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The confidential briefing note is part of the tranche of documents made public in the annual release of State papers from the Irish National Archives. An Irish Department of Foreign Affairs official focusing on justice and security created the list in October 2002. The document starts by referencing a 1999 interview given by George Mitchell, the chairman of the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, in which he claimed the British and Irish governments, as well as Northern Ireland’s political parties, had leaked information to manipulate public opinion. However, he further accused the NIO of attempting to sabotage the process by leaking information on British Government policy to the media. Mr Mitchell, a former US senator, is said to have expressed alarm and anger over the frequency of leaks from the NIO – saying they were uniquely “designed to undermine the policy of the British Government of which they were a part”. The Irish civil servant notes Mr Mitchell himself was subjected to an attempted “smear” when he first arrived in Northern Ireland, as newspaper articles falsely claimed his chief of staff Martha Pope had had a liaison with Sinn Fein representative Gerry Kelly with ulterior motives. The Irish civil servant goes on to list several “leaks”, starting with the publication of a proposed deal in a newspaper while “intense negotiations” for the Downing Street Declaration were under way. Next, the Department lists two “high-profile and damaging leaks issued from the NIO”. A so-called “gameplan” document was leaked in February 1998, showing papers had been prepared weeks before the Drumcree march on July 6, 1997. In the preceding years, there had been standoffs and clashes as nationalists opposed the procession of an Orange parade down Garvaghy Road in Portadown. The gameplan document showed then secretary of state for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam, who was publicly expressing a desire for a negotiated solution to the 1997 parade, advocated “finding the lowest common denominator for getting some Orange feet on the Garvaghy Road”. In 1997, a large number of security forces were deployed to the area to allow the march to proceed. The incident sparked heightened tension and a wave of rioting. The document further describes the release of a document submitted by the NIO’s director of communications to the secretary of state as a “second major leak”. It claims a publicity strategy was released to the DUP in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement and showed how the UK Government would support a yes vote in a referendum following any talks agreement. In addition, it is claimed unionists used leaked sections of the Patten report on policing to invalidate its findings ahead of its publication in 1999. The report recommended the replacement of the Royal Ulster Constabulary with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the changing of symbols, and a 50-50 recruitment policy for Catholics and Protestants. At the time, UUP leader David Trimble said the recommendations would lead to a corruption of policing in Northern Ireland. Chris Patten, chairman of the independent commission on policing, said some of the assertions were a “total fabrication” and designed to “muddy the waters” to create a difficult political atmosphere. Elsewhere, the author notes it was leaked to the media there was serious disagreement between the governments of the UK and Ireland on the composition of that commission – with not a single name submitted by the Irish side being accepted by the other. The author notes this incident, still under the heading “NIO leaks”, was believed by British officials to have emanated from the Irish side. The report turns to leaks of other origin, claiming “disgruntled Special Branch officers in Northern Ireland” were blamed by the British Government for a series of releases about the IRA which were designed to damage Sinn Fein in the 2001 general election in Northern Ireland. One senior Whitehall source was quoted in the Guardian as complaining that Special Branch was “leaking like a sieve” after details of an IRA intelligence database containing the names of leading Tories – described at the time as a “hit list” – was passed to the BBC in April 2002. The briefing note adds: “This was followed days later by a leak to The Sunday Telegraph which alleged that senior IRA commanders bought Russian special forces rifles in Moscow last year. “The newspaper said it was passed details by military intelligence in London.” The briefing note adds that other Special Branch leaks were associated with the Castlereagh break-in. The final incident in the document notes the Police Ombudsman’s Report on the Omagh bombing was also leaked to the press in December 2001. Then Northern Ireland secretary John Reid said at the time: “Leaks are never helpful and usually malicious – I will not be commenting on this report until I have seen the final version.” The reason for creating the list of leaks, which the Irish National Archives holds in a folder alongside briefing notes for ministers ahead of meetings with officials from the UK Government and NIO, is not outlined in the document itself. – This document is based on material in 2024/130/6.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Today, chatbots can answer questions, write poems and generate images. In the future, they could also autonomously perform tasks like online shopping and work with tools like spreadsheets. Google on Wednesday unveiled a prototype of this technology, which artificial intelligence researchers call an AI agent.The Onion's rejected purchase of Infowars in an auction bid supported by families of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting dealt them a new setback Wednesday and clouded the future of Alex Jones' conspiracy theory platform, which is now poised to remain in his control for at least the near future. What's next for Infowars and Sandy Hook families' long-sought efforts to hold Jones accountable over calling one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history a hoax was unclear, after a federal judge in Houston late Tuesday rejected The Onion's winning bid for the site . U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston said he did not want another auction but offered no roadmap over how to proceed. One possibility includes ultimately allowing Sandy Hook families — who comprise most of Jones' creditors — to return to state courts in Connecticut and Texas to collect on the nearly $1.5 billion in defamation and emotional distress lawsuit judgments that Jones was ordered to pay them. “Our hope is that when this process ends, and it will end, and it will end sooner rather than later, is that all assets that Alex Jones has available are paid to the families, and that includes Infowars, and that as a result of that process Alex Jones is deprived of the ownership and control of the platform that he’s used to hurt so many people,” Christopher Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families, said in a phone interview Wednesday. The families, meanwhile, were preparing the mark the 12th anniversary of the Dec. 14 shooting. Why was The Onion bid rejected? The sale of Infowars is part of Jones’ personal bankruptcy case , which he filed in late 2022 after he was ordered to pay the $1.5 billion. Jones was sued for repeatedly saying on his show that the 2012 massacre of 20 first graders and six educators was staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control. Lopez said there was a lack of transparency in the bidding process and too much confusion about The Onion's bid. He also said the amount of money offered in the only two bids was too low and there needed to be more effort to try to raise as much money possible from the selling of Infowars' assets. The Onion's parent company, Global Tetrahedron, submitted a $1.75 million cash offer with plans to kick Jones out and relaunch Infowars in January as a parody . The bid also included a deal with many of the Sandy Hook families for them to forgo $750,000 of their auction proceeds and give it to other creditors. Lopez called it a complex arrangement that led to different interpretations of the bid's actual value as well as last-minute changes to a proposed sale order. The other bidder was First United American Companies, which runs a website in Jones’ name that sells nutritional supplements and planned to let Jones stay on the Infowars platforms. It offered $3.5 million in cash and later, with Jones, alleged fraud and collusion in the bidding process. Lopez rejected the allegations, saying that while mistakes were made there was no wrongdoing. Christopher Murray, the trustee who oversaw the auction, said he picked The Onion and its deal with the Sandy Hook families because it would have provided more money to Jones' other creditors. What happens next? The next steps remained unclear Wednesday. The judge directed Murray to come up with a new plan to move forward. Murray and representatives of The Onion did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The judge said there was a possibility there could be a trial in 2025 to settle Jones' bankruptcy. He said Murray could try to sell the equity in Infowars' parent company. He also said Murray could abandon the efforts, which could allow the Sandy Hook families to return to the state courts where they won their lawsuits against Jones and begin collection proceedings against him. The judge said he wanted to hear back from Murray and others involved in the bankruptcy within 30 days on a plan to move forward. Mattei, who represented the Sandy Hook families in the Connecticut lawsuit, said everyone is waiting to see what plan the trustee comes up with. Jones, meanwhile, continued to allege fraud and collusion on his show Wednesday and threatened legal action over what he called an attempted “rigged auction.” On the social media platform X, he called the judge's ruling a “Major Victory For Freedom Of The Press & Due Process." “I don’t want to have to go after these people, lawsuit-wise, but we have to because if you don’t then you’re aiding and abetting and they do it to other people. They made some big mistakes," he said. Sandy Hook families to mark shooting anniversary It's a solemn and heartbreaking week for relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The 12th anniversary is Saturday, and some of the victims' relatives were traveling to Washington, D.C., to attend the annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence on Wednesday evening. The families usually mark the anniversary out of the public eye. Many of the families said their lawsuits against Jones bought back the unbearable pain of losing their loved ones, as well as the trauma of being harassed and threatened by believers of Jones' hoax conspiracy. Relatives said they have been confronted in public by hoax believers and received death and rape threats. Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter Emilie was killed, testified at the Connecticut lawsuit trial in 2022 that the decade of abuse his family suffered made them move across the country to Washington state, and even there he was accosted in person. The families have not received any money from Jones since winning the trials. Jones has been appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments, and has since conceded that the shooting did happen. Last week, a Connecticut appeals court upheld most of the judgment in that state but reduced it by $150 million. Associated Press writer Juan A. Lozano in Houston contributed to this report.Signed rugby ball to be auctioned for Cornwall children's charities goes missing
What does Big Tech hope to gain from warming up to Trump?Investment tactics often require big buy-ins and high fees. New tech is lowering the price of entry in fields like direct indexing and private markets. This article is part of " Transforming Business ," a series on the must-know leaders and trends impacting industries. Investing like a billionaire comes with a high price tag. But thanks to technology, the barriers to these elite opportunities are starting to crumble. Consider direct indexing, a strategy favored by the rich to lower taxes by selling underperforming stocks and using the losses to offset other gains. These personalized portfolios used to be out of reach of the merely affluent, requiring steep account minimums. Over the past five years, direct indexing has exploded as technological advancements have made it worthwhile for wealth managers to offer the services to Main Street customers. The account minimum for Fidelity's FidFolios, for example, is only $5,000. "Direct indexing has become accessible at a different level of wealth than it has been in the past," said Ranjit Kapila, the copresident and chief operating officer of Parametric. "That wouldn't have been available or possible without the technology trends we've had to be able to do this level of computation at scale in a cost-efficient manner." Parametric, the pioneer of direct indexing, is also moving downstream. By adopting fractional-share investing, Parametric lowered the minimum for its core product to $100,000 from $250,000. The firm plans to offer a direct-indexing product with fewer customization features for $25,000 in 2025. Private markets face steeper hurdles. This opaque field was traditionally reserved for deep-pocketed investors like pension funds and ultrarich individuals. But now investors have more access to financial results for funds and privately held companies as data providers race to meet their needs. Machine learning and AI have made it easier for these firms to extract and analyze data. BlackRock views this data as the great equalizer and has grand ambitions of indexing these opaque private markets. The asset-management giant agreed this summer to acquire the data powerhouse Preqin for $3.2 billion. "We anticipate indexes and data will be important to future drivers of the democratization of all alternatives," BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said on a conference call. "And this acquisition is the unlock." Leon Sinclair, Preqin's executive vice president, argued that with the number of public companies dwindling, it's imperative for mass-affluent investors to get better access to private markets. "Clearly there's more, deeper, better sources of funding for private companies that could stay private for longer," Sinclair said. "I think it's fair that the mass affluent can — in the right way — be brought along on that journey to get exposure to that part of the mosaic earlier." Investing in automation for a competitive edge Kapila described these technological developments as part of a trend in wealth management to capture customers before they make it big. Related stories "There's a desire by financial advisors to try and engage investors earlier in their wealth-accumulation cycle," Kapila said. Parametric, acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2021, operates in a competitive arena. Thanks to a wave of similar acquisitions, Parametric faces well-capitalized rivals such as BlackRock's Aperio and Franklin Templeton's Canvas. Industry stalwarts like Fidelity and upstarts like Envestnet also want a piece of the action. Kapila said the need to compete on scale and fees required Parametric's technology to be as efficient as possible. "It'll be harder," he said. "We have to do many, many more accounts to really drive growth in assets, etc. But those challenges are exciting to me as a technologist." To meet that need, Kapila is pushing Parametric to develop more automated products, such as Radius, which launched this year. Radius constructs equity and fixed-income portfolios and runs simulations to identify the best selections for portfolio managers. He plans to launch more cloud-native tools, which are easier to scale and manage, for other asset classes in 2025 and 2026. Parametric is also piloting generative-AI tools to onboard accounts more efficiently. Clients' expectations are also rising. There's demand for Parametric's tax benefits but with actively managed strategies rather than indexes, he said, spurring partnerships with asset managers. Parametric recently launched an offering that allows customers to pick equities off strategies from the financial-advisory and asset-management firm Lazard. To stay ahead of the curve, Preqin is developing more sophisticated products. Last year, the UK firm launched an Actionability Signal that uses machine learning to identify private companies likely to be open for investment. "The sole focus on public information for certain tasks around valuation and risk management are not really going to be the way that people do this," Sinclair said. "We're moving much more to a world where real proprietary private information at the asset level, which is transactionally oriented, is available to people." In June, his division launched a data tool that analyzes $4.8 trillion worth of deals across 6,500 funds. This database can be used in a slew of ways, from backing up valuations in negotiations to identifying which financial factors, such as revenue growth or debt paydown, contributed the most value to a successful deal. With the rise of generative AI, Sinclair expects that users will be able to interpret data with more ease using natural language commands. "I think you'll see that be more prominent across the industry where people expect to interact with large data sets in really natural common ways," he said. "We think all that will probably start to be visible over the coming years." Tech is the first step to narrowing education gaps On average, retail investors allocate just 5% of their portfolios to alternative investments. If BlackRock successfully indexes private markets, it could go a long way toward boosting that percentage. However, Sinclair said more work is required to help mass affluent investors feel comfortable investing in private markets. As someone who grew up working class and was only introduced to finance in college, he knows there is an education gap to overcome. "To get Joe Bloggs very excited and comfortable with committing capital, they need to be able to understand what the different basis of those returns are," Sinclair said. He added: "I think it's in the industry's interest to enable those new sources of capital, to bridge the gap in understanding, to bridge the gap in analytics, to bridge the gap in frequency of reporting, to make that an easier journey for people to go on."AmeraCell Accessible Affordable Bio Hacking in Katy Texas an American Life Sciences Clinic 12-17-2024 08:12 PM CET | Associations & Organizations Press release from: ABNewswire Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/uploads/c46306625cd5028d1dcf9ba4de05042c.png Katy, TX - AmeraCell, a pioneering life science company, is thrilled to announce its expansion into Katy, Texas. This strategic move marks a significant milestone in AmeraCell's mission to democratize access to innovative, life-changing therapies. AmeraCell's Katy location will offer a comprehensive range of life science solutions, including: - Bio-Hacking: Personalized wellness programs leveraging cutting-edge technology and medical expertise - Stem Cell Therapy: MSC stem cell joint injections and IV hydration treatments for chronic pain, inflammation, and degenerative diseases - Anti-Aging: Regenerative medicine solutions for rejuvenation and age management "AmeraCell is committed to empowering individuals with the latest advancements in life sciences," said AJ Pakpour, Founder. "Our expansion into Katy, Texas reflects our dedication to improving healthcare one cell at a time " AmeraCell's team of expert physicians clinicians and master injectors in Katy, Texas will provide personalized care and guidance to patients, ensuring a comprehensive and supportive experience. For more information or to schedule a consultation, please visit AmeraCell [ https://ameracell.com/pharmacy ] or call 407 801 2269 About AmeraCell AmeraCell is a life science company pioneering innovative therapies and treatments. With multiple locations nationwide, AmeraCell is revolutionizing healthcare delivery and improving patient outcomes. https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sa=X&sca_esv=f406572c760609c9&hl=en-us&biw=430&bih=856&kgmid=%2Fg%2F11lmg5l1fm&q=AmeraCell%20Clinics&shndl=30&source=sh%2Fx%2Floc%2Fact%2Fm4%2F3 Note to editor: - High-resolution images and interview opportunities available upon request. - AmeraCell's Katy location is now accepting patients and offering consultations. Media Contact Company Name: AmeraCell Email:Send Email [ https://www.abnewswire.com/email_contact_us.php?pr=ameracell-accessible-affordable-bio-hacking-in-katy-texas-an-american-life-sciences-clinic ] Address:300 N Atlantic Ave #108 City: Cocoa Beach State: FL 32931 Country: United States Website: https://ameracell.com/pharmacy This release was published on openPR.
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NEW HOPE, Pa. (AP) — Dayle Haddon, an actor, activist and trailblazing former “Sports Illustrated” model who pushed back against age discrimination by reentering the industry as a widow, has died in a Pennsylvania home from what authorities believe was carbon monoxide poisoning. Authorities in Bucks County found Haddon, 76, dead in a second-floor bedroom Friday morning after emergency dispatchers were notified about a person unconscious at the Solebury Township home. A 76-year-old man police later identified as Walter J. Blucas of Erie was hospitalized in critical condition. Responders detected a high level of carbon monoxide in the property and township police said Saturday that investigators determined that “a faulty flue and exhaust pipe on a gas heating system caused the carbon monoxide leak.” Two medics were taken to a hospital for carbon monoxide exposure and a police officer was treated at the scene. As a model, Haddon appeared on the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Esquire in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1973 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She also appeared in about two dozen films from the 1970s to 1990s, according to IMDb.com , including 1994’s “Bullets Over Broadway,” starring John Cusack. Haddon left modeling after giving birth to her daughter, Ryan, in the mid-1970s, but then had to reenter the workforce after her husband's 1991 death. This time she found the modeling industry far less friendly: “They said to me, ‘At 38, you’re not viable,’” Haddon told The New York Times in 2003. Working a menial job at an advertising agency, Haddon began reaching out to cosmetic companies, telling them there was a growing market to sell beauty products to aging baby boomers. She eventually landed a contract with Clairol, followed by Estée Lauder and then L’Oreal, for which she promoted the company's anti-aging products for more than a decade. She also hosted beauty segments for CBS’s “The Early Show.” "I kept modeling, but in a different way," she told The Times, “I became a spokesperson for my age.” In 2008, Haddon founded WomenOne, an organization aimed at advancing educational opportunities for girls and women in marginalized communities, including Rwanda, Haiti and Jordan.' Haddon was born in Toronto and began modeling as a teenager to pay for ballet classes — she began her career with the Canadian ballet company Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, according to her website . Haddon's daughter, Ryan, said in a social media post that her mother was “everyone’s greatest champion. An inspiration to many.” “A pure heart. A rich inner life. Touching so many lives. A life well lived. Rest in Light, Mom,” she said.Sustainability and Circular Economy in the European Industrial Emissions Management Systems Market: Stringent Targets and Tightening Regional Policies Transforming the Industrial LandscapeOrganised crime gangs lurking on motorways send cargo thefts soaring by half to £102m - with 'homegrown' groups blamed for majority of raids on lorry drivers to seize luxury brands
Daniel Penny doesn't testify as his defense rests in subway chokehold trialA new year on the London Underground is around the corner. This brings with it developments on the network, and maybe progress towards some long-term goals. Sadiq Khan and Transport for London (TfL) say they need more cash from the Government for some of the capital's largest projects. But some things are already underway. Changes coming in 2025 include new trains and the roll out of new technology at stations and on lines. In addition, discussions will definitely be happening behind the scenes regarding proposals that need developing further. READ MORE: Plans for new London Overground station next to HS2 'under consideration' New Piccadilly line trains A change that is definitely coming is new trains on the Piccadilly line. The stock is part of a £2.9 billion upgrade. Next year, this will begin in earnest as customers will be able to ride the state-of-the-art carriages for the first time. They will be introduced over two years, with the final train rolled out in 2027. Passengers will be able to enjoy walk-through carriages, air con, USB charging ports and better travel information. As well as the new stock, the power system on the Piccadilly line will be upgraded. TfL says this will ensure that the new trains run as reliably and efficiently as possible when it starts running more at the busiest times. The new trains will be also be 'rigorously tested' before they carry our customers. Officials say TfL is also improving its train maintenance depots to ensure that the stock 'works reliably, efficiently and provide the maximum comfort'. At Cockfosters and Northfields depots, staff are building new facilities to maintain the trains with extra stabling track and cleaning facilities. At South Harrow , TfL has installed extra stabling track so that trains can be quickly brought into use when services start to run more frequently. In addition, bosses say the following will be delivered: Four lines modernisation A new signalling system is being installed on the Circle, Hammersmith and City, District and Metropolitan lines. In September 2022, TfL introduced a new timetable. Officials say this has improved journey times by around five per cent on average on the Circle and District lines between Monument, Fulham Broadway, Barons Court and Paddington. Since September 2021, bosses add that journey times between Hammersmith and Aldgate have improved by approximately 10 per cent. Operators have also increased the number of trains between Baker Street and Aldgate from 27 trains an hour to 28 trains an hour during the busiest times. TfL says that areas still to go live include the Metropolitan Line north of Finchley Road and sections of the District line from Barons Court to Stamford Brook and Fulham Broadway to East Putney. The next section to come into service will be on the Metropolitan line between Finchley Road and Preston Road in 2025, officials add. Bakerloo line extension and new stock Something that is less certain, however, is what is happening with the proposed Bakerloo line extension to Lewisham. TfL says more cash from the Government is needed, and a new fleet of trains for the Tube's brown line will need to be built first. This will also require money. But this is included as an option in an already existing contract with Siemens , the same firm that is producing the new Piccadilly line trains. So it's down in black and white in some form. In addition, TfL has asked Aecom and architects WW+P to examine the feasibility of constructing four new stations. These are Burgess Park, Old Kent Road, New Cross Gate and Lewisham. The New Civil Engineer reports that this is expected to take four months. It seems that the extension will be dependent on how well the UK's economy performs in 2025. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, told MyLondon in April : "Of course I want to see the investment in infrastructure our country needs to grow after 14 years of mismanagement. But we have to always show where the money is going to come from, and we need to grow the economy to be able to release funds for crucial infrastructure investment." However, Ms Reeves has said that she will change the Government's self-imposed debt rules in order to free up billions of pounds for infrastructure spending. This is to 'grow the economy', she said. The DfT says that it is working with the Mayor on funding for TfL. Air filters, noise measures and cooling the Tube down The trial of an air filtration system at Baker Street started in May 2024. The technology will be assessed over the coming months to understand its ability to handle large volumes of air, the rate at which dust is captured, ease of maintenance, and any other possible issues, Sadiq Khan has said. The mayor's TfL budget for this year also said that Green Park was also going to get a new filter system as part of the trial. If these prove successful, we could see these rolled out more widely. In addition, testing a brand new Underground train could be deployed as part of officials' efforts to improve the air quality on platforms and in tunnels. The mayor told the London Assembly on July 5 : "As part of its continuing work to improve air quality on the Tube network, Transport for London (TfL) is exploring the latest advances in innovation. This includes trialing a bespoke track cleaning train, which is currently going through TfL’s approval process, to ensure it is safe to operate on the Tube network. "The trial is expected to take place later this year." Who knows, this could start to operate in 2025. In an effort to curb Tube noise, new technology, Delkor fastenings, are now fitted as standard as part of TfL's ongoing Deep Tube track renewal programme. TfL has carried out renewal works – which include the installation of Delkor fastenings – at a number of sites. Further renewal works – including the installation of Delkor fastenings – will continue as part of TfL’s ongoing programme, Mr Khan has said . Further, TfL has successfully trialled new technology that cools down Underground station platforms. The Mayor of London says that they could be rolled out to deep Tube lines in future, but installing them across the city would require more funding. After they were tried out at Holborn Station, testing would need to take place in a station open to customers (Knightsbridge) before TfL could look to potentially introduce them at four additional stations on the Piccadilly line (Green Park, Holborn, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus). Sign up for our London Underground newsletter for the latest travel updates to make your commute easier, plus a weekly fix of Tube trivia! Sign up HERE.Boston, MA, Dec. 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Almond FinTech, a leading B2B provider in cross-border payments, has won CrossTech’s “2024 Crypto Payments Solution in the Cross-Border Industry,” earning this honor for the second consecutive year and reinforcing its role as an industry pioneer. Left to right Almond Team (Howard Davidson, Adam Swartzbaugh, Darren Bruce, Hector Santiago) Over the past year, Almond has made significant advancements to its proprietary Settlement Optimization Engine (SOE), enhancing its ability to remove barriers in global financial transactions. The SOE leverages crypto as a bridge currency, using advanced data aggregation to recommend the best possible currency exchange rate in real time, ensuring faster, more affordable, and transparent cross-border payments while reducing risk. Operating in 10 countries and supporting over 30 digital currencies, Almond continues to address critical financial challenges globally. "Receiving this award is a testament to our team's relentless commitment to pushing the boundaries of financial technology,” says Almond CEO and Co-Founder Adam Swartzbaugh. “We've always believed that true innovation comes from understanding our customers' deepest needs and creating solutions that not only solve their current problems, but anticipate future challenges. This award validates our mission and the hard work we’ve put in each and every day.” This recognition underscores Almond’s role as a thought leader in the industry, a position further highlighted by Swartzbaugh’s participation as a panelist at CrossTech for Business Payments: The New Revenue Stream for Remittance Companies. The session explored how remittance companies are evolving from P2P to B2B payments, driving ecosystem expansion, new revenue streams, and adaptation to the global financial landscape. Moderated by CrossTech CEO Hugo Cuevas-Mohr, the panel also featured Daniel De Michele (Remitly) and Mark Corritori (Mastercard). “CrossTech is proud to honor Almond FinTech’s groundbreaking innovation in cross-border payments. Their use of crypto technology to enhance transparency, speed, and affordability is revolutionizing how businesses and individuals connect globally, creating a transformative impact on the cross-border payment landscape.” - Priscilla D’Oliveira, COO, CrossTech. About CrossTech The CrossTech Innovation Awards honor organizations and leaders transforming the cross-border payments industry through creative and groundbreaking solutions. Learn more about the awards at www.crosstechpayments.com . About Almond FinTech Almond is a B2B fintech company transforming cross-border payments by empowering financial institutions and their customers with the best possible rates and near-instant settlements across all corridors globally. With Almond technology, institutions can guarantee fast, affordable, and transparent cross-border transactions. Visit www.almondfintech.com for more information.
Topline Nissan Motor and Honda Motor plan to enter negotiations for a merger that will likely include Mitsubishi Motors, a deal intended to help the newly formed company compete in the growing electric vehicle market, the Japanese publication Nikkei reported Tuesday. Key Facts Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here . What To Watch For A deal to merge Nissan and Honda would likely be the largest in the automotive industry since a $52 billion deal between Fiat Chrysler and PSA Groupe in January 2021 to form Stellantis, according to Reuters. Big Number 7.4 million. That’s the combined number of vehicles sold globally by Nissan ( 3.4 million ) and Honda ( 4 million ) in 2023. Toyota was the highest-selling Japanese automaker that year with 11.2 million vehicles sold, a 7.2% increase year-over-year. Mitsubishi sold just over 800,000 vehicles. Key Background A reported merger between Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi follows the Japanese automakers entering a strategic partnership in August to share automotive components and software. That deal was intended to have the three companies cooperate on their electric vehicle businesses while agreeing to develop batteries, axles and other technologies. In November, Nissan said its half-year net earnings had fallen more than 90% over the previous year while cutting its annual operating profit guidance by nearly 70%. Both automakers have struggled to sell vehicles across China and Southeast Asia, with Honda’s and Nissan’s sales volume between January and November dropping by 30.7% and 10.5%, respectively, in the regions. A likely merger between the two companies follows a Financial Times report indicating Nissan was seeking an investor to replace equity previously held by Renault, which had ended its decadeslong partnership with the company, and did not rule out Honda buying its shares. Further Reading
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