Category: Machine Learning

MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: AAIA publishes investigation report on accident involving PHI Fantasia 22 paraglider

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

AAIA publishes investigation report on accident involving PHI Fantasia 22 paraglider
The investigation was conducted by a team of professional investigators in strict adherence to international standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). “The objective of the investigation was to identify the circumstances and causes of the accident with a view to preventing a recurrence,” an AAIA spokesperson said.Issued at HKT 15:14

NNNN

CategoriesMIL-OSI

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: India Showcases Creative and Technological Might at WAVES 2025

Source: Government of India

India Showcases Creative and Technological Might at WAVES 2025

Discussions at WAVES on AI, Social Media and Advertising reflect India’s expanding footprint in the Digital Media sector

Posted On: 01 MAY 2025 9:24PM by PIB Mumbai

Mumbai, 1 May 2025

The inaugural session of WAVES 2025 was graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who officially opened the summit at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai. In his keynote address, PM Modi emphasized India’s rich storytelling heritage and its potential to become a global hub for content creation. He highlighted the convergence of content, creativity, and culture as the pillars of the ‘Orange Economy,’ urging creators worldwide to “Create in India, Create for the World.” The Prime Minister also paid tribute to Indian cinema legends by releasing commemorative postage stamps. He called upon global creators to explore India’s diverse narratives, stating that every street, mountain, and river in India carries a story waiting to be told. The session was attended by dignitaries from over 100 countries, industry leaders, and renowned artists, marking a significant step in India’s journey to becoming a creative superpower.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2125725

AI and Creativity: Adobe and NVIDIA Chart the Future

Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe, highlighted India’s emergence as a global hub of creativity powered by digital tools and generative AI. With over 100 million content creators and 500 million OTT consumers, Narayen described India as “the world’s next creative superpower.” He showcased Adobe’s Firefly AI models and stressed ethical AI, content authenticity, and creator attribution as vital for sustainable growth.

In a fireside chat, Richard Kerris and Vishal Dhupar of NVIDIA explored how AI is revolutionizing the creative pipeline—allowing content to be generated, localized, and personalized at scale. “India has long exported talent. Now it can export culture,” Kerris declared, emphasizing AI’s ability to amplify regional voices and transform India into a storytelling giant.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2125947

YouTube to offer more support to boost the Creator Economy

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced a ₹850 crore investment to accelerate India’s creator economy, citing over 15,000 Indian channels with more than 1 million subscribers. Joined by global creators Mark Rober and Gautami Kawale (Slayy Point), Mohan underlined YouTube’s role in taking Indian stories global. “India isn’t just leading in music and film—it’s now a Creator Nation,” he said. Kawale shared how regional Indian content, when rooted in culture, has universal appeal, while Rober spoke about the power of STEM content crossing borders through AI-enabled dubbing and localization.

WPP and the Advertising Renaissance

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, described the advertising industry’s $1 trillion global footprint and its shift towards AI-led storytelling. He unveiled WPP’s open video production platform and shared a campaign featuring Shah Rukh Khan to demonstrate hyper-personalized content creation using motion AI. “AI is not replacing creativity—it is expanding it,” Read said, outlining the role of MSMEs and digital tools in democratizing access to quality advertising.

Global Collaboration: UK-India Cultural Pact

In a keynote that blended diplomacy and personal heritage, Lisa Nandy, UK Secretary of State for DCMS, emphasized the cultural bridge between India and the UK. She announced a Bilateral Cultural Federation Agreement to strengthen ties across cinema, museums, and performing arts. “From Manchester to Mumbai, we must empower the next generation of storytellers,” she urged, citing the legacy of figures like Sophia Duleep Singh and modern UK-Indian creatives.

Panel Highlights: AI, Culture, and Influence; Two panel discussions deepened the discourse:

“India M&E @100: The Future of Media and Entertainment” featured leaders from Eros Now, Jetsynthesys, and GroupM. They emphasized that India is in the fourth wave of disruption, where AI-led IP creation and Gen Z consumption patterns are reshaping the industry.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2125886

“The Business of Influence”, moderated by YouTube’s Gautam Anand, showcased creators like Chef Ranveer Brar, ChessTalk’s Jeetendra Advani, and Japanese YouTuber Mayo Murasaki. From chess to agriculture, they demonstrated how digital platforms are taking Indian knowledge global while preserving cultural authenticity.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2125889

******

TEAM PIB WAVES 2025: Rajith/LekshmiPriya/CShekhar|137

(Release ID: 2125960) Visitor Counter : 76

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Banking: Christodoulos Patsalides: The economy of Cyprus – developments and outlook

Source: Bank for International Settlements

Intoduction

Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues, and friends,

It is a great pleasure to address the 3rd Capital Link Cyprus Business Forum here in New York, a city that has long served as a global hub for business, finance, and innovation. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the organizers for bringing us together today to exchange insights on the economic trajectory of Cyprus. Events like this are crucial in fostering dialogue and reinforcing the strong economic ties between Cyprus and the international business community.

Key metrics of the Cypriot Economy

The Cypriot economy and its banking sector have continued to demonstrate remarkable resilience, despite an increasingly volatile global environment marked by geopolitical uncertainty and rising trade tensions. In 2024, Cyprus achieved robust economic growth, significantly outpacing the euro area average and primarily driven by foreign investment, robust tourism, and rapid expansion in Information and Communication Technologies. At the same time, unemployment declined notably, falling well below the euro area average and approaching conditions of full employment, while inflation declined significantly and remains well on track. Fiscal performance also strengthened considerably, with public debt reduced to levels well below the euro area average, highlighting the country’s improved fiscal discipline.

Meanwhile, key indicators of banking sector strength remained solid. Capital adequacy levels, as measured by the Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio, are significantly above the EU average, and profitability, as measured by Return on Equity, reached one of the highest levels across the Union. Cypriot banks also continue to maintain some of the strongest liquidity positions in the EU, further reinforcing the sector’s soundness and resilience.

The remarkable economic performance of Cyprus was recently acknowledged by the International Monetary Fund. As mentioned in its Concluding Statement of its recent Article IV Mission:

“Cyprus has demonstrated impressive resilience to successive shocks. Growth has remained among the highest in the euro area, mainly supported by foreign investment, strong tourism, and a boom in the ICT sector.”

All major credit rating agencies have also recognized the notable progress of the economy, upgrading Cyprus’s credit rating to the ‘A’ category. This progress not only reflects solid economic performance but also acts as a safeguard against global uncertainty and constitutes key factor for sustaining strong growth potential.

Domestic Economy

Growth Outlook

Having outlined the broader context of the Cyprus economy, I will now turn to the growth outlook in more detail. In 2024, GDP growth reached 3.4% compared to 0.9% in the euro area. Domestic demand, and most specifically, private consumption has been a key driver of growth, complemented by a positive contribution from net exports, particularly export of services. Investments also registered an increase in 2024, across both housing and other private investments, such as ongoing implementation of major infrastructure projects with foreign financing as well as projects under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Despite geopolitical challenges, tourism arrivals and revenue reached record levels in 2024, exceeding four million tourists for the first time. On the production side, the services sectors of the economy were the key drivers for economic activity. Specifically, the sectors of trade, transportation (particularly shipping), hotels and restaurants gave the greatest support to GDP growth. The information and communication sector as well as financial and professional services were also important contributors to growth. Finally, healthcare and education, real estate management activities, construction and manufacturing sectors also fueled economic activity.

I would like to highlight at this point that the steps taken to diversify our economy-both across sectors, including services, tourism, and non-tourism-related industries, as well as across different markets-have played a key role in strengthening our resilience. These efforts have significantly enhanced our ability to withstand external shocks, particularly in times of geopolitical turmoil.

Looking ahead, based on March 2025 projections of the Central Bank of Cyprus, GDP is expected to continue to grow robustly at around 3% per year over 2025-2027. This continued expansion is anticipated to largely stem from domestic demand, with external demand playing, to a lesser extent, a supporting role. Investments are also expected to remain strong. Nevertheless, persistent geopolitical tensions may introduce downside risks to the speed of external recovery.

Fiscal Developments and Public Debt Reduction

On the fiscal side, Cyprus has made significant strides in reinforcing fiscal stability, a cornerstone of sustainable economic progress. Notably, public debt declined substantially from 113.6% of GDP in 2020 to 65.4% in 2024. As of January 2025, the debt-to-GDP ratio had fallen further to 61.9%, reflecting disciplined fiscal policies and sound economic management. It should be noted that in the euro area, public debt stood at 88.2% at the end of the third quarter of 2024.

Looking forward, the Ministry of Finance projects that this downward trajectory will persist, with public debt expected to fall below 50% of GDP by 2028. This fiscal consolidation not only strengthens Cyprus’ financial resilience but also enhances investor confidence, reinforcing the country’s attractiveness for foreign direct investment and securing long-term economic stability.

Inflation Trends

Turning to inflation, price stability remains a key focus. Inflationary pressures have eased significantly, with the headline inflation significantly declining to 2.3% in 2024 from 3.9% in 2023. This reduction has been largely driven by the correction of external supply-side shocks, particularly in energy markets, as well as the European Central Bank’s monetary policy tightening.

Over the period 2025-2027, inflation is projected to sustainably stabilize around 2%. This is in line with the medium-term target we set at the Governing Council of the ECB. Although certain services sectors continue to experience relatively elevated price growth, overall inflationary pressures remain well-contained, ensuring a stable environment for households and businesses alike. However, we must remain vigilant, as exceptionally high uncertainty continues to pose upside risks to inflation, alongside climate-related factors.

The Cyprus Banking Sector

The banking sector in Cyprus has demonstrated remarkable progress and resilience over the past years. Our financial institutions have not only navigated a challenging global environment but have also shown notable strides in strengthening their foundations. A primary indicator of this resilience is the enhancement of the solvency capacity, with the Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio increasing to 24.5% in December 2024. This increase places Cyprus at the top of the EU spectrum, well above the EU average of 16.1%.

Despite the ongoing challenges from successive crises, Cyprus has experienced no clear signs of a decline in credit quality. On the contrary, the Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio has continued to show improvement. As of December 2024, it has decreased to 6.2%. Even though this is a positive trend, we must acknowledge that more work is needed, especially considering the EU’s average NPL ratio of 1.9% as of the same period.

Profitability has remained strong and persistent, with the Return on Equity (RoE) reaching 20.0% in December 2024, significantly higher than the EU average of 10.5% in the same period. Operational efficiency has also seen progress, as the cost-to-income ratio decreased to 37% in December 2024, a considerable improvement compared to previous years and lower than the EU’s 54% average in the same period.

Cypriot banks maintain some of the highest liquidity levels within the EU. This strong liquidity position enhances their capacity to navigate potential market disruptions and to continue supporting economic stability. As of December 2024, the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR), which reflects a bank’s ability to withstand significant liquidity outflows during stressful periods, stands at 333%, well above the EU average of 163% as of the same period and the minimum requirement of 100%. Similarly, the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR), which measures the stability of a bank’s funding sources, is at 188% in December 2024, exceeding both the EU average of 127% recorded in the same period and the required 100%.

Looking ahead, the banking industry must navigate several challenges, including integrating AI, managing cyber risks, responding to geopolitical instability, shifting towards a more sustainable economy, addressing the growing need for substantial investments in technology, and adapting to heightened competition from the non-banking sector, particularly in the area of payment services. Addressing these key issues is crucial for maintaining the sector’s positive growth and will continue to be a primary focus of our oversight efforts.

Conclusion

Cyprus has demonstrated resilience and strong economic performance against a backdrop of global uncertainties. Despite elevated international risk and the increasing geopolitical fragmentation, it is my belief that Cyprus will continue to prosper thanks to its commitment on prudent, yet business-friendly policies.

Let me bring my speech to a close by quoting Warren Buffett’s renowned advice: “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” This obviously highlights the necessity for informed decision-making. I therefore urge you to examine the country’s track record and to assess the ingredients of its pursued policies. I am confident that Cyprus will stand out as a compelling and reliable destination for investment.

Thank you.

MIL OSI Global Banks –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI: Best Email Service For Business (2025): Klaviyo Awarded Top Email Marketing Software by Software Experts
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

NEW YORK CITY, May 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Software Experts has named Klaviyo one of the top email marketing platforms of the year. Klaviyo’s AI-powered automation, real-time customer data integration, and multi-channel marketing capabilities position it as a primary choice for businesses who want to enhance customer engagement and maximize revenue.

Top Email Marketing Software
- Klaviyo – an AI-powered email marketing platform that leverages real-time customer data and automation to drive engagement and sales
This article is sponsored by Klaviyo. All opinions expressed are those of Software Experts. Software Experts offers news and reviews on consumer products and services and may earn commissions from purchases made through featured links.

Email marketing remains a critical channel for businesses aiming to foster customer relationships, increase brand awareness, and generate sales. However, the effectiveness of email campaigns depends on personalization, automation, and data-driven decision-making. Klaviyo distinguishes itself by leveraging advanced AI and machine learning algorithms to optimize email content, segmentation, and automation flows in real time.

Key Features

Software Experts highlighted several core capabilities that contributed to Klaviyo’s recognition as a leading email marketing software:

Real-Time Data and Segmentation: Klaviyo collects and processes customer data in real time, allowing businesses to create highly targeted audience segments. This ensures that marketing messages reach the right customers at the right time to help increase engagement and conversions.

Automation Flows for Scalable Engagement: Klaviyo offers pre-built automation workflows for welcome emails, cart abandonment reminders, shipping updates, and post-purchase follow-ups. These automated sequences help businesses maintain continuous communication with their customers while reducing manual effort.

Multi-Channel Marketing Integration: Beyond email, Klaviyo integrates SMS, push notifications, and e-commerce platforms to ensure a consistent and synchronized marketing approach across multiple channels. This is particularly valuable for businesses using platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento.

AI-Powered Content and Personalization: Klaviyo’s AI marketing tools enable hyper-precise personalization, from dynamic product recommendations to predictive analytics that forecast customer behavior. Businesses can tailor emails based on past purchases, browsing activity, and engagement patterns.

User-Friendly Template Editor: With an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, Klaviyo makes it easy for both beginners and experienced marketers to create high-converting emails without needing advanced design skills.

Data-Driven Reporting and Benchmarking: Klaviyo provides AI-generated insights that help businesses measure campaign effectiveness, track revenue impact, and compare performance against industry benchmarks.

Revenue Impact and Business Growth

One of the key reasons Klaviyo earned recognition from Software Experts is its ability to drive measurable results. Businesses using Klaviyo’s automated email campaigns consistently report higher revenue per recipient compared to those relying on manual email marketing efforts.

“AI-driven automation is no longer just a trend—it’s a necessity for modern businesses,” Drew Thomas, Software Experts spokesperson, added. “Klaviyo’s ability to translate data into revenue-generating marketing strategies gives it a distinct advantage in competitive email marketing.”

Scalable Pricing for Businesses of All Sizes

Klaviyo’s pricing model is based on active profiles (customers that can be emailed) to make sure that businesses only pay for the contacts they actively engage with. Pricing starts at $60 per month, with a free tier available that allows up to 500 emails per month. This flexibility makes Klaviyo accessible to startups, small businesses, and large enterprises alike.

Additionally, Klaviyo offers built-in compliance and deliverability tools This helps marketing emails reach inboxes effectively while adhering to industry regulations.

A Leading B2C CRM for Customer Engagement

Beyond email marketing, Klaviyo is positioning itself as a B2C CRM, enabling businesses to build deeper customer connections and drive lifetime value. With over 350 pre-built integrations, Klaviyo seamlessly connects with e-commerce platforms, customer data tools, and marketing automation systems, making it a central hub for customer engagement.

Recognition Among Industry Leaders

Software Experts’ ranking of top email marketing software is based on an evaluation of innovation, usability, performance, scalability, and ROI impact. Klaviyo’s commitment to AI-driven marketing, customer data utilization, and automation efficiency solidified its position as a top choice for businesses looking to scale their marketing operations.

For businesses seeking an AI-powered, data-driven email marketing solution, Software Experts recognizes Klaviyo as an industry leader that delivers measurable growth, enhances customer engagement, and simplifies marketing automation.

Click here for more details on Klaviyo’s features and capabilities. For a more in-depth review, please visit the Software Expert website.

About Klaviyo

Klaviyo is a B2C CRM designed to help consumer brands unify marketing, analytics, and customer interactions through AI-driven automation and real-time data insights. Founded in 2012 by Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen, Klaviyo has evolved from a customer database into a platform used by over 167,000 brands worldwide, enabling businesses to personalize messaging, automate engagement, and build lifelong customer relationships. Its key milestones include launching email marketing (2013), marketing attribution (2018), SMS marketing (2020), customer reviews (2022), a customer data platform (2023), and its full B2C CRM (2025). Headquartered in Boston with offices in Denver, San Francisco, London, Dublin, and Sydney, Klaviyo’s name—derived from clavija (Spanish for mountaineering pitons)—reflects its mission to support brands as they scale and grow.

About Software Experts: Software Experts provides news and reviews of consumer products and services. As an affiliate, Software Experts may earn commissions from sales generated using links provided.

The MIL Network –
May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: How state agents target journalists while governments claim to protect them – stark warnings from Mexico and Honduras
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tamsin S. Mitchell, Visiting Researcher, Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield

Humberto Padgett was reporting on the effects of drought in Cuitzeo, a rural area of central Mexico, when his car was intercepted by armed men on September 13 2024. They threatened him and stole the car, his identity papers and work equipment, including two bullet-proof jackets.

Padgett, a Mexican investigative journalist and author, was reporting on Mexico’s growing environmental worries for national talk radio station Radio Fórmula. It proved to be his last assignment for the station. Two days later, he tweeted:

Today I’m leaving journalism indefinitely. The losses I’ve suffered, the harassment and threats my family and I have endured, and the neglect I’ve faced have forced me to give up after 26 years of work. Thank you and good luck.

Padgett made this decision despite the fact he, like many other journalists in Mexico, has been enrolled in a government protection scheme for years – the Protection Mechanism for Journalists and Human Rights Defenders, set up in 2012. Several other Latin American countries have similar protection programmes, including Honduras since 2015.

These programmes offer journalists measures such as panic buttons and emergency phone alerts, police or private security patrols, and security cameras and alarm systems for their homes and offices. Some are provided with bodyguards – at times, Padgett has received 24-hour protection.

In Honduras, reporter Wendy Funes, founder of the online news site RI, was given a police bodyguard after being threatened while covering an extortion trial that linked the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), an international criminal gang, with the Honduran government of former president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is now serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US for drug trafficking and arms offences.

Yet even once journalists are enrolled in these government protection schemes, the attacks and threats continue. Shockingly, many come from state employees who, in both Mexico and Honduras, are thought to be responsible for almost half of all attacks on journalists. But the prospect of punishment is remote: at least 90% of attacks on journalists go unprosecuted and unpunished, meaning there is little deterrent for committing these crimes.

Both Mexico and Honduras currently have leftwing governments which have promised to protect journalists, following a long history of crimes against media professionals in both countries. Yet the risk to journalists posed by the state has worsened in recent years amid increasing use of spyware, online smear campaigns, and rising levels of anti-media rhetoric.

Journalists perceived as critical of the leadership are regularly accused of being corrupt, in the pay of foreign governments, and putting out fake news. Donald Trump’s vocal criticism of mainstream media since returning to power in the US is likely to have encouraged this anti-media hostility in Mexico and Honduras, as elsewhere in the world.

Many journalists there have developed strategies for self-protection, including setting up NGOs that support colleagues at risk. But while they are doing journalism in ways that make reporting safer, their work has been further threatened by the abrupt suspension of USAID and other US grants, which is heightening the dangers faced by journalists in Latin America and around the world.

Threats from the state

When I tell people about my research into how journalists in Latin America deal with the relentless violence and impunity, their first question is usually: “Oh, you mean drug cartels?” And indeed, both Padgett and Funes have received death threats for their investigations into cartels and other organised crime groups.

Padgett was once sent an unsolicited photo of a dismembered body in a morgue. He was beaten and kicked in the head by armed men who threatened to kill him and his family while he was reporting on drug dealing on a university campus in Mexico City in 2017. He wears a bullet-proof jacket – or did until it was stolen – and keeps his home address a closely guarded secret.

But cartels and gangs are only part of the story when it comes to anti-press violence and impunity in these countries. In many ways, the bigger story is the threat from the state. This has been a constant despite changes in government, whether right or left wing.

The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.

My research project and resulting book were inspired by my work providing advocacy, practical and moral support for journalists at risk in Latin America for an international NGO between 2007 and 2016. The extent of the risk posed by state agents – acting alone or in cahoots with organised crime groups – is clear from the many journalists I’ve spoken to in both Mexico and Honduras.

I first interviewed these reporters, and the organisations that assist them, in 2018, then again in 2022-23 (89 interviews in total), to chart how journalists struggle for protection and justice from the state in the face of growing challenges at both domestic and international level.

For both Padgett and Funes, the intimidation, threats and attacks from organised crime groups often followed them reporting on state agents and their alleged links with such groups. Organised crime groups have deeply infiltrated the fabric of society in many parts of Mexico and Honduras – including politics, state institutions, justice and law enforcement, particularly at a local level.

In Padgett’s case, the suspected cartel threats came after he published a book and investigation into links between state governments and drug cartels, including drug money for political campaigns in Tamaulipas and a surge in cartel-related violence in Morelos under a certain local administration.

Padgett had first joined the federal protection mechanism after he was attacked by police when filming a raid in central Mexico City in 2016. The police confiscated his phone and arrested him.

He was later assigned an around-the-clock bodyguard after the Mexico City prosecutor’s office made available his contact details and his risk assessment and protection plan – produced by the state programme that was supposed to safeguard him – for inclusion in the court file on the 2017 attack on him at the university. This meant the criminals behind the attack had full access to this information.

Being part of this protection programme did not stop the threats by state employees. In April 2024, while trying to report from the scene of the murder of a local mayoral candidate in Guanajuato state, Padgett was punched in the face by a police officer from the state prosecutor’s office, who also smashed his glasses and deleted his photos.

Years earlier, he had been subjected to a protracted legal battle by former Mexico state governor and presidential candidate Eruviel Ávila Villegas, who sued Padgett for “moral damages” to the tune of more than half a million US dollars. His offence? A 2017 profile which mentioned that the politician had attended parties where a bishop had sexually abused male minors.

Padgett eventually won the case – but only on appeal, thanks to a pro bono legal team, after 18 months of stress and travelling to attend the hearings. This is a part of a growing trend of “strategic lawsuits against public participation” (Slapps) in Mexico and Latin America, aimed at silencing journalists and other critical voices.

As Padgett put it: “[Even] once we manage to win, there are no consequences for the politicians who call us to a trial without merit – no consequences at all. Eruviel Ávila is still a senator for the PRI [Institutional Revolutionary Party]” – and he was not even liable for costs.

Mexico’s federal government and army have also carried out illegal surveillance of the mobile phones of journalists and human rights defenders investigating federal government corruption and serious human rights violations on multiple occasions, including by using Pegasus spyware.

In Honduras, Funes is no stranger to state harassment either. In 2011, she was among around 100 journalists, many of them women, who were teargassed and beaten with truncheons by officers of the presidential guard and the national police during a peaceful protest against journalist murders.

In recent years, according to Funes, she and her team at RI have been targeted by cyberattacks and orchestrated smear campaigns on social media that have sought to tar them as being corrupt or associated with criminal gangs. She suspects the army is behind some of these attacks since RI has written in favour of demilitarising the police. Several RI team members have been stopped at army checkpoints; when they have denounced this on TikTok or Facebook, they have been flooded by negative comments.

Profile of investigative journalist Wendy Funes, winner of the 2018 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression journalism award.

RI has also been attacked by government supporters unhappy with its critical coverage of the Honduras president Xiomara Castro’s leftwing administration. In August 2024, Funes was threatened with prosecution by the governor of Choluteca, southern Honduras, over RI’s investigation into alleged involvement by local government officials in migrant trafficking. And earlier in 2025, Funes and a human rights activist were subjected to misogynistic and sexist diatribes and threats by the head of customs for the same regional department, for demanding justice for a murdered environmental defender.

Almost half of all attacks on journalists in Mexico and Honduras are attributable to state agents, particularly at the local level. In Mexico, the NGO Article 19 has attributed 46% of all such assaults over the last decade to state agents including officials, civil servants and the armed forces.

In Honduras, according to the Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre), 45% of attacks on journalists in the first quarter of 2024 were attributed to state agents, up from 41% in 2021. These include the national police, the Military Public Order Police, officials and members of the government.

Impunity is a fact of life

One key reason for the failure of the journalist protection schemes in Mexico and Honduras is they lack the power to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for the attacks that caused the journalists to enter the programmes in the first place.

Padgett is yet to see justice, either for the attack on him by drug dealers at the university campus almost eight years ago or the results of the official investigation into the Mexico City prosecutor office’s apparent leaking of his contact details to the assailants. When he asked the prosecutor’s office for an update on its investigation in June 2024, he was told it had been closed two years earlier. His request for a copy of the file was denied.

When he went to the office to ask why, he was detained by police officers. “This is justice in Mexico City,” he said in a video he filmed during his arrest, adding:

Drug dealing is allowed. My personal data is leaked to the organised crime [group] that threatened to kill me and my family. Then the matter is shelved. I come to ask for my file and instead of giving it to me, they take me to court. That is the reality today.

News report by Al Jazeera English (February 2023)

Padgett lodged a complaint and, following “a tortuous judicial process”, eventually managed to get the investigation re-opened. But he says he has lost hope in the process and the justice system in general. Even something as simple as filing a report on the theft of his bullet-proof jacket during the armed attack in September 2024 has proved beyond the official responsible for the task, so the protection programme has not replaced it.

Funes says she reported one of the cyber-attacks on RI to the special prosecutor established by Honduras in 2018 to investigate crimes against journalists and human rights defenders. Funes provided the name and mobile phone number used by the hacker. However, she said the case was later closed for “lack of merit”.

Previously, the official investigation into the 2011 attack on her and other women journalists had also been quietly shelved after the evidence was “lost”. Funes says this put her off reporting subsequent incidents to the authorities:

What for? I just want them to protect me … why waste my time? Really, you get used to impunity, you normalise it.

There have been a few important advances in Mexico in recent years, including the successful prosecution of some of those behind the 2017 murder of two high-profile journalists, Javier Valdez and Miroslava Breach, but such cases remain the exception. Around 90% of attacks on journalists still go unprosecuted and unpunished by the state in both Mexico and Honduras, meaning there is little deterrent against these crimes.

Safer, better ways of working

Many of the journalists I have interviewed prioritise covering under-reported issues relating to human rights and democracy, corruption, violence and impunity. They use in-depth, investigative journalism to try to reveal the truth about what is happening in their countries – which is often obscured by the failings and corruption of the justice system and rule of law.

Many are developing safer, better ways of working, with three strategies having grown noticeably in recent years: building collaborations, seeking international support, and professionalising their ways of working.

Journalists from different media outlets often overcome professional rivalries to collaborate on sensitive and dangerous stories. In Mexico, members of some journalists’ collectives and networks alert each other of security risks on the ground, share and corroborate information, and monitor their members during risky assignments. Others travel as a group – when investigating the mass graves used by drug cartels, for example.

In Mexico and increasingly in Honduras, they publish controversial stories, such as on serious human rights violations involving the state, in more than one outlet simultaneously to reduce the chance of individual journalists being targeted in reprisal. Such collaborations build trust, solidarity and mutual support among reporters and editors – something that has traditionally been lacking in both countries.

Increasingly, international media partners also play an important role regarding the safety of Mexican and Honduran journalists and amplifying public awareness of the issues they report on – encouraging the mainstream media in their own countries to take notice and increasing pressure on their governments to act.

According to Jennifer Ávila, director of the Honduran investigative journalism platform ContraCorriente, transnational collaborations are a “super-important protection mechanism” because they give journalists access to external editors and legal assistance – as well as help leaving the country if necessary.

Read more:
As Mexico’s new president takes office, a renewed battle to contain cartel violence begins

International partners also bring increased resources. In Mexico and Honduras, as in other Latin American countries, the main source of funding is government advertising and other state financial incentives. But these come with expectations about influence over editorial policies and content, so are not an option for most independent outlets. Private advertising is also challenging for these and other reasons. So, most independent media outlets and journalistic projects are heavily dependent on US and European donors such as the National Endowment for Democracy (Ned), Ford Foundation and Open Society Foundations.

Much of Latin America has high levels of media concentration, with the mainstream media typically being owned by a handful of wealthy individuals or families with wider business interests – and close economic and political links to politicians and the state. Combined with the strings of government advertising, this often results in “soft” censorship of the content that these outlets publish. Some journalists are escaping this either by setting up their own media digital outlets, like Funes, or by going freelance – as Padgett has decided to do following the attack on him in Cuitzeo in 2024.

At the same time, there has been a widespread raising of standards through increased training in techniques such as journalistic ethics, making freedom of information requests, digital and investigative journalism, and covering elections. This all helps to promote “journalistic security” – using information as a “shield in such a way that no one can deny what you’re saying”, according to Daniela Pastrana of the NGO Journalists on the Ground (PdP). It also helps counter the perception – and in some cases, reality – of longstanding corruption in parts of the profession.

Hostile environment puts progress at risk

Despite the promise of transforming journalism through increasing collaboration, professionalisation and international support, the current outlook for journalists in Mexico and Honduras – and other countries in Latin America – is not encouraging. Hostile government rhetoric against independent reporters and media outlets is on the rise, despite the presidents of both Mexico and Honduras having pledged to protect journalists and freedom of expression.

In Honduras, the hostile rhetoric towards journalists is growing in the run-up to the presidential elections in November. According to Funes: “There is a violent public discourse from the government which is repeated by officials [and] prepares the ground for worse attacks on the press … This is dangerous.”

In both countries, such attitudes at the top are often replicated by local politicians and citizens, including online, with the threat of violent discourse leading to physical violence. This hostility appears likely to grow given the example of Donald Trump’s aggressive and litigious attitude towards journalists and the media in the United States.

Indeed, the policies of the second Trump administration are already jeopardising progress made in terms of transforming journalism in Mexico and Honduras. In late January 2025, the US government suspended international aid and shuttered USAID, amid unsubstantiated accusations of fraud and corruption.

According to the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, the USAID freeze included more than US$268m (£216m) that had been allocated to support “independent media and the free flow of information” in 2025.

USAID has been a key funder of organisations such as the nonprofits Internews and Freedom House, which in turn have been vital to the development of independent and investigative journalism in Latin America through their support of new media outlets, journalistic projects and media freedom groups. Another important donor, Ned – a bipartisan nonprofit organisation largely funded by the US Congress – has had its funding frozen.

Ned’s chair, Peter Roskam, explains its legal action against the Trump funding cuts.

Uncertainty about future funding has led to the immediate suspension of operations and layoffs by many nonprofit media organisations in Mexico, Honduras and across the region. While this seismic shift in the Latin American media landscape reinforces the urgent need to diversify its sources of funding, there is no doubt that in the short and even medium term, it has dealt a serious blow to the development of free and independent journalism and the safety of all journalists.

In a region of increasingly authoritarian leaders, it is now a lot harder to hold them accountable for corruption, human rights violations, impunity and other abuses.

International impotence

Anti-press violence and impunity are global problems, with more than 1,700 journalists killed worldwide between 2006 and 2024 – around 85% of which went unpunished, according to Unesco.

Although international organisations, protection mechanisms and pressure can be important tools in the fight against anti-press violence and impunity, they are ultimately limited in impact due to their reliance on the state to comply. Some journalists in Mexico and Honduras suggest the impact of such international attention can even be counter-productive, due to their governments’ increasing hostility toward any criticism by international organisations, journalists and other perceived opponents.

Twenty years ago, Lydia Cacho, a renowned journalist and women’s rights activist, was arbitrarily detained and tortured in Puebla state, east-central Mexico, after publishing a book exposing a corruption and child sexual exploitation network involving authorities and well-known businessmen. Unable to get redress for her torture through the Mexican justice system, Cacho eventually took her case to the United Nations.

Finally, in 2018, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled that her rights had been violated and ordered the Mexican state to re-open the investigation into the attack, and to give her adequate compensation. This judgment has led to several arrests of state agents in Puebla, including a former governor and chief of the judicial police and several police officers, as well as a public apology from the federal government.

Journalist Lydia Cacho speaking at the 2020 Camden Conference.

But cases like Cacho’s are the exception. Securing rulings from international bodies requires resources and energy, the help of NGOs or lawyers – and can take years. What’s more, enforcement of international decisions relies on the state to comply.

While international pressure was key to persuading the Mexican and Honduran states to set up their government protection schemes for journalists and specialised prosecutors to investigate attacks against them, these institutions have generally proved ineffective.

Resourcing is always an issue: typically, protection mechanisms and prosecutors’ offices are underfunded and the staff are poorly trained. Some bodies have limited mandates, such as protection mechanisms that lack the power to investigate attacks on journalists. Sometimes, these failings are believed to be deliberate. According to Padgett, the Mexican journalist protection scheme has “political biases against those whom officials consider to be hostile to the regime”.

Indeed, many journalists and support groups suspect the Mexican and Honduran governments don’t really want these institutions to work. As the pro-democracy judge Guillermo López Lone commented about the repeated failure to secure convictions for crimes against journalists and human rights defenders in Honduras: “These are international commitments [made] due to pressure, but there is no political will.”

López Lone, who was illegally removed from his position after the 2009 coup in Honduras and only reinstated as a judge after a years-long struggle, including a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, alleged that these institutions “play a merely formal role” in Honduras, because they have been “captured by the political interests of the current rulers, and by criminal networks”.

Similarly, according to Sara Mendiola, director of Mexico City-based NGO Propuesta Cívica, it’s not enough to talk about a lack of resources or training: “Even if you doubled the [state] prosecutors’ offices’ budgets, you’d still have the same impunity because the structures [that generate impunity] remain.”

Activism is a risky business

It’s clear that in both Mexico and Honduras, despite the governments’ stated commitment to freedom of expression, there is a deep-seated ambivalence about how important or desirable it is to protect journalists and media freedom.

The heart of this issue is the contradiction of the state as both protector and perpetrator – a state that does not want to, or is incapable of, constraining or investigating itself and its allies. This in turn is linked to longstanding structural problems of corruption, impunity and human rights violations, and a legacy of controlling the media dating to pre-democracy days.

Activism by journalists against this situation – another form of self-protection – takes various forms, including public protests and advocacy, and working for and setting up NGOs that support colleagues at risk. Increasingly, activism also involves the coming together of those who are the victims of violence.

In Mexico City, groups of journalists displaced from their homes by threats and attacks, many of whom end up without a job or income, have formed collectives and networks to provide mutual support and assist colleagues in similar circumstances. In Veracruz state, the Network in Memory of and Struggle for Killed and Disappeared Journalists was formed by the relatives of the many such journalists in 2022.

But activism is a risky business in Mexico and Honduras, opening journalists and their loved ones up to further repression and attacks by the state – and sometimes raising questions about their impartiality and credibility. While many journalists have taken part in activism out of necessity or desperation, in both countries their main source of optimism in the face of violence and impunity is journalism itself.

Journalism as the solution

Fortunately, journalists like Padgett don’t give up easily. After an eight-month hiatus following the attack in Cuitzeo and its aftermath, he now feels ready to go back to reporting.

Although he succeeded in getting the shelved investigation into the 2017 attack on him and subsequent data leak reopened, the lack of any action since means he’s decided to draw a line under this labyrinthine process. He is now looking for “alternative means of justice to compensate for the impunity”.

As a part of the reparations, he has been promised a formal apology from the Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office (similar to the apology received by Cacho). Such a ceremony is not justice and may largely be symbolic, but Padgett feels it will allow him to move on and focus on journalism again – this time as a freelancer. He is keen to make the point that Mexico remains “an extraordinary place to be a reporter”.

Despite the lack of state protection and all the other challenges, journalists like Padgett and Funes are determined to keep going – investigating their countries’ ills, probing the root causes, transforming their profession. Their commitment offers a ray of hope for the emergence of a truly free and independent media in Mexico, Honduras and beyond.

For you: more from our Insights series:
To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. Subscribe to our newsletter.

This article draws on research which was funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Tamsin Mitchell’s new book, Human Rights, Impunity and Anti-Press Violence: How Journalists Survive and Resist, is published by Routledge.

– ref. How state agents target journalists while governments claim to protect them – stark warnings from Mexico and Honduras – https://theconversation.com/how-state-agents-target-journalists-while-governments-claim-to-protect-them-stark-warnings-from-mexico-and-honduras-255549
MIL OSI – Global Reports –
May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: President Costa to head to Barcelona on 5-6 May 2025 to highlight Europe’s industrial and innovation efforts

Source: Council of the European Union

The President of the European Council, António Costa, will travel to Barcelona, Spain on 5 and 6 May 2025 to meet with regional leaders and visit key industrial and research infrastructures in the areas of the automotive sector, artificial intelligence and innovation.

MIL OSI Europe News –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI: Municipality Finance issues a EUR 50 million tap under its MTN programme

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Municipality Finance Plc
Stock exchange release
2 May 2025 at 11:00 am (EEST)

Municipality Finance issues a EUR 50 million tap under its MTN programme

On 5 May 2025 Municipality Finance Plc issues a new tranche in an amount of EUR 50 million to an existing benchmark issued on 29 August 2024. With the new tranche, the aggregate nominal amount of the benchmark is EUR 1.150 billion. The maturity date of the benchmark is 29 August 2029. The benchmark bears interest at a fixed rate of 2.500 % per annum.

The new tranche is issued under MuniFin’s EUR 50 billion programme for the issuance of debt instruments. The offering circular, the supplemental offering circular and final terms of the notes are available in English on the company’s website at https://www.kuntarahoitus.fi/en/for-investors.

MuniFin has applied for the new tranche to be admitted to trading on the Helsinki Stock Exchange maintained by Nasdaq Helsinki. The public trading is expected to commence on 5 May 2025. The existing notes in the series are admitted to trading on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

NatWest Markets N.V acts as the Dealer for the issue of the new tranche.

MUNICIPALITY FINANCE PLC

Further information:

Joakim Holmström
Executive Vice President, Capital Markets and Sustainability
tel. +358 50 444 3638

MuniFin (Municipality Finance Plc) is one of Finland’s largest credit institutions. The owners of the company include Finnish municipalities, the public sector pension fund Keva and the State of Finland. The Group’s balance sheet is over EUR 53 billion.

MuniFin builds a better and more sustainable future with its customers. Our customers include municipalities, joint municipal authorities, wellbeing services counties, joint county authorities, corporate entities under the control of the above-mentioned organisations, and affordable social housing. Lending is used for environmentally and socially responsible investment targets such as public transportation, sustainable buildings, hospitals and healthcare centres, schools and day care centres, and homes for people with special needs.

MuniFin’s customers are domestic but the company operates in a completely global business environment. The company is an active Finnish bond issuer in international capital markets and the first Finnish green and social bond issuer. The funding is exclusively guaranteed by the Municipal Guarantee Board.

Read more: https://www.kuntarahoitus.fi/en/

Important Information

The information contained herein is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in or into any such country or jurisdiction or otherwise in such circumstances in which the release, publication or distribution would be unlawful. The information contained herein does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, any securities or other financial instruments in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

This communication does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The notes have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) or under the applicable securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons except pursuant to an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act.

The MIL Network –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI: xSuite Asia Invites Customers to the 2025 User Conference in Singapore
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Under the Theme “One Team. One Journey,” the Software Provider Showcases Innovations and Solutions for the Finance Sector

Singapore, May 2, 2025 – xSuite Asia invites users to join the 2025 User Conference, taking place on May 29 in Singapore, for an in-depth look at future-ready technologies. The one-day event will focus on today’s most critical topics for IT and finance professionals: artificial intelligence, invoice processing, SAP S/4HANA, cloud computing, and SAP Clean Core strategies.

A highlight of the agenda will be a customer keynote presenting real-world insights into the deployment of xSuite’s automated invoice processing solution. Attendees will learn about the initial project setup, the challenges that were addressed, and the measurable outcomes that have been achieved.

Finance Technology with a Forward Focus
Technologies like cloud platforms and AI are creating new possibilities in financial operations—and development is accelerating. At the conference, xSuite will present its latest product innovations and roadmap, while also exploring emerging technology trends shaping the future of finance.

Key Focus Areas
1. Deep Dive Artificial Intelligence: xSuite’s Prediction Server delivers AI-powered support for invoice processing in SAP environments. This session will highlight how AI is expanding its capabilities across additional finance workflows, and how Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming document recognition and data extraction.

2. Deep Dive SAP S/4HANA and Cloud: As many organizations are progressing with or preparing for their SAP S/4HANA migration, aligning with SAP’s Clean Core strategy is essential—even in Private Cloud environments—to prevent future technical debt. Participants will explore xSuite’s solution architecture, including SAP-integrated Business Solutions 6.0 and offerings built on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP).

Networking and Strategic Discussions
The event will conclude with networking opportunities and discussions around customer requirements, xSuite’s role as a premium partner, and best practices for implementing successful digital transformation projects.

Event Details:
xSuite User Conference
Date: May 29, 2025
Location: Oasia Hotel Downtown, 100 Peck Seah Street, Singapore 079333
Time: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
More information and registration: https://news.xsuite.com/en/user-conference-2025-singapore

About xSuite Group

xSuite is a software manufacturer of applications for document-based processes and provides standardized, digital solutions worldwide that enable simple, secure, and fast work. We focus mainly on the automation of important work processes in conjunction with end-to-end document management. Our core competence lies in accounts payable (AP) automation in SAP (including
e-invoicing), for leading companies worldwide, as well as for public clients. This is supplemented by applications for purchasing and order processes as well as archiving – all delivered from a single source, including both software components and services. xSuite solutions operate in the cloud or in hybrid scenarios. We take pride in the high-quality solutions we offer, as evidenced by the regular certifications we receive for our SAP solutions and deployment environments.” With over 300,000 users benefitting from our solutions, xSuite processes more than 80 million documents per year in over 60 countries.

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Ahrensburg, Germany, xSuite has around 300 staff across nine locations worldwide – in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Our company has an established information security management system that is certified in accordance with ISO 27001:2022.

Contact:
Barbara Wirtz
xSuite Group GmbH
Marketing & PR
Tel. +49 (0)4102/88 38 36
barbara.wirtz@xsuite.com
www.xsuite.com

Attachment
- xSuite-User-Conference-2025-Singapore
The MIL Network –
May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI: WTW Strengthens Middle East Capabilities with Al-Futtaim Willis change

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, May 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company, today announced a change in the ownership of its longstanding joint venture, United Arab Emirates (UAE) based Al-Futtaim Willis (AFW). Al-Futtaim’s decision to sell their 51% stake in the joint venture will enable WTW to wholly manage the AFW business when regulatory approvals are received.

Pamela Thomson-Hall, Head of International at WTW, said: “We are fortunate to have enjoyed a prosperous relationship with Al-Futtaim spanning nearly 50 years, for which we are very thankful. WTW’s investment strategy remains acutely focused on investing strategically to optimize the company’s portfolio globally and pursue scaled and high-growth broking businesses. Our ability to wholly manage our businesses in Dubai and Bahrain on a go-forward basis will further strengthen this strategy and enable us to provide clients in the UAE and the wider region improved access to our specialist expertise and global placement capabilities. It also enhances our ability to serve our global benefit management clients through a more consistent delivery approach.”

Head of WTW CEEMEA, Eleni Lykoudi, commented: “Having worked with Al-Futtaim for half a century, our two companies will remain trusted friends and partners, and we look forward to many more years of working together in the future. This change in ownership structure complements WTW’s recent investments in the neighboring Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the company recently established insurance and reinsurance broking entities. The integration of AFW will allow our local, regional, and global clients to access WTW’s entire portfolio, enhancing our value proposition in the market. All of this speaks to WTW’s commitment to invest in the Middle East and our enhanced client service offering in the region.”

On behalf of Al-Futtaim, Omer Elamin said: “We are proud of the strong and successful relationship we have built with WTW over nearly five decades. As we amicably conclude this chapter of our partnership, we remain committed to maintaining the professionalism and spirit of collaboration that have defined our journey together and we look forward to the future possibilities that may arise from this mutual understanding.”

This transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second half of 2025.

About WTW
At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organizations sharpen their strategy, enhance organizational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximize performance. Working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success—and provide perspective that moves you. Learn more at www.wtwco.com

About Al-Futtaim
Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Structured into five operating divisions—automotive, financial services, real estate, retail, and health—Al-Futtaim employs more than 33,000 people across over 18 countries in the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa. Its portfolio includes partnerships with over 200 of the world’s most renowned and innovative brands.

Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and a steadfast commitment to meeting customer needs, Al-Futtaim continues to grow and evolve, aligning with the changing demands of the communities it serves. Anchored by its core values of respect, excellence, collaboration, and integrity, Al-Futtaim consistently enriches the lives and aspirations of its customers.

For more information, visit: www.alfuttaim.com

Media Contacts

Jamie Kilduff – Jamie.kilduff@wtwco.com

Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah – Emmanuel.ofosu-appiah@edelmansmithfield.com

Forward Looking Disclaimer

This document contains ‘forward-looking statements’ within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created by those laws. You can identify these statements and other forward-looking statements by words such as ‘may’, ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘commit’, ‘anticipate’, ‘believe’, ‘estimate’, ‘expect’, ‘intend’, ‘plan’, ‘future’, or similar words, expressions or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, strategic plans and the future of our business, receipt of regulatory approvals and other statements that are not historical facts. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the Company’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking disclosure is speculative by its nature.

There are important risks, uncertainties, events and factors that could cause our actual results or performance to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements contained in this document, including, but not limited to those described under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s most recent 10-K filing and subsequent filings filed with the SEC. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive, and new factors may emerge from time to time that could also affect actual performance and results. Although we believe that the assumptions underlying our forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of these assumptions, and therefore also the forward-looking statements based on these assumptions, could themselves prove to be inaccurate. Given the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included in this document, our inclusion of this information is not a representation or guarantee by us that our objectives and plans will be achieved. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and we will not update these forward-looking statements unless the securities laws require us to do so. With regard to these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this document may not occur, and we caution you against unduly relying on these forward-looking statements.

The MIL Network –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Darryl Chan: Global outlook – unlocking market potential through financial connectivity
Source: Bank for International Settlements

Mr Peng Yang (CEO, Ant International), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

Good morning. To those of you who have travelled from far and wide, a very warm welcome to Hong Kong!

It gives me great pleasure to join you today for MO·MENTS 2025 organised by Ant International. This is a great gathering of forward-looking, innovative people who bring and share remarkable expertise, experience and ideas to shape the future of payments. Indeed, payments is shaping the future of finance by unlocking the many possibilities and immense potential.

The theme of this event is global connectivity.  In my discussion today, I will share with you the exciting journey Hong Kong is going through to promote connectivity in the payments space, both locally and globally.  Our objective is to achieve cheaper, faster, more transparent, and more accessible payment services.  Before going global, we started with local. There were two starting points: stored value facilities (or SVF in short) and faster payment system, or FPS.

In 2015, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) introduced a regime to regulate SVF operators who take the form of e-wallets or prepaid cards.  Today we have a robust SVF ecosystem of 15 operators. These operators serve a wide range of institutional and retail customers from mass market to more niched segments. In less than a decade, the number of SVF accounts have doubled, from around 40 million in end 2016 to 80 million in end 2024; and the total number of transactions has grown by almost 60%, from around 15 million per day in Q4 2016 to 24 million in Q4 2024.

The FPS is another success story.  Launched in 2018, it is a platform that supports full connectivity among banks and SVFs.  It provides real-time, 24×7 interbank transfers with just a few clicks on mobile devices.  Since its launch, FPS has experienced phenomenal growth.  It now has 16.4 million registrations in total, on the back of a local population of 7.5 million.

The SVF and FPS, working individually or in combination, provide a powerful tool that facilitates cheaper, faster payments and enhances user experience.  They promote not just financial inclusion but also the growth of e-commerce.

The use of SVF and FPS goes beyond Hong Kong.  For example, Hong Kong e-wallets can now be used at over 30 million merchants in Mainland China. Between 2021 and 2024, the number of cross-border transactions in the Mainland has grown by almost 50 times.

In the case of FPS, in 2023 the HKMA joined hands with the Bank of Thailand to link up FPS and Thailand’s PromptPay, enabling cross-border QR payments between the two jurisdictions.  Meanwhile, we are working closely with the People’s Bank of China to connect FPS with the Mainland’s Internet Banking Payment System.  Our plan is to formally roll out the link by the middle of this year.  Looking ahead, we are also exploring the possibility of further expanding the linkage of FPS with other fast payment systems in the region.

There is enough to keep us busy just by enhancing the interoperability and connectivity of the existing payment systems and networks. Yet we are keenly aware of the need to keep taps on developments that bring new dimensions to the form and functioning of money. Here I am referring to the emergence of central bank digital currency or CBDC, tokenised bank deposits, and stablecoins.

In terms of CBDC, our flagship project mBridge achieved the minimum viable product stage in 2024. It is a seamless cross-border wholesale CBDC platform co-founded by the HKMA and several other central banks. Supported by a comprehensive legal framework and a fit-for-purpose governance structure, the platform seeks to address the typical pain points in cross-border payments by enhancing efficiency and reducing costs through central bank digital money. Going forward, the project will continue to expand the participation of public and private institutions with a view to achieving greater network effect.

We also leverage on our CBDC research to support the development of the tokenisation market. Last year, the HKMA initiated Project Ensemble and established an Architecture Community to develop common industry standards that support interoperability between CBDC, tokenised money and tokenised assets. In August, we launched the Ensemble Sandbox, working with our securities regulator and the private sector to explore and experiment with tokenisation of financial assets and real-world assets. Currently, the use cases cover liquidity management, supply chain finance, green finance, and investment funds. We are pleased that Ant Group is an active participant of the Sandbox. Project Ensemble also goes beyond Hong Kong. We are partnering with other central banks including Thailand, Brazil and France to explore cross-border tokenisation use cases.

On stablecoin, we are in the final stage of passing the law that empowers the HKMA to license and supervise stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong. Together with other regulatory efforts governing the exchange, trading and custody of crypto assets, the stablecoin licensing regime is an important element to nurture a responsible and sustainable crypto ecosystem in Hong Kong.

Running in parallel to the legislative process, a stablecoin sandbox was set up last year to provide a controlled environment for potential issuers to test the various features and controls of their proposed schemes, as well as their use cases that cover supply chain, capital market activities, cross-border payments, and Web3.0 applications. The sandbox also enables the HKMA team to gain insights that inform the formulation of specific regulatory requirements and ensure they are fit-for-purpose.

Ladies and gentlemen, the payments industry has seen exponential growth in recent years and we should expect the momentum to sustain-if we do the right things. On this, I don’t think people in this room need to be convinced. Let me share some thoughts on how to capture those opportunities.

First is to make good use of technology. Technology is the key driver in this growth story and it keeps pushing the possibility frontier. Just imagine the potential of combining the ever growing computing power, artificial intelligence (A.I.), machine learning and big data.

What technology can deliver is amazing:
- in terms of making payment so much easier through one-click payment or voice-automated payments;
- in terms of capturing new customer demands such as buy-now-pay later or subscription payments; and
- in terms of tailoring payment service to the needs of individual customers.
What we need is to stretch our imagination and be innovative.

In the process, one thing we always need to bear in mind is the fundamental value proposition of payment services-how payments can be made easier, faster, cheaper, and equally important, more accessible. It is therefore heartening that we have a session today dedicated to inclusive growth.

Technology is a double-edged sword. One increasingly troubling aspect related to banking and payments is the prevalence of fraud and scams. In Hong Kong, more than 44,000 deception cases were reported last year, an increase of close to 12% year-on-year. In a way we are victim of our own success by making payments much faster and more convenient. This has now become one of the top challenges facing financial regulators across jurisdictions. If unchecked, it will seriously undermine public confidence in the safety of the banking and payments sector, not to mention the issue of how to apportion the loss.

The HKMA and the banking and payments industries have therefore been in close collaboration with law enforcement agencies to raise public awareness, share intelligence and good practices, and use Scameter data to alert potentially at-risk customers. This is a never ending battle, and technology can help address the risk. We look forward to payments operators leveraging A.I. and machine learning in fraud detection and prevention of money laundering. We at the HKMA stand ready to work with the industry in testing and deploying such technology.

My second point is about collaboration. Deglobalisation, reglobalisation, fragmentation-it may take on different names or different forms, but one thing is for sure, the global economy is entering uncharted waters, in search of the more stable state when the dust gets a little settled.

For an industry like payments that thrives on interoperability and connectivity, this is not good news. But the reshaping of the global economic order and the realignment of global supply chain can also mean new business opportunities for the payments sector:
- think about the possible shifts, within a relatively short timeframe, in trade patterns and trade flows;
- think about new relationships to be established between buyers and suppliers; and
- think about the new payment corridors across countries and regions that may involve more local currencies.
These changes call for more timely, in-depth collaboration between different players in the payments space to better support customers. And as long as payments remains a regulated space, we also need cross-border collaboration in the official sector, either through system linkage or policy coordination, to make this happen.

If I may quickly turn to my third point, which is the significance of operational resilience. With increased connectivity and collaboration, system outage or cyber incidents will have much pronounced consequences. It is crucial therefore, that operational resilience is a core objective and KPI. And always have a contingency plan ready should anything untoward happen.

Ladies and gentlemen, as we look to the future, we need to be resilient, be agile, embrace technology, and, most importantly, remain customer-centric. This should be the winning formula to unlock market potentials and promote a more efficient and inclusive financial ecosystem.

With that, I wish the event a great success. Thank you very much.
MIL OSI Economics –
May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Denis Beau: Our payment system at a time of geopolitical risks
Source: Bank for International Settlements

Slides accompanying the speech

[Slide 1 Cover slide]

The payments sector has undergone significant changes in recent decades, driven by digitalisation and the rise of new technologies. While the latter provide opportunities, they also bring risks, particularly in terms of financial stability and sovereignty. These risks have been amplified since the inauguration of the new US administration and the upheavals to the international order that its challenges to multilateralism and its deregulatory and protectionist policies could cause.

Against this backdrop of great uncertainty and the major shocks to the financial system since the start of the month, the financial authorities have an important role to play in fostering stability and trust among the players in the French and European economy and financial system. Accordingly, in addition to ensuring price stability, the objective of the Banque de France, in keeping with its monetary and financial stability mandates, is to help maintain stable access to financial services, particularly credit, and to encourage innovation and diversification. It also strives to ensure the smooth functioning of our economy and the infrastructures on which it relies, and especially our payment system.

In my presentation this morning, I would first like to review the main trends and challenges facing the European payments ecosystem, and then present the levers we are using at the Banque de France to ensure its efficient operation and the security of payment systems and payment means, and to help strengthen Europe’s sovereignty over its payment system.

[Slide 2 – I. Trends and challenges for payments in France and Europe]

I. The digitalisation of payments and its implications

A. Progress in technology is leading to the rapid digitalisation of the payments ecosystem

[Slide 3: A rapid payment digitalisation process]

For a little over a decade now, we have been witnessing a strong move towards digitalisation and the increasing use of electronic payment solutions, with an attendant decrease in the use of cash. Payment cards are now the most commonly used means of payment at the points of sale, accounting for more than 48% of transactions in France in 2024. Conversely, cash payments are gradually decreasing, falling to 43% of point-of-sale transactions in France in 2024, whereas they stood at 50% in 2022, and as high as 68% in 2016.

This trend accelerated even further with the rise of online shopping and the Covid pandemic. The share of e-commerce in the number of transactions thus doubled between 2019 and 2024 to reach a quarter of all transactions in France. At the same time, contactless payments and mobile payments have developed rapidly, with the aim of making payments increasingly seamless and almost invisible to consumers. This trend has been facilitated by the development of new technologies that have modernised payments, such as near-field communication (NFC) and QR codes, which have enabled the roll-out of contactless payments.

Against this backdrop, new players in payments have emerged, whose value added stems from technological innovation. These new players are now competing with traditional financial institutions such as banks. They include not only FinTechs but also “non-financial” players, namely telecom operators, technical service providers (specialising, for example, in the tokenisation of payment card data), and BigTechs, in particular the American GAFAMs – ApplePay, GooglePay – which dominate the mobile payments market. They also include Chinese and Korean platforms such as AliPay and WeChatPay.

The growth in the tokenisation of financial instruments, driven by the use of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) such as blockchain, represents a significant opportunity for our markets. Significant benefits are expected: faster exchanges, lower operating costs and greater transparency of transactions. However, this trend is now going hand in hand with a plethora of uncoordinated DLT initiatives, giving rise to the emergence of new private settlement assets, most notably stablecoins. These initiatives are largely controlled by non-European players and mechanisms, whose reference currency is the dollar.

B. The challenges raised by changes in the payments landscape

[Slide 4: Issues and challenges posed by the digitalisation of the European payments system]

While the digitalisation of payment means has delivered many benefits, in particular by enabling simpler, faster, more convenient and more secure payments, it also poses challenges.

The decline in the use of cash raises questions about the sustainability of some of its characteristics, particularly confidentiality, universal acceptance and accessibility, which are not currently available in the digital sphere. Furthermore, the increase in the use of digital payments raises questions about the role of central bank money, as opposed to commercial money used for card payments, even though central bank money plays a key role in anchoring confidence in our monetary system.

Furthermore, expanding the use of digital solutions has steadily upped our reliance on non-European entities (particularly from the United States and China), which already leverage significant network effects, thanks notably to their ability to harness extensive datasets and customer bases. They also control a number of widely used proprietary standards (Visa, Mastercard). Beyond the question of operational resilience, this situation raises concerns over competition, strategic autonomy and data protection. With the emergence of these international players, European payment solutions appear highly fragmented and their market share has been eroding.¹

The growing digitalisation of payments also represents a challenge to maintain a high level of payment security. Fraud schemes are becoming increasingly complex, involving the manipulation of payers and the circumvention of the strong authentication mechanisms put in place to ensure the security of digital payments in Europe. In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) is a double-edged sword.

AI amplifies cyber risk and, in payments, it can considerably facilitate payment scams, for example through deepfakes. But this technology can also become an invaluable ally in the fight against fraud, by enabling fraud schemes to be more rapidly and effectively identified. Against this backdrop, integrating AI into anti-fraud models could help to improve the security of the digital payment means available to the public.

It should also be noted that digitalisation could extend to financial assets, through tokenisation, although at present there are no suitable and really secure payment solutions available for these financial transactions. Therefore, without a central bank money-based payment solution for these “wholesale” transactions, private non-European solutions could become dominant, in particular stablecoins. However, almost all stablecoins are currently pegged to the dollar, and their issuance in the United States is not currently subject to any protective federal regulatory framework. If the tokenisation of financial assets were to gather pace, the lack of a central bank money payment solution in euro might therefore threaten the role of central bank money as the anchor of the euro area’s monetary architecture, with concrete adverse consequences: an increase in counterparty and liquidity risks, increased fragmentation of settlement, and ultimately a loss of sovereignty and a weakening of financial stability.

In this context, the recent positions adopted by the new US administration, and in particular the adoption on 23 January of an Executive order, are likely to amplify these risks as this Executive Order (i) prohibits all work related to the development of a new form of central bank money compatible with technological changes, (ii) promotes the development of dollar-backed stablecoins, and (iii) encourages citizens and businesses to use public blockchains. This new political direction reinforces the need for Europe to preserve its monetary sovereignty, which means developing its payment sovereignty.

II. To meet these challenges, the Banque de France is using several additional levers for action

[Slide 5: Transition – Two additional responses: regulation/support and innovation.]

A. Adapting regulatory frameworks and supporting innovation within a framework of trust

[Slide 6: Adapting regulatory frameworks at national and international level]

First and foremost, the Banque de France promotes clear, standardised and balanced regulatory frameworks that allow innovation to flourish within a framework of trust conducive to their sustainable deployment. It therefore supports and contributes to the development of frameworks that aim to:
- Maintain a level playing field between players. For example, this has made it possible for operators other than Apple to have access to NFC antennae on iPhones at the European level to promote better competition.
- Adapt to technological progress to support the development of new players, while ensuring they are adequately regulated, based on the principle of “same activity, same risk, same regulation”. This approach has guided the deployment of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which standardises the rules applicable to crypto-asset service providers, enabling them to develop their business while ensuring that risks to users and the financial system are properly managed.
- Protect consumers. This was, for example, the aim of the second European Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which introduced “strong customer authentication” (SCA) for more secure payments. The Instant Payment Regulation (IPR) follows the same logic, requiring payment service providers (PSPs) to deploy fraud protection measures (e.g. checking the name of the beneficiary against the IBAN) to ensure the orderly development of instant payments.
[Slide 7: Strengthening the security of means of payment]

As part of its statutory mission, which includes ensuring the security of means of payment, the Banque de France supports innovation by ensuring that it does not jeopardise the security of payment methods. The following tasks are performed within the framework of the Observatory for the Security of Payment Means (OSMP).
- Communication campaigns targeting the general public, such as “never give out your data”, carried by various audio-visual media and radio, and aiming to raise awareness of the personal nature of passwords in particular,
- Initiatives aimed at boosting cooperation with data protection, cybersecurity and telecommunications authorities to limit fraud as much as possible.
[Slide 8: Promoting innovation by supporting private initiatives]

Support for innovation also seeks to ensure that private initiatives help to strengthen European sovereignty over the euro payment system:
- At the national level, this support aims to consolidate the position of high-performance French payment solutions, such as the Groupement carte bancaire (CB bank card group), which has been allocated specific support within the framework of the new national retail payments strategy for 2025-30, implemented by the National Payments Committee (CNMP) last October.
- At the European level, pan-European solutions, such as the European Payments Initiative (EPI), are strongly supported. EPI launched the ‘Wero’ digital payment wallet for consumers last autumn, providing instant payments across five European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). This initiative with pan-European ambition aims to promote competition and strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy in retail payments.
B. The provision of new central bank money services to preserve the key role of central bank money in a digitalised world

Alongside regulating and supporting private initiatives, the Banque de France is making a strong and decisive contribution to the Eurosystem’s work on developing its services through the creation of a central bank digital currency for both retail and wholesale transactions. This work has become more strategically important in terms of ensuring European sovereignty over its payment system since the policy shift initiated by the new US administration that I referred to a few minutes ago.

[Slide 9: Innovating with the digital euro: a European payment solution]

1. The digital euro

Given the strong dependence on American payment solutions and networks, the Banque de France thus supports and participates fully in the digital euro project spearheaded by the Eurosystem, which will constitute a public alternative, preserving the freedom to choose means of payment, sovereignty and competition in the euro area.

The digital euro aims to provide everyone with the possibility to use a ‘digital banknote’ in the digital payments sphere that incorporates the main features of a ‘physical’ banknote. Its off-line mechanism will provide a cash-like level of privacy and will be a guarantee of resilience. It will be free of charge for individuals. Its characteristics will foster digital financial inclusion, including for people without bank accounts or smartphones. It will also be a new form of public money, which will safeguard the anchoring role of central bank money and trust in our single currency.

The digital euro also aims to strengthen European integration and strategic autonomy in payments thanks to the legal tender status it would be given, making it usable anywhere and in any circumstances within the euro area. It will also be based on open and harmonised standards, which private payment solutions such as Wero will be able to use to expand their reach. In this way, the digital euro aims to foster the development of private solutions under European governance, which can be used across the euro area, whereas most solutions are currently restricted to certain countries or use cases.

The Eurosystem is currently in a preparation phase that will last until the end of 2025. At the same time, a democratic debate is taking place at the European level to define, by means of legislation, the conditions in which the digital euro may be used. A decision on issuance can be taken once this legislation has been approved by the European Parliament and the Council.

[Slide 10: From Wholesale CBDC to a shared European ledger]

2. Wholesale central bank digital currency

With the development of tokenised assets, the Banque de France is also firmly committed to providing a payment solution in central bank money that includes making it available in tokenised form, in other words, a “wholesale CBDC”.

The Banque de France has been resolutely committed to this solution since 2020, playing a pioneering role at the European level in an experimental programme conducted between 2020 and 2022, in partnership with various private and institutional sector players. This work, which allowed the Banque de France to develop and test its own blockchain (DL3S), was followed by that of the Eurosystem in 2024. This was used to test three solutions for settling tokenised assets in central bank currency through around 40 or so experiments.

Drawing on the lessons learned from these experiments and their confirmation of a demand for adapting central bank money services, in February 2025, the ECB Governing Council decided to quickly make available a settlement service in CB money adapted for tokenised assets, which will include money in token form, i.e. a “wholesale” CB digital currency.

This decision also paves the way for discussions on building a European shared ledger that could be used to adapt European payment infrastructures to the digital era to ensure sovereignty. By providing a credible alternative to non-European solutions, based on a standardised legal and regulatory framework, a European shared ledger could support financial integration within the EU and help strengthen the resilience and attractiveness of our financial market.

Conclusion : As a central bank tasked with safeguarding monetary and financial stability, and notably the security and efficiency of payment systems and means of payment for the euro, the Banque de France is fully committed to monitoring, understanding and supporting the major transformations currently taking place in the payments landscape. These transformations have recently assumed major strategic importance for the monetary sovereignty of euro area countries, necessitating the mobilisation of all the European players concerned to respond in an appropriate and adequate manner. This involves developing secure, efficient public and private pan-European payment solutions that contribute to European sovereignty over its payment system. As both supervisor and provider of central bank money services, we are determined to play our part.

[Slide 11: Thank you for your attention]
MIL OSI Economics –
May 2, 2025

MIL-OSI: Suspension is lifted

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Lysaker, 2 May 2025

Yesterday’s suspension from the live trading on Nasdaq Copenhagen is now liftet on behalf of the below funds, and the share classes will resume trading today on 2 May.

Regards

Storebrand Asset Management AS

Contacts:

Henrik Budde Gantzel, Director, henrik.budde.gantzel@storebrand.no

Frode Aasen, Product Manager, fdc@storebrand.com

Fund name and share class	Symbol	ISIN
SKAGEN Focus A	SKIFOA	NO0010735129
SKAGEN Global A	SKIGLO	NO0008004009
SKAGEN Kon-Tiki A	SKIKON	NO0010140502
SKAGEN m2 A	SKIM2	NO0010657356
SKAGEN Vekst A	SKIVEK	NO0008000445
Storebrand Indeks – Alle Markeder A5	STIIAM	NO0010841588
Storebrand Indeks – Nye Markeder A5	STIINM	NO0010841570
Storebrand Global Plus A5	STIGEP	NO0010841604
Storebrand Global Solutions A5	STIGS	NO0010841612
Storebrand Global Multifactor A5	STIGM	NO0010841596

Storebrand is Norway’s largest private asset manager with an AuM of around DKK 900 billion, and a leading Nordic provider of sustainable pensions and savings. The company has been a global pioneer in ESG investing for over 30 years, offering broad and scalable solutions for both institutional and private investors in the Nordic region and other European countries. In Denmark, Storebrand delivers sustainable investment solutions and client value through a multi-boutique platform, with the brands Storebrand Funds, SKAGEN Funds, Cubera Private Equity, Capital Investment and a majority ownership of AIP.

The MIL Network –

May 2, 2025

MIL-OSI: EXA Infrastructure selects Nokia to expand international connectivity network capabilities
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Press Release
EXA Infrastructure selects Nokia to expand international connectivity network capabilities
- EXA Infrastructure’s modernized network will support data center connectivity with significantly lower cost and power per bit to keep up with demand in the AI era.
- Network capacity will increase by as much as 15% while reducing power and cost per bit by as much as 50%.
- The upgrade with Nokia’s 1830 Global Express (GX) platform and ICE7 coherent optics enables EXA Infrastructure to better deliver high-speed connectivity services to its customers.
2 May 2025
Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced that EXA Infrastructure has selected Nokia’s optical transport solution to expand its network capabilities to support customers’ demand for cost-effective connectivity, including between major data centers. The modernized 1.2T-per-channel network will offer enhanced high-capacity and low-latency data center connectivity services across EXA Infrastructure’s international network.

EXA Infrastructure, based in London, provides critical modern infrastructure that serves as the backbone for digital and economic growth. This includes mission-critical networks for governments and enterprises, hyperscale infrastructure, and ultra-low latency, high-bandwidth networks for data centers. EXA Infrastructure owns 155,000 km of fiber network across 37 countries, including six transatlantic cables and the lowest-latency link between Europe and North America.

Following the success of an industry-first trial of the Nokia ICE7 solution in Europe, EXA Infrastructure selected the high-performance 1.2T coherent optical transport solution to upgrade its terrestrial network and deliver high-capacity services for its customers at the lowest cost and power per bit.

“Nokia’s 1830 GX solution with ICE7 coherent optics ensures a smooth transition from our existing ICE6-based infrastructure. The advanced performance of ICE7 will significantly enhance connectivity, empowering EXA Infrastructure’s global network to deliver robust services that keep pace with increasing bandwidth demands,” said Ciaran Delaney, Chief Operating Officer at EXA Infrastructure.

“Driving down power consumption per bit is not just important from a sustainability point of view, but is also essential if providers are to meet spiraling connectivity needs, because power requirements are a potential limiting factor to data center growth. Nokia’s industry-leading solutions ensure networks are not just keeping pace but staying ahead in the race to meet surging bandwidth demands,” said James Watt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Optical Networks at Nokia.

Multimedia, technical information and related news
Product Page: ICE7 1.2Tb/s high-performance coherent optics

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

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

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

Media inquiries
Nokia Press Office
Email: Press.Services@nokia.com

Follow us on social media
LinkedIn X Instagram Facebook YouTube

The MIL Network –
May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Adnan Zaylani Mohamad Zahid: Next-generation fintech ecosystem – harnessing the full potential of innovation
Source: Bank for International Settlements

It is a privilege to be here at Money 20/20 Asia, joining these conversations and discussing the evolving roles of fintech and financial innovation in redefining the future of finance. It also gives me the opportunity to share some perspectives from Malaysia as well as what we gathered from ASEAN meetings that took place in recent weeks. We have only just come out of a series of ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ meetings held in Kuala Lumpur that focused much on sustainability, climate, and inclusion or well-being, certainly areas of great interest for fintech and financial innovation.

Indeed, if we look at the past decade, the financial sector has experienced significant advancements in this space, and at the same time, the ASEAN region has emerged as a key player. Propelled by the digital revolution and evolving consumer expectations, technology has rapidly transformed financial services, unlocking new opportunities for inclusion, resilience and efficiency. Today, ASEAN stands as one of the world’s most dynamic regions with a GDP size of US$3.8 trillion¹ and a population of more than 650 million. It is also becoming a vibrant fintech landscape that fuels economic activity with improving financial access for millions. The region’s fintech sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of uneven global funding trends, achieving a more than tenfold increase in fintech funding over the last decade.² This surge in fintech activity has not only spurred growth in sectors like payments and alternative lending, enhancing financial inclusion, but also played a pivotal role in facilitating regional trade and investment across ASEAN.

Progress does not come by chance. As a region, ASEAN has come together under the ASEAN Economic Community, aimed at fostering economic and financial advancements. Under Malaysia’s chairmanship this year, for example, we have committed focus towards catalysing financing for climate resilient and a just transition, accelerating growth of our regional capital markets and fostering inclusive instant payment connectivity in ASEAN. We have also committed to greater collaboration and strengthening integration, as a key strategy and mitigation in dealing with rising geopolitical and economic uncertainties.

Looking ahead, the financial sector will need to play a critical role in supporting ASEAN’s continued economic integration and social advancement. The region is projected to need over USD3 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2040³ to sustain growth and improve living standards. Meeting these demands – while also addressing climate goals, demographic shifts, and the digital economy – would require ASEAN’s financial ecosystem to be adaptive and future-ready. This means building a progressive financial sector that is not only resilient and inclusive, but also capable of harnessing the full potential of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, blockchain, and quantum computing, while managing attendant risks.

So, the question before us today is: how can we shape our financial ecosystem to further expand the frontiers of financing and meet our future needs as a region? Specifically, I believe this means strengthening the foundation for a collaborative environment that includes:
1. First, facilitative regulatory frameworks;
2. Second, fit-for-purpose ecosystem enablers; and
3. Third, responsible innovation by ecosystem players.
Allow me to share my reflections on these three aspects.

Regulators play a vital role in enabling innovation through safeguarding market integrity and public trust. A credible and trusted regulatory framework goes some way in supporting confidence in something new. And as technology rapidly evolves, regulatory approaches must be agile, forward-looking, and anchored on clear principles. To fully harness innovation, a balanced ecosystem with a blend of future-proof technologies, inclusive innovation pathways, and a thriving mix of players is essential. This will go beyond updating rules and regulations. It may even require more principle-based frameworks that can offer clarity and confidence to investors and consumers, a direction increasingly embraced by regulators across ASEAN.

In Malaysia, our regulatory philosophy is grounded by three key principles:
1. Parity, to ensure a level playing field for all market participants;
2. Proportionality, to calibrate regulatory rigour with the level of risk; and
3. Neutrality, to prioritise desirable outcomes while remaining agnostic to different technologies, systems and approaches.
This approach allows us to foster a regulatory environment that encourages responsible experimentation and healthy competition. At the same time, we remain alert to new and emerging risks – such as cyber threats, digital fraud, and data privacy concerns – which must be managed to ensure long-term resilience in the financial sector.

To support innovation while managing the associated risks, an effective tool that has been widely adopted by regulators globally and regionally is the Regulatory Sandbox. The Sandbox model helps innovators refine their solutions while regulators assess its potential risks. Malaysia was among the early adopters of the Regulatory Sandbox globally. Since its inception in 2016, the Sandbox has played a pivotal role in shaping Malaysia’s fintech ecosystem by facilitating innovations such as fully digital account openings, digital insurance and takaful models as well as cross-border remittance solutions. These experiments have informed the development of new frameworks, including the newly launched licensing application for Digital Insurers and Takaful Operators (DITO) aimed at promoting greater inclusion, competition, and efficiency in the insurance and takaful sectors.

Recognising the growing diversity of innovation, we recently refreshed the Sandbox initiative to introduce two distinct tracks:
1. A Standard Sandbox with a simplified eligibility assessment process to encourage broader participation; and
2. A Green Lane with an accelerated pathway for financial institutions with strong risk management capabilities, allowing them to test innovations more swiftly.
This was followed by a significant increase in the volume and diversity of innovations submitted, with a total of 11 Standard Sandbox and three Green Lane applications received in 2024. Certainly, affirming our perspective that regulators and regulations also need to be agile.

Looking ahead, we must also be prepared for transformative technologies on the horizon. These include not only AI and digital assets, but also more recent developments such as quantum computing. While at various stages of maturity, these technologies have the potential to further reshape the financial landscape and may require proportionate and appropriate regulatory responses that keep evolving alongside them.

But none of us can do this alone. The pervasive reach and global nature of these transformative technologies necessitate cross-border approaches. For example, further exploration of joint innovation use cases through cross-border sandboxes can facilitate collaborative experimentation and mutual learning, while a coordinated approach to supervisory oversight is important to ensure a more holistic understanding of risk and collective resilience across economies.

At the same time, the role of regulators needs to keep evolving. While mandates may remain, the delivery of such mandates in many cases now require whole-of-ecosystem approach, as regulators may need to collaborate more closely with other sectoral regulators or consider expanding the remit of its regulation when other parts in the supply chain can affect the performance of the mandates. A strong collaboration between regulators, industry players, and key stakeholders is also vital to fostering an ecosystem that is innovative and robust. By working together, we can build financial systems that not only embrace technology well but can channel it towards strengthening economic resilience and promoting long-term financial well-being.

The second pillar underpinning a future-ready financial system is the digital infrastructure. As digital finance becomes increasingly embedded in our everyday life, we must ensure that the right foundational enablers are in place. These include robust digital identity systems that facilitate secured access to financial services, interoperable payment networks that expand inclusion and reduce costs, and real-time fraud prevention capabilities that sustain public trust. Together, I believe these elements lay the foundation for innovative growth.

Across the globe, countries are at varying stages of developing capabilities for digital financial infrastructure. ASEAN is an active voice and proponent on this pursuit. In 2024, the region made notable strides in strengthening its digital financial infrastructure, focusing particularly on the payments sector. Efforts to enhance cross-border payments connectivity have gained significant momentum across the region, with many countries exploring real-time linkages and multi-currency settlements. Malaysia has been a contributor to this progress, establishing real-time QR payment linkages with Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia, alongside peer-to-peer (P2P) fund transfer capabilities with Singapore and Cambodia. Through these linkages, alongside other bilateral linkages within ASEAN and Asia, customers and businesses benefit from faster, cheaper and more seamless cross-border payments. Looking ahead, Project Nexus – a collaboration with the BIS Innovation Hub and central banks from Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and India, aims to create a multi-country instant payment network. This will allow users to send cross-border payments using proxies such as mobile phone numbers, reducing costs and promoting regional financial and economic integration.

The adoption of digital payments – particularly QR-based payments – has also grown significantly in ASEAN. With over 80 e-wallets in ASEAN linking 205 million users and 25 million merchants⁴, the region is experiencing a transformative shift towards a more digital economy. Malaysia is no exception. Our interoperable QR payment standard, DuitNow QR, has seen widespread adoption, with a 30% increase of QR acceptance points across Malaysia that has contributed to more than two-fold increase in QR transactions in 2024. This success reflects a concerted effort to build an open and efficient payment ecosystem. At the same time, safeguarding public trust remains a top priority. The launch of the National Fraud Portal – a collaboration between Bank Negara Malaysia and Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet), the country’s retail payment system operator – has equipped financial institutions with tools to detect, trace, and freeze suspicious transactions instantaneously. Such initiatives have empowered financial institutions, including our Islamic finance players, to develop more digital and innovative solutions, ensuring the financial sector remains secure.

Digital transformation is also unlocking unique opportunities to advance innovation in Islamic finance through value-based solutions. Globally, impact-driven finance is gaining traction as investors and institutions seek to better align financial activities with social and environmental outcomes. Islamic finance plays a crucial role in this shift, offering ethical and inclusive financial solutions grounded in principles of sustainability and social responsibility. In Southeast Asia, Islamic finance assets reached USD 859 billion or 17% of the global market in 2023, a growth of 11% from the previous year.⁵ Building on this momentum and leveraging on the Value-Based Intermediation (VBI) framework, Malaysia continues to support financial intermediation that promotes long-term positive impact. Since its inception in 2017, VBI-aligned initiatives have mobilised nearly RM650 billion (or USD140 billion) through various channels including social finance, impact-based lending, and sustainability-focused sukuk.

Complementing these efforts, the Islamic fintech sector in ASEAN has experienced rapid growth in recent years, driven by strong demand for Shariah-compliant financial solutions. As of 2024, Southeast Asia is home to 145 Islamic fintech startups, with Malaysia and Indonesia emerging as key hubs. The region accounted for approximately 13.7% of the global Islamic fintech market size in 2024. This growth is now evolving with the entry and expansion of full-fledged Islamic digital banks. In Malaysia, an Islamic digital bank launched its operations last year and another has been approved to commence operations earlier this year, offering Shariah-compliant savings, financing, and lifestyle services entirely via mobile. Similarly in Indonesia, digital Islamic banking is featured to serve the underserved and promote financial inclusion. This trend signals a broader transformation of the Islamic finance landscape in ASEAN – blending tradition with innovation to meet the evolving needs of Muslim consumers.

Ultimately, stronger regional integration will be a key to unlocking future growth, particularly within the ASEAN region. A well-developed financial ecosystem – comprising both conventional and Islamic finance, supported by digital readiness and progressive regulations – provides fertile ground for competition and innovation. Malaysia’s experience highlights how the right infrastructure and policy environment can empower institutions to build solutions that are not only technologically advanced but also socially meaningful. As we look to the future, the priority for regulators and industry alike is clear: to create a dynamic and inclusive financial sector – one that leverages innovation to strengthen resilience, promote prosperity, and leaves no one behind.

Innovation flourishes in a collaborative environment where creativity is encouraged, risks are well-managed, and failures are seen as learning opportunities. While regulators establish the foundation for a stable and well-functioning financial system, industry players – including incumbent financial institutions, technology firms, and agile startups – are the true driving force behind financial innovation. Across ASEAN, several financial providers have successfully expanded into areas such as digital payments, micro-lending, and insurance, leveraging their extensive customer networks to enhance financial access for the unserved and underserved such as gig economy workers and small businesses.

At the same time, growing collaborations between traditional financial institutions and fintech startups have led to innovative product offerings that blend conventional risk management expertise with the speed and adaptability of startups. However, as financial services evolve, these advancements have also introduced new challenges that must be carefully managed to ensure responsible and sustainable innovation.

Responsible innovation, the third aspect in strengthening our foundations, requires strong governance, sound risk management, and an unwavering commitment to market integrity. Industry leaders must ensure that technological advancements are supported by robust safeguards while continuously strengthening talent and technological capabilities. By doing so, we can welcome new ideas responsibly, challenge the status quo, and continuously seek better ways to serve our customers and communities.

One key area of focus is Open Finance, which aims to empower consumers by giving them greater control over their personal financial data in an increasingly interconnected financial ecosystem. The success of Open Finance relies on industry leadership in developing safe, responsible, and innovative products that maximise the benefits of data sharing while safeguarding consumer interests. By proactively shaping secure standards and building public confidence in an open ecosystem, financial players can unlock new opportunities for financial inclusion, efficiency and competition.

Beyond Open Finance, emerging technologies such as alternative credit scoring models and AI-driven lending solutions present significant potential to address longstanding challenges, particularly in bridging financing and protection gaps for underserved communities. Thoughtful product design, strategic partnerships, and improved accessibility will be key to ensuring that these innovations reach those who need them most while maintaining financial system integrity.

Ultimately, innovation should drive meaningful impact by fostering efficiency, financial inclusion, and economic resilience. However, success depends on two fundamental factors: accessibility and trust. It is crucial to bridge geographical, economic, and digital divides by integrating financial literacy into digital solutions to bring about real, positive change. While regulators will continue to promote financial literacy initiatives, it is equally important for innovators to embed educational elements into everyday financial interactions. Leveraging digital platforms, AI-driven advisory tools, and personalised financial solutions can empower individuals and businesses to navigate an increasingly digital economy – ensuring that innovation remains a force for good, benefiting society as a whole.

Let me conclude. As we navigate this era of rapid technological transformation, innovation must be both inclusive and purposeful. The advancements we witness today – whether in AI, digital assets, or payments – underscore the importance of a collective commitment to shaping a fintech ecosystem that is dynamic, resilient, and responsive to the real needs of businesses and communities.

At Bank Negara Malaysia, we believe that responsible innovation is best achieved through collaboration and co-creation – where key stakeholders are brought to the table early to jointly navigate trade-offs and shape practical solutions. Platforms such as the Regulatory Sandbox provide space for innovators to engage with regulators, test emerging technologies, and develop solutions that improve financial access and efficiency. On this, we actively support the exploration of innovative solutions that expand the frontiers of traditional finance in our Sandbox, including in the areas of AI, asset tokenisation, digital insurance, electronic Know-Your-Customer solutions and advanced income estimation models.

Key global gatherings such as this demonstrate the promise of collaboration in driving progress and innovation. Similarly, throughout this year, events across ASEAN will serve as important platforms for effective dialogue and partnership. In Malaysia, we seek to contribute to this exchange at the MyFintech Week 2025, happening on 4–7 August in Kuala Lumpur. This event, which we organise alongside other regulators and industry players, will bring together thought leaders, innovators, and policymakers in conversation to collectively shape the future of finance.

We will also have the 9th edition of the Global Islamic Finance Forum and the 2nd Impact Challenge Prize on 6–8 October 2025, aimed to sustain the momentum in advancing financial inclusion and impact-driven solutions by showcasing how Islamic finance can drive business progression while empowering societies. By blending ethical foundations with cutting-edge advancements, the event provides insight into the pathways to sustainable growth, fostering inclusivity, innovation and resilience.

Finally, as the ASEAN chairman this year, Malaysia looks forward to further advancing ASEAN’s aspirations in deepening regional financial integration and advancing a more connected, sustainable, and inclusive ASEAN financial ecosystem. We all here today have an invaluable role to play in seizing these opportunities, embracing partnerships and ensuring that innovation is grounded in trust, security, and inclusivity.

Together, we can shape a financial future that is progressive, resilient and forward-looking. Thank you.
MIL OSI Economics –
May 2, 2025

MIL-OSI: Shell Plc 1st Quarter 2025 Unaudited Results

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



SUMMARY OF UNAUDITED RESULTS
Quarters				$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024	%¹		Reference
4,780	928	7,358	+415	Income/(loss) attributable to Shell plc shareholders
5,577	3,661	7,734	+52	Adjusted Earnings	A
15,250	14,281	18,711	+7	Adjusted EBITDA	A
9,281	13,162	13,330	-29	Cash flow from operating activities
(3,959)	(4,431)	(3,528)		Cash flow from investing activities
5,322	8,731	9,802		Free cash flow	G
4,175	6,924	4,493		Cash capital expenditure	C
8,575	9,401	8,997	-9	Operating expenses	F
8,453	9,138	9,054	-7	Underlying operating expenses	F
10.4%	11.3%	12.0%		ROACE	D
76,511	77,078	79,931		Total debt	E
41,521	38,809	40,513		Net debt	E
18.7%	17.7%	17.7%		Gearing	E
2,838	2,815	2,911	+1	Oil and gas production available for sale (thousand boe/d)
0.79	0.15	1.14	+427	Basic earnings per share ($)
0.92	0.60	1.20	+53	Adjusted Earnings per share ($)	B
0.3580	0.3580	0.3440	—	Dividend per share ($)

1.Q1 on Q4 change

Quarter Analysis1

Income attributable to Shell plc shareholders, compared with the fourth quarter 2024, reflected lower exploration well write-offs, lower operating expenses and higher Products margins.

First quarter 2025 income attributable to Shell plc shareholders also included a charge of $0.5 billion related to the UK Energy Profits Levy and impairment charges. These items are included in identified items amounting to a net loss of $0.8 billion in the quarter. This compares with identified items in the fourth quarter 2024 which amounted to a net loss of $2.8 billion.

Adjusted Earnings and Adjusted EBITDA2 were driven by the same factors as income attributable to Shell plc shareholders and adjusted for the above identified items.

Cash flow from operating activities for the first quarter 2025 was $9.3 billion and primarily driven by Adjusted EBITDA, partly offset by tax payments of $2.9 billion and working capital outflows of $2.7 billion. The working capital outflows mainly reflected accounts receivable and payable movements.

Cash flow from investing activities for the first quarter 2025 was an outflow of $4.0 billion, and included cash capital expenditure of $4.2 billion, and net other investing cash outflows of $0.9 billion which included the drawdowns on loan facilities provided at completion of the sale of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) in Nigeria, partly offset by divestment proceeds of $0.6 billion.

Net debt and Gearing: At the end of the first quarter 2025, net debt was $41.5 billion, compared with $38.8 billion at the end of the fourth quarter 2024. This reflects free cash flow of $5.3 billion, which included working capital outflows of $2.7 billion, more than offset by share buybacks of $3.3 billion, cash dividends paid to Shell plc shareholders of $2.2 billion, lease additions of $1.3 billion including those related to the Pavilion Energy Pte. Ltd. acquisition and interest payments of $0.8 billion. Gearing was 18.7% at the end of the first quarter 2025, compared with 17.7% at the end of the fourth quarter 2024, mainly driven by higher net debt.

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

Shareholder distributions

Total shareholder distributions in the quarter amounted to $5.5 billion comprising repurchases of shares of $3.3 billion and cash dividends paid to Shell plc shareholders of $2.2 billion. Dividends declared to Shell plc shareholders for the first quarter 2025 amount to $0.3580 per share. Shell has now completed $3.5 billion of share buybacks announced in the fourth quarter 2024 results announcement. Today, Shell announces a share buyback programme of $3.5 billion which is expected to be completed by the second quarter 2025 results announcement.

This Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report, together with supplementary financial and operational disclosure for this quarter, is available at www.shell.com/investors 3.

1.All earnings amounts are shown post-tax, unless stated otherwise.

2.Adjusted EBITDA is without interest, taxation, exploration well write-offs and depreciation, depletion and amortisation (DD&A) expenses.

3.Not incorporated by reference.

PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENTS

Integrated Gas

In March 2025, we completed the previously announced acquisition of 100% of the shares in Pavilion Energy Pte. Ltd. (Pavilion Energy). Pavilion Energy, headquartered in Singapore, operates a global LNG trading business with contracted supply volume of approximately 6.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).

Upstream

In January 2025, we announced the start of production at the Shell-operated Whale floating production facility in the Gulf of America. The Whale development is owned by Shell (60%, operator) and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (40%).

In February 2025, we announced production restart at the Penguins field in the UK North Sea with a modern floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility (Shell 50%, operator; NEO Energy 50%). The previous export route for this field was via the Brent Charlie platform, which ceased production in 2021 and is being decommissioned.

In February 2025, we signed an agreement to acquire a 15.96% working interest from ConocoPhillips Company in the Shell-operated Ursa platform in the Gulf of America. The transaction completed on May 1, 2025 which increases Shell’s working interest in the Ursa platform from 45.3884% to 61.3484%.

In March 2025, we completed the sale of SPDC to Renaissance, as announced in January 2024.

In March 2025, we announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) for Gato do Mato, a deep-water project in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. The Gato do Mato Consortium includes Shell (operator, 50%), Ecopetrol (30%), TotalEnergies (20%) and Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA) acting as the manager of the production sharing contract (PSC).

Chemicals and Products

In January 2025, CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited (CSPC), a 50:50 joint venture between Shell and CNOOC Petrochemicals Investment Ltd, took an FID to expand its petrochemical complex in Daya Bay, Huizhou, south China.

In April 2025, we completed the previously announced sale of our Energy and Chemicals Park in Singapore to CAPGC Pte. Ltd. (CAPGC), a joint venture between Chandra Asri Capital Pte. Ltd. and Glencore Asian Holdings Pte. Ltd.

In April 2025, we agreed to sell our 16.125% interest in Colonial Enterprises, Inc. (“Colonial”) to Colossus AcquireCo LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. and its institutional partners (collectively, “Brookfield”), for $1.45 billion. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Renewables and Energy Solutions

In January 2025, we completed the previously announced acquisition of a 100% equity stake in RISEC Holdings, LLC, which owns a 609-megawatt (MW) two-unit combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in Rhode Island, USA.

Page 2

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

PERFORMANCE BY SEGMENT



INTEGRATED GAS
Quarters				$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024	%¹		Reference
2,789	1,744	2,761	+60	Income/(loss) for the period
306	(421)	(919)		Of which: Identified items	A
2,483	2,165	3,680	+15	Adjusted Earnings	A
4,735	4,568	6,136	+4	Adjusted EBITDA	A
3,463	4,391	4,712	-21	Cash flow from operating activities	A
1,116	1,337	1,041		Cash capital expenditure	C
126	116	137	+9	Liquids production available for sale (thousand b/d)
4,644	4,574	4,954	+2	Natural gas production available for sale (million scf/d)
927	905	992	+2	Total production available for sale (thousand boe/d)
6.60	7.06	7.58	-6	LNG liquefaction volumes (million tonnes)
16.49	15.50	16.87	+6	LNG sales volumes (million tonnes)

1.Q1 on Q4 change

Integrated Gas includes liquefied natural gas (LNG), conversion of natural gas into gas-to-liquids (GTL) fuels and other products. It includes natural gas and liquids exploration and extraction, and the operation of the upstream and midstream infrastructure necessary to deliver these to market. Integrated Gas also includes the marketing, trading and optimisation of LNG.

Quarter Analysis1

Income/(loss) for the period was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings and includes identified items.

Adjusted Earnings, compared with the fourth quarter 2024, reflected lower exploration well write-offs ($277 million), partly offset by lower LNG liquefaction volumes (decrease of $68 million). The net effect of contributions from trading and optimisation and realised prices was in line with the fourth quarter 2024 despite higher unfavourable (non-cash) impact of expiring hedging contracts.

Identified items in the first quarter 2025 included favourable movements of $362 million due to the fair value accounting of commodity derivatives, that as part of Shell’s normal business are entered into as hedges for mitigation of economic exposures on future purchases, sales and inventory. These favourable movements compare with the fourth quarter 2024 which included impairment charges of $339 million and a loss of $96 million related to sale of assets, partly offset by favourable movements of $109 million due to the fair value accounting of commodity derivatives.

Adjusted EBITDA2 was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings.

Cash flow from operating activities for the quarter was primarily driven by Adjusted EBITDA, and net cash inflows related to derivatives of $542 million, partly offset by tax payments of $773 million and working capital outflows of $687 million.

Total oil and gas production, compared with the fourth quarter 2024, increased by 2% mainly due to lower planned maintenance in Pearl GTL (Qatar), partly offset by unplanned maintenance and weather constraints in Australia. LNG liquefaction volumes decreased by 6% mainly due to unplanned maintenance and weather constraints in Australia.

1.All earnings amounts are shown post-tax, unless stated otherwise.

2.Adjusted EBITDA is without interest, taxation, exploration well write-offs and DD&A expenses.

Page 3

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



UPSTREAM
Quarters				$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024	%¹		Reference
2,080	1,031	2,272	+102	Income/(loss) for the period
(257)	(651)	339		Of which: Identified items	A
2,337	1,682	1,933	+39	Adjusted Earnings	A
7,387	7,676	7,888	-4	Adjusted EBITDA	A
3,945	4,509	5,727	-13	Cash flow from operating activities	A
1,923	2,076	2,010		Cash capital expenditure	C
1,335	1,332	1,331	—	Liquids production available for sale (thousand b/d)
3,020	3,056	3,136	-1	Natural gas production available for sale (million scf/d)
1,855	1,859	1,872	—	Total production available for sale (thousand boe/d)

1.Q1 on Q4 change

The Upstream segment includes exploration and extraction of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. It also markets and transports oil and gas, and operates the infrastructure necessary to deliver them to the market.

Quarter Analysis1

Income/(loss) for the period was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings and includes identified items.

Adjusted Earnings, compared with the fourth quarter 2024, reflected lower exploration well write-offs ($346 million), lower depreciation, depletion and amortisation expenses (decrease of $330 million), lower operating expenses ($194 million) and comparative favourable tax movements ($179 million), partly offset by lower volumes (decrease of $359 million).

Identified items in the first quarter 2025 included a charge of $509 million related to the UK Energy Profits Levy, partly offset by gains of $159 million from disposal of assets and gains of $95 million related to the impact of the strengthening Brazilian real on a deferred tax position. These charges and favourable movements compare with the fourth quarter 2024 which included a loss of $161 million related to the impact of the weakening Brazilian real on a deferred tax position, and impairment charges of $152 million.

Adjusted EBITDA2 was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings.

Cash flow from operating activities for the first quarter 2025 was primarily driven by Adjusted EBITDA, partly offset by tax payments of $1,999 million and working capital outflows of $913 million.

Total production, compared with the fourth quarter 2024, decreased mainly due to the SPDC divestment, largely offset by new oil production.

1.All earnings amounts are shown post-tax, unless stated otherwise.

2.Adjusted EBITDA is without interest, taxation, exploration well write-offs and DD&A expenses.

Page 4

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



MARKETING
Quarters				$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024	%¹		Reference
814	103	896	+688	Income/(loss) for the period
(49)	(736)	(7)		Of which: Identified items	A
900	839	781	+7	Adjusted Earnings	A
1,869	1,709	1,686	+9	Adjusted EBITDA	A
1,907	1,363	1,319	+40	Cash flow from operating activities	A
256	811	465		Cash capital expenditure	C
2,674	2,795	2,763	-4	Marketing sales volumes (thousand b/d)

1.Q1 on Q4 change

The Marketing segment comprises the Mobility, Lubricants, and Sectors and Decarbonisation businesses. The Mobility business operates Shell’s retail network including electric vehicle charging services and the Wholesale commercial fuels business which provides fuels for transport, industry and heating. The Lubricants business produces, markets and sells lubricants for road transport, and machinery used in manufacturing, mining, power generation, agriculture and construction. The Sectors and Decarbonisation business sells fuels, speciality products and services including low-carbon energy solutions to a broad range of commercial customers including the aviation, marine, and agricultural sectors.

Quarter Analysis1

Income/(loss) for the period was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings and includes identified items.

Adjusted Earnings, compared with the fourth quarter 2024, reflected lower operating expenses (decrease of $69 million), and higher Marketing margins (increase of $54 million) mainly due to higher Lubricants unit margins and seasonal impact of higher volumes partly offset by lower Mobility margins due to seasonal impact of lower volumes and lower Sectors and Decarbonisation margins. These net gains were partly offset by unfavourable tax movements ($109 million).

Identified items in the first quarter 2025 included net losses of $61 million related to sale of assets. These losses compare with the fourth quarter 2024 which included impairment charges of $458 million, and net losses of $247 million related to sale of assets.

Adjusted EBITDA2 was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings.

Cash flow from operating activities for the first quarter 2025 was primarily driven by Adjusted EBITDA, inflows relating to the timing impact of payments related to emission certificates and biofuel programmes of $540 million, and dividends (net of profits) from joint ventures and associates of $203 million. These inflows were partly offset by working capital outflows of $344 million and tax payments of $174 million.

Marketing sales volumes (comprising hydrocarbon sales), compared with the fourth quarter 2024, decreased mainly due to seasonality.

1.All earnings amounts are shown post-tax, unless stated otherwise.

2.Adjusted EBITDA is without interest, taxation, exploration well write-offs and DD&A expenses.

Page 5

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



CHEMICALS AND PRODUCTS
Quarters				$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024	%¹		Reference
(77)	(276)	1,311	+72	Income/(loss) for the period
(581)	(99)	(458)		Of which: Identified items	A
449	(229)	1,615	+296	Adjusted Earnings	A
1,410	475	2,826	+197	Adjusted EBITDA	A
130	2,032	(349)	-94	Cash flow from operating activities	A
458	1,392	500		Cash capital expenditure	C
1,362	1,215	1,430	+12	Refinery processing intake (thousand b/d)
2,813	2,926	2,883	-4	Chemicals sales volumes (thousand tonnes)

1.Q1 on Q4 change

The Chemicals and Products segment includes chemicals manufacturing plants with their own marketing network, and refineries which turn crude oil and other feedstocks into a range of oil products which are moved and marketed around the world for domestic, industrial and transport use. The segment also includes the pipeline business, trading and optimisation of crude oil, oil products and petrochemicals, and Oil Sands activities (the extraction of bitumen from mined oil sands and its conversion into synthetic crude oil).

Quarter Analysis1

Income/(loss) for the period was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings and includes identified items.

Adjusted Earnings, compared with the fourth quarter 2024, reflected higher Products margins (increase of $546 million) mainly driven by higher margins from trading and optimisation and higher refining margins. Adjusted Earnings also reflected higher Chemicals margins (increase of $115 million). In addition, the first quarter 2025 reflected lower operating expenses (decrease of $134 million). These net gains were partly offset by comparative unfavourable tax movements ($96 million).

In the first quarter 2025, Chemicals had negative Adjusted Earnings of $137 million and Products had positive Adjusted Earnings of $586 million.

Identified items in the first quarter 2025 included impairment charges of $277 million, and unfavourable movements of $202 million due to the fair value accounting of commodity derivatives, that as part of Shell’s normal business are entered into as hedges for mitigation of economic exposures on future purchases, sales and inventory. These charges and unfavourable movements compare with the fourth quarter 2024 which included impairment charges of $224 million, partly offset by favourable deferred tax movements of $114 million..

Adjusted EBITDA2 was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings.

Cash flow from operating activities for the first quarter 2025 was primarily driven by Adjusted EBITDA, and inflows relating to the timing impact of payments relating to emission certificates and biofuel programmes of $125 million. These inflows were partly offset by working capital outflows of $1,081 million, and net cash outflows relating to commodity derivatives of $508 million.

Chemicals manufacturing plant utilisation was 81% compared with 75% in the fourth quarter 2024, mainly due to lower planned and unplanned maintenance.

Refinery utilisation was 85% compared with 76% in the fourth quarter 2024, mainly due to lower planned maintenance.

1.All earnings amounts are shown post-tax, unless stated otherwise.

2.Adjusted EBITDA is without interest, taxation, exploration well write-offs and DD&A expenses.

Page 6

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



RENEWABLES AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS
Quarters				$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024	%¹		Reference
(247)	(1,226)	553	+80	Income/(loss) for the period
(205)	(914)	390		Of which: Identified items	A
(42)	(311)	163	+87	Adjusted Earnings	A
111	(123)	267	+190	Adjusted EBITDA	A
367	850	2,466	-57	Cash flow from operating activities	A
403	1,277	438		Cash capital expenditure	C
76	76	77	+1	External power sales (terawatt hours)2
184	165	190	+12	Sales of pipeline gas to end-use customers (terawatt hours)3

1.Q1 on Q4 change

2.Physical power sales to third parties; excluding financial trades and physical trade with brokers, investors, financial institutions, trading platforms, and wholesale traders.

3.Physical natural gas sales to third parties; excluding financial trades and physical trade with brokers, investors, financial institutions, trading platforms, and wholesale traders. Excluding sales of natural gas by other segments and LNG sales.

Renewables and Energy Solutions includes activities such as renewable power generation, the marketing and trading and optimisation of power and pipeline gas, as well as carbon credits, and digitally enabled customer solutions. It also includes the production and marketing of hydrogen, development of commercial carbon capture and storage hubs, investment in nature-based projects that avoid or reduce carbon emissions, and Shell Ventures, which invests in companies that work to accelerate the energy and mobility transformation.

Quarter Analysis1

Income/(loss) for the period was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings and includes identified items.

Adjusted Earnings, compared with the fourth quarter 2024, reflected higher margins (increase of $99 million) mainly due to higher trading and optimisation in the Americas as a result of higher seasonal demand and volatility, lower operating expenses (decrease of $90 million) and comparative favourable tax movements ($89 million). Most Renewables and Energy Solutions activities were loss-making in the first quarter 2025, which was partly offset by positive Adjusted Earnings from trading and optimisation.

Identified items in the first quarter 2025 included a charge of $143 million related to the disposal of assets. These charges compare with the fourth quarter 2024 which included impairment charges of $996 million mainly relating to renewable generation assets in North America, partly offset by favourable movements of $50 million due to the fair value accounting of commodity derivatives, that as part of Shell’s normal business are entered into as hedges for mitigation of economic exposures on future purchases, sales and inventory.

Adjusted EBITDA2 was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings.

Cash flow from operating activities for the first quarter 2025 was primarily driven by net cash inflows relating to working capital of $380 million and Adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by outflows related to derivatives of $169 million.

1.All earnings amounts are shown post-tax, unless stated otherwise.

2.Adjusted EBITDA is without interest, taxation, exploration well write-offs and DD&A expenses.

Additional Growth Measures


Quarters
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024	%¹
				Renewable power generation capacity (gigawatt):
3.5	3.4	3.2	+4	– In operation2
4.0	4.0	3.5	-1	– Under construction and/or committed for sale3

1.Q1 on Q4 change

2.Shell’s equity share of renewable generation capacity post commercial operation date. It excludes Shell’s equity share of associates where information cannot be obtained.

3.Shell’s equity share of renewable generation capacity under construction and/or committed for sale under long-term offtake agreements (PPA). It excludes Shell’s equity share of associates where information cannot be obtained.

Page 7

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



CORPORATE
Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024		Reference
(483)	(335)	(354)	Income/(loss) for the period
(26)	45	14	Of which: Identified items	A
(457)	(380)	(368)	Adjusted Earnings	A
(261)	(24)	(92)	Adjusted EBITDA	A
(531)	16	(545)	Cash flow from operating activities	A

The Corporate segment covers the non-operating activities supporting Shell. It comprises Shell’s holdings and treasury organisation, headquarters and central functions, self-insurance activities and centrally managed longer-term innovation portfolio. All finance expense, income and related taxes are included in Corporate Adjusted Earnings rather than in the earnings of business segments.

Quarter Analysis1

Income/(loss) for the period was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings and includes identified items.

Adjusted Earnings, compared with the fourth quarter 2024, reflected unfavourable currency exchange rate effects, partly offset by lower operating expenses.

Adjusted EBITDA2 was driven by the same factors as Adjusted Earnings.

1.All earnings amounts are shown post-tax, unless stated otherwise.

2.Adjusted EBITDA is without interest, taxation, exploration well write-offs and DD&A expenses.

Page 8

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

OUTLOOK FOR THE SECOND QUARTER 2025

Full year 2024 cash capital expenditure was $21 billion. Our cash capital expenditure range for the full year 2025 is expected to be within $20 – $22 billion.

Integrated Gas production is expected to be approximately 890 – 950 thousand boe/d. LNG liquefaction volumes are expected to be approximately 6.3 – 6.9 million tonnes. Second quarter 2025 outlook reflects scheduled maintenance across the portfolio.

Upstream production is expected to be approximately 1,560 – 1,760 thousand boe/d. Production outlook reflects the SPDC divestment in March 2025 and the scheduled maintenance across the portfolio.

Marketing sales volumes are expected to be approximately 2,600 – 3,100 thousand b/d.

Refinery utilisation is expected to be approximately 87% – 95%. Chemicals manufacturing plant utilisation is expected to be approximately 74% – 82%. Second quarter 2025 utilisation outlook reflects the sale of the Energy and Chemicals Park in Singapore which was completed in April 2025.

Corporate Adjusted Earnings1 were a net expense of $457 million for the first quarter 2025. Corporate Adjusted Earnings are expected to be a net expense of approximately $400 – $600 million in the second quarter 2025.

1.For the definition of Adjusted Earnings and the most comparable GAAP measure see reference A.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS



Date			Event
May 20, 2025			Annual General Meeting
July 31, 2025			Second quarter 2025 results and dividends
October 30, 2025			Third quarter 2025 results and dividends

Page 9

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTS



CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME
Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
69,234	66,281	72,478	Revenue1
615	(156)	1,318	Share of profit/(loss) of joint ventures and associates
302	683	907	Interest and other income/(expenses)2
70,152	66,807	74,703	Total revenue and other income/(expenses)
45,849	43,610	46,867	Purchases
5,549	5,839	5,810	Production and manufacturing expenses
2,840	3,231	2,975	Selling, distribution and administrative expenses
185	331	212	Research and development
210	861	750	Exploration
5,441	7,520	5,881	Depreciation, depletion and amortisation2
1,120	1,213	1,164	Interest expense
61,194	62,605	63,659	Total expenditure
8,959	4,205	11,044	Income/(loss) before taxation
4,083	3,164	3,604	Taxation charge/(credit)2
4,875	1,041	7,439	Income/(loss) for the period
95	113	82	Income/(loss) attributable to non-controlling interest
4,780	928	7,358	Income/(loss) attributable to Shell plc shareholders
0.79	0.15	1.14	Basic earnings per share ($)3
0.79	0.15	1.13	Diluted earnings per share ($)3

1.See Note 2 “Segment information”.

2.See Note 7 “Other notes to the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements”.

3.See Note 3 “Earnings per share”.



CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
4,875	1,041	7,439	Income/(loss) for the period
			Other comprehensive income/(loss) net of tax:
			Items that may be reclassified to income in later periods:
1,711	(4,899)	(1,995)	– Currency translation differences1
6	(11)	(6)	– Debt instruments remeasurements
(25)	224	53	– Cash flow hedging gains/(losses)
(42)	(50)	(14)	– Deferred cost of hedging
74	(91)	(12)	– Share of other comprehensive income/(loss) of joint ventures and associates
1,723	(4,827)	(1,974)	Total
			Items that are not reclassified to income in later periods:
306	239	439	– Retirement benefits remeasurements
(16)	(50)	78	– Equity instruments remeasurements
(36)	46	10	– Share of other comprehensive income/(loss) of joint ventures and associates
254	235	528	Total
1,977	(4,592)	(1,445)	Other comprehensive income/(loss) for the period
6,852	(3,552)	5,994	Comprehensive income/(loss) for the period
105	50	56	Comprehensive income/(loss) attributable to non-controlling interest
6,748	(3,602)	5,937	Comprehensive income/(loss) attributable to Shell plc shareholders

1.See Note 7 “Other notes to the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements”.

Page 10

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
$ million
	March 31, 2025	December 31, 2024
Assets
Non-current assets
Goodwill	16,072	16,032
Other intangible assets1	11,365	9,480
Property, plant and equipment	183,712	185,219
Joint ventures and associates	24,236	23,445
Investments in securities	2,284	2,255
Deferred tax	6,989	6,857
Retirement benefits	10,266	10,003
Trade and other receivables	7,269	6,018
Derivative financial instruments²	400	374
	262,593	259,683
Current assets
Inventories	22,984	23,426
Trade and other receivables	48,247	45,860
Derivative financial instruments²	8,941	9,673
Cash and cash equivalents	35,601	39,110
	115,773	118,069
Assets classified as held for sale1	10,881	9,857
	126,654	127,926
Total assets	389,248	387,609
Liabilities
Non-current liabilities
Debt	65,120	65,448
Trade and other payables	5,487	3,290
Derivative financial instruments²	1,565	2,185
Deferred tax	13,257	13,505
Retirement benefits	6,756	6,752
Decommissioning and other provisions	20,313	21,227
	112,498	112,407
Current liabilities
Debt	11,391	11,630
Trade and other payables	60,870	60,693
Derivative financial instruments²	6,371	7,391
Income taxes payable	4,343	4,648
Decommissioning and other provisions	5,104	4,469
	88,079	88,831
Liabilities directly associated with assets classified as held for sale1	8,001	6,203
	96,080	95,034
Total liabilities	208,578	207,441
Equity attributable to Shell plc shareholders	178,813	178,307
Non-controlling interest	1,856	1,861
Total equity	180,670	180,168
Total liabilities and equity	389,248	387,609

1. See Note 7 “Other notes to the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements”.

2. See Note 6 “Derivative financial instruments and debt excluding lease liabilities”.

Page 11

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
	Equity attributable to Shell plc shareholders
$ million	Share capital1	Shares held in trust	Other reserves²	Retained earnings	Total	Non-controlling interest	Total equity
At January 1, 2025	510	(803)	19,766	158,834	178,307	1,861	180,168
Comprehensive income/(loss) for the period	—	—	1,967	4,780	6,748	105	6,852
Transfer from other comprehensive income	—	—	11	(11)	—	—	—
Dividends³	—	—	—	(2,179)	(2,179)	(86)	(2,265)
Repurchases of shares4	(8)	—	8	(3,513)	(3,513)	—	(3,513)
Share-based compensation	—	500	(663)	(405)	(567)	—	(567)
Other changes	—	—	—	23	22	(24)	(2)
At March 31, 2025	502	(304)	21,090	157,527	178,813	1,856	180,670
At January 1, 2024	544	(997)	21,145	165,915	186,607	1,755	188,362
Comprehensive income/(loss) for the period	—	—	(1,420)	7,358	5,937	56	5,994
Transfer from other comprehensive income	—	—	138	(138)	—	—	—
Dividends3	—	—	—	(2,210)	(2,210)	(68)	(2,278)
Repurchases of shares4	(7)	—	7	(3,502)	(3,502)	—	(3,502)
Share-based compensation	—	543	(426)	(392)	(275)	—	(275)
Other changes	—	—	—	8	8	(4)	4
At March 31, 2024	537	(455)	19,445	167,038	186,565	1,739	188,304

1. See Note 4 “Share capital”.

2. See Note 5 “Other reserves”.

3. The amount charged to retained earnings is based on prevailing exchange rates on payment date.

4. Includes shares committed to repurchase under an irrevocable contract and repurchases subject to settlement at the end of the quarter.

Page 12

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
8,959	4,205	11,044	Income before taxation for the period
			Adjustment for:
636	665	576	– Interest expense (net)
5,441	7,520	5,881	– Depreciation, depletion and amortisation1
28	649	554	– Exploration well write-offs
127	288	(10)	– Net (gains)/losses on sale and revaluation of non-current assets and businesses
(615)	156	(1,318)	– Share of (profit)/loss of joint ventures and associates
523	1,241	738	– Dividends received from joint ventures and associates
854	131	(608)	– (Increase)/decrease in inventories
(2,610)	751	(195)	– (Increase)/decrease in current receivables
(907)	1,524	(1,949)	– Increase/(decrease) in current payables
(244)	111	1,386	– Derivative financial instruments
(100)	(58)	(61)	– Retirement benefits
(480)	(256)	(600)	– Decommissioning and other provisions
570	(856)	509	– Other1
(2,900)	(2,910)	(2,616)	Tax paid
9,281	13,162	13,330	Cash flow from operating activities
(3,748)	(6,486)	(3,980)	Capital expenditure
(413)	(421)	(500)	Investments in joint ventures and associates
(15)	(17)	(13)	Investments in equity securities
(4,175)	(6,924)	(4,493)	Cash capital expenditure
559	493	323	Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and businesses
33	305	133	Proceeds from joint ventures and associates from sale, capital reduction and repayment of long-term loans
5	6	569	Proceeds from sale of equity securities
508	581	577	Interest received
506	1,762	857	Other investing cash inflows
(1,394)	(655)	(1,494)	Other investing cash outflows1
(3,959)	(4,431)	(3,528)	Cash flow from investing activities
80	65	(107)	Net increase/(decrease) in debt with maturity period within three months
			Other debt:
139	(13)	167	– New borrowings
(2,514)	(2,664)	(1,532)	– Repayments
(846)	(1,379)	(911)	Interest paid
326	(833)	(297)	Derivative financial instruments
(25)	(10)	(4)	Change in non-controlling interest
			Cash dividends paid to:
(2,179)	(2,114)	(2,210)	– Shell plc shareholders
(86)	(53)	(68)	– Non-controlling interest
(3,311)	(3,579)	(2,824)	Repurchases of shares
(768)	(309)	(462)	Shares held in trust: net sales/(purchases) and dividends received
(9,183)	(10,889)	(8,248)	Cash flow from financing activities
353	(985)	(379)	Effects of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents
(3,509)	(3,142)	1,175	Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
39,110	42,252	38,774	Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period
35,601	39,110	39,949	Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

1.See Note 7 “Other notes to the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements”.

Page 13

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

NOTES TO THE UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. Basis of preparation

These unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements of Shell plc (“the Company”) and its subsidiaries (collectively referred to as “Shell”) have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”) and adopted by the UK, and on the basis of the same accounting principles as those used in the Company’s Annual Report and Accounts (pages 240 to 312) for the year ended December 31, 2024, as filed with the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales and as filed with the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (the Netherlands) and Form 20-F (pages 223 to 296) for the year ended December 31, 2024, as filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and should be read in conjunction with these filings.

The financial information presented in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of section 434(3) of the Companies Act 2006 (“the Act”). Statutory accounts for the year ended December 31, 2024, were published in Shell’s Annual Report and Accounts, a copy of which was delivered to the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales. The auditor’s report on those accounts was unqualified, did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying the report and did not contain a statement under sections 498(2) or 498(3) of the Act.

Key accounting considerations, significant judgements and estimates

Future commodity price assumptions and management’s view on the future development of refining and chemicals margins represent a significant estimate and were subject to change in 2024. These assumptions continue to apply for impairment testing purposes in the first quarter 2025. As per the normal process outlined in the 2024 Annual Report and Accounts and Form 20-F, these assumptions are subject to review later this year.

The discount rates applied for impairment testing and the discount rate applied to provisions are reviewed on a regular basis. Both discount rates applied in the first quarter 2025 remain unchanged compared with 2024.

2. Segment information

With effect from January 1, 2025, segment earnings are presented on an Adjusted Earnings basis (Adjusted Earnings), which is the earnings measure used by the Chief Executive Officer, who serves as the Chief Operating Decision Maker, for the purposes of making decisions about allocating resources and assessing performance. This aligns with Shell’s focus on performance, discipline and simplification.

The Adjusted Earnings measure is presented on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis and aims to facilitate a comparative understanding of Shell’s financial performance from period to period by removing the effects of oil price changes on inventory carrying amounts and removing the effects of identified items. Identified items are in some cases driven by external factors and may, either individually or collectively, hinder the comparative understanding of Shell’s financial results from period to period.

The segment earnings measure used until December 31, 2024 was CCS earnings. The difference between CCS earnings and Adjusted Earnings are the identified items. Comparative periods are presented below on an Adjusted Earnings basis.

Page 14

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



REVENUE AND ADJUSTED EARNINGS BY SEGMENT
Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
			Third-party revenue
9,602	9,294	9,195	Integrated Gas
1,510	1,652	1,759	Upstream
27,083	27,524	30,041	Marketing
21,610	19,992	23,735	Chemicals and Products
9,417	7,808	7,737	Renewables and Energy Solutions
12	10	11	Corporate
69,234	66,281	72,478	Total third-party revenue1
			Inter-segment revenue
2,675	2,024	2,404	Integrated Gas
9,854	9,931	10,287	Upstream
1,849	984	1,355	Marketing
8,255	8,656	10,312	Chemicals and Products
1,164	1,879	1,005	Renewables and Energy Solutions
—	—	—	Corporate
			Adjusted Earnings
2,483	2,165	3,680	Integrated Gas
2,337	1,682	1,933	Upstream
900	839	781	Marketing
449	(229)	1,615	Chemicals and Products
(42)	(311)	163	Renewables and Energy Solutions
(457)	(380)	(368)	Corporate
5,670	3,766	7,804	Total Adjusted Earnings2
5,577	3,661	7,734	Adjusted Earnings attributable to Shell plc shareholders
94	106	70	Adjusted Earnings attributable to non-controlling interest

1.Includes revenue from sources other than from contracts with customers, which mainly comprises the impact of fair value accounting of commodity derivatives.

2.See Reconciliation of income for the period to Adjusted Earnings below.

Page 15

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

Cash capital expenditure is a measure used by the Chief Executive Officer for the purposes of making decisions about allocating resources and assessing performance.



CASH CAPITAL EXPENDITURE BY SEGMENT
Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
			Capital expenditure
943	1,123	858	Integrated Gas
1,727	2,205	1,766	Upstream
252	798	427	Marketing
451	1,121	474	Chemicals and Products
358	1,214	421	Renewables and Energy Solutions
17	25	34	Corporate
3,748	6,486	3,980	Total capital expenditure
			Add: Investments in joint ventures and associates
174	214	184	Integrated Gas
197	(117)	244	Upstream
4	13	38	Marketing
7	271	26	Chemicals and Products
30	36	8	Renewables and Energy Solutions
1	4	—	Corporate
413	421	500	Total investments in joint ventures and associates
			Add: Investments in equity securities
—	—	—	Integrated Gas
—	(11)	—	Upstream
—	—	—	Marketing
—	—	—	Chemicals and Products
14	28	10	Renewables and Energy Solutions
—	—	3	Corporate
15	17	13	Total investments in equity securities
			Cash capital expenditure
1,116	1,337	1,041	Integrated Gas
1,923	2,076	2,010	Upstream
256	811	465	Marketing
458	1,392	500	Chemicals and Products
403	1,277	438	Renewables and Energy Solutions
19	30	37	Corporate
4,175	6,924	4,493	Total Cash capital expenditure

Page 16

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



RECONCILIATION OF INCOME FOR THE PERIOD TO ADJUSTED EARNINGS
Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
4,780	928	7,358	Income/(loss) attributable to Shell plc shareholders
95	113	82	Income/(loss) attributable to non-controlling interest
4,875	1,041	7,439	Income/(loss) for the period
(15)	(75)	(360)	Add: Current cost of supplies adjustment before taxation
(2)	23	84	Add: Tax on current cost of supplies adjustment
(510)	(3,008)	(1,244)	Less: Identified items adjustment before taxation
301	(230)	(604)	Add: Tax on identified items adjustment
5,670	3,766	7,804	Adjusted Earnings
5,577	3,661	7,734	Adjusted Earnings attributable to Shell plc shareholders
94	106	70	Adjusted Earnings attributable to non-controlling interest

Identified items

The objective of identified items is to remove material impacts on net income/loss arising from transactions which are generally uncontrollable and unusual (infrequent or non-recurring) in nature or giving rise to a mismatch between accounting and economic results, or certain transactions that are generally excluded from underlying results in the industry.

Identified items comprise: divestment gains and losses, impairments and impairment reversals, redundancy and restructuring, fair value accounting of commodity derivatives and certain gas contracts that gives rise to a mismatch between accounting and economic results, the impact of exchange rate movements and inflationary adjustments on certain deferred tax balances, and other items.



Q1 2025	$ million
	Total	Integrated Gas	Upstream	Marketing	Chemicals and Products	Renewables and Energy Solutions	Corporate
Identified items included in Income/(loss) before taxation
Divestment gains/(losses)	(106)	(1)	154	(57)	(15)	(187)	—
Impairment reversals/(impairments)	(341)	—	(21)	10	(293)	(38)	—
Redundancy and restructuring	(44)	(1)	(15)	(9)	(13)	(9)	4
Fair value accounting of commodity derivatives and certain gas contracts1	194	420	(1)	12	(258)	20	—
Other2	(212)	(70)	4	—	(101)	(46)	—
Total identified items included in Income/(loss) before taxation	(510)	348	121	(44)	(679)	(260)	4
Less: Total identified items included in Taxation charge/(credit)	301	43	378	4	(99)	(54)	29
Identified items included in Income/(loss) for the period
Divestment gains/(losses)	(208)	—	8	(61)	(12)	(143)	—
Impairment reversals/(impairments)	(317)	—	(15)	6	(277)	(31)	—
Redundancy and restructuring	(24)	(1)	(5)	(1)	(12)	(7)	2
Fair value accounting of commodity derivatives and certain gas contracts1	187	362	—	7	(202)	20	—
Impact of exchange rate movements and inflationary adjustments on tax balances3	108	4	132	—	—	—	(28)
Other2	(558)	(59)	(377)	—	(77)	(45)	—
Impact on Adjusted Earnings	(811)	306	(257)	(49)	(581)	(205)	(26)
Impact on Adjusted Earnings attributable to non-controlling interest	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Impact on Adjusted Earnings attributable to Shell plc shareholders	(811)	306	(257)	(49)	(581)	(205)	(26)

1.Fair value accounting of commodity derivatives and certain gas contracts: In the ordinary course of business, Shell enters into contracts to supply or purchase oil and gas products, as well as power and environmental products. Shell also enters into contracts for tolling, pipeline and storage capacity. Derivative contracts are entered into for mitigation of resulting economic exposures (generally price exposure) and these derivative contracts are carried at period-end

Page 17

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

market price (fair value), with movements in fair value recognised in income for the period. Supply and purchase contracts entered into for operational purposes, as well as contracts for tolling, pipeline and storage capacity, are, by contrast, recognised when the transaction occurs; furthermore, inventory is carried at historical cost or net realisable value, whichever is lower. As a consequence, accounting mismatches occur because: (a) the supply or purchase transaction is recognised in a different period; or (b) the inventory is measured on a different basis. In addition, certain contracts are, due to pricing or delivery conditions, deemed to contain embedded derivatives or written options and are also required to be carried at fair value even though they are entered into for operational purposes. The accounting impacts are reported as identified items.

2.Other identified items represent other credits or charges that based on Shell management’s assessment hinder the comparative understanding of Shell’s financial results from period to period.

3.Impact of exchange rate movements and inflationary adjustments on tax balances represents the impact on tax balances of exchange rate movements and inflationary adjustments arising on: (a) the conversion to dollars of the local currency tax base of non-monetary assets and liabilities, as well as recognised tax losses (this primarily impacts the Integrated Gas and Upstream segments); and (b) the conversion of dollar-denominated inter-segment loans to local currency, leading to taxable exchange rate gains or losses (this primarily impacts the Corporate segment).



Q4 2024	$ million
	Total	Integrated Gas	Upstream	Marketing	Chemicals and Products	Renewables and Energy Solutions	Corporate
Identified items included in Income/(loss) before taxation
Divestment gains/(losses)	(288)	(99)	(66)	(216)	42	51	—
Impairment reversals/(impairments)	(2,554)	(523)	(183)	(493)	(288)	(1,065)	(1)
Redundancy and restructuring	(175)	(27)	(62)	(70)	(5)	(11)	(1)
Fair value accounting of commodity derivatives and certain gas contracts1	209	136	(14)	58	(38)	67	—
Other1	(200)	—	(165)	(33)	(2)	—	—
Total identified items included in Income/(loss) before taxation	(3,008)	(514)	(491)	(753)	(291)	(958)	(2)
Less: Total identified items included in Taxation charge/(credit)	(230)	(92)	160	(17)	(191)	(43)	(47)
Identified items included in Income/(loss) for the period
Divestment gains/(losses)	(321)	(96)	(51)	(247)	33	40	—
Impairment reversals/(impairments)	(2,170)	(339)	(152)	(458)	(224)	(996)	(1)
Redundancy and restructuring	(115)	(16)	(34)	(52)	(3)	(8)	(1)
Fair value accounting of commodity derivatives and certain gas contracts1	184	109	(4)	46	(17)	50	—
Impact of exchange rate movements and inflationary adjustments on tax balances1	(210)	(57)	(199)	—	—	—	46
Other1	(147)	(22)	(212)	(25)	113	—	—
Impact on Adjusted Earnings	(2,778)	(421)	(651)	(736)	(99)	(914)	45
Impact on Adjusted Earnings attributable to non-controlling interest	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Impact on Adjusted Earnings attributable to Shell plc shareholders	(2,778)	(421)	(651)	(736)	(99)	(914)	45

1.For a detailed description, see the corresponding footnotes to the Q1 2025 identified items table above.

Page 18

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



Q1 2024	$ million
	Total	Integrated Gas	Upstream	Marketing	Chemicals and Products	Renewables and Energy Solutions	Corporate
Identified items included in Income/(loss) before taxation
Divestment gains/(losses)	10	(3)	27	(15)	(9)	10	—
Impairment reversals/(impairments)	(227)	(8)	(96)	(4)	(178)	59	—
Redundancy and restructuring	(74)	(1)	(13)	(20)	(18)	(15)	(6)
Fair value accounting of commodity derivatives and certain gas contracts1	(1,079)	(1,068)	(2)	6	(416)	400	—
Other1	126	4	38	23	45	16	—
Total identified items included in Income/(loss) before taxation	(1,244)	(1,075)	(46)	(11)	(575)	469	(6)
Less: Total identified items included in Taxation charge/(credit)	(604)	(157)	(385)	(4)	(118)	80	(20)
Identified items included in Income/(loss) for the period
Divestment gains/(losses)	(4)	(2)	10	(11)	(7)	6	—
Impairment reversals/(impairments)	(186)	(5)	(102)	(3)	(152)	77	—
Redundancy and restructuring	(53)	(1)	(9)	(15)	(14)	(11)	(4)
Fair value accounting of commodity derivatives and certain gas contracts1	(896)	(887)	—	5	(319)	306	—
Impact of exchange rate movements and inflationary adjustments on tax balances1	403	(27)	412	—	—	—	18
Other1	95	3	28	17	34	12	—
Impact on Adjusted Earnings	(641)	(919)	339	(7)	(458)	390	14
Impact on Adjusted Earnings attributable to non-controlling interest	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Impact on Adjusted Earnings attributable to Shell plc shareholders	(641)	(919)	339	(7)	(458)	390	14

1.For a detailed description, see the corresponding footnotes to the Q1 2025 identified items table above.

The identified items categories above may include after-tax impacts of identified items of joint ventures and associates which are fully reported within “Share of profit/(loss) of joint ventures and associates” in the Consolidated Statement of Income, and fully reported as identified items included in Income/(loss) before taxation in the table above. Identified items related to subsidiaries are consolidated and reported across appropriate lines of the Consolidated Statement of Income.

3. Earnings per share



EARNINGS PER SHARE
Quarters
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
4,780	928	7,358	Income/(loss) attributable to Shell plc shareholders ($ million)

			Weighted average number of shares used as the basis for determining:
6,033.5	6,148.4	6,440.1	Basic earnings per share (million)
6,087.8	6,213.9	6,504.3	Diluted earnings per share (million)

Page 19

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

4. Share capital

ISSUED AND FULLY PAID ORDINARY SHARES OF €0.07 EACH

Number of shares

Nominal value
($ million)

At January 1, 2025

6,115,031,158

510

Repurchases of shares

(98,948,766)

(8)

At March 31, 2025

6,016,082,392

502

At January 1, 2024

6,524,109,049

544

Repurchases of shares

(88,893,999)

(7)

At March 31, 2024

6,435,215,050

537

At Shell plc’s Annual General Meeting on May 21, 2024, the Board was authorised to allot ordinary shares in Shell plc, and to grant rights to subscribe for, or to convert, any security into ordinary shares in Shell plc, up to an aggregate nominal amount of approximately €150 million (representing approximately 2,147 million ordinary shares of €0.07 each), and to list such shares or rights on any stock exchange. This authority expires at the earlier of the close of business on August 20, 2025, or the end of the Annual General Meeting to be held in 2025, unless previously renewed, revoked or varied by Shell plc in a general meeting.

5. Other reserves



OTHER RESERVES
$ million	Merger reserve	Share premium reserve	Capital redemption reserve	Share plan reserve	Accumulated other comprehensive income	Total
At January 1, 2025	37,298	154	270	1,417	(19,373)	19,766
Other comprehensive income/(loss) attributable to Shell plc shareholders	—	—	—	—	1,967	1,967
Transfer from other comprehensive income	—	—	—	—	11	11
Repurchases of shares	—	—	8	—	—	8
Share-based compensation	—	—	—	(663)	—	(663)
At March 31, 2025	37,298	154	279	754	(17,394)	21,090
At January 1, 2024	37,298	154	236	1,308	(17,851)	21,145
Other comprehensive income/(loss) attributable to Shell plc shareholders	—	—	—	—	(1,420)	(1,420)
Transfer from other comprehensive income	—	—	—	—	138	138
Repurchases of shares	—	—	7	—	—	7
Share-based compensation	—	—	—	(426)	—	(426)
At March 31, 2024	37,298	154	244	882	(19,132)	19,445

The merger reserve and share premium reserve were established as a consequence of Shell plc (formerly Royal Dutch Shell plc) becoming the single parent company of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, p.l.c., now The Shell Transport and Trading Company Limited, in 2005. The merger reserve increased in 2016 following the issuance of shares for the acquisition of BG Group plc. The capital redemption reserve was established in connection with repurchases of shares of Shell plc. The share plan reserve is in respect of equity-settled share-based compensation plans.

6. Derivative financial instruments and debt excluding lease liabilities

As disclosed in the Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2024, presented in the Annual Report and Accounts and Form 20-F for that year, Shell is exposed to the risks of changes in fair value of its financial assets and liabilities. The fair values of the financial assets and liabilities are defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Methods and assumptions used to estimate the fair values at March 31, 2025, are consistent with those used in the year ended December 31, 2024, though the carrying amounts of derivative financial instruments have changed since that date.

Page 20

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

The movement of the derivative financial instruments between December 31, 2024 and March 31, 2025 is a decrease of $732 million for the current assets and a decrease of $1,020 million for the current liabilities.

The table below provides the comparison of the fair value with the carrying amount of debt excluding lease liabilities, disclosed in accordance with IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures.



DEBT EXCLUDING LEASE LIABILITIES
$ million	March 31, 2025	December 31, 2024
Carrying amount1	48,023	48,376
Fair value2	44,240	44,119

1. Shell issued no debt under the US shelf or under the Euro medium-term note programmes during the first quarter 2025.

2. Mainly determined from the prices quoted for these securities.

7. Other notes to the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements

Consolidated Statement of Income

Interest and other income



Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
302	683	907	Interest and other income/(expenses)
			Of which:
481	548	588	Interest income
1	25	23	Dividend income (from investments in equity securities)
(127)	(288)	10	Net gains/(losses) on sales and revaluation of non-current assets and businesses
(137)	267	66	Net foreign exchange gains/(losses) on financing activities
85	131	219	Other

Depreciation, depletion and amortisation



Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
5,441	7,520	5,881	Depreciation, depletion and amortisation
			Of which:
5,130	5,829	5,654	Depreciation
311	1,797	382	Impairments
(1)	(106)	(154)	Impairment reversals

Impairments recognised in the first quarter 2025 of $311 million pre-tax ($287 million post-tax) principally relate to Chemicals and Products.

Impairments recognised in the fourth quarter 2024 of $2,659 million pre-tax ($2,245 million post-tax), of which $1,797 million recognised in depreciation, depletion and amortisation and $863 million recognised in share of profit of joint ventures and associates, mainly relate to Renewables and Energy Solutions ($1,068 million pre-tax; $1,000 million post-tax), Integrated Gas ($532 million pre-tax; $345 million post-tax), Marketing ($495 million pre-tax; $459 million post-tax), Chemicals and Products ($315 million pre-tax; $247 million post-tax) and Upstream ($248 million pre-tax; $194 million post-tax).

Impairments recognised in the first quarter 2024 of $382 million pre-tax ($332 million post-tax) include smaller

impairments in various segments.

Page 21

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

Taxation charge/credit

Quarters

$ million

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Q1 2024

4,083

3,164

3,604

Taxation charge/(credit)

Of which:

4,024

3,125

3,525

Income tax excluding Pillar Two income tax

Income tax related to Pillar Two income tax

As required by IAS 12 Income Taxes, Shell has applied the exception to recognising and disclosing information about deferred tax assets and liabilities related to Pillar Two income taxes.

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

Currency translation differences

Quarters

$ million

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Q1 2024

1,711

(4,899)

(1,995)

Currency translation differences

Of which:

1,618

(5,028)

(1,983)

Recognised in Other comprehensive income

129

(12)

(Gain)/loss reclassified to profit or loss

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet

Other intangible assets



$ million
	March 31, 2025	December 31, 2024
Other intangible assets	11,365	9,480

The increase in other intangible assets as at March 31, 2025 compared with December 31, 2024 is mainly related to initial recognition at fair value of favourable LNG, gas offtake and sales contracts. These were recognised following completion of the acquisition of Pavilion Energy Pte. Ltd. during the first quarter 2025. The fair value of unfavourable LNG, gas offtake and sales contracts acquired was recognised under trade and other payables.

Assets classified as held for sale



$ million
	March 31, 2025	December 31, 2024
Assets classified as held for sale	10,881	9,857
Liabilities directly associated with assets classified as held for sale	8,001	6,203

Assets classified as held for sale and associated liabilities at March 31, 2025 principally relate to Shell’s UK offshore oil and gas assets in Upstream, mining interests in Canada and an energy and chemicals park in Singapore, both in Chemicals and Products. Upon completion of the sale, Shell’s UK offshore assets will be derecognised in exchange for a 50% interest in a newly formed joint venture.

The major classes of assets and liabilities classified as held for sale at March 31, 2025, are Property, plant and equipment ($8,866 million; December 31, 2024: $8,283 million), Inventories ($1,003 million; December 31, 2024: $1,180 million), Decommissioning and other provisions ($3,228 million; December 31, 2024: $3,053 million), deferred tax liabilities ($2,823 million; December 31, 2024: $2,042 million), Trade and other payables ($1,000 million; December 31, 2024: $484 million) and Debt ($839 million; December 31, 2024: $624 million).

Page 22

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

Cash flow from operating activities – Other

Quarters

$ million

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Q1 2024

570

(856)

509

Other

‘Cash flow from operating activities – Other’ for the first quarter 2025 includes $652 million of net inflows (fourth quarter 2024: $1,447 million net outflows; first quarter 2024: $188 million net inflows) due to the timing of payments relating to emission certificates and biofuel programmes in Europe and North America and $255 million in relation to reversal of currency exchange gains on Cash and cash equivalents (fourth quarter 2024: $672 million losses; first quarter 2024: $253 million losses).

Cash flow from investing activities – Other investing cash outflows

Quarters

$ million

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Q1 2024

(1,394)

(655)

(1,494)

Other investing cash outflows

‘Cash flow from investing activities – Other investing cash outflows’ for the first quarter 2025 includes $818 million secured term loans provided to The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) upon completion of the sale of SPDC. The first quarter 2024 includes $645 million of debt securities acquired in the Corporate segment.

8. Reconciliation of Operating expenses and Total Debt



RECONCILIATION OF OPERATING EXPENSES
Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
5,549	5,839	5,810	Production and manufacturing expenses
2,840	3,231	2,975	Selling, distribution and administrative expenses
185	331	212	Research and development
8,575	9,401	8,997	Operating expenses

RECONCILIATION OF TOTAL DEBT

March 31, 2025

December 31, 2024

March 31, 2024

$ million

11,391

11,630

11,046

Current debt

65,120

65,448

68,886

Non-current debt

76,511

77,078

79,931

Total debt

Page 23

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE (NON-GAAP) MEASURES

A.Adjusted Earnings, Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (“Adjusted EBITDA”) and Cash flow from operating activities

The “Adjusted Earnings” measure aims to facilitate a comparative understanding of Shell’s financial performance from period to period by removing the effects of oil price changes on inventory carrying amounts and removing the effects of identified items. These items are in some cases driven by external factors and may, either individually or collectively, hinder the comparative understanding of Shell’s financial results from period to period. This measure excludes earnings attributable to non-controlling interest when presenting the total Shell Group result but includes these items when presenting individual segment Adjusted Earnings as set out in the table below.

We define “Adjusted EBITDA” as “Income/(loss) for the period” adjusted for current cost of supplies; identified items; tax charge/(credit); depreciation, amortisation and depletion; exploration well write-offs and net interest expense. All items include the non-controlling interest component. Management uses this measure to evaluate Shell’s performance in the period and over time.



Q1 2025	$ million
	Total	Integrated Gas	Upstream	Marketing	Chemicals and Products	Renewables and Energy Solutions	Corporate
Income/(loss) for the period	4,875	2,789	2,080	814	(77)	(247)	(483)
Add: Current cost of supplies adjustment before taxation	(15)			52	(67)
Add: Tax on current cost of supplies adjustment	(2)			(14)	12
Less: Identified items	(811)	306	(257)	(49)	(581)	(205)	(26)
Less: Income/(loss) attributable to non-controlling interest	95
Less: Current cost of supplies adjustment attributable to non-controlling interest	(1)
Add: Identified items attributable to non-controlling interest	—
Adjusted Earnings	5,577
Add: Non-controlling interest	94
Adjusted Earnings plus non-controlling interest	5,670	2,483	2,337	900	449	(42)	(457)
Add: Taxation charge/(credit) excluding tax impact of identified items	3,784	803	2,619	391	99	63	(191)
Add: Depreciation, depletion and amortisation excluding impairments	5,130	1,404	2,213	566	852	90	6
Add: Exploration well write-offs	28	—	29
Add: Interest expense excluding identified items	1,119	51	200	12	14	2	841
Less: Interest income	481	4	11	—	4	2	461
Adjusted EBITDA	15,250	4,735	7,387	1,869	1,410	111	(261)
Less: Current cost of supplies adjustment before taxation	(15)			52	(67)
Joint ventures and associates (dividends received less profit)	(178)	(286)	(159)	203	54	10	—
Derivative financial instruments	(38)	542	14	10	(508)	(169)	73
Taxation paid	(2,900)	(773)	(1,999)	(174)	63	52	(68)
Other	(206)	(68)	(386)	396	125	(17)	(257)
(Increase)/decrease in working capital	(2,663)	(687)	(913)	(344)	(1,081)	380	(19)
Cash flow from operating activities	9,281	3,463	3,945	1,907	130	367	(531)

Page 24

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



Q4 2024	$ million
	Total	Integrated Gas	Upstream	Marketing	Chemicals and Products	Renewables and Energy Solutions	Corporate
Income/(loss) for the period	1,041	1,744	1,031	103	(276)	(1,226)	(335)
Add: Current cost of supplies adjustment before taxation	(75)			(2)	(73)
Add: Tax on current cost of supplies adjustment	23			2	21
Less: Identified items	(2,778)	(421)	(651)	(736)	(99)	(914)	45
Less: Income/(loss) attributable to non-controlling interest	113
Less: Current cost of supplies adjustment attributable to non-controlling interest	(7)
Add: Identified items attributable to non-controlling interest	—
Adjusted Earnings	3,661
Add: Non-controlling interest	106
Adjusted Earnings plus non-controlling interest	3,766	2,165	1,682	839	(229)	(311)	(380)
Add: Taxation charge/(credit) excluding tax impact of identified items	3,371	635	2,618	266	(198)	97	(46)
Add: Depreciation, depletion and amortisation excluding impairments	5,829	1,440	2,803	587	896	96	8
Add: Exploration well write-offs	649	277	372	—	—	—	—
Add: Interest expense excluding identified items	1,213	54	201	17	16	2	923
Less: Interest income	548	3	—	—	10	7	529
Adjusted EBITDA	14,281	4,568	7,676	1,709	475	(123)	(24)
Less: Current cost of supplies adjustment before taxation	(75)			(2)	(73)
Joint ventures and associates (dividends received less profit)	451	110	(22)	172	139	51	—
Derivative financial instruments	319	120	(28)	(8)	230	533	(527)
Taxation paid	(2,910)	(635)	(2,019)	(130)	36	(41)	(120)
Other	(1,461)	114	(486)	(1,227)	(313)	77	375
(Increase)/decrease in working capital	2,407	114	(611)	845	1,394	353	312
Cash flow from operating activities	13,162	4,391	4,509	1,363	2,032	850	16



Q1 2024	$ million
	Total	Integrated Gas	Upstream	Marketing	Chemicals and Products	Renewables and Energy Solutions	Corporate
Income/(loss) for the period	7,439	2,761	2,272	896	1,311	553	(354)
Add: Current cost of supplies adjustment before taxation	(360)			(153)	(207)
Add: Tax on current cost of supplies adjustment	84			30	54
Less: Identified items	(641)	(919)	339	(7)	(458)	390	14
Less: Income/(loss) attributable to non-controlling interest	82
Less: Current cost of supplies adjustment attributable to non-controlling interest	(12)
Add: Identified items attributable to non-controlling interest	—
Adjusted Earnings	7,734
Add: Non-controlling interest	70
Adjusted Earnings plus non-controlling interest	7,804	3,680	1,933	781	1,615	163	(368)
Add: Taxation charge/(credit) excluding tax impact of identified items	4,124	996	2,522	358	338	—	(91)
Add: Depreciation, depletion and amortisation excluding impairments	5,654	1,410	2,727	535	870	106	6
Add: Exploration well write-offs	554	8	546	—	—	—	—
Add: Interest expense excluding identified items	1,163	42	169	12	17	1	922
Less: Interest income	588	—	10	—	14	4	560
Adjusted EBITDA	18,711	6,136	7,888	1,686	2,826	267	(92)
Less: Current cost of supplies adjustment before taxation	(360)			(153)	(207)
Joint ventures and associates (dividends received less profit)	(582)	(197)	(546)	93	56	13	—
Derivative financial instruments	306	(1,080)	(3)	(39)	(402)	1,978	(149)
Taxation paid	(2,616)	(467)	(1,802)	(175)	(19)	(244)	91
Other	(97)	45	(231)	393	(378)	(30)	104
(Increase)/decrease in working capital	(2,752)	275	421	(792)	(2,639)	481	(499)
Cash flow from operating activities	13,330	4,712	5,727	1,319	(349)	2,466	(545)

Identified items

Page 25

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

See Note 2 “Segment information” for details.

B. Adjusted Earnings per share

Adjusted Earnings per share is calculated as Adjusted Earnings (see Reference A), divided by the weighted average number of shares used as the basis for basic earnings per share (see Note 3).

C. Cash capital expenditure

Cash capital expenditure represents cash spent on maintaining and developing assets as well as on investments in the period. Management regularly monitors this measure as a key lever to delivering sustainable cash flows. Cash capital expenditure is the sum of the following lines from the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows: Capital expenditure, Investments in joint ventures and associates and Investments in equity securities.

See Note 2 “Segment information” for the reconciliation of cash capital expenditure.

D. Capital employed and Return on average capital employed

Return on average capital employed (“ROACE”) measures the efficiency of Shell’s utilisation of the capital that it employs.

The measure refers to Capital employed which consists of total equity, current debt, and non-current debt reduced by cash and cash equivalents.

In this calculation, the sum of Adjusted Earnings (see Reference A) plus non-controlling interest (NCI) excluding identified items for the current and previous three quarters, adjusted for after-tax interest expense and after-tax interest income, is expressed as a percentage of the average capital employed excluding cash and cash equivalents for the same period.



$ million	Quarters
	Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
Current debt	11,046	9,931	9,044
Non-current debt	68,886	71,610	76,098
Total equity	188,304	188,362	195,530
Less: Cash and cash equivalents	(39,949)	(38,774)	(42,074)
Capital employed – opening	228,286	231,128	238,598
Current debt	11,391	11,630	11,046
Non-current debt	65,120	65,448	68,886
Total equity	180,670	180,168	188,304
Less: Cash and cash equivalents	(35,601)	(39,110)	(39,949)
Capital employed – closing	221,580	218,134	228,286
Capital employed – average	224,933	224,630	233,442

Page 26

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



$ million	Quarters
	Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
Adjusted Earnings – current and previous three quarters (Reference A)	21,558	23,716	26,338
Add: Income/(loss) attributable to NCI – current and previous three quarters	441	427	295
Add: Current cost of supplies adjustment attributable to NCI – current and previous three quarters	25	14	(24)
Less: Identified items attributable to NCI (Reference A) – current and previous three quarters	18	18	(11)
Adjusted Earnings plus NCI excluding identified items – current and previous three quarters	22,005	24,139	26,620
Add: Interest expense after tax – current and previous three quarters	2,639	2,701	2,718
Less: Interest income after tax on cash and cash equivalents – current and previous three quarters	1,329	1,389	1,368
Adjusted Earnings plus NCI excluding identified items before interest expense and interest income – current and previous three quarters	23,315	25,452	27,971
Capital employed – average	224,933	224,630	233,442
ROACE on an Adjusted Earnings plus NCI basis	10.4%	11.3%	12.0%

E. Net debt and gearing

Net debt is defined as the sum of current and non-current debt, less cash and cash equivalents, adjusted for the fair value of derivative financial instruments used to hedge foreign exchange and interest rate risk relating to debt, and associated collateral balances. Management considers this adjustment useful because it reduces the volatility of net debt caused by fluctuations in foreign exchange and interest rates, and eliminates the potential impact of related collateral payments or receipts. Debt-related derivative financial instruments are a subset of the derivative financial instrument assets and liabilities presented on the balance sheet. Collateral balances are reported under “Trade and other receivables” or “Trade and other payables” as appropriate.

Gearing is a measure of Shell’s capital structure and is defined as net debt (total debt less cash and cash equivalents) as a percentage of total capital (net debt plus total equity).



$ million
	March 31, 2025		December 31, 2024		March 31, 2024
Current debt	11,391		11,630		11,046
Non-current debt	65,120		65,448		68,886
Total debt	76,511		77,078		79,931
Of which: Lease liabilities	28,488		28,702		26,885
Add: Debt-related derivative financial instruments: net liability/(asset)	1,905		2,469		1,888
Add: Collateral on debt-related derivatives: net liability/(asset)	(1,295)		(1,628)		(1,357)
Less: Cash and cash equivalents	(35,601)		(39,110)		(39,949)
Net debt	41,521		38,809		40,513
Total equity	180,670		180,168		188,304
Total capital	222,190		218,974		228,817
Gearing	18.7	%	17.7	%	17.7	%

F. Operating expenses and Underlying operating expenses

Operating expenses

Operating expenses is a measure of Shell’s cost management performance, comprising the following items from the Consolidated Statement of Income: production and manufacturing expenses; selling, distribution and administrative expenses; and research and development expenses.

Page 27

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



Q1 2025	$ million
	Total	Integrated Gas	Upstream	Marketing	Chemicals and Products	Renewables and Energy Solutions	Corporate
Production and manufacturing expenses	5,549	947	2,139	349	1,621	486	8
Selling, distribution and administrative expenses	2,840	38	42	2,053	442	153	111
Research and development	185	22	32	42	25	21	43
Operating expenses	8,575	1,006	2,213	2,444	2,088	661	162



Q4 2024	$ million
	Total	Integrated Gas	Upstream	Marketing	Chemicals and Products	Renewables and Energy Solutions	Corporate
Production and manufacturing expenses	5,839	982	2,470	270	1,632	480	5
Selling, distribution and administrative expenses	3,231	39	96	2,258	471	241	126
Research and development	331	40	69	73	46	37	66
Operating expenses	9,401	1,061	2,635	2,602	2,149	757	196



Q1 2024	$ million
	Total	Integrated Gas	Upstream	Marketing	Chemicals and Products	Renewables and Energy Solutions	Corporate
Production and manufacturing expenses	5,810	956	2,269	366	1,634	579	5
Selling, distribution and administrative expenses	2,975	62	58	2,188	420	158	89
Research and development	212	26	58	34	34	12	49
Operating expenses	8,997	1,044	2,385	2,587	2,088	749	144

Underlying operating expenses

Underlying operating expenses is a measure aimed at facilitating a comparative understanding of performance from period to period by removing the effects of identified items, which, either individually or collectively, can cause volatility, in some cases driven by external factors.

Quarters

$ million

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Q1 2024

8,575

9,401

8,997

Operating expenses

(44)

(174)

(73)

Redundancy and restructuring (charges)/reversal

(101)

(88)

—

(Provisions)/reversal

—

130

Other

(121)

(262)

Total identified items

8,453

9,138

9,054

Underlying operating expenses

G. Free cash flow and Organic free cash flow

Free cash flow is used to evaluate cash available for financing activities, including dividend payments and debt servicing, after investment in maintaining and growing the business. It is defined as the sum of “Cash flow from operating activities” and “Cash flow from investing activities”.

Cash flows from acquisition and divestment activities are removed from Free cash flow to arrive at the Organic free cash flow, a measure used by management to evaluate the generation of free cash flow without these activities.

Page 28

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS



Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
9,281	13,162	13,330	Cash flow from operating activities
(3,959)	(4,431)	(3,528)	Cash flow from investing activities
5,322	8,731	9,802	Free cash flow
597	805	1,025	Less: Divestment proceeds (Reference I)
45	1	—	Add: Tax paid on divestments (reported under “Other investing cash outflows”)
130	525	62	Add: Cash outflows related to inorganic capital expenditure1
4,899	8,453	8,839	Organic free cash flow2

1.Cash outflows related to inorganic capital expenditure includes portfolio actions which expand Shell’s activities through acquisitions and restructuring activities as reported in capital expenditure lines in the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows.

2.Free cash flow less divestment proceeds, adding back outflows related to inorganic expenditure.

H. Cash flow from operating activities excluding working capital movements

Working capital movements are defined as the sum of the following items in the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows: (i) (increase)/decrease in inventories, (ii) (increase)/decrease in current receivables, and (iii) increase/(decrease) in current payables.

Cash flow from operating activities excluding working capital movements is a measure used by Shell to analyse its operating cash generation over time excluding the timing effects of changes in inventories and operating receivables and payables from period to period.

Quarters

$ million

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Q1 2024

9,281

13,162

13,330

Cash flow from operating activities

854

131

(608)

(Increase)/decrease in inventories

(2,610)

751

(195)

(Increase)/decrease in current receivables

(907)

1,524

(1,949)

Increase/(decrease) in current payables

(2,663)

2,407

(2,752)

(Increase)/decrease in working capital

11,944

10,755

16,082

Cash flow from operating activities excluding working capital movements

I. Divestment proceeds

Divestment proceeds represent cash received from divestment activities in the period. Management regularly monitors this measure as a key lever to deliver free cash flow.



Quarters			$ million
Q1 2025	Q4 2024	Q1 2024
559	493	323	Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and businesses
33	305	133	Proceeds from joint ventures and associates from sale, capital reduction and repayment of long-term loans
5	6	569	Proceeds from sale of equity securities
597	805	1,025	Divestment proceeds

Page 29

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT

All amounts shown throughout this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report are unaudited. All peak production figures in Portfolio Developments are quoted at 100% expected production. The numbers presented throughout this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report may not sum precisely to the totals provided and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures, due to rounding.

The companies in which Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report, “Shell”, “Shell Group” and “Group” are sometimes used for convenience to reference Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ‘‘Subsidiaries’’, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report, refer to entities over which Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. The terms “joint venture”, “joint operations”, “joint arrangements”, and “associates” may also be used to refer to a commercial arrangement in which Shell has a direct or indirect ownership interest with one or more parties. The term “Shell interest” is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

Forward-Looking statements

This Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Shell to market risks and statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “aim”; “ambition”; ‘‘anticipate’’; “aspire”, “aspiration”, ‘‘believe’’; “commit”; “commitment”; ‘‘could’’; “desire”; ‘‘estimate’’; ‘‘expect’’; ‘‘goals’’; ‘‘intend’’; ‘‘may’’; “milestones”; ‘‘objectives’’; ‘‘outlook’’; ‘‘plan’’; ‘‘probably’’; ‘‘project’’; ‘‘risks’’; “schedule”; ‘‘seek’’; ‘‘should’’; ‘‘target’’; “vision”; ‘‘will’’; “would” and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell’s products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks, including climate change; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, judicial, fiscal and regulatory developments including tariffs and regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; (m) risks associated with the impact of pandemics, regional conflicts, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict in the Middle East, and a significant cyber security, data privacy or IT incident; (n) the pace of the energy transition; and (o) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Shell plc’s Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2024 (available at www.shell.com/investors/news-and-filings/sec-filings.html and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report, May 2, 2025. Neither Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report.

Shell’s net carbon intensity

Also, in this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report we may refer to Shell’s “net carbon intensity” (NCI), which includes Shell’s carbon emissions from the production of our energy products, our suppliers’ carbon emissions in supplying energy for that production and our customers’ carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy products we sell. Shell’s NCI also includes the emissions associated with the production and use of energy products produced by others which Shell purchases for resale. Shell only controls its own emissions. The use of the terms Shell’s “net carbon intensity” or NCI is for convenience only and not intended to suggest these emissions are those of Shell plc or its subsidiaries.

Shell’s net-zero emissions target

Shell’s operating plan and outlook are forecasted for a three-year period and ten-year period, respectively, and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next three and ten years. Accordingly, the outlook reflects our Scope 1, Scope 2 and NCI targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plan and outlook cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target, as this target is outside our planning period. Such future operating plans and outlooks could include changes to our portfolio, efficiency improvements and the use of carbon capture and storage and carbon credits. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans and outlooks to reflect this movement. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.

Forward-Looking non-GAAP measures

This Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report may contain certain forward-looking non-GAAP measures such as cash capital expenditure and Adjusted Earnings. We are unable to provide a reconciliation of these forward-looking non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures because certain information needed to reconcile those non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures is dependent on future events some of which are outside the control of Shell, such as oil and gas prices, interest rates and exchange rates. Moreover, estimating such GAAP measures with the required precision necessary to provide a meaningful reconciliation is extremely difficult and could not be accomplished without unreasonable effort. Non-GAAP measures in respect of future periods which cannot be reconciled to the most comparable GAAP financial measure are calculated in a manner which is consistent with the accounting policies applied in Shell plc’s consolidated financial statements.

The contents of websites referred to in this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report do not form part of this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report.

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.

Page 30

SHELL PLC
1st QUARTER 2025 UNAUDITED RESULTS

This announcement contains inside information.

May 2, 2025


The information in this Unaudited Condensed Interim Financial Report reflects the unaudited consolidated financial position and results of Shell plc. Company No. 4366849, Registered Office: Shell Centre, London, SE1 7NA, England, UK.

Contacts:

– Sean Ashley, Company Secretary

– Media: International +44 (0) 207 934 5550; U.S. and Canada: https://www.shell.us/about-us/news-and-insights/media/submit-an-inquiry.html

LEI number of Shell plc: 21380068P1DRHMJ8KU70

Classification: Inside Information

Page 31

The MIL Network –

May 2, 2025

MIL-OSI: Middlefield Canadian Income PCC – Proposed Rollover into UCITS ETF

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN IT ARE NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (INCLUDING ITS TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS, ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA), AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, IN ANY MEMBER STATE OF THE EEA OR IN ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE SAME WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

This announcement is not an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to acquire, securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction in which the same would be unlawful. Neither this announcement nor any part of it shall form the basis of or be relied on in connection with or act as an inducement to enter into any contract or commitment whatsoever.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 which forms part of domestic law in the United Kingdom pursuant to The European Union Withdrawal Act 2018, as amended by The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

Middlefield Canadian Income PCC (the “Company”)
Including Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC (the “Fund”), a cell of the Company
Registered No: 93546 Legal Entity Identifier: 2138007ENW3JEJXC8658

2 May 2025

Proposed Rollover into UCITS ETF

Middlefield Canadian Income PCC (the “Company”) and Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC (the “Fund”) today announce their intention to propose a transaction whereby shareholders in the Fund (the “Shareholders”) would have the option to receive shares in a newly established, actively managed, listed and London Stock Exchange traded fund in the form of an authorised UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) (the “ETF”) in exchange for their shareholding in the Fund (the “Transaction”). It is envisaged that the Transaction would involve the voluntary winding up of the Company and the Fund. The ETF would be managed by Middlefield Limited, the Company’s investment manager (“Middlefield”) and would offer continued exposure to the Company’s existing investment objective and policy. Advisory work on the structure of the Transaction is ongoing, and the Company will release an announcement with further details in due course.

Under the proposed terms of the Transaction, Shareholders who do not wish to continue their exposure to the Company’s existing investment objective and policy via the ETF (whether with respect to their entire shareholding, or part thereof) would be able to participate in an uncapped cash exit at close to the Company’s net asset value (“NAV”) per share, or elect to receive a combination of both shares in the ETF and cash.

As previously announced on 13 February 2025, the Company received a requisition notice from Saba Capital Management, L.P. (“Saba”) proposing that Shareholders be asked to consider, and, if thought fit, approve, the taking by the Company of all necessary steps to implement a scheme or process by which Shareholders would have the option of becoming shareholders of a UK-listed open-ended investment vehicle with a substantially similar strategy as that of the Company and managed by the Company’s existing manager (the “Requisition Notice”).

Following receipt of the Requisition Notice, the board of the Company (the “Board”) consulted with a number of the Company’s largest Shareholders, including Saba. Following constructive discussions, Saba agreed to withdraw the Requisition Notice for a period of 60 days to enable the Company and its advisers to formulate proposals that would best serve the interests of all Shareholders.

Further to the feedback received, the Board has concluded that the interests of Shareholders would be best served by proposing the Transaction and an alternative investment vehicle which would address the issue of limited liquidity in the Company’s shares and the discount to NAV at which the shares have been trading, whilst enabling those Shareholders who wish to retain exposure to high quality, Canadian and US large capitalisation businesses focusing on high levels of stable and increasing income, the option to do so. Further to ongoing discussions with the Company’s legal, tax and financial advisers and Middlefield, and having considered other potential closed-end fund rollover options, the Board has concluded that the ETF represents the most suitable rollover option for Shareholders.

The intention in proposing the ETF as an alternative investment option for Shareholders would be to create a cost-effective vehicle which is positioned to grow and which should benefit from a tight bid-offer spread, a total expense ratio (“TER”) lower than the Company’s current TER and a share price that trades close to or at the NAV per share of the ETF, whilst offering continued exposure to the Company’s existing investment objective and policy. ETFs trade at prices close to or at NAV due to the in-kind creation and redemption mechanism which underpins their structure and which is utilised by authorised participants to address any material surplus or deficit of ETF shares in the market.

The Company notes that over the last ten years, Middlefield has successfully rolled several of its Canadian closed-end funds into exchange traded funds listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. For the year ended 31 December 2024, three of the exchange traded funds managed by Middlefield were ranked among the Top 10 Best-Performing Canadian ETFs, as recognised by Morningstar*.

Saba has publicly expressed its support for enhanced liquidity options and, consistent with its earlier requisition, has indicated that it would vote in favour of the Transaction at any general meeting of Shareholders to be convened in due course to approve the Transaction.

The ETF

It is proposed that shares in the ETF would be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s main market for listed securities. In due course, the ETF may also seek listings on additional European exchanges to broaden investor access. The ETF would adopt the Company’s current investment objective and policy, maintaining a focus on delivering a high level of income and long-term capital growth through investment in a portfolio of larger capitalisation, high-yielding Canadian equities, with a focus on companies that consistently pay and grow their dividends. The ETF is expected to pay quarterly distributions at a level similar to the current dividends paid by the Company and to operate with a lower TER, targeted to be below 1 per cent. The Company uses short term borrowings to support its dividend policy. It is intended that the ETF may seek to use financial derivative instruments, such as total return equity swaps, to support its dividend policy with a similar effect to that provided by the use of borrowings by the Company.

Middlefield has appointed HANetf, a leading white-label provider of exchange traded products, to advise on the structuring and establishment of the ETF. HANetf has extensive experience in structuring, distributing and marketing exchange traded funds and will provide ongoing operational, administrative and marketing support to Middlefield in its capacity as the manager of the ETF. The set-up costs of the ETF will be borne by Middlefield.

Expected timetable

Subject to the satisfactory completion of ongoing advisory work, the ETF is expected to be established and a circular relating to the Transaction sent to Shareholders by August 2025. The Transaction would be subject to usual regulatory and tax approvals.

Michael Phair, the Chair of the Company and Fund, commented:

“The Board continues to have strong conviction in the Company’s investment proposition and its ability to deliver a high level of income and long-term capital growth. However, the Board has listened to feedback from Shareholders and recognises that the constrained liquidity and persistent discount to NAV remain impediments to new and further investment.

Accordingly, the Board is actively working on the terms of the Transaction, which, if approved, would provide Shareholders with an opportunity to continue their investment in the existing strategy through the ETF option, or the realisation of their investment at close to NAV, or a combination of both.”

For further information, please contact:

Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC via Investec Bank plc
Michael Phair (Chairman)

Investec Bank plc
Corporate Broker
Helen Goldsmith/David Yovichic/Denis Flanagan
Tel: 020 7597 4000

JTC Fund Solutions (Jersey) Limited
Secretary
Matt Tostevin/Hilary Jones/Jade Livesey
Tel: 01534 700 000

Burson Buchanan
PR Advisers
Charles Ryland/Henry Wilson
Tel: 020 7466 5000

* Middlefield Innovation Dividend ETF (Global Equity): over 5 years; Middlefield Sustainable Global Dividend ETF (Global Dividend & Income Equity): over 3, 5 and 10 years; Middlefield U.S. Equity Dividend ETF (US Dividend & Income Equity): over 5 years (source: Morningstar, Inc.) All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.

The MIL Network –

May 2, 2025

MIL-OSI: Shell plc publishes first quarter 2025 press release

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

London, May 2, 2025

“Shell delivered another solid set of results in the first quarter of 2025. We further strengthened our leading LNG business by completing the acquisition of Pavilion Energy, and high-graded our portfolio with the completion of the Nigeria onshore and the Singapore Energy and Chemicals Park divestments.

Our strong performance and resilient balance sheet give us the confidence to commence another $3.5 billion of buybacks for the next three months, consistent with the strategic direction we set out at our Capital Markets Day in March.”

Shell plc Chief Executive Officer, Wael Sawan

SOLID RESULTS; RESILIENT BALANCE SHEET; CONSISTENT DISTRIBUTIONS

Q1 2025 Adjusted Earnings¹ of $5.6 billion reflect strong performance across the business. CFFO excluding working capital was $11.9 billion for the quarter. Working capital outflow was $2.7 billion in Q1 2025.
Strengthened LNG trading and optimisation capabilities with the Pavilion Energy acquisition and high-graded the portfolio with the completion of the divestments of the Singapore Energy and Chemicals Park², and SPDC³ in Nigeria.
Disciplined capital allocation, with 2025 cash capex outlook of $20 – 22 billion.
Commencing another $3.5 billion share buyback programme for the next 3 months, making this the 14^th consecutive quarter of at least $3 billion in buybacks. Total shareholder distributions paid over the last 4 quarters were 45% of CFFO, consistent with the 40 – 50% of CFFO through the cycle distribution target announced at Capital Markets Day 2025.
Resilient balance sheet with gearing (including leases) of 19%.

$ million¹		Adj. Earnings	Adj. EBITDA	CFFO	Cash capex
Integrated Gas		2,483	4,735	3,463	1,116
Upstream		2,337	7,387	3,945	1,923
Marketing		900	1,869	1,907	256
Chemicals & Products⁴		449	1,410	130	458
Renewables & Energy Solutions		(42)	111	367	403
Corporate		(457)	(261)	(531)	19
Less: Non-controlling interest (NCI)		94
Shell	Q1 2025	5,577	15,250	9,281	4,175
Shell	Q4 2024	3,661	14,281	13,162	6,924

¹Income/(loss) attributable to shareholders for Q1 2025 is $4.8 billion. Reconciliation of non-GAAP measures can be found in the unaudited results, available at www.shell.com/investors.
² Completed on April 1, 2025.
³The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited.
⁴Chemicals & Products Adjusted Earnings at a subsegment level are as follows: Chemicals $(0.1) billion and Products $0.6 billion.

CFFO excluding working capital is $11.9 billion in Q1 2025 and reflects tax payments of $2.9 billion. Working capital outflow is $2.7 billion, consistent with outflows as we have seen in the first quarters of recent years.
Net debt of $41.5 billion includes the lease additions related to the Pavilion Energy acquisition as well as a drawdown on the loan facilities provided at the completion of the sale of SPDC in Nigeria.

$ billion¹	Q1 2024	Q2 2024	Q3 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025
Working capital	(2.8)	(0.3)	2.7	2.4	(2.7)
Divestment proceeds	1.0	0.8	0.2	0.8	0.6
Free cash flow	9.8	10.2	10.8	8.7	5.3
Net debt	40.5	38.3	35.2	38.8	41.5

¹ Reconciliation of non-GAAP measures can be found in the unaudited results, available at www.shell.com/investors.

Q1 2025 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE DRIVERS

INTEGRATED GAS

Key data	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Q2 2025 outlook
Realised liquids price ($/bbl)	63	64	—
Realised gas price ($/thousand scf)	8.1	7.4	—
Production (kboe/d)	905	927	890 – 950
LNG liquefaction volumes (MT)	7.1	6.6	6.3 – 6.9
LNG sales volumes (MT)	15.5	16.5	—

Adjusted Earnings were higher than in Q4 2024, reflecting lower exploration well write-offs. Trading and optimisation results were in line with Q4 2024, despite higher unfavourable (non-cash) impact from expiring hedging contracts.
Q2 2025 production and liquefaction outlook reflects higher scheduled maintenance across the portfolio.

UPSTREAM

Key data	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Q2 2025 outlook
Realised liquids price ($/bbl)	71	71	—
Realised gas price ($/thousand scf)	7.0	7.4	—
Liquids production (kboe/d)	1,332	1,335	—
Gas production (million scf/d)	3,056	3,020	—
Total production (kboe/d)	1,859	1,855	1,560 – 1,760

Adjusted Earnings were higher than in Q4 2024, reflecting lower depreciation following year-end reserves updates and lower well write-offs, partially offset by lower sales volumes.
Q2 2025 production outlook reflects scheduled maintenance and the completed sale of SPDC in March 2025.

MARKETING

Key data	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Q2 2025 outlook
Marketing sales volumes (kb/d)	2,795	2,674	2,600 – 3,100
Mobility (kb/d)	2,041	1,964	—
Lubricants (kb/d)	77	87	—
Sectors & Decarbonisation (kb/d)	678	623	—

Adjusted Earnings were higher than in Q4 2024, supported by seasonally stronger margins in Lubricants.

CHEMICALS & PRODUCTS

Key data	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Q2 2025 outlook¹
Refinery processing intake (kb/d)	1,215	1,362	—
Chemicals sales volumes (kT)	2,926	2,813	—
Refinery utilisation (%)	76	85	87 – 95
Chemicals manufacturing plant utilisation (%)	75	81	74 – 82
Global indicative refining margin ($/bbl)	5.5	6.2	—
Global indicative chemical margin ($/t)	138	126	—

¹Following the Singapore Energy and Chemicals Park divestment, IRM, ICM and associated sensitivities have been updated for Q2 2025; see the guidance tab of the Quarterly Databook, available at www.shell.com/investors.

Trading and optimisation results were significantly higher than in Q4 2024 and in line with contributions in Q2 and Q3 of 2024, while the Chemicals results continued to be impacted by a weak margin environment.
Q2 2025 outlook reflects the completed sale of the Energy and Chemicals Park in Singapore.

RENEWABLES & ENERGY SOLUTIONS

Key data	Q4 2024	Q1 2025
External power sales (TWh)	76	76
Sales of pipeline gas to end-use customers (TWh)	165	184
Renewables power generation capacity (GW)*	7.4	7.5
in operation (GW)	3.4	3.5
under construction and/or committed for sale (GW)	4.0	4.0

*Excludes Shell’s equity share of associates where information cannot be obtained.

Adjusted Earnings were higher than in Q4 2024, with higher seasonal demand and volatility driving higher trading and optimisation, particularly in the Americas.

CORPORATE

Key data	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Q2 2025 outlook
Adjusted Earnings ($ billion)	(0.4)	(0.5)	(0.6) – (0.4)

UPCOMING INVESTOR EVENTS

May 20, 2025	Annual General Meeting
July 31, 2025	Second quarter 2025 results and dividends
October 30, 2025	Third quarter 2025 results and dividends

USEFUL LINKS

Results materials Q 1 202 5
Quarterly Databook Q 1 20 25
Webcast registration Q 1 20 25
Dividend announcement Q 1 20 25
C apital Mar kets Day 2025 materials

ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE (NON-GAAP) MEASURES
This announcement includes certain measures that are calculated and presented on the basis of methodologies other than in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) such as IFRS, including Adjusted Earnings, Adjusted EBITDA, CFFO excluding working capital movements, free cash flow, Divestment proceeds and Net debt. This information, along with comparable GAAP measures, is useful to investors because it provides a basis for measuring Shell plc’s operating performance and ability to retire debt and invest in new business opportunities. Shell plc’s management uses these financial measures, along with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, in evaluating the business performance.

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking non-GAAP measures such as Adjusted Earnings and divestments. We are unable to provide a reconciliation of these forward-looking non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures because certain information needed to reconcile the non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures is dependent on future events some of which are outside the control of the company, such as oil and gas prices, interest rates and exchange rates. Moreover, estimating such GAAP measures with the required precision necessary to provide a meaningful reconciliation is extremely difficult and could not be accomplished without unreasonable effort. Non-GAAP measures in respect of future periods which cannot be reconciled to the most comparable GAAP financial measure are estimated in a manner which is consistent with the accounting policies applied in Shell plc’s consolidated financial statements.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
The companies in which Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement, “Shell”, “Shell Group” and “Group” are sometimes used for convenience to reference Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. “Subsidiaries”, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this announcement refer to entities over which Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. The terms “joint venture”, “joint operations”, “joint arrangements”, and “associates” may also be used to refer to a commercial arrangement in which Shell has a direct or indirect ownership interest with one or more parties. The term “Shell interest” is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Shell to market risks and statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “aim”; “ambition”; “anticipate”; “aspire”; “aspiration”; ‘‘believe’’; “commit”; “commitment”; ‘‘could’’; “desire”; ‘‘estimate’’; ‘‘expect’’; ‘‘goals’’; ‘‘intend’’; ‘‘may’’; “milestones”; ‘‘objectives’’; ‘‘outlook’’; ‘‘plan’’; ‘‘probably’’; ‘‘project’’; ‘‘risks’’; “schedule”; ‘‘seek’’; ‘‘should’’; ‘‘target’’; “vision”; ‘‘will’’; “would” and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell’s products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks, including climate change; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, judicial, fiscal and regulatory developments including tariffs and regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; (m) risks associated with the impact of pandemics, regional conflicts, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict in the Middle East, and a significant cyber security, data privacy or IT incident; (n) the pace of the energy transition; and (o) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Shell plc’s Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2024 (available at www.shell.com/investors/news-and-filings/sec-filings.html and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, May 2, 2025. Neither Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.
All amounts shown throughout this announcement are unaudited. The numbers presented throughout this announcement may not sum precisely to the totals provided and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures, due to rounding.
Shell’s Net Carbon Intensity
Also, in this announcement, we may refer to Shell’s “net carbon intensity” (NCI), which includes Shell’s carbon emissions from the production of our energy products, our suppliers’ carbon emissions in supplying energy for that production and our customers’ carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy products we sell. Shell’s NCI also includes the emissions associated with the production and use of energy products produced by others which Shell purchases for resale. Shell only controls its own emissions. The use of the terms Shell’s “net carbon intensity” or NCI is for convenience only and not intended to suggest these emissions are those of Shell plc or its subsidiaries.

Shell’s Net-Zero Emissions Target
Shell’s operating plan and outlook are forecasted for a three-year period and ten-year period, respectively, and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next three and ten years. Accordingly, the outlook reflects our Scope 1, Scope 2 and NCI targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plan and outlook cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target, as this target is outside our planning period. Such future operating plans and outlooks could include changes to our portfolio, efficiency improvements and the use of carbon capture and storage and carbon credits. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans and outlooks to reflect this movement. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.

The content of websites referred to in this announcement does not form part of this announcement.

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this announcement that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.

The financial information presented in this announcement does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of section 434(3) of the Companies Act 2006 (“the Act”). Statutory accounts for the year ended December 31, 2024 were published in Shell’s Annual Report and Accounts, a copy of which was delivered to the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales. The auditor’s report on those accounts was unqualified, did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying the report and did not contain a statement under sections 498(2) or 498(3) of the Act.

The information in this announcement does not constitute the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements which are contained in Shell’s first quarter 2025 unaudited results available on www.shell.com/investors.

CONTACTS

Media: International +44 207 934 5550; U.S. and Canada: C ontact form

The MIL Network –

May 2, 2025

MIL-OSI: ING posts 1Q2025 net result of €1,455 million, with strong growth in customer balances and fee income

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

ING posts 1Q2025 net result of €1,455 million, with strong growth in customer balances and fee income


1Q2025 profit before tax of €2,124 million with a CET1 ratio of 13.6%
•	Strong increase in fee income, driven especially by an increase in investment products
•	Total income was resilient, supported by an excellent growth in deposits and a continued increase in mortgage volumes, as well as strong results in Financial Markets
•	Operating expenses excluding regulatory costs slightly lower quarter-on-quarter
•	We continue to move our capital towards our target level and announce a €2.0 billion share buyback
CEO statement “While the geopolitical and macroeconomic circumstances remain uncertain, we believe there is an opportunity for Europe to collectively drive competitiveness and resilience through simplification of regulations and investments in infrastructure, technology and defence,” said Steven van Rijswijk, CEO of ING Group. “As one of the largest and most geographically diversified European banks, we are well-positioned to play a key role in supporting this growth while navigating volatility. During these times, we are staying particularly close to our clients to understand their concerns and banking needs. Our scale, strong performance and robust capital ratios enable us to provide our customers with the support required to manage uncertainties, mitigate risks and capture opportunities. “During the first quarter of 2025, we have delivered continued commercial growth, driven by excellent growth in deposits and higher mortgage volumes. Total income has increased, supported by resilient commercial net interest income and a strong increase in fee income. Expenses have decreased slightly quarter-on-quarter and the increase year-on-year was in line with our guidance, reflecting the impact of inflation and client acquisition expenses. Risk costs were €313 million and below our through-the-cycle-average, reflecting the quality of our loan portfolio. “In Retail Banking, our mobile primary customer base has grown by 174,000 customers this quarter, mainly attributable to Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland. We have attracted €17 billion in retail core deposits, primarily in Germany. And we have increased core lending by €9 billion, of which €6 billion is in residential mortgages, particularly in the Netherlands and Germany, and nearly €2 billion in Business Banking. Across our markets, we have seen 125,000 mortgage applications during this quarter, up 20% year-on-year. Retail fee income has risen 18% year-on-year, primarily driven by growth in the number of investment product customers, higher assets under management and an increase in customer trading activity. “In Wholesale Banking, total income was stable, with strong results in Financial Markets as we have supported our clients during the turbulent market conditions. This turbulence has also led to muted lending volumes. Fee income in Wholesale Banking has increased quarter-on-quarter, mainly driven by higher fees from Global Capital Markets and Trade Finance. Moreover, we have continued to invest in front office growth, our digital customer experience and the scalability of our systems. “We continue to support clients in their sustainability transition by launching innovative services or by entering into partnerships. In Wholesale Banking, we have increased sustainable volume mobilised to €30 billion, a 23% increase versus last year. In Spain, we have launched a service that helps retail customers get insights into their CO2e emissions and provides tips on how to reduce their environmental footprint. In Australia, ING has become the first bank to participate in a new digital energy ratings programme that provides our customers with free energy ratings of their homes and identifies potential sustainability improvements. “We continue to converge our CET1 ratio to our target level while taking the ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty into account. In that light, today we announce a share buyback programme of €2.0 billion. “We’re pleased with our first-quarter performance and are confident in our ability to deliver value to our stakeholders in the current macroeconomic turbulence. We are well on track to meet our 2027 targets and I would like to thank our employees across the world for their contributions to these strong results and their commitment to serving our customers.”

Further information All publications related to ING’s 1Q 2025 results can be found at the quarterly results page on ING.com. For more on investor information, go to www.ing.com/investors. A short ING ON AIR video with CEO Steven van Rijswijk discussing our 1Q 2025 results is available on Youtube. For further information on ING, please visit www.ing.com. Frequent news updates can be found in the Newsroom or via the @ING_news feed on X. Photos of ING operations, buildings and its executives are available for download at Flickr.

Investor conference call and webcast Steven van Rijswijk, Tanate Phutrakul and Ljiljana Čortan will discuss the results in an Investor conference call on 2 May 2025 at 9:00 a.m. CET. Members of the investment community can join the conference call at +31 20 708 5074 (NL), or +44 330 551 0202 (UK) (registration required via invitation) and via live audio webcast at www.ing.com.

Investor enquiries E: investor.relations@ing.com Press enquiries T: +31 20 576 5000 E: media.relations@ing.com

ING Profile ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is: empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 60,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 100 countries. ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N). ING aims to put sustainability at the heart of what we do. Our policies and actions are assessed by independent research and ratings providers, which give updates on them annually. ING’s ESG rating by MSCI was reconfirmed by MSCI as ‘AA’ in August 2024 for the fifth year. As of December 2023, in Sustainalytics’ view, ING’s management of ESG material risk is ‘Strong’. Our current ESG Risk Rating, is 17.2 (Low Risk). ING Group shares are also included in major sustainability and ESG index products of leading providers. Here are some examples: Euronext, STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell. Important legal information Elements of this press release contain or may contain information about ING Groep N.V. and/ or ING Bank N.V. within the meaning of Article 7(1) to (4) of EU Regulation No 596/2014 (‘Market Abuse Regulation’). ING Group’s annual accounts are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (‘IFRS- EU’). In preparing the financial information in this document, except as described otherwise, the same accounting principles are applied as in the 2024 ING Group consolidated annual accounts. All figures in this document are unaudited. Small differences are possible in the tables due to rounding. Certain of the statements contained herein are not historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to a number of factors, including, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions and customer behaviour, in particular economic conditions in ING’s core markets, including changes affecting currency exchange rates and the regional and global economic impact of the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and related international response measures (2) changes affecting interest rate levels (3) any default of a major market participant and related market disruption (4) changes in performance of financial markets, including in Europe and developing markets (5) fiscal uncertainty in Europe and the United States (6) discontinuation of or changes in ‘benchmark’ indices (7) inflation and deflation in our principal markets (8) changes in conditions in the credit and capital markets generally, including changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness (9) failures of banks falling under the scope of state compensation schemes (10) noncompliance with or changes in laws and regulations, including those concerning financial services, financial economic crimes and tax laws, and the interpretation and application thereof (11) geopolitical risks, political instabilities and policies and actions of governmental and regulatory authorities, including in connection with the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and the related international response measures (12) legal and regulatory risks in certain countries with less developed legal and regulatory frameworks (13) prudential supervision and regulations, including in relation to stress tests and regulatory restrictions on dividends and distributions (also among members of the group) (14) ING’s ability to meet minimum capital and other prudential regulatory requirements (15) changes in regulation of US commodities and derivatives businesses of ING and its customers (16) application of bank recovery and resolution regimes, including write down and conversion powers in relation to our securities (17) outcome of current and future litigation, enforcement proceedings, investigations or other regulatory actions, including claims by customers or stakeholders who feel misled or treated unfairly, and other conduct issues (18) changes in tax laws and regulations and risks of non-compliance or investigation in connection with tax laws, including FATCA (19) operational and IT risks, such as system disruptions or failures, breaches of security, cyber-attacks, human error, changes in operational practices or inadequate controls including in respect of third parties with which we do business and including any risks as a result of incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise flawed outputs from the algorithms and data sets utilized in artificial intelligence (20) risks and challenges related to cybercrime including the effects of cyberattacks and changes in legislation and regulation related to cybersecurity and data privacy, including such risks and challenges as a consequence of the use of emerging technologies, such as advanced forms of artificial intelligence and quantum computing (21) changes in general competitive factors, including ability to increase or maintain market share (22) inability to protect our intellectual property and infringement claims by third parties (23) inability of counterparties to meet financial obligations or ability to enforce rights against such counterparties (24) changes in credit ratings (25) business, operational, regulatory, reputation, transition and other risks and challenges in connection with climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion and other ESG-related matters, including data gathering and reporting and also including managing the conflicting laws and requirements of governments, regulators and authorities with respect to these topics (26) inability to attract and retain key personnel (27) future liabilities under defined benefit retirement plans (28) failure to manage business risks, including in connection with use of models, use of derivatives, or maintaining appropriate policies and guidelines (29) changes in capital and credit markets, including interbank funding, as well as customer deposits, which provide the liquidity and capital required to fund our operations, and (30) the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the most recent annual report of ING Groep N.V. (including the Risk Factors contained therein) and ING’s more recent disclosures, including press releases, which are available on www.ING.com. This document may contain ESG-related material that has been prepared by ING on the basis of publicly available information, internally developed data and other third-party sources believed to be reliable. ING has not sought to independently verify information obtained from public and third-party sources and makes no representations or warranties as to accuracy, completeness, reasonableness or reliability of such information. Materiality, as used in the context of ESG, is distinct from, and should not be confused with, such term as defined in the Market Abuse Regulation or as defined for Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) reporting purposes. Any issues identified as material for purposes of ESG in this document are therefore not necessarily material as defined in the Market Abuse Regulation or for SEC reporting purposes. In addition, there is currently no single, globally recognized set of accepted definitions in assessing whether activities are “green” or “sustainable.” Without limiting any of the statements contained herein, we make no representation or warranty as to whether any of our securities constitutes a green or sustainable security or conforms to present or future investor expectations or objectives for green or sustainable investing. For information on characteristics of a security, use of proceeds, a description of applicable project(s) and/or any other relevant information, please reference the offering documents for such security. This document may contain inactive textual addresses to internet websites operated by us and third parties. Reference to such websites is made for information purposes only, and information found at such websites is not incorporated by reference into this document. ING does not make any representation or warranty with respect to the accuracy or completeness of, or take any responsibility for, any information found at any websites operated by third parties. ING specifically disclaims any liability with respect to any information found at websites operated by third parties. ING cannot guarantee that websites operated by third parties remain available following the publication of this document, or that any information found at such websites will not change following the filing of this document. Many of those factors are beyond ING’s control. Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of ING speak only as of the date they are made, and ING assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or for any other reason. This document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction.

Attachment

Full ING 1Q2025 Results Press Release (PDF)

The MIL Network –

May 2, 2025

MIL-OSI: ING completes share buyback and announces new programme of up to €2.0 billion
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

ING completes share buyback and announces new programme of up to €2.0 billion

ING announced today that it has completed the share buyback programme announced on 31 October 2024. The total number of ordinary shares repurchased under the programme is 125,848,305 at an average price of €15.84 for a total consideration of €1,993,571,438.95.

During the last week of the programme, from 28 April 2025 up to and including 30 April 2025, in total 6,872,040 shares were purchased. These shares were repurchased at an average price of €17.12 for a total amount of €117,683,132.31.

Today ING announced a new share buyback programme under which it plans to repurchase ordinary shares of ING Groep N.V. for a maximum total amount of € 2.0 billion. The purpose of the programme is to converge our CET1 ratio towards our target.

ING Group’s CET1 ratio was 13.6% at the end of the first quarter of 2025, which is well above the prevailing CET1 ratio requirement of 10.76%. The share buyback programme will have an impact of approximately 59 bps on our CET1 ratio. The programme will commence on 2 May 2025 and is expected to end no later than 27 October 2025.

The ECB has approved the programme, which will be executed in compliance with the Market Abuse Regulation and within the limitations of the existing authority to acquire a maximum of 20% of the issued shares, as granted by the general meeting of shareholders on 22 April 2025. ING has entered into a non-discretionary arrangement with a financial intermediary to conduct the buyback.

For detailed information on the daily repurchased shares, individual share purchase transactions and weekly reports, see the ING website at www.ing.com/Investor-relations/Share-information/Share-buyback-programme.htm.

Note for editors
For further information on ING, please visit www.ing.com. Frequent news updates can be found in the Newsroom. Photos of ING operations, buildings and its executives are available for download at Flickr.

Press enquiries Investor enquiries

Raymond Vermeulen ING Group Investor Relations

+31 20 576 5000 +31 20 576 6396

Raymond.Vermeulen@ing.com Investor.Relations@ing.com

ING PROFILE

ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is: empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 60,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 100 countries.

ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).

ING aims to put sustainability at the heart of what we do. Our policies and actions are assessed by independent research and ratings providers, which give updates on them annually. ING’s ESG rating by MSCI was reconfirmed by MSCI as ‘AA’ in August 2024 for the fifth year. As of December 2023, in Sustainalytics’ view, ING’s management of ESG material risk is ‘Strong’. Our current ESG Risk Rating, is 17.2 (Low Risk). ING Group shares are also included in major sustainability and ESG index products of leading providers. Here are some examples: Euronext, STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell. Society is transitioning to a low-carbon economy. So are our clients, and so is ING. We finance a lot of sustainable activities, but we still finance more that’s not. Follow our progress on ing.com/climate.

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION

Elements of this press release contain or may contain information about ING Groep N.V. and/ or ING Bank N.V. within the meaning of Article 7(1) to (4) of EU Regulation No 596/2014 (‘Market Abuse Regulation’).

ING Group’s annual accounts are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (‘IFRS- EU’). In preparing the financial information in this document, except as described otherwise, the same accounting principles are applied as in the 2024 ING Group consolidated annual accounts. All figures in this document are unaudited. Small differences are possible in the tables due to rounding.

Certain of the statements contained herein are not historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to diﬀer materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results, performance or events may diﬀer materially from those in such statements due to a number of factors, including, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions and customer behaviour, in particular economic conditions in ING’s core markets, including changes affecting currency exchange rates and the regional and global economic impact of the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and related international response measures (2) changes affecting interest rate levels (3) any default of a major market participant and related market disruption (4) changes in performance of financial markets, including in Europe and developing markets (5) fiscal uncertainty in Europe and the United States (6) discontinuation of or changes in ‘benchmark’ indices (7) inflation and deflation in our principal markets (8) changes in conditions in the credit and capital markets generally, including changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness (9) failures of banks falling under the scope of state compensation schemes (10) non- compliance with or changes in laws and regulations, including those concerning financial services, financial economic crimes and tax laws, and the interpretation and application thereof (11) geopolitical risks, political instabilities and policies and actions of governmental and regulatory authorities, including in connection with the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and the related international response measures (12) legal and regulatory risks in certain countries with less developed legal and regulatory frameworks (13) prudential supervision and regulations, including in relation to stress tests and regulatory restrictions on dividends and distributions (also among members of the group) (14) ING’s ability to meet minimum capital and other prudential regulatory requirements (15) changes in regulation of US commodities and derivatives businesses of ING and its customers (16) application of bank recovery and resolution regimes, including write down and conversion powers in relation to our securities (17) outcome of current and future litigation, enforcement proceedings, investigations or other regulatory actions, including claims by customers or stakeholders who feel misled or treated unfairly, and other conduct issues (18) changes in tax laws and regulations and risks of non-compliance or investigation in connection with tax laws, including FATCA (19) operational and IT risks, such as system disruptions or failures, breaches of security, cyber-attacks, human error, changes in operational practices or inadequate controls including in respect of third parties with which we do business and including any risks as a result of incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise flawed outputs from the algorithms and data sets utilized in artificial intelligence (20) risks and challenges related to cybercrime including the eﬀects of cyberattacks and changes in legislation and regulation related to cybersecurity and data privacy, including such risks and challenges as a consequence of the use of emerging technologies, such as advanced forms of artificial intelligence and quantum computing (21) changes in general competitive factors, including ability to increase or maintain market share (22) inability to protect our intellectual property and infringement claims by third parties (23) inability of counterparties to meet financial obligations or ability to enforce rights against such counterparties (24) changes in credit ratings (25) business, operational, regulatory, reputation, transition and other risks and challenges in connection with climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion and other ESG-related matters, including data gathering and reporting and also including managing the conflicting laws and requirements of governments, regulators and authorities with respect to these topics (26) inability to attract and retain key personnel (27) future liabilities under defined benefit retirement plans (28) failure to manage business risks, including in connection with use of models, use of derivatives, or maintaining appropriate policies and guidelines (29) changes in capital and credit markets, including interbank funding, as well as customer deposits, which provide the liquidity and capital required to fund our operations, and (30) the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the most recent annual report of ING Groep N.V. (including the Risk Factors contained therein) and ING’s more recent disclosures, including press releases, which are available on www.ING.com.

This document may contain ESG-related material that has been prepared by ING on the basis of publicly available information, internally developed data and other third-party sources believed to be reliable. ING has not sought to independently verify information obtained from public and third-party sources and makes no representations or warranties as to accuracy, completeness, reasonableness or reliability of such information.

Materiality, as used in the context of ESG, is distinct from, and should not be confused with, such term as defined in the Market Abuse Regulation or as defined for Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) reporting purposes. Any issues identified as material for purposes of ESG in this document are therefore not necessarily material as defined in the Market Abuse Regulation or for SEC reporting purposes. In addition, there is currently no single, globally recognized set of accepted definitions in assessing whether activities are “green” or “sustainable.” Without limiting any of the statements contained herein, we make no representation or warranty as to whether any of our securities constitutes a green or sustainable security or conforms to present or future investor expectations or objectives for green or sustainable investing. For information on characteristics of a security, use of proceeds, a description of applicable project(s) and/or any other relevant information, please reference the offering documents for such security.

This document may contain inactive textual addresses to internet websites operated by us and third parties. Reference to such websites is made for information purposes only, and information found at such websites is not incorporated by reference into this document. ING does not make any representation or warranty with respect to the accuracy or completeness of, or take any responsibility for, any information found at any websites operated by third parties. ING specifically disclaims any liability with respect to any information found at websites operated by third parties. ING cannot guarantee that websites operated by third parties remain available following the publication of this document, or that any information found at such websites will not change following the filing of this document. Many of those factors are beyond ING’s control.

Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of ING speak only as of the date they are made, and ING assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or for any other reason.

This document does not constitute an oﬀer to sell, or a solicitation of an oﬀer to purchase, any securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction.

Attachment
- ING completes share buyback and announces new programme of up to €2.0 billion
The MIL Network –
May 2, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: What is iNaturalist? The citizen science app playing an unlikely role in Erin Patterson’s mushroom murder trial

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, Associate Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney

Death cap mushrooms (_Amanita phalloides_) Jolanda Aalbers/Shutterstock

The world has been gripped by the case of Australian woman Erin Patterson, who was charged with the murder of three people after allegedly serving them a lunch of beef wellington containing poisonous death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides).

A new element of the sensational story emerged in court this week, when prosecutors reportedly alleged Patterson used iNaturalist to locate and visit places where death cap mushrooms were known to grow.

So what exactly is iNaturalist? And how is this 17-year-old citizen science project being used to better understand our world?

More than 240 million observations worldwide

iNaturalist is an app that allows users to take photos of plants, fungi, animals and any piece of nature. The photos are uploaded, and identified using a combination of crowd-sourcing and artificial intelligence.

When a user uploads an image, they can also choose to make the location public, so others can see where it was found. iNaturalist’s database holds more than 240 million observations wordlwide. More than 10.6 million of these are in Australia.

All of this data is extremely important for scientists to understand the ecology of different species. iNaturalist has played a key role in the discovery of new species as well as sightings of species that have previously not been seen for decades.

iNaturalist might turn out to be an important part of Patterson’s trial, but how else can our observations be used?

Finding the unusual

Real people usually collect images for iNaturalist as part of their everyday life, rather than systematically as part of their job. That means there are patterns to the data that is collected.

Observations tend to be recorded on weekends and in good weather, and to involve life forms people find strange, unusual or interesting.

For example, at the time of writing, iNaturalist had recorded 1,382 sightings of domestic cats in Australia, compared with 29,660 koalas. But cataloguing the rare and wonderful can be useful.

When a user uploads an image to iNaturalist, they can also choose to make the location public, so others can see where it was found.
iNaturalist

iNaturalist can be used to track invasive species

One key use of iNaturalist is understanding the native range of plants and animals.

Australia invests a lot of resources in preventing species from entering the country. But we still see incursions frequently. Observant citizen scientists can be really important for finding species outside their native range. In Australia, if observations of biosecurity threats are made, alerts are automatically sent to biosecurity teams for further investigations.

In the same vein, species commonly found in the pet trade can be quickly observed and captured to prevent the spread of invasive species.

iNaturalist can be used to track invasive species.
ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock

But how safe are the observations?

In 2011, iNaturalist added more features to protect geoprivacy – which allows locations of observations to be obscured. Rare and exciting pets, and collectable insects could be found by looking at location data on iNaturalist.

There is previous evidence this has occurred. Nowadays, species of concern for poaching automatically have their locations obscured, preventing them from being illegally poached or collected. This can also be helpful to prevent people crowding popular endangered animals when they have been sighted.

Typically, anything listed as endangered will automatically have an obscured location on iNaturalist.

Observations on iNaturalist can be helpful for forensics

Observing nature, and taking photos of plants and animals in their native environment, can give us a much better understanding of where they naturally live and grow.

Aside from being fantastic for conservation reasons, this has potential use for forensic investigation of crimes. The use of insects, animals and plants in forensic cases is well established. For example the Sarcosaprophagous Beetle is used in Australia to help understand the time since death when bodies are found.

This sort of science is underpinned by an understanding of where insects naturally live, their lifespans and the sort of environments they thrive in, which are all features iNaturalist can help with.

Should I worry about my location data on iNaturalist?

Observing nature has huge benefits to understanding our natural world. But these observations do collect a lot of personal data in terms of where and when the observation occurred.

Although iNaturalist doesn’t sell users’ information, and users can obscure their precise location, the pictures a person shares can still contain enough information to figure out where they are.

This could be used for forensic intelligence to locate plants and animals of interest, and to place people with them at the time the photo was taken.

If you’re lucky enough to see a rare or threatened species, consider taking a photo that has little background information that can give away the precise details of the locations, particularly when observing immobile organisms like such as plants and fungi.

iNaturalist has played a key role in the discovery of new species.
kodartcha/Shutterstock

iNaturalist is a fantastic resource for observing nature. More data points to understand where plants, animals, and mushrooms can be found is vital for understanding their ecology, and potentially conserving species.

It also has huge ramifications for biosecurity, forensics, and even understanding movements that may have occurred during an alleged crime. So it’s really worth getting out in nature and taking photos of interesting things you see!

Melissa Humphries receives funding from the MRFF, NIH, USDoD and DSTG.

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

– ref. What is iNaturalist? The citizen science app playing an unlikely role in Erin Patterson’s mushroom murder trial – https://theconversation.com/what-is-inaturalist-the-citizen-science-app-playing-an-unlikely-role-in-erin-pattersons-mushroom-murder-trial-255714

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: SPC Severe Thunderstorm Watch 208

Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Note: The expiration time in the watch graphic is amended if the watch is replaced, cancelled or extended.Note: Click for Watch Status Reports.
SEL8

URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 208
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
1055 PM CDT Thu May 1 2025

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of
Western, Central, and Eastern Oklahoma
North Texas

* Effective this Thursday night and Friday morning from 1055 PM
until 700 AM CDT.

* Primary threats include…
Scattered large hail and isolated very large hail events to 2.5
inches in diameter possible
Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible
A tornado or two possible

SUMMARY…A broken band of thunderstorms will likely continue east
into the Watch tonight. Scattered storm development near a frontal
zone is forecast, in addition to upscale growth into an eastward
moving squall line. Large to very large hail will be possible with
the stronger cells. Severe gusts are possible with the more intense
portions of the squall line. A threat for a brief tornado cannot be
ruled out mainly across south-central Oklahoma into eastern Oklahoma
late tonight.

The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 85
statute miles north and south of a line from 45 miles west northwest
of Altus OK to 65 miles east of Mcalester OK. For a complete
depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

REMEMBER…A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are
favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.
Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening
weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible
warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce
tornadoes.

&&

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION…CONTINUE…WW 205…WW 207…

AVIATION…A few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to
2.5 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 60 knots. A
few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 500. Mean storm motion vector
27035.

…Smith

SEL8

URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 208
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
1055 PM CDT Thu May 1 2025

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of
Western, Central, and Eastern Oklahoma
North Texas

* Effective this Thursday night and Friday morning from 1055 PM
until 700 AM CDT.

* Primary threats include…
Scattered large hail and isolated very large hail events to 2.5
inches in diameter possible
Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible
A tornado or two possible

SUMMARY…A broken band of thunderstorms will likely continue east
into the Watch tonight. Scattered storm development near a frontal
zone is forecast, in addition to upscale growth into an eastward
moving squall line. Large to very large hail will be possible with
the stronger cells. Severe gusts are possible with the more intense
portions of the squall line. A threat for a brief tornado cannot be
ruled out mainly across south-central Oklahoma into eastern Oklahoma
late tonight.

The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 85
statute miles north and south of a line from 45 miles west northwest
of Altus OK to 65 miles east of Mcalester OK. For a complete
depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

REMEMBER…A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are
favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.
Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening
weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible
warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce
tornadoes.

&&

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION…CONTINUE…WW 205…WW 207…

AVIATION…A few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to
2.5 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 60 knots. A
few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 500. Mean storm motion vector
27035.

…Smith

Note: The Aviation Watch (SAW) product is an approximation to the watch area. The actual watch is depicted by the shaded areas.
SAW8
WW 208 SEVERE TSTM OK TX 020355Z – 021200Z
AXIS..85 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF LINE..
45WNW LTS/ALTUS OK/ – 65E MLC/MCALESTER OK/
..AVIATION COORDS.. 75NM N/S /34NNE CDS – 35SSW FSM/
HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT..2.5 INCHES. WIND GUSTS..60 KNOTS.
MAX TOPS TO 500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27035.

LAT…LON 36130000 36099463 33649463 33660000

THIS IS AN APPROXIMATION TO THE WATCH AREA. FOR A
COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE WOUS64 KWNS
FOR WOU8.

Watch 208 Status Report Message has not been issued yet.

Note: Click for Complete Product Text.Tornadoes

Probability of 2 or more tornadoes

Low (20%)

Probability of 1 or more strong (EF2-EF5) tornadoes

Low (5%)

Wind

Probability of 10 or more severe wind events

Mod (50%)

Probability of 1 or more wind events > 65 knots

Low (20%)

Hail

Probability of 10 or more severe hail events

Mod (40%)

Probability of 1 or more hailstones > 2 inches

Mod (40%)

Combined Severe Hail/Wind

Probability of 6 or more combined severe hail/wind events

High (80%)

For each watch, probabilities for particular events inside the watch (listed above in each table) are determined by the issuing forecaster. The “Low” category contains probability values ranging from less than 2% to 20% (EF2-EF5 tornadoes), less than 5% to 20% (all other probabilities), “Moderate” from 30% to 60%, and “High” from 70% to greater than 95%. High values are bolded and lighter in color to provide awareness of an increased threat for a particular event.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: President Lai meets Japan’s LDP Youth Division delegation

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

Details
2025-04-29
President Lai meets NBR delegation
On the morning of April 29, President Lai Ching-te met with a delegation from the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). In remarks, President Lai stated that as Taiwan stands at the very frontline of defense of global democracy, we are actively implementing our Four Pillars of Peace action plan, which includes continuing to enhance our national defense capabilities, demonstrating our commitment to defending freedom and democracy. The president said he hopes to further advance national security and industrial cooperation between Taiwan and the United States. He also expressed hope that this will help boost economic resilience for both sides and establish each as a key pillar of regional security, elevating our relations to even higher levels. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: I am delighted to meet with Admiral John Aquilino again today. I also warmly welcome NBR President Michael Wills and our distinguished guests from the bureau to Taiwan. I look forward to exchanging views with you all on Taiwan-US relations and the regional situation. During his tenure as commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Aquilino placed much attention on the Taiwan Strait issue. And the NBR has conducted a wealth of research and analysis focusing on matters of regional security. Thanks to all of your outstanding contributions and efforts, the international community has gained a better understanding of the role Taiwan plays in the Indo-Pacific region and in global democratic development. For this, I want to extend my deepest gratitude. Taiwan stands at the very frontline of defending global democracy and is located at a strategically important location in the first island chain. We are actively implementing our Four Pillars of Peace action plan, which includes continuing to enhance our national defense capabilities, building economic security, demonstrating stable and principled cross-strait leadership, and standing side-by-side with the democratic community to jointly demonstrate the strength of deterrence and safeguard regional peace and stability. At the beginning of this month, I announced an increase in military allowances for volunteer service members and combat troops. The government will also continue to reform national defense and enhance self-sufficiency in defense. In addition, we will prioritize special budget allocations to ensure that Taiwan’s defense budget exceeds 3 percent of GDP. These efforts continue to strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities and demonstrate our commitment to defending freedom and democracy. As we mark the 46th anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act, we thank the US government for continuing its arms sales to Taiwan and strengthening the Taiwan-US partnership over the years. We believe that, in addition to engaging in military exchanges and cooperation, Taiwan and the US can build an even closer economic and trade relationship, boosting each other’s economic resilience and establishing each as a key pillar of regional security. I expect that your continued assistance will help advance national security and industrial cooperation between Taiwan and the US, elevating our relations to even higher levels. Once again, I welcome our distinguished guests to Taiwan and wish you a pleasant and successful trip. I hope that through this visit, you gain a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of Taiwan’s economy and national defense. Admiral Aquilino then delivered remarks, thanking the Ministry of National Defense for the invitation and President Lai for receiving and spending time with them. Mentioning that this is his second visit in five months, he said he continues to be incredibly impressed with the president’s leadership and the actions he has taken to secure Taiwan and defend its people. Admiral Aquilino said that he has watched the efforts of the ministers on whole-of-society defense to demonstrate deterrence and added that the pace of the work is nothing short of inspiring. Admiral Aquilino noted that Taiwan’s thriving democracy is incredibly important to the peace and stability of the region. He stated that he, alongside the NBR, will continue to offer support, noting that President Wills and his team are an asset to Taiwan and the US that helps continue our close relationship and ensure peace and stability in the region.

Details
2025-04-28
President Lai meets Japanese Diet Member and former Minister of State for Economic Security Takaichi Sanae
On the afternoon of April 28, President Lai Ching-te met with a delegation led by Member of the Japanese House of Representatives and former Minister of State for Economic Security Takaichi Sanae. In remarks, President Lai thanked the government of Japan for repeatedly emphasizing the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait at important international venues. The president expressed hope that in the face of China’s continually expanding red supply chains, Taiwan and Japan can continue to cooperate closely in such fields as semiconductors, energy, and AI technology to create non-red supply chains that enhance economic resilience and industrial competitiveness for both sides, and jointly pave the way for further prosperity and growth in the Indo-Pacific region. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: First, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Representative Takaichi as she returns for another visit to Taiwan. I am also very happy to have Members of the House of Representatives Kikawada Hitoshi and Ozaki Masanao, and Member of the House of Councillors Sato Kei all gathered together here to engage in these very important exchanges. Our visitors will be taking part in many exchange activities during this trip. Earlier today at the Indo-Pacific Strategy Thinktank’s International Political and Economic Forum, Representative Takaichi delivered a speech in which she clearly demonstrated the great importance she places upon the friendship between Taiwan and Japan. For this I want to express my deepest appreciation to each of our guests. The peoples of Taiwan and Japan have a deep friendship and mutual trust. We have a shared commitment to the universal values of democracy, freedom, and respect for human rights, but beyond that, we both have striven to contribute to regional peace and stability. I also want to thank the government of Japan for repeatedly emphasizing the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait at important international venues. Tomorrow you will all make a trip to Kaohsiung to visit a bronze statue of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who once said, “If Taiwan has a problem, then Japan has a problem.” We will always remember the firm support and friendship he showed Taiwan. Since taking office last year, I have worked hard to improve Taiwan’s whole-of-society defense resilience and implement our Four Pillars of Peace action plan. By strengthening our national defense capabilities, building up economic security, demonstrating stable and principled cross-strait leadership, and deepening partnerships with democratic countries including Japan, we can together maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and across the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, in the face of China’s continually expanding red supply chains, we hope that Taiwan and Japan, as important economic and trade partners, can continue to cooperate closely in such fields as semiconductors, energy, and AI technology to create non-red supply chains that further enhance economic resilience and industrial competitiveness for both sides. Going forward, Taiwan will work hard to play an important role in the international community and contribute its key strengths. I hope that, with the support of our guests, Taiwan can soon accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and sign an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with Japan so that we can jointly pave the way for further prosperity and growth in the Indo-Pacific region. Lastly, I thank each of you once again for taking concrete action to support Taiwan. I am confident that your visit will help deepen Taiwan-Japan ties and create even greater opportunities for cooperation. Let us all strive together to keep propelling Taiwan-Japan relations forward. Representative Takaichi then delivered remarks, first thanking President Lai and Taiwanese political leaders for the warm hospitality they extended to the delegation, and mentioning that the visiting delegation members are all like-minded partners carrying on the legacy of former Prime Minister Abe. July 8 this year will mark the third anniversary of the passing of former Prime Minister Abe, she said, and when the former prime minister unfortunately passed away, President Lai, then serving as vice president, was among the first to come offer condolences, for which she expressed sincere admiration and gratitude. Representative Takaichi stated that Taiwan and Japan are island nations that face the same circumstances and problems, and that Japan’s trade activities rely heavily on ocean transport, so once a problem arises nearby that threatens maritime shipping lanes, it will be a matter of life and death for Japan. Taiwan and Japan are similar, as once a problem arises, both will face food and energy security issues, and supply chains may even be threatened, she said. Regarding Taiwan-Japan cooperation, Representative Takaichi stated that both sides must first protect and strengthen supply chain resilience. President Lai has previously said that he wants to turn Taiwan into an AI island, she said, and in semiconductors, Taiwan has the world’s leading technology. Representative Takaichi went on to say that Taiwan and Japan can collaborate in the fields of AI and semiconductors, quantum computing, and dual-use industries, as well as in areas such as drones and new energy technologies to build more resilient supply chains, so that if problems arise, we can maintain our current standard of living with peace of mind. Representative Takaichi indicated that cooperation in the defense sector is also crucial, and that by uniting like-minded countries including Taiwan, the United States, Japan, the Philippines, and Australia, and even countries in Europe, we can build a stronger network to jointly maintain our security guarantees. Representative Takaichi expressed hope that Taiwan and Japan will continue to strengthen substantive non-governmental relations, including personnel exchange visits and information sharing, so that we can jointly face and respond to crises when they arise. Regarding the hope to sign a Taiwan-Japan EPA that President Lai had mentioned earlier, she also expressed support and said she looks forward to upcoming exchanges and talks. The visiting delegation also included Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Taipei Office Chief Representative Katayama Kazuyuki.

Details
2025-04-23
President Lai delivers remarks at International Holocaust Remembrance Day event
On the afternoon of April 23, President Lai Ching-te attended an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event and delivered remarks, in which he emphasized that peace is priceless, and war has no winners, while morality, democracy, and respect for human rights are powerful forces against violence and tyranny. The president stated that Taiwan will continue to expand cooperation with democratic partners and safeguard regional and global peace and stability, defending democracy, freedom, and human rights. He said we must never forget history, and must overcome our differences and join in solidarity to ensure that the next generations live in a world that is more just and more peaceful. Upon arriving at the event, President Lai heard a testimony from the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, followed by a rabbi’s recitation of the prayer “El Maleh Rachamim.” He then joined other distinguished guests in lighting candles in memory of the victims. A transcript of President Lai’s remarks follows: To begin, I want to thank the Israel Economic and Cultural Office (ISECO) in Taipei, German Institute Taipei, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs for co-organizing this deeply significant memorial ceremony again this year. I also want to thank everyone for attending. We are here today to remember the victims of the Holocaust, express sympathy for the survivors, honor the brave individuals who protected the victims, and acknowledge all who were impacted by this atrocity. It was deeply moving to hear Ms. [Orly] Sela share the story of how her grandmother, Yehudit Biksz, escaped the Nazi regime. I want to thank her specially for traveling so far to attend this event. From the 1930s through World War II, the Nazi regime sought to exclude Jewish people from society. In their campaign, they perpetrated systematic genocide driven by their ideology. Policies and directives under the authoritarian Nazi regime resulted in the deaths of approximately 6 million Jews. Millions of others were persecuted, including Romani people, persons with disabilities, the gay community, and anyone who disagreed with Nazi ideology. It is one of the darkest chapters in human history. Many countries, including Taiwan, have enacted anti-massacre legislation, and observe a remembrance day each year. Those occasions help us remember the victims, preserve historical memory, and most importantly, reinforce our resolve to fight against hatred and discrimination. Twenty-three years ago, Chelujan (車路墘) Church in Tainan founded the Taiwan Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is the first Jewish museum in Taiwan, and the second Holocaust museum in Asia. Its founding mission urges us to forget hatred and love one another; put an end to war and advocate peace. Many of the exhibition items come from Jewish people, connecting Taiwan closer with Israel and helping Taiwanese better understand the experiences of Jewish people. In this way, we grow to more deeply cherish peace. When I was mayor of Tainan, I took part in an exhibition event at Chelujan Church. I was also invited by the Israeli government to join the International Mayors Conference in Israel, where I visited the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. I will never forget how deeply that experience moved me, and as a result, peace and human rights became even more important issues for me. These issues are valued by Taiwan and our friends and allies. They are also important links connecting Taiwan with the world. Peace is priceless, and war has no winners. We will continue to expand cooperation with democratic partners and safeguard regional and global peace and stability. We will also continue to make greater contributions and work with the international community to defend democracy, freedom, and human rights. This year also marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. However, we still see wars raging around the world. We see a resurgence of authoritarian powers, which could severely impact global democracy, peace, and prosperous development. Today’s event allows for more than reflection on the past; it also serves as a warning for the future. We are reminded of the threats that hatred, prejudice, and extremism pose to humanity. But we are also reminded that morality, democracy, and respect for human rights are powerful forces against violence and tyranny. We must never forget history. We must overcome our differences and join in solidarity for a better future. Let’s work together to ensure that the next generations live in a world that is more just and more peaceful. Also in attendance at the event were Member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) and Taiwan friendship group Chair Boaz Toporovsky, ISECO Representative Maya Yaron, and German Institute Taipei Deputy Director General Andreas Hofem.

Details
2025-04-23
President Lai pays respects to Pope Francis
On the morning of April 23, President Lai Ching-te visited the Taipei Archdiocesan Curia to pay respects in a memorial ceremony for His Holiness Pope Francis. As officiant of the ceremony, President Lai burned incense and presented flowers, fruits, and wine to pay his respects to Pope Francis. At the direction of the master of ceremonies, the president then bowed three times in front of Pope Francis’s memorial portrait, conveying his grief and deep respect for the late pope. After hearing of Pope Francis’s passing on April 21, President Lai promptly requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to express sincere condolences from the people and government of Taiwan to the Vatican. The president also instructed Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) to convey condolences to the Holy See’s Apostolic Nunciature in Taiwan.

Details
2025-04-23
President Lai meets US CNAS NextGen fellows
On the morning of April 23, President Lai Ching-te met with fellows from the Shawn Brimley Next Generation National Security Leaders Program (NextGen) run by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). In remarks, President Lai thanked the government of the United States for continuing its arms sales to Taiwan over the years, supporting Taiwan’s efforts to enhance its national defense capabilities and jointly maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The president pointed out that we will promote our “Taiwan plus one” policy, that is, new arrangements for Taiwan plus the US, and form a “Taiwan investment in the US team” to expand investment and bring about even closer Taiwan-US trade cooperation, allowing us to reduce the trade deficit and generate development that benefits both sides. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: Ms. Michèle Flournoy, chair of the CNAS Board of Directors, is a good friend of Taiwan, and she has made major contributions to Taiwan-US relations through her long-time efforts on various aspects of our cooperation. I am happy to welcome Chair Flournoy, who is once again leading a NextGen Fellowship delegation to Taiwan. CNAS is a prominent think tank focusing on US national security and defense policy based in Washington, DC. Its NextGen Fellowship has fostered talented individuals in the fields of national security and foreign affairs. This year’s delegation is significantly larger than those of the past, demonstrating the increased importance that the next generation of US leaders attach to Taiwan. On behalf of the people of Taiwan, I extend my sincerest welcome to you all. The Taiwan Strait, an issue of importance for our guests, has become a global issue. There is a high degree of international consensus that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are indispensable elements in global security and prosperity. Facing military threats from China, Taiwan proposed the Four Pillars of Peace action plan. First, we are actively implementing military reforms, enhancing whole-of-society defense resilience, and working to increase our defense budget to more than 3 percent of GDP. Second, we are strengthening our economic resilience. As Taiwan’s economy must keep advancing, we can no longer put all our eggs in one basket. We are taking action to remain firmly rooted in Taiwan while expanding our global presence and marketing worldwide. In these efforts, we are already seeing results. Third, we are standing side-by-side with other democratic countries to demonstrate the strength of deterrence and achieve our goal of peace through strength. And fourth, Taiwan is willing, under the principles of parity and dignity, to conduct exchanges and cooperate with China towards achieving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. This April 10 marked the 46th anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act. We thank the US government for continuing its arms sales to Taiwan over the years, supporting Taiwan’s efforts to enhance its national defense capabilities and jointly maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. We look forward to Taiwan and the US continuing to strengthen collaboration on the development of both our defense industries as well as the building of non-red supply chains. This will yield even more results and further deepen our economic and trade partnership. The US is now the main destination for outbound investment from Taiwan. Moving forward, we will promote our “Taiwan plus one” policy, that is, new arrangements for Taiwan plus the US. And our government will form a “Taiwan investment in the US team” to expand investment. We hope this will bring Taiwan-US economic and trade cooperation even closer and, through mutually beneficial assistance, allow us to generate development that benefits both our sides while reducing our trade deficit. In closing, thank you once again for visiting Taiwan. We hope your trip is fruitful and leaves you with a deep impression of Taiwan. We also hope that going forward you continue supporting Taiwan and advancing even greater development for Taiwan-US ties. Chair Flournoy then delivered remarks, first thanking President Lai for making time to receive their delegation. Referring to President Lai’s earlier remarks, she said that it is quite an impressive group, as past members of this program have gone on to become members of the US Congress, leading government experts, and leaders in the think-tank world and in the private sector. She remarked that investing in this group is a wonderful privilege for her and that they appreciate President Lai’s agreeing to take the time to engage in exchange with them. Chair Flournoy emphasized that they are visiting Taiwan at a critical moment, when there is so much change and volatility in the geostrategic environment, a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of unpredictability. She stated that given our shared values, our shared passion for democracy and human rights, and our shared interests in peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, this is an important time for dialogue, collaboration, and looking for additional opportunities where we can work together towards regional peace and stability.

Details
2025-04-06
President Lai delivers remarks on US tariff policy response
On April 6, President Lai Ching-te delivered recorded remarks regarding the impact of the 32 percent tariff that the United States government recently imposed on imports from Taiwan in the name of reciprocity. In his remarks, President Lai explained that the government will adopt five response strategies, including making every effort to improve reciprocal tariff rates through negotiations, adopting a support plan for affected domestic industries, adopting medium- and long-term economic development plans, forming new “Taiwan plus the US” arrangements, and launching industry listening tours. The president emphasized that as we face this latest challenge, the government and civil society will work hand in hand, and expressed hope that all parties, both ruling and opposition, will support the measures that the Executive Yuan will take to open up a broader path for Taiwan’s economy. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: My fellow citizens, good evening. The US government recently announced higher tariffs on countries around the world in the name of reciprocity, including imposing a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan. This is bound to have a major impact on our nation. Various countries have already responded, and some have even adopted retaliatory measures. Tremendous changes in the global economy are expected. Taiwan is an export-led economy, and in facing future challenges there will inevitably be difficulties, so we must proceed carefully to turn danger into safety. During this time, I want to express gratitude to all sectors of society for providing valuable opinions, which the government regards highly, and will use as a reference to make policy decisions. However, if we calmly and carefully analyze Taiwan’s trade with the US, we find that last year Taiwan’s exports to the US were valued at US$111.4 billion, accounting for 23.4 percent of total export value, with the other 75-plus percent of products sold worldwide to countries other than the US. Of products sold to the US, competitive ICT products and electronic components accounted for 65.4 percent. This shows that Taiwan’s economy does still have considerable resilience. As long as our response strategies are appropriate, and the public and private sectors join forces, we can reduce impacts. Please do not panic. To address the reciprocal tariffs by the US, Taiwan has no plans to adopt retaliatory tariffs. There will be no change in corporate investment commitments to the US, as long as they are consistent with national interests. But we must ensure the US clearly understands Taiwan’s contributions to US economic development. More importantly, we must actively seek to understand changes in the global economic situation, strengthen Taiwan-US industry cooperation, elevate the status of Taiwan industries in global supply chains, and with safeguarding the continued development of Taiwan’s economy as our goal, adopt the following five strategies to respond. Strategy one: Make every effort to improve reciprocal tariff rates through negotiations using the following five methods: 1. Taiwan has already formed a negotiation team led by Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君). The team includes members from the National Security Council, the Office of Trade Negotiations, and relevant Executive Yuan ministries and agencies, as well as academia and industry. Like the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, negotiations on tariffs can start from Taiwan-US bilateral zero-tariff treatment. 2. To expand purchases from the US and thereby reduce the trade deficit, the Executive Yuan has already completed an inventory regarding large-scale procurement plans for agricultural, industrial, petroleum, and natural gas products, and the Ministry of National Defense has also proposed a military procurement list. All procurement plans will be actively pursued. 3. Expand investments in the US. Taiwan’s cumulative investment in the US already exceeds US$100 billion, creating approximately 400,000 jobs. In the future, in addition to increased investment in the US by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, other industries such as electronics, ICT, petrochemicals, and natural gas can all increase their US investments, deepening Taiwan-US industry cooperation. Taiwan’s government has helped form a “Taiwan investment in the US” team, and hopes that the US will reciprocate by forming a “US investment in Taiwan” team to bring about closer Taiwan-US trade cooperation, jointly creating a future economic golden age. 4. We must eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade. Non-tariff barriers are an indicator by which the US assesses whether a trading partner is trading fairly with the US. Therefore, we will proactively resolve longstanding non-tariff barriers so that negotiations can proceed more smoothly. 5. We must resolve two issues that have been matters of longstanding concern to the US. One regards high-tech export controls, and the other regards illegal transshipment of dumped goods, otherwise referred to as “origin washing.” Strategy two: We must adopt a plan for supporting our industries. For industries that will be affected by the tariffs, and especially traditional industries as well as micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, we will provide timely and needed support and assistance. Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and his administrative team recently announced a package of 20 specific measures designed to address nine areas. Moving forward, the support we provide to different industries will depend on how they are affected by the tariffs, will take into account the particular features of each industry, and will help each industry innovate, upgrade, and transform. Strategy three: We must adopt medium- and long-term economic development plans. At this point in time, our government must simultaneously adopt new strategies for economic and industrial development. This is also the fundamental path to solutions for future economic challenges. The government will proactively cooperate with friends and allies, develop a diverse range of markets, and achieve closer integration of entities in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of industrial supply chains. This course of action will make Taiwan’s industrial ecosystem more complete, and will help Taiwanese industries upgrade and transform. We must also make good use of the competitive advantages we possess in such areas as semiconductor manufacturing, integrated chip design, ICT, and smart manufacturing to build Taiwan into an AI island, and promote relevant applications for food, clothing, housing, and transportation, as well as military, security and surveillance, next-generation communications, and the medical and health and wellness industries as we advance toward a smarter, more sustainable, and more prosperous new Taiwan. Strategy four: “Taiwan plus one,” i.e., new “Taiwan plus the US” arrangements: While staying firmly rooted in Taiwan, our enterprises are expanding their global presence and marketing worldwide. This has been our national economic development strategy, and the most important aspect is maintaining a solid base here in Taiwan. We absolutely must maintain a solid footing, and cannot allow the present strife to cause us to waver. Therefore, our government will incentivize investments, carry out deregulation, and continue to improve Taiwan’s investment climate by actively resolving problems involving access to water, electricity, land, human resources, and professional talent. This will enable corporations to stay in Taiwan and continue investing here. In addition, we must also help the overseas manufacturing facilities of offshore Taiwanese businesses to make necessary adjustments to support our “Taiwan plus one” policy, in that our national economic development strategy will be adjusted as follows: to stay firmly rooted in Taiwan while expanding our global presence, strengthening US ties, and marketing worldwide. We intend to make use of the new state of supply chains to strengthen cooperation between Taiwanese and US industries, and gain further access to US markets. Strategy five: Launch industry listening tours: All industrial firms, regardless of sector or size, will be affected to some degree once the US reciprocal tariffs go into effect. The administrative teams led by myself and Premier Cho will hear out industry concerns so that we can quickly resolve problems and make sure policies meet actual needs. My fellow citizens, over the past half-century and more, Taiwan has been through two energy crises, the Asian financial crisis, the global financial crisis, and pandemics. We have been able to not only withstand one test after another, but even turn crises into opportunities. The Taiwanese economy has emerged from these crises stronger and more resilient than ever. As we face this latest challenge, the government and civil society will work hand in hand, and I hope that all parties in the legislature, both ruling and opposition, will support the measures that the Executive Yuan will take to open up a broader path for Taiwan’s economy. Let us join together and give it our all. Thank you.

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Cortez Masto Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Combat Rising Tech Threat from China

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) introduced the Partner with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Act. This bipartisan bill would enhance cooperation with key partners in technology and scientific research, while combating the rising influence of the Chinese Communist Party.

“Communist China is using illegal practices to gain an unfair advantage in the tech world,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “Now is the time to stand together with our allies and partners across the globe to counter these aggressive tactics. This commonsense, bipartisan legislation will make our country more secure and spur job-creating technology innovations here at home.”

The Partner with ASEAN, CERN, and PIF Act amends the International Organizations Immunities Act to expand diplomatic privileges and immunities to these three international organizations. It provides the legal authorities to streamline the movement of people and materials between these organizations and the U.S., deepening U.S. ties with Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and a key scientific research partner.

You can find the full text of the legislation here.

Senator Cortez Masto has led efforts in Congress to stand up to the Chinese government’s aggression. She introduced the PASS Act to ban individuals and entities controlled by China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea from purchasing agricultural land and businesses located near U.S. military installations or sensitive sites and the Strengthening Exports Against China Act, which would incentivize economic growth by eliminating barriers for American businesses competing directly with China in emerging industries like artificial intelligence and semiconductors. She’s also introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen the domestic supply chain for rare-earth magnets, which are critical components of cell phones, computers, defense systems, and electric vehicles, but are almost exclusively made in China.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI: $HAREHOLDER ALERT: The M&A Class Action Firm Continues To Investigate The Merger – ALBT, NDOI, DNB, RSLS
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

NEW YORK, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Monteverde & Associates PC (the “M&A Class Action Firm”), has recovered millions of dollars for shareholders and is recognized as a Top 50 Firm in the 2024 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report. We are headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City and are investigating:
- Avalon GloboCare Corp. (NASDAQ: ALBT), relating to the proposed merger with YOOV Group Holding Limited. Under the terms of the agreement, Avalon equity holders are expected to own between approximately 2.5% to 2.2% of the common stock of the combined company.
Click here for more https://monteverdelaw.com/case/avalon-globocare-corp-albt/. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.
- Endo, Inc. (OTC: NDOI), relating to the proposed merger with Mallinckrodt plc. Under the terms of the agreement, Endo shareholders will own 49.9% of the combined company on a pro forma basis.
Click here for more https://monteverdelaw.com/case/endo-inc-ndoi/. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.
- Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DNB), relating to the proposed merger with Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. Under the terms of the agreement, Dun & Bradstreet shareholders will receive $9.15 in cash for each share of common stock they own.
Click here for more https://monteverdelaw.com/case/dun-bradstreet-holdings-inc-dnb/. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.
- ReShape Lifesciences Inc. (NASDAQ: RSLS), relating to the proposed merger with Vyome Therapeutics, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, ReShape and Vyome will combine in an all-stock transaction, with ReShape stockholders owning approximately 11.1% of the combined company.
Click here for more https://monteverdelaw.com/case/reshape-lifesciences-inc-rsls/. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.

NOT ALL LAW FIRMS ARE THE SAME. Before you hire a law firm, you should talk to a lawyer and ask:
1. Do you file class actions and go to Court?
2. When was the last time you recovered money for shareholders?
3. What cases did you recover money in and how much?
About Monteverde & Associates PC

Our firm litigates and has recovered money for shareholders…and we do it from our offices in the Empire State Building. We are a national class action securities firm with a successful track record in trial and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

No company, director or officer is above the law. If you own common stock in any of the above listed companies and have concerns or wish to obtain additional information free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com or by telephone at (212) 971-1341.

Contact:
Juan Monteverde, Esq.
MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC
The Empire State Building
350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4740
New York, NY 10118
United States of America
jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com
Tel: (212) 971-1341

Attorney Advertising. (C) 2025 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC (www.monteverdelaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

The MIL Network –
May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: SPC Severe Thunderstorm Watch 206

Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Note: The expiration time in the watch graphic is amended if the watch is replaced, cancelled or extended.Note: Click for Watch Status Reports.
SEL6

URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 206
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
635 PM EDT Thu May 1 2025

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of
Southern and Central Pennsylvania

* Effective this Thursday evening from 635 PM until 1100 PM EDT.

* Primary threats include…
Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible
Isolated very large hail events to 2 inches in diameter possible

SUMMARY…Strong to severe storms in the vicinity of a warm front
advancing northward will be capable of strong to severe gusts (55-70
mph) and large hail. This activity will spread northeastward
through the Watch with a gradual weakening expected towards mid to
late evening.

The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 50
statute miles north and south of a line from 45 miles south
southwest of Dubois PA to 60 miles east southeast of State College
PA. For a complete depiction of the watch see the associated watch
outline update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU6).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

REMEMBER…A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are
favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.
Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening
weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible
warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce
tornadoes.

&&

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION…CONTINUE…WW 203…WW 204…WW 205…

AVIATION…A few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to
2 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 60 knots. A
few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 450. Mean storm motion vector
22035.

…Smith

Note: The Aviation Watch (SAW) product is an approximation to the watch area. The actual watch is depicted by the shaded areas.
SAW6
WW 206 SEVERE TSTM PA 012235Z – 020300Z
AXIS..50 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF LINE..
45SSW DUJ/DUBOIS PA/ – 60ESE UNV/STATE COLLEGE PA/
..AVIATION COORDS.. 45NM N/S /24NW JST – 20NNE HAR/
HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT..2 INCHES. WIND GUSTS..60 KNOTS.
MAX TOPS TO 450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22035.

LAT…LON 41307923 41247679 39797679 39847923

THIS IS AN APPROXIMATION TO THE WATCH AREA. FOR A
COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE WOUS64 KWNS
FOR WOU6.

Watch 206 Status Report Message has not been issued yet.

Note: Click for Complete Product Text.Tornadoes

Probability of 2 or more tornadoes

Low (10%)

Probability of 1 or more strong (EF2-EF5) tornadoes

Low ( 65 knots

Low (20%)

Hail

Probability of 10 or more severe hail events

Mod (30%)

Probability of 1 or more hailstones > 2 inches

Mod (30%)

Combined Severe Hail/Wind

Probability of 6 or more combined severe hail/wind events

High (70%)

For each watch, probabilities for particular events inside the watch (listed above in each table) are determined by the issuing forecaster. The “Low” category contains probability values ranging from less than 2% to 20% (EF2-EF5 tornadoes), less than 5% to 20% (all other probabilities), “Moderate” from 30% to 60%, and “High” from 70% to greater than 95%. High values are bolded and lighter in color to provide awareness of an increased threat for a particular event.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI: Red White & Bloom Brands Completes Transformative Restructuring, Announces Delay in Filing of Annual Financial Statements, and Granting of MCTO
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

TORONTO, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE: RWB) (“RWB” or the “Company”) today announced the successful completion of a series of transactions designed to significantly reduce potential shareholder dilution, lower debt carrying costs, continue to refocus operations on profitable growth initiatives, and facilitate the filing of its financial statements through the filing of a Management Cease Trade Order (“MCTO”).

Successful Completion of Debt Restructuring

The Company’s Board of Directors and Executive Management, in collaboration with a majority of its strategic lenders, successfully completed a comprehensive restructuring of approximately C$145 million of issued and outstanding debt, as part of a larger debt renewal program, through the entering into of various debenture and note amending agreements with such lenders with all applicable amended terms effective as of the respective renewal dates.

The restructuring of the aforementioned debt accomplished the following:
- Eliminated the potential dilution of 198 million common shares¹, representing 42.1% of the issued and outstanding common shares, through the removal of debenture conversion rights.
- Extended maturity dates for restructured debt to November 2026 (C$33 million) with the balance of the restructured debt ($112 million) extended through to September 2027.
- Deferred all cash interest and principal payments for the restructured debt until their new respective maturity dates.
- Achieved principal reductions of $5 million and annualized interest expense savings of $2.5 million associated with the restructured debt.
Full financial statement disclosure regarding the debt renewal and applicable restructuring will be included in the Company’s interim financial statements for the first quarter ending March 31, 2025, expected to be filed on or before May 30, 2025, as of the date of this release.

Granting of Management Cease Trade Order

Due to unforeseen delays in completing its fiscal year-end audit, the Company advises that it has not been able to file its audited annual financial statements, management’s discussion and analysis, and related CEO and CFO certifications for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 (collectively, the “Annual Filings”) by the prescribed deadline of April 30, 2025, as required under National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous Disclosure Obligations (“NI 51-102”).

The delay is primarily the result of the expanded scope of audit procedures required to address the complexity of certain transactions and the restatement of comparative financial information for prior periods. The restatement was initiated following comments received during a review conducted by the Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB) of the Company’s auditor.

The Company is working diligently with its auditor and other advisors to complete the audit as soon as possible and currently expects to file the Annual Filings on or before May 30, 2025. The Company will issue a news release announcing the completion of the Annual Filings once they have been filed.

The British Columbia Securities Commission has granted an MCTO under National Policy 12-203 – Management Cease Trade Orders (“NP 12-203”). Pursuant to the MCTO, the Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chief Financial Officer of the Company may not trade in securities of the Company until such time as the Annual Filings have been filed and the MCTO has been revoked. The MCTO does not affect the ability of the general investing public to trade in the Company’s common shares.

The Company intends to comply with the provisions of the alternative information guidelines as set out in NP 12-203 by issuing bi-weekly default status reports by way of news release until the Annual Filings are filed. These updates will include information regarding the progress of the Annual Filings and any material changes to the Company’s business, if any.

About Red White & Bloom Brands Inc.

Red White & Bloom Brands is a multi-jurisdictional cannabis operator and house of premium brands operating in the United States, Canada and select international jurisdictions. The Company is predominantly focusing its investments on major U.S. markets, including California, Florida, Missouri, Michigan, and Ohio in addition to Canadian and international markets.

Red White & Bloom Brands Inc.
Investor and Media Relations
Edoardo Mattei, CFO
IR@RedWhiteBloom.com
947-225-0503
Visit us on the web: https://www.redwhitebloom.com/.

Follow us on social media:

X @rwbbrands

Facebook @redwhitebloombrands

Instagram @redwhitebloombrands

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

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain information contained in this news release may constitute “forward-looking information” or “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information is often identified by the use of words such as “plans,” “expects,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “will,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “forecasts,” or variations of such words and phrases, including the negative forms thereof, as well as terms such as “pro forma” and “scheduled,” and similar expressions that refer to future events or outcomes.

Forward-looking statements in this release, including, without limitation, statements relating to the pursuit of profitable growth initiatives, anticipated timing, review, completion, and filing of the Company’s first quarter financial statements, the Annual Filings, the Company’s ongoing operations, and the expected duration of the MCTO, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information contained herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.

¹ Calculated in accordance with the applicable conversion price defined within the restructured debentures

The MIL Network –
May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Health – Sydney to host major surgical event focused on innovation and excellence
Source: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS)

Sydney will host one of the largest surgical conferences in the southern hemisphere when the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) brings its 93rd Annual Scientific Congress (ASC) to the International Convention Centre from Saturday 3 to Tuesday 6 May 2025.

This year’s theme, Innovation. Precision. Excellence., reflects the event’s future-focused program and its role as a key connection and collaboration point for surgeons across all nine RACS specialties.

More than 1600 surgeons, Trainees and healthcare leaders from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond are expected to attend, with 253 new Fellows – the largest cohort in recent years – to be formally welcomed at the Convocation Ceremony on Saturday evening.

“ASC 2025 is designed to inspire and challenge,” says congress convener Professor Henry Woo.

“It’s a chance for surgeons to connect across specialties and geographies, hear from international leaders, and explore how innovation and leadership are shaping the future of care—from operating theatres to entire health systems.”

This year’s program puts a spotlight on cross-disciplinary collaboration, with sessions covering robotics and AI in surgery, rural surgical innovation, Indigenous health, and leadership development.

Event highlights include:

Dr Glaucomflecken (Dr Will Flanary), a US ophthalmologist and viral medical comedian, presenting Dr Glaucomflecken’s incredibly uplifting and really fun guide to American healthcare on Sunday 4 May at 4pm. A cancer survivor and healthcare satirist, Dr Glaucomflecken brings a unique dual perspective as both clinician and patient. This ticketed plenary session is open to the general public.
A surgical affair: question time with Tony Jones, a high-profile panel session chaired by veteran journalist Tony Jones, follows directly after. The discussion will tackle elective surgery waitlists and workforce challenges, with panellists including Australian Medical Council President Dr Danielle McMullen, NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Health Dr Michael Holland MP, and Queensland Health Chief Medical Officer Associate Professor Catherine McDougall.

The Congress also features a strong line-up of international speakers:

Dr Callisia Clarke (USA) on diversity and political division in healthcare.

Dr Doug Anderson (USA) on the future of xenotransplantation.

Dr Ian Currie (UK) on innovations in organ donation and retrieval.

Dr Stephen Wexner (USA), one of the most cited colorectal surgeons globally.

Professor Hyung Seok Park (South Korea) on robotic breast surgery.

RACS ASC is recognised as the College’s flagship educational event and one of the most significant surgical meetings in the region. It showcases the latest in surgical research, innovation and practice, while providing a platform for shared learning, professional connection and leadership.

Media are welcome to attend keynote sessions, speaker interviews and selected panels.

Find out more about the RACS ASC: RACS Annual Scientific Congress: https://asc.surgeons.org

About the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS)

RACS is the leading advocate for surgical standards, professionalism and surgical education in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The College is a not-for-profit organisation that represents more than 8000 surgeons and 1300 surgical trainees and Specialist International Medical Graduates. RACS also supports healthcare and surgical education in the Asia-Pacific region and is a substantial funder of surgical research. There are nine surgical specialties in Australasia being: Cardiothoracic Surgery, General Surgery, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Urology and Vascular Surgery. www.surgeons.org
MIL OSI New Zealand News –
May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Tillis, Coons, Kiley, and Peters Reintroduce Landmark Legislation to Restore American Innovation

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for North Carolina Thom Tillis
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, and Chris Coons (D-DE) and Representatives Kevin Kiley (R-CA) and Scott Peters (D-CA) reintroduced the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation will restore patent eligibility to important inventions across many fields while also resolving legitimate concerns over the patenting of mere ideas, the mere discovery of what already exists in nature, and social and cultural content that everyone agrees is beyond the scope of the patent system. It also affirms the basic principle that the patent system is central to promoting technology-based innovation.
“Clear, reliable, and predictable patent rights are imperative to enable investments in the broad array of innovative technologies that are critical to the economic and global competitiveness of the United States, and to ensuring the national security of our great country,” said Senator Tillis. “Unfortunately, a series of Supreme Court decisions have rendered patent eligibility law unclear, unreliable, and unpredictable, resulting in U.S. inventors being unable to obtain patents in areas where our economic peers offer patent protection. This is particularly concerning in the economically critical areas of biotechnology and artificial intelligence. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation maintains the existing statutory categories of eligible subject matter, which have worked well for over two centuries, while addressing inappropriate judicially created eligibility limitations by creating clear rules for what is eligible. We cannot allow foreign adversaries like China to overtake us in key areas of technology innovation due to the current state of patent eligibility law. I look forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders on this important matter. Passing patent eligibility reform is one of my top legislative priorities.”
“When American innovators know their ideas are eligible for patent protection, they take the risks that push us into the future – whether that’s the next medical test or the latest AI technology,” said Senator Coons. “PERA restores clarity to the law on what can be patented and what cannot – guidance that federal courts have been requesting for years and that the Supreme Court has refused to provide. Congress must step up to provide America’s inventors with the stable legal foundation they need to produce the cutting-edge technologies that power our economy.”
“American innovators have been at a disadvantage in recent years because of the U.S. patent system,” said Representative Kevin Kiley. “Convoluted Supreme Court rulings and tests on subject matter eligibility have made it increasingly difficult for inventors to receive patents, leading to foreign companies overtaking our own. That’s why I’m proud to introduce the bi-partisan Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, which will dramatically reverse this trend, and unleash a tide of economic growth and job creation here at home.”
“For more than two centuries, a U.S. patent has guaranteed inventions will be protected from theft, helping the U.S. become the innovation capital of the world. San Diego, in particular, is the proud home of a thriving life sciences and technology ecosystem that has benefited from these protections,” said Representative Peters. “Over the last 15 years, however, several Supreme Court decisions have created confusion about what exactly is eligible for a patent. Innovators, consumers, and even the judges who adjudicate patent law have called on Congress to provide clarity on what can be patented. I look forward to working with Congressman Kiley, Senator Coons, and Senator Tillis to advance our Patent Eligibility Restoration Act and protect American innovation.”
“Congress has not made substantive changes to what subject matter is patentable in the United States since the Patent Act of 1793, making it difficult for courts, inventors, and the public to understand how 21st-century technologies fit within an 18th Century patent statute,” said Andrei Iancu, board co-chair of C4IP and former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and USPTO Director from 2018 to 2021. “I commend Congress for advancing PERA in order to finally modernize our patent laws and promote U.S. global leadership in biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and other modern technologies.”
“PERA provides the clarity needed to unlock the full potential of cutting-edge technologies and solidify U.S. leadership in scientific and technological breakthroughs,” said David Kappos, board co-chair of C4IP and former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and USPTO Director from 2009 to 2013. “We cannot allow legal uncertainty to stall the next wave of American innovation.”
“Patent Eligibility is an important issue for cancer patients – both for life-saving, early diagnosis and for promising new treatments. PERA will provide the certainty needed to enable innovative breakthroughs to reach patients. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute applauds Congress for introducing and advancing this important bill – the patients are waiting.” – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
“Passing PERA is essential if the US is to catch up to Europe and Asia, especially China,” said Judge Paul Michel (retired). “They make eligible for patenting many classes of inventions held ineligible here. The very uncertainty of the zone of eligibility is itself an obstacle to companies getting the investments they need to compete both domestically and globally. Only Congress can fix this chaotic mess because the courts are trapped in their own harmful precedents.”
“In my former court, which hears patent cases on appeal, concurring and dissenting opinions in patent eligibly cases have proliferated,” said Judge Kathleen O’Malley (retired). “Veteran jurists have described the state of affairs as ‘incoherent,’ ‘unclear,’ ‘fraught,’ and ‘inconsistent.’ The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act would return clarity to patent eligibly law and encourage continued innovation in key emerging technologies – technologies that are central to the United States remaining the world’s innovation leader.”
“NCLifeSci thanks Senator Tillis for reintroducing the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2025, which restores the confidence in our nation’s patent laws by bringing much needed clarity to Section 101 of the Patent Act. Confidence that the life sciences industry needs to robustly invest in the future of medicine. For too long, fields like diagnostics, precision medicine, cell and gene therapy, RNA medicine, and digital health have been threatened by unclear and uncertain patent-eligibility standards that put America’s innovators at a disadvantage, and that discourage local investment. Through this legislation, our members – which include leading innovators who operate cutting-edge gene therapy manufacturing facilities here in North Carolina and research potential treatments and cures for Alzheimer’s and cancer —will be able to continue to take the bold risks and make the high levels of investment necessary to take fields like these to their next level, with the confidence that our patent laws will continue to hold up through future waves of technological progress.” – NC Life Sciences Organization
“The Innovation Alliance applauds Senators Tillis and Coons and Representatives Kiley and Peters for sponsoring the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, which will provide much needed predictability and clarity to the hopelessly confused law of patent eligibility. The Supreme Court has provided no workable framework to guide patent owners or the courts, and it has repeatedly refused to clarify the law, rejecting requests by the Federal Circuit and others to do so time and again. Investment dollars are flowing out of the United States as a result, jeopardizing the future of America’s innovation economy. It is past time for Congress to act.” – The Innovation Alliance
“This bipartisan and much-needed bill would strike a decade of judicial tinkering that has needlessly turned the question of patent eligibility into a confusing mess and harmed the U.S. versus our economic competitors. While the U.S. has spent a decade holding back innovations in areas such as fintech, diagnostic solutions and medical devices trying to figure out whether they are ‘abstract’ or not, our competitors are moving forward and protecting these inventions. PERA would be particularly beneficial to American startups and innovators by providing the clarity needed to attract investment for new ventures in essential areas such as medical devices, diagnostics, manufacturing and a whole new range of advancements powered by software.”- Alliance of U.S. Startups & Inventors for Jobs
“AUTM – the association representing technology transfer professionals – thanks Senators Tillis and Coons and others for their leadership in introducing PERA. This legislation is crucially needed to address the ambiguities that the courts have created about what is, and what is not, patent eligible. At a time when the U.S. is competing for innovation leadership, its patent system needs to clearly delineate this process so that it can move forward on numerous discoveries that otherwise would wither on the vine.” – AUTM
“The reintroduction of the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) marks a pivotal move toward restoring clarity and consistency in U.S. patent law. By providing clear statutory guidelines, PERA offers inventors, entrepreneurs, and research institutions the certainty needed to innovate confidently. We commend Senator Tillis and Senator Coons for their leadership on this critical issue and remain committed to collaborating with Congress to support a patent system that fosters transparency and predictability.” – American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
“The Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform applauds Congress for reintroducing PERA. This legislation represents a significant step forward in clarifying patent eligibility while maintaining necessary standards on what is ultimately patentable. 21C applauds these efforts as they will make sure that the United States remains the most attractive place in the world to invest, invent, and grow.” – The Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform (21C)
The following organizations support the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act: Innovation Alliance, C4IP, AUTM, AIPLA, IEEE-USA, USIJ, MDMA, BIO, NCLifeSci, Adeia, Nokia, Sisvel, Conservatives for Property Rights, Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund, U.S. Business & Industry Council, Center for a Free Economy, Center for Individual Freedom, American Policy Center, Less Government, 60 Plus Association, American Association of Senior Citizens, Frontiers of Freedom, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, Center for American Principles, Prosperity for Us Foundation, Market Institute, Inventors Defense Alliance, Lauder Partners, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Heritage Action, 21C, Netlist, and FICPI.
Background:
Unfortunately, due to a series of Supreme Court decisions, patent eligibility law in the United States has become confused, constricted, and unclear in recent years. This has resulted in a wide range of well-documented negative impacts – inconsistent case decisions, uncertainty in innovation and investment communities, and unpredictable business outcomes.
As of 2021, all 12 then-sitting judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit lamented the state of the law. Witnesses and stakeholders from a wide array of industries, fields, interest groups, and academia have testified and submitted comments confirming the uncertainty and detailing the detrimental effects of patent eligibility confusion in the United States. There is now widespread bipartisan agreement in Congress and across all recent Administrations that reforms are necessary to restore the United States to a position of global strength and leadership in key areas of technology and innovation, such as medical diagnostics, biotechnology, personalized medicine, artificial intelligence, 5G, and blockchain.
The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act achieves this critical goal by restoring patent eligibility to important inventions across many fields, while also resolving legitimate concerns over patenting of mere ideas, the mere discovery of what already exists in nature, and social and cultural content that everyone agrees is beyond the scope of the patent system, which is a system aimed at promoting technology-based innovation. As a general approach, the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act maintains the existing statutory categories of eligible subject matter, which have worked well for over two centuries, but eliminates the overly malleable set of current judicial exceptions – replacing them with five specific, defined statutory exclusions. By eliminating and replacing the current judicial exceptions, the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act provides predictable patent eligibility for important computer-implemented technological developments and medical advances, creating a solid bedrock for America’s innovation future.
Full text of the bill is available HERE.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI: FERC Approves Reliability Must Run Settlement Agreement for Units at Talen Energy’s Brandon Shores and H.A. Wagner Power Plants

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

HOUSTON, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Talen Energy Corporation (“Talen”) (NASDAQ: TLN) announced today that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the “FERC”) has approved the terms under which Talen will operate units at its Brandon Shores and H.A. Wagner power plants until May 31, 2029, beyond their scheduled May 31, 2025 retirement dates.

Talen, PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”), and a broad coalition of the Maryland Public Service Commission, Maryland customers, and electric utilities reached agreement in January on the “reliability-must-run” or “RMR” agreement approved today by FERC. Under the RMR agreement, Brandon Shores Units 1 and 2 and H.A. Wagner Units 3 and 4 will remain in service and provide power necessary to maintain grid and transmission reliability in and around the City of Baltimore until transmission upgrades to provide reliable power to the area from other sources are complete.

“We appreciate FERC’s approval of this important agreement, which will help to ensure the reliable supply of electricity to the people of Baltimore and its surrounding area,” said Mac McFarland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Talen. “Talen is pleased to help provide critical infrastructure with an RMR structure that simultaneously creates reliable electricity in Baltimore and protects Maryland consumer rates.”

About Talen

Talen Energy (NASDAQ: TLN) is a leading independent power producer and energy infrastructure company dedicated to powering the future. We own and operate approximately 10.7 gigawatts of power infrastructure in the United States, including 2.2 gigawatts of nuclear power and a significant dispatchable fossil fleet. We produce and sell electricity, capacity, and ancillary services into wholesale U.S. power markets, with our generation fleet principally located in the Mid-Atlantic and Montana. Our team is committed to generating power safely and reliably, delivering the most value per megawatt produced. Talen is also powering the digital infrastructure revolution. We are well-positioned to capture this significant growth opportunity, as data centers serving artificial intelligence increasingly demand more reliable, clean power. Talen is headquartered in Houston, Texas. For more information, visit https://www.talenenergy.com/.

Investor Relations:
Sergio Castro
Vice President & Treasurer
InvestorRelations@talenenergy.com

Media:
Taryne Williams
Director, Corporate Communications
Taryne.Williams@talenenergy.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this communication, or incorporated by reference into this communication, are forward-looking statements. Throughout this communication, we have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by using words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecasts,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” or other forms of these words or similar words or expressions or the negative thereof, although not all forward-looking statements contain these terms. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions concerning, among other things capital expenditures, earnings, litigation, regulatory matters, hedging, liquidity and capital resources and accounting matters. Forward-looking statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause our future business, financial condition, results of operations or performance to differ materially from our historical results or those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement contained in this communication. All of our forward-looking statements include assumptions underlying or relating to such statements that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations, and are subject to numerous factors that present considerable risks and uncertainties.

The MIL Network –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Another big step forward for our SLM Phi family, with new reasoning models that once again redefine what is possible with small and efficient AI.

Source: Microsoft

Headline: Another big step forward for our SLM Phi family, with new reasoning models that once again redefine what is possible with small and efficient AI.

Happy Birthday, Phi! To celebrate, we are introducing three new models in the Phi-4 reasoning family on Azure AI Foundry: 1️⃣Phi-4-reasoning (14B, SFT on curated reasoning demos) 2️⃣Phi-4-reasoning-plus (14B, SFT + RL, ~1.5x inference-time tokens) 3️⃣Phi-4-mini-reasoning (3.8B, distilled + SFT with DeepSeek-R1-generated math problems) These models leverage distillation, SFT, RL, and synthetic data pipelines to achieve frontier-level capability in compact form. They are optimized for multi-step reasoning, mathematical problem solving, and internal reflection—tasks traditionally dominated by much larger frontier models. News here: https://lnkd.in/gC_56Dfy

MIL OSI Economics –

May 2, 2025

Press enquiries		Investor enquiries
Raymond Vermeulen		ING Group Investor Relations
+31 20 576 5000		+31 20 576 6396
Raymond.Vermeulen@ing.com		Investor.Relations@ing.com

Category: Machine Learning

India Showcases Creative and Technological Might at WAVES 2025Discussions at WAVES on AI, Social Media and Advertising reflect India’s expanding footprint in the Digital Media sector

Intoduction

Key metrics of the Cypriot Economy

Domestic Economy

Conclusion

Threats from the state

Impunity is a fact of life

Safer, better ways of working

Hostile environment puts progress at risk

International impotence

Activism is a risky business

Journalism as the solution

I. The digitalisation of payments and its implications

A. Progress in technology is leading to the rapid digitalisation of the payments ecosystem

B. The challenges raised by changes in the payments landscape

II. To meet these challenges, the Banque de France is using several additional levers for action

A. Adapting regulatory frameworks and supporting innovation within a framework of trust

B. The provision of new central bank money services to preserve the key role of central bank money in a digitalised world

1. The digital euro

2. Wholesale central bank digital currency

More than 240 million observations worldwide

Finding the unusual

iNaturalist can be used to track invasive species

But how safe are the observations?

Observations on iNaturalist can be helpful for forensics

Should I worry about my location data on iNaturalist?

India Showcases Creative and Technological Might at WAVES 2025

Discussions at WAVES on AI, Social Media and Advertising reflect India’s expanding footprint in the Digital Media sector