Everest Bank has...

Saudi Arabia-based fintech infrastructure platform Lean Technologies has raised USD 67.5 million in a Series B funding round to scale its Pay-by-Bank and Open Banking offerings.

Metro Bank has been fined nearly GBP 17 million by the UK’s financial watchdog FCA for failings in its money-laundering controls over four years.

Singapore-based TransferTo has partnered with the Pan-African Ecobank Group in order to expand financial access and cross-border payments across the region of Africa.

Mbank has partnered with Al Etihad Payments Company (AEP), a Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) subsidiary, to introduce the Aani Instant Payment Platform on its mobile application.

A fracking site in Kern County, Calif. Fracking — short for hydraulic fracturing — is the process of extracting oil deep underground using a high-pressure water mixture to break up rock.; Credit: Citizens of the Planet/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to ban hydraulic fracturing by 2024 as part of a longer-term aim to end all oil extraction in the state.

The governor has ordered the state's top oil regulator to implement regulation to stop issuing new fracking permits by 2024. He has also directed the state's air resources agency to look at ways to phase out oil extraction completely by 2045.

"The climate crisis is real, and we continue to see the signs every day," Newsom said in a Friday press release. "As we move to swiftly decarbonize our transportation sector and create a healthier future for our children, I've made it clear I don't see a role for fracking in that future and, similarly, believe that California needs to move beyond oil."

The plan aligns with the state's broader goal to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2045.

Newsom's order follows a more aggressive plan to ban oil and gas production that died in the state Senate last week.

Following the bill's failure, Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association, told The Desert Sun that it would have killed tens of thousands of jobs "in parts of the state that are struggling in this post-pandemic economy."

"We will continue to oppose bills that only increase our reliance on foreign oil which drives up gas prices, contributes to pollution in our crowded ports, and is produced without California's environmental protections or humanitarian values," he said.

Under Newson's plan, the state's Air Resources Board will assess the economic, environmental and health benefits and effects of ending oil extraction.

In September, Newsom said that fracking accounts for less than 2% of the state's oil production, but that the plan to end the practice is a "symbolic" step. However, some industry groups put that figure at closer to 20%.

The governor has previously said that he lacks the executive authority to ban fracking and has looked to legislators to approve limits.

Now, Newsom is leveraging his authority to take on the state's powerful oil and gas giants during a year in which he will likely face a recall election.

California would be the largest oil-producing state to ban fracking. Environmentalist groups — who argue that fracking drains water levels, harms public health and contributes to global warming — say the 2024 and 2045 deadlines are too late.

"While precedent setting, both timelines are not aggressive enough," California's Sierra Club said in a statement. "They fail to meet the urgency of the climate crisis we face and protect frontline communities facing the brunt of fossil fuel pollution that still need immediate health and safety protections."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

With the advent of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and data analytics, banks across the world are embracing a new era of innovation to enhance their services and improve customer experiences. These innovations are empowering banks to provide personalized, efficient, reliable, and secure financial solutions to their customers.

Catawba County has been awarded one of only two grants presented across the nation, by Motorola and the National Association of Counties (NACo), to local governments that suggested innovative solutions to improve operations within their respective counties. The $30,000 grant will fund the wireless broadband internet capacity needed at Catawba County�s EcoComplex to allow for real-time monitoring between EcoComplex laboratories, universities and businesses.

Beginning July 1, 2011, computer equipment and televisions will be banned from disposal in North Carolina landfills, under a law passed last year by the General Assembly. Catawba County will provide four one-day electronics recycling collection events in fiscal year 2011-2012, free of charge. All residents of Catawba County will have access to these electronics recycling events, including those who live in the cities and towns in the county.

; Credit: /Rob Dobi for NPR

When someone applies to college, there's often a box or a section on the application that asks if they have any relatives who attended the university —perhaps a parent or a cousin. This is called "legacy," and for decades it's given U.S. college applicants a leg up in admissions. But no longer in Colorado's public colleges.

On Tuesday, Colorado became the first state to do away with that admissions boost, when Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed a ban on the practice into law. The governor also signed a bill that removes a requirement that public colleges consider SAT or ACT scores for freshmen, though the new law still allows students to submit test scores if they wish.

Both moves are aimed at making higher education access more equitable. According to the legislation, 67% of middle- to high-income students in Colorado enroll in bachelor's degree programs straight from high school, while only 47% of low-incomes students do. There are also major differences when it comes to race, with white students far more likely to enroll in college.

Legacy admissions have long been a target for reform. In a 2018 survey of admissions directors by Inside Higher Ed, 42% of private institutions and 6% of public institutions said they consider legacy status as a factor in admissions. Some of the nation's largest public universities do not consider legacy, including both the University of California and the California State University systems. However, private colleges in California have reported using legacy as a way to encourage philanthropic giving and donations.

During the pandemic, many colleges backed off on using SAT and ACT scores in admissions. Research has shown — and lawsuits have argued -- that the tests, long used to measure aptitude for college, are far more connected to family income and don't provide meaningful information about a student's ability to succeed in college. Wealthier families are also more likely to pay for test prep courses, or attend schools with curriculums that focus on the exams.

As pandemic restrictions loosen up, and in-person testing resumes, some universities have begun to re-incorporate the SAT and ACT into their admissions. But others have made the temporary changes permanent. This spring, the University of California system agreed to continue a test-free admissions policy through 2025. California sends the largest number of high school students to U.S. colleges, and if the UC system no longer uses the tests, its unclear whether those students will be interested in applying to other schools that do require them.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

The United States should ban human reproductive cloning aimed at creating a child.

High schools that successfully engage students in learning have many things in common.

We are concerned deeply by a report that staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were instructed not to use certain words in budget documents. As leaders of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, we are especially stunned that “evidence-based” and “science-based” are reportedly among the barred terms.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announces the appointment of May R. Berenbaum as Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the official journal of the Academy. Berenbaum will begin the editorship on January 1, 2019.

Urban flooding is a complex and distinct kind of flooding, compounded by land use and high population density, and it requires a different approach to assess and manage, says Framing the Challenge of Urban Flooding in the United States, a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Communities must move from coping with floods to adapting for them. Kwame Owusu-Daaku, a former Gulf Research Program fellow, explains why living through floods in his native Ghana led him to Florida to help address the link between flooding and injustice.

The radio frequency spectrum is a natural resource that underpins all wireless activity. A new report assesses the likelihood of harmful interference from operating a radio network near GPS frequency bands, and considers approaches for evaluating concerns.

The presidents of the U.S. National Academies warn that the Taliban’s decision to prevent Afghan women and girls from participating in higher education or attending secondary school ignores the scientific evidence on the benefits of education for women and could have “potentially disastrous consequences” for the future of Afghanistan.

Two remarkable women who made invaluable contributions to the work of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC) died in recent months -- Catherine Kelleher and Jo Husbands. Their accomplishments and qualities have been described well by others, including especially Women in International Security (WIIS). We at CISAC want additionally to honor their work for us.

Blanket bans on ransomware payments are a much-debated topic in cybersecurity and policy circles. What are the implications of outlawing the payments, and would the ban be effective?

​​"IoT is one of the fastest-growing business segments for Airtel Business. This venture into NB-IoT strengthens our credentials as the largest cellular IoT player in the country and places us as a partner of choice for Discoms looking to invest in smart meters," said Ajay Chitkara, director and CEO, Airtel Business.

The digital services will reduce the turn-around time of the bank guarantee issuance and delivery to the beneficiary from an industry average of 3-4 working days to a few minutes.

As financial institutions embark on this data-led journey, they stand at the threshold of a new era—a future where innovation and data-driven decision-making will carve the path for the financial world's evolution.

Banks invest in data analytics and AI technologies to enhance customer experience, optimize decision-making, and prevent financial fraud. They focus on platform models, identity analytics, and fraud detection to improve services and security, aiming to capture the customer's financial journey for insights into their buying process.

The partnership between Union Bank of India and Zoho began in 2021 after the merger of Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank with Union Bank of India, which significantly expanded its operations.

Bandhan Financial Services Ltd (BFSL), promoter of Bandhan Bank, has ventured into the IT sector by acquiring Genisys group of companies for nearly Rs 100 crore. This strategic move aims to leverage technology for business solutions and enhance shareholder value. Genisys, specializing in AI-enabled solutions for various sectors, will operate under BFSL with expanded capabilities.

The 52-year-old Tesla founder has previously said that his rocky takeover of Twitter last year was "an accelerant to creating X, the everything app," a reference to the X.com company he founded in 1999, a later version of which went on to become PayPal, a payments giant.

​Bank CEOs are tapping top legal minds, alerting their compliance teams, and discussing with each other to spot the pitfalls of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) - a statute under which hundreds of crores of fines can be imposed on organisations for breaches.

One of the key pillars of growth for the Indian economy are small and medium-sized businesses, which generate roughly 30 percent of the countrys GDP and provide jobs to over 110 million people.

“This is definitely a tipping point. We are going from about 1 gigawatt of data center capacity to about 3 gigawatt as a country. And we are all set for that - whether it is within data center or inter-data center connectivity, from laying the fibre from the landing station into the data centers, all of that is something we are very well set to do.”

In an interview with ETCIO, Shalini Warrier, Executive Director, Federal Bank shares how their Digital CoE fosters a multi-disciplinary approach to banking, how it works together with the business to identify new opportunities, tenets of a bank-fintech partnership and how technology is at the fulcrum of every banking innovation.

HDFC bank, ICICI Bank and others are deploying their own QR code stickers at merchant outlets, competing with the likes of Paytm and others.

The European Commission last week joined the Department of Justice in touting a breakup as a viable remedy for the California-based tech giant’s alleged monopoly abuses. A selloff order would strike at the heart of one of Google’s biggest money spinners, although it could still be years away due to the legal processes being played out.

Private banks including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis have been spending a lot on expanding their operations into the hinterlands of the country, contrary to public sector banks which have been investing in building capabilities and enhancing their digital functions. What’s driving this change? Is phygital the new norm in banking? Find out more here.

The past 18 months have seen turmoil in the crytpo market, including the failure of TerraUSD, an unbacked stablecoin, in May 2022, the collapse of crytpo exchange FTX in November and the bankruptcy of banks such as Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which serviced crypto providers.

Services that have been automated include issuance of health & general insurance policies, RE-KYC, nomination facility, and online bill payment.

Every year some of the world’s best young musicians would jet into London to audition for a bursary with the Southbank Sinfonia. Simon Over wanted to cut down on those thousands of air miles and hours in transit. He also didn’t want to miss out on youngsters who couldn’t afford the fare.

"Every other telco will have to follow this new wave," SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said at an AI event where he was speaking alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Driven by the increased use of consulting services and infrastructure as a service (IaaS), IT services will be the largest spending category, forecast to reach almost $270 billion in 2023.

Starlink wants India to just assign a license for the service and not insist on auctioning the signal-carrying spectrum or airwaves. This stand finds Musk on the side of Tatas, Sunil Bharti Mittal's firm, and Amazon, who too prefer the same route. But Ambani's Reliance says there must be an auction of spectrum for foreign satellite service providers to offer voice and data services to provide a level playing field to traditional telecom players who offer the same services using airwaves bought in government auctions.

Fintech applications have simplified purchasing and put financial independence at everyone’s fingertips, challenging the traditional banking and lending system.

Grey has created a strict file workflow, Myke had to cross his fingers, and they both divulge their Screen Crimes.

NYC’s mini stuffed bagels are now stuffed with soft scrambled egg and cheese! Featured Shark Tank entrepreneurs Nick & Elyse Oleksak, continue to revolutionize frozen breakfast with the newest innovation from Bantam Bagels: Bantam Egg Bites!

Developed in partnership with Kroger, the new loaf launched on September 7 in stores.

To bring this product to market, the Magnolia Bakery team worked for over three years to create a banana pudding that met the brand’s high product standards and also met consumers' needs. 

The cousin of the dumpling, bao buns are a Chinese specialty comprising fluffy dough filled with savory or sweet stuffing.

Over the past century, historic La Segunda Central Bakery has grown from serving the local Cuban community in Ybor City, FL, to distributing traditional Cuban bread from coast to coast.

After the very successful introduction of the air-cooled Bantam-Series Post-Baking dryers two years ago, RFC is now offering the air-cooled design in a more powerful two-zone design

The European frozen bakery company created the new product in response to customer requests and flavor trends.

Bantam Bagels—NYC's favorite mini stuffed bagels—are now available for foodservice sales nationwide, through all distributors.