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Prohibiting cannabis has been a failure. The number of consumers is constantly high, cannabis is available for everyone everywhere. In Germany, over 2.3 million adults are using cannabis. Twenty-two per cent of teenagers aged 15 to 16 are known to have already used the substance.
By prohibiting cannabis, a black market has established itself under the control of organised crime, and its containment is a virtually impossible to task for the authorities. Thus, there is neither effective youth protection nor consumer protection. Dealers are only concerned to maximise their sales, and simply do not care about the buyers’ age. The idea of an ID check in this context is absurd. As consumer demand is solely met through sales on the black market, users will buy contaminated, laced cannabis or cannabis products with concentrations of THC. This makes consumer risks incalculable, but responsible consumers actually do care about the ingredients and quality of the products.
Moreover, the prosecution has no deterrent effect. It is also a disproportionate interference with the freedom of consumers. The consumption of drugs has always been part of human cultures. Nevertheless, the use of drugs should not just be considered as an expression of self-determined life. Rather, a drug-critical perspective is particularly needed where risky consumption or potential addiction is affecting the freedom and self-determination of consumers as a matter of fact. In addition, prosecution wastes the money, time and human resources of the law enforcement authorities. By relieving law enforcement authorities, the state would save about 1.8 billion Euros, which could be invested in drug prevention instead.
The current policy of prohibition provokes social damages – both nationally and internationally. In 2011 The Global Commission on Drug Policy, which includes many former heads of state and politicians such as Kofi Annan, Javier Solana and others, called for a radical change in global drug policy. The legalisation of cannabis in countries such as Uruguay, Portugal and the Netherlands or some US states has shown no increase in consumption. One hundred and twenty-two renowned German criminal law professors signed a resolution and called for an evaluation of the narcotic law. Nonetheless, the German Government still refuses to change its drug policy. It is time to take a different approach in Germany.
Consumption of cannabis can cause harm, as does consuming every other legal or illegal drug. However, experts rate the health dangers of cannabis far lower than those posed by alcohol consumption.
The health risks of cannabis use depend on the method and frequency of cannabis consumption. There are indications that high-frequency use of cannabis can lead to psychological addiction. Indeed, cannabis consumption in the development stage of children and adolescents may be harmful with long-term effects. Hence, children have to be protected effectively.
Consumers need to be educated to weigh potential risks, and to come to an informed decision. It is indisputable that people with severe drug addictions need help. Still a criminalisation of cannabis does not solve problems, instead it prevents an open approach to drug use, drug addiction and avoids easy access to support and treatment services.
The draft to regulate and control the cannabis market by the German Greens is an alternative to the current repressive drug policy. A regulated and controlled system of growth, trade and sale of cannabis would – as is not the case today – effectively protect consumers, and the youth especially.
According to the draft, adults would be allowed to possess 30g of cannabis or three cannabis plants for their own needs. The limited possession enables a differentiation between the possession for own needs and industrial cultivation, production and trade of cannabis. It is likely that three plants can produce more than 30 g of cannabis. Owners would be allowed to keep it for their own use, but it would be forbidden to sell self-planted cannabis.All stakeholders would have to meet strict personal and organisational requirements, documentation and reporting requirements, as well as high security requirements. The sale of cannabis and cannabis products would be permitted in licensed cannabis stores only. The products would have to meet high quality requirements. Contamination by pesticides as well as additions of alcohol or tobacco would be prohibited. The purity of the substance, as well as the content of active ingredients, especially of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), would be controlled. The sale by mail order, from vending machines or advertising of cannabis would not be approved.
The cannabis stores would have to fulfil strict conditions to guarantee youth protection. ID-checks at the store entrance would assure that children and adolescents do not enter the store. Moreover, the stores would have to maintain a minimum distance from children’s and youth facilities. The delivery of cannabis to minors would be prohibited and strictly punished.
A responsible cannabis use can be supported through information and education. Hence, educating customers about consumption risks and dangers of addiction, as well as information about consulting and treatments, would be obligatory. Therefore, the staff of cannabis shops would need to pass trainings for addiction prevention regularly. Furthermore, all products would be required to have a leaflet with instructions on dosage and effect, possible interactions, precautions, and emergency response plans. Additionally, applied warnings about the protection of minors and dangers of addiction should be printed on all products.
In the Highway Code, a threshold for cannabis while driving motor vehicles will be imported. Similar to alcohol consumers with a concentration of 5.0 ng / ml active THC in blood serum are not allowed to drive. In addition, there are rules that define when consumers have to check their fitness to drive.
The decriminalisation of consumers as well as the regulation of the cannabis market does not mean a release by the motto “Hemp for everybody”, a claim that was framed by early supporters of a comprehensive legalisation. The regulations in the draft are far more stringent even than for the sale of alcohol in Germany.
Evidence suggests a majority of adults would prefer the possibility to buy cannabis legally. Organised crime would be deprived of a major source of income and the black market will be parched. A black market for minors would not be profitable enough. Historical examples of a drug policy reform, such as the legalisation of alcohol in the USA, have shown these developments.
In order to capture consumer trends, consumer protection aspects and impacts on public health, the draft calls for regular evaluations. Every four years, the government would be obliged to submit a report to the German parliament. Hence, negative effects could be detected and counteracted in time.
The German Greens have presented the draft to the parliament in first reading in March 2015. After the debate, it has been referred to the Committee on Health for further consultations. Meanwhile some states and local authorities started initiatives to legalise cannabis. Pilot projects to regulate the cannabis market could be a chance to demonstrate positive effects of a new drug policy. Nevertheless, only a nation-wide law to regulate and control the cannabis market can be a long-term solution.


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SEX toy retailer Lovehoney yesterday said Brexit worries had not hit Brits in the bedroom.
The online firm, based in Bath, has seen profits surge by two thirds to £5.1million.
Owner Richard Longhurst said: “People were having sex before Brexit, and people are having sex after Brexit.”
He added: “Brexit hasn’t put people off having sex. After the result, some people might need cheering up and others might be celebrating.
“The only effect we have seen is in currency, but having international operations is a natural hedge. We feel confident that the business will continue to thrive.”
'SO AWKWARD'Jennifer Aniston shocks fans as she mentions 'sex toys' live on air - before meeting group of children
Around 80% of the Lovehoney’s sales are in the UK, but sales have been up in the US and Austrailia.
Mr Longhurst says the company can “keep it up” if the British ecomony hits hard times.
“During the financial crisis in 2008, sales continued to grow.
“When budgets are tight, people still want to enjoy themselves — and for £20 or £30, with one of our products, they can have many nights of fun,” he said.

domain: news


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Hyundai Motor India has posted a YoY and MoM growth in January 2023 with growth seen across domestic and export markets
Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has seen increased demand in the past month relating to higher domestic sales and exports. The company’s top performers continued to be SUVs such as the Tucson, Creta, Venue, Alcazar while the Kona Electric also brought in good sales.
Hyundai Sales Jan 2023
HMIL has posted a YoY growth of 13.82 percent to 50,106 units in Jan 2023. This was over 44,022 units sold in Jan 2022 relating to a 6,084 unit volume growth. MoM sales improved by 29.04 percent or 11,275 units from 38,831 units sold in Dec 2022.
It may be recalled that Tata Motors replaced Hyundai as No. 2 automaker in India after Maruti Suzuki in December 2022. That time, Tata Motors sales exceeded that of Hyundai by about 1,200 units. In Jan 2023, Hyundai has regained the No 2 position in the domestic market as Tata sales last month are at 48k.
Exports also improved on a YoY basis by 29.40 percent to 12,170 units in Jan 2023 from 9,405 units shipped in Jan 2022. This took total sales (domestic + exports) up to 62,276 units in Jan 2023, up 16.56 percent or 8,849 units when compared to 53,427 units sold in Jan 2022.
New Hyundai Lineup Planned
Hyundai Motor India launched the new Aura facelift last month. It is priced from Rs 6.29 lakh to Rs 8.72 lakh for petrol variants while its CNG counterparts come in at starting price of Rs 8.1 lakh and Rs 8.87 lakh (all prices ex-showroom).
The new Aura gets first in segment features that allow it to compete efficiently with the Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Tata Tigor and Honda Amaze which could also relate to increased sales in the months ahead.
HMIL will next launch the new 2023 Venue facelift and N Line. These will be introduced with a host of exterior and interior updates along with extensive safety equipment. Hyundai has also introduced some cosmetic updates to the Grand i10 NIOS which gets an RDE compliant petrol and petrol + CNG engine lineup.
Hyundai Genesis GV80 has also been spied on test in India. This is a luxury SUV that rivals the likes of Mercedes-Benz GLE, Audi Q7, BMW X5 and Volvo XC90. It is expected to be launched in India this year.


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Trade secret theft knows no borders in an age of cybertheft and global corporate espionage. But U.S. district courts are often too slow and procedurally ill-equipped to help in cases of international misappropriation, with several recent cases never getting off the ground because of problems serving foreign defendants. Increasingly, victims of foreign misappropriation are turning to the U.S. International Trade Commission — a body armed to hit back at trade secret thieves anywhere in the world.
For companies seeking to remedy the theft of trade secrets by overseas perpetrators, the options have been limited, especially if the thief or the products the thief produces are outside of the United States. Procedural hurdles like obtaining jurisdiction over a foreign company, or the perpetrator’s resident country being inhospitable to claims by an American victim, can thwart an American corporation’s ability to prosecute the foreign theft of its own trade secrets.
An ITC action doesn’t present these obstacles. First, the ITC is fast — it takes only about half the time to resolve an ITC investigation as it does to get to a final decision in a federal court. Second, the ITC is often more effective in international situations because, unlike federal courts, the ITC can enforce jurisdiction over foreign companies and has the necessary tools to get discovery from foreigners. These two necessary steps often can’t be achieved — or achieved effectively — if an American company chooses to bring suit against a foreign competitor in a U.S. district court.
The ITC has in rem jurisdiction over imported products, which means that no questions of personal jurisdiction need to be resolved. This also makes procedural issues easier in the ITC when suing a foreign defendant. For example, while American companies trying to effect service abroad can waste time, resources, and perhaps even fail entirely to serve due to complicated Hague Convention requirements, the ITC simply requires that the respondent be served with the complaint by first class airmail. And service is deemed complete in the ITC upon mailing — a much lower procedural bar to service than in district courts.
And although the ITC can’t grant monetary damages, it can ban companies from importing and selling their goods in the United States. This can be a crushing blow to competitors given the size of the U.S. market.
In 2011, the Federal Circuit’s ruling in TianRui Group Co. Ltd. v. U.S. International Trade Commission gave some encouragement to corporate victims looking for legal recourse for trade secret theft that occurs overseas. Even though the trade secrets at issue (1) were stolen in China, and (2) weren’t being used by the trade secret owner in the United States, the Federal Circuit still held that the case could proceed in the ITC. (As a side note, the Federal Circuit purported to apply a so-called “federal standard” of trade secret law. Whether such a law exists is a discussion for another time.) The ITC banned TianRui from importing products made with the misappropriated trade secrets for ten years — a huge financial hit to the company.
Since the TianRui ruling, a growing number of companies have started using the ITC as a forum to stop foreign-based misappropriation of trade secrets, whether perpetrated by competitors or by their own (former) employees.
In January 2013, Robotics company Innovation First International filed a complaint alleging that its competitor Zuru Toys, Inc. had paid off one of IFI’s China-based engineers to steal a design for a robotic fish toy, and that CVS was importing and selling the knock-off toy. The ITC opened an investigation a few weeks later.
And last month, the ITC issued an order banning importation of electric fireplace units made by the Chinese company Shenzhen Reliap. Twin-Star, a Florida-based company, claimed that one of its former employees who had worked on “kinetic sculptures” including “log sets, ember beds, grates and flames” had stolen its trade secrets and taken them to Reliap. Soon after hiring him, Reliap started making similar fireplace units — something that neither Twin-Star nor the ITC viewed as a mere coincidence. In effectively blocking Reliap from the lucrative U.S. market, the ITC showed that it can be an extremely effective venue to address the international misappropriation of trade secrets.


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Today, Double Fine art director Lee Petty (project lead on Stacking, among other things) tweeted the picture above, saying “This is what happens if you leave things on your desk at Double Fine…”
If we had any quibbles with Stacking, Double Fine’s acclaimed downloadable game, it’s that it felt held back in a semi-conspicuous way – one that might have foretold a sequel or a DLC extension. Lo and behold, the latter is indeed coming.
Double Fine’s Stacking is one of the newest perks for PS3 owners who subscribe to PlayStation Plus. PS+ members will get the Russian doll adventure on day one (February 8). More good PlayStation Plus news at the PlayStation.blog.


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Fake computer help fraudsters steal £21m from 22,000 victims in UK
Action Fraud is warning people to beware of computer software service fraud, often starting with a phone call, email or pop-up.
Monday 24 September 2018 07:22, UK
More than £21m has been stolen from over 22,000 people in the UK by fraudsters offering fake help with computer issues, according to new figures.
Action Fraud, the specialist nationwide reporting point for cyber crime run by City of London police, has launched a campaign to educate people about Computer Software Service fraud.
It can start with either a phone call, an email or a pop-up message appearing on your computer, telling you there's something wrong with it or with your internet connection, and claiming that it needs to be fixed.
The scammers will then demand payment to fix the issue, or they will trick victims into installing software on their computer which could allow the criminals to access personal and financial details.
Action Fraud stated it received 22,609 reports of Computer Software Service fraud with a total of £21,365,360 being lost over the last financial year.
According to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, men and women are equally susceptible to being targeted by the fraudsters, and victims are on average 63 years old.
The bureau's figures show that people living in London and Bristol are most likely to fall victim too.
Fraud became the most common type of crime in England and Wales in 2016 because of the increasing profits to be made through cyber fraud and computer misuse.
Protection advice from Action Fraud and City of London Police will be issued on their social media channels to help people learn how to protect themselves.
The forces are also encouraging businesses to warn customers that they will never be contacted in that way if any issues are detected.
City of London Police's Lara Xenoudakis said: "These fraudsters prey on vulnerable victims, doing everything they can to convince them there is something wrong with their computer.
"They use this as a way to gain immediate and in some cases multiple payments from the victim.
"During this campaign week, we are asking people to do everything they can to protect themselves from this type of fraud and stop fraudsters from thinking that this is an easy way to make money from unsuspecting victims."
Other officers are also contributing to the campaign.
City of London Police's protect officer Tony Murray has recorded a comedic video to inform people about fraud and is offering to spend the night in a "haunted" cell if his tweet receives 200 retweets.


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Inflation gauge closely tracked by Fed drops to two-year low
A measure of consumer prices that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve fell last month to its lowest level since March 2021, the latest sign that inflation in the United States is steadily cooling from its once-painful highs, according to the Associated Press.
Prices rose just 3% in June from 12 months earlier, down from a 3.8% annual increase in May, though still above the Fed’s 2% inflation target. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.2% from May to June, up slightly from 0.1% the previous month. Last month’s sharp slowdown in year-over-year inflation largely reflected falling gas prices, as well as milder increases in grocery costs.
Still, a measure of “core” prices, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, remained elevated even though it also eased last month. Those still-high underlying inflation pressures are a key reason why the Fed raised its short-term interest rate Wednesday to a 22-year high.
Today, a separate report from the Labor Department showed that a gauge of wages and salaries grew at a slower pace in the April–June quarter, suggesting that employers were feeling less pressure to boost pay as the job market cools. Employee pay, excluding government workers, rose 1% last quarter, down from 1.2% in the first three months of 2023. Compared with a year ago, wages and salaries grew 4.6%, down from 5.1% in the first quarter.
The Fed is closely watching the pay gauge, known as the employment cost index. Smaller wage increases should slow inflation over time, because companies are less likely to need to raise prices to cover their higher labor costs.
The inflation report that the Commerce Department issued Friday also showed that Americans’ willingness to keep spending, despite two years of high inflation and 11 Fed rate hikes over 17 months, remains a powerful driver of the economy. Consumer spending rose 0.5% from May to June, up from 0.2% the previous month.
The U.S. economy is in a hopeful but precarious place: A solid job market is bolstering hiring, lifting wages, and keeping unemployment near a half-century low. Yet inflation is weakening rather than rising, as it typically does when unemployment is low. That suggests that the Fed may be able to achieve a difficult “soft landing” for the economy, in which inflation falls toward the Fed’s 2% target without triggering a deep recession.


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The ongoing battle between President Donald Trump’s version of the facts and what the media is reporting has brought about an interesting public fight that has definitely caught the attention of these cartoonists in this slideshow.
Click here if your having trouble viewing this on your mobile device. Reading this on your phone or tablet? Stay up to date on Bay Area and Silicon Valley news with our new, free mobile app. Get it from the Apple app store or the Google Play store.


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Martins Hi-Fi and Meridian Audio
We recently hosted our new Meridian Experience, allowing customers to experience the new DSP9 speakers and our new Snug Home Cinema demonstration room with audio powered by in-wall DSPspeakers. It reminded me of an award sitting in our office, one that was proudly presented to the late Ted Martin after 45 years of partnership with Meridian.
Back in 1968, when Martins Hi-fi was established, both Bob and Allen were at University, Bob at Imperial College and Allen at the Royal College of Art but later, in 1972, they became the design team for Lecson Audio, a cult audiophile brand, which was stocked by the forward-thinking management of Martins Hi-fi. Ted was particularly admirative when shown an original Lecson system as part of Meridian’s show-piece museum.
Ted commented “Having heard good things about Lecson back in the seventies led to the first contact with Bob Stuart and Allen Boothroyd and of course later Meridian. Realising that Bob and Alan had the design and technology that was far ahead of anything else it made sense for Martins Hi-fi to retail their products. Now, 45 years later, Martins are still with Meridian as Premium Partners and Bob and Alan are still leading the field with design and technology!”
In honour of the event and the partnership, Meridian produced a one off commemorative plaque to celebrate the 45 year anniversary which was machined from special real wood as used in the manufacture Meridian loudspeakers.
This extract was taken from https://www.cinenow.fr/.../28432-meridian-audio-honors...


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Three startups which raised £1m in one hour
For many startups, the process of fund raising can be quite daunting. What method of raising do you use? How long is it going to take? To say nothing of the fact that it’s the time when founders and entrepreneurs have to stick their necks out and ask other people to invest and commit to their vision.
However, there are several examples on British crowdfunding investment platform Crowdcube, where raising has been rapid and significant. Here, we look at three startup companies that surpassed £1m worth of investment in less than a day.
Monzo: total raised on Crowdcube - £24.19m
Founded in 2015 the digital, mobile-only bank, raised £1m in a mere 96 seconds with its first Crowdcube raise in 2016. This was followed by two raises in 2017 of £2.3m and £878.11k, and another in 2018 of £20m, with £6,881,389 of that being hit in the first five minutes! The 2018 raise was the largest ever crowdfunding round for a fintech company. Following these three further raises, Monzo has asserted itself as the UK’s fastest growing bank.
Co-founder and CEO Tom Blomfield commented: “It’s so exciting when amazing investors back our mission to transform banking and make money work for everyone. With more than two million customers we’ve come a long way since we started but there’s still a lot more to be done - by listening to our community we’ll keep working hard to deliver the products our customers need to give them better control of their finances.”
In October 2018, it was announced that Monzo is now valued at £1bn, making this Crowdcube’s third unicorn, and means the challenger bank is valued at 40 times more than the valuation given at its first raise on Crowdcube in 2016.
Freetrade: total raised on Crowdcube - £9.95m
Founded by Adam Dodds in 2015, the stock investing app aims to make investment simple and free, opening up stock market investment to everyone in an industry where commissions are high, and products tend to be clunky and difficult to use.
An FCA-regulated stockbroker, their app is now available on iOS and Android in the UK with plans to launch in Europe. In 2018 the company raised £1m on Crowdcube in just 28 minutes and, following a further record-breaking crowdfund in April (£1.93m), they raised a further round of £3.79m in June to take its total raised to £9.95m.
Dodds commented: “We were the first online broker in Europe to offer commission-free investing, and the only one to be built mobile-first. We’ve built our product for millennial and digital natives that have investable assets but are turned off by the current incumbents that are too complicated and expensive.
Grind: total raised on Crowdcube - £6.59m
Founded in Shoreditch in 2011, Grind has spread across London and evolved into an award-winning group of central London locations serving coffee, food and cocktails, and is now one of the capital’s fastest growing hospitality brands.
Since its £1.29m Crowdcube bond raise in 2015 (achieved in under 24 hours), £1.91m Crowdcube equity raise in 2017 and £3.39m raise in 2019, Grind has grown to over ten locations plus a coffee roastery in Shoreditch.
Founder and CEO David Abrahamovitch commented: “Grind has evolved into an all-day, all-night, coffee, cocktail and restaurant brand with prime locations spread across central London. For our next phase of growth, we already have an amazing pipeline of sites secured for 2019 and beyond.
“Our sales have defied the industry, leading the sector with 19% like-for-like sales growth while most of the industry has been flat or in decline. This success coupled with the changing face of the high street, means we’re being offered more prime locations than ever before.”
Crowdcube was established by Darren Westlake and Luke Lang in 2011 and was inspired by an unshakable belief in entrepreneurs that dream big, push at the edges and want to make a difference.
Individuals’ investments are pooled, allowing entrepreneurs to secure funding directly from the general public as well as angels and professional investors. The key principle of this model is that anyone can invest money in return for equity in a business.
The platform’s mission is to make funding accessible for everyone, helping to fuel the next generation of business who want to leave a mark on the world. It does this by championing the big ideas that challenge the status quo, the power of people and community, and the grit, tenacity and hard work it takes to succeed.
Referring companies to Crowdcube can help tackle one of the biggest challenges facing growing businesses - raising finance. And Crowdcube work with the likes of Grant Thornton, SeedLegals, TribeFirst, Pearlfisher and Linklaters, to support growing businesses to achieve great things.


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OnePlus is currently working on a new smartphone, the OnePlus Nord 2T, which can be launched in the month of February this year. The smartphone has not been announced yet, but the specification has already been leaked on the internet. As per the new leak, the OnePlus Nord 2T, will offer great performance in the mid-range category and will come with a lot of new features at a great value. The leaks hint that the smartphone would come with a 6.43-inch AMOLED display, that will also have support for a 90Hz refresh rate. It will be a Full-HD+ screen with 2400×1080 resolution.
The phone is expected to be powered using a Dimensity 1300 chipset, which will be paired with RAM up to 12GB and onboard storage up to 256GB. One of the prominent features of the smartphone will be the 80W SuperVOOC fast charging capability paired with a 4,500 mAh battery. The phone will have the same charging technology as found in the OnePlus 10 Pro. The phone is also expected to come with a triple camera setup on the rear, where the primary camera sensor will be 50MP. along with an 8MP ultrawide and 2MP monochrome sensor.
The front will get a 32MP camera sensor for selfies. It will run on the Android 12 operating system out of the box and will run the OxygenOS 12 based on it. There is no confirmed date as to when the smartphone will be launched, but it is expected that the company will soon announce the date through social media handles.


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Why Canadians are delaying car purchases
Used car prices have shot to record highs and wait times for new vehicles can now take months as chip shortages have slowed down production. All of that has Canadians rethinking their car buying plans, according to a new survey.
The latest BNN Bloomberg RATESDOTCA survey, conducted by Leger, found that four-in-10 Canadians said they have made changes to their purchasing plans, with 13 per cent saying they were delaying their purchase as a result of high prices. The online survey of 1,538 Canadians was conducted between April 8 and 10.
The price of cars has been an issue in Canada since last year. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a trend of more Canadians opting to drive over taking public transit, which has increased demand and prices for vehicles. Supply chain shortages have also contributed to long wait times for new vehicles to be shipped to consumers.
The survey shows that Canadians are aware the current auto market requires making concessions. About 12 per cent of respondents said they changed or are expecting to change their choice of vehicle as a result of cost, while another nine per cent said they will change their choice because of availability. Another 25 per cent of respondents said they were planning to delay their purchase entirely due to cost or availability.
On the other hand, according to the survey, Canadian consumers are researching the vehicles they buy extensively before getting into the driver’s seat.
Two-thirds (68 per cent) of respondents said they factor in the cost of replacing and repairing a vehicle when they buy it, and how that impacts the insurance premium they pay on the car. The make and model of a vehicle can have a large impact on your monthly insurance costs — that’s because insurers look at how expensive a car will be to fix if it gets into a collision, as well as how often certain models tend to be involved in accidents. So, if your car is favoured by young people who love to speed, you’ll be paying higher insurance premiums.
Six-in-10 (61 per cent) respondents said that they consider a vehicle’s safety record or crash rating when they purchase a car, while half of respondents said they also consider the likelihood of accidents or theft.
While the majority of respondents were well informed about how the vehicle they buy impacts their car insurance rate, two-in-10 said they were not aware that factors like the cost of repairing a vehicle and its likelihood of getting stolen affected their insurance rate.


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This morning the latest AA/WARC Expenditure Report revealed that UK ad spend remained flat in Q1 2023, with year-on-year growth of 0.1 per cent, to reach a total of £9bn.
Susan McKay, International CMO at Dun & Bradstreet said: “As spend on search and online display rises, it’s clear that businesses are prioritising immediate discoverability, rather than wider brand building, to drive sales. And while it’s great to see growth in the UK advertising market as businesses fight back against the economic downturn, businesses must make sure they balance their marketing strategies to meet the changing needs of their customers without sacrificing brand identity.
“It’s vital that businesses use data-driven insights to adapt quickly to changing buyer conditions, re-balancing budgets to invest in channels and promotions that are converting best to ensure resilience. In fact, 82% of sales and market leaders we surveyed are already using data to assess business risk, meaning better insight into market opportunities, customer acquisition and retention. Ultimately these are the businesses who will be better equipped to navigate the current economic landscape while also future-proofing for growth.”


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A new hard drive from the Maxtor Corporation may make digital video storage problems a thing of the past. Maxtor recently released the DiamondMax 536DX, a hard drive that stores a whopping 100 gigabytes of data.
How much stuff can 100 gigabytes hold? Maxtor says the new drive, which is available for $299 at the company's Web site (www.maxtor
.com), can store up to 25,000 four-minute MP3 files or 100 hours of compressed digital video. The drive can also transfer data at an impressive 100 megabytes per second.
With this hard drive, Maxtor broke its own record of 80 gigabytes. Surprisingly, a 25 percent storage jump is below average compared with the 50 percent capacity increases that the industry has made in the last few years. Some manufacturers have predicted that storage capacity increases will cease as the physical barriers of hardware are approached, but I.B.M. announced recently that its researchers had extended a fundamental density limit for data. The company says it will soon be able to make a desktop drive capable of storing 400 gigabytes of data. Such a drive could hold the equivalent of 84 DVD's worth of data. Better start downloading.


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Dubai, UAE – January 22, 2013 – Dubai Airports is inviting specialist advertising companies to submit expressions of interest to be awarded the official concession for Concourse D, currently under construction at Dubai International.
Concourse D will become the new home of more than 100 international airlines that fly to and from Dubai International when it opens in 2015. The new facility, which will house all gates and extensive commercial outlets, will be linked Terminal 1 via a new elevated train.
On-airport advertising has become an increasingly important part of Dubai Airports’ non-aeronautical revenue, as the Dubai International’s growing network of destinations and ballooning passenger numbers allow brands to target a wide and cosmopolitan audience.
“As one of the busiest airports in the world, and given the global attention generated by the recent opening of Concourse A – the world’s first purpose built A380 facility – Dubai International offers potential bidders a very attractive proposition. With sustained passenger growth and our unique passenger profile, the case for continued growth within advertising is proven,” said Eugene Barry, SVP Commercial at Dubai Airports.
“Concourse D will be a modern and vital addition to Dubai International, ensuring that we not only cater for the growth in traffic but offer a travel experience our customers have come to expect. As a brand, Dubai Airports is globally associated with quality and innovation. We are keen to choose competent partners who will add to that reputation and contribute to our growth.”
Expressions of interest can be submitted in English for the attention of Eugene Barry, SVP Commercial, PO Box 2525, Dubai or email@example.com
and must include a company profile and contact details. The final submission date is noon on Friday, February 15, 2013. Based on the prequalification criteria included in the application, Dubai Airports will issue the Request for Proposal (RFP) documents in Q2 2013.


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Raimondo to attend World Economic Forum in Davos
By The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) _ Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo will be among the 2,500 participants attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Raimondo’s office said Wednesday that her trip to the Jan. 20-23 conference is part of her work to help attract new businesses to Rhode Island.
The $7,000 bill for Raimondo and an aide to travel to Switzerland will be paid for by the University of Rhode Island Foundation.
Notables expected to attend include U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, David Cameron of Britain and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan.
Business leaders will include General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, and the heads of the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and World Bank.
(C) The Associated Press 2015


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Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Ltd., both of them key suppliers to Apple Inc., have implied that orders related to the iPhone tailed off more than normal at this time of year.
Some of Apple’s iPhones are built with Qualcomm’s modems, which are chips for connecting to cellular networks. The San Diego-based chipmaker said Wednesday that orders from a large “thin modem” customer tailed off at worse-than-typical levels in the quarter. It was widely interpreted that the customer is Apple.
Apple reports earnings on Thursday, where it has projected revenue of $84 billion to $87 billion for the holiday quarter, including from its new flagship iPhone X, which went on sale in November. However, supply chain reports have indicated that the Cupertino, California-based technology giant has cut iPhone X orders in half for early 2018. Multiple analysts also have said the iPhone X was not the holiday smash hit that some expected.
Earlier on Wednesday, Broadcom said it expects a “greater-than-seasonal decline in wireless” components, indicating fewer than anticipated sales of its chips for its fiscal second quarter, which ends in April. Broadcom provides wireless network and Bluetooth components for the iPhone. Christopher Rolland, an analyst at Susquehanna Investment Group, pegged Apple as the reason for the order slowdown in a note Wednesday. Neither company mentioned Apple in its forecasts.
A smaller supplier, Qorvo Inc., predicted current quarter sales of as little as $645 million, missing analysts’ estimates by more than $100 million. Qorvo makes radio-frequency chips and gets about 40% of its sales from Apple, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Apple declined to comment on the suppliers’ forecasts.
A survey of seven analysts from Bloomberg estimates that Apple shipped 80 million iPhones in the holiday quarter of 2017, with an average iPhone selling price of $767, up from $695 a year earlier.
By Mark Gurman and Ian King


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FRANCE: Renault spending big on Romania R&D
Renault plans to invest around EUR100m over the next two years in Renault Technologies Romania (RTR), a regional engineering centre developing vehicles and powertrains to be made at regional plants or sold in central and eastern Europe, Turkey, Russia and North Africa.
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Asked if the iPhone maker should be exempted from tariffs, Trump said "We're looking at that." He cited rival smartphone maker Samsung, based in Korea, which doesn't face tariffs. "We have to treat Apple on a somewhat similar basis as with Samsung," Trump said.
Shares of Apple, which had been lower in after-hours trading Wedensday, turned higher after the comments, adding $1.37, or 0.5%, to $264.56 in recent action.
Trump's visit coincided with the company's launch of construction on a new campus in the area.
"With the construction of our new campus in Austin now underway, Apple is deepening our close bond with the city and the talented and diverse workforce that calls it home," Cook said in a statement earlier in the day.
Shipments of the new computers are slated to begin next month.
Shares of Apple fell $3.10, or 1.2%, to $263.19 Wednesday
Apple is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS member club.


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The luxury retail sector is expecting more Chinese tourists after three years of pandemic restrictions.
China announced Monday (Dec. 26) that it will lift international travel restrictions in January. This will allow the return of Chinese tourism, which is the world’s largest source of tourist spending, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday (Dec. 27).
These tourists also account for a large share of purchases of luxury goods. In the pre-pandemic year of 2018, Chinese consumers purchased about one-third of the world’s luxury goods, according to a Tuesday (Dec. 27) WSJ report, which cited research by Bain & Co.
As PYMNTS reported in April, global fashion, perfume, leather and liquor conglomerate LVMH told investors that its Asian revenues, excluding Japan — its single-largest geographic region which accounts for 37% of global revenue — saw first-quarter growth slow to 8% this year from 86% in 2021.
During the nearly three-year absence of Chinese tourism, several luxury retail locations in Europe have closed. By contrast, following the announcement of the easing of travel restrictions by China, some luxury brands’ stocks rose by as much as 2.5% as investors anticipated a return of these buyers, according to the WSJ report.
While Chinese consumers are expected to account for 17% to 19% of the world’s luxury spending this year, when their shopping has been slowed by pandemic restrictions, they’re expected to make up as much as 40% of the market by 2030, the report said, again citing figures from Bain & Co.
Travel bookings by Chinese consumers more than tripled when the lifting of the restrictions became known, according to Trip.com Group statistics mentioned in the report.
Chinese tourists purchase most of their luxury goods abroad to reap the authenticity factor, shop tax-free using European rebates and save on the overall base prices, which is often less than in China.
To cater to these customers, in the years before the pandemic, European retailers hired Chinese-speaking staff and focused on the products favored by tourists from China.
For all PYMNTS retail coverage, subscribe to the daily Retail Newsletter.


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Snap is giving advertisers discounts if they agree to buy ads this quarter using its internal platform, sources told CNBC.
An agency told CNBC that Snap was offering discounts to advertisers who haven't bought ads through its ad platform before. Another source confirmed similar concessions.
However discounts for new advertisers are not uncommon in the industry, the agency noted.
Snap shares declined as much as 4 percent in after-hours hours trading after the Digiday story published.
The news of Snap offering discounts was originally reported by Digiday on Wednesday. A media buyer told the publication Snap offered a 10 percent "bonus media coupon" for additional advertising space. Another agency said it got a 10 percent "reservation" discount, which would give it additional credit for any advertising bought through Snap's ad platform. One buyer also was offered discounts on ads bought through the platform.
Snap's revenue of $150 million last quarter, its first as a public company, fell short of analyst estimates, sending the stock down more than 20 percent. The company also added fewer users than projected.
On Wednesday, The Information also reported CEO Evan Spiegel "refused to accept" the company was facing a user growth issue. Competition is growing from Facebook, which has copied many of Snap's features.
Snap declined to comment.


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Julio Andino, who’s owned Gigio’s Pizzeria at 1001 Davis St. for the past 34 years, has sold the business to local bakery owners Dennis and Franny Clarkson.
The sale was announced by Ross Goldstein of InSite Commercial Realty, who represented Andino in the transaction.
Andino, who started delivering pizzas from the then newly-opened Gigio’s in 1965, a year after emigrating to Chicago from Ecuador, bought the restaurant in 1980.
“I have accomplished more than I ever dreamed of by owning this business,” Andino said in a statement. “Now I want to focus my time and energy on my wife, children and grandchildren.”
The Clarkson’s acquired the business, and a 10-year lease on the restaurant space, through their recently formed Savory, Inc.
Dennis Clarkson says, “Franny and I had been actively seeking an opportunity such as this, and we pursued it aggressively when Ross brought it to our attention. Gigio’s is a phenomenal business, and we intend to maintain existing standards of quality and update operations where possible.”
The husband and wife team previously owned and operated a restaurant on Beaver Island, Mich., for nine years.
They also own Crust and Crumb, which bakes artisanal breads sold at local farmers markets since 2011.
Offering online ordering and redecorating Gigio’s interior are among improvements the Clarksons plan for the near future.


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Xiaomi Mi Band 4 to come with NFC, ECG sensor: Report
Xiaomi’s Mi Band 4 is looking to be a major upgrade over the Mi Band 3. Here’s what we know so far about Xiaomi’s upcoming fitness band.
Xiaomi is gearing up to launch its next fitness band, Mi Band 4. The new fitness band from Xiaomi has been confirmed to launch this year and it could arrive as early as April.
Huami, the company behind Xiaomi's wearables recently confirmed the launch of Mi Band 4. At Huami's earnings call, David Cui, the company's Chief Financial Officer said, "For Mi Band 4, it's going to be in this year. It will be in 2019. But I'm not sure, it's going to be in March and April. But, it is going to be in this year."
With the launch of Mi Band 4 coming soon, the fitness band has also visited the rumour mill. Xiaomi Mi Band 4 was spotted on Bluetooth certification site revealing that the fitness band will come in two versions. Mi Band 4 (XMSH08HM) comes with support for NFC, while the XMSH07HM model lacks the same. This would a major upgrade over its predecessor, Mi Band 3.
The listing also showed the Mi Band 4 will support Bluetooth 5.0. In comparison, Mi Band 3 offers Bluetooth 4.2 for connectivity. There are some rumours around the Mi Band 4 coming with an ECG sensor, but details are still scarce on that. Another upgrade on the Mi Band 4 is expected to be a colour display.
The details on Mi Band 4 reveal to be a major upgrade over the Mi Band 3. Launched last September in India, Mi Band 3 is priced at ₹1,999. It comes with a 0.78-inch OLED display, a 110mAh battery, and heart sensor.


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Alert level 1 “necessary” to counter the global economic slowdown
MANILA – Presidential Advisor for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion has recommended maintaining Tier 1 alert status in the country, especially in Metro Manila and key cities, to counter the effects of the global economic slowdown caused by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Concepcion said in a statement on Monday that increased mobility and maintaining all economic activity would support gross domestic product (GDP) expansion and keep businesses afloat.
“We cannot stop the war in Europe, but we can help the country prepare for a crisis,” he said. “We are a consumer-driven economy. We depend on mobility.
Concepcion, who is also the founder of Go Negosyo, said the Ukraine-Russia crisis has disrupted the flow of raw materials to the world market and pushed up oil and wheat prices.
He added that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which are just recovering from the impact of the pandemic, will be the hardest hit by the spike in commodity prices caused by the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
“It has now become more urgent for the Philippines to maintain its Level 1 alert status until the end of the year,” Concepcion said. “Schools and offices have a massive multiplier effect in driving economic activity, especially with MSMEs like cafeterias, retail stores and transportation.”
In order to remain at Alert Level 1, Concepcion stressed the need for continued administration of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine and boosters.
“(W)e must continue to vaccinate, strengthen and keep our Covid indicators under control. If our Covid numbers increase again, our mobility will be restricted and we would reverse the gains we have made so far,” he said. (NAP)


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Initially, the Pune-based etailer, backed by SoftBank and Premji Invest, was considering a $600-700 million IPO, but has now decided to increase the offer size to as much as $1 billion. The company feels the market sentiment will be better and there will be enough appetite for good companies among public market investors by the time it can list here in the second half of the year, the people said.
As it gears up to file draft papers with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the company has also finalised the board approvals to convert itself into a public limited company from being a private limited company. This is a formal process required to be followed before seeking Sebi nod.
“They (FirstCry) have now finalised plans to make this a $1 billion issue size. The board approval is also in place where FirstCry parent Brainbees Solution has been converted to a public Ltd firm,” a person aware of the matter said.
Valuation and profit
FirstCry turned profitable in fiscal year 2021, as per recent regulatory filings, clocking a net profit of nearly Rs 216 crore compared with a loss of Rs 191 crore in the previous year. FirstCry reported operational revenue of Rs 1,603 crore in FY21, compared with Rs 814 crore the year before.
Started in 2010, Supam Maheshwari-led FirstCry may seek a valuation of close to $7 billion for its debut on Dalal Street, people aware of the matter said.
“The company being profitable will lead to FirstCry being able to seek a premium on valuation amid broader correction in late-stage, new-age companies. According to internal estimates, it plans to report an increased profit in the fiscal year of 2022,” this person said. The most updated financials of the company will reflect in its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).
When contacted, FirstCry’s Maheshwari declined to comment on the IPO plans.
ET reported on April 1 that FirstCry’s $240 million secondary funding deal with Indian sovereign wealth fund National Investment and Infrastructure Fund had fallen through. Existing investor Premji Invest was likely to step in and buy more in the company, the paper had reported.
Prior to the deal falling through, FirstCry had conducted a $315-million secondary share sale in March last year. SoftBank is its largest investor with an over 30% stake in the omni-channel etailer. It was last valued around $2.3-2.5 billion. It has around 600 stores in India and also has a presence in the UAE.
Other startup IPOs delayed
FirstCry’s DRHP filing next month will be coming at a time when startups like Delhivery and PharmEasy have had to postpone their listing plans due to volatility in markets, especially in new-age stocks like Zomato, Nykaa and Paytm. Both Delhivery and PharmEasy had secured Sebi’s nod and were initially planning to get listed in the last financial year ended March 31.
“We want to go public when our company is well understood. While valuation is one of the factors (for the delay), it is not a critical factor – since we do not require the capital, and market conditions currently are bumpy,” Sahil Barua, cofounder and chief executive at Delhivery, said at the Economic Times Startup Awards 2021 last month. Delhivery had filed its DRHP with Sebi for a $970 million IPO in November last year.
PharmEasy too is being cautious and trying to understand the pulse of the market in terms of demand for its stock. These startups are also tracking the much-hyped LIC IPO which is now expected to come next month after it got delayed due to market volatility amid the Ukraine-Russia war. ET reported on April 24 that LIC’s board had approved a 3.5% equity sale in the IPO for about $3 billion. Prior to markets turning choppy, it had plans for an issue size of over $8 billion.
SoftBank-backed Oyo Hotels & Homes had also filed for a $1.2 billion IPO with Sebi last November, but it has yet to secure the regulator’s nod. ET has also reported that its issue size was likely to be below $1 billion, going forward. Following Paytm’s disastrous debut on the bourses, its smaller rival, Mobikwik, put its listing plans on hold amid increased scrutiny and apprehension over fintech models and their ability to generate profits.


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So that's why I always see so many Japanese tourist in all my travels; they're there to shop! It's so much cheaper for them to just get their Gucci or Prada fix at places like Hawaii or Europe, where they don't have to pay an exorbitant mark-up of about 50 to 60 percent like they do in their own country.
Lets put this huge price difference into perspective. A wrap dress from Diane Von Furstenberg cost about 66,000 yen or $754 in Japan, while we pay about $325-$375 for the same dress in the U.S.!
Apparently, this ridiculous pricing discrepancy has been going on for decades now since the introduction of finer goods to Japan and the consumers warped impression of higher prices equals better quality has fueled this irregularity even more.
Currently speaking, the Japanese have started to embrace price comparison shopping like we do stateside to help curb the cost. They're also frequenting outlet malls, buy overseas while on vacation, or just forgoing luxury and consuming fast fashion (Nooooo!).
With the Japanese consumer diverting the spending money elsewhere, the demand for luxury goods have gone down but the prices are still up there. Brand representatives from Chanel and Prada argue that their prices are right on target with everyone else in the luxury category. Factors like transportation, taxes and exchange rates play a big part in how much an item cost once it hits the sales floor. A logical explanation that seem to fall on deaf ears as Asian consumers forge forward in finding the, "bigger and better deal".
To conclude, if high-end brands want to keep their buyers in Japan happy, they're going have to level the pricing field a little or risk losing a sizable chunk of their Asian market. What company wants that in this kind of loss in this volatile economy? Not one of them, I bet, since they probably can't afford that luxury.
Photo: associated press
Source: wwdSee the Top Ten Summer 2016 Trends for Women Over 40


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The way immigrant-owned small businesses sustain relatives back home is a testament to entrepreneurial ingenuity underscored as the political unrest unfolds in Egypt.
Take Sharif Alexandre, the 38-year-old Egyptian-born founder of an electronic payment service in Philadelphia called Xipwire. He’s betting technology like his – which lets people send secure payments within the U.S. using mobile phones – will help centralize money for delivery to Egypt.
“This can be an organic effort,” said Alexandre, a Coptic Christian who is launching a Twitter campaign to rally like-mind Egyptian Americans. Earlier this year he ran a texting effort to send aid to a Christian church in Egypt following a bomb attack.
“Hopefully with this situation now gaining more mainstream press and attention that maybe people will be motivated to act within their own communities,” he said.
But even then, getting money from here to there, especially during times of government upheaval, remains a daunting task.


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Target announced its transgender bathroom and fitting room policy two months ago.
Since then, more than a million customers have pledged to boycott Target, fearing for the safety of their wives and children.
Instead of respecting the concerns of his customers, Target’s CEO Brian Cornell rebuffed these concerns at the company’s latest annual shareholders’ meeting.
“We’re a company that believes strongly in diversity and inclusion,” Cornell told his shareholders. He also emphasized his commitment to public safety.
Some shareholders have concern about the company’s bottom line. The store’s stock has already fallen fifteen dollars a share, and more stores are cutting hours. If they had simply created more unisex, single-stall bathrooms, that shift would have attracted far less controversy.
In spite of these concerns, Cornell is keeping the transgender policy. The CEO even compared this fight to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, when individuals did not want to dress near people of a different skin color.
That comparison is offensive and false.
Are Americans bigots simply because they do not believe that men should be allowed to enter women’s bathrooms and fitting rooms?
Fearing for their safety and their opposition to the transgenderism movement, customers are boycotting the store in larger numbers. The American Family Association started a petition to #BoycottTarget, which 1.3 million people have already signed.
Check out this video, where pro-family protesters are lined up outside the annual Target shareholders meeting, which took place in Costa Mesa, California.
What do you think? Email me at email@example.com


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|08/15/17||Echelon Earns Recognition in 2017 Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Progress Report|
|Echelon InSight™ Cognitive Vision System Recognized as Significant Achievement
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Echelon Corp (NASDAQ:ELON), the original Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) company, today announced that the IES Progress Committee has recognized the Echelon Insight Cognitive Vision System for inclusion in the 2017 Progress Report. Each year, products, research and activities that showcase significant technical advancement in the art and science of lighting ... |
|08/03/17||Echelon Reports Second Quarter 2017 Results|
|Exceeds Top-Line Expectations
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017.
"For the second consecutive quarter sales of our embedded Internet of Things (IoT) products performed better than expected, reflecting buoyant end user demand for well-proven technologies," said Ron Sege, Chairman and CEO. "Our connected lighting solutions showed f... |
|07/24/17||Echelon Reports Second Quarter 2017 Earnings Release Date|
|SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Echelon Corp., (NASDAQ: ELON), a leading independent control networking company for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), will announce results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017 on Thursday, August 3, 2017 after market close.
Supplying investors with timely updates and supplemental information remains a priority for Echelon. The Company has elected to report its quarterly earnings results and co... |
|07/20/17||Open Standard LON® Communications Protocol to Run Over Wireless Mesh for the First Time|
|New RF Solution Using Echelon's Neuron® 6050 Processor Enables Multi-Vendor Interoperability of Large-Scale Wireless Networks Worldwide
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Internet of Things pioneer Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) today announced that the company's new Neuron 6050 multi-protocol system on a chip is being used by who Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH to create a new transceiver that leverages Wirepas Connectivity RF-mesh wireless technology for the first time. The ... |


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A GERMAN clothing company favoured by neo-Nazis and football hooligans have caused outrage by shooting a catalogue in Scotland.
Thor Steinar – whose goods have previously been banned in Europe because of their echoes of SS regalia – used locations across Scotland.
The shoot emerged weeks after a Thor Steinar outlet was opened at the heart of London’s Jewish community, yards from the office of the chief rabbi.
Gerry Gable, of the anti-racist Searchlight magazine, said: “It’s very concerning - I think this brand have misunderstood the politics of Scotland.
“They love certain elements of its Celtic and Viking past and think that this has something to do with the far right.
“Thor Steinar’s logo is a variation of the Nazi Wolf’s Hook symbol used by the SS and by extremist post-war international Nazi groups.”
Thor Steinar’s catalogue shows their clothing, which features rune symbols and Germanic lettering, at sites including the Falkirk Wheel, the Forth Bridge and various parts of Edinburgh.
Vicky Burns, of Show Racism the Red Card Scotland, said: “It’s sad to see a brand which has been associated with the far right choose Scotland as a venue to promote their clothing.
“The vast majority of Scots believe the views of neo-Nazis to be abhorrent and are likely to steer clear of clothing popular with them.
“It reinforces the need for raising awareness of the history of the far right and the damage racist beliefs and behaviour can do.”
In 2012, eight members of the far-right German National Democratic Party were expelled from Saxony’s state parliament for wearing the brand’s T-shirts.
The new shop in Finchley, London, has a Wolfsangel-style Nordic rune above the door.
And variations of the symbol, which was adopted by some Waffen SS units, feature on the brand’s T-shirts and hoodies.
In 2012, Thor Steinar caused a storm of protest after naming a new German store Brevik – which critics claimed was in honour of right-wing Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik.
The brand claimed it was named after a Norwegian town but later changed the name and removed the sign.
Thor Steinar clothes are banned from the Bundestag– Germany’s parliament – as well as the state parliaments of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony and Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen’s stadiums.


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Dominion Workers Overwhelmingly Vote to Strike
UNIFOR Local 597, the union that represents Dominion workers in the province announced this afternoon that their members have overwhelmingly voted to strike.
After the votes were counted, 94 percent voted to strike.
The union has set a strike deadline of 12:01 am Friday, July 31, 2020.
Dominion Stores is the primary brand name of the major-market supermarkets of Loblaw Companies Limited in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.


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We managed the event activation at the Virgin Kitesurfing Armada for FatFace
We delivered an amazing weekend of activation for our client FatFace - including FatFace parkour sessions, Wildlife workshops, the FatFace family zone and the FatFace chill out zone. We had the giant deckchair with a social media campaign, driving fans to the FatFace Instagram channels. Not to mention the FatFace store hut, with all the latest seasonal clothing on sale. We were proud to build and design most of our store hut from recycled or reclaimed wood and pallets.
On the water at the event itself, British kitesurfers ruled the waves at the British Kitesurfing Championships on Hayling Island
Kitesurfer, Tom Bridge (16) that Into the Blue managed, took the top spot at the British Kitesurfing Championships on Hayling Island last weekend, 10th and 11th June.
The event, which took place during the famous Virgin Kitesurfing Armada festival, saw some of the UK's top kitesurfers take to the water in the grueling two day long competition.
Perfect kitesurfing weather, the weekend's strong winds made for a highly competitive event. Tom Bridge – who is only 16, yet took on fully grown men in the competition - thought the conditions on the water were in his favour though, saying: "The conditions have been great this weekend. It's been such a good event for me, and I felt like I delivered a really solid final performance. To come away with a win was brilliant."
Tom Bridge has recently signed to Red Bull and gained the support of international lifestyle retailer, FatFace along with the rest of his superstar family.
"For Team Bridge it is great to be newly supported by FatFace," said Tom. "They've come onboard as a family sponsor, but also supporting the Youth Academy that we run."
The FatFace Ambassador Programme – of which Team Bridge and their youth academy are a part – has been announced as part of the retailer's summer campaign to promote life outside the 9-5. The programme is complimented by the launch of this season's incredible competition to win everything you need to have an awesome summer – a prize package worth over £10,000, including £1,500 of FatFace clothing, a holiday, £1,000 spending money, festival tickets, camping gear, SUP boards, apple watches and a Go Pro, just to name a few.
To be in with a chance of winning, head to www.fatface.com/competition to enter.


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Conventionally, the US consumers patiently wait for Black Friday deals prior to making their holiday shopping. Marketers associate Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) with the start of the Christmas shopping season that accounts for more than 20% of overall annual sales. On this day, retail stores set discounts on their items, and this way boost customer purchasing activity.
Statistical figures indicate that there were three million more shoppers in the US in 2013 compared to 2012 on Black Friday. Marketing analysts associated the growth with the improvement of household balance sheets while more people got employed.
Alongside with Black Friday, retail stores apply CyberMonday to offer discount deals and vastly sell online. According to ComScore, CyberMonday online sales reached a $1.46 billion in 2012 that made a 17 percent increase from the $1.25 billion in 2011, $1.02 billion in 2010, and $887 million in 2009. However, given the year-after-year increase of CyberMonday sales, they are still keeping behind the amount of Black Friday sales that showed a total spending amount of $59.1 billion in 2012, $52.5 billion in 2011, $45 billion in 2010, and $41.2 billion in 2009, respectively. Nonetheless, over the last five years, 40% of Black Friday shopping got onto popular online sites, including ‘Target’, ‘Best Buy’, and ‘Kohls’. The popularity of online shopping trend is growing, while 19% more shoppers expressed their desire to buy online on Black Friday.
Thus, retailers are emphasizing on a combined brick-and-mortar approach while boosting Black Friday sales. While going online, retailers consider the fact that 23% of shoppers prefer seeing a physical item prior to purchasing it. At that, almost 61% are unaware of what they are going to buy on Black Friday, and instead are just looking for discounts.


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The trend toward a mobile workforce isn’t reversing itself anytime soon.
Ken Goldstein follows an ad through the chain from advertiser to consumer, and wonders why Facebook is still targeting him with ads for French Maid Costumes.
Picking up an expensive cup of coffee comes with a great treat, this week only, while supplies last.
New technology makes your smartphone waterproof … if you feel like trusting a company you never met with your stuff.
Apple’s gaming situation just go so much more real with a console-styled controller to enhance game play.
There’s a company that knows everything on your smartphone … and there’s not much you can do about it.
A summary of news items from our webcast It’s Komplicated on the Geekweek Network.
We break down the nitty gritty details on the new products and services from Apple, and tell you when you can get more info.
You think you’re so safe, surfing away at Starbucks? Even more of your digital life is at risk. Again.
A new study states that your mobile phone is not linked to cancer or brain tumors.
MIT’s Technology Review is ringing a death knell for every fart emulator and tip calculator on the market, and you can find out why.
Android’s legendary fragmentation limits the number of devices that can see the Netflix goodness.
Note: I don’t know Chas personally, but my understanding is that he’s British.Bio: Chas is an upper middle 40’s musical nutcase brought up on a solid diet of The Clash, Stella Artois, Leeds United, designer football violence, hip shaking dance music and small scale civil disobedience, now ‘jailed’ in Toronto despite numerous failed escape attempts.…
I feel like Ghandi. When did poker become Jerry Springer?Not being able to sleep last night, I decided to fire up the Macbook and played a little online poker. I normally roll into Full Tilt to play because the players are generally pretty cool. That and it’s about the only one I can play on…


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There has been a deluge of PlayStation news in the past week. The departure of Shawn Layden, the official launch of crossplay support on PS4, PlayStation Now price cuts, and a more in-depth look at the officially named PlayStation 5. But the news keeps coming. Let’s Go Digital has uncovered a Sony patent for a new VR headset. You may remember them as the group that uncovered the patent that was revealed to be the PlayStation 5 devkit, so there’s a history here.
I can almost pinpoint the exact moment when Sayonara Wild Hearts captured my heart. It was during the E3 2018 Nintendo Direct, I was immediately charmed by the short trailer shown. It showcased the game’s brilliant art style which is beautiful, distinct, and bold while having fluid animations and cohesion despite the multitude of distinct levels and mechanics that propel players through this experiential album. But a trailer can only tell so much about a game, especially one like Sayonara Wild Hearts.


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Congress sets the rules but farm subsidies are ‘a great investment,’ says Perdue
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue steered clear of a farm bill squabble on Tuesday that has Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley considering a vote against the bill because it would relax crop subsidy limits.
DOJ’s stance on California egg law could bode well for other states
In a surprising amicus brief, the Justice Department last week recommended that the Supreme Court not hear Missouri’s challenge to California’s animal-welfare laws, which mandate larger cages for some farm animals. The stance could bode well for animal-welfare advocates fighting for similar legislation in other states.
A road map to feed the world and cut emissions by 2050
What will it take to feed 9.7 billion in 2050 and prevent catastrophic climate change? The short answer: a lot of work. If today’s system of food production and consumption continues unimpeded, the results will be disastrous for the climate, land use, biodiversity, equity and food access, a new report says.
Undercurrent of concern among producers about farm economy
Few farmers—only 13 percent—surveyed for the Ag Economy Barometer said they expect farm profitability to improve in the year ahead.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Panel to vote on USDA nominees (Senate Agriculture Committee): Following a cordial hearing a week ago, the Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to vote today on three nominees for senior USDA posts, with the possibility of confirmation before Congress adjourns for the year.
Another ag-gag challenge (Animal Legal Defense Fund): A coalition of animal rights and environmental groups has filed a lawsuit against Kansas’ ag-gag law, arguing it violates the First Amendment.
JBS recall expands (FSIS): A salmonella outbreak, in beef produced by JBS, has sickened 246 people since October; FSIS has recalled another 12 million pounds of beef produced by the Brazilian company.
Groceries and prescriptions in one stop (Wall Street Journal): Kroger will begin selling groceries at 13 Walgreen’s locations next year, as both companies seek to compete in a merger-mad retail grocery economy.
A tinned-tuna takedown? (New York Times): Among the many products that millennials have supposedly killed—cereal, napkins, home ownership—is canned tuna, sales of which have been declining for decades, according to Big Tuna.
Missouri says no to new dicamba rules (St. Louis Post-Dispatch): State officials decided they don’t need to strengthen the EPA’s rules on use of the weedkiller dicamba, although some experts doubt that the EPA went far enough to address the problem of drift-related damage to neighboring crops.
America’s Farm Report is featured on Feedspot’s Top 20 Farm Blogs! See more here: https://blog.feedspot.com/farming_blogs/
Keep up with more daily news with our daily farm & agriculture report at America’s Farm Report.


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Qantas is a new entrant into the industry of non-fungible tokens and is set to become an NFT brand. The airline dates back to more than 100 years and it is the airline’s flexibility to constantly transform with time, that helped to keep the company alive.
The airline company aims to join the ranks of other early entrants into the industry like Adidas. Yes, other big names like Coca-Cola are also on the bandwagon already, but what makes Qantas different is the token utility.
Since its inception, Qantas has stood tall on three pillars namely Delivering Today, Looking Ahead, and Acting Responsibly. The focus has always been on optimizing the value for stakeholders while creating opportunities for its people and amazing experiences for customers.
Qantas NFT utility
The soon-to-be-released NFT collection has been teased by Qantas on their website. The airline has announced that it will be a collection of its memorabilia.
Just like every other NFT collection, Qantas will also rely on blockchain technology. It will ensure that all the pieces of its non-fungible tokens are unique and that they can be bought, owned, collected, & sold easily in the NFT marketplace.
Qantas has already made its NFT offering unique by deciding to reward the first buyer of Qantas NFT with a Qantas Point. This is the first-ever incident where an NFT holder is getting the opportunity to immediately earn a redeemable value on his or her purchase of a non-fungible token.
The airline is working to offer more benefits and rewards to its NFT holders in the future
NFT releases have always attracted attention due to the high consumption of energy throughout the process. In the case of Qantas, the airline has announced on its website that its NFT release will be on platforms with low-carbon usage and carbon offsetting. The release will additionally ensure that there is net-zero emission in the process.
Non-fungible tokens have always been tipped in the manner of supporting a local artist from any part of the world. The entry of Qantas signifies that NFTs have the capability to expand the horizon of the industry.
Anyone who buys Qantas NFT automatically becomes an investor in the brand. The holder is expected to gain special access to many exclusive services and products of Qantas in the future.
Bored Ape Yacht Club, for example, started only with a chat room and a graffiti board. Later, it went on to invite its holders for social events and even for an actual yacht party. The collection has made a stir more than a few times, due to Opensea hacks and by being celebrities’ favourite. And still, it stays strong, especially with the recent announcement that its founding Yuga Labs has acquired Cryptopunks and Meebits.


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On Saturday the entreprenurs in Boden was hailed at Bodens Näringslivsgala. A total of nine awards were presented and among the winners was our tenant Monica Helin at aMHigo who won the award as the year's start-up with the following statement:
"The entrepreneur has with her long experience in a short time managed to build a business with well experienced aswell as newly examed staff. With her organizational skills the person has developed processes to satisfy a growing demand in the public sector. In a short time the company has grown both organizationally and geographically. "
We at Boden Business Park are incredibly happy and proud of Monica who made a fantastic journey as an entrepreneur. It will be incredibly exciting to follow the development of aMHigo who's steadily growing every month that passes.


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Nissan on Saturday night introduced the Leaf, a battery-powered four-door hatchback with a range of 100 miles and a top speed of 87 miles an hour. The Japanese automaker described the Leaf, which is scheduled to be available in the United States market in the latter half of 2010, as the first real-world electric car.
That must have rankled Th!nk, the Norwegian electric car company formerly owned by Ford. The Think City, a highway-capable two-seater with a 112-mile range, began rolling off the assembly line in December 2007.
But the company halted production late last year as in the wake of the global economic crisis. Think subsequently obtained new financing and announced last week that it would begin selling electric drivetrains powered by lithium-ion batteries from the American manufacturer EnerDel.
Its first big customer: the Japanese postal service, which will convert some of its 22,000-vehicle fleet to electric drive.
According to Think’s chief executive, Richard Canny, the new drivetrain business is crucial to Think’s strategy in the increasingly competitive electric vehicle — or E.V. — market.
“We’re the only one out with a fully integrated E.V. drive system,” Mr. Canny said in an interview over the weekend. “It’s an opportunity to get further volume and scale on the technology we already have. And it helps us get better pricing on components and further our development of E.V. drivetrain systems.”
Mr. Canny, an Australian-born former Ford executive, was in Detroit last week to check in with a small team working on the company’s application for a Department of Energy loan guarantee that would allow it to build an American assembly plant in 2010. Eight states, including Michigan and Oregon, are vying for the factory along with a research and development center.
“We’re down to an undisclosed short list now, and we’ll probably chose a state within the next 30 to 45 days,” Mr. Canny said. “We’re faster than anyone else as we actually have a car ready to go.”
Engineers are tinkering with the City’s programming to raise its top speed to 70 or 75 mph from the current 62 so it isn’t blown away on American highways.
Think’s North American operation — backed by the venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Rockport Capital Partners — plans to initially sell or lease the City to corporate fleets, and seed the car in select markets through car-sharing services like ZipCar.
The tiny City may face a tough road in the American market, though, with bigger electric vehicles hitting the streets — including the Leaf, which Nissan says it will produce in the hundreds of thousands. Development of a potential competitor to the Leaf — a futuristic four-door, five-seater called the Think Ox, has been postponed, Mr. Canny said.
“We don’t have enough capital to do the car ourselves,” he said. “The battery technology is not probably ready for a vehicle of this size.”
The company’s focus in the near future is likely to remain on Europe, where small urban runabouts are popular and government incentives have led to deals to sell the City in Austria, the Netherlands and Spain. Mr. Canny said Th!nk, whose investors include General Electric, was reviving its supply chain and expected to resume production of the City at its Aurskog, Norway, plant this year.
“The market is going to develop much faster than people expect,” he said. “The Chinese are going to be a strong competitors as well as Nissan and Mitsubishi.”


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YouTube Shorts have amassed billions of views since 2021, however some workers are anxious the platform is dropping focus. Right here’s the most recent.
In line with a brand new report from the Monetary Occasions citing senior workers, many are anxious that Shorts are cannibalizing its core enterprise. YouTube Shorts draw away views from conventional long-form video content material on the platform, based on the identical workers. Some technique conferences on the platform have mentioned dangers to long-form movies as they produce extra income for the corporate than short-form video at present does.
TikTok has pushed almost each single competing social media platform to experiment with short-form video in some format. Instagram launched Reels after beta testing the idea as a separate app in areas like Brazil in 2019 and 2020. The format has exploded amongst younger folks, particularly because the pandemic. Gen Z is interested in short-form movies which require much less consideration and are sometimes supplied up in a feed pushed by a discovery algorithm that requires solely minimal interplay to ‘practice.’
YouTube has reported its first quarterly decline in advert income, with some senior workers expressing concern over inside firm figures. These figures recommend creators don’t make as a lot long-form content material anymore, which is partially pushed by shoppers now not wanting to look at prolonged movies. Manufacturers additionally would somewhat type a sponsorship deal that encompasses a number of short-form video blasts than an simply skippable phase of an extended video.
“Longer movies imply extra alternatives to serve promoting and have a better click-through fee on adverts to e-commerce websites, based on folks conversant in YouTube’s enterprise,” the Monetary Occasions writes.
YouTube Shorts is providing new modifying instruments to attempt to appeal to creators to its platform. YouTube is enlisting the assistance of Google’s AI division, DeepMind, to design synthetic intelligence options like sooner video compression earlier than a consumer posts a video to the platform.
Round 10% of creators at present use YouTube’s short-form video modifying instruments in comparison with different platforms like TikTok. Each YouTube and Instagram downrank movies on their respective platforms that function the TikTok watermark.


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Sister Sean Mayer and Sister Patricia Lane, FSP are still handling phone and in-store orders before the holidays. (Photos: Erin DeGregorio)
The bookstore's in-house chapel with the Blessed Sacrament is currently closed to customers.
The Daughters of St. Paul recently wrote, designed, and illustrated a volume of 365 saints and blesseds. "In Caelo et in Terra: 365 Days with the Saints" is available for purchase in stores and online.
ROSE HILL — Even during a global pandemic, the Daughters of St. Paul continue to spread God’s word through a newly launched podcast series and brick-and-mortar operations. Here in New York City, one can find a group of nuns prepping for the Advent and Christmas seasons in the Pauline Books and Media storefront. Though caution is at an all-time high again with a second wave of rising cases, their devotion to the Catholic faith remains strong.
“This is an amazing way to, in a sense, plop and spread the message of the Gospel in the middle of a busy city, on the street,” said Sister Sean Mayer, who currently manages the Lower East Side store. “And where would we be without the church’s outreach to the hungry and the poor? In a sense, this is our outreach to those who are spiritually hungry and poor.”
The Manhattan location not only sells Bibles and other spiritual-related books in English and Spanish for its bilingual customer base, but also offers anything one would need to learn more about or grow in their faith — from rosary beads to pocket-sized prayer cards to illustrated books for children. However, this year, sales have greatly fluctuated, and inventory has been difficult to manage.
Business Management During Uncertainty
When the store was forcibly closed on St. Patrick’s Day, the four sisters had to operate out of their Staten Island convent, with limited stock, for mail orders. Sister Sean noted that they called their frequent customers and benefactors, keeping in touch to see how everyone was doing as the pandemic began to unfold. Then, two weeks after Easter, Sister Sean commuted from one island to the other, taking phone calls and fulfilling new orders.
“Oh my goodness, we gathered so many prayer intentions as we all lived through negotiating our own fears at that time,” she told The Tablet in mid-November. “March and April were nuts in New York City.”
As the months continued, the store improved its website, began offering curbside service, and later reopened its doors to in-person customers by Labor Day. The combined First Holy Communion and Confirmation season, which was non-existent in the spring, slowly resurfaced in the fall as parishes began celebrating those sacraments of initiation again. As a result, according to Sister Sean, more people called the sisters and hesitantly asked, “Do you have communion cards?”
“We’d say, ‘Yes, we do!’ ” Sister Sean said with a big smile behind her mask.
Weekly and Sunday missiles have been popular pandemic purchases by customers, according to Sister Sean, since attending Mass in person may not be possible. The store has also seen an uptick in customers who are stopping by from the nearby hospitals, such as Tisch Hospital, NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, and VA New York Harbor Healthcare System’s Manhattan campus.
“Maybe they’ve had a bad diagnosis, or maybe something’s happened, and they need a God moment,” she continued. “We are that God moment for them, and it’s part of their journey of connecting or reconnecting to the church, which is beautiful.”
Independent Booksellers Struggle
As Pauline Books and Media began to see business slightly pick up in the fall, across town, The Strand Bookstore posted a social media outcry for support and help. Strand owner Nancy Bass-Wyden said revenue went down 70%, compared to 2019 figures, due to a decline in foot traffic, tourism, and in-store events.
“I’m very grateful that people come in or call and buy things in physical bookstores, rather than going to various big box, online options,” Sister Sean said, adding that she believes there’s a real reading culture in Manhattan. “I admit, they’re very convenient, but they’re brutal for us and other bookstores.”
Due to the spotlight on Strand, Pauline Books and Media received more calls — which resulted in a peak for sales during October. However, sales decreased the following month, and overall sales “are seriously way down from this time last year,” according to Sister Sean.
Some international clientele, which usually would’ve purchased large amounts of English-language material during their trips to New York, haven’t occurred due to limited international travel and lockdowns. Sister Sean further explained that people from the Caribbean islands or Europe would usually buy a mix of catecheses for their families, liturgical books, or the latest publications regarding spirituality or theology.
Additionally, this Christmas season has been challenging to predict due to the possible second wave of COVID-19 that New York City could face this holiday season.
“You need to have the Christmas cards, nativity sets, and other things, but it’s a fairly narrow window of time to sell the stock,” she said, noting that she’s purchased half of her usual amount of cards. “And if you don’t sell it, you’re stuck with it for the rest of the year. That’s a lot to carry for nine months until you get to pull out that Christmas stock again.”
Pauline Books and Media (115 East 29th Street) is open Monday through Saturday, 11 am to 4 pm, and can be reached at 212-754-1110.


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BioShock 2 vanished overnight from all digital channels including Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam, “celebrating” its fifth anniversary since the release.
The de-listing seems to be only temporary, after 2K Games made a statement about the issue:
“BioShock 2 has been temporarily removed from the Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network marketplaces and will return to these digital stores soon. We’ll let you know when that happens. In the meantime, this in no way affects the single-player or multiplayer experience for those who currently own BioShock 2.”
Bioshock remains one of my favourites video games franchises of all-time and it will be a shame to be unable to enjoy these classic games when the nostalgia kicks in.


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Cartier, a division of Richemont North America, was awarded a final judgment on consent in a trademark lawsuit against Citra Trading Corporation in Manhattan federal court. According to court documents filed on June 15, Cartier and Citra reached a settlement agreement. Initially, Cartier alleged that Citra had infringed on its “screw head bracelet” design. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Aedes de Venustas filed a lawsuit against Venustas International in Manhattan federal court for allegedly infringing on its trade name and trademark. Aedes de Venustas is a specialty retailer of fragrance, bath and body products. Venustas International is a company run by Robin Burns, who was recently tapped to develop a beauty collection for Ann Taylor Stores. Burns was not specifically named as a defendant in the lawsuit. According to court documents filed in late May, Aedes de Venustas said that, following articles about Burns and Venustas International’s partnership with Ann Taylor, it “received numerous telephone calls from people in the fashion and beauty field congratulating the Plaintiff on or asking about its new contract with Ann Taylor.” The company also received invoices intended for Venustas International. Aedes de Venustas said the calls and mail are evidence of actual confusion regarding the two company names. Aedes de Venustas asked the court for preliminary and permanent injunctions, damages and trial costs. Neither Venustas International nor Ann Taylor returned calls for comment by press time.
Chanel filed a lawsuit against Lori Dawn Langdon, who does business as Boca Bags, in federal court in the Southern District of Florida for alleged trademark infringement. According to court documents filed on June 13, Chanel charged that the defendants sold handbags, wallets and sunglasses that it alleged are counterfeits bearing copies of its trademarks. The lawsuit includes allegations of trademark counterfeiting and infringement and false designation of origin. Chanel asked the court for a preliminary and permanent injunction, financial damages and trial costs. The defendants did not return requests for comment.
Separately, Chanel filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against Linda Allen, who does business as European Beauty Fashions, My Classy Fashion, Ultimate Designer Handbags and affiliated Web sites. According to legal papers filed June 7, the defendants allegedly sold counterfeit handbags, wallets, watches, necklaces, costume jewelry and sunglasses that infringed on Chanel’s trademarks. The complaint included allegations of trademark counterfeiting and infringement, false designation of origin, and trademark dilution. Chanel asked for a preliminary and permanent injunction and damages. The defendants did not return calls seeking comment.Chanel filed another trademark-infringement lawsuit in New Jersey federal court against Joseph Mosseri and a number of Web sites he operates and Modena Apparel Corporation and affiliated Web sites on June 5. According to court documents, the defendants allegedly sold counterfeit Chanel merchandise, including handbags. The complaint includes allegations of trademark counterfeiting and infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition. Chanel asked the court for a preliminary and permanent injunction and financial damages. The defendants could not be reached for comment.
Louis Vuitton Malletier was awarded a $1.1 million judgment and a permanent injunction against Lushbags.com in a trademark-infringement lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court. The judgment was entered on June 12. The lawsuit was originally filed in February 2005 against Lushbags.com and Whenu.com. The case against Whenu.com was dismissed in October 2005. Under the terms of the injunction entered this month, Lushbags.com is prohibited from using Louis Vuitton Malletier’s trademarks or copyrights.
Louis Vuitton Malletier also filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit against the Home Shopping Network and American Elite on May 30. According to legal documents filed in federal court in the Middle District of Florida, Louis Vuitton Malletier alleged that American Elite, a foreign company that imports and manufactures luggage, sold merchandise to HSN which had infringement or counterfeits of all the Louis Vuitton trademarks, with the exception of the Damier trademark. HSN in turn sold that merchandise to customers, according to the lawsuit. The case includes allegations of trademark infringement and counterfeiting and false designation of origin. Louis Vuitton Malletier asked the court for a permanent and preliminary injunction, damages and trial costs. A company spokesman for HSN said the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation as a matter of policy, but that the company takes artistic integrity very seriously and expects its vendors to as well.
Chrome Hearts filed a lawsuit against Guess Inc. for allegedly infringing on a belt buckle design. According to the complaint filed June 6 in Manhattan federal court, Guess knowingly infringed on Chrome Hearts’ copyrighted belt buckle design and sold “piratical copies of the buckle” through its online and retail stores. Chrome Hearts asked the court for a preliminary and permanent injunction and financial damages, as well as for the recall of the allegedly infringing belt buckles. Guess did not return calls seeking comment.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy announced a new campaign focused on the enforcement of intellectual property laws on June 14. The agenda of the campaign will address six specific goals, according to a statement. Those goals are: to increase the resources of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, to have stronger border enforcement, to make the penalties tougher, to improve the coordination of government entities, to reform the judicial and the civil process and to educated consumers. “American innovation, jobs and consumer health and safety are being hijacked by organized counterfeiting and piracy crooks and law enforcement resources are inadequate to stop them,” said Tom Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce. “Intellectual property theft is seen as a low-risk, high-reward crime in America and it is time to put an end to this by dedicating the law enforcement resources at all levels to put these networks out of business.”
Taking the final spot on the mens’ portion of New York Fashion Week calendar next month will be none other than @tomford. Though he’s shown his men’s wear in New York in the past, this will mark the first time the designer has shown his men’s collection alone during New York Fashion Week: Men’s. His runway show will debut on February 6 at the Park Avenue Armory. #wwdfashion
London-based couture house @ralphandrusso has certainly been in the spotlight, having its dresses worn by @beyonce, Angelina Jolie, Meghan Markle in her engagement photos and more. For couture, Tamara Ralph focused on ornamentation — think: feathers with chain mail, jet embroidery and clusters of pearls and crystals. See the rest of the collection on WWD.com #wwdfashion #couture (📷: @giovanni_giannoni_photo)
Minnie Mouse celebrated her 90th birthday by getting her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For her celebratory luncheon, @coach’s creative director @stuartvevers dressed her in a custom made prairie dress, complete with Vever’s take on the polka dot – black sequined versions – under a cropped motorcycle jacket. The designer also put his own mark on Minnie’s classic red shoes, infusing the color with sparkles and adding some Coach crystals. “We chose colors that were very Minnie and also represented quintessential Coach elements,” said Vevers. #wwdfashion #nationalpolkadotday (📷: George Chinsee)
@nickjonas is unveiling his first-ever apparel collection through a partnership with John Varvatos. The limited-edition capsule, which makes its debut in spring, also marks the first time the designer has collaborated with anyone on a line. “The process in working with Nick is amazing. It’s inspiring to be around someone who is not only connected with the trade that they do, but also with what’s happening in the environment around him, and how that connects to what we do with style,” said Varvatos. (RG: @johnvarvatos) #wwdfashion
@margotrobbie steps out onto the red carpet wearing @miumiu. The actress is nominated for “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role” in “I, Tonya” at the #SagAwards. (📷: Stewart Cook) #wwdfashion
For @massimogiorgetti of @msgm, the Nineties are his favorite decade. “They had a huge impact on my personal growth. What I like of the Nineties is that they are not so precise in terms of style as other decades…there was actually a bit of everything,” he said. As seen on MSGM’s Spring 2018 show: tie-dye and a bit of grunge, two styles that are synonymous with the decade #wwdfashion #wwddecades (📷: @kukukuba)