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Inflation is rising faster than expected and will last for longer than anticipated, the Bank of England’s new chief economist has said.
Huw Pill told the Commons Treasury select committee that the recent rise in prices would prove to be temporary but the “magnitude and duration of the transient inflation spike is proving greater than expected”.
The Bank of England has already had to raise its forecasts for inflation several times this year in the face of widespread supply chain problems and staff shortages, which are affecting economies around the world as they emerge from lockdown.
Rising energy costs are compounding the problem, and the Bank now believes that inflation will peak above 4 per cent. It says it will start to fall back towards the 2 per cent target only in the second half of next year.
Pill, 53, a former Goldman Sachs chief economist, took over from Andy Haldane as the Bank’s chief economist last month. He voted to keep rates unchanged at the last monetary policy committee meeting but in his first public remarks since joining he seemed to share his predecessor’s concern about the risk of rampant inflation.
“In my view, that balance of risks is currently shifting towards great concerns about the inflation outlook, as the current strength of inflation looks set to prove more long-lasting than originally anticipated,” he said.
Policymakers maintain that the spike will be short-lived and are reluctant to raise interest rates before the economic recovery is assured. However, markets are losing faith in this view and are pricing in a 15-basis-point rate rise from 0.1 per cent to 0.25 per cent by the end of the year. Pill reiterated the Bank’s central view that inflation would eventually come down despite increasing faster than expected.
“Over recent months inflation has surprised to the upside, UK activity data have disappointed somewhat, while the labour market has tightened. This combination has all the hallmarks of an adverse supply shock,” he said in his note to MPs. “As the pandemic recedes and the level and composition of global demand and supply normalise, these inflationary pressures should subside.”
Although interest rates were likely to rise in time, Pill said longer-term structural changes in the global economy meant that the neutral rate of interest — the rate that supports the economy at full employment — would remain low even when the global economy had recovered from the pandemic.
He said: “I do expect interest rates to remain at relatively low levels for the coming years, even as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic recedes. As macroeconomic circumstances evolve, there may be need to tighten or loosen the stance of monetary policy relative to its current setting. But that adjustment will involve steering Bank rate around a low level of R-star [neutral rate] that is likely to continue for some time.”
There are concerns about how much room for manoeuvre central banks have when rates are already so low. Negative interest rates have increasingly come to the fore and, although the policy has never been tried in the UK, Pill said that negative rates were “both feasible and likely to ease monetary conditions”.
High inflation will last longer than expected, predicts Bank of England


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Today marks a new start for Digg.
Just six short weeks ago, Digg was bought by Betaworks and it immediately launched aggressive plans to relaunch the site in six weeks. And we will admit, we are impressed with the new site and app.
The social bookmarking site has a new lease on life, and it is apparent that the foundations for both new products reflect simplicity and ease of use.
In addition to a new website, Digg has a brand new iPhone app.
We were thoroughly impressed and can't wait to start using the site again.

domain: news


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We are finally in 2022 and for those who do not know, the year is of the water tiger and apparently, Samsung has decided to take things seriously and is going to work on a plan to beat Apple in the North American market, which is not going to be an easy thing to do.
According to a report from The Korea Herald, 40 Samsung executives met in Las Vegas ahead of the CES 2022 to discuss this year's smartphone strategy, and it is being reported that the plan has the 'Tiger' acronym.
Samsung's Plan to Beat Apple in North America is Very Ambitious But Can They Come Through?
According to the source, the individual letters mean the following, “True number one in all categories,” “Improve flagship market share,” closing the “Gap between Apple,” “Expanding” the existence of so-called C-brand products like wireless earphones, and aiming for a “Record year.”
Additionally, Samsung's mobile chief TM Roh stated the following, “Our MX vision is to shift from a smartphone vendor to an intelligent device company. We will not be a tech brand, but a brand beloved by young generations, providing innovative experience.”
While the plan is certainly an ambitious one and wanting to catch up to Apple is not something that many companies are capable of doing. The ground realities are a bit different. Wherein, Samsung will first need to address the supply issues that are affecting every manufacturer around the world. Only then it can hope to catch up with Apple and beat them, as well.
Being a Samsung user, I am hoping that the so-called Tiger strategy does work for Samsung and they manage to catch up with Apple in the North American market, considering how it does represent as one of the biggest markets. Let us know your thoughts below.


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Poloniex exchange announced the launch of the IEO platform and the first token sale
Cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex on Sunday announced the launch of its own Initial Exchange Offerings (IEO) platform called “LaunchBase”.
“The LaunchBase platform will work closely with projects, community members and industry partners to promote quality cryptocurrencies worldwide, including the sale of tokens to eligible Poloniex platform members. All participants will be subject to compliance checks, ”the company writes..
In addition to organizing sales, Poloniex promises to provide professional advice to projects participating in LaunchBase to help them become more in demand.
The first IEO on LaunchBase will host a stablecoin landing platform based on the TRON blockchain called “JUST”. JUST users are encouraged to stake TRX to issue a USDJ stablecoin pegged to the US dollar at a 1: 1 ratio. The JST platform’s own token can be used for interest payments and other functions..
LaunchBase will distribute tokens on a first come, first served basis. This model was practiced by many cryptocurrency exchanges at the dawn of IEO, but later abandoned it in favor of fixed allocations due to the increased activity of bots, which sometimes led to the completion of campaigns within a fraction of a second. JST token sale will be conducted for TRX.
When exactly IEO JUST will take place and on what conditions, Poloniex does not specify.
Poloniex and HitBTC have limited transactions with ERC-20 tokens.Cryptocurrency exchange HitBTC announced the suspension of withdrawal of funds in tokens…
Poloniex exchange rolled back the history of operations due to a bug that was discovered Poloniex cryptocurrency exchange announced the start and subsequent…
OKEx exchange will open a platform for launching tokens OKEx cryptocurrency exchange intends to open its own platform, thanks to which third-party projects…
Bibox exchange will hold IEO for four projects at the same time Bibox cryptocurrency exchange this Thursday presented four projects that will conduct…
Clients of Bittrex International cryptocurrency exchange will be transferred to a new platform Maltese focused on serving international clients…


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What, you didn’t think a wave of criticism following Assassin’s Creed Unity was going to stop Ubisoft from loving money, did you? Of course Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is going to have microtransactions on top of its $60 price tag. That’s just the way the world works these days for AAA games.
In defense of his game, though, Director Francois Pelland assured fans that the money will be used only to”save time and accelerate progress.”
“Rest assured, all of Syndicate’s content is available without paying anything additional and the game has been balanced such that microtransactions are 100% optional.”
Ubisoft just wants to profit off of a generation who would rather pay money to access content rather than play the game an earn it for free. Money solves everything these days, and while a vocal minority might not approve of this method, everyone else is an enabler of this model. The option wouldn’t be there if people weren’t buying.
That’s just the way it is. Don’t blame Ubisoft. Blame the world around you. Man, I want to play some Final Fantasy Tactics. That game has no microtransactions.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate will be released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on Oct. 23. The PC version will follow on Nov. 19.


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Which Football Equipment Companies Are Buying the Most Power Football Equipment?
Equipement football equipment is a popular category, with over 10 million players buying football equipment in 2016.
According to industry analysts, the number of football equipment manufacturers has risen by more than 100 per cent over the past five years.
The biggest name brands in this category are Power, Elite and Pirelli.
The company is currently in the midst of a major redesign, which will see it enter the power equipment space once again.
However, the biggest news in the power-gear space is that Pirellis, the Italian football manufacturer, has purchased Elite Sports, the UK-based power equipment company.
Power’s main aim is to become the world’s largest power equipment supplier.
Elite Sports is the company behind the Elite Series Power equipment.
It is owned by a consortium led by BT, the company that owns the English Premier League, which is currently owned by Manchester United.
The consortium will now work on the development of Power’s new Power football equipment.
According the industry, Pirelíns Power equipment sales grew by 1.2 per cent in 2016, compared to a year earlier.
It will also be able to export the Power equipment to the rest of Europe, according to the company.
“The acquisition is the first step to Power’s growth, which we expect will accelerate as we continue to diversify our product portfolio,” said János Molnár, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Píru, at the Pirello conference.
Power is a subsidiary of the Italian sports and leisure company Pirella.
The new Power equipment is the latest of Pirelia’s Power series, which started with the Power X5 power trainer and has since expanded to the Power Sport, the Power Plus, the Elite Sport, and the Power Premier.
Pireli is also a subsidiary in the Pizetti Group, which owns a number of brands including Lotto, Tissot and Cepheus.
Pizati, which has a significant presence in the football market, will be able sell its products to Pireelli.
Pissini also operates the Pissetone Power trainer, which uses a range of technology, including artificial intelligence, to help players move faster and reach their goals.
Picelli is the main power equipment brand, which offers a wide range of products for the football industry.
It also owns the Pizzeria Pista, which currently sells the Power Pista trainer, Power Pro and Power Pro Plus.
The sports trainer is currently the most popular product of the Picello brand.
Pisistorm Sports is also an active sports equipment company, which provides power equipment for the sports industry, including the Power Pro, Power Plus and Elite series.
The Pisista Power trainer is a trainer that offers a range to players, including a high-intensity training programme, a speed training programme and a high energy programme.
The trainer is one of the most sought after by players and is now sold at the largest retailer, Nike.
“Our goal is to introduce the Pisistas Power Trainer as the new power trainer,” said Pisistein Ghebri, the CEO of Pisostorm.
Piscitivo, the Spanish football company, is one to watch.
The brand is one that has enjoyed an impressive run in the sports and entertainment market, which saw the company achieve its biggest annual revenue increase of €9.2 billion (US$10.7 billion) in 2016 and an increase of more than 80 per cent compared to the previous year.
The Spanish sports and fitness company Pescitivo is now owned by the Spanish state.
The future of Piscitiivo Power trainers is unclear, as Pisci is not planning to change the design of the trainer, according the company’s founder, Alberto Lopes.
“It’s not a matter of designing the trainer or modifying the trainers,” he said.
“What we want to do is introduce the trainer to a wider market.”
In 2018, Piscisi acquired the Piscity brand, a fitness and performance brand.
The acquisition was made by a group of private equity firms led by Vassilios Seskinas, who previously ran Vassal, the sports marketing agency that produced the Pisa test results in 2017.
The purchase was announced in March 2019.
According a Piscisa spokesperson, the PISCITIVO Power trainers will be sold in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
The majority of Pisa’s sales come from Spain, where the trainer is sold by Pisitivo.
Pisi also has a partnership with the Italian manufacturer CEPTIC.
The Italian manufacturer is the biggest supplier of power equipment to Piscil, with an estimated annual revenue of over €6.3 billion.
According Pisisi’s chief executive officer, Giuseppe Di Giacomo, the deal will benefit Piscistivo’s sports and lifestyle customers. “We have


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More than 4000 tonnes of paper and cardboard a month are saved from the tip thanks to ethical recycling company One Paper.
The Laverton North business aims to reduce the environmental impact of paper processing.
Director Stephen Pighin said One Paper performs an integral role in the west.
“Today we process over 4000 tonnes of recycling product per month, we couldn’t have done it in the place we were previously in,” Mr Pighin said. “The best thing about being in Laverton North is the close proximity and easy access to the roads heading south east, south west, north and the city precinct.”
One Paper has entered into this year’s Wyndham Business Awards in the logistics category.
Mr Pighin said winning an award would give recognition to One Paper’s staff that “hard work pays off”.
Star Weekly is a media partner of the Wyndham Business Awards.
Entries and nominations are open until May 31 and categories include home-based; logistics; manufacturing; new and emerging; personal services; professional services; trade and construction; people’s choice;
arts, experiences and hospitality; business person of the year; young business person of the year; mayoral award; and business of the year.


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MUMBAI: A 28-year-old man was arrested for stealing Police arrested a 28-year-old man who stole the personal goods of a guest at the MLA hostel in Colaba six months ago. after the incident.
Nilesh Prafulchand Karnavat, a resident from Jalgaon, came to Mumbai and stole the personal goods like mobile phones, purse, gold chain and other belongings of the complainant. Karnavat was arrested from Dadar (W). The two phones worth Police have recovered two mobile phones worth Rs 40,000 each were recovered each.
The accused has Police said he has four theft cases registered against him in Sion, Powai and Jalgaon police stations.


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This week in Ukraine the potato market has seen an increase in prices, according to analysts of the EastFruit project. First of all, market players explain the upward price trend by bad weather, which caused problems with potato harvesting in a number of regions of the country.
According to the daily monitoring of the project, from the beginning of the week, potatoes in Ukraine rose by an average of 13%. Today, farmers declare prices for these products in the range of 7-10 UAH / kg ($ 0,27-0,39 / kg) depending on quality, variety and region.
Due to adverse weather conditions that were observed at the beginning of the week almost throughout the country, in some regions potato harvesting was difficult, as a result of which the volume of products that could be shipped to the market decreased slightly. At the same time, sales rates remained stable, due to which producers managed to slightly increase selling prices in the potato segment.
It is worth noting that today the price of potatoes in Ukraine is almost 2 times higher than in the same period last year. For comparison: then the shipment of these products was not more than 5 UAH / kg.


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Currently, Luxembourgers can buy medicines on the Internet, except prescription drugs. However, these drugs must be issued in a pharmacy. A bill was passed on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 from the 2011 European Directive. This law could emerge in the first quarter 2016 and would oversee the practical arrangements for the sale of non-prescription medicines on the internet. It still maintains the prohibition of buying prescription drugs on the Internet.
The Ministry of Health will establish a legal e-pharmacies list, impose to pharmacy managers the self-management of their website and limit the amount of drugs purchased on line. Pharmacists who sell on the Internet will have to prepare and send orders from their local or a facility authorized. Legal pharmacies are recognizable with the European logo but the sale in pharmacies is still the safest way to buy drugs.
Source: L’EssentielBack to previous


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Plastics Industry Faces Pressure Amid Global Calls to Ban Plastics
The United Kingdom’s Environment Secretary Michael Gove recently brought up the possibility of outright banning plastic straws as part of a crackdown on plastics production and consumption in order to fight plastics pollution in the world’s oceans.
The Marine Conservation Society, a British non-profit organization focusing on marine protection and advocacy, reports that 8.5 billion plastic straws are used in Britain alone every year. It also reports that plastic straws are often one of the biggest contributors to the plastics pollution problem as they are often the most commonly found object during beach cleanups.
The move by the UK comes as part of a global push to ban single-use plastic products like plastic straws. Taiwan has recently announced plans to completely ban single-use plastic products by 2030 and to implement the ban on restaurants by 2020.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has also recently declared a “war on plastic” by mandating supermarkets to charge an extra fee for plastic bags. Prominent British food companies like Costas Coffee have also pledged to phase out usage of plastics.
The European Union has also pledged to push its 27 remaining members to completely ban single-use plastic products by 2030.
Many efforts to ban these single-use products have concentrated on the municipal levels, with cities like Glasgow banning straws plastic straws in its municipal buildings and Seattle mandating restaurants to use biodegradable straws.
Companies and restaurant suppliers that manufacture and deal with such biodegradable products have reported an increase in demand for their products and services. However, barriers remain as biodegradable products cost five to six times more than their plastic counterparts.
Industry groups like the British Plastics Federation have already voiced opposition to an outright ban as it suggests alternative approaches towards tackling the pollution problem. Some opponents of potential future bans also suggest better waste collection systems that eliminate single-use plastic products as better ways to fight pollution.
Nonetheless, oil companies like BP have began to predict demand for oil to be dented due to the new global awareness on the damages of plastics. BP’s chief economist, Spencer Dale, claims that governments around the world, from the UK to China, are clamping down on plastics and changing related regulations.
The report suggests that the world will demand 2 million fewer barrels of oil everyday by 2040 due to the various anti-plastics measures and bans being enacted around the world.


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For Immediate Release:
September 9, 2021
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Norfolk, Va. – Today, PETA kicked off a petition urging Nintendo and video game director Masahiro Sakurai to let the group’s chicken gaming mascot, “Not a Nugget,” join the battle as one last downloadable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. PETA points out that the addition would spotlight animals’ capabilities and encourage gamers to help take down speciesism, the human-supremacist view that allows us to turn sensitive birds into nuggets and eat them.
PETA suggests that “Not a Nugget” could use various accompanying items, such as spinach and tofu, available to restore a character’s damage meter; a stun gun repurposed from a slaughterhouse worker to fire deadly bolts of electricity at enemies; and a terrifying grinder, like the ones used by the egg industry to grind up male chicks, to send rivals fleeing. He could have several moves in his arsenal as well, including the Shield (turning into an egg), the Not a Nug Stomp (growing to four times his size to crush nearby characters), and the Super Flap (brushing rivals away with his powerful wings).
“PETA’s ‘Not a Nugget’ mascot could use his wits, wings, weapons, and vegan fuel to pummel opponents and remind people that chickens are cool 3-dimensional animals, not food,” says PETA Vice President Joel Bartlett. “We hope Nintendo will jazz up its game by adding our fluffy foe of animal exploitation to the fray.”
Players who sign PETA’s petition will also be able to sign up for the group’s 3-Week Vegan Challenge, which powers up people with recipes, shopping tips, a meal plan, a dining-out guide, and everything else they need to go vegan—and save animals, protect the planet, and give their health a boost.


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Oil Price Affecting South Korea’s Trade Balance
South Korea’s trade deficit for the first 20 days of this month amounts to US$3.94 billion with the producer price index showing a month-on-month rise for the eighth consecutive month with regard to the rising prices of petroleum and raw materials. According to experts, adverse effects of the rising prices are beginning to manifest themselves.
Although the rising prices have been caused by a global economic recovery, the result means that South Korea’s export costs are increasing fast in that it is highly dependent on imported crude oil and raw materials. Even if South Korea’s exports substantially increase, imports may increase more than that and South Korean companies’ profits may decrease due to the increasing costs.
According to the government, the trade deficit for the first 20 days of this month may lead to a monthly trade deficit and yet it is likely to be one-off. Those in industries, however, have a completely different view. “The international oil price, which was less than US$40 per barrel last year, is likely to remain at US$70 or more in the second half of this year, and then a negative surplus may be repeated and the government may fail to meet its 4 percent growth target for this year,” one of them explained.
The 20-day trade deficit is the largest since January 1 to 20, 2016, the first period of the Korea Customs Service’s relevant statistics. “The deficit has to do with large-scale investments in the semiconductor industry and an increase in consumer goods imports led by a domestic demand recovery,” the Ministry of Economy and Finance said, adding, “In other words, the deficit is not entirely negative and it does not have to be seen as a risk.”
However, experts point out that imports are increasing too fast and this tendency may continue for a while due to the international oil price. The WTI price jumped from US$47 to US$67.2 per barrel from early this year to July 20 and that of the Dubai crude oil jumped from US$50 to US$71.28 per barrel in that period. This month, South Korea’s automobile, petroleum product, gas, crude oil and semiconductor imports increased 176.8 percent, 123.3 percent, 146.7 percent, 83.6 percent and 29.9 percent, respectively.
South Korea’s trade deficit is predicted to continue in the second half of this year. According to the Korea International Trade Association, its exports for the second half of this year are estimated at US$304.6 billion (up 12 percent year on year) and its imports for the same period are estimated at US$306 billion (up 28.7 percent year on year). If this really happens, South Korea will show a half-yearly trade deficit for the first time in 13 years although the association estimated this year’s trade surplus at US$10.6 billion.
Source: Business Korea


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Okta, which markets itself as a “leading provider of identity” in the health care, public sector, energy, financial services, technology, travel and hospitality, and nonprofit industries, has notified some of its customers that data may have been accessed by cybercriminal group LAPSUS$. (Late breaking news—LAPSUS$ may be a teenager living in the U.K.). According to Okta, in late January it “detected an attempt to compromise the account of a third party customer support engineer working for one of our subprocessors.” According to the forensic investigation, an attacker had access to the support engineer’s laptop for five days in January.
On March 22, 2022, LAPSUS$ posted screenshots of data that it allegedly exfiltrated from the support engineer’s laptop. According to Okta, it continues to investigate the incident and has “concluded that a small percentage of customers – approximately 2.5% – have potentially been impacted and whose data may have been viewed or acted upon. We have identified those customers and already reached out directly by email.”
Okta has stated that “There is no impact to Auth0 customers, and there is no impact to HIPAA and FedRAMP customers.” In addition, Okta has stated that its service “is fully operational, and there are no corrective actions our customers need to take.”


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CBRE: prime office occupancy costs in Stockholm rise by 12.1% in year to September 2015
In its latest review of global prime occupancy costs, ‘Office space gets pricier as global economy edges up’, CBRE noted that Stockholm was in 4th position in its ranking of centres by increases in local currency occupancy costs. Occupancy costs in Stockholm increased by 12.1%. With September 2015 occupancy costs of US$68.32per square foot per annum, Stockholm was by that measure the 36th most expensive centre overall. Stockholm rose by 12 places in CBRE’s ranking of the most expensive centres over the six months to September 2015.
Source : CBRE/ February 2016/Stockholm/OFF


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“Demand is muted in the marketplace. This is partly linked to the slowdown in the market. Consumers are also postponing purchases; waiting for the economic climate to improve,” said Eric Braganza, president, Haier Appliances India.
According to Sunil D’Souza, managing director, Whirlpool of India, while the festive season
this year started slower than usual. "The pace has however picked up since the first week of October and we expect the momentum to build up across the country going to Diwali. With new product launches and a strong portfolio, especially at the premium end, coupled with attractive financing schemes and promotions across all our categories , we expect to post strong growth this festival season", he said.
D'Souza said, Whirlpool has doubled its efforts - from execution of its festival plans and advertising to ensuring full displays of products on shop floors, implementing the merchandising on the shop floors to communicating the finance schemes to consumers.
According to a top executive from a renowned manufacturer, the company is observing down trading in the market across regions. “Ticket sizes of purchases are shrinking. So, growth rates this festive season
are likely to be lower,” the official said.
Y V Verma, an expert on the industry, said, “Primary sales have been muted this year for the festive season.
Dealers are not picking up as much stock from manufacturers because they are not sure whether there will be enough sales at their end.” Verma, too, predicted that secondary sales (from retailers to consumers) growth could be flat or may dip this festive season.
While the overall muted sentiment among consumer is a primary factor that has impacted sales this season, one of the key factors for the disparity between growth figures between large urban centres and smaller towns, companies and experts said, has been due to the capacity of the retailers to attract footfall.
While large-format retailers like Croma and others have done relatively better, smaller, standalone retail stores have fared poorly. “Large retail chains have the capacity to pull consumers through customised promotional schemes and offers and this has so far helped them post better sales. But standalone, small outlets, most of whom don’t have that capacity, have struggled,” said Nandi.
Croma Retail, which operates 140 electronic retail outlets, has so far observed over 20 per cent year-on-year growth. According to Ritesh Ghosal, chief marketing officer, Croma, over half of the items priced over Rs 15,000 it has so far sold were through consumer finance.
Sandeep Tewari, president (marketing), Usha International, said the lower growth could also be due to waning effect of seasonality. “While earlier consumers used to wait for the festive season to purchase electronics and durables, now buying happens across the year. We, however, have not witnessed any slowdown so far and are hopeful of a healthy growth this season,” he said.
Sales of durables has not picked up yet beyond top metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru
Sale in smaller cities and tier-II & -III towns remains subdued; dealer order lower stocks
Large metros post low double-digit growth but slowdown in other regions pull down overall growth figures
Smaller, standalone outlets fail to attract enough footfall as consumption slowdown continue
Industry experts fear a flat growth or a dip in sales this festival season
Large e-retailers like Croma post healthy double-digit growth; pull consumers through offers & schemes


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Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Harley-Davidson — Shares of the motorcycle maker jumped 4.7% after the company announced its electric motorcycle unit, Livewire, will go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The deal is valued at about $1.8 billion and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "LVW."
Pfizer — Shares of the vaccine maker jumped rose 4.6% after a new Israeli study showed its Covid booster shot provides strong protection against severe illness from the omicron variant. Its partner BioNTech saw shares jump 7.9% on the news. Separately, the company announced it will acquire drug developer Arena Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 billion in cash. Arena's shares soared by 80.3%.
Meme stocks — Speculative stocks that were once popular with retail investors on Reddit slid as traders bailed from their risky positions. GameStop's shares cratered 13.9% in midday trading, while AMC Entertainment lost 15.3%. Bed Bath & Beyond fell 6.4%.
SVB Financial Group — Shares of the financial services company and parent of Silicon Valley Bank fell 4% after it announced it would acquire tech equity research firm MoffettNathanson to expand its investment banking capabilities.
Bristol-Myers Squibb — The biopharmaceutical company saw shares rise 4.7% after it announced a dividend increase of 10.2% over last year's quarterly rate, as well as an additional $15 billion share repurchase authorization.
Halliburton, Exxon Mobil — Shares of the energy companies fell after Iraq's energy minister said they're in talks over the potential sale of Exxon's stake in the West Qurna-1 oil field in southern Iraq, Bloomberg reported Monday. Halliburton's shares fell 5%, while Exxon's shares lost 2.1%.
Coca-Cola — Shares of the beverage company gained 2.6% after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to an overweight rating. The firm expects top-line momentum to build into 2022 driven by the ongoing economic reopening following the pandemic, and noted that the stock's current valuation is compelling both on a historical basis and relative to peers.
Rivian — EV maker Rivian's share got a 3.7% boost after MotorTrend names its R1T model the publication's 2022 truck of the year on Monday and called it "the most remarkable pickup truck we've ever driven." The R1T is the first mass-produced electric truck in the U.S., and the recognition is highly sought by automakers globally every year. Ford slipped 4.7%, and General Motors fell 6.4%.
Dollar Tree — Shares of the discount retailer fell less than 1% after activist investor Mantle Ridge announced efforts to try to replace the Dollar Tree board, which the company called "unwarrantedly aggressive." Dollar Tree also said it has offered to explore a settlement with Mantle Ridge, which owns 5.7% of the company.
Travel stocks — Stocks related to travel and the economic reopening were lower Monday amid continued fear and anxiety around the omicron Covid variant. United Airlines fell 5.2% while American Airlines fell more than 4.9%. Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises each dropped about 4%. Hotel chains Marriott and Hilton were 4% and 2.5% lower, respectively.
— CNBC's Pippa Stevens contributed reporting


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LG is seeking to shut down its mobile cellular phone arm, Korean news web-site DongA described in excess of the weekend. The company would be shuttered as a substitute of currently being offered off, the report reported, citing an unnamed source, who said negotiations of a sale to Volkswagen and Vingroup JSC have stalled.
That follows a report in January from The Korea Herald thatin spite of acquiring just premiered its at CES 2021.
Go through far more:
LG in February denied experiences it was, the LG Rollable, but DongA noted Sunday that LG has canceled its plan to start rollable phones in the to start with fifty percent of 2021. The hugely aggressive , Oppo and Huawei, with on the sector and .
LG is “checking out a range of solutions in mild of the headwinds dealing with our cell organization,” Michelle Leff Mermelstein, LG’s head of US Community Relations, explained in an emailed statement.


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Alia Bhatt trolled for not having sugar personally but endorsing a sugar drink; ‘Kya hypocrisy hai,’ say fans [See Twitter Reactions]
Alia Bhatt is being trolled today. So a user has posted two different videos of the actress. In one video she can be seen with Varun Dhawan and Aditya Roy Kapur on the sets of The Kapil Sharma Show. It was when their film Kalank was releasing. She has a sip from her drink and is shocked to find out that it has sugar. She says that it is not good to have it. In the other video, we can see her endorsing a sugar drink. have a look at the video below:
— Filmy Pulao (@FilmyPulao) May 8, 2022
Netizens are reacting on the video. A user wrote, “Kya hypocrisy hai.” “Anything for money,” read another tweet. Wrote another user, “For money they can sell po!$!on too if needed sugar is still called to be a slow po!$!on !!” Have a look at some of the reactions below:
This much thought process isn’t naturally coming. It’s all scripted. And yes they are hypocrisy personified. https://t.co/eC4IHtTK3l
— Viraat Hindu (@ShivoBhairava) May 8, 2022
— Punit Soni (@truthseeeeekerr) May 8, 2022
For money they can sell po!$!on too if needed sugar is still called to be a slow po!$!on !! https://t.co/fY55nVgZLv
— Ruchi (@Ruchi4Tweets) May 8, 2022
.@aliaa08 is admitting that sugar is extremely unhealthy, how can she promote products with high sugar content, @ASCI?
Also, why hasn’t @fssaiindia taken any steps to regulate sugar levels in packaged food, especially softdrinks?
Everyone fooling the consumer.
— TheAgonyAunt (@_Odd_Concoction) May 8, 2022
On the work front, Alia was seen in Gangubai Kathiawadi. She also had an important role in RRR.
Stay tuned to BollywoodLife for the latest scoops and updates from Bollywood, Hollywood, South, TV and Web-Series.
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You’ve found a location, planned the menus, sourced your supplies, and picked the perfect name but there’s still a lot of regulatory hurdles to overcome before you can open your dream restaurant.
Food Safety Market Blog
A blog with articles related to food handler certification and education on food safety related issues.
Posts about food industry:
Lockdowns may be over as pandemic measures relax, but Canada’s restaurants face an uphill battle to recovery. Two years of restrictions, a labour shortage, and a looming recession have put enormous strain on the restaurant industry, with an estimated 13,000 foodservice businesses closing their doors since March 2020.
Our Food Safety Handbook is The Only Industry Guide You’ll Ever Need!
Whether you’re a restaurant owner, a public health inspector, or trainer offering food handler safety certification, you need to stay up to date with the latest food service industry regulations, policies, and practices.
Customer exposures to Hepatitis A have seen a major increase throughout the first half of the year, with cases appearing in the US in Arkansas, Indiana, and California as well as other states, resulting in a multi-state outbreak of around 1,200 patients which led to the deaths of at least 40 people. Governing bodies are urging all North American food service workers to ensure that they are vaccinated against the easily transmittable Hepatitis A virus - especially in communities near the infected areas or workers who travel often. Here’s what food service workers and restaurant owners need to know about the relationship between Hepatitis A and the food service industry.


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PLANS for Carluke’s Business Improvement District are set to be voted on by the town’s 160 businesses over the next month.
If the plans are ratified it could mean more than £500,000 will be spent improving the town centre over the next five years.
The BID has already been given the thumbs-up by South lanarkshire Council and NHS Lanarkshire who have both confirmed that they will vote Yes in the postal ballot.
Leading local companies, such as Ramsay of Carluke, have also given the plans the thumbs-up.
If successful, the BID team will introduce a customer loyalty scheme, online promotional initiatives and themed events and festivals.


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As Donald Trump prepares to take office, the Trump family readies for the transition. Ivanka Trump, the President-elect’s daughter, recently removed herself from her eponymous label as well as from any dealings in the Trump Organization. Though the soon-to-be First Daughter has no official role in the administration, the family has been under pressure to remove any appearance of impropriety. Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner is also separating himself from his role and ownership of The New York Observer ahead of stepping into the position of senior adviser to the president. Read more on Vamp.
Faced with a mountain of debt and suppliers in retreat, Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy this week.Read more
Labeling could be a boon for retailers who are looking to address consumer preferences and prioritize sustainability measures.Read more
The Chinese government’s ongoing program to inspect factories throughout the country seems to have only a minor impact on apparel and textile facilities.Read more
If the world has been forever altered by the swipe left, swipe right culture of online dating, apparel sourcing may be forever changed by Foursource.Read more
When a company like MAS Holdings, a major Sri Lanka-based intimates, activewear and leisure wear supplier that produces more than one million garments every day starts eyeing startups, it’s clear where the industry is headed.Read more
Tempur Sealy taps American Textile for sleep line, Welspun certified for Made in Green and Microban picks U.K. distributor.Read more
New research on how animals spin silk could open the door for more sustainable synthetic fiber production.Read more


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COVID-19 Vaccine and Other Scams
Fraud Surrounding COVID-19 is Increasing - Alabama Department of Senior Services
Social media is no place for COVID-19 vaccination cards.
Image - EJ Hersom, DOD
BBB Offers Safety Tips for Social Media and COVID Scams
The Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) has numerous stories related to coronavirus scams.
NARCOG encourages you to never supply personal identifying information over the phone, by text, email to anyone that contacts you offering to sell you a test, a service or product related to the virus outbreak.
Other Federal Agency Alerts
U.S. Economic Development Agency (EDA) - www.eda.gov
View the latest COVID-19 Fraud Alert information and video from the Office of the Inspector General here.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued warning letters to seven companies for selling fraudulent COVID-19 products.
View the full report here - https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-update-fda-and-ftc-warn-seven-companies-selling-fraudulent-products-claim-treat-or
Other helpful sites with additional information and scam alerts.
www.fcc.gov This link has sample audio of calls from scammers.


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Modern agriculture is an over $ 5 trillion industry that faces more unique obstacles than ever before. Climate change and jurisdictional regulations continue to challenge farmers, who are tasked with meeting the nutritional needs of an ever-growing world population with fewer and fewer land resources. Traditional agricultural techniques alone can no longer accommodate world demand, while catastrophic weather events can wipe out an entire region’s crops, driving up costs globally.
Cloud-based graphics-rendering firm OTOY has introduced RNDR, “a blockchain-based rendering platform that leverages a distributed network of idle GPUs to render graphics more quickly and efficiently,” making the process of rendering and streaming virtual reality (VR) scenes easier for all users.
RNDR is now announcing partnerships with blockchain developers zeppelin_os and Decentraland. Senior executives of both companies are joining Hollywood director and producer J. J. Abrams; the founder of Brave and Basic Attention Token, Brendan Eich; and talent agent Ari Emanuel on the RNDR advisory board.
According to regional reports Vietnam’s oldest Bitcoin Exchange, Bitcoin.vn, is about to lose its domain per order of the Vietnamese Government. The website that has been operating since 2014 has been accused of operating a blog without permission from the Minister of Information & Communications of Vietnam.
It’s the combination of internal and external rules that ultimately dictates how blockchain-based platforms will operate, says Primavera De Filippi.
Even though most altcoins are stealing the thunder in the cryptocurrency world right now, no one will overlook the Bitcoin price either. The way things look right now, it appears to be a matter of time until the value per BTC surpasses the $ 10,000 mark. If that trend can effectively materialize and result in stable Bitcoin price support, the remainder of 2018 is wide open for future gains to be recorded.
The Bank of Korea is seriously considering the possibility of launching a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) into the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency market.
Considering a Cashless South Korea
The Bank of Korea has officially confirmed that it has launched a study into cryptocurrencies, with plans to offer official recommendations regarding the digital assets. According to The Korea Times, the central bank also plans to consider introducing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) before July. Stated the bank:
A taskforce has been studying the possibility of issuing a CBDC and how digital currencies will influence the country’s overall financial sector since January. We will announce updates on this issue by the end of June.
British entrepreneur Richard Branson has spoken out over the “worrying” spread of bitcoin scam stories and ads. Some of the most common are false endorsements and fake binary trading schemes, he warns. Advising everyone to remain vigilant, Branson suggests that users should report fake stories to the platforms which have published them.
The days when crypto and blockchain were relegated to the sidelines are long gone. This disruptive technology is slowly but surely being moved to the center of the playing field, even in the sports industry.
We’re not just talking about eSports gambling platforms. We’re talking about real-world interest and well-known names who are showing a keen curiosity for how blockchain technology can be incorporated into this fast-paced industry.
According to BBC, premier league football club, Arsenal, went on to sign a sponsorship deal with CashBet and even soccer god Lionel Messi is keen on crypto. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has previously said that he has been “digging deeper into blockchain and decentralized systems”.
On May 4, 2018, at EDCON in Toronto, Canada, the Huobi Group announced its plans to expand to the Canadian market with a fully operational office in Toronto by the end of the year. This expansion marks the blockchain asset company’s second move into North America this year after setting up operations in San Francisco, and it comes just weeks after Huobi announced it would be opening European operations with an office in London, as well.
“Traditional brick & mortar banks should completely revamp their business models, but they don’t know how – this is where revolutionary banks and platforms like ours have the chance to step-up and offer a complete set of benefits for the consumers!” says Mitja Vezovisek, CEO and founder of one of the hottest new banking endeavors, the MoneyRebel Platform (LINK: www.moneyrebel.com).
Banks are killing their consumers with fast-growing fees, while the sprouting of new banking and financial platforms shows that minimizing fees, or even paying customers to get on board is possible – while they, at the same time, offer completely new sets of services that focus on the customers and growth of their assets and satisfaction!
Over the past year, cryptocurrency-backed lending has grown very popular with organizations like Salt Lending, and Unchained Capital trying to capture a piece of this emerging industry. Projects like Salt Lending have issued millions worth of crypto-backed loans so far and the teams behind these digital currency operations believe crypto-to-cash lending is going to be a pretty big deal in the future. Furthermore, this week a company called Nexo also plans to offer a digital currency for cash lending platform and raised $ 50Mn USD in capital from venture capitalists like the Techcrunch founder Michael Arrington.
There is an upsurge in the cryptocurrency trading volume in India. This increase is occurring despite the crypto ban issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in April 2018. As a result, crypto stakeholders remain confident that the market will continue to flourish even after the ban officially takes effect in July 2018.
Increase in Prices and Daily Trading Volume
Crypto prices and daily trading volumes have increased in the aftermath of the RBI ban. According to Reuters, the average price of bitcoin in India is $ 9,270. This figure is significantly higher the average bitcoin price in the few days after the RBI announcement which was $ 5,250. The average crypto trading volume in the country has also increased. According to Pune, a crypto exchange platform based in India, daily trading volume has reached $ 75 million.
Blockchain technology holds great promise in Ethiopia, the largest coffee producer in Africa, but getting a foothold in the country is a challenge due its constraining bureaucracy. One blockchain company is finding inroads by directly collaborating with the government.
IOHK, the company behind the Cardano blockchain, has announced a partnership with the government of Ethiopia to explore how blockchain technology could benefit the country. As part of that, IOHK is offering to train up to 100 Ethiopian software developers in the Haskell programming language.
The central bank of Russia is preparing to transfer payments on SPFS, its domestic version of SWIFT, to the blockchain in 2019.
Ethereum Or New Blockchain To Power Blockchain SWIFT
As local news media outlet Izvestiya reports May 4 quoting a source close to Bank of Russia, authorities are currently deciding on a blockchain solution on which to begin sending payments.
This, they say, could be either a homegrown effort or make use of existing options, namely Ethereum.
Two banking sources “familiar with the situation” confirmed the plans to the publication.
Blockchain research and development company IOHK has announced a partnership with Ethiopia’s government to explore applications of blockchain technology in the country. In collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Technology, IOHK will work with ministers, entrepreneurs, and start-up companies to examine blockchain applications that can benefit the country. Ethiopia is exploring a first use case of supply chain traceability for coffee, its largest export, among other agricultural technology applications.
In addition, IOHK will train up to 100 Ethiopian software development students in Haskell, a rigorous programming language used for mission-critical applications and blockchain development, including the protocol behind top 10 cryptocurrency Cardano.
Thus far, 2018 has largely been a period of uncertainty regarding the state and future of Initial Coin Offerings. With the US SEC taking an increasingly active role in the regulation of ICOs, and an increasingly controversial perception of this funding method, it is unclear what sort of role ICOs will serve in both the short and long run.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Telegram had decided to cancel its hotly anticipated ICO. The encrypted messaging application plans to create the Telegram Open Network (TON), a massively scalable blockchain ecosystem for micropayments and file storage, among other services, through DApps and smart contracts across multiple, connected blockchains.
What would happen if bitcoin were to suffer a 51% attack? It’s a hypothetical question, but one that has troubled some of the community’s brightest minds. Just as army generals play out countless war games, enacting doomsday scenarios, bitcoin defenders like to ponder ways in which the decentralized cryptocurrency could be attacked and brought to its knees.
Mitek, an identity verification solution provider, has announced that it is providing digital on-boarding for BTCDirect customers. A bitcoin broker platform, BTCDirect has experienced rapid growth with up-to 3000 on-boarding requests a day. To accommodate the surge in demand and meet increasingly stringent regulations, Mitek’s identity verification solutions are being used to on-board customers in as little as 10 minutes.
Founded in the Netherlands in 2013, BTCDirect acts as an agent in the buying and selling of bitcoins. Following the increase in cryptocurrency trading in the last year, BTCDirect wanted to ensure the on-boarding process was frictionless, but also compliant with regulatory demands.
Nikolai Nikiforov, the Russian Communications Minister, has said the government might ban Viber the same way it did Telegram. According to the minister, failure to comply with the request by the Federal Security Service (FSB) for encryption keys could see the app banned in the country. The FSB recently secured a court ruling prohibiting Telegram from operating in Russia.
Viber May Be Banned If It Fails to Comply
According to reports in the local media, the Russian government might target Viber if it fails to provide access to private communications of its users. Minister Nikiforov said that it is incumbent on the FSB to obtain an injunction if Viber does not comply with its directives. The minister also said that the matter is entirely in the hands of the FSB.
The company allows customers to trade gold with bitcoin directly, all the way down to 0.1 gram in quantity. Customers can hold the asset for seconds or years, with their ownership certificate securely stored on the blockchain. All gold holdings are physically stored by Pro Aurum in Switzerland and audited by BDO. The physical gold can be requested by customers or left in the vault, where it is also insured. Vaultoro is also working on a gold-backed debit card.


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Felixstowe: Company joins national cargo campaign drive
- Credit: Archant
An expanding Felixstowe-based transport company is taking part in a national video campaign to promote the logistics industry.
Maritime Transport already employs 1,200 staff and lorry drivers at its depots across the country and is currently building a new multi-million pound state-of-the-art headquarters on the edge of the Port of Felixstowe.
The company is determined to see the logistics industry continue to flourish and took part in a new video to make people aware of the importance of transport networks and how goods are moved from A to B.
The brainchild of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and ITN Productions, and introduced by news presenter Natasha Kaplinsky, the video explains how Maritime is expanding its operation to meet the needs of its customers – cargo owners such as retailers, carriers and freight managers – in a cost-effective way.
John Williams, the managing director of Maritime Group, said: “Maritime Transport offers cost effective supply chain solutions from ship to shelf.
“The video outlines how we are expanding and developing our services to meet the changing needs of our customers to provide more flexibility, transparency and value for money.”
Work is progressing well on the company’s new HQ alongside the A14 Port of Felixstowe slip road on the lowest of the plateaux on the 170-acre Clickett Hill business park site.
- 1 Forbidden Suffolk: 6 places you can't visit in the county
- 2 Suffolk town named one of the best places to go on holiday in the UK
- 3 Man stabbed in back and sides in Ipswich attack
- 4 Suffolk campsite named among the best in the UK by the Guardian
- 5 Ranking every League One away kit from worst to first
- 6 Striking new seafront café opens its doors to customers after two-year wait
- 7 Striker Jackson signs new Town deal
- 8 'It riles me to the core' - Anger as sofas dumped near Suffolk beauty spot
- 9 Teenager arrested after six people injured on university campus
- 10 'Like a Halloween scene' - huge caterpillar webs engulf hedges
The sweeping five-storey curved building will have 3,240sq m of offices, plus modern washrooms and showers, a rest room with TV and Wifi for the 300-plus Maritime Transport truck drivers who visit the Port of Felixstowe every day.
It will have capacity for 250 staff.


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IBM’ ‘fix-pack’ for Office Suite ‘Lotus Symphony’ was, as with most things Lotus Symphony flavoured, 32bit only. But 64bit Symphony users are also able to benefit from the bug-fix band-aid thanks to a re-packaged 64bit […]
64bit user missing extra languages in IBM Lotus Symphony office suite? Here's just the ticket.
The latest version of IBM's OpenOffice.org based office suite 'Lotus Symphony' has been released. Lotus Symphony 3 boasts many new and enhanced features, benefits from the OpenOffice 3 codebase and introduces brand new tool sidebars.


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Amazon advertising business surges by 77% to nearly $7 billion this quarter
Updated : May 01, 2021 15:37:21 IST
The growth seen in 2020 was only 44 percent year over year, during the same quarter
Amazon makes up for around 10 percent of the digital advertising market across the US
Amazon's share rose 3 percent after the announcement of its earnings report.
Published : May 01, 2021 03:37 PM IST


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Six Food And Drink Start-ups Selected For The Grocery Accelerator
Six new food and drink entrepreneurs have won a coveted place on the groundbreaking Grocery Accelerator business mentoring programme.
Start-up supplier businesses faced a gruelling application process - pitching before investors and other producers - culminating in a Dragons’ Den style battle at the Speciality Fine Food Fair earlier this month.
The final six producers have secured £60,000 in investment each and are now part of a six-month accelerator programme, which aims to grow their brand within the food and drink sector.
Led by a team with a proven track record in building substantial, and profitable, grocery and speciality brands, the Grocery Accelerator team includes Paddy Willis - co-founder of premium baby food company Plum Baby; Simon Lacey, noted for bringing brands such as Kettle Chips to market, and Rob Ward, creators of one of the largest fruit businesses in the UK.
Associate partners are John Stapleton, co-founder of New Covent Garden Soup Company Ltd and Little Dish; Emma Macdonald, founder of The Bay Tree Food Co Ltd; Simon Taylor, former chief finance officer at Heinz and Andrew King, non-executive director at Moma Foods.
The six food and drinks producers are Taking the Pea – a range of savoury pea flavoured snacks, Naturelly Jelly Juice – a natural, jelly treat for children, Saltrite – a 100 per cent salt substitute, Jim Jams – a range of healthier spreads, Equinox Kombucha – a fermented tea, using herbal infusions and fruit juices, and Polar Pops – handcrafted ice lollies made from fresh fruit and vegetables.
2015 ESM - European Supermarket Magazine - your source for retail news. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.


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Digital TV News: Kantar Millward Brown
Swrve adds Roku to its suite of streaming video OTT platforms
Jun 21, 2018 – Swrve has added Roku to its list of supported over-the-top (OTT) Digital Media Streaming platforms. By doing so, Swrve now enables any brand looking to interact with customers on the Roku platform to do so as part of a multi-channel strategy focused on driving engagement and revenue.
News categories: Swrve, Roku, Lisa Cleary, Apps, Big Data, Digital TV, Mobile, OTT, USA
Roku introduces Ad Insights Suite
Jan 17, 2018 – Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) has announced an advancement in OTT advertising measurement by introducing Ad Insights. The offering allows marketers to measure campaign reach and effectiveness across linear and OTT.
News categories: Roku, Scott Rosenberg, Marissa Jimenez, Advertising, Digital TV, OTT, Set Top Box, USA, Worldwide
From algorithms to AI, Kantar Millward Brown forecasts digital advertising in 2018
Dec 6, 2017 – Kantar Millward Brown has released its annual Media and Digital Predictions for 2018. 2018 is poised to be another busy year for marketers, complete with continued evolutions in communication approaches, media targeting technology and ROI measurement.
News categories: Kantar Millward Brown, Jane Ostler, Corey Jeffery, Pablo Gomez, Advertising, Big Data, Market Research, Worldwide
Tru Optik connects Kantar Millward Brown data to OTT platform
Jan 31, 2017 – Tru Optik has expanded its capabilities through a partnership with Kantar Millward Brown. The partnership will enable advertisers to attribute brand sales to OTT ad campaigns through Tru Optik’s OTT Marketing Cloud.
News categories: Tru Optik, Kantar Millward Brown, Andre Swanston, David Wiesenfeld, Ken Greenberg, Advertising, Digital TV, OTT, USA
- Global SVOD revenue to grow to $100 billion
- Amazon announces new Fire TV devices and redesigned UX
- ENENSYS announces ATSC 3.0 head end for hybrid delivery
- AdLedger pilots OTT video ad deployment using blockchain
- VR market to grow despite pandemic blow to location-based segment
- Graham Media renews with Comscore for TV measurement
- 317 million SVOD subscriptions for the U.S. in 2025
- Clearcable adds Minerva Networks IPTV platform to offering
- BARB issues invitation to tender for five contracts
- Amino helps Colsecor add SENSA OTT to legacy set-top boxes
- 3SS provides technology for STINGTV app from Yes
- Discovery acquires assets of adtech start-up AdSparx
- SimulTV picks Limelight Edge services for global video delivery
- U.S. pay TV suffers historic cord-cutting
- SpotX unveils programmatic solutions for linear Addressable TV
- Sluggish growth expected for pay TV in India
- Vubiquity secures content services agreement with Liberty Global
- TV panel prices could rise by around 10% QoQ in 4Q20
- TV Red Digital chooses Anevia and Viaccess-Orca for ISP TV platform
- Azam TV extends contract and takes additional capacity with Eutelsat


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LAS VEGAS, Microsoft has taken the wraps off its Media Plaform which is now hosted on Windows Azure, here at the NAB Show.
Yesterday, we spoke with Brian Goldfarb, Director of Product Marketing for Windows Azure, about the industry demand leading to the product launch which is expected for later this year.
He explains how the "cloud" is becoming an integral part of the media dellivery stratetgy for global companies. Gearing up for demand, he says in this inteview that Microsoft is buying "hundreds of thousands of servers."
He also speaks about an initiative with Deltatre and Akamai to provide streaming services to many of the world's broadcasters for the 2012 Olympics.


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- Articles tagged "sony a7s"
We go hands-on with the Sony A7R II, a camera that sees right into the dark, with sample images taken inside a dim lounge. Plus, we got a sneak preview of the RX1R II, Sony’s new 42MP fixed-lens full-frame camera.
"S" truly stands for "sensitive" with Sony's new full-frame camera, the A7S. We had a chance to get a special sneak peek of the new camera in our office, and are pleased to bring you our first thoughts as well as image samples within.
- Apple sues Qualcomm for US$1 billion over royalty fees
- LG G6 rumored to come with Google Assistant
- These Samsung Galaxy devices are getting the Android 7.0 update
- Updated Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 launches in India with Snapdragon 625 processor
- Acronis True Image 2017 New Generation is the first of its kind to protect against ransomware
- You can pay for rides on public transport with EZ-Link Wearables
- Thousands of watch faces are coming soon to the Samsung Gear S2 and S3
- Report: Worldwide app downloads grew 15% in 2016, revenue up 40%


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WH Group float plan10 Apr 2014
Chinese pork producer finalises indicative price range for Hong Kong float
WH Group, the Chinese pork producer formerly known as Shuanghui International, is planning to raise up to $5.3bn from its Hong Kong initial public offering, according to a term sheet seen by Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
In what would the world's biggest listing in a year, the company is selling 3.66 billion shares, of which 20% are current shares from existing shareholders, in an indicative price range of HK$8 to HK$11.25 each, the term sheet shows.
The IPO has an upsize option to sell 20% more shares to boost the deal size to up to $6.4bn if the demand is strong. The additional shares are from existing shareholders.


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The Trump administration is throwing $4.7 billion at US farmers to try and make up for the trade war pain
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Scott Olson/Getty Images
- The US Department of Agriculture announced the first set of aid to US farmers hurt by President Donald Trump's trade war, totaling $4.7 billion.
- $3.6 billion of the aid will go to soybean farmers who have been hit particularly hard due to China's tariff on the crop.
- The aid is part of a promised $12 billion package to help offset the pain of the trade war.
The US Department of Agriculture on Monday announced the first wave of financial assistance for US farmers hurt by President Donald Trump's trade war.
The initial investment of just under $4.7 billion will be distributed to corn, cotton, dairy, hog, sorghum, soybean, and wheat farmers, who have seen prices dive since Trump kicked off the trade battles with China, Canada, the European Union, Mexico, and more. The money is the first portion of a planned $12 billion aid package.
"Early on, the President instructed me, as Secretary of Agriculture, to make sure our farmers did not bear the brunt of unfair retaliatory tariffs," USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement. "After careful analysis by our team at USDA, we have formulated our strategy to mitigate the trade damages sustained by our farmers."
In addition to the direct monetary aid, the USDA will spend $200 million to help American farmers develop overseas markets for their goods.
The largest portion of the assistance, $3.6 billion worth, will go towards US soybean farmers. Soybean prices have nosedived since China announced a tariff on US-grown soybean crops. China imported $14.2 billion worth of US soybeans in 2016, which accounted for nearly 11% of the total value of US agricultural exports that year.
Prices of US agricultural goods have plummeted since the announcement of tariffs on American crops. Since it is harder for US farmers to sell their goods, supply gluts have become worse, driving down prices. This has hurt US farmers even if their goods are not sold directly to the countries with tariffs.
Many countries have targeted US crops with their tariffs to exert not just economic, but also political, pressure on the US, since many farmers are in GOP-held areas won by Trump. For instance, eight of the top 10 soybean-producing states were won by Trump in 2016.
Here's a breakdown of how much each type of producer will get, per the USDA:
- Cotton: $276,900,000
- Corn: $96,000,000
- Diary (milk): $127,400,000
- Pork: $290,300,000
- Soybeans: $3,629,700,000
- Sorghum: $156,800,000
- Wheat: $119,200,000
According to the release, the funds will become available on September 4.
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- 10 cafes in Bangalore offering the best of ambiance and cuisine
- Centre's fiscal deficit at Aug-end touches 36% of full-year target: CGA


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HELENA — The rush to stock up on toilet paper might have ended, but many people still struggle to get personal care items they need.
Located inside the Good Samaritan Thrift Store in Helena, the Placer Pantry supplies full-size hygiene items to people in need for free. They are fully supported and staffed by the GFWC Women’s Club and Soroptimist International of Helena.
Each month, they give out on average more than 1,000 items, ranging from tooth brushes and laundry detergent to razors and dish soap.
The store is open twice per week: Tuesdays from 4 to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m.
According to data from the team of volunteers who runs the pantry, in 2019 they gave out 17,401 items. In the first two months of 2020, they gave out 2,688 items, before coronavirus restrictions were put in place.
Though the pantry has existed in some form since 2012, leaders like Melissa Domme and Joyce DeCunzo say the amount of clients is growing.
“A lot of people we see are low income families, elderly people that are living only on social security, that just need a little bit of help,” said Domme, the president of Soroptimist International of Helena.
While many people may take a bottle of shampoo for granted, it’s an items that can pinch an already-tight budget for some families in the Capital City.
“People want to be clean, personable, they want to be prepared to go out of their houses,” said DeCunzo, a member of the Placer Pantry planning committee. “If you send your kids out to school without brushing their teeth, or you need to go and try to find a job, and you can't wash your hair, that's a real problem.”
This weekend, there is an opportunity to help pack the Placer Pantry. On June 13th and 14th, they are collecting donations of full-size items in the Dollar Tree parking lot near Good Samaritan. You can drop them off from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. There is also a need for cash donations.
Their wish list includes: laundry soap, bar soap, facial tissue, paper towels, tampons, pads, toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, tooth paste, tooth brushes, denture products, dish soap, lotion, disposable razors, and shave cream.
For more information, check out their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/189325948983643/


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Louis Vuitton and Pharrell Williams are feeling the love this Valentine's Day. The iconic French fashion house announced on February 14 that Williams will join the maison as men's creative director, with his first collection to be shown in Paris in June. He's stepping into the role left vacant after his friend and collaborator Virgil Abloh's untimely passing in November 2021. To say that this appointment is a big deal barely captures it, but, yeah...it's a big deal.
This isn't the first time Williams has worked with Louis Vuitton. He collaborated with the brand in 2004, and then again in 2008. And one of his longtime partners in crime, Nigo—with whom Williams founded the brand Billionaire Boys Club in 2003—is already part of the family. Nigo has served as the artistic director of Kenzo (which is owned by Vuitton's parent company LVMH) since September 2021, and worked with Abloh on the LV2 collaboration that debuted in 2020. Throw in the fact that Williams has been flirting with the folks at Tiffany & Co. (also an LVMH holding) for a while, and you've got a lot of tea leaves that were ready for reading before this announcement broke.
Still, there's a sense of surprise about Williams' new role. Rumors have swirled for months about who would take up the mantle at LV men's. Would it be Colm Dillane of KidSuper, who guest designed pieces in the most recent men's collection shown in Paris in January? Maybe another up-and-coming designer like Grace Wales Bonner? Perhaps LVMH would even follow the burgeoning fashion world trend of appointing someone mostly unknown outside of industry circles and design studios. Instead—plot twist!—the company tapped a megastar in Williams.
"I am glad to welcome Pharrell back home, after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008 for Louis Vuitton, as our new Men’s Creative Director," Louis Vuitton chairman and CEO Pietro Beccari said in a statement. "His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter."
What exactly that chapter looks like remains to be seen, of course. But there's little doubt that there's something big on the horizon. With Williams at the helm, how could there not be?


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GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) -- When it comes to a balanced diet, many people think dietary supplements are the way to go, but the results of a new national study suggest more caution when it comes to taking them.
Multivitamins or other dietary supplements are often thought of as healthy, but if they are taken improperly, Dr. Christopher Painter, an emergency medicine physician at BayCare Clinic, said they can have adverse effects, especially if they contain iron.
“Unlike some of the other agents in the vitamins and multivitamins that can be excreted out and gotten rid of, iron can build up and cause damage to the cells in the body,” said Dr. Painter.
A recent study published in the Journal of Medical Toxicology found about a 50 percent increase in calls to poison control centers throughout the U.S. due to dietary supplements between 2005 and 2012.
After looking through more than 270,000 phone calls, researchers found about 70 percent of the calls were for children under the age of 6 who unintentionally took too many dietary supplements. –
“It isn't always a bottles-worth that can cause a toxic overdose, it can be as much as a handful,” said Dr. Painter.
Dr. Painter said multi-vitamins and dietary supplements can be beneficial when taken properly, but if there are young children in the house, there are ways to protect them.
“Keep them out of reach of kids,” said Dr. Painter. “Some are quite tasty and fun to look at and pretty easy to overdose on.”
Other supplements have easy-to-open covers, so make sure they are stored properly.
Plus, if you have any questions about dietary supplements, Dr. Painter said you should talk to your doctor because there might just be a better way to get the nutrients you might be missing.
“Keep in mind, the best source of vitamins is a good diet,” said Dr. Painter. “A multi-vitamin wouldn't really prevent some of the things that can come with a poor diet.”


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On February 21st Colombia will sign the Free Trade Agreement with South Korea, a deal that the Government feels will pave the way for similar agreements with Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia and India. Last Tuesday, the government of Lee Myung-Bak approved the final document of a deal that was first discussed in December of 2009.
The 22-chapter deal, which includes the elimination of tariffs for 96 percent of either nations’ products, must still be approved and made into law by the Colombian Congress and the National Assembly of South Korea, which should happen in late March of this year. The hope is that the agreement can go into effect by June, at the latest.
As expected, not all sectors are celebrating. While the agricultural sector feels it’s a chance to break into Asian markets, notorious for importing foods, others like the automobile and electrical appliance industries are concerned that the country may be unprepared for this move.


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One of the world's biggest names in computing has committed to maintaining a key base in Scotland, regardless of how the UK leaves the European Union.
US-based Hewlett Packard Enterprise provides business IT gear to customers.
HPE said its Renfrewshire site, which refurbishes used technology like laptops, printers and servers, was one of the best in the world.
The UK government has outlined several “reasonable worst-case” planning scenarios in relation to Brexit.
The Yellowhammer document has raised the possibility of lorries not being able to cross easily from the UK in to France.
Speaking at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise facility in Erskine, the company's Ray McGann said: "The level of expertise and technical capability we have here is extremely important to us and our customers.
"That expertise is the cornerstone of our business and it's very important to us to maintain that."
Mr McGann, who looks after the lifecycle of HPE's assets, said the business had customers right across Europe - but added that it had been drawing on its experience dealing with non-EU countries such as Norway.
"The lack of clarity maybe over the last three years has meant that nobody was taking any particular outcome for granted, therefore the planning would have taken the worst case," he told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme.
He said the company had been working with its carriers, adding: "We have over the years been very focused on ensuring best use of logistics from Europe (such as) making consolidated shipments.
"Our good practices have been maintained through all of the years. They will stand to us, hard Brexit or otherwise.
"We're confident we have the expertise, the knowledge to support the eventual outcome."
Meanwhile, Hewlett Packard Enterprise says it is seeing a big change in how its IT customers operate, amid the drive to cut carbon.
Its 150,000 sq ft facility in Erskine plays a big role in handling the four million items of technology the company processed in 2018.
This is also where 89% of used IT equipment taken in from clients is refurbished and sent out again to customers - part of the business model known as the circular economy.
The equipment is also wiped clean of all data before re-use and staff working at the site need a high level of security clearance.
"Nearly 90% of what you see brought in the door is broken down and reconfigured for the next customer," said Hewlett Packard Enterprise chief sustainability officer Christopher Wellise.
"Just over 10% is recycled in a responsible way and waste is limited to about 0.33% of all the material that's brought in here."
Mr Wellise added that only 1% of the environmental impact of its equipment was disposing of it - producing and using IT equipment makes up a much larger slice of the carbon footprint.
He said: "One of the things that you really want to focus on is creating the most energy-efficient products on the planet, and then extending the life of those products - keeping them out of landfill and keeping them in use for longer.
"Our large cloud provider customers - many of them have carbon neutral requirements. One of the things we can do by refurbishing their assets is offset some of the carbon associated with the production of new equipment.
"It's not technically a carbon offset that you would actually pay for, but it's a credit on their carbon footprint."
HPE has now decided to offer all the products it normally sells under its circular economy programme, by 2023.
"One of the ways you can really close that loop is giving access rather than ownership," Mr Wellise said.
"HPE retains custody of that equipment, therefore that 89% applies to a much broader base, and we're looking to push that 89% as close to 100% as possible - we're always improving processes."
For the latest business news as it happens, follow BBC presenter Andrew Black's updates each weekday morning on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme between 0600 and 0900.


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Jollibee gives P100M food for COVID19 front-liners
Fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) is donating P100 million worth of its food products to healthcare workers and uniformed personnel at the front-lines of the battle against coronavirus pandemic.
JFC, through the Jollibee Group Foundation’s FoodAID Program, has been closely coordinating with public and private organizations for an efficient distribution system of the food products to these front-liners.
“Our frontliners are our real modern-day heroes during this time of a pandemic, and it is unfortunate that many of them have little time to rest. The Jollibee group is one with them in this fight and we hope that through our food, we can fuel their heroic efforts. We are more than grateful for what they are doing for our countrymen. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts,” JFC chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong said.
The frontliners will be receiving food packs from Jollibee, Chowking, Mang Inasal, Red Ribbon, Greenwich, Burger King, Panda Express, and PHO24.
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.


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Billa Strengthens Online Offering
Published on Aug 28 2013 9:45 AM in Technology
Austrian retailer Billa is to strengthen its online grocery presence with a new smartphone app and an extensive billboard campaign.
Commenting at the launch of the new online stores at Billa HUB Vienna, Billa CEO Volker Hornsteiner said, "Although such services have yet a low share of total sales, but a high growth and high value revenue per purchase. This significant increase once again confirms the importance of this new area."
Some of the revamp efforts include an increased product range from 4500 to 5000 SKUs - adjusted to suit current trends and customer needs - and a new online shop logo.
The campaign is to be accompanied by an innovative print campaign, with 400 billboards as well as virtual store shelves in public concourses.
Currently online shopping is only available to customers in Vienna, but in three years time it will be possible in every Austrian province. According to Hornsteiner, the service is to be extended to Graz and Linz next year.
The retailer currently supplies approximately 1,000 customers per week online, with delivery of goods costing €5.99 for the first 50 kilograms.
Billa has been a player in the online grocery market since 1999, with sales growing by more than 50% between 2011 and 2012.
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Ellen Lunney


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A family owned bakery in Forres plans to significantly increase its turnover after expanding into new international markets.
Maclean's Highland Bakery has recently increased its turnover to over £3m and plans to boost it again over the next three years. Part of this drive will include taking on around 15 new employees to add to its current team of 130.
The bakery is taking orders from as far away as Australia, USA, and China and is investing in new machinery and product lines to further boost export sales.
An investment of £365,000 is planned towards the developments which include new equipment, marketing, and creating additional new products. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is contributing £95,000 towards these ambitious plans which Maclean's Highland Bakery says it will allow it to keep up with the high level of demand for existing produce and to develop a new range of premium goods, nationally and internationally.
The Maclean family business was established in 1978. Since taking over the reins from their parents, brothers Lewis and Ronald, and sister Carol have expanded the business with an emphasis on trading internationally. This has ultimately led to considerable sales around the world. The business is currently focusing on exporting to the Far East, an area with a great deal of interest in their products. Maclean's Highlands Bakery regularly exhibits at international trade shows in Shanghai, Cologne, and New York and it hopes to build on the great reputation in Scotland and have additional trips to Japan in November to further boost sales.
Lewis's great grandfather established the Maclean's Bakery in the Isle of Lewis and today the present generation continues the family skills turning traditional baking into award winning quality. The bakery own five retail outlets, three in Forres, one in Nairn and one in Grantown each offering a selection of varied bakery goods.
Over the seven years, HIE has provided advice and information as well as financial assistance in order to maximise opportunities for the bakery and to identify new international markets which significantly increase sales turnover. They have also been working with Scottish Development International to target exporting as a key area for growing the business which includes taking part in international strategy workshops.
Mandy Holmes, development manager at HIE, said: "The company is innovative and ambitious in its approach to providing products to a range of customers nationally and internationally. Our role is to continue to help develop the company and provide quality jobs in Moray. We are working closely with them looking at all aspects of their work which help them grow, from manufacturing, to product development, to marketing and distribution. HIE's investment will allow the company to keep up with the high level of demand for existing produce and to develop a new range of premium goods, as well as to create quality jobs in the area."
Lewis Maclean who is a World Scotch Pie Champion, said: "We are delighted to have the ongoing support of HIE which has shared our ambitions to grow at every stage. The new machinery, brand development and trade fair attendance are all part of our growth plan which will allow the company to expand as new opportunities arise, a key element of this is increasing our export sales and developing new premium products. This expansion in activity will put us in a great position to explore further new markets as well as introduce some new additions to our range."
The company recently expanded and diversified into new market areas such as the gift and premium food markets. In particular Maclean's Highland Bakery has developed a premium range of biscuits called "Land of MacBeth", which come in four varieties of Crofter's Oatcakes, Ginger Perkins, Highland Crunch and Traditional Shortbread.
Maclean's Highland Bakery currently employs eight young, enthusiastic apprentices - four working for apprenticeships in Food Manufacture and Retail Services and four working in Food Manufacture Specialist Management Skills.


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In 2013 Audi New Zealand entered a successful partnership with the Games held biennially in Queenstown, Lake Wanaka and Naseby creating “The Audi quattro Winter Games NZ”. The Federation International de Ski (FIS) hailed the 2013 Games as hosting the best World Cups on the international snow sports circuit.
They achieved record attendance, a global audience of 518 million and were recognised as the leading sporting event of the year, winning the Event Excellence category in Sport NZ’s Sport and Recreation Awards.
Dean Sheed, general manager of Audi New Zealand, said Winter Games NZ are an important part of Audi quattro’s global portfolio of winter sports partnerships.
“The Games have proven to be an exceptional platform for Audi quattro enabling us to showcase quattro’s sophisticated technology in both alpine and urban environments to a local and global audience. Our brand is also synonymous with snow sports – we have several snow event partnerships in the northern hemisphere and sponsor elite snow athletes in other markets. This sponsorship allows us to support New Zealand on an international stage and is an important part of Audi’s global sponsorship portfolio.”
Sir Eion Edgar, chairman of Winter Games NZ, said working with such a prestigious world-class partner further reinforced the strong standing of Winter Games NZ in global snow sports.
“Audi is one of the most respected brands in the world, renowned for its quality and innovation, values shared by Winter Games NZ,” he said. “We’re delighted to extend our partnership with Audi to the 2015 and 2017 events and look forward to working with them on both a national and global level. Together we will continue to deliver events that take snow sports competition to the next level for athletes, media and spectators around the world.”
Winter Games NZ 2015 take place from 21-30 August and feature alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snowboarding, freeskiing and curling at Coronet Peak, Snow Farm NZ, - Cardrona Alpine Resort and Naseby. With the best of the world’s elite snow sports athletes competing to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea, New Zealand provides an ideal location for these athletes to train ahead of the Olympics.
The Games also include a full “Downtown Sessions” festival programme featuring films, live music and entertainment in Queenstown and Lake Wanaka.
Audi New Zealand also hosts its world-class Audi ice experience driving programme each August in the Queenstown region and Sheed says he is looking forward to a month of showcasing quattro at its best.
“Our Audi ice experience programme is world class, and through previous participants’ word of mouth, we now have more people than ever wanting to experience the challenge of putting a quattro through its paces on the ice. In 2015 our ice driving programme will run in parallel with the Games in August and will provide guests with a uniquely Audi experience, from the mountain to the towns of Queenstown and Wanaka.”
For more information, go to www.wintergamesnz.kiwi.


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Has the diesel price rise sent shivers down print street? - The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column
The prices of crude oil and depreciating rupee are causing jitters. One reason is, the cost of transportation. According to reports, the truck operators are passing on the hike in the diesel price to the end-user.
In this Sunday Column, printers and suppliers voice their concerns
12 Oct 2018 | By Noel D'Cunha
Prashant Atre, managing director at Toyo Ink Arets sums up the present day economic scenario succinctly. He says, “Sadly but true, Indian economy, its performance and its perception are largely governed by oil and dollar.”
The rupee has been depreciating and the price of crude oil has been continuously rising. These factors not only affect the direct cost but also affects the overall sentiments thus makes the consumer change to saving mode from spending mode. “This has a larger and detrimental effect on business and economy,” says Atre.
Rising cost of the dollar has had its impact on the cost of raw materials like ink, paper and chemicals. Further, those in the transport business are passing on the rise in diesel prices to the end-users.
According to a report by the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training, the freight rates in the last few months have actually outpaced the rising cost of diesel. Some of the reasons cited for this rising trend by the report were a steady flow of fruits, vegetables, agri-produce along with constant deployment of trucks for infrastructure and construction activity have kept the rentals high.
Both, the printers and suppliers have reported a hike in their transportation cost by 10-25%.
Global5 Technologiess is one of the suppliers of machinery and consumables to the Pune and surrounding print hubs and with many of its customers requiring their supplies perhaps on a daily basis.
Prashant Khomne, managing director at Global5, says, “We have delivery boys in major cities who deliver consumables to our customer. Here, our delivery cost has increased by almost 15% to 20%.”
For customer outside Pune, into the interior of Maharashtra, central Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, Global5 uses either the courier services or truck rentals. Cost of both has increased and Global 5 has absorbed it. “Depending upon the availability of the vehicle to a particular location, the increase in truck rentals is up by 20% to 25%,” says Khomne, adding, “In our case, we always give machine delivery to our customer’s doorstep, and we have to bear the transportation cost. It is directly impacting our profits.”
Kamal Chopra, managing director of Foil Printers, and an active member of the Offset Printers Association (OPA) in Ludhiana, says, the matter came up for discussion during one of its recent meetings.
Chopra flags an issue. He says, it is becoming difficult to stay competitive while serving customers who are at a distance. “The transportation cost will be much lesser for the local printer to deliver printed goods than someone who is far away Hence a printer away from its customer will have to bear the additional transport cost.” He adds, “It is not only trunk rentals that have increased by almost 20% but the fuel charges of our own vehicles are also gone up.”
PrintWeek India spoke to a few more printers and suppliers, and here’s what they had to say.
Rohan Rai, director business, Shree Pack Containers, Vasai
“We have been in the print business since the last 25 years and have seen the ups and downs of it. But the current market situation has definitely set the alarm bells ringing. The hike is not only in the transport expenses but also paper and other inputs. As for the transport cost, normally the prices are borne by our customers. But in the last couple of years, our competitors in the market had started to offer prices including delivery, which made us change our pricing as well. But this time, we have to pass on the rentals to our customers, as I don’t see an end to it.”
Sachin Kala, managing partner, Ample Graphics
“Hike in diesel prices is really tough on both suppliers and manufacturers. We see an increment of 10-15% in transportation cost due to this hike. None of the customers is ready to understand and pay the additional amount. Most of the deals take place with delivery charges. Ultimately it is an additional cost for us. Being a high price sensitive market, profit margins are already tight – and the hike in diesel price has squeezed the margins, even further.”
Dr Vipul Pandya, director, Ratna Offset, Ahmedabad
“As we have always seen, whenever oil prices are hiked, it has affected the transportation cost. It’s become a routine now. We operate in Ahmedabad and Varanasi, and the transporters in the two places have hiked fares by 20%. Earlier clients used to agree to accept delivery charges, which were charged separately. But this time they seem to be taking a confrontational stand, demanding quotes including transportation. This is going to be tricky because once decided, any further hike will make it difficult for us to absorb. Tough times ahead.”
Taral Shroff, director, Shreejee Corporation/Pradeep Shroff & Co
Part-load transporters have increased the cost by about 10%, however, if we hire full truck we can save little. Hence, we are ordering in a big quantity such that our principles can hire a full truck for direct supplies, and help in managing the transport cost. In some cases, our principles have fixed the product cost, which includes freight and insurance, which is around 3.3%. We have not passed on this price hike in diesel to our customers, though we have been hit by it. So you know how thin our margins have gone.
Bharat Gupta, director, Shuban Prints, Jaipur
“Yes, the hike in diesel prices is hurting as the transporters are taking undue advantage of this hike. With a squeeze in printed cartons rates, which now includes delivery charges, this hike is creating pressure on margins. Besides, paper prices have shot up by 10-15%, and now transportation cost by around 4-5%. The print market has declined by 25-27% due to overcapacity. So overall it’s getting tough day by day to manage the supplies. If the situation continues to remain the same, industry growth will be negative and many people will suffer huge losses.”
Prashant Khomne, managing director, Global5 Technologiess
“We are also suppliers of machines for the wide-format segment. In our case, there’s one more challenge. If the cost of input raw material increases our customer will not hesitate to opt for third party inks from Chinese manufacturers, which are of much more economical then original ink or shift their jobs to other technology which has low running cost. Hence, we cannot increase prices, until and unless our principals don’t do it. Ours is a helpless case. It is one of the major challenges for businesses in the branded wide-format print segment.
Kamal Chopra, managing director, Foil Printers, Ludhiana
“We, especially the packaging industry, are already playing with a narrow margin. Due to the bulk, it is not possible to load the vehicle to its optimum weight. Just take the example of the cardboard box. How many of these can be accommodated in a vehicle, but we have to bear the full charges even for less weight. We suggested that our members concentrate on the nearby area for their suppliers to remain competitive.”


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A new video on FromSoftware's official YouTube channel hints that the developer's next game will release on PlayStation VR sometime in ...
You might wanna bring the tissues for this Overwatch trailer.
The livestream is off air, but you can watch the replay to find out what's so infinite about Infinite Warfare.
Activision has officially announced Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and also confirmed that a remastered version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is ...
2K Software has released a final trailer for Gearbox Software's first-person MOBA Battleborn ahead of its launch next week.
A launch trailer shows off some of the treacherous heights you can take on in The Climb.


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There’s another big reason to get excited about the upcoming 2016 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue: The models are coming.
Two lovelies who will be prominently featured in Time Inc.’s annual eye candy, Chanel Iman, and Hannah Ferguson, were at 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach on Wednesday to announce a free-for-all Swim Beach fan festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb 17-18 at Lummus Park.
The magazine’s group publisher Brendan Ripp expects a good mix of guests.
“Though 70 percent of our audience is male, there is a large female fan base that loves the platform and the brand,” Ripp said. “This issue is known as the Oscars of swimwear. The Monday [Feb. 15] it drops, you’ll find that women immediately want to run out to the store and buy the styles they saw.”
Ah, so what will you see? Ferguson, though mum on details of the most recent shoot, would say she is proud of the outcome.
“Sports Illustrated is all about empowering the sexy woman and her body and showing it off,” the native Texan said. “So, yes, that means lots of skin.”
Iman is still pinching herself that the dream she had so many years ago came true.
“I remember getting [the issue] when I was a young girl; I put Tyra Banks’ cover on my wall,” said the 25-year-old who is from Atlanta. “This is a big deal, my third year. I feel very blessed to be chosen.”
Speaking of blessed: These genetically superior females swear that they don’t stick to a diet to maintain their sleek physiques.
“It’s not good to deprive yourself, because that can lead to overeating,” Ferguson said. “You need to pace yourself.”
Carbs aren’t the blonde bombshell’s Kryptonite. “I actually don’t crave pasta or bread or potatoes,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll have a bagel with cream cheese. What I crave is ice cream! Recently I tried to switch to frozen yogurt.”
Iman? She wants it all.
“Shame on me!” laughed the statuesque stunner. “I’m big on sweets, pizza, everything. I don’t have a special diet, but I do cut back when I know a shoot is coming up.”
When it comes to exercise, Ferguson is a do-it-yourself kind of gal.
“I feel better without a trainer,” said the gym aficionado, who usually logs about three miles on the treadmill three to four times a week. “I used to hate running and I still kind of do, but I trick myself into liking it.”
Iman prefers getting out there.
“I take hikes, plus I do a little boxing. I work with my trainer on toning. Whatever works!”
For details on the fan fest: www.si.com/Swimsuit.


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Whether you've got kids who share your phone or a secret identity you need to keep on top of, you're in luck: Facebook Messenger for Android is rolling out support for using multiple accounts within the same app.
You need the correct password to add a new account for the first time, but after that it can be enabled or disabled - you probably want the latter if your kids are always on your phone or the former if you share a Pixel C with the other people in your house.
"All over the world, hundreds of millions of people share their phones and tablets with members of their family and friends," says the Facebook Messenger team. "At Messenger, we want to make communication simpler, more seamless and secure."
The update is rolling out now for Android devices - to check if it's reached your phone or tablet yet, look for the Accounts option on the Settings page. There's no word yet on when the feature might arrive on iOS, so iPhone and iPad users are out of luck for the time being.
- Remember when Facebook Messenger added video calling support?