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Grammy award-winner Kanye West has found success as a rapper, record producer, songwriter, entrepreneur, and fashion designer. Now, thanks to a new endorsement deal with Adidas, West could become a lot richer--possibly reaching billionaire status, sources told TMZ.
On Wednesday, the German sportswear giant announced plans to continue its partnership with West through launch of 'adidas x KANYE WEST,' a collection of footwear, apparel and accessories. The deal was first inked in 2014 for a reported $10 million. Adidas reps say the line will be its own business entity--with various retail stores across the country and a team of "Yeezy" staffers operating from Adidas' Portland headquarters.
Though terms of the deal weren't disclosed, it is said to be the biggest partnership between a sports brand and a non-athlete to date, inasmuch as the brand spans both lifestyle and sports products, and includes apparel for all genders.
"These past two years, Adidas and YEEZY have given a glimpse into our future," said West. "This partnership illustrates that anyone with a dream can dream without limitations."
So far, Adidas has released two popular shoes with the rapper: the Yeezy Boost 750, and Yeezy Boost 350--both designed by West himself. Though the company wouldn't disclose sales figures, the 750s (gray suede limited edition high-tops) are still selling for thousands of dollars on the secondary market. The retail price was set at $350. Since the shoes were introduced last year, Adidas' share of the $1 billion secondary market jumped from one percent to 30 percent, according to StockX, a sneaker market tracker.
"With 'adidas + KANYE WEST,' we are exploring new territories by opening up the sports world to Kanye's creativity. This is what Adidas has always been about--empowering creators to create the new," said Adidas CMO Eric Liedtke.
Playing catch-up to industry leader Nike
The move could help Adidas to catch up to Nike, the sportswear giant with the biggest U.S. market share. Addidas generates $19 billion in annual sales, compared to Nike's whopping $30 billion.
Meanwhile, Nike's recently announced lifetime endorsement deal with LeBron James could pay out to more than $1 billion for James by the time he's 64. The new 'addidas x KANYE WEST' collection is thought to be in competition with James' footwear.
West's level of involvement in the creative process is still unclear, but it's safe to assume he holds a fair amount of control. Back in 2013, the rapper terminated an earlier partnership with Nike, citing a lack of authority over his wares. In an interview with Sirius XM, West commented:
"And by the way, Mark Parker [CEO of Nike], yes I will still accept an investment in DONDA. I've got some more ideas that don't involve shoes. But if you guys are investing in the arts, y'all wanna invest in a school in Brazil, y'all wanna go to Africa, I am standing up and I'm telling you, I am Warhol. I am the number one most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare, in the flesh. Walt Disney. Nike. Google. Now who's gonna be the Medici Family and stand up and let me create more? Or do you wanna marginalize me until I'm out of my moment?"
Betting on a multi-billion dollar market
In earlier years, it was unheard of for a sports company to partner with a non-athlete. Today, 'athleisure,' or casual sportswear, has become an estimated $97 billion dollar market, and more brands are signing on musicians, actors and actresses to create product lines. Singer Carrie Underwood, for instance, launched a collection of clothing with Dick's Sporting Goods, while actress Kate Hudson has started her own Spandex collection, called Fabletics.
For West, however, the deal seems to have both personal and monetary value. The rapper says he played a number of sports in high school, including football, basketball and tennis, and insisted that singing and performing are also inherently athletic activities, in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. Thus, why he wants to design sportswear that's for artists as much as for athletes. (As part of the deal, West added that he hopes to get his sneakers on NBA and NFL players' feet.)
"I'm not just a musician singing in front of a mic, we are running, jumping, we're getting hurt," West told the Journal. "We're in the same arenas that the ballplayers are in."


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Itâ€™s a common perception that iPhones are used by rich people. However, this recent survey pointed out that most iPhone users are actually not.
Â A China-based survey company called MobData recently published their report, which compiled the information of smartphone users in China. What caught our attention was the fact that iPhone users in China mostly consist of lower-middle-class people who are described as â€˜poor people in disguiseâ€™. Which is why itâ€™s not surprising that many Apple users are still rocking the iPhone 6, which debuted in 2014.
They are mostly single women aged between 18 and 34 who earn less than 3,000 Yuan (approx. RM1,800). Also, they have a lower education level compared to users of other brands and work as non-professionals.
Besides, the survey also revealed that Apple users are much more loyal compared to users of other brands. In fact, 65.7 per cent of its users will stick to the brand if they need to get a new phone. As for Huawei, the majority of its users are men who are married and aged between 25 and 34. On average, they earn between 5,000 Yuan and 20,000 Yuan (approx. between RM3,000 and RM12,000) working as semi-skilled workers or professionals. Many of them are successful businessmen as well.
Xiaomi, which is another top smartphone brand in China, saw most of its users comprising married men who earn anywhere between 5,000 Yuan and 10,000 Yuan (approx. between RM3,000 and RM6,000).

domain: news


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When it comes to making its own batteries, Tesla is falling short of CEO Elon Musk's goal, which has raised concerns about the company's capacity to continue its rapid growth of automobile manufacturing next year and beyond.
According to a new report and analysis, because of the time and resources needed to master new technologies, Tesla warned on Wednesday that it will have to rely on suppliers to supply its battery demand for the rest of this year.
Only Tesla, a major automaker, manufactures its own batteries without working with suppliers. However, like other companies, it purchases its batteries from companies, primarily in Asia. As the most expensive part of an electric car, batteries must be made more affordable if the market for electric vehicles is to be broadened.
Panasonic recently revealed a plan to establish a battery factory in Kansas that would supply Tesla. BYD, a Chinese battery manufacturer, has joined Tesla's roster of battery suppliers. An American production site is being sought by Tesla supplier CATL as well.
To meet its aim of producing 20 million vehicles a year, Tesla will need a steady supply of inexpensive and longer-range batteries. For next year, new batteries will be needed to avert a supply crunch as the global industry ramps up electric production at the same time.
Analyst Caspar Rawles of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI) tells Reuters that "time is running out and that end of year deadline is fast approaching" for Tesla to fulfill the level it needs.
The new batteries are known as 4680s, which refers to their diameter (46mm) and height (80mm) (80mm). They are significantly larger and more powerful than the present 2170 batteries, which reduces prices. The dry battery electrode production technology is also being pioneered by Tesla and is expected to be cost-effective.
As of right now, Tesla is focused on "the dozens of small difficulties that limit the production ramp of the 4680," CEO Elon Musk said on a conference call Wednesday after the firm reported quarterly results.
Dry battery electrodes are a revolutionary development. There are many unknowns that need to be worked out. According to him, "we're optimistic in resolving those unknown factors," but he also acknowledged that progress is being made at a rapid pace.
With a 100-gigawatt capacity of 4680 kilowatts, Tesla said in 2020 that it could power new plants in Texas and Germany with this year's output.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned in April that the automaker's plan to ramp up vehicle production early next year could be jeopardized if it cannot resolve its 4680 manufacturing concerns. He stated on Wednesday that the 4680s would be critical in 2023.
According to Tesla VP Andrew Baglino, the company's 4680 production should hit 1,000 vehicles per week by the end of this year. Vehicles or battery cells were not specified in his statement. It's enough to power about one automobile with 1,000 battery cells.) According to Benchmark's Rawles, that figure falls well short of the Texas plant's automobile production goals.
A Tesla test line in California has increased productivity, and the firm expects to begin making 4680 battery cells at its new Texas factory this quarter, according to CEO Elon Musk's spokesman, Anthony Baglino. No timetable was provided for the construction of a Berlin 4680 battery factory.
While Tesla's vertical integration would give the manufacturer more control over the vital battery supply chain and "you also take on all the risks of cell production," Evan Horetsky, a partner at McKinsey, who was previously a Tesla executive, said.
"So do you want to dump that money and take on that risk yourself?" he asked.
Tesla does have other choices. According to an analyst at Rystad Energy, "No one is going out and saying 'I'm only going to buy a vehicle that comes with 4680,'" he added.
However, Tesla's reputation and market worth are heavily dependent on the company's technological advancements.
Analyst Jeffrey Osborne of Cowen noted in research that the corporation seems to be grappling with "techie" features like new batteries and self-driving technology. If these problems persist, he warned, "we see pressure ahead as investors are growing tired of missed deadlines and false hopes."


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There's no shortage of tales about banks slamming their customers with hidden charges or horrific treatment from customer service.
In fact, according to the latest report from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, the nation's big banks are losing out to smaller competitors in the face revenue challenges, increasing demands from regulators, and consumers' contempt for fees.
We put out a call for people to share their most aggravating bank anecdotes. Here are some of the stories we received.
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Mail thieves suspected in missing deliveries
on December 24, 2008
story and video by MARTIN RICARD
One week last August, Carlos Martinez, a civil engineer who lives in the Temescal district, was expecting a special envelope in the mail.
It was his 37th birthday, and his sister from Dallas had told him she was sending him a gift card. She said she was going to send it through the postal service, as most people do. Only the gift card never arrived.
That wouldn’t have bothered Martinez’ wife, Joanna Wulbert, as much if it were the first time a piece of mail went missing en route to their mailbox. But it wasn’t. Over the past year, Joanna Wulbert has had several items turn up missing—from movie rentals to utility bills—on their way either to her mailbox or to her local post office, the North Oakland station on Shattuck Avenue.
She isn’t quite sure if they have been victims of mail theft. But she has noticed a pattern and has become sure of one thing: It’s annoying.
“I felt basically kind of frustrated,” she said, reflecting on the experience recently, “and not much of anything else.”
It is no secret that with more than 700 million pieces of mail circulating throughout the country every day, a few items are bound to fall through the cracks, especially during the holidays when the delivery of mail goes into overdrive. But in Wulbert’s case, numerous items have suspiciously vanished without a trace, which makes her a strong candidate for stolen mail.
Wulbert is not alone in her situation. While her case hasn’t been formally linked to any criminal case, mail theft is a national problem. According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s latest semiannual report, 1,293 criminal cases were filed nationwide for mail theft, delay or destruction in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. And it wasn’t just jewelry and other expensive items being stolen. DVDs, CDs, gift cards, items from QVC and the Home Shopping Network, and mail-order prescriptions were also common targets.
Sometimes, the mail thieves turn out to be postal workers. More than 300 of the criminal cases listed in that Postal Inspection Report were filed against people who worked for the Postal Service. In May, a Los Angeles post office supervisor pleaded guilty to theft of mail involving 4,500 missing DVDs. In June, a North Dakota carrier was arrested in connection with stealing more than 36,500 pieces of mail.
Wulbert, 37, a training program developer who works from home, first started noticing that something was wrong when, back in January, she tried to send one of her Netflix movies back to the company in the mail.
An amateur movie buff, Wulbert had just finished watching Superbad. As she had always done, she then clipped the red envelope that comes with the DVD onto the flap of her mail slot, which is next to her door tucked away in the shadows of her porch.
A few days had passed, and a notice arrived in the mail from the company. Only it wasn’t another DVD, as is standard procedure with Netflix. The company said it never received the last DVD she sent, Wulbert said.
It had been at least the fourth time a movie rental went missing on its way back to the company, so Wulbert contacted her post office to complain. She knew that type of theft was not common in her neighborhood, which is within walking distance of Shattuck, but sheltered from the street’s hustle and bustle. No one else had experienced the same problem.
And she was confident that she had followed the Netflix instructions, “so that’s why I knew it wasn’t just somebody messing with mail in my mailbox,” she said.
After she made the complaint, Wulbert said, she had no more problems with Netflix movies making it back to the company.
But last month, for her birthday, it was almost déjà vu all over again when she received a card in the mail from her mother, with the envelope pried open. Luckily, she said, her mother had mailed the gift card she was planning to send inside that envelope in another one.
Rhonda Aubrey-Otis, the North Oakland station manager, said she hasn’t heard of Wulbert’s situation and doesn’t believe her carriers could be involved in mail theft because there are at least five different carriers on that route—all of whom, she said, follow the rules.
But she has received complaints in the past from customers whose mail went missing.
In those cases, Aubrey-Otis said, the customers would leave their mail outside their homes and authorize a carrier to pick up the items, similarly to what Wulbert would do. Turns out, the station manager said, someone had been casing the homes where the carriers frequently picked up mail, and several items had been stolen.
Aubrey-Otis’ solutions for preventing mail theft are to get a locked mailbox, place a vacation hold on mail if going out of town, deposit all mail at the post office or at a blue mailbox before the last pickup, or just don’t leave packages out in the open—even if in front of a house.
“Just like us, criminals are out there working overtime and thinking how they can get over any way they can,” she said. “We see it all the time. So we just have to keep our eyes open.
As for Wulbert, who still remains a little cautious after her string of episodes, she isn’t blaming anyone. But she is making a promise. For this holiday season, she won’t be taking any more chances.
“The main thing that we advise people now,” she said, “is that if you’re going to send any type of gift card, money or checks—unless you’re going to use FedEx or UPS—don’t send it via the mail.”
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"Australia can be a leader in digital assets. This means Australians can access new choices and lower prices. It means Australians can have more control of their financial destiny rather than being dependent on endless intermediation."
Cryptocurrency is an increasingly mainstream product.
"One in five Australians own crypto. In the near future, we know that most Australians will end up owning digital assets in some form.
Australian consumers are savvy and agile. They are attracted to the agency and control that cryptocurrency brings."


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WASHINGTON—President Trump signed an order Monday temporarily barring new immigrants on a slate of employment-based visas, including the H-1B for high-skilled workers, from coming to the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The restrictions, which are set to take effect June 24 and last through the end of the year, will prevent hundreds of thousands of new immigrants who were expected to rely on the visas to work in industries ranging from tech and consulting to landscaping and seasonal jobs at resorts.
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60% off running shoes and apparel at Nike
Today's Expedia promo code: Extra 8% off your stay
Back-to-School Sale: Extra 25% off sitewide - JCPenney coupon code


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House overwhelmingly passes industrial hemp bill
State representatives have overwhelmingly advanced legislation to legalize industrial hemp in South Dakota days after
The House voted 65-2 Monday to send the bill to the Senate. House Majority Leader Lee Qualm says it's time to move forward with hemp.
The vote comes after Noem said Friday that South Dakota isn't ready for the production of industrial hemp. She says questions remain about enforcement, taxpayer costs and effects on public safety.
The 2018 Farm Bill, which Noem voted for as a Congresswoman, contains provisions for growing industrial hemp as a commodity crop, but with numerous restrictions.
Industrial hemp differs from non-hemp cannabis, or marijuana, only by how much THC is contained within the plant. Less than 0.3 percent is considered hemp while more than 0.3 or above is considered marijuana.
Jarrod Otta, plant manager for Glanbia Nutritionals in Sioux Falls, recently told lawmakers that the company has been contacted by two "very large customers" to process hemp protein. He asked lawmakers to legalize hemp so the company can expand in South Dakota.


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Nokia's PR gaffe: Firm films advert on 'amazing camera phone' - but eagle-eyed viewers spot reflection of professional camera crew in the background...
- Nokia boasts new Lumia 920 can take pictures 'better than most digital SLRs'...
- ... But then used professional camera crew in place of Nokia phone for adverts
- Nokia apologies: 'This was not shot with a Lumia 920. At least, not yet...'
Nokia's last chance to get back into the smartphone game did not go to plan yesterday.
First the Finnish firm suffered the indignity of watching their share price fall by per 10 per cent within an hour of unveiling the Windows Phone-powered Lumia 920.
The company is battling a wave of in-difference against their hardware - and so put all their efforts into getting its 'PureView' camera noticed.
But its advert to show off the camera's image-stabilising software was mocked on the internet today - after eagle-eyed viewers spotted a professional camera-crew in a reflection in the background.
Can you spot it? Scroll down for video
The setup: Nokia introduces us to this young happy couple, and clearly shows us the man filming his friend
The advert shows the girl enjoying her bike ride through the port - but all is not what it seems
The set-up clearly implies that the footage is filmed on a Nokia phone, but the truth is about to be revealed...
Following yesterday's launch event in New York, Nokia released footage on YouTube showing off the company's PureView technology, which uses a large camera sensor to provide top-of-the-range pictures.
A talking point of the phone was the Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), which moves the camera lens around to adjust for shaky hands.
In the video, a man rides a bicycle, with another woman riding alongside. Comparison shots show the difference between stabilised footage and non-stabilised footage.
Everything in the video implies the man on the bike is filming the footage.
But a background check gives the game away... This is a camera crew in a van filming, on what appears to be a larger camera, rather than an image-stabilised Nokia phone
But as website The Verge points out, if you freeze-frame the video at just the right second, you see the true cameraman - a man in a van.
Nokia were quick to apologise as the news started spreading on the internet.
Heidi Lemmetyinen, from Nokia, then issued a public apology: 'In an effort to demonstrate the benefits of optical image stabilisation (which eliminates blurry images and improves pictures shot in low light conditions), we produced a video that simulates what we will be able to deliver with OIS.
'Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but we should have posted a disclaimer stating this was a representation of OIS only.
'This was not shot with a Lumia 920. At least, not yet. We apologise for the confusion we created.'
Nokia's Lumia 920, which was launched today, is the phone the firm is banking on to help it take on Apple and Google.
See the advert here:
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The install size for Yakuza Kiwami has been revealed coming in at a medium disc size at launch releasing on August 29, 2017 taking up a total of 20.3 GB on the Playstation Store. Yakuza Kiwami is a rebuilt from scratch HD remake of the classic game for the next generation of console players to enjoy the action and thrilling narrative. 10 years ago, Kazuma Kiryu took the fall for a crime he didn't commit to save a friend and now comes out to a world he doesn't recognize. Paired with a young girl, they attempt to survive and unravel what's going on. This is all after getting expelled from the yakuza family and then noticing that piles of Yen have disappeared from the Tojo Clan vault. This is a purely single player game published by SEGA and this is for the western release of the game.
Playstation Storepage (Size not on site)
View more Playstation 4 Game Installs


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A new event, the Hong Kong International Cruise & Yachting Festival (ICYF), is scheduled to be held at various locations in the territory’s Victoria Harbour from November 22-25, 2018.
The locations include, at present, the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, the China Merchants Wharf and the Kai Tak Cruise terminal.
The event is being organised by the Hong Kong Cruising & Yachting Industry Association (HKCYIA), a body linked to the China Cruising & Yachting Industry Association (CCYIA) with the support of the China Merchants Group.
The four-day festival aims to bring together leading brands from both sectors and include activity programmes like exhibitions, forums and conferences that feature Cruising and Yachting, Maritime Lifestyle, Marine and Leisure Tourism, and Education and Employment.
The event will promote public understanding of Hong Kong’s waters and the sustainable development of the industry in southern China. It will also be in line with the development of the Greater Bay Area initiative that integrates Hong Kong, Macau, and nine Guangdong cities, including Zhuhai and Shenzhen, for an upgraded economy.
The CCYIA is a non-profit organisation to promote long-term development of Hong Kong’s cruise and yacht industry, while the China Merchants Group operates 53 ports in 20 countries and districts.
Kara Yeung, HKCYIA executive director, said: “With its unique venues on both sides of the harbour, the festival will become a propeller for Hong Kong’s future developments as the economy will be further entwined with the maritime industry.
“With the emergence of opportunities that will be available under the Belt and Road Initiative as well as the rapid development of global cruise and yacht industry, the ICYF is expected to help promote Hong Kong’s economy in another perspective, covering leisure tourism, shipping and logistics, retail and shopping, finance and insurance.”
The additional venues will provide the much-needed space to enable participants to showcase their products and services along the harbourfront.


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French retailer Casino is all set for expansion in Middle East. The company has plans to open more than 30 franchised stores for its brand ‘Geant’ across the Middle East over the next three years. Casino is planning to open five hypermarkets and 30 smaller stores across the primary Gulf markets of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. It is also looking to enter into other Middle Eastern markets such as Qatar and Oman in the next two years.
Group Casino a leading multinational corporation and has established worldwide presence through retail and distribution of hyper and supermarkets.


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FXStreet (San Francisco) - The US Dollar posted advances against its major competitors on Wednesday despite a weaker than expected US retail sales data that pushed the Greenback under pressure. However, USD losses were short-lived and overall it performed gains.
The EUR/USD declined for third day. Currently, the pair is trading at 1.3363, down 0.04% on the day, having posted a daily high at 1.3416 and low at 1.3342. "Technically, the strong intraday advance has barely affected the wider picture, as price stalled below 1.3430/40 area, level that capped the upside for almost 3 weeks already," comments Valeria Bednarik from FXStreet.
The GBP was another story as the sterling traded under pressure following divish Carney comments on the inflation report. BoE's governor cooled possibilities for a rate hike in 2014. Market are now speculating for a hike in February 2015.
The GBP/USD broke below the 1.6700 key level and now it's closing at 1.6689, down 0.73% on the day, having posted a daily high at 1.6846 and low at 1.6685.
"The BOE's dovish inflation report was the major story of the day for the pound which slipped as low as 1.6686, the 38.2% retracement of the 1.5855/1.7190 which unfolded from November 2013 to July of 2014," pointed out Jamie Coleman from FXBeat.


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Vybz Kartel will be going back into the rum business after getting approval to launch his latest rum venture “Gaza Vybz Rum.”
Currently there are no laws preventing the incarcerated dancehall star from any entrepreneurial pursuits so it was no surprise when his team was given the green light to launch the new brand of alcoholic beverage.
“Once he has the necessary licenses, it can be done because there is no law that disallows imprisoned persons from having business operations,” Clerk of the Court at the St Andrew Parish Court, Hansard Lawson, said.
Vybz Kartel representative, Jeffrey Hype, also confirmed with Urban Islandz that the new rum will be hitting the local market very soon and will also be launching in other Caribbean territories including Trinidad.
“Now, the Gaza boss ah do it again, the rum new and improved,” Hype said. “The factory is based in Clarendon. We employ Jamaicans, providing means of employment for ghetto youths, and we know that this enterprise will be a successful one, so support the movement.”
This will mark the second time that Vybz Kartel will be going into the rum business. Back in 2011 the former Portmore Empire head and former business partner Corey Todd had a bitter fallout and subsequently shut down their joint Street Vybz Rum brand.
Kartel, given name Adidja Palmer, is currently serving a life sentence for murder. He is currently appealing the 2014 conviction.


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Micronesia Digital TV News
DOCOMO PACIFIC selects ARRIS video gateway and router
Jun 1, 2017 – DOCOMO PACIFIC is partnering with ARRIS International (NASDAQ: ARRS) to offer an advanced whole home TV service—featuring live, on demand, and streaming capabilities—for its customers in Guam and the Mariana Islands.
News categories: ARRIS, DOCOMO PACIFIC, Bill Ko, Jonathan Kriegel, Broadband, Digital TV, Gateway, IPTV, Micronesia, Router
Amazon Prime Video launches globally
Dec 14, 2016 – Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has announced that Amazon Prime Video is now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe. Customers can watch on Android and iOS phones and tablets, Fire Tablets and LG and Samsung smart TVs.
News categories: Amazon, Tim Leslie, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Chile, Colombia, Congo-Brazzaville, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Digital TV, Dominican Republic, DRC, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Melanesia, Mexico, Micronesia, Mobile, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, OTT, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Polynesia, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Uganda, UK, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Uzbekistan, Vatican, Venezuela, Vietnam, Worldwide, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
GTA TeleGuam: More Guam TV Homes Switching to Digital Television
Jun 22, 2011 – GTA TeleGuam has attracted more than 7,000 customers to its advanced digital television service in less than three years since launching GUdTV. This number represents more than 20 percent of the 32,000 households with TVs in Guam.
News categories: GTA TeleGuam, IPTV, Micronesia, Subscribers
FSM Telecom launches pay DTT in Micronesia
Dec 12, 2010 – FSM Telecommunications of the The Federated States of Micronesia has announced the launch of its newest service in Chuuk and Yap, MyTV. The MyTV service employs Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestial (DVB-T).
News categories: FSM Telecom, Digital TV, Micronesia, Terrestrial
GTA TeleGuam Announces Guam Digital Television
Sep 2, 2008 – GTA TeleGuam has announced the launch of Guam Digital Television, or GUdTV. GUdTV is an Internet Protocol (IP)-based TV service delivering the latest entertainment.
News categories: GTA TeleGuam, Digital TV, DVR, IPTV, Micronesia, USA
Minerva Continues Strong Growth With Ten New North American IPTV Wins
Jun 13, 2008 – Minerva Networks has added ten (10) more IPTV wins in North America, including Mt. Horeb Telephone in Wisconsin, Tullahoma Utilities in Tennessee, and GTA TeleGuam in Guam.
News categories: Minerva Networks, Content Distribution, Digital TV, DVR, IPTV, Micronesia, Middleware, Set Top Box, USA
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- MediaTek 8K DTV SoC begins volume production at TSMC
- BC Partners-owned United Group acquires Vivacom
- DISH Network pay TV subscribers up 148,000 in 3Q 2019
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- Liberty Latin America sells Cable & Wireless Seychelles
- U.S. pay TV household penetration down to 75%
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- Openview renews satellite TV content protection with NAGRA


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Will Apple finally be forced to give up its 30pc App Store commission? Will regulatory action against it in Europe also end its gagging rules against apps that want to mention cheaper deals outside the Store?
Two cases look likely to bring this a lot closer to reality. Epic Games (which makes the smash hit mobile game Fortnite) and Spotify have both complained about the App Store’s “anti-competitive” rules on either side of the Atlantic.
Epic is suing Apple in the US and the UK while Spotify’s complaint has sparked an EU Commission competition enquiry that looks bad for Apple – Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said last week that the company’s position is anti-competitive and untenable.
Epic, Spotify and Ms Vestager are making the same arguments against Apple – that the 30pc cut it takes is way too much and an abuse of a duopoly (between Apple and Google). They’re also arguing that Apple’s rule disallowing apps from mentioning (within the app) that you can sign up for an app’s service outside the App Store for less is an abuse of a dominant position.
This second condition is something that many people will have run into and been puzzled by from time to time.
Ever see one of your subscription services advertised for way less than you’re paying through your iPhone?
For example, YouTube Premium costs €11.99 a month. But if you sign up from within the App Store, it’s €15.99 a month. You mightn’t know about the standard (cheaper) price because YouTube isn’t allowed tell you about it in its iOS app, even though both sign-up processes give you the exact same functionality within the iPhone app.
This situation has led to other well-used apps adopting awkward and janky user experiences too, without being allowed to clearly explain why to their users.
The Commission’s argument on Spotify’s behalf is the opposite of fair competition.
Amazon’s chart-topping audiobook app, Audible, doesn’t give you the option to subscribe or buy a book from within the iPhone app, seemingly with no explanation. To sign up, you have to go to a web browser, something many people only find out about by Googling how to do it. Amazon isn’t allowed to spell this out clearly from within the app, because of Apple’s rules.
(In the past month, Amazon has begun allowing customers to spend their ‘credits’ within the iOS app, but these credits must still be purchased outside the app, with no explanation as to how within the app.)
Apple says that its 30pc commission reflects the effort it has put in to make the App Store a relatively stable, secure, trustworthy place for both customers and developers. It also argues that its pioneering of the App Store effectively created the smartphone developer economy we see today, resulting in apps such as Fortnite and Spotify being what they are.
(In Ireland alone, there are 17,000 iOS app ‘ecosystem’ jobs, according to the company.)
Apple also points out that one of the main complainants, Spotify, actually got a better deal from Apple.
“Spotify has become the largest music subscription service in the world, and we’re proud for the role we played in that,” a company spokesperson told the Irish Independent.
“Spotify does not pay Apple any commission on over 99pc of their subscribers, and only pays a 15pc commission on those remaining subscribers that they acquired through the App Store. At the core of this case is Spotify’s demand they should be able to advertise alternative deals on their iOS app, a practice that no store in the world allows.
"Once again, they want all the benefits of the App Store but don’t think they should have to pay anything for that. The Commission’s argument on Spotify’s behalf is the opposite of fair competition.”
It’s not clear whether Apple’s special commission percentage arrangement for Spotify strengthens or weakens its case.
But while Apple’s other core arguments on developing the App Store economy are broadly accepted by all sides, its margins may now appear to be excessive. According to testimony in the Apple-Epic case from Ned Barnes, a financial and economics researcher, the App Store had operating margins of almost 78pc in 2019. Mr Barnes says that this figure is based on documents obtained from Apple.
Apple has disputed the claim. But if it’s anywhere close to that figure, the company might find it very difficult to bat off future regulatory accusations that it is now profiteering from the App Store because of its dominant position.
“This does have a monopoly feel about it,” says Dermot Daly, founder of Tapadoo, one of Ireland’s largest app developers.
“When the App Store launched, the raised eyebrows about the size of the cut were initially dispelled. Simple checkout flows like those offered by Stripe today were not common then. Independent developers didn’t have to develop shopping carts, or pay someone to store credit card details in a PCI compliant store somewhere. So many thought that the frictionless checkout of an App Store purchase was worth it.”
Today, though, he says it’s a different landscape.
“The App Store as a source of revenue has really changed. If I’m just selling another level in a game, I think that Apple’s cut is something I’ve bought into with my eyes open. But If I’m trying to run a digital bookstore, it's super hard to compete against Apple, as I have to pay them a percentage. And it has led to worse user experiences for end users. I only recently tried Audible and I don’t really know how to purchase [credits], I just know it's not easy because Apple’s rules make it so.”
In January, Apple tried to take some heat out of the issue by cutting its commission from 30pc to 15pc for app developers that make under $1m per year, which Apple says make up the majority of developers.
However, although the analytics company Sensor Tower estimated that over 90pc of iOS app developers would benefit from the commission cut, it calculated that these developers made up only 5pc of Apple’s App Store revenue in 2019.
Furthermore, as soon as a developer’s income rises above $1m, the higher 30pc commission rate kicks in.
One of Ireland’s most successful independent app developers believes that Apple will inevitably need to change its App Store rules.
“I think there’s too much pressure building up around the world for Apple not to have to take a long, hard look at how they need to run the App Store for its next decade,” says Steven Troughton-Smith, whose apps include Pastel, Broadcast and Grace 4.
“For over a decade, as developers, we’ve had to design our products in such a way that they comply with Apple’s rules, fair and unfair, so that they can fit on that App Store, even as Apple has gradually moved the goalposts and strong-armed app developers into implementing payment models that benefit Apple more than the user.
"That has always felt like more of an abusive relationship than a symbiotic one. And as this ecosystem has become bigger and bigger, and influenced the wider world more and more, their position has looked increasingly untenable for quite a while now.”
Mr Troughton-Smith describes himself as a long-time Apple user.
“As a developer who relies on the App Store to run my business, and who loves the benefits it does provide, I still really hope that this reckoning pushes Apple towards fairer conduct, more competitive commission rates, better interoperability, and a more welcoming and vibrant ecosystem for developers to make better apps, with Apple competing through technical merit instead of restrictive policy and rule sets that apply to everybody except themselves.”
The US case involving Epic and Apple is being heard this week, while the European Commission anti-trust enquiry into Apple’s App Store is likely to take a year.


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Faster online shopping options top Target’s holiday strategy
Target is relying on its store network to get online orders to shoppers faster than ever before.
In a blog on its website, Target gave an overview on some of the initiatives it has launched in recent months to make online shopping faster and easier in time for the holiday season. Here's a recap:
• Target store associates will be using the company's new myCheckout app, which enables an associate to search Target’s website for desired products, or specific styles and colors, that the customer can’t find in the store. Associates can also use the app to place orders for the customer, tender payment, and choose a delivery option.
• The discounter is also streamlining how online customers order their holiday essentials via its Target Restock program, which enables users to choose from “thousands” of items across the personal care, food, household and baby goods categories. Customers can fill a box with up to 45 lbs. of merchandise, and have items delivered the next day for a fee of $4.99. The program is currently available in in 11 major markets and smaller cities, including Athens, Georgia, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Santa Rosa, California, according to the discounter.
• Shoppers can also leverage Google Assistant on Google Home devices and dedicated smartphone, and use voice commands to shop Target’s online assortment on Google Express. Merchandise is shipped to customers in two days.
• Target will continue to offer its “order pickup” service, a program that enables shoppers to pickup online orders at a nearby store, with more than 95% of orders are ready in an hour. Starting on Black Friday, Target’s service will also enable customers to use the service to retrieve doorbuster deals ordered online. Nearly all doorbuster deals will qualify for the service.
• Target will continue leveraging its “Ship from Store” process, which enables stores to fulfill online orders by pulling product from store shelves and shipping merchandise directly to shoppers. Some 1,400 Target stores — more than 75% of all Target locations — will be fulfilling Target's online orders this year.
• Target is also offering free holiday shipping on all online orders between Nov. 1 and Dec. 23.


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No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons was the most wanted man in Brooklyn Thursday night at the 2016 NBA draft. Before the picks rolled in, photographers elbowed their way through the crowd at the Barclays Center, jostling for position to snap a picture of the 6-foot-10 Australian. A small chorus of fans representing the Philadelphia 76ers — the team that would draft him — screamed from the stands, “We want you, Ben!”
After his official selection, Simmons was whisked off to an interview room. "It feels amazing, honestly. I can't even – my legs were shaking when I was on stage," he said.
His wobbly legs then shuffled along to a social-media video room, then to another press room, a buzzing warehouse of sorts lined with 14 separate interview booths that pushed out live television feeds across the globe from Philadelphia to Beijing.
Everybody wanted a piece of Simmons. But long before everyone swarmed him on draft night, and way before his first steps on an NBA court, major corporations had already been pursuing Simmons. And he was more than happy to hear them out.
For would-be NBA stars, shilling for companies well before their first game on a pro basketball court is now part of the process of becoming more than "just" a pro basketball player. Ahead of the draft Thursday night, Simmons had already appeared in a Foot Locker ad, was the subject of a planned Showtime documentary and had signed with Nike for an endorsement deal. In the Twitter and Instagram era, that's what it takes to become a household brand, a goal for a growing number of athletes who increasingly want to make a business out of playing ball.
"It does seem to happen earlier and earlier; you're seeing guys in commercials as soon as they graduate," said Bob Dorfman, sports marketing expert at Baker Street Advertising in San Francisco. "They're taking the opportunities where they can, and they also realize they can make more money with a shoe deal than they can with a salary."
Ever since Michael Jordan, basketball player, transformed into Michael Jordan, cultural icon, NBA stars have looked to build lucrative identities off the court. Consider NBA Finals MVP LeBron James — he's set to star in "Space Jam 2," signed a lifetime Nike deal for as much as $1 billion, launched an entertainment company, and created Uninterupted, a multimedia platform for athlete-focused content. Forbes estimated James makes $54 million in annual earnings off the court, dwarfing his $23 million salary from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
For the next crop of stars, the road to such riches had its first major landmark moment Thursday night in the Brooklyn Nets' arena.
Draftees look to copy the branding blueprint of veterans and typically start the process the second they're finished with college and free from the NCAA's prohibitive rules. It's the same in football. The No. 1 pick in April's NFL Draft, Jared Goff, for instance, found a way to discuss in a single pre-draft interview his five "pet" brands: razor company Gillette, shampoo brand Pantene, Giorgio Armani suits, Red Bull drinks and Bose headphones.
For his part, Simmons has already inked a Nike shoe deal, reportedly worth $7.5 million. Adidas, meanwhile, signed a bevy of talent from the draft, locking up top-10 picks Duke forward Brandon Ingram, California forward Jaylen Brown, Kentucky guard Jamal Murray, Croatian forward Dragan Bender and Providence guard Kris Dunn.
Shoe companies have long sought NBA rookies. What's changed recently is the aggressiveness with which players go after all kinds of endorsements. If you checked the social media feeds of top players before the draft, you would have found Ingram in a Draftkings video, Dunn pitching his draft-night look via J.C. Penney, and Murray posting about kicking off his summer with, of all things, Johnsonville sausages.
It used to be a whole process — "You do a photo shoot, you film a commercial … you put up a billboard," said Jonathan Jensen, a consultant and sports marketing professor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who spent a decade brokering athlete endorsement deals for brands. "Nowadays you do a deal with an athlete and have [social media ads] the next day. ... They can leverage these associations almost immediately."
It didn't stop during the draft, either. Ingram appeared in an NBA/JBL audio ad on Snapchat. Nike tweeted out an ad for Simmons, which he dutifully retweeted. Dunn again shouted out J.C. Penney in his press conference.
"This suit is actually made by J.C. Penney," he said to a roomful of reporters. "It's a great suit. They did something special for me."
Everybody loves Rihanna pic.twitter.com/22r5Yxv335
— Tim Marcin (@TimMarcin) June 24, 2016
For brands, a young player is a hot commodity and a relatively safe investment, Jensen said. Especially as they're starting fresh on draft night.
"Nobody's a bust" yet on draft night, Jensen said. "It's going to be months or even a year before you know if the guy is good or not."


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NITN | @notintownlive | 25 Jan 2021, 04:10 am
Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department is all set to participate in the Virtual Bharat Parv-2021 being organised from 26 to 31 January 2021 by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in conjunction with the Republic Day celebrations.
The virtual events will showcase India’s rich cultural heritage, cuisine, handicrafts and cultural performances besides tourism destinations and products.
As the world including India continues to fight the outbreak of corona virus, this year, Bharat Parv is accordingly being organized on the virtual platform.
The Ministry of Tourism has created Bharat Parv environment in 3D rendering for virtual view so that the user shall be able to navigate in the Parv area depicting the Ramparts of the Red Fort area.
The virtual Parv will include State/UT Theme Stalls incorporating various tourism related products, brochures, destination videos along with additional attractions and achievements of States and UTs.
It will also host Food Court Stalls, Handicraft and Handloom Stalls. The food stall window will incorporate various regional cuisines demonstration videos, cuisine recipes with their brochures and pictorial depictions.
The Handicrafts, Handlooms & TRIFED stalls will incorporate various regional Handicrafts and Handloom products of states, UTs demonstration videos, brochures and pictorial depictions. Similarly Cultural Performances will be in a exclusive virtual theatre along with other attractions.
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New Delhi: Russia's flagship airline Aeroflot on Friday resumed flights enrouted Moscow-New Delhi and New Delhi-Moscow under the air bubble agreement, officials said.
Phnom Penh/New Delhi:India and Cambodia will soon be connected by a direct flight, media reports said.
Abu Dhabi, UAE: Etihad Airways, the national carrier for the UAE, is making it easier for students to travel between university and home or to discover new horizons and cultures, with the launch of its Global Student offer.


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New Delhi, April 16: Industry needs to develop common specifications on product quality, either through consensus or by adopting global norms, which will help exporters to compete globally and enhance the credibility of goods in the domestic market, a senior government official said.
Cabinet secretary Ajit Seth said the development of such standards did help to keep transaction costs low.
Such practices are followed by advanced countries, he added.
“India does not have a standard driven culture and the manufacturing sector has been accustomed to developing in an environment where standards have been lax. There is a need for an appropriate legislation to be put in place to provide an instrument to notify standards,” Seth said at a conclave on the role of standards in international trade organised by the CII and the commerce ministry.
“In many countries, product standards are developed through a voluntary consensus of companies engaged in producing competing products,” he added.
Seth said the lack of proper standards adversely impacted domestic sales and added to transaction costs for exporters.
“Despite the crucial role that standards play in facilitating transactions, India does not have a standard-driven culture. This has implications for both domestic and international sales.
“It is not surprising that Indian exporters have to incur high costs to comply with standards and technical regulations in main foreign markets.”
Technical regulations and standards occupy a significant space in the changing scenario of international trade as tariffs are going down globally.
The standards have assumed an important role with the WTO adopting some stringent norms.
“The purpose of standards is to facilitate information exchange, ensure quality and achieve efficient provision of public goods,” he added.
“If we are unable to act with clarity and speed, we run the risk of not only exposing our consumers to inferior goods but also slowly getting excluded from main export markets.”


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The Business Development Bank of Canada(BDC) has been called racist after it pledged to help only Black entrepreneurs and businesses. BDC also signed the racist BlackNorth Initiative which focuses on only hiring Blacks for positions within the company.
BDC partnered with these Black supremacist organizations across Canada to help only Black entrepreneurs get financing: Black Business Initiative(BBI) (Atlantic), Groupe 3737 (QC), Audace au Féminin (QC), Founders Fund (Ontario), Black Business Association of British Columbia (BBABC) (BC), and the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce(CBCC).
Skin colour should not be a prerequisite for getting a loan or a job — it is racist and against the Charter of Rights & Freedoms and the Human Rights Act.
Buy me a coffee ☕


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If your New Year’s resolution is to eat healthier, you should be taking control of your food—in the literal sense. A new study finds that if you serve yourself, you eat smaller portions of junk food and desserts, as the Science of Us and The Wall Street Journal report. The study, led by USC marketing researcher Linda Hagen, found that the more people are physically involved in serving their food, the less interested they are in unhealthy snacks.
The researchers tested their hypothesis out over the course of five tests. In one, they invited students to help themselves to either dried fruit or Reese’s Pieces off a table. Sometimes, the table setup required students to scoop their own snack out of a bowl, while other times, the cups were already set out with 45-gram portions of the snack. The researchers later measured how much of the snacks in bowls or cups had been taken. In another test, people rated how healthy they felt after eating certain snacks, either pre-portioned or not.
Overall, the researchers found that participants were more inclined to choose large portions of unhealthy food if they didn’t portion the snacks out themselves. But there was no effect when people served themselves healthy food.
Eating choices affect how people see themselves, so when people choose to eat unhealthy foods, they feel bad about themselves. Previous research has found that eating in front of a mirror can help make people enjoy dessert less, since people have to confront their own choices in an immediate way. The researchers found that people felt less responsibility for their choices when served by someone else, and thus they felt better about eating unhealthy food.
However, slicing your own cake isn’t the only way to make healthier choices. Other studies have found the best way to increase self control is not to exercise greater willpower in the face of temptations but to take away those temptations altogether. So put away the pie. But if you must, don’t let anyone else slice it for you.
[h/t Science of Us]


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Last month, we learned that council leaders are looking for an overhaul of the business rates system to help family firms and independent traders, amid fears that more high street shops could be forced out of business at a time when almost one in seven high street stores sits empty.
This is the latest attempt to take the pressure off struggling small businesses. Town hall chiefs say that retailers, conducting most of their trade on the high street rather than online, are unfairly penalised by the current tax system.
The Local Government Association (LGA) has requested English councils be given full freedom to set business rates to reflect their local areas, rather than the current system whereby every business pays rates based on the rateable value and a uniform business rate (UBR) set annually by central government.
Under the plans, business rate charges would be cut for the kind of retailers residents want in their high streets and new businesses could be supported with start-up leases, with the extra revenue collected being retained by town halls to spend the money effectively in their communities.
I applaud the LGA’s call for councils to retain a much greater proportion of business rates income but let’s hope this doesn’t mean a return to locally set rates.
Some of us remember only too well the ludicrous anomalies that arose pre-1990 when local authorities had carte blanche to set rates. The time when business rates in the West Midlands ended up being four times higher than those in Westminster and other London boroughs springs to mind.
While I am all for a fairer system, in the current format there is only one pot of money, no matter who has control of it. If rate-payers are struggling and a local authority needs to find the money to provide additional relief, it may need to raise an additional tax over and above the UBR. This could mirror the precept that the City of London levies on occupiers in the Square Mile to cover extra policing and security, or it could be via a BID.
In any event, haven’t occupiers got too used to having the budgetary certainty of centrally set and administered business rates? I’m not convinced there would be widespread acceptance of a return to the locally set rates of the 1980s.
Peter Chapman is head of rating and compensation at Cluttons


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The microwave with 'X-ray' vision: Infrared cameras show the temperature of food while it cooks to tell you when it's done
- A US inventor has created a microwave that monitors food temperature
- It uses an infrared camera to display temperature data on a screen
- The LCD screen on the front shows if your food is ready
- The microwave can automatically switch off when the food is cooked
- It can also send the heat map to your phone so you can monitor your meal
Using a microwave can be tricky. Unless it's a ready-meal, you're forced to hazard a guess about cooking times.
Standing in front of the microwave and testing the temperature of a dish over and over can be tedious - and if it's not piping hot in the middle the food can be a health hazard too.
But now a solution is in sight. An inventor has designed a next generation microwave that uses infrared cameras to tell you when your food is irradiated to perfection.
Scroll down for video
The innovative invention has an LCD screen that shows you how hot your food is, so you know when to take it out.
And it can also send information to your phone, so you can instruct your microwave to cook for longer remotely if needed.
The Heat Map Microwave was created by former Nasa engineer Mark Rober.
For now the concept is only in a prototype stage, but people can register their interest at the website Better Microwave.
In a video showing off the product, he laments the lack of innovation in the microwave since its invention almost 50 years ago.
‘[The microwave] has pretty much remained unchanged since its inception in 1967,’ he said.
‘And that’s a shame, because there are quite a few sucky things about it.’
A US inventor has created a microwave that monitors food temperature (shown). It uses an infrared camera to display temperature data on a screen. The LCD screen on the front shows if your food is ready
MICROWAVE PRESSURE COOKER MAKES MEALS 20 TIMES FASTER
Kitchen chain £34.99 Lakeland has devised a gadget that combines two cooking methods that have transformed family meal times and can deliver a tasty curry or chilli con carne in just 20 minutes.
It is a pressure cooker that slides into a microwave and cooks everything from raw meat to jams, marmalades and steam puddings at incredibly high temperatures.
The net effect is a super-fast cooking machine that could even replace the supermarket ready meal.
He notes that, with current microwaves, it is difficult to know exactly when food is done.
‘Basically, unless you stop the microwave and pull your food out to inspect it, there’s no way to tell if it’s done just right.’
His invention uses an infrared camera in the top of the microwave, and sends information to an LCD screen on the front of the microwave.
Here it displays a heat map that starts blue, because the food is cold, and transitions to white hot, when the food is hot.
The microwave can also be programmed to turn off when the food it is cooking becomes all white in temperature.
And via Bluetooth or Wifi, the heat map can be beamed to your phone, so you can display the same screen on there.
From your phone you can then add another 30 seconds if the food doesn’t look like it has cooked enough.
The LCD screen can also be used to display recipes or play cooking videos.
There's no news yet, though, on when the innovative microwave might be released to the public, or how much it is likely to cost.
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In Togo, news of China reopening its borders to the world is has been welcomed by local traders.
China will scrap its COVID quarantine for overseas arrivals measure starting January 8, 2023 after three years of tight restrictions.
In this market, the largest in the country, two thirds of products come from China.
Abdul and his brothers used to go one business trips three to four times a year in the world’s 2nd economy. But when the pandemic hit, they had to come up with alternatives.
“When china closed its borders, we would order our goods via Whatsapp or Wechat. We sent samples and we received some, but it was not good quality products. We’re very happy now because we’ll be able to take our time, to make the trip and buy quality products instead of ‘fakes’.”
“It’s good news for us to go back to China to check and make what I want myself. It’s great news for us traders,” adds another trader.
According to the general manager of international business strategy at China Tourism Group Travel Service Corporation, the number of calls to inquire about overseas travel has increased in the country. However, if the excitement is real so is the caution in Togo.
“We want to go to China. Because they say that the covid-19 is over and that the Chinese borders are opening. But we think that there are hidden conditions or taxes and restrictions that we don’t know yet. I would prefer that more courageous traders make the trip and come and talk to us and then we will follow.
Togo imported goods from China worth US$ 442 million in 2020, according to the World Bank’s WITS.
Starting from January 8, travelers to China will have to provide a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours before boarding to enter the country.
Current policy requires five days of quarantine at a centralized facility, followed by three days at home.
Published on: Africa News
Publication date: 30/12/22


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Media Contact: Jerry Thomas
Macy’s Oakbrook Racially Profiles Black and Hispanic Shoppers, A Former Store Detective Says
Company Used Numbers to Track Shoppers; Pressured Staff to Confront Them
Press Conference Thursday, March 17, 2022, at 11:45 AM Outside Department Store
CHICAGO – Two days before Christmas, a melee erupted with gunfire at Oakbrook Center in suburban Oakbrook creating pandemonium as holiday shoppers were ushered for cover and the mall was placed on lockdown. Four people were injured by gunfire including one of the combatants.
One month earlier, a mob stormed a high-end store at the mall and escaped with $120,000 in merchandise. The looting was a reminder of the turn of events that occurred in the Chicago area and across the nation in May 2020 shortly after George Floyd, a Minneapolis man, died after a white police officer planted his knee on Floyd’s throat for over nine minutes. One of the stores that received heavy damage during the social unrest was Macy’s on North Michigan Avenue. In January 2021, the Magnificent Mile store permanently closed.
To reduce losses due to thefts, Macy’s launched new measures, including using radio-frequency identification technology. But Raul Montes, Jr., who was employed as an assets protection detective in Oakbrook to prevent thefts, said store managers in Oakbrook went overboard by profiling Black and Hispanic shoppers. The pressure was so intense to track shoppers of color that he complained about the practice and that led to him separating from the company two months after he was hired.
On Thursday, March 17, 2022, at 11:45 AM, Montes, joined by community activists, will hold a press conference outside the Macy’s, which is located at 1 Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook. During the press event, Montes will provide proof of racial profiling.
“They have codes – 98 for Blacks and 97 for Hispanics,” said Montes, who stopped working at Macy’s last week. “The minute Black people walked into the store all eyes were on them. The store has over 100 cameras, and they even follow them to the dressing room.”
Montes, who lives in Chicago, said it was the hardest job he ever had. He was stationed with six others in a computer room monitoring cameras until he was dispatched to the floor of the store to confront shoppers. He was uncomfortable approaching shoppers who paid for their items.
“I could not last there any longer,” Montes said. “One day I got sick. When I walked into the store, I felt anxiety. I felt very uncomfortable working there. I was in a hostile environment.”
Montes said he reported the racial profiling to his senior managers, and they never addressed the situation.
“They said, ’Just do your job,’” he said.
He hopes public pressure will force Macy’s to change its training practices, which includes videos of actors stealing. Ironically, he said, 90 percent of the actors were African American.
founder and executive director of Violence Interrupters Inc.; Community Leaders
and Supporters of Montes.
WHAT: Press Conference
WHEN: Thursday, March 17, 2022, at 11:45 AM CT
WHERE: Macy’s Oakbrook Center (Outside South doors Location) 1 Oakbrook Center Oakbrook, IL 60523
WHY: To highlight racial profiling of Black and Hispanic shoppers at the department
About Tio Hardiman: Dubbed “Mr. Ceasefire”, Tio Hardiman created the award-winning CeaseFire initiative in 2004, and has been dedicated to combating problems of violence and corruption in the nation’s third largest city. Hardiman is also the creator of the critically acclaimed documentary, The Interrupters (2011), and decided to produce a second film called The Chicago Way in 2017 as pushback against Chicago political corruption, police brutality, and the continued gun violence. Using his platform, Hardiman launched himself in the 2018 Gubernatorial race against Democrat powerhouses like JB Pritzker and Chris Kennedy. He ran his campaign on the principles of combating violence, racism, and the top-down corruption that has been taking place for decades in Illinois. On April 26, 2020, Mr. Hardiman launched the “Tio Mr. Ceasefire Hardiman Show on WVON 1690 AM in Chicago, which airs on Sundays between 6 AM and 7 AM. For additional information on Tio Hardiman and Violence Interrupters, visit jerry.


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ProWine China’s 2018 expo was held in November in Shanghai, where more than 18,000 visitors and 750 exhibitors from 39 countries gathered at one of Asia’s largest wine trade shows. I attended the show for the first time, getting a first-hand look at the massive Shanghai New International Expo Centre where the event was held. I was also able to visit three off-premise retail stores throughout the city during the conference.
More than 30 masterclasses and seminars were offered to participants throughout the show’s three days, providing information about wines and spirits, as well as industry trends.
A number of industry organizations partner with or plan their schedules around ProWine China. Decanter Shanghai Fine Wine Encounter was held the same week, as were Wine Australia and Sud de France’s wine competition awards ceremonies. The founding China Wine Union conference also took place during the last day of ProWine.
China’s Retail Market
I visited a grocery chain, a liquor store chain and a private wine buying club during my time in Shanghai, each representing a different buying experience for Chinese consumers.
Grocery chain G-Super is owned by conglomerate Greenland Business Group, which has holdings in a number of industries throughout China. The store I visited offered a wide selection of wine (mostly red), as well as internationally known spirits and beer brands.
1919 Wines & Spirits is a chain of more than 1,000 stores known for its promise to delivery an order in 19 minutes or less. Its partnership with Alibaba and its 30+ warehouses around the country make it a powerful e-commerce company throughout the country. While its footprint in urban areas is small, the stores offer a wide selection of high-end wines and spirits, particularly Scotch and Bordeaux.
Ruby Red Wine Cellar is a wine store not open to the public, which caters to its highly engaged member base and searches for unique wines to offer. It has showrooms in four major cities, placing it close to clientele of international business managers.
In terms of the overall Chinese wine market, COFCO-owned Great Wall is by far the biggest domestic brand. Chinese consumption is approximately 1.3 liters per person, per year, and overall penetration for wine is 38% of the population. Chinese consumers drink more than 87% dry red wine, with very little white wine sales.
PROWEIN Business Report
Professor Simone Loose from Geisenheim University in Germany presented the latest results from ProWein’s annual business report, which surveys 2500 industry members (suppliers and trade) to gain their insights into current and future trends. Among the results from the 2018 report:
- China, Japan and Hong Kong are the most attractive export markets for winemakers
- Singapore, Taiwan and Czech Republic are the top emerging markets for winemakers
- The top wine origins retailers went to expand product selection from are Portugal, South Africa, Argentina, U.S. and Australia
- Internationally, 51% of retailers use e-commerce
- Overall, retailers report that online sales cause decreased profits due to easy price comparability
For more information on ProWine China and the rest of ProWein’s global trade shows, visit ProWein.com


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Apple thought they were so smart when they started making computers that came in different colors. Now, inspired by the noble gecko, scientists may have found a way to print electronics on leather. Count down to the iWhip.
Geckos have been often admired by the scientific community, for their ability to cling securely to almost any surface. They've even been praised on Io9 before, for inspiring gloves and adhesives that could turn people into Spider-man.
Now the structures on their feet could make assembling computers as easy as scrap-booking. A gecko has small pyramid-shaped structures on its foot which allow it to increase its grip on the surface beneath it by pressing down. Scientists at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University have duplicated this structure at the bottom of a stamp:
Pressing the stamp against the electronics causes the soft tips to collapse up against the stamp's body, maximizing the contact area between the stamp and the electronics and creating adhesion. The electronics are picked up in a complete batch, and, with the force removed, the soft tips snap back to their original shape. The electronics now are held in place by just the four tips, a small contact area. This allows the electronics to be easily transferred to a new surface.
The 'new surface' can be plastic, or fabric, or even leather. With this advance, computer technology has the potential to get a lot more flexible.


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Photos of Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappuccino were everywhere you looked on social media. And if you weren’t Facebooking, Instagramming or tweeting about the bright pink and purple drink, you were listening to people talk about it, because they’d seen it somewhere.
Ditto for Taco Bell’s Naked Chicken Chips.
And McDonald’s french fry-tined stunt cutlery, the Frork.
And that was just in the past few weeks.
Fast food chains are going gaga on social media to promote products that they hope will go viral. Likes, tweets and engagements translate into millions of dollars in sales, as online influencers post their way to packing more firepower than Super Bowl commercials, and companies pitch menu items that create enough buzz to prompt mentions in Fortune 500 companies’ earnings calls alongside (yawn) consolidated operating income.
“As you look at different restaurants, there’s a pattern of introducing new products that surprise and delight consumers and in a world where surprise and delight (rules) social, it has to be something business thinks about,” said Jano Cabrera, spokesman for McDonald’s, the company that invented not one new utensil, but two. A special straw – called the S.T.R.A.W., which stands for Suction Tube for Reverse Axial Withdrawal — was designed for the chain’s limited-time Shamrock Shakes.
A successful new product only captures consumers’ interest and gets them talking about it, Cabrera said. The TKO punch is when the company does something with it “that supercharges the conversation even further.”
It worked with the Frork. According to the social data analytics company Talkwalker, which tracks online chatter, McDonald’s had 69,000 social- media mentions the day before the french fry fork was introduced versus 123,000 the day of the reveal.
“If they see a spike in social media mentions and a spike in sales, it’s safe to say there was a direct correlation,” said Talkwalker CEO Todd Grossman. “These are highly sophisticated marketers and advertisers and this is their living. This is their livelihood. This is their job. They’re not going to be right all the time, but they have to experiment.”
Gone are the days of chains’ extolling the deliciousness of their foods. Promotional materials highlight the exciting shtick and the limited time the food is available: Get this now… and bring your smartphone.
Because of photos’ role in social media strategy, the look of the food is key. The animal unicorn is are usually depicted as dull white, not DayGlo. And is the chicken actually nude? No, it’s breaded. But add a sexy word and you get a social bang.
The Unicorn Frappuccino will likely be a case study taught in business schools for years to come. Talkwalker found that Starbucks had close to 51,000 social-media mentions the day before the sweet-to-sour drink was announced, compared to almost 72,000 the day it was unveiled — and more than 177,000 the day after that when it was available in stores.
The chain declined to discuss details about its marketing or product development strategies, but the Seattle-based behemoth has a playbook that works. It creates pumpkin spice latte frenzies in the fall and its red holiday cups are a pop of attention-grabbing and brand-promoting color on social platforms annually.
“How we use social media is very much an extension of what we call the Starbucks experience,” said spokeswoman Erin Shane Riley.
Taco Bell’s Naked Chicken chips were inspired by the success of the Naked Chicken Chalupa this winter. For that product, Taco Bell teamed with the website Foodbeast and invited 70-plus “influencers” – food bloggers and Instagram foodie stars, like Jen Balisi and Michel Phiphak, who have 314,000 and 192,000 followers on Instagram, respectively, to events in different cities. These selected few sampled the menu item before it launched and some spread the word to their fans.
“The photographs of the Naked Chalupa spread like wildfire. We saw a tremendous amount of engagement,” said Rob Poetsch, Taco Bell’s director of communications and engagement. “When we launched it in restaurants. we didn’t have any advertising support yet. Sales were incredibly high the first several days of our launch. It pretty much exceeded our forecast…. It was all driven by word of mouth, social and PR.”
The chain sold more than 25 million of those Chalupas in five weeks. That’s an estimated $75 million in sales. Taco Bell declined to comment on the cost of a traditional advertising campaign.
And even if a wacky new menu item’s viral success doesn’t get all the would-be customers to order it, all the buzz gets people in the door to buy other food and drinks.
“All restaurants are somewhat in a bind, right now and they’re trying to differentiate themselves. The quick-service restaurant space, in particular, has been challenged,” said restaurant consultant John Gordon of the Pacific Management Consulting Group. “All the franchise brands have a duty to be able to connect with their customers somehow, because there are so many competitors of the same basic food type and experience type.”
These chains want people Instagramming themselves with the New Media nouveau cuisine – and those people usually are the much-coveted Millennials in their 20’s and 30’s. They’ve got decades ahead of them to buy food and an unquenchable thirst for social media. Some even have disposable income.
Compare all that to the more staid approach Arby’s has. When asked about its social media presence, spokesman Chris Fuller cited the chain’s tweet to singer Pharrell about his hat, which resembles the chain’s logo. But that was more than three years ago.
“Our approach is very niche,” he said. “We’re very careful. Hashtags can be overdone. It can come across as corporate-y. We want to engage people in their space.”
On social platforms, Arby’s engages gamers and self-described nerds. Its strategy is to celebrate common interests rather than attempt a hard sell, according to Fuller.
But social media promotion isn’t going away. The switch in how advertising dollars are being spent is seismic, as a growing part of the budget is headed to social.
“Digital is cheaper than big TV and it is much more efficient than a run-of-press ad or a coupon,” Gordon the analyst, said.
Follow USA TODAY reporter Zlati Meyer on Twitter: @ZlatiMeyer


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UPS reserves 125 Tesla semi-trucks
United Parcel Service on Tuesday joined Meijer, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch and several other companies to be among the first to order Tesla’s all-electric big-rig trucks.
The Atlanta-headquartered package delivery company said it has reserved 125 semi-trucks. The new vehicles will be part of the company’s alternative-fuel fleet of trucks. UPS operates one of the largest commercial fleets in the world.
UPS has said that by 2020 it wants one in every four new vehicles it purchases annually to use an alternative fuel source. The Tesla trucks would help the company reach that goal.
“For more than a century, UPS has led the industry in testing and implementing new technologies for more efficient fleet operations. We look forward to expanding further our commitment to fleet excellence with Tesla,” said Juan Perez, chief information and engineering officer, in a statement.
The company said the electric trucks are poised to usher in a new era in improved safety, reduced environmental impact and reduced cost of ownership.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has most recently targeted a 2019 start of production on the trucks. Tesla routinely misses target launches and production ramps, though. Production and delivery on the company’s new, more affordable Model 3 sedan is behind by several months.
The electric-vehicle maker requires a $5,000 down-payment per vehicle for those who want to reserve and test the trucks.
They have a feature that’s piqued the interest of many large companies: a self-drive assist feature.
When the truck concept debuted in November, Musk compared driving the big rig to being behind the wheel of one of his company’s other electric vehicles that feature its semi-autonomous “Autopilot” feature.
“It’s as though you’re driving a Model S or a Model X or a Model 3,” he said. “It’s just big. It’s super easy to drive.”
Musk said Tesla’s autopilot system will come standard on all of its electric trucks. That doesn’t make it fully autonomous, because the autopilot feature still requires the full attention of the driver to ensure safety, but it’s one of the first semi trucks to move toward full autonomy.
“The truck will automatically brake,” he said. “It will actually automatically lane keep as well. Even if you’re in the truck and you have a medical emergency, the truck will actually stay in the lane and gradually come to a halt ... This is a massive increase in safety.”


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EXCLUSIVE: The sweet smell of success! Newlywed Cheryl Fernandez-Versini 'set to make £1.2 million this year' from debut fragrance StormFlower
She recently tied the knot in a secret ceremony after a whirlwind three-month romance, and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini is likely remain on a high following the release of her new fragrance.
The singer looks set to pocket £1.2 million from debut scent StormFlower before Christmas, Escentual.com has reported.
The seven-figure total has been calculated from pre-orders following the 31-year-old's hugely successful launch in London on Wednesday evening.
Scroll down for video
Going down a storm! Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, pictured at the launch on Wednesday, looks set to pocket £1.2 million from her debut scent before Christmas
CEO of the online beauty retailer, Rakesh Aggarwal, told the MailOnline: 'StormFlower is predicted to sell around 300,000 units from now till Christmas.
'It’s certainly looking like it’s going to be the most successful celebrity perfume launch of the year in the UK.'
Although the exact deal that the X Factor judge has struck with the perfume company is unknown, most insiders have estimated that the former Girls Aloud star will personally earn around £4 for every 30ml bottle sold, which will see her take home more than one million.
Coming soon: The singer teased the poster for the new fragrance StormFlower this week, ahead of its release in August
Other products and gift sets are expected to be added to the StormFlower range in the forthcoming months, just in time for the festive season which accounts for around 70 per cent of annual fragrance sales.
'I would anticipate turnover will top £5 million for the range over Christmas - which would see Cheryl earn £1.2m, just from UK perfume sales', Rakesh added.
Speaking of her new venture, Cheryl admitted she'd harboured a desire to develop her own fragrance since she was a child.
Stunning: CEO of the online beauty retailer, Rakesh Aggarwal, told the MailOnline: 'StormFlower is predicted to sell around 300,000 units from now till Christmas'
Support: The brunette beauty shocked fans this month by marrying French restaurateur Jean-Bernard (pictured) in an intimate ceremony with just four people on July 7
'A fragrance is something I always wanted to do when I had time to get involved. I finally felt I had the time to really get stuck into it now,' she told MailOnline.
'It's like every little girl's dream. When I was a kid, I used to create perfumes with my sister so I've been obsessed even from a young age.'
The brunette beauty shocked fans this month by marrying French restaurateur Jean-Bernard in an intimate ceremony with just four people on July 7 in Mustique.
Happy place: Speaking of her new venture, Cheryl admitted she'd harboured a desire to develop her own fragrance since she was a child
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The UK’s sugar tax is due to come into effect in April 2018. The levy will have two bands: one for total sugar content above 5g per 100 ml; and a second band for drinks with more than 8g per 100 ml. For a 330ml sized can, the levy can be expected to equate to 6p ($0.09) or 8p ($0.12).
The UK’s sugar tax will only apply to sugar-sweetened beverages, not to other food categories.
“The tax announcement in the UK was disappointing,” Goetz told BeverageDaily. “Beverage is the only category in the food and drink sector in the UK that has consistently reduced sugar intake, and had also agreed to proactively reduce beverage calories by 20% by 2020.
“If you contrast this with the fact that sugar and calorie intake from all other take-home food sectors increasing, it’s difficult to follow the logic of such aggressive measures.”
Goetz says the UK’s move has attracted attention in other countries.
“There has been coverage in many markets, and we have to wonder how much of that is celebrity endorsement and comment, rather than policy analysis,” he said.
He adds that the UK tax “wrongly suggests that curtailing consumption of one item in the grocery cart will reduce obesity rates”.
He added: “Beverages are not driving obesity rates – obesity rates have climbed steadily at the same time calories from beverages have declined.”
Information and education
“The way to tackle obesity is to have industry and government working together to provide consumers with the information and education they can use to balance their calories,” said Goetz.
“Singling out one grocery item that - using the UK example - represents only 6% of total calories in the average diet, will not reduce obesity rates. It will only take the focus away from real solutions that help people balance calories from all sources.”
Goetz outlines examples of other countries and communities to implement a sugar tax – Mexico, Barbados and Berkeley, for example.
“In not one of these cases has there been any correlation between the implementation of the tax and better health outcomes; only increased government revenue, disproportionate burden on the poorest populations, and in many cases job loss in the food and drinks sector,” he said.
Goetz, who is also president of the Canadian Beverage Association, will be speaking at Zenith International’s Global Soft Drinks Congress (Verona , 26-28 April). He will update delegates on ‘Tax attacks: Alternatives for addressing obesity.’
Those attending will have the opportunity to discuss the evolving debate on health and product innovation around the world.
The conference program includes speakers from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia including Coca-Cola and Ajegroup.


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Update news hospitality
Upscale hotels are facing enormous difficulties due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Their solutions to the dilemma have been very creative.
The Hanoi People’s Committee has just proposed the government to extend the operational duration of boutique hotel Metropole Hanoi to 70 years, surpassing the framework of current regulations.
With restaurant and café chains struggling amid COVID-19, thousands of employees in the service sector could lose their jobs.
Hotels across the nation, including in HCM City and Hanoi, are cutting back staff, or facing closure or bankruptcy as revenue and bookings have plummeted.
Despite the COVID-19 outbreak piling pressure on the toughest segments of the real estate market in hospitality, retail, and industrial property, positive signs have also been unearthed.
Cash flow shortages could put several hospitality developers in Vietnam into financial pressure, forcing them to offer their projects for sale.
Recapital Investments Pte., Ltd. officially sold its majority stake in Ninh Van Bay Travel Real Estate JSC and withdrew from the Board of Directors.
New supply and absorption see rapid rises in Q2 according to consultants DKRA.
“Ruou can” is an indispensible rice wine at important events such as the New Year celebration of ethnic people in the Central Highlands.
Mai Sen Bistro on Nguyen Van Lac Street, HCM City, is more than just a good restaurant that offers European and Asian dishes.


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A few days ago we reported about Honda working on an entry-level adventure motorcycle (read) whose design was patented by the company. Well, it seems that Honda wasn’t just working on it, in fact, had already completed the job and named it Honda Tourism. This new adventure motorcycle has been unveiled in China on the occasion of the 25th-anniversary celebrations of Wuyang-Honda joint venture.
Previously, the bike was addressed as Honda CB190X since it was likely to be based on the platform of Honda CB190R. However, in the pictures taken at the unveiling event, it can be clearly seen written ‘Tourism’ on the tank of the motorcycle. So, Honda has named it Tourism; not an exciting one, is it?
Now since it’s official that the new Honda Tourism is based on the platform of CB190X, it means that it will be sharing the same engine- a single cylinder, 184cc air-cooled fuel injected unit, tuned to produced a max power of 15.8 bhp at 8000 rpm. The Tourism is very similar to the patented design that we reported a few days ago. It gets the adventure-bike features like a high windscreen (might not be adjustable), a beak, handlebar mounted hand guards, bash plate and aluminium grab rail.
Unlike the Honda CBF190X Fight Hawk, which is another entry-level adventure-style bike from Honda, the Tourism (CB190X) has conventional forks at the front (with long travel), a mono suspension setup at the rear and a side mounted exhaust for higher ground clearance.
The Honda Tourism or the CB190X will be available in four colours- black, red, yellow and white. Pricing hasn’t been known as of now but we will update it later. Bikes like this are targeted for a different category of buyers and it is very unlikely of Honda to bring these to the UAE.


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Half of Americans say that they are concerned a major recession is looming around the corner, according to several recent surveys. Nonetheless, few say they are financially prepared to weather a downturn.
Recession worries have risen 4 percentage points since the first quarter of the year, according to the Allianz Quarterly Market Perceptions Study.1 A September Gallup poll found that recession expectations are now even higher than just before the 2007 recession.2
Younger Americans are the most likely to expect a recession to be coming soon. 56% of Millennials expect a recession in the next year, compared to 51 percent of Generation X and 46 percent of boomers.3
Trade tensions, volatile financial markets, inverting yield curves, and the unusual duration of the current expansion are compounding economic worries. Americans are also hearing a growing chorus of recession concerns from economists. A survey released from the National Associate for Business Economics found that 80 percent of economists think that the economy will slow further. Twenty-four percent think that a recession will start by mid-2020, and 69 percent think one will begin by mid-2021.
Despite a high level of anxiety about coming economic storms, few have sufficiently prepared. For some, the 2008 Great Recession was a wake-up call to save, invest, and prepare for the worst. For others, bad habits have been hard to break. Over a quarter of Americans say they haven't changed any behaviors since the Great Recession in 2008. Moreover, many are still recovering from the impact of the Great Recession. 36% say they used most or all of their savings to weather the Great Recession, 33% had to change college plans for themselves or their children, and 18% have had to support a struggling family member after 2008.3
To prepare for the next economic downturn, there are several precautionary steps to consider. Building an emergency cash reserve can help households cover expenses in case of job loss or reduced income. Today, 43% say that they're living paycheck to paycheck, and only a third (32%) of Americans say they have enough savings to cover more than six months without income. 43% said that they're living paycheck to paycheck. For those who struggle to save, automatic contributions to a savings account can be an efficient way to amass an emergency fund. Now is also a good time to pay down high-interest debt, like credit card balances, which can become a serious burden in a recession. Opening a home equity line of credit now while it is easier to secure financing can also serve as a useful backup if times turn tough. This may also be a good time to review your investment portfolio to optimize for changing economic conditions.
It's like living in an area that's prone to hurricanes, says Carl E. Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. "You know it's likely there will be another hurricane at some point and, if you're smart, you don't wait until it's two days away to stock up on batteries, water and plywood," he says. "You have to be ready in advance."4
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1. Allianz Quarterly Market Perceptions Study, October 2019
2. Gallup, Economic Confidence Drops to Lowest Level Since Shutdown, September 2019
3. Business Insider, Half of Americans think a recession is coming in the next year — and they admit they're unprepared, September 2019
4. Newsweek, How to survive a recession, October 2019
This publication is designed to provide general information and is for discussion purposes only. The effectiveness of any strategy is dependent upon each individual’s facts and circumstances. This article does not provide legal, tax or account advice. Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error, the accuracy, adequacy, completeness or availability of any information is not guaranteed.


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IN THE MONEY: Clive Bannister, 58, chief exec, Phoenix Group, pockets £2.8m despite firm's £128m loss
Phoenix Group boss Clive Bannister has pocketed £2.8m
The zombie insurer Phoenix Group saw its boss pocket £2.8million – despite it suffering a £128million loss.
Clive Bannister, 58, picked up a £700,000 base salary in 2016, along with £16,000 in benefits and £123,000 towards his pension.
He also trousered £1.1million under a long-term bonus plan.
And despite the drop in earnings at Phoenix, his annual bonus actually rose from £861,000 to £883,000.
Bannister, who is married and has three sons, saw his overall pay packet drop by £73,000 from 2015.
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