research shows that Nolde’s relationship to Nazism is much more nuanced than the exhibition revealed.

    The German Lesson: a postwar literary classic

    While Nolde was one of the many victims of the Third Reich’s repressive responses to “degenerate art”, he was also one of Nazism’s great admirers. The immense popularity of The German Lesson (1968) by author Siegfried Lenz, however, greatly contributed to creating the legend of Nolde as a martyr of the Nazi regime.


    The cover of the French edition, which was on sale in the Musée Picasso bookstore, subtly echoes one of Nolde’s works, Hülltoft Farm, which hung in the exhibition.

    Set against the backdrop of Nazi policies on “degenerate art”, the novel is about a conflict between a father and son. It addresses in literary form the central postwar issue of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, a term referring to the individual and collective work of German society on coming to terms with its Nazi past.

    The German Lesson was met with huge success upon publication. Since then, it has become a classic of postwar German literature. Over 2 million copies have been sold across the world, and the novel has been translated into more than 20 languages. It is still studied in Germany as part of the national school curriculum. Adding to its popularity, the book was adapted for the screen in 1971 and in 2019. More than 50 years after its publication, The German Lesson continues to shape the way we think about Nazi Germany.

    Max Ludwig Nansen, a fictional painter turned martyr

    Set in Germany in the 1950s, the novel is told through the eyes of Siggi, a young man incarcerated in a prison for delinquent youths. Asked to pen an essay on the “joys of duty”, he dives into his memories of a childhood in Nazi Germany as the son of a police officer.

    He remembers that his father, Jens Ole Jepsen, was given an order to prevent his own childhood friend, Max Ludwig Nansen, from painting. As a sign of protest against the painting ban, Nansen created a secret collection of paintings titled “the invisible pictures”. Because he was young enough to appear innocent, Siggi was used by his father to spy on the painter.

    Siggi found himself torn between the two men, who related to duty in radically opposite ways. While Jepsen thought it his duty to follow the orders given to him, Nansen saw art as his only duty. Throughout the novel, Siggi becomes increasingly close to the painter, whom he sees as a hero, all the while distancing himself from his father, who in turn is perceived as a fanatic.

    The novel’s point of view, that of a child, demands of its reader that they complete Siggi’s omissions or partial understanding of the world around him with their adult knowledge. This deliberately allusive narrative style enables the author to elude the topic of Nazism – or at least to hint at it in a covert way, thus making the novel acceptable to a wide German audience at the time of its publication in 1968.

    Nevertheless, the book leaves little room for doubt on the themes it tackles. While Nazism is never explicitly named, the reader will inevitably recognize the Gestapo (the political police of the regime) when Siggi speaks of the “leather coats” who arrest Nansen. Readers will also identify the ban on painting issued to Nansen as a part of Nazi policies on “degenerate art”. And, what’s more, they will undoubtedly perceive the real person hiding behind the fictional character of Max Ludwig Nansen: Emil Nolde, born Hans Emil Nansen.


    A weekly e-mail in English featuring expertise from scholars and researchers. It provides an introduction to the diversity of research coming out of the continent and considers some of the key issues facing European countries. Get the newsletter!

    Emil Nolde, a real painter become legend

    Much like his fictional counterpart Max Ludwig Nansen, the painter Emil Nolde fell victim to Nazi policies aimed at artists identified as “degenerate”. More than 1,000 of his artworks were confiscated, some of which were integrated into the 1937 travelling exhibition on “degenerate art” orchestrated by the regime. Nolde was banned from the German art academy, and he was forbidden to sell and exhibit his work.

    A photograph of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels’ visit to the exhibition titled Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) in Munich, 1937. At left, from top, two paintings by Emil Nolde: Christ and the Sinner (1926) and the Wise and the Foolish Virgins (1910), a painting that has disappeared.
    Wikimedia

    After the collapse of the Nazi regime, the tide turned for this “degenerate” artist. Postwar German society glorified him as a victim and opponent of Nazi politics, an image which Nolde carefully fostered. In his memoirs, he claimed to have been forbidden to paint by the regime, and to have created a series of “unpainted pictures” in a clandestine act of resistance.

    Countless exhibits on Nolde, in Germany and around the world, served to perpetuate the myth of a talented painter, fallen victim to the Nazi regime, who decided to fight back. His works even made it into the hallowed halls of the German chancellery. Helmut Schmidt, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1982, and Germany’s former chancellor Angela Merkel decorated their offices with his paintings.

    The popularity of The German Lesson, inspired by Nolde’s life, further solidified the myth – until the real Nolde and the fictional Nansen became fully inseparable in Germany’s collective imagination.

    Twilight of an idol

    Yet, the historical figure and the fictional character could not be more different. Research conducted for exhibits on Nolde in Frankfurt in 2014 and in Berlin in 2019 revealed the artist’s true relationship to Nazism to the wider public.

    Nolde was indeed forbidden from selling and exhibiting his works by the Nazi regime. But he was not forbidden from painting. The series of “unpainted pictures”, which he claimed to have created in secret, are in fact a collection of works put together after the war.

    What’s more, Nolde joined the Nazi Party as early as 1934. To make matters worse, he also hoped to become an official artist of the regime, and he was profoundly antisemitic. He was convinced that his work was the expression of a “German soul” – with all the racist undertones that such an affirmation suggests. He relentlessly tried to convince Goebbels and Hitler that his paintings, unlike those of “the Jews”, were not “degenerate”.

    Why, one might ask, did more than 70 years go by before the truth about Nolde came out?

    Yes, the myth built by Nolde himself and solidified by The German Lesson served to eclipse historical truth. Yet this seems to be only part of the story. In Nolde’s case, like in many others that involve facing a fraught national past, it looks like fiction was a great deal more attractive than truth.

    In Lenz’s book, the painter Nansen claims that “you will only start to see properly […] when you start creating what you need to see”. By seeing in Nolde the fictional character of Nansen, Germans created a myth they needed to overcome a painful past. A hero, who resisted Nazism. Beyond the myth, reality appears to be more complex.

    Ombline Damy received funding from la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (National Foundation of Political Sciences, or FNSP) for her thesis.

    – ref. How a postwar German literary classic helped eclipse painter Emil Nolde’s relationship to Nazism – https://theconversation.com/how-a-postwar-german-literary-classic-helped-eclipse-painter-emil-noldes-relationship-to-nazism-258310

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: A new observatory is assembling the most complete time-lapse record of the night sky ever

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Noelia Noël, Senior Lecturer, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Surrey

    On 23 June 2025, the world will get a look at the first images from one of the most powerful telescopes ever built: the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

    Perched high in the Chilean Andes, the observatory will take hundreds of images of the southern hemisphere sky, every night for 10 years. In doing so, it will create the most complete time-lapse record of our Universe ever assembled. This scientific effort is known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).

    Rather than focusing on small patches of sky, the Rubin Observatory will scan the entire visible southern sky every few nights. Scientists will use this rolling deep-sky snapshot to track supernovae (exploding stars), asteroids, black holes, and galaxies as they evolve and change in real time. This is astronomy not as a static snapshot, but as a cosmic story unfolding night by night.

    At the heart of the observatory lies a remarkable piece of engineering: a digital camera the size of a small car and weighing over three tonnes. With a staggering 3,200 megapixels, each image it captures has enough detail to spot a golf ball from 25km away.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    Each image is so detailed that it would take hundreds of ultra-high-definition TV screens to display it in full. To capture the universe in colour, the camera uses enormous filters — each about the size of a dustbin lid — that allow through different types of light, from ultraviolet to near-infrared.

    The observatory was first proposed in 2001, and construction at the Cerro Pachón ridge site in northern Chile began in April 2015. The first observations with a low-resolution test camera were carried out in October 2024, setting up the first images using the main camera, to be unveiled in June.

    Big questions

    The observatory is designed to tackle some of astronomy’s biggest questions. For instance, by measuring how galaxies cluster and move, the Rubin Observatory will help scientists investigate the nature of dark energy, the mysterious force driving the accelerating expansion of the Universe.

    As a primary goal, it will map the large-scale structure of the Universe and investigate dark matter, the invisible form of matter that makes up 27% of the cosmos. Dark matter acts as the “scaffolding” of the universe, a web-like structure that provides a framework for the formation of galaxies.

    The observatory is named after the US astronomer Dr Vera Rubin, whose groundbreaking work uncovered the first strong evidence for dark matter – the very phenomenon this telescope will explore in unprecedented detail.

    As a woman in a male-dominated field, Rubin overcame numerous obstacles and remained a tireless advocate for equality in science. She died in 2016 at the age of 88, and her name on this observatory is a tribute not only to her science, but to her perseverance and her legacy of inclusion.

    Closer to home, Rubin will help find and track millions of asteroids and other objects that come near Earth – helping warn astronomers of any potential collisions. The observatory will also monitor stars that change in brightness, which can reveal planets orbiting them.

    And it will capture rare and fleeting cosmic events, such as the collision of very dense objects called neutron stars, which release sudden bursts of light and ripples in space known as gravitational waves.

    What makes this observatory particularly exciting is not just what we expect it to find, but what we can’t yet imagine. Many astronomical breakthroughs have come from chance: strange flashes in the night sky and puzzling movements of objects. Rubin’s massive, continuous data stream could reveal entirely new classes of objects or unknown physical processes.

    The observatory is equipped with the world’s largest digital camera.
    RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/DOE/NSF/AURA

    But capturing this “movie of the universe” depends on something we often take for granted: dark skies. One of the growing challenges facing astronomers is light pollution from satellite mega-constellations – a group of many satellites working together.

    These satellites reflect sunlight and can leave bright streaks across telescope images, potentially interfering with the very discoveries Rubin is designed to make. While software can detect and remove some of these trails, doing so adds complexity, cost and can degrade the data.

    Fortunately, solutions are already being explored. Rubin Observatory staff are developing simulation tools to predict and reduce satellite interference. They are also working with satellite operators to dim or reposition spacecraft. These efforts are essential – not just for Rubin, but for the future of space science more broadly.

    Rubin is a collaboration between the US National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, with global partners contributing to data processing and scientific analysis. Importantly, much of the data will be publicly available, offering researchers, students and citizen scientists around the world the chance to make discoveries of their own.

    The “first-look” event, which will unveil the first images from the observatory, will be livestreamed in English and Spanish, and celebrations are planned at venues around the world.

    For astronomers, this is a once-in-a-generation moment – a project that will transform our view of the universe, spark public imagination and generate scientific insights for decades to come.

    Noelia Noël 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. A new observatory is assembling the most complete time-lapse record of the night sky ever – https://theconversation.com/a-new-observatory-is-assembling-the-most-complete-time-lapse-record-of-the-night-sky-ever-258231

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Video: President Lagarde presents the latest monetary policy decisions – 5 June 2025

    Source: European Central Bank (video statements)

    Today our Governing Council decided on monetary policy, determining what’s needed to return inflation to our 2% goal in a timely manner.

    Listen to President Christine Lagarde present today’s decisions. The statement also covers:
    • how the economy is performing
    • how we expect pri¬ces to develop
    • the risks to the economic outlook
    • the dynamics behind financial and monetary conditions

    Our monetary policy statement at a glance, 5 June 2025 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/press_conference/visual-mps/2025/html/mopo_statement_explained_june.en.html

    Christine Lagarde, Luis de Guindos: Monetary policy statement, 5 June 2025 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/press_conference/monetary-policy-statement/2025/html/ecb.is250605~f00a36ef2b.en.html

    Monetary policy decisions, 5 June 2025 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.mp250605~3b5f67d007.en.html

    Combined monetary policy decisions and statement, 5 June 2025 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/press_conference/monetary-policy-statement/shared/pdf/ecb.ds250605~dc79b630e3.en.pdf?1ae87c3b33214537469188411c6fec52

    Macroeconomic projections, 5 June 2025 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/projections/html/ecb.projections202506_eurosystemstaff~16a68fbaf4.en.html

    European Central Bank
    https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html

    Published and recorded during our press conference on 5 June 2025

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9VdQfDRbA

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Wolverhampton Council first to use contactless technology for taxi and private hire driver licence checks

    Source: City of Wolverhampton

    Contactless technology has been introduced into driver’s ID cards, meaning passengers can view a digital version of their driver’s private hire or taxi driver licence simply by tapping the card with a Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled smartphone.

    This will provide reassurance about the driver’s identity and confirm to passengers whether their private hire or taxi licence is current and valid.

    Details of all taxi and private hire driver licences are held on the council’s driver database. The database is checked and revised every day, meaning information sent to the passenger will be accurate and up to date.

    Existing identity cards, used by taxi and private hire drivers across the country, are susceptible to being copied and used fraudulently which can pose a risk to passengers.

    But the new contactless ID cards, which will be used by the council’s licensed private hire and black cab drivers, contain a range of security features which make them extremely difficult to fake.

    These features include a hologram, optically variable inks and guilloche patterns, similar to those seen on banknotes and passports, as well as a number of other forensic features.  

    Most importantly, the technology they contain will enable passengers, police and other councils to verify the identity of the driver as well as their licence status.

    Many modern smartphones support NFC technology. It is most commonly used in contactless payments, to make secure transactions, exchange digital content, and to connect electronic devices. But this is believed to be the first time the contactless technology is being used to digitally verify a driver’s licence status.

    The new contactless ID cards have already been issued to around 15,000 drivers licensed by the council and have been tapped more than 40,000 times. Those renewing their licences over the next 3 years will receive their new ID cards in the post.

    Passengers are encouraged to tap their driver’s ID card, positioned in the front windscreen on the passenger’s side of the vehicle. The card can be tapped through the glass, before customers get in.

    Instant results will be available on the passenger’s smartphone. If the licence status shows as invalid, they are advised not to get in the vehicle and report the driver to the council.

    If passengers are unable to use the NFC function, they can check the driver against the council’s online registers at Online Licence Registers. 

    The cards have been developed in partnership with UK based firm Euclid, which specialises in contactless cards and ID cards. The company works with governments around the world on national identity and passport schemes.

    Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, cabinet member for resident services at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “Once again, Wolverhampton is leading the way by using cutting edge technology in taxi and private hire licensing.

    “We have worked with our supplier, Euclid, to create cards that use ingenious technology to improve the public’s trust in their drivers. This technology makes checking your driver’s licence and identity far simpler than calling the council and the security features in the card also make it much harder for potential fraudsters.

    “Not only do the new cards offer extra reassurance, they are also more environmentally friendly and prevent the need for tens of thousands of plastic licences to be printed every year.”

    Geoff Neal, managing director of Euclid Ltd, said: “Euclid has been delighted to offer their expertise in support of City of Wolverhampton Council on this exciting opportunity, bringing innovative enhancements to their Taxi Licensing service, especially in regard to improving safety for passengers, by giving them confidence that their driver is both genuine and licensed.” 

    If passengers have any concerns about their driver, they are encouraged to contact the council by calling 01902 55 TAXI (8294) or completing our webform at Taxi Complaints – Report a taxi driver.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: The Lord Provost McManus Citizenship Award 2025

    Source: Scotland – City of Dundee

    Dundee S6 pupils who have proved to be truly community-spirited though their efforts at home and school have been recognised at a special ceremony.   

    The annual presentation of the Lord Provost McManus Citizenship Award was made in the City Chambers.   

    The scheme is designed to encourage and celebrate young people’s hard work and contribution to their school and the wider community. It was named after Maurice McManus who served as Lord Provost of Dundee between 1960 and 1968.  

    Current Lord Provost Bill Campbell hosted the ceremony attended by nominated pupils, along with their families and school staff.  

    The winner of the Lord Provost McManus Citizenship award is Alyssa Tait from Cragie High School. 

    Alyssa is a dedicated volunteer, supporting various initiatives including the school of sport first year classes throughout the academic year. She has earned her Sport Leader Award and has also contributed to primary and breakfast sports clubs. 

    Beyond school, Alyssa volunteers at Douglas Community Centre as part of the East Youth Team, supporting range of groups including Positive Minds, P7 Drop In, Healthy Transitions and an S1 Health and Wellbeing girls’ group. 

    Second place was awarded to Mia McKell from Morgan Academy. Mia has been instrumental in organising events to raise money from charity. This year she organised a Macmillan coffee morning which raised over £1,500. Through the Career Ready Programme, Mia has been giving her time to volunteer as a sports coach four days a week.  

    Third place went to Eva Day from Harris Academy. Through her work on the Children, Families and Communities Committee Eva advocates for all young people in the city. Within school Eva is a Prefect, House Captain, leads the pupil voice initiative and has taken lead in pupil voice and launched the school’s journey towards achieving their Silver Rights Respecting School Award. 

    Lord Provost Bill Campbell said: “It was a pleasure to gather to celebrate the outstanding individuals who have shown their impressive commitment to the spirit of citizenship and have made a significant contribution to their school and their community.  

    “All of the nominees would, no doubt, be first to say that the support they get from their parents/carers and staff within their schools has given them the opportunity to participate in the activities which have led them here today.  

    “Our city is well known for having a strong sense of community and we are lucky to have many people who look out for one another. All of today’s nominees have followed in these proud footsteps.”  

    “Dundee thrives because of the efforts of its citizens—those who volunteer, support their neighbours and those in their community, and work tirelessly to create a more inclusive society.” 

    Full list of finalists: Cole Anderson-McGuiness, Baldragon Academy, Eva Dey, Harris Academy, Mia McKell, Morgan Academy, Elsie Mills, Harris Academy, Nabeeha Saber, St John’s RC High School, Casey Stewart, Braeview Academy, Alyssa Tait, Craigie High School. 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE, law enforcement partners arrest 15 gang members, seize 16 firearms

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    BATON ROUGE, La. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in collaboration with local, state and federal partners and the Violent Gun Reduction and Interdiction Program, arrested 15 gang members and seized 16 firearms and $44,000 in cash as part of the efforts to make local communities safer.

    “Our communities are safer today because of Homeland Security Investigations and law enforcement partners working together to stop crime on our streets,” said ICE HSI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Eric DeLaune.

    The VGRIP is a multiagency, multijurisdictional approach to target violent gangs in East Baton Rouge Parish through the use of targeted enforcement operations focused on violent gangs and neighborhoods.

    Partnering agencies in the program include the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Agency, East Baton Rough Parish Sheriff’s Office, Baton Rouge Police Department, Louisiana State Police, Louisiana Probation and Parole, Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, Louisiana National Guard Air Support and the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office.

    The VGRIP will be working the entire summer of 2025 in the Baton Rouge Capitol Area, working to make local communities safer.

    Members of the public with information about related crimes are encouraged to contact the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or submit information online via the ICE Tip Form.

    For more information about ICE HSI New Orleans and its efforts to enhance public safety in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, follow us on X at @HSINewOrleans.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Marine Economy Satellite Account, 2023

    Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis

    The Marine Economy Satellite Account statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show the marine economy accounted for $511.0 billion, or 1.8 percent, of current-dollar U.S. gross domestic product in 2023, an increase from $482.4 billion in 2022 (tables 2 and 3). The marine economy accounted for $826.6 billion, or 1.7 percent, of current-dollar gross output in 2023 (table 8).

    Real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) for the marine economy increased 2.9 percent from 2022 to 2023 (table 1), compared with a 2.9 percent increase for the overall U.S. economy. Marine economy compensation increased 9.4 percent, or $19.1 billion, and employment increased 4.5 percent, or 111,000 full- and part-time employees.

    Today’s release also reflects updated statistics for 2014–2022. Gross output, value added, employment, and compensation were updated to include the results of the 2023 comprehensive update and the 2024 annual update of the National Economic Accounts, which includes the Industry Economic Accounts. The updated statistics reflect newly available and revised source data.

    Marine economy by activity

    To estimate the marine economy by activity, this satellite account reorganizes industry value added (or GDP) and gross output statistics and presents the data in a framework that reflects marine-related activities. Marine economy activities fall into the following 10 general categories:

    1. Living resources, marine
    2. Construction, coastal and marine
    3. Research and education, marine
    4. Transportation and warehousing, marine
    5. Professional and technical services, marine
    6. Minerals, offshore
    7. Utilities, coastal
    8. Ship and boat building, nonrecreational
    9. Tourism and recreation, coastal and offshore
    10. National defense and public administration

    Marine economy real gross output—principally a measure of the marine economy’s inflation-adjusted sales or receipts, which includes sales to final users in the economy (GDP) and sales to other industries (intermediate inputs)—increased 3.5 percent, or $22.7 billion, in 2023 (tables 7 and 9). Marine economy activity highlights for 2023 include the following:

    • Tourism and recreation, coastal and offshore increased $8.6 billion, or 4.0 percent, to a level of $225.1 billion, making it the largest contributor to the growth in 2023 marine economy real gross output.
    • Minerals, offshore increased $6.8 billion, or 9.6 percent, to $77.2 billion, making it the second-largest contributor to the overall growth.
    • Living resources, marine increased $1.7 billion, or 5.1 percent, to $34.4 billion.
    • Ship and boat building, nonrecreational decreased $68 million, or 0.3 percent, to $19.5 billion, making it the largest offset to the overall growth in 2023 marine economy real gross output.

    Marine economy by industry

    Industry statistics show the contributions of industries to the marine economy, including their impact on value added (or GDP by industry), gross output, employment, and compensation.

    Marine economy industry highlights for 2023 include the following:

    • Government, as a share of marine economy current-dollar value added, was the largest industry group and accounted for 32.6 percent, or $166.4 billion (table 6), and was the largest industry group for compensation ($101.3 billion) and for employment (about 793,000 full- and part-time jobs).
    • Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing was the second-largest industry group as a share of the marine economy and accounted for 12.7 percent, or $64.7 billion, of current-dollar value added.
    • Transportation and warehousing accounted for 10.7 percent, or $54.7 billion, of marine economy value added.
    • Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services accounted for 10.3 percent, or $52.6 billion, of value added and was the second-largest industry group for employment (about 652,000 full- and part-time jobs) in 2023, with the second-largest level of compensation ($26.8 billion).

    The Marine Economy Satellite Account Estimation Methods

    The Marine Economy Satellite Account (MESA) measures the economic activity associated with the marine economy, identifies the industries responsible for producing these goods and services, and measures the output, value added, compensation, and employment associated with that production. Like other BEA satellite accounts, the MESA was built on BEA’s comprehensive supply and use framework. The supply and use tables (SUTs) provide a detailed look at the relationships among industries and how each industry contributes to GDP. In practice, the MESA is a rearrangement of the published SUTs with new estimation methods that isolate marine-related spending and production. A variety of private and public data sources were used to identify marine-related spending and production to develop the MESA estimates.

    An important feature of the MESA is the presentation of estimates of gross output and value added by marine economic activity, in addition to the standard presentation of estimates by industry. This allows for the marine economy to be better analyzed in areas where significant economic activity occurs across a variety of industries.

    The geographic scope of the MESA includes the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans within the Exclusive Economic Zone (approximately 200 nautical miles off the U.S. coast) as well as marginal seas, such as the Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Long Island Sound, San Francisco Bay, and others. Also included is the U.S. shoreline directly along these bodies of water. Furthermore, the Great Lakes are included up to the international boundary with Canada.

    For additional information on the marine economy statistics as well as the data sources and methodology that underlie their preparation, refer to “Defining and Measuring the U.S. Ocean Economy.”

    The Marine Economy Satellite Account was produced in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

    Data Availability

    The complete set of detailed annual statistics for 2014–2023 are available on BEA’s website. Statistics include data on marine economy gross output and value added presented by both industry and activity as well as employment and compensation presented by industry.

    For Marine Economy Satellite Account definitions and more, visit “Additional Information.”

    Next release: Spring 2026
    Marine Economy Satellite Account, 2024

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: “AI 2.0 Has Arrived”: James Altucher Warns of Major U.S. AI Shift from Inside Musk’s New Supercomputer Facility

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    BALTIMORE, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a newly released briefing, tech entrepreneur and bestselling author James Altucher reveals details of an advanced artificial intelligence project quietly developed by Elon Musk — with the backing of the U.S. government.

    According to Altucher’s report, the U.S. has entered what he calls a “second wave” of artificial intelligence — and at the center of it is Project Colossus, a secretive facility operated by Musk’s xAI out of Memphis, Tennessee.

    Unlike anything the public has seen before, Project Colossus is designed to scale beyond current AI tools and into a new phase Altucher refers to as Artificial Superintelligence — or AI 2.0.

    A Quiet Presidential Push

    Altucher points to a key moment that set everything in motion: the repeal of Biden-era regulations on AI development.

    “In one of his FIRST acts as President… Donald Trump overturned Executive Order #14110.”

    The executive reversal, Altucher says, cleared the path for Musk to accelerate his most ambitious project yet.

    Inside Project Colossus

    Altucher claims Musk’s supercomputer is already live, housed in a discreet facility loaded with more than 200,000 high-performance AI chips.

    “Right here, inside this warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee… lies a massive supercomputer Musk calls ‘Project Colossus.’”

    He also reports that further upgrades are coming within weeks — including the addition of next-generation hardware that could dramatically increase Colossus’ capabilities.

    From Chatbots to Conscious Machines?

    According to Altucher, most people are still thinking in terms of consumer-facing AI — like ChatGPT. But this next generation, he says, is something entirely different.

    “AI 2.0… gives that knowledge to intelligent machines that I believe will solve our problems for us.”

    He warns that a major upgrade could be revealed as early as July 1, marking what he calls a “breakthrough moment” for American AI leadership.

    About James Altucher

    James Altucher is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and bestselling author. He previously helped develop IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer and built early AI-based trading systems on Wall Street. His latest work explores the rapid emergence of Artificial Superintelligence and its implications for national strategy and technological control.

    Media Contact:
    Derek Warren
    Public Relations Manager
    Paradigm Press Group
    Email: dwarren@paradigmpressgroup.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: BTCC Exchange Enhances Demo Trading Feature with Self-Service Virtual Funding and Reward System to Support Crypto Beginners

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available in this link.

    VILNIUS, Lithuania, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BTCC, a leading cryptocurrency trading platform with 14 years of secure operations, has launched significant upgrades to its demo trading feature designed to better serve cryptocurrency beginners. The enhanced upgrade now allows users to independently top up their virtual funds while earning real rewards through completing various demo trading tasks.

    The upgraded demo trading feature introduces two key improvements that reflect BTCC’s commitment to making cryptocurrency trading more accessible. Users can now top up virtual funds by themselves, accessing up to 500,000 USDT per week without requiring approvals. This self-service feature allows traders to instantly access more funds, giving new users more opportunities to practice trading.

    Additionally, users can now complete demo trading tasks to earn trading fund rewards, which can be used to open positions in live trading. This innovative approach bridges the gap between demo and real trading, helping beginners transition more confidently while reducing their initial trading costs.

    “We recognized that learning crypto trading requires extensive practice, and while our previous 100,000 USDT virtual balance was already generous compared to other exchanges, we wanted to go further,” said Alex, Head of Operations at BTCC Exchange. “By allowing users to self-manage their virtual funds and earn real trading rewards, we’re empowering beginners to gain the comprehensive experience they need to succeed in live trading.”

    Dan Liu, CEO of BTCC, reinforced the platform’s commitment to user education: “At BTCC, we believe that true crypto adoption begins with understanding. This upgraded demo trading feature lowers the barrier to entry and gives new users the freedom to explore, learn, and grow—at their own pace, without pressure.”

    To celebrate the feature upgrade, BTCC is hosting a special Trade Your First Win demo trading competition on its official X account, featuring prizes including Amazon Gift Cards and additional bonuses.

    This upgrade reinforces BTCC’s mission to make crypto trading reliable and accessible to everyone. Since its establishment in 2011, BTCC has maintained an unmatched security record with zero security breaches over 14 years of operations. The platform continues to support beginners through comprehensive guides, copy trading feature, and extensive educational resources.

    The enhanced demo trading feature is now available to all BTCC users, further solidifying the platform’s position as a beginner-friendly cryptocurrency exchange focused on security, accessibility, and user education.

    About BTCC Exchange

    Founded in 2011, BTCC is one of the world’s longest-serving cryptocurrency exchanges, offering secure and user-friendly trading services to millions of users globally. With a commitment to security, innovation, and community building, BTCC continues to be a trusted platform in the evolving cryptocurrency landscape.

    Website: https://www.btcc.com/en-US

    X: https://x.com/BTCCexchange

    Contact: press@btcc.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Fueling the Future of Finance: Bectran Launches a Mission-Critical AR Command Center

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CHICAGO, June 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bectran, Inc., the connected intelligence platform for end-to-end credit, collections, and AR management, has introduced a new Accounts Receivable (AR) Homepage — designed to meet the demands of modern receivable specialists who need clarity, speed, and control at every turn.

    The new homepage brings real-time visibility, task urgency, and risk signals into a single, centralized view. Built as a command post, it empowers finance professionals with the infrastructure necessary to act quickly, prioritize what matters, and stay ahead of risk.

    “We didn’t set out to redesign a screen — we set out to make accounts receivable more deliberate,” said Ali Kidwai, Bectran’s Head of Product & Engineering. “This homepage turns data into direction. It cuts the clutter, flags the risks, and sharpens focus on the tasks that matter most — helping every user operate with the urgency and precision today’s AR demands.”

    An Interface Designed for Action

    In today’s environment, the cost of disjointed systems and delayed action compounds quickly. Teams are often forced to work across various interfaces, pulling reports from one place, resolving disputes in another, and managing follow-ups through separate tools. As a result, critical insights are missed, handoffs are delayed, and the urgency of collections and approvals becomes overwhelming to manage at scale.

    To address these operational blind spots, Bectran has consolidated key receivable workflows into a single command center, providing clarity to both the state of the portfolio and the actions it demands. The AR Homepage presents two primary views: a live dashboard of portfolio activity, and a task feed organized by urgency. Performance signals — collections, claims, payments, order holds — are displayed alongside time-sensitive actions such as account reviews, failed payments, and pending approvals.

    By combining operational metrics with task-level visibility, teams gain immediate context without switching views or piecing together information from disparate systems. Each element is structured to reduce manual legwork in the decision-making process — whether releasing a hold, resolving a dispute, or identifying risk in the portfolio.

    “Rather than building another tool, we created a data-driven workspace that helps AR teams act faster and smarter,” said Louis Ifeguni, CEO of Bectran. “It streamlines decision-making without sacrificing control.”

    About Bectran 

    Bectran is the creator of Intelligent CreditOps — an enterprise-grade solution that modernizes the core of credit, collections, and receivables. While most finance tools are fragmented or retrofitted, Bectran offers a unified foundation purpose-built to automate routine and deeply analytical processes, connect real-time data, and scale credit operations with confidence.

    Trusted by finance teams at every stage of growth — from mid-market leaders to Fortune 100 enterprises — Bectran replaces manual, error-prone processes with intelligent, adaptable workflows across the order-to-cash cycle, giving companies the clarity, control, and confidence to drive growth without increasing risk.

    Contact

    Adam Coyner
    Marketing Specialist
    Bectran Inc
    (888) 791-6620
    PR@Bectran.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Samsung Launches Color E-Paper, Delivering High-Impact, Energy-Efficient Digital Signage for Businesses

    Source: Samsung

    Samsung Electronics today announced the global launch of its 32-inch Color E-Paper (EM32DX model), expanding its portfolio of energy-efficient digital signage solutions. Featuring advanced digital ink technology, this latest model delivers ultra-low power consumption, high visibility and a lightweight design, offering businesses a sustainable and flexible display alternative.
    “Samsung is committed to pushing the boundaries of display innovation with solutions that enhance engagement while reducing energy consumption,” said Hoon Chung, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s Color E-Paper empowers businesses with a highly efficient, customizable signage solution that combines sustainability and performance.”

    Energy-Efficient Digital Signage with Vivid Color
    With a fully charged integrated battery, users have the ability to install and use Color E-Paper freely without being connected to a power source. During content updates, the display still uses significantly less energy than LCD digital signage, which helps reduce operational costs.
    Equipped with QHD (2,560 x 1,440) resolution, Color E-Paper leverages Samsung’s advanced color imaging algorithm to optimize color accuracy and readability. This optimization softens the edges of the image while creating smoother and more vibrant colors for an eye-catching display resembling traditional paper posters and retail promotional stands. For businesses, Color E-Paper enables a seamless transition from printed materials to enhanced digital displays.

    “Businesses today are seeking versatile solutions to engage customers in effective ways while being mindful of their own energy use and impact,” said David Phelps, Head of Display Division, Samsung Electronics America. “With the launch of our new 32-inch Color E-Paper display, we’re helping organizations deliver dynamic, captivating content with an innovative alternative to printed materials—one that supports both their business objectives and sustainability goals.”
    Slim, Lightweight and Easy to Deploy
    Weighing only 5.5 lbs3 and measuring 17.9mm thick, the display allows for versatile placement on walls and from ceilings using the hanging accessories that come with it4. The display’s even bezels (13.9mm) on all sides of the display provide high usability in both landscape and portrait modes, while its Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) mount compatibility further expands installation options and enhances convenience for businesses.

    With two USB-C ports, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity, and 8GB of onboard storage, the display offers seamless integration for businesses to manage their content with ease.
    Smart Content Management for Businesses
    Available on Android and iOS mobile devices,5 the dedicated Samsung E-Paper app allows users easy control to create content, schedule display times and set up content on Color E-Paper devices locally. Additionally, the Samsung VXT6 platform provides intuitive remote control and content management, allowing users to schedule content, adjust settings and manage multiple displays effortlessly.
    For enterprises, Samsung VXT supports real-time monitoring7 and centralized device management as well, streamlining content deployment across multiple locations. Powered by Samsung Tizen 8.0, businesses can integrate the display seamlessly into existing systems via Tizen Enterprise APIs.

    Additionally, as part of Samsung’s broader commitment to sustainability, the Color E-Paper is made with recycled materials8 and comes in paper-based packaging, reflecting the brand’s efforts to reduce environmental impact.
    For more information about Samsung Color E-Paper, please visit www.samsung.com/business.

    MIL OSI Economics –