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These are stories Report on Business is following Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014.
Markets perk up
Stocks rallied late today and the U.S. dollar weakened, thus pushing up Canada's currency, on a "dovish" Federal Reserve that is fretting over the greenback's recent rally.
According to the minutes of the mid-September Fed meeting, released this afternoon, some at the the U.S. central bank are troubled by overseas economies, and how the stronger dollar could hurt exports.
"Some participants expressed concern that the persistent shortfall of economic growth and inflation in the euro area could lead to a further appreciation of the dollar and have adverse effects on the U.S. external sector," the minutes showed.
"Several participants added that slower economic growth in China or Japan or unanticipated events in the Middle East or Ukraine might pose a similar risk."
Observers had been worried that the minutes from chair Janet Yellen's Fed could sink markets even more.
But North American stocks climbed after the release of the minutes, and the U.S. dollar softened, in turn helping to boost the loonie, as Canada's dollar coin is known.
The warning about the U.S. dollar was a new risk, noted chief currency strategist Camilla Sutton of Bank of Nova Scotia.
"And it highlights that the Fed will be uncomfortable if we see any further U.S.-dollar strength, so I think it gives a great excuse for profit-taking," she said of the currency.
Asian and European markets had suffered earlier, closing before the minutes from the policy-making panel, the Federal Open Market Committee, were released.
But in North America, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average shot up, while Toronto's S&P/TSX composite was up to a lesser extent. The S&P 500 jumped about 1.75 per cent, or more than 33 points, and the DJIA surged almost 275 points, or 1.6 per cent. Toronto chalked up a gain of about 90 points, or 0.6 per cent.
The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, shot up above the 90-cent mark as the greenback weakened, having been as low as 89.2 cents (U.S.) earlier in the day.
The central bankers also worried about whether they might mislead the markets if they changed their signal, or forward guidance, as it's known, on where interest rates could head.
Some observers had speculated that they might alter the language in their Sept. 17 policy statement to remove the pledge to hold rates at current levels for "a considerable time" after they wind down their asset-buying program this month.
In the end, they didn't change that, concerned over how the markets might react.
"Several participants thought that the current forward guidance regarding the federal funds rate suggested a longer period before liftoff, and perhaps also a more gradual increase in the federal funds rate thereafter, than they believed was likely to be appropriate given economic and financial conditions," the Fed minutes said.
"In addition, the concern was raised that the reference to 'considerable time' in the current forward guidance could be misunderstood as a commitment rather than as data dependent," they added.
"However, it was noted that the current formulation of the committee's forward guidance clearly indicated that the committee's policy decisions were conditional on its ongoing assessment of realized and expected progress toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2-per-cent inflation, and that its assessment reflected its review of a broad array of economic indicators."
Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics said he thinks that language is "now living on borrowed time," and that the Fed's first rate hike will come as early as next March.
Mr. Ashworth believes the Fed's first rate hike will come as early as next March.
Assistant chief economist Dawn Desjardins of Royal Bank of Canada said she believes the rate increase will come in June, given that she expects the U.S. economy will probably "continue to grow at an above-potential pace."
(Brad Majors loved Janet Weiss in The Rocky Horror Show and the cult classic movie that followed in 1975, and from whence this headline comes: Dammit, Janet, I love you. Having said that, it's been a long time since I've seen someone throw a piece of toast at the movie screen.)
- Follow our Inside the Market blog (for subscribers)
- Fed officials see global slowdown among economic, market risks
- Take a penny, leave a penny: A warning about the bouncing loonie
- Video: Bull vs. Bear: Is it time to abandon the market?
- Eric Reguly: The long and short on the stunning drop in oil prices
- Kevin Carmichael: IMF cuts economic growth outlook, citing 'uneven global recovery'
- Costco fourth-quarter earnings beat estimates
- Brian Milner in ROB Insight (for subscribers): Alcoa results won't tell us much about trends
Gap names new chief
Gap Inc. today named Glenn Murphy's successor when he leaves as chief executive officer early next year.
The U.S. clothing retailer said today it chose its digital chief, Art Peck, to jump into the role in February.
"Murphy and Peck have worked side by side for the better part of a decade as Gap Inc. dramatically improved its financial performance while expanding globally," the company said.
Pace of borrowing picks up
The central bank likes to call it the "constructive evolution of household imbalances."
But, based on a Royal Bank of Canada report today, suddenly it's not so "constructive" any longer.
It's just one month, so that's something to keep in mind, but RBC economist Laura Cooper pointed out that the pace of consumer borrowing picked up in August, to 4.4 per cent, ending three months of "stable" readings of 4.2 per cent.
True, it's a modest increase, but it comes after repeated warnings from the Bank of Canada and the government for Canadian consumers to get their act in gear.
A key measure of our swollen debts is the debt-to-income ratio, which sits close to its record, according to the latest from Statistics Canada.
But that didn't worry observers all that much because it was a case of income growth lagging that of credit growth, rather than lending get way out of hand.
Ms. Cooper's report today, though muted, may nonetheless serve as a warning.
"A quicker pace of household credit growth in August predominantly reflected a 5.2-rise in residential mortgage borrowing while consumer credit increases more modestly by 2.5 per cent," she said.
"Residential mortgage debt reached $1.26-trillion in August, a $62-billion increase from a year ago and marked an acceleration from the 5-per-cent year-over-year increases recorded in June and July."
Thus, a "brief respite in the constructive evolution of household imbalances" at this point.
Ms. Cooper noted the usual one- to six-month lag from when the purchase of a home actually shows up in credit data, which means "renewed vigour in the country's housing market late in the spring and into the summer months."
She wasn't overly worried, however, because a stronger economy and the pressure for interest rates to move up "will likely temper mortgage borrowing and support sustained low rates of household credit growth."
Accounting for cross-border shopping
Cross-border shopping may be a favourite sport for Canadians, but it apparently makes up only a small piece of the pie.
According to a Statistics Canada study released today, crossing the border to shop surged 72 per cent between 2006 and 2012, to $8-billion from $4.7-billion.
Still, the federal agency said, that accounted for just 1 per cent to 2 per cent of all Canadian retail sales.
But for 2009, overall sales have climbed every year. In dollar terms, Canadian sales jumped to $468-billion two years ago from $389-billion in 2006.
"Comparing the two figures, cross-border shopping accounted for 1.7 per cent of total Canadian retail sales in 2012."
Of course, I'm sure Canadian retailers would have liked to hold onto that 1.7 per cent.
Canada's construction industry held relatively steady last month as housing starts rose "modestly" from a month earlier.
Construction starts rose to an annual pace of 197,343 from 196,283 in August, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said today.
The six-month moving average, though, was stronger, at 197,747, compared to 191,095.
"The increase in the trend reflects stronger starts activity since April, largely concentrated in multi-unit dwellings including condominiums," said Bob Dugan, the agency's chief economist.
"However, the currently elevated level of condominium units under construction supports our view that condominium starts should trend lower over the coming months."
- Canadian housing starts rise in September: CMHC
- Canada building permits drop from record on non-residential work
Siri, how's my driving?
The American Automobile Association is warning that hands-free technology may not be as safe behind the wheel as you may think.
Research from the U.S. driving group suggests "developers can improve the safety of their products by making them less complicated, more accurate and generally easier to use," the AAA says, adding it plans to work with auto makers to produce better systems.
According to the AAA, University of Utah tests, which included heart-rate monitors and "instrumented" test cars, found, among other things, that the accuracy of such software "significantly influences the rate of distraction."
Updating earlier research, they used a five-point ranking system like the one for hurricanes, and found that the accuracy issue was a "high" level of 3 where distraction is concerned.
Also a 3 was in-car composition of text messages and e-mails. Listening to them, in turn, was a category 2.
Quality of the systems was also an issue: Listening to a "natural or synthetic voice" each came in as a category 2.
"We already know that drivers can miss stop signs, pedestrians and other cars while using voice technologies because their minds are not fully focused on the road ahead," AAA chief executive officer Bob Darbelnet said in the group's statement.
"We now understand that current shortcomings in these products, intended as safety features, may unintentionally cause greater levels of cognitive distraction."
Researchers also looked specifically at Siri, that genius on Apple Inc. devices, using the tech giant's own insight on the iOS 7 version.
"Researchers used the same metrics to measure a broader range of tasks including using social media, sending texts and updating calendars. The research uncovered that hands- and eyes-free use of Apple's Siri generated a relatively high category 4 level of mental distraction."
Streetwise (for subscribers)
ROB Insight (for subscribers)
- Valeant plans to sweeten Allergan bid
- Péladeau to put Quebecor shares in blind trust if he becomes PQ leader
- Caisse's property arm to invest up to $500-million in Mexican venture
- Encana sells Alberta gas properties to Ember Resources for $605-million
- Jean Coutu profit drops despite rise in quarterly sales


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Avocados From Mexico Making Fourth Straight Super Bowl Appearance; M&M's Returns
Avocados from Mexico will return to the Super Bowl for the fourth consecutive year, airing a "30-second spot at some point during the first half of the Feb. 4 game," according to Brian Steinberg of VARIETY. The company in recent years has "managed to slot its Super Bowl ad in the first commercial break." Avocados from Mexico Senior Dir of Marketing Kevin Hamilton said the commercial will have a "light-hearted, fun approach." The company "likes to show avocados ... at the center of fun times involving food, and this Super Bowl will likely echo that theme." GSD&M, Austin, is "helping to create the ad." Hamilton "would not comment on the price the company is paying for the spot" (VARIETY.com, 12/7). AD AGE's Jessica Wohl noted guacamole "appeared in last season's Super Bowl spot with a moment jokingly tied to subliminal advertising and featuring actor Jon Lovitz" (ADAGE.com, 12/6).
I'M BACK: AD AGE's Jeanine Poggi noted after a three-year hiatus, M&M's "will return to the Super Bowl" with one 30-second spot produced by BBDO, N.Y., during the first quarter. M&M's last appeared in Super Bowl XLVIII, in '14, "with a spot starring Yellow M&M" (ADAGE.com, 12/6).

domain: news


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Tech downgrade can't stop the party (2:25)
April 11 - Summary of business headlines: Dow, S&P 500 cross new milestones despite tech downgrade, PC sales slump; Google proposes EU anti-trust remedy; March store sales weakest in 3-plus years; Jobless claims drop to November low. Conway G. Gittens reports. ( Transcript )
Hard-edged reporting, insight and analysis, Reuters TV breaks ground creating informative news and financial videos. Showcasing Reuters’ 3000 award-winning journalists, Reuters TV delivers high-energy investigative journalism with concise explanations. Check it out and let us know what you think.


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Last July, Apple (AAPL) announced that revenue from the iPhone would be recorded in an unusual way. Like Apple Care and Apple TV, iPhone sales would not be booked when the device was sold — as they are for a Mac or an iPod — but spread out over the life of the iPhone (set, somewhat arbitrarily, at two years).
More than seven months have passed and nobody — not the analysts, not the investors, and certainly not Wall Street — has quite wrapped their mind around what this bookkeeping oddity means for Apple’s bottom line. That’s in part because it’s complicated, and in part because Apple hasn’t provided all the data you would need to fully assess its impact.
But as we enter the fourth quarter of iPhone sales, those so-called deferred earnings are adding up, and some professional Apple watchers are starting to realize that their impact could be substantial. In fact, if the company hits its iPhone sales targets, these earnings could become a windfall — a revenue bomb that explodes to the benefit of shareholders.
The rules by which Apple records revenue from iPhone sales are spelled out in the 10-Q filed with the SEC on Aug. 8, 2007:
Sounds straightforward enough. But because of the way Apple reports its earnings and its costs of goods sold, it’s not so easy to track. And to the dismay of Apple shareholders, the fact that these deferred earnings are piling up seems to have gone right over the heads of the institutional investors who have driven Apple shares down nearly 75 points since December.
One Apple investor who has been beating the deferred revenue drum is Stephen Rosenmen at Seeking Alpha. He’s published three articles on the subject since Apple’s Q1 earnings report, including one posted today in which he takes a stab at estimating how big Apple’s hidden revenue backlog has grown:
As Rosenmen points out, those $3 billion and change are not going away. They are like backordered Boeing jets or offshore oil reserves — the equivalent of money in the bank. Moreover, the quarterly revenue from iPhone reserves climbs exponentially as iPhone sales grow — each quarterly payment consisting of 1/8 of that quarter’s revenue plus 1/8 of the revenue of each of the previous seven quarters.
The participants at The Mac Observer’s Apple Finance Board have been harping on this theme for weeks now, none more vehemently than the investor who calls himself Dawn Trader. He’s looking for the bomb to explode in eight or nine quarters:
Below the fold, Rosenman’s chart showing the growth of deferred revenues over the past five quarters (the exclamation points are his):


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Hear the Toyota Supra’s Engine in New Video
Tantalizing teaser reveals a long hood
We've seen plenty of the new Toyota Supra already, but mostly in the form of camouflaged prototypes, race car versions, and a few cryptic teasers showing a mirror cap and the front of the hood. Now, Toyota has released a video showing the full car, although blurred to keep some of the mystery alive before the big debut next month. Plus, we get to hear the sound of that engine.
The Supra's BMW-sourced 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six engine sounds pretty impressive in this video. We don't know how much power it will make, but Toyota says the car will hit 60 mph in "less than 5 seconds." As we noted in our prototype review, that estimate is probably conservative and we think it will actually be closer to 4.5 seconds.
The two-seater shares a platform with the BMW Z4, which debuted in August at Pebble Beach. Supra chief engineer Tetsuya Tada promises the new car will have a perfect 50:50 weight balance front to rear, and double the body rigidity of the Toyota 86. A hybrid variant is expected at some point, and we're interested to see how that version will sound, too.
Source: Toyota Europe via YouTube


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Last week The Minnesota Department of Revenue launched an Internet database to brandish companies delinquent on their payments with the online scarlet letter of of tax evasion. (Once the tax is paid, the company's name is removed from the list and its sales tax permit is reinstated.)
Since the website's debut last week at least four companies have paid their debt to the state, allowing the agency to collect $124,000 -- small change compared to the upwards of $2 million the remaining some 64 businesses owe.
Nonetheless, the agency sees it's small pocketbook of triumph as rationale for continuing its debt collection using means of humiliation. Minnesota is the only state to publicly list businesses that have not paid the tax, the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reports.
"This is exactly the type of success we were hoping for by putting this list on our Web site," said Revenue Commissioner Ward Einess. "It is important that every individual and business pay the state exactly what is owed. Customers paying sales tax trust these businesses to comply with the law."
Even ice cream shops haven't missed the list. According to the database, the Maggie Moos Ice Cream and Treatery franchise in Chanhassen owes $7,240 in sales tax. But that's nothing compared to the $259,358 owed by TNT Motorsports Unlimited in Hamel.


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Cogiscan and Universal Instruments announce support for CFX and other Connectivity Protocols
BROMONT, CANADA — Cogiscan Inc., a leading Track, Trace and Control (TTC) solutions provider for the electronics manufacturing industry, is pleased to announce a new strategic development with its partner Universal Instruments, a global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced automation and assembly equipment solutions for the electronics manufacturing industry.
Mr. Todd Vick, Director of Marketing, SM Products at Universal Instruments commented on this announcement: “Universal is dedicated to stay at the leading edge of Industry 4.0 through a combination of internal development and strategic partnerships with best-in-class technology vendors. The first and most critical element of a sound Industry 4.0 strategy is complete and accurate real-time data collection. Through our partnership with Cogiscan, we are able to leverage their Co-NECT platform to deliver machine connectivity solutions to our customers. We are extremely proud to have already delivered a CFX interface to one of Universal’s largest global EMS customers. In addition to CFX, Universal relies on the Co-NECT platform to support other required protocols, such as CAMX or SECS/GEM, as well as customer-specific integration requirements.”
“More and more leading machine and software vendors have come to rely on Cogiscan for their connectivity and integration requirements,” said Mitch DeCaire, Global Director – Equipment Partnerships at Cogiscan. “We are very pleased to expand our strong partnership with Universal. Our Co-NECT technology will provide significant value for their customers by enabling seamless integration with enterprise systems and other industry 4.0 technologies such as closed-loop M2M solutions, Advanced Analytics, AI and deep learning.”
About Universal Instruments
Universal Instruments is a global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced automation and assembly equipment solutions for the electronics manufacturing industry. With a lineage of more than 50 years, Universal is the longest-standing company in the electronics assembly space.
About Cogiscan Inc.
Cogiscan is the leading track, trace and control (TTC) solutions provider for the electronics manufacturing industry. The scalable Cogiscan platform perfectly integrates with all major equipment types, and is highly configurable to enable a personalized solution to each customer’s specific production needs. Since 1999 Cogiscan has attained several international patents for TTC hardware and software, and has won multiple awards throughout the years. For more information, visit www.cogiscan.com.


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Quixey, the fast-growing Mountain View search startup that offers a way to find apps based on what they do, just announced a big first step into being a mature search engine: search advertising.
Quixey's technology powers search for a range of app store owners and partner websites, including Microsoft, Sprint and Ask.com. It receives over 100 million queries a month, with its volume doubling year over year, Quixey product chief Guru Gowrappan told me, and he expects that to double again in the third quarter.
But one thing the company hasn't done yet is monetize all that traffic. That's been by design, Gowrappan said, because many of the search also-rans made the mistake of trying to monetize too fast and ended up with bad, non-relevant ads and too little search traffic to matter. By ensuring that it had a lot of partners before even attempting search ads, Gowrappan says Quixey is in a much better position to make it work.
Search, obviously is a big industry, estimated to be worth about $30 billion worldwide, and its almost entirely dominated by Google. But specialized search engines are a comparatively open field, particularly app search where most of competitors, such as Chomp, were bought when they reached a certain size.
The new feature is out in beta Thursday, and it already has some big sign-ups, including Gowrappan's old company, Zynga. The service is fairly standard for search advertising — it displays a highlighted search result at the top of the results page for certain keywords, phrases and categories. It uses Quixey's own proprietary "functional search" technology to match ads with queries, ensuring a high click-through rate because ads are only shown against searches when they're relevant. Pricing is on a cost-per-million-impressions basis at the moment, but as things get refined, Gowrappan said the company plans to switch over to a cost-per-click model and implement more advanced features like pricing auctions with real-time bidding.
Because searches routed through Quixey are specifically for apps, this is a better advertising model for many app makers than doing something like taking out a banner ad or buying a Google adwords search, Gowrappan said.
"The great thing about this is that it's just apps. There's a lot less noise than on other search engines," he said. "We're seeing clickthrough rates that are nearly 3 times the industry average in our tests."


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Youth Impact: Teen making the world a cleaner place
A Curtice teen is making the world a cleaner place — one pair of jeans at a time.
Fourteen-year-old Erek Hansen has made recycling his life calling. He has been, he says, “recycling all my life,” and has had annual denim and shoe drives that have kept thousands of items out of landfills.
“Recycling has always been in the family,” he said. “My mom and dad have always done it, and I just picked up on that.”
His passion for recycling kicked into high gear when he read a magazine article in 2009 about a denim jean collection Guinness Book of World Records attempt.
“I sent in a few of mine,” he said.
“A few” is an understatement. The record was set, and Erek was honored as the top donor at a Guinness Book of World Records presentation in Washington, D.C.
“He was the only donor invited to be present,” said his mother, Amy Hansen. “He had just turned nine.”
Erek was hooked on recycling and began holding denim and shoe drives. The items are collected, stored and then shipped once a year to recycling centers.
“At the end of the year, we ship the jeans to Arizona. They’re shredded up to make insulation for disaster victims in the United States,” Erek said.
When Erek first started the drives, much of the insulation went to Hurricane Katrina victims, and eventually much of it was sent to Hurricane Sandy victims.
Once a year, Erek and Amy load the shoes into a U-Haul and point the truck to Chicago. Representatives from a recycling center there meet them halfway to pick up the items.
“The shoes are ground up into different things,” Erek said. “The heels become basketball courts, and the tops are used to make carpet padding and car insulation.”
To date, Erek has collected and recycled 23,937 pairs of jeans and 13,877 shoes.
Because the items are transferred to recycling centers only once a year, it became necessary to find a way to store them. Maumee Bay Self Storage in Oregon donates storage units to the Hansens to hold the jeans and shoes.
“We realized that we have a lot of jeans and can’t keep storing them in the barn,” Erek said. “We asked around, and they offered to donate space to us.”
Amy has been impressed with her son’s commitment to recycling.
“We did the traditional household recycling, but we didn’t go the extra mile,” she said of her family’s early recycling efforts. “I think what interested Erek was the ability to take something no longer useful, like holey jeans, and make them useful again by recycling them.
“They become part of a new product that can help people. Just by donating jeans, you can help families in need.”
Erek has received many awards and honors due to his recycling efforts. Two weeks ago he was the first place “Keep America Beautiful Youth Recognition Award, Individual Category” recipient.
Keep America Beautiful is a national organization dedicated to empowering individuals to take responsibility for improving their community’s environment. An awards ceremony and dinner will be Jan. 27.
Erek recently launched his new website, “www.gogreenohio.org” to share information on his recycling efforts, including the times and locations of pick-up sites for people who would like to donate jeans or shoes.
Erek also accepts monetary donations to cover shipping costs. Shipping the jeans costs about $2,000 annually. The shipping crates cost $60 each.
“We are literally working on that right now — getting crates donated,” Amy said.
Want to help?
For information on donating old jeans and shoes and for drop-off sites, visit www.gogreenohio.org.


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Blog: Soft drinks makers? It's ALL your fault!
Chris Brook-Carter | 4 November 2005
Some years ago this may have seemed impossible. Even now I am struggling to believe there is actually a case to answer. However, the soft drinks industry looks as if it may have to defend itself in the American courts for the nation’s obesity problem.
In an article on a CBS Boston website today, it was reported that a class action lawsuit could be filed by the end of this month, accusing soda companies of using unfair and deceptive practices in marketing to children.
Dick Daynard at Northeastern University Law School - who apparently helped sue cigarette makers ten years ago - is using the same arguments, this time against the soda manufacturers.
“They (children) shouldn’t be exposed to things that are unhealthy,” Daynard says. “They (soda companies) are marketing to kids. Just like cigarette machines, the soda machines shouldn’t be there.”
Let's just re-read that quote. A can of Coke is being likened to a cigarette! I have drunk many cans of Coke in my lifetime, but am perfectly healthy. And why shouldn't I be? Drinking CSDs in moderation is nothing like smoking in moderation.
This sort of lawsuit completely misses the point. Coke and its peers can be drunk as part of a balanced diet, to my knowledge, without any ill effects whatsoever. Moreover, the problems of obesity cannot be linked solely to soft drinks.
Do you start suing the makers of Sony Playstations and other game consoles for stopping children getting outside and exercising? Or perhaps we should sue the schools for failing to educate their pupils on the need for a balanced diet? Maybe the parents should stand trial for providing the drinks in many cases in the first place and not encouraging their kids to play enough sport?
Here's a round-up of the top stories on just-drinks last week, featuring Coca-Cola Life, Australian Vintage, Pernod Ricard and BrewDog....
Beer consumption in Germany - already pretty impressive - will undoubtedly have enjoyed a spike following celebrations over the nation's FIFA World Cup win. ...
Last night, The Coca-Cola Co's UK division celebrated moving in to its stylish new central London headquarters with a barbecue on its roof-top terrace....
Here are some of the top stories from just-drinks last week, featuring PepsiCo, San Miguel Corp, Stock Spirits and William Grant & Sons....
- Pernod's Portman Group penalty - a coincidence?
- A tobacco analogy soft drinks will want to embrace
- Cognac plays the waiting game in China
- Comment - Coke Life: Hit or Miss?
- just The Preview - SABMiller's Q1
- Pernod Ricard swings at Portman Group
- Remy posts Q1 sales drop as Edrington loss bites
- C&C Group steps down as Portman Group funder
- Bacardi to fight US football team legal action
- Distell to take 26% stake in spirits firm KHEAL


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Millburn Fire Department warns of smoke alarm knock-offs
Recently, Millburn firefighters responding to a fire alarm call discovered that the smoke detectors on the premises did not work properly.
Further investigation revealed that the devices were not certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the leading worldwide safety science consulting and certification firm. The smoke detectors were manufactured in China and had been purchased inexpensively over the Internet.
Millburn Fire Chief J. Michael Roberts met with officials from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is investigating this and similar incidents. The Commission has requested the Fire Department's help in raising community awareness about this issue.
According the National Fire Protection Association, only 20 percent of home fires occur between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., when most people are asleep. Fires that do occur during this time, however, result in 50 percent of all home fire deaths. Furthermore, three out of five home fire deaths happen from fires in homes without working smoke detectors.
A UL-certified smoke detector will have the organization's logo, a "UL" symbol enclosed within a circle, printed on its package. Fire Department officials are also reminding residents to ensure that smoke detectors are tested regularly and replaced when they reach the end of their shelf life. Batteries should be replaced twice annually. A good habit is to add fresh batteries when setting the clocks ahead and behind for Daylight Savings Time.
"With so many knock-off products and inexpensive alternatives available at discount stores and over the Internet, it's understandable that residents are looking for opportunities to save," Roberts said. "However, a UL-certified smoke detector is one of the cheapest and most effective insurance policies you can buy. We strongly caution residents to avoid risking the safety of their families and homes, and to make the investment in installing working, high-quality smoke detectors."
More information about the Consumer Product Safety Commission's guidelines and standards for smoke detector safety can be found on its website, at www.cpsc.gov.


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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is pencilled in to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on July 25 in Washington to talk trade, three sources familiar with the trip said.
Germany wants Juncker to discuss different options for a trade deal with Trump, but France has repeatedly stressed Brussels should not make any offer until Trump pulls back from imposing tariffs.
Two officials said Berlin would like Juncker to offer three different deals: a bilateral EU-U.S. agreement to lower tariffs on industrial goods, which had been previously pushed by Germany's government, a plurilateral agreement to slash car tariffs, or a trimmed version of TTIP, which would include regulatory standards.
One EU diplomat said the offer of a "mini-TTIP" could include an offer to increase imports of U.S. beef. While the beef quota is actually linked to an old WTO dispute, Brussels could be willing to allow Trump to sell these negotiations as a win for America.
A spokesperson for Juncker said he would "develop his thinking and his strategy in the coming weeks."
Hans von der Burchard contributed reporting.


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Last September, after a physically distanced marketplace had just wrapped up, and with a dwindling event calendar, three Six Nations women behind small businesses talked about starting a new project together.
Without a marketplace to sell her products, Cayuga, Ont., beaded jewellery designer Amye Annett-Werner got the idea to package all their offerings together into a seasonal subscription box that would include a rotating roster of other Indigenous artists. Together with Ojibway/Ashkenazi actress Sarah Podemski, who makes modern dreamcatchers, and Mohawk Baltic amber jewellery maker Shelby Johnson, they launched the Offering Box last October and sold out for both winter and spring.
This would not have come to be without the pandemic, Ms. Johnson said. “COVID has really shown me that I need to do what is important to me. I don’t know whether others who have started their own businesses beading, carving soapstone or woodworking feel the same way, but it’s almost as if, right now, our natural abilities are coming to us,” she said.
The jobs lost during the pandemic – 355,000 in Ontario in 2020 alone – have led people to look for other sources of income. For some Indigenous people, it’s a good time to join the rising tide of support for Indigenous, female-owned, local businesses, Ms. Annett-Werner said.
“It’s sad that it is coming out of a time like this, but I do think it’s a great opportunity,” she said.
Subscription boxes became trendy in 2010, but store closings and stay-at-home orders have helped accelerate their growth during the pandemic, with consumers signing up for curated boxes devoted to everything from cured meats to Korean beauty products. Subscribers sign up for the year, and boxes are delivered on either a monthly or quarterly basis. Sometimes individual boxes are for sale, without having to lock into a long-term commitment.
Since they launched their first box, they’ve arranged in-person pickups within their community and mailed out to the Toronto area, the United States and internationally. Each box costs $98 plus shipping, and they want them to remain affordable.
Early in the pandemic, Nehiyaw Iskwew entrepreneur Mallory Yawnghwe launched Indigenous Box, a subscription box containing five to seven Indigenous-made items. The first box went on sale on March 14, 2020, with subscriptions at $299 for the year or $81.99 for a single box. It sold out in the first four days. She restocked and doubled the number of boxes – and sold out within 24 hours. For the summer, she has quadrupled the number of boxes, though Ms. Yawnghwe declined to reveal the exact count.
The Edmonton-based entrepreneur got into the subscription box game because she’d purchased boxes before and always thought, “There should be an Indigenous version of this.” She’s hoping to spread the message to non-Indigenous audiences that Indigenous people also participate in commercial activities. And she wants her Indigenous customers to feel like VIPs, especially during a pandemic.
“People are needing just a little bit of surprise, discovery and something to treat themselves while they’re at home,” she said. “The pandemic has allowed for us to create something using only an e-commerce platform that can reach people.”
She’d seen a few other Indigenous boxes, but “they were all centred around culture and teaching people about who we are,” she said. “I love that idea and I think that it’s needed, but I thought our people [could] support Indigenous entrepreneurship without having to push our culture and our traumas, because I’m a huge believer that our culture is not a commodity.”
The past few years have seen a flurry of bath and beauty products from Indigenous women, made with natural ingredients and environmentally conscious packaging, Ms. Yawnghwe said. She’s looking to include homemade soaps, shampoo bars and other items made by Indigenous entrepreneurs, including food such as smoked dry meat.
Indigenous Box has two streams of business; one has hundreds of boxes going out to individual customers, while the other serves corporate and non-profit clients. Ms. Yawnghwe has created custom boxes for corporations to offer gifts on National indigenous Peoples Day, as well as for universities and their Indigenous graduates.
“We’re participating in commerce,” she said. “I think that now is the time to discover Indigenous business.”
Indigenous peoples contribute more than $30-billion a year to Canada’s GDP, and the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business forecasts this number will grow to $100-billion by 2024.
That kind of expansion is evident in the subscription box business. Raven Reads, the Kamloops-based Indigenous book and giftware subscription box, launched well before the pandemic, but over the past year company founder and CEO Nicole McLaren has moved into a new warehouse and fulfilment centre. She needed it for her growing business and to have more space for COVID-19 safety protocols.
Originally launched in 2017 in Ms. McLaren’s basement, with fewer than 100 subscribers, Raven Reads now has a team of eight working out of the 2,000-square-foot warehouse to send out its seasonal boxes to more than 3,000 global subscribers.
“[The pandemic] forced us to adjust our cash flow to allow us to purchase our goods much sooner than usual,” she said by e-mail. “COVID-19 also prevented us from utilizing extra help and volunteers for packing our boxes in our previous location.”
They also faced major disruptions to their supply chain – just like most companies – and have had to expand the team virtually to improve procurement timelines.
“We are still struggling with lengthy shipping times both in terms of receiving our products and shipping boxes to our customers,” she said. “Unfortunately, once freight or parcels are in transit, it can be next to impossible to speed it or track it down at times, which leaves us at the mercy of the carrier.”
The company continues to pivot, offering a new digital platform for its subscribers this month that will have exclusive content, digital media and discount codes from partners. Ms. McLaren sees it as something to offer customers between shipping times, which can include lengthy delays.
Meanwhile, Ms. Yawnghwe finds that having launched an Indigenous subscription box during a pandemic has brought her a lot of light and joy.
“We get stories through our social media and e-mails of how much happiness it’s brought to people,” she said. “We’re placing orders with entrepreneurs across Canada and we’re helping them at a time when their sales have dropped because markets and storefronts are closed, and it’s one little extra boost that makes a small difference.”


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PS5’s Price Reportedly Leaked In Recent Amazon Store Listing
It’s being reported that the upcoming PS5’s price may have been leaked in a recent Amazon store listing and it looks like it’ll be expensive.
The PS5 is going to be coming out later this year, and it looks like we might now know how much it might cost.
It was never going to be ‘cheap’, yet it sounds like it might end up being really expensive.
There’s a bit of an issue when gaming consoles end up costing over £500.
I remember when the PS3 first came out. Sony was so confident in their product and believe everyone would buy it regardless that they ended up making it way too expensive.
We’re now hearing that they might end up doing the same thing with their upcoming PS5.
PS5’s price might have been leaked in a store listing
According to a recent leak from Hotukdeals, the new PlayStation 5 might end up cost almost £600.
They shared an Amazon Store listing for something called “2020 Dummy ASIN Sony PS5 1 1TB”.
Now, this could all be absolute rubbish, however, these sorts of things have happened in the past.
Prices of new products have been leaked via Amazon Store listings, and given how powerful this new machine will be, then maybe £600 might not seem like a lot.
What do you make of this news?
Are you going to be buying the PS5 when it comes out later this year?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.


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Android 11 release date
The 11th major edition of the Android mobile operating system was released to the public on September 08. Previously, to name the Android operating system, various desserts were used in English alphabetical order, but in the last version of Android, the tradition was abandoned. Accordingly, we know that the now older version of Android, which was released to the public on September 3 last year, has been named Android 10. Additionally, the new android version now available is called android 11 (www.android.com).
Read more about; Mailspring Review 2020
Android 11 Developer preview (beta version)
latest android version
Accordingly, the first version was released on February 19 as a photo showing the action on a Google Pixel smartphone. The second edition was presented on March 18th. The third edition was presented on April 23rd. The fourth development version of this year’s android operating system will be released on May 06.
The edition will then be presented to the public at the Google Software Development Conference (events.google.com/io), where Google unveils its design. Due to the Covid epidemic, the conference was held online this time, and due to the social unrest caused by the death of George Floyd, a black man in the United States, the public release of the Android 11 operating system was delayed. Accordingly, the first trial version was released on June 10, the second on July 08, another intermediate version (Beta 2.5) on July 22, and the third beta version on August 6.
Have you tried “Android 11 beta”?
What are the new features coming on Android 11?
Android 11 has just been released as the latest version to detect and fix bugs in various new applications released in beta versions. As before, the Android 11 version has been released by adding a number of features to the previous Android 10 version. Here are some of the ones I found to be interesting:
Check also; Mailbird Review 2020
01. Android 11 notifications
In the Android 10 operating system, the notification list is not displayed in any order of precedence. But in the new android 11 operating system, notifications are categorized into three modes. (Conversation, Alerting, and Silent). This way, notifications or messages received through apps like Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook, etc. can be categorized according to the priority of their friends.
02. Android 11 chat bubbles
The update of the Android 11 operating system has been prioritized to facilitate communication. Chat bubbles is another similar application. In the Facebook Messenger service, we know that all conversations are displayed in a ‘bubble’. But now in android 11, you can get a chat bubble for whatever app you are used to chit-chat.
03. Android 11 Screen recorder
Although there are various apps to record activity on the screen, Android 11 has a screen recorder feature that can be used instead of all of them. Commands can be set here in advance as to whether the voice, as well as the work on the screen, should be recorded or not.
04. Android 11 media controls
We know that the music player app in the android 10 version is displayed at the top of the notification drawer. But in android 11, the app drawer is reserved for dialogs, so media controls have been added to the quick settings as an app. When you enter the notification drawer, the media controller displays the small app icon. You can go through it and work with Media Control in detail.
05. Android 11 smart device control
The Android 11 operating system now supports smart home devices that can be controlled by an app, now used at home. There, even if the app is running on the smartphone, all the buttons needed to work, such as turning on the light bulbs, opening the door locks, activating security cameras, etc. are displayed in one place. These buttons appear when the power button on the smartphone is pressed and held for a while.
06. Android 11 dark theme scheduling
Dark themes are the ones that darken every screen on the smartphone, such as apps, calendars, photos, etc., instead of the bright parts. Instead of selecting this dork theme feature for the app, the Android 11 operating system provides the ability to pre-plan and activate it at any time of the day.
07. Android 11 wireless android auto
Normally you can use the android auto feature to access the services of the android operating system on the navigation screen of the vehicle. For that, the android phone had to be connected to the vehicle with a cable. But now with the Android 11 operating system, the wireless system can get android auto support.
08. Android 11 voice access
The Android 10 operating system has the ability to activate the phone with its voice commands, but the commands had to be given in a specific voice command. For example, if the Twitter app needs to be activated, pronounce it ‘Tap 4’. But now in Android 11, you can use common terms like ‘Open Twitter’ and so on.
How can I install Android 11 Preview?
How do I install Android 11 on mobile?
Initially, the google nexus and google pixel phones will receive the Android 11 version update. For other phone models, the update will come later. That’s because phone manufacturers need to develop the latest version of Android to fit their phone models. If Android version 11 has been released for your phone model and it is not updated automatically, you can go to Android> System> Advanced> System Update and update it.
Read more about; Audio mp3 cutter mix converter apk


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Well that didn’t take long. Halfway into their big 15 importers in 15 days campaign, Posterous has managed to make one of their competitors very angry. Twitpic is so angry, in fact, that they’re blocking the service and threatening legal action.
This morning, Posterous introduced their new “Rescue your photos from TwitPic” tool — a one-click way to import your photos from Twitpic over to your Posterous blog. This is the same type of importer Posterous has already made for Ning, Vox, Tumblr and a host of other services — as I said, they’re about halfway through the 15 of these tools they intend to make.
The idea, of course, is that if they make it easy enough to get your existing content on to Posterous, they think you’ll like their service so much that you’ll permanently switch. Twitpic, doesn’t like that idea one bit.
According to Posterous, Twitpic had some idea such a tool might be coming and sent a letter last Thursday threatening to sue the company if they launched it. “Their claims are completely bogus,” Posterous co-founder Sachin Agarwal tells us. “Posterous is simply acting as an agent to the user who owns the photos. We authenticate the user’s Twitter credentials and then download the images on their behalf,” he continues.
“Our lawyer sent a response to TwitPic this morning indicating that we aren’t breaking any laws here, but simply giving users a way to access their own photos and then decide which service they like best. Nevertheless, TwitPic banned our servers within a couple hours of the importer launch,” Agarwal says.
Twitpic has since responded to that letter from Posterous. We’ve had a chance to see them all. Twitpic seems most concerned about Posterous’ methods for accessing this data. The user privacy issue is brought up a number of times — and they also wonder if Posterous isn’t access Twitpic “trade secrets” with this importer.
“We are simply using their public RSS feed to pull images on the user’s behalf. There are no privacy violations here,” Agarwal says.
Twitpic says they’re not going to stop users from exporting their data, but prefer users do so manually, rather than with the use of this tool. Of course, if this really is just pulling the pictures through users’ RSS feeds, it’s hard to argue that this tool is anymore more than useful for people who are looking to switch. Plenty of other blogging sites offer similar import tools.


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AMT Goes Fairtrade
The Oxford Mail report how the coffee chain set up by three students from Oxford Brookes has switched to 100% Fairtrade coffee – including it’s branches at Oxford Railway station.
County Hall Switches to Fairtrade
The Oxford Mail report on how County Hall is following the lead of Oxford City Council by using Fairtrade Tea and Coffee in all meetings.
Ethnical Fashion event for Fairtrade Fortnight
The Ethnical Fashion Forum event for World Fair Trade Day in the Vaults and Garden’s gets coverage in the Oxford Mail. A follow up article profiled Oxford as a centre of Fair Trade Fashion.
Fairtrade at Children’s Food Fair
Fairtrade products got a clear mention in many of the Oxford Mail’s articles about the first ever Oxford Children’s Food Fair.
Fairtrade Food Photos Exhibition at Oxford school
An exhibition by Oxford Community School of photos showing celebrities modelling Fairtrade Foods gains coverage in the Oxford Mail.
Monkey Business for Fairtrade Fortnight
A few column inches are given over to publicity stunt by staff at the Co-op in Headington for Fairtrade Fortnight and other Fairtrade Events are featured in the diary of the Bicester Advertiser.
IFAT Flag comes to Oxford
The Oxford Mail feature news of the IFAT flag arriving in Oxford after traveling around 50 countries.
Oxford Teenagers Promote Fairtrade Fashion
Coverage of the Fairtrade element of a young enterprise project makes it into a story in the Oxford Mail.
A Fairtrade themed harvest service in Headington is promoted in the Oxford Times.
Students on Ethnical Adventure
The Oxford Mail profiles students involved in a Channel 4 project which takes them to India to find out about ethical trade.
One World Fair
The 2007 One World Fair is promoted in the Oxford Mail.
Local Fairtrade Business Profiled
Kerry Li’s ground breaking Fair Trade project working with Chinese producers is profiled with an in depth article in the Oxford Times.
Fairtrade Wine Club
The Oxford Times wine club feature Fairtrade Wines as part of a series on New Years Resolutions.
No Fairtrade Easter Eggs?
A reader of the Oxford Mail points out the lack of Fairtrade Chocolate at Easter and highlights the idea of opting for Fairtrade at Easter.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2008
The Oxford Mail discuss upcoming national events for Fairtrade Fortnight.
Fairtrade Fortnight: Brazil Nut Focus
The Oxford Mail focus on the wide range of products available during Fairtrade Fortnight and beyond – with an in-depth discussion of Brazil Nut producers.
Fairtrade or Food Miles
The Oxford Times include a discussion piece on Fairtrade and Food Miles with contributions from Oxfam.
Fortnight a Great Success
The Oxford Times publish a readers account of the events during Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 – including key statistics about the Fairtrade market and where shoppers can get new own-brand Fairtrade ranges.
Fairtrade Bannana Cake Recipe
The Oxford Times feature a Fairtrade Bannana Cake receipe.
Towards a Fairtrade Diocese
The Oxford Times cover moves to make OXford a Fairtrade Diocese with an in-depth article.
Cheney School bid for Fairtrade Status
Cheney School’s bid for Fairtrade Status is covered in this Oxford Times article on it’s new specialist school status.
Student Designed Fairtrade Bags on Sale
The Witney Gazette feature news of Fair Trade Bags, designed by a college student from Oxford on sale in Oxford (and in London’s Top Shop)
Tug of War for Fairtrade
Student campaigners stage an unfair Tug of War on Broad Street.
Hertford becomes a Fairtrade College (Feb 2008)
Oxford University’s support for ethical trade gained ground this week after Hertford announced that it had officially become a Fairtrade College. It is the third Oxford college to be given Fairtrade status from the Fairtrade Foundation, after Linacre and Wadham.


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AMENDMENTS TO THE TECHNICAL REGULATION TR CU 010/2011
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation is developing amendments to the technical regulation “On the safety of machinery and equipment” (TR CU 010/2011) regarding the inclusion of electronic means of individual mobility (EMIM – electric scooter, electric skateboard, gyro scooter, segway, unicycle) to the list of mandatory certification.
According to organizers of International Industry Conference of Micromobility, the state standard GOST R 70514-2022 “Electric means of individual mobility. Technical requirements and test methods” recently entered into force, can be included in the list of standards that ensure compliance with the requirements of TR CU 010/2011. For security purposes, requirements for EMIM will become mandatory, and manufacturers will be required to certify their products.
Pursuant to industry representatives, there are still no laboratories in the Russian Federation that can conduct research and have the equipment necessary for these purposes.


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The International Wine Challenge has announced the dates for this year's Discovery Tasting, which showcases wines entered into the IWC competition that do not yet have UK distribution. The event is on 2 May at The Barbican in London.
2006 gin vintage
Blackwood Distillers has launched its 2006 Vintage Dry Gin. For the first time lime has been added.
Brut Reserve bottles and magnums of Champagne Tattinger will be melted and moulded in homage to Salvador Dalí's melting clocks for the opening event of the new exhibition on Surrealism and Design at the V&A .
Vineyards Direct has launched Les Mines Priorat 2000, from Priorat - one of Spain smallest wine-growing regions. A blend of Carignan and Grenache, the wine retails at £13.50 a bottle.


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NOVI—The specialty vehicle manufacturer Shyft Group Inc. announced net income of $7.6 million or 21 cents a share in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to a loss of $27.8 million or 78 cents a share in the same quarter of 2019. Revenue was $171.6 million, down from $180 million a year earlier.
The loss a year ago was caused by a $42 million loss from discontinued operations. The company divested its emergency response business effective Feb. 1, 2020.
For the full year, net income was $32.8 million or 91 cents a share, compared to a loss of #12.6 million or 36 cents a share in 2019. Revenue was $676 million, down from $756.5 million a year earlier. The company said sales for 2019 include $91.4 million of pass-through revenues from a one-time truck body order from the U.S. Postal Service. Excluding the USPS order, sales rose $10.9 million or 1.6 percent. The company also noted a gross margin of 21.6 percent of sales in 2020, up from 15.5 percent in 2019, as the company focused on higher-margin products.
The company also posted income from continuing operations of $38.3 million or $1.05 a share, up from $36.8 million or $1.03 a share a year earlier. For the fourth quarter, income from continuing operations was $8.3 million, or 22 cents a share, down from $14.3 million, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier.
The company’s order backlog as of Dec. 31 was $478.4 million, up 42 percent from $336.6 million a year earlier.
“By all accounts, 2020 proved to be a historic and transformative year for The Shyft Group, as we strategically aligned our product portfolio to take advantage of more profitable growth markets after the sale of the ER business,” said Daryl Adams, president and CEO. “I am incredibly proud and appreciative of the tremendous efforts of our entire team. Throughout 2020, we rose to the challenge to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related plant disruptions to meet customer demand, while ending the year with nearly $500 million in backlog. We emerge from 2020 in a stronger position, well equipped to drive growth in each of our businesses for years to come.”
Sales in the fleet vehicles and services segment fell 14.8 percent to $490.5 million during the year. In the specialty vehicles segment, sales were $185.5 million, down slightly from last year’s $185.9 million.
The company said it expects full-year 2021 revenue of $850 million to $900 million, and net income of $51 million to $58 million, or $1.42 to $1.62 a share.
To listen to a replay of a conference call discussing these results, visit www.theshyftgroup.com/webcasts.
Shyft Group brands include Utilimaster, Royal Truck Body, DuraMag, Magnum, Strobes-R-Us, Spartan RV Chassis, and Builtmore Contract Manufacturing. The company has about 3,000 employees in plants and offices in Michigan, Indiana, Maine, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Florida, Missouri, California, Arizona, Texas, and Saltillo, Mexico.


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Ford, among America’s greatest automobile business, is slowly presenting more electrical cars into its lineup. Simply recently, the business revealed its battery technique to produce 600,000 EVs by2023 It has likewise invested $114 billion to develop a mega school referred to as Blue Oval City to make electrical automobiles. If things work out, Ford anticipates electrical cars to contribute a minimum of 40% of its overall domestic sales by 2030.
In an effort to cover all the bases, Ford is making electrical cars for the authorities. The car manufacturer offers over 50% of police car in the U.S. ( through CNBC), and as it’s going electrical, it plans to keep it that method. Today, the business has exposed the information of its next electrical car lineup specifically developed for the cops.
It might be the fastest speeding up police cars
When the Ford F-150 Police Responder was evaluated by the Michigan State Police in their authorities 2020 Model Year Police Vehicle Evaluation, it attained a record of no to 60 miles per hour in 5.43 seconds and it was the fastest speeding up squad cars in the test. In test outcomes from the 2021 Model Year Police Vehicle Evaluation from the Michigan State Police, the design year 2020 Ford F-150 Police Responder (3.5 L EcoBoost) went from absolutely no to 60 in 6.61 seconds. Their tests revealed a 2021 Ford Police Interceptor Utility (3.0 L EcoBoost AWD) striking no to 60 in a simple 5.75 seconds: the fastest in the pack.
In the most current edition of this series of tests, the 2022 Model Year Police Vehicle Evaluation, a 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E AWD took the crown with a no to 60 time of simply 4.03 seconds. The design year 2022 Ford F-150 Police Responder (3.5 L EcoBoost) took 2nd location with a no to 60 time of 5.79 seconds. Ford assures that its electrical pickup for the authorities will speed up from absolutely no to 60 miles per hour in under 4 seconds. If it provides, it might be the brand-new fastest squad car on the roadway.
The very first electrical pickup for the authorities
After developing a Mustang Mach-E for the authorities, Ford is now concentrating on a brand-new Ford F-150 Lightning alternative referred to as the “Pro Special Service Vehicle” which will be the very first electrical pickup for the cops. It’s developed with the exact same functions that you will discover in the Ford F-150 Police Responder such as steel invasion plates, sturdy police-grade fabric seats, and LED cautioning beacons on the roofing. It likewise consists of a 12- inch digital dash screen and another 12- inch center console touchscreen screen.
Of course, it will feature the most recent Ford innovation such as the SYNC 4 that can assist policeman gain access to services utilizing voice acknowledgment. We likewise anticipate it to consist of the Ford Co-Pilot360 that makes it much safer for the chauffeur. Ford states that all Ford-150 Lightning Pro SSV designs might be linked to the cops department’s fleet of cars to conserve time and lower the upkeep expense.
The Ford-150 Lightning Pro SSV will be readily available in 2 variations with basic and prolonged variety batteries. The basic variety battery variation will have 452 hp, a pulling capability of 7,700 pounds, and 775 lb-ft. of torque, and an optimum payload of 2,235 pounds. On the other hand, the prolonged variety battery version will feature 580 hp, a pulling capability of 10,000 pounds, and 775 lb-ft. of torque. Ford hasn’t revealed the battery variety of the Ford-150 Lightning Pro SSV however it will expose more information this summertime.


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The digital age offers new business opportunities to the growing number of e-commerce start-ups, but these companies need to do homework on rules and restrictions that could derail their businesses, said an executive of FedEx Express.
Karen Reddington, FedEx president for Asia Pacific, noted that Asia Pacific is tipped to become the leading region for e-commerce sales in 2015, making up just over a third of the global total and just slightly larger than the North American e-commerce market. It becomes simple to set up websites, source or make products, then start taking online orders. Much of that growth is coming from small to mid-sized businesses (SMEs) who can now participate and help drive global trade in ways well beyond their individual size and stature.
“Most problems that slow down the movement of goods are regulatory – whether it’s different laws or different procedures or different processing times from market to market,” she said.
International business groups are all looking to simplify border procedures and reduce barriers to trade, including raising the de minimis value at which goods attract duty and taxes. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) says a global baseline de minimis value of at least US$200 would generate huge economic benefits, and says governments should strive for a much higher de minimis value of US$ 1,000. That’s a long way from the current level in the EU, for example, where only commercial shipments below 22 euros have no duty and VAT collected.
Some restrictions are purely about quarantine.
Here are some rules and restrictions that could easily catch out some of Asia’s growing number of e-commerce start-ups:
– Australia has import prohibitions on meat products, as well as milk (unless it’s from New Zealand), and does not allow the import of gift hampers containing fresh fruit, unpopped popcorn, or nuts.
– China doesn’t allow import of beef and beef products originating from the US, while Germany does not permit the import of green or black tea from China,
Singapore prohibits the import of chewing gum unless it’s of the oral dental and medicated kind, in which case it must be licensed.
– Edible insects have always been part of some cultures, including in Asia, but now they are set to go mainstream. With the world population expected to surge to 9 billion people by 2050, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations now sees insects as one solution to food security issues in the next 30 years. Belgium approved 10 insects for human consumption in 2014, but many other EU countries have yet to follow their culinary lead. So too in Asia, China does not allow processed or unprocessed insects to be imported.
– Packaging is another important aspect, as is safety. For instance, bans on wooden packing material trip up many small companies, who aren’t aware of the quarantine issues associated with containers or the goods they carry.
– The surge in global use of electronic cigarettes has not been without business headaches for their makers and importers. Hong Kong, for one, prohibits their importation unless prior approval has been granted by FedEx Hong Kong Operations, Sales and Trade Services; while Singapore lists e-cigarettes among its general prohibited items.
– Singapore also bans cigarette lighters in the shape of pistols or revolvers, and Malaysia prohibits the import of pens, pencils and other articles resembling syringes.
– The US bans the import of Kinder Chocolate Eggs – because the Italian chocolate treats contain small inedible toys deemed dangerous for children.
– France prohibits the import of rubber erasers that are similar in appearance to food products that could easily be ingested. It also bans the import of imitation pearls which have a coating of lead salts, as well as pyjamas and other nightwear made of artificial fibres that are not fire-retardant.
– Merchandise produced by convict, forced or indentured labour cannot enter the US, nor can products made by prisoners be exported to China or the UK.
– The UK prohibits the import of animal hair and wool, while articles containing dog or cat fur cannot be imported into the US. There’s also an EU-wide ban on the commercial import of all seal, walrus and sea lion products.
– Malaysia does not allow all the import of any cloth bearing the imprint or reproduction of any verses of the Quran.
– China bans any printed matter, films, photos, records, audio and video tapes, VCDs, computer storage media and other commodities which are harmful to China’s politics, economy, culture or ethics.
– Indonesia has similar requirements, banning any materials that are anti- Muslim in nature or that promote communism. It also prohibits import of any articles on which Chinese characters appear.
“These are just some examples of the thousands of country-specific restrictions that can make international shipping difficult… Recent research for the global express industry shows that the high costs of keeping up with these requirements can actually hamper e-commerce, and even risk the survival of SMEs. So doing your homework now, and keeping up with restrictions in your preferred markets, will save a lot of pain and money in the future,” Reddington noted.


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"We dont have a fake news problem, we have an issue with getting advertisers to understand the value of credible trusted news versus an audience, which is playing to the hands of the distributors."
Dominic Carter, chief commercial officer at News
Over the past five years, “fake news” has become an increasingly popular phrase thanks to Donald Trump’s use of it. But searches for fake news peaked in March 2020 showing that people still feel the threat of misinformation, especially in this COVID era.
Digital marketing has changed the way we consume marketing. 52% of all online brand discovery happens in public social feed. That is a lot of content people are seeing and trying to work out what they can believe is real and what is fake news. Trying to gain consumers trust during this time of fake news is a struggle. However, using direct mail to advertise to your customers can be a great way to gain trust while avoiding of the rising distrust of social media.
Trusted News Sources
45% of the British public believe they encounter fake news online every single day. A way of getting your consumers to trust you more is to invest more in alternative marketing methods , as the public are suspicious of most things they see online. If you provide valuable content then the customer will have a more enjoyable experience with your brand, building up that essential relationship that starts to create trust.
Dominic Carter, chief commercial officer at News UK said, “We don’t have a fake news problem, we have an issue with getting advertisers to understand the value of credible trusted news versus an audience, which is playing to the hands of the distributors.”
Direct mail is a trusted news source compared to what people see online. People will believe in the value of post mailed out rather than random sponsored ads they have seen on their social media.
Interacting with Your Customer Using Post
There is something you encounter most days, and that is your post. Whether you trip over it or the dog has chewed it, you see it every day. So, think of the coverage your brand could be getting, being seen in every household. Mail is not just something you can scroll past and forget about like social media posts; it is there already in your consumers’ households, and they have to interact with it. The mail brings a sense of trust to your brand as people believe that traditional forms of media are more trustworthy than online mediums. Having your brand already visible as a trusted form of advertising can be so valuable for your brand.
Do You Read Every Email in Your Inbox?
Our inboxes are bombarded with emails every day. Most of these emails are neglected promotional materials from shops a customer may have used once years ago. However, when you see the post every day there is no way of avoiding it. Having that physical form put through the door gets your brand into the house without having to hope that your posts get opened instead of deleted out of an inbox. Getting random junk emails can be the same as seeing fake news to consumers, and they will interact with it in the same way—with suspicion and not taking much notice of it.
Taking the time to have your advertisement posted through people’s doors using a mailing service rather than just creating an email or social media posts creates a relationship with the consumer without having to wonder if your online advertising has reached the correct people.
Fake news is a major worry for people. They are not believing what they see online as much as they used to. But, by using the traditional media of mail, people can have a closer relationship with your brand. Utilising a trusted form of advertising (like direct mail) is clearly beneficial in the age of fake news and will help you stand out from the digital crowd.”


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By opening as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, stores drew plenty of protests and petitions from legions of consumers, who pleaded with retailers like Walmart and Target to keep the holiday from becoming just another day to shop. For the most part, retailers didn’t listen—and neither did shoppers.
Take, for example, the insights of one consumer quoted in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story, who had this to say of Thanksgiving night shopping:
“I hate it,” said Michelle Huff, of the Beaufort area, waiting in line outside a Toys R Us in Sunset Hills that opened about 15 minutes ahead of its planned 8 p.m. opening to let shoppers escape the falling rain. “It cuts into family time.”
Huff said she prefers the midnight and 5 a.m. openings so she can go out when her children are asleep. But she came out nonetheless for the 8 p.m. opening. “It’s something I like to do,” she said. “It’s a tradition.”
Let’s ponder this: She hates how Thanksgiving hours ruin the holiday for families—but not to the extent that she’ll actually stay home with her family. Instead, she comes out whenever it is that the stores decide to open, ready to spend on “door buster” deals and perhaps a few other unplanned purchases that come across her line of sight. Stores will take this kind of “hate” any day of the week (including, obviously, Thanksgiving Thursday). For retailers, what matters isn’t what shoppers say or how they feel, but what they actually do and, most importantly, what they buy.
In the case of multi-day shopping spree that is Black Friday weekend, shoppers turned out in full force and bought quite a bit. National Retail Federation data indicates that 247 million Americans went shopping online and/or in physical stores over Black Friday weekend, up from 226 million last year. On Thanksgiving itself, upwards of 35 million consumers hit the stores or visited retailer websites to make purchases, up from 29 million on Thanksgiving 2011. The average shopper spent more too over Black Friday weekend of this year: $423, compared to $398 in 2011.
Even so, there are arguments to be made that expanding Black Friday into Thanksgiving may not be entirely in retailers’ best interests, and not only because the added hours ruin family time. Thanksgiving night hours steal some of the thunder (and sales) away from Black Friday. For the entire weekend stores also seem to increasingly be serving as mere showrooms, where shoppers can inspect the goods in person so that they can later purchase them with confidence, and at a much cheaper price. According to ShopperTrak research, foot traffic in stores was up 3.5% on Black Friday, and yet in-store sales were down 1.8%, giving credence to the theory that many shoppers were there just for the purposes of browsing and “showrooming.”
By putting time, effort, and money into adding Thanksgiving hours and exhibiting hot gift items in elaborate, interactive holiday displays, stores may, in fact, be helping to boost sales for the competition online.
For now at least, things look good for retailers. As the Associated Press put it, the holiday shopping season is off to a record start, thanks to early season promotions (expanded layaway, toy reservation programs, and more) and strong sales over Black Friday weekend. The question, though, is whether the momentum will continue.
In the same way that Black Friday sales have been hurt by sales on Thanksgiving night, the latter part of the holiday season may suffer from a sales slump directly because sales have been so robust in November. By the second or third week of December—normally when holiday shopping reaches its heights—consumers may have their lists completed, or simply be out of money to spend.
Retail executives quoted in a Wall Street Journal story said that opening on Thanksgiving night was absolutely a smart move:
“Our guests stayed longer and shopped more of the store, so the initial reaction is that it was the right thing,” said Sid Keswani, senior vice president of Target’s Southwest region.
Wal-Mart said that shoppers who came for “door-buster” deals on electronics and toys stayed to snap up housewares.
Yet the thrust of this WSJ story is that a strong start to holiday sales does not necessarily indicate a strong overall season for retailers. Some wonder whether the focus on early sales, and on Black Friday weekend in particular, will sabotage retail sales for the season as a whole:
“I fear we are conditioning the customer to shop only on this one weekend,” said John Abt, co-owner of Abt Electronics, a large independent electronics retailer based in Glenview, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.
From the consumer point of view, slumping sales toward the middle and the end of December could mean a bonanza of deals. If retailers anticipate the possibility of being stuck with too much inventory as December 25 approaches, the discounts will be dramatic, perhaps even blowing away the best prices seen on Black Friday. By that point, however, the family holiday gift budget may have already been maxed out.


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The economic and financial crisis in Angola has particularly affected the hotel industry, with hotels experiencing a fall in revenues of around 80%, driving many of them to bankruptcy, said on Tuesday in Luanda the president of the Association of Hotels and Resorts of Angola (AHRA).
Armindo César, speaking at a meeting on “Taxes applied to the hotel business”, carried out in partnership with the General Tax Administration, said that the crisis has seriously affected hotel units in the country since 2014.
“There is currently a sharp fall in occupancy rates for hotels, with many units operating below 20% of their capacity,” said the president of AHRA, adding that there are many establishments whose occupancy rate does not exceed 5.0%.
Cited by Angolan news agency Angop, Armindo César stressed that the situation worsened with the small number of tourists, resulting, in particular, “from the bureaucracy in granting entry visas into the country to foreigners.”
Given the seriousness of the situation, he said, the hotel units have lost capacity to honour the commitments made with the banking system, and there are currently bad credit situations, with huge complications for the sector.
Just as they cannot honor commitments with financiers and suppliers, hotels also say they are struggling to pay their tax obligations on time.
This situation has a greater impact on small units in the interior of the country, in suburban and rural areas, César said. (macauhub)


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2015 Toyota Prius V
Toyota is recalling 5,000 Prius V models over a faulty passenger-side airbag sensor that may not detect a passenger in the event of an accident.
The Toyota Prius V is the most utilitarian member of the Prii family with a big jump in cargo space over the rest but maintaining the great fuel economy. For the 2015 model year, the company is giving the wagon an update with a big shift in front end styling and upgraded taillights to go with the revised look. Inside, customers also get a little new technology, as well.
Toyota has unveiled a mid-cycle refresh of its seven-passenger, UK-market Prius +, known here in the US as the five-passenger Prius V. The revised hybrid MPV now boasts looks inspired by Toyota's more aggressive compact stylings as seen on its new Yaris and Aygo – particularly in th


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Dubai’s Emirates announced a new four times weekly service to Miami, Florida and Dubai, from July 22, 2021. The addition of service to Miami will expand the Emirates US network to 12 destinations.
Emirates will now serve the US with over 70 weekly flights, offering over 26000 seats across 12 destinations. The 12 Gateways include Boston, Chicago, New York (JFK and Newark), Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC and Orlando.
As Travel demand and consumer confidence continue to grow with the multi-faceted health measures in place, the new route will boost tourism and trade opportunities.
His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Chairman and Chief Executive said: “Launching a non-stop service to Miami at this time signals our confidence in travel recovery as countries progress on their vaccination programmes and implement protocols for the safe resumption of flight and travel activity, particularly in the US and the UAE. It also underscores our strong commitment to the US market which Emirates now serves with over 70 weekly flights across 12 gateways.
“There is a clear demand for this service from both leisure and business travellers and we anticipate that our new route will be warmly received across our global network, as well as by travellers in Southern Florida, South America and the Caribbean who can conveniently access Dubai and our wider network via Miami’s many air service connections. We look forward to facilitating even more tourism and commerce opportunities to and from Florida with this new route, and to providing our customers with the award-winning Emirates experience.”
Flights to/from Miami will operate four times weekly on Emirates’ three-class Boeing 777-300ER, offering eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class, and 304 spacious seats in Economy Class. Emirates flight EK213 will depart Dubai (DXB) at 03:10hrs, arriving in Miami (MIA) at 11:00hrs while the return flight EK214 will depart Miami at 21:10 hrs, arriving in Dubai at 19:35 hrs the next day.
|Flight||Departure Time||Arrival Time|
|EK213 – DXB MIA||03:10||11:00|
|EK214 – MIA DXB||21:10|| 19:35 |
Since it safely resumed tourism activity in July, Dubai remains one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations. Dubai is open for international business and leisure visitors and was one of the world’s first cities to obtain the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Safe Travels stamp. The Emirates airline has also recently introduced contactless technology to ease the customer journey through Dubai airport.
Knowing their safety and wellbeing are looked after, customers across all classes can enjoy more than 4,500 channels of entertainment on ice, the airline’s award-winning inflight entertainment system, along with regionally inspired gourmet meals.
Recently the Emirates airline took its customer care initiatives further with even more generous and flexible booking policies, an extension of its multi-risk insurance cover, and helping loyal customers retain their miles and tier status.
Call us for more details: 1-866-723-9393


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Smartwatches have been around for quite some time now, and despite the fact tons of companies already released such devices, they're still kind of a niche product. Smartwatches are somewhat popular in the tech community, but regular people don't use them all that much, and quite a few of them still reach weird when they spot a smartwatch on someone's hand. That might change in the coming years, of course, especially considering more and more companies look to join the smartwatch game.
Motorola, Huawei, Samsung, ASUS, LG… and a number of other companies have already released at least one smartwatch, and it seems like both Meizu and Xiaomi will join them soon enough. Meizu's smartwatch had surfaced a couple of times recently, and reports suggest that Xiaomi is going to launch their smartwatch really soon. In a report which surfaced at the beginning of June, an analyst suggested that such a watch will be announced soon, and since then, Xiaomi had added the smartwatch category to their website. Having that in mind, a China-based analyst, Pan Jiutang, just released some additional info regarding the company's smartwatch. The analyst said that the Xiaomi smartwatch will be quite affordable, he suggested that the watch will cost less than 1,000 Yuan ($150). He released this info via his official Weibo account, and he also suggested that the watch will be more affordable than what Garmin has to offer.
Unfortunately, Mr. Jiutang did not release any additional info, but judging by basically every piece of info we've seen recently, the Xiaomi smartwatch might be right around the corner, and will certainly arrive before the end of the year. We still do not know whether the watch will sport a circular or rectangular display, nor whether it will be a classy watch made out of metal, or a sporty smartwatch, but we do expect more info to surface soon. The company's smartwatch had been rumored for a long time now, and it seems like it might finally see the light of day. In any case, stay tuned to the site, we'll make sure to let you know when some additional info surfaces, as per usual.


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MPs who back this curfew need to be shown the door
A bar chain has banned MPs from its premises in protest against the 10pm curfew. Too right.
A bar chain has taken a brilliant swipe at the absurd 10pm curfew by banning all MPs from its premises.
Mojo, which runs bars in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham and Harrogate, announced the policy on social media, declaring to lawmakers: ‘You won’t serve us, so we won’t serve you!’
We call on our friends in pubs & restaurants across the country to join us in putting all the members of parliament on notice. Until they release our industry to trade/provide us with viable financial support, we will not serve them.#cancelthecurfew pic.twitter.com/4zrkp2pqyA
— MOJO (@MOJO_BAR) September 28, 2020
Earlier this week, it was revealed that while the government had called last orders on pubs for ordinary Brits, MPs were still able to get served in parliament’s bars beyond 10pm. They were sneakily classified as ‘workplace canteens’ and were therefore exempt. A public backlash has reversed this decision.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Mojo’s managing director, Martin Greenhow, said the curfew would spell ‘Armageddon’ for his chain of pubs. He said Mojo was ‘already on its knees’ before it came in, having lost 60 per cent of its capacity due to social-distancing and hygiene rules.
The hospitality industry has also launched a #CancelTheCurfew campaign to demand the reversal of the 10pm kick-out.
The curfew has dealt another devastating blow to a seriously troubled industry, putting jobs and livelihoods at risk. This absurd and pointless policy needs to be shown the door.
Picture by: Getty.
To enquire about republishing spiked’s content, a right to reply or to request a correction, please contact the managing editor, Viv Regan.


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The war between carbs and bread is dead.
Despite recent hype in popular media, UT experts crack down on the keto diet and say that a high-fat, low-carb diet may not be as effective as people think.
According to the website Healthline, the ketogenic or keto diet, a popular diet involving a high-fat, low-carb intake, can lead to 2.2 times more weight loss than a calorie-restricted low-fat diet. With this claimed weight loss, it is no surprise that people are setting aside their French toast and reaching for the bacon instead.
According to Lauren McGill, director of Nutrition for the Fitness Institute of Texas, the initial weight loss from the keto diet actually comes from the body burning glycogen, a form of glucose or sugar stored for later use, in the muscles and liver — not fat.
Weight loss in the first couple of days of someone reducing their carbohydrates isn’t actual fat loss, McGill added.
“People think that they’re gaining weight from eating carbohydrates, but really they’re just refueling their muscles and livers,” McGill said. “On the scale it may go up, but your actual body composition isn’t necessarily changing.”
According to McGill, people can effectively experience real weight loss if they sustain a low carbohydrate diet for longer periods of time, but oftentimes they are just cutting away refined sugars, which may not have been nutritious to begin with.
When people cut carbohydrates out completely, they’re shifting their overall eating pattern, and that’s where the sustained weight loss comes in, McGill added.
Limiting carbs may actually be harmful, according to Sarvenaz Vandyousefi, a UT graduate student in nutritional sciences and registered dietitian.
Vandyousefi said carbohydrates are one of the main fuels for the body and minimal carbohydrate intake may lead to deficiencies of nutrients such as calcium, iron, vitamin C and vitamin D.
“Unfortunately, diets and programs that promise a magical rapid weight loss are more appealing and attractive for people, but these diets are often unbalanced and deficient in certain nutrients and may be excessive in others,” Vandyousefi said. “Our body needs all the nutrients for the entire system to work.”
McGill said she agrees that cutting out carbohydrates can put people at risk for vitamin deficiencies.
“That’s not saying that it (the keto diet) can’t be done in a healthy way,” McGill said. “It’s just very difficult to make sure you’re getting all the nutrients you need, because you’re cutting out an entire food group.”
Taste of Science is a recurring column that discusses the science behind food and diet.


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Separate reports are revealing different pictures of how the industry is faring this year in the e-commerce world.
One national report shows average dealer online sales of parts, accessories and garments up 25 percent through October compared to the 10-month timeframe a year ago.
A different set of national data comparing this year’s third quarter to the year-ago period shows a sharp decline for industry online sales. The news from both reports — which are backed up by federal government data — is overall U.S. online retail sales are still trending upward, even if there is no such clear distinction for this industry.
“We’re definitely seeing a pick up in spending across the board,” said Mark Grondin, senior vice president of marketing for Shopatron, a San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based company that provides an e-commerce system to a number of different industries, including powersports.
“If you look at our overall numbers, our same store sales are up 32 percent in Q3 so consumers are spending more.”
That, however, has not been the case specifically with powersports industry sales, Grondin noted. Shopatron, which provides e-commerce opportunities for a number of manufacturers including Can-Am, Suzuki and a number of high-profile aftermarket brands, has seen its industry online sales decline in both the second and third quarters of this year. However, as Grondin noted, that hasn’t been the overall national picture. Plus, he said, it isn’t across the board in powersports. Some industry companies actually are faring better this year than a year ago.
Grondin noted one negative possibly affecting industry sales this year is a tough comparable — powersports was one of the better-performing industries for Shopatron’s online sales a year ago. That’s saying quite a lot as Shopatron handles brands in a number of retail markets, including electronics, home furnishings, the auto aftermarket and others.
A much brighter picture of online parts and accessory sales comes from Dominion Powersports Solutions, the parent company of e-commerce and website provider PowerSports Network. Through October, both the average number of orders and the average revenue per dealership is up over a year ago, said Gwyn Price, vice president of Dominion Powersports Solutions.
Perhaps word of mouth of those increases has led to more dealerships using e-commerce tools on their websites, something Dominion Powersports Solutions has seen this year.
“Even with all the competition out there, we reached our highest number of e-commerce dealers this year,” Price said.
The percentage of?PowerSports Network dealers who are using e-commerce has increased 18 percent since a year ago. Orders, per dealership, are up 2 percent over a year ago and revenue per store has increased 25 percent over 2009, Price said. Both of those increases are year-to-date numbers through October.
Consumers’ price-conscious ways are not limited to brick-and-mortar shops. The same mindset is carrying over to online shopping.
Doran Nurmi, product manager for website and e-commerce provider 50 Below, says they have noticed that trend in industry shoppers. Nurmi said the number of items consumers are placing in their online carts has increased but the total dollar amount they’re spending has slightly decreased.
That thrifty mindset also is noticeable in when they search for parts and accessories. 50 Below e-commerce sites allow consumers to search for products in a number of ways, including defining a price category. Nurmi says the most popular price category is right around $100.
National numbers from the federal government also show increased consumer interest in online shopping. The latest online data provided by the Department of Commerce — taken from the second quarter of this year — show online sales up 14 percent compared to a year ago. That is essentially double the rate of growth seen in overall retail sales growth.
As a whole, however, online sales still make up less than 5 percent of total U.S. retail sales, according to the federal government. But clearly the initial signs of increased consumer spending are showing up online. “November is looking to be a real banner November for us,” Grondin of Shopatron said, “and we haven’t really hit the Christmas spending yet.”
Copyright 2010 Powersports Business


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Media reports have been awash with talk of late as to which of the two confectionery giants will emerge as the winner in the bidding for Nestle’s US candy unit, which has brands including Butterfinger and Baby Ruth.
Reuters reported three unnamed sources as saying the deal could be signed off by the end of the week, with one adding Ferrero – the owner of Nutella spreads and Tic Tac sweets – raised its offer last week in an attempt to outbid Hershey. According to the news agency, Ferrero is seen as the most likely candidate to win the business.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg quoted a person familiar with the negotiations as saying Ferrero’s bid may amount to $2.8bn, with a deal likely to be signed off as early as Sunday.
“[Executive chairman] Giovanni Ferrero is really committed to the deal, that’s why the group sweetened its offer to something in the area of $2.5bn,” Reuters reported the one source as saying.
Both news companies said Ferrero and Hershey declined to comment.
In December, Nestle told just-food it expects the sale of its US confectionery unit to be agreed in the first three months of this year. CNBC reported earlier this week Ferrero and Hershey submitted their bids last Friday (5 January), with expectations that the deal would go through for around $2bn to $2.5bn.
Ferrero and Hershey have both in recent months used M&A to try to grow sales.