Latest news with #Watterson
Otago Daily Times
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Young Wānaka skier motivated to work up the ranks
New Zealand ski representative Mathilda Watterson. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED Local New Zealand ski representative Mathilda Watterson is working seven days a week for less than minimum wage, in fact she's not on a salary at all. This is all part and parcel of the hoops ski athletes must jump when they are starting out a career in the snow. Watterson already has an impressive repertoire of achievements in her short career at just 17 years of age. Last year she was named the national U21 junior FIS champion, the 2025 U21 Slovenian National Junior GS Champion, and she competed at the world junior championships. She also has a few important competitions coming up; the Wānaka FIS Tech Series, the Australia New Zealand Cup, the National Championships and the 2026 World Junior Championships in Norway next year. All this means Watterson is training seven days, often twice a day either between strength and agility classes or up the mountain. There is not a minute to work, but still. She has been making and selling neck warmers to help field costs. "They are really popular with some of the younger ones." With her sister Isabel, they sell the warmers under the brand Tildy&Iz, at the Wānaka Thursday night markets and often at the Sunday markets too. Mathilda Watterson is grafting to get around the world and represent New Zealand in ski racing. Originally from Auckland, she moved to Wānaka when she was 9. Having already spent her youth skiing on family holidays; she started to get more serious and got a coach. She began skiing at the age of 2 up at Porters skifield. Following this she skied at Mt Cheeseman, Craigieburn, Mt Hutt, Treble Cone and Cardrona where at 6-years-old a family friend suggested she try the racing team. Her first interfield race was at Coronet Peak and there was no looking back. Her love for the mountains and the outdoors led to a fulltime move to Wānaka. She said relying heavily on her parents financially was not the best and she would love a sponsor, but knew that getting there was hard graft. "My parents are my main sponsor. "Sometimes it is a bit hard when you feel the pinch." Not only is she a creative sewer, but Watterson has also written a children's book Abigail the Snail and the Bright Blue Quail. Watterson is the only Wānaka female New Zealand representative skier and her ultimate goal is to represent New Zealand at the world championships and compete in the FIS world cup circuit. She would also like to compete at the Olympics. There are over 5000 women in the FIS circuit, so she knows what is ahead of her. "It is pretty tough sometimes in skiing." This year at the World Junior Championships in Italy she improved 40 places from her starting position and competed in both the giant slalom and slalom events. She said Queenstown skier and Winter Olympian Alice Robinson was an inspiration. "It's really cool to see someone can be from little NZ and be so competitive." When she is not skiing, Watterson loves hiking, biking and is also an avid reader. Her "off season" includes the gym, running, biking, hiking, yoga, pilates, pickleball and swimming.
Business Upturn
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Upturn
The Amazing World of Gumball Season 7: Release date, cast updates and what to expect next
By Aman Shukla Published on July 1, 2025, 18:00 IST Last updated July 1, 2025, 11:14 IST After six long years, The Amazing World of Gumball is finally making its big return—and fans couldn't be more excited. The quirky, chaotic, and surprisingly emotional animated series is officially coming back under a new name: The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball . It's the same Elmore we know and love, just dialed up a notch. So, what's new in Season 7? When can we watch it? And who's voicing who this time around? Let's break it down. When Can We Watch Season 7? Get your calendars ready: The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball hits screens in the U.S. on July 28, 2025, streaming on Hulu and Disney+ (you'll need a Hulu subscription for the latter). If you're outside the U.S., you'll have to wait a bit longer—Cartoon Network and HBO Max will start airing it internationally on October 6, 2025. I know, the wait feels like forever, but after six years, a few more weeks won't kill us (probably). Some early rumors tossed around a vague 2025-2026 release, but these dates are locked in, so start planning your watch party now! Who's Voicing the Watterson Family? The voice cast is getting a bit of a shake-up, but don't worry—the heart of the Watterson family is still there. Here's the scoop on who's bringing Elmore's residents to life: Gumball Watterson : Say hello to Alkaio Thiele, the new voice of our troublemaking blue cat. Previous actors like Duke Cutler (from The Gumball Chronicles in 2021) have moved on, and Alkaio's fresh voice keeps Gumball's youthful mischief alive. Darwin Watterson : Hero Hunter steps in as Gumball's goldfish-turned-brother, ready to deliver those classic Darwin one-liners and sibling loyalty. Anais Watterson : Kinza Syed Khan takes over as the super-smart bunny sister, replacing Kyla Rae Kowalewski. Expect Anais to keep outsmarting everyone as usual. Nicole and Richard Watterson : Thank goodness Teresa Gallagher and Dan Russell are back as the tough-as-nails cat mom and the lovably clueless bunny dad. Their voices are like comfort food for longtime fans. The Rest of Elmore: We're still waiting on details for fan-favorites like Penny, Rob, or Banana Joe, but Adam Long (Mr. Small) has confirmed he's returning, so expect some familiar faces. There might be a few new voices in the mix, too, to keep things fresh. The new voices for the kids make sense—actors age, and the show needs that youthful vibe. But with veterans like Gallagher and Russell sticking around, the Watterson family's chaotic charm is in good hands. What's Coming in Season 7? If you've watched Gumball , you know it's a glorious mess of silly gags, meta humor, and surprisingly deep moments. Season 7, rebranded as The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball , is leaning hard into that vibe. Here's what we're in for: The Void Takes Center Stage Remember that crazy Season 6 cliffhanger? Rob, Gumball's glitchy nemesis, warned about the 'Void,' a creepy dimension where the universe hides its mistakes. Season 7 is diving headfirst into this mystery, with Gumball, Darwin, and friends facing whatever weirdness the Void throws at them. Rob's back, and he's got a big role, so expect some epic showdowns and answers to questions we've been obsessing over since 2019. A Huge Season with 40 Episodes Season 7 is giving us a massive 40 episodes to binge, and I'm here for it. We know the titles of the first 26, like The Cancellationgation , The Speedrun , and The Proposal . These sound like a mix of the show's signature meta-humor (cancellation jokes, anyone?), fast-paced antics, and maybe even some romantic drama for characters like Penny. I'm already curious who's proposing! A Bolder, Weirder Vibe The new title isn't just for show—it's a hint that Season 7 is doubling down on Elmore's bizarre charm. The teaser trailer, dropped on May 19, 2025, shows the Watterson house all dusty and abandoned, with Gumball joking about being 'seven years late for school.' It's a cheeky nod to the hiatus, and with the show's mix of 2D, 3D, stop-motion, and live-action animation, it's going to look as wild as ever. Ahmedabad Plane Crash The Amazing World of Gumball Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Open banking to survive Trump, fintechs say
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. An open banking trend allowing banks and payments players to more easily share consumer data is likely to advance, regardless of vacillating U.S. regulatory policy, industry lawyers and executives say. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had decided to let open banking regulations take effect next year, but those 2026 compliance dates were thrown into question last year when bank groups sued the government to block the CFPB's open banking rule. Then, President Donald Trump's return to the White House ushered in an era of dramatic deregulation in the executive branch. Earlier this month, the CFPB asked a federal judge to rule for the bank plaintiffs against what the agency's new leaders consider an 'unlawful' rule. Despite the multi-pronged effort to kill the bureau rule, there are reasons to believe that the spirit of open banking – if not the actual letter of a law, prescribed by regulators – is likely to carry on, regulatory lawyers and fintech consultants say. 'There are a lot of unknowns, and they will unfold before us, but the bottom line is that this has long been planned as kind of the next step in banking technology,' Stewart Watterson, a strategic adviser with consulting firm Datos Insights, said during a Datos April webinar titled 'Regulatory Chaos and the Future of Open Banking.' 'It's going to move forward with or without mandates, because those things are obviously in question,' said Watterson, a former executive with PNC Bank and JPMorgan Chase. 'It will be messy and it'll be fraught with risk and different types of risks.' The open banking rule gives consumers a right to share their detailed financial data with third parties under the notion that a consumer's ability to easily swap accounts among banks, credit unions or fintechs will spur greater competition for financial services. Former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra described the rule as a way to lower consumers' costs. In their lawsuit, the bank groups say the rule exceeds the bureau's statutory authority, and that it does not allow them to recoup their costs or to properly specify liability for fraud or other misconduct amid the data sharing. The rule stems from Section 1033 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and was enacted in October after five years of deliberations. The initial rule was issued during the Biden administration under Chopra, but the Trump administration is dramatically reducing the CFPB's mission and staffing under Acting Director Russell Vought. The bureau has not moved to rescind the rule, so far, as it manages the litigation targeting the rule. Large banks, Watterson added, 'have been investing and working on this for anywhere between five and 10 years' and understand the commercial potential of consumer data sharing in the new marketplace. 'The CFPB deciding to withdraw the rule – the personal financial data rights rule – is not going to stop open banking in the United States,' said industry consultant Peter Tapling. 'The largest financial institutions have been going down that path for years, and that will continue.' The open banking rule codifies a consumer right of financial data sharing into law, said Penny Lee, president and chief executive of the Financial Technology Association, a fintech lobbying group. Without the CFPB's regulatory framework, fintechs fear that 'banks would engage in some anti-competitive behavior, meaning throttling back the information' they provide or 'slowing down the connectivity, or only allowing consumers to be able to permission through one of their apps, or one of their controlled capabilities,' Lee said in a recent interview. Banks' compliance deadlines under the rule are layered from mid-2026 through 2030, with the largest banks required to begin operating within the open banking parameters next year. Financial institutions with less than $850 million in assets are exempt from the rule. A senior JPMorgan Chase executive told Payments Dive last month that the world's largest bank will continue to invest in open banking, despite the uncertainty around the rule. 'Whether it is in terms of the digital experience on JPMorgan or, for that matter, in other parts of the JPMC franchise overall, open banking as a concept is something that we have an investment in, and will continue to invest in,' Chief Technology Officer Sri Shivananda said. Nonetheless, the lack of a common standard for open banking is likely to hinder smaller, community financial institutions, and increase the competitive gulf between large and small players, said Tapling, who is based in Chicago. A federal judge in Kentucky overseeing the bank groups' lawsuit against the CFPB ruled May 14 that the FTA could intervene to defend the lawsuit. That decision adds a motivated, well-resourced party to the litigation at a time when the CFPB is dismantling much of its regulatory infrastructure and back-peddling on cases it brought previously. Despite the legal and regulatory battles, open banking and 'customer-authorized data sharing' has been growing steadily for the past decade, said Adam Maarec, an attorney with McGlinchey Stafford LLP, who advises banks and fintechs, and was a legal executive at several large banks. 'With open banking reaching critical mass, banks and fintechs need to figure out their business and risk management strategies now, no matter what happens with the final rules as they exist today,' Maarec said in an April interview. The bureau has virtually no discretion to avoid an open banking regulatory framework, given the clear language Congress wrote into the law, attorneys said in recent interviews. A full revocation of the rule, without an alternative, 'seems incredibly unlikely' because of Dodd-Frank, said Lauren Quigley, a senior counsel with Dykema in Chicago, who works with banks, fintechs and other financial institutions. 'There arguably has to be something and secondly, prior to the current morass that is around open banking, there was broad bipartisan support, both during the first Trump administration, throughout the Biden administration and even now,' Quigley said in an interview this month. Said Maarec: 'I doubt the 1033 rules will go away entirely.' The timing of work on any new rule, however, could be prolonged, given the five years the bureau took to formulate the open banking measure and the 90% CFPB staff reduction Vought has pursued. Despite an interest in open banking, 'the status quo is favorable to banks in a lot of ways,' Maarec said. 'Different banks view this in different ways, depending on their position in the market across various products,' he said. 'Some banks have a lot to lose and some have a lot to gain. It depends on their product mix and tech strategy.' Quigley said banks fall into three general categories in terms of their approach to open banking: those that have identified 'beneficial use cases' and are forging ahead, regardless of the rule's status. those that are largely ambivalent and don't see a 'use case' for it, she said, and are pursuing technology investments and partnerships only because of the requirement. smaller financial institutions that have a longer compliance deadline, years away, that 'are just biding their time at this point,' she said. 'A larger bank just simply has more resources to throw at a complicated implementation structure, whereas community based financial institutions need to rely more on vendors,' said Brandy Bruyere, a partner with the law firm Honigman, who advises financial institutions. One of the rule's main effects is an effort to end the practice known as 'screen scraping,' in which a consumer shares account information with a new financial services provider to log in, letting it gather data on behalf of the customer. That practice is rife with inefficiencies, errors and fraud, according to industry experts, with banks and others making gradual progress in recent years to build more secure data-sharing interfaces, known as application programming interfaces, or APIs. Many banks have created APIs 'that share data within their own comfort levels,' Maarec said. 'I think the banking industry would prefer the status quo where they can still sort of exercise their own large degree of control.' The campaign to end screen scraping would be hindered or stalled if the CFPB walks away from an open banking rule, panelists said May 19 at a media briefing convened by the Financial Data & Technology Association. Regardless of the CFPB or litigation, consumer trends, technology and market competition will likely determine open banking's long-term fate in the U.S. 'I don't think we've ever seen an advancement in financial technology, products or services that has ultimately been rolled back,' Quigley said. The industry is 'knocking on the door, we're there, and I don't know that we come back from the precipice, regardless of if the rule goes away.' Lynne Marek contributed to this article. Recommended Reading FTA CEO says open banking central to fintechs' work
The Hill
16-06-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Southwest Airlines adding cockpit safety alerts to detect runway hazards
Southwest Airlines has added a new cockpit safety tool to most of its fleet that could prevent the types of close runway calls that have raised concerns in recent years. The Honeywell-built 'SmartLanding' and 'SmartRunway' software will give verbal warnings and text alerts to pilots when they are about to use the wrong runways for taxiing, take-off or landing. It also signals when planes are moving too fast or at the wrong altitude, according to a news release from the North Carolina-based company. The system operates in addition to existing safety measures used by commercial aircraft. 'It is a really powerful tool, we believe, to add more barriers to potentially bad outcomes,' Southwest chief operating officer Andrew Watterson told The Wall Street Journal. Watterson told the Journal that the airline decided to add the Honeywell alerts as part of a larger effort to address emerging safety risks. 'Safety is at the heart of everything we do at Southwest,' he said in a news release from Honeywell. A Southwest flight nearly took off from a taxiway instead of a runway in Orlando, Fla., in March before an air traffic controller intervened. Months earlier, a plane operated by an American Airlines regional carrier landed on the wrong runway in Chicago, but no one was harmed.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Hilliard Davidson track's Celia Schulte anchors 3,200 relay to OHSAA championship repeat
VIDEO: Granville comes up just short vs. Watterson in district final The top-seeded Eagles came back from a 4-2 deficit for a 6-4 win in Division III at Lancaster's Beavers Field. 1:17 Now Playing Paused Ad Playing
