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New mandates require youngsters ages 2-4 to wear masks at places like stores, daycare and camps. Specialists share their keys to helping kids comply.
Toddlers it seems ~ developmentally primed come protest. That way learning come say no to new foods, sharing a toy and also yes, also refusing to store on a challenge mask.
You are watching: Do toddlers have to wear masks
During the pandemic, mask mandates in many parts of the U.S. Only applied to children ages five and also older. However as some areas see a brand-new COVID surge, together with increasing infections amongst pediatric populations, the necessity may prolong to younger children too.
In Michigan a brand-new mandate inquiry toddlers ages 2-4 to wear masks go into impact April 26 as health officials aim to for sure a “good belief effort” in setups such together daycare centers, preschools, camps and also other windy areas.
The masking order complies with recommendations native the American Academy the Pediatrics and also Centers for an illness Control and also Prevention guidance.
The CDC has advised that kids younger than 2 not wear masks.
At Michigan medicine C.S. Mott children Hospital, the boy Life team is offered to helping children of all ages cope through hospital situations they may be unconvinced about, including pokes, medical treatment and other possibly scary scenarios. Now, three Mott boy life professionals share their best tips for equipping families with tools to promote health and also safety for the littlest neighborhood members.
1. Use child-friendly language.
Kids respond finest to an extremely simple, positive, gentle and concrete explanations, says certified Mott son life specialist Courtney Hoffenbacher.
“Explain that as with it’s a dominance that everyone wears shoes when we go to the store, it’s likewise a rule right currently to stay a mask when we leaving our house,” she says.
“For older toddlers, it might also aid to tell lock that confront masks defend us from various other people’s germs and also protect them from ours. And also that that will help keep us and also others healthy and safe.”
2. Model mask-wearing.
Children choose up on habits from peers and adults, which is why the so fun for toddlers to pretend to have actually conversations top top a toy call or want to usage tools.
If they view parents and older siblings put on masks and also that the a dominance that applies to everyone, they will most likely want come mimic that behavior too, Hoffenbacher says. But parents must keep in mind that stubbornness and also resistance during these eras is to it is in expected.
“Just like with many things, forcing a boy to wear a mask deserve to lead come a battle,” Hoffenbacher says. “Control is a an essential part the a child’s breakthrough and understanding. Rather of a strength struggle, design for them just how to undertake a confront mask to normalize it and make them feel much more comfortable.”
“Kids are significantly influenced through the people about them.”
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3. Practice through play.
“While words space important, children procedure emotions and also learn through play,” says certified Mott kid life specialist mary Harwood.
She proposal planning ahead for any kind of outing request a mask, whether at a doctor’s appointment, save or daycare, through exercise that feel fun.
Parents can pretend to be a doctor while put on a mask and practice taking masks on and off or wearing that while advertise a pretend dare at the store. Or they may take turns v their child putting masks ~ above a favourite doll or stuffed animal.
“You can compare the challenge mask to dress up or superhero masks or also play peekaboo through the masks come prepare younger children,” she says.
Drawing confront masks on personalities in coloring publications or coloring images of human being wearing masks may likewise help. Mott offers households printable color pages to encourage mask wearing.
4. Permit them select the mask.
Giving children any sense of control may go a lengthy way. They might not have regulate over the rule, however maybe you have the right to let them choose the color or design of the mask, Harwood suggests.
Crafty parents may even think about making a mask v their boy using their favored pattern.
“Just remember the it’s not recommended to attract on or decorate any file or operation mask due to the fact that it could reduce safety,” she says.
5. Take infant steps.
Mott certified son life professional Jessica Oswald recommends giving kids a small prize favor stickers or tiny treats whenever they’re able come wear a face mask because that a brief amount the time.
They can start the end wearing masks throughout a favourite TV show or keep it top top for durations of time on a walk outside. And make sure they have time to procedure the concept before needing to use it for much longer stretches.
See more: Ms Symptoms: Early Signs Of Ms In Young Adults, Early Signs Of Ms
“Consistency helps kind good habits,” Oswald says. “Gradually you deserve to increase the length of time, as your boy gets much better and better at wearing a mask. If you planning a expedition to a medical facility, tell your boy in advancement (preferably the day before) the he/she will have to wear a mask if you’re there. This will provide your child time come start processing the brand-new rule.”
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This article was originally published on Thursday, 28 February 2019 at 8:11 A.M. SGT; it has since been updated.
Commodity trader Olam reported on Thursday its fourth quarter net profit dropped 71.6 percent on-year to S$75.31 million on a year-earlier gain and as coffee prices fell.
Sales of goods and services in the quarter ended 31 December rose 16.9 percent on-year to S$8.46 billion, it said in a filing to SGX before the market open on Thursday.
A large exceptional gain of S$155.4 million was posted in the year-earlier quarter, Olam said.
Operational profit after tax and minority interests, which excludes exceptional items, fell 34.4 percent on-year to S$72.0 million, amid lower contributions from peanuts, coffee, rice and dairy businesses, partly offset by improved performances from cocoa, packaged foods and wood products, Olam said.
‘Below our expectations’
“Compared with a strong performance in the previous year, our 2018 performance has been below our expectations amid tougher than anticipated market conditions, particularly in the second half of the year,” Sunny Verghese, co-founder and group CEO, said in the statement.
“Looking ahead, we are focused on executing on our Strategic Plan for 2019-2024 by investing in high-growth businesses in our portfolio where we have clear winnability. This will help us capitalize on key consumer trends, enabling us to achieve sustainable and profitable
growth,” Verghese added.
For the full year, Olam reported net profit fell 40.1 percent on-year to S$347.87 million on sales of goods and services of S$30.48 million, up 16.0 percent on-year.
Other operating expenses also nearly tripled to S$119.1 million in 2018 from S$42.9 million in 2017, mainly on unrealized foreign exchange losses after the Brazilian real, Indian rupee, Turkish lira and Argentinian peso all fell against the U.S. dollar, Olam said.
Historically low coffee prices
It also posted a net gain in the fair valuation of biological assets of S$61.3 million for the year, compared with a year-earlier net loss of S$15.3 million, mainly on improvements in the fair valuation of almond produce in Australia and palm fruit trees in Gabon, and on dairy assets in Russia and Uruguay.
Confectionery and beverage revenue declined 12.4 percent on-year in 2018 to S$7.1 billion, mainly on historically low coffee prices, but EBITDA for the segment rose 35.5 percent to S$444.0 million on an exceptionally good cocoa performance across both supply chain and processing operations, Olam said.
“The difficult market conditions which started in the second half of 2017 continued to impact the coffee supply chain business adversely throughout most of the year. Soluble coffee, meanwhile, continued to do very well as its increased capacity was fully sold out during the year,” Olam said.
The food staples and packaged foods segment saw revenue rise 48.5 percent for the year to S$14.5 billion, mainly on higher trading volumes in grains, but its EBITDA fell 19.7 percent on-year to S$288.8 billion, against a strong 2017, as an improved packaged foods performance was offset by lower contributions from dairy, rice, edible oils and animal feed businesses, Olam said.
“While the upstream operations in Russia did well, the farming operations in Uruguay experienced drought conditions, leading to higher feed costs. The rice business reported lower earnings as it reduced merchandising volumes into Africa due to intense competitive pressures in the market,” Olam said.
The edible nuts and spices segment reported full year revenue fell 4 percent on-year to S$4.3 billion, on lower prices across multiple products, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 22.5 percent to S$339.9 million against a strong performance in the year earlier, with the peanut contribution falling.
“The peanut farming operations in Argentina was adversely impacted by drought conditions and currency devaluation and the peanut business in the U.S. recorded lower shelling volumes amid an oversupplied market,” Olam said. “With the sale of the peanut shelling operations in Argentina to Adecoagro in early February 2019, the group will therefore cease peanut farming operations in the country.”
In the industrial raw materials, infrastructure and logistics segment, revenue rose 16.9 percent to S$4.5 billion for the year amid higher volumes from all businesses, but EBITDA fell 10.7 percent on-year to S$176.2 million on a lower contribution from GSEZ, which offset growth in wood products and rubber, the filing said.
The commodity financial services segment reported an EBITDA loss of S$13.1 million for the year, swinging from EBITDA of S$4.8 million a year earlier on losses from the now closed Fundamental Fund business, Olam said.

domain: news


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A group of more than two dozen California wineries who ship wine to Illinois customers have scored a legal win, as a Cook County judge granted the request of Illinois Attorney Gen. Lisa Madigan to dismiss numerous lawsuits alleging the wineries had shorted the state's treasury by not paying sales taxes on shipping and handling fees they charged consumers.
The qui tam lawsuits were originally filed by residents of Illinois, supposedly on behalf of the state, to collect sales tax they claimed the wineries should have been charging on the shipping costs of wine sent to Illinois from other states. The claim invoked the Illinois False Claims Act (IFCA) and appealed to the Illinois Attorney General, who initially allowed the plaintiff to proceed on behalf of the state.
In reaction to the suit, law firm Reed Smith LLP filed an action on behalf of the Wine Institute and its members in the Cook County Circuit Court against the Madigan's office on July 28.
“The qui tam plaintiffs lost these matters at the Circuit Court because we were able to convince the Illinois Attorney General’s office that no tax was due on the shipping and handling charges incurred by the defendants’ Illinois customers,” said Adam Beckerink, attorney for Reed Smith.
“As a procedural matter, the Illinois Attorney General filed Motions to Dismiss in these 28 qui tam matters, 17 of which were represented by us, based on the Attorney General’s prosecutorial discretion.”
According to Beckerink, the Illinois Attorney General exercised its prosecutorial discretion because the wineries had proven no tax was due on the shipping and handling charges because the defendants provided an option for customers to pick up purchases. The pickup option meant that shipping and handling charges were separately stated and negotiated. The Attorney General also stated the alleged liabilities potentially owed by the defendants were minimal.
“In short, the defendants prevailed because Illinois law supported the conclusion that they did not owe tax on shipping and handling amounts incurred by their Illinois customers,” said Beckerink, “It should be noted that several other defendants in these matters have settled even though a tax would not have been due on their shipping and handling charges because they would have incurred excessive legal fees to win their case, and did not have the support of the Attorney General’s Motion to Dismiss."
The dismissal of the qui tam lawsuits means Illinois wine consumers can now save on out-of-state shipments. Reed Smith reported that some of the alleged liabilities in the cases ranged from $800 to $3,000. However, all of the money would not have been received by the state. Under the ILFCA, the plaintiff would have been eligible for a portion of the liability.
The amount of money at stake under qui tam FCA cases has sparked a seeming a gold rush in whistleblowing. In 2015, the Department of Justice reported $3.5 billion was recovered from FCA settlements with whistleblowers leading the charge and collecting a percentage of the recovery as they go. When it comes to FCA claims in the tax arena, the cases can become increasingly complicated, especially when compared to more common injury claims.
“I believe that it is inappropriate to apply the False Claims Act in tax cases, especially when corporations have complicated tax returns that involve judgment calls regarding ambiguous tax laws,” said Beckerink.
“With the recent trend of Qui Tam actions (collecting too little tax) and Consumer Fraud actions (collecting too much tax) across the United States, taxpayers are being asked to be perfect, and not by the states’ departments of revenue, but by individuals and other third parties, who sometimes are only looking for their own pay day.”


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BEIJING: Australia’s minister for trade and tourism, Don Farrell, told China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, that “we still have some way to go to establish usual trade across the board”, at a meeting in Beijing today.
In his opening remarks at the 16th Joint Ministerial Economic Commission, Farrell also told Wang: “We can see the benefits for Australian and Chinese businesses and consumers that continue to flow from the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement” of 2015.
China imposed trade curbs on Australian wine, beef, barley, coal, cotton, seafood and timber exports in 2020, and Canberra is still pushing to have some of those removed and for diplomatic relations to stabilise.
In January, Beijing gave permission to four government-backed firms to ship in Australian coal and trade has now fully resumed.
Australia also agreed in April to suspend a case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China’s anti-dumping duties on barley, while China said it would hasten a review into the tariffs.
Farrell told Wang at the meeting that “Australia would always prefer dialogue than disputation” over the ongoing case at the WTO and that he “can already see the benefits of dialogue in the agreements we’ve reached and a pathway to the resolution”.
Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said in April that the government expected a similar result in a second dispute on wine tariffs, a message repeated by Farrell.


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Great news for anyone still holding out on pulling the Tidal trigger: Beyoncé's visual album/masterpiece/mindboggler Lemonade is now on iTunes and Amazon. All 12 songs are available for 99p apiece, or you can get the whole album for £13.99―which is the only way to get the "Lemonade Film" and digital booklet.
As The New York Times notes, Beyoncé likely put the album on iTunes after just a 24-hour window of streaming it exclusively on Tidal in an effort to reach more fans, since Tidal only has three million subscribers.
Which means even if you're not a Tidal-er, you can now officially spend your entire day listening to Lemonade on repeat, asking yourself whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatHOW?
This article was written by Sally Holmes and originally appeared on ELLE.COM.


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Oasis Sparks Controversy After Using "Irresponsible" Mannequin
A mannequin displayed in an Oasis store has been criticised for being "irresponsible" and "damaging".
Katherine Baker was shopping recently in Westfield London and took the below photo of the mannequin displaying what people have described as "very thin legs".
She sent it to her friendwho posted it to Twitter and described it as "disgusting, damaging and irresponsible, not to mention really weird".
— Rhiannon L Cosslett (@rhiannonlucyc) October 20, 2015
Chatting to Buzzfeed Life, Rhiannon said: “She [Katherine] sent it to me so that I could put it on Twitter because she was disgusted by it". Rhiannon's tweet received a huge reaction, with numerous retweets and favourites, while other Twitter users had their say on the issue.
— Andrew Faraday (@MarmiteJunction) October 21, 2015
A representative for the brand spoke to the website and said: "Our mannequins… in no way any attempt to accurately portray true-to-life proportions.
"Our mannequins measure over 6ft in height and without distinct facial features.
"Oasis understands the recent debates which have unfolded and therefore the business is in the process of reviewing new mannequins styles".


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Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet is on track to generate hundreds of millions of monthly advert impressions according to mobile ad network Millenial Media.
Adding to the data already collected for ad impressions from other mobile platforms like Apple's iOS, Android and others, Amazon's new hardware is certainly aiding Google's advert turnover. Tech Crunch is reporting that the quick growth of the Kindle Fire's adverts even outstrips that of the iPad when it was launched in 2010.
Millenial has also noted that for the 12th month in a row, Google's Android has maintained its position as the top ad serving mobile platform. The lead is so much, that it holds 50 per cent of the entire mobile advertising market. Apple comes in second place taking 30 per cent, followed by RIM at 17 per cent. The other players like Symbian and Windows take just 1 per cent each.
While these might be some very positive results for Google, the 50 per cent stake has actually dropped down from a previous high of 56 per cent held back in October. The iPhone 4s certainly helped Apple crawl up the scale a little more, with RIM climbing four per cent itself.
Before the release of the Kindle Fire, Amazon announced a pair of options for its purchasers. Those that don't want adverts to show on the platform can purchase a Prime Membership, which removes all ads from the tablet. However, those that don't mind a bit of intrusion have the opportunity to pick up a Kindle Fire for a little cheaper.


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Ella Anderson, 44, wore a badge for 14 years, spending time in uniform in the Levy County Sheriff’s Office, Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office and the Chiefland Police Department. But now Anderson has traded the thin blue line for greener pastures, or at least greener products.
In September, Anderson and husband, Scott Anderson, opened The Hemp Station, a store whose glass cases are lined with products visually indistinguishable from marijuana – a schedule I drug that used to earn Anderson’s arrestees a pair of handcuffs. The Andersons call their business venture “a dream come true.”
Levy County law enforcement officials, however, said the opening of a store selling legal products that so closely resemble marijuana, at least on the surface, is more like a bad dream.
For many deputies, it may take a lot more work to determine what’s legal and what’s not, given that many hemp products look and smell like marijuana, said Scott Tummond, the public information officer for the Levy County Sheriff’s Office.
“It’s challenged our deputies to be a little more thorough on their roadside investigations when they’re finding something that, at face value, they can’t distinguish between hemp and marijuana, but that is making them become better investigators and better interviewers,” Tummond said.
Tummond said his deputies are up for the task, but he’s encouraging hemp users to keep their wits about them. He said investigators will be looking for packaging showing that what the person has is a legal, hemp-based product, and removing hemp products from their commercial bags might be a bad idea.
“They should leave it in the original packaging it came in from the store,” he said, adding that hemp buyers could demonstrate that the products are legal by keeping the store receipts.
Hemp – a derivative of marijuana – can contain no more than 0.3% THC, the chemical that produces marijuana’s “high.” Proponents say hemp use has numerous health benefits. Anderson even uses it herself.
“I use it for anxiety, my arthritis – I have it in my hands – and for my bad back,” she said.
The Hemp Station’s clients have given “100% positive feedback” on the store’s products, Anderson said. When the store first opened, the former officer and her family gave away products to allow customers to test their effectiveness, and many have returned for more.
Scott Anderson said the giveaways gave people the chance to see if The Hemp Station’s products could help them.
“We’re not here to get rich; we’re trying to help people,” he said.
The legal sale of hemp products, however, is making life more complicated for law enforcement officers. Tummond said the State Attorney’s Office has encouraged law enforcement agencies across Florida, including LSCO, to defer prosecution of minor marijuana offenses. Nonetheless, officers still can seize products they deem suspicious, and it’s up to an individual office to decide on charges, he said.
LSCO still has the power to charge people with marijuana possession, and they’re not backing down, he said.
“In this situation, the Levy County Sheriff’s Office is still conducting narcotics investigations and if those narcotics investigations include marijuana, which is still an illegal substance, appropriate law enforcement action will be taken,” Tummond said. “So smoke your weed if you want to, but if we catch you with it, you’re still going to get charged because marijuana is still illegal.”
While hemp may make a deputy’s job more challenging, hemp industry proponents think it’s worth the added law enforcement effort.
Ray Mazzie, executive director for the Hemp Industries Association of Florida, said hemp and CBD, short for cannabinoids, can be useful additions to anyone’s medical cabinet.
“I think it’s great to see private entrepreneurs take an active role in the hemp industry,” Mazzie said. “It is the early adopters that will help pave the way for hemp’s commercialization and normalization here in Florida. I look forward to seeing [The Hemp Station] operate and wish the owner the best of luck.”
Mazzie’s organization travels across Florida to promote the hemp industry. Florida hemp activists have been encouraged since the state legislature legalizeddistribution of the crop in May.
To Mazzie and others, hemp isn’t just a medicinal product; it’s a cash crop that’s especially well-suited for the Sunshine State.
“Agriculture is Florida’s second largest economic driver, and hemp happens to be the most profitable crop on the market at this stage in the game,” he said. “Florida is uniquely situated for hemp,” Mazzie said, “because of the hours of daylight we receive year-round, abundance of water at our disposable, the sheer amount of land.”
Eric Steenstra, the executive director of Vote Hemp, another hemp advocacy organization, agreed with Mazzie.
Streenstra said that hemp could even replace cotton as a fibrous material; he called cotton production “unsustainable,” due to its “excessive” water and energy use. His organization is currently spearheading a federal bill called the Hemp For Victory Act.
There’s only one problem: hemp is legal and marijuana is not, and differentiating between the two is costly and time consuming, Tummond said. Sending suspected pot to the lab is only cost effective if there’s a lot of it.
Tummond said he did not know exactly what these lab tests cost or how long they take to complete.
“Trafficking amounts” – enough to be measured by the pound – are more likely to be sent to a lab for testing than is a small amount of marijuana, such as someone might have for personal use, he said. But if LCSO can’t tell what it is for certain, they will seize it regardless of the amount.
Despite her background in law enforcement, Ella Anderson said she doesn’t have a problem with the conundrum surrounding hemp and marijuana.
In fact, she likes both products, and added, “When they do legalize marijuana we’ll sell that, too.”
In her career, Anderson said, marijuana use wasn’t usually associated with violent crime.
“I’ve never been to a shooting where someone was high on pot,” she said.


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Manchester United announce Chi as official soft drinks partner in Nigeria
Wed 29th Oct 2014 | Football Sponsorship
Manchester United has announced a multi-year sponsorship with Chi Limited to become the club’s official soft drinks partner in Nigeria.
The deal will allow Nigeria’s market leader in fruit juices to use the legendary United crest and club imagery on a range of products throughout Nigeria.
Founded over 30 years ago, Chi prides itself as Nigeria’s premier producer of healthy, high quality, fruit and dairy-based beverages enjoyed by millions of customers every year.
With brands like Chivita 100%, Chivita Active, Chi Exotic, Chi Happy Hour and Chi Ice Tea occupying leading positions in their respective segments, Chi Limited has successfully ensured market dominance in Nigeria over the years through the expansion of its well-known brands. Its emphasis on innovation and community has ensured investment in modern facilities across Africa, creating employment and giving people skills to help improve their lives.
United’s group managing director, Richard Arnold, said: “We are delighted to welcome Chi Limited as an official partner of Manchester United. With over 30 years of experience, Chi has a commitment to the health and well-being of the local population by producing high quality, market-leading products.
“We have close to 35 million followers in Nigeria who are some of the most passionate in our global fanbase, something that we fondly remember after playing in Abuja in 2008. We hope that this partnership will help bring these fans closer even to the club they love.”
Chi Limited’s head of marketing, Probal Bhattacharya, described the partnership as between two of the most cherished brands in Nigeria, he said: “As a company, we are proud to partner with such a reputable and successful club like Manchester United whose tradition of excellence is in tandem with ours.
“We are confident that the partnership will further deepen consumer loyalty as well as ensure that millions of passionate soccer fans across Nigeria continue to refresh and rejuvenate themselves with Chivita 100% Juice and Chi’s other beverage offerings, as they relish every moment of the beautiful game.”
Posted by: Kev Howland
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SHANGHAI, Jul 17 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected today.
The US dollar gained as surprisingly strong growth in US retail sales in June eased worries about the American economy and trimmed expectations the Federal Reserve may embark on a deep interest rate cut later this month.
Base metals ended mostly higher as LME nickel rose 2%, zinc climbed 1%, tin increased 0.3%, aluminium and lead nudged up, while copper slid 0.6%. SHFE nickel advanced 2.1%, zinc grew 1.1%, lead went up 0.8%, aluminium rose 0.1%, while tin lost 0.1%, and copper shed 0.2%.
The US Commerce Department said on Tuesday retail sales rose 0.4% in June, compared with an expected rise of 0.2%, as households stepped up purchases of motor vehicles and a variety of other goods. Data for May was revised slightly down to show retail sales rising 0.4%, instead of increasing 0.5% as previously reported.
Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales jumped 0.7% last month after an upwardly revised 0.6% increase in May. These so-called core retail sales, which correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product, were previously reported to have increased 0.4% in May.
“The retail sales data gives you comfort that the domestic economy is in good shape and the consumer is in a good spot," said Michael Gapen, chief US economist at Barclays.
“Business spending, business confidence and manufacturing production are where the economy is slowing and if the Fed is looking to insulate the economy, some cuts to support financial market conditions and keep the domestic economy strong is still a reasonable response,” Gapen added.
The cost of US imports fell in June by the steepest amount in six months, reflecting lower oil prices and a weaker global economy.
Official data showed on Tuesday that the import price index declined 0.9% in June, the first monthly decrease since the index fell 1.4% in December 2018. Import prices decreased 2% on a yearly basis in June, the largest year-over-year drop since the index fell 2.2% from August 2015 to August 2016.
US industrial production was flat in June, slightly below the expected gain of 0.1%, as a slump in utilities was offset by gains in output by factories and mining.
The eurozone’s trade surplus with the rest of the world widened in May, official data showed on Tuesday.
According to initial estimates from Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistics office, the 19-strong eurozone recorded a €23 billion trade surplus with the rest of the world in May, compared to €16.9 billion a year earlier. Imports were €180.3 billion, up 4.2%, while exports rose 7.1% to €203.4 billion.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday that US crude supplies fell by 1.4 million barrels for the week ended July 12. The API also reportedly showed a stockpile decline of 476,000 barrels for gasoline, but distillate inventories jumped by 6.2 million barrels.
Economic data slated for release today include the eurozone consumer price index (CPI) for June, the US new house start, building permits for June, as well as its weekly crude oil inventory data by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).


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Two Hamburg tank container experts have developed a new comprehensive service package. The Hamburger Container- und Chassis-Reparatur Gesellschaft (HCCR) and the container service provider CONDACO are combining their expertise and years of experience to offer all aspects of cleaning,
Hafnia Tankers has successfully completed its first sale and leaseback in the Japanese market through the sale and leaseback of its 2010 built LR1 tanker, MT Hafnia Africa. The Vessel has been sold
Solstad Offshore Singapore, a wholly owned subsidiary of Solstad Farstad ASA, has sold the AHTS Nor Star The vessel (5.500 BHP) was built in 2005 built at Pt. Jaya Asiatic Shipyard,Batam Indonesia.
The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) has today announced a key strategic partnership with the International Windship Association (IWSA) in order to further promote the uptake of wind technology by the global shipping fleet.
For the third consecutive year, CMA CGM received the "Gold Recognition Level" by Ecovadis, the first collaborative platform providing Supplier Sustainability Ratings for global supply chains. The Ecovadis’ report underline's the CMA CGM Group's performance in environmental compliance,
Patriot Contract Services, LLC (PCS) is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its operations as a completely U.S.-owned ship management company. During the past 20 years PCS and its affiliate American Ship Management,
Aegean Bunkering Pte Ltd will halt physical supply operations in Singapore by January, the company said, becoming the fourth such firm to exit the world’s largest marine refuelling hub after it adopted tougher bunkering procedures this year.
Crowley Maritime Corporation announced it will begin offering weekly, fixed-day, full and less-than-container-load (LCL) shipping and logistics services between Wilmington, N.C., Guatemala and Honduras, effective with the northbound sailings on Tuesday, Nov.
Crowley Maritime Corp. said it has retrofitted two of its heavy lift, flat-deck barges, 455-3 and Marty J, to provide additional capacity to customers shipping cargo between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico.
Ocean Signal has appointed Kris Nieuwenhuis as its new global Commercial Sales Manager. An experienced technical sales manager in the maritime industry with a strong background in AIS and marine safety, Nieuwenhuis will focus on launching upcoming Ocean Signal productsto the commercial sector.
V.Group announced Bob Bishop has been appointed chairman of Selandia Ship Management in addition to his current role in business development of the Group. The acquisition of Selandia Ship Management in 2016 provided V.
Inmarsat has launched a new and flexible Fleet Xpress plan for superyachts to address the seasonal luxury market, and through its partner e3 Systems has signed up the first superyacht Beagle Star V, a luxury sail yacht, to the plan.


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NVIDIA Release GeForce 350.12 WHQL Driver Ready for GTA V
Rikki Wright / 5 years ago
So NVIDIA have been on the ball lately, new games released recently have been covered by a new driver to maximise compatibility with the GeForce graphics cards.
Keep the trend going, NVIDIA have released a new driver GeForce 350.12 WHQL ready for GTA V in a few hours. It is a fairly hefty download of 283 MB, but it replaces older drivers, so don’t freak out if GTA has taken up all of your available space. The new driver covers almost every NVIDIA GeForce graphics card, all the way back to the GT 420; so almost everyone can enjoy the game; albeit not at 60FPS. The driver can be found here!
Now, even though this is a specific GTA V driver, it also adds a few more benefits such as added and improved SLI support for games such as Project Cars and Assassins Creed: Rogue. Along with the new additions it also fixes some issues from the previous driver, the main being Kelper bases graphics card crashes during Battlefield Hardline gaming sessions.
Are you itching to get your game on? Just a few hours left now people (midnight GMT). Get your coffee, pep pills and munchies sorted, there are going to be a few all nighters tonight.


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Amazon has made an official play for the booming B2B online sales market.
The ecommerce giant on Tuesday announced the launch of Amazon Business, a marketplace that tailors Amazon's shopping and shipping methods specifically to business users -- allowing Amazon to tap into the trillions of dollars businesses will spend online over the next five years.
Unlike Amazon Prime, Amazon Business will be free to verified business customers, offering features such as bulk pricing, free two-day shipping on orders worth more than $49, and access to products not available to typical retail consumers.
It will feature a range of products -- anything from IT equipment to paper napkins -- in addition to business-specific perks such as approval workflow, live customer support, corporate credit payment lines and a tax exemption program.
The effort is not Amazon's first push to capture business customers. The new marketplace is in a way an extension of the company's wholesale site Amazon Supply, except it will be much bigger, with hundreds of millions of products immediately ready for purchase.
Which brings up another point: In addition to targeting business buyers, Amazon is also marketing the platform to the bevy of sellers already operating in the Amazon ecosystem.
Amazon says sellers will not only gain access to a huge new customer base, but they will also have the ability to target certain businesses with special pricing and discounts based on the data businesses disclose upon signup.
Amazon Business VP Prentis Wilson said Amazon would continue to add new features to the platform as it garners feedback from the first wave of users.
"We're consistently listening to feedback from customers so we can innovate, deliver more value and set a new standard for B2B e-commerce with Amazon Business," Wilson said in a statement. "We think this is ... a great opportunity for manufacturers and sellers to reach registered business customers."
Combined with the enterprise cloud offerings from Amazon Web Services, Amazon Business certainly rounds out Amazon's efforts to dominate in both general ecommerce and B2B services. And given the sheer size of the B2B sales market, there's not much risk to Amazon, as only a fraction of the sales pie would make the venture profitable.


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Nov 3 (Reuters) - The following are top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
— A Supreme Court of Canada judge has broken with protocol to defend himself against an accusation that he didn’t keep his promise to achieve fluency in French.
Judge Marshall Rothstein was stung by accusations that he reneged on his word by two NDP MPs during the recent parliamentary committee hearings into two Supreme Court appointments.
Reports in Business Section:
— Canadians upset about paying more for retail products on this side of the border even with a currency hovering around parity with the U.S. dollar got a bit of reassurance Wednesday that the vexing price gaps have gotten smaller.
An informal Internet survey found that consumer goods cost an average 11 per cent more in Canada than in the United States, down from 18 per cent in April.
— Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney is expected to be tapped as early as Friday to lead the Financial Stability Board, putting him in the top job at the global institution set to lead an overhaul of the international banking industry.
— Ryerson University got the go-ahead to build a striking, glass-encased structure for its new student learning centre where Sam the Record Man once stood at the corner of Yonge and Gould streets. The decision by Toronto East York community council is still subject to city council’s approval.
— Health Canada is warning Canadians to stop using a model of electric toothbrush after several were reported to have “exploded.” Colgate-Palmolive is recalling the Colgate Motion Electric Toothbrush after Health Canada advised the company of nine reported incidents of the toothbrushes exploding.
Financial Post section:
— William Ackman said he isn’t pushing for a sale of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd after his activist hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP became the carrier’s biggest shareholder.
“We don’t think the company should be sold,” Mr. Ackman said Tuesday, while declining to lay out his strategy for the Calgary-based railway.
— Shares in Diamond Foods Inc fell more than 17 percent Wednesday, a day after the foodmaker pushed back the date for completing its $1.5-billion acquisition of the Pringles chips brand to allow it time to complete an accounting probe into its walnut business.


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Sephora Closes Stores for Diversity Training
Sephora closed its stores on 5th of June for diversity training as a part of their new campaign.
Sephora closed all of its stores, warehouses and offices in USA on Wednesday for about an hour in order to provide diversity training to their 16,000 employees who work there. This whole workshop is probably a result of one employee’s mistake which she made back in April.
A Sephora employee called security on an innocent shopper who happened to be a celebrity. The celebrity happened to be SZA, who is a platinum level recording star and she also appeared for promotion of Fenty by Rihanna.
The employee showed racist tendencies due to which she misjudged the singer and songwriter SZA and called security upon which SZA got upset as she had been a former employee of Sephora as well. She posted a complaint on twitter to Sephora telling them about the mistreatment that she had gone through and was a victim of racial profiling.
Hi, SZA. We’re sorry to hear about your experience at our Calabasas store and appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We want to let you know we take complaints like this very seriously and are actively working with our teams to address the situation immediately.
— Sephora (@Sephora) May 1, 2019
Weeks after SZA’s tweet, Sephora announced that they would be closing their stores for an hour on June 5th for ‘inclusivity’ workshops. Sephora did win hearts on social media for taking action and trying to rectify a mistake they made. They said they had already planned out this workshop as a part of their ‘We Belong to Something Beautiful’ campaign.


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With just over a year since the UK was first put under governmental restrictions, the British public have had to adapt lockdown rules and find different ways to keep themselves and their families entertained whilst at home. With physical, high-street toy stores closed for the majority of 2020, families turned to e-commerce stores for their entertainment purchases. The online discount toy retailer, Bargain Max, has analysed data over the last 13 months (March 2020 – March 2021), compared to the previous 13 months to see which toys and at-home activities saved lockdown.
With homeschooling becoming the new normal in the past year, parents invested in products that would help to educate their children whilst encouraging play. Bargain Max saw a year-on-year revenue increase of 294.63% for sales of electronic learning and discovery products.
The numerous lockdowns also gave families across the UK newfound free time together, and so they invested in new board games and puzzles to keep themselves entertained. Bargain Max saw a year-on-year revenue increase of 228.07% for sales of games and puzzles.
When the first lockdown was announced back in March 2020, Bargain Max’s traffic to board games increased 284% year-on-year. There was also a resurgence in September when government restrictions were reintroduced; 2000+ board games were sold in September alone, with the Santorini Board Game the best-selling board game that month.
As the hot weather hit in the summer months, families were also spending more time in their gardens and invested in products to use in their outdoor space. Bargain Max saw a year-on-year revenue increase of 213.73% for sales of outdoor toys and also sold out of hot tubs in August; people invested in hot tub accessories too, in the hope that they will be able to reuse them for future summers!
As children got creative in their free time and showed their appreciation for the NHS by creating rainbows from all sorts of materials, Bargain Max saw a year-on-year revenue increase of 126.95% for sales of arts and crafts products.
In the year children had less chance to socialise with others and spent more time entertaining themselves, Bargain Max saw a year-on-year revenue increase of 75.64% for sales of dolls and playsets. Bargain Max also saw a year-on-year revenue increase of 72.56% for sales of action figures, vehicles and playsets and a year-on-year revenue increase of 44.71% for sales of role play, bedroom and accessories, as children used their imagination in place of social activities and friends.
As parents used some of their spare time to renovate their home, children mimicked this trend by showing an increased interest in building and construction-related toys. Bargain Max saw a year-on-year revenue increase of 72.56% for sales of construction toys and a 285% rise in sales of Lego in the last 12 months.
As travel restrictions were implemented and people were told to stay local, interestingly the least popular category of toys during the past year was cars, remote control, trains and planes, which only saw a year-on-year revenue increase of 12.73% – perhaps children were adhering to the travel restriction rules in their play too?!
Alex Woolfstein, senior buyer at Bargain Max, commented: “The growth in revenue across key onsite categories reveals the sheer demand from parents to keep their children entertained in what has been a testing time for many families. We are working nonstop with our suppliers to meet consumer demand and our most recent partnership with Clearpay, following the successful rollout of payment provider Klarna, means we can continue to offer our customers more flexibility when it comes to purchasing.
We are happy to be able to provide an excellent range of low-cost toys and games to families right across the country.”


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Views:0 Author:Site Editor Publish Time: 2021-09-10 Origin:Site
China's retail sales value of consumer goods totaled 3.4925 trillion Yuan in Jul 2021, up 8.5% year on year. Of the total, retail sales of garments, footwear, hats and knitwear scored at 94.46 billion Yuan in Jul, up 7.5% year on year.
During Jan to Jul, the retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 24.6829 trillion Yuan, up 20.7% year on year. Of the total, retail sales of garments, footwear, hats and knitwear scored at 767.3 billion Yuan in Jan-Jul, up 29.8% year on year.
In Jul, the retail sales of garments of enterprises above designated size was 66.2 billion Yuan, up 9% year on year; that in Jan to Jul amounted to 553 billion Yuan, up 33.2% year on year.
By the week ending Aug 22, about 97% U.S. cotton crops have been squaring, up 4% from last week, down 3% from a year ago, and down 3% from five-year average, according to USDA. About 79% of the crops is setting bolls, up 4% from previous week, down 8% from a year ago, and down 10% from five-year average. 14% of the crops is bolls opening.
Crop condition is 1 percent very poor, 5 percent poor, 23 percent fair, 53 percent good and 18 percent excellent.
From January to May this year, India' s textile exports to the US increased by 66.69 per cent to $2.28 billion, reports OTEXA, a trade body of the US Department of Commerce. As per Textile Focus, US’textile imports, during the same period, increased by 39 per cent to $12.47 billion. India’s share in these imports remained at 18.32 per cent. On the other hand, China' s share increased to 34.65 per cent to value $4.32 billion.
The share of India' s textile exports increased over 3 per cent. Made-ups accounted for a larger portion of total shipment from India to the US, valued at $1.92 billion and increasing by 64.54 percent year on year. Yarn exports increased by 88.37 per cent to $55.16 million, while fabric exports totaled $302.92 million.


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Latest from Larry Dignan
Cisco's Flip flop and consumer retreat: Did it go far enough?
Cisco downsized its consumer business, ditched the Flip camcorder and refocused Linksys and its fledgling Umi home telepresence system. The moves will save money and focus Cisco, but there's a case to be made that the networking giant didn't go far enough.
Polycom CEO Miller Q&A: How partnerships, independence fuel telepresence underdog
A funny thing happened on Polycom's alleged road to becoming roadkill after Cisco acquired Tandberg. Polycom played up its independent status and forged partnership with damn near every company that goes toe-to-toe with Cisco.
Why do some Tandberg shareholders want more from Cisco? Growth
Some Tandberg shareholders are reportedly rejecting Cisco Systems' $3 billion cash tender for the video conferencing player and the reason is clear: Tandberg is delivering heady growth in a downturn.Shareholders that own more than 24 percent of Tandberg want to block the Cisco proposed buyout (Techmeme).


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Joseph Dowling, CEO, commented in the press release: “We continued to make progress on our strategic priorities during the first quarter and are encouraged by recent trends, including vaccination programs and reopening of the economy. Our digital platform investment is driving customer engagement and improving metrics as well as resulting in sequential B2C revenue growth. We continue to broaden store distribution in the FDM channel, knowing that the shelf space and relationships represent an important future revenue source. We are starting to see slight improvement in the overall retail environment and continue to see significant potential in the Convenience channel.”
CV Sciences launched several products during this period, including ProCBD, a full product line of clinical strength products available exclusively through health practitioners, and PlusCBD Calm and Sleep, two gummies that support healthy stress responses and sleep cycles.
“We are pleased with results from new product introductions including our immunity and pet line products, both of which launched in 2020, targeting some of the fastest growing CBD markets,” Dowling stated. “Our January launch of ProCBD, a line of clinical strength products targeting health practitioners and natural, plant-based alternatives has also been well received. Just this week, we launched PlusCBD Calm and Sleep, two flavorful gummies that support healthy stress response and sleep cycles for people getting back to their normal routines. Quality and innovation remain key points of differentiation for CV Sciences, and we anticipate further strategic product introductions during 2021.”Other highlights include:
- Revenue of $4.8 million for first quarter of 2021, compared to $8.3 million for the first quarter of 2020;
- Gross margin of 48.7% for first quarter of 2021, improved from 48.5% for the first quarter of 2020;
- Improved total cash balance of $5.7 million at quarter end, compared to $4.5 million at year end;
- Operating loss of $3.1 million, compared to an operating loss of $5.3 million in Q1 2020;
- Entered into a partnership with Alkemist Labs to support the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Cannabis Quality Assurance program.
Dowling added: “The recently announced partnership with Alkemist Labs is further evidence of our leadership position in product safety, quality, and customer trustworthiness. We remain optimistic about the potential for positive regulatory development in our industry for 2021, and believe the Company is well positioned financially and strategically to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.”


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There has probably been no better time in recent history to be a young designer in New York than today, when the fashion audience is hungry for newness, the editors need constant content, and the businesspeople sense an opportunity to capitalize on the talent. Just this morning, Kering, the company that owns top labels like Gucci, Stella McCartney and Balenciaga, announced it had invested in Altuzarra, the label started by the designer Joseph Altuzarra in 2008. (It is a minority stake.)
That intense interest in young designers applies to Fashion Week, where almost anyone starting out can get a hearing from top editors and retailers. Read more…
Jacky Naegelen/ReutersFrançois-Henri Pinault, the chairman and chief executive of PPR, now known as Kering.
The French luxury group PPR will henceforth be known as Kering. In a statement today, the group said its new moniker (pronounced “caring”) reflects “the distinctive way in which we look after our brands, our staff, our customers and our stakeholders.”
The company, which includes brands like Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney and Saint Laurent, also said it planned to evolve into a more cohesive group, rather than a loose fraternity of brands, with the focus on two mainstays, luxury and sports/lifestyle labels, like Puma.
“Kering is a name with meaning, a name that expresses both our purpose and our corporate vision,” François-Henri Pinault, the chairman and chief executive, said. For quite a while the company went by the header Gucci Group before changing it to PPR.
The luxury group also has a new logo: an owl. The statement also said that Kering will collaborate with the French blogger Garance Doré for behind-the-scenes videos of its various brands and their creative process.
It may take a moment for the industry to adjust to Kering and not confuse it with a health care provider. But certainly the adoption of a friendly if anonymous-sounding corporate name is a contemporary strategy, as demonstrated by newer brands that avoid using a designer’s proper name.


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People must feel safe and secure with the Internet of Things before it can reach its full potential – and there are a lot of things that still need to be addressed, Greenwave Systems’ chief scientist and technology evangelist Jim Hunter warned. Speaking at Web Summit, Hunter said security is the single biggest hurdle when it comes to monetizing the Internet of Things (IoT), particularly in the wake of incidents like last month’s Mirai DDoS attacks.
Calling on his extensive experience in connected technology and his recent efforts as co-chair of the IoT Consortium committee on privacy and security, Hunter called for a fundamental consensus within the industry on security standards.
“When you’re looking at how to monetize, you should find the value in what makes people tick – consumers want to be safe, secure and have their basic needs met,” said Hunter. “From that perspective, the value is in shoring up the bottom line and the smart home has its roots in security for that very reason.”
Hunter – who took part in a panel titled “Are Smart Homes Overhyped and Risky?” at Web Summit – went on to say that the IoT must meet basic security standards and safeguard consumer trust to continue to grow.
“Once those basics are met, people will want to create and connect,” he said. “If you look at social media, Facebook wouldn’t have been successful in the early days of the Internet if people didn’t feel safe and secure. That’s what we as an industry have to do with the IoT. There are a lot of aspects that need to improve before we can move on to next level.”
According to Hunter, while the size of the IoT is unprecedented, the concepts behind it are nothing new.
“The Internet has been about ‘things’ the whole time – be it a computer, a mobile phone or a smart device – so you have to look at how we have monetised the Internet so far and provided value to the consumer,” he continued. “The PC industry, for example, didn’t fully take off until software enabled people to be more creative, productive and better connected. The mobile industry was the same – there were a lot of walled gardens until Apple created the App Store.
“We went from millions of opportunities with the PC industry to billions of opportunities with mobile, and from complicated, large-scale applications to smaller, more digestible solutions. The Internet of Things is a continuation of that, but with trillions of devices.”
Learn more about Greenwave at www.greenwavesystems.com.


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Microsoft is readying a new Enterprise Mobility Suite bundle to help business users better manage the Android, iOS, and Windows devices workers bring to the office, sources say.
At CES 2010, Tom Merritt takes a look at a device that manages your power.
Digitimes Research sheds some light on the the Apple supply chain -- the source of many a rumor -- before the release of the product.
There has been a noticeable drop-off in time spent with desktop social services in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, according to Experian.
Haystax's cloud-based tools are helping New York and New Jersey security officials navigate massive amounts of data in order to find any possible threat. Just a few years ago, this would have been impossible.
Boston Police have asked for help via Twitter in tracking down the remaining bombing suspect, while also telling tweeps not to give too much away.
The annual global competition features innovative concept designs. The theme for this year's competition is 'Intelligent Mobility.'
EMS puts a number of security tools under one roof, including call blocking, theft alerts, and protection from viruses, spyware, and the like.
The networking giant invests in Control4 and will use its "connected home" operating system in energy deals with utilities and cities investing in modern IT infrastructure.
There is a charm to the 2014 Toyota 4Runner's simplicity, but this truckish SUV sacrifices much of its daily driver refinement in the pursuit of occasional off-road excursions.


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Zenith promotes Ashwell to VP sales
Zenith Global Logistics has promoted David Ashwell to the newly created post of vice president of sales. He was director of sales for North America.
Conover, N.C.-headquartered Zenith is an international supply chain provider specializing in home furnishings, providing sourcing and shipping, warehousing, transportation and home delivery. Zenith operates more than 4.5 million square feet of warehouse domestically, including facilities in California, Texas, North Carolina and Virginia.


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Is Chevrolet preparing to give Corvette enthusiasts a sneak peak of the 2018 Corvette ZR1 at Le Mans? Why else would they send one of their prototypes as the sole cargo on a 747 to Europe? That’s the thinking after AutomobileMag.com published two photos of a barely covered ZR1 strapped to a shipping pallet in the belly of a cargo jet.
The website said they were tipped to the photos posted online (no attribution given) of what shows a “2018 Corvette ZR1 prototype prepped for a Nurburgring lap record attempt.”
The ZR1 in question is a big wing coupe which is still set up with the “Laguna Seca” exhaust meant to direct the sound away from sound monitors. The ZR1 prototypes were all sporting a similar set of pipes when they were spotted at the Nurburgring in April-May of this year.
One tidbit we caught is that the car is wearing silver wheels now. The big wing prototypes have been spotted exclusively with black matte wheels while a couple small-wing ZR1 Convertibles have recently been spotted with silver wheels in the Detroit area.
There is a lot that we don’t know though. When were these photos taken? What is the jet’s destination? Was the car indeed the only occupant or was the photo taken as it was loaded first, or unloaded last? Too many unsaid questions.
However, they did throw out a Le Mans appearance and that got us thinking. What if (and a big what if) Chevrolet were to give a tease of the 2018 Corvette ZR1 as it did in October 2007 when the C6 Corvette ZR1 prototype did a couple of hot laps at Laguna Seca prior to an ALMS race.
The organizers of Le Mans do allow various entities to do parade laps on the Circuit de la Sarthe prior to the start of the 24 hour race which begins at 3 pm local time. Here is that video from a Corvette Stingray’s fast parade lap around Le Mans hours before the 2014 race started.
With all the camouflage and the exhaust set up, it makes only sense the car is either coming or going from the Nurburgring. We can only hope that Chevrolet would take the opportunity for a quick tease at Le Mans where an international automotive press would be on hand to witness.
[VIDEO] 2018 Corvette ZR1 Convertible Prototypes Now Wearing Chrome Wheels
[VIDEO] 2018 Corvette ZR1s on the Nurburgring Look Faster than Ever
[SPIED] 2018 Corvette ZR1 Prototype with Active Aero in Detroit?


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UPS To Release 3rd Quarter Results On Friday, October 25, 2013
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- UPS (NYSE:UPS) will announce its third quarter results on Friday, October 25, 2013, at approximately 7:45 a.m. Eastern Time.
At 8:30 a.m. ET, UPS Chairman and CEO Scott Davis and Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn will lead an investor conference call. This call will be open to reporters and the public on a listen-only basis, via a live Webcast.
To listen to the live Webcast, go to http://www.investors.ups.com.
The Webcast audio then will remain accessible on the Investor Relations Website for a limited time.
Andy McGowan, 404-828-4663
Released October 17, 2013


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Renault is set to revive its beloved Twingo, and this time it’s going all-electric. The company has announced that the next Twingo, expected to hit the market in 2026, will have a starting price of less than €20,000, making it one of the most affordable electric cars in Europe. While the automaker has already revealed a concept version of the car, which is undeniably cute, the production model promises to pay homage to the original Twingo.
The compact size of the Twingo concept serves a dual purpose. Not only does it maintain the iconic features of the original, such as the smiley face and hood vents, but it also helps keep the price tag low. With a sub-€20,000 price before incentives, Renault aims to make electric mobility accessible to a wide range of customers.
One factor that contributes to the affordability of the next Twingo is the inclusion of value-added tax in its pricing. This means that customers won’t have to worry about additional costs when purchasing the car. Moreover, if government incentives continue to support electric vehicles, the Twingo could become a blueprint for mass adoption of EVs. The combination of a competitive price and Renault’s experience in producing affordable electric cars through its subsidiary, Dacia, indicates that the next Twingo has the potential to be a gamechanger in the industry.
Renault’s previous success with the Dacia Spring, an electric car priced at €20,800 with a range of 140 miles, serves as a testament to the company’s capabilities. If the next Twingo manages to surpass the Spring in terms of affordability and performance, it would be a remarkable achievement.
The announcement of the revamped Renault Twingo has sparked excitement among car enthusiasts, reminiscent of the unveiling of the New Beetle for baby boomers. As we eagerly await the 2026 release, all eyes will be on Renault to see if they can deliver on their pricing estimates. Will the next Twingo become the go-to choice for budget-conscious EV buyers? Only time will tell.
Q: What is Renault’s plan for the next Twingo?
A: Renault plans to launch an all-electric version of the Twingo with a starting price of less than €20,000 in 2026.
Q: How does Renault aim to make the next Twingo affordable?
A: Renault includes value-added tax in the pricing of the Twingo, making it more affordable for customers.
Q: Can the next Twingo potentially revolutionize the electric car market?
A: Yes, with its competitive price and Renault’s experience in producing affordable electric cars, the next Twingo has the potential to pave the way for mass adoption of EVs.
Q: Has Renault produced affordable electric cars before?
A: Renault’s subsidiary, Dacia, has already introduced the Dacia Spring, an affordable electric car with a range of 140 miles and a price tag of €20,800.
Q: When will the next Twingo be available?
A: The next Twingo is expected to go on sale in 2026.


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Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (I can never see his name without thinking that it’s “pole” spelled backwards) had his big moment on stage at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today and spelled out why his company is due to create big awesome things and return to its status as rock star phone maker of the world. He called out the Android platform as being too fragmented, too many companies selling too many products of such varying quality that customers can’t navigate what’s good and what’s lousy any more. Into that turbulence, then, sails Nokia with Windows Phones.
Nokia faces significant challenges. The world’s largest handset manufacturer took a hit with its brand and the perception that it can still deliver a quality phone. It has designs on big markets such as the U.S., where it has traditionally struggled. It also faces entrenched competitors in Apple and a slew of Android vendors.
Nokia recently reported that it had sold 1 million Lumia smartphones since its launch, a number some worried represented a slow start for the company. But Elop warned against comparing its early performance with that of an established platform like Android.


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Sunday, April 29, 2012
mobile application processors for Apple's iPhone
Samsung Electronics Co, the world's top memory chip maker, said on Friday that it was considering converting more memory chip lines to logic chip production to meet growing demand for microprocessors used to power smart mobile phones and tablets. Samsung, which makes mobile application processors for Apple's iPhone and Apple iPad as well as its Galaxy line of products, has already converted a memory chip line into a system chip production line and mass production from the facility is set to start in the second quarter.
Source: The Economic Times


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Honda is planning to introduce small-sized vehicles based on its N minicar series, which is a popular line in Japan and it will target emerging markets. Honda President Takanobu Ito recently said that a competitive small car using technology and parts from the N series will be the key to increasing sales in emerging markets, where the automaker is lagging in the four-wheel field. Last year, Honda released the N Box. Basically the N-series cars feature a relatively spacious interior, with compact engine space and the fuel tank placed under the floor at the centre of the vehicle.
More than 1,80,000 units of the popular N series had been sold in October. Ito said that Japan excels at achieving high performance in a limited size and the company has sharpened such technology to a level other regions can hardly imitate. Ito believes that Honda needs to release small vehicles based on the N series in emerging markets in the future after the company makes improvements and modifications in undercarriage length, engine displacement and other areas to suit the needs and tastes of each market.
The company aims to raise its sales in emerging markets, such as China, India and other Asian countries, to more than 3 million units by 2016. Honda plans to introduce a new range of vehicles to those markets, including a sedan and a Brio based SUV. Currently, Honda will focus on making the Brio brand more popular and in near future it will develop an N series-based vehicle that will be even smaller and cheaper than the Brio, to attract the owners of motorbikes, of which Honda boasts strong sales worldwide.
The Japanese automaker has set a goal of selling 1.2 million automobiles in 2015 in the Chinese market. In Japan, Honda plans to add five models to its minicar lineup by 2015. Honda can regain its position in India, if they plan to introduce N series based small cars in the near future.
Source – Asahi


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To avoid falling further behind Tesla and Chinese auto companies, many Western auto executives are bypassing traditional suppliers and promising multibillion-dollar deals with lithium miners.
Wearing hard hats and steel-toed boots, they survey mines in places like Chile, Argentina, Quebec and Nevada to secure supplies of the metal that could make or break their companies as they switch from gasoline to battery power .
Without lithium, U.S. and European automakers won’t be able to make the batteries for the electric pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and sedans they need to stay competitive. The assembly lines they added in places like Michigan, Tennessee and Saxony, Germany, will gradually grind to a halt.
With electric vehicle sales soaring, established miners don’t have enough lithium to supply the industry. GM plans to electrify all of its vehicle sales by 2035. In the first quarter of 2023, U.S. sales of electric cars, pickups, and sport utility vehicles will rise 45% year-over-year, according to Kelley Blue Book.
As a result, car companies are scrambling to lock in exclusive access to small mines before others flock to them. But the strategy exposes them to high-stakes, boom-and-bust mining operations, sometimes in countries with political instability and weak environmental protections. If they bet wrong, automakers could end up paying much more for lithium than it will sell for in a few years.
Auto industry executives say they have no choice because there is not a reliable enough supply of lithium and other battery materials such as nickel and cobalt to power the millions of electric vehicles that drive the world.
In the past, automakers let battery suppliers buy lithium and other raw materials themselves. But lithium shortages have forced deep-pocketed automakers to source the essential metal directly and send it to battery factories, some of which are owned by suppliers and others that are partially or fully owned by automakers. Batteries rely on lightweight lithium ions to conduct energy.
“We quickly realized that there was no established value chain that could support our ambitions for the next 10 years,” said Sham Kunjur, GM’s battery materials safety program leader.
The automaker struck a supply deal last year with Livent, a Philadelphia-based lithium company, to buy material from mines in South America. In January, GM agreed to invest $650 million in Vancouver, British Columbia-based Lithium Americas to develop the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. Mr. Kunjur and Lithium Americas executives said the company beat out 50 bidders for the stake, including battery and component makers.
Ford has lithium deals with Chilean supplier SQM; Albemarle, based in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Nemaska Lithium in Quebec.
“These are the largest producers of lithium in the world and the best quality,” Lisa Drake, Ford’s vice president of electric vehicle industrialization, told investors in May.
The automakers’ deals with mining companies and processors of raw materials date back to the industry’s origins, when Ford founded rubber plantation Securing tire material in Brazil.
“Almost 100 years later, with this new revolution, we’re back at that stage,” Mr Kunjul said.
According to consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the cost of setting up a lithium supply chain will be as high as $51 billion. To benefit from U.S. subsidies, battery raw materials must be mined and processed in North America or by trading allies.
But fierce competition for the metal has driven lithium prices to unsustainable levels, some executives said.
“The price of lithium has gone up so much since the beginning of ’22 and there’s so much hype in the system that people can do a lot of really bad deals,” said RJ Scaringe, chief executive of Rivian Electric Vehicles in Irvine, Calif. company
Dozens of companies are developing mines, and there may eventually be enough lithium to meet everyone’s needs. Global production could surge faster than expected, sending lithium prices tumbling, as happened recently. That would make automakers pay far more for the metal than it’s worth.
Auto industry executives are taking no chances, fearing that if there isn’t enough lithium for a few years, their companies will never be able to catch up.
Their concerns are justified. In the region where EV sales are growing fastest, established automakers have lost a lot of market. In China, where almost a third of all new cars are electric, Volkswagen, GM and Ford have lost market share to domestic producers such as BYD, which makes its own batteries. Tesla has established a supply chain for lithium and other raw materials over the years, and its market share in China, Europe and the United States has grown steadily.It is Second largest seller of all new cars Second only to Toyota in California.
Chinese companies often have an advantage over U.S. and European auto companies because they are state-owned or state-backed and can thus take more risks in the mining industry, which often encounters local opposition and nationalization by populist governments or technical difficulties.
In June, Chinese battery maker Ningde Times signed an agreement with Bolivia to invest $1.4 billion in two lithium projects. Few Western companies have shown sustained interest in a country known for its political instability.
With few exceptions, Western automakers have avoided buying stakes in lithium mines. Instead, they are negotiating agreements committing to buy a certain amount of lithium within a certain price range.
These deals typically provide automakers with preferential access to crowd out rivals. Tesla’s deal with Piedmont Lithium near Charlotte secures the automaker a majority of output from a mine in Quebec.
Lithium is abundant, but not always easy to extract.
Many countries with large foreign exchange reserves, such as Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, have nationalized natural resources or imposed strict currency exchange controls, which may limit the ability of foreign investors to withdraw capital from the country. Even in Canada and the United States, it can take years to establish a mine.
“Lithium is going to be hard to come by and fully electrified in the U.S.,” said Eric Norris, president of the lithium global business unit of Albemarle, a leading U.S. lithium miner.
As a result, auto industry executives and consultants have flocked to mines around the world, most of which have yet to start production.
“People are kind of desperate,” said Amanda Hall, chief executive of Summit Nanotech, a Canadian startup working to speed up technology for extracting lithium from saline groundwater. Auto industry executives are “working hard to figure this out,” she said.
Auto companies, however, are rushing to strike deals with smaller mines that may not live up to expectations. “There are a lot of examples of problems coming out,” said Shay Natarajan, a partner at Mobility Impact Partners, a private equity fund focused on investing in sustainable transportation. Lithium prices could eventually collapse due to overproduction, she said.
Miners appear to be the big winners. Their deals with auto companies often guarantee them fat profits and make it easier for them to borrow money or sell stock.
Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest mining companies, recently struck a tentative deal to supply Ford with lithium from a mine it is developing in Argentina.
Marnie Finlayson, managing director of Rio Tinto’s battery minerals business, said Ford was one of several car companies that had expressed interest. Rio Tinto provided car company representatives with a checklist covering mining methods, relationships with local communities and environmental impacts “to make everyone feel comfortable”, she said.
“Because if we can’t do that, then the supply won’t be unleashed and we won’t be able to solve this global challenge together,” Ms. Finlayson said of climate change.
Until a few years ago, lithium prices were so low that mining was barely profitable. But now with the growing popularity of electric vehicles, there are dozens of proposed mines. Most are in early development and will take years to start production.
Ana Cabral-Gardner, co-chief executive of Sigma Lithium, a Vancouver-based company that produces lithium in Brazil, said that until 2021, “there’s either no capital or very little capital.” short term”. “No one is looking at five-year and 10-year horizons.”
Dirk Harbecke, chief executive of Rock Tech Lithium, said automotive companies play an important role in helping mines get built and run. The company is developing a mine in Ontario and a processing plant in eastern Germany to supply Mercedes-Benz.
“I don’t think it’s a risky strategy,” Mr Harbeck said. “I think it’s a necessary strategy.”


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All the sessions from Transform 2021 are accessible on-demand now. Watch now.
BlueOcean, a computer software-as-a-service platform that taps AI to provide brand method insights, today announced that it closed a $15 million series A round led by Insight Partners. The corporation says that the funds will be used to develop its group, deepen current investments in AI, and make on BlueOcean’s current client base.
Brand drives income. The strength of a company’s brand straight impacts its capacity to sell to a client, obtain talent, and drive shareholder worth. According to McKinsey, powerful brands regularly outperform the marketplace. The world’s 40 strongest brands “yielded almost twice the total return to shareholders of an investment in a Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) World index certificate over the course of the 20-year period ending in 2019.”
Historically, firms have relied on opinion surveys and consultants to measure brand sentiment. In contrast, BlueOcean, which was cofounded by Grant McDougall, Liza Nebel, Matthew Gross, and Mike Semick, employs AI to mine, analyze, and triangulate thousands of information sources in order to provide genuine-time information and insights.
“BlueOcean is transforming the way marketing decisions are made by helping brands track their total brand health in near real time, using publicly available data to do two things: understand what areas of their brand need attention [and] determine what actions should be taken to drive growth,” McDougall, who serves as CEO, told VentureBeat through e mail. “[We realized that] much of the data mining and analysis needed for brand strategizing could be automated, and at the same time, it could offer actionable advice that marketing teams and C-suite executives could deploy quickly.”
Tracking brand sentiment
Underscoring the significance of optics, one survey showed that 81% of customers necessary to be in a position to trust a brand in order to purchase from them. And consumers make up their minds speedily — it requires about 50 milliseconds (.05 seconds) on typical for them to kind an opinion about a site.
BlueOcean, which sees itself in competitors with consultancies like Interbrand, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Accenture, leverages significant information and AI models that have been educated for more than 16,000 hours on information from more than 1,110 consumers and brand method pros. According to McDougall, BlueOcean had to construct its personal education datasets so that its algorithm could recognize the features most salient to brand marketers.
“BlueOcean’s platform is replicating subjective, human evaluations such as an ad’s simplicity or complexity, or its directness or subtlety,” McDougall explained. “Our algorithms had to be trained to evaluate images, text content, and hundreds of numerical data points to be able to reproduce these types of fuzzy evaluations. Only by first understanding what factors are going to be most relevant and actionable to brand marketers can our product deliver outputs that make a difference to them.”
BlueOcean is not sharing its income numbers, but the startup claims to have grown higher than 3 occasions “continuously” because its founding in 2019. As for its client base, it spans about 60 brands, such as teams at Microsoft, Google, Bloomingdale’s, Panda Express, Cisco, Riot Games, and Juniper Networks.
“By using real-time AI-sentiment algorithms that analyze hundreds of data sources, BlueOcean … delivers an unprecedented level of intelligence so that brands can immediately see new growth areas, track momentum, category shifts, and predict a competitor’s next move,” McDougall stated. “BlueOcean provides the means for investors to understand competitive brands in the category that have a large footprint but declining customer satisfaction and select acquisition targets to offset operational challenges and form the basis for investment decisions, allowing faster identification and quantification of portfolio company choices.”
To date, San Francisco, California-based Blue Ocean has raised $20 million, a mixture of the series A and a $5 million seed round.


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Experiential media and immersive technology company Cosm will launch its first public venue in Hollywood Park, it announced on Wednesday. The location will be the first venue of its kind to utilize Cosm’s domed and compound curved LED technology.
As part of Hollywood Park’s retail district, the venue will showcase a 26.6-meter diameter LED dome in a 65,000 total square feet facility that can hold up to 1,700 guests. Programming at the venue will include live sports and entertainment, experiential events and content, immersive art, music, and more.
“We look forward to Hollywood Park being the home of Cosm’s first venue. Their modern venue design and immersive LED technology will create a one-of-a-kind entertainment offering for our guests and our community,” said Jason Gannon, managing director of SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park. “Integrating dynamic companies like Cosm into Hollywood Park’s retail space furthers our goal to create a tenant mix that is not only unique to Hollywood Park, but also delivers extraordinary experiences for our community.”
“We’re redefining the way the world experiences content and up-leveling fandom by opening our first Cosm venue in the center of the entertainment capital of the world,” said Cosm CEO-President Jeb Terry. “For decades, we’ve powered some of the most iconic and entertaining experiences for our partners around the globe. Now, we’re powering our own.”
Construction for Cosm’s Los Angeles venue, designed by HKS, will begin in the fall of 2022.
One of Cosm immersive virtual experiences is currently being showcased at the Cosm Experience Center in Salt Lake City. The location includes a 20-meter, 5,000 square foot LED Dome display broadcasting the biggest sporting events in 8K resolution.


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GM Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) and Chevrolet Racing have staged a surprise preview of a sensational new homegrown concept vehicle which provides a sneak-peak at the latest addition to the brand’s new model portfolio, ahead of its launch early next year.
The Off-Road Racer concept was built at the company’s Port Melbourne workshop by an enthusiastic group of GM employee volunteers and was taken to the next level with the involvement of Chevrolet Racing.
This included exchanged learnings with GM Motorsports Division in the USA and tapping into the knowledge of Hall Racing, particularly in regard to suspension development, through their own 2022 championship winning Chevrolet Silverado ZR2.
Initial testing will take place in early 2023, with Supercars legend Craig Lowndes to provide expert feedback and analysis. The program is being managed by Mark Wakeman, a GM ANZ employee who has been involved in off-road racing for the past 25 years.
“I am extremely proud to have been given the opportunity to lead the project and I am grateful for the support GM ANZ management has provided to the team,” Wakeman said.
“I would also like to express sincere gratitude to our partners who have been involved in this incredible journey. It demonstrates the dedication and enthusiasm the team at GM ANZ has for a project of this magnitude.”
The Silverado ZR2 Off-Road Racer concept will be on display as part of the GMSV activation at the Adelaide 500 this weekend, alongside the Corvette Stingray and Chevrolet Silverado models, and the Chevrolet Racing Pro Slammer drag car.
A C8 Corvette Stingray will also act as a safety car for support categories participating in racing across the event. Separately, the upcoming launch of the Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 will add a new level of off-road capability and performance to the brand’s portfolio.
“GMSV has enjoyed a sensational two years since launch in November 2020 and we’re incredibly excited to be adding an entirely new model to the line-up,” GMSV marketing and communications general manager Jodie Lennon said.
“The Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 will feature an enhanced appearance, a new level of technology, eye-catching aesthetics and increased driver and passenger comfort throughout the cabin, complete with renown performance attributes.”
For more information on the company’s range of road cars, contact your local GMSV dealer.


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What is the CCPA?
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) is a law that grants California residents rights over how their personal data is collected, stored, and used by businesses. The state’s former Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, told the New York Times in 2019 that the law would effectively force businesses to start treating consumer’s data like it belongs to the consumer, “rather than data that, because it’s in possession of the company, belongs to the company.” The CCPA passed without opposition in June 2018 and became effective on January 1, 2020. You can read the full text of the law here.
Why was the CCPA needed?
Before the CCPA, there were no clear data privacy laws in the United States. So, while federal and state governments could take legal action against tech companies for violating antitrust laws or lying to consumers, there was no legal basis for protecting personal data. Whether or not we had a right to our personal information was a question—one that neither the federal government nor any one state had the answer to.
Throughout the 2010s, data collection fueled the internet economy, and went almost entirely unregulated. Multiple attempts at legislation failed, until one stuck. It makes sense that the legislation came from the state of California, not only because that state is home to Silicon Valley, but also because of California’s unique ballot initiative process, which allowed residents to push for a new privacy law without the influence of tech lobbyists.
Who does the CCPA apply to?
The CCPA technically only applies to residents of California. But since the United States lacks a national data law, and California is its largest state, “the CCPA became the de facto law for the rest of the nation,” says Sridhar Ramaswamy, cofounder of Neeva.
Just like how California’s emission standards changed the way cars were made across the nation, the CCPA’s repercussions are felt all over the U.S. Shortly after the CCPA passed, major tech companies like Microsoft announced that the changes it made to comply with the CCPA would apply to all users in the United States.
Your rights under the CCPA
Under the CCPA, California residents have these rights.
The right to know what categories of personal information a business collects about you and how that data is being used and shared. Personal information includes identifiers such as your:
- Email address
- Social security number
- Driver’s license number
- Purchase history
- Browsing history
- Voice recordings
- IP address
- Geolocation data.
It also includes profiles that advertisers like Google build about you based on inferences. (Personal information does not include publicly available information such as professional licenses and property records.)
Businesses are required to both notify you of the types of data they will collect at the time of request, and to provide you with the information they’ve collected upon your request. When you request this information, a business has 45 days to respond to your request and 12 months to provide you with the requested information.
The right to delete personal information that has been collected and stored by businesses. Businesses are not required to provide an online form for data deletion, so you may have to call a toll-free number, send an email, or mail a form to make this request. Once they receive your request, businesses have 45 days to respond (which they can extend by an additional 45 days if they send you a notice).
Children under the age of 16 are protected from the sale of their information by default and must opt in to have their personal information sold, and children under the age of 13 need to have a parent or guardian opt in on their behalf.
The right to non-discrimination when excercizing your rights under the CCPA. This means that businesses cannot change the quality of products or services they provide or charge different prices if you exercise any of the above rights. Businesses can, however, provide discounts in exchange for your personal information.
Which businesses and organizations does the CCPA apply to?
The CCPA applies to businesses that meet at least one of these three criteria:
- The business has annual global gross revenues of over $25 million.
- The business receives, buys, or sells the personal information of 50,000 or more California residents.
- The business derives at least 50% of its annual revenue from selling the personal information of California residents.
This covers many types of businesses, including mobile service providers, retailers, and ride-hailing services. Data brokers (businesses that collect and sell personal data to other businesses) are also covered, and must register on the Attorney General’s website.
Which businesses and organizations are exempt from the CCPA?
Certain businesses and organizations are not subject to the regulations of the CCPA, including nonprofits and government agencies.
Service providers, such as businesses that process payment information on behalf of other businesses, are treated differently than other businesses under the CCPA, in that they are not responsible for handling consumer requests. As such, if you reach out to a company that processes payment information and ask them to delete everything they know about you (such as your name, address, and credit card number), they can refuse. Instead, you’ll have to ask the retailer who used this service to facilitate the deletion. That doesn’t mean that service providers can do whatever they want with your data—they must provide the same level of cybersecurity as other businesses under the CCPA.
How is CCPA compliance enforced?
CCPA compliance is enforced by the California Attorney General. Individuals cannot sue businesses for CCPA violations, except in the case of a data breach which resulted in the theft of non-encrypted, non-redacted personal information. Individuals can, however, file a consumer complaint with the Office of the Attorney General if they believe a business has violated the CCPA. Based on these complaints or other factors, the Attorney General can launch an investigation and eventually take legal action.
A brief history of data privacy law in the United States
The road to the CCPA has been a long one. Here’s what it took to get the U.S.’s first digital privacy law on the books.
2011: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found that two of America’s most popular and trusted technology companies—Facebook and Google—had both violated their own privacy policies, using consumer data in ways that ran contrary to their own promises. The FTC was able to take legal action against Facebook and Google not because what they did with the data was illegal, but because they lied about it.
2012: In the wake of the 2011 FTC rulings, lawmakers realized the necessity of a single federal law protecting consumers' personal information. The Obama administration introduced a proposal for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights that would allow consumers to set limits on the personal data that companies could collect and store. At the time, President Obama said “American consumers can’t wait any longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal information is safe online.” As it turned out, Americans would have to wait several years: Facing strong opposition from the tech industry as well as criticism from privacy advocates, the Bill of Rights was eventually scrapped, and the data collection industry remained unregulated, even as internet usage ramped up.
2017: Alastair Mactaggart, an Oakland, California–based real estate developer, was one of many people who had concerns about data privacy. He asked a friend, an engineer at Google, if he had anything to worry about. The answer surprised him: Yes, he should worry. Soon after, Mactaggart began work on a ballot initiative, a type of legislation that Californians could vote on directly, circumventing the usual process of passing legislation, and avoiding California’s massive tech lobby. He called his initiative the California Consumer Privacy Act.
2018: The Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, and suddenly Americans were more concerned with data privacy than ever. It looked like, if Mactaggart’s initiative made its way onto the ballot, it would pass. This frightened both the tech lobby and legislators, since, once passed, a 70% majority would be required to make changes to the law. So, before Mactaggart’s CCPA could go on the ballot, California lawmakers passed their own version.
4 privacy laws to know
Thankfully, the CCPA isn’t the only data privacy law on the books. Here are four to know:
- European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR predates the CCPA by about two years: It passed in 2016 and went into effect in 2018. The GDPR grants European residents even more rights and protections than the CCPA. The key differences are that the GDPR requires businesses to get users’ consent before collecting their data, and it allows private right of action (individuals can take legal actions against businesses for violating its provisions).
- California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA). This followup to the CCPA expands Californians’ rights to include the right to correct inaccurate information and the right to data minimization (both features of the GDPR). It also creates a new agency to enforce the CPRA. The CPRA will go into effect on January 1, 2023.
- Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act. Virginia’s data privacy law is closely modeled after the CCPA and will go into effect on January 1, 2023.
- Colorado Bill to Protect Personal Data Privacy. This Colorado bill recently passed but has not yet been signed into law as of June 2021. It sets standards for data use and protection, but violations of these standards can only be enforced by the state Attorney General or District Attorneys.
In addition to the laws above, several states are working on their own privacy legislation. As of June 2021, privacy legislation was in committee in Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Ready for a private search experience that was built for people, not data mining or advertising? Try Neeva, the world’s first private, ad-free search engine. We are committed to showing you the best results for every search. We will never sell or share your data with anyone, especially advertisers. Try Neeva for yourself, at neeva.com.


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Reported By WJ: Melania Trump agreed to settle for a “substantial sum” her defamation lawsuit against a blogger suggested she once worked as a high-end prostitute and suffered a nervous breakdown after last summer’s Republican convention.
Maryland Blogger Webster Tarpley “has issued the attached retraction and apology to Mrs. Trump and her family, and agreed to pay her a substantial sum as a settlement,” Matthew Blackett, one of Mrs. Trump’s attorney, said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Tarpley issued this statement: “I posted an article on Aug. 2, 2016 about Melania Trump that was replete with false and defamatory statements about her. I had no legitimate factual basis to make these false statements and I fully retract them.”
He added, “I acknowledge that these false statements were very harmful and hurtful to Mrs. Trump and her family, and therefore I sincerely apologize to Mrs. Trump, her son, her husband and her parents for making these false statements.”
While Trump’s lawsuit targeting Tarpley is now settled, she refiled another in New York on Monday against the UK-based Daily Mail, whose parent company is Mail Media, Inc.
The news outlet ran a story last August also suggesting Trump worked as a high-end escort in the 1990s.
The filing further states the first lady planned to launch a product line at some point in the future, which the false story damaged.
“Plaintiff had the unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person, as well as a former professional model and brand spokesperson, and successful businesswoman, to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which Plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world,” the suit says.
JUST FILED: First Lady Melania Trump sues Daily Mail in NY Supreme Court over “salacious and highly offensive statements about her” pic.twitter.com/vwj0sDmgKc
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) February 6, 2017


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Merix Corporation to present at the 7th annual Needham Growth Conference
Jan 10, 2005
Merix Corporation (NASDAQ:MERX) will present at the Seventh Annual Needham Growth Conference at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, January 13. The conference will be held at The New York Palace Hotel, in New York City, NY. Mark R. Hollinger, Chairman and CEO, and Janie S. Brown, Chief Financial Officer, will review the company's operations and financial performance and discuss business developments and market opportunities.
Merix Corporation will broadcast its live conference presentation on the Internet on Thursday, January 13, at 9:30 a.m. ET. This webcast can be accessed at www.merix.com. For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available on the Company's website for 90 days.