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Weak euro sees 35% rise in prime cattle moving North
The continued weakness of the value of the euro relative to Sterling has continued to support an increase the number of cattle being exported to Northern Ireland for slaughter.
According to latest statistics from the Livestock and Meat Commission in Northern Ireland its imports of prime cattle from the Republic for direct slaughter last week totalled 362 head which brings imports for 2015 to date to 8,610 head.
It says in the corresponding period in 2014 imports from the Republic for direct slaughter in Northern Ireland plants totalled 6,400 head which accounts for a 35% increase in imports year on year.
According to Bord Bia figures, total live cattle exports to Northern Ireland continue to be well ahead of 2014 up some 40% at 22,614.
A breakdown of these figures shows exports of stores up some 62% at 2,808 head, finished cattle exports up 40% at 16,925 and exports of calves up 12%.
As of midday on Monday May 25 the Sterling is trading at just over 70p against the euro some 10p lower than the same day last year.
GBP per 1 EUR
The differential in steer prices in Ireland and Northern Ireland last week was 36.3p/kg (51c/kg), according to the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC).
Over the period the average R3 steer price in the Republic was 292.3p/kg (411.3c/kg) while in the North the average price was 328.6p/kg (462.4c/kg).
As the year has progressed the differential in R3 steer prices between the North and the Republic has narrowed slightly but still remains significant.
The LMC also says that the differential makes the Republic’s beef very competitive against the North’s products in retail markets that don’t demand UK origin beef.


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Westmont High School in search of craft show vendors
WESTMONT – Preparations for the 24th annual Band Parent Association Craft Show have officially begun.
Westmont High School is still searching for vendors to fill the craft show, scheduled for Dec. 7. Vendors interested in available booth space, should contact Hank Vaughan at email@example.com.
This year's free exhibit will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Westmont High School, 909 Oakwood Drive. The craft show will include handmade jewelry, knitwear, ornaments, fresh wreaths and performances by the band.
If you have any technical difficulties, either with your username and password or with the payment options, please contact us by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.org

domain: news


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Harley-Davidson has announced a complete overhaul of its motorcycle range by venturing into new segments, including an all-new adventure touring model by 2020. Also in the pipeline are two more models, including a middleweight streetfighter and a new Custom model. Harley-Davidson says the company will introduce a "new modular 500 cc to 1250 cc middleweight platform of motorcycles that spans three distinct product spaces and four displacements."
The first of these models will be Harley-Davidson's first adventure touring motorcycle, the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250. For 2020, Harley-Davidson has planned three models in all - the Pan America 1250, a 1250 cc Custom model, designed on the lines of a Bobber, as well as a Streetfighter with a 975 cc engine. All three models are expected to be launched by 2020.
Harley-Davidson has made another major announcement, confirming that it is working on a brand new small capacity motorcycle for Asia and especially for India. The big news here is that Harley-Davidson will be entering into a strategic partnership with an Asia-based two-wheeler company for manufacturing the 250 cc- 500 cc motorcycles, without mentioning who the new partner will be. Harley-Davidson hasn't yet confirmed what kind of motorcycle, the new small displacement model will be. After Harley's announcement, we are hoping that it will be something other than a cruiser.
Article Source : NDTVAuto


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You are here
Amended: Difficult retail conditions show in Q1 rental dip: DTZ
RETAIL rentals fell islandwide in the first quarter on weak demand, data from DTZ South-east Asia released on Tuesday showed, coalescing with news of retailers consolidating and vacancies on the climb.
According to the consultancy, average monthly first-storey rents fell
- CALL +65 6388 3838
- EMAIL email@example.com


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16 August 2018
The last decade has been a stand out success for the Scottish food and drink sector, with industry turnover up by 44 per cent to over £14bn in that period. How have Scottish hotels, restaurants, consumers and retailers been embracing this, and has perception changed in wider markets?
15 August 2018
The food and drink industry in Scotland is booming following 10 years of growth. The sector is working towards a shared objective to double the value of the industry to £30billion by 2030. Collaboration continues to be critical, from farm to plate, to position food and drink as Scotland’s most valuable industry at home and abroad. Discover what lies ahead, in the views of industry experts.
15 August 2018
News that Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is considering an ‘Amazon tax’ for online retailers is further evidence of the pressure on UK Treasury tax receipts caused by low corporation tax rates and the huge swing towards Internet shopping. Will the new tax hit its target? And will it help traditional retailers?
03 August 2018
As artificial intelligence’s prevalence is increasing, many fear that it will harm employment, simply replacing the jobs of many workers that are not in creative jobs. There are a number of reasons why we should welcome AI to the workplace rather than resist.
02 August 2018
The rise in alternative accommodation such as Airbnb, the rapid development of technology in hotel rooms and the importance of national minimum wage are all issues that will continue to widely affect the hotel sector going forwards. Find out more about these challenges.
01 August 2018
Today's warning from HMRC that UK taxpayers need to come forward and declare foreign income or profits on offshore assets by 30 September may come as a shock to those relaxing at their holiday home this summer. Urgent action may be required.
31 July 2018
At the start of the year we made some predictions about the travel and tourism sector in 2018. As we reach the half way point, we reflect on the first six months and consider what may still occur in 2018
23 July 2018
New statistics reveal that HMRC paid out £868m in creative sector tax relief during 2017/18 (£3.7bn since the reliefs were introduced).
20 July 2018
HMRC has launched another way for the technically minded to access information – by asking Alexa. But is this a helpful addition to HMRC’s information toolkit, or just a gimmick which could end up alienating some of the people who need help the most?


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Whether you support President Trump or not, using his first name as your password isn't a good idea.
For the first time, "donald" cracked SplashData's annual top 100 list of worst passwords. "Sorry, Mr. President, but this is not fake news —using your name or any common name as a password is a dangerous decision," SplashData CEO Morgan Slain said in a statement.
The President's first name came in as the 23rd most frequently used password, behind old favorites such as "monkey" and "qwerty." SplashData, a password management app provider, compiled the list based on data from 5 million passwords that leaked online during the past year.
Sure, using someone's name for your login credentials can be easy to remember, but it can also make the password all too simple to crack. "Hackers have great success using celebrity names, terms from pop culture and sports, and simple keyboard patterns to break into accounts online because they know so many people are using those easy-to-remember combinations," Slain said.
"123456" and "password" still rank as the number one and number two most common passwords on SplashData's annual list.
And perhaps to no surprise, a lot of people like to use numbers to secure their accounts. Six of the top ten most frequently used passwords were simply strings of numbers.
Although "donald" made SplashData's top 100 list this year, the name has been appearing as a common password for some time now. Back in 2008, "donald" was ranked as the 257th worst password, according to the now defunct password recovery provider What's My Pass.
Below are the top 25 worst passwords on SplashData's current list. If you're looking for tips on password management, you can find PCMag's recommendations here.
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The City of Palmdale has selected the week three winners in the #TakeOutPalmdale and #ShopPalmdale contest designed to assist local businesses and encourage residents to shop local and support the community during the current COVID-19 restrictions.
The winners are Kelly Virtue - $100 #ShopPalmdale Visa gift card, Annamaria Johnson - $25 restaurant gift card, Tiffany Stewart - $25 restaurant gift card, Kim Campbell - $25 restaurant gift card, Ali Fathee - $25 restaurant gift card, and Laura Cox - $25 restaurant gift card. The restaurant gift cards were from Trio Coffee House, Medrano’s Mexican Restaurant, Firehouse Subs and Thai Gardens.
There is one more week to go in the contest, which will end on Dec. 23. Participants are encouraged to post a photo on social media when picking up food to go or purchasing a gift card from their favorite Palmdale restaurant with the hashtags #ShopPalmdale and #TakeOutPalmdale. Posted and hashtagged photos will be entered to win a $25 local restaurant gift card. Additionally, participants that post a photo of themselves shopping or ordering form their favorite Palmdale business on social media with the hashtag #ShopPalmdale will be eligible to win a $100 Visa gift card.
“This is just one of many programs that the City has implemented to help our business community and it’s especially important now with the economic impacts of COVID-19,” said Palmdale Mayor Steve Hofbauer. “Between this contest and our other programs, we’re currently on track to award more than $950 thousand dollars in grants that have helped over 100 small businesses.”
“It’s encouraging to see so many of our residents supporting our local businesses and restaurants while having an opportunity to win prizes,” said Palmdale City Manager J.J. Murphy. “Our City Council and City staff know how important it is to keep tax dollars local to help us support our small businesses during this crisis.”
For more information, please contact the Economic Development division by emailing email@example.com or by calling 661/267-5125.


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Maintaining his role as a key Jordan Brand influencer, DJ Khaled recently revealed the upcoming Air Jordan 4 Retro “Metallic” pack.
Repeating “still in the meeting” throughout the Instagram post, the producer showed off the two-tone takes on the classic model alongside a series of releases set for Summer 2020. The “Metallic” pack is centered around a pure white base accented by colorful metallic elements on the Jumpman branding and eye stay hardware. The purple, red and orange options look to also come with special boxes that match the colorways.
Take a first look at the Air Jordan 4 Retro “Metallic” pack courtesy of DJ Khaled below.


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Burger King parent Restaurant Brands International Inc. is under pressure from investors to show it has a plan to boost sales at its restaurant chains.
The company, which is backed by 3G Capital and also owns Tim Hortons and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, boosted profit over several years by cutting costs and expanding into new markets. Shareholders benefited from a 20% compounded increase in the company’s share price over the past three years, to some 89.37 Canadian dollars at the close of trading on Tuesday in Toronto.
Now, Burger King and Popeyes have lost some momentum. Burger King is closing underperforming restaurants as same-store sales growth has cooled. Popeyes has posted falling or flat same-store sales in the past three quarters.
Tim Hortons, Canada’s most popular coffee chain and the biggest of those businesses by revenue, is also in trouble. The company fought with franchisees in Canada as Restaurant Brands cut costs. The resulting negative publicity hurt the brand’s reputation, which fell in rankings in a 2018 survey by the Reputation Institute. With little innovation, tried-and-true promotions that once drove traffic grew stale. Comparable same-store sales fell in its latest quarter.
“We have a lot of work to do with our three brands,” Restaurant Brands Chief Executive Jose Cil said in an interview. A longtime employee and former president of Burger King, Mr. Cil said franchisee profits at the three chains have improved lately and that the parent company’s ample cash flow provided room for growth.
Investors are hoping Mr. Cil and his colleagues will walk them through that work in detail at the company’s first-ever investor day on Wednesday.
“The onus is on them to really put up a convincing plan,” said Kevin McCarthy, an analyst for Neuberger Berman, an investment fund that owns a small stake in Restaurant Brands.
Investors are watching to see if Restaurant Brands outlines a credible strategy for boosting sales at Tim Hortons and succeeding in a planned international expansion for the chain, which has little name recognition outside Canada. Heads of the three chains, who haven’t spoken on investor calls in the past, are expected to lay out plans for expanding business in Europe and Asia.
Restaurant Brands on Wednesday said it plans to expand its global restaurant count over the next eight to 10 years to more than 40,000, from roughly 26,000 now.
Mr. McCarthy said the company would be better off focusing on Tim Hortons and quickly implementing a loyalty program there. He remains skeptical of the company’s international growth plans, saying that the brands may not all do well in foreign markets.
A Restaurant Brands spokesman said executives will discuss the company’s progress and future growth at the investor meeting. “It’s going to allow investors to judge for themselves the size of runway for growth that we still have before us,” he said.
Restaurant Brands was created as a holding company in 2014 by 3G Capital, an investment fund led by a trio of Brazilians and known for its extensive cost cutting at portfolio companies. 3G bought Burger King in 2010 in a deal valued at $3.26 billion. It slashed corporate head count and cut budgets. Burger King’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the first year after the deal rose nearly 30%.
Between 2011 and 2013, 3G cut Burger King’s operating costs and expenses by almost 70%. It then merged with Tim Hortons in 2014, and earnings by that same metric for the new combined company more than doubled the following year. Profit growth has since cooled.
Jake Dollarhide of Longbow Asset Management, which owns Restaurant Brands shares, said the company’s earnings performance has been disappointing, “but the Restaurant Brands story has more to do about the improvements they can make.”
Restaurant Brands executives said the company benefits from the 3G model, but has developed its own unique culture. The firm owns 41% of the company. Pershing Square Capital Management LP and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. are also major investors.
Restaurant Brands has paid off for 3G. The firm’s original $1.2 billion investment in Burger King is now a stake worth around $12.5 billion in the combined company.
“We are extremely proud of the growth-oriented company we have built,” said Daniel Schwartz, executive chairman of Restaurant Brands and a 3G Capital partner: “We’re even more excited by the opportunities for growth in the years ahead.”
Competitors in other food and consumer sectors emulated 3G’s cost-cutting strategy, known as zero-base budgeting. Lately, the limits of that approach have become more evident as growth has slowed at some 3G-backed companies including Kraft Heinz Co. Kraft also faces an investigation by federal authorities into its accounting practices and recently restated financial statements back to 2016.
Many fast-food companies, including McDonald’s Corp. and Wendy’s Co., are also facing traffic declines and have sacrificed profit to modernize their restaurants and digital offerings.
Same-store sales at Tim Hortons have struggled more than other rivals in the past three quarters. It has also faced legal issues, with franchisees in 2017 and 2018 suing the company in the U.S. and Canada for what they said was a misuse of funds from a national advertising fund. One suit said that the parent company was overcharging franchisees for items such as bacon.
The company denied the claims and moved to settle some of the suits last month. Tim Hortons agreed to contribute around $7 million to the advertising fund. Executives said they have improved relations with the hundreds of franchisees that operate nearly 4,900 Tim Hortons stores.
At Tim Hortons, new efforts include a loyalty program that the chain is introducing this year, along with efforts to help boost its longstanding roll-up-the-rim promotion, which offers prizes underneath a coffee cup’s lip.
“We need to modernize it,” Mr. Cil said of the promotion, which has run largely unchanged for decades.


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from the hot-topics-getting-hotter dept.
hkmwbz writes "German technology company Nero AG has filed an antitrust complaint against the MPEG-LA, the company that manages the H.264 patent pool. Nero claims that the MPEG-LA has violated the law and achieved and abused 100% market share, by, among other things, using 'independent experts' that weren't independent after all, not weeding out non-essential patents from the pool (in fact, it has grown from the original 53 to more than 1,000), and retroactively changing previously-agreed-on license terms."
It was pity stayed his hand.
"Pity I don't have any more bullets," thought Frito.
-- _Bored_of_the_Rings_, a Harvard Lampoon parody of Tolkein


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As protests in Hong Kong enter their 15th week, tourism in the city has plummeted to a level not seen since the SARS epidemic in 2003, when the rate of visitors declined by almost 70 percent and claimed hundreds of lives.
The number of visitors in August saw a 40 percent decline, compared to one year ago; according to August figures, that’s a drop of roughly 3.5 million visitors, reaching it’s lowest numbers in seven years, reports Bloomberg. This is in stark contrast to last year, when the city was one of the world’s most visited destinations, receiving 30 million visitors.
The city’s economy has dropped 0.4 percent in its second quarter from the previous period, resulting in declines in other industries, as well, such as retail, hospitality and housing. Retail sales by value was down 11.4 percent in July, while overall sentiment for small businesses has reached an all-time low. Hotel occupancy rates have fallen more than half, and hotel rooms rates have plummeted to 40–70 percent. Home prices have also sunk by up to 70 percent.
In August, protesters caused the Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), one of the world’s busiest airports, to cease operations for several days, during which hundreds of flights had to be cancelled.
Protests show no signs of ceasing, despite Chief Executive Carrie Lam withdrawing the extradition bill that started the protests in the first place. Financial Secretary Paul Chan lamented the city’s state of crisis in a blog on Sunday. “Social issues in the past few months, especially the continued violent clashes and blockading of airport and roads, have seriously impacted Hong Kong’s international image as a safe city,” he wrote.


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About a year and a half ago, I was out in Southern California working a gig for Kelley Blue Book and Life of Dad when I came across a rare sight: a Karma Revero in the wild. The vehicle was being tested, and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Now, Karma Automotive is ready for the public eye, and they’re showcasing their luxury electric plug-in hybrid with an all-new art car. In collaboration with Laguna Beach-based artist James Verbicky, a one-of-a-kind Karma Revero was unveiled at an art show in Los Angeles last week.
From the Official Announcement: For his work on the Karma Revero, Verbicky used hand-painting and stencil techniques to apply meticulous layers of color and follow the sensuous lines of the car’s body. Verbicky’s color fields, evocative language, and symbolic imagery was used to accentuate and emphasize the soul of the Karma Revero. The result is a vehicle art piece that is modern yet timeless.
“Karma Automotive is committed to building cars that move people emotionally and physically,” said Jim Taylor, Chief Revenue Officer. “James Verbicky has done a masterful job of transforming a Revero into a rolling work of art. He has pulled imagery that reflects his unique perspective on the world, along with the individual freedom each Karma owner feels when they get behind the wheel of this incredible machine.”
For more: https://www.karmaautomotive.com/


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Ford has confirmed it’s working on a plug-in hybrid Ranger ute.
A Ford Europe spokesperson this morning confirmed the Blue Oval’s commercial vehicle range, including the Ranger ute, will be “zero-emission capable” by 2024.
“We know there is growing appetite among Australian consumers for EVs and hybrid vehicles,” Ford Australia said in a statement.
“However, it’s too early to discuss what impacts the Ford of Europe move will have on other markets, including Australia.”
Although the Euro Ranger is built in South Africa, not Thailand like the local model, Ford Australia’s starring role in the Ranger’s development puts us in a strong position to take a full range of engines when the new-generation ute launches.
Ford of Europe’s statement confirms exclusive CarExpert reports the next-generation Ford Ranger and Everest will be available with a plug-in hybrid powertrain.
It’s unlikely to be available at launch in Australia, but the Ranger is expected to be offered with a 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine with a plug-in hybrid system.
The Ranger and Everest PHEV will produce around 270kW of power and 680Nm of torque, and is expected to offer a combined fuel economy of 3.0L/100km.
Our understanding is the plug-in hybrid engine is yet to be used in any Ford products globally.
Currently, the Explorer PHEV uses a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 and electric motor, while the Escape PHEV uses a smaller 2.5-litre four-cylinder in combination with an electric motor.
The Ranger and Everest are expected to launch with an overhauled engine range beyond just the PHEV.
The entry-level engine is expected to be a 2.0-litre bi-turbo four-cylinder diesel engine, while a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 engine will be available in high-end variants.
A 2.7-litre EcoBoost petrol engine is also likely to feature in the Ranger Raptor.
Revealed last year, the range-topping Bronco is available with a second-generation Nano 2.7-litre EcoBoost turbocharged V6 engine.
CarExpert expects the same engine to feature in the next-generation Ranger Raptor.
It outputs 231kW of power and 540Nm and torque, mated with a 10-speed automatic transmission and full-time all-wheel drive.
That’s a jump of 74kW and 40Nm on what’s offered by the current Ranger Raptor.
As for why the Ranger is going plug-in hybrid? In a move that could have a big impact on Australia, Ford of Europe has committed to selling electric-only passenger cars by 2030.
As part of its transition to an all EV lineup, Ford says by the middle of 2026 all of the models in its European range will be capable of zero tailpipe emissions, meaning every vehicle will have at least a plug-in hybrid or electric drivetrain.
Read up on the top 10 best selling cars in Australia in 2021:


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A comprehensive deposit return scheme (DRS) for plastic bottles, cans and glass could boost the economy by £2bn, government assessments show, as ministers weigh up which type of system to adopt.
Government data highlighted by the Campaign to Protect Rural England indicates that a more restricted DRS involving only bottles of 750ml and under would benefit the economy by just £250m.
The campaign group is pressing ministers to adopt a comprehensive scheme when they announce their decision this summer.
CPRE says the economic benefits include a reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill, fewer littered drinks containers and less of their associated cleanup costs, reduced air and water pollution, and less carbon emissions caused by the extraction and production of raw materials needed to produce new drinks containers.
It says recycling rates in countries that have such a scheme, including Germany and Norway, are much higher.
Maddy Haughton-Boakes, a litter campaigner at CPRE, said: “This is yet more evidence of the positive impact that a deposit return system will have on the whole of society. Taking us towards a circular economy, we will recycle almost all of the drinks cans and bottles we consume, slow down the depletion of scarce resources and reduce carbon emissions, all of which will have a lasting positive impact for our countryside and environment.
“The government has an opportunity to ensure England gets the most effective and economically viable deposit system in the world.”
Last year the government committed to introducing a scheme and the decision on which type is expected in the next few months.
Environmental groups fear ministers are under pressure from industry to restrict the scheme to bottles of 750ml or less that are sold in single units, excluding supermarket-bought multipack bottles and all bottles of more than 750ml.
The British Retail Consortium is pushing the government to delay the scheme, saying it is unrealistic to suggest it could be delivered in two years’ time. It supports a scheme for plastic bottles up to 3 litres, but has told ministers the system must not include glass because it would be too expensive and a health and safety risk.
The BRC questions whether a DRS is needed at all, saying measures that are due to come into force making producers and retailers pay for the cost of recycling collections should begin and be assessed first.
This year the Scottish government announced plans to introduce a deposit return system for glass, plastic, steel and aluminium drinks containers of all sizes.


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Nexxiot announced April 4 that it has released a new multipurpose Vector sensor to monitor handbrakes, hatches and doors on freight railcars, “complementing a growing portfolio of Nexxiot Asset Intelligence technology, which is used by leading transportation companies to remove uncertainty and risks associated with safety and cargo quality.”
“The demand for reliable rail cargo transportation increases as urbanization and resource insecurity rise,” Nexxiot stated in a release. “Rail companies are determined to provide safe, high-quality cargo delivery services to meet growing demand. Multiple damaging incidents in transportation over recent months are accelerating the need for innovation, which is changing how the industry operates.”
According to Nexxiot, the design of Vector sensor “creates optionality for clients to address multiple use cases with one versatile architecture.” With a guaranteed service life of more than 15 years, the device, Nexxiot says, measures the distance in real-time between two objects to provide data on handbrakes, access hatches and railcar doors. It connects wirelessly to the Nexxiot Globehopper gateway using Bluetooth LE (BLE) From there, the data is sent to the Nexxiot Connect Intelligent Cloud for processing and analysis. Clients can easily access data and enhance decision-making capabilities and responses, Nexxiot adds.
Until now, Nexxiot says, the only way to monitor railcar handbrake status, hatch opening or closing events and door usage was to conduct physical inspections and manual reporting. With automated data collection, essential safety-related checks, and component condition monitoring, possible future points of failure are identified as they occur.
“Both rail operators and cargo owners benefit from this innovation,” said Nexxiot CTO Paul Wielsch. “With increased attention on safety, compliance and resource security, Vector sensor offers multiple stakeholders the opportunity to monitor processes and demonstrate to their clients that they take maximum care when it comes to safety and cargo quality.”
Nexxiot, which, through close collaboration with industry leaders, clients and partners, “co-creates technical innovations to solve long-standing industry problems,” is currently digitalizing entire fleets of shipping containers and railcars with zero-maintenance IoT gateways. Now clients, the company adds, “benefit from real-time asset intelligence across the entire cargo journey.”


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Power Up Studios makers of Night Of A Million Billion Zombies (NOMBZ) has just released NOMBZ: Headshot!
The Night of a Million Billion Zombies virus spreads to the iPhone as a 3D tap ‘n’ shoot action game that challenges you to defend against mobs of zombies, all hungry for your delicious human brains!
Choose your weapon and battle for survival against different types of zombies in a variety of settings, including city, suburbs, mall… and a secret setting!
You can get the game right now on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and in the apple store.
AROUND THE WEB
this week in horror
This Week in Horror - November 6, 2017 - Pet Sematary, Horror ...
Starry Eyes duo Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch will take over the Pet Sematary Remake, 2017 was the best year for horror movies ever, and James O'Barr will be heavily involved in the upcoming The Crow film. It's THIS WEEK IN HORROR with Whitney Moore!Posted by Bloody Disgusting on Tuesday, November 7, 2017


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Polyethylene Solvnaft to Open New Production Unit for Low Density Polyethylene
Slovnaft, a member of MOL Group, has completed installation of technology in its new facility for the production of low density polyethylene (LDPE4). The company has invested more than €300 million in units with the latest technology and other petrochemicals components which include reconstruction of steam cracker, construction of a logistics infrastructure and other technology.
Bratislava/Slovakia – The production unit is capable of producing new types of higher quality polyethylene with minimal emissions, greater operating security and lower energy consumption. The LDPE4 will replace all Slovnaft’s previous operations in polyethylene production. Annual low density polyethylene production capacity will increase by 40,000 tons to 220,000 tons, mainly to be sold in foreign marketplaces.
Slovnaft not only exports polyethylene to neighbouring countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Austria but also to demanding West European markets including Germany, France and Italy.
“This new production unit improves our competitiveness and offers the chance to further expand to new markets. It also means long-term stability for the region in which we operate, for our employees and also for hundreds of our suppliers and clients,” said Chairman and CEO of Slovnaft, Oszkár Világi.
After completion of construction, technology testing, start-up and guarantee tests will run up to the end of November. Commercial production will then start at the beginning of 2016.
The production unit will produce a plastic granulate which is further processed by customers to produce end products. Low density polyethylene is the basic foodstock of a wide range of products such as food and agricultural wrapping, toys, insulation, medical and hygiene aids as well as many materials used in construction and motor vehicle manufacture.
The new Slovnaft polyethylene production unit was built by Maire Tecnimont Group, through a consortium of affiliated companies comprising its main subsidiary Tecnimont, Italy, as well as Tecnimont Planung und Industrieanlagenbau, Germany.


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A Polish team hacked the Oculus Rift to allow the wearer to see himself from a third-person view in real-time, making real life look like a video game.
55 Recent Stories
A new app lets thousands of viewers control how a game is played on the video-game streaming platform Twitch. Developed by Overwolf, a gaming startup that creates PC game apps, Twitch CrowdPlay lets you anyone to host your very own "Twitch Plays" play-through on the popular Twitch.
What would happen if your phone could hack any system? You could have any car, tons of cash and cause utter chaos anywhere you went. That's exactly what the makers of the video game Watch Dogs want you to do. In their prank video style trailer, a shopkeeper takes unsuspecting customers on a thrilling adventure through the street with their newly refurbished smartphones to try out a mystery app.
Tye Marini created the Miiquality campaign to address issues of same-sex representation in Nintendo's newest game, Tomodachi Life.
There are two unmistakable melodies from childhood -- the delightful sound of the ice cream truck approaching and the Super Mario Bros. theme song. The latter has aged like a fine wine, so naturally someone covered it using wine glasses.
Tetris fans leveled up -- and up and up -- this weekend. Hundreds of enthusiasts played the classic video game on the 29-story Cira Centre high-rise building in downtown Philadelphia Saturday, possibly setting a world record in the process.
On March 13, 2014, Ryan Green, one of the developers behind the heartbreaking adventure game That Dragon, Cancer, announced on Twitter that his 5-year old son Joel, who had been battling cancer since age 1, had passed away. My son Joel took his last breath at 1:52 am this morning. -- Ryan (@ryangreen8) March 13, 2014 Ryan Green and his co-developer Josh Larson surprised everyone after they first began demo-ing a game called That Dragon, Cancer sometime last year.
Life in Damascus, Syria's capital, has been quieter for about six months now, but Fadi Mujahid remembers days not so long ago when he couldn't even make it to work -- the bombs were too close. Sometimes, guards at the building where he worked would call Mujahid and tell him to not bother coming in. Other days, Mujahid drove his navy blue Subaru from his two-story suburban home through Damascus' sand-colored buildings.
A company called Tactical Haptics wants to give video games a sense of touch in a way that could put rumble packs to shame. Founder and CEO William Provancher told Mashable that his company has built a virtual reality device called Reactive Grip, a combination of software and hardware that lets video game players use a specialized controller to experience physical sensations unlike anything previously seen in gaming.
The events leading up to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution are a tangled tale of chaos and mass protests that eventually led to political change. Now, a video game aims, in a sense, to recreate this complex history through entertainment. The three-season game series 1979 Revolution recounts history through the use of actual photos, video footage and audio recordings of those involved in the revolution.
It's been seven years since Sony unveiled the PlayStation 3 to the world, but the day has finally come for Sony's next-gen gaming console: the PlayStation 4. We've had our hands on the PS4 for a little while, so we've been able to test it and share our own review of the console. But now that it's available to the public, we want to hear your thoughts.
Six students at De Montfort University in the United Kingdom won a video game design competition called "Off the Map" earlier this month with their 3D, digital recreation of London in the years just before the city's Great Fire. University teams that entered the inaugural contest chose between the city before the fire, Stonehenge or the Pyramids of Giza, and the competition was geared toward generating conversation about how video games can explore different facets of culture.
Masked graffiti artists draw skulls on Detroit buildings in Eminem's "Survival" music video, while gameplay footage from the upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts is projected behind the black-clad rapper who hails from Motor City. Game developer Infinity Ward previously used the hard-hitting song in its explosive 3-minute trailer (watch below) for Call of Duty: Ghosts in August.
Warcraft, the long-anticipated movie based on Blizzard Entertainment's wildly popular World of Warcraft video game franchise, finally has another release date: Dec. 18, 2015. Production company Legendary Pictures described the film on Facebook this week as an "epic adventure of world-colliding conflict" -- with a reported $100 million budget -- that will be directed by Duncan Jones, the man behind sci-fi films Source Code and Moon.
Recharge, a video game created by rock group Linkin Park and Kuuluu Interactive Entertainment, aims to teach players about the dangers of a world without natural resources and the importance of sustainable energy. The game is set in the "not-too-distant future," according to its website. It's a world where humans battle machines for what few natural resources remain, and fight to "recharge" the globe with renewable energy.
Created by Japanese researchers at the Tokyo University of Technology, The Light Shooter is an archery game that uses a real bow to hit digital targets. The first person shooting game has an actual Japanese bow as the interface. Real equipment teaches the player how to handle it in a way that is more effective than reading a manual. It also lets them experience what Japanese archery is like.
Today is National Video GameDay. To celebrate, enjoy a game on your Wii or Xbox Kinect, but remember to practice basic video game safety. Many have argued that video games are dangerous. The GIFs below prove that poing.
New York-based JamesBit has an Etsy store that offers custom video game covers that look like classic novels.
Getting older often means mental acuity declines. Some studies have pointed to the idea that you can exercise the brain to keep the mind sharp. But it’s been hard to pin down what’s happening and how real the effect is. A team at the University of California San Francisco, led by Adam Gazzaley, associate professor of neurology, physiology and psychiatry, tackled the problem using a video game.
More often than not, video game developers cast their female characters as beautiful damsels in distress who need to be saved by their games' male heroes. In the latest installment of pop culture critic and Feminist Frequency creator Anita Sarkeesian’s series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, she explores this trope and shows how easily it can be turned on its head. This video is the last in a three-part mini-series exploring the damsel in distress trope.
Warning: Videos include violent imagery. Viewer discretion is advised. What happens when your favorite childhood movie meets one of the most controversial video games of our generation? Bittersweet destruction. An online user created a character mod of Grand Theft Auto using Toy Story's most recognizable figure, Woody. And it's every bit as creepy as you think.
LOS ANGELES –- Electronic Arts is taking the stage at 1 p.m. PT/ 4 p.m. ET today to show off its newest games for the season.
Creaky sounds and strange shadows are enough to unsettle most adults, but they're especially frightening for children, who cope with overactive imaginations. This is the creative premise of Among the Sleep, a first-person horror-themed video game in which players navigate creepy environments as a two-year-old child. Unlike many other first-person games, there is no combat. Instead, players must find places to hide (e.g.
Researchers at the University of Iowa have been studying ways to reverse the effects of aging on mental agility. Their answer? Play a video game. Not just any game, mind you. They developed a game of their own, a simple visual puzzle game called Road Tour. Their research shows that playing the game can markedly improve processing speed, mental agility and peripheral vision.
What happens when you combine a hit television drama and your favorite childhood building blocks into a video game? LEGO Breaking Bad: The Video Game. Animator Brian Anderson merged two beloved forms of entertainment, and displayed the results in an epic YouTube video, above. The four-minute-and-thirty-second "parody" is modeled after developer Traveller's Tales' LEGO video-game series, and features LEGO versions of Walter White, Jesse Pinkman and other Breaking Bad characters.


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TROY, N.Y. — State Police in Latham recently arrested Brian Agan, 51, of Troy.
Agan was charged with felony fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.
According to troopers, Agan was charged after it was reported to State Police that he had allegedly sold more than $1,200 worth of stolen goods and electronics to another person.
Further investigation revealed that Agan had come to be in possession of the goods after he arranged to purchase them from an online seller, according to State Police.
Agan is accused of initiating payment to the seller via the third-party payment website Zelle, but when he received the goods, troopers say he canceled the payment.
Agan was taken into custody in the City of Troy and transported to State Police barracks in Latham for processing.
He was released on an appearance ticket and is due back in Troy City Court on Jan. 23, 2020, at 8:30 a.m.


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A raft of tie-ups between previously unconnected brands were announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, a shift from previous years when the annual event was dominated by new device launches.
Vodafone and Visa forged a global partnership spanning five continents to launch a mobile wallet service. Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao said at the event that the mobile industry needs to co-operate on services to continue to innovate and that Vodafone will “build more strategic partnerships with companies”.
Another partnership showcased at the event was between BlackBerry and car marque Porsche (pictured).
BlackBerry EMEA vice-president of marketing Rory O’Neill told Marketing Week that parent company RIM plans to partner with more companies in the mobile
ecosystem to provide consumers with “more-connected” experiences. “No provider can make everything, but it’s increasingly difficult to stand out if you focus on great mobile experiences, which is why a large part of what we want to do is built around an open ecosystem,” he says.
Best Buy and eBay also used the congress to discuss details of a joint commerce app.
Best Buy chief executive Brian Dunn said the two companies would continue to work together to provide more services that merge physical and virtual shopping and that Best Buy would look to forge more partnerships to create more “open and inclusive” mobile environments. He added: “It is so critical for brands to stand for ‘access’ in this connected world. It is our responsibility as an industry to work together to continue to change the world for the better.”
Collaborations announced at Mobile World Congress
Vodafone and Visa
Vodafone-branded NFC-enabled mobile wallet to launch in more than 30 countries, allowing consumers to purchase items using their Visa pre-paid accounts with smartphones.
Porsche and BlackBerry
Porsche 911 concept car showcased in-built BlackBerry Playbook tablets in the dashboard and front headrests for mapping, media and voice services.
Facebook and Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone, AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Verizon, KDDI and Softbank Mobile
Collaboration formed between the social network and mobile operators to build industry standards to streamline in-app purchases.
Nokia and Groupon
Phone manufacturer integrates Groupon into its Maps service to push location-based deals.
Best Buy and eBay
Working on an app to help people find the best prices of products online or offline, which can be bought in-store using PayPal.


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The US dollar continued to strengthen yesterday afternoon against the pound, after New UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson continued with his hard Brexit stance, standing by his promise that the UK will leave the EU on 31st October, combined with a mixed set of US economic data released yesterday.
|Currency Pair||% Change (Month)||Difference on £200,000|
Durable Goods orders, which provides an overview of the number of sales for items designed to last longer than 3 years, showed a large increase in June, although it is unlikely that this will change expectations that business investment showed a contraction in the second quarter. Trade Balance figures were also released yesterday and showed a narrowing trade deficit last month, as both imports and exports both fell, highlighting the impact the trade war between the US and China is already having on US trade. The Federal Reserve have highlighted housing and business investment as two areas of focus, as both are weighing down on the US economy at present. However, the labour market continues to prop up the economy, after initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 last week to 206,000, the lowest level seen since April.
Gross Domestic Product will be released at 1.30pm this afternoon for the second quarter of this year, and it is expected to show a sharp fall to 1.8% from 3.1% in the previous quarter. It is worth noting that J.P. Morgan have cut back its previous GDP estimate, to 1%. This will be followed by Core Personal Consumption Expenditures for quarter 2, capturing consumer spending volumes. These figures are expected to rise from 1.2% to 2%, therefore this afternoon there could be some volatility for US dollar exchange rates.
Looking at the week ahead, the next round of trade talks between the US and China are set to resume on Tuesday in Shanghai. This will be the first meeting between the US and Chinese trade teams since the two presidents Trump and Jinping met at the G20 Summit in Japan, where it was agreed that discussions would be revived in order for the two nations to come to an agreement, ending the year-long trade war. Commentary from this meeting has the potential to impact US dollar exchange rates. The Federal Reserve will then meet on Wednesday to announce its latest Interest Rate decision, where it is widely expected that Interest Rates will be cut from 2.5% to 2.25%.
Please feel free to contact us ahead of these key events if you would like to be kept informed of developments.
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H&R Block Inc. announced it will locate a 500,000-sq.-ft. corporate headquarters building in downtown Kansas City, Mo. The elliptical design of the new headquarters is expected to be the centerpiece of the envisioned Power & Light entertainment district. Block’s new headquarters will include an underground, seven-level garage with 1,250 parking spaces and the building’s first floor will feature a variety of restaurants and retail stores.
The $140 million investment will bring more than 1,200 employees to the district and help generate taxes that can be diverted to support construction of additional parking garages and public amenities.
Block’s new headquarters is expected to be open in late 2006 and downtown Kansas City’s new entertainment district should be finalized by 2007.


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Russia’s economy expanded an annual 8.5 percent in the first quarter, higher than economists expected, as consumer demand fueled an investment boom.
The expansion followed 9.5 percent growth in the previous three months, the Federal Statistics Service said on Monday.
Growth in Brazil, Russia, India and China is outpacing the economies of the United States, Japan and the euro region, driven by wage growth, investment and consumer spending. The rapid expansion is also fueling inflation, which accelerated to 15.1 percent in May, and may be a signal that the economy is overheating, analysts said.
“I don’t expect any serious slowing in growth this year,” Alexander Morozov, chief economist at HSBC Bank in Moscow, said. “The risks are from rising inflation. The government doesn’t have a consensus that the economy is overheating — this implies that their first priority is sustaining fast growth, while the problem of inflation will be secondary.”
Russian industrial output grew an annual rate of 9.2 percent in April, the most in nine months, as output of trucks, cars and construction materials surged.
Real wage growth has advanced more than 12 percent every month this year, increasing demand for housing and consumer goods. The government expects the economy, the world’s 10th biggest, to expand 7.6 percent this year after growing 8.1 percent in 2007, the New York Times reports.
The Federal Statistics Service, or Rosstat, said construction, real-estate services and retail underpinned Russia's highest-ever first-quarter growth rate.
Analysts said the year-to-year numbers -- which Rosstat broke down only by production, not by expenditure -- were driven by expanding private consumption and fixed investments, Wall Street Journal reports.
According to RosBusinessConsulting, foreign investors will have more confidence in the Russian economy once the global financial crisis is over, Russia's Deputy PM and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told the 12th Annual Investor Conference today.
The country has passed its first real test, Kudrin said, despite the global financial turn-down, the Russian economy would remain stable as the global economic situation improved. The latest financial crisis has shown that Russia has created a safety cushion to counteract any negative influence from the global market, Kudrin noted.


text: When Apple initially rolled out its MobileMe service for synchronizing e-mail, contacts and calendars among computing devices, its tagline\u2014"Exchange for the rest of us"\u2014suggested that businesses might find some use for the technology.\n\n MORE ON CIO.com\n \n Microsoft Embracing On-Demand Software\n \n Understanding Google Apps\n \n Cloud Computing: Tales from the Front\n\n The service, however, has little to do with corporate information technology and more to do with redefining Apple's online service as a contender in the cloud computing space. Companies from software maker Microsoft to search giant Google offer productivity applications as services on the Internet\u2014"the cloud" in industry parlance\u2014allowing customers to have access to their data from anywhere.MobileMe is Apple's first major move in the game. With its .Mac service, the company had collected common Internet activities\u2014such as Web site creation and community groups\u2014into a single offering. Now, the company has a more focused service that competes with other companies' Web applications, but\u2014so far\u2014without the document or spreadsheet components."The focus of MobileMe is 'me,' so it's really not targeted at companies," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director with business intelligence firm JupiterResearch. "But if you want calendaring and contact synchronization, it certainly does the job."Yet while the service may not be adopted by businesses as a way to synchronize data or provide access to e-mail and calendars on the road, employees may take to the service and bring it into the workplace. Already, Apple has focused on making its iPhone mobile device enterprise-friendly. It's likely that workers will follow suit with MobileMe. The Consumer Feel of MobileMeHere's how MobileMe works. For an annual subscription fee of $99, or $149 for a family of five, consumers get a polished experience allowing a single user to synchronize calendars, contacts and e-mail between Macs, Windows PCs and iPhones. Subscribers can also save files to online storage, known as an iDisk, and synchronize those files among computers. The service also allows photos to be easily uploaded and shared as well as provides rudimentary editing functions. Finally, the collection of applications can also be accessed from any computer through the Web in a way that mimics Apple's desktop versions of the software.Setting up the service on the Mac or iPhone is simple, requiring that the user update Mac OS X and Apple's iTunes software, which the company continues to develop into a more general data-synchronization hub. Users of Microsoft Windows will find the process a bit more involved, but the end result is nearly as good. Apple, which did not respond to requests for comment, initially advertised the service as a business-friendly alternative to Microsoft's Exchange messaging platform."Think of MobileMe as 'Exchange for the rest of us,'" Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement announcing the service in June. "Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push e-mail, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get."The company has backed away from the "push" concept, which suggests instantaneous transfer, according to The New York Times and other media reports.The rollout of MobileMe, which happened on July 11 the same day as the release of Apple's next-generation iPhone 3G, initially caused some significant issues. Users could not connect to the service for nearly 48 hours, leaving .Mac customers\u2014which had been transfered to the MobileMe system\u2014without e-mail for two days and without access to their Web and group sites for nearly a week.While such hiccups could turn off potential business adopters, Apple handled the situation well, said JupiterResearch's Gartenberg. Last week, the company apologized and awarded customers a month of free service. "I would have been surprised if there were not bumps in the road," Gartenberg said. "In the end, I don't think the bumps matter. It's how you deal with the bumps, and Apple did a respectable job there."Apple's not out of the woods, yet. Apple users continue to run into problems with MobileMe. Users complained about a host of issues on Monday in Apple's forum for the service, including being unable to access e-mail and problems with data synchronization.


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Who needs Donald Trump’s America?
You won’t find these words in Ant Group’s initial public offering prospectus, but they’re written between the lines in bold font as the fintech juggernaut Jack Ma built bypasses New York to list in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
In 2014, the New York Stock Exchange debut of Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd was a big coup for Beijing. Here was a homegrown tech success story pulling off history’s then-biggest IPO.
China Inc had arrived at the center of global finance – and then some.
Now, Ant’s dual listing, announced Monday, represents a big win for Xi Jinping’s Communist Party of China.
It is unclear whether President Xi is stage-managing Ma’s fintech champion behind the scenes, but the dual listing in two China-region cities is smart. In Hong Kong, Ant will enjoy strong demand from global punters with hard currencies.
In Shanghai, it will see even richer valuations on the city’s Star board.
The IPO is expected to raise US$10 billion in Hong Kong and as much as $30 billion in Shanghai. Ant’s post-IPO valuation could hit $200 billion.
A star rises
The deal will have investors finally grasping what Xi was thinking in late 2018 when he pushed to create the tech-themed bourse, which opened exactly one year ago. It has had a rocky 12 months with trading volume underwhelmed and few splashy names listed.
However, things started to change last week with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp’s IPO. The $7.6 billion deal was one of China’s biggest in a decade. SMIC’s price more than tripled on the first day of trading.
Yet Ant, with a market cap likely five times bigger than SMIC’s, will be the real game-changer.
That will be a big pay-off for Xi, politically.
The Star board is an ideal metaphor for how Xi, despite surging trade tensions with Washington, has been quietly raising China’s financial game by opening capital markets, boosting stock trading, cutting bureaucracy, easing curbs on the types of companies that can list and allowing shares to trade reasonably freely.
It’s a work in progress and much policy disruption lies ahead. But the roughly $30 billion raised by just over 130 Star companies in 12 months is enough to ruin Trump’s July.
That’s saying a lot considering Trump’s sliding poll numbers as Covid-19 clusters explode across the US. A roaring stock market is Trump’s go-to argument for re-election on November 3 and he has been hyping the Nasdaq as the only place for tech firms to be.
Trump’s challenge now is to spin what could be the biggest IPO in world history while he’s coloring China as a basket case.
Clearly, Xi could use some decent international headlines following his disastrous Hong Kong clampdown. The win is China Inc proving it can pull off a monster share sale without turning to New York, as Alibaba and Baidu did in the past.
Trump won’t be telling his supporters that Ant, by some projections, could soon be worth more than Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo combined. Or that China’s economy has been returning to growth since the second quarter as the US sheds millions of jobs.
Defying communist gravity
That Hangzhou-based Ant is listing at all speaks to Beijing’s ambitions. For a time, regulators dragged their feet on the IPO request, worried Ant’s scale would make life harder for state-owned enterprises.
The Alipay app, after all, boasts more than 900 million enthusiastic followers who use it for payments, loans, insurance, wealth management, groceries – you name it.
It also represents a difficult balancing act for Xi’s party.
On the one hand Ant, 33%-owned by Alibaba, is “Exhibit A” for how China’s new economy could transform the online services and payments sector. On the other, the efficiency and scale of its assault on a state sector which has enabled many Communist Party bigwigs to line their pockets requires some deft management.
But the same goes for Silicon Valley as Ma’s juggernaut steals its thunder.
Xi’s party has a well-earned reputation for suspicion and, often open hostility toward ambitious capitalists. Now, China’s top entrepreneur is once again showing it’s possible for a scrappy and disruptive private enterprise to thrive under the party’s heavy thumb.
The reason the IPO news is so “positive to the market” is that it is a chance to “unlock the value” of a fintech giant “with three pillars in digital payment and finance, globalization and technology services,” says analyst Thomas Chong of research firm Jefferies.
This, he says, finds Ant “at the sweet spot of a recovery story backed by strong technological strengths.”
In a statement this week, Ant said the IPO “will help the company accelerate its goal of digitizing the service industry in China and driving domestic demand, as well as position the company to develop global markets with partners and expand investment in technology and innovation.”
As such, the valuation could swell to $210 billion, says analyst David Dai at Sanford C. Bernstein. The “earnings power of the company has improved,” he says, relative to earlier projections.
China needs more of this.
The model Ma created did more than make him the toast of the Davos set. It inspired new generations of wannabe innovators playing right into Xi’s “Made in China 2025” gambit to dominate tech.
Ma created a lane for others to navigate the vagaries of an opaque, top-down system to launch a new wave of startups. That’s vital to disrupting an economy set to eclipse America’s.
Trump’s trade wars backfire
Posterity is sure to assign Trump considerable blame for this passing-of-the-baton dynamic. Yes, China was destined to surpass the US, just as it did Japan, during President Barack Obama’s day.
But the Trump era has been all trade clashes and bluster. He’s built virtually zero economic muscle at home.
Essentially, Trump has a 1985 problem on his hands. Thirty-five years ago, punitive tariffs and brawls over currency rates was the way things were done. Back then, when Trump was cutting his teeth as a New York developer, America’s big foe was Japan Inc.
In a 1989 interview, Trump complained that Tokyo’s industrial policies had “systematically sucked the blood out of America” and its manufacturing capabilities. “They have gotten away with murder,” Trump said, using language Xi’s government has come to know well.
“They have ended up winning the war.”
Decades later, Trump says it’s China that’s “raping” American living standards. In November 2015, he started his run for the presidency charging that the Chinese “want to take your throat out, they want to cut you apart.”
That bombast smacked of déjà vu to long-time Japan watchers. In May 2016, he accused Beijing of the “greatest theft in the history of the world.” He’s since taken to Twitter to rail against “STUPID TRADE” with a China he argues is “playing the currency devaluation game.”
Ma, though, is an intriguing microcosm of the global business elite’s effort to navigate a uniquely transactional US leader. In January 2017, 10 days before Trump was sworn in, Ma swung by Trump Tower in New York.
There, Ma pledged to help one million small American businesses to harness his platform to sell to Chinese consumers over the next five years.
To Ma, says Duncan Clark, author of The House That Jack Ma Built, it was “important, given the anti-China rhetoric that has been coming out, to inoculate the company and himself from that.”
Less than two years later, though, Ma thought better of those plans after Trump started a global trade war. As Ma told Chinese state media in September 2018: “The promise was made on the premise of friendly US-China partnership and rational trade relations. That premise no longer exists today, so our promise cannot be fulfilled.”
Trump’s domestic policies have done little to deserve Ma’s billions anyway. Though the drop in corporate taxes since 2017 is a clear selling point, Trump’s economic strategy has largely been going mano-a-mano with Xi.
Again that is a strategy that might’ve reaped big benefits in 1985. It does zero, however, to increase American innovation, boost productivity, improve infrastructure, revamp a flagging education system, narrow income inequality or prepare for the automation and artificial intelligence waves to come.
Trump’s immigration crackdown is making it harder for Silicon Valley to attract top programmers and the next wave of “unicorn” founders.
His prodding Detroit to reduce fuel-efficiency standards is a godsend to Nissan, Hyundai and China’s SAIC Motor, Changan Automotive and Greely International. Trump’s strange affinity for coal is quite a contrast to China’s massive investments in renewable energies and electric vehicles.
China’s market upgrade
Meanwhile, Xi has been quietly altering the casino-like atmosphere that has long plagued Chinese shares. This is critical.
To many, the huge rally in mainland shares as Covid-19 risks abound is too reminiscent of summer 2015, when the Shanghai market boomed and busted, for comfort. Hence this July 22 New York Times headline: “It’s just like gambling: China’s bustling stock market echoes the 2015 crisis.”
Clearly, arguments can be made that mainland froth is racing ahead of economic fundamentals. Yet it’s also true that Xi’s reforms may be reducing the amplitude of volatility that spooked global markets.
Xi’s steps include rolling out a series of new stock-index futures contracts and letting a number of China’s biggest banks trade bond futures. The idea is to increase transparency and hedging tools. Regulators are working on perfecting same-day settlement of trades and mechanisms to short stocks.
The Shanghai Stock Index, meantime, is recalibrating China’s key benchmark and is expected to add more private sector companies. The step will, in theory, channel more investment into the private sector rather than into SOEs.
These changes and more may soon arrive at Shenzhen’s ChiNext board, meaning Xi’s reforms would broaden to the entire $9.3 trillion mainland market.
Ironically, Trump deserves credit for inadvertently prodding Xi’s urgency. Xi acceleration of reform has coincided with the trade war. The trade war fallout has increased pressure to internationalize China’s capital markets and to adopt more efficient ways for small-to-midsize companies – where the next unicorns are – to raise funds.
The turmoil Trump wrought is increasing incentives for Chinese players to list at home to protect their companies.
In years past, mainland entrepreneurs flocked to New York’s higher valuations, buzz and bragging rights. Now many are willing to leave money on the table in an act of self-defense, as the Trump versus Xi war spins out of control.
US lawmakers, for example, recently passed legislation that could block mainland companies from going public in New York. The tit-for-tat has Trump closing Beijing’s consulate in Houston and China shuttering Washington’s in Chengdu.
And sanctions related to Xi’s Hong Kong crackdown are another wildcard for markets.
Hong Kong vs Shanghai
For Hong Kong, Ant’s IPO is ideally timed. Charles Li, the outgoing head of the city’s exchange, said it restores faith in Hong Kong’s “role as the world’s leading international IPO market.”
Not to be outdone, Shanghai officials said Ant proved the Star board is the “first choice” for tech players.
One can debate who’s right. With Tencent, more than 2,000 listed companies and a market cap equivalent to Japan’s economy, Hong Kong Exchange officials make a great point. Nor does Hong Kong suffer from Beijing’s capital controls, meaning the city is still the logical choice for greater-China-region companies to interface with global punters.
The Ant extravaganza, notes analyst Michael Wu at Morningstar, “is going to increase the attractiveness of listing on HKEX.”
Yet a side effect of China tightening the noose around Hong Kong’s autonomy is Shanghai and Shenzhen being able to compete for IPOs as never before. The presence of SMIC and soon Ant augur well for the mainland’s financial hub dreams.
At the very least, Ant is adding fuel to a growing Hong Kong-Shanghai rivalry.
This, too, is good news for Xi if this competition has both financial centers raising their games.
The Ant deal also serves as a reminder that China appears to be emerging from the Covid-19 crisis as Trump’s America faces soaring infection rates. This makes it “an opportune time for Ant and Alibaba to put the pedal to the metal and gain global presence and share,” notes analyst Thad Peterson at Aite Group.
For China to join the ranks of industrialized nations in something other than scale, its markets need more institutional investors and leading companies like Ant. To enable this, China Inc needs to create more wealth and run fewer casinos.
The more you see giant, game-changers bypass New York and play at home, the more Shanghai proves it’s ready for global prime time.
Meanwhile, ever more Americans will suffer buyer’s remorse for betting that a reality-show host could stop China in its tracks.


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There might be a hitch in Verizon’s plans to release the Motorola Droid RAZR HD and Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX HD. According to a rumor originating at Howard Forums, antenna issues could have forced Moto and VZW to delay the handset. According to the report, the antenna design of the two devices puts it in contact with the edges of the phone’s casing, creating a situation not unlike that of the iPhone 4’s “death grip.”
Given that the problem pertains to actual hardware design, the fix likely isn’t as easy as a software patch, and thus could create a lengthy delay. Rumors have positioned the phones as launching towards the end of October, but if the antenna problems are real, it is more likely that we won’t see the new RAZRs until after Thanksgiving at the earliest.


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By John Richardson
WHICH President Trump will end up setting the final direction of policy? Will it be the President Trump who spoke off-script at a campaign-style rally in Phoenix, Arizona, this week or the President who a day later addressed military veterans in Reno, Nevada, in much more measured tones? Or will the ultimate direction of policy be somewhere between these two seemingly polar opposites? The honest answer is that none of us has a clue.
That’s the challenge that the global chemicals industry faces today. Because America has elected an iconoclast – someone who has pledged to shake-up the old order – but also someone whose White House team includes many mainstream establishment figures, nobody, seven months into this presidency, can be certain of what happens next.
Equally important will be the President’s relationship with Congress. Will it improve or deteriorate from what today already appears to be a very poor relationship? How much of his agenda can the President realistically achieve without the support of Congress, given the separation of powers?
None of this is again meant to take sides in this argument. I will not, at least in this post, express an opinion about the rights and wrongs of any of the many views about the right way forward for America. My job is to instead highlight the risks for chemicals companies so that they can conduct rigorous and broad-enough based scenario planning. This is where ICIS Consulting can help.
The Trade Issue Is the Critical Issue
The global chemicals industry’s business model rests on free trade. Not only has a whole generation of executives grown up knowing nothing but free trade in chemicals themselves. Of equal importance to the established business model is the more or less free-flow of components of finished goods, and the finished goods themselves, backwards and forwards across borders.
What would be the impact of new trade barriers on the chemicals industry? Even if you believe that protectionism will ultimately deliver economic gains for America, and perhaps even other countries as well, nobody can dismiss the risk of a major slump in chemicals sales over the short -to medium-term.
On Wednesday, I discussed how China might have more time than it had expected back in January to achieve its economic reforms, as the President has yet to implement the trade agenda he outlined during his election campaign.
I did warn, though, that we had to watch this space very closely. The President’s Phoenix speech, which he delivered later that very same day, underlined my point. Although he didn’t mention China specifically, these words pointed to what might end up determining the US-China trade relationship:
We are going to protect American industry. We are going to protect the American worker. No longer will we allow other countries to close our factories, steal our jobs, and drain our wealth. We are building our future with American hands, American labour, American iron, aluminium, and steel.
His comments came after last week’s decision to launch an investigation into how China handles intellectual property rights. Earlier this week, the US also asked the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to set up a dispute settlement panel to examine China’s handling of quotas on agricultural products including rice, corn and wheat. This could force China to change its policies or face retaliation if the US complaint to the WTO is successful.
China’s response to the intellectual property-right probe has involved a pledge to do everything necessary to defend the interests of Chinese companies. And in a notable departure from what had been restrained language from China towards rising trade tensions with the US, this is what a Chinese commerce ministry official said yesterday:
The US investigation of China based on domestic laws sabotages the existing international trading system, and has poured cold water on all parties that have been working to promote bilateral economic ties.
In the same Phoenix speech, Trump took direct aim at NAFTA when he said of the ongoing negotiations to restructure the trade deal:
Personally, I don’t think we can make a deal, because we have been so badly taken advantage of. So I think we’ll end up probably terminating NAFTA at some point, OK? Probably.
The Impact on the US Polyethylene Industry
Every chemicals company in every value chain, no matter where they are in the world, is quite obviously vulnerable. Take this down to the level of the US polyethylene (PE) industry and you find that:
- Canada, Mexico (which are of course along with the US make up NAFTA) and China accounted for 49% of the total of 5.1m tonnes of PE that the US exported in 2016.
- In H1 2016, China accounted for 7% of total US PE exports. But this rose to 14% in the first half of this year as the volume exported to China jumped from around 220,000 tonnes to approximately 330,000 tonnes, according to Global Trade Information Services data. This reflects the big rise in US capacity, much of which has to be targeted for export because of weak domestic demand growth. And the main destination is China because China is by far the most import export market in the world, both in volume and growth terms.
What would happen to these exports if the US withdraws from NAFTA? And what might also happen if the US ends up in a trade war with China? The US PE industry would surely face new trade barriers that would make exports difficult, if not impossible. That’s the worst-case scenario.
Or let’s take a medium-case scenario where NAFTA stays in place and the US and China pull back from a full-scale trade war, but trade tensions between the US and its trading partners remain elevated. PE end-users in Canada, Mexico and China may look for alternative suppliers to hedge against the constant background threat of the worst-case scenario. In the case of China, this search would be government-driven as it would be part of efforts to build the world’s biggest-ever trading bloc that right now excludes the US – One Belt, One Road.
The best-case scenario is that there are no disruptions to US PE trade flows whilst the industry tries to place all of its new volumes. But no US PE company can afford to build an entire business model around this happening.


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The Visy cardboard box manufacturing and recycling empire has made Anthony Pratt Australia's richest person.
He tops the Financial Review Rich List with $12.60 billion, the biggest amount of wealth for a single person in Australia's history.
"Money is a great scoreboard of success, or one of them," Pratt told The Australian Financial Review.
"It's a great honour and I feel very fortunate that I'm in a position that I can build a business."
The 57-year-old was second on the Rich List in 2016 behind Sydney property developer Harry Triguboff.
He was last in first place on the list of Australia’s 200 wealthiest people in 2009, just months after his father, Richard Pratt, died.
"Pratt’s Visy cardboard box manufacturing and recycling business dominates Australia, but his rising wealth is mainly due to the huge growth of Pratt Industries in the United States," says The Financial Review.
"The business has grown rapidly in the past decade thanks to a huge rise in sales of recycled cardboard boxes and contracts with big American companies such as Amazon and Home Depot, which sells 1 million Pratt-made packing and storage boxes each week."
The full 2017 Rich List is being released on Friday.
Read more posts on Business Insider Australia »


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Starbucks Workers Charge Company With Labor Law Violations
Clip: 07/18/2022 | 3m 3s | Video has closed captioning.
Amid a contentious and rapidly spreading effort to organize Starbucks coffee shops around the country, workers at locations in the Chicago area and Peoria say the company has violated federal labor law and targeted pro-union employees.
Problems Playing Video? | Closed Captioning


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As Oculus VR announced recently, they continue to push their drive for virtual reality specific content by co-publishing their 2nd title (the first being EVE Valkyrie) and it’s a 3D platformer called Lucky’s Tale. Tonight on Gametrailers’ ‘All Access at E3’ show, Paul introduced the game which looks like a polished mash up of Mario 64, Conker and a dash of Yoshi’s Islans – and was demonstrated using an Oculus Rift DK2 – by a gentleman looking very much like Oculus VR’s Aaron Davies, Director of Developer Relations.
Whilst 3rd person games of any type are relatively thin on the ground right now, there have been some enormously successful examples of platform games utilising the immersive qualities of the Oculus Rift to great effect. And when you place the DK2’s positional tracking into the mix of qualities VR can bring to a game, it makes even more sense. Now, instead of merley rotating the camera to hunt for secret passages or objects you can lean in and peer round entirely naturally. Also, perfect stereocopy probably makes judging depth in the 3D world much easier, making the platforming itself more natural. Bettner claims that his company Playful have been working with Oculus for over a year to refine what eventually became Lucky’s Tale.
I have to say that the title looks like a breath of fresh air to the Oculus Rift catalogue, and I’m fairly sure that’s one of the many reasons Oculus VR decided to back the game and take it to market.
We hope you get our hands on Lucky’s Tale this week as the Road to VR team roam the E3 show floor looking for the latest E3 VR news.


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Here's what is going on – a newly appeared carrier, named Zer01 Mobile
, has come up with an exquisite offer for an unlimited voice and data plan for smartphones at a monthly charge of $65.95
. What the carrier promises is month-to-month charging with no contract agreements or credit checks. The network coverage of Zer01 Mobile is as broad as the one of AT&T, which is because it is actually using a form of a roaming agreement with AT&T. All calls on Zer01 Mobile will be processed by a proprietary VoIP application, which is said to work with the phone’s microphone and earpiece. On top of that, the carrier claims that phones using the significantly slow EDGE
and even GPRS networks will also be able to conduct calls with ease, which is something that we would like seeing with our own eyes first. In addition to unlimited VoIP calling and data, the company also offers unlimited international calling to 40 countries for $10 more a month. The only bad news is that currently Zer01’s VoIP application runs only on Windows Mobile 6, but it is said to be developed also for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, Java, and jailbroken iPhones. What do you think, sounds intriguing enough to be tested?!


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(UK) – darc awards 2019 now open for entries with two new categories for decorative lighting.
This year’s darc awards has officially opened with entries being accepted via the website: www.darcawards.com
Now in its fifth year, the online, peer-to-peer awards platform has proved a hit with designers and manufacturers alike with all projects and products being displayed on the darc awards website.
The awards is open to all designers and manufacturers, meaning anyone can enter. Two new categories – Best Bespoke Installation and Best Decorative Luminaire – have also been integrated into this year’s awards. Once the entries have been shortlisted by a panel of international lighting designers, it’s over to the lighting design community to vote.
Projects – can include both architectural & decorative lighting elements
STRUCTURES (High + Low Budget) – Best Exterior Lighting Scheme
PLACES (High + Low Budget) – Best Interior Lighting Scheme
SPACES (High + Low Budget) – Best Landscape Lighting Scheme
ART (High + Low Budget) – Best Light Art Installation / Best Bespoke Installation
EVENT – Best Creative Lighting Event
KIT – Best Lighting Products
• Interior Luminaires
• Exterior Luminaires
• Decorative Luminaires
The deadline for entries is 27 September. Projects and products must have been launched later than 31st May 2018.
Every independent lighting designer and light artist is eligible to vote online for their favourite lighting schemes and products. What’s more, any lighting designer who does vote is eligible for a free ticket to [d]arc night, the [d]arc awards ceremony, which this year will take place on 5 December 2019 at MC Motors in London with a Christmas party theme.
Paul James, director of the awards, commented: “It’s great to get back into the [d]arc awards process. The decision to move the event to December this year will mean an even better party, something that the awards has become renowned for.”
[d]arc night will feature up to sixteen light installations created by lighting designers using architectural lighting fixtures from the awards sponsors. We will also be inviting decorative lighting companies to get involved in the event with the unique opportunity to create an installation scheme for one of the three bars in the venue. Decorative manufacturers interested in getting involved should contact Stephen Quiligotti on email@example.com


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The exercises that finally result in the development of a huge physique make bodybuilding an intriguing sport. While some people pursue bodybuilding as a career, others do it as a hobby.
Many contests feature professional athletes, but Mr. Olympia and the Arno Classic stand out. Others are developing into social media influencers in the bodybuilding industry. Vladislava Galagan is one of those individuals who has been dubbed “the Kendall Jenner of bodybuilding.” But who is this individual? Russian fitness fanatic and model Vladislava Galagan. Fitness Volt claims that she began going to the gym when she was 16 years old and hasn’t looked back since.
She is well known throughout the world for having six pack abs and incredible biceps. Vladislava has additionally been referred to as the “Kendall Jenner of bodybuilding” because of her likeness to the American model and media figure.
On Instagram, the fitness model has close to 843,000 followers. Vladislava Galagan reportedly disclosed recently that she had made $10,000 from her OnlyFans account, according to Fitness Volt.
She claims that after her physique went viral, her revenue from OnlyFans considerably rose. The news mentioned above states that she transformed her body in 2018. Before deciding to pursue a modeling career, Vladislava first participated in bodybuilding competitions.
Based in London, England, OnlyF offers Internet content subscription services. Many different content producers use the service. The website also provides a variety of leisure options, including games, live streaming, and exercises. Vladislava Galagan reportedly talked openly about her life as bodybuilder Kendall Jenner in a recent interview with Southwest News, according to Fitness Volt.
“I always got the comment that I resembled Kendall Jenner on steroids. I was promoting this image of beautiful looks, muscle, and a dash of porn. I found it by combining my face and body.
She added that her arm-wrestling videos were well-liked by her admirers. “When I started using social media, I discovered that many guys admired women who were tall, powerful, muscular, and gorgeous. However, others said that my muscles were fabricated because they didn’t think someone who resembled me could be so powerful. I dress in leather, latex, and sheer undergarments. I make videos of arm wrestling. That is well-liked.
Vladislava reportedly told Fitness Volt that she adheres to a strict diet and makes sure to get 100 grams of protein each day. Foods popular among athletes include steak, chicken, fish, turkey, and eggs.


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Geberit India has launched a promotional campaign to encourage consumers to buy products from authorized dealers. With growing awareness and quality consciousness, consumers are looking for premium brands while building or renovating their homes. As bathroom design and creation is an expensive exercise, it is advisable that consumers buy verified products from authorized dealers.
During a recent visit to Kerala, Michael Allenspach, Head of Engineering, Geberit India, observed: “The Kerala market is highly evolved. People spend for quality and brand. In fact people spend in lakhs per bathroom while doing up their homes. This is because the bathroom is an essential part of the home and if anything goes wrong, is creates a lot of problems for the household. So we recommend consumers buy verified products from authorized dealers to ensure that there is no problem at time of installation. Also in the case of flushing systems, which are technical in nature, authorized dealers provide trained plumbers and product warranty.”
Geberit is promoting the purchase of its products from authorized dealers as flushing and other bathroom systems that are technical in nature will be in use for a long period of time. Moreover products sold via authorized dealers are designed for the Indian market and sold with warranty plus access to after sales service.
Abubaker Koya, Managing Director, Geberit India, said, “Geberit has a long standing tradition of quality and reliability across the world. We have launched this awareness campaign to safeguard the interests of our consumers.”
Through this campaign, Geberit urges its consumers to purchase Geberit products through the company’s authorized dealers across India and get the warranty cards at the dealers’ outlets at the time of purchase. Contact the toll free customer support team at 1800 102 4323 to know the list of authorized dealers in India.
The globally operating Geberit Group is a European leader in the field of sanitary technology and bathroom ceramics. The Group is headquartered in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland. With more than 12,000 employees in over 40 countries and production network encompassing more than 30 production facilities (including one in Pune). Geberit generated net sales of CHF 2.8 billion in 2016. The Geberit shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and included in the SMI (Swiss Market Index). Geberit is among the top 25 innovative companies in Switzerland with operating margins significantly above industry standards.
Geberit is in India (as a fully owned subsidiary) since 2010, headquartered in Bangalore and with the production facility (for concealed cisterns) in Pune. With initial focus on concealed cisterns Geberit has also gained market leadership in the premium piping/ drainage business (with emphasis on pre-fab behind-the-wall technology) among major corporates and developers across India.


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LAHORE: Pakistani cricket officials announced Tuesday an overall profit of $2.6 million from the country's first ever Twenty20 league.
SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook quarterly profit more than doubled as its ranks swelled during the past year to a mammoth user base of nearly 1.6 billion, it said Wednesday.
CALIFORNIA: LinkedIn Corp's quarterly revenue and profit handily beat analysts' estimates as the world's biggest professional networking website operator earned more from its recruitment services business and from advertisements and paid memberships.
TOKYO: Japan's Honda Motor Co sliced 6.5 percent off its core annual profit forecast as it set aside hundreds of millions of dollars in extra cash to cover an extended car recall to replace potentially faulty air bags made by Takata Corp.
SEOUL: Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone maker, posted its first drop in annual net profit in three years Thursday, days after arch-rival Apple reported the biggest corporate profit in history.


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Meachers Global Logistics has revealed its second major commercial relationship in recent months, teaming up with French freight forwarder Morvan Fils Transit.The Southampton-based operator, which announced a tie-up with Isle of Wight haulier Steve Porter Transport last autumn, has entered into a commercial agreement to receive inbound freight from France for onward distribution across the UK. Services being offered include full load, drop-trailer and consolidated freight consignments from across France shipped via St Malo to Portsmouth. Meachers and Morvan Fils […]
Transport organisations have welcomed news of a relaxation in enforcement of the driver’s hours rules today in light of recent problems for cross-Channel freight vehicles, but have been split in their reactions to the detail of the change.
Meachers Global Logistics and Steve Porter Transport Group have launched phase one of a partnership they hope will develop, generating new business and stripping out duplication from their respective networks. The strategic partnership, which began in earnest this week after months of preparatory work, sees Meachers trunking the Isle of Wight-based Steve Porter Transport’s overnight groupage from Southampton to its Midlands DCs in Northampton and Coventry. The trunking includes work undertaken by Steve Porter Transport as part of the Fortec […]
Wood flooring importer Lionvest Trading (UK) has extended its warehousing and distribution contract with Southampton-based Meachers Global Logistics.


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In May last year, Qantas announced it would reduce upfront commissions paid to travel agents on international tickets to 1% from 5% – in line with overseas airlines – with a reduction from July.
Not that Flight Center hasn’t responded to its share of controversy.
In 2018, the travel center group was fined $12.5 million for trying to coax three international airlines into price-fixing deals between 2005 and 2009.
Flight Center also faced criticism and eventually backed down from customer reimbursement issues when COVID-19 hit in 2020. The company recently won a case brought by former employees for underpayment claims.
London? Just six hours away
Mr Turner made his comments to reporters at Hubert’s restaurant in Sydney on May 10, an event organized by Flight Center to mark the 40th anniversary. In his presentation, he shared predictions and lessons.
His most intriguing prediction was that over the next 40 years, next-generation (Mach3) high-speed intercontinental aircraft will allow travelers to get from Sydney to a long-haul city like London or New York in less than six time.
“The planes are powered by liquid hydrogen processed by renewables,” Turner said, adding airfares might not be attractive given the cost of fuel is about “twice the cost.” jet fuel in 2022,” Turner said.
“Over the past 40 years, Flight Center has survived a lot, including two Gulf Wars, 9/11, and the 2008 recession, but COVID has been the most traumatic two years we’ve ever had,” he said. -he declares.
Today, 11,000 of its workforce are back (around 50% of pre-COVID-19 levels) and the company is recruiting at least 1,000 workers.
“COVID is a thing of the past, but it’s still here,” Turner said, adding that he hopes Flight Center will finally make “a little profit” for March/April. It will be a welcome change given that the company halved its number of stores and employees when the pandemic hit and had lost $507 million in 2020 alone.
The pandemic has triggered “a big overreaction from governments around the world”, he said, adding that “China is going to suffer a lot more”, referring to President Xi Jinping’s zero tolerance policy against to COVID-19.
The Flight Center story began when Turner went to the UK in 1972 to work as a veterinarian in Yorkshire, and soon began organizing regular group trips to Europe for friends and friends of friends in a disused double-decker bus.
Profitable wherever it operates
“We weren’t interested in business, it was about having a good time and picking up a few girls,” Mr Turner said.
At the time it was operating as a viable business, one of the selling points was that at £365 per person for a five month overland journey from London to Europe, it was cheaper to live ‘on the decks’ as they were nicknamed as paying rent to the City.
When Turner returned to Australia and started Flight Centre, he ended up in Brisbane because the bank wouldn’t give him a home loan, which meant he couldn’t afford a house in Sydney. Australia’s first flight center was opened by co-founder Bill James at Martin Place.
Turner explained that 2011 was the first year the company became profitable in every country in which it operates.
Global managing director Andrew Stark, who moved to Brisbane from South Africa, said the key future strategy was “omni-retail”, bringing together all channels for customers to access the business, including an in-store, mobile or desktop experience, “over the phone” and the Flight Center app.
“With our new omni-retail model, the company will grow online sales to 40% of total transaction value by 2025,” Stark said.
“Already, 85% of our customers start their journey on a mobile device, so this is a fast-growing sector. In recent years, the company has seen the volume of business done online increase from 5% to 20%.
The company is also looking to enter new geographic markets beyond its traditional heavy weighting to English-speaking “Anglo” countries.


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Take-Two's Zelnick criticizes key companies taking E3 for granted
CEO of publisher says annual event "served a great purpose," but it was "problematic" for companies to plan E3-adjacent events without supporting the show proper
[Disclaimer: GamesIndustry.biz was partnered with E3 and parent company ReedPop was organising this year's event.]
Take-Two Interactive has always been a vocal supporter of E3, to the point where it would secure corporate booth space at the event even in years where it had no big games to show off.
So when GamesIndustry.biz had a chance to speak with Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick around the company's financial results yesterday, we asked about the publisher's current attitude toward the event given the recent cancellation of E3 2023.
"We've always been a supporter of E3 and I think it served a great purpose as a show for the media, as a show for investors, as a show for distribution partners and consumers who are avid about the business, 'prosumers,' if you will," Zelnick said. "That served a great purpose for us, especially when we had new products to show."
Zelnick added that E3 could continue to play a role for the industry, "but it of course needs to serve everyone who's a player in the business."
"And I think for a period of time, some of the large players in the business took E3 for granted and decided to step away from the show, but still be in the publicity business at the same time and in the same location, and I think that is problematic. I think you either have to support the show, or there isn't going to be a show."
Zelnick did not specify which large players he meant, but Electronic Arts is one likely candidate, as the publisher opted out of E3 beginning in 2016 and instead ran its own EA Play events elsewhere in Los Angeles in the days immediately preceding E3.
Nintendo scrapped its E3 press conferences in favor of Nintendo Direct-style video showcases beginning in 2013, but continued to have a booth on the show floor each year the in-person event took place.
In 2018 Microsoft moved its booth outside the main E3 venue and into the nearby Microsoft Theater, but it was still an official E3 event.
Sony left E3 beginning with the 2019 show, and even before the pandemic prompted the cancelation of E3 2020, the PlayStation maker had confirmed it would not be appearing at the show.


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Legislation that would authorize states to require online retailers to collect sales taxes from out–of-state customers appears to have found new life in the Senate.
Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., are working on legislation that is similar, though not identical, to a measure introduced in the House two weeks ago by Reps. Steve Womack, R-Ark., and Jackie Speier, D-Calif. The Womack-Speier bill would require states to simplify the process for out-of-state retailers, including providing a single sales-tax rate, designating a single source for remitting sales taxes from out-of-state sales, and establishing uniform rules for what sales are taxable.
One key difference at this point between the proposed Senate measure and the House bill would be that the Womack-Speier legislation includes a higher small-business exemption, according to a source familiar with the issue.
“Sen. Alexander is working with other senators on legislation to address what he sees as a states’ rights issue: preserving the right of states to collect—or decide not to collect—taxes that are already owed under state law,” an Alexander spokesman told National Journal via e-mail, though he did not provide details on the bill. The measure may be introduced as soon as next week.
The legislation aims to close a loophole left by the Supreme Court’s 1992 Quill v. North Dakota decision that found catalogue retailers do not have to collect sales taxes from customers in states where those companies don’t have a physical presence.
The decision has since been extended to Internet sales. Online retailers such as Amazon have exploited this tax advantage to offer some of their customers products at lower prices than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. Amazon in particular has been aggressive in fighting efforts to require online retailers to collect sales taxes from out-of-state retailers but recently bowed to California on the issue.
Earlier this year, Durbin introduced a different bill also aimed at requiring online retailers to collect sales taxes from customers in states where they have no physical presence. Durbin’s bill focused on an approach included in older bills that would let states require the out-of-state collections if they have signed on to the Streamlined Sales Tax project.
That approach has attracted little support in Congress. Given this, the new Senate bill aims to offer states an alternative way to simplify their tax code to make it easier for retailers to collect taxes on out-of-state sales while still allowing the Streamlined Sales Tax project to work.
Groups that represent major brick-and-mortar retailers hope this latest legislation will have more of a chance of moving through Congress than previous bills.
“We are confident that these new approaches are what’s needed to break the decade-long logjam on this issue,” said Katherine Lugar, executive vice president for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which represents big-box retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart.