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Category: Politics

  • MIL-OSI Global: Michael Mosoeu Moerane was a pioneering composer in South Africa. A new book is restoring his place in history

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Gwen Ansell, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria

    Composer and educator Michael Mosoeu Moerane (1904-1980) is probably best known for a few evergreen choral works, including Della and Sylvia, still sung by choirs across South Africa today.

    And, of course, for his orchestral piece FatŠe laHeso (My Country). It had the distinction of being recorded by both the British and South African public broadcasters in an era when white minority rule denied even the existence of Black classical musicians.

    Apartheid held the identity of Black people in South Africa to be unchangeingly simple, rural and tribal. Sophisticated activities such as orchestral composing were both beyond their capacity and dangerously subversive.

    But, as South African author and music scholar Christine Lucia’s biography of Moerane, The Times Do Not Permit, reveals, there was more to Moerane’s work than those few compositions. And a far more nuanced relationship with his oppressive political times. Moerane was vocal against the system, yet secured white university supervision. He was consulted by white ethnomusicologists. Yet still he was stereotyped and confined by apartheid rules.

    I am a researcher into South African jazz and other genres and a teacher of writing. (Jazz, incidentally, was a genre that Moerane detested.) From my own work, I recognise many similarities between his story and the lives of jazz musicians I have studied: genteel homes with a piano in the parlour; after-dinner family music hours; the risk of instant dismissal for schoolteachers heard discussing anti-apartheid politics.

    I recognise, too, the gaps in his music story that Lucia finds: the questions that scholars did not ask while more people were still alive to answer them.



    Read more:
    Mzilikazi Khumalo: a stellar Zulu, African, Pan African and cosmopolitan composer

    Her book matters because, at last, it asks and answers those questions. In how it assembles the answers, it helps us to start mapping the undiscovered continent of Black classical music under apartheid.

    The book’s nearly 300 pages offer a detailed account of Moerane’s life, based on research and conversations with family and still-living contemporaries.

    Lucia takes us through Moerane’s various roles in turn (student, teacher, choralist and more). It also analyses his compositions and their treatment of themes that range from spirituality and tradition to love and loss.

    A reader can view Moerane’s life though these different lenses; together they add up to an intricate, multidimensional portrait.

    Who was Michael Moerane?

    Born in the Eastern Cape province and educated there and in neighbouring Basutoland (today Lesotho), Moerane stitched a music-teaching career together that moved between the two countries.

    His own radical Africanist politics, the activism of family members, his marriage across apartheid-defined ethnic barriers (he was Sotho, his wife Xhosa) and the simple fact of being a Black composer exploring unconventional, modernist music meant he was often in the sights of repressive authorities in both countries. Lowering his profile every now and then (a new school, a more obscure place to live) was his best protection.

    There’s real fear in some of his letters that all these moves would mean his written compositions would be lost or scattered. Yet remarkably, through all this, he managed to hold a family together, establish music ensembles and a reputation, and graduate with a music degree from the University of South Africa in 1941, a time when it was almost unknown for Black South Africans to receive a university education outside segregated black colleges. He was supported, through a unique arrangement, by supervision from the all-white Rhodes University College in his home province.

    His external examiner, William Henry Bell, said of FatŠe laHeso (Moerane’s examination piece) that he “never had expected such a work to be written in South Africa and less so by a Native”.

    Lucia’s account of how Moerane got there, and of the many compositions and long music teaching career that followed, is made even clearer through a rich variety of material. There are geographical, historical and musical road-maps, extracts from his manuscripts, evocative photographs of people and places, and probably the most complete catalogue of Moerane’s works to date.

    The catalogue was put together from both archive records and fragments of sheet music surviving in the family piano-stool, where they were stored. It’s a poignant reminder of how much Black South African history is no longer available because of how apartheid repeatedly uprooted people and communities, with little chance to save family memorabilia.

    White minority rule didn’t only restrict where Black South Africans could live and work but even how they could learn music. Tuition for Black music students was limited to writing in tonic sol-fa (doh-re-mi) notation. Excluded from the notation used in classical music, composers and performers who would have occupied concert stages were limited to community choirs and brass bands. That was part of Moerane’s story too.

    Moerane’s Sylvia is still performed by choirs today.

    His life matters because of all this.

    A masterful book

    The book traces the defiant survival and originality of this important figure and restores him in the country’s history. It adds detail and clarification to what was already known. It corrects confusions about dates and place names. If that were all the book had done, it would already have been a worthwhile contribution.

    But Lucia’s way of telling the story adds significantly more. It brings Moerane alive through the texture of human voices and human detail, creating a read that is academic but far from dry. We hear, for example, his children recalling how strict he was during daily piano practice: “You would scramble to get a slot when my father wasn’t at home.”

    But more: South African music under apartheid is often shown as the “soundtrack” to history. Or often the history is seen as mere “background” to the music. But Moerane’s music was not a soundtrack to history: it was part of history. His times were not a background to his music, they were an ingredient. Not so much because of the work but because of who he chose to be – and who he could not be.

    The title, The Times Do Not Permit, is taken from a 1966 letter written by Moerane to music academic Percival Kirby, in polite response to a request for detailed information about his life:

    Please be satisfied with the bare statement that the times do not permit.

    That may seem cryptic to anybody who has not felt the iron heel of state repression. For those who have, it’s obvious: the more the authorities know about you, the more power they have over you.



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    So Lucia’s book allows us to enter a world that is distant from today’s experience and rejoice that such a full life was led and that now we know about it. But it also forces us to mourn the opportunities lost for him – and by earlier scholars looking into his life. How many other Black South African musicians have had their lives and legacies obscured like Michael Mosoeu Moerane’s was?

    Gwen Ansell 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. Michael Mosoeu Moerane was a pioneering composer in South Africa. A new book is restoring his place in history – https://theconversation.com/michael-mosoeu-moerane-was-a-pioneering-composer-in-south-africa-a-new-book-is-restoring-his-place-in-history-248948

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Can the president really kill off the penny – and should he?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jay L. Zagorsky, Associate Professor Questrom School of Business, Boston University

    In the middle of Super Bowl LIX, President Donald Trump posted on social media that he was getting rid of the penny. Since the lowly penny in 2024 cost about 3.7 cents to make – meaning the government loses money on every coin – the announcement might seem practical at first glance. But does the president have the power to kill off the penny?

    I’m a business school professor and a longtime advocate for physical money who has written op-eds supporting the penny in The Wall Street Journal and CNN. My forthcoming book, “The Power of Cash,” explores the many advantages of using old-fashioned currency. Yet inflation has slashed the value of the penny by a third in just the past decade, and even I now admit that its time is up.

    But eliminating the penny via a social media post isn’t just legally dubious. It could cause more problems than it solves.

    The penny problem

    Critics see the penny as a shining example of government waste. Last year, the U.S. Mint lost US$85 million making pennies, according to the bureau’s annual report. It also lost about $18 million minting nickels. Now, to be clear, just because the mint didn’t make money on pennies or nickels doesn’t mean it’s losing money overall. In 2024, the mint earned a profit of about $100 million making the country’s pocket change. Still, $85 million is no small sum.

    Meanwhile, public opinion on the penny is split. Some surveys show support for it, but it has plenty of opponents. Many of my students cite carrying around “nuisance coins” like the penny as a reason for switching away from using cash.

    The good news, for those who dislike the penny, is that the coin is disappearing on its own. The U.S. Mint has made about 5 billion pennies annually throughout the 2020s — down from about 11 billion each year in the 1990s. So far in 2025, it has only made about a quarter of a million pennies.

    But is it legal?

    Setting aside people’s feelings toward the penny, the problem with the president’s order, I think, is that only Congress can change the type of coins the mint produces.

    To be fair, some defenders of the president’s order believe his actions are legal. But the U.S. Constitution’s Article 1, Section 8 – which gives Congress the power to do important things like levy taxes, pay debts and declare war – also authorizes Congress “to coin money.”

    Now the phrase “to coin money” is vague. To fix that, the United States’ second Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1792, which was signed into law by President George Washington. The act, which lays out how the mint operates and what it produces, says it must produce “Cents – each to be of the value of the one hundredth part of a dollar, and to contain eleven penny-weights of copper.”

    Congress can modify this act anytime it wants – and it has. The 1792 act also required the mint to produce “Half Cents – each to be of the value of half a cent.” These coins were eliminated in 1857 by an act of Congress. Similarly, before 1965, many U.S. coins were made out of silver. After a 1965 congressional amendment to the act passed, they were made out of a cheaper composite.

    And lawmakers have tried several times to eliminate the penny. In 1989, for example, Arizona Rep. Jim Hayes proposed the Price Rounding Act, which called for cash purchases to be rounded to the nearest nickel. It didn’t pass. More recently, in 2017, Republican Senator John McCain introduced the COINS act, which would have eliminated the minting of pennies. The bill also proposed switching the paper one-dollar bill to a metal coin. It, too, didn’t pass.

    What happens if pennies go?

    Since Congress has failed to eliminate the penny in the past, Trump is trying to do so via a direct order to the Treasury secretary. However, many of Trump’s actions are being challenged in court. For the sake of argument, let’s assume no one challenges the order to kill off production of the penny.

    A big problem remains. Even if the U.S. stopped making pennies, they’d remain legal tender and people would still need them as change. In simple terms, the supply would change, but not the demand.

    Past efforts to phase out the penny have tried to deal with this problem by requiring rounding, but Trump’s effort doesn’t do this. I think it’s entirely possible that people opposed to Trump would organize national “Demand your penny in change” days in an attempt to embarrass the president.

    The U.S. government loses less than $10 million a month minting pennies. In theory, Congress could pass legislation eliminating the penny and requiring rounding within a month or two. The cost to the government for doing things legally is low. If the penny has to go, let Congress do it the right way.

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

    – ref. Can the president really kill off the penny – and should he? – https://theconversation.com/can-the-president-really-kill-off-the-penny-and-should-he-249825

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: From Jewish summer camp to gospel to Chabad, Bob Dylan’s faith doesn’t fit in a box − but he’s long had a connection to Israel

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Shalom Goldman, Professor of Religion, Middlebury

    Bob Dylan gives his first concert in Israel in 1987 in Tel Aviv, playing with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. AP Photo/Anat Givon

    James Mangold’s film “A Complete Unknown,” nominated for eight Oscars, captures the elusive, enigmatic quality of Bob Dylan in the early 1960s: the years he emerged as a major musical and cultural phenomenon. A scant few years after he came to New York from Minnesota, and legally changed his name from Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan transformed American music.

    Especially “unknown” and baffling is Dylan’s religious and spiritual identity, one that has undergone many transformations. Mangold’s film avoids these questions, as does his 2005 film “Walk the Line,” a Johnny Cash biopic. The filmmaker – and much of Hollywood in general – must believe religion isn’t good at the box office.

    As a music fan and scholar of religion, I have long been interested in artists’ religious backgrounds. Cash’s tumultuous life, like his friend and collaborator Dylan’s, was rich in religious affiliations and commitments.

    And both of these musical giants shared a connection with Israel, defying calls to cancel performances there over concern for Palestinian rights – similar to artists’ debates in recent years. Dylan’s, in particular, is difficult to parse and part of his larger spiritual journey – one that’s rambled through Judaism and Christianity and back again.

    Bob Zimmerman

    The last time Dylan took the stage in Israel was at Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan Stadium in June 2011. It had been 18 years since his last performance in the country, though he had made many personal visits in the interim.

    He was, of course, a household name in Israel, revered by the young as well as the not so young. The audience members that evening, according to the Haaretz reporter who covered the event, were
    “overwhelmingly young, overwhelmingly native-born Israelis.”

    Surely everyone in attendance knew that Dylan had been born Robert Zimmerman – indeed, that he had a long, complicated relationship with Israel and with Judaism itself.

    Bob Dylan, right, and a friend visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem on April 6, 1971.
    AP Photo

    Young Zimmerman grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota, in a home that emphasized Jewish identity, if not its religious rituals. A visiting Orthodox rabbi had prepared him for his bar mitzvah, which took place in May 1954, with 400 guests in attendance. That summer, Zimmerman attended Camp Herzl in Wisconsin, a Jewish camp with a Zionist orientation; he would return there the following summers as well. At Camp Herzl young Bob formed his first musical group, the Jokers.

    In his mid-20s, he married Sara Lownds, a Jewish woman with whom he had five children. Dylan made his first private visit to Israel in 1969 and returned regularly in the early 1970s. In May 1971, he celebrated his 30th birthday in Jerusalem; photos of him at the Western Wall appeared in Israeli and American newspapers, fueling speculation that he had “found religion” in the holy city.

    In some ways, the young star put distance between himself and his Jewish roots – he was now Dylan, after all, not Zimmerman. But even in these early years, as throughout his career, “Dylanologists” delighted in the biblical allusions in some of his songs – including irreverent ones, at least at first glance.

    “Highway 61 Revised,” for example, the title track of a 1965 album, kicks off with the binding of Isaac: a section of the Book of Genesis where God famously tests Abraham with a command – reprieved at the last moment – to kill his beloved child:

    Yeah, God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
    Abe said, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”
    God said, “No”, Abe said, “What?”

    Twists and turns

    But Dylan confounded both his admirers and his critics, turning abruptly in the late 1970s to evangelical Christianity. After his conversion, Dylan took a course at Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Los Angeles, which emphasized the end-time narratives of the New Testament Book of Revelation.

    Bob Dylan performs in November 1979, during his Gospel Tour, in San Francisco.
    Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

    His years as a born-again Christian resulted in a series of gospel-influenced albums and at least one more visit to Israel during this early ’80s period. In 1987 he gave his first concerts there, kicking off his Temples in Flames world tour alongside Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

    Within years of embracing Christianity, however, Dylan’s spiritual life yet again confounded his critics and fans, including the more scholarly obsessives known as “Dylanologists.” Born into Judaism, then a born-again evangelical, the rocker now forged ties to Chabad, an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish movement. Between 1986 and 1991, he made three appearances on the Chabad “To Life” Telethon, an annual fundraiser broadcast from Los Angeles.

    Because Dylan was – and is – so private and publicity-shy, it is difficult to know whether such ecumenism represented true spiritual seeking, a political statement or sheer mischief.

    Whether he was presenting himself as a born-again Christian, a supporter of Chabad or just a rock and roller, Dylan seemed inextricably connected to Israel in all its complexity. For example, many listeners interpreted the song “Neighborhood Bully” on his 1983 “Infidels” album as a “declaration of full-throated Israel support,” as Haaretz wrote.

    Many fans interpret ‘Neighborhood Bully’ as sympathetic to Israel.

    The lyrics presented the title character, the “bully,” as an unrepentant, besieged victim: “His enemies say he’s on their land/ They got him outnumbered a million to one/ He got no place to escape to, no place to run.”

    ‘Dylan lives here’

    Dylan performed again in Israel in June 1993, bringing his summer tour to Tel Aviv, Beersheba and Haifa.

    It would be nearly two decades before his next public performance in Israel, the 2011 concert at Ramat Gan. By then, performing in Israel had become much more controversial, with artists planning to tour there under scrutiny.

    The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement publicly pressured the singer to cancel his Tel Aviv show, appealing to his past support of the American Civil Rights Movement. Activists called on Dylan “not to perform in Israel until it respects Palestinian human rights. A performance in Israel, today, is a vote of support for its policies of oppression, whether you intend for it to be that, or not.”

    Ever the enigmatic artist, Dylan did not respond to the BDS appeal, nor did he cancel his concert. The towering pop-music icon did not say why. But many Israelis and Americans read his return as a gesture of support for the Jewish state in the face of widespread criticism.

    Tel Aviv welcomed him with open arms, including a television news profile of his life, music and Jewish affiliations. Though he said nothing from the stage during the performance – late-career Dylan is notorious for not addressing the audience between songs – Israeli fans saw the concert as a triumphant homecoming.

    “Dylan lives here. He lives in the culture of Israel,” wrote the Haaretz reviewer. “He has influenced Israel for the better more than any other American Jew.”

    Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, international criticism of Israeli policies has become much more strident. Dylan, as cryptic as ever, has neither joined the critics nor identified himself with Israel’s supporters.

    But supporters are posting “Neighborhood Bully” wherever and whenever they can.

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

    – ref. From Jewish summer camp to gospel to Chabad, Bob Dylan’s faith doesn’t fit in a box − but he’s long had a connection to Israel – https://theconversation.com/from-jewish-summer-camp-to-gospel-to-chabad-bob-dylans-faith-doesnt-fit-in-a-box-but-hes-long-had-a-connection-to-israel-248739

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Syria’s mass graves: Accounting for the dead and disappeared is crucial for the nation to heal

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Stefan Schmitt, Project Lead for International Technical Forensic Services Global Forensic Justice Center, Florida International University

    Shortly after the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria in December 2024, reports emerged of mass graves being uncovered in liberated areas.

    Grim as such discoveries are, they should come as little surprise. The scale of the regime’s torture and killings in its detention facilities became evident years earlier, when in January 2014 a forensic photographer defected and left the country with a cache of 55,000 photos of people who had been tortured and died in detention.

    As an expert in forensic anthropology and mass casualties in conflict, I was asked to evaluate what became known as the “Caesar photographs.” What was clear to me then, and is even more so now, is that those photos represented a systematic approach to torturing, killing and disappearing massive numbers of people by the Assad regime.

    With Assad now gone, the newly formed government of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has vowed to seek justice for the crimes Syrians suffered under Assad. Doing so will be difficult, even with the civil war in Syria being one of the better monitored conflicts in recent history. Yet it is a task that is imperative for the sake of pursuing justice in a shattered country and reducing the likelihood of violence returning to Syria.

    Holding perpetrators to account

    Since Syria erupted into violence in 2011, several groups have been collecting evidence of human rights violations. These include the Syrian Justice and Accountability Center, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Syrian Emergency Task Force and the Commission for International Justice and Accountability. Internationally, the United Nations established an International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria in 2016 to assist any investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for serious violations of international law in Syria since March 2011.

    Estimates of those killed since the start of civil conflict in 2011 range anywhere from 100,000 to over 600,000, with civilian deaths accounting for at least 160,000.

    Many of these deaths have been at the hands of the Assad regime. But different armed groups, including the al-Nusra Front and Islamic State group, have also been accused of atrocities.

    From the perspective of holding perpetrators accountable, that could complicate matters. The leader of now ruling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is the founder of the al-Nusra Front and might not be willing to hold his group or others accountable or acknowledge the crimes of that group.

    An uncovered mass grave believed to contain the remains of civilians killed by the ousted Assad regime in Daraa, Syria.
    Bekir Kasim/Anadolu via Getty Images

    Who investigates?

    There are three dimensions of accounting for the missing following conflict. First, there is the task of identifying and repatriating the remains of those in mass graves to allow family and friends to grieve. Second, the rights of victims to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones needs to be addressed. And finally, the process needs to provide justice, accountability and reconciliation, regardless of who was responsible.

    But before this can take place, the question of who is responsible for the accounting needs to be addressed.

    Countries coming out of civil conflict have turned to different mechanisms, from truth commissions to criminal tribunals. In the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, special U.N. courts were set up to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of grievous crimes. These tribunals were created as independent judicial bodies dedicated to investigating and prosecuting those most responsible for the crimes that had been committed during conflict.

    Guatemala, which emerged from a decades-long civil war in 1996, turned to national human rights and victim organizations to take the lead in a process of “transitional justice.” This included the Commission for Historical Clarification, which through its investigation concluded that an estimated 200,000 people had been killed.

    The nongovernmental Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala, or FAFG, has since 1993 formed a fundamental part of searching, identifying and repatriating the missing. FAFG collects personal information, DNA profiles and witness statements and is responsible for protecting the rights of victims’ families in Guatemala’s judicial system.

    Its work continues to this day.

    What crimes to include

    As to the Syrian civil war, a decision over the scope of any investigation into the disappeared and dead will likewise have to be made.

    Will it include all those missing and in mass graves in areas held by al-Nusra, the Islamic State group and other armed groups, as well as those killed by Assad? The fact that groups and individuals that now form the government could have been involved in human rights violations may risk future investigations being skewed toward just the victims of Assad.

    Even if the scope was narrowed to Assad’s crimes, it’s unclear how far back one should go. Assad rule in Syria began more than 50 years ago under Assad’s father, Hafez al Assad. And killings and disappearances date back to the elder’s time in power, including the 1982 massacre in the city of Hama in which an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 were killed.

    The role of the state

    Another fact-finding question concerns the sharing of information between civil society groups and the state.

    The information gathered on the war by various NGOs so far is technically held or “owned” by such groups, not the Syrian state. This is for a good reason, as victims trust these organizations to protect information from the perpetrators, some of whom might form part of the new government.

    The International Commission on Missing Persons, an NGO with its seat in the Netherlands, gained its reputation while identifying the dead from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and early 2000s. It has already collected and stored testimonies from over 76,200 Syrian relatives of more than 28,000 missing persons and has identified 66 mass grave locations. Other organizations have similar testimonies.

    But to what extent will these groups share their data and analysis with a future Syrian state led by a rebel group that itself is accused of human rights violations, such as arbitrary detentions and torture?

    At some point, the state of Syria will need to be involved in the process. Legally and in practice, the state issues a citizen’s “civil identity” through things such as a birth certificate that establish a person with rights and responsibilities. In the same manner, the state issues death certificates in which the manner of death determines any judicial reactions – such as a criminal investigation in cases where the death is due to homicide.

    The state is also important in resolving issues such as inheritance and widower status.

    Identifying the remains from the mass graves is therefore not just a “technical” issue dependent on cutting-edge DNA laboratories and missing-persons databases. It is also something that any future Syrian state should work toward, and then own and take responsibility for.

    Shifting responsibility away from the state to an international body would not really help Syria develop its own accountability mechanisms or hold the government to delivering justice for the victims and their families.

    In my view, empowering victims in this transitional justice process needs to be a priority for the Syrian state. This includes the establishment of a transparent forensic and investigative effort to address the concerns of families searching for loved ones.

    It should not, I believe, be outsourced. From my experience with similar processes elsewhere, it is important that Syrians become “experts” in all aspects of this process. No doubt, the task will take time and searching for the truth about what happened, and will involve perpetrators and victims alike.

    It might well be a painful and painstaking process. But it is a necessary one if postconflict Syrian is to hold to account those who attempted to “erase” the identity of victims by disappearing them, burying them in mass graves, or leaving them under the bombed rubble of their neighborhoods.

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

    – ref. Syria’s mass graves: Accounting for the dead and disappeared is crucial for the nation to heal – https://theconversation.com/syrias-mass-graves-accounting-for-the-dead-and-disappeared-is-crucial-for-the-nation-to-heal-246400

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump and Maduro refresh a complex relationship governed by self-interest and tainted by Venezuela election fraud

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Paul Webster Hare, Master Lecturer and Interim Director of Latin American Studies, Boston University

    Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 31, 2025. Venezuela’s presidential press office, via AP

    In 2019, President Donald Trump recognized then-Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s interim leader over Nicolás Maduro, who has ruled the country since 2013.

    The policy, which led Venezuela to officially sever ties with the United States, was consistent with the first Trump administration’s policy of maximum pressure and a desire for regime change when it came to the socialist government in Caracas.

    Fast forward six years: The early days of Trump’s second administration has seen the U.S. president negotiate with Maduro over the release of detained Americans and an apparent willingness from Venezuela to receive hundreds of thousands of its nationals being deported from the U.S.

    As a diplomat who served in Venezuela and knew Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez, I detect a subtle shift in the evolving Trump administration’s policy toward Venezuela. It’s true that the administration retains a strong dose of the anti-Maduro posture it held last time, particularly in light of Maduro’s widely denounced election fraud in 2024 and an undercurrent of antipathy in Washington toward left-wing authoritarianism in Latin America.

    But U.S.-Venezuela relations under a second Trump term are subject to other factors and dynamics, including Trump’s desire to be known for deal-making and the fulfillment of his campaign promise to deport immigrants back to Latin America. At the same time, Trump needs to balance satisfying anti-Maduro voices in his coalition with not pushing Venezuela further toward China, a country all too willing to exert greater influence in parts of Latin America.

    Deal-making and immigration

    So far, the second Trump’s administration seems to be sticking to the line of not officially recognizing Maduro and preferring his departure from the scene. It has kept sanctions on the country intact and continues to recognize Maduro’s opponent, Edmundo González, as the legitimate president-elect.

    But that hasn’t stopped the administration from pursuing negotiations. In late January, Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell visited Caracas to secure the release of six Americans accused by Venezuela of plotting to destabilize the country. Trump subsequently announced that Maduro would accept repatriation of deportations of Venezuelans in the U.S. The U.S. administration also revoked the Temporary Protected Status, a categorization prioritized by President Joe Biden, for hundreds of thousands of people who fled Maduro’s Venezuela.

    On Feb. 10, two Venezuelan planes returned home from the U.S with nearly 200 deported Venezuelan nationals, a signal that negotiations between the two nations were more than just optics. But news that the Trump administration has sent Venezuelan detainees to a U.S. military camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba – and is trying to send more – could yet prove a thorn in the side of any diplomatic thaw.

    Regardless, the shift in stance on Venezuela has raised eyebrows among some Republicans and Democrats alike. Their concern is that Grenell’s visit – and overtures from the White House – gives Maduro’s regime a veneer of legitimacy.

    But so long as Trump feels Venezuela under Maduro is useful to his aims of deportations, other U.S. issues with the government in Caracas are, I believe, likely to remain of secondary importance.

    Rhetoric vs. reality

    The complicated dynamic of two men, ideologically opposed but aware of the other’s usefulness, is reciprocated by Maduro. The Venezuelan leader congratulated Trump on his election victory in November, and he appears to treat his more powerful adversary with some pragmatism. But Maduro also remains willing to take a strident line rhetorically, even suggesting that Venezuela might “liberate” Puerto Rico if the U.S. keeps meddling with Venezuela’s affairs.

    Rhetoric aside, Maduro – as evidenced by his apparent willingness to deal with the new administration on hostages and immigration – is likely to pursue self-interest where possible. And he will be well aware that the survival of his rule may be tied with his country’s economic situation.

    Venezuela has been hit hard by U.S. sanctions that have been in place since 2017.

    The level of poverty in the country is estimated to be around 80% of the population. This bleak economic picture is improving slowly but is still hampered by sluggish oil production despite having vast reserves.

    Under Biden, the U.S. granted some exemptions for oil companies to work in Venezuela despite sanctions, helping the struggling export industry to recover some of its lost productivity.

    Maduro will want to see where he can work with the Trump team to continue such allowances and avoid a full embargo. But recent noises coming from the administration have been mixed on this front. On Jan. 20, Trump suggested that he may pull the plug on Venezuelan oil exports to the U.S. “We don’t have to buy their oil. We have plenty of oil for ourselves,” he said.

    Such a move would be a severe blow to Venezuela’s economy, which has benefited from increased exports to the U.S. in recent years. But the move will likely face resistance from oil producers like Chevron, the American company that has a license to operate in Venezuela.

    Election fraud and beyond

    It’s plausible Trump will be swayed by the elements of his base or administration who view Venezuela primarily in terms of a socialist authoritarian adversary to be defeated.

    In 2024, Maduro pulled off one of Latin America’s great election frauds. Computer printouts had shown the opposition campaign of González and Maria Corina Machado won the July election by a landslide. And yet, Maduro declared himself the winner with no evidence.

    Many in Trump’s circle viewed the fraudulent election as another reason for being hawkish toward the nation – a position that takes in both ideological and electoral considerations.

    Trump knows there is a strong base of anti-communist Venezuelans in Florida who want to be tough on the Cuban-aligned government of Maduro. The new U.S. administration’s deportation policy has already concerned some among this strongly Trump voting base; any relaxation on Maduro could be seen as a further “betrayal.”

    And Trump has appointed several people who have long been critical of Maduro, including his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

    Rubio, in particular, is a longtime critic of any accommodation with Venezuela. He has spoken to opposition leaders, called González the legitimate president, blasted any relaxation of sanctions and, during his confirmation hearing, labeled Maduro’s government “a narco-trafficking organization.”

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, oversees a ‘seized’ sign being placed on a Venezuelan government airplane on Feb. 6, 2025.
    Mark Schiefelbein/AFP via Getty Images

    And while U.S. envoy Grenell has been shaking hands with Maduro, Rubio has been seizing the Venezuelan leader’s aircraft. On Feb. 6, the U.S. secretary of state personally oversaw its confiscation while visiting the Dominican Republic, where it had been impounded since last year.

    Competition with China

    During his first administration, Trump failed in his efforts to encourage the replacement of Maduro.

    In any case, the Venezuelan government under Maduro, like Chavez before him, has shown itself capable of withstanding U.S. pressure.

    Throwing a further wrinkle to any U.S. intentions of influencing the future of Venezuela is the role China has taken on in the country and Maduro’s increasing closeness with Beijing. In contrast to leaders in the West, China’s president, Xi Jinping, congratulated Maduro following the latter’s claim of victory in 2024. China is the leading importer of Venezuelan crude oil and has signed a series of bilateral trade and tourism pacts that have provided Maduro an economic lifeline.

    To some U.S. hawks, China’s influence with Maduro represents a breach of a long-standing vision of the U.S. as a regional hegemony, as envisioned by the Monroe Doctrine. Yet other voices within the administration – including Trump, who has spoken positively about diplomatic overtures to Beijing, or Elon Musk, who has extensive business interests in China – view the country in far different terms than predecessors.

    Ultimately, whatever path Trump chooses on relations with Venezuela is likely to be conditioned on what factions win out in his administration and which political constituencies the president is most keen to please.

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

    – ref. Trump and Maduro refresh a complex relationship governed by self-interest and tainted by Venezuela election fraud – https://theconversation.com/trump-and-maduro-refresh-a-complex-relationship-governed-by-self-interest-and-tainted-by-venezuela-election-fraud-248275

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: 60 years of progress in expanding rights is being rolled back by Trump − a pattern that’s all too familiar in US history

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Philip Klinkner, James S. Sherman Professor of Government, Hamilton College

    There’s a long history in the U.S. of denying the rights, liberties and benefits of democracy to some Americans. rob dobi/Getty Images

    For many Americans, Donald Trump’s head-spinning array of executive orders in the early days of his second term look like an unprecedented effort to roll back democracy and the rights and liberties of American citizens.

    But it isn’t unprecedented.

    As we have written, American history is not a steady march toward greater equality, democracy and individual rights. America’s commitment to these liberal values has competed with an alternative set of illiberal values that hold that full American citizenship should be limited by race, ethnicity, gender and class.

    The most famous example of this conflict is the Jim Crow era after Reconstruction, when many of the political and legal rights gained by African Americans in the Civil War era were swept away by disenfranchisement, segregation and discrimination. From roughly 1870 until 1940, democracy and equal rights were retreating, not advancing, leaving what was described in the 1960s by President Lyndon Johnson as “the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.”

    Today, the Trump administration is seeking to roll back America’s commitment to equality and engaging in a broad effort to limit – if not outright deny – the rights, liberties and benefits of democracy to all Americans.

    President Donald Trump attacked the FAA’s DEI initiatives during a press conference on the D.C. plane crash.

    Progress, then rollbacks

    The biggest gains in African American rights came during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War II and the Cold War, when the United States confronted enemies that Americans believed contradicted its liberal values – the British monarchy, Southern slaveholders, fascist dictators and communist tyrants. The United States highlighted its commitments to democracy and human rights as a way of contrasting itself from its enemies.

    But once the pressures of war faded, America’s illiberal values reasserted themselves. With the end of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, the movement for greater equality stalled and many of the previous gains were rolled back.

    The onset of World War II and then the Cold War forced Americans to renew their commitment to democracy and human rights for all Americans. This period is often described as the Second Reconstruction.

    Like the First Reconstruction a century earlier, the federal government helped to ensure civil and voting rights for African Americans. These efforts laid the groundwork for advancing the political and civil rights of women, other racial and ethnic groups, immigrants, disabled persons and, eventually, members of the gay and lesbian community.

    But like the First Reconstruction, these changes generated intense backlash.

    Bigger than anti-DEI

    Since the demise of the Cold War over 30 years ago, the Republican Party has increasingly sided with those seeking to roll back the gains of the Second Reconstruction.

    Even before Trump first ran for president, the Republican Party began adopting nativist, anti-immigration policies. In 2012, a Republican-dominated Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law barring racial discrimination in voting that was one of the signal achievements of the Second Reconstruction.

    In 2016, Trump rose to the Republican nomination by expressing and amplifying the racist and xenophobic views of many white Americans, including the claim that Barack Obama was born outside of the U.S., that Mexican immigrants were criminals and rapists, and that the U.S. should close its borders to anyone from Muslim countries.

    Since his second inauguration, Trump has mounted a full-scale effort to undermine the policies of the Second Reconstruction. This effort has been masked as an attack on diversity, equity and inclusion – or DEI – policies. According to Trump and other critics of DEI, these policies are themselves racist, since they allegedly single out white Americans for shame and scorn.

    As scholars of race and American politics, we believe that, overall, DEI initiatives have combated racial discrimination and expanded the pools of talented people who can contribute to the nation’s progress.

    The Trump administration’s effort to end DEI programs is really an attack on decades of efforts by the federal government to make good on the promise of America: to engage in rigorous nondiscrimination efforts and open up opportunities for all.

    One of Trump’s first executive orders, which prominently featured abandonment of DEI policies, also repealed a 60-year-old executive order signed by President Johnson mandating “affirmative action” to end widespread discrimination by the federal government and its contractors.

    Antidiscrimination is discrimination?

    These diversity initiatives have for more than 50 years included requirements that beneficiaries of these policies must be qualified for the benefits they obtain.

    But to Trump and many conservatives, such policies force employers to engage in racial and gender quotas to prove that they don’t discriminate. Furthermore, these efforts to end discrimination, according to Trump’s executive order, “diminish the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination,” leading to “disastrous consequences.”

    In other words, Trump and others claim that efforts to end discrimination are themselves a form of discrimination and force the hiring of unqualified and incompetent people.

    Trump made this view clear in his comments on the recent collision between a passenger airliner and a military helicopter in Washington, D.C. Before any formal investigation, Trump alleged that the crash resulted from Obama and Biden administration efforts to diversify the Federal Aviation Administration staff. Such efforts, he suggested, elevate unqualified people.

    “If they don’t have a great brain … they’re not going to be good at what they do and bad things will happen,” he said.

    Efforts to reverse DEI have been accompanied by other antidiversity moves. One example: According to a news release, the Defense Department will no longer use “official resources” to mark “Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month.”

    Undoing 19th-century advances

    The attack on DEI goes beyond the federal government. Other executive orders mandate that K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities end DEI programs, since they are “anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies.”

    Instead, Trump insists that schools engage only in “patriotic education.”

    Such a policy will almost certainly prevent schools from honestly addressing the ways in which racial, ethnic and gender discrimination have influenced America’s past and present.

    The Trump administration is attacking the First Reconstruction as well. Another Trump executive order seeks to end birthright citizenship for children of unauthorized alien residents.

    That move would limit the 14th Amendment, one of the constitutional cornerstones of the First Reconstruction. Passed in 1868 in order to guarantee citizenship rights for African Americans, it begins by stating:

    “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

    This provision was included in order to explicitly overturn the notorious 1857 Supreme Court decision, Dred Scott v. Sandford, that ruled that African Americans were not citizens and consequently “they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

    Pushback capacity

    A protester at a demonstration against the Trump administration at the Texas State Capitol on Feb. 5, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
    Brandon Bell/Getty Images

    How far can the Trump administration go in its efforts to undo the Second Reconstruction?

    Numerous legal challenges have already been filed. In the case of the executive order limiting birthright citizenship, a lower federal court judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan blocked the order, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.”

    Many of these cases will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, which under Chief Justice John Roberts has been willing to overturn long-established equal rights precedents. Besides its 2012 gutting of the Voting Rights Act, in 2022 the court limited the reproductive rights of women by overturning its 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade. Most recently, in 2023 the court ended a 45-year precedent that allowed colleges and universities to engage in limited forms of affirmative action in order to achieve more student diversity.

    Yet despite years of attacks by conservatives and now the Trump administration, most efforts to end discrimination and open doors to all Americans, including DEI, remain popular. And the groups empowered by the Second Reconstruction – racial and ethnic minorities, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ community – are far more numerous and have far more legal and political resources available with which to fight back than those that were aided by the First Reconstruction.

    There are now no government pressures driving Americans to make greater progress toward democracy and equal rights for all, as in the relatively brief earlier periods of significant reform in America.

    But those reforms have given many more Americans the capacity to push back against policies that violate both American values and American interests.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. 60 years of progress in expanding rights is being rolled back by Trump − a pattern that’s all too familiar in US history – https://theconversation.com/60-years-of-progress-in-expanding-rights-is-being-rolled-back-by-trump-a-pattern-thats-all-too-familiar-in-us-history-248526

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Company offering fake hospitality packages to the British Grand Prix is shut down

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Foresea Limited is connected to three other hospitality package scams which were wound up by the Insolvency Service in the past six months.

    • Foresea Limited targeted businesses with hospitality tickets for the British Grand Prix  
    • The company is connected to three similar scam businesses shut down following Insolvency Service investigations.  
    • Foresea Ltd was wound-up at the High Court in Manchester on 12 February 2025. 

    A company which offered businesses British Grand Prix hospitality packages they never actually had has been shut down after customers failed to receive tickets they had paid for. 

    Foresea Limited – originally based in Kent but thought to have changed business address several times – claimed to be a large-scale provider of corporate hospitality, despite never having the tickets to sell.

    An Insolvency Service investigation found that clients would be contacted through cold calls and would then pay for the hospitality packages which were later cancelled by Foresea Limited with no refunds being paid.  

    The Insolvency Service understands that Foresea Limited is connected to at least three other scam hospitality businesses which have been shut down by the agency since August 2024: Informa Expo Ltd, Prive Global Sports Ltd and Darcella Ltd. 

    David Usher, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: 

    We have worked hard to root out these companies and attempt to end this cycle of scam hospitality packages.  

    Foresea Limited existed for the sole purpose of continuing to cause harm to unsuspecting members of the public, with the promise of tickets to high-profile sporting event. 

    Our investigations into these types of scams continue, and we will do all we can to put a stop to them.

    Warnings about the company were also published by the FIA, the governing body of motorsport. 

    Clients of Foresea Limited also made complaints to Action Fraud. 

    Foresea Ltd charged 20% VAT on each sale, collecting around £12,000 in tax, when it was not registered to do so. 

    Attempts to contact current and previous directors of Foresea Ltd were unsuccessful and the company failed to provide its books and records as it was required to do.  

    The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of the company.  

    All enquiries concerning the affairs of the Foresea Ltd should be made to the Official Receiver of the Public Interest Unit: 16th Floor, 1 Westfield Avenue, Stratford, London, E20 1HZ. Email: piu.or@insolvency.gov.uk. 

    Information about the other companies related to this case can be found here:  

    Darcella Ltd: Corporate sports and music hospitality provider shut down after last-minute booking cancellations and failure to pay refunds – GOV.UK 

    Prive Global Sports Ltd: Scam company which claimed to sell hospitality packages to major sporting events is shut down – GOV.UK 

    Informa Expo Limited: Scam company which offered fake hospitality packages to British Grand Prix is shut down – GOV.UK 

    Further information  

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Legislation introduced to enable appointment of Lord High Commissioner of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Press release from the Cabinet Office published Thursday 13th February.

    Today (Thursday 13 February) the UK Government is introducing legislation to remove the legal barrier to Roman Catholics holding the office of Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

    The Lord High Commissioner is appointed to attend the proceedings on The King’s behalf as the Sovereign’s representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland – the governing body of the Church of Scotland, which meets each May in Edinburgh.

    The Lord High Commissioner makes opening and closing addresses and carries out a number of official functions. The Assembly meets annually to hear reports from the councils and committees, makes laws and sets the agenda for the Church of Scotland.

    Currently, Roman Catholics are legally restricted from holding the office of Lord High Commissioner due to historic legislation, including the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829. The Government will introduce a short and narrowly-focused Bill – the Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill – to remove this restriction. Individuals of other faiths and none can currently hold the office. 

    The Bill will facilitate the upcoming appointment of Lady Elish Angiolini as the Lord High Commissioner for 2025.  Lady Elish would be the first Roman Catholic to hold this office.

    Lady Elish Angiolini is a practising Roman Catholic and has a distinguished background in law and academia. Her appointment will be a significant gesture of unity, goodwill and collaboration between the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church in Scotland, following the St Margaret Declaration signed in 2022.

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NEWS: Bipartisan Lawmakers Demand Trump Reinstate NLRB Member Wilcox

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Congressional Labor Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) led every Democratic senator and a bipartisan group of 213 Representatives in urging President Trump to immediately reinstate National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Gwynne Wilcox. The lawmakers called on the president to restore the NLRB’s ability to protect the rights of American workers to organize and collectively bargain, which were already impaired by understaffing at the agency, and are now effectively lost the lack of quorum on the NLRB.

    “We are writing to express our deep frustration at the unprecedented and illegal firing of National Labor Relations Board Member Gwynne Wilcox and the negative impact this will have on working people across the country,” wrote Sanders and the lawmakers. “This firing violates the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), renders the Board unable to effectively enforce federal labor law, and profoundly undermines the independence of the agency.”

    Congress created the NLRB nearly 90 years ago as an independent, non-partisan federal agency to protect workers nationwide by enforcing the NLRA, which guarantees the rights of workers to join together in collective action, including by organizing unions, negotiating contracts, and going on strike. The lawmakers pointed to specific federal statute that restricts the president’s ability to remove NLRB members for reasons other than neglect of duty or malfeasance. They also clarified that Wilcox’s firing without a hearing or cause expressly violated that law.

    “Workers rely on the NLRB to safeguard their rights to organize and collectively bargain to better their working conditions,” continued the lawmakers. “However, by firing Member Wilcox and leaving the five-seat NLRB with only two Members, you have left the Board without a quorum and effectively shut down its decision-making ability. This simply encourages bad employers to violate the law and trample on workers’ rights, while workers subjected to illegal union-busting will face significant delays in receiving the justice to which they are entitled.”

    Since Trump fired Wilcox, grocery store workers in Philadelphia have already seen their labor rights eroded as large corporations are allowed to violate labor law with no recourse available for their employees. After Whole Foods workers voted overwhelmingly to form a union, the company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is “attempting to exploit some of the disruption Trump has caused,” according to the Washington Post, by not abiding by the outcome of the union election.

    “We urge you to reverse your decision and to immediately reinstate Member Wilcox to the NLRB to ensure that working people are afforded the protections to which they are entitled under the law,” concluded Sanders and the lawmakers.

    Read the full text of the letter here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New report highlights key sources of air pollution in Oxford

    Source: City of Oxford

    A new report has been published by Oxford City Council, providing a breakdown of the key sources of air pollution in the city. 

    The Oxford Source Apportionment report, which was conducted by Ricardo Group, highlights that road transport remains the highest contributor to NOx emissions, while domestic wood burning is the largest contributor to particulate pollution (PM2.5) in the city. 

    The report examines the contributions of different sectors to air pollution in Oxford (transport, domestic combustion, point sources, other transport, and other emissions), focusing on nitrogen oxides (NOX – a combination of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10).  

    The report is based on air pollution data measured in 2022, as well as modelling on the impact of the introduction of 159 electric buses in Oxford through the Government’s ZEBRA scheme. 

    The report found that while road transport remains the largest source of NOX pollution (32%), domestic combustion—particularly wood burning—is the leading cause of harmful PM2.5 emissions (24%). 

    Key findings of the report: 

    • Road transport remains the largest contributor to NOX pollution – accounting for 32% of total NOX emissions.
    • Domestic combustion accounts for 26% of total NOX emissions.
    • Point sources (emissions from sources at a known location that can be directly mapped such as industry or commercial buildings) contribute 20% of total NOX emissions.
    • Other road transport (including boats, and military aircraft) accounts for 9% of total NOX emissions.
    • Other emissions (including rail and aircrafts, non-road mobile machinery, industry, waste, solvents, agriculture, and production processes) accounts for 13% of total NOX emissions.
    • Domestic wood burning is the highest contributor to PM2.5 pollution, accounting for 24% of total PM2.5 emissions.
    • Buses contribute 4% to total NOX emissions, reflecting a significant (28%) reduction since the previous source apportionment study, due to Oxford’s transition to electric buses. 

    Road Transport 

    Road transport remains the largest single contributor to NOX pollution, with diesel vehicles dominating emissions: 

    • Cars (petrol and diesel) account for 48% of total NOX emissions.
    • Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) account for 19%.
    • Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs) account for 26%.
    • Buses contribute 4% to total NOX emissions, reflecting a significant (28%) reduction since the previous source apportionment study, due to Oxford’s transition to electric buses. 
    • Private hire and Hackney taxis account for 2%. 

    Since the previous Source Apportionment Study, road transport NOX emissions have dropped from 40% to 32%, primarily due to the introduction of electric buses under the government’s ZEBRA scheme. Buses now contribute to 4% to total NOX emissions in the city. 

    Since the previous Source Apportionment Study, road transport NOX emissions have dropped from 40% to 32%, primarily due to the introduction of electric buses under the government’s ZEBRA scheme. Buses now contribute to 4% to total NOX emissions in the city. 

    Hotspot Locations 

    In addition to transport emissions across the whole city, the report also looked at pollution in three ‘hotspot’ locations – St Clement’s, Botley road and Worcester Street – which have historically seen high levels of air pollution and are key roads for vehicles to travel into and across the city.  

    The findings show: 

    • Cars are the biggest contributors to NOX across all three locations.
    • LGVs and HGVs follow as the next most significant contributors.
    • Buses have seen a reduction in their contribution to NOX emissions, following the transition to electric in 2024.
    • Private hire taxis contribute more to NOX emissions than Hackney Carriages – with both sources combined accounting for 2% of NOX. 

    Domestic Combustion 

    The report highlights that the domestic combustion sector (which includes emissions from burning wood, coal, and gas to heat homes) is responsible for 35% of total PM2.5 emissions citywide – with wood burning alone accounting for 25%.  

    When looking at the specific sources of PM2.5 within the domestic combustion sector: 

    • Wood burning accounts for 70% of all PM2.5 emissions relating to domestic combustion.
    • Commercial heating (in businesses and institutions) contributes 15%.
    • Gas and coal (domestic others) burning contributes 14%.
    • Smokeless fuels account for just 1%.

    Other sources of emissions 

    Other sources of NOX emissions in Oxford includes: 

    • Point sources (such as industry and commercial buildings) contribute 20% of total NOX emissions.
    • Other road transport (including boats, and military aircraft) accounts for 9% of total NOX emissions.
    • Other emissions (including rail and aircrafts, non-road mobile machinery, industry, waste, solvents, agriculture, and production processes) account for 13% of total NOX emissions. 

    There is no safe level of air pollution  

    In Oxford, the main pollutant of concern is nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Over the past few years, Oxford’s air quality has improved significantly, and since the introduction of the city’s current Air Quality Action Plan in 2021, NO2 levels across Oxford have seen a 18% average reduction.  

    Oxford is currently in compliance with the UK’s legal limit for NO2 in all areas of ‘relevant exposure’ within the city (40 µg/m³). However, there is ultimately no safe level of NO2 exposure.  

    In September 2021 the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended a much ‘safer’ annual mean level of NO2 of 10 µg/m³. Under its current Air Quality Action Plan, which was established in January 2021, Oxford has set its own voluntary annual mean target for NO2 of 30 µg/m³) to be achieved across the city by 2025.  

    Next Steps 

    The report will inform the Council’s upcoming Air Quality Action Plan, which will be updated in 2026 following public consultation later this year.

    An Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) outlines the actions that the Council and its partners will take to improve air quality in Oxford within a certain period of time.The Council’s current Air Quality Action Plan can be read here. 

    For more information on air quality in Oxford, visit the Council’s Air Quality pages.  

    Comment 

    “This latest source apportionment study shows us to the key sources of toxic air pollution in Oxford, and what areas we need to focus on to improve air pollution across the city.  

    “We can see that there has been a significant reduction in the contribution of buses to NOX levels following the introduction of the 159 electric bus fleet. However, cars remain the largest contributor to this pollution.  

    “The report also highlights that we must address the growing issue of domestic wood burning, which is now the largest source of harmful PM2.5 pollution in Oxford. Many people may not realise that even modern wood stoves produce dangerous emissions. By reducing wood burning and supporting zero-emission transport, we can continue to improve Oxford’s air quality for everyone.” 

    Councillor Anna Railton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Zero Carbon Oxford, Oxford City Council

    “The modelled impact that the new fleet of electric buses is having on air quality in Oxford in such as short space of time is remarkable. We are incredibly proud to have put together the successful bid alongside the bus companies to bring them to the city, and this new report shows why it was such an important initiative in creating a cleaner, greener county.” 

    Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Management

    “We’re proud of the massive step change in emissions buses have delivered in Oxford over the last decade to help provide radically cleaner air for the communities we serve. 

    “This has been sustained over several years with the move to ultra-low emission vehicles and more recently zero emission vehicles, following significant investment by both companies.  

    “However, overall Oxford’s air is not benefitting as much as it could be due to the steadily increasing proportion of car and van emissions. The data clearly demonstrates that it’s vital for Oxford’s health that suitable measures are introduced to help reduce the volume of private vehicles on the city’s roads to achieve even greater improvements in air quality.” 

    Luke Marion, Managing Director of Oxford Bus Company

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Government sets out plans for ‘e-invoicing’ overhaul to cut paperwork

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Government consultation on electronic invoicing launched

    • Government launches 12-week e-invoicing consultation on plans to cut paperwork for businesses and help improve productivity.
    • Proposals expected to save businesses time and money and speed up payments, creating the conditions to grow the economy, part of the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change.
    • Will help businesses get tax right first time with fewer invoicing and VAT return errors.
    • UK stakeholders and businesses urged to comment.

    UK businesses are, for the first time, being invited to have their say on the government’s electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) proposals.

    E-invoicing is the digital exchange of invoice information directly between buyers and suppliers. It could help businesses get their tax right first time, reduce invoicing and data errors, improve the accuracy of VAT returns, help close the tax gap and save time and money. It usually results in faster business to business payments, leading to improved cash flow and less paperwork.

    This will help cut down time and resources businesses spend managing their tax affairs so they can be more productive. It forms part of the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change for a tax system that supports economic growth.

    Examples of where e-invoicing has improved cash flow include:

    • Australian Government agencies who are paying their suppliers within 5 days compared to 20 days for other forms of invoices.
    • a UK NHS trust where e-invoices are ready for processing within 24 hours, compared to 10 days under paper invoicing. Their e-invoices are typically paid almost twice as quickly than paper invoices, with supplier queries reduced by an average of 15%.

    Examples of the wider benefits to business of e-invoicing are highlighted by software providers:

    • Xero see e-invoicing as the next digital revolution for small firms, simplifying how businesses invoice customers and get paid faster. Firms will save money on chasing payments, improve cash flow and reduce fraud risks.
    • a published business research report from Sage* shows that e-invoicing streamlines routine tasks like data entry and tax filing, driving annual productivity gains of around 3% in the UK, supporting the government’s broader growth agenda.

    The 12-week consultation ‘Promoting electronic invoicing across UK businesses and the public sector’ was published today (13 February 2025) by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The deadline for comment is 7 May 2025.

    James Murray, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury said:

    As part of the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change, we have begun our work to transform the UK’s tax system into one that is focused on helping businesses and the economy to grow.

    E-invoicing simplifies processes, reduces errors and helps businesses to get paid faster. By cutting paperwork and freeing up valuable time and money, it will help improve firms’ productivity and their ability to grow and succeed.

    Gareth Thomas, Minister for Services, Small Business and Exports, said:

    Small businesses are at the heart of our economy and vital to our growth mission. The potential of digitising taxes, speeding up payments and streamlining administrative tasks will provide real benefits to the economy, supporting smaller firms and boosting growth.

    This is why we want to make sure e-invoicing works for SMEs, because cash flow can make all the difference between staying afloat or going under.

    The consultation applies to business invoicing. It will gather views on standardising e-invoicing and how to increase its adoption across UK businesses and the public sector. It also explores how different e-invoicing models could align a business with their customers’ businesses. People can take part whether or not they currently use e-invoicing.

    HMRC and the DBT want to hear the opinions of self-employed people, businesses of all sizes, representative and industry bodies, charities and public sector organisations.

    Topics that the government is interested in exploring include:

    • different models of e-invoicing
    • whether to take a mandated or voluntary approach to e-invoicing, and what scope of mandate might be most appropriate in the UK and for businesses
    • whether e-invoicing should be complemented by real time digital reporting.

    The government will also engage with a broad range of businesses and interested stakeholders to secure their views at various events, including face-to-face discussions.

    Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, will host a business round table at the Darlington Economic Campus and Government Hub this afternoon (13 February 2025), where he and Business and Trade Minister, Gareth Thomas, will discuss the consultation and listen to the opinions of industry bodies, regional stakeholders and local businesses in the North East.

    It follows a visit earlier in the day by James Murray MP to software developer Sage’s Newcastle headquarters, where he met with accountants to discuss government support for small businesses and how HMRC is working to deliver its priorities. Sage is one of the providers of software for HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) programme. A full list of software providers for MTD can be found on GOV.UK.

    Further Information

    The consultation ‘Promoting electronic invoicing across UK businesses and the public sector’ is available on GOV.UK.

    A Welsh language version is available on request.

    The consultation will run for 12 weeks from Thursday 13 February to Wednesday 7 May 2025.

    E-invoicing technology has been in use for more than 20 years and an increasing number of countries require businesses to use e-invoices for at least some transactions. There is global recognition for standards in enabling e-invoicing, particularly in international trade. Around 130 countries have or are in the process of implementing e-invoicing structures and standards (including data they should include and their format).

    ‘Failure to take reasonable care’ and ‘error’ accounted for 22% of the VAT tax gap in the 2022 to 2023 tax year. Industry research** shows that 80% of businesses globally manually enter their supplier invoice data into their accounting system, typically around 10% of entered data has some form of error. Adopting e-invoicing can automate this data entry and reduce opportunities for error.

    HMRC and the DBT want to understand how differing approaches may integrate with current business systems. This will support development of a UK approach to e-invoicing that improves business productivity by reducing admin burdens and helping businesses to get their tax right. There will be no immediate change in response to this consultation and responses will be used to inform future decision-making.

    Enquiries about the consultation and responses to it should be sent to: einvoicingconsultation@hmrc.gov.uk or by clicking a link in the consultation document.

    People interested in joining business round tables and other events to contribute to future e-invoicing policy development can contact: einvoicingengagement@hmrc.gov.uk

    A future e-invoicing consultation was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, on 23 September 2024 in a package of reforms to improve the UK’s tax system.

    This was confirmed for ‘early 2025’ in the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024.

    The published studies as referenced are: *’E-invoicing: Paving the way to a Connected, Real-time Economy’ (Sage)/ **’Billentis – The Global E-invoicing and Tax Compliance Report’

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Finns travelling to UK need an Electronic Travel Authorisation

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Visitors travelling to the UK on a European passport will need an ETA from 2 April 2025. Travellers can apply for an ETA from 5 March 2025 onwards.

    Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) are being introduced worldwide for visitors to the UK who do not currently need a visa for short stays, or who do not already have a UK immigration status. 

    Eligible Europeans can apply for an ETA from 5 March 2025 and will need an ETA to travel from 2 April 2025. 

    An ETA is a digital permission to travel. Applying for an ETA is quick and simple. The fastest way to apply is using the UK ETA app.  

    An ETA permits multiple journeys to the UK for stays of up to six months at a time over two years or until the holder’s passport expires – whichever is sooner. 

    The introduction of ETAs is in line with the approach many other countries have taken to border security, including the US and Australia.

    How do I apply for an ETA?  

    Information on who can get an ETA and how to apply before coming to the UK is available on GOV.UK. 

    The easiest way to apply for an ETA is through the UK ETA app, which can be downloaded from Google Play or Apple App Store. You can also apply on GOV.UK.

    Please use the official UK ETA app or the GOV.UK site to apply for your ETA to avoid scam sites. 

    How long does it take? 

    Most applicants get an automatic decision in minutes when applying through the UK ETA app, which means spontaneous trips to the UK are still possible.

    Visitors are advised to allow three working days for a decision on their application, but this is to take account of the small number of cases which need further review. It is always better to apply for your ETA well in advance. 

    To apply for an ETA, applicants need to:

    1. Pay a fee (currently £10)
    2. Provide contact information and passport details
    3. Provide a valid photo, complying with rules for digital photos on GOV.UK
    4. Answer a set of questions

    NOTE: You must travel using the same passport you used when you applied for your ETA. If you get a new passport, you will need to get a new ETA.

    For more information and regular updates on ETAs, please visit GOV.UK 

    Video introduction: What is an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)?  

    Video introduction: How to Apply For a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Upcoming US Law Webinars – March 2025

    Source: US Global Legal Monitor

    We hope you will join us in March for the next offerings of our Orientation to Law Library Collections webinar, which will feature the State Law Library of Montana as part of our 50 State Law Libraries Outreach Project. The 50 State Law Libraries Outreach Project aims to strengthen the ties between the Law Library of Congress and state law libraries by sharing information about our collections, products, and services with one another and with the public. Franklin Runge, state law librarian, will present from the State Law Library of Montana during the webinar. The State Law Library of Montana presenter notes that:

    “[t]he mission of the State Law Library of Montana is to provide legal information and resources, to enhance knowledge of the law and court system, and to facilitate equal access to justice statewide. The need for reliable legal information was a priority for early western settlers, and in 1881, the Law Library was established by the Territory of Montana’s Legislative Assembly. Over the past two years (2023-2024), 73% of our reference interactions have been with members of the general public. We also serve the legal research needs of Montana’s bench and bar through reference services, training opportunities, and maintaining relevant collections. In tandem with our access to justice and reference work, the Law Library is responsible for maintaining a comprehensive collection of Montana law. The present Constitution of Montana was drafted, adopted, and ratified in 1972, and it ushered in a period of transparency and accountability in state government. This transparency has resulted in the Law Library compiling and maintaining a fantastic collection of legislative histories, which are frequently requested by judges, lawyers, and historians.”

    The Law Library will also offer A Lunch and Learn webinar, which will focus on using secondary sources to conduct legal research, and the Orientation to Legal Research webinar, which will focus on federal legislative history in March. We hope you will join us by registering for these upcoming webinars!

    An Orientation to Law Library Collections featuring the State Law Library of Montana

    Date: Thursday, March 6, 2025, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EST

    Content: This webinar is designed for patrons who are familiar with legal research, and would instead prefer an introduction to the collections and services specific to the Law Library of Congress. Some of the resources attendees will learn about include the Law Library’s research guides, digital collections, and the Guide to Law Online, among others.

    Instructors: Anna Price. Anna is a legal reference librarian at the Law Library. Anna holds a B.S. in communications from Ithaca College, a J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Washington iSchool.

    Register here. 

    Flyer announcing the Lunch and Learn webinar titled, Using Secondary Sources in Legal Research. Created by Taylor Gulatsi.

    A Lunch and Learn Webinar: Using Secondary Sources in Legal Research 

    Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2025, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EDT

    Content: This webinar will provide an overview of secondary sources such as legal encyclopedias, treatises, and dictionaries. In addition, the webinar will provide practical examples to show how these resources are used in practice. The presentation will demonstrate how secondary sources are an important step in the legal research method and how they can guide researchers to primary sources. Many of the materials and content for this webinar have come from the Law Library’s research guide, Legal Research: A Guide to Secondary Resources.

    Instructors: Olivia Kane-Cruz. Olivia Kane-Cruz is a legal reference librarian at the Law Library of Congress. Olivia holds a B.A. in political science from Humboldt State University (Cal Poly Humboldt), a J.D. and a master’s of environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Washington.

    Register here. 

    An Orientation to Legal Research Webinar: Federal Legislative History 

    Date: Thursday, March 20, 2025, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EDT

    Content: This entry in the series provides an overview of U.S. federal legislative history resources, including information about the methods of identifying and locating them. In tackling this area of research, the focus will largely be on finding these documents online.

    Instructor: Louis Myers. Louis Myers holds a B.A. in history from Kent State University, a J.D. from the University of Idaho College of Law, and an M.L.I.S. from Kent State University.

    Register here.

    To learn about other upcoming classes on domestic and foreign law topics, visit the Legal Research Institute. Please request ADA accommodations at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or [email protected].

    Subscribe to In Custodia Legis – it’s free! – to receive interesting posts drawn from the Law Library of Congress’s vast collections and our staff’s expertise in U.S., foreign, and international law.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/INDIA – Parish priest: May the new government of the capital Delhi “give more attention for the poor and the marginalized”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Foto di Aquib Akhter su Unsplash

    New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) – “The priorities in a city of millions like New Delhi are to ensure education and health care for all 32 million inhabitants. Our hope is that the new city government, now led by the Baraytya Janata Party (BJP), will launch programs that are not only aimed at the needs of the middle class or entrepreneurs, the business class, but that it will also be able to take care of the suburbs and the less well-off people,” said Father Sankar Savarimuthu, parish priest and spokesman for the Archdiocese of Delhi, after the local elections that gave power to the party of Indian Prime Minister Naraytya Janata on February 8. The BJP has thus defeated the opposition for the first time in 27 years, after the city had previously been governed by the Congress Party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Father Savarimuthu, who has a direct relationship with the people as parish priest of St. Matthew’s Church in the east of the city, notes: “The Indian federal government in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his nationalist BJP party had a kingdom without a capital, like a body without a head, because for 27 years Delhi had been administered by the opposition.” “The will of the people,” he continues, “was clear. And it was in some ways an expected result after AAP leader Kejriwal was arrested along with two other key party members over the past two years on charges of accepting bribes.” “The BJP’s victory,” he continues, “underlines the ambition and pride of the nationalists. The government will have to be measured against the complex reality of a megalopolis of 32 million people. We will see what approach is taken when the city executive is formed. Today I would say that the urgency is above all to ensure health and education services for all citizens. The attitude of Christians is one of waiting: they hope for more attention to the poor and the marginalized.”Another aspect dear to the Catholic Church, says the priest, “is not to encourage the division of society along communal lines. In the city and throughout India, what is needed is social peace, not division or discrimination on religious, caste or ethnic grounds. This is something that is dear to us and for which we will continue to work with an always constructive approach,” he concludes. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 13/2/2024)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/DR CONGO – Meeting of the Catholic and Protestant delegation in Goma with the M23 rebels Catholic and Protestant delegation: “Armed struggle is not a solution”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – “The aim was to convince them that armed struggle is not a solution and that we come with a proposal that can contribute to building a lasting peace, hence the so-called ‘Social Pact for Peace and Coexistence in the Democratic Republic of Congo’”, said Donatien Nshole, Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Congo (CENCO). Monsignor Nshole was part of the delegation of CENCO and the Church of Christ in Congo (Église du Christ au Congo, ECC) that met yesterday, February 12, in Goma with the leaders of the M23 militia, the pro-Rwandan rebel movement that took control of the city at the end of January.The delegation met in particular with Corneille Nangaa, coordinator of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), the political wing of the M23. “We are continuing the tour we started in Kinshasa (with President Félix Tshisekedi, see Fides, 4/2/2025) to sensitize all the political parties that are important for resolving the crisis and building lasting peace,” explained the Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference. The delegation of the two churches presented in particular the “methodology of the social pact for coexistence in the Democratic Republic of Congo”. The rebel leadership responded that they were “open to dialogue”. Monsignor Nshole said he was convinced that there was room for negotiations to resolve the conflict peacefully. “We explained our dynamics for dialogue and our interlocutors have agreed to participate in it”. The Social Pact for Peace and Coexistence in the Democratic Republic of Congo aims to seek dialogue involving all stakeholders, including rebels and socio-political actors in exile. To give a regional dimension to their initiative, CENCO and ECC have asked for the support of the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, current President of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the President of Kenya, William Ruto, President of the East African Community (AEC). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 13/2/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Crime down in Finsbury Park as police work with local authorities and the community

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    A coalition of local authorities, police and partner organisations have worked together for over a year to significantly reduce violent crime, robbery and burglary in the Finsbury Park area.

    Love Finsbury Park was launched on 6 December 2023 as a partnership between the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police, three local authorities and other organisations determined to work together and make the area safer.

    In the project’s first year, violent crime, robbery and burglary have significantly reduced in the Finsbury Park area, including:
    Business Burglary – reduction of 27%
    Residential Burglary – reduction of 24%
    Personal Robbery – reduction of 21%
    Violent Crime with Injury – reduction of 14%

    During the year, officers from the Met and British Transport Police made over 600 arrests as the number of police patrols in the area was significantly increased.

    Police officers have seized a significant number of weapons, stolen phones and drugs, as well as locating individuals in the area who were wanted on warrant for previous offences.

    Inspector Ross Hickman, one of the senior officers policing Finsbury Park, explained: “A policing framework called ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ is being used to deliver positive outcomes as part of Love Finsbury Park. The ‘Clear’ phase involves targeted arrests and crime disruption through partnership working. Accordingly, much of the Met’s focus has been on identifying and arresting those involved in organised crime, the vast majority relating to the supply of drugs.

    “Since December 2023, a total of 17 search warrants were executed at addresses in the Finsbury Park area in intelligence-led operations targeting organised crime. Further operations are being planned as we continue to work at pace in the ‘Clear’ phase of this ‘Clear Hold Build’ framework.

    “I am looking forward to moving on with the project, and into the next phases. ‘Hold’ means stabilising the area to stop offenders moving in to fill the void. The ‘Build’ phase is focused on community-driven action to address the causes of criminality and prevent it from happening again.

    “Our work with partners, including the London Boroughs of Hackney, Haringey and Islington, will become increasingly crucial. Joint action – like our recent success in securing funding to improve lighting under the bridge on Stroud Green Road – is central to the success of Love Finsbury Park.”

    Caroline Woodley, Mayor of Hackney, said: “We’re already seeing positive results. Love Finsbury Park is building long-term improvements to community safety by driving out crime and tackling the issues that make residents feel unsafe.

    “Alongside the police interventions, we’ve been working with residents, local councillors, businesses and partners to understand and address these local concerns. During this first phase, we have increased our enforcement patrols and CCTV surveillance, and created campaigns calling out street-based harassment like catcalling. We’ll continue building on our progress as we move into the next phases focused on preventative actions.”

    Cllr Angelo Weekes, Executive Member for Community Safety at Islington Council said: “Islington has supported the police’s targeted operations and arrests as we take action to protect our residents and ensure their safety. We meet weekly with the police, sharing intelligence and CCTV footage and work together to engage with businesses, colleges and places of worship in Finsbury Park.

    “We commission a patrol service to detect, deter and disrupt anti-social behaviour in Finsbury Park station, Blackstock Road and certain estates. We know there is more work to be done and look forward to continuing to work together to make Finsbury Park safer and more welcoming for everyone.”

    Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Cllr Ajda Ovat, commented: “It’s fantastic to see the success that the ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ project is having in tackling serious and organised crime in the Finsbury Park area.

    “As the scheme progresses and moves from stage to stage, it remains fundamentally important that community groups, residents and stakeholders continue to engage with our police partners and council staff from Haringey, Hackney and Islington as part of a tri-borough approach.

    “That way, we can continue to create a far safer Finsbury Park for residents and visitors to experience and enjoy.”

    The first police operation tackling organised crime took place on the very first day of the project, in December 2023. 70 officers executed three search warrants on shops on Blackstock Road which were believed to be linked to criminal activity in which seven people were arrested.

    A recent co-ordinated police operation took place on 12 December 2024, and led to the recovery of 112,000 tablets of Pregabalin (a Class C drug), dozens of wraps of cocaine, £3,000 in cash and several Rolex watches. One man was arrested at an address in Sotheby Road and, acting quickly on evidence recovered there, a subsequent seven males were arrested nearby.

    Love Finsbury Park is a true partnership involving the community at every stage. Anyone with information about those involved in the supply of drugs, burglary or robbery in the Finsbury Park area is urged to speak with local officers, call police on 101, message @MetCC or share what you know anonymously with Crimestoppers.

    British Transport Police Chief Inspector Cheryl Ling, who oversees Finsbury Park, said: “I’m extremely pleased with what we’ve been able to achieve so far with the significant reduction in violent crime, but there is still plenty of work to do to keep those numbers down.

    “We will continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police and our other policing and local partners to deter crime, and we are determined to make our communities and the railway network safer for everyone.”

    Inspector Hickman concluded: “My colleagues are focused on continuing to deliver results. I am pleased to see these much improved crime statistics, but I want to hear local people saying that they actually feel safer. That’s a real incentive for us to come to work every day to protect the public, deter or arrest those who want to profit from criminal activity and build on this successful first year.”

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Notice of the Annual General Meeting of Nokia Corporation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Nokia Corporation
    Stock Exchange Release
    13 February 2025 at 15:00 EET

    Notice of the Annual General Meeting of Nokia Corporation

    Notice is given to the shareholders of Nokia Corporation (“Nokia” or the “Company”) of the Annual General Meeting to be held on Tuesday, 29 April 2025 at 13:00 EEST at Finlandia Hall, Mannerheimintie 13e, Helsinki, Finland.

    The reception of persons who have registered for the Meeting and the distribution of voting tickets will commence at 12:00 noon EEST. After the Meeting coffee will be served.

    Shareholders can also exercise their voting rights by voting in advance. Instructions for advance voting are presented in this notice under section C.

    Shareholders may follow the Annual General Meeting through a webcast. Following the webcast is not considered participation or exercise of shareholders’ rights in the Meeting. Instructions regarding the webcast are available in this notice under section C. and later on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    A. Matters on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting

    At the Annual General Meeting, the following matters will be considered:

    1. Opening of the Meeting

    2. Matters of order for the Meeting

    3. Election of a person to scrutinize the minutes and a person to supervise the counting of votes

    4. Recording the legal convening of the Meeting

    5. Recording the attendance at the Meeting and adoption of the list of votes

    6. Presentation of the Annual Accounts, the review by the Board of Directors and the auditor’s report for the financial year 2024

    – Review by the President and CEO and presenting the auditor’s report and the assurance report of the sustainability statement

    7. Adoption of the Annual Accounts

    8. Resolution on the use of profit shown on the balance sheet and authorization of the Board of Directors to decide on the distribution of dividend and assets from the reserve for invested unrestricted equity

    The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that based on the balance sheet to be adopted for the financial year ended on 31 December 2024, no dividend is distributed by a resolution of the Annual General Meeting. Instead, the Board proposes to be authorized to resolve in its discretion on the distribution of an aggregate maximum of EUR 0.14 per share as dividend from the retained earnings and/or as assets from the reserve for invested unrestricted equity.

    The authorization would be used to distribute dividend and/or assets from the reserve for invested unrestricted equity in four installments during the period of validity of the authorization unless the Board of Directors decides otherwise for a justified reason. The authorization would be valid until the opening of the next Annual General Meeting. The Board would make separate resolutions on the amount and timing of each distribution of the dividend and/or assets from the reserve for invested unrestricted equity so that the preliminary record and payment dates will be as set out below. The Company shall make a separate announcement of each such Board resolution.

    Preliminary record dates Preliminary payment dates
    5 May 2025 12 May 2025
    29 July 2025 7 August 2025
    28 October 2025 6 November 2025
    3 February 2026 12 February 2026

    Each installment based on the resolution of the Board of Directors will be paid to a shareholder registered in the Company’s shareholders’ register maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy on the record date of the payment.

    9. Resolution on the discharge of the members of the Board of Directors and the President and CEO from liability for the financial year 2024

    10. Presentation and adoption of the Remuneration Report

    The Remuneration Report 2024 will be available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025 on week 11 of 2025. The Remuneration Report is presented to the AGM and adopted through an advisory resolution.

    11. Presentation and adoption of the Remuneration Policy

    The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting shall adopt the updated Remuneration Policy. The updated Remuneration Policy is available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025 as of today and published as an attachment to this notice. The Remuneration Policy is adopted through an advisory resolution.

    12. Resolution on the remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors

    On the recommendation of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee, the Board proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the annual fees payable to Board members for a term ending at the close of the next Annual General Meeting are kept at the current levels:

    • EUR 440 000 for the Chair of the Board;
    • EUR 210 000 for the Vice Chair of the Board;
    • EUR 185 000 for each member of the Board;
    • EUR 30 000 each for the Chairs of the Audit Committee and the Personnel Committee and EUR 20 000 for the Chairs of the Technology Committee and the Strategy Committee as an additional annual fee; and
    • EUR 15 000 for each member of the Audit Committee and the Personnel Committee and EUR 10 000 for each member of the Technology Committee and the Strategy Committee as an additional annual fee.

    The Board proposes that approximately 40% of the annual fee be paid in Nokia shares. The rest of the annual fee would be paid in cash to cover taxes arising from the remuneration. The Directors shall retain until the end of their directorship such number of shares that they have received as Board remuneration during their first three years of service on the Board. If the term of a Board member terminates before the Annual General Meeting of 2026, the Board has a right to decide upon potential reclaim of the annual fees as it deems appropriate.

    In addition, the Board proposes that the meeting fees for Board and Committee meetings remain at their current level. The meeting fees are based on travel required between the Board member’s home location and the location of a meeting and paid for a maximum of seven meetings per term as follows:

    • EUR 5 000 per meeting requiring intercontinental travel; and
    • EUR 2 000 per meeting requiring intracontinental travel.

    Only one meeting fee is paid if the travel entitling to the fee includes several meetings of the Board and the Committees. Moreover, it is proposed that members of the Board shall be compensated for travel and accommodation expenses as well as other costs directly related to Board and Committee work.

    13. Resolution on the number of members of the Board of Directors

    On the recommendation of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee, the Board proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the number of Board members be ten (10). However, should any number of the candidates proposed by the Board not be available for election to the Board, the proposed number of Board members shall be decreased accordingly.

    14. Election of members of the Board of Directors

    On the recommendation of the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee, the Board proposes to the Annual General Meeting that for a term until the close of the next Annual General Meeting, the following persons are elected as Board members in an individual election:

    1)    Timo Ahopelto (current member);
    2)    Sari Baldauf (current member, Chair);
    3)    Elizabeth Crain (current member);
    4)    Thomas Dannenfeldt (current member);
    5)    Pernille Erenbjerg (new member candidate);
    6)    Lisa Hook (current member);
    7)    Timo Ihamuotila (new member candidate);
    8)    Mike McNamara (current member);
    9)    Thomas Saueressig (current member); and
    10)    Kai Öistämö (current member).

    The biographical details of all Board member candidates are presented on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    The Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee has assessed that the proposed Board members enable the efficient functioning of the Board and are qualified both collectively and individually based on their skills, experience and other personal qualities, taking into account the diversity principles established by the Board as well as the current and anticipated future needs of the Company.

    All proposed Board members have given their consent to be elected to the Board and been determined to be independent of Nokia and its significant shareholders under the Finnish Corporate Governance Code and the rules of the New York Stock Exchange, as applicable.

    The Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee intends to propose in the assembly meeting of the new Board of Directors to be held after the Annual General Meeting that Sari Baldauf be re-elected as Chair of the Board and Timo Ihamuotila be elected as Vice Chair, subject to their election to the Board.

    15. Resolution on the remuneration of the auditor

    On the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the auditor to be elected for the financial year 2026 be reimbursed based on the purchase policy approved by the Board’s Audit Committee and the invoice approved by the Company.

    16. Election of auditor for the financial year 2026

    The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the shareholders would elect the auditor for the financial year commencing next after the election. On the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that Deloitte Oy be re-elected as the auditor of the Company for the financial year 2026.

    Deloitte Oy has informed the Company that the key audit partner would be Authorized Public Accountant Jukka Vattulainen.

    17. Resolution on the remuneration of the sustainability reporting assurer

    On the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the assurer of the sustainability reporting elected for financial year 2026 be reimbursed based on the purchase policy approved by the Board’s Audit Committee and the invoice approved by the Company.

    18. Election of the sustainability reporting assurer for the financial year 2026

    The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the shareholders would elect the assurer carrying out the assurance of the sustainability reporting for the financial year commencing next after the election. On the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that Authorized Sustainability Audit Firm Deloitte Oy be re-elected as the sustainability reporting assurer for the financial year 2026.

    Deloitte Oy has informed the Company that in the event it is elected, the key sustainability partner will be Authorized Public Accountant (KHT) and Authorized Sustainability Auditor (KRT) Jukka Vattulainen.

    19. Authorization to the Board of Directors to resolve to repurchase the Company’s own shares

    The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorize the Board of Directors to resolve to repurchase a maximum of 530 million shares, which corresponds to less than 10% of the Company’s total number of shares. The repurchases under the authorization are proposed to be carried out by using funds in the unrestricted equity, as resolved by the Board of Directors, which means that the repurchases will reduce the distributable funds of the Company.

    The price paid for the shares under the authorization shall be based on the market price of the Nokia shares on the securities markets on the date of the repurchase or a price otherwise formed in a competitive process. Shares may be repurchased to be cancelled, held to be reissued, transferred further or for other purposes resolved by the Board of Directors. The Company may enter into derivative, share lending or other arrangements customary in capital market practice. The shares may be repurchased otherwise than in proportion to the shares held by the shareholders (directed repurchase). The Board shall resolve on all other matters related to the repurchase of Nokia shares.

    It is proposed that the authorization be effective until 28 October 2026 and terminate the authorization for repurchasing the Company’s shares granted by the Annual General Meeting on 3 April 2024 to the extent that the Board has not previously resolved to repurchase shares based on such authorization.

    20. Authorization to the Board of Directors to resolve to issue shares and special rights entitling to shares

    The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorize the Board of Directors to resolve to issue in total a maximum of 530 million shares through issuance of shares or special rights entitling to shares under Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Finnish Companies Act in one or more issues during the effective period of the authorization. The Board of Directors may issue either new shares or treasury shares held by the Company. The proposed maximum amount corresponds to less than 10% of the Company’s total number of shares.

    Shares and special rights entitling to shares may be issued in deviation from the shareholders’ pre-emptive rights within the limits set by law. The authorization may be used to develop the Company’s capital structure, diversify the shareholder base, finance or carry out acquisitions or other arrangements, settle the Company’s equity-based incentive plans or for other purposes resolved by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall resolve on all terms and conditions of the issuance of shares and special rights entitling to shares under Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Finnish Companies Act.

    It is proposed that the authorization be effective until 28 October 2026 and terminate the authorization for issuance of shares and special rights entitling to shares resolved at the Annual General Meeting on 3 April 2024.

    21. Closing of the Meeting

    B. Documents of the Annual General Meeting

    This notice and all the proposals by the Board of Directors relating to the agenda of the Meeting, including the updated Remuneration Policy, are available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025. The Remuneration Report as well as the “Nokia in 2024” annual report, which includes the Company’s Annual Accounts, the review by the Board of Directors including the sustainability statement, the auditor’s report and the assurance report of the sustainability statement, are available on the above-mentioned website on week 11 of 2025. The proposals by the Board of Directors and all other meeting documents will be available also at the Meeting. The minutes of the Annual General Meeting will be available on the Company’s above-mentioned website at latest on 13 May 2025.

    C. Instructions for the participants of the Annual General Meeting

    1. The right to participate and registration

    Each shareholder who is registered on the record date of the Meeting on 15 April 2025, in the register of shareholders of the Company maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy, has the right to participate in the Annual General Meeting 2025. A shareholder, whose shares are registered on their Finnish book-entry account, is automatically registered in the register of shareholders of the Company. The shareholders who do not have a Finnish book-entry account, please refer to the section 4. Holders of nominee-registered shares or the section 5. Holders of American Depositary Receipts (ADR) for further instructions.

    The registration period for the Annual General Meeting commences on 11 March 2025 at 10:00 EET. A shareholder, with a Finnish book-entry account, who wishes to participate in the Annual General Meeting, must register for the Meeting by giving prior notice of attendance no later than on 22 April 2025 at 16:00 EEST by which time the registration needs to be received by the Company. Such notice of registration can be given:

    a)   through the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025

    Registration by natural persons requires strong electronic authentication. In connection with the online registration the shareholder may also authorize a proxy representative and vote in advance. Registration by legal persons as shareholders requires them to provide the business identification code and the number of their Finnish book-entry account. For further information, please refer to the section 3. Proxy representatives and powers of attorney.

    b)   by letter to Nokia Corporation, Register of Shareholders, P.O. Box 226, Fl-00045 NOKIA GROUP; or

    c)   by telephone to +358 20 770 6870 from Monday to Friday at 09:00 to 16:00 (Finnish time).

    In connection with the registration, a shareholder is required to notify their name, personal identification number / birth date or the relevant business identification code, address, telephone number, the name of a possible assistant and the name and the personal identification number/birth date of a possible proxy representative.

    2. Advance voting

    Shareholders with a Finnish book-entry account may vote in advance on certain items on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting through the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025, either in connection with their registration or separately.

    The advance voting will open on 11 March 2025 at 10:00 EET and end on 22 April 2025 at 16:00 EEST.

    For natural persons, voting in advance requires strong electronic authentication through personal online banking credentials or a mobile certificate.

    Legal entities voting in advance requires them to provide the business identification code and the number of their Finnish book-entry account. In case a legal entity uses the electronic Suomi.fi authorization service, strong electronic authentication of the authorized individual is required either with personal online banking credentials or a mobile certificate. For further information, please refer to the section 3. Proxy representatives and powers of attorney.

    A proposal subject to advance voting is considered to have been presented unchanged at the Annual General Meeting.

    Shareholders who have voted in advance who wish to exercise their right to ask questions, demand a vote at the Annual General Meeting or vote on a possible counterproposal under the Finnish Companies Act must participate in the Annual General Meeting at the meeting venue in person or by way of proxy representation.

    Further instructions relating to the advance voting will be later available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    For holders of nominee-registered shares, please note that the voting is carried out via the account manager of their custodian. The account manager may cast votes on behalf of the holders of nominee-registered shares that they represent in accordance with the voting instructions provided by the holders of nominee-registered shares during the registration period for the nominee-registered shares.

    3. Proxy representatives and powers of attorney

    A shareholder may participate in the Annual General Meeting by proxy. A proxy representative shall produce a dated proxy authorization document or otherwise in a reliable manner demonstrate their right to represent the shareholder. Should a shareholder participate in the Meeting by means of several proxy representatives representing the shareholder with shares in different book-entry accounts, the shares by which each proxy representative represents the shareholder shall be identified in connection with the registration for the Meeting.

    Proxy authorization documents should be delivered by email to agm@nokia.com or by letter to Nokia Corporation, Register of Shareholders, P.O. Box 226, Fl-00045 NOKIA GROUP at the latest by 22 April 2025 at 16:00 EEST. In case the proxy document is sent as a copy, we kindly ask the authorized person to present the original document at the Meeting venue. In addition to the delivery of proxy documents the shareholder or their proxy shall separately register for the Annual General Meeting.

    A template for the proxy document is available on the company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    Shareholders may also use the electronic Suomi.fi authorization service instead of the traditional proxy authorization document. In this case, the shareholder authorizes a representative in the Suomi.fi service by using the mandate theme “Representation at the General Meeting”. More information available at www.suomi.fi/e-authorizations.

    4. Holders of nominee-registered shares

    A holder of nominee-registered shares has the right to participate in the Annual General Meeting by virtue of such shares, based on which they on the record date of the Annual General Meeting, i.e. on 15 April 2025, would be entitled to be registered in the shareholders’ register of the Company held by Euroclear Finland Oy. The right to participate in the Meeting requires, in addition, that the shareholder on the basis of such shares has been registered into the temporary shareholders’ register held by Euroclear Finland Oy at the latest by 24 April 2025 by 14:00 EEST. As regards nominee-registered shares this constitutes due registration for the Annual General Meeting.

    A holder of nominee-registered shares is advised to request without delay necessary instructions regarding the temporary registration in the shareholders’ register of the Company, the issuing of proxy authorization documents and registration for the Annual General Meeting from their custodian bank.

    The account manager of the custodian bank shall temporarily register a holder of nominee-registered shares, who wants to participate in the Annual General Meeting, into the shareholders’ register of the Company, and if necessary, arrange advance voting on behalf of the holder of nominee-registered shares in accordance with their voting instructions at latest by the time stated above, 24 April 2025 at 14:00 EEST.

    In order to take into consideration possible voting instructions of a holder of nominee registered shares at the Annual General Meeting, it is required that the shareholder has registered and is present or represented at the Annual General Meeting.

    For the sake of clarity, it is noted that holders of nominee-registered shares cannot register for the Annual General Meeting on the Company’s website, but they must be registered by their custodians instead. Further information on these matters can also be found on the Company’s website www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    5. Holders of American Depositary Receipts (ADR)

    A holder of American Depositary Shares (ADR) intending to vote at the Meeting shall without delay notify the Depositary Bank of Nokia, Citibank, N.A., of their intention and shall comply with the instructions provided by Citibank, N.A.

    6. Other instructions and information

    Information on the General Meeting required by the Finnish Companies Act and the Securities Markets Act is available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025. Pursuant to Chapter 5, Section 25 of the Finnish Companies Act, a shareholder who has given prior notice of attendance and is present at the Annual General Meeting has the right to request information with respect to the matters to be considered at the Meeting.

    The shareholders, their representatives and possible assistants are required to prove their identity at the entrance. The personal data collected will only be used in connection with the identity authentications and necessary registrations at the Annual General Meeting and related to it. For more information, please refer to the privacy statement of the Annual General Meeting on the Company’s aforementioned website.

    The Meeting venue can be easily reached by public transportation connections. The shareholders are asked to note that parking is subject to a charge at the nearby parking facilities.

    The Meeting will be conducted primarily in Finnish, but some presentations, such as the review by the President and CEO, will be held in English. Simultaneous translation will be available into Finnish, English and Swedish.

    Shareholders may follow the Meeting via a webcast and ask questions on the agenda items during the AGM through the webcast platform. Following the webcast is not considered participation or exercise of shareholders’ rights in the Meeting. No questions asked through the webcast are deemed to be presented pursuant to Chapter 5, Section 25 of the Finnish Companies Act. The questions may be considered in the Annual General Meeting in connection with each agenda item to the extent deemed appropriate by the Chair of the Meeting. More information on following the webcast will be later available on the Company’s website at www.nokia.com/agm2025.

    Changes in the number of shares held after the record date of the Annual General Meeting shall not have an effect on the right to participate in the Meeting nor on the number of votes held by a shareholder in the Meeting.

    On the date of this notice of the Annual General Meeting the total number of shares in Nokia Corporation is 5 605 850 345, representing the same number of votes.

    13 February 2025

    Nokia Corporation
    BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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

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

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

    Inquiries:

    Nokia Communications
    Phone: +358 10 448 4900
    Email: press.services@nokia.com
    Maria Vaismaa, Global Head of External Communications

    Nokia Investor Relations
    Phone: +358 931 580 507
    Email: investor.relations@nokia.com

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: GraniteShares launches new leveraged ETFs on Intel, Dell and Qualcomm

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    GraniteShares 2x Long QCOM Daily ETF (QCML)

    GraniteShares 2x Long DELL Daily ETF (DLLL)

    GraniteShares 2x Long INTC Daily ETF (INTW)

    New York, New York, Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GraniteShares launches another three leveraged single stock ETFs to its growing suite of funds. The ETFs provide investors leveraged exposure to Dell (DELL), Intel (INTC) and Qualcomm (QCOM).

    On February 13, 2025, GraniteShares introduces:

    • GraniteShares 2x Long QCOM Daily ETF (QCML)
    • GraniteShares 2x Long DELL Daily ETF (DLLL)
    • GraniteShares 2x Long INTC Daily ETF (INTW)

    Each of these funds is designed for those who are bullish on the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution and are looking for enhanced ways to trade Qualcomm, Dell Technologies, and Intel. By leveraging their performance with a two-times multiplier, investors have an opportunity to amplify gains or losses on upward or downward movements.

    GraniteShares continues to be a pioneer in the leveraged single-stock ETFs space. This launch expands its offerings significantly to twenty three short and leveraged single stock ETFs.

    Link to Prospectus: https://graniteshares.com/media/iyrbedwg/graniteshares-etf-trust-s-l-single-stock-etfs-prospectus.pdf

    What Makes These ETFs Unique?

    These three new ETFs represent the first leveraged single stock ETFs on these names. Leveraged single stock ETFs have proved themselves to be popular with investors as they can be bought and sold from ordinary brokerage accounts. Although the ETFs are leveraged, there are no margin calls for investors and investors control when to buy or sell. Many leveraged single stock ETFs have an active options ecosystem allowing for futher ways to trade around the underlying stock.

    YieldBoost: https://graniteshares.com/institutional/us/en-us/etfs/tsyy/

    Graniteshares recently entered the options income space with an innovative new offering called YieldBoost. The first ETF in the YieldBoost offering; GraniteShares YieldBoost TSLA (TSYY) is an ETF that sells put options to generate income for investors. TSYY made its first distribution in late January and as at Feb 7th, 2025 has an annualized yield of 35.11%, a 30-Day SEC Yield of -3.03%, & 7.9% Total Return in Just Over a Month as of January 31, 2025!

    About GraniteShares:

    GraniteShares is a global investment firm dedicated to creating and managing ETFs. Headquartered in New York City, GraniteShares provides products on U.S., U.K, German, French & Italian stock exchanges. The firm is a market leader in leveraged single-stock ETFs and provides innovative, cutting-edge investment solutions for the high conviction investor.

    Founded in 2016, GraniteShares is an ETF provider focused on providing innovative, cutting-edge alternative investment solutions. Its U.S. ETF offerings include a broad-based commodity index fund, physically backed gold and platinum funds and a high-income pass-through securities index fund.

    GraniteShares also offers a suite of leveraged single stock ETFs, including those targeting NVIDIA, Coinbase and Tesla. The company has over $9 billion in assets under management as of February 6th, 2025.

    For complete information about GraniteShares YieldBOOST ETF, please visit:
    https://graniteshares.com/institutional/us/en-us/

    Media Contact:

    GraniteShares Inc.
    Attn: Media Relations
    222 Broadway, 21 Floor,
    New York, NY, 10038
    844-476-8747
    info@graniteshares.com

    RISK FACTORS AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION

    This material must be preceded or accompanied by a Prospectus. Carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risk factors, charges and expenses before investing. Please read the prospectus before investing.

    The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The investment program of the funds is speculative, entails substantial risks and include asset classes and investment techniques not employed by most ETFs and mutual funds. Investments in the ETFs are not bank deposits and are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.The Fund is designed to be utilized only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily leveraged (2X) investment results, understand the risks associated with the use of leverage and are willing to monitor their portfolios frequently. For periods longer than a single day, the Fund will lose money if the Underlying Stock’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Fund will lose money even if the Underlying Stock’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day. An investor could lose the full principal value of his/her investment within a single day.

    The Fund seeks daily leveraged investment results and is intended to be used as short-term trading vehicles. This Fund attempts to provide daily investment results that correspond to the respective long leveraged multiple of the performance of its underlying stock (a Leverage Long Fund).

    Investors should note that such Leverage Long Fund pursues daily leveraged investment objectives, which means that the Fund is riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund magnifies the performance of its underlying stock. The volatility of the underlying security may affect a Funds’ return as much as, or more than, the return of the underlying security.

    Because of daily rebalancing and the compounding of each day’s return over time, the return of the Fund for periods longer than a single day will be the result of each day’s returns compounded over the period, which will very likely differ from 200% of the return of the Underlying Stock over the same period. The Fund will lose money if the Underlying Stock’s performance is flat over time, and as a result of daily rebalancing, the Underlying Stock volatility and the effects of compounding, it is even possible that the Fund will lose money over time while the Underlying Stock’s performance increases over a period longer than a single day.

    Shares are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the ETF. There can be no guarantee that an active trading market for ETF shares will develop or be maintained, or that their listing will continue or remain unchanged. Buying or selling ETF shares on an exchange may require the payment of brokerage commissions and frequent trading may incur brokerage costs that detract significantly from investment returns.

    An investment in the Fund involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. The Fund is non-diversified and includes risks associated with the Fund concentrating its investments in a particular industry, sector, or geographic region which can result in increased volatility. The use of derivatives such as futures contracts and swaps are subject to market risks that may cause their price to fluctuate over time. Risks of the Fund include Effects of Compounding and Market Volatility Risk, Leverage Risk, Market Risk, Counterparty Risk, Rebalancing Risk, Intra-Day Investment Risk, Other Investment Companies (including ETFs) Risk, and risks specific to the securities of the Underlying Stock and the sector in which it operates. These and other risks can be found in the prospectus.

    This information is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy shares of any Funds to any person in any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation, purchase or sale would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. Please consult your tax advisor about the tax consequences of an investment in Fund shares, including the possible application of foreign, state, and local tax laws. You could lose money by investing in the ETFs. There can be no assurance that the investment objective of the Funds will be achieved. None of the Funds should be relied upon as a complete investment program.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Flirting with Fraud: Why Sextortion Is the Most Devastating Dating Scam

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RESTON, Va., Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sextortion has emerged as one of the most dangerous forms of romance scams, preying on online daters and, tragically, claiming the lives of teenagers. Fraudsters use fake profiles to lure victims into sharing intimate content, only to threaten exposure unless a ransom is paid. Regula, a global developer of identity verification (IDV) solutions, shares a vision of how social media and dating platforms can strengthen protections to safeguard users.

    Romance scams come in many forms, exploiting trust and emotional vulnerability to defraud victims. Their common tactics include:

    • Catfishing: Scammers create fake identities to build trust and manipulate victims.
    • Military Scams: Fraudsters pose as deployed soldiers seeking financial assistance.
    • Inheritance Scams: Victims are deceived with false claims of large inheritances requiring upfront fees.
    • Pig-Butchering (Crypto Investment) Scams: Scammers feign romantic interest to lure victims into fraudulent investment schemes.

    However, according to reports from leading child safety organizations, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Thorn, sextortion is one of the most severe threats, with cases surging at an alarming rate. The FBI reported over 12,000 complaints in 2023 alone, resulting in millions in financial losses, severe psychological trauma, and, in some cases, even fatalities. Younger users and those new to online dating are particularly vulnerable.

    Common sextortion tactics include:

    • Fake Identities: Scammers pose as attractive singles, influencers, or even celebrities to build quick trust.
    • Rapid Escalation: Conversations quickly shift from introductions to intimate exchanges.
    • Blackmail Threats: Once explicit content is shared, scammers demand money, cryptocurrency, or further compromising images under the threat of exposure.
    • AI-Driven Deception: Some scams leverage deepfake videos or AI-powered chatbots to manipulate victims.

    The Role of Identity Verification in Preventing Sextortion

    Sextortion thrives in environments where fake profiles and anonymity enable bad actors to operate freely. Social media and dating platforms play a critical role in combating this threat—through proactive moderation, AI-powered content monitoring, and user education. Stronger identity verification during registration is also a valuable tool in this arsenal, but it must be implemented thoughtfully, balancing fraud prevention with user privacy and accessibility.

    Different online platforms use varying levels of verification, ranging from strongest to weakest:

    1. ID & Biometric Verification – Matching government-issued IDs with real-time selfies for authentication.
    2. Real-Time Selfies Without ID Validation – Confirming a live presence but without a verified identity document.
    3. Basic Checks – Verification through phone numbers, email, or linked social media accounts.
    4. Self-Reported Identity Without Validation – The least secure method, relying solely on user-provided information.

    How Biometric and ID Verification Strengthens Security:

    • Eliminating Fake Profiles: Biometric checks make it significantly harder for scammers to create fake accounts.
    • Anti-Spoofing Technology: Prevents impersonation by detecting fraudulent attempts using photos or masks.
    • Liveness Detection: Confirms a real person is present, preventing AI-generated deception.

    “When faced with strong verification measures, scammers don’t simply disappear—they move to less secure platforms where they can continue their schemes unchecked. Standardizing biometric ID verification across multiple platforms would make it significantly harder for them to do so, creating a safer ecosystem across social media, dating apps, and other online services.” – Jan Stepnov, Identity Verification Expert at Regula.

    Empowering Users to Stay Safe

    While platforms must take stronger security measures, users can also protect themselves by:

    • Being Cautious of Fast-Moving Relationships: Avoid engaging in intimate exchanges early in conversations.
    • Interacting with Verified Users: Prioritize connections with verified profiles.
    • Reporting Suspicious Activity: Flagging blackmail attempts and scam behavior.
    • Never Paying Ransoms: Complying with extortion often leads to further threats.

    For more insights on how identity verification is transforming online dating security, visit Regula’s blog.

    About Regula
    Regula is a global developer of forensic devices and identity verification solutions. With our 30+ years of experience in forensic research and the most comprehensive library of document templates in the world, we create breakthrough technologies for document and biometric verification. Our hardware and software solutions allow over 1,000 organizations and 80 border control authorities globally to provide top-notch client service without compromising safety, security, or speed. Regula has been repeatedly named a Representative Vendor in the Gartner® Market Guide for Identity Verification. Learn more at www.regulaforensics.com.

    Contact:
    Kristina – ks@regulaforensics.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8d16b999-71c6-46ed-a789-1848992ac0a1

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘Damage has been done’ – Miss Pacific pageant statement too late, say critics

    By Lagi Keresoma in Apia

    The Miss Pacific Islands Pageant (MPIP) Committee has finally issued a statement — 5 days after damaging social media attacks following the 2025 Pageant finals hosted by the Solomon Islands last Saturday.

    The statement yesterday simply said the committee recognised and deeply regretted the distress caused by recent disputes concerning the result on the pageant night.

    “Unfortunately, these allegations have escalated to the extent of subjecting contestants to degrading treatment and issuing threats against the lives of certain judges, thereby, detrimentally impacting the camaraderie and ethos of the pageant,” it said.

    However, the statement did not address the judging controversy despite calls from around the Pacific for a proper investigation and to hold the person responsible for the false allegations of results rigging against the pageant’s head judge, Leiataualesa Jerry Brunt.

    A former pageant organiser told Talamua that the statement had come “too late — too little, the damage has been done”.

    The organiser said there were policies and regulations that must be followed to ensure the successful progress of the pageant and steps to be taken if such events like the allegations against a judge surfaced.

    She told Talamua that the MPIP committee should have issued a statement within 24 hours of the allegations.

    Opened the door to conflict
    She believes that if MPIP had issued a statement earlier, it would have prevented the harsh attacks on the contestants and the head judge, but the delay had opened the door for the exchange between Samoans and Tongans on social media.

    The statement did not offer an apology or reasons why a statement was not issued earlier.

    It only gave an explanation on why such a pageant had been established and then acknowledged Miss Samoa Litara Ieremia Allan, the contestants, all involved in the pageant, and the host country.

    According to the former pageant organiser, the MPIP seemed to take the stop notices issued on the pageant judges very lightly, which drew an unprecedented involvement of both the Solomon Islands and Samoan governments.

    Although the detained judges have returned to their respectful countries, a statement from the Solomon Islands government issued yesterday said investigation was continuing based on the complaint and that formal charges would then be determined.

    It should not have gone this far if the MPIP committee had done their part, said a former pageant organiser.

    Republished from Talamua Online News.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: IBCA Community Update, 12 February 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Infected Blood Compensation Authority’s update that was circulated on 12 February 2025

    Documents

    IBCA Community Update, 12 February 2025

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    Details

    Infected Blood Compensation Authority’s update that was circulated on 12 February 2025

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

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    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Home Secretary to appoint a Windrush Commissioner

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    An advertisement inviting applications to become the Windrush Commissioner has been launched today.

    Windrush communities will be given an independent voice within government as an advertisement inviting applications to become the Windrush Commissioner has been launched today (13 February). This will ensure the lessons of the Home Office Windrush scandal are driven forward, and that justice is finally delivered for victims.

    Having set out a fundamental reset of the government’s response to the scandal, the Home Secretary is committed to working more closely with communities affected by previous scandals as part of the plan for change.

    Delivering on the government’s manifesto promise, she intends to appoint the first ever Windrush Commissioner by the summer, following a rigorous recruitment process to select a candidate capable of driving forward change and holding government to account on its Windrush commitments.

    The commissioner will be an independent advocate for all those affected by the scandal, which saw thousands suffer through no fault of their own because of their inability to prove their right to live in the UK. The commissioner will engage with victims, communities and stakeholder organisations, and provide advice directly to ministers, to lead the change the Home Secretary is committed to delivering.

    The successful candidate will advise on the Home Office’s delivery of the compensation and status schemes and the implementation of the department’s response to the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, as well as acting as a trusted voice for families and communities, driving improvements and promoting lasting change.

    Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra MP said:

    The appointment of a Windrush Commissioner will mark a vital step in resetting the government’s response to the Home Office Windrush scandal and delivering the change that the victims of this scandal want and deserve to see.

    This independent advocate will ensure the voices of victims and communities are heard and acted on throughout government. By engaging with communities, driving improvements, and holding government to account, the commissioner will help ensure that lasting change is delivered and the lessons of the past are truly learned.

    The Home Secretary and I look forward to working side by side with the successful candidate in this crucial work to ensure that such an injustice can never happen again, and that dignity is restored to those who have suffered.

    Jeremy Crook OBE, Chief Executive of Action for Race Equality, stated:

    We want the Windrush Commissioner to have the power and resources to engage with Windrush victims and community advocacy organisations, hold the government to account and drive positive change. Action for Race Equality looks forward to working with the new Windrush Commissioner.

    Upon appointment, the commissioner will work alongside the Windrush Unit, which was re-established by the Home Secretary, to oversee the department’s response to the scandal and embed permanent cultural change.

    This comes after the Home Secretary set out, in October, the first steps the government is taking to fundamentally reset how the government plans to right the wrongs of the Home Office Windrush scandal.

    As well as re-establishing the Windrush Unit, she committed to better supporting victims to apply for compensation with £1.5 million in grant funding to increase advocacy support.

    This government is determined to hear first-hand from the Windrush generation, their families and wider Commonwealth communities to ensure that their experiences are listened to and learned from.

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Policy paper: AI Safety Summit 2023: The Bletchley Declaration

    Source: United Kingdom – Prime Minister’s Office 10 Downing Street

    Declaration agreed by countries attending the AI Safety Summit 2023 at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire.

    Documents

    The Bletchley Declaration by Countries Attending the AI Safety Summit, 1-2 November 2023

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    The Bletchley Declaration on AI Safety announces a new global effort to unlock the enormous benefits offered by AI – by ensuring it remains safe.

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    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The Vice-Rector of the State University of Management discussed the prospects for the development of the labor market at the Abalkinsky Readings forum

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    On February 11, 2025, the Congress Hall of the Free Economic Society of Russia hosted the scientific forum “Abalkin Readings” on the topic: “Prospects for the Development of the Labor Market in Russia”, in which the Vice-Rector of the State University of Management Dmitry Bryukhanov took part.

    According to the results of the first three quarters of 2024, the unemployment rate in the country was at a historically low level of 2.6% (1.9 million people). During a meeting of the Council on Science and Education, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that “the acute and sensitive shortage of personnel for Russian enterprises requires non-standard solutions.” Finding these solutions became one of the goals of the “Abalkin Readings.”

    Opening the scientific forum, the President of the Russian Economic Society, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Bodrunov emphasized that the labor shortage is one of the key internal risks for the development of the Russian economy.

    “Resolving the problem of personnel shortage will allow realizing the growth potential of the Russian economy. This problem is structural in nature; in some industries, the labor shortage is felt very acutely. Among its causes are not only factors related to negative demographic trends. The sectors of the economy that employ a large number of low-skilled specialists have been greatly affected by the mass outflow of migrants. The shortage of employees is aggravated, among other things, by the forced structural restructuring of the economy. One of the solutions to the problem of personnel shortage is to increase labor productivity. Accordingly, investments in high technologies are necessary,” noted Sergei Bodrunov.

    According to estimates by the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, annual growth in labor productivity could amount to 3.4% in the long term up to 2050.

    “Russia has enormous potential for growth in labor productivity. In such activities as finance and insurance, the average annual growth rate of labor productivity up to 2035 could be 6% per year,” believes Alexander Shirov, Director of the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Member of the Presidium of the Russian VEO.

    There is a great need for workers and mid-level specialists in key sectors of the economy. According to experts, increasing the prestige of blue-collar jobs and developing secondary vocational education will help overcome the shortage of personnel in the short term.

    “According to statistics, two-thirds of school graduates receive higher education, and one-third – secondary specialized education. There is a shortage of personnel in blue-collar jobs. From the point of view of production and the labor market, this is the most important resource for reducing the labor shortage,” says Andrey Klepach, chief economist of the state development corporation VEB.RF and member of the Board of the VEO of Russia.

    Summing up the discussion, the head of the economics section of the Department of Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Boris Porfiryev noted that the problem of labor shortage is complex, therefore a comprehensive, systemic approach is required from experts and politicians and their effective interaction so that the labor market is balanced and meets the needs of dynamic and sustainable development of the country’s economy in the long term.

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 02/13/2025

    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 Economics: Frank Elderson: From concept to delivery: accounting for climate and nature in maintaining price stability and keeping banks safe and sound

    Source: European Central Bank

    Introductory remarks by Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, at the MNI Webcast on Climate Change: Impact on Monetary Policy and Bank Supervision

    Frankfurt am Main, 12 February 2025

    Central banks and supervisors are not climate and nature policymakers.

    Central banks and supervisors are climate and nature policy takers.

    And we face an ever-increasing volume of climate and nature-related factors that we must take into account in order to successfully deliver on our mandate.

    This is the fundamental principle that underpins all our climate and nature-related activities at the European Central Bank.

    It is a principle grounded in irrefutable facts established by the scientific community and transposed to make their implications clear for the economy and financial system. At the ECB, we have translated this principle into our monetary policy and supervisory work as a strategic commitment to account for the ongoing climate and nature crises, irrespective of shifts in the macroeconomic tides and no matter what direction the political winds may blow.

    This is why, both in our monetary policy and in our banking supervision, we have meticulously formulated strategies that are robust and resilient in all weathers. In the face of changing climates, be they macroeconomic, political or indeed at the level of our planetary ecosystem, we will continue to deliver on our mandate to keep prices stable and ensure Europe’s banks are safe and sound.

    Climate and nature in monetary policy

    Let me start with what we our doing when it comes to accounting for climate and nature in our monetary policy.

    When the ECB concluded its strategy review in the summer of 2021, our new strategy explicitly acknowledged the profound implications of climate change for the economy and therefore its relevance for monetary policy. In our strategy, we also formulated a concrete action plan, and we are delivering on that plan.

    First, we have made significant progress in improving our ability to take climate considerations into account in the macroeconomic analyses that inform our policy discussions.

    Second, with respect to our monetary policy instruments, we started tilting our purchases of corporate bonds towards issuers with a better climate performance to avoid undue exposures to climate-related risks. While the last remaining purchases were suspended at the start of this year, if any corporate bond purchases were to be needed for monetary policy purposes in the future, the established direction of the tilt would set the minimum benchmark. With respect to the collateral we require for our lending operations, further technical work on incorporating climate change collateral considerations is still ongoing.

    Our current actions aim to support a high degree of confidence in the alignment of our activities, within our mandate, with the goals set by the Paris Agreement. We have committed to regularly reviewing all our measures to assess their impact. If necessary, we will adapt them to ensure they continue to fulfil their monetary policy objectives and support the decarbonisation path to reach the goals set by the Paris Agreement and the EU’s climate neutrality objectives. Within our mandate, we will also look into addressing additional nature-related challenges.

    Climate and nature in banking supervision

    Let me move to the steps we have taken in banking supervision.

    Our supervisory strategy was formulated after we learnt in 2019 that less than a quarter of the banks under our supervision had demonstrably reflected on how the climate and nature crises were affecting their risk management. This observation was obviously concerning, so in 2020 we published a guide setting out our supervisory expectations. These expectations outline the ECB’s understanding of the safe and prudent management of climate and nature-related risks under the prevailing prudential framework. Since then, we have consistently taken these risks into account in our supervisory work.

    Considering the requirements clearly set out in the Capital Requirements Directive as implemented in national law, and the need for banks to implement a regular process for identifying all material risks, banks must ensure that practices are in place for the sound management of climate and nature-related risks. They had to achieve this by the end of last year and, in the run-up to that deadline, we also set interim deadlines for banks to remediate certain shortcomings related to the management of these risks. These deadlines were informed by what the banks themselves considered reasonable when we first started discussing climate and nature-related risk management with them.

    We are still following up on the two earlier interim deadlines while we begin assessing banks’ practices in light of their final end-2024 deadline.

    After the first interim deadline back in March 2023, we saw that many banks still had not implemented an adequate materiality assessment of the impact of climate and nature-related risks across their portfolios. The ECB imposed binding supervisory decisions on 28 banks, with 22 of them being told that if they did not remedy their shortcomings by a certain date, they would incur a periodic penalty payment for each day they remained in breach of our requirements. Encouragingly, almost all banks submitted an adequate materiality assessment in time, which shows that our supervisory efforts have been effective in almost all cases. For a few banks, the process to determine whether penalties have been incurred is ongoing.

    For the second interim deadline of the end of 2023, we asked banks to clearly include climate and nature-related risks in their governance, strategy and risk management. As with the first interim deadline, we found weaknesses in banks’ practices that we communicated to them in the form of further feedback letters. In a small group of outliers, foundational elements for the adequate management of climate and nature-related risks are still missing. These banks received binding supervisory decisions in autumn 2024, again outlining the potential imposition of periodic penalty payments if they fail to meet the requirements in a timely manner.

    To avoid any doubt, we will proceed in exactly the same way with respect to the third and final deadline that fell due at the turn of the year. We want to see evidence that banks’ risk management practices ensure the sound management of climate and nature-related risks across all areas of our supervisory expectations. For instance, this means that banks need to consider these risks in their stress-testing frameworks, including in plausible baseline and adverse scenarios that are in line with scientific evidence. Thereafter, banks will have to keep updating their practices in accordance with advances in data availability, methodologies and legislative and regulatory requirements. Banks need to ensure that their risk management practices remain commensurate with the magnitude of the climate and nature-related risks that they face. As supervisors, it is our job to make sure they do. To deliver on this, we will use – obviously always in a proportionate way – all supervisory instruments that we have at our disposal.

    Conclusion

    Let me conclude.

    While the fundamental principle – that climate and nature are relevant for both monetary policy and banking supervision and, therefore, must be taken into account in the exercise of our tasks – is independent of the actions of climate and nature policymakers, the intensity and configuration of the risks that will ultimately materialise is not. The choices that climate and nature policymakers make will determine what combination of transition and physical risks materialises in the years to come. Regrettably, the prevailing consensus among climate scientists is that the goal of limiting global heating to 2 degrees Celsius, as set out in the Paris Agreement, is not currently being met. Last October the UN Emissions Gap Report concluded that the world is on track for an average increase of 3.1 degrees.[1] And even that dramatic number will only be achieved if all governments stick with their current policies. The physical risks of climate and nature hazards are currently materialising at an ever-increasing scale and frequency.[2] These physical risks will continue increasing or transition policies will have to be implemented more abruptly to secure a timely transition which will cause an increase in transition risks.

    To identify climate and nature-related risks, central banks, supervisors and the banks we supervise are reliant on good data. Reporting requirements in the EU’s sustainable finance framework will improve the availability of reliable and comparable data that are needed to identify and manage financial risks. This is essential to ensure that the broader sustainable finance framework can serve its purpose of unlocking finance for the green transition and thereby contributing to Europe’s competitiveness agenda.

    It is inevitable that climate and nature-related risks will increase. Concealing them will not make them disappear. And ignoring them will not make them less threatening for monetary policy and banking supervision. This is why we are delivering on our strategic commitment to take them into account in our work.

    Robust to any shifting tides or changing winds.

    Faithful to our mandate.

    Thank you for your attention.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Business Secretary sets out ambition for further, faster growth

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds spoke at Samsung KX in London on 13 February 2025.

    Good morning, and thank you very much for that warm introduction, Alan, and my sincere thanks to the whole team here at Samsung for so generously hosting us, today. 

    It’s actually quite emotional to be honest, it would have been someone like my grandfather who dug out that coal, sent it down here, and a few generations later I get to be on this stage doing this.

    But Samsung is a company synonymous with the best in cutting-edge design and innovation;  and much of it is on full display here within these four walls. 

    It is a fitting venue to discuss this government’s ambition to go further and faster in our growth mission…ensuring that your investments that you outlined here in the UK pay dividends. 

    Three years ago, I gave my first speech as the then Shadow Business Secretary – and I promised we would be both a pro-business and a pro-worker party…  

    …A party rooted not just in the experience of working people, but which recognises, above all else, that you cannot rebuild an economy without a flourishing private sector; backed by an unapologetically pro-business government.  

    I committed to partnering with you in making our offer to the country one you could get behind.  

    And you gave us the ideas, energy and, in some cases, explicit support that was needed to win a strong majority and an even stronger mandate from the British people. A mandate to deliver our Plan for Change.  

    Today, I want to reflect on the progress that we have made as a government. I want to talk candidly about what I believe we need to do; 

    …And I want to provide a clear direction, some reassurance and – I hope – some excitement and optimism about the future.  

    Now I am extremely proud of the work that my department has done in the first seven months of this Government.  

    That includes our record-breaking International Investment Summit…where we secured £63bn of inward investment commitments for the UK… 

    …that was where we published our Industrial Strategy Green Paper… 

    …and where we launched our Industrial Strategy Council expertly led by Clare Barclay. I’m so glad Clare could join us ahead of the council’s meeting later today.  

    Building on from the investment summit, at Davos last month, the Chancellor and I sent a clear message to the international community: that the UK is a great place to invest and do business. We have the lowest corporation tax in the G7, uncapped R&D tax credits, and 100% full expensing on capital allowances.  

    And ahead of our Trade Strategy’s publication, we are leveraging our relationships with Europe, China, India and the Gulf and beyond so businesses can make the UK their base to connect with global markets.  

    And this is important, because in response to the announcements made by the US this week, I want to reiterate that under this government, the UK will always champion free, fair and open trade. That is what is in our national interest. 

    And where we have seen the opportunity for an active government to bring business and workers together, my department has always been on the pitch… 

    …Whether that’s securing a better deal for the workforce at Port Talbot

    …engaging on the takeover of Royal Mail…  

    …Or the renegotiated deal that saw Navantia acquiring Harland and Wolff and protect 1,000 jobs at shipyards across the UK. I will always roll up my sleeves and get involved.

    But – being candid – none of this work in itself is sufficient, if it does not lead across the board to improved business confidence, to greater investment, and to higher household income, in every part of the country. 

    And on that I, and the whole government, recognise the challenge, and we accept it. 

    In the Budget the government had a responsibility to fix the foundations and restore economic stability.  

    And while I recognise that the Budget capped corporation tax, extended capital allowances, and raised the employment allowance threshold from this April, I know it asked a great deal of business. I don’t underestimate that for a second.  

    We will never take that contribution – your contribution – for granted. 

    You are playing your part in fixing this country, in stabilising the public finances, in investing in our people and helping us rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.   

    And we know it is imperative that therefore we clear the path for the private sector to thrive… that we deliver the right conditions for growth.  

    It’s why, on top of the £100 billion of investment unveiled at the Budget, this Government has thrown its full support behind a third runway at Heathrow. 

    It’s why we’re making the Oxford Cambridge growth corridor a success with the right transport and public services to foster growth. 

    It’s why through our expanded Office for Investment and the National Wealth Fund we will be supporting transformative investments throughout the country from West Yorkshire to the West Midlands, and Glasgow and Greater Manchester. 

    The challenges we face as government make all the things we promised to do even more critical.  

    And I relish that. 

    And I don’t believe there are easy answers to complex problems. 

    But I do believe that good policy, good strategies, and good government working hand-in-hand with the private sector, can make a difference. 

    And I want my constituents to feel, and to be, better off. 

    And only a pragmatic, business-orientated government can deliver that. 

    And that to me is what being pro-worker, and pro-business means. 

    And I believe this national UK Government is able to deliver on this mission because, fundamentally, we can offer what no-one else can:  

    First of all, political stability – sadly, a rare commodity in many countries these days. 

    Secondly, openness to the rest of the world – at a time where that is clearly coming under pressure. 

    And most importantly of all, we are offering a willingness to use our mandate in Parliament to transform the business and investor environment. 

    And we are using our Industrial Strategy to ensure that our policies are made with business, for business. 

    As you know, in October last year, we consulted on our Industrial Strategy Green Paper; our blueprint to channel investment and support into our country’s high-growth sectors and high potential places. 

    In that green paper, we posed a series of questions, and you answered in great detail. You told us that you need access to a high-skilled workforce.  

    And that is why we have launched Skills England, bringing in flexibilities for the Growth and Skills levy, allowing for shorter apprenticeships and giving employers more control over training. 

    Meanwhile our Great Britain Working White Paper has already set out detailed plans to support people back into work.  

    And for key sectors such as AI and life sciences, we’ve committed to looking at visa routes for the most highly skilled, ensuring those routes continue to work for the UK. The upcoming Immigration White Paper will set out plans to make our immigration, skills, and visa systems work better and more coherently.   

    You told us that planning has become a by-word for inefficiency.   

    So, we’re making it quicker and simpler for developers to build on brownfield land. 

    We’re making it much easier to build laboratories, gigafactories, data centres, and digital network grid connections.  

    And we’re preventing campaigners from repeatedly launching hopeless legal challenges against planning decisions.   

    You have also told us that access to capital needs drastic improvement.  

    Here again we’re listening and we’re responding. That is why the Government is creating pension megafunds, unlocking billions of pounds of investment. At the same time, we’re delivering on Lord Hill’s Listing Review to allow the FCA to rewrite the UK’s Prospectus Regime for faster fund-raising.

    And, finally, you told us that we need a ‘regulation reset’ in this country.  

    Day in, day out I hear from business leaders who say to me that regulation and regulators are too cumbersome.  

    They’re too slow.  

    They’re too focused on theoretical issues, with little understanding of how businesses and markets actually operate. 

    And I’ve heard that message loud and clear.  

    One of our foremost regulators, the Competition and Markets Authority, has recently made great strides in addressing some of these issues. 

    And today, my department is publishing a consultation on a new Strategic Steer for the CMA to accelerate this work.  

    This isn’t about meaningless platitudes – about the ‘cutting of red tape.’  

    It’s about effective consumer protection, competition law and digital market powers so that we create a level-playing field for businesses to compete on. We need to address genuine harm done by those who are not playing by the rules.  

    Our Strategic Steer asks the CMA to minimise uncertainty for business – by being proactive, transparent, timely, predictable and responsive in its engagement.  

    And I know, under Sarah Cardell and the new Interim Chair, Doug Gurr, the CMA has already taken significant steps in adopting this approach…in always having growth and investment in mind.  

    Its extensive work around the merger of Vodafone and Three is a fantastic example of that…as is the CMA’s launch of a Growth and Investment Council to identify opportunities for greater competition.  

    And there is more to come. 

    I know Sarah and the CMA have set out their plans to deliver real, meaningful reforms to the merger control processes already today. Its eyes are trained firmly on more direct engagement with businesses. On speeding up its decision-making to deliver more certainty for investors. On adopting a faster, more agile approach to protecting competition.  

    I fully endorse these measures because this Government believes in effective, independent institutions. In promoting competition and protecting competition – that is fundamental to our growth mission. And with the current CMA team in place, we want to support them every step of the way in the changes they’re making.  

    I want to see that same level of ambition from our other regulators because right now, I don’t think our regulatory environment is doing enough to drive investor confidence and support growth.  

    So, I’m taking this first step today but watch this space.  

    I’m serious about delivering our wider regulatory reform over the coming weeks and months… 

    …I’m also serious about building the pro-innovation, pro-worker, pro wealth creation economy that we promised at the general election. I know you in the room share that commitment, too. 

    I’m proud of the reforms that we’ve set out in the Employment Rights Bill – of the opportunities they will afford working class families and working-class communities like the one I grew up in.  

    I want everyone to benefit from the stronger economy I know we can have.

    But I always said, however, that we would work with – and not against – business to deliver these generational reforms.  

    I said that we would never introduce changes that would make it harder for firms to hire with confidence.  

    And this is precisely why my department is consulting on many of the key aspects of our Make Work Pay reforms – not least on probationary periods.  

    I want a statutory probation period that lets businesses get a good sense of how new employees are performing.  

    And it’s common sense to ensure that there are lighter touch standards for dismissal during those initial months of people starting a job. 

    I know how important this is for employers. And I get it.  

    It’s why my department will continue to engage face-to-face with business to develop a sensible, balanced proposal before we go out for formal consultation.  

    And we will also consult on the length of the statutory probation period, with our preference being 9 months.  

    We have also made clear that the changes we make to unfair dismissal will come into effect no sooner than the autumn of next year.  

    I want there to be a buffer – a proper, business readiness period – so employers fully understand the details of our reforms, and can prepare long before they enter into force.  

    That is the right thing to do – for both employers and employees.  

    So, let there be no doubt – we are still the party of business.  

    And we are willing to do the difficult things.  

    Be that a third runway at Heathrow, a step change at the CMA, or stopping endless court challenges over the job-creating projects this country needs. 

    We can share our ideas and ambition with each other. 

    Take the big bets.         

    Take some risks.

    Be the disruptors.

    My desire to be your champion in government has never wavered.  

    And it is as resolute now as ever. 

    We have to go further and faster in driving growth.  

    And, friends, together, I know that we will.   

    Thank you very much.

    Updates to this page

    Published 13 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Abaxx Will Expand Battery Metals Product Suite with Launch of Lithium Carbonate Futures on March 7, 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Feb. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Abaxx Technologies Inc. (CBOE:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) (“Abaxx” or the “Company”), a financial software and market infrastructure company, indirect majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd. (“Abaxx Singapore”), the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, “Abaxx Exchange” and “Abaxx Clearing”), and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast, today announced that it will be expanding its battery metals product suite with the launch of 3 regional physically-deliverable Lithium Carbonate futures on March 7, 2025.

    Abaxx Lithium Carbonate futures mark a significant development as the world’s first physically deliverable lithium carbonate contracts priced in US dollars. These new contracts provide market participants with standardized and globally accessible pricing benchmarks, better aligning trade flows with physical market realities. By introducing a reliable and transparent mechanism for price discovery, the contracts enhance participants’ ability to manage risk in an increasingly dynamic and critical market. Each regional contract is a US dollar-denominated, DAP contract representing 1 tonne of lithium carbonate and is deliverable at ports in either Singapore, Rotterdam, or Baltimore.

    “The launch of Abaxx’s Lithium Carbonate futures introduces much-needed, physically deliverable benchmarks that reflect real market conditions, providing traders with a precise hedging instrument and greater optionality in managing supply chains,” said Sacha Lifschitz, Director of Metals Markets at Abaxx Exchange. “With contracts deliverable in Singapore, Rotterdam, and Baltimore, we’re aligning with global trade flows to offer more effective risk management and price transparency in a rapidly evolving battery metals market.”

    About Abaxx Technologies
    Abaxx is building Smarter Markets — markets empowered by better financial technology and market infrastructure to address our biggest challenges, including the energy transition. In addition to developing and deploying financial technologies that make communication, trade, and transactions easier and more secure, Abaxx is an indirect majority-owner of subsidiaries Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing, recognized by MAS as a “recognised market operator” (RMO) and “approved clearing house” (ACH), respectively.

    Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing are a Singapore-based commodity futures exchange and clearinghouse, introducing centrally cleared, physically deliverable commodities futures and derivatives to provide better price discovery and risk management tools for the commodities critical to our transition to a lower-carbon economy.

    For more information please visit abaxx.tech, abaxx.exchange and smartermarkets.media.

    For more information about this press release, please contact:

    Steve Fray, CFO
    Tel: +1 647-490-1590

    Media and investor inquiries:

    Abaxx Technologies Inc.
    Investor Relations Team
    Tel: +1 246 271 0082
    E-mail: ir@abaxx.tech

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

    This press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” which do not consist of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe Abaxx’s future plans, objectives, or goals, including words to the effect that Abaxx expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as “seeking”, “should”, “intend”, “predict”, “potential”, “believes”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “estimates”, “may”, “could”, “would”, “will”, “continue”, “plan” or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Since forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to Abaxx, Abaxx does not provide any assurance that actual results will meet respective management expectations. Risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

    Forward-looking information related to Abaxx in this press release includes, but is not limited to: Abaxx’s objectives, goals or future plans; completion and timing of the launch of its lithium carbonate contracts; benefits of the introduction of its lithium carbonate contracts; introduction of new battery materials products; and, positive impacts from the growth of global battery metal demand. Such factors impacting forward-looking information include, among others: risks relating to the global economic climate; dilution; Abaxx’s limited operating history; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; the competitive nature of the industry; currency exchange risks; the need for Abaxx to manage its planned growth and expansion; the effects of product development and need for continued technology change; protection of proprietary rights; the effect of government regulation and compliance on Abaxx and the industry; acquiring and maintaining regulatory approvals for Abaxx’s products and operations; the ability to list Abaxx’s securities on stock exchanges in a timely fashion or at all; network security risks; the ability of Abaxx to maintain properly working systems; reliance on key personnel; global economic and financial market deterioration impeding access to capital or increasing the cost of capital; and volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance. In addition, particular factors which could impact future results of the business of Abaxx include but are not limited to: operations in foreign jurisdictions, protection of intellectual property rights, contractual risk, third-party risk; clearinghouse risk, malicious actor risks, third- party software license risk, system failure risk, risk of technological change; dependence of technical infrastructure; and changes in the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labor and international travel and supply chains, and the risk factors identified in the Company’s most recent management discussion and analysis filed on SEDAR+. Abaxx has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of Abaxx’s normal course of business.

    Abaxx cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. In addition, although Abaxx has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. When relying on forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Abaxx has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraphs will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release represents the expectations of Abaxx as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Abaxx undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and information. Cboe Canada does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Eugene Doyle: Will New Zealand invade the Cook Islands to stop China? Seriously

    Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. –

    The New Zealand government and the mainstream media have gone ballistic (thankfully not literally just yet) over the move by the small Pacific nation to sign a strategic partnership with China in Beijing this week.

    It is the latest in a string of island nations that have signalled a closer relationship with China, something that rattles nerves and sabres in Wellington and Canberra.

    The Chinese have politely told the Kiwis to back off.  Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters that China and the Cook Islands have had diplomatic relations since 1997 which “should not be disrupted or restrained by any third party”.

    “New Zealand is rightly furious about it,” a TVNZ Pacific affairs writer editorialised to the nation. The deal and the lack of prior consultation was described by various journalists as “damaging”, “of significant concern”, “trouble in paradise”, an act by a “renegade government”.

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters, not without cause, railed at what he saw as the Cook Islands government going against long-standing agreements to consult over defence and security issues.

    “Should New Zealand invade the Cook islands?” . . . New Zealand Herald columnist Matthew Hooton’s view in an “oxygen-starved media environment” amid rattled nerves. Image: New Zealand Herald screenshot APR

    ‘Clearly about secession’
    Matthew Hooton, who penned the article in The Herald, is a major commentator on various platforms.

    “Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown’s dealings with China are clearly about secession from the realm of New Zealand,” Hooton said without substantiation but with considerable colonial hauteur.

    “His illegal moves cannot stand. It would be a relatively straightforward military operation for our SAS to secure all key government buildings in the Cook Islands’ capital, Avarua.”

    This could be written off as the hyperventilating screeching of someone trying to drum up readers but he was given a major platform to do so and New Zealanders live in an oxygen-starved media environment where alternative analysis is hard to find.

    The Cook Islands, with one of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones in the world — a whopping 2 million sq km — is considered part of New Zealand’s backyard, albeit over 3000 km to the northeast.  The deal with China is focused on economics not security issues, according to Cooks Prime Minister Mark Brown.

    Deep sea mining may be on the list of projects as well as trade cooperation, climate, tourism, and infrastructure.

    The Cook Islands seafloor is believed to have billions of tons of polymetallic nodules of cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese, something that has even caught the attention of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Various players have their eyes on it.

    Glen Johnson, writing in Le Monde Diplomatique, reported last year:

    “Environmentalists have raised major concerns, particularly over the destruction of deep-sea habitats and the vast, choking sediment plumes that excavation would produce.”

    All will be revealed
    Even Cook Island’s citizens have not been consulted on the details of the deal, including deep sea mining.  Clearly, this should not be the case. All will be revealed shortly.

    New Zealand and the Cook Islands have had formal relations since 1901 when the British “transferred” the islands to New Zealand.  Cook Islanders have a curious status: they hold New Zealand passports but are recognised as their own country. The US government went a step further on September 25, 2023. President Joe Biden said:

    “Today I am proud to announce that the United States recognises the Cook Islands as a sovereign and independent state and will establish diplomatic relations between our two nations.”

    A move to create their own passports was undermined by New Zealand officials who successfully stymied the plan.

    New Zealand has taken an increasingly hostile stance vis-a-vis China, with PM Luxon describing the country as a “strategic competitor” while at the same time depending on China as our biggest trading partner.  The government and a compliant mainstream media sing as one choir when it comes to China: it is seen as a threat, a looming pretender to be South Pacific hegemon, replacing the flip-flopping, increasingly incoherent USA.

    Climate change looms large for island nations. Much of the Cooks’ tourism infrastructure is vulnerable to coastal inundation and precious reefs are being destroyed by heating sea temperatures.

    “One thing that New Zealand has got to get its head round is the fact that the Trump administration has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Accord,” Dr Robert Patman, professor of international relations at Otago University, says. “And this is a big deal for most Pacific Island states — and that means that the Cook Islands nation may well be looking for greater assistance elsewhere.”

    Diplomatic spat with global coverage
    The story of the diplomatic spat has been covered in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.  Eyebrows are rising as yet again New Zealand, a close ally of Israel and a participant in the US Operation Prosperity Guardian to lift the Houthi Red Sea blockade of Israel, shows its Western mindset.

    Matthew Hooton’s article is the kind of colonialist fantasy masquerading as geopolitical analysis that damages New Zealand’s reputation as a friend to the smaller nations of our region.

    Yes, the Chinese have an interest in our neck of the woods — China is second only to Australia in supplying much-needed development assistance to the region.

    It is sound policy not insurrection for small nations to diversify economic partnerships and secure development opportunities for their people. That said, serious questions should be posed and deserve to be answered.

    Geopolitical analyst Dr Geoffrey Miller made a useful contribution to the debate saying there was potential for all three parties to work together:

    “There is no reason why New Zealand can’t get together with China and the Cook Islands and develop some projects together,” Dr Miller says. “Pacific states are the winners here because there is a lot of competition for them”.

    I think New Zealand and Australia could combine more effectively with a host of South Pacific island nations and form a more effective regional voice with which to engage with the wider world and collectively resist efforts by the US and China to turn the region into a theatre of competition.

    We throw the toys out
    We throw the toys out of the cot when the Cooks don’t consult with us but shrug when Pasifika elders like former Tuvalu PM Enele Sopoaga call us out for ignoring them.

    In Wellington last year, I heard him challenge the bigger powers, particularly Australia and New Zealand, to remember that the existential threat faced by Pacific nations comes first from climate change. He also reminded New Zealanders of the commitment to keeping the South Pacific nuclear-free.

    To succeed, a “Pacific for the peoples of the Pacific” approach would suggest our ministries of foreign affairs should halt their drift to being little more than branch offices of the Pentagon and that our governments should not sign up to US Great Power competition with China.

    Ditching the misguided anti-China AUKUS project would be a good start.

    Friends to all, enemies of none. Keep the Pacific peaceful, neutral and nuclear-free.

    Eugene Doyle is a community organiser and activist in Wellington, New Zealand. He received an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian award in 2023 for community service. His first demonstration was at the age of 12 against the Vietnam War. This article was first published at his public policy website Solidarity and is republished here with permission.

    This article was first published on Café Pacific.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Kazakhstan: Authorities must drop politically motivated charges against satirical blogger  

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Ahead of the start of the trial in Kazakhstan of Temirlan Ensebek, a blogger who has been charged with “inciting interethnic discord” and faces up to seven years in jail for a year-old post on his Instagram page, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:  

    “This is not the first time that the Kazakh authorities have targeted Temirlan Ensebek for his free expression. 

    This politically motivated prosecution is part of a wider crackdown on civil society

    “This politically motivated prosecution, which relies on a vague and overly broad definition of ‘incitement’ within Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code, is part of a wider crackdown on civil society.  

    “Free expression is not a crime and the authorities must end their misuse of the criminal justice system and the charge of ‘discord’ to suppress dissent and silence critical voices. These baseless charges must be dropped and Temirlan Ensebek should be immediately released from detention.” 

    Background  

    Temirlan Ensebek, manages the satirical Instagram account Qaznews24. He was arrested on 17 January and remanded in pretrial detention for two months. 

    He has been charged under article 174 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code on vague charges of “inciting interethnic discord”. 

    Ensebek’s post on the Qaznews24 Instagram account featured a Russian TV presenter, with a song conveying hostile feelings against Russians.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Myanmar: Recklessly abrupt US aid stoppage poses existential threat to human rights

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The United States government’s abrupt and sweeping freeze on foreign aid is severely imperiling the human rights of refugees, civilians in armed conflict areas and individuals fleeing persecution in Myanmar, Amnesty International said today.

    The organization warned that lives could be lost unless the decision is urgently reversed, amended or if waivers for life-saving assistance are not immediately granted and swiftly implemented for those working on the ground.

    “The Trump administration’s cruel decision to issue immediate stop work orders on foreign aid is having an instant and devastating impact across the globe, and in Myanmar it is hitting people at a particularly dark hour,” said Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher Joe Freeman.

    “The decision has abruptly shut down hospitals in refugee camps, put fleeing human rights defenders at risk of deportation and imperiled programs helping people prevent atrocities, survive in conflict zones and rebuild their lives amid ongoing waves of violence.”

    On 20 January, US President Donald Trump signed a presidential executive order pausing all foreign aid amid a 90-day review of whether it is consistent with American foreign policy. On 24 January, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stop work order to those delivering assistance worldwide as part of the review, but carved out exemptions to the pause for emergency food assistance, as well as military aid to Israel and Egypt.

    An additional waiver dated 28 January exempted “life-saving humanitarian assistance” from the stoppage, while follow-up clarifications in the first week of February broadened the exemptions for specific activities. However, based on Amnesty’s latest research, implementation of these waivers has yet to trickle down to many organizations working along the Thai-Myanmar border. 

    “The US government’s shocking move has had immediate global impacts whose real-life consequences are still being felt and understood. Our findings from Myanmar and Thailand provide just one example of the damage wrought by this heartless decision,” Joe Freeman said.

    In Myanmar, the funding pause has further devastated a civilian population already enduring escalating armed conflict, widespread displacement and severe human rights violations by a military that seized power in a coup more than four years ago. It has also sowed chaos, desperation and anguish among tens of thousands of Myanmar refugees living in Thailand.

    The US is effectively giving the rights-abusing Myanmar military an invaluable gift in their crackdown on freedom of expression

    To date, US funding has helped many endure the upheaval by supporting emergency shelter or relocation for activists, delivering food aid, helping create early-warning systems for air strikes, delivering medical treatment in war zones and providing education opportunities to those who have lost all hope of a future.

    From 3-10 February, Amnesty International spoke to 12 Myanmar refugees living in camps along the border in Thailand, along with representatives from 14 organizations with Myanmar-focused activities. They include health workers, human rights researchers and NGOs providing cross-border assistance as well as media and education providers. All warned of severe consequences if the decision was not reversed or amended. Not one had received a communication or confirmation of a waiver from the US government to continue operations.

    MIL OSI NGO –