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It had to happen.
In these days of fashion obsessed celebrities, you just knew it was a matter of time before the McDonald's clown mascot got a makeover. It's about time for McDonald, who became the fast food's "spokesclown" back in 1963.
Gone is the frizzy red hair and yellow convict-like jumpsuit. Instead, McDonald has a sleek new 'do (we suspect chemical straightening) and a snazzy new costume designed by theatrical designer Ann Hould-Ward, who won a Tony award for her costume design work on "Beauty and the Beast".
New duds include a yellow vest with burger-print lining, a red blazer befitting a circus ringleader, and golden highwaters. Thankfully, Ronald's big clown shoes are still there (you know what they say about a clown's show size, after all? The bigger the shoe, the more people can fit in his tiny clown-car...or something like that).
The makeover is part of a new social media campaign that the clown himself will star in, so if you want to converse with Ronald about fashion, you can reach him at hashtag #RonaldMcDonald.
Apparently, the world's most recognized clown likes the new image. He's quoted as saying, "Selfies...here I come!"
Here's a video that shows Ronald getting prepped for his Vogue-like cover shoot:


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For freight companies, every season is starting to feel like a peak season. The growth of e-commerce is tapping courier services to make two-day or even same-day deliveries to establish the "final mile" to customer homes.
Leonard Wright, who employs 300 drivers at INPAX running US routes for Amazon and 200 independent contractors for non-Amazon accounts tells Yahoo that, "In the final-mile world, there's more work than you can handle."
The rush to bring goods to customer's doorsteps has increased demand for deliver drivers, nearly tripling nationwide within the last three years, Yahoo reports. The driver shortage has been effecting the trucking industry severely, and the e-commerce growth requires on a steady supply of qualified last-mile drivers that many freight companies don't have. Companies like Coca-Cola and General Mills have stated that the lack of drivers is hurting their profits.
A growing concern for freight companies is being able to get customers their groceries or gourmet meals in a timely manner, without having to risk them getting ill. Yahoo reports that the restaurant industry is in talks with the FDA about ways to prevent food-borne illnesses or other problems arising from third-party delivery.
Although there continues to be concern throughout the industry, the demand for delivery drivers shows no sign of slowing down. With supermarkets starting to move into the food delivery space, competition for qualified drivers will only grow more fierce.

domain: news


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In August of 2008, Elon Musk watched with delight and then horror as the Falcon 1 rocket built by his company SpaceX launched from an atoll in the Pacific and then, just after the first stage separated, tumbled out of control. Its payload, including a United States Air Force satellite and the remains of the late actor James Doohan, who had played Scotty on Star Trek, crashed into the ocean. It was the third failed attempt by SpaceX to launch a satellite into orbit. Musk had not budgeted for another. “I thought that if we couldn’t get this thing to orbit in three failures, we deserved to die,” he later said.
A few weeks later, he gathered the top executives of Tesla, his troubled electric car company, and said they were about to run out of money. They had burned through much of the millions of dollars of deposits that customers had paid to get in line for the high-end Roadster the company had promised but not yet delivered. Musk fired the CEO, appointed himself to the role, and launched a plan to cut 25 percent of his workforce. Over dinner with one of his investors at a Beverly Hills steakhouse, he confided that the company had only three weeks of cash left. Then he pulled out his BlackBerry and showed the investor a picture of a mockup of the luxury sedan that he planned for Tesla to build next.
It was a bad time for SpaceX and Tesla to be going broke. Lehman Brothers had just collapsed and the global financial system was spiraling toward a crash. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were headed toward bankruptcy. Musk’s ex-wife was attacking him relentlessly in the press, and his new girlfriend, the actress Talulah Riley, said that he was waking up in the middle of the night screaming from nightmares and physical pain.
Continue reading the main story
The agonies and ecstasies of Elon Musk have been amply chronicled over the years, including in Ashlee Vance’s 2015 biography as well as books on the race to privatize space travel by Christian Davenport and Tim Fernholz. Two new books, both written with Musk’s cooperation, now deepen our appreciation of his achievements by showing how Musk’s success comes from his profound understanding of the physics and technology underlying his products. “Liftoff,” by Ars Technica space writer Eric Berger, is a colorful page-turner that focuses on the downs and ups of the early years of SpaceX. “Power Play,” by Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Higgins, is a deeply reported and business-savvy chronicle of Tesla’s wild ride from the launch of the high-end Roadster in 2009 to the Model S luxury sedan and then the Model 3, which is now the world’s best-selling electric car. Musk’s fanboys as well as his growing legion of grudging admirers should read the books in tandem, because the parallel tales combine to convey the depths of Musk’s interwoven passions to save the planet and colonize Mars.
At the height of Tesla’s financial problems at the end of 2008, Musk decided that he would double down. He personally borrowed money to keep the company afloat and pushed his investors to match him. When they reluctantly agreed, he broke down in tears. “All of his fortune was now on the line,” Higgins writes. “From the depths of the Great Recession, he’d done something that other U.S. automakers were unable to do: avoid bankruptcy.”
At the same time, he decided to forge ahead at SpaceX. He gathered the company’s employees and said they had the components for a fourth attempt. “We have another rocket,“ he told them. “Go back to the island and launch it in six weeks.”
On the morning of September 28, 2008, Musk went with his brother and their children to Disneyland, where they rode, in an apt metaphor, the Space Mountain roller coaster. Then he raced back to SpaceX headquarters to take his seat in the command van. For more than nine minutes, he and his team watched on monitors as the rocket lifted off flawlessly, the second stage detached without a hitch, and finally the payload went into orbit. On the factory floor, more than 100 employees started jumping and screaming for joy. Their company had been saved, and private space flight was going to be a reality. Then Musk stepped forward and reminded them there was more work to do. “This is just the first step of many,” he said.
At the same time, Musk’s chief car designer was preparing to go to work in a corner of SpaceX’s factory, beneath a white tent that was designated as the Tesla area. Musk had ordered him to produce a prototype of the Model S, an all-electric luxury sedan that would make or break his company. In March 2009, Musk was able to drive the sleek prototype onto the SpaceX factory floor at a celebrity-packed gala launch party. As the crowd cheered and music boomed, Musk announced, “You’re looking at what will be the world’s first mass manufactured electric car.”
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Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
Miraculously, Musk had survived what seemed like two certain flameouts. “It felt like I had been taken out to the firing squad, and been blindfolded,” he said. “Then they fired the guns, which went click. No bullets came out. And then they let you free. Sure, it feels great. But you’re pretty [expletive] nervous.”
In his famous “Think Different” ad for Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs saluted people like himself: “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels… Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Musk is in some ways the current incarnation of Jobs. As these two books show in vivid detail, Musk can drive people hard. He can drive them to distraction. But he can also drive them to do things they never dreamed were possible. “Please prepare yourself for a level of intensity that is greater than anything most of you have experienced before,” he wrote in one staff memo. “Revolutionizing industries is not for the faint of heart.”
Like Jobs, Musk has a reality distortion field. “In meetings, Musk might ask his engineers to do something that, on the face of it, seemed absurd,” Berger writes. But unlike Jobs, Musk has an understanding of physics and thermodynamics that has helped him know what boundaries could be successfully pushed. “When they protested that it was impossible, Musk would respond with a question designed to open their minds to the problem, and potential solutions. He would ask, ‘What would it take?’”
By drilling down to fundamental principles and the underlying science, he has built the globally dominant private rocket company whose Starship vehicle might lead the way in bringing humans to Mars, and Tesla has become the world’s most valuable auto company, one that will help wean humanity from fossil-fuel cars.
That is especially impressive in a country where much of the tech innovation over the past 50 years has been confined to digital products that can be concocted in dorm rooms and garages. As Peter Thiel famously lamented, “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” Musk’s innovation has been in tangible things, such as batteries and cars and rockets, that are harder to make in a risk-averse and heavily-regulated environment, and he has shown that they can be manufactured in the United States. Each step of the way, critics dismissed him as crazy. But he has ended up illustrating Jobs’s maxim that the people who are crazy enough to change the world are the ones who do – especially when they combine a deep understanding of technology with a passion that is connected to a higher mission and purpose.


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NEW DELHI : India is aiming to integrate deeply with the global supply chains by focusing on bringing down logistics cost, building holistic infrastructure with planning under Gati Shakti, along with use of R&D and technology.
“Will have to look for ways to integrate better with global value chains. We aim to bring down logistics costs, build resilient supply chains, and attract investment. Gati Shakti is helping plan multi-modal connectivity across India. We have a holistic approach to building infrastructure to bring last-mile connectivity in a multi-modal manner,” Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary, Commerce Ministry said at a Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) event.
The Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti National Master Plan is a Rs 100 lakh crore project aimed at developing holistic infrastructure in India. Integration with global supply chains provides opportunities for growth and employment, she said. COVID-19 saw massive disruptions and realignment of the global supply chains. Dawra said that manufacturing and logistics are not enough to build resilient supply chains; it needs R&D, and technology too.
To integrate with global supply chains it is important that domestic connectivity is strengthened.
“Railways is planning movement of coal connectivity via ports, roads. Localising manufacturing is important to add value in domestic supply chains. Services of skilled labour are needed to boost supply chains and add value,“ she said.
In order to boost manufacturing and exports the government has announced the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in 14 sectors. “Production-linked incentive schemes will help bring cutting-edge technology, and scale. From being an importer, India has now become an exporter of mobile phones. We are exporting auto parts to Europe today. Impressive sales have been seen in sectors in which PLI scheme exists like white goods,“ she said.
Supply chain disruptions have also impacted the aircraft manufacturing. Salil Gupte, President, Boeing India, said that in critical areas of technology, diversion in supply chains has been witnessed because of disruptions. “Today, a passenger aircraft manufacturing takes six to eight years as compared to 18 months earlier. Risks in supply chains have to be more spread out. Strong engineering and manufacturing partners are needed to boost supply chains,” Gupte said at the event.


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First Seacoast Bancorp in Dover, N.H., will convert to a fully stock-owned company.
The $500 million-asset mutual holding company said in a press release that it will undertake a second-step conversion. First Seacoast held its initial public offering in July 2019.
The total amount of common stock to be issued in the proposed offering will be based on the aggregate pro forma market value of the common stock of First Seacoast as determined by an independent appraisal. Shares in the MHC will convert into rights to buy stock in the successor company.
The conversion is expected to take place in the first quarter.
Luse Gorman is the legal counsel. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is the marketing agent.


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passkeys are encrypted and safer than customary passwords, which are challenging to recollect and effortlessly hacked.
Other tech organizations like Microsoft (LinkedIn's parent organization) and Google have communicated help for passkeys and the demise of passwords.
In iOS 16, Apple will present passwordless logins for its items and will rather depend on "passkeys" like fingerprints and facial acknowledgment, which are now utilized on some iPhones and PCs.
Apple iPhone 14 will be having these changes in it as per the sources confirms the news
Apple iPhone 14 will have Voilet color handset available for sale in probably September2022


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[ad_1] Industrial Robotics Market The latest report on Industrial Robotics Market now available at The Insight Partners, delivers facts and numbers regarding the market size, geographical landscape and profit forecast of the Industrial Robotics Market’. In addition, the report focuses on major obstacles and the latest growth plans adopted by leading companies in this business.
[ad_1] Self-driving cars are bogged down by several problems. There are many challenges for self-driving cars, ranging from cybersecurity risks to high costs to technical issues, that prevent mass adoption. It is quite impressive how the technology rolled down to our roads, automating to a level where no human involvement is required. Yes, you envisioned
[ad_1] What did the BBC did get right in Vigil, its tale of sex, drugs, treason, murder and perfect shoulder-length hair aboard a Trident submarine? “I noticed the clingfilm over a mug to stop spillage,” says Alexandra Geary, curator of the National Museum of the Royal Navy. “A submariner or sailor has obviously given them
[ad_1] TOKYO (Reuters) – Miki Watanabe, the chief executive of Japanese pub chain Watami, has urgent advice for the next prime minister: provide fair compensation for restaurants impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions on eateries. Watanabe, himself a former politician who spent six years in parliament, has a relationship with outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga from
[ad_1] Portland, OR, Sept. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As per the report published by Allied Market Research, the global military robot market was accounted for $17.55 billion in 2020, and is estimated to reach $34.61 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 7.4% from 2021 to 2030. Rise in investment to develop autonomous
[ad_1] Starship Technologies is operating a global fleet of more than 1,000 delivery robots across campuses. These small autonomous bots are said to make around 80,000 crossings daily, and, sometimes, they will get in trouble, no matter how advanced their sensors are. Since launching its first commercial delivery service in 2019, Starship has grown its


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Have we seen Kate's royal wedding outfit before? Here's what everyone is saying19th May 18 | Beauty
Has the Duchess of Cambridge re-worn yet another designer dress?
It’s less than a month since she gave birth to her third child, yet the Duchess of Cambridge looked remarkable as she arrived at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
Elegant as ever, she opted for a pale lemon, silk, tailored coat dress by Alexander McQueen, a perfect choice for a sunny spring day.
The simplicity of her dress was offset by her show-stopping Philip Treacy headwear and pair of Jimmy Choo stiletto court shoes.
But being a busy mum can mean spending the day shopping for wedding outfits isn’t always possible. And as we know, Kate’s not against recycling outfits she’s worn before. Could this be a third – or even fourth-time outing for the coat dress?
It looks remarkably similar to the McQueen dress Kate wore to her daughter Charlotte’s christening in July 2015, to the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele ceremony in July last year, and also the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations in 2016.
But the reaction on social media has been pretty positive…
Though not everyone was so convinced.
But we’ve got to love the way Kate masterfully refreshes her outfits and wears them time and time again.
You can watch highlights from the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on 3Player now.
© Press Association 2018


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Skype alternative FriendCaller says it has doubled the number of users it has worldwide to 10 million in less than a year (perspective: at the time of Skype’s acquisition by Microsoft last year it had 663 million global users). The FriendCaller service, which lets people talk to other FriendCaller members for free but charges for calls to external phones and other services, works across mobile devices including iOS and Android. It also exists in Web Phone form, and supports Facebook logins.
FriendCaller has been around for several years, with the company behind it, C2Call, founded back in 2008. It’s had a fairly low profile over the years — doubtless thanks to limited traction — albeit it popped up on our radar back in April with the launch of new mobile and web apps supporting 7-way video chats, and voice chats with up to 20-partipants.
At the time it said it had 6.5 million subscribers — meaning it’s added 3.5 million subscribers since, in just under six months. ”10 million users is a significant milestone for us, and we are proud to have doubled the number of FriendCaller users in less than a year,” noted CEO Martin Feuerhahn in a statement.
Feuerhahn credited recent feature enhancements to FriendCaller’s service — such as the ability to share photos, videos and location data — as contributing to its accelerated growth.
FriendCaller is powered by C2Call GmbH, based in Werl, Germany, a pioneer in next-generation browser-based VoIP solutions for the cloud. FriendCaller is a browser-based “Internet phone” offering unique capabilities that can establish peer-to-peer connections through any Internet browser, without the need for pre-installed software. FriendCaller applications is availablefor widely popular iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, Android OS, WebPhone and Nokia Series 40. Facebook App is also available to call directly from your facebook account.


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Morning MoneyBeat is the Journal’s pre-market primer packed with market updates, insights and must-read news links. Send us tips, suggestions and complaints: email@example.com
MARKET SNAP: At 6:15 a.m. ET, S&P 500 futures down 0.03%. 10-Year Treasury yield flat at 2.42%. Nymex down 22 cents at $97.37. Gold 0.2% higher at $1316.60. In Europe, FTSE 100 up 0.3%, DAX up 0.1% and CAC 40 flat. In Asia, Nikkei 225 up 0.7% and Hang Seng down 0.4%.
WATCH FOR: Weekly Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m. Eastern Time): seen 295K; previously 289K. July Import Prices (8:30): seen -0.3%; previously +0.1%. Advance Auto Parts, Agilent, Applied Materials, Autodesk, J.C. Penney, K12, Kohl's, Nordstrom, Perrigo, Plug Power, Red Robin, Sina, Vertex Energy and Wal-Mart Stores are among companies scheduled to report quarterly results.
THE BREAKFAST BRIEFING
Judging by the labor market, the economy looks pretty good this year. Judging by the retail sector, the story looks pretty different.
This week’s data illustrate that dichotomy, one that raises questions about the actual state of the economy and how the Federal Reserve will proceed amid concerns that it could raise interest rates sooner than anticipated.
The number of job openings across the U.S. economy reached a 13-year high in June, according to a report released Tuesday by the Labor Department. When companies post more job openings and step up hiring efforts, it typically reflects an improving outlook for the economy.
Then there’s the retail sector.
Retail sales growth has slowed for four straight months, including Wednesday’s report showing sales were unchanged in July from a month earlier. Economists say the latest figures raise doubts about optimistic growth expectations for the second half of 2014.
“Since a short-lived rebound in sales in February and March, the consumer has continuously slowed consumption,” Sterne Agee chief economist Lindsey Piegza wrote in a note to clients.
Reports from individual retailers have also been downbeat. Macy's, for example, lowered its sales forecast for the year. “Many customers still are not feeling comfortable about spending more in an uncertain economic environment,” Chief Executive Terry Lundgren said. Shares of the department-store chain slumped 5.5% on Wednesday.
J.C. Penney Co., Kohl’s Corp., Nordstrom Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are among prominent retailers set to report quarterly results on Thursday. All are embroiled in a competitive environment in which weak consumer spending and changing shopping habits have crimped results. Slow wage growth has crimped the ability for consumers to ramp up spending.
The broad market seems to be brushing aside the recent struggles coming out of the retail sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91 points on Wednesday and swung back into positive territory for the year.
A bad-news-is-good-news mentality may be playing a role: A strengthening labor market combined with a weak retail sector could be enough to prevent the Fed from accelerating plans to tighten monetary policy.
Such a mindset may be good enough, at least in the short term, for stock-market bulls.
Morning MoneyBeat Daily Factoid: On this date in 1945, World War II came to an end after President Harry Truman announced Japan surrendered unconditionally. The announcement set off wild celebrations across the country, captured most famously in the Alfred Eisenstaedt photograph of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square, and while the day is called V-J Day, the official V-J Day is Sept. 2, the day Japan signed its surrender.
-By Steven Russolillo; follow him on Twitter @srussolillo.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Cisco Systems’s fiscal fourth-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates but shares fell 3% in after-hours trade as the company said it plans to cut up to 6,000 jobs.
Amgen announced disappointing results from a late-stage trial of its blood-cancer treatment, as well as a recall of prefilled syringes of its anemia drug Aranesp. Shares dropped 2.5% in after-hours trade.
Tesla Motors shares have closed at records for three straight sessions. Tesla stock has been climbing since reporting strong second-quarter results.
Wal-Mart Stores is expected to report fiscal second-quarter earnings of $1.21 per share on revenue of $119.05 billion early Thursday.
MUST READS (LINKS)
U.S. Sway Over Israel on Gaza at a Low: “The Obama administration has tightened control on arms transfers to Israel since learning last month that the Israeli military had been quietly securing supplies of ammunition from the Pentagon without its approval.”
Euro-Zone GDP Fails to Grow: “The euro-zone economy stalled last quarter after 12 months of weak growth, underscoring concerns that the region is mired in a deep rut of high joblessness and weak consumer prices that could worsen amid tension in Ukraine and the Middle East.”
50 Financial Twitter Feeds You Must Follow: “The discussion of finance on Twitter is sounding more mature these days. Once simply a swirling pot of news, on-the-fly analysis, ridiculous market rumors and general snark, the social media site is now home to some of the fastest sophisticated analysis available on the web.”
In Stock Market: Anxiety Can Be a Good Thing: “With stock prices high and the globe unsettled, investors are feeling unusually anxious. Paradoxically, that could be a fine thing for markets, some stock strategists say.”
Oil Prices Tumble as Demand Flags: “Investors and traders say they are worried less about geopolitical threats to oil supplies and more about soft demand.”
Facing a Pension Shortfall, San Diego Dials Up the Risk: “A large California pension manager is using complex derivatives to supercharge its bets as it looks to cover a funding shortfall and diversify its holdings.”
Ahead of the Tape: Wal-Mart’s Prices Aren’t All That’s Low: “Clearly this wasn’t what Wal-Mart Stores Inc. meant by ‘always low prices.’ Its stock, not to mention its stock with Wall Street analysts, has been languishing in the past year and a half.”
Bloomberg, Markit Separately Look to Buy Barclays Index Unit: “Rival financial-data providers Bloomberg and Markit are separately looking at acquiring the fixed-income index unit of Barclays, operator of a widely used benchmark for fixed income portfolio managers that is up for sale.”
Heard on the Street: King Digital’s Gaming Crown Tarnished by Fickle Subjects: “Like Zynga before, King Digital has learned it is hard to count on casual gamers to stick around.”
“King Slayer” Kim Kardashian Crushes King Digital: “King Digital Entertainment PLC second-quarter struggles can partly be attributed to Kim Kardashian.”
Heard on the Street: Amazon: It’s a Jungle Out There: “Even Amazon.com and other online retailers didn’t escape a slowdown in the latest U.S. retail sales numbers.”


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Canaan Inc. News
10 Best Stocks in the Past Week: AMC, GameStop Stay Hot
The best-performing stocks in the past week include AMC Entertainment, GameStop, Koss, FuelCell Energy, QuantumScape, and more.
Best Stocks in the Past Week: Freeport-McMoRan, QuantumScape
The best-performing stocks in the past week include Churchill Capital IV, Riot Blockchain, Aphria, Futu Holdings, Canaan, Gores Holdings VI and more.
Jim Cramer Expects a Santa Claus Rally for Amazon, Google
Jim Cramer, portfolio manager of TheStreet's Action Alerts Plus and host of CNBC's 'Mad Money,' sees a selective Santa Claus rally on Wall Street this year.
Becton Dickinson, Microsoft Are Quality Buys Says Jensen Manager
Shares of Becton Dickinson have dropped over 10% since hitting a record high in early August.
Yahoo! Meet, Nike Earnings, Consumer Sentiment -- What to Watch Next Week
Internet company Yahoo! will hold a much-watched shareholder meeting, and TheStreet will also be looking closely at earnings from sports apparel giant Nike and a key consumer report.
Director Nelson Peltz Buys $15.9M More of Legg Mason
Legg Mason director buys 525,000 shares.
Biogen Stock Clings to Key Level After Explosive Rally
Biogen stock is up almost 40% on Wednesday but is barely holding above a key level. Let's look at the chart.
Americans Heavily Favor Hiring Ex-Cons for Open Jobs
Fully 89% of Americans say ex-offenders should be given a second chance, a survey says.
LeBron James Buying a Piece of a Major League Team
Participation in this sport grew the fastest of any in the U.S. from 2019-21, reaching the 4.8 million-player mark.
DocuSign Stock Jumps On Job Cut Plan Ahead Of New CEO Allan Thygesen
DocuSign said the job cuts will "improve operating margin and support the company’s growth, scale and profitability objectives".


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July 16, 2020 by Adam Malik
If brokers and insurers wonder when the next opportunity might be to sell more commercial premium, it could be at least another six months.
That’s when about half of Canada’s small businesses expect to return to normal profitability, according to a Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) survey. CFIB represents more than 110,000 Canadian small busineses.
But returning to profitability is just the beginning. Restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic that were put in place months ago are loosening across the country, allowing more businesses to open back up. But even though 53% of business owners say it’ll take six months to get back to normal profitability, almost a third (30%) expect to take a year to get back to that point. Five per cent aren’t sure they’ll ever return to normal.
“Small business recovery is going to be a long, tough road,” said Laura Jones, the CFIB’s executive vice president.
She added that businesses need to move off of subsidies and into making sales, making a pitch for consumers to shop at their local businesses. “Collectively, individual actions like trying a local business for the first time, giving your hairdresser a bigger tip, or buying a new swimsuit from a local store can make a big difference,” she said.
Once businesses return to profitability, the next step in the recovery process is paying off debt. Many (73%) have taken on debt since COVID-19 was declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11. More than two-thirds (68%) of Canadian businesses surveyed told the CFIB that they believe it will take a year for them to pay that off.
“Government debt has ballooned and so, too, has the private debt taken on by small businesses to deal with COVID-19,” Jones said. “I’ve talked to many businesses that are open again, but are worried about being able to outrun the debt they have accumulated, particularly with sales still down.”
Canadian small businesses have taken on an average of $135,000 in debt. The CFIB pegged the total debt load taken on to be $117 billion. Business owners are leaning on personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, retirement savings, mortgages, and loans from friends and family to finance revenue shortfalls and extra business costs.
According to the CFIB, 58% of small businesses across the country are open as of July 14. That number is highest in Saskatchewan (73%) and lowest in Ontario (49%). Other than Newfoundland and Labrador (57%), all other provinces are reporting at least 61% of businesses have fully re-opened.
But only 24% of all businesses are seeing normal sales. Further, just 35% are fully staffed. More than a quarter of businesses (27%) are reporting that staff are refusing to return to work after being laid off.
There are a number of reasons why, including preferring to stay on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (62%), concerns for personal health or family’s well-being (47%), and concerns around childcare obligations (27%)
“Staffing is one of the many challenges for small businesses trying to get back to normal,” said CFIB president Dan Kelly.
Feature image by iStock.com/ClarkandCompany


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There are hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles on the roads across the U.S. and the European Union, and endless news of American EV maker Tesla's latest moves. But the truth is that China is the center of the battery and electric transportation universe. This is borne out by the sheer volume of capital being deployed in the largest EV market in the world, a market that saw 579,000 electric passenger cars sold last year.
With the caveat that battery and EV claims require some healthy skepticism, here are a few recent billion-dollar EV financial events in China.
Farasis gets $1 billion in financing?
With a claim of more than 3,000 employees and a manufacturing base in China, lithium-ion battery builder Farasis Energy claims that it has secured more than $1 billion in a "C round" of financing from undisclosed investors to open a large-scale European battery production facility. There were also unsubstantiated reports of a $790 million funding round from undisclosed investors earlier this year.
Farasis has won millions in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards for novel lithium-ion chemistries and claims that it has “regularly ranked first in terms of shipments of NCM-based lithium-ion pouch cells to the Chinese automotive market."
The company has not responded to email and phone inquiries to date.
Nio's $1 billion IPO
Chinese EV startup Nio, helmed by former Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior, was looking to raise $1.8 billion on the NYSE, but the IPO came up short, raising $1 billion at a share price of $6.25. The stock has seen some gains since the IPO, but was hit hard this week by President Trump's tariff threats.
Note that Nio has raised $1 billion, and as of a few weeks ago, had delivered just 481 SUVs, while receiving deposits for more than 17,000. The company just started delivering its first volume-manufactured vehicle, an SUV, with a driving range of 220 miles, along with a price of $70,000 prior to incentives. Nio is developing a smaller SUV for delivery in 2019.
Nio is building its SUV in an arrangement with Jianghuai Automobile Group, a large state-owned automobile builder in China, and so scaling manufacturing volume is less of a challenge than it might be for other startups. The company uses lithium-ion batteries from a number of suppliers and plans to offer battery-swapping options and some measure of autonomous driving.
This is an early-stage company that is going to continue to lose enormous sums of money over the coming quarters, as well as require massive investments in manufacturing and R&D. Nio lost $758 million in 2017 and has lost $502.5 million this year so far, while generating just $6.9 million in revenue. All of this business is from China.
The EV builder is based in Shanghai, but employs 520 people at its San Jose, Calif. U.S. headquarters. Nio plans go after the U.S. EV market after it has established itself at home.
Total dominance in electric buses
Here's a shocking stat in a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance: There are almost 400,000 electric buses deployed globally and 99 percent of them are in China.
BNEF forecasts that by 2040, 80 percent of the world's municipal buses will be electric and that the imminent transition to electric will be "as fast as the supply chain and charging infrastructure will allow."
China wants Chile's lithium resources
Although the financial and regulatory details are murky, Tianqi, China’s largest producer of battery-grade lithium, is looking to publicly list on a Hong Kong bourse in order to finance a $4 billion stake in Chilean lithium developer SQM, according to a prospectus and reporting in The Financial Times. Tianqi still needs trust-related regulatory approval for the acquisition.
Demand for lithium is set to grow substantially in the coming years, driven by the electrification of transportation — although lithium producers have seen a decline in share price due to oversupply worries.
DOJ looks for fraud in Musk's 420 tweets
Tesla might be paying a large price for undisciplined tweets from CEO Elon Musk.
Bloomberg reports that Tesla and Elon Musk are facing a criminal investigation for fraud, following the CEO's tweet last month claiming that he had "funding secured" from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund in a go-private effort at $420 per share. Bloomberg notes that Tesla is also under civil investigation by the SEC for that same tweet.
Tesla responded with a statement: "Last month, following Elon's announcement that he was considering taking the company private, Tesla received a voluntary request for documents from the DOJ and has been cooperative in responding to it. We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process. We respect the DOJ's desire to get information about this and believe that the matter should be quickly resolved as they review the information they have received."
Tesla's stock price is up 3.2 percent on the bad news.
Funding secured from PIF for Lucid Motors
Lucid Motors was originally named Atieva and started out in 2007 as a battery pack developer with a founder from Tesla and VC funding from Venrock. The company eventually pivoted to becoming a premium EV builder with massive funding from Beijing’s China Environment Fund, Mitsui & Co., Jafco and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding.
After a number of near-death experiences and delays, Lucid Motors has finally secured more than $1 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to finance the launch of the its first EV, the Lucid Air. The funding will be used to build its factory in Casa Grande, Arizona and finish development and testing of its initial model — with commercial launch targeted for 2020, according to an announcement from the firm.
Lucid's $1 billion comes from the the same Saudi fund that Elon Musk claimed would help take Tesla private in last month's potentially criminal tweet.
Watch out for when the Chinese manufacturing machine starts to crank out electric vehicles and do what it does best (and what Tesla is struggling with), which is the ability to scale to massive volumes. Expect a flood of smart, sleek EVs from China's BAIC, BYD, Cherry, Geely, Zhidou, Hawtai and Zotye, just to name just a few.


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CARPROOF donates $12,000 to Red Cross relief efforts across Canada
LONDON, ON, Sept. 10, 2013 – CARPROOF Vehicle History Reports, Canada’s most trusted vehicle history report provider, has donated $12,000 to Canadian Red Cross relief efforts in support of the Alberta floods and the Lac-Mégantic explosion in Quebec.
From July 22 to 28, CARPROOF set aside a portion of all vehicle history report sales to automotive dealers and consumers in Alberta to help that province recover from the extensive flooding that occurred in June. A week later, the company pledged to donate a percentage of Quebec sales from July 30 to Aug. 5 to support the Lac-Mégantic assistance program set-up by the Red Cross after the July 5 train explosion. In total, $6,000 was raised for Alberta and $6,000 was generated for Lac-Mégantic, bringing the overall total to $12,000.
“The entire CARPROOF team feels deeply for the people affected by both of these horrible disasters. We have employees and customers who suffered as a result of the flooding and the explosion and we felt it was important that we support these communities in their time of need,” said Drew Forret, CFO/COO at CARPROOF. “We’d like to thank our dealer members and our retail customers for helping us make this donation to these relief efforts.”
CARPROOF, a unit of IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), is a world-class data company that creates insight through information for the automotive industry. Offering solutions in vehicle history, appraisal, valuation and more, the CARPROOF name is synonymous with trusted, impartial and comprehensive used vehicle data. CARPROOF’s products are used by dealerships, vehicle manufacturers, consumers, major auctions, governments, insurance providers and police agencies across Canada, to help users buy, sell and appraise vehicles with full transparency. Based in London, Ontario and founded in 2000, CARPROOF has been named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, and was also honoured with Deloitte’s 2013 Technology Fast 50™ and Fast 500™ awards. For more information about CARPROOF, visit www.carproof.com.
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Starting Monday, Oklahoma City Public School parents and students will be able to opt-in or out of online learning for next semester.
Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade students will learn online for at least the first nine weeks, if they choose the online option.
The online option is a semester-long commitment for ninth through 12th grade students.
Parents and students have until Friday, December 4, to make their decision.
Anyone interested in moving to the online learning program can contact their child's school.
Click here for more information on the e3 online learning option.


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Guardian Analytics Launches FraudMap for Business Banking
Guardian Analytics, a provider of online account fraud prevention software, has launched FraudMap for business banking, designed to prevent fraud in online business banking accounts from login to logout. FraudMap helps financial institutions deploy the new line of defence needed to protect against sophisticated, large dollar fraud attempts, including man-in-the-browser attacks and schemes that leverage networks of mules to execute automated clearing house (ACH) fraud.
“In 2009 smart and targeted attacks aimed at online business banking accounts increased dramatically, resulting in widely reported six figure fraud attacks. Unprecedented warnings of the dangers of online banking were issued from the FDIC, the FBI, Gartner and other industry experts,” said Terry Austin, chief executive officer (CEO), Guardian Analytics. “Unless financial institutions take a new approach to detecting and preventing fraud, we anticipate 2010 will yield losses of even greater magnitude. With FraudMap for business banking, financial institutions can start proactively protecting themselves and their business customers from these bold attacks.”


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A team of medical cannabis inspectors from the European Union has approved Uganda's medical marijuana products, paving the way for local growers to tap into the global legal marijuana market. At least 50 companies have applied through the Ministry of Health to join Industrial Globus Uganda Ltd in growing marijuana for medicinal use.
Africa's share of the global marijuana market - both legal and illicit - stands at around 11% and is valued at U.S.$ 37.7 billion. Leading the pack is ... see more »
Monitor, 20 June 2019
Israeli firm, Together Pharma Limited has reported that it made a cannabis harvest from Uganda on Tuesday, despite a government announcement that the said license had been halted. Read more »
Medical cannabis orders worth U.S.$160 million from at least 20,000 pharmacies in Canada and Germany have been confirmed. Read more »
The health ministry says it is stuck with 20 firms competing to secure government clearance to grow and export marijuana for medical purposes. The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic ... Read more »


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Jonathan Sands, chairman of international design consultancy Elmwood, has praised the controversial redesign of the Starbucks logo.
The new logo for the world’s largest coffee chain has dropped both the name ‘Starbucks’ and the word ‘coffee’ from the previous design, choosing to focus solely on its 40-year-old green image of a twin tailed siren.
As a result of the new design being unveiled, hundreds of customers have complained directly to Starbucks through its website, calling for it to reintroduce the previous logo design.
Sands said: “First of all I think it is extremely unprofessional to criticise another agency's work (and actually cowardly if you do so anonymously) when you have no sight of the brief or any understanding of the background research that was done. And there will have been lots.
"For me the idea of leveraging the core asset, 'the siren', is a good one and the fact that only two hundred customers have complained out of tens of millions is an awesome achievement. It gets my vote.”
The new Starbucks identity was launched this week around the world as the company looks set to expand its offer from coffee.


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Chile's Peso Jumps to 8-Month High on Improved Growth Outlook
Colombian Peso Rises to 28-Month High on Higher Bond Demand
N.Z. Dollar Heads for Winning Week; Investors Abroad Buy Bonds
I have just browsed some business news at Bloomberg I am surprised to know that the currencies of Chile and Columbia are rising against the United States dollar. For New Zealand, the local currency has been climbing high against the U.S. currency since late 2002, so it is not new to me.
The Philippine currency has always been down against the dollar. This has a psychological effect on consumer economic sentiments. Unless the peso does not improve consumer confidence may still remain low.


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BUSINESS CLOSE: Pound climbs above $1.41; Greggs eyes return to normal profits; Provident Financial exits doorstop lending
The pound has soared above $1.41 for the first time in over two months thanks to a mix of dollar weakness, improved economic outlook and the SNP failing to gain an absolute majority in the Scottish elections.
Sterling was up 1.1 per cent against the dollar, with £1 buying $1.415 shortly after the London stock market close. Against the euro, the pound also gained over 1 per cent, with £1 buying €1.163.
The strength of the pound partially weighed on the FTSE, which ended the day more or less flat, or just 6 points lower, at 7,123, while the FTSE 250 fell 78 points to 22,697.
In company news, Greggs said it could get back to normal profits this year as it revealed like-for-like sales in the eight weeks to May 8 were just 3.9 per cent lower than in the same period in 2019.
UK retailers have slashed their carbon emissions in half since 2005 and smashed environmental targets for the past year, according to new data from the British Retail Consortium.
Provident Financial said it was exiting its 141-year-old doorstep-lending division, adding that it has begun a consultation process for 2,100 employees, as the pandemic delivered the final blow to the loss-making business.
Greggs believes it could get back to normal profits this year thanks to a revival in sales
The FTSE 250 has closed down 0.3%, or 78 points, to 22,697
Subprime lender Provident Financial has confirmed that it intends to close its doorstop lending business after 141 years in operation.
It follows The Mail on Sunday revealing at the start of the month that a source inside the Bradford-based company said it intended to shut the division, which comprises online lending subsidiary Satsuma and Provident Home Credit.
Connor Campbell at Spreadex sums up the day for the pound and the FTSE:
A couple of key things have gone the pound’s way in the last few days. Firstly, the SNP failed to gain an absolute majority in the Scottish elections, making more difficult the push for a second referendum on independence.
As an extra sweetener on Monday morning, reports stated that the UK government would be going ahead with the next phase of its lockdown-easing plans despite the threat of the Indian covid-19 variants.
These twin factors allowed the pound to make strides against the dollar and the euro, though left the currency in differing positions against both its rivals.
Knocking on of the door of $1.413, cable is now at its best price since the end of February and isn’t far off the near-3-year peak struck during the month of love. Against the euro, on the other hand, sterling has only managed a 3-week peak, forced to first recover the losses incurred last Thursday.
These gains made it difficult for the FTSE to enjoy the reopening news, despite another strong session for its miners. The blue-chip index dipped a handful of points to 7,120, while interestingly the FTSE 250 was down 0.4%, even though many of its constituents stand to benefit from the return to indoor mixing.
Just before close, the FTSE 100 was down just 4.63 points to 7,125.08.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was down 0.41% to 22,682.52.
Sky News is reporting that the Government is preparing to sell another chunk of shares in NatWest Group...
Former Scottish Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson has joined the board of mutual insurance business Royal London as a non-executive.
The appointment comes just days after the Scottish parliamentary elections in which Ms Davidson decided not to stand for re-election to pursue new interests.
Chairman Kevin Parry said the former politician "brings a deep understanding of contemporary societal issues, and is a strong advocate for diversity and a champion of advancing social and environmental responsibility".
Ms Davidson said:
I love the values and philosophy of mutuals and I am delighted to be joining Royal London, which practises those values every day.
Boris Johnson is proposing to relax rules on planning so new homes can be built in the biggest shake-up of the system in 70 years.
The Prime Minister will put home ownership at the centre of the proposals to keep his new constituents in former Labour 'Red Wall' seats on side.
Laith Khalaf, financial analyst at AJ Bell, comments on Elon Musk’s announcement that SpaceX plans to launch satellite Doge-1 to the moon next year:
The SpaceX Dogecoin moon mission isn’t a giant leap for cryptocurrencies, because back here on planet Earth, crypto’s long term adoption by consumers, businesses and investors remains highly uncertain, to say the least. If an asset can drop 30% on the back of one individual’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, this tells you there’s not a huge amount of fundamental value holding up its price.
While SpaceX might accept Dogecoin as payment, those Dogecoins will have been bought by people earning money in dollars, euros and pounds, and then converting it. Until cryptocurrencies are used for things as mundane as paying your mortgage or your phone bill, or indeed receiving your wages, as a medium of exchange they simply add an extra layer to transactions, and most don’t actually perform a useful function in the real economy.
Elon Musk says SpaceX has accepted payment in the Dogecoin cryptocurrency to put a small satellite in lunar orbit early next year.
The 'DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon' will see a 40kg (88lb) cubesat built by Canada's Geometric Energy Corporation launch on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
With the pound strengthening today, the FTSE has turned slightly negative.
It's currently down 0.15 per cent to 7,119.
Top fallers include engineering groups Smiths Grouup, down 3 per cent, and Renishaw, down also around 3 per cent, along with Premier Inn owner Whitbread, Just Eat Takeaway and betting group Flutter.
The FTSE 250 is also in the red, down 0.4 per cent to 22,682.
Rising online sales of Easter eggs and other chocolate treats for Mothers Day helped lift sales at Hotel Chocolat in March and April in what was the 'second largest seasonal peak' for the business.
Sales have been stronger than before the pandemic, rising 19 per cent during the eight weeks to April 25 compared to the same period in 2019, the company said.
The upmarket chocolatier also confirmed it will repay around £3.1million it received from the Government in furlough support as it expects trading for the full year to be 'significantly' ahead of expectations.
The pound continues to climb against the dollar, having now risen more than 1 per cent to $1.4141.
Sophie Griffiths, a market analyst at Oanda, says the pound is outperforming its G10 peers after the local UK elections:
The Scottish Nationalist Party won the regional elections north of the border but failed to secure an absolute majority. While the SNP will continue pushing for another independence referendum, the lack of an absolute majority means the pound is breathing a sigh of relief.
Reopening optimism is also supporting sterling. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce the next step in easing lockdown restrictions.
Carbon emissions in the retail industry have dropped by almost half since 2005, according to new figures.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that emissions among major retailers had fallen by 49 per cent, with retail store emissions declining by 46 per cent, while they plummeted by 84 per cent for store deliveries.
A group of New Look landlords has lost its legal battle against the fashion chain's major restructuring plan.
In September last year, New Look launched a so-called company voluntary agreement, or CVA.
This included switching to turnover-linked rent contracts for its stores, meaning New Look would pay rent based on how much sales it raked in.
The plan was given the green light as most landlords agreed with the new deal, but a number of landlords were not happy and launched a legal challenge.
Today, the High Court ruled against this group of property owners who had challenged the CVA.
Nigel Oddy, chief executive officer of New Look, said he was pleased:
With the court hearing now behind us, we are able to focus on delivering our strategy and enhancing our position as one of the UK's leading omnichannel womenswear retailers.
The backlash over the foreign holidays roadmap intensified last night as figures showed the grounding of planes has blown a £3billion hole in Treasury coffers.
The collapse in air passenger duty revenues sparked calls to speed up the reopening of foreign travel after just 12 destinations were cleared for quarantine-free trips from May 17.
British Gas owner Centrica is on track to save around £100million thanks to its restructuring, including the controversial 'firing and rehiring' of thousands of its staff.
The group said that almost all its engineers had agreed to sign new employment contracts, which will require them to work an extra three hours a week for a total of 40 hours, and will not be paid more to work on weekends and public holidays.
Unions have claimed that under the new contracts, workers will suffer a 15 per cent pay cut, something which British Gas denies.
Full story below...
Airline shares are falling today as countries on only 12 countries made it on the so-called green list announced by the Government on Friday evening.
Under the new rules, holidaymakers to these ‘green list’ countries won't have to quarantine upon their return, but will still have to arrange pre-departure lateral test and on their return Covid PCR tests.
But in Europe, only Portugal made it onto the green list, which is weighing on Europe-focused airlines like Wizz Air and easyJet.
British Airways-owner IAG is down 1.5 per cent, Wizz Air is down 3.6 per cent, easyJet shares have fallen 2.7 per cent and Ryanair is down 0.4 per cent.
Activist US investor Elliott Management may have over-reached itself by taking on GSK.
Thus far, the hedge fund has not seen fit to reveal its agenda at the pharma giant, so chief executive Dame Emma Walmsley and shareholders, including pension savers, are in the dark.
House prices hit yet another record high in April to reach £258,000, as buyers continue to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.
According to mortgage lender Halifax, prices were 8.2 per cent higher than they were a year ago, marking the highest annual growth rate in 5 years.
This means that the average home is now worth nearly £20,000 more than it was before the pandemic.
Full story below...
Diane Abbott urged beleaguered Labour leader Keir Starmer to campaign to bring back freedom of movement between the UK and the EU today - after a weekend of humiliation at the hands of voters in the party's Brexit-backing former heartlands.
The hard Left former shadow home secretary urged Sir Keir to return to promoting 10 'pledges' he made when running to replace Jeremy Corbyn early last year, as part of a 'winning strategy'.
The commodities market continues to be on fire, with a near 8 per cent rise in iron ore prices and a 2.6 per cent jump in the price of copper.
Hopes of improved demand as lockdown restrictions are eased in some parts of the world along with tightening supply are pushing prices higher.
That's lifting big miners listed on the FTSE 100 like Fresnillo, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta, which are the top three risers on the index with shares up more than 2.5 per cent.
BHP Group and Evraz are also among the top ten risers, with shares up 2 per cent.
But the FTSE 100 is being held back by a rising pound, as it's mostly made up of companies which earn in dollars.
The FTSE 100 is currently flat at 7,132.
The cost of flying to Portugal has plunged over the weekend with Ryanair putting on dozens of flights to Faro, Lisbon and Porto shortly after the country was cleared three days ago for quarantine-free trips from May 17.
Britons travelling from London to Lisbon next Monday before coming home a week later can get a return with Ryanair from Stansted for just £67 - with various different flights available with the airline for similar prices.
House prices in April rose another 1.4 per cent last month to a new record high of £258,204, according to the latest Halifax house price index.
Prices rose by almost £20,000 in the year, or 8.2 per cent - the fastest annual rate of growth in five years.
Russell Galley, Managing Director, Halifax, said:
The stamp duty holiday continues to add impetus to an extremely active market, magnifying the current shortage of available homes as buyers aim to take advantage of the Government scheme. The influence of the stamp duty holiday will fade gradually over the coming months as it’s tapered out but low stock levels, low interest rates and continued demand is likely to continue to underpin prices in the market.
However, we do expect recent levels of activity to be sustained over the short-term as buyers continue to search for homes with more space and potentially better suited for their new working patterns. Savings built up over the months in lockdown have given some buyers even more cash to invest in their dream properties, while the new mortgage guarantee scheme may have eased deposit constraints for some prospective homebuyers who previously thought their first step on the housing ladder was a few years away.
Provident Financial announced this morning that it would shut down its doorstep-lending division after 141 years.
Greggs said sales for the most recent eight weeks to May 8 dropped just 3.9 per cent compared to a 23.3 per cent fall in the 10 weeks to March 13.
The pound has soared above $1.40 level for the first time in more than two months this morning as traders digest the results of last week's UK elections.
That's despite Scottish pro-independence parties winning a majority in Scotland's parliament.
Sterling is currently up 0.75 per cent against the dollar, with £1 buying $1.409, the highest since late February.
Against the euro, the pound is up also 0.7 per cent, with £1 buying €1.157.
Neil Wilson, an analyst at Markets.com, said:
Boris Johnson’s position looks secure, Labour is in disarray and Nicola Sturgeon has regained control of the Scottish parliament. Near-term worries about a second referendum on Scottish independence appear to have retreated somewhat.
The SNP are biding their time not pressing ahead immediately on a referendum (even most pro-indy voters don’t think it’s the most pressing matter). And as argued last week, the current Conservative government will not sanction a referendum. It’s likely to end up in court and see a major constitutional battle before there is even a vote. For now, sterling traders can afford to ignore the noise and focus on the near-term economic trends.
People should be encouraged to put more money into their pension pots once their children have left home, a think tank has suggested.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies has said there are a number of reasons why employees should be nudged into increasing their pension contributions as they age.
Sausage roll maker Greggs has said profits could soon return to pre-pandemic levels as sales have picked up strongly since the reopening of essential retailers last month.
The bakery chain, which sank to its first loss in 37 years in 2020 due to the pandemic, said sales growth since 12 April had been 'positive', partly reflecting the return of shoppers to the High Street.
Although it did not give an exact figure for the period, sales for the most recent eight weeks to May 8 dropped just 3.9 per cent, the company said - a big improvement from a 23.3 per cent fall in the 10 weeks to March 13.
Full story below...
William Ryder, Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, comments on Centrica's comments on its restructuring plans:
A lot has changed at Centrica recently. The sale of US-based Direct Energy has sorted out the balance sheet, and management now has considerable flexibility going forward. We’d like to see a conservative approach to debt going forward, at least until all the underlying business segments are robustly profitable.
Which brings us to the restructuring plans. Centrica and its subsidiary, British Gas, have copped some heat recently for controversial “fire and rehire” tactics, although management seems to have successfully imposed the new contract. The group thinks the restructuring plan will save more than £100m this year, and as a regulated monopoly Centrica might be able to afford the reputational hit.
But management may have exhausted goodwill with employees and attracted the attention of politicians, which could pose problems going forward.
Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, comments on the markets this morning:
Reports that the UK government is pushing ahead with its lockdown-easing plan – regardless of concerns over the Indian covid-19 variants currently circulating (and, in some areas, surging) – gave the pound a shot in the arm.
From May 17th up to 6 people, or 2 households, will be able to meet indoors, while cinemas, restaurants, pubs and the like will be able to have patrons mix inside.
This appeared to counter any concerns the currency may have had over the SNP’s renewed push for a referendum on Scottish independence and sent the pound up 0.5% against the dollar and 0.7% against the euro.
Cable is now trading above $1.4066 for the first time since February 25th, while against the euro it has just about recovered the sharp losses it suffered last week, lifting back to €1.158.
This did mean the FTSE struggled to gain much momentum itself after the bell, despite another strong showing from its copper and iron ore-lifted miners. Instead, the UK index added just 0.1%, though that was enough to keep it in the ballpark of a post-pandemic high.
Adam Vettese, analyst at eToro, comments on Provident Financial closing its doorstep-lending division:
The past five years have been painful for Provident Financial shareholders, with its shares currently a tenth of what they were at their peak in November 2015.
However, its decision to close its continuously loss-making doorstep lending business could help reverse its fortunes.
A spike in customer complaints and unwanted attention from the City watchdog means that it’s no longer tenable for Provident to continue in the doorstep lending sector, one it has been in for more than 140 years.
However, while the run-off or sale of this part of the group will dent revenues in the short term, it will allow it to focus resources on its much more profitable credit card and vehicle finance businesses.
Greggs said it had experienced a 'strong recovery' in sales in recent weeks following the temporary closure of the group's shops last year.
In the 10 weeks to March 13, sales were down by over a fifth on a two-year LFL basis, but recovered to be only 3.9 per cent lower in the eight weeks to May 8.
It said that an increase in out-of-home activity, and a lack of competition from indoor dining operators helped boost its sales in recent weeks.
Aviva has backed calls for a Government crackdown on financial fraud after its brand was hijacked by criminals.
At least 27 fake websites were set up in Aviva's name to dupe unsuspecting victims into handing over cash.
Pubs, restaurants and cafes across England will be able to seat customers inside again. And gatherings of up to six people or two households will be allowed indoors.
Hotels, B&Bs, cinemas, theatres and museums are to reopen while limits on funeral mourners are scrapped.
The pound at 8am was 1.4067 dollars compared to 1.4000 dollars at the previous close.
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When Shoreline’s plastic-bag ban takes effect Saturday, the city will be in good company. Good, reusable-bag-toting company.
The city’s ban prohibits retail stores from providing customers with plastic carryout bags and requires that stores charge a minimum of 5 cents for paper grocery-sized bags. State and federal food-assistance-program customers are exempt.
Plastic bags can be used for items where moisture might be a problem, for restaurant takeout orders and as dry-cleaner, newspaper and bulk-foods bags.
The terms of the Shoreline ban should sound familiar to Seattle residents; it was modeled, almost verbatim, after Seattle’s, according to Shoreline management analyst John Norris.
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About two years after Seattle passed its ordinance, plastic-bag bans are a growing trend in Washington. Eleven municipalities
have passed ordinances prohibiting merchants from providing plastic
“After Seattle did it, there was this thought that ‘they are the big city, and they did it,’ and they didn’t have this huge backlash,” Norris said. “The (Shoreline) council heard from both sides, with some supportive, others not, but once it happened, the community was resigned to it.”
Shoreline resident Kathleen Pomerinke prefers reusable bags over plastic bags, and remembers to bring them into the store about 95 percent of the time, she said as other customers at a Fred Meyer in Shoreline carried paper and plastic bags filled with groceries Friday afternoon.
“I think it’s the responsible way to deal with pollution,” she said.
At Town and Country Markets in cities with plastic-bag bans, 81 percent more customers started bringing in their own bags after the bans took effect, according to Tony D’Onofrio, the company’s sustainability director.
The Bainbridge Island ban, which took effect in 2012, is a success, Mayor Anne Blair said.
“I can’t even remember the last time I have gone to the drugstore or the grocery store and people have not had their cloth bags,” Blair said. “I saw someone in a scooter who left his bag in his car, but instead of asking for another bag, he said ‘no, put it in my basket.’ He wasn’t going to take the easy way.”
Advocates see Shoreline’s ban as another victory in a domino effect toward a possible statewide ban, said Katrina Rosen, field director for the left-leaning Environment Washington.
One concern, Rosen said, is that plastic bags don’t break down and wind up in water or landfills. They can hurt wildlife; a whale that died on a West Seattle beach in 2010 had more than 20 plastic bags in its stomach, according to news reports at the time.
“The biggest problem with plastic bags is that once they get into Puget Sound they never go away,” Rosen said.
Opponents question the science, however, and say the bans are a threat to consumer freedom.
“It’s very much an environmental fad,” said Todd Myers, director of the Center for the Environment at the Washington Policy Center, a conservative think tank
. “If you ask City Council members about the trade-offs, they say we don’t want plastic bags in the water, but if you ask the scientific effects of others (types of bags), they really don’t know.”
Issaquah, which passed a plastic-bag ban in June 2012 that went into effect last March, will hold a special election Feb. 11 asking voters whether
to keep it. A volunteer group collected enough signatures for a petition asking the council to either repeal the ban or put it to a vote.
Craig Keller, who lives in West Seattle, helped launch the signature drive in Issaquah and has been involved in similar campaigns in other cities. Merchants and consumers, he said, should have the right to choose whether they use a plastic bag, without government regulation.
“These options are best left to the private sector,” Keller said. “The same people who ban our plastic bags are the ones who will ban the Second Amendment, our medical choices.”
The Northwest Grocery Association, a nonprofit that represents the largest grocery chains in the region, supports the bag-ban ordinances as long as they apply to all retailers, allow
stores to recoup losses by charging 5 cents for paper bags and allow exceptions for food-stamp programs, according to Holly Chisa, lobbyist for the association.
Stores have gotten used to the bans, said Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for Fred Meyer stores. “Now it’s not that big of a deal,” she said.
In Edmonds, which in 2009 was the first Washington city to prohibit plastic bags, the ban was more to raise awareness of preserving the health of Puget Sound environment than to reduce the number of bags, recycling coordinator Steve Fisher said.
“With that whole idea of the society being responsible, it was a fairly easy local action that could be used to raise awareness,” Fisher said.
Seattle Public Utilities’ waste-prevention manager, Dick Lilly, called the Seattle ban extremely effective and said stores have complied with the rules. He cited a 2007 study that indicated there were about 290 million lightweight plastic bags given out by Seattle stores each year. And the Bainbridge Town and Country Market and the Ballard Market reduced their use of plastic bags, after the bans went into effect, by 592,000 plastic bags per year.
“There are fewer of these lightweight plastic bags being used,” Lilly said. “That means there are a lot less getting thrown away from users and blown into the water.”
Paige Cornwell: 206-464-2517 or firstname.lastname@example.org


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Apple iPhone X Face ID is the new way of unlocking the device as the phone has no fingerprint scanner. Security researchers from Bkav have been working in the security industry for a long time and the researchers have been able to fool the Apple iPhone X Face ID with a mask. The mask has been made with a combination of 3D printing and hand-modeled silicone.
According to the researchers, the Apple iPhone X Face ID can be fooled by a 3D printed mask and this can be captured by smartphones that have 3D scanning functionality like the Xperia XZ1. Keeping in mind that these masks can be made from pictures of your face the Apple iPhone X Face ID is not as secure as Apple would like you to think.
You can check out the video of the researcher fooling the Apple iPhone X Face ID with a mask below:
According to researchers:
“Potential targets shall not be regular users, but billionaires, leaders of major corporations, nation leaders, and agents like FBI need to understand the Face ID’s issue,”
It is important to note from the video that a full face mask was not needed in order to fool the Face ID and you only need the parts of the face that the scanner reads. This can make it a lot cheaper for people that are going to be testing and trying this hack.
“The recognition mechanism is not as strict as you think. We just need a half face to create the mask. It was even simpler than we ourselves had thought.”
Ever since Apple iPhone X Face ID was announced people were not sure about the security of the feature and now it has been proven to be flawed. There is another flaw that causes the iPhone X to freeze in colder climates and Overwatch will never be coming out for the iMac.
Let us know what you think about Apple iPhone X Face ID and whether or not you are interested in buying the Apple iPhone X.


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In a February 28 report to Fundstrat, co-founder and strategist Tom Lee confirmed his prediction, saying that by mid-2018, bitcoin would cost $ 20,000, and by December it would have grown to $ 25,000.
Also, according to Lee, several traditional corporations this year will introduce their own cryptocurrency. He noted that “three large companies have already announced the work on cryptocurrencies,” citing in particular the statement made the day before by Rakuten – the Japanese giant of e-commerce plans to create Rakuten Coin to support its loyalty program.
The day before, on February 27, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz reported that Starbucks is considering using blockchain and its own cryptocurrency in its new payment application.
And, noting this statement, Lee suggested that Facebook and Amazon might also “announce a crypto strategy this year.”
Write: Sara Bauer


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Huawei Mate X is launched for pre-ordering but a global launch plan is under review. The Phone cost is $2400 in chine. But soon it is launched worldwide.
Mate X faces many delays in its launch because of its difficult design, but now it is launched in china’s market, and after a few days it will launch globally. Mate X has a6.6-inches when it is folded, and become 6.38-inches when after it is unfolded. The phone has a super-fast processor Kirin 980 and is equipped with 5G technology.


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CSafe centre opens at growing pharma hub Atlanta
29 / 03 / 2016
Temperature-controlled air cargo container supplier CSafe Global has opened a new service centre at Atlanta’s Hartsfield–Jackson airport (ATL), serving inbound and outbound traffic.
The Atlanta facility is the second of what will be seven additional service centres across the CSafe network in 2016.
Brian Kohr, president and chief executive of CSafe, said: “The new facility in Atlanta will strengthen the customer service in this key market. In addition to servicing our existing customer base, the new service centre will position us to take advantage of the business growth from the enhanced cargo facilities that are part of the huge capital improvement programme now underway at Hartsfield–Jackson.”
The new service centre will act as a principal hub for delivery, maintenance, calibration and technical support.
Said CSafe: “The ATL service centre will mean that delivery times will be reduced, delivery charges will be minimised, and there will be no ATL drop fees for final destination containers.”
Mark Mohr, director of customer support and partner management at CSafe, commented: “This is another welcome development for the company. Atlanta has a rapidly growing life-science sector, is the world’s busiest airport and is a premier pharma-logistics hub.
“Our new Atlanta service centre will provide a strategic platform for our future growth and play an important role in supporting our expanding client base in this important pharma gateway.”


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The decision to start long-term medication should be motivated by observations of patients and physicians, not stimulated by rosy ads.
Consumer Drug Advertising Should Be Banned
Kurt C. Stange is a professor of family medicine and community health at Case Western Reserve University.
Updated December 16, 2013, 9:58 AM
Consumer advertising of prescription drugs is a massive public health experiment in which billions of dollars are spent each year. But this advertising is a blunt instrument where a sharp edge is needed.
Drugs have harms as well as benefits, and the harms are greater when drugs are indiscriminately prescribed. Consumer advertising, delivered to the masses as a shotgun blast, rather than as specific information to concerned patients or caregivers, results in more prescriptions and less appropriate prescribing.
There is no evidence that consumer ads improve treatment quality or result in earlier provision of needed care. Research has shown that the ads convey an unbalanced picture, with benefits and emotional appeals given far greater weight than risks. Clinicians can work to override these miscues, but this steals precious time from activities that can provide real benefit to patients. In the packed agenda of the patient visit, in which so many real concerns and evidence-based care are available to make a difference in people's lives, the intrusion of marketing risks harm.
Advertising also provokes a subtle shift in our culture -- toward seeking a pill for every ill. While there are many for whom stimulants and other medications can be a godsend, the case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a prime example of how, too often, a pill substitutes for more human responses to distress. U.S. clinicians prescribe stimulant medication for A.D.H.D. at a rate 25 times that of their European counterparts. The complex decision to start a long-term medication should be motivated by the observations of teachers and parents and children, in the context of a relationship with a caring clinician − not stimulated by rosy ads.
Consumer drug advertising is banned in most of the world, although pharmaceutical companies are making a full-court press on the European Union, even while violating the limited guidelines for that advertising in the United States.
In the information age, in which more balanced sources of information on drugs should be widely available, biased pill-pushing messages are a public health menace. To advance the health of the public, the United States should follow the lead of the vast majority of countries, and ban direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising.
Join Opinion on Facebook and follow updates on twitter.com/roomfordebate.


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Thai Airways and Thai Smile are allowing customers
to change select domestic flights within Thailand without charge.
Passengers holding domestic air tickets issued
before 19 March 2020, for travel between 1 April and 30 April 2020,
can change their flight, whether it be with Thai Airways
or Thai Smile, free of charge.
The move follows the government announcement that Songkran
has been postponed from its traditional date in mid-April due to
concerns over the ongoing COVID19 outbreak.
Travellers can now change their flight or
route without charge, although they will have to pay any
differences in taxes and fares.
Customers can even change the name on the
ticket for a 500 Baht fee.
Changes must be processed before the flight date
specified on the ticket by contacting any Thai Airways sales
Terms and conditions apply.
Ku Ka Sing.


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Lupe Fiasco has revealed that he has canceled Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album Pt.2.
Chicago lyricist Lupe Fiasco took to his Twitter page to make the announcement that he has cancelled his forthcoming album, Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album Pt.2 that was slated to be released in 2013.
Lupe also noted that the title, and concept for the album that will be released in F&L2 Part 2’s place will be announced later this year.
If you remember, back in September of last year, Lu released what he said was the first leak ,”American Terrorists Pt.2,” off F&L2 Part 2, you can listen to that [here].
View the tweets from Lupe making the announcement of the cancellation of F&L2 Part 2, below:


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The 2021 Chevy Silverado is Too Expensive For Young Adults
You can’t blame Chevrolet for trying, but their new target audience is a little strange. The 2021 Chevy Silverado is being marketed towards younger buyers. But can young adults afford a brand new Chevy Silverado?
The 2021 Chevy Silverado targets younger buyers
There is a new music video that features BRELAND and his song, “My Truck,” and the lyrics have been changed to feature the Chevy Silverado. BRELAND shared that Chevy was great to work with because it understands what makes truck culture so special. But BRELAND may be at an advantage because, as an artist, he can afford a brand new truck.
Steven Majoros, Vice President of Chevrolet Marketing, shared that Chevy is a brand that loves celebrating trucks and the people who own them. The ‘My Truck’ song represents why those who have trucks love them. They offer a source of adventure, fun, and capability.
Sure, younger people are attracted to vehicles that are fun, so this is potentially a smart move. Plus, one of the versions of “My Truck” includes Country superstar Sam Hunt, who can also afford a new truck.
Chevrolet shot the new advertising video in three different locations around Nashville, Tennessee, with three different Silverado trim packages:
- The Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss with an MSRP of $51,100.
- The Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss Midnight Edition with an MSRP of $56,285.
- The Chevy Silverado Custom with an MSRP of $36,200.
How much does a Chevy Silverado cost?
The base model for the 2021 Chevy Silverado has an MSRP of about $28,900. This price is before the dealership markup destination fee, and taxes have been added. Also, the cheapest truck in the video begins at around $36,200.
If a younger audience can afford a $30,000 truck, I would like to know what they’re doing. Perhaps they can get their parents to buy the truck for them or they have a nice ride from highschool or college to trade-in.
Also, do younger buyers understand the costs of insurance? According to Finder, it costs about $160 a month or about $1,920 to insure a Silverado. This is about $600 above the national average for all vehicles. Also, insurance premiums for young drivers don’t drop until they turn 25, depending on their record.
What comes standard with the Chevy Silverado?
If a younger driver can afford a 2021 Chevy Silverado, let’s see what comes standard. The regular cab, meaning the option with only two doors, begins at $26,595. Adding four-wheel-drive adds $31,195. So, that’s an extra $5,000 for enhanced capabilities.
This build includes the base engine, a 4.3-liter V6 option with 285 hp and 205 lb-ft of torque. When properly equipped, it can tow up to 7,900 lb and carry a payload of up to 2,250 lb. The trailering package is about $395 to add, so that’s a good deal.
The 7-inch touchscreen infotainment center comes standard. But you have to pay to add power windows, power door locks, a rear window defogger, safety features, and more. Young truck buyers may want to consider saving with a used option instead.


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Selected Filters: Brexit
UK manufacturer Brandon Medical is achieving enviable growth in some of the world’s most challenging markets.
For marketing services business adm Group, capturing the US market was a natural step. The process wasn’t always smooth, but five years on, the benefits are clear.
After a long winter lockdown the nation’s mood is finally starting to lighten, as the vaccine roll-out proceeds at pace and as the process of easing restrictions gets underway. Assuming that the vaccines remain effective, then the UK can look forward to a strong economic revival during the summer months. This will bring both challenges and opportunities for businesses, explains Mark Berrisford-Smith, Head of Economics for HSBC UK, Commercial Banking.
Expanding overseas may be daunting, but the rewards can be impressive. Tony Conophy, Group Finance Director at Computacenter, and Jim Tindol, Vice President, Finance, Computacenter US, share their experience of the US market and their key learnings.
Trade agreements are a hot topic as the UK adjusts to life outside the EU, but why are they important, what is the potential impact of negotiations and why does it matter for your business?
Quality engineering services, a network of contacts and a wealth of experience saw high demand for Staffordshire-based Xtrutech’s products and services. Meeting that demand whilst managing the company’s cashflow proved challenging, but the right funding has supported the company’s ongoing growth.
Plan now to take advantage of the EU trade opportunities that will persist beyond the Brexit transition, urges Ian Tandy, HSBC UK’s Head of Global Trade and Receivables Finance.
The end of the Brexit transition period on 1st January 2021 is drawing ever closer and as trade talks with the EU go down to the wire, it is difficult to know exactly what businesses need to do to prepare. However, business leaders are in agreement about one thing – no preparation is not an option.
With fifty percent of its customer base in EU member states, Candy Hero faced Brexit with understandable trepidation. Enquiring minds and a dynamic approach, however, have helped the business find a solution that delivers long-term benefits.


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Ram is celebrating 10 years as its own brand with a new advertising campaign that showcases all the cool stuff they’ve done since 2009.
Way back in the day, Ram was just a name for Dodge pickup trucks. Then, the pickup business started picking up in the 2000’s and Fiat Chrysler decided to do something unconventional: they detached Ram from Dodge and spun it off into its own brand.
At the time, the move was controversial. Now, Fiat Chrysler can easily call it a huge success thanks to the meteoric rise in Ram pickup sales. In 2019, they’re nipping at the heels of Ford, which is something that was totally unthinkable just a decade ago.
And to celebrate that success and 10 years as their own brand, Ram is unveiling a media blitz that will include social media and traditional television commercial ads that showcase just what makes Ram so special. Starting with their "Power of Innovation" ad that debuts on Saturday, October 5th.
After the extremely patriotic 1-minute reminder of just how much Ram has done for America, the second-biggest pickup brand will showcase their new engine technology thanks to a 30-second "HEMI" video. This mostly has to do with Ram's eTorque tech that turns every pickup into a mild hybrid. It replaces the alternator with a small electric generator and motor combo that not only keeps the regular battery fed, but it also provides low-end torque and start/stop capability for the engine.
And then there's "Bed", which showcases all the cool stuff you can add to your Ram's bed. Rambox Cargo Management side cabinets provide extra storage space and someplace to keep smaller items while also providing out outlets for use of power tools. A 60/40 split tailgate makes it easier to access bed contents without having everything spill out, too.
At the center of each of these ads is a nice long stare at Ram's new 12-inch Uconnect screen--the biggest of any truck maker (at least, so far).
We’re sure to see more innovation as Ram keeps on truckin’. Here’s to another 10 years.


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2017 was a year marked by mini-upsets in the business world that, taken together, represented a changing of the old guard and a new establishment taking shape.
The value of transactions made using payment cards exceeded those in cash for the first-time last year, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Technology fuelled a revolution which saw upstarts in retail, manufacturing and finance overtake long-established players. Whether it was payment cards or Bitcoin trumping cash or currencies, or the battery coming of age over the internal combustion engine, these were seminal moments.
Some may have mistakenly thought such a landmark had been reached some years ago, but smaller transactions paid with loose change always accumulated to swing the balance in favour of cash.
The innovation of using contactless, where you can wave your card in front of a payment machine without having to enter a pin, has however meant more people are using cards for buying lower value items. Contactless now accounts for a third of all card purchases, up from 10% in October 2015.
The introduction of lower transaction fees and handling charges also had an impact. Retailers are now more willing to invest in systems to accept card payments after reduced charges were forced through by the EU under its interchange fee regulation.


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On Twitter Resident EvilYesterday, the publisher revealed to players the latest version of the series – PROJECT RESISTANCE, and announced that it would announce the game’s trailer on September 9. This makes many people feel surprised because Tokyo Game Show will be held right here on September 12, the most prestigious exhibition in the gaming industry that attracts the attention of many developers and gamers, there is no doubt that this is a good opportunity to introduce introduced a new sequel, but Capcom plans to release a trailer just a few days before Tokyo Game Show.
The Resident Evil website has been changed to a blank white screen with only the word “OK” in the top left corner. The same thing happened when Resident Evil 2 remade. Currently, what we know about this new version is very little, only it can be certain that it will release on PS4, Xbox One and PC (through the Steam copyrighted game distribution platform).
Through a tool to get thumbnails from YouTube videos, the Gematsu site was able to get some images from the trailer of this new game, including hints for a 4-player co-op gameplay. From these images, many players believe that PROJECT RESISTANCE will belong to the Resident Evil Outbreak series. This series, which revolves around the horrific experiences of ordinary people trying to escape the terrifying Raccoon City, currently includes 2 games and both support co-op mode.
Of course, these are just predictions based on the initially revealed images, what this sequel is, in the end, will have to wait until the official trailer of the developer on September 9.
Source link: Capcom reveals new Resident Evil sequel right before Tokyo Game Show


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For the first time Yamal is presenting arctic fast-food on the international exhibition in Berlin
16:20 16 января 2015
Категории: News in English
The traditional 80th International agricultural exhibition «Green Week 2015» is taking place in Berlin.
The governor of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Dmitriy Kobylkin is the head of the delegation of Yamal. Products of agro-industrial complex of Nadym district are being presented by the head of its administration Stanislav Shegurov.
Yamal has been a permanent participant of the exhibition since 2003. During this time it managed to set strong business relations with representatives of European countries on advancement of products of agro-industrial complex of the region to markets of countries of the EU. This year the exposition of Yamal is being placed on the area in 100 square meters. The row of fish-processing and reindeer-herding enterprises is presenting their products on the exhibition (Gorki consumer society, «Pur-Ryba», «Salekhard fish-canning plant», «Yamalskiye Oleni», «Nyda-resource»).
Dishes of wild plants – berries, mushrooms and cedar nuts are being presented to Europeans in addition to products of reindeer husbandry and fishery. People of Yamal also brought products exotic for the Arctic – potatoes, lemons and honey.
For the first time on «Green Week» it is possible to taste ecological, curative food products invented by scientists of the scientific center for study of the Arctic. They include, for example, arctic sweets consisting of components of low birch (Betula humilis), black shiksha (crowberry), fireweed herb, Siberian larch and pine, reindeer moss, sphagnum and red rowan-berries. This sweet dish increases adaptive capacities of people, who are subjected to significant mental and physical stress, reduces speed of glucose absorption (that is important for prevention from overweight and diabetes), renders antioxidant influence, increases resistance to respiratory viral infections. Tundra bread of brown sphagnum removes toxic and allergenic products from organism, normalizes digestion, causes a sense of prolonged fullness and has an adaptogenic effect during magnetic storms, during mental and physical stress. This information is given in the informational and analytical board of the district administration.
Innovative projects planned for inculcation in agricultural activity in the near future are being presented within the exhibition beside products being manufactured in Yamal.


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IPB University Collaborates with Indonesia Halal Lifestyle Center to Develop Halal Industry
The future of the halal industry is bright, IPB University cooperates with the Indonesian Halal Lifestyle Center (Inhalife) to develop the domestic halal industry. This commitment is evidenced by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between IPB University and the Indonesian Halal Lifestyle Center (Inhalife) on Wednesday (13/11) in Jakarta.
The signing coincided with the activities of the Indonesia International Halal Lifestyle Conference, Forum and Expo at the Jakarta Convention Center.
The signing of this MoU aims to improve and develop the halal industry in Indonesia. The MoU was signed by the Rector of IPB University, Prof. Dr. Arif Satria and the Chairperson of Inhalife, Dr. Sapta Nirwandar, SE.
On this occasion, Prof. Arif Satria conveyed the important role of IPB University in developing the Halal Industry.
"IPB University has the role of printing prospective entrepreneurs engaged in halal business. This is considered very important because the demand for halal products is very high both in the domestic and global markets," said the Lecturer of the Faculty of Human Ecology at IPB University.
Prof. Arif Satria added, IPB University had contributed in the aspect of halal industry technology. One of them is technology in the form of a halal product detection device created by IPB University students. Going forward, IPB University will continue to develop research in the halal industry.
"Besides in the field of human resource development and technology, IPB University also has a role in service in the halal industry, one of which is to help audit the halal products on the market," said the Rector of IPB.
In line with the Rector of IPB University, Dr. Sapta Nirwandar conveyed the importance of the role of the Indonesian government in the halal product industry.
"Indonesia must now transform from cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other halal products into producers in the halal industry. We must also be brave to transform into exporters, because now the import of halal products is much higher than our exports of halal products," he explained.
Dr Sapta believes that Indonesia is able to become an exporter of halal products because there are product advantages in the agricultural sector. However, he acknowledged that the community currently still needs literacy about the halal industry because people's understanding of the halal industry is still low.
"Therefore, we collaborate with IPB University to provide education for halal industry players ranging from the food sector, hospitality, to the banking sector," said the former Deputy Minister of Tourism. (NR)
Published Date : 16-Nov-2019
Resource Person : Dr Sapta
Keyword : MoU, IPB University
SDG : SDG 12 - RESPONSIBLE CONSUMTION AND PRODUCTION


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Dataminr, a $700 million startup, just added two big names to its executive team.
The company, which takes a firehose of data from social media sources like Twitter and transforms it into useful information and reports for companies, has hired former Googler Julio Pekarovic and Reuters' Steven Schwartz.
Julio Pekarovic, Google’s former VP of Finance, has come on board as Dataminr's Chief Financial Officer. He is a particularly notable hire because he jumped ship from another seemingly-hot startup, Canary, after just one year. Pekarovic was COO of Canary, which is a home security camera startup that's kind of like Dropcam; the product took off after it launched an immensely popular Kickstarter campaign and it raised $30 million from investors in June.
Steven Schwartz, who used to run Reuters’ largest business unit, will head up Dataminr’s news division.
Schwartz enters at a time when Dataminr's news operations, which launched in 2014, are moving at a breakneck pace. “Dataminr’s entry into the news business has been unprecedented, installing in over 200 newsrooms at a pace faster than any new information product I have seen during my career,” he said. Dataminr's news product has been described as "TweetDeck on steroids."
And it’s not just the news division that has been growing fast.
Earlier this year, Dataminr raised $130 million in Series D funding at a reported $700 million valuation, bringing its total funding to $180 million. The company is backed by investors like Venrock, Fidelity, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, and Institutional Venture Partners.
This investment has helped Dataminr branch out into new verticals, bringing social media data to bear on more and more industries. Dataminr recently rolled out a new product for security and crisis management, which notifies companies about emerging threats so they can make the right counter moves.
Dataminr wants to build on this growth, and ex-Googler Pekarovic will be instrumental to those plans.
“Julio Pekarovic joined Google at a time when the company was the same size as Dataminr is today,” Dataminr CEO Ted Bailey said. “And [he] helped grow their revenue at a rate of 250x to $22 billion over a seven-year period.”