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There is no shortage of Kickstarter ideas in the Mojica household.
On the heels of his wife and daughter’s fundraiser for an eco-friendly leash in March, Englewood resident Mike Mojica launched his fifth Kickstarter campaign this month.
The serial entrepreneur and founder of survival gear startup Outdoor Element is raising money for his new camping product “Handled,” a tool that can be used as both a pot-gripper and a solution to recycling old fuel canisters.
The campaign, which still has 32 days to go, started on May 6 and reached its $9,540 funding goal in three days. As of Wednesday, it had raised $16,516 from 487 backers.
“A large percentage of the Kickstarter community are outdoor enthusiasts, and with their support, I am able to solidify my idea,” Mojica said. “I have also invited our buyers for different accounts to just watch the campaign, which helps them reduce their risk and gives me a little bit of validity.”
Mojica is always trying to find new ways to make the outdoor experience easier. He ran into trouble camping when he and his daughter burnt their hands on traditional camping pot handles. They also were unsure of how to dispose of their empty fuel canisters. Naturally, Mojica came up with a two-in-one solution.
Handled is 2.2 ounces and made from hard-anodized aluminum. When used as a pot-gripper, an extra part, which uses heat-resistant silicone tabs that allow you to safely grip your pot, is attached. It has a quick pivot-pin and cotter-pin assembly so users can transform the tool into a fuel canister disposal device in just a few seconds.
After canisters are used, they are still considered unsafe because the container is still pressurized. Recycle and waste management plants will not accept these items unless they are properly prepared before drop off. The Handled tool has a nut that screws on to the top of a canister, and uses a center stem to depress the Lindal valve and remove the remaining gas. It also has a puncture point to create holes in the canister and ensure the gas is completely gone.
“I sent out a survey to my Outdoor Element community about the fuel canisters and out of the more than 1,000 people who responded, 66 percent of them didn’t know you were supposed to dispose of them in a proper way,” Mojica said.
In addition to the Handled tool, Mojica has created a set of aluminum nesting camp pots, a collapsible bowl and cups for a camping kitchen kit. He is already in talks with large retailers and plans to sell the Handled tool for $15 and the entire kit for $61. Those who back the Kickstarter campaign now can get them for less.
Handled, which has an orange and black design, is being manufactured in China, where 3,000 units will be produced, Mojica said.
Since he’s surpassed his original Kickstarter goal, Mojica is using funds to cover costs for patent bills, tooling and production. He has a new set of stretch goals. If he reaches $20,000, he wants to create a microfiber cleaning cloth as an add-on for the camping kit. Another $10,000 and he will create a large fuel canister adapter for Handled. And if he receives $75,000 in donations, Mojica will create an upgraded titanium camping pot option.
Mojica quit his job as an aerospace engineer three years ago to focus on outdoor products. He and his partner Joe Brown, who is the company’s chief of operations and logistics, work out of their basements to create their five products.
Prior to Handled, the duo’s most recent campaign was in 2019 for the Fire Escape, a multitool carabiner designed to be able to start a fire, cut a seat belt, break a window, open a bottle or oxygen tank, and tighten or loosen screws. Before that was for a pair of hunting and survival knives that also can spark a fire.
“Hopefully, we will grow out of our basements this year with this pot and Handled set and move into a small office space,” Mojica said. “But for now, it’s nice not having all that overhead. We have lost a lot of revenue as a result of the pandemic, but it’s been a blessing to be without the overhead.”
Outdoor Element products can be purchased at 2,000 Ace Hardware stores and on the company’s website. Sportsman’s Warehouse and Gander Outdoors also sell Outdoor Element’s Firebiners. And 128 REI stores recently decided to carry the Firebiners as well, Mojica said.
Entrepreneurship seems to run in the family, as Mojica’s wife and daughters began their own business called Walk last year. They launched a Kickstarter campaign on March 24 to raise $10,500 to manufacture a dog leash made from recycled plastic bottles. After 43 days, the Mojica ladies raised $16,011 from 490 backers.
Like their dad, they have no plans to stop there.
“It’s so awesome to see the kids grow and understand what it takes to run a business — this is homeschooling at a whole new level,” Mojica said. “They’re already working on new ideas for the leashes, and we’re happy it’s the last week of school, so now they can focus more on Walk.”


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In a major blow to their planned campaign of harassment and intimidation, a judge has ruled they must allow shoppers the space and freedom to purchase fur without fear.
The well-known Bogner fashion house was granted the injunction against Deutsches Tierschutzburo, an anti-fur group.
The Bonn District Court has now forbidden animal rights activists to organise any forms of anti-fur campaigns against ten Bogner fashion stores until December 31.
A Bogner spokesperson said the company was forced to take radical action due to the extreme activity of several animal rights activists who attacked the Bogner branch in Berlin, distributing confetti and making bogus statements that the company sells dog fur.
The Bogner spokesman said:
We have no intention to prevent their (AR) commitment to animal welfare.
“However, such safety measures are necessary to protect employees, customers and shop furnishings from further overshoots.
Deutsches Tierschutzburo was angered by the court’s decision. A spokesman said:
“It is a massive cut in the freedom of opinion and demonstration.

domain: news


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If you have holiday money burning a hole in your wallet and are looking for some new Friends sets to buy, then LEGO Shop@Home is the place to be. They have put all of the new January 2014 wave of Friends for sale for immediate purchase and delivery. In addition to the few sets we’ve revealed here before, there are a two new ones that we are just now seeing: 41056 Heartlake News Van and 41057 Heartlake Horse Show.
Hoth Bricks posted a few hours ago some images of new Friends sets for 2014: 41027 Mia’s Lemonade Stand, 41028 Emma’s Lifeguard Post, and 41029 Stephanie’s New Born Lamb. These look to be in the $10 price range of sets given their piece count. The most popular one would have to be 41027 Mia’s Lemonade Stand, pictured above, for two reasons. One, it has cookies. And two, it’s a cheap way to get the new scooter in a new color that until now was thought to be exclusive to the recently announced modular building, 10243 Parisian Restaurant. More pics below:


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Honda Motor Co. reported a 5.7 percent increase in worldwide motorcycle sales (including ATVs) in fiscal Q3 with 3.5 million units sold.
Sales in North America were up 29.2 percent to 62,000 units. The company attributed the increase to the positive impact of the CRF110F, CRF250L and NC700X introductions in the U.S., as well as a rise in sales of the CBR250R. However, sales of the Four Trax Foreman and Rancher decreased in the quarter. Asia was the only other region to see an increase in motorcycle sales, up 8.1 percent to 3.2 million units over the year-ago quarter.
Overall the company had a successful quarter, with net sales up 24.9 percent to ¥2.4 trillion. Operating income was up 197.8 percent to ¥131.9 billion, and net income attributable to Honda Motor Co. up 62.5 percent to ¥77.4 billion.


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McAfee Enables Partners to Achieve Product & Service Compatibility Certification
McAfee today announced its new technology partner program, designed help its partners ensure their products and services are compatible with McAfee-based solutions. The program’s testing process helps ensure that the third-party hardware, software and services that customers choose perform well, and are compatible with McAfee technology.
The program, “McAfee Connected,” allows independent software vendors and service providers to self-certify their products, solutions, and services as compatible with McAfee technology and provides assurance to customers that enterprise solutions have been tested for compatibility. With the new program, McAfee claims that customers can enjoy reduced testing costs, simplified purchase cycles, and increased solution confidence.
“Choosing hardware and software is a process fraught with difficult decisions that can have very expensive consequences,” said Gerhard Watzinger, executive vice president of corporate strategy for McAfee. “When customers and prospects see that solutions are part of McAfee Connected, they’re able to quickly and easily choose technology that is proven to enhance their McAfee-based deployments.
The McAfee Connected program has been rolled out globally, but the initial focus of it is security management in virtual environments. Just last week, McAfee and Citrix Systems delivered the first product of a joint collaboration announced earlier this year to make virtual desktop security simpler and more scalable for large enterprise deployments.
“Our participation in the McAfee Connected Partner Program helps Citrix deliver increased value to our customers by ensuring McAfee MOVE AV 1.5 and Citrix virtualization solutions perform well together,” said Garry Olah, vice president of business development at Citrix. “Citrix virtualization, networking and cloud technologies radically simplify computing for millions of users, to deliver IT as an on-demand service that enables virtual work styles for users and increased business agility for IT.”
Cloud.Com is another partner that has taken part in the McAfee Connected program. “Cloud security and data integrity are top of mind for CIOs, limiting the broad adoption of cloud computing in the enterprise. Through our engagement with the McAfee Connected program, CIOs will have increased confidence that their existing security programs and policies will be extended to the cloud by using our “McAfee Validated” cloud computing platform,” said Peder Ulander, Chief Marketing Officer at Cloud.com.
In the coming months McAfee will add other McAfee-based security solutions to the program. Independent software vendors, developer organizations, and professional and managed services organizations are able to apply for partnership in the program.
More information on McAfee Connected is available at: www.mcafee.com/mcafeeconnected.


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14 May 2008
14 May 2008
AGY is raising the price of its E Glass yarns from June 15, 2008, which it said was necessary to offset rising costs.
According to Drew Walker, AGY Vice President of Sales and Marketing, “Over the last several years, we have experienced significantly rising costs in raw materials, precious metals and energy. Other costs tied to the escalating price of energy - including transportation and packaging have also increased. Given these current economic realities, we have now reached a point where we can no longer offset rising costs and need to adjust our pricing.”
AGY say that the price increase will also ensure their ability to continue investing in new products and technology. “Despite the difficult economic times,” said Walker, “We have always invested in new product development and more efficient processing technologies. However, today’s consistent and unrelenting cost increases have made it difficult to justify the necessary investment. A price increase at this time will ensure that we can continue to invest in the resources necessary to provide our customers with the products and services they have come to expect from AGY.”
Project 12 has collaborated with Total Composite Solutions (TCS), the UK partner of Microtex, on automotive OEM projects for bespoke carbon parts.
Premium Aerotec, Faurecia Clean Mobility and Solvay have launched the research group IRG CosiMo: Composites for Sustainable Mobility, which will focus on the development of materials and process technologies to enable the high volume production of thermoplastic composites for the aerospace and automotive markets.
Covestro is pushing ahead with developing and marketing its continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) composites by introducing Maezio as brand name.


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YouTube has teased its upcoming app aimed squarely at virtual reality. YouTube VR, which is set to launch in the fall alongside Google's Daydream VR platform, will offer a bunch of new features and easy access to its growing library of…
Android users have had access to VR mode on YouTube for a while now, but iOS users have been left out -- until now, that is. Google has finally updated the YouTube iOS app to offer VR mode, for use with Google Cardboard.
Being a creative in this day and age can be a tough, time-consuming, and painstaking process. Many people may never know the stresses that go into producing content that they consume every day -- but this hilarious video…
The NBA and multi-platform network BroadbandTV have partnered to launch NBA Playmakers, an online video network that gives passionate basketball fans and content creators perks in exchange for videos on all things basketball.
Four YouTube pranksters were jailed on Monday after staging "terrifying" heists at two London art galleries. A court was told how the actions of the group had "terrified" members of the public trying to flee the fake raids.
Messaging is finally coming to YouTube. Google's video platform has announced that an in-app chat function is currently being tested on a small group of mobile users, who can invite others to join by adding them to conversation threads.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is taking his social media game up a notch as he readies his very own YouTube channel, set to launch this summer. The new channel will include vlogs from Johnson, alongside collaborations with other YouTube stars.
Twitter says social media stars on Vine, Instagram, YouTube, and its own platform can influence your purchasing habits as much as your own friends. The claims come in the wake of a study into the clout wielded by social media creators.
Just a day after Hulu confirmed that it is working on a live TV service to complement its current offerings, YouTube is said to be offering its own internet TV service, simply called YouTube Unplugged.
Experts say they may have found a way to turn ISIS's hubris against them. According to a new report from Defense One, traffic spikes on YouTube videos may be able to help predict the extremist group's next attacks.


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Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Montreal-based game developer Simon Préfontaine, who is originally from Lisieux, Sask., is launching his first independent project this week on Steam Early Access .
Cashtronauts is a colourful twin-stick space shooter that’s about as obsessed with profit as a Ferengi salesman. The game’s alternate universe centers around space capitalism taken to the extreme. Players are tasked with amassing $1 billion as fast as they can, be it through scavenging, mining, piracy and whatever else it takes to rake in the cash. They can also turn on gameplay modifiers called Risks, which activate challenges that can help boost their profit margins.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Oh yeah, there’s also space dinosaurs.
Cashtronauts has been self-financed by Préfontaine, who for the past three years has laboured away on the game when not at his full-time job. Anyone from Saskatchewan who has a keen eye will probably notice a few subtle nods to the province, such as mining ships that resemble combine harvesters. Cashtronauts has been influenced by Préfontaine’s childhood and family, which explains its capitalistic gameplay themes.
“My dad was an economist before he was a rancher, so money and economic systems have always been a topic of conversation in our house.” said Préfontaine, who previously worked as a designer for Gameloft Montréal on the mobile hack-and-slash series Dungeon Hunter.
Since indie games are much more personal products than big budget releases, work on Cashtronauts was heavily affected when Préfontaine became diagnosed with epilepsy. After experiencing a surprise seizure last November, doctors performed a biopsy on Préfontaine to confirm if he had a brain tumor. No tumor was found, but the surgery left him unable to work on the game for four months.
Préfontaine has since enlisted the help of some of his game development colleagues to assist in finishing Cashtronauts, which will be available on Steam Early Access on August 12 for $7.99 U.S. The game has also been announced for Xbox One, where it will be arriving once the game is out of early access.


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Element Eden has teamed up with the Kind Campaign to create a capsule collection that brings awareness to bullying — and also wearable basics to you. (Element Eden)
Do you need to be shirtless, oiled, and with unzipped pants to be featured on the cover of Vogue Homme? One writer raises wonders what this says about men's fashion mags and their target audience. (Fashion Copious)
Opening Ceremony talked about a lot of exciting things at the WWD Menswear Summit, including how well Kenzo is doing and how fun all its collabs are, but they sure didn't address that looming lawsuit over Yoko Ono's potentially plagiarized line. (The Cut)
Is there a fashion-tech bubble? Business of Fashion explores the sky-high figures that are going into e-commerce fashion sites, and what makes some more successful than others. (BOF)
Once upon a time, Kate Middleton wore a blue Issa dress that became so iconic, it nearly brought the company under. Now, the brand has been launched on a global scale. Hey, every Cinderella story has a blue dress at the end, right? (Lucky)
Image: Via Element Eden.


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By Cassandra Leveille
The obesity epidemic, which swept up media attention in 2003, served as a catalyst to the organic craze, which has become a common household topic. The health benefits of organic and natural foods have been boasted over conventional and processed foods, which have been consistently linked with health issues such as heart disease and type II diabetes. With consumers desiring more organic and free-range food, it would seem such selections would be available at every supermarket.
But even though information on healthy foods may be more readily available than before the obesity epidemic, it has not resulted in across-the-board changes for people in all socio-economic classes. A closer look at the situation reveals healthy food remains the privilege of those in higher socio-economic classes. Wealth still remains a factor of health. The wealthier you are, the more ability you have to choose a favorable environment where a healthier quality of life, including healthier food, is readily available. However, it is not only the poor who are affected by these inequities. Those in the middle class also have a shorter life expectancy in comparison to the upper class.
According to Patrick M. Krueger, assistant professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Texas, “lower income often predicts the consumption of lower quality goods and services, poorer health behaviors, fewer social supports, higher stress, lower quality housing, and more limited access to healthcare–factors that all lead to worse health and higher mortality rate.”
These disparities are at the heart of the documentary series Unnatural Causes, which the Finger Lakes Environment Film Festival screened last year on the Ithaca College campus. The 10-part series offers a holistic view of the problem of health inequities in America, analyzing health factors that are seemingly unrelated at first glance, whereas typical discussions of health may include the health care system as well as what we consume. However, Unnatural Causes showcases how other indicators–often neglected in the common discourse–eventually add up to poorer health.
One such factor includes chronic stress, due to living conditions, lack of job and food security. People afflicted with chronic stress are more prone to die earlier than their wealthier counterparts.
Why don’t people in low-income areas make healthy dietary choices? The problem doesn’t simply lie in not having enough disposable income to purchase healthier food, although this is certainly a contributor to their lack of access. Rather, people cannot access food because it is literally not available to them. The phenomenon of people living in an area with limited or no access to local supermarkets is known as a “food desert”: Food deserts are often littered with convenience stores or fast food restaurants, leaving people with cheap but unhealthy options. Unlike their richer counterparts, poor neighborhoods have 30 percent less supermarkets.
Food deserts initially coincided with the “white flight” in the ’60s and ’70s. Supermarkets followed affluent whites into suburban areas, leaving people in low-income areas stranded without access to healthy foods. As a result, unhealthy, over-processed food grew abundant in poor areas, leading to higher incidences of diseases.
Stewart Auyash, associate professor of health promotion and physical education at Ithaca College, noted many investors don’t see it as economically viable to open supermarkets in poor areas. As a result, Auyash says, “the competition isn’t as much between supermarkets and the costs of food increase. It may be hard to believe, but food costs are higher in poorer areas of our country, rural and urban, than in suburban areas, where there are…wealthier people.”
This disparity forces many to travel further for food. Traveling arduous distances in order to secure food restricts the amount of fresh produce they can purchase. Such is the case with Lesli Calderon, a woman living in a low-income neighborhood in the Portland, Oregon area. An article from The Oregonian tells how, to procure food for her family, Calderon has to take a bus to the closest supermarket, which is more than ten miles away.
In New York City, particularly in the Kings and Queens area, the problem has been aggravated by supermarkets closing due to the economic crisis. Higher rents, and tight profit margins, have contributed to the closings. The supermarkets have been replaced by pharmacies that sell only high-processed foods which contribute to health problems. These pharmacies simply compound the problem by selling medicines to help control the very health problems the establishment of the pharmacies brought on in the first place.
Some areas, such as New York City, have attempted to combat the growing issue of food deserts. Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough president, has proposed tax incentives to supermarkets to open in low-income areas. Others, such as Joel Rivera, the majority leader of the New York City Council, have suggested zoning laws that would create a cap on the number of fast food joints in areas with high obesity rates. Such laws have already been implemented in South Los Angeles, where the obesity rate is twice as much as in the city’s wealthier areas.
A strong correlation exists between the abundance of fast food restaurants in the area relative to fewer supermarkets in the area and incidence of obesity. Zoning laws alone will not curb obesity or solve health problems for people in low-income areas, unless used in conjunction with opening more supermarkets that make fresh produce available at an affordable price.
For many, the Obama administration offers hope for changing the massive amount of unhealthy foods Americans are exposed to. However, as it stands now, our food agenda is largely out of Obama’s hands. It was set two years prior to his election, in 2007’s U.S. Farm Bill.
The Farm Bill, a piece of renewable legislation amended every five years, largely determines what products are available for Americans on a mass scale. While the original farm bills produced during the Great Depression paid farmers to not overproduce their crops, the current farm bills promote overproduction of subsidized foods, such as corn. The five food staples that farmers are currently subsidized for producing (soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton and rice) appear in abundance on our supermarket shelves, often in the form of high-processed foods.
Julia Lapp, assistant professor of health promotion and physical education at Ithaca College, also notes many junk foods currently on the market are essentially these same staples in reconstituted forms. “Because the government subsidizes the corn and the wheat, we have a glut of products like this on the market that are very cheap to produce and all you have to do is add vanilla flavor and you’ve got a new variety of Pop Tarts,” she said. “You would think, looking at a grocery store aisle, we have a lot of variety but we really don’t have the variety we think we do. We have a variety of flavors, maybe and forms, but in terms of the ingredients wheat, corn, cheap plant oils, salts, sugar, it’s not as varied as we would think at first glance.”
While these products are cheaper, they are not healthy. Fruits and vegetables cannot compete with a bag of potato chips. A partial solution to the lack of affordable healthy food for people in low-income areas could be to subsidize fruits and vegetables. It might also lead people from all economic backgrounds to incorporate these foods into their diets. With local governments giving economic incentives for supermarkets to build in low-income areas, these areas may at last see healthy food flourish again in their neighborhoods.
Cassandra Leveille is a sophomore writing major. E-mail her at [email protected].


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By: Dr. Alejandro Díaz-Bautista, Economist (PhD)
Mexico would enter an economic recession if Trump tariffs are implemented.
There will be serious economic impacts on exports if tariffs are implemented. It is important that the congresses of the 3 countries approve the USMCA in 2019.
One of the biggest economic risks would be the collapse in investment and manufacturing production that would leave the country in an economic recession.
“There is a great economic uncertainty generated by the tariffs that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, seeks to impose on Mexico. The economic analysis tells us that Mexico would enter an economic recession in the second half of 2019 if the Trump tariffs are implemented due to the great commercial integration of the two countries, “said Dr. Alejandro Díaz-Bautista, an economist and national researcher of the Conacyt as well as research professor at The Northern Borders College (El Colef).
It is important to mention that the objective of free trade agreements is to free countries from tariffs and other protectionist policies that harm their exporters. However, the commercial and economic issue is being mixed with the political migration issue. Recall that the United States represents about 80 percent of Mexico’s exports, which makes it the country’s largest trading partner.
Mexico sent 346 billion dollars of goods to the United States in 2018, which represented 28 percent of Mexico’s GDP. The net trade surplus of Mexico with the United States was 82 billion dollars or 5.5 percent of GDP.
The possible introduction of tariffs in Mexico by the United States would have a negative effect on the economy of Mexico and the United States, due to the linkages in the secondary sector and companies with value chains with Mexico, which will affect Consumers on both sides of the border with price increases.
The commercial tensions of Mexico with the United States will damage the Mexican economy, since it is already in a moment of great weakness, in addition to putting at risk the USMCA ratification by the congresses of the three countries.
President Trump announced a 5 percent tariff for all goods imported from Mexico as of June 10 in retaliation for recent migratory flows and caravans. Tariffs will continue to rise until reaching 25 percent in October if Mexico does not reduce the number of migrants arriving in the United States.
Other economic impacts, including the increase in the volatility of the exchange rate and the possible effects on inflation as a result of the commercial uncertainty, decrease the possibility of a reduction in the reference rate of the Bank of Mexico.
The Mexican peso remains pressured by the tariff threats made by US President Donald Trump against Mexico, while a delegation led by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard is preparing to negotiate.
The dollar-peso exchange rate registered its highest closing in 2019, with the exchange rate at 19.82 per dollar, with data from the Bank of Mexico (Banxico). After the second quarter of 2019, the Mexican economy could move from the economic slowdown to economic stagnation, placing it at the forefront of a possible economic recession in the second half of 2019.
On May 30, President Trump typed on Twitter that the United States will impose a 5% tariff on all goods entering from Mexico, which would increase gradually during 2019 to 10% as of July 1 to 15% on August 1, to 20% on September 1 and to 25% on October 1.
The foregoing as part of Trump’s speech for Mexico to resolve the migratory flow from Central America. As of June 2019, the economic pressures caused by tariffs can be triggered. The economic impact would eventually reach the pocket of Mexicans in the form of inflation. The fall in the peso would also have a second-round effect on inflation. Since it would raise the value of many basic products of the Mexican basket that are imported from the United States.
President López Obrador has sent a letter to his US counterpart to ask for dialogue and his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, has flown to Washington to negotiate a way out of the deep crisis in the bilateral relationship.
The negotiation must be done before June 10, the date of the beginning of the tariffs imposed on Mexico.
US manufacturers fear that the tariffs would have devastating economic consequences, both for them and for consumers in the United States, because it will raise the prices of innumerable items, such as avocados, clothing and even medical devices.
The threat of tariffs also calls into question the future of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA), which concluded after months of difficult negotiations to replace NAFTA, one of the most trumpeted achievements of President Trump’s government.
The threat of tariffs came on the same day that Mexico announced it would begin the process of ratification of the USMCA and less than two weeks after the country effectively negotiated the lifting of US tariffs on steel and aluminum that constituted to be an obstacle to the final approval of the commercial agreement.
The USMCA must be approved by the legislators of the three countries, but it is unlikely that Mexico will ratify the pact if it has to face new tariffs imposed by President Trump just a few months after the new agreement is signed which will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA.
Finally, remember that President Trump has led the United States to the biggest trade war since the 1930s, accusing China of stealing American technology and coercing American companies to deliver trade secrets. President Trump has imposed tariffs of 25% on Chinese products valued at 250 billion dollars.


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From our smartphones to our latest weaponry, the technology that underpins modern life would be impossible without rare earth metals. The importance of rare earths has only grown as emerging markets increase their demand for technologies made with it, as does the renewable energy industry. Now a new study from researchers at Yale has found that many of the materials used in high-tech products, including rare earth metals, have no satisfactory substitutes, underscoring not only our vulnerable reliance on them, but also the need to better manage these crucial resources.
Despite the name, rare earth metals—which include exotically-named elements like yttrium and dysprosium—are not in fact rare. The 17 metallic elements are common in the earth’s crust, but the techniques used to extract and refine them is labor-intensive, environmentally hazardous and increasingly costly. Thomas Gradael, a professor of geology and geophysics at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, explains that the “criticality” of rare earths were only recently understood after China, which dominates the world’s supply of the minerals, cut exports by 40% in 2010, citing concerns over how polluting the rare earth industry was (though it maintained domestic supply levels). The subsequent price shock as the supply of the metals dropped was a wake up call for governments and those in the industry. “The challenge made people realize they had been buying materials from around the world without paying attention to where it was coming from and the geopolitical constraints affecting them,” says Gradael.
Along with colleagues at Yale, Gradael decided to investigate the metals used in modern technologies to determine if there were viable substitutes. “Twenty or thirty years ago electronics were being made with 11 different elements,” explains Gradael. Today’s computers and smartphones use something like 63 different elements.” Their findings, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that there were no “readily apparent” substitutes for a metal that would not compromise on quality or performance. Though corporations have kept much of the current use of metals as close trade secrets, most of today’s advanced technologies rely on a rich array of materials, including rare earths, to achieve the precise performance. “We could go back to making electronics with 11 elements, but we would get the performance we had in 1990,” says Gradael.
While we are not running out of rare earths yet, what could be a problem is the amount of energy and money required to extract them—to a point where it could no longer be economically viable to use them as part of modern industrial design. This also has problems, as the use of rare earths has allowed designers to employ a wider pallet of materials to improve efficiency and produce more environmentally friendly designs, as seen in more efficient modern jet engines. Rare earths have also become important to renewable energy technology: neodymium, terbium and dysprosium are used in the magnets of wind turbines and electric and hybrid cars contain about 10 to 15 pounds more of rare earths than a standard car.
However increased mining for these scarce resources can have some nasty side effects for the environment. China, which has intensively mined for rare earths with little regulation, allowing it to dominate the global industry since 1990, has acknowledged the incredible environmental harm caused by the process. “Excessive rare earth mining has resulted in landslides, clogged rivers, environmental pollution emergencies and even major accidents and disasters, causing great damage to people’s safety and health and the ecological environment,” read a white paper issued by the Chinese cabinet in June last year. The government is now spending billions of dollars attempting to clean up this damage, and on Dec. 13 Beijing signalled once again that it would seek to cut exports of rare earths—although some critics have accused China of using environmental concerns as an excuse to use its control of the rare earths market to punish countries it doesn’t like, such as Japan.
Recycling metal has been advocated by some as a possible way of managing these precious resources—the European Parliament adopted a law curbing dumping of electric waste in 2012, meaning member states will need to collect 45 tons of e-waste for every 100 tons of electronic goods sold in the previous three years by 2016. But Gradael says that for rare earths, recycling will have little impact until our use of these materials first plateaus, as there will not be enough in the recycling stream to keep up with future demand. Instead, Gradael hopes that product designers, material scientists and engineers will fully take into account the risks and limitations of relying on such resources in the future and design new products accordingly. Until that innovation comes, we’ll continue to be exposed to the environmental damage, geopolitical scares and price shocks that come with being reliant on rare earths.


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TORONTO - Worldwide CD and DVD manufacturer Cinram International is branching out from its base in physical disc media with plans to handle digital rights and distribution for both music and movies.
Chief executive Steve Brown made the announcement Monday, but insisted that the move wasn't intended to show less support for the plastic discs that are the backbone of its business.
"Cinram is a supplier and a deliverer of media, and as that (digital rights) metamorphosis comes, we will be doing it," Brown said.
"We're not being pioneers in this. What we will be rolling out is a digital method that works and works well."
Brown declined to elaborate any further, saying that financial details would be revealed in the next two months, along with specifics on how exactly Cinram International Income Fund (TSX:CRW.UN) would handle digital content.
He described digital rights management as simply another method of consumer delivery and, like Cinram puts digital content onto DVDs and CDs, the new rollout would simply be another — albeit, virtual — package for entertainment.
"We've been developing this for the last 12 months and when we roll it out it will be a good, solid business model and it will be accretive to the value of Cinram and its shareholders," Brown said.
Cinram has a diverse roster of clients including Universal's film and music divisions, Fox Home Entertainment, MGM, and Lions Gate Entertainment.
However the company has been forced to contend with a downturn in the sale of CDs and DVDs in recent years that has cut into disc orders, an effect that will be compounded by the loss of a major customer this summer.
The Toronto-based fund announced in February that Warner Home Video planned to end its contract with the Canadian manufacturer, effective July 31. Warner represented 28 per cent of Cinram's revenue in 2008.
When Warner said it would bail, Cinram's stock began a freefall from which it hasn't recovered, dropping more than 60 per cent on the day of the announcement.
On Monday, the company's stock was up three cents, or 2.7 per cent, to $1.15 on the Toronto Stock Exchange in low volume trading. Cinram stock has a 52-week high of $3.31 and a low of 91 cents.
Digital content has become an increasingly large part of the entertainment business with Apple's iTunes and competitor Puretracks in Canada offering a variety of content from movies and television shows to music.
Some critics have suggested that the market's growth has been hindered partly because of the lack of options consumers have when they buy a digital file.
Viewers may sometimes want to watch their digital downloads on their computers, and other times on their television sets, but the data files are often locked down with strict encryption technology by movie studios or record labels who fear piracy will hurt sales.
"The key to selling digital files is to make them as portable as a DVD," said Jan Saxton, a film entertainment analyst at Adams Media Research in California.
"If you buy it and it's going to reside on your computer and you can't put it anywhere else... people won't do it."
That's where Cinram could step in, offering studios a more reliable foundation and a digital standard that could be sold to the entire industry.
The technology could provide the struggling Cinram with a new way to boost earnings, as the sales of CDs continue to dwindle and DVDs slide off a sales boom that petered out just before the economy faltered.
"Digital rights management and distribution will be a major part of this company's reinventions into the future," Brown told shareholders at the company's annual meeting on Monday.
He said while the move will broaden the slate of products Cinram offers, and isn't intended to distract from the company's main business. Brown said Cinram still believes there is 10 to 15 selling years left in physical media discs.
He also told investors that the company now has the capability to produce high-definition 3-D Blu-Ray discs, a product that is relatively new to the home entertainment market.
This isn't the first time Cinram has branched off from its main business. In 2007, the company inked a packaging and distribution agreement with Motorola for its mobile phones.
Brown told shareholders that the company has a history of reinventing its operations to keep pace with the latest technologies. The CEO noted that Cinram was once a major vinyl record manufacturer before it moved to cassette tapes, compact discs and video game discs.
However, Salman Partners Inc. analyst Naser Iqbal was skeptical about the latest announcement, mostly because he said the company has bigger problems, including debt that's due next spring.
"I think there are deep problems with the company," he said in an interview, noting his 50 cent target price and "sell" rating.
"Any new initiatives will take time, will cost expenses and I think they have some very immediate concerns they have to address."
In the first quarter, Cinram posted a US$7.9-million profit as it overcame a loss of $22.3 million a year earlier on cost cutting. The company also sold off its distribution centre in Simi Valley, Calif. last January for $14 million.
Cinram employs about 13,000 workers at plants in the United States, Mexico, France, Britain and Germany.


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Greencore, the Ireland-based convenience food group, wants to expand its reach in the US as a national distributor of food-to-go products and has long invested in M&A, as well as the development of manufacturing and distribution structures that extend its regional range. Greencore’s move to buy US group Peacock Foods this week was a step-change in this agenda. Katy Askew reports.
Greencore entered the US in 2008, with the acquisition of Home Made Brand Foods. In the eight years since, the company has expanded in the market through focused M&A. In 2012, for example, the group acquired sandwich-to-sushi firm HC Schau & Son and convenience food group Marketfare in the country.
The Ireland-based group has also worked to grow its US business organically. The group has constructed a GBP20m (US$25m) greenfield sandwich manufacturing site in Quonset, Rhode Island, and has invested GBP7m in its Jacksonville, Florida, facility in order to manufacture frozen food-to-go products.
Greencore moved to address its east coast leaning in 2014, when it announced plans to open its first production facility on the west coast. The company has invested in a site near Seattle that was due to come online in the back half of this year.
At the time, CEO Patrick Coveney said Greencore wanted to build a food-to-go business with a national rather than regional presence in the US. “We are in the middle of a very rapid scale-up of our business [in the US]… We are evolving towards having a national food-to-go footprint in the United States. It is going to take a while to get there,” he said.
This ambition took a leap forward this week when Greencore announced plans to quadruple its sales in the US on Monday (14 November). The company secured a US$748m deal to acquire convenience food group Peacock Foods. Peacock generates annual revenue of approximately $1bn, which will expand the contribution of revenue generated in the US to 45% of Greencore’s total sales, up from the 15% it makes there today.
As HSBC analyst Damian McNeela notes: “[Greencore’s] US business would increase fourfold, meaning it has real scale, and will account for circa 45% of group sales at US$1.3bn / GBP1bn, with scope to grow medium term to US$2bn, doubling group operating profit to circa GBP200m.”
The deal is expected to be earnings accretive in its first full-year, Greencore forecast. In the previous fiscal year, Peacock generated EBITDA of US$72m. Greencore said the inclusion of Peacock’s numbers should lift its top line by 200 basis points.
The acquisition is expected to be “broadly neutral” to margins after synergies, Greencore continued. The group forecast it will realise $15m of annual cost synergies via the consolidation of manufacturing and back office, with 90% of these to be realised in 2018. One-time costs, most of which will be registered in 2017, will total $20m approximately.
Analysts at Ireland-based brokerage Davy said the deal “materially increased” the scale of Greencore’s US business. “It substantially broadens both the customer base in convenience foods and the manufacturing footprint and increases group operating profit by more than one-third (pro-forma),” Davy’s Jack Gorman and Declan Morrissey noted.
Peacock significantly raises Greencore’s manufacturing presence in the country. It operates seven “well-invested” locations in in California, Illinois and Ohio, where it manufactures chilled, frozen and ambient products. Greencore said the Peacock acquisition improves its automation, project management and packaging formats.
The spread of Peacock’s production facilities also fill in some of the blank spots on Greencore’s map. The group’s production represents “over four times” Greencore’s current capacity in the US.
This is important because many of Greencore’s food-to-go products are fresh items that need to be delivered to the customer in a timely fashion. Simply put, without a national manufacturing base, Greencore would not be able to serve all the locations of national customers such as Starbucks. A broader geographical reach has the potential to make Greencore a more valuable partner to its existing customer base.
Another pertinent aspect of the Peacock acquisition is it expands Greencore’s customer base and opens up the retail channel in the country.
As Jeffries analyst Martin Deboo notes, the US does not have a retail sector with a national player in food-to-go comparable to Marks and Spencer in the UK. Most US grocers operate regional operations. And, while Greencore’s US business does have a successful partnership with c-store operator 7-Eleven, it does not have a large national presence in the chilled or frozen convenience categories in the grocery store. Peacock does.
The US company has developed co-packing agreements with branded food makers. “The core rationale for the deal to our eyes is that, in the absence of any national player or ‘market maker’ (a la M&S in the UK) in US food retail, Greencore are securing national scale through accessing large consumer brands,” Deboo observes.
Peacock counts some of the US’s largest packaged food makers amongst its clientele. The company produces products on behalf of Tyson Foods, ConAgra Foods, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, Kellogg, Mondelez and Campbell Soup Co.
Greencore believes the deal leaves it well-positioned to capitalise on growing outsourcing trends in the US. Branded manufacturers are increasingly looking at outsourcing and co-manufacturing as a capital efficient way to increase production or squeeze margins and Greencore said it expects demand for this type of service to continue to rise.
Coveney also stressed the acquisition will strengthen Greencore’s US leadership team and the company claimed the deal will provide “greater management depth” in the market.
The business is retaining all the Peacock senior management team, with the exception of CEO Tom Sampson, who will serve as senior advisor to Greencore for the next two years. Following completion, the Peacock business will be integrated into Greencore’s US operations and Chris Kirke will continue to serve as CEO of Greencore USA.
“The acquisition of Peacock will transform our US business, strengthen our position in high-growth categories, broaden our channel and customer exposure, and add significant scale to our operations. We believe Peacock’s success is built on the same fundamental strategy and values that drive Greencore, making products that consumers love, building deep, longstanding relationships with customers, investing in high quality manufacturing capacity, food safety capability and, most importantly, people,” Coveney said.


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Remarks by the Director of the Information Technology Department on financial infrastructure to enhance competition and innovation
Remarks by Avner Ziv, Director of the Information Technology Department at the Bank of Israel, on financial infrastructure to enhance competition and innovation in the Israeli economy
Avner Ziv, Director of the Information Technology Department at the Bank of Israel, spoke today at the Fintech Junction conference, and discussed the measures being taken by the Bank of Israel to improve the economy's openness to competition and to enabling innovation in financial services.
Ziv began his remarks by welcoming the many startup companies participating in the conference, noted that the Bank of Israel views them as an important part of the potential increase of growth in the Israeli economy, and said that the Bank of Israel is considering various ways to encourage entrepreneurs to contribute to innovation in financial services in the Israeli economy.
He noted that the Internet and globalization era enables the mobility of services, including financial services, which also makes it possible for Israeli companies to offer digital financial services delivered over the Internet. He reviewed some of the measures being taken by the Bank of Israel as part of advancing its targets in the area of increasing competition and efficiency in the financial system, and advancing effective and reliable systems and means of payment: the "credit data system" began operating in the credit market in April 2019, and its main aims are increasing competition in the field of retail credit, improving the standing of the customer, and strengthening the abilities of credit providers to manage credit risk. There are already more than 30 credit providers in the economy that are reporting on a daily basis to the system, including banks, fintech companies, government entities, credit card companies, leasing companies, insurance companies, and more.
In addition, many credit providers are enquiring about connecting with the system. As of now, there are two credit bureaus operating, which make it possible to obtain a credit statement and rating, as well as monitoring services regarding customers in Israel, subject to the customer's consent, which opens the door for fintech companies to offer advanced financial services on the basis of the system's retail credit data, financial consulting, and cost comparison. An initial statistical review of the system's data shows that the Israeli customer is a "good customer" who behaves responsibly relative to what is common in the world, and we are witnessing a conversation that is starting to take shape among the public concerning ways to improve credit ratings. Even now, there is already active use of the system in the financial sector, and within the first few months of operation, credit providers made more than 1.5 million queries in the system, providing them with full transparency regarding the customer's level of exposure. Ziv emphasized that the Bank of Israel is seeing increased competition over customers between the various credit providers, and looks forward to the entry of additional participants in the market.
s. The Bank of Israel became a formal participant in the "Berlin Group" standards organization, which is formulating the NextGenPSD2 standard. The Bank of Israel's target for the financial system is "August 2020—compatibility with PSD2", after the first version standard of the project is published in August 2019, which will enable a customer consent model, listing of current account and payment card transactions and balances, and execution of individual payments. Later on, each year, a new version of the standard will be released, which will support additional information and transaction types. The Bank of Israel is managing this project in conjunction with the banking system, as well as with a broad forum of fintech companies whose participation influences the formulation of the standard in a way that will enable them to operate in the Israeli market. Ziv noted that the "open banking" infrastructure opens the door to fintech companies and banking corporations to enrich the financial services offered to the Israeli customer.
Ziv noted that the Bank of Israel is currently examining various ways to advance faster payments infrastructure in order to enable innovative applications and improve fintech companies' access to the payments system.
Regarding blockchain technology, the Bank of Israel has been looking into the issue over the past year and, in consultation with the financial corporations, is examining the worthwhileness and significance of establishing such an infrastructure to enable applications such as a joint KYC service and other services.
Ziv noted that we obviously cannot ignore Facebook's recent announcement of the Libra currency. This is a significant step, perhaps the first of its kind, among FABAA corporations in the financial field, and the Bank of Israel, like other central banks, will examine its significance and, if necessary, will formulate a position on the matter.


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New material issued by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tuesday suggests that some ad companies plan to aggressively interpret loopholes in California's sweeping privacy law.
The law, slated to take effect next January, includes a provision giving consumers the right to opt out of the sale or disclosure of their personal information -- including data used for ad targeting, such as persistent identifiers, browsing history and IP addresses.
The opt-out provisions require web companies to place a “do not sell my information” link or button on their sites.
But the measure has an ambiguously worded exception for situations where one company transfers data to another for “business purposes,” including advertising and marketing.
That exception could arguably apply when businesses sell data for ad targeting. (The law's definition of “sale” appears broad enough to cover the types of data disclosures and exchanges that occur in the online ad eco-system.)
The IAB and IAB Tech Lab suggest in a compliance framework draft issued Tuesday that some advertisers plan to contend they aren't “selling” customers' data when they contract with ad-tech companies to disclose customers' information for business purposes.
“Advertisers often disclose the personal information of consumers ... to DSPs, DMPs, agencies, and others for targeting purposes,” the draft document states. “Some advertisers are choosing not to 'sell' (as defined by CCPA) such personal information by entering into service provider agreements where personal information is disclosed pursuant to business purposes.”
The IAB and IAB Tech Lab add that there are two consequences of this approach: Those advertisers “would not be required to put a 'Do Not Sell My Personal Information' link on their properties,” and “will be limited in the benefits that ad tech companies can provide in reaching their intended audience.”
The industry groups say the compliance framework “does not interfere with an advertiser’s right to pursue such a path.”
The organizations add that they're not taking a position on legal conclusions.
“The CCPA is not yet effective nor enforced, and there are provisions of the law that are ambiguous and leave room for interpretation,” the organizations write. “We recognize that there is no single, agreed upon compliance interpretation of the CCPA.”
California's attorney general is still crafting regulations to implement the bill.
But the notion that advertisers will be able to avoid the mandate for a “do not sell my information” link reflects a “very aggressive interpretation” of the statute, according to Justin Brookman, director for consumer privacy and technology policy for Consumer Reports.
“I think that interpretation is contrary to the spirit of the CCPA,” he says in an email to MediaPost.
Earlier this year, California Senator Henry Stern proposed an amendment (SB 753) to the privacy law that would have explicitly exempted targeted advertising from the law's mandates. He withdrew the proposal before it came up for a vote.
The IAB and IAB Tech Lab's compliance framework also addresses other aspects of the new law, including a provision giving consumers the right to learn what personal information is held about them.
The document was developed with input from more than 350 legal, public policy, and technical experts from online companies. The IAB is accepting comments on the draft until November 5.


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Amazon Alexa users across Europe were assistant-less for part of today. Users reported that Alexa went down in various countries, including Germany, Spain, and parts of the UK. The issues appear to have started around 8AM GMT, with the service coming online again around 2PM GMT, according to Twitter users. It’s unclear what caused the outage, although Engadget posits that it might because of a reported error at the Amazon Web Services facility in Ireland. (That issue is now marked as corrected online.)
Most people online seem to be upset that Amazon gave no update or word about what was happening and why. It’s totally understandable that they’d be frustrated. Given that Amazon wants people to turn their homes into complete Alexa hubs, down to their microwaves, the company needs to be more open about outages and communicative about why the assistant isn’t responsive. We’ve reached out to Amazon for further comment and will update when we hear back.


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While Australia is new to the hard seltzer scene, the market is rapidly maturing in the US. Drinks companies are scrambling to innovate and keep consumers engaged. It’s lead to a slew of spin offs, with tea-flavoured seltzers and lemonade seltzers predicted to be the next big things.
The market in the US is currently dominated by two brands – White Claw and Truly currently account for around 75% of sales.
As Vine Pair notes: “In the 51 weeks ending Dec. 19, 2020, Mark Anthony’s White Claw posted dollar sales of $2 billion while Boston Beer’s Truly hit $956 million, according to Nielsen data. By October, the combined sales of both brands had exceeded the $2.5 billion valuation some market analysts were predicting for the entire hard seltzer category by the end of 2021.”
No wonder everyone wants a slice of that lucrative pie.
Lemonade seltzer boom
A slate of lemonade seltzers are already in market or expected to hit retail shelves in 2021, including Truly Lemonade, Bud Light Hard Seltzer Lemonade, Mike’s Hard Lemonade Seltzer, Vizzy Lemonade and Crook & Marker Spiked Lemonade.
Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade recently launched in the US, with variety packs features four flavours, including Original Lemonade, Black Cherry Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade and Peach Lemonade. They’re brewed with natural fruit flavours and come in at 100 calories with less than 1 gram of sugar and 5% ABV.
“After launching Bud Light Seltzer last year, it quickly became one of the top innovations in the entire category and in the history of the brand. We are excited to continue expanding our portfolio with the new Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade variety pack,” said Andy Goeler, Vice President of Marketing, Bud Light. “Our Seltzer Lemonade marries the bold flavours of lemonade with the refreshing bubbliness of seltzer; this new offering is perfect for both established fans and those who are looking to give it a try.”
Molson Coors is launching into the lemonade seltzer category in April with Vizzy. It plans to launch Vizzy Lemonade in four flavours in April. It also contains antioxidant vitamin C – the only lemonade brand that can make the claim.
The gluten-free line will be sold in variety 12-packs featuring four flavors: Strawberry Lemonade, Peach Lemonade, Watermelon Lemonade and Raspberry Lemonade. Each 12-ounce can contains 100 calories and checks in at 5% alcohol by volume.
World-first hard seltzer tea
Truly has announced the launch of Truly Iced Tea Hard Seltzer, a first-of-its-kind mix of seltzer, brewed tea and fruit flavour.
The Truly variety pack offers four styles – Lemon, Raspberry, Peach and Strawberry – each flavour has a hint of fruit, only 1 gram of sugar, 100 calories and 5% ALC/VOL.
“With each innovation, we’re pushing the boundaries of what drinkers expect from hard seltzer,” said Casey O’Neill, Senior Product Development Manager at The Boston Beer Company. “We spent eight months testing more than 250 iterations to land on the Truly Iced Tea launching today and can’t wait to finally share it with our drinkers.”
Craft seltzers on tap
As Drinks Digest noted last week, seltzer was almost exclusively an off-premise beverage until recently, but its growing popularity means you can expect it to come of age in 2021 and enter the bar scene.
Pubs and and bars will start to add seltzers to their beer lists and explore draft options. In the US, Truly began trialling draft seltzer in August 2019 and is expected to expand its reach.
It’s also a space where craft brewers can shine. If they use real fruit in their brands, tap lines offer the perfect way for their vivid hues to stand out and captivate the Insta crowd.


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Kinabuti, an ethically driven Fashion Label created by the Italian designer and entrepreneur Caterina Bortolussi, recently held a media breakfast meeting to announce the “Elite Fashion Night.” The meeting was attended by numerous media houses and representatives from the partner agencies and media houses including FAB Magazine, Smooth FM 98.1 and Storm 360.
The passion Caterina displayed whilst engaging the press was immediately transferred to all listening and got an endorsement from Obi Asika, Chairman of the Storm Group.
She spoke about In Our Ghetto, an initiative launched by Kinabuti Lab, the non-profit arm and driving force of the company, is an example of the way they operate. “I didn’t want to work with professional models -says the designer-. Work wise it could be easier because they have the experience but I’ve been living in Nigeria for the past six years and have always been surprised by the striking beauty and posture of the Nigerian women. So why not give them the opportunity they deserve?”
The project has since trained 22 girls, from some slums in Port-Harcourt whilst equipping them with basic skills to help them compete in the modelling industry, one they could never have dreamed before now. These girls have also been featured on the Kinabuti fashion show alongside superstars like Genevieve Nnaji, Rita Dominic, Eku Edewor, Nneka Egbuna.
Storm 360 promised that the girls will be featured strategically in Music Videos from Storm Records artists where they may register their faces across the continent on music channels and also through viral means including YouTube.
Mr. FAB, Publisher of FAB Magazine also pledged support from the international fashion and lifestyle magazine saying he will grant assistance to ensure that the girls get proper portfolios packaged for local and international agencies. He also mentioned that because of the magazines presence in ten countries including the UK, USA, Ghana, South Africa, Belgium, France, The Caribbean, Luxembourg, Australia and of course its birth place in Nigeria the project and the participants will get even more exposure and he looks forward to seeing the girls become super-models who would walk the runways in Paris, London and New-York!
The “Elite Fashion Night”, a fund raising event will take place at 8pm on Saturday April 30, 2010 at the stylish Reeds Bar Lounge and Restaurant in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria. The event is sponsored by GREY GOOSE!
We wish KINABUTI the very best.
*Read about the project and view a fashion shoot with the girls in the latest issue of FAB Magazine: THE COOL ISSUE!


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Chanel has issued an apology to actress Gabourey Sidibe after she claims she was racially profiled at one of their stores in Chicago. Gabby wrote of her experience in Lenny Letter. Gabby alleges that she asked to look at Chanel eyeglasses to which the saleswomen responded:
“We don’t have any. “We only have shades. There’s a store across the street that sells eyeglasses.”
But Gabby knew of this type of behavior
“I knew what she was doing. She had decided after a single look at me that I wasn’t there to spend any money. Even though I was carrying a Chanel bag, she decided I wasn’t a Chanel customer and so, not worth her time and energy,”
It wasn’t until other store associates of color noticed that she was famous that the original saleswomen changed her tune and helped Gabby.


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The fact that Infiniti has created an EV based on the Nissan Leaf technology, means that more automakers will adopt the standard process of induction charging for their vehicles.
Infiniti’s new electric vehicle will have a different exterior and interior design than that of the Nissan Leaf, and will be used to present induction technology, which no longer makes use of charging cables. Infiniti tries to convince automakers to develop on an open source basis the induction technology, instead of making individual investments in their own systems.
“The whole concept of not having to couple up cables to a plug socket, dragging them on the ground and on you as you go, is in keeping with luxury motoring,” said Infiniti boss Andy Palmer. “It is this technology we want to shine a light on, so while there is no world standard on methods, the roll-out will be dependent on region.”
On another matter, several days ago the very first unit of the brand new Infiniti Q50, aimed towards the Malaysian auto market, has recently rolled off the production line in Japan. The model has been produced in Japan, in the Tochigi facility, and the ceremony has been presided by Carlos Ghosn, the president and CEO of Nissan, and by Johan de Nysschen, the Infiniti president.


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Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson made headlines in 2010 when he boasted that Virgin Hotels, his new boutique hospitality brand, would shake up the industry. The first property was projected to open within 18 months, with up to two dozen more operating within seven years.
Reality, so far, hasn't lived up to those lofty expectations. Nearly four years after Mr. Branson's boast, Virgin Hotels still hasn't opened a single property, and has had to deal with the departure of two top executives.
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U.S. exporters and logistics companies aren’t the only ones banging on the government’s door to take action against global container lines for alleged service failures and unfair pricing during the pandemic.
The clamor from global forwarder and shipper organizations about anticompetitive behavior got so loud that five competition authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice, on Friday established a working group that will meet regularly to share intelligence and coordinate investigations of suspected antitrust violations.
Many buyers of ocean transportation say the carriers have manipulated tight capacity during the pandemic through deferred and canceled sailings, and other measures, to drive rates up, resulting in record profits estimated to top $200 billion last year. A combination of antitrust immunity, a dozen years of consolidation that has left eight major carriers partnering in three alliances and an expansion into broader logistics services and control of data has enabled the largest carriers to dominate the market.
It’s the definition of an oligopoly, argue many users.
The collaboration among the Justice Department, Canadian Competition Bureau, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the New Zealand Commerce Commission and the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority parallels a review underway by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether anticompetitive conduct by large retailers and distributors contributed to supply chain disruptions.
It follows a joint campaign launched last summer by the Federal Maritime Commission and DOJ to ramp up oversight of foreign ocean carriers regarding unfair rates and fees. The FMC is also conducting an audit of whether carriers are using their concentrated market status to overcharge shippers container late fees at ports.
“While the Competition Bureau has offered businesses flexibility in contributing to legitimate pandemic response efforts that benefit Canadians, we want to be clear: We have zero tolerance for any attempts to use pandemic-related supply chain disruptions as a cover for criminal collusion that harms consumers and damages Canada’s economy,” Commissioner Matthew Boswell said in a statement.
Organizations representing cargo owners and freight agents said the collaboration among governments is positive because no single country can properly oversee the conduct of foreign-owned shipping lines and examine their activities within powerful alliances.
The European Union was notably absent from the liner shipping investigation. It is the largest container import market after the U.S., but regulators there appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach.
Last week, the European Association for Forwarding, Transport, Logistics and Customs Services (CLECAT) called the global container lines a cartel and requested the European Commission investigate the degree of concentration, consolidation and coordination within the industry. The request repeated one made by a consortium of shipper groups last April for an investigation into market conditions and the behavior of the carrier industry.
“The profiteering of ocean shipping carriers resulting from their capacity management strategy allowed them to acquire the market power and financial war chest that they are now using to vertically integrate, increase rates and drive out independent freight forwarders in the downstream market. New discriminatory conduct towards freight forwarders, the key organizer of service delivery across all modes of transport in door-to-door operations, will ultimately disadvantage shippers and end consumers because of restricted choice in services and higher rates,” it said in a statement.
Various freight interests have warned for years that industry consolidation, combined with carrier participation in vessel-sharing agreements, is tilting the playing field against customers and that container lines should no longer enjoy exemptions from competition law. The dislocation of shipping networks and regular circulation flows of containers resulting from the economic shock of COVID and subsequent record demand for consumer goods jammed up ports worldwide, exacerbating inefficiencies that predate the pandemic.
arriers have been able to defer or cancel bookings, use their alliance structures to shift vessels to the busiest trade lanes while leaving other regions short of capacity, and be selective about how much export cargo to accept.
In Australia, backlogs were made worse by work stoppages, resulting in shipping lines omitting major ports, congestion surcharges, slow container returns, gridlock at empty container yards and fewer empty refrigerated containers being repositioned in the market.
Exporters once benefited from favorable rates as carriers sought backhaul business but now are getting left behind as vessel operators quickly collect containers so they can pick up more high-margin import loads. Now they are fighting over available equipment and complain it can take weeks or months to place a vessel booking to reach key markets, which is driving up spot and contract rates — the same concerns voiced by U.S. agriculture exporters.
Many shippers have resorted to stockpiling containers, exacerbating inflationary pressures, according to the Freight & Trade Alliance and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (FTA/APSA).
Food-grade containers are often not clean enough, but when exporters complain, they are met with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude from yard operators and carriers unwilling to intervene, the shipper organization said in a paper to government officials examining potential maritime reforms.
The FTA/APSA warned that some Australian exporters may be forced to relocate elements of their supply chains to foreign countries to remain competitive.
A major complaint of U.S. cargo interests is that ocean carriers are applying late pickup fees even when ships are still stuck on a vessel and can’t be accessed because the carriers are starting the clock based on the scheduled delivery date and not the actual time of discharge from the vessel.
Carriers insist they have deployed every available vessel to handle the record cargo volumes and that the driver of supply chain backlogs is the enormous demand for goods meeting up against operational outages caused by unforeseen circumstances.
The World Shipping Council has said that the current situation is not caused by lack of competition, noting last year that there were more than 50 ocean carriers operating in excess of 1,000 vessels that provide about 180 liner services to U.S. importers and exporters. It said the so-called Herfindahl-Hirschman Index demonstrates that the U.S. international liner shipping market, based on current vessel capacity, is very competitive and that the DOJ uses this metric in its determinations.
The ocean carrier group also reiterated that container rates, while volatile, have typically been much lower and favored shippers over the past 15 years.
Forwarders and logistics companies in many regions say they face market-access challenges because some container lines now refuse to enter into contractual arrangements for regular service, forcing them onto the more expensive, and volatile, spot market.
The first sign of carriers refusing to sign contracts with logistics intermediaries came Jan. 1 from Hamburg Süd, a subsidiary of shipping giant Maersk, in the Australia and New Zealand market. Maersk has since expanded the strategy of focusing much of its coverage on multiyear contracts for the largest shippers and other carriers, such as CMA CGM, appear to be following suit.
The development represents a material loss of direct capacity for forwarders — perhaps as much as a fifth of their normal bookings that provided some sort of short- to long-term rate protection in exchange for minimum quantity commitments. And shippers of all stripes are seeing less of the cargo honored by the fixed contracts because of ultra-strong market conditions.
“We continue to provide evidence of prejudicial shipping line practices, surcharges and freight rates increases. Further investigation is essential,” Paul Zalia, director of the Freight & Trade Alliance, said in a statement.
Groups representing importers, exporters and freight forwarders are urging authorities to repeal antitrust exemptions that allow carriers to discuss operational issues as part of their alliance structures.
“A combination of factors has enabled the carriers to cherry-pick the highest volume shippers for longer-term contracts and relegate others to the spot market, where they will pay multiples of the rates offered to the favored few. Linked to this discriminatory strategy, freight fowarders are being ‘disintermediated’ in the process,” CLECAT said. “In the meantime, access to container capacity, carrier schedule performance and service reliability has further dropped.”
Large container lines — Maersk, CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co. in particular — have been using their new riches to buy more freight companies and compete directly with third-party logistics companies in providing value-added services to insulate themselves from commoditized port-to-port transportation. In the past year, Maersk has acquired two international freight forwarding companies, two customs brokerages, e-commerce delivery platforms in Europe and the U.S., and last week paid $1.8 billion for Pilot Freight Services to tap into its trucking and last-mile delivery network geared to e-commerce shippers.
“The vertical integration is particularly unfair and discriminatory as carriers — enjoying an exemption from normal competition rules — are using the windfall profits to compete against other sectors that have no such immunity,” said CLECAT Executive Director Nicolette van der Jagt.
The FTA/APSA this month recommended to the Australian Productivity Commission that protections provided to shipping lines under competition law be repealed. An alternative ask is for shipping lines to be regulated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, or that a federal maritime regulator be appointed to safeguard importer and exporter interests, especially the appropriateness of shipping line and terminal surcharges, fees and penalties. The groups are also calling for guaranteed minimum service levels and notification periods of at least 30 days for any new fees, as is required in the U.S.
In its filing, the shipper group pointed to carriers imposing congestion surcharges on customers in September 2020 when there were labor actions at Port Botany in Sydney instead of directing the penalties at stevedores that failed to meet service standards.
“If not collusion, it is clearly a case of ‘follow the leader’ facilitated by a market without genuine competitive tension,” the document said.
Similar concerns are being voiced in the U.K.
“We are convinced that the well-documented chaos within the container shipping sector is leading to commercial power becoming increasingly concentrated, resulting in diminished market choice and competition, and distorted market conditions,” said Robert Keen, director general of the British International Freight Association, in a statement.
“BIFA members fully accept that a free market economy is open to all, but are increasingly concerned that the activities of the shipping lines, and the exemptions from legislation from which they benefit, are adversely and unfairly affecting their customers, especially freight forwarders and [smaller] businesses.
“The facts speak for themselves. During a period that has seen EU block exemption regulations carried forward into U.K. law, there has been huge market consolidation. The pandemic has highlighted and accelerated this development, which has also contributed to dreadful service levels, and hugely inflated rates, with carriers allocating vessels to the most profitable routes with little regard to the needs of their customers,” he said.
CLECAT noted that antitrust immunity also gives vessel operators exclusive control of supply chain data and the ability to set data standards, further their ability to limit competition and control rates for end-to-end services.
“There are no limits on the exchange of information between service providers that are now being vertically integrated, which makes information leakage into forwarding and inland distribution functions possible and inevitable,” the trade association said.
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act approved by a wide margin in the House notably attempts to address a proliferation of surcharges for late pickup and return of containers to port terminals and reduced service levels for export shippers.
The new rules, if they become law, would require ocean carriers to certify that demurrage and detention charges comply with the FMC’s guidelines on reasonable charges. Ocean carriers are also prohibited from declining export bookings if the containers can be provided in a timely and safe manner, and are going to a destination the carrier already has on its schedule.
The legislation also shifts the burden of proof in regulatory proceedings from shippers to the container lines and allows the FMC to self-initiate reviews of carriers’ business practices.


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By Dominic Powell and Emma Koehn.
A number of businesses have shared their concerns with Fairfax about incoming price increases for energy coming in from July 1, with Victorian business Wilson Transformer Co saying they were prepared for an 83% increase in energy costs, which chairman Robert Wilson said was a “shock”.
The total jump in cost for the company is estimated to be from around $800,000 to $1.5 million.
“We can’t change our prices because we are an import-export competing business so it’s just straight off the bottom line,” Wilson told Fairfax.
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AGL, Origin Energy and Energy Australia have all confirmed price rises in NSW, South Australia and ACT from July 1.
Many other businesses have shared their woes, but the worst is yet to come, according to chief executive of electricity procurement company Energy Action, Ivan Slavich.
“My guess would be that only 20 or 30 per cent of businesses have really felt it,” Slavich told Fairfax.
“It’s those electricity and gas customers that are coming off contract, that’s when they get impacted. They may have signed a deal back in 2012 or 2013 for a five-year contract and it’s only now coming up for renewal.”
ATO warning Uber drivers
The Australian Tax Office has written to 60,000 Uber drivers since 2015 to ensure they register and pay for the GST, reports Fairfax, and all eyes are firmly on ride-sharing drivers around tax time.
Assistant Commissioner Tom Wheeler said the ATO was concerned over as many as one-third of the 100,000 drivers that have registered for the Australian platform have not registered for the GST when needed or been correctly reporting income.
Wheeler said there was a significant “churn rate” of drivers, but encouraged all those driving for Uber and other ride-sharing services to make sure they accurately report all income received.
Vegemite heading global
While Australians’ love for Vegemite is so strong it’s close to being in the constitution, the rest of the world’s opinions on the Vitamin B-rich spread often varies.
However, Bega is hoping to change that with a rollout of the brand internationally to more than 40 countries reports The West Australian, with company chairman Barry Irvin saying the company is hoping to market the “salty pleasures of Vegemite” to the world.
Bega Cheese bought a number of Kraft products, including Vegemite, from Mondalez International in January in a $460 million deal.
“We are an exporting company that looks to take products into other markets,” he told The West Australian.
“I don’t say we plan to convert the world to Vegemite but we have been successful in establishing the Bega brand in more than 40 countries … and we aim to leverage those channels.”


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Curve Digital and DoubleMoose recently announced that the ‘old aged pensioner playground’ game, Just Die Already is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch as well as PC on Steam and Epic Games Store, bringing its particular brand of multiplayer mayhem to gamers across the globe, whatever platform they’re playing on.
Just Die Already tells the tale of old folk who have just been kicked out of their retirement homes, competing with each other to secure a sweet spot somewhere new by performing dangerous challenges to qualify for free care. Players can either take on Just Die Already alone or compete in four-player online multiplayer (fully cross-platform too, thanks to Epic Online Services), ticking off dangerous challenges that put your life – and, indeed, every atom of your being – in danger.
What’s more, today we can also excitedly announce the first free post-launch update: Coming this June, Just Die Already will sport a brand new Player Versus Player mode, allowing players to pitch boomer against boomer, fighting for their lives!
The new mode will allow players to compete against their other old friends, taking part in PvP battles across four brand new arenas. It’ll be the first free update of many, with further exciting Just Die Already updates planned for the rest of 2021 and beyond.