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The Industry, Trade and Supply Ministry on Saturday said that the local prices of food items have begun their recovery from the global food crises which occurred as a result of international oil price hikes, shipping costs, low supplies and other factors.
Industry, Trade and Supply Minister Yousef Shamali said that the ministry’s data shows that global price fluctuations “were clearly reflected” on local prices.
Shamali attributed this to the country’s competition-based market policy, which is the “biggest driver for balance” in the market, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
He added that the contributing factors to the price decrease stem from a reduction in production costs which has occurred due to decreased oil prices, post-pandemic production resumption and availability of goods.
Shamali said that international price hikes in food and commodities during the first quarter of this year affected the local market less than the global markets, thanks to government support to the commercial sector to guarantee items’ availability at reasonable prices.
The minister said that the government took measures such as lowering inspection and handling fees, extending the storage periods of containers, lowering the sales tax on items, particularly vegetable oils and announcing financing tools that help curb price hikes.
Locally, the vegetable oil prices increased by 15.1 per cent between February and April before the government imposed price ceilings and lowered sales tax on the item. These measures stabilised local prices before their decrease of between 5-10 per cent in July, and additional 10 per cent drop in September, Petra added.
© Copyright The Jordan Times. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).


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Electric bikes will become Seattle’s best mode of transportation
Two of the three private bikeshare companies in Seattle are hyping their latest model — an electric bike. It would be a first for Seattle and make their bikes the best way to get around town.
Both Limebike and Spin are slated to put electric-assisted bikes on the road, adding to Seattle’s range of transportation options from rideshares to bikeshares. But if previous bike races through town have proved anything, an electric bike could become the swiftest way to get around town, having the advantage of electric-assistance.
GeekWire ran a 5-mile race from Fremont to Pioneer Square in September. The top methods of transportation were Onewheel and a bikeshare ride. The bikeshare in this case was a Spin bike — it took 37 minutes to make the trip. The Onewheel is exactly what it sounds like — one wheel, powered by an electric battery and appearing like a skateboard — took 31 minutes to finish GeekWire’s race. The Onewheel is essentially an electric-assisted vehicle akin to an electric bike. But an electric bike wasn’t available for the race in September.
The Stranger ran a similar race in 2014 between Capitol Hill and the University District. A personal bike made the trip in 15 minutes. A Pronto bikeshare ride, however, took 32 minutes, but that relied on a station-to-station system.
Putting stationless, electric-powered rides in Seattle will give bikeshares the edge over cars, transit, and regular bikes. Hills won’t be a problem and speed will be considerably greater. And best of all — no parking.
Limebike’s “Lime-E” is one such electric bike. Starting this month, the company plans to roll them out in Seattle, Miami, Scottsdale, Southern California, and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. It is unclear exactly which day the new bikes will be available in Seattle.
A Lime-E bike is a little more expensive to use than LimeBike’s traditional rides. It will cost $1 to unlock the bike, and then an additional $1 every 10 minutes after that. During those 10 minutes, however, riders get an extra boost. The bikes can travel as fast as 15 mph. The company says they can easily climb 30 degree hills that are common in Seattle.
There is no word on when Spin’s electric bike will make its Seattle debut. So far, the company has plans to first launch them in Miami, University of California San Diego, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Like LimeBike, Spin’s electric bike can also travel up to 15 mph. They can go up to 50 miles on a charge. According to TechCrunch, Spin’s operations teams will travel around and swap out the batteries.

domain: news


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And while that issue is being looked at, another is the report that there has been a shortage of hotel rooms in Belize City. The possibility of that, especially as the tourism industry heads into its high season, is problematic. Tourism Minister Anthony Mahler conceded that indeed it is a concern, but investments to increase accommodations are welcome.
Anthony Malher, Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations: “There are times when there may not be enough rooms here in Belize City. We’ve had that in the past but that’s something that we’re looking at seriously and we’re going to rectify that in terms of how we approach the build out of the hotel plan. What this forum today is about telling the world that Belize is open for business. We’re creating an enabling environment whereby our private sector, whether it be public or private sector partnership or private sector driven or public sector driven, that we have the enabling environment for our business to thrive.”


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Noonan: the most idiotic op-ed ever by Peggy. It''s over in the WSJ. A reader sent me the link. In my not-ready-for-prime-time response, about the op-ed I wrote:
In my lifetime, the magic ponies go all the way back to JFK and Ronald Reagan.
I can't go back farther than I have personally experienced because prior to JFK anything I knew about presidents was second hand, from books, etc.
I'm not sure what the difference is between charisma and "magic pony."Cunningham: op-ed almost as idiotic as Peggy's. Over at oilprice. Cunningham says the oil refiners are trying to get Americans to us more gasoline. Well, duh. That's like saying McDonald's is trying to get Americans to eat more hamburgers.
ISO New England, link here:
- good day for consumers
- the daily 0600 spike remained under $80/MWh
- coal: 3%
- Estimate: Tesla can deliver 91,085 vehicles, including 61,255 Model 3s in the fourth quarter - up 9% sequentially
- Tesla could beat top-line estimates if they can prevent average sales price from slipping more than 4.5%, all else equal
- The Model 3 MR will push ASPs down, but multiple Tesla price increases may offset those declines, giving Tesla a decent shot of beating analyst top-line estimates
COP: shale output to grow 25% in 2019 even as oil price slides -- from a SeekingAlpha contributor --
- ConocoPhillips expects its shale production to increase 25% next year even as crude oil prices tumble, proving the industry’s resilience in volatile markets, CEO Ryan Lance tells Bloomberg
- The CEO says COP's wells in the Eagle Ford Shale, Permian Basin and Bakken field generate cash when prices hover ~$50/bbl; the company pumped 313K bbl/day from the three regions combined during Q3, or 25% of the company’s global production
- Production growth likely "slows down at $50 but I don’t think it stops at $50 and it certainly continues if prices get back to $60," Lance says, adding that skeptics thought shale "wouldn’t last long but it’s here, it’s a huge resource and it’s going to be resilient and long lasting."
J & J: I'm not following the market at all right now (and won't until it re-sets and gets back to "normal." Having said that I, this over at the Boston Globe:
Johnson & Johnson shares plunge after report that says it knew about asbestos in its baby powder: Reuters said the company knew for decades that asbestos was in its baby powder. (CNN) Read the Reuters story here.If I remember correctly, Jim Cramer was huge "promoter" of J&J. I wonder what he has to say now. I can now put J&J in the same "basket" as Wells Fargo.


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LONDON – Better Cotton Initiative produce achieved record uptake in 2018. BCI retail and brand members sourced more than one million metric tonnes of Better Cotton in the year, an increase of 45 per cent on 2017, new figures show. At the end of 2018, retailer and brand member sourcing of Better Cotton accounted for 4 per cent of global cotton consumption. In the 2017-18 cotton season, Better Cotton is forecast to account for 19 per cent of global cotton production. BCI has set 2020 targets to reach and train 5 million cotton farmers and have Better Cotton account for 30 per cent of global cotton production.
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A futuristic new technology promises to turn your entire arm into a fully functioning trackpad. The idea is that it makes it easy to scroll, swipe and select the tiny smartwatch screens on products
like the Apple Watch and Samsung Gear S2. Called Skintrack, it works by using a combination of a wristband and a ring that you wear alongside the smartwatch.
Read the whole story at The Mirror UK »


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SPIRIT Offers New Software Product RealDuplex For Hands Free Car Kits
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - SPIRIT has released a new software product SPIRIT RealDuplex - Acoustic Echo Canceller (AEC) for Hands Free Car Kits. The product is primarily targeted for OEMs planning to develop hands free car kits.
RealDuplex has a speech recognition module enabling implementation of voice-activated communication control. According to SPIRIT, simple verbal commands can be used to place calls, bringing hands-free convenience.
Also, RealDuplex from SPIRIT includes software components for developing a device making possible communication over the mobile phone while driving. Echo cancellation and noise suppression features filter out surrounding noise and phone echo effects.
RealDuplex is based on full-duplex technology, which enables both parties to speak at the same time. SPIRIT RealDuplex has been deployed in the US, UK, France and Germany.


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Binance debuted its NTF marketplace on June 24, 2021. Within the week, the exchange would host the historic launch tagged “Genesis” and would display the amazing arts of Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol.
At the “Genesis” auction, the “mystery boxes” would be launched. The mystery box will offer the public a wide array of artworks from regional talents and is termed ‘the 100 creators campaign’. Trading will kick-start on the Binance NFT marketplace by 10 am E.T on Wednesday on the Binance Smartchain and even on Ethereum.
The highly anticipated Premier launch would last for five days and would showcase Warhol’s “three self-portraits”. Andy Warhol is revered as a popular pop art figure and the artworks serve to celebrate him. Equally, the digital version of Salvador Dali’s “Divine Comedy” a precursor to Renaissance literature.
Divine Comedy features the Bitcoin logo, Binance logo, and a faint signature of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao which is visible on the artwork if you zoom into it.
What Binance Wants You to Know About the Novel NFT Marketplace
The advent of an NFT marketplace on a renowned crypto-based platform like Binance fuels the surging potential of the innovation. Head of Binance NFT, Helen Hai remarked that the “Genesis NFT” would have a revolutionary effect on the cryptocurrency sphere and blockchain technology.
Binance noted that the NFT marketplace affords you to buy, sell, trade, or collect any digital collectible. As expected, these transactions will incur fees relevant to the executed order. Furthermore, users are at liberty to upload their own NFTs on the platform and sell them.
The Non-Fungible Token ecosystem is no longer a sphere to be overlooked. The need for copyright on intellectual collectibles as well as the desire to keep them handy by digitizing them makes the sphere much more unique. Sports teams as well have to incorporate the industry and have made quite some good fortune out of it.


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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Hear that?
That’s the sound of your alarm going off at 6:43 a.m. just in time for St. Pete’s 48th annual Sunrise Sale, which is only five days away!
What You Need To Know
- Local shops are preparing for St. Petersburg's 48th annual Sunrise Sale
- Business owners are using this sale to say thank you to their customers, who have shown support through a tough year
- The sale is this Thursday, July 15 and will start at 6:43 a.m.
“I believe it was the original sunrise time 48 years ago,” said Jose Martinez, owner of Sartorial Inc. in downtown St. Pete. “At 6:43 folks are outside shopping in their pajamas.”
Martinez and his son Jelani are already preparing for their customers to roll out of bed and into some of the best sales they’ll see at the local shops in downtown St. Pete all year long.
“It’s our way of saying thank you to the community for the kind of support and embrace that they’ve done at Sartorial, Inc.,” said Martinez.
Up the block, Savory Spice Shop is getting ready too.
“It should be hopefully pretty crazy in a good way,” said Becca Fox, manager of Savory Spice Shop.
The shop will be offering discounts as high as 40% off as a way to say thank you to their customers.
“Our loyal customers like to stock up and we appreciate kind of being able to give them that great discount,” Fox said.
Businesses say this year it’s especially important to thank the customers. Without the support, some of these businesses may not have survived the last year.
“As a small business it’s been a difficult time and we really appreciate people continuing to support us,” Fox said.
Difficult to say the least —
When the pandemic hit, many of these stores had to close their doors, not knowing when they might be able to reopen.
“There was always a genuine concern [we would not survive the pandemic],” Martinez said.
But through purchasing gift cards, setting up private shopping appointments and ordering items online, the community showed its loyalty.
“Our community really demonstrated that they want this store to be here, to stay, to be successful,” Martinez said.
The Sunrise Sale will happen this Thursday beginning at 6:43 am.
For a full list of participating stores, visit http://www.stpetedowntownbiz.com/sunrise-sale.html.


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Let the war for our ears begin! The fact that these guys will be linking up with Myspace could definetly a formidable foe for the guys over at ITunes. This will definitely benefit the consumers at the end of the day.
via Huffington Post
NEW YORK (Fortune) — It was easy to scoff two years ago when word leaked out that Amazon was launching its own digital music service. The Seattle-based online retailer wasn’t just mulling an iTunes-like download store – it was supposedly drawing up plans for a branded iPod-like device.
But Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had a much better plan for a digital music offering than his naysayers realized. Ten months after its debut, Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) has overtaken competitors like Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) and RealNetworks’ (RNWK) Rhapsody to become the second biggest online store after iTunes, according to market research firm NPD. Now two music industry sources tell Fortune that Amazon is talking to MySpace (NWS, Fortune 500) about becoming the social networking giant’s download store partner when it rolls out its highly anticipated joint venture with Universal, Warner Music and SonyBMG in September.


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If there’s one thing other than breaking down that’s guaranteed to set drivers steaming, it’s finding out that their car has a serious problem. After all, serious problems frequently mean big repair bills.
Knowing which cars are expensive to fix can give drivers a head-start. It lets them choose a car that will help them stick to a motoring budget that already has to allow for fuel and insurance.
To help car owners make an informed decision about car costs, we compare both the average and most expensive repair costs revealed by garages and warranty companies.
It pays to avoid cars with shocking repair bills
Hyper milers: Paul Clifton (left) and Ian McKean with their diesel Ford Fiesta (Picture © Ford)
Failing to achieve the fuel economy that their car is claimed to return is one of the most common grumbles among drivers.
So what would you say if simple driving tips could improve your car’s economy? And in some cases it might even climb by a staggering 60 per cent compared with the manufacturer’s figures.
Most of us would raise an eyebrow and wonder if it’s really possible. But these aren’t the claims of sharp-suited sales execs; they’re perfectly practical tips from normal drivers that anyone can put into practice.
Drivers of all ages are paying record amounts in car insurance premiums. And the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has warned there is no end in sight for the high cost of cover.
The reason for these spiralling prices is a cocktail of external factors. Here we look at why the cost of cover is going up, show where premiums are spent, and point the way to how drivers can save money on their motor insurance.
What’s the average price of UK car insurance?
Buyers are urged to buy only EuroNCAP five-star cars such as the Volvo XC90
Drivers can’t do anything about lowering the cost of fuel, but they can drive more economically to save money. And so it is with car insurance: by law, we must all be insured, but there are proactive steps drivers can take to reduce the cost of cover significantly. That is good news, because insuring the car is estimated to make up around 15 per cent of an average driver’s yearly running costs, according to CAP Automotive, the vehicle valuation experts. Here are a dozen top tips to follow which can help reduce your insurance premium.
Limit your mileage


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Tag: starwood capitalView All Tags
It's officially off-season in Miami and that means the Miami Hotel Mambo is heating up. In this week's number, Miami man Gregg Rory Holland told us that The Perry South Beach which once upon a time not too long ago used to be known as The Gansevoort has closed down for a $100 million renovation.
That's big news in itself. But what's even bigger about it is that the hotel will reopen as a 1 Hotels and Residences from Barry Sternlicht. This will be the first 1 Hotel to open and it will have 417 hotel rooms and 163 residential units.
For the hotel noobz out there, Sternlicht introduced his luxury 1 Hotels concept back in 2006. But the brand was whacked down by the economic fallout of 2008. It took a while but there have been encouraging signs of life again, with 1 Hotels and its sister luxury brand, Baccarat Hotels, planning to open five new hotels by 2015--two of which will be in NYC.
And now the 1 Hotel South Beach is poised to open in 2014.
Hotel News / Starwood Capital / Baccarat Hotels / 1 Hotels / Brooklyn Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel Delays / → All Tags
Quick history lesson: in 2006, we first learned about 1 Hotels, a newly conceived brand by Barry Sternlicht, head of Starwood Capital (which is different from Starwood Hotels, though Barry was a former exec at Starwood, and founded the W brand). Locations were planned for Seattle, New York, Washington DC, Scottsdale, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Fort Lauderdale. Lots of hype was made. The NY Times wrote about it.
Then, bad things happened to the economy, Sternlicht's grand visions unravelled like a sweater caught on barbed wire, and pretty much all of the projects sadly collapsed.
Fast forward to last night, when we received an email from Starwood Capital officially announcing the revival of both brands (1 Hotels and Baccarat Hotels). And not just that: a new timeline has been put in place to open five properties over the next two years.
1 Hotels / Hotel News / Starwood Capital / Barry Sternlicht / Brooklyn Hotels / Brooklyn Bridge Park Hotels / → All Tags
Back in November, we had gotten wind that Starwood Capital Group (remember folks, this is different from Starwood Hotels) put forth plans for a hotel concept at Brooklyn Bridge Park, specifically the 1 Hotels brand.
For those not familiar, 1 Hotels was pitched by Starwood Capital's Barry Sternlicht (the man who created W Hotels) back in the boom years for the hospitality industry before the economy collapse left 1 Hotels as nothing but a big pile of dirt in Seattle. Literally.
But it's a new dawn and a new day for the eco-conscious luxury brand now that they are coming to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Despite some heavy competition from brands like Le Meridien, Marriott Autograph Collection, Dream Hotels, Hyatt and Westin, 1 Hotels have won out! This means that, barring any crazy last-minute economy collapses or changed minds, the 1 Hotel dream will actually come to fruition. We're speechless!
The Starwood Stalker over at Passions of a Zealot has done some nifty spying on Starwood Capital's press releases which show a recent announcement titled, "Starwood to Build World-Class Hotel on New York Public Library Site (Fund VII, Hotel Fund II and 53rd St. Co-Invest" accompanied by the Baccarat Hotels logo.
The hotel they are talking about is the old Donnell Library has long been bandied about as turning into a luxury hotel. But maybe this time it will actually happen as Baccarat was also mentioned as the possible luxury hotel brand in a NY Post article as well.
Yet if it does, we still probably have to wait until sometime in 2014 for it.
Miami Hotel Mambo / Gansevoort Hotels / Starwood Capital / Hotel Rebrandings / Hotel News / → All Tags
It's lights out for The Gansevoort in Miami Beach
Nearly two years after the Gansevoort South/Miami Beach actually ceased to be a Gansevoort Hotel, we've now got word that the hotel has changed its name and will also get started on some much-needed renovations.
Miami-based tipster @DeeTCL tells us the hotel is no longer bank-owned, that Starwood Capital (not Starwood of the W Hotels) has moved in and that the hotel is going by the name, The Perry. Renovations will start soon and will be done in two years. However, despite Starwood's involvement, Coral Hospitality will remain on board as the management company. Already, the Gansevoort's website seems to be defunct while the perrysouthbeachhotel.com is up and running.
The group has just opened a second Postcard Inn Beach Resort and Marina in Islamorada, Florida (the first is in St. Pete Beach) which will continue the "funky retro" beach vibe but which will also feature the very first Shula Burger, a burger joint from legendary football coach Don Shula whose steakhouse chain has also been known to pop up in hotels.
Obviously, the Postcard concept is a perfect fit for resort towns and beach cities but Starwood Capital told Hotels Mag that urban locations could be possible as well as ski resorts. Here's their ambitious expansion plan:
Roy Shanholtz, vice president of asset management for Greenwich, Connecticut-based Starwood Capital Group envisions 20 to 30 Postcard Inn hotels, leading to the sale of a new 3- to 3.5-star brand within the five- to seven-year timeframe of the investment fund. The group already plans to renovate and rebrand a 51-room property it owns in Islamorada called La Siesta and complex it with the newly launched [Postcard Inn] hotel there. Its partner, Hersha Hospitality Management, will operate all the Postcard Inn hotels.
Last week, several possible hotel projects were released for the upcoming redevelopment of the Brooklyn Bridge Park area and amongst all the developers and their fancy architect teams competing for the gig, an eagle-eyed tipster pointed out one of the most interesting ones--1 Hotels.
You all remember 1 Hotels right? From Starwood Capital's Barry Sternlicht, formerly of Starwood Hotels? The dreams for the new eco-conscious luxury brand died when the economy collapsed and all that was left was a big hole in Seattle.
But the times must be a-changing because Starwood Capital is dusting off the plans for 1 Hotel yet again. The proposed 1 Hotel, designed by Bernheimer Architects, looks very Standard NYC-inspired (in that it's very boxy) although its location right on the waterfront is very cool. The hotel will have about 170-225 hotel rooms, a restaurant (The Brooklyn Park Brasserie), a cafe (The Daily Bread), a spa, a mini-farmer's market stall right out front and some residences.
Judging from exterior alone, there's nothing that really wows us about the 1 Hotel. Then again, we've long suspected it's what will be inside the 1 Hotel brand that will make them stand out.
Yesterday we reported that the Viceroy Anguilla had been sold to Starwood Capital which had us concerned for the future of the Viceroy brand. Even though Viceroy Hotel Group is primarily a management company, nothing is for certain when a sale is involved.
However, the hotel's reps have assured us today that the Viceroy will remain a Viceroy.
Citibank has recently marketed for sale the loan secured by the Viceroy Anguilla. While the ownership of that loan may change hands, Viceroy Hotel Group’s management of Viceroy Anguilla as part of its Viceroy Hotels & Resorts brand remains unchanged.
Phew. That's good to know. Of course, these things can always change again in the future and we'll do our best to keep you updated.
Got the goss on what's happening with Viceroy Anguilla? Slip it to us!
The Daily Herald, a small island publication, reports that the hotel, which only opened last December, has been sold to Starwood Capital, ole' Barry Sternlicht's company. (Remember, Starwood Capital is different from Starwood Hotels.)
As it turns out the previous owners of Viceroy Anguilla (that would be Viceroy and their partner, the Mubadala Development Company) had not completed its loan payments, forcing Citibank to come in and take over the property. It was Citibank who completed the sale of $500 million to Starwood Capital.
Barry Sternlicht / Starwood Capital / London Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Rebranding / Guoman Hotels / → All Tags
The London Hotel Scene is sooo hot right now what with a W Hotel, a Tune Hotel, a Thompson Hotel, an Aloft Hotel, a Heliport Hotel and the reopening of The Savoy all happening within the next year. But the scene may get even hotter.
Bloomberg News reports today that the Royal Bank of Scotland sold The Cumberland Hotel on Great Cumberland Place to London & Regional Properties Ltd. and Starwood Capital Group LLC aka Barry Sternlicht's hotel group.
Will Molly visit Barry at an Extended Stay hotel?
Two years ago at this time we were all salivating over the luxury hotel plans put forth by former Starwood-er Barry Sternlicht, the man credited with the success of W Hotels, who intended to build hotel brands around the Crillon Hotel in Paris and the luxury crystal maker Baccarat. In addition to those brands, Sternlicht would also develop 1 Hotels, a high-end, green boutique hotel brand.
To date, none of these hotels have come to fruition thanks to the hospitality industry's spectacular downfall (dropping rates, laying off staff, foreclosures, etc) in the wake of the economic crisis of 2009.
So Barry is doing something different these days, like buying Extended Stay Hotels through his Starwood Capital investing firm.
Golden Tulip Avegoor, Netherlands
Starwood Capital seems to be cultivating a garden of sorts. A garden full of tulips, if you will. Golden tulips, even.
According to Private Equity Real Estate:
Starwood Capital has entered into exclusive talks to buy the Swiss hospitality group Golden Tulip creating one of the world’s largest hotel companies.
The Greenwich, Connecticut-based private equity real estate firm said in a statement it was planning to merge its budget hotel company, Louvre Hotels, with Golden Tulip once the deal was closed on 26 June.
Whatchya gon' do with all them tulips, Starwood Cap? Apparently, the alliance with Louvre is going to "create a hospitality company with 1,070 hotels in more than 40 countries and comprising around 82,000 rooms" that will be better positioned to target corporate accounts.
Oh, if you're not familiar with the Golden Tulip brand: there's only one of 'em in the US, in Bethesda, MD.


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In a year of huge product debuts from major medical device players, a dark horse was the most-read regulatory story of 2016: Obalon Therapeutics and the weight-loss device it developed won that title after the FDA granted pre-market approval in September.
Diabetes devices were also big news in 2016 on the regulatory front, most notably Medtronic’s MiniMed 670G hybrid closed-loop diabetes management system. Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre Pro device also won favor at the FDA this year.
There was also a pair of firsts this year: Medtronic beat out St. Jude Medical to be first to the U.S. market with a leadless pacemaker, the Micra device, and Abbott’s Absorb bioresorbable coronary scaffold was the 1st fully resorbable stent to win FDA approval.
Speaking of the FDA, the federal safety watchdog issued a spate of new rules and regulations this year and made news on other fronts:
FDA POLICY NEWS
FDA APPROVALS NEWS


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For a lot of bosses, finding out that potential employees spend their time playing games on Facebook is a reason not to hire them. But Marriott International is banking on it.
In June, the hotel chain, which has hotels on every continent except Antarctica, launched My Marriott Hotel, a Facebook game in which players run their own hotel kitchens. While managing their virtual hotels, players have the option to click a link which takes them to the real Marriott careers website.
“It was our absolute intention to make it as true to life as possible while also being fun and engaging,” Susan Strayer, senior director of human resources for Marriott, says about the game.
In the coming months, Marriott plans to expand the game to include other areas of the hotel, and Strayer says the chain is looking at similar tools to communicate with its current employees.


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We’re heading towards the end of Android 13, so naturally, people are already talking about what is set to be the next big thing: Android 14. With every update to Android, there have been significant improvements, and now users are drawing up a list of demands based on the features they want to see when Android 14 drops.
Wi-Fi And Mobile Data Toggles
Toggling between Wi-Fi and mobile data is something millions of Android users do multiple times daily. But Android moved away from having separate toggles to having one overall toggle, which certainly caused a lot of confusion and hassle for users. This can be an issue for all gamers from someone playing Raid: Shadow Legends to spinning the reeIs at Gala Spins. If you need to make a switch quickly, but things don’t go to plan; you’re going to have a problem. So, in Android 14, one of the most important features will be bringing back separate toggles for both Wi-Fi and mobile data.
Customisation is a huge part of what makes a smartphone experience so enjoyable because users have a device in their hand that they can make their own. Back in Android 11, there was the option to customise icons, but then it was removed partially in Android 12 and more so in Android 13. But naturally, people want to be able to put their own touch on how the icons on the screen look, often ensuring they all match in design. Bringing the option to do so back in Android 14 makes a ton of sense as it will see users in full control visually of their devices.
Third-party launchers have always been popular where Android devices are concerned, but you have to go back to Android 10 to find when they last worked to great effect. And what we mean by this is that the pre-installed launchers have all the permissions required to run smoothly and efficiently, whereas third-party launchers don’t, which leads to things not working as they should. Again, it ties into the customisation thing because users should have the choice to run their phones how they want to. So, in Android 14, third-party launchers must be allowed to operate at 100% rather than 90%.
Lock Screen Widgets
The final feature that should be included in Android 14 is the reintroduction of lock screen widgets. You could say they haven't strictly gone anywhere because they haven't. However, they have always been seen as a bit gimmicky rather than useful. And this would be fine, but recently Apple have decided to reinvent their use of lock screen widgets, and if Android doesn't follow suit, they will undoubtedly be left behind by their fierce rivals. So, it makes a lot of sense that Android are looking at how Apple approaches lock screen widgets and then aims to at least do something that makes them useful to users from Android 14 onwards.


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INDEX™20 closes with a clear message for the future
INDEX™20 opened its doors, after an 18 month’ wait, delighted to welcome the nonwoven industry back to Geneva with open arms. The exhibition floor was busting with activity and anticipation at the prospect of new business.
Over 500 exhibitors from 44 countries were present at the event, premiering their latest innovations. The resounding message was one of a positive outcome and an inspiring vision of the industry’s future across the spectrum of applications sectors.
The industry continued to evolve dramatically during the pandemic, and expectations were high as players from across the industry worldwide came together for the first time since 2017. Exhibitors said their expectations were exceeded, citing the high quality of the visitors present, converging on INDEX™ to conclude new business projects.
Over 9,300 visitor entries were recorded on-site, and over a thousand on the virtual platform.
As the industry’s first hybrid industry event, many attendees made the most of the interactive INDEX™ virtual platform by arranging video meetings and messaging as well live exchanges. It also meant those unable to attend personally benefitted from the rich Sector Seminar programme and a wide variety Exhibitor Product Presentations.
The Innovation Lab opened its doors for the first time, demonstrating the sheer diversity of applications in which nonwovens are employed. The spotlight was on nominees of the INDEX™ Innovation Awards, and the winners presented with their coveted bronze statues designed by Belgian artist Olivier Strebelle. This initiative demonstrates the innovative properties and uses of nonwovens across a wide range of sectors, demonstrating the exciting future of the industry and its suppliers.
INDEX™23 will take place from 18 to 21 April 2023.


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Big retail centre for Ballina approved
A major shopping centre tipped to inject $40 million into Ballina shires economy during construction has been given the green light.
Ballina Shire Council last week approved the Homeworld Ballina project for the industrial area in Smith Drive, West Ballina, consisting of 29,000 square metres of retail floor space in five buildings fronting the Pacific Highway at the towns southern gateway.
The multi-million dollar development for bulky-goods retailers will also include 630 car parking spaces.
Ballina Chamber of Commerce and Industry has strongly backed the project, saying it will create 150 full-time jobs once completed as well as numerous part-time jobs.
The chamber also says the project would inject around $40 million into the local economy while it was being built and estimated that half the predicted $57 million of the retailers turnover would stay in the shire.
Chamber secretary Bryan Mariott said the planned building of a major roundabout at the intersection of Smith Drive and the highway to be paid for by the developers would mean a major improvement to traffic safety in the area.
Approval of the project was recommended by an independent planning consultant employed by Council to avoid any inference Council had a conflict of interest because it owned land in the towns Southern Cross Industrial Estate, which could also be used for such a retail development.
During the plans public exhibition period, four objections were received mainly concerned with vehicle access and the visual impact at the rear of the proposed buildings facing residents.
According to the staff report, the RTA had favourably considered the proposal in terms of access and safety while concerns about aesthetics would be addressed with landscaping.
At least 120 conditions of consent have been attached to the development, dealing with such issues as access, amenity/visual impact, signage, stormwater controls, waste disposal and crime prevention.
Cr Margaret Howes praised the development, saying the area would be enhanced by it because 20 years ago it was a place for derelicts, a swamp full of drugs and all bad things, and now it will be fixed up.
Cr John Felsch said he initially felt the centre was not in the right place.
But Im only one of nine (councillors) it is a very progressive thing for Ballina.


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Kanye West has scored his fourth US Number One album with his latest effort, ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’.
The rapper clocked up around 496,000 sales of the album in its first week of release in the country, reports Music Week.
The figure means that West just falls short of the 500,000 sales he needed for the album to be certified ‘gold’ in its first week out.
First-week sales for the album are around 50,000 more than those in the first week for his 2008 album, ‘808s and Heartbreaks’. His 2005 album ‘Late Registration’ sold 860,000 copies in its first week and the follow-up, 2007’s ‘Graduation’, sold 957,000.


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The cannabis community faces unique challenges in its “business” activities. Although the majority of states in the United States have legalized or decriminalized marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes, it still remains illegal at the federal level, creating a number of problems for the industry.
The legal problem of marijuana
Marijuana dispensaries and retailers do not have access to banking services. They cannot provide a payment terminal; they cannot make a bank transfer to wholesalers. And that creates a lot of problems, first of all, related to security. Eight out of ten dispensaries have had at least one attempted robbery because everyone knows very well that there is cash on site. Federal courts are not competent to solve issues for the cannabis industry because, at the federal level, it is still an illegal matter to trade such things. If you send money to a supplier and they do not deliver your goods, you cannot sue them.
Similarly, the cannabis industry faces online advertising problems: it cannot do business with online traffic providers like Facebook and Google, and therefore the purchase of targeted traffic is a significant problem. Moreover, the cannabis industry does not have access to loyalty programs, which is a very important marketing tool in North America.
The online community favours the blockchain solution
Four years ago, the Toronto-based CannaSOS started to find a solution in order to triumph over some of these issues, and its website has turned out to be a clearinghouse for the cannabis industry. The platform they have developed already has almost 1,000 professional pages; more than 315,000 registered cannabis buyers; a 4,800+ marijuana strain database; 200+ social groups; 8,500+ user strain reviews; over 3,200,000 strain page views; 2380 posted advice Q/A; 3700+ posted articles; and much more.
Wanting to set up a form of cryptocurrency, the company launched a first ICO in presale from November 25, 2017. The cryptocurrency, Perkscoin Token (PCT), will serve numerous functions.
CTO and blockchain developer of CannaSOS, Andrey Shevtsov, gave more details about the reasoning behind the project:
“When we designed a system for the cannabis industry, we recognized that the majority of people in this industry are either far from using cryptocurrencies at all, or are unfamiliar with them and don’t consider them to be a convenient means of payment. Price volatility is also a problem: imagine that all day you’ve been accepting payments in bitcoin at a high exchange rate, by evening it’s fallen, and you need to make some purchases. Such a big spread creates a problem, and we solve it by creating a payment interface with a fixed token price tied to the dollar.”
According to the project’s white paper, CannaSOS is “employing decentralized blockchain technology to design and implement a transaction platform operating on an autonomous utility token, the PerksCoin Token (PCT), as a primary transaction medium. PCT tokens holders will be able to buy and sell PerksCoin tokens, use PCT tokens to buy and sell products/services within participating business network using the PCT-based transaction platform.”


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Social media large Facebook has began sending out invitations to beta testers for its new social VR app ‘Horizons’ the place customers will work together within the digital world.
Facebook Horizon is a cartoonish VR world the place customers will have the ability to set up a presence, and join with others just about.
Horizon is the successor to Facebook’s first VR social area, referred to as ‘Spaces’, and appears set to offer a extra immersive, partaking atmosphere from which individuals will have the ability to start their VR expertise, information portal socialmediatoday.com reported on Wednesday.
The launch of beta testing for Horizon is one other indicator of VR’s rising momentum.
Facebook lately acquired Sanzaru Games, the developer behind the most effective digital actuality (VR) sport of 2019 titled “Asgard’s Wratha for an undisclosed sum.
Additionally, Facebook in November final 12 months acquired Beat Games, the developer of fashionable Virtual Reality rhythm sport referred to as Beat Saber. Beat Games turned a part of Facebook’s VR gaming Group Oculus Studios.
At its sixth Oculus Connect convention in September, Facebook shared its imaginative and prescient for VR and plans to construct the way forward for computing with individuals on the centre with new updates for Quest VR Headsets.


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Best of the best sees revenues decline as it loses key airport contracts
Best of the Best, which raffles supercars at airports, will expand its online business and open new outlets after losing key contracts allowing it to trade at sites such as Heathrow and Stansted.
BAA told the company in October that it was terminating its contracts to trade at four of its airports as it planned to use the space for more seating and other facilities for customers.
Best stopped trading at three of its four sites at Heathrow airport and at Glasgow airport on January 3. It has since renegotiated its contract to operate at Edinburgh airport for an additional two years but will stop operating at Stansted and Heathrow's Terminal Four from an unspecified date.
Not best of times: The firm raffles supercars but wants to expand its range of prizes to include watches and holidays
It plans to increase the scale of its online business, which now
accounts for about a third of its sales, while it is hopeful of opening
in other airports and will broaden its range of prizes to include
watches and holidays.
The company today revealed that revenues declined by 4.6 per cent to £3.7million in the six months to October 31, which covers the period before trading ceased at the airports, and pre-tax profits increased by 9.7 per cent to £340,000.
Chief executive William Hindmarch said: 'BAA was the landlord at
seven of our airport sites, representing a substantial proportion of
our airport revenues.
'This has clearly been a difficult time for the company and the
board has been focused on restructuring the business to operate
effectively from a lower revenue base.
'Despite the unfortunate events of the past few months, the
directors are taking the steps necessary to reshape the business, and
create a stable platform from which to rebuild and grow new revenues.'
The company also started trading at terminal two at Dublin airport
in November and said it is optimistic about its prospects for 2011
despite a delay in the build-up of passenger numbers so far.
Shares in Best were down 9 per cent following the update, having already slipped by a third since the announcement that BAA had terminated its contracts.
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Ubisoft has been working on their latest Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six title for a good while. This title was originally titled Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Quarantine. Of course, this was well before the 2020 worldwide health pandemic outbreak that is still proving to be a problem today. However, what you might find surprising is the fact that we’ll be dealing with a new Game Pass title. Today we’re finding out that Ubisoft is bringing Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Extraction to Xbox Game Pass at launch.
This was a surprise announcement as the game wasn’t intended to launch on the Game Pass subscription service. Or at the very least, we didn’t get the game release on Game Pass until just now. We’re not entirely sure just what exactly prompted the title being brought onto Game Pass, either. Although, the title launch announcement unveiled that Ubisoft had plans to bring Ubisoft+ games to the platform as well. Details regarding that will likely come later this year. The main focus Ubisoft is making is the fact that players can enjoy Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Extraction at launch through the Game Pass subscription service.
The video game is quite a bit like Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege. However, the tactical teamwork FPS is centered around fighting off an alien invasion. Players will be battle against these creatures while also attempting to avoid getting infected themselves. It looks to be another competitive online FPS, and fortunately, we don’t have too much longer to wait. Players will dive into the game later on within this very month.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Extraction will be available on January 20, 2022. However, even though Game Pass subscribers will receive the game for free, you’ll also find it available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 platforms. With that said, you will have to pay for the base game to enjoy it if you’re not on Game Pass.


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Health for all
Our medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products are improving quality of life for patients and consumers around the world.
But millions of people are still not getting the vaccines and treatments they need because they can’t afford them, they can’t get them locally, or they simply don’t exist. Many countries continue to have under-resourced health systems.
To play our part in tackling these global health challenges and extend the benefits of our products to more people, we are using open innovation to target unmet medical needs, pioneering new business models to increase access to our products and collaborating to strengthen healthcare infrastructure.


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Brendan Eich reinvented the web. Now he wants to upend the advertising industry.
Now he hopes to shake things up with Brave, a startup developing a browser for desktop and mobile that blocks ads and replaces them with, well, other ads. If successful, Brave could essentially flip the traditional advertising model on its head. Instead of paying publishers or advertising networks, advertisers will pay the browser maker.
The big idea is to block advertisements and tracking scripts that pillage your personal data and replace them with ads supplied by the browser—--ads that respect your privacy and don't slow your computer to a crawl or tax your phone's battery. According to the plan, a cut of the advertising revenue will go to the site owners and to users themselves. Brave hopes to be able to pay publishers 55 percent of the revenue generated by an ad, which he says should be more than they make from a typical advertising network. The company would pay its own advertising network partners 15 percent and keep 15 percent for itself. The remaining 15 percent would go back to users, and the company plans to implement some sort of screening process to ensure that real people, not bots, are doing the surfing.
Eventually, the company hopes to let users pay to opt out of ads altogether. If the model works, the company hopes its technologies will become standards that other browsers use to protect privacy.
Eich co-founded Brave Software with former Khan Academy and Mozilla software developer Brian Bondy last year after stepping down as Mozilla's CEO in 2014 amid an uproar over donations he made in support of California's same-sex marriage ban. The epiphany that prompted the creation of a new browser, he tells WIRED, came when he realized that advertising as a business model for websites was here to stay. "Most people aren't ready to pay for their content," he says. "Some aren't well off enough to pay for subscriptions, some don't know how or don't want to trust their credit card to a paywall." But he also acknowledges that the deluge of resource-hogging banners and pop-ups on ad-supported sites understandably lead users to demand ways of blocking them. The problem, Eich says, is that the current crop of ad blockers are openly antagonistic toward sites' survival.
"They feel like free-riding, or even starting a war," Eich wrote in a post announcing Brave's browser. "You may never click on an ad, but even forming an impression from a viewable ad has some small value. With enough people blocking ads, the Web’s main funding model is in jeopardy."
Users are stuck between wanting to support the sites they love and wanting to be free of excessive advertising and privacy violating tracking scripts. With the Brave browser, Eich and company hope to find middle ground. The idea is to let those who don't want to see ads support sites through donations and let everyone else support sites by viewing ads that are more relevant, less intrusive, and not so creepy. Since a web browser sees everything you do, it can make well informed predictions about what you might be interested in. Brave Software claims any data it shares will be anonymized and will not be shared without you first opting in. "No data is sent out to our cloud," he says. "If you opt into storing data in our cloud, it will all be encrypted."
The Brave browser is entirely open source, meaning that anyone can inspect the code used to create it. Privacy advocates can audit the code to ensure Brave Software isn't taking any data that it's not supposed to.
But Brave's approach, and the company itself, are likely to stir debate. Eich is still haunted by the Prop 8 controversy, and trying to make money while meddling with other companies' advertisements has historically been contentious. "It seems to me that they are really asking for litigation at that point," says Harvard Business School associate professor Benjamin G. Edelman. He points to Gator, a piece of adware that was bundled with other applications and that replaced banner ads in users' web browsers with its own advertisements.
The company behind Gator was sued in 2002 by publishers such as The New York Times and Dow Jones. It settled out of court and had to change its business model. More recently, Adblock Plus, which allows advertisers to pay to be whitelisted, was disinvited from a major advertising conference. And "read-it-later" service Readability ultimately abandoned a scheme to collect donations on behalf of publishers, even if the publishers never actually opted in, after the program was widely panned.
But Brave stands a better chance of prevailing, Edelman says. Unless Brave starts paying other software makers to install its browsers on people's phones and computers, he says, it will be in a very different category than Gator, which was usually installed without users' knowledge.
Eich himself believes the company is on solid legal ground, saying that other companies that have done client-side content modifications have won in court. "There's going to be some uncertainty up front because we're doing something radical," he says. "But we're ready to fight for this because it's an important battle."
Jason Kint, CEO of the online publishers association Digital Content Next believes publishers could well be interested in Brave, depending on how its advertising is implemented. He says publishers are worried about ad-blocking, and that anything that could help solve the problem to the satisfaction of both consumers and publishers will be a welcome development. "I think there's going to be more and more of these sorts of companies," he says. "It's good, the market chasing the market."
But will Brave's advertising model actually work? Ads have become more intrusive and advertising firms collect ever-increasing amounts of personal data based on the belief that people have become so accustomed to seeing ads that they've developed "banner blindness." Chris Tuff, director of business development at advertising agency 22squared, worries that Brave's model might not be radical enough. "Display advertising is a horrible format for mobile," he says. "Fifty percent of mobile clicks are done by mistake."
The other issue Tuff points out is that although some users guard their privacy jealously, most people have already accepted the idea of forking over their personal data to companies like Google and Facebook. The real reason people hate ads, he says, is not that they're creepy but that all too often ads are annoying and irrelevant. Like many others in the industry, he believes that advertising's future lies in content that looks and feels just like articles or videos that you're already interested in viewing---what's come to be known as "native advertising."
One big advantage Brave will have is that it will be able to target ads based on a user's entire browser history without needing to share that information with advertisers. That could, in theory, lead to ads that are far more targeted than ever while protecting users' privacy—at least if anyone actually sees them. (Kint defends traditional banner advertising, saying that the term "banner blindness" is often used to describe a low click-rate on an ad, even if lots of people notice the ad and it helps build brand awareness for the advertiser.)
All of these concerns could be moot, however, if Brave isn't able to convince a large number of users to actually use its browsers. That could be difficult, given that it has to woo people from the browsers pre-installed on their computers, phones and tablets. Sure, Google Chrome pulled off that fat, but Google has the advantage of being able to advertise its web browser on its search engine. Brave is going to have to depend, at least initially, on word of mouth.
But that's not a bad plan, says Aodhan Cullen, the CEO of web analytics company StatCounter, which tracks the market share of various browsers. "Firefox started taking share from [Microsoft Internet Explorer] before Chrome came along by offering multitab browsing and other features that people wanted," he says. "Mozilla didn't have a large marketing budget, at least at first." And the demand is there, Cullen says, for a browser that can help users support the sites they like without being bombarded by advertisements.
And Brave does have a little bit of money to work with, as well as tech talent. The company raised a $2.5 million in funding in November, Morningstar reports, and has a full staff of developers and managers, including Yan Zhu, an engineer well known in security circles for her work on privacy-centric software such as HTTPS Everywhere, Privacy Badger, and End-to-End.
Brave hasn't released its final product to the public just yet, but the company has posted the source code for the new browser this week. If you want to use it today, you'll either need an invite, or get your hands dirty installing the application from the code itself. Its success may be a long shot, but if anyone has reason to believe a few individuals can bring massive change to the web, it's Eich, who's already helped do it twice.


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Fragrance-led home and lifestyle brand Fabulosa has collaborated with the UK’s No.1 hob cleaner Hob Brite, to re-launch the iconic cream cleaner enhanced with the power of fragrance.
Hob Brite Powered by Fabulosa will be available in three of Fabulosa’s most popular scents; Electrify; Lemon Sherbet; and Unicorn Dust. Suitable for use on electric, ceramic, halogen and induction hobs, the revitalised product will be available in Home Bargains from June 1st.
Specifically developed to deep clean and cut through the toughest burnt on food while releasing a beautiful fragrance, Hob Brite Powered by Fabulosa will build up an invisible film that protects against staining if used regularly.
A family-led business, Fabulosa launched in 2019 on the back of the founders’ long-standing success as household product manufacturers, with the well-known Hob Brite cream cleaner a firm consumer favourite in their key range of innovations.
Adam Burnett, Group Marketing Director at Fabulosa, comments: “Fabulosa was founded on the insight that consumers are hungry for new fragrances and choice, and are looking for their cleaning products to lift more than dirt alone. They want their spirits to be lifted, for them to feel invigorated and be proud of the finish they have achieved, delivering a grime and germ-free result, and a wonderfully scented home to be proud of.”
“Applying our innovative approach to fragrance to relaunch Hob Brite felt like a natural fit. The addition of Hob Brite Powered by Fabulosa to our product range means our customers can now enjoy this much-loved, household cleaning essential with the added benefit of the fragrance that Fabulosa is so loved for.”
Established less than three years ago, Fabulosa has had a meteoric rise. First launching into the mature household cleaning category in 2019, Fabulosa has been rapidly taking market share. It’s not only achieving more liquid volume share than all other liquid disinfectants brands, but with its unique prolific new product development (NPD) drive, the business has recently become the UK’s number one privately-owned brand in the entire cleaning market, by volume and value. (Kantar 52 w/e December 26th 2021).
Fabulosa has supplied over 100 million units and launched more than 150 exciting fragrances since its launch, which are custom made by Fragrance Oils International who are owned by the world’s largest perfumery and fragrance specialist Givaudan based in Geneva. Fabulosa’s vast range includes Surface Care, Air Care, Laundry Care and Task Specific ranges including car care and garden care.


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First-tier markets strained for capacity as demand from international corporates soar
The data centre market continues to expand in Asia Pacific due to strong demand from large technology and global cloud corporates in the US and China, according to a new report by CBRE.
Colocation supply in Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo — the region’s top-tier markets for data centres — totalled 1,119 megawatts (MW) in the first quarter of 2019, the consultancy noted.
Including the second-tier markets of Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Mumbai, Chennai and Jakarta, colocation supply across Asia-Pacific totalled 1,772MW during the quarter.
Singapore, the largest data centre market in Asia-Pacific, will remain a tenants’ and end-users’ market, thanks to 177.2MW in new supply from 2019 to 2021. Existing supply in the city-state, the “best-connected tier I market in Asia Pacific”, hit 359.8MW in the first quarter, CBRE noted.
With a total capacity of 299.5MW, Hong Kong data centres boast an occupancy rate of 92 percent, with upcoming supply of 50MW expected to “relieve pressure for diversity in the short to medium term” in the next three years, CBRE stated.
“Demand for colocation space is primarily driven by Chinese cloud companies looking for cross-border expansion. Other key drivers include US tech giants seeking a foothold in Asia, as well as financial institutions.”
Known for plenty of cable landing stations connecting it to the US, Tokyo already has 89 percent of fitted capacity occupied. Around 204.0MW will be added to its existing capacity of 225MW in the next three years.
Sydney, on the other hand, prides itself in its speed to market, which usually takes six to eight months less than other tier I markets, CBRE noted. Overall occupancy is 61 percent with 235.4MW in existing capacity and 97.4MW in the pipeline.
Indonesia eyes second-term benefits to property sector
Insiders believe that the re-election of President Joko Widodo will promote a form of continuity with benefits
Laos looks to China after being derailed
The long-anticipated rail link between Vientiane and southern China may alter the dynamics of the property sector
The state of zero-carbon development in Asia
Zero-energy building projects need to go beyond one-off showpieces
Myanmar gets a dose of retail therapy
A boom in retail is giving developers ample reason to splash the cash


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Australian managed IT security provider, Tesserent (ASX:TNT), has posted a $1.3 million net after-tax loss (NPAT) for the six months ending 2017, despite seeing revenues increase year-on-year by almost five per cent during the period.
The publicly-listed company, which counts which counts Palo Alto Networks, AlienVault, Kaspersky Lab and Cisco among its vendor partners, pulled in $2.6 million in revenue during the period.
In February, Tesserent revealed it had signed Sophos as yet another integration partner within its growing vendor ranks.
During the half-year, the security-as-a-service company also launched CyberBiz, its small- to medium-sized business (SMB)-focused managed security service, targeting more than two million SMBs in Australia.
As part of the launch of the new service, Tesserent kicked off its own associated CyberBiz Channel Partner Program, signing five new channel partners during the period.
While the company reported a net after-tax loss during the period, it was less than the $1.5 million loss it reported the same period the year prior.
“The past six-month period has been very exciting for Tesserent, as we’ve executed our product development and go-to-market strategy for CyberBiz,” Tesserent CEO, Keith Glennan, said.
“CyberBiz is a robust and unique managed service offering for SMBs, at a price-point that makes it affordable for all small businesses and even sophisticated home users. We are very pleased to be addressing the sizeable and under-serviced SMB market with such a strong offering."
Tesserent told shareholders on 28 June that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to pilot its new managed service offering with select Telstra Business Centres, initially in Sydney.
The MoU agreement itself was inked with Mook Investments, a Telstra licencee trading as Telstra Business Centre Homebush.
The deal saw the Melbourne-based cyber security company partner with the licencee in a bid to launch the new managed security service offering, CyberBIZ, via the company's business services operation.
According to Tesserent, the partnership represented the first step towards delivering its management SMB cybersecurity offering nationally via a major telco channel partner.


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Tue 5 Aug 2008
I wonder if US MADE will ever carry the same prestige that the “Swiss Made” declaration on swiss watches do? Michael Kobold seems to think that its certainly they should work towards, because he’s introduced the first serially produced American watch since the quartz crisis of the 1970’s. Back in the days when Elgin, Waltham and Illinois watch companies had a huge impact on the watchmaking industry. Kobold is bringing America watchmaking back, with the new Spirit of America automatic watch:
Kobold claims that the watch is 87% made in America with the balance of the parts made in either Germany or Switzerland. The watch has a manufacture movement, but also states that it is a based on a German watch movement, called a Caliber Forster 197.
The watch was launched on July 4th, 2008, which is the US Independence day, and coincedentally, the 10 year anniversary month of Kobold. The dial proudly displays “Pittsburgh Pennsylvania” as its region of manufacture where one would typically find the Swiss Made printed.
Watch has a 100m water resistance, case constructed of 316L stainless steel. Movement is a K.2651 Caliber with no second hand. Power reserve of 46 hours. Case diameter is 44m, in the modern-day classic soarway case. Lug width measures 22mm.
Overall, this looks like a killer watch, American heritage or not. This is Kobold’s flagship watch, and carries a retail price of $6250.


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Operational demand for efficiency and transparency in payments systems, along with a remittance surge in emerging economies will drive Bitcoin payment expansion
The global Bitcoin (BTC) payments market will reach $3.7 billion by 2031, according to the report published on Oct. 24 by Allied Market Research. The market size will register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3% from 2022 to 2031, with private keys and hardware driving expansion.
Mainly, the growth will be spurred by operational demand for efficiency and transparency in payments systems, a surge in data security services and increasing demand for remittances in emerging economies. Furthermore, institutional demand for bitcoin will provide more opportunities for adoption.
The private keys segment, which accounted for 75% of the overall Bitcoin payments market share in 2021, is expected to maintain its dominant position throughout the forecast period. It will grow at nearly 20.3% of CAGR until 2031. The second most flourishing segment will be the hardware sector with a 19.8% CAGR expected.
Meanwhile, e-commerce transactions are likely to remain a valuable profit source for the market, growing nearly 20.2% by 2031.
As for regional distribution, the APEC countries are predicted to continue their market dominance by 2031. Nevertheless, the fastest growth is expected to stem from North America, with a CAGR of 18.6%. At the same time, numerous people and financial & government industries across developing nations such as India, Africa, and Australia lack awareness about crypto payment possibilities. It significantly hampers the robust market growth.


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Engin who has worked in the industry for many years said ZOW
ystanbul is taking place in Turkey for the fifth time and participants from around 30 countries have come to the exhibition, which began on Jan 17.
This exhibition is a fair where the trends in the sector are determined and the brands and countries that guide the world kitchen furniture sector come together (Blum TR, 2015a, 2015b; Hafele TR, 2015a, 2015b; Kessebohmer, 2015; ZOW, 2016; Gijs van, 2013) .
ZOW Fair Press release, 2016: Available from: http://www.
KG, organizer of ZOW held annually in Bad Salzuflen, said the decision by several "heavyweights" of the supply industry to exhibit at Interzum only next year will not force ZOW to deviate from its 2007 show schedule or future plans.
In a press release, Bernd Riechers, managing director of Hettich International, said his company is pulling out of ZOW in 2007 to throw its full support to bolster the re-launch of Interzum, which traditionally has claimed the reputation of being the world's leading fair for furniture supplies and components.
15-18: Trend & Design by ZOW
, Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China; contact www.
April 26-29: ZOW
, All Russian Exhibition Grounds, Moscow, Russia; contact www.
Furniture Supply Show, Bad Salzuflen, Germany; contact www.
, Pordeonone, Italy; contact Survey Marketing & Consulting www.
, Germany's regional furniture and cabinet supply fair with a twist, established a new attendance record when it convened Feb.
The show runs concurrently with Office Furniture China 2006, Furnishings Fabrics & Lighting China 2006, ZOW
Trend & Design 2006, Furniture Manufacturing & Supply China 2006 and Kitchen & Cabinet 2006.
Brightening up the gray f February skies of East Westphalia, the heart of Germany's furniture manufacturing region, the eighth annual ZOW
show gave more than 12,000 attendees an eyeful of the newest laminates, veneers, panel products, hardware and related items.


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MTSU will not sell wine during Saturday's game against Florida Atlantic
Middle Tennessee and Floyd Stadium are ramping up to sell beer for the second time on Saturday when MTSU hosts Florida Atlantic at 6 p.m.
However, one item won't be on sale Saturday — wine.
"We're still having complications with the licensing process," MTSU athletics director Chris Massaro said. "We thought it would be resolved by this weekend, so we think by the next home game it will be resolved."
Massaro said Divino Merlot and Pinot Grigio will be the wine selections.
MTSU's next home game will be against Charlotte on Oct. 20. It is also the Blue Raiders' homecoming game.
MTSU began alcohol sales during the Blue Raiders' home game against UT Martin earlier in the month. Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, two options from local brewery Steel Barrel — Americana and Frost — and spiked seltzer are available as selections.
There were no alcohol-related arrests during the UT Martin game.
"I thought it went well," Massaro said. "The fans that were in line to purchase were very happy that (we) were able to provide that service. And we didn't really have any other incidents that were related to alcohol, so that was really good."
Reach Luis Torres at firstname.lastname@example.org and follow him on Twitter @LFTorresIII.


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It has been nearly one year to the date since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Latin America. On February 25th, 2020, Brazil reported the region’s first case, and within weeks, most of the region was in strict lockdown mode. Madness then ensued, as policymakers battled over quarantining to protect public health vs. keeping the economy open to protect citizens’ livelihoods. All in all, the region lost 9.7% in GDP in 2020, while both e-commerce and digital banking grew.
2021 will be a year of continued adaptation to a hybrid way of life, in which most businesses, schools and institutions are open, but social distancing and mask-wearing are still present, in anticipation of widespread access to vaccines. On the payments front, digital payments have taken a more prominent role than ever, to help people maintain some normalcy in their daily activities and to limit contact with others. Although, cash has proven to be sticker than expected during the pandemic, and regulators continue to thwart the expansion of fintech opportunities in some markets. Hence, 2021 will have some good, a decent amount of bad, and a whole lot of ugly.
In 2017—when the last World Bank Financial Inclusion Index was published—bank account penetration across Latin America stood at just over half the population (55%). The number of bank accounts offered by traditional banks grew slowly, just 3%-5% per year through 2019. While fintechs and neobanks have grown rapidly in recent years, on the whole just ~20% of these were previously unbanked, most customers being pre-banked by another institution.
Yet, in 2020, this landscape changed dramatically. With most businesses shut down and mobility greatly reduced, people found themselves in severe need of digital financial services, in particular debit cards to be able to shop online and online bill pay service. Both traditional banks and fintechs rose to the challenge to meet this demand, and as a result, AMI estimates that the banked population grew by 24% in 2020. Brazil experienced the most dramatic increase; today in 2021, access to a digital account either by bank or fintech has escalated to 88% of the adult population. After Brazil, Colombia experienced the most dramatic growth of 26% in the banked population in 2020. Laggards were Mexico (13% increase in banked population) and Chile (7% growth but reaching high penetration of 82%).
In 2021, in many markets, the “unbanked” have almost disappeared. Except for rural areas and people over the age of 65, banking services are readily available at no cost and with very few barriers to entry. This means millions of new customers who can generate revenue, profitability and open up new use cases for innovative financial service providers. The challenge of course is for banks and fintechs to promote long-term usage of banking services by their new customers—figuring out what products and services will make them stay.
AMI early estimates show that retail e-commerce grew 21% in 2020 and that digital goods grew by more than 40%, all good news for the digital payments industry. Contactless payments also grew; Brazil’s card association ABECS reported that contactless volume grew over 200% and Visa reports that contactless has exceeded 50% penetration of face-to-face card volume in Chile and several Central American markets. And, multiple consumer surveys conducted in 2020 suggest that consumers’ cash use had significantly reduced. There is ample evidence to suggest that digital payments made massive headway.
However, when taking a hard look at the numbers, it is important to realize that face-to-face retail fell 18% in 2020, meaning the use of all payment methods declined. Credit card took the hardest hit, as consumers stopped buying high ticket items and avoided taking on new debt. Cash also fell, but only three percentage points faster than retail overall. Debit was the winner, nearly remaining stable. As a result, compared to 2019, cash lost only two percentage points in overall share and still represent an estimated 75% of in-store retail payments among the region’s top six markets.
The silver lining here of course is that a good chuck of face-to-face spend, much of it in cash, migrated to e-commerce via credit or debit card. This highlights an important lesson: the practice may not be to compete against cash at the POS, where cash continues to be a convenient way to pay—but instead focus on transferring in-person spend to the online environment, where digital rules.
Presently, more than 120 million people across the region utilize the service of fintechs, neobanks and digital wallets. Most of these are in Brazil, where fintech giants Nubank, PicPay, PagBank, MercadoPago, and at least a dozen others battle for customers and their loyalty. Massive retail players are also in the mix, including Ame Digital from the B2W group and Magazine Luiza’s MagaluPay. All offer something similar: a digital account attached to a prepaid or debit card, and the ability to make various payments—P2P, bill pay, top-ups and in some cases gift cards and digital goods.
While each have slight differences, they are in essence very similar and struggle for competitive differentiation, including throwing money at consumers in the form of cash back, discounts and free services. This competitive effort is of course undermined by the Central Bank’s launch of Pix, its real-time payment platform, in November 2020, which enables interoperability between participating institutions and free money transfers for users. With the number of players increasing and basic banking services becoming commoditized, the question remains as to how long digital banking competitors will be able to burn cash in an attempt to lure customers into staying loyal.
As Pix ramps up throughout 2021, both traditional and digital banks will have to work harder than ever to please their customers. In the end, it will come down to the emotional connection banks can generate with their customers, based on branding and messaging, UX and customer service; products are secondary.
2021 will be perhaps even more interesting than 2020, as industry players confront a huge task: to maintain the digital momentum gained during 2020 and create lasting digital behaviors among the population. With reduced consumer spending and a more competitive payments environment, the landscape is more harrowing than ever, but also more prepared to produce digital business opportunities than ever before.
Contact us to strengthen your company’s understanding of payments in Latin America through market landscape studies, identify new opportunities due to payments mega-trends occurring in 2021 and beyond, avoid or mitigate threats through competitive intelligence and much more.
 Economist Intelligence Unit


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American Express has reported very healthy Q1 2023 net income of $1.8 billion, or $2.40 per share, consolidated total revenues net of interest expense were $14.3 billion – a record for American Express.
“Our first-quarter results reflect strong growth in Card Member spending and continued high engagement with our premium products, tracking with the full-year 2023 guidance we provided in January, which we are reaffirming today, for revenue growth of 15% to 17% and earnings per share of $11.00 to $11.40,” said Stephen J. Squeri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“Revenue grew 22% from a year earlier to reach a quarterly record, as Card Member spending rose 16% on an FX-adjusted basis.
Travel and Entertainment spending was particularly robust, growing 39% on an FX-adjusted basis and in March, we saw a record level of reservations booked on our Resy restaurant platform.
We also saw an acceleration in spending in our International Card Services segment, which increased 29% on an FX-adjusted basis. Spending on Goods and Services around the globe grew 9% on an FX-adjusted basis.
We acquired 3.4 million new cards during the quarter, with US Consumer Platinum and Gold, US Business Platinum, and Delta co-brand account acquisitions all reaching record levels.
Demand from Millennial and Gen Z consumers continues to fuel this growth, accounting for more than 60% of all new consumer account acquisitions in the quarter.
Millennial and Gen Z customers also continued to be our fastest growing US cohort in terms of spending, growing 28% from a year earlier.
Our customers have been resilient thus far in the face of slower macroeconomic growth, elevated inflation and higher interest rates, with credit performance remaining best-in-class. That said, we’re mindful of the mixed signals in the external environment.
Based on our performance to date and the momentum we see in our business, we remain confident in our ability to achieve our longer-term growth plan aspirations,” Squeri concluded.
Q1 consolidated total revenues net of interest expense were $14.3 billion, up 22% from $11.7 billion a year ago. The increase was primarily driven by increased Card Member spending, as well as higher net interest income, reflecting higher average loan volumes.
Consolidated provisions for credit losses were $1.1 billion, reflecting higher net write-offs and a net reserve build of $320 million.
Consolidated provisions for credit losses in the prior year significantly benefited from the release of pandemic-driven reserves. Credit metrics remained strong in the current quarter.
Consolidated expenses were $11.1 billion, up 22% from $9.1 billion a year ago. The increase primarily reflected higher customer engagement costs, driven by higher network volumes and increased usage of travel-related benefits.
Operating expenses also increased, primarily reflecting higher compensation costs and a loss on Amex Ventures investments of $95 million.
The consolidated effective tax rate was 16.2%, down from 22.6% a year ago, primarily reflecting discrete tax benefits related to the resolution of prior-year tax items in the current quarter.
The post American Express Q1 revenue increases to record $14.3 billion appeared first on Payments Cards & Mobile.


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Indian financial inclusion service provider, FINO (Financial Inclusion Network & Operations), has tied up with NCR Corporation, a global technology company, to offer a remittance service through FINO Tijori, a self-operated stand-alone machine similar to an ATM. FINO has currently installed approximately 100 of these micro-deposit-machines in various locations across Delhi and Mumbai. In offering a deposit and remittance system, FINO has enabled millions of poor and typically unbanked customers to access basic financial services. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
FINO Tijori is a self-operated stand alone machine that offers the functionality of account deposit, money transfer, balance enquiry, mini statement and request for loan options
Financial Inclusion Network & Operations (FINO), one of India’s leading Financial Inclusion service provider and NCR Corporation, a global technology company today announced the launch of an added functionality of remittance service to the FINO NCR EasyPoint 70 – ‘Tijori’ micro-deposit-machines (MDMs).
FINO, to scale its services and reach out to more customers, has leveraged its self service platform “Tijori” and deployed micro deposit machines at the business correspondent points to enable customers to deposit and remit money on their own in extended hours beyond bank timings
FINO Tijori is a self-operated stand alone machine that offers the functionality of account deposit, money transfer, balance enquiry, mini statement and request for loan options. This will bring in small sums of deposits more frequently thus inculcating saving habits in customers besides ensuring convenience of easier remittances.
The launch of remittances via FINO Tijori is an initiative in line with FINO’s philosophy of bringing best in class products and services to the micro-customers in the country in conjunction with banks. FINO has already deployed these machines in Mumbai and Delhi and will be scaling the same up to 100 by October in selected cities. FINO plans to review the learning’s from the 100 deployed machines in the next three months and thereafter would materialise further plans.
The service allows customer to deposit and remit money in extended hours beyond bank timings in a fast and secure environment via a self-service channel. The process requires the remitter to deposit cash in the FINO NCR EP70 – ‘Tijori’ kiosk, inform the beneficiary, who needs to then visit a FINO BC point / his bank branch and withdraw the money
Manish Khera, CEO – FINO, speaking on this development, said, “FINO is committed to bringing main-stream financial services to the base of pyramid customers. FINO architecture integrates with the mainstream banking infrastructure in the country ensuring security and convenience to customers. Besides including 19 million customers and expanding at 50,000 customers a day and launching several services, we are now expanding the channels beyond agents to self-serve devices like NCR Easy Point ‘Tijori’.
“NCR is pleased to announce with our partner FINO the introduction of an innovative, easy-to-use, and cost effective remittance application, which demonstrates our continued investment in the financial inclusion sector by bringing financial services to the under-banked population of India”, said Mr. Scott Sobel, Vice President, Emerging Markets, NCR Corporation.
“The addition of a remittance function with NCR EasyPoint 70 – Tijori deployed by FINO or their affiliated banks at FINO branches and merchant locations will allow 19 mn customers on FINOs environment and migrant workers to transfer funds at their convenience and beyond banking hours by using a secure self-service channel.”
In India an estimated 10 crore people have migrated from villages to urban cities trying to earn livelihood for their families. These people live in challenging conditions; work in tough environment and save every penny to be able to remit money back to support their families. A typical behaviour is to save money in cash and send home once a quarter in amounts of Rs. 4000-5000.
The large majority of these people are unbanked or under-served. Due to the cumbersome processes and limited access to financial services they typically avoid using formal systems. It is estimated that as much as half of the domestic remittances are made through informal channels.
FINO is committed to combat the challenges in delivering financial services to the base of pyramid customers in difficult terrains. The key to addressing this challenge is innovation & commitment to sound business logic built on an architecture that integrates all channels as well as handle the scalability and is flexible to customer needs. FINO architecture offers all these and integrates with the mainstream banking infrastructure in the country ensuring security, affordability and convenience to the customers.
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WOOF Stuff, Mossley’s only pet supplies shop, has closed following the retirement of husband-and-wife Philip and Gina Holland who live on nearby Stamford Road.
And it begs the question what next for the premises on Stockport Road which still has its original Victorian frontage?
Philip, 69, had delved into the history and found out it had previously sold shoes, toys, antiques, fish and chips, motor bikes and bicycles.
It was 15 years ago Gina, a former Guide leader at St George’s and All Saints, rented the premises and started the business after taking redundancy from Ashton Brothers. She had previously stood Hyde market.
Philip, who was employed by Tameside Council in facilities management, has worked in the business for the past four years since taking retirement.
He put the decision to retire down to “age and infirmity”.
Philip said the closure will leave a void as there is no other pet supplies shop in the town.
Over the years they have provided food and accessories for dogs, cats, small animals, fish and fashionable pets.
“It has been an eclectic mix and we used to sell rabbit hutches and runs and also stocked chicken food,” he said.
He added there was “dismay” from regulars when they were informed of the closure.
Philip added it had been a thriving business, but trade was hit in recent times by the closure of the Cross Street car park which was located just across the road.
The couple would like to thank the customers for their support over the last 15 years.


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Instacart to enable 15-minute Publix grocery delivery, starting in Miami and Atlanta
LAKELAND — Ultra-fast 15-minute deliveries of Publix groceries from nano-sized warehouses will be available in the coming months for online shoppers in Miami and Atlanta, an Instacart press release said.
Instacart already functions as an e-commerce partner with Publix Super Markets Inc. offering next day, same day and 30-minute delivery options from its stores across the grocer’s seven-state footprint.
During the pandemic, online ordering of groceries increased exponentially compared with pre-pandemic levels and has lessened for now as the COVID-19 rates wane. Still, industry analysts say online shopping is expected to continue growing.
“Today, with the launch of the new Instacart Platform, Instacart is further enabling grocers’ digital transformation with a new suite of enterprise-grade technologies to power the future of grocery,” said the Instacart release on Wednesday.
Publix was among several grocers throughout the United States gaining the technology enhancements and increased delivery speed through San Francisco-based Instacart.
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With Instacart Platform, the company is giving retailers customer data that will help them improve their websites and retail stores. Consumers will notice online advertising as well as the option for delivery next-day or in as little as 15 minutes, depending on availability.
In-store enhancements, such as scan-less carts, will by available if retailers want them.
“The grocery industry is undergoing a digital transformation where customers expect a seamless experience across many channels, but behind the scenes it’s taking an incredible amount of work and investment for retailers to deliver these new services,” said Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart.
E-commerce is expected to account for 20% of the U.S. grocery market by 2026, according to an October report by Supermarket News.
“Grocery e-commerce sales are forecast to account for 9.5% of total U.S. grocery sales of $1.097 trillion this year (2021), up from 8.1% of $1.137 trillion in 2020," the magazine reported, citing a report from online grocery specialist Mercatus.
Nearly 75% of online orders are for pickup at the store, Supermarket News said.
Instacart is offering digital revenue sharing for ads placed on retailers' existing websites and e-commerce platforms via Carrot Ads later this year.
New nano-fulfillment centers called Carrot Warehouses would help retailers with their 15-minute deliveries by providing assistance with floor plans and automation systems. Some Carrot Warehouses will be stand-alone, run and managed by Instacart, but others might be located in existing grocers' stores. The Publix nano-warehouses are not automated with robotics.
In contrast, Kroger Delivery in Groveland started home delivery of online orders last year. Its automated warehouse has robotics, machine-learning artificial intelligence and temperature-controlled van delivery. The facility, in conjunction with spokes in Tampa and Jacksonville, serves most of the northern half of peninsular Florida.
Kroger has not announced a brick-and-mortar store in Florida under the Kroger brand but plans to expand further into Publix territory in South Florida by 2023.
A new Kroger Delivery warehouse location has not been announced. Kroger Delivery is also expanding throughout the United States, including several states where Publix operates.
Also part of the Instacart Platform is its Carrot Insights, which will give retailers real-time data to track orders and out-of-stock items on Instacart and the retailers' digital storefronts. The data collected can help retailers generate sales statistics based on location and identify customer buying trends.
“Instacart Platform continues to fuel our omnichannel strategy, powering delivery and curbside pickup across our markets,” said Maria Brous, director of communications at Publix, in a prepared statement for Instacart.
“Our new NFCs, built with Instacart Platform, unlock ultrafast delivery in our major metro areas, allowing customers to get what they need in as fast as 15 minutes,” Brous said. “We are eager to continue to test and iterate on these new concepts as consumer needs continue to evolve.”
Instacart partners with more than 750 national, regional and local retailers to facilitate online grocery shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 70,000 stores across more than 5,500 cities in North America.
Instacart uses more than 600,000 Instacart shoppers to pick, pack and deliver orders for customers on their own flexible schedule. The technology firm recently added a fuel surcharge to help its gig workers afford skyrocketing gas prices.
Lakeland-based Publix is the world's largest employee-owned company, its website said. Publix employs more than 225,000 people throughout the Southeast and operates nearly 1,300 stores.


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KENYA – Wheat flour millers have warned of a further rise in the cost of the commodity and its products such as bread in the coming months on diminishing domestic stocks amid an import crunch, Daily Nation has reported.
Millers blame the Agriculture and Food Authority for delaying approving imports after the regulator maintains that millers have to first mop up the domestic stock to cushion local producers.
“There has been a delay in approvals of wheat imports by the Agriculture Food Authority (AFA) because they claim that millers have not mopped up the local wheat produce as per their quota, which is not the case,” said one of the wheat millers.
The uproar comes after the recent declaration by the Ministry of Agriculture that the country is expecting a bumper harvest, prompting the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) to offer storage facilities.
According to Agriculture Food Authority, the country consumes about 2.4 million bags but with only 100,000 metric tonnes produced, the country has to import close to 2 million metric tonnes annually from Russia and Ukraine.
However, Cereal Growers Association CEO, Antony Kioko said that production of wheat this year is projected at between 600,000-700,000 bags in Narok County.
Under the Kenya Local Wheat Programme, Cereal Growers Association provides the estimated volumes of the grain held by farmers to the Agriculture Ministry, AFA, Treasury, and millers at the beginning of each season.
The millers, however, claim that Kenya has produced only 200,000 bags that are being bought by millers in Narok adding that if the matter is not resolved promptly, prices for wheat-based products are expected to rise.
“Any costs incurred through demurrage, unentered [fee charged Grain Bulk Handlers Ltd for lack of clearance papers], and storage will ultimately affect consumer prices.
The news adds more pain to Kenyans who are already battling the high cost of food products amid a shrinking economy after the recent increase in the price of bread by 16 percent.
A spot-check on select retail stores in Nairobi showed a two-kilogram packet of whole wheat flour is retailing at between Sh189 and Sh212, having increased from an average of Sh165.89 in May as per the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
However, AFA holds that its move is in line with the Ministry of Agriculture’s policy of exhausting local stock before importing.
Earlier, the AFA promised to issue a statement but had not by the time of going to press. Kenya relies on imports to meet as much as three-quarters of the demand for the commodity used in baking food such as bread, chapati, and cakes.
That prompted Kenya to successfully seek approval from the East African Community’s Council of Ministers to allow the importation of wheat at 10 percent duty for a year from July as opposed to the standard 35 percent for the bloc.
The reduced taxes, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u said on June 15, will “ensure that there is enough wheat to meet local demand, while at the same time protecting wheat farmers from unfair competition from imported wheat.”