Latest news with #MA
Business Insider
13 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
London Tribunal Rules that Visa and Mastercard's (MA) Fees Violate Competition Law
Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) are once again under legal fire as a London tribunal ruled that their default multilateral interchange fees—charges applied to retailers each time a customer uses one of their cards—violate European competition law. These fees, set by Visa and Mastercard rather than negotiated individually, have long been criticized by retailers for being excessive and non-transparent. The latest ruling comes from the Competition Appeal Tribunal in the U.K., which sided unanimously with hundreds of merchants who brought the case after a decade-long legal battle over these charges. Confident Investing Starts Here: The law firm Scott+Scott, which represents the claimants, called the ruling a major victory. David Scott, the firm's global managing partner, said that the decision was 'a significant win for all merchants who have been paying excessive interchange fees to Visa and Mastercard.' According to the firm, this is the first time a court has found that both commercial card fees and inter-regional (cross-border) multilateral interchange fees violate competition law. The ruling confirms that Visa and Mastercard's fees unlawfully restricted competition by setting default rates that retailers had little choice but to accept. Despite the setback, both Visa and Mastercard pushed back strongly against the ruling. A Visa spokesperson said that the company 'continues to believe that interchange is a critical component to maintaining a secure digital payments ecosystem that benefits all parties, including consumers, merchants and banks.' Mastercard also criticized the decision by calling it 'deeply flawed' and stating that it would seek permission to appeal. A second phase of the litigation is still underway, which will determine whether merchants passed on the cost of these interchange fees to consumers through higher prices. That upcoming trial could influence the amount of any potential damages. Which Payment Stock Is the Better Buy? Turning to Wall Street, out of the two stocks mentioned above, analysts think that Mastercard stock has more room to run than Visa. In fact, Mastercard's price target of $639.86 per share implies 16.1% upside versus Visa's 11.8%.
NDTV
19 hours ago
- Science
- NDTV
A Chance Discovery Of A 350 Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals New Type Of Fish
In 2015, two members of the Blue Beach Fossil Museum in Nova Scotia found a long, curved fossil jaw, bristling with teeth. Sonja Wood, the museum's owner, and Chris Mansky, the museum's curator, found the fossil in a creek after Wood had a hunch. The fossil they found belonged to a fish that had died 350 million years ago, its bony husk spanning nearly a metre on the lake bed. The large fish had lived in waters thick with rival fish, including giants several times its size. It had hooked teeth at the tip of its long jaw that it would use to trap elusive prey and fangs at the back to pierce it and break it down to eat. For the last eight years, I have been part of a team under the lead of paleontologist Jason Anderson, who has spent decades researching the Blue Beach area of Nova Scotia, northwest of Halifax, in collaboration with Mansky and other colleagues. Much of this work has been on the tetrapods — the group that includes the first vertebrates to move to land and all their descendants — but my research focuses on what Blue Beach fossils can tell us about how the modern vertebrate world formed. Birth Of The Modern Vertebrate World The modern vertebrate world is defined by the dominance of three groups: the cartilaginous fishes or chondrichthyans (including sharks, rays and chimaeras), the lobe-finned fishes or sarcopterygians (including tetrapods and rare lungfishes and coelacanths), and the ray-finned fishes or actinopterygians (including everything from sturgeon to tuna). Only a few jawless fishes round out the picture. This basic grouping has remained remarkably consistent — at least for the last 350 million years. Before then, the vertebrate world was a lot more crowded. In the ancient vertebrate world, during the Silurian Period (443.7-419.2 MA) for example, the ancestors of modern vertebrates swam alongside spiny pseudo-sharks (acanthodians), fishy sarcopterygians, placoderms and jawless fishes with bony shells. Armoured jawless fishes had dwindled by the Late Devonian Period (419.2-358.9 MA), but the rest were still diverse. Actinopterygians were still restricted to a few species with similar body shapes. By the immediately succeeding early Carboniferous times, everything had changed. The placoderms were gone, the number of species of fishy sarcopterygians and acanthodians had cratered, and actinopterygians and chondrichthyans were flourishing in their place. The modern vertebrate world was born. A Sea Change Blue Beach has helped build our understanding of how this happened. Studies describing its tetrapods and actinopterygians have showed the persistence of Devonian-style forms in the Carboniferous Period. Whereas the abrupt end-Devonian decline of the placoderms, acanthodians and fishy sarcopterygians can be explained by a mass extinction, it now appears that multiple types of actinopterygians and tetrapods survived to be preserved at Blue Beach. This makes a big difference to the overall story: Devonian-style tetrapods and actinopterygians survive and contribute to the evolution of these groups into the Carboniferous Period. But significant questions remain for paleontologists. One point of debate revolves around how actinopterygians diversified as the modern vertebrate world was born — whether they explored new ways of feeding or swimming first. The Blue Beach fossil was actinopterygian, and we wondered what it could tell us about this issue. Comparison was difficult. Two actinopterygians with long jaws and large fangs were known from the preceding Devonian Period (Austelliscus ferox and Tegeolepis clarki), but the newly found jaw had more extreme curvature and the arrangement of its teeth. Its largest fangs are at the back of its jaw, but the largest fangs of Austelliscus and Tegeolepis are at the front. These differences were significant enough that we created a new genus and species: Sphyragnathus tyche. And, in view of the debate on actinopterygian diversification, we made a prediction: that the differences in anatomy between Sphyragnathus and Devonian actinopterygians represented different adaptations for feeding. Front Fangs To test this prediction, we compared Sphyragnathus, Austelliscus and Tegeolepis to living actinopterygians. In modern actinopterygians, the difference in anatomy reflects a difference in function: front-fangs capture prey with their front teeth and grip it with their back teeth, but back-fangs use their back teeth. Since we couldn't observe the fossil fish in action, we analyzed the stress their teeth would experience if we applied force. The back teeth of Sphyragnathus handled force with low stress, making them suited for a role in piercing prey, but the back teeth of Austelliscus and Tegeolepis turned low forces into significantly higher stress, making them best suited for gripping. We concluded that Sphyragnathus was the earliest actinopterygian adapted for breaking down prey by piercing, which also matches the broader predictions of the feeding-first hypothesis. Substantial work remains — only the jaw of Sphyragnathus is preserved, so the 'locomotion-first' hypothesis was untested. But this represents the challenge and promise of paleontology: get enough tantalizing glimpses into the past and you can begin to unfold a history. As for the actinopterygians, current research indicates that they first diversified in the Devonian Period and shifted into new roles when the modern vertebrate world was born. (Author: , PhD candidate in Earth Sciences, Carleton University) (Disclosure Statement: Conrad Daniel Mackenzie Wilson receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Student Assistance Program, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.)
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Trella Health Launches Its Latest Medicare Advantage (MA) Data to Help Post-Acute Providers Thrive in the Expanding MA Market
Now available in Marketscape Insights, this upgraded dataset delivers greater visibility into Medicare Advantage referral patterns, payer trends, patient flows, and additional strategic insights. ATLANTA, June 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Trella Health, the leading source for actionable post-acute analytics and insights, today announced the release of its Latest Medicare Advantage (MA) Data — a comprehensive new dataset designed to empower home health and skilled nursing organizations to thrive in the rapidly expanding MA market. With Medicare Advantage enrollment surpassing traditional Medicare — now accounting for 55.4% of all Medicare beneficiaries — the demand for timely, targeted, and granular MA insights is reshaping provider growth strategies in an MA-first landscape. This release delivers payer-level referral intelligence — offering unprecedented visibility into where MA patients come from, where they're referred, and where strategic referral relationships are taking shape across hospitals, physicians, and post-acute providers. "As Medicare Advantage continues to grow, providers need deeper visibility into referral behavior, patient flow, and payer dynamics," said Kathy Ford, Chief Product Officer at Trella Health. "This new dataset unlocks critical insights that help our users align their network strategies with high-value MA opportunities." The Latest MA Data Upgrade is available as an add-on to Trella's Marketscape Insights platform for both home health and skilled nursing users, with data refreshed quarterly in alignment with Trella's fee-for-service update schedule. This enhanced MA dataset enables users to: Identify High-Value MA Referral Sources: discover hospitals and physicians referring MA patients to Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) and Home Health Agencies (HHAs) using metrics such as payer name, annual patient counts, and affiliation percentages. Evaluate MA Payer Trends and Strategic Alignment: assess trends in MA volumes using annual patient counts and payer-specific referral data to identify providers treating target populations. Monitor Referral Leakage and Strengthen Relationships: track MA patient movement using referral destination data, affiliation percentages, and facility-level patient counts to uncover referral shifts over time. Trella Health's latest Medicare Advantage data release reflects the company's continued investment in data innovation — expanding access to timely, targeted insights that support smarter growth, value-based care strategies, and improved patient outcomes. For more information or to request a demo, visit About Trella HealthTrella Health's unmatched market intelligence and purpose-built CRM allow post-acute providers, HME, and Infusion organizations to drive more effective performance and growth. Trella's solutions allow post-acute, HME, and Infusion organizations to identify the highest-potential referral targets, evaluate new market opportunities, and monitor performance metrics. Paired with CRM and EHR integrations, business development teams can better manage referral relationships to advance their organizations with certainty by improving their sales and marketing strategy. For more information on Trella Health and its post-acute, HME, and Infusion growth solutions, visit or follow Trella on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Media Contact: Chandani Patel, press@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Trella Health Sign in to access your portfolio
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
MAFS stars Billy and Awhina dive into new Perth dating show
Reality TV stars Billy Belcher and Awhina Rutene are set to dive headfirst into Perth's newest dating show, a YouTube series titled 1ROSE. But it won't be as hopeful singles — with larrikin Billy set to be a host on the show, and his former MAFS co-star Awhina to provide commentary. The speed dating series is a progression of the intimate event format that launched in Perth last year, with the 'unscripted social experiment' evolved to suit an online audience. 1ROSE announced its casting call on Thursday night, with each individual event capped at 16 singles. Awhina told PerthNow the fast-paced dating environment will take some of the guesswork out of those awkward social situations where you might be interested in someone, but are not sure if they feel the same. 'It's not like when you go to a bar or nightclub and you're trying to gauge whether someone's in a relationship or not, and whether they're just out for fun,' she said. 'And then there's also those questions that you don't necessarily ask when you're out at a bar. So I guess it takes a lot of the grunt work out of it.' With surprise rounds, unexpected twists and cash prizes, there is also a hidden match allocated to each participant based on their pre-filled criteria, with only the audience clued into the moment their pre-ordained meeting unfolds. At the end of the night, a dramatic rose ceremony will see participants asked: Who will be your 1ROSE? Created locally, 1ROSE founder Gabe feels the show will be a first of its kind in WA, and an alternative platform for those who have exhausted typical pathways to love. 'We believe this concept will offer Australian audiences something fresh and engaging, especially Perth, as this could be the first Perth dating show produced,' he said. Perth online personality Amy Priya will be a presenter on the show. Credit: 1ROSE Local personality Amy Priya will be 1ROSE's main presenter, aiding Billy and Awhina in guiding local singles along the ride. Unlike his MAFS co-star, 'cheeky English chap' Billy is an experienced campaigner in Perth's dating scene, and admits 'it's hard because it's very small, and there aren't too many places you can go to meet new people'. 'We find that these days people sit behind their phone and swipe right or left, but this show gives you the chance to communicate and see if you have chemistry with another human instead of an iPhone,' he said. So who should apply? Almost anyone — 'Just make sure you're not to shy, and you can have a laugh, that's all we want'. The reality TV favourite promises viewers and participants 'lighthearted banter, lots of laughs, and I'll also be asking the hard questions'. 'But my role as the host is to make your experience the best it can be,' he said. Aside from joining forces on their next project, Billy and Awhina have regularly been spotted together in their native Perth and often appear on each other's social feeds. However, Awhina was reluctant to put a label on their relationship following MAFS. Though, she's welcomed having someone to lean on throughout it all. 'Billy and I... we've got a fantastic friendship,' she teased. 'We've had such overwhelming support from the public, and it's really nice because, post show, I don't really know anyone in the media, I don't have friends that are influencers, so it's been really nice having Billy as my support person, especially when I found it really tough at times.' As for their next on-screen adventure, Awhina said Billy can't wait to get in front of the camera once more. 'He's like a golden retriever at the moment,' she joked. 'I know it's a dating event, and the singles are there to get to know each other, but Billy likes to be the main character.' With the show's first events being held in Perth, 1ROSE plans to expand into other cities in the future. Keen applicants can head to the show's website or casting form here to apply.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mastercard Expands Digital Currency Reach via Fiserv & Chainlink
Mastercard Incorporated MA has strengthened its dedication to blockchain technology through two innovative partnerships, Fiserv and Chainlink. These partnerships seek to increase the users' access to stablecoins and cryptocurrencies by utilizing MA's extensive global payment network. Mastercard is incorporating the new FIUSD stablecoin into its network through a partnership with Fiserv. With this change, more than 150 million merchants will be able to use stablecoin for easy payments and settlements. Some of the standout features include enabling merchants to settle in FIUSD, the issuance of cards linked to stablecoin and the integration of Fiserv's Finxact-powered platform with MA's Multi-Token Network. Customers and banks around the world will be able to access on-chain programmable commerce as a result. At the same time, Mastercard and Chainlink have teamed up to allow their more than 3 billion cardholders to buy cryptocurrency assets directly on-chain. Fiat-to-crypto conversion and smart contract execution are connected by this integration, which is backed by Chainlink's secure interoperability infrastructure and supported by companies like zerohash, Swapper Finance, Shift4 Payments and XSwap. On platforms like Uniswap, users can now access decentralized liquidity and convert fiat money into cryptocurrency. This dual approach is a strong indication that MA is establishing a future-proof infrastructure. The company is positioning itself as a neutral transaction layer that bridges traditional finance and blockchain ecosystems. This strategic move could give it a significant edge as regulatory clarity continues to evolve around the world. MA supports merchant settlement in USDC and enhances cross-border transfers with Crypto Credential for secure transactions. Wirex, Bit2Me, Lirium, Notabene, and Mercado Bitcoin have also joined the Mastercard Crypto Credential ecosystem. Some of MA's card issuance partners, like Kraken, OKX and Bleap, are playing a key role in bridging the gap between the crypto economy and everyday spending. Year to date, MA shares have gained 5.6% compared with the industry's growth of 4.1%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research MA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the business services space are OppFi Inc. OPFI, Green Dot Corporation GDOT and Sezzle Inc. SEZL, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for OppFi's current-year earnings of $1.23 per share has witnessed two upward revisions in the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. OppFi beat earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 59.5%. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues is pegged at $578.4 million, implying 10% year-over-year growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Green Dot's current-year earnings of $1.22 per share has witnessed two upward revisions in the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. Green Dot beat earnings estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and missed twice, with the average surprise being 5.6%. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues is pegged at $2.1 billion, calling for a 20.2% year-over-year increase. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Sezzle's current-year earnings of $3.26 per share has witnessed two upward revisions in the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. Sezzle beat earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 159.9%. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues is pegged at $441.8 million, suggesting 62.9% year-over-year growth. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Mastercard Incorporated (MA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Green Dot Corporation (GDOT) : Free Stock Analysis Report OppFi Inc. (OPFI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sezzle Inc. (SEZL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
