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Strong demand of new pickups lineup boosts GM profits higher than expected
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General Motors Co. today posted a third-quarter net income of US$ 2.5 billion boosted by stronger-than-expected results in China and North America, where the Detroit automaker experienced strong sales of GM’s crossovers and pickups, including the redesigned 2019 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. Total revenue increased 6.4% to US$ 35.8 billion during the period.
GM earnings for the three months ending in September came in at US$ 1.87 per share, well above the US$ 1.25 most analysts expected.
Net income from operations in North America rose 36.7% to US$ 2.83 billion, even as deliveries fell 9.8%, although a rise in average transactions prices (ATP) allowed margins to improve to 10.2% even as input costs rose thanks in part to U.S tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
GM delivered nearly 700,000 vehicles in the U.S. in the third quarter. Average transaction prices rose to a third-quarter record of more than US$ 36,000, up about US$ 800 per unit year over year and US$ 4,000 above industry average.
“The launch of our new trucks continues to be ahead of schedule and response to our truck-for-every-customer strategy has been positive. Sales of the new high-margin Chevrolet Silverado LTZ and High Country crew-cab models are more than 30% above forecast, and the new GMC Sierra SLT, Denali and AT4 crew-cab models are selling within two weeks,” said CEO Mary Teresa Barra during the conference call.
The first light-duty 2019 Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras began arriving in dealerships in August. Customer deliveries of the Silverado LTZ and High Country and the GMC Sierra SLT, Denali and AT4 crewcab models have exceeded expectations as production ramps up to meet expected demand. GM expects to ship about 120,000 of the new trucks in the second half of 2018.
“Third-quarter 2018 earnings results reflecting profitability in all core operating segments,” said the company in its earnings report.
GM operates assembly plants in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila; San Luis Potosi and Silao, Guanajuato. The latter, along with a facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, supplies the new generation of Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks for the North American market.


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CEO of video game publisher-distributor-behemoth Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, displayed a stance in favour of microtransactions at a press conference today. Take-Two, having just acquired Kerbal Space Program, has a number of notable subsidiary studios, chief among them the various international Rockstar and 2K studios.
Franchises published by Take-Two include Grand Theft Auto, Civilization, BioShock, Red Dead, XCOM and Borderlands, to name a few.
Zelnick talked about the basis of Take-Two’s business model, saying that “the better the product, the more people will pay for it”. He also remarked of the entertainment business being “not analytics and monetization driving content creation”, but instead that “it’s content creation based in passion and genius that leads to financial rewards”.
He did, however, diverge to talk about the financial ‘necessity’ of microtransactions: “..you can’t give stuff away for free in perpetuity, there’s no business model for that.” Immediately afterwards, he defended himself by saying “[Take-Two] are not trying to optimize the monetization of everything to the nth degree” because “the consumer knows, they might not know they know, but they feel it.”
Zelnick also said that Take-Two would “stop short of saying ‘how do we grab the last nickel out of your pocket?'”
What do you think about this duality with regards to microtransactions? Let us know if you think they’re necessary, of if the games industry should leave them behind sooner rather than later in the comments section below.

domain: news


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More than a dozen food and drinks producers are showcasing their products in the House of Commons, as part of 'Cumbria Day'.
The event is being jointly run by Taste Cumbria, Cumbria Tourism and six Cumbrian MPs.
Sir Tony Cunningham MP, Tim Farron MP, Jamie Reed MP, John Stevenson MP, Rory Stewart MP and John Woodcock MP, all chose to host the special day, in a bid to raise the profile of Cumbria.
"Food, drink and agriculture is vital to our visitor economy. Recent research showed that £429m was spent by visitors to Cumbria on food and drink in 2011 - the highest spend of any other tourism activity in the county, even accommodation.
"Our producers work with our stunning landscape to create amazing and award winning produce, some of which we're proud to be showing off today."
More top news
The Environment Agency is encouraging landowners to plant areas of woodland to help prevent events like Storm Desmond happening again.
Figures from Cumbria Tourism reveal record occupancy figures across the county over the summer, despite Brexit and post-flood fears.
Police are warning business owners of a new advertising scam, which it believes is targeting small businesses in the Kendal area.


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The sugar mythology:
* Kids get their sugar from soda and fruit juice.
* They’re overwhelmed with sugar in processed school lunches and from school vending machines.
* Low-income kids are the ones who are really in trouble, what with the no-fresh-food deserts and the fast-food marketing and the obesity crisis.
No, nope and we’re kidding ourselves.
A new report from the National Center for Health Statistics debunks all of those myths, and adds disturbingly blunt numbers about our children’s sugar consumption: boys get an average of 16.3 percent of their calories from added sugars, girls 15.5 percent. Younger children do better, with less then 14 percent, and it’s downhill from there: adolescent boys consume 17.5 percent of their diet as added sugar.
That’s a lot of sugar — and all of these children are consuming most of it in the comfort of their own homes, not at school or elsewhere, Read more…


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On November 24th it was revealed that Miha had internally disbanded PJSH, a game it was developing,This is Miha You CEO CAI Haoyu personally led the development of the product.
In response, the latest reports say Miha has responded to the confirmation, saying. Department of internal business adjustment. .
According to the leaked internal announcement, Miha You has issued a dissolution notice inside the company, saying that PJSH was forced to stop due to poor progress of the project, and relevant R&D staff should try their best to arrange internal transfer.
If no suitable opportunity, the company will also provide corresponding labor compensation.
PJSH is known for its two-element open-world shooting and is nicknamed &ldquo internally. A beautiful girl. , using UE5 engine development.
It was first unveiled at NVDIA in 2019, where Huang announced six ray-tracking games, including Miha's Project X, the predecessor to PJSH.
PJSH was officially announced to be available in 2021, but nobody has even met it yet.
According to the sources, in the middle of this year, there was news that CAI Haoyu was not satisfied with the demo performance, and even pushed to redo the game that had been developed for three years, which would consume a lot of capital, time and personnel investment.
In the end, PJSH was stillborn.


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Chinese Lessor for CSeries: Bombardier today announced the identity of a previously undisclosed customer for the CSeries, and it is important for two reasons: one, it’s a lessor, and two, it’s from China.
CDB Leasing Co. signed a conditional order for five CS100s and 10 CS300s, with 15 options, in 2012. The press release infers this is now a purchase order, but the wording is somewhat ambiguous:
Bombardier Aerospace announced today that CDB Leasing Co., Ltd. (CLC), one of China’s top leasing companies, is the previously announced undisclosed customer that signed a conditional purchase agreement for five CS100 and 10 CS300 jetliners. The purchase agreement also includes options on an additional five CS100 and 10 CS300 aircraft, for a total of up to 30 CSeries aircraft. This agreement was initially announced as a conditional order from an undisclosed customer for five CS100 and 10 CS300 jetliners on July 8, 2012.
BBD’s Mike Arcamone’s interview with the Globe and Mail suggests this is now a firm purchase contract. We received word from BBD that this remains a conditional order. The “conditional” part remains undisclosed.
CLC is the second lessor, after LCI, to order the CSeries. The fact that this order is from China is also important. BBD has a significant presence in China for production of Q400 fuselage segments and part of the CSeries fuselage is to be produced in China, though start-up has been difficult and the first fuselage sections were back-stopped and produced at BBD’s Belfast plant. The absence of a Chinese customer raised a number of questions with some observers, which are now answered to some degree, who will nonetheless seek additional Chinese orders (as well as more orders overall) now that the first flight has taken place.
Separately, this story in the Montreal Gazette provides the most comprehensive look at the CSeries test program since first flight September 16. BBD hasn’t said much about the testing since first flight, and the plane has only flown twice more.
Delta vs Alaska: The schedule ramp-up by Delta Air Lines into Seattle, in competition with its marketing partner Alaska Airlines, continues to draw attention with the media.


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JAMMU, Sept 8: The Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) has urged upon the State Government to withdraw Toll Tax in the State and honour the slogan of Modi Govt, ‘One Nation One Tax’.
The office bearers of Chamber of Commerce and Industry met today at Chamber House under the presidentship of Rakesh Gupta to discuss the problems being faced by business community, post implementation of GST in the State, especially with the continuation of Toll Tax at Lakhanpur and after serious deliberations an urgent communication was sent to Chander Parkash Ganga, Minister for Industries and Commerce, J&K Government.
The JCCI president claimed that in the communication to Industries Minister, it was mentioned strongly that Toll Tax at Lakhanpur be withdrawn because it would defeat the purpose of ‘ One Nation One Tax’.
“We have been made to understand that Government of J&K is continuing with the imposition of Toll Tax at Lakhanpur on the pretext that some products being manufactured by the industries in the State be made competitive and sold easily. We requested to provide us with the list of such products that are sensitive for the industries at the earliest as we feel the Government is trying to carry on with the Toll Tax policy under some excuses which are not a reality. We further feel that it is the common man who is bearing the brunt of any such taxes levied in addition to GST and the Government cannot levy any other tax in addition to GST as the revenue of the State has already increased under GST regime,” Gupta added.
The other office bearers present in the meeting included, Rajesh Gupta senior vice president, Rajeev Gupta- junior vice president, Manish Gupta- secretary general, Gaurav Gupta- secretary and Ashu Gupta- treasurer.


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AppleInsider may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made through links on our site.
Google vs. DoJ
In a quarterly report to the SEC, Google retroactively lowered its first-quarter earnings by $500 million in anticipation of a settlement with the Department of Justice, the Associated Press reports.
The documents revealed few details about the nature of the DoJ investigation other than the fact that it involves how Google's automated system has been treating some unnamed advertisers.
The change, which drops Google's net income from $7.04 per share to $5.51 per share, affects what's already perceived as a disappointing quarter for the company. After rising expenses cut into Google's profits, Wall Street investors questioned co-founder Larry Page's new role as CEO. Google stock fell from $578.51 to $530.70 as a result, though it has since begun to climb again.
News of the unexpected costs could also cast a pall over the company's I/O developer conference in San Francisco, Calif. Google announced new music and movie services at the conference on Tuesday and previewed Ice Cream Sandwich, the next major Android release.
A design patent granted to Apple on Tuesday depicts an iPad-like device with an additional dock port for landscape orientation.
Described as "the ornamental design for a portable display device," the patent appears to be for a 3G iPad, as the device is shown with a SIM card slot next to the second dock connector port.
Notable inventors listed on the patent include Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Senior Vice President Jonathan Ive, as well as 13 others. The application was filed on Jan. 6, 2010, just weeks before the unveiling of the original iPad.
Apple has expressed interest in a horizontal docking solution for the iPad before. In a patent application published last year, the company filed for a dock that utilized inductive coils to allow docking in both portrait and landscape orientation.


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Doctors and consumer advocates have condemned the softdrink industry’s plan to curb the sugar content of its products, calling it a ploy that will do nothing to stop Australia’s obesity crisis.
The Australian Beverage Council announced last week that its members would cut sugar by 20% across their drink ranges. The council’s chief executive Geoff Parker said the adjustment would be “costly” and “really hard” for drink makers.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, who attended the announcement in Canberra, applauded the step. He said it was, to his knowledge, “the most significant change in food or beverage formulation in Australia” and would rein in the nation’s sugar habit.
But critics say the pledge is something of a “filtered cigarettes moment”, designed to fend off calls for stronger action on advertising, health warnings and a possible sugar tax.
They say manufacturers could meet the target for a 20% drop in sugar from 2015 levels by 2025 by riding existing trends to sell more bottled water and low-sugar lines, leaving high-sugar products as they are.
“Without stronger mandatory action, including a 20% health levy and clearer nutrition labelling, it’s unlikely that this pledge will do anything to deter people from drinking existing high-sugar drinks,” Jane Martin, executive manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition, said.
The “health levy”, or sugar tax, is about “nudging people – especially children – away from unhealthy options and encouraging healthier choices”, she said.
“Soft drinks and other sugary drinks have no place in a healthy, balanced diet.”
AMA President Dr Tony Bartone said the industry’s plan was too little, too late.
“First of all, the proposal talks about 2025. Seven years is far too long a period, far too down in the future, to be really of any benefit today,” he said.
“We’ve got a problem today. It’s a crisis, an epidemic. We need to do something now. But the main products, the product line particular leaders, are still going to have the same content of sugar.”
Dr Bartone said the lesson learned overseas was the need for more public education about the health burden of sugar consumption, as well as a signal at the point of sale to make consumers pause before buying sugary drinks, he said.
“And that’s a sugar tax, and that’s what we’ve seen working in Mexico, the US, in many countries of Europe, and that’s what really needs to happen here.”
He said the beverage industry was under pressure to make significant changes in formulations. Some softdrinks were so heavily sugared, a 20% cut would make little difference, he added.
The Obesity Coalition’s Ms Martin said the beverage makers’ pledge was about increasing sales of low- and no-sugar products, not reducing sugar in other products.
“We will not see the reduction in sugar consumption that we need to curb Australia’s obesity epidemic,” she said.
Cuts in sugar content made since 2015 will count towards the industry’s 20% target. Coca-Cola Amatil says it has already achieved a 10% reduction.
Sugar taxes were in force in 26 countries in 2017, with another five following suit this year.
In Australia, the idea is firmly opposed by the powerful farm lobby and has been ruled out by both major political parties.
Asked if the government would press softdrink makers to cut sugar levels further, Mr Hunt said: “We’ll talk in 2025.”


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June 10, 2013 – World Vision launches #nochildforsale campaign across Canada
MISSISSAUGA, ON, June 10, 2013 /CNW/ – Growing numbers of Canadians are willing to pay more for products that are free of child labour, according to a poll released just prior to the World Day Against Child Labour (June 12). Eighty-nine per cent of Canadians said they would pay more, up from 68 per cent last year. Canadians said they would pay on average 23 percent more to guarantee a purchase is child-labour free—this is double the amount they said a year ago.
International development organization World Vision commissioned the national Ipsos Reid poll a few weeks after the Bangladesh factory disaster which killed more than 1,100 textile workers. The incident sparked debate about retail supply chains and ethical consumerism.
While price steers the shopping behavior of most Canadians, the poll also revealed a strong sentiment that action is needed on all fronts to prevent child labour and exploitation, with 94 per cent of respondents feeling that “children should be considered priceless”.
Comments from World Vision
“Canadians are telling us they care about the people behind the products they buy. But when push comes to shove, price is still the first thing most Canadians look for on a label, rather than country of origin, ingredients or ethical certification logos,” said Cheryl Hotchkiss, senior advocacy manager for World Vision.
“Canadians are compassionate, yet we need to better understand the realities of this problem and how we can help. Purchasing decisions are powerful, but we must also ask companies tougher questions about their supply chains,” says Hotchkiss.
89 per cent believe companies should be legally obligated to provide information about working conditions in factories, workers’ wages and commit to not using child labour.
95 per cent believe national governments in developing countries aren’t doing enough to protect children from labour exploitation.
77 per cent believe that the Canadian government and Canadians are not doing enough to advocate on behalf of children who are exploited.
63 per cent felt the Canadian government should ban products known to be made with child labour.
79 percent of respondents pointed to Western demand for cheap products as the driver behind a company’s need for cheap labour.
More than 115 million children are doing dirty, dangerous and degrading work around the world, often making products destined for Canada. This work is damaging their bodies, minds and well-being. Many have dropped out of school; many are not able to escape their situation.
Today in Canada World Vision is launching a new campaign, No Child For Sale, which provides resources for Canadians to become more responsible consumers. Globally, the agency is working to change and enforce laws, educate children, families and communities about children’s rights and support people to overcome poverty which often leads to child slavery. Visit NoChildForSale.ca or #nochildforsale.
*These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid survey conducted between May 10 and 17, 2013, in which a sample of 1,924 Canadian adults was interviewed online. The survey is accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points had all Canadians adults been polled.
World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. Visit our News Centre at worldvision.ca
For further information:
For interviews contact:
Tiffany Baggetta – 416-305-9612 or email@example.com
Britt Hamilton – 416-419-1321 or firstname.lastname@example.org


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U.S. free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and Peru can help boost U.S. agricultural exports.
BY JOHN PRICE
American agriculture exports have stopped growing, in spite of record global demand spurred by growing affluence in developing countries. America’s declining presence in global food markets is owed to diminishing competitiveness of American exports, the result of higher handling and transportation costs facing American farmers whose products historically entered every market around the globe. The U.S. domestic transportation system is increasingly configured to handle in-bound containerized value added imports, to the neglect of the agriculture sector that not so long ago was the largest customer of U.S. rail and maritime shipping services.
LATIN AMERICA,THE THREAT
As U.S. exports have stalled, South American food exports have grown upwards of ten times faster than U.S. competitors in key agrifood segments such as soybeans, rice, corn and wheat. The competitive advantages of Brazil and Argentina as agrifood powerhouses are compelling. Land prices in central and northern Brazil are 1/10th of those in the American mid-west. Semi-skilled agricultural labor costs less than 1/5th the level of American farm help. Climate conditions are favorable, with far less reliance on irrigation than U.S. farming. Today, South America has approximately 48 percent of the world’s arable land and utilizes less than 2/3rds of it. There is room to expand, even without damaging valuable rainforests.
A lack of investment and poor transportation infrastructure to bring harvests to market has held back Brazilian agriculture historically. Land reform and a much improved domestic financial system are helping Brazil capture record investment in its agrifood sector. Close to $20 billion in new investment has poured into the sector in the last 12 months alone, thanks in no small part to the burgeoning sugar-based ethanol industry, in which Brazil boasts global technological and cultivation leadership.
An emerging player in global horticulture markets is Peru, which has proven its competitiveness in the asparagus market. In the seven months of the year that Peru enjoys duty-free access to the U.S. market, it dominates with 90 percent import share. Peru is home to a uniquely productive climate that is capturing the attention and investment of agri-players from Chile, Spain and the U.S. Peruvian yields of fruits and vegetables are almost twice that of Chile when equally modern farming techniques are introduced.
LATIN AMERICA, THE OPPORTUNITY
Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, the Caribbean and parts of Central America together are net importers of agricultural products and are faithful customers of American food exports, to the tune of $15 billion per year. From 2002 to 2006, these markets, known colloquially as “northern Latin America” led all regions in the world in new agricultural sales, adding more than $3 billion in annual purchases.
NAFTA and now CAFTA are very effective vehicles for opening up markets to U.S. agrifood exports. Pending trade agreements between the U.S. and Panama, Peru and Colombia promise to have an equally positive impact on U..S agrifood exports. After Mexico, Colombia leads the region in U.S. agrifood imports, in spite of existing import barriers. U.S. agrifood exporters have been some of the most vocal supporters of the free trade agreement with Colombia for they understand the competitive advantage they hold vis-à-vis Colombian producers.
LATIN AMERICA, THE LOGISTICS PARTNER
Besides being a growing market for U.S. agrifood that can divert exports southward instead of westward, Latin America may also provide U.S. agrifood shippers with new options that will help to lower U.S. Pacific coast port congestion and lower shipping costs and delivery times.
Panama will spend $5.2 billion from 2006 to 2014 to double the capacity of its canal from 300 to 600 million PCUMS tons. Panama will also expand its air cargo capabilities so that it can combine air and ship capacity for horticulture and other high value exports that require timely deliveries. Not to be outdone, Mexico is planning a $2 billion dry canal that will connect the Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos ports via high speed cargo train service. An agreement is signed between the Mexican company MHFM Transport Holding and vendors from Japan like Fukken, Takenaka, Japan Railroad Technology Center, Kawasaki and Toshiba, and various smaller Chinese suppliers. A third alternative will be a dry canal through El Salvador and Honduras. The government of El Salvador has already raised $300 million and begun construction of a four lane highway that connects its leading Pacific port with a sister Gulf of Mexico port in Honduras. Further north, the Pacific Mexican ports of Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas connect to U.S. western and central markets via a much improved rail system that was privatized in the late 1990s. Both ports operate presently at 60 percent of capacity, offering immediate solutions to some of the California port congestion.
TIME TO ENGAGE
As long as U.S. agrifood relies on west coast American ports to get to its export markets, it remains at the mercy of an inefficient and overpaid long-shore men union, the trade tax advocates within the California political machinery and rising port fees. To provide U.S. farmers with some negotiating leverage, they should be looking south. Opening up the markets of Colombia, Panama and Peru through trade agreements will provide immediate new business sold through southern and Atlantic seaboard ports. Greater market development efforts in Mexico and Central America will provide the same southerly diversion of U.S. agriculture exports.
For agrifood investors, seeking higher ROI in Brazilian, Argentine, Uruguayan, Chilean and Peruvian agriculture will help strengthen the long-term competitiveness of U.S. agribusiness. ADM and Cargill have already invested heavily in Brazil and Argentina, betting on ethanol and Asian grain demand respectively. It is time for their peers to follow.
John Price is president of InfoAmericas. This article originally appeared in the company's Tendencias magazine. Republished with permission.


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Women-owned businesses are bearing the brunt of economic losses during the pandemic — and the forecast looks bleak compared to their male counterparts, according to a new study released on Wednesday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Women who run small businesses are less optimistic about revenue, investment and hiring compared to male-owned small businesses, according to the analysis, which did not break down demographics within female-run businesses (companies run by women of color face even more devastating losses).
The disparity between how women and men ranked the health of their businesses existed pre-pandemic, but the difference now is starker. In July, 62% of male-owned businesses said their companies were doing well, compared to just 47% of female-owned businesses.
In addition, more men have bulked up their staffing in the past year, while female founders reported that their hiring numbers went down — from 18% in the first quarter of 2020 to 15% in July.
Suzanne Clark, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, blamed Congress for inaction on small business relief.
“Congress’ inability to provide relief to America’s small business owners is unconscionable and inexcusable,” Clark said in a statement. “We need to help struggling small businesses safely reopen and stay open so they can continue to grow and create local jobs in their communities.”
Historically, women have a harder time accessing funding when starting up their ventures, and during the coronavirus crisis they have consistently struggled to receive federal money through the Paycheck Protection Program.
From a Seattle college startup founder to New York City restaurateurs, many women across the nation say they have watched as the federal program crashed their computers and endured long waits to see the money finally appear in their bank accounts — all while trying to figure out how they’d pay rent on storefronts, retain employees and homeschool their kids.
And while many women are getting creative, more men appear to have the financial capital and logistical bandwidth to keep their businesses afloat.
Men are seeing an 11% jump in investments over the next year, while women reported no increase, according to the report. More than half of men surveyed said they expected the next year’s revenue to increase in the first quarter, compared with 49% of women.
Maxine Turner, founder of Cuisine Unlimited in Salt Lake City, Utah, said another influx of cash from the federal government is desperately needed.
“My 40-year-old catering company has made it through ups and downs in business before, but I don’t see us surviving Covid-19 without additional help from our elected representatives in Washington,” she said.


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"We are in the multi-device age," commented Bob O'Donnell, vice president of Clients and Displays at IDC, "and we believe the number of people who use multiple devices will only continue to increase. The trick, moving forward, will be to integrate all these devices into a unified whole through use of personal cloud-type applications and services. That's the real challenge of what we have often called the 'PC Plus' era."
The growth of Android-based smartphones is linked to several factors; most importantly the price of the devices, also the growth of smartphone sales in China with its 3G network subsidies. It is suggested in many instances the smartphone will be the user's primary Internet device.
This year the number of mobile phones in the world is predicted to exceed the number of people. There is an interesting chart, you can sort by clicking the headings, of mobile phone ownership around the world, thanks to Wikipedia. For the people of China to catch up with the mobile phone ownership rate of people in the UAE would require the sales of 1,654,190,000 new mobiles today!
Where are Apple devices in this prediction? IDC predicts Apple iOS devices growing from their current 14.6 per cent share to 17.3 per cent in 2016.
In summary, the predicted devices shipped figures for 2016 are these; Android 31.1 per cent, Windows x86 25.1 per cent, Apple iOS 17.3 per cent and other smart connected devices 26.5 per cent. Personally I would guesstimate a low teens percentage of the other devices could be Windows on ARM devices. WoA seems to have been passed over in the IDC analysis.


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SHANGHAI: Some 38m Chinese consumers currently drink wine, but the country's largest listed winemaker expects that number to grow at least tenfold and is massively expanding its plans to import wine from the vineyards it owns abroad.
Changyu Pioneer, which was founded as long ago as 1892, owns vineyards in China that cover a greater area than the French wine-growing region of Burgundy, but it also owns wineries in France and Spain.
It ships around 3m bottles a year from its Spanish properties and another 1m from France, but growing demand in China has prompted the company to increase annual imports from its European properties to 20m bottles over the next three to five years, the Financial Times reported.
"Right now, China is the fifth largest wine consumer in the world," said Sun Jian, Deputy General Manager at Changyu, while on a visit to Spain. "We believe in the future it will be the number one."
Changyu acquired Spanish brand Marqués del Atrio last year and Sun Jian predicted that production would double over the next five years, with much of it destined for China where Spanish wines are "seen as good but reasonably priced".
Indeed, China has now become the seventh largest market for Spanish wine, leading Rafael del Rey, Director of Spain's OEMV wine research body, to describe China's growth rates as "extraordinary".
But Changyu is not content just to boost sales in its home country, but is also working on plans to greatly increase sales of Chinese-made wines in Europe through sports sponsorship and marketing.
The company aims to raise the profile of its Marqués del Atrio brand after signing a sponsorship deal with La Liga, the Spanish football league, and also expects European sales of its Chinese-made wines to reach 2m bottles next year.
Data sourced from Financial Times, Sports Business; additional content by Warc staff


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Author:Linda LinDate:20 January 2017
The European Commission’s announcement of an anti-dumping investigation into imports of Chinese origin hot-dipped galvanised (HDG) coil in December is already impacting trade flows.
Author:Leanne CassDate:20 January 2017
Keeping up with European long products markets may have felt like a rollercoaster ride for many this past year, and indeed price volatility in 2016 was the highest it has been since the Global Financial Crisis
Author:Jennifer Willis-JonesDate:18 January 2017
CRU's Fertilizer Week has strengthened its product portfolio and now offers seven Short-Term Price Forecasts covering all nutrients, with ammonia and NPKs added in November 2016.
Author:Dawn BrooksDate:16 January 2017
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp (NSSMC) has had to close the plate mill at their Oita site in Japan after experiencing a fire on the 5th January
Author:Lucent NicholsonDate:16 January 2017
After many months of uncertainty, the Indonesian government has announced an easing of the nickel ore ban, which was introduced back in 2014. We believe that the announcement has the following implications
Author:Nick EdströmDate:22 December 2016
As Asian steel traders and buyers have stressed to CRU, Chinese price rises have not been driven by surging Asian demand, despite the continuing strength of apparent steel demand growth in some regional economies.
Author:Edward SpencerDate:20 December 2016
CRU estimates that the Electric Vehicle (EV) sector will consume around 4% of the world’s refined cobalt units in 2016. Whilst the industry remains in its infancy it is expected to drive much of the demand growth for refined cobalt units – in the form of battery grade cobalt sulphate.
Author:Jorn de LindeDate:20 December 2016
By end-2017, the Samalju Industrial Park in Sarawak will be host to as much as 290,000 t/y of silico-manganese (SiMn) and 260,000 t/y of high-carbon ferromanganese (HC FeMn) capacity.
Author:Caroline AlglaveDate:09 December 2016
Like in any industry, making the best use of the existing resources is essential, but beyond that, how does an individual producer of aluminium rolled products gain competitiveness?
Author:Matthew WonnacottDate:08 December 2016
As part of CRU ongoing medium and long-term copper demand work, and using consistent company-wide assumptions, CRU is regularly modelling the potential for copper demand from emerging sectors including from electric vehicles.


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The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested three persons, and seized around Rs 1.5 lakh of fake currency.
The three accused, Bakthar Hudda, Mohammad Jamma and Mohammad Shaikh, were caught outside Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivli (East).
According to the police, the accused had procured the fake currency from Pakistan, via Bangladesh and West Bengal. For using the currency in the country, they would get between 10 and 15 per cent commission.
An ATS official from Nagpada unit said, “They got the currency at 50 per cent rates. For every R10 that they gave, they would get R20 of the fake currency in return to use in the country.”
'Look' how the Sheena Bora case has taken a toll on Indrani Mukerjea
Photos: Katrina Kaif, Parineeti Chopra, Shilpa Shetty's movie outing in Juhu
Birthday special: 14 Bollywood actors who made it big on TV
Photos: Vaani Kapoor, Poonam Pandey, Sana Khan at fashion event
Photos: Rishi Kapoor, wife Neetu, daughter Riddhima at book launch


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The Game Developers Conference has been on all week in San Francisco and the big news has been around virtual reality. Sony put a price tag on its PlayStation VR headset and both the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive were at the show with new and exciting applications. But oddly, it's the Sulon Q and its quest for a true VR PC experience that has us intrigued.
Napster founder Sean Parker is back in action, with Screening Room -- a streaming box and service that wants to give you newly released blockbuster movies in the comfort of your own home. It's mostly just a concept at the moment, but could it shake up the movie industry?
Last November we heard that Optus had bought the broadcast rights to the English Premiere League, better known as "soccer" in this country. At the time, we wondered what the telco would do with its newly acquired money-spinner. The answer? Make it for Optus customers only, but add a really confusing SBS deal to the whole shebang.
Finally, next week will see an announcement from Apple about a new iPhone. That can only mean one thing: It's time to run down all of the rumours and speculation about what we're likely to see come out of Cupertino.
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Want to Know More?
Realer than real
- PlayStation VR takes on Facebook's Oculus, HTC in virtual reality rumble
- PlayStation VR is $399, but here's how much you'll really pay
- Valve's 'Lab' and desktop theater mode could be the perfect introduction to virtual reality
- Sulon Q 'PC-free' VR and AR headset sounds too good to be true
Screening room and the EPL
- Screening Room wants to take 'going to the movies' out of going to the movies
- Optus to launch 24-hour EPL channel...but only for its own customers


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Sabert Corporation, a global leader in innovative and sustainable food packaging solutions, has acquired UK-based…
Conceived to take a fresh look at a business that is seeing serious growth, Packaging Insight has been created to ensure you can keep your finger firmly on the pulse of packaging.
We at Packaging Insight are dedicated to presenting up-to-the-minute industry and product news, thought pieces from packaging’s most important movers and shakers, interviews with the people behind the products, alongside commentary from all associated trade bodies – in short, the complete package.
Times Have Changed
COVID-19 has changed the world irrevocably. As a result, packaging now plays an even more pivotal part in the lives of consumers across the globe. E-commerce has thrived in the age of the lockdown, while the environmental sustainability of packaging has never been more at the fore of the public consciousness. These two factors now shape the retail end of the industry more than anything before, and innovation is rife from packaging designers and manufacturers alike.
Despite the countless challenges and hurdles involved now and in the future for the industry, this can be an exciting new era for packaging. So, subscribe to Packaging Insight today and make sure you don’t miss a thing.


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Efforts needed to tap Australia’s market from CPTPP
Bilateral trade between Vietnam and Australia is expected to rise significantly in the years to come, as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which smooths the path for the country’s exports, has taken effect.
Speaking at a conference, entitled “Australia’s market potential from CPTPP perspectives”, held on April 12, Phung Thi Lan Phuong, head of the FTA division at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Integration Center under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said that Vietnam saw its revenues from exports to Australia fall to US$4.5 billion in 2018, from US$4.591 billion in 2008.
Despite being a large consumption market, Australia has been Vietnam's 13th largest importer, with much smaller import volumes from Australia than those of the United States, China, Japan and South Korea. Meanwhile, Vietnam is only Australia’s 14th largest export market.
Notably, Vietnam’s average growth of exports to the global market over the past decade was posted at 15.1%, while that to Australia was a mere 2.3%.
“The low figure should be taken into account, as the country’s goods exported to Australia are entitled to the latter’s preferential tax levels, lower than taxes imposed by other markets,” Phuong said.
Vietnam has strengths in farm produce, but the Australian market is one of the most selective markets, focusing on safe and high quality products. As such, many shipments of Vietnam’s farm produce have been sent back.
As one of the 20 largest economies and one of the 10 most attractive destinations for investments in the world, Australia has great potential for Vietnam to boost exports and investment, according to Phuong.
Dinh Thi My Loan, chairwoman of the Vietnam Retailers Association, said that the enterprises which expect to successfully export their products to Australia have to ensure that the prices of products are lower than those made in Australia and other markets. Apart from this, suppliers need to guarantee that their goods are safe and of high quality, along with ensuring punctual deliveries.
“Vietnam’s firms should enhance their focus on green production with standard products to gain a foothold in the Australian market,” Loan said, adding that it is necessary to build a connection chain of goods, production and supply.
That Vietnam and Australia are the members of CPTPP will help bolster bilateral trade between the two countries and expand cooperation and investment in the coming time.
Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, director of the WTO Center under VCCI, suggested that Vietnamese firms should take advantage of opportunities from CPTPP, especially preferential tax policies, to beef up their exports to Australia. Additionally, they were advised to call for cooperation and import technologies from Australia to shore up their business.


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Moscow, 22 May 2019 – X5 Retail Group N.V. ("X5" or the "Company"), a leading Russian food retailer (LSE and MOEX ticker: "FIVE"), and Courier Service Express (CSE) join forces in a project to deliver online orders to Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel stores, as well as directly to customers. The agreement was signed at the ECOM Expo 2019 exhibition by representatives of the CSE and X5 OMNI, an X5 subsidiary, developing a delivery technology platform based on X5 Retail Group logistics network and retail stores.
The agreement provides for full-cycle fulfilment and delivery of online orders processed by the CSE to parcel lockers and pick-up points located at X5 retail stores. Orders will be delivered through X5 OMNI’s sorting centres using the company’s logistics solutions. In addition, buyers will have the option of having the parcels delivered to their doorstep by CSE couriers.
Artem Kholin, Logistics and Operations Director at X5 OMNI, commented: "Our partnership with Courier Service Express is yet another important step in building up our parcel delivery capacity. As part of the project, the companies will integrate their IT systems to make sure that CSE deliveries can be tracked in X5 OMNI’s technology platform. The X5 OMNI parcel delivery technology platform includes X5’s IT systems, OMNI’s accounting system (OMS, WMS, TMS) and the API integration software with e-commerce companies. The platform can handle up to 1 million shipments per day. By the end of 2020, parcel delivery services will be available in the vast majority of X5 stores."
Vladimir Vinogradov, CSE’s CCO "Our partnership with X5 Retail Group is set to create joint last mile services for delivering online orders, parcels, and mail to customers, using their preferred delivery options. X5 offers an extensive network of retail stores, many of which have parcel lockers and pick-up points. This facilitates parcel collection for customers who can receive their orders at a time and place convenient to them and for an affordable price. Thanks to this project we are hoping to further streamline customer experience, as we seek to expand our footprint and offer competitive prices and exceptional service."
Igor Pletnev, Director for Strategic Business Development at X5 Retail Group, said: "Our goal is to create a nationwide package delivery network by leveraging the potential of our retail stores and logistics capabilities. To this end, we mostly work with e-commerce companies to capitalise on their expertise in the field. Some 2,400 stores are already equipped with parcel lockers and pick-up lockers, including 47 Pyaterochka checkouts and 21 pharmacy pick-up points. Customers pick up over 7,000 parcels at X5 stores on a daily basis. Customer survey results attest to a great potential of the service. Out of the 4,000 Pyaterochka customers of the stores equipped with parcel lockers, 20% have already used the service with 74% finding it convenient and planning to use it going forward."


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The Solana NFT space got a shot in the arm with the end of April launch of Mad Ladsa buzzy profile picture (PFP) collection that led the market-wide charts. But something else happened in the middle of the trade: upstart Tensor topped the dominant Magic Eden.
Tensor was launched in 2022, but saw increasing activity after introduce trading rewards in March. Last week it took majority market share by trading volume on Solana. Data collected by Tiexo shows a slight lead by Tensor over the past seven days, with Tensor commanding 45% of Solana NFT market share and Magic Eden below 44%.
Mad Lads helped push Tensor over the top, as traders apparently flocked to take advantage of the specific promotion around the NFT project rather than Magic Eden’s offering. But can Tensor maintain that momentum after awakening Solana’s sleeping giant?
Tensor began to gain significant market share in March launched “loyalty rewards”. for traders, reflects the movement past Ethereum marketplace Obfuscate it helped catapult it across OpenSea in February. The startup, which raised $3 million in March in a round led by VC firm Placeholder, bills itself as a platform for “pro” traders with what it says is a faster and richer interface.
The blur comparisons are intentional. Tensor looks and feels a lot like Blur, albeit for Solana, with a similar reward initiative. The startup has not specifically said it will launch a token, but given that Blur spent hundreds of millions of dollars value of tokens in February and said it will continue to do soIt’s no surprise that traders are fascinated.
Tensor’s market share has grown steadily over the past couple of months, co-founder and CTO Richard Wu told Decryptbut the upstart only jumped Magic Eden last week after the Mad Lads frenzy took hold.
Magic Eden also offered special promotions around Mad Lads NFTs. Magic Eden offered zero marketplace fees and also said it would give out 2000 SOL (currently approx. $43,700) for airdrop to Mad Lads merchants within the first 30 days of launch. It later said that it redistributed over 5,000 SOL ($109,400 as of today) worth of Mad Lad’s trading fees back to users.
Tensor, on the other hand, said it would forward all marketplace fees on Mad Lads trades for the first 90 days to buy up “floor” (or the lowest price) NFTs from the project and then give them away via a raffle to traders. Today, Tensor tweeted that it has spent 4,280 SOL ($93,650) in fees to buy up 58 Mad Lads NFTs to give away to top traders.
Whether it was the campaign or an interface aimed at heavy traders, or perhaps the combination of both, Tensor finally came out when the Mad Lads ruled the Solana market.
“If you show people that you’re really about giving back to the community, and trying to make your product the best for Mad Lads or for the next NFT project,” Wu said, “then people will come and shop on your platform , and people will settle for a Tensor versus a Magic Eden.”
War of words
There’s an “us versus them” dynamic to Wu’s comments that has already reverberated throughout the Solana NFT community on Twitter for several days. Tensor’s sudden rise to the top of Solana has inflamed previous divisions that emerged over Magic Edens approach to open source Web3 ethosas well as its moves around optional royalties for the creator last year.
On Friday, Magic Eden apparently discovered that Tensor was using its content delivery network (CDN) to populate NFT images on the Tensor marketplace.
Magic Eden replaced the artwork on Tensor with images showing the Magic Eden mascot and logo, tweeting: “Hey [Tensor], wen image CDN? We replaced some images in your marketplace. Just a harmless joke hehe. Let’s build.”
Magic Eden deleted the tweet by Saturday after community backlash. Over the past few days, vitriol has been thrown back and forth on Crypto Twitter between the two camps and their supporters, with Tensor’s co-founders themselves criticizing Magic Eden and retweeting other critical tweets about the behemoth in the Solana space.
“They were in the dominant seat for so long that they felt they didn’t need to do anything,” Tensor CEO and co-founder Ilja Moisejevs said in an interview with Decrypt. He believes that Tensor’s product is better than previous contenders, but also suggested that Magic Eden lost support in the Solana space as it rapidly expanded to Ethereum, Polygonand Bitcoin.
“I think the community is also a little upset about the way they’ve behaved over the last six months, because Solana has clearly gone through really turbulent times,” Moisejevs said.
He suggested that some Solana projects “doubled up” on the spot amid the falling price of SOL and fear for society’s future late last year, and believes Magic Eden did “almost the opposite” when pushing NFTs on other chains.
“They sort of took their foot off the gas when Solana was at its lowest point after FTX [collapsed], and it just rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,” Wu added. “If you’re so optimistic about building up Solana, why would you leave and build elsewhere at a time when Solana needed people to step up?”
Magic Eden responded to the backlash on social media today, as marketing manager Tiffany Huang said The block that the startup is “thrilled to refocus on Solana, which is our home,” and it “intends to show the Solana community that we still have their back.”
Huang clarified to Decrypt that Magic Eden’s renewed focus on Solana will come via product features and partnerships, including “innovation” on its Diamond reward feature which was launched at the end of March when Tensor was on the rise. It will also include “programs that support creators and collectors,” she added.
She also pushed back against criticism from Tensor’s co-founders about Magic Eden’s current closed-source marketplace model, which requires it to co-sign transactions. It throws a wrench into how marketplace aggregators incorporate Magic Eden listings, and raises other security and compatibility concerns. But Huang suggested it’s important — for now.
“The Tensor team knows and understands that co-sign is not just an anti-aggregator tool – it’s actually a critical part of any [our] other core marketplace features,” she said, pointing to a tweet where Wu acknowledges as much. “The goal here is to become more open, but we just need to sequence these events so they don’t disrupt our marketplace product.”
As Mad Lads launch hype balls, the remaining question is whether Tensor can stay on top in the Solana space. Just before publication, Magic Eden held a slight lead in rolling 24-hour trading volume per data from Tiexo— But Tensor led that chart as recently as late afternoon today.
Despite the shade, pranks and moves traded between the camps — not to mention the marketing maneuvers of the past week — both startups are hinting at a more collaborative tone going forward. They both want the best for Solana and the community, they say Decryptand want to expand the market for everyone involved, including each other.
“We should all try to build the pie with excellent user experiences and ingenuity to expand the space,” Huang said Decrypt, rejecting the notion that Magic Eden should ward off upstarts. “I think we’re two sensible companies, at the end of the day, trying to grow Solana.”
“We want to see Magic Eden do well,” said Tensor’s Moisejevs. “That’s because we believe that if Magic Eden does well, then Solana can do very well. At Tensor, we’d rather have a smaller piece of a 10x bigger pie than have a bigger piece… ultimately , a pie nobody cares about.”
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Microsoft has announced that it has ceased to support its Fitness Band bracelets. The first generation was released in 2014, the second – a year later, users did not wait for the third generation Microsoft Band.
What does it mean
On May 31 of this year, Microsoft will delete all user data from the online storage and close the Health Dashboard site. In addition, all applications associated with the Microsoft Band will disappear from Microsoft Store, Google Play and the Apple App Store .
Until this date, users will be able to export their data from the repository or delete them themselves.
After that, fitness bracelets will work, but their capabilities will be limited. They will be able to record and track health information (number of steps taken, heart rate) and activity (running, cycling, hiking, etc. ), track sleep and act as an alarm clock.
Also, rebooting the device after May 31 will make it inoperable.
Microsoft promises owners of Band and Band 2 monetary compensation. This applies to users who synchronized at least once during the period from December 1, 2018 to March 1, 2019, and device owners with a guarantee.
For Band 1 put 80 dollars, for the Band 2 – 175 dollars. The company will send letters to users who are compensated, and they will be able to apply for money until August 30, 2019.


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Fashion Week season is fast approaching and we’re marking our calendars for the Chilly/Rainy season of the annual Accra Fashion Week a platform that showcases fabulous designs from both local and foreign designers.
This year’s AFWK CR18 themed Strictly Business will be holding from March 29th to April 1st at the Providence Events Centre, Labadi Accra and targets a curious and fashion forward audience seeking the latest styles by African designers with an aim to bridge the gap between the consumers and African designers.
The event will also include a fashion award show and nominations are now open and can be done here.
Last year, the Summer/Harmattan edition dubbed Accra Fashion Week SH17 which took place this October made ground breaking history, when it hosted over 150 fashion designers from over 20 countries.
The objective is to encourage and work along designers not only to prove to the public the quality and standards of fashion by our own talents are unmatcchable, but to also provide a quick and easier access to the garments and establish trends on the continent of Africa.
Designer registration for is now open until January 31st, 2018.
For more info visit www.accrafashionweek.org


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You can pay in 4X free of charge with PayPal.
4X Payment is a PayPal Deferred Payment offer that allows you to pay
for your eligible purchases from EUR 30 to EUR 2,000
in 4 installments over 3 months, the first due at the time of purchase.
Cross section of our anti-radiation cases
Electromagnetic waves have been at the center of debate for several years and have raised concern about their harmfulness to our health.
As a precaution, MySilverShield has designed a case for Smartphones that acts as an anti-radiation "shield".
This anti-radiation "shield" waves allows smartphone users to protect themselves from potentially harmful waves
emitted by the device when it is in contact with the body during the call or transport phases.
In addition to smartphone cases MySilverShield has developed 2 other anti-radiation products which are:
- Protection cards to be inserted in one's pocket in order
to create a barrier between products emitting electromagnetic waves and the body.
- Pregnancy headbands to protect the future baby from environments saturated with electromagnetic waves.
The latest news
The robin loses the north. This is revealed by a study from the German University of Oldenburg published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. Electromagnetic pollution totally blurs the sense of orientation of robins which, like many passerines, locate themselves thanks to the earth's magnetic field during their migrations. And it is not mobile phone transmitters and their high frequencies that are to blame but AM radio signals and electronic equipment.Read more
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As part of its ongoing battle with Unicommerce, Paytm Mall has warned sellers on its platform about availing services provided by the technology solutions arm of Snapdeal. As per reports, the digital wallet-owned ecommerce firm has intimated all its vendors that infringement of this term could result in either termination of contract or even legal action.
The development comes days after Paytm Mall COO Amit Sinha revealed in a media interaction that the firm would soon take legal action against Unicommerce.
Paytm Mall stated in an email to its sellers, “Paytm Ecommerce is not in any type of agreement of integration of our Paytm Seller Panel nor has authorised any third party/entity including the Unicommerce eSolutions, which is now Snapdeal, to facilitate any inventory or order management for Paytm sellers.”
Breach of these terms would potentially lead to “severe action including termination of the contract and other legal action for infringement of our legal rights to claim damages, etc., and criminal action as per law,” the email elaborated.
Reiterating what Sinha said recently, a spokesperson from Paytm told ET, “In a recent announcement on their website, Unicommerce has not only used trade name ‘Paytm’ but has also spread false and misleading message to sellers that it has an integration with Paytm. We are going to claim damages and seek injunctions restraining Unicommerce from using the trade name ‘Paytm’ and from inducing sellers to use its portal to illegally log into the Seller Panel of Paytm.”
Email queries sent to Paytm awaited response till the time of publication.
The Battle Between Paytm And Unicommerce: 2016 To Present
The tussle between Paytm and Unicommerce originated in April 2016 when the digital payments company filed a lawsuit against the SaaS solutions platform for accessing confidential business data on its (Paytm’s) ecommerce platform via the sellers on this platform.
At the time, Unicommerce was used by many sellers on Paytm’s platform for order management and inventory across multiple marketplaces and carts. In its complaint, Paytm also alleged that the Snapdeal-owned comapny was using its logo and name without any authorisation.
Soon afterwards, the Delhi High Court put a stay order on Unicommerce from using any data or information derived from the sellers of Paytm. The court had also ordered the tech startup to pull down its YouTube advertisement and/or modify it to remove the Paytm logo.
At the time, the SaaS Solutions provider denied all allegations, stating, “While the matter is sub-judice, we believe that the allegations made are clearly unfounded and speculative. The Court found no reason to change the status quo of Unicommerce accessing the seller data as a representative of the seller and making such data available back to them. Unicommerce clarified in Court that the seller data is accessed with the consent of the sellers in order to help the sellers improve their business and it does not use it for itself.”
Recently in the second week of October, Unicommerce revealed that Paytm had withdrawn the long-standing case against it stating, “The withdrawal follows Paytm’s inability to provide any proof in support of the allegations.”
Whether the conflict between Paytm Mall and Unicommerce will continue or reach a resolution is something only time can tell.


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International Women’s Day Founder Showcase – what about celebrating top female-led companies! Our CEO, Elitza Stoilova is one of the invite to pitch female founders at this event organized by Loyal VC to celebrate the occasion and empower gender equality. Loyal VC has supported Umni in our company fundraising and with active mentorship since the early days after Umni was founded and successfully completed the Founder Institute Eastern Europe accelerator and became inseparable part of the Umni success.
In 2022, only 1.9% of US VC funding went to startups with an all-female team. There is a bias in the industry leading investors to believe that women-led companies are high risk. Loyal VC is a trusted advisor to the 33% of its portfolio companies that are led by a female CEO, and is committed to gender equality.
Umni help businesses be competitive by saving time and resources, selling more, carrying better by being available 24/7 and therefore not missing out on customers, and growing faster, by creating and managing AI chatbot for their website on their own – as easily as playing with Lego.


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IoT and Big Data Go Together
- Feb 13, 2019
- 195 views
echnology adoption and the increasing usage of internet over the last few years has significantly amplified the need for a rapid pace of innovation, which has forced enterprises and specially the CIOs to increase their investments in capital and operating expenditure in order to scale up the existing infrastructure. One such investment area is in the adoption of IoT for business acceleration.
Gartner predicts that by 2020, more than half of major new business processes and systems will incorporate some element of IoT in their organisations. With the increasing demand and requirement of IoT in the industry, the CIOs will have a bigger role to play in 2018 and beyond.
IoT data control is a key way that companies can maximize the value of their Internet of Things deployments. It allows companies to mine the data that IoT devices generate and monetize the information.
The growth and development in Big Data and analytics has impacted the way businesses are led. The Industrial IoT solutions are generating significant amounts of data even in limited pilots and deployments. Organizations are coming up with data processing footprint at the edge and also at the enterprise level to manage this data explosion and use the right data at the right place for the right decision. In the past one year, many companies have moved to a data driven business approach, emphasizing on the need for business agility with the help of big data analytics capabilities.
Among the constructive purposes to which IoT Big Data can be put is in ensuring cleaner air in urban environments. With the arrival of a new generation of lower-cost sensors, the air can now be tested several times a minute, in a cost-effective way, for delivery to a connected analytics solution. This creates an opportunity for operators to offer air pollution monitoring and control services that deliver dynamic, local information to civic authorities, and was a core focus of the session yesterday.
A rich array of possibilities for IoT Big Data exists beyond air quality monitoring, much of it more straightforwardly commercial. Korea Telecom offer a range of agricultural use cases, allowing better management of food temperature monitoring and livestock logistics. “We share cultivation data, order and delivery data, warehouse management data, retail data, and more among all our stakeholders – through this sharing system we improve business efficiency, market intelligence and food safety,” explained Denny Kim, Senior Researcher at Korea Telecom.
Operators are increasingly able to move into, and consolidate their position within, various adjacent sectors to which previously they may have played little or no direct role. The reason for this is ultimately quite simple: we live in an information-hungry, data-driven age. “Enterprises face stiffer and stiffer competition online,” explained Alistair McLeod, CEO at Teralytics. “They come to us to enhance their business propositions and keep themselves competitive. Investments only make sense these days if they have great data to back them up. We’re big fans of telco data because it’s not biased – telco data includes everybody, it doesn’t discriminate, so there are far fewer problems around selection bias.”
There are understandable anxieties among some consumers over the uses to which their data is put – as reports emerge periodically of escalating rates of identity theft, people are increasingly insistent that their personal information be protected. It is essential to the viability of IoT Big Data as a mechanism for business that consumers are confident that, while insights may be drawn from their behaviour collectively, those insights cannot be tied to their individual identities. There was agreement throughout the room that the importance of this is beyond question – we at the GSMA, therefore, believe there is cause for optimism in the future of IoT Big Data as an engine for social and economic good, as well as an enabler of IoT delivery among operators.
IoT analytics will be the key mechanism for controlling this flood of data. CIOs will have to deal with the challenge of how to organize and process this and carry the same over the network in an optimal manner.


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If you are a tech geek who loves to play with mobile gadgets and who value handsets packed with the latest specifications, then you may want to keep your hands on the LG G Pad 2. It seems that LG could launch the descendant to the G Pad 8.3. Leaksfly revealed some specifications on his Weibo account today, rumoured to be as LG G Pad 2 by the Korean smartphone manufacturer.
The LG G Pad 2 is expected to feature an 8.3-inch screen with 1080p resolution. Powering by Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 SoC and 3GB of RAM, the phablet is said to be adorned by 32GB of expandable memory. It also features an 8MP camera which will add poise to the flip side of the device while the front is fitted with a 5MP camera for selfie obsessed generation. Android 5.1 should be pre-installed in the device.
LG G Pad 2 is expected to release in October. However at what price and where it will get launched is yet to be confirmed.
The leak has come just after 20 days from the unveiling of specs of LG G Pro 3 by same source. LG is also rumoured to have an all metal premium version of the LG G4 planned in later half of this year. Today only, the Korean company has launched it’s freshly publicized LG Max in India at the price tag of INR 10,990 (US$ 172). The LG Max is also known as LG Bello II and the LG Prime II in other markets.


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Farmer kit launched at Caritas Asia Regional Farmers’ Conference
Caritas Pakistan has launched and introduced “Farmer kit for data collection” to the representatives of 12 member organizations from South Asia and South East Asia on the first day during their country presentation in Caritas Asia regional farmer conference held from 21-25 April, 2015 in Dhulikhel, Nepal.
Representatives from Pakistan and other countries who graced this launching ceremony included Mr. Amir Irfan from (Head of the Department – Development Programs, Caritas Pakistan), Dr. Haridas (Cream Coordinator from Caritas India), Ms. Adriana Opromolla (Advocacy Officer for Climate Change and Food security CI), Ms. Pihil Waththe Gedera Yasomenike (Woman farmer from Sri Lanka), Mr. Amir Yaqoob (Regional Livelihood Coordinator from Pakistan), Ms. Elizabeth Qayyum (Woman farmer from Pakistan), Ms. Wanphen Khemanucheta (Caritas Asia), Ms. Shumaila Rafiq (Woman farmer from Pakistan), Ms. Bichittra Chicham (Woman farmer from Bangladesh) and Ms. Muna Shrestha (IPM Technician Caritas Nepal).
Caritas Pakistan has produced a farmer kit for data collection which contains measuring tape, scissor, magnifying lens and color Pencils. This kit is designed and developed by Mr. Amir Irfan (Head of the Department – Development Programs) for the members of Farmer Field School to collect data and enhance their learning through observations and analysis thus promoting farmer led research (FLR).
Mr. Amir Irfan briefed the participants about kit, he also explained the objective and usage of farmer kit for data collection. After this, the kits were distributed to Caritas member Organization and idea was highly appreciated by all the conference participants.
“This kit also compliments CI’s global campaign “one human family: food for all” and is dedicated to 50th anniversary of Caritas Pakistan”, said Mr. Amjad Gulzar Executive Director.


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The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970 as a series of peaceful demonstrations against growing air and water pollution. Almost 50 years on, it has grown into a global event. According to the Earth Day Network, “more than 1 billion people in 192 countries now take part in the largest civic-focused day of action in the world.”
It’s not surprising that Earth Day has grown so significant. As the evidence of human impact on the Earth’s climate continues to mount, a global movement to protect the environment has grown alongside it. Decades of inaction on climate change have inspired generations of activists dedicated to solving the most important social, environmental and economic issue of our time.
A recent report commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada shows that Canada’s North is warming at more than three times the global average. Around the country, our oceans are becoming more acidic and Arctic sea ice is melting rapidly, leading to further warming. Animal populations and habitats are declining, soils are being lost and extreme weather events are becoming more common. The global climate crisis is inextricably linked to our way of life. Our pursuit of a four-planet lifestyle (the idea that if everyone on the planet consumed as much as the average Canadian, we would need four Earths to sustain us) is overwhelming the Earth’s living systems to the point that we have altered the planet.
So what can we do? Individual behaviour changes are one way we can attempt to lower our own environmental footprint. Refusing disposable products is a start. By saying no to single-use items, we are sending a message to producers that we want our products redesigned. After all, waste is just a product of bad design. We can live simply. We can bring our own bags to the grocery store and refill our reusable mugs. We can shop local and choose products with recycled or minimal packaging. Composting our organic waste helps to create new soils for growing local food and prevents the release of methane from our landfills.
Look online and you will find countless suggestions for how we can take responsibility for our individual impacts. Unfortunately, reducing our own impacts has limits. Our individual behaviours can only do so much in a system designed for endless economic growth. According to the Carbon Majors Database, just 100 fossil fuel companies have been responsible for 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions since 1988.
However, things are changing and we are in the midst of a new climate movement. In March, Greta Thunberg, a Swedish youth activist, not even old enough to vote, led more than one million students in a global school strike for the climate. Growing consumer demand is forcing governments to regulate, producers to redesign and grocery stores to unpackage.
Saving our environment means not only reducing our own consumption, but also challenging the system that protects corporate interests at the expense of people and ecosystems. This Earth Day and every day after until things change, we must fight for the planet—after all, it’s the only one we’ve got.


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On Tuesday night, the Export-Import Bank became history as Congress lets its charter lapse, and with it a valuable prop that thousands of small businesses have depended on to guarantee their exports overseas.
Despite more than paying for itself--by its own reckoning, Ex-Im Bank has returned $7 billion to the U.S. Treasury in the last two decades through interest on guaranteed loans and credit insurance--the 80-year-old government-run financial institution is a sunset agency. That means its charter must be renewed periodically. And it has been 16 times over its lifetime, without much fuss.
Yet, on June 30, the bank appears to have been mothballed as Congress departed for its July 4th recess without reauthorizing the agency, leaving the fate of its 450 employees hanging in the balance.
Since 2012, however, the bank’s destiny has been uncertain as some conservative lawmakers have sought to make it an example of government waste and cronyism, in their own words. One of the chief gripes of the banks’ opponents is that it assists the exporting activities of very large companies such as Boeing, Caterpillar, and General Electric, which they say puts smaller companies at a disadvantage.
“Chairman [Jeb] Hensarling (R., Texas) has made it very clear he would like to let the bank expire,” Fred Hochberg, chairman and president of the Ex-Im Bank said during a recent sit-down with Inc.
In its activities, the Ex-Im Bank acts as a backstop for private banks, which might not otherwise want to take a risk on financing export trade deals, by guaranteeing loans to overseas customers who want to buy from U.S. companies. It also provides credit insurance to small companies in the U.S. who’d similarly like to sell to customers in other countries who might need more favorable purchasing terms than many small companies can offer.
Ex-Im's Pros and Cons
Although Hensarling, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee did not respond to a request for comment, he has said the battle over the bank is one of philosophy, which for conservatives dictates that the government should stay out of free enterprise.
Here’s what Hensarling told Sheila Barr, former chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., in a May interview in Fortune magazine:
“Relative to the size of your average agency in D.C., it’s pretty small, but it represents this Washington insider economy. It’s a small, boutique credit agency that primarily benefits Fortune 50 companies which can finance their own operations. GE or Boeing aren’t going to have a problem getting credit.”
That argument doesn’t make sense to Hochberg. While the agency is small, he concedes, it has a big influence on the economic life of the country. It supported 164,000 jobs and made 3,340 loans and other forms of financing to small businesses, generating a surplus of $675 million for the Department of Treasury in fiscal year 2014.
And the bank is not a lender of first resort for any company, large or small, Hochberg says. “Plan A is that we have a great private sector, with deep financial markets,” Hochberg says. “We are Plan B.”
As proof of its secondary importance, Hochberg says the Ex-Im Bank’s loan volume has decreased as the economy has recovered, not increased. In 2012, for example, the bank guaranteed $36.5 billion worth of loans. In 2014, it guaranteed $20.5 billion worth of financing, a decrease of 43 percent, he says, partly because private banks are more liquid and lending again to small businesses.
Additionally, when it comes to large companies such as Caterpillar and Boeing, the bank isn’t just supporting one company with its many thousands of workers, but--as in Boeing's case--the 6,600 small businesses that also supply the company with component parts, products, and services.
It’s also allowing customers overseas to make bets on long-term purchases. Recently, Ex-Im Bank guaranteed financing for Copa Airlines, of Panama, so it could purchase 61 new aircraft from Boeing, worth an estimated $6 billion, Hochberg says. The financing is vital to both sides of the deal, because it will take up to nine years to complete the delivery.
“Our footprint goes beyond what we finance, because Copa said it might not buy 61 planes without knowing it could finance them when they needed to,” Hochberg says.
That’s not to say the Ex-Im Bank hasn’t seen its share of problems. Last summer, four Ex-Im officials were removed or suspended for suspected kickbacks, gifts, and other alleged malfeasance. Also last year, the Congressional Budget Office issued a report suggesting the bank may cost taxpayers money after all, using the fair-value accounting method, which accounts for market risks of the loans the agency makes.
Exporting for Growth
Meanwhile, the debate over the bank unfolded as Congress also considered nixing two trade bills that would give U.S. businesses a leading role in Asia, and more parity in Europe. One of the trade bills, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, could also give businesses access to more than 40 percent of consumer markets globally, by some estimates. (Congress ultimately voted in late June to give the president authority to proceed with the bills.)
Yet the anti-export sentiment is especially problematic, some economic experts argue, because exports have played a leading role in the economic recovery.
U.S. exports supported nearly 12 million jobs in 2014, according to an April report from the International Trade Administration, a division of the Department of Commerce, an increase of 1 million jobs since 2009. And nearly one third of all economic growth since 2009 has been driven by exports, according to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.
What’s more, the business environment has changed today, Hochberg says, driven primarily by the Internet and the potential for global commerce.
“Twenty years ago, the thinking was, when I have exhausted the U.S. market, I will look overseas,” Hochberg says. “Today, people are thinking about exporting when they start their businesses.”


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(This story has been updated from an earlier version.)
Merger and acquisition activity is heating up in Canada, which has put a spotlight on the growing disparities between the U.S. and Canadian cannabis industries.
Here’s what you need to know about the situation:
- Canada effectively legalized medical marijuana at the federal level in 2001 and began authorizing the production of MMJ through federally licensed producers in 2014. Many of the country’s largest MMJ producers are publicly traded, giving them relatively easy access to banking and capital.
- Because of the federally illegal nature of marijuana in the United States, the country’s largest publicly traded businesses that focus specifically on the marijuana industry – Terra Tech Corp. and Kush Bottles – are not able to work with cannabis in as straightforward a manner as Canadian marijuana companies. Kush Bottles (OTC: KSHB) does not actually touch the plant, while Terra Tech (OTC: TRTC) is a holding company for several plant-touching subsidiaries. Though these companies are allowed to trade on over-the-counter markets, their overall value is limited relative to public marijuana companies in Canada.
- To date, Canada has issued 74 MMJ production licenses, though only about half the licensees are authorized to actually sell medical cannabis to patients. In the United States, there are an estimated 8,600 plant-touching businesses operating in medical and recreational markets throughout the country.
- Canada’s Aurora Cannabis and Canopy Growth Corp. have made significant moves in recent weeks. After making a friendly bid of 544 million Canadian dollars ($425 million) for rival marijuana producer CanniMed Therapeutics, Aurora is attempting a hostile takeover. Canopy Growth announced a joint venture with Amsterdam’s Green House Brands and Denver-based Organa Brands to create products for the global marijuana market and also secured a 12% stake in Mississauga, Ontario-based TerrAscend. Since Oct. 20, the price of Canopy Growth stock (Toronto Stock Exchange: WEED) has risen 46%, while Aurora (TSE: ACB) has seen its price shoot up 107%.
Eli McVey can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org
To sign up for our weekly Canada marijuana business newsletter, click here.


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We welcomed more than 2,000 people at the doors of NextM in Copenhagen and in Stockholm last year for intense conference days with speakers like robot pioneer Brad Templeton, VR storyteller Ana Serrano, Cyber-philosopher Alexander Bard and influencer marketing expert René Rechtman.
As one delegate said:
“When you experience NextM for the first time, you will be swept away by the international winds from the keynotes and the latest opportunities in technology. Second time, you get time to reflect too. NextM is a unique opportunity to stay updated on the world of marketing during the fourth industrial revolution.”
The press has called it:
“a playground of the future for the brave c-suite who look for business opportunities in technology”.
Take a closer look at the highlights from NextM 2016 in Denmark here.
Take a closer look at the highlights from NextM 2016 in Sweden here.


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Essity Purchases ABIGO MedicalApril 28, 2021
Last year, Essity had purchased a 75% stake in the Swedish medical solutions company. Per the terms of the acquisition, ABIGO will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Essity as part of the company’s medical solutions’ segment. The transaction is set to be finalized in May 2021.
“We are very pleased with this acquisition, which is a natural step in our ambition to strengthen our positions in medical solutions. ABIGO has unique expertise and innovation capacity that will contribute to accelerating Essity’s growth in advanced wound care,” says Magnus Groth, Essity CEO.
Essity is a global hygiene and health company that develops, produces, and sells personal care, consumer tissue, and professional hygiene products and solutions. For more information visit www.essity.com.


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Respectable research firm Doritos finds women like games more than sex
According to the survey, 49 percent of women admitted to playing "online games," though as GamePro points out: It's not made clear whether these women are bombing cities in Call of Duty or building them up in CityVille. We're going to go with the latter. Regardless, this number is just 1 percent below men, meaning a whole darn lot of folks have their eyes glued to some screen, somewhere.
Of the 49 percent of video game femme fatale, 84 percent said they enjoy gaming sessions, compared to just 70 percent who said they enjoy love making, whoopee, boinking, what have you. (Women also reportedly enjoy games more than having a bath and shopping.) Now, here's the clincher: 23.1 percent of women, according to Doritos, spend more time online playing games than men, who came in at 22.3 percent. Dudes, we know you're digging on Halo more than FarmVille, but maybe it's time you joined the lady--ain't no shame in trying something new.
Do you buy these findings from Doritos? Do you find yourself playing more video games than your significant other? Does it have any effect on your relationship? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.


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The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC Thailand) has asked cryptocurrency companies operating in the country to include clear and visible warnings about the risks associated with virtual tokens and crypto investments.
SEC Guideline on Crypto Ads
In an email statement from last week, the capital market regulator asked companies to abstain from giving false and misleading information in their ads. They were also asked to provide information on advertising terms to the SEC. The new rules should be complied with within 30 days, and old ads that don’t conform should be removed.
“Operators must give details of ads and spending including the use of influencers and bloggers to the SEC including terms and time frame,” the SEC said.
The new SEC crypto ad guidelines prohibit false, misleading, and exaggerated claims and provide for the ads to carry clear and easily visible warnings about risks. Crypto firms have been asked to limit advertising to official platforms such as their websites and present a balanced picture by mentioning both positive and negative aspects the digital assets.
Action Against Zipmex and Bitkub
On Wednesday, the SEC fined Zipmex Thailand 1.92 million baht (approx. $52,344) for suddenly suspending trading on its platform without following the norms and stopping deposits and withdrawals.
Early this week, the agency also fined Thailand’s largest crypto trading platform’s CTO $200,000 for insider trading. The CTO, Samret Wajanasathian, made large purchases of Bitkub’s native coin KUB between September and November 2021 after finding out that Siam Commercial Bank (SCBX) is negotiating a takeover deal of the digital asset exchange.
On Sunday, SCBX announced that it won’t go ahead with its planned $500-million takeover of Bitkub due to these problems.
Stricter Ad Norms in Spain, UK
The SEC’s tough stance on crypto advertising comes in the wake of a broader market downturn that saw $2 trillion of the market cap evaporate in about six months. Thailand is the latest in a growing list of countries that have made their crypto advertising policy more stringent.
Spain’s National Securities Market Commission in January introduced a new set of guidelines for crypto advertising. It said crypto firms should “ensure that the advertising of the products offers true, understandable, and non-misleading content, and includes a prominent warning of the associated risks.”
Early this month, the UK advertising watchdog banned two ads of Arsenal’s fan token $AFC for failing to “illustrate the risks of crypto investments” and trivializing “serious and potentially costly financial decision.”


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Tag: kanye west
Kano is launching some new Stem Players without Kanye West
British firm Kano started off making computers for kids, before moving into music-tech in 2021 with the Donda Stem Player.
January 10, 2023
Kanye West suspended from Twitter again after swastika post
It turns out that even ‘free-speech absolutists’ have, well, an absolute limit to the hate content that they’ll tolerate.
December 2, 2022
Kanye West back on Twitter, but Jack White and Trent Reznor quit
Musk had stated that he would not reinstate prominent banned accounts until he had formed “a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints”.
November 22, 2022
Peloton has ‘indefinitely paused’ use of Kanye West’s music
Streaming services are uncomfortable with the idea of removing Kanye West’s catalogue due to his recent round of interviews expressing antisemitic views.
October 28, 2022
Spotify pushes back on pressure to remove Ye’s music
Ek said that if Ye’s recent “awful comments” had been made on a podcast or a music track, it would have been removed for being hate speech.
October 26, 2022
CAA ends relationship with Ye after antisemitic comments
It’s been a troubling few weeks watching Ye (formerly Kanye West) making antisemitic comments in a series of interviews.
October 25, 2022
Kanye West ‘Donda 2’ plans spurred $2m of Stem Player sales
How are fans responding to Kanye West's plans to only release his new album 'Donda 2' on his own Stem Player device? Well, a fair few of them are buying one.
February 21, 2022
Kanye West’s new album will only be available on his Stem Player
“Donda 2 will only be available on my own platform, the Stem Player. Not on Apple Amazon Spotify or YouTube,” announced West in an Instagram post.
February 18, 2022
Kanye West makes post-release changes to ‘Donda’ album
Kanye West famously continued tinkering with his 'The Life of Pablo' album even after it was released, altering tracks then replacing the older versions on digital services.
September 29, 2021
Kanye West launches a $200 Donda Stem Player with Kano
When will Kanye West’s new album ‘Donda’ come out? Good question: it remains imminent. However, today we learned that when it DOES come out, it will ship alongside some hardware. Go to West’s official website and...
August 25, 2021
Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ livestream attracted 5.4m viewers
According to sources, Kanye West's latest livestream listening party broke Apple Music's record for a live audience, and generated big merchandise sales.
August 12, 2021


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After a long time waiting, Nokia is finally back in the smartphone market. The iconic phone maker has launched its first Android phone, named Nokia 6.
Nokia 6 runs Android Nougat, and will be only released in China, exclusively available on JD.com early 2017. It is priced at 1699 Yuan (Rs 16,000 approx). The smartphone has a 5.5-inch full HD display with 2.5D Gorilla Glass coating.
Nokia 6 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage (expandable up to 128GB via microSD card). There’s dual amplifiers speaker with Dolby Atmos technology for sound output. Nokia 6 features a 16MP PDAF rear camera with f/2.0 aperture and an 8MP front camera.
It is backed by a 3,000 mAh battery. The home button in Nokia 6 doubles up as a fingerprint sensor. Nokia 6 is a 4G-enabled smartphone that supports Bluetooth v4.1, Wi-Fi, GPS and USB-OTG. According to a press staement by HMD Global, more Android smartphones will be unveiled in H1 2017.
The phone was released without much fanfare. And there’s no word yet on when the phone will be available in India and the rest of the world.


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(Photo: Chris Stein / Getty Images)
Drinking Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, or any dark-colored soda may raise your cancer risk,according to a new report from Johns Hopkins This new analysis follows up a study done by the same researchers last year for which they purchased 110 cans of soda from stores in New York and California and tested them all for 4-MEI. They detected a huge range in 4-MEI levels, from 3.4 micrograms up to 352.5 micrograms per 12-ounce can.
What do those numbers mean in terms of cancer risk? While the federal government has not set a limit for how much 4-MEI may be carcinogenic, the state of California has. Under California law, a product is required to carry a cancer warning if it exposes consumers to 29 micrograms of 4-MEI. So, given that the Johns Hopkins team found levels up to 352.5 micrograms in some sodas, you can see why this is a potentially dangerous health problem.
Related: Can Oral Sex Cause Cancer?
But here’s the really interesting part: According to lead researcher Keeve Nachman, the sodas bought in California tended to have markedly lower levels of 4-MEI than those purchased in New York, where there is no law limiting 4-MEI. His team even saw this trend when comparing cans of the exact same brand and product purchased in the two different states. “It appears that soda manufacturers are using a different type of caramel color that has less 4-MEI in the beverages they sell in California,” Nachman says.
Related: 7 Worrisome Facts About Caffeine
The issue for consumers is that even though there are different types of caramel color — some of which do not contain 4-MEI — there is no way of knowing what kind is being used in a beverage or food product. Unlike in Europe, where the particular type of caramel color must be specified on a label, U.S. manufacturers are only required to list caramel color.
Related: 10 Bad Habits and How to Break Them
"The real issue with this ingredient is its ‘often unknown’ composition," says Kantha Shelke, a food scientist and principal at food science and research firm Corvus Blue. "The large amount of caramel color that’s consumed is also problematic, since it is the single-most widely used food coloring in the world. But I’d say the biggest issue for consumers is the lack of transparency around it."
Unfortunately, assessing the actual darkness of a soda won’t even tell you which type of caramel color was used. “Dark color is not a dead ringer for high levels of 4-MEI,” Nachman says. Some very dark drinks his team tested had low levels, while lighter-hued beverages had higher amounts.
It should be noted that the potential cancer risks associated with 4-MEI have been learned through animal studies, not human trials. “The effects of 4-MEI have never been studied in humans, because chemicals are not tested on people,” Nachman says. “So although we don’t know for absolute certain that 4-MEI poses a risk, we can’t interpret that to mean that there is no risk.” What researchers do have, Nachman explains, is an animal study published by the National Toxicology Program in 2007 that found that 4-MEI caused lung tumors in mice. “California looked at the NTP’s evidence and decided to regulate 4-MEI because of it,” he says. “In my eyes, it makes the most sense for the federal government to cap 4-MEI limits so consumers are not required to assess risk.”
By Melaina Juntti
Read This Next: 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Alcohol and Your Body


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Inauguration of new Vaidyaratnam Branch at Coimbatore
Vaidyaratnam Oushadhasala has opened a new branch in Coimbatore to ensure the distribution of quality Ayurvedic products.
All the medicines manufactured by Vaidyaratnam will be on sale at the new branch.
Mr P R Natarajan, MP, opened the branch. Mr K K Vasudevan, Director of Vaidyaratnam Group, Dr E T Krishnan Mooss, Executive Director of Vaidyaratnam Group and Mr P Sudev, Sr. Manager (Marketing) Vaidyaratnam Oushadhasala Pvt Ltd were present.


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Douglas C. Pizac, Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — The Governor’s Office of Economic Development announced Thursday that online retailer Overstock.com will grow its Utah employee base by bringing 333 jobs to Salt Lake County.
The information technology positions that previously had been contracted out of state will be brought back to Utah over the next decade.
The total wages, including medical benefits, are expected to be at least 200 percent of the county average wage. The projected new state wages over the life of the agreement are forecast to be about $300.8 million. Projected new state tax revenues are estimated to be $11.4 million over the 10-year period.
As part of the contract with Overstock.com, the GOED board of directors approved up to a maximum tax credit of $2.3 million in the form of a post-performance economic development tax increment finance incentive, which is 20 percent of the new state taxes the company will pay over the 10-year life of the agreement.
Each year as Overstock.com meets the requirements of the contract with the state, the company will earn a portion of the total tax credit incentive.
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Mr Tessio, 40, had looked at other providers but said it would cost £58 to post a small box.
“We messaged the customer to notify them they wouldn’t be getting the parcel anytime soon via mail, but told them we were going to NYC and happy to ship.”
He said the customer was “so overwhelmed” and offered to pay delivery when they arrived in the States.
“We said no to them paying and did it off our own back,” he explained, who receives about 30 international orders a week.
“Royal Mail aren’t updating customers on what’s going on. At least when the strikes were going on, we knew what was happening.
“We haven’t had a lot of information on this cyber-attack, we get a couple of messages when trying to buy online but no-one really knows what’s going on.”


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ICICI Bank has become the first Indian bank to launch a mobile payment service based on Visa’s mVisa solution, which was unveiled in August 2015. “With this service, users of Pockets can make cashless payment from their smartphones using their debit card by simply scanning an mVisa QR code at a merchant location,” the bank says.
- Bank of America adds AI to mobile app
- US consumers ‘largely unfamiliar’ with contactless and mobile payments, research shows
- Mastercard to roll out biometric ID service in North America
- PayPal to be payment option in Messenger app
- App users positive on mobile payments


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I’ll admit, the title is a bit of a lead on. Yes, Aptera is out of business, and yes there is a youtube video of employees smashing Aptera car bodies with forklifts, but we’ve now learned (via Fox News) that the video was made back in the Spring of 2011.
It was first believed that disgruntled, or perhaps just bored and under-supervised, employees were smashing up cars after the management was fired/left and the company went into bankruptcy. Former executives of the company and many online personalities were quite upset about the videos that appeared on YouTube. It turns out that the videos were shot in April, before the company was vacating their headquarters sometime in May. The Aptera chassis being destroyed via forklift was actually flawed prototypes that were being disposed of intentionally, and employees subjected them to some impromptu crash testing in the process.
As for any remaining Aptera assets, the company says they are safely under control of a liquidation company who plans to auction them off at a later date. (Former) Aptera staff remain hopeful that another company/entity will pick up where Aptera left off, at least by continuing with some of the technology they were pioneering.
Aptera leaves the electric vehicle community mourning – Aptera claimed to have been working on a four-door, five passenger electric car that could achieve 190MPGe and cost around $30,000. Claims like that blow the current electric vehicle offerings out of the water. The Mitsubishi i is currently rated at 112MPGe so 190MPGe is another 70% ahead of it. We expect to see some heavy hitters coming to the auction to get their hands on the research data and technology that Aptera leaves behind.