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Written by Phil Cerroni
By Amanda Casanova
The City Council voted on Nov. 8 to grant a variance to a Kroger site near a school that would allow the grocery store to sell beer and wine.
The exception for the 515 S. MacArthur Blvd. Kroger store lifts a prohibition that bars selling alcoholic beverages within 300 feet of a public or private school. The Kroger store’s property line stands within 240 feet of Haley Elementary School’s property line. The store, however, is actually about 700 feet from the nearest school building, according to city staff.
City council members voted 6-3 for the variance with Mayor Beth Van Duyne, Roy Santoscoy, Dennis Webb, Rose Cannaday, Brad LaMorgese and Gerald Farris for the exception. Council members Michael Gallaway, Thomas Spink and Joe Putnam voted against.
Under the agreement, new landscaping and improvements to the store are proposed along MacArthur Boulevard and Sixth Street. Updates will total about $1.4 million.
“This store is not as competitive as other stores in the city of Irving, and it’s not keeping pace with our other stores,” said Gary Huddleston, consumer affairs director for Kroger stores. “Many customers have told us they want the convenience of purchasing beer and wine. Our store can provide a safer outlet to purchase alcohol than others in the area.”
City Council members listened to more than an hour of public input, both for and against the variance. Among concerns were worries that other stores in the Heritage District, where the Kroger store is located, would also seek variances to put alcohol on their shelves and thus boost their sales.
But the chief worry was the store’s location near the school. School board members did not meet to discuss issuing a resolution to take a side on the issue. None attended the Nov. 8 meeting.
“This case is dependent on the safety of the kids,” Van Duyne said. “Neither tonight nor at the planning and zoning meeting or back in 2011 or 2009 have we seen parents of kids who go to that school come here to talk about this. I’m hearing from a lot of people but not one parent of a student who goes there.
“If this was a high school, I could see the concern of selling alcohol to minors, but this is an elementary school. I think if a 10-year-old walks in to buy a pack a beer, someone’s going to notice.”
But Gallaway said he couldn’t support the change.
“I have to look at whether approving this zoning case is going to be beneficial, and the conclusion I’ve come to is that it’s not going to be beneficial for the city,” he said.
Kroger will still have to apply for a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission license and construction on the new improvement could start after the holidays. The store will gain final approval for the license from the city after construction starts.
In October, the planning and zoning commission voted in favor of the variance, adding a stipulation that alcoholic beverages could only be displayed and stored inside the main store building.
In 2008, city staff denied Kroger’s application for a permit to sell wine and beer. Two years later, Kroger applied again for the permit, this time promising landscaping improvements. While staff recommended approval, City Council denied the application.
The third application was received on Aug. 8.
The City Council will discuss changing its policy on alcohol sales in restaurants at an upcoming Council meeting.
The current city ordinance sets a ratio of 60/40 for food/alcoholic beverage sales at restaurants, but the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce and area businesses are asking that the ratio be reversed or changed.
Critics have said changing the ration to favor alcohol sales could impact how the community is viewed.
The Council will consider the change at a later date.


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Furious motorist fires car off back of tow truck
Woman totals brand new Porsche seconds after taking delivery
Apple iWatch even more distracting than a mobile phone
Dangerous Chinese car seats could prove fatal
German marques most sought after by British drivers
Maserati celebrates centennial in style
Five hundred people a day lie to car insurers
Armed police called at Heathrow after passenger mutiny over...
Pregnant Duchess of Cambridge: Kate attends first engagement...
Caterham F1 team goes into administration
Could a tiny mite mark the end for Japanese knotweed?
Legal battle as mum kicks son out of £1.2 million home
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This article originally appeared in the July 17th, 2020 edition of *New York Magazine Online*
Written by Chloe Anello, Photo by Getty Images
I first heard about the dangers of blue light on our skin three years ago, from Dr. Howard Murad of Murad Skincare. As he explained on an episode of the beauty podcast Fat Mascara, blue light — a high-energy visible light that penetrates the skin deeper than other lights in the same spectrum thanks to its longer wavelength, according to Dr. Marie Hayag, NYC-based cosmetic dermatologist — can cause as much damage to your skin as the sun, and you should protect your face from it accordingly. Without proper protection, it can cause fine lines and wrinkles, and the more time you spend in front of it, the worse the damage will be.
Now, a pandemic and almost four months of quarantine later, just about everything in our lives has turned digital, and as I continue to stare into the screen of my laptop and iPhone for most of my waking hours, I can’t stop thinking about Murad’s point. That “damage” he talks about isn’t instantaneous, and even though some reports have shown that “eight hours of screen time can be equivalent to 20 minutes of sun exposure,” according to Dr. Kenneth Mark, a cosmetic dermatologist, your skin won’t visibly burn as it would when you’re in the sun unprotected. It’s also “not associated with skin cancer like UV rays are, but it can cause skin to age prematurely,” says Dr. Hadley King, an NYC-based dermatologist. But unlike the sun, the screens that are emitting the blue light are exceptionally close to your face, so high-frequency blue light — which can penetrate deeper into the skin than UV-A or UV-B light — will make a difference.
As a result of all this blue-light exposure, you’ll see more fine lines and wrinkles that are associated with premature skin aging. Dr. Mona Gohara, an NYC-based dermatologist, also says that blue light “increases melanin production in a process called melanogenesis,” which means that “the skin can become discolored.” That discoloration predominantly affects people of color, especially those who already struggle with hyperpigmentation,” says Dr. Ife J Rodney, founding director of Eternal Dermatology. Hayag notes blue light can worsen melasma, too. As if all of this isn’t enough, adding to my concern are all the PR pitches filling my inbox weekly, hawking serums, cleansers, lip gloss, moisturizers, sprays, and much more that are specifically designed to prevent blue-light damage.
Goodhabit, a brand launched in May 2020, built the company on the idea of blue-light protection, launching a serum, moisturizer, cleanser, and toner all with blue-light-blocking powers. Cult-favorite brand Barbara Sturm developed anti-pollution drops. Clean-beauty brand One Ocean created a blue-light-protection mist. Luxury clean-beauty brand Chantecaille produced a hyaluronic serum for repairing and protecting against blue light. Yet another clean beauty brand, Ilia, created a tinted oil. And Israeli brand Ahava created a lightweight cream with patented technology.
According to our dermatologists, though, the best way to prevent further skin damage from exposure to blue light from screens is pretty much the same as preventing skin damage in general: Just wear sunscreen. They all recommended a physical sunscreen with iron oxides — which are most often zinc oxide and titanium oxide — because, as Gohara explains, “they deflect rays from the skin so they cannot create damage,” and there’s a growing body of scientific research to back this up. Unfortunately, many of these sunscreens tend to be thick and leave a white cast, especially on people of color, which is why many people tend to lean toward chemical sunscreens, which don’t have the same blue-light benefits. But Gohara recommends Coola’s mineral sun silk moisturizer with SPF because it contains a high percentage of zinc oxide and it’s lightweight, so it doesn’t feel too heavy like other sunscreens. Plus it’s a moisturizer, making it easy to implement into any routine. Rodney also likes Isdin’s Eryfotona Actinica, a 100 percent mineral sunscreen we’ve written about before, because it offers “lightweight, nongreasy protection” great for everyday use. And Hayag notes that Isdin’s formula contains vitamin E “for an antioxidant effect,” which offers some repair capabilities, too.
If you’re particularly concerned about blue-light damage, Gohara also says that there is some science now — with potentially more to come — that shows specific “blue-light antioxidants that help fight off the free radicals” could be beneficial in protecting your skin. As Gohara explains it, blue light creates free radicals, which are “little chemical particles that wreak cosmetic havoc in the skin by binding to and weakening collagen and elastin,” so serums specifically designed for this damage may help. Sunscreen protects your skin from further damage, but it won’t repair in the same way these blue-light-protection products claim to do.
IF YOU DO WANT TO DABBLE IN BLUE-LIGHT-SPECIFIC SKIN CARE:
Goodhabit Rescue Me Glow Potion Oil Serum$80
Our dermatologists refer to serums as “treatment products” because they can penetrate the skin deeper and work faster, which is often why they suggest serums for repairing damage. This one from Goodhabit contains a technology called BLU5, which has a marine active extracted from the coast of Greenland. It creates a protective film over your skin to prevent further damage, while hydrating the skin with hyaluronic acid and improving skin tone and reducing inflammation with blue spirulina and blue tansy flowers.
“This physical sunscreen combines iron oxide, titanium dioxide, and zinc oxide,” says Rodney. It has a “hint of color” that adjusts to each skin tone through what’s called Advanced Mineral Protection and a coating system that allows it to blend into each skin type. And Rodney notes that from experience, “it blends easily on all skin tones.” Hayag also points out that the compact form “is convenient to apply on top of a moisturizer and can be reapplied easily throughout the day.”
If you’d like one with more foundationlike coverage, French beauty brand Avene makes one with a strong iron oxide formula too, but it has a stronger tint (and that same formula appears in the company’s regular mineral sunscreen as well.)
Hayag likes this antioxidant-rich mineral sunscreen with both zinc and titanium dioxide because it “blends effortlessly on clean skin,” and thanks to its high SPF, it will “protect against photodamage, the primary cause of signs of aging.”$34
Lastly, Hayag recommends this SkinCeuticals sunscreen, especially for those with darker skin tones, because it’s very translucent for a mineral sunscreen. It has a high concentrate of iron oxides and artemia salina, which is “a plankton extract known to increase skin’s resistance to UV- and heat-induced stress.”


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Appomattox, VA (PRWEB) December 15, 2016 -- Darin Kidd, Multi-Million Dollar Earner in the Network Marketing profession, offered his expertise at the recent Go Pro Recruiting Mastery event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kidd was invited by Network Marketing Expert and Trainer, Eric Worre and the event committee to offer his expertise as part of a social media panel at the event.
The Go Pro Recruiting Mastery four-day event has become the annual flagship event for Network Marketing professionals. Approximately 20,000 people, including 100 million dollar a year earners and over 1,000 six figure a year earners, were in attendance. In addition, over 500 company executives participated in an effort to gain insight on what the most successful field leaders are doing to produce such amazing results. Kidd was one of several top earners and rising stars who was featured.
Kidd first attended the Go Pro Recruiting Mastery event in 2015. “This annual event was one of the most powerful events I've ever been to and absolutely took my business and my life to the next level,” said Kidd. “If your goal is to be at the top of your game, then you should be doing exactly what the top people in your field are doing. This annual event offers the opportunity for people to hear exactly what they need to do to grow their business, directly from top coaches, trainers, and money earners.”
Social media plays a significant role in the field of Network Marketing, and has been a key building block for Kidd’s success. “Building my audience on Periscope, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook has contributed enormously to my success,” said Kidd. “To be asked to speak on a panel, especially a social media panel, has been a goal of mine. Being able to speak on the same stage as Tony Robins, Sir Richard Branson, and Eric Worre is humbling.”
Darin Kidd has been in the Network Marketing industry for over 20 years. He has become one of the most sought after trainers in the industry. Kidd can be found on Instagram with over ten thousand followers, on Facebook with over sixty thousand followers, and is the #1 Network Marketing Trainer on Periscope.
About Darin Kidd
Darin Kidd is one of the most sought-after trainers in Network Marketing today. With his success as a 5-star National Marketing Director, Darin has quickly become one of Nerium International’s top leaders and money earners. Having been in the industry for over 25 years, Darin has earned millions of dollars and built sales organizations totaling hundreds of thousands of distributors. As an accomplished trainer and mentor, he has successfully led hundreds of live events around the world assisting people in building their own network marketing businesses. While success has followed Darin in the industry, it’s not what separates him. What separates him is his passion for helping people see success of their own by teaching them to do exactly what he has done. Succeed.
To get exclusive access to training with Darin delivered right to your inbox-sign up online. To learn more about how you can work with Darin visit: succeedwithdarin.com
Kimberly Fortin, Darin Kidd, http://www.succeedwithdarin.com, +1 603-473-0011, [email protected]
SOURCE Darin Kidd


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According to SamMobile, the Korean manufacturer may not want to waste time and release the device this week.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini will feature a 4.3-inch touchscreen, an 8-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS and Samsung’s software Touch Wiz Nature UX.
Running Android 4.2.2, it is claimed that there will be two versions of the handset, a version with a single SIM card as usual, and a dual-SIM version.
The Galaxy S4 Mini could arrive on the market towards the end of May or early June.
Of course, these rumors should be taken with a grain of salt as nothing is official yet.


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AIM-LISTED online gaming marketing group XLMedia is expected to report a nearly 25 per cent jump in revenues this morning, higher than the 22 per cent it forecast in July, when it publishes its maiden set of interim results.
Jersey-based XLMedia has been on a spending spree since it floated, completing a number of acquisitions. Today the firm is expected to reaffirm its goal of doing further deals this year.
Its deals so far include buying an unnamed leading UK sports betting website for £4m last month, social and mobile gaming marketing firm ExciteAd Digital for £11.4m earlier this month and upping its stake in its Finnish joint venture to 92 per cent for $1.49m (£915,000) this week.
Higher operating expenses, including those linked to the costs of listing in March, are expected to lead to a fall in profits of over 30 per cent during the six months to 30 June. Excluding these costs, however, gross profit should top $11m showing around 10 per cent growth compared to the same period in 2013.
In line with the company’s reported strategy of returning at least 50 per cent of its retained profits to shareholders, a total interim dividend of around $3m will be declared.


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On Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 October, equestrian lovers will be able to see display after display at the horse trials.
The weekend will see more than 400 entries compete, and organisers say it will be an action-packed weekend.
A spokesperson from the event said: "We are delighted to welcome a new sponsor to the team – HorseQuest – who are supporting a new incentive this year – the Novice Masters Series sections giving amazing support and incentive to this group of riders at intermediate novice level."
One team is sponsored by local business Rowen Barbary Horse Feeds. Rowen Barbary said: “We are proud to be involved in a nationally recognised event which is on our doorstep and we are looking forward to an exciting weekend."
The organisers said they are thrilled to be working with all of their sponsors, as well as the title sponsor, David and Catherine Witt of Rookery Park Stud.
The event layout that proved so exciting previously has been retained, organisers said. The course, designed by Janet Plant and constructed by ‘Plant A Fence’ will run over a thousand acres of rolling wooded parkland.
The fences are solid and imposing using many of the existing features which give the grassroots riders a chance to ride at this established venue.
Spectators are welcome and tickets can be booked online at westonht.co.uk.


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She is the queen of controversy – and Madonna has been at it again by dressing up as a Muslim woman in chainmail.
The Material Girl, 54, has been sharing images – apparently from a Harper’s Bazaar US photoshoot – of her latest looks.
And she has been embracing Islamic culture for her newest fashion direction.
Posing in a metal chain niqāb mask, the star said: ‘The Revolution of Love is on…Inshallah’ with an image on her official Facebook page – ‘Inshallah’ being Arabic for ‘God willing’.
She also posted a snap of herself with gold metal grills on her teeth and biting down hard on a sword or knife.
‘Live by the sword… For @harpersbazaarus’ she said in the accompanying text, suggesting she is shooting for the American fashion bible.
While the full extent of the project is yet to be revealed – and a cover shoot for a major magazine being completed generally a couple of months before it hits newsstands – it could be revealed the singer is about to unveil a major new project.
For the past few months Madge has been teasing a ‘Secret Project’ in collaboration with world-famous photographer and director Steven Klein – is the secret about to be revealed?


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small businesses suffer £35billion late payment headache
June 5, 2012
“Why is it that SMEs, which are the lifeblood of the economy, are being left to sink or swim as money owed to them soars to record levels,” says Luisa Grey a Director with Cambridgeshire-based Direct Debit processing company, Eazipay Ltd.
Figures released by Bacs, the organisation which runs the electronic processing system for financial transactions, have revealed that once again SMEs are bearing the brunt of late payments with a total of £35.3 billion being owed to them. Alarmingly, that’s a £2 billion increase on last year’s figures.
“These figures mean that on average, SMEs are owed £45,000 each, levels which cannot be sustained and which must be sending companies into receivership”, adds Luisa. “It’s a national scandal and it needs to be addressed by Government action, not sincere sounding platitudes and sound bites.”
“Of course SMEs can greatly increase their cash flows and reduce their debtor days by having their customers make regular payments by Direct Debit, and we have hundreds of clients doing just that. But it shouldn’t be left to SMEs to fight this battle alone, particularly as, in the main, its large companies (41%) which are the principle culprits.”
The latest data paints a clear picture that SMEs are finding themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, SMEs seem afraid that if they put too much pressure on large customers they may lose valuable contracts, however, if they don’t chase for what they are owed, they find themselves starved of cash.
“The Prompt Payment Code, whereby companies who sign up to the code commit to paying their suppliers within agreed terms, should be given real teeth and the Government should take the lead by only awarding its contracts to firms that have committed to it and who are prepared to make their payment terms public”, says Luisa.
“A trend seems to be developing where customers, particularly larger companies, are treating their suppliers as an extension to their bank and holding back on making payments as a way of increasing their own cash flow. The Prompt Payment Code would go a long way to restrict this and ensure that the situation doesn’t escalate further for SMEs.”
Eazipay, which is based in Littleport, Cambridge and employs 21 full and part time staff, provides regular Direct Debit services to over 800 companies in a wide range of market sectors throughout the UK, Europe and beyond.
On Wednesday 11th July 2012, the company is hosting an ‘Avoiding Late Payments’ breakfast workshop, which is designed to give SMEs all the tools and tips they need to protect their business from the scourge of late payments. For further details visit www.eazipay.co.uk/avoiding-late-payments.
- Ends -
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Eazipay Ltd
• Established in 2002 by local entrepreneurs Kathy and Ron Bradney, and their colleague, Luisa Grey, Eazipay Ltd has become one of the UK’s fastest growing Direct Debit processing companies.
• Eazipay now provides regular Direct Debit services to over 750 companies in a wide range of market sectors throughout the UK, Europe and beyond.
• In Febraruy 2012, Eazipay recorded its best ever month for Direct Debit collections when £19.3 million worth of Direct Debits were processed on behalf of its clients.
• Eazipay was recently awarded ‘Affiliate’ status from Bacs, the governing body for Direct Debit processing in the UK payments industry. The company is now a member of an exclusive group of 38 other Bacs Affiliates, which includes representatives from some of the UK’s leading businesses, banks and building societies, as well as government organisations and banking technology providers.
For further press information, please contact:
Damion Clark at Real PR (Consultants) LLP.
Tel: 07789 911314


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November 12, 2009
In my previous post about Google's New Search Engine Index Caffeine, I did mentioned that Google is working on it's new search engine indexing formula, through which Google would be able to focus on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions.
And now Google Caffeine is about to show it's real results, and is expected to arrive in next month.
As in the post by Matt Cutts, one of Google's Engineer - Expect Caffeine after the holidays, the Google Caffeine will be made live at one data center, which will allow only a small percentage to users to be benefited by this technology. The full roll out is expected only after the holidays are over. Meanwhile you can provide your valuable feedback to Google


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Fans of the hardcore platformer Celeste can now take a look at what’s coming up next from its developer, Extremely OK Games!
The company has announced that its next title will be named Earthblade. While scant details were revealed about the project, Extremely OK Games revealed that the game will be a “2D explor-action game” with a seamless pixel art world.
Along with this, Extremely OK Games also shared a soundtrack preview as its first teaser for the project:
Earthblade 🌷 Vibe reveal! (🔊sound on!)
A 2D explor-action game in a seamless pixel art world. The next release from the Celeste team, coming 20XX. pic.twitter.com/ceAM80PEaG
— Extremely OK Games (@exok_games) April 19, 2021
For now, Extremely OK Games has not confirmed any release platforms for Earthblade. We’ll report back as we hear more in the near future!


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US STOCKS-Wall Street forfeits gains after Germany bomb report
By Noel Randewich
Nov 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks erased gains on Tuesday after a report that a soccer match between Germany and Netherlands was called off due to concerns of a bomb attack.
All three major U.S. indexes had been in positive territory following upbeat earnings reports from Wal-Mart and Home Depot. But they quickly gave up those gains after a German official said on television that the friendly match was canceled less than two hours before its start for fear of a bomb attack on the stadium in Hanover.
"These situations create uncertainty and in uncertain times everyone goes to cash," said Mohannad Aama, Managing Director, Beam Capital Management LLC in New York.
Despite the market's reversal, Wal-Mart was up 3.28 percent and Home Depot climbed 3.88 percent, pushing the S&P 500 retail index up 0.81 pct.
Home Depot rival Lowe's rose 1.94 percent and Target added 1.12 percent. Both report their quarterly results on Wednesday.
Data on Tuesday offered a mixed view of the health of the U.S. economy - consumer prices increased in October after two straight months of declines, while industrial production fell.
The modest rise in inflation could bolster chances of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates next month, but weak industrial output raised concerns about the robustness of fourth-quarter economic growth.
On Monday, Wall Street opened lower because of concerns about last week's deadly attacks in Paris but the major indexes recovered and ended up with their strongest session in three weeks as investors bet the tragedy would have little long-term impact on the U.S. economy and corporate earnings.
At 3:04 pm, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.01 percent at 17,480.54 and the S&P 500 lost 0.18 percent to 2,049.59. The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.02 percent to 4,983.66.
Six of the 10 major S&P sectors were down, with the utilities sector's 1.91 percent drop leading the decliners.
Shares of dietary supplement makers sank after federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, said they would announce criminal actions related to unlawful advertising and sale of dietary supplements.
GNC Holdings plunged 12.1 percent, Vitamin Shoppe fell nearly 8 percent and Herbalife lost 3.06 percent.
Underscoring the uneven performance among retailers, Urban Outfitters dropped 6.62 percent and Dick's Sporting Goods lost 11.66 percent after handing in quarterly report cards that disappointed investors.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,920 to 1,121. On the Nasdaq, 1,528 issues fell and 1,237 advanced.
The S&P 500 index showed 10 new 52-week highs and 15 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 43 new highs and 134 new lows. (Additional reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Andrew Hay and Chizu Nomiyama)
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.


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EasyJet predicted a quick recovery in time for summer, as travel restrictions are relaxed following the warning of a harsh winter due to the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The low-cost airline has reported a “sustained step change improvement” in discussions in the UK following this month’s relaxation of travel rules, saying it will return to near 2019 pre-pandemic flight capacity by the summer.
Johan Lundgren, easyJet’s CEO, said he expected “a strong summer ahead”, and that UK ticket sales to beach and leisure destinations were particularly strong.
The warning of a difficult few months followed by a speedy recovery reflected the prospects low cost competitors Wizz Air earlier this week, and came when countries across Europe rolled back travel rules.
For the first time since spring 2020, EasyJet has started receiving more bookings from British passengers than from mainland Europe thanks to eased travel restrictions, Lundgren said.
As France, Switzerland and other European countries also reduce border rules, “we believe that testing for travel over our network should soon become a thing of the past. . . and has many reasons to be optimistic for the year ahead, ”he added.
EasyJet flew 64 percent of 2019’s flight schedules in the last three months of last year, lower than the 70 percent it predicted before Omicron appeared, the group said in a trading statement.
Its planes were 77 percent full, again lower than forecast, which pinned the airline on late changes to bookings in December due to last-minute travel restrictions.
The airline’s capacity will drop to 50 percent from normal levels this month, but he predicts it will increase as the quarter continues.
EasyJet did not provide financial guidance for the current quarter, but has 67 percent of 2019 capacity for sale this quarter.
“We see the focus this term and next as the ramp to a very positive outlook for the summer,” said Mark Simpson, an aviation analyst at Goodbody.
The company’s loss before tax for the last quarter of last year was £ 213 million, about half of the £ 423 million loss it reported in the same period in 2020.
Costs rose from £ 588 million to £ 1.02 billion as the airline operated almost four times as many flights and passenger numbers rose from 2.9 million to 11.9 million.
Cash brand dropped from £ 969m to £ 450m, and the company reported cash and cash equivalents of £ 2.9bn after a £ 1.2bn rights issue in September.
Shares were steady at 639.05p in early trading, in line with many other major travel stocks.


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CFPB Issues 2019 Financial Literacy Report
Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its Financial Literacy Annual Report for fiscal year 2019, which is part of the Dodd-Frank Act’s requirements that the agency report on its work to provide information to consumers that helps them make informed decisions about financial products. The report highlights agency efforts to promote savings, as well as its delivery of digital and print resources to more than 12 million consumers in 2019.
Bureau Director Kathleen Kraninger wrote in the introduction that the report “describes the Bureau’s efforts in a broad range of financial literacy and capability areas within its statutory mandate and relevant to consumers’ financial lives.” The three-part strategy to increase the financial skills of Americans includes providing financial education to the public, sharing research on effective financial education and well-being with educators, and addressing needs for inclusion and financial security of traditionally underserved consumers.
The CFPB began its Start Small, Save Up campaign in February to increase financial well-being by developing more opportunities for consumers to save money. The agency is “working with a broad spectrum of others to seek ways to reduce individual and institutional barriers to savings, and promoting solutions that make savings easier and more accessible,” Kraninger wrote.
Kraninger also highlighted programs for underserved consumers such as servicemembers, students, and older Americans. This includes online training programs such as Misadventures of Money Management and Your Money, Your Goals.


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Mumbai-based seed investment and innovation platform, Venture Catalysts (VCats), has invested $150000 in a photography curation platform SIFTR Labs.
Seasoned investors such as Vishal Maheshwari, Vikas Kapoor, Daud Ali and Nitin Agarwal participated in the funding.
SIFTR Labs launched in 2015 by Romil Mittal and Mayank Bhagya , aims to assist photographers in managing their photography,claiming to have created the world’s’ first self-updating photo website.
Romil Mittal, Co-founder, SIFTR Labs, said,
“Thanks to the mobile revolution, more than a billion photos are uploaded every day on the Internet, and still it’s difficult to find a great photo when you need one. We are an image analysis company and are building our technology stack further to provide very advanced photo search for different use cases.”
Venture Catalysts (VCats) that launched itself as India’s first Seed Investment & Innovation platform aims to provide venture fund, co-working facility, angel network and post-investment support to boost startups in their early stage of growth.
Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder, Venture Catalyst, said,
“using artificial intelligence on images is an exciting space to be in and the idea of SIFTR Labs resonated well with VCats’ angels”.
Vishal Maheshwari, who led the angel investment for VCats, added,
“the start-up world today revolves around the disruption of extant services, which is why the decision to invest in SIFTR was made. We believe that another digital re-evolution is imminent which shall be driven by advanced GPU and machine learning. As such, the promising technology that SIFTR employs makes it well-poised for success in the time to come.”
Recently, Venture Catalysts also invested $250k ConfirmTkt which is a ticket discovery platform.


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What happens when consumers complain on social media?
“Data from social media analytics and monitoring service Sprout Social revealed that many US internet users believe social media has given them more of a voice to expose unfair treatment from brands and be more critical of them in general. The study, which surveyed 1,003 US internet users ages 18 to 64 in July 2017, found that eight in 10 respondents said social media helped to uncover instances of brands treating people unfairly. And seven in 10 said that it helped encourage transparency.”
“For the most part, dishonesty and bad customer service led many internet users to complain about brands on social media. But those weren’t the only reasons. Troubles with a bad product, brands being too political and a lack of responsiveness also triggered some respondents to air frustrations about companies on social media.”
Click on the chart below to read more about how online consumers react to social media complaints.


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Coffee Market Report August 2015 - Volatility returns to the coffee market as prices stay low
10 September 2015
Daily coffee prices hit their lowest level in 19 months during August, as commodity markets worldwide were negatively affected by currency movements and economic news out of China. Further uncertainty could be provoked by reports that this year’s El Niño event could be one of the strongest on record, potentially disrupting the timing and volume of rainfall in several producing countries. Coffee exports in July 2015 came to 9.6 million bags, 3.6% lower than last year, with total exports for the first ten months of coffee year 2014/15 (October to July) 2.8% lower on 92.9 million bags. Finally, the Brazilian government agency Conab have reported that private stocks in Brazil dropped by 849,000 during crop year 2014/15 to 14.4 million bags at the end of March 2015.
Read the latest Coffee Market Report on our blog>>
|ICO Indicator prices
(US cents/lb) 14/08/2018
1 October is #InternationalCoffeeDay.
Thank you for celebrating International Coffee Day with us this year. Watch out for more details about plans for ICD 2018.
7th Consultative Forum on Coffee Sector Finance
The 7th Forum took place in Yamoussoukro on 27 September 2017. Learn more>>
Latest ICO Studies & Reports
• Value addition in the African coffee sector (Published September 2017)
• Assessing the economic sustainability of coffee growing (Published September 2016)
• Coffee in the Russian Federation (Published August 2015)
• Coffee in China (Published August 2015)
• The impact of the price of oil and the US dollar exchange rate on coffee prices (Published August 2015)
• Sustainability of the Coffee Sector in Africa (Published August 2015)
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The stage is set today for a new and major trial that concerns allegations of monopolist behavior by a major tech company. In this case, the company that’s accused of these practices is Google, and its being taken to court today by the US Department of Justice.
CNBC reports that the trial between Google and the DOJ starts today in front of a Washington D.C. District Court judge. The DOJ claims that Google has made anticompetitive moves surrounding its search engine by forcing other companies to make it the default on their products.
There are actually two parts to the DOJ’s case. One is that Google makes payment to companies that make web browsers like Apple with their Safari app so that the Google search engine is the default for those browsers.
The other part involves smartphone and tablet companies that want to use Google’s Android OS. The DOJ claims Google’s contracts with these device companies require them to install certain apps, including Search, before they can get get the full use of Google’s Android services.
The government argues that these arrangements locked up important distribution channels for search, creating overwhelming barriers to entry for rival search engines to compete with. Because of Google’s alleged dominant position in the market, the government contends that these moves violated antitrust law by illegally maintaining a monopoly.
The DOJ also claims Google’s search advertising tool is incompatible with Microsoft’s Bing search engine, claiming that the company “favors advertising on its own platform and steers advertiser spending towards itself.”
On Friday, Kent Walker, the president of global affairs for both Google and its parent company Alphabet, wrote a blog post that previews the company’s defense in the trial with the DOJ. Walker stated in part:
We’re proud that browser makers opt to show Google Search based on the quality of our products. Apple’s leaders have said they choose Google because it’s “the best.” Importantly, our browser agreements are not exclusive. As shown below, Bing and Yahoo! also pay Apple to be featured in Safari, and other rival services appear, too. In short, our success comes down to the quality of our products, not the quantity of our contracts.
Walker also makes a point about Microsoft’s Bing search engine and how the company tries to, in his words, “aggressively”make it harder to switch from using Bing to Google Search on its Edge browser. He stated:
Despite this, the overwhelming majority of Microsoft users choose to search with Google. In fact, “Google” is the number one search query on Bing worldwide. Contrary to the DOJ’s theory, people know they have choices, and they make them.
Finally, Walker stated that the company’s Search Ads 360 “makes it easier for advertisers to manage campaigns on multiple platforms”and added, “American law doesn’t require putting the preferences of your competitors over those of your clients.”
CNBC says the Google-DOJ trial could take as long as 10 weeks to complete.


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Indeed Inc. is cancelling its monthly paid mental-health days, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The online hiring company’s ‘YOU Days’ program, which was introduced in June 2020, provided all employees with the same day off each month at a time when workers were taking fewer vacation days because of travel restrictions.
The program was cut after employees returned to booking time off at pre-pandemic rates, according to a spokesperson quoted in the report, who said the company will continue to provide employees with unlimited paid time off and the option of working fully remotely.
Indeed is the latest employer to cancel additional time off introduced during the pandemic. Last November, X Corp. (formerly Twitter Inc.) ended its #DaysOfRest initiative, which provided employees with a monthly company-wide day off.


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After 25 Fond Years, Finley Mom & Pop store Owners Are Retiring
The owners of the Finley Shopper have decided to call it a day after two decades of serving the Finley community and surrounding area. Rob and Kathy Richards are retiring. They took over the store from Kathy's father, and on Wednesday, they'll hand over the keys to a new owner.
It took the Richards' two ears to find someone who would care about the store's employees as much as they do. They found that supportive person in the owner of Kennewick's Pick-a-Pop.
Both Kathy and Rob worked at other jobs before acquiring The Finley Shopper. Rob worked for Coca-Cola, and Kathy was employed with Safeway.
The retiring owners credit their employees and the community for the successful longevity of the business. Rob likens the business to a mini-Ranch & Home, with groceries, animal feed, hardware, chicks, and dog grooming.
A Day in The Life at The Finley Shopper:
Customers keep coming through on their way to and from work and school. The store is located near Finley Middle School at 222608 East Game Farm Road, in Kennewick.
Every child gets a sucker as they enter. It's a memory for people who are now parents and grandparents.
Future for the store and retirees:
The new owner plans to make some upgrades at The Finley Store, which will be closed on Wednesday, December 15th so they can take inventory and hand over the keys.
As for the the Richards, they'll take a much deserved break before they add golf, paddle boarding, and canoeing to their schedule.
Our news partners at the Tri-City Herald have more.


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Wine sales start tomorrow in Ontario grocery stores
Seventy grocery stores across the province will begin selling wine tomorrow.
The move is part of the Liberal government's efforts to modernize the sale of wine and beer.
Up to 300 grocery outlets will sell wines by 2025 alongside 450 that will sell beer as well.
Sue AnnStaff with Sue Ann Estate Winery in Jordan tells CKTB's Roundtable, it's a good first step.
We asked her if there will be any two buck Chuck type deals that we see south of the border?
Staff says the government has set a minimum floor price of $10.95 for a 750 ml bottle, so that is as low as it can go.
The winning bidders for the first wine-selling licences include, Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys, and Walmart.


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Crop protection products have long played a significant role in agriculture. Stunningly, crop protection products help enable just 2 percent of our population to provide for the other 98 percent today. And partly because of these products, food security has moved from a constant struggle to a right and expectation in the developed world. It should be noted, however, that many people in the developing world do not know where their next meal will come from. Food security becomes only more challenging given that, according to United Nations estimates, the world population will be as high as 9 billion people by 2050. If we can adequately feed everyone and give them the opportunity to fulfill their intellectual promise, there is no predicting where humanity can go in the next century. Plant science and technology is the vehicle that can take us there.
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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
Seventeen years ago, Americans could buy a car that got a whopping 45 miles to the gallon on the highway. It wasn't the Toyota Prius, which arrived five years later. The car was GM's Geo Metro, and it had a three-cylinder engine. It was not a success.
But as we hear from Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton, another Detroit company thinks Americans are now ready to embrace a three-cylinder engine.
TRACY SAMILTON, BYLINE: Wow. You know, really, to mention in the same breath the old-style three-cylinder engine in the Geo Metro and the one Ford has developed, well, it's just plain unfair. It's wrong. We're going to do it anyway.
T.J. BALDERMANN: My name's T.J. Baldermann. I work on cars. I'm a certified technician. I am a car guy, and I drive a Geo Metro.
SAMILTON: Baldermann has a great sense of humor - thank goodness. The car has maybe three times the horsepower of a riding lawnmower. But the Geo Metro does have one bragging point: astonishing fuel economy.
BALDERMANN: I could drive pretty much whatever I want to drive. But, you know, when you get something that gets 45, 50 miles to the gallon...
SAMILTON: Well, you drive them till they rust, which doesn't take too long in Michigan.
BALDERMANN: And it's probably my seventh or eight Geo Metro, not including ones I bought just for parts.
SAMILTON: The Geo Metro still has a tiny loving fan base, people like Baldermann. But the car never sold well, and it was discontinued in 2000.
RICHARD TRUETT: But we're in a new era now. I mean, I think everybody realizes that fuel prices are going to be permanently high.
SAMILTON: That's Ford Motor Company's Richard Truett. We're test-driving a European-made Focus on Michigan roads to see if the three-cylinder engine in it is up to merging onto the highway and passing other cars. It is. It can even leave a Hummer in the dust.
TRUETT: You're passing a Hummer with five less cylinders with an engine that's a quarter of the size.
SAMILTON: Now, the engine may be small, but that's a point of pride for Ford.
GREG JOHNSON: It weighs less than about 225 pounds.
SAMILTON: Greg Johnson is a Powertrain Engineering manager at Ford. He says this engine is more powerful than the four-cylinder in the current Fiesta, thanks to direct fuel injection and turbocharging. When the engine gets here next year, it could give the car it's in well over 45 miles per gallon, no hybrid technology involved.
JOHNSON: It weighs less than about 225 pounds.
SAMILTON: You're waiting for the yes, but, right? Well, here it is. Ford is expected to charge about a grand more for a car with this tiny engine than for one with a four-cylinder engine. Fewer cylinders, higher price.
AARON BRAGMAN: So the big experiment is will Americans pay more money for a smaller motor if they're getting better fuel economy out of it.
SAMILTON: That's Aaron Bragman of IHS Automotive. Bragman says the strategy is working with Ford's F-150. The standard engine is a V-8, but almost half the truck's buyers are paying extra for the V-6 with direct injection and turbocharging. Ford will likely market the car as offering hybrid-like fuel economy without the hybrid price. Bragman figures not everyone with a Prius is going to trade it in.
BRAGMAN: There's a certain magic to the word hybrid for some people. There are some people that just want to have the hybrid. They want to have a hybrid badge. They want to be seen as having purchased a hybrid.
SAMILTON: Still, Bragman thinks most drivers care less about what's under the hood than they do fuel economy. While Ford is betting on its little engine, GM is staying out of that game for now, even though GM does have a modern three-cylinder engine that it sells in cars in Europe. Instead, GM thinks American drivers will embrace something else once shunned here: diesel. The company will offer a Chevy Cruze that runs on diesel fuel next year. For NPR News, I'm Tracy Samilton in Ann Arbor.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


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In with the new.
The life of the stagnant, current generation Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon are beginning to come to an end with the unveiling of the next generation Colorado, which will be on display during the 2011 Bangkok International Motor Show in Thailand.
GM seems to have chosen the Bangkok International Auto Show to unveil its new small truck because Thailand is the world’s largest market for mid-sized pickups, according to Susan Docherty, who is currently GM International Operations vice president of sales, marketing and aftersales.
The next generation Colorado will in fact be built in Thailand and will be sold all over the wold except the United States and Canada. Reasons being for this decision is because the U.S. and Canada-bound Colorado is going to be “slightly different” than the global model, which could mean a lot of different things, but most likely will be different in America the same way the American Chevy Cruze is different than the global model with its different choice of engines, transmissions and options, among other things.
It should also be noted that GM is supposed to be building their American Colorado/Canyon replacement in the U.S.A., either in Shreveport, LA (where the outgoing model is currently being built) or perhaps Wentzville, MO.
Under the hood of the showcar is an all-new 2.8L turbodiesel I-4 engine that has been developed in-house by GM which sends an undisclosed amount of power to all four wheels. The 2.8L displacement also makes the engine larger than the Ford T6 Ranger’s 2.2L four cylinder diesel engine, and therefore we should see more power coming from the Chevy.
While the fancy lights, mirrors, body-color tonneau cover and intricate 20″ wheels are most likely not going to make the final cut, we expect the rest of the truck will. The futuristic interior could be a toss-up.


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Solidcore Releases Solution Pack for BMC Remedy
Solidcore's S3 product eliminates ad-hoc changes across IT systems, while tightening controls on in-process and emergency changes, said Bob Vieraitis, VP of marketing at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company.
"A gap in control over change causes outages that can be costly. Meanwhile, the savings on compliance with proper change control are roughly 60 to 70 percent, when you go from manual controls to automated," Veiraitis said.
For channel partners, the new solution pack that ties to BMC Remedy is a quicker path to jumpstarting sales on change control, said Solidcore VP of channels Lori Budin.
"We've got a methodology that maps to our partners' methodology," said Budin. "We can help our partners show their clients quickly how they can reduce their compliance costs. The whole program is built to get [channel partners] to revenue faster."
Solidcore and BMC partner VIA Information Tools have already seen results with early versions of the solution pack, said Mike Scott, marketing director of the Troy, Mich.-based VAR.
Scott said his company has successfully sold Solidcore-BMC change management solutions to its core client base of automotive suppliers, and is now approaching other markets as well.
"We're trying to break into markets beyond automotive and we've had a lot of interest already from local health care organizations. We haven't had any sales yet, but that's definitely a market we think we can break into," he said.
Change control is a must for VIA Information Tools clients, Scott said.
"There are so many changes that can happen over a month, a week and even a shift, that can cause serious problems that include downtime and issues related to communications with the ERP system. What we're trying to do with Solidcore's help is to educate our customers that this change control solution is truly a value-added solution, and that it will help save them money at the end of the day," he said.


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Beyond the massive speculative frenzy around cryptocurrencies, the underlying blockchain technology continues to attract an expanding range of entrepreneurs. This means various regions are now jockeying to become the key hub for a growing ecosystem of blockchain startups.
Berlin is one of the cities that believes it’s worthy of the crown, and now it’s getting some help from a joint project launched by two of its more notable blockchain startups. The teams behind Berlin’s Tendermint and Gnosis have joined forces to create Full Node, a blockchain coworking space that will open in March in the city’s Kreuzberg neighborhood.
Gnosis and Tendermint have jointly rented 1000m² of space in the building, which will serve as their new headquarters, as well as a co-working space for a combined 100 people. Full Node will offer meeting rooms, open space, and social areas for events and work.
Nadja Beneš, head of brand and content strategy for Gnosis, explained that the idea was initiated by the companies’ respective founders, who saw the number of blockchain entrepreneurs in Berlin growing at a rapid clip.
“The community was really dispersed,” Beneš said. “We had a desire to unite this growing blockchain community.”
Following a year in which Bitcoin soared to insane valuations and initial coin offerings threatened to rewrite the rules of startup funding, a much broader audience is tuning in to subjects like cryptocurrencies and blockchain. And with money flowing into this sector, the number of cities and countries wishing to get in on the action has soared. Malta, Singapore, and Slovenia have made plays to be seen as crypto hubs, while the city of Zug in Switzerland has been dubbed Crypto Valley and Estonia and Belarus have been jockying for position. And that doesn’t even count Europe’s traditional startup hubs, such as London…
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Service refusal to take action to protect elephants from a skin trade that has depleted the population of pachyderms is jeopardizing their chances to survive as a species, Friends of Animals stated in a recent lawsuit filed by its Wildlife Law Program in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.
The elephant population in Africa has been so depleted they have been listed as threatened. And while a ban on ivory was aimed at helping to sustain the species, commercial trade has moved to elephant skins.
From 2007 to 2016, skins from more than 70,000 African elephants were traded and the number of whole elephant skins imported to the U.S. jumped from 275 in 2014 to 2,079 in 2016.
In 2018, Friends of Animals Wildlife Law Program filed a petition to FWS asking it to amend the existing regulations and prohibit the import and export of African elephant parts and products (other than ivory.) But FWS never acted on the petition.
Where once there were 12 million elephants in Africa in the early 1900s, there are now less than 400,000, as their body parts have been commodified for skin products and trophy hunts.
“The current regulations conflict with FWS’s goal of protecting African elephants. While the regulations recognize the threat to African elephants from illegal poaching for their tusks, the regulations ignore the growing threat to African elephants from illegal poaching for their skins,” FoA said in its lawsuit.
The value of elephant parts and products has jumped from $24,947 to more than $4.5 million in 2017 fueling the poaching and commerce industry.
Sanctioned African elephant hides—skins that were taken under conditions laid out by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)— are legally being used to make handbags, boots, totes, belts, computer cases, gun holders and even sneakers that are coveted fashion items.
Even though Asian elephants are listed as endangered and there is no legal commercial trade, the skins and products made from them, such as beads, are openly sold in Myanmar as well as Guangdong and Fujian provinces in China, according to an Elephant Family report. Asian elephant skins from poachers were selling for more than $100 per kg and a skin powder for $425, the report found.
“There is little doubt that the (illegal) skin trade is a major and developing threat to Asian elephants across their range. Traffickers are developing new ways to market elephant skin products and are selling them to apparently willing consumers,” Elephant Family noted in its report. “This crisis poses a greater threat to Asian elephants than the ivory trade. Moreover, this new trend could easily spread to Africa as has been seen with other species. As one trader told Elephant Family investigators ‘it’s only skin—who cares if it comes from Asian elephants or African elephants.’”
In the U.S., the Fish and Wildlife maintains that the skin trade doesn’t pose a threat to the viability of the elephant species. Only three states prohibit the import and sale of elephant skins—New York, New Jersey and California. Nationwide, elephant skin products can easily be found on the internet. Roje Exotics, which boasts five dedicated warehouses and several finishing tanneries in the U.S, sells African elephant products, including men’s elephant skin messenger bags for $5,000 and panels of different colored elephant skins for $45.The Leather Guy sells tanned African elephant hide for prices ranging from $78 to $202 and American Exotics supplies elephant and other exotic hides to the fashion, upholstery and design industries.
“When FWS listed the African elephant as threatened, it issued a special rule to provide for their conservation,’’ FoA said in the lawsuit. “It is inconsistent for the Special Rule to severely restrict trade in ivory from African elephants, yet largely allow the trade in other parts and products.”


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Northern California’s recent wildfires have sent a shock wave through the entire Bay Area and beyond, leaving damaged lives, businesses, and environment in its wake. Even for California, where wildfires are common, the current state of affairs is considered exceptionally bad.
Blazes that began on Oct. 9 ignited enormous swaths of Sonoma, Napa, and Yuba counties. At least 45 people have been killed, 5.700 structures destroyed, 250,000 acres charred and 20,000 residents evacuated across eight counties. The financial damage has yet to be calculated as firefighters are working on containing the blazes.
Our partner, Astra Women’s Business Alliance, has created a GoFundMe campaign to collect donations for relief funds to assist WBEs (Women’s Business Enterprise) in affected areas who are in need of monetary support during this recovery process. All proceeds received through this campaign will be distributed to certified-WBEs who were directly affected by the wildfire. For more information, please see this visit this link.
Our hearts go out to those affected by the wildfires throughout Northern California, and we are actively doing our part to help contribute to the recovery from this disaster. If you would like to more information on where to donate supplies or how to volunteer to assist in relief efforts, please visit the links below:
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Today, ASUS and Verizon announced the LTE-equipped model of the ASUS ZenPad Z10 tablet. If you're already on Big Red, which you have to be for this device, it's not a bad choice for the asking price of $329.99.
The Z10 LTE is powered by a Snapdragon 650 CPU with 3GB of RAM, running Android 6.0 (with ASUS' ZenUI, of course). There is no indication in the press release or Verizon's site of an update to Android 7.0 Nougat, so don't get your hopes up. The Z10 has 32GB of internal storage, expandable with microSD cards up to 128GB.
The screen is a 9.7" panel at 2048x1536, with a 178° wide viewing angle. Read More
Today, AT&T issued a press release regarding an upcoming network technology initiative. Normally, this would be about as exciting as chewing on wood pulp while watching CSPAN. Certainly, network technology is very important, but it's not generally all that exciting to anyone but a relatively specific subset of people. Even for technology enthusiasts like us, that stuff is more than a little dry.
Today's press release was different, though. Today, AT&T announced what it believes to be the very future of its network infrastructure - both wired and wireless - and it is insane. AT&T calls this initiative Project AirGig, and claims it's the result of 10 years of research and over 100 patent applications. Read More
Android tablets with LTE aren't all that common. Okay, Android tablets in general aren't exactly a hot segment of the market. The pickings are particularly slim for a slate with cellular data.
The Galaxy Tab S2 is one of the best options currently on the market, with or without LTE. But if you do want that freedom to browse the web basically anywhere, now is a good time to open your wallet. Read More
Things did not go as planned for LG with the Watch Urbane 2nd Edition, which was originally supposed to come out late last year. A hardware defect caused the company to halt the release and bring the watch back to the drawing board. Now, it's ready to go again and AT&T will let you pre-order one right now. Read More
Qualcomm did not have a great 2015 with the issues surrounding the 810, but it's looking to turn that around in 2016. The Snapdragon 820 might help, but the fancy high-end chips aren't everything. Qualcomm has announced several new mid-range ARM chips, as well as a new modem and a wearable-specific SoC. Read More
Cell phones need modems. They're pretty important if your plans include making calls and accessing data. Like processors and GPUs, most phone manufacturers don't make their own wireless modems or radios, instead incorporating pre-existing designs into their phones. Sony might soon be able to roll its own wireless components: the Japanese electronics giant has announced that it has finalized plans to buy Altair Semiconductor, a designer of LTE modems based in Israel, for $212 million USD.
The acquisition will allow Sony to produce its own LTE hardware, and possibly sell it to competitors, as is already the case with Sony's widely-used camera modules. Read More
A Project Fi support page for tablets and "other compatible devices" has just gone live, and it spills all the juicy details of the very-soon-to-launch (we assume) feature on Google's MVNO. The best part? The money: it costs nothing to add a tablet to your Project Fi plan. There is no monthly device fee, and it doesn't even appear that Google is charging for SIMs, though we've yet to verify that. Read More
Google is rolling out Android 6.0.1 to Nexus devices starting today with new factory images. In addition to the new emoji, it looks like this update finally enables band 12 LTE on T-Mobile for the Nexus 6P and 5X. Yay! Read More
We've covered Black Friday deals from Sprint and Verizon already, and they've been pretty predictable. T-Mobile, though, is taking a different approach. For the next three months, the carrier is giving all of its postpaid Simple Choice customers unlimited LTE, active right now. Read More
Sprint has been struggling to remain competitive in the face of big consumer-friendly initiatives from T-Mobile and the continued dominance of AT&T and Verizon. Now, the carrier is announcing a new revamp of its LTE network called LTE Plus, and it's celebrating with steep discounts for a limited time. Read More


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Singapore suspends trade ties with North Korea
SINGAPORE has suspended trade relations with North Korea, becoming the latest of Pyongyang's major trade partners to cut commercial ties under toughening United Nations (UN) sanctions over its weapons programme, a Customs notice obtained on Thursday said.
The move comes
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Abandoned Lincoln Town Car with computer equipment stashed within goes up in flames near Hypoluxo
An abandoned older model Lincoln Town Car with some old printers and computer gear inside went up in flames early this morning behind Mr. A's Grocery near Hypoluxo, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue officials said.
Firefighters were dispatched to Miner Road and Coral Street in the San Castle neighborhood about 1:30 a.m., Fire-Rescue spokesman Chief Steve Delai said.
The car and computer equipment were so old that investigators estimated the total loss at $500, Delai said.
"We're thinking it's random vandalism," he said.


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Is the new Surface Book really that much better than the 13-inch MacBook Pro?
Microsoft added a surprise to the end of its big event in New York City on Tuesday with a new device: a 13" Surface Book.
We keep saying that this is a new Microsoft. The Surface Book event showed just how much the company has changed over the last 20 months.
While Netflix announced unlimited parental leave this week, Microsoft says it plans to give new mothers 20 weeks of paid leave and new fathers 12 weeks.
Microsoft rolled out on Wednesday a tool that will turn boring work and school presentations into something that looks more way more professional.
There are 30 games in the 'Rare Replay,' and many of them are great. But these five are bona fide standouts.
Here's all the news you might have missed from Microsoft's busy, games-packed press conference at the 2015 Gamescom fan convention.


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VW’s Bleak Options for Dealing With 500,000 Recalled Diesels
Emissions cheat Volkswagon is recalling nearly 500,000 cars, most of which will need to be broken down and scrapped for parts.
VW Will Buy Back Your Cheating, Polluting Diesel
Volkswagen will offer to buy back the nearly 500,000 diesel cars it illegally programmed to cheat on emissions tests, Reuters reports.
VW May Not Be Trying Hard Enough to Fix Those Diesels
That plan "was not complete and is deficient for several reasons," CARB says. Put another way, VW's not trying hard enough.
The DOJ’s Lawsuit Is Just the Start of VW’s Legal Woes
The civil case could be no more than a warmup round for the federal government, which is likely to pursue criminal charges against VW executives.
Tech Giants That Fell From Grace
The good times can't last forever.
Volkswagen’s US Sales Plummet 25 Percent as Dieselgate Rolls On
The precipitous drop is the latest blow in the ongoing disaster that is VW's diesel scandal.
EPA: VW Cheated on Emissions Tests for 10,000 More Cars
This new batch of cars includes the 2014 VW Touareg, 2015 Porsche Cayenne, and 2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L, and Q5.
Smarter Copyright Laws Could Stop the Next VW Scandal
The VW scandal is the new normal. And it will remain that way until America’s overzealous copyright laws stop trampling research and innovation.
These Are the Greenest Cars You Can Buy. Alas, No Diesels
In the market for an environmentally friendly ride? Get yourself one of these.
Dozens of Managers Were Involved in VW’s Diesel Scandal
Meanwhile, VW's newly chosen head of North America, Winfried Vahland, is leaving the company just two weeks after being designated for the post.


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Lenovo P2 is the next smartphone that the company will be launching in India. The Lenovo P series has always focused on battery as the USP, and it is the same with the P2. The company via its Twitter India handle on Monday began teasing the launch of the smartphone, however , at this point, no details of availability or price are known.
The Lenovo P2 was first showcased at IFA 2016. The smartphone is already available in several regions globally including China, where only 4GB RAM variant with 64GB of internal storage has gone up for sale. China pricing is CNY 2,499 (roughly Rs. 24,500), and we can expect the smartphone to be significantly cheaper in India due to hardware differences.
Lenovo P2 has a 5.5-inch full HD super AMOLED (1920 x 1080 pixels) display, and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor clocked at 2GHz. The smartphone comes with 3GB of RAM and 4GB of RAM variant. The storage space is the same at 32GB, which is expandable up to 128GB.
The smartphone has a 13-megapixel rear camera with flash and there’s a 5-megapixel front facing camera. The Lenovo P2 has a fingerprint scanner on the front. The smartphone is bundled with a 5100mAh battery. It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and supports NFC. It comes in two color options – Gold and Grey.


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From: The Evening Telegraph
Published on Tuesday 26 April 2011 04:30
SMOKERS are being warned that smuggled cigarettes could contain a “seriously unhealthy” cocktail of chemicals – much worse than a normal cigarette.
Illicit cigarettes, thousands of which have been unearthed by customs officers on the shelves of shops in Peterborough, are hard to spot as they are “expertly packaged” by criminals.
A spokeswoman for HM Revenue and Customs said: “Smuggled and fake cigarettes can often seem like an attractive offer.
“But the startling truth is unregulated cigarettes can contain a seriously unhealthy mix of chemicals including arsenic, lead, cadmium, benzene and formaldehyde, far worse than the genuine product.
“Research has shown that counterfeit cigarettes contain three times the levels of arsenic, five times the level of cadmium and nearly six times the level of lead found in genuine brands.”
However, it is not just the higher than usual level of chemicals smokers need to worry about when buying illicit cigarettes.
The spokeswoman added: “They have also been found to contain sawdust, tobacco beetles and rat droppings.
“With expertly crafted packaging it is almost impossible to spot counterfeit cigarettes until you experience the ill effects from smoking them, due to the highly toxic set of ingredients that they contain.
“Most smokers buying cheap cigarettes are unlikely to realise that they are buying counterfeit tobacco products because of the expert packaging.
“Counterfeit cigarettes provide a whole new set of risks to smokers.
“Tests on previous counterfeit hauls have revealed they contain up to 60 per cent more tar, 80 per cent more nicotine and 133 per cent more carbon monoxide.”
Residents and businesses are being urged to help the fight against crime.
Anyone who spots anything unusual, can call the HM Revenue and Customs Hotline on 0800 59 5000.
Alternatively, people can also contact them by email on firstname.lastname@example.org with information relating to illegally imported goods, tax evasion and fraud.


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The Malaysian government has lifted the freeze on foreign worker intake in the wholesale and retail sector. Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the freeze imposed in 2009 has been lifted to address difficulties faced by the sector. He said the move was also to further drive the sector that has become one of the main contributors towards the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.
He noted that the wholesale and retail sector had contributed RM110.8bil in May this year.
“They are also required to come up with a long-term exit strategy to gradually reduce dependence on foreign workforce. “We want them to come up with an exit strategy, so that there would be no ‘crash landing’ (when the foreign worker intake into the sector is frozen again),” he said.
Datuk Saifuddin announced this after opening the Malaysia International Retail and Franchise (MIRF) exhibition in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. He MIRF recorded a 30% increase in corporate participation from 285 exhibition booths last year to 380 booths this year. “It reflects overwhelming confidence of investors and businesses to invest and benefit from our economic growth,” he said.
“The Malaysian Government had always supported and promoted the growth of the franchise industry.” Of the 877 franchises operating in Malaysia, 65% are local brands. Datuk Saifuddin also noted that 65 Malaysian franchises have expanded their brands in 66 countries, operating more than 4,200 outlets worldwide. “We are confident the franchise industry can contribute RM35bil to the GDP next year. “We need to further boost our capabilities to be world-class players and establish Malaysia as a franchise hub for the ASEAN market,” he added.
MIRF organising chairman Raymond Woo said they have created a new exhibition zone called “hatchery” to help jump-start startup companies. “It is an incubator trade initiative for startups,” he added. MRCA president Datuk Seri Gary Chua said the three-day MIRF event was one of the largest in South-East Asia, attracting 18,000 visitors from 10 countries. “Our targeted revenue this year is RM90mil,” he said. At the event, the Bumiputra Designers Association (BDA) inked an MoU with MRCA to create a platform for local designers in retail chains under MRCA.


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Another product for suckers. Bulletproof-360 Coffee, brought to you by David (Avocado) Wolfe, easily one of the most annoying people on the planet. Does it really work? Will you really be bulletproof? Enough so to piss off narcoterrorists just to see what happens? Oh, and the company has had two products recalled in the past seven months. Maybe not such a good idea after all.
Food & Nutrition
One of the worst junk science trends in recent years is for grocery stores and restaurants to claim that they serve "clean food." Obviously, the not-so-subtle message is that everybody else is serving poison, so to be safe, you better eat their food. It's well past time to put aside the snobbish notion that eating clean, local, organic food makes you a superior, healthier human.
While obesity has been reliably linked to many serious health problems – such as diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers – there's a minority of obese people who are metabolically healthy. A new study points to physical fitness as being a key component in these folks' avoidance of some of the usual obesity-linked health issues.
When your doctor insists that you must exercise, that's often received as necessary drudgery. But what if that mandate was to go out and play? A new European study found that recreational soccer can lower "blood pressure, fat mass, and LDL cholesterol" regardless of age or gender, and can do so "after only 12 weeks of training."
A new meta-analysis published in the journal Sleep Medicine found that middle-aged adults who suffered from insomnia, nightmares and regular bouts of broken sleep were more likely to face cognitive impairment in their later years.
Sometimes spoiled foods smell bad, warning us not to eat them. But sometimes contamination with bacteria or degradation because of being held too long or at the wrong temperature aren't obvious. And thus consuming raw foods can be a bit like Russian roulette. A new method —a bioelectronic nose — of testing raw seafood, especially oysters, has been devised and could help prevent at least some cases of food-borne illness.
If all the early hype is true, then Amazon Go, the giant retailer's new high-tech store, is a food shopper's dream. Just think, no money, no credit/debit cards. Just you and your smartphone (with the app, of course). While it's surely a technological wonder, what it's not is a supermarket.
The rules governing customer risk and the responsibilities of Colorado ski resorts have placed the burden squarely on skiers and snowboarders. So in terms of skier safety, exercising greater caution on the slopes is now even more important than ever before.
Actress Zooey Deschanel has a new startup — The Farm Project. In her latest video episode she urges consumers to stop buying produce from the grocery store — unless it's organic.
Activists repeat a lie often, get it re-tweeted and soon it's the truth for those who major in Confirmation Bias at Google University. That's likely the only explanation why Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return, basically an anti-meat investment group, released new material prompting regulators to put a "sin" tax on meat.
Now with more than 35 million participants nationwide, yoga's popularity surge has prompted researchers to study whether "hot" yoga, conducted in a 100-degree studio, is more beneficial for healthy, middle-aged adults than sessions held at room temperature. The study, the first of its kind say its authors, produced intriguing results.
Switzerland believes the practice of throwing a live lobster in a pot of boiling water is mean-spirited, and most of all, cruel. Lawmakers in that landlocked European country actually passed a law recently, banning that particular crustacean toss – even though science has shown that lobsters cannot feel pain.


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Xylem will showcase its portfolio of dewatering and flood protection pumps for the mining and construction industries at bauma 2019, which takes place from 8-14 April in Munich.
New products from Xylem include the launch of the latest smart dewatering pump from the Godwin Smart Series. The new Godwin Dri-Prime pump will be launched at the Xylem booth (Booth 449, Hall A6) on 8 April at 2.00pm. It has been specifically designed to combat tough mining and construction applications and the company says it offers increased flexibility and greater sustainability.
The new dewatering pump can be equipped with the new generation of Xylem Field Smart Technology (FST), which is a Cloud-based telematics platform that allows customers to monitor and control the pump from wherever they are. Xylem’s new FST platform will be on display at the Xylem booth for the first time, with live demonstrations taking place throughout the show.
Xylem will also highlight its Flood Protection (FP) Dri-Prime series, a set of high flow, portable pumps certified to handle flooding. Specifically designed to remove destructive floodwaters, the pumps also prevent flood water from reaching critical building systems and interior spaces.


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Townships on the African continent have for decades been seen by many as places of poverty, unemployment, hopelessness and crime. The enormous challenges facing the people that live in these townships have become a symbol of all that was wrong with the “old” South Africa and the continent. But, fast forward to today and there are many townships where there are increadible entrepreneurial pockets of excellence emerging within the communities living there. Taking South Africa as an example, where there are many thousands of successful thriving micro business forming an integral part of the SA economy ! According to World Bank figures – 38% of the working-aged urban population lives within the townships of SA and without this workforce, SA would not be able to survive!
The township economy consists largely of small-scale, informal retail activities, from spaza shops and street trading to shebeens; while the taxi industry, which has grown over the past few decades, supports a small knock-on economy of vehicle service businesses. But these business activities are mostly tied to their nearby communities and don’t feed into the national economy on any proper scale.
This has been recognised by the South African government, however, and is being seen as an opportunity to help rebuild South Africa’s economy post-lockdown by helping the township economy to grow. Bearing in mind that some 2.2 million South African jobs have been lost in the second quarter of 2020, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is now more important than ever to find new economic opportunities.
The government’s solution includes revitalising underused/derelict industrial parks and land (many found near township areas), as well as developing special economic zones (SEZs). According to deputy president David Mabuza, private investment has so far amounted to about R17.2 billion and about 15 000 new jobs have been created, which is encouraging, though much work still needs to be done.
Zhauns, one of Africa’s leading suppliers of machines, has a specialist division called PARD (Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development), which aims to increase entrepreneurial activity and create economic opportunities in Africa, in line with the government’s goals. PARD supplies machines that make items that are currently imported into the continent, thereby creating employment opportunities for entrepreneurs and SMEs. It also offers business incubation, which can often result in formalised growth of around 80%.
Initiatives like PARD have the potential to help grow the township economy and help get South Africa (and the continent) back on the right track in the wake of COVID-19. Simply fill out the form and see how PARD can help grow your business for a brighter tomorrow.
Image by Good Things Guy


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Hardys owner Accolade Wines has enlisted former Moët Hennessy Diageo Singapore director and GM David White to head up its marketing arm.
White, a wine and spirits industry veteran of 20 years who previously held roles at the likes of Glenmorangie, Edrington and Brown-Forman, takes up the position at Accolade this Friday.
He would be “an integral part of the UK commercial team ensuring we continue to drive value in the wine category and develop our power brands while exploring new territories and opportunities”, said Accolade UK & Ireland GM Ade McKeon. “David is joining us at a very exciting time in the company’s evolution.”
It comes as sales of Accolade’s wine brands have plummeted over the past year. Its seven largest brands, including Echo Falls, Kumala and Banrock Station, lost a combined £74m in value. Hardys suffered the greatest loss of any food and drink product in The Grocer’s 2017 Top Products report last month, with sales falling £36.5m to £277m [Nielsen 52 w/e 9 September 2017].
Sources say the pound’s weakness following the Brexit vote left Accolade unable to absorb cost spikes thanks to its brands’ relatively low retail prices, which led to a swathe of delistings. Sainsbury’s, for instance, has slashed its range of Hardys wines from 13 to four since January 2017 [Brand View].
McKeon told The Grocer declines were “in line with expectations and ahead of internal measures”.


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In many European countries, the demand for asparagus is greater than the supply, mostly due to the impact of the cold in April, which slowed down the production. The demand, however, is good, as more and more countries are allowing restaurants to reopen their doors. Also in the United States, the demand for asparagus is good, but prices stand at historically low levels. However, it seems that prices are rising again, now that stocks are decreasing.
The Netherlands: No surpluses on the asparagus market. Severe shortage of green asparagus
During the Dutch asparagus season, the demand has generally remained higher than the supply. "You won't hear many growers complaining about that. We haven't had any supply peaks yet. At the same time, the demand remains at a good level. The demand from the retail has been good all season, and with the easing of the restrictions, the demand from the hospitality industry has increased quite a bit this week. Nobody has any stocks, so if every restaurant ordered just one case of asparagus, you'd already get a lot of trade. We can normally deliver good volumes and are also able to run campaigns together with the retail sector, but there are no surpluses, which is of course favorable for sales," says a grower.
"We have seen severe shortages of green asparagus on the market throughout the season, but that has also been due to the weather conditions in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. The supply will increase a bit by the middle of next week at the earliest," says the grower. "Overseas exports are not yet at the level of 2019, but we appear to be on the right track. Exports in Europe are going well. The open ground supply is limited due to the cold weather, which makes asparagus extra popular."
Belgium: Production gets off to a slow start
Belgium's open ground asparagus season started 2.5 to 3 weeks later than normal. The month of April was one of the coldest in years, so production is slow to get going. The demand is at a good level, despite the fact that the catering industry is still closed. This weekend, the Belgian catering industry will also open its doors again. This could further stimulate the demand for asparagus. The auction prices for loose asparagus rose slightly last week, while the price for packaged asparagus fell.
Germany: Difficult start to the season
The start of the German asparagus season has been extremely difficult. Due to the cold wave and night frost, volumes are significantly lower, especially in the East German growing areas. "We will only start harvesting the first asparagus from unheated cultivation next week," says one grower.
In contrast to last year, German consumers also seem to have a smaller appetite for regional asparagus. Smaller volumes are being sold, which is said to have something to do with a decline in purchasing power. Retail chains are trying to keep consumption going with relatively low prices. At the same time, there is a relatively large supply from the southern German growing regions (Bruchsal region and Munich), which is putting the market under pressure.
England: Asparagus season gets off to a slow start
Asparagus growers in England have started harvesting some small volumes. Production in tunnels is underway and, according to a grower in Colchester, very small quantities are coming from open ground cultivation. The season has been slow to get going due to cold nights. Last week, freezing temperatures were recorded every morning, but no more frosts are forecast for this week. It has also been extremely dry.
January and February were very wet, but since then there has been very little rain and growers have needed to irrigate their crops. Warm days would be very welcome to promote asparagus growth, but good volumes are on the way. The demand for asparagus is very high at the moment. The asparagus season runs until mid-June. The catering industry will be opening fully on May 17 and by then there should be a greater supply to meet the additional demand.
Italy: Shortages on the Italian market
This is not an easy asparagus season. "The latest frosts have had an impact on the crop's growth. The mood among our producers is depressed. So much so, that they are very concerned about the future of asparagus cultivation in central Italy. The current asparagus season has been slow to get going and the harvest is not yet fully underway. Since there is currently a product shortage in the Italian markets, high prices could be the only holdout for producers this year. May is the asparagus month of choice in Italy, as the Spanish season comes to an end. That's why I hope there will be no drop in prices, so that we can at least end May with dignity, as we did in 2016," said a sales manager of a cooperative.
In Calabria, an organization of producers grows green asparagus of the Sunlim F1 variety on about 2 hectares in the open ground. "At the moment, the sale of green asparagus is going well and there is a high demand."
Spain: Demand for green asparagus exceeds the supply
The Spanish green asparagus season started in March, about 3 weeks later than the previous one, when the harvest had kicked off unusually early. Since the beginning of the season, the production has been scarce and the demand has far exceeded the supply. This is due to the lack of rainfall in Granada, the main growing area in Spain, during the fall and winter, as well as to the lower temperatures this spring. The asparagus acreage has also declined over the past two years due to some difficult seasons marked by oversupply and low prices. Other producing countries in Europe also have small productions this year, so Spain still dominates the European markets with its small volumes. Italy is Spain's biggest competitor, but this year its limited harvest is being absorbed by the domestic market and it is even importing Spanish asparagus. Therefore, prices are quite high and are not expected to fall for the rest of the season, which will finish in about a month. By that time, some limited volumes will start to arrive from Peru. The limited supply is a result of global problems in the logistics sector.
United States: Historically low asparagus prices
A California-based trader says that the season is ending in Caborca, Mexico, the main asparagus-growing area over the past two months, although other Mexican growing regions are stepping up. "Mexico basically grows asparagus all year round. Right now there is cultivation in Baja California, Obregón, San Luis, Washington, and soon Central Mexico, Michigan and New Jersey will also start." He says that in California, the asparagus acreage continues to decline.
When it comes to the demand, 2021 has seen good so far. The trader says that there has been a strong focus on asparagus in the food retail in recent months, given the high profit margins. "Retailers will continue to profit from the momentum built during this corona era, even though many people have needed to control their expenditure. This will continue to have an impact." Looking ahead, the reopening of the foodservice industry will likely win back some business from the food retail, but not enough to significantly affect this segment. As for prices, they have been historically low lately. "Prices are rising and coming back to normal levels due to the reduction in the supply from Caborca," says the trader.
China: The coronavirus has had a negative impact on prices and acreage
The negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic has led to a reduction of both the acreage devoted to asparagus in the country and the price paid for the crop. The total asparagus acreage nationwide stood at approximately 90,000 acres in 2020; a 5% reduction compared to 2019. The total turnover generated by asparagus in the domestic market reached nearly USD 2.5 billion (over EUR 2.06 bln); down 19% from 2019. According to statistics from the Beijing Xinfadi wholesale market, the fluctuation pattern of wholesale prices in 2020 was roughly similar to that of 2019. Material costs, land costs and labor costs increased significantly, affecting growers' net profit.
The asparagus acreage in China is expected to decline slightly over the next 1-2 years. As the popularity of growing asparagus under glass increases and the application of smart growing technology become more common, the total asparagus production will continue to grow.
Next week: Overview global blueberry market


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Topic: App Annie
01/17/2017, 01:01 pm
The App Store remains more profitable for iOS developers than the Google Play store is for Android apps, new estimates reveal, with App Store revenues in China also continuing to climb at a fast pace.
07/19/2016, 04:07 pm
A new report examining mobile app revenues shows strong growth for Apple in China and from music and video streaming titles, and another big jump in the revenue lead that its iOS App Store maintains over Android's Google Play.
01/20/2016, 05:01 pm
Despite a huge jump in Android app downloads from Google Play fueled by the company's expansion into developing markets, Apple's iOS App Store continues to bring in more money and has actually increased its lead in profitability over Android's official store.
05/28/2014, 01:05 pm
Mobile analytics firm App Annie on Wednesday announced that it acquired smaller competitor Distimo in a transaction that the company says will help develop "the most advanced platform for analyzing the mobile app ecosystem."


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Moviebook, a leading AI-powered intelligent video production infrastructure and service provider, is planning to launch a youth digital workshop soon, in an effort to improve the youth’s awareness and understanding of digital technologies.
Moviebook, as an intelligent video technology innovator, wants to help prepare the youth aged between 15 and 24 for their future careers by providing them with a workshop which will inform attendees about the application of intelligent video production technologies and the digital twin technology in fields such as new retail, media, culture, education and entertainment, and the latest technology trends.
Due to a lack of experience, young people are facing increasing uncertainties in today’s competitive job market. China’s first Youth Employment Survey revealed information transmission, computer services, software and finance, as the most popular industries for prospective graduates, making having a grounding in new technology increasingly important.
In the digital workshop, the company will introduce to participants its three major engines, namely the Automatic Digital Twin (ADT) engine, the Automatic Content Marketing (ACM) engine and the Automatic Generated Content (AGC) engine. Moviebook has been leading the commercialization of AI technologies. Building on its three engines, Moviebook is pioneering brand new business scenarios and business models for visual technologies, bringing innovative changes to new retail, media, culture, education, entertainment among others.
In particular, the ADT engine provides integrated 3D digital twin tools for clients in new retail, media and entertainment as well as digital content platforms; it can also create virtual and immersive 3D digital content in a one-stop manner, and build and operate 3D digital assets management platforms for these customers. For instance, retailers can make use of ADT to upgrade their online stores and optimize product management, thereby bridging the gap between online and offline shopping experience.
Moviebook also provides continuous training to its young employees which is about 11% of total, who are aged under 25. Within a professional team setting, continuous training sessions will allow them to learn from experienced team members about first-hand technological and industrial news. In an era where new retail is flourishing, the extraction of product shape information requires the continued support of layer separation technology. Therefore, in the company’s recent technical training session, young employees were acquainted with customized optimizations of the layer separation technology, including improved effects of products’ special attributes such as transparent parts.
With both online and offline retail sectors expected to continue their move towards digitalization at an even faster rate, Moviebook’s new digital workshop is likely to become a vital resource for young persons as they look to embark on their exciting future careers, and further enhances Moviebook’s reputation as a forward-thinking and innovative company that cares.
For more such updates and perspectives around Digital Innovation, IoT, Data Infrastructure, AI & Cybsercurity, go to AI-Techpark.com.


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EA Sports has released an official gameplay deep dive video for its upcoming soccer game, FIFA 23. This new video showcases some of the game’s mechanics, and will give you a glimpse at its graphics. And, as we’ve already reported, the PC version will look identical to the current-gen console version.
FIFA 23 promises to have next-gen HyperMotion gameplay technology with twice as much real match data capture. As such, the game will have over 6000 true-to-life football animations. Moreover, a new risk versus reward shooting mechanic will be present. Players can also expect refreshed free kicks, penalties and corners, as well as more realistic physics.
FIFA 23 will also introduce Women’s Club Football and a double FIFA World Cup Season. Naturally, the game will also have its traditional game modes, such as FUT, Career Mode and Volta Football.
FIFA 23 will release on September 30th, and you can find its official PC system requirements here!


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DDB New Zealand | NZ Tourism
Aotearoa New Zealand. A land hidden beneath a long white cloud. One of the hardest places on earth to get to. Not a place for the tourist. But the pākiki. The curious.
DDB New Zealand’s campaign is already proving a huge success. Preference for New Zealand as a result of our campaign is the highest Meta has ever seen in the travel category.
1.2 thousand pieces of earned international media coverage. 803 million impressions. 590% increase in visits to NZ.com one month from launch with 1.6 million unique visits.
Crucially, we’ve seen our decision to target high-quality tourists pay off. Arrivals are recovering in all key markets, with Australia recovering strongly to 74% in October 2022, but near 100% of spending.
Today’s holiday-makers are contributing more to our economy than ever with a 9.2% lift in dolar-value per visitor vs 2019.134M video-views, 1.3M website visits and 195k referrals to tourism operators. Over 4M Chinese visitors and 110K Australians (our two key markets) are currently actively considering a holiday in Aotearoa. Showing less is more it seems.


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DX160 2020 From iBasso
20th March 2020
iBasso has announced the tweaked 2020 variant of its DX160, its mid range Android DAP player that features twin CS43198 DAC chips and has a 1080p display
Improvements include changes to the buffer for a, “…higher slew rate, wider bandwidth and a higher current output, resulting in higher power output,” said the company.
The 3.5mm output has been changed to a CTIA standard 3.5mm output meaning that headphone cables with microphones built-in are now supported.
Also, there is a display panel manufacturer change. The resolution and size are apparently the same at a 5” 1080p LCD but the Sharp component has been switched over to JDI (Japan Display Inc). Brightness and contrast have not been specified.
The DX160 is one of the few DAPs that arrive with Android 8.1 Oreo.
The unit totes two audio output sockets: a 4.4mm Pentaconn and a standard 3.5mm.
It also features MQA decoding, a rotary encoder dial and it is the only portable DAP that supports Bluetooth 5.0.
Sporting front and rear glass panels along with a CNC’d aluminium frame, it also uses an unspecified Octa-core Rockchip SOC.
The price remains the same as the 2019 launch price. Pre-orders for the 2020 variant begin on 20 March until 10 April. The first batch will only be included in black. The other colours will be available on April 10th.
To learn more click HERE


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Young Variety to host Valentine's Day date night fundraiser
Filed under "News"
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Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Young Variety, the young professionals’ arm of Variety – the Children’s Charity of Iowa, announced that its signature Charity Date Night fundraising event is going virtual this year. In lieu of the in-person event, Young Variety is partnering with One Board Gal, a local charcuterie business, to offer a Valentine’s Day date night charcuterie package for donors to enjoy at home.
“While this isn’t our traditional Date Night event, we are still excited to provide a Valentine’s Day date night experience for our supporters to enjoy,” said Christina Tim, Young Variety Board President. “The Young Variety team has done a phenomenal job of continuing to pivot and finding unique ways to raise dollars in our current environment to support the Variety mission.”
Each package comes complete with two 8 oz. charcuterie boxes by One Board Gal, a bag of Almost Famous Popcorn, cookies from She Bakes Cookies, cookies from One Sweet Kitchen, and a bottle of wine.
Each charcuterie package costs $75 for pick-up or $100 for delivery anywhere in the Greater Des Moines area. Charcuterie packages can be purchased through Friday, February 5 at varietyiowa.com, and picked up on Friday, February 12 from 4 – 6 p.m. at Mainframe Studios in Des Moines.
All proceeds will support Variety’s mission of caring for Iowa’s children.
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