Category: Vehicles

MIL-OSI Canada: Premiers Unite in Trade Mission to Washington
Source: Government of Canada regional news

Premier Tim Houston will join other Canadian premiers as part of the Council of the Federation mission to Washington, D.C., next week.

The delegation of 13 premiers will meet with U.S. political and business leaders to remind them of how both countries significantly benefit from free trade.

“I’m proud to stand in solidarity with my provincial and territorial colleagues and remind our American friends and allies that our economies thrive when we work together,” said Premier Houston. “We know the stakes are high – not just for Canadians and Nova Scotians but also for Americans who will also pay the price if tariffs are imposed.”

Premier Houston has a full schedule of meetings and events February 11-12. In addition to discussing the importance of stabilizing North America’s partnership, the premiers will also continue discussions on removing interprovincial trade barriers, improving labour mobility and diversifying markets.

Quick Facts:
- Canada is the top export destination for more than half of all goods produced in the United States
- motor vehicles, machinery, metals, minerals and agri-food made up more than 50 per cent of U.S. exports to Canada in 2023
- in 2023, Nova Scotia exports to the U.S. were worth $4.4 billion and imports were $682.7 million
- the goods with the largest volume shipped to the U.S. were tires, fish and prepared seafood, forest products and plastics
- mission delegates are Premier Houston; Nicole LaFosse Parker, Chief of Staff and General Counsel; and Executive Deputy Minister Tracey Taweel
Additional Resources:

News release – Tariff Response Survey, Hotline: https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2025/02/06/tariff-response-survey-hotline

Council of the Federation newsroom: https://www.canadaspremiers.ca/newsroom/

Council of Atlantic Premiers newsroom: https://cap-cpma.ca/newsroom/

Other than cropping, CNS photos are not to be altered in any way

MIL OSI Canada News –
February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: ST. FRANCISVILLE MAN SENTENCED TO 240 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR ASSAULT OF A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE IN PERFORMANCE OF OFFICIAL DUTY

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. announced that U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles sentenced Lionel Haile, age 31, of St. Francisville, Louisiana, to 240 months in federal prison following his conviction for assaulting a U.S. Postal employee with a dangerous weapon and inflicting bodily injury. Haile must serve three years of supervised release upon completing his term of imprisonment.

As the evidence at trial demonstrated, on December 31, 2021, Haile attacked a U.S. Postal employee with a sharp object as she was delivering mail to an apartment complex in Zachary, Louisiana, inflicting a stab wound on her right leg. The victim fought against Haile’s repeated attempts to stab her on her upper body and legs. She escaped Haile, ran towards a vehicle as it was exiting the apartment complex, jumped inside the vehicle, and rode off with her rescuer. Haile fled the scene. Authorities arrested Haile on January 6, 2022, following the publication of his photograph on CrimeStoppers.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Zachary Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeremy S. Johnson and Robert W. Piedrahita.

MIL Security OSI –

February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: 15 Italian trucks delivered to WFP for humanitarian operations in Gaza

Source: World Food Programme

Ashdod/Rome – Fifteen IVECO trucks donated by the Italian Government as part of the Food for Gaza initiative were handed over to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) today during a ceremony in the Israeli port of Ashdod.

The ceremony, in the port where the trucks arrived on February 2, was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani, and WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau.

The 15 trucks will serve to strengthen the logistics capacity of the WFP in the Gaza Strip, which, after the ceasefire came into force, has seen a significant increase in food assistance. Since the 19 January ceasefire, WFP has transported over 13,500 tonnes of food into the Strip and is ready to send around 30,000 tons of food each month to reach 1.4 million people.

”These trucks are a much-needed addition to our fleet in Gaza,” said Carl Skau, WFP Deputy Executive Director. “They will boost our capacity to deliver at a crucial time as we scale up humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip. We thank the Government of Italy for its partnership and unwavering support.”

With greater logistics capacity, large volumes of supplies, such as food, medicine and shelter materials can be transported so that essential goods reach those who need them most. Needs can also be met quickly as they arise, ensuring greater optimization of aid.

The Italian Food For Gaza initiative was launched in March 2024, an idea of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani, with the aim of facilitating access to food aid, alleviating the suffering of the population of the Strip and ensuring food security as much as possible thanks to the participation and commitment of various actors, such as the WFP.

The United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Brindisi, managed by WFP and funded annually by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Italian Cooperation since its foundation in 2000, plays a crucial operational role in the implementation of the initiative. At the request of the Ministry, the base organized the shipment of 15 tons of relief goods, including blankets and emergency shelter materials, stored in its warehouses and arrived in Ashdod together with the trucks. In recent months, the base organized two air shipments to Amman, Jordan, for a total of 100 tons of aid, including hygiene and health kits, for the population of Gaza.

# # #

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, via @wfp_media

MIL OSI United Nations News –

February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Scientific regiment. Chemist and theologian Nikolai Pestov

Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

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

Nikolai Evgrafovich Pestov (1892-1982) – Doctor of Chemical Sciences – specialist in the field of mineral fertilizer technology, professor, holder of the Order of Lenin, famous theologian, historian of the Orthodox Church.

Nikolay Pestov was born on August 17, 1892 in Nizhny Novgorod. He was the youngest, tenth, child in the family. From school, he was interested in chemistry and in 1911 he entered the chemistry department of the Imperial Moscow Higher Technical School (now Bauman Moscow State Technical University). When the Great War, as World War I was then called, broke out, he first entered the Alekseevskoye Military School, and later volunteered for the front with the rank of ensign, without finishing his fourth year at Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

During the war, Nikolai Pestov participated in training soldiers for chemical defense. Once he had to defuse a bomb and carry it out in a truck along a broken road. He took the body of the bomb as a souvenir. After the February Revolution, Nikolai Pestov was elected a member of the regimental committee and the regimental court. A review of him spoke of his discipline, tact, excellent knowledge, and “a sympathetic and noble heart.” For his military distinctions, Nikolai was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav, 3rd degree, and the Order of St. Anna, 3rd degree.

After the October Revolution, Nikolai Evgrafovich had the chance to serve in the Nizhny Novgorod Cheka, in the capital’s Vsevobuch administration under the All-Russian Main Headquarters, and as the head of the Vsevobuch administration in Sverdlovsk, where he personally met Lev Trotsky, whom he later called a “demonic personality.” Trotsky gave his younger comrade his book with the dedication: “To my friend and comrade-in-arms N. Pestov, as a keepsake. Lev Trotsky.”

In 1921, the convinced atheist Pestov had a spiritual experience – he saw Christ in a dream – and soon resigned from the Red Army, left the Communist Party, completed his studies at the Moscow Higher Technical School and was hired as an employee of the Scientific Institute for Fertilizers (NIUIF). He began to lead a religious life, and was briefly arrested for participating in a student Christian circle.

From 1933, he worked at the Department of Mineral Substances Technology at the Mendeleyev Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology, from where he was fired in the dangerous year of 1937 for refusing to speak at a meeting condemning the arrested professor Nikolai Yushkevich. “Almost every day, or rather every night, I expected to be arrested. I believe that only through the prayers of my children, wife and spiritual father was I not arrested at that time and remained alive,” he wrote later. Not long before this, Nikolai Evgrafovich was almost arrested when that very memorable German bomb from the First World War was discovered during a search.

Two years later, Nikolai Pestov was unanimously elected head of the chemical technology department at the Moscow Engineering and Economics Institute (now the State University of Management), where he headed the chemical technology department. In January 1941, he defended his doctoral dissertation “Physicochemical properties of powder and granular products of the chemical industry.” Later, he worked for about a year as the dean of the chemistry department, and from October 1943, he became deputy director for scientific and educational work.

During the Great Patriotic War, Nikolai Evgrafovich worked on issues of organizing and planning the chemical industry. A separate topic of his research was mineral fertilizers for the country’s agriculture. These studies turned out to be very useful both during and after the war, when it was necessary to establish agriculture on low-fertility and war-damaged soils. Professor Pestov was not mobilized into the active army due to health reasons; he developed bronchial asthma. His eldest son Nikolai went to the front and died in 1943. While adjusting the fire of a mortar battery, he was wounded and shell-shocked, but refused to go to the hospital; the second wound to the stomach turned out to be fatal. Nikolai Pestov later wrote a book about his son, Life for Eternity.

Even during the war, Nikolai Evgrafovich stopped hiding his faith from his colleagues and placed a small iconostasis in his office. Since 1943, he worked on the fundamental work “Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety”. Professional merits turned out to be higher than personal convictions for the country’s leadership, and in November 1944, Professor Pestov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. In 1946, he received the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”, and in 1953, for length of service and impeccable work among the workers of science of higher educational institutions of the city of Moscow, he was awarded the Order of Lenin.

Nikolay Pestov is the author of over 100 scientific publications and had 4 patents for inventions. His memory is still alive at the State University of Management.

#Scientific regiment

Nikolai Pestov, 1915 Nikolai Evgrafovich (right) with his eldest son Nikolai Nikolai Evgrafovich and his wife Zoya Veniaminovna

Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 02/07/2025

Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

MIL OSI Russia News –

February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: California wildfires force students to think about the connections between STEM and society

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Erika Dyson, Professor of Religous Studies, Harvey Mudd College

Satellite imagery shows the front line of the Palisades fire in Los Angeles on Jan. 11, 2025. Maxar Technologies/Contributor

Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.

Title of course:

“STEM & Social Impact: Climate Change”

What prompted the idea for the course?

Harvey Mudd College’s mission is to educate STEM students – short for science, technology, engineering and math – so they have a “clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.” But the “impact” part of our mission has been the most challenging to realize.

When our college revised its “Core Curriculum” in 2020, our faculty decided we should create a new required impact course for all students.

What does the course explore?

The course is taught by a team of eight instructors who share their own disciplinary perspectives and help students critically analyze proposed interventions for increasing wildfire risks.

Our instructors teach biology, chemistry, computer science and mathematics.

The class also includes scholars focused on media studies, political science religious studies and science, technology and society.

The course focuses on California wildfires so students can think critically about the ways STEM and social values shape each other.

For example, in 1911, U.S. Forest Service deputy F. E. Olmsted applied the Social Darwinist idea of “survival of the fittest” to forest management. Reflecting the prevailing views of his era, he believed that competition was the driving force behind biology, economics and human progress – where the strong thrive and the weak fail.

Olmsted said it was good forestry and good economics to let the forests grow unchecked. This policy would yield straight and tall “merchantable timber” suitable for sale and the needs of industry.

He also rejected “light burning,” which Native Americans had used for centuries to manage forest ecosystems and reduce the flammable undergrowth.

We live with the consequences of such reasoning 100 years later. Fires speed through overgrown land at alarming rates and release enormous amounts of carbon and other particulate matter into the atmosphere.

Why is this course relevant now?

Climate change is arguably the most pressing concern of our time. And wildfires are particularly relevant to those of us in fire-prone areas like Southern California.

Public distrust of science is increasing. Consequently, society needs skilled STEM practitioners who can understand and communicate how scientific interventions will have different consequences and appeal to different stakeholders.

For example, Los Angeles first responders have been using drones for search and rescue and to gather real-time information about fire lines since at least 2015.

But the public is not always comfortable with drones flying over populated areas.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has fielded enough citizen concerns about “snooping drones” and government concerns about data collection that it developed strict drone policies in consultation with regulators and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The course’s focus on writing, critical thinking and climate change science prepares students to participate in public discussions about such interventions.

By making students consider the impact of their future work, we also hope they will be proactive about the careers they want to pursue, whether it involves climate change or not.

What’s a critical lesson from the course?

Not everyone benefits in the same way from a single innovation.

For example, low-income and rural Americans are less likely to benefit from the lower operating costs and lower pollution of electric vehicles. That’s because inadequate investment in public charging infrastructure makes owning them less practical.

The course’s interdisciplinary approach helps to expose these kinds of structural inequities. We want students to get in the habit of asking questions about any technological solution.

They include questions like: Who is likely to benefit, and how? Who has historically wielded power in this situation? Whose voices are being included? What assumptions have been made? Which values are being prioritized?

What materials does the course feature?

We combine popular and scholarly sources.

Students watch two documentaries about the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, which killed 85 people.

The 2018 Camp Fire caused an estimated $US12.5 billion in damages.
AP Photo/Noah Berger

They analyze wildfire data using the Pandas library, an open-source data manipulation library for the Python computer programming language.

They also read a Union of Concerned Scientists report examining fossil fuel companies’ culpability for increased risk of wildfires. And they analyze the environmental historian William Cronon’s classic indictment of the environmentalist movement for romanticizing an idea of a pristine “wilderness” while absolving themselves of the responsibility to protect the rest of nature – humans, cities, farms, industries.

We also examine poetry by Ada Limón, indigenous ecology and Engaged Buddhism.

What will the course prepare students to do?

The final assignment for the course asks students to critically analyze a proposed intervention dealing with growing California wildfire risk using the disciplinary tools they have learned.

For example, they could choose the increased deployment of “beneficial fires” to reduce flammable biomass in forests.

For this intervention, we expect that students would address topics like the historical erasure of Indigenous knowledge of prescribed burning, financial liabilities associated with controlled burning, and scientific research on the efficacy of beneficial fires.

Darryl Yong is a professor at Harvey Mudd College and co-directs Math for America Los Angeles. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

Erika Dyson 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. California wildfires force students to think about the connections between STEM and society – https://theconversation.com/california-wildfires-force-students-to-think-about-the-connections-between-stem-and-society-248286

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Forssmed: We must not forget the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic
Source: Government of Sweden

“Our capacity to manage a pandemic is better today than it was in 2020. However, a crisis requires more than preparedness in the form of regulatory frameworks,” writes Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Jakob Forssmed (Christian Democrats).

This week marks five years since the first COVID-19 case was reported in Sweden. In this short time, society has undergone a comprehensive crisis and long since returned to normality. But for the people and families in our country, COVID-19 has left lasting scars in the form of grief and loss. Many lost their lives and many still experience long-term health issues as a result of COVID-19. Long-term isolation and loneliness have also left deep scars.

Sweden could face a new crisis

Other crises and difficulties have arisen in place of the pandemic, and seemingly part of human nature – in our country at least – is the wish to leave the preceding crisis behind us. But we must not forget the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, because unfortunately, we cannot rule out that Sweden will be faced with another pandemic – it is actually very likely that we will. That is why I am grateful for all the efforts that we are currently undertaking and that have been undertaken within the Government Offices to ensure that Sweden is better equipped to deal with any future pandemics.

A few examples:
- Inquiry Chair Professor Jan Albert has been tasked with reviewing the regulation of communicable diseases to better adapt it to situations of extensive spread of infectious diseases. He will also submit information for a strategy for future pandemic management, including analyses of issues of allocation of responsibilities in the event of another pandemic.
- The Public Health Agency of Sweden has been tasked with ensuring continued access to vaccines for the population in the event of an influenza pandemic. Currently, the avian influenza H5N1 has caused extensive outbreaks globally among both tame and wild animals in a short period of time. There are cases of the infection passing from animals to humans as well.
- The Public Health Agency of Sweden has also been tasked with ensuring continued access to antiviral medicines in the event of a pandemic.
- The National Board of Health and Welfare has been tasked with establishing a national collaboration structure for health and welfare’s supply preparedness of medical care products and any other equipment required to ensure the provision of proper care, together with the Medical Products Agency, the Swedish eHealth Agency, the Public Health Agency of Sweden and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions.
- The Public Health Agency of Sweden’s mandate in relation to communication and information for the public has been clarified. The Agency plays a natural role in the dissemination of information and communication to the public.
Critical flaws in pandemic management

Important measures have been taken within the Public Health Agency of Sweden as well, including building a stronger system for surveillance of communicable diseases. This system includes increased epidemiological and microbiological surveillance with a higher degree of automation than previously.

The Agency is also working to integrate its different surveillance systems and automate the collection of data on infectious diseases within the health policy platform. This will enable real-time data sharing between national and regional actors, gathered within a shared user interface with different authorisation levels and tools to analyse cases of illness and outbreaks.

The Agency was tasked with strengthening its capacity to discover and analyse viruses spread via wastewater. All the above will ensure that we are better equipped to manage a pandemic today than in 2020. There were critical flaws at that time, which the COVID-19 Commission has highlighted.

But the COVID-19 Commission also points out that crisis management requires more than preparedness in the form of regulatory frameworks. It also requires a capacity to act in an entirely new set of circumstances where one does not have all the answers. One needs to be able to be act proactively and with force in peacetime crisis situations as well as in wartime and when there is a risk of war. In relation to this, the Government has made changes to the instructions to the Public Health Agency of Sweden to include a clear expectation for the Agency to act.

Sweden is better equipped

A clear conclusion from the pandemic is the requirement for clear political responsibility. The Government governs the state in times of crisis as well and that responsibility cannot be handed over to public authorities. Finally, it is important to remember what was perhaps the COVID-19 Commission’s main conclusion – everything centres around our society, values and people.

Sweden made it through the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the errors in management and initial passivity. This was achieved by virtue of a strong sense of duty, particularly among health and social care staff, caring for others and a fundamental trust in society. These assets, together with all the initiatives taken by the Government and public authorities, mean that Sweden is now much better equipped should another pandemic befall our country.
MIL OSI Europe News –
February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: Delimobil IPO on Moscow Exchange turns one year old

Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

Source: Moscow Exchange – Moscow Exchange –

February 7, 2025 marks one year since the IPO of PJSC Carsharing Russia (DELHI) on the Moscow Exchange, the first IPO of 2024. The company operates in the carsharing market under the Delimobil brand.

The issuer used the funds raised for business development and general corporate purposes.

Delimobil’s market capitalization currently exceeds 35 billion rubles, with a free float of 9%. The shareholder base has doubled since the start of exchange trading and currently numbers about 95,000 private and institutional investors. Delimobil shares are included in the second-level quotation list of the Moscow Exchange and are included in the settlement bases Moscow Exchange Broad Market Index, Moscow Exchange IPO Index, Moscow Exchange Consumer Sector Index and others.

Delimobil is the largest car sharing service in Russia by fleet size and number of trips. The company started operating in 2015. By the end of 2024, the demand for the service had increased by 20%, the number of cities of presence had grown to 13, the company’s fleet had reached 31.7 thousand cars, the number of registered users in the service had exceeded 11 million, and the company had also scaled its network of its own service stations to 15 facilities.

Moscow Exchange is the largest Russian exchange, the only multifunctional platform in Russia for trading shares, bonds, derivatives, currencies, money market instruments and commodities. The Moscow Exchange Group includes a central depository, as well as a clearing center that performs the functions of a central counterparty in the markets, which allows Moscow Exchange to provide clients with a full cycle of trading and post-trading services.

Contact information for media 7 (495) 363-3232Pr@moex.kom

Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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

HTTPS: //VVV. MOEX.K.M.M.

MIL OSI Russia News –

February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: £15 million food surplus fund now open for applications
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Food redistribution charities can submit applications for grants starting at £20,000
Food redistribution charities can now submit applications for a new £15 million Government scheme, which is helping to ensure surplus food is delivered to those who need it.

Every year, an estimated 330,000 tonnes of edible food is either wasted or repurposed as animal feed before leaving farm gates. This food should be going onto the nation’s plates, but charities often lack the resources to salvage it and provide it to the most vulnerable.

The new Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme will strengthen links between farms and charities to help solve the problem of food surplus on farms, with grants starting from £20,000 to help organisations fight hunger in communities.

From today (Friday 7 February), applicants can submit bids outlining how they intend to form relationships with farmers to access any surplus food, and how they would seek to increase their capacity to redistribute this food to communities.

The funding can go towards purchasing new packaging and labelling equipment and vehicles to move goods from farms to a redistribution organisation, as well as new equipment, like fridges or freezers, to safely store food and ensure it lasts longer.

The fund is open to food redistribution charities and any groups with an interest are encouraged to apply.

Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh said:

Nobody wants to see good food go to waste – especially farmers who work hard to put food on our nation’s tables. This fund will help charities work more closely with farmers to create new ways to get fresh produce to the people who need it most.

I encourage our brilliant, dedicated redistribution charities and non-profits to apply for this funding to ensure more British fruit and veg gets to those who need it most.

In a joint statement, the CEOs of The Bread and Butter Thing, City Harvest, FareShare, The Felix Project and Co-Chairs of The Xcess Group said:

As leaders of the surplus food redistribution sector and following years of campaigning, we are delighted to welcome the launch of this fund ahead of British growing season.

It presents an opportunity to make a profound impact by empowering local charities and community organisations. These groups are the backbone of British society, and we are proud to support them.

By working across the charitable redistribution sector, we can help ensure that this scheme is implemented efficiently through our joint capacity, delivers tangible value to taxpayers, and helps millions of meals reach as many people as possible at a time of considerable need.

Applications can be submitted online until 11:55am on 13 March 2025.

There is more to come as the Government moves to ensure the throwaway society is ended for good.

A new Circular Economy Taskforce, comprising members from industry, academia, and civil society across the UK, has been set up. They will lead on the development of a Circular Economy Strategy for England, which will outline how individual sectors can contribute to ambitions in this area.

This is alongside continued support for the Courtauld Commitment 2030, managed by environmental NGO WRAP, which looks to deliver a more sustainable supply chain and reduce food waste in the home – tackling food waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.

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Published 7 February 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: We Do Not Part by Han Kang: a haunting story which forces the reader to remember a horrific incident in Korea’s past that it tried to erase

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Hyunseon Lee, Professorial Research Associate at Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Centre for Creative Industries, Media and Screen Studies, SOAS, University of London

Jeju inhabitants awaiting execution in late 1948 wikimedia, CC BY

We Do Not Part is the latest book by Korean writer Han Kang, who won the Nobel prize in literature in 2024. The book begins in fragments that ebb between dark dream, waking nightmare and memories of how the book’s protagonist Kyungha got to this terrible way of living.

Even for those who do not know much about Korean history, it is fairly clear that something awful has changed Kyungha. When she closes her eyes images of women clutching children, black tree trunks jutting like limbs from the earth and so much snow flood into her mind.

This experience has sapped all life from Kyungha and she is, when we meet her, simply waiting for death. That is, until her friend Inseon injures herself and asks Kyungha to travel to her home on the island of Jeju, south of mainland Korea, to look after her beloved pet bird, Ama.

When she gets there, a violent snowstorm leaves her trapped in Inseon’s compound. Here, she stumbles upon the investigation into her friend’s family and its connection to the Jeju 4.3 massacre in the 1940s.

In the early morning of April 3 1948, 359 members of the South Korean Workers’ Party and partisans carried out attacks on 12 police facilities and the homes of conservative leaders. They killed 12 people, including family members, before fleeing to the Halla Mountains. The term “Jeju 4.3” came from the date the incident is considered by many to have begun, even though it officially lasted from March 1 1947 to September 21 1954.

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What followed was a massive counterinsurgency operation by the South Korean government (with US backing) to exterminate communists and their sympathisers on the island. While officially numbers are still not known, it is believed that more than 30,000 Jeju people (10% of Jeju’s population at the time), including women and children, were killed.

In We Do Not Part, we find out that Inseon’s mother, who died several years earlier, was a survivor of Jeju 4.3. Han Kang’s impressive approach to presenting the memories of Jeju 4.3 is multi-layered, subtle, fragmentary and contains a high degree of sensitivity as she recounts the massacre from the perspective of Inseon and her mother.

Inseon is part of a what the Holocaust and cultural memory scholar Marianne Hirsch termed the “postmemory generation”. She is the child of a survivor who has inherited a “catastrophic [history] not through direct recollection but through haunting postmemories”.

Inseon has absorbed the stories of her mother as her own. For instance, in one of the first extracts of Inseon’s memories she speaks of her mother and her sister finding their family dead in the snow.

I remember her. The girl roaming the schoolyard, searching well into the evening. A child of 13 clinging to her 17-year-old sister as if her sister wasn’t a child herself, hanging on by a sleeve, too scared to see but unable to look away.

However, Inseon doesn’t remember. She wasn’t there. But, as Hirsch writes of the postmemory generation, such distinct “memories” are mediated by “imaginative investments, projections and creations”.

Han Kang’s skilful use of Inseon’s postmemory carefully gives voice to the feelings of Inseon’s mother. Han Kang does this through presenting these in fragments that recount first Inseon’s investigative work, and then Inseon’s mother’s research into the family’s losses. These are inserted in passages of recounted conversations, writing and descriptions of photographs and films.

These pieces are scattered amid Kyungha’s time in the dreamlike and snow buried compound. The intermingling of past and present, dream and reality, art and life creates an almost hallucinatory quality where the edges blur as Kyungha inherits Inseon’s memories – which she inherited from her mother. In each transference, these stories become new.

This retelling and remembering is important. The 1947 to 1949 uprising is considered by some historians, particularly the American historian Bruce Cummings, as the precursor to the Korean civil war, which left the country divided into North and South. However, for almost 50 years, the very existence of the massacre was officially censored and repressed.

It was only in 2000s that the incident was recognised and the National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju 4.3 Incident was established. In 2003, then-president Roh Moo-hyun apologised for the deaths of the innocents and the state repression against the survivors, who had been severely stigmatised as enemies of the state and branded “red insurgents” (pokto).

Hang Kang’s novel makes it clear that Jeju 4.3 is not simply an issue of the past, but one of the present that persists and lives on in the lives of all who it has touched. Inseon was born the only daughter of a mother who witnessed the massacre and a father who survived, not only on Jeju, but also afterwards on the Korean mainland. This parentage means she cannot forget nor repress it, it constantly intrudes into her life.

Han Kang urges the public to bear witness, the reader does so through Kyungha. As she delves into the history through memory and official documents, we too do the same. In this act of reading we remember and name the tragedy.

Ultimately, this becomes an act of commemoration of the victims whose spirits still seem unable to leave this life as they remain on the island in the form of wind, birds, trees, snow and sea. We see, as Kyungha sees, Jeju 4.3 has left too much pain and too many scars on the souls for them to forget and leave.

We Do Not Part is captivating, moving and from sentence to sentence Han Kang’s sensitive approach to Jeju 4.3 makes us reflect on why we still need to remember and commemorate this tragedy and the many others that still go ignored.

Hyunseon Lee 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. We Do Not Part by Han Kang: a haunting story which forces the reader to remember a horrific incident in Korea’s past that it tried to erase – https://theconversation.com/we-do-not-part-by-han-kang-a-haunting-story-which-forces-the-reader-to-remember-a-horrific-incident-in-koreas-past-that-it-tried-to-erase-249200

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Adapting the automotive sector to emissions targets – E-002757/2024(ASW)
Source: European Parliament
The revised CO₂ emission standards for new cars and vans[1] provide a clear framework for the transition to zero-emission vehicles, which is essential to deliver on our objective of becoming climate neutral by 2050.

The agreed 2035 targets create certainty for manufacturers and investors on the road ahead, with sufficient lead time to plan for a fair transition.

They support the EU industry’s competitiveness and bring along new job opportunities , in view of the trends towards electrification observed in global markets .

The President of the Commission has announced a Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the European Automotive Industry to be launched on 30 January 2025 under her leadership with a view to swiftly proposing and implementing measures the sector urgently needs. The Commission will develop an action plan for the sector, which will benefit from these discussions.

By end 2025, the Commission will prepare a report[2] on the progress towards zero-emission road mobility, which will notably assess the impact on employment in the automotive sector and the effectiveness of measures to support retraining and upskilling of the workforce.

In 2026, the Commission will review the effectiveness and impact of the regulation[3]. As mentioned in the President of the Commission’s Political Guidelines, getting to the 2035 climate neutrality targets will require a technology-neutral approach, in which e-fuels have a role to play through a targeted amendment of the regulation as part of the foreseen review.

[1] http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/851/oj

[2] Article 14a of Regulation (EU) 2019/631.

[3] Article 15 of Regulation (EU) 2019/631.
Last updated: 7 February 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
February 8, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Commission’s vision and action on e-fuels – E-002820/2024(ASW)
Source: European Parliament
Several initiatives that promote the use of e-fuels have already been adopted over recent years. The revised Renewable Energy Directive[1] notably sets targets for the uptake of renewable fuels of non-biological origin in transport and industry.

The RefuelEU Aviation Regulation[2] sets targets for the increased use of sustainable aviation fuels and includes specific targets for e-fuels.

The FuelEU Maritime Regulation[3] sets targets for the use of renewable, low-carbon fuels and clean energy technologies for ships.

‘Zero rating’ these fuels in the Emissions Trading System (ETS) provides them with a significant financial incentive. 20 million ETS allowances have been set aside for covering part or all of the price gap between sustainable aviation fuels and fossil fuels in the aviation sector.

The Innovation Fund already provides support, including around EUR 1 billion for 16 sustainable fuel projects (including e-fuels and biofuels) and EUR 2 billion to 30 projects producing hydrogen as principal product. The transport industry will benefit as potential fuel user of these projects.

The Commission plans to propose an initiative to boost renewable energy, including a 2040 renewable energy target. Getting to the 2035 climate neutrality target for cars will require a technology-neutral approach, in which e-fuels have a role to play, through a targeted amendment of the regulation on CO₂ standards[4] as part of the foreseen review in 2026.

The Commission is aware of the projected scarcity of these fuels and the need for their availability in other sectors without technical alternatives.

To support sustainable transport fuels in the hard-to-abate sectors (aviation and maritime), the Commission will put forward a ‘Sustainable Transport Investment Plan’.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023L2413

[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023R2405

[3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/AUTO/?uri=CELEX:32023R1805

[4] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02019R0631-20240101
Last updated: 7 February 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
February 8, 2025

MIL-OSI: Man Group PLC : Form 8.3 – American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY
A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE
Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the “Code”)

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser:	Man Group PLC
(b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a): The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named.
(c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree	American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc.
(d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:
(e) Date position held/dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure	06/02/2025
(f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state “N/A”	*YES* Offeree: Dowlais Group plc

2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:	USD 0.01 common
	Interests		Short positions
	Number	%	Number	%
(1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled:	93,090.00	0.08
(2) Cash-settled derivatives:	155,905.00	0.13	96,508.00	0.08
(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:
TOTAL:	248,995.00	0.21	96,508.00	0.08

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors’ and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists:
Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security	Purchase/sale	Number of securities	Price per unit
USD 0.01 common	Purchase	956	5.118 USD

(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security	Product description e.g. CFD	Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position	Number of reference securities	Price per unit
USD 0.01 common	Equity Swap	Increasing a long position	796	5.118 USD
USD 0.01 common	Equity Swap	Increasing a long position	41,545	5.118 USD

(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security

Product description e.g. call option

Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc.

Number of securities to which option relates

Exercise price per unit

Type
e.g. American, European etc.

Expiry date

Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security

Product description
e.g. call option

Exercising/ exercised against

Number of securities

Exercise price per unit

(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security

Nature of dealing
e.g. subscription, conversion

Details

Price per unit (if applicable)

4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:
Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”

None

(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:
(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or
(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:
If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”

None

(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached?

Date of disclosure:	07/02/2025
Contact name:	Mackenzie Terry
Telephone number:	+442071441555

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

The Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code’s disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel’s website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.

The MIL Network –

February 8, 2025

MIL-OSI: Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. : Form 8.3 – AVIVA PLC – Ordinary Shares

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY
A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE
Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the “Code”)

KEY INFORMATION

(a)

Full name of discloser:

Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. in its capacity as investment advisor and on behalf its affiliates who are also investment advisors (”Dimensional”). Dimensional expressly disclaims beneficial ownership of the shares described in this form 8.3.

(b)

Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):
The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named.

(c)

Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:
Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree

Aviva PLC

(d)

If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:

(e)

Date position held/dealing undertaken:
For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure

06 February 2025

(f)

In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?
If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state “N/A”

YES
Direct Line Insurance Group PLC

POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

(a)

Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:

32 17/19p ordinary (GB00BPQY8M80)

Interests

Short Positions

Number

(1)

Relevant securities owned and/or controlled:

10,552,256

0.39 %

(2)

Cash-settled derivatives:

(3)

Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:

Total

10,552,256 *

0.39 %

* Dimensional Fund Advisors LP and/or its affiliates do not have discretion regarding voting decisions in respect of 679,466 shares that are included in the total above.

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b)

Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors’ and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists:

Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a)

Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security

Purchase/sale

Number of securities

Price per unit

32 17/19p ordinary (GB00BPQY8M80)

Sale

2,003

5.1274 GBP

There was a Transfer In of 4,002 shares of 32 17/19p ordinary

(b)

Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security

Product description e.g. CFD

Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position

Number of reference securities

Price per unit

(c)

Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i)

Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security

Product description e.g. call option

Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc.

Number of securities to which option relates

Exercise price per unit

Type e.g. American, European etc.

Expiry date

Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii)

Exercise

Class of relevant security

Product description e.g. call option

Exercising/ exercised against

Number of securities

Exercise price per unit

(d)

Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security

Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion

Details

Price per unit (if applicable)

OTHER INFORMATION

(a)

Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

None

(b)

Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:
(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or
(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:
If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”

None

(c)

Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached?

Date of disclosure

07 February 2025

Contact name

Thomas Hone

Telephone number

+44 20 3033 3419

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

The Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code’s disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel’s website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.

The MIL Network –

February 7, 2025

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

Source: City of York

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cllr Ravilious continued:

The numbers are phenomenal but we do also need to recognise that York still experienced congested streets in the run up to Christmas, so while we are delighted, we continue our work throughout the year to support and promote the city’s bus services as well as other sustainable forms of transport.

“Our young people’s ticketing and marketing campaigns, which and are funded by central government, have over the last 12 months helped make bus use more attractive and given more people more options, and we will soon be consulting on improvements to the Park & Ride sites.”

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

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

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

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

It is wonderful to see the great results for bus travel for the year and 500,000 journeys during the Christmas period is fantastic.

“We are very fortunate to have a bus service within the city that supports both demand and sustainability. Collaboration between all parties on communicating key messages was key and we look forward to working with and supporting the transport sector throughout 2025.”

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

The data also showed that York’s bus trips are up 35% from 2021 and 2022, almost quadrupled from 2020 and 2021 and now back within 3% of the level they were in 2019 and 2020 (the year before COVID-19). This is one of the best post-pandemic recovery rates in the country.

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

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Tunnelling begins at site of Mt Messenger Bypass

Source: New Zealand Transport Agency

Tunnelling has begun this week at the Te Ara o Te Ata – Mt Messenger Bypass project in North Taranaki.

Following an early morning blessing from mana whenua and iwi partner Ngāti Tama, the first cut was made by a 110-tonne road header machine that will excavate the project’s 235-metre tunnel.

Road headers have boom-mounted telescopic cutting heads, making them ideal for diverse geological conditions. A shovel plate at the front of the road header collects the excavated rock and soil, which is then conveyed via a belt to dump trucks at the back of the machine.

The 235-metre tunnel will be an important part of the Bypass project, contributing to a much more resilient stretch of State Highway 3.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi Project Manager Caleb Perry says having the road header onsite is really exciting for the project.

“We’ll start to see some progress with the road header excavating up to 3 metres every day.

“The tunnel will be cut in two stages, with the upper portion (top heading) first, followed by the bottom section (bench). At regular intervals, excavation will be paused and ‘shotcrete’ – a sprayed-on concrete – will be applied to the crown and walls to line and support the structure.

“The design and construction of the tunnel are similar to the Northern Gateway Tunnel in Auckland and the tunnel will be large enough to accommodate loads up to and including house removals – this isn’t something that can currently be accommodated on the steep, narrow winding stretch of SH3.”

At this stage, the excavation is expected to be completed later this year.

“The Mt Messenger Bypass will make this stretch of SH3 much more resilient, and safer for all motorists, providing a secure connection through North Taranaki, especially for freight.

“The finished tunnel will incorporate cultural elements acknowledging Ngāti Tama tūpuna, the traditional guardians of the northern gateway to Taranaki.”

Backgound

The Mt Messenger project has named this road header ‘Hinetūparimaunga’ – the atua of mountains and cliffs.

A design on the side of the roadheader depicts Hinetūparimaunga with outstretched limbs supporting the roof, walls and floor of the underground space. A yellow background represents the light that will flood into the tunnel upon its completion.

Images: The roadheader and initial progress

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Firearms and ammunition seized following a Porirua traffic stop

Source: New Zealand Police (National News)

Attributable to Detective Sergeant Vincent Smylie:

A man is before the courts following a vehicle stop which led to the discovery of two firearms and shotgun ammunition.

Around 4pm on Tuesday 4 February, Police conducted a vehicle stop in Cannons Creek, after seeing a person of interest in the passenger seat of a vehicle.

The 34-year-old man was arrested in relation to a warrant to arrest.

The day after, Wednesday 5 February, Police conducted a search warrant at his house nearby, leading to the discovery of two firearms, shotgun ammunition, and gang insignia that had allegedly been displayed in an earlier incident in January.

He is due to reappear in Porirua District Court on Friday 21 February, facing charges of prohibited display of gang insignia in a public place, burglary, male assaults female, intentional damage, speaks threateningly, and unlawful possession of ammunition. Further charges relating to the two firearms are being considered.

Police are glad to have been able to pull two more unlawfully possessed firearms off the street, as they have the ability to cause serious harm in our community.

“We will continue to target offenders who show little regard for the community, including violent offenders, and those who unlawfully possess firearms,” Detective Sergeant Smylie said.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI China: 3rd supply chain expo to be held in July

Source: China State Council Information Office 3

This photo shows the smart vehicle exhibition area at the second China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 28, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

The third China International Supply Chain Expo will be held in Beijing from July 16 to 20 this year, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) said on Thursday.

With a total exhibition area of 120,000 square meters, the expo features six major exhibition areas — namely advanced manufacturing, clean energy, smart vehicles, digital technology, healthy living and green agriculture.

To date, nearly 200 companies have signed up to participate, the CCPIT revealed.

As the world’s first national-level exhibition focusing on supply chains, the expo is an internationally shared public product. First held in 2023, the expo has contributed to building more secure, stable, open and inclusive global industrial and supply chains, according to the CCPIT.

MIL OSI China News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Taking the ‘forever’ out of ‘forever chemicals’: we worked out how to destroy the PFAS in batteries

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO

Mino Surkala, Shutterstock

Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store excess renewable energy for later use, supporting the clean energy transition.

Australia produces more than 3,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery waste a year. Managing this waste is a technical, economic and social challenge. Opportunities exist for recycling and creating a circular economy for batteries. But they come with risk.

That’s because lithium-ion batteries contain manufactured chemicals such as PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The chemicals carry the lithium – along with electricity – through the battery. If released into the environment, they can linger for decades and likely longer. This is why they’ve been dubbed “forever chemicals”.

Recently, scientists identified a new type of PFAS known as bis-FASIs (short for bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides) in lithium-ion batteries and in the environment. Bis-FASIs have since been detected in soils and waters worldwide. They are toxic – just one drop in an Olympic-size swimming pool can harm the nervous system of animals. Scientists don’t know much about possible effects on humans yet.

Bis-FASIs in lithium-ion batteries present a major obstacle to recycling or disposing of batteries safely. Fortunately, we may have come up with a way to fix this.

There’s value in our battery wastes

Currently, Australia only recycles about 10% of its battery waste. The rest is sent to landfill.

But landfill sites could leak eventually. That means disposal of battery waste in landfill may lead to soil and groundwater contamination.

We can’t throw away lithium-ion batteries in household rubbish because they can catch fire.

So once batteries reach the end of useful life, we must handle them in a way that protects the environment and human health.

What’s more, there’s real value in battery waste. Lithium-ion batteries contain lots of valuable metals that are worth recycling. Lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel are critical and finite metal resources that are in high demand. The recoverable metal value from one tonne of lithium-ion battery waste is between A$3,000 and $14,000.

As more lithium-ion batteries explode in flames, waste chiefs say change is necessary (7.30)

What does this mean for recycling of batteries?

Battery recycling in Australia begins with collection, sorting, discharging and dismantling, before the metal is recovered.

Metal recovery can be done via mechanical, high-temperature, chemical or biological methods. But this may inadvertently release bis-FASI, threatening recycling workers and the environment.

Pyrometallurgy is the most common technique for recycling lithium-ion batteries. This involves incinerating the batteries to recover the metals. Bis-FASIs are incinerated at the same time.

Yet PFAS chemicals are stable and can withstand high temperatures. The exact temperature needed to destroy PFAS is the biggest unknown in lithium-ion battery recycling.

Determining this temperature was the focus of our research.

The solution is hot – very hot!

We teamed up with chemistry professor Anthony Rappé at Colorado State University in the United States. We wanted to work out the temperature at which bis-FASIs can be effectively incinerated.

But figuring this out is tricky, not only because of the danger of working with high temperatures.

The inside of incinerators is a hot mess. Molecules get torn apart. Some recombine to form larger molecules, and others interact with ashes produced during the burning process. This could produce toxic new substances, which then exit through a smokestack into the air outside.

We don’t want PFAS going out through the smokestack.
HJBC, Shutterstock

To make matters worse, it’s not possible to measure all the substances that bis-FASIs break down into, because many of them are unknown.

To help, we applied the science of quantum mechanics and solved the problem on a computer without ever going into the lab. The computer can accurately simulate the behaviour of any molecules, including bis-FASIs.

We found that at 600°C, bis-FASI molecules start to separate into smaller fragments. But these fragments are still PFAS chemicals and could be more harmful than their parent chemicals.

As a consequence, the absence of bis-FASIs in stack exhaust is not enough to deem the process safe. Much higher temperatures of 1,000°C and above are needed to break down bis-FASIs completely into harmless products. This is likely to be much higher than temperatures currently used, although that varies between facilities.

Based on these findings, we built an innovative model that guides recyclers on how to destroy bis-FASIs during metal recovery by using sufficiently high temperatures.

How do we avoid future risks?

We are now collaborating with operators of high-temperature metal recovery and incineration plants to use our model to destroy PFAS in batteries.

Recycling plants will have to use much higher temperatures to avoid problematic fumes and this will require more energy and financial investment.

After our new guidance is implemented, we will test the recovered metals, solid residues, and exhausts to ensure they are free from PFAS.

While we can tackle the PFAS problem now, it remains an expensive undertaking. Metal recovery processes must be upgraded to safely destroy bis-FASIs. Ultimately, consumers are likely to foot the bill.

However, sending lithium-ion battery waste to landfill will damage the environment and be more expensive in the long run. Landfilling of bis-FASI-containing waste should therefore be avoided.

Clearly, the battery recycling rate must improve. This is where everyday people can help. In the future, manufacturers should avoid using forever chemicals in batteries altogether. Development of safer alternatives is a key focus of ongoing research into sustainable battery design.

Jens Blotevogel receives funding from the United States Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program.

Naomi Boxall receives funding from the Australian Government under the National Environmental Science Program.

– ref. Taking the ‘forever’ out of ‘forever chemicals’: we worked out how to destroy the PFAS in batteries – https://theconversation.com/taking-the-forever-out-of-forever-chemicals-we-worked-out-how-to-destroy-the-pfas-in-batteries-242769

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: SH30/Wharenui Road intersection upgrade starting

Source: New Zealand Transport Agency

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) advises work begins Monday (10 February) to upgrade and install traffic lights at the intersection of State Highway 30 (SH30) Te Ngae Road and Wharenui Road.

NZTA advises Rotorua drivers that, as part of this work, a short section of Wharenui Road, between SH30 Te Ngae Road and Reeve Road/Glenfield Road, will be closed to through-traffic.

This closure will be in place from Monday 10 February, not Monday 3 February as earlier stated, until the project is completed in May this year.

Access for residents, pedestrians and cyclists will be maintained. A detour will be in place for other traffic.

Temporary footpaths and pedestrian access will be available and clearly signposted.

Residents, service providers, and visitors will be able to take vehicles into the closed section of Wharenui Road from the Reeve/Glenfield intersection.

All other traffic will need to use Brent Road or Coulter Road to access eastern Wharenui Road, Reeve Road and Glenfield Road, and any connected roads.

While this work is underway a temporary speed limit of 30km/h will be in place on SH30 Te Ngae Road through the work zone.

More information about additional traffic management will be shared as construction progresses.

View larger map [PDF, 104 KB]

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Two charged after police seize homemade firearms, drugs

Source: Tasmania Police

Two charged after police seize homemade firearms, drugs

Friday, 7 February 2025 – 1:31 pm.

Two people have been charged after police seized two homemade firearms, drugs, and stolen property during a targeted search at Kings Meadows.
Members of Northern Drugs and Firearms Unit executed a search warrant at the residential address on Thursday 6 February, following reports of an aggravated assault the night prior.
A man was reportedly inside a vehicle when a person known to him approached the vehicle while in possession of a firearm.
Nobody was physically injured and the firearm was not discharged.
As part of their investigations, police searched the Kings Meadows residence and located and seized a loaded homemade .22 pistol fitted with a silencer, a loaded homemade .22 pen gun, ammunition, quantities of methylamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine and prescription medication as well as a motorcycle and box trailer believed to have been stolen.
A 39 year old Youngtown man was arrested and charged with multiple firearms offences, aggravated assault, unlawful possession of property, motor vehicle stealing and minor drug offences.
He was detained to appear in the Launceston Magistrates Court today.
A 24 year old Ravenswood woman was also arrested and charged with firearms offences, aggravated assault and minor drug offences.
She will appear in the Launceston Magistrates Court in April.
Detective Acting Inspector Jason Jones said homemade firearms were not only illegal, but dangerous and Tasmania Police remained committed to removing them from the community.
“We encourage anyone in possession of illegal or homemade firearms to hand them over to police. Tasmania has a permanent firearms amnesty – this allows people with unregistered, unwanted firearms to hand them in without fear of prosecution. There are no penalties associated with surrendering firearms during an amnesty regardless of how they may have come into people’s possession,” he said.
Anyone with information about illegal or homemade firearms should contact police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers anonymously by calling 1800 333 000 or online via crimestopperstas.com.au.

MIL OSI News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Blue alert as cold wave grips country

Source: China State Council Information Office 2

A woman rides on a street in the strong wind in Beijing, Feb. 6, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
China’s meteorological authority renewed a blue alert for a cold wave on Thursday as freezing air is set to sweep across most parts of the country in the coming days.
The first cold wave of the year hit central and eastern China on Thursday, sending temperatures plummeting by more than 10 C in some northern areas and bringing winds measuring 9 to 10 on the Beaufort scale, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
The National Meteorological Center issued a blue cold wave warning, predicting temperature drops of 6 to 8 C in most areas north of the Yellow River-Huaihe River line, with some regions in eastern Northwest China, North China and the Yellow River-Huaihe River region experiencing drops of more than 10 C.
In the south, most regions will see temperatures fall by 4 to 6 C, with some areas experiencing declines of 7 to 8 C, and others dropping by more than 10 C.
Sun Qianqian, a meteorological analyst at the administration, said the cold air is moving southward from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, reaching as far as South China. North China and the Yellow River-Huaihe River region are expected to see the most significant temperature drops.
The cold wave will also bring strong winds to the north, with sustained winds of levels 4 to 6 and gusts reaching levels 7 to 8 on the scale from Thursday to Saturday. The strongest winds will be concentrated in the North China Plain on Thursday and Friday, where gusts could reach levels 8 to 9, marking the most intense wind event of the year so far, Sun said.
The administration also issued a yellow wind warning on Thursday, predicting that from Thursday to Friday, parts of North China, central Inner Mongolia, the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, northern Shaanxi province and the Yellow River-Huaihe River region will experience northwesterly winds of levels 5 to 6, with gusts reaching levels 7 to 8.
Some areas in central and northern Shanxi province and parts of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province will see gusts hit levels of 9 to 10, the administration said.
Coastal areas, including the Bohai Sea, the Bohai Strait, most of the Yellow Sea, the northern East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, will also see winds reach levels 7 to 8, with gusts reaching level 9.
Light rain was expected across much of southern China, while light to moderate snow was forecast in eastern Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang province and Jilin province, from Thursday to Friday.
The cold wave impact is expected to ease by the weekend. Temperatures in northern China were forecast to begin rising on Saturday, with southern China following on Sunday. Temperatures should then return to normal, with increases of about 10 C. However, another cold front is expected to affect central and eastern regions around Wednesday, according to the administration.
With recent frequent temperature fluctuations in central and eastern China, the public is advised to monitor weather changes and dress accordingly, the administration said.
In northern regions experiencing persistent strong winds, residents should minimize outdoor activities and avoid areas that create wind tunnel effects, such as narrow spaces between buildings, where wind strength can intensify. The administration also urged people to stay clear of temporary structures and advertising boards to prevent injuries from falling objects.
Drivers traveling at high speeds, especially in strong winds, should avoid following closely behind large, heavily loaded trucks, maintain a safe distance, reduce speed and take extra care when turning to prevent rollovers, the administration advised.

MIL OSI China News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Year of the Snake starts with travel, spending boom

Source: China State Council Information Office 3

Passengers are seen at the waiting hall of Beijing South Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 4, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

As China celebrated the arrival of the Year of the Snake, the festive atmosphere was reflected in a surge in travel and consumer spending. With tourism booming, restaurants bustling, and box offices setting new records, the festivities showcased China’s economic vitality.

The Spring Festival, China’s most important festival, sparked a nationwide travel surge as families reunited and celebrations took place across the country. Official data showed that more than 2.3 billion passenger trips were made nationwide during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday, which concluded on Tuesday.

Official projections estimated over 9 billion passenger trips during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush that officially began on Jan. 14.

The annual migration — once dominated by homebound travelers — now sees a growing number of people opting for holiday getaways, filling train stations, highways, and airports in celebration of the Year of the Snake.

Tourism soars on heritage charm

With China’s Spring Festival now on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, cultural exploration-centered tours have become increasingly popular.

Online searches for “intangible cultural heritage tourism” jumped 174 percent since the beginning of this year, while folk craft-related searches spiked 321 percent, according to Meituan Travel. On the popular video-sharing platform Douyin, demand for intangible cultural heritage tours led to a 462 percent year-on-year rise in group tour bookings for folk fairs.

According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, China saw a record 501 million domestic tourist trips during the just-concluded holiday, up 5.9 percent year on year. Tourist spending reached a record high of over 677 billion yuan (94.43 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, a 7 percent increase from the previous year.

The cultural allure extended beyond domestic travelers, attracting visitors from around the globe. The latest data from the National Immigration Administration showed about 14.37 million cross-border trips were made during the holiday, up 6.3 percent from last year’s Spring Festival holiday. Of these, 958,000 trips were made by foreign nationals, marking a 22.9 percent increase.

Foreign tourists try to make tofu during a folk celebration of the Spring Festival in Wayaogang Village, Yongding District of Zhangjiajie City, central China’s Hunan Province, Jan. 24, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

According to Chinese online travel service giant Trip.com Group, inbound travel orders during the Spring Festival holiday rose 203 percent year on year, underscoring the growing international appeal of China’s cultural and natural landmarks.

Among the top destinations was Zhangjiajie in Hunan Province, renowned for its spectacular mountain scenery that inspired scenes in global blockbusters. Malaysian tourist Vincent Koh Swee Sam was among the many international visitors drawn to cultural heritage in Zhangjiajie. Immersing himself in local festivities, Sam joined villagers in writing Spring Festival couplets, pounding glutinous rice cakes, and making tofu.

Sam’s hands-on experience with Chinese calligraphy deepened his appreciation for the art. “I used to know China only through textbooks and maps,” he said. “But now that I have stepped into it myself, it feels so good.”

Dining boom feeds festive spirit

No Spring Festival is complete without a grand feast, and this year, more families chose to dine out for ease and variety, driving a surge in restaurant bookings.

In Shanghai’s bustling city center, all 91 tables at the renowned Cantonese restaurant Xinya were packed with diners on Chinese New Year’s Eve, according to executive chef Huang Renkang.

People have a reunion meal at a restaurant in Nanjing City, east China’s Jiangsu Province, Jan. 28, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

According to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), the revenues of key restaurants tracked by the ministry climbed 5.1 percent year on year in the first four days of the holiday.

Online platforms saw a similar rise. Meituan reported a 305 percent year-on-year increase in online bookings for Chinese New Year’s Eve dinners, while high-end restaurants featuring Chinese culinary experiences saw significant growth.

Notably, orders for “intangible cultural heritage” meal packages searched on Meituan soared over 12 times year on year since the beginning of this year.

Box office hits record high

From Chinese mythology to homegrown animation, this year’s Spring Festival film lineup drew massive crowds and posted record-breaking sales.

China’s box office sales jumped to an all-time high of 9.51 billion yuan over the holiday period, while attendance also set a new record, with 187 million moviegoers packing theaters.

People watch a film at a cinema in Feidong County, Hefei City, east China’s Anhui Province, Feb. 3, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Leading the charge was the animated feature “Ne Zha 2,” which grossed around 4.84 billion yuan.

“The moviegoers’ enthusiasm indicates vibrant consumption during the holiday as well as the consumers’ confidence in domestic productions,” said Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association.

Experts attributed the success to strong audience anticipation, beloved characters and stories, and high-quality storytelling.

“The strong performance of these films lays a solid foundation for the steady growth of China’s film market in 2025,” noted Chen Jin, a data analyst from box office tracker Beacon.

Policy boost sparks shopping spree

Festive cheer and consumer enthusiasm energized the market even before the holiday began. With the country’s trade-in program driving demand, shoppers eagerly seized the opportunity to upgrade cars, home appliances, and digital devices, ushering in a vibrant holiday shopping season.

People visit a flower market in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, Jan. 27, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

The MOC reported receiving subsidy applications for 10.79 million electronic devices over a four-day period starting Jan. 20. This follows the inclusion of mobile phones, tablets, and smartwatches in the trade-in subsidy program, marking a significant expansion of the initiative launched in March last year.

Moreover, according to the ministry, automobile trade-ins reached 34,000 while home appliance trade-ins reached 1.04 million units as of Jan. 23.

Building on this momentum, online retail sales grew by 5.8 percent during the eight-day holiday, while sales of home appliances and communication equipment at key retailers jumped by over 10 percent.

“Spring Festival offers a glimpse into the year’s economic trends,” said Chen Lifen, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.

In this holiday season, a blend of cultural experiences and new consumption scenarios has helped reinforce the economic recovery momentum, injecting confidence into the economy and setting a strong foundation for the year ahead, Chen noted.

MIL OSI China News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: First Two Defendants in Omaha Methamphetamine Conspiracy Sentenced

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

United States Attorney Susan T. Lehr announced that Jody D. Webb, age 45, of Lincoln, Nebraska and Jason Unruh, age 51, of Omaha, Nebraska were sentenced on January 31, 2025, in federal court in Omaha for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Webb to 75 months’ and Unruh to 188 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After their release from prison, Webb will begin a 2-year term of supervised release, and Unruh a 5-year term of supervised release.

On August 3, 2023, FBI surveillance observed Unruh meet with codefendant Jonathan Ovalle-Solis. During the observed meet, Unruh entered Ovalle’s vehicle and exited with a package of what appeared to be a white substance in a clear bag. This deal was recorded.

A subsequent TextNow search warrant on the phone number belonging to codefendant Ovalle-Solis and his known Mexican meth source of supply, confirmed that Unruh was coordinating with the Mexican source to buy a pound of meth. Messages showed Unruh would pick up pound quantities of meth on multiple occasions in August and September of 2023. The messages from the Mexican source to Unruh would typically give an address and vehicle description of who Unruh was to meet for meth deliveries.

On October 17, 2023, law enforcement officers were investigating this same drug trafficking organization when they observed Webb meet with a suspected drug courier. After the meet officers conducted a traffic stop on Webb who had approximately 2 pounds of meth in her vehicle. Messages obtained from a phone search warrant confirmed that Webb had arranged the 2-pound deal with the same Mexican source of supply.

Jonathan Ovalle Solis pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 14, 2025.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

MIL Security OSI –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: SH25 closed following crash, Kereta, Thames

Source: New Zealand Police (District News)

State Highway 25, the Thames Coast Road is closed near Kereta while emergency services attend a crash reported at 12.45pm.

Initial indications are that there have been serious injuries in the crash involving a vehicle and a motorcycle.

Motorists are advised to avoid the area and expect delays.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Road blocked, Mokau Road, Mokau

Source: New Zealand Police (District News)

Police are responding to a single vehicle crash where a truck has rolled on Mokau Road (SH3), near Mohakatino Road, Mokau.

The crash was reported around 1:45pm.

The driver is reported to be in a moderate to serious condition.

The road is blocked and motorists are advised to take an alternate route.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Two Hacienda Heights Men Arrested in Alleged Large-Scale Smuggling Scheme from China through L.A.-Area Ports

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

LOS ANGELES – Two men have been arrested on a criminal complaint by federal law enforcement for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to smuggle contraband from China into the United States via the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Justice Department announced today.

Zhongliang Wang, 39, of Hacienda Heights, was arrested Wednesday. Chenyu Zhao, 31, also of Hacienda Heights, was arrested last Thursday as he was boarding a plane on a one-way ticket to China. Both defendants were charged with conspiracy and illegally removing goods from customs custody. Wang and Zhao allegedly directed cargo shipping containers flagged for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) secondary inspection to unauthorized off-site locations, where they unloaded the contraband in the containers, replaced it with filler cargo, and then returned the cargo containers to CBP for inspection, in an attempt to deceive customs officials and evade law enforcement.

To date, law enforcement has seized more than $1.3 billion worth of contraband associated with this and similar cargo-swapping schemes. According to the court documents, a search of one warehouse used by the group charged in this case led to the seizure of significant quantities of counterfeit goods, including luxury handbags and footwear, as well as approximately 19.5 kilograms of enobosarm, an illicit steroid.

“Protecting our nation’s borders from illegal smuggling is a top priority,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph McNally. “These arrests highlight the unrelenting efforts of law enforcement to dismantle criminal networks that seek to exploit our trade system and endanger American businesses and consumers.”

According to court documents, Zhao and other co-conspirators maintained and operated warehouses to store, conceal and sell large amounts of contraband goods that were illegally imported into the United States from China. When the contraband containers were selected by CBP for inspection, the defendants hired commercial truck drivers to transport the containers from the ports to locations that the conspirators controlled, including at least one warehouse in the City of Industry that was controlled or managed by Zhao and others.

At these locations, co-conspirators broke the security seals on the shipping containers and removed the contraband from inside. Then, they affixed counterfeit security seals onto the containers to conceal that the cargo had been tampered with. Wang, Zhao and others then directed co-conspirators to transport the containers – after they had been emptied of much of their original cargo and re-secured with counterfeit seals – to CBP-authorized locations for the “filler” cargo to be presented to customs officials for inspection.

Wang, Zhao and others paid fees to co-conspirators that were substantially above normal trucking fees to transport the contraband shipping containers. As alleged in the complaint, Wang paid $15,000 to divert a single cargo container in December of 2024.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

If convicted of all charges, Wang and Zhao would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each conspiracy count and up to 10 years in federal prison for each count of breaking customs seals.

Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Coast Guard Investigative Services are investigating this matter.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

Assistant United States Attorneys Colin S. Scott and Amanda B. Elbogen of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section are prosecuting this matter.

MIL Security OSI –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Cassidy, Britt, Warnock, Peters Reintroduce Retirement Fairness Legislation for Non-Profit Employees

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Katie Britt (R-AL), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Gary Peters (D-MI) reintroduced the Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Actto enhance investment options for 403(b) retirement plans. 403(b) plans are a type of retirement savings plan, similar to a 401(k), offered to employees of non-profit organizations like public universities, hospitals, churches, and charities.
“Non-profit employees should have the same access to investment strategies for their retirement plans as private sector employees,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Social Security is going insolvent. We need to give Americans every tool to help make their retirement more secure.”
“The Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act would level the playing field so more hardworking Americans can access retirement resources that best fit their needs. Our legislation would allow Americans in the non-profit sector to access the same investment options available to those in the private sector,” said Senator Britt. “This commonsense bipartisan bill would help Americans who work for non-profits, including many of our hospitals, achieve long-term financial stability.”
“America’s retirees deserve the peace of mind that comes with financial security when they transition into retirement. This is especially true for non-profit workers who dedicate their lives to serving their communities— they deserve access to the same retirement investment opportunities private sector employees have,” said Senator Warnock. “That’s why I’m proud to help lead this bipartisan legislation which provides equal opportunity for non-profit employees and helps ensure they can retire with dignity.”
“Hardworking public service and non-profit employees who support our health care and human services, arts and culture, civic engagement, and more deserve access to all available financial tools that can help them plan for retirement,” said Senator Peters. “This legislation would put those using a 403(b) plan on a level playing field with other retirement plan participants by allowing them to invest in collective investment trusts, giving them an equal opportunity to achieve their financial goals.”
The Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Actwould expand retirement savings opportunities for non-profit employees by allowing 403(b) plan participants to invest in collective investment trusts (CITs). A CIT is a tax-exempt investment vehicle that provides a diversified, pooled investment option—similar to a mutual fund. CITs offer greater flexibility in investment strategies for retirement plans and reliable, often higher, net returns for plan participants.
Under current law, unlike 401(k) holders, 403(b) plan sponsors are not able to use this stable investment option in their plan. This legislation would create parity between 403(b) and 401(k) retirement savings plans, benefitting over 15 million hardworking employees at hospitals, universities, charities, and other non-profit organizations.
The Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Actis supported by the American Bankers Association, American Benefits Council, American Heart Association, American Life Insurance Association, American Retirement Association, Aon, Church Alliance, Great Gray, Insured Retirement Institute, Investment Company Institute, March of Dimes, MetLife, Mercer, Mission Square, National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, National Council of Nonprofits, Nationwide, Prudential, SPARK Institute, Stable Value Investment Association, United Way, and Vanguard.

MIL OSI USA News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Chinese ring in Year of the Snake with travel, spending boom

Source: China State Council Information Office 2

Passengers are seen at the waiting hall of Beijing South Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 4, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
As China celebrated the arrival of the Year of the Snake, the festive atmosphere was reflected in a surge in travel and consumer spending. With tourism booming, restaurants bustling, and box offices setting new records, the festivities showcased China’s economic vitality.
The Spring Festival, China’s most important festival, sparked a nationwide travel surge as families reunited and celebrations took place across the country. Official data showed that more than 2.3 billion passenger trips were made nationwide during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday, which concluded on Tuesday.
Official projections estimated over 9 billion passenger trips during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush that officially began on Jan. 14.
The annual migration — once dominated by homebound travelers — now sees a growing number of people opting for holiday getaways, filling train stations, highways, and airports in celebration of the Year of the Snake.
Tourism soars on heritage charm
With China’s Spring Festival now on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, cultural exploration-centered tours have become increasingly popular.
Online searches for “intangible cultural heritage tourism” jumped 174 percent since the beginning of this year, while folk craft-related searches spiked 321 percent, according to Meituan Travel. On the popular video-sharing platform Douyin, demand for intangible cultural heritage tours led to a 462 percent year-on-year rise in group tour bookings for folk fairs.
According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, China saw a record 501 million domestic tourist trips during the just-concluded holiday, up 5.9 percent year on year. Tourist spending reached a record high of over 677 billion yuan (94.43 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, a 7 percent increase from the previous year.
The cultural allure extended beyond domestic travelers, attracting visitors from around the globe. The latest data from the National Immigration Administration showed about 14.37 million cross-border trips were made during the holiday, up 6.3 percent from last year’s Spring Festival holiday. Of these, 958,000 trips were made by foreign nationals, marking a 22.9 percent increase.

Foreign tourists try to make tofu during a folk celebration of the Spring Festival in Wayaogang Village, Yongding District of Zhangjiajie City, central China’s Hunan Province, Jan. 24, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
According to Chinese online travel service giant Trip.com Group, inbound travel orders during the Spring Festival holiday rose 203 percent year on year, underscoring the growing international appeal of China’s cultural and natural landmarks.
Among the top destinations was Zhangjiajie in Hunan Province, renowned for its spectacular mountain scenery that inspired scenes in global blockbusters. Malaysian tourist Vincent Koh Swee Sam was among the many international visitors drawn to cultural heritage in Zhangjiajie. Immersing himself in local festivities, Sam joined villagers in writing Spring Festival couplets, pounding glutinous rice cakes, and making tofu.
Sam’s hands-on experience with Chinese calligraphy deepened his appreciation for the art. “I used to know China only through textbooks and maps,” he said. “But now that I have stepped into it myself, it feels so good.”
Dining boom feeds festive spirit
No Spring Festival is complete without a grand feast, and this year, more families chose to dine out for ease and variety, driving a surge in restaurant bookings.
In Shanghai’s bustling city center, all 91 tables at the renowned Cantonese restaurant Xinya were packed with diners on Chinese New Year’s Eve, according to executive chef Huang Renkang.

People have a reunion meal at a restaurant in Nanjing City, east China’s Jiangsu Province, Jan. 28, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
According to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), the revenues of key restaurants tracked by the ministry climbed 5.1 percent year on year in the first four days of the holiday.
Online platforms saw a similar rise. Meituan reported a 305 percent year-on-year increase in online bookings for Chinese New Year’s Eve dinners, while high-end restaurants featuring Chinese culinary experiences saw significant growth.
Notably, orders for “intangible cultural heritage” meal packages searched on Meituan soared over 12 times year on year since the beginning of this year.
Box office hits record high
From Chinese mythology to homegrown animation, this year’s Spring Festival film lineup drew massive crowds and posted record-breaking sales.
China’s box office sales jumped to an all-time high of 9.51 billion yuan over the holiday period, while attendance also set a new record, with 187 million moviegoers packing theaters.

People watch a film at a cinema in Feidong County, Hefei City, east China’s Anhui Province, Feb. 3, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Leading the charge was the animated feature “Ne Zha 2,” which grossed around 4.84 billion yuan.
“The moviegoers’ enthusiasm indicates vibrant consumption during the holiday as well as the consumers’ confidence in domestic productions,” said Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association.
Experts attributed the success to strong audience anticipation, beloved characters and stories, and high-quality storytelling.
“The strong performance of these films lays a solid foundation for the steady growth of China’s film market in 2025,” noted Chen Jin, a data analyst from box office tracker Beacon.
Policy boost sparks shopping spree
Festive cheer and consumer enthusiasm energized the market even before the holiday began. With the country’s trade-in program driving demand, shoppers eagerly seized the opportunity to upgrade cars, home appliances, and digital devices, ushering in a vibrant holiday shopping season.

People visit a flower market in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, Jan. 27, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
The MOC reported receiving subsidy applications for 10.79 million electronic devices over a four-day period starting Jan. 20. This follows the inclusion of mobile phones, tablets, and smartwatches in the trade-in subsidy program, marking a significant expansion of the initiative launched in March last year.
Moreover, according to the ministry, automobile trade-ins reached 34,000 while home appliance trade-ins reached 1.04 million units as of Jan. 23.
Building on this momentum, online retail sales grew by 5.8 percent during the eight-day holiday, while sales of home appliances and communication equipment at key retailers jumped by over 10 percent.
“Spring Festival offers a glimpse into the year’s economic trends,” said Chen Lifen, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.
In this holiday season, a blend of cultural experiences and new consumption scenarios has helped reinforce the economic recovery momentum, injecting confidence into the economy and setting a strong foundation for the year ahead, Chen noted.

MIL OSI China News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Xi meets Thai PM in Beijing

Source: China State Council Information Office 3

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Prime Minister of Thailand Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who is on an official visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 6, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in Beijing on Thursday.

Xi said that this year marks the 50th anniversary of China-Thailand diplomatic relations as well as the “Golden Jubilee of China-Thailand Friendship.” The two sides should build on past achievements and work together to advance the building of the China-Thailand community with a shared future to deliver more benefits to the two peoples, the region and the world at large.

In the face of profound changes unseen in a century, China and Thailand should consolidate strategic mutual trust, firmly support each other, and respond to uncertainties in the external environment with the stability and certainty of China-Thailand relations, Xi said.

China is ready to work with Thailand to align development strategies, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, implement well flagship projects such as the China-Thailand Railway, and promote the vision of interconnected development of China, Laos and Thailand to achieve more fruitful outcomes as soon as possible, he said.

Xi called for concerted efforts to deepen cooperation in emerging industries such as the digital economy and new energy vehicles, and build more stable and smooth industrial and supply chains.

Noting that China appreciates Thailand’s effective measures against online gambling and telecom fraud, Xi said that both sides should continue to strengthen law enforcement, security and judicial cooperation to safeguard the safety of people’s lives and property as well as the orderly exchanges and cooperation among regional countries.

Xi called on both sides to launch a variety of activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties and increase the mutual understanding and amity between the two peoples.

China supports Thailand’s role as co-chair of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and congratulates Thailand on becoming a BRICS partner country, Xi added.

China stands ready to work closely with Thailand to firmly defend the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, enhance unity and cooperation in the Global South, safeguard world peace and promote common development, he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Prime Minister of Thailand Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who is on an official visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 6, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Paetongtarn said she is delighted to visit China at a time when the two countries are celebrating the “golden jubilee” of their friendship. Thailand and China have forged a special friendly and cooperative relationship over the past five decades.

Reaffirming Thailand’s adherence to the one-China policy, she said Thailand looks forward to working with China to boost high-level exchanges, enhance cooperation in the fields of connectivity, economy, trade and agriculture, and promote people-to-people exchanges to usher in the next five decades of shared peace and prosperity.

Thailand is willing to strengthen law enforcement cooperation with China and other neighboring countries, and take resolute and effective measures to crack down on cross-border crimes, including online gambling and telecom fraud, she said.

Calling China a responsible major country in international affairs that firmly safeguards the interests of developing nations, Paetongtarn said Thailand is willing to strengthen coordination and collaboration with China to address global challenges.

MIL OSI China News –

February 7, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Two Strong Winter Storms Expected Through Sunday
Source: US State of New York

Governor Kathy Hochul today urged New Yorkers to use caution as two strong winter storms are expected to impact areas throughout the State Friday through Sunday. The first storm will arrive on Friday and impact Central New York and the Mohawk Valley. The second storm that will occur Saturday through Sunday will be more widespread, affecting much of the State. Snowfall rates of up to two inches per hour on Friday and one inch per hour on Saturday in the heaviest bands may create hazardous travel conditions. People should monitor their local forecasts closely and take precautions when travelling in impacted areas.

“Wind and snow is expected to impact most of the State starting tomorrow, and I have mobilized State resources to respond and assist our local partners in keeping New Yorkers safe,” Governor Hochul said. “New York is no stranger to winter weather, but I encourage everyone to make sure you and your family are prepared, exercise caution if traveling and continue to monitor your local forecast.”

During the first storm, winds of up to 40 mph with gusts up to 55 mph will impact most of the State through Friday evening. Starting early Friday morning, snow will begin to impact areas from Herkimer to Oswego County and they can expect four inches of snow, with peak accumulations up to a foot in some areas. Peak snowfall rates of up to 2” per hour can be expected and may impact commutes in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley.

The second storm will begin on Saturday afternoon and continue through Sunday afternoon. Widespread snow will fall across the State with the potential for moderate to heavy accumulations from Central New York to the Capital Region. A widespread four to eight inches of snow is possible in those areas. A widespread three to six inches is expected north of the Thruway. Snowfall rates may exceed one inch per hour. Wind gusts are expected to remain below 35 mph with isolated gusts of up to 40 mph. Snow may change to a mix of rain and snow across New York City and Long Island, Saturday through Sunday morning.

Lake Effect Snow warnings are in effect for Northern Erie and Genesee counties through Tuesday morning, in Oswego, Lewis and Jefferson counties through Wednesday afternoon and Southern Erie, Wyoming, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties through next Thursday morning with significant accumulations possible east of Lakes Ontario and Erie.

For a complete listing of weather alerts, visit the National Weather Service website. New Yorkers are also encouraged to sign up for emergency alerts by subscribing to NY Alert — a free service providing critical emergency information to your cell phone or computer.

Agency Preparations

New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services
The Division’s Office of Emergency Management is in contact with their local counterparts and is prepared to facilitate requests for assistance. State stockpiles are staffed and ready to deploy emergency response assets and supplies as needed. The State Watch Center is monitoring the storm track and statewide impacts closely. Winter preparedness tips can be found here.

New York State Department of Transportation
The State Department of Transportation is monitoring weather conditions and prepared to respond with 3,701 supervisors and operators available statewide. All field staff are available to fully engage and respond. All available response equipment is ready to deploy and all residencies in impacted locations will remain staffed for 24/7 operations with operators, supervisors, and mechanics throughout the duration of the event and priority cleanup operations.

Statewide equipment numbers are as follows:
- 1,639 large plow trucks
- 350 large loaders
- 158 medium duty plows
- 52 tow plows
- 34 snow blowers
- 19 graders
The need for additional resources will be re-evaluated as conditions warrant throughout the event.

For real-time travel information, motorists should call 511 or visit 511ny.org, New York State’s official traffic and travel information source.

Thruway Authority
The Thruway Authority is monitoring the forecast and ready to respond with 689 operators and supervisors available. Statewide equipment numbers and resources are listed below:
- 347 large and medium duty plow trucks
- 9 tow plows
- 65 loaders
- 98,000+ tons of salt on hand
Variable Message Signs and social media (X and Facebook) are utilized to alert motorists of winter weather conditions on the Thruway.

New this snow and ice season, all of the Thruway’s more than 250 heavy-duty plow trucks are equipped with green hazard lights, complementing the standard amber hazard lights. Green lights are intended to improve visibility and enhance safety during winter operations, particularly in low-light conditions and poor weather. Drivers are reminded that Thruway snowplows travel at about 35 miles per hour — which in many cases is slower than the posted speed limit — in order to ensure that salt being dispersed stays in the driving lanes and does not scatter off the roadways. The safest place for motorists is well behind the snowplows where the roadway is clear and treated.

The Thruway Authority encourages motorists to download its mobile app which is available for free on iPhone and Android devices. The app provides motorists direct access to real-time traffic information, live traffic cameras and navigation assistance while on the go. Motorists can also sign up for TRANSalert e-mails and follow @ThruwayTraffic on X for the latest traffic conditions along the Thruway.

New York State Department of Public Service
New York’s utilities have about 5,500 workers available statewide to engage in damage assessment, response, repair and restoration efforts across New York State, as necessary. Agency staff will track utilities’ work throughout the event and ensure utilities shift appropriate staffing to regions that experience the greatest impact.

New York State Police
State Police have instructed all Troopers to remain vigilant and will deploy extra patrols to affected areas as needed. All four-wheel drive vehicles are in service and all specialty vehicles, including Utility Terrain Vehicles and snowmobiles, are staged and ready for deployment.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
DEC Emergency Management staff, Environmental Conservation Police Officers, Forest Rangers and regional staff remain on alert and continue to monitor the developing situation and weather forecasts. Working with partner agencies, DEC is prepared to coordinate resource deployment of all available assets, including first responders, to targeted areas in preparation for potential impacts due to snow.

DEC reminds those responsible for the removal and disposal of snow to follow best management practices to help prevent flooding and reduce the potential for pollutants like salt, sand, oils, trash and other debris from affecting water quality. Disposal of snow in local creeks and streams can create ice dams, which may cause flooding. Public and private snow removal operators should be aware of these safety issues during and after winter storms. Additional information is available at Division of Water Technical and Operational Guidance Series: Snow Disposal.

Unpredictable winter weather and storms in the Adirondacks, Catskills and other backcountry areas, can create unexpectedly hazardous conditions. Visitors should be prepared with proper clothing and equipment for snow, ice and the cold to ensure a safe winter experience. Snow depths range greatly throughout the Adirondacks, with the deepest snow at higher elevations in the High Peaks region and other mountains over 3,000 feet. Most lower elevation trails are frozen, including many trails in the Catskill Mountains.

While some waterways are currently frozen, DEC advises outdoor enthusiasts to review ice safety guidelines before heading out.

Hikers are advised to temporarily avoid all high-elevation trails as well as trails that cross rivers and streams. Hikers in the Adirondacks are encouraged to check the Adirondack Backcountry Information webpages for updates on trail conditions, seasonal road closures and general recreation information.

Backcountry visitors should Hike Smart and follow proper safety guidelines. Plan trips accordingly. In an emergency, call 9-1-1. To request Forest Ranger assistance, call 1-833-NYS-RANGERS.

Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
New York State Park Police and park personnel are on alert and closely monitoring weather conditions and impacts. Response equipment is being fueled, tested and prepared for storm response use. Park visitors should visit parks.ny.gov, check the free mobile app, or call their local park office for the latest updates regarding park hours, openings and closings.

MIL OSI USA News –
February 7, 2025

Category: Vehicles

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