The Fort Worth Press

Economic losses from natural disasters down by a third in 2025: Swiss Re

Global economic losses from natural disasters are projected to have dropped by 33 percent to $220 billion in 2025, despite the damage wrought by the Los Angeles wildfires, reinsurer Swiss Re said Tuesday.

Kenyan girls still afflicted by genital mutilation years after ban

Maasai women erupted with mocking heckles as a community elder, wrapped in a traditional red blanket, claimed that female genital mutilation had all but stopped in their community in southern Kenya.

Bank of Japan expected to hike rates to 30-year high

The Bank of Japan is expected to hike interest rates Friday for the first time since January, pushing them to their highest level in 30 years and potentially exacerbating turmoil in debt markets.

EU to unveil plan to tackle housing crisis

The EU will on Tuesday present a first-ever plan to address the continent's deepening housing crisis, aiming to boost construction and regulate short-term rentals.

Asian markets retreat ahead of US jobs as tech worries weigh

Asian markets extended losses with Wall Street on Tuesday as investors jockeyed for position ahead of key US jobs and inflation data, while sentiment remains subdued by worries over a possible tech bubble.

Famed Jerusalem stone still sells despite West Bank economic woes

Despite the catastrophic state of the Palestinian economy, Faraj al-Atrash, operator of a quarry in the occupied West Bank, proudly points to an armada of machines busy eating away at sheer walls of dusty white rock that stretch into the distance.

Why Sovereign-Aligned Markets Are Forcing a Rethink of Gold Verification

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 16, 2025 / Gold does not change easily. Its rules, rituals, and trust frameworks have been built over centuries, reinforced by habit as much as by law. When gold markets do shift, it is rarely because of rhetoric or regulation. They move when infrastructure evolves so decisively that the old way of doing things starts to look inefficient by comparison. That is what is happening now, and Dubai is at the center of it.

SMX's Version of the New Gold Standard Is Less About Money and More About PROOF

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 16, 2025 / For years, even decades, analysts kept waiting for gold to reclaim its role as the foundation of global money. They predicted a return to a monetary gold standard, a moment when central banks would peg currencies to bullion again. But while the world argued about economic theory, the real revolution arrived from an unexpected direction. The next global gold standard will not be financial. It will be forensic.

Gold Reserves Are About to Face the First Real Audit in History, And it Will Lack What's Most Needed: PROOF (NASDAQ: SMX)

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 16, 2025 / For a century, the world has operated on a comfortable illusion. Central banks believe they know how much gold they hold. Sovereign wealth funds assume their reserves are exactly what the paperwork claims. Bullion banks trust that what sits beneath their headquarters is perfectly authentic. But the truth is far more fragile. No country on earth has ever conducted a full, bottom-up authentication of its gold reserves. Not one. Reserve systems rely on certificates, refinery stamps, and legacy chain-of-custody documents that lose meaning the moment a bar is melted or restamped. The world's most important financial backstop has never been tested with modern tools.

The Market Finally Woke Up: Why SMX Is Suddenly on the World's Radar

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 16, 2025 / For more than a year, SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) quietly built the kind of infrastructure companies talk about but rarely execute. Molecular identity for plastics. Traceability for metals. Verification that survives every transformation inside some of the world's most advanced bullion ecosystems. National circularity programs developed with leading research institutions. These weren't concepts on a slide deck. They were real systems deployed with real partners across multiple continents.

SMX's Global Collaborations Are Building the World's First Cross-Industry Verification Mesh

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 16, 2025 / The world has spent years talking about circularity, ESG integrity, and supply-chain transparency, but the truth is simple. No industry has ever had the verification infrastructure needed to make any of those goals real. Plastics lose identity when they melt. Metals lose identity when they move. Gold loses identity the moment it hits a furnace. Documentation has filled the gap, but documentation was designed for a slower, less interconnected world. Into this vacuum stepped SMX (NASDAQ:SMX), and the company is not moving alone. It is collaborating across plastics, metals, gold, packaging, and national circularity programs to create the world's first verification mesh.

The Market Finally Gets It: SMX's PCT is Creating a New Asset Class

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 16, 2025 / Every market cycle introduces a new category of assets that feels almost inevitable in hindsight. Sometimes it is a technological leap. Sometimes it's a financial instrument. Sometimes it's a shift in how value is measured. Today, a growing number of investors are beginning to ask whether verified recovery is emerging as the next major asset class. The idea has been around for years, but no company has created a system capable of turning recovery into a measurable economic unit. SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) has changed that conversation with its Plastic Cycle Token, and the market is starting to take note.

Why Market Interest in SMX Is Accelerating as the Plastic Cycle Token Comes Into Focus

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 16, 2025 / There are moments when a company moves from being a name on a ticker to becoming a topic that keeps showing up in investor conversations. SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) has entered that moment. What began as a quiet interest in its verification technology has turned into something broader, with traders, analysts, and crypto readers all starting to recognize the same thing. The Plastic Cycle Token is not a side project. It is the organizing layer for a new category of real-world assets built on verifiable truth rather than estimates or intentions.

SMX Is Becoming the Google of Materials, and Global Industries Are Taking Notice

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 16, 2025 / Every major transformation in technology begins with a simple idea. What if everything in a system could be identified, indexed, and retrieved with certainty? Google did that for information by mapping the internet into something searchable. SMX (NASDAQ:SMX) is now doing the same for materials by giving physical goods a permanent molecular identity that acts like a truth layer. Once a material can carry its own history, the entire supply chain becomes searchable, auditable, and verifiable.

French minister urges angry farmers to trust cow culls, vaccines

France's agriculture minister Monday defended planned mass cattle culls and vaccines to control an infectious bovine disease, after farmers vowed no let-up in their protests against what they view as excessive slaughtering.

Stock market optimism returns after tech selloff but Wall Street wobbles

European stock markets recovered upward momentum on the back of interest rate optimism Monday following a brief correction affecting mostly the tech sector, but gains were pared as Wall Street ran out of steam by the late morning.

Stock market optimism returns after tech sell-off

Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic recovered upward momentum on the back of interest rate optimism Monday, following a brief correction affecting mostly the tech sector.

'Angry' Louvre workers' strike shuts out thousands of tourists

The Louvre closed its doors to thousands of disappointed visitors on Monday due to a strike over working conditions at the Paris landmark, two months after a major robbery.

Showdown looms as EU-Mercosur deal nears finish line

Brussels and Berlin insisted Monday the EU's vast proposed trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur must get over the finish line by year end -- despite a last-ditch French push to derail its signing.

Eurovision 2026 will feature 35 countries: organisers

Some 35 countries will compete in next year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, organisers said Monday, despite five countries boycotting over Israel's participation in the glitzy annual extravaganza.

German shipyard, rescued by the state, gets mega deal

German shipyard Meyer Werft has received a mega order worth up to 10 billion euros ($11.7 billion), officials said Monday, a boost for the shipbuilder after a state rescue last year.

'We are angry': Louvre Museum closed as workers strike

The Louvre closed its doors to thousands of disappointed visitors on Monday as staff launched a rolling strike to protest working conditions at the Paris landmark, two months after a shocking robbery.

Stocks diverge ahead of central bank calls, US data

Stock markets diverged Monday at the start of a week filled with economic data and central bank decisions, following a tech sell-off on Wall Street.

Louvre Museum closed as workers strike

The Louvre Museum closed its doors to thousands of disappointed visitors on Monday as staff launched a strike to protest working conditions at the Paris landmark, two months after a shocking robbery.

Australia defends record on antisemitism after Bondi Beach attack

A mass shooting at a Jewish festival on Australia's iconic Bondi Beach has revived allegations that the government is dragging its feet in the fight against antisemitism.

EU-Mercosur trade deal faces bumpy ride to finish line

Brussels is headed for a showdown this week over the European Union's free-trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur, after Paris launched a last-ditch effort to derail the signing of the landmark accord.

Asian markets drop with Wall St as tech fears revive

Asian markets dropped Monday as concerns about the AI-fuelled tech rally returned to the spotlight after weak earnings from two big-name firms last week revived questions about the wisdom of the vast sums invested in the sector.

Diaz; Rebuilding Leadership After Loss; A Resilience Blueprint for an Unstable Corporate Era

By Evrima Chicago; Feature Editorial

Western Announces Continuance to Ontario and Renewal of Credit Facility

TORONTO, ON / ACCESS Newswire / December 15, 2025 / The Western Investment Company of Canada Limited (the "Company", or "Western") (TSXV:WI) is pleased to announce that it has completed a corporate continuance from the Province of Alberta to the Province of Ontario as previously approved by shareholders. This continuance aligns Western's corporate structure with its current and future business objectives. Western will continue to maintain an extra-provincial registration in the Province of Alberta.

Gladstone Commercial Announces Issuance of $85 Million of Senior Unsecured Notes

MCLEAN, VA / ACCESS Newswire / December 15, 2025 / Gladstone Commercial Corporation (Nasdaq:GOOD) ("Gladstone Commercial") today announced that its subsidiary, Gladstone Commercial Limited Partnership ("Gladstone LP"), has closed $85 million in aggregate principal amount of 5.99% senior unsecured notes due December 15, 2030 (the "Notes"), in a private placement with certain institutional investors.

GEE Group to Hold Investor Conference Call to Discuss 2025 Fiscal Year and Fourth Quarter Results

JACKSONVILLE, FL / ACCESS Newswire / December 15, 2025 / GEE Group Inc. (NYSE American:JOB) together with its subsidiaries (collectively referred to as the "Company", "GEE Group", "us", "our", or "we"), a provider of professional staffing services and human resource solutions, today announced that it will hold an investor webcast/conference call on Thursday, December 18, 2025 at 11a.m. EST to review and discuss its September 30, 2025 Fiscal Year and Fourth Quarter results. The Company expects to report those results after the close of business on Wednesday, December 17, 2025. The Company's prepared remarks will be posted on its website www.geegroup.com prior to the call.

When Proof Becomes Tradable: How SMX is Rewriting Market Rules

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / December 15, 2025 / Markets have always rewarded certainty, but until recently, certainty was static. Verification lived in audits, reports, and compliance binders. Proof existed, but it could not move. It could not travel with assets. It could not be priced in real time. And because it was trapped on paper, it never fully entered the market's value calculus.

The Fort Worth Press - Economy (English)

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