Internet access

Boom Goes Live After a Highly Successful Beta Test With Over $180,000 In Transaction Value

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Lagos, Nigeria, Jan. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  Boom, the ecosystem dedicated to achieving financial inclusion for the unbanked, has officially launched its superapp. The ecosystem's full rollout follows successful beta testing in Nigeria, amassing over 100,000 downloads, 33,000 KYC-verified merchants onboarded, and over 1 million messages exchanged in-app. The ecosystem saw over $180,000 (250 Million Nigerian Naira) in transaction value during the trial phase, highlighting the region's eagerness to adopt Boom and the potential for growth.

Key Points: 
  • The ecosystem's full rollout follows successful beta testing in Nigeria, amassing over 100,000 downloads, 33,000 KYC-verified merchants onboarded, and over 1 million messages exchanged in-app.
  • The ecosystem saw over $180,000 (250 Million Nigerian Naira) in transaction value during the trial phase, highlighting the region's eagerness to adopt Boom and the potential for growth.
  • The Boom superapp, housing the Boom Marketplace, Boom Wallet, Boom Talks and Boom Hose, emerges as a holistic portal to address financial disparities.
  • The Boom superapp emerges as a catalyst for positive change, featuring the Boom Marketplace, Boom Wallet, secure communication through Boom Talks, and community building with Boom Hose.

Nintendo Download: Adapt and Become

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 1, 2024

** Nintendo Switch Online membership (sold separately) and Nintendo Account required for online features.

Key Points: 
  • ** Nintendo Switch Online membership (sold separately) and Nintendo Account required for online features.
  • Nintendo Switch Online is a paid membership service that allows members to team up or face off online in compatible Nintendo Switch games, such as Splatoon 3 , Mario Kart 8 Deluxe , Nintendo Switch Sports and Super Mario Bros. Wonder .
  • All funds from one card must be loaded in Nintendo eShop on the Nintendo Switch family of systems.
  • Nintendo Switch players who register a Nintendo Account gain access to free-to-start games and free game demos from Nintendo eShop, and also get the latest news and information direct from Nintendo.

Nicklaus Children's Launches National Initiative to Protect Kids from Digital Technology

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 31, 2024

MIAMI, Jan. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- To support parents in navigating the complexities of today's digital age, in which children can access inappropriate content, experience cyberbullying, suffer mental distress and addiction by using their screen devices, Nicklaus Children's Hospital, the Digital Health Institute for Transformation (DHIT) and other key community partners today announced the formation of The Digital Safety Alliance and launched the Safe+Sound initiative.

Key Points: 
  • Parents are the first line of defense in setting boundaries for digital device usage.
  • We want them to be informed before deciding when to give their kids a smartphone."
  • The goal is to serve as a think-tank to provide national awareness, best practices, vetted resources, and advocate for digital safeguards and industry standards.
  • It's part of our commitment to the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable members of our society; our kids."

Dassi Erlich and her sisters were ‘easy pickings for predators’. With their abuser Malka Leifer’s conviction – and a new book – they take control

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Last year, after a 15-year campaign, her abuser, Malka Leifer, who had fled to Israel, was tried and sentenced, convicted of 18 charges of sexual abuse against Erlich and her sister, Elly.

Key Points: 
  • Last year, after a 15-year campaign, her abuser, Malka Leifer, who had fled to Israel, was tried and sentenced, convicted of 18 charges of sexual abuse against Erlich and her sister, Elly.
  • (She was acquitted of charges involving a third Erlich sister, Nicole.)
  • But when her need was most acute, Erlich could not have contacted any of these services.

Adass Israel ‘evokes 19th-century Europe’

  • As with most ultra-Orthodox Judaism, Adass Israel originated in 19th-century Europe as a conservative reaction to liberal secularism.
  • The cut of the men’s black silk coats worn with white shirts, and their mink hats, come from that time and place.
  • The Australian congregation was only formed in 1939, but the tiny enclave within East St Kilda and Ripponlea where Melbourne’s Adass Israel community lives effectively evokes 19th-century Europe.
  • Her parents had joined a generation later, as converts to Orthodoxy after emigrating from England.
  • She notes that as a result, “my mother was on a mission to prove her worth to the Adass community”.
  • Erlich writes that from a young age, she realised her mother’s rage “had no rhyme or reason, no trigger we could predict”.
  • The children were punished by being deprived of food and even the ability to go to the toilet at night.
  • Marriages are arranged via matchmakers, and couples have few meetings before their wedding.
  • Erlich writes that the first time she had an unsupervised conversation with her former husband, Shua Erlich, was on their wedding day.
  • Such is the fear of contamination by gender, unrelated girls and boys do not mix after they turn three.

‘It was just a woman’


When Dassi Erlich was in year nine, in December 2002, a new principal was appointed to the girls’ school. Malka Leifer had come from Israel with excellent references and appeared to be everything this devout congregation could desire. Erlich writes of “the respect and awe” the schoolgirls felt in the presence of this charismatic woman, who exuded authority.

  • Her mother was flattered when Leifer offered to give her daughter private lessons out of school hours, to advance her religious education.
  • Erlich wrote of these “lessons” that “I never found my words” to object to the continuing assaults on her body.
  • The account of her inability to escape is hard to read, but is also hard to stop reading.
  • It is hardly surprising the Adass community reacted to the news of the principal’s criminal behaviour in the same way.
  • Her religion controlled every aspect of her life, but could not save her from being raped.
  • It was just a woman.”

    Read more:
    Holy Woman's fleshy, feminist spiritual pilgrimage is a warning against religious coercive control

Unrestrained power, control and authority

  • When Erlich becomes suicidal after the birth of her daughter, her husband’s liberal Jewish father pays for her admission to the Albert Road psychiatric clinic.
  • The end of her marriage was inevitable, as were her many missteps on the way to freedom.
  • In enclosed sects, whatever their complexion, those who leave and speak out against misbehaviour are shunned, often losing all contact with their families.
  • The response of the Orthodox Jewish community to the truths exposed by Erlich and her siblings was as expected.
  • In 2016, a year after the judge in Erlich’s civil case ruled that “Leifer’s appalling misconduct […] was built on this position of unrestrained power, control and authority that had been bestowed on her by the Board”, Adass Israel was the subject of a television documentary, Strictly Jewish.

Global quest for justice

  • Instead, she was released from custody, feigning a mental illness that had turned her into a zombie-like state.
  • The book details the behaviour of Israeli medical, legal and political figures in their efforts to prevent Leifer from facing trial.
  • Jewish politicians, both Liberal and Labor, led their colleagues in supporting the sisters’ quest to bring Malka Leifer to judgement.
  • Erlich’s account of how her predator was eventually brought to justice shows how well these siblings learnt to work with the once unfamiliar outlet of social media.
  • After their Facebook group was trolled by Leifer’s supporters, they established a Twitter thread, #bringleiferback.
  • Although the extradition, trial and conviction of Malka Leifer was a group effort, full credit for bringing her to justice must go to the sisters – Dassi Erlich, Elly Sapper and Nicole Meyer.
  • This is a very self-aware memoir: Erlich and her sisters know they need to take control of their own narrative.


Joanna Mendelssohn has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council

AMMO, Inc. to Conduct Fiscal Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Call on February 8, 2024, at 5:00PM ET

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 25, 2024

Management will host a conference call at 5:00 PM ET on February 8, 2024, to review financial results and provide an update on corporate developments.

Key Points: 
  • Management will host a conference call at 5:00 PM ET on February 8, 2024, to review financial results and provide an update on corporate developments.
  • Following management’s formal remarks there will be a question-and-answer session.
  • Those without Internet access or who are unable to pre-register may dial in by calling 1-844-481-2698 (domestic) or 1-412-317-0655 (international).
  • Please join at least 5-10 minutes prior to the scheduled start and follow the operator’s instructions.

Verizon recognized with Corporate Award of Excellence by Irving, Texas Mayor Rick Stopfer

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 23, 2024

IRVING, Texas, Jan. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Irving, Texas Mayor Rick Stopfer announced Verizon as the recipient of the Mayor’s Corporate Award of Excellence at the 2024 State of the City hosted by the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce.

Key Points: 
  • IRVING, Texas, Jan. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Irving, Texas Mayor Rick Stopfer announced Verizon as the recipient of the Mayor’s Corporate Award of Excellence at the 2024 State of the City hosted by the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce.
  • "Verizon exemplifies the spirit of collaboration and corporate responsibility, values that we hold in high regard in Irving," said Mayor Rick Stopfer.
  • “Verizon is honored to be recognized with Mayor Stopfer’s Corporate Award of Excellence,” said Verizon Market President Michelle R. Miller.
  • “Verizon is a well-deserved recipient of the Mayor’s Corporate Award of Excellence,” said Beth A.

Mobile Citizen Surpasses 1100 Customers Using Mobile Hotspots to Increase Digital Equity and Bridge Digital Divide

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Longmont, CO, Jan. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mobile Citizen, a Voqal project focused on ending the digital divide by offering high-speed, affordable Internet to schools, libraries, nonprofits, and social welfare agencies, today announced that they have surpassed 1100 direct customers using their mobile hotspots and Internet service.

Key Points: 
  • Longmont, CO, Jan. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mobile Citizen, a Voqal project focused on ending the digital divide by offering high-speed, affordable Internet to schools, libraries, nonprofits, and social welfare agencies, today announced that they have surpassed 1100 direct customers using their mobile hotspots and Internet service.
  • Mobile Citizen is committed to digital equity, inclusion, and ending the digital divide by supporting organizations across the country with low-cost Internet.
  • Mobile Citizen reaching 1100 direct customers is proof that we can successfully work together to provide high-speed, low-cost Internet to close the digital divide.”
    Mobile Citizen provides mobile Internet through mobile hotspots.
  • Mobile Citizen hopes that by supporting schools, libraries, nonprofits and social welfare agencies, together we can increase digital inclusion and advance social welfare.

CIRA and National Capital FreeNet team up to bring free and secure internet to low-income communities in Ottawa

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 18, 2024

OTTAWA, Jan. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As more Canadians struggle with the rising costs of internet access and other essentials, CIRA joins forces with National Capital FreeNet, an Ottawa-based not-for-profit internet provider, to help tackle affordable urban connectivity.

Key Points: 
  • OTTAWA, Jan. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As more Canadians struggle with the rising costs of internet access and other essentials, CIRA joins forces with National Capital FreeNet, an Ottawa-based not-for-profit internet provider, to help tackle affordable urban connectivity.
  • The network will deliver free, secure, fast and high-quality WiFi in indoor and outdoor community spaces where residents live, socialize and access social services.
  • However, even urban communities suffer from a lack of connectivity due to the high cost of internet access.
  • We are proud to partner with National Capital FreeNet to help close this gap by delivering community WiFi to low-income neighbourhoods in Ottawa.

Results of West Texas Headwinds and FDIC Surprise 4th Quarter Assessment Only Things Standing Between HOMB and Expected 2023 Goal of $400 Million Plus

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 18, 2024

Our net interest margin was 4.17% for the three-month period ended December 31, 2023, compared to 4.19% for the three-month period ended September 30, 2023.

Key Points: 
  • Our net interest margin was 4.17% for the three-month period ended December 31, 2023, compared to 4.19% for the three-month period ended September 30, 2023.
  • During the fourth quarter of 2023, there was $120,000 of event interest income compared to $521,000 of event interest expense for the third quarter of 2023.
  • Net charge-offs were $3.0 million and $2.9 million for the three months ended December 31, 2023 and September 30, 2023, respectively.
  • Stockholders’ equity was $3.79 billion at December 31, 2023, compared to $3.65 billion at September 30, 2023, an increase of approximately $136.2 million.

African Agriculture Inc. Receives Computer Donation from Sportradar Group to Empower Education in Senegal Schools

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 17, 2024

This educational initiative has set up computer study rooms for students to access the internet and will contribute to closing the digital literacy gap in Senegal.

Key Points: 
  • This educational initiative has set up computer study rooms for students to access the internet and will contribute to closing the digital literacy gap in Senegal.
  • 1
    “Collaborating with Sportradar aligns with our goals for community development and educational empowerment,” said Alan Kessler, CEO and Founder of African Agriculture, Inc. “Supplying computers to rural schools in Senegal bridges gaps in education and technology.
  • “By establishing these computer study rooms and providing internet access, we're fostering an enhanced educational landscape for Senegalese students.
  • This collaboration underscores our belief in leveraging technology to empower the next generation, enabling them to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world."