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You’re out and about, and your smartphone’s battery is about to die. Maybe you’re at an airport, hotel, or shopping mall. You don’t have the power cable needed to charge the device, but you do have a USB cord that can supply the needed juice. Then you spot an oasis: A free charging kiosk. Do you hesitate before connecting your phone to this unknown device that could be configured to read most of the data on your phone, and perhaps even upload malware?
The answer, for most folks, is probably not. The few people I’ve asked while researching this story said they use these charging kiosks all the time (usually while on travel), but then said they’d think twice next time after I mentioned the possible security ramifications of doing so. Everyone I asked was a security professional.
Granted, a charging kiosk at an airport may be less suspect than, say, a slightly sketchy-looking tower of power stationed at DefCon, a massive hacker conference held each year in Las Vegas. At a conference where attendees are warned to stay off the wireless networks and avoid using the local ATMs, one might expect that security experts and enthusiasts would avoid using random power stations.
But some people will brave nearly any risk to power up their mobiles. In the three and a half days of this year’s DefCon, at least 360 attendees plugged their smartphones into the charging kiosk built by the same guys who run the infamous Wall of Sheep, a public shaming exercise at DefCon aimed at educating people about the dangers of sending email and other online communications over open wireless networks.
Brian Markus, president of Aires Security, said he and fellow researchers Joseph Mlodzianowski and Robert Rowley built the charging kiosk to educate attendees about the potential perils of juicing up at random power stations. Markus explains the motivation behind the experiment:
“We’d been talking about how dangerous these charging stations could be. Most smartphones are configured to just connect and dump off data,” Markus said. “Anyone who had an inclination to could put a system inside of one of these kiosks that when someone connects their phone can suck down all of the photos and data, or write malware to the device.”
To make their charging station more attractive to passersby, Markus and his pals equipped it with a variety of charging cables to fit the most popular wireless devices. When no device was connected, the LCD screen fitted into the charging station displayed a blue image with the words “Free Cell Phone Charging Kiosk.” The screen switched to a red warning sign when users plugged in any devices. The warning message read:
“You should not trust public kiosks with your smart phone. Information can be retrieved or downloaded without your consent. Luckily for you, this station has taken the ethical route and your data is safe. Enjoy the free charge!”
Markus said the comments from those who chose to juice up their phones at the kiosk were the most rewarding part of the project.
“One guy that clearly seemed stressed and in a hurry to get his phone topped off said, ‘I don’t care, take my data, I need my phone charged to make a phone call!'” Others said they planned to wipe their phones after leaving the hacker conference anyway.
“One attendee claimed his phone had USB transfer off and he would be fine. When he plugged in, it instantly went into USB transfer mode,” Markus recalls. “He then sheepishly said, ‘Guess that setting doesn’t work.'”
Another DefCon attendee remarked, “This freaked my boss out so much he sent an email across the entire company stating employees are now required to bring power cables and/or extra batteries on travel, and no longer allowed to use charging kiosks for smart devices in open public areas.”
The safest route for charging your device on-the-go is to use the supplied power cord that plugs into a regular electrical outlet (assuming you can find an available outlet). Battery-powered mobile charging devices also work well in a pinch and are available at many airports. If you must use a random charging kiosk, the safest option may be to completely power off the device before plugging it in.
“One thing we discovered: On certain devices, if you power them completely off, then charge them, they don’t expose the data,” Markus said.
Mr. Krebs your article needs to be more specific. Which smartphones are vulnerable to charging kiosks? Android? iPhones? All?
Don’t know which ones. I can tell you that the iPhone appears to be. But I don’t have a range of cell phones to try this with.
You can find out if your phone may be vulnerable. Plug it in to a USB charger and see what comes up on the computer. If it prompts you to view the files without any kind of password, then chance are that device would be vulnerable.
If you do such research, maybe post your findings as a comment here? Thanks.
Thanks for your reply.
My smartphone runs Android 2.1 and when I connect it to my computer a screen comes up on my phone asking me whether I want to charge the phone or transfer files. If I simply choose to charge the phone, the phone doesn’t show up in My Computer and therefore you can’t view or modify its data. I’d guess that most Android phones would exhibit similar behaviour. You have to mount the phone (sdcard) in order to read or write.
However your article had me thinking that it is possible to somehow read data simply by charging the phone, as if the phone would expose information even if it is simply charging. Perhaps it is not the case then.
I WANTED TO HEAR FROM KREBS ANSWER TO MY QUESTION. I HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT AS YET.
use this : http://www.amazon.de/Hama-GmbH-Co-00034041-Verl%C3%A4ngerungs-Station/dp/B0009N8MR6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=ce-de&qid=1237642532&sr=8-5
you can switch off the data connection !
only charge !
where is the problem?
“The safest route for charging your device on-the-go is to use the supplied power cord that plugs into a regular electrical outlet”
How could you be sure it wasn’t running a powerline network?
How smart would your phone be after that kiosk supplies 120VAC to it? 🙂
This makes me glad I have two auxiliary chargers that have USB attachments. I can charge them on a kiosk w/o putting my data at risk.
Before I charge my HTC smartphone, I switch off the device. Plugging it into any computer USB socket, I do not see any data transfer at all.
Honestly, I don’t see how a dead phone can transfer data. Are these security and other IT professionals unable to switch off their phones before charging them?
Thank you for sharing these findings! It’s interesting to hear how even with prior warning, people are still vulnerable to the glamour of free battery life. Had the charging stations not taken the proper security precautions, these users could have risked exposing private corporate data. Not only should corporations educate their employees, but they need to block malicious attacks before mobile malware enters its system through infected devices. Corporations must ensure network layer Data Leakage Prevention (DLP) to prevent the outflow of user/corporate data. Our company Wedge Networks has been working towards solutions such as these for years, to prevent the good things from flowing out and the bad things from coming in.


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Dying Light update 1.36 patch notes released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players. According to the official Dying Light 1.36 patch notes, the latest update added story mode to Hellraid, a new Hellraid rank: Vanquishe and more. Apart from this, Dying Light version 1.36 also added new sounds and animations.
Previously, a big update was released with a new player variant, a new game mode, a new enemy, a new weapon, and more.
Unfortunately, players are still facing a number of issues with the game. Today’s Dying Light patch 1.36 will address a few of these issues.
Check out more details below.
Dying Light Patch 1.36 Notes
Final Hellraid Update
- A new weapon has made it to the dungeon. Complete the Loaded for the Undead bounty, and wreak havoc in the temple like never before with Deathbringer—the one and only firearm available in Hellraid!
- Enjoy the reworked armory. Now it will store all of your Hellraid weapons and items!
- Discover new Crystal consumables in the Raid Mode! Each offers a unique, strong buff, but remember.
- Purchase wands and the Shock Bearer in the Hellraid Shop, and carry them to Harran.
- Complete bounties to get all thirteen new Hellraid weapon blueprints. You’ll craft them with Weapon Remnants found in the Hellraid chest.
- Experience the Hellraid mode with improved balancing and smoother gameplay! Now the dungeon encounters are even more satisfying!
- Added story mode to Hellraid
- Now players can choose between story mode and raid mode upon entering Hellraid
- Introduced a new Hellraid rank: Vanquisher
- Added new sounds and animations
- Level’s contours now appear on the minimap
- Added new weapons—a bow (in story mode) and a two-handed hammer, and a stamina potion
- Players will now encounter a new enemy—a skeleton with a large shield
- Players no longer need to stash and retrieve their equipment upon entering and leaving Hellraid
- Balance and visual changes
- Fixed game crashing issues.
Download free Dying Light update 1.36 for PS4 and Xbox One.

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By Rana Yehia
Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights, recently released the global report on Consumer Confidence Index for the first quarter (Q1) of 2015.
Egypt’s Consumer Confidence stayed consistent scoring 90, the same as Q4 of 2014. This comes after a nine point increase in the last half of the year 2014.
“The jump in Egypt’s consumer confidence in the last two quarters of 2014 opened up possibilities of what could happen in the market,” said Tamer El-Araby, managing director for North Africa & the Levant.
“The next best thing to an increase in the confidence score is for it to remain stable. Moreover, the fact that the score is the highest it’s been in over two years is definitely a positive sign for the future,” El-Araby added.
The report tackles three main questions for consumer confidence, regarding personal finances, job opportunities and investments.
The report shows that over Q1 of 2015, there has been an increase in the perception of local job prospects over the next few months. There was also a decline in the points for power of investment, consequently neutralising the score to remain the same as last quarter.
The first quarter showed a fluctuation in choosing products due to political turbulences and terrorism over 2014. According to the report, 67% of consumers are optimistic about the political changes while 56% fear terrorism. The statistics also show that 53% have no confidence in their personal financial situation, and only 51% consume basic needs such as food.
Due to an increase in prices, the rate of buying basic needs such as food remained constant, while the rate of buying unnecessary products such as juices, snacks and certain cleaning products has decreased.
However, March’s Economic Summit has contributed to elevating the rates of consumer expectations in finding jobs by four points and the power of investments by one, whereas the confidence in personal finances has decreased by four.
As for expectations for the next quarter, there are two main issues that may impact the indicators, including the month of Ramadan and the application of value added tax.
Consumption increases significantly before and during Ramadan, a month before Ramadan, the rate of sales in Hyper and Super markets increase by 40%, compared to 2% in small and traditional markets, while during Ramadan sales increase by 81% in hyper and super markets and 21% in traditional markets.
The report also noted that consumers prefer discounts, and use the promotional sales system. Discounts have vastly expanded over last year such as BIM that reached 115 branch all over the country and Kazyon market that reached 46 branches.
As for value added tax, it might reduce the consumption as the prices will increase, but Nielsen expects the increase of consumption in Ramadan will make the rates in the next quarter stable at 90 or show a slight decrease.


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FRANKFURT: Volkswagen has rejected suggestions it may have breached European Union consumer rules in connection with its emissions cheating scandal, and said it does not see the need to compensate affected car owners.
EU Consumer Commissioner Vera Jourova said on Monday the European Commission was assessing whether Volkswagen had violated two EU consumer directives.
Several officials have also urged the German carmaker to draw up a compensation scheme for affected EU drivers similar to the one it has agreed with U.S. authorities.
In a letter to Jourova dated Sept. 7 and seen by Reuters on Thursday, Volkswagen said a technical fix had been found and was already available for more than 50 percent of the affected vehicles across the 28 EU member states.
"We therefore believe there is no room or need for any additional compensation," Volkswagen said in the letter signed by its head of public affairs, Thomas Steg.
The company also said it did not believe it had breached the two regulations identified by Jourova - the Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive and the Unfair Commercial Practises Directive - adding the technical fixes were being carried out entirely at the carmaker's expense.


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Microsoft announced that its latest gaming console, the Xbox One managed to achieve 3 million sales from 13 countries before the end of 2013.
The Redmond gaint’s launched its newest gaming console on 22 November and was available in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, New Zealand, UK and the US.
Microsoft sold more than one million Xbox One units in the first 24 hours of the console sales. And, 18 days later the company had managed to put more than two million units of its gaming console out there.
In a blog post, Yusuf Mehdi, corporate VP of marketing, strategy and business at Xbox said ” Over 3 million Xbox One consoles were sold to consumers in 13 countries before the end of 2013. It’s been incredible to see Xbox One selling at a record-setting pace for Xbox, and we were honored to see Xbox One become the fastest-selling console in the U.S. during our launch month in November. Since our launch, demand for Xbox One has been strong, selling out throughout the holidays at most retailers worldwide. We are continuing to work hard to deliver additional consoles to retailers as fast as possible.”
The Xbox One’s main rival, the Sony PS4 is also racking up some great numbers and the competition is hotly contested at the moment. It will be interesting to see if either of the brand will be able to get their noses ahead in the coming days.


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Horovitz writes that
the organic and natural foods trendsetter, now with 300 units in 38 states, has had a cultural impact along the lines of the 11,000-plus Starbucks outlets. And Mackey & Team isn't done yet. A new
animal-welfare rating program will be in stores by Jan. 1. And it's opening Wellness Clubs in five prototype locations -- a "potentially a new paradigm for people being healthy." It's also
introducing a vegan private-label line in 2011 based on the book The Engine 2 Diet.
Mackey says that, at age 30, the chain is in its prime. Addressing the nickname "Whole Paycheck," he claims that on similar products, Whole Foods is very competitive. "We have 30,000 items, and you can probably find 30 on which we're more expensive," he says, claiming to match Trader Joe's prices for private-label goods. "But you can't always be cheapest if you have the highest quality," he pleads.


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Along with the liquor manufacturers, now companies offering online facilities related to restaurants, bars and catering have also sought exemption from the government for home delivery of liquor. These companies say that this will not only ensure safe distance between people in this era of corona infection, but it will also help in reviving their work that has been destroyed in the ban.
The All India Brewers Association (AIBA), an association of beer-making companies, has suggested giving special licenses to e-commerce companies like Flipkart, Amazon and Grofers and food delivery companies like Jomato and Swiggy. The organization said that these companies can take orders online and meet the demand through licensed retail and wholesale liquor vendors.
The organization also suggested to create a portal for online ordering under state excise departments for liquor. Anurag Katiyar, president of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) said, “We are facing a lot of crisis at the moment. On the one hand we have got a stock of expensive liquor, on the other hand we have a cash crisis. ‘
“We appeal to all the state governments to allow us to sell liquor stocks,” Katiyar said. With the ‘home delivery’ model, we can sell this wine. “Many companies offering online food and drink are ready to make home delivery of liquor on approval from the government.” According to sources, the authority is in talks with companies like Swiggy for online sale and home delivery of liquor. is.
Many countries allow online delivery
Rahul Singh, founder and CEO of Beer Cafe, said that liquor in India is sold in three ways — retail, horeka (hotels, restaurants and catering) and canteen stores. The number of licensed locations across the country (hotels, restaurants and catering) is close to 30,000. Due to the lockdown, at least 3 thousand crore rupees stock has been placed at various outlets across the country. Our appeal to the state governments is that we be allowed to sell the stock temporarily. Many countries have done this, it is also possible in India.


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A number of recent high-profile events have further showcased the important role that lead product dependency plays in growth strategies implemented by the industry's leading players.
Indeed, the two potentially largest acquisitions of 2015 to date have been shaped by such a catalyst; AbbVie's agreed purchase of Pharmacyclics for $21 billion and Teva's proposed acquisition of Mylan for $40 billion have been driven in part by management efforts to reduce dependency on revenues generated by flagship drug franchises.
As highlighted in the list below, AbbVie continued to generate 63 percent of its revenue from the Humira franchise in 2014 (versus 45 percent in 2011).
Such dependency delivers both positive and negative connotations. When AbbVie announced its Q1 results on April 23, it revealed that quarterly sales for Humira increased by 18 percent year-on-year to reach $3.1 billion; a performance that prompted Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli to label the TNF-inhibitor as "unstoppable."
Humira arguably represents the most compelling example of longevity associated with the commercial lifecycle of a biologic product, which is extended in part by lack of exposure to generic competition. The emergence of biosimilar competition is likely to change that dynamic, and while loss of market exclusivity is unlikely to deliver the rapid erosion in sales typically associated with a small-molecule product, it will at worst rob AbbVie of its key growth engine.
Hence why the company has invested heavily in the hepatitis C market and paid $21 billion to acquire Pharmacyclics – whose main product, the haematological cancer therapy Imbruvica it will co-develop and co-market with Johnson & Johnson (Spotlight On: Empire building – what does AbbVie's Pharmacyclics deal mean for the chronic lymphocytic leukaemia market?).
A key metric to watch will be how the proportion of revenue derived from Humira evolves over the next decade; a ratio that could be positively maintained if AbbVie can defend market share from biosimilars, but which investors will expect to fall as sales from the hepatitis C treatment Viekira Pak and Imbruvica grow.
This performance could have profound implications on how the company operates, with CEO Richard Gonzalez promising dramatic cost cutting in the face of a "disaster scenario," where exposure to declining Humira sales threatens AbbVie's profitability.
Consensus currently anticipates that Gonzalez' strategy will work; AbbVie's total sales expected to reach around $30 billion by 2019, with Imbruvica and Viekira Pak contributing $4.1 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively. Humira is expected to retain annual sales of around $15 billion by this point, thereby reducing AbbVie's lead product dependency ratio to around 50 percent, although exposure to biosimilar erosion remains something of an unknown quantity.
Teva, which is poised to face a challenging pursuit of Mylan, has dramatically re-entered the M&A arena as it seeks to pivot away from revenue dependency on its multiple sclerosis Copaxone franchise. Copaxone too has demonstrated admirable longevity, boosted by Teva's success in switching patients to a more convenient formulation. A deal with Mylan would (based on 2014 sales) swell Teva's pharma revenues to around $27 billion, thereby reducing its dependency on Copaxone from around 22 percent to 15 percent.
A deal would also reduce the dependency of Copaxone as a contributor to branded/specialty sales from 76 percent to 62 percent, a dynamic also reflecting the considerable scale advantages that Teva would have in the global generics market.
FirstWord's analysis illustrates that across the industry's 15 largest players (based on branded [including vaccines] and generic sales), the average lead product dependency rate stands at approximately 22 percent. Second to AbbVie, Gilead Sciences is positioned as another outlier at the top end of the scale, although this status is heavily driven by the extraordinary launch performance of its hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi. That said, questions continue to be raised as to how management will reinvest spoils from the success of Sovaldi (and follow up Harvoni) in order to ensure long-term growth and offset the inevitable decline in hepatitis C revenues when market saturation occurs (ViewPoints: Speculation about a Gilead-Vertex deal intensifies – but not everyone is sold).
At the other end of the scale, multi-source acquisitive behaviour and patent expiry for Lipitor in 2011 has diminished Pfizer's exposure to a single product franchise, a dynamic that also showcases the difficulty that the company now faces in growing its already large revenue base; and prompts continued speculation of a company break-up.
Both Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb could see their lead product dependency rates increase over the next decade, based on the assumption that the heart failure treatment LCZ696 and the PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo, respectively, outperform already high expectations.
GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi's exposure to revenues generated by Advair and Lantus, respectively, partially explains challenging current growth profiles, while a handful of companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Roche, are also exposed to the threat of biosimilar competition.
To read more List articles, click here.


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SANTIAGO, Chile – Spain’s bid to join the Pacific Alliance illustrates the growing clout of the trade association between Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, a new rival to the South American trading bloc Mercosur.
In an interview with Santiago daily La Tercera, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said his country had asked for admission during the summit of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
Spain, a former colonial power with close cultural and economic ties to the region, is reeling from a severe financial crisis and high unemployment.
It sees the trade alliance as a gateway to the booming and resource-hungry Asia-Pacific region.
“I am interested in the Pacific just as much as in Latin America, because in the Pacific we can invest, people from the Pacific can invest in our country, we can export our products to countries that are growing,” Rajoy explained.
Other European leaders at the weekend’s EU-CELAC summit agreed.
“Efforts at greater integration of the Pacific Alliance will strengthen its position regionally and internationally, which make them even more attractive partners,” said European Council President Herman van Rompuy.
An initiative of former Peruvian president Alan Garcia, the alliance was formally set up in Chile last June.
“I have no doubt that this process is the most important in Latin American history, not only because of the importance of its members but because of what they have already achieved,” said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
“The four are the fastest growing economies in Latin America, with common denominators,” he added.
With expected GDP growth of 6.3 percent this year, Peru is the star performer among the four, followed by Chile with 5.5 percent, Colombia with 4.8 percent and Mexico with 3.5 to 4 percent.
All four do better than the regional average of 3.1 percent, largely on the back of increased exports of commodities, mainly to China.
Chile and Peru are the world’s leading producers of copper, of which resource-hungry China is the main customer.
The Pacific Alliance’s objective is “to deepen the integration of these economies and work out joint actions for trade links with the Asia-Pacific region, based on existing bilateral trade agreements between member states.”
The group also aims to “move gradually toward the goal of free movement of goods, services, capital and people”.
The economies of the four countries are among the most liberalized in the world. Chile has 22 trade agreements linking it to 60 countries or regions, including the European Union, the United States, China, Japan, South Korea.
Mexico meanwhile has a web of 12 trade agreements with 44 countries, including the United States, China and the EU.
The Pacific Alliance says it represents a market of 215 million consumers and has a combined GDP of more than $2 trillion.
Some experts see it as a rival to the South American trading bloc Mercosur which has yet to achieve its goal of a common market more than two decades after its creation.
Founded in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, Mercosur now also includes Venezuela.
The Europeans have pushed for the speedy conclusion of a free trade pact with Mercosur.
But negotiations have so far stumbled over differences on agriculture — notably Europe’s subsidies to its farmers, which undermine Latin America’s efforts to sell its own products. – Rappler.com


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Samsung Galaxy M20 is now available through open sales in India. The phone, which was previously available through limited-period sale rounds, is now openly available for purchase through Amazon.in and Samsung Online Shop in the country. The new move comes weeks after Samsung brought the open sale of the Galaxy M10 that was launched alongside the Galaxy M20 last month. To recall, the Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 both are specifically targeted at millennials with Infinity-V Display panels and dual rear camera setups. The phones also come as the company's online-exclusive models to counter the budget phone options by companies such as Asus and Xiaomi.
The Twitter account of Samsung Mobile India on Thursday announced the open sale of the Galaxy M20. The formal tweet also confirmed that both the 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage and 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage variants are now available through the open sale.
The Samsung Galaxy M20 price in India is set at Rs. 10,990 for the 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage option, whereas its 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage model comes at Rs. 12,990. As we mentioned, the smartphone is available for purchase through Amazon.in and Samsung Online Shop. It comes in Charcoal Black and Ocean Blue colour variants.
To recall, Samsung launched the Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 as its first M-series models in late January. Both new models come with Infinity-V Display panels and sport dual rear camera setup to take on the competition.
Alongside the Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20, Samsung has the Galaxy M30 under its M series. That model is still available through limited-period sale rounds in the country, and its next sale is scheduled for March 19.
The dual-SIM (Nano) Samsung Galaxy M20 runs Android 8.1 Oreo with Samsung Experience UX on top. The phone features a 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels) Infinity-V Display along with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, there is an Exynos 7904 SoC, paired with 3GB and 4GB RAM options.
In terms of optics, the Galaxy M20 has a dual rear camera setup that comprises a 13-megapixel primary sensor, along with sporting an f/1.9 lens, and a 5-megapixel ultra-wide sensor. The phone also has an 8-megapixel sensor at the front along with an f/2.0 lens.
The Samsung Galaxy M20 has 32GB and 64GB of onboard storage options that both are expandable via microSD card (up to 512GB). There is a fingerprint sensor at the back, though the phone also has a face unlock feature. Besides, it packs a 5,000mAh battery that supports fast charging via built-in USB Type-C port.
Are Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 better than budget phones from Redmi, Realme, and Asus? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.


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SPOKANE, Wash. – More people are adopting a gluten-free diet, but one local woman said Spokane doesn’t give gluten-free eaters enough options. So, she opened Spokane’s first 100 percent gluten-free bakery.
Fusion Flours has a very extensive gluten-free menu: selling cakes, specialty pizzas and ready-to-bake lasagna.
When owner Tara Wright was diagnosed with autonomic failure about 10 years ago, she started perfecting gluten-free flour recipes. She’s been selling her bulk flour mixes to Spokane restaurants and grocery stores for a few years, but she said Spokane needed a storefront with ready-to-go gluten-free foods.
“I feel like it’s an under-served market,” Wright said. “There’s so many people that need it and I feel like they’ll find us.”
Fusion Flours opened last week across from Northtown Mall on Wellesley.


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SunPower Introduces CleanFleet
CleanFleet is the proprietary robotic solar panel cleaning technology and service created by Greenbotics, a company recently acquired by SunPower. CleanFleet robots operate at night to avoid disrupting daytime energy production and use 90 percent less water than manual cleaning methods. Regular use in dry, dusty regions can increase annual energy production by up to 15 percent. CleanFleet expands energy services for customers with the SunPower Oasis Power Plant product.


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Twitter's decision to suspend the startup drew praise from privacy activists and highlighted tensions between police and the American public.
Alibaba pay by nodding: Eager to improve the virtual reality shopping experience, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba developed a payment system where customers can pay by nodding.
Once just a shopping site, Amazon hopes that Music Unlimited will increase the rate at which customers return to the site and allow it to compete with other streaming services.
Hinge, the dating app, has a new look. The 'story' format is intended to spark deeper connections between users, with a view to forming long-term relationships. The company hopes this will become the 'new normal' for dating apps.
Many of the more than 1,000 businesses and organizations that have been testing the platform during the past year have showered praise on the product.


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School children in Scotland are tucking into Thai chicken and crunching on carrots from Belgium despite a campaign to get councils to buy local.
More than £1 million worth of chicken was imported from Thailand to produce Scottish school meals last year, new figures obtained by the BBC have shown.
All 32 councils in Scotland were asked to divulge where they bought their food products for school lunches as part of a Freedom of Information request by the BBC.
£1.3 million of chicken products from Thailand
In total 28 local responded and revealed the average school dinner had a much more international flavour than expected.
Councils spent £1.3 million on chicken products imported from Thailand, more than £125,000 went on carrots from Belgium and the same on mashed potato products from France and almost £12,000 was spent on Serbian raspberries.
North Lanarkshire Council spent £200,000 buying chicken products from Thailand while Dumfries and Galloway and East Ayrshire Councils did not buy any from Thailand.
Farmers have called for more to be done by councils to buy local produce and the Scottish Green, who first campaigned on the issue of buying chicken from Thailand, expressed disappointment at the lack of progress.
Raspberries from Serbia
NFU Scotland’s supply chain policy manager John Armour told the BBC: “It is clear that more can and should be done by local authorities to source food produced from Scotland.”
Alison Johnstone, Scottish Green Party health spokesman, said: “It’s disappointing that three years on from our investigation this remains a problem.
“Our economy is losing out. Government food policy remains too focused on exports rather than supporting local procurement.
“Councils need support so they can buy Scottish more often.”
“It is clear that more can and should be done by local authorities to source food produced from Scotland.”
John Armour, NFU Scotland’s supply chain policy manager
Scotland Excel, the body responsible for procuring food for councils, claimed it had been “difficult to meet poultry demand” from within Scotland.
A spokesman for the organisation told the BBC: “All poultry supplied to Scottish schools is of the highest possible standard and meets the required national specification to develop and plan menus that meet nutritional standards.
Difficult to meet poultry demand
“Historically, it has been difficult to meet poultry demand requirements based on the supply within Scotland.
“We have worked hard to source UK produce and in the last year we have seen an increase in these products.”
Talks are reported to be ongoing to “up-scale” chicken production in Scotland.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: “Almost half of the £150 million spent on procuring food per year for the public sector is sourced locally, that’s 48% Scottish food.
“We have made a lot of progress, increasing the amount of Scottish produce used in our public sector by 41% over seven years, including supporting individual sectors, meaning that, for example, now every pint of milk served in Scottish schools comes from Scotland.
“That is good news but we want to do more.
“Over the next five years there is £750 million of opportunity to win public sector food and drink contracts and we are working with producers, wholesalers and Scotland’s wider food and drink industry to unlock this.”


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Call of Duty Map Packs Going on Sale on Xbox Live Next Week
Major Nelson has posted his list of things that are coming to Xbox Live soon, and there was something intriguing on there: “Activision Publisher Game Content Sale – Games on demand, Add-ons, and more from the Call of Duty franchise.”
That sounds to me like Call of Duty map packs will be going on sale. Don’t get your hopes up that anything to recent will be reduced, so go ahead and pick up Rezurrection if you’re into that. But if you’ve been holding out on some of the earlier Black Ops packs this might be your time.


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“Don’t get too negative” is the advice that Randy Blach of Cattle-FAX offered cattlemen at the Texas Cattle Feeders Association Annual Convention in Grapevine. Looking ahead to next year, Blach said, “I think we’re setting ourselves up to where we’ll have a much more profitable run feeding cattle than what we’ve had any time over the last two or three years — if we manage our business.”
Blach said things are beginning to look “bullish” for the cattle business with the assistance of tightening supplies — such as the declining herd and the anticipated 1% decline in beef production next year — and increasing exports. For 2009, he forecasts that fed cattle prices will experience their highest annual average ever: “Somewhere around $96, $97, $98 dollars (per hundredweight) with a range anywhere from the mid-to-upper $80s to on top of a dollar (per pound) for our spring highs.”
Cattlemen are currently benefiting from the ability to “buy” break-evens in the mid-to-upper $80s right now, which Blach said are the most attractive break-evens in a long time. He noted that feeder cattle prices have dropped about 20-25%, falling back into the mid-$90s range, but he does not expect them to decline much more. For 2009, Blach predicted that feeder prices will average about $1.03 to $1.05 per pound.
Despite the recent softening of corn prices, Blach warned, “We just don’t want to go to sleep there. I don’t believe the volatility has gone away from us” because corn supplies remain tight.
Looking toward the future prosperity of the industry, Blach said foreign consumers are important, and the effort to continue reopening markets to U.S. beef must continue. Ticking off some numbers to emphasize the potential that is represented by exports, Blach told the audience only 4% of the world’s people live in the U.S., the global population is growing by 78 million per year, and “over the course of the next decade there will be a billion more meat consumers in the world.”
“We’re moving millions of people from rice and beans diets to protein and vegetable diets on an annual basis,” he said, suggesting that the trend is a positive one for cattle feeders specifically.
“We have the highest quality beef product of anyone in the world,” Blach said, adding that 85% of the world’s high quality fed beef supply is in the U.S.
“Nobody else does what you do. It’s a tremendous opportunity for us if we continue to have access to these markets,” Blach told the cattlemen.


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Aaron Sprinkle is a busy guy. Despite releasing a solo album last year and an EP for his band Blank Books he’s found time to collaborate with Jessie Villa on a pop project called Luna Wave. The first Luna Wave EP came out back in June, but now it’s time for round two with a new EP titled Chasing The Light. Check out the EP below and find it on Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify.
Luna Wave Releases Second EP of 2018
By Noah Hardwick in News | 3 Comments
Y not just make it a ful length?
It’s probably not worth the effort. Given that Luna Wave was released through SoundStripe I’m guessing the hope is that one of the songs with get used in a television show or in a commercial or something like that. With fewer people buying music these days artists seem less concerned with making a product they can sell to fans like a full length album and more interested in just getting their music out their be heard as quickly as possible.
Yup. I undastand the reasons behind that, but as a consuma, i stil gen hate eps, lol.


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How Ocado tycoons made a mint
Online grocer Ocado has won plaudits for service but it's also attacted controvery and criticism ever since its launch in 2000, writes Ruth Sunderland in a City Focus.
Reputation: Ocado is a pioneer of online shopping and has won accolades for service
Like the Boden catalogue, Pilates classes and honey-blonde highlights, the weekly Ocado delivery is a must-have for the affluent urban tribe of yummy mummies.
The online grocer's vans are an emblem of middle class aspiration as they chug around the leafy suburbs, in a childlike palette of bright colours.
But behind the wholesome veneer, City critics are asking uncomfortable questions about what is really going on at Ocado, whose shares have recently lost a third of their value.
The company has cultivated an image for selling high quality foodstuffs while caring for the environment because customers don't need to drive to a store.
Scratch the surface, though and the Ocado story involves former Goldman Sachs bankers making millions, reclusive tycoons, secretive offshore trusts and a business that has yet to turn an annual profit.
Ocado is undoubtedly a pioneer of online grocery shopping and has won awards for its service. Customers order online before goods are gathered in a huge warehouse in Hertfordshire ready for delivery.
By contrast, rivals such as Tesco began its internet service by picking goods from store shelves, meaning items were sometimes out of stock.
Tesco is now getting its act together with its own Ocado-style warehouses. Wm Morrison paid £70m for Kiddicare to enable access to online retail and Marks & Spencer has hired Tesco's former internet hotshot Laura Wade-Gery. Waitrose, too, is revamping its online grocery business.
While all this would be enough to perturb investors, the latest plunge in the Ocado share price has set alarm bells ringing.
At 6pm on Friday February 18, after the stock market closed, the Steiner 2008 Millennium Trust, based in Nassau, announced it had sold £5m of shares.
The beneficiaries of that trust, which disposed of 2m shares at 254.1p each, are Ocado's chief executive Tim Steiner and his family.
There is no suggestion that Steiner has broken any rules and he says he still holds a 5% stake directly and another 2% through a long term incentive scheme. Still, announcing the sale at an hour likely to attract the minimum of attention was bound to raise eyebrows.
Steiner says: 'It is a blind trust - I don't control it. The trustee lives in the Bahamas and he gets to work at 10am, which is 3pm here. We put out a release in 30 minutes. Any suggestion we were trying to bury it, the whole idea is preposterous.'
The timing of the sale turned out to be remarkably fortunate, for the following Monday £100m was wiped off the company's market value after Waitrose, its main supplier, announced plans to ramp up its own online business.
Controversy and criticism is nothing new for Ocado.
It has attracted both since it was founded back in 2000 by three former Goldman Sachs bankers, who at that time were barely into their thirties and had no experience of food retailing.
There, Steiner was reunited with Jonathan Faiman, a friend since nursery school who joined Goldman in 1995. Like Steiner, Faiman held Ocado shares in an offshore trust, Zurich-based Tempest Capital. He quit the firm a year ago and has moved abroad.
The third musketeer is Jason Gissing, also from a privileged background, who went to Oundle public school then Oxford. Gissing's offshore vehicle, the Trident Trust Co, is registered in the British Virgin Islands. He stepped down as finance supremo in September 2009 to become 'director of people, culture and communications'.
Origins: Ocado was founded by three Goldman Sachs bankers who had no experience of food retailing
Sir Terry Leahy, the respected former Tesco boss, made no secret of his doubts about an upstart business set up by inexperienced youngsters in the early noughties, when the dotcom fever was at its height.
The intrepid trio did, however, attract some heavyweight investors, including reclusive Swedish tycoon Jorn Rausing, a multi-billionaire member of the family that invented Tetra-Pak.
He sits on the board and holds a stake through a vehicle called the Apple Trust.
The Ocado Boys' former boss, Michael Sherwood, co-head of Goldman Sachs' London operation, has a personal holding. Other shareholders are former US president Al Gore's investment fund and financier Nick Roditi, a multi-millionaire who used to run investments for legendary hedge fund guru George Soros.
Their most significant backer, however, was Middle England's favourite department store John Lewis.
Back in 2000, Charlie Mayfield, now chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, struck a deal to take a 40% stake in Ocado, again held through an offshore vehicle, and for Waitrose to act as the firm's supplier.
In 2008, the store chain passed its holding into the ownership of its company pension fund, which has now sold its entire holding, in the wake of Ocado's controversial stock market float last year.
Ambitious plans were drawn up for the float in the summer with the help of Goldman Sachs, under the code-name Project Titan. At that point, the business had been running for a decade without ever making a profit and was forced to list no fewer than 18 pages of 'risk factors' to investors in its share prospectus.
This did not stop the founders aiming for a float value of more than £1bn, in the depths of an economic slump. In the event, it did not quite go as planned.
They were forced to cut the price to 180p a share - way below the hoped for 200p to 275p. Yesterday they closed down another 2% at 202p.
Indeed, the Steiner 2008 Millennium Trust, which had said it might sell 2m shares at the float, didn't bother and, as we now know, waited for a better moment.
Faiman's trust sold up to 3m shares and Gissing's up to 1.9m. The John Lewis pension fund offloaded its last chunk of shares last month in a deal handled, inevitably, by Goldman.
Steiner says the sale simplifies Ocado's relationship with John Lewis - but Waitrose still plays the dual role of supplier and rival. But without a bricks and mortar supermarket chain of its own, Ocado is uncomfortably dependent on Waitrose - which has just invested £10m in its online grocery business and is rolling out a new website.
Ocado has finally broken into the black with a profit of £300,000 in the final quarter of 2010, though it still made a £12.2m loss for the year as a whole. It has also earmarked hundreds of millions of pounds to expand its warehouses and will need impressive sales to recoup these costs.
Steiner says he's unconcerned about the competition. 'Every single retailer, from petfood to jeans, is talking about expanding online.
'Does it concern us? Absolutely not. We have a nine-year lead, the market will grow and there is space for everyone.'
Whatever the future may hold for Ocado, it has already been a lucrative venture for some. John Lewis has made £210m from its investment. Goldman Sachs has earned handsome fees along the way and the Ocado Boys themselves have attained multi-millionaire status.
The founders of this quintessentially middle class grocer may yet prove the naysayers wrong.
But at this point there are plenty who would agree with one prominent critic, the influential City analyst Philip Dorgan. His verdict? 'Ocado starts with an "o", ends with an "o" and is worth zero.'
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P&O’s flagship ‘Britannia’ recently returned from her first refit carried out at Damen Brest.
Among the highlights of the refurbishment project was the atrium, which has been given a new lease of life to create a social hub at the heart of the ship, by day and night.
Following the success of temporary art exhibitions on ‘Britannia’, P&O has introduced a permanent new art gallery next to Blue Bar by the atrium. The Market Café has benefited from new furniture and décor, and a brand-new menu including ice cream creations from Hampshire dairy Jude’s.
The Java café now serves alcoholic drinks. It is located opposite The Glass House.
Just down the corridor from Java, The Photo Gallery has been upgraded to include the addition of a Dixons electronics hub featuring the latest imaging, computing and audio tech from Amazon, Apple, Beats, Bose, Canon, Fitbit, GoPro, Microsoft and Sony, among others.
In the Oasis Spa and Salon, P&O has created two ‘express spa’ pods boasting a range of treatments.


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Circle Centre mall says Granite City restaurant owes it $1.2 million
Circle Centre mall says Granite City Food & Brewery owes it more than $1.2 million, alleging in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that the now-shuttered restaurant defaulted on its lease.
The restaurant, which had been in Circle Centre since 2012, appeared to abruptly close in late August. Its doors were locked the evening of Aug. 22, and it appeared dark and empty.
The Circle Centre location is no longer mentioned on the chain's online list of Indiana locations. Google also lists the location as permanently closed.
Granite City violated its Circle Centre lease, the mall alleges, by failing to make payments, including rent, and by vacating the premises without the mall's consent before the lease's expiration in 2023.
In all, the Minnesota-based chain owes the mall $1,211,034.30, the mall alleges.
The restaurant still lists its Carmel, Fort Wayne and Mishawaka locations on its website.
Another I-465 closure is coming:Here's what you need to know
Andrew Clark is a reporter for IndyStar. Call him at 317-444-6484 or email him at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @Clarky_Tweets.


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CUSTOMERS who cannot afford to refill an entire gas cylinder now have the option of buying nominal amounts of Afrox liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at a Pay as you Gas™ station.
PayGas developed a proprietary technology that fractions gas purchases into smaller quantities, making the purchase process more flexible and affordable to low-income households in South Africa. The technology is powered by a pay-as-you-go USSD software payment platform combined with a cashless refilling station and mobile app, connected to a barcode on customers’ cylinders. PayGas users can purchase a prepaid voucher via their cell phone at any spaza shop or the closest Pay as you Gas™ station, and use the PayGas app to fill their Afrox Safety Gas cylinder, totally or partially, for as little as R10, at a Pay as you Gas™ station.
Oftentimes, low income households cannot afford to swap an empty cylinder for a full sealed one before their next pay, forcing thousands of individuals across the country to revert to alternative sources such as paraffin, charcoal, wood or expensive grid electricity.
PayGas has already rolled out a pilot Pay-as-you-Gas™ station in Delft, Cape Town, servicing more than 4 000 low-income residents in the township. “With Afrox’s LPG supply, support and expertise, we can now execute on an ambitious plan to roll out several Pay-as-you-Gas™ stations catering to close to 200 000 customers across major townships in South Africa in the next 36 months,” says Philippe Hoeblich, Founder and CEO at PayGas. “I founded PayGas in response to a gaping need for flexible affordable cooking energy for lower income households in urban areas in South Africa and we can’t wait to execute on our ambitious plans to cater to more households in more cities in the country.”
Together with Afrox and through a micro-franchising with Pick n Pay Market Stores owners, PayGas plans to roll out five new Pay-as-you-Gas™ stations within the next six weeks, including Philippi Village, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Langa and Kayamandi. PayGas will also roll out three additional stations in Johannesburg, and two in Durban during 2021.
Afrox will install LPG dumpy tank storage vessels at each Pay-as-you-Gas™ station, shaped in a unique ready-to-use container developed by PayGas, and supply each station with approximately 2 500 cylinders to ensure sufficient cylinder stock. Afrox’s lighter and more portable 5 kg Safety Gas cylinders were specifically chosen for this market where residents often have to carry cylinders from gas depots to their homes.


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Union Carbide to Sell Unit for $800 Million
Union Carbide said Monday that it intends to sell its home and automotive products division, the maker of such familiar products as Prestone antifreeze and Glad plastic bags, for $800 million in a leveraged buy-out to a group formed by First Boston Corp.
The deal largely completes the company’s plans to sell all of its consumer goods lines, a move it undertook to defuse a takeover threat mounted by GAF Corp. and its chairman, Samuel Heyman.
Separately, the company announced a drop in net income for the calendar first quarter to $43.3 million on sales of $1.72 billion, compared to $71 million on sales of $1.71 billion for the same period a year ago.
The figures do not include a non-recurring gain of $270 million that the company booked this year on the return to the company of surplus funds in its employee pension plans. They do reflect, however, an 81% increase in interest costs for the first quarter this year, largely reflecting the costs of its massive repurchase of stock.
That maneuver, in which about 99 million shares were retired, was also a takeover defense. Because of the stock buy-back, per-share net income rose to 38 cents from 34 cents despite the lower total profit. The figures were adjusted for a 3-for-1 stock split earlier this year.
Interest costs were $131.5 million in the first quarter of 1986, compared to $73 million a year ago.
Union Carbide said in January that it would sell off its consumer products lines and distribute all proceeds in excess of $1.1 billion to its shareholders. The rationale was to steal a march on Heyman, whose intention had been to acquire the company for debt and pay off the acquisition loans by selling off the same operations. Instead, Union Carbide said, it would sell the units itself and distribute the gains directly to shareholders.


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Amplitude valued at $5 billion after shares jump in Nasdaq debut
San Francisco-based Amplitude, which confidentially filed for a direct listing in July, was valued at $4 billion after raising $150 million from Sequoia Capital and Singapore’s GIC in June. On Wednesday, Its stock opened at $50/share, up from the reference price of $35.
Amplitude provides data analytics tools that enable companies to optimise their products. Its customers include NBCUniversal, PayPal Holdings Ltd, Peloton Interactive Inc and Instacart. It has benefited from the accelerated digital transformation during the Covid-19 pandemic, as companies seek to optimise customer experience by using analytical tools. It reported a loss of $16.5 million in the six months ended June 30 on the back of revenue that rose 56% year-on-year to $72 million.
The seven-year-old company chose to go public through a direct listing, an alternative to an initial public offering that has gained traction among companies after Spotify Technology SA pioneered it in 2018.
In a direct listing, companies are allowed to list on the stock market without selling shares. They set a reference price but no shares are sold in advance at that price, unlike in an IPO where shares are sold to institutional investors at a set price.
“Traditional IPOs severely under-price companies,” said Spenser Skates, cofounder and chief executive at Amplitude who has been a proponent of direct listing. “There’s a great window for companies to go out this year. This is about as fast as we could do it.”
ALSO READ TECH NEWSLETTER OF THE DAY
Investors see Amplitude’s strong debut as a catalyst for other technology companies who are exploring ways to go public.
“This is a watershed moment for direct listings. I think entire market is looking at Amplitude to see how it does, because it looks like many of the software companies that will go public in the next 12-18 months in terms of size, growth and not being well-known household names,” said Neeraj Agrawal, partner at Battery Ventures, an early investor in Amplitude.
Reuters’ Niket Nishant in Bengaluru contributed to this story.


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The inauguration of the new SDF production lines in Turkey took place in Bandirma on Friday 3rd May[...]
SAME innovation leads again at the SIMA 2019 international trade fair [...]
AT EIMA, SAME WON THE TRACTOR OF THE YEAR 2019 IN THE "BEST OF SPECIALIZED" CATEGORY AND PRESENTED THE FRUTTETO ACTIVESTEER WITH FOUR-WHEEL STEERING
At EIMA 2018, SAME Frutteto CVT 115 S won the "Best of Specialized" category in Tractor of the Year 2019 [...]
INAUGURATION OF THE NEW SAME CUSTOMER CENTRE AND COMPLETION OF THE NEW PRODUCTION LINES IN TREVIGLIO
SAME officially inaugurated its new Customer Centre in Treviglio...
The new SAME Frutteto CVT S family represents a genuine revolution for the specialised tractor segment. Never before has there been such an advanced and generously equipped machine in this segment [...]


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For Giora Livne, a 65-year old Israeli quadriplegic, the smallest of the daily acts was an impossible task after an unfortunate accident 9 years ago. Determined to change that, Livne cofounded the mobile company Sesame Enable, which has now developed the world’s first ever hands-free smartphone for the disabled.
Specifically designed for those suffering from disabilities like ALS, cerebral palsy and other spinal cord injuries that limit their movement of arms and hands, Sesame is a Nexus 5 smartphone, running on Android, with a special head-tracking technology.
Paired with this proprietary technology, is a front camera to track head movements and an advanced computer vision algorithm to translate that into controlling the smartphone screen cursor, acting like a virtual finger.
The smartphone’s development is currently funded by investment from angel investors, grant from Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist, crowd funding campaigns and a USD 1 million prize for winning Verizon Powerful Answers Award.
The phone is available for USD 1000 but currently, Livne is planning to donate 30 Sesame smartphones to its target market, the disabled population.
With the new hands free smartphone, Livne and others like him are no more dependent on others for basic tasks like making a phone call or sending a text message. While expressing his delight at being able to order flowers for his wife himself for the first time in the past 9 years through Sesame, Livne said, “My life quality jumped from the Stone Age to the smartphone age.”
The smartphone is not only developed to help disabled people improve their social lives but also to enable them to get employed.
President of Ruderman Family Foundation, Ruderman, an advocate for disabled people, said, “We live in an age where you have to use technology to compete and function in the workforce, and if that technology isn’t built in a way that allows you to participate, you are essentially frozen out of the workplace. This isn’t just for one individual; we are talking about millions of people around the globe in the same situation.”
The smartphone’s first shipment is ordered by Indiegogo, all ready to be shipped in March 2015 with a promise for the release of the tablet version later in the year.
Giora Livne got the inspiration for the Sesame phone while watching a demonstration for a video game that operated using head movements. He, then, contacted the game developer, Ben Dov, and started working on the development of the idea together.
Three years later, they have successfully developed the world’s first ever hands free smartphone. Aptly named, Sesame, to indicate that it opens the world of possibilities for the targeted users, the smartphone turns on with words, “Open Sesame”.


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Retail sales rose for the fifth consecutive month in September by 1.1% on a seasonally-adjusted basis, which is higher than Statistic Canada's preliminary estimate of no change. Sales were up in 9 of 11 subsectors, representing 93.2% of retail sales. The increase was led by higher sales at auto dealers. General merchandise stores increased for the first time in three months, while sales bounced back at furniture and home furnishing stores. Compared to the same time last year, retail sales were up by 8%.
Sales were up in eight provinces in September, with notable increases in PEI (4.4%), New Brunswick (3.8%) and Alberta (2.5%). In BC, seasonally-adjusted retail sales were up by 1.7% ($7.8 billion) and by 0.9% ($3.6 billion) in Vancouver. Retail sales were up in almost half of the subsectors, driven by increased sales at auto dealers, while a notable decline was reported at grocery and liquor stores.
Growth in e-commerce was back up in September by 74% year-over-year, after two consecutive months of declines. In September, e-commerce sales totaled $3.2 billion, accounting for 5.6% of total retails sales, up from 5.1% in August. This excludes Canadians purchasing from foreign e-commerce retailers.
This was a good news report. Nonetheless, rising cases of COVID-19 have led some provinces such as Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and BC to tighten restrictions, which includes discouraging non-essential travel. This could put a damper on brick and mortar retail sales as we enter the holiday season, while e-commerce could see another boost. Early estimates provided by Statistics Canada suggest that retail sales were unchanged in October.
Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission.


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The greatest recurrent motif among the many major study breaches away from 2019 was not the black-hooded hacker from inside the a dark colored space, looking into a screen full of environmentally friendly text message. It was an effective faceless group of managers and protection professionals not as much as this new fluorescent lighting from an office someplace, frantically dialing the attorneys and you will writing advertising apologies immediately after leaving the leading doors of the servers unlocked publicly.
The words “unsecured databases” did actually operate on recite courtesy defense journalism inside the 2019. Monthly, several other providers are inquiring the people to change its passwords and you can declaration people destroy. Cloud-based sites people such as Auction web sites Websites Qualities and you can ElasticSearch several times spotted the brands skin into the tales out of irresponsible companies — about industries from healthcare, hospitality, bodies and you may someplace else — and therefore leftover sensitive and painful customer research exposed in the open wilds regarding the online, to get traded by code hackers who rarely was required to elevator a fist discover it.
And it’s really not only manic news exposure. The full amount of breaches is actually right up 33% more just last year, predicated on research out-of Risk Founded Shelter, which have scientific properties, stores and you can public agencies very impacted. That is an impressive 5,183 studies breaches to own a maximum of 7.9 mil unwrapped records.
So what does the average study infraction costs an organization? Based on IBM’s newest wide variety, the newest tab is also run up so you’re able to $step three.ninety five million after study costs, ruin manage, repairs, lawsuits and you may fines. That is up 12% more than 5 years, no signs of slowing.
What is more challenging so you’re able to measure is how high a repayment was borne of the private customers around the world in 2010 — and exactly how high a payment to expect of all the of you for the 2020. Passport amounts, medical facts, savings account info, social networking credentials, Societal Defense amounts — breaches strike our extremely sensitive and painful investigation inside 2019, giving thousands of people to your stressful lock-off.
Calculating the brand new times and cash spent by the somebody trying to get well on the shameful neglect of some of these organizations might be very hard. Anticipating future can cost you would be nearly impossible. Some would say that facing so it rising tide out-of breaches, the brand new onus is on everyone to store an alert eyes into the our personal investigation. The thing is, up until a suite out-of industry-creating government reforms and legislation smack particular accountability on You data brokerages and communication organizations when you’re miraculously moving back bodies mass-surveillance software, staying one’s investigation path clean concerns as the attending conserve you against becoming element of a mega-violation while the recycling cleanup your coffees glass is to try to stop environment transform.
But if you are we are all seriously tuning right up our very own very first web sites protection means and interested in the best identity coverage qualities, it seems suitable up coming when planning on taking a second to help you prize the new poor of poor within 2019 Data Infraction Hallway of Shame.
which have accurate documentation-function violation if resort class established you to definitely hackers accessed the fresh new info — including some passport quantity and you will credit card pointers — as much as 383 billion visitors. That is over twice as much 147.7 billion People in the us impacted by the Equifax infraction. If it don’t improve your eyebrows high enough, researcher Troy Hunt receive 773 million representative email addresses (including a huge-trove from almost every other data) for the a cloud-service file range.
February was a raw day to own on https://datingmentor.org/pl/xmeets-recenzja/ the internet safeguards. On the extremely dramatic violation, more 617 billion membership was indeed culled out-of sixteen other sites and developed offered into the dark web. Online marketers Dubsmash, Armour Games, 500px, Whitepages and you may ShareThis all the watched its users’ taken data offered to own less than $20,one hundred thousand during the Bitcoin. Meanwhile, a harvest off shorter breaches considering a look into strange cruelty regarding scientific breaches: An opponent organized to help you fifteen,100 Australian patients’ files having ransom money, unauthorized email address supply established 326,100000 Connecticut patients’ information, next to a million Washington patients’ suggestions was left opened during the an unbarred database, and dos.seven billion calls to help you a nationwide Swedish wellness line have been registered and you will left out in the wild.


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The BMW 8 Series has barely hit the road in Europe (note it will arrive in South Africa in the first quarter of 2019, in both coupé and convertible form) but it's already proving popular with tuning houses. First AC Schnitzer set to work on the coupé and now Manhart has come up with its own package for the M850i, which it dubs the MH8 600.
The MH8 600 retains the Munich-based brand's N63 twin-turbo 4,4-litre V8 but pushes its peak outputs from 390 kW and 750 N.m of torque to 457 kW and 870 N.m (that's more than AC Schnitzer's package, if you're counting). This has been achieved thanks to the fitment of the firm's MHtronik ECU. Manhart has yet to provide any performance figures as the vehicle still needs to be performance tested.
To go along with this bump in power the MH8 600 benefits from a 20 mm drop in ride height via an H&R lowering kit. Downforce is ostensibly improved with the addition of a carbon-fibre front splitter and rear spoiler, while Manhart has also fitted a set of 21-inch Concave One alloy wheels. Then, of course, there's the gold decal design.
For those who want to give the Mercedes-AMG S63 coupé a particularly hard time, Manhart says that its package will be available by the first quarter of 2019. The upcoming M8, which BMW earlier in 2018 confirmed would have “more than” 440 kW, is also set to debut in 2019.
Original article from Car


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We expect to buy a paper bag of flour from any local supermarket 24/7. When was the last time you saw a shortage of flour? A lot happens to create our 24/7 supply availability, especially during the holidays. While wheat is a crop, like any other crop, the reality is -every year it’s a different crop, folks!
So, just like our love of produce, wheat changes with the seasons and does not remain static 365 days a year like the flour sitting on your shelf. Lots of folks monitor the wheat market each day, each hour, monitoring the worldwide wheat supply and demand so we can put food on the table. If you’re in the flour “worrier” category, here is a little 101 on flour availability and seasonality so you can sleep better at night.
2012 was a hot dry season and produced a higher protein wheat crop. 2013 was cool and wet, resulting in low protein winter crop. Therefore, buyers that demand high protein crop will have to pay more for protein this year—therefore, pay more in basis (protein premium).
Winter wheat is planted each October and November and grown to the length of your front lawn (unless you’re the type to let it go long…). In the winter, the wheat becomes dormant and in the early spring it sprouts back up and completes its growth cycle. Harvest starts in the spring with Texas and moves north by July to Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska (it goes South to North). Hard red spring wheat, is of course, planted in the spring and harvested in August/September.
Every month, the USDA issues a crop report (woo hoo, for us bedtime readers). It is just an update of supply and demand. The critical periods where there is a lot of flour commodity chatter – thereby, dictating our flour commodity prices are these reports:
- End of March – perspective planting– estimate what farmers plan to plant
- June 30th – USDA issues “actual” acreage planted
- End of Sept – tell us the estimated crop size (harvest mostly complete). During the Sept report, we also will have final numbers on what’s being planted in South America and Australia giving us a global perspective.
- End of January – how much winter wheat was planted in US and rest of Northern Hemisphere.
If you’ve been following politics, you know we are no longer isolated. Commodity markets, including flour commodity, are very much global markets that reflect supply and demand issues on a global scale. The three biggest risks are:
- Global weather
- Global supply and demand
- Global political events that can disrupt markets
We might have an excellent growing season in US, but if say Australia or Russia has a crop failure, the impact on prices (higher) will reach US shores. Pretty simple based on supply and demand. There are only a certain number of countries that can grow wheat (export) and certain number of countries that cannot grow wheat (import). Emerging economies worldwide have significantly increased global demand for food. So a production problem among any of the exporting countries can have a significant impact on global prices. And that includes US prices reflected at the supermarket and in all goodies using flour.
For example, North Africa and Middle East typically buy from Russia, and if Russia does not have adequate supply, those countries then buy from the EU because of closer geography resulting in lower transportation costs. Two years ago, Russia had total crop failure. Then much of North Africa and the Middle East came to the US. Well, we saw prices go up and folks protecting supply. – So, rest assured folks at Grit Work, like Bob Bresnahan and Dennis Collins are thinking about all of this when you purchase your bag of King Arthur.


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- The blockchain technology industry is projected to grow to $450 billion by 2028, up from $3.67 billion in 2020, representing a CAGR of 82.4%
- The cryptocurrency market, which was valued at $1.5 billion in 2021, is projected to grow to $2.3 billion by 2028, representing a CAGR of 6.9%
- Bit Digital looks to tap into these two markets through strategic investments and technology
- The company is confident that the value of cryptocurrency will continue to rise, despite the recent drastic price fluctuations
Over the past few weeks, the price of many cryptocurrencies have reduced by more than 50%. Industry experts have cited a sell-off in the global stock market as the main reason for this decline. The two largest cryptocurrencies fared better than the average with Bitcoin posting a 24.69% regression and Ethereum posting a 31.7% decline (https://ccw.fm/adYwu).
In 2021, Bitcoin did quite well with a 70% gain prior to the close of the calendar year. On the other hand, 2022 has seen a shift to more value-based investments instead of speculative stocks and alternative “store of value” investments (https://ccw.fm/Z8VwS).
One company, however, which maintains that there is still value and potential for growth in cryptocurrency, more specifically Bitcoin and Ethereum, is Bit Digital (NASDAQ: BTBT). Founded in 2017 and commencing Bitcoin mining in February 2020, this company recognizes the value in cryptocurrency and is at the forefront of pushing the conversation forward and redefining crypto mining.
In addition to crypto mining, Bit Digital is also a key player in the blockchain technology sector. This market was valued at $3.67 billion in 2020, estimated to grow to $450 billion by 2028, representing a CAGR of 82.4%. With the growing adoption of blockchain technology by commercial and central banks globally for payment processing and issuance of their digital currencies, Bit Digital is well-positioned to capitalize on this opportunity to grow its market share and create value for its shareholders (https://ccw.fm/0s7pw).
Cryptocurrency is gaining worldwide acceptance, a factor shaping the market’s growth. It is projected that by 2028, the cryptocurrency market will be valued at over $2.3 billion, up from $1.5 billion in 2021. This represents a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period. This potential growth is an opportunity that Bit Digital looks to tap into, as evidenced by its investment in infrastructure and partnerships in North America (https://ccw.fm/jue3V).
As of January 2022, only 18.9 million bitcoins were issued, leaving about 2.1 million yet to be mined. Bit Digital’s investment in the mining business hopes to tap into the cryptocurrency’s potential for growth and the opportunity to mine what is left of the yet-to-be-issued coins (https://ccw.fm/wIXp9). After all the coins are mined, miners are expected to receive compensation solely through transaction fees.
Cryptocurrencies might have been in the news recently for their volatility, having previously been considered a reliable asset during economic uncertainty. However, with over 2 million coins yet to be released, crypto mining is proving to have tremendous value. For Bit Digital, its investment in miners on the spot market and application-specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”) chips allow for greater and faster output, resulting in increased returns for the company.
Bit Digital is illustrative of the opportunity that exists in the cryptocurrency market. With over 27,000 miners as of September 30, 2021, the company is confident that it has what it takes to take on the industry and become the undisputed leader.
For company information, visit the company’s website at www.Bit-Digital.com.
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After the announcement of the acquisition, Zhengtong automobile and Zhengtong bonds announced a temporary suspension at 9 am this morning. At present, Zhengtong motor shares closed at HK $1.08 per share, and in the first two months, its share price fluctuated below HK $1. At present, its total market value is only HK $2.913 billion, which is 80% lower than the peak value in 2017.
It is understood that Xiamen Xindas shareholding has long been a precursor. In August this year, a rights protection owner of Zhengtong disclosed to time finance and economics that, according to insiders, enterprises with Xiamens state-owned assets background will inject funds to help them out. Although many car owners have picked up the car, the capital problem of Zhengtong automobile has not been solved. According to times finance and economics, although they are slowly picking up their cars, they are still in the queue. Some owners say that this situation may last for a long time.
On October 20, time finance called Xiamen Xindas office of directors and secretaries about the acquisition and other issues. The relevant staff told time finance that the transaction between the two sides is currently in progress, and the relevant information can refer to the contents disclosed in the announcement.
In addition, Volvo and Audi have recently been exposed to cancel the distribution rights of some of Zhengtongs 4S stores, which is undoubtedly another bad news for Zhengtong automobile, which is mainly engaged in luxury car business.
Xiamen Xinda may become the largest single shareholder
According to the announcement of both parties, joy capital, the controlling shareholder of the company, holds 1383516820 shares of the company, accounting for about 51.29% of the total shares of the company. Yesterday, Wang MuQing, chairman of the board of directors, signed a sale and purchase agreement with Xiamen Xinda.
As the buyer, Xiamen Xinda plans to purchase 29.9% shares of Zhengtong motor with voting rights by cash payment. The total number of voting shares issued by Zhengtong motor is 806535284 shares. The transfer price per share is HK $1.74 per share. Subject to the agreed price adjustment mechanism, the total transfer consideration is tentatively set at HK $1403371394.
The picture is from the official website of the public
According to Tianyan survey, Xiamen Xinda has a local state-owned assets background. Its largest shareholder is Xiamen International Trade Holding Group Co., Ltd., with a shareholding ratio of 29.18%. The company is 100% owned by Xiamen SASAC.
On October 20, for the transaction between the two sides, Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the national ride Association, told time finance that Xiamen Xinda had a state-owned capital background. For Zhengtong automobile, it was very helpful to solve its capital problem. In addition, Zhengtong automobile mainly engaged in luxury car business, and car sales developed well. At this time, Xiamen Xinda was picking up a bargain.
It is understood that Xiamen Xinda is also involved in the automobile distribution industry. The company was once selected as one of the top 100 auto dealers in China. However, as a subsidiary of Xiamen International Trade holding group, its main core business is focusing on optoelectronic and Internet of things industries.
Xiamen Xinda also said in the announcement that after the completion of the transaction, the buyer will become the largest single shareholder of Zhengtong automobile, and all parties will jointly seek to gradually improve and solve the liquidity problem of Zhengtong automobile.
However, there are still uncertainties in the transaction between the two. In Xiamen Xindas announcement, it disclosed nine delivery preconditions, including Zhengtong motors issuance of the audited consolidated statement of 2020 and the contents of the statement are satisfactory to both parties; there is no significant adverse effect change in the operating status of Zhengtong automobile, etc. With the advent of the disclosure period of the third quarter report, as well as the related problems such as vehicle collection have not been completely solved, it may become a variable of bilateral transactions.
In recent years, the development of Zhengtong automobile has been declining. According to the data, in 2018, the net profit of Zhengtong automobile reached 1.224 billion yuan, with a sharp decline of 45.77% to 664 million yuan in 2019; its operating income decreased by 6.19% to 35.138 billion yuan from 37.456 billion yuan, and its revenue and profit declined. However, Zhengtong automobile still occupies the tenth place in the list of major dealers all year round.
In the first six months of this year, Zhengtong automobile sold 21572 new cars, a year-on-year decrease of 58.6%. Among them, the sales volume of luxury and super luxury brands was 17570, with a year-on-year decrease of 57.0%; the gross profit rate of new car sales was 4.1%, which was 0.6 percentage points lower than that of the same period of last year.
In the first half of the year, the total liabilities of Zhengtong automobile rose to 29 billion yuan, and the asset liability ratio exceeded the red line of the industry, reaching 70.19%; its current ratio and quick ratio also increased correspondingly compared with the end of last year, reaching 1.03 and 0.87 respectively.
At present, Zhengtong Automobile Co., Ltd. is in the situation of high debt and fund situation, but more urgent is that its main business encounters major turbulence again.
The picture is from the official website of automobile enterprises
Recently, Volvo officially announced that due to the irreparable situation in the operation process of a very small number of dealers, it is impossible to carry out normal operation. Therefore, Volvo car sales (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Volvo car (Asia Pacific) Investment Holding Co., Ltd. terminated their cooperation with relevant dealers.
Time finance learned that the above dealers include 16 dealer enterprises, such as Guangdong Zhongqi Nanfang shengwo Automobile Sales Service Co., Ltd., Dongguan Zhongqi Nanfang Automobile Sales Service Co., Ltd., and Beijing Zhongguan Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., and the above dealers are the 4S stores of Zhengtong automobiles brands all over the country.
In addition, according to media reports, Audi has also cancelled the authorization of five 4S stores of brands cooperating with Zhengtong automobile. In fact, in September this year, a Shenzhen rights owner told time finance that among their nationwide user base, some car owners mentioned that Audi would cancel part of the distribution rights of Zhengtong automobile.
After the cancellation of the distribution rights of the luxury car brands mentioned above, the number of stores currently operated by Zhengtong automobile can not be determined for the time being. However, according to its annual report data, as of the first half of the year, Zhengtong automobile has 105 luxury and super luxury brand 5S / 4S stores, 13 middle and high-end brand 4S stores, including 136 stores of other brands. The distribution rights of some luxury brands have been cancelled, which has a negative impact on its business. As a well-known luxury car dealer group in China, Zhengtong automobiles development dilemma is a typical case of automobile distribution industry since this year. Now, new investors are welcome. Whether Zhengtong automobile can solve the financial difficulties and turn crisis into opportunity in the recovery wave of automobile industry deserves attention. Source: editor of time finance and Economics: Pan Zhuolun source: editor in charge of time finance and Economics: Zhong Qiming_ NF5619
As a well-known luxury car dealer group in China, Zhengtong automobiles development dilemma is a typical case of automobile distribution industry since this year. Now, new investors are welcome. Whether Zhengtong automobile can solve the financial difficulties and turn crisis into opportunity in the recovery wave of automobile industry deserves attention.


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RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - Mateus Group (GMAT3) is now Brazil's 4th largest food retailer, a feat achieved in 2020, according to the official ranking of the Brazilian Supermarket Association (ABRAS), in a statement released by the company on May 20.
The exceptional result posted by Mateus Group last year was crucial to achieve such a position, amid a competitive scenario and strong growth in the supermarket sector.
In 2020, the company posted a record gross revenue of R$14.4 (US$2.7) billion, representing an increase of 45% compared to 2019.
In the first quarter this year, Mateus . . .


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What a crazy month for webmasters! We had the Penguin update, a Panda refresh, a bug that delisted tons of sites from Google, a huge negative SEO release and some rumors of a possible Google update this past weekend that no one covered.
Update: There was indeed an update on the weekend, Friday night, April 27th. Google confirmed with me there was a Panda refresh.
The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread continues to discuss all these topics. One thing I did not point out earlier this week, was that this past weekend, many webmasters noticed shuffling in rankings in Google. Even yesterday and today, some SEOs are noticing tests by Google. Senior member, Billy said:
It’s almost like Google is testing a new index and the difference between the old and new is quite significant.
In any event, here is a listing of the most important stories in the past month related to Google and SEO by category:
It’s Live: Google Over Optimization Algorithm (3% Of Searches Affected)
Google’s Over Optimization Update Named Penguin
Poll: Were You Impacted By The Google Penguin Update?
Feeling For Those Hurt By Google’s Penguin Update
Google Penguin Feedback Form
The Google Penguin Petition
Google Mocks Me For Missing Panda 3.5
Google Parked Domain Bug:
That Google Update Was Just A Bug Says Google
Updated: Google Update April 2012? Over SEO Penalty?
Google Random Updates:
Google Easter April 2012 Search Update?
50 Google Search Quality Updates
The Negative SEO Debate Sparks Up Again
Google Goes After Links In WordPress Themes
Google: Go As Far Back As Possible To Remove Paid Links
Google: Phone Number Spam Is Keyword Stuffing & Against Guidelines
Next Title Tag Trick: Emoji For Google Mobile Titles
Google Sends Out 20,000 Weird Redirect Hacked Notifications
Google Webmaster Tools:
Google Webmaster Tools Query Reports Now Up To 90 Days
Google Webmaster Tools Drops Features
Google Fetch As GoogleBot Submission Not Working
Now Really Test Your Google Rich Snippets
Google Author Stats Goes Missing From Webmaster Tools
For last month’s recap, see the April 2012 Google Webmaster Report.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.


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In Mexico, EGT is looking to expand its local team, in addition to establishing a second office in Monterrey and setting up a training centre in Guadalajara for vulcan mega 2 club vulkan 777 online operators’ technical support teams. “Part of our development strategy in the country is to contribute to the qualification’s improvement in the gaming industry and we are committed to it,” stated Nadia Popova, director of EGT Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico. EGT has also maintained a strong position in the Caribbean, recently becoming the main supplier for Club Royal Caribbean, Trinidad and Togabo’s newest casino. Suriname has played a key role kazino vulkan official info in EGT’s vulcan mega 2 LatAm success story, the company has over a 40 percent sales share in the market, and works closely with the local casino operators, including Princess, Pasha Global, Dice, and Torarrica. Where it has cemented its market leadership with the launch of the Super Premier slot model and EGT Multiplayer’s terminals, in addition the company has established a strong position in Curacao. Where the company is finalising a number of deals which will see its products installed in the country’s most important venues, eGT has also made inroads in Argentina.


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Digital bank Revolut announced on Tuesday it has teamed up with two-time heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, to raise funds for independent gyms throughout the UK, as well as co-brand glow-in-the-dark debit card. According to Revolut, gyms and leisure centers were not included in the UK Government’s Sport Winter Survival Package, which was announced late last year, and sports charity ukactive has estimated that 400 facilities have closed permanently since the beginning of the pandemic and another 2,400 gyms are at risk.
To raise the funds that independent gyms need, Revolut and Joshua have teamed up for the new debit card. For every limited-edition Anthony Joshua card ordered by a UK customer, Revolut will notably donate £1 to struggling independent boxing gyms across the UK (with Revolut committing a minimum of £50,000 in total). Revolut noted that the donation will be made to gyms that are members of Boxing England and Scotland Boxing. The gym that refers the most will also receive an additional £10,000.
“The exclusive card has a smooth minimalist design and includes Anthony Joshua’s motto, 258, which reflects the boxer’s dedication to his sport and his commitment to work beyond 24/7. The card is black and white during the daylight and transforms to a striking green and black in the dark.”
Revolut also stated that the limited edition card is available to all of its 15 million customers around the world. To get the Anthony Joshua card and help raise funds for local gyms, customers just need to download the latest version of the Revolut app on iOS or Android and order the card from the cards section within the app.


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DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is adding a shift at a Tennessee factory that makes GMC and Cadillac SUVs, putting about 700 people to work.
But there may not be any new hires in Spring Hill south of Nashville. Some laid-off workers at the factory will be rehired and others furloughed from an Ohio factory could relocate. GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter says the company is still working on a staffing plan for the third shift, which begins in September.
The Spring Hill plant now employs about 2,600 hourly workers on two shifts. They make the GMC Acadia and Cadillac XT5.
Earlier this month GM said it will eliminate a shift at its Chevy Cruze plant near Cleveland that could cost up to 1,500 jobs. The move is due to slowing compact car sales.


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Millions of stimulus dollars are being spent on foreign-made traffic lights
In order for federal stimulus dollars to create American jobs, they must be spent on American-made goods. The multiplier effect of buying American-made is undeniable, and nowhere should this practice be adhered to more than in the sourcing of materials for stimulus projects intended to kickstart the economy.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, due to a loophole in the “Buy American” clause of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, tens of millions of federal dollars are being spent on replacement street and traffic lights made overseas.
The energy efficient LED lights being used to replace antiquated street and traffic signals across the country are largely being sourced from abroad due to a clause in the stimulus legislation that states that “components and subcomponents of green-energy products need not actually be U.S.-made.”
As the Tribune-Review reports,“Because of shortages of American-made LED parts, several companies bidding specifically on street light replacement projects acknowledged to the Trib that their products would be better labeled 'assembled in America' than 'made in America.'"
And why are there so few American-made LED options? Because American manufacturers are up against Chinese imports subsidized by Beijing:
“Chinese officials decided two years ago to phase out making compact florescent lamps because they considered LEDs to be the future of lighting, according to a report this year by the Swedish Energy Agency and the National Lighting Test Center in Beijing.
To do that, the Chinese government began providing subsidies to attract manufacturers of semiconductor wafers. More than 60 LED package producers are located in the People's Republic, as well as 2,500 companies that fabricate finished LED lighting fixtures, according to the report.”
This is bad news for American manufacturers who would like to break into a booming industry—and whose products could be sourced for stimulus projects. As one LED industry expert put it, "I watched us invent LEDs. We gave it away."
Related recent Blogs
- It wasn't all weather: What's behind the weak manufacturing jobs report. • by admin • 03/07/2014
- A Berry good story on American-made footwear • by mmcmullan • 03/06/2014
- White House economic adviser Gene Sperling shares words of wisdom on his way out • by TGarland • 03/05/2014
- EPI: Address currency manipulation and you address the jobs deficit • by mmcmullan • 03/05/2014
- A first look at the president's budget proposal for 2015 • by mmcmullan • 03/04/2014
- The U.S. needs a stronger domestic supply chain in the event of an attack • by TGarland • 03/04/2014
- Campaigns and political parties take note: We've got the key to attracting voters • by LDonia • 03/03/2014
- And the award goes to ... American workers • by TGarland • 03/03/2014
- 86th Annual Academy Awards: A glimpse at Los Angeles' manufacturing sector • by TGarland • 03/01/2014
- 86th Academy Awards: The Top 5 Manufacturing Movies • by scapozzola • 02/28/2014


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Ecuadorean banana growers and exporters have asked the government to implement urgent measures to address the mounting losses faced by producers as the conflict in Ukraine intensifies.
Exporter association Acorbanec said exports to Russia and Ukraine account for around 50,000ha of production, mostly farmed by small producers, and that some 50,000 direct jobs and 4,000 indirect jobs are now in jeopardy.
It has asked the government to fast track a proposed tax rebate for producers worth at least 1 per cent of the FOB value of exports, as well providing access to credit for working capital for producers and exporters.
Acorbanec is calling for greater regulation of export volumes to avoid markets becoming oversupplied by fruit diverted from Russia and Ukraine.
The association’s executive director, Richard Salazar, said the measures would help sustain the stability of the sector.
Shipments to Ukraine have been suspended since last week resulting in the loss of fruit already in the port of Odessa waiting to be dispatched and the need to divert consignments on the water to other destinations in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
“The resulting oversupply on those markets means we’re being forced to sell the fruit at a lower price, in addition to which we’re having to bear the additional shipping and logistics costs generated by the change of destination,” Salazar told Fruitnet.
The situation in Russia is even more serious given the size of the market. Vicente Wong, CEO of Ecuador’s leading banana exporter Reybanpac, said the decision by the major container lines to halt shipments to Russia is having a major impact on supply.
“Russia normally takes around 1.8m boxes of Ecuadorean bananas a week. This week we’ve been unable to unload around 500,000 boxes of bananas and we estimate that around 1.012m boxes have landed,” he said.
“Payments have also been affected. Some are still being made through the normal system while others are being made through other countries. But they continue to be irregular due to this break in the chain.”
Salazar said sanctions imposed by the US, European Union and other countries against Russia had also hit demand.
“The high devaluation of the rouble (almost 60 per cent in a month) has raised the price of imported products such as bananas, causing consumers to reduce consumption as they turn to cheaper products,” he explained.
Salazar reported that some Russian importers are asking exporters in Ecuador to reduce the box price, as well as cutting their weekly purchases, while others have cancelled signed contracts altogether.
“With regard to logistics, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag Lloyd have already announced that they will not transport bananas to Russia, due to the fact that the European transshipment ports have become congested due to the checks carried out on the cargo to verify whether it is food products or medicines (which are allowed into Russia).
“Another shipping company has imposed limiting and onerous conditions, such as high insurance conditions since the Black Sea is considered a war zone.
“Together, these shipping companies transport around 585,000 boxes of bananas to Russia every week; if we add to this the 180,000 weekly boxes that are no longer being exported to Ukraine, that’s 765,000 boxes of bananas that will no longer be exported from next week, representing around US$8.1m per week.”
Article reproduced from http://www.fruitnet.com/
Photo: Banana Link