MONTANA, Oct. 23, 2025 — A devastating helicopter crash in eastern Montana has claimed the lives of four members of former Illinois State Senator and Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey’s family. According to a statement from Bailey’s campaign, his son Zachary Bailey, Zachary’s wife Kelsey, and their two children — 12-year-old Vada Rose and 7-year-old […]
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Financial sector authorities started to develop National Financial Inclusion Strategies (NFIS) in the early 2000s. Today, they remain a key policy tool to expand financial inclusion through collaboration between public and private stakeholders. But NFIS are not only about broadening access—they also provide a window into how countries are approaching responsible finance. By looking […]
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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the halt in hostilities but said “the crisis is far from over and the needs are immense.” He highlighted the toll of months of conflict: more than 170,000 people injured –including 5,000 amputees and 3,600 people with severe burns. At least 42,000 require long-term rehabilitation, and 4,000 women give birth each […]
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2025 — A new report from the Education Data Initiative reveals that student lunch debt has reached nearly $200 million a year, highlighting the financial strain on families and schools across the country. The mounting debt has forced districts to make difficult choices, with some turning to alternative meals or debt collection, […]
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The tragedy came amid concerns that worsening conditions for refugees and asylum-seekers in North Africa are pushing more families to embark on perilous journeys. The boat, which had departed from the Tunisian village of Salakta, capsized shortly after setting off, killing nine women, 19 men and 12 children under the age of five, according to […]
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TUNIS, Oct. 23, 2025 — The imprisonment of Sonia Dahmani, a Tunisian lawyer, writer, and outspoken media commentator, has become a defining case in the country’s democratic backsliding. Convicted on multiple anti-state charges for her televised and radio commentary, Dahmani is serving a five-year sentence while facing two additional trials that could extend her imprisonment […]
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The European Commission welcomes the adoption by EU Member States of the 19th package of sanctions against Russia. The new package of sanctions substantially increases the pressure on the Russian war economy, targeting key sectors such as energy, finance, the military industrial base, special economic zones, as well as enablers and profiteers of its war […]
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ELKTON, Va., Oct. 23, 2025 — Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. has begun construction on a 400,000-square-foot Center of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing at its long-standing Elkton site in Rockingham County. The project, valued at $3 billion, represents one of the company’s largest single-site investments in the United States. Expansion of a Historic Site Merck […]
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SEATTLE, Oct. 23, 2025 — A new analysis from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), published in The Lancet, shows that ischemic heart disease has once again overtaken COVID-19 as the leading global cause of death. The findings highlight the enduring toll of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and […]
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This is the second blog in CGAP’s Digital Merchant Payments series. Read the first blog for context on the urgent need to accelerate digital merchant payments. Despite mobile money’s remarkable success in Sub-Saharan Africa—with approximately 856 million registered mobile money accounts processing over 912 billion USD annually —digital merchant payments (DMP) remain stubbornly limited. Cash […]
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