VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A key part of a jubilee in the Bible was releasing prisoners, and Catholics today can join a global campaign to press for the release of thousands of people imprisoned in poverty because of their nations’ foreign debt, said an official of Caritas Internationalis. 

Victor Genina Cervantes, director of integral human development at Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella organization for national Catholic charities around the world, presented the campaign “Turn Debt into Hope” at a Vatican news conference Dec. 23, the eve…

In March 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, which designated billions in federal funding to municipalities across the country to support the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The City of Buffalo received $331 million – the biggest one-time investment from the federal government the city has ever seen.

$11 million of that cash was earmarked for a water bill debt-forgiveness program and allocated to the Buffalo Water Board.

But the program never happened and the money was spent elsewhere, according to a letter penned by Buffalo’s Acting Mayor, Christopher Scanlon, to the Buffalo Common Council.

It was a discovery he was “incredibly disheartened” to make.

In a statement…

More people with chronic debt problems are having their debts written off following a change to the rules – but both creditors and debt support organisations are critical of the new system.

The guidelines for calculating repayments were changed on July 1 to include a baseline figure reflecting essential living costs. If a debtor’s income is below this level their repayments are set at zero.

If the creditor refuses to accept the terms, debt advisors can ask a court to cancel the debt on the grounds that the debtor has no capacity to repay it. Several judgments to this effect have been issued since July.

Around 35% of debtors have had their liability reduced to zero since the new rules came in in July, according to an analysis by debt…

In March 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, which designated billions in federal funding to municipalities across the country to support the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The City of Buffalo received $331 million – the biggest one-time investment from the federal government the city has ever seen.

$11 million of that cash was earmarked for a water bill debt-forgiveness program and allocated to the Buffalo Water Board.

But the program never happened and the money was spent elsewhere, according to a letter penned by Buffalo’s Acting Mayor, Christopher Scanlon, to the Buffalo Common Council.

It was a discovery he was “incredibly disheartened” to make.

In a statement…

DALLAS, Dec. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Beneficient (NASDAQ: BENF) (“Ben” or the “Company”), a technology-enabled platform providing exit opportunities and primary capital solutions and related trust and custody services to holders of alternative assets through its proprietary online platform AltAccess, announced it has entered into an agreement (the “Agreement”) with entities controlled by its founder and CEO, Brad Heppner, designed to enhance current and future…

This was reported by the German portal Gründerszene, citing several sources within the company. According to the report, only a small two-digit number of people will remain employed for the time being to support the imminent liquidation of the young company. A week ago, it still looked like the company would be rescued. Wirtschaftswoche reported that a takeover was imminent and ‘only’ 200 jobs were on the redundancy list.

However, KPMG’s auditors and the responsible trustee, Ivo-Meinert Willrodt, were apparently unable to finalise a deal. According to Gründerszene, the most promising potential investor could not prove within the deadline that it had the necessary liquid funds. And time is running out for Lilium, as the…