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The Metals Company and Allseas Announce Proposed Economic Terms for Developing and Operating the World’s First Commercial System to Collect Deep-Sea Polymetallic Nodules to Meet Surging Demand for Critical Battery Metals

TMC / Allseas Pilot Mining System

The Hidden Gem vessel, nodule collector vehicle and its launch and recovery system in the Port of Rotterdam earlier this year

  • The Metals Company’s subsidiary NORI and Allseas enter into a non-binding term sheet for the development and operation of commercial nodule collection system
  • The pilot nodule collection system developed and currently being tested by Allseas expected to be upgraded to a commercial system with a targeted production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes of wet nodules per year and expected production readiness by Q4 2024
  • NORI and Allseas intend to equally finance all costs related to developing and getting the first commercial system into production estimated at less than EUR 100 million in total
  • Once in production, NORI expects to pay Allseas a nodule collection and transshipment fee estimated at ~EUR 150 per wet tonne in the first year of operations and expected to be reduced by over 20% as Allseas scales up production to 1.3 million wet tonnes per year
  • The parties intend to further detail and revise these cost estimates in the definitive agreement expected no later than 31 December 2022 following the completion of the pilot collection tests
  • Upgrading the pilot collection system into a commercial production system is expected to significantly reduce capital requirements and shorten time to commercial production for the world’s largest estimated single source of critical battery metals
  • Allseas and NORI also intend to investigate acquiring a second production vessel similar to the Hidden Gem, a Samsung 10000, that is expected to be engineered to a higher production rate of three million tonnes of wet nodules

NEW YORK, March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TMC the metals company Inc. (Nasdaq: TMC) (“TMC” or the “Company”), an explorer of the world’s largest estimated undeveloped source of critical battery metals, today announced that its subsidiary NORI signed a non-binding term sheet with its strategic partner and shareholder, Allseas Group S.A. (“Allseas”) to develop and operate a commercial nodule collection system with a targeted production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of wet nodules and expected production readiness by Q4 2024.

Since forging a strategic alliance in 2019, Allseas and TMC’s subsidiary NORI have been working together to develop a pilot collection system to recover polymetallic nodules from the seafloor in the NORI-D Area of the Clarion Clipperton Zone (“CCZ”) of the Pacific Ocean and transport the nodules to shore for processing using TMC’s near-zero solid waste flowsheet into battery metal precursor materials and manganese silicate product expected to be used in manganese alloy production for the steel industry. The pilot collection system — that includes the production vessel Hidden Gem on the surface, a collector robot on the seafloor and a riser that lifts nodules from the seafloor to the surface — is currently undergoing wet testing by Allseas in the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to be piloted in the NORI-D Area in the Pacific Ocean later this year.

The parties expect that following the completion of the pilot tests in the Pacific Ocean, Allseas will promptly initiate the upgrade of the pilot collection system into a production-ready commercial system with a targeted production capacity of 1.3 Mtpa of wet nodules and initial use of five years prior to additional upgrades (“Project Zero System”). The parties intend to co-finance in equal parts all costs required to get into production currently estimated to be less than EUR 100 million. Once in production and subject to Allseas achieving certain production targets, NORI expects to pay Allseas a nodule collection and transshipment fee — sufficient to cover Allseas’ operating expenses, Allseas’ share of upfront and CAPEX costs and a fee linked to the value of contained metals — currently estimated at ~EUR 150 per wet tonne of nodules in the first year of production and expected to be reduced by over 20% in the following years as Allseas scales production up to 1.3 Mtpa of wet nodules. The parties intend to further detail and revise these cost estimates in the definitive agreement expected no later than 31 December 2022 following the completion of the pilot collection tests. Both parties expect to see the per-tonne cost to further decrease from these estimates if Allseas scales production capacity of its surface production vessel by adding multiple collectors on the seafloor.

Polymetallic nodules contain high grades of nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt — key metals required for building electric vehicle batteries, renewable energy technologies and steel for infrastructure. TMC’s nodule portfolio in the CCZ is estimated to be the world’s largest undeveloped single source of critical battery metals. The demand for these metals is surging and commodity prices for metals contained in nodules have all hit multi-year highs. TMC believes that upgrading the pilot nodule collection system into a production-ready collection system may allow NORI to significantly reduce capital requirements and shorten time to commercial production of the critical minerals required for the clean energy transition.

Allseas and NORI also intend to investigate acquiring a second production vessel similar to the Hidden Gem, a Samsung 10000, that is expected to be engineered to a higher production rate of 3Mtpa of wet nodules. A higher-production rate system is expected to reduce the per tonne nodule collection cost significantly compared to the first production system that TMC and Allseas intend to develop and operate.

Edward Heerema, Founder of Allseas commented: “For the last three years we have been building the pilot nodule collection system with the intent to upgrade it into a production system after the pilot trials. With the pilot system ready and undergoing wet tests, we are planning ahead for the next phase: upgrade and first small-scale commercial operations, maybe even acquiring a second vessel. While we will no doubt learn a lot in the coming months, we are pleased to have a potential economic framework for how we intend to proceed together with our partners at NORI and TMC.”

Gerard Barron, Chairman and CEO of TMC, said: “As a partner, Allseas delivers — despite pandemics and supply chain disruptions. We really appreciate their intention to finance 50% of the costs of developing and getting Project Zero System production-ready by Q4 2024 and working out potential nodule collection and transshipment fees with NORI. Even at the estimated ~EUR 150 per wet tonne of nodules, we expect to have a meaningful margin left for logistics and processing. If Allseas scales production from the initial capacity, we expect per tonne costs to go down further.”

About The Metals Company

TMC the metals company Inc. (The Metals Company) is an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, on a dual mission: (1) supply metals for the clean energy transition with the least possible negative environmental and social impact and (2) accelerate the transition to a circular metal economy. The company through its subsidiaries holds exploration rights to three polymetallic nodule contract areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean regulated by the International Seabed Authority and sponsored by the governments of Nauru, Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga. More information is available at www.metals.co.

About Allseas

Allseas is a world-leading contractor in the offshore energy market, with dynamism, rapid progress and pioneering spirit at its core. Allseas specialize in offshore pipeline installation, heavy lift and subsea construction. The company employs over 4,000 people worldwide and operates a versatile fleet of specialized heavy-lift, pipelay and support vessels, designed and developed in-house. More information about Allseas is available at www.allseas.com

More Info

Media | media@metals.co

Investors | investors@metals.co

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this press release are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside TMC’s control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: TMC’s ability to enter into definitive agreement(s) with Allseas with respect to the proposed strategic alliance to develop and operate a commercial collection system on terms and conditionals substantially similar to those set forth in the non-binding terms sheet; the successful completion of the pilot collection tests; TMC’s ability to obtain exploitation contracts for its areas in the CCZ; regulatory uncertainties and the impact of government regulation and political instability on TMC’s resource activities; changes to any of the laws, rules, regulations or policies to which TMC is subject; the impact of extensive and costly environmental requirements on TMC’s operations; environmental liabilities; the impact of polymetallic nodule collection on biodiversity in the CCZ and recovery rates of impacted ecosystems; TMC’s ability to develop minerals in sufficient grade or quantities to justify commercial operations; the lack of development of seafloor polymetallic nodule deposit; uncertainty in the estimates for mineral resource calculations from certain contract areas and for the grade and quality of polymetallic nodule deposits; risks associated with natural hazards; uncertainty with respect to the specialized treatment and processing of polymetallic nodules that TMC may recover; risks associated with collective, development and processing operations; fluctuations in transportation costs; testing and manufacturing of equipment; risks associated with TMC’s limited operating history; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; risks associated with TMC’s intellectual property; and other risks and uncertainties, including those under Item 1A “Risk Factors” in TMC’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, filed by TMC with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on November 15, 2021, and in TMC’s other future filings with the SEC. TMC cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. TMC cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. TMC does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based except as required by law.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7d4e5fa0-9e6c-44ca-84e2-2548ebd30fa4

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Piera Systems and Sensorbee Partner on Highly Accurate Outdoor Air Quality Monitors

Intelligent Particle Sensors (IPS) provide Smart City architects with more accurate data and the ability to collect, analyze, and improve air quality with data-backed insights made simple

Sensorbee

Sensorbee

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Piera Systems, Inc. (“Piera”) is pleased to announce a collaboration with Sensorbee AB (“Sensorbee”) in its release of highly accurate Outdoor Air Quality Monitors (“AQM”). Sensorbee, based out of Linkoping, Sweden, makes highly differentiated outdoor monitors providing cities with extensive, hyper-local air quality measurements to enable their Smart City plans.

“Air pollution is an enormous global health problem and our ability to combat it starts with accurately measuring it. We couldn’t be more pleased with our collaboration with Piera and the quality of their particle sensors,” said David Löwenbrand, CEO of Sensorbee. “We are now able to offer highly accurate outdoor air quality monitors while unlocking brand new applications.”

Outdoor air quality monitoring has traditionally focused on PM2.5 and PM10 but many pollution sources, including wildfire smoke and diesel pollution, contain particles in the sub-micron range. Many of these smaller particles infiltrate indoor spaces where most of our time is spent and they pose the greatest danger to human health thus making their measurements imperative to improving health outcomes.

The ability to accurately track sub-micron particles in real time opens new applications, such as tracking diesel vehicles in urban environments and identifying likely sources of pollution even in large metropolitan areas. As cities ramp up their commitments to provide more breathable environments for their citizens, better data can offer vital insights that can inform more efficient mitigation efforts.

“A sound Smart City plan starts with better data at its heart and we are excited to work with Sensorbee as they deploy their highly accurate outdoor air quality monitors to market. The ability to accurately monitor outdoor air quality is critical to cities racing to meet their Climate Change commitments,” said Vin Ratford, CEO of Piera Systems. “Traditional outdoor monitoring of larger particles like PM2.5 and PM10 is simply inadequate and real-time monitoring of submicron particles is essential to improving breathability everywhere.”

Sensorbee stationary solar-powered air quality monitoring unit

Sensorbee mobile air quality unit with magnetic feet for easy vehicle mounting

About Piera Systems, Inc.

Piera Systems Inc. is on a mission to make air quality measurement accurate, simple, inexpensive, and pervasive, enabling a major improvement in the health of all humans. Piera has developed a family of ‘Intelligent Particle Sensors‘ utilizing a breakthrough custom processor to detect particulate matter (PM), a major component of air pollution. Unlike existing low-cost PM sensors, IPS has superior accuracy over a wider range, including harmful ‘very fine particles’ smaller than 1.0 micron, and reports particle size and count in real time at low power. IPS is the first software-defined PM sensor with up to seven particle sizes allowing its use in many applications. IPS data is analyzed using AI/ML algorithms to identify and classify pollution sources such as vape, cigarette smoke, cooking, etc. IPS sensors and Canāree air quality monitors answer the question, ‘What’s In Your Air?’

More information on Piera Systems air quality solutions can be found at https://www.pierasystems.com.

About Sensorbee

Founded in 2018, Sensorbee is a cleantech startup that provides ultra-local, air quality sensors, data, and cloud-based analytics solutions. Sensorbee’s solution is based on mobile and stationary sensors and offers comprehensive visibility into the air pollution and emissions in urban environments. Sensorbee enables governments and companies to reduce air pollution globally.

Headquartered in Sweden, more information on Sensorbee air quality can be found at https://www.sensorbee.com.

Contact Information

Raj Seelam

VP Marketing & Customer Success

raj.seelam@pierasystems.com

David Löwenbrand

CEO

hello@sensorbee.com

+46 101385373

Related Images

Image 1: Sensorbee

Image 2: Sensorbee stationary solar-powered air quality monitoring unit

Image 3: Sensorbee mobile air quality unit with magnetic feet for easy vehicle mounting
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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In Call, Biden Warned Xi Not to Support Russia

WHITE HOUSE —

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to Xi Jinping on Friday, warning the Chinese leader not to provide material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a day after Biden’s top diplomat acknowledged that Washington believed Beijing is willing to provide such support.

The video call – the first conversation between the two leaders since the invasion – lasted almost two hours, according to the White House. In the call Biden detailed the potential “implications and consequences” should Beijing move to provide material support to Russia.

Administration officials refused to publicly detail what those consequences might be.

“President Biden shared with President Xi a detailed review of how things have developed to this point, his assessment of the situation and President Biden underscored support for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis,” a senior administration official told reporters in a briefing following the call.

The official declined to respond to VOA’s question on whether Biden felt less or more optimistic about Beijing’s stance on Ukraine after his call with Xi.

The call was about making sure there is a “direct, candid and detailed and very substantive conversation at the leader level,” the official said.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed media reports from earlier this week that China may move to help Russia.

“We’re concerned that they are considering directly assisting Russia with military equipment to use in Ukraine,” Blinken said in a briefing. He did not provide evidence of the allegation, which Moscow and Beijing have denied.

Meanwhile, according to a summary of the call released by Beijing, Xi assured Biden that his country didn’t want a war in Ukraine.

“President Xi pointed out that China does not want to see the situation in Ukraine to come to this,” the statement said. “All sides need to jointly support Russia and Ukraine in having dialogue.”

Beijing had previously said that claims alleging it is supporting Moscow are designed to shift blame.

“Assertions that China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported this war are purely disinformation,” Qin Gang, Chinese ambassador to the U.S., stated in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post earlier this week.

China’s official position on Moscow’s invasion has been to straddle both sides, neither fully supportive nor directly opposed. Beijing says it recognizes Ukraine’s sovereignty, while acknowledging that NATO’s expansion has raised “legitimate” security concerns for Russia.

The White House would not confirm whether the U.S. is prepared to offer anything to entice Beijing to not assist Russia, including reduction of tariffs against Chinese goods that were placed by the Trump administration.

“This is a conversation about where President Xi stands. It’s up to the Chinese to decide where they want to stand, where they want to be as the history books are written,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told VOA.

What can China do?

Aside from providing military or economic support for Russia’s invasion, observers say China may become a backdoor to elude sanctions against Moscow or become a channel to smuggle goods to get around any Western export restrictions.

“China is a big question mark here,” adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Heidi Crebo-Rediker told VOA.

If that’s the case, Washington will likely move to punish Beijing. Officials have previously hinted that Beijing can be exposed to secondary sanctions. For example, the U.S. can prevent a Chinese semiconductor company from accessing American equipment and software if Washington discovered the company was violating U.S. export controls by selling chips to Russia.

However, any meaningful sanctions on China would also harm Western economic interests already under pressure from the current global supply chain crisis.

The administration would rather not have to take that step, said Stacie Goddard, Mildred Lane Kemper professor of Political Science at Wellesley College. “They would rather convince China, if not to back off completely but at least to not aid Russia in any sort of significant way that allows Putin to escape the punch of the sanctions,” Goddard told VOA.

China has criticized Western sanctions put in place by the U.S., the European Union, and other allies, saying it creates new problems and interferes with the political settlement of conflicts.

Eye on Taiwan

According to the Chinese readout of the call, Xi complained to Biden about a “wrong signal” sent by the U.S. to “Taiwan’s independence forces.”

In a show of force, hours before the Biden and Xi call, the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong sailed through the Taiwan Strait, close to the Taiwan-controlled island of Kinmen, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry as reported by Reuters.

The USS Ralph Johnson, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, shadowed the carrier partly on its route, according to a Reuters source.

Last month, days after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the USS Ralph Johnson briefly crossed the strait’s median line. Beijing was irked by the move, which the U.S. 7th Fleet called a “routine Taiwan Strait transit.”

Chinese government media alleged that the U.S. move was designed to reassure Taiwanese “separatists” that Washington is committed to the island’s security. Beijing considers the democratically governed island of Taiwan as a breakaway province.

Power moves aside, observers say Beijing has been surprised at the speed with which not only European allies, but also U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific including Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Japan, Australia and even Singapore have imposed sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

These countries in the region in many ways balance their interests between Washington and Beijing. Observers say that by sanctioning Moscow so quickly, these U.S. allies are sending a clear signal to Beijing that it should expect a unified and swift response to any Chinese incursion toward Taiwan or the South China Sea.

“It might be one thing for China to expand its interest, but if it begins to show signs that it’s not going to actually respect sovereign territoriality in the region, these states are going to very quickly act to band together to push back against China,” Goddard said.

Global rivalry

Observers say that both the U.S. and China to varying degrees are looking at the Ukraine crisis in the framework of global rivalry between two superpowers in the long term.

“China has viewed this entirely from the point of view of Cold War-style U.S.-China competition,” said Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson Center. “The United States is mostly concerned about Russia and Ukraine itself, but it has clearly been taking great pains to make sure that China is associated with Russia and tarred with the same brush,” he told VOA.

Noting the current tensions between Washington and Beijing, observers are pessimistic the two powers can achieve an agreement on Ukraine. The two largest economies have failed to work together on global issues including combating COVID and climate change and alleviating the global supply chain crisis.

“They are failing again and again and again,” Daly said, underscoring that constant communication must be maintained for the two to understand where they can and cannot cooperate.

“We are not going to be able to work out a manageable U.S.-China relationship if we only speak to each other when there are crises,” he said.

Source: Voice of America

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Russian Missiles Strike Near Lviv Airport, Survivors Emerge From Mariupol Theater

Several Russian missiles were targeted at a western Ukrainian area near Lviv’s airport Friday.

The airport was not hit, according the Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy, but an aircraft repair facility was.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the attack near Lviv, which is about 80 kilometers from Ukraine’s border with Poland.

A large cloud of smoke could be seen in the area surrounding the airport.

Meanwhile, in Mariupol, survivors have begun to emerge from a theater in Mariupol that was hit by Russian missiles Wednesday.

Hundreds of people, including children, are believed to have taken refuge in The Drama Theater.

Satellite images of the site released by the Maxar space technology company showed the word “children” written in Russian on the pavement outside the theater as recently as Monday.

It is not yet clear how many people survived the attack.

Biden to speak with Xi

U.S. President Joe Biden has scheduled a rare telephone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday, a high-stakes conversation as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asks the world for help fighting against a three-week Russian invasion.

China has played an increasingly important role in the conflict amid reports that Russia asked China for military assistance. The United States is providing the bulk of military assistance to Ukraine, with Biden announcing another $800 million defense package this week.

“We have made clear our deep concerns about China’s alignment with Russia and the potential implications and consequences of that,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Friday’s call, she said, “is an opportunity for President Biden to assess where President Xi stands. There’s been, of course, rhetorical support — or the absence of clear rhetoric and denunciation, or the absence of denunciation — by China of what Russia is doing. This flies in the face, of course, of everything China stands for, including the basic principles of the U.N. Charter, including the basic principles of respect for sovereignty of nations. And so the fact that China has not denounced what Russia is doing in and of itself speaks volumes.”

Source: Voice of America

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Cambodian PM Seen Hoping Meeting With Japan’s Kishida Will Ease Ties with West

SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA —

Analysts say Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s priority for a planned meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, this weekend is finding new sources of funding, and repairing damaged ties with the West, as massive Chinese investments fade and the economic consequences of COVID-19 set in.

Cambodia is threatened by a potential debt trap because of Chinese development loans, according to Carl Shuster, visiting professor at Hawaii Pacific University, which, he said is forcing Hun Sen to reevaluate ties with the West, and Japan is a logical mediator.

“Japan is beginning to assert itself,” he said, adding, “Good feelings towards Japan has, if you will, escalated because of China’s behavior.”

“Hun Sen is awakened to the fact that China is not the safe partner that he thought it was,” Schuster said, adding, “I think he believes that if he can play Japanese investment off against China’s, then that gives him the capacity to resist China’s economic leverage.

“Hun Sen is looking at it and he’s looking at what I call ‘the creeping advance of Chinese power’ and I don’t think he’s reacting to right now. I think he’s reacting to 10 years from now,” he said, pointing to the benefits of decades of Japanese influence across the region.

Japan is Cambodia’s top bilateral donor, accounting for 25% of outside aid over the last 10 years, totaling about $725 million. It has backed the Khmer Rouge tribunal, funded demining, built roads, bridges and ports and provided further assistance throughout the pandemic.

Hun Sen also wants backing for his year as Association of Southeast Asian Nations chair, including for his push for negotiations with the junta in Myanmar, and he is sounding out support for his eldest son, Hun Manet, who is expected to replace him as prime minister after elections in July next year.

Schuster said a recent trip by Hun Manet to Japan had laid the groundwork for Kishida’s visit and was an early indication of a reshaping in regional politics caused in part by the pandemic and a backlash over Chinese investments.

“He doesn’t want to be dominated by China,” he said, referring to Hun Sen.

According to the Cambodian semiofficial news outlet Fresh News, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi praised Hun Manet as a “visionary senior politician.” The Japan Times, however, said he was told Japan wants next year’s general election held in a democratic way.

Therein lies the rub.

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party won every contested seat in 2018 elections after the main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was barred from competing, upsetting pro-democracy groups that claimed the poll was rigged. Since then, hundreds of dissidents have been charged and jailed.

In response the European Union withdrew some trade benefits, and the United States has since imposed sanctions on Cambodian generals for corrupt practices involving Chinese mega projects.

Washington is also disturbed by Chinese developers who spent billions of dollars transforming Sihanoukville into a notorious a gambling metropolis while constructing a deep-water port.

Their operations have expanded north and 30 kilometers eastward with eight-lane highways encircling an international airport and the Ream Naval Base, which is also being upgraded by China. Nearby hills are being bulldozed and used as landfill for ocean reclamation along the coast.

In return for those investment dollars, Phnom Penh backed Beijing over issues such as the South China Sea and its model for a code of conduct, which has divided ASEAN.

Chinese developments have ground to halt with the pandemic, though. Sihanoukville is littered with closed casinos, half-built skyscrapers and empty apartment blocks, and there are no signs the Chinese will return, which analysts said had left Hun Sen out on a limb.

“He’s got a very good rapport with China, but Japan is very keen to go along with the U.S. and other Quad members to sap the influence of China and its Belt and Road Initiative,” Bart Edes, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said.

“I think it’s just smart politics. I don’t see it as a fundamental shift on his part, but why not curry relations with these two leading East Asian powers,” Edes said, referring to Hun Sen.

Two Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces ships docked at Ream Naval Base while Hun Sen has said the port at Sihanoukville will not become a Chinese debt trap “like Sri Lanka,” which could not pay for construction of the Hambantota port, and added Japan had brought shares and contributed financially to its $200 million construction.

That will matter to Kishida who will travel to India first and affirm with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the pursuit of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region as members — along with Australia and the United States — of the Quad, an alliance designed to curtail Chinese expansionism.

Kashida will then fly to Cambodia where Edes said, “it’s expected that he’s going to press Hun Sen on support for the Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity but there’ll also take up no doubt the economic and trade issues as well.”

Cambodia, surprisingly given its Cold War ties with Moscow, has already answered that by cosponsoring this month’s United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s Ukraine invasion.

Analysts said that position is likely to remain and Kishida was expected to back continued negotiations between ASEAN and Myanmar.

Support for Hun Manet is not guaranteed and financial aid to counter waning Chinese interest is not a given, according to Schuster. Schuster said Cambodia has to improve its democratic record at home and decide how far it is prepared to back China abroad.

He added that Cambodia was considering a path already taken by the Philippines and Vietnam. Both, he said, began working more closely with Japan more than 20 years ago to counter China and their relationships now extend beyond economics and into security.

“Now the way the Japanese work is just talking today doesn’t mean it’s going to happen tomorrow. It typically takes three to five years to get around to the decision,” he said.

Source: Voice of America

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More Assertive Japan Stands Up to Russia Over Ukraine

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —

Pallets loaded onto the Japanese Self-Defense Force cargo aircraft this month contained bulletproof vests, helmets, and other nonlethal military equipment – much different from the shoulder-fired missiles, drones, and other weapons many Western countries have sent to Ukrainians fighting Russia’s invasion.

Japan’s decision to ship military equipment to Ukraine still marked a major step for Tokyo, whose pacifist constitution has for decades kept the country out of foreign military conflicts.

“This kind of mission is the first case for us, but we will do our utmost to swiftly deliver [the equipment] to Ukraine,” tweeted Japan’s Defense Ministry, referring to the March 9 shipment.

Although Japanese officials say they have no plans to send weapons to Ukraine, Japan has been on the front lines of a Western-led effort to pressure Russia using diplomatic and economic means.

Japan has imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs, frozen assets of Russian banks, and this week revoked Russia’s most favored nation trade status.

It has also sent $100 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Ukraine and smoothed the path to accept Ukrainians fleeing the fighting – a notable move in a country long reluctant to accept overseas refugees.

The moves not only underscore Japan’s broader shift toward a more assertive foreign policy, they also show Tokyo has become bolder in aligning with the West and standing up for principles that underpin the existing U.S.-led international order.

Support for Ukraine is “quite natural,” since Japan is “one of the biggest beneficiaries of global peace and stability,” said Matsumoto Koichiro, deputy Cabinet secretary for public affairs at the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office.

“We attach great importance to universal values such as democracy, rule of law, and human rights, including freedom of expression. We know from our experience that when people stop fighting for these values, we will be giving chances and spaces to authoritarian regimes,” Matsumoto told VOA.

“As the people in Ukraine are fighting for these values that shape our society, supporting them in any way we can is the only way,” he added.

Public support

The Japanese public seems to agree. According to a recent poll by Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun daily, 82% of the Japanese public supports economic sanctions against Russia. Polls have also shown strong support for accepting Ukrainian refugees.

“That doesn’t tend to be a thing that the Japanese public supports,” said Corey Wallace, who teaches global security courses at Yokohama’s Kanagawa University.

“You look at the Afghanistan and Syria situations, they were pretty reluctant to take refugees [from] there,” he said.

The public support has given Prime Minister Fumio Kishida more space to accelerate a shift away from the approach of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had tried to improve ties with Russia, Wallace said.

“[Japan-Russia relations] were never particularly good, despite Abe’s commitment. So I think it’s really just returning to the status quo here,” Wallace added.

Abe, who stepped down in 2020, continues to shape Japan’s policies. For instance, sending military aid to Ukraine was only possible because Abe in 2014 relaxed a ban on arms exports, allowing for such shipments if they “contributed to global peace.”

“This was … nonlethal, almost humanitarian equipment. But for Japan to provide even non-lethal military equipment to a country in the middle of a conflict is remarkable,” Wallace said.

Under Abe, Japan boosted military spending and reinterpreted the country’s pacifist constitution, in theory thus allowing Japanese troops to fight overseas for the first time since World War II.

Japanese conservatives argue that the country needs to be able to better defend itself, especially in response to China’s growing military prowess and willingness to coerce its neighbors.

Such moves risk further upsetting Japan’s relations with China, South Korea, and North Korea, who fear Japan may revert to its old militarism.

Major risks

There are also considerable economic and strategic risks to Japan’s more assertive approach to Russia, in particular.

Japan, which imported about 9% of its natural gas and 4% of its oil from Russia in 2021, is likely to see higher energy costs. So far, the resource-poor country has not followed the U.S. lead in banning Russian oil imports.

While Japan will probably retain some essential trade with Russia, the economic relationship will be “severely downgraded,” according to Artyom Lukin, an associate professor at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia.

“No doubt the relationship has been very badly affected. And the damage will be long-lasting, even if this war stops tomorrow,” Lukin told VOA.

Russia will probably intensify its military exercises near Japan, including Russian naval ships that sail near the Japanese coast and Russian airplanes that fly close to Japanese airspace, Lukin added.

The situation could also further push Moscow into Beijing’s orbit, which could hinder Russia-Japan ties moving forward, warned Lukin.

“For example, if China’s relations with Japan get worse, Russia would follow suit just to express solidarity with China,” he said.

Kishida has also shelved peace treaty talks with Russia that were aimed at resolving a decadeslong territorial dispute over four islands currently controlled by Russia. Such negotiations would be inappropriate, Kishida said, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Matsumoto acknowledged such challenges but said “the risk of inaction is far greater than the risk of action.”

“I think countries around the world are given a choice – whether you are going to fight for the universal values that shape the world today, or you deny them, or you pretend that you didn’t see the events actually unfolding,” he said. “Japan chose the first option.”

Source: Voice of America

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WHO Chief: Health ‘Not A Cost, But an Investment’

As COVID-19 infection and death rates begin to increase in some countries that have begun to relax their COVID-related restrictions, the director-general of the World Health Organization issued a reminder of what the pandemic has taught the world so far.

Speaking Thursday at the Thailand International Health Expo, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “The COVID-19 pandemic is a powerful demonstration that health is not a luxury, but a human right; not a cost, but an investment; not simply an outcome of development, but the foundation of social, economic and political stability and security.”

Tedros called on “all countries, manufacturers and partners to work with” the United Nations agency “on enhancing vaccine manufacturing, knowledge sharing and technology transfer.”

And the WHO leader said that “Although several countries have lifted restrictions, the pandemic is far from over – and it will not be over anywhere until it’s over everywhere.”

Meanwhile, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency, President Xi Jinping has urged the Politburo Standing Committee, the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party to, “Strive to achieve the greatest prevention and control effect with the smallest cost and minimize the impact of the pandemic on economic and social development.”

China is currently experiencing its biggest wave of COVID-19 infections since the outbreak in Wuhan, where the pandemic is reported to have begun in late 2019.

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Friday that there are more than 465 million global COVID cases and more than 6 million global COVID deaths.

Johns Hopkins said that nearly 11 billion vaccine doses have been administered.

Source: Voice of America

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Call for Entries Issued for the 2022 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers

Seventh Annual Honors for Employers and HR Professionals is Accepting Nominations

FAIRFAX, Va., March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Stevie Awards has issued the call for entries for the seventh annual Stevie® Awards for Great Employers, which honor the world’s best companies to work for and the human resources teams, professionals, suppliers, and new products and services that help to create and drive great places to work.

All individuals and organizations worldwide – public and private, for-profit, and non-profit, large and small – may submit nominations to the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. The early-bird entry deadline, with reduced entry fees, is April 27. The final entry deadline is June 8, but late entries will be accepted through July 7 with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR.

Juries composed of scores of executives around the world will determine the Stevie Award winners. Winners will be announced on August 8. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala event at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on September 17.

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Categories include:

There are new categories in 2022 for Thought Leadership including Achievement in Thought Leadership Skills, Achievement in Thought Leadership Talent, Achievement in Thought Leadership for Recruitment, Achievements in Internal Thought Leadership, and HR Thought Leader of the Year.

Fourteen of the 16 HR Individual categories do not require payment of entry fees.

Winners in the 31 industry-specific Employer of the Year categories will be determined by a unique blend of public votes and professional ratings. Public voting will take place from July 11 – August 1.

Stevie Award winners in 2021 included Allied Irish Banks (Ireland), Bank of America (USA), IBM (USA), Dell Technologies (USA), Everise (Singapore), Fullscript (Canada), Globe Telecom (Philippines), MGM China (China), PT. Bank Central Asia Tbk (Indonesia), Rakuten USA, Salary.com (USA), Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (Turkey), Upwork (USA), and many more.

About the Stevie® Awards:
Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com.

Marketing Contact:
Nina Moore
Nina@StevieAwards.com

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2022 Global State of IT Automation Report Reveals 88% of Enterprises Plan to Grow Their Investment in IT Automation and Orchestration this Year

Growth accelerates as complex hybrid IT and multi-cloud environments become the norm

ALPHARETTA, Ga., March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Stonebranch, a leading provider of service orchestration and automation solutions, today published the inaugural Stonebranch 2022 Global State of IT Automation report. Developed in partnership with IEEE Computer Society, the premier technical education organization, this study collects the perspectives of automation-focused IT professionals worldwide.

Respondents, all from companies with over 1000 employees, shared their views about automation and orchestration as it relates to cloud, data pipelines, IT operations, self-service enablement, and more.

“Stonebranch is proud to share this important report — the first of its kind in the IT automation industry,” said Giuseppe Damiani, CEO at Stonebranch. “This research serves as a window into how the best and brightest industry practitioners plan to evolve their IT automation programs. Most importantly, the report illustrates a shift from IT automation to IT orchestration, which is driven by the continued growth of cloud, multi-cloud, and overall hybrid IT environments.”

The research indicates that orchestration is critical for successful hybrid IT environments, which have taken the lead for mid-size and large enterprises alike. Nearly half (46%) of respondents work in a hybrid IT environment comprised of on-premises, private cloud, public cloud, and containerized microservices. This number far exceeds on-premises only (31%) and cloud-only (23%) environments.

“Siloed automation programs may have worked when only targeting on-premises servers, mainframes, and applications,” said Peter Baljet, CTO at Stonebranch. “However, the cloud — both public and private — added a whole new layer of complexity, requiring organizations to think through how they orchestrate automated workflows that span between both on-premises and cloud environments.”

Additional key findings in the Stonebranch 2022 Global State of IT Automation report include:

  • Automation growth is driven by cloud adoption. Most enterprises (69%) automate cloud applications and platforms, as well as containers.
  • Multi-cloud environments are the norm. 92% of enterprises use more than two public cloud service providers in day-to-day operations. Additionally, 91% automate data transfers between multiple public cloud providers.
  • Service orchestration and automation platforms (SOAP) have grown in popularity. 43% of enterprises will invest in SOAP by the end of 2022, only two years after Gartner coined the SOAP category in 2020.
  • Self-service automation creates citizen automators. 93% of enterprises have a centralized IT automation team. 84% offer a self-service IT automation portal to business users, data teams, and developers.
  • Data pipeline orchestration relies heavily on cloud. 90% of enterprises have more than half of their data tools in the cloud.
  • Integration is key to orchestration. 78% of enterprises change data sources or tools that they automate at least quarterly, if not more often.

There are two ways to explore all the findings in the research:

Report Methodology

The data in this report comes from a global online survey conducted by IEEE in January and February 2022. The survey generated 366 responses from IT professionals (primarily team leads, managers, and directors) involved in IT automation. Respondents reported responsibility for IT Ops, DataOps, CloudOps, PlatformOps, IT Service Management, and Application Development in enterprises with more than 1000 employees. A cross-section of industries including technology, banking and finance, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and government are represented, as are locations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

About Stonebranch

Stonebranch builds IT orchestration and automation solutions that transform business IT environments from simple IT task automation into sophisticated, real-time business service automation. No matter the degree of automation, the Stonebranch platform is simple, modern, and secure. Using the Stonebranch Universal Automation Platform, enterprises can seamlessly orchestrate workloads and data across technology ecosystems and silos. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with points of contact and support throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, Stonebranch serves some of the world’s largest financial, manufacturing, healthcare, travel, transportation, energy, and technology institutions.

About IEEE

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics.

Contact
Scott Davis
Vice President of Global Marketing, Stonebranch
scott.davis@stonebranch.com

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Wasder Announces Collaboration With Alien Samurai Dino Warriors & Dimitri Vegas

Wasder Announces Partnership with NFT Comic Book Art Collection on the Wasder Battlepass

Alien Samurai Dino Warriors and Wasder

Alien Samurai Dino Warriors and Wasder

STOCKHOLM, March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wasder, a global gamified social microverse for gamers, announced its collaboration with Alien Samurai Dino Warriors – an NFT art collection based on an upcoming comic book novel created by Dimitri “Vegas” Thivaios (of chart-topping EDM duo Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike) under the mentorship of Michael Uslan, originator and executive producer of the Batman movie franchise, and his son, David Uslan, an expert in the animation and graphic novel field.

The series revolves around a group of teen dinosaurs who defend a modern-day Earth through martial arts. The dinosaurs, who follow the code of the Samurai, are armed with glowing weapons that are powered by a mysterious crystal.

Alien Samurai Dino Warriors will be featured on the upcoming Wasder Battlepass in the Game of Wasder, the gamified portion of the social microverse platform. It allows each person to earn rewards for one month only. The game will offer exclusive rewards only available to Wasder users who participate in the Battlepass. Users will then be able to display their rewards/NFTs on their interactive user profiles, a new way of expressing both themselves and their reward stash in the community.

To celebrate the partnership, exclusive NFTs will be “airdropped” to the Wasder and Dino Warrior communities, and users will have a chance to win an interaction with Dimitri and challenge him in a game of his choice. The challenge will be streamed on the Wasder Twitch channel.

“For Wasder, this solidifies exactly what we envisioned our Game of Wasder would be – strong, innovative brands and amazing teams connected to them. I grew up on comic books, and to now be able to present a partnership with Dimitri and his team is full circle for me. Our Battlepass is featured for a full month, and this is our first exclusive feature we are announcing,” says Thomas Gronnevik, CEO of Wasder.

“I think our users will be very happy with the celebratory NFT airdrop we’re doing. The NFTs can of course be shown in our upcoming user profile showroom, together with future features and drops we will do. I also look forward to the streaming challenge with Dimitri and whoever wins the right to challenge him,” he adds.

Also on the Dino Warriors team is comic book writer Erik Burnham (Ghostbusters, Back To The Future, Transformers, A-Team, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics) and has artists like Jim Starlin (the creator of Marvel’s Infinity War Thanos and Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Draw & Gamorra ) working on art. Dimitri himself is appearing next summer in the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion blockbuster, as well as in his first lead role in the European movie ‘Hazard’.

We’re starting to see a huge uptick between the crossing of entertainment and gaming as music artists look to expand their brand and use their creativity in other ways. Alien Samurai Dino Warriors was born from Dimitri Vegas’ childhood passion for comic books and cartoons.

“I had the privilege to grow up in a world of Saturday morning cartoons and stores filled with comic books. My goal is to bring some of that golden age to a new generation of kids and have Dino Warriors claim their place in pop culture history. Looking forward to connecting with the Wasder fans and bringing some awesome content to their Battlepass,” says Dimitri.

About Wasder 

Wasder is a global gamified social microverse for gamers with a multitude of tools that solve the biggest challenges they face with approximately 530,000 users. With features like Matchmaking, Communities, Party Chats, Game Spaces, and a personalized feed, it’s easy to both find new friends to play with and to stay in touch and up-to-date with them. The ecosystem is built on blockchain technology, which enables true ownership of in-game items like NFTs, and for players to showcase items from different games and metaverses in their interactive profile. Wasder believes that continuously innovating this ever-growing industry is imperative for its growth. Partnerships with cutting-edge organizations such as Solana, Chainlink and more allow them to stay ahead of the curve.

By providing a framework to millions of gamers, Wasder gives the industry access to what they need — a unified target audience and a framework where their offering makes it easier for users to access quickly. This provides real value to both industry and consumers by strengthening the engagement for everyone involved. By providing this framework, Wasder becomes an authority on everything gaming and a must-be space to be in it.

About Alien Samurai Dino Warriors

Alien Samurai Dino Warriors is an entertainment franchise created in 2021 by actor and electronic music artist Dimitri “Vegas” Thivaios. It follows five dinosaur siblings from another reality, trained in bushido and fighting crime in Los Angeles.

The two-time #1 DJ of the world has been building an all-star creative team around the property, including acclaimed producer David Uslan and his renowned father Michael Uslan, the originator and executive producer of the Batman movie franchise from 1989’s Batman by Tim Burton, through to Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, the Oscar-winning The Joker to 2022’s The Batman.

The first Alien Samurai Dino Warriors graphic novel series was written by Dimitri and Erik Burnham, one of IDW Publishing’s most critically acclaimed writers, best known for writing Ghostbusters, Back to The Future, Transformers, A-Team, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics.

The book will introduce the world to the cornerstones of ASDW mythology and the dinosaur’s first adventures. The concept for Dino Warriors was born from Dimitri’s passion for comic books and is a love letter to the ’80s & ’90s golden age of Saturday Morning Cartoons. Next to his countless global hits and appearing as a character in videogames such as Mortal Kombat 11 and Garena’s Free Fire, Dimitri is set to star in his first lead role in the European action movie HAZARD and the forthcoming blockbuster Jurassic World: Dominion, the final installment of the Jurassic Saga.

Press contact: Nabeela Aysen, nabeela@nabeelapr.com

Related Images

Image 1: Alien Samurai Dino Warriors and Wasder

Image 2: Alien Samurai Dino Warriors and Wasder

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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