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The Enemies of Global Cannabis LegalizationCannabis is a valuable medicinal tool that is still illegal in places around the world. What is standing in the way of its progress?
Despite the fact that cannabis is slowly gaining traction in the form of decriminalization and legalization in several countries around the world, many other countries are still not on board. Given the health benefits being touted by the use of marijuana and hemp products, many people are beginning to question why it isn’t completely legal everywhere. Considering the potential for economic boom that legalization is known to bring, it seems like it should be an obvious decision for countries to make to get on board, but some countries are still incredibly hesitant about the legalization process. This hesitation is the culmination of years’ worth of disinformation as well as general opposition from people who have their own reasons to keep weed illegal. We are here to discuss what that looks like.
The Global Legalization of Cannabis
Why Cannabis Should Be Legalized
The cases for cannabis legalization are excessive and we have gone into them at great lengths in several of our other articles. However, the main reason is simply that there are plenty of gains that come with cannabis. It offers a natural way to manage several different problems both mentally and physically, and can also be fun for recreational use. Since there is no true harm that comes with marijuana use and it does seem to be helpful in many cases, legalization should be a no brainer when it comes to providing people with the tools to decide how they manage their own health. The issues arise when we look at the way that certain key players are viewing cannabis as opposed to the general public.
Cannabis and Public Relations
The General Opinion of Legalization
In general, the opinion of legalization is shifting rapidly. In fact, countries like America have shown a relatively high conversion rate when it comes to marijuana acceptance. Prior to the varying degrees of marijuana legalization within the country, there was a lot more hesitancy about the matter. However, the votes being carried out to legalize it by the public show that the majority of people do not view it as much of a problem. As legalization has begun to be implemented in various areas around places like the United States and Canada, more people are realizing that these products are not harming anyone. Further, the availability and results of CBD products being legalized in different capacities has led even more people to support cannabis in one way or another.
Civilians Who Oppose Marijuana
In many ways, the average person has to grapple with a changing view of cannabis in one way or another. For those who oppose cannabis, the issue is generally dependent on what they know about cannabis. There are several stigmas still associated with cannabis that have a tendency to drive those who are more resistant to the idea. This includes falsehoods about what cannabis can do, outdated beliefs regarding how it impacts people, and even hesitations brought on by a lack of government support. For people who have been raised being told about the “dangers” of marijuana, the fact that various levels of government are begrudgingly legalizing cannabis reinforce their beliefs that there is something wrong with it. These are the people that major players can target to vote against legalization when given the opportunity.
What Common Rumors Lead People to Distrust Cannabis?
Cannabis known for getting a bad rap for several reasons. The first reason is stigmas that suggest marijuana is known to derail lives or encourage laziness. These are being dispelled with facts that are being brought forward with the help of legalization. The second reason is health concerns that rely on outdated information suggesting that weed can be dangerous for users. Once again, these beliefs are being disproven, and actually countering with the reality that cannabis products are a valuable health tool. The third reason is the belief that marijuana causes problems in countries by encouraging dangerous criminals. Though there have been historical concerns about these individuals, legalization has taken the process out of the hands of criminals and into the hands of scientists and health professionals.
What Is Slowing Down the Path to Global Legalization
Explaining The War on Drugs
In America, the war on drugs was a compilation of policy change aimed at stopping the underground drug industry every step of the way from production to sales. Many other countries have their own variation of these policies and working around them is making it difficult for cannabis legalization to gain complete traction. However, much like in America, this opposition can be largely based on other concerning factors including racial concerns, class concerns, and other issues that ultimately tend to benefit certain individuals rather than the general public.
Policy Change And How It Happens
Depending on the country, policy change can be a grueling process. This is one of the key factors that are slowing global legalization because of the fact that legalization can be opposed in many ways. The first part of changing policy has a tendency to be getting people to be in support of the new policy. The majority of policy change is driven by public officials, and in some countries their decisions do not have to reflect the public opinion at all. What is more concerning is that some of these public officials are being compelled to make decisions by other individuals or industries rather than the general public in some cases.
Policy Change Influencers
As we continue to see more people learning about the potential benefits of cannabis products, we can expect to see more favor from the public when it comes time to vote on certain policies. Public pressure can be a great tool when it comes to influencing political figures who can in turn see it through. However, there are other people and groups to consider with policy change.
The simple reality is that with the potential legalization of cannabis, there are some pretty big names that have a lot to lose. These people are not only hoping to slow and stop legalization but want to keep people focused on their products instead. The big industries that potentially have the most to lose with cannabis legalization are pharmaceuticals, alcohol, and the prison system.
The Face of Cannabis Opposition
Enemies of the Cannabis Industry
Many big players in major industries have a lot to lose if marijuana is legalized in a global capacity, and while these groups might differ from one country to the next, they all have the same key concern: losing money. The pharmaceutical industry has a lot of weariness when it comes to cannabis products because of how much money there is to make treating conditions like anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. Despite the fact that these medications can have extreme side effects, the companies producing them are making a ridiculous amount of money by selling them and don’t want to see that change.
Though you might not have considered the ways that alcohol and weed are actually competitors, prominent alcohol companies are seeing a decline in sales as legalization continues and more people turn from hangovers to a slight case of the munchies. This has major names in the alcohol industry incredibly worried about how legalizing marijuana on a broader spectrum might impact their sales overall.
Though the prison systems are run differently in every country, the reality is that a lot of people are in prison over marijuana related charges around the globe, and prisons have a tendency to make people money by using those prisoners. Less people in jail can actually impact the individuals who own the prisons, the government, and companies that might rely on the exploitive labor of prisoners.
How Do These Groups Benefit from Keeping Cannabis Illegal?
The individuals and groups who oppose cannabis are generally making money because of a lack of alternatives being presented to the public. For pharmaceuticals, a natural alternative that can be picked up at the grocery store means that people might opt for those products instead of buying the overpriced and sometimes dangerous treatments at the pharmacy. For alcohol, the fact that another industry can present an alternative that is not only less of a public health crisis but can actually offer health benefits is a huge sales concern. When you factor in how many people are sitting in jail because of weed related charges, it’s obvious how quickly the prisons could empty with full legalization, which is bad for prison business.
Beyond sales and quotas, these groups also work with other partners to gain further benefits. Pharmaceuticals are closely entwined with insurance agencies and health professions. The alcohol industry benefits stores, bars, and other alcohol-focused lines of business. The prison industry works closely with police departments and government sectors to secure funding. These groups are not working in the same way on a global scale, but they show how big of an upset the legalization of cannabis can be for other groups who have money to lose.
Keeping Marijuana Illegal As A Strategy
Though it is easy to see why some of these industries would be opposed to legalization, there is still a matter of how they actually influence policy change. What most people don’t know is that these groups are not only actively petitioning governments to keep marijuana illegal, but are also putting in significant work to attempt to sway the public view of these products as well. Since they have so much to lose with the potential for marijuana and hemp products to steal away their business, they are pulling out all the stops to slow and stop this process.
These big names have a tendency to have some serious weight when it comes to political influence purely because of how big their industries are and how much they offer the government and economy. Government policy is not only built around individual needs, but industry needs as well. In many ways, these industries are working overtime to convince political figures that legalizing cannabis is not the right course of action.
From an individual perspective, these companies are working hard to get a gauge on the public opinion of marijuana in different locations and sway it. This might be citing outdated beliefs that cannabis is actually very dangerous or stoking fear about what the industry could do. In order to stay ahead, these companies need to convince the average person that they would rather grab a beer or take a pill than smoke a bowl, and they are working hard on marketing campaigns and research to prove this.
The Government Consideration
Beyond the potential impact on industries, the governments around the world also have potential losses to absorb with the legalization of marijuana. In some countries, marijuana is just one of many banned substances that are heavily regulated, which means that legalization would be giving up control to some extent. In other cases, some governments rely on a focus on “morality” and consider drugs like marijuana to be an enemy of that. For many governments around the world, legalizing marijuana would create a large unknown, and managing the potential impacts of these changes isn’t always easy.
Though it is easy to point to government corruption as the source behind the slow movement when it comes to legalizing marijuana, the reality is that there are many voices asking for a lot of things, and the government officials have to figure out who to support. While many believe that these decisions should be left to the public considering the wide potential for benefits and the fact that cannabis is largely less destructive than other legalized substances, deconstructing a system overnight is probably not the most effective approach.
For those who understand the benefits of cannabis and are hoping to see it help people around the world, we feel confident in saying that global legalization is progressing in many ways. The process might not be moving as quickly as many prefer but voicing support and providing economic support for the industry is likely going to be the best way to move it along. We must all continue to learn, support, and embrace this industry so that other people have the opportunity to as well.


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Dr. Robert Lawrie with VCA Old Marple animal hospital in Springfield warns to limit dog walks in the extreme cold, and keep cats indoors — they can suffer thermal injuries.
A pet bobcat has been recaptured after its latest escape from its owner’s southern New Jersey home.
What do you feed your dog? Do you pour packaged food into a bowl or do you cook for your pet the way you do for other members of your family? As 3 On Your Side consumer reporter Jim Donovan finds, for more and more pet owners, there is a middle ground.
By Jim Donovan: Pet lovers listen up! The “Cat and Dog Days of Summer” adopt-a-pet program has returned to the Burlington County New Jersey Animal Shelter. Now through August 31st the shelter is offering reduced […]
Are you worried about your dog gaining weight? There’s a new tool that can help!
If your pet eats the wrong thing this holiday season and you need to call poison control, you should know it’s not free.
An unusual theft in North Philadelphia – someone stole a pet parrot named Josie off a front porch. Friday night, the owner, Cheron Ross, made a tearful plea for answers.
After a week-long Facebook campaign and a lot of public attention, Steve the pig is finally home.
A New Jersey man remained hospitalized Tuesday after he was bitten by his pet snake.

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It’s official—Disney+ is live.
The new streaming service launched this morning (though not without some errors, according to The NY Times), and is shaping up to become a huge rival to Netflix and Amazon Prime, especially in an increasingly competitive online streaming market. Apparently, some users were allowed to purchase Disney+ on their computer, but once paid for, the service would not load on smart TVs or on the PlayStation app. Not cool.
Disney+ had been teasing its long-awaited streaming service for many months, which includes nearly 500 movies and 7,500 TV episodes from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and more.
The launch of the service is pretty big, considering that Disney is now going to begin removing any movies and shows that are currently being offered on other services (Netflix, Hulu etc.). Sorry, you can’t watch Moana on Hulu anymore.
Additionally, the streaming service will begin launching exclusive new shows (like the Lizzie McGuire reboot) and series that will tie into the Avengers franchise. So true fans will feel obligated to watch them to fully understand future storylines. Interesting.


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TENS of thousands of lottery players last night prayed their numbers didn’t come up after a technical fault meant they could not buy their usual tickets.
Described as a “glitch” by operator Camelot, it is believed to have affected machines on and off from around 11am to 6pm when they were reported to be in full working order again.
The scale of the problem was revealed in the size of the jackpot prize last night . . . £3.1 million compared with the £4.2 million predicted for it after the Christmas Eve draw.
A Camelot spokesman said: “Due to a network issue on Saturday afternoon, some players may have experienced difficulties buying National Lottery tickets in store or via the National Lottery website. We would like to apologise to anyone affected.”
One was Gillian McNally, a retired teacher of West Monkseaton, North Tyneside, who frantically drove from shop to shop to find somewhere to buy lottery tickets. She fumed: “It’s disgraceful. I run two syndicates and I tried for hours unsuccessfully to get my Christmas draw on.
“There has been a lack of information about what the problem is and every shop I’ve gone to has had queues of anxious lottery customers.
“At Sainsbury in Monkseaton the computer terminal briefly came on, but just as quickly went off. It was chaos.
“The Christmas lottery should have been cancelled until such a time as the computer system was working correctly.
“I’m worried sick because I’ve been putting the same numbers on for years, for a lot of people, and it looks like they are going to be unfairly excluded.
“Can you imagine the heartache for people if the numbers they had on every week come up in the draw?”
Sarah Smith from Newslot newsagents in Stockton, Teesside, said customers had been coming into her shop all day only to be left frustrated.
She said: “We have had problems with the terminal all day. There are times when it is operating really slowly and then times when it just won’t work at all.
“There was one stage where it just wouldn’t work for about two hours. We have had customers coming in who are unable to get a ticket.
“They came to our shop after having been to another not realising it was a problem with the whole network. I have worked here for six months and this is the first time I have known this happen.”
Shopkeepers who called Lottery operator Camelot’s dedicated retail hotline were greeted only with a recorded message which said: “We have identified an isolated issue with our system and this will be affecting your ability to use your lottery terminal.”
One customer who was trying to buy a ticket at Morrisons in Consett, County Durham said: “This is an absolute mess, we keep the same numbers every week, I just hope to God they don’t come up.”


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The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa said the declining trend in new vehicle market since the beginning of the year continued into March 2019.
The lower passenger car sales, however, had again been offset by fairly strong commercial vehicle sales numbers, Naamsa added. Reflecting on the new vehicle sales statistics for March 2019, Naamsa confirmed aggregate domestic sales at 47 718 units had declined by 1 512 units or 3,1% from the 49 230 vehicles sold in March the previous year.
Export sales had again registered strong growth, reflecting a substantial improvement of 7 135 vehicles or a gain of 23,7% compared with the 30 161 vehicles exported in March last year.
Overall, out of the total reported industry sales of 47 718 vehicles, an estimated 41 235 units or 86,4% represented dealer sales, an estimated 6,6% represented sales to the vehicle rental industry, 4,3% to government and 2,7% to industry corporate fleets.
The March 2019 new passenger car market had, for the third consecutive month, been weak and at 30 348 units had registered a decline of 1 805 cars or a decline of 5,6% compared with the 32 153 new cars sold in March last year. The new car sales figures confirmed that consumers generally were under pressure and lacked a willingness to invest and purchase. The car rental industry’s contribution accounted for 8,8% of new car sales in March 2019.
Domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini buses at 14 994 units during March 2019 had recorded an improvement of 275 units or a gain of 1,9% from the 14 719 light commercial vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year. Naamsa said it expected the light commercial vehicle market to continue to register growth over the medium term.
Sales in the medium and heavy truck segments had a mixed performance and at 775 units and 1 601 units, respectively, reflected a gain of 45 vehicles or an improvement of 6,2%, in the case of medium commercial vehicles, and, in the case of heavy trucks and buses, a decline of 27 vehicles or a fall of 1,7% compared to the corresponding month last year.
The March 2019 export sales number represented another admirable performance with export sales at 37 296 vehicles reflecting a substantial increase of 7 135 units or a gain of 23,7% compared with the 30 161 vehicles exported in the same month last year. The momentum of vehicle exports over the course of 2019 should increase further and industry export sales for the year could reach close to 400 000 units compared to the record 351 139 vehicles exported last year.
Prospects for domestic new vehicle sales, particularly the new car market, would continue to be impacted by the depressed current macro-economic environment and enduring pressure on household disposable income. Higher food, fuel and electricity prices, a weaker exchange rate against all major currencies and load-shedding continued to dampen already low levels of business and consumer confidence further during March 2019, weighing on demand.
Hence, Absa’s Purchasing Manager’s Index declined for the third consecutive month. However, no increase in interest rates by the South African Reserve Bank as well as the decision by Moody’s to postpone its scheduled review of South Africa’s credit rating was a welcome reprieve.
An improved second half performance in terms of sales was expected in anticipation of an improved economic growth rate for the year compared to 2018 along with industry vehicle production levels which would continue to benefit from strong vehicle export sales.


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Sales at limited service restaurants to grow by 4.5 percent next year.
The restaurant industry will grow at a nominal rate of 3.8 percent in 2013, according to data released by Technomic, a Chicago-based foodservice market research firm. While this represents a 1.4 percent decline in nominal growth from last year, Technomic forecasts sunnier days for the industry in 2014.
Technomic forecasts the industry will grow by 4.1 percent nominal (or 1 percent real) in 2014. This comes on the heels of a successful 2011, which saw the industry grow by 4.0 percent. In real terms, Technomic projects the industry will grow by 0.8 percent in 2013 and 1 percent in 2014.
"Our economist friends tell us that DPI (disposable personal income) and other economic indicators will be better in 2014," said Technomic founder Ron Paul during his firm's annual Trends and Directions Conference.
Taking a closer look at specific industry segments, Technomic projects that nominal sales at limited-service restaurants will grow by 4 percent in 2013 and 4.5 percent in 2014; sales at full-service restaurants will grow by 3.5 percent in both 2013 and 2014 and bar/tavern sales will increase by 4.5 percent in 2013 and 5 percent in 2014.
Despite this growth, however, industry growth continues to lag behind pre-recession levels, Paul added. For example, in 2007 the restaurant industry grew by 13.5 percent, compared to only 3.8 percent last year. Part of the reason the industry continues to show moderate improvement is the fact that overall economic outlook remains varied by geography.
Along those lines, consumer sentiment, as tracked by the Conference Board, took a big hit during the recession but continues to gradually improve. In May, consumer sentiment reached 76.2 percent, a dramatic improvement from its all-time low of 25.3 in February 2009 but still a far cry from its all-time high of 111.9 in July 2007.
In other words, the mood among consumers is good but not great, Paul said. "What keeps this industry going is the fact that the desire to go out to eat is so strong that consumers will make tradeoffs to go out to eat," Paul said. He was quick to add that lower-income consumers are an exception to this.
Consumers top concerns include gas prices, grocery prices, their own financial health, healthcare costs and their job security, Paul sad. "If you just put all of your money into the gas tank you are not going to be able to go to dinner," Paul said.
Menu price increases have been at a moderate level this year, which is better than expected, as the concepts of discounting and value orientation remain prevalent in the industry, Paul said.


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Join Date: May 2010
Autopilot was engaged in fatal Tesla X accident
On Friday, March 23rd a man identified as an Apple engineer and former EA programmer Walter Huang died in a fatal accident when his Tesla X hit in a median barrier on Highway 101 in Mountain View. Tesla has now officially confirmed that autopilot was engaged.
Of course, this is a huge problem for Tesla and everyone else involved in the self-driving trials. This accident happened just days after the Uber Fatal accident that stirred the pot heavily and showcased that we might be much further behind on Level 4 and 5 self-driving that we have been lead to believe.
Nvidia provides a specialized version of Drive PX2 hardware that comes with a Denver ARM-based SoC and a Parker class GPU with an additional MXM based discrete GPU to help the autopilot functionality. Tesla S, X and 3 solutions should sit between Drive PX2 auto cruise and Drive PX2 auto-chauffeur version of the hardware.
Tesla has its own in-house software team so Nvidia does not have to worry that much about being thrown under the bus for this accident, but the question remains why the autocruise control didnít detect this fatal median barrier.
|Thread||Thread Starter||Forum||Replies||Last Post|
|Uber stops all self-driving car tests after fatal accident||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||23rd March 2018 12:15|
|NTSB places blame on both driver and tech in fatal Tesla crash||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||15th September 2017 20:43|
|Tesla driver in fatal Autopilot crash ignored safety warnings||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||22nd June 2017 06:30|
|Tesla is Suing its Former Autopilot Director||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||29th January 2017 15:01|
|Tesla autopilot was 40 per cent safer||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||24th January 2017 09:40|
|Investigation clears Tesla for fatal Autopilot crash||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||20th January 2017 15:00|
|Tesla Autopilot avoids a crash before it happens||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||29th December 2016 08:02|
|Tesla reportedly eyes brakes in fatal Model S crash||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||1st August 2016 09:39|
|Tesla autopilot ready this year||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||10th July 2016 15:18|
|Tesla's Autopilot approved for international use||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||26th October 2015 08:15|


text: Ferranti Business Communications Ltd reckons that the time is ripe to come out of the closet and the traditionally low profile company is busy throwing down the gauntlet to private telecommunications majors such as the former Plessey arm of GEC Plessey Telecommunications. The four-year-old Ferranti division, originally a joint venture with GTE Corp, is feeling more confident following two years of profitability and will enter the facsimile market this year and look for increased market share in both keysystems and the PABX arenas. It has set a goal of 10% for this year on the keysystems side on the back of its Rhapsody product for which it has an exclusive distributorship deal with the Japanese manufacturer Oki Electric. Marketing manager Peter Boyes is more guarded about the company’s ambitions for the Omni PABX range currently under licence from Atea, a subsidiary of Siemens since the sale of most of GTE’s European interests to the West German giant, but says that Plessey is the prime player to take on, even more so since its alliance with GEC into GEC Plessey Telecomunications. Analysts however are sceptical about the timing of this bout of Ferranti glasnost, pointing out that the digital PABX market has peaked and is entering the replacement-only phase, while the market for keysystems is desparately competitive. STC recently launched a product that is directly compatible with its PABX while the UK arm of Southwestern Bell is set to bombard the UK market with a range of keysystem-related products. Ferranti Business Communications is in a stronger position since it bought out GTE’s minority share last year, and has already exercised this new found freedom by looking further afield for its products as illustrated by the Oki deal. But it has also embarked upon a new dealer strategy to woo more customers. Boyes claims that customers have generally had a poor deal since the liberalisation of the market, which has seen not only the rise but the fall of many dealers. Ferranti is trying to restore confidence by cutting out the wholesaler avenues and strengthen dealer chains through compulsory training.


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Atmantan Wellness Centre announced the launch of 'Atmantan Naturals', a health tech platform that will provide consultations and high efficacy herbal and nutritional supplements. The brand new range of nutraceutical supplements 'Naturals' were only available earlier for the in-house guests. Atmantan Naturals shall be a separate entity foraying into the commercial world.
“While the VUCA like situation continues in the immediate short future, we see our growth coming from our well-tech ventures like Atmantan Naturals and operations and management income from new properties,” Nikhil Kapur, Founder & Director, Atmantan Naturals said in an interaction with ETHospitalityWorld.
Naturals is aiming to add 40-50K clients in the first year. “Our concept and platform enable clients to remain loyal to the service and products and hence we do see repeat purchases. The average ticket size should be INR 1300. Naturals have big potential in India and overseas. While we have gone live with 15 products, we will be adding another 15 products soon,” Kapur stated.
Kapur’s outlook on the wellness sector is strong however, what happens during the pandemic is critical. “Our focus remains on keeping our highly skilled and passionate team together. We have had a 100% success rate here. Also, we are communicating with our guests and understanding their view on the pandemic, how it’s changed their life and what they will expect from us when they visit us next,” he added.
Pandemic has manifold increased awareness of the need for being in good health. “For the first time we are seeing travellers who want to treat their chronic ailments and we are seeing guests from smaller cities travelling for a health holiday. It has thrown up opportunities especially in the tech space more prominently,” he believed.


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Aug. 21, 2012 (China Knowledge) - Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co<600887
>, a major Chinese dairy company, has announced its net profit attributable to shareholders decreased 6.67% YoY to RMB 762 million in the first half of this year.
According to a statement filed with Shanghai Stock Exchange
, basic earnings per share for the period were RMB 0.48, down 5.88% from a year earlier.
From January to Jun this year, the dairy company’s operation revenue increased 11.8% YoY to RMB 21.18 billion.
Revenue from milk and dairy products business rose 11.31% YoY to RMB 20.77 billion in the six-month period, while that from mixed feed manufacturing surged 49.2% YoY to RMB 316.03 million.
The company's investment income was RMB 15.43 million during the period, less than RMB 218 million it realized in the same period of 2011.


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According to a survey, women make up 60 percent of mobile gamers, and their influence within the industry continues to grow, USA Today reports.
EEDAR, a company specializing in video game research, surveyed 2,491 mobile gamers. The company found that 63 percent of the women surveyed play mobile games with social hooks like Words With Friends and Draw Something, while only 52 percent of men do. As mobile gaming has become a multi-billion dollar industry, the clout of female gamers has increased.
"What we are finding is tapping into that female client is more important than ever before," EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich told USA Today. "It really is changing the face of gaming."
According to the Entertainment Software Association, as recently as 2002 men made up 72 percent of gamers. Today, men make up only 53 percent.


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"We are very pleased by the grant of these patents to Suven for our pipeline of molecules in the CNS arena, which are being developed for cognitive disorders with high unmet medical need with a huge market potential globally," Suven Life CEO Venkat Jasti said.
In a petition, the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) president and CEO Scott Whitaker requested the US Trade Representative (USTR) to "suspend or withdraw" India's benefits under Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).
Companies that outsource manufacturing to job workers in these states have petitioned the government saying the new restrictions may render their businesses unviable.
Johnson & Johnson posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, raising its full-year forecast due to growth from new cancer drugs and high-margin treatments picked up in its $30 billion acquisition of Actelion earlier this year.
The rating agency believes contribution from other regulated markets is unlikely to grow significantly in the near to medium term, given limited significance to Indian exporters.
The Pantocid and Pantocid DSR tested by CDSCO were not manufactured by Sun Pharma, the official spokesperson for the Mumbai-based drug maker said.
The product is indicated as an adjunct therapy to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes, AstraZeneca Pharma India said in a statement.
Trump told his Cabinet members at a meeting at the White House yesterday that the prices of prescription drugs in the US have gone through the roof.
IPA also appointed Panacea Biotec Joint Managing Director Rajesh Jain as Vice President.
Drugmakers and medical devices companies are drawing up plans to protect supply chains in case Britain crashes out of the European Union without a trade deal, and some small service businesses are already relocating to stay inside the bloc.
Aurobindo Pharma said it "has received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture Esomeprazole Magnesium Delayed-Release Capsules OTC, 20mg".
Hilleman Labs achieves successful outcomes of Phase I / II Clinical Trial of its Oral Cholera Vaccine Hillchol
Cholera is endemic in over 50 countries with estimated mortality of 100,000 - 120,000 deaths annually, and a morbidity of 3.8 - 4.4 million annual cases attributed to this disease.
Indian pharmaceutical companies are expected to post better results in the second quarter of the current fiscal, following recovery in the domestic business and several launches in the US market, a report says.
The company has also received the tentative approval from the USFDA to market Lurasidone Hydrochloride Tablets in the strengths of 20 mg, 40 mg, 60 mg, 80 mg, and 120 mg, Zydus Cadila said.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2017, Sun Pharma reported total revenue at 1,802.52 crore and net loss stood at 1,290.99 crore.
The Indian patent office granted Pfizer a patent for its vaccine PCV13 (13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine), sold here under the brand ‘Prevenar13’ for over 10 years.
"In light of the planned acquisition of Monsanto, Bayer has signed an agreement to sell selected Crop Science businesses to BASF for EUR 5.9 billion," Bayer said in a statement.
Policy makers, eminent personalities and experts of AYUSH system from Australia, Canada, the US, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Russia, India, Hungry, Sri Lanka will participate.
One of the wholly owned subsidiaries of the company has agreed to increase its shareholding in Ranbaxy Malaysia Sdn Bhd by 8.3 per cent by way of purchase of around 6.66 lakh shares, Sun Pharma said in a filing to the BSE.
Approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) is to market desvenlafaxine extended release tablets in the strengths of 50 mg and 100 mg, Zydus Cadila said in a BSE filing today.


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KUALA LUMPUR (April 14): The global semiconductor photomask market is forecast to reach US$3.4 billion in 2016 after reaching US$3.2 billion last year, according to the US-based Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).
The photomask is an essential device to be used in the manufacturing process of integrated circuits such as large scale integraters.
In a statement on its website yesterday, SEMI said that after increasing 1% in 2013, the photomask market increased 3% in 2014.
It said the mask market was expected to grow 4% and 3% in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
SEMI said the key drivers in this market continue to be advanced technology feature sizes (less than 45 nm) and increased manufacturing in Asia-Pacific.
“Taiwan remains the largest photomask regional market for the fifth year in a row and is expected to be the largest market for the duration of the forecast,” it said.
SEMI said revenues of US$3.2 billion placed photomasks at 13% of the total wafer fabrication materials market, behind silicon and semiconductor gases.
“By comparison, photomasks represented 18% of the total wafer fabrication materials market in 2003,” it said.
Another trend highlighted in the report was the increasing importance of captive mask shops.
SEMI said captive mask shops, aided by intense capital expenditures in 2011 and 2012 and a weakening Yen in 2013 and 2014, gained market share at merchant suppliers’ expense, with captive mask suppliers accounting for 53% of the total photomask market last year, up from 49% in 2013.
It said captive mask shops represented 31% of the photomask market in 2003.


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The all-new Lexus GS F will make its European driving debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the U.K. (June 26-28). The car originally appeared at the NAIAS in Detroit back in January and at the Geneva Motor Show a few weeks later.
Mike Conway, from Toyota Gazoo Racing, will be the one driving the 470-horsepower Lexus GS F for the first time in Europe. While this is still a concept, look for a production model to follow in the near future. More details to come in the next few months.


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Nintendo is looking to "go back to the roots, to Mario Sunshine," Miyamoto said with regard to the upcoming Switch game. He noted that some players had trouble with the camera of aforementioned GameCube title, so with Odyssey they have "made sure the camera controls are really smooth and easy to use."
Miyamoto also reiterated that players will be able to explore a wide variety of locales in Super Mario Odyssey, which was made evident by the announcement trailer that was shown during last night's Nintendo Switch presentation.Super Mario Odyssey will release in holiday 2017.
Alex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter and subscribe to his video content on YouTube.


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KENYA – The Kenya PET Recycling Company Limited, (PETCO Kenya) has transitioned to Packaging Producer Responsibility Organization (PAKPRO) in a bid to accelerate recycling of all non-hazardous packaging materials in the country.
The transition from PETCO to PAKPRO® marked a proactive step towards establishing a mandatory EPR for category one products and packaging and committing to offer a much more comprehensive and sustainable approach to packaging waste management.
The transition demonstrated the commitment of the industry to take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of packaging materials.
It is desired that PAKPRO® will contribute to a cleaner environment, reducing plastic pollution, and creating a circular economy.
Moreover, it will foster innovation and drive the growth of sustainable packaging solutions, opening up new markets and business prospects.
Mr. John Kabuye, CEO of BESIC Group, representing KEPSA during the launch of PAKPRO said; “Packaging plays a crucial role in our modern society, ensuring the safe transportation and preservation of products.
“KEPSA is pleased to have worked with Kenya PET Company- PETCO as the first voluntary Producer Responsibility Organization under the P4G Partnership for New Plastics Economy with the pilot area being Nyayo Embakasi Estate.
“We indeed have realized major transformation in effecting segregation at source and demonstrating the role of PROS in a circular economy by providing material flow linkage of PROs to citizens, waste service providers and recyclers.”
The EPR regulations propose there are five categories that each producer will be required to join a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), which will undertake several activities on behalf of the producer to ensure their packaging does not affect the environment.
These activities include recovery, collection, sorting, recycling, and treatment.
The Packaging Producer Responsibility Organization has been actively involved in the development of various policies and pieces of legislation to spur the growth of a circular economy in the country.
The Sustainable Waste Management Act, 2022, the Extended Producer Responsibility regulations (Draft) and the Extended Producer Responsibility guidelines all seek to ensure that producers of PAKPRO have held consultative engagements with various stakeholders, including the government, industry players, recyclers, collectors and developed a model that seeks to address the challenges in the existing value chains for various materials.
Through the County Sustainable Waste Management Implementation Program it seeks to establish material transfer stations across all 47 counties to recover recyclables as well as offering bottom of the pyramid collectors direct access to market for their collections, at a fair price.
PAKPRO commits to improving awareness by increasing educational activities among the Kenyan public on issues related to segregation and collection.
In addition, the scheme will be implementing a model for value chain support to stimulate collection and increase consumptive demand for recycled products.
Its offering covers packaging made from PET plastics, all Rigid and Flexible plastics, Liquid Board Packaging, Glass, Paper, Cardboard, Aluminum, Tin, Steel and Composites.
For all the latest packaging and printing industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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HONOLULU — For a second consecutive year, the state’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) showcased Hawaii entrepreneurs, highlighting innovative ideas, projects and products today at the Hawaii State Capitol.
The exhibitors represented the broad diversity of entrepreneurship in the state, including in the areas of fashion, energy, food, music, arts and culture, technology and software applications. More than 120 businesses were represented.
“Entrepreneurs’ Day underscores the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship for the future of Hawaii’s economy,” said Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui. “Congratulations to all of the entrepreneurs for all they have achieved and for taking the risk in seeing their idea come into fruition.”
“What we saw here today is some of the best entrepreneurs in the state,” said DBEDT Director Richard C. Lim. “Our goal is develop the kind of environment that will nurture these entrepreneurs right here at home and keep jobs and revenues in Hawaii.”
“We are now expanding the HI Growth Initiative to include other new engines of growth by: focusing on global relevance to earn export dollars; creating high wage jobs to reverse the so-called brain drain; targeting high growth businesses as drivers of job creation; and supporting industry clusters to increase productivity and competitiveness,” said Karl Fooks, president of the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation (HSDC).
The HI Growth Initiative is a $6 million comprehensive investment program that represents a bold new approach to reinvigorate state efforts to fuel an innovation economy. The HI Growth Initiative creates the basic building blocks to help these businesses to grow and scale in Hawaii. These basic building blocks are entrepreneurial development, research commercialization, and investment capital.
In his 2013 State of the State Address, Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced the HI Growth Initiative as a state investment program focused on building an innovation ecosystem that supports entrepreneurial high growth businesses and creates high wage jobs for our people. On July 9, 2013, Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui, as acting governor, signed Act 274 (House Bill 858), appropriating funds to the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation for the HI Growth Initiative.
For more on Entrepreneurs’ Day 2014 go to: http://invest.hawaii.gov/hi-growth-entrepreneurs-day


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Spanish champions FC Barcelona have officially unveiled their new third kit, which depicts an aerial view of Barcelona's picturesque city streets.
Click through the gallery above to see images of Barca's new third kit!
With many teams having released their change strips already, the Catalan giants have become the latest to introduce their third kit to fans.
The two-tone jersey is inspired by a bird's eye view image of Barcelona's historic and beautiful city streets, which is cut in half by a diagonal dart across the kit, separating a pale pink shade from a darker shade.
"The FC Barcelona third kit for the 2018/19 season, designed by Nike, continues with its bold and beautiful celebration of the city of Barcelona," a statement on Barca's official website read.
"Available from Wednesday 12 September on nike.com and at official stores and select retailers, it features a dynamic sash design inspired by one of the Catalan city's most famous streets, the Avinguda Diagonal, cutting an angular swathe from the left shoulder to the right hem.
"The two-tone shirt, with the darker red of the sash and its surrounding graphic gradually giving way to a paler pink shade, completes the set of new strips for the new season, which ooze Barca DNA and are inspired by the city where the club is based.
"The 10 vertical stripes on the home kit celebrate the 10 principal districts of the city, while the volt yellow away kit evokes memories of the famous 2005/06 campaign and underlines the club's adventurous spirit. With a pattern based on an aerial view of Barcelona's famous Eixample district and its blocks, the third strip gives an extra special connection back to the city's landscape."
Do you like Barca’s new third kit? Let us know in the comments section below!


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Quadric.io, a startup founded by some of the folks behind the once-secretive bitcoin mining operation “21E6,” has raised $15 million in a Series A round that will fund the development of a supercomputer designed for autonomous systems.
The round was led by automotive Tier 1 supplier DENSO and its semiconductor products arm NSITEXE, which will also be one of Quadric.io’s customers for future electronic systems in all levels of autonomous driving solutions. Leawood VC also participated in the Series A round.
The company says it will use the injection of capital to build out its product, hire more people and business development.
Pear, Uncork Capital, SV Angel, Cota Capital, and Trucks VC are seed investors in Quadric.io.
The roots of Quadric.io grew from a seemingly disconnected mission to produce an


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Have you ever been to a wedding and been served cold, fancy food and thought you’d rather just have a slice of pizza? Well, if you were a guest at a recent wedding in England your prayers would have been answered.
British couple Tom Browne and wife Victoria decided that instead of a fancy meal at their wedding they were going to serve guests Dominos Pizza. “I didn’t want traditional sandwiches or anything at the wedding, I wanted something that stood out,” the bride shared, noting that she and her hubby “don’t do anything traditionally.”
The couple initially joked about getting Dominos for the wedding, but as the big day grew closer they started liking the idea. They then called up their local franchise and asked them if they’d be willing to cater the wedding, and while it was the first time they were ever asked, they agreed. The couple wound up spending $450 on their pizza party, although guests had more options than just a slice. The couple ordered 30 large pizzas, 20 garlic breads, 20 boxes of chicken strips and 20 boxes of fries.
- As for how guests responded, Victoria says they thought they “were winding them up”, adding, “People are still gobsmacked with it.” But apparently guests didn’t mind. According to Victoria, although she thought they ordered too much, the guests ate everything.
Source: The Sun


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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos predicts that India is going to own the 21st century
CEO Jeff Bezos, on a surprise visit to India, on Wednesday predicted that the 21st century is going to belong to the world’s largest democracy.
“I predict that the 21st century is going to be the Indian century. The dynamism, the energy, everywhere I go here is amazing. I meet people who are interested in self-improvement and growth,” Jeff said during a fireside chat with Amazon India head and Senior Vice President, Amit Agarwal at the first edition of Amazon Smbhav – a summit for small, micro and medium business (SMBs) underway in New Delhi.
The Amazon chief also predicted that India and the US will form the most important alliance in the 21st century.
“In the 21st century, the most important alliance will be formed between India and the US, the world’s oldest and the world’s largest democracy,” he said.
At the Smbhav event, being held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Jeff announced that Amazon would be making an “incremental investment of $1 billion in digitising small and medium businesses” to a packed audience of SMB entrepreneurs.
He also committed to using the global ecommerce giant’s footprints to give a fillip to India’s exports.
“We will use our global footprint to export outside India $10 billion ‘Made in India’ goods by 2025. We are super excited about this,” he said.
To do so, Amazon will establish 100 Digital Haats across India to help businesses integrate into the digital economy. These Digital Haats will provide services like ecommerce onboarding, imaging and cataloguing, warehouse space, logistics, digital marketing, and compliance.
Further, to support local shops and kiranas, the company will be expanding Amazon Easy and “I Have Space” programmes for additional income opportunities.
"Amazon Easy" will help kirana shops to set up kiosks to help customers choose the right product, placing an order on the ecommerce site, and earn a commission on each sale.
On the other hand, “I Have Space” will enable local stores to earn additional income by using their shops as a mini delivery centre and deliver products ordered on Amazon in their neighbourhood.
Speaking of Amazon’s early days, Jeff said that the Seattle-based company had also started as an SMB.
“I was an SMB myself. Twenty-five years ago, Amazon was a tiny, little company. I was driving the packages to the post office myself, I was also wrapping the packages,” Jeff reminisced.
Amazon was started in 1994 as a platform for ordering books online. Today, it has a market cap of over $900 billion.
(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)


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On the back of a number of industry accolades, fresh product developments and unprecedented growth, award-winning Australian skincare company Embalm Skincare has officially re-launched as Merindah Botanicals.
Based in Launceston, Tasmania, Merindah Botanicals produces hypoallergenic skincare products that restore a clear and glowing complexion for busy women with sensitive skin.
The company has often been recognised for products including the Pampering Body Lotion, Luxurious Face Cream and the Invigorating Body Scrub.
According to Merindah Botanicals Director (Embalm Skincare founder) Mel Driver, much like its predecessor, Merindah Botanicals will to continue to help cultivate beautiful skin, and preserve it in its best possible condition all while using ethically sourced ingredients.
“Although the outside might be changing, nothing about the products will be,” she explained.
“Our formulations will be the same that have won us 27 awards since 2013.”
Ms Driver said the re-brand to Merindah Botanicals better encompassed the company’s purpose, vision and mission.
“To put it simply, as a business we’re growing, evolving and blossoming, so we wanted our branding reflect that.
“The word Merindah means ‘beautiful’ in the language of our indigenous people, and botanicals are key ingredients used in our products to restore a healthy, natural glow to the skin.
“Merindah Botanicals reiterates both our commitment to the history and traditions of Australia and the natural wild beauty of the outback that we all love, along with the 100% natural ingredients that you will find in every one of our products,” Ms Driver added.
Along with its fresh new face, Merindah Botanicals has also introduced a True Beauty Club community, where like-minded members do not only receive exclusive offers, access to discounts and VIP masterclasses, but are encouraged to be bold, be beautiful and “most importantly just be themselves”, according to Ms Driver.
“Merindah Botanicals' mission is built on the belief that every woman deserves to look good and feel beautiful.
“We empower women to feel beautiful and encourage them to believe in themselves. To believe that they can do anything, to dream big and reach for the stars.”
She said the True Beauty community was about helping women go on a journey from self-conscious to self-confident.
“At Merindah Botanicals we believe anything is possible. What drives us is our passion for transforming the beauty industry into one that empowers all women to discover their true beauty.
“It’s time to Be Bold. Be Confident. Be Beautiful.”
Ms Driver encourages all women to join the True Beauty revolution with the hashtag #IAMATRUEBEAUTY and to check out the company’s new website at merindahbotanicals.com.au


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After switching from a video search platform to one that integrates social into the user experience, MeFeedia has grown its traffic 20 times in six months from 350,000 uniques to 7 million uniques per month in the United States, according to data from comScore, making MeFeedia the latest example of how social discovery features can grow a video site or service. ...
For the first time, U.S. consumers could spend more on online movies this year than on physical video formats. The legal, paid consumption of ... Read the whole story
The problem of rampant copyright infringement on sites like YouTube can't be solved by technology alone. In fact, a group of lawyers probably wouldn't ... Read the whole story
Ever since Netflix announced that it was looking to acquire and develop original content, critics have dismissed the move as a weak attempt to ... Read the whole story
Google represents the first technology company to be fully ad-supported. It's since evolved to being a media company, but "Google-envy" has led many tech ... Read the whole story
Never mind Hollywood and New York. If you're looking to keep the TV industry alive, maybe you should think about Emerald City. Perhaps you ... Read the whole story


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The Made In Chelsea effect! 127% surge in New York holiday searches after cast visit the Big Apple for reality show
- First episode of E4 spin-off show Made In Chelsea: New York aired Sunday
- Fans have since gone online in their droves to search for their own getaway
- Viewers saw Binky shopping on Fifth Avenue after splitting with Alex
- Boys seen driving along Brooklyn Bridge in an open-top Cadillac
The Made In Chelsea cast have hit New York this summer – and it seems fans are keen to get a slice of the action
After the airing of the first episode of the E4 spin-off show last weekend, holidaymakers have gone online in their droves to search for their own getaway to the Big Apple.
Holiday booking website TravelSupermarket.com has reported a massive 127 per cent increase in searches to the famous city compared to the same time the week before.
Group outing: The Made In Chelsea cast hit hit New York for a spin-off show
On Sunday viewers saw the girls hit Fifth Avenue for a shopping spree as news of Binky Felstead and Alex Mytton's split emerged.
The cast - including Jamie Laing, who is famous for his 'Yeah Boi' catchphrase, and ladies man Spencer Matthews - were also seen sipping champagne during a lavish rooftop brunch in Midtown.
Bob Atkinson, travel expert at TravelSupermarket, says: 'Since the show first aired on our screens back in 2011, Brits have taken a keen interest in the lives of the Made in Chelsea cast.
Retail therapy: Binky Felstead and Mark Vandelli filming in New York
'New York is a cosmopolitan mecca, and Sunday's show reaffirmed just that.
'There are some fantastic deals on New York hotels at the moment, and if Brits do their research online, they will be able to take advantage of some great deals, meaning they too can drink champagne from the rooftops.'
In June, Hotels.com saw a 72 per cent increase in searches to Marbella after rival show The Only Way Is Essex gang hit the Spanish resort for a two-part spin-off show.
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Some users may have trouble joining parties or playing online multiplayer
Microsoft’s Xbox Live service is currently experiencing issues affecting online multiplayer, the company has confirmed. “We’re aware that some users may have trouble joining parties or playing online multiplayer & our teams are investigating,” Microsoft said in a tweet. Xbox Live’s status page shows that “Social and Gaming” and joining parties on Xbox One are affected at the moment. Down Detector indicated a spike in user-reported problems shortly before 2PM ET.
This is the third time in less than a month that Xbox Live has experienced notable problems. Xbox Live went down for more than two hours on March 15th and had a multihour outage on March 20th.
More people than ever are relying on services like Xbox Live for entertainment and to stay in contact with friends and family while stuck at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that increased network traffic is putting a strain on those services. In late March, Microsoft said it was making tweaks to Xbox Live in an effort to reduce some of that strain, including turning off the ability to upload custom gamerpics and working with publishers to deliver game updates during off-peak hours.


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Spring Home Brewers Share
Sanctuary Pub — Saturday, April 25 at 3 p.m.
Home brewers will share both their beer and expertise at the Spring Home Brewers Share this Saturday at the Sanctuary Pub.
Rye IPA, coffee stout, hibiscus saison, double IPA, strawberry-rhubarb wheat ale, mead and sour ale will be among the many styles available, says Sanctuary owner Daryl “Woody” Woodson.
Some of the more inventive beers being brewed in local kitchens and garages will be available for tasting at the event. Home brewers, Woodson says, are more innovative than commercial brewers because they do not have the pressures to sell beer. A home brewer even brought in a basil IPA one year, Woodson says. Though he admitted that it sounded “absolutely horrid,” it turned out to be wonderful.
“You wouldn’t find a commercial brewer who would try something like that,” Woodson said.
However, if a combination of ingredients doesn’t work out, Woodson says the home brewers will leave it at home.
Though he is unsure how many home brewers will participate, Woodson says he expects eight to 10 to be on hand. Though many of the brewers participating have a lot of experience under their belt, others may be home brewing newcomers who have just graduated from the kit they received for Christmas. The event is a good opportunity for brewers to trade tips and learn from each other, Woodson adds.
Admission to the Home Brewers Share is a $10 donation to the Iowa City Free Medical-Dental Clinic, and tickets can be purchased in advance at the Sanctuary or on the day of the event. All attendees will be entered to win a $20 gift certificate from the Sanctuary.


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Many of us have heard stories of people losing their jobs over things said or posted on Facebook. The way we communicate has changed dramatically with the invention and increased use of the internet and employers, employees, and the law are still struggling to catch up.
This blog has already discussed a case in which a sheriff fired six of his employees, allegedly for clicking the “Like” button on the Facebook page of his political opponent. One of those workers, Daniel Ray Carter, filed a lawsuit against B. J. Roberts, the sheriff who fired him. The lawsuit alleged that Carter’s First Amendment rights had been violated and it was filed on behalf of Carter and the five other employees who were fired, allegedly for the same reason. The lawsuit sought compensation for lost back pay and front pay or for a reinstatement in their former positions.
Roberts, after his successful 2009 campaign for sheriff’s office, failed to reinstate six of his employees, all of whom had expressed support for his opponent. Roberts claimed he let some of the workers go because he wanted to replace them with sworn deputies. Others, he said, he fired because of poor performance and because he believed that their actions “hindered the harmony and efficiency of the office.” Despite these allegations, the employees he claims to have fired for poor performance both had consistent evaluations of “above average” or “outstanding” and neither of their direct supervisors or second-level supervisors had ever indicated a performance problem.
U. S. District Judge Raymond Jackson in Norfolk ruled in April 2012 that the “Like” button on Facebook is not equivalent to a statement, and is therefore not protected by the First Amendment. He dismissed the case and the plaintiffs appealed.
In his ruling, Jackson admitted that there have been other courts which have ruled that Facebook posts are constitutionally protected speech. However, he argues that, in those cases the speech in question involved “actual statements” rather than simply clicking a button.
Jackson’s ruling was criticized by constitutional lawyers who argued that other speech conducted online, such as uploading a video, or donating money to a campaign, is protected under the First Amendment, despite the fact that they involve nothing more than the click of a button.
The three-judge 4th Circuit federal appeals court disagreed with Jackson’s decision, ruling instead that Carter’s use of the “Like” button was both “pure speech” and symbolic expression. U.S. Circuit Judge William Traxler compared clicking the button to posting a political campaign sign in a front yard, which is protected under the First Amendment. “On the most basic level,” said Traxler, “clicking on the ‘like’ button both literally causes to be published the statement that the User ‘likes’ something with is itself a substantial statement. That a user may use a single mouse click to produce that message that he likes the page instead of typing the same message with several individual key strokes is of no constitutional significance.”
The appeals court unanimously ruled that clicking Facebook’s “Like” button was protected speech. It therefore partially reversed the lower court’s ruling and reinstated the claims of Carter and two of the other employees who sued. It determined, however, that the three other employees had not provided sufficient evidence that their support of Roberts’s opponent was the reason they were not reinstated.
The court also ruled that Roberts is immune from any monetary judgment. As an “arm of the State” he is “immune from suit for claims against him in that capacity”. He is not immune, however, from the plaintiffs’ claims for reinstatement.
You can view the entire appellate decision here.
Our Chicago libel attorneys concentrate in this area of the law. We have defended or prosecuted a number of defamation and libel cases, including cases representing a consumer sued by a large luxury used car dealer in federal court for hundreds of negative internet reviews and videos which resulted in substantial media coverage of the suit; one of Loyola University’s largest contributors when the head basketball coach sued him for libel after he was fired; and a lawyer who was falsely accused of committing fraud with the false allegation published to the Dean of the University of Illinois School of Law, where the lawyer attended law school and the President of the University of Illinois. One of our partners also participated in representing a high profile athlete against a well-known radio shock jock.
Our Chicago defamation lawyers defend individuals’ First Amendment and free speech rights to post on Facebook, Yelp and other websites information that criticizes businesses and addresses matters of public concern. Our Chicago slander attorneys also represent and prosecute claims on behalf of businesses throughout the Chicago area including in Oak Park and River Forest, who have been unfairly and falsely criticized by consumers and competitors in defamatory publications in the online and offline media. We have successfully represented businesses who have been the victim of competitors setting up false rating sites and pretend consumer rating sites that are simply forums to falsely bash or business clients. We have also represented and defended consumers First Amendment and free speech rights to criticize businesses who are guilty of consumer fraud and false advertising.
Super Lawyers named Chicago and Oak Brook business trial attorney Peter Lubin a Super Lawyer in the Categories of Class Action, Business Litigation, and Consumer Rights Litigation. Lubin Austermuehle’s Oak Brook and Chicago business trial lawyers have over a quarter of a century of experience in litigating complex class action, consumer rights, and business and commercial litigation disputes. We handle emergency business lawsuits involving injunctions, and TROS, defamation, libel, and covenant not to compete, franchise, distributor and dealer wrongful termination and trade secret lawsuits and many different kinds of business disputes involving shareholders, partnerships, closely held businesses and employee breaches of fiduciary duty. We also assist businesses and business owners who are victims of fraud or defamatory attacks on their business and reputations.
Lubin Austermuehle’s Barrington and Schiller Park litigation attorneys have more than two and half decades of experience helping business clients unravel the complexities of Illinois and out-of-state business laws. Our Chicago business, commercial, class-action, and consumer litigation lawyers represent individuals, family businesses and enterprises of all sizes in a variety of legal disputes, including disputes among partners and shareholders as well as lawsuits between businesses and consumer rights, auto fraud, and wage claim individual and class action cases. In every case, our goal is to resolve disputes as quickly and successfully as possible, helping business clients protect their investments and get back to business as usual. From offices in Oak Brook, near Waukegan and Wheaton, we serve clients throughout Illinois and the Midwest.
If you are the victim of a defamatory attack on your business or a consumer who has been sued to stop you from posting criticism of a business online at Yelp or anywhere else, contact one of our Oak Brook and Chicago defamation lawyers for a free consultation at 630-333-0333 or online by filling out our contact us form at the side of this blog.


text: Laptop computers are everwhere with many companies providing them for employees and many other consumers opting for the mobile convenience of notebooks. As notebook computers have become more prevalent than in years past unfortunately you can bet the undesirable element is not far behind. Professional crooks are stealing laptops in record numbers for either a quick sale on the black market or to break down into replacement parts. The Detroit Free Press has an article about professional laptop crooks and how they operate. They also give good advice for protecting the investment that’s been made in your laptop. I am constantly surprised at the number of people that leave their expensive laptops on the table in Starbuck’s while they visit the restroom.


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Destiny 2 will have four “seasons” a year, Bungie revealed during its stream at Twitchcon.
The big-budget sci-fi series has been renewed for a second season on the subscription-based streaming network.
Here’s how you can stream Stranger Things Season 2 to your iOS or Android mobile device, computer or tablet.
Here’s how you can watch the new Xbox One X Commercial on Sunday, October 22.
Marvel’s The Punisher releases on November 17, 2017 on Netflix.
See if you can survive these horrifying games for PS4.


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MacBook Pro 2016 is rumored to have a fingerprint sensor, which isn’t exactly big news since this is to be expected. After all, when Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 was unveiled, it had this particular feature on-board. It was just a matter of time before Apple adds a similar feature.
But this rumor might turn out to be true. A 2007 patent filed by Apple and subsequently granted indicates the use of a fingerprint sensor to be added on the MacBook. According to the patent, “Finger sensing apparatus using hybrid matching and associated methods” will be added on the future generations of MacBook. It also showed a biometric sensor.
It is possible that the upcoming MacBooks will have the Touch ID feature that already exists on the iPhone and iPad.
This information is further backed by a discovery made by tech geeks about a code on macOS Sierra that revealed a fingerprint sensor. Apparently, the new Apple computers will run on the said OS.
What is so great about the Touch ID?
It is ideal for people who’d rather not bother with complex passwords and still keep their Apple devices secure. This biometric fingerprint authentication technology will allow you to unlock your phone with just a press of the Home button, but based on your fingerprint.
A capacitive ring activates the scanner upon contact and then take a picture of your fingerprint at a very high resolution. If the fingerprint matches, a yes token will be released. Otherwise, it’s a no.
Due to its convenience, Apple users are sure to take time to secure their phone without doing a lot.
A bit of bad news
While a fingerprint sensor is on the horizon for upcoming MacBooks, it is unclear as to when it will be integrated and to which Apple computer. So it is possible that the MacBook Pro 2016 may or may not have it.
One thing is for sure, MacBook Pro 2016 release date is sooner than later.


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Realme has expanded its flagship offering with the launch of the realme GT3 smartphone. Unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2023, the phone comes with a number of interesting flagship features including the world’s first 240W fast charging technology.
Realme claims that it will be the first brand in the industry to mass produce the 240W fast charging technology.
Using 240W charging power, realme also claims that it only takes 80 seconds to charge the realme GT3 to 20% capacity. It also notes that fully charging the phone’s 4600mAh battery only takes 9 minutes and 30 seconds.
“realme was founded with the Dare to Leap spirit and the mission of empowering the young generation with leap-forward technology and design.” Chase Xu, Vice President of realme and President of realme Global Marketing, said “Entering its 5th year, realme is taking an even bigger leap forward by becoming the first brand to break through the industry’s glass ceiling. It demonstrates realme’s commitment to improving our market presence through innovative technologies and better connecting with our young audiences.”
The realme GT3 will be available in select markets starting at $649 for a version with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Not sure if the company plans to also make it available locally.
realme GT3 specs
The phone comes with a 6.74-inch touchscreen display offering a resolution of 1240×2722 pixels and a 144 Hz refresh rate. Realme GT 3 is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and comes in a wide selection of storage variants to choose from, including 8+128GB, 12+256GB, 16+256GB, 16+512GB, and a special 16+1TB variant;
The Realme GT 3 runs Android 13 and is powered by a 4600mAh battery that supports Super VOOC fast charging.
For the cameras, the Realme GT 3 on the rear packs a triple camera setup featuring a 50-megapixel primary camera; an 8-megapixel (ultra wide-angle) camera, and a 2-megapixel (macro) camera. There is a single front camera setup for selfies, featuring a 16-megapixel sensor with an f/2.45 aperture.
The phone runs Realme UI 4.0 is based on Android 13 and will be available in Pulse White and Booster Black colour options.
The global recommended retail price for realme GT3 will start from $649.
Follow us on Telegram, Twitter, and Facebook, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates. Send tips to firstname.lastname@example.org


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While social games companies like Zynga, maker of FarmVille, get all the attention these days, casual games companies have been quietly chugging along and seeing steady growth. The biggest of these in the US, Big Fish Games, made more than $100 million in revenue in 2009 off of its bite-sized games. Big Fish chief Jeremy Lewis says that an estimate of 30% growth in revenue this year is "conservative," hinting that the company's 2010 revenue will be at least $130 million if not more.
Compare this to its 2005 revenues of $8.6 million, and you can see that within five years, the company has grown its revenue by more than 15 times. Again, it's no Zynga: that four-year-old social games company is estimated to make more than $500 million this year, according to research firm Inside Networks. But it's not too shabby either. Lewis adds that the latest third-quarter results for Big Fish saw "record revenue and profit."
The Seattle-based casual games publisher, founded in 2002, has nearly 500 employees and boasts more than 2,500 games in its online catalog. It relies primarily on a subscription-based business model. Players can download and access Big Fish's games by paying a monthly $7 fee. A vast majority of its players (more than 75%) are women aged 25 to 65.
Research firm NPD Group listed Big Fish as the top casual digital retailer in the US in the first half of this year. Big Fish says it distributes around 2 million games per day in more than 200 countries. But the company's no slouch in retail outlet sales either. It says that in 2009, it sold more than 1 million games at stores like Target, Best Buy and Walmart.
The international market is very important to Big Fish: more than half its revenues come from outside North America. Just last week, the company announced that it was adding five language portals in Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Italian and Swedish, with fully localized games and native-language customer support -- bringing the company up to 10 languages total. Big Fish also added 12 currency payment options, so that the company now supports payments in 16 different currencies. Besides its Seattle headquarters, the company also has offices in Ireland and Vancouver, Canada.
Lewis says he's happy to see social games take off, claiming that Big Fish's online data shows that games like FarmVille (whose users are also predominantly women) drive many users to its own games. In addition, the company launched some Facebook games this year to test the waters.
But, like many across the games industry, the company is really bullish on mobile games, seeing a fit with its own catalog of titles. "Mobile is a very natural extension to just about everything we do, and in particular, tablet devices" Lewis says. The company has around 30 games on the iPhone and iPad and plans to increase the number substantially in the future.


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Father's Day is just around the corner, and instead of giving dad a material thing, why not surprise him with the gift of experience? Here at Travelers Today, we've spruced up the five best travel deals just in time for Father's Day 2017.
Receive the latest travel news, reviews, and more..
Good news await riders of Lyft as the company an
The Gran Hotel Manzana La Habana Kempinski in Havana, Cuba o
Father's Day is just around the corner, and i


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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday unveiled a long-awaited new tablet device called the TouchPad, alongside two new smartphones.
The TouchPad comes with an iPad-like 9.7-inch screen, a front-facing camera and weighs 1.6 lbs. It can multitask and sync with other HP devices like smartphones and printers, and it can display Web content encoded with Abobe Flash (something iPads won't do).
Unique features of the TouchPad include a resizeable keyboard and the high-quality "Beats" audio speakers that HP features on many of its laptops.
Slated for release this summer, the Wi-Fi-only version of the TouchPad will be unveiled first, with the 3G and 4G versions hitting the market at a later date.
HP's new smartphones included the Veer, a credit-card sized smartphone with a pull-out keyboard, and its slightly larger cousin, the Palm Pre 3.
HP left out one key detail about the TouchPad: Its price tag. The company plans to announce pricing later.
The devices are the first fruits of HP's $1.2 billion white knight purchase of Palm 10 months ago.
Palm went "all-in" with its then-new webOS operating system when it debuted the Palm Pre in January 2009. Despite rave reviews of the webOS platform, the Pre and its smaller sister, the Pixi, never quite caught on with consumers.
After buying Palm, HP opted to scale up webOS, saying it would eventually become a platform that goes beyond just smartphones. HP will also unveil webOS printers and PCs later on, the company said.
The OS has failed so far to attract application developers, but HP announced several new high-profile app partners, including Amazon's Kindle app, Facebook and Fortune parent company Time Inc.
In a direct shot at Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), HP and Time Inc. plan to make some of Time Inc.'s magazines available for sale under a subscription model. The iPad only currently allows a subscription service for one content provider: News Corp's The Daily. Apple says it is working to expand that offering to other publishers.
Apple has thus far dominated the tablet space, selling 14.8 million iPads since its April 2010 launch.
But dozens of other tablet makers debuted their designs at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, hoping to capitalize on the excitement that surrounded the iPad. Motorola (MMI) even advertised its Xoom tablet during the Super Bowl.
DisplaySearch forecasts that there will be 55.7 million tablets sold in 2011.
Tech blog Engadget leaked photos several weeks ago of a nine-inch HP / webOS tablet codenamed "Topaz" and said a seven-inch tablet codenamed "Opal" would also be released. But HP didn't announce anything about a smaller tablet on Wednesday.
Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More
Honda and General Motors are creating a new generation of fully autonomous vehicles. More
In 1998, Ntsiki Biyela won a scholarship to study wine making. Now she's about to launch her own brand. More
Whether you hedge inflation or look for a return that outpaces inflation, here's how to prepare. More


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A Plague Tale: Innocence and Gris coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC
Microsoft has announced that it is expanding Xbox Game Pass for PC with the addition of three more titles.
Exact release dates were not announced, but subscribers to the pass on PC will soon be able to play adventure game A Plague Tale: Innocence, story-driven action-RPG Children of Morta, and Nomada Studio’s Gris.
Earlier this month, Microsoft added society survival game Frostpunk and FTL: Faster Than Light to the PC version of Xbox Game Pass.
Xbox Game Pass for PC usually costs $4.99 a month, but Microsoft is currently offering new subscribers three months for just $1.


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South Carolina is one of at least three Southeast states trying to flag down a big tire-making factory.
South Korea’s Hankook Tire Worldwide said this weekend is planning to build a U.S. manufacturing plant to meet increasing global demand, according to news reports.
“We are in talks with three U.S. states — Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia — to build a plant and we will decide the final site by the end of this year,” CEO Cho Hyun Shick told Reuters news service at a press event in Seoul.
Specific sites were not disclosed.
The factory would start out by making 5 million tires a year and gradually double its annual production. It would target demand in developed countries.
Bloomberg News reported that Hankook recently secured deals to supply tires to Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Nissan Altima sedans, and that the company also is doing more business with Toyota.
The number of jobs at the proposed U.S. factory was not discussed, but Continental Tire has said it would require 1,600 workers to make 8 million tires year at a plant it’s building in Sumter County.
That deal and others have made South Carolina a major player in the industry.
The Palmetto State overtook Ohio to become the nation’s No. 1 tire exporter last year, and some experts have predicted it could pass Oklahoma as the nation’s top manufacturing site.
Several major projects are under way.
Michelin announced last year plan to expand its Earthmover plant in Lexington County and build a factory to make four-ton tires for heavy construction equipment in Anderson County. Those two deals are expected to add 750 jobs.
Continental is putting a $500 million plant in Sumter that will grow to 1,600 employees by 2021.
Bridgestone is investing $1.2 billion to expand its Aiken County operations and add 850 workers to its payroll.
In Charleston area, importer Tire Kingdom has built a large distribution center near Summerville.


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Jul 5, 2012 The Senate's version of the Farm Bill eliminates some key funding for farmers, especially those who make more than $750,000 a year.
Jul 2, 2012 Hill City, Kansas, has been seeing temperatures reach as high as 115 degrees for several days. Ace Billups, a farmer there, talks about the heat's impact on his business.
Jun 15, 2012 An amendment in the current Farm Bill would keep government protection for popcorn crops. Popcorn is a tiny kernel in U.S. agriculture, but without the subsidy prices of your favorite movie snack could rise.
May 25, 2012 Last fall, a listeria outbreak in cantaloupes traced to a Colorado farm killed 30 people around the country. The economic fallout from the tragedy has been far reaching.
Apr 25, 2012 The case of Mad Cow in California put a few South Korean retailers off of buying U.S. beef temporarily. But Canadian and Japanese importers haven't flinched.
Apr 24, 2012 It's the fourth such cow found in the U.S. food chain in the past nine years, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture says there's no reason consumers should worry.
Apr 20, 2012 For now, the Farm Bill has stalled in Congress. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack talks about why the bill is vital to farmers, and the agriculture industry as a whole.
Apr 17, 2012 The citrus disease known as “Huanlongbing” has been raging for seven years, killing millions of orange and grapefruit trees across Florida. Now it’s been detected in California.
Apr 13, 2012 A warm winter followed by frosts has Wisconsin farmers confused about when to harvest alfalfa. It’s the main food source for dairy cows.
Mar 23, 2012 Some farmers in the Midwest are planting crops earlier than usual because of hot weather. But there's a risk of losing it all if a spring freeze hits.


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Virgin Startup Joins with Collider Accelerator to Support Australian Entrepreneurs
QUT Creative Enterprise Australia can announce Virgin Startup as an exclusive facilitator for Australia’s first creative tech accelerator program.
The Virgin powerhouse will be giving Australian startups a boost as they join the facilitator line-up for Collider, run by QUT Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA).
Members of Virgin Startup will join CEA’s existing list of facilitators, which includes Entrepreneur in Residence Mark B Johnson, Alice and Trevor Loy, Ned Dwyer, Dominic Coryell, Marius Ursache and Ren Butler.
Collider Accelerator will take on ten of Australia’s best creative tech startups, offering the successful participants a 12 week mentorship program and $20,000 in seed funding.
“We are bringing all the experts into Brisbane to help give our startups the best advice and support we can,” says Anna Rooke, CEO of Creative Enterprise Australia.
“From the bustling London startup scene to Silicon Valley’s ecosystem, we’re thrilled to be able to host a series of the best and brightest international mentors from around the globe.”
“Virgin Startup is renowned for their track record of driving entrepreneurs, creating jobs, developing cutting-edge products and systems and strengthening the creative economy.”
CEA has already been overwhelmed by the amount of Queensland-based applicants to the Collider Accelerator program, with particular interest from female-founder startups.
“Collider was designed in partnership with Advance Queensland to support the growing need for tech in the creative industries in Australia,” says Anna Rooke.
“While the accelerator has been gaining interest across the country, we have been particularly thrilled with how many female-founders the program has appealed to. More than a third of our applicants have been from female founders, and we expect this to increase before applications close.”
According to the 2016 Startup Muster Report, just 23 per cent of Australian founders are women.
“We are excited to be continuing our strong support for gender equality in Australian startups and promoting work that inspires the passion behind creative tech.”
Applicants in the Collider program will also receive support from companies such as BlueSky Alternative Investment, Transition Level Investment, Sony Music Entertainment, Pitcher Partners and McCullough Robertson Lawyers.
Applications for QUT Creative Enterprise Australia’s Collider Accelerator close on Thursday, May 4.


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Buckaroo Brings Apple Pay to Dutch Merchants
Utrecht, Netherlands - 11 June 2019 - Dutch payment service provider Buckaroo, today brings its merchants Apple Pay, which is transforming mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay that’s fast and convenient.
Apple premium reseller Amac is one of the first Dutch webstores offering their customers the possibility to pay online with Apple Pay. Buckaroo worked closely with MediaCT during the integration procedure. Apple Pay is also available in the Magento, WooCommerce and Shopware webshop plugin, or available via SDK.
Consumers can pay online via Apple Pay in two ways. Via the regular checkout or via a so-called fast checkout, where you can pay directly from the product page without the intervention of "a shopping cart". The consumer's address and payment details are already known to Apple Pay and therefore do not have to be entered again. The settlement process is thus considerably shortened.
Safe and fast
Payments via Apple Pay go according to the latest security standard that will start from September 14, 2019. Then strong customer authentication for online payment methods becomes mandatory. Payments must be confirmed via, for example, a generated e-code or password. Payments via Apple Pay are confirmed biometrically, via TouchID or FaceID.
Do you request Apple Pay via Buckaroo? Then the payment service provider arranges the connection, including the required certificate. As an Apple Pay provider, Buckaroo has the ability to connect merchants directly without complicated registration processes.
Apply for Apple Pay? More info via https://www.buckaroo.eu/solutions/payment-methods/apple-pay


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Germany to fund Cambodia in promoting private sector development
Saturday, May 21, 2005
A new program for promoting Cambodia`s private sector development was launched by Cambodia and Germany, German Embassy said here Friday.
The program is designed to generate sustainable employment opportunities, improve competitiveness and productivity of Cambodian enterprises and contribute to a conducive business environment, the embassy said in a statement.
It will also help with capacity building and training for enterprises, strengthening associations of the private business, creation of business development services and will give support to trade and commerce.
Germany will fund the initial three-year phase with 5.8 million US dollars. And the program will be carried out by the German agency for technical cooperation (GTZ) and Cambodia`s ministries of commerce and industry, as well as NGOs and other donors.
Story found here.


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The Sri Lanka stall this year received much praise from all the participants and visitors for its unique and innovative design. Sri Lanka Tourism stand feature wildlife theme with local elephant family replicas at the entrance which is a unique Sri Lankan wild life attraction. A boulevard banner depicting Sri Lankan elephants and whales wasa key attraction at the entrance to the Asia Hall. The Sri Lankan stall design was prepared with the SLTPBin house design advices.
Under the guidance of the Minister of Economic Development Hon. Basil Rajapaksa , Sri Lanka Tourism industry is poised to new heights with the mega promotional campaigns launched globally while the industry of Tourism has witnessed a rapid growth in recent history. Sri Lanka has already become a most sought after travel destination among the UK tourists within the past few years. The arrival figures up to September 2014 from UK stood at 107,330 tourists while compared to the annual total of last year which was 137,416.
Sri Lanka Tourism has branded and launched 450 taxis in three of the UK’s biggest cities: Manchester, Birmingham and London recently. The first fleets of 300 taxis of this campaign were launched on 04th August in London. ‘Sri Lanka –A Journey Awaits’ tagline promote the key tourism attractions of Sri Lanka on taxis with a massive fleet of cabs in each city displaying Taxi Super sides, back seat covers, Taxi receipts with stunning visual imagery of Sri Lanka’s prominent tourism attractions. The campaign is active in UK at the moment.
During the four days of the fair, Sri Lanka Tourism has arranged to give away three precious Blue Sapphire gems for lucky draw winnersat the media briefing, and forthe trade visitors to the booth, signifying and recreating the famous blue sapphire gem of the royal wedding ring of Princess Diana, sourced from Sri Lanka for this purpose.
The Sri Lanka stall showcased traditional Sri Lankan dancing enriched with customs as an attractive feature at the stall, providing a very good opportunity for the visitors to get a glimpse into the culturally rich traditions of Sri Lanka. In addition, a programme to promote Ceylon Tea is held at the time of the exhibition, providing a rare chance to the visitors to enjoy a cup of pure Ceylon Tea.
Sri Lanka Tourism has been participating at this event for many years with the local travel industry. The main objective of this year’s representation is to provide Sri Lanka travel industry an opportunity to meet, interact and network with Travel and Tourism industry partners from UK and around the world to gain immediate competitive advantage for the Sri Lanka travel industry and stay abreast with the latest developments in the travel industry.The travel fair will provide the small and medium hotels and travel agents (SME sector) a valuable opportunity to participate at WTM at a concessionary rate this year as well.
WTM attracts more than 30,000 visitors, 5,000 trade partners (exhibitors) and over 3000 journalists around the world each year. More than 1000 travel agents, including over 200 tour operators, will attend this travel fair to market creating much opportunity for booming tourism industry of Sri Lanka.With the achievements in tourism industry so far, SLTPB is looking forward to exceed the expected target by the end of the year 2016 and WTM will indeed be a milestone in this journey.
Photographs by Praneeth Hettiarachchi


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Recent figures in Internet activity include several interesting trends, including:
- the number of smartphone-user adoption rates
- Cyber Monday sales figures
- mobile banking app usage
- social networking on mobile social media
- hours spent online
- search habits
Trends in worldwide Internet activity may or may not translate well into changes and updates to an organization’s web development and design plans. As a result, many organizations may be missing out on capturing more visits, more page views, increasing their customer base, and ultimately, increasing sales and exposure. So what do these trends mean for your organization’s web presence? Let’s take a look at several trends as reported by comScore, the organization that does a great job of measuring the digital world.
Mobile social media
According to this report, the on the go social media audience has increased 37% in the past year from comparisons of two three-month averages ending in August 2010 and August 2011; survey respondents stated they had visited a social networking site at least once in the last month. Total audience grew from 52.7 million to 72.3 million visitors. “Social media is one of the most popular and fastest growing mobile activities, reaching nearly one third of all U.S. mobile users,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president for mobile. “This behavior is even more prevalent among smartphone owners, with three in five accessing social media each month, highlighting the importance of apps and the enhanced functionality of smartphones to social media usage on mobile devices.” Does your organizations web presence also include social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter?
According to a study reported on October 26, 2011, 32.5 million Americans accessed mobile banking information from apps on their mobile devices at the end of Q2 2011 in June, representing 13.9 percent of all mobile users. This number represents a 45% increase from the Q4 2010 figures. Mobile banking information access showed a 21% increase, access to mobile credit card information showed a 23% increase, access requests for mobile auto or property insurance information showed a 19% increase, and mobile access to stock or brokerage information showed a 10% increase. If you support the web within a banking industry firm, does your organization provide mobile apps for access to banking information? This seems to be a growing trend among mobile users.
Smartphone adoption rates
According to this report released September 2011, the smartphone adoption rate in Canada has reached 40% of the total mobile device market share. Leading the pack in smartphone platform usage in Canada is RIM at 35.8%, Apple at 30.1%, and Google at 25%, followed by small usage rates from Symbian, and Microsoft. According to the report, mobile browsers were a popular way of accessing mobile content, used by 36.9 percent of the total audience and 74.8 percent of the Smartphone audience. 39.5 percent of the total audience and 79.3 percent of the smartphone audience used their phones to stay up-to-date on the latest news. Increasing numbers of Internet users in Canada are adopting mobile access for their online content delivery.
As for the U.S. rate of adoption, GigaOm.com cites the newest Nielsen report findings that 44 percent of U.S. residents own smart devices (compared to only 18 percent in 2009) with the iPhone leading the way. Does your website have mobile browser friendly web pages?
Cyber Week sales figures for 2011 are in and according to reports, nearly $6 billion dollars were spent online the week ending December 2, with three days totaling just over $1 billion dollars each starting with Cyber Monday. “Cyber Monday kicked the week off with a bang as consumers opened their wallets to the tune of $1.25 billion, but it was only the beginning of a very strong week of online holiday spending,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni:
Tuesday and Wednesday followed with billion dollar spending days, helping Cyber Week reach a record weekly total of nearly $6 billion in spending. As the deals from this week expire, it will be important to see the degree to which consumers return to the same retailers to continue their holiday shopping, thereby helping improve retailers’ profit margins, or if we experience a pullback in consumer spending – which has occurred in previous years – before promotional offers and spending intensity pick back up in earnest around mid-December.
Does your organization show increased sales from online shopping opportunities?
Hours spent online
Why should you care how many hours visitors spend online? In one recent month in France, online users spent on average 4.1 hours per month on social networking sites, in April of 2010, the average Internet user in Singapore spent more than 10 hours viewing online video, and Internet users in Peru spent an average of 27 hours online during July 2011, and ranks as one of the most engaged markets in Latin America. And, according to another report, the average Internet user in Malaysia spends at least one-third of their time on social networking sites such as Facebook, Yahoo, CBS Interactive, and Google. These statistics display visitor trends represented from three separate continents, and also highlight the diversity found among customers across all borders. How much of the across-border customer base has your organization captured through your Internet presence?
What do these online trends mean for the average web developer? It could mean the difference in keeping your organization ahead of the pack or losing out on opportunities for increased business and exposure. Unless your organization is paying attention to global trends, you may not realize that your web development strategy is falling behind. Overall you may start seeing changes in the way your content gets delivered from traditional web browser-based searches to new sources including complete web enabled devices that go beyond the mobile platforms we know today.
Smart phones are the rage today, and I would venture a guess that more smart appliances are just around the corner; several smart refrigerators now include features such as automatically creating grocery lists based on product usage and being able to connect to mobile apps to update grocery lists while out shopping. Internet access to more domestic smart home devices is probably just around the corner. LG has a smart home solution that includes Internet-enabled washers, dryers, refrigerators, air conditioners, microwaves, ovens, and dish washers. This could equate to more opportunities for mobile apps being developed that connect owners/renters to their home/apartment, giving them more control over the things they possess.
Keep up with the trends – they’ll probably point your web development skills in the right direction.