Latest news with #Oko
The Age
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
$5 skewers and a ‘secret' menu: Your cheat sheet to the city's latest Filipino restaurant
Eating out Just open After success with pop-ups, an up-and-coming chef is spotlighting real-deal Filipino flavours at his new spot off Smith Street in Fitzroy. It's all about hearty brunch, snacky night menus and wallet-friendly prices. For the last few years, Filipino chef Fhred Batalona has been sharing the food of his homeland through pop-ups (including at the now-closed Epocha) and his catering business Barangay, while working at venues including Richmond's Bar Pigalle (now-closed) and Orlo in Collingwood. In mid-April, he went bricks and mortar, opening Palay in Fitzroy. Who's behind it? Batalona has opened Palay with Ralph Libo-on and Michael Mabuti, who are involved with some of Melbourne's favourite Filipino venues including Askal and Kariton Sorbetes. What should I eat? 'One thing that's happening with the Filipino [food] movement is that we're trying to fuse it so much,' says Batalona. 'But the dining culture is changing ... People are now looking for something a bit more just true and authentic.' That's what he's aiming for at Palay. The star of the brunch menu is arroz caldo, a nourishing Filipino chicken rice porridge that reminds Batalona of home. In place of the traditional glutinous rice, Filipino head chef John Salang uses arborio, leaning into his experience cooking Italian food. It's flavoured with a heady hit of ginger and fish sauce before the warming bowl is topped with boiled eggs, fried garlic and chives. From 5pm, a Filipino 'tapas' menu kicks in. Sydney rock oysters are dressed with an adobo sauce that 'slaps you in the face'. Sizzling sisig combines pig's ear, cheek and belly into an unctuous dish that gets extra smoky from being fired by the grill, then the wok. What if I'm vegan? From sisig to lechon (suckling pig), many popular Filipino foods are meaty. But Palay has a 'secret' vegan menu to cater to plant-based fans. The above-mentioned arroz caldo uses vegan chicken stock and adobo fried tofu can be added. And instead of serving Filipino liver spread with the house-baked pandesal (quintessentially Filipino bread rolls), the vegan alternative is an umami-rich mushroom paste. How much does it cost? 'We want people to be able to come back,' says Batalona, so currently nothing on the menu's over $30. And if you're on a budget, you could just pop in for a few skewers: the inihaw (grilled) section is priced between $5 and $7. And to drink? While Palay awaits its liquor licence, it's all about non-alcoholic samalamig, the kind of cold, refreshing drinks sold by street vendors across the Philippines. A rockmelon version is made by infusing the flesh into sugar syrup, then adding water and ice. Where should I sit? The front window is where it's at to get a sense of how the space has been brightened since it was Oko (and before that, Hell of the North). Palm-tree wallpaper wraps the bar, giving it ' White Lotus vibes', and the ceilings are all pastel hues. What can I buy to take home? A small retail section is stocked with locally roasted Akasya Kape coffee beans sourced from the Philippines, and imported condiments like Saint C calamansi extract. Soon, Palay's housemade banana ketchup, a staple Filipino condiment, will also be for sale. What else should I know? Once dine-in service hits its stride, the team will introduce takeaway coffee and Filipino baked goods, including fresh-out-the-oven pandesal in flavours like ube (purple yam).
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Newark 16 and 17-year-olds prepare to vote in April school board election
NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) – A celebratory atmosphere inside the gym at Newark School of Data Science and Information Technology, as students ages 16 and 17 registered to vote in their school board election next month. Bryan Oko, a junior at the school, is glad he and his classmates could be part of something he calls monumental. More Local News 'We really wanted student representation in voting for the school board because the people who are elected on the school board are ultimately going to be making a lot of decisions for the kids,' said Oko. A little more than a year ago, the City of Newark passed an ordinance to allow teens in this age group to have a voice in their school board elections. 'We want the kids to have a say in it,' said Oko. 'If they're going to be making decisions for the kids, obviously the kids have to have a say in it.' Gov. Phil Murphy and rapper A Boogie wit da Hoodie celebrated the historic nature of the non-partisan registration event, as these Newark students will be the first 16- and 17-year-olds in New Jersey to vote in an election. 'It took us a long time to do things like this in life,' said A Boogie wit da Hoodie. 'When I was younger, we didn't have these types of opportunities, so, man, let's keep on setting trends.' More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State 'Students have a lot of great ideas, I'm not going to lie about it, a lot of great ideas,' said Abdul, a junior at the school. 'With this, I hope we can spread these ideas and get them all across the actual- not just the State but honestly, across the country.' A bill in Trenton looks to take this concept statewide and let all 16 and 17-year-old students in New Jersey vote in their school board elections, legislation supported by Murphy. 'The irony is young people have a lower propensity to vote than older people and yet -think about this- older people have less of a runway in front of them,' said Murphy (D-NJ). 'These kids potentially have a hundred years to go in front of them, so the fact that there's this kind of enthusiasm is really, really important and impressive.' The deadline to register to vote in the Newark school board election is Tuesday, March 25th, just three weeks out from Election Day on Tuesday, April 15th. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
10 Ukrainian drone makers to watch
In the three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine has almost certainly become the largest producer of drones in the Western-aligned world. Early workshop tinkering on mainly commercial Chinese drones evolved into steadily more professional and massive production of domestic unmanned aerial systems (UAVs). The industry's rapid growth has given Ukraine a fighting chance against a much bigger enemy, making drones a source of national pride. Details on the drone industry and its producers are hard to come by. Russia constantly targets weapons factories and even drone executives personally. But some drone makers are already clearly big businesses. Based on knowledge both publicly and privately sourced, the Kyiv Independent has assembled a list of makers ranging from mass-produced first-person view (FPV) drones to highly secretive deep-strike UAVs that we believe to be the biggest game in town. Going forward, many of these drone makers hope to sell their wares abroad once export controls are lifted, or the war comes to an end. Those looking to sell abroad are keen to headline non-lethal drone models like intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) or cargo drones, which face fewer restrictions than those more clearly designed to blow things up. Here are 10 of Ukraine's drone makers to look out for, in no particular order: Taking its name from a paradise in pre-Christian Slavic mythology, Vyriy produces what one long-time drone pilot describes as the best FPV he's ever worked with, the Molfar. The small and cheap Molfar has been in use since at least the start of 2023. For massive FPV makers, what's tricky is producing swarms that function reliably. By reputation, Vyriy manages as well as anyone. The firm is working to onshore production but cites a continued financial dependence on Chinese components that afflicts the drone industry worldwide. Notably, Vyriy's drones operate on low-frequency channels. Prior to 2022, most drones ran on 2.4 or 5.8 gigahertz (GHz) communications. Those channels are easily jammed by Russian electronic warfare systems at the front, so many operators, including Vyriy, have lowered their frequencies to under 1 GHz, which transfers less data but goes further and is harder to both jam and detect. Despite keeping a lower profile among its fellow major Ukrainian drone makers, Skyfall has brought production to a massive scale since launching in June 2022. Skyfall's most beloved model is the Vampire, which first became famous under the name Russian soldiers have for it, the Baba Yaga, named for a fairytale witch. The moniker is due to the drone's ability to run night missions, particularly while bearing payloads of up to 15 kilograms — over five times the standard for FPVs. One of Skyfall's biggest selling points is nocturnal navigation. It's a feature largely enabled by thermal cameras like those produced by Ukrainian company Oko (which means 'eye' in Ukrainian), and one that has proved especially effective as many Russian units reportedly lack night-vision goggles. In drone footage from a Shrike — Skyfall's smaller FPV model — shared with the Kyiv Independent by a Ukrainian drone pilot, a Russian truck stands out clearly from the treeline it is hiding inside before the Shrike hurtles into its grill before the signal turns to static. Data from government contracts show the Shrikes selling for a little over Hr 13,000 in 2024, or about $320, making them some of the cheapest quadrocopters being purchased en masse inside of Ukraine. TAF is possibly the largest-scale manufacturer of FPV drones in Ukraine today, producing some 40,000 drones per month. Its output is valued at over $1 billion per year, according to Forbes Ukraine. TAF's drones are fairly standard cheap quadrocopters that flock over the front line in Ukraine. TAF emerged from a charity fund run by now-CEO Oleksandr Yakovenko, which was already producing drone parts to be assembled by soldiers by early 2023. TAF's surge in production over the past year has been quite stunning. If true, 40,000 a month would account for about a third of the 1.5 million drones that the Defense Ministry said Ukrainian makers shipped to the frontline in 2024. One billion dollars in orders would be a similarly massive fraction of Ukraine's total drone budget — approximately $2.5 billion in 2025, not including money that individual brigades raise in donations. By many accounts the archetypical Ukrainian drone maker, UkrSpec dates back to 2014, when it was founded in response to Russia's initial annexation of Crimea and invasion of Donbas. UkrSpec has produced many models over the years, but almost exclusively of the highly engineered repeated-use variety — specifically intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The Shark is a long-range ISR drone that largely set the standard for the genre within Ukraine. The 'People's Drone,' or PD-2, is similar but can carry cargo up to 8 kilograms — in theory, anything including a few artillery shells — with a range of up to 1,300 kilometers. Avia Atlon is another firm that dates back to 2014. Its bread-and-butter model is the Furia, a long-range recon drone that the firm began exporting abroad prior to Russia's full-scale invasion. They were selling the Furia for just over $100,000 in 2022, per the accounting of local charity Come Back Alive. The most recent Furia model is a massive ISR drone that resembles a white manta ray and is specially designed to scout targets from up high for Ukrainian artillery. Far cheaper is Avia Atlon's Hrim, also known as Silent Thunder, which is a smaller kamikaze drone that remains more intricate than the average FPV drone of its class as it depends on a reusable quadrocopter for liftoff. Another of the founding fathers of what would become Ukraine's wartime drone boom, UkrJet shares some overlap in leadership with UkrSpec. Unlike UkrSpec, UkrJet is most famous for its actual explosive models. Its Bobr, or 'Beaver,' was the first of Ukraine's major deep-strike drones, flying up to 1,000 kilometers inside of Russia. UkrJet is a project of Oleksandr Chendekov, who a competitor referred to as 'the father of the Ukrainian drone.' Chendekov was chief technology officer at UkrSpec, UkrJet, and today, at Airlogix. Registered in 2021, UkrJet started public production of its attack drones in 2022, in the months following Russia's full-scale invasion. Terminal Autonomy is a relatively low-profile, internationally owned, Ukraine-based firm that nonetheless ships upwards of 1,000 of its AQ 100s and an unknown number of its deep-strike AQ 400s each month. At $30,000 and a range of 750 kilometers, the AQ 400s are likely the cheapest long-distance strike drones on the market. To cut costs, their drones are made of plywood. The similarly wooden AQ 100s are kamikaze drones, likewise designed to be deployed en masse, affordably. In addition to wooden frames, their fixed-wing design means they only need a single motor, unlike quadrocopters which, while more maneuverable, require four. The largest traditional aircraft maker in Ukraine, Antonov is often overlooked in considerations of drone manufacturers. Given its standing ties to Ukraine's government-owned weapons makers, it had little reason to advertise. Among drones, Antonov is most notable for its 'Lyuty' drone, a long-range model roughly analogous to the Iranian-made Shaheds that Russia sends into Ukraine nightly. Ukraine's long-range strike drones are typically tightly held secrets within Ukraine's drone programs. But Russian sources frequently identify Lyuty drones as those striking local oil infrastructure. Long a government-owned defense manufacturer, Antonov formally transitioned into a private holding in April 2024. Its ties to Ukraine's Soviet-descended, state-owned defense conglomerate, UkrOboronProm, remain well-established. The pricing on a single Lyuty comes in at just under $200,000 a unit. Airlogix is a large-scale drone maker that has seen massive growth since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. Pre-2022, Airlogix launched with a hefty cargo drone. After Russia's invasion, they militarized their production. Their GOR model is an ISR drone that boasts four-hour flight times and sells for some $200,000 a piece, founder and CEO Vitalii Kolesnichenko told the Kyiv Independent. Kolesnichenko says Airlogix has quintupled sales of the GOR in the past year, reaching 500 units shipped in 2024, which adds up to about $100 million. Other sources say that Airlogix is also working on a deep-strike drone, but Kolesnichenko would not comment on details. Skyeton's Raybird is a hyper-advanced ISR drone whose latest models boast max flight times of 28 hours. A Raybird system, which includes three separate drones, sells for over $1 million a piece. Total battlefield usage remains a mystery as military acquisitions are secret, but public records show Ukrainian emergency responders buying at least five of those systems since the start of the full-scale invasion. Skyeton opened up production in Slovakia earlier in 2024 to escape wartime controls on Ukrainian military and dual-use equipment. The firm at the time claimed that the Ukrainian military was only contracting 50 of their drones annually, lamenting that internal production could have reached 100. Read also: How Ukraine's new drone-missile hybrids are changing long-range weapon technology We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Analysis-Trump's aid cuts imperil emerging market investment cash
By Libby George and Virginia Furness LONDON (Reuters) - The United States' decision to freeze and potentially scrap its core aid agency jolted countries receiving its funding and could make it harder for emerging economies to attract private cash, investors said. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) not only disbursed $44 billion in fiscal 2023, but anchors private investment in everything from healthcare to small businesses, and underpins the creditworthiness of bigger emerging markets borrowing money on sovereign debt markets. Its elimination could undermine investment in countries from Sri Lanka to South Africa and make it more expensive for them to borrow on international markets. Money from the agency, investors say, enables start-ups in the world's poorest countries to grow to the point they can lure private investors. Elsewhere, relatively small amounts of its money help lower the risk for banks and other lenders looking to invest in efforts to expand irrigation, or build hospitals, leveraging the cash into millions more. Its support can boost the ability of governments to repay debts, bolstering their economies. "They do have implications for the medium and long-term creditworthiness of a country," said Giulia Pellegrini, senior portfolio manager for emerging market debt at Allianz Global Investors, referring to the cuts. The near-total U.S. foreign aid funding freeze took effect last month and President Donald Trump said he would like to wind down USAID. For Simon Schwall, chief executive of Africa-focused startup Oko - which is backed by Morgan Stanley and Newfund Capital and facilitates and designs crop insurance for farmers in Mali, Ivory Coast and Uganda - the impact has been immediate. He said the company is at risk of closure without USAID money which would have accounted, directly and indirectly, for 80% of Oko's cashflow this year. "We cannot raise the investment we were planning to," without replacing USAID, he said. "We are very much at risk of having to close the business if we don't find any alternative partners." Alternatives are limited. The United States provided 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024, and other countries have also sought to cut aid spending. The rapid pull-back could also knock some struggling nations like Ethiopia immediately and erode other economies. "It could be a big setback for these frontier markets," said Seaport Global emerging market credit analyst Himanshu Porwal. IMMEDIATE AND EXTENSIVE Emerging markets were poised for an investor comeback after years of punishing outflows due to the COVID-19 pandemic, high global interest rates and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Debt restructurings in Ghana, Sri Lanka and Ukraine boosted hopes that private cash inflows could help meet growing - and expensive - needs for everything from climate change to infrastructure. The outlook is now murkier. Florian Kemmerich, managing partner with impact investment specialist firm KOIS, said the speed and depth of the U.S. cuts could diminish the number of investable projects. "You need not-for-profit capital... otherwise it wouldn't work, because the mismatch of risk and return is something which makes no sense," he said. USAID typically offers grants and technical support, but it has also enabled some blended finance, and its $70 million investment fund with Norway aimed to spur hundreds of millions of investment dollars for farmers and agricultural businesses in Africa. CREDITWORTHY IMPACTS Bond investors said they were closely monitoring the cuts and implications for countries like Ethiopia, the second-largest recipient of USAID after Ukraine. The East African country is in the midst of restructuring its sole sovereign dollar bond and working to recover from a punishing civil war. "In terms of overall financing needs, the U.S. aid is a lot more meaningful for the likes of Ethiopia," said abrdn portfolio manager Edwin Gutierrez, adding that it "doesn't have a lot of funding sources available to it". Ethiopian officials did not immediately comment. Ukraine, embroiled in three years of war with Russia, got over $16 billion from USAID last year - nearly 10% of its GDP. Timothy Ash, senior sovereign strategist with RBC BlueBay Asset Management, noted that former U.S. President Joe Biden front-loaded about $50 billion of funding for Ukraine this year - and Europe also provided money. "They have a war chest of about $100 billion that should insulate them," Ash said. But "it's damaging, definitely." Other recipients, such as Nigeria or Kenya, can replace lost aid with borrowing. Kenya's finance minister told Reuters the country would need to reallocate spending if the freeze becomes permanent, while Nigeria increased the size of its 2025 budget to 54.2 trillion naira ($36.4 billion) on Wednesday, from 49 trillion naira. South Africa, a Trump target over a land expropriation law, gets 17% of its HIV/AIDS programme funding from the United States. Not replacing it risks causing an economic drag if those living productively with the illness fall sick. Pellegrini noted that borrowing - and building up potentially expensive debt - comes at a cost. "That will imply, in turn, that they will go to the capital markets, they will issue bonds, perhaps at higher yields, which will in turn again impact their budgets and what they can do with the money," she said. "So it's a vicious cycle." (Additional reporting and graphic by Marc Jones in London; Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri in Nairobi and Rodrigo Campos in New York; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) Sign in to access your portfolio
Reuters
06-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Trump's aid cuts imperil emerging market investment cash
Summary US aid pullback threatens efforts to secure private cash Investments in health, agriculture at risk Countries' creditworthiness in question over medium term LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The United States' decision to freeze and potentially scrap its core aid agency jolted countries receiving its funding and could make it harder for emerging economies to attract private cash, investors said. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) not only disbursed $44 billion in fiscal 2023, but anchors private investment in everything from healthcare to small businesses, and underpins the creditworthiness of bigger emerging markets borrowing money on sovereign debt markets. Its elimination could undermine investment in countries from Sri Lanka to South Africa and make it more expensive for them to borrow on international markets. Money from the agency, investors say, enables start-ups in the world's poorest countries to grow to the point they can lure private investors. Elsewhere, relatively small amounts of its money help lower the risk for banks and other lenders looking to invest in efforts to expand irrigation, or build hospitals, leveraging the cash into millions more. Its support can boost the ability of governments to repay debts, bolstering their economies. "They do have implications for the medium and long-term creditworthiness of a country," said Giulia Pellegrini, senior portfolio manager for emerging market debt at Allianz Global Investors, referring to the cuts. The near-total U.S. foreign aid funding freeze took effect last month and President Donald Trump said he would like to wind down USAID. For Simon Schwall, chief executive of Africa-focused startup Oko - which is backed by Morgan Stanley and Newfund Capital and facilitates and designs crop insurance for farmers in Mali, Ivory Coast and Uganda - the impact has been immediate. He said the company is at risk of closure without USAID money which would have accounted, directly and indirectly, for 80% of Oko's cashflow this year. "We cannot raise the investment we were planning to," without replacing USAID, he said. "We are very much at risk of having to close the business if we don't find any alternative partners." Alternatives are limited. The United States provided 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024, and other countries have also sought to cut aid spending. The rapid pull-back could also knock some struggling nations like Ethiopia immediately and erode other economies. "It could be a big setback for these frontier markets," said Seaport Global emerging market credit analyst Himanshu Porwal. IMMEDIATE AND EXTENSIVE Emerging markets were poised for an investor comeback after years of punishing outflows due to the COVID-19 pandemic, high global interest rates and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Debt restructurings in Ghana, Sri Lanka and Ukraine boosted hopes that private cash inflows could help meet growing - and expensive - needs for everything from climate change to infrastructure. The outlook is now murkier. Florian Kemmerich, managing partner with impact investment specialist firm KOIS, said the speed and depth of the U.S. cuts could diminish the number of investable projects. "You need not-for-profit capital... otherwise it wouldn't work, because the mismatch of risk and return is something which makes no sense," he said. USAID typically offers grants and technical support, but it has also enabled some blended finance, and its $70 million investment fund with Norway aimed to spur hundreds of millions of investment dollars for farmers and agricultural businesses in Africa. CREDITWORTHY IMPACTS Bond investors said they were closely monitoring the cuts and implications for countries like Ethiopia, the second-largest recipient of USAID after Ukraine. The East African country is in the midst of restructuring its sole sovereign dollar bond and working to recover from a punishing civil war. "In terms of overall financing needs, the U.S. aid is a lot more meaningful for the likes of Ethiopia," said abrdn portfolio manager Edwin Gutierrez, adding that it "doesn't have a lot of funding sources available to it". Ethiopian officials did not immediately comment. Ukraine, embroiled in three years of war with Russia, got over $16 billion from USAID last year - nearly 10% of its GDP. Timothy Ash, senior sovereign strategist with RBC BlueBay Asset Management, noted that former U.S. President Joe Biden front-loaded about $50 billion of funding for Ukraine this year - and Europe also provided money. "They have a war chest of about $100 billion that should insulate them," Ash said. But "it's damaging, definitely." Other recipients, such as Nigeria or Kenya, can replace lost aid with borrowing. Kenya's finance minister told Reuters the country would need to reallocate spending if the freeze becomes permanent, while Nigeria increased the size of its 2025 budget to 54.2 trillion naira ($36.4 billion) on Wednesday, from 49 trillion naira. South Africa, a Trump target over a land expropriation law, gets 17% of its HIV/AIDS programme funding from the United States. Not replacing it risks causing an economic drag if those living productively with the illness fall sick. Pellegrini noted that borrowing - and building up potentially expensive debt - comes at a cost. "That will imply, in turn, that they will go to the capital markets, they will issue bonds, perhaps at higher yields, which will in turn again impact their budgets and what they can do with the money," she said. "So it's a vicious cycle." Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here.
