NewzIntel.com

Category: Middle East

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Membership Updates for March 2025

    Source: International Association of Drilling Contractors – IADC

    Headline: Membership Updates for March 2025

    IADC welcomes 21 new Members:

    • APEX WELLS B.V. – Velp, The Netherlands
    • JFETC UK – Westhill, Aberdeenshire, UK 
    • LAST MILE ENERGY, INC – Odessa, Texas, US
    • NANCE UNIVERSAL HVACR TECHNICAL SCHOOL INC – Beaumont, Texas, US 
    • RED FORT PPE INDUSTRIES PVT LTD – Mumbai, India 
    • SEATAG AUSTRALASIAN SERVICES PTE LTD – Singapore, Singapore
    • SMARTCHAIN – Houston, Texas, US 
    • WELL GUIDANCE B.V. – Obdam, North Holland, The Netherlands
    • CRESTON ENERGY GROUP – Bryan, Texas, US
    • INGERSOLL RAND – Davidson, North Carolina, US
    • NANCE INTERNATIONAL INC – Beaumont, Texas, US
    • SURVIVAL SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST LLC – Dubai, UAE 
    • ZELIM LTD – Edinburgh, UK
    • GRACIANO RODRIGUEZ – Madrid, Spain
    • ALAQ AL- EZDEHAR CO. – Basra, Basra, Iraq 
    • ASET – ABERDEEN SKILLS AND ENTERPRISE TRAINING LTD – Altens, Aberdeen, UK
    • PT NEOTEK INOVASI GLOBAL – BSD City, Indonesia 
    • SEED BUSINESS GROUP LTDA – Macae, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
    • LIBYAN GROUP FOR OIL AND ENERGY SERVICES LLC – Tripoli, Libya 
    • SEQ DRILLING INC – Hanover, Virginia, US
    • CONSTRUCCIONES Y PROYECTOS DEL NORTE C.A – Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Academic freedom and democracy under siege: how a Nobel peace prize could help defend them

    Source: The Conversation – France – By Stéphanie Balme, Director, CERI (Centre de recherches internationales), Sciences Po

    A rally for science drew a big crowd during the American Geophysical Union’s meeting in San Francisco. MarcioJoseSanchez/AP, CC BY

    March 7 has been recognized as the “Day of the Stand Up for Science Movement”, launched in 2017 in response to the anti-science actions of the first Trump administration. Under the second, attacks on scientists and scientific inquiry have escalated into a systematic assault–tantamount to a coup d’Etat against science itself.

    While Donald Trump is often portrayed as erratic, his policies in this area have followed a consistent trajectory. His new administration has once again declared ‘war’ on evidence-based national policymaking and science diplomacy in foreign affairs as evidenced by several early actions. Immediately after taking office, Donald Trump issued executive orders freezing or canceling tens of billions in research funding. All National Science Foundation projects have been halted pending review, while the National Institutes of Health faces suspensions under Health and Human Services directives. The US has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization, alongside a sweeping review of 90% of USAID-funded projects, signaling a major retreat from climate and global health diplomacy. Federal agencies and universities are in turmoil, leaving thousands of research-professors in limbo amid a politically driven funding freeze. The 2025 March simply calls for the restoration of federal research funding and an end to government censorship and political interference in science.

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    The US is the world’s undisputed scientific superpower–for now

    While the Trump administration is not the sole force undermining academia worldwide, its actions are particularly striking coming from the world’s leading scientific superpower. Moreover, the situation is especially concerning because developments in the United States often have a ripple effect, shaping policies in other regions in the years that follow.

    Neither of the world’s top two scientific superpowers–Washington and Beijing–is positioned to champion academic freedom. China, having failed a liberal constitutional tradition and academic independence since the 1920s, restricts academic freedom to the confines of one-party rule. Caught between these rival scientific giants–both partners and competitors–the “old” Europe and like-minded coutries remain the only actors capable of setting new standards for academic freedom.

    A Nobel prize for academic freedom

    A decisive step toward its legal protection would be formal recognition by the Nobel Committees for Peace and Science of academic freedom’s fundamental role–both in ensuring scientific excellence and as a pillar of free, democratic societies.

    For the past decade, the Scholars at Risk association (SAR) has documented a broader global decline in academic freedom in its annual Free to Think Report. The 2024 edition highlights particularly alarming situations in 18 countries and territories (including the United States), which recorded 391 attacks on scholars, students, or institutions across 51 regions in a year. Data from the Academic Freedom Index in Berlin confirm that more than half of the world’s population lives in regions where academic freedom is either entirely or severely restricted. Some of the most concerning conditions are in emerging scientific ecosystems such as Turkey, Brazil, Egypt, South Africa, or Saudi Arabia. The overall trend is deteriorating: only 10 out of 179 countries have improved, while many democratic regimes are increasingly affected.

    Academic freedom in the European Union remains relatively high compared to the rest of the world. However, nine EU member states fall below the regional average, and in eight of them, it has declined over the past decade–signaling a gradual erosion of this fundamental value. Hungary ranks the lowest among EU countries, placing in the bottom 20–30% worldwide. Recent laws have further weakened university autonomy across the EU: financial autonomy in Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Slovakia; organizational autonomy in Slovenia, Estonia, and Denmark; staffing autonomy in Croatia and Slovakia; and academic autonomy in Denmark and Estonia. Moreover, the European Parliament’s first report on academic freedom (2023) highlights emerging threats in France–political, educational, and societal–that impact the freedom of research, teaching, and study.

    Academic freedom, a professional right granted to a few for the benefit of all

    Freedom of expression, a fundamental pillar of academic freedom, has long been established as a human right, overcoming centuries of censorship and authoritarian control. In contrast, academic freedom is a more recent principle, granting scholars–recognized by their peers–the right and responsibility to research and teach freely in pursuit of knowledge. Like press freedom for journalists, it is a right granted to a few for the benefit of all.

    Rooted in medieval Europe, academic freedom has evolved from a privilege granted to students in the Quartier Latin to a recognized principle in international rights frameworks. It gained a collective and concrete dimension in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with the rise of the modern university. Wilhelm von Humboldt, founder of the modern public university in Berlin (1810), articulated the concept of ‘freedom of science’ (Wissenschaftsfreiheit), later enshrined in the Weimar Constitution of 1919, which declared that “art, science, and education are free.” The rise of American universities around the same time reshaped the concept, giving rise to “professional academic freedom.” This was formalized in the American Association of University Professors’ 1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, which affirmed the scholar’s primary duty to seek and establish truth. Though its roots lie in Germany, academic freedom ultimately became a cornerstone of American academic discourse.

    In the United States, academic freedom draws from multiple sources, with its protection varying by state laws, customs, institutional practices, and the status of higher education institutions. However, U.S. Supreme Court rulings have gradually reinforced its constitutional foundation, particularly after the McCarthy era, by invoking the First Amendment. Landmark cases such as Adler v. Board of Education (1952), Wieman v. Updegraff (1952), and Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957) helped establish a constitutional doctrine on academic freedom. Finally, Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967) extended First Amendment protections to academia, ruling that mandatory loyalty oaths violated both academic freedom and freedom of association.

    Interestingly, the American interpretation of academic freedom is currently more restrictive than the German model in certain respects. Article 5(3) of the 1989 Basic Law affirms the “right to adopt public organizational measures essential to protect a space of freedom, fostering independent scientific activity”. In contrast, the U.S. places greater emphasis on prohibitions and prioritizing individual rights over institutional autonomy.

    The ‘right to be wrong’

    Despite local variations, academic freedom is fundamentally tied to a shared vision of the university that upholds freedom of thought, with rationality and pluralism at its core. It includes the genuine “right to be wrong”–the understanding that a scientific opinion may be incorrect or even proven so does not diminish its protection. This stands in stark contrast to the anti-science, scientistic, or techno-nationalist approach, which views knowledge as a tool of power to serve a predetermined truth and objective of dominance. Authoritarian science, driven by power interests, seeks to diminish critical humanities and social sciences while elevating religion. It tends to reject interdisciplinary work, is exclusively mathematized, and is oriented toward a centralized yet deregulated autocratic tech-utopian state model.

    Since 1945, we have operated under the illusion that academic freedom is an indispensable condition for scientific excellence. However, we have recently learned that no systematic link exists between academic freedom and breakthrough scientific innovation in our era of new technologies. Given these circumstances, this proposal advocates for a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, for the first time in its history, in recognition of academic freedom.

    The Nobel Prize Committees for Science and Peace share the responsibility of using their prestigious platforms to uphold fundamental scientific and democratic values. They are uniquely positioned to champion humanist science, reinforcing its importance for scholars, students, and civil societies worldwide. Since the 1950s, around 90% of Nobel Prize laureates in scientific fields have either been US citizens or have studied and worked at Ivy League research institutions.

    While some US scientists are contesting actions of the Trump administration in court, academics worldwide should stand in solidarity with their American colleagues in resisting the erosion of science. To strengthen their efforts, they require the support of the Nobel Prize Committees.

    Stéphanie Balme ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

    – ref. Academic freedom and democracy under siege: how a Nobel peace prize could help defend them – https://theconversation.com/academic-freedom-and-democracy-under-siege-how-a-nobel-peace-prize-could-help-defend-them-251494

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Bringing art into classrooms can benefit students who are learning to speak English

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Chenkai Chi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Educational Studies, University of Windsor

    For students who are learning to speak English, art can empower a shift of focus away from rote memorization to creative and meaningful inquiry (Shutterstock)

    Most English-language learning classrooms use conventional teaching methods that focus on grammar drills, vocabulary memorization, reading comprehension and structured writing tasks — all with the emphasis on language accuracy. Unfortunately, these teaching methods don’t address newcomers’ needs or build on their strengths.

    This manner of teaching also fails to acknowledge students’ diverse experiences, skills and talents — including their knowledge of other languages. These experiences and skills can be important resources in their learning.

    Our recent study suggests there’s a better way of teaching and learning English. We found that English-language learners developed confidence, a sense of belonging and deeper language skills when the arts were incorporated into teaching and learning practices.

    To develop a new way of teaching English using the arts, we used the arts-integrated Parallaxic Praxis model. This is a research framework that celebrates and values diverse perspectives. The model was developed by Pauline Sameshima, one of the authors of this story, and her colleagues.

    Creative inquiry

    According to the Parallaxic Praxis model, engaging with different modes of creative communication — such as photography and drawing — can empower students to shift their focus from rote memorization to creative and meaningful inquiry. This helps students connect their personal experiences with language learning.

    The model has three phases for learning: The data collection phase, the analysis phase (where what a person has learned is transformed into something new — such as making a painting from a text description) and the rendering phase (where knowledge is produced). The model celebrates and values diverse perspectives, ensuring that the unique experiences of English-language learners are valued and acknowledged.

    In our study, adult English-language learners in southwestern Ontario were encouraged to connect with their community through photography — recording meaningful moments and writing descriptions that explained the personal significance of each image.

    The photographs served as data. Written reflections served as translations and analysis of the data. The photos and analyses they created (their renderings) served to produce new knowledge.

    The use of photographs

    For instance, Ning (pseudonym), a graduate student from China who participated in the study, faced a significant decision: to either stay in Canada or to return home.

    Rather than writing a standard essay, she instead photographed an intersection of roads — using the image as a metaphor for her uncertainty and being at a crossroad in her life. Ning said the arts integrated activity helped “express my feelings in English, making the language more personal and meaningful.”

    A different student, Jack (pseudonym) from Saudi Arabia, photographed houses on a quiet, snowy street. The buildings were connected with each other — but the people inside were noted to be isolated from one another. Reflecting on this, Jack wrote: “Though the houses are connected; the people inside are not connected. If people do not help each other, that will be a disaster.”

    Jack said that art made him more willing to communicate in English, stating: “Art is a powerful tool that helps us express many things. I feel more comfortable sharing in English when engaging in artistic activities.” This exercise helped him express complicated emotions in English while strengthening his critical thinking and narrative skills.

    Both Ning’s and Jack’s experiences highlight one underlying premise: that making and analyzing art helps students learn English on a more personal and emotional level than traditional approaches do.

    Challenging conventional learning approaches

    Using the Parallaxic Praxis model is more than an alternative approach in teaching English. It’s a challenge to conventional thinking and the way language education is understood.

    Many English-language learning programs are still mired in a deficit model that positions non-English-speaking students as outsiders who need to quickly “catch up”. Language learning should be an empowering process — not one where students are overly concerned with correcting small technicalities.

    Most English-language learning programs focus on memorization and correcting technicalities.
    (Shutterstock)

    Instead of the language-learning approach of rote memorization, this arts-integrated approach celebrates how all students bring their diverse perspectives and cultural and linguistic knowledge to the classroom. The Parallaxic Praxis model allows for different modes of creative expression to be used in the process of language learning — such as visual storytelling and creative writing.

    This concept echoes the idea of West-East Reciprocal Learning, the mutual learning of cultures across both sides, rather than a unilateral assimilation process, where the dominant culture often expects the other to conform. Teaching within a reciprocal learning paradigm emphasizes strengths, rather than weaknesses — and teachers view students as contributors with valuable personal experiences to offer and learn from.

    The arts-integrated Parallaxic Praxis model welcomes students to be their full selves, while becoming adept English language speakers. Other research has also shown that using arts in English language learning classes can lead to higher levels of analysis and challenge students.

    There are many ways in which the arts can be incorporated into English-language classrooms, such as:

    1. Using artistic activities: Rather than doing more grammar drills, ask students to take photos and write about their photos.
    2. Encourage many types of creativity: Students can translate their knowledge into English using stories, poems, scripts or narratives from illustrations.
    3. Foster collaboration: Create group storytelling projects, peer feedback sessions and digital showcases for student work.
    4. Focus on strengths, not deficits: Value students’ diverse cultural backgrounds, skills and talents — alongside their multilingual skills. These are all important resources to their learning, rather than barriers. Encourage students to use other languages they already know together with English in order to better express themselves — a strategy known as translanguaging.
    5. Make learning real-world and personal: Give students reflective projects, such as writing letters to their future selves.

    Language is not simply literal words and rigid rules. Recognizing how words facilitate culture, meaning, identity and human connection can deepen learning engagement and experience. Incorporating the arts into English-language learning does this — and creates a collaborative learning space that’s engaging and meaningful.

    Chenkai Chi receives funding from SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship and Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

    Mehdia Hassan receives funding from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

    Pauline Sameshima has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

    – ref. Bringing art into classrooms can benefit students who are learning to speak English – https://theconversation.com/bringing-art-into-classrooms-can-benefit-students-who-are-learning-to-speak-english-247761

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: IAEA Board of Governors on the JCPoA, March 2025: E3 statement

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Speech

    IAEA Board of Governors on the JCPoA, March 2025: E3 statement

    France, Germany and the UK (E3) gave a joint statement to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors on Iran’s implementation of its nuclear commitments under the JCPoA

    Chair,

    On behalf of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, I thank Director General Grossi for his latest report on Iran’s nuclear programme.

    Once again, we commend the Agency’s professional, independent and impartial work and their objective reporting on Iran’s nuclear programme. Unfortunately, the Agency’s findings are gravely concerning. The IAEA’s latest report confirms that Iran continues to undertake activities in blatant violation of the JCPoA and that there has been no improvement in its cooperation with the IAEA. The extent of Iran’s enrichment activities is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons, and have no credible civilian justification. The IAEA is currently unable to verify that Iran’s escalating nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful. This taken together with the recent statements by high-ranking Iranian officials calling for a change in Iran’s so-called nuclear doctrine, poses a serious threat to international security, and the non-proliferation regime.

    Chair,

    In the reporting period Iran has further expanded its enriched uranium stockpile and enrichment capacity. Iran has increased its stockpile of high enriched uranium by an alarming 50% since the last reporting period. Iran now has six significant quantities of high enriched uranium, which the Agency defines as six times the approximate amount of nuclear material from which the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded. Iran’s overall stockpile of enriched uranium is now approximately 40 times the limit Iran committed to in the JCPoA.

    Iran has increased the rate of production of high enriched uranium at the underground Fordow facility by seven times compared to the previous reporting period. And overall, Iran is now producing roughly one significant quantity of highly enriched uranium every six weeks. In addition, Iran has substantially expanded its enriched uranium production capacity by installing and operating new advanced centrifuges. In the reporting period, it has begun operating 5 new cascades in Fordow and 13 cascades in Natanz. It remains particularly concerning that enrichment continues to take place at Fordow, which we recall is a former undeclared enrichment facility.

    As a result of Iran’s continued non-cooperation and lack of transparency, the DG’s latest report restates that the Agency has lost and will not be able to restore continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate.

    Iran refuses to re-designate several experienced Agency inspectors. This is a politically motivated decision which seriously affects the IAEA’s ability to conduct its verification in Iran, particularly at its enrichment facilities. We deeply regret that Iran has not accepted the designation of the four additional experienced inspectors after pledging to consider it ahead of the November 2024 Board of Governors meeting.

    The DG’s report also notes that it has been four years since Iran stopped provisionally applying its Additional Protocol, depriving the Agency of complementary access to critical sites and locations in Iran. Alongside this we remain alarmed by Iran’s repeated threats to leave the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This poses a serious threat to the non-proliferation system upon which we all rely.

    Chair,

    The E3 have consistently worked towards a diplomatic solution to address Iran’s nuclear programme. In 2022 it was Iran who twice refused a negotiated outcome and instead escalated and expanded its nuclear programme. Let us be clear: Iran has chosen to escalate its nuclear programme, far beyond the limits it committed to in the JCPoA and far beyond any credible civilian use, thereby causing a proliferation crisis.

    We therefore urgently call on Iran to change course, and:

    (i) Halt and reverse its nuclear escalation and refrain from making threats regarding nuclear weapons; (ii) Return to the limits imposed by the JCPoA, in particular those regarding enrichment levels and enriched uranium stockpiles; (iii) Implement the Iran-IAEA March 2023 Joint statement and the commitments it made regarding transparency and cooperation with the IAEA including re-applying all transparency measures that it stopped in February 2021; (iv) Allow the Agency to install surveillance and monitoring equipment where requested; (v) Re-implement and swiftly ratify the Additional Protocol; and (vi) Fully reverse its September 2023 decision to withdraw the designations of experienced inspectors.

    Chair,

    In light of the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear programme, there is an urgent need to address these concerns. The international community must remain united and firm in its determination to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The E3 will continue to work towards a diplomatic solution, and we stand ready to use all diplomatic levers to achieve this goal.

    We ask the Director General to keep the Board informed on all relevant activities and developments within Iran’s alarming nuclear programme by regular and, if deemed necessary, extraordinary reporting. We ask for this report to be made public.

    Thank you.

    Updates to this page

    Published 5 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: E3 Foreign Ministers’ statement on humanitarian access in Gaza

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Press release

    E3 Foreign Ministers’ statement on humanitarian access in Gaza

    Statement from the Foreign Ministers of the UK, France and Germany on humanitarian access in Gaza

    Joint Statement on behalf of the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and the UK (E3)

    We, the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom recall our continued support for the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

    It is vital that the ceasefire is sustained, all the hostages are released, and continued flows of humanitarian aid to Gaza are ensured. We urge all parties to engage constructively in negotiating the subsequent phases of the deal to help ensure its full implementation and a permanent end to hostilities. We welcome Egyptian, Qatari and US efforts in mediating and seeking to agree an extension to the ceasefire.

    The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic. We express our deep concern at the Government of Israel’s announcement on 2 March to halt all entry of goods and supplies into Gaza. We call on the Government of Israel to abide by its international obligations to ensure full, rapid, safe and unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza.  This includes supply of items such as medical equipment, shelter items, and water and sanitation equipment, essential to meet humanitarian and early recovery needs in Gaza, but which face restrictions under Israel’s “dual use” list. A halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza, such as that announced by the Government of Israel would risk violating International Humanitarian Law. Humanitarian aid should never be contingent on a ceasefire or used as a political tool. We reiterate that the civilians of Gaza who have suffered so much must be allowed to return to their homes and rebuild their lives.

    All hostages must be unconditionally released and Hamas must end their degrading and humiliating treatment. We reiterate our unwavering solidarity with their families and with the Israeli people in the face of the terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on 7 October 2023.

    We need all parties to uphold the ceasefire and ensure it leads to a sustainable peace, the reconstruction of Gaza, and to allow for a credible pathway towards a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace.

    Updates to this page

    Published 5 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: 4 sentenced to federal prison for cocaine conspiracy involving 89 kilograms

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    ORLANDO, Fla. – Four individuals from Central Florida were sentenced March 4 to a combined 32 years and three months in federal prison for their roles in conspiring to distribute more than 89 kilograms of cocaine in the Orlando region following a joint Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation with the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    Each previously pleaded guilty. The conspirators also forfeited $464,031 in cash seizures in the case:

    • Israel Miranda, 36, of Kissimmee, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
    • Abiezer Laboy Lozada, 36, of Orlando, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
    • Jorge Antonio Gonzalez de la Fuente, 31, of St. Cloud, was sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison.
    • Carlos Antonio Garcia Garcia, 35, of Kissimmee, was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

    According to the plea agreements, the Drug Enforcement Administration identified a group of individuals working to distribute kilogram quantities of cocaine and the proceeds of those sales during 2022. On May 1, 2023, the DEA surveilled Miranda as he distributed drugs to Laboy Lozada in a parking lot. In this and similar meetings during the conspiracy, Laboy Lozada admitted to obtaining 20-30 kilograms of cocaine from Miranda. On Oct. 4, 2023, Miranda delivered a shoe box to Gonzalez de la Fuente, who delivered it to Garcia Garcia. When law enforcement stopped Garcia Garcia’s vehicle, he was found to be carrying that same box containing a kilogram of cocaine.

    Over the course of the conspiracy, Gonzalez de la Fuente met with his conspirators two or three times a month and was involved in distribution of 15-50 kilograms of cocaine. Gonzalez de la Fuente continued to engage in drug distribution after being charged federally and was detained when this was discovered.

    On Oct. 13, 2023, Miranda delivered drug proceeds to an individual who was found to be transporting $262,257 in a brown paper bag. At the same time, Miranda texted a conspirator an image of the stacks of bills he was distributing with the message “should be 110k.” Similar enforcement actions resulted in the seizure of $51,989 from Miranda on Nov. 7, 2023, and $149,785 from Miranda on March 6, 2024. Over the course of the conspiracy, Miranda distributed drugs or drug proceeds reflecting distribution of more than 89 kilograms of cocaine.

    This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Florida Highway Patrol, ICE Orlando, U.S. Secret Service, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana E. Hill. This case was part of an OCDETF investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Leading international photographer Hrair Sarkissian to bring solo exhibition to Wolverhampton Art Gallery

    Source: City of Wolverhampton

    The solo exhibition Other Pains includes 3 bodies of work where captivating landscapes and urban scenes reflect sites of previous pain, trauma or melancholy from both the artist’s own personal history and that of others. Through extensive research Sarkissian conveys stories of conflict, displacement, loss and hope.

    By documenting sites that bear the scars of trauma as hints that remain of a life that has gone before in a landscape or previously loved place, Sarkissian draws upon personal and collective memories to reveal narratives previously untold.

    As a third generation Syrian photographer of Armenian descent, Sarkissian grew up with the inherited narrative of the 1915 Armenian genocide from which both of his grandparents were the sole survivors of their respective families.

    Sarkissian is considered one of the leading conceptual photographers of his generation. He trained at his father’s photographic studio in Damascus, Syria, which to this day informs his perspective and practice. In 2010, he completed a BFA in Photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. Sarkissian’s practice spans photography, moving image, sculpture, sound and installation, sometimes creating meditative dreamscapes; sometimes capturing landscapes which were previously places of trauma and destruction.

    A major new commission for Other Pains, Sea of Trees, is an installation of 7 large format photographs with sound, captured in Aokigahara forest, which encompasses 30 square kilometres on the northwestern flank of Mount Fuji in Japan. A sea of trees thrives on hardened lava deposited by the last major volcanic eruption over a thousand years ago. The roots of hemlock, cypress and pine trees are unable to penetrate the ground, and snake out over the surface through a blanket of moss. Evergreen, and resembling an ocean when looked at from Mount Fuji, the forest is commonly referred to as Jukai, or Sea of Trees. The porous lava rock absorbs all sound, contributing to a profound sense of solitude.

    The practice of finding solace in remote places to end life has deep roots in Japanese culture and mythology. Aokigahara forest has long been associated with this – a place where souls meet or disappear.

    Sarkissian has captured the beauty and serenity of the forest in a series of large format photographs. Printed on aluminium and ceiling mounted, surrounded by the sounds of the Aokigahara forest, the installation allows visitors to walk around each work, emulating a sense of walking through the forest.

    Included in the exhibition is a 3 channel video installation Sweet & Sour, Sarkissian travelled to his ancestral village to capture a place that was unknown and yet familiar to him. He subsequently travelled to Damascus, where he shared the footage with his father, who had also never visited his birthplace. The filmed encounter focusses on the emotional landscape of his father’s face as he watches the footage Sarkissian has captured. A third screen shows Sarkissian himself overlooking his ancestral land.

    The third part of the exhibition in 47 archival inkjet prints is called Last Scene – a series of photographs of locations in The Netherlands that were chosen by terminally ill patients to visit as their last wish. The scenes were captured on the same date and time the actual visit took place in a previous year.

    Cabinet Member for City Development, Jobs and Skills, Councillor Chris Burden, said: “Wolverhampton Art Gallery is honoured to welcome award winning photographer Hrair Sarkissian in this powerful solo exhibition, Other Pains.

    “This immersive showcase of captivating landscapes and urban scenes reveals previously untold narratives, offering a compelling and unmissable experience.”

    The project centres on the power of a well loved place to express an outlook on life in one scene that is at once melancholic and joyful. The simplicity of each landscape or scene heightens attention to an inner journey of remembering the past and envisioning a future beyond your time. The images turn into mirrors: on the one hand the viewer can try to imagine the person who looked at the scene for the last time, while at the same time it encourages personal introspection.

    Hrair Sarkissian, Other Pains, runs at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from Saturday 29 March until Sunday 22 June. Visit Wolverhampton Arts & Culture for more information.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Wearable Devices Unlocks New Market Opportunities Following an Announcement of the Development of AI-Powered Gesture Personalization Technology

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    – Advancing AI-driven interactions for extended reality (“XR”) and wearable technology markets –

    Yokneam Illit, Israel, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wearable Devices Ltd. (the “Company” or “Wearable Devices”) (Nasdaq: WLDS, WLDSW), an award-winning pioneer in artificial intelligence (“AI”)-based wearable gesture control technology, is proud to announce its next-generation gesture personalization technology that is expected to reshape human-device interactions. This breakthrough technology aims to open new commercial and licensing opportunities in the fast-growing XR, smartwatch, and AI-driven device markets.

    The Future of Personalized AI-Driven Gestures

    As AI continues to shape our digital landscape, the way we interact with technology is evolving. Traditional input methods – keyboards, touchscreens, and voice commands – are expected to give way to more natural, seamless interactions. Wearable Devices is developing an AI-powered neural wristband technology for detection of user specific micro-gestures, enabling a future of personalized controls tailored to individual users.

    While gestures such as Pinch, Pinch and Drag, and Drag are now in common use with multiple XR devices using gesture detection cameras, the use of a neural interface requires overcoming the various patterns a user may exhibit. Certain users may display neural patterns which are over the normal distribution patterns. Further, the development of new unique gestures which are personalized to a specific user may be hindered by the above obstacles.

    Through leveraging Large Motor Unit Action Potential (MUAP) Models, Wearable Devices is enhancing its ability to create a higher gesture classification experience to all users. Micro gestures, in-which the fingers only perform a minute movement, and user-defined gestures can be added to a control scheme on a device, thus enhancing the comfort of control and the ease of use on multiple devices.

    A New Era for AI-Powered Devices and XR Platforms

    Wearable Devices’ neural-based gesture personalization is being developed to revolutionize XR, smartwatches, and other AI-driven interfaces. The technology aims to enable:

    • Micro-Gesture Precision: AI refining recognition of tiny movements, such as small and fine finger swipes or pinches, ensuring reliable, real-time responsiveness.
    • Cross-Device Integration: Personalized gestures seamlessly operating across augmented reality (“AR”)/virtual reality headsets, AR glasses, smartwatches, and other AI-powered devices, creating a unified interaction experience.
    • Context-Aware Interactions: As the  large language  model gets tailored to the specific user behavior and gesture samples, the system becomes more adaptive to users’ habits of performing a gesture.

    Positioning for Growth in High-Value Markets

    Wearable Devices is targeting rapidly growing markets, including AR, virtual reality (“VR”), smartwatches, and AI-driven wearables, where personalized input solutions are increasingly in demand. By developing user-specific, AI-adaptive control interfaces, the Company aims to:

    • Enhance usability and accessibility for consumers and enterprise applications.
    • Drive adoption of neural-based interfaces in the expanding AI and XR sectors.
    • Establish licensing and commercialization opportunities for its proprietary technology.

    Collaboration and Market Expansion

    With over a decade of R&D and a growing patent portfolio, Wearable Devices is inviting AI and XR industry leaders to explore collaboration and integration opportunities.

    For more information about Wearable Devices’ AI-powered gesture control solutions under development, visit www.wearabledevices.co.il

    About Wearable Devices Ltd.

    Wearable Devices Ltd. is a pioneering growth company revolutionizing human-computer interaction through its AI-powered neural input technology for both consumer and business markets. Leveraging proprietary sensors, software, and advanced AI algorithms, the Company’s innovative products, including the Mudra Band for iOS and Mudra Link for Android, enable seamless, touch-free interaction by transforming subtle finger and wrist movements into intuitive controls. These groundbreaking solutions enhance gaming, and the rapidly expanding AR/VR/XR landscapes. The Company offers a dual-channel business model: direct-to-consumer sales and enterprise licensing. Its flagship Mudra Band integrates functional and stylish design with cutting-edge AI to empower consumers, while its enterprise solutions provide businesses with the tools to deliver immersive and interactive experiences. By setting the input standard for the XR market, Wearable Devices is redefining user experiences and driving innovation in one of the fastest-growing tech sectors. Wearable Devices’ ordinary shares and warrants trade on the Nasdaq under the symbols “WLDS” and “WLDSW,” respectively.

    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 our 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, we are using forward-looking statements when we discuss our next-generation gesture personalization technology and the development of our AI-powered neural wristband technology for detection of user specific micro-gestures, expected to enable a future of personalized controls tailored to individual users; our expectations that such technology will reshape human-device interactions, open new commercial and licensing opportunities in the fast-growing XR, smartwatch, and AI-driven device markets; the benefits and advantages of our technology compared to other solutions and technologies currently available; and our goal to enhance accessibility, usability, and engagement in AI-driven environments, drive adoption of neural-based interfaces in the expanding AI and XR sectors and establish licensing and commercialization opportunities for its proprietary technology. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release regarding our strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. 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 our control. Our 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 our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: the trading of our ordinary shares or warrants and the development of a liquid trading market; our ability to successfully market our products and services; the acceptance of our products and services by customers; our continued ability to pay operating costs and ability to meet demand for our 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; our ability to successfully develop new products and services; our success establishing and maintaining collaborative, strategic alliance agreements, licensing and supplier arrangements; our ability to comply with applicable regulations; and the other risks and uncertainties described in our annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed on March 15, 2024 and our other filings with the SEC. We undertake 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 Contact

    Michal Efraty

    IR@wearabledevices.co.il

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: USAID’s history shows decades of good work on behalf of America’s global interests, although not all its projects succeeded

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Christian Ruth, America in the World Consortium Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Florida

    Volunteers at a camp for internally displaced people in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, carry wheat flour donated by USAID in December 2021. J. Countess/Getty Images

    The Trump administration’s sudden dismantling of nearly all foreign aid, including the work carried out by the U.S. Agency for International Development, has upended the government agency’s longtime strategic role in implementing American foreign policy.

    The Trump administration said at the end of February 2025 that it is freezing 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts, leaving few projects intact. It has also recalled nearly 10,000 USAID staff from countries around the world.

    USAID is a government agency that, for more than 63 years, has led the United States’ foreign aid work on disaster recovery, poverty reduction and democratic reforms in many developing and middle-income countries.

    Reuters reported that a senior USAID official wrote in a March 2 internal memo that a yearlong pause in USAID’s work on health, food and agriculture in the world’s poorest countries would raise malaria deaths by 40%, to between 71,000 and 166,000 annually. It would also result in an increase of between 28% and 32% in tuberculosis cases, among other negative effects.

    As a historian of USAID, I know well that the agency has long faced a surprisingly high degree of scrutiny for its relatively tiny portion of the national budget.

    USAID’s budget has always been small – recently, in 2023, making up a roughly US$50 billion drop in the $6 trillion ocean of the federal budget. But USAID’s projects have had an outsized effect on the world.

    From a foreign policy standpoint, USAID’s greatest contribution to American influence abroad has always been its intangible soft-power effects. It helps to create an image of the U.S. as a positive, helpful world power worth partnering with.

    A poster for USAID in Beirut marks the U.S. donation for rebuilding lighting infrastructure near a destroyed city port in August 2023.
    Scott Peterson/Getty Images

    Responding to a Soviet threat in the 1960s

    USAID dates back to 1961, born from Cold War confrontations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

    In 1961, President John F. Kennedy merged several separate foreign aid agencies and offices – including the Mutual Security Agency, the Point Four Program and the Foreign Operations Administration – into one new agency.

    Kennedy, like other American presidents in the early years of the Cold War, fretted over the spread of communism.

    A well-known development economist, Walt Rostow, who served in Kennedy’s administration, was among the experts who argued that the Soviet Union could easily influence poor countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It was possible, Rostow argued, to help these countries grow their economies and become more modern.

    This possibility pushed Kennedy in 1961 to sign the Foreign Assistance Act, creating USAID that November.

    USAID immediately began to oversee U.S. foreign aid programs to develop farming, irrigation and dam construction projects throughout Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, taking over the existing projects of the various other aid departments that were now defunct.

    USAID was also responsible for public works projects in Cold War conflict zones, particularly Vietnam. There, USAID struggled in its efforts to build dams, improve rural agriculture techniques and construct South Vietnamese infrastructure. There were various environmental challenges working in the dense jungles, the physical threats caused by the ongoing Vietnam War and the realities of rural poverty.

    For example, USAID introduced new farming technologies to Vietnam, including modern fertilizers and tractors. This helped some farmers produce more crops, faster. But it also created disparities between wealthy and poor farmers, as modern fertilizer and other improvements were expensive. A growing number of poor farmers simply gave up and moved to nearby cities.

    Throughout the 1960s, USAID also funded the construction of hydropower water dams in Asia and Africa. This led to higher energy production in those regions, but also resulted in environmental degradation, as recklessly dammed rivers flooded forests and arable fields.

    Rostow and other development experts had unrealistically high goals for helping poor countries grow their economies. By the end of the decade, across the board, USAID beneficiary countries in Asia and Africa fell short of the economic growth expectations the U.S. set at the beginning of the 1960s.

    Still, USAID made substantial progress in developing food production and some economic growth, and improving the health of people in rural parts of countries such as India and Ghana.

    But that progress had limits and did not magically turn these economies into modern, Western-style capitalist democracies.

    With the help of a USAID grant, people lay pipework to bring water from a mountain spring to a town called Korem in Ethiopia in 1968.
    Paul Conklin/Getty Images

    Mixed results and focus

    As a result of USAID’s uneven progress in modernizing poor countries, the agency’s approach shifted in the 1970s and ‘80s.

    In the early 1970s, Congress and development experts pushed USAID away from grand, gross domestic product-focused modernization projects like dams, which they ostracized for their high costs and lack of tangible results.

    Instead, with the support of the Carter administration, USAID began to work more on meeting poor people’s basic human needs, including food, shelter and education, so they could lift themselves out of poverty.

    The agency shifted priorities once again in 1981, after President Ronald Reagan took office. His administration created programs meant to advertise American businesses and draw developing countries into the global marketplace.

    Rather than USAID giving money to a local government to build a well in a rural village, for example, the agency increasingly started contracting local or American businesses to do so. The U.S., in other words, began outsourcing its foreign aid.

    U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Stapleton Roy, right, presents Indonesia’s food and agriculture minister, A.M. Saefuddin, with food donated by USAID in Bandar Lampung, South Sumatra, in July 1998.
    Bernard Estrade/AFP via Getty Images

    USAID’s next phase

    At the end of the Cold War in 1991, the United States’ interest in spending money on helping poorer countries develop and modernize declined around the world.

    USAID shifted priorities once again.

    Without the threat of the Soviet Union, USAID’s mission throughout the 1990s became increasingly focused on new issues. These included democracy promotion in former Soviet countries in Eastern Europe. Sustainable development – a broad term that means promoting economic growth while respecting environmental concerns and long-term natural resource usage – was another focus in different regions.

    After the U.S. invaded Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s, USAID struggled to fulfill its existing international projects while also rebuilding critical infrastructure to resurrect the Iraqi and Afghani economies during wartime.

    USAID’s funding remained stagnant in the 2010s after the recession. At the time, its annual budget was roughly $25 billion.

    At the same time, China expanded its own international development program to entice governments toward its side and to tether them to the Chinese economy.

    China’s aid work in South America has expanded rapidly over the past several years, and it is now the region’s top trading partner and also a major contributor to investment, energy and infrastructure projects. China’s aid and investment work in Africa has also grown considerably over the past few decades.

    Now, with USAID’s dissolution, Chinese influence throughout poor and middle-income countries is expected to grow.

    A lasting mark

    Despite its limitations and frustrations, in my view, USAID has had an undeniable, and often massive, positive impact on the world.

    USAID’s efforts to promote American businesses and exports abroad have resulted in the creation of thousands of jobs, both domestically and abroad, in a wide variety of industries, ranging from farming to medical sciences.

    The tens of thousands of water wells and other forms of critical rural infrastructure the agency has funded, or created itself, have provided clean, safe drinking water for millions in Africa. The agency’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance has provided decades of critical disaster assistance during famines, earthquakes and hurricanes around the world.

    These humanitarian efforts cost money, however. Some Republicans, including politicians and voters, say they have found the idea of American tax dollars being sent abroad, whether during the Cold War or today, wasteful, and others have worried over how aid funds may have been [abused].

    USAID has always straddled a difficult line, as development is a messy field. But ending U.S. foreign aid will be much messier, and it could also cost millions of people who are reliant on USAID their health or lives.

    Christian Ruth receives funding from America in the World Consortium.

    – ref. USAID’s history shows decades of good work on behalf of America’s global interests, although not all its projects succeeded – https://theconversation.com/usaids-history-shows-decades-of-good-work-on-behalf-of-americas-global-interests-although-not-all-its-projects-succeeded-249337

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Gaza: Israeli aid cut threatens care for most vulnerable, warns UNICEF

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

    Peace and Security

    The unilateral halt to aid deliveries entering Gaza announced by the Israeli authorities on Sunday has left Gazans afraid of a return to violence and lifesaving healthcare services under threat, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has warned.

    The agency said that despite the huge influx of humanitarian goods into Gaza during phase one of the ceasefire which began on 19 January, it has not been enough to make up for the 15 months of war when supply convoys were frequently blocked, impeded or cancelled by the Israeli military.

    Speaking from Gaza, UNICEF’s Rosalia Bollen said that being unable to bring humanitarian relief into the enclave including vaccines and ventilators for pre-term babies “will have devastating real-life consequences” for children and their parents.

    “If we’re unable to bring that in, routine vaccination will come to a standstill”, she told UN News. “Neonatal units won’t be able to care for preterm babies, so this is a real-life consequence that we’ll be dealing with very, very soon if we’re unable to resume the aid supplies coming in.”

    The UNICEF Communication Specialist said that existing aid supplies have already been largely distributed throughout Gaza.

    “The needs are so high that we haven’t been able to stockpile goods”, she said, adding that the first phase of the ceasefire wasn’t just a pause in hostilities…it really was a lifeline for families here”.

    Nutrition gains reversed

    The aid blockade comes as the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported a slight improvement in dietary diversity during the ceasefire which humanitarians says “is now being reversed” by the aid blockade.

    Before the current conflict, acute malnutrition in Gaza was almost non-existent, but today more than 3,000 children and 1,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women have been referred for acute malnutrition treatment.

    In a more positive development, OCHA noted that February showed a slight improvement in the number of children and pregnant and breastfeeding women consuming the minimum required food groups.

    Citing assessments by nutrition partners, the UN aid office added that about eight per cent of children consumed four or more food groups and there was “a noticeable increase in the consumption of fruits, vegetables, eggs and dairy products”, indicating increased availability at local markets.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: RAID: Shadow Legends Celebrates 6th Anniversary with Supreme Galek Giveaway for New Players

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TEL AVIV, Israel, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Plarium, a global leader in developing F2P mobile and PC games with more than 500 million registered gamers worldwide, announced the sixth anniversary celebration of its acclaimed dark fantasy RPG RAID: Shadow Legends with a month-long event featuring gifts and special LiveOps, community activities, and in-game tournaments beginning today through April 2nd.

    This year’s “Festival of Creation” is held in the fictional region of Aravia, home to the High Elves Faction, and hosted by new Legendary Champion Lord Entertainer Fabian. Players will have an opportunity to summon this ghostly human through a limited time Classic Fusion event from March 10th through the 26th. To celebrate all fans of RAID, players will also receive a five-day gift chain by logging in on five non-consecutive days now through March 31st.

    “We are so proud of the passionate and engaging community that RAID has built over the last six years, as well as the equally passionate development team that works tirelessly to ensure every player has new experiences to enjoy,” said Schraga Mor, CEO of Plarium. “During a time where gamers have never had more options, we are humbled that so many gamers join the Raid universe every day as their gaming destination of choice. This celebration is for you.”

    Beyond in-game activities, players can expect exciting community events, along with a special CG animation featuring one of RAID’s original and iconic Champions, Galek, who’s been enjoying a peaceful retirement until an unexpected call to action shakes things up. As a callback to one of the game’s most storied heroes, Legendary Champion Supreme Galek will be given away to new players via an exclusive promo code.

    RAID: Shadow Legends is available to download on the App Store, Google Play, Galaxy Store, and most recently, Aptoide. It is also available on PC through the Microsoft Store, Epic Store, Steam, or the Plarium Play platform.

    About Plarium
    Plarium (www.plarium.com) is an international gaming company founded in 2009, headquartered in Israel, with over 1,300 employees across Europe. Plarium has built a global footprint for its games and a resilient business based on popular evergreen IPs. Its flagship title, RAID: Shadow Legends, is one of the top-grossing turn-based RPGs on mobile and PC. The studio also powers its success with PlariumPlay, a direct-to-consumer PC platform, and GoGame, a proprietary user acquisition and marketing platform built into its IT infrastructure.

    To learn more about Plarium, follow @PlariumGames on YouTube, @Plarium on Instagram, and Plarium on LinkedIn.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Captain Vernon’s Patient Informational Minute – Virtual Health

    Source: United States Navy (Medical)

    Captain TaRail A. Vernon, Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Hospital Sigonella, had the opportunity to discuss Virtual Health options with Lt. Cmdr. Leland Comer and RN Liz Broomfield-Smith on his monthly AFN radio show, Capt. Vernon’s Patient Informational Minute. The team spoke about the convenience of telephone and video enabled virtual health appointments, where patients can have a medical appointment with their primary care physician on health care concerns that do not include diagnostic and hands on physical exams. Patients can have a medical appointment with their provider for a wide variety of topics such as medication refills. Patients can also speak with their physician about established concerns that require specialists throughout the military healthcare network to include, Naples, Bahrain, Souda Bay and Germany. The interview concluded with the team educating patients about the convenience of virtual health, how to book appointments and the coordination of specialty health care.

    U. S. Naval hospital Sigonella is one of The Defense Health Agency’s Overseas Military Treatment Facilities (MTF). The staff are comprised of active duty service members, General Service (GS), contractors, and Local Nationals. It ensures maximum readiness by providing high-quality, safe patient and family-centered care to maximize force health protection for all beneficiaries, to included NATO and transient DoD forces in the U.S. Fifth Fleet and U.S. Sixth Fleet areas of operation.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: FARMing with Data: OpenET Launches new Tool for Farmers and Ranchers

    Source: NASA

    A NASA and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)-supported research and development team is making it easier for farmers and ranchers to manage their water resources.
    The team, called OpenET, created the Farm and Ranch Management Support (FARMS) tool, which puts timely, high-resolution water data directly in the hands of individuals and small farm operators. By making the information more accessible, the platform can better support decision-making around agricultural planning, water conservation, and water efficiency.  The OpenET team hopes this will help farmers who are working to build greater resiliency in local and regional agriculture communities. build greater resiliency in local and regional agriculture communities.
    “It’s all about finding new ways to make satellite data easier to access and use for as many people as possible,” said Forrest Melton, the OpenET project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. “The goal is to empower users with actionable, science-based data to support decisions about water management across the West.”

    Forrest melton
    OpenET Project Scientist

    The OpenET data explorer tool centers on providing evapotranspiration data. Evapotranspiration (ET) refers to the amount of water leaving Earth’s surface and returning to the atmosphere through evaporation (from soil and surface water) and transpiration (water vapor released by crops and other plants). Evapotranspiration is an important factor in agriculture, water resource management, irrigation planning, drought monitoring, and fire risk evaluation.
    The FARMS resource is the third phase of OpenET’s Data Explorer tool, launched in 2021, which uses satellite data to quantify evapotranspiration across the western U.S.
    It starts with using Landsat data to measure patterns in land surface temperature and key indicators of vegetation conditions. The satellite data is combined with agricultural data, such as field boundaries, and weather data, such as air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, and precipitation. All of these factors feed into a model, which calculates the final evapotranspiration data.
    The new FARMS interface was designed to make that data easier to access, with features that meet specific needs identified by users.
    “This amount of data can be complicated to use, so user input helped us shape FARMS,” said Jordan Harding, app developer and interface design leader from HabitatSeven. “It provides a mobile-friendly, map-based web interface designed to make it easy as possible to get automated, regular reports.”

    “The FARMS tool is designed to help farmers optimize irrigation timing and amounts, simplify planning for the upcoming irrigation season, and automate ET and water use reporting,” said Sara Larsen, CEO of OpenET. “All of this reduces waste, lowers costs, and informs crop planning.”
    Although FARMS is geared towards agriculture, the tool has value for other audiences in the western U.S. Land managers who evaluate the impacts of wildfire can use it to evaluate burn scars and changes to local hydrology. Similarly, resource managers can track evapotranspiration changes over time to evaluate the effectiveness of different forest management plans.

    To develop FARMS, the OpenET team held listening sessions with farmers, ranchers, and resource managers. One requested function was support for field-to-field comparisons; a feature for planning irrigation needs and identifying problem areas, like where pests or weeds may be impacting crop yields.
    The tool includes numerous options for drawing or selecting field boundaries, generating custom reports based on selected models and variables, and  automatically re-running reports at daily or monthly intervals.
    The fine spatial resolution and long OpenET data record behind FARMS make these features more effective. Many existing global ET data products have a pixel size of over half a mile, which is too big to be practical for most farmers and ranchers. The FARMS interface provides insights at the scale of a quarter-acre per pixel, which offers multiple data points within an individual field.
    “If I had told my father about this 15 years ago, he would have called me crazy,” said Dwane Roth, a fourth-generation farmer in Kansas. “Thanks to OpenET, I can now monitor water loss from my crops in real-time. By combining it with data from our soil moisture probes, this tool is enabling us to produce more food with less water. It’s revolutionizing agriculture.”

    For those like sixth-generation California pear farmer Brett Baker, the 25-year span of ET data is part of what makes the tool so valuable. “My family has been farming the same crop on the same piece of ground for over 150 years,” Baker said. “Using FARMS gives us the ability to review historical trends and changes to understand what worked and what didn’t year to year: maybe I need to apply more fertilizer to that field, or better weed control to another. Farmers know their land, and FARMS provides a new tool that will allow us to make better use of land and resources.”
    According to Roth, the best feature of the tool is intangible.  “Being a farmer is stressful,” Roth said. “OpenET is beneficial for the farm and the agronomic decisions, but I think the best thing it gives me is peace of mind.”

    Dwane Roth
    Fourth-Generation Kansas Grain Farmer

    Over the coming months, the OpenET team plans to present the new tool at agricultural conferences and conventions in order to gather feedback from as many users as possible. “We know that there is already a demand for a seven-day forecast of ET, and I’m sure there will be requests about the interface itself,” said OpenET senior software engineer Will Carrara. “We’re definitely looking to the community to help us further refine that platform.”
    “I think there are many applications we haven’t even thought of yet,” Baker added. “The FARMS interface isn’t just a tool; it’s an entirely new toolbox itself. I’m excited to see what people do with it.”

    FARMS was developed through a public-private collaboration led by NASA, USGS, USDA, the non-profit OpenET, Inc., Desert Research Institute, Environmental Defense Fund, Google Earth Engine, HabitatSeven, California State University Monterey Bay, Chapman University, Cornell University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, UC Berkeley and other universities, with input from more than 100 stakeholders.

    For resources/tutorials on how to use FARMS, please visit: https://openet.gitbook.io/docs/additional-resources/farms

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Gilat Receives $6 Million Defense Contract to Provide Military Communications Solutions in Asia-Pacific

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PETAH TIKVA, Israel, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT, TASE: GILT), a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, today announced its Defense Division secured an order valued at $6 million to provide the SkyEdge II-c platform to a military organization in the Asia-Pacific region. The advanced satellite communications solution will support both fixed and mobility sites, ensuring secure and reliable connectivity for critical defense operations with enhanced air interface cyber security. Delivery is expected over the next 3 months.

    Gilat’s SkyEdge II-c platform is designed to meet the demanding requirements of military communications, providing high resilience, efficiency, and robust security for mission-critical applications. This contract underscores the confidence in Gilat’s field-proven technology and the company’s long-standing expertise in delivering advanced satellite solutions for defense organizations worldwide.

    “We continue expanding our operations in the defense market both in and out of the US and are proud to support the growing needs of military forces in the Asia-Pacific region with our state-of-the-art satellite communications technology,” said Gilad Landsberg, President of Gilat Defense. “This contract reaffirms our position as a trusted provider of secure and resilient SATCOM solutions, enabling seamless operations across diverse and challenging environments.”

    About Gilat

    Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT, TASE: GILT) is a leading global provider of satellite-based broadband communications. With over 35 years of experience, we develop and deliver deep technology solutions for satellite, ground, and new space connectivity, offering next-generation solutions and services for critical connectivity across commercial and defense applications. We believe in the right of all people to be connected and are united in our resolution to provide communication solutions to all reaches of the world.

    Together with our wholly owned subsidiaries—Gilat Wavestream, Gilat DataPath, and Gilat Stellar Blu—we offer integrated, high-value solutions supporting multi-orbit constellations, Very High Throughput Satellites (VHTS), and Software-Defined Satellites (SDS) via our Commercial and Defense Divisions. Our comprehensive portfolio is comprised of a cloud-based platform and modems; high-performance satellite terminals; advanced Satellite On-the-Move (SOTM) antennas and ESAs; highly efficient, high-power Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPA) and Block Upconverters (BUC) and includes integrated ground systems for commercial and defense markets, field services, network management software, and cybersecurity services.

    Gilat’s products and tailored solutions support multiple applications including government and defense, IFC and mobility, broadband access, cellular backhaul, enterprise, aerospace, broadcast, and critical infrastructure clients all while meeting the most stringent service level requirements. For more information, please visit: http://www.gilat.com

    Certain statements made herein that are not historical are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words “estimate”, “project”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Gilat to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, inability to maintain market acceptance to Gilat’s products, inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications, rapid changes in the market for Gilat’s products, loss of market share and pressure on prices resulting from competition, introduction of competing products by other companies, inability to manage growth and expansion, loss of key OEM partners, inability to attract and retain qualified personnel, inability to protect the Company’s proprietary technology and risks associated with Gilat’s international operations and its location in Israel, including those related to the terrorist attacks by Hamas, and the hostilities between Israel and Hamas and Israel and Hezbollah. For additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties associated with Gilat’s business, reference is made to Gilat’s reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.

    Contact:

    Gilat Satellite Networks

    Hagay Katz, Chief Product and Marketing Officer

    hagayk@gilat.com

    Alliance Advisors:

    GilatIR@allianceadvisors.com
    Phone: +1 212 838 3777

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Lebanon: Israeli attacks on health facilities, ambulances and paramedics must be investigated as war crimes

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The Israeli military’s repeated unlawful attacks during the war in Lebanon on health facilities, ambulances and health workers, which are protected under international law, must be investigated as war crimes, Amnesty International said today.

    The Lebanese government should provide the International Criminal Court (ICC) the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes within the Rome Statute committed on Lebanese territory, and ensure victims’ right to remedy, including by calling on Israel to provide reparation for serious violations of international humanitarian law.

    In findings released today, Amnesty International presents the results of its investigations into four Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities and vehicles in Beirut and in south Lebanon between 3 and 9 October 2024, which killed 19 healthcare workers, wounded 11 more, and damaged or destroyed multiple ambulances and two medical facilities in a one-week period in October 2024.

    During the war in Lebanon in 2024, the Israeli military repeatedly attacked health facilities and medical vehicles. The Israeli military has not provided sufficient justifications, or specific evidence of military targets being present at the strike locations, to account for these repeated attacks, which weakened a fragile healthcare system and put lives at risk.

    “Israel’s unlawful attacks on medical facilities and personnel are not only serious violations of international humanitarian law and likely war crimes but also have devastating consequences for civilians more broadly. We call for the government of Lebanon, with the support of the international community, to step up and act to ensure that suspected perpetrators of war crimes can be held accountable. The new Lebanese government must grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over all Rome Statue crimes committed on or perpetrated from its territory,” said Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas.

    “Israel’s unlawful attacks on medical facilities and personnel are not only serious violations of international humanitarian law and likely war crimes but also have devastating consequences for civilians more broadly” – Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns

    Lebanon must urgently accede to the Rome Statute of the ICC and make a declaration granting the Court jurisdiction from 2002. In the interim, Lebanon should make an ad hoc declaration accepting the exercise of the ICC’s jurisdiction with respect to all Rome Statute crimes committed on or perpetrated from Lebanese territory.

    The Israeli military repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using ambulances to transport fighters and weapons, and of using medical centres affiliated with the Islamic Health Association (IHA) as a “cover for terrorist activities”. In the four attacks investigated, however, Amnesty International did not find evidence that the facilities or vehicles were being used for military purposes at the time of the attacks.

    “When a health system is attacked, civilians suffer. Even when hospitals are thought to be used for military purposes and lose their protected status under international law, they can only be attacked after a warning that gives sufficient time for the evacuation of patients and staff goes unheeded. An attacking party remains at all times bound by the principle of proportionality, weighing the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from an attack against the expected harm to civilians and civilian objects, including the reverberating humanitarian consequences resulting from the attack,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.

    Amnesty International interviewed 17 people, including medical workers, witnesses to the attacks, local officials, and family members of the victims. Researchers also visited the site of the attack on the IHA’s centre in Bachoura, Beirut. In addition, Amnesty International verified 46 photographs and videos from the attacks shared directly with the organization or published in the media and on social media. Amnesty International wrote to the Israeli military with its findings on 11 November 2024 but had not received a response by the time of publication.

    Medical personnel, hospitals, and other medical facilities are protected under international humanitarian law.  According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), people who have exclusively non-combat functions in armed groups or are merely members of or affiliated with political entities with an armed component, such as Hezbollah, may not be targeted unless and for such time that they are directly participating in hostilities. Medical personnel affiliated with Hezbollah, including those assigned to civil defence organizations, exclusively assigned to medical or humanitarian duties are protected from attack.

    A ceasefire was announced in Lebanon in late November 2024. In early 2025, healthcare workers impacted by the four Israeli attacks said they were doing their best to provide care while still grappling with damaged or destroyed facilities and vehicles and the loss of their colleagues. One civil defence team member, whose centre was destroyed in an Israeli attack, said the team was now working from a local villager’s home, which he said they had “offered to us, on temporary basis… until we find and move to a new locale.”

    “It is crucial that all attacks against medical staff and facilities are investigated to ensure that perpetrators are punished, victims receive reparations, and these crimes are never repeated” – Erika Guevara Rosas

    “It is crucial that all attacks against medical staff and facilities are investigated to ensure that perpetrators are punished, victims receive reparations, and these crimes are never repeated. A ceasefire is only the first step to ending and preventing harm. To move forward, victims of serious violations by all parties must see justice and receive redress,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.

    Before Israel launched its operation Northern Arrows on 23 September 2024, Amnesty International had verified over 80 photos and videos from 11 attacks that hit medical crews and facilities in Lebanon between 8 October 2023 and 24 June 2024.

    According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, between October 2023 and November 2024 the Israeli military attacked 67 hospitals, 56 primary health care centres, and 238 emergency medical teams, killing at least 222 medical and emergency relief workers.

    According to the World Health Organization, as of 21 November 2024, “47% of the attacks on health care – 65 out of 137 – have proven fatal to at least one health worker or patient in Lebanon”.

    The Lebanese healthcare sector was already straining due to multiple, ongoing and compounding crises, including a massive economic crisis that spiralled in late 2019, followed by the Beirut Port explosion in 2020, while the country tried to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

    On 27 November, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 60-day ceasefire deal. Within days, numerous violations of the ceasefire deal were reported. On 27 January, the ceasefire got extended for another few weeks. Israel later announced it intended to remain in a number of positions in Lebanon’s territory.

    Amnesty International has also documented evidence of unlawful airstrikes that killed and injured civilians. In a briefing published in December 2024, Amnesty International documented four air strikes by Israeli forces across Lebanon which killed at least 49 civilians and killed entire families and that must be investigated as war crimes. 

    During the war, Hezbollah repeatedly fired unguided rocket salvos into northern Israel, including carrying out attacks that killed and injured civilians. In some cases, they insisted they were aiming at military targets, but in others said they were attacking the civilian city or town generally.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Lebanon: Israeli attacks on health facilities, ambulances and paramedics must be investigated as war crimes – new investigation

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Four attacks on healthcare facilities and vehicles which killed 19 healthcare workers investigated

    Israeli military has not provided sufficient justifications or specific evidence of military targets being present at the strike locations

    Lebanon must urgently provide the ICC the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes within the Rome Statute

    ‘It is crucial that all attacks against medical staff and facilities are investigated to ensure that perpetrators are punished, victims receive reparations, and these crimes are never repeated’ – Erika Guevara Rosas

    The Israeli military’s repeated unlawful attacks during the war in Lebanon on health facilities, ambulances and health workers, which are protected under international law, must be investigated as war crimes, Amnesty International said today.

    In findings released today, Amnesty presents the results of its investigations into four Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities and vehicles in Beirut and in south Lebanon between 3 and 9 October 2024, which killed 19 healthcare workers, wounded 11 more, and damaged or destroyed multiple ambulances and two medical facilities in a one-week period.

    During the war in Lebanon in 2024, the Israeli military repeatedly attacked health facilities and medical vehicles. The Israeli military has not provided sufficient justifications, or specific evidence of military targets being present at the strike locations, to account for these repeated attacks, which weakened a fragile healthcare system and put lives at risk.

    Lebanon must urgently accede to the Rome Statute of the ICC and make a declaration granting the Court jurisdiction from 2002. In the interim, Lebanon should make an ad hoc declaration accepting the exercise of the ICC’s jurisdiction with respect to all Rome Statute crimes committed on or perpetrated from Lebanese territory.

    Four attacks investigated

    The Israeli military repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using ambulances to transport fighters and weapons, and of using medical centres affiliated with the Islamic Health Association (IHA) as a “cover for terrorist activities”. In the four attacks investigated, however, Amnesty did not find evidence that the facilities or vehicles were being used for military purposes at the time of the attacks.

    Amnesty interviewed 17 people, including medical workers, witnesses to the attacks, local officials, and family members of the victims. Researchers also visited the site of the attack on the IHA’s centre in Bachoura, Beirut. In addition, Amnesty verified 46 photographs and videos from the attacks shared directly with the organisation or published in the media and on social media. Amnesty wrote to the Israeli military with its findings on 11 November 2024 but had not received a response by the time of publication.

    Medical personnel, hospitals, and other medical facilities are protected under international humanitarian law.  According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, people who have exclusively non-combat functions in armed groups or are merely members of or affiliated with political entities with an armed component, such as Hezbollah, may not be targeted unless and for such time that they are directly participating in hostilities. Medical personnel affiliated with Hezbollah, including those assigned to civil defence organisations, exclusively assigned to medical or humanitarian duties are protected from attack.

    A ceasefire was announced in Lebanon in late November 2024. In early 2025, healthcare workers impacted by the four Israeli attacks said they were doing their best to provide care while still grappling with damaged or destroyed facilities and vehicles and the loss of their colleagues. One civil defence team member, whose centre was destroyed in an Israeli attack, said the team was now working from a local villager’s home, which he said they had “offered to us, on temporary basis… until we find and move to a new locale.”

    Before Israel launched its operation Northern Arrows on 23 September 2024, Amnesty had verified over 80 photos and videos from 11 attacks that hit medical crews and facilities in Lebanon between 8 October 2023 and 24 June 2024.

    According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, between October 2023 and November 2024 the Israeli military attacked 67 hospitals, 56 primary health care centres, and 238 emergency medical teams, killing at least 222 medical and emergency relief workers. According to the World Health Organization, as of 21 November 2024, “47% of the attacks on health care – 65 out of 137 – have proven fatal to at least one health worker or patient in Lebanon”.

    The Lebanese healthcare sector was already straining due to multiple, ongoing and compounding crises, including a massive economic crisis that spiralled in late 2019, followed by the Beirut Port explosion in 2020, while the country tried to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

    Violations of the ceasefire deal

    On 27 November, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 60-day ceasefire deal. Within days, numerous violations of the ceasefire deal were reported. On 27 January, the ceasefire got extended for another few weeks. Israel later announced it intended to remain in a number of positions in Lebanon’s territory.

    Amnesty has also documented evidence of unlawful airstrikes that killed and injured civilians. In a briefing published in December 2024, Amnesty documented four air strikes by Israeli forces across Lebanon which killed at least 49 civilians and killed entire families and that must be investigated as war crimes. 

    During the war, Hezbollah repeatedly fired unguided rocket salvos into northern Israel, including carrying out attacks that killed and injured civilians. In some cases, they insisted they were aiming at military targets, but in others said they were attacking the civilian city or town generally.

    Call to investigate war crimes

    The Lebanese government should provide the ICC the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes within the Rome Statute committed on Lebanese territory, and ensure victims’ right to remedy, including by calling on Israel to provide reparation for serious violations of international humanitarian law.

    Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, said:

    “Israel’s unlawful attacks on medical facilities and personnel are not only serious violations of international humanitarian law and likely war crimes but also have devastating consequences for civilians more broadly.

    “When a health system is attacked, civilians suffer. Even when hospitals are thought to be used for military purposes and lose their protected status under international law, they can only be attacked after a warning that gives sufficient time for the evacuation of patients and staff goes unheeded. An attacking party remains at all times bound by the principle of proportionality, weighing the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from an attack against the expected harm to civilians and civilian objects, including the reverberating humanitarian consequences resulting from the attack.

    “It is crucial that all attacks against medical staff and facilities are investigated to ensure that perpetrators are punished, victims receive reparations, and these crimes are never repeated. A ceasefire is only the first step to ending and preventing harm. To move forward, victims of serious violations by all parties must see justice and receive redress.

    “We call for the government of Lebanon, with the support of the international community to step up and act to ensure that suspected perpetrators of war crimes can be held accountable. The new Lebanese government must grant the ICC jurisdiction over all Rome Statue crimes committed on or perpetrated from its territory.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Why some animals defy the odds to thrive in urban areas

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Becky Thomas, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Royal Holloway University of London

    KreateStuff/Shutterstock

    Cities can be deeply unwelcoming places for wildlife. They are noisy, difficult to get around, full of people and heavily reliant on artificial lighting. Yet some species do better in urban areas than in rural ones.

    Research is showing that animals of the same species that live in cities and the countryside are behaving differently. These disparities will probably grow since
    over half of people worldwide now live in urban areas, and cities and towns are getting bigger.

    A recent study from Tel Aviv University found that Egyptian fruit bats living in urban parts of Israel gave birth two and a half weeks earlier than rural populations. This gives them an advantage as they are more likely to reproduce twice per year.

    In the urban areas in the study there was a higher abundance and diversity of fruit trees. In Tel Aviv, for instance, the trees are watered. This means there is fruit for a longer period across the year, meaning more reliable food supplies for the bats.

    They may also be benefiting from the urban heat island effect, with warmer temperatures reducing the harshness of the winters felt by their rural neighbours.

    Most species perceive humans as predators, so our presence disturbs and distracts them from feeding and breeding. To survive in human-dominated cities, animals must therefore be bold.

    This is something researchers have studied for a while in wildlife like foxes. Urban foxes are often more confident in their response to new food when it is presented in a novel object like a puzzle box.

    City foxes tend to be bolder.
    johnhardingfilm/Shutterstock

    Urban birds, from robins to feral pigeons, are also bolder. In a 2008 study scientists found that urban birds are more tolerant of human disturbance than rural ones), allowing humans to approach them closely.

    The birds that reacted less to approaching humans were descended from a large number of generations since urbanisation, showing a long history of adaptation. This behavioural change helps these animals to adjust their stress responses when they are exposed to new situations. If they did not do this, they would suffer with chronic stress.

    To test whether this boldness in birds is due to evolutionary adaptations, one 2006 experimental study in Germany hand-raised blackbird chicks taken from both an urban centre and a nearby forest.

    They kept all the birds in the same environment until they were adults and then tested their acute stress responses when the birds were caught and handled. The birds from the city had a lower stress response, suggesting that this difference was genetically determined.

    However, urban birds tend to be less successful in raising chicks than those in more natural areas. Although birds can take advantage of food provided by people in many cities and towns across the world – whether directly in bird feeders, or by scavenging on our discarded food – urban areas do not provide enough of the invertebrate prey that many nestlings need.

    One study published in 2020 found that the biggest challenge for urban great tits was the low abundance of nearby insects.

    Urban great tits have their own problems.
    Zestocker/Shutterstock

    Same species, different city

    Many of these changes in urban species are difficult for people to detect, but one in particular becomes clear when you spend time in cities across the world. Have you noticed that whichever city you visit there seem to be many animals of the same species?

    Scientists call this biotic homogenisation. It happens when places start to become increasingly similar over time with the species that you can find there.

    This process begins with the exodus of species that cannot tolerate living alongside humans. Large mammals, often predators, are the first to go as an area becomes increasingly urbanised.

    Then the non-native species begin to move in. Feral pigeons, rats, starlings and many other species are introduced by people over time, whether accidentally or deliberately, until a point is reached when the biodiversity found in one city, say in the US, starts to resemble another in Europe.

    These species often have broader dietary and habitat niches, which makes them good at exploiting urban areas.

    Noticed how the wildlife in cities is pretty similar wherever you go?
    PauliusPeleckis/Shutterstock

    Urbanisation is continually changing our relationship with animals and how we perceive nature. Although scientists debate whether we have entered the Anthropocene (a new geological age based on significant planetary changes caused by humans) it is undeniable that humans have and still are moulding landscapes to suit our needs.

    The growth of cities and other urban areas is set to continue, with future urban expansion predicted to swallow 11-33 million hectares of natural habitat by 2100, an area the size of Norway. Indeed, humans are becoming the largest driving force in the evolution of wildlife.

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

    – ref. Why some animals defy the odds to thrive in urban areas – https://theconversation.com/why-some-animals-defy-the-odds-to-thrive-in-urban-areas-249915

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why some animals defy the odds to thrive in urban areas

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Becky Thomas, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Royal Holloway University of London

    KreateStuff/Shutterstock

    Cities can be deeply unwelcoming places for wildlife. They are noisy, difficult to get around, full of people and heavily reliant on artificial lighting. Yet some species do better in urban areas than in rural ones.

    Research is showing that animals of the same species that live in cities and the countryside are behaving differently. These disparities will probably grow since
    over half of people worldwide now live in urban areas, and cities and towns are getting bigger.

    A recent study from Tel Aviv University found that Egyptian fruit bats living in urban parts of Israel gave birth two and a half weeks earlier than rural populations. This gives them an advantage as they are more likely to reproduce twice per year.

    In the urban areas in the study there was a higher abundance and diversity of fruit trees. In Tel Aviv, for instance, the trees are watered. This means there is fruit for a longer period across the year, meaning more reliable food supplies for the bats.

    They may also be benefiting from the urban heat island effect, with warmer temperatures reducing the harshness of the winters felt by their rural neighbours.

    Most species perceive humans as predators, so our presence disturbs and distracts them from feeding and breeding. To survive in human-dominated cities, animals must therefore be bold.

    This is something researchers have studied for a while in wildlife like foxes. Urban foxes are often more confident in their response to new food when it is presented in a novel object like a puzzle box.

    City foxes tend to be bolder.
    johnhardingfilm/Shutterstock

    Urban birds, from robins to feral pigeons, are also bolder. In a 2008 study scientists found that urban birds are more tolerant of human disturbance than rural ones), allowing humans to approach them closely.

    The birds that reacted less to approaching humans were descended from a large number of generations since urbanisation, showing a long history of adaptation. This behavioural change helps these animals to adjust their stress responses when they are exposed to new situations. If they did not do this, they would suffer with chronic stress.

    To test whether this boldness in birds is due to evolutionary adaptations, one 2006 experimental study in Germany hand-raised blackbird chicks taken from both an urban centre and a nearby forest.

    They kept all the birds in the same environment until they were adults and then tested their acute stress responses when the birds were caught and handled. The birds from the city had a lower stress response, suggesting that this difference was genetically determined.

    However, urban birds tend to be less successful in raising chicks than those in more natural areas. Although birds can take advantage of food provided by people in many cities and towns across the world – whether directly in bird feeders, or by scavenging on our discarded food – urban areas do not provide enough of the invertebrate prey that many nestlings need.

    One study published in 2020 found that the biggest challenge for urban great tits was the low abundance of nearby insects.

    Urban great tits have their own problems.
    Zestocker/Shutterstock

    Same species, different city

    Many of these changes in urban species are difficult for people to detect, but one in particular becomes clear when you spend time in cities across the world. Have you noticed that whichever city you visit there seem to be many animals of the same species?

    Scientists call this biotic homogenisation. It happens when places start to become increasingly similar over time with the species that you can find there.

    This process begins with the exodus of species that cannot tolerate living alongside humans. Large mammals, often predators, are the first to go as an area becomes increasingly urbanised.

    Then the non-native species begin to move in. Feral pigeons, rats, starlings and many other species are introduced by people over time, whether accidentally or deliberately, until a point is reached when the biodiversity found in one city, say in the US, starts to resemble another in Europe.

    These species often have broader dietary and habitat niches, which makes them good at exploiting urban areas.

    Noticed how the wildlife in cities is pretty similar wherever you go?
    PauliusPeleckis/Shutterstock

    Urbanisation is continually changing our relationship with animals and how we perceive nature. Although scientists debate whether we have entered the Anthropocene (a new geological age based on significant planetary changes caused by humans) it is undeniable that humans have and still are moulding landscapes to suit our needs.

    The growth of cities and other urban areas is set to continue, with future urban expansion predicted to swallow 11-33 million hectares of natural habitat by 2100, an area the size of Norway. Indeed, humans are becoming the largest driving force in the evolution of wildlife.

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

    – ref. Why some animals defy the odds to thrive in urban areas – https://theconversation.com/why-some-animals-defy-the-odds-to-thrive-in-urban-areas-249915

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Local businesses come together to support community through circular economy model

    Source: Northern Ireland City of Armagh

    Samantha McCartney and Jordan Wilson from Cafe IncredABLE and Chris Leech from ABC Community Food Hub.

    A remarkable collaboration among local businesses has recently demonstrated the power of community spirit and corporate social responsibility, supporting the local community through a circular economy model.

    The project involved several businesses working together to provide fresh soup for 128 clients of the social supermarket – an initiative that helps local families access food and resources.

    Karri Kitchen generously donated containers, AMK contributed fresh vegetables and Café IncredAble, provided valuable training on soup-making. This hands-on training allowed individuals to gain important cooking skills while contributing to a larger community goal of helping those in need.

    The ABC Community Food Hub then coordinated the distribution efforts, ensuring the meals reached clients of the Social Supermarket.

    “This collaboration highlights how businesses can work together to create a sustainable and impactful solution to food insecurity,” commented the Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Councillor Sarah Duffy.

    “By donating resources and time, these businesses have made a tangible impact on the lives of 128 Social Supermarket clientele – and we, as a council. Are proud to be part of such an inspiring effort. This is what community spirit is all about.”

    The main ‘soup maker’ is Jordan Wilson who has volunteered with Café IncredABLE for two years, making soup for the customers of the café and now for this project too.

    The businesses involved in this initiative are committed to continuing their collaboration and exploring new ways to support the community through circular economy practices.

    They hope to inspire others in the local business community to join in making a positive difference.

    For more information on the project or to get involved, please contact: 0300 0300 900 or visit: Social Supermarket – Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Brian Thornton wins The Conversation Prize for writers for his story Convicting the Innocent

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jo Adetunji, Executive Editor – Partnerships

    Congratulations to Brian Thornton from Winchester University who is the 2025 winner of The Conversation Prize for writers, for his story Convicting the Innocent, a look at the systemic barriers facing people wrongly convicted of a crime.

    We asked academics to submit a 2,000-word article and book pitch for the competition, run in partnership with Faber and Curtis Brown, and were overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of submissions we received. It was very difficult to pick just one winner from across countless themes and styles.

    Brian’s article and book idea was shortlisted by the teams at The Conversation, Curtis Brown and Faber for its strong storytelling, exploring systematic failings in the legal system, and the strong use of case studies that brought colour to this subject.

    The judges said: “The research on the current failings of the legal system would be of great interest to the general public, especially following the fallout from the Post Office scandal. The essay is well written and punchy, if shocking and unnerving. The use of case studies to tell the story works really very well, and makes the piece immediately emotionally gripping – with great potential to work as a non-fiction book.”

    Brian said: “I’m delighted and honoured to have won the Conversation Prize for writers. My article focuses on miscarriages of justice and how the system fails innocent people. It’s an important topic but one that is so often ignored by media organisations because of the complexity of the cases and the opacity of the legal system.”

    I think that’s why The Conversation is different – it provides a platform for writers to tackle complex and challenging topics and allows them the time and space to do them justice. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to highlight this important issue – hopefully it may get people talking and thinking about how to solve it!“

    Brian is a senior lecturer and programme leader for the BA (Hons) Journalism course at the University of Winchester, and a former producer for BBC Newsnight. He is also one of the founders of the Winchester University’s Crime and Justice Research Centre, which specialises in issues related to miscarriages of justice, and is founder and director of the Winchester Innocence Project.

    Brian wins £1,000 and mentorship from both Faber and Curtis Brown. You can read his winning story here.

    Close runners up in the competition were Yvonne Reddick for Fire on Winter Hill and Nicholas Carter for Living Stone.

    Fire on Winter Hill blended nature writing, memoir, family obsessions and the politics of climate change and made an impression throughout the shortlisting process for both the style of the essay and thoughtfulness of the proposal, which showcased a great talent for storytelling. Written as a personal account following in the footsteps of the author’s father, who worked on oil frontiers from the North Sea to Oman, the judges said Fire on Winter Hill was an “affecting memoir” that “beautifully and originally explores the link between mountains and oil.”

    Living Stone gave a glimpse into a world we don’t ordinarily think about – turning the story of lichens and their relationship with stone into a highly original piece of writing. The judges said: “We’d also like to make a special mention of Living Stone, which explores how lichens bring stone to life – blurring the boundary between the living and the non-living. This topic has great potential to work as a book, arguing that western, narrow scientific definitions means lichens are ultimately understudied and undervalued.”

    A big thank you to our judges, Miriam Frankel, senior science editor at The Conversation UK, Priya Atwal, historian, broadcaster and community history fellow at the University of Oxford, and Alice Hunt, professor of early modern literature and history at the University of Southampton. The Conversation Insights team Paul Keaveny and Mike Herd. And to Fiona Crosby, senior commissioning editor for non-fiction at Faber, and Elliot Prior, associate agent at Curtis Brown.

    – ref. Brian Thornton wins The Conversation Prize for writers for his story Convicting the Innocent – https://theconversation.com/brian-thornton-wins-the-conversation-prize-for-writers-for-his-story-convicting-the-innocent-249890

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Met contact handler praised for safeguarding domestic abuse victim via Instagram

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    A Met Police contact handler has been praised for using Instagram to safeguard a victim of domestic abuse who made a report while she was abroad.

    Emma Tavill assigned herself to a case after she was contacted by a woman who had been assaulted by her partner while on holiday in Cyprus.

    The victim made the report on Monday, 19 February 2024 by sending photo and video evidence of her injuries to the Met’s Instagram page by direct message.

    Emma used the information she had to gather information about the suspect, including his return flight details.

    Once the suspect landed in the UK the following day, he was swiftly arrested at Gatwick Airport and taken into custody.

    Acting Chief Superintendent Neil Holyoak from the Metropolitan Police’s Contact Centre said: “Emma’s response is a great example of the type of work being done across the Met to keep people safe. Her actions meant we could go above and beyond to safeguard a vulnerable victim even when she wasn’t in the UK.

    “We know it’s not always possible for victims to call us and that’s why we receive crime reports and information through a range of digital channels, such as Instagram, as well as on our website.”

    The Met receives thousands of contacts every day and staff are responding more quickly to emergencies and Londoners get our help when they need it most.

    His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire & Rescue Services also recently recognised the Met’s improvements to call handling.

    Last year dedicated staff and officers in MetCC responded to 4,660,891 contacts, of which 2,394,416 were 999 calls, 1,279,552 were 101 calls and 988,923 were digital contacts.

    The per cent of 999 calls answered within 10 seconds for 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 was 86.2 per cent compared to 77.6 per cent the previous calendar year with January 2024 reaching 90.9 per cent.”

    MetCC is currently recruiting. To find out more please go to: Overview | Communications officer (999 and 101) | Metropolitan Police

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Text of the Catechesis of the Holy Father (General Audience of 5 March 2025)

    Source: The Holy See

    Text of the Catechesis of the Holy Father (General Audience of 5 March 2025), 05.03.2025
    The following is the text of the catechesis of the Holy Father, prepared for the General Audience today, Wednesday 5 March:

    Catechesis of the Holy Father
    Cycle of Catechesis – Jubilee 2025
    Jesus Christ our hope
    I. The childhood of Jesus
    8. “Son, why have you done this to us?” (Lk 2:49).
    The finding of Jesus in the Temple
    5 March 2025

    Reading: Lk 2:46,48-50
    After three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. … When His parents saw Him, they were astonished, and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety”. And He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”. But they did not understand what He said to them.
     
    Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
    In this last catechesis dedicated to the childhood of Jesus, we will start from the episode in which, at twelve years of age, He stays in the Temple without telling His parents, who are anxiously looking for Him and find Him after three days. This account presents us with a very interesting dialogue between Mary and Jesus, which helps us to reflect on the path of the mother of Jesus, a journey that was certainly not easy. Indeed, Mary set out on a spiritual itinerary during which she advanced in her understanding of the mystery of her Son.
    Let us look back at the various stages of this journey. At the beginning of her pregnancy, Mary visits Elizabeth and stays with her for three months, until the birth of the little John. Then, when she is now in her ninth month, due to the census she goes with Joseph to Bethlehem, where she gives birth to Jesus. After forty days they go to Jerusalem for the presentation of the child; and they return on a pilgrimage to the Temple every year thereafter. But with Jesus still a baby they had taken refuge in Egypt for a long time to protect Him from Herod, and only after the king’s death did they settle again in Nazareth. When Jesus, having become an adult, begins His ministry, Mary is present and a protagonist at the wedding at Cana; then she follows Him “at a distance”, up to His last journey to Jerusalem, and until His passion and death. After the Resurrection, Mary remains in Jerusalem, as Mother of the disciples, sustaining their faith while awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
    Throughout this journey, the Virgin is a pilgrim of hope, in the strong sense that she becomes the “daughter of her Son”, the first of His disciples. Mary brought into the world Jesus, Hope of humanity; she nourished Him, made Him grow, followed Him, letting herself be the first to be shaped by the Word of God. As Benedict XVI said, “We see how completely at home Mary is with the Word of God … we see how her thoughts are attuned to the thoughts of God, how her will is one with the will of God. Since Mary is completely imbued with the Word of God, she is able to become the Mother of the Word Incarnate” (Encyclical Deus caritas est, 41). This unique communion with the Word of God does not however save her the effort of a demanding “apprenticeship”.
    The experience of twelve-year-old Jesus going missing during the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem frightens Mary to the point that she also speaks for Joseph as they take their son back: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety” (Lk 2:48). Mary and Joseph felt the pain of parents with a missing child: they both thought that Jesus was in the caravan with their relatives, but after not seeing Him for an entire day, they began the search that would lead them to retrace their steps. Upon returning to the Temple, they discover that He who, in their eyes, until a short time before, was still a child to protect, suddenly seems grown up, capable now of getting involved in discussions on the Scriptures, of holding His own with the teachers of the Law.
    Faced with His mother’s rebuke, Jesus answers with disarming simplicity: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49). Mary and Joseph do not understand: the mystery of God made child exceeds their intelligence. The parents want to protect that precious son under the wings of their love; instead, Jesus wants to live His vocation as the Son of the Father who is at His service and lives immersed in His Word.
    Luke’s infancy narratives thus close with Mary’s final words, which recall Joseph’s paternity towards Jesus, and with Jesus’ first words, which recognize that this paternity traces His origins from that of His heavenly Father, whose undisputed primacy He acknowledges.
    Dear brothers and sisters, like Mary and Joseph, full of hope, let us also set out in the footsteps of the Lord, who does not allow Himself to be contained by our precepts, and allows Himself to be found not so much in a place, but in the response of love to the tender divine paternity, a response of love that is filial life.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI: Tower Semiconductor to Showcase its Next-Generation BCD Technology at APEC 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Presenting Advanced Power Management Solutions for Automotive, AI, Mobile, and Data Center Applications 

    MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel, March 5, 2025 – Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ/TASE: TSEM), a leading foundry of high-value analog semiconductor solutions, today announced its participation in the upcoming 2025 Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), taking place March 17–19 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Company will highlight its cutting-edge power management technology platform with its high-efficiency power conversion capabilities including the latest 300mm 65nm 3.3V-based BCD solution, designed to meet the growing demands of Automotive, AI, Mobile PMIC, and Data Center power delivery.

    Tower’s industry-leading 0.18μm (200mm) and 65nm (300mm) Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) platforms drive innovation across a broad range of applications, including driver ICs, battery management, portable power solutions, PC power control, and high-voltage gate drivers. With its recently announced 3.3V gate oxide technology offering 3.3V and 5V-based solutions as well as a comprehensive suite of design enablement tools, Tower continues to set new benchmarks in power efficiency, enabling next-generation solutions for a variety of high-demand sectors.

    Presentation schedule:
    Tower Semiconductor’s BCD Technology Foundry Offerings: From Automotive to Datacenter Power
    By Dr. Mete Erturk, Sr. Director, Power Management Marketing
    Date: March 19, 2025
    Time: 12:45 PM – 1:15 PM
    Location: A312

    To meet with Tower’s engineering team at APEC 2025, visit booth #1148.

    For more information on Tower’s Power Management solutions, visit here.

    About Tower Semiconductor         

    Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ/TASE: TSEM), the leading foundry of high-value analog semiconductor solutions, provides technology, development, and process platforms for its customers in growing markets such as consumer, industrial, automotive, mobile, infrastructure, medical and aerospace and defense. Tower Semiconductor focuses on creating a positive and sustainable impact on the world through long-term partnerships and its advanced and innovative analog technology offering, comprised of a broad range of customizable process platforms such as SiGe, BiCMOS, mixed-signal/CMOS, RF CMOS, CMOS image sensor, non-imaging sensors, displays, integrated power management (BCD and 700V), photonics, and MEMS. Tower Semiconductor also provides world-class design enablement for a quick and accurate design cycle as well as process transfer services including development, transfer, and optimization, to IDMs and fabless companies. To provide multi-fab sourcing and extended capacity for its customers, Tower Semiconductor owns one operating facility in Israel (200mm), two in the U.S. (200mm), two in Japan (200mm and 300mm) which it owns through its 51% holdings in TPSCo, shares a 300mm facility in Agrate, Italy with STMicroelectronics as well as has access to a 300mm capacity corridor in Intel’s New Mexico factory. For more information, please visit: www.towersemi.com.

    Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
    This press release includes forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary from those projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. A complete discussion of risks and uncertainties that may affect the accuracy of forward-looking statements included in this press release or which may otherwise affect Tower’s business is included under the heading “Risk Factors” in Tower’s most recent filings on Forms 20-F, F-3, F-4 and 6-K, as were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Israel Securities Authority. Tower does not intend to update, and expressly disclaim any obligation to update, the information contained in this release. 

    ###

    Tower Semiconductor Company Contact: Orit Shahar | +972-74-7377440 | oritsha@towersemi.com

    Investor Relations Contact: Liat Avraham | +972-4-6506154 | liatavra@towersemi.com

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Radware and CHT Security Join Forces to Deliver AI-Powered Application Security in Taiwan

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MAHWAH, N.J., March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Radware® (NASDAQ: RDWR), a global leader in application security and delivery solutions for multi-cloud environments, today announced it signed a managed security service provider (MSSP) agreement with CHT Security (stock code: 7765). The new agreement represents an expansion of an existing relationship. CHT Security, one of Taiwan’s leading MSSPs, is a subsidiary and security arm of Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., the largest telco in the country.

    CHT Security is leveraging Radware’s AI-powered Cloud Application Protection Services to further enhance its product portfolio and offer customers across Taiwan state-of-the-art application security. CHT Security also uses Radware’s on-prem DefensePro® DDoS Protection to defend its customers against cyber attacks.

    The agreement comes at a time when the frequency and intensity of cyber attacks is increasing in the region. According to a Radware threat advisory, Pro-Russian hacktivist groups, including NoName057(16), RipperSec, and the Cyber Army of Russia, launched a series of DDoS attacks against more than 50 targets in Taiwan, including government sites, airports, and financial services organizations. In addition, the rapid development of network technology and continuous software and hardware updates are creating security gaps for enterprise websites and applications, leaving them vulnerable to zero-day attacks and exposing them to the risk of hacker extortion and data leakage.

    To address organizations’ application security needs, Radware’s Cloud Application Protection Service offers a one-stop shop that includes an industry-leading web application firewall (WAF), bot detection and management, API protection, client-side protection, and application-layer DDoS protection. Combining end-to-end automation, AI-powered algorithms, behavioral-based detection, and 24/7 managed services, the solution defends against 150+ known attack vectors. This includes the OWASP’s Top 10 Web Application Security Risks, Top 10 API Security Vulnerabilities, and Top 21 Automated Threats to Web Applications.

    “We are looking forward to partnering with Radware to expand our product offering and engage with customers at an even higher level of service,” said Jeff Hung, general manager from CHT Security. “Combined with CHT Security’s rich practical experience and 24X7 expert SOC team, we can provide our customers with multi-layered defense services against today’s most sophisticated threats.”

    Today, CHT Security offers cybersecurity services to more than 300 large-sized enterprises, more than 40,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, and a million individual and household clients. The company’s clientele includes government agencies, financial institutions, high-tech companies, healthcare, retail, and critical infrastructure sectors.

    “We are excited to expand our long-standing relationship with CHT Security,” said Yaniv Hoffman, Radware’s vice president of sales in APAC. “It is becoming increasingly difficult for already short-staffed security teams to defend against a threat landscape that is constantly evolving with more frequent and complex attacks. Through our joint efforts, we can not only help organizations solve these challenges and increase the security around their critical assets, but also create a win-win for the Taiwan market.”

    Radware has received numerous awards for its solutions. Industry analysts such as Aite-Novarica Group, Forrester Research, Gartner, GigaOm, IDC, KuppingerCole, and Quadrant Knowledge Solutions continue to recognize Radware as a market leader in cyber security.

    About Radware
    Radware® (NASDAQ: RDWR) is a global leader in application security and delivery solutions for multi-cloud environments. The company’s cloud application, infrastructure, and API security solutions use AI-driven algorithms for precise, hands-free, real-time protection from the most sophisticated web, application, and DDoS attacks, API abuse, and bad bots. Enterprises and carriers worldwide rely on Radware’s solutions to address evolving cybersecurity challenges and protect their brands and business operations while reducing costs. For more information, please visit the Radware website.

    Radware encourages you to join our community and follow us on: Facebook, LinkedIn, Radware Blog, X, and YouTube.

    ©2025 Radware Ltd. All rights reserved. Any Radware products and solutions mentioned in this press release are protected by trademarks, patents, and pending patent applications of Radware in the U.S. and other countries. For more details, please see: https://www.radware.com/LegalNotice/. All other trademarks and names are property of their respective owners.

    Radware believes the information in this document is accurate in all material respects as of its publication date. However, the information is provided without any express, statutory, or implied warranties and is subject to change without notice.

    The contents of any website or hyperlinks mentioned in this press release are for informational purposes and the contents thereof are not part of this press release.

    Safe Harbor Statement
    This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements made herein that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about Radware’s plans, outlook, beliefs, or opinions, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “estimates,” “plans,” and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “may,” and “could.” For example, when we say in this press release that through our joint efforts, we can not only help organizations solve these challenges and increase the security around their critical assets, but also create a win-win for the Taiwan market, we are using forward-looking statements. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, could differ materially from Radware’s current forecasts and estimates. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the impact of global economic conditions, including as a result of the state of war declared in Israel in October 2023 and instability in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, and the tensions between China and Taiwan; our dependence on independent distributors to sell our products; our ability to manage our anticipated growth effectively; a shortage of components or manufacturing capacity could cause a delay in our ability to fulfill orders or increase our manufacturing costs; our business may be affected by sanctions, export controls, and similar measures, targeting Russia and other countries and territories, as well as other responses to Russia’s military conflict in Ukraine, including indefinite suspension of operations in Russia and dealings with Russian entities by many multi-national businesses across a variety of industries; the ability of vendors to provide our hardware platforms and components for the manufacture of our products; our ability to attract, train, and retain highly qualified personnel; intense competition in the market for cyber security and application delivery solutions and in our industry in general, and changes in the competitive landscape; our ability to develop new solutions and enhance existing solutions; the impact to our reputation and business in the event of real or perceived shortcomings, defects, or vulnerabilities in our solutions, if our end-users experience security breaches, if our information technology systems and data, or those of our service providers and other contractors, are compromised by cyber-attackers or other malicious actors or by a critical system failure; outages, interruptions, or delays in hosting services; the risks associated with our global operations, such as difficulties and costs of staffing and managing foreign operations, compliance costs arising from host country laws or regulations, partial or total expropriation, export duties and quotas, local tax exposure, economic or political instability, including as a result of insurrection, war, natural disasters, and major environmental, climate, or public health concerns, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; our net losses in the past two years and possibility we may incur losses in the future; a slowdown in the growth of the cyber security and application delivery solutions market or in the development of the market for our cloud-based solutions; long sales cycles for our solutions; risks and uncertainties relating to acquisitions or other investments; risks associated with doing business in countries with a history of corruption or with foreign governments; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; risks associated with undetected defects or errors in our products; our ability to protect our proprietary technology; intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties; laws, regulations, and industry standards affecting our business; compliance with open source and third-party licenses; and other factors and risks over which we may have little or no control. This list is intended to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause actual results to differ. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting Radware, refer to Radware’s Annual Report on Form 20-F, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the other risk factors discussed from time to time by Radware in reports filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and, except as required by applicable law, Radware undertakes no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statement in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date any such statement is made. Radware’s public filings are available from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or may be obtained on Radware’s website at www.radware.com.

    Media Contact:
    Gerri Dyrek
    Radware
    Gerri.Dyrek@radware.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Gaza: To remain an integral part of Palestinian State – Un Chief at Arab Summit | United Nations

    Source: United Nations (Video News)

    Remarks by Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, to the Extraordinary Arab League Summit on the situation in the Middle East/Gaza.

    ———————

    Secretary-General António Guterres said Gaza “must remain an integral part of an independent, democratic and sovereign Palestinian State — with no reductions in its territory or forced transfer of its population.”

    Speaking at the emergency summit of Arab nations on the situation in the Middle East and Gaza reconstruction in Cairo, Guterres welcomed Arab-led efforts to mobilize support for Gaza’s recovery.

    He said, “Palestinians in Gaza have suffered beyond measure. And the risk of even greater devastation looms. This Summit is an important signal that the world has a collective responsibility to support efforts to end this war, relieve profound human suffering and secure lasting peace.”

    The Secretary-General stressed that “we must avoid at all costs the resumption of hostilities that would plunge the millions back into an abyss of suffering and further destabilize the region.” The territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Lebanon and Syria, he added, “must be respected.”

    He stressed that rebuilding the war-ravaged territory must be guided by principles that respect international law and prevent further cycles of violence.

    Guterres said, “ending the immediate crisis is not enough. We need a clear political framework that lays the foundation for Gaza’s recovery, reconstruction and lasting stability. That framework must be based on principles and respect for international law.”

    He emphasized that “Israel’s legitimate security concerns must be addressed, but that should not be through long-term Israeli military presence in Gaza.”

    The Secretary-General said, “reconstruction requires governance and security arrangements that can help guarantee a brighter, more stable future for Palestinians and Israelis alike,” and highlighted “the critical role” of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) “that continues to deliver in the most difficult circumstances.”

    Beyond Gaza, he said, “we see an alarming situation unfolding in the West Bank” and added that “Israeli security forces have launched large-scale operations, including airstrikes and also the deployment of tanks for the first time in over two decades.”

    Guterres said, “over 40,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced in the last month — the largest displacement in the West Bank in decades. Meanwhile, demolitions, evictions and settlement expansions continue, while settler violence is on the rise. All of this is further weakening the Palestinian Authority at a time when its role is more crucial than ever. I call for urgent de-escalation. Unilateral actions, including settlement expansion and threats of annexation, must stop.”

    He said, “the Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, to chart their own future, and to live on their land in freedom and security. There must be irreversible steps now toward the realization of the two-State solution — before it’s too late. The only path to lasting peace is one where two states — Israel and Palestine — live side-by-side in peace and security, in line with international law and relevant UN resolutions, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.”

    The war in Gaza has left an unprecedented level of destruction, with an estimated 51 million tons of rubble blanketing the landscape where bustling neighborhoods once thrived.

    According to a new UN damage and needs assessment report, over 60 percent of homes – amounting to some 292,000 – and 65 percent of roads have been destroyed, across the approximately 360 square kilometer enclave.

    UN agencies along with partners, including the World Bank, estimate that $53 billion will be needed for recovery and reconstruction.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URq17EMBJUo

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Tokyo Conference, Sudan & other topics – Daily Press Briefing | United Nations

    Source: United Nations (Video News)

    Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

    Highlights:
    – Arab Summit
    – Tokyo Conference
    – Sudan
    – Occupied Palestinian Territory
    – Syria
    – Democratic Republic of the Congo
    – Democratic Republic of the Congo/Humanitarian
    – UNISFA
    – Uganda
    – Briefings
    – Financial Contributions

    TOKYO CONFERENCE
    Also I want to flag the Secretary-General’s video message to the Tokyo Conference, whose theme is “International cooperation and restoration of peace on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.”
    In his remarks he said that as we prepare to mark the 80th anniversary of the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we will continue to be guided by the inspiring example and vision of the hibakusha for a world free of nuclear weapons.
    Mr. Guterres also encouraged participants to advance the objectives of the Pact for the Future and drive multilateralism into the future.

    SUDAN
    The UN Children’s Fund today warned that millions of children in Sudan are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual violence, which is being used as a tactic of war.
    According to UNICEF, armed men are raping and sexually assaulting children, including infants as young as one, amid the nationwide conflict which is rippling across Sudan. No area of Sudan is immune from these horrendous crimes.
    UNICEF said that data compiled by gender-based violence service providers in Sudan shows that 221 rape cases against children were recorded since the beginning of 2024. UNICEF pointed out that these figures represent only a small fraction of total cases.
    We of course join Catherine Russell, the Executive Director of UNICEF, in stressing that this is an abhorrent violation of international law and could constitute a war crime, and it must stop.
    UNICEF is working in partnerships to establish safe spaces that provide gender-based violence services for survivors, as well as integrating these into health services at health centers and mobile clinics and providing relevant medical supplies to victims.

    Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=04%20March%202025

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

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The Russian Engineering Academy awarded SPbGASU two I.A. Grishmanov prizes

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Competition coordinator, member of the presidium (bureau) of the Russian Engineering Academy Vitaly Lozhkin, president of the academy Boris Gusev and Alexey Kharitonov

    On February 27, the Russian Engineering Academy hosted the I. A. Grishmanov Prize award ceremony. Among the laureates were Aleksey Kharitonov, Doctor of Engineering, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of Construction Materials Technology and Metrology of our university, and the Publishing and Printing Department of SPbGASU.

    Alexey Kharitonov is known in the country and abroad as a scientist in the field of construction materials science. His specialization is the creation of effective materials for the restoration of cultural heritage sites – architectural monuments. The researcher makes a great contribution to the development of university science and construction education in the country, and has been engaged in scientific and pedagogical activities for 25 years.

    Alexey Kharitonov is a member of the dissertation council of SPbGASU and the scientific and technical council of the Housing Committee of the Government of St. Petersburg, a member of the editorial board of the journal “Cement and Its Applications”, included in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Russian Federation. Author and co-author of more than 140 published scientific and educational-methodical works, including 130 scientific articles, 11 educational-methodical works, 4 inventions. The scientist’s merits have been noted by numerous letters of gratitude and certificates of honor.

    In 2019–2020, the scientist, as an organizer of materials science research, participated in the development of scientific and design documentation for the restoration of the Legislative Palace (parliament building) in the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo, and in 2022–2023 – the Triumphal Arch in Palmyra, Syria. The projects were highly praised by the UNESCO International Expert Council.

    The Publishing and Printing Department (IPD) is a structural division of SPbGASU, headed by Tatyana Razumova since 2007. The IPO has a full production cycle for publishing educational and scientific publications, from editorial preparation of manuscripts to layout and printing. Every year, the IPO publishes more than one hundred titles of educational and scientific publications. All of them are sent to the scientific and technical library in printed and electronic form. Electronic copies of publications are placed in the university’s full-text database.

    Books by SPbGASU teachers, published in IPO, have repeatedly become prize winners of prestigious festivals and competitions. The published editions arouse wide interest and receive recognition from the professional community.

    The I. A. Grishmanov Prize is awarded for scientific and technical developments that have been implemented in mass production, as well as for achievements in the organization of industry in the field of building materials and structures. It is named after the Minister of the Construction Materials Industry of the USSR Ivan Aleksandrovich Grishmanov (1906–1979), a graduate of the Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute (now SPbGASU).

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Statement to the 108th Session of the Executive Council of the OPCW

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Speech

    Statement to the 108th Session of the Executive Council of the OPCW

    Statement to the 108th Session of the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, by Her Excellency Joanna Roper, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

    Mr Chairperson, Director General, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

    Let me start by extending my thanks to His Excellency, Director General Fernando Arias, for his comprehensive report demonstrating the significant and increasing demands on this organisation and the progress he has made. I would also like to thank His Excellency, Ambassador Terán Parral for chairing this session and for his excellent leadership of the Executive Council since May 2023.

    Mr Chairperson,

    At long last, with the collapse of the Assad regime, Syria is now in a position to take a fresh approach to its engagement with the OPCW and finally close the file on the chemical weapons programme. This is an opportunity that few could have imagined 12 months ago.

    We welcome commitments made by Syria’s Interim Authorities to cooperate with the Technical Secretariat and international community to this end. We warmly welcome the DG’s report of his recent visit and note on the way forward. We look ahead to the rapid deployment of OPCW technical teams on the ground to help Syria deliver a full, complete and accurate declaration; and to start destruction. And I would like to thank the Permanent Representative of Qatar for representing Syria’s interests at the OPCW since December so effectively. 

    After more than a decade, we are urging Syria to turn the page on the horrific legacy of Assad’s chemical weapons programme and we must support it to do so. We call on States Parties to support the Technical Secretariat and the Syrian Arab Republic to complete the job of destroying the Assad Regime’s chemical weapons. The UK has recently announced additional funding for the OPCW’s Syria Missions – we have given a total of more than £1m to the OPCW’s Syria Trust Fund over the past year. And yesterday, Mr Chairperson, I sent a letter to the Director General, confirming that we will provide a comprehensive offer of practical support to him and his team later this month.

    Mr Chairperson,

    I wish that I could reflect positive progress on other states of concern. Russia continues to undermine the Chemical Weapons Convention. It is now three years since Russia started a war of aggression against Ukraine – a brutal attack on the sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of a democratic state. As my Prime Minister said last week: “For three years we have been united in opposition to Russia’s barbaric invasion. And for three years we have been full of admiration for the incredible response of the Ukrainian people.”

    Let there be no doubt, UK support to Ukraine will remain steadfast.

    Russia continues to use chemical weapons in Ukraine. We note the conclusions of the Technical Secretariat’s most recent Technical Assistance Visit report issued on 14 February. This report confirmed the presence of CS gas in samples taken from three separate incidents in Ukraine, establishing a pattern of violations of the CWC across a wide geographic area. There must now be attribution for such attacks, and the perpetrators must be held to account.

    We must not forget Russia has form in regularly violating international law concerning chemical weapons. Seven years ago today, on 4 March 2018, Russia deployed Novichok nerve agent on the streets of the United Kingdom. This attack resulted in the tragic death of Dawn Sturgess. Russia also used Novichok to poison Alexei Navalny in Russia in 2020. 

    Mr Chairperson,

    Russia has set a damaging example. We must defend the fundamental principles of the Chemical Weapons Convention. We are extremely concerned by reports which suggest that the Sudanese Armed Forces have used chemical weapons in Sudan. Sudan, like any other State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, must abide by its obligations.

    Mr Chairperson,

    We also welcome the Technical Secretariat’s response to the opportunities and risks of emerging technology. The excellent Morocco AI Conference in October, and the AI Research Challenge, co-funded by the UK, provide a sound foundation for our collective efforts to capture the benefits of new technologies, and to understand the security risks they will pose.

    Mr Chairperson,

    The Director General is critical to the success of this organisation. This body has important work to do over the coming months to find a worthy successor to Director General Arias.  As the British say, they will have big shoes to fill.

    Events in Syria and continuing Russian breaches demonstrate that the OPCW remains central to international security. This Council must provide its unwavering support for every aspect of the OPCW’s work at this critical juncture.

    Updates to this page

    Published 4 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Protecting national security

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    Oral statement to Parliament

    Protecting national security

    Statement by the Security Minister on new measures to tackle state threats from Iran.

    With your permission Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement on the growing threat to the UK from Iran and the steps the government is taking to combat these threats.

    The threat from Iran sits in a wider context of the growing, diversifying and evolving threat that the UK faces from malign activity by a number of states.

    The threat from states has become increasingly interconnected in nature, blurring the lines between: domestic and international; online and offline; and states and their proxies.

    In the last year, the number of state threat investigations being run by MI5 has jumped by 48%.

    This statistic is a stark indication of the increased threat.

    Iranian threats

    Turning specifically to Iran, the regime has become increasingly emboldened, asserting itself more aggressively to advance their objectives and undermine ours.

    This is evidenced by the fact that direct action against UK targets has substantially increased over recent years.

    The Director General of MI5 recently stated that since the start of 2022 the UK has responded to 20 Iran-backed plots, presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents.

    The Iranian regime is targeting dissidents.

    And it is targeting media organisations and journalists reporting on the violent oppression of the regime.

    It is also no secret that there is a long-standing pattern of targeting Jewish and Israeli people internationally by the Iranian Intelligence Services.

    It is clear that these plots are a conscious strategy of the Iranian regime to stifle criticism through intimidation and fear.

    These threats are unacceptable. They must and will be defended against at every turn.

    Now it is a testament to our world-leading law enforcement and intelligence services that through their tireless commitment, so many plots have been thwarted.

    And I am sure the whole House will join me in paying tribute to the brave men and women of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies who work day in, day out to keep us safe.

    In seeking to tackle this threat, we must understand it.

    The Iranian Intelligence Services, which include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, or MOIS, direct this damaging activity.

    But often, rather than working directly on UK shores, they use criminal proxies to do their bidding. This helps to obfuscate their involvement, while they sit safely ensconced in Tehran.  

    We see that in intelligence, but we have also seen it publicly, with the conviction in 2023 of the Chechen born Austrian national, who was imprisoned for conducting surveillance on Iran International’s UK headquarters.

    These threats are not only physical in nature.

    The National Cyber Security Centre has also seen malicious cyber activity conducted by Iranian state-affiliated actors targeting a range of state sectors, including in the UK.

    Our response

    The government is absolutely committed to ensuring that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to disrupt and degrade the threats that we face from Iran.

    So I can announce today that we will place the whole of the Iranian State – including Iran’s intelligence services, the IRGC and MOIS – on to the enhanced tier of the new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

    The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, or FIRS, is a critical disruptive tool for the UK.

    This action will mean that those who are directed by Iran to conduct activities in the UK – such as criminal proxies – must register that activity, whatever it is, or face 5 years in prison.

    They will face a choice – expose their actions to the government, or face jail.

    The Home Office will lay regulations in Parliament as soon as possible, with a view to having the scheme up and running by the summer.

    On proscription, as members will know, we do not routinely comment on groups being considered for proscription, but I can assure the House that we do and will continue to keep the list of groups considered under constant review.

    However, what has become increasingly clear is the challenges inherent in applying our existing counter-terror legislation to state and state-linked threats to our national security.

    This challenge was first raised by the Home Secretary in Opposition. She warned of a lack of a comprehensive strategic approach for state threats to mirror that adopted on terrorism, and the specific difficulties in using a proscription mechanism, designed for groups like Al Qaeda, on state bodies.

    We are progressing work at pace to address this challenge.

    So I can announce today that Jonathan Hall KC has been asked to review the parts of our counter-terrorism framework which could be applied to modern day state threats, such as those from Iran.

    This includes giving specific consideration to the design of a proscription mechanism for state and state-linked bodies, providing more flexibility than is offered under the existing powers.

    As the Independent Reviewer of both State Threats Legislation and of Terrorism Legislation, Mr Hall is perfectly placed to undertake this review and we are grateful for his agreement to provide this advice.

    Let there be no doubt: we are utterly determined to stay ahead of those who threaten our country – and any step that could aid us in that critical endeavour will be considered. 

    But the UK is not alone in facing this threat. States across the western world are threatened by Iran.

    So we will work with our allies to better understand, expose and condemn Iranian actions – and bring Iranian-linked criminals to justice wherever in the world they may be. We regularly collaborate with our Five Eyes and European partners to protect our democracies from hostile Iranian attack.

    Here at home, we are going further too.

    The National Security Act 2023, which was supported on both sides of the House, has given the police new powers to target evolving activity.

    For example, the act criminalises assisting a foreign intelligence service, such as the IRGC or MOIS. The maximum penalty for these offences is 14 years in prison, the same maximum as for a proscription offence.

    And I can also announce that training and guidance on state threats activity is now being offered by Counter Terrorism Policing to all 45 territorial police forces across the UK.

    This will mean that when any frontline officer encounters a suspected state threats incident, they will know what to do and what to look for to ensure that our communities are kept safe. 

    Furthermore, we have recently issued guidance on the National Security Act and how it applies to the UK security profession, including private investigators.

    This ensures they are aware of the law and understand where they may be criminally liable if they are working for any foreign power, such as Iran.

    We will also continue to go after the criminal networks and enablers that Iran uses to carry out its work. The leader of the Zindashti organised crime group, a group frequently used by the Iranian regime, has already been sanctioned.

    We will explore further sanctions against other Iranian-linked criminals and the National Crime Agency will target those who assist the IRGC and others to launder their money.

    Alongside the recently launched Border Security Command, which strengthens Britain’s border security and disrupts criminal smuggling gangs, I have asked officials to consider new ways to enforce our robust immigration rules to specifically address threats from Iran.

    This work will focus on further protecting the UK from Iranian infiltration, including those who promote Iranian interference in the UK.

    I am clear that our response must be a UK-wide effort. So I welcome the Charity Commission’s statutory inquiries into both the Islamic Centre of England and the Al-Tawheed Charitable Trust.

    I have also asked officials to review where any Iranian interference is being conducted in the UK and FIRS will shine more light on any undisclosed relationships between the Iranian state and UK-based institutions and individuals.

    Finally, the National Protective Security Authority and Counter Terrorism Policing will continue to provide protective security advice and support to individuals and organisations threatened by the Iranian regime and its criminal proxies, including Persian language media organisations and their employees.

    And we will continue to maintain funding for protective security measures to synagogues, Jewish community centres and schools, ensuring we do all we can to keep our Jewish communities safe.

    Conclusion

    Madam Deputy Speaker, in a dangerous, volatile world, Britain must lead the way.

    That means proudly promoting our values and straining every sinew to keep our people safe.

    The measures I have set out today should reassure the House and the public about our unflinching commitment to these objectives.

    Under this government, security will be the foundation on which everything else is built.

    We will resist attacks on our way of life as vigorously as we counter threats to life – whatever their source.

    …we will work relentlessly to root out those intent on causing harm on our streets.

    …and we will do whatever it takes to protect our country and our democracy.

    I commend this statement to the House.

    Updates to this page

    Published 4 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Tata Electronics, Himax Technologies and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation Form Alliance to Revolutionize India’s Display and Ultralow Power AI Sensing Product and Technology Ecosystem

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TAINAN and HSINCHU, Taiwan and MUMBAI, India, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Himax Technologies, Inc. (“Himax” or “Company”) (Nasdaq: HIMX), an industry leader in fabless display driver ICs and other semiconductor products, today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tata Electronics, a pioneering leader in India’s electronics manufacturing sector, and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC), a leading Taiwanese Foundry and Technology Transfer Partner of Tata Electronics, to revolutionize India’s display and ultralow power AI sensing product and technology ecosystem. This MoU marks a significant step forward for Tata Electronics, Himax, and PSMC in expanding their market outreach and jointly exploring the growing market of display semiconductors and ultralow power AI sensing in India as well as globally.

    Tata Electronics, Himax, and PSMC aim to leverage their respective strengths to deliver comprehensive, end-to-end display semiconductor solutions for their mutual customers, from chip design to chip manufacturing and packaging, as well as electronics manufacturing services (EMS) to deliver system-level solutions, to both the Indian and global markets. The parties will collaborate closely to develop solutions focusing on “Made in India” requirements. The partnership also encompasses designing and manufacturing next-generation solutions to meet global demand while enhancing supply chain resilience.

    Building on the landmark 2024 agreement between Tata Electronics and PSMC to establish advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in India, today’s announcement paves the way for innovative display solutions tailored to the domestic market.

    Dr Randhir Thakur, CEO and MD of Tata Electronics, said, “This MoU with Himax and PSMC will enable the development of differentiated solutions for display-related semiconductor products for our mutual customers. By combining Tata Electronics’ capabilities with Himax’s unparalleled expertise in display semiconductors and WiseEye™ ultralow power AI sensing and PSMC’s proven manufacturing solutions, we are creating a powerful ecosystem that addresses both domestic and global needs for the display semiconductor market. Together, we will drive innovation and develop next-generation technologies to meet the growing demands of display and ultralow power AI sensing technologies across key industries while contributing to a resilient semiconductor supply chain.”

    Mr. Jordan Wu, Co-Founder and CEO of Himax Technologies, Inc., said, “We are delighted to join forces with Tata Electronics and PSMC to drive innovation in India’s rapidly expanding display semiconductor market. India is emerging as a key hub for electronics development and manufacturing, presenting immense opportunities for growth and technological advancement. Through this collaboration, we aim to bring Himax’s industry-leading expertise in display semiconductors and WiseEye™ ultralow power AI sensing to support India’s ‘Made in India’ initiative while enhancing global supply chain resilience. This partnership underscores our commitment to delivering cutting-edge display solutions that cater to the evolving needs of both Indian and international markets.” 

    Mr. Martin Chu, President of PSMC, said, “PSMC’s portfolio of semiconductor fabrication technologies is well-suited to meet the growing ‘Made in India’ requirements. We look forward to this partnership with Tata Electronics and Himax, as it provides a unique opportunity to expand our collective footprint and gain significant share in both the domestic and global display semiconductors and ultralow power AI sensing markets.”

    About Tata Electronics Private Limited
    Tata Electronics Pvt. Ltd. is a prominent global player in the electronics manufacturing industry, with fast-emerging capabilities in Electronics Manufacturing Services, Semiconductor Assembly & Test, Semiconductor Foundry, and Design Services. Established in 2020 as a greenfield venture of the Tata Group, the company aims to serve global customers through integrated offerings across a trusted electronics and semiconductor value chain. With a rapidly growing workforce, the company currently employs over 65,000 people and has significant operations in Gujarat, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, India. Tata Electronics is committed to creating a socio-economic footprint by employing many women in its workforce and actively supporting local communities through initiatives in environment, education, healthcare, sports and livelihood.

    About Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation
    Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) is the world’s seventh-largest pure-play foundry, with four 12-inch and two 8-inch fabs in Taiwan, capable of producing over 2.1 million 12-inch equivalent wafers annually. Since its establishment in 1994, the company transitioned successfully from DRAM manufacturing to advanced foundry services for memory and logic chips. Ranked seventh in global semiconductor ESG evaluations, PSMC demonstrates strong governance and environmental commitment. In May 2024, PSMC’s new 12-inch fab in Taiwan’s Tongluo Science Park began operations with a planned capacity of 1.2 million wafers annually, using advanced 28nm and wafer stacking technologies.

    About Himax Technologies, Inc.
    Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) is a leading global fabless semiconductor solution provider dedicated to display imaging processing technologies. The Company’s display driver ICs and timing controllers have been adopted at scale across multiple industries worldwide including TVs, PC monitors, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, automotive, ePaper devices, industrial displays, among others. As the global market share leader in automotive display technology, the Company offers innovative and comprehensive automotive IC solutions, including traditional driver ICs, advanced in-cell Touch and Display Driver Integration (TDDI), local dimming timing controllers (Local Dimming Tcon), Large Touch and Display Driver Integration (LTDI) and OLED display technologies. Himax is also a pioneer in tinyML visual-AI and optical technology related fields. The Company’s industry-leading WiseEye™ ultralow power AI sensing technology which incorporates Himax proprietary ultralow power AI processor, always-on CMOS image sensor, and CNN-based AI algorithm has been widely deployed in consumer electronics and AIoT related applications. Himax optics technologies, such as diffractive wafer level optics, LCoS microdisplays and 3D sensing solutions, are critical for facilitating emerging AR/VR/metaverse technologies. Additionally, Himax designs and provides touch controllers, OLED ICs, LED ICs, EPD ICs, power management ICs, and CMOS image sensors for diverse display application coverage. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Tainan, Taiwan, Himax currently employs around 2,200 people from three Taiwan-based offices in Tainan, Hsinchu and Taipei and country offices in China, Korea, Japan, Germany, and the US. Himax has 2,649 patents granted and 402 patents pending approval worldwide as of December 31, 2024.

    http://www.himax.com.tw

    Forward Looking Statements
    Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in this conference call include, but are not limited to, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Company’s business; general business and economic conditions and the state of the semiconductor industry; market acceptance and competitiveness of the driver and non-driver products developed by the Company; demand for end-use applications products; reliance on a small group of principal customers; the uncertainty of continued success in technological innovations; our ability to develop and protect our intellectual property; pricing pressures including declines in average selling prices; changes in customer order patterns; changes in estimated full-year effective tax rate; shortage in supply of key components; changes in environmental laws and regulations; changes in export license regulated by Export Administration Regulations (EAR); exchange rate fluctuations; regulatory approvals for further investments in our subsidiaries; our ability to collect accounts receivable and manage inventory and other risks described from time to time in the Company’s SEC filings, including those risks identified in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in its Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the SEC, as may be amended.

    Himax Contacts

    Eric Li, Chief IR/PR Officer
    Himax Technologies, Inc.
    Tel: +886-6-505-0880
    Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
    Email: hx_ir@himax.com.tw
    www.himax.com.tw
      
    Karen Tiao, Investor Relations
    Himax Technologies, Inc.
    Tel: +886-2-2370-3999
    Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
    Email: hx_ir@himax.com.tw
    www.himax.com.tw

    Mark Schwalenberg, Director
    Investor Relations – US Representative
    MZ North America
    Tel: +1-312-261-6430
    Email: HIMX@mzgroup.us
    www.mzgroup.us

    The MIL Network –