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A majority of buyers polled by SM have not made any particular changes to their supply chains in reaction to recent geopolitical crises.
In an online poll asking ‘Have you made any specific changes to your supply chain as a result of the geopolitical crises?’ just 45 per cent (15 people) answered yes.
But the results were more definitive when consulting the SM Jury. Just one purchaser has made such a change – Taras Fesenko, head of the import procurement division of the material support department at Konti.
Fesenko said: “A couple of our production sites are located inside the conflict area in Ukraine. We were forced to implement new ways and different combinations of delivery, to find new suppliers for the certain raw materials, and to conduct negotiations with existing partners regarding current situation. The new geo-crisis has brought us new challenges that we have to overcome.”
Other buyers who responded no to the question explained they do not have suppliers based in the Middle East or Ukraine.
John Milne, a procurement consultant at Hampco, said: “As yet none of our sources of supply have been directly involved in any of the prominent uprisings, however we are watching the situation as everything appears to be more fluid. If Singapore, Korea, South Africa or Brazil were to become embroiled in any terrorist or revolutionary activity we would have to consider our options but let us hope that the world settles down to restoring peace and prosperity.”
Gary Moore, procurement performance manager for defence information, training and services at BAE Systems, added: “The projects and the related supply chain I am involved in have fortunately not been affected by geopolitical crises. We monitor all potential supply chain risk as part of business continuity management so would hope to be ahead of the curve and not fire-fighting an impact in the future.”


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BEWARE OF CONVENIENCE FEES
The majority of colleges have begun to protect themselves against the fees that card processors charge them by requiring parents or students to pay an additional convenience fee averaging around 2.625% for using a credit card. Do the math! That translates to $262.00 for every $10,000 of tuition in addition to interest accruing from the day of purchase or the statement due date depending on the particular credit card agreement you have.
Not a lot of people pay college tuition bills with a credit card. But some do…whether for convenience or to get those nice rewards points.
Colleges didn’t always charge a convenience fee for people who pay their bills with credit cards, but in recent years the number of families using credit cards started to increase up to a point where colleges say they can no longer afford to absorb the transaction cost. charged them by the credit card companies.
Officials at most schools discourage the practice of using credit cards for college expenses. The colleges and universities make no profit from the transaction fees they charge. A third-party vendor processes credit card payments when made through the institution’s online payment program, and those vendors charge an average 2.62 percent fee for its use.
Institutions discourage the use of credit cards for these types of payments because the terms of credit card companies are usually less favorable to borrowers than traditional student loans. Absorbing the credit card fees can run into hundreds of dollars per student and colleges and universities across the nation are under pressure to keep costs down.
Most credit card companies will add the amount charged on the the first statement following issuing of the credit and will begin collection actions quickly if payments are not paid, thus adding more pressure to the students to make monthly payments and getting them caught in the credit card trap.
Community colleges are the most fee-friendly. Out of the 100 largest community colleges surveyed, 97 percent accept credit cards for tuition payment and only 8 percent of them charge convenience fees. By contrast, 93 percent of public universities and 77 percent of private institutions that accept credit cards charge convenience fees.
CreditCards.com, based in Austin, Texas, conducted a survey in 2014 and another one earlier this year in 2016 which found the number of colleges accepting credit cards fell from 260 to 255. However, the number of schools charging a convenience fee went up from 142 in 2014 to 145 this year.
“It doesn’t surprise me more schools are charging the fees simply because they don’t want to eat the cost of those credit card transactions,” said Matt Schulz, senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com. “The number of schools not accepting credit cards probably stopped doing so because the population of students using cards was not high enough to make it worth while.”
He said the majority of community colleges don’t charge a fee for credit card use because community college doesn’t cost nearly as much as a big university — public or private.
“The lower the tuition cost the more likely someone is to consider putting the cost on a credit card,” he said. “There is a big difference between putting $1,500 on a credit card than $15,000.”
Private student loan lender, Sallie Mae, released a report earlier this year showing the percentage of parents using credit cards to pay for college runs 2 percent to 3 percent. However a higher percentage of students use credit cards to pay college bills at 3 percent to 5 percent.
Ben Woolsey, president and general manager of CreditCardForum.com. based in Austin, Texas, said retailers have always had to bear transaction fees for credit card purchases and they pass it on to consumers by increasing costs.
“Other entities also accept credit cards like state and local government,” Mr. Woolsey said. “Even the federal government allows taxpayers to use credit cards to pay taxes, but they also charge the consumer a convenience fee so they do not have to absorb that interchange fee.”
“All of it is colleges protecting their bottom lines,” he said. “They are trying to make a profit and they don’t want to accept less than 100 percent of the tuition they are owed. My guess is people who use credit cards to pay tuition already have the money in the bank, but they want to earn rewards. This removes the incentive to do so because the convenience fee is higher than any rewards they earn”.
Overall, credit cards are a terrible way to finance long-term debt without having the ability to repay on the first monthly bill. Tuition is a long-term debt and student loans are probably a better way to pay for college in the long run.
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Friday, October 5, 2012 by Lauren Powers
India, considered by many to be the “Pharmacy of the Third World,” has built a reputation for manufacturing cheaper generic versions of expensive branded pharmaceuticals. Following the amendment of its patent laws in 2005, India has been forced by multinational pharmaceutical companies to reconsider the strictness of these laws, and Novartis AG v. Indian Patent Office serves as the first case based on the new laws heard in the Indian Supreme Court. Because this suit is a case of first impression for the Indian Supreme Court, it possesses the potential to drastically alter international patent law, which would have a particularly large effect on India and other developing countries. Since the origins of the suit in a regional High Court, critics of the current Indian patent regime have argued over whether it should be amended, but proponents and critics of the patent laws have predicted consequences in stark contrasts of each other. If India does not make a decision in this case, it should prepare the courts for an onslaught of similar litigation in the coming years. India would benefit most from balancing domestic and international interests in generic drugs following the wake of Novartis AG v. Indian Patent Office in the fall of 2012 and other potential future cases like it.
India would benefit most from balancing domestic and international interests in generic drugs following the wake of Novartis AG v. Indian Patent Office in the fall of 2012 and other potential future cases like it.
Indian patent officials claim that they drafted the controversial portions of the amendments to the India Patents Act with the intention of preventing “evergreening,” a process that occurs when pharmaceutical companies file new patents on miniscule changes in their pharmaceuticals that produce no real alteration in efficacy in order to extend the lives of their patents. Understandably, India claims to have drafted the amendments to prevent evergreening by pharmaceutical companies trying to extend the lives of their patents, but a reasonable argument can be made that the law also inhibits incremental innovation, the process by which pharmaceutical companies legitimately attempt to increase the effectiveness of patented drugs.
Initially, the regional Madras Patent Office rejected Novartis AG’s Glivec patent application because the examiner postulated that the form of Glivec proposed should be considered prior art because of Novartis AG’s previously granted international patents for the free base imatinib form of Glivec. Additionally, he believed that the new beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate did not meet the “enhanced efficacy” requirement found in §3(d) of the amendments based upon a 30% increase in bioavailability from the free base version of the drug.
India should clarify its “enhanced efficacy” requirement in §3(d) of its 2005 amendment of the Patents Act in order to avoid any wastes of resources for both the Indian Patent Office and inventors seeking Indian patents. Firstly, no other WTO country has included this rigid of an efficacy requirement or its equivalent into its patent laws. While the WTO does not require India to abide by the laws or guidelines of any other WTO nations, India should reasonably consider modifying its laws to better meld with other internationally established laws in order to permit less room for argument from inventors and particularly from the multinational pharmaceutical companies. Secondly, given the unpredictable nature of chemistry and pharmaceutical production, the Patent Controller’s rejection of a 30% increase in bioavailability does not seem to adhere to India’s own requirement for a demonstration of enhanced efficacy. Therefore, Novartis AG had to significantly alter Glivec in order to produce a 30% increase in bioavailability, so it appears reasonable for Novartis AG to consider this alteration to constitute “enhanced efficacy” under §3(d). Therefore, Novartis AG has reasonably argued that, as it currently stands, §3(d) of the Indian Patents Act lacks enforceability due to ambiguity.
By examining the public outcry based on India’s current predicament regarding its patent law system, it appears that India cannot remain idle and figure out solutions to challenges to its patent system as they arise. While the majority of India’s domestic generic pharmaceutical industry would prefer for the laws to remain in their current embodiments, this approach does not ultimately benefit India’s economy or the international protection of intellectual property rights as they related to pharmaceuticals. Ultimately, if the Indian Supreme Court determines that a reworking §3(d) of the 2005 amendment to the India Patents Act and permitting Novartis AG to receive a patent on Glivec has become necessary this Fall, these actions will not create the myriad problems that opponents of the change anticipate, particularly if India adopts laws that assuage the consternation of both sides of the argument by encouraging incremental innovation while simultaneously stimulating its booming generic pharmaceutical industry.


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With #spon brand-influencer partnerships dominating our Instagram feeds and the ability to shop for a whole new wardrobe without having to leave your couch, the way we shop is undoubtedly changing.
Now, Asia’s largest clothing company and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing Co., has given shoppers a glimpse of the future of high street retail and teased its debut online store – with a twist.
This isn’t an e-commerce site we’re talking about, it’s a bricks and mortar shop where you can only make purchases online.
The new shop, Gu Style Store, will open on Friday in Tokyo’s Harajuku district and will be stocked full of the Japanese label’s colour co-ordinated clothes.
The brand’s novel outlet enables customers to try on clothing for size and place orders online for home delivery – but nothing available’s to buy and take home while in store.
For those shopping in their lunch break and under time pressure, there’s also the option to play around with outfit ideas using a virtual mannequin.
A post shared by GU STYLE STUDIO (@gu_style_studio) on Nov 29, 2018 at 2:52am PST
The revolutionary move follows in the footsteps of Zara after the Inditex chain recently opened an online hub in the Westfield Stratford shopping centre.
With self-scan tills, automated online order points and behind-the-scenes robots packing up your beloved deliveries – it’s a sign the global company is moving with the digital era.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s Prime Wardrobe enables customers to order the clothes that have stolen their attention online before charging their card. Shoppers are then allowed to send any unwanted items back.
“Among large specialty chain retailers, Fast Retailing has one of the most developed digital strategies,” Dairo Murata, an analyst at JP Morgan Securities, told Bloomberg. “They are doing it all in-house, and it allows them to be more competitive.”
Uniqlo joins a number of progressive brands hoping to make profit amid the high street’s struggle by blurring e-commerce and brick-and-mortar shopping.
According to recent figures, those aged between 22 to 37 now make 54 percent of their purchases online and it is estimated that by 2040, 95 percent of purchases will be facilitated by eCommerce.
Read more from Yahoo Style UK:


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Nigerian startup Chekkit has secured an undisclosed funding from Adaverse, a Cardano ecosystem accelerator, with participation from existing investors to scale its blockchain-powered drug safety and tracking solution.
The additional funding will be used to onboard more manufacturers in Nigeria and other African regions, and in addition expand to new markets in India, the UK and the Middle East.
According to Chekkit’s CEO, Dare Odumade, the company has partnered and integrated its pharmaceutical traceability and consumer intelligence solution with SAP, enabling pharmaceutical brands that already use SAP’s Advanced Track and Trace Platform to collect and analyse last-mile patient data.
The company has also integrated the GS1 global standards system, making its serialisation software regulatory compliant in over 100 countries globally.
Founded in 2018, Chekkit a platform tracks product movement and the parties involved in transferring products from the warehouse to the distributor and onto the final consumer.
The platform produces tamper-proof unique ID labels, either as QR codes or numeric codes, which can be placed on premium packaged food and beverage products for supply chain and consumer feedback tracking.
Since its launch ,Chekkit has helped secure over 50 million pharmaceutical and consumer goods products and is set for further growth after Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) mandated that pharmaceutical products implement end-to-end serialisation and traceability from the end of 2024.


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President Trump Crisis By: Amelia de Dios
As you all know, this coronavirus crisis is a huge deal in many ways. Our economy is growing weak. People cannot get money they need, which means no food. They must wait in lines for more than an hour, so that they can feed their family. States are competing for masks so they can be safe. People are having to eat less so that they can have a shelter to live in! And what is President Trump doing to help?
As you know, because of social distancing some places are closed. But they still must pay rent. But if they are not making money, then how can they pay rent? The answer is, they can’t. And if they can’t pay rent, they close. And the employees that worked there are now jobless. And if they are jobless, they don’t make money. And if you don’t make money you can’t buy food, pay rent for a shelter, and buy clothes. And if th…


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Rihanna has paired up with photographer Steven Klein again to pose for Dior's new 'Secret Garden IV - Versailles' campaign.
Steven recently photographed Rihanna for 'V' magazine, and now the pair have joined forces again for a more demure, luxe shoot.
Appearing in beautiful Dior gowns, adorned with a plethora of jewels and accessories, Rihanna looks every bit the designer princess.
This campaign is especially important, as Rihanna is noted as being the first black woman to front a Dior campaign in the history of the fashion house. It's about time!
The rest of the campaign, including a short film, is set to drop May 18th.
Check out the photos and teaser video below…


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SIB Releases Recent Economic Stats
On the economic front, consumer prices were up by zero point two percent in June 2020, according to the latest bulletin published by the Statistic Institute of Belize. For the second consecutive month, food and non-alcoholic beverage category recorded a notable rise in prices, with an increase of one point four percent when compared to June 2019. The price for fresh vegetables increased rapidly over the last three months with tomatoes, cabbages, potatoes, onions, oranges, plantains, rice, and milk registering the highest increases. There were also modest increases in pork chops and poultry, while pineapples, watermelons, beef steak and pigtail recorded the lowest price increases.
In housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels category prices increased by zero point five percent in June when compared to last year June. Home rental costs were up by one point one percent, with notable increases in Belize City, San Ignacio and Santa Elena Towns and Punta Gorda Town. The S.I.B. reports that the LPG prices were twenty point three percent lower than they were in June 2019, where the average cost of a one hundred pound cylinder of LPG fell by twenty-three dollars and forty cents. The ‘Transport’ category saw an overall decline of two point one percent which resulted largely from the considerably lower prices in the ‘Fuels and Lubricants’ sub-category.
Together, the remaining categories of goods and services recorded a minimal increase of zero point two percent in June compared to the same month in 2019. This was due mainly to the ‘Education’ category, which was two point eight percent higher than it was last June due to an increase in tuition fees.
On the external trade bulletin, the S.I.B. reports that imports are down by thirty-eight point four percent while domestic exports were up by forty one point one percent in June 2020. Imported goods were valued at one hundred and three point seven million dollars. Total domestic exports amounted to forty two point one million dollars, up by twelve point three million dollars from last June.Channel 5


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- Ericsson predicts 91% of the North American market will have adopted 5G by 2028.
- The company is betting that mobile subscriptions have started to level off, betting that the next six years will only add 800 million new subscriptions.
- Advances in mobile technologies could quintuple data used by 2028.
If you consider your smartphone a multimedia/multipurpose technology device, then Ericsson’s mobile reports are for you. The latest edition is available here.
Here’s the explanatory overview: Global 5G growth amid macroeconomic challenges.
North America and northern east Asia (e.g. China, South Korea, Taiwan) lead the way in 5G adoption, for now. India is expected to be a big player as it continues efforts to launch its own high-tech future, one that embraces all of the country not just a few select well-educated metropolises. Similarly situated countries, such as Indonesia and Nigeria, are also showing strong early adoption numbers.
The report says, “In 2028, it is projected that North America will have the highest 5G penetration at 91%, followed by Western Europe at 88%.”
In terms of current usage, “North America and North East Asia are expected to have the highest 5G subscription penetration by the end of 2022 at around 35%, followed by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries at 20% and Western Europe at 11%.”
By 2028, Ericsson expects 5 billion 5G subscriptions worldwide.
There is also a prediction that mobile subscriptions (mostly smartphones) will reach 9.2 billion in 2028, up from 8.4 billion calculated for this year. That doesn’t sound like a lot of growth, indicating that nearly everyone who wants a mobile subscription probably has one; remember that there are more than 8 billion people on planet Earth as of 2022.
The report’s “5G in South East Asia and Oceania: A closer look” section looks into that region and the plans to move many, if not all, of those developing countries (referring to notably The Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia) into the first world on the wireless front over the next several years. Ericsson thinks that total mobile data traffic in that region will quintuple between now and 2028.
(BTW, that’s why Ericsson may have underestimated its 2028 figures. There are going to be a lot of new people hopping onto the wireless train in the next few years.)
5G Driving Mobile Data Growth
That’s the where. As to the why, perhaps the most interesting section is “5G to drive all mobile data growth.”
That assessment probably doesn’t surprise anyone, but the incline of the rise should open eyes. In other words, what we’ve seen in the explosion of mobile device data usage over the last five years is a ripple compared to a coming tsunami in the next five years. Much of that will be in video, accounting for as much of 80% of mobile network traffic.
4G continues to grow as well, but the report predicts it will peak soon with a gradual decline in its market as 5G is implemented in more locales, regions and countries, along with the usual gradual tech swap out takes over.
“Fixed Wireless Access” is also a growing sector, per Ericsson. These are broadband wireless access points, currently numbering around 100 million, at businesses or on towers for public and private use.
Besides human users, smart devices for the Internet of Things are continually developing. Ericsson expects that market to get hotter, possibly by five times by 2028, with over 300 million access points by then. Northern east Asia is a particular hot spot for them.
Among the things slowing even faster deployment, depending on the country involved, includes making radio frequency spectrum available.
Lower, less RF-efficient bands, below 7 GHz, are the first auctioned off, but they realize the weakest, though cheapest, performance. These bands propelled 3G and 4G in most technologically capable countries and are the technology breeding grounds for developing countries.
Now it comes time to fill out the 7 GHz group and move to the 24 GHz band and above, where 5G can flex its muscles. Being able to operate in multiple bands allows for efficient service uses — low-bandwidth items, for instance IoT and voice-only traffic, can flow unimpeded while high-bandwidth-hungry video and gaming services can operate in the same network on a higher frequency band.
AR for Mobile
The report touches on augmented reality for mobile devices (think Pokémon everywhere 24/7!) and a slow acceptance of improved smart glasses and visors. Ericsson acknowledges the technology and its support ecosystem have yet to mature.
Looking forward, the report says: “As the AR ecosystem develops, traffic arising from AR usage could significantly impact the current forecast. The amount of traffic that will be generated over mobile networks, in addition to mobile broadband and fixed wireless traffic, will depend not only on the uptake and utilization rates of the applications, but also where the critical functions mentioned in the ‘AR devices’ section take place.”
That other processing location will be in a vast network of edge services and network-inhabiting hard and soft virtual processors — all utilizing 5G technology and networks.
On a less technical note, the report also describes a growing practice in flexible bundle packaging for services. These can include gaming, content aggregation, differing speed levels, shorter contracts, to appeal to consumers have more choices among service providers.


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MHI’s report, “Transformation Age: Shaping Your Future,” provides insights into key trends and technologies that will impact the success of supply chains over the next 20 years.
Because the trends covered in the report have been so deeply impacted by COVID-19, a special section focusing on the pandemic and its long- and short-term impacts on supply chain and logistics operations has been included.
The report predicts the acceleration of digital and automated supply chain solutions due to COVID-19. These solutions provide the visibility, flexibility, agility and social distancing answers that firms will need to succeed in a post-COVID world. These tools are as wide ranging as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, robotics, edge computing and drones and are expected to shift early-stage promises to step-change value propositions.
In addition to accelerated technology investments, the report predicts that some organizations will choose to embrace a more regional-local sourcing, manufacturing, and delivery approach — or “nearshoring.” Others will be looking to diversify their supplier base. Still others will seek greater balance in inventory management, blending “just-in-time” with “just-in-case.”
“Businesses, consumers and supply chains will be forever changed by this global pandemic,” says John Paxton, COO of MHI. “The organizations that accelerate the implementation of digital, next generation technologies and solutions and take a hard look at material and product sourcing are the ones that will be best positioned for future success because they will be the ones that can quickly respond and adjust to supply chain disruptions.”
The report provides information and insights meant to spark thought and discussion about key factors that are expected to drive, fuel and impact various aspects of life and industry in the coming decade and beyond. It also recommends how leaders can respond to keep their companies thriving and profitable.
“I believe strategic leadership as well as the people at the operational level will have considerable interest in this information, as they’re the ones who will ultimately be facing the challenges of serving customers in light of these dynamic market forces,” says George W. Prest, CEO of MHI. “It is very important for them to understand what’s coming, how fast it’s coming and how those forces will impact their supply chains.”
“Transformation Age” covers a wide range of topics, including anticipated advances in smart technologies and digital decisioning tools, market influencers, global factors, ways workplace changes and new consumer expectations will revolutionize industries, and even how the new space economy will become a topic of growing importance over the coming decades.
To access the report and learn more about the changes to come, visit mhi.org/transformationage


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For the bulk of the 20th Century, Madison Avenue followed the unwritten commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Court Controversy.” Brands lived in a bubble. Advertisers didn’t want to take sides on an issue because the other side could be offended or angered. That could impact sales. But, as a Nobel Prize winning bard once wrote, “The Times They Are A Changin’.” Gillette is the latest to join the fray.
We know that when brands connect themselves with a cause it can improve their public perception and increase sales, especially among women and Millennials. Now we’re learning that when brands take a side, they can gain more than they lose. Nike stock soared after its ad campaign with Colin Kaepernick. He is the former NFL player who decided to kneel during the national anthem. Some burned their Nike gear in protest of the protest, but Nike sales climbed 31%.
Now we have a… Continue reading


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Mobile Nations Weekly: Note 5, BlackBerry doing Android, and Apple Music: The Book
This week on Mobile Nations: Reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, BlackBerry tries on Android and a new slider for size, iMore's comprehensive Apple Music guide book, and Windows 10 gets a surprise new preview build.
Full story from the iMore Blog...
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YouTube appears to be down worldwide with users unable to play videos on the streaming platform’s site as well as their mobile apps.
However many services like DownDetector show the streaming service as up and running but YouTube itself has acknowledged that it is having issues with video playback.
Taking to Twitter, the video streaming giant confirmed that YouTube is down worldwide and said that a team is working on the issue and hopefully things will be back up and running.
“If you’re having trouble watching videos on YouTube right now, you’re not alone – our team is aware of the issue and working on a fix.” said team YouTube on Twitter.
It is pertinent to mention that the issue is affecting other services that make use of the YouTube infrastructure, including YouTube TV and the movies and TV shows you purchase through Google TV.
UPDATE: After remaining down for over one hour, the the video streaming service is now back up and running normally along with all other related services linked to the infrastructure.
Read more: Nokia 6300 & Nokia 8800 might be making a comeback.
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Komatsu Forklift Australia has officially launched its new materials handling company and released for the first time in Australia its electric Hybrid counterbalance forklift – the world’s first electric hybrid forklift.
At a gala event hosted by sports presenter Ali Mutch at Luna Park, Sydney on September 9, the Komatsu Hybrid was unveiled on centre stage.
Special guests included the president and CEO of Komatsu Utility Japan, Mr Isoda, the Consulate General of Japan Mr Hobo and Japan Consul, Mr Nakayama.
Many of Komatsu’s national and local customers and a wide representation of industry bodies also attended.
The exciting new hybrid technology is the first of its kind in the world providing an opportunity for Australian businesses to productively reduce their CO2 emissions with a more energy efficient electric forklift that runs for longer periods. The new dual power source of a capacitor and maintenance free battery results in an astonishing 11-hour day with a 1 hour recharge interval.
The managing director of Komatsu Forklift Australia, Ted Ishikawa explained the reasons for the major rebrand.
He said the Australian market had provided Komatsu with the opportunity to establish their first direct distributor operation for forklifts.
Mr Isoda explained: “Komatsu has multiple corporate functions in its organization. Those functions are research, product development, production, sales and marketing, and product support.
“This enables us to timely solve issues raised in the market and to feed back customer needs to our product development for any design changes of the next generation models. We believe that such timely reactions are our strength as a world wide manufacturer.”
David Cullen, general manager of Komatsu Forklift Australia said over the next 12 months the Australian market could expect the following from Komatsu Forklift Australia:
• Expanded product ranges
• Investment in technology and
• Industry leading fleet management systems
Komatsu Forklift Australia
Ph: 02 8801 2100


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GENEROUS customers from family-owned Northallerton department store, Barkers, have offered bags of support to people affected by cancer.
Barkers invited customers to donate good condition, barely used handbags to the store in return for a 10 percent discount voucher to use towards a new one from their 2016 spring/summer collection.
The old bags collected by Barkers during the Handbags and Teabags Campaign in May have now been given to Northallerton’s two Cancer Research shops, where they are on on sale to raise money for the charity.
Some 66 clutch, tote or shoulder bags were donated by customers and, on the final day of the month-long Handbags and Teabags Campaign, the department store hosted a tea party in aid of Cancer Research UK in the new Barkers Kitchen. The £400 from every hot drink sold in the morning were donated to the charity.
The sale of the handbags and the drinks raised a total of £900 for the charity.
Accessories buyer Kate McCain said: “Our customers are both very generous and supportive of any fundraising organised by Barkers, so it came as no surprise when we received so much support for our Handbags and Teabags campaign.
“We thought that inviting customers to donate their quality handbags was a great way to recycle the bags and raise vital funds for a great charity.
“We were overwhelmed by the response, and it was fantastic to see so many handbags being brought in. This will help to raise a significant amount for research into cancer, which affects the lives of so many people.”
Jayne Lister, from Cancer Research shop, said: “We are always very short of good quality handbags as they are popular items among customers.
“This was a wonderful gesture by Barkers and their customers, and we expect to raise a lot of money from the sale of these handbags, which are already flying off the shelves.”
It is the third fundraising campaign Barkers has organised for Northallerton’s two Cancer Research shops, both situated on the High Street, as they also organised a shoes amnesty and collected menswear on behalf of the charity.
Both previous campaigns helped to raise thousands of pounds for people suffering from cancer.


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Reading's biggest retailers are riding the crest of a wave in the post-Christmas sales after enjoying a successful December.
Figures released by The Oracle shopping centre and John Lewis show buyers are continuing to flock to town.
The Oracle welcomed 40,000 visitors through its doors on Boxing Day, an increase on last year, while John Lewis in Broad Street saw its pre-Christmas sales up 18 per cent on 2005.
Gordon Stenton, managing director of John Lewis in Reading, said: “It was a really stunning finish for Christmas.
“We had record sales leading up to Christmas and we saw trade build each week in the run-up to Christmas.
“We ended 18 per cent ahead on last year’s sales.”
Speaking on the first day of the John Lewis sales on Wednesday, Mr Stenton added: “We’ve had an extremely brisk first morning.
“We’ve also had a fairly even spread of customers throughout our departments and there are some significant markdowns for them to find.
“Sales are well ahead of last year and it all seems extremely promising.”
The Oracle, which houses 98 shops, says its visitor numbers for December also rose each week in the run up to Christmas.
Steve Belam, the centre’s general manager, said: “The Christmas season is always a busy time and we have seen a week-on-week increase in footfall this year.”
Mr Belam said: “Boxing Day and the following January sales period is a key trading time for our retailers.
“It is also a very important time for our customers, who really look forward to these sales.
“There are some fantastic bargains to be had and many of our customers put off their major purchases in order to take advantage of the great sales discounts.”


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PiggyVest, a Nigeria-based digital savings and investment platform, revealed in a newsletter on January 1st, 2022 that it paid out about N242 billion (about $580 million) to 3.5 million users in 2021. This amount of payout is more than double of the disclosed payout to customers in 2020, which was N90 billion.
Somto Ifezue, PiggyVest CEO and co-founder, authored the newsletter. “For the past 5 and a half years, my amazing team and I have been committed to building a product that truly benefits you…With over 3.5 Million customers and over N242 Billion Naira successfully paid out in 2021 alone, we are once again saying thank you for trusting us,” the newsletter reads.
Ifezue, in the newsletter, further shared what customers can expect from the company in 2022. He shared that the startup is “overhauling” its app to ensure it is more user-friendly and secure, that customers can expect “better and faster” customer support, also that more investment opportunities will be provided and lastly, “more features” that will continue to help customers with ther finances.
PiggyVest was founded in 2016 by Joshua Chibueze, Somto Ifezue and Odunayo Eweniyi as piggybank.ng. Chibueze has revealed that a tweet about saving N1,000 daily in a saving box inspired the creation of the startup. The startup can be regarded as a digital “kolo” (a saving box), and saw users save N21 million in its first year.
PiggyVest has features that make customers fond of the app, such as offering 8% to 13% interest rates per annum on savings; a “SafeLock” savings option that lets users save an amount for a given period without access to it — to prevent breaking one’s savings; an autosave option for daily, weekly or monthly automatic savings; amongst others. The savings and investment platform has realised growth to the point of acquiring a smaller competitor Savi.ng in July 2021.


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Pressure rises to close tax loopholes
Plans to curb tax avoidance will hit Ireland. Most countries are set to force multinationals to pay more tax and as the political controversy grows, our own role in these activities will come under ever increasing scrutiny
On Tuesday the OECD, the Paris-based club of the world's richest economies, published plans to limit "aggressive" tax avoidance by multinationals. The scope of the problem is enormous. According to OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria, so-called "cash vultures" are hoarding more than $2 trillion (that's $2,000 billion or €1.55bn) in various offshore tax havens.
We in Ireland have played a starring role in this drama. In May 2013, the Investigations subcommittee of the US Senate revealed that consumer electronics giant Apple, which employs more than 4,000 people in this country, had used one Irish-registered company to route $74bn (€57.5bn) of sales and another to channel $30bn (€23.3bn) of profits through this country and that it had paid very little tax on any of this money.
Subcommittee chairman Senator Carl Levin alleged that Apple had negotiated a "special arrangement" with the Irish government that resulted in it paying a tax rate of less than 2pc on profits routed through this country. Although this allegation was strongly denied by the Irish government, mud sticks. In June of this year, the EU Commission announced that it was to investigate Apple's Irish tax affairs.
Of course Apple isn't the only US multinational to use aggressive techniques to reduce its tax bill. Google, Amazon and Starbucks have also had an unflattering light shone on their tax affairs.
The cumulative impact on national exchequers has been devastating. In 1952, companies contributed 32pc of all federal tax revenues in the US. This has now fallen to just 9pc.
Of course it doesn't help that, at 35pc, the US has the highest headline company tax rate in the OECD. This creates a huge incentive for US multinational companies to park their foreign profits offshore rather than repatriate them.
While US companies not repatriating their overseas profits is a long-standing issue, a new twist has been added in recent years as a growing number of American firms switch their tax residence to a lower-rate jurisdiction, so-called "inversion".
Inversion usually involves a US-owned company acquiring a foreign company with the enlarged company being based, for tax purposes, in the foreign company's home country. Once again Ireland has played a leading role in the inversion phenomenon with a slew of US companies taking over Irish companies in recent years.
Perrigo took over Elan, Forest Laboratories acquired Actavis and Chiquita is trying to take over Fyffes. One of the big attractions in all of these deals is that what were previously US-owned companies will now be categorised as "Irish" instead and will now qualify for our 12.5pc tax rate rather than the much higher US rate.
The inversion phenomenon has generated enormous political controversy in the US with President Barack Obama stating that: "I don't care if it's legal, it's wrong".
Fortunately for this country, inversion isn't unique to Ireland. Pfizer's unsuccessful bid for AstraZeneca earlier this year would have involved the US firm relocating to the UK for tax purposes.
Only last month Burger King agreed to pay $11bn (€8.5bn) for Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons in a deal that will see the American icon transfer its tax base north of the 49th parallel. Walgreen had also planned to move its tax base to Switzerland when it acquired Alliance Boots.
If the OECD proposals are accepted, the current hodgepodge of bilateral tax treaties will gradually be replaced by a single model tax treaty. Companies will be forced to report their profits and sales in each country to that country's tax authorities and there will be tougher rules on transfer pricing - the price a multinational's subsidiary in one country pays a subsidiary in another country for goods and services.
"The philosophy is to realign the location of the profits with the location of the activities and value creation. We currently have a system of double non-taxation by locating profits in small locations where nothing is happening and this needs to come to an end," says Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD centre for tax policy.
All very fine no doubt, but what does it mean for us in this country? IDA-supported companies employ 166,000 people directly and pay an estimated €2.7bn in corporate profits tax every year. We need the multinationals.
"The OECD has no problem with our 12.5pc rate", says Feargal O'Rourke, head of PwC's tax services practice. "Companies will have to locate their activities where their profits are. I believe tax havens will be out of business. The glass is three-quarters full".
This may well prove to be the case but it is already clear that the tax affairs of Irish-based multinationals are going to be subjected to much greater scrutiny in the year ahead.
Despite being named and shamed by the US Senate last year, Apple's Irish operation isn't a brass plate - far from it. Apple has been in Ireland since 1980 and employs 4,000 people here, a quarter of its total European workforce, mainly in Cork.
Its low tax rate notwithstanding, Apple is conducting genuine economic activity in Ireland - lots of it. This means that once the controversy surrounding its tax affairs has died down, it will be business as usual for Apple here. The company is going nowhere any time soon.
Forest Laboratories became an "Irish" firm when it was acquired by Irish-registered company Actavis, formerly Watson Pharmaceuticals, for $25bn earlier this year. Actavis itself became "Irish" when it purchased Warner Chilcott in 2012 - Warner Chilcott had reregistered as an Irish firm in 2010.
While Forest employs 320 people in this country, one of its main products has already come off patent with its other main product due to lose patent production at the end of 2015, making its Irish operations potentially very vulnerable.
Google's Irish operations paid tax of just €27.7m on sales of €17bn last year. It recorded a pre-tax profit of just €154.5m, the equivalent of a margin of just 0.9pc. Pull the other one lads. The sales booked by Google's Irish operation were the equivalent to 40pc of Google's 2013 total sales. Global profits at Google last year were more than €11bn.
With the OECD determined to crack down on transfer pricing between multinational company subsidiaries, Google's Irish "administrative expenses" of €11.7bn look like they could do with some very close scrutiny.
With global sales of almost $48bn in 2013, Pfizer is the world's largest pharmaceutical firm. It has been in Ireland in one guise or another since 1969 and employs over 3,000 people here.
But nothing lasts for ever. Pfizer has shed almost 500 jobs in Ireland since 2012 and its best-selling drugs, erectile dysfunction treatment Viagra and anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor, are now out of patent. Will mounting competition from generic manufacturers and a more onerous tax regime encourage Pfizer to take a jaundiced view of its Irish operations?
Chiquita and Fyffes
Heard the one about the Irish banana company? US banana firm Chiquita and the Irish company Fyffes, formerly bitter rivals, announced plans to merge in March with the merged company being Irish tax-domiciled.
The deal immediately ran into problems, with Brazilian billionaire Joseph Safra lobbing in a rival offer and the EU Commission seeking concessions before it would approve the merger. While both firms say that they remain committed to the merger, this increasingly looks like a deal that could slip on a banana skin at any time.
Sunday Indo Business


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When Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) launched the first batch of its Raptor Lake PC CPUs, it was clear Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) was in trouble. Intel’s chips not only beat AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series chips in single-threaded, multi-threaded, and gaming workloads, but they did so at lower prices. While AMD hasn’t officially cut prices, its Ryzen 7000 chips have been selling at prices well below MSRP (manufacturers suggested retail price) since mid-November.
AMD does have one trick up its sleeve: Its innovative 3D V-Cache technology. AMD’s first attempt at a 3D V-Cache chip was a mixed bag. The 5800X3D was the fastest gaming chip when it launched last year but suffered greatly in some non-gaming workloads. This time around, the company seems to have figured out a way to minimize the downsides.
Putting data close to the CPU
AMD announced three new 3D V-Cache chips on Wednesday, although pricing was not disclosed. The 8-core 7800X3D, the 12-core 7900X3D, and the 16-core 7950X3D make up AMD’s second round of chips using this technology.
3D V-Cache allows AMD to stack additional memory on top of the processor. While PCs typically have many gigabytes of random-access memory, this memory is much slower to access than the ultra-fast memory used for caching built into CPUs. High-end CPUs typically have 10s of megabytes of cache memory.
A sure-fire way to speed up an application is by putting as much data as possible into the CPU cache. The more cache memory there is, the more data can be copied over and the less time the CPU spends waiting to access slower system memory. In applications like gaming that are data-heavy, a bigger cache can unlock huge performance gains.
This is the premise behind AMD’s 3D V-Cache chips. These three new chips are essentially standard Ryzen 7000 chips with an additional 64MB of cache memory, lower power envelopes to keep temperatures in check, and slightly lower clock speeds. The chips won’t be available until February but should deliver incredible gaming performance.
The big problem with AMD’s first 3D V-Cache chip was that performance in any application that didn’t make heavy use of the cache suffered. The 5800X3D sported lower clock speeds than standard chips, so single-threaded performance was lackluster. And because it was forced to use less power, multi-threaded performance was limited, as well.
AMD has mostly fixed the first problem with its new 3D V-Cache chips. Base clock speeds are still a few hundred megahertz lower than AMD’s standard Ryzen CPUs, but boost clock speeds are now identical. While single-threaded performance will likely still be a bit lower, the gap should be much smaller this time around.
Multi-threaded performance may still be a problem, though, because these 3D V-Cache chips have lower power limits. We’ll have to wait for third-party reviews to see how much progress AMD has made on that front.
AMD could steal the gaming crown
Intel’s Raptor Lake processors are the champs when it comes to gaming performance, but AMD may be able to surpass Raptor Lake next month with its 3D V-Cache chips. However, Intel isn’t sitting still.
Intel is reportedly planning a variant of its highest-end Raptor Lake processor, the 13900KS, which runs at a higher base clock and sports a boost clock of 6GHz out of the box. Those higher frequencies will provide greater single-threaded performance, which is critical for games. That may not be enough to overcome AMD’s 3D V-Cache tech but will certainly close any gap.
AMD’s 3D V-Cache chips will be more expensive than its standard Ryzen chips. While performance may top the competition, the price-to-performance may be a different story. We’ll know more next month when AMD officially launches these new gaming powerhouse chips.
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Consumer Prices Rise Moderately
By KEITH BRADSHER,
Published: December 15, 1994
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14— Inflation continued at a moderate pace while a rising tide of goods flowed out of the nation's factories and mines in November, according to Government reports made public today. Together, they provided new evidence of the American economy's robust health.
Stocks rose as investors interpreted the economic statistics as a signal that a prosperous economy would reward long-term investments while inflation would not significantly erode the returns. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 30.95 points to close at 3,746.29. [ Page D8. ]
But the bond market, after rallying early, was more circumspect. It dropped slightly as the yield on 30-year Treasury bonds climbed to 7.86 percent from 7.85. [ Page D18. ]
With only the final month's report to go, it now appears all but certain that 1994 will end as the third year in a row in which consumer prices advanced by less than 3 percent.
The Clinton Administration welcomed today's reports, pointing out that consumer prices are only 2.8 percent higher than a year ago. "We're ending 1994 with the same good-news message about the economy we've had all year -- the economy continues to show strong growth with modest and stable inflation," Laura D'Andrea Tyson, the chairwoman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, said this afternoon.
Private economists were also enthusiastic. "This is about as good as it can get -- pretty good production and low inflation," said Sung W. Sohn, a senior vice president and chief economist at the Norwest Corporation, a bank holding company in Minneapolis. "What more can you want?"
Some experts also said that the figures made it less likely that the Federal Reserve would raise short-term interest rates when its top policy-making committee meets on Tuesday.
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, "does not want to be the Grinch that stole Christmas," said Kenneth A. Guenther, a former Fed official who is now the executive vice president of the Independent Bankers Association of America, a Washington-based trade group.
But some monetary-policy economists disagreed, saying that the economy's sheer unrelenting strength may yet cause Fed officials to want to take action next week because of worries that inflationary shortages of scarce materials and skilled workers may develop.
Robert V. DiClemente, a senior economist at Salomon Brothers in New York, said that recent signs of strong car sales and other retail sales, coupled with today's figures, had persuaded him to raise the odds of a rate increase on Dec. 20 to one in two from one in three.
"The odds have been creeping higher," he said, adding that Fed officials may be further influenced by the latest figures on housing starts, which the Commerce Department will issue on Friday.
Led by rising gasoline prices, the Consumer Price Index rose by three-tenths of a percentage point in November, the Labor Department said today. It was the biggest increase since August, after increases of a tenth of a percentage point in October and two-tenths of a percentage point in September, but was still within the expectations of most economic forecasters.
Excluding food and energy prices, which tend to be volatile and do not always signal broader inflation trends, the index rose by only two-tenths of a percentage point.
The output of factories, mines, electric utilities and other industry rose by half a percentage point from October, the Fed announced today. Industry operated at 84.7 percent of full capacity, the highest level since April 1989. That is again approaching the 85 percent level often linked to higher inflation.
Today's generally benign consumer price figures masked two possible hints of trouble ahead. The overall index was held down by a drop in apparel prices as warm weather forced stores to offer discounts on winter clothing, and by a drop in new-car prices because of a seasonal adjustment.
Now that colder weather has hit and with demand for new cars remaining strong, both drops could be reversed soon. "Certainly in apparel and car sales, we will see higher prices in December and January," Mr. Sohn said.
The Producer Price Index, released by the Labor Department on Tuesday, also showed that raw materials prices were rising quickly, as are prices for so-called intermediate goods like steel that are used in making finished products like cars. Mr. Greenspan has warned that these rising prices may eventually be reflected in consumer prices.
Ms. Tyson tried to respond to these worries in her statement today, pointing out that labor costs have barely risen this year. Some other economists say this reflects the rising efficiency of American workers and a willingness on the part of many workers to accept relatively slow increases in wages because of fears of losing their jobs.
"As long as wage pressures remain in check," Ms. Tyson said, "an acceleration of overall inflation is unlikely."
Medical care costs, the subject of considerable political debate this year, rose only three-tenths of a percentage point in November after an increase of six-tenths of a percentage point in October.
By contrast, the Labor Department's index of entertainment costs jumped seven-tenths of a percentage point, led by rising costs for sports equipment and fees for participant sports. The department's food and beverage index rose two-tenths of a percent in November, with a substantial rise in fresh vegetable prices.
The index of gasoline prices rose six-tenths of a percentage point, but remained 14.3 percent below its peak in December 1990. Airline fares dropped 4.2 percent in November, and, adjusted for seasonal variation, were 7.7 percent lower than in August as carriers have competed vigorously for market share by offering many discounts.
Graphs: "Industrial Production" tracks index of total industrial production, seasonally adjusted, since June 1993. (Source: Commerce Department); "Consumer Prices" tracks percent change, month to month, seasonally adjusted, since December 1993. Also shown is the consumer price index for major metropolitan areas in November 1994, along with the percent change from the previous month and year. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics) (pg. D18)


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Meta is trying by all means that the metaverse becomes the present of many people. This means that users have an element to enter it, such as virtual reality glasses, something that is not yet available to everyone but will be sooner or later. But first it seems that he wants to establish the economic program leaving users invest in NFTs from Instagram.
Investment tests in NFTs begin in Meta
There are many users who have seen in the field of cryptocurrencies a world to explore and in which to put their money to work. Some may no longer be interested after they learned that they have to declare the cryptocurrencies they have in their Income Tax return. But that is old news, or at least it is for all those who have to do it even under these conditions.
But the fact is that nowadays it is not only invested in cryptocurrencies as such, but it is done through NFTs in order to have an image in its name, like the one that a Velazquez has in the living room of his home (if anyone has one).
NFTs on Instagram 🎉
This week we’re beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of US creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on IG.
See you next week! ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/VuJbMVSBDr
– Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) May 9, 2022
Meta takes time not only to use a system with which to pay with the same currency everywhere, but he also wants his home to be home to all those artists who sell their art as well as those interested in investing in these images. And what better platform to bring artists and investors together than Instagram.
Already in December we learned about Meta’s plans to place crypto assets on its platform, and earlier this month they already started testing how it would look within the application. What we did not suspect is that, according to what they say in 9to5Macthe company is already doing its tests within a closed circle of users who have already been able to test the platform with which they can invest in NFT from Instagram.
This is how Adam Mosseri explained it in a video in which he talked about the subject and how the project is going. As we say, only a select group of users has been able to use it, all with the conditions of the platform itself.
Among these conditions, it is necessary to be chosen by the company itself to start operating, to have blockchain support for Ethereum and Polygon as well as Rainbow, MetaMask and Trust wallet support.


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Drivers warned switching to an EV might not be as cost-effective as previously thought
GB News guests debate using electric cars
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Motoring experts have warned drivers that switching to an EV will not guarantee an instant reduction in costs. This is despite the interest in EVs increasing massively due to the ever-rising petrol and diesel prices.
The latest RAC Fuel Watch indicates that motorists can expect to pay 191.05p per litre of petrol.
The price is even higher for diesel car owners who need to fork out 198.94 on average per litre.
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that drivers across the UK are thinking about switching to an electric car.
However, experts have now warned that choosing an EV over a petrol alternative might not be as cost-effective as drivers think.
Firstly, electric cars are much more expensive than petrol equivalents.
The average price of an EV stands at a whopping £51,924.
Experts at Forbes Advisor said that the figure is twice the price of the average fuel car which costs £26,752.
On top of that, models from the same manufacturer can vary drastically in price.
‘This is an urgent situation’: AA warn of ‘pump fiction’ as costs rise [WARNING]
‘Important milestone’: Red Bull unveil RB17 – A new £5million hypercar [REVEAL]
Elderly driver urges young motorists to be safe on the roads [ADVICE]
For instance, a new Vauxhall Corsa with a petrol engine starts at £17,340 but motorists have to fork out nearly £10,000 more for the Corsa-e.
This in turn means that in order to regain the difference in the purchase price, a new EV driver would have to drive over 300,000 miles.
And, that figure does not include insurance costs, MOTs and servicing.
While some running costs are in fact cheaper for EVs, that is not the case for insurance.
Book your MOT with the UK’s #1 MOT tester – just click the link to book online.
If a motorist wishes to insure a brand new 1.2 petrol engine Vauxhall Corsa, they can expect to pay £243.43 for the cheapest annual comprehensive insurance policy.
That figure, however, stands at £334.71 for the Corsa-e.
When it comes to the Tesla Model 3, the most popular EV in the UK, the cost of the insurance policy rises to a whopping £579.3 – over two times more than the petrol-powered Corsa.
On top of that, drivers looking to buy an EV below £32,000 will no longer receive grants from the Government.
Earlier this month, Grant Shapps announced that he was withdrawing the £1,500 plug-in grant offered to buyers of new electric vehicles.
The Department of Transport said that success in the UK’s electric car revolution has led the Government to “refocus plug-in grant funding” to encourage other vehicles to “charge up and go green”.
Laura Howard, a motoring expert at Forbes Advisor, commented: “We’re deep in a cost of living crisis, and paying £100 to fill up the tank with petrol or diesel is beyond affordable for many families already struggling with energy bills and rampant inflation.
“Very few drivers will see the pump price indicator race towards three figures with anything other than dread and dismay.
“Those fortunate enough to have the money for a new car might consider an EV on the basis of its relatively low running costs.
“But they should remember that the purchase price premium means they won’t earn back the higher cost for a long time.
“So, anyone looking for immediate savings to ease the stress on their wallet should look for other ways to cut the cost of motoring, from shopping around for a better insurance deal to ditching the heavy roof-rack.”
Source: Read Full Article


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Suba Solutions is a regular participant at Pamex, which is the second largest show in India. The event on printing and allied machinery industries is well-known for creating excellent business opportunities for exhibitors.. “The 2020 edition was a good show. We have always received excellent footfall. Mumbai is one of the most important markets for us in the country, and the event allows us to reunite with our existing customers and generate many prospects,” says V Vaidyalingam, director of Suba Solutions.
Talking about the products on display at the show, Vaidyalimgam shares, “We decided to display something unique – a first-of-its-kind machine in India – a printed graphic V-cut specialty window patching machine. I think this machine is going to revolutionize the market. With this machine, a printed film can be pasted precisely on a monocarton with window patching. What was previously only a transparent area to see through a carton has now become a space for branding and a security feature. It will also create a unique opportunity in merchandize. We generated many leads for this machine at the show. Visitors have shown immense interest in this machine, and we hope to convert a few serious inquiries soon after the show.” Suba also displayed an offline blanker at its stand at Pamex 2020.
“At Printpack, we received quite a few inquiries. Due to the year ending phenomenon back then, followed by the preparation for general elections and subsequent counting of votes, almost all the orders were delayed. So, we really can’t say it was a success. Similarly, for this event, I don’t want to commit a number at the show. I’d love to see 10 or 15 leads mature after the show,” explains Vaidyalingam.
With the packaging industry witnessing a significant growth, many companies are trying to get their share of the pie in the market. Sharing his views on the trend, he says, “It is becoming intensely competitive. The first half of the year was quite bad because of the polls. But I think hurdles are a part and parcel of a bigger story that we must focus on. With more companies entering the Indian market, the pie is shrinking. Many people say that India is as promising as China, but I don’t think it is so. Also, I feel the competition will only get more intense. However, there seems to be a relief from the recent slowdown in the market, and packaging converters are again showing interest in increasing capacity.”


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A majority of consumers using the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) complaint intake tool claim in one way or another that debt collectors are chasing an account the consumer does not think they should pay. And the numbers are growing.
When a consumer begins a debt collection complaint on the CFPB site, they are given six broad debt collection issues used to classify the nature of their complaint. The most common issue, accounting for 41 percent of all complaints, was “Continued attempts to collect debt not owed.” Communication tactics accounted for another 20 percent of complaints, followed by “Disclosure verification of debt” at 18 percent.
The initial categories, while helpful, do not really explain why the consumer was compelled to log a complaint. The real reasons for complaints are revealed in the next step, sub-issue selection.
After one issue is selected, another set of sub-issues specific to each main issue is revealed. This list is much longer and more varied and reveals the true nature of the problem. Even with more selections, 25 percent of consumers claimed that the debt in question was not theirs. Another 13 percent of consumers said that not enough information was given to verify the debt in question and nearly 12 percent said that the debt had already been paid. Finally, 2 percent said that the debt in question was the result of identity theft (see table below with “Other” issues).
When taken in total, more than half – 51.5 percent – of complaints are indicating that the consumer thinks the debt should not be paid, one way or another.
Every day the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) adds new consumer complaints to its public database. Even in the short time since debt collection complaints were added to the roster, the data shows that more people are complaining about debt collectors chasing the wrong person.
The shifts are to be expected, as the total number of debt collection complaints has grown significantly in just three weeks. The CFPB publicly released 5,326 debt collection complaints on Nov. 6; today the number stands at 7,005, a 31.5 percent increase. So it stands to reason that the numbers have changed a bit.
Our analysis of the initial complaints data showed that 24.6 percent of consumers claimed that the debt was not theirs. That number increased to 25.1 percent in just three weeks.


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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has scented a new opportunity to capitalize on quirky products, launching a perfume called “Burnt Hair” that he said sold 10,000 bottles to earn a million dollars in just a few hours.
“With a name like mine, getting into the fragrance business was inevitable – why did I even fight it for so long!?” Musk asked on Twitter, where he now describes himself as a perfume salesman.
“The essence of repugnant desire” is the website description of his latest offering, which costs $100 a bottle and is set to start shipping in the first quarter of 2023, making good on a product Musk first touted in September.
With a name like mine, getting into the fragrance business was inevitable – why did I even fight it for so long!?— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 11, 2022
Previous brainwaves have included Tesla’s own-brand tequila, launched in 2020, and a pair of “short shorts” to signify Musk’s victory over investors who bet against the electric vehicle maker, now the world’s most valuable car firm.
His Boring Company, a tunnelling firm last valued at $5.7 billion, sold flamethrowers at $500 apiece in early 2018, raising $10 million. He also sold 50,000 Boring Company hats.
Musk’s ambitions over the years have ranged from colonizing Mars to creating a new sustainable energy economy, and in the process he has built Tesla, rocket company SpaceX, and smaller firms.
Last week the billionaire proposed to proceed with his original $44-billion bid to take Twitter Incorporated private, calling for an end to a lawsuit by the social media company that could have forced him to pay up, whether he wanted to or not.
If successful, a deal would put Musk in charge of one of the most influential media platforms and end months of litigation that damaged Twitter’s brand and fed his reputation for erratic behavior.
The Boring Company did not respond to a query on how long it planned to keep the perfume listed. – Rappler.com
How does this make you feel?


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NetCents Technology Inc (CSE:NC) (OTCQB:NTTCF) (FRA:26N), a cryptocurrency payments company, revealed on Thursday that it has exceeded $27 million in transactions within the company’s platform in 2020. ”We are pleased with our growth in 2020, with each month exceeding our post coronavirus (COVID-19) expectations and results improving significantly throughout the year,” NetCents Technology founder CEO Clayton Moore said in a statement.
KULR Technology Group, Inc. (OTCQB:KULR), a leading developer of next-generation thermal management technologies, said it has supplied its internal short circuit (ISC) battery safety and testing device technology to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The company noted that, according to data released by the FAA, since January 2017, an air/airport incident involving lithium batteries (smoke, fire, extreme heat, or explosion) has occurred on average about once every eight days. As the exclusive provider of ISC technology to the FAA, KULR’s devices will address the alarming increase in smoke and fire incidents aboard an aircraft due to passengers’ malfunctioning lithium-ion batteries.
Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. (FRA:50N) (CVE:NSP) (OTCMKTS:NSPDF) has revealed that the first shipping container of NATERA Plant-Based Foods has arrived from Australia. In anticipation of demand, a second shipping container has been processed and is on route to Vancouver, scheduled to arrive mid-November. The combined revenue potential from these first two containers is approximately C$500,000 and additional orders are being scheduled and will arrive in Vancouver in a timely manner, the group said.
Trillion Energy International Inc (CSE:TCF) (OTCMKTS:TCFF) (FRA:3P2N) told investors Thursday it plans to evaluate geological trends in its SASB gas field in the Black Sea to identify additional prospects to test for gas as the oiler also commented on its recent share activity. It comes after the previously announced discovery in August, by the Tuna-1 well in the Sakarya field in the western portion of the Black Sea by the Turkish national petroleum company (TPAO) - Trillion’s partner in the SSAB field.
Tetra Bio-Pharma (TSE:TBP) (OTCQB:TBPMF) (FRA:JAM1) has signed a research collaboration agreement with Targeted Pharmaceutical Inc and the George Mason University National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (NCBID), the company announced Thursday. The research collaboration will evaluate the company’s drug ARDS-003, with and without antiviral drugs, to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in animals. Leading the effort is Lance Liotta, the chief medical officer of Targeted Therapeutics and a professor at George Mason. Tetra owns a 20% minority stake in Targeted Pharmaceutical, which it announced last quarter.
Thoughtful Brands Inc (CSE:TBI) (OTCQB:PEMTF) (FRA:1WZ1) is acquiring American CBD Extraction Corp and its Kentucky-based subsidiary East Kentucky Extractions LLC in a deal estimated to be worth around C$13.1 million, it said Wednesday evening. American CBD produces high-grade hemp-derived CBD oil for the US market from its 41,000-square foot facility in Kentucky capable of producing over 1,200 pounds of hemp per day.
Newgioco Group Inc (NASDAQ:NWGI) (FRA:3UW) announced Thursday that the company has received Gaming Labs International (GLI) certification – GLI 20: Standards for Kiosks and GLI-33: Event Wagering Systems standards – for the self-service betting terminal installation of its Elys sports betting platform. The company said that GLI is the world’s largest and most experienced independent testing laboratory delivering the highest quality land-based, lottery and iGaming testing and assessment services to regulators, suppliers, and operators in the gaming industry.
Ximen Mining Corp (CVE:XIM) (OTCQB:XXMMF) (FRA:1XMA) has reported encouraging sampling results from its Amelia property in southern British Columbia, carried out earlier this season, and which has generated significant gold and silver assays. The historic Cariboo-Amelia gold mine was British Columbia’s first dividend-paying lode gold mine and was the most significant producer from Camp McKinney.
Hill Street Beverage Company Inc (CVE:BEER) (OTCMKTS:HSEEF) has announced the launch of its new line of cannabis-infused drinks, which are expected to be on sale in stores and on-line in Ontario, Canada in December this year, with a national rollout anticipated early next year. The (V)ia branded beverages are the work of the firm’s Hill Avenue Cannabis Co subsidiary and are created from the same alcohol-free drinks that are available in the group’s market-leading and award-winning Vin(Zero) portfolio of products. The firm says they offer the first great-tasting cannabis-infused alternatives to alcohol and are based on world-class fermented and aged grape juice.
FansUnite Entertainment Inc (CSE:FANS) (OTCMKT:FUNFF) (FRA:4UY) announced Thursday that Askott Games — which the company acquired recently — has signed with a leading online casino games aggregator to distribute its proprietary Random Number Generated (RNG) games to online casinos and sportsbooks in the European market. In a statement, FansUnite said the first casino game aggregator to publish the Askott Games content will be the Ear Platform, a European-focused aggregator that will give Askott Games access to more than 120 online gaming sites they are integrated with.
Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp. (CSE:CANN) (OTCQX:HERTF) said both its Pura Vida and Purefarma tinctures will be available for purchase next week in the province of British Columbia through the province’s authorized Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) channels. Heritage launched both Pura Vida and Purefarma vape cartridges in September 2020 and the response by customers has been tremendous in the two provinces in which they are available – British Columbia and Manitoba. British Columbia customers now will soon be able to purchase Pura Vida Daybreak and Nightfall tinctures as well as Purefarma HLX30 CBD and Balance 15:15.
CytoDyn Inc (OTCQB:CYDY) named industry veteran Mahboob U Rahman its chief scientific officer on Thursday, as the biotechnology company accelerates its clinical and regulatory priorities while developing its lead drug leronlimab (PRO 140) for multiple indications. Dr Rahman was the global head of Immunology Development and Pharmacovigilance at Mesoblast Inc (NASDAQ:MESO) (ASX:MSB), a leader in medicines for inflammatory diseases.
American Battery Metals Corporation (OTCQB:ABML), which is in the process of changing its name to American Battery Technology Company (ABTC), has announced the appointment of David Corsaut as its chief financial officer. The company, an American-owned lithium-ion battery recycling technology and extraction company with mineral resources in Nevada, said Corsaut is a veteran leader of companies in the technology, manufacturing, logistics, finance and real estate sectors. He was instrumental in providing the capital formation for the companies he managed. Most recently Corsaut led Coolfire Solutions as chief operating officer.
Milestone Scientific Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:MLSS), a leading developer of computerized drug delivery instruments that provides virtually painless and precise injections, said it has published a video interview with Dr Ayman A. Alian, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Division Chief of Obstetric & Gynecological Anesthesiology at the Yale School of Medicine. In the video, Dr Alian discusses the benefits of Milestone’s CompuFlo Epidural System and CathCheck, including verification of epidural placement during an epidural procedure and confirmation of catheter placement. He states: “It does improve the block. It does help you make a decision. It does decrease complications. It does decrease length of stay and improve patient satisfaction.” Arjan Haverhals, president of Milestone Scientific and CEO of Wand Dental Inc., commented: “We are grateful to Dr Alian for his leadership in adopting the CompuFlo Epidural System and CathCheck as part of his practice. We believe the support from Dr Alian and other anesthesiologists is further validation of our technology and advances us towards our goal of CompuFlo and CathCheck becoming the new standard of care.” The interview is available at: https://www.milestonescientific.com/news-media/presentations
Klondike Gold Corp (CVE:KG) said the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to its non-brokered private placement which will see the issue of 8,768,036 flow-through shares and 4.68 million non-flow-through shares at purchase prices of 30 cents per flow-through share and 25 cents per non-flow-through share, together with 4,384,018 share purchase warrants attached to flow-through shares to purchase 4,384,018 non-flow-through shares and 2.34 million share purchase warrants attached to non-flow-through shares to purchase 2.34 million non-flow-through shares at exercise prices of 45 cents each for a two-year period, with 36 placees.
Nemaura Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NMRD), a medical technology company focused on developing and commercializing non-invasive wearable diagnostic devices and supporting personalized lifestyle coaching programs, has announced that it will present on Day 1 of the Virtual Diabetes Technology Meeting 2020 on November 12, 2020, at 2.50 PT. Nemaura’s chief executive officer Dr Faz Chowdhury will give a presentation titled “CGM Usage for the Management and Reversal of Type 2 diabetes.” The format of the meeting will include state-of-the-art lectures, oral presentations of abstracts, panel discussions with Q & A sessions, and virtual poster sessions. Investors wishing to view Dr Chowdhury’s presentation can register for the meeting at https://www.diabetestechnology.org/dtm/.
AIM ImmunoTech Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:AIM) has announced that Thomas K. Equels, the company’s chief executive officer is scheduled to participate in a virtual panel titled, “COVID-19: Progress on Treatments & Prevention” on Thursday, October 29, at 10.05am. Eastern Time at the 23rd Annual BioFlorida Conference. The BioFlorida Conference 2020 will feature global experts in keynote and breakout sessions addressing the latest trends in BioPharma, MedTech, HealthIT and COVID-19. Informative programs will cover current science advancements, business and public policy, as well as showcase Florida’s achievements and innovation. The presentation will be webcast live on the conference event platform, which can be accessed here: https://biofloridaconference.pathable.co/meetings/virtual/2oT6yfX68ntBLbwX4
Tocvan Ventures Corp. (CSE:TOC), a well-structured exploration mining company, said a new research report has been published at TSXV Research by Elite Strategic Inc. The report can be viewed in its entirety by visiting the TSXV Research web site: https://www.tsxvresearch.com/research/tocvan-toc/
Ideanomics (NASDAQ:IDEX) has announced that it will release its 2020 third-quarter financial results on Monday, November 9, 2020, via a press release at approximately 4,00pm ET, followed by a conference call at 4.30-pm ET. The company said its senior management team will give prepared remarks, followed by a short question and answer session. Ideanomics is encouraging investors and analysts to email their questions in advance of the webcast/call and, time permitting, management will take further questions during the live Q&A session. Please email [email protected] A replay of the webcast will be available on the company’s website after the conclusion of the event: www.ideanomics.com. Access the conference call is via the company website or use the following link https://78449.themediaframe.com/dataconf/productusers/ssc/mediaframe/41438/indexl.html; Dial-in Number: (Toll-Free US & Canada): 877-407-3107 or 201-493-6796; China: +86-400-120-2840.
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Mobile advertising leader Kargo has announced it is acquiring StitcherAds, an ecommerce retail platform designed to help brands drive online sales. The acquisition, reportedly worth $64 million, will empower brands with the tools to create better mobile online retail experiences.
“I’m excited to welcome StitcherAds into the Kargo family at such an exciting time in our history. The StitcherAds platform offers powerful advertising capabilities for our retail andCPG clients. We can now provide a true multi-platform product portfolio that expands our footprint into paid social,” said Harry Kargman, Kargo Founder and CEO. “This acquisition is another step towards our strategy to offer a full suite of solutions for our clients.”
Since the Ireland-based StitcherAds was founded in 2009, the ecommerce platform has focused on helping advertisers and marketers optimize their campaigns for social sites like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. Its platform uses data automation to create social ads that advance the revenue goals of some of the world’s most innovative brands.
Through using StitcherAds, Calvin Klein has reported a 17.7 percent increase in online purchases and a 50 percent lower cost per incremental purchases. Similarly, The Company Store revealed it boosted its sales by 350 percent and acquired 573 percent more customers as a result of employing StitcherAds in its advertising campaigns.
These powerful capabilities join forces with Kargo, one of the leading multi-channel, mobile-focused commerce platforms on the market. Its award winning platform is taken advantage of by several Fortune 500 companies to boost reach to 100 percent of smartphone users in the United States.
As a result of the acquisition, Kargo now claims management of $550 million in total media spend. Large retailers such as Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, JOANN Fabrics & Crafts, and Bed Bath & Beyond contribute to the half a billion dollars of media spent.
“StitcherAds and Kargo are a fantastic match, bringing together Kargo’s premium advertising marketplace with our commerce-driven approach to social media marketing,” said Declan Kennedy, Chief Executive at StitcherAds. “We’re thrilled with the new opportunities to offer full-funnel solutions that this acquisition affords us, and the depth of omnichannel capabilities we’ll bring to the market.”


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Changing timber legality requirements are adding pressure on UK companies already influenced by Covid and Brexit. It is still too early to estimate the impact on the 11 billion Euro industry, according to the Timber Trade Federation (TTF).
As timber traders and wood product manufacturers in the United Kingdom are trying to stay afloat in a market already influenced by Covid and Brexit, changing regulations are adding concerns.
Following Brexit, UK based companies are no longer covered by the European Timber Regulation (EUTR), which essentially creates a “free lane” for imports of wood through the EU.
Instead, these companies must now ensure that due diligence has been undertaken on all supply chains going through EU countries, while their EU-based customers are asking for similar documentation on products imported into the EU from the United Kingdom.
Norman Sellers, the Managing Director of Wildlife World, a leading producer of wildlife products such as bird boxes and bird tables, says his company is already noticing the consequences of Brexit – including new customs and duty rules and changing requirements for import and export of wood and wood products:
“We already lost one big customer in France, who said they didn’t want to buy anymore and ship from the UK because of the customs complexities and duty on some products. That was a bit of a blow to us. We will have to set up a new business in Europe to cover logistics and order fulfilment. This will probably take about a year,” said Norman Sellers.
Every year, Wildlife World is importing up to 60 containers of wood and wood products. As 30 percent of the company’s revenue is generated in the EU, the impact is significant, and, according to Norman Sellers, the requirements are not entirely transparent:
“We are a FSC certified business, and even though we are still supplying the same clients in the UK and Europe, there suddenly seems to be these new monitoring requirements, which our customers are worried about. And I am not sure I fully understand why the changes are necessary,” said Norman Sellers.
“It all adds costs, which means that our products will become more expensive and exporting is much harder,” said Norman Sellers.
Significant time sink
The United Kingdom Timber Regulation (UKTR), which was introduced to replace the EU regulation, is mirroring the EUTR and would ideally reduce the impact of conversion. The fact remains, however, that the EU is no longer a ‘domestic’ market.
ERCOL, a high-end design furniture company, is currently adjusting to the changing requirements.
“We have found the transition from EUTR to UKTR to be straight forward, but time consuming and resource intensive, at a time where Covid and Brexit have also added extra pressures,” said James Eddy, Compliance Co-ordinator at ERCOL.
While obtaining commercially sensitive documents from European suppliers has been a challenge to James Eddy and his colleagues, he expects the compiling of documents for European customers will be a significant time sink going forward.
“Some European suppliers are struggling to appreciate why we now require extra documentation, and the wide variety of interpretation along the supply chain of what the regulations require can result in a broad spectrum in quality and detail of information,” said James Eddy.
“It has also become apparent that supply chain assessments which may be deemed negligible risk in one country, may be looked at differently by another countries competent authority or EUTR business personnel,” said James Eddy.
13,3 billion Euro industry
According to the Timber Trade Federation, whose members account for about 85 percent of the timber industry, only 12 percent of timber imported into the United Kingdom is sourced outside the EU. This means that a lot of companies, if not the large majority, will have to introduce due diligence systems now that the UK is no longer a member of the EU.
“It is still early to give an overview on the overall impact of UKTR on the UK timber sector, as businesses are still adjusting to the changes and absorbing the influx of workload as a result of Brexit and the complications caused to the supply chain by the Covid pandemic,” said Xiao Ma, Sustainability Manager at the Timber Trade Federation.
“This is going to be, however, a learning curve for most supply chain parties and stakeholders on both ends of the Channel,” said Xiao Ma.
How to Brexit and EUTR
Understanding the requirements for businesses affected by Brexit can be difficult. Fortunately, we have produced a guide to Brexit, which will answer most of your questions and help you meet the new requirements. Please find our Brexit guide.
For a wider understanding of the European Timber Regulation toolkits, guides and news, please visit our dedicated EUTR website.
If you need further assistance, please contact us here.
The European Commission (donor) is not responsible for any claims or views presented in this material. The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute endorsement of the contents which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of information contained therein.


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MyAppFree has rebranded to MAF, reflecting the company’s transition from a beginning network to an all-in-one solution.
March 13, 2023 – myAppFree, announced today a significant milestone in its journey: the company is rebranding to MAF and unveiling a brand new look.
This change reflects the company’s growth and evolution since it started its journey in 2016 as a network offering monetization solutions for publishers.
Over the past years, MAF has made remarkable advances in the industry by prioritizing innovation and excellence. As a result, it has evolved into an all-in-one solution for app growth and monetization. Today, its new branding aligns with MAF’s commitment to assisting developers turning their apps into profitable businesses.
“As we transition to the new MAF brand, we remain committed to providing the same high-level quality products and support that we have always offered under the myAppFree name,” said Riccardo, CEO at MAF.
“We are grateful to all our clients who have trusted us over the past 7 years as myAppFree,” said Riccardo. “We are excited about the upcoming years as we will continue to transform advertising into discovery as MAF.”
MAF assists developers in turning their apps into successful businesses and making the app economy more prosperous. The company offers an all-in-one solution to grow and monetize apps, transforming advertising into a discovery.


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Gig workers' livelihoods are increasingly ruled by mysterious — and unpredictable — software.
A group of ride share drivers have sued New York over unemployment hold ups.
Uber and Lyft both have quarterly earnings call this week.
Gig platforms have long been ambivalent about encouraging tips that many workers depend on.
Lyft says it’s a more equitable way to give out bonuses for rides, but some drivers say it’s eating into their profits.
Prices could rise for rideshare services, especially in places like airports where demand is high.
The future of the auto industry is uncertain as ride-sharing, self-driving vehicles and other technologies evolve.
The protest against pay and working conditions comes as the companies go public.
Uber and Lyft drivers are banding together to launch a strike on Wednesday in several major American cities.


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Norwegian telecom company Telenor Group has merged its online classified assets with Carousell, Southeast Asia’s leading general marketplace. The merged company is valued at over $850 million U.S.
Telenor’s 701Search.com was absorbed by Carousell in the merger, giving the multinational telecommunications company a 32% stake in the company.
While the financial details of the transaction weren’t disclosed, Bloomberg reports that Telenor plans to invest $20 million U.S. in Carousell.
Rakesh Malani (LinkedIn profile), chief financial officer at Carousell, said the transaction further cements the company’s position as the leading online marketplace in Southeast Asia.
“With annualized revenues of over $40 million U.S., a business of over 80% gross margin and two profitable markets, we are very well positioned to advance our combined business to the next level,” Malani said.
Carousell is rapidly consolidating its assets in the region. The marketplace already holds dominant positions in Singapore, its home market, and Hong Kong. In July, Naspers-owned OLX Group bought a 10% stake in the company for $56 million U.S., part of a plan to merge its operations in the Philippines with Carousell. As part of the merger, leading Filipino property vertical Property24 also became part of Carousell Philippines.


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Get your latest Explosm news here. Where we're going to be and when, new store sales, new book announcements, everything!
It's actually here. We've been pouring ourselves into this project for a while now, but this really makes it official. Our Kickstarter is officially here! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/explosm/the-cyanide-and-happiness-show This is ...
Hey guys, exciting news! As you may have read before, we'll soon be launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund a full Cyanide & Happiness online animated series. Now we can finally reveal to you the launch date for the campaign itself: Friday, Febr...
Hey guys! We've been getting a great reaction from our readers about our decision to do a C&H show online instead of on a network, and also a lot of questions. So I thought I'd share some more details about how we got to this point. If you...
Pretty big announcement ahead! As some of you may know, we've been negotiating a Cyanide & Happiness TV show with a cable network for a while now. What you guys may not know is that this is actually the latest of three TV show talks we'...
If you aren't a fan on Facebook yet, you should totally start. We've been posting lots of our favorite comics for the past few weeks, some of which have spurred quite the topical debate. Plus, there's other things, too! http://www.facebo...
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Seeking Alternatives to Animal-Derived Drugs
Before we genetically modified bacteria to take over the job many drugs were made from animal products, insulin and growth hormones to name just two. But some things just don't transfer well, and heparin is actually a mixture of disaccharides and just one doesn't work the quite same as all of them together. That makes the synthetic version, with only one of the disaccharides, more expensive and less effective.
“Any time you take a tissue or an extract process from a tissue from one species and put it into a another species or even another animal, you run the risk of unwanted pathogens that you didn’t know were there; that’s been responsible for repeated problems over the course of time,” Dr. Brown said. “If you can do something without taking tissue or a product from another being, you’re ahead of the game.”Specifically they discuss the threat of prion disease, like mad cow but from pigs. With chemicals that are extracted, you don't have to worry about rejection because, hopefully, its pure enough to not have anything that would provoke an immune response.
But the article doesn't focus on heparin, but rather on the enzymes that people with cystic fibrosis need to live and digest food properly. A pharmaceutical company is working on a process that uses microbes rather than pigs to produce the enzyme, much like insulin is now, but its not finished yet.
“You don’t ever know what’s going to happen to pigs,” said Dr. Campbell of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “We wanted redundancy in the system and a backup. If there was a recall of these products for six months, a number of people would die.”Thats what it really comes down to, redundancy. If there is only one source, that source could be animal, vegetable or mineral, a recall is a recall. Thats another reason pharmaceutical monopolies are bad, if one company goes under, has their plants shut down, or relies on the same tainted Chinese manufacturers, there are humans that would suffer for lack of their drug.


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Ross Ulbricht, the founder of black market website The Silk Road, has been found guilty of drug trafficking, criminal enterprise, aiding and abetting the distribution of drugs over the internet, computer hacking, and money laundering, the Guardian reports.
He faces a possible life sentence in prison.
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Ulbricht was arrested in San Francisco in October 2013 and charged with being “Dread Pirate Roberts” one of the creators of The Silk Road.
Microsoft acquires Sunrise for $100 million
Software giant Microsoft has acquired calendar app maker Sunrise, sources have told TechCrunch.
Sunrise offers a suite of calendar products for mobile and desktop that connects with and consolidates calendars from different providers. The acquisition is expected to cost Microsoft at least $US100 million ($A130m).
Instagram introduces endlessly looping videos for advertisers
Instagram has changes its video settings so that clips automatically replay in its users’ streams, in a move welcomed by advertisers who want to get as many views on their ads as possible, The Verge reports.
Users can choose to have the videos preload on Wi-Fi only to save data, but it’s not the default option, and there’s no way to disable auto-playing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 6.62 to 17,673.02. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US78 cents.