🐄 Ireland: Minister Heydon Launches €28 Million Beef Welfare Scheme to Support Suckler Farmers

Dublin, August 13, 2025 — Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, has officially opened applications for the 2025 Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS), a €28 million initiative aimed at enhancing animal welfare and supporting economic sustainability in Ireland’s suckler beef sector. The scheme represents a significant increase in funding compared to 2024, […]

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💼 EBRD Commits €20 Million to Spire Capital Partners Fund I to Boost Tech-Driven SMEs in Central Europe

Warsaw, August 13, 2025 — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced a €20 million investment in Spire Capital Partners Fund I, a newly launched independent private equity fund based in Poland. The fund aims to strengthen the growth of technology-enabled small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Poland and Central and Eastern […]

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US has slashed global vaccine funding – if philanthropy fills the gap, there could be some trade-offs

The U.S. government is relaxing federal vaccine requirements and cutting vaccine research and development funding here at home. Elsewhere, it’s going even further. The Trump administration has stopped funding Gavi, a global initiative that helps millions of children in low-income and medium-income countries get vaccinated against measles, cholera and other preventable diseases. Gavi, the Vaccine […]

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Bureau of Labor Statistics tells the US what’s up with the economy – Trump firing its top official may undercut trust in its data

Many financial and political analysts are trying to assess the impact of President Donald Trump’s decision to fire U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Aug. 1, 2025, the same day that an unemployment report conveyed weakness in the job market. Some of the strongest criticism of this unprecedented move has come from […]

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Hulk Hogan and the unraveling of worker solidarity

Hulk Hogan’s death by heart attack at age 71 came as a shock to many fans of the larger-than-life wrestler who’d earned the nickname “The Immortal.” But in many respects, the real surprise was that Hogan, born Terry Gene Bollea, lived as long a life as he did. Despite the staged nature of its combat, […]

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Insurance warning signs in doctors’ offices might discourage patients from speaking openly about their health

Have you ever noticed a sign in a doctor’s office saying that you may have to pay extra insurance costs if you discuss additional problems with your physician? If so, you’re not alone. As health care spending continues to rise, providers are being asked to warn patients about any potential unexpected costs – for example, […]

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By firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics chief, the Trump administration raises concerns that it may further restrict the flow of essential government information

President Donald Trump’s firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Aug. 1, 2025, after an unfavorable unemployment report has been drawing criticism for its potential to undercut the agency’s credibility. But it’s not the first time that his administration has taken steps that could weaken the integrity of some government data. Consider […]

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When it comes to finance, ‘normal’ data is actually pretty weird

When business researchers analyze data, they often rely on assumptions to help make sense of what they find. But like anyone else, they can run into a whole lot of trouble if those assumptions turn out to be wrong – which may happen more often than they realize. That’s what we found in a recent […]

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Plantation tourism, memory and the uneasy economics of heritage in the American South

The American South – and the nation more broadly – continues to wrestle with how to remember its most painful chapters. Tourism is one of the arenas where that struggle is most visible. This tension came into sharp relief in May 2025, when the largest antebellum mansion in the region – the 19th-century estate at […]

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Breaking the Cash Habit: The Urgent Need to Accelerate Digital Merchant Payments | Blog

From the dusty roadside kiosks of Senegal to the fresh produce markets of Kenya, a slow revolution is underway. QR code stickers cling to glass counters, handwritten USSD codes dangle from shelves next to tomatoes and mangoes, and merchants swipe between apps on smartphones with cracked screens to approve digital payments. Across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), […]

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