NewzIntel.com

Category: Middle East

  • MIL-OSI: BOS Reports Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Net Income Rises 14.7% Year-Over-Year on Increased Gross Margin, Efficient Operations

    Provides Initial 2025 Outlook for Further 10% Growth in Sales and Net Income

    RISHON LE ZION, Israel, March 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BOS Better Online Solutions Ltd. (“BOS” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: BOSC) reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024.

    Year 2024 Financial Highlights:

    • Revenues declined by 9.7% to $39.9 million from $44.2 million in 2023. Revenue results in 2023 benefitted from one-time post-COVID restocking activities at multiple customers.
    • Gross profit margin increased to 23.3% compared to 20.8% in the preceding year, demonstrating improved operating efficiency.
    • Operating profit decreased to $1.4 million from $2.5 million in 2023, due to $1.2 million non-cash impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets in 2024.
    • EBITDA increased to $3.25 million compared to $3.06 million in 2023.
    • Financial expenses decreased to $139,000 from $441,000 in the prior year.
    • Non cash income from taxes amounted to $1 million in year 2024.
    • Net income increased by 14.7% to $2.3 million, or $0.40 per basic share, compared to $2.0 million, or $0.35 per basic share, in the year 2023.

    Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights:

    • Revenues declined by 4.6% to $10.4 million from $10.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.
    • Gross profit margin increased to 22.9% compared to 19.2% in the comparable quarter last year.
    • Operating loss amounted to $616,000 compared to an operating income of $400,000 in the fourth quarter of 2023, due to a $1.2 million non-cash impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets included in the results of the fourth quarter of 2024.
    • EBITDA amounted to $715,000 compared to $562,000 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
    • Financial income amounted to $99,000 compared to financial expenses of $31,000 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
    • Non cash income from taxes in the amount of $1 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
    • Net income amounted to $485,000 or $0.08 per basic share compared to $427,000 or $0.07 per basic share in the fourth quarter of 2023.

    Eyal Cohen, BOS’ CEO, stated: “BOS improved profitability on an operating basis across all of our business units in 2024, leveraging our favorable sales mix and lean cost structure to increase gross margin to 23.3% and net income to $2.3 million. That momentum has carried into 2025 as we continue to scale the business, manage costs effectively and drive operating leverage. We are starting the year with a 35% increase in backlog, at $27 million as of December 31, 2024, compared to $20 million as of December 31, 2023, plus significant new defense customer orders announced in the first quarter to date. As a result, our 2025 outlook calls for a 10% year-over-year increase in both sales and net income to $44 million of revenues and $2.5 million of net income.

    “BOS’ growth strategy remains focused on deepening our penetration in the defense sector, where we have strong customer relationships at both the primary and subcontractor levels. We expect robust ordering patterns across the strategic defense industry to continue in 2025, and we are progressing our sales strategy to enter new overseas markets by leveraging our relationships with Israeli defense customers that operate globally. We also continue to seek accretive strategic opportunities where we can deploy our strong balance sheet to expand BOS’ capabilities and reach in the growing global defense market.”

    Board Updates
     On March 19, 2025, BOS announced the appointment of Osnat Gur, an independent director since 2021, as Board Chair and the appointment of Avi Dadon as a new independent director.

    Ms. Gur brings extensive management and leadership experience to BOS, having served as CEO of a global B2B marketing agency, an RFID technology company, and a dietary supplements manufacturer over the course of her career. She also serves as a board director in multiple Israeli companies.

    Mr. Dadon brings decades of experience in military leadership, defense procurement, supply chain management and logistics to BOS. He served as Head of Procurement for the Israeli Ministry of Defense from 2017 to 2023 and is a retired Colonel in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), with 28 years of military service.

    “We are excited to congratulate Osnat in her new role as Board Chair, and look forward to working with her to plan BOS’s next chapter of growth and earnings as we continue to execute our growth strategy,” said Cohen. “We also welcome Avi to the board and look forward to leveraging his decades of experience with the IDF and Ministry of Defense procurement to support BOS’s continued success.” 

    About BOS Better Online Solutions Ltd.
    BOS integrates cutting-edge technologies to streamline and enhance supply chain operations across three specialized divisions:

    • Intelligent Robotics Division: Automates industrial and logistics inventory processes through advanced robotics technologies, improving efficiency and precision.
    • RFID Division: Optimizes inventory management with state-of-the-art solutions for marking and tracking, ensuring real-time visibility and control.
    • Supply Chain Division: Integrates franchised components directly into customer products, meeting their evolving needs for developing cutting-edge products.

    For additional information, contact:
    Matt Kreps, Managing Director
    Darrow Associates
    +1-214-597-8200
    mkreps@darrowir.com

    Eyal Cohen, CEO
    +972-542525925
    eyalc@boscom.com

    Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information
    BOS reports financial results in accordance with US GAAP and herein provides some non-GAAP measures. These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, nor are they a substitute for, GAAP measures. These non-GAAP measures are intended to supplement the Company’s presentation of its financial results that are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The Company uses the non-GAAP measures presented to evaluate and manage the Company’s operations internally. The Company is also providing this information to assist investors in performing additional financial analysis that is consistent with financial models developed by research analysts who follow the Company. The reconciliation set forth below is provided in accordance with Regulation G and reconciles the non-GAAP financial measures with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

    Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
    The forward-looking statements contained herein reflect management’s current views with respect to future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of BOS. These risk factors and uncertainties include, amongst others, the dependency of sales being generated from one or few major customers, the uncertainty of BOS being able to maintain current gross profit margins, inability to keep up or ahead of technology and to succeed in a highly competitive industry, inability to maintain marketing and distribution arrangements and to expand our overseas markets, uncertainty with respect to the prospects of legal claims against BOS, the effect of exchange rate fluctuations, general worldwide economic conditions, the continued availability of financing for working capital purposes and to refinance outstanding indebtedness; and additional risks and uncertainties detailed in BOS’ periodic reports and registration statements filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including risks related to Israel’s conflicts with Hamas and other parties in the region.
    BOS undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

     
    CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
    U.S. dollars in thousands
           
      Year ended
    December 31,    		   Three months ended
    December 31,
      2024
    		   2023     2024
    		   2023
      (Unaudited)
    		   (Audited)
    		     (Unaudited)
    		     (Audited)
    		  
           
    Revenues $ 39,949     $ 44,179     $ 10,388     $ 10,886  
    Cost of revenues 30,655     34,970     8,007     8,796  
    Gross profit 9,294     9,209     2,381     2,090  
    Operating costs and expenses:                      
    Research and development 175     158     50     44  
    Sales and marketing 4,394     4,891     1,118     1,278  
    General and administrative 2,113     1,762     656     420  
    Other income, net –     (52)     –     (52)  
    Impairment of intangible assets and Goodwill 1,173     –     1,173     –  
    Total operating costs and expenses 7,855     6,759     2,997     1,690  
                           
    Operating income (loss) 1,439     2,450     (616)     400  
    Financial income (expenses), net (139)     (441)     99     31  
    Income before taxes on income 1,300     2,009     (517)     431  
    Income taxes benefits (expenses) 1,000     (4)     1,002     (4)  
    Net income $ 2,300     $ 2,005     $ 485     $ 427  
                           
    Basic net income per share $ 0.40     $ 0.35     $ 0.08     $ 0.07  
    Diluted net income per share $ 0.39     $ 0.34     $ 0.08     $ 0.07  
    Weighted average number of shares used in computing basic net income per share 5,756     5,727     5,776     5,748  
    Weighted average number of shares used in computing diluted net income per share 5,887     5,905     5,975     5,856  
                         
    Number of outstanding shares as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 5,793     5,748     5,793     5,748  
    CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (U.S. dollars in thousands)
           
      December 31, 2024
    		   December 31, 2023
      (Unaudited)
    		   (Audited)
    ASSETS      
               
    CURRENT ASSETS:      
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 3,368     $ 2,344  
    Restricted bank deposits 185     217  
    Trade receivables 11,787     12,424  
    Other accounts receivable and prepaid expenses 1,150     963  
    Inventories 7,870     6,070  
               
    Total current assets 24,360     22,018  
               
    LONG-TERM ASSETS 177     196  
               
    PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT, NET 3,417     3,268  
               
    OPERATING LEASE RIGHT-OF-USE ASSETS, NET 779     1,026  
               
    DEFERRED TAX ASSETS 1,000     –  
               
    OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS, NET 422     1,078  
               
    GOODWILL 4,188     4,895  
               
    Total assets $ 34,343     $ 32,481  
    CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
    (U.S. dollars in thousands)
           
      December 31,
    2024    		   December 31, 2023
      (Unaudited)   (Audited)
           
                    LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY      
           
    CURRENT LIABILITIES:      
    Current maturities of long-term loans $ 439     $ 170  
    Operating lease liabilities, current   176       235  
    Trade payables   6,362       7,710  
    Employees and payroll accruals   1,087       980  
    Deferred revenues   2,003       600  
    Advances net of inventory in progress   –       137  
    Accrued expenses and other liabilities   598       1,072  
           
    Total current liabilities   10,665       10,904  
           
    LONG-TERM LIABILITIES:      
    Long-term loans, net of current maturities   980       1,150  
    Operating lease liabilities, non-current   576       759  
    Long-term deferred revenues   293       339  
    Accrued severance pay   498       490  
           
    Total long-term liabilities   2,347       2,738  
           
           
    TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY   21,331       18,839  
           
           
    Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity $ 34,343     $ 32,481  
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED EBITDA
    (U.S. dollars in thousands)
           
      Year ended
    December 31,    		   Three months ended
    December 31,
      2024
    		   2023
    		   2024   2023
                   
    Operating income (loss) $ 1,439     $ 2,450     $ (616 )   $ 400  
    Add:              
    Impairment of Goodwill and other intangible assets   1,173       –       1,173       –  
    Amortization of intangible assets   190       168       47       48  
    Stock-based compensation   74       98       11       24  
    Depreciation   370       342       100       90  
    EBITDA $ 3,246     $ 3,058     $ 715     $ 562  
    SEGMENT INFORMATION
    (U.S. dollars in thousands)
                       
      RFID   Supply
    Chain Solutions    		   Intelligent 
    Robotics    		   Intercompany   Consolidated
      Year ended December 31,
      2024
                       
    Revenues $ 12,877   $ 25,829     1,410   (167)   $ 39,949
    Cost of revenues   9,344     19,763     1,079   (167)     30,019
    Allowance for slow inventory   –     636     –   –     636
    Gross profit   3,533     5,430     331         9,294
                       
    Allocated operating expenses   2,273     3,338     274         5,885
                       
    Impairment of goodwill and intangible assets   984     189     –         1,173
                       
    Unallocated operating expenses*       –     –         797
                       
    Operating income $ 276   $ 1,903   $ 57         1,439
                       
    Financial expenses and income tax benefits                   861
                       
    Net income                 $ 2,300
      RFID   Supply Chain
    Solutions    		   Intelligent
    Robotics
    		   Intercompany
    		   Consolidated
      Year ended December 31,
      2023
                       
    Revenues $ 13,713   $ 28,845     1,742   (121)   $ 44,179
    Cost of revenues 10,534   22,830     1,557   (121)   34,800
    Allowance for slow inventory –   170   –   –   170
    Gross profit 3,179   5,845     185       9,209
                       
    Allocated operating expenses 2,150   3,675     258       6,083
                       
    Unallocated operating expenses*     –   –       676
                       
    Operating income (loss) $ 1,029   $ 2,170   $ (73)       2,450
                       
    Financial expenses and tax on income                 (445)
                       
    Net income                 $ 2,005
                       

    *Unallocated operating expenses include costs not specific to a particular segment but are general to the group, such as expenses incurred for insurance of directors and officers, public company fees, legal fees, and other similar corporate costs.

    SEGMENT INFORMATION
    (U.S. dollars in thousands)
                       
      RFID   Supply
    Chain Solutions    		   Intelligent Robotics   Intercompany   Consolidated
        Three months ended December 31,
    2024
                       
    Revenues $          3,445   $         6,806   $         171   (34)   $         10,388
    Cost of revenues 2,294   5,170   127   (34)   7,557
    Allowance for slow inventory –   450   –   –   450
    Gross profit 1,151   1,186   44   –   2,381
                       
    Allocated operating expenses 605   883   84   –   1,572
                       
    Impairment of goodwill and intangible assets 984   189   –       1,173
                       
    Unallocated operating expenses*                 252
                       
    Operating income (loss) $         (438)   $         114   $         (40)       (616)
                       
    Financial income and income tax benefits                 1,101
                       
    Net income                 $         485
      RFID   Supply
    Chain Solutions    		   Intelligent Robotics   Intercompany   Consolidated
        Three months ended December 31,
    2023
                       
    Revenues $          3,622   $         7,017   $         279   (32)   $         10,886
    Cost of revenues 2,897   5,797   171   (32)   8,833
    Allowance for slow inventory –   (37)   –   –   (37)
    Gross profit 725   1,257   108   –   2,090
                       
    Allocated operating expenses 513   974   72   –   1,559
                       
    Unallocated operating expenses*                 131
                       
    Operating income $         212   $         283   $         36       400
                       
    Financial income and tax on income                 27
                       
    Net income                 $         427
                       

    *Unallocated operating expenses include costs not specific to a particular segment but are general to the group, such as expenses incurred for insurance of directors and officers, public company fees, legal fees, and other similar corporate costs.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: PM remarks at the Organised Immigration Summit in central London: 31 March 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Speech

    PM remarks at the Organised Immigration Summit in central London: 31 March 2025

    The Prime Minister’s remarks at the Organised Immigration Summit in central London today (Monday 31 March).

    It’s great to welcome you all to Lancaster House. It was right here, earlier this month that the UK convened leaders from across Europe together with President Zelenskyy to support a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

    Because we know that Ukraine’s security is our security. And we can only deliver it by taking bold action at home, with the biggest increase in defence spending since the Cold War.

    And also, by working together with our international partners. 

    Now – the same is clearly true for the security of our borders.

    Illegal migration is a massive driver of global insecurity. It undermines our ability to control who comes here. And that makes people angry. 

    It makes me angry, frankly because it is unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price, from the cost of hotels to our public services struggling under the strain.

    And it’s unfair on the illegal migrants themselves. Because these are vulnerable people being ruthlessly exploited by vile gangs.

    So look, we must each take decisive action in our own countries to deal with this. Nobody can doubt that the people we serve want this issue sorted.

    But the truth is – we can only smash these gangs, once and for all if we work together.

    Because this evil trade, it exploits the cracks between our institutions. Pits nations against one another. Profits from our inability at the political level to come together.

    And that’s why from the moment I took office we said the UK would convene this Summit.

    And I’m delighted today to be joined by all of you. Representatives from more than 40 countries across the world, building a truly international effort to defeat organised immigration crime.

    And let me tell you why. Let me take you back to a visit I made as a relatively new Member of Parliament in 2016 to the camp on the outskirts of Calais.

    I can still picture it now. The muddy ground, sodden with rain and human waste. 

    Children as young as five and seven, the same age as my children were then huddling together in freezing temperatures with almost nothing to keep them warm.

    Now, of course, that infamous camp has long since gone. But the evil of the people smuggling businesses that put people there, that remains.

    The gangs remain. That exploitation of desperation, misery and false hope – that all remains.

    There’s nothing progressive or compassionate about turning a blind eye to this. Nothing progressive or compassionate about continuing that false hope which attracts people to make those journeys.

    No – we have got to get to grips with it once and for all. That’s why when I spoke at the INTERPOL meeting in Glasgow last year I said we need to treat people-smuggling as a global security threat similar if you like to terrorism.

    We’ve got to bring to bear all the powers we have at our disposal in much the same way we do against terrorism.

    Before I was a politician, I was the Director of Public Prosecutions in England and Wales. We worked across borders throughout Europe and beyond to foil numerous plots.

    Saving thousands of lives in the process. We prevented planes from being blown up over the Atlantic. And we brought the perpetrators to justice.

    So I believe we should treat organised immigration crime in the exactly same way. I simply don’t believe organised immigration crime cannot be tackled.

    So – we’ve got to combine resources. Share intelligence and tactics. Tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people smuggling journey, from North Africa and the Middle East to the high streets of our biggest cities. 

    And look, to that end, we’ve already got to work. Begun to make progress since I came into office. The UK has re-set its entire approach to international collaboration.

    I’ve put smashing the gangs on the agenda of international summits. Showing that the UK now means business. Working together with our allies. We’ve struck new agreements and plans with so many of the countries represented in the room here today.

     Take our work with France as a good example. Now previously – their maritime doctrine prevented French law enforcement from responding to small boats in shallow waters.

    But now we’re working with them to change that, to make sure we get new border patrols and specialist units on the French coast using state-of-the-art surveillance technology.

    With Germany another example, if you can believe it, it wasn’t technically illegal to facilitate people-smuggling to a country outside the EU, like the United Kingdom. But now it will be.

    And with our new bilateral agreement Germany will be able to prosecute the criminal networks facilitating this vile trade.

    Just a few examples of the international collaboration that is so important to taking this challenge on. And it’s beginning to bear fruit.

    At the end of last year, a major operation by French, German and British law enforcement smashed an Iraqi smuggling network with multiple arrests and the seizure seizing hundreds of boats and engines.

    In Amsterdam, a man was arrested on suspicion of supplying hundreds of small boat parts to people smugglers.

    That was a joint operation with our National Crime Agency together with Dutch and Belgian police.

    We’re also working upstream to address factors that drive people towards small boats in the first place.

    Working with the authorities in Albania and Vietnam on campaigns to deter those who are thinking about making that perilous journey.

    Because there is also nothing progressive about allowing working age people to come here illegally instead of supporting them to build their own economies, secure a better future for their own countries, and build a safer, more prosperous world.

    But look – as we work together more closely I think than ever before we’ve also got to take the tough measures at home in our own countries.

    That doesn’t mean gimmicks. You may be familiar with the gimmicks of the last 14 years here in Britain. It means understanding the problem.

    And coming up with pragmatic solutions that work. Actually, fixing what’s wrong.

    Few things show this more clearly, than our approach to border security. We inherited this total fragmentation between our policing, our Border Force and our intelligence agencies.

    A fragmentation that made it crystal clear, when I looked at it, that there were gaps in our defence. An open invitation at our borders for the people smugglers to crack on.

    To be honest it should have been fixed years ago. But we’re doing it now with our new Border Security Command. Led by Martin Hewitt – who many of you I think will know.

    We’re recruiting hundreds of specialist investigators from across our police, our Border Force and intelligence agencies. Creating an elite Border Force. Working with our international partners. Ending the fragmentation. 

    £150 million invested over the next two years and new powers and criminal offences to get the job done. So the police will be able to seize the phones and devices of migrants arriving on our shores and gather intelligence about the smugglers. 

    The police will be able to act when they have reason to believe preparations are being made for criminal activity instead of waiting for a crime to happen before they can act.

    And it will be an offence to endanger lives at sea to prevent more tragic deaths in the Channel.

    We are also redeploying resources away from the Tory’s wasteful Rwanda scheme. A scheme that spent over 700 million pounds of taxpayer money to remove just four volunteers.

    You know, even if that scheme had gone well, they were claiming they might remove – 300 people a year.

    Since coming to office – I can announce today we have returned more than 24,000 people who have no right to be here. 

    That would have taken the Rwanda scheme 80 years to achieve. This is what I mean about not giving in to gimmicks. Just focusing our efforts and resources on the nuts and bolts of removing people. Getting the asylum system working properly. That’s how we’ve delivered the highest returns rate for eight years and the four biggest return flights ever.

    We’re also ramping up the deportation of Foreign National Offenders with a new team of specialist frontline staff going into our prisons, speeding up the removal of prisoners who have no right to be in this country.

    Now, all of this is providing a real disincentive to people thinking about coming to Britain illegally. But if we’re talking about incentives – we need to talk about the people smugglers as well.

    Because they don’t care about borders. They don’t care about the people they traffic. And they don’t care about our country and our people.

    They only care about one thing: money. They make huge profits out of ruining people’s lives. I mean – a few months ago, I went to see some of the boats that had been seized at the NCA headquarters. 

    Now we call them small boats, but honestly they’re not worthy of the name boat. I don’t know what you would call them. To me they look like death traps.

    Flimsy. Rubber. No firm structure. You would not let your children climb aboard, even for a second in shallow waters.

    Seriously – if they were a car, they’d be off the road in minutes. The police would intervene. 

    And don’t tell me they’ve got any purpose other than people smuggling. So I see no reason why we can’t go after them. And so we are.

    We have seized hundreds of boats and engines, driving up the costs for the smugglers.

    We have taken down 18,000 social media accounts. That’s 10,000 more than last year, disrupting the way smugglers promote their services.

    And more than that, we have announced a new sanctions regime. Treating people smugglers like terrorists. Freezing their assets, banning their travel.

    Putting them behind bars – where they belong. But just as important – putting their entire model, out of business, securing our borders on behalf of working people.

    Because as I said at the start – this is about fairness. And there is little that strikes working people as more unfair than watching illegal migration drive down their wages, their terms and their conditions through illegal work in their community. 

    We have to be honest here. For too long, the UK has been a soft touch on this. While the last government were busy with their Rwanda gimmick, they left the door wide open for illegal working.

    Especially in short-term or zero-hours roles like in construction, beauty salons and courier services.

    And while of course most companies do the responsible thing and carry out right to work checks.

    Too many dodgy firms have been exploiting a loophole to skip this process: hiring illegal workers, undercutting honest businesses, driving down the wages of ordinary working people. 

    And all of this, of course fuelling that poisonous narrative of the gangs who promise the dream of a better life to vulnerable people yet deliver a nightmare of squalid conditions and appalling exploitation.

    Well, today we are changing that because this government is introducing a tough new law to force all companies to carry out these checks on right to work.

    They take just minutes to complete – so they are not burdensome for business. And they can be done free of charge – so there will be no excuses.

    And no ability to claim they didn’t know they had illegal workers. And failure to comply will result in fines of up to £60,000. Prison terms of up to 5 years and the potential closure of their business.

    Now, none of these strategies on their own are a silver bullet. I know that.

    But each of them is another tool. An arsenal we are building up to smash the gangs once and for all.

    We must pull every lever available. And that is what this Labour government is doing. 

    No short cuts, no gimmicks. Just the hard graft of sleeves-rolled-up, practical government. 

    Securing our borders. Getting a grip on illegal migration. Delivering our Plan for Change.

    We want to work with you and with everyone who is as determined as we are to end the misery and evil of people-smuggling.

    Because together we will save lives.

    We will secure our borders.

    We will smash the gangs that undermine our security…

    And deliver fairness for the working people we serve.

    Thank you.

    Updates to this page

    Published 31 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/BAHRAIN – “The dream comes true”: Inauguration of the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood in the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Monday, 31 March 2025

    Avona

    Awali (Agenzia Fides) – “Sowing the seeds of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia (AVONA) is a herculean task due to its jurisdiction in four countries, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Fortunately, a ‘visionary’ sees a solution for every problem” writes Father Marcus Fernandes OFM.Cap., delegate of the Missio-Avona, to Fides. The reference is to the Apostolic Vicar of Avona, Bishop Aldo Berardi, O.SS.T., defined precisely as “the ‘visionary’ Bishop who promoted the mission in the Vicariate” thanks to which the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood was inaugurated.During the celebration of the mass held on Friday, March 28 in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia (OLA), in Awali, Bishop Berardi welcomed the first 46 child volunteers of the Holy Childhood Society. “Praying, helping and sharing the Gospel is the mission of children” the bishop recalled in his homily recalling the three mottos of the Holy Childhood and inviting all those present to pray and share the Gospel every day.”On January 5 – continues Fr. Marcus – we had celebrated the Holy Childhood day and, to make this day a memorable one, the Missio-Avona Office organized an essay and drawing competition based on the theme “Children are the Missionaries of Hope”, with the aim of creating an interest and to know about the Holy Childhood or Pontifical Mission Societies.”“We received beautiful essays and drawings, the children expressed their emotions to the fullest. The winners of the competitions were declared during the Inaugural mass of the Awali Holy childhood society on 28th March 2025 in Bahrain and the winner’s name will be published in our digital magazinelaunched on December 10, 2024 (see Fides, 12/12/2024) on the occasion of the third anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia.”Bishop Berardi, along with Rector of the Cathedral Fr. Saji Thomas, ofm Cap., and other coordinators of the Holy Childhood concelebrated the mass. “During the Eucharist – adds the Apostolic Vicar – we prayed for the people in Myanmar devastated by the serious earthquake on Friday 28 March. We offer masses for them. The destruction of places of worship has touched us deeply.”‘What do you ask from the Church?’ was the question that the Apostolic Vicar asked the children before the final blessing. “The children recited the pledge and expressed their desire to make them child missionaries to become friends of Jesus and to serve the children.”“The day ended with a big feast together with the families. Now the entire operational group in the Cathedral and our four coordinators are ready to continue the missionary zeal of the children – concludes the delegate of the Pontifical Mission Societies.With the establishment of the Holy Childhood Society in the Cathedral of Bahrain, under the Leadership of our Apostolic vicar, the Pontifical Mission Societies are seeing their good days in the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia”. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 31/3/2025)
    Avona

    Share:

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New government fund to go after people smuggling gang bosses

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    New government fund to go after people smuggling gang bosses

    Nearly £1 million in government funding will support Iraq in its fight to take down the kingpins of organised immigration crime.

    Photo: Getty Images

    The evil linchpins at the top of people smuggling gangs who consider themselves untouchable will be hunted down and brought to justice thanks to nearly £1 million in government funding to support Iraq to combat organised immigration crime.

    The Home Secretary’s groundbreaking partnership with Iraq is making significant headway to tackle organised immigration crime and fortify border security in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). New funding, specialist technology and bolder investigation processes have been pursued since the landmark agreement was signed just 4 months ago. 

    The nearly £1 million in new government funding will support the passing of new anti-smuggling legislation in the KRI, which is a critical milestone in the region’s ability to prosecute organised crime groups involved in people smuggling. It will also be used to provide targeted training, specialist technological support, and community engagement to address key security challenges in the region.  

    Successful implementation of the new law will also bolster wider National Crime Agency (NCA) operations, supporting them to disrupt high-profile criminal networks operating in the region. The NCA already has more than 70 investigations into top tier immigration crime networks, including those from or within the KRI. 

    Earlier this year, the NCA worked with KRI law enforcement partners on a joint operation for the first time ever, which resulted in the arrest of 3 high profile members of a people smuggling network impacting the UK.

    The UK-Iraq partnership has also led to a major crackdown on the use of fraudulent documents by people smuggling gangs to move migrants through the Iraqi border. Over 100 Iraqi border and airline officials are being trained to detect false papers, and the UK has distributed specialist forgery detection devices across forensic labs in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk. 

    The UK is a world leader in false document detection and has shared expertise, specialist equipment and intelligence with the KRG to help them take down a key route used by people smugglers, who are risking the lives of those they transport and compromising border security.

    Joint action between the Home Office, NCA and international partners is also targeting the abhorrent business model of these criminal networks, including their use of social media platforms, financial flows, and maritime equipment such as boats and engines. This multi-faceted approach is having a significant impact, with over 8,000 social media accounts taken down in 2024, and more than 600 boats and engines seized by European partners working with the NCA, before they could be used in life-threatening crossings. 

    The news comes ahead of the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister hosting the first Organised Immigration Crime Summit on 31 March and 1 April, where the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government will co-chair a collaborative session tightening supply chain controls. 

    Iraq is a key partner in tackling organised crime groups, to ensure the prosperity and security of UK and Iraqi citizens, delivering on the government’s Plan for Change. 

    The Home Office remains committed to supporting the Government of Iraq and the KRG in tackling the root causes of organised crime, strengthening the rule of law, and safeguarding vulnerable individuals from the dangers posed by criminal networks.

    Minister for Security, Dan Jarvis, said: 

    The ‘Mr Bigs’ of people-smuggling gangs are cowards who hide in other countries and use their stooges to do their dirty work, while they count the grubby blood money they receive. They do not care about the people they are endangering who are being recklessly crammed into increasingly crowded, flimsy boats.

    We are using every power in our disposal to hunt them down, bring them to justice and dismantle their evil people smuggling networks. The UK’s partnership with Iraq is a cornerstone in this fight, with both of our countries making significant progress in just a matter of months. Criminal ‘lords’ in Iraq who had previously thought themselves untouchable are now being sent a clear message that their abhorrent business model will fail.

    Updates to this page

    Published 31 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Enlight Announces the Financial Close for Project Country Acres

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    The debt financing package includes $773 million of construction loans

    Country Acres consists of 403 MW of solar generation and 688 MWh of energy storage capacity, and is expected to reach full COD during the second half of 2026

    TEL AVIV, Israel, March 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd. (“Enlight”, “the Company”, NASDAQ: ENLT, TASE: ENLT.TA), a leading global renewable energy platform, announced today that the Company has received debt financing (the “Debt Financing”) for project Country Acres (“Country Acres” or “the Project”), located near Sacramento, California, USA.

    As part of the Debt Financing, Enlight, through its subsidiary Clenera Holdings LLC, has secured construction financing commitments with a consortium of four leading global banks including BNP Paribas Securities Corp, Crédit Agricole, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (Nord/LB), totaling $773 million.Upon the Project’s COD, the construction loan is expected to convert into a $376 million term loan.

    The Project has a 30-year solar generation busbar PPAand 20-year energy storage busbar purchase agreement with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (“SMUD”).The Company expects to conclude a tax equity transaction during the construction period, noting that the Project has met the terms required to achieve safe harbor status for beginning of construction.

    Country Acres consists of 403 MW solar generation and 688 MWh of energy storage capacity, and is expected to reach full COD during the second half of 2026. Construction at the 966-acre site has already begun, and all procurement contracts have been signed. The Project is expected to provide clean electricity equivalent to the average annual consumption of approximately 80,000 California households.

    “We are grateful to once again be partnering with leading banks on one of our largest projects,” said Adam Pishl, President and CEO of Clenera. “The American-generated, reliable energy produced at Country Acres will fueling the homes and businesses in central California for decades to come.”

    After the completion of Apex in Montana and Atrisco in New Mexico, Country Acres is one of several major solar and energy storage projects that Enlight and Clenera are now constructing in the U.S. These include Quail Ranch (128 MW and 400 MWh) and Roadrunner (290 MW and 940 MWh). Along with additional projects planned to be built in the years to come, these projects are driving Enlight’s massive expansion into the U.S. renewable energy market. This is best illustrated by the growing run rate of Enlight’s U.S. revenue base, which is expected to reach $195-207 million annually after the completion of the projects now under construction.

    The Company’s next projects in the western Unites States are Snowflake (600 MW and 1,900 MWh) and CO Bar (1,211 MW and 824 MWh). The two mega projects have almost completed their development phase, and are scheduled to begin construction in the coming months. Each of the two projects employs a grid connection of 1.0 GW, one of the largest in the US. These grid connections generate potential additional development opportunities in the future through the Company’s “Connect and Expand” strategy, which seeks to leverage existing interconnect infrastructure with additional generation capacity.

    “Country Acres is the second financial closing that we have accomplished with the same group of lenders in the past three months, illustrating the extent of our partnership and cooperation,” said Ilan Goren, GM of Enlight USA. “We look forward to further deepening this relationship as Enlight and Clenera continue the build out of our large US project portfolio.”

    “After the successful closing of Roadrunner, BNP Paribas is proud to once again support Clenera and Enlight as Coordinating Lead Arranger on their new landmark project financing of Country Acres,” said Aashish Mohan, Co-Head of Energy, Resources & Infrastructure Americas, at BNP Paribas. “Supporting premier platforms like Clenera squarely fits our energy infrastructure ambitions, and we look forward to growing our partnership with Clenera as they continue to execute on their high-quality U.S. renewables pipeline.”

    Nasir Khan, Managing Director & Head of Real Assets and Global Trade Americas at Natixis Corporate & Investment Bankng said, “Natixis is thrilled to close our second transaction with Clenera on another robust renewable energy project financing, which aligns perfectly with our commitment to the energy transition. As Clenera continues to expand its pipeline of large-scale energy projects, we look forward to further strengthening our partnership and providing innovative capital solutions to meet its long-term financial needs.”

    “CACIB is proud to partner with Clenera and Enlight once again on a landmark project which will deliver reliable, clean power to SMUD, underscoring our collective objective to provide long term sustainable and affordable power,” said Julien Tizorin – Head of Power and New Energy at CACIB

    Sondra Martinez, Managing Director and Head of Originations Nord/LB’s said “Nord/LB is extremely excited to support Clenera and Enlight on the Country Acres financing. This deal demonstrates our commitment to supporting recurring clients as they advance the energy transition and provide affordable power to local communities.” 

    About Enlight Renewable Energy

    Founded in 2008, Enlight develops, finances, constructs, owns, and operates utility-scale renewable energy projects. Enlight operates across the three largest renewable segments today: solar, win energy storage. A global platform, Enlight operates in the United States, Israel and 10 European countries. Enlight has been traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange since 2010 (TASE: ENLT) and completed its U.S. IPO (Nasdaq: ENLT) in 2023. Learn more at www.enlightenergy.co.il.

    Investor Contact

    Yonah Weisz
    Director IR
    investors@enlightenergy.co.il 

    Erica Mannion or Mike Funari
    Sapphire Investor Relations, LLC
    +1 617 542 6180
    investors@enlightenergy.co.il 

    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements as contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company’s expectations relating to the Project, the PPA and the related interconnection agreement and lease option, and the completion timeline for the Project, are forward-looking statements. The words “may,” “might,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “target,” “seek,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “contemplate,” “possible,” “forecasts,” “aims” or the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking statements use these words or expressions. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: our ability to site suitable land for, and otherwise source, renewable energy projects and to successfully develop and convert them into Operational Projects; availability of, and access to, interconnection facilities and transmission systems; our ability to obtain and maintain governmental and other regulatory approvals and permits, including environmental approvals and permits; construction delays, operational delays and supply chain disruptions leading to increased cost of materials required for the construction of our projects, as well as cost overruns and delays related to disputes with contractors; our suppliers’ ability and willingness to perform both existing and future obligations; competition from traditional and renewable energy companies in developing renewable energy projects; potential slowed demand for renewable energy projects and our ability to enter into new offtake contracts on acceptable terms and prices as current offtake contracts expire; offtakers’ ability to terminate contracts or seek other remedies resulting from failure of our projects to meet development, operational or performance benchmarks; various technical and operational challenges leading to unplanned outages, reduced output, interconnection or termination issues; the dependence of our production and revenue on suitable meteorological and environmental conditions, and our ability to accurately predict such conditions; our ability to enforce warranties provided by our counterparties in the event that our projects do not perform as expected; government curtailment, energy price caps and other government actions that restrict or reduce the profitability of renewable energy production; electricity price volatility, unusual weather conditions (including the effects of climate change, could adversely affect wind and solar conditions), catastrophic weather-related or other damage to facilities, unscheduled generation outages, maintenance or repairs, unanticipated changes to availability due to higher demand, shortages, transportation problems or other developments, environmental incidents, or electric transmission system constraints and the possibility that we may not have adequate insurance to cover losses as a result of such hazards; our dependence on certain operational projects for a substantial portion of our cash flows; our ability to continue to grow our portfolio of projects through successful acquisitions; changes and advances in technology that impair or eliminate the competitive advantage of our projects or upsets the expectations underlying investments in our technologies; our ability to effectively anticipate and manage cost inflation, interest rate risk, currency exchange fluctuations and other macroeconomic conditions that impact our business; our ability to retain and attract key personnel; our ability to manage legal and regulatory compliance and litigation risk across our global corporate structure; our ability to protect our business from, and manage the impact of, cyber-attacks, disruptions and security incidents, as well as acts of terrorism or war; changes to existing renewable energy industry policies and regulations that present technical, regulatory and economic barriers to renewable energy projects; the reduction, elimination or expiration of government incentives for, or regulations mandating the use of, renewable energy; our ability to effectively manage our supply chain and comply with applicable regulations with respect to international trade relations, tariffs, sanctions, export controls and anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws; our ability to effectively comply with Environmental Health and Safety and other laws and regulations and receive and maintain all necessary licenses, permits and authorizations; our performance of various obligations under the terms of our indebtedness (and the indebtedness of our subsidiaries that we guarantee) and our ability to continue to secure project financing on attractive terms for our projects; limitations on our management rights and operational flexibility due to our use of tax equity arrangements; potential claims and disagreements with partners, investors and other counterparties that could reduce our right to cash flows generated by our projects; our ability to comply with tax laws of various jurisdictions in which we currently operate as well as the tax laws in jurisdictions in which we intend to operate in the future; the unknown effect of the dual listing of our ordinary shares on the price of our ordinary shares; various risks related to our incorporation and location in Israel; the costs and requirements of being a public company, including the diversion of management’s attention with respect to such requirements; certain provisions in our Articles of Association and certain applicable regulations that may delay or prevent a change of control; and other risk factors set forth in the section titled “Risk factors” in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and our other documents filed with or furnished to the SEC.

    These statements reflect management’s current expectations regarding future events and speak only as of the date of this press release. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or will occur. Except as may be required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Maris-Tech Announces Full Year 2024 Financial Results and Reports Record 51% Revenue Growth for 2024 with Improved Profitability

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Revenues Increased by 51%, Gross Profit Increased by 82% and Net Loss Reduced by 54% for the Year Ended December 31, 2024

    Rehovot, Israel, March 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Maris-Tech Ltd. (Nasdaq: MTEK, MTEKW) (“Maris-Tech” or the “Company”), a global leader in video and artificial intelligence (“AI”)- based edge computing technology, today announced its financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2024. The Company reported record revenues of approximately $6.1 million, an increase of 51% compared to approximately $4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. Gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2024, grew by 82%, reaching approximately $3.5 million compared to approximately $1.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

    Mr. Israel Bar, Chief Executive Officer of Maris-Tech, said, “In 2024, we focused on new developments, strategic partnerships and expanding our presence in key markets. We strengthened our position in the defense sector, particularly in the miniature drone and unmanned aerial vehicles industry, and in armored vehicles and tanks. Among our key achievements, we launched the Uranus Drones – a miniature codec tailored for the drone industry – and introduced the Diamond System, which is already deployed in the battlefield, providing comprehensive protection for thousands of vehicles. We also increased our investment in marketing and business development in the United States, which has contributed to our accelerated growth.”

    Financial Highlights

    ●    Revenues: Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024, were approximately $6.1 million, an increase of 51% compared to approximately $4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

    ●    Gross Profit: Gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2024, was approximately $3.5 million, an increase of 82% compared to approximately $1.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

    ●    Net Loss: Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2024, was approximately $1.2 million, a decrease of 54% compared to approximately $2.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

    ●    Net Loss per Ordinary Share: Net loss per ordinary share for the year ended December 31, 2024, was approximately $0.16, a decrease of 53% compared to approximately $0.34 for the year ended December 31, 2023.

    ●    Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Bank Deposits: Cash and cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits as of December 31, 2024, were approximately $2.3 million, compared to approximately $5.2 million as of December 31, 2023.

    ●    Trade Receivables Balance: Increased to approximately $3.5 million as of December 31, 2024, compared to approximately $3.0 million as of December 31, 2023.

    We expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2024, along with anticipated revenue from existing customers pursuant to existing orders and the availability of a $4 million line of credit, will be sufficient to fund our operations and meet our obligations for the next twelve months.

    Year Ended 2024 Highlights

    We strengthened our position in the defense and homeland security (“HLS”) markets, and accelerated revenue growth:

    ●    In January 2024, we secured a new purchase order for approximately $590,000 for an AI-based HLS and Defense Surveillance Application based on the Jupiter AI platform;

    ●    In February 2024, we received a purchase order for approximately $190,000 for a miniature low-power solution to enhance gun sight capabilities in tactical applications;

    ●    In February 2024, we received a repeat purchase order for approximately $600,000 with an option to increase the purchase order to approximately $730,000 to provide armored and autonomous vehicles with enhanced situational awareness;

    ●    In April 2024, we secured a new purchase order for $415,800 for a defense solution based on our Jupiter Nano platform;

    ●    In April 2024, we received a new purchase order for approximately $110,000 for a novel miniature intelligence-gathering product based on the Maris platform technology;

    ●    In June 2024, we received a new purchase order for $225,000 from Aero Sol military drone manufacturer for our Uranus-Drones solution;

    ●    In June 2024, we secured a repeat purchase order for approximately $957,000 for our situational awareness solution for Armored Vehicles;

    ●    In August 2024, we secured a $700,000 purchase order for innovative AI-Based Video Distribution Solution; and

    ●    In December 2024, we secured a $1 million purchase order from a U.S. repeat customer in the HLS industry for our advanced Jupiter-based video solution.

    Strategic Partnerships

    ●    In March 2024, we entered into a collaboration agreement with Renesas Electronics Corporation, one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers, and we were accepted into the Renesas’ Preferred Partner Program; and

    ●    In June 2024, we entered into a collaboration agreement with LightPath Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: LPTH) (“LightPath”) for AI-Ready Infrared Cameras, providing AI accelerated hardware, software and algorithms for LightPath’s infrared cameras.

    New Products & Developments

    ●    In February 2024, we launched Emerald, a Jupiter-based multiple-channel high-definition and standard-definition raw video recording platform especially designed for defense armored vehicles;

    ●    In July 2024, we unveiled Diamond – a revolutionary defense 360° 3D Situational Awareness Solution for armored fighting vehicles;

    ●    In September 2024, we announced that our Amethyst Edge Computing video solution now supports 5G, enabling ultra-speed and high data transfer;

    ●    In September 2024, we enhanced our Diamond platform ability to combat airborne threats with Diamond Ultra; and

    ●    In December 2024, we completed the development of Uranus-Drones technology, which is now available for large-scale delivery.

    Expanded Global Awareness

    Maris-Tech strengthened our presence in the U.S. with the engagement of new sales representatives and increased participation in international defense and technology exhibitions, showcasing the Company’s cutting-edge solutions to a global audience.

    Backlog and Outlook

    Our backlog as of January 1, 2025, was approximately $9.8 million, which represents an increase from our backlog as of January 1, 2024, of approximately $9.76 million. Our backlog, as of March 28, 2025, was approximately $9.9 million.

    We define backlog as the accumulation of all pending orders with a later fulfillment date for which revenue has not been recognized, and we consider valid. The backlog consists of executed purchase orders from new customers and existing customers with which we have had long standing relationships and from governmental agencies.

    Mr. Bar concluded, “We remain committed to driving long-term growth by focusing on strategic innovation, expanding our market presence, and strengthening our relationships with global defense and homeland security customers. We believe that our pipeline of opportunities and strong order backlog position us well for continued growth in 2025 and beyond.”

    About Maris-Tech Ltd.

    Maris-Tech is a global leader in video and AI-based edge computing technology, pioneering intelligent video transmission solutions that conquer complex encoding-decoding challenges. Our miniature, lightweight, and low-power products deliver high-performance capabilities, including raw data processing, seamless transfer, advanced image processing, and AI-driven analytics. Founded by Israeli technology sector veterans, Maris-Tech serves leading manufacturers worldwide in defense, aerospace, Intelligence gathering, homeland security (HLS), and communication industries. We’re pushing the boundaries of video transmission and edge computing, driving innovation in mission-critical applications across commercial and defense sectors.

    For more information, visit https://www.maris-tech.com/

    Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer

    This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe the Company’s future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “believe,” “expect”,” “may”, “should,” “could,” “seek,” “intend,” “plan,” “goal,” “estimate,” “anticipate” or other comparable terms. For example, the Company is using forward-looking statements when it is discussing: its growth in 2025 and beyond; expanding its market presence; strengthening its relationships with global defense and homeland security customers; future pipeline and opportunities; its backlog and the anticipated fulfillment of that backlog; the demand for its defense and AI-powered solutions; expanding its  presence in key markets; and its position in the defense sector, particularly in the miniature drone and unmanned aerial vehicles industry, and in armored vehicles and tanks. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of the Company’s control. The Company’s actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause the Company’s actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: the Company’s ability to successfully market its products and services, including in the United States; the acceptance of its products and services by customers; its continued ability to pay operating costs and ability to meet demand for its products and services; the amount and nature of competition from other security and telecom products and services; the effects of changes in the cybersecurity and telecom markets; its ability to successfully develop new products and services; its success establishing and maintaining collaborative, strategic alliance agreements, licensing and supplier arrangements; its ability to comply with applicable regulations; and the other risks and uncertainties described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2025, and its other filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

    Investor Relations:

    Nir Bussy, CFO
    Tel: +972-72-2424022
    Nir@maris-tech.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Discovery of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement in Morocco rewrites history

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Hamza Benattia, Prehistory, Universitat de Barcelona

    A new archaeological discovery at Kach Kouch in Morocco challenges the long-held belief that the Maghreb (north-west Africa) was an empty land before the arrival of the Phoenicians from the Middle East in around 800 BCE. It reveals a much richer and more complex history than previously thought.

    Everything found at the site indicates that during the Bronze Age, more than 3,000 years ago, stable agricultural settlements already existed on the African coast of the Mediterranean.

    This was at the same time as societies such as the Mycenaean flourished in the eastern Mediterranean.

    Our discovery, led by a team of young researchers from Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeology, expands our knowledge of the recent prehistory of north Africa. It also redefines our understanding of the connections between the Maghreb and the rest of the Mediterranean in ancient times.

    How the discovery was made

    Kach Kouch was first identified in 1988 and first excavated in 1992. At the time, researchers believed the site had been inhabited between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE. This was based on the Phoenician pottery that was found.

    Nearly 30 years later, our team carried out two new excavation seasons in 2021 and 2022. Our investigations included cutting-edge technology such as drones, differential GPS (global positioning systems) and 3D models.

    A rigorous protocol was followed for collecting samples. This allowed us to detect fossilised remains of seeds and charcoal.

    Subsequently, a series of analyses allowed us to reconstruct the settlement’s economy and its natural environment in prehistoric times.

    What the remains revealed

    The excavations, along with radiocarbon dating, revealed that the settlement underwent three phases of occupation between 2200 and 600 BCE.

    The earliest documented remains (2200–2000 BCE) are scarce. They consist of three undecorated pottery sherds, a flint flake and a cow bone.

    The scarcity of materials and contexts could be due to erosion or a temporary occupation of the hill during this phase.

    In its second phase, after a period of abandonment, the Kach Kouch hill was permanently occupied from 1300 BCE. Its inhabitants, who probably numbered no more than a hundred, dedicated themselves to agriculture and animal husbandry.

    They lived in circular dwellings built from wattle and daub, a technique that combines wooden poles, reeds and mud. They dug silos into the rock to store agricultural products.

    Analysis shows that they cultivated wheat, barley and legumes, and raised cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.

    They also used grinding stones for cereal processing, flint tools, and decorated pottery. In addition, the oldest known bronze object in north Africa (excluding Egypt) has been documented. It is probably a scrap metal fragment removed after casting in a mould.

    Interactions with the Phoenicians

    Between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, during the so-called Mauretanian period, the inhabitants of Kach Kouch maintained the same material culture, architecture and economy as in the previous phase. However, interactions with Phoenician communities that were starting to settle in nearby sites, such as Lixus, brought new cultural practices.

    For example, circular dwellings coexisted with square ones made of stone and wattle and daub, combining Phoenician and local construction techniques.

    Furthermore, new crops began to be cultivated, like grapes and olives. Among the new materials, wheel-made Phoenician ceramics, such as amphorae (storage jugs) and plates, and the use of iron objects stand out.

    Around 600 BCE, Kach Kouch was peacefully abandoned, perhaps due to social and economic changes. Its inhabitants likely moved to other nearby settlements.

    So who were the Bronze Age inhabitants?

    It’s unclear whether the Maghreb populations in the Bronze Age lived in tribes, as would later occur during the Mauretanian period. They were probably organised as families. Burials suggest there were no clear signs of hierarchy.

    They may have spoken a language similar to the Amazigh, the indigenous north African language, which did not become written until the introduction of the Phoenician alphabet. The cultural continuity documented at Kach Kouch suggests that these populations are the direct ancestors of the Mauretanian peoples of north-west Africa.

    Why this matters

    Kach Kouch is not only the first and oldest known Bronze Age settlement in the Maghreb but also reshapes our understanding of prehistory in this region.

    The new findings, along with other recent discoveries, demonstrate that north-west Africa has been connected to other regions of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Sahara since prehistoric times.



    Read more:
    Discovery of 5,000-year-old farming society in Morocco fills a major gap in history – north-west Africa was a central player in trade and culture

    Our findings challenge traditional narratives, many of which were influenced by colonial views that portrayed the Maghreb as an empty and isolated land until it was “civilized” by foreign peoples.

    As a result, the Maghreb has long been absent from debates on the later prehistory of the Mediterranean. These new discoveries not only represent a breakthrough for archaeology, but also a call to reconsider dominant historical narratives. Kach Kouch offers the opportunity to rewrite north Africa’s history and give it the visibility it has always deserved.



    Read more:
    Ancient DNA reveals Maghreb communities preserved their culture and genes, even in a time of human migration

    We believe this is a decisive moment for research that could forever change the way we understand not only the history of north Africa, but also its relationship with other areas of the Mediterranean.

    Hamza Benattia, director of the Kach Kouch Archaeological Project, received funding from the National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage of Morocco (INSAP), the Prehistoric Society Research Fund, the Stevan B. Dana Grant of the American Society of Overseas Research, the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust Grant, the Barakat Trust Early Career Award, the Centre Jacques Berque Research Grant, the Institute of Ceutan Studies Research Fund and the University of Castilla La Mancha.

    – ref. Discovery of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement in Morocco rewrites history – https://theconversation.com/discovery-of-a-4-000-year-old-bronze-age-settlement-in-morocco-rewrites-history-253172

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: FOCUS ON: Efficiency and pooled funding

    Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

    UNDRR’s operations are guided by the goal of achieving the highest impact by strategically allocating resources, streamlining processes and fostering a collaborative environment with implementing partners to access specialist skills as needed. 

    UNDRR ensures that every initiative delivers measurable results, which are reported in Annex 1 to the Annual Report. UNDRR has a dedicated team consisting of staff, Junior Professional Officers, secondees from national governments (Non Reimbursable Loans) and United Nations Volunteers and interns who work together seaLearn more about UNDRR’s work from 2024 in the Annual Report.mlessly, leveraging diverse expertise to swiftly and effectively deliver on a broad work programme. Through its unwavering focus on accountability, establishing long-term contracts to ensure that recurrent services provide the best value for money, and continuous improvement, UNDRR maximizes the reach and benefits of its programmes, ultimately driving sustainable change through its work.

    UNDRR has worked with several pooled funding mechanisms and partnerships to increase effectiveness and efficiency. CREWS was an important partner to UNDRR in 2024, bringing together UNDRR, WMO and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery to enhance EWS. The Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund brought together UNDRR, the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration for work in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency made a contribution to UNDRR for EW4ALL, and UNDRR shared a portion with the World Health Organization, the International Telecommunication Union and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to ensure that all four pillars could accelerate work in a coordinated manner. The Netherlands used the same formula for the Water at the Heart of Climate Action initiative, and Denmark made a contribution to WMO that was shared with the other pillar leads, including UNDRR. In short, 2024 saw significant efforts to enhancing efficiency and impact on the ground through working with key partners in a joined-up way.

    Back to the UNDRR 2024 Annual Report

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UNDRR 2024 Annual Report

    Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

    02

    Strategies, governance and capacity-building

    Target E of the Sendai Framework calls for a substantial increase in the number of countries with national and local DRR strategies by 2020.

    Though a strategy is not the end goal, UNDRR has found that countries with national DRR strategies tend to have more robust DRR governance and a higher prevalence of EWS, demonstrating the value of investment in this fundamental DRR pillar.

    The Government of Jordan has developed its National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy (2023–2030) in a participatory manner involving different governmental entities, ministries and municipalities, and the Public Security Directorate (Civil Defense), with support from UNDRR and the United Nations Development Programme country office. The strategy also integrates biological hazard risk reduction with the aim of building back better after the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Within the framework of Jordan’s efforts to deal with increasing threats and risks, the National Centre for Security and Crises Management has played a major role in developing two integrated risk registers; the national risk register and the local register for governorates. Both registers aim to improve the kingdom’s capacity to respond to disasters through accurate identification of risks, and enhanced coordination between the local and national levels for improved risk governance.

    Through this effective coordination between the national and local risk registers, Jordan has made great strides in reducing risks and enhancing community resilience, making the kingdom a role model for disaster management and risk reduction at the regional level.

    Morocco, too, has taken concrete steps to strengthen its risk governance. It established the Directorate of Natural Risk Management under the Ministry of Interior as its national DRR coordination mechanism. Morocco also established the National Risk Observatory to collect, analyse and share data on natural hazard risk. Furthermore, Morocco established a National Risk Forecasting Centre for monitoring and alerting, and an Operational Risk Anticipation Centre for forecasting, alerting and risk management assistance systems. Another successful project comprised the generalization of coverage of the entire national territory using multiscale and multi-hazard risk maps (for natural hazards).

    Albania’s National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy demonstrates widespread integration of concerns related to climate change and triggers the engagement of new sectors, particularly tourism.

    The vision statement explicitly brings together DRR, climate change and sustainable development using the language of resilience, while the document includes a detailed plan of action for DRR implementation that integrates institutions such as the Ministry of Tourism and Environment and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy.

    In particular, it articulates the implementation of the ALBAdapt project Climate Services for a Resilient Albania. The Ministry of Tourism and Environment is identified as the lead institution for implementation of a set of activities that offer compounding co-benefits for both DRR and climate change adaptation, including the development of a people-centred MHEWS, the creation of a fully functional and well-resourced National Meteorological and Hydrological Service.

    This integration is supported by articulations elsewhere in the country’s strategic profile, with the National Adaptation Plan 2019 including a priority area entitled “upgrading civil defence preparedness and DRR”. Elsewhere, the National Security Strategy of the Republic of Albania (2023–2028) addresses risks ranging from national security threats to climate change impacts, emphasizing resilience to disasters, while the National Strategy for Development and European Integration (NSDEI) 2022–2030 includes the integration of DRR and climate change adaptation planning among its priorities.

    National DRR strategies are the bedrock for multi-hazard risk governance and the achievement of Sendai Framework targets. These strategies help transform risk knowledge into actions and programmes that save lives and livelihoods. In addition, they serve as guides for mobilizing resources, delegating roles and responsibilities within government, and identifying entry points for non-governmental stakeholder engagement, all leading to more inclusive, sustainable development.

    With 131 countries now reporting having national DRR strategies, and 30 receiving technical support from UNDRR to develop them, this is just a snapshot of the progress being made globally in this important area.

    Under Brazil’s presidency, the Group of 20 (G20) recognized DRR as a critical component of economic resilience. Collaborating closely with UNDRR, Brazil facilitated the adoption of the first-ever G20 Ministerial Declaration on DRR. This landmark declaration emphasized the necessity of accelerating the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction’s implementation, aiming to reduce disaster losses by 2030, and called for the development of high-level principles for DRR financing. The work of the G20 DRR Working Group, with UNDRR as the lead knowledge partner, further reflected a comprehensive approach to integrating DRR into economic and social policies.

    UNDRR’s capacity-building continues to go from strength to strength, with nearly 10,000 DRR practitioners being trained in 2024, 77 per cent of whom reported having a better understanding of DRR as a result. At one such workshop in the Global Education and Training Institute in Incheon, Republic of Korea, a remarkable collaboration unfolded – a pioneering workshop uniting experts from UNDRR and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to empower government stakeholders from Mongolia and Bhutan to mobilize relevant partners and stakeholders and obtain funding for their DRR measures. This joint training begins a process of transforming the daunting challenges of climate change into opportunities for proactive DRR.

    Delegates were empowered by not only technical insights, but also the forging of lasting partnerships. The workshop’s training modules, co-designed by UNDRR and GCF specialists, delved deep into practical tools such as the EW4All Checklist for Gap Analysis, equipping participants to critically assess their national capacities and pinpoint vulnerabilities. “Early warning systems are important components for our national climate change adaptation strategy,” noted Ms. Tserendulam Shagdarsuren, Director General of the Climate Change Department, Ministry of Environment and Tourism in Mongolia, emphasizing how the training illuminated the next steps for their evolving EWS.

    This pilot UNDRR–GCF initiative is part of a broader strategy to replicate capacity-building endeavours in developing countries. Future workshops are planned for countries that are in very different geographic contexts yet face similar challenges (particularly those resulting from climate change), such as Somalia, Togo and the SIDS. These workshops aim to accelerate access to climate finance and enhance DRR measures worldwide.

    In a continuation of the Media Saving Lives programme, UNDRR and partners trained 520 journalists and media practitioners in DRR and risk communications, bringing the total to over 2,500 from 80 countries. Media are an integral part of the EWS delivery chain, and engaging them to build trust between government and communities can be the difference between life and death when disaster hits.

    The rise in global temperatures and the increasing frequency and severity of extreme heat events are rapidly becoming central challenges for nations worldwide. Yet many Member States, cities and societies remain ill-prepared to address this escalating threat. The imperative for enhanced extreme heat risk reduction, governance and management is clear. Without urgent and coordinated action, extreme heat will continue to endanger billions of lives, amplify health risks and threaten the ecosystems upon which we depend.

    In response, the UNDRR/World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Centre of Excellence for Climate and Disaster Resilience – together with the Global Heat Health Information Network, Duke University and WMO Centre of Excellence for Climate and Disaster Resilience partners – has developed an extreme heat decision-support package for countries tackling this global threat. The package includes: international organization resource and ecosystem mapping, readiness reviews and profiles; national best practice analytics; evaluations of heat action plans; and materials for development of an extreme heat maturity index for self-assessment. These materials can enhance collaboration, integrated heat risk governance and policy responses to extreme heat.

    UNDRR’s work and that of United Nations system partners, coupled with increasing demands for assistance from Member States, prompted and informed the United Nations Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat, issued in July 2024, in which he emphasized the need for urgent action if a future characterized by even more devastating heat impacts on lives, economies and ecosystems is to be avoided.

    This work is in turn informing the development of a Common Framework for Heat Risk Governance, led by UNDRR with the Global Heat Health Information Network, and Member States, international organizations and stakeholders. The Framework will receive inputs from (and is designed to bring together) multiple sectors, domains and scales – from agriculture and food systems, to energy systems, transportation, construction materials and design, and urban cooling. It is expected to assist national and subnational decision makers in designing and resourcing integrated actions to reduce extreme heat risk to people, urban and rural ecosystems, and the environment, preventing the loss of lives and livelihoods.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UNDRR Annual Report 2024

    Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

    02

    Strategies, governance and capacity-building

    Target E of the Sendai Framework calls for a substantial increase in the number of countries with national and local DRR strategies by 2020.

    Though a strategy is not the end goal, UNDRR has found that countries with national DRR strategies tend to have more robust DRR governance and a higher prevalence of EWS, demonstrating the value of investment in this fundamental DRR pillar.

    The Government of Jordan has developed its National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy (2023–2030) in a participatory manner involving different governmental entities, ministries and municipalities, and the Public Security Directorate (Civil Defense), with support from UNDRR and the United Nations Development Programme country office. The strategy also integrates biological hazard risk reduction with the aim of building back better after the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Within the framework of Jordan’s efforts to deal with increasing threats and risks, the National Centre for Security and Crises Management has played a major role in developing two integrated risk registers; the national risk register and the local register for governorates. Both registers aim to improve the kingdom’s capacity to respond to disasters through accurate identification of risks, and enhanced coordination between the local and national levels for improved risk governance.

    Through this effective coordination between the national and local risk registers, Jordan has made great strides in reducing risks and enhancing community resilience, making the kingdom a role model for disaster management and risk reduction at the regional level.

    Morocco, too, has taken concrete steps to strengthen its risk governance. It established the Directorate of Natural Risk Management under the Ministry of Interior as its national DRR coordination mechanism. Morocco also established the National Risk Observatory to collect, analyse and share data on natural hazard risk. Furthermore, Morocco established a National Risk Forecasting Centre for monitoring and alerting, and an Operational Risk Anticipation Centre for forecasting, alerting and risk management assistance systems. Another successful project comprised the generalization of coverage of the entire national territory using multiscale and multi-hazard risk maps (for natural hazards).

    Albania’s National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy demonstrates widespread integration of concerns related to climate change and triggers the engagement of new sectors, particularly tourism.

    The vision statement explicitly brings together DRR, climate change and sustainable development using the language of resilience, while the document includes a detailed plan of action for DRR implementation that integrates institutions such as the Ministry of Tourism and Environment and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy.

    In particular, it articulates the implementation of the ALBAdapt project Climate Services for a Resilient Albania. The Ministry of Tourism and Environment is identified as the lead institution for implementation of a set of activities that offer compounding co-benefits for both DRR and climate change adaptation, including the development of a people-centred MHEWS, the creation of a fully functional and well-resourced National Meteorological and Hydrological Service.

    This integration is supported by articulations elsewhere in the country’s strategic profile, with the National Adaptation Plan 2019 including a priority area entitled “upgrading civil defence preparedness and DRR”. Elsewhere, the National Security Strategy of the Republic of Albania (2023–2028) addresses risks ranging from national security threats to climate change impacts, emphasizing resilience to disasters, while the National Strategy for Development and European Integration (NSDEI) 2022–2030 includes the integration of DRR and climate change adaptation planning among its priorities.

    National DRR strategies are the bedrock for multi-hazard risk governance and the achievement of Sendai Framework targets. These strategies help transform risk knowledge into actions and programmes that save lives and livelihoods. In addition, they serve as guides for mobilizing resources, delegating roles and responsibilities within government, and identifying entry points for non-governmental stakeholder engagement, all leading to more inclusive, sustainable development.

    With 131 countries now reporting having national DRR strategies, and 30 receiving technical support from UNDRR to develop them, this is just a snapshot of the progress being made globally in this important area.

    Under Brazil’s presidency, the Group of 20 (G20) recognized DRR as a critical component of economic resilience. Collaborating closely with UNDRR, Brazil facilitated the adoption of the first-ever G20 Ministerial Declaration on DRR. This landmark declaration emphasized the necessity of accelerating the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction’s implementation, aiming to reduce disaster losses by 2030, and called for the development of high-level principles for DRR financing. The work of the G20 DRR Working Group, with UNDRR as the lead knowledge partner, further reflected a comprehensive approach to integrating DRR into economic and social policies.

    UNDRR’s capacity-building continues to go from strength to strength, with nearly 10,000 DRR practitioners being trained in 2024, 77 per cent of whom reported having a better understanding of DRR as a result. At one such workshop in the Global Education and Training Institute in Incheon, Republic of Korea, a remarkable collaboration unfolded – a pioneering workshop uniting experts from UNDRR and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to empower government stakeholders from Mongolia and Bhutan to mobilize relevant partners and stakeholders and obtain funding for their DRR measures. This joint training begins a process of transforming the daunting challenges of climate change into opportunities for proactive DRR.

    Delegates were empowered by not only technical insights, but also the forging of lasting partnerships. The workshop’s training modules, co-designed by UNDRR and GCF specialists, delved deep into practical tools such as the EW4All Checklist for Gap Analysis, equipping participants to critically assess their national capacities and pinpoint vulnerabilities. “Early warning systems are important components for our national climate change adaptation strategy,” noted Ms. Tserendulam Shagdarsuren, Director General of the Climate Change Department, Ministry of Environment and Tourism in Mongolia, emphasizing how the training illuminated the next steps for their evolving EWS.

    This pilot UNDRR–GCF initiative is part of a broader strategy to replicate capacity-building endeavours in developing countries. Future workshops are planned for countries that are in very different geographic contexts yet face similar challenges (particularly those resulting from climate change), such as Somalia, Togo and the SIDS. These workshops aim to accelerate access to climate finance and enhance DRR measures worldwide.

    In a continuation of the Media Saving Lives programme, UNDRR and partners trained 520 journalists and media practitioners in DRR and risk communications, bringing the total to over 2,500 from 80 countries. Media are an integral part of the EWS delivery chain, and engaging them to build trust between government and communities can be the difference between life and death when disaster hits.

    The rise in global temperatures and the increasing frequency and severity of extreme heat events are rapidly becoming central challenges for nations worldwide. Yet many Member States, cities and societies remain ill-prepared to address this escalating threat. The imperative for enhanced extreme heat risk reduction, governance and management is clear. Without urgent and coordinated action, extreme heat will continue to endanger billions of lives, amplify health risks and threaten the ecosystems upon which we depend.

    In response, the UNDRR/World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Centre of Excellence for Climate and Disaster Resilience – together with the Global Heat Health Information Network, Duke University and WMO Centre of Excellence for Climate and Disaster Resilience partners – has developed an extreme heat decision-support package for countries tackling this global threat. The package includes: international organization resource and ecosystem mapping, readiness reviews and profiles; national best practice analytics; evaluations of heat action plans; and materials for development of an extreme heat maturity index for self-assessment. These materials can enhance collaboration, integrated heat risk governance and policy responses to extreme heat.

    UNDRR’s work and that of United Nations system partners, coupled with increasing demands for assistance from Member States, prompted and informed the United Nations Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat, issued in July 2024, in which he emphasized the need for urgent action if a future characterized by even more devastating heat impacts on lives, economies and ecosystems is to be avoided.

    This work is in turn informing the development of a Common Framework for Heat Risk Governance, led by UNDRR with the Global Heat Health Information Network, and Member States, international organizations and stakeholders. The Framework will receive inputs from (and is designed to bring together) multiple sectors, domains and scales – from agriculture and food systems, to energy systems, transportation, construction materials and design, and urban cooling. It is expected to assist national and subnational decision makers in designing and resourcing integrated actions to reduce extreme heat risk to people, urban and rural ecosystems, and the environment, preventing the loss of lives and livelihoods.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: VAALCO Energy, Inc. to Present Live Via Investor Meet Company

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HOUSTON, March 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE: EGY; LSE: EGY) (“Vaalco” or the “Company”) announced that George Maxwell, Chief Executive Officer, and Ron Bain, Chief Financial Officer, will provide a live presentation via Investor Meet Company Thursday, April 17, 2025. The presentation will begin at 10 a.m. British Summer Time (4 a.m. Central Time).

    The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders. Questions can be submitted pre-event via your Investor Meet Company dashboard up until April 16, 2025, 09:00 BST (3 a.m. Central Time), or at any time during the live presentation.

    Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet Vaalco via:
    https://www.investormeetcompany.com/vaalco-energy-inc/register-investor. Interested parties can also access the presentation on Vaalco’s web site, www.vaalco.com, under the “Investors” tab. An archived version will be available on Vaalco’s web site after the presentation.

    Investors who already follow Vaalco on the Investor Meet Company platform will automatically be invited.

    About Vaalco
    Vaalco, founded in 1985 and incorporated under the laws of Delaware, is a Houston, Texas, USA based, independent energy company with a diverse portfolio of production, development and exploration assets across Gabon, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Canada.

    For Further Information

       
    Vaalco Energy, Inc. (General and Investor Enquiries) +00 1 713 543 3422
    Website: www.vaalco.com
       
    Al Petrie Advisors (US Investor Relations) +00 1 713 543 3422
    Al Petrie / Chris Delange  
       
    Buchanan (UK Financial PR) +44 (0) 207 466 5000
    Ben Romney / Barry Archer Vaalco@buchanan.uk.com
       

    Forward Looking Statements
    This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created by those laws and other applicable laws and may also include “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities law (collectively “forward-looking statements”). Where a forward-looking statement expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is expressed in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “forecast,” “outlook,” “aim,” “target,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “may,” “likely,” “plan” and “probably” or similar words may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, but are not limited to, statements relating to (i) estimates of future drilling, production, sales and costs of acquiring crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids; (ii) expectations regarding Vaalco’s ability to effectively integrate assets and properties it has acquired as a result of the Svenska acquisition into its operations; (iii) expectations regarding future exploration and the development, growth and potential of Vaalco’s operations, project pipeline and investments, and schedule and anticipated benefits to be derived therefrom; (iv) expectations regarding future acquisitions, investments or divestitures; (v) expectations of future dividends; (vi) expectations of future balance sheet strength; and (vii) expectations of future equity and enterprise value.

    Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: risks relating to any unforeseen liabilities of Vaalco; the ability to generate cash flows that, along with cash on hand, will be sufficient to support operations and cash requirements; risks relating to the timing and costs of completion for scheduled maintenance of the FPSO servicing the Baobab field; and the risks described under the caption “Risk Factors” in Vaalco’s 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 17, 2025 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: LIN MCU with Touch Sense Technology for Automotive Applications

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MILPITAS, Calif., March 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lumissil Microsystems expanded its automotive MCU portfolio with the introduction of the IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978 family of AEC-Q100 general purpose 8-bit MCU featuring an integrated LIN Controller and Physical Layer and Gen 3 touch key controller.

    For flexibility, the IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978 integrate 64KB ECC (Error Correction Code) flash memory that can be used to customize GPIO pins and features up to 20 Gen 3 touch sensors with auto wake and sleep modes. The IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978 also feature onboard touch sensors that are reconfigurable from self-capacitance to mutual-capacitance mode. In mutual-capacitance mode, Shield is offered as a feature which provides dust and water immunity and offers proximity detection. Further, the integrated LIN protocol handler is compliant with SAE J2602 LIN 2.0A, LIN 2.1A and LIN 2.2A standards, ensuring seamless communication and interoperability with electrical sub-systems within vehicle’s LIN networks.

    To support this claim, Lumissil submitted an MCU with LIN stack to iHR Automotive®, a third-party LIN test house for LIN 2.2 OSI Layer 2 data link layer certification. LIN conformity ensures that a LIN master can transmit 19.2kbps LDF (LIN Definition Frames) to the IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978 and makes certain that the devices process LDF commands as a protocol handler.

    To address EMI concerns, the IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978 incorporate oscillators with spread-spectrum modulation which effectively disperses energy at the operating frequency thereby reducing EMI-related radiated noise. To further ease the design, the IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978 were designed to utilize an easy-to-use software calibration GUI which eliminates touch calibration issues and are designed around VS Code, a popular off-the-shelf IDE.

    The new IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978 MCU’s enable command-control GPIO applications while simultaneously processing touch key functions. “Automotive engineers can achieve LIN command-control operation while processing touch sensor operations with the IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978,” said Ven Shan, VP of Lumissil Marketing. “Both the IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978 will facilitate the development of complex MCU applications by providing LIN command-control initiated by user interaction.”

    The IS32CS8976 and IS32CS8978 feature a built-in LIN Physical Layer LDO capable of 100mA and are available in 3.3V or 5V options. For cost sensitive applications, the IS32CS8976 is available in a TSSOP-24 package offering 16kB flash ECC and 10 GPIO pins while the IS32CS8978 is available in a compact wettable flank WQFN-40 package and features large 64kB flash ECC and 20 GPIO pins. Both devices are RoHS compliant and Pb-Free available with a 2,500 unit per reel MOQ.

    About Lumissil Microsystems
    Lumissil Microsystems specializes in analog/mixed-signal products for automotive, Communications, industrial, and consumer markets. Lumissil’s primary products are LED drivers for low to mid-power RGB color mixing and high-power lighting applications. Other products include audio, sensors, high-speed wire communications, optical networking, and application specific microcontrollers. Lumissil Microsystems has worldwide offices in the US, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, mainland China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Israel, and Korea.  

    Website: https://www.lumissil.com

    Ven Shan

    P: 408-969-4622

    vshan@lumissil.com

    Herbe Chun

    P. 408-969-5128

    hchun@lumissil.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/871f8a4f-88e9-413f-8101-b87b58d8b7eb

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the targeted attacks against Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: defending religious freedom and security – B10-0211/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Hilde Vautmans, Abir Al‑Sahlani, Dan Barna, Urmas Paet, Yvan Verougstraete
    on behalf of the Renew Group

    B10‑0211/2025

    European Parliament resolution on the targeted attacks against Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: defending religious freedom and security

    (2025/2612(RSP))

    The European Parliament,

    – having regard to previous resolutions on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in particular its resolution of 13 February 2025 on the escalation of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo[1],

    – having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

    A. whereas the situation in the eastern DRC continues to deteriorate significantly, with escalating violence, persistent violations of human rights by armed groups, mass displacement, attacks on civilians and alarming humanitarian conditions;

    B. whereas on 18 March 2025 Presidents Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC and Paul Kagame of Rwanda agreed on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in their first face-to-face meeting in over a year, facilitated by Qatari mediators in Doha;

    C. whereas the armed group M23, backed by Rwanda, has intensified attacks in North Kivu, and on 19 March 2025 it seized the mineral-rich town of Walikale, defying the ceasefire;

    D. whereas over 7 million people are currently displaced because of ongoing conflicts, with limited access to food, water, healthcare and essential services;

    E. whereas there has been an alarming increase in targeted attacks against civilians, including, but not limited to, Christians, particularly in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces, perpetrated by extremist groups; whereas these attacks, including church bombings, killings and abductions, undermine religious freedom and exacerbate intercommunal tensions; whereas the right to freedom of religion and belief is a fundamental human right and must be protected given the high level of violence and persecution;

    F. whereas women and girls in the DRC face increased levels of sexual and gender-based violence, resulting in there being one victim of rape every four minutes; whereas the staff of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, which receives many survivors of sexual violence, is alarmed about the deteriorating security situation in the area and about the security of the staff and patients in Panzi Hospital itself;

    G. whereas the illegal exploitation of mineral resources continues to fuel conflict in the region, necessitating stronger international oversight and responsible sourcing policies;

    H. whereas in February 2025, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi proposed a deal to US President Donald Trump, in which he seeks military support against M23 rebels in exchange for access to the DRC’s vast mineral resources;

    I. whereas the EU has committed to supporting stability in the DRC through diplomatic engagement, financial assistance and targeted sanctions against individuals responsible for violence and human rights abuses;

    J. whereas on 17 March 2025, the EU imposed sanctions on nine individuals and one entity responsible for acts that constitute serious human rights violations and abuses in the DRC, but further diplomatic and economic measures may be necessary;

    K. whereas the Council renewed the EU’s financial support for the deployment of Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) troops in Mozambique under the European Peace Facility (EPF); whereas the head of these forces was previously deployed in the eastern DRC to support abuses committed by M23, giving rise to serious doubt as to whether there are sufficient safeguards attached to EPF support, including effective vetting and other human rights requirements;

    1. Expresses deep concern over the worsening security and humanitarian crisis in the eastern DRC;

    2. Strongly condemns the occupation of Goma and other territories in the eastern DRC by M23 and the RDF as an unacceptable breach of the DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity; urges the Rwandan Government to withdraw its troops from DRC territory, the presence of whom is a clear violation of international law and the UN Charter, and cease cooperation with the M23 rebels; demands that Rwanda and all other potential state actors in the region cease their support for M23;

    3. Calls for an immediate and effective ceasefire, and for the full implementation of diplomatic agreements, including the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes;

    4. Is appalled by the shocking use of sexual violence against women and girls as a tool of repression and a weapon of war in the eastern DRC, and by the unacceptable recruitment of child soldiers by the various rebel groups; demands that these matters be addressed by the international community without delay; reiterates strongly that any attack against UN-mandated forces is inexcusable and might be considered a war crime;

    5. Calls for an immediate end to the violence, particularly the mass killings and the use of rape as a strategic weapon of war; calls on the DRC and Rwanda to investigate and appropriately prosecute those responsible for war crimes, including targeted attacks against Christian and all other religious communities and places of worship;

    6. Calls on the DRC Government to implement security sector reforms, intensify its efforts to prevent further atrocities against civilians and end its support for and collaboration with abusive armed groups, including ensuring the full protection of religious communities and their places of worship; urges the DRC Government to ensure accountability for human rights violations and prosecute those responsible for attacks; urges the DRC Government to address and prevent hate speech and incitement, including the involvement of officials in such acts, and hate-motivated acts of violence or intimidation;

    7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase humanitarian aid to address the urgent needs of displaced persons and vulnerable communities in the DRC, ensuring safe access to food, medical care and shelter;

    8. Supports the imposition of further targeted EU sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for financing or engaging in violence, human rights abuses and resource exploitation; calls on the Council to implement and expand these sanctions by targeting all responsible entities and individuals, including Major General Emmy K. Ruvusha, Commander of the Rwanda Security Forces, identified in the June 2023 report of the UN Group of Experts;

    9. Calls for stricter enforcement of EU regulations on conflict minerals to prevent illicit trade from fuelling armed groups in the DRC; calls once again on the Commission to suspend the Memorandum of Understanding with Rwanda and to suspend its support for all projects associated with the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board, as such projects could lead to direct or indirect support for human rights violations in the eastern DRC; requests that the Commission share detailed mapping of current projects with Rwandan authorities and its assessment of whether they may contribute to or fail to address human rights violations either inside Rwanda or in the DRC;

    10. Calls on the Commission and the European External Action Service to intensify diplomatic efforts by working closely with regional partners, including the African Union, the East African Community and the United Nations, in order to step up diplomatic efforts to achieve a sustainable resolution to the conflict;

    11. Expresses concern over reports of foreign interference exacerbating the conflict and calls for an independent investigation into allegations of external support for armed groups;

    12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Governments and Parliaments of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the African Union and other relevant international bodies.

     

     

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on targeted attacks against Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: defending religious freedom and security – B10-0217/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    B10‑0217/2025

    European Parliament resolution on targeted attacks against Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: defending religious freedom and security

    (2025/2612(RSP))

    The European Parliament,

    – having regard to its previous resolutions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), notably that of 13 February 2025 on the escalation of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo[1],

    – having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

    A. whereas the situation in the eastern DRC continues to deteriorate sharply; whereas following the advancement of the March 23 Movement (M23) armed rebel group in January 2025, backed by Rwandan forces, and its seizing of Goma and Bukavu, attacks and violence continue to be perpetuated; whereas the M23 is continuing its offensive, notably in North and South Kivu;

    B. whereas in March 2025, President Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda issued a joint statement announcing a ceasefire; whereas despite this announcement, the violence continues;

    C. whereas around 100 separate armed groups are estimated to be operating in the eastern DRC; whereas destabilisation in the country is being driven by a series of overlapping issues, including ethnic divisions, clashes between government forces and non-state actors, including those backed by Rwanda, and the exploitation of critical raw materials;

    D. whereas there continue to be a high number of civilian casualties and displaced people; whereas civilians are being attacked indiscriminately, in particular in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri;

    E. whereas the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – Democratic Republic of the Congo (ISIS-DRC), known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), attacks civilians in all communities in the DRC; whereas ADF attacks have included targeting churches and religious leaders; whereas Christianity is the majority religion in the DRC; whereas most victims of ADF attacks have been Christian;

    F. whereas the humanitarian situation remains dire; whereas support for shelter, medical supplies, sanitation, water and food continues to be severely lacking in the DRC and neighbouring countries; whereas since January 2025, an estimated 70 000 people have crossed into Burundi to flee the conflict in the DRC;

    G. whereas woman and girls face widespread gender-based and sexual violence, including the use of rape as a weapon of war;

    1. Expresses deep concern at the alarming continuation of violence; deplores the loss of life and the attacks, both indiscriminate and targeted, against civilians;

    2. Underlines the urgent need for the stabilisation of the country and the implementation of an immediate ceasefire; reiterates its call on the M23 to halt its territorial advances and withdraw from the territory of the DRC, and for all parties to observe a cessation of violence;

    3. Urges the DRC authorities to cooperate with international organisations, including the United Nations, to ensure that human rights abuses are investigated and the perpetrators held to account, including those targeting attacks on ethnic and religious communities;

    4. Reiterates its call for all parties, including armed groups operating in the eastern DRC, to allow and facilitate humanitarian access to address the urgent need for essential services in the eastern DRC and neighbouring countries, notably Burundi; emphasises that humanitarian workers must be able to operate safely to deliver life-saving assistance to Congolese civilians; stresses that this is a central obligation under international humanitarian law, and that perpetrators violating these obligations should be held to account;

    5. Deplores the continued sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated against women and girls, in particular the use of rape as a weapon of war; urges the European External Action Service, the Government of the DRC and the international community to increase medical and psychological support for victims, including access to medical abortion care; recalls that sexual violence is a war crime and that those responsible must be held to account;

    6. Underlines that a lasting peace must be found through a return to political processes and cooperation; calls on the Government of the DRC and all armed groups to commit to the Nairobi Process for resumed national dialogue;

    7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission and the President, Government and Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: VATICAN/ANGELUS – Pope Francis: “Lent, a time of healing. I too am experiencing it this way, in my soul and in my body”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Sunday, 30 March 2025

    Vatican Media

    Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “Let us live this Lent as a time of healing, all the more as it is the Jubilee. I too am experiencing it this way, in my soul and in my body,” said Pope Francis in the text published by the Vatican for the midday prayer on the fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare).In his commentary on the parable of the Prodigal Son, the Bishop of Rome notes that with this story, Jesus reveals “the heart of God”: “always merciful towards all,” “he heals our wounds so that we can love each other as brothers.”Hence, heartfelt thanks to “all those who, in the image of the Saviour, are instruments of healing for their neighbour with their word and their knowledge, with kindness and with prayer. Frailty and illness are experiences we all have in common; all the more, however, we are brothers in the salvation Christ has given us.””Trusting in the mercy of God the Father,” Pope Francis said, “we continue to pray for peace: in martyred Ukraine, in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar, which is also suffering so much because of the earthquake.” In his message, the Pope also expressed his concern about the situation in South Sudan: “I renew my heartfelt appeal to all leaders to do their utmost to lower the tension in the country. We must put aside our differences and, with courage and responsibility, sit around a table and engage in constructive dialogue. Only in this way will it be possible to alleviate the suffering of the beloved South Sudanese people and to build a future of peace and stability.”And in Sudan, “the war continues to claim innocent victims. I urge the parties concerned in the conflict,” the Pope emphasized, “to put the safeguarding of the lives of their civilian brothers and sisters first; and I hope that new negotiations will begin as soon as possible, capable of securing a lasting solution to the crisis. May the international community increase its efforts to address the appalling humanitarian catastrophe.””Thanks be to God, there are also positive events,” the Pope concluded: “I cite as an example the ratification of the Agreement on the demarcation of the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which is an excellent diplomatic achievement. I encourage both countries to continue on this path.””May Mary, Mother of Mercy, help the human family to be reconciled in peace,” we read at the end of the Pontiff’s text. (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 30/3/2024)
    Share:

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Zalo campaign to rebut people smugglers’ lies in Vietnam

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    Zalo campaign to rebut people smugglers’ lies in Vietnam

    The government is launching adverts for the first time on Zalo, as it expands its campaign warning people about the dangers of trusting people smuggling gangs.

    Zalo, the Vietnamese instant messaging and social platform, has over 77 million monthly users.

    The ads will run on Zalo and Vietnamese news aggregator Báo Mới in the coming weeks, the first time the UK government has ever advertised on these platforms, helping to secure our borders as part of the Plan for Change. 

    The campaign forms part of the government’s response to a deluge of false claims spread on social media platforms encouraging people to come to the UK illegally. Posts frequently use coded messages to evade content moderation, such as referring to small boat crossings as a ‘game’. People smugglers have also offered discounts to those who film their journey so the footage can be used as promotional material. 

    The campaign launch comes as the UK hosts the landmark Organised Immigration Crime Summit at Lancaster House on 31 March to 1 April.

    The summit will bring together delegates from over 40 countries and marks a step change in the international community’s approach to tackling OIC. It is a critical opportunity to strengthen global co-operation, disrupt criminal networks, and prevent further loss of life.

    Representatives from Meta, X and TikTok are attending the summit to discuss how to jointly tackle the online promotion of irregular migration, such as illegal people smuggling networks. The National Crime Agency announced in January that it had triggered the removal of more than 8,000 accounts linked to people smuggling last year, working closely with social media companies. 

    The government is currently running ads on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to counter this content in Vietnam, which has already reached over 53 million people since the campaign launched in December.

    Vietnamese nationals remain among the top nationality groups crossing the Channel illegally. They accounted for 17% of small boat arrivals in the first half of 2024, reducing to 6% in the second half. Further campaigns have recently been launched in Albania and Kurdistan Region of Iraq. 

    Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said:  

    People smugglers are always looking for new ways to peddle their vile trade and we are exposing their lies at every opportunity.

    This government is securing our borders and delivering on our Plan for Change, dismantling the criminal gangs who abuse our borders and warning migrants about the risks and realities of coming to the UK illegally.

    Founder and CEO of the Vietnamese Family Partnership, Quynh Nguyen, said: 

    As representatives of the Vietnamese community in the UK, we support the expansion of the social media campaign on Zalo to prevent irregular migration. 

    Zalo is widely used in Vietnam and introducing adverts on the channel will help to reach many more vulnerable people to warn them of migrant smugglers’ lies. 

    Our community understands the importance of legal routes, and we are committed to sharing this message with families in Vietnam. We aim to inform and support our community by highlighting the dangers of illegal migration and the importance of seeking legal and safe pathways.

    Updates to this page

    Published 31 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Angelus of the Fourth Sunday of Lent

    Source: The Holy See

    The following is the text prepared by the Holy Father Francis for the Angelus of this fourth Sunday of Lent:

    Text prepared by the Holy Father
    Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Sunday!
    In today’s Gospel (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32) Jesus notices that the Pharisees are scandalised and murmur behind His back, instead of being happy because sinners come to Him. So Jesus tells them about a father who has two sons: one leaves home, but then, having been reduced to poverty, he returns and is welcomed with joy. The other, the ‘obedient’ son, is indignant at his father and does not want to enter the feast. This is how Jesus reveals the heart of God: He is always merciful towards all; he heals our wounds so that we can love each other as brothers.
    Dearest friends, let us live this Lent as a time of healing, all the more as it is the Jubilee. I too am experiencing it this way, in my soul and in my body. That is why I give heartfelt thanks to all those who, in the image of the Saviour, are instruments of healing for their neighbour with their word and their knowledge, with kindness and with prayer. Frailty and illness are experiences we all have in common; all the more, however, we are brothers in the salvation Christ has given us.
    Trusting in the mercy of God the Father, we continue to pray for peace: in martyred Ukraine, in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar, which is also suffering so much because of the earthquake.
    I am following the situation in South Sudan with concern. I renew my heartfelt appeal to all leaders to do their utmost to lower the tension in the country. We must put aside our differences and, with courage and responsibility, sit around a table and engage in constructive dialogue. Only in this way will it be possible to alleviate the suffering of the beloved South Sudanese people and to build a future of peace and stability.
    And in Sudan, the war continues to claim innocent victims.I urge the parties concerned in the conflict to put the safeguarding of the lives of their civilian brothers and sisters first; and I hope that new negotiations will begin as soon as possible, capable of securing a lasting solution to the crisis. May the international community increase its efforts to address the appalling humanitarian catastrophe.
    Thanks be to God, there are also positive events: for example, the ratification of the Agreement on the demarcation of the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which is an excellent diplomatic achievement.I encourage both countries to continue on this path.
    May Mary, Mother of Mercy, help the human family to be reconciled in peace.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Hosting the UN climate summit is far from ‘madness’ – here’s how Australia stands to benefit

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wesley Morgan, Research Associate, Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney

    Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would withdraw Australia’s bid to co-host next year’s global climate summit if the Coalition wins the federal election.

    Australia has lobbied hard for the right to host the talks, known as COP31, in conjunction with Pacific nations. Australia has emerged as a leading contender, and has the backing of most countries in its United Nations grouping, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and New Zealand.

    However, Dutton on Sunday described the idea of hosting the UN climate conference as “not something we are supporting — it is madness”. He also falsely claimed it would cost Australia “tens of billions” of dollars to host the event.

    Australia would reap big benefits by hosting the high-profile global talks. It would likely attract considerable investment in renewables and clean energy export industries, and strengthen Australia’s national security during a time of increasing geo-strategic competition in the Pacific. To pull out now would be a costly move.

    Decison deferred until June

    The decision on who will host COP31 in 2026 was expected at last year’s summit in Azerbaijan. But it was deferred until June this year – after Australia’s next federal election.

    Hosting rights are shared between five UN country groupings on a rotational basis. The final decision is made by consensus.

    Australia’s bid to host with Pacific nations has considerable support. But Turkey, the only other country in the running to host COP31, has so far resisted lobbying efforts to persuade it to drop out.

    An economic boost for Australia

    Hosting the UN climate talks is a massive economic opportunity for Australia.

    COP31 would be one of the biggest diplomatic summits Australia has ever hosted. Tens of thousands of people could be expected for a fortnight of negotiations, with satellite events held across the nation and the Pacific.

    Adelaide is in the box seat to play host. The South Australian government estimated hosting the UN talks could generate more than A$500 million for the state. But economic benefits would be much wider, and longer-lasting, than tourism receipts from those attending. The talks are a chance to attract investment for Australia’s energy transition and for clean energy industries of the future, including critical minerals and green iron.

    The UK government’s assessment of the value of hosting the UN climate summit in Glasgow in 2021 found the net economic benefit was double that spent – around A$1 billion. That includes benefits from trade deals and foreign investment. With abundant critical minerals, and excellent wind and solar resources, Australia has even more to gain.

    Hosting the world’s largest climate summit is a chance to attract the investment needed to replace ageing and unreliable coal-fired power stations. According to the Clean Energy Investor Group, which represents the capital behind large-scale renewables, more than 70% of the investment in clean energy comes from international sources.

    Dutton says he plans to replace coal with nuclear power (and to rely on gas until nuclear plants are built decades from now). The Coalition’s nuclear plan would require hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer support.

    Securing our place in the Pacific

    Working with Pacific nations to address climate change is key to Australian national security.

    Australia aims to be the security partner of choice for Pacific island countries. And Pacific island countries are crystal clear: climate change is their “single greatest threat”.

    In 2022, Solomon Islands signed a security deal with China, which raised the prospect of a potential Chinese naval base in Australia’s maritime approaches. Foreign Minister Penny Wong – who was in opposition at the time – described it as the worst foreign policy blunder in the Pacific since the end of WWII.

    The Albanese government has looked to cement Australia’s place in the Pacific by working with island nations to address climate change. In July 2022, Albanese joined Pacific leaders to declare a Pacific climate emergency and launched bid to co-host a UN climate summit with Pacific nations. In 2023, Australia signed a climate migration deal with Tuvalu that also prevents Tuvalu from pursuing a security deal with China.

    Pacific leaders have welcomed Australia’s plans to host the UN climate talks and have agreed to work together to advocate for the joint bid. Walking away now could do real damage to Australian strategy in the region.

    Embracing our clean energy future

    Hosting COP31 is a chance to set up Australia’s economy of tomorrow, signalling the shift from fossil fuel heavyweight to clean energy superpower.

    Australia is leading the clean energy transition. This is a story to tell the world. One in three households have rooftop solar. Already 40% of the main national power grid is powered by wind, solar and storage. We are on track for 80% renewables by 2030.

    South Australia is moving even faster, set for 100% clean electricity by 2027. Hosting COP31 in the state is also a chance to showcase clean energy export industries, especially plans to produce green iron and green steel at the Whyalla steelworks.

    Australia is the world’s largest exporter of raw iron ore, but is well positioned to export more-valuable, and lower-polluting, green iron to major economies in our region. The potential export value of green iron is estimated to be $295 billion a year, or three times the current value of iron ore exports.

    More broadly, our clean energy exports – including green metals, green fertilisers and green fuels – could be worth six to eight times more than our fossil fuel exports.

    Walking away from the chance to host the world and showcase our clean energy future would be costly indeed.

    Wesley Morgan is a fellow with the Climate Council of Australia

    – ref. Hosting the UN climate summit is far from ‘madness’ – here’s how Australia stands to benefit – https://theconversation.com/hosting-the-un-climate-summit-is-far-from-madness-heres-how-australia-stands-to-benefit-253423

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Dutton says it would cost too much to host UN climate summit, but pulling out would cost Australia even more

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wesley Morgan, Research Associate, Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney

    Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would withdraw Australia’s bid to co-host next year’s global climate summit if the Coalition wins the federal election.

    Australia has lobbied hard for the right to host the talks, known as COP31, in conjunction with Pacific nations. Australia has emerged as a leading contender, and has the backing of most countries in its United Nations grouping, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and New Zealand.

    However, Dutton on Sunday described the idea of hosting the UN climate conference as “not something we are supporting — it is madness”. He also falsely claimed it would cost Australia “tens of billions” of dollars to host the event.

    Australia would reap big benefits by hosting the high-profile global talks. It would likely attract considerable investment in renewables and clean energy export industries, and strengthen Australia’s national security during a time of increasing geo-strategic competition in the Pacific. To pull out now would be a costly move.

    Decison deferred until June

    The decision on who will host COP31 in 2026 was expected at last year’s summit in Azerbaijan. But it was deferred until June this year – after Australia’s next federal election.

    Hosting rights are shared between five UN country groupings on a rotational basis. The final decision is made by consensus.

    Australia’s bid to host with Pacific nations has considerable support. But Turkey, the only other country in the running to host COP31, has so far resisted lobbying efforts to persuade it to drop out.

    An economic boost for Australia

    Hosting the UN climate talks is a massive economic opportunity for Australia.

    COP31 would be one of the biggest diplomatic summits Australia has ever hosted. Tens of thousands of people could be expected for a fortnight of negotiations, with satellite events held across the nation and the Pacific.

    Adelaide is in the box seat to play host. The South Australian government estimated hosting the UN talks could generate more than A$500 million for the state. But economic benefits would be much wider, and longer-lasting, than tourism receipts from those attending. The talks are a chance to attract investment for Australia’s energy transition and for clean energy industries of the future, including critical minerals and green iron.

    The UK government’s assessment of the value of hosting the UN climate summit in Glasgow in 2021 found the net economic benefit was double that spent – around A$1 billion. That includes benefits from trade deals and foreign investment. With abundant critical minerals, and excellent wind and solar resources, Australia has even more to gain.

    Hosting the world’s largest climate summit is a chance to attract the investment needed to replace ageing and unreliable coal-fired power stations. According to the Clean Energy Investor Group, which represents the capital behind large-scale renewables, more than 70% of the investment in clean energy comes from international sources.

    Dutton says he plans to replace coal with nuclear power (and to rely on gas until nuclear plants are built decades from now). The Coalition’s nuclear plan would require hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer support.

    Securing our place in the Pacific

    Working with Pacific nations to address climate change is key to Australian national security.

    Australia aims to be the security partner of choice for Pacific island countries. And Pacific island countries are crystal clear: climate change is their “single greatest threat”.

    In 2022, Solomon Islands signed a security deal with China, which raised the prospect of a potential Chinese naval base in Australia’s maritime approaches. Foreign Minister Penny Wong – who was in opposition at the time – described it as the worst foreign policy blunder in the Pacific since the end of WWII.

    The Albanese government has looked to cement Australia’s place in the Pacific by working with island nations to address climate change. In July 2022, Albanese joined Pacific leaders to declare a Pacific climate emergency and launched bid to co-host a UN climate summit with Pacific nations. In 2023, Australia signed a climate migration deal with Tuvalu that also prevents Tuvalu from pursuing a security deal with China.

    Pacific leaders have welcomed Australia’s plans to host the UN climate talks and have agreed to work together to advocate for the joint bid. Walking away now could do real damage to Australian strategy in the region.

    Embracing our clean energy future

    Hosting COP31 is a chance to set up Australia’s economy of tomorrow, signalling the shift from fossil fuel heavyweight to clean energy superpower.

    Australia is leading the clean energy transition. This is a story to tell the world. One in three households have rooftop solar. Already 40% of the main national power grid is powered by wind, solar and storage. We are on track for 80% renewables by 2030.

    South Australia is moving even faster, set for 100% clean electricity by 2027. Hosting COP31 in the state is also a chance to showcase clean energy export industries, especially plans to produce green iron and green steel at the Whyalla steelworks.

    Australia is the world’s largest exporter of raw iron ore, but is well positioned to export more-valuable, and lower-polluting, green iron to major economies in our region. The potential export value of green iron is estimated to be $295 billion a year, or three times the current value of iron ore exports.

    More broadly, our clean energy exports – including green metals, green fertilisers and green fuels – could be worth six to eight times more than our fossil fuel exports.

    Walking away from the chance to host the world and showcase our clean energy future would be costly indeed.

    Wesley Morgan is a fellow with the Climate Council of Australia

    – ref. Dutton says it would cost too much to host UN climate summit, but pulling out would cost Australia even more – https://theconversation.com/dutton-says-it-would-cost-too-much-to-host-un-climate-summit-but-pulling-out-would-cost-australia-even-more-253423

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Qatar

    Source:

    We’ve reviewed our advice for Qatar and continue to advise exercise normal safety precautions. You may be placed under a travel ban if you’re involved in a dispute about (but not limited to) business, labour, employment, fines or civil legal proceedings. You won’t be able to leave Qatar until your travel ban is removed (see ‘Travel’).

    Demonstrations and protest activity may also occur, and local security situations could deteriorate with little notice. Avoid all demonstrations and protests (see ‘Safety’).

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Liquor Licensing Board to meet on Tuesday

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    The following is issued on behalf of the Liquor Licensing Board:

    The Liquor Licensing Board will meet on Tuesday (April 1) to consider an application for renewal of liquor licence.

    The application is:

    Kowloon:
    —————
    SPICY CRABS in Jordan

    The board will also consider renewal of the liquor licence (with bar endorsement) of THE POET in Central.

    The meeting will be held at 9.45am in the conference room, Room 102, 1/F, 258 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: In Ancient Greece and Rome, who were the harpies, and why did they stink so much?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kitty Smith, PhD Candidate in Classical Greek and Roman History, University of Sydney

    Krikkiat / Shutterstock.com

    Once yelled at women seen to be pestering or annoying – or at feminists questioning and threatening the status quo – “harpy” has long been used as a derogatory term targeting women.

    But have you ever wondered what a harpy was in the first place?

    Much like similar derogatory titles “siren” and “fury”, the term “harpy” is derived from a group of monstrous female figures from ancient Greek and Roman mythology.

    This picture depicts the harpies being driven from the table of King Phineus, a story told in the Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, in which Jason and the Argonauts search for the golden fleece.
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Rogers Fund, 1967

    Who were the harpies?

    In Greek and Roman myth, the harpies were a group of animal-human hybrid monsters on par with other such mythological creatures like the sirens, the sphinx, and the centaurs.

    Harpies were commonly imagined as an amalgam of a bird’s body, such as wings and claws, with a woman’s head.

    The ancient story of the Aeneid, by Latin poet Virgil, describes the story’s hero Aeneas encountering harpies on his quest to found Rome, saying:

    Maiden faces have these birds, foulest filth they drop, clawed hands are theirs, and faces ever gaunt with hunger.

    This description matches a common design from Greek and Roman art of birds with women’s heads.

    In Greco-Roman myth, the harpies were typically tasked with meting out justice on behalf of Zeus and other gods by using their great speed from their wings and sharp talons.

    The importance of their claws was likely a result of their name, which was derived from the Ancient Greek word for “snatching” (ἁρπάζω or harpazdo).

    As was common of many mythological figures with hybrid features, the way their animal features were portrayed tended to vary across different media (art or literature), different narrative purposes, and over time.

    Sometimes the claws were emphasised; other times it was their supernaturally swift wings and voracious hunger.

    Harpies were also a common motif in many parts of the Muslim world. This roughly 12th Century statue is from modern-day Iran.
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Cora Timken Burnett Collection of Persian Miniatures and Other Persian Art Objects, Bequest of Cora Timken Burnett, 1956

    Enforcers of swift justice

    The harpies were not nice people. They existed in myth to dish out punishments from the gods.

    Their primary target? Phineus, a seer and king of Salmydessus in Thrace, a city believed to have been located on the Western coast of the Black Sea near the modern day Turkish town of Kıyıköy.

    His story is told in the Argonautica by ancient Greek author Apollonius of Rhodes. This tale centres on the journey of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the golden fleece.

    In the story, Phineus is said to have abused his powers as a seer by sharing too many of the gods’ secrets with mortals.

    This was among the most egregious of crimes in the eyes of the gods, so an especially awful punishment was decided upon.

    Phineus was blinded and given the dubious gift of immortality while still allowed to age endlessly. And worst of all, he was set upon by the harpies.

    Every time Phineus picked up and tried to eat food, the harpies would burst out from the clouds, moving as fast as lightning, and

    with their crooked beaks incessantly snatched the food away from his mouth and hands.

    The harpies brought a further gift for Phineus: their smell. This supernaturally “intolerable stench” could putrefy food, so any scraps the harpies didn’t grab were left rotting on the table. You couldn’t even stand near it, “so foully reeked the remnants of the meal”.

    And while the harpies swooped in and out in seconds, their smell stuck to the rotting food (and probably poor Phineus).

    Some ancient poets add a little extra zest and disgust by also suggesting the harpies may have been defecating on the food, and presumably Phineus.

    Most notable is Virgil in his text the Aeneid who wrote about “foedissima ventris proluvies”, meaning:

    the foulest discharges from their bellies.

    This was likely an exaggeration of their bird-like qualities, used to emphasise how disgusting and monstrous they were.

    Phineus was eventually given a reprieve from the harpies, by order of Zeus, so he could help the hero Jason on his quest for the golden fleece.

    Having completed their job, the harpies then flew to Crete to live in a cave far away from annoying mortals – only being disturbed once by Aeneas on his meandering path to Rome.

    The story of Phineus helped harpies become a metaphor for greed.

    Those compared to harpies could include greedy house-guests overstaying their welcome, people living extravagantly or frivolously, or even family members taking advantage of wealthy relatives.

    Although the harpies were female monsters, the term was not exclusively applied to women, but used to describe groups of greedy people.

    Harpies were often associated with greed. In this Renaissance painting, part of a series depicting the Seven Deadly Sins, a harpy-drawn chariot is being used by Gluttony (who has wings, carries a jug and and wears wine leaves in her hair).
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Frederic R. Coudert Jr., in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh A. Murray, 1957.

    Harpies today

    Happily, today the title of “harpy” is falling out of favour as a derogatory term. But the hordes of monstrous, snatching, winged women live on in modern books, games, comics, movies and TV shows.

    From video games with swathes of harpy-like creatures snatching and clawing at the protagonist, like the 2020 video game Hades, to characters in stories inspired by Greek and Roman myth, the harpies are sticking around – like a bad smell.

    Kitty Smith is a member of the Australian Society for Classical Studies.

    – ref. In Ancient Greece and Rome, who were the harpies, and why did they stink so much? – https://theconversation.com/in-ancient-greece-and-rome-who-were-the-harpies-and-why-did-they-stink-so-much-249722

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: Netanyahu says Israel open to Gaza talks if Hamas disarms, relinquishes control

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    The screenshot from a video shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making a statement, on Nov. 26, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Sunday that Israel is prepared to negotiate an end to the conflict in Gaza, but only if Hamas surrenders its weapons and relinquishes control of the besieged enclave.

    Speaking at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel is ready to discuss a final resolution under which “Hamas leaders will be allowed to leave, we will ensure general security in the Gaza Strip, and we will enable the implementation of the Trump plan for voluntary immigration.”

    He said military pressure on Hamas was proving effective, weakening the group’s military and governance capabilities while creating conditions for the release of Israeli hostages.

    Netanyahu said the security cabinet had decided overnight to escalate military pressure, adding that “we are negotiating under fire, and therefore it is effective. We see that there are suddenly cracks.”

    Denying allegations that the government is not prioritizing the hostages’ return, Netanyahu said, “We are working and intend to bring them back. So far, the combination of military and political pressure has been the only factor securing the release of hostages.”

    On Lebanon, he said the Israeli military was enforcing the ceasefire “firmly and optimally” and called on Beirut to prevent attacks from its territory.

    Netanyahu also expressed support for U.S. military action against Yemen’s Houthis, saying, “We have an alliance with the greatest power in the world, and it stands behind us there and in other arenas without reservation.”

    Israeli forces resumed strikes in Gaza on March 18, effectively ending a ceasefire with Hamas that had been in place since January 19.

    On Friday, Israel carried out an airstrike on Beirut, its first since signing a ceasefire with Hezbollah in November.

    The escalation has raised concerns of wider regional instability, prompting the international community to condemn the violence and call for restraint. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Iran’s president rejects direct negotiations with Washington

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a press conference in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 16, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

    Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed on Sunday that Tehran has rejected direct talks with Washington in response to a letter from President Donald Trump. However, he emphasized that Iran has not closed the door on indirect negotiations, a pathway it has consistently kept open.

    Pezeshkian made the remarks during a cabinet meeting in Tehran, shedding light on Iran’s official response to Trump’s letter, which sought direct negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program.

    The letter, sent earlier this month, was conveyed through the United Arab Emirates, with Iran’s response delivered to Washington via Oman.

    According to Pezeshkian, while Tehran declined the prospect of direct talks, it reiterated its openness to indirect negotiations, a stance it has maintained throughout the years.

    “We have never closed the door on indirect talks,” he stated, adding that the failure to reach progress in past negotiations stemmed from unfulfilled promises by the U.S., which, he suggested, must be addressed to rebuild trust.

    “The U.S. behavior will determine the continuation of the negotiation path,” he said, signaling that Iran’s approach remains contingent on Washington’s conduct.

    In early March, Trump said that he had sent a letter to Iran’s leadership, proposing negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi confirmed on Thursday that Tehran had sent its official response through Oman the previous day, reiterating its refusal to direct negotiations, especially under the ongoing “maximum pressure” campaign and military threats from the U.S. However, he affirmed that indirect talks could continue, as they have in the past.

    The nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in 2015 between Iran and world powers. Under the agreement, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. However, in May 2018, during Trump’s first term, the U.S. withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to reduce its nuclear commitments.

    Efforts to revive the nuclear deal have so far made little progress, with diplomatic initiatives stalled and tensions between Tehran and Washington remaining high. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK hosts first major international summit to tackle illegal migration

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    UK hosts first major international summit to tackle illegal migration

    The UK has mobilised over 40 countries and organisations to launch an unprecedented global fight against ruthless people smuggling gangs.

    The UK is spearheading the toughest ever international crackdown on organised immigration crime as the Prime Minister and Home Secretary host a landmark summit today (31 March). 

    The Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) Summit brings together over 40 countries, including the United States, Vietnam, Iraq, and France, to unite behind a new approach to dismantle people smuggling gangs and deliver on working people’s priorities for secure borders.

    This is the first time the full range of factors driving illegal migration, from the supply chain in small boats to anti-trafficking measures, illicit finance and social media advertising, have been explored at a global summit of this scale.

    The summit will also see representatives from Meta, X and TikTok discuss how to jointly tackle the online promotion of irregular migration. 

    Through the summit, the government will use all available levers at its disposal to push forward progress in bringing gangs to justice, tackle the global threat of organised immigration crime and protect vulnerable people from exploitation.

    To back this drive, the Home Secretary has today announced £30 million of funding going directly to high impact operations from the Border Security Command to tackle supply chains, illicit finances and trafficking routes across Europe, the Western Balkans, Asia, and Africa. 

    An additional £3 million will enable the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to increase its capacity to prosecute organised international smugglers and expand its international footprint to support the Border Security Command to pursue, disrupt and arrest those responsible for dangerous people smuggling operations. 

    This reflects the Prime Minister’s long-held view, informed by his work as Chief Prosecutor, that cross border cooperation is the foundation of tackling international gangs and securing Britain’s borders.

    In remarks delivered later today, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is expected to say: 

    This vile trade exploits the cracks between our institutions, pits nations against one another and profits from our inability at the political level to come together. 

    When I was the Director of Public Prosecutions, we worked across borders throughout Europe and beyond to foil numerous plots, saving thousands of lives in the process. We prevented planes from being blown up over the Atlantic and brought the perpetrators to justice. 

    I believe we should treat organised immigration crime in the same way. 

    I simply do not believe organised immigration crime cannot be tackled. We’ve got to combine our resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people smuggling routes.

    The summit will deliver concrete outcomes across Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, and North America by strengthening international partnerships, enhancing intelligence sharing, and implementing targeted disruptions to Organised Immigration Crime networks.

    As a direct result, we will be able to strengthen UK borders and security and create a more efficient and manageable asylum system, taking the burden away from housing, the NHS and schools, and giving hotels back to the local economy.  

    Speaking ahead of the summit, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:   

    Smuggler and trafficking gangs make their money crossing borders so law enforcement needs to work together across borders to bring them down. Only a coordinated international response, across the whole irregular migration route, can effectively dismantle these networks.  

    The Organised Immigration Crime Summit is the first of its kind and will reinforce the UK’s position as a leader by securing international commitments to disrupt Organised Immigration Crime at every stage of the business model.   

    The summit demonstrates mine and the Prime Minister’s absolute dedication to disrupting the callous Organised Criminal Gangs, strengthening our borders and ultimately save countless lives.

    The UK’s global leadership on this is issue is already delivering results. France has agreed to launch a unit of specialist officers who are mobile, highly trained and equipped to respond dynamically to prevent small boat launches. 

    Germany has committed to strengthen their laws against those who facilitate smuggling to the UK and a new UK-Italy taskforce is hitting people smugglers’ financial flows. After boosting the resources for the National Crime Agency to work with international law enforcement partners, they have seized 600 boats and engines since July. 

    Along with this, work continues at home through giving law enforcement tougher powers than ever to smash the smuggling gangs, ramping up removals to record levels and surging illegal working raids to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats. 

    This comprehensive approach is a vital aspect of the government’s Plan for Change, with the threat from organised immigration crime increasing in scale and complexity.  

    Organised immigration crime spans multiple countries, nationalities, and criminal methodologies, with recent estimate of the total global income from migrant smuggling reaching $10 billion last year.

    Criminal gangs headed by hundreds of kingpins are using sophisticated online tactics, the abuse of legitimate goods and services, and illicit financial networks to facilitate dangerous and illegal journeys which undermine border security and put thousands of lives at risk each year.  

    The summit will also examine the work of the government’s Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) in supporting the US, by providing innovative space-based maritime surveillance capability to monitor and dismantle any vessels along Haiti’s north coast suspected to be involved in illegal immigration, illegal fishing activities and drug smuggling.

    The JMSC is harnessing cutting edge technology and capabilities to provide 24 hour monitoring of UK waters and ensure our borders are secure, by using satellite to provide a better overall understanding of incoming threats to the Turks and Caicos Islands. The UK government is working with our partners in Turks and Caicos to support and protect the Island from irregular migration. 

    This collaboration demonstrates the UK government’s commitment to deploying advanced capabilities against illegal migration while protecting overseas territories. 

    There has also been a series of major arrests of smuggling kingpins, including: 

    • arrests linked to a major Syrian organised crime group responsible for smuggling at least 750 migrants into the UK and Europe
    • the arrest of a Turkish national suspected of being a huge supplier of small boats
    • the conviction of 2 men in Wales who ran a smuggling ring moving thousands of migrants across Europe
    • the arrests in February of 6 men wanted in Belgium over their suspected involvement in a major people smuggling ring

    These arrests come alongside the NCA working with the authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for the first time, to facilitate the arrests of 3 men linked to a Kurdish people smuggling organised crime group, as well as an increase in the takedown of social media accounts linked to people smugglers.

    Updates to this page

    Published 31 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Uncertainty and pessimism abound. Will fear be enough to push Dutton into office?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

    Tony Abbott was once unelectable. So were Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.

    And so was Peter Dutton, not so long ago. But opinion polls over much of 2024 and early 2025 indicated otherwise, and a nightly assault of pre-election political advertising – as my wife and I watched reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent – suggested that the Liberals had done their research and needed to humanise their man.

    Devotees of Detectives Goren and Eames in that venerable program were able to enjoy briefly reviewing Detective Senior Constable Dutton’s time as a Queensland cop, as well as his splendid business career (which has received some closer scrutiny since) and his more recent meeting and greeting of ordinary Australians as a likeable everyman and all-round good guy.

    The ad sometimes played twice in a particular break: the saturation coverage suggested that the Liberals had done rather well with donors. Unfortunately for Dutton, we later gained a deeper insight into the very high priority he attaches to rattling the can for the Liberal Party. Dutton’s decision to attend a fundraiser in Sydney while a cyclone was descending on Queensland did him immense damage, recalling his predecessor’s “I don’t hold a hose, mate” response to the Black Summer bushfires of 2020-21.

    If historical precedent is any guide, Dutton’s task should be somewhere between formidable and impossible. When Australians elect their national governments, they can normally assume they are doing so for at least two terms. The last one-termer was the Labor government of James Scullin, elected in October 1929 and sent into oblivion via an election held a few days before Christmas in 1931.

    Scullin was a victim of the century’s greatest international economic crisis; governments everywhere faltered or disintegrated under similar pressures. The economic challenges faced by the present Labor government have been more modest. But will it suffer a similar fate to Scullin’s Depression-era administration?

    Normally, the rarity of one-termers might have provided Anthony Albanese with a measure of reassurance. But we live in an era where historical precedent seems to count for little.

    That was clear enough even at the 2022 election. It was unprecedented in several respects. There was nothing resembling the atmosphere of excitement of 1972, 1983 and 2007 – or, for that matter, 1929 – which had brought Labor governments to power from opposition and awarded them solid or large majorities.

    Labor’s majority on the floor of the House of Representatives following the 2022 election was piddling – a mere three seats, and just two after the election of a speaker. Its primary vote was about 32%. It won just five of the 30 available seats in the third most populous Australian state, Queensland.

    There had never been a Labor victory like this one. Its exceptionalism haunts Labor’s efforts to gain re-election in 2025.

    Labor won in 2022 rather like many state Labor oppositions have won in recent decades. The margin was narrow. The unpopularity of a government, and its leader, was there to be exploited. Again and again, state Labor oppositions have fallen over the line at an initial election, sometimes able only to form minority government: Bob Carr, Mike Rann, Peter Beattie, Steve Bracks and Annastacia Palaszczuk were all examples.

    Voters seemed at best grudging in their support, but enough were willing to give Labor a go and then look over the results when a new election came round a few years later. In each case, governments were able to consolidate, sometimes winning landslide victories by establishing their credentials, exploiting incumbency, and building new constituencies.

    There were signs Albanese might do the same after May 2022. His slim three-seat majority became a five-seat advantage when Labor’s Mary Doyle won the Aston byelection on April 1 2023 – a seat deep in the traditional Liberal heartland. As late as the Dunkley byelection of March 2 2024, also in Melbourne, the base of electoral support that had seen Albanese into office almost two years before looked to be more or less intact.

    Part of the problem for the Coalition seemed to lie with Dutton himself. Would Australians vote for him? Or to put it more precisely: would the kinds of voters in the mainland capital cities who had turned so sharply against Scott Morrison in 2022 shift their votes to a figure as conservative and as bleak as Dutton?

    That bleakness always struck me as being a bigger problem than the conservatism. Australians routinely elect conservative prime ministers. They elected Malcolm Fraser when they thought he was a conservative (as indeed he was). Then they elected him twice more. They elected John Howard, who had proudly called himself the Liberal Party’s most conservative leader ever. Then they elected him another three times. They elected Abbott, even if buyer’s remorse quickly followed. They elected Morrison when the Coalition had seemed dead in the water.

    But leaders such as Howard and Morrison were much more optimistic than Dutton. They both seemed to think Australia was a pretty good place full of pretty good people and that all things being equal, the future was likely to be pretty good too while there were pretty good blokes in charge (but, of course, it would be much better under a Coalition government, which had the best blokes).

    Abbott, to be sure, was more pessimistic – his description of the Syrian conflict as a struggle between “baddies” and “baddies”, and his references to “death cults”, said more about his habit of reducing complexity to melodrama than it did about that Middle East. Yet Abbott’s outlook, at least as expressed publicly while in office, was nowhere near as dismal as Dutton’s.

    For Dutton, the enemy is close to home, menacing us in the dark. His bleakness is in a league of its own.

    Lech Blaine’s portrait in his Quarterly Essay Bad Cop was convincing: Dutton was a man formed and perhaps damaged by his experience as a policeman, and a political hardman in the habit of painting whole groups of people – commonly politically vulnerable – as a threat to society. Dutton evokes a vision of good people besieged by bad, of the decent and law-abiding as in constant danger of being swamped by the immoral and the criminal – or possibly mugged on their way home from a Melbourne restaurant.

    As 2024 unfolded, no one doubted there was sufficient dissatisfaction with Labor building, especially in many outer Australian suburbs, to do the government serious damage at an election. Persistently high interest rates had increased the cost of a mortgage. Inflation had moderated, but living standards had taken a beating. The chattering classes started talking of the inevitability of minority government, but they usually meant minority Labor government. Then they started talking about minority Coalition government, as the polls turned nastier for Labor.

    Labor spirits have revived in recent weeks after Dutton’s missteps over Cyclone Alfred, a comfortable victory in the Western Australian election, and opinion polling that shows the ALP ahead on a two-party preferred count. Still, uncertainty abounds.

    Albanese often campaigned poorly last time: will he again falter? Dutton, meanwhile, is untested as leader in an election campaign, has little policy on the table, and has a habit of going missing when there are hard questions to be answered.

    For me, the key to this election is whether there is a sufficient number of voters, concentrated in the right places, who share enough of Dutton’s pessimism about their own circumstances and, to a lesser extent, about the general state of the country. If, indeed, there is enough congruence between Dutton’s bleakness and theirs, Australia may well have a new government and a new prime minister by winter.

    But Dutton’s blessed run might well have now come to an end. Inflation has moderated, the Reserve Bank has made a cut to interest rates, and a sense of scepticism seems to have settled in about Dutton among voters taking a serious look at him as a potential prime minister a few weeks ago.

    He now looks more like Old Mother Hubbard with a bare policy cupboard, desperately seeking to shore up the hard right vote against depredations from Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer, than Australia’s answer to Donald Trump.

    Frank Bongiorno 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. Uncertainty and pessimism abound. Will fear be enough to push Dutton into office? – https://theconversation.com/uncertainty-and-pessimism-abound-will-fear-be-enough-to-push-dutton-into-office-247360

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Greens propose end of tax relief for Trump’s military

    Source: Scottish Greens

    30 Mar 2025 External Affairs

    We can’t let Scotland be used as a US outpost.

    More in External Affairs

    With the White House expanding its military presence in Scotland, the Scottish Greens will lodge proposals in Parliament to end tax exemptions for foreign armed forces.

    Greens finance spokesperson Ross Greer has lodged the proposals as an amendment to the upcoming Housing (Scotland) Bill.

    At present, foreign militaries are exempt from paying Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (previously known as Stamp Duty) when buying property.

    From the 1960s to the 1990s, Scotland was home to a number of US military bases, including nuclear armed submarines at the Holy Loch on the Clyde, and sites on the Mull of Kintyre and in Edzell in Aberdeenshire. There is also an ongoing US military presence at Prestwick Airport, which is regularly used as a rest and refuelling stop for transatlantic flights.

    America has recently established its first new military site in Scotland since the 1990s at Lossiemouth, with concerns that this presence will grow under President Trump.

    Mr Greer said:

    “Scotland cannot go back to being a US military outpost. We certainly shouldn’t be exempting them from a tax which everyone else pays when buying property here.

    “This tax break only encourages Trump to increase his military presence in Scotland, something we should be trying to avoid. His recent attacks on Europe and his alignment with Putin’s Russia make it clear that his government is not our ally.

    “Ending this exemption is the fair thing to do. Why should the American military get to avoid paying its fair share? 

    “Rather than rolling out the red carpet to Trump’s troops, this change would also signal that Scotland stands with the victims of US foreign policy, particularly the people of Ukraine and Palestine.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Discovery of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement in Morocco rewrites history

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Hamza Benattia, Prehistory, Universitat de Barcelona

    A new archaeological discovery at Kach Kouch in Morocco challenges the long-held belief that the Maghreb (north-west Africa) was an empty land before the arrival of the Phoenicians from the Middle East in around 800 BCE. It reveals a much richer and more complex history than previously thought.

    Map of the region. H Benattia

    Everything found at the site indicates that during the Bronze Age, more than 3,000 years ago, stable agricultural settlements already existed on the African coast of the Mediterranean.

    This was at the same time as societies such as the Mycenaean flourished in the eastern Mediterranean.

    Our discovery, led by a team of young researchers from Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeology, expands our knowledge of the recent prehistory of north Africa. It also redefines our understanding of the connections between the Maghreb and the rest of the Mediterranean in ancient times.

    Excavations at the settlement. H Benattia

    How the discovery was made

    Kach Kouch was first identified in 1988 and first excavated in 1992. At the time, researchers believed the site had been inhabited between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE. This was based on the Phoenician pottery that was found.

    Extracting botanical remains. H Benattia

    Nearly 30 years later, our team carried out two new excavation seasons in 2021 and 2022. Our investigations included cutting-edge technology such as drones, differential GPS (global positioning systems) and 3D models.

    A rigorous protocol was followed for collecting samples. This allowed us to detect fossilised remains of seeds and charcoal.

    Subsequently, a series of analyses allowed us to reconstruct the settlement’s economy and its natural environment in prehistoric times.

    What the remains revealed

    The excavations, along with radiocarbon dating, revealed that the settlement underwent three phases of occupation between 2200 and 600 BCE.

    Dates of occupation. H Benattia

    The earliest documented remains (2200–2000 BCE) are scarce. They consist of three undecorated pottery sherds, a flint flake and a cow bone.

    The scarcity of materials and contexts could be due to erosion or a temporary occupation of the hill during this phase.

    Ceramics of KK2 phase. P Menéndez Molist/H Benattia

    In its second phase, after a period of abandonment, the Kach Kouch hill was permanently occupied from 1300 BCE. Its inhabitants, who probably numbered no more than a hundred, dedicated themselves to agriculture and animal husbandry.

    They lived in circular dwellings built from wattle and daub, a technique that combines wooden poles, reeds and mud. They dug silos into the rock to store agricultural products.

    Oldest bronze object. M Radi

    Analysis shows that they cultivated wheat, barley and legumes, and raised cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.

    They also used grinding stones for cereal processing, flint tools, and decorated pottery. In addition, the oldest known bronze object in north Africa (excluding Egypt) has been documented. It is probably a scrap metal fragment removed after casting in a mould.

    Interactions with the Phoenicians

    Between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, during the so-called Mauretanian period, the inhabitants of Kach Kouch maintained the same material culture, architecture and economy as in the previous phase. However, interactions with Phoenician communities that were starting to settle in nearby sites, such as Lixus, brought new cultural practices.

    Remains of a square house built from stone, wattle and daub. H Benattia

    For example, circular dwellings coexisted with square ones made of stone and wattle and daub, combining Phoenician and local construction techniques.

    Dwellings in Kach Kouch. H Benattia

    Furthermore, new crops began to be cultivated, like grapes and olives. Among the new materials, wheel-made Phoenician ceramics, such as amphorae (storage jugs) and plates, and the use of iron objects stand out.

    Around 600 BCE, Kach Kouch was peacefully abandoned, perhaps due to social and economic changes. Its inhabitants likely moved to other nearby settlements.

    So who were the Bronze Age inhabitants?

    It’s unclear whether the Maghreb populations in the Bronze Age lived in tribes, as would later occur during the Mauretanian period. They were probably organised as families. Burials suggest there were no clear signs of hierarchy.

    Amphorae and plates. P Menéndez Molist/H Benattia

    They may have spoken a language similar to the Amazigh, the indigenous north African language, which did not become written until the introduction of the Phoenician alphabet. The cultural continuity documented at Kach Kouch suggests that these populations are the direct ancestors of the Mauretanian peoples of north-west Africa.

    Why this matters

    Kach Kouch is not only the first and oldest known Bronze Age settlement in the Maghreb but also reshapes our understanding of prehistory in this region.

    The new findings, along with other recent discoveries, demonstrate that north-west Africa has been connected to other regions of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Sahara since prehistoric times.

    Read more: Discovery of 5,000-year-old farming society in Morocco fills a major gap in history – north-west Africa was a central player in trade and culture

    Our findings challenge traditional narratives, many of which were influenced by colonial views that portrayed the Maghreb as an empty and isolated land until it was “civilized” by foreign peoples.

    Phases of occupation at Kach Kouch. H Benattia

    As a result, the Maghreb has long been absent from debates on the later prehistory of the Mediterranean. These new discoveries not only represent a breakthrough for archaeology, but also a call to reconsider dominant historical narratives. Kach Kouch offers the opportunity to rewrite north Africa’s history and give it the visibility it has always deserved.

    Read more: Ancient DNA reveals Maghreb communities preserved their culture and genes, even in a time of human migration

    We believe this is a decisive moment for research that could forever change the way we understand not only the history of north Africa, but also its relationship with other areas of the Mediterranean.

    – Discovery of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement in Morocco rewrites history
    – https://theconversation.com/discovery-of-a-4-000-year-old-bronze-age-settlement-in-morocco-rewrites-history-253172

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Official Launch of The Airport Economist – Taiwan Episode:The CPTPP is Stronger with Taiwan

    Source: Republic of China Taiwan

    Our heartfelt thanks to our good friends from the NSW Parliament, including one of today’s co-hosts, Hon. Jacqui Munro MLC, Hon. Mark Latham MLC, Hon. Scott Farlow MLC, Tim James MP, Jordan Lane MP, Geoff Provest MP, and Richie Williamson MP. We are also grateful to have Australia-Taiwan Business Council Chairman John Toigo, members of the Consular Corps, academia and media representatives, as well as Taiwanese community leaders with us. Thank you for making the launch event at the NSW Parliament a great success!
    Hon. Jacqui Munro expressed her great honor in co-hosting this event at the Parliament, emphasizing that Taiwan’s deeply rooted and solid democratic system serves as a model for democratic countries. She also highlighted Taiwan as an important trade partner for both Australia and New South Wales, stressing that Taiwan’s participation in the CPTPP would be beneficial for both Taiwan and Australia.
    Director General David Cheng-Wei Wu recalled the opportunity to meet Professor Tim Harcourt, Chief Economist of UTS, and discuss the idea of filming the CPTPP episode in Taiwan. He also expressed special gratitude to the New South Wales Parliament for passing motions condemning China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758, opposing foreign interference, and supporting Taiwan’s international participation and democracy. He reiterated that Taiwan not only meets the high standards of the CPTPP but also demonstrates a strong determination to integrate into regional economic cooperation. With Taiwan’s participation, the CPTPP will be even stronger.
    Ambassador Douglas Yu-Tien Hsu of Taiwan in Australia, who is graceful and poised, traveled from Canberra to Sydney to attend the event. He emphasized that Taiwan and Australia’s economic and industrial structures are highly complementary. Taiwan’s accession to the CPTPP would establish it as a stable and open economic partner in the Indo-Pacific region, greatly benefiting Australia and regional economic growth.
    Professor Tim Harcourt presented The Airport Economist program and shared insights into the process of creating this episode in Taiwan. He also analyzed Taiwan’s economic and trade development and its competitive strengths, emphasizing that Taiwan’s inclusion in the CPTPP would significantly enhance regional economic and trade integration. In a conversation with John Toigo, Chairman of the Australia-Taiwan Business Council, they discussed Taiwan-Australia economic and trade cooperation over the past decades and their outlook for future relations. Both affirmed that Taiwan meets the high standards required for CPTPP membership and expressed their intention to continue advocating for Taiwan’s inclusion to the Australian government.
    Other attending state MPs also expressed their support, noting that despite ongoing legislative sessions in both houses, they were determined to be present. They emphasized that cooperation between countries with shared values is crucial and that, as a major player in technology and the economy, Taiwan should be included in the CPTPP to benefit all member countries.
    As a major economy and a hub for digital technology innovation, Taiwan can make significant contributions to regional economic integration frameworks such as the CPTPP. We encourage Australia and the international community to recognize Taiwan’s trade commitments and support its inclusion.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: World-renowned museum and institution representatives share expertise at Museum Summit 2025 (with photos)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         In partnership with The Guimet – National Museum of Asian Arts (France), the Leisure and Cultural Services Department commenced the Museum Summit 2025 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre today (March 28). Themed “Going Beyond”, the two-day Summit has brought together over 30 leading figures and professionals from world-renowned museums and institutions in 17 countries to exchange and share their professional experiences, research findings and innovative concepts. Five countries including Egypt, Hungary, Norway, Qatar and Türkiye, are new participants this year.
         
         The Museum Summit this year is its fourth edition since the inaugural one in 2017. Officiating at the opening ceremony, the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, highlighted that the Summit had established itself not only as a highly acclaimed international event in the museum world, but also an iconic mega event in the city’s vibrant cultural calendar.
     
         Mr Cheuk said that the Summit had recorded a total registration of over 7 000 participants, with about one-third from the Mainland and overseas, and two delegations comprising over 40 museum experts from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Museum Alliance and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). This stellar mix is a strong testament to the increasing importance of the Summit and Hong Kong’s position as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.
         
         The President of The Guimet – National Museum of Asian Arts (France), Dr Yannick Lintz, also delivered an opening address at the Summit.
     
         The Summit features four thematic sessions, namely “Museums + Tourism”, “Museums + Technology”, “Museums + Sustainability”, and “Museums + Wellness”. The discussions will encompass how museums could leverage the advantages brought by the tourism industry and technological advances to promote sustainable development as well as mental and physical well-being.

         For details of the Museum Summit 2025, please visit www.museumsummit.gov.hk.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –