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NAC partners truck owners on new fleet for ports’ operations
FOLLOWING clamour by stakeholders in the maritime sector for the full implementation of minimum haulage standards at the nation’s seaports, the Federal Government has announced plans to provide necessary financial assistance to truck owners.
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) had recently informed the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) of its intention to enforce standards.
Speaking in Lagos on the proposed Federal Government financial assistance to the truck owners, the Director-General of National Automotive Council (NAC), Aminu Jalal, an engineer, said the agency was awaiting the response of truck owners before taking further step.
Already, NAC has opened negotiation with some financial institutions with ‘flexible terms’ including a South African bank.
Jalal described previous meetings between NAC, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and some maritime stakeholders as fruitful, pointing out that there is need for more meetings where details can be arrived at.
The NAC boss said representatives of the South African bank are expected in Nigeria this month to open discussions on the proposed financial assistance.
Urging truck owners in the maritime sector to come forward with their request and specifications, Jalal said prompt clearance of goods from the ports is in the interest of all stakeholders.
Jalal said. “We (NAC) are ready to facilitate the transactions. Truck manufacturers such as ANAMCO and NTM have started operations. Plans are under way for about eight more truck firms to start operations this year. Truck owners in the maritime sector should take advantage of this opportunity. We are ready to assist them with funding. We need to have their specifications. All goods come through the port. It is in our interest to see that port operations are not disturbed by broken down trucks. Prompt clearance of goods is also in the interest of the auto sector”.
Reacting to the clamour for improved standards recently, Chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, said his members are making effort to adjust to the standards.
Ogungbemi said the initiative would encourage people to maintain their trucks, pointing out that it would impact on their business positively.
Jalal said NAC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the South Africa bank, adding that the maritime truck owners would be able to access loans at a reasonable lending rate.
He explained that the auto policy have mainly two objectives, “the first one is to bring back assembly companies and the second is to develop local content for these companies. The benefits to the Nigeria economy are many, of course, as it would create jobs and we would also save foreign exchange. It may be small initially but later, it would be a huge saving.
“Vehicles and their spare parts are already the second largest users of foreign exchange. So, if we can do something to reduce the volume of foreign exchange required by developing local content, it would be to our own advantage and benefit and then we can export to other neighbouring countries.


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The Microsoft The head of gaming said Wednesday that video games can withstand economic weakness, even as the software maker expects to slow down in other parts of its consumer-focused business.
Rising prices and interest rates have inspired investors to rush and find pockets of financial markets that can hold up in a downturn. Gaming remains a high priority for Microsoft, and the company is working to close its $68.7 billion acquisition of publishers. Online game Activision Blizzard.
Other parts of technology could be at risk of a recession. Alphabet and Meta Platform still derive most of their income from advertising, and the former still rely on internet search and the latter on social media. Patrick Lo, CEO of network hardware maker Netgearwhich reported an annualized revenue decline of 14% on Wednesday, said in a statement there was a “challenging macroeconomic environment for most consumers.”
Microsoft is more diversified than these companies, although earlier this week executives said its exposure to consumers would hurt sales in the current season of Windows operating system license, PC surface and advertising on properties such as Bing and LinkedIn.
During the quarter, the company expects to sign up more subscribers to its Xbox Game Pass service, which provides unlimited access to hundreds of video games, Amy Hood, its chief financial officer, told analysts on a conference call on Tuesday. Gaming revenue should decline in the low to mid-teens due to strong growth in the quarter a year ago that saw the introduction of first-party games, Hood said.
Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, sounds optimistic about the prospects of the unit.
“It’s proven over the years, in times of economic uncertainty for families, that gambling is somewhat resilient to these issues,” he said at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California.
Not everyone shares Spencer’s opinion.
“The video game industry has never been ‘recession-proof,’ but that line comes up every time the r-word is mentioned,” Mat Piscatella, executive director and video game industry advisor at market researcher NPD Group, wrote in a july tweet.
Piers Harding-Rolls, director of research at researcher Ampere Analysis, made similar comments.
“After two years of strong expansion, the gaming market is poised to give back some of that growth in 2022 as several factors combine to undermine performance,” he told CNBC in July.
But Spencer can point to Microsoft’s own experience with recessions as evidence for his claim.
In 2008, during the Global Financial Crisis, Microsoft cut the price of Xbox consoles in several markets as the public became interested in Nintendo Wii. Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices unit at the time, said it was “numerically on the console side, our best holiday and our best calendar year in Xbox history”.
In 2020, a brief recession coincided with the outbreak of the coronavirus, but this led people to stay at home and play more games, such as on Xbox consoles and computers. “People everywhere are turning to games to maintain human connection while practicing social distancing,” CEO Satya Nadella said in April 2020.
Today, Spencer said, Microsoft gives people the choice of how much they want to spend on consoles. The company offers the $499 Xbox Series X and the less powerful $299 Xbox Series S. Microsoft subsidizes the price of the tune of $ 100 to $ 200 per console, with the expectation that it will make the money back on sales of accessories and storefront purchases, it. said. It’s up to gamers whether they’d like to pay $10 or $15 a month for a Game Pass subscription. They can also buy games outright, or play certain games for free.
Spencer said he doesn’t think Microsoft will be able to keep the prices of games constant forever. But they can provide an impressive amount of entertainment compared to other activities. “People can play video games for hundreds of hours,” he said.
WATCH: Hill: Weaknesses at Microsoft and Alphabet are causing us to rethink expectations for overall earnings estimates

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Waking Up the Awards
Last week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America announced its nominees for this year's most gifted and influential fashion forces, a group of men, women and Web sites (Vogue.com, Nike .com) to be toasted at the organization's annual awards gala on June 15 at Lincoln Center. Last year's six-hour ceremony was derided for failing to keep people awake, and so it is interesting, perhaps, that the council will bestow a special prize this year on another interminable ceremony revolving around statuettes: the Academy Awards show.
''All people talk about is what anyone is wearing to the Academy Awards,'' said Stan Herman, the president of the council. ''This was not the case 30 years ago,'' he added. ''I hear they're very taken with this award on the West Coast.''
In past years, most winners were announced in advance. This time, on the theory that the evening needed some drama, the fashion council has nominated multiple candidates in each category, with winners to be revealed at the gala. The nominees for women's-wear designer of the year are Donna Karan, Oscar de la Renta and Helmut Lang. Mr. Lang has also been nominated in the men's-wear and accessory categories, representing the first time any designer has had a chance for a hat trick at the awards, now known as the American Fashion Awards, formerly the CFDA Awards.
The candidates for new talent in women's-wear design include the much fussed-over Miguel Adrover and Jeremy Scott, and the less fussed-over Rebecca Taylor. Ms. Taylor is more commercially minded than her competition, and has been in business longer, since 1996.
The evening will also feature a special tribute to Bill Blass and the presentation of a lifetime achievement award to Valentino.
In the May issue of Town & Country, readers can find a portrait of the socialites Mai Hallingby and Joanne de Guardiola perched on a stone garden wall wearing shoes not intended for any communion with peat moss. The women are featured, the copy informs, because they are ''key players'' behind this year's fund-raising gala for the New York Botanical Garden, to be held in June. Ms. Hallingby is cited as the benefit chairwoman and Mrs. de Guardiola as the ''fashion'' chairwoman.
Maria Masciotti, the vice president for special events at the garden, said that to the best of her knowledge this is the first time the gala has had a fashion chairwoman. ''I'm not really sure I understand what it entails,'' she said.
Mrs. de Guardiola's job, it turns out, involves writing letters to designers like Vera Wang, Pamela Dennis and Ralph Lauren, and persuading them to lend gowns to women on her fashion committee for the evening. The committee will eventually consist of 15 people, said Julia Harris, the event coordinator for the party, who is helping Mrs. de Guardiola with the letter-writing. It so far includes Serena Boardman and Coco Kopelman, women with presumably no shortage of full-length dresses in their closets.
Will anything be required of women on the fashion committee? ''They'll really just be wearing the dresses,'' Ms. Harris said.
Style to Travel
Not too long ago, the Hollywood stylist Philip Bloch trenchantly observed: ''I work with a lot of celebrities, and they get a lot of free things. If I called designers and said, 'There's this homeless woman, can she have this outfit?' they'd be like, 'No, it's got to go back to the showroom.' ''
But now Mr. Bloch has hooked up with a showroom designed to give away clothes to women ''in transition'' from welfare. The showroom, called Community Closet, is a 53-foot truck that travels from city to city. It has four dressing rooms and career clothing donated by Mervyn's, the chain store that sponsors the program.
At more than a dozen stops in California through June, Mr. Bloch will help outfit 32 women a day in pants suits, twin sets, skirts and shoes. ''I show them how to mix and match,'' he said.
''Fashion is the best medicine for low self-esteem,'' Mr. Bloch offered, adding that many of the women he's worked with know he usually dresses movie stars. ''This makes them feel even more valid.''Continue reading the main story


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Players who purchase the Battle Pass will have access to a private island before the universal launch on December 13.
Like the ever-popular battle royale mode (and the slightly less popular Save the World alternative), Epic fully intends to support Creative going forward, introducing various new features and updates over the coming weeks and months. According to the developer, Fortnite Creative is similar to the game's Playground Mode, but on a much larger scale.
His video has been removed from YouTube (Android, iOS), but given Fortnite's meteoric popularity, getting rid of all copies of the footage quickly proved impossible. It will also be interesting to see if the company borrows from the community's ideas-or perhaps even copies them outright-in more official Fortnite modes.
Fortnite Creative is not the final build of the mode, however. In the free tier of challenges for Week 1, Epic wants you to dance in seven different forbidden locations and will give you five Battle Stars in return, which will help you earn some of those new skins.
Mitchell Marsh dropped by Australia for series opener against India
However, he must get his other batters to perform if he is to grab the crowning glory of India's first Test series victory in Australia .
Epic has already confirmed it has some big news to share at The Game Awards tomorrow and it looks like we now know what that will be.
Player will be able to build their own levels and create mini games, as well as set their own gameplay rules.
Epic Games has teamed up with several content creators to hit home the message of Fortnite Creative.


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Facebook has expanded and diversified hugely since its arrival on the web as it has grown in popularity and the next big thing seems to be movie rentals. This is not exactly a new feature, however it is certainly one that seems to be growing on the site as they have added 5 new titles to their collection.
“The Dark Knight” has already been available on Facebook for quite a while , now we can confirm that Warner Bros has expanded the selection and included the following new films: “Yogi Bear”, “Inception”, “Life As We Know It”, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets”. (You can download any of these by clicking on the name of the film).
The full report from CNET can be seen here. The films are being retailed at $4 per movie (although Dark Knight is on sale for $3), the films will be paid for using Facebook credits. According to sources the exchange equates to roughly $1 to 10 Facebook Credit. Warner Bros has made it clear that the releases on Facebook are purely for trial to see if people will use the service and watch the films
Film makers and producers have been using social networking sites to test out means of promoting their films for a while and Twitter has been another target for producers in particular.
We wonder if this service will grow in popularity in 2011, have you used Facebook Movie Film Rentals? If so please sum up the experience in the comments section below.
*Identifying Monetised Links - outgoing links that we monetise are marked with an '*' symbol.


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Three years ago, Ferrari announced that its vehicles are differentiated into four categories. The most affordable of the lot are known as Sport and Grand Turismo. Above, the Special series is joined by the Icona family.
The next Icona line project will be showcased on November 15 according to a photograph in the invitation, which indicates that Monza owners are invited to the big reveal. The high-class event is expected to take place in Italy, most likely at the automaker’s headquarters in Maranello.
Enrico Galliera, Marketing and Sales Director of Ferrari, ends the invitation as follows: “Please find enclosed a replica of the cachet of the classic Ferrari which inspired our new Icona model.” The high-tier frame refers to a replica of a manual locking shifter inspired by the glorious 330 P4 endurance racing car, which rocks a five-speed, three-pedal gearbox.
Don’t believe for a minute that Galliera indirectly confirmed a closed manual shifter for the Icona because it’s impossible. Certifying a low-production supercar with a row drivetrain is an expensive process that made no sense in the days of the dual-clutch gearbox, and Ferrari ditched the gearshift lever in the last one. decade.
Contrary to what other reports suggest, the next Icona is a DCT deal like all Ferrari road models in production today. Expected to cost between $ 2.5 million and $ 3 million, the yet to be named newcomer combines the high-revving V12 of the 812 Competizione with the chassis of the Ferrari LaFerrari and the looks of the 330 race car. P4.
Already spied on in Maranello, the limited edition supercar is sure to impress enthusiasts with its retro styling and jaw-dropping V12 soundtrack.


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SHANGHAI, Jun 28 (SMM) – China’s exports of aluminium sheet/plate and strip rose 9.7% from a month ago and 5.7% from a year ago to stand at 245,000 mt in May, showed the latest data from China Customs.
In the same month, the US hiked its tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods after trade talks between the world’s two largest economies collapsed. This is expected to lower orders from American buyers, and Chinese producers who do not have stable clients will likely be the first casualty.
Front-loading shipments to the US probably accounted for the increase in exports of aluminium sheet/plate and strip in May, growing the possibility of a decline in numbers for June and July.
SMM learned that cargoes that could arrive at US ports before July 1 will avoid the higher duties, and that it usually takes 30-45 days for a vessel to go from China to the US.
Chinese producers who have signed long-term supply agreements with foreign buyers told SMM that their export orders did not sharply shrink in May and June, and that they have found new clients from other countries after American buyers were deterred by the imposition of US anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese common alloy aluminum sheet products at the end of 2018.


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Alaska Fish Factor
Salmon permit prices on the rebound, including Southeast power troll
October 21, 2021
Optimism is the word that best sums up the attitude among most Alaska salmon fishermen after a good season, according to people in the business of buying and selling permits and boats.
Most fishermen in major regions ended up with good catches and dock prices were up from recent years. That’s pushed up permit prices, including at the bellwether fishery at Bristol Bay where drift net permits have topped $200,000.
“The highest has been $210,000. But it’s a pretty tight market,” said Maddie Lightsey, a broker at Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer. “A lot of fishermen had a great year...


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At the New York International Auto Show, there will be manufacturers from around the world debuting their latest and greatest model designs and updates, but there will be one manufacturer there that didn’t have very far to travel.
Arriving to unveil their first concept is Lyons Motor Car, a company founded by New York native Kevin Lyons. Since 2011, Kevin and the rest of his team at Lyons Motor Car have pushed forward with the creation of what looks to be an American powerhouse in every sense of the word: the LM 2 Streamliner.
“It was clearly apparent that there were no U.S. vehicles to compete with the ultra luxury brands from Europe and beyond,” describes the Lyons Motor Car website. As a result, Kevin worked to fill that gap. The LM 2 Streamliner is his solution, and its proposed performance specs are at levels that put even the Bugatti Veyron and Koenigsegg One:1 to shame.
1,700 hp will reportedly rocket this new megacar to 60 mph from a standstill in just 2.2 seconds, while its speed will top out somewhere around 290 mph. Extensive use of carbon fiber throughout, from chassis to subframes, takes the weight down for the aluminum V8 engine, which features twin turbochargers and intercoolers mated to a 7-speed sequential gearbox.
But one of the most fascinating and advanced concepts this Concept car hopes to employ comes in the form of, or rather, the lack of wiring. Specialized RF signals transmit power directly to the headlights and other systems throughout the car, eliminating the need for wiring almost completely.
“The technology is literally 10 years ahead of anyone else,” says Kevin in the video above. Uploaded to YouTube May 30, 2013, it gives us insight into the back story of the LM 2 Streamliner and Lyons Motor Car. Be sure to give it a watch, and stay with us for updates as we move closer to the official unveiling of America’s next supercar.
(Source: Lyons Motor Car, YouTube, Facebook)


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A game that etched it’s way into history back in the 90’s on the Super Nintendo, will be travelling forward through time and landing inside of iPhones across Japan on the 13th of December. That game is of course the legendary anime-styled role playing game Chrono Trigger.
To coincide with the release of Chrono Trigger on ther iPhone, a trailer has been released to promote the trek through time. You can check out the Chrono Trigger trailer below.
While the iPhone release is currently set for Japan, it is said to be coming to other regions in the future. What do you think of Chrono Trigger on the iPhone? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.


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Oppo introduced A77, its flagship smartphone A77 in May 2017 and it comes with 4G connectivity. As as was expected Oppo has now announced the 5G version of the phone, which has an updated appearance and improved specifications.
Its Oppo A77 5G is constructed around the 6.56″ HD+ LCD with a 90Hz refresh speed and 600 nits of peak brightness. The screen is covered by 100% of the DCI P3 color spectrum, and also has an 8MP selfie camera. This is a decrease from the 4G model’s 16MP camera in regards to resolution.
In the back, we find an rectangular camera island that houses two flash LEDs that are joined by two cameras, including with a primary resolution of 48 MP and a depth ratio of 2 megapixel. The first camera can also capture 108MP photos using some tricks in the software.
The back panel of the smartphone showcases its Oppo Glow design, which is claimed by the company to be scratch-resistant and wear-resistant.
It is powered by the Dimensity 810 SoC that it runs ColorOS 12.1 straight out of the box. Oppo hasn’t yet mentioned any Android version of the phone on its official website, however it’s likely that we’re considering Android 12.
The A77 5G has 6GB of RAM that can be extended virtually to 5GB. There is 128GB of memory onboard. The phone also comes with a microSD slot to expand storage.
The battery that powers the whole package is a 5,000mAh battery with a charging capability of 33W. claimed to be able to be charged 53% within 30 minutes and 100 percent in just 69 minutes.
The other Oppo 5G’s highlights are Water resistance IPX4, NFC, side-mounted fingerprint reader and stereo speakers to provide an immersive dual-channel audio experience.
Oppo A77 5G Price in Pakistan
Its Oppo A77 5G comes in Ocean Blue and Midnight Black color expected price in Pakistan is Rs. 58,999 (Currently not launched in Pakistan) options and has priced in Thailand ($290/EUR270). The handset will be on sale in Thailand on the 10th of June, but the availability in other markets is not known.


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(By Balaseshan) Tobacco company Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) reported a 10.4 percent growth in quarterly earnings, in line Wall Street projections, on higher pricing, productivity improvements, and the impact of the share repurchase program.
Following the news, shares gained 1.13 percent in premarket
Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter grew 6.8 percent to 79 cents from 74 cents, in line with market expectations. On a reported basis, EPS jumped 10.4 percent to 74 cents.
Net sales declined 3.8 percent to $2.12 billion, missing consensus estimate of $2.20 billion.
Adjusted operating margin improved 2.0 percentage points to 36.1 percent.
Cigarette shipment volume at the company's segment RJR Tobacco, which makes Camels, declined 6.9 percent. Camel volume fell 8.0 percent, while Pall Mall volume rose 1 percent.
Looking ahead for the full year, the company still expects adjusted EPS in the range of $2.91 to $3.01, up 3.6 percent to 7.1 percent, while analysts expect $2.95.
RAI shares, which have been trading between $37.68 and $46.93 over the past year, closed Monday's regular trading at $42.52.


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AnyUnlock: Resolution For N1’s Power Button Problem
If you’re a Nexus One owner, and you’re fed up with having to press the power button and then having to slide to unlock or maybe your power button is just wearing out, you might want to check out XDA forum member helloworld1‘s little app.
Before developing AnyUnlock, the XDA member was using a combination of three applications in order to use any key to turn the phone one + a widget to turn the phone off + another application to prevent the phone turning on with an accidental tap.
Unsurprisingly finding this combo a little inconvenient, helloworld1 decided to develop his own small app. AnyUnlock has the following features:
- Use any key to turn the phone on.
- A widget to turn the phone off.
- A very simple lock screen to prevent accidental taps.
- No root is required.
For more information head on over to the application thread. AnyUnlock is available to download free on the Market.
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In a not entirely surprising move, Google announced that it's putting an end to SMS notifications for Google calendar as of June 27th. They stated earlier, "SMS notifications for Google Calendar launched before smartphones were available. Now in a world with smartphones and notifications, you can get richer, more reliable experience on your mobile device, even offline". Google Drive for Work, Google Apps for Work (paid edition), Education and Government customers will not be affected by these changes and can continue using...
One year ago, Google introduced cardboard. Amazingly enough, that was all it took to fire up the Virtual Reality scene on Android, and what began as an open design concept exploded into thousands of apps and dozens of headsets from big and small vendors alike. Now, there are more than 1 million cardboard viewers/handsets - a Google-quoted number that might not even be accurate given the ease with which headsets can be rigged through off-the-shelf equipment. This year, cardboard returned...
Android M preview images are available. That and much more news is covered by Jordan when he reviews all the important stories from this week. Included in this week's news is the announcement of Google's Project Tango going on sale and be sure to check out the article talking about Google's Roboto font going open source. That's not all that's covered in today's video! Jordan talks about the other videos released this week on XDA TV. XDA TV Producer TK...


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Suzuki To Launch 2021 Hayabusa In India This Month
The legend is coming to India only a couple of months after its international unveil.
Suzuki has confirmed that the India launch of the 2021 Hayabusa will take place this month. This was revealed by the brand through its domestic arm’s Twitter handle.
The Tweet read, “The ultimate sport bike is coming back! Experience unmatched thrill and fun with superior refinement and technology in the new Hayabusa 2021. Launching this month, Stay Tuned!”
Revealed globally back in February, the India-bound superbike was teased by the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer’s domestic arm this time last month.
The third-generation Hayabusa now has a completely redesigned bodywork with ram air intake, new side panels, mirrors, flyscreen and rear seat cowl. The lighting units are LEDs.
The superbike also has a revised chassis and a new subframe now. Similarly, the engine also was given a thorough going-over. Displacing 1340cc, the 4-pot unit makes 190 PS and 150 Nm of torque.
Weighing in at 264 kg, the motorcycle has a 20-litre fuel tank, KYB suspension, Brembo Stylema brakes and a whole host of electronics including a 6-axis IMU, ride modes, lean angle sensitive traction control, launch control, among several others.
When the 2021 Suzuki Hayabusa India launch takes place, it is likely that the bike will be available in limited numbers for a while due to mounting global demand. Further, it will command a hefty premium over the second-generation model.


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A number of freebies are available in the Warsaw area to celebrate National Donut Day, which is Friday June 7.
Martin’s Super Markets is giving away a free donut per customer, or offering $1 off a dozen.
Rise n Roll is giving away Cinnamon Caramel Donuts for free while supplies last.
Dunkin’ is providing a free donut to anyone who makes a beverage purchase.
— Dunkin’ (@dunkindonuts) June 7, 2019
Walmart locations nationwide have over a million glazed donuts available for free.
View this post on Instagram
Coupons.com is giving three dollars cash back for those who buy a donut at Owen’s.
Hardee’s is celebrating with the return of their Froot Loops Mini Donuts, available through June 9.
Entemann’s is running a Fan Flavor Challenge and Sweepstakes which will award someone $5,000 and a year’s supply of donuts.


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Director DJ Caruso on using iPads to make I Am Number Four
Here's yet another example of the iPad excelling in a place it was never intended to actually go: making movies. Director DJ Caruso did an interview in an Apple Store recently, and he says that he used the iPad in all kinds of ways to help make his new movie I am Number Four, from controlling on-set lights with an app to seeing scripts, marking up storyboards and even scouting out locations. Caruso says the initial purchase was more for fun, but as he used the iPad more and more, he found he was doing a lot of his filmmaking work on it as well. "I got it, I don't want to say as a toy," he says, "but then I realized about a week into prep that my storyboards were coming on it, my previs was on it, my script was on it, I don't carry my script anymore."
That's great. It's a real sign of just how well-designed the iPad is that it can find itself used powerfully in almost any task. Originally, of course, it was just sold as a device to sit on the couch and consume media with, but lots and lots of industries have found a place for the iPad to help out, and it's no surprise that the film industry is the same way.
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Amazon has grown exponentially because of its willingness to sustain losses and invest aggressively at the expense of profits. Furthermore, the e-commerce giant is integrated vertically across business lines selling products online, publishing books, providing cloud services, extending credits, selling online advertisements, designing clothes, and producing movies and TV shows.
The US President Joe Biden recently picked two outspoken Big Tech critics Lina Khan as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair and Tim Wu as the Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy, hinting that his administration intends to take a more aggressive stance toward Big Tech. After this new development, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation issued a statement warning that “a populist approach to antitrust would potentially cause self-inflicted damage that benefits foreign players,” but many welcome the move and feel it is high time the US government overhauled its antitrust regime to effectively regulate monopolies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple.
Tim Wu, also a Columbia University law professor and a longtime Big Tech critic recently joined the Biden Administration. He is also known for coining the term “net neutrality” – the idea that the internet should be free of throttling or control from the government or companies that provide it. For many years, he has been advocating a free and open internet as well as for creating an antitrust regulation against big tech companies that are stifling competition and hurting innovation in the tech sector. Wu’s solution to the problem is breaking Big Tech. Now, he will be working across the federal government to boost competition in the tech industry by identifying policies that could loosen the grip of the major tech companies’ hold on the economy.
Lina Khan, a 32-year-old energetic Associate Professor at Columbia University of law who is now the new FTC Chair became a prominent name in regulatory circles after publishing her immensely popular scholarly work as a Yale Law student back in 2017. Her work titled ‘Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox’ looks at a new way of viewing antitrust law beyond the impact of big-company market dominance on consumer prices. The highly influential paper got her an important role as a counsel to a House Judiciary Antitrust Panel in 2019 and 2020. The panel that did a bipartisan investigation into the market power of Big Tech and also published a report pointing to the need of passing a new antitrust legislation to curb the increasing trend of companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple from engaging in anti-competitive behavior.
Khan believes monopolies are still harmful even when they appear to benefit consumers with free services and low price offers. Amazon may not look like a monopoly, but it has grown so big that it can undercut rivals by offering massive discounts for a sustained period. Every 44 cents of every dollar spent in the US on the internet goes to Amazon and the next biggest retailer eBay only gets six cents for that dollar. Amazon got even bigger during the pandemic when most businesses suffered heavy losses.
Amazon has grown exponentially because of its willingness to sustain losses and invest aggressively at the expense of profits. Furthermore, the e-commerce giant is integrated vertically across business lines selling products online, publishing books, providing cloud services, extending credits, selling online advertisements, designing clothes, and producing movies and TV shows. Walmart was bigger than Amazon in 2015 and now, the latter has almost four times the value of the former. According to Khan, Amazon’s use of predatory pricing and integration across business lines are illegal under the US Antitrust laws.
Khan argues that Amazon’s dual role of selling products on its platform and running a marketplace for third-party sellers creates an inherent conflict of interests. Amazon’s third-party marketplace made up of millions of merchants is now the critical part of Amazon’s e-commerce business accounting for more than half of Amazon’s overall sales. Unfortunately, at the same time, Amazon has also been exploiting data on its e-commerce platform to squeeze the third-party merchants that it considers to be internal competitors. This has been proven as Amazon’s internal documents show that it has been manipulating its all-important buy box algorithm to do what is best for Amazon’s bottom line, not customers. Therefore, Khan has a challenging, yet very important role ahead of her as the new FTC Chair to curtail such unethical and illegal practices used by Big Tech.
Interestingly, almost immediately after Khan’s scholarly work was published in 2017, the Indian Government took notice. Khan has already impacted the Indian e-commerce retail market that is expected to grow to $200 billion a year by 2026 from $30 billion in 2019. India revised the FDI rules for the e-commerce sector in December of 2018. The new rule only allows foreign e-commerce players to operate as a marketplace to connect buyers and sellers, prohibiting them from holding inventories of goods and directly selling them on their platforms or offering products from sellers in which they have an equity stake. This move has severely impacted foreign e-commerce players like Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart that have invested billions of dollars in the country.
This year, the world’s biggest democracy is again considering revising its rules for the e-commerce sector. According to India’s draft e-commerce policy, all e-commerce firms may soon be required to treat all sellers equally on their platforms and ensure transparency. Furthermore, they are required to bring out clear and transparent policies on online discounts. A recent World Bank report claimed that “India’s e-commerce regulations primarily intend to protect domestic or traditional players, but may end up creating an unlevel playing field for data-driven businesses globally.” The report also named India as one of the countries where foreign companies are facing regulatory hurdles.
There is a bigger headache on the horizon for the e-commerce players in India. They might have to disclose their proprietary source codes and algorithms. Experts, however, warn that mandating the revelation of their secret algorithms to demonstrate that they are not biased will be a concern for many platforms that are protective over their intellectual property. This we believe ends up stifling innovation and is against the spirit of free-market capitalism. More importantly, the government’s move is somewhat unfair to Big Tech. The Government of India, however, is adamant about its stance. Only time will tell how the e-commerce regulatory scene will pan out in India.
In the US, things will get tougher for Big Tech in the coming days. House lawmakers have already unveiled a legislative package deal that might overhaul the country’s antitrust legal guidelines designed to loosen Big Tech’s hold on the digital economy. The "Innovation Competition and Opportunity Act” will allow regulators to block dominant companies from acquiring would-be competitors. The “Ending Platform Monopolies Act” will forbid companies from stomping out smaller competitors by undermining fair and free online competition. The “Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act” will make it easier for new companies to enter the market by changing requirements that affect costs for businesses. The “Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act” will update filing fees for mergers for the first time in two decades to allow regulators to enforce antitrust laws.
It will be exciting to see what further developments will pan out in the US especially after Big Tech critics like Lina Khan and Tim Wu are in the position of power in the Biden Administration.
(Professor Pokharel is the Dean of the School of Engineering, Kathmandu University. Shah is a Policy Wonk.)


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Grocer finds buyers for 36 stores in California, Nevada
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Grocery chain Haggen has found buyers for 36 of its stores in California and Nevada.
The Bellingham Herald reports the grocer said Monday it will sell one Nevada store and 27 in Southern California to Smart & Final LLC. They will sell eight Southern California stores to Gelson’s Markets.
The deals are part of Bellingham-based Haggen’s bankruptcy plan to downsize from 164 to 37 stores and leave the Southwest market.
In September, Haggen asked a bankruptcy court for permission to close 100 stores, including all of those in California and Nevada.
Haggen has now filed a motion in court to establish a bid and auction process for the rest of the stores it announced it was closing.


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NEW DELHI: India Inc on Saturday welcomed the Centre's norms — Unlock 1 — meant to ease restrictions on businesses and other daily aspect of life.
Accordingly, the fifth phase of the nationwide lockdown was announced which would last in the containment zones from June 8-30. The guidelines said that only a limited number of activities will remain prohibited throughout the country, including international air travel till June-end.
However, baring essential services, no activity will be allowed in the containment zones.
Industry body Assocham's Secretary General Deepak Sood said the phased re-opening of activities from June 1, termed as 'Unlock 1' with an economic focus, has come in as a great relief for the industry and trade, including millions of MSMEs which should steadily return to normalcy while maintaining vigil against the spread of COVID-19.
"After a stringent lockdown of over two months, the economic dimension of the pandemic had to be considered ensuring both life and livelihood," Sood said. "The Central Government has taken a right call, freeing a large part of the economy outside the containment zones. With these measures, the Indian economy should bounce back steadily but surely," he added.
However, he pointed out that states need to work in a well-coordinated manner to ensure that the movement of goods and persons, restrictions on which have now been lifted, must be adhered to. (IANS)


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Avalon Peninsula fish and seafood processors get support from the Canadian Seafood Stabilization Fund
June 1, 2021 · Port de Grave, Newfoundland and Labrador · Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)
Atlantic Canada’s fish and seafood sector has faced significant challenges and financial hardship since the downturn in the economy due to COVID-19. That is why the Government of Canada is helping fish and seafood processors navigate these difficult times with support through the Canadian Seafood Stabilization Fund.
An initiative of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the $62.5 million fund is being delivered by three of Canada’s Regional Development Agencies. ACOA is delivering $42.7 million in Atlantic Canada.
Today, Ken McDonald, Member of Parliament for Avalon, on behalf of the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for ACOA, announced total investments of $1,008,462 for six projects. The funds will help fish and seafood processors in Aquaforte, Bay Roberts, Brigus, Port de Grave and Ship Harbour weather the pandemic and prepare for a strong economic recovery, so that their communities can continue to thrive.
Aqua Crab Producers Inc. $54,750
To support expenditures for health and safety modifications to its snow crab processing operation in Aquaforte, including installation of dividers, purchase of an office trailer and breakroom furnishings to achieve safe social distancing, as well as work station refits and thermometers.
Bay Roberts Seafoods Ltd. $39,750
To build a holding room for capelin in which a new compressor will be installed. The room allows for safe social distancing of employees and will keep capelin product cool until the racks are full enough to go to the freezer. Other COVID-related costs that will be included are, a new employee entrance, dividers between scales and belts in the plant and an additional conveyor belt line.
Dandy Dan's Fish Market Ltd. $15,435
To enhance plant health and safety measures for employees and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Fame Fisheries Ltd. $181,500
To support expenditures related to their extensive COVID-19 health and safety program aboard their factory freezer trawler to protect their employees, including reusable special matting and other personal protective equipment (PPE).
Independent Fish Harvesters Inc. $42,150
To introduce new health and safety measures at its seafood processing plant including, installation of dividers, breakroom upgrades to achieve social distancing, PPE and an air purification system.
Nu Sea Products Inc. $674,877
Port de Grave
To implement three snow crab processing machines to allow for safe separation of employees while producing better yield and a high quality product.
To find out more about ACOA programs and services, please visit the ACOA website
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Development and Official Languages
Office of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
Director of Communications, Newfoundland and Labrador
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
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Your daily round-up of the best of Wall Street Journal’s India coverage:
U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner Welcomes India Reforms: India’s recent steps to further open its market to foreign investors will help provide a foundation for strong economic growth, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday.
India Aviation Regulator Orders Kingfisher to Stop Selling Tickets: India’s aviation regulator has asked Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. to stop selling tickets soon after the airline resumed ticket sales for flights starting this weekend.
India Shares End Up as Investors Buy Defensive Plays: Indian shares ended up Tuesday following two sessions of declines, as cautious investors bought more defensive plays like companies producing fast-moving consumer goods and pharmaceuticals on expectation of good quarterly results from these sectors.
For the latest news and analysis, follow @WSJIndia


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It used to be that cybersquatters would register the name of a famous person, company or product and then try and sell the name to the rightful owner. But now things have changed. According to Wired News:
These days, cybersquatters seek to register a star’s domain before that person becomes famous, and then develop a business relationship with the new celebrity, offering website hosting or design work. These so-called soft squatters are registering the domains of hundreds of amateur athletes, musicians and other would-be stars in the hope that one or two of the names will become well-known.
There are now even specialized services like sedo.com that make it easy to earn add revenue from parked domain names and at the same time provide a vehicle to help sell such domain names.
Shaw Communications has been hit with a $1.2 million lawsuit filed by U.S.-based VoIP provider ZingoTel which claims that the Canadian cable operator refused to air a ZingoTel television ad because it promoted a competing VoIP-based calling service. The news comes just a couple of weeks after Vonage Canada also filed a complaint with the CRTC about the cable operator’s practices in respect of charging Vonage subscribers a $10 “quality of service enhancement” fee.
Canada’s Telecommunications Policy Review Panel issued its final report. The report makes a number of other recommendations to reduce or eliminate the current level of CRTC economic regulation. The report also recommends a new approach to control anti-competitive conduct in telecommunications markets on the basis of complaints made on an ex post basis, rather than by prescribing detailed ex ante restrictions governing the provision of services. However, with respect to network neutrality, the Panel considered it important to ensure that Canadian consumers are not denied access to the wide range of new and innovative Internet services.
The report notes that there is a growing concern that increasingly deregulated telecommunications service providers could, for strategic competitive reasons, decide to block or limit access to some Internet applications and content. Therefore the Panel recommends that the Telecommunications Act should confirm the right of Canadian consumers to access publicly available Internet applications and content by means of all public telecommunications networks that provide access to the Internet. … The Panel believes telecommunications service providers in most cases have little or no incentive to interfere with customer access. However, the principle of open access to the Internet is sufficiently important that it justifies a new regulatory provision to ensure that it is maintained.
This will be good news to VOIP service providers, and other Internet content providers, who are concerned about ISPs blocking access to their content or services or reducing the priority of their traffic.
According to the Globe and Mail, the new Canadian federal Industry Minister says he is open to scrapping restrictions on foreign ownership in telecommunications.
The telecom review panel, appointed by the Liberal government almost a year ago, will present its report today to Mr. Bernier. It is expected to call for a more market-oriented approach to the sector, a view that is sure to get a sympathetic hearing from the business-oriented minister.
“I won’t close the door because it’s foreign ownership,” Mr. Bernier said.
For telephone companies, which fall under Industry Canada’s jurisdiction, and the cable sector, which is in Heritage Canada’s domain, foreigners can own a maximum of 20 per cent of an operating company and one-third of a holding company. That means an effective cap of 46.7 per cent.
Yahoo has launched the beta for its SIP-based Yahoo! Messenger for Voice VOIP Service in the US. The service features phone-in ($2.99 a month, or $29.90 a year) and phone-out capabilities to allow users to make and receive calls from landlines. Pricing for calling out is apparently very aggressive – 20-30% below Skype – USD 2 cents a minute or less to the top 30 national phone markets.
See Yahoo Voice.
From Reuters via Engadget
Techdirt has a nice posting about the liability of wireless access point owners for illegal or infringing conduct carried out by other people accessing the Internet through their access point. Seems that some individuals may be purposely leaving their access point open (in other words, leaving encryption turned off) so that they could (1) cast doubt that infringing activity conducted using their Internet connection was conducted by them and (2) assert the benefit of “common carrier” defenses available to ISPs and other telecom companies for infringing content transferred over their network. Could it be that we’ll all end up with free wi-fi everywhere we go because people open up their wi-fi routers in the belief that it will help protect them from lawsuits filed by the recording industry? Of course, sharing or reselling Internet connectivity may be a breach of a user’s terms of service from their upstream ISP. But that may or may not be determinative of the potential defense. In any event, an interesting argument.
One of Linksys’ most successful products has been WRT54G/GS/GL. Some would say this is because the router (well, at least the original versions and the current GL version) software was based on open source and a large community of third party developers has been developing new applications for the box. Two popular sources of replacement firmware for the WRT54 have been OpenWRT and Sveasoft. However, the two are now engaged in a fight and OpenWRT (whose software is licensed under the GNU General Public License) recently terminated Sveasoft’s license to use any component of OpenWRT.
From DailyWireless. If you are interested in purchasing a model of the WRT54 that can still be reflashed with OpenWRT or Sveasoft software, consult the chart at Wikipedia.
KinderStart.com, a Norwalk-based Web site devoted to information about children, filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court in San Jose seeking to be certified as a class action representing the owners of all Web sites blacklisted by Google’s Internet-leading search engine since January 2001.
Google’s search system attempts to elevate the positioning in search results of Web sites with content most relevant to a particular search. Because of the large proportion of searches handled by Google as compared to rival search engines, sites without a well known domain name that are assigned a low ranking by Google can loose the majority of their traffic. Somes sites therefore try to optimize their content so as to increase their rankings – however, if discovered by Google, such sites can be artificially penalized (or sent to “the sandbox” for the equivalent of a children’s time out).
From SiliconValley.com via Techdirt.


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Hari Raya celebrations and attempts to rescue a derailed luxury train highlight the events on July 28, 2014.
A car bomb exploded in front of a hotel in Yala's Betong district on Friday evening. At least two people were killed and 42 civilians wounded. (Bangkok Post, EPA and AFP photos)
In today's photo gallery, we feature a car bombing in Yala, a cave used as a base for a communist radio station many decades ago, antique cars, Everton football players, tonnes of rubbish and a man in China.
Thailand exports 3.5 billion to 4 billion baht worth of crocodile products to China, Japan and the European market annually, according to the Department of Fisheries. There are 809 registered crocodile farms across the country and they manufacture its meat, blood for medicine and skin for fashion accessories. (Photos by Thiti Wannamontha)
In today's photo gallery, we feature Thaksin hugging Yingluck, a couple of healthy eating events, a plane crash site, Hello Kitty and frozen pork.


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MediaHound and its team of engineers and product developers will become part of UTA IQ.
Originally debuting on the Exquisite Gucci runway, a mirror-filled space where historic emblems multiplied and metamorphized across sartorial streetwear, the first adidas x Gucci collection expands on the creative concept founded on an affinity for three stripes.
Unilever beauty brand, Lux, has voiced its support for renowned South African Olympic gold medalist, Caster Semenya. This comes off the back of her fight against the World Athletics board to be allowed to compete in the 800m race in the upcoming 2021 Olympics. Semenya has a genetic condition known as hyperandrogenism which means she […]


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Continuing its round of CES announcements, Microsoft has revealed that three upcoming games—Shadowrun, Halo 2, and Mattel’s Uno—will allow PC users running Windows Vista to play on Xbox Live and use Xbox Live services.
Delivering on a vision that Microsoft presented at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006, Microsoft Game Studios’ “Shadowrun” and Mattel’s “UNO” are part of the first wave of Live titles that bring the benefits of Xbox Live® to gamers on Windows Vista, including an active community of nearly 5 million gamers, a single identity for each gamer across Windows and Xbox 360, as well as Achievements, which redefine what it means to conquer a game and share accomplishments with friends. The Live gaming and entertainment network will enable gamers to play and communicate online across both of Microsoft’s gaming platforms, bringing more players and their friends together to play and connect in new, exciting ways. In addition, “Halo® 2” for Windows Vista (Microsoft Game Studios/Bungie Studios) will also support Live, including enabling Windows gamers to communicate with Xbox Live gamers and earn Achievements in the famed “Halo 2” campaign — a first for any “Halo” title on any platform.
While PC gamers may rejoice at the idea of being able to play Halo 2 skirmishes with their Xbox 360-equipped counterparts, they’ll apparently be segregated. The folks at Joystiq asked Microsoft for clarification, and the company replied that there won’t actually be any cross-platform gameplay between PCs running Windows Vista and the Xbox 360.
That’s not to say Microsoft doesn’t care about PC gamers, though. In its press release, Microsoft says publishers including Atari, LucasArts, Midway, Turbine, 2K Games, THQ, and Vivendi Universal have all joined its Games for Windows initiative. As part of the initiative, the companies’ games will have to “meet a set of technical guidelines including easier installation, increased reliability and support for key Windows Vista features such as the Games Explorer and parental controls.” The initiative will also see stores like Circuit City, CompUSA, GameStop, and Wal-Mart display Games for Windows branding in their game sections.


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And, in a completely literal sense, this is perfectly true. Romford’s history can be traced back to the Middle Ages, while its market is still open three times a week.
But forget all your preconceptions about market towns.
Because Romford, its town centre locked within the tight embrace of the A125 and A1251 ring road, is seriously lacking on the pretty market square and farm fresh produce front.
The birthplace of Gemma Collins is a classic Essex town, with a clutch of indoor shopping malls, a greyhound stadium, and a tanning salon on almost every corner.
But amidst all the Towie-ness, there are some good reasons to consider a move to Romford, its value for money and half-hour rail commute to Liverpool Street chief among them. What Crossrail adds to the mix is a direct line to the rest of London.
And while its not going to set your Instagram feed on fire, Romford is supremely user friendly. There are parks, two cinemas, Hainault Forest up the road, a new leisure centre with ice skating and two pools, and some great places to eat and drink.
Amidst the many greasy spoons on offer, organic porridge and a coffee at Bunno will set you up nicely for the day, and Ciao Bella is the go-to neighbourhood Italian.
For a one stop shop, the 1930s Romford Shopping Hall is a unique experience. You can browse the shelves of second-hand treasures at the Alpha Book Company (and swap your used paperbacks for something new), stock up on plantain and saltfish at Fimcom Foods, or settle down to a plate of pie and mash at McDowells.
Average house prices since work on Crossrail started
When artist Laura Yuile was planning her current project, she knew the mall would be the perfect venue for a pop-up examination of modern shopping culture.
“I knew and really liked the shopping hall — it is almost 100 years old, has got a lot of family-run businesses, and there are people who have been there for decades; its very different to your Westfields,” said Laura, 35.
Since March, she has been curating a rolling series of exhibitions on everything from the rise of online retailing to the psychology of shopping.
Laura, who moved from Glasgow to London ten years ago to study at Goldsmiths, and lives in nearby Barking, thinks temporary uses like her project — which is funded by the Arts Council — could play an important part in reviving town centres ravaged by the pandemic.
“The shopping centre in general is quite empty, which is a shame,” she said. “But I do feel that I have been able to bring some new people in.”
While the town centre has been hit by the pandemic, Romford’s property market has thrived, with price growth of 12 per cent — amongst the strongest performers along the Crossrail line.
Crossrail journey times
From Romford to Liverpool Street: 31 minutes
From Romford to Tottenham Court Road: 58 minutes*
From Romford to Canary Wharf: 60 minutes*
*Timings include interchange at Liverpool Street
Ben Perkins, director of Ashton and Perkins estate agents, estimates that buyers would need to budget around £475,000 to £550,000 for a three-bedroom house in Romford, or around £250,000 to £300,000 for a two-bedroom flat.
For renters, a three-bedroom house would cost £1,500pcm to £1,600pcm, while a flat would be around £1,100 to £1,200.
“There has been a ripple of buyers coming out of inner east London,” said Perkins. “There are first-time buyers, who often have a substantial deposit from the family, and also families looking to upsize into a house.”
Renters are more likely to be locals, augmented by staff from the nearby Queen’s Hospital.
“Romford is very multicultural and there is something for everyone,” said Perkins. “You have got the more bustling areas, but if you walk for half a mile or a mile you are out in green space — it is the best of both worlds.”
Despite this, he doubts whether the pandemic’s price growth, which was boosted by the Stamp Duty holiday, can be sustained in the midst of the cost of living crisis.
“There could be a lull because we can’t sustain what has been happening in the last few years,” he said.
The future for Romford
A couple of months before Crossrail started running, planning permission was granted for a development which will change the centre of Romford forever.
Rom Valley Gardens is a £400m new “contemporary urban village” being built on the site of Romford’s former ice rink, close to the train station. The project will include some 1,000 homes, public gardens, a piazza lined with shops, cafes, and restaurants, and a gym.
Construction work is due to start on site early next year.
Meanwhile, late last year, Romford’s oldest tower blocks, built in 1961 on the Waterloo Estate, were torn down.
The first residents will move in in 2025, and over the next ten years, the estate will be replaced with almost 1,400 new homes, plus workspaces, open space, and a village green.


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Lockerbie and Burton-upon-Trent tile plants sold
A tile firm employing 100 people in Lockerbie and Burton-upon-Trent has been sold in a £13.6m deal.
Russell Building Products (RBP) has bought Russell Roof Tiles, the building products division of Cemex UK.
Cemex announced this year it was seeking to dispose of all non-core assets.
A spokesman for accountants PKF, who advised on the deal, said it would secure the future of both the Scottish and English plants.
Partner Jeff Harris said: "RBP plans to continue to invest in both locations and this will hopefully create more jobs in due course.
"This was a complex transaction that required special funding arrangements because of the planned factory improvements in Burton.
"PKF developed a close working relationship with RBP's management team and financiers in order to agree a deal that will help the business to grow both now and in the future."
UK business director Andrew Hayward, formerly of Cemex who will manage RBP on a day-to-day basis, described it as a "major boost" for "employees, customers and vendors".


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Those clever chaps at Google don’t want to leave anything to chance. The company has invested in nearly all industries, from health care to robotics and Space Race. Even more interesting, the company has been minting some fresh operating system going by the name Fuchsia. The company recently released the source code for this project, and it seems that they are building everything from the ground up (as usual).
Some little background info
Fuchsia uses a totally new kernel going by the name ‘Megenta’, and boots on x86 and ARM and its creators say they’ve already been able to boot this new baby from the Raspberry Pi. Among those involved in Fuchsia are two big-time Be Inc veterans, Travis Geiselbrecht and Brian Swetland. These folks shifted to Danger Inc and helped develop Hiptop OS. Mr. Swetland later joined hands with Danger founder Andy Rubin’s on Android Inc, a startup that Google eventually bought in 2005. Swetland would continue to work at Android up to 2012.After danger, Gieselbrecht took a different path and went on to work at Apple as it created the iPhone. He then developed worked at Palm, where he was a lead architect for the Jawbone embedded operating system. Feel like everything’s getting a little too technical? Don’t worry; let’s get back to the relevant plot!
At this stage, it’s not all clear what Fuchsia will do. Notwithstanding, there are several clues that point us to the right direction. One of the plausible explanations is that Fuchsia will unify Android and Chrome OS, creating a single, more solid operating system that’s scheduled for a 2017 release. The company will probably use this new piece of operating system to power up its ever-increasing range of smart hardware devices, such as the OnHub router, as well as 3rd party Internet of Things gadgets. Based on a preliminary evaluation of the project’s code base, experts already agree that Fuchsia’s core code has been designed to be lightweight. Google’s own documentation says that the OS will target modern phones and personal computers that ride on fast processors and a significant amount of RAM.Magenta (the kernel on which Fuchsia runs on) offers support for multiple advanced features, such as user modes, and a capability-centered security model. The new OS has support for graphics rendering, which means it could also be employed for augmented reality interfaces.
For some time now, Google has been believed to be investing in a ‘proprietary Android’ that doesn’t need the Linux Kernel. This would allow faster development and updates directly passed to end-users. The Fuchsia OS could allow the company to shatter their dependencies and accomplish the same goal. However, at this stage, the OS is still in the infancy stage, and we can’t really be sure of anything until we get an official communiqué from Google.


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Fifteen years ago, Glenda Yañez put on the clothes of her ancestors. She had always admired how her grandmother dressed–her wide, layered skirt; a thick embroidered shawl; and a top hat leaning just so, two long and dark braids coming down her back. Yañez, who grew up in the bustling city of La Paz, Bolivia, had come of age in jeans and T-shirts.
That’s because her grandmother’s indigenous dress–known as the chola style–had for centuries been a target of acute discrimination. For most of Bolivia’s history, a Spanish-descended, white minority lorded over the country’s native majority in a system akin to apartheid. The chola wardrobe is a fashion distinctive to Bolivia’s second largest indigenous group, the Aymara people. And it’s one that has endured since the 1700s, even though it has brought with it heightened segregation.
Yañez’s grandmother would have been expected to use the service elevators in downtown apartment buildings and was not welcomed in upscale restaurants. Cholas were de-facto barred from certain neighborhoods and occupations such as judgeships, government offices, and most of academia. Yañez remembers her grandmother recounting the shame she felt when walking into government buildings. With each new generation, many mothers–including Yañez’s–chose to spare their daughters similar fates.
But by the time Glenda Yañez was in her 20s, Bolivia was on the cusp of change. The 1990s had brought a wave of indigenous power protest, and in 2005 the country elected its first indigenous president. As Bolivia’s original occupants gained increasing economic and political power, the once-stigmatized Aymara dress saw a resurgence.
Cholitas, as they are affectionately known, now star in commercials and line high-fashion runways. The dress of indigenous Bolivians is today “a status symbol,” said La Paz-based economist Valeria Salinas Maceda, who specializes in the study of Bolivian culture. It’s gone from an object of scorn and stigma, to one of fashion phenomenon.
Women like Yañez, now 37, have not only reclaimed their grandmothers’ style, but are capitalizing on the up-and-coming industry of chola fashion. Founder of one of the country’s first indigenous modeling academies, Yañez’s studio takes up a large two-story apartment in La Paz. Hovering over dark, wood-paneled floors are several oversized mirrors with elaborate, ornamental gold framing. In one room, a series of portrait–chola headshots and bible scenes–line the wall.
On a recent September morning, nine models-in-training gathered for class. Since opening last year, The Chola Studio has graduated 50 women and currently represents 20 models. With chola images increasingly appearing on billboards, in TV shows, and now on the insignia of La Paz’s City Hall, the aesthetic and Yañez’s business are expanding.
Her current students, all of whom have day jobs, are a gaggle of vibrant color, tassels, sparkles, sequins, and gaudy jewelry. “We teach women how to do their own makeup, braid their own hair, what the basic color combinations they should have in their wardrobe [are], and what the latest trends are,” Yañez told me when we spoke by phone.
While several weeks of the three-month curriculum are dedicated to learning how to dominate a runway, the models also have coursework. Yañez said that her cholita models are often asked about the origins of chola style when they go on shoots, so she believes they should be well versed in the tradition’s history. They learn about how Spanish colonizers forced the pseudo-European wardrobe onto La Paz’s mestizo-indigenous in an effort to break the connection to their rural, native relatives and undermine their heritage–this all in response to the bloody uprising of the Tupac Amaru in 1780, which nearly toppled the Spanish regime in the Andes.
In an attempt to wipe out all trace and memory of the rebellion, said economist Salinas, city-dwelling women were obligated to wear a pleated skirt, blouse, and a shawl with tassels. They were given the name “cholas” because of the similarity between their dress and that of Spanish “chulas”–the wives of the assistants to Spanish bullfighters.
But over time, the colonizers’ plan to use dress to subdue the Aymara spirit all but backfired: The Aymara women owned the style. The skirt–known as the pollera (also used as shorthand to represent the entire outfit)–spread to the villages, the women together committing to the wardrobe as a lasting expression of cultural unity. This comes as no surprise to anyone who’s spent time in Aymara communities. The group has a reputation for fortitude, strength, ethnic pride, and, yes, stubbornness.
Today, chola dress has six integral parts: 1) the wide, pleated pollera skirt worn high on the waist to accentuate a woman’s rear; 2) several layers of colorful, visible petticoats below; 3) a heavy shawl that’s embroidered and has long tassels on the ends, fastened with a broach; 4) a round bowler hat; 5) flat pumps; and 6) matching, often ostentatious, jewelry. Just as Indian saris range from those worn daily to others donned for weddings, the Aymara wardrobe can be dressed down or up. The chola aesthetic refers to the classier, elaborate end of the spectrum.
It’s not clear how or why this specific–and somewhat odd–combination of items has become the Aymara uniform. The bowler hat draws the most speculation. The story goes that in the 1920s, British designers hoping to sell them to railway workers overseas miscalculated a serious fashion flop. When the hats arrived in Bolivia, their sellers told locals they were fashionable among European women at the time (not true) to unload the cargo. Aymara women bought the tale–and the hats. That this assortment of clothing has hung together despite attracting such scorn and prejudice over the centuries, and then transformed into a bona fide fashion trend, is a remarkable trajectory.
Yañez still remembers the days when she was the only woman in professional circles in La Paz wearing chola dress. It was on one such day in 2010, in fact, that her modeling career began. She attended a conference for small businesswomen in La Paz and was the only one in pollera. The event photographer caught a few shots of her, and several days later she got a call from the conference organizers: An advertising agency had seen the picture and wanted to hire her for an ad. She said yes; more offers followed.
At the time, said Yañez, there was only one modeling agency for chola women and she was turned off by its ethos. “They were doing a selection process,” she said. “They only wanted the youngest and most beautiful.” Yañez believes that chola fashion is better than that. “I think every woman is beautiful, especially in a pollera, and especially the chunky ones!” she told me. That’s why she opened her own studio, welcoming any woman with a love of the pollera and fashion.
This approach is what attracted Carla Antonia Vega to the style. Vega is the newest face of one of Bolivia’s largest banks, Banco Union. “I’d never done anything like it,” she said of the recent video promo shoot with the bank, where she had her hair and makeup done by professionals. “It was a wonderful experience.”
Like Yañez, Vega did not grow up wearing Aymara dress. But after graduating from university, she started dancing in Bolivia’s folkloric festivals, which have always showcased elaborate chola outfits. Vega also had a childhood fondness for the style–similarly imbibed with memories of her grandmother–and said she was drawn to the idea of modeling after seeing cholitas on TV talk shows and in magazine ads.
Vega is convinced that pollera popularity is a result of President Evo Morales’s election. Salinas, a foremost expert on chola fashion in Bolivia, said Morales should be recognized as a catalyst for a process already underway. “The endurance of chola dress is due to the strength of chola character,” she said. “They are dedicated workers with a great capacity for doing business, and they themselves make sure they aren’t left behind.”
The political reckoning of the first indigenous presidency surely bought an important shift in national optics, though. Not only was an indio commanding government, but a mass of indigenous politicians flooded Parliament and lower level offices as well. Many of them were women, and many of them wore their polleras to work. (Morales himself refuses to don a suit, preferring tailor-made sports coats with native weavings across the chest.)
With this transition, the indigenous people also earned more buying power. During Morales’s tenure, the Bolivian economy has been one of the strongest in Latin America, and the Aymara sector has faired exceptionally well. “Commerce led by Bolivia’s indigenous has, for a long time, been a very important economic activity,” said Rosanna Barragan, a Bolivian historian whose research focuses on urban and labor studies. In the last 10 years, she noted, this sector has grown considerably. Along with it, Aymara tastes and aesthetics have likewise gained increasing popularity. The rest of the business world–the companies who want this group to buy their products and services–have responded to the emergence of what some consider a new indigenous bourgeoise. “Fashion is a market trend,” Barragan said.
The Wilshire Boulevard of the Aymara world teeters on the east-facing slopes of the city of La Paz. Max Paredes street is wildly chaotic–too many public transport minivans, too few traffic laws. The shopping centers that line the broken sidewalks are narrow and deep, each one a maze of shops and stalls offering the best of chola fashion.
Here one can find every signature element of the chola outfit–and it’s not cheap. An affordable, but respectable ensemble for going out ranges from $1,500 to $2000. It’s $200 to $300 for handmade manta and pollera; $100 for shoes, blouses, and petticoats; $150 for the hat; and $800 for the jewelry. This pales in comparison to the price of the outfits some women buy for Gran Poder, the most important of the folklore festivals. Those can cost upwards of $10,000.
To the untrained eye, the differences between a very nice and an exquisite ensemble are hard to detect. Yañez laughed when I mentioned this. “We can tell the difference,” she responded. Every detail connotes a certain status: the girth of the pollera, the number of pleats, the complexity of the manta’s embroidery and its adornments. Most especially, women are on the lookout for whether another woman’s accompanying jewelry is made with real or imitation gold. (The latter is not looked upon fondly.)
Though the main elements of the wardrobe are unwavering, chola wear–like all fashion–evolves. Recently, for example, hats are changing. They are getting shorter and are now available in green and blue. Before, the only options were black, gray, or brown.
Shifts like these are propelled by designers looking to take chola fashion to the next level. “We are always innovating,” said Veronica Limachi, the founder of Danzart, a small chola design and manufacturing company. Veronica calls her work “vanguard,” incorporating things like feathers or small mirrors into her designs. She takes inspiration from international runways–she’s working a lot with pastels this year–and “from pachamama, or Mother Earth,” she told me. “We design for distinct tastes.”
This kind of innovation is widely celebrated in La Paz. Other innovation is not. This year, La Paz hosted its first fashion week. On the runway, one designer turned heads by daring to put her models in narrow-toed, thin heels, and very low-cut blouses. “I spoke to her after the show,” said Salinas, referring to the controversial designer. “She admitted to knowing nothing about the history of the clothes and to having started to wear the pollera only a few years ago, because she thought it would be good publicity for her company.”
Salinas, who called this variation “a transgression,” said that while designers should be free to be creative, they ought to respect the primary elements of the ensemble and the roots of the style–such as modesty (that means no low-cut tops). “You can create fashion by respecting limits,” Salinas told me. “You can be creative without distorting identity.”
Another recent controversy is the emergence of designers who are catering to size-zero bodies. Those involved with chola fashion are proud that the dress was derived from the petite, round figure of the Andean indigenous group, and insist that it looks best on this body type. Though that hasn’t apparently stopped some designers from trying to see if it will play well with other women.
These kinds of disputes have put the wardrobe and the identity it represents at a crossroads. How this plays out has implications well beyond the Andean highlands. That an indigenous custom not only holds strong in the 21st century, but has also become a national trend, is a sign of the strength of those who kept the custom alive. But it also puts those same people in a position to lose control over what was once wholly theirs.
One need look no farther than the once-indigenous practices that have already been appropriated and spread over time–yoga, prayer flags, African drumming–to see that when a tradition gains a foothold outside its originating group, the practice will morph in ways that feel like betrayal. Aymara dress may not be a global phenomena, but its emergence on the high-fashion scene offers a peek into what happens when a deeply rooted custom begins to shed its singularly ethnic boundaries.
To that end, there’s also conversation about whether, locally, chola fashion will find its way back to more traditional, daily usage–or if its popularity will be confined to the world of festivals, parties, and runways.
Vega is a case in point. She owns a liquor business and doesn’t wear the pollera regularly. “It’s not comfortable for my work,” she told me. Throughout La Paz, its neighboring city of El Alto, and into the rural highlands, however, there are still plenty of Aymara holdouts doing all kinds of jobs–from construction to farming–in their polleras, just as their mothers and grandmothers did before them.
“It is a paradox,” said historian Barragan, one similar to the pollera-wearing women who are proud of their heritage but don’t dress their daughters in chola fashion except for festivals and celebrations. “On the one hand, you’ve got self-esteem and pride,” she said. “On the other, there’s abandonment.”
Regardless, Salinas believes the return of chola fashion to the national stage is staying true to its origins of endurance and resistance. “The chola fashion industry emerged out of a chola revolution “¦ Chola women forced a conversation about clothes, fashion, and identify,” she said. “Through this, they emitted the message: “‘We are here and we want to be seen.'”
For her part, Yañez is leaving the decision up to the next generation. She has two daughters, ages 14 and six, whom she has always dressed in non-traditional kids clothing. Already, though, both are showing interest in the style, as they help her dress and ply through her closet.
“They are starting to develop that passion for the pollera,” she said. Particularly, it seems, the six-year-old. She already tells her dad: “‘You have to buy me real jewels, the ones made of gold.'”
*Many thanks to Bolivian photographer Yvette Paz Soldan for photographing this story.
How We Get To Next was a magazine that explored the future of science, technology, and culture from 2014 to 2019. This article is part of our Sartorial section, which looks at the impact of science and technology on how we present ourselves to each other. Click the logo to read more.


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Southwest Airlines may not have video screens built into the backs of its airplane seats, but that doesn’t mean the carrier can’t offer its passengers inflight entertainment — and turn it into a new revenue stream.
The airline has launched InAirtainment as a website that sells music, TV shows and movies through Apple’s iTunes Store.
Southwest said it receives a small percentage of the sales generated by each download. Apple’s iTunes Affiliates program typically pays a 5% commission for revenue generated by links to the iTunes store from websites and emails.
Southwest’s site launched by offering a playlist of 20 free songs from artists “about to fly” in their music careers.
“We want our customers to be able to find all their travel needs at Southwest.com and a big part of traveling is loading up on songs, movies, and all the television you’ve missed during the week,” Southwest spokesperson Whitney Eichinger told Variety. “Our new InAirtainment page allows customers an easy in to iTunes and we offer special deals to customers booking through our site like the 20 free songs we are offering with the announcement.”
As more carriers install Wi-Fi on their planes, enabling passengers with computers to access the Internet during flights, the move has increased the amount of content Hollywood can distribute beyond typical airline entertainment pacts.
Southwest’s Wi-Fi service is provided by Row 44, which provides access to InAirtainment during flights.
Other companies like Delta, American and Virgin America use rival service Gogo, whose parent company Aircell said earlier this month that it plans to eventually expand into the content biz and offer a library of movies and games. No launch date has yet been revealed.
Other companies have made similar moves on the ground.
Last Fall, Starbucks launched its digital network that enables customers in stores to access free movies, music downloads and other content via the chain’s Wi-Fi service, available at more than 10,000 outlets. Content partners include SnagFilms, Nick Jr. Boost, Yahoo, Zagat, Rodale’s Men’s and Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling, Prevention and Organic Gardening magazines, the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal.


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They’ve done it. Toyota has finally built the GR Hilux that everyone has been asking for – except you can’t buy this one…
Toyota has unveiled a purpose-built GR Hilux to take on the famously tough Dakar Rally which is set to kick off in Saudi Arabia from January 2nd, 2022.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing motorsport team will run four vehicles, dubbed the GR DKR Hilux T1+, in the T1 rally category.
Just as Toyota’s long-time World Rally Championship efforts led to the creation of the roadgoing GR Yaris hot hatch, it’s more than possible that the Dakar GR Hilux will form a blueprint for a future high-end production GR Hilux off-roader.
Pictures of the GR Hilux T1+ were released this week, with changes aplenty on show. These rally-focussed alterations include enlarged wheel arches to house huge 37-inch tyres measuring 320mm wide. The production Hilux maxes out with 32-inch tyres that are just 245mm wide.
While the Dakar special does share parts with the road-going Hilux, this GR ute ups the performance credentials enormously – thanks to its Land Cruiser heart.
Borrowed from the new Land Cruiser 300 Series is a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine. Australia’s 300 Series ‘Cruiser is diesel-only, but a number of overseas markets utilise this petrol engine borrowed from the Lexus LS 500 sedan.
In standard form, this engine produces 305kW of power at 5,200rpm and 650Nm of torque from 2,000rpm, though Toyota says these figures are “significantly higher” in race tune.
The Dakar-spec GR Hilux will also be significantly lighter than the standard ute’s2.2-tonne kerb weight, with the body panel crafted out of carbon fibre and dramatically reshaped to suit the conditions.
A huge air ram sits on top of the roof to cool the engine, a feature that will become virtual as the team races through Saudi Arabia, where conditions are known to exceed 50 degrees.
Long-travel suspension has also been fitted, providing up to 350mm of movement and enabling better approach and departure angles to avoid getting bogged in the endless sea of sand dunes.
The GR Hilux remains in prototype form for now and will likely see further improvements before its unleashed onto the infamous rally stage.
It will join other manufacturer-backed efforts from Audi, who will utilise the RS Q e-tron prototype to prove the durability of electric vehicles under treacherous conditions.
Toyota’s latest entry into the Dakar also signifies a continual commitment to rallying and motorsport as a whole.
In the last year, it has competed in a broad spectrum of competitions including the 24 hours of Le Mans, the WRC and even entering the Australian Rally Championship with a highly modified GR Yaris.
Previously, Chasing Cars created a render of what a production-ready GR Hilux might look like and asked Toyota if it was in the works – and the response was encouraging.
Car news today: new Triton reviewed, Maserati GranCabrio unveiled, and an electric Audi TT replacement – 1 March 2024
Car news, 29 Feb ’24: Infiniti QX80 previews future Patrol look, Renault in talks to build EVs with Volkswagen, and more
Car news, 27 Feb ’24: Toyota Australia announces pricing for electric BZ4X, Renault debuts retro 5 E-Tech, and more
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The re-opening of borders for international travel and trade on April 1 will likely cause an uptick in illicit trade and trafficking, especially illegal cigarettes, where demand remains robust due to inflationary pressures and high smoking prevalence rate amongst the B40 or lower-income segment, warns a Malaysian-based think tank today.
Datametrics Research and Information Sdn Bhd (DARE) indicated that border closures and the Movement Control Orders implemented during the COVID19 pandemic had played a role in curtailing the ability of criminal syndicates to smuggle illicit goods like cigarettes and alcohol from other countries into Malaysia.
Distribution of these goods throughout the country was also hampered when inter-state travel was halted.
Additional, DARE also said that the Government’s move to curb the severe illegal cigarette problem through a series of initiatives in Budget 2021, which included a ban of transhipment, making cigarettes and tobacco products taxable in all duty-free islands and free zones as well as reviewing and freezing import licenses, has seen encouraging results.
The latest Nielsen’s 2021 Ilegal Cigarette Study (ICS) in Malaysia commissioned by the Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers (CMTM) showed that the incidence of illicit trade has declined by 6.5 percentage points to 57.3% from 63.8% a year ago.
Pankaj Kumar, Managing Director of DARE, said, “It was the coming together of a multitude of factors that have collectively lowered illegal cigarettes levels in the market for the first time in seven years.
“Unfortunately, the tide is now against this progress as we foresee illegal cigarettes smugglers will have more avenues to take advantage of while our enforcement personnel will be more stretched as international travel resumes in full force.
“The Malaysian Government must not relent to this headwind but should instead step up efforts to eradicate illegal cigarettes trade.
“To achieve this, more inter-ministry corporation is required to expand enhancement efforts and look into policies that can dis-incentivise illicit trade.”
Pankaj explained that the Ministry of Health, for one, has the enforcement power to take action against those who sell cigarettes below the minimum price of RM12 per pack set by MOH itself.
“Instead of placing the responsibility solely on other enforcement agencies or blaming corruption, MOH can take the bull-by-the-horns and lead the charge against this issue that undermines public health,” he added.
The penalty for selling cigarettes below RM12 is a fine of not exceeding ten thousand ringgit or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.
Pankaj also said that MOH’s plans to ban the sales of cigarettes to those born after 2005 is an ideal concept, but in the end, the noble idea will actually be negated by easy access to illegal cigarettes.
“A generation ban on cigarettes and vape sales is also a slippery slope for the Malaysian economy.
“DARE envisions that it may not just stop at cigarettes and that there will be parties making moves to ban other sectors like alcohol and beer, gaming and even online streaming entertainment platforms.
“Taking the route towards a nanny-state will have severe implications to Malaysia’s ability to attract investors and spur domestic spending.
“Before we get to that stage, the immediate clear and present danger to our national economy is the stubborn illegal cigarettes trade problem, which MOH can play a more pro-active role from the enforcement perspective.
“We at DARE believe that eradicating illegal cigarettes trade permanently, through better inter-ministry coordination, enhance enforcement inland and coastal areas and maintaining the countermeasures initiatives set in Budget 2021, and prolonging the excise moratorium, can counter the anticipated uptick in illicit trade and bring down illegal cigarettes market share even further,” he concluded.
According to DARE’s Winning The War On Tobacco Black Market October 2021, criminal syndicates currently reap RM8 billion per annum in total sales revenue of illicit tobacco products in Malaysia, while the Government losses around RM5 billion in uncollected tax revenue. – BACALAHMALAYSIA.MY


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Haydenshapes Hypto Krypto now rated #1 by Stag Mag
If you planted a different sticker on any of the boards on this list, would you know what brand it is? Maybe. But, there’s no question that the most unique surfboard of the year is the Hypto Krypto. With its boat-like hull and fattened nose, it’s certainly not the prettiest, but there’s nothing in the market like it and surfers are responding en mass.
A curvy, well-designed craft featuring a brilliant blend of volume and outline, it appears to be the ultimate all-rounder. The Krypto flies in anything from two-foot slob to eight-foot kegs.
“Other shapers come in and grab the board and just shake their head at it. I’m not sure whether it’s because they hate the shape or it’s because they can’t believe they didn’t do it first,” says Froggy, owner of Surf Culture in Sydney.
The simple law of supply and demand makes it the most sought after model on the market. “We are currently building around 50 to 60 Hyptos a day,” says Hayden.
Shops around Australia consistently reported that it was the top seller, and in the States top outlets like Huntington Surf and Sport and the Frog House couldn’t keep up. “We’d get a batch of Krypto’s in and by the afternoon they’d be gone. People were driving two or three hours to get them, and by the time they got here we we’d sold them all,” reported Huntington Surf and Sport.
“We have yet to determine what this model can actually sell globally,” adds Hayden.
Based on what we’ve seen over the last year, we’re guessing it’s a lot.
(Wording by Stab Mag see the full article here)
To buy a Hypto click here


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My 2 Cents: Now this is a nice addition to the steaming music services ‘GrooveShark’. For those of you that know of Spotify in the UK you will be already familiar with that it does but for those that don’t chk out their site which is free to use www.grooveshark.com … too nice.
Grooveshark is a free web based music streaming service that allows users to upload, share and stream tracks from a massive catalog of songs.
If you want it on your mobile device you are going to have to sign-up though but as far as i can see it is totally worth it. So far you can only get the iPhone app through Cydia but it works like a charm
Grooveshark, an online music streaming service that claims to be the ‘Youtube for music‘ has announced that their new iPhone application is now available at the Cydia store.
This comes after their iPhone app was rejected by the Apple app review staff multiple times over the past six months. In their announcement, the company claims that they were forced into this decision after Apple had been "ritually rejecting" their app for "primary selfish reasons".
[hidepost] Grooveshark is a free web based music streaming service that allows users to upload, share and stream tracks from a massive catalog of songs. The new iPhone app will allow their Premium/VIP members of the service use their jailbroken iPhones to search for music from the huge database. Additionally, users may also organize tracks into playlists, mark tracks as favorite and listen to songs offline. The web based alternative available on the company’s website runs on the Adobe Flash platform and hence is not accessible via the iPhone’s mobile Safari web browser.


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|TOP SALES FOR MECUM KISSIMMEE 2016 - DAY 7|
|Wayne Schmeeckle Collection and 'Monumental Muscle' to be Featured Friday During Live Broadcast on NBC Sports Network
Kissimmee, Fla. – Jan. 21, 2016 – A 1962 Chevrolet Corvette Resto Mod (Lot T279.1) was the top seller on Thursday at Mecum Kissimmee 2016, the world's largest collector-car auction that opened on Jan. 15 and continues through Sunday, Jan. 24, at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla.
Top Sales for Thursday, Jan. 21 (all individual sales reflect hammer pri...[Read more...]|
|ART DECO-INSPIRED STYLING JOINS AMERICAN MUSCLE, 50S CHROME AND EUROPEAN SPEED AT AUCTIONS AMERICA'S FORT LAUDERDALE SALE|
|• Auctions America announces latest highlights for its well-established Fort Lauderdale, Florida sale, April 1-3
• South Florida's premier collector car auction, three-day auction to feature diverse roster of nearly 500 collector cars and select automobilia
• Postwar period spectacularly represented by offering of a very special 1948 Tucker 48
• Event information and a frequently updated list of entries available online at www.auctionsamerica.com
AUBURN, Indiana (January 13, 2015) ...[Read more...]|
|SUBARU ANNOUNCES 2014 BRZ PRICING|
|• BRZ sales up 200 percent YTD over 2013
Cherry Hill, N.J. - Subaru of America, Inc. today announced pricing for the 2014 BRZ. Starting at $25,595, the BRZ lineup focuses on the fundamentals of great sports car design: low vehicle weight, an ultra-low center of gravity and precision steering.
Sales of the Subaru BRZ remain strong and were up 41 percent in June and up 200 percent year-to-date, bolstering record-setting corporate sales for the first half of the year. With sales up 2...[Read more...]|
|2013 General Tire Norra Mexican 1000 Goes Down In The History Books|
|After four days of competition through 1,200-plus miles of the most demanding terrain on earth, the 2013 General Tire NORRA Mexican 1000 is now in the history books. An event record of 148 entries (up from 95 just one year ago) took the green flag at the historic Mexicali bullring for the fourth annual running of this vintage-flavored on and off-road rally through the legendary Baja peninsula, with overnight stops in Bahia de Los Angeles, Loreto and La Paz. The rally ended in San Jose del Cabo...[Read more...]|
|Tradition Continues At Auctions America'S Spring Carlisle Collector Car Auction|
|• Total sales at Auctions America's Spring Carlisle collector car auction exceed $2.2 million
• Top seller: rare 1959 Chevrolet Corvette 'Big-Brake' Fuel-Injected Convertible realizes $148,500
• Full weekend of collector car events attracts bidders from 27 states across the U.S.
• Auction raises more than $12,000 to benefit the Chip Miller Amyloidosis Charitable Foundation
AUBURN, Indiana (May 1, 2013) – Tradition continued in Carlisle, Pennsylvania this past weekend, as Auctions Am...[Read more...]|