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Synchronoss annonce le plan de transition de sa direction financière

La société réaffirme ses directives pour l’exercice 2021

BRIDGEWATER, New Jersey (États-Unis), 17 juin 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ : SNCR), un innovateur mondial de premier plan en matière de produits et plateformes numériques, de cloud et de messagerie, a annoncé aujourd’hui un plan de transition relatif au départ, le 9 août 2021, de son actuel directeur financier David Clark, qui poursuivra d’autres intérêts personnels et professionnels. Le départ de M. Clark est sans rapport avec les états financiers et les performances commerciales de la Société, laquelle réaffirme les directives 2021 précédemment énoncées le 10 mai 2021, parallèlement à l’annonce de ce jour. David Clark avait été nommé directeur financier en août 2018.

Commentant le départ de M. Clark, Jeff Miller, président-directeur général de Synchronoss, a déclaré : « J’ai apprécié de travailler aux côtés de David et le remercie pour son engagement envers la Société. David a rejoint Synchronoss pour apporter des améliorations à nos contrôles opérationnels et notre reporting financier. Au cours de son mandat, il a permis à Synchronoss de réaliser avec succès des améliorations significatives dans la gestion des dépenses d’exploitation et la mise en œuvre de la gouvernance et des contrôles financiers. Je suis fermement convaincu que, grâce à sa contribution, nous sommes positionnés pour la croissance et la réussite futures. Sur un plan plus personnel, je lui souhaite le meilleur dans ses futures attributions. Par ailleurs, j’apprécie le soutien qu’il nous apporte durant cette transition de direction ».

Le recrutement en vue de remplacer M. Clark est en cours. Jusqu’à la date de son départ, il demeurera à son poste actuel et soutiendra Synchronoss durant la phase de succession au poste de directeur financier.

À propos de Synchronoss
Synchronoss Technologies (NASDAQ : SNCR) est un développeur de logiciels permettant aux entreprises du monde entier de se connecter à leurs abonnés de manière fiable et pertinente. Sa gamme de produits contribue à rationaliser les réseaux, simplifier l’intégration et interagir avec les abonnés afin de créer de nouvelles sources de revenus, réduire les coûts et accélérer la mise sur le marché. Plusieurs centaines de millions d’abonnés font confiance à Synchronoss pour rester en phase avec les individus, les services et les contenus qu’ils aiment. C’est pourquoi les plus de 1 500 talentueux collaborateurs de Synchronoss à travers le monde s’efforcent chaque jour de repenser un monde synchrone. Pour en savoir plus, rendez-vous sur www.synchronoss.com.

Énoncés prospectifs

Le présent communiqué de presse contient des déclarations concernant Synchronoss et ses attentes, projets et perspectives futurs, qui constituent des « énoncés prospectifs » au sens de la Loi de 1995 sur la réforme du litige avec le secteur privé (Private Securities Litigation Reform Act). À cette fin, toutes les déclarations contenues dans ce document qui ne sont pas des déclarations de faits historiques peuvent être considérées comme des énoncés prospectifs. Sans limiter ce qui précède, les mots « peut », « devrait », « s’attend à », « prévoit », « estime », « pourrait », « a l’intention de », « croit », « potentiel » ou « continue », ou d’autres expressions similaires, sont destinés à identifier les énoncés prospectifs. Synchronoss a largement fondé ces énoncés prospectifs sur ses attentes et prévisions actuelles concernant des événements futurs et les tendances financières susceptibles d’affecter ses activités, sa situation financière et ses résultats d’exploitation. Ces énoncés prospectifs ne sont valables qu’à la date du présent communiqué de presse et sont assujettis à un certain nombre de risques, d’incertitudes et d’hypothèses, y compris, sans limitation, les risques liés à la capacité de la Société à maintenir ou augmenter les revenus de ses grands clients et à générer des revenus auprès de ses nouveaux clients, les attentes de la Société en matière de dépenses et de revenus, le caractère suffisant des ressources de trésorerie de la Société, les stratégies de croissance de la Société, les tendances et les défis anticipés dans le secteur et sur le marché où la Société exerce ses activités, les attentes de la Société à l’égard des exigences réglementaires fédérales, nationales et étrangères, les poursuites en instance contre la Société décrites dans ses plus récents documents déposés auprès de la SEC, ainsi que d’autres risques et facteurs décrits dans les sections « Facteurs de risque » et « Rapport et analyse par la direction de la situation financière et des résultats opérationnels » du Rapport annuel sur formulaire 10-K de la société pour l’exercice clos le 31 décembre 2020, ainsi que du Rapport trimestriel sur formulaire 10-Q pour le trimestre clos le 31 mars 2021, déposés auprès de la SEC et disponibles sur le site Web de la SEC à l’adresse www.sec.gov. La Société décline toute obligation de mettre à jour les énoncés prospectifs contenus dans le présent communiqué de presse à la suite de nouvelles informations, d’événements futurs ou autrement.

Contacts pour les médias

Pour Synchronoss :
Anais Merlin, CCgroup UK
Diane Rose, CCgroup US
E-mail : synchronoss@ccgrouppr.com

Contact avec les investisseurs
Pour Synchronoss: Todd Kehrli/Joo-Hun Kim, MKR Investor Relations, Inc., E-mail : investor@synchronoss.com

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At Least 80 Students Missing After Latest School Raid in Nigeria

Police in Nigeria say armed men have attacked a school in the northwest state of Kebbi, killing a police officer and abducting at least 80 students and teachers. It’s the latest in a series of school kidnappings for ransom that have exposed growing insecurity in northern Nigeria.

About 250 gunmen on motorbikes invaded the government college in Yauri, Kebbi state midday Thursday. They shot sporadically, killed a police officer and abducted five lecturers along with the students.

However, one of the students with bullet wounds was dropped along the way.

The attack is the latest in a string of kidnappings in northern Nigerian schools since December, and the third in the last month.

Speaking to Lagos-based Channels Television Friday morning, Yusuf Sununu, a local constituent leader in Yauri said security operatives are making progress with the search mission.

“We have made a lot of contacts and as at last night, even around 1 a.m. this morning, I had a discussion with the field commander, [he said] that they have succeeded in entering into the den of the kidnappers and I think this is a major success because security agents are now taking the fight to the base of the kidnappers” Bununu said.

The government school and many others in Kebbi were shut down Friday.

Amnesty International reports about 600 schools in northern Nigeria have closed as a result of persistent attacks since late last year.

Earlier this year, the government promised more security deployment to schools.

But Emmanuel Hwande, spokesperson of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, says schools remain poorly protected.

“As far as the security situation as it affects our schools is concerned, nothing has changed” Hwande said. “We can only say things have changed where we receive reports of less of such occurrences. But in the span of just this week, we have heard a kidnap of a lecturer and a kidnap in a polytechnic in Kaduna.”

Nigeria authorities have faced increased criticism over the kidnappings, one of the many security challenges including Boko Haram conflict in the northeast, and a growing separatist movement in the country’s southeast.

The separatist calls have led to the creation of various regional security forces, which authorities say are illegal and threaten national security.

The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, says lack of opportunities is the major reason for the escalating security issues.

“Challenges to security are more than just about a physical response. While there may be very many different reasons for insecurity in Nigeria for example, I think we may all agree that lack of opportunity underpins many of them,” Leonard said. “I was just in Kebbi last week, more farmers are being employed to grow rice to bring to the factory where people have jobs.”

Late last month, armed men seized 136 young students from an Islamic Seminary school in central Niger state. So far, only 11 of them have been freed.

Source: Voice of America

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UNHCR Delegation Visits South Sudan Amid More Aid Worker Attacks

The head of a high-level U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) delegation visiting a refugee camp in Maban, South Sudan, this week said threats and attacks against aid workers are continuing in parts of the country despite some government intervention.

Arafat Jamal, UNHCR’s country representative, said Thursday the delegation recently went to Maban to see how UNHCR and other agencies are working on the ground and to determine how aid work is sustaining the livelihoods of locals during and after the conflict.

In 2019, up to 2,000 young people forcefully entered the UNHCR compound and those of 14 other aid agencies in Maban, which led to looting, arson, and the destruction of several vehicles and structures.

The 2019 attacks forced aid agencies to suspend services in the area except for life-saving activities. Nearly 400 aid workers were evacuated from the Maban area.

Even though the government has tried to address the threats and attacks on aid workers, the problem persists, according to Jamal.

“The government is aware,” Jamal told South Sudan in Focus. “I know that they are doing their best to help us — we are also working with UNMISS [United Nations Mission in South Sudan], the peacekeepers, on this — but it is a problem, and it is not over yet, and I would like to [implore the government to] please enable us to do the work that we need to do.”

Eastern Equatoria state

Humanitarians have faced similar attacks in Eastern Equatoria state. An aid worker with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was killed Tuesday night in Unity State’s Panyijar County. The local worker was on his way home from a video hall he owned in Nyal when he was attacked, said County Commissioner Colonel William Gatjiek Mabor.

“The late [aid worker] had a place for football, so he advised the other one to pay for the game — actually they are relatives. After [the alleged assailant] was told to go home and bring money, he went and picked up his Kalashnikov [rifle], and then when [the aid worker] wanted to go home, he came and attacked him,” Col. Mabor told South Sudan in Focus.

Mabor said the alleged assailant is known, and county authorities expect to arrest him soon, although they still had not done so as of late Friday.

Carol Sekyewe, IRC’s country director for South Sudan, said the repeated attacks on aid workers derail the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those who need it most.

“It makes it very difficult for us to work when humanitarian workers are attacked and killed,” Sekywew told South Sudan in Focus. “Initial analysis does not show [the assailant] was directly against IRC, but still, [the aid worker] was our colleague and we all feel the pain of his loss. He was doing a lot for nutrition [for] a lot of people in Nyal.”

Panyijar County

Last month, IRC aid worker Dr. Louis Edward Saleh was found dead in Ganyiel Payam of Panyijar County, where he was serving in the only medical clinic in the area.

A forensic report released by the government said Saleh bled to death from several cuts on his neck and other stab wounds. Two guards at the clinic were arrested.

The IRC pulled out of the area following the murder. As a result, villagers are suffering, said Mabor.

“They are dying every day and that is why I want NGOs to ask for their protection, not because they don’t have the right to pull out. They have rights, but I need them to ask for their protection and then serve the innocent people,” Mabor told VOA. “Panyijar people are not wild animals, they are human beings.”

Lakes state

Earlier this month, two workers with the Italian charity Doctors with Africa were killed when their convoy was ambushed in a village about 64 kilometers from Rumbek in Lakes state.

Arafat said the South Sudan government officials should address the problem of attacks on aid workers once and for all.

“In South Sudan in general there is a problem of security of humanitarian workers, and I have discussed this at many levels with the government,” Jamal told VOA. “We are here to work together with the government and people of South Sudan, but it is essential for us to also be protected. You cannot attack the people who are here to protect.”

Maban County Commissioner Peter Alberto said he took steps to beef up security and end the violence against aid workers after he was appointed to the post several months ago.

“It was my first thing to do,” Alberto told South Sudan in Focus. “I formed a joint operation, which is stationed at a bridge at the river bisecting Maban into two, and I had to order the officers on the roads — nobody has to carry a gun.”

Alberto said he is trying to restore law and order, and that he has instructed local authorities to hold criminal suspects accountable for their actions.

Source: Voice of America

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Famine Stalks Millions as Acute Hunger Rises Globally

The World Food Program warns tens of millions of people, mainly in Africa, are teetering on the brink of famine because of conflict, climate shocks and economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.N. food agency estimates more than 270 million people, most of them in Africa and the Middle East, around the world are acutely food insecure, with millions at risk of starving to death.

It says the number of people at imminent risk of famine has increased from 34 million last year to 41 million now.

Without immediate emergency food aid, World Food Program spokesman Tomson Phiri warns the slightest shock will push those extremely vulnerable people over the cliff into famine. He says more than half-a-million people already are facing famine-like conditions.

“These are people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, Madagascar—particularly in the southern part, South Sudan, especially now as we are now at the height of the lean season in that country and Yemen,” Phiri said.

Phiri says Nigeria and Burkina Faso also are of particular concern because in recent months pockets of people have been in a state of famine. He says the WFP is mounting the biggest operation in its history to avert the catastrophic situation from taking hold.

“WFP is focused on scaling up life-saving food and nutrition assistance to meet the essential needs of those furthest behind, overcoming access challenges and expanding cash-based transfers with significant scale-ups foreseen across several operations,” Phiri said.

Phiri says the WFP is targeting its food assistance program to 139 million people in countries at particular risk, including Ethiopia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Syria. He says the WFP will need $5 billion to carry out the mammoth operation this year.

Source: Voice of America

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Malawi Facing COVID Vaccine Shortage after Burning Expired Doses

Malawi authorities say the country is quickly running out of coronavirus vaccines as confirmed infections surge to nearly 35,000 and 1,200 deaths in a third wave of the pandemic. The shortage comes just weeks after Malawi destroyed about 20,000 doses that expired, partly due to vaccine hesitancy.

Malawi health authorities said Friday they’ve shut down more than half the country’s vaccination centers because of shortages and that many people were turned way.

In the commercial capital Blantyre, all the vaccination centers are closed.

Dr. Charles Mwansambo is Malawi’s Secretary for Health.

“Malawi received a total of 512,000 doses; 360,000 were from the COVAX facility, 102,000 were from the AU [African Union] and 50,000 doses were from the Indian government,” Mwansambo said. “And as we are talking now, more that 93% of those doses have been used.”

The vaccine shortage comes just a month after Malawi destroyed nearly 20,000 doses that had expired in April – partly because of vaccine hesitancy.

Mwansambo says authorities were forced to incinerate the doses to reassure Malawians that vaccines being used were effective.

“The burning was of course regrettable, but we got those doses very late, they only had a very short shelf life,” Mwansambo said. “In fact, I am happy that we did that because we got back the confidence from the people. That’s why we are seeing what we are seeing now.”

Malawi plans to vaccinate about 11 million of its 18 million people to achieve herd immunity.

But only about 400,000 Malawians have been inoculated so far.

Malawi is expecting a donation of 900,000 doses from the COVAX facility by the end of July.

Some Malawians who got their first dose in March worry about their immunity being compromised as they were supposed to get the second jab after 12 weeks.

But medical experts dismiss those fears.

Dr. Gift Kawalazila is the director of Health and Social Services at Blantyre District Health Office.

“The evidence that we have is that actually the longer you delay the (second dose of the) vaccine the more effective it becomes,” Kawalazila said. “So, 12 weeks, was just a guide. But the idea was that if you take it after 12 weeks that’s when actually it gets better with your immunity.”

But Mwansambo worries the waiting time could deter people from getting the jab and is calling on donors to step in to bridge the gap.

“So, this break will kill the momentum,” Mwansambo said. “I hope it’s not too long a break. That’s why we call upon other willing, and I know that a number of well-wishers out there, including the US government, the UK government, are ready to give out the extra doses they have.”

Malawi’s parliament called on the government Thursday to set aside funds to purchase vaccines, so they are not dependent on donations.

While Malawi is one of Africa’s poorest nations, Health Secretary Mwansambo says the issue is not money but where to get the vaccine.

He noted India, which produces the AstraZeneca vaccine that does not require cold storage, has stopped exports to deal with its own surge with tens of thousands of daily, new infections.

Source: Voice of America

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Tanzania to Join COVAX Vaccines Sharing Facility

Tanzania has asked to join the COVAX global vaccine sharing facility and start its first coronavirus immunization campaign – more than 15 months after the start of the pandemic. The new policy is a major departure from the policies of late president John Magufuli, who denied coronavirus existed in Tanzania and dismissed the vaccines as dangerous.

In a news conference Thursday, the World Health Organization’s regional director in Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said Tanzania is now formally working to join the COVAX facility.

Speaking with the BBC, Tanzanian government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa neither denied nor confirmed the information but added the government will release an official statement on vaccines at the appropriate time.

Rights activists Tito Magoti said this is a good first step towards fighting the pandemic.

He says, it is a move that some of us Tanzanians we were demanding. We are now getting a chance to have peace of mind, because we have been given choices that we were not able to get due to the denial of the government on the issue he says. Tito added it is high time now for the government to intensify the issue of coronavirus because there has not been transparency on the issue of updates and measures.

It is difficult to gauge the clear extent of coronavirus in Tanzania as the country stopped reporting data in April 2020, after it had recorded 509 COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths.

But overcoming the late president’s claims that the virus did not exist in Tanzania, and that vaccines were ineffective, is still a challenge.

Some citizens like Ummy Matinde are worried about the efficacy of the vaccines.

She says during the leadership of the late John Magufuli, he didn’t allow the vaccines because he said they had negative outcomes into the human body. Under the leadership of Samia Hassan, she says, they are allowing it but they didn’t give out proof that show whether the vaccines are good or not.

While Tanzania awaits the vaccines, Minister of Health Doroth Gwajima has insisted people take all necessary precautions against COVID-19 including wearing face masks.

You find people in a crowd and they don’t wear face masks, she says. I didn’t tell you to wear face masks when you are going on your farm or when you are in an area with good circulating air. She says there are areas that have limited air and a crowd, and there, people must wear facemasks.

Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba says the government has entered talks with the International Monetary Fund for a $571 million loan to address the economic and social impact of Covid 19.

He says, President Samia met Kristalina Georgieva, executive director of the International Monetary Fund, with a view to strengthening relations on economic and social issues including the issue of strategies to address the impact of COVID-19 he says.

But according to the IMF, for the loan to be approved, Tanzania needs to publish updated statistics on prevlance of COVID-19.

Source: Voice of America

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Facing Unwanted Marriage in Mozambique, a 14-Year-Old Flees

Like many 14-year-old girls, Sifa Maulana had a dream. Hers was to become a nurse.

Her family didn’t support Sifa’s ambitions.

“My grandmother said, ‘If you don’t want to get married, you better leave now.’ I packed my clothes, asked my brother-in-law for 100 meticais” — about $1.60 — “and went to the bus stop,” said Sifa, who faced the ultimatum in May.

Sifa left her home in Mutuali, a village in Mozambique’s northern province of Nampula, and took the bus to Malema town. There, she went to a Catholic church to pray — and confided in nuns there about her situation. She told them her older sister was studying to join a religious order at the Mater Dei Monastery in Nampula town. The nuns at the church confirmed Sifa’s connections and sent the girl to the monastery, where she was welcomed in mid-May.

“We introduced her to other girls here at home,” said Mother Maria, a member of the Contemplative Community of the Servants of Mary. She did not disclose Sifa’s biological sister’s name or make her available for an interview.

Sifa was doing well after roughly a week at the monastery, Mother Maria told VOA Portuguese on May 30. “She helps, she takes care of the babies at the orphanage. But now we need to decide how to get her school records so she can continue her studies.”

The threat of early marriage and disrupted education is all too common, said Mother Maria.

“It is very worrying because there is oppression. Women in general have always been oppressed. Premature marriage is happening a lot,” she said. To lessen their financial strain, families — especially poor families — “want to quickly put children out of the house, taking mouths out of the house.”

The coronavirus pandemic has heightened the risk of child marriage around the world in communities “affected by economic shocks” and with “limited access to basic services such as health, education and child protection,” UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s agency, reported last year. The U.N. estimates the pandemic could lead to as many as 13 million additional child marriages between 2020 and 2030 that otherwise might have been avoided.

Mozambique already “has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, affecting almost one in every two girls,” UNICEF reported.

Child marriage not only usually ends schooling for girls but also increases their vulnerability to domestic abuse and violence, UNICEF warns. The practice also endangers girls’ health if they bear children before their bodies are fully mature and if they contract sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

In 2019, Mozambique outlawed marriage for anyone younger than 18. But the law is seldom enforced and violations are rarely reported, said Nzira de Deus, executive director of Fórum Mulher Mozambique, a national network of women’s rights organizations.

Several factors complicate the law’s implementation, Deus said.

First, there’s a lack of awareness, and of social acceptance, that girls have the right to freedom of choice, she said. Second, “macho culture camouflaged with harmful social and cultural practices … undermine women’s human rights.”

Finally, according to de Deus, there is “impunity due to the … weak response services to complaints about forced and premature unions.”

Nonetheless, the network urges reporting to authorities any cases of underage marriage that are being planned or have taken place.

For now, Sifa has averted an unwanted early marriage, and Mother Maria said the religious order is committed to helping the girl continue her education: “We must help her going forward so she can be someone in life.”

Source: Voice of America