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However, the nippy and windy climate of Tsukuba failed to have an impact on the heated discussions among delegates.
The soaring tensions over the trade war had overshadowed this two-day meeting of trade ministers from the Group of 20 major economies.
It all began with the adoption of import duties by the United States on goods imported from China, to which the latter was quick to retort with tit-for-tat action.
Conditions prevailing over the past three years have hindered the performance of international trade, especially in developing nations.
Ego clashes between the two major countries have reduced global demand, and this condition is projected to remain unchanged in the near future.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has estimated global trade growth to reach merely 2.6 percent in 2019 and a potential downward revision in the second semester.
This projection is lesser than the four percent global economic growth in 2017 and 3.6 percent in 2018.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also projected that trade war can reduce 0.5 percent of the global GDP, or worth US$455 billion, by 2020.
To this end, the G20 meeting had laid emphasis on seeking solutions to placate tensions over the US-China trade war.
Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita, representing the government at the meeting, noted that Indonesia had expressed concern over the current conditions.
Lukita remarked that rising tensions over the current trade war had resulted in a trust deficit among G20 countries concerning the dismal implementation of the multilateral system.
An effort to revitalize multilateral cooperation that has started to be abandoned in international trade is through the WTO reform.
At this forum, Indonesia also reiterated the importance of reform in the WTO body that had begun to be overwhelmed in tackling issues of trade disputes.
Lukita pointed out that the WTO not functioning optimally is a common issue that should be tackled at this forum.
"This is a major problem for the world and the G20, so we are really urged to play a role in overcoming this (issue)," he remarked on the sidelines of the G20 meeting.
Hence, boosting the WTO's role through reforms is deemed necessary, so expectations for this institution's existence do not further dwindle and imperil the conditions of global trade.
Director General for International Trade Negotiations at the Trade Ministry Iman Pambagyo noted that the WTO's role in negotiations and supervision had not gone well.
It's role to resolve dispute is also threatened since currently, it has no member of the appellate body.
Appointment for the WTO appellate body member is still a challenge due to the veto from the United States that has the potential to slow down the resolution of trade conflicts.
"The appellate body member must be appointed immediately. If it does not exist until December, then the function of the dispute resolution system will stop," Pambagyo emphasized.
Currently, the issue of trade tends to be resolved unilaterally or unilaterally due to the belief deficit in the international world.
In the face of such conditions, improvement of the WTO's body holds significance, so that the global trade situation does not weaken further.
"We must fix the WTO, if it is not perfect. It does not mean that the WTO is abandoned or all are blocked. We must sit down to talk about improving the WTO," Pambudi reiterated.
He expounded the importance of improving the multilateral cooperation system to strengthen global trade performance, so that economic slowdown does not continue.
Protracted conflict situations in the short term can reduce export and investment performance and eventually reduce economic activity.
"People's trust in trade and investment can fade. At the end, each one relies on domestic consumption," he stated.
In tackling increasingly tough conditions in the subsequent six months, the delegates concurred on the ministerial statement that laid emphasis on boosting trade performance.
Some points of the statement comprise agreeing to efforts to continue trade that is free, open, fair, without discrimination, transparent, predictable, stable, and in accordance with the investment environment.
International trade has also been found to be able to boost productivity, create innovation and employment, and support development.
The meeting also highlighted the importance of the WTO's role in creating opportunities and dealing with different trade-related challenges.
This meeting also spawned chairs statement proposed by Japan that assumed the G20 Presidency for 2019.
Chairs statement was produced to accommodate the points not agreed upon from the joint statement of the ministers.
One of the points is seeking risk mitigation to allay the tensions of trade wars, including boosting the investment confidence and sentiment among exporters and investors.
However, these statements face further challenges at the implementation level, as they are not legally binding agreements.
The world must realize that trade war is not profitable for developed economies and have a negative impact on developing nations.
The trade war is a setback in the era of globalization that is open and reiterates expediting the movement of goods and services.
To this end, the awareness to reduce the egos of warring parties is also deemed urgent, as the future of international trade is at stake.
EDITED BY INE


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If you were looking for a deal in tech, it could probably be found at the industry's biggest convention, Burning Man. Held in northern Nevada's Black Rock Desert, Burning Man is a week-long festival of free expression, free love, and venture capitalists looking to get in on the ground floor of hot new tech properties. Everyone who is anyone in the industry was there, wearing a bikini and painted like a cat, probably with a homemade musical instrument and an elevator pitch about an app. We look at the hottest deals being made this year.
This crowd-sourced bespoke French doors site supposedly allows users to design and customize their own French doors, share with friends, and download the 3D plans to print them directly in their home. It was slated to launch in Q1 but has been beset by technical problems, chief among them that nobody can figure out how to get a 3D printer to make anything that isn't a honeycomb that takes ten hours to trim off excess plastic.
Froodr spokesman Yorst Vampeer surprised venture capitalists congregating at the body painting yurt by announcing a deal had been made. Details were slim, but Vampeer indicated that a successful closed-door demo held in the upper cog of the steampunk scrap totem inspired a "major venture capital firm" to finance a Q4 launch.
Angry and hopeless Trump voters take heart: there is a man who is out for justice for America.
People can't stop talking about this Donald Trump character. He's said a lot of crude and hateful things over the years, and demonstrated a tremendous lack of judgment, discipline and decency. If you ask me, he's not fit to be our president. In fact, he's not even fit to be mayor of Buffoontown.
Nightmares Fear Factory is BACK, baby!
Featured articles and columns that don't fit anywhere else on Something Awful.

domain: news


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The digital pound is right on time to underpin the UK’s transition to a digital economy
by Jannah Patchay on Feb 28, 2023 10:15:00 AM
The public debate around whether or not Britain should have a digital pound entered a new dimension.
Statements were issued by both the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, and the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, announcing the UK government’s intent to seriously explore the possibilities of implementing a Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC, for short.
This came alongside the long-awaited arrival of a consultation paper from the Bank entitled: ‘The digital pound: A new form of money for households and businesses?’.
So what does this all mean for UK citizens and the financial system? Access to public money is of fundamental importance to maintaining trust within the UK’s financial system. Public money also represents a fundamental expression of the relationship between a nation and its inhabitants.
Despite the rise of commercial bank money and the corresponding decline in cash usage, cash remains an intrinsic part of the money ecosystem – and millions of UK citizens still depend on using it for many reasons.
A more radical shift towards greater use of private money – in the form of both commercial bank money, and the emerging paradigm of privately-issued stablecoins – could result in a system where some members of society are left behind due to the focus of the private sector on more commercially advantageous customers.
Ultimately, public money represents the only fully-accessible and inclusive form of money that we have. As physical cash use declines, the case for introducing a digital alternative to publicly issued cash – whilst not necessarily supplanting cash in its entirety – grows ever stronger.
As a digital form of public money, a CBDC could have significant benefits for the public. It could act as a potential differentiator and accelerator of innovation for the UK globally. Unlike cash, a CBDC could enable micropayments or otherwise be ‘programmed’ for specific uses to support government aims, including macroeconomic and social policy delivery, and to facilitate an improved transactional relationship and experience between individuals, businesses, and the state.
Accessing digital money usually requires no more than a smartphone. This type of technology could bring many of the unbanked or underbanked into the UK’s financial system for the first time – provided, of course, that the role of digital inclusion is fully acknowledged and considered.
The UK faces a period of great change and new challenges in light of the combined impact of Brexit, the aftermath of the global Covid-19 pandemic, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. A nation’s currency is not only its store of value, unit of account and medium of exchange; when deployed strategically, it has the potential to create new economic opportunities.
A well-designed digital pound has the potential to breathe new life into the UK’s currency on the global stage, and the introduction of a sovereign currency that is able to participate fully and actively in digital ecosystems will enable the UK to further build on its economic and social development and growth.
In designing its own CBDC, the UK has an opportunity to play to its strengths – including its desired strategic objectives in a post-Brexit landscape – and to develop a CBDC that can contribute not only to maintaining a position of global leadership, but also to lead the way in standard setting, effective regulation, sustainability and delivery of ESG objectives, for the world of the future.
The Digital Pound Foundation is committed to supporting the development of a well-designed digital pound. This might be in public form (central bank-issued) or private form (privately issued stablecoins), and most likely a combination of the two.
We need an effective and diverse ecosystem for these new forms of digital money in the UK. A digital pound will form part of the foundational infrastructure that will underpin the UK’s transition to a digital economy, as well as providing a platform for future innovation and leadership on the world stage.
We welcome the Bank of England’s latest Consultation – The digital pound: a new form of money for households and businesses? – a paper which proposes a ‘platform model’ for public-private partnership that fundamentally acknowledges the role played by public money – accessible to retail users – in maintaining confidence in the financial system, alongside the role of the private sector in the wider financial services ecosystem that underpins our economy.
Recognising the importance of public trust and confidence in the roll-out of any digital pound, the Bank has also proposed a design and market structure in which, importantly, neither the Bank nor the Government will have visibility of user data, and which does not create a more intrusive system than that associated with cards and accounts today.
The consultation also makes clear that, whilst the Bank’s objectives do not include preservation of existing commercial bank business models and the design of the CBDC is intended to open up competition and innovation opportunities to a diverse range of market participants, it does nevertheless seek to protect, as always, financial stability in the UK. As such, the imposition of limits on holdings of the CBDC, and a design that precludes the CBDC from bearing interest, are both aimed at creating a CBDC that is primarily useful for transactional purposes.
The introduction of a digital pound in the form of a UK CBDC will have impacts and repercussions far beyond payments infrastructure.
It will provide a platform for innovation that can support the UK’s transition to a digital economy, it is fundamental infrastructure that can underpin delivery of numerous policy objectives ranging from the Net Zero Target through to more efficient fiscal policy, and it will ultimately enable the UK to maintain a leading edge in an increasingly competitive global financial markets and fintech landscape.
The digital pound is an innovation whose time has come.
*This article originally appeared on the Digital Pound Foundation Blog here.
This article was prepared by the author. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Digital Euro Association.
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As Amazon closes its year-long sweepstakes to find the perfect location to house its second headquarters, tech giant Apple is taking a quieter approach in its hunt to find a new spot.
According to multiple reports, Apple CEO Tim Cook has secretly met with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper to discuss possibly putting a new customer service facility in the Raleigh-Durham area.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the undisclosed meeting was tucked into Cook’s very public agenda earlier this month when he delivered the commencement speech at Duke University.
Both Apple and Gov. Cooper’s office declined to comment.
In January, Apple first announced its plans to build a new campus and create 20,000 new jobs in the U.S. with the quarter trillion dollars in cash it plans to repatriate from overseas.
“The company plans to establish an Apple campus in a new location, which will initially house technical support for customers,” Apple said in a statement in January. “The location of this new facility will be announced later in the year.”
But since then, Cook has been very mum on the company’s efforts in finding a location. In March, Cook said that he wouldn’t be discussing its search efforts because it doesn’t believe in the “beauty contest’ approach.
However, he did tell ABC News they have narrowed down the list.
Last week, the Washington Post reported that Apple representatives have also spoken with officials in Virginia about options near Washington, D.C.


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BlackBerry Statement on Our Public Notice Today Regarding Older Versions of QNX Operating System
WATERLOO, ONTARIO – August 17, 2021 – The safety and security of our customers and the public is BlackBerry’s top priority. BlackBerry issued a public advisory today identifying an integer overflow issue with multiple Real Time Operating Systems (RTOS) from multiple vendors, including older versions of the QNX RTOS.
BlackBerry is aware of this matter and can confirm that it does not impact current or recent versions of the QNX RTOS, but rather versions dating from 2012 and earlier.
All potentially affected customers have been notified. BlackBerry has made software patches available to resolve the matter. Additionally, BlackBerry is providing 24/7 support to customers as required. At this time no customers have indicated that they have been impacted.
Keeping our software secure is imperative to BlackBerry and the company takes its critical role in other companies embedded software supply chains with the utmost seriousness.
BlackBerry is assisting relevant Government agencies and other industry groups. For further details please consult today’s public advisory.
BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500M endpoints including over 195M vehicles. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint security, endpoint management, encryption, and embedded systems. BlackBerry’s vision is clear - to secure a connected future you can trust.
BlackBerry. Intelligent Security. Everywhere.
For more information, visit BlackBerry.com and follow @BlackBerry.
Trademarks, including but not limited to BLACKBERRY and EMBLEM Design are the trademarks or registered trademarks of BlackBerry Limited, and the exclusive rights to such trademarks are expressly reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. BlackBerry is not responsible for any third-party products or services.###
BlackBerry Media Relations
+1 (519) 597-7273


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According to former President Clinton, he and the U.S. blew it on food aid to developing countries. In the story he also says that President Bush was right in asking that 25% of U.S. aid be in cash rather than commodity crops.
First, let me point out my headline. I said “Bush was right.” I could easily have written it as “Clinton says U.S. blew it on food aid”, but I didn’t. I credited Bush with being right, even if it pained me a little to do that. It just shows that journalists can be fair and unbiased. So there.
And I’d like to take Clinton’s remarks a bit further. Not only are we wrong for requiring countries to drop crop subsidies from their own government in order to get aid from the U.S., but the global captains of industry are wrong when they encourage farmers in developing nations to quit growing their own native foods they could use to feed themselves in order to plant more crops they’ll never eat because it will all be sent to the U.S. or other Western Nations to feed our desire for cheap food.
Furthermore, when they do start growing their own food again, it should be with seeds of their own choosing, not GMO terminator seeds manufactured by companies like Monsanto or Cargill and sent as a “gift” by the U.S. Some gift. “Here, have some seeds, that will grow crops this year, and this year only. After that, you’ll have to pay a behemoth U.S. company to get them.”
Finally, treating food as a commodity isn’t just a problem for developing nations. The big commodity crops (corn, wheat, rice, soy planted in giant monocultures) are anathema to responsible agriculture and a big reason Americans are so fat. All these commdoties are pulled apart and reassembled into crap food like cereal straws, Cheetos (which I love), and Oreos (which I also love). Basically, most of the “food” in the middle of the grocery store is made up of some reformulated commodity crop. Yet the U.S. government continues to prop up farmers who grow these crops, and even punishes them for trying to grow anything else like tomatoes or carrots. This is why it’s cheaper to buy a Little Debbie (which I also love) than, say, an apple.
So, certainly, let’s work to make the food aid we provide to other countries more appropriate, but let’s not forget to tend our own gardens while we’re at it.


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updated 04:15 pm EDT, Mon June 29, 2009
Court reject RS-DVR appeal
The US Supreme Court today rejected an appeal by film studios and television networks of a New York court ruling that would allow a new type of digital video recorder service from Cablevision. A report says the justices refused to review a ruling made by a US Court of Appeals in New York that said Cablevision's proposed service would not directly infringe the copyrights of the media companies that produce the recorded movie and TV programs. No reason for the rejection was given.
Cablevision's proposed DVR service, known as Remote Storage Digital Video Recorder (RS-DVR) would let users record TV programs but store them off-site on Cablevision's servers. Subscribers to the service would not require purchasing expensive DVR hardware or upgrading it once their viewing habits make the hard drive capacity too small. Studios argue that saving content outside of a viewer's home violates licensing rights and fair use policies.
This differs from current services that only allow users to stream or download already existing content (Hulu, Netflix, etc.), as opposed to picking what to save for viewing later from an existing cable service. Amazon's Video On Demand and Xbox Video Marketplace are the most similar as they remember what users downloaded even if they delete content. PVR services such as TiVo rely on hardware storage in a user's home to retain content.
Cablevision argues its proposal is simply an extension of a traditional DVR device.


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Anderson Advanced Ingredients announced that it has received a “letter of no objection” from FDA in response to its GRAS (generally recognized as safe) notification for a resistant dextrin made from tapioca.
Anderson Advanced Ingredients (Irvine, CA) announced that it has received a “letter of no objection” from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in response to its GRAS (generally recognized as safe) notification for a resistant dextrin made from tapioca. The ingredient, marketed as FiberSMART, is available as a conventional or organic certified powder or syrup, and according to the company is 20% as sweet as sugar, and while having a low glycemic index, functions more like a sugar than a fiber. Highly tolerable to up to 70 grams per day, it could make an ideal sugar reduction solution, the company says.
“Please note that conventional dietary fiber ingredients often have a gritty mouthfeel,” said Susan Cho, PhD, president of AceOne RS, and world-renowned fiber expert, in a press release. “However, FiberSMART tapioca is soluble in water and contributes to a smooth mouthfeel without sacrificing the taste and flavor when used in food products.”
The GRAS status confirms that FiberSMART is safe for use at levels ranging from 1.2 to 10 grams per serving in a wide range of food applications, including: baked goods, non-alcoholic beverages, cereals, granola bars, condiments, dressings, confections, dairy products, frozen desserts, gravies and sauces, meal replacements, pasta and grain products, prepared meals, soups, processed fruits, shelf-stable desserts, snacks, crackers, and nutrition bars.
“We have received so much positive feedback about FiberSMART, not only for its versatility and tolerability, but also because its tight tolerances around water activity improve on product consistency and production run times,” said John Jarmul, vice president of marketing for Anderson Advanced Ingredients, in a press release. “FiberSMART is fully soluble and can also be used as a carrier in place of maltodextrin. Overall, it’s a great product for lowering sugar content and increasing fiber without sacrificing taste or texture.”


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Viet Nam’s exports to member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) were expected to increase strongly through now to 2030, reaching 25 per cent of the country’s total exports, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).
Shipments to Japan, the country's largest export market in the bloc followed by Canada and Mexico, have reached US$2.9 billion so far this year, up from $2.6 billion from the same period last year.
As many as 269 certificates of origin had been issued in the CPTPP since the trade accord took effect in Viet Nam in January this year.
These figures were reported by Ngo Chung Khanh, deputy director of the MoIT’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, in a recent press meeting on industrial manufacturing and trade activities.
“219 of 269 certificates of origin were issued to Canada, demonstrating that Vietnamese exporters were utilising the CPTPP to penetrate Canada, one of the three countries that Viet Nam hasn’t signed free trade agreements with,” Khanh said, adding that 14 certificates of origin had been issued to Mexico and eight to Peru.
Viet Nam has yet to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with three of the 11 CPTPP member countries – Canada, Mexico and Peru.
“In the medium and long term, Viet Nam will benefit more from the CPTPP when more countries join the agreement,” Khanh said.
The CPTPP is a trading bloc that represents nearly 500 million people with a combined 13.5 per cent gross domestic product (GDP)
The accord is an important milestone in Viet Nam’s global integration as it will promote export turnover, boost institutional reform and improve the business environment.
Total import-export turnover between Viet Nam and other CPTPP member countries reached nearly $74.5 billion in 2018, accounting for 15.5 per cent of the country’s total import-export value. Of which, exports reached $36.8 billion and imports were $37.7 billion, data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed.
Viet Nam enjoyed a trade surplus with Canada, Chile, Mexico, Australia and Peru, while suffering a trade deficit with Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia and Brunei.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment has revealed Viet Nam’s exports to CPTPP countries would grow by 4.04 per cent by 2035 and reach $80 billion through 2030, making up 25 per cent of its total exports.
With 75-95 per cent of tariff lines being scrapped, export opportunities to the countries Viet Nam had yet to sign FTAs as well as members it was suffering a trade deficit like Japan and Australia were significant.
Khanh said extensive commitments in the trade, service and investment sectors would open more opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to compete in a more transparent and predictable business environment, expand and diversify import and export markets, especially for products and services.
In addition, new supply chains would be formed to raise the whole economy, increase labour productivity and enable businesses to participate in higher value-added production chains.
He added that the MoIT was working with the World Bank and the Australian Embassy in Viet Nam to build a web portal for FTAs, with the core being the CPTPP.
- Wood industry facing losses due to COVID-19
- Deals signed to promote wood processing sector’s digital transformation
- Enterprises take opportunities from Corona epidemic
- Vietnam wooden furniture manufacturers worried, despite more orders.
- VN must improve quality of labour force for EVFTA
- Restructuring wood processing sector: an urgent mission
- Rising labor costs erode Vietnam’s appeal to foreign investors
- Viet Nam aims to become furniture hub


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After getting pride of place in the main plaza at this year’s Baselworld, I thought Breitling would have lapped up the additional attention and exposure, looking to capitalise even more on the lack of Omega and other SWATCH brands – but alas no!
News has just dropped this Sunday morning (yes, a weird time to release PR material) that the powers that be at the John Travolta fan club are going away to focus on their own summit next year. The reason stated being that with SIHH and Basel pushing their date forward by a month has reduced the order window for retailers wanting to see new releases and get stock ordered for later in the year.
Kinda sounds a bit fishy as everyone’s been saying that dealers more and more place orders outwith the Baselworld event, and there’s nothing stopping brands launching new pieces at any time of the year too.
From a public visitor point of view this is of no real relevance at all as even though the Breitling booth is massive, it’s closed off from the public, and Breitling only have one brand – their own – to showcase so not as much of a blow as losing a whole group and associated releases.
To counter the news, Baselworld have announced that Tudor will be breaking from the mothership next year and will be having their own dedicated booth area instead of being symbiotically attached to the side of the usual Rolex display.
Got into the horological hobby only a couple of short years ago; but got, as us Scots like to say, “baw deep” pretty quickly. Thanks to buying a lemon of a Rolex he spent hours researching why his watch wasn’t working and along the way gained an interest in what makes them tick. He now runs the Scottish Watches website and keeps cohort Rick in check on the twice weekly Scottish Watches podcast.


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Packets of roast turkey are being recalled from Irish stores as their use-by date is wrong by a month.
Centra shops across Ireland are recalling a batch of its Premium Carved Roast Turkey.
The 120g packets have an incorrect use-by date of October 30, when it should be September 30.
Wholesale supplier Musgraves has issued the recall of the implicated batch.
A statement from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland said: "Musgraves is recalling the above batch of Centra Premium Carved Roast Turkey as an incorrect use-by date (30 Oct) is on the product.
"The correct use-by date is 30 Sept. The implicated batch is unsafe to eat after 30 September 2019."
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Pathao, Bangladesh's leading digital services company, is awaiting a central bank licence to set up a digital bank.
By securing a digital banking licence, Pathao would have the necessary regulatory framework to unleash its cutting-edge technology, offering consumers and small enterprises the freedom to transact, access funds, and manage finances in a personalised manner.
The concept of the Pathao digital bank is a natural extension of the company's commitment to enriching the lives of its 10 million young consumers and 500,000 drivers, delivery agents, and SME entrepreneurs in Bangladesh by harnessing the power of technology, reads a press release.
Fahim Ahmed, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Pathao, remarked, "Pathao is far more than a brand or a suite of products – it is a lifestyle. Just as it has radically transformed urban transportation and the gig economy in Bangladesh, Pathao Digital Bank will reshape banking in Bangladesh. With this, we believe we can catalyse an important growth stage in the economy of our country."
According to Pathao, there is an entire generation in Bangladesh that is young, upwardly mobile and digital native – most of whom are already dedicated users of the company.
However, the needs of this segment remain unaddressed by the local financial sector. These individuals require credit access, yet face an unreasonably high barrier because traditional banks lack the tools to assess their creditworthiness due to a lack of distribution, data, and technological capabilities. Pathao, with its rich customer insights, advanced analytics, and engineering prowess, is ideally positioned to address this financial accessibility gap.


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Ripple and Stellar founder Jed McCaleb stopped selling XRP after it was announced that a lawsuit would be filed against Ripple. As a result of its agreement with Ripple, McCaleb, which sells certain amounts of XRP every day, stopped these transactions.
Jed McCaleb made the decision to sell the $ 9 billion XRP he received from the company after leaving his position at Ripple. But the prospect of McCaleb launching these XRPs at the same time worried Ripple. The two sides reached a legal agreement and agreed on how this sale process would work.
According to the agreement, Ripple sends a certain amount of XRP to Jed McCaleb every day. 266 million were sent to him on December 9; 133 million XRP were sent on December 23. McCaleb sold these XRPs at the same time every day, without surprise. Until a few days ago.
McCaleb hasn’t sold XRP in days
It is known which wallet ripple used to send money to Jed McCaleb, with which wallet McCaleb traded to send XRP to the exchange. It is possible to follow these wallets through the XRP Ledger. Current information indicates that McCaleb’s wallet has been passive for three days.
Cryptocurrency researcher Leonidas Hadjiloizou said about this situation in his December 25th exchange:
“Jed didn’t sell XRP today either. It was these two. I wonder how much XRP Ripple will send to McCaleb’s wallet in a week when he enters January.”Leonidas Hadjiloizou
It is not known why McCaleb, who founded stellar after leaving ripple, stopped selling XRP. Another unknown is whether this was McCaleb’s choice. It is speculated that Ripple may have stopped sending XRP to McCaleb because of the lawsuit filed by the SEC. Hadjiloizou even stated that Ripple “may have had to” stop these operations.
Could he have paused because of the SEC case?
Cryptocurrency followers who have noticed that these transactions have stopped think that this may be connected to the SEC case. Unlike the duo of Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, Jed McCaleb’s name is not included in the SEC indictment. It has been claimed that these transactions may have been halted under the leadership of Ripple. A social media user’s speculation is as follows:
“I think the SEC case scared McCaleb, too. Maybe he realized he could be fined for his sales so far.”
Neither Ripple nor Jed McCaleb responded to claims that sales had stalled.


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Mountain View, California–Matt Cutts of Google boasted on his Twitter microblog that his company’s detection abilities are nothing less than first-rate. In two tweets, Cutts dispels assertions made by backlinks.com and Algo Rank, sites which sells links.
Both websites claim to have sophisticated software which effectively gets around any algorithms produced by Google. The posts on Cutts’ Twitter account reveal otherwise, demonstrating that Big G can find such links and take action against the company’s soliciting them as undetectable.
Backlinks.com and Algo Rank Just the Latest
Cutts and Google routinely warn against participating in link schemes. In May, the search engine came down on sites selling links or participating in spamming techniques designed to artificially move other sites up in Google’s SERP.
Such public statements are yet another warning Google does actively search, find, and penalize sites and SEOs participating in link schemes. The search engine regularly updates its algorithms to find such webspam, in October, a new version of Penguin hit the internet.
Cutts has also state in a Webmaster Help video that company’s should focus on creating quality content which adds value to the internet rather than trying to “reverse engineer” and attempt to end-run around spam and optimization signals.
Other Warnings and Advice
Cutts has stated that it’s a good practice to avoid duplicating meta data and for site to use no-follow appropriately to avoid being penalized. In September, Google issued a warning about what it terms “thin content” or, sites that have copied content from other sites containing only marginal changes. The search engine also recently debuted a new penalty, image mismatch, which detects images uploaded differing from images displayed on websites.
In the same month, Google introduced a new software enhancement, Hummingbird, which parses queries in an attempt to understand the intention and context of searches.


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Britain's oldest brewer is to take on the world. Shepherd Neame, based in Faversham, have agreed a deal with an international distributor to sell their products around the globe.
They are hoping to cash in on what is seen as an increasing thirst for British beer in overseas markets. Alongside this deal, the company has also agreed to tie up with a North American brewer which will see it expand existing output in Canada and the United States.
More top news
A Hampshire-based scientist has taken what may be the first photograph of a Blue Whale spotted in UK waters.
A slice of the Queen and Prince Philip's wedding cake has sold for £500 at auction in Sussex, 68 years after the Royal couple got married
The sun shines on day one of the Great Dorset Steam Fair where 200,000 engine enthusiasts are expected over the next five days.


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There's nothing better than waking up in the morning to a beautiful sunrise, a hot cup of coffee, and a bowl of ... Girl Scout cookies?!
That's right. Don't spill your coffee — soon you'll be able to eat your favorite Girl Scout cookies in breakfast cereal form.
First, they blessed us with Thin Mints ice cream, but now, Girl Scouts of America and General Mills are teaming up for a partnership of epic (and delicious) proportions. It seems they know that we're all still kids at heart who just want to eat dessert for breakfast.
The news was uncovered by the sweet-sleuthing Instagram account Candy Hunting, who posted two stock photos of the product earlier this week showing Thin Mint and Caramel Crunch (a.k.a. Samoas) cereals.
This is the stuff dreams are made of, everyone.
After widespread cookie-hysteria broke out on social media, Thrillist confirmed with General Mills that the cereals will be available nationwide come January.
What a way to ring in the New Year, right?
The news comes amidst a true peak for Girl Scouts, who in August introduced two new types of cookies rolling out in January — a s'mores flavor and a chocolate-dipped s'mores cookie.
It may be too early to call, but it looks like 2017 is shaping up to be a pretty amazing year so far. Thanks, Girl Scouts!


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The 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA is a looker no doubt. That long and low face looks great and in entirety, the new CLA does look like a properly athletic Merc. No wonder it gets an AMG version too! So the folks at KM77 decided to check out if its road manners are as good as its looks and while conducting a moose test at 76 km/h, the new CLA looked like a bowling ball hitting many when it was rolled to miss. Take a look:
The CLA they tested was the A200 variant which is powered by a 1.3-litre, turbo petrol engine which makes 161 horses, all of them going to the front wheels. The car made multiple runs with three different drivers before finally getting it right at a lower speed of 66 km/h. However, the testers described the result as ‘Poor’, stating that a combination of moderate body roll, not enough grip from the front tires, understeer, and the ESC kicking in made the car hit the cones even after multiple attempts. For the uninitiated, the evasive manoeuvre test is performed to determine a vehicle’s capability to evade a suddenly appearing obstacle. The term ‘Moose Test’ was coined in 1997 by a German newspaper after a Swedish car magazine and TV show flipped a Mercedes-Benz A-Class while testing the car’s ability to avoid hitting a moose.
The 2020 CLA is based on the same platform as the A-Class Limousine, bookings for which are now open in India. The CLA, with its sloping roofline, is a fancier alternative to the more practical A-Class sedan. What used to be the entry-level Merc in India, the CLA now moves up and its the A-Class limo which takes its place. The new sedan is expected to be formally launched once the current situation improves. It will most likely be offered with two engine options – a 1.3-litre turbo petrol and a 1.5-litre turbo diesel. An AMG version will go on sale as well and will be powered by a 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine, good for 306 HP. Those horses will find their way to all the four wheels.


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An Edgehill neighborhood grocery store has closed, leaving people nearby without a walkable grocery store to go to.
The Edgehill Grocery closed a few days ago, according to neighbors.
Many people in the neighborhood say they don't have cars to drive to the closest supermarket, more than two miles away.
The sign on the store says the grocery store will only be closed for renovations but neighbors worry the closure could be permanent -- another store next to the market says it is also closed for renovations, but that sign was posted nearly a year ago.
"It's sad because we're getting the short end of the stick in this community," said Michelle Compton, a nearby resident.
NewsChannel 5 could not immediately get in contact with anyone from the Edgehill Grocery.


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- TikTok has rolled out a new way for users to pay some creators.
- Some creators can now receive "gifts" on their videos and not just in livestreams.
- The feature is not yet available to all creators, however.
If you're scrolling through your TikTok For You Page, you may see a new prompt asking if you'd like to send a "gift" to the creator of the video you just watched.
TikTok has expanded — for some creators — its tipping feature, which had previously been available on livestreams since its Musical.ly days. TikTok's "Live Gifting" feature had allowed fans to pay creators and was similar to features offered by platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitch. But this apparent test is an expansion of that functionality.
I first came across this new feature on Monday, when a banner at the bottom of a video caught my eye. It read: "Love this video? Send a gift to [insert creator's TikTok handle]!"
I noticed that some other accounts — without the banner on their videos — also had this new gifting option in the comment section. Seconds before the video would come to an end and loop, a small present icon would pop up over the comment section button.
TikTok declined to comment on the expansion of gifting beyond saying that the company was "always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience."
The new feature appears to be called "Video Gifts," according to Scott Hubbard, a TikTok creator with 7.2 million followers (many of whom follow Hubbard's account for the content he posts of his internet-famous dog, Gracie). Hubbard told Insider that he first got access to the feature about a week ago.
Maybelline and Christian Perez, the creators behind the Love So Real account (about 4.6 million followers), also said they had gotten access around that time.
The feature isn't available to all creators, however. Hubbard and Maybelline Perez said one requirement to qualify was having 1,000 followers. And Hubbard said an account had to be in good standing with TikTok's community guidelines.
Another TikToker, Dr. Muneeb Shah (known online as the @dermdoctor, with 9.3 million followers), said he got access to the feature about three weeks ago and added that it could be toggled on and off.
Fans can start paying creators for their TikToks
While TikTok declined to provide more details about this new feature, a more robust tipping program would come as no surprise as competing platforms (like Instagram) race to build creator monetization tools as a way to capture creators' loyalty and time.
"It's really cool to be able to see a video do so well and people all over the country — or the world — can say this video made me happy, here's a gift," Hubbard said.
Gifts on TikTok are a bit complicated to understand in dollars.
Users can purchase TikTok "coins" on the app and send creators "gifts" that each can cost between 25 and 1,000 TikTok coins. Then, those "gifts" are converted into "diamonds." Creators can see the total number of diamonds they receive, but it's not broken down by day or video, Hubbard said. The diamonds are then converted into dollars, which creators can cash out. TikTok takes a percentage of gift transactions, but the platform has not been transparent about how much it takes.
Hubbard said creators shouldn't expect a huge payday.
"It's not like you're making millions of dollars," Hubbard said. "It's more of a sign of gratitude."
"To give you some perspective, I have gotten in the last month 500 million views on my account. So, half a billion views," Shah told Insider. "And [in] total from gifting got $15."
"It's not a significant sum of money," Shah added.


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Novel Matrikine Peptide Blend merges synthetic tetra-peptides pal-GPKG and pal-LSVD to bio-hack and boost the skin’s natural repair process
Dr Mike Bell (pictured), No7’s Head of Science Research, worked on the innovation
The British beauty brand’s Novel Matrikine Peptide Blend technology blends two novel synthetic tetra-peptides – pal-GPKG and pal-LSVD – to “bio-hack” skin’s natural repair process by mimicking naturally occurring peptides.
It “tricks” the skin into thinking it has been damaged to signal the renewal of more than 50 key proteins, including collagen and fibrillin, boosting skin’s natural self-repair function.
“[It] boosts skin’s natural self-repair mechanisms, targeting signs of cumulative damage both on and under the surface,” said Dr Mike Bell, No7’s Head of Science Research.
“The result is a brand-new peptide blend which we believe will be a game changer for our consumers.”
This is a small extract of the full article which is available ONLY to premium content subscribers. Subscribers sign-in (top right) to read the article.
Subscribe now to premium content on Cosmetics Business


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As AppleInsider notes, the Review Guidelines were previously less concerned with cryptocurrencies, allowing an app to facilitate crypto and ICO transactions if it complied with the laws in the app's distributed territories.
Two sections have been updated in the new App Store Review Guidelines -section 2.4.2 (Hardware Compatibility) and 3.1.5 (b) (ii) (Cryptocurrencies).
Apple has a clear message for cryptocurrency enthusiasts: Don't mine it on our devices.
Cryptocurrency miners utilize large networks of devices, including iPhones and iPads, to help them mine.
Apple Bans Apps That Mine Cryptocurrencies
That's actually what happened in the case of an app called Calendar 2, according to Apple Insider.
The upshot of the new rules is that while Apple will permit cryptocurrencies to exist on its platforms, it's adding requirements to stop scammers and individuals from exploiting App Store customers, while making explicit that it's blocking developers from eating Apple device processing power for mining activities. Any apps that facilitate ICOs, futures trading or other securities must be provided by established banks, securities firms and futures commission merchants (FCMs).
"Apps, including any third-party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining", the updated policy reads.
In sticking with the original mandate, only mainstream banks and similar financial institutions will be allowed to develop and publish apps enabling crypto futures trading and initial coin offerings, Apple said.
Four years ago, Apple removed every single bitcoin wallet application on its App Store, including popular wallet app Blockchain. In a dedicated cryptocurrency section, the company goes on to break down in more detail what is - and, crucially, is not - permissible.
Rafael Nadal vs Juan Martin del Potro, French Open 2018
A fourth set point for Thiem was erased with - what else? - a drop shot by Cecchinato. "The big key was the second set", he said. Garbine Muguruza overwhelmed Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 in a matchup of past French Open champions to reach the semifinals.


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iOS security focuses more on software-based protection, while Android uses a mixture of software and hardware-based protection: the Google Pixel 3 features the ‘Titan M’ chip, and Samsung houses the KNOX hardware chip.
Why is Android safer than iOS?
The security of Android and iOS devices differs as night and day. Apple uses the so-called ‘sandboxmethod, where apps have limited access to the rest of the system. For example, if an application contains malware, it cannot infect the rest of the system. You can best compare this with a fire in a building.
Is iPhone the most secure phone?
No, Your iPhone Is Not More Secure Than Android, Warns Cyber Billionaire. One of the world’s leading cybersecurity experts has just warned that the alarming new surge in malicious apps is a much more serious threat to iPhone users than you might think. iPhones, he says, have a surprising security vulnerability.
What is the most secure phone operating system?
As our mobiles now store our email, photos, banking details and other important information, it’s good to know which mobile operating system is the safest. It is generally accepted that BlackBerry has the safest operating system, because of its hundreds of security protocols running on a dedicated server.
Can an iPhone be hacked?
Apple iPhones can be hacked with spyware even if you don’t click on a link, Amnesty International says. Apple iPhones can be compromised and their sensitive data stolen through hacking software that doesn’t require the target to click on a link, according to a report by Amnesty International.
Is Samsung or Apple better?
For virtually everything in apps and services, Samsung has to rely on Google. So, while Google gets an 8 for its ecosystem in terms of the breadth and quality of its service offerings on Android, Apple Scores a 9 because I think its wearables services are vastly superior to what Google has now.
What is the safest phone in the world?
The safest phones in the world include Bittium Tough Mobile 2C, K-iPhone, Solarin from Sirin Labs, Purism Librem 5 and Sirin Labs Finney U1. If you think that iPhone alone cannot keep your data safe, then you should buy K-iPhone. A company called KryptAll has taken the normal iPhone and taken it to the next level.
Can police track your phone if its turned off?
But tracking a switched off phone is a little difficult because when a phone is turned off it will stop communicating with nearby mobile towers. It can only be traced through its last location when it was switched on by calling the service provider or through Google services.
Is it easier to hack an iPhone or Android?
Android smartphones are harder to hack than iPhone models , according to a new report. While tech companies such as Google and Apple have ensured they maintain the security of users, companies like Cellibrite and Grayshift can easily get into smartphones with the tools they have.
Which phone is hardest to hack?
But the answer to the question that are iPhones more secure than androids or in other words which smartphone is harder to hack, is the Apple iPhone.
Can androids be hacked?
Hackers can remotely access your device from anywhere.
If your Android phone has been compromised, then the hacker can track, monitor and listen to calls on your device from wherever they are in the world.
Which Android phone is most secure?
Most secure Android phone 2021
- Best overall: Google Pixel 5.
- Best alternative: Samsung Galaxy S21.
- Best Android one: Nokia 8.3 5G Android 10.
- Best cheap flagship: Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.
- Best value: Google Pixel 4a.
- Best low cost: Nokia 5.3 Android 10.


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Sunday should bring sunny and warm conditions to the region but cold temperatures and some snow and rain may resume later in the week.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department started a homicide investigation late Saturday night. For the latest breaking news, weather and traffic alerts, download the WCNC Charlotte mobile app. Details are limited as of writing, but an alert from CMPD shared on Twitter indicated officers were on the scene...
Black Friday is in full swing now, and the top bits of tech are available for less. As we enter the third day of sales, TVs, laptops, gaming gear and, yes, those pricey Apple products can all be found for a fraction of their regular price.Several stores are taking part this year, and you can currently save hundreds of pounds on iPhones, iPads and more from Amazon, John Lewis & Partners, Argos, Currys, Very and AO.While Apple itself isn’t reducing prices for Black Friday, the tech giant is offering a gift card worth up to £250 in exchange for a purchase – so it’s...
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission. Apple’s AirPods continue to be one of the most popular wireless earbuds on the market, with their signature stark-white design and consistently clear audio making the buds a must-have accessory for both music lovers and casual listeners alike. The AirPods Pro are now in their second incarnation, with the Apple AirPods Pro having been released this fall. That’s led to deep discounts on the previous AirPods models, as well as the older AirPods Max. Apple never offers discounts on its...
Black Friday 2022 weekend is finally here, and it’s the sales extravaganza of the year. There are thousands of offers to be had across everything from air fryers, dehumidifiers, mattresses, fashion, beauty and toys to TVs, gaming, tech, mobile phones and laptops – and we at IndyBest are here to bring you the best deals as they drop.Almost all the big-name brands are taking part, including Pandora, Nintendo, Lego, Ugg, Ninja, Meta, Dyson, Tefal, The White Company, Molton Brown and Shark. Similarly, the likes of Amazon, Very, Asda, Apple, Argos, Boots, Currys and John Lewis & Partners have all slashed their...
Live blog: 110+ of the best early Cyber Monday tech deals in real time Did you miss out on Black Friday 2022? No problem: Early Cyber Monday deals are here, with internet retailers offering their lowest prices of the year. ZDNET is surfacing the latest and best sales online in real time for you to check out now. Read now.
With a hefty saving, this replica McClaren F1 car Technics Lego set could be the ideal Christmas gift – but you’ll want to act fast. As part of its Black Friday sale, Argos has chopped over £53 off this set, bringing the original RRP down from £160 to a far more tempting £106.67.
Finding a great deal on an iPhone this Cyber Monday should be simple, except most of the U.S. deals are via carriers, many of which have been running deals on new iPhones since they were announced in September and yet still refer to them as ‘new’ deals. These...
In 2023, Apple will (certainly) present its new iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Max, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra. Price, release date, technical sheet… We take stock of the first information available about them. Each year, the program of smartphone releases is set like clockwork, punctuated by market...
Elon Musk says he will create a new cell phone if Twitter gets booted from Apple and Google’s app stores because of its new pro-free speech policies. Conservative commentator Liz Wheeler tweeted that Musk should create a new phone if Apple and Google remove the app from their app stores.
A standard challenge amongst Apple AirPods customers is that they are often simply misplaced. Since it requires a case for themselves and a second entity for added charging, it might usually be forgotten. Now, visualizer and designer Zarruk Taiseer has revealed idea pictures that think about what it could be like if Apple mixed its iPhone with its AirPods, in the end defeating the problem of getting to separate the AirPods and the telephone.
Iphone Facetime Android – Are all your friends using FaceTime and you can’t join them because you love your Android device so much? What if I told you that you can join FaceTime from any Android or Windows device? Here’s how to join a FaceTime call from Android or Windows.
While Samsung may have dropped the latest Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4 smartphones, the tech giant’s non-folding line, the Samsung Galaxy S22, can still be picked up. Best of all, if you’ve been eyeing it but holding off because of the price, there’s great news. You can get the S22 for only $598, saving you $200 on the 128GB model.
Black Friday sales have officially kicked off the holiday shopping season. That means that most people will probably have tons of packages arriving at the front door in the next couple of weeks, making them a perfect target for a holiday robbery (we’ve all seen Home Alone, right?). The Ring Video Doorbell can make the perfect early holiday gift for yourself or your loved ones. Peace of mind and safety is the best gift, especially when its 40% off on Amazon right now.
Tesla CEO and Twitter boss Elon Musk says he will make an alternative phone if Apple and Google boot Twitter from their app stores. Many people want him to go ahead with a phone launch even if Apple and Google do not deplatform Twitter. Elon Musk Could Launch Alternative Phone...
Amazing drone photographs that have been posted to a Gosport Facebook group show the town in its true beauty looking more like Miami than somewhere in the UK. Local councillor Stephen Hammond aims to photograph as much of Gosport as he can to allow residents to see it from an entirely new perspective.
Apple iPhone 14 is offered under the company’s latest 2023 iPhone series. It comes powered by Apple A15 Bionic chipset with 6 core processor. If you are planning to buy the iPhone 14, then here’s a news that will make you happy. As part of the Black Friday sale, Flipkart has listed the smartphone with a discount of ₹2,500. Launched at ₹79,900 in September this year, the device is available at ₹77,400 on the e-tailer’s site.
Download this car wallpaper from the following resolutions... Description: Download Toyota Crown Crossover G 2022 4K 8K 2 wallpaper from the above HD Widescreen 4K, 5K, 8K Ultra HD resolutions for desktops, laptops, notebook, Apple iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows mobiles, tablets. Toyota Crown Crossover G 2022 4K 8K 2 is part of the Toyota car wallpapers collection.
Network code detection software has become a common problem recently and this has sparked a lot of controversy around it, as we all know that the Internet is one of the things that has become very important and no one can do without it, so nowhere without Wi-Fi networks or our phones are empty. Of the internet packages, but Wi-Fi networks are not secure, which facilitates easy hacking, as hacking has become something that many people can do, which provides opportunities to spread applications installed on phones and Wi-Fi networks everywhere can easily be hacked. There are many factors that make it great to connect and deploy these apps wherever there are Wi-Fi networks in your location, they are provided for free, easy to use and very effective, and these apps also allow you to protect and know your Wi-Fi network. Weaknesses and issues that may facilitate entry.
Every August before school starts, Mom takes the obligatory first-day-of-school picture on our lawn and then posts it on Facebook. This tradition of taking a picture of my brother Ryan and I has been a fond memory to me, and I have an album of all these pictures on my iPhone.


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Business | Technology
Apple TV set to hit UAE shelves
Apple is set to launch its Apple TV set-top device, which wirelessly connects televisions to home computers, in the UAE in the middle of this month.
- Apple TV has a 40-gigabyte hard drive capable of storing 50 hours of video or 25,000 photos.
More from Technology
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Popular in Technology
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Business Editor's choice
Of the $117 billion in sukuk issued in 2013, only 16 per cent was truly international
Contactless payment yet to reach mass market adoption in the region
ICAP will next month begin trading US dollar-denominated swaps from its London home on a new US-regulated electronic marketplace


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The U.S. market is looking increasingly attractive for electric vehicle (EV) producers, as non-traditional EV manufacturers make plans to break into the market. A decade ago, when people thought of EVs one name came to mind – Tesla. Fast-forward a few years and consumers have a vast array of EV options, with more coming to the market every year. Major automakers from Ford to GM have launched EV ranges, in a bid to respond to mounting pressures to decarbonise, as many car manufacturers race to develop the competitive car of the future. The U.S. crossed the tipping point for EV mass adoption earlier this year when 5 percent of all new car sales were fully electric. Hitting this threshold marked the beginning of mass EV adoption according to a Bloomberg analysis. At the beginning of 2022, the U.S. became the third biggest EV market after Europe and China. Based on this achievement, a quarter of U.S. car sales could be all-electric by as soon as 2025, a year earlier than originally predicted. Various thresholds have been used as predictors for popular electronics such as televisions and mobile phones in the past, with the early-adopter phase taking the longest, followed by a quick shift to becoming mainstream after hitting the threshold. Canada, Australia, and Spain are all expected to achieve the 5 percent adoption mark this year.
The U.S. EV market has expanded rapidly and is expected to grow from $28.24 billion in 2021 to $137.43 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 25.4 percent. The industry was hit hard by the global pandemic in 2020 but has rebounded rapidly. This is largely owing to increasing pressures to decarbonise at the national and international level, with consumers and automakers making the switch from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric in line with charging infrastructure developments and more competitive EV pricing.
The U.S. is now the third-largest EV manufacturer worldwide. Several automakers that put the launch of new EV models on hold during the pandemic are now finally seeing an improvement in supply chain disruptions, allowing a wide variety of car makers to break into the EV market this year. This flood of the EV market has been met by eager consumers, with General Motor’s (GM) 2022 EV hummer pre-order selling out in 10 minutes. Ford has also increased its output of the fully electric F-150 by 50 percent in response to rising consumer demand.
And automakers are quickly adding new EV models to their ranges, with several manufacturers aiming for fully-electrified fleets within half a decade. Dozens of all-electric vehicles are expected to launch by the end of 2024, creating a diverse EV market with highly competitive pricing and car features. Gabe Shenhar, associate director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center explained, “These more affordable models have the potential to sway a significant percentage of the car-buying public toward buying an EV with their efficiency, performance, and lower ownership costs.”
And several automakers unknown for their EV business are emerging quickly as major battery-electric playerswith extensive new ranges set for market. Honda announced this month that it plans to partner with Sony to bring its Sony-Honda EV venture to the U.S. market. The partners expect to deliver their EVs to both the U.S. and Japan by 2026. Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) hopes to take pre-orders in 2025, focusing mainly on online sales. It will manufacture the vehicles at a Honda factory in North America and will offer a Level 3 autonomous driving system across the range. This will help it compete with companies such as Tesla, General Motors, Ford Motor Co., and Mercedes Benz which are also offering autonomous driving systems in their vehicles.
The new venture builds upon Honda’s April announcement that its plans to deliver 30 EV models to the global market by the end of the decade. At the time, it said it would be investing $33.9 billion in electrification and software technologies. Sony is largely unknown in the EV world, presenting a prototype electric car at a press event during CES 2020 in Las Vegas, and little since. However, Sony is expected to enhance Honda’s EV software system to provide entertainment and other services that will be billed monthly. SHM hopes its vehicle will function like a ‘rolling smartphone’, although it has not yet released information about the price or battery range.
To date, Tesla is still dominating the U.S. EV market, but other companies such as Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, and Chevrolet are slowly catching up. While Tesla might be the most well-known EV, other companies developing their EV ranges may have a competitive edge over the electric car giant, as they plan to offer consumers more affordable and longer-range EVs within the next two to five years.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
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Travel One Portugal has just been awarded the Silver Medal of Tourist Merit of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. On 27th September, 2018, the president of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, presented the prestigious award to the representatives of Travel One Portugal, in an initiative which was integrated in the celebrations of World Tourism Day.
The Tourism Merit Awards are awarded annually by the Regional Government of Madeira on World Tourism Day to distinguish not only personalities and institutions for their valuable contribution to the tourism industry, but also all those who have played a valuable role in giving their best efforts, as well as those who continue to work in the tourism sector, thereby contributing to the success of Madeira as a tourist destination.
This recognition of Merit reinforces and confirms the quality of the excellent services rendered and the prestige of Travel One Portugal to its business partners and employees who contribute to the success of the company and the destination every day.
This reward is the climax of an 18-year-old journey, in which the company has worked in favour of Tourism and all those who visit Madeira.
Travel One Portugal takes this opportunity to thank all our Clients and Business Partners who, over the years, have placed their trust and demonstrated a firm commitment to our project.
To all our employees, a special thanks, for your daily dedication, enthusiasm and passion year after year in order to raise the “Travel One” project to the well-known levels of excellence that have been shown in the company’s 18 years of existence.
To all our MANY THANKS!


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Fashion designing students from Winchester School of Art - University of Southampton, UK along with biological scientists from the Southampton, have created apparels explaining neuroscience through fashion.
Through a research work of three years on mental disorders, such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Asperger’s Syndrome, Epilepsy and schizophrenia, the second-year fashion design and knitwear students prepared six apparels which aim at addressing the stigma and misconception surrounding mental health.
The project ‘Changing Minds’ provides a stimulating, engaging and creative ways to engage in conversations about mental health issues.
In a conversation with fibre2fashion, programme leader in Fashion and Textile Design at Winchester School of Art, Cecilia Langemar says, “The ‘Changing Minds’ project expand the perception and understanding of the students about what fashion design can be and the changes one can achieve as a designer when he or she joins design and a particular cause.”
Professor of Neuroscience at University of Southampton, Lindy Holden-Dye says: “I am delighted the initiative is introducing biological science to new audiences. It is also a great example of multidisciplinary research, which draws together researchers from across the University, to make a significant contribution towards understanding and responding to some of society's major challenges.”
The dress on a theme of Asperger's Syndrome was designed by Dayze Steward who researched the complex connections in the brain during regular thought processes of someone with this syndrome. Through her designs, she illustrates that within these processes the mind would over think things and something simple would then be twisted into something elaborate.
Stephanie Simmons, the designer who worked on Epilepsy, says, “"I wanted to communicate a message to raise awareness of how epilepsy can drastically affect a person's day to day life. My garment conveys not just the physical strains it causes them but translates how their emotions are affected.”
According to Dr. Shmma Quraishe, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University, people are fascinated by the garments and want to find out more about their connections with neuroscience and the research. “It is also a great opportunity to remove the stigma associated with mental illness,” he adds.
Original news publish at http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/fashion-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=144682


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The stricter enforcement of Chinese forwarding regulations could force container lines to turn away business and force forwarders out of the market.
Under the revised rules that took effect Feb. 15, non-vessel-operating common carriers and forwarders doing business in China must obtain a license from the country’s Ministry of Transport. To gain a license, companies must meet various requirements, mostly notably having a registered agent on the mainland and making a sizable deposit.
U.S.-based NVOs and forwarders can pay the deposit of $125,000 to the Federal Maritime Commission, while non-U.S.-based companies must pay a deposit of ¥800,000 (about US$129,498) to a MOT-designated bank, according to a Maersk Line notice to customers. U.S.- and foreign-based companies both have to pay a filing fee of ¥5,000.
With thousands of unlicensed Chinese and foreign forwarders and NVOs exporting freight from the country, container lines worry they will have to turn away business or risk stiff penalties. One carrier suggested the rule could impact 10 percent of its export freight from China.
There is also concern that many NVOs and forwarders are unaware of the stricter enforcement of the rules, which was announced in November. Competition could also diminish because smaller players unable to pony up the licensing fees will be pushed out of the market.
“One of the big issue in China is that some companies are doing NVOCC business without licenses, and they are just borrowing other people’s licenses,” said Shashi Kiran Shetty, president and owner of All Cargo Global Logistics, a global logistics firm based in Mumbai, India.
Authorities in China will shut down the operations of unlicensed NVOCCs and forwarders, seize money gained through illegal transactions and subject the company to fines equaling between two to five times the amount of individual transactions deemed illegal, according to a circular and rules issued by the MOT on Oct. 13. If the unlicensed NVO or forwarder didn’t gain any revenue from a transaction or the gain was less than about ¥100,000, the company will still faces fines between ¥50,000 and ¥200,000, the circular said.
Once licensed by the MOT, NVOs and forwarders are required to file tariffs with the Shanghai Shipping Exchange at least 30 days before implementation. Negotiated rate agreements can take effect 24 hours after being accepted by the SSE. NVOs and forwarders that fail to file tariffs and rate agreements or don’t make timely corrections to filings risk penalties ranging from ¥20,000 and ¥100,000.
The tigher enforcement of maritime licensing comes as second-tier NVOs and forwarders grapple with the implementation of China’s new value-added tax on logistics services. Even though forwarders that don’t sign contracts directly with carriers were supposed to be able to deduct the 6 percent tax from their taxable income, they can’t because Chinese tax authorities apparently haven’t yet caught up with clarifications made by the Ministry of Finance, said Robert Li, tax partner of PwC China and the lead partner of Indirect Tax practice and TMT industry of Central China.
That the Ministry of Finance implemented the clarification as a notice as opposed to an “official document” could also explain why second-tier forwarders can’t take advantage of the credit. The VAT, which allows Chinese manufacturers and logistics providers to claim value-added credits on their taxes, represents an improvement from the 5 percent business tax, which is part of China’s efforts to shift its export-driven economy toward services.
Like the new rules for NVOs and forwarders pertaining to licensing, tariffs and rate agreements, the August implementation of the VAT change has been fraught with confusion and charges that foreign companies couldn’t access the same credits as their Chinese counterparts. Encouragingly, the Chinese government late last year moved to level the playing field by allowing foreign companies shipping companies to deducte the VAT from their taxable income.
But the persistent hiccups on VAT implementation suggest the latest round of regulation will be anything but smooth.
Annie Zhu contributed to this report. She can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Pfizer's Birth Control Pill Mix Up Could Cause Unintended Pregnancies
Pfizer recalls some lots after finding placebos mixed in with active pills.
Feb. 1, 2012 — -- Women taking two types of birth control pills made by the drug manufacturer Pfizer may be at risk for unintended pregnancies because of a packaging screwup.
The pharmaceutical manufacturer recalled nearly 1 million birth control pills after realizing that some of the placebo pills were placed within the daily active pill cycle.
Pfizer recalled certain lots of the pill Lo/Ovral-38 as well as lots of the generic version norgestrel and ethinyl estradiol tablets. The affected packets have expiration dates ranging between July 31, 2013, and March 31, 2014, and the lot numbers are located on Pfizer's website.
"Consumers exposed to affected packaging should begin using a non-hormonal form of contraception immediately," according to a public statement released by Pfizer.
This case follows a larger recall in September 2011 when the manufacturer Qualitest Products, Inc. recalled eight brands of its birth control pills, totaling 1.4 million packages.
Two weeks after the Qualitest recall, Lauren Betancourt, 32, of Acworth, Ga., sued the manufacturer, claiming she became pregnant despite regularly taking her birth control pills.
Birth control pills are normally packaged in blister packs containing 21 tablets of active ingredients and seven placebo tablets. Contraception may be significantly weakened if the sequence of birth control pills is out of order, according to Dr. Adam Jacobs, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive Science at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
"If this is the case, patients may be experiencing irregular bleeding and may be at higher risk for unintended pregnancy," said Jacobs. "If a patient has this lot number they should stop taking the pills immediately and discuss other birth control options with their physician including emergency contraception, if necessary."
This packaging mix-up won't pose health risks to the baby if a woman unintentionally becomes pregnant.
According to Dr. Jill Rabin, head of urogynecology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., women who think they may have been taking the pills recalled by Pfizer should take a pregnancy test if they have any pregnancy symptoms. Women should also notify their doctor and return the pills to their pharmacy.
"Fortunately, the exact cause of this packaging error was identified and immediately reported," said Rabin.


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Microsoft Xbox TV Streaming Device Expected to Launch in the Next 12 Months
Microsoft could launch an Xbox streaming device within the next 12 months, according to a report. The streaming device is supposed to allow users to access movies, TV services as well as a library of games through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The report also states that Microsoft is also working with Samsung to develop an Xbox game streaming app for the South Korean company’s TVs. The news comes days after Microsoft announced that Xbox Cloud Gaming users will now be able to play Fortnite for free on Android, iOS, and Windows devices.
Citing people familiar with the matter, VentureBeat (GamesBeat) reported that the device will likely look like an Amazon Fire TV Stick or a Roku-like puck. As for its features, the device will allow users to access movies and TV services – as we do with Amazon Fire TV Stick, for example – as well as their game library through Xbox Game Ultimate pass.
Additionally, Microsoft is reportedly working with Samsung to develop an app that will likely allow Samsung smart TV users to give the same access as the Xbox streaming device. Both of these things are set to debut within the next 12 months.
The move is seen as a way to bring more users into the Xbox ecosystem. It should be noted that Xbox consoles also allow users to download applications such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, among others and allow streaming. Microsoft is working hard to attract more casual gamers.
Recently, the company, along with Epic Games, announced that Xbox Cloud Gaming users will now be able to play Fortnite for free on Android, iOS, and Windows devices. The move will also allow users, including PC gamers, to stream Fortnite on their devices’ internet browsers, just like Netflix, regardless of hardware specs.
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Farhan Akhtar will appear in the Ms. Marvel series, out June 8 on Disney+ Hotstar


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HSBC to sell Canadian unit to Royal Bank of Canada - and the banking group's shareholders could be in line for a one-off bumper dividend
- HSBC has agreed to sell its business in Canada to Royal Bank of Canada
- It may return some proceeds to shareholders via a one-off dividend or buyback
HSBC has agreed to sell its business in Canada to Royal Bank of Canada for $10.04billion, or around £8billion, in cash.
The sale comes as the FTSE 100-listed banking giant pursues a strategy of focusing its resources on its core markets, amid pressure from its biggest shareholder, Ping An, to boost its performance and bottom line.
Chinese insurance group Ping An has been pushing HSBC to split its Asian and western operations in a bid to strengthen returns.
HSBC said it may return some of the proceeds of the sale to shareholders via a one-off dividend or buyback from early 2024 onwards.
'We decided to sell following a thorough review of the business', HSBC boss Noel Quinn said
Noel Quinn, the bank's boss, said: 'We decided to sell following a thorough review of the business, which assessed its relative market position within the Canadian market and its strategic fit within the HSBC portfolio.'
HSBC's shares were up 4.55 per cent or 22.23p to 510.83p this afternoon. In the last year, the lender's share price has risen over 20 per cent. But, looking back over the last five years, the bank's share price is down over 30 per cent. The lender axed dividends at the height of the pandemic, but has since resumed them.
In February 2021 the group announced it was scrapping the scrip dividend option as it was deemed 'dilutive'.
The sale of HSBC's arm in Canada is expected to complete late next year and will result in a pre-tax gain of $5.7billion for HSBC, according to the bank.
The deal will enable Royal Bank of Canada to take more market share in its home market, adding 130 branches and more than 780,000 retail and commercial customers. If successful, it will be the first big banking merger in a decade in Canada.
The transaction will unlock 'significant value' for the group, HSBC said in a stock market statement today.
HSBC said in October it was considering the sale of the Canadian arm as it looks to beef up returns following pressure from Ping An.
HSBC is Canada's seventh biggest bank with assets of C$125billion, and it earned C$490million before tax as of 30 June, based on its latest financial results. Analysts had valued HSBC's Canada business in the range of C$8billion to C$10billion.
Last month HSBC reported an adjusted pre-tac third quarter profit of $6.5billion, against $5.5billion a year ago. At the time, the bank also maintained its guidance for a dividend payout ratio of 50 per cent in 2023 and 2024.
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The Associated Press has sued Urban Outfitters and other clothing retailers in federal court, accusing them of selling T-shirts that violate the news agency's copyright of a photograph of Barack Obama that an artist's "HOPE" image was based on.
The news agency filed separate lawsuits Wednesday against Urban Outfitters Inc., Nordstrom Inc. and Zumiez Inc., seeking unspecified damages for products using the image that were sold at stores nationwide.
In each lawsuit, the AP said the retailers had engaged in willful and blatant violation of the AP's copyright to a photograph that artist Shepard Fairey's "HOPE" image was based on.
The AP and Fairey settled copyright claims against each other this year. A trial over copyright claims brought against a clothing company that sells apparel bearing graphics created by Fairey is scheduled to go to trial March 21.
"We're aware of the lawsuit and are reaching out to our vendor to determine next steps," said Tara Darrow, a Nordstrom spokeswoman.
Representatives of the other retailers did not immediately respond to several messages left for comment.
AP spokesman Paul Colford said in a statement that the copyright issue was important to the not-for-profit news organization.
"When a commercial entity such as these retailers, or the company that sold the shirts to them, gets something for nothing by using an AP photo without credit or compensation, it undermines the AP's ability to cover the news and devalues the work that our journalists do, often in dangerous locations where they may literally risk life and limb to cover a story," he said.
The lawsuits resulted from a continuing effort by the AP to protect the copyright of a 2006 picture taken of Obama at the National Press Club in Washington while he was a U.S. senator from Illinois.
Fairey used the picture, which became an iconic image in Obama's presidential campaign, as a basis for the red, white and blue image showing a determined Obama gazing upward, with the caption "HOPE."
Apparel manufacturer One 3 Two, which does business as Obey Clothing, has said in court papers that it began manufacturing T-shirts based on the image after one of its largest customers, Urban Outfitters, requested the shirts.


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COMMENT: As the pandemic rolls back with vaccinations rolling out, the maritime industry
becomes overly optimistic from ports, terminals, carriers and shipbuilding, writes Ben Hackett.
The second half of 2020 turned the year into a phenomenal boon as freight rates rocketed and profits soared for container carriers. The lines claimed that it was due to unprecedented cargo demand from buoyant consumers going on an on-line shopping spree.
Yet when we look at the numbers in a bit more detail the boom in demand was limited to the second half of the year and the total increase was not that dramatic, only 1.7 per cent on the Transpacific, for example.
In Europe the Port of Hamburg’s container throughput declined 12 per cent to 8.5 million TEU overall with imports falling 8.2 per cent year on year in 2020. Rotterdam experienced a 3.2 per cent year on year decline in throughput to 14.3 million TEU in 2020.
Nevertheless, Rotterdam has commenced a quay lengthening project that will increase annual throughput capacity by four million TEU – or 28 per cent of Rotterdam’s annual box volume, according to Seatrade Maritime News. Antwerp managed to achieve a 1.3 per cent increase in container throughput to 12 million TEU for the first time.
With such small volume increases why was there a shortage of container capacity and containers? It can only be put down to being caught off guard by the resurgence of demand or the withholding of capacity to help encourage freight rates to go up, or both more likely.
The glut in profits spurred carriers to go on a spending splurge to buy second-hand ships and order new ones. According to Alphaliner, 267 ships with nearly one million in TEU capacity were sold. The larger carriers within the three alliances have also ordered a significant number of megamax ships with 24 rows of containers across, destined for the AsiaEurope trade.
This will certainly impact ports and terminals as they need to adjust quay lengths and cranes to deal with the influx of these vessels which will put increasing pressure on their ability to deal with ever larger interchanges per vessel call.
Expansion of terminals and new developments, such as the recently announced DP World/ Canadian investment in Indonesia are also in progress after a short hiatus. The pandemic was good business for some. Yet looking forward there are signs that long-haul routes may be impacted by the high freight rates and increased near shoring.


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The famous 4x4 car maker Jeep has long been specific to the American market and many thought it unlikely that its cars would be manufactured anywhere else.
However, things are now changing with Jeeps set to be assembled on four continents, turning the company into a global one. Factories in India, China, Italy, and Brazil are all set to begin work in 2015, giving the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles a vastly larger manufacturing capacity.
A large production increase = more sales
Within just 18 months, it is believed that Jeep’s manufacturing capacity will increase by as many as 590,000 units. This is good news for the brand, which has high hopes of reaching annual sales of 1.9 million in the not too distant future. Whilst it is likely to take a few years to reach these numbers, Jeep hopes that by branching out into other countries, they are setting the right foundation to build sales in the future.
The CEO of Jeep, Mike Manley, was quoted as saying “All global brands have a global footprint” and this is something that Jeep wants to be a part of. In 2009, Jeep was designated as the leading global brand for FCA and since then sales of its cars have almost tripled. In 2014, 1.02 million units were sold with over 30% of them coming from outside the United States.
Catching up with the competition
Although the number of Jeeps sold outside the United States has increased dramatically since 2009, it is widely believed that when they change to global production, these figures will continue to increase. Car brands like Toyota, Ford, and Chevrolet have had a global presence for years and this has given them greater access to the global markets. As Jeeps have been manufactured purely in the United States until now, they have had minimum access to other markets, even though they should have performed well.
Bringing prices down in Brazil
By manufacturing vehicles in Brazil, the company hopes to lower the purchase cost for those in the country itself. As of May 2015, a luxury SUV model Grand Cherokee costs almost double the price in Brazil as it does in the United States. This large price difference has been made clear in the relatively small sales that have been achieved in Brazil. It is hoped that the brand’s manufacturing plant in Brazil will be able to manufacture as many as 250,000 Jeeps each year. These vehicles will not be subject to import duties, making them much more accessible to the local population.
Making new connections in India and China
Although Jeep originally did manufacture in China, these deals fell through in 2006 and so they are entering into the Chinese market for a second time. There are plans to start manufacturing Cherokees in the country by the end of 2015 with plans to build up to three models for the Chinese population in the near future. In India, Jeeps will be manufactured in Pune in a joint deal between Tata Motors and Fiat. Grand Cherokees and Wranglers are the first two autos set for production with others potentially in the pipeline.