Category: Law

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Overseas officials conclude HK trip

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    A delegation of 10 overseas government officials today completed their three-day visit to Hong Kong, having met senior officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and toured the city’s major cultural and innovation and technology facilities to deepen their understanding of the city’s advantages and development opportunities.

    The visit was arranged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which invited officials from 10 countries across Africa and Asia. These countries comprise Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Mauritania, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Tunisia.

    During the trip, the delegation met Acting Financial Secretary Michael Wong, Deputy Chief Secretary Cheuk Wing-hing and Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan to obtain a better understanding of Hong Kong’s distinctive advantage of enjoying the strong support of the motherland while being closely connected to the world under the “one country, two systems” principle.

    The delegation learnt of Hong Kong’s important roles as a “super connector” and a “super value-adder”, serving as a bridge between the Mainland and the rest of the world.

    They also met Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui, Under Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Bernard Chan and Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology & Industry Lillian Cheong as well as representatives of a number of relevant institutions.

    Additionally, they toured the Science Park and West Kowloon Cultural District to find out about the city’s latest developments and opportunities in finance, trade, innovation and technology, and arts and culture.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Social Justice Secretary: “Scrap damaging welfare reforms”

    Source: Scottish Government

    Call for UK Government to follow Scottish Government lead on social security.

    Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has urged the UK Government to protect and enhance social security rather than making cuts.

    The UK Government’s Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill has been published today, which includes the details of the first set of changes to ill-health and disability benefits. The Scottish Government will not mirror the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) changes in Adult Disability Payment in Scotland.

    Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said:

    “The UK Government’s proposed reforms will be hugely damaging to those who rely on social security support, particularly during the ongoing cost of living crisis. These plans have yet to be passed at Westminster, so there is still time for the UK Government to step back from this damaging policy and I strongly urge them to scrap their harmful proposals.

    “The UK Government’s own analysis highlights how the proposals will push 250,000 more people across the UK into poverty – including 50,000 children. With around half of all children in poverty in Scotland living in a household with a disabled person, the changes threaten to undermine the progress that we are making to reduce child poverty, and the work of the UK Government’s Child Poverty Taskforce.

    “That the UK Government is prioritising deep cuts to disabled people’s support is made even worse by their failure to abolish the two-child limit, which is estimated to have pushed more than 35,000 children into poverty since July last year.

    “The reforms do not reflect the Scottish Government’s values. We will not let disabled people down or cast them aside as the UK Government has done. We will not cut Scotland’s Adult Disability Payment.

    “The UK Government should follow our lead and protect the social security safety system, rather than dismantling it. If they do not, then disabled people can draw no other conclusion than the UK Government remain content to balance the books on the backs of the most vulnerable.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: MOU signed with Homes England to help deliver city centre vision

    Source: City of Plymouth

    Plymouth’s ambitions to provide thousands of homes in the city centre have taken a step closer with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Homes England.

    Neil Hook, Director – Homes England South and London
    Tracey Lee, Chief Executive – Plymouth City Council
    Council Leader Tudor Evans – Plymouth City Council
    Eamonn Boylan, Interim CEO – Homes England

    Council leader Tudor Evans and Homes England CEO Eamonn Boylan signed the partnership document which is the next step in strengthening the working relationship between the two organisations.

    A new strategic partnership will accelerate the delivery of high-quality homes in Plymouth, supporting a transformational regeneration of the city centre and surrounding areas. These homes will play a key role in unlocking the economic potential of recent dockyard investments and help create a vibrant city where people can live, work, eat, shop, and socialise.

    This initiative aligns with the UK Government’s Strategic Defence Review, which identifies defence as a new engine for national growth. The Continuous At Sea Deterrent programme represents a generational investment in national security—and Plymouth is set to benefit directly.

    “Plymouth is at the forefront of a new era of economic opportunity,” said Tudor Evans. “By investing in affordable, high-quality housing, we’re not only supporting our defence capabilities but also creating a thriving, inclusive city for future generations.”

    The provision of affordable homes is central to retaining local talent, attracting new families, and ensuring that all communities benefit from this once-in-a-generation opportunity.

    Our city centre currently has around 800 homes in it. The top 20 English cities have an average of 8,000 homes, and regeneration over the last 20 years in Newcastle, Manchester, Salford, Sheffield and Leeds has shown that more housing in city centres plays a key part in rejuvenating them.

    City centres need to be more than shops, they need to be about culture, leisure, events and festivals, and places to live. There are also 8,000 people on the housing list and while the city centre was built for retail after the war, now is the time to bring people to live in the city centre again.

    The proposal is for a shared delivery plan to work together over five years to deliver a strategy for a series of transformative investments, acquisitions and developments which are rooted in the Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan.

    Interventions are designed to act a catalyst and market-making investments, that will allow the public sector to create the right conditions and confidence for the private sector to invest and deliver the wider regeneration of the city centre.

    Councillor Evans added: “We have been working with Homes England on our vision for the city centre and this is another important step along the road to making a vision a reality.

    “With change of this scale in the pipeline, we need to set out and confirm common goals, get clarity of what we are working towards and be clear about how we are going to bring others along on the journey.”

    Eamonn Boylan, Chief Executive of Homes England, said: “Our new Memorandum of Understanding with Plymouth City Council is an important step in strengthening our commitment to the area.

    “We’ll work side-by-side with the council to help achieve their vision for the city centre and support them to deliver 10,000 new homes for the people of Plymouth.”

    Extensive work is underway to develop shared ambitions with the agreed shared outcomes. They are:

    • Pioneering Urban Regeneration: Redefining the city centre as a dynamic hub of activity, focusing on homes and culture and diversification.
    • Delivering Nationally Significant Urban Regeneration: The city centre is nationally significant as a post war response to planning and urban design. Options will be considered to unlock a nationally significant urban extension in the heart of the city centre and look at how models can be pioneered that can be replicated elsewhere
    • Fostering Sustainable Development: The partners will consider ways to create a model of urban development that minimises environmental impact while maximising community benefits.
    • Empowering Local Businesses and Unlocking Private Investment: By strategically deploying government funding and leveraging private sector expertise, the vision is for a city centre that encourages market-led private sector investment and development. This includes working with landowners, leaseholders and occupiers to identify opportunities for joint investment.
    • Championing Social Justice via the Growth Alliance Plymouth (GAP) Through targeted initiatives and inclusive policies, there is potential to improve access to quality housing, education, healthcare, and employment opportunities.
    • Catalysing Private Sector-Led Development: Strategically deploying government funding and leveraging private sector expertise to encourage market led private sector investment and development.
    • Linking delivery to future planning policy: Homes England will work with the Council, Department for Transport, and MHCLG to shape a masterplan for Plymouth that delivers sustainable growth across all housing types and tenures. This will require an ambitious planning framework and a supply chain capable of delivering high quality homes and a population that can afford to live and work in Plymouth. The GAP work will continue to focus on skills, training and education that underpin these broader themes.
    • Embedding long term delivery goals into ways of working. The GAP programme will be the framework from which resourcing, delivery outcomes and ambition are embedded into the Council.

    This ambitious work programme will be overseen by a Strategic Investment and Regeneration Board attended by senior representatives from the Council and Homes England.

    The Council has embarked on a number of transformational projects designed to inject life, new uses and new visitors into the city centre. As well as the transforming the public realm of Old Town Street and New George Street, Armada Way, other projects in the pipeline include the former Civic Centre which is destined to be a city centre campus with a focus on blue/green skills as well as homes. 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI Security: Four Leaders Of Notorious Nuestra Familia Prison Gang Sentenced For Racketeering Conspiracy

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

    Sentencings Conclude the Northern District of California’s Successful Prosecution of 40 Members and Associates of the Violent Prison Gang

    OAKLAND – Four top leaders of the Nuestra Familia (NF) prison gang were sentenced today to federal prison terms ranging from 120 months to 175 months following their convictions at trial for racketeering conspiracy. David Cervantes, aka “DC,” was sentenced to 120 months; James Perez, aka “Conejo,” was sentenced to 120 months; Guillermo Solorio, aka “Capone,” aka “Caps,” was sentenced to 175 months; and George Franco, aka “Puppet,” was sentenced to 175 months. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers handed down the sentences.

    The sentences follow a three-month trial in 2024, which established that the four defendants—Cervantes, 76; Perez, 70; Solorio, 45; and Franco, 59—were senior members of the NF prison gang, serving on the General Council, the primary decision-making body for the gang. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, all four defendants held a leadership role in a lucrative and violent criminal enterprise that engaged in murder conspiracies, attempted murder, drug distribution, and money laundering:

    • Cervantes was one of three “Generals” who sat atop the NF organizational structure, specifically the “General Advocates Office,” and made final decisions on serious matters involving governance of the enterprise. As the sole member of the General Advocates Office, Cervantes oversaw member discipline, a role that included deciding when members should be attacked or killed for violating gang rules.
    • Perez was another General of the prison gang, specifically, the “General of Prisons.” In this role, Perez was responsible for maintaining authority over all NF regiments and NF criminal activity within the California prison system.
    • Franco was a member of the NF’s “Inner Council” and was Regimental Commander of San Joaquin County. As a member of the Inner Council, Franco was an advisor to the three NF Generals (two of whom were Cervantes and Perez) and was part of the General Council that, in addition to member discipline, made other significant decisions in conducting the affairs of the NF.
    • Solorio was likewise part of the NF “Inner Council” and was an advisor to the NF Generals.  Solorio also was the Regimental Commander over the Monterey County Street Regiment, overseeing criminal activity, including largescale drug trafficking, by subservient Norteno street gangs.

    “The brutal violence and drug trafficking that this criminal enterprise ran from within state prisons touched every county in the Bay Area. With these sentences, 40 gang leaders and associates have now been convicted and brought to justice for the violence they caused inside and outside prison walls, and the community is now safer as a result,” said United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian. “These convictions would not have been possible without the dedicated work of our law enforcement partners across multiple agencies and jurisdictions and the talented lawyers and staff from within our office.”

    “The sentencing of these four top Nuestra Familia gang leaders marks the final chapter in the successful dismantling of one of the most violent and entrenched prison gangs operating in California. Through sustained, coordinated efforts with our law enforcement partners, we have brought to justice 40 members and associates of this dangerous gang who spread violence and fear inside prison walls and outside throughout our communities,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani. “This case demonstrates the FBI’s unwavering commitment to rooting out organized criminal enterprises and protecting the public from those who use intimidation and brutality to maintain power.”

    The sentencings of these four defendants mark the successful completion of the prosecution of NF leadership in the Northern District of California. Forty Nuestra Familia members and associates, including defendants both on the streets and in California state prisons, have now been convicted and sentenced. This includes all seven members of the NF’s General Council, its entire senior leadership team, as detailed in the table below:

    Defendant

    Convictions

    Sentence Imposed

    David Cervantes aka “DC” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for three attempted murders and two murder conspiracies

    120 months

    James Perez aka “Conejo” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for two attempted murders and two murder conspiracies

    120 months

    Antonio Guillen aka “Chuco” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for two murder conspiracies and one attempted murder

    175 months

    George Franco aka “Puppet” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for one attempted murder and one murder conspiracy

    175 months

    Guillermo Solorio aka “Capone” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with a special finding for attempted murder

    175 months

    Trinidad Martinez aka “Trino” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for one attempted murder

    144 months

    Samuel Luna aka “Sammy” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for four murder conspiracies and one attempted murder

    175 months

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mari Overbeck, Leif Dautch, and Aseem Padukone of the Violent Crime Strike Force prosecuted this case, with the assistance of Veronica Hernandez and Kevin Costello. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI (San Francisco, Sacramento, and Phoenix Divisions, and Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit), the DEA, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshal Service, with the assistance of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, and the San Jose Police Department, and with support from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, Antioch Police Department, Campbell Police Department, Fremont Police Department, King’s County Sheriff’s Office, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Mountain View Police Department, Sacramento Police Department, Salinas Police Department, Menlo Park Police Department, Santa Clara County Parole Department, Santa Clara County Probation Department, Santa Clara Police Department, Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, Modesto Police Department, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, San Francisco Police Department, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, and Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.

    This investigation and prosecution was part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Four Leaders Of Notorious Nuestra Familia Prison Gang Sentenced For Racketeering Conspiracy

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

    Sentencings Conclude the Northern District of California’s Successful Prosecution of 40 Members and Associates of the Violent Prison Gang

    OAKLAND – Four top leaders of the Nuestra Familia (NF) prison gang were sentenced today to federal prison terms ranging from 120 months to 175 months following their convictions at trial for racketeering conspiracy. David Cervantes, aka “DC,” was sentenced to 120 months; James Perez, aka “Conejo,” was sentenced to 120 months; Guillermo Solorio, aka “Capone,” aka “Caps,” was sentenced to 175 months; and George Franco, aka “Puppet,” was sentenced to 175 months. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers handed down the sentences.

    The sentences follow a three-month trial in 2024, which established that the four defendants—Cervantes, 76; Perez, 70; Solorio, 45; and Franco, 59—were senior members of the NF prison gang, serving on the General Council, the primary decision-making body for the gang. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, all four defendants held a leadership role in a lucrative and violent criminal enterprise that engaged in murder conspiracies, attempted murder, drug distribution, and money laundering:

    • Cervantes was one of three “Generals” who sat atop the NF organizational structure, specifically the “General Advocates Office,” and made final decisions on serious matters involving governance of the enterprise. As the sole member of the General Advocates Office, Cervantes oversaw member discipline, a role that included deciding when members should be attacked or killed for violating gang rules.
    • Perez was another General of the prison gang, specifically, the “General of Prisons.” In this role, Perez was responsible for maintaining authority over all NF regiments and NF criminal activity within the California prison system.
    • Franco was a member of the NF’s “Inner Council” and was Regimental Commander of San Joaquin County. As a member of the Inner Council, Franco was an advisor to the three NF Generals (two of whom were Cervantes and Perez) and was part of the General Council that, in addition to member discipline, made other significant decisions in conducting the affairs of the NF.
    • Solorio was likewise part of the NF “Inner Council” and was an advisor to the NF Generals.  Solorio also was the Regimental Commander over the Monterey County Street Regiment, overseeing criminal activity, including largescale drug trafficking, by subservient Norteno street gangs.

    “The brutal violence and drug trafficking that this criminal enterprise ran from within state prisons touched every county in the Bay Area. With these sentences, 40 gang leaders and associates have now been convicted and brought to justice for the violence they caused inside and outside prison walls, and the community is now safer as a result,” said United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian. “These convictions would not have been possible without the dedicated work of our law enforcement partners across multiple agencies and jurisdictions and the talented lawyers and staff from within our office.”

    “The sentencing of these four top Nuestra Familia gang leaders marks the final chapter in the successful dismantling of one of the most violent and entrenched prison gangs operating in California. Through sustained, coordinated efforts with our law enforcement partners, we have brought to justice 40 members and associates of this dangerous gang who spread violence and fear inside prison walls and outside throughout our communities,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani. “This case demonstrates the FBI’s unwavering commitment to rooting out organized criminal enterprises and protecting the public from those who use intimidation and brutality to maintain power.”

    The sentencings of these four defendants mark the successful completion of the prosecution of NF leadership in the Northern District of California. Forty Nuestra Familia members and associates, including defendants both on the streets and in California state prisons, have now been convicted and sentenced. This includes all seven members of the NF’s General Council, its entire senior leadership team, as detailed in the table below:

    Defendant

    Convictions

    Sentence Imposed

    David Cervantes aka “DC” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for three attempted murders and two murder conspiracies

    120 months

    James Perez aka “Conejo” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for two attempted murders and two murder conspiracies

    120 months

    Antonio Guillen aka “Chuco” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for two murder conspiracies and one attempted murder

    175 months

    George Franco aka “Puppet” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for one attempted murder and one murder conspiracy

    175 months

    Guillermo Solorio aka “Capone” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with a special finding for attempted murder

    175 months

    Trinidad Martinez aka “Trino” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for one attempted murder

    144 months

    Samuel Luna aka “Sammy” 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) – Racketeering conspiracy, with special findings for four murder conspiracies and one attempted murder

    175 months

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mari Overbeck, Leif Dautch, and Aseem Padukone of the Violent Crime Strike Force prosecuted this case, with the assistance of Veronica Hernandez and Kevin Costello. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI (San Francisco, Sacramento, and Phoenix Divisions, and Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit), the DEA, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshal Service, with the assistance of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, and the San Jose Police Department, and with support from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, Antioch Police Department, Campbell Police Department, Fremont Police Department, King’s County Sheriff’s Office, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Mountain View Police Department, Sacramento Police Department, Salinas Police Department, Menlo Park Police Department, Santa Clara County Parole Department, Santa Clara County Probation Department, Santa Clara Police Department, Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, Modesto Police Department, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, San Francisco Police Department, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, and Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.

    This investigation and prosecution was part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Member Of Marion Gardens Jersey City Street Gang Sentenced to Two Consecutive Life Sentences for Murders and Drug Trafficking

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

    NEWARK, N.J. – Today, Myron Williams, a/k/a “Money,” a/k/a “Tunchi,” 31, of Newark was sentenced before the Honorable Michael E. Farbiarz to life imprisonment for racketeering conspiracy, life imprisonment for murder in aid of racketeering, 240 months’ imprisonment for possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and 120 months’ imprisonment for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, with all sentences to run consecutively.

    Williams’s co-defendant Khalil Kelley, a/k/a “Billski,” 26, of Jersey City, was previously sentenced on June 5, 2025, to life imprisonment, plus a consecutive ten-year term of imprisonment for racketeering conspiracy, for his role in the Marion Gardens street gang and a gang-related murder.

    Also today, Jawaad Davis, 23, of Jersey City, was sentenced to 170 months’ imprisonment for his role in the Marion Gardens street gang, which included orchestrating a robbery that resulted in murder.

    Eight other individuals are pending sentencing.  Roger Pickett, a/k/a “Zy G,” 24, of Jersey City was convicted at trial along with Williams and Kelley.  The remaining defendants—Herbert Thomas, 49, of Jersey City; Andre Alomar, a/k/a “Dre8,” 24, of Newark; Naim Richardson, a/k/a “Ninicks,” 32, of Jersey City; Anthony Rogers, a/k/a “MG,” 25, of Jersey City; Quaseame Wilson, a/k/a “Qua Gz,” 28, of Jersey City; Javon Williams, a/k/a “J45,” 28, of Jersey City; and Keith Anderson, a/k/a “Beef3,” 23, of Jersey City—all pled guilty before trial.  Each defendant will be sentenced before Judge Farbiarz in Newark as follows:

    Anthony Rogers, a/k/a “MG” June 26, 2025, at 3:00 p.m.
    Quaseame Wilson, a/k/a “Qua Gz” July 1, 2025, at 11:30 a.m.
    Andre Alomar, a/k/a “Dre8” July 1, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.
    Roger Pickett, a/k/a “Zy G” July 2, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.
    Keith Anderson, a/k/a “Beef3” July 2, 2025, at 11:30 a.m.
    Javon Williams, a/k/a “J45” July 2, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.
    Naim Richardson, a/k/a “Ninicks” July 16, 2025, at 11:00 a.m.
    Herbert Thomas October 1, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.

    According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

    Myron Williams, Khalil Kelley, Roger Pickett, Jawaad Davis, Anthony Rogers, Quaseame Wilson, Andre Alomar, Keith Anderson, Javon Williams, and Naim Richardson are all members and associates of the neighborhood street gang associated with the Marion Gardens Housing Complex. Since 2013, they and their fellow gang members have committed numerous acts of violence, including three separate murders, on March 29, 2021, Nov. 20, 2021, and Nov. 1, 2022.

    On March 29, 2021, Kelley and other gang members lured a rival gang member outside by sending him Instagram messages pretending to be the victim’s fellow gang member. When the victim opened the door to his residence, Kelley and another gang member brandished firearms, and the victim was shot multiple times in the chest, killing him. Pickett and Myron Williams then picked up Kelley and other gang members after they abandoned the murder vehicle in Newark.

    On Nov. 20, 2021, Myron Williams, Pickett, and Richardson lured a rival gang member outside by sending him Instagram messages pretending to be the second victim’s fellow gang member. Williams and another gang member shot the victim when he opened the door to his residence.

    On Nov. 1, 2022, Davis facilitated the murder of the third victim by coordinating a narcotics transaction with the victim and the victim’s associate. When the victim and his associate arrived at the Marion Gardens Housing Complex to complete the narcotics transaction, they were robbed of their narcotics supply. During the robbery, Pickett and Wilson held the victim and his associate at gunpoint. After a struggle ensued, Pickett shot and killed the victim while his associate fled. Pickett then fled the Marion Gardens Housing Complex with Wilson.

    For months, investigators observed and documented hundreds of narcotics transactions in and around the Marion Gardens Housing Complex.  The investigation likewise revealed that Herbert Thomas was a primary supplier of narcotics to the Marion Gardens street gang.

    When each defendant was arrested on March 17, 2023, law enforcement seized contraband at several different locations, including heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine, narcotics packaging materials, ammunition, bulletproof vests, and a loaded handgun.

    U.S. Attorney Habba credited investigators of the Gang Intelligence Unit and the Homicide Unit of the Major Case Division of Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Esther Suarez, and special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge L.C. Cheeks Jr., and investigators of the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Director James Shea, with the investigation leading to the convictions. He also thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy, and the U.S. Marshals, under the direction of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos, for their assistance.

    This investigation was conducted as part of the Jersey City Violent Crime Initiative (VCI). The VCI was formed in 2018 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Jersey City Police Department, for the sole purpose of combatting violent crime in and around Jersey City. As part of this partnership, federal, state, county, and city agencies collaborate to strategize and prioritize the prosecution of violent offenders who endanger the safety of the community. The VCI is composed of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the ATF, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New Jersey Division, the U.S. Marshals, the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), the Jersey City Police Department, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, New Jersey State Parole, the Hudson County Jail, and the New Jersey State Police Regional Operations and Intelligence Center/Real Time Crime Center.

    The government is represented by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Maloy and Javon Henry, of the Organized Crime and Gangs Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Newark.

                                                                           ###

    Defense counsel:

    Myron Williams – William Strazza, Esq.
    Jawaad Davis – Jason Orlando, Esq. and Tyler Newman, Esq.

    Khalil Kelley – Kevin Buchan, Esq. and James Seplowitz, Esq.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Member Of Marion Gardens Jersey City Street Gang Sentenced to Two Consecutive Life Sentences for Murders and Drug Trafficking

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

    NEWARK, N.J. – Today, Myron Williams, a/k/a “Money,” a/k/a “Tunchi,” 31, of Newark was sentenced before the Honorable Michael E. Farbiarz to life imprisonment for racketeering conspiracy, life imprisonment for murder in aid of racketeering, 240 months’ imprisonment for possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and 120 months’ imprisonment for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, with all sentences to run consecutively.

    Williams’s co-defendant Khalil Kelley, a/k/a “Billski,” 26, of Jersey City, was previously sentenced on June 5, 2025, to life imprisonment, plus a consecutive ten-year term of imprisonment for racketeering conspiracy, for his role in the Marion Gardens street gang and a gang-related murder.

    Also today, Jawaad Davis, 23, of Jersey City, was sentenced to 170 months’ imprisonment for his role in the Marion Gardens street gang, which included orchestrating a robbery that resulted in murder.

    Eight other individuals are pending sentencing.  Roger Pickett, a/k/a “Zy G,” 24, of Jersey City was convicted at trial along with Williams and Kelley.  The remaining defendants—Herbert Thomas, 49, of Jersey City; Andre Alomar, a/k/a “Dre8,” 24, of Newark; Naim Richardson, a/k/a “Ninicks,” 32, of Jersey City; Anthony Rogers, a/k/a “MG,” 25, of Jersey City; Quaseame Wilson, a/k/a “Qua Gz,” 28, of Jersey City; Javon Williams, a/k/a “J45,” 28, of Jersey City; and Keith Anderson, a/k/a “Beef3,” 23, of Jersey City—all pled guilty before trial.  Each defendant will be sentenced before Judge Farbiarz in Newark as follows:

    Anthony Rogers, a/k/a “MG” June 26, 2025, at 3:00 p.m.
    Quaseame Wilson, a/k/a “Qua Gz” July 1, 2025, at 11:30 a.m.
    Andre Alomar, a/k/a “Dre8” July 1, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.
    Roger Pickett, a/k/a “Zy G” July 2, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.
    Keith Anderson, a/k/a “Beef3” July 2, 2025, at 11:30 a.m.
    Javon Williams, a/k/a “J45” July 2, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.
    Naim Richardson, a/k/a “Ninicks” July 16, 2025, at 11:00 a.m.
    Herbert Thomas October 1, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.

    According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

    Myron Williams, Khalil Kelley, Roger Pickett, Jawaad Davis, Anthony Rogers, Quaseame Wilson, Andre Alomar, Keith Anderson, Javon Williams, and Naim Richardson are all members and associates of the neighborhood street gang associated with the Marion Gardens Housing Complex. Since 2013, they and their fellow gang members have committed numerous acts of violence, including three separate murders, on March 29, 2021, Nov. 20, 2021, and Nov. 1, 2022.

    On March 29, 2021, Kelley and other gang members lured a rival gang member outside by sending him Instagram messages pretending to be the victim’s fellow gang member. When the victim opened the door to his residence, Kelley and another gang member brandished firearms, and the victim was shot multiple times in the chest, killing him. Pickett and Myron Williams then picked up Kelley and other gang members after they abandoned the murder vehicle in Newark.

    On Nov. 20, 2021, Myron Williams, Pickett, and Richardson lured a rival gang member outside by sending him Instagram messages pretending to be the second victim’s fellow gang member. Williams and another gang member shot the victim when he opened the door to his residence.

    On Nov. 1, 2022, Davis facilitated the murder of the third victim by coordinating a narcotics transaction with the victim and the victim’s associate. When the victim and his associate arrived at the Marion Gardens Housing Complex to complete the narcotics transaction, they were robbed of their narcotics supply. During the robbery, Pickett and Wilson held the victim and his associate at gunpoint. After a struggle ensued, Pickett shot and killed the victim while his associate fled. Pickett then fled the Marion Gardens Housing Complex with Wilson.

    For months, investigators observed and documented hundreds of narcotics transactions in and around the Marion Gardens Housing Complex.  The investigation likewise revealed that Herbert Thomas was a primary supplier of narcotics to the Marion Gardens street gang.

    When each defendant was arrested on March 17, 2023, law enforcement seized contraband at several different locations, including heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine, narcotics packaging materials, ammunition, bulletproof vests, and a loaded handgun.

    U.S. Attorney Habba credited investigators of the Gang Intelligence Unit and the Homicide Unit of the Major Case Division of Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Esther Suarez, and special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge L.C. Cheeks Jr., and investigators of the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Director James Shea, with the investigation leading to the convictions. He also thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy, and the U.S. Marshals, under the direction of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos, for their assistance.

    This investigation was conducted as part of the Jersey City Violent Crime Initiative (VCI). The VCI was formed in 2018 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Jersey City Police Department, for the sole purpose of combatting violent crime in and around Jersey City. As part of this partnership, federal, state, county, and city agencies collaborate to strategize and prioritize the prosecution of violent offenders who endanger the safety of the community. The VCI is composed of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the ATF, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New Jersey Division, the U.S. Marshals, the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), the Jersey City Police Department, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, New Jersey State Parole, the Hudson County Jail, and the New Jersey State Police Regional Operations and Intelligence Center/Real Time Crime Center.

    The government is represented by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Maloy and Javon Henry, of the Organized Crime and Gangs Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Newark.

                                                                           ###

    Defense counsel:

    Myron Williams – William Strazza, Esq.
    Jawaad Davis – Jason Orlando, Esq. and Tyler Newman, Esq.

    Khalil Kelley – Kevin Buchan, Esq. and James Seplowitz, Esq.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Global: Ticks carry decades of history in each troublesome bite

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sean Lawrence, Assistant Professor of History, West Virginia University

    The black-legged tick, or deer tick, _Ixodes scapularis_, can transmit Lyme disease and other health hazards. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

    When you think about ticks, you might picture nightmarish little parasites, stalking you on weekend hikes or afternoons in the park.

    Your fear is well-founded. Tick-borne diseases are the most prevalent vector-borne diseases – those transmitted by living organisms – in the United States. Each tick feeds on multiple animals throughout its life, absorbing viruses and bacteria along the way and passing them on with its next bite. Some of those viruses and bacteria are harmful to humans, causing diseases that can be debilitating and sometimes lethal without treatment, such as Lyme, babesiosis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

    But contained in every bite of this infuriating, insatiable pest is also a trove of social, environmental and epidemiological history.

    In many cases, human actions long ago are the reason ticks carry these diseases so widely today. And that’s what makes ticks fascinating for environmental historians like me.

    Ticks can be tiny and hard to spot. This is an adult and nymph Ixodes scapularis on an adult’s index finger.
    CDC

    Changing forests fueled tick risks

    During the 18th and 19th centuries, settlers cleared more than half the forested land across the northeastern U.S., cutting down forests for timber and to make way for farms, towns and mining operations. With large-scale land clearing came a sharp decline in wildlife of all kinds. Predators such as bears and wolves were driven out, as were deer.

    As farming moved westward, Northeasterners began to recognize the ecological and economic value of trees, and they returned millions of acres to forest.

    The woods regrew. Plant-eaters such as deer returned, but the apex predators that once kept their populations in check did not.

    As a result, deer populations carrying borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, grew rapidly. And with the deer came deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis). When a tick feeds on an infected deer, it can take up the bacteria. The tick isn’t harmed, but it can pass the bacteria to its next victim. In humans, Lyme disease can cause fever and fatigue, and if left untreated it can affect the nervous system.

    The eastern U.S. became a global hot spot for tick-borne Lyme disease starting around the 1970s. Lyme disease affected over 89,000 Americans in 2023, and possibly many more.

    Californians move into tick territory

    For centuries, changing patterns of human settlements and the politics of land use have shaped the role of ticks and tick-borne illnesses within their environments.

    In short, humans have made it easier for ticks to thrive and spread disease in our midst.

    In California, the Northern Inner Coast and Santa Cruz mountain ranges that converge on San Francisco from the north and south were never clear-cut, and predators such as mountain lions and coyotes still exist there. But competition for housing has pushed human settlement deeper into wildland areas to the north, south and east of the city, reshaping tick ecology there.

    A range map for the western black-legged tick.
    National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

    While western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) tend to swarm in large forest preserves, the Lyme-causing bacterium is actually more prevalent in small, isolated patches of greenery. In these isolated patches, rodents and other tick hosts can thrive, safe from large predators, which need more habitat to move freely. But isolation and lower diversity also means infections are spread more easily within the tick’s host populations.

    People tend to build isolated houses in the hills, rather than large, connected developments. As the Silicon Valley area south of San Francisco sprawls outward, this checkerboard pattern of settlement has fragmented the natural landscape, creating a hard-to-manage public health threat.

    Fewer hosts, more tightly packed, often means more infected hosts, proportionally, and thus more dangerous ticks.

    A tick’s mouth is barbed so it can hold on as it draws blood over hours.
    National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

    Six counties across these ranges, all surrounding and including San Francisco, account for 44% of recorded tick-borne illnesses in California.

    A lesson from Texas cattle ranches

    Domesticated livestock have also shaped the disease threat posed by ticks.

    In 1892, at a meeting of cattle ranchers at the Stock Raiser’s Convention in Austin, Texas, Dr. B.A. Rogers introduced a novel theory that ticks were behind recent devastating plagues of Texas cattle fever. The disease had arrived with cattle imported from the West Indies and Mexico in the 1600s, and it was taking huge tolls on cattle herds. But how the disease spread to new victims had been a mystery.

    A 1905 illustration of Rhipicephalus annulatus, a hard tick that causes cattle fever.
    Nathan Banks, A treatise on the Acarina, or mites. Proceedings of the United States National Museum

    Editors of Daniel’s Texas Medical Journal found the idea of ticks spreading disease laughable and lampooned the hypothesis, publishing a satire of what they described as an “early copy” of a forthcoming report on the subject.

    The tick’s “fluid secretion, it is believed, is the poison which causes the fever … [and the tick] having been known to chew tobacco, as all other Texans do, the secretion is most probably tobacco juice,” they wrote.

    Fortunately for the ranchers, not to mention the cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture sided with Rogers. Its cattle fever tick program, started in 1906, curbed cattle fever outbreaks by limiting where and when cattle should cross tick-dense areas.

    Engorged ticks feed on a calf’s ear.
    Alan R Walker, CC BY-NC-SA

    By 1938, the government had established a quarantine zone that extended 580 miles by 10 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas Brush Country, a region favored by the cattle tick.

    This innovative use of natural space as a public health tool helped to functionally eradicate cattle fever from 14 Southern states by 1943.

    Ticks are products of their environment

    When it comes to tick-borne diseases the world over, location matters.

    Take the hunter tick (Hyalomma spp.) of the Mediterranean and Asia. As a juvenile, or nymph, these ticks feed on small forest animals such as mice, hares and voles, but as an adult they prefer domesticated livestock.

    For centuries, this tick was an occasional nuisance to nomadic shepherds of the Middle East. But in the 1850s, the Ottoman Empire passed laws to force nomadic tribes to become settled farmers instead. Unclaimed lands, especially on the forested edges of the steppe, were offered to settlers, creating ideal conditions for hunter ticks.

    As a result, farmers in what today is Turkey saw spikes in tick-borne diseases, including a virus that causes Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a potentially fatal condition.

    Where to check for ticks and how to remove them.

    It’s probably too much to ask for sympathy for any ticks you meet this summer. They are bloodsucking parasites, after all.

    Still, it’s worth remembering that the tick’s malevolence isn’t its own fault. Ticks are products of their environment, and humans have played many roles in turning them into the harmful parasites that seek us out today.

    Sean Lawrence has nothing to disclose.

    ref. Ticks carry decades of history in each troublesome bite – https://theconversation.com/ticks-carry-decades-of-history-in-each-troublesome-bite-257110

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ECHR “must evolve” to restore public confidence in rule of law, says Lord Chancellor

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Press release

    ECHR “must evolve” to restore public confidence in rule of law, says Lord Chancellor

    The European Convention of Human Rights “must evolve” to restore public confidence in the rule of law, the Lord Chancellor told European ambassadors in a speech today (Wednesday 18 June).

    Speaking to the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg, the Lord Chancellor said that while the UK is resolutely committed to the ECHR, the trust of the public is beginning to erode as the application of rights “feels out of step with common sense.”   

    Making her argument for reform, she said that “the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law – once widely assumed – now face distortion, doubt, even hostility.”   

    Speaking at the meeting, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, said:   

    Across Europe, public confidence in the rule of law is fraying.  

    There is a growing perception – sometimes mistaken, sometimes grounded in reality – that human rights are no longer a shield for the vulnerable, but a tool for criminals to avoid responsibility. That the law too often protects those who break the rules, rather than those who follow them.  

    This tension is not new. The Convention was written to protect individuals from the arbitrary power of the state. But in today’s world, the threats to justice and liberty are more complex. They can come from technology, transnational crime, uncontrolled migration, or legal systems that drift away from public consent.

    This comes as the Government commits to legislation to clarify the law around Article 8, the right to private and family life, which many foreign offenders have exploited in order to avoid deportation. In her speech, the Lord Chancellor said that “if a foreign national commits a serious crime, they should expect to be removed from the country.”  

    While this Government has ramped up removals of foreign national offenders with more than 4,400 removed since the election – up 14% compared to the same period 12 months ago – further action is being taken forward to increase removals even further.

    The Lord Chancellor went on to highlight the changes being made in the UK to tackle immigration – including tightening the application of Article 8 to give courts the clarity they need so our immigration rules are no longer abused. This is particularly important as the Government introduces sentencing reforms to tackle a prison system at breaking point.   

    The Lord Chancellor set out that:  

    In the UK, we are restoring the balance we pledged at the birth of our Convention: liberty with responsibility, individual rights with the public interest. There must be consequences for breaking the rules.  

    Which is why we are clarifying how Convention rights – particularly Article 8 – operate in relation to immigration rules. The right to family life is fundamental. But it has too often been used in ways that frustrate deportation, even where there are serious concerns about credibility, fairness, and risk to the public.  

    We’re bringing clarity back to the distinction between what the law protects and what policy permits. Prisoners claiming a right to socialise – under Article 8 – is not just a legal stretch. It damages the public perception of human rights altogether.

    Legislation brought forward by the Home Office will strengthen the public interest test to make it clear that Parliament needs to be able to control the country’s borders and make decisions over who comes to, and stays in the UK, striking the right balance between individual family rights and the wider public interest.  

    It will clarify Article 8 rules and set out how they should apply in different immigration routes so that fewer cases are treated as “exceptional”.    

    She went on to say that:  

    These are the reforms we are pursuing at home. The question for all of us now is whether the Convention system, as it stands, has the tools to resolve these tensions in a way that keeps the public with us. 

    As I have said, our Convention has evolved before, through new protocols, new rights, and new interpretations. Always to reflect changing times, while staying true to its purpose. 

    However, reform of the ECHR must be “a shared political endeavour among us as member States”, the Lord Chancellor told the Council of Europe.

    The Lord Chancellor concluded by saying:  

    The European Convention on Human Rights is one of the great achievements of post-war politics. It has endured because it has evolved. Now, it must do so again. 

    NOTES TO EDITORS: 

    • The full speech can be found here.

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI Global: Southeast Asian nations look to hedge their way out of troubled waters in the South China Sea

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By John Rennie Short, Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

    A Philippine coast guard vessel patrols near Pagasa, part of the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea. Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images

    The South China Sea has long been a bubbling geopolitical hot spot. Recently, a series of moves by the various nations claiming a stake in the waters has stirred up yet more trouble.

    Malaysia has of late reaffirmed its commitment to oil and gas exploration in waters claimed by China while quietly building up its military on the islands off Borneo.

    Meanwhile, Chinese coast guard vessels have deployed water cannons against Filipino fishing boats. And the accidental grounding of a Chinese boat in shallow waters around the Philippines’ Thitu Island on June 8, 2025, was enough to put Filipino forces on alert.

    Vietnam, too, has been active in the disputed waters. A Beijing-based think tank on June 7 flagged that Vietnamese engineers had been busy reclaiming land and installing military-related ports and airstrips around the Spratly Islands.

    What the three Southeast Asian nations of Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia have in common is that they, along with others in the region, are trying to navigate a more assertive China at a time when the U.S. policy intentions under the second Trump Administration are fluid and hard to read. And in lieu of a coordinated response from the regional body Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, each member nation has been busy charting its course in these choppy waters.

    US-China relations all at sea

    Why is China trying to assert control in the South China Sea? In a 2023 speech, President Xi Jinping noted that “Western countries led by the United States have implemented all round containment, encirclement and suppression of China.”

    This fear has been long held in Beijing and was reinforced by a U.S. Indo-Pacific policy announced in 2011 of rebalancing military forces away from Europe and toward Asia to confront China.

    In response, China has in recent years embarked on an ambitious policy of attempting to outmuscle U.S. naval power in the South China Sea.

    China is now the world’s leading builder of naval vessels and is estimated to have 440 battleships by 2030, compared with the United States’ 300.

    And it comes at a time when U.S. naval power is spread around the world. China’s, meanwhile, is concentrated around the South China Sea where, since 2013, Chinese vessels have pumped sand onto reefs, turning them into islands and then weaponizing them.

    Satellite imagery shows the Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea, part of the Spratly Islands group, being built by Chinese dredges.
    Maxar via Getty Images

    Then there is the activity of China’s maritime militia of approximately 300 nominally fishing boats equipped with water cannons and reinforced hulls for ramming. This so-called gray zone fleet is increasingly active in confronting Southeast Asia nations at sea.

    The U.S. response to China’s militarization in the sea has been through so-called “freedom of navigation” exercises that often deploy carrier groups in a show of force. But these episodic displays are more performative than effective, doing little to deter China’s claims.

    The U.S. has also strengthened military alliances with Australia, India, Japan and the Philippines, and has increased coast guard cooperation with the Philippines and Japan.

    A fleet from the U.S. Navy patrolling the Pacific Ocean.
    Sean M. Castellano US Navy via Getty Images

    The sea is a valuable resource

    Yet the battle over control of the South China Seas is more than just geopolitical posturing between the two superpowers.

    For adjoining countries, the sea is a valuable biological resource with rich fishing grounds that provide a staple of fish protein for close to 2 billion people. There are estimates of 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil.

    The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, guarantees a nation an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles from around its coastline.

    China is a signatory of the UNCLOS. Yet it views ownership of the South China Sea through the lens of its nine-dash line, a reference to the boundary line that Beijing has invoked since 1948. While the claim has no legal or historical basis, the delineation makes major incursions into waters around Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, Brunei and Indonesia as well.

    Despite China’s expansive claim to the South China Sea being dismissed in 2016 by the international Permanent Court of Arbitration, Beijing continues to assert its claim.

    Hedging positions

    As I explore in my recent book “Hedging and Conflict in the South China Sea,” part of the problem Southeast Asian nations face is that they have failed to forge a unified position.

    ASEAN, the regional bloc representing 10 nations in Southeast Asia, has long been governed by the principle that major decisions need unanimous agreement. China is a major trading partner to ASEAN nations, so any regional country aligning too close to the U.S. comes with the real risk of economic consequences. And two ASEAN members, Cambodia and Laos, are especially close to China, making it difficult to generate a unified ASEAN policy that confronts China’s maritime claim.

    Instead, ASEAN has promoted a regional code of conduct that effectively legitimizes China’s maritime claims, fails to mention the 2016 ruling and ignores the issue of conflicting claims.

    Further complicating a united front against China is the competing claims among ASEAN nations themselves to disputed islands in the South China Sea.

    In lieu of a coordinated response, Southeast Asian nations have instead turned to hedging — that is, maintaining good relationships with both China and the U.S. without fully committing to one or other.

    A balancing act for Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines

    Malaysia’s approach sees its government partition off the South China Sea dispute from its overall bilateral ties with China while continuing to promote an ASEAN code of conduct.

    Until recently, Malaysia’s oil and gas activities were well within Malaysia’s EEZ and not far enough out to fall into China’s nine-dash claim.

    But as these close-to-shore fields become exhausted, subsequent exploration will need to extend outward and into China’s nine-dash claim, putting Malaysia’s dealings with China under pressure.

    China’s nine-dash line claims a significant amount of Vietnam’s EEZ, and the contested maritime area is a source of friction between the two countries; China’s maritime militia regularly harasses Vietnamese fishermen and disrupts drilling operations in Vietnam’s EEZ .

    But Vietnam has to tread carefully. China plays a significant role in the Vietnamese economy as a major destination of exports and an important provider of foreign investment. China also has the ability to dam the Mekong River upstream of Vietnam — something that would disrupt agricultural production.

    As a result, Vietnam’s hedging involves a careful calibration to avoid angering China. However, part of Vietnam’s heavy hedging involves the promotion of the South China Sea dispute as a core issue for domestic public opinion, which limits the Vietnamese government’s ability to offer concessions to China.

    A Philippine coast guard ship and fishing boats are seen in El Nido, Palawan, Philippines, on May 26, 2025.
    Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty ImagesDaniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images

    China’s nine-dash claim also includes a wide swath of the Philippines’ EEZ.

    The Philippines has zigzagged in its dealings with China. The presidencies of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001–2010) and Rodrigo Duterte (2016-2022) pursued a pro-China tack that downplayed Filipino claims in the South China Sea. Presidents Benigno Aquino (2010-2016) and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (2022-present), in contrast, have given U.S. forces greater access to its maritime bases and mobilized national and international opinion in favor of its claims.

    Since coming to power, Marcos has also pursued even closer naval ties with the U.S.. But this has come at a cost: China now views the Philippines as a U.S. ally. As such, Beijing sees little to be gained by pulling back from its assertive activity in and around its waters.

    The future

    In the shadow of two major powers battling for power in the South China Sea, Southeast Asian nations are making the best of their position along a geopolitical fracture line by advancing their claims and interests while not overly antagonizing a more assertive China or losing the support of the U.S.

    This may work to tamp down tensions in the South China Sea. But it is a fluid approach not without risk, and it could yet prove to be another source of instability in a geopolitically contested and dangerous region.

    John Rennie Short received funding from Fulbright Foundation

    ref. Southeast Asian nations look to hedge their way out of troubled waters in the South China Sea – https://theconversation.com/southeast-asian-nations-look-to-hedge-their-way-out-of-troubled-waters-in-the-south-china-sea-257092

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Europe: The Sciences Po Summer School has officially begun!

    Source: Universities – Science Po in English

    The Sciences Po Summer School opened its doors for its 14th edition on our Paris campus! This summer, Sciences Po is welcoming over 900 students from around the world, with a session in June and a second session in July.

    The University Programme

       Credits: Annie for the Summer School

    The University Programme began on 2 June with a sunny orientation day. Just over 150 students have joined for the June session. Participants will study an intensive course for 4 weeks, in either social sciences or French as a foreign language. Courses in social sciences are offered by faculty members of Sciences Po, researchers and experts in their respective fields. The topics range from global challenges on inequality, through the course Tackling Inequality and Social Risks: A Global Perspective, diplomacy, with the course Diplomacy in Times of Global Crises: Theory & Practice, digital challenges on politicisation, with the course Internet & Politics, and major international challenges, through the course World Politics.

    42 nationalities are represented in the June cohort, and 35 students are supported by programmes with partner universities, namely the organisation Pour le Brésil, the Mastercard Foundation, and the Professional Certificate for Young Refugees. 

    A Custom Programme

       Credits: Annie for the Summer School

    On 10 June, we welcomed 200 students from ESADE Business and Law School for our annual custom programme. These students, with an average age of 19, will spend 2 weeks on our Paris campus studying public international law and European law, with members of Sciences Po’s faculty and a team of young researchers specialized in these areas. 

    Like each programme held at the Summer School, before embarking on a programme of intensive study, the students were able to enjoy a river cruise on the Seine, under a bright blue and sunny sky!

    Pre-College Programmes

    Finally, the Pre-College Programmes kicked off on 16 June with an online programme centred on the risks and regulations of artificial intelligence and new technologies. This innovative programme has welcomed 14 high school students from 11 countries, with an average age of 16, to explore global questions and the regulatory challenges related to new technologies as well as the corresponding law and policy development processes, both from a practical and theoretical perspective.

    The theoretical teachings within the framework of these programmes are supplemented by simulation sessions which allow students to develop their analytical comprehension of the issues, while also gaining practical negotiation skills.

    MIL OSI Europe News

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: SCST visits Shanghai (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, visited Shanghai today (June 18). In the morning, she went to the Shanghai Museum on People’s Square and was given a guided tour of a well-received exhibition, “On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt”. During her visit, Miss Law met with Deputy Director of the Shanghai Museum Mr Huang He. She thanked the Shanghai Museum for its support of Hong Kong over the years, while Mr Huang shared experiences in developing and designing creative products. Miss Law said Hong Kong could learn a lot from the Shanghai Museum in developing cultural and creative industries. Miss Law expressed hope that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) and the Shanghai Museum will strengthen their cultural co-operation in the future, contributing cultural content to the country’s modernisation and promoting cultural prosperity.
     
         After that, Miss Law called on the Director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, Mr Xu Bin, and had a working lunch together, during which she shared with him Hong Kong’s progress and achievements in promoting sports development. Mr Xu said there is huge room for developing culture, sports and tourism, while sports exchanges serve as a bridge between the two places and can also boost economic and social developments. Miss Law said that Hong Kong, China athletes achieved excellent results in international competitions in recent years, which helps lift citizens’ interests in sports and support for athletes. Miss Law added that Hong Kong is preparing at full steam for the 15th National Games and the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympic Games to be cohosted with Guangdong and Macao this November and December. Through today’s exchange, Miss Law said she hopes to learn from Shanghai’s experiences in hosting same events and further improve the preparatory work.
     
         In the afternoon, Miss Law visited the Memorial Hall of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China and met with the Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Memorial, Mr Xue Feng. The Memorial is the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in 1921, in which the founding of the CPC was announced, bearing great significance. Noting that the HKSARG is setting up a museum to introduce the country’s developments and achievements and preparing exhibitions related to the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Miss Law said the visit was arranged intentionally to seek guidance, with an aim to make better preparations for the relevant projects in the future.
     
         In the evening, Miss Law attended the opening ceremony and dinner of WestK Shanghai Week 2025. Speaking at the event, she said that Hong Kong and Shanghai are connected by blood and share common traits, as they are both exemplars of the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures and dazzling Pearls of the Orient. The two places actively deepen international exchanges and co-operations in areas of economy, culture and globalisation, serving as pioneers in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
     
         Miss Law also said, “The West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) is an important cultural infrastructure investment of the HKSARG. After many years of development, the WKCD has transformed from a blueprint into reality today and become one of the largest cultural hubs in the world, featuring performing arts venues with our country’s staunch support. The Hong Kong Palace Museum, which opened in 2022, and the M+ museum, which commenced operation in 2021, have become world-class museums blending traditional and contemporary arts and cultures.”
     
         “The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) kick-started WestK Shanghai Week today. It is the first time a series of exhibitions and performing arts programmes and cultural exchange activities have been brought outside Hong Kong. It is not only an important milestone of the HKSARG driving top-notch arts, cultural and creative programmes to go global, but also showcases Hong Kong’s diverse arts achievements and further attracts local and overseas visitors to experience Hong Kong’s vibrancy and appeal firsthand,” Miss Law added.
     
         Supporting organisations of WestK Shanghai Week 2025 include the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the HKSARG, and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Shanghai of the HKSARG.
     
         This morning, Miss Law visited the “WestK x MANNER” limited-edition art collaboration themed store, jointly rolled out by the WKCDA and Shanghai’s beloved coffee brand MANNER COFFEE. The store invited Hong Kong’s renowned illustrator Don Mak to craft exclusive designs inspired by the Victoria Harbour skyline, WKCD panoramas and iconic Hong Kong urban motifs, demonstrating the creative charm of integrating culture, creative industry and tourism.
     
         Upon arrival yesterday (June 17), Miss Law had a working lunch with representatives of the management of Shanghai Shendi Group to exchange information on the latest tourism situation in Shanghai and Hong Kong. She also visited the Shanghai Disney Resort to learn about its operation and development. Miss Law said that the Shanghai Disney Resort and the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort are iconic attractions in the two places, which play vital roles in driving regional tourism and economic development.
     
         Miss Law will depart from Shanghai for Hong Kong tonight.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General James Applauds Passage of Legislation to Protect Consumers and Small Businesses

    Source: US State of New York

    EW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today applauded the passage of legislation to protect consumers and small businesses. The Fostering Affordability and Integrity through Reasonable Business Practices Act, or FAIR Business Practices Act, sponsored by Senator Leroy Comrie and Assemblymember Micah Lasher, and advanced by Attorney General James in March 2025, updates New York’s consumer protection law, GBL §349, for the first time in 45 years. The bill protects New Yorkers from a wide array of common schemes and scams, including artificial intelligence (AI)-based schemes, deed theft, predatory lending, data breaches, and more.

    “Too many New Yorkers are being taken advantage of by mortgage servicers charging unnecessary high fees, debt collectors stealing Social Security benefits, and health insurance companies with unfair billing practices,” said Attorney General James. “The FAIR Business Practices Act will close loopholes that make it easy for New Yorkers to be cheated out of their time and hard-earned money. This legislation advanced by Senator Comrie and Assemblymember Lasher will help us protect working families and their wallets from predatory lenders, abusive debt collectors, scammers, and more. I applaud Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for their support in passing this legislation at a time when the federal government is abandoning its responsibility to protect consumers and small businesses.”

    “For too long, New York’s consumer protection laws have lagged behind the fast-moving tactics used to exploit our communities,” said Senator Leroy Comrie. “By updating General Business Law §349, we are giving consumers and small businesses the tools they need to fight back against predatory practices and modern-day scams. I’m proud to have sponsored the FAIR Business Practices Act alongside Attorney General James and Assemblymember Lasher, and I thank my colleagues for recognizing the urgency of protecting New Yorkers in this evolving digital and economic landscape.” 

    “Since the general business law was enacted in 1970, our entire society has grown dramatically more complicated, and we have seen the complete revolution of commerce,” said Assemblymember Micah Lasher. “In all that time, we have done nothing to modernize our laws to protect New Yorkers from being taken advantage of. That stasis comes to a welcome end with the passage of the FAIR Business Practices Act, a critical step forward to protect New Yorkers, their pocketbooks, and affordability in our great state. I am grateful to Attorney General James and her team for their leadership, and to Senator Comrie for his partnership in passing this long overdue legislation.”

    The FAIR Business Practices Act would help stop lenders, including auto lenders, mortgage servicers, and student loan servicers, from deceptively steering people into higher cost loans. It would reduce unnecessary and hidden fees, stop unfair billing practices by health care companies, and prevent companies from taking advantage of New Yorkers with limited English proficiency. New York’s current consumer protection law, GBL §349, was passed in 1970 and only prohibits deceptive business acts and practices, leaving consumers vulnerable to unfair or abusive acts by companies. The FAIR Business Practices Act will protect New Yorkers from unfair and abusive business acts, such as: 

    • Student loan servicers that steer borrowers into the most expensive repayment plans;
    • Car dealers that refuse to return a customer’s photo ID until a deal is finalized and charge for add-on warranties that the customer did not actually purchase;
    • Nursing homes that routinely sue relatives of deceased residents for their unpaid bills despite not having any basis for liability;
    • Companies that take advantage of consumers with limited English proficiency and obscure pricing information and fees;
    • Debt collectors that collect and refuse to return a senior’s Social Security benefits, even though they are exempt from debt collection; and
    • Health insurance companies that use long lists of in-network doctors who turn out not to accept the insurance. 

    With the federal government rolling back protections for consumers and small businesses, the FAIR Business Practices Act authorizes OAG to take action to protect vulnerable New Yorkers.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI Global: Another public inquiry into institutional abuses – why they so often fail to deliver justice for victims

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Anne Marie McAlinden, Professor, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast

    House of Commons/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

    Public inquiries have become the standard political response to scandals and public crises, including allegations of institutional abuses.

    At the time of writing, there are multiple ongoing inquiries (or calls for them) into forms of abuse throughout the UK and elsewhere. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland have ongoing institutional abuse inquiries or commissions of investigation. Victims of the late Mohamed Al Fayed are calling for an inquiry into abuses suffered while they were employed at Harrods.

    And the government has just announced a further national inquiry into grooming gangs in England and Wales. There has also been a concentration of institutional abuse inquiries globally over the last 30 years.


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    Ireland in particular has had a lengthy history of such official investigations. Over the last two decades, it has had at least eight. In England and Wales, the issues of grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation have already been examined as part of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse led by child protection expert Alexis Jay. With 19 reports and evidence from over 6,000 victims within its Truth Project alone, it was the largest ever public inquiry in the UK.

    Frequently demanded by victims and the public, inquiries have symbolic value in signifying official acknowledgement of wrongdoing and abuses. However, they arguably fail to deliver truth, justice, accountability and healing for victims in several ways.

    The failures of abuse inquiries

    Inquiries are inevitably constrained by their narrow terms of reference. This sets the parameters of the inquiry and shapes the scope and scale of their investigations and any eventual outcomes.

    Terms of reference are frequently focused on how authorities responded to emerging allegations of abuses – whether churches, police or social services. A fuller examination of the systemic and structural issues that made abuses possible or allowed them to go unchecked for so long would be more useful.

    The investigations are also usually focused on fact-finding at an institutional level. As a result, they often fail to deliver the comprehensive truth of specific cases or hold individual perpetrators to account, which is what many victims seek.

    In older cases of abuse, things are even more difficult because so much time has passed and there may be no witnesses or records left to help prove what happened.




    Read more:
    How to make sure the new grooming gangs inquiry is the last


    Previous research shows that the inquiry process is often deeply traumatising for victims. Even if the emphasis is purportedly non-adversarial, the presence of lawyers and the dominance of legal culture and cross-examination effectively requires them to prove or justify their experiences. The basic effect becomes one of disbelief of victims or dismissal of their experiences of abuse.

    Added to this are the significant costs of inquiries – in terms of money and time. The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse is said to have cost more than £180 million. As with many large investigations, it took seven years to produce its final report.

    Inevitably, victims are left waiting years for outcomes and any sense of justice. Monetary redress (or compensation), if it comes at all, only usually happens once the inquiry has concluded.

    Above all, public inquiries are severely limited in their capacity to produce meaningful, systemic and lasting change. Research shows that successive child abuse inquiries, decades apart, continue to make the same or similar recommendations. The lack of action by governments and institutions on recommendations means the issues remain unaddressed.

    Over two and a half years later, many of the Jay report’s 20 recommendations remain unimplemented.

    The collective failures of past abuse inquiries should prompt the government to pause and consider whether another is truly needed – or whether a different approach is required.

    Rethinking public inquiries

    With colleagues at the Transforming Justice Project, I’ve researched justice responses to historical institutional abuses over many years. Our work, based on extensive primary research with victims, as well as advocates and church and state representatives on the island of Ireland, has highlighted some of the failings of inquiries. We have also uncovered an appetite for doing things differently.

    On one level, it is possible to reform inquiries by focusing more centrally on victims and the trauma they have experienced. This could include, for example, adopting themed approaches to inquiries, perhaps related to particular contexts or abuses, which report sooner as standard.

    It might also mean specialist support services for victims running in parallel to inquiries. Or, it might mean involving victims in the design of the inquiry process from the outset.

    It is also worth exploring alternative models of truth recovery, such as non-statutory independent panel in Northern Ireland. This panel focuses specifically on mother and baby institutions, Magdalene laundries, and workhouses. Here, the accumulated testimony of victims and their experiences will feed into the full statutory public inquiry on these forms of institutional abuse.

    More broadly, rather than commissioning yet another inquiry, the government needs to follow up on existing recommendations from previous inquiries, including on child abuse. It is only by addressing the systemic issues underlying institutional abuse – including cultural attitudes and responses to victims – that we will prevent a recurrence of abuse in the longer term.

    Anne Marie McAlinden received funding from the AHRC and, with colleagues on the Transforming Justice Project, from the British Academy and the Higher Education Authority.

    ref. Another public inquiry into institutional abuses – why they so often fail to deliver justice for victims – https://theconversation.com/another-public-inquiry-into-institutional-abuses-why-they-so-often-fail-to-deliver-justice-for-victims-259103

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI Global: Smartphones are once again setting the agenda for justice as the Latino community documents ICE actions

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Allissa V. Richardson, Associate Professor of Journalism, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

    Smartphone witnessing helped spur the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. AP Photo/Ethan Swope

    It has been five years since May 25, 2020, when George Floyd gasped for air beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer at the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. Five years since 17-year-old Darnella Frazier stood outside Cup Foods, raised her phone and bore witness to nine minutes and 29 seconds that would galvanize a global movement against racial injustice.

    Frazier’s video didn’t just show what happened. It insisted the world stop and see.

    Today, that legacy continues in the hands of a different community, facing different threats but wielding the same tools. Across the United States, Latino organizers are raising their phones, not to go viral but to go on record. They livestream Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, film family separations and document protests outside detention centers. Their footage is not merely content. It is evidence, warning – and resistance.

    Here in Los Angeles where I teach journalism, for example, several images have seared themselves into public memory. One viral video shows a shackled father stepping into a white, unmarked van as his daughter sobs behind the camera, pleading with him not to sign any official documents. He turns, gestures for her to calm down, and blows her a kiss. In another video, filmed across town, Los Angeles Police Department officers on horseback charge into crowds of peaceful protesters, swinging wooden batons with chilling precision.

    In Spokane, Washington, residents form a spontaneous human chain around their neighbors mid-raid, their bodies and cameras erecting a barricade of defiance. In San Diego, a video shows white allies yelling “Shame!” as they chase a car full of National Guard troops from their neighborhood.

    The impact of smartphone witnessing has been immediate and unmistakable – visceral at street level, seismic in statehouses. On the ground, the videos helped inspire a “No Kings” movement, which organized protests in all 50 states on June 14, 2025.

    Lawmakers are intensifying their focus on immigration policy as well. As the Trump administration escalates enforcement, Democratic-led states are expanding laws that limit cooperation with federal agents. On June 12, the House Oversight Committee questioned Democratic governors about these measures, with Republican lawmakers citing public safety concerns. The hearing underscored deep divisions between federal and state approaches to immigration enforcement.

    The legacy of Black witnessing

    What’s unfolding now is not new – it is newly visible. As my research shows, Latino organizers are drawing from a playbook that was sharpened in 2020 and rooted in a much older lineage of Black media survival strategies that were forged under extreme oppression.

    In my 2020 book “Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones and the New Protest Journalism,” I document how Black Americans have used media – slave narratives, pamphlets, newspapers, radio and now smartphones – to fight for justice. From Frederick Douglass to Ida B. Wells to Darnella Frazier, Black witnesses have long used journalism as a tool for survival and transformation.

    Latino mobile journalists are building on that blueprint in 2025, filming state power in moments of overreach, archiving injustice in real time, and expanding the impact of this radical tradition.

    Their work also echoes the spatial tactics of Black resistance. Just as enslaved Black people once mapped escape routes during slavery and Jim Crow, Latino communities today are engaging in digital cartography to chart ICE-free zones, mutual aid hubs and sanctuary spaces. The People Over Papers map channels the logic of the Black maroons – communities of self-liberated Africans who escaped plantations to track patrols, share intelligence and build networks of survival. Now, the hideouts are digital. The maps are crowdsourced. The danger remains.

    Likewise, the Stop ICE Raids Alerts Network revives a civil rights-era tactic. In the 1960s, organizers used wide area telephone service lines and radio to circulate safety updates. Black DJs cloaked dispatches in traffic and weather reports – “congestion on the south side” signaled police blockades; “storm warnings” meant violence ahead. Today, the medium is WhatsApp. The signal is encrypted. But the message – protect each other – has not changed.

    Layered across both systems is the DNA of the “Negro Motorist Green Book,” the guide that once helped Black travelers navigate Jim Crow America by identifying safe towns, gas stations and lodging. People Over Papers and Stop ICE Raids are digital descendants of that legacy. Where the Green Book used printed pages, today’s tools use digital pins. But the mission remains: survival through shared knowledge, protection through mapped resistance.

    The People Over Papers map is a crowdsourced collection of reports of ICE activity across the U.S.
    Screenshot by The Conversation U.S.

    Dangerous necessity

    Five years after George Floyd’s death, the power of visual evidence remains undeniable. Black witnessing laid the groundwork. In 2025, that tradition continues through the lens of Latino mobile journalists, who draw clear parallels between their own community’s experiences and those of Black Americans. Their footage exposes powerful echoes: ICE raids and overpolicing, border cages and city jails, a door kicked in at dawn and a knee on a neck.

    Like Black Americans before them, Latino communities are using smartphones to protect, to document and to respond. In cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and El Paso, whispers of “ICE is in the neighborhood” now flash across Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram. For undocumented families, pressing record can mean risking retaliation or arrest. But many keep filming – because what goes unrecorded can be erased.

    What they capture are not isolated incidents. They are part of a broader, shared struggle against state violence. And as long as the cameras keep rolling, the stories keep surfacing – illuminated by the glow of smartphone screens that refuse to look away.

    Allissa V. Richardson receives funding from the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

    ref. Smartphones are once again setting the agenda for justice as the Latino community documents ICE actions – https://theconversation.com/smartphones-are-once-again-setting-the-agenda-for-justice-as-the-latino-community-documents-ice-actions-258980

    MIL OSI – Global Reports

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: DfE Update: 18 June 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Correspondence

    DfE Update: 18 June 2025

    Latest information and actions from the Department for Education about funding, assurance and resource management, for academies, local authorities and further education providers.

    Applies to England

    Documents

    Details

    Latest for further education

    Article Title
    Action College financial data (CFD) service portal now available
    Information 2024 to 2025 year-end forecast funding claim: indicative reconciliation statement(s)
    Information Adult residency eligibility criteria simplification
    Information Free Courses for Jobs construction expansion

    Latest information for academies

    Article Title
    Information Academies chart of accounts 2025 to 2026
    Information DfE Connect is now available to multi-academy trusts
    Events and webinars Q&A drop-in sessions: Academies chart of accounts and automation
    Events and webinars Academies technical update 2025 to 2026
    Events and webinars Academies technical update 2025 to 2026
    Events and webinars Academies technical update 2025 to 2026
    Events and webinars RPA members only: Crime resilience workshop
    Events and webinars DfE Energy for schools: simplified buying of gas and electricity
    Events and webinars The Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) webinar
    Events and webinars Plan technology for your school

    Latest information for local authorities

    Article Title
    Information 2024 to 2025 year-end forecast funding claim: indicative reconciliation statement(s)
    Information Adult residency eligibility criteria simplification
    Information Free Courses for Jobs construction expansion
    Events and webinars RPA members only: Crime resilience workshop
    Events and webinars DfE Energy for schools: simplified buying of gas and electricity
    Events and webinars The Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) webinar
    Events and webinars Plan technology for your school

    Updates to this page

    Published 18 June 2025

    Sign up for emails or print this page

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Shanghai hosts Forum on Legal Support for SCO Economic and Trade Activities

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

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

    BEIJING, June 18 (Xinhua) — The SCO Center for International Legal Training and Cooperation (China), based at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, held the Forum on Legal Support for SCO Economic and Trade Activities from Tuesday to Wednesday.

    The event was held under the theme “Legal Innovations and International Cooperation – Building a New Era of Sustainable Development”. It was attended by more than 100 experts, scientists and industry representatives from international organizations, SCO countries, Chinese and foreign universities, research institutions and business circles.

    The forum focused on creating an effective communication platform for deepening and promoting legal ideas in economic and trade activities, and was also aimed at forming a more open, mutually beneficial and sustainable platform for legal cooperation within the SCO.

    The meeting discussed issues such as preventing legal risks in international investment and infrastructure construction within the Belt and Road Initiative, international trade, financial settlements and dispute resolution within the SCO.

    Ge Weihua, Party Secretary of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said that in the context of growing uncertainty and complexity in economic and trade exchanges, there is an urgent need for more coordinated, higher-level legal support.

    Since the establishment of the SCO/China International Legal Training and Cooperation Center, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law has always been committed to promoting in-depth exchanges and cooperation in the legal, economic and trade fields within the SCO framework. In the future, the university will continue to give full play to the advantages of the center to actively promote regional legal cooperation, he added.

    The forum was organized by the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law and the SCO Center for International Legal Training and Cooperation /China/. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News

  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Honors Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program with National Award

    Source: US FBI

    CLARKSBURG, WV—On Tuesday, June 17, 2025, FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division Assistant Director Timothy A. Ferguson presented the Harrison County (West Virginia) Deputy Reserve Program with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for its service to citizens in West Virginia. The Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program is dedicated to strengthening relationships between law enforcement and the community.

    The FBI established the DCLA in 1990 to publicly acknowledge the achievements of those working to make a difference in their communities through the promotion of education and the prevention of crime and violence.

    “The FBI’s successes are built on our connections with our law enforcement partners and our communities,” said CJIS Division Assistant Director Ferguson. “Having partner organizations such as the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program that engage with the public ensures we are able to maintain public trust and accountability, crush violent crime, and defend the homeland.”

    The Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program is a non-profit organization comprised of volunteers who support law enforcement and the community in a myriad of ways. The organization’s members are trained to assist in missing persons’ searches and traffic incident management. They hold monthly meetings that provide opportunities to connect state, local, and federal law enforcement. They also provide platforms for the FBI’s CJIS Division to reach community members via the CJIS Community Outreach Program’s Child ID Fingerprinting—a service that gives parents and guardians copies of their children’s fingerprints. The family can then turn over the fingerprints and accompanying headshots, which are not stored in any FBI system, to police in the event a child goes missing. Inspired by the FBI CJIS Division’s Citizens Academy, the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program created the Harrison County Citizens Academy to connect with, and better educate, community leaders about aspects of law enforcement and the judicial system. As with the FBI’s citizen academies, these opportunities enable frank discussion to enhance communities.

    Multiple members of the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program attended the award ceremony.

    “I want to extend our sincere gratitude to the FBI for this tremendous honor,” said former Harrison County Sheriff Robert Matheny. “Thank you for your unwavering commitment to strengthening the bond between federal and local law enforcement and thank you recognizing the power of partnership in building safer communities. This award is a testament to what can be accomplished when ordinary citizens step forward to do extraordinary things. The men and women of our Reserve Unit have answered that call time and again, without hesitation and without expectation. We are honored to accept this award, not just as a unit, but as part of the greater law enforcement family—united by purpose, service, and the unwavering belief that communities are worth protecting.”

    “This award was totally unexpected, but I am proud of how our unit has come together to give back to the community and to assist the sheriff’s office and deputies as they fulfill their duties,” said Deputy Sheriff Reserve Michael Lambiotte.

    Learn more about the Director’s Community Leadership Award program, the FBI’s general outreach efforts, and the FBI’s CJIS Division online.

    Photo Courtesy: Federal Bureau of Investigation – CJIS Division Assistant Director Timothy A. Ferguson (far left) and CJIS Division Section Chief Scott E. Schubert (far right) are joined by Harrison County Sheriff Robert Matheny II (center left) and members of the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: FBI Honors Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program with National Award

    Source: US FBI

    CLARKSBURG, WV—On Tuesday, June 17, 2025, FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division Assistant Director Timothy A. Ferguson presented the Harrison County (West Virginia) Deputy Reserve Program with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for its service to citizens in West Virginia. The Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program is dedicated to strengthening relationships between law enforcement and the community.

    The FBI established the DCLA in 1990 to publicly acknowledge the achievements of those working to make a difference in their communities through the promotion of education and the prevention of crime and violence.

    “The FBI’s successes are built on our connections with our law enforcement partners and our communities,” said CJIS Division Assistant Director Ferguson. “Having partner organizations such as the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program that engage with the public ensures we are able to maintain public trust and accountability, crush violent crime, and defend the homeland.”

    The Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program is a non-profit organization comprised of volunteers who support law enforcement and the community in a myriad of ways. The organization’s members are trained to assist in missing persons’ searches and traffic incident management. They hold monthly meetings that provide opportunities to connect state, local, and federal law enforcement. They also provide platforms for the FBI’s CJIS Division to reach community members via the CJIS Community Outreach Program’s Child ID Fingerprinting—a service that gives parents and guardians copies of their children’s fingerprints. The family can then turn over the fingerprints and accompanying headshots, which are not stored in any FBI system, to police in the event a child goes missing. Inspired by the FBI CJIS Division’s Citizens Academy, the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program created the Harrison County Citizens Academy to connect with, and better educate, community leaders about aspects of law enforcement and the judicial system. As with the FBI’s citizen academies, these opportunities enable frank discussion to enhance communities.

    Multiple members of the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program attended the award ceremony.

    “I want to extend our sincere gratitude to the FBI for this tremendous honor,” said former Harrison County Sheriff Robert Matheny. “Thank you for your unwavering commitment to strengthening the bond between federal and local law enforcement and thank you recognizing the power of partnership in building safer communities. This award is a testament to what can be accomplished when ordinary citizens step forward to do extraordinary things. The men and women of our Reserve Unit have answered that call time and again, without hesitation and without expectation. We are honored to accept this award, not just as a unit, but as part of the greater law enforcement family—united by purpose, service, and the unwavering belief that communities are worth protecting.”

    “This award was totally unexpected, but I am proud of how our unit has come together to give back to the community and to assist the sheriff’s office and deputies as they fulfill their duties,” said Deputy Sheriff Reserve Michael Lambiotte.

    Learn more about the Director’s Community Leadership Award program, the FBI’s general outreach efforts, and the FBI’s CJIS Division online.

    Photo Courtesy: Federal Bureau of Investigation – CJIS Division Assistant Director Timothy A. Ferguson (far left) and CJIS Division Section Chief Scott E. Schubert (far right) are joined by Harrison County Sheriff Robert Matheny II (center left) and members of the Harrison County Deputy Reserve Program.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI: Traliant wins prestigious Telly Award for inclusion training, launches 2025 update to reflect latest laws and guidance

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Traliant, a leader in online compliance training, today announced an enhanced version of its Creating Inclusive Workplaces training course – recently honored with a Telly Award for Immersive & Interactive Content. The 2025 update incorporates the latest federal, state and local laws, along with current guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and recent Executive Orders related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

    Traliant’s Creating Inclusive Workplaces explores core concepts that promote inclusive values and behaviors. Rooted in anti-discrimination and inclusive leadership principles, the course is aligned with evolving compliance requirements and best practices. Learners are guided by an AI learning assistant, Mira, through realistic workplace scenarios — such as team meetings, coffee chats and group messages — where inclusion challenges often arise. A newly introduced adaptive learning format provides learners with the opportunity to complete the training in as little as seven minutes, allowing for greater flexibility for today’s fast-paced work environments.

    “Inclusion is key to creating workplaces where people feel respected, engaged and ready to do their best,” said Casey Heck, Senior Vice President of HR at Traliant. “With our new adaptive course format, employees can demonstrate what they know and wrap up training in under seven minutes — making it easier for HR teams to efficiently build inclusive habits without impacting productivity.”

    The Creating Inclusive Workplaces is one of several inclusion-focused training courses refreshed for 2025. Updated in collaboration with in-house legal experts, these courses provide HR and compliance leaders with impactful tools to support inclusion programs through legally sound, timely content that reflect current regulations and evolving workplace expectations, including:

    A recent Traliant study underscores the ongoing need for meaningful inclusion efforts: while most employers and employees view inclusion as vital to retention, innovation, and performance, nearly a third of employees still report feeling excluded or marginalized at work. Traliant’s continuously monitored and maintained training courses help close this gap with engaging, modern solutions that align inclusive values with everyday workplace behavior and decision-making.

    To learn more about Traliant, visit: https://www.traliant.com/.

    About Traliant
    Traliant, a leader in compliance training, is on a mission to help make workplaces better, for everyone. Committed to a customer promise of “compliance you can trust, training you will love,” Traliant delivers continuously compliant online courses, backed by an unparalleled in-house legal team, with engaging, story-based training designed to create truly enjoyable learning experiences.
      
    Traliant supports over 14,000 organizations worldwide with a library of curated essential courses to broaden employee perspectives, achieve compliance and elevate workplace culture, including sexual harassment training, inclusion training, code of conduct training, and many more.  
      
    Backed by PSG, a leading growth equity firm, Traliant holds a coveted position on Inc.’s 5000 fastest-growing private companies in America for four consecutive years, along with numerous awards for its products and workplace culture. For more information, visit http://www.traliant.com and follow us on LinkedIn

    Contact
    Reagan Bennet
    traliant@v2comms.com

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Traliant wins prestigious Telly Award for inclusion training, launches 2025 update to reflect latest laws and guidance

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Traliant, a leader in online compliance training, today announced an enhanced version of its Creating Inclusive Workplaces training course – recently honored with a Telly Award for Immersive & Interactive Content. The 2025 update incorporates the latest federal, state and local laws, along with current guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and recent Executive Orders related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

    Traliant’s Creating Inclusive Workplaces explores core concepts that promote inclusive values and behaviors. Rooted in anti-discrimination and inclusive leadership principles, the course is aligned with evolving compliance requirements and best practices. Learners are guided by an AI learning assistant, Mira, through realistic workplace scenarios — such as team meetings, coffee chats and group messages — where inclusion challenges often arise. A newly introduced adaptive learning format provides learners with the opportunity to complete the training in as little as seven minutes, allowing for greater flexibility for today’s fast-paced work environments.

    “Inclusion is key to creating workplaces where people feel respected, engaged and ready to do their best,” said Casey Heck, Senior Vice President of HR at Traliant. “With our new adaptive course format, employees can demonstrate what they know and wrap up training in under seven minutes — making it easier for HR teams to efficiently build inclusive habits without impacting productivity.”

    The Creating Inclusive Workplaces is one of several inclusion-focused training courses refreshed for 2025. Updated in collaboration with in-house legal experts, these courses provide HR and compliance leaders with impactful tools to support inclusion programs through legally sound, timely content that reflect current regulations and evolving workplace expectations, including:

    A recent Traliant study underscores the ongoing need for meaningful inclusion efforts: while most employers and employees view inclusion as vital to retention, innovation, and performance, nearly a third of employees still report feeling excluded or marginalized at work. Traliant’s continuously monitored and maintained training courses help close this gap with engaging, modern solutions that align inclusive values with everyday workplace behavior and decision-making.

    To learn more about Traliant, visit: https://www.traliant.com/.

    About Traliant
    Traliant, a leader in compliance training, is on a mission to help make workplaces better, for everyone. Committed to a customer promise of “compliance you can trust, training you will love,” Traliant delivers continuously compliant online courses, backed by an unparalleled in-house legal team, with engaging, story-based training designed to create truly enjoyable learning experiences.
      
    Traliant supports over 14,000 organizations worldwide with a library of curated essential courses to broaden employee perspectives, achieve compliance and elevate workplace culture, including sexual harassment training, inclusion training, code of conduct training, and many more.  
      
    Backed by PSG, a leading growth equity firm, Traliant holds a coveted position on Inc.’s 5000 fastest-growing private companies in America for four consecutive years, along with numerous awards for its products and workplace culture. For more information, visit http://www.traliant.com and follow us on LinkedIn

    Contact
    Reagan Bennet
    traliant@v2comms.com

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Govt set to replace water main

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    The Water Supplies Department (WSD) will work around the clock to replace a 400-metre-long steel water main by early July, that was believed to be the source of the bitumen sediments found in the fresh water at Queen’s Hill Estate and Shan Lai Court.

    Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn told legislators today that the Government is highly concerned about the water incident at Queen’s Hill. Upon receiving the incident reports at the end of May, the WSD and the Housing Department (HD) formed a joint working group to probe the incident and formulate remedial measures.

    The WSD has cleaned the water mains under its management and maintenance 11 times, while the HD has cleaned water pipes and water tanks under its purview six times and three times respectively.

    The HD has also installed 22 screen filters at the water inlet of each building and the estates.

    In addition, the WSD keeps collecting water samples from the estates for testing. So far, all samples have complied with the Hong Kong Drinking Water Standards.

    Ms Linn noted that about 700 enquiries have been made to the 24-hour hotline since its set-up on June 7. Furthermore, the WSD has received over 1,500 requests for flushing water meters through community channels.

    Such channels involved the street counters and home visits organised by District Council members, the three district committees and the Care Teams.

    The WSD has completed the flushing of water meters within one to two days. Currently, most of the residents reported an improvement in water quality and follow-up action is not required.

    The WSD believes that the black sediments in the fresh water originated from a steel water main at the upstream water supply network at Ping Che Road. The 400-metre-long water main uses bitumen as an inner lining that serves as a protective coating.

    Over the past week, the WSD has explored the approach of using exposed temporary water mains to replace the steel water main.

    It collaborated with the Development Bureau, the contractor, the Transport Department, Police and the North District Office to formulate traffic arrangements.

    Through collective efforts, the WSD will immediately start the project and work around the clock to complete the temporary water mains by early July, when the specified section of bitumen-lined steel water mains will decommission.

    The WSD will also strive to replace the exposed temporary water mains with a permanent underground water mains by the end of this year.

    Ms Linn pointed out that the WSD has ceased applying bitumen lining on fresh water mains since 2005. Of the water pipes that still contain this type of lining, only about 230km are fresh water distribution mains, representing about 3.9% of the city’s total fresh water distribution mains.

    Apart from installing over 1,000 screen filters in the related water supply network, the WSD is reviewing the necessity of installing additional screen filters at suitable locations, she added.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News

  • MIL-OSI: WISDOMTREE MULTI ASSET ISSUER PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY (a public company incorporated with limited liability in Ireland)

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    18 June 2025

    LEI: 2138003QW2ZAYZODBU23

    LSE Code: 3BRS

    WISDOMTREE MULTI ASSET ISSUER PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY
    (a public company incorporated with limited liability in Ireland) WISDOMTREE Brent Crude Oil 3X Daily Short SECURITIES ISIN: IE00BLRPRK35

    PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF THE AFFECTED SECURITIES MEETING OF THE ETP SECURITYHOLDERS

    THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in

    any doubt about what action you should take, you are recommended to consult your independent financial adviser.

    NOTICE is hereby given that, pursuant to the provisions of the trust deed dated 30 November 2012 (as amended) constituting (inter alia) the WisdomTree Brent Crude Oil 3X Daily Short Securities (the “Affected Securities”) and made between (1) WisdomTree Multi Asset Issuer Public Limited Company (the “Issuer”), (2) The Law Debenture Trust Corporation p.l.c. (the “Trustee”) and (3) WisdomTree Multi Asset Management Limited (the “Manager”), a meeting of the holders of the Affected Securities (the “Affected Securities Holders”), convened by the Issuer, will be held at the offices of Apex IFS Limited in 2nd Floor, Block 5, Irish Life Centre, Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1, D01P767, Ireland on Friday 11 July 2025 at 11 a.m. local time (the “Meeting”).

    The Meeting is being held to consider certain amendments, made under the powers set out in clause 2 of schedule 7 of the master trust deed of the Affected Securities, to documentation required to effect a reduction in the principal amount of the Affected Securities from USD
    0.114 to USD 0.0114. This follows the price of the Affected Securities falling below 500 per cent of its current principal amount on Friday 13 June 2025 (the “Threshold Event Date”).

    In a scenario where the vote does not pass, if the price then falls below 200% of the principal amount on or after 60 days from the Threshold Event Date, then a compulsory redemption event will be triggered and the Issuer will be required to compulsorily redeem all Affected Securities Holders.

    In order to maintain the normal trading and operations of the Affected Securities and to avoid a compulsory redemption event being triggered, the Issuer considers that the principal amount of the Affected Securities should be reduced.

    The reduction in the principal amount will not affect the price of the Affected Securities as the price is calculated by reference to the underlying index and not to the principal amount of the Affected Securities.

    It is important to note that:

    • The reduction of the principal amount of the Affected Securities does NOT dilute an Affected Securities Holder’s holding or reduce the value of an Affected Securities Holder’s holding.
    • The reduction of the principal amount does NOT negatively impact the ability of the investor to trade the Affected Securities.
    • The reduction of the principal amount does NOT affect the amount an Affected Securities Holder would, in practice, receive on redemption of the Affected Securities.

    Affected Securities Holders may also access the notification, including the circular, on the website of the Issuer, at
    https://www.wisdomtree.eu/en-gb/resource-library/prospectus-and-regulatory-reports#tab- 2A942D42-5AA1-4008-9080-3C2DADB050A7

    Holders of the Affected Securities are advised to check with any bank, securities broker or other intermediary through which they hold their Affected Securities when such intermediary would need to receive instructions from a holder of Affected Securities in order for such holder of Affected Securities to participate in the Meeting by the deadlines specified in this circular. The deadlines set by any such intermediary and each ICSD for the submission instructions will be earlier than the relevant deadlines specified in this circular.

    In relation to the delivery instructions or obtaining voting certificates or otherwise making arrangements for the giving of voting instructions, in each case through the ICSDs, holders of the Affected Securities should note the particular practice and policy of the relevant ICSDs, including any earlier deadlines set by such ICSD. The deadlines set by any intermediary or by the ICSDs will be earlier than the deadlines set out in this circular.

    Affected Securities Holders will be notified of the outcome of the Meeting shortly thereafter.

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: WISDOMTREE MULTI ASSET ISSUER PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY (a public company incorporated with limited liability in Ireland)

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    18 June 2025

    LEI: 2138003QW2ZAYZODBU23

    LSE Code: 3BRS

    WISDOMTREE MULTI ASSET ISSUER PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY
    (a public company incorporated with limited liability in Ireland) WISDOMTREE Brent Crude Oil 3X Daily Short SECURITIES ISIN: IE00BLRPRK35

    PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF THE AFFECTED SECURITIES MEETING OF THE ETP SECURITYHOLDERS

    THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in

    any doubt about what action you should take, you are recommended to consult your independent financial adviser.

    NOTICE is hereby given that, pursuant to the provisions of the trust deed dated 30 November 2012 (as amended) constituting (inter alia) the WisdomTree Brent Crude Oil 3X Daily Short Securities (the “Affected Securities”) and made between (1) WisdomTree Multi Asset Issuer Public Limited Company (the “Issuer”), (2) The Law Debenture Trust Corporation p.l.c. (the “Trustee”) and (3) WisdomTree Multi Asset Management Limited (the “Manager”), a meeting of the holders of the Affected Securities (the “Affected Securities Holders”), convened by the Issuer, will be held at the offices of Apex IFS Limited in 2nd Floor, Block 5, Irish Life Centre, Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1, D01P767, Ireland on Friday 11 July 2025 at 11 a.m. local time (the “Meeting”).

    The Meeting is being held to consider certain amendments, made under the powers set out in clause 2 of schedule 7 of the master trust deed of the Affected Securities, to documentation required to effect a reduction in the principal amount of the Affected Securities from USD
    0.114 to USD 0.0114. This follows the price of the Affected Securities falling below 500 per cent of its current principal amount on Friday 13 June 2025 (the “Threshold Event Date”).

    In a scenario where the vote does not pass, if the price then falls below 200% of the principal amount on or after 60 days from the Threshold Event Date, then a compulsory redemption event will be triggered and the Issuer will be required to compulsorily redeem all Affected Securities Holders.

    In order to maintain the normal trading and operations of the Affected Securities and to avoid a compulsory redemption event being triggered, the Issuer considers that the principal amount of the Affected Securities should be reduced.

    The reduction in the principal amount will not affect the price of the Affected Securities as the price is calculated by reference to the underlying index and not to the principal amount of the Affected Securities.

    It is important to note that:

    • The reduction of the principal amount of the Affected Securities does NOT dilute an Affected Securities Holder’s holding or reduce the value of an Affected Securities Holder’s holding.
    • The reduction of the principal amount does NOT negatively impact the ability of the investor to trade the Affected Securities.
    • The reduction of the principal amount does NOT affect the amount an Affected Securities Holder would, in practice, receive on redemption of the Affected Securities.

    Affected Securities Holders may also access the notification, including the circular, on the website of the Issuer, at
    https://www.wisdomtree.eu/en-gb/resource-library/prospectus-and-regulatory-reports#tab- 2A942D42-5AA1-4008-9080-3C2DADB050A7

    Holders of the Affected Securities are advised to check with any bank, securities broker or other intermediary through which they hold their Affected Securities when such intermediary would need to receive instructions from a holder of Affected Securities in order for such holder of Affected Securities to participate in the Meeting by the deadlines specified in this circular. The deadlines set by any such intermediary and each ICSD for the submission instructions will be earlier than the relevant deadlines specified in this circular.

    In relation to the delivery instructions or obtaining voting certificates or otherwise making arrangements for the giving of voting instructions, in each case through the ICSDs, holders of the Affected Securities should note the particular practice and policy of the relevant ICSDs, including any earlier deadlines set by such ICSD. The deadlines set by any intermediary or by the ICSDs will be earlier than the deadlines set out in this circular.

    Affected Securities Holders will be notified of the outcome of the Meeting shortly thereafter.

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI Security: Convicted Felon Who Attempted To Sell Assault Rifle Sentenced To 92 Months In Federal Prison For Unlawful Firearm Possession

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

    SAN FRANCISCO – Timothy Demetrius Jeffrey, aka “Boo,” 44, of Antioch, Calif., was sentenced today to 92 months in federal prison, following his conviction on March 12, 2025, by a federal jury on two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Senior U.S. District Judge William H. Alsup handed down the sentence. Judge Alsup also sentenced Jeffrey to concurrent 24-month terms for violating the terms of his supervised release in two other federal cases.

    According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, on April 25, 2023, Jeffrey drove into a shopping plaza parking lot in Pittsburg, Calif., parked, and fled on foot from a pursuing police officer. Jeffrey threw a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine and 19 rounds of ammunition over a fence behind the shopping plaza before he was arrested.

    Jeffrey posted bond after his arrest but absconded soon thereafter. Following an investigation by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Marshals Service, law enforcement officers located Jeffrey at a relative’s home in Antioch on March 27, 2024. After U.S. Marshals arrested Jeffrey, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the residence, where deputies located and seized an Aero Precision AR-style rifle with a magazine and 25 rounds of ammunition from under a couch in the living room. They also seized a cell phone that had been used by Jeffrey. The phone contained multiple text messages in which Jeffrey attempted to sell the AR rifle and sent a photo of it.

    At the time of his April 2023 and March 2024 arrests, Jeffrey was on federal supervised release following past felony convictions for being a felon-in-possession of a firearm, escape from custody, and conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

    Judge Alsup also found that enhancements were appropriate under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (i) due to Jeffrey’s obstruction of justice resulting from perjury during his trial testimony; and (ii) because one of the guns Jeffrey possessed had previously been stolen.

    United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Acting Special Agent in Charge Alex Buenaventura made the announcement.

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

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Aseem Padukone prosecuted this case with the assistance of Claudia Hyslop, Nina Burney, and Yenni Weinberg. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the ATF, the United States Marshals Service, the Pittsburg Police Department, and the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office.
     

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Chesapeake cocaine trafficker sentenced to 18 years in prison

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

    NORFOLK, Va. – A Chesapeake man was sentenced today to 18 years in prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug-trafficking crime.

    According to court documents, on Feb. 10, 2024, Chesapeake Police officers were attempting to serve arrest warrants for assault and battery of a family or household member and destruction of property on Abdul-Wakeel Khabeer Qaabid, aka Kenneth Andrew Jordan, 39. Qaabid fled during a traffic stop, but crashed his vehicle and fled on foot. From Qaabid’s vehicle, investigators recovered two loaded handguns, five ounces of cocaine base, 43 grams of marijuana, $25,020, and three cellular devices. During a search of Qaabid’s residence, investigators recovered over six kilograms of cocaine, packaging materials, .45 caliber ammunition, and $26,900 in drug proceeds.

    Qaabid was arrested on March 13, 2024, at a residence in Chesapeake. During a search of that residence, CPD recovered an additional $11,850 in drug proceeds.

    Qaabid previously had been convicted for attempted capital murder, use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and felony assault and battery. As a previously convicted felon, Qaabid cannot legally possess firearms or ammunition.

    Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Anthony A. Spotswood, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division; and Mark G. Solesky, Chief of Chesapeake Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin G. Bird prosecuted the case.

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

    A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-68.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Witness appeal launched after murder in Camden

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    Police are appealing for witnesses and information following the murder of a woman in Camden.

    Officers were called by the London Ambulance Service at 18:00hrs on Friday, 13 June to a report of an unresponsive woman at her home in Mornington Place, Camden.

    Officers attended and found a woman with stab injuries. She was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

    She has been identified as 69-year-old Jennifer Abbott. Known professionally as Sarah Steinberg, Jennifer was a popular member of the community. She was often seen walking her Corgi dog in the Camden area, including on Tuesday, 10 June when she was last seen by neighbours.

    A post-mortem examination took place on Sunday, 15 June and gave cause of death as sharp force trauma.

    Officers also carried out a number of enquiries alongside the PM. Details of which meant that it is now appropriate to issue information about the incident and the appeal.

    While detectives are keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the murder, they are appealing in particular for information about a Rolex watch which they believe is missing from Jennifer’s address.

    It has a distinctive diamond encrusted face.

    Chief Superintendent Jason Stewart, who leads policing in Camden, said: “We are working closely with our colleagues in the homicide team to establish exactly what happened and it’s incredibly important that we hear from anyone who may have knowledge about how this awful death occurred.

    “Were you out in Camden on Friday? Perhaps you had been coming home from work, or at an event nearby? Did you see or hear anything around Mornington Place that struck you as being unusual?

    “Someone must have seen or heard something and no piece of information is too small. It could be the crucial clue that leads us to identify Jennifer’s murderer.

    “Extra patrols continue in the area while my officers remain at the crime scene. I would urge anyone who has any information, or who may be worried, to speak to them.”

    There have been no arrests at this stage.

    Anyone with information is urged to call 101 or message @MetCC on X, giving the reference 6470/13JUN. Information, including photos or videos, can also be easily uploaded to our dedicated appeal page.

    Alternatively you can speak anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or at https://crimestoppers-uk.org/.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Witness appeal launched after murder in Camden

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    Police are appealing for witnesses and information following the murder of a woman in Camden.

    Officers were called by the London Ambulance Service at 18:00hrs on Friday, 13 June to a report of an unresponsive woman at her home in Mornington Place, Camden.

    Officers attended and found a woman with stab injuries. She was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

    She has been identified as 69-year-old Jennifer Abbott. Known professionally as Sarah Steinberg, Jennifer was a popular member of the community. She was often seen walking her Corgi dog in the Camden area, including on Tuesday, 10 June when she was last seen by neighbours.

    A post-mortem examination took place on Sunday, 15 June and gave cause of death as sharp force trauma.

    Officers also carried out a number of enquiries alongside the PM. Details of which meant that it is now appropriate to issue information about the incident and the appeal.

    While detectives are keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the murder, they are appealing in particular for information about a Rolex watch which they believe is missing from Jennifer’s address.

    It has a distinctive diamond encrusted face.

    Chief Superintendent Jason Stewart, who leads policing in Camden, said: “We are working closely with our colleagues in the homicide team to establish exactly what happened and it’s incredibly important that we hear from anyone who may have knowledge about how this awful death occurred.

    “Were you out in Camden on Friday? Perhaps you had been coming home from work, or at an event nearby? Did you see or hear anything around Mornington Place that struck you as being unusual?

    “Someone must have seen or heard something and no piece of information is too small. It could be the crucial clue that leads us to identify Jennifer’s murderer.

    “Extra patrols continue in the area while my officers remain at the crime scene. I would urge anyone who has any information, or who may be worried, to speak to them.”

    There have been no arrests at this stage.

    Anyone with information is urged to call 101 or message @MetCC on X, giving the reference 6470/13JUN. Information, including photos or videos, can also be easily uploaded to our dedicated appeal page.

    Alternatively you can speak anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or at https://crimestoppers-uk.org/.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Delegation of overseas government officials visits Hong Kong to foster exchanges (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    Delegation of overseas government officials visits Hong Kong to foster exchanges  
         The visit was arranged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which invited government officials from 10 countries across Africa and Asia. The aim was to enhance exchanges and co-operation between Hong Kong and countries around the world, as well as expand the “circle of friends” of Hong Kong.
     
         The 10 countries concerned are Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Mauritania, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Tunisia.
     
         During their stay in Hong Kong, the delegation met with the Acting Financial Secretary, Mr Michael Wong; the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing; and the Deputy Secretary for Justice, Dr Cheung Kwok-kwan, to exchange views and obtain a better understanding of Hong Kong’s distinctive advantage of enjoying the strong support of the motherland while being closely connected to the world under the “one country, two systems” principle. The delegation also learned of Hong Kong’s important roles as a “super connector” and a “super value-adder” serving as a bridge between the Mainland and the rest of the world.
     
         They also met with the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui; the Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Dr Bernard Chan; and the Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong, as well as representatives of a number of relevant institutions. The delegation also visited the Hong Kong Science Park and West Kowloon Cultural District to learn about the city’s latest developments and opportunities in finance, trade, innovation and technology, and arts and culture.
     
         The delegation departed for Shenzhen after their visit to Hong Kong to learn more about the integrated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
    Issued at HKT 20:29

    NNNN

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Police Minister condemns threats against at Gift of the Givers staff

    Source: South Africa News Agency

    Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has strongly condemned the threats and intimidation directed at humanitarian organisation, Gift of the Givers, while they were delivering lifesaving assistance to flood-affected communities in Mthatha, Eastern Cape.

    It is alleged that members of a so-called “water mafia”, linked to service providers contracted by the OR Tambo District Municipality, threatened Gift of the Givers staff as they distributed clean drinking water to residents impacted by the recent floods. 

    Mchunu was in Mthatha this past weekend to engage with and thank members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) for their efforts during the floods, which have claimed 90 lives to date and displaced hundreds more. The Minister also addressed some of the affected families. 

    “The police will not tolerate any attempt to intimidate or obstruct those who are working tirelessly to save lives and bring relief to our people. Gift of the Givers has consistently been a source of hope and dignity to South Africans in their hour of need.

    “Any attack on them is an attack on the very principle of ubuntu. No individual or group will be allowed to profiteer off disaster or compromise the safety and well-being of our people. Law enforcement will act decisively. 

    “The SAPS will ensure the safety of all humanitarian workers in the area, and hold those responsible fully accountable under the law. 

    “We have also been made aware of individuals who go to the homes of those who lost their lives due to these floods, with a view to commit acts of theft from these homes. Police have been deployed to ensure the safety of the property of the deceased,” Mchunu said. 

    The provincial government said plans are underway to hold a Provincial Day of Mourning on Thursday, 19 June 2025, in Decoligny Village, Mthatha.

    Residents have been urged to report persons who went missing in the areas that were affected by the floods to law enforcement. 

    President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the area last Friday to offer support and assess the damage. He was accompanied by government officials, key Ministers, the Premier, and local government representatives.

    President Ramaphosa has expressed sadness over the loss of life during floods. The President offered his condolences to those who have lost loved ones. – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa