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PARAMOUNT+ IN CANADA ANNOUNCED AS LEAD SPONSOR OF THE 2026 SCRIPTED SERIES LAB

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TORONTO and VANCOUVER, April 24, 2025 /CNW/ — Paramount+ in Canada and the Pacific Screenwriting Program (PSP) announced today that Paramount+ in Canada is the lead sponsor of the 2026 Scripted Series Lab, the PSP’s flagship program for emerging BC screenwriters.

“The PSP is delighted to have Paramount+ Canada on board for the 2026 Scripted Series Lab,” said Camilla Tibbs, PSP’s Executive Director. “The Scripted Series Lab is nationally recognized as an outstanding training program, and it plays a vital role in BC’s domestic sector, identifying and nurturing new television writing talent. We are excited to be moving forward in partnership with Paramount+ in Canada for the 2026 iteration.”

“Paramount+ has been impressed with the work done through the Scripted Series Lab and is excited to expand our relationship with the PSP as supporting partner for this program in 2026,” said Vanessa Case, Vice President of Content at Paramount+ and Pluto TV Canada.

Launched in 2019, the Scripted Series Lab provides training annually for six talented emerging BC screenwriters with an emphasis on historically under-represented communities. In addition to experiencing a 10-week writers room with a showrunner, participants receive script mentorship on their original pilots, plus engage in workshops and information sessions with industry leaders to help them evolve their skills and build careers in BC’s dynamic and ever-changing industry. Many past participants are working in rooms and earning writing credits on current BC series, including Family Law, Allegiance, Murder in a Small Town, Wild Cards, and Sight Unseen. The intake for 2026 will open in August 2025, and the program will run from January to April 2026.

The support of the PSP’s Scripted Series Lab is the eighth partnership Paramount+ in Canada has announced that reinforces its commitment to inclusivity.  In the past year and a half the streamer has announced partnerships with the 2024 Reelworld Summit, the BANFF SPARK Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media: Producer Edition, inkcanada to Connect Emerging Writers with Industry Allies; a collaboration with the Black Screen Office for the Black Creators Festival Initiative; a joint venture with BIPOC TV & Film and the National Screen Institute Partner for the new ELEVATE program; and partnerships with both The Shine Network Institute (TSNI) for the Indigenous Producers Budgeting Intensive and with the Pacific Screenwriting Program and the Indigenous Screen Office to Create the Indigenous Screenwriters Lab in 2024.

About the Pacific Screenwriting Program
The Pacific Screenwriting Program supports a vibrant screenwriter community in British Columbia by providing a training ground for aspiring and active screenwriters. Combining real-world story-room experience, mentorship, bootcamps, workshops and information sessions, the program equips writers with the skills, experience, and connections necessary to establish a sustainable career in the screen industry. The PSP’s current programs include the Scripted Series Lab, Story Department Internships, Develop BC, the Vancouver Scripted Summit, Alumni Support Initiatives and more.  For further information, please visit the Pacific Screenwriting Program website.

About Paramount+
Paramount+ is a global digital subscription video streaming service from Paramount that features a mountain of premium entertainment for audiences of all ages. Internationally, the streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows, and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including SHOWTIME®, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, and the Smithsonian Channel™, in addition to a robust offering of premier local content. The service currently lives in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and Japan.   

SOURCE Paramount+ (Canada)

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Chelsea FC announces multi-year sleeve partnership with Sokin, the business payments and FX platform

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Chelsea FC name fast-growing fintech platform as Principal Partner

LONDON, Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chelsea Football Club has today announced a multi-year partnership with Sokin, the embedded finance and payments company used by businesses worldwide. Sokin will be named a Principal Partner and Official Business Payments and FX Partner of Chelsea FC and Chelsea FC Women.

As a Principal Partner, Sokin will be represented on the sleeves of the Chelsea FC men’s, women’s and academy home, away, and third kits from the 2026/27 season.

The partnership brings together two ambitious London-headquartered organisations with worldwide reach – a club with millions of fans across the world and a fintech platform through which businesses move more than $11 billion a year. A club of Chelsea’s scale works in many currencies every day, with partners, competitions and supporters around the world, and needs a financial partner built to handle that.

Sokin gives finance teams business payments, multi-currency accounts, foreign exchange, checkout and treasury in one place, so they spend less time juggling banks and providers and keep more of what they move.

As Official Business Payments and FX Partner, Sokin will simplify how Chelsea FC sends, receives and manages money in the currencies the club operates in.

The Sokin logo will feature on the sleeve of the Chelsea shirt for the first time [when the men’s team host Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 24th October.]

Jason Gannon, President at Chelsea FC said:

“At Chelsea, we seek to partner with organisations that share our ambition and innovative mindset. Sokin’s expertise in business payments, and their focus on making both simpler for the businesses they serve, makes them a natural fit for the Club. We are pleased to welcome Sokin to the Chelsea family and look forward to working together in the years ahead.”

Vroon Modgill, CEO and founder at Sokin said:

“Chelsea plays on the biggest stage in world football, and its business runs in dozens of currencies. Sokin was built for that with regulated, multi-currency payments and foreign exchange for organisations that operate internationally. We’re proud to be the platform behind the business payments and FX of one of the most iconic teams in football. Sokin’s platform serves businesses in more than 170 countries. We’re thrilled to be partners for the season ahead. An organisation as sophisticated as Chelsea doesn’t leave its finances to chance.”

About Sokin

Sokin is the financial layer global business runs on. Businesses can transact, convert and hold money in 70+ currencies across 170+ countries. Some businesses use Sokin to manage global finance in-house. Others build it into their products to power financial experiences for their customers. Businesses move more than $9 billion a year on licenses Sokin holds in 36+ countries and infrastructure Sokin owns. Founded in 2019, Sokin has raised over $100 million from investors including Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Prysm Capital.

About Chelsea Football Club

Chelsea Football Club is one of the biggest, most successful football clubs globally and our men’s team are reigning world champions, having won the four-yearly FIFA Club World Cup in 2025. Our women’s team, Chelsea Women, are also multiple trophy winners.

Founded in 1905, Chelsea is London’s most central football club, based at the iconic 40,000-capacity Stamford Bridge stadium. Nicknamed the Blues, the club lifted the Champions League for the first time in 2012 and domestically has won the Premier League five times, the FA Cup eight times, the Football League Cup five times and the Football League Championship once, in 1955.

The Chelsea Women’s team have enjoyed a huge amount of success and in 2025 won the FA Women’s Super League for a sixth consecutive year and the eighth time overall. The Women’s FA Cup has been won on six occasions. We have also captured the FA Women’s League Cup four times as well as reaching the UEFA Women’s Champions League final in 2021. In two seasons, 2020/21 and 2024/25, a domestic treble of trophies was secured.

The Chelsea Foundation boasts one of the most extensive community initiatives in sport, helping to improve the lives of children and young people all over the world.

Media Contacts:

Taina Biggs
taina.biggs@sokin.com 

Nerissa Chesterfield
nerissa.chesterfield@chelseafc.com 

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Amy Johnson Appointed President of GDIT

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RESTON, Va., Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) announced today that Amy Johnson has been appointed as president of GDIT, effective November 3.

Johnson is a 27-year veteran of General Dynamics Mission Systems, where she held increasingly senior roles in engineering, engineering management and business leadership across cybersecurity, defense electronics, space and intelligence systems, most recently as vice president and general manager for Space, Cyber and Intelligence. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science and computer systems engineering. 

“Amy has a proven track record of leading teams to solve complex and highly technical challenges for our customers,” said Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics. “I am confident that her dynamic leadership, operational rigor and deep commitment to our values and culture will deliver value to our customers, employees and shareholders.”

GDIT delivers digital modernization, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and software development solutions to the U.S. federal government, defense, intelligence agencies and other customers. It is a business unit of General Dynamics, a global aerospace and defense company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; ship construction and repair; land combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions; and technology products and services. General Dynamics employs more than 120,000 people worldwide and generated $52.6 billion in revenue in 2025. More information is available at gd.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/amy-johnson-appointed-president-of-gdit-302918411.html

SOURCE General Dynamics

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Yazan Al Homsi Invests US$500,000 in Toronto Drone Maker Arcanus Aerial Systems

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Private investment comes as Arcanus builds out Canadian manufacturing capacity for autonomous aerial systems

DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Yazan Al Homsi, a UAE-based investor and managing partner of Catalyst Communications DMCC, has invested US$500,000 in Arcanus Aerial Systems Inc., a Toronto-headquartered developer and manufacturer of unmanned aerial systems for defence, public safety and critical infrastructure customers. Al Homsi is an investor only and holds no operational, advisory or board role with the company. Other terms were not disclosed.

Arcanus is a Canadian-controlled company. It currently lists more than 15 platforms across heavy-lift, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), cargo, strike and counter-drone missions. According to the company, its published line-up includes:

AB 516e: a long-endurance vertical take-off fixed-wing aircraft rated for three hours of flight.AE 401: a counter-drone interceptor with a top speed of 300 km/h.AC 5250: a cargo platform with a 250 kg payload and a range of more than 2,300 km.

Alongside defence, Arcanus markets its systems for wildfire detection, search and rescue, Arctic sovereignty, border and maritime patrol, and pipeline and power line monitoring.

The company has spent 2026 assembling its domestic production base. In April, Arcanus signed a binding term sheet with Portugal-based Beyond Vision, granting it rights to manufacture, commercialize and support Beyond Vision’s unmanned aerial systems in Canada.

In June, Arcanus announced a five-year agreement appointing FeralX Systems Inc. as a non-exclusive Canadian contract manufacturer for several of its platforms.

“Canada has the engineering talent to build these systems at home, and recent years have shown how much depends on having that capacity domestically,” said Yazan Al Homsi. “What stood out to me about Arcanus was the manufacturing groundwork already in place: licensing, a production partner, and a range of aircraft that serves wildfire crews and search-and-rescue teams alongside defence customers.”

About Yazan Al Homsi

Yazan Al Homsi is a UAE-based investor and managing partner of Catalyst Communications DMCC, which he founded in Dubai in 2018. He was previously based in Vancouver, where he founded Founders Round Capital in 2017 and built a track record of investments in early-stage and small-cap companies. He earned a finance degree from McGill University in 2004 and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Before turning to investing, he spent more than a decade with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Middle East, rising to director and focusing on transaction due diligence and valuation.

Media Contact
Catalyst Communications DMCC
catalyst-wire@protonmail.com

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SOURCE Yazan Al Homsi

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