Category: Politics

MIL-OSI USA: McConnell Remarks at CSIS Global Security Forum on Defense Innovation

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, addressed the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Global Security Forum today in Washington, D.C. Below are the Senator’s remarks as prepared for delivery:

“If I told you that the West’s greatest strategic adversary was outpacing America in critical sectors like shipbuilding, hypersonic weapons, and unmanned systems…

“If I told you this adversary was helping the largest state sponsor of terrorism skirt sanctions and pour more resources into the proxies who sow chaos across the Middle East, target U.S. personnel, and shut down a major artery of global trade…

“If I told you that both of them – along with an erratic, nuclear-armed hermit kingdom – were helping a neo-Soviet imperialist wage an unprovoked war in the backyard of America’s closest allies and trading partners…

“And if I told you that this has been going on for years…You might expect to see a greater sense of urgency in Washington.

“Instead, the chasm between the threats we face and what we’re doing to meet them is wide. And it ought to terrify us.

“A Chinese authoritarian calls American hegemony the product of ‘fascist forces.’ A Russian despot calls the former a ‘dear friend.’ And yet, as our adversaries drew closer together, influential members of both parties have chosen to pick fights with our allies and partners or consoled themselves with the naïve fantasy that we can retreat to Fortress America while spending a historically tiny fraction of our GDP on defense.

“Now that I have your attention… I’m grateful for the opportunity to be with all of you today. There’s a great deal to discuss. We’re here, in particular, to talk about innovation. That’s time well spent.

“America won the Cold War thanks in part to the way we exploited our technological military and economic advantage over the Soviet Union. Back then, we recognized that investing in technological superiority to deter conflict was less costly than fighting one. As a share of GDP, defense spending hit 37% at the height of World War II, 13.8% during Korea, and 9.1% during Vietnam. The Reagan buildup hit 6%. All told, the Cold War drove an annual average of 7.5%. That level of spending didn’t just keep the peace; it ushered in an unprecedented period of prosperity for the United States and the free world. It was worth it.

“Today, we’re spending less than half of what we did during the Reagan build-up – 3% — and we’re getting less for it. Every year, a smaller and smaller percentage goes to buy actual military capabilities.

“In and out of government, talented people are still thinking about what tomorrow’s battlefield will look like, and what it will require of America’s military and of our allies. And there are conversations worth having about harnessing these talents more effectively. About keeping American and Western technologies at the cutting edge. About making sure that future capabilities don’t die on the vine (or in the Valley of Death).

“The bureaucracies and processes that slow the development, acquisition, and integration of new weapons systems are in desperate need of reform. But advanced, autonomous systems have not supplanted the traditional ways of war. Presence, personnel, logistics, and mass still matter. And neglect for the fundamental realities of hard power has left us playing from behind in some important ways.

“Today, we must do multiple things at once. First, our approach to innovation across industry must be: yes, and we should continue to encourage new entrants into the defense ecosystem. But we shouldn’t be blind to their challenges of fielding novel combat-capable systems at scale.

“Of course, many technologies don’t pan out. Many startups fail. They are worth the investment and the risk. Legacy defense manufacturers are also still critical, and it’s naïve to pretend otherwise. But that doesn’t mean glossing over the need for the primes to pick up the pace.

“We need talented engineers, patriotic developers, and highly-skilled employees on the job across the defense enterprise. It’s yes, and. If we pretend otherwise, the only ones who stand to gain are America’s adversaries.

“A lot of ink has been spilled about the technologies and concepts transforming modern war…about unmanned and autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, disinformation, and the gray zone. But the experience of modern war in eastern Europe and the Middle East reminds us that the depth of our magazines remains as decisive as any single cutting-edge capability. Quantity has a quality all its own.

“One of the greatest strategic challenges we’re facing today is the prospect of high-end conflict or simultaneous conflicts in different theatres that would strain the depth of our arsenal and the resilience of our supply lines. Victory would depend on delivering at scale and in time. Our magazines aren’t deep enough to fight such a war. And if we don’t make overdue investments in expanding our production capacity, we may not have the time to manufacture it.

“So, when we talk about innovation, let’s talk about innovating our mass and our speed. Let’s talk about our supply chains. The only capabilities that can make a difference on the battlefield are the ones that can get there at the speed and scale of relevance. This, of course, is not hypothetical. Just look at Ukraine. Necessity is the mother of invention, and our friends have developed what arguably the world’s foremost drone innovation sector. But even more remarkable is the sustained speed with which Ukrainian producers are honing and refining unmanned systems in real time. As Russian countermeasures emerge and render previous capabilities obsolete, they’re producing new iterations to stay on the cutting edge.

“American manufacturers – whether new startups or legacy primes – should ask themselves if they could keep up with such a pace. On the shortcomings of our defense industrial base, there’s plenty of blame to go around. Congress has a clear constitutional role in which we are all too often delinquent. Regular order appropriations are what give industry and the department the certainty they need to plan for the future. And we haven’t been holding up that end of the bargain. But the department has more authorities than it sometimes cares to acknowledge – middle-tier acquisition pathways, Other Transaction Authority, and the Defense Production Act, to name a few. And when these tools aren’t used the way they were designed, it’s unreasonable to expect improved outcomes on acquisitions and procurement of actual military capabilities.

“Our industry partners, for their part, are right that inconsistent demand signals make their work harder. Services for too long have short-changed purchases of critical munitions.

“I don’t know of an example where the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee has rejected a request for multi-year procurement authority for munitions. On the other hand, the services have – for reasons of their own – downplayed the munitions requirements of combatant commanders.

“To be fair, under perennial budgetary constraints from above, it’s not surprising that the services have made tough decisions to protect their core modernization and acquisition programs.

“Since Russia’s 2022 escalation of its war against Ukraine, the global demand for essential capabilities like long-range munitions and missile defense interceptors has only gone up – even if upward trends in annual defense budgets have lagged. And producers of these capabilities do bear responsibility of their own for not having planned sooner to meet the inevitable demand.

“But let’s be absolutely clear: nothing undermines the prospects of innovation and reform like anemic topline spending. Nothing signals more unmistakably that America is unserious than asking allies to double their investments in hard power while we propose to cut our own.

“If the administration recognizes – as it says it does – the grave stakes of major-power competition, OMB’s budget proposal for the coming year fails to show it. And no amount of budgetary sleight of hand will be able to prove otherwise. That said, this administration can still avoid the self-inflicted crises of credibility that dogged its predecessor. Our adversaries and allies alike are still watching closely for real signs of political will and measurable shifts in the balance of hard power.

“American politicians have criticized partners who used special funds to mask shortcomings in annual defense spending. Well, we should be careful not to mistake our budget reconciliation for long-term commitment, either.

“I support the use of reconciliation to make a significant, one-time investment in defense. But pretending that this procedure – or, for that matter, a year spent under a continuing resolution – can make up for failures on predictable, full-year appropriations is as dangerous as it is profoundly unserious. Reconciliation spending may fund short-term operations or investments, but without sustained annual growth, it risks creating massive cliffs in sustainment, personnel, and procurement costs.

“We’re all familiar with the headwinds of rising mandatory costs and inflation, the real drivers of our budget deficit. This is also true at the Defense Department, where such costs eat up a larger and larger share of the defense budget, crowding out procurement, readiness, and modernization costs. Making urgent, nimble, innovative discretionary investments won’t get any easier if we cut the topline in real terms or force the defense enterprise to innovate for today’s challenges with yesterday’s dollars. But you know as well as I do that the consequences of missing opportunities for innovation here at home aren’t limited to here at home. Coming up short on America’s topline commitment to the national defense sends an unmistakable signal to the allies and partners who, for decades, have bet big on American technologies and American leadership.

“We should not be surprised to see our friends rethinking their integration with American-made platforms… or, for that matter, American-led security architecture. Least of all, I must say, when we pick fights with them over trading balances. This is particularly true in Europe, where we seem to be punishing NATO allies even though they’ve finally made exactly the kind of defense investments President Trump demanded in 2018.

“In response to Putin’s aggression, European allies are becoming the stronger, more capable partners the President had urged them to become. NATO allies are sharing more of the burden of collective security. And in the near term, that’s meant a gusher of foreign investment in American-made capabilities. By the tens of billions of dollars, allies have flocked to buy American – an endorsement of American leadership.

“Even as our allies develop more high-end technologies of their own, close partnership is as essential as ever. I was proud to support the expansion of the trans-Atlantic alliance to include Sweden and Finland – not as hungry customers for American technologies but as highly-capable industrial economies that recognize the value of interoperability and coproduction.

“There’s little question that our adversaries are working hard to split American and its European allies. If we’re making their job easier, we’re doing something wrong. As history begs us to recall, we don’t get to pick and choose which conflicts will threaten our interests and for how long they will last. And we will rely on friends to help us deter and contain aggression in the coming years, from the Indo-Pacific to Eastern Europe. Going it alone will only increase costs for taxpayers and risks to our warfighters. We should be working more closely with allies worldwide to protect our economies and supply chains from the PRC. If we push these friends away, we shouldn’t expect them to keep buying American.

“Our allies’ desire for interoperability is a tremendous asset. Take the CH-47 Chinook helicopter – an aging airframe in need of a major update. More than a decade ago, the Canadian government, which has long been delinquent on defense spending, footed the development costs for a new variant, saving U.S. taxpayer dollars and putting an important, updated platform on the apron for the U.S. Army.

“But let’s be clear: if we let the single most important metric of America’s will to fight and win wane further, we should not expect many allies and partners to make major investments of their own like this…certainly not like the hundred-plus billion in orders under contract right now with U.S. defense producers from our friends in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

“Our friends understand, as our own leaders once did, that the threats to our shared interests are not contained neatly within continents. Just as Asian allies feel threatened by Russia’s war in Ukraine, Baltic and Nordic allies are guarding against China’s meddling in northern waters. As Russia and China deepen their strategic cooperation, France and the United Kingdom are projecting power into the Indo-Pacific.

“We should welcome, not discourage, our allies’ contributions to global security.

“If America chooses to deny unmistakable ties – between the threats we face and between the West’s interests – we will live in a lonely state of denial. The time to signal our enduring commitment is right now.

“I ought to close on an uplifting note. We have no shortage of bright minds thinking about how to deter and defeat threats to America and to the systems we lead that underpin our peace and prosperity. And for decades now, one of the best has been behind the wheel here at CSIS. I’d like to add my name to the well-deserved chorus of praise for Dr. John Hamre and his leadership – both in and out of government. When the time comes to hand off the reins of this proud institution, he’ll be able to do so with great pride and with confidence that while the challenges we face are urgent and grave, we have the talent and capacity to meet them – much of it right here in this room.

“Thank you all.”

MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Higgins Introduces Legislation Abolishing Several Federal Agencies, Returning Services to States
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Higgins (R-LA) introduced a Legislative Proposal of four bills that abolish four existing Federal Agencies with a transition to State Authority. This legislation reduces federal spending, eliminates unnecessary federal agencies, and builds state service capacity through block grants.

“America has been driving itself towards bankruptcy, and some of us have grabbed the wheel. Correction is a requirement, or financial collapse is inevitable. We are the legislative branch of government, and we have an obligation to present actual, legitimate, and Constitutionally sound solutions,” said Congressman Higgins. “For many months, I’ve been working on a legislative package of bills that offer a model for a solution. These four bills, each arguably controversial in its own writ, are designed to spur vigorous debate and ultimately, action by Congress to address the doomsday financial collapse that is fueled by FedGov waste, fraud, abuse, and massive, ineffective scope.”

The four-bill package eliminates federal agencies where an equivalent agency or department exists at the state level, while simultaneously enhancing the associated services to the citizenry by empowering and funding the state through a block-grant program established by Congress. The combined savings of the legislative package are estimated to be over $54 billion annually.

The bills include the Sovereign States Emergency Management Act, the Sovereign State Environmental Quality Assurance Act, the Sovereign States Bureau of Prisons Restructuring Act, and the Sovereign States Education Restoration Act.

The package introduces a formula to:
- Abolish unnecessary federal agencies—The Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Prisons, and Federal Emergency Management Agency are prime for abolishment. They are top-heavy, bloated agencies, and any service they allegedly perform could be better handled by the states. A transition to local control at the state level would no doubt improve upon the former federal agencies, that threshold being very, very low, and every American employee of these agencies would have a full opportunity to fill positions opened within the expanded state agency. Best practice policy would emerge, efficiencies would be shared from state to state, and the citizenry would ultimately, and quickly, benefit from this bold action to restore state authority, as the Founders intended.
- Build State Capacity—Every state has a government entity equivalent to each federal agency to be dismantled. Funding would be provided to the states at a level equal to half of the FY19 budget of the federal agency that is being abolished, returning federal spending to far below pre-COVID levels while at the same time demolishing bloated bureaucracy and enhancing actual services to We the People.
- Reduce federal involvement to grant administration and oversight of state spending—A portion of funding (10% of FY19 levels) would be used to ensure proper grant administration through the US Treasury, and another portion (10% of FY19 levels) would be reserved for appropriate federal oversight, audit and reporting to Congress.
Read a summary brief here.

Read the Sovereign States Emergency Management Act here.

Read the Sovereign State Environmental Quality Assurance Act here.

Read the Sovereign States Bureau of Prisons Restructuring Act here.

Read the Sovereign States Education Restoration Act here.

MIL OSI USA News –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: HBC’s artworks and collections help us understand Canada’s origins — and can be auctioned off

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Norman Vorano, Associate Professor of Art History and Head of the Department of Art History and Art Conservation, Queen’s University, Ontario

The proposed liquidation of many of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s (HBC) collections that together trace over three centuries of Indigenous and European interaction across this continent represents a profound threat to Canada’s collective memory and identity.

An Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that the company could move forward with an auction of 4,400 items — including historic artifacts and artworks.

Several government and non-government cultural agencies, including the Manitoba Museum and the Indigenous Council of the Canadian Museums Association, have expressed concern to HBC and the financial advisory firm it’s working with.

First Nations leaders and scholars say many of the objects likely have profound significance to Indigenous Peoples and are calling for repatriaton.

As an art history professor who has researched curatorial and museum practices, I can attest to the cultural and scholarly value of keeping documentary and cultural collections intact, rather than being scattered across the globe or disappearing into private hands.

This situation exposes the reach and limits of Canada’s Cultural Property Export and Import Act (CPEIA). The act has provisions to delay or block export of cultural property, defined broadly as “any cultural or heritage object, regardless of its place of origin, which may be important from an archaeological, historical, artistic or scientific perspective.” Yet, this legislation offers no guarantees that the objects will end up in Canadian museums or under Indigenous stewardship.

Importance for memory

After moving its head office from London to Canada in 1970, HBC first loaned records to the Archives of Manitoba in 1974 and then donated them in 1994 to the province. The vast collection includes about 130,000 images and all minute books from meetings of HBC’s governor and committee from 1671 to 1970.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated a substantial part of that collection as part of the Memory of the World Register. Items with this designation are recognized as showcasing and preserving the most significant documents of human heritage.

If the items heading to auction are similar, they, too, would be embedded with stories of political negotiation, cultural exchange and economic transformation that helped forge Canada over three centuries.

Some HBC records have provided a window into Canada’s climate history and ecology, offering valuable long-term data to environmental researchers. Others show evidence of Indigenous trade, land occupation and cultural presence relevant to genealogical research, band membership documentation and land claims.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, citing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, has called for transparency and consultation in any discussion concerning the disposition of HBC items and stopping any sale or transfer of artifacts that “may belong to or be linked with First Nations.”

1977 legislation

Prior to Parliament passing the CPEIA legislation in 1977, the federal government had few legal mechanisms to safeguard cultural heritage at home or abroad.

The 1951 Massey Report into the development of Canadian arts and culture acknowledged the sale and export of important collections, including Indigenous cultural belongings. It noted that some Canadian museums had been requesting “an embargo on the sale abroad of objects of particular national significance as well as for suitable grants to the museums which should preserve these objects ….”

Global concern for cultural property

An emerging global consensus on the need for a stronger cross-border regulatory system also shaped CPEIA’s development. The 1954 UNESCO Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was the first international legal framework for the protection of moveable “cultural property.” This was created in response to the Nazi looting of private and public collections.

By the 1960s, Canada was studying British and French laws, particularly the U.K.’s 1952 Waverly Report, as models for export controls.
Borrowing from the Waverly Report, CPEIA relied upon, in the words of Canadian diplomat Ian Christie Clark, a “co-operation of the collector-dealer fraternity” working together with the government to ensure compliance.

The final push to develop national policies flowed from the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. This obliged signatory states to develop their own laws to protect cultural heritage and facilitate the return of illegally exported property. To claim the reciprocal benefits of the convention, Canada had to act.

Relevance of the CPEIA

An independent committee of specialists, established through the CPEIA, can designate parts, or the entirety, of the HBC collection as “of outstanding significance and national importance” if the HBC proposed to donate or sell items to a designated Canadian institution.

Read more:
More than a department store: The long, complicated legacy behind Hudson’s Bay Company

In such a circumstance, the HBC, in tandem with a collecting institution, can request a review to unlock generous tax incentives if certified.

This designation could also arise if the owner — either the HBC or a successful buyer — applied for an export permit to move the collection out of Canada. This application would be screened against CPEIA’s export control list, which covers everything from archaeological and scientific specimens to documentary records and artworks that exceed age and value thresholds.

If those thresholds were met, and an export permit is denied, the works would be referred to an expert examiner for a full Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board assessment. A private sale within Canada would not alone prompt the review.

Receiving a cultural property designation would, at least temporarily, restrict the possibility of exporting items.

Importantly, the delay would give federally designated institutions like public museums or archives, as well as Indigenous-led organization with the mandate to preserve and support Indigenous heritage, an opportunity to purchase cultural property that has been denied an export permit. For this, CPEIA offers grants and loans for designated institutions to match the appraised value. Those grants and loans can also be used to repatriate collections that are abroad.

HBC’s historic archive is a prism through which we view Canada’s origins.

Dispersing or exporting this collection would significantly diminish our understanding of Canada. While CPEIA may play a role in retaining it, it offers no certainties.

Norman Vorano received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

– ref. HBC’s artworks and collections help us understand Canada’s origins — and can be auctioned off – https://theconversation.com/hbcs-artworks-and-collections-help-us-understand-canadas-origins-and-can-be-auctioned-off-256044

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: CFTC’s Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee to Meet May 28

Source: US Commodity Futures Trading Commission

WASHINGTON, D.C. — CFTC Commissioner Summer K. Mersinger, sponsor of the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee, today announced that the EEMAC will hold a virtual public meeting Wednesday, May 28 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EDT. Members of the public may also attend the meeting.
At this meeting, the EEMAC will discuss a report written and approved by EEMAC Role of Metals Markets in Transitional Energy Subcommittee. A committee vote to advance the subcommittee’s report to the Commission will follow. The EEMAC will also get a presentation of and discuss the EEMAC Physical Energy Infrastructure Subcommittee report. agenda for this meeting is forthcoming. For agenda updates and more information about this advisory committee, including its members, please visit EEMAC.
“I am truly grateful to the members of both Subcommittees for their hard work and diligence in writing these reports.” said Commissioner Mersinger. “The issues and topics addressed by both Subcommittees are multifaceted and complex — having a direct impact on the everyday prices of the energy that we use and food we consume. The issues tackled in these reports affect every American household, highlighting the importance of the Subcommittees’ work over the last year.”
Members of the public may watch a live webcast or listen to the meeting via conference call using a domestic or international number to connect to a live, listen-only audio feed. People requiring special accommodations to attend the meeting because of a disability should notify Lauren Fulks, the EEMAC Secretary, at (816) 787-6297 or [email protected].

What:

Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee Meeting

Location
(In-person/virtual):

*Virtual instructions below

When:

Wednesday, May 28, 2025
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. (EDT)

Viewing/Listening Instructions: To access the live meeting feed, use the dial-in numbers below or stream on CFTC.gov. A live feed can also be streamed through the CFTC’s YouTube channel. Call-in participants should be prepared to provide their first name, last name, and affiliation, if applicable. Materials presented at the meeting, if any, will be made on cftc.gov.

Instructions:

Domestic Toll-Free Numbers:

Domestic Toll Numbers:

1-833-568-8864 or 1-833-435-1820
+1 669 254 5252 US (San Jose)
+1 646 828 7666 US (New York)
+1 646 964 1167 US (US Spanish Line)
+1 669 216 1590 US (San Jose)
+1 415 449 4000 US (US Spanish Line)
+1 551 285 1373 US (New Jersey)

International Numbers:
International Numbers

Webinar ID:

Passcode:

160 295 4046

762417

Members of the public can submit written statements in connection with the meeting by June 4, 2025. Submit public comments at CFTC.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments through the Comments Online process. If you are unable to submit comments online, contact Lauren Fulks, EEMAC Secretary, via the contact information above to discuss alternative means to submit comments. Any statements submitted in connection with the committee meeting will be made available to the public, including publication on CFTC.gov. Written statements should have “Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee” as the title on any statement.
There are five active advisory committees overseen by the CFTC. They were created to provide advice and recommendations to the Commission on a variety of regulatory and market issues that affect the integrity and competitiveness of U.S. markets. These advisory committees facilitate communication between the Commission and market participants, other regulators, and academics. The views, opinions, and information expressed by the advisory committees are solely those of the respective advisory committee and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, its staff, or the U.S. government.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: 15 Years and Counting: A Unique Solution for Transportation Data Sharing

Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Transportation Secure Data Center Is Growing Its Data Offerings

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Transportation Secure Data Center features data from more than 19 million miles of in-vehicle and wearable GPS data, more than 26 million miles of data from household travel diaries, and more than 515,000 transit trips from transit studies.

This year, the Transportation Secure Data Center (TSDC) turns 15 years old, continuing to increase the availability and usability of travel and transit surveys and studies from municipalities, transit agencies, and other entities that want to share their results while protecting participant privacy.

The TSDC, developed and managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), provides a secure platform for data owners to contribute their data and for interested researchers and others to study them from new angles, all while prioritizing security to keep survey participants’ private information safe.

“Often, organizations conducting these surveys are reluctant to share the data because of privacy concerns or simply due to limited staffing,” said NREL’s Joe Fish, a transportation research engineer who oversees TSDC operations. “The TSDC solves these challenges in a creative way and has a strong track record of success.”

Over the past 15 years, the TSDC has accrued more than 5,000 registered users from universities, automakers, governmental organizations, nonprofits, national laboratories, and other arenas. Building on its foundation of household travel data, the recent addition of transit data expands the variety of offerings found on the platform and informs critical crosscutting research on transportation energy, congestion mitigation, and more, while painting in ever growing detail the picture of how people get around.

On the Cutting Edge of Transportation Data

Even from the start, the TSDC was at the forefront of advanced transportation research. Back in the mid-2000s, the transportation data environment saw rapid change with the rise of GPS-based travel surveys. GPS sensors could generate high-fidelity, second-by-second data on people’s travel patterns. This was a boon to travel survey creators, who could use it to track people’s location information without having to rely on participants to recall and document their movements. NREL saw the potential for this detailed GPS data to inform a great variety of mobility research at the lab and beyond.

In 2010, NREL launched the TSDC with support from the U.S. departments of Transportation and Energy. In the past decade and a half, the TSDC has grown from hosting a few datasets to providing access to more than 19 million miles of in-vehicle and wearable GPS data and more than 26 million miles of data from household travel diaries. To date, data sourced from the TSDC have informed more than 260 research projects and related publications, demonstrating the value of the platform for researchers around the country.

For NREL, too, the TSDC has informed not only original research but also innovations in other tools and platforms. For example, other NREL-supported data offerings—such as Fleet DNA, FleetREDI, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Livewire Data Platform—were born out of the same approach to data security as the TSDC, providing multiple layers of access to various kinds of transportation data. Additionally, results from travel studies powered by NREL OpenPATH™—an open-source platform that generates unique datasets of partially automated travel diaries—are also housed in the TSDC. Plus, the GPS data found in the TSDC has informed NREL modeling tools focused on analyzing vehicle operations and mobility behaviors in different travel environments.

“Advanced NREL modeling tools such as FASTSim™, EVI-Pro, and RouteE were all developed and trained using the millions of data points available in the TSDC, allowing the lab to boast some of the most advanced, accurate, and adaptable tools in the field,” said NREL’s Jeff Gonder, a senior transportation research analyst and the founding project lead for the TSDC. “These tools are as robust as they are because of the TSDC.”

Not Just a Database

The TSDC platform provides two layers of access to meet different user needs. The public-facing portal lets anyone access cleansed travel survey data processed to remove any private location information pertaining to survey participants. It also includes detailed spatial data that users can access through the TSDC’s secure portal environment in which researchers can conduct analyses but not export raw data.

To access the secure portal, users must submit a request to NREL explaining why they want to access the spatial data and how they will use it. Once in the portal to conduct analyses, researchers can reach out to TSDC staff for support, similar to using a digital research library.

“Interfacing this way with external researchers allows us to better understand the types of data users are seeking and to keep our finger on the pulse of transportation research priorities and potential future partnerships,” said Brennan Borlaug, an NREL research analyst who leads advanced transportation modeling activities at the lab.

The partners who provide data to the TSDC also benefit, knowing that their data is being carefully stewarded and used for legitimate purposes.

“Atlanta Regional Commission fully takes advantage of the TSDC as a way to post data and especially to refer folks to the site for data requests and data downloads within a controlled environment,” said Guy Rousseau, transportation models and travel surveys manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Hands-on engagement from NREL researchers extends from fielding data requests to processing and standardizing incoming datasets. Because every organization developing a travel or transit survey words their questions and organizes their surveys and data differently, NREL processes every incoming dataset to standardize data fields, streamlining how data are presented and allowing for easier data comparisons. The TSDC’s data standardization process greatly expands the number of comparable data points available for analysis, enhancing the collected survey data into something more than the sum of its parts.

“You don’t have to read hundreds of pages of survey documentation to understand what one data field means—we’ve done that for you,” Borlaug said. “The TSDC’s added value includes routines of data quality control checks and standardized data fields that make it faster for users to glean insights they are looking for.”

Growing Into the Future

The TSDC continues to expand, adding new datasets and making connections with more entities to store their data. True to the ethos of making data available for more users, in 2022, the TSDC incorporated the Metropolitan Travel Survey Archive (MTSA), a set of 70 historical travel surveys dating back to the 1960s from numerous public agencies across the United States. The archive was originally curated by a former University of Minnesota professor with funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation. MTSA was transferred to NREL to ensure its continued public availability.

“NREL’s TSDC provides a reliable, long-term support infrastructure for the Metropolitan Travel Survey Archive,” Fish said.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Transportation Secure Data Center recently added transit survey data to its repository. Photo by Werner Slocum, NREL

Starting in 2023, the TSDC also branched out to include a different kind of travel survey—transit surveys. It now contains data from more than 515,000 transit trips.

Transit surveys are usually structured differently and provide different kinds of information from household travel surveys, meriting their own new section in the TSDC. Transit agencies conduct surveys to collect data to plan operations and infrastructure and assess performance. The same transit survey data can illuminate ridership patterns, trip purpose, barriers to transit, rider preferences, and more, helping researchers connect the dots between multiple personal modes of transportation tracked in household surveys and the public transportation studied in transit surveys.

“Transit surveys can help answer a variety of research questions,” Fish said. “It is important to understand how well transit is serving different groups, so you can look at service performance by different demographic characteristics, household characteristics, and spatial distribution around the city.”

“Transit is also an important part of the transportation energy equation—increasing transit use and reducing single-occupancy vehicle travel could offer significant energy benefits,” Fish added. “So, understanding how the system currently is and isn’t working is valuable for informing future transit system improvements.”

Continuously on the leading edge, the TSDC provides a means for mobility data, collected for a single use, to live on and be accessed for other purposes in support of answering new research questions and informing transportation decision-making around the country.

Learn more about NREL’s transportation and mobility research, the Transportation Secure Data Center (TSDC), and other transportation data and tools. And sign up for NREL’s quarterly transportation and mobility research newsletter to stay current on the latest news.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Statement by IMF African Department Director Abebe Aemro Selassie on Meeting with President João Lourenço of Angola

Source: IMF – News in Russian

May 13, 2025

Luanda, Angola: Mr. Abebe Aemro Selassie, Director of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) African Department, met yesterday in Luanda with President João Lourenço of Angola. At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Selassie issued the following statement:

“It was very good to meet President Lourenço this morning. We had constructive discussions on Angola’s economy and the actions the government is taking in this challenging external environment.

“I congratulated him on Angola’s strong economic performance in 2024 and his administration’s efforts in reducing inflation and containing public debt vulnerabilities.

“We discussed approaches needed to contain emerging risks to preserve macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability. In this regard, I noted that the IMF shares the President’s priorities of putting public finances on a sustainable path, while protecting the most vulnerable and maintaining the growth momentum.

“The reforms the government has been pursuing in recent years have been gaining traction, as evidenced by the country’s improving attractiveness to private investment.

“I emphasized the IMF’s readiness to continue supporting Angola’s efforts, and our commitment to maintain and strengthen our longstanding partnership.

“I thanked President Lourenço, his Ministers, and the Governor of the Banco Nacional de Angola for the warm reception and very productive discussions they afforded me during my visit.”

IMF Communications Department

MEDIA RELATIONS

PRESS OFFICER: Tatiana Mossot

Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

@IMFSpokesperson

https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/05/13/pr-25141-angola-imf-afr-dept-director-abebe-aemro-selassie-meeting-pres-joao-lourenco

MIL OSI

MIL OSI Russia News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: ACP Names Artealia Gilliard as Chief Communications Officer

Source: American Clean Power Association (ACP)

Headline: ACP Names Artealia Gilliard as Chief Communications Officer

WASHINGTON D.C., May 13, 2025 — The American Clean Power Association (ACP) today announced that Artealia Gilliard will join the organization as Chief Communications Officer. With over 20 years of experience in strategic communications, public policy, and energy sector leadership, Gilliard will guide the association’s communications efforts to advance American energy production and domestic manufacturing growth as the industry positions itself to meet America’s growing demand.
“Clean energy is leading an all of the above American energy renaissance, but polarized politics remain an obstacle to achieving our economic and security interests,” said Jason Grumet, ACP’s Chief Executive Officer. “Artealia has a strong track record of building consensus and connecting intricate policy issues to everyday American values. She also understands that reliable, affordable, domestic energy isn’t just good policy—it’s good business and good for communities.”
Gilliard has experience leading organizations in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Most recently, Gilliard was head of environmental and sustainability communications and advocacy at Ford Motor Company, where she helped communicate the company’s energy innovation initiatives and American manufacturing investments. Her previous roles include Director of Communications at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Transportation Policy at the Department of Transportation, where she worked on energy issues.
“I am honored to join the American Clean Power Association at such a critical time for America’s energy future. The clean power industry is driving economic growth, creating jobs, and strengthening communities across the country,” said Artealia Gilliard. “I look forward to working with ACP’s members and stakeholders to tell the compelling story of how American-made clean energy is building a more secure, prosperous, and sustainable future for all Americans.”

MIL OSI Economics –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: The United Kingdom takes the lead of NATO’s Transatlantic Quantum Community

Source: NATO

On Tuesday (13 May), the United Kingdom succeeded Denmark as the annual Chair of NATO’s Transatlantic Quantum Community (TQC).

Established in 2024, the Community brings together quantum experts from national governments, industry, academia, funding bodies, and research institutions from 22 Allies.

Addressing the Community at a meeting at NATO Headquarters on 12 May, NATO’s Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska thanked Denmark for its leading role as TQC inaugural Chair and wished the United Kingdom a successful year in this position. She stressed that TQC provides a unique platform for collaboration between quantum and defence industry and NATO end-users.

Representatives from Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korean and the EU also took part in this week’s discussions. “This is what this Transatlantic Quantum Community is all about”, the Deputy Secretary General said. Such collaboration will help “harness the opportunities and mitigate the risks that these game-changing technologies present” and make sure that we “stay ahead – and stay safe” she concluded.

The Transatlantic Quantum Community is the first deliverable of NATO’s quantum strategy approved in 2023.

MIL Security OSI –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Warren Demands Health and Human Services Nominee Erase Ethics Conflicts with Pharmaceutical, Biotech Companies

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren
May 13, 2025
As RFK Jr.’s Deputy, O’Neill would have insight and influence over FDA approvals
“Your relationships with biomedical companies regulated by HHS will raise concerns about your impartiality in this role”
Text of Letter (PDF)
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Mr. James O’Neill, nominee for Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), asking him to recuse himself from matters involving companies he has worked with, given many of those companies may seek the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulatory approval during his tenure. Senator Warren also asked Mr. O’Neill to commit not to take a job in the industries regulated by HHS for at least four years after leaving office and not to lobby HHS for at least four years after leaving office. The Senate Finance Committee will vote on advancing O’Neill’s nomination on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
O’Neill, a “close ally” of Trump-backer Peter Thiel, once managed one of Thiel’s venture capital firms, Mithril Capital Management, where he invested in biotech companies developing medical robots, diabetes treatments, antibody technologies, and more. Some of these companies are now seeking FDA approval. After O’Neill left the company, the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the firm for potentially defrauding its investors.
As Deputy HHS Secretary, O’Neill would have insight into and influence over the FDA’s approvals process and could potentially sway HHS’s decision-making to favor companies with which he has worked. O’Neill advises and serves on the board of ADvantage Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company developing an Alzheimer’s drug that will require FDA approval. He has agreed to recuse from matters related to ADvantage for one year (or two years if he receives a bonus from the company), but “after just one or two years, [his] relationship with the company will remain fresh enough to raise serious impartiality concerns.” Given that, Senator Warren urged, “To mitigate even the appearance of a conflict of interest, you should agree to recuse for four years from [matters related to the company].”
Former HHS officials, including former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli, agreed to recuse themselves from their former clients’ matters for four years — beyond the two-year recusal required by the Biden administration.
O’Neill’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry also raise concerns about his post-government employment prospects. As a result, Senator Warren asked him to commit not to work for any company he regulates or otherwise interacts with during his time at HHS for four years after leaving government service.
If O’Neill were to take a job in the industry, “the public would reasonably question whether the decisions [he] made in office were influenced by the prospect of future compensation from a company [he] regulated,” said Senator Warren.
“The public may also question whether you were cashing in on your executive-branch connections and government expertise to help your new company benefit from insider information to skirt rules that you helped oversee or to curry favor with HHS and/or its subagencies,” the senator continued.
Senator Warren reminded O’Neill that both former FDA Commissioner Califf and former NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli agreed to these post-government employment restrictions. Even HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who refused to give up some of his egregious conflicts, still agreed not to work for a drug company after leaving office.
Finally, to mitigate concerns about the revolving door of former government officials lobbying the agencies they once led, Senator Warren pushed O’Neill to commit not to lobby HHS for four years after leaving office, similar to the agreements made by multiple Biden appointees, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Internal Revenue Service Chief Counsel Marjorie Rollinson, and Treasury Assistant Secretary for Investment Security Paul Rosen.
“The rampant revolving door of former government leaders lobbying the agencies they once led, while their government relationships remain fresh, erodes Americans’ faith in the federal government,” said Senator Warren.
Senator Warren asked O’Neill to answer these ethics commitment requests on the record, including whether he plans to accept any future payment from the companies he’s tied to, by May 14, 2025.
Senator Warren has been a leader on enforcing government ethics standards and pressing nominees to address conflicts of interest:
In March 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya, nominees to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), respectively, asking them to address their conflicts of interest ahead of their confirmation hearings.
In February 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) called on Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to recuse himself from former clients’ and employers’ particular matters and commit to not lobbying HHS after his tenure as Secretary.
In February 2025, following the Senate Finance Committee vote to advance the nomination of Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senator Elizabeth Warren gave remarks regarding the nominee’s continued conflicts of interest.
In February 2025, Senators Warren and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pressing him to urgently resolve his serious conflicts of interest before the committee vote Wednesday morning.
In January 2025, following pressure from Senate Democrats, Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. agreed to amend his flawed ethics agreement (see Warren QFRs at the end of Part 2 and start of Part 3).
In January 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, about his dangerous conflicts of interest and record of profiting from anti-vaccine conspiracies.
In January 2025, ahead of Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a 34-page letter detailing her concerns with his nomination and asked him to answer 175 questions ahead of his hearing before the Finance Committee.
In January 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Trump Transition Co-Chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, urging them to make the White House’s ethics pledge for incoming appointees as strong as possible and outlining specific provisions to do so. The letter came at the end of the first week of confirmation hearings for President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees, many of whom have been found to have serious conflicts of interest and massive wealth.
In December 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) wrote to Dr. Mehmet Oz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, raising stark concerns about his advocacy to eliminate traditional Medicare and his deep financial ties to the private health insurers that would benefit from that move.
In November 2024, in response to the news that President-elect Donald Trump selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senator Elizabeth Warren released a statement calling him a “danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and health care coverage for millions of Americans.”
In January 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured a commitment from then-FDA Commissioner nominee Dr. Robert Califf to recuse himself from matters involving his former employers and clients for four years, two years longer than what was required in the Biden administration’s Ethics Pledge. He also agreed not to seek employment with or compensation, including as a result of board service, from any pharmaceutical or medical device company that he interacts with during his tenure as FDA Commissioner for four years after completing his government service.
In December 2020, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jayapal introduced the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act, the most ambitious anti-corruption legislation since Watergate, which would outlaw corrupt revolving-door schemes so that public servants are serving the public – not the financial interests of themselves or giant corporations.
In March 2020, President Trump signed the bipartisan Presidential Transition Enhancement Act into law, which included major provisions of Sen. Warren’s (D-Mass.) Transition Team Ethics Improvement Act.
In September 2019, the Senate passed a key provision of the Transition Team Ethics Improvement Act introduced by Senators Warren and Tom Carper (D-Del.) to enhance the ethics requirements that govern presidential transitions.
In November 2016, as President Trump prepared to take office, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Chairman Cummings requested a GAO investigation of the chaotic Trump transition. In September 2017, Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the results of the investigation, finding that the Trump transition team ignored advice from the Office of Government Ethics and failed to follow past precedents regarding ethics and presidential transitions.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Kehoe Statement on the Passing of Former U.S. Senator and Governor Christopher S. “Kit” Bond

Source: US State of Missouri

MAY 13, 2025

Jefferson City — Today, Governor Mike Kehoe announced the passing of former U.S. Senator and Missouri Governor, Christopher S. “Kit” Bond. A devoted husband, father, and grandfather, whose life’s work was dedicated to serving Missouri, Kit Bond died on May 13, 2025, in St. Louis at 86 years old.

Governor Kehoe released the following statement:

“Kit Bond was a skilled statesman, public servant, and a man who truly loved Missouri. I am blessed to have known Kit and honored to call him a friend and a mentor.

“Kit, always with his trademark smile and sense of humor, was a fierce advocate for Missouri throughout his accomplished 40-year career of public service. Kit kept Missouri’s interests at heart, both in office and out, making our state a better place to live, work, and raise a family. Whenever he was thanked for his service, Kit’s response was always, ‘Serving the people of Missouri was the honor of my life.’

“His legacy as a ‘favorite son’ to his beloved State of Missouri lives on through all he achieved for his home state. Kit touched the lives of so many men and women throughout his career, and today I join them in grieving the loss of a good man. Just as they will miss their friend and mentor, so will I. On behalf of all Missourians, Claudia and I share our deepest condolences and offer our prayers for his wife Linda, his son Sam, and the entire Bond family.”

Governor Kehoe will order U.S. and Missouri flags to be flown at half-staff at government buildings and grounds statewide beginning today through the day Governor Bond is laid to rest.

Additional details on services to honor Governor Bond will be announced later today.

Photo Credits: Charles L. Barnes

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MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: House Democrats’ Litigation Task Force Challenges Trump’s Unlawful, Chaotic Imposition of IEEPA Tariffs

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (8th District of New York)

Washington, D.C. — Late Monday, House Democrats’ Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force led 148 Members of Congress in filing an amicus brief challenging President Donald Trump’s sweeping and chaotic tariffs unlawfully imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The lawmakers’ brief stands up for Congress’s Article I exclusive legislative power to impose tariffs and regulate commerce, and argues that IEEPA does not give the President the power to impose reckless, on-again-off-again tariffs, which have wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy.

The amicus brief was led by Task Force Co-Chairs Joe Neguse and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin; House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries; and Ranking Members Gregory Meeks of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Richard E. Neal of the Committee on Ways and Means. It was filed in the matter of Oregon, et al., v. Trump, et al. which was brought forth by 12 States’ Attorneys General.

“Donald Trump promised to lower the cost of living on day one, but instead is raising prices, crashing our economy and driving us toward a recession. He has now imposed and backed away from his reckless tariffs and tax increases on multiple occasions, each time without authorization from Congress. This is unlawful, and it is unleashing harm on hardworking American taxpayers. I am thankful to Rep. Raskin, Rep. Meeks, Rep. Neal, Assistant Leader Neguse and the Litigation Working Group and Rapid Response Task Force for their efforts in leading House Democrats in our strong opposition to this illegal assault on everyday Americans,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

“What the Trump White House called ‘Liberation Day,’ most households across America remember as the day economic chaos was unleashed by this administration’s reckless tariff policies,” said Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse. “Today, House Democrats are taking action, pushing back against the continued harm being inflicted on everyday Americans and reinforcing the constitutional authority of Congress.”

“The Constitution gives Congress—not the President—the power to regulate commerce with other nations and to impose tariffs. Donald Trump is abusing emergency powers under IEEPA, which doesn’t mention tariffs, to impose sweeping and chaotic tariffs without any authorization from Congress. Trump’s wayward, on-again, off-again approach to tariffs imposed under IEEPA is terrible for the U.S. economy and damaging to American businesses and consumers. We’re going to court to defend Congress’ powers under Article I against executive usurpation and abuse,” said Ranking Member Jamie Raskin.

“President Trump has abused IEEPA to impose sweeping tariffs that have hurt American families and businesses. IEEPA has never been used this way — and the so-called national emergencies behind these tariffs are baseless. It’s time for the courts to recognize this as flagrant abuse of executive power and end Trump’s chaotic trade war,” said Ranking Member Gregory Meeks.

“The Constitution is clear: Congress—not the president—holds the power to regulate trade,” said Ranking Member Richard E. Neal. “Congress never intended for IEEPA to be a blank check for chaos or a tool for economic retaliation against our allies. House Democrats are making clear: no president can hijack trade policy for political theatrics at the expense of American workers and families.”

The Constitution gives Congress, not the President, the authority to impose tariffs, and the President can only raise tariffs if Congress has clearly delegated its authority to him. Although IEEPA (enacted in 1977) grants the president authority to impose sanctions, block foreign assets, and regulate economic transactions in response to “unusual and extraordinary threats” originating abroad, it is not a tariff statute and has never been used that way. Congress knows how to delegate tariff authority and has clearly done so on a number of occasions. When Congress does delegate such authority, it imposes substantive, procedural, and temporal limits on the president’s power in order to avoid economic chaos and protect the American people.

The full brief is available HERE.

For more information on House Democrats efforts to protect Americans against the unlawful actions of the Trump Administration, visit litigationandresponse.house.gov.

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MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Haley Stevens Leads Bipartisan Introduction of Bill to Help Michigan Businesses Adopt 21st Century Quantum Cybersecurity Measures

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11)

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D–Mich.) led the bipartisan introduction of the Post-Quantum Cybersecurity Standards Act with Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (R–N.Y.).

Quantum computing will revolutionize the landscape of cybersecurity, ensuring everyone from federal agencies to local school districts can deploy updated cybersecurity standards. This bill will help Michigan businesses more effectively and rapidly adopt post-quantum cybersecurity standards to protect them from cyber attacks. By creating a more efficient system for the government to help businesses and other organizations implement new cybersecurity technology, the Post-Quantum Cybersecurity Standards Act will help protect them from malicious cyberattacks.

“The future of cybersecurity and secure quantum computing is vital to protecting Michigan businesses, and we need to make sure we are innovating quantum computing here in the U.S.” said Rep. Haley Stevens. “This bipartisan effort will help ensure we are developing the best research on quantum technologies, so our businesses and innovators here at home can apply this technology and help Michigan businesses continue to grow.”

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MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: NATO hosts Colombian Chief of Defence

Source: NATO

Brussels, NATO HQ, 12 May – The Colombian Chief of Defence Admiral Francisco Hernando Cubides Granados was welcomed to NATO Headquarters by the Chair of the NATO Military Committee (CMC), Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone. During his stay at NATO, he engaged in a series of high-level engagements with NATO IMS leadership, on NATO-Colombian cooperation.

At the Military Committee in Permanent Session, Admiral Cubides briefed NATO Military Representatives on Colombia’s security strategy and leading role in countering illicit trafficking through Operation ORION. During the session, CMC recognised “Colombia’s extensive experience in maritime security and tackling organised crime”, with a wider link to Colombia’s counter-terrorism agenda.

During an official meeting, Admiral Cavo Dragone highlighted Colombia’s role as a Global Partner, the successful implementation of practical military cooperation between NATO and Colombia, and addressed ways to further strengthen the partnership between the Alliance and its only South American Partner.

Admiral Cubides also met with the Director General of the NATO International Military Staff, Lieutenant General Janusz Adamczak, where the linkages between NATO and Colombia’s respective security environments were discussed. The need for strong partnerships with like-minded nations such as Colombia aiming at maintaining the rules-based international order was also underlined.

The next engagement for Admiral Cubides was a briefing by Major General Dacian-Tiberiu Serban, Director of the IMS Cooperative Security Division. Both parties used the opportunity to discuss practical elements of military cooperation between NATO and Colombia, defined by the political goals set in Colombia’s Individually Tailored Partnership Programme (ITPP) and translated into military objectives facilitating the implementation of practical military cooperation. As the current ITPP cycle is coming to an end, and the negotiations for the next ITPP cycle have started, Admiral Cubides and Major General Serban acknowledged the need to continue engaging in strong, mutually beneficial military cooperation aimed at interoperability between Colombia and NATO.

NATO and Colombia began their cooperation in 2015, which only grew following Colombia’s signing of their ITPP in 2021. At the time, Colombia was the first partner country to sign an ITPP, paving the way for a more streamlined approach to NATO partnerships. Today, the cooperation covers a wide range of issues, including cyber security, terrorism, the fight against corruption and maritime security.

Operation ORION is a multilateral counter narcotics campaign which has been coordinated by Colombia and consists of numerous international actors, including NATO Allies and Partner countries.

MIL Security OSI –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI: AMD and HUMAIN Form Strategic, $10B Collaboration to Advance Global AI
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) and HUMAIN, Saudi Arabia’s new AI enterprise, today announced a landmark agreement to build the world’s most open, scalable, resilient, and cost-efficient AI infrastructure, that will power the future of global intelligence through a network of AMD-based AI computing centers stretching from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States.

As part of the agreement, the parties will invest up to $10B to deploy 500 megawatts of AI compute capacity over the next five years. The AI superstructure built by AMD and HUMAIN will be open by design, accessible at scale, and optimized to power AI workloads across enterprise, start-up and sovereign markets. HUMAIN will oversee end-to-end delivery, including hyperscale data center, sustainable power systems, and global fiber interconnects, and AMD will provide the full spectrum of the AMD AI compute portfolio and the AMD ROCm™ open software ecosystem.

“At AMD, we have a bold vision to enable the future of AI everywhere – bringing open, high-performance computing to every developer, AI start-up and enterprise around the world,” said Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO, AMD. “Our investment with HUMAIN is a significant milestone in advancing global AI infrastructure. Together, we are building a globally significant AI platform that delivers performance, openness and reach at unprecedented levels.”

“This is not just another infrastructure play – it’s an open invitation to the world’s innovators,” said Tareq Amin, CEO of HUMAIN. “We are democratizing AI at the compute level, ensuring that access to advanced AI is limited only by imagination, not by infrastructure.”

With initial deployments already underway across key global regions, the collaboration is on track to activate multi-exaflop capacity by early 2026, supported by next-gen AI silicon, modular data center zones, and a developer-enablement focused software platform stack built around open standards and interoperability.

Full-Spectrum AI at Scale

The collaboration will deliver a market-defining value proposition by combining the Kingdom’s energy resources, AI-ready workforce and forward-looking national AI policies with the AMD full-spectrum AI stack including:
- AMD Instinct™ GPUs, with industry-leading memory and inference performance.
- AMD EPYC™ CPUs, offering world-class compute density and energy efficiency.
- AMD Pensando™ DPUs, enabling scalable, secure, and programmable networking.
- AMD Ryzen™ AI, bringing on-device AI compute to the edge.
- AMD ROCm open software ecosystem with built-in support for all AI frameworks (PyTorch, SGLang, etc.)
About AMD
For more than 50 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies. AMD employees are focused on building leadership high-performance and adaptive products that push the boundaries of what is possible. Billions of people, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research institutions around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) website, blog, LinkedIn and X pages.

About Humain
HUMAIN, a PIF company, is a global artificial intelligence company delivering full-stack AI capabilities across four core areas – next-generation data centers, hyper-performance infrastructure & cloud platforms, advanced AI Models, including the world’s most advanced Arabic multimodal LLMs, and transformative AI Solutions that combine deep sector insight with real-world execution. HUMAIN’s end-to-end model serves both public and private sector organisations, unlocking exponential value across all industries, driving transformation and strengthening capabilities through human-AI synergies. With a growing portfolio of sector-specific AI products and a core mission to drive IP leadership and talent supremacy world-wide, HUMAIN is engineered for global competitiveness and national distinction. www.humain.ai

AMD, the AMD logo, AMD Instinct, AMD ROCm, EPYC, Pensando, Ryzen and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Cautionary Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) such as, the expected benefits of the collaboration between AMD and HUMAIN; the expected plans to deploy up to 500 megawatts of AI infrastructure over the next five years; the ability of AMD to provide its AMD AI compute portfolio and software ecosystem; and the ability of the collaboration to activate multi-exaflop capacity by 2026, which are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as “would,” “may,” “expects,” “believes,” “plans,” “intends,” “projects” and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this press release are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this press release and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Such statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond AMD’s control, that could cause actual results and other future events to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. Material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, without limitation, the following: the impact of government actions and regulations such as export regulations, tariffs and trade protection measures, and licensing requirements; Intel Corporation’s dominance of the microprocessor market and its aggressive business practices; Nvidia’s dominance in the graphics processing unit market and its aggressive business practices; competitive markets in which AMD’s products are sold; the cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry; market conditions of the industries in which AMD products are sold; AMD’s ability to introduce products on a timely basis with expected features and performance levels; loss of a significant customer; economic and market uncertainty; quarterly and seasonal sales patterns; AMD’s ability to adequately protect its technology or other intellectual property; unfavorable currency exchange rate fluctuations; ability of third party manufacturers to manufacture AMD’s products on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies; availability of essential equipment, materials, substrates or manufacturing processes; ability to achieve expected manufacturing yields for AMD’s products; AMD’s ability to generate revenue from its semi-custom SoC products; potential security vulnerabilities; potential security incidents including IT outages, data loss, data breaches and cyberattacks; uncertainties involving the ordering and shipment of AMD’s products; AMD’s reliance on third-party intellectual property to design and introduce new products; AMD’s reliance on third-party companies for design, manufacture and supply of motherboards, software, memory and other computer platform components; AMD’s reliance on Microsoft and other software vendors’ support to design and develop software to run on AMD’s products; AMD’s reliance on third-party distributors and add-in-board partners; impact of modification or interruption of AMD’s internal business processes and information systems; compatibility of AMD’s products with some or all industry-standard software and hardware; costs related to defective products; efficiency of AMD’s supply chain; AMD’s ability to rely on third party supply-chain logistics functions; AMD’s ability to effectively control sales of its products on the gray market; long-term impact of climate change on AMD’s business; AMD’s ability to realize its deferred tax assets; potential tax liabilities; current and future claims and litigation; impact of environmental laws, conflict minerals related provisions and other laws or regulations; evolving expectations from governments, investors, customers and other stakeholders regarding corporate responsibility matters; issues related to the responsible use of AI; restrictions imposed by agreements governing AMD’s notes, the guarantees of Xilinx’s notes, the revolving credit agreement and the ZT Systems credit agreement; impact of acquisitions, joint ventures and/or strategic investments on AMD’s business and AMD’s ability to integrate acquired businesses, including ZT Systems; AMD’s ability to sell the ZT Systems manufacturing business; impact of any impairment of the combined company’s assets; political, legal and economic risks and natural disasters; future impairments of technology license purchases; AMD’s ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; and AMD’s stock price volatility. Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in AMD’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to AMD’s most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q.

The MIL Network –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Elevating the delivery of government services
Source: South Africa News Agency

While government has made significant strides since the 1990s in adopting digital technologies to ensure that it delivers efficient services to its citizens, it has not fully achieved this ideal.

To make up for this shortfall, government has, in recent years, taken important steps to improve the quality of and access to services.

Digital platforms have expanded in many areas, making it possible to file taxes, apply for grants and access some services online. But for too many people, the experience of accessing public services remains a time-consuming and expensive exercise.

Information often proves difficult to find, processes are duplicated in some instances, and some departments still operate in ways that are incompatible with the digital age and the evolving expectations of citizens.

“South Africa has made considerable but uneven strides toward government digitalisation.

“Despite pockets of excellence, slow and uncoordinated progress has left many people dissatisfied,” says Presidency Director of Strategy and Delivery Support, Saul Musker.

In an ongoing effort to ensure that government services are easier to access, more reliable and less complicated to navigate for the people who depend on them, government has launched the Roadmap for the Digital Transformation of Government.

“We are building on a lot of work that’s unfolded over decades. It started in the 1990s with the early adoption of digital technologies by government. In the 2000s, we had e-Government, which was characterised by silos.

“We are moving towards taking the ‘whole-of-government and society’ approach, developing solutions that are citizen-centered; that make life for citizens easier and introduces greater cohesiveness in government, so that citizens interface with government in one place to receive services and access information,” Musker said recently, addressing the launch of the Roadmap for the Digital Transformation of Government, which was launched as part of Operation Vulindlela Phase ll.

Operation Vulindlela Phase ll is a joint initiative between the Presidency and National Treasury to accelerate the implementation of structural reforms to enable economic growth and job creation.

Phase II of Operational Vulindlela will implement reforms in three new areas, including in digital transformation.

The roadmap sets out a focused plan to modernise delivery of government services through investment in digital public infrastructure.

These crucial digital reforms will enable all citizens to access seamless government services through a single trusted platform. This will be driven through improvements in identity verification, real-time payments, and data exchange.

“We want to invest in shared infrastructure and digital public infrastructure that can be used for hundreds of applications that reduces cost for the State and opens the door to innovation. We are moving away from the silo approach towards Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).

“We recognise that digital transformation holds the potential for growth in South Africa. A new approach to digital transformation will restore trust in government and make services more reliable and accessible, reducing administrative burdens and costs for both government, organisations and people,” Musker said.

The Digital Transformation Roadmap will focus on four catalytic initiatives:
1. A Digital Identity System will allow South Africans a simple way to verify themselves and access services remotely.
2. A Data Exchange Framework will eradicate the silo effect in government, and allow greater efficiency and coordination in how the government operates.
3. A Digital Payments System that provides universal access to secure, low-cost payment options between government and citizens.
4. A single, zero-rated Digital Services Platform, where citizens can access all government services and information.
Digital reform

The Digital Transformation Roadmap will be implemented in two phases, with phase 1 being March 2025 – February 2027 and Phase 2 being March 2027 – February 2030.

Phase 1 will prioritise social protection and its linkages with learning and earning opportunities due to its direct impact on millions of vulnerable South Africans.

“This phase will deliver immediate, measurable impact and lay the foundation for broader digital reform. The focus will be on digitising services for faster, more reliable access, linking social grants to employment, training, and income-generating opportunities to create pathways to sustainable livelihoods.

“Additionally, technology will be used to address issues such as fraud and exclusion in the SRD370 grants, saving money and strengthening public trust.

“Phase 2 will expand focus to other key sectors, such as healthcare, education, and business services, building on the lessons learned from Phase 1 to scale successful technologies across government,” the Roadmap for the Digital Transformation of Government said.

To drive implementation of the roadmap, the Presidency is establishing the Digital Service Unit (DSU) to coordinate this whole-of-government effort to modernise services.

The Presidency has appointed South African tech entrepreneur, Melvyn Lubega, to lead the DSU.

Lubega is a globally recognised technology pioneer, who co-founded Go1 – a platform used by businesses, non-profit organisations, and governments in more than 60 countries.

He has advised governments in Africa, Asia and Europe on digital transformation programmes. – SAnews.gov.za

MIL OSI Africa –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI China: China, Brazil issue joint statement on Ukraine crisis 2025-05-13 23:51:19 China and Brazil issued a joint statement on the Ukraine crisis on Tuesday, welcoming Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to open peace talks and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s positive response.
Source: People’s Republic of China – Ministry of National Defense
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MIL OSI China News –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: CE leads delegation to begin visit to Kuwait (with photos/ videos)

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

CE leads delegation to begin visit to Kuwait (with photos/ videos)
In the morning, Mr Lee met with the Amir of Kuwait, Mr Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who is the head of state of Kuwait; the Crown Prince of Kuwait, Mr Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah; and the Acting Prime Minister, Mr Fahad Yousuf Saud Al-Sabah, to exchange views on strengthening co-operation between Hong Kong and Kuwait. Mr Lee then attended a roundtable meeting chaired by the Acting Prime Minister, engaging in in-depth discussions with senior officials of the Kuwait Government on areas such as finance, trade, and innovation and technology (I&T). Mr Lee and the Acting Prime Minister witnessed the signing of Memoranda of Understanding by Invest Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council with the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority respectively. He and the delegation also participated in a luncheon hosted by the Acting Prime Minister.

Mr Lee noted that Kuwait is the first member of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) to sign both an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement and a Comprehensive Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement with Hong Kong, establishing a robust framework and foundation for economic and trade co-operation between the two places.

He said that Kuwait has been actively developing a diversified economy in recent years, proposing Kuwait Vision 2035 to promote digital transformation and develop the country into a regional and international financial and trade centre. Hong Kong, as an international financial, shipping and trade centre with world-class professional services, has vast opportunities for co-operation with Kuwait in areas such as finance, investment, digital economy, and I&T, and can assist Kuwait in advancing its Vision 2035. Noting that Kuwait is the rotating President of the GCC currently, Mr Lee expressed his anticipation to strengthen co-operation between Hong Kong and Kuwait, adding that he looks forward to establishing closer economic, trade and cultural exchanges with more GCC member states.

Mr Lee highlighted that Hong Kong enjoys the advantage of connecting the country with the world under the “one country, two systems” principle. Hong Kong will fully leverage its role as a bridge to serve enterprises in going global and attracting external investment, complementing the strengths of Mainland enterprises while deepening international exchanges and co-operation. He welcomed the Kuwaiti Government and enterprises to utilise Hong Kong’s role as a “super connector” and “super value-adder” to explore new opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative for mutual benefit.

Later, Mr Lee and the delegation met with representatives of a local corporation, Bukhamseen Group Holding Company, to learn about the latest developments in the company’s businesses in construction, real estate, financial services, and culture and tourism. Mr Lee introduced Hong Kong’s development opportunities and its highly internationalised and market-oriented business environment with its pool of professional services talent. He welcomed the company to use Hong Kong as a springboard to develop diversified businesses and tap into the Mainland market, better grasping the immense opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative and the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Mr Lee then visited the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre to learn about Kuwait’s arts and culture projects and developments. The Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre, which opened in 2018, comprises eight buildings, six of which are museums with different themes, housing a total of 22 display halls.

Mr Lee said that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government is committed to developing Hong Kong into an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchanges, with the West Kowloon Cultural District as one of the world’s largest arts and culture projects. Both Hong Kong and Kuwait place importance on arts and culture development, and he said he looks forward to further deepening connections and co-operation in cultural exchanges between the two places.

The delegation led by Mr Lee attended a dinner hosted by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the State of Kuwait, Mr Zhang Jianwei. Mr Lee expressed gratitude to the Embassy for making meticulous arrangements for this visit and for its continued support to the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Dubai. The HKSAR Government will continue to promote economic, trade, and cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and Kuwait.

Mr Lee will lead the delegation to continue its visit to Kuwait tomorrow (May 14), meeting with local political and business leaders, and visiting enterprises.
Issued at HKT 23:47

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CategoriesMIL-OSI

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: What or where is the Indo-Pacific? How a foreign policy pivot redefined the global map

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Andrew Latham, Professor of Political Science, Macalester College

Is the Indo-Pacific concept about international dialogue … or just containing China? Tetra images/Getty Images

Open a book of maps and look for the “Indo-Pacific” region – it likely won’t be there.

Yet the Indo-Pacific is now central to how many countries think about strategy and security. It describes a region spanning two oceans and dozens of countries, encompassing much of the world’s trade routes.

The Indo-Pacific did not emerge from the patterns of ancient trade, nor from long-standing cultural or civilizational ties.

Instead, the concept comes from the realms of political science and international relations. The term can be traced back to the work of German political scientist and geographer Karl Haushofer – a favorite of Adolf Hitler – in the 1920s. But it only really began to take hold in the think tanks and foreign policy-setting departments of Washington and other Western capitals in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

It coincided with a shift in the global balance of power from unipolarity – that is, dominated by one superpower – to multipolarity over the past decade or so.

‘Confluence of the two seas’

For much of the Cold War, the United States treated the Pacific and Indian oceans as separate theaters of operation. Its military forces in the area, known as U.S. Pacific Command, focused on East Asia and the western Pacific, while the Indian Ocean figured mainly in energy security discussions, tied to the Middle East and the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea.

Strategic maps during that era divided the world into distinct zones of interest. But China’s economic rise, India’s growing influence and the increasing strategic significance of sea lanes across both oceans since the end of the Cold War blurred those old dividing lines.

The Indian Ocean could no longer be treated as a secondary concern. Nor could the Pacific be thought of in isolation from what was happening further west.

Japan helped give political voice to this emerging reality. In 2007, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood before India’s parliament and spoke of the “confluence of the two seas” − an image that deliberately linked the Indian and Pacific oceans as a single geopolitical space.

Abe’s message was clear: The fate of the Pacific and Indian oceans would be increasingly intertwined, and democratic states would need to work together to preserve stability. His vision resonated in Washington, Canberra and New Delhi, and it helped set the stage for the revival of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad.

In 2018, the United States made the shift official, renaming U.S. Pacific Command as U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

What might have seemed like a bureaucratic rebranding was in fact a serious strategic move. It reflected the growing recognition that the rise of China − and Beijing’s growing influence from East Africa to the South Pacific − required an integrated regional approach.

Framing the challenge in Indo-Pacific terms allowed Washington to strengthen its ties with India, deepen cooperation with Australia and Japan, and reposition itself as a maritime balancer across a vast strategic arc.

The phrase “free and open Indo-Pacific” quickly became the centerpiece of American regional diplomacy. It emphasized freedom of navigation, respect for international law, and democratic solidarity.

But while the rhetoric stressed inclusivity and shared values, the driving force behind the concept was clear: managing China’s expanding power. The Indo-Pacific framework allowed Washington to draw together a range of initiatives under a single banner, all aimed at reinforcing a rules-based order at a time when Beijing was testing its limits.

Rejecting zero-sum thinking

Not every country has enthusiastically embraced this vision. Many Southeast Asian states, wary of being drawn into a competition between the United States and China, have approached the Indo-Pacific concept with caution. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ document titled Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, released in 2019, deliberately avoided framing the region in confrontational terms. Instead, it stressed dialogue and the centrality of Southeast Asia − a subtle rebuke to visions that seemed to pit democracy against authoritarianism in stark, zero-sum terms.

The breadth of the Indo-Pacific concept also raises difficult questions. It covers an enormous range of political, economic and security realities. The priorities of small island states in the Pacific differ sharply from those of major continental powers such as India or Australia. Treating the Indo-Pacific as a single strategic space risks flattening these differences and could alienate smaller nations whose concerns do not always align with those of the major players.

The Indo-Pacific today

Recent shifts in Washington’s foreign policy also complicate matters. The Trump administration’s skepticism toward alliances created doubts among regional partners about the reliability of U.S. commitments. Even as the Indo-Pacific idea gained traction, questions remained about whether it represented a long-term strategy or a short-term tactical adjustment.

The Biden administration maintained the Indo-Pacific framework, launching the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity to provide an economic counterpart to the security-heavy focus of earlier years. But the central strategic challenge remains the same: how to manage China’s rise without forcing the region into a rigid geopolitical divide.

For now, the Indo-Pacific framing has reshaped how policymakers, military planners and diplomats think about Asia’s future. It provides a vocabulary for coordinating alliances, building new partnerships and addressing the challenges posed by China’s expanding influence.

Yet its long-term success will depend on whether the framework can genuinely accommodate the region’s diversity − and whether it can be seen as something more than just a mechanism for great power competition and a thinly veiled strategy to contain China.

This article is part of a series explaining foreign policy terms commonly used but rarely explained.

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

– ref. What or where is the Indo-Pacific? How a foreign policy pivot redefined the global map – https://theconversation.com/what-or-where-is-the-indo-pacific-how-a-foreign-policy-pivot-redefined-the-global-map-256406

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Tax Canadian movies? Why culture has always been at the centre of trade wars

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sarah E.K. Smith, Canada Research Chair in Art, Culture & Global Relations and Associate Professor, Faculty of Information & Media Studies, Western University

The United States government recently announced a plan to leverage a 100 per cent tariff on “foreign” films. President Donald Trump explained it was because he wanted to protect the U.S. film industry. He said other reasons include “national security” and “propaganda.”

The current announcement may seem out of place in trade talks about steel and automobiles. But culture has long been a key part of North American trade relations.

In my book, Trading on Art: Cultural Diplomacy and Free Trade in North America, I examine how culture became a vital tool for shaping relationships among Canada, Mexico and the United States. I focus on visual art — including exhibitions and museum initiatives — to show how culture is intertwined with the negotiation of free trade in North America.

A history of cultural negotiations

In the late 20th century, when Canada negotiated the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (later expanded into NAFTA), culture was central to free-trade debates.

The period was charged with anxiety over American cultural imperialism and concerns about protecting Canadian cultural production. Ultimately, at Canada’s urging, culture was formally exempted from free-trade agreements, with limited provisions focused on cultural industries. But even though the cultural exemption in trade agreements may give the impression that culture has nothing to do with the histories of free trade, my research shows otherwise.

This exemption isn’t just about protecting markets. Political scientist Patricia Goff says it also comes from a “desire to uphold …a distinct cultural identity.” Culture held a key place in the discussions about the impact of free trade. And it served as a means to construct new geopolitical identities, helping to introduce and reinforce the trade alliance.

Culture was mobilized in different ways. It functioned as a unifying tool, but also a venue for critique.

For example, following the creation of NAFTA, the online exhibition Panoramas: The North American Landscape in Art brought together art from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The show offered a new transnational approach and explored landscapes across the continent.

Other artworks such as Free Expression by Canadian activist-artists Carole Condé and Karl Beveridge articulated a critical response to impending free trade. Their piece depicts apprehension about the danger of U.S. cultural domination and speaks to the need to protect Canada’s cultural producers.

Art as a diplomatic tool

All three governments — of Canada, Mexico and the United States — used art exhibitions as a way to create and share stories about North American unity. While art has long been used for national narratives, this collaboration and these new stories about the North American region were a departure.

For most of the 20th century, people did not think of North America as a unified or shared cultural entity. Most people saw the Americas as divided between Anglo and Latin America.

Art was seen as a means to overcome this. It provided a way to support and depict the new alliance between Canada, Mexico and the United States under free trade. Exhibitions offered a way to depict North America in a new perspective. They presented concepts about continental unity to the public.

During a trip to Canada, President Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mila Mulroney sing during a gala performance at Grand Théâtre de Québec in March 1985.
(Ronald Reagan Library), CC BY

How could Canada, Mexico and the United States understand themselves as part of a regional group? These art shows worked on many levels. They brought together work that helped make visual, thematic connections. They helped cultural professionals meet and make connections. They helped museums forge relationships.

On top of that, the exhibitions also provided diplomatic spaces. Many openings celebrated specific moments in bi- and trilateral relationships, creating and facilitating social spaces for diplomatic and government connections.

In this way, these exhibitions functioned as a form of cultural diplomacy. Some were initiated by governments to mark the economic integration of the continent. Others picked up on new understandings of the continent that were circulating. It was a process, according to American historian Nicholas Cull, by which international relationships became managed through the circulation of “cultural resources and achievements.”

Art and cultural exchange gave people a meaningful and accessible way to see and understand the growing ties between the three countries. Art also offered a powerful and engaging way to tell the public about North American connections.

Artistic resistance, critiques of free trade

These were not the only messages circulating in this period. A body of contemporary art questioned and challenged free trade.

For many Canadian artists, their work offered a means to question and critique increasing economic integration under free trade. In the 1980s and ‘90s, video art was a particularly active site for such work.

An affordable medium that was easily disseminated, video art critiqued the media coverage of free trade, reflected on cultural nationalism and advanced experimental narratives about North America. Video art was also deeply tied to the anti-globalization protests that began at the start of the economic integration of North America under free trade.

Video offered a space for creative expression and documentation of the protests. Video also enhanced protection for activists who were safer because they were recording their encounters with law enforcement. Beyond producing artworks, many artists joined other cultural producers, community and labour organizations to advocate against free trade.

A behind-the-scenes image from the film shoot for ‘Acknowledgment’ (2020) by Jonathan Elliott.
(Andrew Williamson for the City of Toronto/Toronto History Museums), CC BY-NC

The role of culture

Free-trade agreements radically reshaped the economies and public understandings of the western hemisphere in the late 20th century. Political scientist Guy Poitras argues that North America as a region was invented at this time.

Culture is often overlooked when considering free-trade histories and dismissed as a form of “soft power.” But the cultural sphere does not sit apart from daily life and political economic concerns. Art and exhibitions from this period offer a rich vantage point on how free trade was perceived and contested. Examination of culture also reveals how it was used to construct a North American identity.

Culture is not simply an entity to be instrumentalized for international relations, but a key venue in which these relations always play out. In the lead up to the renegotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement and amid the current tariff war, the ties between Canada, Mexico and the United States seem fragile. We should pay attention to how culture will be used as a tool to support or fracture these connections.

Sarah E.K. Smith receives funding from the Canada Research Chairs program, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and Western University. She is affiliated with the North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative and the International Cultural Relations Research Alliance.

– ref. Tax Canadian movies? Why culture has always been at the centre of trade wars – https://theconversation.com/tax-canadian-movies-why-culture-has-always-been-at-the-centre-of-trade-wars-256022

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Have journalists skipped the ethics conversation when it comes to using AI?
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Angela Misri, Assistant professor, Toronto Metropolitan University

It’s become clear that many news organizations are still operating in the ethical equivalent of the Wild West when it comes to how they use artificial intelligence. (Shutterstock)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in journalistic work for everything from transcribing interviews and translating articles to writing and publishing local weather, economic reports and water quality stories.

It’s even being used to identify story ideas from the minutes of municipal council meetings in cases where time-strapped reporters don’t have time to do so.

What’s lagging behind all this experimentation are the important conversations about the ethics of using these tools. This disconnect was evident when we interviewed journalists in a mix of newsrooms across Canada from July 2022 to July 2023, and it remains a problem today.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 journalists from 11 Canadian newsrooms. Many of the people we spoke to told us that they had worked at multiple media organizations throughout their careers.

The key findings from our recently published research:

AI literacy varies within the same newsroom and certainly within the industry as a whole.

There’s agreement that humans play an important role in supervising the use of AI, but there’s no agreement on where human journalists must be involved in the process — at the AI tool coding level? Before a piece is published?

Journalists believe professional practice and industry standards are being followed when using AI in journalism, but there is no agreed-upon “rule book” for how AI should be used.

There are issues with transparency about how and when AI is being used, both among journalists working in the same newsroom and in terms of what is revealed to audiences about whether the content they are consuming was created using AI tools.

Read more:
Transparency and trust: How news consumers in Canada want AI to be used in journalism

What journalists told us

Some of what we heard was reassuring. One journalist told us:

“The one thing that we are very particular about when we use this technology is that our editors always have the ability to override what the machine is doing.”

At the same time, however, it became clear that many news organizations are still operating in the ethical equivalent of the Wild West.

In many cases, journalists we spoke to talked about just following their gut when it came to deciding if using that AI tool to do that task was ethical. As one of our interviewees put it: “There’s a rule book in my head.”

When we asked interviewees how they knew their colleagues at the same publication followed the same ethical code they did when using AI, most could not answer except to imply that their co-workers wouldn’t have been hired if they didn’t share the same principles. One journalist said:

“I’ve worked there for 14 years now …I can’t think of anyone whose ethics I would disagree with.”

Getting the ethics of AI right and being seen to be doing so is important because journalism has a growing trust problem and needs to do everything possible to reverse the trend.

Multiple studies have shown that Canadian audiences want to know if AI tools are being used in newsrooms, and they aren’t sure if they want to pay for journalism created using AI.

Read more:
How audience data is shaping Canadian journalism

AI and news

Audiences, meanwhile, are being fed a steady diet of examples that illustrate how using AI tools to create journalistic work can go very wrong. For instance:

The Winnipeg Free Press was forced to disavow its AI audio tool because it was mispronouncing the Manitoba premier’s name.

An article in the Los Angeles Times was accused of “softening the image of the Ku Klux Klan.”

An AI-generated poll about a report in The Guardian provoked outrage when it quizzed readers on how a woman who was featured in the article had died. The poll was created by a Microsoft news aggregator, but The Guardian stated that it damaged their reputation.

Sports Illustrated was caught creating fake bylines for AI-generated stories on their websites.

Journalists and news organizations are still struggling to arrive at a shared understanding of how to use AI tools.
(Shutterstock)

News organizations might think they’re being transparent with audiences about how much content is being created using AI, but our research finds the evidence is mixed at best, especially in circumstances where AI generates the content and an editor approves it in the content management system before it is published.

In one memorable Zoom interview, an editor walked us through the AI-generated content in an article posted online, saying that it was clearly identified as AI on the webpage.

However, upon sharing the page, they were shocked to discover there was no information about the article being AI-generated anywhere. They said it would be fixed immediately, but when we last checked, the article still said nothing about the AI tool used to generate it.

While we gathered data from interviews, newsrooms in Canada started releasing guidance through internal emails and public blog posts. It is hard to find any language in publicly accessible policies that refers explicitly to how AI is being used or the ethics surrounding such use. It’s also unclear who is involved in conversations about ethical AI use in newsrooms, and who is not.

As one journalist we interviewed put it:

“I think my frustration personally comes from again the lack of openness to have this conversation about AI, and the urgency of it, because I think … we’re so busy trying to survive, we don’t realize that having this conversation about AI will help us survive.”

Our research suggests journalists and news organizations are still struggling in the midst of rapid technological change to arrive at a shared understanding of AI tools, their usage, the limitations of programming and best practices that build rather than erode trust.

Angela Misri receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.

April Lindgren receives funding from the School of Journalism and the Journalism Research Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University, the Rossy Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She has received funding previously from MITACS, CTV News, the Ken and Debbie Rubin Public Interest Advocacy Fund and CWA Canada, the Media Union.

Nicole Blanchett receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University, and the School of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University. She has received funding previously from Centre d’études sur les médias and Mitacs.

– ref. Have journalists skipped the ethics conversation when it comes to using AI? – https://theconversation.com/have-journalists-skipped-the-ethics-conversation-when-it-comes-to-using-ai-255485
MIL OSI – Global Reports –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Amata Honors 522nd Field Artillery Battalion at Historic 80th Anniversary Ceremony in Germany

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Aumua Amata (Western Samoa)

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata, who serves as Vice Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, was humbled to speak in honor of the soldiers that liberated prisoners on a death march from the Dachau Concentration Camp at an 80^th Anniversary remembrance, days before the 80^th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day). This historic rescue by the soldiers of the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. These were “Nisei” Japanese-American soldiers, 58 percent from Hawaii, while the rest were from the mainland, often the West Coast.

At the Memorial showing sculptures honoring those who died on the Dachau death march before thousands were rescued by the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion (US Army photo)

The ceremony with the German War Graves Commission and the Japanese American Veterans Association, included prayers, a wreath-laying, placement of a new plaque at the Memorial, local musicians, and remarks by German leaders and mayors, and U.S. Army and other officials including Congresswoman Amata; Dr. James Miller, Consul General, U.S. Consulate Munich; and Ellen Germain, U.S. State Department’s Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues.

Brig. Gen. Steven P. Carpenter, Commanding General, 7th Army Training Command, took time to speak to our Samoan families in Germany

Of local interest to American Samoa, there is a unique historic link between these heroes and the American Samoa Army Reserve unit, which was a component of the Hawaii-based 100^th Infantry Battalion – the only successor unit of the 442^nd Regimental Battalion. For more than three decades, until 2021, members of the American Samoan community served with Charlie Company of the 100th Infantry Battalion in American Samoa.

“Some of these heroic soldiers served in the U.S. military during World War II while they had relatives waiting out the war in internment camps, a difficult and sad chapter in U.S. history. One member of the 442nd became a U.S. Senator, Daniel Inouye, now a towering figure in Hawaii’s history, which I’m reminded of every time I land at the Honolulu International Airport named for him. Senator Inouye knew me and came to my wedding, as he was close friends with my father. After both served in World War II, Governor Coleman and Senator Inouye were both in law school in Washington, graduating from universities in the same city one year apart. They were active together in what was then the Hawaii Territorial Society of Washington, DC. So, it’s very personal to me to honor these Japanese-American soldiers, and this Hawaii connection to our Pacific region for this anniversary,” said Congresswoman Amata.

Congresswoman Amata and Brig. Gen. Carpenter, 7ATC CG, with our Samoan group in Germany

In 1945, the 522nd was assigned to the Seventh Army to support the last great Allied advance into Germany. On April 26, 1945, the SS started 14,180 prisoners on a death march from the Dachau concentration camp and Munich area subcamps.

On May 2, 1945, with the approach of U.S. troops, the SS abandoned the survivors on the road where the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, along with units of the 12th Infantry Regiment, and 4th Infantry Division, arrived and rescued 2,700 to 3,000 mostly Jewish Dachau prisoners along with 990 German political prisoners and 100 Slavic, Russian and Polish prisoners. About 3,300 other prisoners were rescued by other American troops nearby. Of the starting 14,180, fewer than half, approximately 6,300, survived to be rescued. The majority of the prisoners had died from murder, disease, medical neglect, exposure, exhaustion, and starvation.

The Pacific soldiers of the 522^nd saw these terrible sights and were able to stay with the rescued prisoners to provide food, security and care for the next few days.

“At the 80^th Anniversary, we memorialize their role in rescuing and restoring these prisoners after the terrible crimes against them. I am here, first because of the historic ties to our Pacific soldiers who were here, but also because my own father-in-law, Hobart Radewagen, was a member of the 20th Armored Division, one of the three divisions involved in the liberation of Dachau 80 years ago. He was awarded a Bronze Medal for his part in a battle at an SS barracks outside Dachau, another direct link for my family.

“In a personal parallel, in 2023, I was at Guadalcanal in Solomon Islands where my father served. They had just marked the 80th anniversary of the first allied offensive against the Japanese which halted their Pacific expansion. Now, I have the humbling honor to join you here to mark the 80th anniversary of Waakirchen, Dachau and the capture of Munich, leading to the end of the war.

“Truly, we can look at these events and understand why these soldiers are known as the greatest generation,” she concluded. “God bless the memories here, the important history, and the many descendants as we seek to live in peace and harmony.”

###

MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Amata Commends Entrepreneurs for Small Business Week

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Aumua Amata (Western Samoa)

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is commending entrepreneurship for Small Business Week, and thanking small businesses for their important role in the community.

“Small businesses are the heartbeat of our economy. You mean so much to our community. May your diligent planning lead to well-earned thriving for your small business! (Proverbs 21:5)

“Thank you to the small businesses all over our islands. We depend on you for what we need, just as you depend on your customers, and in that exchange of goods and services we uplift one another.

“Most of our businesses qualify as small businesses including our shopping, restaurants, and other services. Thank you for investing and building right here. Building a small business always involves risk and hard work, but that entrepreneurial vision can build something special over time.

“Finally, thank you to the many influencing or involved in our business community, including American Samoa Small Business Development Center, ASCC, the American Samoa Chamber of Commerce, and other local leadership efforts, clubs, groups or associations that support small business growth, and educators who teach the skills needed for employers.

“I support a helpful limited government role that encourages growth by keeping taxes down and regulations sensible, while putting the focus on improving the infrastructure priorities we need and share.”

###

MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: As funding cuts bite, UN chief announces new dawn for peacekeeping

Source: United Nations – Peacekeeping

The future of peacekeeping took centre stage on Tuesday in Berlin as UN chief António Guterres urged Member States to do more to support the global body’s Blue Helmets and stave off the worst impacts of deep funding cuts.

Addressing the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial 2025 in the German capital, the Secretary-General told dozens of ministers from more than 130 countries that peacekeepers remain key to “help countries move from conflict to peace.”

“In trouble spots around the world, Blue Helmets can mean the difference between life and death,” he insisted. “They are also a clear demonstration of the power of multilateral action to maintain, achieve and sustain peace.”

Despite the proven value of peacekeeping missions in ensuring a durable peace in countless countries from Cambodia to Liberia and Timor Leste, Mr. Guterres warned that today’s challenges have made this task much harder.

“We are now facing the highest number of conflicts since the founding of the United Nations and record numbers of people fleeing across borders in search of safety and refuge,” he said, before alluding to additional obstacles caused by an absence of political support for peacekeeping mandates.

Continue reading this story on UN News.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Federal Reserve Board announces termination of enforcement action with Perry County Bancorp Inc. and Du Quoin State Bank

Source: US State of New York Federal Reserve

Official websites use .govA .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPSA lock (
Lock
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) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Adding More Affordable Mixed-Use Housing in Brooklyn

Source: US State of New York

overnor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced the completion of Logan Fountain, a new affordable housing development in the Cypress Hills neighborhood of Brooklyn. The $214 million project transformed a vacant parcel into affordable apartments, transitional housing for homeless families, and new retail space. With 343 total units, the new building includes 173 affordable apartments and 169 units of transitional housing, as well as one unit reserved for a superintendent. The development is a city-state project with investments from New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), New York City Department of Social Services (DSS), and New York City Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Since the Governor has taken office, HCR has financed over 7,600 affordable homes in Brooklyn. Logan Fountain continues this effort and complements Governor Hochul’s $25 billion five-year housing plan, which is on track to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide.

“It’s simple: the only way to address the housing crisis is to build more housing,” Governor Hochul said. “New Yorkers deserve a safe, stable and affordable home. By working together with Mayor Adams and our partners in New York City, we can address the needs of New Yorkers and create the types of modern and sustainable homes that uplift communities and allow families to grow.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, “Every day, we are working to make New York City more affordable, and our whole-of-government approach is allowing us to partner with Governor Hochul and the state today to deliver over 340 units of affordable and transitional housing. This project will provide exactly the type of long-term stability our families need to help them thrive — providing them access to on-site services, resources, and housing. We are thrilled to open this world-class building with crucial supports and energy efficient designs that will make a lasting impact on hundreds of families, and which will serve as a model for how we can smartly address our decades-long housing crisis.”

Apartments are available to households earning up to 70 percent of the Area Median Income. Of the 173 affordable apartments, there are 105 supportive apartments with onsite social services including case management, career counseling, mental health support, and referrals to healthcare. Logan Fountain was designed to appeal to families of different sizes and has a mix of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Additionally, the building includes ground-floor retail, play areas, fitness space, and a courtyard.

Logan Fountain will also host 169 units of transitional housing for families. Designed with trauma-informed principles, HELP New Leaf will offer critical support for families including clinical care, employment counseling, and housing placement support.

Logan Fountain’s sustainability measures include rooftop solar panels for on-site energy generation, a Variant Refrigerant Flow heating and cooling system that captures and repurposes heat already in the environment, as well as ENERGY STAR (r) appliances.

The project to redevelop the vacant site into a mixed-use hub for families was identified in the New York City Department of City Planning’s East New York Neighborhood Plan. The project’s developer is Hudson Companies, Jericho Project is providing the onsite support services, and HELP USA is operating the transitional housing within the building.

The 173 affordable and supportive apartments at Logan Fountain are supported by HCR’s Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program which generated nearly $50 million in equity and $18 million of long-term bond financing from its Housing Finance Agency.

The site is also participating in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s successful Brownfield Cleanup Program and will be eligible for approximately $9 million in tax credits to be issued by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Operational funding for the 105 supportive apartments is being provided by the New York City 15/15 Supportive Housing Program. DSS’s 30-year contract facilitates financing for the development and not-for-profit ownership of the 169 units of transitional housing.

Additional support included $24 million from HPD’s Supportive Housing Loan Program, $1 million in discretionary capital funding from the New York City Council, and over $150,000 in incentives from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

New York State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said, “HCR’s investment in affordable housing will bring benefits to Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills community for generations to come. With affordable apartments, family-friendly amenities, and energy-efficient features, Logan Fountain demonstrates the potential housing can have on the lives of New Yorkers and the future of our neighborhoods. We thank Governor Hochul for her dedication to addressing the housing crisis in Brooklyn, and we appreciate the continued collaboration and support from City Hall and our partner agencies.”

NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen Harris said, “Reimagining vacant infrastructure by incorporating the latest sustainable building technologies moves New York State forward in its just and equitable transition to a clean energy economy. The transformation of Logan Fountain will help to meet the diverse, local needs of the Brooklyn community, while creating comfortable, and affordable spaces for future generations.”

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Acting Commissioner Amanda Lefton said, “Cleaning up environmental pollution in communities like Brooklyn unlocks investments in critical needs like affordable housing, transitional housing services, and commercial development. New York State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program is a vital tool that supports community revitalization across the state and the Logan Fountain project in Cypress Hills is a prime example of how this successful cleanup program is helping advance Governor Hochul’s continued efforts to increase affordable, sustainable housing statewide while also protecting public health and the environment.”

New York City Housing Preservation and Development Acting Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said, “Turning a former gas station into the largest project of its kind in New York City with affordable homes, supportive services, and transitional shelter all under one roof shows what real public-private partnership can deliver. Logan Fountain is a powerful example of what’s possible when we rethink how underused land can serve our communities. These 105 supportive homes, along with critical onsite care, reflect a new model for housing that prioritizes stability, dignity, and opportunity.”

New York City Department of Homeless Services Administrator Joslyn Carter said, “The Logan Fountain is an exemplary project that transforms underutilized city space into much-needed supportive and transitional housing for vulnerable families. At DHS, we are committed to reimagining the shelter system through innovative high-quality models and strong provider partnerships that enhance our delivery of services and strengthen pathways to long-term housing stability for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness. We are grateful to our partners at HELP USA, The Hudson Companies, and others as we continue to raise the bar on the physical infrastructure of our shelter system.”

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer said, “I’m proud that the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit that I worked hard to protect and expand has generated $68 million to help build Logan Fountain in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn — a new development with 174 affordable apartments and a 169-unit family shelter with on-site support services. I applaud Governor Hochul’s efforts to create and preserve affordable homes across the state, especially for vulnerable New Yorkers, and I will continue working to deliver the federal resources needed for more affordable housing options.”

State Senator Roxanne J. Persaud said, “This is an incredible addition to the Cypress Hills neighborhood. By providing affordable housing alongside comprehensive wraparound services, Logan Fountain sets a standard for how we should address community needs — strengthening families, supporting vulnerable New Yorkers, and building more resilient neighborhoods.”

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said, “I am thrilled to see what was once a vacant gas station transformed into a vibrant mixed-use facility with more than 300 units of housing, including transitional housing for our most vulnerable neighbors. Logan Fountain’s unique financing embodies the innovative thinking we need more of to make a dent in our housing crisis. I am so thankful to Governor Hochul and NYS Homes and Community Renewal for supporting Logan Fountain and their long-term commitment to building desperately needed housing in Brooklyn.”

New York City Council Member Sandy Nurse said, “Logan Fountain will bring hundreds of much-needed affordable, supportive, and transitional housing units to Brooklyn. I am particularly grateful that forty-one percent of the units will be family sized units, which will help stem the exodus of primarily Black families from the city. This project will help stabilize those most in need of permanent housing and allow families to put down roots in East New York.”

Hudson Companies President David Kramer said, “Logan Fountain stands as the largest project of its kind in New York City — a truly groundbreaking achievement that brings much-needed housing and social services to East New York. Today’s ribbon-cutting marks the transformation of a long-vacant site into a vibrant, mixed-use development designed to support and uplift our most vulnerable residents and tackle the city’s housing crisis. We’re deeply grateful to Governor Hochul for her support in bringing this development to life and to The Jericho Project and Help USA for their vital role in delivering these essential social services.

Jericho Project CEO Tori Lyon said, “Jericho Project is honored to provide support to the 105 families residing in Logan Fountain’s supportive housing complex — a critical initiative made possible through strong public and private partnership. Through our integrated service model – which includes mental health care, employment support, family counseling, and housing stabilization – our experienced staff will help ensure these families have the tools and support necessary to thrive.”

HELP USA President and CEO Dan Lehman said, “HELP New Leaf Family Shelter at Logan Fountain is a powerful example of what’s possible when the City and State work in true partnership with nonprofits and private developers. This shelter stands on the site of HELP 1 — our very first family shelter — which opened in the 1980s and set a national standard for transitional housing. As we celebrate HELP USA’s 40th anniversary and our work serving more than 30,000 people each year, New Leaf reflects all we’ve learned since then — a new model of care, services, and design built to meet the complex needs of today’s families. Logan Fountain is more than a building — it’s a commitment to dignity, stability, and opportunity for families rebuilding their lives.”

Governor Hochul’s Housing Agenda
Governor Hochul is committed to addressing New York’s housing crisis and making the State more affordable and more livable for all New Yorkers. As part of the Fiscal Year FY25 Enacted Budget, the Governor secured a landmark agreement to increase New York’s housing supply through new tax incentives for Upstate communities, new incentives and relief from certain state-imposed restrictions to create more housing in New York City, a $500 million capital fund to build up to 15,000 new homes on state-owned property, an additional $600 million in funding to support a variety of housing developments statewide and new protections for renters and homeowners. In addition, as part of the FY23 Enacted Budget, the Governor announced a five-year, $25 billion Housing Plan to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide, including 10,000 with support services for vulnerable populations, plus the electrification of an additional 50,000 homes. Nearly 60,000 homes have been created or preserved to date.

The FY25 Enacted Budget also strengthened the Pro-Housing Community Program which the Governor launched in 2023. Pro-Housing certification is now a requirement for localities to access up to $650 million in discretionary funding. Over 300 communities have currently been certified, including the City of New York.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Angola at 50: Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) 2025 Affirms Oil and Gas as a Development Driver

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

LUANDA, Angola, May 13, 2025/APO Group/ —

As sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest oil producer and an emerging global gas player, Angola is revitalizing its oil and gas sector through policy reform, upcoming projects and aligned industry goals. The country has secured over $60 billion in commitments over the next five years, reflecting the growing interest by international financiers and operators in advancing Angolan projects. As the country continues to promote investment, the upcoming Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) conference affirms the role oil and gas plays as a fuel for development in Angola.

This year’s edition of AOG – taking place September 3-4 in Luanda – is hosted under the theme Angola 50 Years: Oil and Gas as a Development Driver, highlighting the fundamental role the industry has played in the country’s economic growth. Taking place on the eve of Angola’s 50 years of independence celebration and with a focus on policy improvements, upcoming investment prospects, major developments and cross-sector opportunities, the event underscores how investing in Angola will unlock long-term growth and high returns.

AOG is the largest oil and gas event in Angola. Taking place with the full support of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas; the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency; the Petroleum Derivatives Regulatory Institute; national oil company Sonangol; and the African Energy Chamber; the event is a platform to sign deals and advance Angola’s oil and gas industry. To sponsor or participate as a delegate, please contact sales@energycapitalpower.com.

Angola’s oil and gas industry is at a critical juncture, striving to address production decline while accelerating sustainable growth. An upcoming licensing round – planned for this year – in tandem with the country’s 2025-2028 project pipeline is set to bolster production and unlock greater value from the industry. Major developments include the New Gas Consortium’s Quiluma and Maboqueiro fields (2026); the Azule Energy-led Agogo Integrated West Hub Development (late-2025); the TotalEnergies-operated Kaminho Deepwater Development (2028); and the Cabinda Oil Refinery (2025). Beyond existing projects, Angola has committed to unlocking its frontier basins, with the Namibe-Benguela, Etosha-Okavango and Kassanje basins at the fore. ExxonMobil is leading exploration in Namibe while Vietnam’s XTG signed a deal to explore the Etosha-Okavango basin in 2025. Future discoveries will augment the industry’s contribution to the economy while creating new opportunities for joint ventures, increased output and value addition.

By sustaining production above one million barrels per day, Angola is positioning the oil and gas industry as a fuel for cross-sector development. The industry already supports activities across key sectors, including mining, agriculture and industry. With goals to become a globally-leading critical mineral producer, produce 17.5 million carats of diamonds by 2027 while enhancing fertilizer production for agri-operations, strengthened synergies between the hydrocarbon, mining and agricultural industries would stand to drive future growth. As such, the government has been implementing policies to support multi-sector development.

Regulatory reform and aligned policies are expected to support future projects while diversifying the industry through natural gas monetization. To offset production decline, the country implemented an Incremental Production Decree, comprising attractive firms for companies re-investing in producing assets. The country is also expected to introduce its Gas Master Plan in 2025, designed to attract investment across the gas value chain. These policies have already begun to entice spending, and the government is promoting a flexible approach to investing in Angola.

The AOG 2025 conference steps into this picture to provide a platform where the industry can connect, engage and sign deals. In celebration of 50 years of independence and energy leadership in Angola, the event unites stakeholders from across the economy. Major sponsors have already come on board, underscoring the value AOG plays in supporting portfolio expansion and brand exposure by major oil and gas players. Sonangol Integrated Logistics Services, Cabship and Azule Energy have joined as Gold Sponsors; FAMAR and Petrotec have joined as Silver Sponsors; while Algoa Cabinda Services and Enagol have joined as Bronze Sponsors. There are still a range of sponsorship opportunities available. Visit www.AngolaOilAndGas.com for more information.

MIL OSI Africa –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: AI methods help predict the emergence of ‘gazelles’ and other high-growth firms, but challenges remain

Source: The Conversation – France – By Tatiana Beliaeva, Enseignante–chercheuse en entrepreneuriat, UCLy (Lyon Catholic University)

Predicting whether or not companies will be successful is crucial for guiding investment decisions and designing effective economic policies. However, past research on high-growth firms – enterprises thought to be key for driving economic development – has typically shown low predictive accuracy, suggesting that growth may be largely random. Does this assumption still hold in the AI era, in which vast amounts of data and advanced analytical methods are now available? Can AI techniques overcome difficulties in predicting high-growth firms? These questions were raised in a chapter I co-authored in the De Gruyter Handbook of SME Entrepreneurship, which reviewed scientific contributions on firm growth prediction with AI methods.

According to the Eurostat-OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) definition, high-growth firms are businesses with at least 10 employees in the initial growth period and “average annualised growth greater than 20% per annum, over a three year period”. Growth can be measured by the firm’s number of employees or by its turnover. A subset of high-growth firms, known as “gazelles”, are young businesses – typically start-ups – that are up to five years old and experience fast growth.

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High-growth firms drive development, innovation and job creation. Identifying firms with high-growth potential enables investors, start-up incubators, accelerators, large companies and policymakers to spot potential opportunities for investment, strategic partnerships and resource allocation at an early stage. Forecasting outcomes for start-ups is more challenging than doing so for large companies due to limited historical data, high uncertainty, and reliance on qualitative factors like founder experience and market fit.

How random is firm growth?

Accurate growth forecasting is especially crucial given the high failure rate of start-ups. One in five start-ups fail in their first year, and two thirds fail within 10 years. Some start-ups can also contribute significantly to job creation: research analysing data from Spanish and Russian firms between 2010 and 2018 has shown that while “gazelles” represented only about 1-2% of all businesses in both countries, they were responsible for approximately 14% of employment growth in Russia and 9% in Spain.

High-growth firms are “widely considered essential for stimulating economic growth and employment” but are difficult to identify. Stakeholders need accurate growth predictions to help optimize decision-making and minimize risks by identifying firms with the highest potential for success.

In an effort to understand why some firms grow faster than others, researchers have looked into various factors including the personality of entrepreneurs, competitive strategy, available resources, market conditions and macroeconomic environment. These factors, however, only explained a small portion of the variation in firm growth and were limited in their practical application. This led to the suggestion that predicting the growth of new businesses is like playing a game of chance. Another viewpoint argued that the problem of growth prediction might stem from the methods employed, suggesting an “illusion of randomness”.

As firm growth is a complex, diverse, dynamic and non-linear process, adopting a new set of methods and approaches, such as those driven by big data and AI, can shed new light on the growth debate and forecasting.

AI offers new opportunities for predicting high-growth firms

AI methods are being increasingly adopted to forecast firm growth. For example, 70% of venture capital firms are adopting AI to increase internal productivity and facilitate and speed up sourcing, screening, classifying and monitoring start-ups with high potential. Crunchbase, a company data platform, claims that internal testing has shown that its AI models can predict start-up success with “95% precision” by analysing thousands of signals. These developments promise to fundamentally change how investors and businesses approach decision-making in private markets.

The advantages of AI techniques lie in their ability to process a far greater volume, variety and velocity of data about businesses and their environments compared to traditional statistical methods. For example, machine learning methods such as random forest (RF) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) help identify key variables affecting business outcomes in datasets with a large number of predictors. A “fused” large language model has been shown to predict start-up success using both structured (organized in tables) fundamental information and unstructured (unorganized and more complex) textual descriptions. AI techniques help enhance the accuracy of firm growth predictions, identify the most important growth factors and minimize human biases. As some scholars have noted, the improved prediction indicates that perhaps firm growth is less random than previously thought. Furthermore, the ability to capture data in real time is especially valuable in fast-paced, dynamic environments, such as high-technology industries.

Challenges remain

Despite AI’s rapid progress, there is still considerable potential for advancement. Although the prediction of high-growth firms has been improved with modern AI techniques, studies indicate that it continues to be a challenge. For instance, start-up success often depends on rapidly changing and intangible factors that are not easily captured by data. Further methodological advances, such as incorporating a broader range of predictors, diverse data sources and more sophisticated algorithms, are recommended.

One of the main challenges for AI methods is their ability to offer explanations for the predictions they make. Predictions generated by complex deep learning models resemble a “black box”, with the causal mechanisms that transform input into output remaining unclear. Producing more explainable AI has become one of the key objectives set by the research community. Understanding what is explainable and what is not (yet) explainable with the use of AI methods can better guide practitioners in identifying and supporting high-growth firms.

While start-ups offer the potential for significant investment returns, they carry considerable risks, making careful selection and accurate prediction crucial. As AI models evolve, they will increasingly integrate diverse and unstructured data sources and real-time market signals to detect early indicators of potential success. Advancements are expected to further enhance the scalability, accuracy, speed and transparency of AI-driven predictions, reshaping how high-growth firms are identified and supported.

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

– ref. AI methods help predict the emergence of ‘gazelles’ and other high-growth firms, but challenges remain – https://theconversation.com/ai-methods-help-predict-the-emergence-of-gazelles-and-other-high-growth-firms-but-challenges-remain-255907

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New ‘engine for growth’ package announced as Defence Secretary closes London Stock Exchange
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

New ‘engine for growth’ package announced as Defence Secretary closes London Stock Exchange

Industry, innovators and investors will benefit from a new partnership with UK Defence, making it easier and more attractive to do business than ever before.

New partnership with business launched in the heart of City of London to unlock innovation, create skilled jobs and boost investment, as part of the Government’s Plan for Change.

John Healey MP becomes first Defence Secretary to close the day’s market at London Stock Exchange, announcing new Defence ‘Tech Scaler’ initiative to drive innovations from idea to frontline.

New report shows small and medium enterprises funded by the Ministry of Defence have attracted nearly £600 million private equity investment, supporting over 1,000 new jobs across the UK.  

Launching this new partnership with a package of measures including a new ‘Tech Scaler’ pilot, John Healey MP will today become the first Defence Secretary to close the day’s market at the London Stock Exchange, underlining the government’s backing for the defence industry as an engine for national renewal and economic growth.

Speaking to business leaders, military personnel and private financiers, he called for an end to prejudice against defence investment and outlined how defence is driving economic growth, boosting British jobs and national security, underpinning the Government’s Plan for Change.

Defence Secretary John Healey MP said:

The war in Ukraine confronts us with the truth that a military is only as strong as the industry which stands behind it.

I’m here today – at this most crucial time – to help forge a new partnership between industry, innovators and investors.

UK Defence is open for business and together we can make Britain secure at home and strong abroad.

National security is at the heart of our Plan for Change, and is essential for economic security, investor confidence and social stability.

The Defence Secretary set out a package of measures to foster easier access to the defence market, including:

Defence Tech Scaler: A new Ministry of Defence Marketplace to drive innovations from idea to front line, with Enterprise Agreements for software, data and AI suppliers, to make it easier for innovative businesses, of all sizes, to do business with defence. As part of this, the Ministry of Defence has signed four Enterprise Agreements with firms including Adarga, Haedean, Oxford Dynamics and WhiteSpace – to a total value of up to £50 million.

Procurement Reform: A new segmented approach and radically faster targets for procurement in three areas: 1) major equipment – planes, tanks, ships – will go from an average of six to two years to get on contract; 2) upgrades to communications and weapons systems will go from an average of three to one year to get on contract, and 3) purchases of off-the-shelf kit – such as drones and software – will run in three-month cycles. For Armed Forces, this will mean they will get what they need when they need it, and for investors, it will mean a timelier return on investment.

Defence Innovation: A new innovation organisation, UK Defence Innovation, will help deliver cutting-edge technology to the Armed Forces and will be up and running by July this year, with a ring-fenced budget of £400 million this financial year.

Defence Industrial Joint Council, led by the Defence Secretary, will host its first meeting next month, and help co-ordinate public-private investment strategies – boosting investment into UK defence and delivering new jobs across Britain.

These measures come as a new report shows the value of the defence industry to the wider UK economy. The report, published today, found that funding from the MoD’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) to 461 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) resulted in nearly £600m in private investment and created 1,842 new jobs across the UK. £174 million was raised in 2024 alone, demonstrating defence as an engine for UK economic growth and delivering on the government’s Plan for Change. DASA continues to fund and support SMEs developing defence technology innovations, particularly dual-use technologies serving both civilian and military needs.

Daniel Maguire, Group Head, London Stock Exchange Group said: 

The defence industry plays a vital role in the wider UK economy, supporting jobs and creating long-term value alongside ensuring our national security. We welcome the Government’s new measures and hope that LSEG can support in initiatives designed to help unlock capital for companies, boost growth, and promote innovation.

Last month, the Government welcomed the launch of a new UK Defence and Economic Growth Task Force – led by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) CEO and consulting firm Oliver Wyman, and jointly chaired by the Chancellor and Secretary of State for Defence. The Task Force will meet for the first time this month to unlock the potential of the UK’s defence sector to drive long-term national growth, innovation, and economic resilience.

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Published 13 May 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: New Albany Man Charged with Threatening Public Officials

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A New Albany man has been charged with federal crimes related to sending at least 65 threatening letters and electronic communications to approximately 34 victims, including public officials, a local TV station and law enforcement. Many of the letters included a white powder and one letter included a bullet etched with the victim’s last name.

“Perpetrators who violate federal law by sending such serious threats in the mail or online will not remain anonymous. Actual or threatened political violence in any form must be condemned,” said Acting United States Attorney Kelly A. Norris. “We will work with our law enforcement partners to identify these bad actors and prosecute them.”

“Targeting public officials with threatening messages and substances is a serious federal crime that won’t go unpunished,” stated FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Elena Iatarola. “FBI agents have worked closely with our local, state, and federal partners to investigate these incidents and arrest the suspected offender.”

Ronald Lidderdale, 39, appeared in federal court in Columbus this afternoon. He is charged with making interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure, mailing threatening communications, false information and hoaxes, and cyberstalking.

According to charging documents, Lidderdale allegedly sent the threatening communications to publicly elected officials holding statewide office in Ohio, elected officials holding office in the federal government, and individuals involved in Ohio politics.

It is alleged that Lidderdale sent at least 49 letters containing suspicious white powders, which at times the sender claimed to be Ricin. To date, 29 victims received the white powder letters.

One letter contained a 9mm bullet with the last name of the public official etched on it.

For example, between July and early August 2024, it is alleged that Lidderdale sent a dozen threatening letters via the mail in five different mailings. The return labels on the letters contained mailing information for individuals who were either currently or previously employed by the targeted public official.

In the letters, Lidderdale allegedly threatened violence against the letter recipients, including language like, “I will kill you for your ignorant loyalty to your pedophilic party” and “I will kill you for the good of The People. Your death will come when you least expect it.”

Last week, Lidderdale allegedly sent letters to eight victims containing a hitlist of eight individuals he said he would kill in the month of May.

Court documents allege that Lidderdale sent a letter to a local TV station and emails to federal and local law enforcement outlining his plans.

It is further alleged that Lidderdale sent threatening emails to public officials stating, “Each [victim] will receive the gift of their names etched onto a single bullet. Their skull is the target the bullet is the gift.”

On May 8, Lidderdale allegedly told FBI agents that he had sent the letters and emails with the intent to incite fear, including the fear of bodily injury, and to make threats with the goal of changing behavior.

Mailing threatening communications carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Making interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure, conveying false information and hoaxes, and cyberstalking are all federal crimes punishable by up to five years in prison.

Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division; Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; and Lesley Allison, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); as well as the U.S. Capitol Police, Ohio State Highway Patrol and several Ohio police departments; announced the charges filed today. Deputy Criminal Chief Brian J. Martinez and Assistant United States Attorneys Damoun Delaviz and Jessica W. Knight, National Security Division Counterterrorism Section Trial Attorney James Donnelly and Trial Attorney Aaron L. Jennen of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are representing the United States in this case.

A criminal complaint merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

# # #

MIL Security OSI –

May 14, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Xi unveils roadmap for deepening cooperation with LAC countries 2025-05-13 22:12:54 Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday announced the launch of five programs to advance shared development and revitalization with Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries.

Source: People’s Republic of China – Ministry of National Defense

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum and delivers a keynote speech at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday announced the launch of five programs to advance shared development and revitalization with Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries.

The five programs, ranging from solidarity, development and civilization to peace and people-to-people connectivity, were announced by Xi when delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing.

In 2015, Xi and LAC delegates attended the opening ceremony of the first ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum in Beijing, which marked the launch of the forum.

On Solidarity Program, Xi said China is willing to strengthen solidarity with LAC countries and continue to support each other on issues concerning their core interests and major concerns, to firmly safeguard the international system with the U.N. at its core and the international order underpinned by international law, and to speak with one voice in international and regional affairs.

In the next three years, China will invite 300 members from political parties of CELAC member states every year to visit China to facilitate exchanges on national governance best practices, Xi said.

On Development Program, China is willing to work with LAC countries to implement the Global Development Initiative, resolutely uphold the multilateral trading system, ensure stable, unimpeded global industrial and supply chains, and promote an international environment of openness and cooperation, Xi said.

Noting that the two sides should foster greater synergy between their development strategies and expand high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, Xi said China will import more quality products from LAC countries and encourage Chinese enterprises to expand their investment in the region.

On Civilization Program, Xi called for joint implementation of the Global Civilization Initiative. He said both sides should uphold the vision of equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness between civilizations, champion humanity’s common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, and enhance China-LAC civilizational exchanges and mutual learning, including through a conference on China-LAC inter-civilizational dialogue.

On Peace Program, Xi called for joint implementation of the Global Security Initiative. He said both sides should cooperate more closely in disaster governance, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, anti-corruption, narcotics control and combating transnational organized crime so as to safeguard security and stability in the region.

On People-to-People Connectivity Program, Xi said in the next three years, China will provide CELAC member states with 3,500 government scholarships, 10,000 training opportunities in China, 500 International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarships, 300 training opportunities for poverty reduction professionals, and 1,000 funded placements through the Chinese Bridge program, initiate 300 “small and beautiful” livelihood projects, and support CELAC member states in developing Chinese language education.

China has decided to offer a visa-free policy to five LAC countries, and will expand the policy to cover more regional countries in due course, Xi said.

Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, the CELAC rotating chair, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, and Dilma Rousseff, president of the New Development Bank and former Brazilian president, addressed the event respectively.

Special representative of Yamandu Orsi, president of Uruguay, the incoming CELAC rotating chair, read out the president’s congratulatory letter.

Faced with a world full of uncertainties, LAC countries and China should work together to promote continuous new progress in building a community with a shared future, they said.

Both sides should respect each other and firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty and choosing their own development path, they said, calling for strengthening the synergy between the development strategies of LAC countries and the Belt and Road Initiative, and promoting cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure, agriculture, science and technology, new energy and education.

The two sides should also promote exchanges and dialogues among civilizations, safeguard the authority of the U.N., support multilateralism and free trade, and oppose unilateralism, protectionism, power politics and bullying to safeguard the common interests of the Global South, they added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum and delivers a keynote speech at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese President Xi Jinping poses for a group photo with guests attending the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. Xi attended the opening ceremony of the meeting and delivered a keynote speech. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum and delivers a keynote speech at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and guests attend the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. Xi delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the meeting. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and guests attend the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. Xi delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the meeting. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, also rotating president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chilean President Gabriel Boric delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Dilma Rousseff, president of the New Development Bank and former Brazilian president, delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing, capital of China, May 13, 2025. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

MIL OSI China News –

May 14, 2025