text:
Photo: Zhang Yipeng, vice president of Yili, delivers a speech at the inaugural meeting of BERIP in Beijing on June 27.
BEIJING, June 27 (Xinhua) – China's dairy giant Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group will promote the building of the healthy global ecosystem as part of efforts to provide consumers around the world with high-quality health products.
Information sharing will help Yili to deepen the cooperation of health industry chain across the globe and bring together all parties to jointly build a healthy ecosystem, said Zhang.
According to Zhang, Yili is committed to forging a global smart industrial chain, and a series of achievements in scientific research have been transformed into high-quality health products to serve consumers around the world.
It is learned that high-tech products represented by Shuhua lactose-free milk have made up 40 percent of Yili's dairy products.
The vice president of Yili also highlighted the importance of promoting healthy ecosystem by integrating global resources.
To date, Yili has established several factories in the Oceanic countries, North America and Europe in a move to integrate resources around the world and improve local material supply condition.
It is known that in the past six years, Yili has made greater efforts to accelerate its business expansion worldwide.
The company has set up the Oceania Production Base, established links with companies and research institutions in the Belt and Road countries and gained a strong foothold in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and other Southeast Asian markets.
In November last year, Yili acquired Thailand-based frozen foods and ice cream manufacturer Chomthana Company Limited, and at the same time the company started selling its Joyday ice cream brand in Indonesia.
Zhang stressed that the Belt and Road Initiative is regarded as a development pathway that accommodates the needs of the times, and information sharing provides a platform for the promotion of healthy sharing worldwide.
Health is a grand issue that requires the participation of all parties in the world, said Zhang, adding that it is necessary to share economic information, discuss health issues, share health outcomes and co-build a healthy global ecosystem in an attempt to realize the dream of sharing a health life with the world. (Edited by Yang Yifan, firstname.lastname@example.org)


text:
It’s no longer a secret that arbitrage opportunities abound in the cryptosphere.
The price difference between bitcoin on overseas and local exchanges hit 5% this week. That means you could export US dollars or euros to an overseas exchange, buy bitcoin, and ship it back almost immediately to a South African exchange and sell it for a 5% profit.
It’s being going on for years, but requires jumping through a few hoops – such as opening accounts on multiple exchanges, and getting Reserve Bank approvals. In late 2017, that arbitrage gap went as high as 24% at times, which is a massive profit for a few hours work.
OVEX was launched three years ago to simplify the arbitrage process. Arbitrage is the exploitation of price differences in the same asset on different markets: for example, buying bitcoin (or any other asset) cheap overseas and selling for a higher price locally.
It’s virtually risk-free
It’s almost risk-free because you’re never holding the asset for more than a few hours. When Moneyweb first reported this story, there was disbelief among some readers who wrote and asked whether it was a scam.
Says OVEX founder Jon Ovadia: “We do get asked that from time to time, since one of the red flags for any scam is making extraordinary claims of profit. We say you can make up to 6% a week through our arbitrage service, but that is not guaranteed – nor is it that exceptional, since there are times when you can make 6% on a single trade.
“This is about as close as you can get to risk-free profits.”
There are also some arbitrage traders who would rather keep this a secret.
They believe the more people that exploit the arbitrage gap on crypto assets such as bitcoin, the quicker the gap (and profits) will disappear. That’s unlikely, for the simple reason that arbitrage gaps exist in most countries which have capital controls, such as SA. Zimbabweans and Zambians are forced to pay much higher premiums for their bitcoin than customers in Europe or SA. The reason is because of their weak local currencies and capital controls that restrict their ability to acquire hard currencies such as the euro or US dollar.
Rather than exploit the arbitrage price gap in bitcoin, OVEX partnered with Trust Token, a San Francisco-based ‘stable coin’ platform with a market cap of nearly $500 million that allows users to buy cryptocurrency offshore at the international price, without ever having to leave OVEX. All the logistics of shipping foreign currency abroad is handled by OVEX.
A stable coin is a type of crypto asset fully backed by fiat currency, such as the US dollar. Just as with bitcoin, OVEX clients can purchase Trust Token US dollars (TUSD) offshore and then sell them at a higher price on the OVEX exchange. The arbitrage gap varies between about 3% and 5% (sometimes higher, sometimes lower).
Covid prompted a spike in crypto volumes
Arbitrage is OVEX’s bread and butter. Volumes shot up during the Covid crisis, and now exceed R2 billion a month, reaching as high as R120 million a day. The larger part of OVEX’s business is its over-the-counter (OTC) desk, which offers institutions and high-net-worth individuals a secure and private channel for arbitrage or purchasing cryptos.
Whether the trade size is R500 000 or R50 million, OVEX is able to execute a trade at one price with zero slippage. This is only possible because of its ultra-deep liquidity, meaning it has sufficient capital backing to be able to execute and settle very large volumes that are often a stretch too far for smaller exchanges. OVEX is backed by Invictus Capital, which manages about $44 million in crypto assets.
OVEX was originally backed by Llew Claasen of Cape Town-based venture capital company Newtown Partners, and then executive director of The Bitcoin Foundation. That relationship cooled during the great 2018 meltdown in crypto prices, and Newtown Partners put the brakes on additional funding. Ovadia went out in search of new partners and eventually settled on Invictus, which was sold on the vision of building a unique crypto exchange based on arbitrage and large volume OTC trades. These are trades, usually large, that take place outside the regular exchange.
The OVEX OTC desk offers another advantage for clients in search of larger volume trades: it can open up large credit lines to enable immediate trade execution, with delayed settlement. In other words, you can trade now and deposit the funds later. This is particularly appealing when the arbitrage gap momentarily widens to, say, 6% or even 8%. The OTC desk will fund your trade and lock in your profits at this level, allowing you to transfer funds later.
The OTC desk and broker platform enables brokers to sign up their clients and trade on their behalf.
“This is a revolutionary offering in the crypto space and I don’t think it has been done by any exchange worldwide,” says Ovadia.
“Once a user enables a broker on their account the broker has full access to the user’s account, and is able to deposit, withdraw, and trade with security features such as email verification for sensitive actions like withdrawals. This allows the broker to assist a user with arbitrage trading, or assisting non-tech-savvy users with buying and selling cryptocurrency the same way a broker helps users buy traditional equities.
Brought to you by OVEX.

domain: news


text:
Global design and consultancy firm NELSON recently announced their intent to launch a design practice dedicated to TAMI companies (Technology, Advertising, Media, and Information Businesses). You may be thinking, "What a strange convergence?" but the grouping is actually quite smart.
For the past two years, TAMI companies have been the fastest rising star in real estate markets across the country. Responding to the leaps and bounds in technological advances, these companies are converging in not only workstyle and space requirements, but disruptive innovation in their respective industries. Laura Johnson, Director of Marketing says, "Together with the local broker community, our New York office noticed that technology, advertising, media, and information businesses were really looking for same type of spaces and they were all citing the same type of reasons. They wanted unique places that would draw best and brightest unique talent. This included loft spaces outside of traditional areas within the city that could inspire creativity, and high performance spaces with a much more flexible floorplate.
Building upon a solid foundation of working with many well-known tech clients - including Google, Amazon, Oracle, Verizon, and Cisco - and multiple companies in advertising giant Publicis Groupe - including Starcom, Mediavest, Digitas LBi, Leo Burnett, Razorfish, and MSLGroup - NELSON created their new design practice to group and leverage internal expertise around the common desires of these seemingly disparate types of companies. Johnson explains, "One of the things we are seeing in all of these industries is large companies that still manage to keep that young, creative startup mentality. Tech firms are becoming more creative, and creative firms are having to become more focused on technology."
Johnson continues, "On the technology side, history has shown us companies like Hewlett Packard, Dell, and IBM. Now the leading technology companies are much more creative by nature and larger, including the likes of Facebook, Google, and Dropbox. Today's tech companies think, look, and work differently. Conversely, if you look at what's happening in advertising, everything is moving out of the print world and into the technology realm. From print ads to web banner, and even billboards as LED screens, these creative firms are forced to become technology driven."
Over the past five years NELSON has had a natural emergence of leaders for this type of work, including Theresa Williams, LEED AP ID+C, Principal and Design Director in Chicago, and Stacy Chambers, Managing Director in Boston. They, with others, have built the NELSON portfolio allowing dedication of national resources specifically to this kind of project. Mitchell Cohen, Managing Principal says, "Most large competitive firms are regional experts, but not necessarily this granular on these specific types of projects. Anywhere in the country, on a TAMI project, NELSON will have these experts involved to help drive all of the things that make this kind of client unique and come up with the approach and the methodology and philosophy."
NELSON has found that the common denominators for Technology, Advertising, Media, and Information Businesses work spaces are the need for creativity and the desire for smart recruitment and retention, but they also all highly value flexibility and technology integration. While some types of TAMI companies typically grow faster than others, NELSON has recognized that all of these companies are looking for similar resources. However, just because these commonalities drive similar needs does not mean that each company or each type of company solves these challenges the same way. Williams describes their process by saying, "A lot of it is based in ability to come to table, listen to what's different. We can apply what we have learned from other similar clients but in new ways. Our solutions are not off-the-shelf or out of a catalog, and we are not forcing anything that they aren't willing to accept." One example of the biggest differences is that Advertising and Media companies always have client facing spaces, where tech companies don't necessarily need that.
Like many other non-TAMI spaces, activity-based planning is becoming a big part of planning. Williams says, "It's about crafting a menu of spaces that people can choose from all within one workplace. Our job is to use data-driven design to create space where workers know they have all the tools, people, and space needed to do what they need to do during the day. There are zones for noise and activity. Scrumming to individual work. In many of these workplaces it is fast paced, team-based work and the space must accommodate that."
Amenity spaces are also a big part of the design for the TAMI practice. Chambers says, "It's all about developing the unique amenity space and not being repetitive. We must create spaces that allow workers to come together, scrum an idea quickly, then move along to the next personal space or collaborative zone. TAMI spaces must have both amenity rich and unique types of spaces that help their workers be more effective." Each of these workplaces must be a place that people WANT to come, that makes them more effective at work. That is where the recruitment and retention piece comes in.
Today, there's also the coworking space factor. Chambers says, "Sometimes we will encounter a startup that is trying to weigh the options of coworking and creating their own office. Often, for companies below a certain size, financially they will see that going into coworking is the best choice for them right now. Bigger companies breaking into new geographies are also looking at coworking spaces while they establish themselves in new markets. We don't shy away from either of those conversations. When they get to the point they need their own space they come back and engage us."
When asked about the unique furniture planning needs for TAMI companies, the NELSON team cited that aesthetics tend to be slightly different from standard, basic contract furniture selections. Chambers says, "You want quality, there's a budget, and a lot of the larger manufacturers don't offer the fit and finish of these unique furniture pieces and selections that would help to enliven the brand. We end up turning to retail brands on occasion, but there are a lot of challenges with that. So, we tend to go a little more custom; finding local fabricators to make that furniture piece for the right look." Also, although many TAMI companies are not specifically going for LEED certification, for many of them being environmentally responsible is a personal obligation. It's both health and wellness and goodwill toward environment.
With a finger on the pulse of major metropolitan areas across the country, NELSON's launch of a dedicated TAMI practice continues to track the changing needs of this emerging sector. John "Ozzie" Nelson Jr, Chairman and CEO of NELSON, says, "NELSON has been serving the Technology and Advertising & Media sectors individually for close to 40 years. For our tech clients, creativity has become an ingrained part of their cultural DNA. For our advertising and media clients, technology is playing a greater part in their service offering. Combining our design and planning leadership from both worlds means we now have a team of creative powerhouses forging a new path to meet the needs of these companies."
This post originally published in the Bellow Press Business of Furniture on August 24th and can be found at this link. It is republished here with permission.
About the author: Amanda Schneider, LEED AP is a trends researcher, blogger for the Huffington Post, and the founder of Contract Consulting Group, a consulting practice serving the Contract Interiors Industry focused on business strategy, market research and marketing content development.


text:
Ronda Rousey returned to WWE and immediately put herself in one of the main events at WrestleMania 38. Ronda won the women’s Royal Rumble. Rousey then chose Charlotte Flair as her opponent for the Show of Shows.
Rousey and Flair have had a heated rivalry. They also have a lot of history between them, having main evented WrestleMania 35 in a triple threat with Becky Lynch. There has been plenty of hype for the huge SmackDown Women’s Championship match.
WWE is always looking for a way to cash in on their biggest superstars. The latest attempt to do so comes in the form of a new marketing tactic for Ronda Rousey. The former UFC Champion is being promoted as the “Hot Mama.” Dave Meltzer talked about it on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio.
“You know the big thing with Ronda Rousey is, she’s being marketed as ‘The Hot Mama.’ They’re selling those shirts and everything now, yes.”
Ronda Rousey is one of the most popular athletes on the planet. It makes sense that they would want new merch for WrestleMania season. It turns out they took Ronda’s real-life entry into parenthood as inspiration for the latest marketing move.
WWE fans can pick up a Ronda Rousey “Hot Mama” t-shirt on WWE’s official shop. The new gear runs for $27.99. Ronda will be looking to add the SmackDown Women’s Championship to her growing family at WrestleMania.
What do you think of this story? Let us know in the comments!
Transcription by Ringside News


text:
The Ministry of Defence has published a detailed plan for how it will equip Britain's military over the next 10 years, and how that will be funded.
The Defence Equipment Plan for 2012 - 2022 will cost £159bn.
It is the first time the Government has published such detailed defence equipment spending plans over such a long period.
More top news
Some 26% of online shoppers complained of poor delivery service.
Salisbury has been named among the top 10 cities in the world to visit by travel guide Lonely Planet.
Adverts targeting benefits claimers will remind them to notify authorities of any changes - or face a criminal record.


text:
Yusen Logistics’ 25-year partnership with Casio UK has been extended after the electronics manufacturer renewed its total UK supply chain operation. Yusen handles Casio’s full range of products destined for the consumer and business markets, which includes digital pianos, cash registers, watches and calculators. Yusen Logistics said that the success of its partnership was down to the added value services it offered, such as managing seasonal peaks including Casio’s ‘back to school’ campaign. Read more Transfreight Automotive Logistics Europe in […]
Yusen Logistics will now handle all products destined for the UK from pharmaceutical manufacturer Glenmark as part of a major contract win.
Yusen Logistics said a series of new business wins and a client base in recession proof markets will help it boost turnover by £20 million year-on-year in the UK.
Yusen Logistics has renewed its contract with Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK), a contract it has held since 2008.


text:
Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire recently stopped by Smuttynose Brewing Company during her tour of local businesses. The Senator toured the brewery and sampled some of their offerings.
During the visit, owner Peter Egelston and brewer David Yarrington were able to discuss obstacles they face as a small brewery–from regulation to federal excise taxes. Senator Ayotte hopes to help in whatever way she is able. She recognizes the impact the brewery has on the local community and economy. Nationally, small and independent brewers employ approximately 108,440 full- and part-time employees and generate more than $3 billion in wages and benefits and pay more than $2.3 billion in business, personal and consumption taxes. With a new brewery coming online soon, Smuttynose will be adding even more local jobs.


text:
CEO Schmidt: Google a 'mobile first' company
Noting the mobile Web adoption rate is eight times what it was on desktop PCs, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told the Mobile World Congress (MWC) on Tuesday that developing technologies for smart phone use was a top priority for the search giant. Schmidt told the Barcelona crowd during his first MWC keynote that mobile device sales would soon surpass desktop PCs and that in some countries the majority of Google searches already occur on cell phones. Schmidt also called mobile a better advertising platform than the desktop Web saying, "With a mobile device we know where you are so we can offer much more enhanced localized opportunities."
>Google now a 'mobile-first' company (Telegraph UK)
>Google this: The future is mobile (Clyde Bentley)
>Google flaunts Android sales growth (New Zealand Herald)
>Google CEO preaches 'mobile first' (Computer World)
>Chart of the Week: Mobile Internet Devices Outsell Computers (Practical eCommerce)


text:
02/10/2011 9:40 am
National carrier Oman Air won the 'Airline of the Year Award' at France’s Laurier d’Or du Voyage d’Affaires. A press release said that the Laurier d’Or du Voyage d’Affaires, hosted by IFTM-Top Resa in partnership with deplacements.com and Thalys, recognises the best in business travel products and services. Oman Air won the gold award in the ‘Airline of the Year’ category, ahead of Qatar Airways and Korean Airlines.
Philippe Georgiou, chief officer corporate affairs, said in the release, “Oman Air is delighted to have won this prestigious award and we would like to thank everyone who voted for us. It is indeed an honour to receive this recognition as we celebrate the second anniversary of the launch of our Muscat-Paris route.
The high quality of our business class service has attracted many accolades and this award follows a number of other quality awards we have received over the last couple of years, including Skytrax’s recent ‘Best Business Class Seat’ at the World Airline Awards. We pride ourselves on offering the very best in choice and luxury for our customers and this recognition further enhances Oman Air’s reputation as one of the world’s leading luxury airline.”
The release said that the nomination came after the introduction of Airbus A330 aircraft to Oman Air's fleet, each with spacious and luxurious interiors and state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment. The release also said that Oman Air is the first airline in the world to offer passengers full mobile phone and Wi-Fi connectivity onboard.
The release stated, 'Oman Air unveiled its new Airbus A330 economy, business and first class cabins in November 2009. Each cabin offers comfort, space and in-flight entertainment with audio and video on demand and live satellite TV. The recent introduction of full connectivity in all classes has seen the A330-300 described as the most highly connected international wide-body in operation today.


text:
NAFA Capital managing director and financial wizard speaks with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now
GN Bureau | December 14, 2021
Covid-19 came as a rude shock and hit the world with several disruptions, halting economies and destroying livelihoods. While research for the new variant, Omicron, thought to be less lethal than Delta is under way, its emergence has raised serious concerns. However, with the economy on the rebound, Ameya Prabhu, financial wizard and managing director of NAFA Capital, feels that Omicron will not cause an adverse impact.
In a freewheeling conversation with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now, during the webcast of the 75th episode of the Visionary Talk series held by the public policy and governance analysis platform, the investment banker said, “Omicron will not cause economic derailment.”
However, sounding a word of caution, Prabhu said that going forward disruptions like new Covid variants, climate change and animal diseases infecting humans due to loss of animal habitats will be increasing and Covid should be looked upon as preparing us as a global economy and humanity.
“The Indian economy has picked up and growing. Markets are also doing well,” he said. However, the MSME sector is facing many challenges. “A big business is like a river that needs many small tributaries and streams which feed into it. SMEs are the tributaries that need to be strengthened,” said Prabhu.
Watch the video:
He said new technologies like blockchains will have to be brought in to benefit the MSME sector, reduce the cost of finance, and reduce the risk for financial institutions and banks. “The beauty of blockchains is that everything is traceable.”
On cryptocurrency, he said whenever a new form of payment is brought in there is always resistance from incumbents. But regulations need to be brought in to prevent their misuse in crime or terrorism. “Cryptos are here to stay. The problem is not cryptos, but their misuse.”
On being asked which sectors of the Indian economy will be leading the surge, he said anything related to consumers will fuel growth. There is a lot of space for new brands.
He said digital platforms for service and delivery will be extremely critical irrespective of the line of the business and infrastructure push by the government.
He underlined the importance of setting up a good team in a business and said a good sector with a bad team will always fail but a good team in a bad sector might succeed.
“Honesty, integrity, quality, depth of the team, the ability of the team to de-risk their product, not only have an IQ but also EQ are very important,” he said and added that businesses must have softer aspects of dealing with ESG (environment, social and corporate governance) with a 360-degree approach which he said is the core philosophy of his own company.
“Building sustainability-focused business is an opportunity. Key concerns will be how to build reducing our carbon footprint, how to build with ESG focus, how to build protecting tribal and indigenous resources and protecting wildlife and without drawing too much water. Businesses in India will do well. Key is the process management and having the ability to de-risk situations in the country,” he said.
Prabhu, who is designated Young Global Leader 2021 by the World Economic Forum, says, “Most businesses fail. An entrepreneur has to face many challenges and failures. He must have the ability to deal with situations when he may not only face uncertainties but also situations when he is not able to pay salaries.”
Asked if Indian investors are ready to value a future business model, he said the valuation matrix of a company cannot be the same when the company starts and when it is in a steady state of growth.
In the case of tech companies where valuations are high, he said making a profit is a problem. “Tech companies have to mature. The fact that these companies are listed is good. Markets will bring discipline, greater disclosure.”
He however said that Indian startups are maturing, they are coming of age. There will be some successes and there will be some failures. “For a listed company, a retail investor is God and should be treated like that,” he said.
His company, NAFA Capital, together with IDF Eurasia will start a US $100 million distressed assets fund. The collaboration will focus on distressed retail loans (credit card, mortgage, home, car loans receivables).
Prabhu, who started his career as a writer and gradually got into financial services, said the lockdown gave him the time to write his book, ‘The Rock Babas and Other Stories’. The book, he said, is a call for hope. It is about the need to realise that instead of fighting wars, finding differences against one another, proving one-upmanship over each other, we should identify things that unite us. The book has a positive message to unite to work together and make this planet a better place.
After the oxygen crisis faced during the second wave of Covid-19, the BrihanMumbai municipal corporation (BMC) has now set up its own medical oxygen cylinder recharge projects. On Tuesday, guardian minister Aditya Thackeray launched two of the BMC’s new medical oxygen cylinders r
The world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion (at a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion a day) during the first two years of a pandemic while the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall and over 160 million more people forced into poverty. A new
The Vistadome coaches on Central Railways have received an overwhelming response from passengers. Not only have they boosted tourism and registered an occupancy of 20,407 passengers but also clocked revenue of Rs.2.38 crore between October and December 2021. The CSMT-Madgaon-CSMT Jansh
India is once again caught in a spike of Covid-19 cases, with the highly transmittable omicron driving numbers. The total cases in the country continued to increase on Saturday, recording 2.68 lakh cases in 24 hours. India`s active caseload currently stands at 14,17,820 or 3.85%, while the r
Mantra and the meaning of Success By Rajesh Talwar Bridging Borders, 288 pages Rajesh Talwar, who works as Deputy Legal Adviser to the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, has written 31 books, and on January 15 he is releasing one more. ‘
Essence of the Fifth Veda By Gaurang Damani Divine Destination, 234 pages, Rs 350 ‘Veda’ literally means ‘knowledge’.


text:
India’s homegrown OTT platform, ALTBalaji, has announced a strategic distribution partnership with LG Electronics – across the globe, the ALTBalaji app will be available on LG Television sets with WebOS version 3.0 and above. This will frther enhance large-screen TV viewing experience of ALTBalaji consumers. This is a strategic move to increase its universe of connected TVs and to literally get on to the home page of more and more connected TVs worldwide.
LG’s SMART TV users can now get seamless access to ALTBalaji’s content library of Hindi Original Exclusives. With more than 20mn subscribers as of Q4FY-19, and 39 Originals and growing, ALTBalaji has a large original exclusive library of engaging content.
Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO ALTBalaji and Group COO Balaji Telefilms, said, “ALTBalaji has seen a steady increase in viewership on smart TVs for our original drama shows, our consumers start sampling the shows on their mobile phone and eventually want to experience the show on their large screens. “We at ALTBalaji have partnered with technology giant LG Electronics to enable our app to natively sit on their LG WebOS platform. This allows the users to discover the service easily and have a smooth user experience while watching the content in HD.
“It is exciting to associate with LG, a brand that has truly mastered the art of providing immersive viewing experiences to its customers with their latest technology enabled smart TVs.”
Shows like Apharan, Home, The Test Case, Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain and PuncchBeat have been popular with audience that watch Indian shows across the globe, and now, thanks to the deal with LG, Cconsumers can enjoy these shows in high definition resolution with friends and family, without having to download them separately.


text:
They come in a candy store’s worth of flavors – everything from gummy bears to pancakes and waffles. They can be personalized, are produced in neon colors and have the occasional celebrity endorsement.
Introduced to the United States in 2007, some doctors and health professionals worry that electronic cigarettes – also known as e-cigs – are appealing to teenagers, the result of marketing and perhaps a perception that the devices don’t carry the same health risks as cigarettes.
The devices look similar to traditional cigarettes, but they don’t contain tobacco. Instead, there’s a mechanism that heats liquid nicotine that turns into a vapor which smokers inhale and exhale. Although they are free of tobacco, e-cigs contain nicotine, a powerfully addictive substance that, according to the National Institutes of Health, raises heart rate and blood pressure. Because they don’t contain tobacco, e-cigarettes are not subject to U.S. tobacco laws, meaning they can often be purchased without proof of age — especially online — a fact that’s prompting concern among health professionals that more young people will start buying the devices and possibly become nicotine-dependent.
For now, their popularity may be on the rise among young people. According to a September study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of middle and high school students who have used an e-cigarette more than doubled from 2011 to 2012. As a result, many public health groups and state attorneys general are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate the products with the goal of keeping children from picking up the devices.
“It’s a way-cool little device,” said Jodi McEdward, a certified tobacco treatment specialist at Sharp Rees-Stealy health system in San Diego. “They’ve been made attractive to what I call the iPhone generation. … The real risk is that they don’t see it as a risk because it doesn’t hurt them — on the surface.”
Because the products are so new, there have been conflicting studies on the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes.
For instance, said Caylie Kachinski, a physician’s assistant at Scripps Coastal Medical Center in Escondido, some research shows that in addition to nicotine, some e-cigarettes contain cancer-causing carcinogens.
“There is no scientific proof these are healthy alternatives,” she said. “We still don’t know what the long-term effects are.”
For instance, a study published last year in Chest Journal, the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians, concluded e-cigarettes were found “to have immediate adverse … effects after short-term use that are similar to some of the effects seen with tobacco smoking.”
In addition, said Erika Sward, an American Lung Association spokesperson, a 2009 FDA investigation found some e-cigs have “detectable levels” of cancer-causing chemicals, including an ingredient used in antifreeze.
“Unfortunately, e-cigarette companies have really crossed the line in making health claims,” Sward said. “The FDA has not found them safe or effective. … There’s just so many unknowns about all this.”
But others, such as Gregory Conley, legislative director for the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association, a Virginia-based volunteer organization with more than 7,000 members nationwide, disagree with the notion that flavored e-cigarettes are attractive to minors and are a gateway to traditional cigarettes. A former smoker himself, he said he used a watermelon-flavored e-cigarette to quit smoking and currently puffs on an Ecto-Cooler, fruit-juice flavored e-cig.


text:
There was a time when cash was everywhere with everyone using it. It used to be ubiquitous. It was used by every income segment of the society and was a medium of exchange.
Things changed with the advent of cheaply available Internet, demonetization and UPI. These things changed the entire landscape of using money. People shifted to digital transactions. They started holding less cash and more digital money.
With more and more digital transactions, the government, including the regulators, couldn’t be happier. For them, it is much easier to monitor digital transactions as there is a record with banks or UPI companies.
We think that there is very little cost associated with carrying cash but it simply isn’t true. We pay to access cash all the time. We pay for it when we visit banks, ATMs, or other access points that disburse cash. We pay for it when these institutions charge a convenience fee. We pay for it when we experience accidental loss or theft. We pay for it by foregoing better opportunities.
The point is that cash held in our pockets yields no interest. Slowly all these costs begin to add up. An example is that residents of Delhi together spend 60 lakh hours and 9.1 crores to obtain cash.
Cash transactions facilitate a shadow economy where regulators and tax authorities can never have any control. That is the reason why the government is stressing to go digital.
However, the move towards the digital economy has disrupted an entire industry that proliferated on the back of cash.
There are people responsible for replenishing all the ATMs that run out of money. There are people who pick up cash from the bank chest to the regional branches. There are people who are responsible for ferrying cash between different points. There are people who deploy ATMs and maintain them.
All such people will have no job if people shift entirely to digital. Their livelihood depends on the use and proliferation of cash.
Now Covid-19 along with regulatory intervention has affected this industry.
On June 10, 2021, the RBI announced that customers are eligible for five free transactions every month from their own banks’ ATMs, as well as three free transactions from other banks’ ATMs in metro centers and five free transactions in non-metro centers. RBI also increased the ATM interchange fee from ₹15 to ₹17 for financial transactions and from ₹5 to ₹6 for non-financial transactions.
Interchange fee is what a bank pays to the operator of the ATM whenever a transaction is made using the card of a different bank.
More the charge for making transactions using ATMs, the less it will be used by the people. This will affect the entire industry.
Hence, regulations which are intended to benefit the ecosystem can end up hurting it, considering people can easily go digital these days.
The costs associated with running an ATM network or a cash management service are largely fixed in nature. So when people stop using cash during Covid induced lockdowns, these companies can’t just cut their losses. They’ll have to keep paying their bills and hope the tide turns.
Although UPI is altering the way transactions happen, it is coming at the expense of a largely invisible eco-system.
To structure your CAT online preparation in an efficient way consider joining iQuanta which is a top online cat coaching institute and being a part of the iQuanta CAT 22 Course.
You can also check out and be a part of their Facebook group for peer learning, doubt solving and free material.
For 24*7 doubts-solving, FREE guidance and counselling and peer to peer learning, join the CAT preparation Fb group below:


text:
Suzuki Australia has confirmed that a five-door version of the Jimny 4x4, revealed in early January, will be coming to Australia later this year.
Officially unveiled at the 2023 Auto Expo India (where this 4x4 will also be built), the five-door Jimny is 505mm longer overall, with a 340mm longer wheelbase. Despite this, the five-door remains a four-seater, but presumably with more leg room, especially for the rear seats.
The five-door will run the same drivetrain as the three-door Jimny, which means a 75kW/130Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, choice of four-speed automatic or five-speed manual transmissions and a part-time four-wheel drive system with low range.
While full specifications have yet to be revealed, Suzuki Australia state that upgrades have been made to the interior. This likely refers to a larger 9.0-inch centre console touchscreen and wireless Apple CarPlay Android Auto connectivity seen in Indian market data. The Jimny three-door’s infotainment screen is 7.0 inches with wired connectivity.
Whether these upgrades will apply to both the Lite and GLX grades – and indeed whether the five-door will be offered in these grades at all - is unknown at this stage.
“With the launch of the all new Jimny 5 Door, we’ve given Jimny enthusiasts exactly what they’ve wanted for so long - an Extra Large Jimny!” said Suzuki Australia General Manager – Automobile, Mr. Michael Pachota.
“Jimny has built an absolute cult following in Australia and will only continue to grow with a new breed of followers that need the extra space. The launch of this new variant will only add to this model’s iconic status and will continue to be one of the most loved 4x4’s in the country.”
Suzuki Australia says more details on the Jimny five-door 4x4, including full specification and pricing, will be provided closer to local release, which is expected to be Q4, 2023.


text:
Top Line: The year ended on a conditional high for Korea. Exports totalled more than US$60.7 bn for only the second time in Korea’s history, but imports reached an even bigger high at US$61.3 bn. By value total exports for 2021 increased 25.8%, but volume only by 5.9%. Daily covid infections peaked on December 15 and appear to be steady or falling to the 4000 per day range by the beginning of January. International achievements in December increased Korea’s status ranging from Netflix global record views, BTS in the US top 10, to having both Europe and US seeking industrial alliances. Industrial production for November and other data made November data look more lively than initial views a month ago, with mixed services demand. Household loans slowed, house prices stabilized, and MOE stated that GHG emissions in 2019 were lower than 2018.
GDP growth of 4% or at least 3.9% seems attainable although 4Q is hard to call in constant price terms. October was worse than any 3Q month, November appears to have been better than any Q3 month. The jury is still out on December.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”4″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]
But the terms of trade turned against Korea and the rise in prices given below shows that the achievement was partly an illusion as far as the real economy was concerned as inflation drove up the value of goods exported… What does this mean? It means that the economy is in abnormal shape, and the export bubble could burst as the world economy comes back to normal. If energy prices stay high, then the current account moves to deficit. A housing bubble is also on the cards.
Exports: December reached US$60.7bn. Exports to China rose 20.8% (27.3% in November) and to SE Asia by 23.2% (32.7%.) Exports to the US rose 22.9% (22%) and 17.1% (18.9%) to Europe. For the year as a whole, the EU regained third place as destination, while Vietnam fell back to 4th place. By category the top four items were Semiconductors rose 35.1%, Petrochemicals 34.3% and Machinery 6.2% and Automobiles 17.3 %. In December these four categories took 43.8% of total exports. Imports were predominantly energy products which equalled 71% of the value of all imports.
Terms of Trade: – The fabulous achievements for exports are not quite so fabulous when we look at the net barter terms of trade. BOK’s figures for November the first over US$60 bn export month are
- The export volume index increased by 5.9% and the import volume index increased by 7.0% year-on-year in November of 2021.
- The export value index increased by 27.1% and the import value increased by 42.8% year-on-year in November of 2021.
- The net barter terms of trade index decreased by 10.1% year-on-year in November of 2021.
Industry and Service economy in November: The Index of all industry production in November increased by 3.2 percent from October 2021 and the index of all industry production increased by 5.3 percent from the same period of the previous year.
- The Manufacturing Production Index increased by 5.3 percent from October and 6.2 percent from the same period of the previous year.
- The Index of Capacity Utilization Rate increased by 5.5 percent from October and 3.9 percent from the same period of the previous year.
- The Manufacturing Average Capacity Utilization Rate marked 75.1 percent, which increased by 4.0 percentage points from October 2021.
- The Index of Services increased by 2.0 percent from October 2021 and 5.3 percent from the same period of the previous year.
- The Retail Sales Index in November decreased by 1.9 percent October 2021 but increased by 4.6 percent from the same period of the previous year.
- The Equipment Investment Index increased by 10.9 percent from October 2021 and 9.2 percent from the same period of the previous year.
- The value of Domestic Machinery Orders Received increased by 25.0 percent from the same period of the previous year.
- The value of Construction Completed at constant prices increased by 2.4 percent from October 2021 but decreased by 5.6 percent from the same period of the previous year.
- The value of Construction Orders Received at current prices decreased by 12.5 percent from the same period of the previous year.
Preliminary Data for December: IHS Markits PMI for December gives a confusing commentary. While the index rose from 50.9 in November to 51.9, the accompanying commentary said that overseas orders were falling, and the demand was increasingly domestic. Supply chain issues were increasing rather than decreasing. The assumption is that this will impact export performance in January and February 2022. KERI also predicts the export growth rate will fall from 25.8 YoY % to around 3.2% in 2022.
Employment in Nov-Dec YoY: did not significantly increase despite living with Covid, even in food and accommodation
Inflation: Nothing is quite what is seems in terms of prices. Inflation rose 3.7% YoY (the average for 2021 was 2.2%). Excluding energy, food and cost of housing the increase was also 2.2% for November.
Presidential election: Lee Jae-myung is now ahead of Yoon Seok-youl in all polls. All polls except Realmeter show a substantial lead and Realmeter which has shown a pro-PPP bias in its sample now presents a 1.9% lead for Lee. Ahn Chul-soo is registering about 9-10% as dissatisfaction with the two leading candidates in widespread. Ahn will rise as Yoon falls but not to the point of overtaking Lee unless there is a serious upset, or a realignment with PPP.
Covid: Daily infections peaked on December 15, 2021, at over 7,000, and have fallen back to 4,000 after tougher measures of social distancing were introduced at the beginning of the month. “Living with Covid” was therefore either dead or comatose for the month of December. Critical patient numbers soared to over 1,000 but began to fall at the beginning of January. Deaths continue to be five times the rate of earlier waves. Omicron has only just begun to spread.
North Korea and the US: The wording of the declaration of the end of the war is almost agreed with the US (according to the Korean side.) This wording is supposed to largely eliminate the impact or value of the declaration according to US sources. Kim Jong Un’s quasi new year address indicated food shortages are the major concern of the North Korean government not the US.


text:
New York police say they are looking for thieves who stole about $1.5 million in Apple iPad mini tablets from a cargo terminal at JFK International Airport.
The 3,600 tablets were part of a shipment of five pallets of the products that had only recently arrived from China, the New York Post reported Thursday.
The thieves used airport forklifts to load two pallets of the electronic goods into a tractor-trailer that entered the terminal about 11 p.m. Monday.
An airport worker returning from dinner challenged the intruders, who drove off without taking any more of the merchandise, a source told the newspaper.
Police have given three airport workers polygraph tests.
Some $5 million in cash and $900,000 in jewelry was stolen from the same building in 1978. That robbery has been ranked as the largest in American history and was depicted in the Martin Scorsese film "Goodfellas."
Most Popular Stories
- Criminal Investigation Opened Into James Foley's Death
- Swiss Suicide Tourism Doubled Since 2009
- Florida's Largest Insurer Says 'Bailout' Attacks Unfair
- Wealth Gap Widened in Past Decade: Census
- James Foley Beheading Sparks Anger, Little Action
- Gap Reports Higher Profits, India Plans
- International Revulsion Grows Over James Foley Death
- Beyonce, Jay-Z Cuba Trip Was Legal After All
- Sears Holdings Loses $573 Million
- Chinese Stock Funds Are a Late-summer Bloomer


text:
Date & Time: 10 November, 2021 at 5:00 PM
Webinar: Discussion on U.S. – India Trade Relations – To the next level.
About the Event: The webinar was on US-India Trade Relations- to the next level which was jointly organized by CPPR and the U.S. Consulate General Chennai and Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.
Mark Linscott: Mark Linscott is a former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South and Central Asia and for WTO and Multilateral Affairs. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a Senior Advisor at the Asia Group in Washington, D.C.
Rupa Chanda: Rupa Chanda has been a Professor of Economics at IIM Bangalore since 1997. Prior to joining IIMB, she was an economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. She briefly served as the Head, UNESCAP Sub-regional Office for South and South-West Asia in New Delhi, while on leave from IIMB.
Manoj Desai: Principal Commercial Officer, U.S. Consulate General Chennai
Dr. C. Manohar: Regional President, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (South)
Purvaja Modak: Research Fellow (International Relations – Geoeconomics), C.P.P.R
Purvaja Modak introduced the speakers, welcomed the participants and thanked the partners. She introduced Manoj Desai, Principal Commercial Officer, U.S. Consulate General Chennai.
Manoj Desai commenced the session with his opening remarks with the belief that it is indeed an opportune time to discuss U.S-India relations today. He urged the esteemed panelists Dr. Rupa Chanda and Mark Linscott to give ensure that the conversations on the topic be thought provoking and a stimulating. He stated that the U.S is committed to growing the bilateral commercial/trade relations with increasing its government engagements with forums such as U.S- India CEO forum and the commercial dialogues. These bring together U.S and Indian business executives at the highest levels to meet with the cabinet level officials of the U.S and Indian Governments and present recommendations on advancing U.S and Indian commercial ties. The commercial dialogue facilitates Government to Government discussions on issues related to the Ease of Doing Business, including standards, business climate, investments and Travel & Tourism. There has been a significant dip in these activities for the past year but the strong fundamentals of U.S-India relationships continue to keep the potential alive and well.
Professor Rupa Chanda began her presentation saying that the two nations have had a long and multifaceted relationship and they definitely do have a shared values, shared interests and trade and investment is an important aspect of this bilateral relationship. Taking forward the point put forth by our earlier speaker Manoj Desai on the untapped potential in this relationship, she identified an asymmetry in the U.S-India relationship in terms of relative dependence of two countries. India was 10th largest source of imports to the U.S., its 9th largest trading partner and 13th largest export market accounting for a very small percentage of U.S exports. Data shows that while the US may be important for India both for sourcing imports and for the exports market, the same is not true for the US/ Thus, India stands to be an important strategic partner, with trade and investments flushing from the U.S to India in the coming years but reverse is more important to achieve our larger shared goals.
She explained how India’s trade basket bifurcation is. It is dominated by goods but there is a shift towards services, the share of which has grown from 25% of total trade in 2000 to 40% in recent years, simply because of the IT sector in India. She pointed the positive aspects of the US India bilateral relationship: US energy exports in recent years and opportunities for India, strong people to people ties and a strong Indian diaspora in the US, bilateral cooperation for higher education etc. Bringing up the labour mobility issue, she discussed the importance of receiving skill category visas like H1B for Indians. She also noted that the recent relaxation on FDI restrictions and sourcing rules such as single brand retailing has opened up prospects for US companies to enter the Indian market. like Apple Inc. So the two countries must take advantage of the low hanging fruit in the relationship to reinvigorate their bilateral dialogue and also facilitate a structured mechanism to enable in parallel and long term dialogue on the existing irritants.
Mark Linscott, said that the relationship has underperformed for many years despite growth and positive trend line and there are many compelling arguments for India to be a bigger trade partner both in terms of engagement between two Governments and in the value of Goods and Services trade. The first is the “size” of the economy with the US being number one in terms of GDP, and India being number six, slowly rising to reach the third position. The second compelling argument that he put forth was the existence of a significant strategic relationship between the two nations, with a 2+2 dialogue, a shared interest in building the Indo-Pacific alliance, an increase attention to the QUAD 2.0 with Japan and Australia. However, a strong trade relationship that will complement this strategic engagement is needed.
He said that the US faces challenges in sustaining trade in the Indian market because of trade restrictions and import bans, bureaucratic challenges associated with import licensing, technical barriers to trade, etc. He noted that the trade policies and approach towards India seems to be the same as the one under the Trump Administration. He said that the current US administration is certainly looking forward towards re-defining trade agreements, with a clear focus on domestic recovery, responding to Covid-19. He ended by saying that future dialogues between the two nations should be include issues like such as data localisation, treatment of personal data, transborder movement and storage of data, etc.
Purvaja Modak asked the two speakers to discuss the challenging factors or the ‘irritants’ hampering the shared goals and how they can be countered.
Rupa Chanda stated that services sector has more potential and is of mutual interest on both sides, particularly in people-to-people engagements in Healthcare and Science and Technology Research. The US-India trade relations hold a lot of promise and there are huge opportunities in sectors such as defence, aerospace, energy, transport, e-commerce, digital economy, robotics, AI, electrical vehicles etc, along with traditional ones like Infrastructure, textiles, machinery and gems. She stated three ways in which services trade can be furthered: 1. Focusing on mobility of people and the resolving of the H1B visas issue; 2. Fostering more dialogue on digital issues, digitalization and data protectionism; 3. An understanding of the sensitivities in FDI policies and rethinking of the FDI mechanism. She highlighted that the two countries do not see eye to eye on various multilateral trade issues.
Mark also reiterated Rupa’s inputs on the irritants and the need for the two countries to foster future dialogues on digital issues.
On the US India FTA, Mark said that there have been no discussions on an FTA between the US and India and discussions have bene limited to discrete outcomes on goods, pricing for medical devices, market access for dairy products, etc.
On the question on whether India could capitalize on the focus on the China Plus One strategy after the US China trade war, Rupa said that many companies chose not to relocate their operations away from China merely because of the scale and capacity that China promotes. While researchers and scholars gave a comparative advantage to India, countries like Vietnam and Malaysia actually were successful in capturing those firms that actually moved out of China. Mark said that India-U. S trade has a huge potential in terms of market scale but the shifting of supply chain and manufacturing can disincentivize the potential, bringing up difficulties with ease of doing business, tariffs and the use of inputs that could be counter-productive.
The discussion ended with the two speakers summarizing their inputs laying out a three-point agenda for the US President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Modi to consider as a first step to reinvigorating their trade relationship
Dr. C. Manohar, Regional President, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (South) delivered the closing remarks by thanking the speakers for bringing their analysis and expertise to the table. He reiterated on how trade can transform the U.S-India relationship. He explained the role of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce in furthering the trade relations between the two countries. He made a call for chambers of commerce, businesses, think tanks and civil society organizations to work with the Indian government to help India realize this untapped relationship.
Purvaja Modak thanked the speakers, the partners and supporters and closed the proceedings of the webinar.
Event Video Recording: https://www.cppr.in/videos/u-s-india-trade-relations-to-the-next-level-2


text:
The Brisbane company’s forecast followed the announcement of a half year profit of $150 million, down from $178 million for the same period last year.
It boosted its dividend to a record 24 cents a share from 22 cents last year.
The profit was on the back of revenue of $4.8 billion and a balance sheet that included a cash position of $350 million.
“The strength of our balance sheet, evidenced by our liquidity position, low gearing and high-value property portfolio, provides the company with the capacity and flexibility to pursue accretive growth opportunities while insulating the business in the event of any material headwinds,” the company said.
The company boomed during the Covid era as consumers used retained savings to buy new cars. Used car prices also soared because of the breakdown of the logistics chain.
“While moderating from the highs of the first half of 2022, demand remains resilient and we expect demand to be broadly in line with supply across the industry for the full year,” the company said.
“In addition to these underlying market dynamics, the unique combination of organic, greenfield and acquisition initiatives completed in 2022 and the first half of 2023 provide the foundation for the company to exceed its guidance of $1 billion in revenue growth for 2023.”


text:
As the government launches a consultation on simple financial products, Which? is calling on the financial services industry to provide simple products that are easy to understand and compare.
Which? chief executive Peter Vicary-Smith, says: ‘For too long the financial services industry has traded on complexity, rather than offering simple, transparent products that consumers need.
‘The government must give the new Consumer Protection and Markets Authority the power to either set minimum standards or to ensure that it’s easier for customers to compare products.’
Consumer Protection and Markets Authority
In its consultation document, the government states that it ‘wants to see a thriving and trusted financial services marketplace, where consumers can buy the products they need with confidence. The government plans to set up a Consumer Protection and Markets Authority (CPMA).
‘The CPMA will be a strong consumer champion, tasked with ensuring confidence in financial services and markets. It will ensure that the interests of consumers and participants in financial markets are placed at the heart of the conduct regulatory system.’
Launching the consultation, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban said: ‘The government is committed to helping consumers take responsibility for their finances. In order to do this they need to be able to make sense of the huge range of financial products in the market. Simple financial products will help them to do that, by providing a safe choice and a common benchmark against which other products can be compared.’
Which? calls for the CPMA to embrace product regulation
Which? believes that the CPMA should embrace the role that product regulation can play in addressing conflicts of interest, disciplining markets and aligning the interests of producers with consumers. Product regulation could be used by the regulator to address three key issues:
- Ensure minimum standards for key products: There are certain products such as current accounts and protection products that consumers need access to. Which? believes the regulator should ensure that any such products meet minimum standards. We would draw a parallel with motor insurance where all products on sale must meet minimum legal requirements, and consumers then have the option to add on additional ‘bells and whistles’. For example, this could include ensuring that consumers are able to opt-out of unauthorised overdrafts for current accounts. The regulator may also take steps to ensure that information disclosure is on standard terms, enabling consumers to easily compare products. It could also take steps to introduce industry-wide standards such as portable bank account numbers for current accounts.
- Minimise the toxic aspects of products: Product regulation can play a valuable role in limiting the harm that certain products can cause. In some cases, a particular type of product or specific product should be prohibited, for example single premium Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).
- Ensure the availability of ‘vanilla’ products: Experience has shown that the financial services industry alone will not develop simple, good value for money products which meets consumers’ needs. We believe the regulator should pursue the idea that providers and intermediaries should offer simple, straightforwardly priced ‘vanilla’ products alongside their additional product offerings. This could be used alongside rules similar to the current “RU64” in the pensions area which requires firms to consider whether a simple good-value stakeholder pension would be more suitable than any more complex, higher-charging pension product which they are seeking to recommend.
Which? Money when you need it
You can follow @WhichMoney on Twitter to keep up-to-date with our Best Rates and Recommended Provider product and service reviews.
Sign up for the latest money news, best rates and recommended providers in your newsletter every Friday.
Or for money-saving tips, and news of how what’s going on in the world of finance affects you, join Melanie Dowding and James Daley for the Which? Money weekly money podcast
For daily consumer news, subscribe to the Which? news RSS feed here. And to find out how we work for you on money issues, visit our personal finance campaigns pages.


text:
Pet shopping, Black Friday and YOU
Turns out that 52% of pet owning Americans plan on buying their pets a present this year. According to the Associated Press poll that brought this news to a publication near you, that’s up from 43% last year.
Conclusion: Pets are beloved and becoming more traditionally so if their ability to rake in the holiday swag is any measure.
Which has elicited some impressive media responses to the concept of pet spending. As in (yawn!) the tired old argument that we waste our money on our animals when we could be spending it on...oh, I don’t know...Christmas cards?
Meanwhile, this notion is no shocker for those of us who spend big bucks on animal healthcare and invest our energy reading blogs that more than half our fellow pet owners consider animals holiday gift-worthy.
Though the media might make much of it, it’s no surprise to us. Even less so when you consider there’s nothing too rational about the human drive to offer gifts to our loved ones in the first place.
Indeed, when directed towards animals, buying behavior is a reflection of our least selfish, most nurturing impulses. That’s especially obvious when we consider that pets are the recipients who least expect or demand the gifts we bestow upon them.
So ignore the obnoxious catcalls of those who would question your human loyalty or suggest you’ve abandoned all reason when you head out to the mall or shop the internet for your pet’s next holiday indulgence. Keep in mind that almost nothing beats this gesture for its honesty and purity or spirit. And that’s what this season is all about, right?


text:
Ontario-wide lockdown: Entire province to shut down on Dec. 26, students move to online learning
COVID-19 in Canada
For more information on today's top stories and how the novel coronavirus is spreading across the country, check out our live updates throughout the day as well as our COVID-19 news hub.
The Ontario government has announced a nationwide shutdown that will begin at 12:01 p.m. on December 26, Boxing Day.
"This difficult move is clearly necessary to save lives and keep our hospitals from becoming overwhelmed in the coming weeks," said Doug Ford, Ontario Prime Minister. "As Prime Minister, it falls to me to make the difficult but necessary decision, and I will never shrink from my duty to protect the people of Ontario."
"Unfortunately, despite the restrictions, we have seen an increasing number of people traveling between regions in Ontario. COVID is spreading rapidly from areas with high outbreaks to areas with fewer cases. Our hospitals fill up more every day."
The measures that will be part of these statewide restrictions include:
Individuals living alone may consider having exclusive close contact with another household when restricting organized public events and indoor social gatherings except with members of the same household
Prohibit in-person shopping in most retail environments - roadside pickup and delivery can continue
Discount and big box retailers selling groceries will be limited to 25 percent capacity for in-store purchases, supermarkets, grocery stores and similar stores primarily selling groceries, and pharmacies, and will continue to have 50 percent capacity Shopping in-store store
Restricting access to indoor shopping centers - Customers are only allowed to go to a specific indoor pickup area (by appointment only), major retail stores that are allowed to be open (e.g. pharmacy, grocery store), or subject to physical distancing and face covering Food court for take-away purchases (malls can also set up designated outdoor pick-up areas)
Ban on eating indoors and outdoors - restaurants, bars and other dining facilities may only be operated for take-away, drive-through and delivery
Ford called this a "temporary" and "one-time action" that will last at least 14 days in northern Ontario and 28 days in southern Ontario.
The Prime Minister also had a specific message for regions currently in the green and yellow, less restrictive area of the COVID-19 response framework.
The five zones of public health action for COVID-19 in Ontario. Currently, most affected regions in the province, averaging over 2,000 cases per day, have doubled the number of cases for the "control" level, moving the province to "gray" or "lockdown".
"The risk of inter-provincial travel and spreading is a real problem," said Ford. "We have seen people move from region to region bringing COVID with them.
He also expressed concern about the movement across the provincial border from Quebec to Ottawa, in particular.
"We also know that Quebec is closing, so areas like Ottawa, which have done a great job, are at tremendous risk on vacations from people flocking across the border," said Ford. "We've done it before seen as we open up and Quebec closes. They will come by in droves. The numbers will go up again. "
When asked why these lockdown restrictions are being introduced on Boxing Day rather than Monday or any other day before Christmas, the prime minister said he wanted to give companies the opportunity to prepare to “squat” for the shutdown, including the Manage their existing inventory, especially for restaurants that are currently operational.
Schools are switching to online distance learning
All elementary and secondary schools will switch to teacher-guided distance learning on January 4, 2021.
"Schools are not part of the COVID problem in our communities, but as a precaution, school closings will be extended during the winter break," said Ford.
Schools in the following regions of the Public Health Unit can resume face-to-face classes on January 11, 2021:
The Algoma District Health Unit
North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
Northwestern Health Unit
Porcupine Health Unit
Sudbury and District Health Unit
Thunder Bay District Health Unit
Timiskaming Health Unit
Primary schools in other regions should be able to study in person again on January 11, 2021, but secondary school students will continue to study remotely until January 25, 2021.
Before this closure went into effect, the provincial government also announced the Ontario Small Business Support Grant to provide between $ 10,000 and $ 20,000 to eligible small business owners.
Suitable small businesses are companies that meet the following criteria:
Are required to close or significantly restrict services that are subject to nationwide shutdown effective December 26, 2020 at 12:01 p.m.
Have fewer than 100 company-level employees
In April 2020, sales fell by at least 20 percent compared to April 2019
Visit our COVID-19 Canada topic page for the latest news, tips, health updates, cases and more.
You should check here to buy the best price guaranteed products.
My son is married to a selfish, passive-aggressive woman. How can I leave him money without her getting her hands on it?
Drake Invests in a Rapidly Growing Hot Chicken Chain
CG: MIN @ CHC - 9/21/21
Arizona Republican resigns after secret recording released
Fall tarantula migration underway in southeast Colorado
Princess Eugenie Reveals Prince Philip's Sentimental Wedding Gift: 'I'm So Proud of It'


text:
Speaking at BMW's annual press dinner in London, Jim O'Donnell was forthright in his views about the problem companies face because of congestion charging. He said: 'I know some will agree with the principle that anything will do to restore some form of order to London's congested streets. I, however, cannot and do not see this barmy scheme through such rose-tinted spectacles.
'It will cost our Park Lane dealer £70,000 in 2003. For larger central London businesses, this figure might be 10 times higher. It will prove to be another chunk of red tape, another backdoor tax and another burden on business, quite apart from the regressive effect on nurses at Westminster hospital and other low-paid workers in our capital.'
He joked that The Beatles penned the song 'Taxman' in 1966, with the line 'If you drive a car I'll tax the streets', and that '37 years later Ken Livingstone is about to turn fantasy into reality.'
O'Donnell went on to predict further growth for the diesel market in the next year, powered by company cars. He said: 'In October, diesel sales accounted for 26.8% of the market and sales have risen by over 40% since 2001. BMW diesel sales echo this trend and have risen by 83%.
'I predict diesel volumes will continue to grow – perhaps not to the levels of some continental markets, but they could reach 35% during the next two years.'
2003 will be a critical year for BMW, with two significant diesel models: the 730d and the MINI diesel, using the 1.4-litre engine developed by Toyota.
Also next year, the firm will launch the flagship long wheelbase 760iL, Z4 roadster, M3 CSL, new 5-series and 6-series.


text:
French betting firm Pari Mutuel Urbain has been ordered by France's Competition Authority, l'Autorité de la concurrence to separate its online horse racing business from its retail shops, as the regulator claimed that PMU unfairly benefitting from shared liquidity.
The order to separate the businesses comes after BetClic filed a complaint in 2012 in which it alleged that PMU holds an unfair advantage with its retail and onlnie operations. That allegation was backed up by the regulator, who claimed that PMU's competitors cannot effectively compete against the group, given the resources that PMU holds.
PMU currently has a stranglehold on the horse racing industry in France, as it holds 85% of the marketshare. Last year the group brought in €8 billion in retail and €1 billion online.
PMU is being given until September 30th, 2015 to complete the separation.


text:
A new Canyon Ultimate, Giant Propel, and countless other bikes to break cover in the coming weeks.
Whether the result of two years of covid delayed development or simply an exciting coincidence, 2022 is shaping up to be a fruitful year for new bike launches. Several brands have jumped the Tour de France start gun, making for a busy spring for new bike spotters the world over.
As more and more brands opt to have pro teams or the UCI frame list accidentally intentionally leak new bike news, the appearance, and equally the non-appearance, of new bikes often creates much speculation. Speculation on design merits, speculation on aero properties, good old speculation on how much it will weigh. We love to hypothesise what said bikes will offer if/when their existence is ever confirmed. Known unknowns
One thing is still for certain, all the brands, teams, and riders want their best equipment ready for the Tour de France. If a World Tour team bike is currently in (re)-development with a completion date expected this year, you can bet your bottom dollar everyone wants it for the Tour de France. Nobody wants to go into the biggest race of the year with the disadvantage of leaving their so-called new, better, faster, equipment still in the paint shop. As such, the Tour de France is still and likely always will be the hotbed for new cycling tech.
So what can we expect from TDF 2022? Well, as already mentioned, 2022 has been a busy year […]


text:
The co-founder of one of the leading VPN providers may be looking at up to five years of jail time after being charged as the guilty party in a conspiracy case in Greece.
Authorities are holding TorGuard CEO Ben Van Pelt personally liable for an online shop to extract 2,000 US dollars from an illegitimate credit card.
As Greek news site Dikastiko reported, a fraud that took place in December 2018 never resulted in any transactions being recorded on the account involved. Accordingly, the authorities launched a police investigation to identify and apprehend the criminal.
Transparency will always be one of the pillar focus of TorGuard
According to Alexis Anagnostaki, the Greek lawyer who defended Van Pelt, holding the carrier liable is absurd and reveals the way the judicial system functions in Greece. “In other words, instead of detaining the assailant in a homicide, they sued the manufacturer of the weapon.”
Nevertheless, Van Pelt told TorrentFreak, that he has no plans to change the transparency of his ownership of his business. His legal problems don’t seem to have affected this outlook.
Being falsely accused of something is frustrating, particularly when there is lack of evidence and a lack of understanding regarding the technology involved. TorGuard will continue to preserve trust as its keystone of operations.
VPN companies are increasingly cited in legal cases
As cybercrime continues to rise, VPNs are becoming increasingly popular, as these tools can shield individuals’ privacy and anonymity when they’re online and prevent them from committing illegal activities online.
The greatest private virtual private network providers all have strict no-logs policies regarding the management of their customers’ information. In this way, no data of any kind is stored, leaked, or shared. In an ongoing legal investigation, this could be an issue, as authorities can’t know who exactly may be responsible.
Some government agencies are trying to take other countries’ cues from India’s recent data privacy policies.
While movie companies also want VPN services to monitor pirates, there are various attorneys who are eager to access Piracy lawsuits against these companies, enforcing legal responsibilities on CEOs and company founders.
Whether Van Pelt overcomes loopholes in TorGuard’s business dealings, it will set a model for the industry of VPN companies.


text:
Victoria’s extended fourth lockdown is a “disaster” for Melbourne which is considered to be the “dining capital of Australia,” says Restaurant and Catering Industry Australia CEO Wes Lambert.
Mr Lambert told Sky News the lockdown is expected to cost the accommodation and food service industry $1 billion if it ends on Thursday.
“If it’s extended, it costs in excess of $500 million a week for the hospitality industry to be hamstrung like this,” he told Sky News.
Mr Lambert also said the grants provide by the state government are “great” but will go “nowhere” to recovering the revenue which businesses have lost due to lockdowns.
“For many medium and large sized businesses, they barely cover a couple of days of rent,” he said.
“Certainly, we appreciate the state and the packages that they’ve released, however the accommodation and food services industry is always the first and the hardest hit when lockdowns come.
“We have been the most restricted and affected industry in the country since the pandemic started and we need to start learning to live with COVID.”


text:
Chery has revealed that its upcoming electric vehicle, the Omoda E5 will be officially launched in Malaysia this March. Ahead of the launch, the company has now begun to accept bookings for the new EV.
Chery Omoda E5 to launch in March with RM160k estimated price
To book the new EV, all you need to do is visit the nearest Chery’s showroom and pay a refundable booking fee of RM1,000. In case you need to have a closer look at the Omoda E5, you can do so at Chery showrooms as well.
This is because display units will be made available at showrooms throughout Malaysia starting this coming Saturday, 24 February. While Chery didn’t specify the exact launch date for its new EV, its upcoming appearance at showrooms all over the country signifies that the Omoda E5 launch event is happening really soon.
Chery Omoda E5 Malaysia quick specs
Equipped with a 150kW (201hp) motor that also produces 340Nm of torque, Chery claimed that the Omoda E5 can go from 0-100km/h in 7.6 seconds alongside a top speed of 172km/h. Powering the fully electric SUV is a 61kWh battery pack and it allows the fully electric SUV to deliver a WLTP-rated range of 430km.
When it comes to charging, the Omoda E5 supports DC fast charging of up to 80kW which allows it to be charged from 30-80% in 30 minutes. The SUV also has an onboard 9.9kW AC charger as well as 3.3kW Vehicle-2-Load (V2L) capability.


text:
by Nourish President Jo-Ann McArthur
We celebrated International Women’s Day with gusto at Nourish, a 100% female-owned and managed business. But perhaps the best way to celebrate and support women is to recognize that we are not just smaller men and have different monthly cycles and life stages. A lot of businesses still fail to acknowledge this. Need proof? Data from Spoonshot reveals consumer interest in women’s health is 4.2 times greater than business interest. Why is the food & beverage industry overlooking this untapped gold mine?
I recently spoke about food trends to a group of grocery executives. When I talked about the opportunity for female food, a woman in the audience mentioned that she had tried to cross-merchandise chocolate in the feminine hygiene section but had been turned down. The women in the room nodded and clapped while the men looked quizzically. If you don’t understand why this makes sense, ask a female in your family.
We first wrote about the food personalization trend in our 2018 Nourish Trend Report, and it’s still growing in importance, particularly with younger generations. Consumers continue to take control of their health and well-being, with food seen as the first and easiest line of defence; they prefer to get their nutrients from food rather than supplements. A recent focus on women’s health, with a nine-fold increase in published research papers between 2010 and 2020, promises to unlock more opportunities for food manufacturers. If you service the gluten-free niche with distinct offerings or a store section, why not consider a larger addressable market of over 50% of the population?
The time for straight talk has come — hasn’t it?
Females have hormonal, emotional, and digestive challenges throughout the month and each life stage, encompassing different food cravings and nutritional needs. Thanks to social media and younger generations, these are no longer taboo topics. Gone (hopefully) are the days of suffering in silence through menopause, PMS, and the rest of the gang.
There are opportunities beyond the usual PMS tea in health stores. For example, UK drugstore chain Boots just launched a new symbol to identify menopause-friendly products and services within its stores.
Do you have existing products high in nutrients like calcium, isoflavones, magnesium, and collagen that deserve a call-out? How can you appeal to this unaddressed market? One thing we can guarantee about the future is that someone will disrupt the status quo. Will it be you?
If you’re interested in learning more about female health and nutrition, I recommend this recent episode from the Eat Move Think podcast, “What Every Woman Needs to Know About Her Nutrition.” It’s a (metaphorical) eye-opener!


text:
Toronto-based supply chain software startup Notch has survived COVID-19 upending the restaurant industry and come out of the pandemic with a focus on FinTech and helping restaurants and food distributors simplify the B2B ordering, invoicing, and payment process.
Founded in 2015 as a marketplace between restaurants and wholesale distributors called ChefHero, Notch has had an eventful past few years. Much like other food tech companies and the industry it caters to, Notch was hit hard by the pandemic when in-person dining halted amid the spread of COVID-19. As Notch CEO Jordan Huck previously told BetaKit, COVID-19 posed “an extinction-level event” for the startup.
As Notch gears up for another period of economic upheaval, the startup has raised capital and restructured its team.
In response to these conditions, Notch laid off staff, pivoted, and rebranded from ChefHero, shifting strategies to helping restaurants and food distributors bring their ordering, invoicing, and payments online. Today, armed with a fresh focus, additional capital, a leaner, revamped team, and a new FinTech product, Huck believes the startup is in a much better position.
“When you have to pivot in COVID, that’s a challenging place to be,” Huck told BetaKit in an interview. “I’m just really proud of the perseverance of the team for some of the challenges that we had to overcome, including multiple rounds of layoffs … pay cuts, all the stuff that companies were doing.”
As Notch gears up to navigate yet another potentially prolonged period of economic upheaval, the startup has raised $13.7 million CAD ($10 million CAD) in fresh capital, and restructured its team. As part of that, Notch shuffled its leadership and laid off nearly 13 percent of its staff as it targets “more measured growth” amid the downturn.
With its latest financing Notch plans to expand into the United States (US) and deepen its push into FinTech as the food service operations software firm continues to reinvent itself, starting with the launch of its new restaurant payments offering.
The all-equity, all-primary round was led by new investor Portage Ventures, and closed in late December. It also saw follow-on support from Golden Ventures, Math Ventures, Accomplice, Pre-Cursor Ventures, Garage Capital, and Plexo Capital. Huck declined to disclose Notch’s valuation. The fresh capital brings Notch’s total funding to date to about $39 million CAD ($29 million USD).
Huck said that Notch is not classifying this round, which comes after the company closed a nearly $3.5 million CAD Series A-1 round in March 2020 and $12.5 million in Series A-2 funding in July 2021. With this capital, the CEO said the goal is to give Notch “optionality” over the next two years, putting the startup in a position to either raise a larger Series B round or reach profitability by that time.
As part of its move into FinTech, Notch first launched its Accounts Receivable (AR) Manager product for food distributors in July 2021. Since then, the startup says AR Manager has seen 800 percent growth year-over-year. To fit alongside its AR Manager offering for distributors Notch has also built out a second FinTech product, an Accounts Payable (AP) Manager, to digitize restaurant payments to distributors. The company is launching AP Manager this week.
The growth Notch has seen since COVID-19 hit, including that of its FinTech offering, are part of what drew Portage to invest Notch. “Their post-pandemic growth has been truly impressive,” Portage partner Ricky Lai told BetaKit. “We are very excited by the renewed focus brought by Notch’s new solution for the market. The company has executed well as the hospitality market continues recovering from the pandemic.”
Shortly after closing this round, in early January, Notch laid off seven members of its 54-person team, or approximately 13 percent of its headcount, joining a host of other Canadian tech companies to shed staff amid the downturn. Although Notch’s funding was not contingent on the company making layoffs, Huck described the cuts as “the prudent thing to do” in light of current economic conditions. “We over-hired coming out of the pandemic,” said Huck.
“The economic downturn has forced us to try to do more with less,” added the CEO. “This capital is not going to mean huge headcount growth for us here—it’s just not—and I think most technology companies are going to follow that recipe.”
Notch has also restructured its leadership team, bringing on some experienced restaurant tech industry executives in former Ritual VP of Growth Kurt Gooden as its new head of growth and marketing, and ex-DoorDash director of strategy and operations Justin Vermeer as VP of operations.. The startup is also adding a new head of sales in the coming weeks.
Huck views Notch’s “all-in-one approach,” combining ordering, invoicing, and payments, as a differentiator in the food service operations software space. On the payments and FinTech side in particular, the Toronto-based company sees plenty of room to grow.
Within the B2B restaurant and food distribution space, Huck said most payments still take place offline. “Today, accountants across Canada and the US, across North America, feed paper invoices, take paper invoices, and cut cheques,” said Huck. “And Notch is going to change all of that.”
RELATED: Following rebrand, Notch raises $12.5 million CAD to bring restaurant supply chain software to new markets
“In a post-COVID world, every business is looking to—especially hospitality with slimmer margins—drive as much efficiency as possible, and the time is now for payments to come online,” he said.
As Notch looks to execute on this vision, the startup will now be doing so with the help of FinTech-focused Portage. “We think Portage is the perfect partner,” said Huck, pointing to the VC firm’s financial services expertise and track record helping other startups layer on FinTech solutions.
Asked why Portage was attracted to Notch, Lai, who is joining Notch’s board as part of the round, said Notch “fits a lot” of what Portage looks for in a FinTech company. “The company brings a tech-enabled solution to an antiquated money movement process—payments between restaurants and distributors—while also simplifying the lives of the “CFOs” … of these clients,” he added.
“In a post-COVID world, every business is looking to—especially hospitality with slimmer margins—drive as much efficiency as possible, and the time is now for payments to come online.”
-Jordan Huck, Notch
As Lai noted, Portage has been explored investment opportunities in both pure FinTech firms and companies using tech to modernize outdated processes at small-to-medium-sized enterprises. “Notch’s solution sits at the intersection of those ideas,” he said.
Over the longer-term, Huck said he sees “downstream opportunities” for Notch to explore other financial services beyond payments, from lending, to buy-now, pay-later capabilities and card issuance.
Notch also intends to use some of this funding to support its geographic expansion plans. The startup currently serves all of Canada, and with this capital, Notch will begin pushing into the US later this year.
As Golden Ventures general partner Ameet Shah told BetaKit, the entire food tech industry underwent “a massive transformation,” during COVID-19, and the sector continues to evolve. For his part, Shah has been impressed by Notch’s strength. “The whole Notch team has shown remarkable resiliency and fortitude throughout the pandemic,” he added.
“COVID that gave us that clarity that we needed to pivot to really help streamline operations for hospitality groups,” said Huck, who noted that today, Notch’s products focus on helping restaurants operate more efficiently and distributors collect payment faster. “These are core issues that are going to matter should we go into a recession. That combined with a very lean team, we think we’re really well positioned to come out of this stronger than ever.”
Feature image courtesy Notch.


text:
Just five weeks into their brand new business, Natalie Hartley and Pia McKenary found themselves having to completely overhaul their entire model. Coronavirus and the national lockdown had meant their sparkling new refill shop and cafe would suddenly have to transform into online orders and deliveries.
But there was another major factor in the mix too: Five children, all under the age of eight, who were all now stuck at home.
“It was a struggle, a massive struggle really,” Hartley told HuffPost UK.
“I was homeschooling my children, who are five and seven, all day and then working on the business until 2am most nights, trying to keep it all going.
And they were not alone.
Female entrepreneurs have been disproportionately hit by Covid-19.
Research published by Iwoca, one of Europe’s largest lenders to small businesses, in August found that 23% of women-owned businesses were still closed following the lockdown – compared to just 14% of male-owned enterprises.
Despite contributing some £85bn to the UK economy, women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19. The reasons why exactly are complex – with the virus hitting many sectors dominated by women, such as the beauty industry, particularly hard, and women taking on homeschooling and additional caring duties as schools closed.
A UCL study, released in July, revealed that women spent more than double as much time as men on their children’s home schooling and development during lockdown.
Mothers with primary school-aged children were also “considerably more likely” to have given up working than fathers with children of the same age, it was found in the same research.
Natalie Hartley and Pia McKenary, who run The Pantry at 51 in Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, had to self-build a website that would allow them to start a click-and-collect framework for their zero-waste shop, while also juggling the sudden demands of homeschooling.
“The kids had...


text:
The company, called Dame, shared the news of its product D on its official Kickstarter, explaining that the tampon applicator is made of reusable technology that enables one to wash and use the product again.
D looks much like your typical disposable tampon applicator, and is created with a smooth plastic material. It also comes with a lock that will keep tampon strings out of the way during usage. The applicator is said to fit users of all sizes and was created with heat-resistant material that allows you to safely sterilize after using it.
In a previous interview with Fast Company, Dame Cofounder Celia Pool explained they wanted to change the way others thought of tampons. "One of the goals was to make something that looked beautiful, that looked well designed," she said. "We didn’t want to go down the pink and fluffy route." She went on to explain that they wanted to create products "in a more sustainable way without compromising on their beauty, their design, and their efficacy."
It's estimated that a person will use more than 11,000 tampons in their lifetime, The Guardian reported. Many period products that wind up in the trash reportedly take years to break down, and as Dame notes, there's an even bigger problem with plastic in general. According to their Kickstarter, 8 million pieces of plastic enter the oceans every day, resulting in the fact that a third of the fish that we eat already contain plastic. The creators of D hope to address that with their product, saying in a statement on their Kickstarter that they're "on a mission to to reduce waste from everyday products, without compromising on performance or beauty. Period products are just the start."
D is not yet available in stores, but their Kickstarter reports that they hope to have it some in retail shops by 2019. In the meantime, those who back D on Kickstarter will receive the product with their pledge.


text:
Football might be coming home, but the World Cup isn’t the only major sports event happening right now. Wimbledon is in full swing too.
But for one of tennis’ top stars, there’s more in play than the action on Centre Court. Roger Federer is being encouraged to speak out against the actions of his sponsor – the Japanese clothing company UNIQLO. The Clean Clothes Campaign has asked the public to write to Federer, calling on him to “demand fair working conditions” from UNIQLO.
The campaign stems from a report [pdf] written by the Worker Rights Consortium. The report [pdf, p3] looked into an Indonesian garment factory – Jaba Garmindo – which went into bankruptcy without issuing severance pay or final wages for its 4,000 workers. It also named [pdf, p3] brands who had sourced from the factory, including UNIQLO.
The Clean Clothes Campaign claims that up to $5.5m is owed to around 2,000 workers. It also alleges that UNIQLO and other brands withdrew orders from the factory in 2014. The factory went bankrupt and closed just one month later. Because of this, it argues that UNIQLO has a responsibility to pay the money owed. It also claims:
To deny them their payment now is tantamount to wage theft.
Since the factory closure, workers have been appealing directly to UNIQLO. In a letter to the company, one worker wrote:
When I was employed at Jaba Garmindo, I spent most of my time there creating UNIQLO products. Even on my days off I came in to operate machines because we had to meet the target as set by you, by UNIQLO. I ignored my pain as much as I could to reach these results so we would not get scolded by our boss.
Read on...Support us and go ad-free
Another worker wrote to the company about the closure:
You have to know what impact Jaba Garmindo’s bankruptcy has had on us. You did not try to prevent this closure. You pulled out orders from Jaba Garmindo and just left this factory without care for workers. Now we have lost our jobs, our livelihood and it is impacting our children because they can’t continue their study. We are struggling now for over 3 years. You don’t know how hard our struggle has been to end this.
As a result of the spotlight the Clean Clothes Campaign and Worker Rights Consortium has put on UNIQLO, the company issued a response. It admitted sourcing from the factory between 2012 and 2014. However, it currently denies any responsibility for compensating the factory workers. A statement from UNIQLO’s parent company Fast Retailing, reads:
Fast Retailing has no legal obligation pertaining to this matter, including the responsibility to financially compensate former PT Jaba Garmindo employees.
Fast Retailing says that it does ’empathise’ with the workers affected, however, and has offered to facilitate re-employment for those out of work.
Sport in the spotlight
Roger Federer and UNIQLO aren’t the only ones from the world of sport under the spotlight over labour rights issues. In June, campaigners took aim at the major sports brands behind the world cup paying poverty wages.
The world’s eyes are on two of the biggest sports competitions. And campaigners are bringing workers’ rights to their attention. It’s time the brands and sponsors clean up their act. And people are calling on Roger Federer to play an important role in pushing them to do that.
– Join The Canary, so we can keep holding the powerful to account.
– Write to Roger Federer, asking him to demand fair working conditions from UNIQLO.
Featured image via Mike McCune – Wikimedia Commons
We need your help to keep speaking the truth
Every story that you have come to us with; each injustice you have asked us to investigate; every campaign we have fought; each of your unheard voices we amplified; we do this for you. We are making a difference on your behalf.
Our fight is your fight. You’ve supported our collective struggle every time you gave us a like; and every time you shared our work across social media. Now we need you to support us with a monthly donation.
We have published nearly 2,000 articles and over 50 films in 2021. And we want to do this and more in 2022 but we don’t have enough money to go on at this pace. So, if you value our work and want us to continue then please join us and be part of The Canary family.
In return, you get:
* Advert free reading experience
* Quarterly group video call with the Editor-in-Chief
* Behind the scenes monthly e-newsletter
* 20% discount in our shop
Almost all of our spending goes to the people who make The Canary’s content. So your contribution directly supports our writers and enables us to continue to do what we do: speaking truth, powered by you. We have weathered many attempts to shut us down and silence our vital opposition to an increasingly fascist government and right-wing mainstream media.
With your help we can continue:
* Holding political and state power to account
* Advocating for the people the system marginalises
* Being a media outlet that upholds the highest standards
* Campaigning on the issues others won’t
* Putting your lives central to everything we do
We are a drop of truth in an ocean of deceit. But we can’t do this without your support. So please, can you help us continue the fight?


text:
Simon Property Group, the biggest U.S. shopping mall owner, has hired advisers as it considers buying assets of bankrupt rival General Growth Properties Inc., operator of Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the Natick Collection.
Minnesota businessman Tom Petters, accused of orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme that pushed Polaroid into bankruptcy, took the stand in his own defense, saying he regrets people lost money but that he did not knowingly participate in fraud.
U.S. financial firms would pump as much as $200 billion into a fund that would pay to dissolve failed companies whose collapse in bankruptcy would harm the economy, under a measure lawmakers may take up this week, said Congressman Barney Frank.
TJX profit up
Framingham-based TJX Cos. said its quarterly profit rose 32 percent as shoppers looked for bargains at its discount chains such as T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods.
No Trump card
Donald Trump ended his attempt to take control of bankrupt casino company Trump Entertainment Resorts. After battling bondholders, the real estate mogul acquiesced to a reorganization that gives him a 10 percent stake while the Atlantic City, N.J., company retains the right to use his name.
Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s yacht “Bull,” two smaller boats and a Mercedes-Benz convertible were sold at auction for more than $1 million combined.


text:
Twisted Metal David Jaffe Interview Video - PS3
We were surprised and disappointed to hear of Dave's departure from the studio he co-founded, Eat Sleep Play. That being said, we remain pumped for Twisted Metal, which will hit store shelves next week. In this recent interview, Jaffe talks about how the team created such a dark, immersive, ultimately twisted world.
2/8/2012 Ben Dutka