January 15, 2023

FreedomPay to Unleash the Power of Pay at NRF 2023

One of the world’s fastest growing fintech to showcase award-winning global commerce technology platform and industry-leading partner network.

NEW YORK, National Retail Federation, Jan. 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FreedomPay, the global leader in Next Level Commerce and the commerce technology platform of choice for global retail, hospitality and payments brands including Marriott, Foot Locker, Shake Shack, Engage People, and Castles Technology, will showcase its innovations and partnership announcements this week at NRF in booth #4250.

The event will mark the launch of FreedomPay’s new call to action, Unleash the Power of Pay. As the commerce landscape evolves with new technologies and changing consumer needs, Unleash the Power of Pay introduces the notion of unleashing the power of payments to drive greater customer loyalty, leverage business intelligence insights, and bring value-added services.

“FreedomPay is excited to make a splash at this year’s NRF and to launch Unleash the Power of Pay. The concept is a testament to our award-winning technology and best-in-class partner network that is enabling billions of transactions in more than 75 countries across the globe,” said Tom Durovsik, Founder & CEO of FreedomPay.

As part of its line-up at NRF, FreedomPay will host a roundtable discussion on Monday, January 16 at 10:30AM at booth #4250 with industry influencers Castles Technology, Charter Communications, and Elo Touch, moderated by Dale Laszig of the Green Sheet. The event, Next Level Commerce: Unleashing the Power of Pay, will focus on the challenges and opportunities across retail, the trends influencing retail’s future, and strategies for merchants to navigate the changing retail sector. Those who would like to attend virtually are encouraged to register here.

FreedomPay also announces the publication of a new industry white paper The Next Level of Global Payments: Unleash the Power of Pay. The report highlights pivotal opportunities for retailers to elevate customer relationships and increase profit margins internationally, outlining strategies for security, safety, speed, simplicity, and customer satisfaction with service across borders. Download now to read the bespoke report.

FreedomPay’s global footprint continues to grow through the power of its partner network and new integrations to allow merchants to Unleash the Power of Pay for their customers. FreedomPay also announced in the days leading up to NRF 2023 new partnerships that will bring its solutions to more merchants around the world.

Moneris Solutions Corporation (“Moneris”), the largest payment processor in Canada*, will now be able to offer its merchants access to FreedomPay’s commerce technology platform, bringing an enhanced checkout experience to millions of shoppers across Canada.

FreedomPay also announced an integration with Flooid, bringing enhanced innovation, choice, and flexibility to retailers around the globe on the Flooid platform.

To learn more about FreedomPay, visit us at NRF booth #4250 or www.freedompay.com.

About FreedomPay

FreedomPay’s Next Level Commerce platform transforms existing payment systems and processes from legacy to leading edge. As the premier choice for many of the largest companies across the globe in retail, hospitality, lodging, gaming, sports and entertainment, foodservice, education, healthcare and financial services, FreedomPay’s technology has been purposely built to deliver rock solid performance in the highly complex environment of global commerce. The company maintains a world-class security environment and was first to earn the coveted validation by the PCI Security Standards Council against Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE/EMV) standard in North America. FreedomPay’s robust solutions across payments, security, identity, and data analytics are available in-store, online and on-mobile and are supported by rapid API adoption. The award winning FreedomPay Commerce Platform operates on a single, unified technology stack across multiple continents allowing enterprises to deliver an innovative Next Level experience on a global scale. www.freedompay.com

*Based on total number of transactions processed in Canada

Jennifer Tayebi
Hill+Knowlton Strategies for FreedomPay
+1 734 395 0780
Jennifer.Tayebi@hkstrategies.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8729731

January 15, 2023January 19, 2023

A Framework for Community-level Disaster Resilience Index: Focus on the Host Communities in Cox’s Bazar

Executive Summary

The Community-Level Disaster Resilience Index for Cox’s is an adaptation of the Climate Disaster Resilience Index (CDRI), which was introduced by the International Environment and Disaster Management (IEDM) Laboratory of Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies along with its partner organizations, including CITYNET and UNISDR in 2008 to measure disaster resilience of the coastal cities by considering five dimensions: physical, social, economic, institutional, and natural. Then, the variables selection was translated to the local setting, collecting matching variables/indicators and suitable alternatives where necessary. Furthermore, RIMES incorporated the “Rapid Index of Stress to the Rohingya Crisis” into the disaster resilience index. Rapid Index of Stress to the Rohingya crisis is an adaptation of the “Rapid Index of Stress to the Syrian Crisis,” developed by UNDP, considering the Syrian refugee crisis.

The framework is mainly developed by identifying an initial list of indicators and variables following an extensive literature search and by using stakeholders’ and experts’ opinions and perceptions to achieve a consensus regarding the key indicators and assigning weights to each in order to assess community resilience and the ability to cope with disasters. This framework employs a combination of both quantitative and qualitative (i.e., public opinions and expert judgments) methods.

This study shows various vulnerability types for each of the target communities/unions. Considering the overall resilience, Raja Palong union is comparatively higher than others, whereas Palongkhali union shows the lowest resilience score. Host communities in Ukhiya are concerned about increasing labor competition, deforestation, groundwater depletion, increase in price, and damages to their physical and natural resources. Both individual homes and community shelters are weak and in poor condition. These issues are linked to the region’s poor land quality and high risk of natural disasters. Increasing risk financing opportunities, forecast-based support or bursary on youth/women employment, etc., will enhance the resilience of the communities in Ukhiya, while the risk governance monitoring system may expedite the efficiency of humanitarian and development blending mechanism. Cyclone has been identified as the most high-risk hazardous event of this Upazila. The second most risky and hazardous events include heavy rainfalls, sudden flood, and coastal floods. Water-logging and landslides are regarded as the third most hazardous event.

Ukhiya Upazila needs a comprehensive land-use and natural resource management policy that requires a climate and resource footprint assessment to avoid future resource scarcity. The resilience matrix is recommended to be used in the non-refugee hosting areas too. A decision support system (DSS) can be further developed using a variety of resilience indicators and present the output by indicators automatically. This DSS will use union-level Risk Index methodology to generate key decision-making indicators. Some of the future usages of this tool include a systematic and transparent approach to visualize, compare, and rank disaster risk at the community/union level, bridging the science-policy gap through an easy platform that allows both technical and non-technical users to understand risk and resilience, and usage of relevant data to support evidence-based decision-making for disaster risk management.

Source: Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia

January 15, 2023January 19, 2023

Expanded US Training for Ukraine Forces Begins in Germany

The U.S. military’s new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday, with a goal of getting a battalion of about 500 troops back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to eight weeks, said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley, who plans to visit the Grafenwoehr training area on Monday to get a first-hand look at the program, said the troops being trained left Ukraine a few days ago. In Germany is a full set of weapons and equipment for them to use.

Until now the Pentagon had declined to say exactly when the training would start.

The so-called combined arms training is aimed at honing the skills of the Ukrainian forces so they will be better prepared to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks. They will learn how to better move and coordinate their company- and battalion-size units in battle, using combined artillery, armor and ground forces.

Speaking to two reporters traveling with him to Europe on Sunday, Milley said the complex training — combined with an array of new weapons, artillery, tanks and other vehicles heading to Ukraine — will be key to helping the country’s forces take back territory that has been captured by Russia in the nearly 11-month-old war.

“This support is really important for Ukraine to be able to defend itself,” Milley said. “And we’re hoping to be able to pull this together here in short order.”

The goal, he said, is for all the incoming weapons and equipment to be delivered to Ukraine so that the newly trained forces will be able to use it “sometime before the spring rains show up. That would be ideal.”

The new instruction comes as Ukrainian forces face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where the Russian military has claimed it has control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting, but if Moscow’s troops take control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.

Russia also launched a widespread barrage of missile strikes, including in Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 30.

Milley said he wants to make sure the training is on track and whether anything else is needed, and also ensure that it will line up well with the equipment deliveries.

The program will include classroom instruction and field work that will begin with small squads and gradually grow to involve larger units. It would culminate with a more complex combat exercise bringing an entire battalion and a headquarters unit together.

Until now, the U.S. focus has been on providing Ukrainian forces with more immediate battlefield needs, particularly on how to use the wide array of Western weapons systems pouring into the country.

The U.S. has already trained more than 3,100 Ukrainian troops on how to use and maintain certain weapons and other equipment, including howitzers, armored vehicles and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS. Other nations are also conducting training on the weapons they provide.

In announcing the new program last month, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the idea “is to be able to give them this advanced level of collective training that enables them to conduct effective combined arms operations and maneuver on the battlefield.”

Milley said the U.S. was doing this type of training prior to the Russian invasion last February. But once the war began, U.S. National Guard and special operations forces that were doing training inside Ukraine all left the country. This new effort, which is being done by U.S. Army Europe Africa’s 7th Army Training Command, will be a continuation of what they had been doing prior to the invasion. Other European allies are also providing training.

Source: Voice of America