NewzIntel.com

Category: Universities

  • MIL-OSI Global: The woman who turned the Met Gala into the biggest party of the year

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén, SweAmfo/ASF Research Fellow at USC School of Cinematic Arts | Fulbright Scholar, University of Southern California

    Diana Vreeland takes a drag from her cigarette as she greets Andy Warhol. Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images

    The annual Met Gala in New York City is a dazzling collision of celebrity, fashion and media frenzy.

    The event is ostensibly a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, which houses a vast collection of historical costumes and fashion artifacts.

    But for many people, it’s that time of year when their social media feeds become awash with posts, stories and live streams of A-list actors, musicians and influencers ascending the iconic steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to showcase their elaborate outfits.

    Zendaya at the 2024 Met Gala, which was themed ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.’
    Neilson Barnard/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

    The gala has come a long way since its early days as an intimate fundraising event for the local fashion industry and New York’s old-guard elite.

    Through my research at the Met’s Thomas J. Watson Library, I discovered the ways in which a former fashion editor named Diana Vreeland elevated this formerly stuffy charity ball into a global media sensation.

    A low-key affair

    Philanthropist and arts patron Irene Lewisohn launched the Museum of Costume Art in 1937 to promote the preservation and study of historical clothing. In 1946, New York fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert helped bring the museum’s collection under the purview of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the caveat that it would operate independently of the museum’s budget. It was then renamed the Costume Institute.

    Dorothy Shaver burnished the reputation of the Costume Institute in its early years.
    Erwin Blumenfeld/Condé Nast via Getty Images

    In 1948, Lambert organized the inaugural gala to raise funds for the institute. The following year, Lord & Taylor president Dorothy Shaver established a formal management structure for both the institute and its annual gala, streamlined operations, and helped burnish the reputation of the fledgling institution among New York’s social elite. During her tenure, gala revenues climbed steadily, from US$31,723 in 1949 to $118,775 in 1958 – roughly $1.3 million in today’s dollars.

    The Met Gala that Shaver shaped looked similar, in many ways, to today’s: There was a theme, a formal dinner, live entertainment and a fashion parade that attendees could participate in. There were also a photographers row, where guests could be snapped by famed fashion photographers for a fee, and raffles with department store prizes.

    After Shaver’s death in 1958, department store executives continued to steer the gala, but attendance and revenue waned. In 1961, in an effort to cut costs and revive interest, the event was moved into the museum itself.

    The gala needed a reinvention. Soon, it would get one.

    Vreeland’s vision

    Diana Vreeland took the reins of the Met Gala in 1973.

    She’d had a storied career in fashion journalism, including stints as fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar and editor-in-chief of Vogue.

    Vreeland, however, understood that in order for the gala to grow, it needed to become a newsworthy event that would be of interest to those who might not even attend the gala itself. So she selected spectacular, sometimes controversial themes that would generate interest from the press.

    Vreeland’s first exhibition in 1973 was bold: a tribute to a single designer, Cristóbal Balenciaga.

    “The World of Balenciaga” was funded by the Spanish government, Iberia Airlines and five Spanish banks – a controversial move, considering Spain was still under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship. The show featured Franco’s granddaughter’s wedding dress as one of the central pieces.

    Some curators also bristled at Vreeland’s unorthodox approach to exhibition planning, such as blurring time periods, displaying clothes without providing historical context and prioritizing beauty over scholarship.

    “She knows fashion and who wore it,” one former museum official said, “but she doesn’t know history.”

    Nonetheless, critics deemed the gala and its accompanying exhibition a huge success. American designer Stan Herman declared that the garments “belong in a museum, like good paintings.”

    In the coming years, Vreeland’s other themes included “Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design,” “The ‘10s, ’20s and ’30s,” and “American Women of Style.” The latter was accompanied by a Vogue magazine spread starring actress and model Marisa Berenson, who channeled iconic American “it girls” like Irene Castle, Consuelo Vanderbilt and Josephine Baker.

    Models and actresses wear costumes and masks for the Costume Institute’s 1974 exhibition ‘Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design.’ Diana Vreeland is seated in the center, sans mask.

    Buzz and pizzazz

    Before Vreeland, coverage of the gala was limited to society pages and publications like Women’s Wear Daily.

    Vreeland knew how to generate buzz because she thought like an editor. She also knew how to charm the press. Vreeland popularized words like “pizzazz,” “splendeur” and “deeveen.” She told tales of discovering model and actress Lauren Bacall and the work of fashion designer Roy Halston. She regaled reporters with stories of allegedly visiting Buffalo Bill in Wyoming.

    Under Vreeland’s leadership, media coverage of the gala and exhibitions exploded, with articles appearing in The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, People, Interview, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Revista Hola!, ABC de las Americas, Il Tempo, Paris Herald Tribune and Tokyo’s High Fashion, among others. During her tenure, she also opened the doors to reporters and photographers so they could cover the night of the event.

    In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily she said, “I am an entertainer. And I believe in wit, and good nature, and laughter.”

    Corporate controversies

    With “The World of Balenciaga,” Vreeland also pioneered the use of corporate sponsorships to finance the exhibitions and parties. In 1982, Pierre Cardin Management funded “La Belle Époque,” a Met Gala theme associated with the relaunch of the famed Paris restaurant Maxim’s, in which Cardin had invested.

    In 1983, Vreeland courted controversy again with the first exhibition honoring a living designer — Yves Saint Laurent — underwritten by the Pierre Bergé Foundation. Bergé was Saint Laurent’s life and business partner.

    The show was launched amid rumors of the designer’s declining health and growing criticism of the museum being exploited as a publicity platform.

    “One day the god of the Temple of Dendur will cry: ‘I am not on earth to share a museum with a bunch of fashion freaks!’” critic John Heilpern groused in the East Side Express.

    The following year, Ralph Lauren became the central sponsor and guest of honor for “Man and the Horse.”

    Diana Vreeland and designer Ralph Lauren at the 1984 gala, which was themed ‘Man and the Horse’ and sponsored by Lauren.
    Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images

    The Met set

    Under Vreeland, a new kind of guest list also emerged.

    The rise of celebrity culture in the 1960s gave birth to the “jet set” – beautiful people whose fame transcended traditional society circles.

    Vreeland embraced this shift. She made space at the gala for the likes of Andy Warhol, Bianca and Mick Jagger, Halston and his Halstonettes, David Bowie, Cher, Diana Ross, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson.

    Their presence helped transform the gala from society soirée to pop culture phenomenon.

    After Vreeland’s death in 1989, the event lost some its splendor under the guidance of museum curators. Women’s Wear Daily columnist Aileen Mehle later lamented the decline, writing that the event had become “a far cry from the dear old Diana Vreeland days when that fashion oracle called the Costume Institute’s shots, and elegance and anticipation abounded.”

    In the late 1990s, however, the museum curators who had run the event since Vreeland’s death ceded control back to the fashion industry. High-end brands like Chanel, Versace and Christian Dior sponsored the Met Gala, while fashion editors such as Liz Tilberis and Anna Wintour chaired the event.

    By channeling Vreeland’s vision, they were able to turn the gala into the global media spectacle it is today, which now thrives in an era of social media and global branding.

    This year’s theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Styles,” is co-chaired by rapper-producer Pharrell Williams, who is also the artistic director of Menswear at Louis Vuitton. The LVMH conglomerate – Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton – is the sponsor, showing how the gala continues to operate as a platform where corporate branding, celebrity culture and high culture converge.

    Taylor Swift attends the 2014 Met Gala, themed ‘Charles James: Beyond Fashion.’
    Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

    Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén received funding from Fulbright (2023-2024)

    – ref. The woman who turned the Met Gala into the biggest party of the year – https://theconversation.com/the-woman-who-turned-the-met-gala-into-the-biggest-party-of-the-year-250363

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Pandas and politics − from World War II to the Cold War, zoos have always been ideological

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By John M. Kinder, Professor of History and American Studies, Oklahoma State University

    Giant panda Xiao Qi Ji walks around his enclosure at the Smithsonian National Zoo in September 2023 in Washington, D.C. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    President Donald Trump’s sweeping range of more than 130 executive orders and other decisions aim to upend everything from long-standing immigration policy to the control of a performing arts center.

    But so far, zoos are not among the many issues the Trump administration has focused on.

    That might no longer be the case.

    Trump issued an executive order on March 27, 2025, to restore “truth and sanity” at federal history sites.

    “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history,” Trump wrote in the executive order, “replacing facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” As a corrective, he instructed Vice President JD Vance to ferret out “improper ideology” at the Smithsonian Institution, a group of museums and research centers created and funded by the federal government.

    The executive order also applied to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., which has been part of the Smithsonian since 1890.

    For Trump’s critics, the suggestion that zoos might be indoctrinating visitors was absurd.

    NBC “Late Night” host Seth Meyers joked about the executive order on his show on April 2, characterizing it as evidence of an authoritarian personality.

    “Seriously, what the hell is ‘improper’ ideology at the zoo? Trump is starting to get into weird dictator s—,” Meyers said.

    Meyers’ astonishment should come as no surprise. Zoos go to great lengths to portray themselves as scientifically objective and politically neutral.

    Yet as a scholar of wars’ effects on American culture and society, I know that zoos have always been ideological, sending subtle – and not so subtle – messages about topics that have little to do with animals.

    Historically, zoos have been used to justify colonial exploitation. They have lent weight to eugenicist ideas about racial hierarchy. And they have served as backdrops for all kinds of political theater.

    During the 1920s and 1930s, for example, Italian strongman Benito Mussolini liked to climb inside the lion cage at the Rome Zoo to demonstrate the courage and vitality he associated with fascist politics.

    As I argue in my 2025 book “World War Zoos: Humans and Other Animals in the Deadliest Conflict of the Modern Age,” the links between zoos and national politics are especially pronounced in periods of war.

    Benito Mussolini, the longtime fascist dictator of Italy, visits a zoo in Rome in 1924.

    World war zoos

    Zoo ownership and funding models depend on the individual zoo, but many zoos receive at least some government funding to operate.

    At the start of World War II, most governments required zoos to embrace an ideology of sacrifice – a willingness to set the needs of the state above their own.

    For zoos in North America and the British Empire, this meant slashing workers’ pay, rationing food supplies and offering uniformed soldiers special access to zoo facilities.

    It also meant destroying animals considered a threat to public safety, especially in the event of a bombing or assault that could set them free. In 1939, the London Zoo killed more than 200 animals, starting with the black widow spiders and venomous snakes. Other zoos did the same, slaughtering their animal collections as a precaution against possible escape.

    Joan the hippo at the London Zoo gets a drink of water in June 1939.
    Fox Photos/Getty Images

    Authoritarian governments during World War II exercised almost total control over their nations’ zoos.

    Under Adolf Hitler, German zoos enforced “Aryan-only” visitation policies, festooned their grounds with swastikas, hosted galas for Nazi dignitaries and exhibited animals looted from zoos in occupied nations.

    In Japan, the governor of Tokyo ordered the Ueno Zoo to carry out a series of “propaganda killings” aimed at strengthening public commitment to the wartime struggle. Starting in August 1943, zoo staff shot, electrocuted, stabbed and strangled more than 20 animals, including a polar bear, an American bison, a python and a leopard cub.

    Tokyo’s zoo also starved to death three elephants named Jon, Tonki and Hanako. Weeks after the zoo held an official funeral for its animals, two of the three elephants that were not actually dead continued to suffer, their cages covered in bunting so the public would not see the ghastly evidence.

    Even as the fighting raged, the Soviet government directed its zoos to develop practical measures to help the war effort. At the Moscow Zoo, staff taught people how to breed mice and rabbits for medical applications, such as vaccine testing.

    All the while, Soviet zoo employees had to demonstrate ideological vigilance in the workplace. Any slipup could mean official sanction, loss of position or worse.

    Cold War zoos

    During the Cold War, governments around the world continued to view zoos through an ideological lens.

    This was especially true in Berlin, where the city’s two zoos – one in the capitalist West, the other in the communist East – became symbols of competing ideological worldviews.

    No zoo animals were more ideologically fraught in the Cold War than giant pandas, endemic to the forested mountains of central China.

    In the 1950s and 1960s, American zoos were denied permission by the U.S. government to import pandas from China. The State Department considered them “enemy goods.”

    First lady Pat Nixon welcomes pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1972.

    That changed in 1972, when President Richard Nixon, during a thawing of the Cold War, famously returned from China with Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, the first giant pandas who were gifted to and exhibited in the U.S. in decades.

    The National Zoo unveiled China’s latest “soft power ambassadors” in January 2025. Three-year-old pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao are set to remain in D.C. for 10 years – long enough to win the hearts and minds of millions of zoo visitors.

    John M. Kinder 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. Pandas and politics − from World War II to the Cold War, zoos have always been ideological – https://theconversation.com/pandas-and-politics-from-world-war-ii-to-the-cold-war-zoos-have-always-been-ideological-255305

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Guns in America: A liberal gun-owning sociologist offers 5 observations to understand America’s culture of firearms

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By David Yamane, Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest University

    About 86 million American adults own at least one of the estimated 400 million firearms in the U.S. today. Paul Campbell, iStock / Getty Images Plus

    An Asian American and lifelong liberal from the San Francisco Bay Area, I became a first-time gun owner as a 42-year-old in 2011. I began a now 14-year journey into an unfamiliar and complex world of firearms. In my work, I draw on both my personal experiences and sociological observations to understand the long-standing presence of a robust legal gun culture in America.

    In contrast to the dominant scholarly approaches, which focus on gun deviance and harm, I find there is more to firearms than criminal violence, injury and death; more to gun owners than straight white men; and more to gun culture than democracy-destroying right-wing politics.

    Let me share five observations essential to understanding guns in America:

    1. Guns are normal

    About 86 million American adults – 1 in 3 – own at least one of the estimated 400 million firearms in the U.S. today.

    Imagine if everyone who uses TikTok in the U.S. owned a gun – and then add the population of New York City. That is enough gun owners to fill over 1,000 NFL stadiums.

    Humans have used projectile weapons like rocks and spears from the beginning. This unbroken history continues in every society, with firearms as the weapon of choice in all but the most isolated communities. People who could legally own guns in colonial America commonly did so. Even today, civilian firearms ownership remains exceptionally high in the U.S. compared with other industrialized nations.

    The right of everyday Americans to own guns is a deep part of American culture, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and many state constitutions.

    2. Gun culture 2.0

    The culture of guns in the U.S. has evolved over time.

    Before the mid-1800s, people primarily used firearms for practical purposes: hunting for food, defense from and offense against indigenous populations, controlling enslaved people, expanding territory and fighting against oppressive rulers.

    Kevin Dixie, at a firearms retailer and gun range in Ballwin, Mo., believes that gun rights are about empowering minority communities and ensuring freedom for every American.
    AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

    Starting in the mid-1800s, Americans developed a more complex gun culture that included recreational hunting, organized target shooting and gun collecting. These elements continue today, but, in a shift, Americans increasingly own guns for self-defense.

    Evidence for the evolution to what I call “Gun Culture 2.0” appears in three key areas: surveys about why people own guns, the loosening of gun-carrying laws beginning in the 1980s, and changes in both the types of firearms sold and how companies market them, especially toward small, concealable pistols.

    3. Gun ownership is diverse

    Black Americans have a particularly strong tradition of gun ownership dating at least to the 19th-century abolitionist movement.

    Today, 1 in 4 Black Americans, as well as 1 in 5 Latinos and 1 in 4 women, personally own a gun. Twenty percent of gun owners consider themselves politically liberal. For every four evangelical Protestants who own handguns, three people who don’t identify with any religion own them too. Scholars are even beginning to discover the importance of LGBTQ+ gun owners.

    Gun Culture 2.0 is more diverse and inclusive than the United States’ historical gun culture because security is a universal human concern.

    The response to feelings of insecurity varies. Portfolios of protective measures in the U.S. include home security systems, dogs, the hyperlocal social networking service Nextdoor, gated communities and firearms.

    4. Guns are lethal tools

    Many tools like knives and chainsaws are lethal, meaning they have the capacity to cause death. Guns differ because their lethality is by design. Consequently, guns can make dangerous situations more deadly.

    Despite their ubiquity and deadly potential, accidental firearm deaths are relatively rare and declining in the U.S., numbering fewer than 500 annually in recent years. Most gun deaths are intentional, with suicides accounting for 58% and homicides for 38% of 46,728 gun deaths in 2023.

    While the U.S. has a moderate overall suicide rate compared with other developed countries, it has a firearm suicide rate that substantially exceeds these other nations. This is because firearms are widely available and highly lethal. When people attempt suicide using guns, they die in up to 90% of cases.

    Similarly, although the U.S. is not exceedingly violent or criminal compared with peer nations, its criminal violence is more deadly because these lethal tools are more frequently involved.

    Starting in the mid-1800s, Americans developed a more complex gun culture that included recreational hunting, as depicted in this 1852 lithograph of woodcock hunters.
    Universal History Archive/Getty Images

    5. Guns are paradoxical

    Despite high rates of firearm suicide and homicide, most guns in the U.S. will not kill anyone, and most American gun owners will not commit violence against themselves or others. My calculations, based on the 2023 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, indicate that just one gun death occurred per 8,560 firearms and 1,840 gun owners – meaning at least 99.99% of guns and 99.95% of gun owners were not directly involved in fatalities that year.

    These observations collectively point to a final insight: Guns resist simple categorization and embody multiple paradoxes.

    To different people, they are fun and frightening, dangerous and protective, diffuse and concentrated, unifying and divisive, attractive and repulsive, interesting and controversial, useful and useless, good and bad, and neither good nor bad.

    This is to say, guns are not inherently anything. They take on different meanings according to the various purposes to which people put them.

    A realistic view requires maintaining a clear-eyed understanding of the lethal capabilities of firearms. But the tendency to focus exclusively on firearms-related harms, while understandable, becomes a problem, in my view, when it fails to acknowledge the normality of guns and the diversity of gun owners.

    David Yamane has received funding from The Louisville Institute for the Study of American Religion to study church security. He is a member of the Liberal Gun Club, National African American Gun Association, and National Rifle Association, and financially supports the Liberal Gun Owners 501c4 and Walk the Walk America 501c3 organizations.

    – ref. Guns in America: A liberal gun-owning sociologist offers 5 observations to understand America’s culture of firearms – https://theconversation.com/guns-in-america-a-liberal-gun-owning-sociologist-offers-5-observations-to-understand-americas-culture-of-firearms-251084

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Deporting international students risks making the US a less attractive destination, putting its economic engine at risk

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By David L. Di Maria, Vice Provost for Global Engagement, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

    Boston University students march to demand the school declare itself a sanctuary campus to protect their peers from the federal government regardless of their immigration status, on April 3, 2025. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

    In early April 2025, the Trump administration terminated the immigration statuses of thousands of international students listed in a government database, meaning they no longer had legal permission to be in the country. Some students self-deported instead of facing deportation.

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently announced that it would reverse the terminations after courts across the country determined they did not have merit.

    These moves come as the White House seeks to enhance vetting and screening of all foreign nationals.

    The State Department in March announced plans to use artificial intelligence to review international students’ social media accounts.

    As an administrator and scholar who specializes in international higher education, I know that international students in the United States have long been subjected to a high level of vetting, screening and monitoring.

    Inserting additional bureaucracy into current processes could make the U.S. a less attractive study destination. I believe this would ultimately hamper the Trump administration’s ability to achieve its “America First” priorities related to the economy, science and technology, and national security.

    International students in the US

    The U.S. has long been the global leader in attracting international students. But competition for these students is increasing as other countries, such as Germany and South Korea, enact strategies for attracting international education.

    The U.S. hosts 16% of all students studying outside of their home country, down from 22% in 2014 and 28% in 2001, according to the Institute of International Education. Of the more than 1 million international students who were present in the U.S. during the 2023-2024 academic year, 54% came from just two countries, China and India.

    Most international students pursue graduate degrees in STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. And, according to the National Science Foundation, international students make up a significant portion of enrollment at the master’s and doctoral levels.

    How international students are screened

    International students in the U.S. are already subjected to intense screening and continuous monitoring. These measures include:

    • Vetting the student’s school. Before they can apply for a visa, international students must be admitted to a school authorized by the Department of Homeland Security to enroll people on student visas.

    • Vetting at the embassy. As part of the visa application process, international students are subjected to national security reviews carried out by various intelligence and law enforcement agencies. In some cases, such as when a U.S. consular officer in their home country decides that more information is required from external sources to determine visa eligibility, additional screenings occur. That is done through a process known as administrative processing.

    • Vetting upon arrival. When they arrive in the U.S., international students are again screened by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. If the officer is unable to verify any information, the student is sent to secondary inspection, a secure interview area where the student waits while officers complete additional assessment. The student is then either admitted to the U.S. or forced to depart the country.

    • Ongoing monitoring while in the U.S. If permitted to enter the country, students must enroll full time, earn good grades and notify their school within 10 days of substantive changes to their circumstances.

    Examples include a change to their address, academic major or financial sponsor. And school officials are required to report this information to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s National Security Investigations Division.

    Students participating in temporary, postgraduation training programs must continue to comply with reporting requirements. And certain STEM graduates, and their employers, are subject to additional requirements. They include certification of training plans, annual evaluations and site visits.

    Most international students prefer to study in the U.S., recent research shows. But they are willing to change their preferences as other countries introduce friendlier visa policies, such as more flexible post-study work opportunities and lower visa costs.

    Given the current level of screening and monitoring already imposed on international students in the U.S., it is unclear how additional measures would add value.

    Boston University police officers speak to each other as students protest outside a dean’s office demanding the school declare itself a sanctuary campus, on April 3, 2025.
    Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

    Critical to an America First agenda

    President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda aims to grow the U.S. economy.

    It also intends to maintain U.S. leadership in science and technology and enhance national security.

    Trump administration officials have underlined the importance of recruiting top global talent. And Trump has said that international students who graduate from U.S. colleges should be awarded a green card with their degree.

    During the 2023-2024 academic year, international students contributed US$43.8 billion to the U.S. economy through tuition and living expenses, which supported an estimated 378,175 U.S. jobs.

    Their contributions don’t end following graduation, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. Many go on to launch successful startups at a rate that is eight to nine times higher than their domestic peers. In fact, 25% of billion-dollar companies in the U.S. were founded by a former international student.

    Such companies include Eventbrite, Grammarly, Moderna, OpenAI, Robinhood and SpaceX.

    International students also help the U.S. maintain global leadership in STEM.

    Consider that 45% of STEM workers in the U.S. holding a doctoral degree were born outside the U.S.

    A 2024 report cautions that the U.S. is failing to develop domestic STEM talent at all levels of the education system. Just 3.2% of U.S. high school graduates are estimated to enter the STEM workforce.

    Moreover, the country’s ability to attract and retain international STEM talent is decreasing due to immigration restrictions and increased global competition.

    Finally, international students are critical to establishing global networks and promoting soft power diplomacy. This is evidenced by the U.S. having graduated more world leaders than any other nation.

    Further restricting the ability of international students to study in the U.S. will ultimately redirect talent to other countries, allies and adversaries alike.

    David L. Di Maria 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. Deporting international students risks making the US a less attractive destination, putting its economic engine at risk – https://theconversation.com/deporting-international-students-risks-making-the-us-a-less-attractive-destination-putting-its-economic-engine-at-risk-249245

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Unmanned Drones Carrying Bathymetric Lidar Systems Being Utilized to Cover Larger Areas Quickly

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    PALM BEACH, Fla., May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FN Media Group News Commentary – LIDAR is being used in more industries across all markets and in many environments… one of which is water. People have studied the underwater depth of river, sea, and ocean floors for thousands of years to be able to safely navigate boats through the water. Today, such depth measurements are done using advanced technology that includes either sound (sonar), or laser pulses (LiDAR). The study of underwater topographies is called bathymetry, whereas studying underwater depths is known under terms such as seafloor mapping or imaging. According to a recent report from Precedence Research the global LiDAR market, including bathymetric LiDAR, is projected to reach a substantial $13.74 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 21.56% from 2024 to 2033. This growth is driven by increased adoption in various sectors, including autonomous vehicles, infrastructure development, and environmental applications like forestry and flood modeling. A recent article by an industry insider said: “Bathymetric LiDAR was first used to detect submarines. However, many more applications have been developed that use bathymetric LiDAR as a result of advancing sensor technology. With smaller platforms including unmanned drones and small helicopters that can carry heavier payloads, bathymetric LiDAR systems can cover large areas quickly and capture accurate 3D data that includes the seabed and surrounding terrain of different water bodies.   Over time, bathymetric LiDAR has proven to be a fast, reliable, accurate, and safe technique for rapidly mapping nearshore waters, beaches, coastal engineering structures, and more. Compared to traditional methods, such as sonar-based systems or manual depth soundings, bathymetric LiDAR can generate more detailed and precise maps of underwater topography. It also allows for seamless mapping of both water and surrounding land, with the ability to reach up to three times the visible water depth.” Active Companies in the drone industry today include ZenaTech, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZENA), Draganfly Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRO), AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV), Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE: TDY), Ouster, Inc. (NASDAQ: OUST).

    The article continued: “The advantage of using green light for bathymetric LiDAR is that it penetrates further into the water than other frequencies, to capture deeper depths that standard bathymetry methods may miss. Green light also scatters less off suspended particles than other wavelengths, reducing inaccuracies caused by suspended sediment or algae in the water column.   Bathymetric LiDAR is also a more sustainable and safer option for underwater mapping as it doesn’t require expensive and fuel-consuming survey vessels, or people entering the water. These might get lost or injured during surveys, while the use of bathymetric LiDAR sensors eliminates such potential risks. Bathymetric LiDAR technology offers rapid, accurate, and cost-effective data collection for hydrographic surveying, which involves measuring the physical features of water bodies (depth, currents, and underwater topography). Using bathymetric LiDAR, submerged archeological sites are found and studied, such as ancient shipwrecks and submerged settlements.”

    ZenaTech’s (NASDAQ:ZENA) Drone as a Service (DaaS) Offerings Expand to Bathymetric Surveys for Underwater Terrain Mapping for Commercial and Government Customers – ZenaTech, Inc. (FSE: 49Q) (BMV: ZENA) (“ZenaTech”), a technology company specializing in AI (Artificial Intelligence) drones, Drone as a Service (DaaS), enterprise SaaS, and Quantum Computing solutions, announces its DaaS offerings have expanded to include bathymetric surveys, a specialized method of mapping underwater terrain using drones equipped with sonar. These surveys are important for critical underwater depth and contour data to support maintenance, dredging, environmental planning, and aquatic development for both commercial and government customers.

    ZenaTech’s DaaS bathymetric surveys are now available in South Florida through the recently acquired Wallace Surveying where the team has both golf course and Intracoastal Waterway project relationships and surveying expertise. Utilizing advanced sonar and ZenaDrone drones, high-resolution underwater maps help customers make informed decisions ─ from enhanced water management and lake and channel design strategies, to ensuring long-term sustainability.

    “The Wallace team brings key customer relationships and bathymetric survey expertise that will enhance our national DaaS drone offerings. Bathymetric surveys using aerial drones offer faster, safer, and more cost-effective data collection, especially in hard-to-reach or hazardous environments. Unlike conventional manned survey vessel methods, drones require fewer personnel, reduce operational risks, and can access shallow or narrow areas with greater precision,” said CEO Shaun Passley, Ph.D.

    According to DataIntelo market research, the global Bathymetry Survey Sonar Market was valued at approximately $1.2 billion in 2023, this market is projected to reach $2.1 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 6.2%. This encompasses sonar systems utilized in bathymetric surveys, including those deployed on drones.

    ZenaTech’s DaaS business will incorporate the ZenaDrone 1000 and the IQ series of multifunction autonomous drones to provide a variety of service solutions from land surveys to power line inspections or power washing, made accessible and cost effective through an Uber-like business model on a regular subscription or pay-per-use basis. Customers can conveniently access drones for eliminating manual or time-consuming tasks achieving superior results, such as for surveying, inspections, security and law enforcement, or precision farming applications, without having to buy, operate, or maintain the drones themselves.

    The DaaS business model offers customers such as government agencies, real estate developers, construction firms, farmers or energy companies reduced upfront costs as there is no need to purchase expensive drones, as well as convenience, as there is no need to manage maintenance and operation. The model also offers scalability to use more often or less often based on business needs and enables access to advanced drone technology sensors or attachments without the need for specialized training.   Continued… Read this full release by visiting: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-zena/

    Other recent developments in the markets include:

    AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain autonomous systems, recently announced it has been awarded a $46.6M contract by the Italian Ministry of Defence (MOD) for the delivery of its JUMP® 20 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) medium uncrewed aircraft system (MUAS). The five-year contract encompasses the procurement of JUMP 20 air vehicles, engineering services, initial sustainment and onsite technical support – ensuring rapid fielding and operational readiness from day one.

    JUMP 20 is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), fixed-wing UAS with 30 pounds of payload capacity, 13+ hours of endurance and an operational range of 185 km (115 mi). Purpose-built for expeditionary operations, the system can be stored and transported with ease and autonomously launched and recovered without personnel intervention, making it ideal for dynamic on-the-move operations.

    In a new whitepaper, Teledyne FLIR Defense, part of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE: TDY), says that emerging cost-effective precision strike solutions that can be safely recovered and reused offer a strong alternative to more commonly deployed ‘One-Way Attack’ or First Person View (FPV) drones.

    In the new paper, USE IT, DON’T LOSE IT: The Case for Recoverable and Reusable Loitering Munitions, FLIR Defense argues that newer, advanced loitering munition unmanned aircraft systems (LMUAS) are better suited to support operations in the ‘atmospheric littoral.’ An emerging strategic concept, the atmospheric littoral describes the very low-altitude airspace (up to several hundred feet above ground level) which, if controlled, can significantly enhance the ground maneuver of combat units.

    Ouster, Inc. (NASDAQ: OUST) recently announced the launch of a cloud portal for Ouster Gemini, its digital lidar perception platform for security, intelligent transportation systems, crowd analytics, and logistics. With the cloud portal, users can seamlessly configure, manage, and view all of their on-premise Ouster Gemini lidar deployments through a unified interface.

    Ouster Gemini combines Ouster’s 3D digital lidar with AI-powered perception software to accurately detect, classify, and track people and vehicles, even in adverse weather or low light conditions. The solution offers seamless integration with video management systems and traffic controllers, delivering high-performance real-time 3D situational awareness to enhance security, safety, and operational efficiency.

    Draganfly Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRO), an industry-leading developer of drone solutions and systems, recently announced the formation of its Public Safety Advisory Board. This new initiative reinforces Draganfly’s commitment to delivering cutting-edge, mission-critical technologies that support enforcement and public safety agencies worldwide. Renowned global public safety expert and Homeland Security advisor Paul Goldenberg will serve as the inaugural Chair of the Board.

    With more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement, global security, and national intelligence, Goldenberg brings unparalleled expertise to the role. Recently named America’s Most Influential Person in Homeland Security, he has advised U.S. Presidents, members of Congress, and international security bodies on counterterrorism, cybercrime, and public safety. As a former senior member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), Goldenberg led pivotal initiatives, including the DHS Cybersecurity Task Force and the Countering Foreign Influence Task Force. He currently serves as Chief Advisor for Policy and International Policing at the Rutgers University Miller Center on Policing, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow for Transnational Security at the University of Ottawa, and a member of the National Sheriffs’ Association Southern Border Security Committee.

    About FN Media Group:

    At FN Media Group, via our top-rated online news portal at www.financialnewsmedia.com, we are one of the very few select firms providing top tier one syndicated news distribution, targeted ticker tag press releases and stock market news coverage for today’s emerging companies. #tickertagpressreleases #pressreleases

    Follow us on Facebook to receive the latest news updates: https://www.facebook.com/financialnewsmedia

    Follow us on Twitter for real time Market News: https://twitter.com/FNMgroup

    Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/financialnewsmedia/

    DISCLAIMER:  FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates FinancialNewsMedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels.  FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein.  FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security.  FNM’s market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities.  The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material.  All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks.  All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release.  FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers.  Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks.  For current services performed FNM has been compensated fifty one hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by ZenaTech, Inc. by the Company.  FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

    This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. “Forward-looking statements” describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as “may”, “future”, “plan” or “planned”, “will” or “should”, “expected,” “anticipates”, “draft”, “eventually” or “projected”. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company’s annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

    Contact Information:
    Media Contact email: editor@financialnewsmedia.com – +1(561)325-8757

    SOURCE: FN Media Group

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Buxton Helmsley Announces Corporate Transformation, Director and Officer Appointments

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Announces Recent Corporate Transformation and Further Plans Involving Reimagined Enterprise

    Announces Commencement of USD$50mm Private Placement of Common Stock Ownership in Buxton Helmsley Parent Company, Having Received Immediate Subscriptions, and Exploring Possible Direct Listing on New York Stock Exchange

    Substantial Majority of Offering Proceeds to Be Temporarily Allocated Toward Launch of Inaugural Fund, with Parent Company Investors Obtaining Fee-Free Indirect Fund Exposure and Unique Economic Benefits Not Experienced by Unaffiliated Limited Partners

    Alexander E. Parker, Ranked Among the Top 15% of Global Activist Investors by Engagement Volume According to Bloomberg’s “Activism League Tables,” Appointed as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

    Appoints Independent Financial Industry Veterans Charles Garcia, Rumbi Petrozzello, and Beth Haddock to Board of Directors

    Appoints Tenured Financial and Venture Capital Professional Johnathan Flickinger as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

    Appoints Former BNP Paribas and UBS Equity Research Head Weiyee In [殷 維一] as Head of Capital Markets Research

    Plans to Form The Buxton Helmsley Foundation, to Begin Operations in Q4 2025

    NEW YORK, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Buxton Helmsley, Inc. (together with certain of its affiliates, “BH”, “we”, or the “Company”), a New York City-based alternative asset manager, today announced a series of actions taken between February and April 2025. These initiatives follow the continued success of its flagship low-correlation defensive activism strategy, which has consistently captured opportunities across market cycles. BH has also unveiled plans involving a USD$50 million private placement of common stock in parent company Buxton Helmsley, Inc. (offering unique benefits to investors distinct from underlying BH fund offerings):

    • Commencement of USD$50 Million Private Placement of Common Stock in Parent Company, Buxton Helmsley, Inc. – BH has commenced a Rule 506(c) private placement of USD $50 million of common stock (the “New Private Offering”). Immediately prior to commencement (under Rule 506(b)), BH secured initial subscriptions. A substantial majority of the proceeds from the New Private Offering will be allocated to sponsoring BH’s inaugural investment fund, carrying forward an expanded version of the defensive activism strategy developed by Alexander E. Parker. This initiative further solidifies the Buxton Helmsley name among the top 15% of global activist investors by engagement volume, as ranked within Bloomberg’s “Activism League Tables.” BH has also begun exploring a potential direct listing of its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

      BH is preparing to launch its largest investor advocacy initiative to date, targeting a global corporation with a market capitalization of over $5 billion. Evidence of extensive insider trading among senior executives and “hush money” payments to whistleblowers is anticipated to drive an immediate, majority board refresh, allowing for BH to thereafter unlock significant operational and financial improvements. Given the anticipated media coverage and heightened investor interest once the initiative becomes public, pricing for future BH common stock sales will likely be adjusted upward following the public disclosure of this latest and largest campaign. Prospective investors wishing to participate under the current terms of the New Private Offering are encouraged to inquire about investing before the public announcement.

      Interested investors should inquire via e-mail at ir@buxtonhelmsley.com.

    • Commencement of Investor Discussions and Acceptance of New Private Offering Subscriptions – BH has initiated discussions with investment banks, high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and institutional investors, and has begun accepting New Private Offering subscriptions. All investors must be accredited, and reasonable steps will be taken to verify accreditation in accordance with U.S. securities laws. The New Private Offering is not being conducted in any jurisdiction where such an offering would be unlawful under that jurisdiction’s securities laws, and eligibility screening will apply to all investors, regardless of domicile.
    • Appoints Financial Industry Veterans Charles Garcia, Rumbi Petrozzello, and Beth Haddock to Board of Directors:
      • Charles Garcia – Mr. Garcia serves as the Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and a Member of Audit Committee at BH, where he contributes his expertise in executive leadership, corporate governance, and financial oversight. With significant experience across capital markets and financial services, he brings valuable perspective to the Company’s leadership structure. Before joining BH, Mr. Garcia founded Climb Leadership International, a company dedicated to fostering leadership excellence at Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, and financial technology firms. His distinguished career includes serving as a Managing Director at Citadel and Director of Business Development at BlackRock. Mr. Garcia began his professional journey at Bloomberg LP, where he spearheaded the company’s strategic expansion across Latin America. Beyond his corporate achievements, Mr. Garcia has made significant academic contributions as an adjunct professor at Columbia University, and as a professor and Assistant Dean at Long Island University Post’s School of Business. His combined experience in financial markets, leadership development, and academia provides BH with comprehensive governance expertise.
      • Rumbi B. Petrozzello, CPA CFF CFE – Ms. Petrozzello serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee and a Member of the Nominating and Governance Committee at BH, where she contributes her extensive expertise in accounting, forensic investigation, and compliance oversight. As a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF), and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), she brings critical financial governance skills to the firm’s leadership team. Before joining BH, Ms. Petrozzello established herself as a principal at Rock Consulting, where she provides specialized consulting services focused on internal control adequacy and litigation support for accounting and financial matters. At Seramount, a professional services and research firm, she serves as Head of Strategy, Consulting, driving initiatives to advance high-performing, inclusive workplaces. Her leadership experience includes serving as past President of the New York State Society of CPAs, in addition to actively serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Ms. Petrozzello’s combination of forensic accounting expertise, strategic consulting experience, and professional leadership provides BH with exceptional financial oversight capabilities.
      • Beth Haddock, Esq. – Ms. Haddock serves on the Audit Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee at Buxton Helmsley, bringing over 25 years of strategic leadership in financial services, fintech, and corporate governance. She has held leadership roles across diverse environments, from large public multinationals to privately held startups, with revenues ranging from under $100 million to over $10 billion. Her background includes leadership roles at AXA S.A., Brown Brothers Harriman, Guggenheim Investments, and AdvisorEngine (acquired by Franklin Templeton), driving growth through strategic corporate development, risk management, and operational execution. Beth’s expertise spans finance, regulation, and market development, with notable initiatives including the launch of new European Union service centers, successful government grant applications, compliance program redesigns, and global fund expansion. With over seven years of experience in emerging technologies, she is well-versed in regulatory strategy, compliance, and litigation. Beth has led high-impact legal and compliance departments, holds a patent for measuring return on investment with relation to compliance initiatives, and is the author of Triple Bottom-Line Compliance, where she advocates for pragmatic, sustainable governance frameworks that deliver protection, productivity, and long-term value.
    • Appoints Alexander E. Parker as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer – Mr. Parker’s defensive and transformative investor engagement campaigns have resulted in the Buxton Helmsley name, over the course of approximately a decade, being ranked among the top 15% of global activist investors (according to Bloomberg, based on investor engagement volume). With a proven track record of impact-oriented investing to resolve market integrity issues and to catalyze positive corporate transformations, Mr. Parker has successfully led the firm’s investor advocacy initiatives by combining straightforward business acumen with a deep knowledge of securities, accounting, and legal obligations at publicly traded companies. Before establishing his leadership at BH, Mr. Parker built a reputation as an effective whistleblower, with securities regulators subsequently charging violations at entities he identified. His investor engagement campaigns have gained recognition in prestigious publications, including The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. Mr. Parker studied finance and economics at Mercy University of New York City, where he participated in the school’s honors business program. Based in Manhattan, he maintains an influential network that advances Buxton Helmsley’s investor objectives. Mr. Parker has been featured in leading financial publications including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, The Irish Times, and TheStreet.com. As a licensed investment professional through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and a FINRA-appointed arbitrator, he brings additional credibility and regulatory insight to his leadership role.
    • Appoints Johnathan J. Flickinger as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer – Mr. Flickinger has been appointed to serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at BH, bringing nearly a decade of experience in financial management and private equity operations. His career spans public multinational organizations and high-growth startups, where he has led initiatives to scale internal operations and strengthen financial reporting. Prior to joining BH, Mr. Flickinger held roles at AngelList, Unilever, and The Livekindly Collective. He has overseen compliance operations for emerging venture firms, global financial planning and analysis initiatives, and has included implementation of post-acquisition financial reporting controls across international organizations. Before joining BH, Johnathan founded a venture-backed fintech company delivering an AI-native solution for registered investment advisors. Recognized for his ability to build scalable financial infrastructure, Mr. Flickinger brings to the firm a distinctive blend of corporate finance acumen, entrepreneurial perspective, and strategic leadership.
    • Appoints Weiyee In [殷 維一] as Head of Capital Markets Research – Mr. In serves as the Head of Capital Markets Research and Chair of the Expert Advisory Board at BH, where he leverages his extensive background as a publishing Wall Street analyst and senior executive at global financial institutions. With expertise spanning technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) equities, Mr. In has played a pivotal role in shaping investment strategies across multinational banks, including UBS and BNP Paribas. Mr. In has also engaged in digital asset custody and institutional trading at several chartered financial institutions. Over his career, he has held leadership roles in equity research, sustainability strategy (ESG), and regulatory advisory, developing AI-driven solutions for financial compliance frameworks such as MiFID II, GDPR, and AML/KYC regulations. A native of New York City, Mr. In has spent much of his career as an expatriate, working in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and across Southeast Asia. As an active angel investor and advisor, he has contributed to fintech, AI, data analytics, and industrial automation startups across Asia and Europe. His work in digital ledger technology (DLT) integration, trade analytics, and financial custody solutions has driven innovation in institutional investment and regulatory compliance.
    • Revocation of Historical “Buxton Helmsley” Trademark Licensees – On February 24, 2025, BH acquired the “Buxton Helmsley” trademark and related intellectual property (the “BH IP”) from BH founder Alexander E. Parker. Immediately prior to BH’s acquisition of the BH IP, Mr. Parker formally revoked the authorization to use the BH IP from two unaffiliated entities (Buxton Helmsley Holdings, Inc. and The Buxton Helmsley Group, Inc.), both of which have no shared economic interest or affiliation with BH. BH expressly disclaims any and all activities of these entities for which it is entirely unaffiliated. Immediately after BH’s acquisition of the BH IP, BH filed for formal registration of the BH IP with the USPTO.
    • Formation of Buxton Helmsley USA, Inc. – Following the formation and acquisition of the BH IP, BH formed Buxton Helmsley USA, Inc., a newly-registered exempt reporting advisor, having filed the necessary documents with the State of New York.
    • Plans to Form The Buxton Helmsley Foundation in Q4 2025 – As part of its continuing commitment to driving positive public impact, BH plans to establish The Buxton Helmsley Foundation (the “BHF”) in Q4 2025. Concurrent with the formation of BHF, BH will appoint a board of trustees to manage the charitable affairs of BHF. BHF will focus on strategic philanthropy, including medical research and innovation, development of education and economic opportunity, and whistleblower protection. BHF will manage its endowment, comprised of contributions from BH and external donors, to drive a long-term and sustainable impact.

      Mr. Parker intends to donate to BHF his direct personal economic interest in a pending lawsuit filed against defendants Assertio Holdings, Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer, Brendan P. O’Grady. The suit alleges defamation per se (the “Assertio Defamation Claim”) arising from the defendants’ response to a scheme of clinical data fraud alleged by multiple former executives-turned-whistleblowers of an Assertio subsidiary (specifically, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the maker of cancer drug Rolvedon, previously clinically tested as Rolontis). Mr. Parker will request that the BHF board of trustees earmark such funds for allocation to cancer-focused causes.

      To view the official court filing for Mr. Parker’s Assertio Defamation Claim: https://www.buxtonhelmsley.com/asrt/

      The official court transcript from the most recent hearing in which Mr. Parker is a party to (though, BH and its affiliates are not a party to): https://www.buxtonhelmsley.com/asrt/

    “This transformation marks a defining moment in Buxton Helmsley’s trajectory,” said Alexander E. Parker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “What was once a broader, multi-pronged enterprise has now been reimagined as a focused, high-conviction enterprise dedicated solely to alternative asset management. With this sharpened mission and a newly fortified leadership team of industry-leading professionals, Buxton Helmsley is positioned to deliver institutional-grade strategy, integrity-driven investing, and scalable impact. The launch of our $50 million private offering, alongside the formation of The Buxton Helmsley Foundation, underscores our commitment to shaping capital markets and societal outcomes alike, with both precision and purpose, to leave a long-term legacy.”

    Accredited investors interested in the USD$50 million New Private Offering may obtain more details at: https://www.buxtonhelmsley.com/news-and-insights/announcements/our-next-chapter

    About Buxton Helmsley

    Buxton Helmsley, Inc. is a New York City-based alternative asset management firm, managing both active and passive investment strategies across a range of asset classes, with a general focus on opportunities in North America and Europe. The firm’s investment approach is based on deep fundamental analysis and risk management, with a focus on ensuring disclosure obligations are being upheld under applicable accounting standards and securities laws.

    Disclosures Related to Private Offering

    The information provided within this press release by Buxton Helmsley, Inc. (“BH”) and its affiliates is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities or investment products. This information does not constitute investment, legal, tax, or other advice. BH makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information contained herein.

    BH is an alternative asset manager and has not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”) and, as such, investors will not be entitled to the benefits of the Investment Company Act. Investments in BH may involve a high degree of risk and may employ speculative investment practices. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The value of investments may fluctuate, and investors may lose the entire amount invested. Investment in any of the investment funds or securities offered by BH is available only to eligible investors pursuant to the relevant offering documents, which should be read in their entirety.

    BH and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents shall have no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on the information contained herein. Access to this website may be restricted under the securities laws in certain jurisdictions. Readers should verify that they are permitted to access this information under applicable law, given that this information may be republished. BH disclaims any and all liability for any unlawful access to this information.

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

    The information herein contains “forward-looking statements.” Specific forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and include, without limitation, words such as “may,” “will,” “expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “explores,” “estimates,” “projects,” “potential,” “targets,” “forecasts,” “seeks,” “could,” “should” and/or the negative of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology. Similarly, statements that describe our objectives, plans, or goals are forward-looking and are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. There is no assurance that any idea or assumption herein is, or will be proven, correct, or that any of the objectives, plans or goals stated herein will ultimately be undertaken or achieved. If one or more of such risks or uncertainties materialize, or if any of BH’s underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, any actual results may vary materially from any outcomes indicated or suggested by these statements. Accordingly, any and all forward-looking statements should not be regarded nor interpreted as a representation by BH that any and/or all future plans, estimates, or expectations contemplated will ever be achieved.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: NANO Nuclear Announces Opening Keynote Presentation and Platinum Sponsorship at the Upcoming Reuters Events: SMR & Advanced Reactor 2025 Conference

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    New York, N.Y., May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) (“NANO Nuclear” or “the Company”), a leading advanced nuclear energy and technology company focused on developing clean energy solutions, today announced that it is the Platinum Sponsor of the upcoming Reuters Events: SMR & Advanced Reactor 2025, to be held in Nashville, Tennessee on 12-13, May 2025.

    NANO Nuclear Energy Chief Executive Officer James Walker will lead the opening keynote presentation titled, “The Growth of U.S. Advanced Reactors — Wall Street’s Success Story” at 9:00am on May 12th. In the presentation, he will explore how U.S. policy shifts, global energy demand, and the availability of clean energy focused investment capital are hastening the commercialization of advanced nuclear reactors, including small nuclear reactors (known as SMRs) like those being developed by NANO Nuclear, and how NANO Nuclear capitalized on these trends to become the best performing initial public offering in the U.S. of 2024.

    “Reuters Events offer a valuable opportunity to engage with stakeholders and leading innovators in the SMR and advanced reactor field,” said James Walker, Chief Executive Officer of NANO Nuclear. “I’m excited for NANO Nuclear to be the leading sponsor and to personally participate in this year’s conference to discuss NANO Nuclear’s journey and mission, and gain insights from the broader community shaping the future of nuclear technology.”

    Reuters Events: SMR & Advanced Reactor 2025 is the only senior-level meeting point for the SMR community, where 600+ leaders from utilities, financiers, reactor developers, technology providers and regulators unite to create meaningful connections, share trusted insights, and obtain lessons-learned to inform your multi-billion-dollar strategy at pace.

    “This conference unites some of the most forward-thinking innovators in the advanced reactor space,” said Professor Massimiliano Fratoni, Senior Director and Head of Reactor Design of NANO Nuclear. “It’s an excellent forum to learn about the direction of the nuclear industry and exchange ideas with those driving progress. I’m looking forward to the informative sessions on offer.”

    “NANO Nuclear is executing on schedule, and we expect the next 12 months to include several important regulatory and operational milestones that will help secure our leadership in the U.S. microreactor race,” said Jay Yu, Founder and Chairman of NANO Nuclear. “The achievement of these milestones would be key as we advance toward construction, demonstration, regulatory licensing and eventual commercialization and deployment for our cutting-edge reactors. I look forward to discussing our progress with investors and industry peers at the upcoming Reuters SMR & Advanced Reactor Conference.”

    A replay of Mr. Walker’s presentation if produced by Reuters Events: SMR & Advanced Reactor 2025 will be available on NANO Nuclear’s website for at least 30 days following the presentation at https://ir.nanonuclearenergy.com/news-events/events.

    About NANO Nuclear Energy, Inc.

    NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) is an advanced technology-driven nuclear energy company seeking to become a commercially focused, diversified, and vertically integrated company across five business lines: (i) cutting edge portable and other microreactor technologies, (ii) nuclear fuel fabrication, (iii) nuclear fuel transportation, (iv) nuclear applications for space and (v) nuclear industry consulting services. NANO Nuclear believes it is the first portable nuclear microreactor company to be listed publicly in the U.S.

    Led by a world-class nuclear engineering team, NANO Nuclear’s reactor products in development include patented KRONOS MMR™ Energy System, a stationary high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that is in construction permit pre-application engagement U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in collaboration with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.), “ZEUS”, a solid core battery reactor, and “ODIN”, a low-pressure coolant reactor, and the space focused, portable LOKI MMR™, each representing advanced developments in clean energy solutions that are portable, on-demand capable, advanced nuclear microreactors.

    Advanced Fuel Transportation Inc. (AFT), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is led by former executives from the largest transportation company in the world aiming to build a North American transportation company that will provide commercial quantities of HALEU fuel to small modular reactors, microreactor companies, national laboratories, military, and DOE programs. Through NANO Nuclear, AFT is the exclusive licensee of a patented high-capacity HALEU fuel transportation basket developed by three major U.S. national nuclear laboratories and funded by the Department of Energy. Assuming development and commercialization, AFT is expected to form part of the only vertically integrated nuclear fuel business of its kind in North America.

    HALEU Energy Fuel Inc. (HEF), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is focusing on the future development of a domestic source for a High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) fuel fabrication pipeline for NANO Nuclear’s own microreactors as well as the broader advanced nuclear reactor industry.

    NANO Nuclear Space Inc. (NNS), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is exploring the potential commercial applications of NANO Nuclear’s developing micronuclear reactor technology in space. NNS is focusing on applications such as the LOKI MMR™ system and other power systems for extraterrestrial projects and human sustaining environments, and potentially propulsion technology for long haul space missions. NNS’ initial focus will be on cis-lunar applications, referring to uses in the space region extending from Earth to the area surrounding the Moon’s surface.

    For more corporate information please visit: https://NanoNuclearEnergy.com/

    For further NANO Nuclear information, please contact:

    Email: IR@NANONuclearEnergy.com
    Business Tel: (212) 634-9206

    PLEASE FOLLOW OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES HERE:

    NANO Nuclear Energy LINKEDIN
    NANO Nuclear Energy YOUTUBE
    NANO Nuclear Energy X PLATFORM

    Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

    This news release, the conference presentation referred to herein, and statements of NANO Nuclear’s management in connection with this news release and such presentation contain or may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this context, forward-looking statements mean statements related to future events, which may impact our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “potential”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “would” or “may” and other words of similar meaning. In this press release and the related presentation, forward-looking statements may include those related to NANO Nuclear’s development, demonstration and regulatory licensing plans and goals, as well as the anticipated future benefits to NANO Nuclear of being a publicly traded company. These and other forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this news release and represent management’s current views and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, events or results and involve significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control. For NANO Nuclear, particular risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the following: (i) risks related to our U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) or related state or non-U.S. nuclear fuel licensing submissions, (ii) risks related the development of new or advanced technology and the acquisition of complimentary technology or businesses, including difficulties with design and testing, cost overruns, regulatory delays, integration issues and the development of competitive technology, (iii) our ability to obtain contracts and funding to be able to continue operations, (iv) risks related to uncertainty regarding our ability to technologically develop and commercially deploy a competitive advanced nuclear reactor or other technology in the timelines we anticipate, if ever, (v) risks related to the impact of U.S. and non-U.S. government regulation, policies and licensing requirements, including by the DOE and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and (vi) similar risks and uncertainties associated with the operating an early stage business a highly regulated and rapidly evolving industry. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this news release. These factors may not constitute all factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in any forward-looking statement, and NANO Nuclear therefore encourages investors to review other factors that may affect future results in its filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov and at https://ir.nanonuclearenergy.com/financial-information/sec-filings. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a predictor of actual results. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this news release, except as required by law.

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: ImmunoGenesis Expands Phase 1a/b Trial of IMGS-001 for Advanced Solid Tumors to Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    First dual-specific PD-L1/PD-L2 antibody with cytotoxic killing function is designed to treat the many “immune-excluded” cancers that are resistant to existing immunotherapies

    Promising early signals of activity seen as Phase 1 dose escalation proceeds

    HOUSTON, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ImmunoGenesis, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing innovative, science-driven immune therapies, and Cancer Focus Fund, LP, a unique investment fund established in collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide funding and clinical expertise to advance promising clinical therapies, today announced expansion of the Phase 1a/b clinical trial of ImmunoGenesis’ lead candidate, IMGS-001, to Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center in southeastern Louisiana. IMGS-001 is a novel dual-specific PD-L1/PD-L2 antibody with cytotoxic killing function designed to treat immune-excluded, cold tumors that are resistant to existing immunotherapy. The Phase 1a/b trial is being partially funded by a previously announced investment from Cancer Focus Fund.

    “We are encouraged by the early performance of IMGS-001 as we proceed with Phase 1 dose escalation in patients with a variety of advanced solid tumors,” said James Barlow, President and CEO of ImmunoGenesis. “Initial low doses administered to date have been well-tolerated with no dose-limiting toxicities, and we’re seeing promising signs of clinical activity in patients who have failed prior treatments. Expanding our trial to Ochsner MD Anderson, with its excellent clinical research staff, will accelerate our progress toward establishing initial proof-of-concept and offering more patients access to this potentially groundbreaking approach.”

    While first-generation PD-(L)1 checkpoint inhibitors have become a mainstay of cancer treatment, more than half of all cancers are “cold” immune resistant tumors that do not respond to these immunotherapies. IMGS-001 is designed to unlock the potential of immunotherapy for a broader group of patients by targeting key mechanisms of immune resistance, using a single engineered molecule to overcome immunosuppression through cytotoxic killing function and optimizing the PD-1 pathway blockade. In preclinical studies, IMGS-001 demonstrated superior survival benefit and tumor growth inhibition compared to currently approved checkpoint inhibitors.

    The Phase 1a/b first-in-human, open-label, multicenter study (NCT06014502) includes a dose escalation and an expansion portion to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary anti-tumor activity of IMGS-001 in adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors refractory to standard-of-care treatment. Anticipated tumor types in the dose expansion portion of the study include ovarian, colorectal, and triple-negative breast cancer.

    Daniel Johnson, MD, director of the Center for Innovative Cancer Therapies (Phase 1) at Ochsner MD Anderson and lead investigator of the IMGS-001 Phase 1a/b trial at Ochsner, noted, “My research focuses on advancing new strategies to combat immune checkpoint inhibitor resistance while minimizing immunotherapy-related side effects. IMGS-001 has a novel mechanism that has the potential to overcome the key resistance mechanisms in immune-excluded tumors. Based on the results of preclinical studies and the promising signals seen in trial participants to date, we believe IMGS-001 may have the potential to improve clinical response for patients with these difficult-to-treat cancers. We welcome the opportunity to participate in this trial and to make it available to eligible patients in our care.”

    Ochsner MD Anderson is part of a collaborative network of hospitals and health care systems dedicated to advancing MD Anderson’s mission to end cancer. Ochsner MD Anderson patients in southeastern Louisiana receive care based on the same protocols and practice standards provided at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. Ochsner MD Anderson experts provide access to a full range of multidisciplinary cancer care options, as well as to clinical trials of investigational drugs, when appropriate. Ochsner’s Center for Innovative Cancer Therapies has been leading first-in-human Phase 1 oncology clinical trials since 2016.

    Ross Barrett, a founder and Managing Partner of Cancer Focus Fund, said, “We believe that IMGS-001 has the potential to treat the many tumors that are resistant to current immunotherapies, and we are delighted that the Phase 1a/b trial is expanding to Ochsner MD Anderson. At Cancer Focus Fund we are proud to work collaboratively with leading institutions whose efforts to advance innovative new cancer therapies are generating promising results.”

    About the IMGS-001 Phase 1a/b Clinical Trial
    The IMGS-001 Phase 1a/b trial is a first-in-human, open-label, dose-escalation and dose-expansion study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity and preliminary anti-tumor activity of IMGS-001. Phase 1a is a dose-escalation study that aims to determine the safety, tolerability, and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of IMGS-001 in adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors refractory to appropriate standard-of-care treatments. Phase 1b is an open-label, dose-expansion cohort study of patients with prespecified tumors intended to further assess the safety and preliminary anti-tumor activity of IMGS-001.

    About IMGS-001
    IMGS-001 is a PD-L1/PD-L2 dual-specific inhibitor with engineered cytotoxic effector function. It is the first molecule to target PD-L2 in addition to PD-L1, potentially shutting down the entire PD-1 pathway and providing a superior blockade compared to other PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors. Its engineered effector function enables IMGS-001 to kill immunosuppressive PD-L1 and/or PD-L2-expressing cells present in the tumor microenvironment, providing the potential to overcome immune resistance in immune-excluded tumors. Preclinical data showed that IMGS-001 drove superior survival rates and tumor growth inhibition in head-to-head studies compared to currently available immunotherapies. With its cytotoxic killing function and superior blockade, IMGS-001 may provide a new foundation for combination immuno-oncology therapies. This Phase 1a/b study is being conducted with support from an investment from the Cancer Focus Fund, LP and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) DP200094.

    About Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center
    Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center provides patients in the South Gulf region with access to cancer treatments that are among the most advanced in the nation. As Louisiana’s leader in cancer care, Ochsner Health has joined forces with MD Anderson, the nation’s leader in cancer care, to bring an enhanced level of comprehensive cancer care to patients. Ochsner is the first and only provider in Louisiana with a fully integrated cancer program based on MD Anderson’s standards and treatment plans. It offers customized treatment plans with access to cutting-edge technology, a multidisciplinary approach, and potential access to clinical trials.

    About Ochsner Health
    Ochsner Health delivers health to the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf South with a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate. It is the leading nonprofit healthcare provider in the Gulf South, delivering expert care at its 46 hospitals and more than 370 health and urgent care centers. In 2024, Ochsner Health cared for more than 1.6 million people from every state in the nation and 63 countries, and for 13 consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has recognized Ochsner as the No. 1 hospital in Louisiana. Ochsner Health is innovating healthcare by investing in new technologies and research to make world-class care more accessible, affordable, convenient and effective.

    About ImmunoGenesis
    ImmunoGenesis is a clinical-stage biotech company dedicated to transforming immuno-oncology by targeting key mechanisms of immune resistance. The company’s lead product, IMGS-001, is a cytotoxic, dual-specific PD-L1/PD-L2 antibody currently in a Phase 1a/b clinical trial for the treatment of immune-excluded (“cold”) tumors, which account for more than half of all cancers. In addition to its lead program, the company is developing a number of novel approaches to overcome immune resistance in cold tumors. ImmunoGenesis designs therapies to address the pathology of these tumors, overcoming immune exclusion to elicit a robust immune response. For more information, visit immunogenesis.com

    About Cancer Focus Fund
    The Cancer Focus Fund LP is a unique investment fund established in collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The fund provides investment support to advance promising cancer therapies that are close to being tested in humans or are in early clinical development, along with the clinical trial expertise and infrastructure of MD Anderson and strategic partners Ochsner Health System Precision Cancer Therapies Program New Orleans and the LSU Feist Weiller Cancer Center Shreveport. The Fund’s objective is to leverage this unique combination to provide investors with superior risk-adjusted returns. In collaboration with MD Anderson, the Cancer Focus Fund provides both capital and translational research expertise with the goal of accelerating the development of novel cancer therapies that result in better outcomes for patients while generating returns for investors.

    Disclosures
    The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s relationships with Cancer Focus Fund and ImmunoGenesis, and all research conducted at MD Anderson related to these relationships, has been identified as institutional financial conflicts of interest by MD Anderson’s Institutional Conflict of Interest Committee and therefore are managed under Institutional Conflict of Interest Management and Monitoring Plans.

    Contacts

    ImmunoGenesis
    Corporate
    James Barlow
    President and CEO
    James.barlow@immunogenesis.com

    Cancer Focus Fund
    Corporate:
    Ross Barrett
    Managing Partner
    ross@cancerfocusfund.com

    Media:
    Barbara Lindheim
    BLL Partners for Cancer Focus Fund
    blindheim@bllbiopartners.com
    (917) 355-9234

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Nephrops Stunning & Tailing Prototype

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Case study

    Nephrops Stunning & Tailing Prototype

    The Fisheries and Seafood Scheme (FaSS) has supported the development of an innovative onboard machine to electrically stun and tail nephrops, improving animal welfare and working conditions in the UK scampi supply chain.

    Key facts

    • Applicant name: Fisheries Innovation & Sustainability (FIS)
    • Location: England
    • Type of project: Onboard innovation, animal welfare, seafood processing efficiency
    • Project value: £205,000
    • Grant value: £100,000
    • Date awarded: July 2024

    Project details

    This project was led by Fisheries Innovation & Sustainability (FIS), a coalition of seafood leaders championing precompetitive, problem-solving innovation across UK fisheries.

    With support from the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme, this collaboration between seafood processors Whitby Seafoods and Young’s Seafood, retailers Sainsbury’s and M&S, seafood tech experts Optimar, and academics from the University of Stirling successfully designed, built and tested a prototype onboard stunning and tailing machine.

    The ability to stun and tail nephrops (langoustines) at sea represents a step forward for the UK’s seafood sector – improving crew working conditions, meeting new animal welfare expectations, and reducing costs. Economic modelling by Seafish concluded that developing such equipment could bring real efficiency benefits for the fleet.

    This prototype has now been successfully trialled on an English-owned nephrops trawler, proving it can withstand the harsh conditions of commercial fishing while operating as expected. The project has broken new ground even by global standards, demonstrating the potential for automation in challenging onboard environments.

    Kara Brydson from Fisheries Innovation & Sustainability said:

    This was our first time applying for FaSS, and we were tackling a tough challenge – bringing together processors, retailers, equipment manufacturers and academics to solve a longstanding issue in nephrops fisheries. The FaSS team understood the complexity of English seafood supply chains and supported us to deliver a truly groundbreaking prototype that could benefit the entire UK scampi sector.

    Project outcomes

    • Successful development of a working prototype of an onboard electrical stunning and tailing machine for nephrops.
    • First-time collaboration across the UK scampi supply chain – from vessel operators to processors and major retailers.
    • Proof of concept trial demonstrating the machine’s durability and effectiveness under real-world commercial fishing conditions.
    • Academic input from the University of Stirling to monitor performance, welfare outcomes and practical application.
    • Raised industry readiness to meet new animal welfare standards for crustacean handling at sea.

    Supported outcomes

    • De-risked the cost of developing and testing innovative, pre-competitive seafood technology.
    • Improved potential for humane animal handling across nephrops fisheries.
    • Strengthened collaboration between seafood businesses, fostering shared innovation.
    • Advanced the conversation on automation and welfare in seafood production.
    • Positioned English seafood supply chains to better meet future market and regulatory expectations.

    This case study demonstrates the legacy of the FaSS in supporting England’s catching, aquaculture and processing sectors, as well as enabling projects that are improving the marine environment. It also supports MMOs commitment to ensuring a prosperous, innovative and sustainable future for the fishing industry.

    View more Fisheries and Seafood Scheme: Selected case studies – GOV.UK

    Updates to this page

    Published 1 May 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Global: US-Ukraine minerals deal looks better for Kyiv than expected – but Trump is an unpredictable partner

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Andrew Gawthorpe, Lecturer in History and International Studies, Leiden University

    The United States and Ukraine have finally signed a long-awaited agreement on Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction – and, at first reading, the details appear more favourable for Kyiv than many observers expected.

    At the core of the “economic partnership agreement” is the exploitation of Ukraine’s mineral wealth. Ukraine will get access to US investment and technology, and the US will eventually get a share of the profits. The rest will finance the war-torn nation’s recovery if and when a peace agreement is signed with Russia.

    Several aspects of this deal stand out as positive for Ukraine. Unlike in previous drafts, the country retains ownership of its natural resources. All profits are to be invested in Ukraine for ten years after the agreement comes into force.

    Washington can also make its contribution in the form of new military aid, although it will be down to the US president to decide whether or not to do that.

    Earlier in the negotiations, a major sticking point was the demand from the US president, Donald Trump, that the agreement include compensation for past US aid to Ukraine, which he insisted amounted to US$350 billion (£260 billion). Many analysts estimate the figure is closer to US$120 billion.

    Before the deal was signed, Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said the deal would “not include assistance provided before its signing”. And the Ukrainian government announcement stated that the new agreement “focuses on further, not past US military assistance”. But when the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, spoke to journalists, he described the deal as “compensation” for “the funding and the weapons”.

    Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

    Whether Bessent’s statement represents political spin, or whether there is still distance between Washington and Kyiv on this critical point, remains to be seen. The formal text has not been released, and many details remain to be ironed out. Trump can be an erratic negotiator who is prone to sudden changes of direction.

    Indeed, the signing of this agreement is just the latest twist in a broader effort to bring the war in Ukraine to an end – one which probably still has many surprises ahead. Trump appears to be losing patience with what he views as Russia’s refusal to engage with the peace process. Signing the deal may have been intended as a warning to Moscow to get serious about ending the conflict.

    The new agreement reportedly states that the US and Ukraine share a “long-term strategic alignment”. That’s a far cry from Trump’s rhetoric only a few months ago, when he called Ukraine’s president, Vlodomyr Zelensky, a “dictator”“ and blamed Kyiv for starting the war with Russia. But given Trump’s changes of mood, this agreement is unlikely to be the final word on how he views the conflict.

    Despite talk of a long-term strategic alignment, one thing the deal doesn’t contain is any explicit security guarantees for Ukraine. But the White House argues – and other observers hope – that US investment in Ukraine will give the US an implicit stake in the country’s security. That might deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again, out of fear the US would act to protect its investment.

    However, once we move from the realm of politics and security to economics, several glaring flaws in this logic become apparent. They all come down to whether the mineral wealth at the heart of this agreement can be profitably exploited – and, indeed, whether it even exists.

    Is this a game-changing deal?

    The American humorist Mark Twain is said to have once defined a mine as “a hole in the ground owned by a liar”. Assessing the precise scale of underground mineral deposits is notoriously difficult – and not every deposit can be extracted in a profitable fashion.

    In Ukraine, the exploratory work has simply not been done. Even the supposed size of the deposits, which are based on old Soviet surveys conducted in a superficial fashion, is not certain.

    Many of the minerals that supposedly lie under Ukraine’s surface are so called “rare earths”, which are critical to hi-tech supply chains. But they are also expensive and time-consuming to exploit, requiring a massive upfront investment which may eventually be lost. Even in successful cases, it generally takes over a decade to get production onstream.

    Today, there are few rare-earth projects under development anywhere in the world outside China – even in countries that are not current (and possibly future) war zones. Most of Ukraine’s supposed deposits lie in the east of the country in areas vulnerable to Russian attack, making investment risky.

    All of this makes economic partnership agreement of doubtful long-term significance for the broader peace process. The potential gains from it are too hypothetical to make much difference within a meaningful timescale. The deal is unlikely to generate much real economic incentive for the US to defend Ukraine, and so is unlikely to become a new source of military assistance for Kyiv.

    For the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the deal doesn’t change a lot. While it might indeed be a signal that Trump is running out of patience with Russia, it does little to change the underlying realities of the conflict.

    We can’t rule out the possibility that Trump, as unpredictable as ever, might make a more meaningful commitment to Ukraine in the future, one that changes the course of the war. But – at first glance, certainly – this minerals deal is not it.

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

    – ref. US-Ukraine minerals deal looks better for Kyiv than expected – but Trump is an unpredictable partner – https://theconversation.com/us-ukraine-minerals-deal-looks-better-for-kyiv-than-expected-but-trump-is-an-unpredictable-partner-255723

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Online Safety and the Rising Cost of Living Top the List of Concerns Among Young People

    Source: Samsung

    LONDON, U.K. – May 01, 2025 – Almost two thirds (64%[3]) of young people surveyed in the UK feel anxious about the future, according to new research from Samsung. The poll of 1,000 11–15-year-olds in the UK found online safety (47%) and the rising cost of living (61%) top the list of concerns among young people as they venture into adulthood.
     
    Over seven in ten (72%[4]) young people surveyed feel more worried about the rising cost of living today than they did a year ago, fuelled by worries about the potential impact on their parents’ financial situation (77%[1]). Almost a third (32%) also expressed concerns about how they will get a job when they are older to support themselves, with fears that they do not have the necessary skills to cope in an increasingly digital and AI-driven world (23%).
     
    Samsung commissioned the new research as it launches its Solve for Tomorrow Next Gen tech for good idea challenge, which encourages the next generation of innovators across the UK to help solve societal problems. This year’s theme, Living Well: Tech for a Happier, Healthier World, is designed to help young people solve problems they care about. Over four in five (81%[2]) express a desire to make a positive difference to the world we live in, yet the research reveals that less than half (49%[2]) feel the current, school curriculum prepares them to tackle societal issues.
     
    Alongside the rising cost of living, online safety was also revealed to be another major source of concern among young people. Of those surveyed, 47% worry about the potential harms and dangers while using the internet, while more than half (58%[1]) reported feeling more concerned about online safety than they did a year ago today.
     
    Young people are more determined than ever to meet these challenges head-on. In last year’s Solve for Tomorrow challenge, Millie from William Farr School was awarded first place in the 11-13 category for her innovation ‘My Bear’, which encourages children and young people to tackle hate by learning about other cultures. By linking the bear to an app, the user is rewarded with points. Meanwhile, Lorelei, Ruby, and Riya from Croydon High School, were awarded first place in the 13-15 category for their entry – a covert safety bangle designed to support girls and women whilst travelling alone. This year, young people from up and down the country will take part to create their own tech solutions to societal problems and have the chance to win some fantastic tech prizes.
     
    Commenting on the competition launch, Soohyun Jessie Park, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Samsung Electronics UK, said: “We’re calling out to secondary schools across the UK and Ireland to join our tech for good idea challenge. Since launching in 2021, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Next Gen has reached 180,093 young people, and we’ve seen 2064 tech-for-good ideas – the programme is all about inspiring the next generation of innovators, and we can’t wait to see what young people come up with this year. Along with entering the challenge, we welcome teachers to make use of our free resources all year round on design thinking, careers in tech, and new for this year and part of our educational online safety tools and resources; how to use AI responsibly.”
     
    In support of the Solve for Tomorrow Next Gen programme, Dr. Vee Kativhu, Founder & Director of Empowered by Vee, added: “As someone who grew up in a single-parent, lower-income household, I know first-hand how life-changing having access to technology and education can be. It was free resources, a library laptop, and opportunities like this that opened the doors for me to go on to study at both Oxford and Harvard University. Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow Next Gen competition gives young people that same chance — to turn their ideas, creativity, and passion into real solutions that make the world happier, healthier, and safer. I’m proud to support a challenge that believes in the power of young people and invests in their future.”
     
    Entries for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Next Gen tech for good challenge are now open until 25th July 2025 with more information on how to enter here.
     
    [1] Combining answer options “Very concerned” and “Somewhat concerned”.
    [2] Combining answer options “Very well” and “Fairly well”.
    [3] Combining answer options “Very anxious” and “Fairly anxious”.
    [4] Combining answer options “Much more concerned” and “Somewhat more concerned”.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: USA: Trump’s first 100 days have ‘led with cruelty and chaos, creating a human rights emergency’

    Source: Amnesty International –

    From targeting immigrants to undermining press freedom to marginalising vulnerable minorities, Trump’s government has devastated the lives of people in the US and beyond

    ‘The Trump administration has fully embraced authoritarian tactics more commonly associated with repressive [regimes] to silence and punish those who disagree with him’ – Paul O’Brien

    As President Donald Trump marks his first 100 days in office, Amnesty International highlights the human rights crisis fuelled by President Trump’s administration’s authoritarian practices, discriminatory and racist policies, and dangerous rhetoric.  

    In Chaos & Cruelty: 10 Compounding Assaults on Human Rights, Amnesty reviews President Trump’s attacks on domestic and international human rights in his first 100 days in office. From suppressing dissent to demonising and targeting immigrants, to retreating from multilateral bodies that protect human rights around the world, the Trump administration has systematically eroded human rights protections, fostering a climate of fear and division, and undermining the rule of law. 

    Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said:

    “One hundred days into his second term, President Trump has led with cruelty and chaos, creating a human rights emergency that has affected millions of people by suppressing dissent, undermining the rule of law, and eroding norms and institutions essential to the protection of human rights.

    “The Trump administration has fully embraced authoritarian tactics more commonly associated with repressive leaders to silence and punish those who disagree with him, while weaponising the government against people and institutions in the US and beyond to entrench his own power and further an anti-rights agenda.”  

    The Trump administration’s policies in the first 100 days have already had devastating consequences on the lives of people in the US and in other parts of the world: 

    • Ending asylum and targeting immigrants: Mass deportations, enforced disappearances under the Alien Enemies Act, family separations, and harsh restrictions on the right to asylum have violated international law. These actions have torn communities apart and created a reality in which immigrants, including those who have come to the US seeking safety, are pushed into the shadows, living in fear. 
    • Attacking freedom of expression and the right to protest: Crackdowns on student protestors, especially those in support of Palestinian rights, have threatened the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. Especially targeted are students who are not US citizens as they are threatened with detention and deportation for exercising their right to free speech.  
    • Undermining the rule of law: Disregarding court orders, threatening impeachment of judges, attacking law firms and lawyers, abusing executive power and eroding checks and balances are authoritarian practices the Trump administration has used to push forward his anti-rights agenda.   
    • Undermining press freedom: Targeting journalists, suing media outlets, pulling funding that supports free press globally, and abusing regulatory power through the Federal Communications Commission undermine the critical role of independent media in fostering debate, discussion, and dissent, which are essential to the defence of human rights. 
    • Attacking the rights of women and LGBTQIA+ communities: Anti-trans policies and executive orders have contributed to a dangerous climate of discrimination and indicate an attempt to erase transgender people’s existence under the law. Measures have also been taken to weaken sexual and reproductive rights guarantees for all people, particularly the right to abortion for women and people who can get pregnant. 
    • Marginalising Black and other racialised communities: Forced closures of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and threats to defund universities that embrace racial equity are a blatant attack on racial justice. 

    President Trump’s attacks on human rights are overlapping and compounding. Hundreds of university students have been targeted for deportation. One emblematic example of the Trump administration’s racist actions, repression, and disregard for human rights is the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student and lawful permanent resident, detained and placed in deportation proceedings for participating in peaceful protests at Columbia University. 

    O’Brien added:

    “Mahmoud Khalil’s case sends a chilling message: if you speak out for human rights, you will be targeted, you will be punished, and you will not have due process. That is a terrifying prospect, not just for students, not just for immigrants, but for everyone.  When we look at the cumulative effect of the Trump administration’s actions, it amounts to a sweeping attack on human rights and the systems that uphold them. From this perspective, the damage and devastation of the first 100 days are undeniably clear.”  

    President Trump’s chaotic and cruel agenda is also undermining the rights of people around the world, creating instability and uncertainty that harms safety and security not just of people globally but also those in the US, and undermines their prosperity.  

    • Abruptly dismantling US foreign assistance: Sweeping and abrupt cuts to foreign aid have had a catastrophic impact on global humanitarian, development and human rights efforts. These cuts are not just financial—they represent an abandonment of the U.S. stated commitments to human rights, public health, and global peace and security. 
    • Retreating from multilateral bodies that protect human rights around the world: By retreating from global leadership, withdrawing from the Human Rights Council (HRC), the World Health Organisation and the Paris Climate Agreement, reviewing membership in UNESCO and imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Trump Administration has intensified efforts to undermine global mechanisms for justice and accountability. 
    • Retreating from civilian harm mitigation efforts: From shrinking offices aimed at reducing civilian harm caused by US military operations to reversing executive orders aimed at ensuring the US’ arms transfers do not contribute to violations of international law, the Trump Administration has demonstrated a dangerous disregard for the lives of civilians endangered by armed conflicts.   
    • Demolishing checks on corporate accountability: President Trump and his administration have taken down existing checks on corporate accountability and slashed efforts to fight corruption, including pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Tech firms have long facilitated discriminatory and authoritarian practices, but President Trump’s actions have exacerbated this trend. Meanwhile, President Trump has seemingly given carte blanche to the wealthiest man on Earth, Elon Musk, to run rampant with DOGE, directing actions that appear to violate federal law, including accessing sensitive, personal data of millions of Americans. 

    The perilous state of human rights in the US comes at a time when authoritarian practices have been increasing globally. In fact, the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on human rights are turbocharging harmful trends already present, gutting international human rights protections and endangering billions across the planet. 

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

    “We are witnessing an alarming escalation of state-sponsored repression and abandonment of the rule of law and human rights norms around the world.

    “As the largest grassroots human rights organisation in the world, we are mobilising to protect civic space, push back against authoritarian practices, and build long-term people power. Human rights should not be a political pawn.

    “Governments must actively oppose and denounce authoritarian practices that violate human rights and take steps to address their impact wherever they occur, including in the US. People around the world, including those in human rights and justice movements, are resisting and standing firmly against trends that threaten to lead present and future generations into an abyss. Political leaders must seize this pivotal moment to uphold and defend the rights and dignity of all.” 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: President Trump’s First 100 Days: Attacks on Human Rights, Cruelty and Chaos

    Source: Amnesty International –

    As President Donald Trump marks his first 100 days in office, Amnesty International highlights the human rights crisis fueled by President Trump’s administration’s authoritarian practices, discriminatory and racist policies, and dangerous rhetoric.  

    In Chaos & Cruelty: 10 Compounding Assaults on Human Rights, Amnesty International reviews President Trump’s attacks on domestic and international human rights in his first 100 days in office. From suppressing dissent to demonizing and targeting immigrants, to retreating from multilateral bodies that protect human rights around the world, the Trump administration has been systematically eroding human rights protections, fostering a climate of fear and division, and undermining the rule of law. 

    “One hundred days into his second term, President Trump has led with cruelty and chaos, creating a human rights emergency that has affected millions of people by suppressing dissent, undermining the rule of law, and eroding norms and institutions essential to the protection of human rights,” said Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA. “The Trump administration has fully embraced authoritarian tactics more commonly associated with repressive leaders to silence and punish those who disagree with him, while weaponizing the government against people and institutions in the United States and beyond to entrench his own power and further an anti-rights agenda.”  

    One hundred days into his second term, President Trump has led with cruelty and chaos, creating a human rights emergency that has affected millions of people by suppressing dissent, undermining the rule of law, and eroding norms and institutions essential to the protection of human rights

    Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA

    The Trump administration’s policies in the first 100 days have already had devastating consequences on the lives of people in the U.S. and in other parts of the world: 

    • Ending asylum and targeting immigrants: Mass deportations, enforced disappearances under the Alien Enemies Act, family separations, and harsh restrictions on the right to asylum have violated international law. These actions have torn communities apart and created a reality in which immigrants, including those who have come to the U.S. seeking safety, are pushed into the shadows, living in fear. 
    • Attacking freedom of expression and the right to protest: Crackdowns on student protestors, especially those in support of Palestinian rights, have threatened the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. Especially targeted are students who are not U.S. citizens as they are threatened with detention and deportation for exercising their right to free speech.  
    • Undermining the rule of law: Disregarding court orders, threatening impeachment of judges, attacking law firms and lawyers, abusing executive power and eroding checks and balances are authoritarian practices the Trump administration has used to push forward his anti-rights agenda.   
    • Undermining press freedom: Targeting journalists, suing media outlets, pulling funding that supports free press globally, and abusing regulatory power through the Federal Communications Commission undermine the critical role of independent media in fostering debate, discussion, and dissent, which are essential to the defense of human rights. 
    • Attacking the rights of women and LGBTQIA+ communities: Anti-trans policies and executive orders have contributed to a dangerous climate of discrimination and indicate an attempt to erase transgender people’s existence under the law. Measures have also been taken to weaken sexual and reproductive rights guarantees for all people, particularly the right to abortion for women and people who can get pregnant. 
    • Marginalizing Black and other racialized communities: Forced closures of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and threats to defund universities that embrace racial equity are a blatant attack on racial justice. 

    President Trump’s attacks on human rights are overlapping and compounding. Hundreds of university students have been targeted for deportation. One emblematic example of the Trump administration’s racist actions, repression, and disregard for human rights is the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student and lawful permanent resident, detained and placed in deportation proceedings for participating in peaceful protests at Columbia University. 

    “Mahmoud Khalil’s case sends a chilling message: if you speak out for human rights, you will be targeted, you will be punished, and you will not have due process,” said O’Brien. “That is a terrifying prospect, not just for students, not just for immigrants, but for everyone.  When we look at the cumulative effect of the Trump administration’s actions, it amounts to a sweeping attack on human rights and the systems that uphold them. From this perspective, the damage and devastation of the first 100 days are undeniably clear.”  

    When we look at the cumulative effect of the Trump administration’s actions, it amounts to a sweeping attack on human rights and the systems that uphold them. From this perspective, the damage and devastation of the first 100 days are undeniably clear

    Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA

    President Trump’s chaotic and cruel agenda is also undermining the rights of people around the world, creating instability and uncertainty that harms safety and security not just of people globally but also those in the U.S., and undermines their prosperity.  

    • Abruptly dismantling U.S. foreign assistance: Sweeping and abrupt cuts to foreign aid have had a catastrophic impact on global humanitarian, development and human rights efforts. These cuts are not just financial—they represent an abandonment of the U.S. stated commitments to human rights, public health, and global peace and security. 
    • Retreating from multilateral bodies that protect human rights around the world: By retreating from global leadership, withdrawing from the Human Rights Council (HRC), the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement, reviewing membership in UNESCO and imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Trump Administration has intensified efforts to undermine global mechanisms for justice and accountability. 
    • Retreating from civilian harm mitigation efforts: From shrinking offices aimed at reducing civilian harm caused by U.S. military operations to reversing executive orders aimed at ensuring the U.S.’s arms transfers do not contribute to violations of international law, the Trump Administration has demonstrated a dangerous disregard for the lives of civilians endangered by armed conflicts.   
    • Demolishing checks on corporate accountability: President Trump and his administration have taken down existing checks on corporate accountability and slashed efforts to fight corruption, including pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Tech firms have long facilitated discriminatory and authoritarian practices, but President Trump’s actions have exacerbated this trend. Meanwhile, President Trump has seemingly given carte blanche to the wealthiest man on Earth, Elon Musk, to run rampant with DOGE, directing actions that appear to violate federal law, including accessing sensitive, personal data of millions of Americans. 

    The perilous state of human rights in the United States comes at a time when authoritarian practices have been increasing globally. In fact, the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on human rights are turbocharging harmful trends already present, gutting international human rights protections and endangering billions across the planet. 

    “We are witnessing an alarming escalation of state-sponsored repression and abandonment of the rule of law and human rights norms around the world. As the largest grassroots human rights organization in the world, we are mobilizing to protect civic space, push back against authoritarian practices, and build long-term people power,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns. “Human rights should not be a political pawn. Governments must actively oppose and denounce authoritarian practices that violate human rights and take steps to address their impact wherever they occur, including in the United States. People around the world, including those in human rights and justice movements, are resisting and standing firmly against trends that threaten to lead present and future generations into an abyss. Political leaders must seize this pivotal moment to uphold and defend the rights and dignity of all.” 

    We are witnessing an alarming escalation of state-sponsored repression and abandonment of the rule of law and human rights norms around the world. As the largest grassroots human rights organization in the world, we are mobilizing to protect civic space, push back against authoritarian practices, and build long-term people power

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

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: New Permanent Representative of France Presents Credentials to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    Céline Jurgensen, the new Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented her credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

    Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Jurgensen served as the Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations in Rome, including to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, since 2020. She was also posted at the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in New York from 2010 to 2012.

    From 2016 to 2020, Ms. Jurgensen was the Director for Strategy and Policy at the Military Applications Division of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, a French scientific and research organization.  From 2014 to 2016, she was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations, International Organizations, Human Rights and Francophonie Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2012, she joined the Ministry of Defence as Deputy Director for Strategic Affairs.

    Ms. Jurgensen joined the French Foreign Ministry in 2003 and was assigned to the Legal Affairs Directorate.  She graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Studies and the National School of Public Administration, class of 2003.  In addition to her professional activities, Ms. Jurgensen has lectured at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and at the Aix-Marseille University. 

    ___________

    Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; 
    not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

     

     

    CR25.019E

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Ms. Sujata Chaturvedi Assumes Charge as Member, Union Public Service Commission

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 01 MAY 2025 3:06PM by PIB Delhi

    Ms. Sujata Chaturvedi, Former Secretary, Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports took the Oath of Office and Secrecy as Member, Union Public Service Commission today. The Oath was administered by Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla (Retd.), seniormost Member of the Commission.

    Ms. Sujata Chaturvedi did her Graduation in English and Post Graduation in History from Nagpur University. She also has an M.Phil in Public Administration and Diploma in the Russian Language.

    Ms. Chaturvedi belongs to the 1989 batch of the Indian Administrative Service and was allotted Bihar Cadre. She has vast administrative experience of more than three decades in the cadre, as well as in the Government of India. In the State, she served as Principal Secretary, D/o Finance, Commercial Tax Commissioner, Secretary, D/o Finance, Vice Chairman, D/o Urban Development. At the Centre, she held the post of Secretary, Youth Affairs and Sports, Additional Secretary, DOPT and Regional Deputy Director General in Unique Identification Authority of India. Ms. Chaturvedi, during her tenure as the Secretary, Dept of Sports, contributed significantly to many initiatives for the overall development of sports in the country. To name a few, some of her initiatives are hosting the annual Khelo India Games, the FIDE Chess Olympiad, FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, implementation of a National Sports Repository System, country-wide mapping of standard sports facilities and the enactment of the Anti-Doping bill to strengthen the nation’s fight against doping.

    Ms. Chaturvedi hails from the state of Maharashtra. She is conversant

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: 100 Days of Fighting Fake News

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: 100 Days of Fighting Fake News

    lass=”text-align-center”> From Stories on Criminals to Statistics, DHS has been Holding the Media Accountable for Spreading Disinformation to the American people 
    WASHINGTON— During President Trump’s 100 days in office, the Department of Homeland Security published a non exhaustive list of facts, to help set the record straight on numerous false and misleading stories that have spread around news coverage and social media

    The list can be found below:
    The Facts on Noteworthy Individuals Deported or Prevented from Entering the U

    S

    The Deportation Of American Citizens

    The media has FALSELY claimed that ICE is deporting US citizen children of illegal aliens

    This is false

    In both cases the mother made the determination to take her children with her back to Honduras

    DHS takes our responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected

    The Trump Administration is giving parents in this country illegally the opportunity to self-deport and take control of their departure process with the potential ability to return the legal, right way and come back to live the American dream

    The CBP Home app is a free and easy way to self deport

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia – The “Maryland Man”

    Garcia is NOT an American citizen

    He is a citizen of El Salvador who had been living in the country illegally

    In 2019, two courts – an immigration court and an appellate immigration court – ruled that he was not only a member of MS-13, but that he was in our country illegally

    There was a deportation order for him dating back to 2019

    Further details about Garcia’s history prove that he is far from innocent

    In 2020, his wife filed a petition for protection citing three separate instances of violence
    In 2021, his wife filed for a restraining order against him due to domestic violence

    In 2022, Garcia was pulled over by Tennessee Highway Patrol with 8 people crammed into one car

    Despite telling the officers that they were going on a trip from Houston, Texas to Temple Hills, Maryland, there was no sign of luggage in the car

    It was later revealed that the vehicle Garcia was driving during this stop was registered to another illegal alien who had been convicted of human trafficking, Jose Roman Hernandez Reyes

    The media further claimed that the Supreme Court ordered the Trump Administration to return Garcia to the United States

    This is another falsehood

    The Supreme Court unanimously overturned that judge’s ruling but instead said that the United States should “facilitate” Garcia’s return

    This would only be possible if the government of El Salvador decided to return him, in which case the United States would have to provide transportation

    It’s up to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and the government of El Salvador if they want to return him

    But as President Bukele said during his Oval Office visit with President Trump, he has no intention of releasing a terrorist and sending him back to the United States

    When President Trump declared MS-13 a foreign terrorist organization, Abrego Garcia became no longer eligible for any form of immigration relief in the United States

    He had a valid deportation order

    Furthermore, the Supreme Court also held that EVEN IF El Salvador returned this MS-13 member to the United States, we could deport him a second time

    NO version of this legally ends with him ever living in the U

    S

    , because he is a citizen of El Salvador

    The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the President – not by a court – and no court in the United States has the power to conduct the foreign policy of the United States

    Dr

    Rasha Alawieh – “The Brown University Assistant Professor”

    Dr

    Rasha Alawieh was an assistant professor at Brown University

    She was in the United States with an H-1B visa

    She was deported back to her home country of Lebanon after she admitted to attending the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah and was responsible for killing hundreds of Americans

    The media tried to portray Alawieh’s case as an example of a “lawful immigrant” being deported

    But they completely ignored her direct and alarming ties to radical Islamic terrorism, including her veneration of a dead terrorist leader

    Alfredo “Alex” Orellana – “The Caregiver”

    Alfredo “Alex” Orellana has multiple charges on his record from 2012 to 2019, including: distributing drugs, drug possession, assault and battery, failure to appear to court (twice), theft at the second degree, and larceny

    He has since been arrested and faces deportation

    The New York Times wrote a lengthy article on Orellana’s case

    Their article painted a picture of a loving 31-year-old caregiver who was the “best friend” of a 28-year-old autistic man

    They also pointed to the fact that Orellana had a green card

    The press tried to paint him as a victim who was a caretaker, despite violent charges on his record

    Jerce Reyes Barrios – “The Venezuelan Soccer Player”

    Jerce Reyes Barrios was in the United States illegally

    He was a member of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang, and he was deported to El Salvador

    He has tattoos that are consistent with those indicating membership in the vicious Tren de Aragua gang

    His own social media indicates that he is a Tren de Aragua member

    That hasn’t stopped the media, however

    They tried to whip up a frenzy over this deported criminal gang member, publishing wild claims that he was deported because of a tattoo of a soccer team on his arm

    The facts are the facts

    Our intelligence assessments go beyond just social media and tattoos

    We are confident in our findings

    Nascimento Blair – “The Ex-Con”

    Blair was an illegal alien living in the United States who was tried and convicted for kidnapping and sentenced to 15 years in prison

    The New York Times published a fawning profile about this criminal illegal alien

    In 2008, he was ordered removed out of the country

    However, because of the Biden administration’s open border policies, this criminal illegal alien was released onto the streets of New York

    The Trump administration is putting the American people first by getting this criminal illegal alien off the streets and out of our country

    “The French Scientist Denied Entry Over His Political Views”

    In March, a French scientist was denied entry into the United States

    The researcher in question was in possession of confidential information on his electronic device from Los Alamos National Laboratory

    This was in clear violation of a non-disclosure agreement – something he admitted to taking without permission and attempted to conceal to authorities

    The mainstream media ran with the baseless narrative that this individual was blocked from entering the U

    S

    because of social media posts that were critical of President Trump

    This lie was even echoed by France’s Minister for Higher Education, Philippe Baptiste

    His political beliefs were not considered at all in his removal

    Marie Lepère and Charlotte Pohl – “German Tourists Turned Away on Vacation”

    Two German tourists were denied entry after attempting to enter the U

    S

    under false pretenses

    Both claimed they were touring California but later admitted that they intended to work

    One used a Visitor visa, while the other used the Visa Waiver Program

    Under U

    S

    immigration laws, work is prohibited for these visas

    The media version of events depicted two young women who tried to go on a five-week backpacking trip through the United States

    The media claimed that the two – aged 18 and 19 – were “deported” because they simply wanted to go on a fun, loosely-planned trip

    These travelers weren’t deported—they were denied entry

    And the reason for their removal was visa fraud, not because of the planning nature of their so-called “vacation

    ”

    Jose Hermosillo – “The American Citizen Detained by Border Patrol”

    Hermosillo turned himself in to immigration authorities on April 8

    He approached Border Patrol in Tucson, Arizona and declared that he had entered the U

    S

    illegally

    He completed a sworn statement identifying as a Mexican citizen who had entered unlawfully

    He was processed and appeared in court on April 11

    Afterwards, he was held by the U

    S

    Marshals in Florence, Arizona

    A few days later, his family presented documents showing U

    S

    citizenship

    The charges were dismissed, and he was released to his family

    The media, instead of reporting the facts, created a false and baseless story that an American citizen was illegally detained

    Hermosillio’s arrest was the direct action of his own actions and statements

    When his citizenship was confirmed, he was promptly released back to his family

    Kseniia Petrova – “The Russian Scientist Trying to Cure Cancer”

    Kseniia Petrova, a Russian researcher working for Harvard University, was lawfully detained after lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country

    A subsequent K9 inspection uncovered undeclared petri dishes, containers of unknown substances, and loose vials of embryonic frog cells, all without proper permits

    Messages found on her phone revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them

    She knowingly broke the law and took deliberate steps to evade it

    But upon her detainment, the media rushed to defend her by claiming that her research could help to cure cancer

    The facts of the matter are simple: Petrova broke the law and actively planned to do so

    Her research does not make her exempt from the laws of our country

    Renato Subotic – “The MMA Coach”

    Subotic is an MMA coach who entered the United States under a visa waiver program that prohibits compensation – only travel reimbursements are allowed

    When Subotic was detained under American law, the media claimed that he was thrown in prison and deported for no real reason

    Here are the facts: Subotic couldn’t meet the requirement to prove he wasn’t being compensated for participating at a high-dollar, multi-day event

    The law is clear: the burden of proof is on the traveler

    Since he couldn’t provide detailed answers or the necessary documentation for compensation related to the work event, he was held until the next available flight out the following day

    Ricardo Jesus Prada Vasquez – The “Disappearing” Delivery Driver

    Yet again, the media has manufactured a fake controversy on behalf of a terrorist gang member and criminal illegal alien

    Ricardo Jesus Prada Vasquez is a Venezuelan national and confirmed member of Tren De Aragua

    He entered the United States illegally on November 29, 2024 at the Brownsville, Texas Port of Entry via the CBP One App

    The Biden administration, like it did with so many other dangerous criminals, released Prada Vasquez back into the United States

    On January 15th, Prada was encountered trying to enter the U

    S

    from Canada

    He was detained, investigated, and confirmed as a member of TDA and a public safety threat

    On February 27, a judge ordered him removed from the U

    S

    He was then removed to El Salvador

    The media, however, has falsely claimed that Prada Vasquez was an innocent delivery driver who was “disappeared” by the government

    Prada Vasquez was living and working in the U

    S

    illegally, he was a member of a criminal gang designated as a terrorist organization, and was deported with full compliance with American law

    Jeanette Vizguerra – “The Activist Who Needed Sanctuary”

    Jeanette Vizguerra is a convicted criminal alien from Mexico who has a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge

    She illegally entered the United States near El Paso, Texas, on Dec

    24, 1997, and has received legal due process in U

    S

    immigration court

    The media, however, has tried to turn her into a martyr

    They claim she was an “activist” who needed “sanctuary

    ” In reality, she getting famous and making money for breaking the law

    Under President Trump, this is a nation of laws

    We will find, arrest, and deport illegal aliens, no matter how famous the media thinks they are

    Vizguerra was in the United States illegally

    She was convicted of breaking the law

    She was deported

    If you come to our country illegally, we will deport you, and you will never return

    The safest option for illegal aliens is to self-deport, so they still have the opportunity to return and live the American dream

    The Facts on Those Who Have Abused The Privilege of a Student Visa 

    Yunseo Chung – “The Columbia Student”

    Yunseo Chung, who was born in South Korea, is a Columbia University student who engaged in concerning conduct on-campus

    This includes her being arrested by NYPD during a pro-Hamas protest at Barnard College

    Mahmoud Khalil – “The Activist Leader at Columbia”

    Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student from Syria, is one of the ringleaders of the vicious, anti-American, anti-Semitic protests at Columbia University

    His activities are aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization

    On March 9, 2025, in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U

    S

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Khalil

    But upon his arrest, radical student protesters at Columbia and across the country have attempted to turn him into a martyr, waving signs and banners bearing his likeness

    Taking over private buildings, inciting violence, harassing Jewish students, defacing buildings, and passing out terrorist propaganda do not constitute free speech

    A judge ruled that Khalil’s deportation can move forward

    He will be removed from our country

    Mohsen Mahdawi – “The Palestinian at Columbia University”

    Mahdawi is a Palestinian who has been living in the United States on a visa while he was studying at Columbia University

    Like many other anti-Israel student protesters, supporters in the media tried to claim that Mahdawi was a victim of political persecution

    But his rhetoric on the war in Israel proves his terrorist sympathies

    In the wake of October 7, Mahdawi said he could empathize with Hamas’s attack on Israel

    He appeared on “60 Minutes” justifying the massacre

    He organized and led pro-Hamas protests on Columbia University’s campus, harassed Jewish students, and openly displayed his support for a terrorist organization

    Leqaa Kordia – “The Palestinian at Columbia University”

    Leqaa Kordia was another Columbia Student who actively participated in anti-American, pro-terrorist activities on campus

    However, her arrest had nothing to do with her radical activities

    Kordia was arrested for immigration violations due to having overstayed her F-1 student visa, which had been terminated on January 26, 2022 for lack of attendance

    Dogukan Gunaydin – “The University of Minnesota Student”

    Dogukan Gunaydin, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota,was arrested after a visa revocation by the State Dept

    related to a prior criminal history for a DUI

    Contrary to the mainstream media’s quick speculation that he was arrested due to his involvement in student protests, his protest activity had nothing to do with his detainment

    Badar Khan Suri – “The Georgetown Foreign Exchange Student”

    Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media

    The media calls him a “scholar” who was innocent of any wrongdoing, even though he was married to the daughter of a senior advisor for to Hamas terrorist group

    Momodou Taal – “The Cornell University Student”

    Taal was unapologetic in his pro-terrorist views

    Taal, a foreign student studying at Cornell University, participated in pro-Hamas protests on campus

    He has a pinned post on his X profile that talks about a so-called “Zionist genocide,” and also states “Long live the student intifada!”

    Other Fake News Narratives Corrected 

    The Biden Administration’s inflated deportation numbers

    DHS uncovered what should be a massive scandal: the Biden administration was cooking the books on ICE arrest data

    They were purposefully misleading the American public by categorizing individuals processed and released into the interior of the United States as ICE arrests

    Of course, the media ignored this fact

    Instead, they falsely claimed that the Biden administration had carried out more arrests than the Trump administration

    Tens of thousands of cases recorded as “arrests” were, in fact, instances where illegal aliens were simply processed and released into American communities

    Many of these were violent criminals and gang members

    The previous administration counted these as arrests even though no immigration enforcement action was taken

    During fiscal year 2024, ICE made 113,431 arrests but the vast majority of those were what we call “pass-through” arrests

    They are called pass-through arrests because ICE didn’t take enforcement actions against these aliens

    They just passed through ICE before they were released in the U

    S

    interior and told to report to an ICE office

    None of the arrests made by ICE since January 20th are pass-through arrests

    The difference between recent arrests and those from Biden’s last year is that, now we’re taking enforcement actions against each and every illegal alien arrested

    ICE Boston Militia rumors:

    The media eagerly fed and spread a false social media rumor that an ICE agent who conducted arrests of criminal illegal aliens in New England was a “militia leader” from Arizona

    The reality? He is a federal law enforcement office who has worked with ICE to help keep New England communities safe for years

    This claim was not only false, but also inflammatory and places the safety of federal officers in jeopardy

    Our ICE officers are facing 300% increase in assaults while carrying out enforcement operations

    Due process and treatment rumors in CECOT:

    These aliens HAVE had due process – we have a stringent law enforcement assessment in place that abides by due process under the U

    S

    Constitution

    The reality is that prison isn’t supposed to be fun

    It’s a necessary measure to protect society and punish bad guys

    It is not meant to be comfortable

    What’s more: prison can be avoided by self-deportation

    CBP Home makes it simple and easy

    If you are a criminal alien and we have to deport you, you could end up in Guantanamo Bay or CECOT

    Leave now

    DOGE and ICE allegedly collecting sensitive data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

    The Biden administration flooded the U

    S

    with tens of millions of illegal immigrants, many of which are exploiting the American taxpayer by illegally getting Medicare and other benefits meant for law-abiding Americans

    President Trump consistently promised to protect Medicare for eligible beneficiaries

    To keep that promise, DOGE, CMS, and DHS are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving these benefits not meant for them

    The media claimed that ICE is working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access sensitive personal information in order to identify illegal aliens

    These claims are meant to frighten the American people, when in reality this process is working to keep them and their benefits safe from exploitation by illegal aliens

    ICE HSI presence at schools

    ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) works relentlessly to protect Americans, especially children, who are put in danger by illegal alien activity

    This includes investigations into potential child sex trafficking

    But the media has tried to spin their investigative work into the idea that they are going to elementary schools to arrest children

    HD Cooke Elementary School, Washington D

    C

    At the HD Cooke Elementary School in Washington D

    C

    , ICE did not conduct any enforcement action at the school

    HSI agents were present at the school unrelated to any kind of enforcement action

    Russel Elementary and Lillian Elementary in Los Angeles:

    At two different elementary schools in Los Angeles, California, HSI officers were conducting wellness checks on children who arrived unaccompanied at the border

    It had nothing to do with immigration enforcement

    DHS is leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited, abused, and sex trafficked

    Unlike the previous administration, President Trump and Secretary Noem take the responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to reunite children with their families

    In less than 70 days, Secretary Noem and Secretary Kennedy have already reunited nearly 5,000 unaccompanied children with a relative or safe guardian

    Immigrant children detained at Old McDonald Farm in New York

    In early April, a raid was carried out on a dairy farm in New York after the execution of a federal criminal warrant for an illegal alien in possession of + distributing child sexual abuse materials

    Upon the execution of the search warrant at Old McDonalds Farm in Sackets Harbor, New York, authorities encountered seven additional illegal aliens on the premises, including a mother and her three children

    We immediately began conducting an investigation to ensure these children are not being sexually exploited

    But rather than address the very real evidence of child sexual abuse, the media chose to focus on the fact that a woman and her three children were taken into custody

    DHS takes its responsibility to protect children seriously and our ICE officers are working every day to remove pedophiles from American communities

    TDA members being identified via tattoos

    Some have claimed that DHS’ assessments of TDA and other gang memberships are based solely on the tattoos that certain illegal aliens have

    DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media

    Tren De Aragua is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth

    They rape, maim, and murder for sport

    President Trump and Secretary Noem will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens

    We are confident in our law enforcement’s intelligence, and we aren’t going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one

    That would be insane

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Christian County

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Christian County

    Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Christian County

    FRANKFORT, Ky

    – A Disaster Recovery Center is opening in Christian County at 1 p

    m

    on April 30 to offer in-person support to Kentucky survivors who experienced loss as the result of the April severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides and mudslides

    The new Disaster Recovery Center in Christian County is located at:Murray State University Classrooms #207, #209, #213, 5305 Ft

    Campbell Blvd

    , Hopkinsville, KY 42240 Working hours are 1 – 7 p

    m

    Central Time April 30, and then 9 a

    m

    to 7 p

    m

    Central Time, Monday through Saturday and 1 – 7 p

    m

    Central Time, Sunday

    FEMA representatives can explain available assistance programs, how to apply to FEMA, and help connect survivors with resources for their recovery needs

    FEMA is encouraging Kentuckians affected by the April storms to apply for federal disaster assistance as soon as possible

    The deadline to apply is June 25

    You can visit any Disaster Recovery Center to get in-person assistance

    No appointment is needed

     To find all other center locations, including those in other states, go to fema

    gov/drc or text “DRC” and a Zip Code to 43362

    You don’t have to visit a center to apply for FEMA assistance

     There are other ways to apply: online at DisasterAssistance

    gov, use the FEMA App for mobile devices or call 800-621-3362

    If you use a relay service, such as Video Relay Service (VRS), captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA the number for that service

    When you apply, you will need to provide:A current phone number where you can be contacted

    Your address at the time of the disaster and the address where you are now staying

    Your Social Security Number

    A general list of damage and losses

    Banking information if you choose direct deposit

    If insured, the policy number or the agent and/or the company name

    For more information about Kentucky flooding recovery, visit www

    fema

    gov/disaster/4860 and www

    fema

    gov/disaster/4864

    Follow the FEMA Region 4 X account at x

    com/femaregion4

    minh

    phan
    Wed, 04/30/2025 – 20:11

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Dusty Days Are Here Again for El Paso

    Source: NASA

    Spring and early summer are generally dusty in the Borderplex region of the Chihuahuan Desert—a transnational area that spans parts of southern New Mexico, West Texas, and the Mexican state of Chihuahua. With the region gripped by exceptional drought, this has been especially true in 2025.
    The latest in a string of storms lofted particles from dried lakes and other parched sources in northern Chihuahua and New Mexico and sent them streaming toward El Paso, Juárez, and Las Cruces. The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on April 27, 2025. The event followed a large dust storm that hit the region a week earlier, as well as other major dust storms in early and mid-March.
    Research indicates that March, April, and May are typically the most active months for airborne dust in El Paso. But the dust season so far this year has been “truly exceptional—one for the record books,” said Thomas Gill, an environmental scientist at the University of Texas at El Paso. For decades, Gill has used satellite observations and models to track dust activity around the planet and in the Borderplex region.
    He said this latest event is the tenth “full-fledged dust storm” of the year in El Paso, meaning it was dusty enough to restrict visibility to less than half a mile. For comparison, the average is 1.8 storms per year. “You would have to go back to 1936—during the Dust Bowl—to find a year with more,” Gill said. During the Dust Bowl years of 1935 and 1936, El Paso had 13 and 11 dust storms, respectively.
    Unusual drought and windy conditions are fueling the surge in dust. “We’re in the worst drought we’ve seen in at least a decade, and this March was the windiest we’ve seen in more than 50 years,” Gill added.
    Research shows dust storms can pose considerable hazards. In a 2023 analysis, Gill and several colleagues pointed out that the dangers of dust are often underappreciated. They contribute to deadly traffic accidents and elevate the risk of cardiorespiratory problems that lead to emergency room visits.
    Dust may also help spread a fungal infection called Valley Fever, though the precise role of dust storms remains a topic of ongoing research and debate. In another analysis, Gill and colleagues estimated that dust storms cause more than $150 billion in economic damage each year, with farmers, the health care sector, the renewable energy industry, and households bearing large costs.
    Several tools powered by NASA data and satellites are available to meteorologists, scientists, and others tracking dust storms. The Worldview browser hosts timely data and imagery from several satellites, and NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office has tools for real-time weather analysis and reanalysis.
    Gill collaborates frequently with a NASA-sponsored health and air quality team led by George Mason University’s Daniel Tong. That team is working to develop better ways of forecasting and analyzing how dust storms can affect air quality. Researchers with NASA’s SPoRT (Short-term Prediction Research and Transition) project have also developed a new technique that uses machine learning to improve the tracking of dust plumes at night.
    “It should be interesting to see how far the dust from this event travels,” noted Santiago Gasso, a University of Maryland atmospheric scientist based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Some of it could be headed to the Great Lakes, New England, and maybe even to Greenland, as happened after one of the storms in March.”
    Up to this point in the 2025 season, the Borderplex region has seen 28 days with dust. Over the past quarter century, the average for an entire year is 22 days. “We still have several more weeks of the dust season to go,” added Gill, noting that forecasters are warning of more dust as early as this weekend.
       
    NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Adam Voiland.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: 100 Days of Making America Safe Again

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: 100 Days of Making America Safe Again

    WASHINGTON – In just 100 days, President Trump and Secretary Noem have delivered major victories addressing the crisis at the southern border, removing violent criminal illegal aliens from American communities, and stopping the flow of illicit drugs into our homeland

    He’s accomplished more in 100 days than most presidents achieve in an entire term

    PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT:   

    Thanks to President Trump, we have the most secure border in American history

    On day one, President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border

    President Trump immediately reinstated “Remain in Mexico” and ended catch and release

    Daily border encounters have plunged 95% since President Trump took office

    Under President Trump’s leadership, Secretary Noem and Secretary Kennedy have reunited nearly 5,000 unaccompanied children with a safe relative or guardian

    Migrants are turning BACK before they even reach our border— migration through Panama’s Darien Gap is down 99

    99%

    President Trump is finishing the border wall

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) already has 85 miles of new construction either planned or under construction

    United States (U

    S

    ) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U

    S

    Coast Guard (USCG) have seized nearly 232,000 pounds of fentanyl and other illicit drugs—stopping them from ever reaching American communities

    President Trump is fulfilling his promise to carry out mass deportations—starting with the worst of the worst

    The Trump Administration empowered our brave men and women in law enforcement to use common sense to do their jobs effectively

    DHS repealed Biden-era rules that allowed criminal aliens to hide from law enforcement in places like schools and churches to avoid arrest

      
    DHS returned to using the term “illegal alien” which is the statutory language

    President Trump will not allow political correctness to hinder law enforcement

    President Trump mobilized the federal government to help with immigration enforcement

    DHS deputized the Texas National Guard, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Prisons, U

    S

    Marshals, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, members of the State Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to assist with immigration operations

    Operation Tidal Wave, the first 287(g) enforcement operation coordinated with state and federal law enforcement partners, resulted in over 800 arrests

    DHS has secured 579 signed agreements with state and local partnerships under 287(g)

    President Trump and Secretary Noem are empowering state and local law enforcement to get these criminal illegal aliens off our streets

    The Trump Administration has arrested over 158,000 illegal aliens in 2025 alone, including more than 600 members of Tren de Aragua

    Under President Trump, U

    S

    Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is targeting the worst of the worst, 75% of their arrests are criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges

     
    To fulfill President Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations, the administration is now detaining some of the most dangerous illegal aliens, including violent criminals and members of terrorist gangs, at Guantanamo Bay

    At President Trump’s direction, DHS deported nearly 300 Tren de Aragua and MS-13 terrorists to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) Prison in El Salvador, where they no longer pose a threat to the American people

    At President Trump’s direction, Secretary Noem launched a multimillion-dollar nationwide and international ad campaign, urging illegal aliens to leave the U

    S

    voluntarily or face deportation with no chance of return

    President Trump ended the CBP One app that allowed more than one million aliens to illegally enter the U

    S

    The Trump Administration replaced this disastrous program with the CBP Home app, which has a new self-deportation reporting feature for aliens illegally in the country

    So far, thousands of illegal aliens have used the app to self-deport

    The Trump Administration is enforcing the Alien Registration Act which requires aliens to register with the federal government

    If illegal aliens fail to comply, they face fines and imprisonment

    Deportations have already exceeded 142,000—this is just the beginning

    President Trump is putting the safety of Americans first and delivering justice for victims of illegal aliens and drug cartels

    President Trump signed the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the federal detention of illegal aliens accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer, or any crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury

    President Trump designated international drug cartels and other criminal gangs, such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations

    This enables a whole-of-government approach to dismantle their drug and human trafficking operations

    The days of unchecked cartel and gang violence are over

    The Trump Administration secured the extradition of 29 Mexican drug cartel members who are facing charges including racketeering, drug-trafficking, murder, illegal use of firearms, money laundering, and other crimes

    Some of these individuals include:

    Rafael Caro Quintero, alleged to have been among those responsible for the 1985 murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena and others

    This cartel kingpin unleashed violence, destruction, and death across the U

    S

    and Mexico and spent four decades atop DEA’s most wanted fugitives list

    Martin Sotelo, alleged to have participated in the 2022 murder of Deputy Sheriff Ned Byrd

    Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, alleged to have helped lead the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación

    Ramiro Perez Moreno and Lucio Hernandez Lechuga, alleged to be high-ranking members of Los Zetas

    The Trump Administration extradited Eswin Mejia, an illegal alien arrested for killing 21-year-old Sarah Root in a drunk driving crash, from Honduras

    President Trump reopened the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office, which was shuttered by the Biden Administration

    President Trump and Secretary Noem are standing up for the victims of illegal alien crime and ensuring they have access to much needed resources and support they deserve

    President Trump is restoring integrity and common sense to our legal immigration system

    President Trump ended the broad abuse of humanitarian parole and returned the program to a case-by-case basis

    As part of this effort, Secretary Noem terminated the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela parole programs

    President Trump restored integrity to our immigration system by returning the Temporary Protect Status (TPS) immigration program to its original status: temporary

    No longer will this program be abused and exploited by illegal aliens

    Secretary Noem rescinded the previous administration’s extension of Venezuelan, Haitian, and Afghan TPS

    President Trump is returning common sense to our legal immigration system and national security by revoking visas of terrorist sympathizers

    Those who glorify and support terrorists who kill Americans are not welcome in the U

    S

    Some examples include:

    ICE arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student who led activities aligned with Hamas and passed out pro-Hamas propaganda flyers

    Dr

    Rasha Alawieh was deported after she admitted to attending the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah and was responsible for killing hundreds of Americans

    ICE arrested Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown foreign exchange student whose father-in-law is a senior advisor to Hamas

    To keep America safe, DHS is now conducting enhanced vetting of visa applicants, including monitoring foreign aliens’ social media accounts to identify any support for terrorist organizations

    President Trump is using tariffs as a negotiating tool to force other countries to take decisive action that puts American safety, prosperity, and national security first

    President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on countries that have been ripping off America for years

    Unfair trade practices made our supply chain dependent on foreign adversaries, eroded our industrial base, and hurt American workers

    This has gravely impacted our national security

    Now, President Trump is fighting back and putting America first

    President Trump’s tariffs forced Mexico to deploy 10,000 troops on our southern border to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal aliens into our country and Canada to add thousands of personnel to the northern border

    Under President Trump, Secretary Noem refocused DHS to its core mission of protecting the American homeland and eliminating government waste

    The USCG eliminated an ineffective information technology (IT) program, saving nearly $33 million, and is now focusing resources where they’re most needed to protect our homeland

    The Trump Administration stopped aliens on the Terror Watchlist from receiving Medicaid benefits

    Secretary Noem ended the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) FEMA grant program that was wasteful and ineffective

    This resulted in nearly a billion dollars being directed to the Disaster Relief Fund

    To stop policies that were magnets for illegal immigration, DHS froze all funding to non-governmental organizations that facilitate illegal immigration and announced a partnership with the U

    S

    Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure taxpayer dollars do not go to housing illegal aliens

    Secretary Noem ended collective bargaining for the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Transportation Security Officers, which constrained TSA’s chief mission to safeguard our transportation systems and keep Americans safe

    Bottom Line: President Trump campaigned on border security and immigration enforcement, the American people voted for it, and Secretary Noem and DHS are delivering beyond anyone’s expectations

    President Trump and Secretary Noem will continue fighting every day to secure our border and keep American communities safe

    This is just the beginning of a new Golden Age of America

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Where Does Gold Come From? NASA Data Has Clues

    Source: NASA

    Since the big bang, the early universe had hydrogen, helium, and a scant amount of lithium. Later, some heavier elements, including iron, were forged in stars. But one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics is: How did the first elements heavier than iron, such as gold, get created and distributed throughout the universe?
    “It’s a pretty fundamental question in terms of the origin of complex matter in the universe,” said Anirudh Patel, a doctoral student at Columbia University in New York. “It’s a fun puzzle that hasn’t actually been solved.”
    Patel led a study using 20-year-old archival data from NASA and ESA telescopes that finds evidence for a surprising source of a large amount of these heavy elements: flares from highly magnetized neutron stars, called magnetars. The study is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
    Study authors estimate that magnetar giant flares could contribute up to 10% of the total abundance of elements heavier than iron in the galaxy. Since magnetars existed relatively early in the history of the universe, the first gold could have been made this way.
    “It’s answering one of the questions of the century and solving a mystery using archival data that had been nearly forgotten,” said Eric Burns, study co-author and astrophysicist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
    How could gold be made at a magnetar?
    Neutron stars are the collapsed cores of stars that have exploded. They are so dense that one teaspoon of neutron star material, on Earth, would weigh as much as a billion tons. A magnetar is a neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field.
    On rare occasions, magnetars release an enormous amount of high-energy radiation when they undergo “starquakes,” which, like earthquakes, fracture the neutron star’s crust. Starquakes may also be associated with powerful bursts of radiation called magnetar giant flares, which can even affect Earth’s atmosphere. Only three magnetar giant flares have been observed in the Milky Way and the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, and seven outside.
    Patel and colleagues, including his advisor Brian Metzger, professor at Columbia University and senior research scientist at the Flatiron Institute in New York, have been thinking about how radiation from giant flares could correspond to heavy elements forming there. This would happen through a “rapid process” of neutrons forging lighter atomic nuclei into heavier ones.   
    Protons define the element’s identity on the periodic table: hydrogen has one proton, helium has two, lithium has three, and so on. Atoms also have neutrons which do not affect identity, but do add mass. Sometimes when an atom captures an extra neutron the atom becomes unstable and a nuclear decay process happens that converts a neutron into a proton, moving the atom forward on the periodic table. This is how, for example, a gold atom could take on an extra neutron and then transform into mercury. 
    In the unique environment of a disrupted neutron star, in which the density of neutrons is extremely high, something even stranger happens: single atoms can rapidly capture so many neutrons that they undergo multiple decays, leading to the creation of a much heavier element like uranium.
    When astronomers observed the collision of two neutron stars in 2017 using NASA telescopes and the Laser Interferomete Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO), and numerous telescopes on the ground and in space that followed up the initial discovery, they confirmed that this event could have created gold, platinum, and other heavy elements. But neutron star mergers happen too late in the universe’s history to explain the earliest gold and other heavy elements. Recent research by co-authors of the new study — Jakub Cehula of Charles University in Prague, Todd Thompson of The Ohio State University, and Metzger — has found that magnetar flares can heat and eject neutron star crustal material at high speeds, making them a potential source.

    New clues in old data
    At first, Metzger and colleagues thought that the signature from the creation and distribution of heavy elements at a magnetar would appear in the visible and ultraviolet light, and published their predictions. But Burns in Louisiana wondered if there could be a gamma-ray signal bright enough to be detected, too. He asked Metzger and Patel to check, and they found that there could be such a signature.
    “At some point, we said, ‘OK, we should ask the observers if they had seen any,’” Metzger said.
    Burns looked up the gamma ray data from the last giant flare that has been observed, which was in December 2004. He realized that while scientists had explained the beginning of the outburst, they had also identified a smaller signal from the magnetar, in data from ESA (European Space Agency)’s INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), a recently retired mission with NASA contributions. “It was noted at the time, but nobody had any conception of what it could be,” Burns said.
    Metzger remembers that Burns thought he and Patel were “pulling his leg” because the prediction from their team’s model so closely matched the mystery signal in the 2004 data. In other words, the gamma ray signal detected over 20 years ago corresponded to what it should look like when heavy elements are created and then distributed in a magnetar giant flare.
    Patel was so excited, “I wasn’t thinking about anything else for the next week or two. It was the only thing on my mind,” he said.
    Researchers supported their conclusion using data from two NASA heliophysics missions: the retired RHESSI (Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager) and the ongoing NASA’s Wind satellite, which had also observed the magnetar giant flare. Other collaborators on the new study included Jared Goldberg at the Flatiron Institute.
    Next steps in the magnetar gold rush
    NASA’s forthcoming COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) mission can follow up on these results. A wide-field gamma ray telescope, COSI is expected to launch in 2027 and will study energetic phenomena in the cosmos, such as magnetar giant flares. COSI will be able to identify individual elements created in these events, providing a new advancement in understanding the origin of the elements. It is one of many telescopes that can work together to look for “transient” changes across the universe.
    Researchers will also follow up on other archival data to see if other secrets are hiding in observations of other magnetar giant flares.
    “It very cool to think about how some of the stuff in my phone or my laptop was forged in this extreme explosion of the course of our galaxy’s history,” Patel said.
    Media Contact
    Elizabeth LandauHeadquarters, Washington202-358-0845elandau@nasa.gov

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Grattan on Friday: Key markers on the bumpy road to this election

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    When we look back, we can see the road to election day has had a multitude of signposts, flashing red lights, twists, turns and potholes. Some came before the formal campaign; others in the final countdown days; some have been major, others symbolic.

    The importance of certain markers has been obvious in the moment; the significance of others became clear in retrospect. Here is a recap of a few of those that have shaped this campaign and its battle for votes.

    1. Anthony Albanese’s January 6 $7.2 billion announcement to upgrade the Bruce Highway

    Why start here? Because this was the prime minister jumping out of the blocks at the start of January, with multiple announcements over the summer. Albanese laid down policy groundwork in these weeks, giving voters time to absorb the initiatives.

    In contrast, Peter Dutton, although he had a “soft” launch on January 12, was running slowly, believing voters weren’t yet paying attention.

    2. Donald Trump’s inauguration

    January 21 unleashed a tsunami; its waves would wash over the coming months, and profoundly affect the election. At first, the Coalition thought – wrongly – that the election of Trump would favour it, but Labor became the beneficiary. Many Australians (including Dutton) were appalled at the way Trump and Vice President JD Vance treated Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Later, Trump’s tariffs hit Australia (although not as hard as many countries).

    Dutton argued he’d be better able than Albanese to handle the capricious president, but it became a spurious debate. Labor painted Dutton as Trump-lite and some of his decisions played into its hands, notably appointing in late January Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to a Musk-like role to pursue efficiencies in government. She later made the comparison even more obvious by saying the Coalition would “make Australia great again”.

    But the central factor was this: suddenly, the world had become more uncertain and many voters would think it wasn’t the time to change.

    3. The Reserve Bank’s cut in interest rates on February 18

    The amount was modest, 25 basis points, but the psychology was the thing. The cut reinforced Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ argument that the worst was over and the outlook was positive. In the campaign’s final week, just at the right time for the government, inflation figures pointed to another expected cut in May.

    4. Cyclone Alfred’s March 7 election delay

    Albanese appeared set to call an April 12 poll, when the approaching winds blew the plan off course. The prime minister was able to put himself at the middle of the response to the cyclone, projecting himself as a national leader as distinct from a partisan one; he appeared with Queensland LNP Premier David Crisafulli, and at the Canberra National Situation Room.

    The election delay meant Labor had to bring down the March 25 budget. Many in the government had wanted to avoid a budget, because of its deficits into the distance. But the budget became a useful frame for the start of the formal campaign, with Albanese going to Government House at the end of budget week.

    5. Dutton’s budget reply

    The opposition leader’s reply contained his proposal to cut petrol excise but did not include tax cuts. The opposition had already voted against the government’s budget tax cut package, and committed to repealing it.

    The excise move was popular – Dutton would visit countless service stations over coming weeks – but the government was able to say a Coalition government would raise taxes.

    At his campaign launch subsequently, Dutton promised a $1,200 tax offset, despite earlier flagging he would not be able to announce any income tax relief during the campaign. The tax offset was an attempt to rectify what had been the mistake of thinking that the Coalition – traditionally committed to lower taxes – could go to the election on the wrong side of the tax argument.

    6. Dutton’s April 7 backtrack on working from home

    The opposition policy to get public servants back into the office all week was a disaster-in-the-making from the start. Workers in the private sector would, rightly, see it as sending a signal to non-government employers.

    Women hated the policy, and it would further alienate the female vote. Dutton had to ditch the idea and apologise. Finance spokeswoman Jane Hume didn’t help the retreat by saying it was a good policy that hadn’t found its appropriate time.

    7. News on April 15 that the Russians wanted to base planes in Papua

    The story appeared on the respected military site Janes, and Dutton rushed to pick it up, but went off half-cocked, declaring wrongly that the Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto had announced the Russian request. It was symptomatic of Dutton being under-prepared. He had to make another apology.

    8. Neo-Nazis heckle during the Welcome to Country at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance Anzac Day Dawn Service

    This led to Dutton launching into “culture wars” in the final days of the campaign. In criticising the disruption, he at first said, “We have a proud Indigenous heritage in this country and we should be proud to celebrate it as part of today”.

    Subsequently he said most veterans didn’t want the Welcome to Country as part of the Anzac Day ceremonies, although it was a matter for the organisers. In general, he believed Welcome to Country ceremonies were used too frequently.

    Dutton segued the controversy back to criticism of the Voice, and seized on confusing remarks by Foreign Minister Penny Wong to claim Labor was still committed to bringing in a Voice, something Albanese flatly denied.

    9. The price of eggs

    In the last of the four debates neither leader could specify the cost of a dozen eggs. Dutton was way out ($4.20); Albanese rather closer (“$7, if you can find them.”. It was a small moment but sent the message that even in a cost-of-living election, the leaders do live in bubbles.

    10. Dutton comments on Thursday

    Almost at the road’s end, the opposition leader appealed to voters to overlook a flawed campaign. “This election really is a referendum not about the election campaign but about the last three years.”

    Asked if there was anything he could have done differently, he said “we should have called out Labor’s lies earlier on”.

    It was as though he was speaking to a postmortem, while praying for a miracle.

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

    – ref. Grattan on Friday: Key markers on the bumpy road to this election – https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-key-markers-on-the-bumpy-road-to-this-election-255613

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI: FTC Solar Announces First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • First quarter revenue of $20.8 million, up 58% q/q, above target
    • Cost efficiencies drive operating expenses to multi-year low
    • Seeing increased customer interest and activity including bid activity up 60% y/y
    • Upsized promissory note offering expected to close in Q2
    • Strengthened Board of Directors with addition of two new members

    AUSTIN, Texas, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FTC Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FTCI), a leading provider of solar tracker systems, today announced financial results for the first quarter that ended March 31, 2025.

    “We’re pleased to report first quarter results which were ahead of target mid-points on all metrics,” said Yann Brandt, President and Chief Executive Officer of FTC Solar. “In recent months we have added multiples of our current annual revenue run rate to our backlog, signed agreements totaling more than 6.5 gigawatts with Tier 1 customers, added incremental liquidity for our balance sheet, strengthened our sales team, further strengthened our product offering and capabilities, and increased our commercial traction with bids on many gigawatts of future projects. 

    “Much of our recent momentum has been driven by the significant expansion of our innovative and differentiated 1P product line, including high wind offerings up to 150mph, terrain-following options, large stow range, compatibility across module manufacturers and types, and the upcoming availability of 100% domestic content. This compelling product line has helped drive significant increases in customer visits, bidding volume, average project size and customer access.

    “Overall, I’m bullish on the long-term potential and prospects for FTC Solar. We’re well positioned in a growth market to take significant share, with the right combination of people and products, providing the best value for our customers. Our priority is to demonstrate continued progress and convert the increased customer interest and wins into sustainable growth and profitability.”

    Summary Financial Performance: Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024

        U.S. GAAP     Non-GAAP(c)  
        Three months ended March 31,  
    (in thousands, except per share data)   2025     2024     2025     2024  
    Revenue   $ 20,803     $ 12,587     $ 20,803     $ 12,587  
    Gross margin percentage     (16.6 %)     (16.7 %)     (14.4 %)     (13.7 %)
    Total operating expenses   $ 7,113     $ 10,394     $ 6,645     $ 8,702  
    Loss from operations(a)   $ (10,560 )   $ (12,502 )   $ (9,750 )   $ (10,655 )
    Net loss   $ (3,819 )   $ (8,771 )   $ (10,801 )   $ (10,873 )
    Diluted loss per share(b)   $ (0.58 )   $ (0.70 )   $ (0.84 )   $ (0.87 )
      (a)   Adjusted EBITDA for Non-GAAP
      (b)   Prior year amounts per share have been revised to reflect the 1-for-10 reverse stock split, effective November 29, 2024
      (c)   See below for reconciliation of Non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measures
           

    The contracted portion of the company’s backlog1 now stands at approximately $482 million. 

    First Quarter Results
    Total first-quarter revenue was $20.8 million, which was above our target range. This revenue level represents an increase of 57.6% compared to the prior quarter and an increase of 65.3% compared to the year-earlier quarter due to higher product volumes.

    GAAP gross loss was $3.4 million, or 16.6% of revenue, compared to gross loss of $3.8 million, or 29.1% of revenue, in the prior quarter. Non-GAAP gross loss was $3.0 million or 14.4% of revenue. The result for this quarter compares to non-GAAP gross loss of $1.7 million in the prior-year period.

    GAAP operating expenses were $7.1 million. On a non-GAAP basis, operating expenses were $6.6 million. This result compares to non-GAAP operating expenses of $8.7 million in the year-ago quarter. 

    GAAP net loss was $3.8 million or $0.58 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $12.2 million or $0.96 per diluted share in the prior quarter and a net loss of $8.8 million or $0.70 per diluted share (post-split) in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted EBITDA loss, which excludes an approximate $5.9 million net gain from the change in fair value of the warrant liability, gain from collection of a contingent earnout payment and other non-cash items, was $9.8 million, compared to Adjusted EBITDA losses of $9.8 million(2) in the prior quarter and $10.7 million in the year-ago quarter.

    Subsequent Events
    The company announced today the appointments of Darrell Jackson and Max Sultan to its Board of Directors. The appointments were effective as of April 28, 2025.

    Mr. Jackson brings more than 30 years of executive and Board leadership experience to FTC Solar. He has been the CEO of The Efficace Group, an executive coaching and consulting firm, since 2018. Prior to Efficace, he served as President and CEO of Seaway Bank and Trust Company. Earlier in his career, he spent more than 19 years at Northern Trust Company, serving in various roles, including as EVP and President of Wealth Management, and spent approximately 14 years with BMO Harris. Mr. Jackson currently serves on the Janus Henderson Funds Board of Trustees, is an independent director for Amalgamated Financial Corporation, and is on the Board of Directors of two privately held companies, Dome Construction, Inc., and William R. Gray and Company. Mr. Jackson earned a BA in Communications from St. Xavier University and holds an Executive MBA degree from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

    Mr. Sultan is currently a partner at Applied Value Group, a strategy and operations management consulting firm, having joined the firm in August 2013. He has led consulting engagements on issues including sourcing and supply chain, product design and innovation, and commercial excellence, and has worked with several renewable energy clients. Mr. Sultan has been a member of the Board of Directors of ES Solar, a private residential and commercial installer based in Utah since June 2023. He has previously served on the Boards of Applied Value Technologies and Division 5, LLC. Mr. Sultan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. Mr. Sultan was nominated to the Board by AV Securities, Inc., pursuant to the terms of the Promissory Note placement which closed in December 2024.

    Outlook
    For the second quarter, we expect revenue at the midpoint of our guidance range to show continued sequential growth relative to the first quarter. We continue to expect 2025 revenue to be weighted toward the second half and continue to expect to achieve adjusted EBITDA breakeven on a quarterly basis within 2025.

    (in millions)   1Q’25
    Guidance    		   1Q’25
    Actual    		   2Q’25
    Guidance(3)
    Revenue   $18.0 – $20.0   $20.8   $19.0 – $24.0
    Non-GAAP Gross Loss   $(4.8) – $(2.3)   $(3.0)   $(4.4) – $(2.0)
    Non-GAAP Gross Margin   (26.6%) – (11.7%)   (14.4%)   (23.4%) – (8.5%)
    Non-GAAP operating expenses   $7.7 – $8.4   $6.6   $7.8 – $8.6
    Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA   $(13.3) – $(10.0)   $(9.8)   $(13.3) – $(10.0)
                 

    First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call
    FTC Solar’s senior management will host a conference call for members of the investment community at 8:30 a.m. E.T. today, during which the company will discuss its first quarter results, its outlook and other business items. This call will be webcast and can be accessed within the Investor Relations section of FTC Solar’s website at https://investor.ftcsolar.com. A replay of the conference call will also be available on the website for 30 days following the webcast.

    About FTC Solar Inc.
    Founded in 2017 by a group of renewable energy industry veterans, FTC Solar is a global provider of solar tracker systems, technology, software, and engineering services. Solar trackers significantly increase energy production at solar power installations by dynamically optimizing solar panel orientation to the sun. FTC Solar’s innovative tracker designs provide compelling performance and reliability, with an industry-leading installation cost-per-watt advantage.

    Footnotes
    1. The term ‘backlog’ or ‘contracted and awarded’ refers to the combination of our executed contracts (contracted) and awarded orders (awarded), which are orders that have been documented and signed through a contract, where we are in the process of documenting a contract but for which a contract has not yet been signed, or that have been awarded in writing or verbally with a mutual understanding that the order will be contracted in the future. In the case of certain projects, including those that are scheduled for delivery on later dates, we have not locked in binding pricing with customers, and we instead use estimated average selling price to calculate the revenue included in our contracted and awarded orders for such projects. Actual revenue for these projects could differ once contracts with binding pricing are executed, and there is also a risk that a contract may never be executed for an awarded but uncontracted project, or that a contract may be executed for an awarded but uncontracted project at a date that is later than anticipated, or that a contract once executed may be subsequently amended, supplemented, rescinded, cancelled or breached, including in a manner that impacts the timing and amounts of payments due thereunder, thus reducing anticipated revenues. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K, for more information on our contracted and awarded orders, including risk factors.
    2. A reconciliation of prior quarter Non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measures may be found in Exhibit 99.1 of our Form 8-K filed on March 31, 2025.
    3. We do not provide a quantitative reconciliation of our forward-looking non-GAAP guidance measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures because certain information needed to reconcile those measures is not available without unreasonable efforts due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying these measures as a result of changes in project schedules by our customers that may occur, which are outside of our control, and the impact, if any, of credit loss provisions, asset impairment charges, restructuring or changes in the timing and level of indirect or overhead spending, as well as other matters, that could occur which could significantly impact the related GAAP financial measures.

    Forward-Looking Statements
    This press release contains forward looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but rather are based on our current expectations and projections regarding our business, operations and other factors relating thereto. Words such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “anticipate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and as such are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties described in more detail above and in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents, including Current Reports on Form 8-K, that we have filed, or will file, with the SEC. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements as predictions of future events, as actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties described in more detail above and in our filings with the SEC, including the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents, including Current Reports on Form 8-K, that we have filed, or will file, with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date on which they are made. FTC Solar undertakes no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or changes in its expectations, except as required by law.

    FTC Solar Investor Contact:
    Bill Michalek
    Vice President, Investor Relations
    FTC Solar
    T: (737) 241-8618
    E: IR@FTCSolar.com

     
    FTC Solar, Inc.
    Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss
    (unaudited)
     
        Three months ended March 31,  
    (in thousands, except shares and per share data)   2025     2024  
    Revenue:            
    Product   $ 18,202     $ 10,905  
    Service     2,601       1,682  
    Total revenue     20,803       12,587  
    Cost of revenue:            
    Product     20,111       12,367  
    Service     4,139       2,328  
    Total cost of revenue     24,250       14,695  
    Gross loss     (3,447 )     (2,108 )
    Operating expenses            
    Research and development     924       1,439  
    Selling and marketing     1,136       2,388  
    General and administrative     5,053       6,567  
    Total operating expenses     7,113       10,394  
    Loss from operations     (10,560 )     (12,502 )
    Interest expense     (711 )     (317 )
    Interest income     6       181  
    Gain from disposal of investment in unconsolidated subsidiary     3,204       4,085  
    Gain from change in fair value of warrant liability     4,604       —  
    Other income, net     4       36  
    Loss from unconsolidated subsidiary     (112 )     (265 )
    Loss before income taxes     (3,565 )     (8,782 )
    (Provision for) benefit from income taxes     (254 )     11  
    Net loss     (3,819 )     (8,771 )
    Other comprehensive income (loss):            
    Foreign currency translation adjustments     28       (181 )
    Comprehensive loss   $ (3,791 )   $ (8,952 )
    Net loss per share:            
    Basic(*)   $ (0.30 )   $ (0.70 )
    Diluted(*)   $ (0.58 )   $ (0.70 )
    Weighted-average common shares outstanding:            
    Basic(*)     12,888,695       12,556,938  
    Diluted(*)     14,588,972       12,556,938  

    ___________

    (*) Prior year amounts per share and number of shares, as applicable, have been revised to reflect the 1-for-10 reverse stock split, effective November 29, 2024.
     
    FTC Solar, Inc.
    Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
    (unaudited)
     
    (in thousands, except shares and per share data)   March 31, 2025     December 31, 2024  
    ASSETS            
    Current assets            
    Cash and cash equivalents   $ 5,909     $ 11,247  
    Accounts receivable, net of allowance for credit losses of $1,625 and $1,717 at March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively     44,238       39,709  
    Inventories     6,828       10,144  
    Prepaid and other current assets     14,123       15,028  
    Total current assets     71,098       76,128  
    Operating lease right-of-use assets     959       1,149  
    Property and equipment, net     1,951       2,217  
    Goodwill     7,173       7,139  
    Equity method investment     842       954  
    Other assets     2,038       2,341  
    Total assets   $ 84,061     $ 89,928  
    LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY            
    Current liabilities            
    Accounts payable   $ 14,636     $ 12,995  
    Accrued expenses     23,245       20,134  
    Income taxes payable     407       325  
    Deferred revenue     2,237       5,306  
    Other current liabilities     10,373       10,313  
    Total current liabilities     50,898       49,073  
    Long-term debt     10,169       9,466  
    Operating lease liability, net of current portion     344       411  
    Warrant liability     4,916       9,520  
    Other non-current liabilities     2,206       2,422  
    Total liabilities     68,533       70,892  
    Commitments and contingencies            
    Stockholders’ equity            
    Preferred stock par value of $0.0001 per share, 10,000,000 shares authorized; none issued as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024     —       —  
    Common stock par value of $0.0001 per share, 850,000,000 shares authorized; 13,068,309 and 12,853,823 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024     1       1  
    Treasury stock, at cost; 1,076,257 shares as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024     —       —  
    Additional paid-in capital     367,601       367,318  
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss     (514 )     (542 )
    Accumulated deficit     (351,560 )     (347,741 )
    Total stockholders’ equity     15,528       19,036  
    Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity   $ 84,061     $ 89,928  
     
     
    FTC Solar, Inc.
    Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
    (unaudited)
     
        Three months ended March 31,  
    (in thousands)   2025     2024  
    Cash flows from operating activities            
    Net loss   $ (3,819 )   $ (8,771 )
    Adjustments to reconcile net loss to cash used in operating activities:            
    Stock-based compensation     280       1,639  
    Depreciation and amortization     302       404  
    Gain from change in fair value of warrant liability     (4,604 )     —  
    Gain from sale of property and equipment     (3 )     —  
    Amortization of debt discount and issue costs     210       177  
    Paid-in-kind non-cash interest     492       —  
    Provision (credit) for obsolete and slow-moving inventory     —       177  
    Loss from unconsolidated subsidiary     112       265  
    Gain from disposal of investment in unconsolidated subsidiary     (3,204 )     (4,085 )
    Warranties issued and remediation added     1,045       838  
    Warranty recoverable from manufacturer     80       98  
    Credit loss provisions(reversals)     (92 )     670  
    Deferred income taxes     426       225  
    Lease expense and other     327       309  
    Impact on cash from changes in operating assets and liabilities:            
    Accounts receivable     (4,437 )     (1,770 )
    Inventories     3,316       (116 )
    Prepaid and other current assets     918       45  
    Other assets     (216 )     (226 )
    Accounts payable     1,688       3,989  
    Accruals and other current liabilities     2,539       (6,200 )
    Deferred revenue     (3,069 )     1,285  
    Other non-current liabilities     (415 )     (523 )
    Lease payments and other, net     (359 )     (287 )
    Net cash used in operations     (8,483 )     (11,857 )
    Cash flows from investing activities:            
    Purchases of property and equipment     (83 )     (432 )
    Proceeds from sale of property and equipment     3       —  
    Equity method investment in Alpha Steel     —       (1,035 )
    Proceeds from disposal of investment in unconsolidated subsidiary     3,204       4,085  
    Net cash provided by investing activities     3,124       2,618  
    Cash flows from financing activities:            
    Proceeds from stock option exercises     3       —  
    Net cash provided by financing activities     3       —  
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash     18       (59 )
    Decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash     (5,338 )     (9,298 )
    Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period     11,247       25,235  
    Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period   $ 5,909     $ 15,937  
     

    Notes to Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures to Nearest Comparable GAAP Measures

    We utilize Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Loss, and Adjusted EPS as supplemental measures of our performance. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net loss plus (i) provision for (benefit from) income taxes, (ii) interest expense, net, (iii) depreciation expense, (iv) amortization of intangibles, (v) stock-based compensation, (vi) loss from changes in fair value of our warrant liability, and (vii) Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) transition costs, non-routine legal fees, costs associated with our reverse stock split, severance and certain other costs (credits). We also deduct the contingent gains arising from earnout payments and project escrow releases relating to the disposal of our investment in an unconsolidated subsidiary and gains from changes in fair value of our warrant liability from net loss in arriving at Adjusted EBITDA. We define Adjusted Net Loss as net loss plus (i) amortization of debt discount and issue costs and intangibles, (ii) stock-based compensation, (iii) loss from changes in fair value of our warrant liability, (iv) CEO transition costs, non-routine legal fees, costs associated with our reverse stock split, severance and certain other costs (credits), and (v) the income tax expense (benefit) of those adjustments, if any. We also deduct the contingent gains arising from earnout payments and project escrow releases relating to the disposal of our investment in an unconsolidated subsidiary and gains from change in fair value of our warrant liability from net loss in arriving at Adjusted Net Loss. Adjusted EPS is defined as Adjusted Net Loss on a per share basis using our weighted average diluted shares outstanding.

    Non-GAAP gross profit (loss), Non-GAAP operating expense, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted EPS are intended as supplemental measures of performance that are neither required by, nor presented in accordance with, U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). We present these non-GAAP measures, many of which are commonly used by investors and analysts, because we believe they assist those investors and analysts in comparing our performance across reporting periods on an ongoing basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. In addition, we use Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted EPS to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies.

    Non-GAAP gross profit (loss), Non-GAAP operating expense, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted EPS should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP, and you should not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business. These Non-GAAP financial measures, when presented, are reconciled to the most closely applicable GAAP measure as disclosed below.

    The following table reconciles Non-GAAP gross profit (loss) to the most closely related GAAP measure for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively:

        Three months ended March 31,  
    (in thousands, except percentages)   2025     2024  
    U.S. GAAP revenue   $ 20,803     $ 12,587  
    U.S. GAAP gross loss   $ (3,447 )   $ (2,108 )
    Depreciation expense     173       168  
    Stock-based compensation     243       216  
    Severance costs     34       —  
    Non-GAAP gross loss   $ (2,997 )   $ (1,724 )
    Non-GAAP gross margin percentage     (14.4 %)     (13.7 %)
     

    The following table reconciles Non-GAAP operating expenses to the most closely related GAAP measure for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively:

        Three months ended March 31,  
    (in thousands)   2025     2024  
    U.S. GAAP operating expenses   $ 7,113     $ 10,394  
    Depreciation expense     (129 )     (102 )
    Amortization expense     —       (134 )
    Stock-based compensation     (37 )     (1,423 )
    CEO transition     (160 )     —  
    Non-routine legal fees     —       (33 )
    Reverse stock split     (1 )     —  
    Severance costs     (141 )     —  
    Non-GAAP operating expenses   $ 6,645     $ 8,702  
     

    The following table reconciles Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA to the related GAAP measure of loss from operations for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively:

        Three months ended March 31,  
    (in thousands)   2025     2024  
    U.S. GAAP loss from operations   $ (10,560 )   $ (12,502 )
    Depreciation expense     302       270  
    Amortization expense     —       134  
    Stock-based compensation     280       1,639  
    CEO transition     160       —  
    Non-routine legal fees     —       33  
    Reverse stock split     1       —  
    Severance costs     175       —  
    Other income, net     4       36  
    Loss from unconsolidated subsidiary     (112 )     (265 )
    Adjusted EBITDA   $ (9,750 )   $ (10,655 )
     

    The following table reconciles Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Loss to the related GAAP measure of net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively:

        Three months ended March 31,  
        2025     2024  
    (in thousands, except shares and per share data)   Adjusted
    EBITDA    		     Adjusted Net
    Loss    		     Adjusted
    EBITDA    		     Adjusted Net
    Loss    		  
    Net loss per U.S. GAAP   $ (3,819 )   $ (3,819 )   $ (8,771 )   $ (8,771 )
    Reconciling items –                        
    Provision for (benefit from) income taxes     254       —       (11 )     —  
    Interest expense     711       —       317       —  
    Interest income     (6 )     —       (181 )     —  
    Amortization of debt discount and issue costs in interest expense     —       210       —       177  
    Depreciation expense     302       —       270       —  
    Amortization of intangibles     —       —       134       134  
    Stock-based compensation     280       280       1,639       1,639  
    Gain from disposal of investment in unconsolidated subsidiary(a)     (3,204 )     (3,204 )     (4,085 )     (4,085 )
    Gain from change in fair value of warrant liability(b)     (4,604 )     (4,604 )     —       —  
    CEO transition(c)     160       160       —       —  
    Non-routine legal fees(d)     —       —       33       33  
    Reverse stock split(e)     1       1       —       —  
    Severance costs(f)     175       175       —       —  
    Adjusted Non-GAAP amounts   $ (9,750 )   $ (10,801 )   $ (10,655 )   $ (10,873 )
                             
    Adjusted Non-GAAP net loss per share (Adjusted EPS):                        
    Basic(g)   N/A     $ (0.84 )   N/A     $ (0.87 )
    Diluted(g)   N/A     $ (0.84 )   N/A     $ (0.87 )
                             
    Weighted-average common shares outstanding:                        
    Basic(g)   N/A       12,888,695     N/A       12,556,938  
    Diluted(g)   N/A       12,888,695     N/A       12,556,938  
    (a) We exclude the gain from collections of contingent contractual amounts arising from the sale in 2021 of our investment in an unconsolidated subsidiary as these amounts are not considered part of our normal ongoing operations.
    (b) We exclude non-cash changes in the fair value of our outstanding warrants as we do not consider such changes to impact or reflect changes in our core operating performance.
    (c) In connection with hiring a new CEO in August 2024, we agreed to upfront and incremental sign-on bonuses (collectively, the “sign-on bonuses”), a portion of which was paid to our CEO in 2024, with clawback provisions over the next two years, and a portion of which will be paid in 2025 and 2026, all contingent upon continued employment as of the payment date. These sign-on bonuses will be expensed each period through October 1, 2026, to reflect the required service periods. We do not view these sign-on bonuses as being part of the normal on-going compensation arrangements for our CEO.
    (d) Non-routine legal fees represent legal fees and other costs incurred for specific matters that were not ordinary or routine to the operations of the business.
    (e) We incurred incremental professional fees in 2025 relating to final reconciliation of information relating to our stock compensation awards as a result of the Reverse Stock Split that was consummated effective November 29, 2024.
    (f) Severance costs in 2025 were due to restructuring changes.
    (g) Prior year shares and amounts, as applicable, have been revised to reflect the 1-for-10 reverse stock split, effective November 29, 2024.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Newsom announces appointments 4.29.25

    Source: US State of California 2

    Apr 29, 2025

    SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:

    Kristina “Kris” Thayer, of Raleigh, North Carolina, has been appointed Director of The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Thayer has been Director of the Director of the Integrated Risk Information System Division at the United States Environmental Protection Agency since 2019, where she has held multiple positions since 2017, including Director of the Integrated Risk Information System and Director of the Chemical and Pollution Assessment Division. She held multiple positions at the National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences from 2003 to 2017, including Deputy Director of the Division of Analysis, Director of the Office of Health Assessment and Translation, Director of the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction, Staff Scientist at the Center for the Evaluation of Risk to Human Reproduction, Deputy Director of the Office of Risk Assessment Research, and Staff Scientist in the Office of Liaison and Scientific Review. Thayer is a member of the Society of Toxicology. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Missouri, Columbia and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University, University Park. This position requires Senate confirmation, and compensation is $217,000. Thayer is a Democrat.

    Jason D. Johnson, of Redlands, has been appointed Undersecretary of Operations at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Johnson has been Acting Undersecretary of Operations since 2024 at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, where he has held several positions since 2006, including Director of the Division of Adult Parole Operations, Chief Deputy Regional Administrator, Parole Administrator I, Parole Agent III Supervisor, Parole Agent II Supervisor, and Parole Agent I. Johnson was a Probation Officer II at San Bernardino County Probation Department from 2001 to 2006. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Association, the Orange County Chiefs’ and Sherriffs’ Association, and the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice. Johnson earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Redlands and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from California State University, Fullerton. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $239,796. Johnson is a Democrat.

    Joshua Prudhel, of Ceres, has been appointed Warden of Sierra Conservation Center, where he has been serving as Acting Warden since 2024. Prudhel was Chief Deputy Administrator at California State Prison, Sacramento from 2022 to 2024. He was a Correctional Administrator at California State Prison, Corcoran in 2022. Prudhel was Acting Chief Deputy Administrator at Correctional Training Facility from 2021 to 2022. He was a Correctional Administration at California State Prison, Corcoran from 2020 to 2021. Prudhel was Captain at California Health Care Facility from 2016 to 2020, where he was previously a Correctional Lieutenant from 2014 to 2016. He was a Correctional Lieutenant at California State Prison, Corcoran from 2011 to 2014, where he was previously a Correctional Sergeant from 2008 to 2011. Prudhel was a Correctional Sergeant at Deuel Vocational Institution from 2007 to 2008, and at Correctional Training Facility from 2005 to 2007. He was a Correctional Officer at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center from 2003 to 2005, and at Richard A. Mcgee Correctional Training Center from 2002 to 2003. Prudhel is a member of the California Correctional Supervisors Organization. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $193,524. Prudhel is a Republican.

    Megan Mekelburg, of Sacramento, has been appointed Deputy Secretary for Legislation at the California Natural Resources Agency. Mekelburg has been Deputy Appointments Secretary in the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom since 2024. She was Senior Associate at Environmental & Energy Consulting from 2023 to 2024. Mekelburg was Legislative Director in the Office of Senator Aisha Wahab in the California State Senate in 2023. She held multiple roles in the Office of Senator Josh Newman in the California State Senate from 2021 to 2023, including Legislative Director and Acting Chief of Staff. Mekelburg held multiple roles in the Office of Senator Henry Stern in the California State Senate from 2019 to 2021, including Legislative Aide and Executive Assistant. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy and Administration from California State University, Sacramento and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from University of California, Davis. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $160,008. Mekelburg is a Democrat.

    Matthew Sage, of Fair Oaks, has been appointed Commander of the State Threat Assessment Center at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Sage has been the Deputy Commander of Intel/Analysis at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services since 2023. He was an Account Executive at Echo Analytics Group from 2021 to 2022. He was a Supervisory Intelligence Specialist at the Department of the Army from 2015 to 2021. Sage was an Operations and Integrations Officer at Dyncorp International from 2012 to 2015. He was a Staff Officer at Sytera LLC. from 2011 to 2012. Sage was an Atmospherics Manager at AECOM/McNeill Technologies in 2011. He served as rank E-5 in the United States Army from 2006 to 2010. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $161,062. Sage is registered without party preference.

    Davina Hurt, of Belmont, has been appointed to the California Water Commission. Hurt has been the California Climate Policy Director at Pacific Environment since 2025. She was an Attorney/Civic Advocate at Davina Hurt Esq. from 2005 to 2024. Hurt held multiple positions with the City of Belmont from 2015 to 2024, including Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Councilmember. She was a Campaign Manager at the Democratic Volunteer Center from 2014 to 2015. Hurt was a Securities Case Assistant at Heller Ehrman White and McAuliffe LLP from 2004 to 2005. She was a Senior Counsel and Civic Advocate at Tyson and Mendes LLP in 2004. Hurt was a Law Clerk at Bay Area Legal Aid from 2002 to 2004. She was a Law Clerk at the United States District Court for Northern District of California from 2002 to 2003. Hurt was a Summer Associate at Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach LLP in 2002. She earned a Juris Doctor Degree from Santa Clara University School of Law and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in History and Political Science from Baylor University. This position requires Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem. Hurt is a Democrat.

    Peter Stern, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the California Horse Racing Board. Stern has been Chief Revenue Officer at Skedulo and an Advisor at Berkeley SkyDeck since 2025. He held several roles at Authorium from 2024 to 2025, including Advisor and Executive Vice President. He was the Co-Founder of VoiceBrain from 2021 to 2023. He was a Commissioner at California State Lottery Commission from 2019 to 2022. He held several positions at Inxeption from 2017 to 2021, including Executive Vice President of Business Operations and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. Stern was the Airport Commissioner at the San Francisco International Airport from 2010 to 2019. He was Chief Revenue Officer at Skedulo from 2015 to 2017. Stern was the Chief Revenue Officer at Autopilot from 2013 to 2015. Stern was the Vice President of Sales at Kenandy, Inc. from 2011 to 2013. He held numerous positions at Salesforce from 2007 to 2011, including Vice President of Enterprise Corporate Sales and Corporate Sales Manager. Stern was Regional Manager at Oracle from 2005 to 2007. He was an Account Executive at Macromedia from 2002 to 2004. Stern was an Account Executive at Oracle from 2000 to 2000. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $100 per diem. Stern is registered without party preference.

    Dyan Whyte, of Berkeley, has been appointed to the California State Mining and Geology Board. Whyte has been the Chief Financial Officer at Dataway US since 2019. She held multiple positions at the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region from 1988 to 1999, including Assistant Executive Officer and Senior Engineering Geologist. Whyte earned a Master of Science degree in Environmental Geology from University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies and Geology from California State University, Sonoma. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $100 per diem. Whyte is a Democrat.

    Press Releases, Recent News

    Recent news

    Apr 29, 2025

    News What you need to know: California continues to improve efficiency and engagement in state government by advancing its first-in-the-nation project to integrate cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology into state operations. Los Angeles, California –…

    Apr 29, 2025

    News What you need to know: California is filing a lawsuit today against the Trump administration for dismantling AmeriCorps, which puts service and volunteer programs across the country and in California at risk. SACRAMENTO — Today, Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney…

    Apr 28, 2025

    News SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom today issued the following statement congratulating newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney:“Jennifer and I warmly congratulate Prime Minister Mark Carney on his party’s election victory in Canada. California looks…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump is freezing funds to clear thousands of unexploded mines in Vietnam 50 years after war ended

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Andrew Priest, Lecturer in Modern US History, University of Essex

    Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam war, the long-term consequences of that conflict continue to affect many Vietnamese people’s daily lives. There are still thousands of unexploded mines and bombs strewn across the region in forests, rice fields and around villages.

    The war (1955-75) pitted communist North Vietnam and its allies against South Vietnam and its ally, the US, and spilled into Laos and Cambodia. It was seen partly as a symbol of the cold war and a conflict between communist values and the west.

    In 2019, the US Congress estimated that more than 20% of land in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia remained “contaminated” by unexploded ordnance (UXO). In 2023, in Vietnam alone, this was estimated to mean around 800,000 tonnes of bombs and mines remained. Since 1975, UXO accidents have caused more than 105,000 casualties, including more than 38,000 deaths of Vietnamese civilians.

    But mine clearance and attempts to clean up the results of the toxic Agent Orange sprayed on the Vietnamese countryside during the war have been put on hold by Donald Trump’s government, as the administration dismantles US foreign aid (USAID).

    In the last few weeks, funds for the clean-up of Agent Orange at Bien Hoa air base, close to Ho Chi Minh City, were frozen and then unfrozen. It remains unclear how, or whether, the process will be able to continue when many of the personnel involved have lost their jobs.

    Meanwhile, a USAID project helping the victims of Agent Orange appears to have ended along with the agency that delivered it. And in January, the US state department announced it was suspending mine clearance in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia for at least three months because of the cuts.

    In another development that suggests the relationship between Vietnam and the US is fragile, senior US diplomats based in Vietnam have been told not to attend any commemorations marking the end of the Vietnam war in Hanoi.

    What’s the backdrop?

    During the conflict, the US military dropped millions of tonnes of ordnance on Vietnam as well as neighbouring Cambodia and Laos.

    Even though Laos and Cambodia were not officially involved in the war, recent research has revealed that in the 1960s and 1970s, the Americans dropped more bombs on Cambodia than the allies did on their enemies during the second world war, and that Laos became the most bombed country per head of population in history.

    CBS coverage of the Vietnam war.

    As a result, every year hundreds of people across south-east Asia, many of them children, continue to be killed and maimed by these bombs and mines.

    Agent Orange’s legacy

    Agent Orange and other chemical defoliants used during the war are also still spreading their toxic legacy. US forces sprayed at least 70 million litres of these chemicals on the countryside during the war, to expose the enemy and destroy its food sources.

    This process proved potentially catastrophic for anyone, including Americans, who was exposed to Agent Orange at the time – as well as their children, as it is linked to birth defects.

    Today, millions of people — many of whom were not even alive during the conflict — continue to suffer from physical and mental conditions that can be directly linked to Agent Orange, despite the challenges of documenting cases.

    And countless people who fought and died in the war remain missing. While close to 60,000 Americans were killed and the bodies of some 1,600 of them are still unaccounted for, hundreds of thousands — probably millions — of Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians died. Many of their remains have never been found.

    This has led the International Commission on Missing Persons to suggest that about 200,000 Vietnamese people killed during the war are in “anonymous or unknown gravesites” across the country.

    In recent years, the US and Vietnam governments have worked together to undo some of the damage of the war, as part of the American and Vietnamese diplomatic reconciliation process. This has included the state department in Washington providing millions of dollars for the clearance of unexploded ordnance.

    The US government had also funded a multi-million dollar clean-up of areas on which Agent Orange was used, and supported treatment for those it affected.

    In recent years, governments of both nations also worked on projects to find the remains of Americans and Vietnamese killed in the war. Members of the public and veterans have been part of this search.

    US-Vietnamese ties have taken decades to build and involve many people at different levels of government in Hanoi and Washington. But Trump’s decision to halt funding for landmine removal as well as medical support in Vietnam will seriously endanger this work, and could leave hundreds of lives still at risk.

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

    – ref. Trump is freezing funds to clear thousands of unexploded mines in Vietnam 50 years after war ended – https://theconversation.com/trump-is-freezing-funds-to-clear-thousands-of-unexploded-mines-in-vietnam-50-years-after-war-ended-255167

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Three scientists speak about what it’s like to have research funding cut by the Trump administration

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation

    The Trump administration’s cuts to funding for American universities and research have left many scientists reeling and very worried. At the National Institutes of Health, which has an annual budget of US$47 billion to support medical research both in the U.S. and around the world, nearly 800 grants have been terminated. The administration is considering cutting the overall budget of the NIH by 40%.

    In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to three scientists, two in the U.S. and one in South Africa, about what it’s like to be a scientist whose funding has been cut by the Trump administration.

    Sunghee Lee was in a meeting when she received an email to say that her $5 million, five-year grant from the NIH had been terminated. It was March 21, and Lee, a research professor at the University of Michigan, was stunned.

    “ It was very short and opaque, which is very different than how NIH usually operates”, she said. Lee’s project, which started in 2024, looked at different risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease across racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. The termination email cited diversity, equity and inclusion studies, an early target of the Trump administration’s cuts to federal research funding, which it said no longer “effectuates agency priorities.”

    Lee was confused. “ Our study looks at everybody,” she said. “So if looking at everybody is a DEI study, just about any data collection in this country should be classified as DEI studies and terminated.”

    An arduous application process

    A few weeks earlier, Brady West, a colleague of Lee’s at the University of Michigan, had received similar news. West’s access to a federal research data center, a secure room to access restricted personal data, was withdrawn. He was told that one of his NIH-funded projects, which looked at measuring health disparities between people of different sexual identities, was no longer in compliance with recent executive orders. “Fortunately for me,” he said, “I was nearing the end of this project.”

    West explains that it can take up to two years for researchers to win a grant from a federal funding agency like the NIH. That money then supports a whole team of people, including researchers and administrators. All grant applications are reviewed by a panel of experts from the field who judge whether it’s novel, important research.

     ”A big misconception is that an administration chooses to fund these grants based on what they believe are important topics to research,“ West said. “That’s not the case.”

    HIV vaccine research

    The vast majority of NIH funding goes to institutions and researchers in the U.S., but a recent analysis by the journal Nature found 811 grants to international teams in more than 60 countries worth more than $340 million.

    In South Africa, where tensions are running high with the new Trump administration over land reform and other diplomatic fault lines, scientists have had NIH-funded research grants suspended.

    Glenda Gray is a professor at the infectious disease and oncology research institute at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and chief scientific officer at South Africa’s Medical Research Council. She’s at the forefront of research efforts to find a vaccine for HIV, work supported largely by grants from the NIH and aid from the United States Agency for International Development.

    In January, a $46 million project funded by USAID on experimental HIV vaccines that Gray ran was terminated after the Trump administration dismantled the aid agency. Then in mid-April, she saw that funding for a clinical trial unit in Soweto involved in trials for HIV vaccines had been marked as “pending.” On top of that,  four global research networks on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment strategies that the Soweto unit was affiliated with were told by NIH that they could no longer spend any money in South Africa.

    Gray says the level of funding, which was won in a competitive, global process, is “irreplacable” and will have drastic impact on HIV research.

    “ Basically you lose the knowledge or the value of understanding HIV prevention, HIV vaccines or therapeutics. We have the infrastructure, we have the burden of disease, and we have the ability to answer these questions,” Gray said. “And so it’s going to take much longer to answer these questions than if you had South Africa there. Basically, we slow down HIV vaccine research … you slow down the process of knowledge generation.”

    Listen to Sunghee Lee, Brady West and Glenda Gray talk about their experiences and what it means for their research on The Conversation Weekly podcast. It also includes an introduction with Alla Katsnelson, associate health editor at The Conversation in the U.S.

    This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Katie Flood. Mixing and sound design by Eloise Stevens and theme music by Neeta Sarl.

    Newsclips in this episode from CBS News, Firstpost, ABC 7 Chicago, ABC News, CNN and PBS NewsHour.

    Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.

    Brady Thomas West has received funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation. Sunghee Lee has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Justice. Glenda Gray has received funding from USAID co-operative agreement for HIV vaccine research and US-NIH funding for HIV vaccines.

    – ref. Three scientists speak about what it’s like to have research funding cut by the Trump administration – https://theconversation.com/three-scientists-speak-about-what-its-like-to-have-research-funding-cut-by-the-trump-administration-255459

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Special event dedicated to the health of shift workers Experts from the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute will host a special event to give shift workers the opportunity to learn more about the health impacts of a ‘disrupted body clock.’

    Source: University of Aberdeen

    Experts from the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute will host a special event to give shift workers the opportunity to learn more about the health impacts of a ‘disrupted body clock.’Experts from the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute will host a special event to give shift workers the opportunity to learn more about the health impacts of a ‘disrupted body clock.’
    Dr Brendan Gabriel and Professor Alexandra Johnstone recently collaborated with NHS Grampian Nursing and Midwifery Leadership Council on a “top tips” guide for shift workers – and are keen to spread the message to other sectors too, such as oil and gas. 
    Attendees will learn valuable tips and tricks to stay healthy and energised while working irregular hours and Dr Gabriel and Professor Johnstone will share insights on sleep patterns, nutrition, and stress management tailored to the unique challenges faced by shift workers. 
    Dr Gabriel said: “We wanted to put on this event to open up a conversation between researchers and the people at the heart of this issue: shift workers themselves.  “Our research at the Rowett is focused on understanding how disrupted body clocks affect metabolism, diet, and long-term health, and we’re excited to share what we’ve learned so far. 

    By hearing directly from those who work nights – across healthcare, energy, and other sectors – we can make sure our science is grounded in everyday reality.” Dr Brendan Gabriel

    “But we also know that real-world experiences are just as important. By hearing directly from those who work nights — across healthcare, energy, and other sectors — we can make sure our science is grounded in everyday reality.” 
    Professor Johnstone added: “We know from our previous work that time of day of eating, or ‘chrono-nutrition’, is important for appetite control, but also that time of day for eating the largest meal of the day (either morning or evening) does not influence energy metabolism and shift workers can achieve a healthy weight in spite of different eating times.” 
    The event will take place on Thursday, May 22 at 2pm at the Rowett Institute. For more information and to book your place, visit https://abdn.site/ShiftWork 
    An online event will take place on Thursday 29 May from 2-3pm for anyone who can’t make the in person session. More details can be found here.   

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Tourism to the US is tanking. Flight Centre is facing a $100m hit as a result

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anita Manfreda, Senior Lecturer in Tourism, Torrens University Australia

    Doubletree Studio/Shutterstock

    Flight Centre, one of the world’s largest travel agencies, has warned it could lose more than A$100 million in earnings this year, citing weakening demand for travel to the United States.

    In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) this week, the company pointed to “volatile trading conditions” linked to changes in US entry policies.

    This is the first major indication from an Australian company that travel to the US is becoming a serious concern. It follows growing consumer fears linked to US immigration checks, reports of tourists being detained, and rising costs.

    Australian visitor numbers to the US fell by 7% in March compared with the same time last year – the sharpest fall since the COVID pandemic.

    Australians are not the only ones staying away. New US data for March show sharp drops in visitors from key markets: Germany (down 28%), Spain (25%), the United Kingdom (18%) and South Korea (15%), to name a few. In total, inbound tourism fell 11.6%.

    Even Canadian travellers, traditionally the US’s most reliable market, dropped by more than 900,000 or 17% in March, as growing numbers of Canadians opt to boycott US holidays.

    What was once a reliable flow of high-spending international travellers is becoming a much quieter stream.

    America’s welcome mat is wearing thin

    The US, long marketed as the land of opportunity and adventure, is increasingly perceived as unwelcoming. Tighter border scrutiny, aggressive immigration enforcement, and a sharp shift in political tone have made travellers wary.

    The international arrivals terminal at Atlanta airport: Tourists are rethinking their US travel plans.
    Shutterstock

    While the Flight Centre statement used careful language, its chief executive Graham Turner was clear, saying:

    People from Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia really don’t want to go to the States, given what’s happening there. We’re hearing more and more people don’t want to go through passport control.

    Reports of tourists being detained, shackled and deported at US airports over minor alleged visa issues or misunderstandings have circulated widely. In some cases, visitors have had their phones and electronic devices searched without clear cause. For many travellers, that is a risk not worth taking.

    Governments have started to respond. Several countries, including New Zealand, Germany, France, Denmark and Finland, have updated their official travel advice for the US, urging citizens to exercise caution when visiting. The message filtering through international media is clear: the US is not as easy, safe or welcoming as it once seemed.

    But while diplomatic warnings grow louder, the economic costs of America’s hardening stance are only beginning to register.

    Tourism: America’s forgotten export

    While President Donald Trump has slapped tariffs on goods imports from most countries, he has ignored the contribution of services trade to the economy. The US actually runs a surplus in services such as education and tourism. Trump has dismissed the decline in visitors as “not a big deal”.

    The trade wars have focused on goods – cars, steel, farm products – but the service sector, which makes up a larger share of the economy, bears the hidden costs.

    Tourism is the US’ biggest service export, contributing more than US$2.3 trillion to the economy and one in ten jobs. That’s a bigger contribution than manufacturing jobs, which account for about 8% of total US employment.

    As a driver of economic prosperity, tourism isn’t simply about leisure; it sustains local businesses, rural economies and millions of livelihoods.

    A double blow to the tourism experience

    While the decline in arrivals has been widely reported, the experience for those who still choose to visit is also likely to change.

    Tourism relies on global supply chains, from food to hotel amenities to rental car fleets. Trade war tariffs have raised input costs across the board. Hotels, restaurants, airlines and attractions are passing those higher costs onto customers.

    Miami Beach, Florida: Tourism accounts for one in ten American jobs.
    MDV Edwards/Shutterstock

    Labour shortages are intensifying the problem. Nearly 20% of the US hospitality workforce was born overseas. Cuts to seasonal work visas and heightened deportation fears have left many businesses struggling to find staff, compounding existing labour shortages.

    The burden is heaviest on small- and medium-sized enterprises, which form the bedrock of the US economy and play a central role in accommodation, dining and local tourism experiences.

    A quiet but costly erosion

    Tourism is not just a big part of the economy; it’s also a soft power, shaping how the world perceives a nation through its culture, values and hospitality.

    Every visitor who feels unwelcome, scrutinised or disappointed is not just a lost sale, but a lost connection.

    Research group Tourism Economics forecasts the US could lose up to US$10 billion in international travel spending in 2025 if current trends continue.

    And while manufacturing job announcements grab headlines, the slow erosion of America’s tourism brand may leave a longer, deeper scar on its culture, its communities and its place in the world.

    The Flight Centre downgrade is not an isolated warning. It is a symptom of a broader shift, one that risks turning visitors away for good.

    And for thousands of US businesses, workers and communities – and now Australian ones too – the losses may not be so easily shrugged off.

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

    – ref. Tourism to the US is tanking. Flight Centre is facing a $100m hit as a result – https://theconversation.com/tourism-to-the-us-is-tanking-flight-centre-is-facing-a-100m-hit-as-a-result-255498

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The Coalition’s costings show some savings, but a larger deficit than Labor in the first two years

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bartos, Professor of Economics, University of Canberra

    The Coalition’s policy costings have been released, just two days ahead of the federal election.

    The costings show the Coalition would run up a larger budget deficit than Labor in the first two years of government, but make a greater contribution to budget repair in years three and four.

    This arises because two big-spending Coalition policies – the fuel excise reduction and cost of living tax offset – are short term. Their impact on the deficit disappears after year two.

    Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the deficit would narrow by A$14 billion by the end of the fourth year.

    There are other spending initiatives – notably a significant increase in defence rising to $5.7 billion by the last year of the estimates, 2028-29. This will bring defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP).

    The vexed question of nuclear costings

    On the vexed question of nuclear power, the statement promises to fund the program primarily through equity investments in exchange for an ownership stake.

    These do not appear in the budget, on the premise that they fund commercial activities. This funding is estimated to total $118.2 billion by 2050 – well short of the $600 billion Labor has estimated the proposal will cost. There is no independent Parliamentary Budget Office costing of the number – it is based on Coalition modelling.

    Smaller sums are proposed for “community engagement” on nuclear technology ($87 million over four years) and a nuclear coordinating authority and training facility ($65 million). Both look to be in the right ballpark; they are however tiny compared with the costs of building nuclear reactors.

    Items to reduce the budget deficit include income tax increases by abolishing Labor’s top-up tax cut and public service reductions. In 2028-29 the tax increase raises $7.4 billion and public service cuts save $6.7 billion.

    A range of savings measures

    There are numerous other savings, including:

    • taxation of vaping products
    • reduction in a variety of environmental programs
    • reversing tax incentives for electric vehicles
    • cuts to the Housing Australia Future Fund
    • reduced spending on overseas aid
    • restoring the activity test for childcare
    • changing eligibility for several government welfare payment programs.

    It is a long and detailed list.

    Most of the savings appear achievable, with the notable exception of cuts to the public service. It will be close to impossible to achieve a saving of 41,000 public servants in Canberra alone without forced redundancies.

    The total Canberra public service workforce according to the Australian Public Service Commission is only around 68,000.

    Under the Coalition’s plan, some 41,000 public servant jobs in Canberra will be axed.
    Phillip Kraskoff/Shutterstock

    At the press conference announcing the costings, Opposition spokesperson Jane Hume said however the figure was 110,000.

    It is not clear where that number comes from. If the Coalition is using a different set of public service numbers to those published by the Australian Public Service Commission, it should identify where the extra come from. Off a larger base the savings would be difficult, but not completely infeasible.

    As with the Labor proposal to cut consultants, it still leaves the question of what will happen to the work those public servants were doing. Without changes to programs or activities, the Coalition will need to spend budget funds to get the work done.

    Too late for the early voters

    The costing release comes after more than 4.8 million Australians have already cast their vote. This is less than ideal for helping inform voters’ choices.

    There is precedent for releasing costings late. The Albanese opposition similarly released costings on the Thursday before polling day in 2022.

    This week, the Labor government released its costings on Monday.

    It is not clear what drives the practice of late release. One possibility is small target strategy: the less detail there is to criticise the more comfortable an opposition feels.

    There is so much detail in this Coalition announcement, and so many interest groups potentially offended, that the caution about its release may be justified.

    Savings previously announced by the Coalition include scrapping production tax credits for critical minerals and hydrogen and removing fringe benefit tax breaks for electric vehicles.

    The Coalition also plans to scrap some of the government’s off-budget funds and measures, including the Rewiring the Nation fund for electricity transmission and the Housing Australia Future Fund.

    Stephen Bartos was Parliamentary Budget Officer for the past three New South Wales state elections.

    – ref. The Coalition’s costings show some savings, but a larger deficit than Labor in the first two years – https://theconversation.com/the-coalitions-costings-show-some-savings-but-a-larger-deficit-than-labor-in-the-first-two-years-255592

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The rise of right-wing Christian populism and its powerful impact on Australian politics

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elenie Poulos, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University

    As Australians cast pre-poll votes in record numbers, it is not only political parties and candidates who are trying to influence votes.

    Australian Christian Right (ACR) groups have produced “scorecards” that rate party policies according to so-called Christian values. And they have organised candidate forums designed for Christian audiences.

    The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church has deployed hundreds of its members to pre-polling booths in marginal seats to campaign for the Coalition.

    Who is the Australian Christian Right?

    The ACR is a diverse movement of individuals, groups and churches that share traditional, fundamentalist approaches to the Bible and church teachings. It includes the Australian Christian Lobby, which has a long history of political activism in Australia and of engagement with the global Christian right.

    In our research we examined how the ACL has adopted right-wing populist rhetoric and what the effects might be on Australian politics.

    The ACR’s historical focus has been on abortion, euthanasia, sexuality and marriage. Now it also campaigns on human rights issues relating to gender, religious freedom and freedom of speech.

    These interests have seen the ACR connect to global right-wing networks, including the US Conservative Political Action Network (CPAC) and Jordan Peterson’s Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.

    For our research, we identified high-profile ACR actors and studied their publicly available texts. We found three intertwined themes of populist discourse. Each one has been given a Christian framing and adapted for the Australian context.

    “Saving Western civilisation”

    European populists have used this rhetoric to define the Muslim “other” and the threat Islam supposedly poses to Western democratic culture and values.

    Australia’s construction as a white British “outpost” gives this ideology its power. It has been used to inspire fear of immigrants.

    In Christian right rhetoric, “Western civilisation” is defined by Judeo-Christian values, which are purportedly under threat from an aggressive secularism that would rid society of its moral foundations and undermine the “family”.

    This polemic found fertile ground in 2017’s marriage equality debate. LGBTQ+ people and their allies were cast as anti-Christian activists who undermined Western tradition. A point made by former prime minister Tony Abbott when he addressed the anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom in New York in 2018:

    the campaign for marriage in my country has mobilised thousands of new activists; and created a network that could be deployed to defend Western civilisation more broadly and the Judeo-Christian ethic against all that’s been undermining it.

    “Saving the moral community”

    The Australian Christian Right divides people into the traditional moral community that upholds family values, and the politically correct woke elites who allegedly threaten the Christian values that have shaped Australia.

    In opposing marriage equality, religious freedom became the ACR’s primary weapon of choice.

    Former Liberal Party senator and committed conservative Christian Amanda Stoker applies a right-wing populist approach to the movement’s opposition to transgender rights:

    The new elite — exclusive and “woke” — in fact has disdain for the traditional family, actively seeking to break it down with new genders, new family forms, and greater dependence on the state for the roles that family used to play in education, in sharing values, and in care for those in times of need.

    This rhetoric aims to position the ACR as arguing on behalf of all moral people who uphold traditional values, and all reasonable Australians who value freedom of religion.

    “Saving the people from racial division”

    The mythology of a “white Christian Australia” dates to the White Australia immigration policy, and remains a powerful force in Australian politics.

    In contemporary Australian populism, it has found form in the identification of Indigenous people as the subject of alleged preferential treatment. In contrast, non-Indigenous Australians are portrayed as victims suffering reverse racism. It has now been given a Christian right twist.

    During the referendum campaign for the Voice to Parliament, the ACR joined the far-right activist group Advance to argue the case for a “no” vote.

    In its opposition to constitutional recognition, the ACR adopted two themes of the “no” campaign: Indigenous people don’t need the Voice, and it would divide Australians on the basis of race. It then added a third by doubling down on the progress made in the marriage equality debate with “religious freedom” rhetoric.

    Lyle Shelton, head of Christians for Equality, claimed the Voice would be a “lever for anti-Christian” ideology.

    And in a collection of essays on the “religious” perspective of the Voice proposal, a number of authors, including ACR leader Dave Pellowe, argued the Voice would breach religious freedom by imposing Aboriginal religious beliefs and practices on the entire country.

    Dangerous consequences

    Since last Sunday’s leaders’ debate, the populist trope of “saving Australia from racial division” has been in plain sight. Consistent with his anti-Voice position, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton declared that acknowledgement of Country has been “overdone”.

    Christian political party Family First echoed his concerns, saying the ritual means:

    citizens don’t have equal standing in this nation.

    When the three thematic strands are woven together, the ACR’s populist vision for a “back-to-a-better” Australia becomes clear.

    The mutually reinforcing rhetoric of the populist right and the Christian right creates a distinctly Australian agenda that has dangerous implications for many people, especially those who are already marginalised.

    This article is based on research funded by the Australian Research Council Grant DP230100538 ‘Australian Spirituality: Wellness, Wellbeing and Risks’.

    Elenie Poulos is an ordained Minister in the Uniting Church in Australia and a non-executive director on the Board of Uniting NSW.ACT.

    This article is based on research funded by the Australian Research Council Grant DP230100538 ‘Australian Spirituality: Wellness, Wellbeing and Risks’.

    – ref. The rise of right-wing Christian populism and its powerful impact on Australian politics – https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-right-wing-christian-populism-and-its-powerful-impact-on-australian-politics-255392

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: News 04/30/2025 Blackburn, Warner Introduce Bill to Lower Costs and Improve Access to Care for Rural Medicare Patients

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) introduced the Rural Patient Monitoring (RPM) Access Act to ensure Medicare patients in rural and underserved communities have access to remote physiologic monitoring services, which lower costs and improve access to care by using technology to collect and transmit patient health data to healthcare providers:
    “Medicare beneficiaries in rural and underserved areas often face serious barriers to health care, and they deserve better,” said Senator Blackburn. “The Rural Patient Monitoring Access Act would ensure Tennessee Medicare patients have access to high-quality remote physiologic monitoring services to manage chronic conditions and help patients eliminate unnecessary hospital visits.”
    “Too often, patients are struggling to receive the medical care they need because of how difficult it is to see a doctor in person,” said Senator Warner. “Remote monitoring services offer a life-saving solution, expanding care options and allowing individuals to regularly receive the medical consultations they need, all while lowering costs and hospital admissions. I’m proud to introduce the Rural Patient Monitoring Access Act to improve health care services for our seniors.”
    U.S. Representatives David Kustoff (R-Tenn.), Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), and Don Davis (D-N.C.) introduced companion legislation in the House. 
    BACKGROUND
    Rural Medicare patients face high rates of chronic conditions like heart failure, hypertension, and diabetes. 
    In particular, Medicare patients living in rural areas have limited access to healthcare because of roadblocks like lack of transportation.
    Remote Physiologic Monitoring (RPM) helps patients manage chronic conditions and eliminates unnecessary hospital visits.
    A recent study of over 4,000 hypertension patients found that RPM decreased patients’ total monthly cost of care by more than 50%.
    Current lack of adequate Medicare reimbursement leads to not implementing RPM programs in rural areas, reducing access to cost-saving and patient-centered care.
    THE RURAL PATIENT MONITORING (RPM) ACCESS ACT
    The RPM Access Act would ensure high-quality remote physiological monitoring services are established and maintained for Medicare beneficiaries in rural and underserved geographies; allow rural areas to provide RPM services at the national average rate; and decrease patients’ total monthly cost.
    Under the RPM Access Act:
    RPM providers must be capable of responding to data anomalies detected by the monitoring service;
    RPM providers must be capable of promptly transmitting captured vitals and treatment management notes to electronic health record of the supervising provider; and
    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may require providers of RPM to report data to the Secretary of Health and Human Services in order to facilitate the evaluation of cost savings generated to the Medicare program through the proliferation of remote physiologic monitoring services.
    ENDORSEMENTS
    This legislation is supported by National Rural Health Association, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, HIMSS, American Telemedicine Association, Alliance for Connected Care, Ascension, LifePoint Health, Marshfield Clinic, SSM Health, the University of Virginia Center for Telehealth, and the Bipartisan Policy Center.
    “Technology-enabled care is crucial to ensuring seniors in rural areas are able to safely manage their chronic conditions. Remote physiologic monitoring allows for chronic disease complications to be captured early – saving lives, reducing health care costs, and helping to mitigate common rural barriers such as longer distances to in-person treatment,” said Alan Morgan, CEO of National Rural Health Association.
    “On behalf of HIMSS, we applaud Senators Blackburn and Warner, and Representatives Kustoff, Balderson, Pocan, and Davis for introducing the Rural Patient Monitoring (RPM) Access Act. Remote patient monitoring is a critical digital health tool that helps providers and patients work together to improve patient access and outcomes. We urge Congress to take action to advance the safe and effective use of RPM for millions of Medicare beneficiaries,” said Hal Wolf, President and CEO of HIMSS.
    “Patients in rural and underserved communities deserve the same opportunity to manage their health as those in more resourced areas. At Lifepoint, we’ve seen firsthand how high-quality remote patient monitoring can help bridge long-standing access gaps and drive meaningful clinical improvement, especially for chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes. This bill is an important step forward in ensuring fair reimbursement for rural providers, empowering them to deliver high-quality, proactive care to the patients who need it most,” said Dr. Chris Frost, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer at Lifepoint Health.

    “We are proud to support the Rural Patient Monitoring Access Act, which will help to ensure rural practitioners can provide remote physiologic monitoring services. RPM supports coordinated chronic disease management and acute and chronic disease risk reduction, while improving health outcomes helping patients remain healthy at home,” said Michael Richards, System Vice President at SSM Health.
    “The Alliance for Connected Care applauds Senators Blackburn and Warner for their leadership to ensure rural patients have access to high-quality, innovative patient-centered care. Remote patient monitoring has a huge potential to empower rural seniors with technology to better take accountability for their own health,” said Chris Adamec, Executive Director of The Alliance for Connected Care.

    “This proposed legislation will incentivize healthcare systems in rural areas to establish remote monitoring programs and ensure sustainability of existing programs. We are grateful for Sen. Warner and Sen. Blackburn’s leadership on this issue. Remote monitoring has been shown to improve outcomes and ultimately lower the cost of care,” said Karen Rheuban, MD, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Telehealth.

     Click here for bill text.

    MIL OSI USA News –