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American apparel giant Levi Strauss & Company has hired law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to advocate U.S. trade matters on Capitol Hill as they affect the clothing industry, as the Trump administration attempts to close a tentative new North American Free Trade Agreement pact with Canada and Mexico.
Media outlets reported yesterday that Trump wants to close the updated NAFTA deal within the next two weeks.
According to documents filed with the Justice Department, Levi Strauss has retained Akin Gump to lobby on international trade issues including NAFTA negotiations. The iconic San Francisco-based retail brand, which maintains one of its largest denim mill suppliers in Mexico, is only the latest U.S. company to retain lobbying support amid ongoing attempts by the Trump administration to redraw NAFTA’s terms, which President Trump sees as deleterious to U.S. manufacturing jobs, at one point calling the pact “the worst trade deal in history.”
Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to pull the U.S. out of the pact altogether, has now threatened to walk away from the current NAFTA talks if Mexico fails to make changes to its current immigration stance or otherwise refuses to do something to “stop people from coming through their country and into ours.”
Trump today called on the U.S. military to guard the country’s southern border with Mexico until his long-planned border wall is completed.
The Levi Strauss account will be managed by Scott Parven, a former global policy director at Aetna Life who was also formerly legal assistant to Rep. Nicholas Mavroules (D-MA); and Josh Teitelbaum, former deputy assistant secretary of commerce for textiles, consumer goods and materials with the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Teitelbaum, who was also former legislative counsel to Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), was also previously staff director for the HELP Subcommittee on Children & Families.


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By Crystal Tse
Pactera plans to use the proceeds to fund bolt-on acquisitions ahead of a listing of the enlarged company.
The company’s post-money valuation is now close to $1 billion, its founder said.
Alibaba plans to set up research labs in China, US, Russia, Israel and Singapore.
China is Starbucks’ second-largest and fastest-growing market.
Tongdun plans to use the latest financing proceeds towards research and development, and to expand business.
Piston currently holds 15 per cent share in the household air-conditioner compressor component market
Whitbread said it would pay 35 million pounds ($46 million)for the stake.
U.S. first-time share sales from Chinese companies have already raised $1.3 billion this year.
Luo, 34, founder of Qudian Inc., owns a fifth of the company, which aims to raise $825 million in US IPO.
Ctrip.com and All-Stars Investment led a round that valued the company at more than $1.5 billion.

domain: news


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Above photo: Anuj Shrestha, special to ProPublica.
Scammers have duped consumers out of more than $1 billion by exploiting Walmart’s lax security.
The company has resisted taking responsibility while breaking promises to regulators and skimping on training.
Christy Browne was in a panic. The man on the phone said he was from the FBI. He warned her that drug traffickers had obtained her Social Security number and were using it to launder money. He said the FBI needed money to catch them.
“They told me not to go to local law enforcement,” Browne testified in court recently about the February 2020 call. The police were watching her and considered her a suspect, the man said.
At his direction, Browne, a retired elementary school teacher who lives in upstate New York, bought four $500 Walmart gift cards at her local Walmart. It was 3:15 pm. She took photos of the serial numbers and PINs on the back and texted them to the man on the phone. With that information, the fraudster had access to $2,000.
That was only the first step. The gift card numbers were then sold to Qinbin Chen, a Chinese national living in Virginia. At 5:47 pm, Chen passed the numbers to a co-conspirator waiting near a Walmart in Sterling, Virginia.
Just eight minutes later, at 5:55, the accomplice did something that an ordinary consumer would rarely do, but which is routine for fraudsters: use one gift card to buy another. With the numbers from Browne’s Walmart cards, he purchased Apple, Google Play and other gift cards at the store’s self-checkout kiosk. He sent the serial numbers and PINs for those cards to Chen, who then sold them to a buyer in China. Transferring the money to other companies’ gift cards for use in another country made it impossible for Walmart to figure out where the funds ended up. Browne had no way to recover her $2,000.
She was far from the only victim. Chen oversaw the laundering of some $7 million in fraudulently obtained gift cards, according to the Department of Justice. It was a complex international operation involving hundreds of victims, thousands of gift cards and multiple co-conspirators in the U.S. and China.
Federal prosecutors would give it a simple name: “The Walmart scheme.”
America’s largest retailer has long been a facilitator of fraud on a mass scale, a ProPublica investigation has found. For roughly a decade, Walmart has resisted tougher enforcement while breaking promises to regulators and skimping on employee training, according to more than 50 interviews, internal documents supplied by former industry executives, court filings and other public records.
Scammers dupe a victim, as they did with Browne, and then they exploit Walmart’s lax systems to get paid quickly and easily. That’s been true whether the fraudsters use Walmart gift cards or instruct customers to send funds by electronic money transfer. The company, in the latter instance, is supposed to be on the lookout for fraud and asking questions: Do you know the person you’re sending money to? Is the money transfer related to a telemarketing offer?
Too often, Walmart has failed. More than $1 billion in fraud losses were routed through the company’s financial systems between 2013 and 2022, according to filings by the Federal Trade Commission and court cases analyzed by ProPublica. That has helped fuel a boom in financial chicanery. Americans, many of them elderly, were swindled out of $27 billion between 2013 and 2022, according to the FTC.
Walmart has a financial incentive to avoid cracking down. It makes money each time a Walmart gift card is used and earns a fee when another brand of card is bought. And it receives one commission when a person sends a money transfer and a second when the recipient picks it up. The company’s financial services business generates hundreds of millions in annual profits. (Its filings do not provide specific figures for gift cards and money transfers.)
“They were concerned about the bucks. That’s all,” Nick Alicea, a former fraud team leader for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service who investigated Walmart for years, told ProPublica.
Walmart’s deficiencies have repeatedly attracted government scrutiny. In 2017, the attorneys general of New York and Pennsylvania investigated Walmart over concerns that it was “reaping the benefits” of gift card fraud. The investigation concluded a year later with Walmart promising to restrict or eliminate the use of its gift cards to purchase other gift cards, a favored tactic of fraudsters such as Chen. Instead, the company let the practice continue until 2022 — even after it knew that millions of dollars were being laundered through its stores.
The FTC sued Walmart in 2022, alleging it “turned a blind eye” as criminals took advantage of its money transfer service. Walmart, the FTC claimed, pocketed millions in fees while “letting fraudsters fleece its customers.” Summarizing the FTC’s evidence, a federal judge in the case wrote that “Walmart knew that its services were used by fraudsters” and that the company was repeatedly warned about certain stores where “twenty-five, fifty, or even seventy-five percent of money transfer activity was fraudulent.” Separately, a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania is hearing evidence of possible criminal conduct in Walmart’s money transfer business, according to corporate filings that did not detail the allegations.
None of this appears to have slowed Walmart’s ambitions to grab an ever-bigger portion of the financial services market. After years of offering gift cards and prepaid cards, money transfers and check cashing, in 2022 Walmart acquired an online banking platform called One, broadening its financial offerings even further.
But as the company seeks to grow, there is reason for caution. Not only is Walmart continuing practices that ease the way for fraudsters, its previous failings go deeper than the government has alleged, ProPublica found. Its long record of spotty training and compliance, and its refusal to take responsibility for the fraud perpetrated using its systems, cast doubt on its ability to run a sprawling financial business, experts and current and former Walmart employees said.
Walmart strenuously defends its anti-fraud efforts. In a statement, the company said its push into financial services has saved customers without traditional bank accounts $6 billion in fees. The company asserted that it has blocked more than $700 million in suspicious money transfers and refunded $4 million to victims of gift card fraud. “Walmart offers these financial services while working hard to keep our customers safe from third-party fraudsters,” it said. “We have a robust anti-fraud program and other controls to help stop scammers and other criminals who may use the financial services we offer to harm our customers.”
The company’s legal filings in the FTC case struck a different tone. Walmart is seeking to dismiss the suit, partly on the grounds that it has “no responsibility to protect against the criminal conduct of third parties.” Though fraud is “deeply unfortunate,” Walmart argues, such schemes are “reasonably avoidable by consumers.” The company also asserts that the FTC is exceeding its authority in bringing the action. (The judge upheld the FTC’s authority and allowed the suit to continue. He dismissed a second count, which accused Walmart of violating a rule relating to telemarketing fraud, but permitted the FTC to re-file the claim and address his objections.)
Walmart’s weaknesses provided an opportunity for Chen, whose operation is the largest gift card laundering scheme ever prosecuted by U.S. law enforcement, based on a ProPublica analysis of court records. Including Chen, at least 28 state and federal defendants — almost all from China — have been convicted of using gift cards obtained from fraud victims to transfer tens of millions of dollars through Walmart. It’s likely that many more have avoided detection. One prosecutor called gift card schemes a “worldwide effort to empty the United States of its retirement funds.”
Chen spent five years laundering Walmart gift cards before he was arrested in 2021, according to evidence that would emerge in court. Earlier that year, he complained to an associate that more and more people were competing to resell cards in China, eating into his profits.
So many scammers were flocking to Walmart that he and his team regularly encountered them at self-checkout counters. “All of a sudden, a lot more people started to do it in the past couple of years,” Chen wrote in an online message. “We ran into quite a few at the store, and we even started chatting.”
Store #2038, in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Sterling, Virginia, has much in common with the 4,621 other Walmarts across America. A giant U.S. flag stands out front. Walmart’s yellow “spark” logo marks the hangar-like building. And on a sunny midweek afternoon in late November, the massive parking lot is nearly full, but for a pair of close-in spots reserved for “our law enforcement partners.”
Inside, Walmart shoppers are buffeted by financial promotions. Hundreds of gift cards hang on unattended kiosks near the customer-service counter, where people queue to return broken toasters or exchange pajamas. At the money services desk, where three signs tout Walmart’s recently acquired banking app, you can cash a check, pay a bill, or send and receive money to or from just about anyplace in the world.
It doesn’t look like a hub for fraud. But this was one of the stores frequented by Chen’s crew. Born in Fujian province in southeastern China, Chen dropped out of high school and began working in restaurants at the age of 15. In 2014, when he was 21, he came to the U.S. with his father. In America, he often went by the name Ben Chen and worked in Chinese and sushi restaurants until he found a new way to make money in 2016: gift cards.
In China, gift card trading is a lucrative business. Gamers crave American Google Play, Apple and Steam gift cards because they can use them to purchase credits for games without needing a U.S. credit card. Gift card trading can create “small gold mines” that generate “long-term, stable profits,” according to a post on a Chinese message board.
The lightning-fast model Chen used to launder the money extracted from Browne was typical of such scams. Chen made his profit by purchasing Walmart gift card numbers at a discount from contacts in China. A $100 Walmart gift card obtained from a victim might cost him only $70. He could then use that Walmart card to buy a $100 Apple card, then resell the Apple card at close to its face value, pocketing the difference.
For years, the scam paid off. At the time of his arrest, Chen had $304,033.99 in one bank account and $278,602.69 in another, according to one court filing.
Chen seemed to enjoy taking chances. “Let me say it plainly,” he messaged one associate. “Buying this stuff has the risk of being arrested.” Chen lied to his then-girlfriend to convince her to let him move money through her U.S. bank account, she later testified. He instructed one of his runners to give police a fake phone number, and furnished another with receipts to deceive officers who might request proof of a gift card purchase, according to court exhibits.
And he could be threatening. Once, a former runner used Chen’s name to set up a Sam’s Club membership. Chen was incensed, court records show. He told the man over WeChat to meet him at a Chinese restaurant in Virginia. Noting that he knew the man’s license plate number, he said, “You will die very painfully.”
Starting in 1999, Walmart made four unsuccessful bids to enter the banking business. Such services would give customers yet another reason to visit Walmart stores, and owning its own bank would save Walmart millions in transaction fees. But Walmart faced resistance from regulators, protests from lawmakers and an outcry from community banks fearful that Walmart would wipe them out.
The company responded to these setbacks by launching a variety of financial offerings that didn’t require a bank charter, including check cashing, electronic bill payments, money orders, and branded debit and credit cards. In each case, Walmart undercut typical industry fees, saving its customers money.
Its largest financial venture, launched in 2002, was in money transfers. The company partnered with MoneyGram, which, like Western Union, has long been in the business of transferring funds. Walmart employees would serve customers, then transmit the money through MoneyGram’s electronic network.
The money transfer industry was, and is, massive, running into the hundreds of billions of dollars globally. It was also awash in swindles. Scammers had long loved money transfers for the same reason customers did: They made it easy to move cash rapidly across the world. Plus, they were hard to trace. The problems were so pervasive that a federal fraud investigation would force MoneyGram to terminate its partnerships with hundreds of non-Walmart retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada in 2009.
In the aftermath of this crackdown, federal officials warned Walmart that fraudsters were using its stores to send and receive money transfers. Walmart assured the officials that it already had a “comprehensive” anti-fraud program and would bolster its efforts by training employees to identify suspicious transactions and providing warning signs and brochures in its stores. But those claims, according to the FTC, “turned out to be false.”
Fraud soared. Walmart outlets at one point accounted for the top 20 locations for fraud nationally among chains that partnered with MoneyGram, according to internal documents. In a single week in March 2017, consumers claiming they’d been duped into a money transfer filed 610 complaints about Walmart, according to documents obtained by ProPublica. CVS ranked second, with 47. Site inspections routinely found that Walmart staff lacked anti-fraud training and that employees failed to ask screening questions.
At the time, MoneyGram was bound by agreements with the FTC and Department of Justice that required it to police any lapses it detected among its partners. An independent monitor appointed as part of one of those agreements wrote that “Walmart has weaknesses in its compliance program.”
But Walmart resisted MoneyGram’s attempts to fight fraud. “Walmart pushed back more than any [outlet] I’ve ever seen,” said Alicea, the former fraud team leader for the postal inspector’s office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who investigated MoneyGram and Walmart.
MoneyGram’s agreements with the government also required that it quickly suspend or terminate transfers at any partner that exceeded fraud-complaint limits. Yet until May 2017, 15 years into their partnership, MoneyGram hadn’t suspended a single Walmart store, according to the FTC. MoneyGram’s inaction helped prompt additional penalties from the FTC and the Justice Department.
Walmart officials insisted that shutting down transfers wasn’t “customer-friendly,” Alicea said. The company said it could address the problem with training. Walmart also routinely blamed MoneyGram, even though Walmart shared responsibility for compliance and its employees processed the transfers, Alicea said. “They have the face-to-face contact with the customer. MoneyGram doesn’t,” he said. “Someone’s going in there with a walker and $5,000 and sending the money to Nigeria? Come on.”
MoneyGram was afraid to alienate Walmart, three former MoneyGram officials said. “You don’t shut down one store and make Walmart angry,” said Mark Shaffer, who worked at Walmart for 27 years before joining MoneyGram to help manage its relationship with the retailer. “They [might] say, ‘Fine, you’re out of all 3,000!’” (MoneyGram was released from its FTC and Justice Department compliance agreements in 2021. A spokesperson for the company said it has “invested more than $800 million to enhance its compliance program and doubled the size of its compliance team,” and now has “record-low consumer fraud complaints.”)
Even as Walmart dragged its heels on combating fraud in its partnership with MoneyGram, the company took a major step that effectively loosened security. Walmart launched a second money-transfer service, Walmart2Walmart, a discount operation that allowed people to send money between Walmart stores. If fraudsters seeking to transfer money through MoneyGram at a Walmart store were stymied by security, they could simply try again using Walmart2Walmart, or vice versa.
Scammers immediately abused the popular service, causing an explosion in money transfers by victims of fraud, according to former executives and testimony from law enforcement. “There were a whole bunch of transactions that should have been looked into that weren’t,” former Walmart business development director Axel Wulff, who helped create Walmart2Walmart, said in an interview. “We simply didn’t have the resources to follow up on everything.”
Ria, the company that provides the electronic backbone of Walmart2Walmart, acknowledged the service’s struggles. “Unfortunately,” Ria noted in a statement, Walmart2Walmart was “exploited by fraudsters, who are always looking for new alternatives to facilitate their fraud schemes.” In response, Ria restricted or suspended transactions at high-fraud Walmart stores and worked with Walmart to establish systemwide controls. Ria “prevented significantly more fraud attempts than those that were completed,” it said.
In its own statement to ProPublica, Walmart asserted that it has stopped “hundreds of thousands of suspicious money transfer transactions” and that “fewer than 2 out of every 10,000 money transfers at Walmart were reported as even possibly fraudulent in 2021.”
Walmart was more combative in its pleadings in the FTC case, denying any obligation to act on “alleged” red flags. “No law prohibits consumers from sending multiple money transfers or from using out-of-state IDs, and Walmart has no grounds to scrutinize customers who do so,” it wrote. The company rejected the idea that it should “interrogate” customers sending money to “certain countries” based on “stereotypes that an entire ‘countr[y]’ presents a ‘high-risk’ of ‘fraud.’”
It was unfair, Walmart said, to punish the company for “not second-guessing customers and blocking transfers they have freely chosen to undertake.” But standard industry agreements and federal regulations require precisely that.
As the FTC and DOJ began cracking down on money transfers and MoneyGram responded in 2017 by suspending transfers at some Walmarts, scammers started favoring another tactic: telling victims to buy gift cards.
Complaints about gift card purchases at Walmart flooded the offices of state attorneys general. As part of the joint investigation launched in 2017 with New York’s attorney general, Pennsylvania officials pressed Walmart to compensate “victims who were never questioned or warned of the potential for a scam by Walmart clerks or managers.” The attorneys general also looked at Target and Best Buy.
Walmart representatives met with lawyers from the two states. According to meeting notes obtained through a records request, Walmart again invoked its customer-service argument: “Walmart not sure they want employees to refuse transactions … against the ethos of making customers happy,” the notes said.
On Nov. 20, 2018, New York and Pennsylvania announced that Walmart, Target and Best Buy agreed to make “significant” changes to their gift card policies. They included lowering the amount of money that could be loaded onto a card to $500, limiting the number and total value of gift cards that could be purchased at one time, and improving employee training.
The retailers also said they would restrict or eliminate the use of a gift card to purchase other gift cards. That should have been the death knell for the laundering method used by Chen and others. Best Buy and Target soon implemented a ban on gift-card-for-gift-card purchases.
Walmart said it would do the same, but then let the laundering continue for nearly four more years.
The company decided against imposing a ban, according to Fred Helm, who worked for Walmart’s global investigations unit. “That was a big conversation,” Helm told ProPublica. “The Walmart business side makes that call, not the legal side. I think it was probably just a case of ‘business wins the day.’”
Walmart’s statement to ProPublica did not address questions about its agreement with New York and Pennsylvania. The company pointed to an FTC report that showed fraud losses were considerably higher for Target cards than Walmart cards in the first nine months of 2021. (The FTC’s method didn’t take into account gift-card-for-gift-card purchases, which Target had banned, but which were still allowed at Walmart. The FTC has not run a similar calculation for other years.)
Chen had already made Walmart his focus before the 2018 agreement. The company’s decision not to bar card-for-card purchasing enabled him to expand his business. He recruited runners by placing ads on WeChat, a Chinese social network, and on a Chinese-language site focused on the D.C. area, according to trial evidence.
In 2019, Chen connected with Jin Hong, a Virginia native, and offered him a 3% commission on the dollar amount of Walmart gift cards he laundered. He could earn $300 a day by moving $10,000 in cards.
“Easy to do [USD] 2,000 in a single store,” Chen said, according to WeChat messages translated by the FBI. He added: “Working hours are from 11 to 6. [You] may leave early if there is no order.”
“I don’t mind giving it a shot!” Hong said.
Chen sent him a list of Walmarts and Sam’s Clubs. “These are the ones where are relatively easy to make the purchase,” Chen said. Hong started the next day and worked for Chen for six months. Hong would later plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and agreed to cooperate with the government.
“You would sit in a Walmart parking lot from 11:00 to 6:00, five days a week, redeeming gift cards, correct?” a prosecutor asked.
“Correct,” Hong said. It was Hong who waited in the Walmart parking lot before converting the gift cards that Christy Browne was tricked into buying.
Reached by phone, he declined to comment.
Chen had two rules for his runners: Move fast and use the self-checkout kiosk. Speed ensured a victim couldn’t reclaim their funds before a runner could launder the Walmart gift card. Self-checkouts were key because they operate with little oversight.
But even if Walmart employees had noticed Chen or one of his minions, they weren’t properly trained to identify and stop financial misbehavior. With Walmart’s high turnover, many workers lacked experience, and they were under pressure to make quick sales to keep checkout lines short. A former manager who spent a decade working at Walmart said it was “very rare” for associates to ask questions to determine whether customers might be involved in, or a victim of, fraud. Federal regulations require such questions for money transfers but not gift cards.
Today, Walmart cashiers handling gift cards, prepaid cards and money transfers are supposed to complete anti-money-laundering and anti-fraud training through computer-based courses. They consist of videos and multiple-choice quizzes. Associates must score 100% before being allowed to work the register.
A current Walmart employee with six years’ experience in the MoneyCenter, a financial services section offered in some Walmart stores, said that the training videos include obsolete technology and don’t cover all of Walmart’s financial products. “I think the training could be a heck of a lot better than it is. They’re not current to what we’re doing.”
Walmart said that associates “are part of a large team dedicated to fighting fraud. Walmart trains hundreds of thousands of associates annually.” It said employees handling money transfers receive additional training, including “job aids, manuals and infographics” and “daily knowledge checks at the register.”
ProPublica readily found copies of Walmart’s current “advanced” anti-money-laundering and anti-fraud quiz online, complete with answers. They were posted by Walmart associates who said they shared them to help colleagues pass the quiz.
ProPublica showed a copy to Christian Hunt, a former head of compliance at UBS Asset Management and the author of “Humanizing Rules: Bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics and Compliance.” Hunt said Walmart’s test is riddled with “lazy, pointless” questions that don’t help employees identify or prevent fraud. “It allows you to say you have tested them,” he said. “It does not allow you to say they genuinely understand this.”
The test’s first question is, “Which of the following is the process of collecting basic information about a customer regarding their identity?” The answer is “Know Your Customer.” Hunt said Walmart cashiers don’t need to know the phrase; they need to understand what information to collect and why.
Walmart cashiers and managers said they are responsible for enforcing a limit of four $500 gift cards per purchase (as laid out in the agreement with New York and Pennsylvania). But, according to police reports and a current Walmart associate, employees often ignore the limit.
Walmart seems to have had more success in staving off fraud when it relies on technology. The company employs analytics and artificial intelligence, and Helm’s team developed a system called Redemption that can automatically freeze the balance of a gift card if it exhibits activity consistent with fraud.
In 2022, Walmart turned over to the Secret Service roughly $4 million that it had frozen using the Redemption system. The funds, which were seized from gift cards loaded in July 2017, are being refunded to people who purchased the original gift cards.
“The secret sauce is miles per hour — the speed that the money is moving between the reload [of a gift card] and redemption,” Helm said. The system could, for example, detect if someone had bought gift cards in Pennsylvania and the same cards were being redeemed in Texas soon after. “We may have the disease of being so large, and things fall through the cracks, but this was one hell of an effort,” Helm said.
Still, Redemption captures only a small fraction of the fraud. And Walmart has not returned any money that was frozen on cards since 2017. Walmart declined to comment on the lag or to reveal how much money it has seized in total.
The flimflams continue, even in Walmart’s home state of Arkansas. In March 2022, a 39-year-old man with autism and what his mother described as “a mental impairment” began an online romance with someone he believed was WWE wrestling star Bianca Belair. Following the impersonator’s instructions, he used a credit card he’d obtained at the direction of the scammer to purchase $7,500 in Apple gift cards at a Walmart in Hot Springs, Arkansas. His mother filed a complaint with the Arkansas attorney general, asking how Walmart could permit such a suspicious transaction without asking questions. As she put it, “I’m a pissed off angry mom.”
A few months later, an 82-year-old woman ensnared in a fraud scheme purchased $14,000 worth of Walmart gift cards at two stores in Rogers, Arkansas. According to her son, employees didn’t ask anti-fraud questions and failed to enforce the gift card limits. She never got her money back. The woman had worked for many years in a warehouse — at Walmart.
Gift card fraud is increasingly taking a different form: balance theft. A scammer grabs Walmart gift cards and takes them to a private spot, such as a bathroom stall. The criminal peels off the protective tape covering the PIN and photographs it and the card’s serial number. They reapply security tape and put the cards back on display, hoping a customer will pick one up.
As soon as a customer activates a card and loads money onto it, the crook (who uses the PIN and serial number to monitor the card’s balance on Walmart’s website) spends the money. When people go to use the card, they discover it has a balance of zero.
Walmart could thwart balance theft by wrapping its gift cards in secure packaging, as other retailers do, and by keeping them in a secure location. Walmart already puts items such as video games, nicotine gum and replacement bulbs for car headlights behind lock and key.
Walmart gift cards are “just sitting on the shelf like an open deck of cards,” noted Craig Heidemann, an attorney who filed a class-action against Walmart in 2018 over its alleged failure to protect gift card buyers. (Heidemann’s suit was dismissed in 2022 and he wouldn’t comment on whether he’d reached a settlement.)
The difference between Walmart and other brands was evident in November at the Virginia store formerly targeted by Chen. Among dozens of varieties of gift cards, only the Walmart-branded ones lacked protective packaging.
In September, Qinbin Chen went on trial. Six of his confederates had already pleaded guilty to criminal charges. Now the diminutive Chen sat at the defense table, with a Mandarin translator, to answer to eight counts of money laundering, conspiracy, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The pretrial period had been contentious. Chen was chronically dissatisfied with his lawyers, most of whom were court-appointed. As the trial began, he was on his sixth attorney.
The trial lasted three days. Prosecutors used testimony from co-conspirators and messages obtained from Chen’s phone to portray him as a driven criminal. The government called him the “quarterback for a criminal organization that obtained, used, transferred, and laundered” Walmart gift cards with millions of dollars of value. Chen’s lawyer countered that his client ran a legitimate gift card business and that the government failed to show Chen knew the Walmart cards came from fraud victims.
On Sept. 14, after less than three hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Chen on all eight charges. He faces between two and 20 years in prison and is expected to be sentenced in February.
In late November, Chen sent a letter to the trial judge, outlining multiple grievances. Printing by hand on yellow lined paper, Chen complained that he was “treated in an Incorrect and careless way. It’s led me lose my trial. … I really need my retrial with different lawyer.” (By Dec. 13, a seventh attorney was representing him. That lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.)
For her part, Browne, the retired teacher who lost $2,000, is still grappling with what happened to her. Even before being defrauded, she didn’t use credit cards or digital payments due to security and privacy concerns. Now she’s scared to answer her phone.
She told ProPublica: “There isn’t anything I trust any more.”


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Toys R Us is considering liquidating all U.S. stores amid troubled bankruptcy restructuring, according to multiple media reports.
The retail chain has failed to find a buyer or reach a deal to restructure its debt, Bloomberg reported. Those issues, coupled with disappointing holiday sales, means liquidation of all stores is a strong possibility. The report cites anonymous sources close to the company.
New Jersey- based Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in September, bolstered soon after by a $3.1 billion loan. Steep drops in holiday sales, along with concerns from vendors impacting shipments, complicated the restructuring efforts and led to the latest issues.
Toys R Us has about 800 stores in the U.S. In January, it announced it was closing 180 additional stores on top of a series of shutdowns that took place last year. Store closing sales are set to begin in February with the majority of stores ceasing operations by mid-April.
Two Toys R Us stores in Alabama were originally set to close, which included the Summit location. The store in Tuscaloosa, located at 2600 McFarland Blvd. was the other. Company officials later said the Summit location would remain open. Other Toys R Us locations in Alabama are in Dothan, Foley, Hoover, Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery.


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Vacationers seek exercise spots
Published: Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 9:29 p.m.
When planning her recent Hawaiian vacation, Jody Wickers was less concerned with making sure her hotel pool would be a great place to lounge than with locating spots to exercise on the island.
A wellness sampler
— Shambhala Mountain Center
More at shambhalamountain.org
— Sacred Tree
Sacred Tree, with locations in Breckenridge and Aspen, Colo., offers acupuncture, yoga and free wellness talks, among other services.
More at sacredtree.com
For upcoming events, also visit Natural Fitness Guided Adventures; naturalfitnessguidedadventures.com
For information on next summer's Wellness Experience, go to Snowmass Village, snowmassvillage.com
A hiker, biker and rock climber, the Boulder, Colo., resident said she needs to keep moving.
'I love to sit and relax, but I can't really relax unless I do something active,' Wickers said.
And if she isn't active, she said she gets cranky.
To help meet the needs of people like Wickers, wellness retreats and getaways are becoming an increasingly popular alternative to the traditional vacation. People want to spend their days exploring, doing yoga and eating healthful food, not vegging out.
Natural Fitness Guided Adventures of Boulder is among those catering to the fitness-conscious traveler.
The company, founded last year, offers customized trips on which people can spend an hour or a weekend hiking, biking, rock climbing, doing yoga or whatever else comes to mind. The trips are also adjusted to that person's general level of fitness and experience.
'They enjoy your traditional vacation, but they want to be a little more active,' director Ryan Mazer said of his clientele.
The company is also organizing six-day adventures that include two days each of biking, hiking and rock climbing with optional yoga classes. Participants have to be at least 16 and able to bike 15 miles. Meals are prepared using organic, natural and local ingredients.
The benefits of the adventure can be life-changing, Mazer said. 'It feels like you jumped to a new level of health, fitness and awareness.'
Spending a few days immersed in an activity such as yoga can help your body and mind feel more rested than any other vacation can, said Brian Spielmann of Shambhala Mountain Center in northern Colorado.
'People are pretty blown away by the experience,' said Spielmann, marketing director of the Buddhist retreat. 'People feel really refreshed.'
The center offers yoga and meditation programs and also has hiking, canoeing and rock-climbing programs, holding more than 100 events a year.
— McClatchy-Tribune News Service
With today's shaky economy and sky-high oil and gas prices, Spielmann says, spending a weekend enjoying yourself by doing yoga or mediation is good for your well-being. 'It's even more important to take time to rejuvenate.'
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Luna, Amazon’s cloud-streaming service, is coming to certain LG televisions. This will enable users to stream games directly on their TV, without a console.
This feature will be coming to LG’s 2021-2023 Smart TV models for those of us here in the UK.
Those with 2023’s LG Smart TVs will be able to access their Luna games directly from the Home Screen Game Card. Meanwhile, those with Smart TVs from 2021/22 will be able to download the Luna app (which can be found on the LG content store).
To get going, users will need to log into their Amazon account on the Luna app. Then it’s just a case of connecting a compatible controller.
“Amazon Prime members can play Fortnite and a rotating selection of games at no additional cost and Ubisoft PC gamers can connect their account to play select games they already own,” the company said in a release.
In addition, players can select from a variety of Luna subscription models, such as Luna+, to get their hands on a range of games. This includes the likes of Resident Evil 2 and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (pictured below), among others.
Luna first arrived on the shores of Blighty, along with Germany and Canada, back in March. This followed a period of exclusivity in the US.


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Check food hygiene ratings
PUBLISHED: 10:42 14 February 2014 | UPDATED: 10:42 14 February 2014
Environmental health chiefs are urging couples dining out this Valentine’s Day to first check the hygiene rating of the café or restaurant.
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme rates food businesses on their hygiene standards, based on inspections carried out by East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) Environmental Health Service.
Businesses in the area are rated on a scale ranging from 0, which means ‘urgent improvement necessary’, to a top rating of five - which is ‘very good’.
EDDC said that 96 per cent of restaurants, cafés and takeaways in the district have a rating of three or more.
And diners should look out for the green and black food hygiene rating stickers displayed on windows and doors.
Catriona Stewart, head of the food hygiene ratings team at the Food Standards Agency, said: “The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is a great tool when choosing where to eat out, particularly when celebrating a special meal, because it tells you what’s going on in the kitchen and behind the scenes.”
Councillor Iain Chubb, EDDC’s cabinet member for environment said: “Valentine’s Day is a busy time for our local restaurants, cafés and pubs.
“With the majority of food businesses in East Devon rated three or above, the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme makes it easier for everyone to choose to eat their romantic meals in places where food hygiene is taken seriously.”
If you can’t see a sticker then ask the staff, check on the East Devon app or check online at www.food.gov.uk/ratings


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ZTE has unveiled its ZTE N919D smartphone. The phone is priced at Rs 6,999 and will be selling exclusively through e-commerce website ebay.in.
Reliance customers both existing and new ones will get the benefit of free unlimited data for three months.
# 5 inch FWVGA display
# 480 x 854 pixel resolution
# 1.2GHz quad core ARM Cortex A5 processor
# 1GB RAM
# Android 4.1
# 8MP rear and VGA front camera
# 4GB internal storage capacity
# 2500mAh battery
The smartphone operates on Android OS and supports both CDMA EVDO & GSM technology.
“We are confident that ZTE will be able to connect with all gadget enthusiasts logging on to ebay.in from 4,556 cities, towns & villages and 206 countries across the globe,” said Vidmay Naini, director & business head, eBay India.
Earlier this week, ZTE launched its Blade S6 Lux smartphone for the Chinese market. The phone is priced at CNY 1,999 for the Chinese customers.
The device is variant of Blade S6 smartphone, which was launched in January this year. Blade S6 Lux has enhanced features compared to its predecessor.
There is no word on the phone’s arrival to the Indian market. The Blade series has accounted for over 20 million units of ZTE’s global device sales.
Blade S6 4G LTE smartphone features Smart Sense gesture motion control, a ultra-high-definition camera, Hi-Fi Sound, ZTE’s MiFavor 3.0 user interface and ZTE’s AliveShare application for network-less communication.
The Blade S6 was launched in January 2015. It was touted as world’s first Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core smartphone running the Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system. It was priced at $249.99.


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Late last December, as we were still gearing-up for CES, we started hearing rumors about an Ascend P7 from Huawei. With a five-inch 1080p display, a 13MP main camera, and a possible 8MP front-facer, the phone sounded decent enough, even if we still didn’t know very much about it. But then we didn’t see the P7 at CES, nor did we at MWC. Was it still happening? In early March rumors suggested that the phone could launch in May, but that was the last we heard of it. We’re still looking to get to the bottom of its launch story, but today we’re checking out some new imagery instead, with a couple leaked shots of the supposed P7 emerging.
Those two low-res, compressed-to-hell shots up top are the best we have for now. As far as the design goes, the P7 appears to follow closely in the shoes of the P6 – bezels don’t look significantly different, and around back the only thing that catches our eye is a physically larger camera.
Our biggest unanswered question about the P7 isn’t resolved by these pics: how thin will the handset be? The P6 was astonishingly slim at under 6.2 millimeters, but so far we haven’t put together a solid sense of just how important thinness may be for the P7’s design – without a side view we can’t get much out of these shots here, and we haven’t seen the figure mentioned in any spec leaks so far.


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The Songwa Estates partners, La Marzocco, Mahlkönig and Probat, have announced 2018 investments for social initiative project, Hands for Songwa.
The leading European machine manufacturers joined forces in 2007 to established Songwa Estates, a non-profit endeavour aimed at educating staff, clients and those who work in the coffee sector in a meaningful way as well as providing tangible support to the community whose livelihoods depend on the growth and harvest of coffee.
Following the construction and inauguration of wells with platforms and pumps in 2017, proceeds from Hands for Songwa (a percentage of the sale of products manufactured by the partners) will be donated in 2018 towards additional wells to ensure that members of the community residing near the Songwa coffee farm have access to clean water.
This year, the project will also cover costs for the construction of a new primary school building in the nearby village of Idugumbi in Tanzania.
To learn more about the coffee seminars that are arranged each year on the farm, visit www.songwa-estates.com.


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ATLANTA, Feb. 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Terminus, the #1 rated account-based marketing (ABM) execution platform and leader of the ABM movement, today announces it closed 2018 with strong product performance and record revenue growth. The company saw a 137 percent year-over-year increase in revenue, driven by customer adoption of its end-to-end account-based platform which was launched in mid-2018. The full platform has been widely adopted by over 100 customers and integrates the technology acquired through BrightFunnel to provide account targeting, execution orchestration and deep measurement capabilities in an easy to use product interface.
“Over the last year, we have witnessed the continued evolution of B2B marketing with the vast majority of practitioners now leveraging the account-based approach to driving quality growth,” says Eric Spett, CEO of Terminus. “We are thrilled to be leading this transformation by simplifying the technology required to build, operate and measure scalable account-based programs for our customers. And as we continue to help our customers find success through ABM, we continue to gain even more market momentum and growth ourselves. It’s a very exciting time for Terminus and the B2B companies we serve.”
In 2018, Terminus launched a fully integrated platform to further help customers transform B2B marketing by focusing sales and marketing resources on the best-fit, most likely to buy segments of their addressable market. Terminus has continued to innovate and iterate on its account-based platform, including:
To drive and support its ongoing growth, the company also expanded its executive team by welcoming aboard Derek Slayton as chief marketing officer and Mark Jauregui as chief customer officer. Slayton joined Terminus in September of 2018 from Dun & Bradstreet, where he was general manager of the company's $750 million sales and marketing line of business. He was previously CMO at NetProspex (acquired by Dun & Bradstreet) and at VMTurbo (now Turbonomic). Mark Jauregui joined Terminus in January of 2019 from Certain, where he led global customer success and services. Prior to that, he led enterprise and SMB professional services for Eloqua before and after its acquisition by Oracle. Slayton and Jauregui are well-suited to lead Terminus, alongside the existing c-suite at the company, and build on the growth that’s occurred so far.
Furthermore, the company has moved to a new 50,000 square foot office headquarters at Tower Place in Atlanta. Terminus also revealed a new brand this month, which captures its expanded value proposition to B2B marketing teams, to reflect its changes, growth and market presence.
Terminus continues to be recognized in the industry for its technology innovation and growth. The company was recognized as Atlanta’s “Fastest-Growing Software Company” in the 2018 Pacesetter Awards. The company additionally celebrated being named the #1 ABM Execution Platform on G2Crowd and was also included in the list of the “Top 40 Innovative Technology Companies in Georgia” by the Technology Association of Georgia. TAG’S Top 40 Awards recognize Georgia-based technology companies for their innovation, financial impact and efforts at spreading awareness of Georgia’s technology initiatives throughout the U.S. and globally.
In the coming year, Terminus will continue to broaden the capabilities in its account-based platform. To request a demo, please visit https://terminus.com/request-demo/.
Founded in 2014, Terminus is the leader of the account-based movement. We help our customers transform B2B marketing by focusing sales and marketing resources on the best-fit, most likely to buy segments of their addressable market. Our platform empowers marketing teams to easily build, operate and measure scalable account-based initiatives that drive quality growth. We serve hundreds of B2B organizations such as Salesforce, GE, Verizon, 3M and CA Technologies to provide the technology and expertise that produce exceptional results.
Contact: Kristin Hege
firstname.lastname@example.org | 480.540.6496


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Fashion brand Jigsaw is reportedly planning to launch a CVA next week, becoming the latest high street casualty of the coronavirus crisis.
Like many high street fashion brands, Jigsaw was struggling before the pandemic but the forced closure of stores during lockdown and subsequent loss of revenue has left the brand facing losses.
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User interface issues are not glamorous — but they do matter. Many irksome problems linger for years or decades. Sam Byford reports, in The Verge, on a cleansing case:
The Japan Sanitary Equipment Industry Association, a consortium of companies producing plumbing products including Toto, Panasonic, and Toshiba, has agreed to unify the iconography used on the often baffling control panels for Japanese toilets. The decision was made in response to foreign tourists who say they’re often unable to understand the controls, which operate features often not found on Western toilets such as bidets and warm air drying….


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Navigating the Global Food Landscape: Export Curbs, GM Crops, and the Ozempic Challenge
The global food industry is at a crossroads, with a series of significant developments reshaping the way we produce, export, and consume food. From export restrictions impacting international trade to the debate over genetically modified (GM) crops and the potential threat of Ozempic, here’s a comprehensive look at the latest developments in the world of food.
Export Curbs Disrupt Global Food Supply Chains
Over the past year, export curbs have emerged as a significant concern in the global food market. Several countries, including major exporters like Russia and Argentina, have imposed restrictions on the export of key food commodities such as wheat, corn, and soybeans. These measures, often driven by domestic concerns over rising food prices and supply shortages, have disrupted international food supply chains.
The consequences of export curbs are far-reaching. Import-dependent nations, especially in regions like Africa and Asia, are grappling with the challenge of securing a stable food supply. This has led to increased volatility in global food prices and concerns about food security for vulnerable populations.
Impact on Food Prices
Export curbs have driven up the prices of essential food commodities, putting pressure on consumers and exacerbating inflationary concerns in many countries. The rising cost of food has a disproportionate impact on low-income households, potentially leading to increased food insecurity.
Global Food Security
The disruption of global food supply chains due to export curbs has highlighted the need for enhanced food security measures and diversification of food sources. Nations are reevaluating their food policies to reduce vulnerability to such supply shocks.
Mitigating Export Curbs
The international community is exploring strategies to mitigate the impact of export curbs. This includes promoting regional trade agreements, investing in agricultural self-sufficiency, and addressing the root causes of export restrictions through diplomatic channels.
GM Crops Debate Intensifies
The debate surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops continues to gain momentum. Advocates argue that GM crops can offer solutions to global food security challenges by increasing yields, reducing the need for pesticides, and enhancing crop resilience to climate change. However, opponents raise concerns about the safety of GM foods, potential environmental impacts, and the consolidation of seed companies’ power.
The GM crops debate is not confined to developed nations. Many developing countries are grappling with decisions about whether to adopt GM crop technologies to address their food production challenges.
In a surprising twist, the diabetes medication Ozempic has recently emerged as a potential threat to global food consumption patterns. Ozempic, known for its appetite-suppressing side effect, has led to concerns about altered eating habits and potential reductions in food intake among individuals using the drug.
Impact on Food Consumption
The potential impact of Ozempic on food consumption raises questions about the delicate balance between health and nutrition. While the drug may aid in managing diabetes and obesity, it underscores the importance of monitoring its unintended consequences on overall food intake and nutritional well-being.
As concerns about Ozempic’s impact on food consumption continue to grow, regulatory authorities are closely monitoring the situation and considering measures to address any potential public health risks.
The global food landscape is evolving rapidly, with export curbs, GM crops, and the unexpected challenge posed by Ozempic at the forefront of discussions. Balancing the need for food security, safety, and nutrition in a world facing complex challenges remains a critical task for policymakers, industry leaders, and consumers alike. As these issues continue to shape our food systems, a collaborative and informed approach will be key to navigating the future of food on a global scale.


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Spanning’s First Mobile App Allows Users to Monitor Their Google Apps Domain on the Go
AUSTIN, Texas – April 17, 2013 — /BackupReview.info/ — Spanning Cloud Apps, Inc., creators of the powerful, enterprise-class data protection solution Spanning Backup for Google Apps, announces that administrators can now monitor their Google Apps domains from their mobile devices with Audit Log for Google Apps. Spanning’s first mobile app alerts administrators when changes are made to their domain settings – allowing them to monitor their domains on the go and in real time.
Offered on both iOS via Apple’s App Store and Android via Google Play, Audit Log for Google Apps is a mobile version of Spanning’s popular Admin Audit Log Viewer. The app is free and available now for all users.
“Our mobile app enables administrators to have instant, active and deep access to the state of their domains from anywhere and on any device,” said Charlie Wood, CEO and founder of Spanning. “Cloud apps are no longer web-only, and Spanning is investing heavily in the cloud-plus-mobile future.”
Google Apps administrators can now monitor all changes made to their settings, audit actions by other administrators and review the history of all changes via an easy to use mobile interface. As an active monitor, administrators receive push notifications whenever any changes are made, enabling them to take necessary actions immediately.
Audit Log for Google Apps was initially created as a Spanning hack-a-thon project; two front-end developers recreated Admin Audit Log Viewer as a mobile app and the team discovered the new program added tremendous value to admins.
With Audit Log for Google Apps, users can track a broad set of domain changes on their mobile devices including new and deleted users, changes to user settings, changes to document permissions and other administrative actions taken on the entire Google Apps suite.
In March, Spanning announced a $6M Series B funding round and a co-marketing agreement with Mozy® by EMC®.
Share on Twitter: @spanningbackup announces mobile audit log for Google Apps, available @appstore and @googleplay
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Augmented reality (AR) places digital images into your field of view, giving them a “place” in the real world. Many in big tech, including leaders at Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, think that AR is going to be the next big thing. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, for example, thinks that AR will replace everything we use now that has screens; from smartphones to televisions — why would you need a smartphone if you can see your documents, calls, texts, and emails in your field of vision without one?
Google has Project Tango and Google Glass, and Microsoft has the HoloLens headset. Apple is taking a different approach, offering new ways for developers to create AR apps for the iPhone. Either way, each of the biggest tech companies is working on their AR plan. However, AR technology is already being used in the workplace.
As a Futurism reader, we invite you join the Singularity Global Community, our parent company’s forum to discuss futuristic science & technology with like-minded people from all over the world. It’s free to join, sign up now!


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Casper Hedberg/Bloomberg News
A Swedish shareholders group recommended that its members accept Volkswagen AG’s $9.2 billion bid to buy out Swedish truck maker Scania AB, Reuters reported April 16.
Aktiespararna, which represents mostly smaller investors, said the vote was “the least bad of the two alternatives,” Reuters reported.
The move follows recommendations against the buyout from two Swedish pension groups that hold about 2% of Scania.
VW, which owns about 60% of Scania and controls almost 90% of its voting rights, said in February it planned to buy out the truck maker’s remaining minority shareholders.


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Apple is in negotiations with content providers to launch a streaming TV service by Christmas, according to a new report. Citing anonymous sources, the New York Post reports that Apple senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue has been leading the negotiations, which have reportedly not been going well. “They want everything for nothing,” one media executive said, while another source said Apple’s stance can be summed up as “we decide the price, we decide what content”. Apple is said to be pitching the idea of offering channels as apps for its devices, including the Apple TV set-top box, although whether the company would be selling the service in a bundle or on an a la carte basis is unknown.
The company is also said to have made attempts to negotiate with cable operators to replace traditional set-top boxes with Apple units. “They want to create the interface, and they wanted to work with the cable guys to manage bandwidth across the TV and broadband pipeline,” said one Post source. Although Apple has had little success thus far in its negotiations, the company is said to have continued on, and is negotiations with Verizon and AT&T, seeking to gain traction.


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TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Indonesia Chamber of Commerce threatened to file a judicial review over the drafted regulation of halal certification as the regulation was deemed of posing negative impact on business.
Vice Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce for Fiscal, Monetary, and Public Policy Haryadi Sukamdani said on Tuesday “if the Halal Products Guarantee bill is passed we are filing a case with the Constitution Court. Based on our review the bill will harm business. We are not complaining the sharia (Islamic law), but we are concern about the economic interests.”
The bill requires halal certification for food, drinks, medicines, cosmetics, and genetically modified crops. The chamber of commerce identified 23 problems in the bill with the most crucial one found in section 18 in which voluntary halal label has been changed to mandatory.
If the bill is approved the chamber of commerce said about 23,600 types of product from 1,096 companies should be retrieved from the market to undergo audit, verification, and halal certification.


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Gold prices this year are higher than last year, and the goods and services tax is an additional burden for consumers
The demand for gold ahead of Akshaya Tritiya, which is an auspicious occasion for gold buying and falls on April 21, is currently low. This is despite the fact that Akshaya Tritiya coincides with the wedding season.
The reasons for this are manifold: Gold prices this year are higher than last year, and the goods and services tax (GST) is an additional burden for consumers.
Last year Akshaya Tritiya fell on April 28, when the standard gold price was Rs 28,765 per 10 gm.
It is currently trading 6.7 per cent higher at Rs 30,690.
Last season there was no GST. Even cash purchases, which have come down from last year, attract the GST at 3 per cent. Till last year cash deals did not attract tax.
Another reason is weak rural demand. One-third of India’s gold/jewellery demand is in rural areas.
Because of the higher produce of almost all commodities, prices are in many places below their minimum support prices.
Even the data on gold imports in the month before Akshaya Tritiya starts showing demand trends. In March this year, however, imports remained subdued.
In March last year the import of gold was 103.7 tonnes, and GFMS estimates it was 52.5 tonnes in March this year.
In April last year, India imported 93.6 tonnes. However, the initial days of April this year show subdued import, which means jewellers are not optimistic.
Skymet has projected a normal monsoon.
However, Lanworth, a US-based weather and crop forecaster agency, owned by Thomson Reuters, had forecast “at the current lead time on the 2018 June-September Indian monsoon season, the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is by far the strongest driver pointing toward the potential direction the season may take from a rainfall perspective.
"And based on this this season India monsoon is expected to be under sub-optimal monsoon rainfall”.
Another reason for the dismal rural demand is that rural unemployment is also higher than a year ago.
According to the BSE-CMIE unemployment index, the unemployment index for rural India was 3.6 a year ago and 6.27 now.
The urban unemployment index was 4.4, and 6.7 currently.
However, Ishu Datwani, founder, Anmol Jewellers, said though the buying mood was absent, “the sentiment is likely to revive a few days ahead of the Akshaya Tritiya and I see demand more or less matching what was seen last year.”


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By CARLO ANOLIN
The long wait is finally over.
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel standout Scottie Thompson is set to unveil his first signature shoe, simply dubbed as “Scottie 1,” with sports and apparel brand World Balance this month.
More than just a shoe, Thompson said representing one of the homegrown brands had a huge impact on him especially as a professional basketball player in the PBA.
“I am really excited and proud to join the World Balance family,” said Thompson. “I believe the brand is the perfect partner because World Balance has shown that they are a steadfast supporter of those who want to take on the world and win in different ways.”
Thompson revealed that he has worn his own signature shoe for the past two conferences, namely the back-to-back PBA Philippine Cup, and lauded the footwear’s comfort and performance.
Much like the Gin Kings’ colors, Scottie 1 also featured a red and white colorway as the words “faith,” “hard work,” and “discipline” are inscribed on the shoes in all caps along with its meaningful “ST” logo.
First teased in May, the 28-year-old Thompson unveiled the logo for his signature line which symbolizes the initial “S” and the number “6.”
Thompson, a former Perpetual Help hotshot, became the brand’s image since the 80s era and followed the footsteps of PBA legend Philip Cezar.


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China’s biggest online shopping event that has taken the world by storm is back once more and we all ought to get ourselves prepared. With even more brands expected to be jumping into the bandwagon this year, for those still hesitant, it’s time to realise just how massive the Single’s Day event really is.
What initially started out as a promotion in China by online retail site Tmall (Taobao Mall) for single people to feel less lonely, eventually turned into an epic business venture that clearly went beyond the world’s expectations.
Since 2009, Alibaba’s online sales on Single’s Day have increased exponentially, from the US$7.8 million in total sales transacted on their e-commerce platform then, to a whopping US$25.3 billion in gross merchandise volume just last year alone.
Single’s Day has since been popularised throughout the Internet and is observed at several places outside China as well. In 2017, Lazada recorded $123 million of gross merchandise value, which was a 171 percent increase from the previous year. If those numbers do not perk your interest by the slightest, we do not know what will.
Be it promotions or deals, find out more on how we can assist you in creating engagement and buzz that is totally unique and catered to your campaign. Seize the opportunity the world’s biggest online shopping event has to offer by connecting with us!


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Last week, Google said that we should be expecting quite a few Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphones to be unveiled at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 tech show in Barcelona, Spain. And, we did see brands like Alcatel and Nokia unveiling their first Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphones at MWC. Well now, Indian phone brand Lava too has joined this group with the announcement of Lava Z50.
The Lava Z50 is an Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphone, and, it’s the first smartphone from Lava that’s a part of this Android Go program. For those unaware, Android Oreo (Go Edition) is a toned down, lightweight version of Android which is built especially for entry-level smartphones with low-end specifications.
Well, as the Lava Z50 runs Android Oreo (Go Edition), it comes with a special suite of Google apps like Google Go, Google Assistant Go, YouTube Go, Google Maps Go, Gmail Go and Files Go that take up lesser storage and RAM space on the smartphone.
Also Read: Here’s what you should know about Android Oreo (Go Edition)
That said, speaking about the hardware, the Lava Z50 Android Oreo (Go Edition) features a 4.5-inch display and is powered by MediaTek’s MT6737m processor that’s paired with 1 GB RAM. The smartphone has 8 GB of internal storage and sports a 5 MP camera both on the back and front. Both these cameras can take photos with Bokeh Effect that help the subject/object stand out from the background.
Commenting on the launch of Lava Z50 Android Oreo (Go Edition), Mr. Gaurav Nigam, Head – Product, Lava International, said, “With LAVA Z50, powered by Android™ Oreo™ (Go Edition), we are giving our first time smart phone users an impeccable software designed for faster processing, more memory at hand vs. non – Android™ Oreo™ (Go Edition) phones, and the possibility to get entertainment through YouTube Go, to help users control their data. The camera has been enhanced to give Dual Bokeh experience and an LED flash for night time video calling. I must say it is a great opportunity for both – consumers and the brand”.
Lava Z50 Android Oreo (Go Edition) Specifications
- CPU: 1.1 GHz MediaTek MT6737m quad-core processor
- RAM: 1 GB
- GPU: Mali-T720
- Operating System: Android Oreo (Go Edition)
- Display: 4.5-inch FWVGA (854 x 480 pixels) display with 2.5D Curved Gorilla Glass
- Rear Camera: 5 MP with Bokeh Mode and LED flash
- Front Camera: 5 MP with Bokeh Mode and LED flash
- Internal Storage: 8 GB
- External Storage: Expandable via microSD card
- SIM: Dual SIM
- Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3.5 mm headphone jack, micro USB
- Other: Search and translate in 10 major Indian languages
- Colors: Black, Gold
- Battery: Not specified
Lava Z50 Android Oreo (Go Edition) Price in India and Availability
- Price: To be announced
- Availability: To be available at over 1,00,000 retail stores across the country by mid-March
Lava Z50 Android Oreo (Go Edition) Offers
- Two-year warranty
- One-time free screen replacement warranty for one year from the date of purchase
- Cashback of ₹2000 from Airtel


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In a few hours, you will have to stay tuned for the new wave of ads that Sony has prepared and that will reveal in its new State of Play, the last of this year. The broadcast will begin this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. (08:00 a.m. on CDMX).
So that you do not miss it, you can follow the presentation live right here thanks to the video that you have accompanying these lines. Its duration will be about 20 minutes and some surprises are expected related to the next PS4 releases.
The remake of Resident Evil 3 or Ghost of Tsushima with the games that sound more strongly to make an appearance, so later we will discover what aces are kept under the Sony sleeve.


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Massy Stores Guyana today launched its first ever “Massy Stores Mini Supermarket” at their D3 Starlight Square Montrose, East Coast Demerara (ECD) location.
This is now the third location of the Massy Stores branch with the other two locations at Providence, East Bank Demerara and Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown.
The Mini Supermarket will be a “convenience type” store occupying less retail space than its larger counterparts. The new location offers a curated assortment of essential items such as prepared meals, fresh produce, frozen foods, meats, alcohols, and household items.
Addressing the small gathering during the simple launching ceremony today, Massy General Manager Robert Singh explained that the Mini Supermarket is designed for customers who want to shop for smaller amount of goods as it provides easy and quick access.
Massy Group Executive Christen Bobb-Semple said “Our lifestyles are becoming more hectic and fast paced and convenience is now, more than ever, of great importance to shoppers… This new format caters for those convenience shoppers with smaller baskets.”
“While we are offering a new format in a smaller retail space, it is important to note that the values which we uphold will not change. We will continue to maintain our standards of quality, delivery of exceptional and an assortment which can only be found at Massy Stores,” he noted.
Massy Mini Supermarket will also be an additional location where customers can earn and redeem Massy Points when they swipe their Massy Card. The Massy Card is a major benefit to customers who can use their points to pay for groceries. Customers can sign up for a Massy Card by visiting massycard.com


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At the time of writing this, a change.org petition to remove paid content from the Steam Workshop has reached approximately 59,500 signatures in less than one day.
On April 23, Valve introduced the ability to list The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim modifications as paid content through Steam Workshop, with planned support for other games. The controversial decision has since spawned heated debates, mod theft, trolls, and now the petition.
In its letter to Valve Corporation and ZeniMax Media, the undersigned state that “we hope to change your mind about what you are doing because this will make a lot of your trusted customers and players unhappy.
This development can create a huge hole in the PC gaming community. It will also flood the Workshop with thousands more “mods” that will literally do nothing productive to the game. This will also hurt your companies reputation.”
It is yet unclear whether or not the petition will move the two companies to withdraw their support for paid mods; however, Valve also encourage consumers to reach out with comments and complaints through their official contact form.


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Official betting is gambling on events that have been officially sanctioned by a governing body. This ensures that the game is played fairly and bettors’ funds are protected. It also helps to avoid problems such as match-fixing. In the United States, sports betting is regulated at the state level. Licensed operators are required to offer bettors resources and tools that can help them make informed decisions.
In-person and online sports wagering is available in 24 states and the District of Columbia, with Florida set to launch in 2023. Regulatory bodies in the US are establishing rigorous licensing regimes to ensure integrity and consumer protection.
The American Gaming Association, the industry’s lobby group, supports legalization and believes it can help fight the black market. It also wants states to write their own laws, rather than rely on federal legislation.
A number of online sportsbooks have popped up in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Some are focused on a single sport, while others are more general and feature a wide range of options. BetRivers, for example, offers colossal markets on NHL games and around 400 different markets for soccer matches.
The online sportsbook industry is growing rapidly. Connecticut legalized online sports betting in October 2021, and DraftKings, FanDuel and PlaySugarHouse are now offering CT sports betting apps. Similarly, New Hampshire launched legal online sports betting in December, with DraftKings and FanDuel operating retail sportsbooks and providing their own online betting sites.


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Misa Hylton’s Fashion Academy Receives Grant from Gucci
Hylton’s triumphs reach new heights as her academy gets backed by Gucci.
Misa Hylton’s success has dominated the fashion industry for years, and she’s on no course to stop there. The legendary stylist has now announced that the Misa Hylton Fashion Academy (MHFA) has been awarded a special grant from Gucci.
From Mary J. Blige to Puffy, Hylton has created numerous innovative looks that helped make fashion what it is today. Remember the iconic ‘90s music video “Crush on You”, where Lil’ Kim made a statement in vibrant furs? I mean, how could we ever forget.
Seamlessly pairing hip-hop and high fashion, Hylton’s aesthetics were ahead of her time, and many have come back in style today such as the signature thick lip liner and glossy leather jackets. No one can really mix culture and creativity quite like her.
One of her current projects is supervising the MHFA, a school based in New York that aims to help the next generation of creatives striving for a career in fashion. Established in 2012, it consists mostly of black pupils who want to become revolutionary designers and stylists.
The MHFA has recently gained more recognition through the support of Gucci, who offer a Changemakers Impact Fund, awarding up to $50,000 to non-profit organizations. The academy was selected alongside 15 others and will help provide greater opportunities for black children.
Yet again, Misa inspires us with her amazing work for the industry, and we can't wait to hear more.


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Mary Fellowes has been appointed the sustainability advisor to the UK Children’s Parliament – a group of around 270 children from across the country.
Together they will bring attention to the ecological and social consequences of cheap, rapidly produced mass-market clothing.
The Children’s Parliament was launched in 2021 and matches seven to 11 year-olds to MPs and their constituencies.
Budding politicians take part in online debates about important topics including sustainability, climate change, making the world safer, and access to drinking water.
The initiative honours the late Sir David Amess, who was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery in October 2021 after serving as an MP for almost 40 years.
The partnership with Ms Fellowes was launched when she met the UK Children’s Prime Minister, Harry Acheampong, at a digital fashion event.
READ MORE: Children’s PM sets sights on AI debate with Sunak at No 10
Schoolboy Harry, 12, was appointed to serve for 2023 and hopes to inspire others to lead their generation into a better tomorrow.
The pair are now planning a drive to raise awareness of fast fashion, including a visit to Ghana to witness its impact.
Ms Fellowes recently authored a report for the British Fashion Council which highlighted the problem of unwanted garments from the UK being dumped in Africa, causing ecological devastation.
She has worked for 11 international editions of Vogue, styled runway shows in London and Tokyo and founded sustainable fashion consultancy GreenWith Studio.
Meghan Markle’s engagement ring is likely ‘no longer sustainable’, expert claims[STYLE]
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Ms Fellowes said: “I am thrilled to collaborate with the Sir David Amess Children’s Parliament to amplify the importance of sustainability among the youth.
“Our joint effort will not only raise awareness about the harmful impact of fast fashion but also inspire innovative solutions for a greener future.”
The Children’s Parliament is backed by the Daily Express, Wakelet and Microsoft 365, senior Cabinet ministers and many MPs.
Source: Read Full Article


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Surplus food app Too Good To Go, which allows people to buy a bag filled with fresh food from cafes, restaurants and shops that would otherwise go to waste, is now turning its hand to the restaurant game. The app’s Restaurant Revival campaign will give a local restaurant that had to close due to the pandemic a new lease of life, by providing them with a pop-up space and covering the rent for three months.
Restaurateurs are able to apply for the initiative to secure a location inside The Prince in West Brompton, which is home to a massive pub garden and a selection of rotating kitchens, with Too Good Too Go paying the rent from September to November. The successful restaurant will also join the app and run a food waste fighting menu. Applications are open here until midnight on 11th August, with the successful applicants being contacted by 17th August ahead of a September opening.


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fds has advised on the sale of Norbar Torque Tools Holdings Limited, a European leading manufacturer of torque tools, to Snap-on Incorporated of Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States.
Norbar was incorporated by William Brodey in 1943, supplying to a range of markets which include general manufacturing, oil and gas, transportation and aerospace. Four third generation family members continue to operate the business which has its head office in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
The company was approached by Snap-on Incorporated, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company, to acquire the holdings company, along with its wholly-owned companies in Singapore and India and also its US and Chinese joint ventures.
Leading the deal for fds was Managing Director Poonam Kaur, supported by CEO Jo Haigh, who worked alongside Penningtons Manches to deliver a successful sale, liaising proactively with all parties, both in the UK and overseas to ensure, that both Snap-on’s and Norbar’s requirements were met within a very tight timescale.
Neill Brodey, Managing Director of Norbar said “The real benefit of using fds was to think about the deal structure at the beginning of the process, which allowed us to set a clear vision and work towards it.”
Poonam Kaur said: “This has been one of the largest deals that fds and I have advised on and I have truly appreciated working with all the parties involved. We specialise in owner managed businesses and to be advising on a business that was in its third generation was an honour. I believe we have achieved a great result due entirely to the efforts that both sides have shown in this transaction to ensure delays were kept to a minimum.
It is important to note that successful completions are heavily reliant on the management of the process, negotiation skills and communication are the main key aspects of keeping momentum, rather than simply achieving the value which is just the beginning of any deal. At fds we strive to go beyond client expectations to achieve positive results.”


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The Council of Governors in collaboration with the National Government has begun a campaign to position Kenyan Coffee in the global space.
During a tour to Colombia , the World ‘s greatest producer of coffee, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Co-operatives and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Simon Chelugui together with Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka who is also the COG Agriculture Chair, emphasized the need for Kenya to explore world market through good farming practices, research and development to increase coffee production and enhance farmers value chain.
“Kenya has one of the best Arabic Coffee in the world but has not been able to position itself in the Global market “, Said Lusaka.
The COG Agriculture Chair noted that the only way the Kenyan coffee will sprout in the global market is by ensuring that farmers invest in production to increase the quality to compete favourably with first world class coffee growing countries like Colombia.
“We need to improve on our coffee quality, create the best systems that will benefit farmers directly to better their livelihoods”,He reiterated .
Governor Lusaka further highlighted COGs commitment of empowering farmers through value chain addition and ensuring coffee farmers are also enumerated for the National Government’s subsidy farm input programs to increase production and more money in their pockets.
“We are working around the clock to change the culture of farmer exploitation by setting the best price standards on the global market”,He affirmed.
Lusaka further added that best practices and knowledge acquired from the Colombia high level coffee exposure visit will go along way in acting as a learning experience for coffee growing counties .
“31 out of 47 Counties in Kenya are coffee producers. Our coffee is top notch and we should not be struggling with markets “, He Said.
Also in attendance ;Nyeri Governor, H.E Hon. Edward Mutahi Kahiga, Vincent Marangu, Director Cooperatives Bank, Hon. Patrick Kilemi, Principal Secretary, MSMEs, Michael Timothy , CEO New Kenya Planters Cooperative Union, Jane Kathuku, CEO Kenya Co-operative Coffee among others.


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As part of its reorganization of certain parts of its business, Cisco has announced that the Flip video camera will be discontinued. The popular Flip, a small HD video recorder, was not meeting expectations. But in light of its small size and housings available, hopefully it will be picked up by another company which may be able to focus more on the Flip.
(Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) will shut down its Flip video camera business in an overhaul of its troubled consumer products business, following chief John Chambers' recent admission that the company had lost its way.
Cisco's consumer division, in particular, has been a target of criticism by analysts, who have said it strays too far from the company's main business of selling routers and switches to the technology and telecommunications industries.
Cisco shares were up 3 cents at $17.50 in Nasdaq trading on Tuesday. Shares have lost a third of their value over the past year. Including that slide, Cisco has lost slightly more than half its value since the start of 2001, when it was almost worth $40 a share.
Chambers promised last week to make tough decisions about the direction of the company. Tuesday's news appears to be his first move. Among the steps, Cisco plans to shut down the Flip business and combine its Umi home teleconferencing service with its TelePresence business product.
"This is one step in concentrating the focus of Cisco on the enterprise," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of the Solaris Group. "This came faster than we would have expected. But perhaps Cisco has been studying this for a while."
He added that Chambers may be restructuring the consumer business so that he can sell the division.
Cisco originally bought the Flip business from Pure Digital for $590 million in 2009, part of a buying spree that bolstered its consumer-oriented business and included the acquisition of cable set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta and home router maker Linksys.
In February, Jonathan Kaplan, the former CEO of Pure Digital who had headed up Cisco's consumer division, left the company.
It was unclear why Cisco decided to shut down the Flip business -- which comes with software called FlipShare that allows users to easily share videos on sites like YouTube -- rather than sell it.
"They announced they are shutting it down, so that implies that they were unable to sell it," said Philip Alling, an analyst with Atlantic Equities. "It's disappointing they wouldn't be able to generate any proceeds from sale of the business."
Cisco spokeswoman Karen Tillman declined to say why the company decided to kill the business rather than sell it.
The company also said it would cut 550 jobs in the fiscal fourth quarter, accounting for less than 1 percent of its workforce of about 73,000 employees.
The company plans to take a pre-tax charge of about $300 million for the overhaul. The charge is expected to be recognized in the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2011.
Chambers has previously called on the company to focus on five areas: routing, switching and services; collaboration; data center virtualization; architectures; and video.
Cisco's last two quarterly results have disappointed the market. In November, the company announced sales growth would be lower than analysts expected. In February, it warned of dwindling public spending and weaker margins from tough competition.
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Courtesy of B/CS Chamber of Commerce
The Bryan College Station Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Brazos Valley Restaurant Association, will host the 23rd Annual “Taste of Aggieland” on Feb. 20 from 5pm to 8pm at the Brazos County Expo Complex. Proceeds from the event will support the Culinary Arts Program.
Attendees will be able to sample entrees, desserts, and drinks from the area’s favorite restaurants, caterers, and beverage companies. General Admission tickets are $30 and are available in advance at the Chamber of Commerce and at KESCO Restaurant Supply.
Tickets will also be available at the door the night of the event. The title sponsor is Taste of B-CS. For more information, including vendor packets, visit the Chamber’s website at www.bcschamber.org or contact Jordan Prihoda with the Chamber of Commerce at (979) 260-5200.


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Microsoft used the Mobile World Congress as the opportunity to release a number of statistics related to its Windows Phone platform and to announce a new Dev Center app. The dashboard-like app allows mobile development firms to access key metrics for their Windows Phone 8 apps. It also features a live tile.
According to the company, the Windows Phone Store now includes 130,000 apps, including 15,000 built for Windows Phone 8. App downloads have increased 75 percent since the Windows Phone 8 launch, and paid app revenue has climbed 91 percent. Developers have downloaded the Windows Phone 8 SDK more than 500,000 times.


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Microsoft kicks in $US2bn to help Michael Dell buy his company backPUBLISHED: 06 Feb 2013 09:37:00 | UPDATED: 26 Nov 2013 18:35:24PRINT EDITION: 06 Feb 2013
Back in the saddle ... Michael Dell’s $US24.4 billion buyout deal for the company he founded will leave him with a majority stake. Photo: Reuters
Microsoft has taken a punt on Michael Dell’s plans to turn around the company that bears his name, lending $US2 billion to Dell and Silver Lake Capital’s bid to take the company private.
Bloomberg reported the agreement would be the largest leveraged buyout since the global financial crisis.
Dell executives said the company’s founder approached the board with a proposal in August 2012. Under the acquisition plan he will remain chairman and chief executive.
- ● Dell shareholders receive $US13.65 per share cash
- ● Transaction value: Approximately $US24.4 billion
- ● Transaction implies a 37 per cent premium
Dell’s board said it would enter a 45 day “go-shop” period to open consideration for competing offers.
It said the offer represented a 37 per cent premium over Dell’s average closing share price during the previous 90 days ending January 11. It represents a 25 per cent premium on the $US10.88 Dell shares were trading at before rumours of the looming deal broke.
“Before this agreement the company’s core PC business was deteriorating more than its new enterprise business and the net effect was weak revenue growth,” FBN Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi told Bloomberg.
“Now they have the opportunity to be more aggressive and flexible, fix things and turn it around. Normally for deals like this we see a 15 to 25 per cent premium, so I think this price is reasonable.”
Reuters reports the deal will give Mr Dell a majority stake in the company.
Michael Dell started the company in 1984, successfully pioneering a direct selling model in an industry that had been built on manufacturers using channel partners to reach customers.
He stepped down as CEO in 2004 but retook the helm in 2007. However, since taking over from Kevin Rollins, Mr Dell has struggled to retain its place in a technology hardware market that has moved on from desktop and laptop PCs towards smartphones and tablets.
He acknowledged that investors in the private company would probably need to be patient while his turnaround strategy played out.
“Dell has made solid progress executing this strategy over the past four years, but we recognise that it will still take more time, investment and patience, and I believe our efforts will be better supported by partnering with Silver Lake in our shared vision,” he said.
“I am committed to this journey and I have put a substantial amount of my own capital at risk together with Silver Lake.”
The agreement is to be funded through a combination of cash and equity provided by Mr Dell, cash funded by investment funds affiliated with Silver Lake, a cash investment by an investment fund affiliated with MSDC Management, a $US2 billion loan from Microsoft, rollover of existing debt, as well as debt financing from groups including BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets, as well as cash.
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|Topics||Company News, Technology, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Services Industry /Private Equity|


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Unity Technologies announced today that its developers will be able to take the games they’ve created and publish them in the Flash 3D format, allowing them to reach much bigger audiences on the web than before.
Unity is beginning the open beta test for its Unity 3.5 game development engine. Since Adobe published its Flash Player 11 in October, Flash games are able to run 3D graphics and take advantage of 3D hardware in a user’s computer. That, in turn, makes it possible to run 3D games created with Unity’s 3D game engine tools and distribute them to the wider web via a Flash add-on.
For developers, this means that they will be able to get high-quality Unity-based 3D games out to a larger mass market, since Flash is present in more than 90 percent of user computers. For consumers, it could mean much better experience when it comes to playing 3D games on the web.
“We are finally delivering on 3D for everyone,” said David Helgason, chief executive of San Francisco-based Unity, in an interview. “Flash is the last major platform for us, and the biggest one of all. It’s amazing. We think 3D content will burst out on the internet.”
To encourage developers to port their Unity games to Flash, Unity Technologies is holding a contest with a $20,000 prize. Helgason said that it took months of engineering work to make Unity compatible with Adobe’s Stage3D web technology, which enables Flash to make use of 3D hardware in a user’s computer. In the past, Flash was based on exploiting only the central processing unit (CPU).
Helgason said that Unity games will now be almost universally available on the web via Flash, on the consoles, on iOS and Android, and a variety of other smaller platforms. The open beta is available for download at 8 am Pacific time on Thursday, Dec. 22. The new version of Flash is also supporting Google’s native client technology for the Chrome browser.
“We believe this will make Adobe flash into a AAA games platform,” Helgason said.


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Economic Fairness Oregon takes on Wall Street
- Matt Kish
- Business Journal staff writer
Nonprofit consumer group Economic Fairness Oregon on Tuesday released the first of a three-part series that looks at the impact of the Wall Street meltdown on Oregon.
The report calculates that the missteps of the nation's largest banks cost Oregon millions of dollars each year.
"An integral component to solving Oregon’s fiscal crisis must be holding Wall Street banks accountable for the economic damage they have caused," the report says. "It doesn’t make sense to make severe cuts to balanced budgets only to allow Wall Street and their handsomely paid CEOs to take the rest."
The report was done in partnership with the Service Employees International Union.
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SUPERMARKET bosses have been condemned for allowing a petition advertising the far-right British National Party to circulate at one of their Birmingham stores.
Leaflets clearly bearing the party's name were on display for several days at the Somerfield branch in Turves Green, near Northfield.
They were due to be returned to Richard Barnbrook, a councillor in Barking and Dagnham, where the BNP is the second largest party on the local authority.
Disgusted shoppers tipped off local Labour party activist Brian Seymour-Smith after seeing the petitions on a busy sweets and cigarettes counter.
When The Stirrer went to check out the story this week, the petitions were still in full view.
Seymour-Smith said: "We all know what the BNP stands for, so when you see this kind of thing at a supermarket it is very intimidating.
"I want Somerfield to explain how these petitions got there, and to make it clear they don't support this racist party.
"The company's logo is 'giving you what you want', but this isn't what I want when I go shopping."
After we confronted the store manager, he immediately took the petitions away, saying he didn't know how they came to be there.
He then referred us to the company's head office, who sent a statement saying: "I can confirm that the petition in question has now been removed from our Turves Green Somerfield store.
"The store manager was not aware that this petition was linked to the British National Party and apologises for any inconvenience or offence caused to customers."
See what happened when we went to the store by visiting www.thestirrer.com