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The Suez Canal jam, caused by a stranded container ship, has posed an unprecedented challenge to the global supply chain, pushing businesses to look for new options to diversify their trading routes, especially along the Belt and Road, which during the pandemic has become a major channel for cargo transportation and anti-virus supplies from factories in China to the markets in Europe.
China's capital markets should boost investment in core materials and technologies for making vaccines, including lipid nanoparticles (LNP) - which are scarce around the world right now - for making COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, according to the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Customs in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province, has recently arrested 10 real hair smuggling groups in partnership with multiple customs. The smuggled hair has a total value of more than 1.1 billion yuan ($167 million), with 230 million yuan of taxes being evaded, reported the China Media Group.
The development of Gwadar Port seen by many as the flagship project of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been praised by nations across in the Arabian Sea for its smooth and well-planned operationalization.
As the year 2021 marks the beginning of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), industries make their plans in line with the country's development. The civil aviation sector is aiming to increase capacity, accelerate airport construction and the integration with other transportations including railways, highways and waterways.
Driving all the way to the east from city center of Yinchuan, capital city in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on the eastern banks of the Yellow River, millions of midnight blue solar panels that stretch to the horizon would suddenly come into view on the slopes of gullies, like a blue ocean.
In a move apparently timed to strike a tough tone ahead of a key dialogue on Thursday, the US government took a couple of moves against Chinese telecommunication companies, continuing a Trump-era crackdown on Chinese firms that has drawn ire in Beijing.
Scientists believe they have identified a meteorite formed in the first million years of our solar system, making it the oldest known meteor of volcanic origin.
The emergence of the Earth's first living organisms billions of years ago may have been facilitated by a bolt out of the blue - or perhaps a quintillion of them.
The film Do Not Split, which recorded the protests and violence in Hong Kong in 2019 and was nominated for an Oscar for the best short documentary, should not win the award as it lacks artistry and is full of biased political stances, Chinese film industry observers said on Wednesday.
Uzbekistan, one of the world's leading cotton exporters, sent a high-level delegation earlier this week to the Chinese-invested Gwadar Port in Pakistan to look for logistics opportunities that might help it export its cotton, the Global Times has learned.
Shanghai Ymatou Network Technology Co (Ymatou), a Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform, bagged hundreds of millions of investment in its D-round funding in March led by China's CGP Investment.
As the pandemic situation in China was brought under control, the number of overseas business activities of Chinese firms has witnessed an increasing trend as companies from different sectors including Hisense, Midea and Sinopec have struck new deals with overseas partners.
Driven by a resilient global demand for Chinese goods ranging from personal protective equipment (PPE) to home appliances, China-Europe freight trains, which have become a pillar for the trade for countries along the Belt and Road when other transports were disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak, have seen record growth in the early two months of the year.
China's goal to hit peak emissions before 2030 and realize carbon neutrality by 2060 will unleash huge market potential in the new energy sector, on both the demand and supply sides. Experts encourage foreign governments to remove trade barriers to allow Chinese and foreign companies to focus on cooperation in the battle against climate change.
China's general aviation industry has seen stable development over the past five years from 2015 to 2020, with official data showed that the average annual growth of business volume was 13.7 percent.
Different traditional vehicles powered by internal combustion engine, new-energy vehicles (NEVs) have provided a fresh opportunity for Chinese auto brands, which have found it quite hard to make a solid footprint in developed markets for years. In the fast-growing NEV market in Europe, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are ramping up their efforts to take a share of the growing market.
China's Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), the country's space science satellite also known as Insight, has found that a fast radio burst (FRB) signal detected last year came from a magnetar in the Milky Way, Chinese scientists announced recently.
Despite logistic hurdles and global complexity posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese medical and personal preventive equipment (PPE) to countries and regions along the routes of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have been on an upward trend since early last year, another example of China's efforts to support its partners in fighting against the odds.
After years of staggering under the shadow of a Western dominance, Chinese infrared thermal imaging device producers have finally walked into the spotlight, with global market share increasing by up to a quarter in 2020, following a timely response to explosive needs worldwide, while other countries, such as the US, have been plagued with production halts and capacity inadequacies due to the uncontrolled epidemic.
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese engineers and project managers working on the many overseas projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are planning to spend this year's Chinese Lunar New Year at project sites around the globe, giving up what is a major holiday and opportunity for family reunion, to ensure project progress and alleviate burden of domestic epidemic control efforts at home.
In interviews with the Global Times, industry insiders and businesses describe a domino effect across the globe, in which cold-chain shipments face serious delays and uncertainties, given the raging epidemic in many parts of the world which has led to a shortage of containers that has disrupted cold-chain commerce.
The 40-day Spring Festival travel begins on Thursday. Different from previous years, there will be strict measures targeting COVID-19 cases from people and chilled or frozen goods.
With a thriving atmosphere and the hard-working spirit of local people and local enterprises, the economy of Hubei Province contracted 5 percent last year to 4.34 trillion yuan ($669.45 billion), but all major indicators have pointed to a roaring recovery as local consumption returned to growth in December.
As the time for the release of annual fiscal reports is coming, the domestic medical industry participants are to present their year-round achievements against the backdrop of a record breaking 2020, with several of them ranging from masks and ventilators to nucleic acid products and vaccines have already confirmed very promising results in the annual performance forecasts on the back of an unprecedented jump in production capacity.
China's total export volume of rare earths dropped 23.5 percent year-on-year in 2020, China's customs authority said on Thursday, registering the lowest figure in five years, according to media report.
Bucking the global downward streak amid the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, China's luxury sales last year rose by a stunning 48 percent to around 350 billion yuan ($54 billion), buoyed by a consumption comeback as travelers were unable to shop overseas, a boost in online sales and duty-free policies in South China's Hainan Province, observers and industry reports said.
Bucking the global downward streak amid the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, China's luxury sales last year rose by a stunning 48 percent to about 350 billion yuan ($54 billion), buoyed by a consumption comeback as travelers were unable to shop overseas, a boost in online sales and duty-free policies in South China's Hainan Province, observers and industry reports said.
Imported cherry prices have sunk 20 percent resulting from an oversupply as exporters eye a rebound in Chinese consumption amid the COVID-19, industry insider said.
Steady Continued cooperation on regional integration between China and Myanmar gave a sharp contrast to India, which turned a blind eye toward such development trend and let go opportunties, a Chinese analyst said on Monday.
The Cyberspace Administration of China on Friday solicited public opinions on a draft law on measures for the administration of internet information services, aiming to further crack down on illegal activities such as rumor spreading about the pandemic with greater punishments.
Nearly a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic began, more news about coming vaccines is emerging. Global demand for vaccine transportation will present a challenge to the existing global civil aviation capacity.
The sluggishly growing smartphone industry, both domestically and globally, was expected to bottom out in 2021, however, with the market further rocked by the spread of a global pandemic.
One six-story-high factory building in Dongguan, a manufacturing powerhouse in South China's Guangdong Province, sees China's industrial transformation firsthand.
After chairing the port customs for China-Europe freight train in "the world supermarket" Yiwu in East China's Zhejiang Province, Zhao Hengchao said this year's demand for cross-border freight trains was unprecedented, with the total freight volume between China and Europe growing nearly 105 percent year-on-year, a reflection of close relation between China and the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
A total of 641 firms listed on China's A-share market, as of Friday, released performance forecasts for 2020. More than 40 percent are predicting positive growth, despite the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to information released by Wind, a financial information database.
Ouster Inc, a U.S. startup that makes lidar sensors for self-driving cars and smart cities, said on Tuesday it has agreed to go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Colonnade Acquisition Corp.
“These car models will be exported to the US, and products on that production line is exporting to Europe,” John Ng, a factory manager of Maisto, a car model manufacture in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province, told the Global Times from the company's factory.
A train fully loaded with goods gradually departs Yiwu West Station, the world's 'supermarket' Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang Province, and heading toward its final destination in Madrid, Spain, 13,000 kilometers away. This is the third train departing from the station in a day, while it used to be just once in a day or in days. Despite the global pandemic and disruptions, the China-Europe freight train, as the land envoy of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has significantly bucked the trend and operated in full swing providing markets across the Eurasian continent much-needed goods and products, from preventative masks to home appliances from factories in South China to stores of countries along the route.
As the overseas pandemic situation remains grave, China faces increasing pressure to prevent imported cases. Particularly, recent reports of frozen pork, lamb, beef, shrimp and fish products testing positive for COVID-19 in over a dozen regions across China have raised widespread concerns over the risks of infection through cold chain trade due to its long supply chain and virus-friendly environment.
Chinese “'mystery box”' maker, Pop Mart, saw its share price pop more than 100 percent on its debut day on Friday, after its stocks started floating in the Hong Kong stock market, raising $676 million in its initial public offering (IPO).
A number of Chinese travel platforms, including Trip.com, Tongcheng-Elong and Qunar.com recently announced financial results showing higher booking numbers than 2019, several platforms even recorded their first quarterly profit since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Although the pandemic has not affected online orders of false eyelashes, whether domestic or overseas, the breakdown of cross-border transportation links and even the lockdown, sometimes of a whole country, have had some impact on the industry chain of false eyelash, a product used predominantly in Western countries for parties and other occasions. The most obvious change is that the easier production steps need to be transferred from overseas back to the home factory.
As the world is struck by the COVID-19 pandemic, industries have been suspended around the world, leaving many jobless. The deadly virus has hampered the BRI to an extent, but the initiative has not only been functioning well amid the ongoing crisis, but also played a significant role in the global anti-pandemic fight.
After foldable smartphones and dual-screen phone-tablets, what is the next bandwagon that could lead to an industrial revolution?
With the continuous spread of good news about COVID-19 vaccines, how to ensure its transportation has become a hot topic for the global cargo industry. Analysts believe that vaccine transportation will stimulate the aviation recovery, but questions remain about how to make the transportation safe.
Chinese experts and business representatives welcomed the positive signs from the Indian side after some Indian authorities are reportedly considering a plan to lift sanctions on foreign direct investment (FDI) from countries including China against the backdrop of the lowest ebb of bilateral relations in decades. However, given the fact that there are still many uncertain factors, further observation is needed.
Boeing is optimistic that travels between the US and China will rise once the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us. The virus is the main factor impacting the entire aviation industry around the world. Fortunately, the foundational growth drivers of the economy remain robust, and the company expects the industry to recover strongly in the coming years.
Despite fraught ties and an ongoing trade war between China and the US, American companies seem to have just reaped a bumper sales harvest during China's November shopping festivals that will cushion their virus-battered balance sheet, initial sales data provided by China's e-commerce giants showed on Wednesday.
New milestones in consumption have been set during this year's Double 11 (November 11), or Singles' Day, shopping festival - China's biggest online shopping spree, easily outpacing the volume of Amazon's mid-October Prime Day.
China is becoming increasingly prominent in the construction of new energy projects all over the world, largely promoted by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Last month, the latest of these projects, the financing of a 100 megawatt (MW) wind power project in Kazakhstan, was signed between multiple Chinese and international companies and financial institutions.
Mozambique's debt to China is moderate, and the current repayment situation is generally normal and sustainable. In response to a study by the Centre for Public Integrity in Mozambique on "hidden debt," both diplomat and expert have said that a debt status reality check needs to be carried out whilst keeping development in mind.
During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the Chinese port operator at Pakistan's southwest Port of Gwadar focused its attention on forest-planting, and has now successfully completed a friendship forest in a city situated in a desert climate, gifting the city its first ever green park.
China has made major achievements on its way to becoming a global power in air traffic with significant progress in the infrastructure sector.
During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, from 2016 to 2020, China has made great strides in improving the economy, people's livelihood and other fields.
Recent years have witnessed China-Bangladesh bilateral cooperation deepening, and China's Ambassador to Bangladesh believes the outlook for further cooperation is a promising one.
The 128th Canton Fair - formally known as the China Import and Export Fair - ended on Saturday after a successful online turnout, despite concerns over the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trade shows.
The aviation industry is about to get the schedule for winter season from October 25, and mapping more domestic routes is obviously the choice for Chinese airlines as they try to save themselves from losses.
With China's biggest e-commerce gala, the Double Eleven (November 11), or the Single's Day, shopping spree approaching, international brands are seeing the shopping event as an important opportunity to boost their annual sales in one of the world's largest consumer markets.
On Tuesday, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region will hold its second conference for overseas Chinese entrepreneurs, one of the first local business fairs to re-launch after the COVID-19 crisis, though it will remain online. Thanks to Guangxi's geographic location neighboring Southeast Asia, it will also bring much-needed opportunities for companies to expand their operations in the region.
Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide started his first overseas tour on Sunday since assuming office. During the four-day tour, Suga is scheduled to visit Vietnam and Indonesia, two Southeast Asian countries that both hold significant influence in the region.
As China contains the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's business operations and industrial activities are on course for a full recovery. On a trip to the southern city of Dongguan, known as "the world's factory", the Global Times found that the city's integrated industrial chains and efficient local government have not only helped the city's economy recovery, but also played a vital role in the global economy via its PPE supplies. For more stories, please scan the QR code.
China has a large population, making employment key to guaranteeing the wellbeing of the workforce. Efforts and achievements have been made in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to safeguard job security and alleviate poverty. From 2014 to 2019, the total number of employees in Xinjiang rose from 11.35 million to 13.3 million, up 17.2 percent. Meanwhile, Xinjiang wiped out poverty in 25 poor counties and 3,107 villages, and Xinjiang will completely eliminate poverty by the end of 2020, according to a white paper released by the State Council Information Office on Thursday.
China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)'s bilateral cooperation has been deepened by the countries' joint efforts to fight coronavirus. In an email to Global Times (GT), Chinese Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Zhu Jing, said that the epidemic situation will not last, but the long-term friendship between China and the DRC and the steady development of bilateral relations have a solid foundation for further economic and trade cooperation.
The year 2020 is an unusual year. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has endangered the health and safety of the people around the world, dealing a blow to the global public health system and creating hurdles to the regular interaction and cooperation between nations.
Beijing said it will gradually resume direct international flights starting Thursday as the COVID-19 outbreak has been contained, and it is widely believed there will be more international flights landing and taking off from Beijing soon.
China's homegrown memory chip manufactures will be able to fill the gap left by US-based memory chip producer Micron in the supplies to Huawei to a certain extent, but such replacement - coming against the backdrop of a chip ban drawing near - could mean that the Chinese tech giant will have a more difficult time ahead, in particular in its smartphone business, industry analysts said.
As a latecomer to the electric vehicle (EV) market, Europe has witnessed surging sales of green vehicles in the past few months, presenting a challenge to market-leader China. Despite this development, the overtake should not be exaggerated in the marathon-like EV race, analysts say.
US President Donald Trump's executive order banning China's TikTok could prevent US app stores from offering the popular short-video app and make advertising on the platform illegal, according to a White House document seen by Reuters.
Boeing Co slashed production of its biggest twin-engine jets, delayed its new 777X by up to a year and began sunsetting the iconic 747 as it posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday.
Restaurants and stores in China are putting salmon back on sale as consumer confidence picks up nearly two months after Beijing's second COVID-19 outbreak at the Xinfadi wholesale market, with some imported salmon dealers seeing up to 50 percent sales increases month-on-month in July.
As the COVID-19 epidemic in China is largely under control, the domestic sports industry is finally hearing some good news. China's top basketball league will allow audiences in the stadium in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province from Sunday, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) announced early last week.
China and Myanmar witnessed the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations on June 8, 2020, during which President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang exchanged congratulatory messages with Myanmar President U Win Myint and Myanmar State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to celebrate this important historic moment.
Airbus deliveries rose 50 percent in June compared with May and reached their highest level since the coronavirus crisis spread to Europe in March, but the accelerating recovery failed to prevent first-half deliveries from sliding to a 16-year low.
Flights between China and South Korea are on track toward further resumption as both countries have brought the coronavirus largely under control.
It may come as a surprise to many that amid the current fanfare of India's "boycott China" campaign and other animosity toward Chinese goods and companies, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has admitted to the country's parliament that there was "no embargo" on imports of raw materials from China for the manufacturing of protective jackets for the army.
The idea of providing British National Overseas (BNO) passport holders in Hong Kong with access to British citizenship makes big political noise but would have little practical outcome, especially as the British economy has been devastated by Brexit, the ongoing pandemic and a high unemployment rate. Emigrating to the UK would only mean greater costs of living and future career risks for BNO passport holders, experts and Hong Kong residents said.
Not long ago, a China-Europe freight train carrying 35 containers - more than 300 tons of masks and protective suits - set off from Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province to Duisburg, Germany.
Shen Xiang, who is in charge of poverty alleviation work in the Xide county of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, turned on his computer at 9 am on Sunday and began a normal day of work, checking processes and new work guidelines from a superior administrative unit.
Financial institutions including commercial banks will be encouraged to develop capacities suited to an open economy, and global exchanges for energy, shipping and bulk commodities will be supported, Pan Gongsheng, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, said at the press conference.
A team of Chinese scientists has discovered two human monoclonal antibodies that can block COVID-19 infection and can potentially be used for the development of relevant drugs and vaccines, according to a report the team published in Nature.
The novel coronavirus continues to churn the world by crushing public health systems and decimating thousands of lives each passing day. As the world's two most resourceful economies, the US and China should join hands in working out better therapeutics and speed up vaccine testing and development.
Cats can become infected with the new coronavirus but dogs appear not to be vulnerable, according to a study published on Wednesday, prompting the WHO to say it will take a closer look at transmission of the virus between humans and pets.
A worm-like creature smaller than a grain of rice that burrowed on the seafloor in search of meals like dead organic matter about 555 million years ago may be the evolutionary forerunner of most animals living today - including people.
As #COVID-19 spreads across the world, nations should together devise an emergency coordination mechanism to remove transportation barriers to solve the shortage of medical supplies in countries that need them most.
It is heartening to see that the ferocious spread of the coronavirus has been effectively contained in China, which has been evidenced by the single-digit daily new infections in the worst-hit city of Wuhan. Other provinces and cities in the country have largely been cleared of the disease.
Lacking transparency and an efficient response to the spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19), the US government has blinded global markets. Amid an epidemic that is sprawling worldwide, certainty is what the world needs most.
Scientists have spotted in rocks from northern China what may be the oldest fossils of a green plant ever found, tiny seaweed that carpeted areas of the seafloor roughly a billion years ago and were part of a primordial revolution among life on Earth.
NASA's robotic InSight lander has for the first time established that Mars is seismically active, but do not call the shaking, rattling and rolling taking place on the Red Planet earthquakes. The proper term, fittingly, is marsquakes.
A humanoid figure dressed as a maid holds a jug in its right hand and, as hidden gears click and whirr, lifts it and pours wine into a cup a bystander has placed into the palm of its left.
As Antarctica became the latest place on Earth to smash its high temperature record, new studies are alerting humanity to the risks of continuing to warm the continent that is home to enough frozen water to lift global sea levels dozens of meters.
After weeks of attempting to sow chaos and spread fear about the outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus in China, some media outlets and individuals have shifted focus to another battlefield - the Chinese economy. The shift comes as Chinese officials have moved swiftly to minimize the potential blow to growth from the epidemic.
India on Saturday adopted harsh measures barring foreigners who have been to China since January 15 from entering the country via air, land or sea, according to a report by the Times of India.
Marco Rubio, the US senator behind the anti-China legislation on Xinjiang and Hong Kong, has lately taken another wrong step with his op-ed piece in The New York Times on Friday where he criticized, on unreasonable grounds, the financial services section of the phase one trade deal signed between China and the US.
The phase one China-US economic and trade agreement marks an important first step toward a final settlement of the two countries' trade disputes. They need to continue to meet each other halfway and implement the agreement well.
The future status of the steadily expanding Chinese economy has long been the subject of speculation.
The easing of the trade war does not offer sufficient relief to concerns over a potential China-US technology war.
Could US agricultural imports curb inflation in China? Probably not. China's shortage of pigs is a fact, which means the country's pork imports will expand further. But Brazil, instead of the US, is likely to become the biggest beneficiary of China's expansion of pork imports.
This year's annual tone-setting economic conference of China's senior policymakers is likely to be held earlier than usual, which may signal that China will set its next year's economic policy goals and agendas at its own pace regardless of the dynamic in bilateral trade talks.
China is taking the lead in photovoltaic development globally with an internationally competitive and complete industrial chain.


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Tonie and Chris Waters would like to spend their days giving carriage rides and tending to their teams of draft horses.
Spreading the word about their business, Viking Hitch Farms, takes more time than they'd ever dreamed, though.
"There's a lot to marketing your idea, sending out pamphlets and packets," Tonie Waters said. "It keeps us going seven days a week."
The couple hope to get a promotional boost, along with dozens of other area businesses, at the Land O'Lakes Chamber of Commerce Business Expo, which begins Friday and continues Saturday.
Viking Hitch, named for Tonie Waters' Scandinavian heritage, provides hayrides, wedding carriages, dove releases and "anything else a horse and carriage can do," she said.
Viking Hitch will give free carriage rides at the business expo, to be held at the recreation complex on Collier Parkway.
"Once people see what we can do, we have no trouble getting booked for events," Tonie Waters said. "I think the more technological the world becomes, the more people want to go back to a simpler time."
The expo, which includes entertainment and a "Taste of the Towne," is a good way to remind people to support local shops and merchants, said Marjorie Walsh, executive director of the chamber.
"You don't have to go to downtown Tampa to get what you need," she said. "We want people to see what's available in and around this community."
Judy Stump, owner of Beauty Court, will offer free massages at the expo. She also plans to show off her salon's hair-imaging computer system, which overlays hundreds of hair styles and colors onto a photograph of the client.
"You know exactly what a certain color or length is going to look like on you," she said. "You never get a bad haircut."
With her salon stuck in the middle of road work at U.S. 41 and State Road 54, Stump said she can use the extra publicity from the business expo.
"I picked up a lot of new clients at last year's show," she said. "We had a good crowd. We were playing the macarena and dancing all day."
Walsh said the event is not meant to be "strictly business."
A mixer for businesses that participate will precede the expo. A number of booths will offer demonstrations or free services, she said.
"We'll have country music and line dancing," she said. "We also have a number of exhibitors with things for kids. We want parents to know what's available for them too."

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Join Grounds for Health Week March 8–15
This week, registration is open for the inaugural “Grounds for Health Week: Wake up for Farmers’ Health”. The event, which is a week-long fundraising campaign to raise funds for women’s health programs in coffee communities, kicks off on March 8, International Women’s Day. Coffee shops, roasters and retailers are all invited to join the effort to give back to the women farmers.
Every two minutes, a woman dies from cervical cancer, an entirely preventable disease. In coffee growing communities, these women provide 70% of the labor picking and sorting coffee beans while also taking care of their families and communities. Without them, the specialty coffee industry wouldn’t exist.
Join today! Grounds for Health will provide coffee retailers & roasters with marketing materials (signs, bunting, buttons) to engage consumers and show your commitment to coffee farmers and women’s health. Each company can choose how to fundraise that week, for example through percentage of sales, co-branded products, an event or customer donations. Visit https://groundsforhealth.org/
About Grounds for Health
Grounds for Health (GfH) is an international non-profit based in Williston, VT with the mission to prevent cervical cancer in coffee communities. The organization has over 26 years’ experience partnering with the coffee industry as well as with global and local health partners to implement high quality, locally-based screen and treat programs for women. To date, over 210,000 women have been screened and 17,000 treated to prevent cervical cancer. In 2022, GfH introduced the innovative screening technique of HPV self-sampling, allowing women from remote settings to experience high quality healthcare without requiring a clinic visit. To learn more about Grounds for Health, visit www.groundsforhealth.org or follow the organization on social media @groundsforhealth


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Travis Scott's "UTOPIA" is on the horizon.
After the release of Astroworld back in 2018, Travis Scott quickly became one of the biggest artists in the world. He is leading the youth movement in hip-hop and his cache has led to an immense amount of brand deals that have only helped to leverage his standing in the hip-hop world. From Jordan Brand to McDonald's to Sony, Travis' name is attached to some pretty legendary brands, and with his album UTOPIA dropping in the near future, fans couldn't be happier about what's to come.
In addition to all of this, Scott will play a major role on Kanye West's DONDA album. During the listening party in Atlanta on Thursday, Scott could be heard on the song "Praise God" where he was also rapping alongside of Baby Keem who has proven to be a rising star in the rap world.
Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for McDonald's
As far as UTOPIA is concerned, Scott has given us a few details here and there, although today, he seemingly dropped a bombshell on all of his fans. Just a few minutes ago, Scott tweeted "OK IM UP TODAY NO GAMES. I WANNA SEE THE RAGE SWEAT AND TEARS." He then followed this up with a one-minute clip of a brand new music video with the caption "HMM SOME ONE ASK ME HOW IM STARTING I SAID THIS IS HOW. WHO CAN REMEMBER THIS BY TONIGHT."
Based on this tweet, it could be theorized that Scott will be dropping this music video either tonight or sometime this week. This is a song that has been previewed on runways recently and fans have been waiting patiently for it. Now, it looks like said patience is finally paying off.
Let us know what you think of this new snippet, and be sure to stay tuned to HNHH for more news surrounding the release of UTOPIA.


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Macy shares up 16% as investors embrace plan to shut 100 stores
Shares of Macy's surged on Thursday as investors embraced a plan to close 100 stores in the US and boost investment in e-commerce.
In late-morning trade, Macy`s was up 16.1 percent at $39.48.
The outlets that will be shuttered account for about 14 percent of Macy`s 728 stores and about $1 billion in annual revenue. The move comes as conventional retailers struggle to remake themselves in response to the growth of Amazon and other online stores that have grabbed market share.
"We operate in a fast-changing world, and our company is moving forward decisively to build further on Macy`s heritage as a preferred shopping destination for fashion, quality, value and convenience," said Macy`s chief executive Terry Lundgren.
"This involves doing things differently and making tough decisions as we position ourselves to serve customers who have high expectations of their favorite stores, online sites and apps."
Macy`s said the stores that will be shut have seen profits erode in recent years. Most of the closures are expected in early 2017.
The company plans to boost investment in remaining stores and upgrade its mobile applications to allow easier search, faster page loading and simpler procedures for placing orders.
Macy`s reported second-quarter earnings of just $11 million, down from $217 million in the year-ago period, largely due to a $255 million charge related to store closures.
Revenue fell 3.9 percent to $5.9 billion.
Get Latest Business News, Stock Market Updates and Videos; Check your tax outgo through Income Tax Calculator and save money through our Personal Finance coverage. Check Business Breaking News Live on Zee Business Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe on YouTube.


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The digitalisation of agriculture continues to accelerate, with developments in a range of technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IOT).
The question now arises, however, as to what these technologies are and how they can improve the profitability and sustainability of agriculture.
The VistaMilk SFI Research Centre held a masterclass on blockchain in agriculture earlier in the year aiming to provide a clear and comprehensive understanding of what blockchain actually is and to address some of the mystery surrounding it.
In its simplest form, blockchain is a public digital ledger of transactions that records information in a way that makes it difficult to hack or alter. Blockchain has the potential to be particularly useful in agriculture to consolidate and validate information on produce from farm all the way through to the consumer.
Some of the questions addressed in the masterclass included:
Value to farmers
For many of us, the most important question is what’s in it for farmers? Brendan Allen, programme manager at Aginnovate, based in the National University of Galway, and part-time farmer, described what blockchain could add to his beef enterprise.
Brendan began by outlining the current beef supply chain, highlighting the lack of power that farmers possess.
He also highlighted the most important factors that consumers look for when making a choice on the food they purchase.
Being the owner of a farm shop, Brendan has seen how consumers prioritise trust and traceability above many factors. He said building a direct relationship with the consumer to demonstrate the high levels of compliance on-farm can be where blockchain plays its part in making Irish agriculture more sustainable.
The current beef supply chain does not facilitate a direct relationship between the producer and the consumer, reducing farmer power and limiting their ability to be economically sustainable.
By leading the utilisation of blockchain technology, through recording antibiotic use, animal welfare records and climate change impacts, farmers can build a direct relationship with their consumer and, in theory, increase their power in the supply-chain.
Karl O’Connell, integration manager at ICBF, built on Brendan Allen’s presentation by exploring where blockchain could be added to the current structures. ICBF manages the national livestock database in Ireland.
In other countries, where no ICBF exists, the opportunity and need for blockchain is obvious, but how can blockchain be integrated within the Irish model? Once again, the consumer is the key.
Currently, almost all stakeholders feed into the ICBF database in some way, all except the consumer. This omission provided an opportunity for ICBF to explore how blockchain could be used to potentially include consumer feedback through undertakings such as the meat eating quality project.
Consumers, by scanning a QR code on the meat package, are invited to provide feedback on their eating experience which, when combined with ancillary information in the ICBF database, can create a picture of which family lines produce the best-tasting steak.
The issue with new technology is that the learning curve can often be steep. However, Karl explained that tools and language do not need to change from those which we are already using.
He outlined some initial learnings from ICBF’s proof of concept and concluded that while there is a lot of hype surrounding blockchain, it can add value as more real-use cases emerge.
The ICBF sees blockchain being incorporated into farms of the future, making them small and smart, while also providing traceability and consumer feedback.
Key to all of the presentations was the issue of trust and whether blockchain really can help with trustworthiness. Unfortunately, when speaking of trust, this isn’t a yes or no answer.
Paul Ryan, CEO of Trust Codes, explained that blockchain is unable to do much for consumer trust at this point as the technology being used isn’t mature enough to make any guarantees. Having a shared record does not guarantee truthful transactions. It’s important for us to understand that while this could eventually be something quite promising and reliable, it’s not quite there yet.
The keynote speaker on the day was John Keogh, founder and managing principal at Shantalla, a Canadian-based company which provides advisory and contract research services.
John gave a perspective which placed blockchain in the context of other crucial food supply chain technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the internet of things.
He said the big problem with transparency and visibility is that these terms are overused and abused and they can be taken for granted when blockchain technology is mentioned.
As the technology matures, these issues can be overcome but it will only ever be as good as the data allows it to be.
To overcome this issue, standards and applying the appropriate models will be crucial to building trust in the technology.
VistaMilk researchers John Breslin and Subhasis Thakur from the National University of Galway are working in the area of blockchain and have published a number of papers in this area.
After a day of interesting presentations, there is no doubt that blockchain technology has the potential to radically change the Irish food supply chain but it is likely to be another tool at our disposal rather than a silver bullet.
For farmers and those involved in the agri-food industry, it’s a case of watch this space.


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AUSTRALIA exported 451,588 tonnes of canola in April, down per 40 cent from the 749,563t shipped in March, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
As was the case in November and December, practically the opening months of Australia’s current shipping year, Germany was the major destination, and took 275,788t, or 61pc, of the April total.
Belgium, the biggest-volume market in March, was the second-biggest market for April-shipped canola with 121,305t, while Poland on 30,000t was in third place.
April is expected to start the downtrend in Australia’s monthly canola export numbers until new-crop rolls around in November.
However, Lachstock Consulting said in its latest canola supply-and-demand report that Western Australia was expected to ship 100,000t plus per month in the back half of the year.
The oilseed has taken precedence on shipping stems to get to Europe ahead of its new-crop becoming available, and Australian shipping stems are now dominated by wheat, as large parcels of canola and barley become harder to accumulate.
ABS data indicates Australia has exported 2.46 million tonnes (Mt) of canola between November 1 and April 30.
Lachstock has Australia’s 2020-21 (Oct-Sep) canola exports pegged at 3.3Mt, behind only 2012-13 and 2016-17, which were both just under 3.5Mt.
|United Arab Emirates||0||55000||0||55000|
HAVE YOUR SAY


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What's old is apparently new again in Burlington.
Zellers, once a popular Canadian discount retail chain owned by Hudson's Bay, effectively closed in 2013 due to fierce competition from retail giants such as Walmart.
Many of the Zellers locations in the GTA were converted to Target stores, which also eventually closed.
Hudson's Bay still owns the rights to the name and hasn't ruled out further Zellers pop-up stores in the coming months.
The announcement has many nostalgic Zellers shoppers excited.
"Very cool," Tatiana Blazic said Sunday (Sept. 26).
"Exciting news," Clara Frank added.


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48 percent of food in Germany ends up in the bin instead of in the shopping bag. They are damaged or contaminated during processing, for example. Gentle and hygienic handling solutions can reduce these losses. Important here: the right design and material.
Timestrip®, the developer of smart indicator technology, has extended the capability of its electronic eTimestrip indicators with a new app for Apple users. The indicators feature a free app for iOS that allows users to benefit from downloadable reports.
Suomen Viljava has chosen Swiss Bühler Group to build its new oat mill in Finland. With Bühler’s strong technological capacities and ability to craft individual solutions and Viljava's expertise in oats and its global network, the new state-of-the-art mill is planned to go into operation in 2023 as Oat Mill Finland Oy.
Following the unveiling of the oneLABEL strategy, BOBST has now fully equipped its Competence Center at Bobst Firenze in Italy, where the industry’s broadest portfolio of Flexo, UV inkjet and All-in-One label presses can be seen demonstrating exactly how converters can optimize their entire production floor.


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Publication Date: March 22, 2016
Source: Ivey Publishing
In a 2014 documentary, the multinational technology company Apple Inc. was implicated in alleged human rights violations at Pegatron, a large Chinese supplier that assembled Apple's iPhones. The allegations followed similar, well-publicized violations in 2009 at another China-based Apple supplier. Although Apple had promised to improve its practices, doing so had clearly proven to be a difficult task. How should Apple respond to these new allegations? Should it evade the accusations and instead point to its existing efforts? Could it do more to protect workers? Should it rethink its offshoring and outsourcing strategy? Is it fair to blame Apple for the activities of its suppliers? Where does the blame fall?
Kamel Mellahi is affiliated with Warwick Business School.


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Software and app developers can now use the technology that powers Amazon's Alexa assistant to add voice control to their creations. Amazon has opened up the service called "Lex" in what Reuters describes as a move to become the top player in voice-controlled computing. According to Werner Vogels, the e-commerce titan's CTO, Lex could lead to assistants and chatbots that sound friendlier and more human than their predecessors.
Lex, after all, lives in the cloud instead of within the actual apps and software. That means Amazon can make it better and better by continuously feeding it data from people's interactions with Alexa. While the company's Echo sales will likely never match Apple's iPhone sales, Vogels said people use Alexa for various tasks around the house, but they tend to interact with their phones' voice assistants only when they're inside their vehicles.
Still, the company needs more sources of data, so it will also feed Lex people's interactions with third-party developers' apps that use the service. We're guessing that data includes whatever it collects from its call center clients. If you'll recall, Amazon started prepping a software package that includes Lex and another one of its developer services called Polly earlier this year. The package can field questions from customers' phone calls and texts, giving the retail giant's software more samples to learn from.


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Coors Light / Instagram, Dylan Mulvaney / Instagram
If you don’t know what we’re talking about, we will break it down for you.
On April 1st, transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney debuted her latest brand partnership, Bud Light. Dylan had been documenting her days since coming out as transgender and calling them her “Days of Womanhood.” On social media, she would take a photo or video of herself each day since transitioning from male to female. Bud Light sent her a package to celebrate “365 Days of Womanhood,” which included regular Bud Light cans, which she created a video with, and a specialty can that included a photo of her face. See both below.
View this post on Instagram
Artists such as Kid Rock and Travis Tritt were the first to be very outspoken about Bud Light’s latest partnership, but as time goes on, more and more are revealing their stance. Singer Riley Green has a Bud Light lyric in one of his most popular songs. Over the weekend, he changed that lyric to now include Coors Light instead.
View this post on Instagram
Amid the immediate call for boycott, Bud Light ‘s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, seemed to stand by their decision to partner with Mulvaney, telling Foxc News, “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
The VP of Marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, also defended the decision, saying, “I’m a businesswoman, I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was ‘This brand is in decline, it’s been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light. We had this hangover, I mean Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach.”
The brand’s CEO released his first official statement since the controversy, saying:
“As the CEO of a company founded in America’s heartland more than 165 years ago, I am responsible for ensuring every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew…We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”
But, that didn’t stop the boycott. Over the weekend, it was reported that Anheuser-Busch’s stock took a hit, with the New York Post reporting that the company’s stock has experienced a significant drop in shares since March 31, resulting in a loss of nearly 4% of its value. This decline has caused the company’s market capitalization to drop from $132.38 billion to $127.13 billion as of Wednesday. On the same day, Anheuser-Busch stock declined by over 1.5%.
The fallout also caused appearances by the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses to cancel due to the staff fearing for their safety.
Not only is Bud Light’s stock going down, Coors stock is going up, according to the New York Post.
The publication reports that the “stock price of the Molson Coors Beverage Co. was trading at $51.68 a share at the end of last month,” and “has climbed to $56.25 — an increase of more than 8.8%.”
What do y’all think about this?


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Jill Duggan from the Prince of Wales' Corporate Leaders Group spells out what businesses want from the European Commission's winter package
Europe has made great progress in the adoption of renewable energy in the last decade. The last climate and energy package to achieve 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020 was split into...
US retailer plans to expand use of solar, wind and electric vehicle charging stations as it announces 20 million metric tonnes cut in CO2 across its supply chain
Next week's BusinessGreen Technology and Investment Forum will see inventors pitch everything from remade office furniture to hybrid motorbikes, to a room of green investors
Government suffers damaging defeat in Lords over Withdrawal Bill amendments
Consultation on ban of disposable plastic items will launch later this year, Prime Minister announces


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According to a recent survey published by the British Retail Consortium, high street shops saw an average 2.6% drop in customer numbers in the past year, peaking at 9% in hardest hit areas in Wales. This loss of business is placing increased pressure on retailers forcing many to close, and it’s not just small independent retailers who’re struggling either. Following the closure of national chains such as Woolworths, Zavvi and Borders, the empty shop is now an all too common sight with more than 1 in 10 (11%) high street stores now vacant.
The situation has not gone unnoticed, earlier this year David Cameron tasked Mary Portas “Queen of Shops” to come up with a plan to save the British high street. She faces a difficult and important task; empty stores and boarded up shop fronts can have a devastating effect on a community, the unloved appearance and atmosphere having a substantial impact on community tension, a disconnection with local society and in turn, anti-social behaviour.
There are a number of potential factors contributing to this trend, the rising cost of living, disposable income that has shrunk or disappeared entirely, online shopping and vast out of town retail parks; however there’s another factor that could potentially lead to a solution.
A recent shift in consumer culture is moving many away from the mass consumerism of previous decades towards a model of collaborative consumption. Spurred by environmental concerns, lack of disposable income, and ever easier means of communication online, people are turning to services like Streetcar, Freecycle or Ebay, where people share ownership, redistribute unwanted goods, and buy and sell direct from person to person, bypassing the high street entirely.
Extend this ethos to our empty high street stores though and a potential solution becomes clear. Vacant stores make a high street look unloved and foster community decay, but share that space with the community, allow them to use it collaboratively for creative, social or charitable projects, and it can bring the community together.
This is exactly what somewhereto_ aims to do for young people across the UK. We’re not alone, working alongside and together with other like-minded local and national organisations such as 3Space, the Empty Shops Network, and Emptyshop.org and Wasted Spaces.
So if you have empty stores let us know here and help reinvigorate your community.
Written by Becca Rothwell
For more information on somewhereto_ visit: www.somewhereto.com


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What is in this article?:
- Demand, interest in hops soaring in North Carolina
- Charmed by people, environment
- Want locally grown hops
• The crop is not native to the Tar Heel state, but has been grown in the past and can be grown now, but just how to do that has proven to be a perplexing challenge.
A HOP YARD at the Mountain Horticultural Research Station in Mills River, N.C.
Charmed by people, environment
When asked why they chose to move to the mountains of western North Carolina, a Sierra Nevada spokesperson says, “We were charmed by the people and environment in Asheville. We love the sense of the outdoors and connection to the land, as well as the amazing beer culture and brewing scene that’s sprung up over the past decade.”
Currently, New Belgium and Oskar Blues breweries are in the process of establishing breweries in North Carolina.
New Belgium, which markets the highly successful Fat tire brand beer, plans to break ground for it $175 million facility in the first quarter of 2013 and plans to begin brewing beer there by early 2015.
Oskar Blues will actually be the first of three breweries to begin operation from their plant in Brevard, N.C.
In addition to national craft brewers, like Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, a number of local craft brewers, or micro brewers have been highly successful in western North Carolina, especially in and around Asheville.
“And, making home beer has become such a big hobby that there are now competitions, much like chili cook-offs”, Davis says.
Growing hops in the cool mountain air of western North Carolina may seem like a natural, because of the similarity with areas in southern Germany, in which hops production is done on a large scale. However, in reality, most of the old world hops varieties grown in Europe aren’t well suited at all for production in the Upper Southeast.
Though Germany, in particular Bavaria, is the largest hops producer in the world, with about 35 percent of worldwide hops production, the U.S. is rapidly gaining, producing about 24 percent of global output.
In the U.S., hops production is highly concentrated in Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Davis notes that hops grows best between the 35th and 55th latitude, considerably farther north than North Carolina.
Even the Pacific Northwest, at the bottom end of the ideal crops production area, growers can count on 16 or more hours of daylight during peak hops growing season. In western North Carolina, maximum daylight is about 14 hours.
This is critical because hops is a highly day-length sensitive crop. Davis points out there are now some hops varieties that are more daylight neutral and require less daylight than varieties grown in most areas of the world.
“These day-length neutral varieties, bred in South Africa, are the ones we need to use in North Carolina, she says.
“Brewers will likely ask for more commonly known aromatic hops, but any new grower should grow hops varieties suited for production in North Carolina, and then convince the brewer to use these varieties,” she adds.
“There are some indications that growing day-length sensitive varieties here in North Carolina is severely limiting our yields. In some cases, we may be losing up to 85 percent of potential yield, just because we are trying to grow the wrong varieties”.


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August 9, 2023 – California’s high school students have shown their smarts in the 2023 CyberStart America challenge. The free, online program aims to nurture and empower the next generation of cybersecurity experts by building their skills and offering access to cybersecurity training and certifications with the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation. During the 2022-23 cycle, California performed outstandingly, with 485 Semifinalists and 329 Scholars. Best of all, California led the nation with 28 Scholars with Honors, who earned the GIAC Foundational Cybersecurity Technologies Certification and were offered further scholarship and internship opportunities.
However, everyone can help to create a safer digital environment. As students gear up to head back to school, it’s a great time to boost your cyber safety. Here are some back-to-school cybersecurity tips to keep you safe online:
- Strong Passwords: Create strong and unique passwords for each online account, incorporating a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols.
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Add an extra layer of protection to online accounts by enabling 2FA wherever possible.
- Beware of Phishing Attempts: Educate students and parents about phishing scams, urging them to be cautious when clicking on links or opening attachments.
- Keep Devices Updated: Regularly update devices and software to install critical security updates that protect against the latest vulnerabilities.
- Secure Social Media Settings: Adjust privacy settings on social media platforms to control what information is visible to the public.
- Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi: Avoid accessing sensitive information while connected to public Wi-Fi networks and consider using a VPN.
- Think Before Sharing: Encourage students to think twice before sharing anything online.
- Sign Up for CyberStart America 2024: Register your interest and encourage students to participate in the next round of games in October.


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Netflix Sues ‘Bridgerton The Musical’ Creators For Infringement – Deadline
Songwriting duo Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear were the minds behind the popular adaptation of the hit television series. They staged a live concert of “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Album Live in Concert” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC earlier this week, selling out the venue.
Netflix originally hailed the concept when it debuted as a free online homage. But when that expanded into a profitable business, things became sticky.
“Defendants Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear and their companies (“Barlow & Bear”) have taken valuable intellectual property from the Netflix original series Bridgerton to build an international brand for themselves,” the lawsuit stated. “Bridgerton reflects the creative work and hard- earned success of hundreds of artists and Netflix employees. Netflix owns the exclusive right to create Bridgerton songs, musicals, or any other derivative works based on Bridgerton. Barlow & Bear cannot take that right—made valuable by others’ hard work—for themselves, without permission. Yet that is exactly what they have done.”
Netflix claims it made “repeated objection” to the stage show, which sold tickets ranging up to $149 each. VIP packages were even more expensive.
The live show featured more than a dozen songs that allegedly copied verbatim dialogue, character traits and expression, and other elements from Bridgerton the series.
“Throughout the performance, Barlow & Bear misrepresented to the audience that they were using Netflix’s BRIDGERTON trademark “with Permission,” the lawsuit further states.
The lawsuit also notes that in addition to the Grammy-winning album, the pair plans to tour, with a date in London’s Royal Albert Hall upcoming. There are also allegedly plans for a line of merchandise, the suit claims.
Netflix has its own “Bridgerton Experience,” a six-city event in direct competition. “Netflix owns the exclusive right to create Bridgerton songs, musicals, or any other derivative works based on Bridgerton.“
Barlow & Bear have not commented on the lawsuit as yet. Their version of the musical was developed on social media in real time, with lead vocals by Barlow and orchestration, production and additional vocals by Bear. The record hit No. 1 on iTunes US pop charts, streaming more than 45 million times. It won a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
The legal papers can be found here:


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The NUC is the first of its kind in the world. Now, Intel has finally announced the release of the NUC, designed for gamers and content creators, and as with the previous release, the NUC lives up to its name by coming in at 2.5 liters, nearly double the size of its predecessor at 1.3 liters.
The i7-12700H processor and the A770M 16GB graphics card are at the heart of the Gorge.
The i7-12700H, an “old acquaintance”, is the flagship of Intel’s mobile graphics cards, with full-blooded 32 Xe cores, 32 optical tracking units, 256-bit 16GB GDDR6 memory and an official power consumption range of 120- 150W.
Judging from previous score results, it outperforms the RTX 3060 graphics card on the mobile side of the laptop and is more than capable of handling gaming and entertainment as well as video editing needs.
Elsewhere, the Giant Snake Canyon has an SDXC card reader, Thunderbolt 4, 3.5mm headset, USB-A on the front panel and four USB-A, 2.5G RJ-45 network port, Thunderbolt 4, 3.5mm, HDMI 2.1 on the rear, and for the first time, a DP 2.0 port.
It also supports erection placement with a stand and interchangeable case graphics.
According to official sources, the Giant Snake Canyon NUC with the kit is expected to be available in late September with a starting price of $1,180 (approximately RMB 8,721.8).


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Rise Of The African Consumers
Africa’s consumer facing industries are expected to grow by more than $400 billion by 2020.
The single-largest business opportunity in Africa will be its rising consumer market.
Africa’s consumer facing industries are expected to grow by more than $400 bilion by 2020.
That would account for more than half the total revenue increase that all businesses are expected to generate in
Africa by the end of the decade.
The world has caught on to the potential of this surging consumer market. But many companies, particularly those
new to the continent, have little idea how to translate the opportunity into action.
Africa’s economic growth accelerated in the years following 2000, making it the world’s second fastest growing region after emerging Asia and equal to the Middle East.
The African market opportunity is concentrated, with 10 of 53 countries – Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco,
Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, and Tunisia… Accounting for 81% of Africa’s private consumption in 2011.
Private consumption in Africa is higher than in India or Russia; it rose by $568 billion from 2000 to 2010. From 2012 to 2020, consumer-facing industries are expected to grow a further $410 billion, representing the continent’s largest business opportunity.
Apparel, consumer giids, and food are expected to account for $185 billion, or 45%, of that amount. This is due in part to urban Africans spending a large share of their budget on food and groceries, more than consumers do, on average, in Brazil, China, India, and Russia.
Explosive Population Growth
Africa has the world’s fastest-growing population and is projected to account for more than 40% of global population growth to 2030, according to the United Nations.
A Youthful Market
Africa also has the world’s youngest population more than half its inhabitants are under 20 years old, compared with only 28% in China. 16 to 34 age group already accounts for 53% of income and the
consumption habits of youth are quite different from those of their elders; younger people in Africa, for example, are more
likely to search for information online (67% of 16 to 24 year-olds are online, compared with 32% of the 45- and-older group) and to seek products and stores that reflect the right image.
An Emerging, Optimistic Consuming Class
By 2020, more than half of African households are projected to have discretionary income, rising from 85 million households today to almost 130 million in 2020. Sub-Saharan Africans are the most optimistic – 97% of Ghanaians, for example, said they will be much better off in two years.North Africans, on the other hand, are generally less optimistic about the future, with only 10% to 15% of respondents saying they will be much better off in two years, which is unsurprising given the uncertainty generated by recent political turnmoil in the region.
With 40% of its population living in cities, Africa is more urbanised than India (30%) and nearly as urbanised as China (45%). By 2016, over 500 million Africans will live in urban centers, and the number of cities with more than 1 million people is expected to reach 65, compared with 52 in 2011.
- Urban spending is increasing twice as fast as rural spending and is projected to account for a disproportionately large share of future growth.
- Urban per capita incomes are, on average, 80% higher than those of countries as a whole. In Ghana, for instance, only 29% of households have disposable income of more than $5,000; this increases to 55% in Accra. Higher productivity of urban workers accounts for the difference.
- Cities are more densely populated and, as a result, consumers are easier to reach.
A Modernizing Retail Trade Structure
There are signs that the formalisation of retail will dramatically increase in coming years. Experience from around the world shows that retailing starts to expand when a country’s GDP per capita reaches $750 and really takes off at a GDP per capita of $3,000.
Surging Digital Usage
More than 50% of urban Africans said they have accessed the Internet in the last four weekes, on par with figures for urban China and Brazil. In urban Kenya, for example, Internet penetration stands at 70%, propelled by affordable mobile broadband and high penetration (95%) of Internet-capable mobile devices.
Serving the African Consumer
Africa’s large, fast-growing population, combined with rising consumer disposable income, offers companies an enormous opportunity.
Africa comprises 53 countries with more than 2,000 dialects and languages. As a result, viewing it as a single market is unlikely to get results.
Africa’s business and economic growth potential is widely acknowledged. The issue for companies now is how to obtain a better understanding of the market and its consumers.


text: The Swiss economy has not been as dynamic as it has been since over 10 years. According to BAK Economics forecasts, the Swiss gross domestic product will grow by 3.0 percent in the current year. This means that the Swiss economy is expanding almost twice as fast as its growth potential. Nevertheless, no signs of overheating are foreseeable so far: sharply rising wages, prices or interest rates are not to be expected. The unusually high pace of expansion in 2018 will be supported by dynamic foreign demand and a more favorable Swiss franc exchange rate, from which the manufacturing industry in particular will benefit. However, the tailwind from the international environment will ease in the coming months. In the euro zone, quarterly growth has already halved in the first half of 2018, which Swiss companies will also feel with a certain delay. Added to this is the uncertainty surrounding global trade conflicts. Homemade risk factors (implementation of tax proposal 17, framework agreement with the EU) are also proving to be a burden. BAK Economics forecasts GDP growth of 1.6 percent for 2019. After the exceptional economic year of 2018, the signs come back to normal.


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Twitter is on double time in this day and age in relation to rolling out new products and pressing beforehand below new CEO Jack Dorsey — a technique to be able to probably get a good gust of air Wednesday all the way through the corporate’s Flight developer convention. In The interim, TechCrunch knows that there is Every Other space the place Twitter is looking to increase: Consumer care, positioning Twitter as a greater substitute for 1-800 numbers and online contact forms.
Customer Service will have to now not come as too much of a surprise for many who use Twitter: the company already has a good quantity of traffic from people who take to Twitter to complain about (or reward) brands, or ask questions of them.
And even with none particular Customer Support merchandise, Tweets to B2C manufacturers are growing at 50 p.c every year, Twitter stated in August when it made an announcement about its intentions to do more in Consumer care.
Two corporations, Sprout Social and Oracle, had been working to strengthen solutions for businesses who wish to use Twitter as a platform for interacting with shoppers.
Gnip (the enormous-data crew Twitter bought in 2014) has been behind the data feed that businesses like Sprout and Oracle will use to energy these Customer Support tools. Oracle declined to speak about the provider it’s constructing, while Sprout confirmed it has a are living a Twitter-primarily based Customer Support product, But would no longer specify how it’s priced or what the terms of its business relationship with Twitter is.
(Twitter also published a 122-web page white paper when it announced the Oracle and Sprout partnerships, with case studies from companies like Hilton, T-Cellular and Nokia showing how the social network used to be already getting used for Customer Support initiatives.)
The August announcement was light on element and seemed to get little discover when it got here out. But In The period in-between we’ve got picked up more specifics from from within Twitter, which has been working internally and with partners on building a more formal set of purchaser care Business tools.
There are a couple of completely different areas that the company is bearing in mind.
They embody the power to go looking and surface actual-time relationships between businesses and the individuals who have interaction with them, in order that a Consumer rep can get a greater experience of a Customer’s tone and history with the corporate. (As An Instance, to determine a continual drawback with a person’s phone connection versus deciding upon someone who straight up dislikes the company in question, it doesn’t matter what.)
Another involves making a option to better prioritize requests for help that come through on Twitter. This may well be in response to responding to Tweets more quick if they are getting more engagement — especially if they are terrible — earlier than they’ve an opportunity to go viral and harm a model extra.
(There can be a snag with this one. Prioritizing in line with engagement would possibly imply that if you happen to haven’t lucked out in inadvertently creating a viral sensation with your criticism Tweet, or when you’ve got minimal followers who will see what you wrote, you can also end up getting despatched to the underside of the heap and omitted.)
A 3rd space is across the thought of easy methods to construction conversations with consumers. Ceaselessly, the default progression of a Twitter conversation is to ship any individual to e-mail or phone to proceed the conversation after Twitter contact is made. The Theory right here appears to be figuring out how to each provoke but also full the customer request with out leaving Twitter’s platform But closing secure and personal, and doubtlessly feeding into higher CRM databases.
Past what Twitter has announced, executives at the company see Customer Service as a key phase of Twitter’s future Industry.
One Supply described it to TechCrunch as just as probably necessary as what Twitter has been building in promotion. However even with out that possible hyperbole, others are additionally hinting on the prospects in public appearances.
Board member, former CEO and co-founder Ev Williams, conversing at a Re/code adventure previous this month, highlighted how Twitter’s role as a spot for Customer interactions goes again a ways in its history, but in addition the way it’s an enormous Business probability for the longer term.
“In 2008 or 2009, prior to we monetized at all, we noticed 1 million people sign as much as apply Starbucks… That’s improbable commercial worth,” he mentioned. “We noticed corporations massive and small, Twitter shaped a connection between manufacturers that didn’t actually have a group channel. Now it’s a major Source for Customer Service and advertising, there’s a strong Business there… That section’s at all times been very highly effective [and] because the utility and Trade grows that naturally grows with it.”
You can see how this can be a logical move for the corporate.
For starters, it can lend a hand place Twitter as a bigger and extra sticky player Within The house of Business services, as a platform to facilitate all sorts of B2C interactions, from Customer Support via to advertising and advertising and perhaps even promoting products, too.
A more formal Purchaser care providing can also be potentially filling a spot. According To analysts at SocialBakers, there were 21 million questions asked on Twitter this 12 months so far this yr, with carriers, airways and finance companies topping the checklist of those being contacted by way of customers on Twitter. However there’s a gap in what number of get answered: just 30% on reasonable, the analysts say.
And as more brands use Twitter as a Purchaser care channel, it makes Twitter extra useful to common shoppers, who might talk over with more regularly in consequence.
Come to complain, keep for the Vines and information updates. For a platform that has confronted criticism for lacking mainstream attraction, Customer Support might be one weird trick to help Twitter’s engagement.
Featured Picture: Bryce Durbin


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Chrysler’s Dodge Viper business, which is now fully owned by Fiat, will continue on with its 2009 model year lineup and is expected to switch over to the 2010 model year in January. According to sources, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has big plans for the Viper brand and thinks it could potentially be to Dodge what the Miata is to Mazda.
Rumors in Torino, Italy say that Fiat is considering fitting the Dodge Viper with a V10 version of the next-generation corporate V8. The program could be derived from the same powerplant that will be found in future Maserati and Ferrari models.
As CARandDRIVER points out, an interesting iron here is that Chrysler saved troubled Lamborghini in 1987. The move gave birth to the V10 powerplant for the Dodge Viper and the Lamborghini Gallardo.
– By: Stephen Calogera


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Nokia announced the launch of a new ad-free, non-subscription-based, free music streaming service today, simply called, Nokia Music.
Users can stream music from its set of over 150 playlists, which are curated and “kept up to date by an expert team of US based musicologists,” Nokia says, adding that they span a “wide spectrum of musical genres from underground Detroit house tracks to New York Philharmonic favorites.” The service includes playlists created by famous artists like Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Lana Del Rey.
Users can also create playlists based on artists – really more like Pandora-like stations than actual playlists, from the sound of it. These “playlists” can, however, be played offline. The stations are powered by The Echo Nest.
“The Echo Nest is happy to power artist radio stations in the Nokia Music app, as the company expands its presence on the Windows Phone platform,” said The Echo Nest CEO Jim Lucchese. “This is another testament to the flexibility of our big data music platform, which can make sense of any music catalog for any user.”
Another feature takes advantage of the user’s location to find nearby concerts.
“The USA is the most vibrant and competitive digital music market in the world – by a wide margin. We have worked extra hard to ensure our service meets the expectations of the demanding, active and inspired music fans in the USA. I would like to challenge everyone to try Nokia Music and see just how easy and enjoyable the service is to use,” says Jyrki Rosenberg, VP of Entertainment at Nokia.
Nokia Music is currently exclusive to Nokia Lumia handsets. That means the Nokia Lumia 900 or Nokia Lumia 710, but the company is expected to unveil some new Windows Phone devices this week at its Nokia World event in Finland.


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Flip Phone Halloween 2020
Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre, in residence at Oakes Center at 120 Morris Avenue in Summit, will premiere its virtual improv show, The Flip Side: Halloween, on Facebook on Thursday, October 29 at 7 . Full moons are synonymous with howling wolves, witches and vampires, but to actually see a full moon on Halloween is quite unusual. . Halloween was another busy day for search and rescue teams on Old Rag Mountain, Shenandoah National Park’s most popular — and arguably its most grueling — hiking destination, presenting a .
Amazon.com: Foxercases Design (2020) Halloween Haunted House 2
- Just Cross Stitch Special 2020 Halloween Issue ~ flip through .
- Halloween Witch Gifts Co. iPhone SE (2020) / 7 / 8 Don’t Make Me .
- 2020 02 16 Flip Phone Cats Drag Dinner Darin Kamnetz 054… | Flickr.
Christmas is now underway on radio across the country, as stations flip to all-holiday formats a bit earlier than usual. In some smaller markets, such as WWIZ in Youngstown, Pa., the move to . As Halloween approaches, several sneaker brands — namely Nike and New Balance — are trying to capitalize on it by releasing several holiday-inspired drops this month. But as sneaker expert Racks Hogan .
Amazon.com: Veodhekai 2020 Cuddly Toys,Double Sided Flip Halloween
Jeff Goldblum urged on left-leaning volunteers to phone bank on Friday by telling them that the 2020 race is “the most important election in the history of the human story.” The What If? star made Daylight Saving Time comes to an end at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1. Turn your clocks back on Halloween before you go to bed. .
Vintage 1990’s old school Motorola MicroTAC Flip Phone, set
- Amazon.com: Foxercases Design (2020) Halloween Haunted House 2 .
- The Best Tech Halloween Costume of 2013? in 2020 | Motorola cell .
- Amazon.com: Veodhekai 2020 Cuddly Toys,Double Sided Flip Halloween .
Dreamcatcher Offers a Chance to Have Halloween Fun on ‘The Flip
Providence police responded to a report of an armed robbery on the East Side of Providence on Halloween, as well as a home invasion in Mt. Pleasant. . Flip Phone Halloween 2020 When it comes to decorating their front yard for Halloween, Ken and Julie Kovacin’s visions go far beyond the typical jack-o’-lantern. .


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Apple Announces 3G iPhone
If you've held off on buying an iPhone because of the lack of 3G support, your wait is almost over.
Apple finally announced
the much anticipated 3G iPhone today during a keynote at this year's WWDC, ending months of speculation and addressing the most oft criticized feature missing from the initial launch. The slimmer, faster iPhone will be available in 8GB ($199) and 16GB ($299) trim starting July 11, with the 16GB version also coming in white.
Intel Under the FTC's Eye
AMD has cried foul over Intel's alleged anticompetitive practices to anyone who would listen, and have found open ears in Europe, Japan, and more recently,
. That hasn't been the case here in the U.S., but that may be about to change. On Friday, the Federal Trade Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation, authorized by William E. Kovacic, the new chairman of the trade commission. Much more on this developing story
Commodore 64 Gets a Face Lift...
...and a new lease on life. In what's sure to appeal to both modders and C64 nostalgia fans, modder
has turned a drab looking Commodore 64 into
sleek and functional synthesizer
. Underneath the hood of the MidiboxSID sit 8 SID chips with 3 oscillators each, controlled by a bevy of illuminated knobs on the outside. Catch a worklog of the entire process
Beep! Beep! Roadrunner Supercomputer Sets Record
An American military supercomputer has reached a long sought after computing milestone by processing more than
1.026 quadrillion calculations per second
, making it twice as fast as the previous fastest supercomputer. Assembled from components originally designed for videogame machines, the $133 million supercomputer, called Roadrunner, will mostly be used to solve classified military problems to ensure the nation's stockpile of nuclear weapons will continue to work as they age. By breaking the petaflop barrier, the next thousand-fold goal is the exaflop, followed by the zettaflop, the yottaflop, and the xeraflop.
Amazon Back Online
Amazon.com became "
late last night, potentially costing the company $2 million or more in lost revenue. Wall Street estimates the online site will pull in $4 billion this quarter, or roughly $1.8 million in sales per hour, though those numbers include international sales, which were unaffected. The cause of the outage remains unclear.
Blackbird Flutters onto Retail Shelves
HP's now infamous Blackbird 002 gaming PC will
march into the mainstream
sector this summer available in an exclusive configuration at Amazon.com, Newegg.com, and select Best Buy, Circuit City, J&R, and Micro Center retail stores, the company said. Spearheaded by Raul Sood, head of HP's acquired Voodoo PC division, the Blackbird 002 garnered much attention over its internal construction and ability to run two AMD videocards in CrossFire mode on an SLI-capable motherboard. Priced at $3,299, the new model will include Intel's Q9450 processor, a pair of 9800GT videocards, 4GB Corsair memory, a 500GB hard drive, and more.


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American Express Co.'s third-quarter profit rose only marginally as card member spending growth remained muted for the second quarter in a row.
The slowing growth echoes that of other large credit card issuers. U.S. credit card volume growth decelerated both at Bank of America and U.S. Bancorp, which reported results earlier on Wednesday.
Amex's U.S. card holders, mostly affluent consumers, reined in their spending in the quarter.
Card member spending in the United States rose 8 per cent in the quarter. That figure, though up from the second quarter, is still below the double-digit growth the company had posted for the nine preceding quarters.
"It represents slower growth than we were generating earlier in the year," chief executive officer Kenneth Chenault said in a statement.
American Express, which has a market value of more than $66-billion (U.S.), is looking to expand its market beyond the affluent, for whom there is stiff competition in the card market.
The company has teamed up with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, to offer a prepaid debit card to target lower-income shoppers who may not have bank accounts.
The move gives Amex access to tens of million of new consumers as technology moves more of their transactions from cash to digital payments.
The slowing card spending translated into muted earnings growth.
Amex's profit rose just 1 per cent $1.25-billion, or $1.09 per share from a year earlier.
Revenue grew at the slowest rate in 11 quarters. Total revenue, net of interest expense, was $7.86-billion, up 4 per cent.
Analysts on average had expected the company to earn $1.09 per share, on revenue of $7.90-billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company has the lowest delinquency rate among the large credit card companies, including JPMorgan Chase, Discover Financial, Capital One, Bank of America and Citigroup.
But it set aside $479-million to cover future bad loans, reflecting its larger lending portfolio, 92 per cent more than it had provisioned last year.
The large increase also reflects a $421-million reserve release in the year-ago quarter.
"We didn't have the same benefit from substantial reserve releases as last year when write-offs and delinquencies were declining at a faster rate," Mr. Chenault said.
American Express, which lends directly to consumers and also competes with Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. to process credit card transactions, said global network and merchant services revenue grew 5 per cent to $1.3-billion.
Shares of the company, which have risen more than 24 per cent so far this year, were down about 1 per cent at $58.80 after the bell.
They closed at $59.37 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.


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The National Association of Television Program Executives is adding members to its new digital advisory board. Headed by Ross Levinsohn, CEO of Guggenheim Digital Media (owner of The Hollywood Reporter), the recently announced group is filling its ranks with players in online content.
“The advisory board, which was initially announced in January at the opening of the NATPE 2013 Market and Conference, will serve as a digital brain trust designed to act as a catalyst for the discovery, creation and monetization of all types of content and for facilitating ongoing cooperation between the Hollywood, international, digital and brand/advertising communities,” NATPE said in a statement.
ANALYSIS: NATPE Remains Relevant by Embracing Digital
Members include Rob Barnett, founder and CEO of My Damn Channel; Jason Hirschhorn, CEO of The ReDEF Group; Jordan Levin, CEO of Generate and president of Alloy Digital; Erin McPherson, vp and head of video programming and originals at Yahoo; Jon Miller, founder of Fuel Media/Commerce; Lori Schwartz, tech catalyst and principal at World of Schwartz; Quincy Smith, founding partner of Code Advisors; and Tim Spengler, worldwide CEO of Magna Global.
“Our focus is to bring together some of the most creative, successful minds in the digital content business and underscore our commitment to serving as a facilitator between the creation and monetization of content across all platforms,” said NATPE CEO Rod Perth. “This is a serious effort to build on the momentum from a very successful NATPE 2013 in January.”
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This week, Rice critiqued a KFC ad so epic, it would make Nando’s proud.
KFC joined the interwebs in mocking Brazilian attacker Neymar for his poorly acted, exaggerated diving and rolling along the field.
Rice gave the ad a “hero” rating.
For more detail; listen to the interview in the audio below.
Get the 10 most-read articles of the week from Bruce Whitfield’s The Money Show, emailed to you every Friday morning:
Recommendedby NEWSROOM AI
Bruce Whitfield asks branding and advertising expert Andy Rice about a peculiar study that has creatives reaching for the tequila.
Ad expert Andy Rice gives Telkom and Sunday Times a “zero” for an ad last Sunday telling us its Mother's Day.
FNB gets a “zero” from Marutlulle and Co founder Sizakele Marutlulle for its new television ad.
The people at Newlands Spring Brewing Co are legends, says ad expert Andy Rice, for their epic trolling/campaign in Australia.
Branding and advertising expert Andy Rice loves KFC’s epic apology for running out of... chicken (we kid you not).
NATIVE VML's Ben Wagner gives Nando’s #MarkFishChallenge tweet a “hero” rating, but slams VW for yet another, huge PR blunder.
The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviews Ian Moir, CEO at Woolworths.
The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviews Stephen van Coller, CEO at EOH Holdings.
The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviews Adrian Gore, founder and Group Chief Executive Officer at Discovery Limited.
A woman was attacked on her way to work earlier this month.
Incident commander Roy Schoor says the man fell 20m and landed on a section of a cliff. His cry was heard by someone in Camps Bay.
Trade Union Solidarity says it supports Pravin Gordhan's idea that technicians who used to work for Eskom should be brought back.
The Panorama, Welgelegen and Plattekloof Neighbourhood Watch has identified a new house break-in trend.


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Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, speaks during a press conference. File/ Reuters
Dave Clark, the executive who made Amazon.com Inc into a worldwide delivery behemoth, is stepping down as chief executive of the online retailer’s consumer business to pursue other opportunities, the company said on Friday.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said he expects to share an update on who will succeed Clark in the next few weeks. Clark’s last day will be July 1, after 23 years with the company.
The departure further solidifies a changing of the guard at Amazon, which for years had veteran ranks under founder Jeff Bezos. A string of management departures including vice presidents and Bezos himself have shaken up the e-commerce and cloud company, though executives have aimed to maintain the customer focus and startup mentality of their founder.
Clark joined Amazon in May 1999, a day after graduating from business school. He quickly rose ranks, from an operations manager in Kentucky to running all of Amazon’s retail, logistics and other consumer-facing businesses as of last year. In the process he built an in-house delivery operation that rivaled industry stalwarts FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service Inc.
Clark’s departure is the second high-profile exit this week after Meta Platforms Inc’s operations chief, Sheryl Sandberg, announced that she was leaving the company after 14 years.
In a statement he posted on Twitter, Clark said he had for a while told confidantes he wanted to leave Amazon “to start a new journey” but waited for the right moment.
“I feel confident that time is now,” he said, adding that Amazon has “a solid multi-year plan to fight the inflationary challenges we are facing in 2022.”
Tumult in Amazon’s warehouse and delivery operation that Clark steered has been relentless since COVID-19 began spreading more than two years ago. As home-shopping orders jumped, workers fell ill and the company had to usher in more than 150 changes, from adding temperature scanners to technology for monitoring social distancing.


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#NorthantsHour this week: The challenges Northamptonshire businesses have faced this year due to coronavirus
The pandemic that swept the world meant that our local businesses had to think fast and adapt quickly to stay afloat this year.
On this week’s #NorthantsHour chat on Twitter - which takes place every Thursday from 8pm to 9pm - the Chron started a discussion with our local businesses about how they have had to adapt to overcome the challenges they have had to face as a result of coronavirus.
What are the biggest struggles your business has faced due to lockdown and COVID-19?
Replete Flatbreads (@RepleteFB) said: “Switched over to online orders and delivery to your door, that and SEISS grant kept us going, now back on the farmers’ markets and still doing a few online sales.”
The Beer Garage (@UKBeerGarage) said: “Working out where to spend, how to react to no markets and no food festivals and hope customers value what you do.”
Ministry of Design (@DesignAmbo) said: “Trying to reignite the business and reconnect with clients after a 4 month mobilisation with RAF carrying out Covid testing. Oh, that and clients businesses in Asia being affected way before us had a massive knock on effect.”
Kerry Leese (@KerryLeese) said:: “Losing premises, a toddler in lockdown then partner being called up to help with covid. It’s been fun.”
What way have you had to adapt or change your business approach to keep on top in current circumstances?
Aflora and Luxegifts (@afloraluxegifts) said: “Contactless deliveries to keep ourselves and customers safe while putting a smile on their loved ones’ faces on all occasions. Lost touch of face-to-face chat in shop though…”
Cheyne Walk Club (@CheyneWalkClub) said: “Had to close for months! Never even closed for the second world war! Having to evolve at some pace, which is the same for many out there. Increasing the business lounge facility, had to drop doing food, had to change the layout of the place, stop selling draught beer as sales dropped, laid off staff, put others on furlough, borrowed loads… same as a lot of hospitality business really.”
When the pandemic goes away, will your business revert back to how it was pre-COVID or will you keep your changes in place?
Matchbox Cafe Northampton (@cafe_matchbox) said: “I think the operative word here is ‘if’. It will never be the same as much as we can try and hope it will be.”
Replete Flatbreads (@RepleteFB) said: “Hopefully back to as it was, but more streamlined and keeping the online sales.”
Cafe Track (@cafetracknn) said: “I can think of one thing that we hope will change.” This is referring to the covid-19 testing centre built just 10 yards away from the door of Cake Track in Market Square, Northampton Town centre.
Martin Sawyer (@Sawyer4NN) said: “We have increased our home working threefold, so now 30% of staff work remotely most of the time. Still had to keep the same office space though to space people out.”
#NorthantsHour chat takes place from 8pm to 9pm every Thursday on Twitter. Get involved in the conversation and have the chance to feature in next week’s chat round-up!