NewzIntel.com

Category: Politics

  • MIL-OSI: Result of AGM

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    6 February 2025

    HARGREAVE HALE AIM VCT PLC
    (the “Company”)

    Result of 2025 Annual General Meeting

    Hargreave Hale AIM VCT plc, announces that at the Company’s 2025 Annual General Meeting held at 12:30pm on Thursday 6 February 2025, all resolutions were passed by way of a poll and the results of the poll, including the proxy votes received, are set out below.

    Resolutions 1 to 12 (inclusive) were proposed as ordinary resolutions and resolutions 13 and 14 (inclusive) were proposed as special resolutions.

    As previously announced, Angela Henderson, Independent Non-Executive Director, did not seek-re-election at the AGM and accordingly resigned from the Company on 6 February 2025.

    In accordance with UK Listing Rule 6.4.2 copies of all the resolutions passed, other than ordinary business, will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.

    Resolution Votes For* % Votes Against % Total votes validly cast Total votes cast as % of issued share capital Votes Withheld**
    01 Receive annual accounts for period ended 30 September 2024 15,267,328 99.46 82,798 0.54 15,350,126 4.19% 110,499
    02 Approve directors’ remuneration report 13,778,201 90.28 1,483,475 9.72 15,261,676 4.17% 198,949
    03 Approve the remuneration policy 13,693,713 90.05 1,513,769 9.95 15,207,482 4.15% 253,143
    04 Reappoint BDO LLP as auditors 15,004,735 98.39 245,840 1.61 15,250,575 4.17% 210,050
    05 Re-elect David Brock as a director 13,086,237 86.15 2,104,276 13.85 15,190,513 4.15% 270,112
    06 Re-elect Oliver Bedford as a director 13,092,485 86.23 2,091,241 13.77 15,183,726 4.15% 276,899
    07 Re-elect Justin Ward as a director 14,491,468 96.11 587,178 3.89 15,078,646 4.12% 381,979
    08 Re-elect Megan McCracken as a director 14,356,920 94.39 853,809 5.61 15,210,729 4.16% 249,896
    9 Re-elect Busola Sodeinde as a director 14,365,124 94.58 823,894 5.42 15,189,018 4.15% 271,607
    10 To approve the final dividend 15,320,714 99.75 39,092 0.25 15,359,806 4.20% 100,819
    11 To authorise the directors to offer a scrip dividend alternative 14,942,049 98.37 248,261 1.63 15,190,310 4.15% 270,315
    12 To authorise the directors to allot Ordinary shares 14,685,856 96.62 513,749 3.38 15,199,605 4.15% 261,020
    13 To authorise the directors to allot equity securities for cash 12,125,476 81.07 2,831,033 18.93 14,956,509 4.09% 504,116
    14 To allow the Company to make market purchases of its own shares 14,971,554 97.66 358,878 2.34 15,330,432 4.19% 130,193

    * Includes discretionary votes

    ** A vote withheld is not a vote in law and is not counted in the calculation of the votes for or against a resolution.

    Notes:

    As at close of business on 5 February 2025, the Company’s issued share capital comprised 365,665,633 Ordinary Shares and the total number of voting rights in the Company were 365,665,633 shares.

    END

    For further information, please contact:

    JTC (UK) Limited
    Uloma Adighibe
    Alexandria Tivey    		 HHV.CoSec@jtcgroup.com
    +44 203 892 3877
    +44 203 832 3891

    LEI: 213800LRYA19A69SIT31        

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Awaab’s Law to force landlords to fix dangerous homes

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    From October, social landlords to be forced to investigate and fix dangerous damp and mould in set time periods and repair all emergency hazards within 24 hours

    • From October, social landlords will be forced to investigate and fix dangerous damp and mould in set time periods, as well as repair all emergency hazards within 24 hours
    • Government to introduce vital legislation in honour of two-year-old Awaab Ishak who tragically died following prolonged exposure to damp and mould
    • Major step forward in mission to transform housing safety and quality

    Landmark reforms to force landlords to fix dangerous homes or face the full force of the law will be introduced for the first time later this year.

    As part of the government’s mission to transform the safety and quality of social housing, Awaab’s Law will come into force from October, ensuring social landlords have to investigate and fix dangerous damp and mould within a set amount of time as well as repair all emergency hazards within 24 hours.  Landlords who fail to comply face being taken to court, with social tenants able to use the full powers of the law to hold them to account.

    Awaab’s Law will be introduced through a phased approach to ensure it is applied as effectively as possible. This means that the protections it provides to damp and mould will be introduced quickly, which would not have been possible if the government applied the law to a wider group of hazards from the outset. This will also allow the government to test and learn so that the reforms benefit social tenants and secure the lasting legacy that Awaab Isaak’s family have fought so hard for. 

    The vital reforms will help drive a transformational and lasting change in the safety and quality of social housing, supporting the government’s pledge through the Plan for Change to deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housing in a generation and build 1.5 million homes.

    The law is a lasting legacy to two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who tragically died after being exposed to mould at his Rochdale home in December 2020. In the wake of this tragedy, Awaab’s family has fought to secure justice, not only for their son but for all those who live in social housing.

    Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said:

    “We have a moral duty to ensure tragedies like the death of Awaab Ishak never happen again.

    “Landlords cannot be allowed to rent out dangerous homes and shamelessly put the lives of their tenants at risk.

    “Our new laws will force them to fix problems quickly, so that people are safe in their homes and can be proud to live in social housing.”

    From October, Awaab’s Law will force landlords to fix damp and mould as well as carry out emergency repairs. We will then take a step-by-step approach to make the law stronger over time so that landlords will be legally required to fix all dangerous hazards from 2027. These repairs will have to be delivered within set timescales to ensure that landlords are meeting their responsibilities.

    However, social landlords must continue to fix dangerous issues in their homes before Awaab’s Law is fully implemented. They already have a duty to keep their homes fit for human habitation and to remedy disrepair, and they must also ensure that their homes meet the Decent Homes Standard. Awaab’s Law will set clearer and stronger laws to ensure that tenants are living in safe homes.

    Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said:

    “Awaab Ishak’s family have tenaciously and courageously fought to secure justice, not only for their son but for all those who live in social housing.

    “Awaab’s Law will help to drive a transformational and lasting change in the safety and quality of social housing, ensuring tenants are treated with fairness and respect”.

    In the coming months we will bring forward further reforms designed to drive up standards across social housing and to build greater trust and transparency between landlords and tenants. This government will:

    • Introduce powers through the Renters’ Rights Bill to extend Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector. We will consult on how to apply Awaab’s Law to privately rented homes in a way that works for the sector and is fair and proportionate for tenants and landlords.
    • Consult on a new Decent Homes Standard and minimum energy efficiency standards, to ensure tenant’s homes are made safe, warm, and free from disrepair.
    • Legislate to require social landlords to carry out electrical safety checks at least every five years, as well as mandatory appliance inspections on all electrical appliances that are provided by the landlord.

    Notes to editors

    • We are intending to lay the Awaab’s Law regulations in parliament as quickly as we can to secure these protections and provide the sector with clarity and time to prepare ahead of requirements which will come into force in October of this year. 
    • In 2023, 7% of social rented homes had a damp problem and 4% had hazards rated at the most dangerous ‘category 1’ level.

    • Our phased approach will work as follows:

    • From October 2025 social landlords will have to address damp and mould hazards that present a significant risk of harm to tenants to fixed timescales.
    • From October 2025 social landlords will also have to address all emergency repairs including for damp and mould or other hazards as soon as possible and within no longer than 24 hours.
    • In 2026, requirements will expand to apply to a wider range of hazards. In addition to damp and mould, the hazards we expect to extend Awaab’s Law to in this second stage of implementation include excess cold and excess heat; falls; structural collapse; fire, electrical and explosions; and hygiene hazards.
    • Then in 2027, the requirements of Awaab’s Law will expand to the remaining hazards as defined by the HHSRS (excluding overcrowding). The full list of hazards can be found in schedule 1 to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (England) Regulations 2005.

    Updates to this page

    Published 6 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Charity regulator convenes discussions on safe delivery of urgent Middle East aid

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    The Charity Commission hosted a roundtable meeting today (6 February 2025) bringing together major international aid charities and government departments to discuss the pressing need to secure the flow of aid to the Middle East.

    Leaders of organisations including the Disasters Emergency Committee were joined by senior officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Home Office and HM Treasury.

    Leaders of umbrella bodies NCVO and Bond also participated in the meeting, held in central London.

    Discussion centred on how partners across civil society and government can work effectively to accelerate delivery of aid to the Middle East within a strong regulatory framework.

    Representatives explored the practical operating challenges of seeking to support those living in areas devastated by the impact of recent events in the region. They discussed the importance of regulatory compliance, including with the various legal duties and challenges affecting charities working in the Middle East.

    Following the meeting, the Commission undertook to work with other government departments to publish further guidance to support charities of all sizes seeking to operate in the region.

    Chief Executive Officer of the Charity Commission, David Holdsworth, said:

    The role of aid charities will be crucial not only to providing immediate humanitarian support to people in the region, but to the long, complex process of rebuilding Gaza, Syria and other war-torn areas.

    As the charity regulator our role is to enable as well as to enforce. In convening today’s roundtable the Commission sought to bring together key players for an honest conversation about the challenges and risks involved in delivering international aid in such circumstances.

    All were united by an ambition to help ensure that the UK and its citizens can effectively help bring aid to a region in desperate need.

    The Commission stands ready to support however it can within its regulatory remit and we will shortly publish further advice to charities working in this area.

    ENDS

    Notes to editors

    1. The Charity Commission is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Its ambition is to be an expert regulator that is fair, balanced, and independent so that charity can thrive. This ambition will help to create and sustain an environment where charities further build public trust and ultimately fulfil their essential role in enhancing lives and strengthening society. Find out more: About us – The Charity Commission – GOV.UK

    Press office

    Email pressenquiries@charitycommission.gov.uk

    Out of hours press office contact number: 07785 748787

    Updates to this page

    Published 6 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: More support for Jasper’s recovery

    Source: Government of Canada regional news (2)

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Armed Forces to cut red tape and deliver quicker and easier recruitment service

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Joining the Armed Forces will become quicker and easier under a new first-of-its kind recruitment service that cuts red tape and transforms the way people sign up to serve. 

    • A new recruitment service will streamline the process for candidates to join the Armed Forces.
    • Launching in 2027, the first-of-its kind service will speed up recruitment to boost national security – the foundation of Government’s Plan for Change.
    • Single-entry point for prospective recruits to attract the best talent from across the country and deliver better value for taxpayer money.

    Joining the Armed Forces will become quicker and easier under a new first-of-its kind recruitment service that cuts red tape and transforms the way people sign up to serve.  

    Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard has today announced that a new, combined Armed Forces Recruitment Service (AFRS) will launch in 2027, replacing the individual schemes run by the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. The new contract will ensure better value for taxpayer money and better outcomes for our Armed Forces.  

    The first-ever tri-service recruitment programme will provide a streamlined, single-entry point for prospective recruits, with the aim of attracting the best talent from across the country into the Armed Forces to strengthen national security as the foundation of the Government’s Plan for Change.  

    The announcement follows the Defence Secretary’s commitment last year to tackle long application waiting times for the Armed Forces, with a new ambition to make a conditional offer within 10 days and confirmation of a training start date within 30 days.  

    Under the innovative new recruitment service, candidates will complete one application and one medical evaluation via a single, digital system – offering a more straightforward process that seeks to retain applicant interest. The digitally enhanced process will see applications reviewed, offers made and training begin at a faster pace than individual services currently.  

    In efforts to deliver value for money, the Ministry of Defence will mimic the Cabinet Office’s standard model services contract, allowing for decisive action on supplier-caused performance issues through profit-based performance goals and contract break-clauses. 

    Existing processes have struggled to meet the evolving needs of modern recruitment, with inefficiencies and delays leading to fewer than one in 10 applicants joining in 2023. 

    Minister for the Armed Forces Luke Pollard said:

    This Government is delivering for defence and taking decisive action to address recruitment and retention challenges within our Armed Forces. For too long, we have seen keen and capable prospective recruits failed by an outdated system, full of delays and inefficiencies.  

    Our innovative new Armed Forces Recruitment Service will help us attract top talent from across the UK – bolstering our national security as the foundation for our government’s Plan for Change.  

    By making it quicker and easier for people to sign up to serve, while maintaining the very highest standards, we will strengthen our Armed Forces and make the UK more secure. 

    Our ambition is for those who apply to serve our country to receive a conditional answer within 10 days and a training start date within 30 days. As global threats increase, we are making the changes necessary to get the brightest and best into Britain’s military.”  

    Developed in partnership with Serco, the new programme will ultimately help to ensure that the UK military remains ready to face emerging threats while enhancing the support for those who serve.   

    AFRS will also see Service Personnel playing an active role in the recruitment process, leveraging their unique skills and experience to engage the next generation of military professionals.   

    In a separate move to attract a broader range of Armed Forces recruits, the Minister for the Armed Forces, Luke Pollard has also announced today a new direct entry initiative for cyber roles. With reduced basic training, a starting salary of £40,000 and specialist cyber training, recruits will support our Forces and bolster the UK’s cyber strength.  

    The Government is committed to bettering the Armed Forces career offer and has also delivered one of the largest pay increases for the Armed Forces in the last 20 years, scrapped over 100 outdated policies that block or slow recruitment, and are establishing an Armed Forces Commissioner to champion Service Personnel and their families.  

    With recruitment across the three Forces being unified, AFRS will see all applicant data held centrally at MOD, offering improved data security and enhanced access to information.

    Updates to this page

    Published 6 February 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: New Law Strengthening Red Flag Law Now in Effect

    Source: US State of New York

    Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that a new law (S.3340/A.5873) designed to enhance safeguards afforded by the State’s Red Flag Law is now effective. Beginning today, courts across New York State must notify the statewide registry of orders of protection and warrants when judges issue a temporary and/or final extreme risk order of protection. This notification codifies what courts were doing in practice and aims to ensure that these orders don’t fall through the cracks. Courts statewide have ordered nearly 14,000 temporary and permanent Extreme Risk Protection Orders through February 3, 2025 — more than 12 times the number of orders issued before Governor Hochul took decisive action to strengthen State law following the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo on May 14, 2022. Governor Hochul previously signed the legislation on October 9, 2024 as part of a package of bills aimed at reducing gun violence and strengthening New York’s nation leading gun laws.

    “Public safety is my number one priority — that’s why I signed legislation strengthening our Red Flag Laws to keep weapons away from individuals who are a risk to themselves and others,” Governor Hochul said. “By empowering law enforcement and judges to take action, we’re getting guns off our streets and making our communities safer.”

    A gunman motivated by hate murdered 10 individuals, physically injured three others and terrorized a community when he drove more than 200 miles to commit an act of mass violence at the Tops Supermarket on Buffalo’s East Side. Three days after that horrific act, Governor Hochul issued Executive Order 19, directing the New York State Police to seek an ERPO when there is probable cause to believe an individual is likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to themselves, or others, as defined in the State’s Mental Hygiene Law.

    Less than a month later on July 6, 2022, Governor Hochul signed a law requiring all police departments, sheriffs’ offices and district attorneys’ offices to file an ERPO petition under the same standard in State law used by the State Police. This law also expanded the list of who is eligible to file for an ERPO to include health care practitioners who have examined an individual within the last six months and required reports by mental health practitioners about potentially harmful individuals to be considered closely when determining whether to issue a firearm license.

    From August 25, 2019, through December 31, 2019, courts across the State ordered 148 temporary or permanent orders. Those numbers less than doubled for the 2020 (252 ERPOs) and 2021 (286 ERPOs) calendar years. ERPOs issued by courts increased nearly tenfold after the Governor and Legislature acted in 2022, with 2,363 orders issued that year. In 2024 alone, the number of ERPOs issued statewide totaled 5,357.

    In addition to strengthening State laws to keep firearms away from those who pose a danger to themselves and others, Governor Hochul has bolstered the State’s efforts to remove illegal guns from communities and provided record-level funding to law enforcement agencies and community organizations on the front lines of the State’s fight against gun violence.

    Law enforcement agencies across the state seized 9,408 firearms, including 769 ghost guns, last year.

    Since taking office, Governor Hochul has provided record-level funding to State agencies, local law enforcement, and community-based organizations to address the pandemic-era surge in gun violence and that investment has paid dividends.

    Gun violence in communities participating in the state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative declined to its lowest level on record last year. New York State began tracking this data in communities outside of New York City in 2006. Shooting incidents with injury declined 28 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, and the number of individuals injured declined 25 percent, with 238 fewer people harmed by gunfire.

    The Governor’s FY26 Executive Budget includes $370 million to continue the State’s multifaceted approach to reducing shootings and saving lives. That funding supports local and State law enforcement initiatives, youth employment programs and nonprofit organizations that serve and support individuals and families, and strengthen communities, including but not limited to:

    • $50 million through the Law Enforcement Technology grant program, which provides funding so police departments and sheriffs’ offices can purchase new equipment and technology to modernize their operations and more effectively solve and prevent crime.
    • $36 million for GIVE, which funds the 28 police departments and district attorneys’ offices, probation departments, and sheriffs’ offices in 21 counties outside of New York City.
    • $21 million for the SNUG Street Outreach Program, which operates in 14 communities across the State: Albany, the Bronx, Buffalo, Hempstead, Mount Vernon, Newburgh, Niagara Falls, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Syracuse, Troy, Utica, Wyandanch and Yonkers. The program uses a public health approach to address gun violence by identifying the source, interrupting transmission, and treating individuals, families and communities affected by the violence.
    • $18 million in continued support for the State’s unique, nationally recognized Crime Analysis Center Network, and $13 million in new funding to establish the New York State Crime Analysis and Joint Special Operations Command Headquarters, a strategic information, technical assistance and training hub for 11 Centers in the State’s network, and enhance existing partnerships and expand information sharing with the New York State Intelligence Center operated by the State Police, the locally run Nassau County Lead Development Center, and the State’s Joint Security Operations Center, which focuses on protecting the State from cyber threats.

    At the same time, the Governor’s FY26 Executive Budget proposal recognizes the equal importance of expanding services to victims and survivors of crime. Among the Governor’s proposals to increase support provided by the State Office of Victim Services are to:

    • Create a Mass Violence Crisis Response Team to ensure rapid, coordinated support that addresses the immediate needs of victims, survivors and communities in the aftermath of such events.
    • Increase existing limits on crime victim compensation for the cost of burial and funeral expenses from $6,000 to $12,000.
    • Eliminate the requirement to consider contributing conduct in death claims, which currently can reduce the amount of money OVS can provide for burial expenses, as well as other crime-related costs, including counseling, loss of support, and other assistance family members may need following a loved one’s death.
    • Expand eligibility for access to funding to pay for crime scene cleanup costs.

    Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said, “Extreme risk protection orders are a critical tool in protecting New Yorkers from gun violence, and this legislation will give the courts and law enforcement the tools they need to help keep people safe. Thank you to the Assembly sponsor of this legislation, my friend and colleague Assemblymember Charles Lavine, for all his hard work on this. Here in New York and in the Assembly Majority, we have fought for commonsense legislation like this to address the scourge of gun violence in our communities. We will continue working together with our partners in government to strengthen the laws we have in place, keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals and address the root causes of gun violence.”

    State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, “I am very pleased that starting today, New Yorkers will be safer, as law enforcement throughout New York will have easier access to critical public safety information, thanks to the bill I sponsored that modernizes the state’s process for filing extreme risk protection orders. Police officers can now quickly see if someone has an outstanding ERPO and better protect victims who face an ongoing risk of violence from someone in their life –– and those who pose a risk to themselves. I thank my colleagues in the legislature and Governor Hochul for their commitment to keeping New Yorkers safe.”

    Assemblymember Charles Lavine said, “Thanks to Governor Hochul’s strong leadership we are making progress in the fight against gun violence. In addition to this new law which I am confident will save lives, I am encouraged to see the increasing number of ghost guns being taken off the streets. This is a direct result of my ghost guns bill which is doing what it was intended to do, that is to keep our communities safe.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: QXO Urges Beacon Roofing Supply to Let Shareholders Decide on Premium All Cash Offer of $124.25 per Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    GREENWICH, Conn., Feb. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — QXO, Inc. (NYSE: QXO) today issued the following statement in response to the announcement by Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc. (Nasdaq: BECN) that its Board of Directors has rejected QXO’s all-cash $124.25 per share offer.

    On January 27, 2025, QXO commenced a tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Beacon for $124.25 per share in cash, for an aggregate enterprise value of approximately $11 billion, representing a 37% premium to Beacon’s 90-day unaffected volume-weighted average price of $91.02 per share as of November 15, 2024. QXO’s offer price is also higher than Beacon’s shares have ever traded. Beacon’s Board offers no basis for its assertion that QXO’s premium offer undervalues Beacon’s shares, and the trading price of Beacon’s shares indicates that Beacon’s Board is wrong.

    “Our offer provides certainty, a significant premium in cash and the ability to close quickly with no regulatory delays, financing risks or diligence conditions,” said Brad Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of QXO. “Beacon’s filing shows no indication of an actionable third-party alternative. We have made a very compelling offer, and Beacon should let its shareholders decide what is in their best interest.”

    Notably, Beacon confirmed today it would wait to announce newly constructed 2028 financial projections until March 13, more than a month from today and more than three months from its Board’s initial rejection of QXO‘s offer. There is no reason for Beacon to introduce yet another delay by waiting to disclose its newly formulated projections.

    QXO’s tender offer will be outstanding until 12:00 midnight, New York City time, at the end of February 24, 2025, and it is prepared to complete the acquisition shortly after the tender expires, subject to the terms of the offer. The transaction is not subject to any financing conditions or due diligence conditions, and QXO expects that the waiting periods under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and the Canadian Competition Act will have expired or been waived by the time the tender offer expires.

    Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as lead financial advisor to QXO, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is acting as legal counsel.

    About QXO

    QXO provides technology solutions, primarily to clients in the manufacturing, distribution and service sectors. The company provides consulting and professional services, including specialized programming, training and technical support, and develops proprietary software. As a value-added reseller of business application software, QXO offers solutions for accounting, financial reporting, enterprise resource planning, warehouse management systems, customer relationship management, business intelligence and other applications. QXO plans to become a tech-forward leader in the $800 billion building products distribution industry. The company is targeting tens of billions of dollars of annual revenue in the next decade through accretive acquisitions and organic growth. Visit QXO.com for more information.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This communication contains forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about beliefs, expectations, targets, goals, regulatory approval timing and nominating directors are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on plans, estimates, expectations and/or goals at the time the statements are made, and readers should not place undue reliance on them. In some cases, readers can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “opportunity,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “target,” “goal,” or “continue,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terms. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such forward-looking statements. Such factors include but are not limited to: the ultimate outcome of any possible transaction between QXO, Inc. (“QXO”) and Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc. (“Beacon”), including the possibility that the parties will not agree to pursue a business combination transaction or that the terms of any definitive agreement will be materially different from those proposed; uncertainties as to whether Beacon will cooperate with QXO regarding the proposed transaction; the ultimate result should QXO commence a proxy contest for election of directors to Beacon’s board of directors; QXO’s ability to consummate the proposed transaction with Beacon; the conditions to the completion of the proposed transaction, including the receipt of any required shareholder approvals and any required regulatory approvals; QXO’s ability to finance the proposed transaction; the substantial indebtedness QXO expects to incur in connection with the proposed transaction and the need to generate sufficient cash flows to service and repay such debt; that operating costs, customer loss and business disruption (including, without limitation, difficulties in maintaining relationships with employees, customers or suppliers) may be greater than expected following the proposed transaction or the public announcement of the proposed transaction; QXO’s ability to retain certain key employees; and general economic conditions that are less favorable than expected. QXO cautions that forward-looking statements should not be relied on as predictions of future events, and these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. Forward-looking statements herein speak only as of the date each statement is made. QXO does not assume any obligation to update any of these statements in light of new information or future events, except to the extent required by applicable law.

    Important Additional Information and Where to Find It

    This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a recommendation, an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell Beacon securities. QXO and Queen MergerCo, Inc. (the “Purchaser”) filed a Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on January 27, 2025, and Beacon filed a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the tender offer with the SEC on February 6, 2025. Investors and security holders are urged to carefully read the Tender Offer Statement (including the Offer to Purchase, the related Letter of Transmittal and certain other tender offer documents, as each may be amended or supplemented from time to time) and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, as these materials contain important information that investors and security holders should consider before making any decision regarding tendering their common stock, including the terms and conditions of the tender offer. The Tender Offer Statement, Offer to Purchase, Solicitation/Recommendation Statement and related materials are filed with the SEC, and investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of these materials and other documents filed by QXO and Beacon with the SEC at the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. In addition, the Tender Offer Statement and other documents that QXO and the Purchaser file with the SEC will be made available to all investors and security holders of Beacon free of charge from the information agent for the tender offer: Innisfree M&A Incorporated, 501 Madison Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10022, toll-free telephone: +1 (888) 750-5834.

    QXO and the other participants intend to file a preliminary proxy statement and accompanying WHITE universal proxy card with the SEC to be used to solicit proxies for, among other matters, the election of its slate of director nominees at the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders of Beacon. QXO strongly advises all stockholders of Beacon to read the preliminary proxy statement, any amendments or supplements to such proxy statement, and other proxy materials filed by QXO with the SEC as they become available because they will contain important information. Such proxy materials will be available at no charge on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and at QXO’s website at investors.qxo.com. In addition, the participants in this proxy solicitation will provide copies of the proxy statement, and other relevant documents, without charge, when available, upon request. Requests for copies should be directed to the participants’ proxy solicitor.

    Certain Information Concerning the Participants

    The participants in the proxy solicitation are anticipated to be QXO, Brad Jacobs, Ihsan Essaid, Matt Fassler, Mark Manduca and the individuals nominated by QXO (the “QXO Nominees”). QXO expects to determine and announce the QXO Nominees prior to the nomination deadline for the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders of Beacon. As of the date of this communication, other than 100 shares of common stock of Beacon beneficially owned by QXO, none of the participants that have been identified has any direct or indirect interest, by security holdings or otherwise, in Beacon.

    Media Contacts

    Joe Checkler
    joe.checkler@qxo.com
    203-609-9650

    Steve Lipin / Lauren Odell
    Gladstone Place Partners
    212-230-5930

    Investor Contacts

    Mark Manduca
    mark.manduca@qxo.com
    203-321-3889

    Scott Winter / Jonathan Salzberger
    Innisfree M&A Incorporated
    212-750-5833

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Samsung Pledges $1 Million for LA Wildfire Relief

    Source: Samsung

    Samsung Electronics America today announced a $1 million commitment in product donations to support relief and recovery efforts for communities impacted by the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
    Through strategic partnerships with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, Team Rubicon and the Los Angeles Unified School District Education Foundation, Samsung aims to deliver both immediate relief and long-term rebuilding support to affected families and communities. Recognizing that recovery will be a long and challenging process, Samsung is committed to being there today and throughout the journey ahead, providing sustained support to ensure these communities have the resources they need to rebuild and thrive in the years to come.
    Immediate and Long-Term Support Initiatives
    Samsung’s commitment will focus on three key areas of impact to support wildfire recovery:
    Home Appliances to Rebuild and Restore – Samsung will donate essential home appliances through Habitat for Humanity of Greater LA to support families as they move back into their homes and others as they rebuild. This short and long-term emergency response initiative is dedicated to aiding wildfire survivors, with a focus on those who are uninsured, underinsured or have limited incomes. These appliances will be critical in helping households restore their homes and begin their recovery, providing immediate relief and long-term stability in the wake of disaster.
    Empowering Education & Digital Access – In partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Education Foundation, Samsung will provide PCs, tablets and other tools to students and teachers, ensuring education continues without interruption despite the crisis. The Foundation collaborates with LAUSD to serve over 500,000 students, many of whom are in communities most impacted by these disasters. By supplying these devices, we are not only minimizing disruptions but also reinforcing the district’s ability to maintain continuity in learning, offering students the resources they need to stay engaged and succeed. This initiative is a crucial step in building long-term educational resilience for these students, supporting both their immediate needs and their future potential.
    Supporting Volunteers in the Field – Samsung will equip Team Rubicon, a veteran-led organization that serves before, during and after disasters, with advanced communication devices to ensure seamless coordination in the field. These tools will amplify the effectiveness of Team Rubicon’s efforts, enabling close collaboration with government agencies, LA fire, local emergency managers and more than 200,000 local volunteers across California. By empowering their response teams, Samsung is helping drive more efficient, hands-on recovery in the communities that need it most.
    “At Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, we believe that a home is the foundation for a better future,” said Erin Rank, President and CEO, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles. “Recovering from a disaster of this scale is a long road, and we are grateful for Samsung’s support in providing families with essential resources so they can rebuild with strength, stability and hope for the future.”
    This initiative underscores Samsung’s longstanding commitment to supporting communities during times of crisis, including our own employees who have been impacted in the area. The company continues to ensure that residents, first responders and non-profit organizations have the technology and resources needed for recovery. Samsung is proud to stand alongside its charitable partners and volunteers as they assist those impacted by natural disasters.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Loving the world could address the climate crisis and help us make sense of changes to come

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Barbara Leckie, Professor, English and the Institute for the Comparative Study of Literature, Art, and Culture; Academic Director, Re.Climate: Centre for Climate Communication and Public Engagement, Carleton University

    This January, the world watched as Los Angeles burned. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” one police chief told reporters, a sentiment echoed by front-line firefighters.

    Last fall, hurricanes Helene and Milton swept through North Carolina and Florida.

    The storms’ intensity and record-breaking fatalities, exacerbated by climate change, blindsided many inhabitants. “Never in a million years,” one nurse said, “did I think [a storm like that] would happen in my own backyard.”

    As a researcher focused on how language and storytelling contribute to social cohesion and social change, I noticed people repeatedly felt they had “no words to describe” what they saw.

    Their experience captured what happens when stories and words to fail describe our world.

    ‘Between past and future’

    After the Second World War, for example, philosopher Hannah Arendt, born into a German and Jewish family, wrote about not just the impact of the war on a personal level, but also its impact on how people make meaning.

    What did it mean, Arendt asked, not to have the conceptual frames through which the world had once made sense? What did it mean to live in the strange interval of time “between past and future” when old forms of understanding the world had eroded and new forms had not yet been found?



    Read more:
    Hannah Arendt wanted political thinking to be urgent and engaged. She is a philosopher for our times

    Her response was bracing and unexpected. She called for everyone — not just philosophers or scholars but the general public as a whole — to step up and contribute to the work of making meaning at a time when meaning-making was grievously fractured. Her phrase for this was amor mundi or “for love of the world.”

    Now, as many people seek to understand and respond to the climate crisis, they are again experiencing a sense of personal loss and a larger sense of not having the conceptual tools to make sense of this moment. How does one love the world in difficult times?

    Learning to love the world

    Love is complicated and messy. Like hurricanes and fires, it often defies the categories available to describe it.

    Hannah Arendt, seen here in 1958, wrote about making meaning for the love of the world.
    (Barbara Niggl Radloff/Wikipedia), CC BY-SA

    And as Stephanie Lemenager, professor in American literature and environmental studies, illustrates, love of fossil fuel culture, and the conveniences it provides, makes it difficult to respond to the climate crisis.

    Love also evades measurement, and metric-oriented value structures can’t count it. As William Shakespeare asks, tragically, in King Lear: “How does one measure love?”

    Love won’t run out in 2030 or 2050. It doesn’t have a parts per million, and despite the many hot and cold words to describe it, it doesn’t have a temperature. Still, as climate emotions professor Sara Jacquette Ray notes, love of this world powers climate action.

    I was talking to a friend recently, the Canadian poet Ken Victor, and he suggested “giving priority to the climate crisis as a multi-faceted relationship to be repaired rather than as a problem to be solved.” Indigenous thinkers like Leanne Betasamosake Simpson,
    the renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, also emphasizes “deep reciprocity” and “relationship” to resist the injustices imposed by colonialism.

    Global North climate responses have much to gain from Indigenous thinking and Arendt, of course, is not alone in animating the power of collective, participatory storytelling and loving the world.

    Learning to ‘restory’ the climate

    The idea of “restorying” has been taken up by Indigenous writers to speak in diverse and powerful ways to dynamic and relational forms of oral storytelling, leadership and theatre.

    Walter Benjamin wrote that the trauma of war weakened the stories his world relied upon for coherence.
    (Wikipedia)

    My research on time and climate develops German Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin’s relevance to storytelling, and what I am calling “restorying” here.

    Like Arendt, Benjamin wrote that the trauma of war — in this case, the First World War — weakened the stories upon which his world relied for social coherence. Where Arendt suggests loving the world, Benjamin endorses amplified, dynamic forms of storytelling.

    Here I build on the tradition from Benjamin to Arendt that invests in the collective practice of making sense of the world one inhabits through sharing, revising and building stories. For Benjamin, stories are in dialogue with other stories; they are participatory and inconclusive. They are also “effective,” meaning they produce effects and invite a response. Above all, they are meant to be repeated and passed on.

    Benjamin’s account of stories, however, also includes a cautionary note: people stop telling stories, as he defines them, when the world no longer fills them with wonder or surprise; when they think they know where they stand. They stop asking questions and no longer believe they can benefit from sharing their dilemmas and concerns with others. They stop thinking, in Arendt’s sense.

    When people isolate themselves in silos of like-minded others, they avoid being challenged or provoked. As Arendt notes, facts are fragile. When lies proliferate and the ability to distinguish those lies from factual truth is eroded, reality wobbles and political action becomes near impossible.

    People can’t act, Arendt believes, when they stop sharing a world in common, however divided by different customs it will always be.

    Relationship rebuilding

    Environmental justice asks us to rethink the systems and practices that created today’s climate impacts. Addressing the climate crisis only from the perspective of a problem to be solved means that we continue on the path, and with the infrastructure, that created the problem in the first place.

    Now, poised between another past and future, I’m interested in, as writer and activist Astra Taylor puts it, “coming together as things fall apart.” Coming together, as a relational practice, can animate what’s missing in the problem-solution models that dominate Global North responses to the climate crisis.

    Arendt and Benjamin offer me stories that “work” and stories that “wonder.”
    Stories that “work” mobilize equitable climate action. Stories that “wonder” are stories that keep open questions, conversation and thinking.

    As international assemblies like COP29 fail to realize their goals, as global carbon emissions continue to rise and as extreme weather everywhere makes many people feel that the frameworks available for understanding no longer serve them, a different response is required. We could call it, following Arendt and Benjamin, restorying the climate and loving the world.

    Barbara Leckie receives funding from SSHRC.

    – ref. Loving the world could address the climate crisis and help us make sense of changes to come – https://theconversation.com/loving-the-world-could-address-the-climate-crisis-and-help-us-make-sense-of-changes-to-come-240766

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Video: UK Can the public trust the safety ratings given to care homes? | House of Lords

    Source: United Kingdom UK House of Lords (video statements)

    Members discuss the Care Quality Commission and its challenges in regaining public confidence.

    Read a transcript https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-02-05/debates/4FC1460C-1E02-49CF-BA1F-868800CAC546/CareHomesSafetyRatings

    Catch-up on House of Lords business:

    Watch live events: https://parliamentlive.tv/Lords
    Read the latest news: https://www.parliament.uk/lords/

    Stay up to date with the House of Lords on social media:

    • X: https://twitter.com/UKHouseofLords
    • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/houseoflords.parliament.uk
    • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/UKHouseofLords/
    • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UKHouseofLords
    • Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/ukhouseoflords/albums
    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-house-of-lords
    • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@UKHouseOfLords

    #HouseOfLords #UKParliament

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-54rdJrYCjc

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NEWS: Sanders, Murray, Baldwin, Scott, DeLauro Demand Answers on Trump’s Plans to Dismantle Education Department

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Vermont – Bernie Sanders

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, alongside Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education, and Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, sent a letter warning against the Trump administration’s reported plans to unilaterally dismantle the Department of Education. The lawmakers asked the acting Secretary of Education for answers on recent actions taken by the Trump administration to put federal workers on administrative leave, coerce employees into leaving their jobs, provide access to students’ sensitive data, and illegally freeze vital funding.

    “Over the course of two weeks, the Trump Administration issued sweeping executive orders and sought to broadly and illegally freeze federal financial assistance,” wrote Sanders and the lawmakers. “Federal employees have been targeted, in some cases for simply following the law. Elon Musk is attempting to shut down the work of entire agencies while gaining access to some of the federal government’s most far reaching and sensitive data systems. Media reports indicate a similar effort may be underway at the Department of Education.” 

    “We will not stand by and allow this to happen to the nation’s students, parents, borrowers, educators, and communities. Congress created the Department to ensure all students in America have equal access to a high-quality education and that their civil rights are protected no matter their zip code,” continued the lawmakers. “We urge you to provide information on the steps the Department is taking to ensure the continuity of programs that Americans depend on, the ability of the Department to effectively administer programs for their intended purposes without waste, fraud and abuse, and the safeguards in place to protect student data privacy.” 

    The lawmakers note that Trump and Elon Musk have not shared any plans regarding intended changes to the Department of Education with the Congressional committees responsible for its oversight and funding. In their letter, they request information about access to the Department’s sensitive data and steps taken to safeguard it, communications and details regarding Department employees who have been placed on leave and confirmation that no awards have been blocked or terminated. 

    To read the full letter, click here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Padilla, Sheehy, Hickenlooper, Daines Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Establish Unified National Wildfire Intelligence Center

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)

    Padilla, Sheehy, Hickenlooper, Daines Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Establish Unified National Wildfire Intelligence Center

    Modeled after National Weather Service and NOAA Water Center, would coordinate fire response amongst various federal, state, and academic institutions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Southern California rebuilds from devastating fires, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) announced bipartisan legislation to create a national Wildfire Intelligence Center to streamline federal response and create a whole-of-government approach to combat wildfires. The joint office, created between the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of the Interior, would facilitate coordination and information sharing across federal and state departments and agencies, tribal entities, academia, and the private sector on wildland fires.

    At the federal level, various departments and agencies have their own fire management goals, firefighters, and jurisdictions on which they respond to fires. The current division of responsibilities leaves gaps for cross-department collaboration and is unnecessarily burdensome. A national Wildfire Intelligence Center would compile comprehensive information on wildfires to better inform and streamline wildfire responses and recovery by providing states with a central command within the federal government. This center would also increase monitoring and imaging capabilities that land management agencies currently cannot achieve.

    “The devastating Southern California fires are the latest example of increasingly intense and frequent fires ravaging communities within both local jurisdictions and on federal land,” said Senator Padilla. “Wildfires don’t distinguish between our boundaries, and we can’t afford to be siloed in our response. The scale of the wildfire crisis demands a singular, whole-of-government wildfire intelligence center to foster cross-agency collaboration and save lives.”

    “We can all agree that the federal government must do a better job protecting our people, property, public lands, and communities from wildfires, and this bill will go a long way in streamlining our wildland firefighting efforts and best leveraging all available resources to accomplish our shared mission. As the only aerial firefighter in the Senate, I’m proud to be working with folks on both sides of the aisle to deliver commonsense solutions to more effectively fight the devastating threat of wildfires and protect the American people,” said Senator Sheehy. 

    “Wildfires don’t care about state lines or forest service boundaries,” said Senator Hickenlooper. “A centralized wildfire intelligence center will speed our response to fires and promote cross-agency collaboration to tackle them.”

    “As fire season rapidly approaches for Montana, we need all hands on deck to prevent catastrophic disasters. Sharing information and resources between agencies will undoubtedly help Montana communities take preventive measures and better combat fires and coordinate response efforts,” said Senator Daines.

    “The Wildfire Intelligence Center established by this bill will harness cutting-edge technology to give decision-makers real-time insights across jurisdictions and landscapes, enhancing coordination at every stage of a fire. The tools to tackle the megafire crisis already exist — this bill brings us closer to putting them in the hands of firefighters and land managers where they can make a real impact,” said Matt Weiner, CEO of Megafire Action. “Senators Padilla and Sheehy understand the urgent need to modernize our wildfire management system, and we look forward to working with them to get this bill signed into law and turn that vision into reality.”

    “FAS applauds Senators Padilla and Sheehy for introducing this bill, which would take a crucial step forward in protecting our communities from increasingly severe wildfires. The Wildfire Intelligence Center would bring together expertise at all levels of government to give our firefighters and first responders access to cutting-edge tools and the decision support they need to confront this growing crisis,” said James Campbell, Wildfire Policy Specialist at the Federation of American Scientists.

    “APCIA supports the Wildfire Intelligence Collaboration and Coordination Act introduced by Senator Padilla (D-CA) and Senator Sheehy (R-MT). This bill reflects the bipartisan recommendations of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission to create a joint interagency center to improve fire assessment and prediction in the wildland and built environment. With the risk of catastrophic wildfires increasing, Congress must take action to pass bills like this one that will lead to better land and fuels management, reduce risk to communities, and improve fire management and response,” said David A. Sampson, APCIA’s President and CEO.

    Advances in wildfire technology hold great promise, however available technological services are highly fragmented across more than 50 federal programs. Simply put, the technology is available, but the government currently lacks the ability to get these tools in the hands of those who desperately need it, when they need it. The Wildfire Intelligence Center will leverage cutting-edge technology and improve the effectiveness of the many entities engaged in wildfire work.

    Specifically, the Wildfire Intelligence Center would study, coordinate, and implement fire suppression and mitigation strategies among the Agriculture, Commerce, and Interior departments, including providing comprehensive assessment and modeling of wildfires to inform response, risk reduction, land and fuels management, post-wildfire recovery, and rehabilitation. This center would be modeled after similar information sharing centers like the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Water Center, which coordinate information sharing to educate people, improve understanding, and foster collaboration amongst various federal, state, and academic units.

    The Wildfire Intelligence Collaboration and Coordination Act is endorsed by Megafire Action, Federation of American Scientists, Association of FireTech Innovation, Alliance for Wildfire Resilience, Climate and Wildfire Institute, Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition, The Stewardship Project, Tall Timbers, Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, American Forests, Environmental Defense Fund, and American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

    Senator Padilla has long been a leader in strengthening the federal and state response to wildfires. Earlier this week, Padilla announced a package of three bipartisan bills to bolster fire resilience and proactive mitigation efforts, including the Wildfire Emergency Act, the Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act, and the Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act. Last month, he introduced another suite of three bipartisan bills to strengthen wildfire resilience and rebuilding efforts through legislation including the Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act, the Fire Suppression and Response Funding Assurance Act, and the Disaster Housing Reform for American Families Act. Padilla’s legislation to strengthen FEMA’s wildfire preparedness and response efforts, the FIRE Act, became law in 2022.

    A one-pager on the Wildfire Intelligence Collaboration and Coordination Act is available here.

    Full text of the bill is available here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Phenomenal figures released for York’s Park and Ride

    Source: City of York

    Figures released today show that 2024 was the busiest year for York’s Park and Ride since 2017, with the total number of journeys exceeding 4.5 million, almost one million higher than in 2023.

    December saw the most trips for a decade, recording nearly 500,000 journeys, a 3.5 per cent increase on the previous highest monthly total set in December 2016.

    City of York Council estimates that people boarding at the Park and Ride sites in December resulted in over 61,700 cars not travelling into central York – equivalent to a line of traffic that would be long enough to reach central London*.

    York’s Enhanced Bus Partnership, which oversees £17.2million of government funding for the Bus Service Improvement Plan, ran a marketing campaign to promote the Park and Ride as well as direct bus services for six weeks before Christmas. Working with Make It York and all bus operators, the social media posts and adverts reached over 2.2million people in a campaign targeting towns and cities where previous research has shown Christmas Market visitors come from.

    Councillor Kate Ravilious, Executive Member for Economy and Transport at City of York Council, said:

    Just shy of half a million journeys in one month is an incredible milestone to reach, so thank you to all the residents and visitors for using the Park and Ride, and thank you to First Bus for increasing the number of buses available during this incredibly busy period.
     

    First Bus invested in more services on the network in November and December, increasing frequency on several routes to support the York local and visitor economy in anticipation of customer demand. First Bus replicates this investment during other busy periods to keep York visitors and commuters moving sustainably throughout the year.

    Cllr Ravilious continued;

    The numbers are phenomenal but we do also need to recognise that York still experienced congested streets in the run up to Christmas, so while we are delighted, we continue our work throughout the year to support and promote the city’s bus services as well as other sustainable forms of transport. Our young people’s ticketing and marketing campaigns, which and are funded by central government, have over the last 12 months helped make bus use more attractive and given more people more options, and we will soon be consulting on improvements to the Park and Ride sites.”

    Kayleigh Ingham, Commercial Director of First Bus North & West Yorkshire, said:

    The superb performance throughout 2024 is a tribute to the commitment and high standards of service delivered by the First Bus team.

    We’ve demonstrated that bus is an easy and sustainable way to travel into York. We’re attracting more customers due to good value fares, zero-emission buses, and our service, which is delivered with a smile. The benefits this brings, with cleaner air and quieter city centre roads, contributes to York’s environmental targets.

    Sarah Loftus, Managing Director of Make It York, said:

    It is wonderful to see the great results for bus travel for the year and 500,000 journeys during the Christmas period is fantastic. We are very fortunate to have a bus service within the city that supports both demand and sustainability. Collaboration between all parties on communicating key messages was key and we look forward to working with and supporting the transport sector throughout 2025.
     

    *In December First Bus sold 148,310 tickets at the Park and Ride sites alone (the remaining journeys being people who joined the bus along the route or were returning from the city centre). Industry standard definition of occupancy per car for a leisure trip is 2.4 people. This gives us a total of 61,700 cars that didn’t come into the city centre over Christmas. Google Maps shows that the road route from York Minster to Westminster Abbey is 210 miles. If we say a car takes up 6m of space on the road, 61,700 x 6m = 230 miles. Therefore 61,700 cars would stretch all the way to central London.

    These Park and Ride figures follow the Department for Transport’s own statistics released late in 2024 which show that York’s bus services as a whole (ie all local services and the Park and Ride) are once again in the top ten of all local authorities for the number of bus trips per resident. An average of 70.6 journeys per head of population in 2023/2024 ranks York the best in Yorkshire and nationally sits 9th out of 90 English local authority areas.

    The data also showed that York’s bus trips are up 35% from 2021/22, almost quadrupled from 2020/21 and now back within 3% of the level they were in 2019/20 (ie the year before covid). This is one of the best post-pandemic recovery rates in the country.

    In addition to December’s figures, November 2024 was the busiest November ever recorded, with 10% more passengers than the previous record set in 2016. 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Easy access for local people to university libraries

    Source: City of Leicester

    UNIVERSITIES in Leicester and Leicestershire are opening up their libraries to public users.

    A new partnership between three universities and local councils means anyone aged 18+ and living in the city, county or Rutland will easily be able to access university libraries and borrow up to 10 books at a time.

    Local people will now be able to become members of the university libraries for free, benefitting from access to new resources, study spaces, longer opening hours and increased availability of library services.

    Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and Rutland County Council are all involved in the partnership.

    The University of Leicester, De Montfort University (DMU) and Loughborough University are opening up their libraries to anyone who lives, works or studies in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland. Membership will be easy to apply for by filling in an online form, and separate membership options may be available for college and sixth-form students.

    All of the university libraries hold large print collections which local people will be able to access and borrow – and there are specialist collections covering a wide range of academic subjects and aligning to the universities’ teaching and research areas.

    Loughborough University holds broad collections, with particular depth in sport, business and creative arts, while the University of Leicester has collections of books and journals on regional and local history, a very large collection of Sue Townsend’s published works, and an extensive English literature collection. They also have a Represent collection, being developed in partnership with students, to include more works by under-represented voices.

    At De Montfort University, the library holds collections relating to DMU and local history, the history of photography, sports history – especially winter sports – and chess, arts and illustration, plus fashion and costume history.

    Local people will be able to access library services seven days a week. They will be able to borrow up to 10 items from any of the university libraries, and will be able to use the open study spaces.

    Cllr Vi Dempster, Leicester’s assistant city mayor for leisure and culture, said: “This is a fantastic addition to our library services. Our three local universities are an asset to our communities, bringing in knowledge, skills, and prosperity to our region as well as making a considerable contribution to our local economy and culture.

    “Thanks to this new initiative, they will make a further positive contribution by sharing their resources with local people. It’s a great opportunity for library users, who will now be able to access a range of free library services seven days a week.”

    Councillor Christine Radford, Leicestershire County Council’s lead member for adults and communities, said: “The new partnership is a fantastic opportunity for Leicester and Leicestershire residents and will open an even wider range of resources and assets to our communities. I hope local people are able to make the best of what our fantastic universities have to offer and take advantage of this new partnership.”

    In June 2022, a new Universities Partnership was launched locally. It is a commitment between De Montfort University, Loughborough University, the University of Leicester and the city and counties of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to work together for the benefit of local people and for local prosperity.

    Paul Angrave from the Universities Partnership said: “The three universities are working hard with local councils to bring benefits to local communities and this is another example of that commitment.

    “Universities are fantastic assets to their regions and by opening their library doors to local people, we are not only welcoming them onto our campuses – we are providing a wonderful additional service.

    “The educational resources we are making available will benefit our locality and reflect our collective ambition to inspire and provide additional learning opportunities for local people.”

    The libraries are now open to public users. For anyone who isn’t online, local public libraries can provide support with the application process. Valid photo ID and proof of address are required to join.

    Information on how to find each of the three universities’ libraries, how to apply for membership and where to find details of opening hours can be found at:

    Universities in Leicester and Leicestershire are opening up their libraries to public users.

    A new partnership between three universities and local councils means anyone aged 18+ and living in the city, county or Rutland will easily be able to access university libraries and borrow up to 10 books at a time.k

    Local people will now be able to become members of the university libraries for free, benefitting from access to new resources, study spaces, longer opening hours and increased availability of library services.

    Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and Rutland County Council are all involved in the partnership.

    The University of Leicester, De Montfort University (DMU) and Loughborough University are opening up their libraries to anyone who lives, works or studies in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland. Membership will be easy to apply for by filling in an online form, and separate membership options may be available for college and sixth-form students.

    All of the university libraries hold large print collections which local people will be able to access and borrow – and there are specialist collections covering a wide range of academic subjects and aligning to the universities’ teaching and research areas.

    Loughborough University holds broad collections, with particular depth in sport, business and creative arts, while the University of Leicester has collections of books and journals on regional and local history, a very large collection of Sue Townsend’s published works, and an extensive English literature collection. They also have a Represent collection, being developed in partnership with students, to include more works by under-represented voices.

    At De Montfort University, the library holds collections relating to DMU and local history, the history of photography, sports history – especially winter sports – and chess, arts and illustration, plus fashion and costume history.

    Local people will be able to access library services seven days a week. They will be able to borrow up to 10 items from any of the university libraries, and will be able to use the open study spaces.

    Cllr Vi Dempster, Leicester’s assistant city mayor for leisure and culture, said: “This is a fantastic addition to our library services. Our three local universities are an asset to our communities, bringing in knowledge, skills, and prosperity to our region as well as making a considerable contribution to our local economy and culture.

    “Thanks to this new initiative, they will make a further positive contribution by sharing their resources with local people. It’s a great opportunity for library users, who will now be able to access a range of free library services seven days a week.”

    Councillor Christine Radford, Leicestershire County Council’s lead member for adults and communities, said: “The new partnership is a fantastic opportunity for Leicester and Leicestershire residents and will open an even wider range of resources and assets to our communities. I hope local people are able to make the best of what our fantastic universities have to offer and take advantage of this new partnership.”

    In June 2022, a new Universities Partnership was launched locally. It is a commitment between De Montfort University, Loughborough University, the University of Leicester and the city and counties of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to work together for the benefit of local people and for local prosperity.

    Paul Angrave from the Universities Partnership said: “The three universities are working hard with local councils to bring benefits to local communities and this is another example of that commitment.

    “Universities are fantastic assets to their regions and by opening their library doors to local people, we are not only welcoming them onto our campuses – we are providing a wonderful additional service.

    “The educational resources we are making available will benefit our locality and reflect our collective ambition to inspire and provide additional learning opportunities for local people.”

    The libraries are now open to public users. For anyone who isn’t online, local public libraries can provide support with the application process. Valid photo ID and proof of address are required to join.

    Information on how to find each of the three universities’ libraries, how to apply for membership and where to find details of opening hours can be found at: universitiespartnership.org/open-libraries

    Picture caption: (Seated L-R): Cllr Vi Dempster, Leicester’s assistant city mayor for leisure and culture, Paul Angrave from the Universities Partnership, and Councillor Christine Radford, Leicestershire County Council’s lead member for adults and communities, with partners who have worked on the project. 

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Senior councillors set to give new Assisted Living Leeds headquarters final green light

    Source: City of Leeds

    Funding approval sought to refurbish new base in Stourton

    Senior councillors in Leeds will be asked to give the final go-ahead for enhanced new headquarters for the Assisted Living Leeds service which helps people with health issues to live in their own homes at a meeting next week.

    At the meeting of the council’s executive board at Civic Hall on Wednesday 12 February, councillors will be asked to approve £3.4million of funding to allow the refurbishment of the service’s new base at Waterside Road in Stourton to complete a £9million investment overall in the new facility.

    The Assisted Living Leeds service run by Leeds City Council plays a vital role in supporting people of all ages when they have been discharged from hospital to live independently at home. Working 24 hours a day, Assisted Living Leeds operates the Leeds Tele Care Service providing and monitoring assistive technology and equipment which allows people to live at home rather than being in a hospital or dedicated care setting.

    The service also provides a ‘return and reuse’ service, which allows used equipment to be returned, decontaminated, and reissued, where appropriate.

    The service is currently based at Clarence Road, a 1960s building which requires increasing ongoing maintenance. With the service also growing due to demand, in 2019 the council approved £5.6m for the acquisition of the new site at Waterside Road after assessing possible new locations in the city.

    The new site will offer high-quality modern accommodation and due to its layout also offers significant operational benefits which will help to improve the efficiency of service delivery and customer service. It will also help to future-proof the service for the coming years.

    Leeds City Council executive member for adult social care, active lifestyles and culture Councillor Salma Arif said:

    “We are delighted that we are now in a position to get the refurbishment of the new Assisted Living Leeds headquarters underway as once completed it will bring significant benefits for our city and its residents.

    “The Assisting Living Leeds service provides an essential and invaluable lifeline to support people of all ages to be able to live healthy, happy and productive independent lives at home, and this move to its new location will enable it to continue to grow stronger and stronger helping even more people for years to come.”

    Should approval be given for the refurbishment to proceed, the new headquarters would be scheduled to open in January 2026.

    The new building when open will also become home to the council’s flood risk management team, monitoring rainfall and river levels across the city.

    To see the report being considered by the executive board visit Council and democracy (agenda item 9).

    To find out more about Assisted Living Leeds visit Equipment to help you live at home

    ENDS

    For media enquiries please contact:

    Leeds City Council communications and marketing,

    Email: communicationsteam@leeds.gov.uk

    Tel: 0113 378 6007

     

     

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Join Us on 2/27 for a Foreign and Comparative Law Webinar: Judicial Reform in Pakistan: Challenges and Implications

    Source: US Global Legal Monitor

    The following is a guest post by Tariq Ahmad, a foreign law specialist in the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress. Tariq has previously contributed posts on Islamic Law in Pakistan – Global Legal Collection Highlights, the Law Library’s 2013 Panel Discussion on Islamic Law, Sedition Law in India, New Report from the Law Library of Congress On The Regulation of Hemp Around the World, and FALQ posts on Proposals to Reform Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws, Article 370 and the Removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s Special Status, and The Controversy Over Marriage and Anti-Conversion Laws in India, among others.

    Join us on Thursday, February 27, 2025, at 2 p.m. EST for our next foreign, comparative, and international law webinar, “Judicial Reform in Pakistan: Challenges & Implications.”

    This webinar aims to provide background, an overview of the changes, and the legal and political implications of the judicial reforms implemented through the 26th constitutional amendment to Pakistan’s Constitution. It will look at changes made to the composition of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, the appointment process of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), the formation and powers of constitutional benches of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and other related changes. The speakers will also discuss the implications of these reforms for judicial independence.

    Please register here.

    This webinar will be presented by Senior Foreign Law Specialist Tariq Ahmad and guest presenter Dr. Waris Husain. Tariq’s work at the Law Library of Congress covers mostly South Asian common law jurisdictions, particularly India and Pakistan. He takes a particular research interest in religion and law issues in the South Asia region. Tariq holds an LL.M. degree in international law from American University Washington College of Law and an LL.B. from University College London.

    Dr Husain is an adjunct professor of international law at the Howard University School of Law. Dr. Husain holds an S.J.D. degree from American University Washington College of Law, specializing in constitutional and comparative law. His dissertation focused on the development of judicial review in the Supreme Courts of Pakistan, India, and the United States which was published in 2017.  He received his LL.M. in international human rights from WCL and his J.D. from the Howard University School of Law.

    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 USA: Lankford Highlights Record Speed of Senate Confirmations, Supports Work of POTUS’ Nominees

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford

    Washington, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Republican Conference Vice Chair, delivered a floor speech applauding the record-breaking speed of Senate confirmations for President Donald Trump’s nominees. Lankford also pointed to the important work the Secretaries are doing as soon as they are sworn in.

    Excerpts

    “We have confirmed more people now in the Senate than were confirmed in the first three weeks of the Biden Administration and in the first three weeks of the first Trump Administration combined. That’s because we’ve been willing to be able to run the clock and to be able to press this.”

    ….

    “We started the hearings before the President was even sworn in, to be able to make sure that we’re ready and we’re literally doing hearings in committees, queuing up the next people, even as we’re dealing with the folks that are on the floor, to be able to make sure that we can move as rapidly as possible. This is not just about President Trump. It’s about the United States and about us having a good operation for our government.” 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: U.S. Taxpayer-funded Drag Show Exposed

    Source: US House Committee on Foreign Affairs

    Media Contact 202-226-8467

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the New York Post dropped more receipts exposing the Biden State Department’s radical, far-left agenda with an article that reveals video of a drag workshop in Ecuador funded by American taxpayers.

    WATCH HERE

    The Biden State Department paid Fundacion Dialogo Diverso, an LGBTQ group in Ecuador, nearly $75,000 over three years, including a $25,000 grant last year. The group tapped into those funds to put on a two-day drag workshop and produce a video of the event. Fundacion Dialogo Diverso’ video notes in the credits that funds from the U.S. government were used to bankroll the performance.

    This is just the latest in a series of outrageous State Department and United States Agency for International Development grants uncovered by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast.

    Democrats and unaccountable bureaucrats don’t want Americans to know how their hard-earned tax dollars are being wasted abroad. Chairman Mast is here to set the record straight.

    Read the full New York Post story here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NFFE-IAM Federal Worker Stewards Train, Prepare at Winpisinger Center

    Source: US GOIAM Union

    Approximately 30 National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM) members recently traveled to the IAM’s Winpisinger Center for a week-long steward class.

    The program involved training in areas specific to the federal sector, such as collective bargaining, the Hatch Act and legislative action, prohibited personnel practices, unfair labor practices, grievance handling, arbitration, and an overview of the Federal Labor Relations Act. The members also discussed the issues facing all federal workers with the recent change of political power in Washington. This program was extremely helpful for the stewards, officers and business representatives serving federal members.

    NFFE-IAM National President Randy Erwin visited with the members mid-week, briefing and preparing them for the coming attacks against Federal Workers. Erwin spoke about the recent gains in membership sign-ups and awarded many attendees with organizers’ pins. 

    “The lifeblood of our union, which gives us power and a voice on Capitol Hill, comes from federal workers becoming dues-paying members,” said Erwin.

    Share and Follow:

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Federal Inmate Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Breaking Fellow Inmate’s Jaw

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    PEORIA, Ill. – Travis Jay Nyhoff, 42, who is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, Illinois (FCI-Pekin), was sentenced on January 10, 2025 to 33 months’ imprisonment for aggravated battery. The sentence will run consecutive to the term of imprisonment Nyhoff is presently serving for possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

    At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Joe B. McDade, the court considered the following uncontested information regarding the assault. On December 8, 2023, Nyhoff had approached another inmate from behind as the inmate was watching television in the common area, yanked his chair out from beneath him, and proceeded to strike the inmate across the face with the chair and then hurl the chair at the wall. The unprovoked attack was documented by security footage. The inmate sustained a broken lower jawbone, a laceration to his face that penetrated his oral cavity, and several dislodged teeth. He later underwent surgery to repair his jawbone.

    A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Nyhoff with assault in April 2024, and he entered a guilty plea in August 2024.

    The statutory penalties for aggravated battery are two to five years’ imprisonment, to be followed by up to three years of supervised release.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Field Office, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons Special Investigative Services investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa P. Ortiz represented the government in the prosecution.
     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Budd, Kaine Introduce Bill to Incentivize Landowners to Participate in Military Land Use Program

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ted Budd (R-North Carolina)

    Washington, D.C. — Senators Ted Budd (R-NC) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) have introduced the Incentivizing REPI Sales Act of 2025. The bipartisan, bicameral bill promotes military readiness by encouraging the land around military installations to be preserved for the military to train, test, and operate.

    The House companion is led by Reps. Greg Murphy (R-NC) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA).

    Senator Budd said in a statement:

    “As the United States confronts new and dangerous global threats, our military must maintain its readiness and lethality through realistic training at home installations. I’m proud to partner with Senator Kaine to encourage additional REPI participation in order to strengthen military readiness.”

    Senator Kaine said:

    “Our Armed Forces need resilient, modern bases so they can undergo the most realistic and high-quality training. I am a longtime supporter of the DOD’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program, which helps meet that goal while simultaneously conserving public lands. This legislation will incentivize participation in this program by creating a tax incentive for property owners who sell land or property for the military to use for training, resilience, and other important purposes. I am proud to work with Senator Budd on this legislation, and I will continue to do everything I can as a Senator representing one of the most military-connected states in the country to support our military installations.”

    Dr. Murphy said:

    “The Department of Defense’s (DOD) Readiness and Environment Protection Integration (REPI) is essential to our national security and invaluable ecosystems. Avoiding land use conflicts in areas used by our military is imperative to their ability to conduct critical training and maintain readiness. The Incentivizing Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Sales Act supports this successful initiative by incentivizing landowners to participate in this important program when considering the sale of property near military installations.”

    Rep. Panetta said:

    “Rising land costs are making it more difficult for the military and conservation partners to protect the land around bases. Our bipartisan bill would make it easier to preserve those critical buffers by waiving the capital gains tax for landowners who sell to conservation organizations for Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) projects.  By strengthening the REPI Program, we can ensure military installations remain mission-ready while safeguarding the surrounding environment.”

    Background:

    • The Department of Defense’s (DOD) Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program supports cost-sharing agreements between the Military Services, other federal agencies, state and local governments, and private conservation organizations to avoid land use conflicts near military installations, address environmental restrictions that limit military activities, and increase resilience to weather events and other environmental concerns.
    • REPI is a key tool used by DOD and its partners to protect the military’s ability to train, test, and operate. Development of lands and loss of habitat near military installations, ranges, and airspace can lead to restrictions or costly and inadequate training and testing alternatives.
    • Preserving natural areas is vital for keeping skies dark, which is necessary for night training, protecting habitats off-base for endangered species, and facilitating nature-based approaches to mitigate flooding and severe weather.
    • REPI successfully protected 27,000 acres around Fort Liberty, NC in order to provide a flight corridor for Grey Eagle drone training and conduct Robin Sage, the final training exercise of Special Forces qualification. This action also helped recover the local population of red-cockaded woodpeckers.
    • The Incentivizing REPI Sales Act excludes the appreciated land value from federal capital gains tax for landowners who sell land or easements near military installations specifically for REPI purposes.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Warner and Kaine Announce $540,000 in Federal Funding for Floyd County

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner

    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $540,000 in federal funding for Floyd County to expand high-speed broadband in the region. The funding was awarded by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), an economic development agency of the federal government and 13 state governments that innovates and invests to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in 423 counties across the Appalachian region.

    “This project perfectly highlights the good that federal funding does for our communities,” said the senators. “This funding will bring broadband to Floyd County, expanding job opportunities, boosting the local economy, and supporting individual households. Despite illegal attempts from the Trump administration to sabotage federal funding, including for broadband, public safety, roads and bridges, and more, we will continue to fight for projects like this.”

    Specifically, the funding will go towards the Citizens Telephone Cooperative for the Citizens Industrial Park Broadband Expansion Project. As a result of this project, 26,400 linear feet of middle mile broadband network will be constructed to serve 285 businesses with 10Gbps speeds.

    Sens. Warner and Kaine have been outspoken about the harm that President Trump’s funding freeze would have had on Virginians and Virginia businesses. Last week, the senators called out President Trump’s order as illegal and costly, less than 48 hours after it was originally issued, the order was blocked by federal courts, and rescinded by the administration.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Peace in Sudan: what it’s going to take

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Mulugeta G Berhe, Senior Fellow, World Peace Foundation, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, Tufts University

    Sudan, which included South Sudan up to 2011, has never known peace and stability since independence in 1956. The country’s instability stems from the absence of democratic rule; failure to manage its diversity; military coups; civil wars; and its fragmented and bloated security sector.

    Numerous political processes to mediate the peaceful resolution of conflicts started in the first decade of independence and continue today. None of these have delivered anything. The earliest peace efforts – in 1965 – sought to internally resolve the country’s north-south divide, which eventually triggered Africa’s longest civil war.

    Since then, there have been at least a dozen attempts driven by local or external actors to resolve political crises. Among them were:

    • the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement that ended the first civil war, mediated by Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie

    • a 1988 agreement to silence the guns, made by John Garang of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani of the Democratic Unionist Party

    • the 2019 Khartoum Declaration, mediated by the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Britain, which provided a road map for the transition of Sudan into an elected and democratic government.

    More recent talks have centred on the war that broke out in April 2023 pitting the Sudan Armed Forces against the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group. The two protagonists and various civilian groups have been called to Jeddah, Cairo, Bahrain, Djibouti, Addis Ababa, Geneva, Ankara and other locations for talks under different auspices and with different formats. Multilateral organisations like the UN, AU, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and League of Arab states have been engaged directly or through their support in some of the mediation efforts.

    I have two decades of research and practice in conflict prevention, management and resolution with a focus on east Africa and the Horn. It’s my view that mediation processes in Sudan are destined to fail for three main reasons. The first is the lack of an accurate definition of the problems of Sudan, and a lack of broader direction of its resolution and areas of consensus. The second is lack of agreement on who should get everyone together to discuss and resolve it. Finally, the lack of public participation.

    What’s missing

    Sudan needs to find the right formula to manage its diverse political, economic and cultural interests under a viable state. It must bring peace, democracy, justice and genuine reconciliation among Sudanese.

    The most robust attempt to define the problem was the process convened in the years of 2009-2012 by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel led by the former president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, in his capacity as a Special Envoy of the AU PSC. The panel’s final report defined the problems of Sudan as:

    • diversity management (differences between groups based on religion and on socioeconomic power)

    • absence of a viable state that values peace, democracy, justice and reconciliation

    • lack of a consultative forum or process for all Sudanese to contribute to important issues.

    The panel report suggested that the Sudanese needed to arrive at a consensus through inclusive consultation. This has never taken place.

    The second overriding problem is related to the architecture of mediation processes. Before South Sudan’s secession, Sudan shared a border with nine African countries. Even after the south left, Sudan remains a huge nation linking regions, and located at the strategic maritime route of the Red Sea.

    Sudanese conflicts have been entangled in multiple regional and international cross-cutting interests. Outside actors have had various agendas: stability, counter-terrorism, and humanitarian action.

    The existence of multiple interests by itself is an asset towards peace making in Sudan. But failure to coordinate them properly has been generating competing processes. This gives the Sudanese parties a chance to “shop for forums”, enabling them to procrastinate and avoid real engagement.

    Key steps to effective Sudanese mediation

    The key task of a mediator is assisting the Sudanese to define the problems of Sudan correctly, arrive at a consensus on it, and agree on a mechanism to resolve it.

    Defining the problem and building consensus: Any mediation process begins with conflict parties defining the problem and developing the options for their resolution. The parties should have confidence in the neutrality of the mediator.

    At this stage, the conflict parties are usually not represented by the top decision makers but by second level players with the expertise to develop options for decision making. This is because decision makers typically do not want to take positions from which they cannot backtrack.

    Understanding this is important in creating a coordination mechanism for external stakeholders.

    Neutral arbiter: The lead mediator needs to demonstrate neutrality to the conflicting parties as much as possible. Given the conditions in Sudan, a multilateral organisation such as the UN is most suited for the task. The UN has the ultimate responsibility. The AU, the Arab League and IGAD can also be engaged in support of the mediation by using their leverages on the conflicting parties. The choice of focal point must be accessible to all parties and perceived as neutral.

    Foreign power influence: Creating the right mix of incentives for the warring protagonists is vital. This is a task for the external powerbrokers, which have the leverage on the warring parties. The protagonists will make decisions framed by their security, political and economic interests in the wider region.

    But they may also be influenced by the fact that the humanitarian cataclysm in Sudan will have an impact on their interests. And failure to prevent that disaster will damage their reputations.

    The US can use its relationships with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other external powerbrokers so that they refrain from supporting one or the other actor. The front-line states can use their influence on the warring parties to encourage them to work for peace.

    The UN, the African Union, IGAD, and the League of Arab States are the sources for any international legitimacy to the parties. The Sudanese actors will need to respond positively to the demands of these institutions in search of international legitimacy given that the institutions act in a complementary manner.

    With the right architecture for peacemaking, a peace process can be achieved in Sudan.

    – Peace in Sudan: what it’s going to take
    – https://theconversation.com/peace-in-sudan-what-its-going-to-take-248328

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: International Community Must Keep Pushing for Permanent Ceasefire, Work towards Gaza’s Reconstruction, Secretary-General Tells Palestinian Rights Committee

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    Speakers Urge Member States to Fully Support UN Palestine Refugee Agency’s Vital Work, Stress Rising Violence by Israeli Settlers in West Bank Must Stop

    The international community must keep pushing for a permanent ceasefire and work towards the reconstruction of Gaza, the UN Chief told the Palestinian Rights Committee today, highlighting the essential role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the process.

    “At its essence, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of Palestinians to simply live as human beings in their own land,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his remarks to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People as it opened its 2025 session.

    However, the realization of those rights steadily slips farther out of reach as the world witnesses “chilling, systematic dehumanization and demonization of an entire people”, he said.  Nearly 50,000 people — 70 per cent of them women and children — have been reported killed and most of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure — hospitals, schools and water facilities — has been destroyed.  Displacement after displacement, hunger and disease left an entire generation homeless and traumatized.

    “We cannot go back to more death and destruction,” he asserted, adding that the UN is working around the clock to reach Palestinians in need and scale up support.  That requires rapid, safe, unimpeded, expanded and sustained humanitarian access, he said, calling on Member States to fully fund humanitarian operations and support UNRWA’s vital work.

    In the search for solutions, it is crucial to stay true to the bedrock of international law and avoid any form of ethnic cleansing, he stressed, adding that a viable, sovereign Palestinian State living side by side in peace and security with Israel is “the only sustainable solution for Middle East stability”.

    Relatedly, he voiced grave concern over rising violence by Israeli settlers and other violations in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.  “The violence must stop,” he said, urging respect for international law, including the International Court of Justice orders.

    “The ceasefire was a decisive step forward in providing aid and safety,” said Coly Seck (Senegal), the elected Chair of the Committee for 2025.  He called on States to “reinvent strategies to block the way for those enemies of peace on Palestinian ground” and on the international community to defend “these people long oppressed”, adding:  “This is a key year for the Palestinian cause.”

    Permanent Observer for State of Palestine Rejects Concept of ‘Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Open Hell in the West Bank’

    Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, said that while “we are delighted to have a ceasefire”, the agreement must become permanent and cover all parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  He rejected the concept of “a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and open hell in the West Bank”, and underscored the need to implement all the agreement’s provisions, including the reconstruction of Gaza and the safe return of the Palestinians to the areas from which they were displaced.

    Outlining his objectives for 2025, he stressed that defending UNRWA — the most successful story of multilateralism since the UN’s inception — is paramount.  Furthermore, he outlined his plan to work with all Member States towards a successful international conference in June, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, to accomplish the objectives established by the International Court of Justice. The body determined that prolonged occupation of the Palestinian Territory is unlawful and must be terminated as quickly as possible.  Echoing that, the General Assembly legislated that this illegal occupation must be terminated within one year.

    Underscoring the need to rebuild Gaza, he declared:  “It is part of our homeland, and we do not have a homeland other than the State of Palestine [nor] are we looking for other homelands or countries”.  Rejecting any idea of ethnic cleansing, he urged all countries to help Palestine’s Government in this endeavour.  Accordingly, he spotlighted “intense meetings and communications” between President Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

    “There is no power on Earth that can remove the Palestinian people from our ancestral homeland, including Gaza,” he said, adding that the return of 400,000 Palestinians to the north is “our answer for those who want us to kick us out of Gaza”.

    UNRWA Is Stabilizing Force, Committed Partner to Peace, Agency Official Says

    Greta Gunnarsdottir, Head of the UNRWA Liaison Office in New York, speaking on behalf of the Agency’s Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazarini, said that, although the Knesset legislation prohibiting UNRWA’s operations creates challenges, the Agency’s local staff continues to operate “at considerable personal risk” in the occupied West Bank.  While operations in Gaza continue, it is unclear how the contact prohibition with Israeli officials will constrain the Agency’s work.  Since the ceasefire, UNRWA has distributed food to 750,000 people and conducted 17,000 medical consultations; in January, 260,000 children enrolled in its online learning programmes.

    However, she emphasized curtailing UNRWA’s operations will undermine the ceasefire and sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition.  “The Government of Israel is investing significant resources to portray the Agency as a terrorist organization,” she said, adding that — as a result — donors are declining or reducing funding.  “For 75 years, UNRWA has been a stabilizing force and a committed partner for peace in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  It must be allowed to remain so until a political solution is at hand,” she stated.

    UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Calls Israel’s Starving of 2.3 Million Palestinians in Gaza ‘Fastest Starvation Campaign in Modern History’

    Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, speaking via video conference, recalled that Israel announced its intent to starve the civilians in Gaza on 6 October 2023 — before the Hamas attacks.  On the reached agreement, he said:  “This is not a ceasefire, [but] a slowing down of Israel’s genocide and starvation campaign.”

    On 6 October 2023, Gaza had been under a blockade for 23 years, with 50 per cent of its civilians already food insecure and 80 per cent dependent on humanitarian aid.  “How is it even possible for Israel to starve 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza so quickly and so completely,” he asked, citing it as “the fastest starvation campaign in modern history”.

    One of the reasons for UNRWA’s creation in 1948 was to prevent the starvation of the Palestinian people, he pointed out, stressing that “there has always been the risk of starvation”.  The International Court of Justice has recognized the risk of genocide and the occurrence of starvation, as reflected in its warrants on the crime of starvation against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

    The right of return and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people constitute the foundation necessary for future political solutions, he continued.  Israel has been attacking Palestinians “at degrees of violence not seen before”, destroying food systems and creating conditions of hunger that will last for generations.  Moreover, it has attacked the UN itself — it shot at peacekeepers in Lebanon, killed a record number of UN staff in Gaza, mostly UNRWA, and declared the Secretary-General a persona non grata.

    Nonetheless, he emphasized that without the support of the United States and Germany — among others — Israel would be unable to implement its starvation campaign and commit genocide.  Washington, D.C., under the previous administration, exited international law, while “the current administration exited the UN” by defunding UNRWA, threatening to defund the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and withdrawing from the Human Rights Council. “What is at stake is the international legal order and the UN itself,” he warned, highlighting the importance of the Hague Group, which was created to implement the decisions of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

    Recounting Death of Relatives in Gaza Due to Israeli Bombings, UNRWA USA Philanthropy Director Stresses ‘We Will Continue’

    “My world shuttered for the first time on 24 November 2023, when Israel dropped a bomb on the family home where my brother lived,” said Hani Almadhoun, Senior Director of Philanthropy at UNRWA USA, also recalling the humiliation of his other brother, who was falsely accused of being a fighter.  “Palestinian men were paraded by the Israeli army in their underwear as if they were part of some grotesque spectacle,” he observed.  While his non-profit organization supports UNRWA’s work, he noted that individual efforts — no matter how heartfelt — cannot replace the comprehensive support of an established institution like UNRWA.  He further recalled that, in February 2024, together with his brother Mahmoud, he co-founded the Gaza Soup Kitchen, which soon became a “lifeline” serving hot meals to thousands of families.

    When hospitals were under siege, Mahmoud also created a medical clinic that provided baby formula and diapers and founded a small school for 560 children.  He said that “forcing the Palestinians out of Gaza is as unrealistic as draining the ocean”, stating:  “Whenever the world failed the Palestinian people […] the land did not.”  His concluded by citing the words of his brother Mahmoud, who was killed by an Israeli strike in November 2024: “We will continue.”

    Committee Members Highlight UNRWA’s Indispensable Role, Reject Any Attempts to Expel Palestinians from Occupied Palestinian Territory

    In the ensuing discussions, Committee members highlighted UNRWA’s indispensable role, with Cuba’s delegate stressing that “to prohibit the work of the Agency today means undermining the present and the future of the Palestinian people”.

    While Guyana’s delegate underscored that “the ceasefire must be a stepping stone towards the lasting peace”, her counterpart from Venezuela warned that the latest developments in the West Bank could threaten the agreement.

    Others, including Nicaragua’s representative, rejected the recent declarations that imply attempts to expel the Palestinian population from its territories.  A displacement plan — “even opening it for discussion” — is unacceptable, said Türkiye’s representative.

    Echoing that, Qatar’s delegate said that, during the comprehensive reconstruction process in Gaza, the international community must ensure that Palestinians remain on their land.

    For her part, Egypt’s delegate said that commemorating the Committee’s fiftieth anniversary manifests “the failure of the international community to assist the Palestinian people”.

    2025 Work Programme Adopted, Bureau Elected  

    In other business, the Committee adopted its work programme for 2025 and unanimously elected Coly Seck (Senegal) as Chair and Neville Melvin Gertze (Namibia), Jaime Hermida Castillo (Nicaragua), Ahmad Faisal Muhamad (Malaysia), Arrmanatha Christiawan Nasir (Indonesia) and Ernesto Soberón Guzmán (Cuba) as Vice-Chairs.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Dominican National Sentenced To 60 Months In Prison For Role In Operating Fentanyl Drug Mill

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    NEWARK, N.J. – A Dominican national was sentenced to 60 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute and transport bulk quantities of fentanyl into northern New Jersey communities from a drug mill located in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna announced.

    Hector Luiz De La Cruz Nunez, 32, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to a two-count information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, and one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

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

    In February 2022, Nunez and his co-conspirators operated a private residence, commonly referred to as a drug mill, in which he and his co-conspirators produced large quantities of bulk fentanyl for redistribution. In early March 2022 following a car stop, law enforcement recovered nearly six kilograms of fentanyl packaged in approximately 400 individual bricks concealed within a hidden compartment inside of the vehicle that Nunez was driving.

    In addition to the prison term, Judge Hayden sentenced Nunez to three years of supervised release.

    Nunez’s co-conspirators, Emmanuel F. Almonte Mejia, 40, and Loanny F. Duran Hiciano, 37, have both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl. Mejia and Hiciano await sentencing.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Khanna credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard Patel, HSI Philadelphia, and the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan, with the investigation that led to the sentencing.

    The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vincent D. Romano of the Criminal Division in Newark.

                                                                 ###

    Defense counsel: Justin Capek 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump plans to ‘permanently resettle’ Palestinians outside Gaza – the very reason Unrwa was originally created

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Anne Irfan, Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Race, Gender and Postcolonial Studies, UCL

    Donald Trump shocked much of the world when he announced plans for the US to “take over” Gaza. Speaking at a press conference with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the US president outlined a plan to “resettle” Gaza’s population of nearly 2.2 million Palestinians elsewhere in the Arab world. Several officials later added that this resettlement would be temporary while Gaza was rebuilt.

    Governments around the world were quick to condemn the plan – with politicians and human rights advocates pointing out that it would amount to ethnic cleansing.

    Conversely, Netanyahu praised Trump for “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas”. Yet while there is no question that this plan violates international law, it is not as unprecedented as these responses suggest.

    Successive Israeli governments, often with clandestine US support, have long sought a similar “solution” for Gaza’s Palestinians, 66% of whom are already refugees from the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948. At that time, Zionist militias and the Israeli army displaced and expelled 750,000 Palestinians before and during the First Arab-Israeli war.

    In fact, that’s the very reason the US supported the creation of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa) in 1949. Though its purpose today is very different, it was originally intended as a tool to permanently resettle the Palestinians outside Palestine.

    The idea for Unrwa was inspired by the experience of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a US government agency established during the Great Depression. It promoted resource development through large public works programmes in the deep south.

    US officials considered the TVA a prototype for managing the Palestinian refugee crisis and pushed the newly established United Nations to set up an agency that would similarly create jobs and economic development.

    This was the “works” in Unrwa’s title. As they saw it, employment opportunities would encourage the Palestinians to integrate into their places of exile. Meanwhile, the resulting economic development would lessen resistance in the host state to the refugees’ permanent resettlement.

    In four of the five territories where Unrwa operates – Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the West Bank – it spent its first few years designing large public works projects. But in Gaza, the large concentration of refugees in a tiny territory with limited natural resources did not lend itself to public works projects.

    Instead US officials pushed Unrwa to resettle Palestinians outside of the Strip, in Sinai, Libya and further afield.

    Yet Unrwa’s efforts on this front quickly ran into a major obstacle: the Palestinians themselves. The refugees clearly understood that the “integration” projects and jobs schemes were intended to make their exile permanent – despite the UN having officially recognised their right to return home.

    By the late 1950s, the refugees’ persistent refusal participate in these programmes led Unrwa to shift its focus to education.

    Repeated expulsions

    The desire to forcibly transfer Gaza’s population never really disappeared. Gaza has been home to Palestinian refugees from across the country, with a huge political significance as a result, and its demographics have repeatedly been deemed unacceptable by elements of the Israeli state.

    Soon after it began occupying Gaza and the West Bank in 1967, the Israeli military forcibly expelled 200,000 Palestinians from Gaza to Jordan. Four year later, Shimon Peres, then the Israeli minister of transport and communications, sought to forcibly transfer more Palestinians into the Sinai. And around the same time, the Israeli government looked into relocating Gaza’s population to sites as far away as Iraq, Canada and Brazil.

    Such ideas persist in Israel. Shortly after Israel began its war on Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7 2023, there was also evidence in the form of a leaked intelligence report that the government was considering forcibly transferring Palestinians to Sinai.

    More recently, the White House administration floated the possibility of transferring Gaza’s population to Indonesia. And Trump spoke in alarming terms shortly after his inauguration of “cleaning out” the Strip.

    There’s no connection between the US president’s plan, as outlined this week, and the early US-backed idea to found Unrwa as an agency to oversee resettlement of Gaza’s population. Unrwa had abandoned its resettlement policy by the mid-1950s – and, in any case, Trump has long been one of Unrwa’s most virulent opponents.

    In 2018, he became the first US president to fully defund the agency. More recently he has been a vocal supporter of the Israeli Knesset’s ban on its operations.

    In the same press conference where Trump announced his plans for ethnic cleansing in Gaza, he also confirmed that he will extend the Biden administration’s ban on funding Unrwa.

    Yet Trump’s current plan is not a million miles away from the US government’s original intention for Unrwa. His apparent ignorance of this history suggests he is also unaware of the biggest likely obstacle to “permanent resettlement”.

    But he cannot ignore the historical resistance of the Palestinian people themselves to the seemingly endless plans to displace, dispossess and deny them their homeland.

    As Unrwa officials learned decades ago, the only “solution” for the question of the future of the Gaza Strip is a just and durable political process that accounts for the Palestinian people’s rights as well as Israeli security.

    Anne Irfan has received funding from the British Academy.

    Jo Kelcey has received funding from the Spencer Foundation.

    – ref. Trump plans to ‘permanently resettle’ Palestinians outside Gaza – the very reason Unrwa was originally created – https://theconversation.com/trump-plans-to-permanently-resettle-palestinians-outside-gaza-the-very-reason-unrwa-was-originally-created-249185

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/INDONESIA – Possible amnesty for political prisoners in Papua: Franciscans call for “initiative for a in-depth dialogue”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    JPIC Ofm Papua

    Jayapura (Agenzia Fides) – In order to manage the armed conflict that has plagued the Indonesian region of West Papua for decades, the Indonesian government, led by the new President Prabowo Subianto, is considering an amnesty for the independence rebels in Papua. The Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Immigration, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, described the proposal as “under study” and said that the government is working out the details of the amnesty plan, which would only be granted to those who swear allegiance to the Republic of Indonesia. The measure is “intended as part of the effort to resolve the conflict” and still needs the approval of the House of Representatives. Prabowo’s amnesty proposal follows a similar initiative by former President Joko Widodo, who pardoned political prisoners from Papua in 2015.Meanwhile, among the population of Papua, there is a certain skepticism about the central government’s proposal. Father Alexandro Rangga (OFM), Friar Minor and Director of the “Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation” Commission in Papua, stressed to Fides: “It is true that the release of some prisoners imprisoned for political reasons could mean some relief for the families”. However, he recalls that “the prisoners released in the past are no longer the same: they have suffered deep trauma, some no longer speak, perhaps because of the mistreatment they suffered. It will therefore be necessary to verify the condition of the released prisoners”. In addition, there is a fundamental problem: “The government measure risks being an inadequate step if it is not embedded in a broader plan of ‘holistic’ dialogue, that is, at all levels, which fully takes into account the situation in the region and the suffering of the local population,” the Franciscan priest notes. “The people of Papua fear that this is only a consolation and that fundamental issues remain unresolved,” he notes. “We therefore call for an initiative for in-depth dialogue and the empowerment of all actors involved in order to get to the root of the problems and achieve peace,” he says.The Franciscan recalls what happened to the inhabitants of five villages in the Oksop district of central Papua, the territory of the diocese of Jayapura (see Fides, 17/1/2025). They fled to other areas at the end of November due to the deployment of military units in the area. According to the Commission of the Friars Minor, 300 people have been displaced to other villages and many others have hidden in the forest, “but according to the army and other officials, these reports are not true,” he notes. “For this reason, our Commission for Justice and Peace is now preparing a detailed report with a list of the displaced and the problems they face; we intend to present it to the Indonesian President together with the bishops and religious leaders of Papua”. According to Father Rangga, “the real problem in Papua remains open, namely the military action of the Indonesian central government to promote its policies and projects in the territory. This approach leads to suffering on the ground and a feeling of violent imposition”. Papua, the easternmost region of Indonesia, which forms the western half of the island of New Guinea, has been a place of tension since its controversial incorporation into the Republic of Indonesia by military force in 1969. Inhabited by people of Melanesian origin and rich in natural resources, the region saw a separatist uprising in the early 1970s. Despite its wealth of resources, Papua remains one of the poorest regions in Indonesia, with high rates of poverty and illiteracy. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 6/2/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: SPbGASU once again welcomed young intellectuals

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Grand Opening of Science Day

    SPbGASU held Science Day for participants of the 17th All-Russian Youth Educational Forum “Young Intellectuals of Russia”. On February 5, students of grades 5–11 of educational institutions defended projects and papers, attended master classes, and got acquainted with our university.

    The forum dedicated to the Day of Russian Science is being held in St. Petersburg from February 4 to 8. Its organizers are the Interregional Multidisciplinary Center “St. Petersburg Education”, the St. Petersburg Interregional Center “Education without Borders”, higher education institutions of the Northern capital with the support of the Academy of Military Sciences, the Maritime Council under the Government of St. Petersburg, the Council of Municipalities of St. Petersburg. As Natalya Polupanova, Director of the Interregional Multidisciplinary Center “St. Petersburg Education”, said, “198 participants from 15 educational institutions of 10 cities in 6 regions of the Russian Federation arrived at the forum. This year, an unprecedented number of projects – 142, this is a record. Project defenses are traditionally held at SPbGASU.”

    The events at our university were organized by the admissions committee with the participation of the Volunteer Club, the Kirpich Student Leisure and Creativity Center, the student media center and teachers.

    On behalf of Evgeny Rybnov, the rector of SPbGASU, Dmitry Ulrikh, the dean of the faculty of engineering ecology and urban economy, greeted the young intellectuals. Dmitry Vladimirovich said that our university has been a forge of personnel for the construction industry since 1832. Each faculty has its own scientific schools. The university is waiting for the guys as students.

    The forum participants learned about the activities of student associations at our university and watched concert numbers prepared by the teams of the Student Leisure and Creativity Center “Kirpich”.

    “To convey your thoughts to others”

    After the official part, the guests of our university went to the university auditoriums to defend their projects. The defenses took place within the framework of the humanitarian, natural science, historical, technical, creative and philological sections. In each section, the projects were evaluated by a jury.

    The meeting of the technical section was opened by Andrey Zazykin, Dean of the Automobile and Road Faculty. Andrey Vyacheslavovich believes that the faculty he heads, which trains specialists in the field of transport and mechanical engineering, is the most technical. Transport logistics, intelligent transport systems, modeling of road traffic and interchanges, construction of roads and bridges, organization of road safety, traffic light regulation, road signs, design and operation of vehicles – all this is done at the ADF. Here they train not only specialists, but also those who know how to convey their thoughts to others, present research results, and manage a team. The Dean wished the guys not to deviate from their path and invited them to take part in the Olympiad “Transport Systems and Technologies”, for successful performance in which additional points are awarded to the Unified State Exam. Applications can be submitted until February 10.

    In the project “Computer Modeling of the Movement of Material Points” Ekaterina Antipina, a 9th-grade student of Secondary School No. 3 from Kirovograd, Sverdlovsk Oblast, examined the movement of material points in various conditions, including the influence of forces, interactions, and the environment on their trajectory. The author worked in the Blender program, which allows demonstrating physical processes in a visual form. According to Ekaterina, her project helps develop an interest in physics and deepen knowledge of the subject. “I can say with confidence that the use of computer modeling has become a powerful tool for visualizing physical concepts. This project showed how modern technologies can be used in the educational sphere,” Ekaterina said.

    The features of windy spaces between architectural objects were studied by Anton Goloshumov, a 10th-grade cadet at the Lyceum named after Major General V. I. Khismatulin (Surgut, Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug (Yugra)). Under the scientific supervision of Sergei Osipov, a physical education teacher, Anton created a model reflecting the location of houses on one of the streets of Surgut, and conducted an experiment to study the nature of the wind between them. The young researcher believes that in places where there is strong wind, it is advisable to plant trees or shrubs. And it is also undesirable to put playgrounds and billboards there.

    After defending their projects, the forum participants took a tour of the university and attended master classes.

    From quadcopter to thermal imager

    Master class “Geodetic instruments”

    The master class “Geodetic Instruments” was held by Dmitry Ditrikh, Deputy Secretary in Charge of the Admissions Committee for Work at the Faculty of Engineering Ecology and Urban Economy, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Geodesy, Land Management and Cadastre. The students learned that graduates of the department can become specialists of Rosreestr, surveyors or cadastral engineers, and also work in related specialties – after all, all construction companies welcome a diploma from SPbGASU. They also learned about the purpose of geodetic instruments: a quadcopter, a 3D scanner, a theodolite, a reflector. Under the guidance of the students, it was possible to try these instruments in action. And in the process of communication, ask the students any question about studying at SPbGASU.

    The hydraulics laboratory held a master class on “The structure and operation of pumping stations. Assembly of pressure pipelines.” Ksenia Dmitrieva, assistant of the Department of Water Use and Ecology, and Maxim Sankov, senior laboratory assistant of the department, also began the lesson with a story about what graduates do: design, build, reconstruct water supply and sewerage networks. Then they talked about the types of pipelines and connections. As a result, the guys independently assembled a pressure section of the water supply pipeline.

    Master class “Models of Operations Research”

    At the “Operations Research Models” master class, they learned to apply mathematical models to solve practical problems. For example, how to transport goods from warehouses to stores, construction sites, or other places; how teams can rationally design objects. Lyudmila Moskalenko, associate professor of the Department of Information Systems and Technologies, suggested trying different solutions: calculating manually, writing a program, or using tools that are available on every computer.

    Associate Professor of the Department Alexander Epishkin spoke about what is happening at the Department of Construction Physics, Electric Power Engineering and Electrical Engineering, as well as about the purpose, selection and operation of electric drives in the public utilities of urban facilities at the master class “Purpose, Selection and Operation of Electric Drives in the Public Utilities of Urban Facilities”.

    Kirill Sukhanov and Ekaterina Anshukova, associate professors of the Department of Heat and Gas Supply and Ventilation, held a master class “Engineering Systems of Buildings. TIM-modeling and VR-technologies”. Participants of the master class learned about the areas of training in the department, got the opportunity to work a little in software packages in which heating and ventilation systems are designed, and visualize the obtained result using virtual reality glasses. They also studied a thermal imager and a heating device.

    Feedback from participants

    Alena Fadeeva, a 10th-grade student at Secondary School No. 24 in Krymsk, Krasnodar Krai, enjoyed defending her project the most: “I enjoyed performing the most. I defended the “Molecular Cuisine” project in the natural science section for 10th–11th graders. The jury members were friendly and asked interesting questions. And I really like the appearance of the university.”

    Irina Koroleva, a biology teacher at Secondary School No. 2 in Solnechnogorsk, Moscow Region, attended such a large-scale event for the first time: “The children are captivated! As a teacher, I like that they can immerse themselves in their future profession and see how the equipment works. For children, this is practice that they will remember for the rest of their lives. Their parents are also very pleased that the children were able to visit such a wonderful place.”

    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 Russia: Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    February 6, 2025

    Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    February 6, 2025

    Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    February 6, 2025

    Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    February 6, 2025

    Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    February 6, 2025

    Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    February 6, 2025

    Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    February 6, 2025

    Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    February 6, 2025

    Previous news Next news

    Alexander Novak held the 37th meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification

    Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak held the first meeting of the Federal Headquarters for Gasification in 2025. The event was attended by the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin, the governor of Krasnodar Krai Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Stavropol Krai Vladimir Vladimirov, representatives of regional authorities, the Ministry of Energy, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Rostekhnadzor, the Government Coordination Center, Rosreestr, the Ministry of Finance, etc.

    At the beginning of the meeting, Aleksandr Novak took part via video link in the ceremonial connection to the gas networks of the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill (PPM) and the commissioning of the inter-settlement gas pipeline from the Novodvinsk gas distribution station (GDS) to JSC Arkhangelsk PPM in the Arkhangelsk Region. The event was also attended by the region’s governor Aleksandr Tsybulsky.

    Gasification of Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill JSC took place thanks to the commissioning of a 12 km long inter-settlement gas pipeline from Novodvinsk GRS, built as part of the gas supply and gasification development program for the Arkhangelsk Region for 2021–2025. The fuel will be used for heat and power supply of the enterprise’s capacities instead of coal and fuel oil. The total projected gas consumption by the plant will be about 550 million cubic meters per year.

    The new networks will also provide gas to the village of Zaozerye and, in the future, gasification of at least five settlements in the Primorsky and Kholmogorsky municipal districts of the Arkhangelsk region.

    “Today we are launching the gasification of a city-forming enterprise with a long history – the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill. Its production is of strategic importance for the region, the products are supplied to the Russian market and exported to other countries. The introduction of the inter-settlement gas pipeline will also allow gasification of several settlements at once,” noted Alexander Novak.

    During the meeting of the federal headquarters, participants discussed the results of the social gasification program for 2024, plans for 2025, and the outlook up to 2030.

    According to the Ministry of Energy, as of February 5, 2025, about 2 million applications for social additional gasification have been submitted, 1.47 million of which have been accepted. The additional gasification potential is over 1.8 million households (excluding gardening non-profit partnerships (SNT)). 1.42 million contracts have been concluded for bringing gas to the boundaries of the site, more than 1.2 million of which have been fulfilled. Including about 800 thousand connections inside houses. In 2025, it is planned to connect another 150 thousand households to gas.

    The comprehensive service of gas connection within the boundaries of the plot, including the supply of in-house equipment, was provided to more than 367 thousand citizens. It was most in demand in the Voronezh Region, the Chechen Republic and the Orenburg Region (67-72% of the number of gas connections).

    The additional gasification of social and medical facilities is actively underway: 769 applications have been submitted by medical institutions, 794 by educational institutions. 476 and 448 contracts have been concluded, respectively, 335 contracts with medical institutions and 245 with educational organizations have been fulfilled up to the boundaries of the plots. Gas has been launched in 97 and 82 medical and social institutions, respectively. According to the results of the inventory, the potential for additional gasification of households in SNT is over 933 thousand units.

    Representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Gazprom Mezhregiongaz reported to the Deputy Prime Minister on the progress of transferring the social gasification program to digital platforms. Since 2022, the Connectgaz portal has been actively operating (HTTPS: //Connectgas.ru/), where you can apply for a household connection and calculate its cost, including within the boundaries of the site. There is a single portal for social gasification and an interactive map of gasification of regions, where you can track the schedule for introducing gas pipelines and the plan for connecting households and social facilities. In addition, the all-Russian hotline for gasification is successfully operating.

    Sergey Gustov, General Director of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, reported on the operation of 1,808 memorials with Eternal Flames across the country; in 2025, in honor of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, gas will be supplied to another 120 such sites. On the eve of Victory Day, 80 Eternal Flames will be lit simultaneously in 80 regions of Russia.

    Alexander Novak instructed to pay special attention to the implementation of modern digital technologies during social gasification in order to optimize and speed up processes.

    The Deputy Prime Minister instructed federal and regional authorities, as well as the single gas supply operator, to submit work schedules to achieve a gasification rate of 82.9% by 2030, including an assessment of the possibility of constructing and expanding gas pipeline capacities, converting boiler houses to gas, intensifying gasification of residential buildings in SNT, etc. By 2030, according to the President’s instructions, gas should be supplied to at least 1.6 million households.

    Also, the Ministry of Energy and Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, on the instructions of the Deputy Prime Minister, will analyze the cost of a comprehensive service for connecting gas within plots and in houses to increase the potential for demand.

    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: Digital Tails Group, LLC. Announces Completion of Another Customer Project and Detailed Case Study

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    NEW YORK, NY, Feb. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — bowmo™, Inc. (OTC: BOMO), a New York City– based company powered by AI and XR/VR technologies who’s aim is to provide fully customizable SaaS Platforms to multiple industries (https://bowmo.com) (“bowmo,” “the Company”) and its recent merger partner OWNverse/Digital Tails Group (“DTG”), are pleased to announce the completion of another client project for Téchne , a European custom furniture manufacturer.

    Digital Tails Group developed a custom Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) platform to simplify and automate the entire manufacturing and sales process – from product configuration to pricing and order placement – while adhering to budget constraints.

    A key component of this CPQ platform is the 3D configurator for real-time customization of various product attributes. This system gives customers a fast, easy and interactive way to “design” their own furniture right on the platform.

    Aleksey Shestakov, Chairman of the Board of OWNverse/Digital Tails and the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of bowmo, Inc. summarized: “With the CPQ platform, Téchne can now streamline their manufacturing processes and automate time-consuming manual tasks, such as configuration checks and price calculations. The solution has been particularly impactful for their unique furniture designs, which previously required extensive manual effort to manage. Our solution has significantly reduced the time spent on designing and configuring products.”

    You can learn more about this family of innovations from bowmo and OWNverse/Digital Tails Group at: https://digital-tails.group/

    About bowmo, Inc.
    Bowmo Inc., (OTC: BOMO) is a New York City–based AI-powered software and services company that incorporates a novel set of technologies to build a platform that will deliver solutions for multiple industries. Bowmo’s flagship product seamlessly integrates AI and extended reality (XR) technologies to revolutionize recruitment and human resource (HR) processes.

    Building upon our multi-vertical platform, bowmo is poised to introduce a suite of future products catering to the cybersecurity, retail, sports, media/entertainment, and real estate sectors. This expansion underscores bowmo’s commitment to diversifying revenue streams and addressing diverse industry needs through advanced technological solutions. bowmo’s platform harnesses AI, machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), blockchain, and process orchestration.

    About Digital Tails Group, LLC.
    Digital Tails Group (“DTG,” the “Company”) is an IT company specializing in software development using 3D technology, extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI). The DTG expertise in advanced technologies ranges from virtual reality (VR) experiences to smart AI algorithms, enabling us to help our clients improve their competitive strength through the application of advanced UI and knowledge technologies.

    About OWNverse, LLC.
    OWNverse is a virtual platform company that develops unique tools for creating targeted products and services for virtual spaces (“Metaverses”) by using the technology stack available through widely used Web2 platforms driven by AI. OWNverse allows for the integration of such tools to elevate the dimensionality of products and services, while offering such products and services within the spatially immersive 3D Internet—Web3. OWNverse aims to empower all users to become co-creators of the content. The main OWNverse ideology is to supply proven tools to users to provide real value for businesses and create virtual communities in numerous business sectors.

    Additional Information and Where to Find It
    Additional information is available on the Company’s website: https://www.bowmo.com. In addition, other information related to the Company is available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to: bowmo, Inc., 99 Wall Street, Suite 891, New York, NY 10005; or by phone at 212-398-0002.

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
    This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by the use of the words “may,” “will,” “should,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “continue,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, BOMO’s ability to successfully execute its expanded business strategy, including by entering into definitive agreements with suppliers, commercial partners and customers; general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing various software programs, changes in future customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technical advances and delivering technological innovations, regulatory requirements and the ability to meet them, government agency rules and changes, and various other factors beyond BOMO’s control. Except as may be required by law, bowmo, Inc. undertakes no obligation, and does not intend, to update these forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

    The MIL Network –