NewzIntel.com

Category: Politics

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Top EMEA banks see revenue surge in 2024 despite rate cuts and turmoil, finds GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    The top 20 Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) banks saw a healthy 14% increase in combined revenue from $1.4 trillion in 2023 to $1.6 trillion in 2024, despite a challenging macroeconomic landscape defined by geopolitical friction, rate normalization, and tariff uncertainties, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    Murthy Grandhi, Company Profiles Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “European central banks implemented multiple rate cuts throughout 2024, reversing the aggressive hiking cycle of previous years. This easing supported lending growth, improved credit demand, and stimulated consumer and business activity. However, declining interest margins also pressured net interest income, forcing banks to rely more heavily on fee income and trading operations.”

    Ranked by revenue, HSBC Holdings led the EMEA region with $157.8 billion, followed closely by BNP Paribas ($148.6 billion) and Banco Santander ($147.2 billion). These institutions capitalized on diversified international exposure and stable credit portfolios in a year marked by both opportunities and headwinds.

    Notably, revenue growth across the board was largely positive, with all 20 banks reporting year-over-year (YoY) gains. Russia’s Sberbank Rossii and VTB Bank recorded the highest revenue growth rates at 54.0% and 48.4%, respectively. These gains likely reflect ruble depreciation effects, domestic market dominance, and a pivot toward internal financial resilience amid ongoing Western sanctions.

    Southern European banks also delivered strong results. BBVA posted a 30.3% increase in revenue, driven by robust lending activity in Latin American markets and digital transformation initiatives. Spain’s Banco Santander reported a 6.8% revenue growth and a 13.6% rise in net income, showcasing stable margins and improving

    Among French institutions, Societe Generale stood out with a 68.5% surge in net income, despite moderate revenue growth of 10.6%. The recovery in profitability is attributed to a successful cost-reduction program and a rebalancing of risk-weighted assets. Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas also performed well, underpinned by strong corporate banking and wealth management divisions.

    In the UK, HSBC and Barclays continued to benefit from diversified global operations. HSBC saw a modest 1.9% increase in net income on a 6.7% revenue gain, reflecting stable interest income and expanding operations in Asia. Barclays’ 12.0% revenue growth and 23.3% net income jump reflect efficiency gains and rising fee-based income.

    Conversely, UBS Group AG posted the sharpest decline in net income, down 81.4% despite a strong 22.3% rise in revenue. This anomaly is likely linked to the integration of Credit Suisse, involving one-time restructuring costs and asset impairments.

    German and Dutch banks experienced moderate top-line growth but faced downward pressure on earnings. Deutsche Bank’s net income fell by 29.4% despite a 12.0% revenue increase, potentially due to elevated risk provisions and a cautious lending stance amid economic uncertainty.

    Grandhi concludes: “Looking ahead, EMEA banks face a challenging 2025. The escalating tariff war between major economies, combined with continued geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, is expected to create volatility in capital markets and cross-border trade.

    “Rising operational costs, currency fluctuations, and potential regulatory shifts may compress margins. However, banks with strong digital infrastructure, diversified geographical exposure, and robust capital buffers—such as HSBC, Santander, and BNP Paribas—are better positioned to absorb shocks.

    “While revenue momentum is likely to continue in the short term, profitability may come under strain. Institutions will need to prioritize operational efficiency, credit risk management, and strategic realignment to navigate an increasingly fragmented global financial landscape.”

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Leader response: Government announces major civil servant move away from Whitehall

    Source: City of Manchester

    Council Leader Bev Craig reacts to the announcement that thousands more civil servants will be moved to UK regions – including a major Digital and AI innovation campus in Manchester. 

    Bev said:

    “The new Manchester Digital Campus will be transformational to our city. We have been working closely with this Government to bring forward this flagship digital campus to Ancoats that will bring 7,000 quality jobs to Manchester, building on the success of the growing Government digital and AI cluster already in the city and turbocharge our plans for economic growth in digital, AI and cyber sectors.

    “This is great news from the Cabinet Office delivering on their ambition to connect Whitehall with local communities outside of London. Locating Government jobs in Manchester is a boost for our residents, and also helps national government deliver better services, tapping into our growing and talented workforce and helping get stuck in with real life issues that can improve services, lead to better Government and improve lives.

    “Over the last decade Manchester has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and one of fastest growing tech and digital ecosystems in the UK. The new digital and AI campus will accelerate that and attract more businesses to the UK to help grow the economy.  We are excited to work in partnership with National Government to deliver this transformational change.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to media reports that a ‘reset’ with the EU could require the precision breeding act to be dropped from UK legislation

    Source: United Kingdom – Science Media Centre

    Scientists comment on reports of an EU ‘reset’ which could mean the precision breeding act is dropped from UK legislation. 

    Dr Penny Hundleby, Senior Scientist at the John Innes Centre, said:

    “As a scientist with over thirty years in genetic technologies, I’ve seen how innovation can transform agriculture. The UK now has a rare opportunity to lead globally in precision breeding — with the legislation passed and the science ready.

    “To delay this progress in order to align with slower EU processes would undermine our ability to deliver resilient, sustainable crops at a time when food security and climate resilience are more urgent than ever. We risk forfeiting a clear post-Brexit advantage grounded in science, safety, and evidence.”

    Prof Huw Jones, Chair in Translational Genomics for Plant Breeding, Aberystwyth University, said:

    “Closer ties with the EU are a good thing but let’s not lose the logical regulatory progress we have made this side of the Channel. Simple gene editing is a speedier and more reliable breeding method to develop the crops we need in a changing world. It’s illogical to regulate these crops as GMOs and it is the EU that has been slow to follow the broad consensus on this. If there are no foreign genes, and the changes could have been generated by conventional breeding, they need regulation – but not as GMOs.”

     

    Prof Neil Hall, Director of the Earlham Institute, said:

    “Given the pressures on global food security, driven by climate change, the growing population and new diseases, it’s important that we harness all of the technical innovations at our disposal to ensure the sustainability of our agricultural systems. 

    “Over the past three years, including these last few months, Parliament has demonstrated important and legitimate leadership by passing the primary and secondary legislation to enable precision breeding in plants. It’s time to enable science research to help farmers adapt to our changing world.”

     

    Prof Jonathan Jones FRS, Group Leader at The Sainsbury Laboratory, said:

    “The Precision Breeding Act (PBA) provides an opportunity to protect our crops from pests and disease with biology rather than chemistry, and also enables new routes to more nutritious food, and I applaud this government and its predecessor for taking the legislation through to final approval and implementation.  It is to my mind the sole Brexit dividend. 

    “However, it takes a long time between producing an improved plant in a lab and creating and obtaining approval for a variety that farmers can plant.  I think it’s highly likely that by the time any precision bred varieties in the UK are ready to plant (likely at least 5 years from now) the EU will have approved its own version of the PBA.

    “So, the government should stick to its guns on the PBA but quietly point out to the EU that, although there are no scientifically credible safety concerns with using these methods, the timelines in this industry are such that it will be a long time before any products are authorized in the UK and thus before any potential problems might arise.”

     

    Prof Sarah Gurr, Chair in Food Security at Exeter University, said:

    “It is sad to realise that whilst we  embraced the need for GM vaccines during the recent COVID epidemic and we seem reticent to embrace gene edited crops. The need for climate proofed and disease resilient gene edited crops is paramount in our quest for sustainable agriculture.”

     

     

     

    https://www.thetimes.com/article/08fe3606-e6ab-4a66-bb31-017165028f08

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14710677/Concessions-Starmer-Brexit-reset-EU-demands-UK-abandons-GM-crops.html

     

     

     

    Declared interests

    Jonathan Jones “is a senior investigator at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, and uses molecular and genetic approaches to study disease resistance in plants. Jones co-founded Norfolk Plant Sciences in 2007 with Prof Cathie Martin of JIC, with the goal of bringing flavonoid-enriched tomatoes to market (www.norfolkplantsciences.com). Jones is on the board of www.isaaa.org, the science advisory board of the 2Blades foundation (www.2blades.org) and the board of NIAB Cambridge University Farm. Jones has isolated and is deploying new resistance genes against potato late blight from wild relatives of potato, and conducting field trials to evaluate how well they work to protect the crop in the field and to generate improved varieties of potato (see http://www.tsl.ac.uk/news/blight-resistant-maris-piper/). See also http://www.tsl.ac.uk/groups/jones-group/.”

    Penny Hundleby “is part of the Crop Transformation Group at the John Innes Centre and using genetic technologies to better understand the role of plant genes. The group provides gene editing resources to the UK and international research community and have been working with gene editing technologies in crops since 2014.”

    Huw Jones: “I am speaking as a researcher at Aberystwyth University and not representing other organisations that I am affiliated with.  I am a member of the FSA ACNFP and Defra ACRE. My declarations of interest are listed on the websites of those Depts.”

    For all other experts, no reply to our request for DOIs was received.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Secretary-General’s press encounter following the Ministerial Meeting on the Future of Peacekeeping

    Source: United Nations secretary general

    Minister Wadepuhl, Minister Pistorius,

    Ladies and gentlemen,

    I thank the Government of Germany for hosting impeccably this important meeting in Berlin.

    Germany is a pillar of the multilateral system…

    A strong and generous supporter of the United Nations…

    And an essential partner in our peacekeeping, peacebuilding and humanitarian assistance efforts — with almost 200 German peacekeepers now serving in our ranks.

    I am especially pleased to be here so soon after the new Government took office, and I look forward to building on our partnership in the time ahead.

    The commitment of the German government — and the German people themselves — is strongly reflected in this Ministerial meeting on the future of peacekeeping.

    As I said in my remarks, this year marks the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.

    And nothing symbolizes our organization’s commitment to peace more clearly than our Blue Helmets.

    UN Peacekeeping operations are a cornerstone of the United Nations.

    Each and every day, peacekeepers are hard at work in trouble spots around the world.

    Protecting civilians caught in the line of fire.

    Maintaining ceasefires.

    Keeping lifesaving humanitarian aid flowing.

    And building the foundations of peace in countries shattered by conflict.

    Many have paid the ultimate price over the years — 4,400 in all.

    Their memories, and their service in the cause of peace, will never be forgotten.

    Which is why the commitments being made here today and tomorrow are so important.

    I am heartened by the exceptional turn-out of Ministers from across the globe, representing the full range of peacekeeping partners.  

    Now more than ever we need the political support of UN Member States.

    The goal is not just to keep a lid on conflicts — but to build political support for lasting solutions that can build peace.

    Over these two days, we welcome Member States’ statements of support for peacekeeping — as well as their pledges of military and police capabilities, new partnerships and technological support.

    This meeting is also about something more fundamental:

    The future of peacekeeping itself.

    Let me be clear.

    Peacekeeping operations today are facing massive challenges, increasing the dangers that our brave peacekeepers already face.

    A record number of conflicts.

    Deepening division and mistrust.

    Terrorism and transnational crime.

    And the direct targeting of peacekeepers through drones, improvised explosive devices and even social media.

    We need to ask some tough questions about the mandates guiding these operations, and what the outcomes and solutions should look like.

    Every context is different.

    From our operations in Lebanon, the Central African Republic and South Sudan…

    To our partnerships with the African Union, made stronger with the Security Council’s resolution to support peace enforcement missions under the AU’s responsibility, supported by the UN, including through assessed contributions…
     
    We are working to adapt, to tailor and to support our missions to the needs and requirements of each context.

    Unfortunately, peacekeeping operations have been facing serious liquidity problems.
     
    It is absolutely essential that all Member States respect their financial obligations, paying their contributions in full and on time. 
     
    At the same time, we’re moving forward on an ambitious Review of Peace Operations — including peacekeeping — but also the peace enforcing missions that are becoming more and more neccessary has called for by Member States in September’s Pact for the Future.

    We’re examining how to make peace operations more efficient, cost-effective, flexible and resilient — including in contexts where there is no peace to keep.

    Today’s Ministerial is an important part of this work as we share ideas, and explore ways to strengthen this important function for the future.

    Peacekeepers — and the populations they protect — deserve nothing less.

    In their names, I want to express my thanks and appreciation to Germany and all the countries in attendance, for helping us ensure that peacekeeping is fully equipped for today’s realities and tomorrow’s challenges.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury appointed

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    News story

    New Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury appointed

    Jim O’Neil has been appointed as a new Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury.

    Jim brings a wealth of experience from investment banking and corporate finance to the Treasury, after a long career at Bank of America. He also has experience in the public sector, spending three years at UK Financial Investments. As Chief Executive of UKFI, he managed the government’s holdings in Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, and UK Asset Resolution. 

    His appointment is part of the government’s plan to deliver its number one mission to kickstart economic growth as part of the Plan for Change, and follows the Chancellor’s commitment to lead the most pro-growth Treasury in the country’s history.

    Jim’s experience will help the government to secure private investment, boost the economy, and ultimately put more pounds in people’s pockets. His deep knowledge of the private sector will help the government to rip out the barriers to growth, provide support for the key industries at home, and work to secure open and fair trade abroad.

    Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said:

    I’m very pleased to welcome Jim as our new Second Permanent Secretary, his extensive knowledge of the private sector will be vital in helping us deliver our number one mission to grow the economy. It’s fantastic to have him join the Treasury’s top team.

    Jim O’Neil said:

    I am delighted to have been appointed Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury at this important time for our country and our economy. We are living through a time of great change globally, making the need for an economy of stability, resilience, and growth all the more important. I look forward to working with the Chancellor, her ministers, and officials across the department to deliver on these missions so the Treasury can bring positive change to the lives of people right across the country.

    Jim is expected to start in his new position in July and will work alongside the two other Second Permanent Secretaries in HM Treasury, Beth Russell who is based at the Darlington Economic Campus and Sam Beckett who is also Chief Economic Adviser. As well as overseeing tax and spending, Beth will continue to be responsible for devolution and regional growth including engagement with regional and local government and others in the north. 

    Jim was appointed through a fair and open competition and has completed all of the necessary declarations of interest.

    Updates to this page

    Published 14 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Reverend Warnock Releases New Report Finding Job Loss, Economic Slowdown if Congressional GOP Restricts Medicaid Access

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia

    Senator Reverend Warnock Releases New Report Finding Job Loss, Economic Slowdown if Congressional GOP Restricts Medicaid Access

    Senator Reverend Warnock’s new report, “Healthy People, Healthy Economy” finds that placing bureaucratic red tape between working people and their health care will lead to hospital closures, job loss, and economic slowdown
    The report finds that investing in Medicaid, as opposed to adding bureaucratic and ineffective work reporting requirements, leads to economic growth that creates jobs and gets Americans to work
    The Senator’s report found 458 counties across the U.S. where working Medicaid recipients are extremely vulnerable to losing access under these reporting requirements because of lack of internet access, other factors
    New legislation marked up yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives would require onerous reporting requirements that do not get people working, and instead kicks working people off their health care
    The House legislation would kick over 7 million Americans off Medicaid and 13.7 million Americans off their health care in total
    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) released a new report titled “Healthy People, Healthy Economy.” The Senator’s report is the first publication that analyzes by county which Americans are at risk of losing their health care if Washington Republicans restrict Medicaid access through bureaucratic and ineffective work reporting requirements. The report also analyzes how much it would cost each state in job loss, GDP, and devastating administrative costs.
    The report finds that the best way to get the most Americans working is to invest in Medicaid, making health care accessible to eligible Americans. On the other hand, work reporting requirements do nothing to bring people into the workforce and kick working people off their health care, making those working Americans more likely to stop working if they cannot access preventative care or manage chronic illness.
    “My parents raised me to have a fierce work ethic, I support getting people to work,” said Senator Reverend Warnock.“The data shows that the best way to create jobs and grow the economy is to remove bureaucratic red tape that keeps working people from accessing health care. Instead, Washington politicians are ignoring clear data and forcing reporting requirements on working Americans as a cynical ploy to kick working people off their health care. All of this so they can fund a tax cut for the ultra-wealthy.”
    Nowhere have work reporting requirements failed more than in the state of Georgia, where the state has spent a shocking $91 million in taxpayer dollars to create a slow, glitchy, bureaucratic system to track work reporting requirements. The state of Georgia spent $13,000 per enrollee on administrative costs, roughly five times more than the cost of actual health services, during the program’s first year. If other states follow Georgia’s failed model, millions of Americans will lose their health care access, government bureaucracy will grow, hospitals will close, jobs will be lost, and the economy will slow.  
    A full copy of the report can be found HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: iPower Enhances SuperSuite Supply Chain Capabilities with “Made in USA” Module

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — iPower Inc. (Nasdaq: IPW) (“iPower” or the “Company”), a tech and data-driven ecommerce services provider and online retailer, today announced the launch of a new strategic initiative under its SuperSuite supply chain platform aimed at advancing domestic manufacturing and assembly capabilities in the United States.

    SuperSuite’s “Made In USA” module is designed to facilitate the establishment and expansion of domestic manufacturing lines by offering comprehensive support in areas such as legal and regulatory compliance, facility sourcing and setup, local management and labor sourcing, funding opportunities, and access to both online and offline sales channels. By providing these critical resources, iPower seeks to bridge the gap for manufacturers and supply chain partners who are considering domestic production but may lack the infrastructure or guidance to do so effectively.

    This initiative serves as a cornerstone of SuperSuite’s broader supply chain solution and aligns with the increasing global focus on reshoring as a critical lever for supply chain resilience. As manufacturers seek to diversify operations, reduce dependency on international logistics, and respond to shifting geopolitical dynamics, the “Made In USA” module provides a much-needed platform to bring advanced manufacturing skills and capabilities to U.S. soil.

    “Our mission with the ‘Made In USA’ platform is to not only strengthen our own supply chain capabilities but to also empower our partners and contribute to the resurgence of American manufacturing,” said Lawrence Tan, CEO of iPower. “This extension of SuperSuite will provide companies with the essential tools and resources to successfully transition or expand their operations into the United States, creating new opportunities for economic growth and job creation. By investing in domestic manufacturing capabilities, iPower is reinforcing its commitment to building a more resilient and diversified supply chain network while supporting the creation of high-quality, American-made products.”

    As the first of several planned collaborations under the “Made In USA” platform, iPower is actively engaging with a sales partner that has an existing sales team, established customer base, and a manufacturing partner to establish a comprehensive domestic production line. This partnership will leverage iPower’s robust support infrastructure, aiming to integrate manufacturing expertise from international partners while utilizing iPower’s established sales and fulfillment network to scale production efficiently. This deal represents the initial step in a series of strategic initiatives aimed at attracting manufacturers and supply chain partners to the United States.

    About iPower Inc. 

    iPower Inc. is a tech and data-driven online retailer, as well as a provider of value-added ecommerce services for third-party products and brands. iPower’s capabilities include a full spectrum of online channels, robust fulfillment capacity, a nationwide network of warehouses, competitive last mile delivery partners and a differentiated business intelligence platform. iPower believes that these capabilities will enable it to efficiently move a diverse catalog of SKUs from its supply chain partners to end consumers every day, providing the best value to customers in the U.S. and other countries. For more information, please visit iPower’s website at www.meetipower.com.

    Investor Relations Contact

    Sean Mansouri, CFA or Aaron D’Souza
    Elevate IR
    (720) 330-2829
    IPW@elevate-ir.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Onfolio Holdings Inc. to Present on the Emerging Growth Conference on May 22, 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    WILMINGTON, Del., May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Onfolio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ONFO, ONFOW) (OTC: ONFOP) (“Onfolio” or the “Company”), a holding company that acquires and manages a diversified portfolio of online businesses across a broad range of verticals, invites individual and institutional investors as well as advisors and analysts to attend its real-time, interactive presentation on the Emerging Growth Conference.

    The next Emerging Growth Conference is presenting on May 22, 2025. This live, interactive online event will give existing shareholders and the investment community the opportunity to interact with the Company’s Chief Executive Officer in real time.

    Mr. Wells will perform a presentation and may subsequently open the floor for questions. Please submit your questions in advance to Questions@EmergingGrowth.com or ask your questions during the event and Mr. Wells will do his best to get through as many of them as possible.

    Onfolio will be presenting at 10:15am Eastern time for 30 minutes.

    Please register here to ensure you can attend the conference and receive any updates that are released.

    https://goto.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1709483&tp_key=7518636947&sti=onfo

    If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available on EmergingGrowth.com and on the Emerging Growth YouTube Channel, http://www.YouTube.com/EmergingGrowthConference. We will release a link to that after the event.

    About the Emerging Growth Conference

    The Emerging Growth conference is an effective way for public companies to present and communicate their new products, services and other major announcements to the investment community from the convenience of their office, in a time efficient manner.

    The Conference focus and coverage includes companies in a wide range of growth sectors, with strong management teams, innovative products & services, focused strategy, execution, and the overall potential for long term growth. Its audience includes potentially tens of thousands of Individual and Institutional investors, as well as Investment advisors and analysts.

    All sessions will be conducted through video webcasts and will take place in the Eastern time zone.

    About Onfolio Holdings

    Onfolio Holdings acquires controlling interests in and actively manage small online businesses that we believe (i) operate in sectors with long-term growth opportunities, (ii) have positive and stable cash flows, (iii) face minimal threats of technological or competitive obsolescence and (iv) can be managed by our existing team or have strong management teams largely in place. Through the acquisition and growth of a diversified group of online businesses with these characteristics, we believe we offer investors in our shares an opportunity to diversify their own portfolio risk. Our Company excels at finding acquisition opportunities where the seller has not fully optimized their business, and our experience and skillset allows us to add increased value to these existing businesses. Visit www.onfolio.com for more information.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words “may” “will,” “should,” “plans,” “explores,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “continues,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” and similar expressions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expected operating results, such as revenue growth and earnings, and strategy for growth and financial results.

    Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing new customer offerings, changes in customer order patterns, changes in customer offering mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, delays due to issues with outsourced service providers, those events and factors described by us in Item 1A “Risk Factors” in our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q; other risks to which our Company is subject; other factors beyond the Company’s control. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

    Investor Contact

    investors@onfolio.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/MYANMAR – The Burmese people hope for Pope Leo’s support and ask for help after the earthquake

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Archdiocese of Mandalay

    Mandalay (Agenzia Fides) – “Now we must rebuild hope in our communities, already affected by war and hardship. We renew an urgent appeal: help us rebuild our ecclesial communities in Mandalay,” Father Peter Kyi Maung, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Mandalay, which was hit by the devastating earthquake on March 28, told Fides. Meanwhile, in the Diocese of Mandalay, the Emergency Rescue Team has been on site assessing the severely damaged church buildings and pastoral structures. “These sacred places, where we gather for worship, prayer, and mutual support, now urgently need to be repaired and restored. We appeal to our great family of faith, asking for your generous support,” the Emergency Rescue Team wrote in a statement. The need is to repair damaged church structures, restore community centers and catechism rooms, and create safe structures for liturgy and parish meetings. “In this way,” explains Fr. Peter Kyi Maung, “we will be able to resume the spiritual and communal life of the people of God. We are called to help communities flourish anew in faith and resilience,” he notes. “For so many suffering people, we are instruments of God’s mercy and compassion in this time of trial. Therefore, we ask for the support of the faithful everywhere,” he says. Although they are in a time of crisis and serious difficulties, Burmese Catholics also rejoice at the election of Pope Leo XIV.In a congratulatory message on the inauguration of the Petrine ministry, Archbishop Marco Tin Win Mandalay asks Pope Leo “to support peace for Myanmar.” “Many non-Catholics, Buddhists, Muslims, and Protestants followed the Pope’s election with great interest. This was a moment of witness and evangelization for us,” said the archbishop. Burmese Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, who was present at the Conclave, reaffirmed everyone’s hopes: He sent photos of himself accompanied by Pope Leo to the faithful and told them: “I asked him not to forget us and expressed the hope that he would visit Myanmar soon.” Burmese Dominican Father Paul Aung Myint told Fides: “We are certain that Pope Leo will pay attention to the conflicts of the forgotten, the suffering of the poor, the marginalized, and the many refugees in Myanmar and other parts of the world: we know he will be a voice for the voiceless.”Joseph Kung, a Catholic from Yangon, emphasizes: “We do not yet know the new Pope Leo well, but we know that he has gained important missionary experience. We therefore believe that he will be deeply concerned with all the mission countries in the Global South. Furthermore, he is polyglot, and his knowledge of English will facilitate communication with many realities in Asia, certainly also with the bishops and faithful in Myanmar.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 14/5/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/DR CONGO – Testimony of the forgotten conflict in eastern DRC: The “100 days of liberated Goma”

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Wednesday, 14 May 2025 wars  

    Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – “Goma, capital of the North Kivu region, two million inhabitants. An occupied city, on its knees. Stretched along the shores of Lake Kivu, caressed by the heat of the Nyiragongo volcano, its beauty and the peace of some thirty years are turning into tears of fear and death.” These are the words that highlight the dramatic testimony sent to Fides from Goma, a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that fell into the hands of the M23 rebels at the end of January. For security reasons, we are publishing it in full, omitting the author’s name: On January 28, after two days of intense fighting between the regular Congolese army, supported by the “Wazalendo” (patriotic militias), against the AFC (Congo River Alliance) and M23 (March 23, an invading rebel group supported by the Rwandan army), the city was once again declared “liberated.” A liberation that left a tragic toll of thousands of innocent civilians dead, many of them in their own homes, built with precarious materials, incapable of offering any shelter. Looting, rape, and abuse perpetrated by armed men from various factions have left deep scars. More than 100 days after the fighting, the wounds remain open, both on the body and in the collective memory of the population. Freedom of expression, human dignity, and the right to life and peace have been brutally violated. Today, the law of terror is imposed at gunpoint and with the blows of batons. The judicial system has collapsed. Instead of courts, detention centers have been set up that, in practice, function as places of torture. Prisons have been emptied—some 3,000 prisoners disappeared during the city’s capture—and trials, when they are held, are summary and improvised, even in the open air. The night has become a nightmare for the most vulnerable neighborhoods. Armed men break into homes to rob and sexually assault. These individuals include former prisoners, former military deserters, militia members, and others, operating anonymously under the cover of darkness. Sometimes, the attackers are captured by neighbors trying to defend the victims; their bodies often appear the next morning, abandoned or even burned. Fear, anger, and the absence of justice fuel a form of mob justice that is faceless and merciless. The search for alleged members of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), accused of participating in the 1994 genocide and now hiding in the neighborhoods of Goma, often serves as a pretext for personal vendettas or ethnic clashes, exacerbating already existing tensions. Arbitrary arrests and disappearances are part of a policy of repression aimed at silencing any dissenting voice. The economic situation is equally critical. The financial system is paralyzed: banks remain closed, preventing the payment of salaries, including those of teachers in affiliated schools. Commerce is at a standstill, and the international airport, vital to the city’s economic life, was bombed during the fighting and is out of service. The promises to keep alive hope for a better future—occupation propaganda comparing the supposedly more effective new “liberation” regime with the corrupt and ineffective old regime in Kinshasa—are numerous; but they fade with each passing day. Many young people, disillusioned with life or desperate with rage, volunteer to enlist in the army of the new masters and fight the regular army of the central government. Solution or illusion? Dying for the sake of dying: it’s worth a try. But the struggle for life has not been broken. The population helps each other in a thousand ways. The tens of thousands of displaced people, whose camps have been dismantled by the new authorities, have found refuge in the homes of friends, relatives, or people of good will. They share the same fears, the same suffering, but also the same hopes. The number of crosses increases, sometimes even invisible, because there is no trace left of the missing. But among the black lava rocks of the Nyiragongo volcano, scattered along the neighborhood roads, flowers are sprouting. With difficulty, because the earth is still soaked with blood. They are flowers with thin stems, but fragrant and colorful: red flowers, the color of the painful tears shed every day; green flowers, of hope and resistance, so that life does not die; flowers that symbolize a new society: the new society of Congo that is being born from the ashes of war. Yes, because life is like the sun: no matter how long and stormy the night, at dawn the sun reappears. (Agenzia Fides, 14/5/2025)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How does the EPA know a pesticide is safe to use in my yard?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jeffrey Gore, Professor of Agricultural Science and Plant Protection, Mississippi State University

    A mosquito-control technician sprays a mixture including insecticides in a yard in Michigan. AP Photo/John Flesher

    Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin has said he wants the federal agency to accelerate scientific safety evaluations of various chemicals, including pesticides.

    The EPA reportedly has more than 500 pending reviews of proposed new pesticides and more than 12,000 overdue reevaluations of pesticides currently in use. The agency is under pressure from the chemical and agricultural industries to catch up, while health and environmental advocates demand it maintain high safety standards.

    The review process is careful for a reason – and perhaps the only real method of speeding it up is the one Zeldin has proposed: reassigning staff so there are more people to share the work.

    As a faculty member at a land-grant university who has studied the effectiveness of commercial and experimental pesticides in the southern U.S., I have seen how the federal pesticide regulatory process identifies risks to humans and the environment and mitigates them with specific use instructions. Here’s how the process works.

    First, what is a pesticide?

    The EPA, which regulates pesticides in the U.S., defines a pesticide as any substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate any pest, such as weeds, insects and organisms, that attack plants.

    Pesticides are often referred to as toxins when found in food, water bodies or other places where they are not intended. But just because something is detected doesn’t mean it’s harmful to humans or wildlife. Toxicity depends on how much of the substance a person or animal is exposed to, how they are exposed to it – such as breathing it, or getting it on their skin – and for how long.

    The Department of Agriculture began regulating pesticides in 1947 with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Most of the department’s interest was whether a particular pesticide was effective against the target pests.

    In 1970, the newly formed EPA took over responsibility for pesticides. It shifted its focus to the safety of consumers, farmworkers and the environment after the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act took effect in 1972.

    A wide range of pesticides are available to consumers for use in their homes and yards.
    Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    Risk-benefit analysis

    Federal law requires the EPA to evaluate both the risks and the benefits of each pesticide – and to revisit that analysis at least every 15 years for every pesticide used in the U.S.

    The EPA determines whether the risks to people, animals or the environment are too high for the benefits the pesticide provides and whether any of those risks can be reduced. Sometimes a chemical’s risk can be lessened by recommending mitigation strategies such as wearing protective clothing, reducing environmental spread by barring the use of pesticides near the edges of a property, or decreasing the amount of a pesticide that’s legal to use.

    In its analysis of any given pesticide, the EPA requires a massive amount of data from the manufacturer about what ingredients the pesticide contains and how they work. The agency also reviews scientific research on the pesticide and uses its own scientists and independent experts to evaluate any studies that were submitted by the manufacturer.

    The EPA uses all the available data on a pesticide to evaluate the dose that would be toxic to a range of organisms, as well as what residues the pesticide may leave on plants, in the soil and in water. The data is incorporated into computer models that estimate the potential amount of the chemical that may come in contact with humans, animals and the environment. Those models’ results are then combined with toxicity data to determine risk.

    The models used by EPA scientists are very conservative. They often use significant overestimates of exposure, which means that when the models determine the risk of a pesticide is below a particular level, they are evaluating the risk posed by far higher quantities of the chemical than will ever actually be used. The risk from the amount actually used, therefore, is even less likely to cause harm.

    The EPA also provides opportunities for public comment on a pesticide and uses that information in its evaluations as well.

    Pesticides are commonly used in commercial agriculture.
    Charlie Neibergall/AP

    Additional scrutiny

    The Endangered Species Act also requires the EPA to evaluate the effects of pesticides on threatened and endangered species.

    If a pesticide is found to potentially be dangerous to a protected species or its habitat, the EPA will discuss those findings with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, which enforce the Endangered Species Act, and determine what to do to ensure the species aren’t harmed.

    The law’s requirement to reevaluate each pesticide every 15 years is based on the fact that science evolves and information becomes more precise. New data can shed light on potential risks and benefits, and even lead to pesticides being banned or more closely restricted.

    Until recently, for instance, pesticide residues on plants, food and in the environment were measured in parts per million. Newer equipment can measure even smaller amounts, determining parts per billion, which is as precise as identifying one single second in 32 years. Some chemicals can even be measured in parts per trillion, equivalent to one drop of water in 20 Olympic-size swimming pools. That means exposures can be more accurately measured. While some chemicals can be toxic in very small concentrations, most pesticides can be detected at levels that do not pose a biological risk.

    Allowing a pesticide to be used

    If the EPA determines that a pesticide’s risks outweigh its benefits, then its staff will conduct additional analyses to determine how to mitigate the risks enough to justify using it. If that’s not possible, the EPA will reject the application and not allow the pesticide to be used in the U.S.

    If the agency determines that the benefits outweigh the risks, the EPA approves the pesticide for sale and use in the U.S. The law requires the pesticide come with a label providing a strict set of guidelines for how, when and where to use the pesticide.

    The guidelines define amounts and timing for applying the pesticide safely, and specific restrictions or protection strategies to control the target pests while eliminating or minimizing harm to the environment, workers and the public.

    The EPA also makes information on pesticides available to the public, so anyone can find out how to use them safely. Using the pesticide without following those directions is a violation of federal law.

    Jeffrey Gore receives funding from the USDA-ARS and has received funding from various state and national commodity boards, and chemical and biotechnology companies in the past.

    Jeffrey Gore served on the EPA’s Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Committee from 2019 to 2024.

    – ref. How does the EPA know a pesticide is safe to use in my yard? – https://theconversation.com/how-does-the-epa-know-a-pesticide-is-safe-to-use-in-my-yard-256027

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Detroit’s next mayor can do these 3 things to support neighborhoods beyond downtown

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Deyanira Nevárez Martínez, Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Michigan State University

    Detroit stands at a pivotal moment.

    Mayor Mike Duggan is preparing to leave office after 11 years at the end of 2025. The city’s next leader will inherit not only a revitalizing downtown but also neighborhoods like Belmont, Petosky-Otsego and Van Steuban that are grappling with housing instability and decades of neglect and disinvestment.

    My research on housing insecurity, homelessness and urban governance, along with broader scholarship on equitable development, suggests that Detroit’s future depends on more than marquee developments like the Michigan Central Station Development. It depends on strengthening neighborhoods from the ground up.

    Here are three strategies that could help Detroit’s next mayor build a just and resilient city by focusing on transitional neighborhoods:

    Stabilize housing and prevent displacement

    Stable housing is the foundation of thriving communities.

    Yet, housing instability in Detroit is both widespread and deeply entrenched. Before the pandemic, roughly 13% of Detroiters, or about 88,000 people, had been evicted or forced to move within the previous year. Families with children faced the highest risk.

    Many Detroiters had little choice but to remain in deteriorating housing, crowd into shared living arrangements or relocate elsewhere because of an estimated shortfall of 24,000 habitable housing units.

    While building more housing is essential, preventing displacement requires more than new construction. It also demands policies that preserve affordability and protect tenants. Researchers have found that household stabilization policies, such as legal representation in eviction court, rent control and property tax relief, have the most immediate impact.

    In Detroit, addressing the wave of expiring Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC, units remains an urgent priority. When units reach the end of their compliance period in this federal program, typically 15 years, owners are no longer required to maintain affordable rents and can raise prices. This “conversion to market rate” often results in the loss of affordable housing for low-income residents.

    In response to a projected loss of 10,000 units by 2023, Detroit launched the Preservation Partnership that secured affordability commitments for about 4,000 units. However, it remains difficult to determine exactly how many of the at-risk units were ultimately lost, and when, due to reporting lags, inconsistencies and overlapping affordability programs.

    Despite the city’s efforts, a 2023 analysis found that a substantial affordability gap persists, with many households unable to comfortably afford market-rate housing without spending more than 30% of their income, which is the standard set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for affordability.

    The Michigan State Housing Development Authority continues to support affordable housing through tax credit allocations. However, a growing number of LIHTC properties in areas experiencing redevelopment are reaching the end of their affordability periods, putting them at risk of converting to market rate. National estimates suggest that nearly 350,000 units could lose affordability by 2030 and over 1 million by 2040 without sustained local and regional preservation efforts.

    Stabilizing Detroit’s housing market means ensuring that those who stayed during the hardest times are not pushed out as reinvestment takes hold. To achieve this, the next mayor could expand rental assistance and support tenant organizing efforts. This is particularly needed in transitional neighborhoods where renters come together to fight unfair evictions, improve housing conditions and push for more stable rents.

    Reclaim and reimagine vacant land for community benefit

    Many view Detroit’s vast tracks of vacant land, estimated in the hundreds of thousands of parcels, as blight. But they could also be seen as a public asset and a generational opportunity if brought together with the right public strategies.

    Land trusts can turn empty lots into valuable neighborhood spaces. A land trust is a nonprofit that holds land for the community and keeps housing affordable over the long term, a key to preventing displacement.

    Research also shows that greening strategies can improve community health, cohesion and equity. Cities like Philadelphia and Cleveland have launched urban greening initiatives that transform vacant lots into community gardens, small parks and tree-filled spaces. Research shows that these projects can help stabilize property values and strengthen neighborhoods by reducing blight, encouraging investment and creating safer, more attractive environments.

    Detroit has a land bank, a public agency that manages vacant and foreclosed properties. The city has also invested in some green infrastructure. But experts say that these efforts require stronger city leadership, teamwork across departments and real input from residents. These are areas where Detroit still has room to grow.

    By collaborating with residents to cocreate a land use vision, the next mayor could prioritize community ownership and ecological restoration instead of speculative redevelopment.

    Invest in social infrastructure

    Neighborhood strength is about more than buildings — it’s about people.

    As the Brookings Institution notes, economic opportunity is key to long-term safety, and investing in youth is a proven violence reduction strategy.

    Detroit’s neighborhoods have long faced a lack of investment in schools, recreation centers and social services. This leaves families vulnerable and fuels cycles of poverty and criminalization. Under these conditions, young people, especially Black and brown youth, are more likely to be policed, punished and pushed into the criminal justice system.

    A 2021 study found that the Detroit Public Schools Community District reported 2% of its students experienced homelessness, despite 16% of households with children reporting recent eviction or forced moves. This gap reveals major service and awareness gaps. And when families fall through those gaps, it’s often children who suffer the most.

    Addressing these gaps requires investing in mental health services, youth development programs and violence prevention, rather than relying solely on policing or incarceration. These approaches recognize that true public safety comes from access to stable jobs, quality education and supportive services that meet people’s health, housing and social needs. Some of the most effective strategies include restorative justice in schools and outreach to older adults and residents experiencing homelessness.

    These are not luxuries. They are essential infrastructure for neighborhood vitality.

    The work ahead

    Detroit is often held up as a cautionary tale of urban decline, or more recently, as a comeback story driven by downtown revitalization. But in my opinion, its true test lies in what comes next: whether the city can translate momentum into equity for the communities that have long been left behind.

    The next mayor has the chance to shift the narrative by centering housing justice, reclaiming land for public good and investing in the people who make Detroit a city worth fighting for.

    Read more of our stories about Detroit.

    Deyanira Nevárez Martínez is a trustee of the Lansing School District Board of Education and is currently a candidate for the Lansing City Council Ward 2.

    – ref. Detroit’s next mayor can do these 3 things to support neighborhoods beyond downtown – https://theconversation.com/detroits-next-mayor-can-do-these-3-things-to-support-neighborhoods-beyond-downtown-254755

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Challenges to high-performance computing threaten US innovation

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jack Dongarra, Emeritus Professor of Computer Science, University of Tennessee

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Frontier supercomputer is one of the world’s fastest. Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, CC BY

    High-performance computing, or HPC for short, might sound like something only scientists use in secret labs, but it’s actually one of the most important technologies in the world today. From predicting the weather to finding new medicines and even training artificial intelligence, high-performance computing systems help solve problems that are too hard or too big for regular computers.

    This technology has helped make huge discoveries in science and engineering over the past 40 years. But now, high-performance computing is at a turning point, and the choices the government, researchers and the technology industry make today could affect the future of innovation, national security and global leadership.

    High-performance computing systems are basically superpowerful computers made up of thousands or even millions of processors working together at the same time. They also use advanced memory and storage systems to move and save huge amounts of data quickly.

    With all this power, high-performance computing systems can run extremely detailed simulations and calculations. For example, they can simulate how a new drug interacts with the human body, or how a hurricane might move across the ocean. They’re also used in fields such as automotive design, energy production and space exploration.

    Lately, high-performance computing has become even more important because of artificial intelligence. AI models, especially the ones used for things such as voice recognition and self-driving cars, require enormous amounts of computing power to train. High-performance computing systems are well suited for this job. As a result, AI and high-performance computing are now working closely together, pushing each other forward.

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s supercomputer El Capitan is currently the world’s fastest.

    I’m a computer scientist with a long career working in high-performance computing. I’ve observed that high-performance computing systems are under more pressure than ever, with higher demands on the systems for speed, data and energy. At the same time, I see that high-performance computing faces some serious technical problems.

    Technical challenges

    One big challenge for high-performance computing is the gap between how fast processors are and how well memory systems can keep up with the processors’ output. Imagine having a superfast car but being stuck in traffic – it doesn’t help to have speed if the road can’t handle it. In the same way, high-performance computing processors often have to wait around because memory systems can’t send data quickly enough. This makes the whole system less efficient.

    Another problem is energy use. Today’s supercomputers use a huge amount of electricity, sometimes as much as a small town. That’s expensive and not very good for the environment. In the past, as computer parts got smaller, they also used less power. But that trend, called Dennard scaling, stopped in the mid-2000s. Now, making computers more powerful usually means they use more energy too. To fix this, researchers are looking for new ways to design both the hardware and the software of high-performance computing systems.

    There’s also a problem with the kinds of chips being made. The chip industry is mainly focused on AI, which works fine with lower-precision math like 16-bit or 8-bit numbers. But many scientific applications still need 64-bit precision to be accurate. The greater the bit count, the more digits to the right of the decimal point a chip can process, hence the greater precision. If chip companies stop making the parts that scientists need, then it could become harder to do important research.

    This report discusses how trends in semiconductor manufacturing and commercial priorities may diverge from the needs of the scientific computing community, and how a lack of tailored hardware could hinder progress in research.

    One solution might be to build custom chips for high-performance computing, but that’s expensive and complicated. Still, researchers are exploring new designs, including chiplets – small chips that can be combined like Lego bricks – to make high-precision processors more affordable.

    A global race

    Globally, many countries are investing heavily in high-performance computing. Europe has the EuroHPC program, which is building supercomputers in places such as Finland and Italy. Their goal is to reduce dependence on foreign technology and take the lead in areas such as climate modeling and personalized medicine. Japan built the Fugaku supercomputer, which supports both academic research and industrial work. China has also made major advances, using homegrown technology to build some of the world’s fastest computers. All of these countries’ governments understand that high-performance computing is key to their national security, economic strength and scientific leadership.

    The U.S.-China supercomputer rivalry explained.

    The United States, which has been a leader in high-performance computing for decades, recently completed the Department of Energy’s Exascale Computing Project. This project created computers that can perform a billion billion operations per second. That’s an incredible achievement. But even with that success, the U.S. still doesn’t have a clear, long-term plan for what comes next. Other countries are moving quickly, and without a national strategy, the U.S. risks falling behind.

    I believe that a U.S. national strategy should include funding new machines and training for people to use them. It would also include partnerships with universities, national labs and private companies. Most importantly, the plan would focus not just on hardware but also on the software and algorithms that make high-performance computing useful.

    Hopeful signs

    One exciting area for the future is quantum computing. This is a completely new way of doing computation based on the laws of physics at the atomic level. Quantum computers could someday solve problems that are impossible for regular computers. But they are still in the early stages and are likely to complement rather than replace traditional high-performance computing systems. That’s why it’s important to keep investing in both kinds of computing.

    The good news is that some steps have already been taken. The CHIPS and Science Act, passed in 2022, provides funding to expand chip manufacturing in the U.S. It also created an office to help turn scientific research into real-world products. The task force Vision for American Science and Technology, launched on Feb. 25, 2025, and led by American Association for the Advancement of Science CEO Sudip Parikh, aims to marshal nonprofits, academia and industry to help guide the government’s decisions. Private companies are also spending billions of dollars on data centers and AI infrastructure.

    All of these are positive signs, but they don’t fully solve the problem of how to support high-performance computing in the long run. In addition to short-term funding and infrastructure investments, this means:

    • Long-term federal investment in high-performance computing R&D, including advanced hardware, software and energy-efficient architectures.
    • Procurement and deployment of leadership-class computing systems at national labs and universities.
    • Workforce development, including training in parallel programming, numerical methods and AI-HPC integration.
    • Hardware road map alignment, ensuring commercial chip development remains compatible with the needs of scientific and engineering applications.
    • Sustainable funding models that prevent boom-and-bust cycles tied to one-off milestones or geopolitical urgency.
    • Public-private collaboration to bridge gaps between academic research, industry innovation and national security needs.

    High-performance computing is more than just fast computers. It’s the foundation of scientific discovery, economic growth and national security. With other countries pushing forward, the U.S. is under pressure to come up with a clear, coordinated plan. That means investing in new hardware, developing smarter software, training a skilled workforce and building partnerships between government, industry and academia. If the U.S. does that, the country can make sure high-performance computing continues to power innovation for decades to come.

    Jack Dongarra receives funding from the NSF and the DOE.

    – ref. Challenges to high-performance computing threaten US innovation – https://theconversation.com/challenges-to-high-performance-computing-threaten-us-innovation-255188

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Invest in African Energy (IAE) 2025: Innovative Financing to Unlock Africa’s Energy Potential

    Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:

    PARIS, France, May 14, 2025/APO Group/ —

    Africa holds immense energy potential, with more than 125 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, 620 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 60% of the world’s best solar resources. Yet, the continent continues to struggle with attracting the capital needed to leverage these resources for transformative development. Addressing this paradox, panelists at the Invest in African Energy Forum in Paris underscored how innovative financing mechanisms can help unlock Africa’s vast energy opportunities.

    “There’s a huge amount of financing required to close the financing gap on the continent. It’s quite clear that there’s not enough capital and we need to think about innovative ways to source capital. With the right fiscal regimes, regulatory frameworks and policies, investors will come to invest in the energy sector in Africa,” stated Taiwo Okwor, Vice President: Invest Division and Natural Resources Division at development institution the Africa Finance Corporation.

    By utilizing innovative financing tools and regional cooperation mechanisms, Africa will be able to scale investments and reduce risk. Additionally, by leveraging blended finance, de-risking strategies and multilateral partnerships, countries can not only secure capital but bolster energy access at a continental scale. However, challenges will need to be addressed, including lack of investor certainty, regulatory barriers and red tape.  

    “Investors thrive on predictability,” stated Ibra Ndiaye, Partner: Energy, Industry & Services at professional services network Forvis Mazars. “According to the African Energy Chamber, 45% of investors cite uncertainty in legal frameworks in Africa as a major concern before entering new markets. This ambiguity in regulatory frameworks creates a delay in project implementation.”

    To address regulatory challenges and increase energy capacity, there is an urgent need for systemic reform in the continent’s utility companies. Stronger institutions and reforms have emerged as critical drivers for attracting private sector involvement. Panelists noted that many state-owned utilities across Africa are unable to deliver consistent and reliable energy services due to financial instability and poor infrastructure.

    “What have we done to improve the quality of utilities going forward? I think 85% of utilities across Africa are technically insolvent and cannot meet the energy needs of Africans,” stated Reginald Max, Senior Advisor for Infrastructure and Independent Power Producers for financial institution the Trade and Development Bank. Max added that until the underlying inefficiencies in energy distribution and cost recovery are addressed, investor confidence will remain weak.

    Another core issue raised was the necessity of implementing cost-reflective tariffs. Tariff policies in many countries have kept electricity prices artificially low, discouraging private investment and further burdening state utilities.

    “The key is cost-reflective tariffs,” stated Liz Williamson, Head of Energy Corporate Finance at investment banking firm Rand Merchant Bank, adding, “We need the political will to go through the pain to get to cost-reflective tariffs. This could make a big difference in terms of liability.”

    As the session concluded, the panelists emphasized that while the continent faces considerable hurdles, the combination of its resource wealth and growing investor interest presents a promising path forward – if governments and stakeholders can align on reform, innovation and regional integration.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI China: China enhances full-chain export control of strategic minerals to safeguard national security

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    China will enhance the control over every link in the production and supply chain of strategic minerals to prevent their illegal outflow and safeguard national security, the Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.

    Strengthening the export control of strategic mineral resources is crucial to national security and development interests, according to a ministry spokesperson.

    On Monday, a national meeting convened in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, stressed the need to strengthen “full-chain control over strategic mineral exports.” The meeting was attended by officials from 10 central government departments and seven strategic mineral-rich provincial-level regions including Inner Mongolia and Jiangxi.

    “To effectively prevent the illegal outflow of strategic minerals, control must start at the source and be strengthened across the entire chain, including mining, smelting, processing, transportation, manufacturing, sales, and exports,” the spokesperson said.

    Each department needs to effectively carry out day-to-day supervision to promptly identify risks and hidden dangers, addressing each case as it arises.

    Localities should strengthen their supervisory responsibilities, keep track of the production, operation, and flow of strategic minerals, and guide enterprises to enhance their awareness and capability of compliance, ensuring that control measures for strategic minerals are effectively implemented, according to the spokesperson.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: China Urges Food Delivery Companies to Compete Fairly

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) — China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, along with four other government departments, has called on food delivery companies to address pressing issues related to growing competition in the sector.

    In a meeting with representatives of companies such as JD.com, Meituan and Ele.me, officials from the above-mentioned departments required them to strictly comply with the E-Commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China.

    The said companies shall fulfill their social responsibilities, strengthen internal management, conduct legal business activities and compete fairly in order to promote the creation of a favorable market environment.

    The meeting emphasized the need to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, platform operators and couriers to ensure the healthy development of the platform economy.

    As of December 2024, the number of users of online food ordering and delivery platforms in China reached 592 million, accounting for 53.4 percent of the total internet users, according to data from the China Internet Information Center. Industry data also shows that there are now more than 10 million food delivery workers across the country. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Han Zheng Meets with Chilean President

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with Chilean President Gabriel Boric in Beijing on Wednesday.

    Noting that this year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the 20th anniversary of the signing of the free trade agreement, Han Zheng said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations more than half a century ago, the relations between the two countries have maintained a good momentum of development and have long occupied a leading position among China’s diplomatic relations with other Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries.

    Han Zheng said that the fruitful meeting between the two heads of state has injected strong impetus into the development of China-Chile relations, adding that China is willing to work with Chile to effectively implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, continuously strengthen political mutual trust, continue to deepen practical cooperation, strengthen multilateral strategic coordination, advance the China-Chile comprehensive strategic partnership, and make new contributions to the building of a community with a shared future for China and the LAC.

    G. Boric said that Chile is willing to actively develop cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road, strengthen practical cooperation with China in the economic, cultural, social and technological fields, jointly combat climate change, and uphold multilateralism and world peace. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump is making it easier to fire federal workers, but they have some legal protections – 3 essential reads

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Amy Lieberman, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation

    An estimated 2% of federal civil servants could soon find their jobs are no longer secure under the Trump administration. iStock/Getty Images Plus

    The Trump administration is moving ahead with policy changes that would make it easier to fire some federal workers.

    The Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, filed proposed regulations in the Federal Register on April 23, 2025, that would reclassify about 50,000 career civil servants as “at-will” employees.

    Trump’s first administration attempted similar changes, known as by some as Schedule F but those plans were not implemented.

    An estimated 2% of nearly all of the 3 million federal workers would then experience a shift in how the government classifies their jobs, renaming their classification “Schedule Policy/Career.”

    It is not entirely clear which workers will be reclassified, since the process is largely at Trump’s discretion.

    “This will allow agencies to quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or undermine the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives,” the Office of Personnel Management proposal reads.

    Trump supports these changes and says they can help remove corrupt or unqualified workers. Critics maintain that the changes will allow the administration to fire federal employees the administration sees as not supporting its agenda.

    Trump is expected to sign another executive order in the next few weeks that would formally reclassify certain federal job positions as Schedule Policy/Career.

    Here are three stories from The Conversation’s archive about the rights of federal civil servants.

    Former U.S. Agency for International Development employees terminated by the Trump administration collect their belongings at USAID headquarters in February 2025.
    Chip Somodevilla/Gety Images

    1. When a president fired half of the civil service

    Before Trump was elected to a second term in November 2024, he promised he would fire as many as 50,000 civil servants and replace them with people loyal to him.

    Nearly 200 years before that, President Andrew Jackson took office in 1828 and promptly fired about half of the government’s civil service. He replaced these employees with political loyalists. This shift became known as the spoils system.

    “The result was not only an utterly incompetent administration, but widespread corruption,” write Sidney Shapiro, a professor of law at Wake Forest University, and Joseph P. Tomain, a professor of law at the University of Cincinnati.

    Samuel Swartwout, for example, was a Jackson former Army friend whom he selected to serve as collector of customs in New York. The job was well paid and prestigious, and “involved collecting taxes and fees on imported goods that arrived in the nation’s busiest port.”

    “But a congressional investigation showed that Swartwout had stolen a little more than US$1.2 million during his tenure, or about $40 million in today’s dollars,” Shapiro and Tomain write.

    Jackson also found that he could not legally influence hiring at all federal agencies, including the U.S. Post Office, and easily place his own high-level appointees there.

    Today, some federal workers, including U.S. Border Patrol agents, would be exempt from Trump’s reclassification plans.



    Read more:
    Donald Trump wants to reinstate a spoils system in federal government by hiring political loyalists regardless of competence

    An 1830 political cartoon by Thomas Nast about civil service reform shows five people bowing down at a statue of Andrew Jackson.
    Fotosearch/Getty Images

    2. Federal workers have protections against partisan attacks

    Federal workers have had federal legal protections for their hiring and firing in place since the 1880s. This has helped federal employees thwart moves by presidents like Jackson aiming to “control a lot of workers who would serve the president,” and not the American people, according to James L. Perry, a scholar of public affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington.

    The 1883 Pendleton Act ensures that “government workers are hired based on their skills and abilities, not their political views,” Perry says. Congress updated this law in 1978 with the Civil Service Reform Act, which provides additional “protections for workers against being fired for political reasons.”

    “Those rules cover about 99% of staff in the federal civil service. Currently, there are just about 4,000 political appointees,” Perry told Jeff Inglis, an editor at The Conversation U.S., in February 2025.

    Perry points out that the Trump administration’s proposed restructuring would also likely be unpopular among Americans. As many as 87% of Americans have said they want a merit-based, politically neutral civil services, according to Perry



    Read more:
    Trump’s moves to strip employment protections from federal workers threaten to make government function worse – not better

    .

    3. A precarious moral and ethical tightrope

    Leading into Trump’s second term, federal government workers were advised by colleagues to “stay calm and keep their heads down,” and draw minimal attention to their work. This includes not directly using terms like climate change and human rights, which they correctly thought the administration would target, according to Jaime L. Kucinskas, a sociologist at Hamilton College.

    There were some unknowns about how Trump’s second administration would act. But many civil servants also likely understood that “this pressure is real” under the new administration and could affect their day-to-day work, Kucinskas writes.

    Kucinskas interviewed 66 career civil servants from 2017 through 2020. A number of these workers told Kucinskas that working under the first Trump administration caused their mental health and morale to decline. The experience also worsened their productivity and innovation at work.

    “Among a sizable proportion of the people I spoke with, the pressures at work became too much; about a quarter of those I spoke with quit during the first Trump administration,” Kucinskas wrote in January 2025.

    Some civil servants chose to not speak openly about their work experiences with the first Trump administration, including mid-level civil service workers who watched as political appointees “fought over policy agendas levels above them,” according to Kucinskas. Other employees tried to simply keep their work moving, regardless of the politics at play.

    “Yet, even among those who felt most alone, I found they had many experiences in common with others who also felt isolated in trying to walk a precarious moral and ethical tightrope between their desire to faithfully serve the elected president – under chaotic leadership and insufficient and sometimes questionably legal guidance,” Kucinskas wrote, “and do quality work upholding the law and benefiting the nation and the American public



    Read more:
    Civil servants brace for a second Trump presidency

    .”

    This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.

    – ref. Trump is making it easier to fire federal workers, but they have some legal protections – 3 essential reads – https://theconversation.com/trump-is-making-it-easier-to-fire-federal-workers-but-they-have-some-legal-protections-3-essential-reads-256313

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Gaza: Minister for the Middle East statement, 14 May 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Oral statement to Parliament

    Gaza: Minister for the Middle East statement, 14 May 2025

    Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer made a statement to the House of Commons on Gaza.

    Mr Speaker,

    Yesterday, alongside partners, the UK convened a meeting of the UN Security Council in response to the intolerable civilian suffering and humanitarian need in Gaza.

    As I told this House yesterday, Israel’s denial of aid is appalling. 

    Tonnes of food are currently sitting rotting at the Gaza/Israel border, blocked from reaching people who are starving.

    Israeli Ministers have said Israel’s decision to block this aid is a “pressure lever”.

    This is cruel and it is indefensible.

    Overnight yet more Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes.

    This must end.

    The message yesterday was clear.

    The world wants Israel to stop and change course immediately.

    With our allies we are telling the Government of Israel:  lift the block on aid entering Gaza now. Enable the UN and all humanitarians to save lives, now. We need an immediate ceasefire, now.

    Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool or military tactic. And the UK will not support any aid mechanism that seeks to deliver political or military objectives or puts vulnerable civilians at risk.

    The International Court of Justice case on genocide is ongoing.

     Mr Speaker,

    We support the ICJ. We support its independence.

    The ICJ issued a set of provisional measures in this case and we support those measures.

    Israel has an obligation to implement them.

    It is the UK government’s long-standing position that any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent court, and not for governments or non-judicial bodies.

    The UK is fully committed to upholding our responsibilities under domestic and international law.

    And we have at all times acted in a manner consistent with our legal obligations, including under the Genocide Convention.

    The devastation from this conflict must end.

    Our complete focus is on lifting Israeli restrictions on aid,

    On freeing the hostages held by Hamas,

    On protecting civilians,

    And on restoring the ceasefire.

    We will work urgently with our allies and partners on further pressure to make Israel change course.

    Updates to this page

    Published 14 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: CIRA’s award-winning ‘What’s up with the internet?’ podcast returns for its third season to investigate the impact of online misinformation

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    OTTAWA, Ontario, May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, CIRA announces the premiere of the third season of its award-winning podcast, What’s up with the internet? centred around the rise of online misinformation. Returning fresh off a win for ‘Best Technology Series’ at the fifth annual Canadian Podcast Awards, this season of What’s up with the internet? is an eye-opening investigation to uncover the truth behind online lies.

    Across six episodes, season three of What’s up with the internet? reveals the sources behind online misinformation, how it spreads, along with deep insight into the harm it does. Host Takara Small also walks listeners through a fact-checking toolkit with guest Matthew Johnson, Director of Education for MediaSmarts, so that more Canadians can feel equipped with ways to identify fact from fiction and verify what they see online.

    This season features ongoing commentary and guest interviews from technology experts, media researchers and more. Guests for season three include journalist and business executive Sue Gardner, professor and author Timothy Caulfield, Michael Kropveld, Founder and Executive Director of Info-Cult/Info-Sect and more. Listeners can learn more at cira.ca/podcast and follow What’s up with the internet? on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

    Executive quotes

    “Misinformation is easy to fall for because it often feels right and we’re all susceptible to it, regardless of intelligence or education. That’s one reason why this season of What’s up with the internet? is about more than just a deep dive into the origins of this phenomenon but what to look for, too. It’s about separating myth from truth and giving you what you need to know and sometimes what you didn’t even know you needed.” – Takara Small, host What’s up with the internet?

    “If you spend any time online, chances are you’ve been exposed to online misinformation. Canadians just emerged from an election where algorithm-driven misinformation was rampant. This season, our podcast explores how and why that is—and most importantly, what Canadians can do to protect themselves and their loved ones from falling for fake news.” – Spencer Callaghan, Director, Brand and Communications, CIRA.

    About CIRA
    CIRA is the national not-for-profit best known for managing the .CA domain on behalf of all Canadians. As a leader in Canada’s internet ecosystem, CIRA offers a wide range of products, programs and services designed to make the internet a secure and accessible space for all. CIRA represents Canada on both national and international stages to support its goal of building a trusted internet for Canadians by helping shape the future of the internet.

    About Takara Small
    Takara Small is a Canadian journalist and radio host. She is the national technology columnist for CBC (Canada’s public broadcaster) and a radio contributor for BBC Radio. Additionally, she was named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada for her contributions to media and recently named a Young Leaders of America Fellow.

    She was previously the contributing editor for Fortune magazine and host of the CBC podcast Death in Cryptoland, which was #1 on Apple Podcasts. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, which include Refinery29, Metro News, Chatelaine, Mic and more.

    Media contacts
    Shehnila Sayeed
    CIRA
    shehnila.sayeed@cira.ca 
    +1 613 316-2397

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Owner of District Marijuana Dispensary Pleads Guilty to Over $1.2 Million in Federal Tax Evasion

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    WASHINGTON – Jennifer Brunenkant, 68, the founder and former owner of Herbal Alternatives II, LLC, a marijuana dispensary licensed in the District of Columbia, pleaded guilty today in connection with her years-long failure to pay federal income and employment taxes associated with her business.

    The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. and Executive Special Agent in Charge Kareem Carter of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation’s Washington D.C. Office.

    Brunenkant, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Loren L. AliKhan to attempting to evade or defeat tax. Judge AliKhan will determine any sentence for Brunenkant after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  Brunenkant is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 20, 2025.

    In pleading guilty, Brunenkant admitted that, from tax years 2017 to 2021, she failed to pay federal income and employment taxes that were due to the IRS in connection with substantial income she received from, and employees she had with, Herbal Alternatives II. Brunenkant further attempted to evade paying those taxes by falsely attesting on her annual Unincorporated Business Franchise Tax Forms, filed in the District of Columbia, that she had filed her federal income tax returns – when in fact she had not. Brunenkant continued trying to avoid detection when she repeatedly told law enforcement during a July 2023 interview that she had filed her returns.

    At Brunenkant’s sentencing hearing the government will seek restitution of more than $1.2 million, money due for Brunenkant’s unpaid federal income and employment taxes.

    This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian P. Kelly.

    25cr056

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Fatal crash on Blackfeet Indian Reservation sends Browning man to prison

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    GREAT FALLS – A Browning man who admitted to driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he crashed into another vehicle killing the driver was sentenced today to 16 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

    Chasen James Kipp, 25, pleaded guilty in December 2024 to involuntary manslaughter.

    Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.

    The government alleged in court documents that on October 21, 2023, Kipp was driving his 2022 Dodge Charger near the Cut Bank airport when he crossed the center lane of traffic, collided with a sedan, and killed the driver, Jane Doe.

    When law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, they saw Kipp trying to flee. An officer described Kipp staggering and could smell alcohol on him. The officers detained Kipp, who said he had consumed two mixed drinks at the Pioneer Bar in Cut Bank and was returning to his home in Birch Creek. Kipp was arrested and consented to a blood draw, where he told the medical provider he was too drunk to remember the crash and he “came to” when the airbags deployed. He estimated he was driving 60 mph at the time of the crash.

    Paramedics pronounced Jane Doe dead at the scene. She died from blunt force trauma sustained from the crash. The Montana Highway Patrol conducted the crash investigation and determined Kipp was going 82 mph in a 65-mph zone when he crossed the center line and struck Doe’s vehicle. The toxicology report showed his blood alcohol content was .114 and he had cocaine in his system.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The investigation was conducted by the FBI, Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services, the Cut Bank Police Department, the Glacier County Sheriff’s Office, and the Montana Highway Patrol.

    This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.

    XXX

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Angola Entry via Strategic Partnership with Corcel plc Investment in KON-16 Onshore Kwanza Basin

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sintana Energy Inc. (TSX-V: SEI, OTCQB: SEUSF) (“Sintana” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the formation of a strategic partnership with Corcel, plc (AIM: CRCL) (“Corcel”) focused initially on opportunities in Angola.

    Specifically, Sintana and Corcel have entered into an agreement which provides for Sintana’s acquisition of an indirect 5% net interest in KON-16 located in the onshore Kwanza Basin in Angola. Sintana will acquire its interest through the acquisition of a 5.88% equity stake in a newly formed Special Purpose Vehicle (“SPV”) that will hold Corcel’s consolidated 85% gross interest in KON-16. Additionally, Sintana will receive a future 2.5% Net Profits Interest (“NPI”) on Corcel’s interest in KON-16 of up to $50,000,000, after which the NPI reduces to 1.5%. The consideration for the transaction is a total of US$2.5MM payable by way of an initial US$500,000 deposit and a balance of payment at closing, which is subject to entry into definitive documents and other completion conditions expected to occur in Q3 2025.

    KON-16 represents one of the most exciting opportunities in the onshore Kwanza Basin with a history of successful exploration establishing petroleum systems in both post- and pre-salt intervals. KON-16 has multiple exploration opportunities, including a large, multi-target prospect whose primary targets contain estimated unrisked volumes of several hundred million barrels of recoverable oil.

    Corcel and Sintana have also executed a Joint Study and Bid Agreement establishing an alliance to evaluate and pursue oil and gas exploration and production opportunities in Angola. Under the agreement, both parties commit to jointly collaborate on the identification and review of new opportunities. Participation in any specific opportunity is voluntary and subject to unanimous agreement on commercial and other bid terms.

    “Our emerging partnership with Corcel is emblematic of our strategy to work with best-in-class partners and deploy high impact capital that brings us exposure to large potential resource outcomes that require little additional capital,” said Robert Bose, CEO of Sintana. “We look forward to the expansion of our West African conjugate margin exposure through our acquisition of an interest in KON-16, one of the most promising blocks in a proven, underexplored basin,” he added.

    ABOUT SINTANA ENERGY:

    The Company is engaged in petroleum and natural gas exploration and development activities on six large, highly prospective, onshore and offshore petroleum exploration licenses in Namibia, and in Colombia’s Magdalena Basin.

    On behalf of Sintana Energy Inc.,

    “A. Robert Bose”
    Chief Executive Officer

    For additional information or to sign-up to receive periodic updates about Sintana’s projects, and corporate activities, please visit the Company’s website at www.sintanaenergy.com

    Corporate Contacts:   Investor Relations Advisor:
    Robert Bose Sean Austin Jonathan Paterson
    Chief Executive Officer Vice-President Founder & Managing Partner
    212-201-4125 713-825-9591 Harbor Access
    475-477-9401
         

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain information in this release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intensions for the future, and include, but not limited to, statements with respect to potential future farmout agreements on PEL 83 and/or PEL 87, and proposed future exploration and development activities on PEL 83 and/or PEL 90 and neighbouring properties, statements as to the future prospectivity of KON-16, the closing of the proposed transaction with Corcel as presently proposed or at all, the receipt of all applicable regulatory approvals, as well as the prospective nature of the Company’s property interests. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements, including, but not limited to risks relating to the receipt of all applicable regulatory approvals, results of exploration and development activities, the ability to source joint venture partners and fund exploration, permitting and government approvals, and other risks identified in the Company’s public disclosure documents from time to time. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update such information, except as may be required by law.

    NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

    A figure accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/56e0d936-7e4d-49ce-8408-a41979ca8677

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: DfE Update: 14 May 2025

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Correspondence

    DfE Update: 14 May 2025

    Latest information and actions from the Department for Education about funding, assurance and resource management, for academies, local authorities and further education providers.

    Applies to England

    Documents

    DfE Update academies: 14 May 2025

    HTML

    DfE Update local authorities: 14 May 2025

    HTML

    Details

    Latest for further education

    No edition.

    Latest information for academies

    Article Title
    Webinar Academy finance professionals May power hour – HMRC
    Webinar Q&A drop-in sessions: Academies chart of accounts and automation
    Webinar DfE Energy for schools: simplified buying of gas and electricity
    Webinar Buying ICT for your school
    Webinar The Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) webinar

    Latest information for local authorities

    Article Title
    Reminder Submit your section 151 (S151) officer assurance return and schools financial value standard (SFVS) assurance statement for 2024 to 2025
    Webinar DfE Energy for schools: simplified buying of gas and electricity
    Webinar Buying ICT for your school
    Webinar The Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) webinar

    Updates to this page

    Published 14 May 2025

    Sign up for emails or print this page

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Chinese President Xi Jinping Meets with Chilean President /detailed version-1/

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday met with Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who is in Beijing to attend the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum.

    During the meeting, the Chinese head of state noted that this year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. It is important for China and Chile to constantly fill the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries with the content of a new era, create a model for the joint development of China and Latin American countries, set an example of South-South cooperation, and jointly promote the cause of peace and progress of mankind, Xi Jinping said.

    China, Xi Jinping continued, is ready to work with Chile to strengthen political mutual trust, intensify exchanges of experience in public administration, firmly support each other on issues affecting the core interests and major concerns of the two countries, and protect their sovereignty, security and development interests.

    Xi Jinping called on the two countries to effectively implement the Belt and Road cooperation plan, deepen cooperation in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries, industrial investment, infrastructure and green mining, and create new growth points in areas such as astronomy, polar exploration, artificial intelligence, biomedicine and the digital economy.

    He said China supports more Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Chile and welcomes more high-quality Chilean products to enter the Chinese market.

    Xi Jinping noted the importance for both sides to intensify civilizational mutual learning, effectively organize exchanges in the fields of education, culture, media and youth, and facilitate mutual travel of citizens of the two countries.

    As firm supporters of multilateralism and free trade, China and Chile should step up multilateral cooperation to safeguard the common interests of countries in the Global South, Xi added.

    Calling China Chile’s most important trading partner, Mr. Boric said bilateral cooperation has benefited the peoples of the two countries.

    Chile will firmly adhere to the one-China principle, expand cooperation with China in areas such as trade, investment, and AI, jointly promote high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, he said.

    All countries should adhere to the principles of free trade, mutual benefit and win-win results. Trade should not serve only the interests of one country, he said, adding that waging a trade war only leads to a dead end.

    The Republic of Chile is willing to work with China to firmly uphold multilateralism and the authority of the United Nations, insist on resolving differences through dialogue, and jointly uphold international justice, he said.

    During G. Borich’s visit to China, the parties signed a number of documents on cooperation in such areas as economics, publishing, inspection and quarantine, mass media and think tanks. -0-

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Pakistan and India expel each other’s diplomats

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, May 14 (Xinhua) — Pakistan and India on Tuesday announced the mutual expulsion of one diplomat each from the country, accusing the officials concerned of spying.

    Pakistan has declared an employee of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad persona non grata. The Foreign Ministry said the diplomat had been ordered to leave the country within 24 hours.

    The Indian Charge d’Affaires was summoned to the Pakistani Foreign Office, where he was handed an official note informing him of the decision, the ministry said. The Pakistani side also called on the Indian mission to ensure that its staff refrain from actions that are inconsistent with their diplomatic status.

    According to Indian media, the Indian government earlier said it had expelled an employee of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and also asked him to leave the country within 24 hours.

    The Pakistani diplomat, who was declared persona non grata by Indian authorities, was “engaged in activities inconsistent with his official status in India,” according to a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Since 2011, representatives of small and medium-sized businesses have purchased about 2.4 thousand real estate properties in the Central Administrative District from the city

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    Since 2011, representatives of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have purchased about 500 thousand square meters of real estate in the Central Administrative District from the city under preemptive rights. This was reported by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Urban Development Policy and Construction Vladimir Efimov.

    “Almost 500 thousand square meters of real estate in the center of the capital have been purchased by small and medium businesses under the right of first refusal since 2011. The city has executed about 2.4 thousand purchase and sale agreements. In accordance with federal legislation, SMEs have access to the priority purchase of rented city premises without bidding at the market value established by independent appraisers,” said Vladimir Efimov.

    Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses that have been leasing the property for at least one year and are included in the register of SMEs can buy out the property from the city. In this case, the lease rights must be acquired at regular auctions under general conditions. For premises sold at specialized auctions for small and medium-sized businesses, the lease term must be at least two years, and the property itself must have been on the list of objects intended for use by SMEs for at least five years.

    “Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses can make a one-time contribution or use an installment plan for up to seven years. In the Central Administrative District, since the beginning of 2025 alone, SMEs have purchased 22 premises from the city with a total area of over 5.8 thousand square meters, and the new owners of 21 of them took advantage of this additional opportunity,” she noted.

    Ekaterina Solovieva, Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Moscow Department of City Property.

    To buy out the property rented from the city, you need to apply for a government service “Paid alienation of real estate leased by small and medium-sized businesses from the state property of the city of Moscow”. This can be done exclusively in electronic form on the mos.ru portal.

    Get the latest news quickly official telegram channelthe city of Moscow.

    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.

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/153796073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI: YieldMax™ ETFs Announces Distributions on TSLY, SNOY, YBIT, ULTY, and Others

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CHICAGO and MILWAUKEE and NEW YORK, May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — YieldMax™ today announced distributions for the YieldMax™ Weekly Payers and Group A ETFs listed in the table below.

    ETF Ticker1 ETF Name Distribution Frequency Distribution per Share Distribution Rate2,4 30-Day
    SEC Yield3    		 ROC5 Ex-Date & Record Date Payment Date
    CHPY YieldMax™ Semiconductor Portfolio Option Income ETF Weekly $0.3820 – – 100.00% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    GPTY YieldMax™ AI & Tech Portfolio Option Income ETF Weekly $0.2712 33.18% 0.00% 100.00% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    LFGY YieldMax™ Crypto Industry & Tech Portfolio Option Income ETF Weekly $0.4747 61.54% 0.00% 100.00% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    QDTY YieldMax™ Nasdaq 100 0DTE Covered Call ETF Weekly $0.2347 28.60% 0.00% 100.00% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    RDTY YieldMax™ R2000 0DTE Covered Call ETF Weekly $0.2447 27.81% 0.00% 98.80% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    SDTY YieldMax™ S&P 500 0DTE Covered Call ETF Weekly $0.2448 28.90% 0.00% 100.00% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    ULTY YieldMax™ Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF Weekly $0.1059 87.93% 0.00% 100.00% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    YMAG YieldMax™ Magnificent 7 Fund of Option Income ETFs Weekly $0.1998 65.64% 70.00% 94.77% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    YMAX YieldMax™ Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs Weekly $0.1910 71.26% 95.10% 96.24% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    CRSH YieldMax™ Short TSLA Option Income Strategy ETF Every 4 weeks $0.3153 75.37% 1.81% 97.39% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    FEAT YieldMax™ Dorsey Wright Featured 5 Income ETF Every 4 weeks $1.4429 51.04% 55.86% 0.00% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    FIVY YieldMax™ Dorsey Wright Hybrid 5 Income ETF Every 4 weeks $0.9723 32.71% 38.10% 0.00% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    GOOY YieldMax™ GOOGL Option Income Strategy ETF Every 4 weeks $0.3449 37.15% 3.52% 81.91% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    OARK YieldMax™ Innovation Option Income Strategy ETF Every 4 weeks $0.3118 51.21% 3.10% 94.42% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    SNOY YieldMax™ SNOW Option Income Strategy ETF Every 4 weeks $1.3068 101.54% 2.87% 97.27% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    TSLY YieldMax™ TSLA Option Income Strategy ETF Every 4 weeks $0.7600 105.58% 3.27% 97.90% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    TSMY YieldMax™ TSM Option Income Strategy ETF Every 4 weeks $0.7880 65.94% 3.43% 95.70% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    XOMO YieldMax™ XOM Option Income Strategy ETF Every 4 weeks $0.3976 38.87% 3.42% 85.39% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    YBIT YieldMax™ Bitcoin Option Income Strategy ETF Every 4 weeks $0.8697 100.89% 1.20% 99.08% 5/15/25 5/16/25
    Weekly Payers & Group B ETFs scheduled for next week: CHPY GPTY LFGY QDTY RDTY SDTY UTLY YMAG YMAX BABO DIPS FBY GDXY JPMO MARO MRNY NVDY PLTY


    Standardized Performance and Fund details can be obtained by clicking the ETF Ticker in the table above or by visiting us at     www.yieldmaxetfs.com

    Performance data quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when sold or redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost and current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted above. Performance current to the most recent month-end can be obtained by calling (833) 378-0717.

    Note: DIPS, FIAT, CRSH, YQQQ and WNTR are hereinafter referred to as the “Short ETFs.”

    Distributions are not guaranteed. The Distribution Rate and 30-Day SEC Yield are not indicative of future distributions, if any, on the ETFs. In particular, future distributions on any ETF may differ significantly from its Distribution Rate or 30-Day SEC Yield. You are not guaranteed a distribution under the ETFs. Distributions for the ETFs (if any) are variable and may vary significantly from period to period and may be zero. Accordingly, the Distribution Rate and 30-Day SEC Yield will change over time, and such change may be significant.

    Investors in the Funds will not have rights to receive dividends or other distributions with respect to the underlying reference asset(s).

    1 All YieldMax™ ETFs shown in the table above (except YMAX, YMAG, FEAT, FIVY and ULTY) have a gross expense ratio of 0.99%. YMAX, FEAT have a Management Fee of 0.29% and Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of 0.99% for a gross expense ratio of 1.28%. YMAG has a management fee of 0.29% and Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of 0.83% for a gross expense ratio of 1.12%. FIVY has a Management Fee of 0.29% and Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of 0.59% for a gross expense ratio of 0.88%. “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses” are indirect fees and expenses that the Fund incurs from investing in the shares of other investment companies, namely other YieldMax™ ETFs. ULTY has a gross expense ratio of 1.40%, and a net expense ratio after the fee waiver of 1.30%. The Advisor has agreed to a fee waiver of 0.10% through at least February 28, 2026.
    2 The Distribution Rate shown is as of close on May 13, 2025. The Distribution Rate is the annual distribution rate an investor would receive if the most recent distribution, which includes option income, remained the same going forward. The Distribution Rate is calculated by annualizing an ETF’s Distribution per Share and dividing such annualized amount by the ETF’s most recent NAV. The Distribution Rate represents a single distribution from the ETF and does not represent its total return. Distributions may also include a combination of ordinary dividends, capital gain, and return of investor capital, which may decrease an ETF’s NAV and trading price over time. As a result, an investor may suffer significant losses to their investment. These Distribution Rates may be caused by unusually favorable market conditions and may not be sustainable. Such conditions may not continue to exist and there should be no expectation that this performance may be repeated in the future.
    3 The 30-Day SEC Yield represents net investment income, which excludes option income, earned by such ETF over the 30-Day period ended April 31, 2025, expressed as an annual percentage rate based on such ETF’s share price at the end of the 30-Day period.
    4 Each ETF’s strategy (except those of the Short ETFs) will cap potential gains if its reference asset’s shares increase in value, yet subjects an investor to all potential losses if the reference asset’s shares decrease in value. Such potential losses may not be offset by income received by the ETF. Each Short ETF’s strategy will cap potential gains if its reference asset decreases in value, yet subjects an investor to all potential losses if the reference asset increases in value. Such potential losses may not be offset by income received by the ETF.
    5 ROC refers to Return of Capital. The ROC percentage is the portion of the distribution that represents an investor’s original investment.
       

    Each Fund has a limited operating history and while each Fund’s objective is to provide current income, there is no guarantee the Fund will make a distribution. Distributions are likely to vary greatly in amount.

    Important Information

    This material must be preceded or accompanied by the prospectus. For all prospectuses, click here.

    Tidal Financial Group is the adviser for all YieldMax™ ETFs.

    THE FUND, TRUST, AND ADVISER ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY UNDERLYING REFERENCE ASSET.

    Risk Disclosures (applicable to all YieldMax ETFs referenced above, except the Short ETFs)

    YMAX, YMAG, FEAT and FIVY generally invest in other YieldMax™ ETFs. As such, these two Funds are subject to the risks listed in this section, which apply to all the YieldMax™ ETFs they may hold from time to time.

    Investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible.

    Referenced Index Risk. The Fund invests in options contracts that are based on the value of the Index (or the Index ETFs). This subjects the Fund to certain of the same risks as if it owned shares of companies that comprised the Index or an ETF that tracks the Index, even though it does not.

    Indirect Investment Risk. The Index is not affiliated with the Trust, the Fund, the Adviser, or their respective affiliates and is not involved with this offering in any way. Investors in the Fund will not have the right to receive dividends or other distributions or any other rights with respect to the companies that comprise the Index but will be subject to declines in the performance of the Index.

    Russell 2000 Index Risks. The Index, which consists of small-cap U.S. companies, is particularly susceptible to economic changes, as these firms often have less financial resilience than larger companies. Market volatility can disproportionately affect these smaller businesses, leading to significant price swings. Additionally, these companies are often more exposed to specific industry risks and have less diverse revenue streams. They can also be more vulnerable to changes in domestic regulatory or policy environments.

    Call Writing Strategy Risk. The path dependency (i.e., the continued use) of the Fund’s call writing strategy will impact the extent that the Fund participates in the positive price returns of the underlying reference asset and, in turn, the Fund’s returns, both during the term of the sold call options and over longer periods.

    Counterparty Risk. The Fund is subject to counterparty risk by virtue of its investments in options contracts. Transactions in some types of derivatives, including options, are required to be centrally cleared (“cleared derivatives”). In a transaction involving cleared derivatives, the Fund’s counterparty is a clearing house rather than a bank or broker. Since the Fund is not a member of clearing houses and only members of a clearing house (“clearing members”) can participate directly in the clearing house, the Fund will hold cleared derivatives through accounts at clearing members.

    Derivatives Risk. Derivatives are financial instruments that derive value from the underlying reference asset or assets, such as stocks, bonds, or funds (including ETFs), interest rates or indexes. The Fund’s investments in derivatives may pose risks in addition to, and greater than, those associated with directly investing in securities or other ordinary investments, including risk related to the market, imperfect correlation with underlying investments or the Fund’s other portfolio holdings, higher price volatility, lack of availability, counterparty risk, liquidity, valuation and legal restrictions.

    Options Contracts. The use of options contracts involves investment strategies and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The prices of options are volatile and are influenced by, among other things, actual and anticipated changes in the value of the underlying instrument, including the anticipated volatility, which are affected by fiscal and monetary policies and by national and international political, changes in the actual or implied volatility or the reference asset, the time remaining until the expiration of the option contract and economic events.

    Distribution Risk. As part of the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund seeks to provide current income. There is no assurance that the Fund will make a distribution in any given period. If the Fund does make distributions, the amounts of such distributions will likely vary greatly from one distribution to the next.

    High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may actively and frequently trade all or a significant portion of the Fund’s holdings. A high portfolio turnover rate increases transaction costs, which may increase the Fund’s expenses.

    Liquidity Risk. Some securities held by the Fund, including options contracts, may be difficult to sell or be illiquid, particularly during times of market turmoil.

    Non-Diversification Risk. Because the Fund is “non-diversified,” it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it was a diversified fund.

    New Fund Risk. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors do not have a track record or history on which to base their investment decisions.

    Price Participation Risk. The Fund employs an investment strategy that includes the sale of call option contracts, which limits the degree to which the Fund will participate in increases in value experienced by the underlying reference asset over the Call Period.

    Single Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause an investment in the Fund to be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment which diversifies risk or the market generally. The value of the Fund, which focuses on an individual security (ARKK, TSLA, AAPL, NVDA, AMZN, META, GOOGL, NFLX, COIN, MSFT, DIS, XOM, JPM, AMD, PYPL, SQ, MRNA, AI, MSTR, Bitcoin ETP, GDX®, SNOW, ABNB, BABA, TSM, SMCI, PLTR, MARA, CVNA, HOOD), may be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole.

    Inflation Risk. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of the Fund’s assets and distributions, if any, may decline.

    Indirect Investment Risk. The Index is not affiliated with the Trust, the Fund, the Adviser, or their respective affiliates and is not involved with this offering in any way.

    Risk Disclosures (applicable only to GPTY)

    Artificial Intelligence Risk. Issuers engaged in artificial intelligence typically have high research and capital expenditures and, as a result, their profitability can vary widely, if they are profitable at all. The space in which they are engaged is highly competitive and issuers’ products and services may become obsolete very quickly. These companies are heavily dependent on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by loss or impairment of those rights. The issuers are also subject to legal, regulatory, and political changes that may have a large impact on their profitability. A failure in an issuer’s product or even questions about the safety of the product could be devastating to the issuer, especially if it is the marquee product of the issuer. It can be difficult to accurately capture what qualifies as an artificial intelligence company.

    Technology Sector Risk. The Fund will invest substantially in companies in the information technology sector, and therefore the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by events affecting this sector. Market or economic factors impacting technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technological advances could have a significant effect on the value of the Fund’s investments. The value of stocks of information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology is particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Stocks of information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology, especially those of smaller, less-seasoned companies, tend to be more volatile than the overall market. Information technology companies are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights, the loss or impairment of which may adversely affect profitability.

    Risk Disclosure (applicable only to MARO)

    Digital Assets Risk: The Fund does not invest directly in Bitcoin or any other digital assets. The Fund does not invest directly in derivatives that track the performance of Bitcoin or any other digital assets. The Fund does not invest in or seek direct exposure to the current “spot” or cash price of Bitcoin. Investors seeking direct exposure to the price of Bitcoin should consider an investment other than the Fund. Digital assets like Bitcoin, designed as mediums of exchange, are still an emerging asset class. They operate independently of any central authority or government backing and are subject to regulatory changes and extreme price volatility.

    Risk Disclosures (applicable only to BABO and TSMY)

    Currency Risk: Indirect exposure to foreign currencies subjects the Fund to the risk that currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates and the imposition of currency controls or other political developments in the U.S. or abroad.

    Depositary Receipts Risk: The securities underlying BABO and TSMY are American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”). Investment in ADRs may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market.

    Foreign Market and Trading Risk: The trading markets for many foreign securities are not as active as U.S. markets and may have less governmental regulation and oversight.

    Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in securities of non-U.S. issuers involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in securities of U.S. issuers, such as risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations or to political or economic instability, as well as varying regulatory requirements applicable to investments in non-U.S. issuers. There may be less information publicly available about a non-U.S. issuer than a U.S. issuer. Non-U.S. issuers may also be subject to different regulatory, accounting, auditing, financial reporting, and investor protection standards than U.S. issuers.

    Risk Disclosures (applicable only to GDXY)

    Risk of Investing in Foreign Securities. The Fund is exposed indirectly to the securities of foreign issuers selected by GDX®’s investment adviser, which subjects the Fund to the risks associated with such companies. Investments in the securities of foreign issuers involve risks beyond those associated with investments in U.S. securities.

    Risk of Investing in Gold and Silver Mining Companies. The Fund is exposed indirectly to gold and silver mining companies selected by GDX®’s investment adviser, which subjects the Fund to the risks associated with such companies.

    The Fund invests in options contracts based on the value of the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX®), which subjects the Fund to some of the same risks as if it owned GDX®, as well as the risks associated with Canadian, Australian and Emerging Market Issuers, and Small-and Medium-Capitalization companies.

    Risk Disclosures (applicable only to YBIT)

    YBIT does not invest directly in Bitcoin or any other digital assets. YBIT does not invest directly in derivatives that track the performance of Bitcoin or any other digital assets. YBIT does not invest in or seek direct exposure to the current “spot” or cash price of Bitcoin. Investors seeking direct exposure to the price of Bitcoin should consider an investment other than YBIT.

    Bitcoin Investment Risk: The Fund’s indirect investment in Bitcoin, through holdings in one or more Underlying ETPs, exposes it to the unique risks of this emerging innovation. Bitcoin’s price is highly volatile, and its market is influenced by the changing Bitcoin network, fluctuating acceptance levels, and unpredictable usage trends.

    Digital Assets Risk: Digital assets like Bitcoin, designed as mediums of exchange, are still an emerging asset class. They operate independently of any central authority or government backing and are subject to regulatory changes and extreme price volatility. Potentially No 1940 Act Protections. As of the date of this Prospectus, there is only a single eligible Underlying ETP, and it is an investment company subject to the 1940 Act.

    Bitcoin ETP Risk: The Fund invests in options contracts that are based on the value of the Bitcoin ETP. This subjects the Fund to certain of the same risks as if it owned shares of the Bitcoin ETP, even though it does not. Bitcoin ETPs are subject, but not limited, to significant risk and heightened volatility. An investor in a Bitcoin ETP may lose their entire investment. Bitcoin ETPs are not suitable for all investors. In addition, not all Bitcoin ETPs are registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Those Bitcoin ETPs that are not registered under such statute are therefore not subject to the same regulations as exchange traded products that are so registered.

    Risk Disclosures (applicable only to the Short ETFs)

    Investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible.

    Price Appreciation Risk. As part of the Fund’s synthetic covered put strategy, the Fund purchases and sells call and put option contracts that are based on the value of the underlying reference asset. This strategy subjects the Fund to certain of the same risks as if it shorted the underlying reference asset, even though it does not. By virtue of the Fund’s indirect inverse exposure to changes in the value of the underlying reference asset, the Fund is subject to the risk that the value of the underlying reference asset increases. If the value of the underlying reference asset increases, the Fund will likely lose value and, as a result, the Fund may suffer significant losses.

    Put Writing Strategy Risk. The path dependency (i.e., the continued use) of the Fund’s put writing (selling) strategy will impact the extent that the Fund participates in decreases in the value of the underlying reference asset and, in turn, the Fund’s returns, both during the term of the sold put options and over longer periods.

    Purchased OTM Call Options Risk. The Fund’s strategy is subject to potential losses if the underlying reference asset increases in value, which may not be offset by the purchase of out-of-the-money (OTM) call options. The Fund purchases OTM calls to seek to manage (cap) the Fund’s potential losses from the Fund’s short exposure to the underlying reference asset if it appreciates significantly in value. However, the OTM call options will cap the Fund’s losses only to the extent that the value of the underlying reference asset increases to a level that is at or above the strike level of the purchased OTM call options. Any increase in the value of the underlying reference asset to a level that is below the strike level of the purchased OTM call options will result in a corresponding loss for the Fund. For example, if the OTM call options have a strike level that is approximately 100% above the then-current value of the underlying reference asset at the time of the call option purchase, and the value of the underlying reference asset increases by at least 100% during the term of the purchased OTM call options, the Fund will lose all its value. Since the Fund bears the costs of purchasing the OTM calls, such costs will decrease the Fund’s value and/or any income otherwise generated by the Fund’s investment strategy.

    Counterparty Risk. The Fund is subject to counterparty risk by virtue of its investments in options contracts. Transactions in some types of derivatives, including options, are required to be centrally cleared (“cleared derivatives”). In a transaction involving cleared derivatives, the Fund’s counterparty is a clearing house rather than a bank or broker. Since the Fund is not a member of clearing houses and only members of a clearing house (“clearing members”) can participate directly in the clearing house, the Fund will hold cleared derivatives through accounts at clearing members.

    Derivatives Risk. Derivatives are financial instruments that derive value from the underlying reference asset or assets, such as stocks, bonds, or funds (including ETFs), interest rates or indexes. The Fund’s investments in derivatives may pose risks in addition to, and greater than, those associated with directly investing in securities or other ordinary investments, including risk related to the market, imperfect correlation with underlying investments or the Fund’s other portfolio holdings, higher price volatility, lack of availability, counterparty risk, liquidity, valuation and legal restrictions.

    Options Contracts. The use of options contracts involves investment strategies and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The prices of options are volatile and are influenced by, among other things, actual and anticipated changes in the value of the underlying reference asset, including the anticipated volatility, which are affected by fiscal and monetary policies and by national and international political, changes in the actual or implied volatility or the reference asset, the time remaining until the expiration of the option contract and economic events.

    Distribution Risk. As part of the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund seeks to provide current income. There is no assurance that the Fund will make a distribution in any given period. If the Fund does make distributions, the amounts of such distributions will likely vary greatly from one distribution to the next.

    High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may actively and frequently trade all or a significant portion of the Fund’s holdings.

    Liquidity Risk. Some securities held by the Fund, including options contracts, may be difficult to sell or be illiquid, particularly during times of market turmoil.

    Non-Diversification Risk. Because the Fund is “non-diversified,” it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it was a diversified fund.

    New Fund Risk. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors do not have a track record or history on which to base their investment decisions.

    Price Participation Risk. The Fund employs an investment strategy that includes the sale of put option contracts, which limits the degree to which the Fund will participate in decreases in value experienced by the underlying reference asset over the Put Period.

    Single Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause an investment in the Fund to be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment which diversifies risk or the market generally. The value of the Fund, for any Fund that focuses on an individual security (e.g., TSLA, COIN, NVDA, MSTR), may be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole. Inflation Risk. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of the Fund’s assets and distributions, if any, may decline.

    Risk Disclosures (applicable only to CHPY)

    Semiconductor Industry Risk. Semiconductor companies may face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, and such competition may have an adverse effect on their profit margins. Semiconductor companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. Semiconductor companies’ supply chain and operations are dependent on the availability of materials that meet exacting standards and the use of third parties to provide components and services.

    The products of semiconductor companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments and frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Capital equipment expenditures could be substantial, and equipment generally suffers from rapid obsolescence. Companies in the semiconductor industry are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights would adversely affect the profitability of these companies.

    Risk Disclosures (applicable only to YQQQ)

    Index Overview. The Nasdaq 100 Index is a benchmark index that includes 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, based on market capitalization.

    Index Level Appreciation Risk. As part of the Fund’s synthetic covered put strategy, the Fund purchases and sells call and put option contracts that are based on the Index level. This strategy subjects the Fund to certain of the same risks as if it shorted the Index, even though it does not. By virtue of the Fund’s indirect inverse exposure to changes in the Index level, the Fund is subject to the risk that the Index level increases. If the Index level increases, the Fund will likely lose value and, as a result, the Fund may suffer significant losses. The Fund may also be subject to the following risks: innovation and technological advancement; strong market presence of Index constituent companies; adaptability to global market trends; and resilience and recovery potential.

    Index Level Participation Risk. The Fund employs an investment strategy that includes the sale of put option contracts, which limits the degree to which the Fund will benefit from decreases in the Index level experienced over the Put Period. This means that if the Index level experiences a decrease in value below the strike level of the sold put options during a Put Period, the Fund will likely not experience that increase to the same extent and any Fund gains may significantly differ from the level of the Index losses over the Put Period. Additionally, because the Fund is limited in the degree to which it will participate in decreases in value experienced by the Index level over each Put Period, but has significant negative exposure to any increases in value experienced by the Index level over the Put Period, the NAV of the Fund may decrease over any given period. The Fund’s NAV is dependent on the value of each options portfolio, which is based principally upon the inverse of the performance of the Index level. The Fund’s ability to benefit from the Index level decreases will depend on prevailing market conditions, especially market volatility, at the time the Fund enters into the sold put option contracts and will vary from Put Period to Put Period. The value of the options contracts is affected by changes in the value and dividend rates of component companies that comprise the Index, changes in interest rates, changes in the actual or perceived volatility of the Index and the remaining time to the options’ expiration, as well as trading conditions in the options market. As the Index level changes and time moves towards the expiration of each Put Period, the value of the options contracts, and therefore the Fund’s NAV, will change. However, it is not expected for the Fund’s NAV to directly inversely correlate on a day-to-day basis with the returns of the Index level. The amount of time remaining until the options contract’s expiration date affects the impact that the value of the options contracts has on the Fund’s NAV, which may not be in full effect until the expiration date of the Fund’s options contracts. Therefore, while changes in the Index level will result in changes to the Fund’s NAV, the Fund generally anticipates that the rate of change in the Fund’s NAV will be different than the inverse of the changes experienced by the Index level.

    YieldMax™ ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. Foreside is not affiliated with Tidal Financial Group, or YieldMax™ ETFs.

    © 2025 YieldMax™ ETFs

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Mercury Introduces First Safety-Certifiable, SOSA-aligned Mission Computer for Aviation Platforms

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    ANDOVER, Mass., May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com), a technology company that delivers mission-critical processing power to the edge, today introduced the first safety-certifiable, SOSA-aligned aviation mission computer, which will allow government and commercial organizations to field and modernize aircraft that support next-generation applications such as those enabled by 5G communications and artificial intelligence.

    Mercury’s new ROCK3 is a DAL-certifiable, 3U OpenVPX mission computer that features Intel Core i7 safety-certifiable processors and delivers up to 20 times the performance of PowerPC-based aircraft computers. ROCK3 is purpose-built to support advanced, safety-critical applications for military and urban mobility aircraft including mission management, sensor fusion and processing, and surveillance. ROCK3’s open architecture allows customers to break vendor lock and eliminate stovepiped systems to enable greater application interoperability and deploy new capabilities faster and more cost-effectively.

    ROCK3 leverages lessons learned from Mercury’s participation in the U.S. Army’s Aviation Mission Common Server (AMCS) program, which was intended to develop a single mission computing architecture for the Army’s rotorcraft fleet that would allow them to store, process, and transport data and serve as application network nodes across the battlespace.

    “With ROCK3, current and next-generation aircraft can increase safety and survivability by leveraging advanced sensors and data fusion applications to give pilots more accurate and timely information to make decisions, identify targets, and avoid hazards,” said Roya Montakhab, Mercury’s SVP of Integrated Processing Solutions. “ROCK3 represents a new path for aviation organizations to field more affordable, scalable, interoperable, and sustainable avionics solutions using open architectures.”

    Mercury’s ROCK3 features:

    • 11th Gen Intel® Core i7™ quad core processors with integrated GPU
    • DO-254 and DO-178C artifacts, certifiable up to DAL-A
    • Rugged, SWaP optimized
    • Discrete, MIL-STD-1553, ARINC-429, RS-485, CAN avionics interfaces
    • Certifiable RTOS, CAST-32A compliant
    • 32GB DDR4 with ECC
    • 64 MB FLASH
    • 80GB M.2 SSD storage

    Mercury will be demonstrating a number of next-generation mission computing applications alongside industry partners at the Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit 2025, May 14-16 in Nashville, Tenn. Demonstrations will be shown at Mercury (booth 779), Parry Labs (booth 2322), Elbit Systems (booth 978), Green Hills Software (booth 2621), and GTRI (booth 2911).

    Mercury Systems – Innovation that matters® 
    Mercury Systems is a technology company that delivers mission-critical processing power to the edge, making advanced technologies profoundly more accessible for today’s most challenging aerospace and defense missions. The Mercury Processing Platform allows customers to tap into innovative capabilities from silicon to system scale, turning data into decisions on timelines that matter. Mercury’s products and solutions are deployed in more than 300 programs and across 35 countries, enabling a broad range of applications in mission computing, sensor processing, command and control, and communications. Mercury is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, and has more than 20 locations worldwide. To learn more, visit mrcy.com. (Nasdaq: MRCY) 

    Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement 
    This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the Company’s focus on enhanced execution of the Company’s strategic plan. You can identify these statements by the words “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “continue,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “likely,” “forecast,” “probable,” “potential,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, continued funding of defense programs, the timing and amounts of such funding, general economic and business conditions, including unforeseen weakness in the Company’s markets, effects of any U.S. federal government shutdown or extended continuing resolution, effects of geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in or cost increases related to completing development, engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, changes in, or in the U.S. government’s interpretation of, federal export control or procurement rules and regulations, including tariffs, changes in, or in the interpretation or enforcement of, environmental rules and regulations, market acceptance of the Company’s products, shortages in or delays in receiving components, supply chain delays or volatility for critical components, production delays or unanticipated expenses including due to quality issues or manufacturing execution issues, adherence to required manufacturing standards, capacity underutilization, increases in scrap or inventory write-offs, failure to achieve or maintain manufacturing quality certifications, such as AS9100, the impact of supply chain disruption, inflation and labor shortages, among other things, on program execution and the resulting effect on customer satisfaction, inability to fully realize the expected benefits from acquisitions, restructurings, and operational efficiency initiatives or delays in realizing such benefits, challenges in integrating acquired businesses and achieving anticipated synergies, effects of shareholder activism, increases in interest rates, changes to industrial security and cyber-security regulations and requirements and impacts from any cyber or insider threat events, changes in tax rates or tax regulations, such as the deductibility of internal research and development, changes to interest rate swaps or other cash flow hedging arrangements, changes to generally accepted accounting principles, difficulties in retaining key employees and customers, litigation, including the dispute arising with the former CEO over his resignation, unanticipated costs under fixed-price service and system integration engagements, and various other factors beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties also include such additional risk factors as are discussed in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 28, 2024 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made.

    INVESTOR CONTACT
    Tyler Hojo
    Vice President, Investor Relations
    Tyler.Hojo@mrcy.com

    MEDIA CONTACT
    Turner Brinton
    Senior Director, Corporate Communications
    Turner.Brinton@mrcy.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0ff09fb6-764b-446f-8313-f3a16ad360bd

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: LeddarTech Reports Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    QUEBEC CITY, Canada, May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LeddarTech® Holdings Inc. (“LeddarTech” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: LDTC), an AI-powered software company recognized for its innovation in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD), today provided a corporate update and announced financial results for the second quarter ended March 31, 2025.

    “We are executing our strategic plan to commercialize LeddarVision™ while we work to address our previously disclosed liquidity challenges. We are also excited to introduce an additional revenue stream, LeddarSim™—a next-generation simulation platform designed to close the gap between virtual testing and real-world deployment of ADAS and AD solutions. LeddarSim will play a critical role in training AI models to accelerate the deployment of ADAS and autonomous driving technologies,” said Frantz Saintellemy, President and CEO of LeddarTech. “In parallel, we are advancing production planning for our first OEM design win, and we are poised to leverage this success to secure additional contracts as the value of our platform becomes increasingly evident to automotive manufacturers.”

    Recent Business and Technology Highlights

    • Launched LeddarSim, a next-generation simulation platform designed to close the gap between virtual testing and real-world deployment.
    • Progressed OEM Design Win Toward Production: LeddarTech is actively providing engineering services to integrate its software platform into the 2028 model year vehicles of one of the world’s leading commercial vehicle OEMs. This design win is expected to generate non-recurring services revenue in fiscal year 2025.

    Customer Traction and Development

    LeddarTech has a robust pipeline of more than 30 active opportunities with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), as well as Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers, aimed at meeting growing consumer demand for enhanced safety features and addressing upcoming regulatory deadlines.

    Fiscal Second Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights1

    Revenue: Revenue for the fiscal second quarter of 2025, ending March 31, 2025, was $238,914, compared to $122,101 in the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2024.

    Net loss: Net loss for the fiscal second quarter of 2025, ending March 31, 2025, was ($16.0) million, or ($0.42) per share, compared to a net loss of ($17.2) million, or ($0.60) per share, in the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2024. The decreased net loss was primarily due to lower stock-based compensation and financing expenses, offset by higher R&D expense as we are no longer capitalizing R&D expense.

    EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA2: EBITDA loss for the second quarter of 2025, ending March 31, 2025, was ($8.4) million, compared to a ($14.0) million loss in the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2024. The lower loss was primarily due to lower stock-based compensation and financing-related expenses, partially offset by higher R&D expense as we are no longer capitalizing a substantial portion of our R&D expenses as we were in the prior period. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the second quarter of 2025, ending March 31, 2025, was ($12.0) million, compared to adjusted EBITDA loss of ($8.7) million in the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2024. The higher loss was primarily attributable to higher R&D expense as we are no longer capitalizing a substantial portion of our R&D expense.

    Balance Sheet and Liquidity3

    As of March 31, 2025, LeddarTech had a cash balance of approximately $9.2 million, which cash balance had declined to approximately $4.1 million as of May 8, 2025. Pursuant to the amended and restated financing offer dated as of April 5, 2023 with Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec (“Desjardins” and the financing offer, as amended, the “Desjardins Credit Facility”), the Company is required to maintain a minimum cash balance of $1.8 million at all times after April 1, 2025. If we are not able to raise additional capital in the next several days, we will be in default under this minimum cash covenant. Moreover, we are obligated to complete an equity financing pursuant to which we must raise an additional US$9.7 million in equity investments prior to May 23, 2025 in order to satisfy the requirement that we raise at least US$35.0 million in equity investments prior to that date. We are also required to produce a plan at the satisfaction of our lenders regarding a refinancing, recapitalization or any suitable transaction no later than May 16, 2025. Toward that end, we have engaged a financial advisor to do a comprehensive review of the options that are available to the Company. We are currently exploring all alternatives to secure the financing necessary to comply with the covenants in our debt arrangements and to continue to pursue our strategic goals. Failure to complete the equity financing by May 23, 2025 or to produce a plan for our lenders by May 16, 2025 constitute liquidity events that could trigger a requirement for us to repay all amounts under our Desjardins Credit Facility, under our bridge financing offer dated as of August 16, 2024 with the initial bridge lenders and certain members of management and the board of directors (collectively, the “Bridge Lenders”, and the financing offer, the “Bridge Facility”), and other indebtedness. At this time, we are not expecting to be able to complete the equity financing or to produce a plan that would be acceptable to all our lenders. Desjardins has expressed an unwillingness to provide additional financing to the Company, but has expressed a willingness to work toward a solution, and LeddarTech is currently engaged with Desjardins and the Bridge Lenders with respect to a potential solution that could result in additional financing for the Company as well as relief from the above-described minimum cash, equity financing and process plan covenants. While LeddarTech is seeking additional financing, we continue to consider all possible cost reduction measures. There is no assurance that such measures could be done successfully, or at all. In such circumstances, LeddarTech’s ability to continue as a going concern would be materially and adversely affected and investors in LeddarTech’s Common Shares could lose all or a substantial part of their investment. For more details, see our Management’s Discussion and Analysis filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof.

    About LeddarTech

    A global software company founded in 2007 and headquartered in Quebec City with additional R&D centers in Montreal and Tel Aviv, Israel, LeddarTech develops and provides comprehensive AI-based low-level sensor fusion and perception software solutions that enable the deployment of ADAS, autonomous driving (AD) and parking applications. LeddarTech’s automotive-grade software applies advanced AI and computer vision algorithms to generate accurate 3D models of the environment to achieve better decision making and safer navigation. This high-performance, scalable, cost-effective technology is available to OEMs and Tier 1-2 suppliers to efficiently implement automotive and off-road vehicle ADAS solutions.

    LeddarTech is responsible for several remote-sensing innovations, with over 190 patent applications (112 granted) that enhance ADAS, AD and parking capabilities. Better awareness around the vehicle is critical in making global mobility safer, more efficient, sustainable and affordable: this is what drives LeddarTech to seek to become the most widely adopted sensor fusion and perception software solution.

    LeddarTech might, in the scope of collaborations, partnerships and projects, from time to time, collect with test vehicles personal information, i.e., information that directly or indirectly identifies members of the public. Collected personal information may be processed, used, stored and communicated by LeddarTech within the scope of developing and training our software and products. For further information about the processing activities, which include the collection, use, storage and communication of personal information, as well as the associated personal information protection rights and how to exercise them, please consult LeddarTech’s Privacy Policy.

    Additional information about LeddarTech is accessible at www.leddartech.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter (X), Facebook and YouTube.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain statements contained in this Press Release may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (which forward-looking statements also include forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws), including, but not limited to, statements relating to LeddarTech’s selection by the OEM referred to above, anticipated strategy, future operations, prospects, objectives and financial projections and other financial metrics, as well as expectations regarding the anticipated performance, adoption and commercialization of its products. Forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “likely,” “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend” and other similar expressions among others. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors, including, without limitation, our ability to continue to maintain compliance with Nasdaq continued listing standards following our transfer to the Nasdaq Capital Market, as well as: (i) the risk that LeddarTech and the OEM referred to above are unable to agree to final terms in definitive agreements; (ii) the volume of future orders (if any) from this OEM, actual revenue derived from expected orders, and timing of revenue, if any; (iii) our ability to timely access sufficient capital and financing on favorable terms or at all; (iv) our ability to maintain compliance with our debt covenants, including our ability to enter into any forbearance agreements, waivers or amendments with, or obtain other relief from, our lenders as needed; (v) our ability to execute on our business model, achieve design wins and generate meaningful revenue; (vi) our ability to successfully commercialize our product offering at scale, whether through the collaboration agreement with Texas Instruments, a collaboration with a Tier 2 supplier or otherwise; (vii) changes in our strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs and plans; (viii) changes in general economic and/or industry-specific conditions; (ix) our ability to retain, attract and hire key personnel; (x) potential adverse changes to relationships with our customers, employees, suppliers or other parties; (xi) legislative, regulatory and economic developments; (xii) the outcome of any known and unknown litigation and regulatory proceedings; (xiii) unpredictability and severity of catastrophic events, including, but not limited to, acts of terrorism, outbreak of war or hostilities and any epidemic, pandemic or disease outbreak, as well as management’s response to any of the aforementioned factors; and (xiv) other risk factors as detailed from time to time in LeddarTech’s reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including the risk factors contained in LeddarTech’s Form 20-F filed with the SEC. The foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Except as required by applicable law, LeddarTech does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    Contact:
    Chris Stewart, Chief Financial Officer, LeddarTech Holdings Inc.
    Tel.: + 1-514-427-0858, chris.stewart@leddartech.com

    Leddar, LeddarTech, LeddarVision, LeddarSP, VAYADrive, VayaVision and related logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of LeddarTech Holdings Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other brands, product names and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners.

    LeddarTech Holdings Inc. is a public company listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “LDTC.”

    Continuing operations Q2-2025   Q2-2024  
    Revenues $238,914   $122,101  
    Loss from operations (13,348,106 ) (12,570,811 )
    Finance costs, net 2,710,512   4,741,236  
    Loss before income taxes (15,948,479 ) (17,221,982 )
    Net loss and comprehensive loss (15,961,864 ) (17,238,993 )
    Net loss and comprehensive loss attributable to Shareholders of the Company (15,961,864 ) (17,238,993 )
    Loss per share    
    Net loss per share (basic and diluted) (in dollars) (0.42 ) (0.60 )
    Weighted average common shares outstanding (basic and diluted) 37,573,262   28,770,930  
    EBITDA (loss) (8,394,400 ) (14,011,179 )
    Adjusted EBITDA (loss) (11,979,035 ) (8,729,399 )

      
    The following table sets forth a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and EBITDA to net loss reported in accordance with IFRS for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024.

      Q2-2025   Q2-2024  
    Net loss from continued operations ($15,961,864 ) ($17,238,993 )
    Income taxes 13,385   17,011  
    Depreciation of property and equipment 146,882   91,626  
    Depreciation of right-of-use assets 186,356   35,316  
    Amortization of intangible assets (92,832 ) 180,248  
    Interest expenses 7,313,673   2,903,613  
    EBITDA loss from continuing operations (8,394,400 ) (14,011,179 )
         
    Foreign exchange gain (5,663 ) (13,188 )
    Loss (gain) on revaluation of financial instruments
    carried at fair value    		 (4,612,632 ) 1,884,686  
    Gain on lease modification –   (39,305 )
    Stock-based compensation 1,033,660   2,803,357  
    Transaction costs –   646,230  
    Adjusted EBITDA loss from continuing operations (11,979,035 ) (8,729,399 )

     
    Non-IFRS Financial Measures

    A non-IFRS financial measure is a financial measure used to depict our historical or expected future financial performance, financial position or cash flow and, with respect to its composition, either excludes an amount that is included in, or includes an amount that is excluded from, the composition of the most directly comparable financial measure disclosed in Company’s consolidated primary financial statements.

    In Q2-2024, the Company started to use two new non-IFRS financial measures because we believe these non-IFRS financial measures are reflective of our ongoing operating results and provide readers with an understanding of management’s perspective on and analysis of our performance.

    Below are descriptions of the non-IFRS financial measures that we use to explain our results and reconciliations to the most directly comparable IFRS financial measures.

    EBITDA (loss) is calculated as net earnings (loss) before interest expenses (income), deferred income taxes, depreciation of property and equipment, depreciation of right-of-use assets and amortization of intangible assets.

    EBITDA (loss) should not be considered an alternative to net loss in measuring performance or used as a measure of cash flow.

    Adjusted EBITDA (loss) is calculated as EBITDA (loss), adjusted for foreign exchange gain (loss), loss (gain) on revaluation of financial instruments carried at fair value, gain or loss on lease modification, share‐based compensation, listing expense, transaction costs, restructuring costs and impairment loss on intangible assets.

    ____________________________
    1  All amounts in Canadian dollars except where otherwise noted.
    2  EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are non-IFRS measures and are presented by the Company as they are used to assess operating performance. These non-IFRS measures do not have standardized meanings under IFRS and are not likely comparable to similarly designated measures reported by other corporations. The reader is cautioned that these measures are being reported in order to complement, and not replace, the analysis of financial results in accordance with IFRS. See “Non-IFRS Financial Measures” below.
    3  All amounts in Canadian dollars except where otherwise noted.

    The MIL Network –