text:
AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO – August 22, 2021: Every Sunday, Larry Nutson, The Chicago Car Guy and Executive Producer, with the able help of Editor-in-Chief Thom Cannell of the Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, compiles The Auto Channel’s “take” on the automotive news from last week, condensed into easy-to-digest news nuggets.
LEARN MORE: Links to full versions of today’s news nuggets as well as a million pages of automotive news, articles, reviews and archived stories from the past 25 years residing in the News Library The Auto Channel’s automobiles can be found by copying and simply inserting the main headline in the news. Library search area.
Nutson Automotive News Summary – Week ending August 21, 2021; Below you’ll find important, relevant, semi-secret, or eye-catching automotive news from the past week, opinions and insider stories presented as easy-to-digest news nuggets designed by experts.
* The Senate voted to impose price and household income caps on the federal electric vehicle tax credit, as part of the $ 3.5 trillion budget currently under negotiation. The non-binding amendment introduced by Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) Proposed no tax credit for vehicles costing more than $ 40,000 and for households with more than $ 100,000 in declared income. This budget measure and others have yet to be reconciled with the House of Representatives. But if this is a serious cap for many lawmakers, a price cap of $ 40,000 could significantly limit the number of households that can qualify for credit. However, a price cap also addresses one of the main complaints about the electric vehicle tax credit that it is a credit claimed mainly by the rich, due to the lack of options. affordable apart from one or two types of vehicles. The current federal tax credit for electric vehicles is a maximum of $ 7,500.
Editor’s Note, We believe that without misguided tax subsidies for electric vehicles, affluent commuters will quickly stop making noise about buying electric vehicles in the manipulated sales figures that politicians have been led to believe. The Auto Channel guarantees that boutique EV sales will drop like a blown fuse … It has happened in China and will happen everywhere … You can salute the US government by making the mobility CHOICE of your future. See also The inequity of electric vehicles and electric vehicles Solution or diversion?
* The scandal that saw millions of dollars in banned payments and lavish gifts from former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executives to UAW officials ended in a $ 30 million fine and forced to submit to a compliance controller for three years for his role over the years. -a long scandal, which prosecutors said was an attempt to distort the union-management relationship.
* The average transaction price (ATP) of a new automobile in July 2021 hit a new high in the United States at $ 42,736, according to analysts at Kelley Blue Book. Transaction prices are up $ 3,223 (8.2%) from July 2020 and $ 402 (0.9%) from June 2021. New vehicle transaction prices have increased – and established by new records – for four consecutive months. A tight supply of new vehicles and a shift in the market to more expensive SUVs and pickup trucks are among the main drivers of the ATP increase. However, high prices can dampen consumer demand; after strong sales in March, April and May, new vehicle sales started to slow in June and July. The seasonally adjusted pace of new vehicle sales in July was the slowest in a year.
* In October 1969, the first Nissan (then Datsun) Z was introduced in New York. And this week, back in the city that never sleeps, Nissan unveiled the long-awaited all-new 2023 Z. It looks a lot like the Z Proto we saw. Power comes from a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 delivering 400 horsepower mated to a standard 6-speed manual or an available 9-speed automatic with paddle shifters. So yes, no electrification. Nissan says the price will start around $ 40,000.
* Lincoln showed us the Navigator 2022 with a new grille and front styling, standard adaptive pixel projector headlamps, new 3D taillights and the new Lincoln ActiveGlide, the new hands-free driver assistance technology .
* Hyundai unveiled its all-new 2022 Elantra N for the North American market in a virtual premiere. With the introduction of the Elantra N, Hyundai has completed its line of âEveryday Sports Carâ. The Elantra N is available with an eight-speed wet dual-clutch transmission, delivering a maximum power of 276 horsepower from 5,500 to 6,000 rpm and torque of 289 lb-ft. from 2100 to 4700 rpm. It is also available with a standard close-ratio six-speed manual transmission.
* The all-new 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 will be unveiled on October 26. Designed to amplify the pleasure of driving, the Corvette Z06 is a powerful supercar, whether on secondary roads or on the motorway or on the most recognizable tracks in the world like the Circuit de la Sarthe.
* General Motors is recalling all of its current electric vehicles around the world due to a potential risk of battery fire. GM has extended a previously announced recall of Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV, adding 73,018 newer vehicles from the 2019-2022 model years for “rare” battery faults that could cause the fires. The recall now involves 141,685 vehicles and is expected to cost $ 1.8 billion. A total of 10 fires have been confirmed by the automaker. No fatalities were reported, but there were a few smoke inhalation injuries. Definitely not a good image to try to convince people to buy BEVs.
* NHTSA has opened a formal investigation into Tesla’s automated driving system after a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles. The investigation covers 765,000 vehicles, almost all that Tesla has sold in the United States since 2014. The investigation is another sign that the NHTSA, led by President Joe Biden, is taking a stronger stand on the safety of vehicles. automated vehicles. The survey covers Tesla’s entire model lineup, Models S, 3, X and Y from 2014 to 2021.
* The CES Tech and Automotive Convention will require anyone attending the show in Las Vegas to provide proof of having a COVID-19 vaccine. CES aims to come back to life in January with a hybrid of in-person and virtual events.
* As Autoweek reported, after an unprecedented hiatus in 2020, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was back in full force this year, with a strong turnout and an impressive exhibition field full of worthy contestants. When the judges’ votes were tallied, Best in Show honors went to the 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn-Kurier belonging to the Keller Collection in Petaluma, California.
* The first Woodward Dream Show is scheduled this weekend at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Michigan, in conjunction with the Woodward Dream Cruise, which takes place on Saturday, August 21. The Dream Show begins August 20 with over 200 hot rods and muscle cars as well as award-winning movie cars and show cars on display.
* Subaru Motorsports USA driver Travis Pastrana set a new record of 5 minutes, 28.67 seconds in last Sunday’s 2021 Mount Washington Hill Climb en route to an overall victory behind the wheel of the Airslayer STI, its 862-hp 2020 Subaru WRX STI Gymkhana. The new marque slashed its winning time in the 2017 race on the narrow, steep, and treacherous 7.6-mile Mount Washington motorway by more than sixteen seconds. Pastrana bombarded the mountain to establish a time of more than 45 seconds over the nearest competitor.
* Mercedes will be leaving the Formula E electric racing series, joining German rivals Audi and BMW in choosing not to develop a next-generation car for the series. Automakers have said they are redirecting money and talent to Formula 1 and electric vehicle business efforts – which are expensive enough.
* The 89th edition of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race takes place this weekend. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest has been organizing this race since 1923, outside of the Second World War. Closed public roads include much of the 8.46 mile circuit known as the Circuit de la Sarthe.
* Quadruple Indy 500 winner Hello Castroneves has been announced as the headliner of the 2022 class of nine members of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. The rest of this year’s class includes sports car racer Pete Brock, drag racer Dick LaHaie, NASCAR builder Banjo Matthews, automotive journalist Denise McCluggage, NASCAR co-founder Raymond Parks, owner of NASCAR Jack Roush and motorcycle innovators Terry Vance and Byron Hines.
Be careful. Be well.


text:
According to the Wall Street Journal report, Subaru Corp has said it is going to recall some 2.3 million vehicles due to a defect in car brake lights. The defect may increase the risk of a crash. The problem stems from emission problems, but the cause is surprisingly uncommon. It is not emissions from the car that are causing the problem but consumer products like shampoo, perfume, cosmetics, and fabric softeners. The chemical emissions from these products create some barriers on brake light switches reducing the flow of electricity to the lights and rendering them useless.
Subaru says these cleaning products contain silicone which can emit a gas which can get into the brake lamp switch cutting off the electrical contact. The problem will affect not the brakes themselves but will stop the brake lights from working.
The issue affects the company’s Impreza, Forester and Crosstrek models of the years between 2008 and 2017.
Largest Recall in the History of the Japanese automaker
This time the recall covers about 1.3 million vehicles in the United States and nearly one million more in the rest of North America and Japan. This recall seems to be the largest in the history of the Japanese automaker, and this is not the first one in Subaru’s history. Last year the company revealed that two of its factories manipulated fuel efficiency data which affected about 900 cars produced by the plants.
Subaru had another recall in late 2018 over faulty valve springs. This was also a big recall and affected 400,000 vehicles. Moreover, early this year Subaru discovered power steering issue affecting several models of the company’s cars. This made the company shut down some of its plants affecting two-thirds of its global vehicle output.
If you are an owner of any of the car models affected by the problem, you need to check Subaru recall website. Subaru will replace the faulty parts on affected cars free of charge. The issue seems easy to fix, but it will cost Subaru about $90 million. The recall is being done worldwide. It has just started in Japan and might take a few weeks to launch in the U.S. In the meantime, check the brake lights before you travel and visit the Subaru recall website to take appropriate actions.

domain: news


text:
Staten Island's Howland Hook Marine Terminal is deep in expansion mode. The 24-hour operation that loads and unloads ships has purchased four new $6 million cranes and is updating and expanding its warehouses. Dredging in the harbor is making room for bigger ships, and construction of a rail line is under way.
Begun as a Dutch trading post in the 1600s, New York still reaps great economic benefits from its position as one of the nation's most important port cities. Last year, the Port of New York and New Jersey shipped a record $100 billion worth of cargo, bringing $20 billion worth of economic impact to the region.
"When New Yorkers wonder how they can buy strawberries at their deli in the middle of the winter, it's because guys were down here on the docks unloading them from ships in the middle of the night," says Jim Devine, president and chief executive of New York Container Terminal, which operates Howland Hook.
Over the past few decades, New Jersey has come to dominate the region's waterfront shipping industry, with giant container terminals at Port Newark and Port Elizabeth.
The Port of New York and New Jersey's business has been exploding, as goods manufactured overseas are shipped back to the American market. Situated within a one-day drive of more than 80 million people, the port is the entry point of choice for many shippers. Over the next decade, the amount of cargo coming through the port is expected to double. The top imports: beverages, vehicles and plastic.
Doubling in size
Howland Hook, however, is about to reclaim some of that growing business for New York.
"We'll be doubling the size of Howland Hook in the next few years," says Joseph Seymour, executive director of The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which has invested $350 million in the Staten Island terminal.
It has also moved to remedy one of the facility's biggest disadvantages--the lack of a rail connection. The Port Authority purchased 124 acres next to the terminal. The area, known as Port Ivory, was where Procter & Gamble made Ivory soap. The leveled land will be the site of a rail yard, expected to be completed next year, that will allow the terminal to connect with the "Chemical Coast" rail line in Elizabeth, N.J.
Microcosm of larger port
Howland Hook is a microcosm of the way the port itself affects the economy. The terminal, which covers 150 acres on the southwest corner of the island and handles 4,500 containers per month, generates $1.1 billion of economic benefit. In addition to union workers, the terminal supports truckers, freight forwarders, insurers, lawyers, bankers, storage facilities, importers and exporters.
The New York Container Terminal is the largest employer on Staten Island, with 800 workers. Waterfront jobs are coveted, with wages for experienced positions climbing to the mid-$20s per hour.
"These are well-paying jobs for unskilled people," Mr. Devine says.


text:
WTO Ministerial Conference: Dr Ganeshan Wignaraja, Director of Research, ADB Institute
At the WTO Ministerial Conference we spoke to Dr Ganeshan Wignaraja, Director of Research at the ADB Institute, about the role of trade in the post-2015 agenda. Ganeshan advocated trade-led growth as the fastest way to reduce poverty. The post-2015 agenda could include a trade index on the pace and quality of trade growth, as well as the involvement of SMEs to ensure the inclusiveness of the process.
4 months ago


text:
Kingston Food Co-op hires group of architects to design grocery store – Daily Freeman
KINGSTON, NY – A group of nonprofit architects has been hired to help design the building plans for the Kingston Food Co-op slated for Midtown.
Kingston Food Cooperative Outreach Coordinator Siobhan DuPont said Model of Architecture Serving Society (MASS) has entered into an agreement with the food co-op to design plans for the grocery store market to be located at 708 Broadway.
“We will be working with MASS over the next few months to create a design alongside our members and community members to ensure our co-op reflects the community it will serve,” DuPont said in an email. “We work to amplify the most marginalized voices in our community to share their ideas, needs and dreams for our co-op. »
Additionally, the store leadership committee is “exploring cooperative leadership models and will participate in a series of shared leadership workshops to conduct research and determine the best staffing model for our store when we are ready to open.” .
The selection for MASS came after a review process.
“Our co-op went through a multi-step process to select MASS for our building design, which included a series of presentations from architects, gathering subsequent feedback from our community and co-op members, and using that information for our board (board) to make a final selection,” DuPont said.
DuPont said MASS Design is a team of more than 200 architects, landscape architects, engineers, builders, furniture designers, writers, filmmakers and researchers representing 20 countries around the world, whose mission is to research, build and champion a architecture that “promotes justice and human dignity.
“Designing our co-op will take several months as we incorporate our community’s feedback and hopes for our co-op,” DuPont said. “Our community and members will have the opportunity to share the programs our co-op should have, the foods we should sell, general aesthetic preferences, and other ideas that will inform our building design. »
In December 2019, organizers announced the plan for the Kingston Food Co-op store in the Broadway building, a former Honda dealership, which measures 10,000 square feet.
At the time, organizers said the market will be “a community gathering place and a full-service grocery store that offers locally sourced foods” and other basic groceries.
The Kingston Food Co-op is expected to be 100% owned and operated by local members, with profits from the store remaining in the community, organizers said.
DuPont said membership has grown to more than 1,200.
The number of members of the cooperative has increased from 10 people in April 2019 to 290 in mid-December, according to a press release. In January 2021, the number of members had exceeded 1,000. Each full subscription purchased is accompanied by a “Partage Solidaire” subscription, reserved for people who can prove their income.
The total cost of membership is $150, while Solidarity Share membership costs $15, the press release said. Both memberships can be purchased through a payment plan, and once a membership is purchased, it is good for the lifetime of the member.
The building at 708 Broadway is currently owned by the NoVo Foundation and will be turned over to the co-op once renovations are complete, organizers said.
Selected for its central location, the Broadway property is accessible by bus, bike, foot and car, according to a press release. It is also close to the Kingston Greenline Trail.
The co-op is governed by a board and all members have the right to vote to determine representation on the board.
For more information, visit Kingstonfoodcoop.com.


text:
Pay for your goods with your face
Intel and Foxconn have demonstrated how facial recognition capabilities possible in 5G technology can be used to make payments.
Market demand for millions
A new report from Chinese tech giant Tencent said that there are only 300,000 “AI researchers and practitioners” worldwide, but the “market demand” is for millions of roles.
40 percent of US people will cut the cable by 2030
By 2030, as many as 40 percent of Americans will have cut the cord to their cable companies and telephones according to predictions in a new report by market outfit TDG Research.
Our spies can do what they like
The increasingly autocratic oligarchic junta running the United States has decided it does not need any court order to insist that software companies give its spooks backdoor access to their products.
Android might get better on cheaper phones
Google is working on a way of making cheaper Android Phones run better with a cut down version of Android called Go.
ABI research thinks 5G is all at C
According to new findings from ABI Research, while the use of mmWave is one of the most distinguishing features of 5G, in the near term the C-Band is emerging with the most global consensus for the timely launch of commercial 5G network in 2019.
Supporting the Great FireWall
In Big Brother, before a dissident was executed, they were expected to publicly renounce their own crimes and praise the government. In China Apple and Google have been doing just that.
The Fruity Cargo Cult is starting to pay back tax in Ireland, despite the fact it has denied doing anything illegal.
Novice security flaw patch destroyed by update
Apple’s comedy programming team has struck again and released a software update which undoes an emergency security patch which undid a security flaw which was so basic a toddler on crack would not have written it.


text:
Summary: The past two years have seen an incredible rise in parcel volume – but what will happen as the pandemic’s influence on ecommerce recedes?
The challenges unique to scaling during a pandemic have not stopped many carriers worldwide from reporting record-breaking net profits for 2021, with incredible volume growth over the past two years outweighing operational pains.
But the question now has to be asked: what will happen as the pandemic’s influence on ecommerce recedes? Can parcel carriers and posts sustain their success?
The boom years
There’s been one consistent driving factor in carrier growth: the ecommerce boom. The pandemic drove many people to do much more online shopping, increasing ecommerce sales and generating more parcel volume for carriers.
In the UK alone, carriers shipped 4.1 billion parcels in 2020-2021, increasing over 1.3 billion from the previous year. La Poste’s carrier brands (DPD and Chronopost) sent 2.8 billion packages in 2021, up 10.7% on its already record-breaking 2020.
There’s now some evidence that the increased ecommerce participation that has driven these vast increases in volume is now falling back. According to ONS data, UK ecommerce sales in January 2022 are 20% down from the previous year, where a lockdown was in force. As pandemic restrictions continue to ease worldwide, we could see ecommerce sales losing steam against rejuvenated store retail and a challenging macro-economic climate. Some of the effects are already visible in the share prices of former ecommerce high-flyers, such as Boohoo, who are suffering because the market does not believe in their continued growth.
Whether ecommerce growth rates stabilise or sink to pre-pandemic levels, one fact remains true. Parcel carriers must look for ways to become more than passive riders of market forces. They need to actively secure their growth by providing competitive ecommerce solutions as the landscape changes around them again.
Return to offices to increase failed deliveries
Our latest consumer behaviour report revealed that 58% of consumers are returning to pre-pandemic behaviours or are busier than ever before.
As consumers spend more time out of their homes, the number of failed deliveries will logically increase. Last year, just 6% of all online orders in the UK resulted in a failed delivery, but this is set to rise dramatically with a return to more time in the office. With each failed delivery costing an average of £11.60 per order which largely falls on the Carrier, this is a significant profitability challenge.
So how can Carriers tackle this?
The need for more flexible delivery options
If consumers are out of their homes more, they need access to more flexible delivery options and greater control of when and how their parcel is delivered. This presents a few possible solutions.
Firstly, more next-day delivery slots could be offered so that consumers can order to the address they know for sure they’ll be at, whether that’s at home or the office. However, this option is more difficult and costly to fulfil, and some consumers will prefer slower, less certain delivery slots if they are cheaper.
Secondly, carriers need to prioritise clear communication with consumers about when their parcel will be delivered and offer redirect/safe place options if they are not at home. DPD have shown that this can work well, but inflight redirects require enough time to implement the change of delivery destination, leaving consumers with relatively short windows to request changes and making routing more challenging for carriers.
Lastly, carriers can drive more traffic into their Out-of-home (OOH) networks for consumers to pick up at their leisure, whether at a parcel shop, a counter in a third-party store or from a locker. Increasing OOH volume also has major benefits for cost reduction and lower emissions. Most importantly for newly-busy shoppers in places with no pandemic restrictions, it’s ‘unattended’, meaning the consumer doesn’t need to be at home to accept delivery. They can pick up as and when they choose, giving them freedom over their order and reducing failed delivery rates.
As our research has uncovered, 74% of shoppers plan to use Out-of-home in the future. The demand is there – but sadly, a huge number of checkout pages don’t offer OOH. Of those that do, the option is often buried until after the consumer has entered their home delivery information. Take Select as an example here. When a consumer clicks checkout, the first screen they’re presented with is a shipping address field. Collection in store is a shipping option for this retailer (and costs less than home delivery). But this option is located underneath the home address form, with no information above the fold that the form can be skipped in favour of collection.
If you compare that to the way the plethora of current payment options are surfaced, it’s chalk and cheese.
Rising returns also threaten ecommerce
Another area that could present a profitability challenge to Carriers is the growing levels of e-commerce returns. Returns are a major retail challenge. In our latest report, we discovered that 57% of merchants say returns are a significant problem – and that 94% of retailers are making better returns a priority for their business.
Returns are costing merchants, and current returns solutions aren’t doing enough to help. Regardless of the size, cost, or product type, most returns are all handled the same. This results in a heavy price for retailers, particularly when items cannot be resold.
When merchants suffer, carriers suffer. Without intelligent returns solutions, merchants will be more price-sensitive in contract negotiation and they’ll be limited in their growth.
Merchants need integrated solutions that look at what’s being returned at the start of the process. This way, the merchant can block returns outside the return window or for products that cannot be resold, meaning fewer resources are used manually checking and processing returns in warehouses.
By providing this software to merchants, carriers won’t just strengthen their merchant relationships. They’ll also help protect profitability, sustain growth and maintain their market share, particularly amongst a rise of 3rd party returns solution providers.
Carrier growth needs to be sustained through action
The tidal wave of growth that has swept carriers to success in ecommerce can’t last forever. Those who stay afloat in the long term will be those working closely with ecommerce merchants to help them succeed in ecommerce and harness mutual growth even in tougher market conditions. Succeeding in a more challenging market will differentiate winners, and they’ll be primed to capture the lion’s share of future ecommerce growth, as and when that comes.
Want to talk to our team about your strategy for Out-of-home or Returns? Get in touch today.
Case Study: What carriers can learn from Evri’s returns kiosk network
Evri's use of kiosks provides a great lesson for carriers on expanding PUDO networks and capturing volume in the valuable returns and C2C segments.
2023 report reveals 11% YoY increase in merchants struggling with returns
We explore how the returns market, and merchant perceptions, have changed in the last year.


text:
This equates to about 30 people out of its 555-strong global workforce. It did not mention how many of its Singapore staff are affected.
All affected employees will receive a severance package that includes career transition opportunities within Google, outplacement services, financial help and eligibility for year-end bonuses, and healthcare benefits.
Waze said the retrenchment was partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw its users driving less or stopped driving altogether, resulting in them using Waze less for their daily navigation needs.
Fewer eyeballs on the app resulted in decreased advertising revenue for the company.
Acquired by Google in 2013 for a reported US$1.1 billion (S$1.4 billion), Waze has seen a plunge in both monthly active users and driven kilometers, the metric by which the company measures how far its customers drive while using Waze.
Global Weekly Driven Distance Decreased By 70%
In April, Waze laid out in a blog post that its customers drove 60 per cent fewer miles in March, when lockdowns started going into effect, as compared to February.
Those figures worsened as the pandemic stretched on. Waze says that at one point during the lockdown, global weekly driven kilometers were down 70 per cent.
Since June, Waze has begun to see a recovery of driving as people returned to work in countries where restrictions have been lifted. Globally, the company says it’s back to pre-COVID driving levels.
“This has forced us to rethink priorities and we have decided to focus our resources on product improvements for our users, accelerate our investments in technical infrastructure, and refocus our sales and marketing efforts on a small number of high-value countries,” said CEO Noam.
Closing Its S’pore And APAC Offices
His note added that Waze’s advertising sales team will “pare back and focus on the key markets that drive 93 per cent of revenue and carry 95 per cent of kilometres driven we sell in”.
This means the company will close its sales offices in the Asia-Pacific — in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia — as well as in its smaller Latin America markets of Colombia, Argentina and Chile.
It will continue servicing these countries through increased investments in Waze Local Starter — a self-service advertising solution that businesses can use to promote their physical stores via a pin on the Waze map.
Previously, ride-hailing apps Grab and Gojek had also cut jobs to cope with the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak as people stay home and avoid going outdoors, leading to a drop in demand for transportation services.
Before Covid-19, only 11 bus services, or three per cent of all bus services here, were profitable, according to Minister Ong.
Pandemic-related layoffs continue to happen, with the recent case of Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group’s retrenchment exercise — cutting about 4,300 positions across its three airlines — as Covid-19 batters the aviation industry.
Featured Image Credit: Bloomberg


text:
Giorgio Stock named president, Warnermedia Entertainment Networks, Distribution and Advertising Sales, EMEA and APAC. With immediate effect, Stock, previously president of Turner EMEA, takes on responsibility for all entertainment networks, distribution of all networks, advertising sales and the kids networks operations in Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific region. He will continue to report into Zeiler.
WarnerMedia chief revenue officer Gerhard Zeiler announced the appointment of Stock. In his new role, Stock will be supported by the leadership team of Ricky Ow, president of Turner Asia Pacific; Hervé Payan, CEO HBO Europe; and Jonathan Spink, CEO HBO Asia, all of whom now report into him. He continues to be based in London.
Announcing the position, Zeiler said: “In his previous role as president, Turner EMEA, Giorgio transformed the organisation and built a strong team who together invested in excellent premium content, created new revenue streams and optimised business operations. I couldn’t be happier that he has accepted this new role.”
“I am excited about WarnerMedia’s vision for the future of our industry and our place and ambition within it,” said Stock. “In an increasingly disrupted marketplace, we are uniquely positioned to evolve and further scale our truly exceptional brands and content destinations and to engage and entertain our audiences like never before. It is a privilege to assemble the hugely talented teams across our regions and take our business to the next level.”
The appointment represents Zeiler’s decision to give the operation a focused leadership that harnesses the existing strengths of the Turner and HBO businesses while also equipping them for further collaboration and growth.
In addition to Stock, the international executives serving Zeiler are Whit Richardson, President Turner Latin America, and Rani Raad, President CNNI Commercial.
Stock joined the company in April 2013 as president Turner EMEA with executive oversight of all Turner kids and entertainment networks in the region, including digital and media services of core brands such as Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TNT and TCM; as well as kids streaming service Toonix, available direct-to-consumer and via a partnership with HBO Nordic. His role also included the distribution of CNN’s services, and licensing and merchandising activity in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as international L&M liaison.
He joined the company after a diverse 15-year career with Disney where he held publishing and content leadership roles out of Paris, New York, Milan and London overseeing television, publishing, retail, music and gaming.


text:
JUL 19, 2023 | GLOBAL
New GDA Report Shows Impact of Data Restrictiveness in Global Economies
MLex, July 19, 2023
The new GDA report illustrates how certain obstacles to the international transfer of personal and non-personal data can impact businesses of all sizes and the global economy.
This has been a banner week for international data transfers between the EU and the US, with the official launch on Monday of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (see here), ending three years of legal uncertainty for transatlantic transfers of personal data. But the EU’s restrictive ranking is not the result of data transfer rules around its landmark General Data Protection Regulation, which took effect in 2018, said Joseph Whitlock, Executive Director of the Global Data Alliance.
“The reason for the EU’s ranking does not relate specifically to GDPR, but rather to digital sovereignty measures adopted or proposed in more recent years,” Whitlock told reporters at a press conference. Had the ranking been done between 2018 and 2020, when the GDPR was in effect but not other digital sovereignty rules, the EU member states would have been included in the least restrictive category, he said.
Original Posting: https://content.mlex.com/#/content/1486460/eu-data-transfer-rules-part-of-rise-of-counterproductive-restrictions-industry-groups-say?referrer=email_instantcontentset&paddleid=201&paddleaois=2001;2006
SOBRE A BSA
A BSA | The Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) é a principal defensora do setor global de software perante governos e no mercado internacional. Seus membros estão entre as empresas mais inovadoras do mundo, criando soluções de software que estimulam a economia e melhoram a vida moderna.
Com sede em Washington, DC e operações em mais de 30 países, a BSA promove programas de conformidade que promovem o uso legal de software e defendem políticas públicas que promovem a inovação tecnológica e o crescimento da economia digital.


text:
Prices for both grades continued to firm while consumer demand and tight supply persisted in the week before the Lunar New Year.
Metal Bulletin’s benchmark low-grade cobalt price
assessment ended the week at $37.75-38.90 per lb, in-warehouse, up 25 cents on the low-end of the range, and up 40 cents on the high-end, compared with the midweek assessment, and continues on the uptrend that began in June 2016.
High-grade cobalt prices
were assessed at $37.75-39 per lb, in-warehouse, on Friday February 9, unchanged on the low from Wednesday, but up 50 cents on the high.
Low-grade and high-grade prices...


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Sign Up for the Portland Business Journal Afternoon Edition Newsletter
Send this story to a friend
Activist investor presses TriQuint to break up company, possibly close Hillsboro plant
Starboard Value LP has accused TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. management of utilizing a "hope-for-growth strategy" and is pressing the company to either sell or restructure its mobile power amplifier business.
The activist investor has also suggested that closing the company's (NASDAQ: TQNT) Hillsboro manufacturing facility could unlock value in the mobile PA business. TriQuint employs about 2,700 workers, about 1,000 in Hillsboro spread between its headquarters and fab.
The company's chips are used primarily in mobile devices like cell phones and tablets. It's largest customer is Apple Inc. contractor Foxconn.
The news sent TriQuint stock up 5.71 percent to close at $7.76 on Tuesday.
In an Oct. 29 letter addressed to TriQuint CEO Ralph Quinsey, Starboard said the company is undervalued, largely due to the mobile PA business, which has underperformed relative to the company's "bulk acoustic wave" filters business and its networks and defense unit.
Starboard owns an 8 percent stake in TriQuint, making it one of the Hillsboro-based mobile chipmaker's largest shareholders.
A big contributor to that underperformance, according to Starboard, is TriQuint's strategy of manufacturing its own products, rather than outsourcing to foundries to meet increased demand. TriQuint's main rivals in the mobile PA space, Skyworks and Avago, both use foundries to supplement internal manufacturing.
The mobile PA business is primarily based out of the company's Hillsboro headquarters, where it makes power amplifiers primarily for cell phones and tablets. Starboard called out the company for investing more than $200 million to double its internal production capacity in Oregon and to add a mobile PA line to a facility in Texas. That additional capacity is underutilized, according to Starboard.
- Most popular
- Lake Oswego one of the top 10 places in the US for parents to live
- Urban Airship's Scott Kveton steps down as CEO
- Safe to swim: Portland's first Willamette beach debuts today
- Nike loses Manchester United — along with its grip on the lucrative
- Check out the new Willamette River beach (Photos)
- ZoomCare inks investment deal with Endeavour Capital
- Fred Meyer's president says there's a lot in store for Portland
- 10 Barrel Brewing's new Portland brewpub to bring scores of jobs
- Airport Way corridor set to add massive distribution center
- How did 'Portlandia,' 'Grimm' fare in the 2014 Emmy nominations?
Sign up to receive afternoon and morning edition newsletters and breaking news as it happens.


text:
Students have found a new fix for their sushi craving and, believe it or not, they're finding it on campus.
Even more surprising is that WasaBee Sushi, a room-sized restaurant, independently cooks and delivers every piece of sushi found in our dining halls.
Individually wrapped rolls from WasaBee have been a tremendous success on campus, according to Ira Simon, Director of Dining Services at Western.
The idea first gained momentum last spring when students began to ask Simon about the possibility of offering sushi on campus. According to Simon, Dining Services had previously considered building a sushi bar on campus, but that idea was quickly scrapped because it was too expensive. They saw an opportunity to fulfill students' wishes in the new renovations being made to the VU.
Simon drafted up a letter of intent in summer 2008 and handed it out to five sushi restaurants in the Whatcom area. In the letter he outlined a plan of operation, including three clauses that each business would need to meet in order to sell sushi in Western's markets.
All sushi needed to be fresh daily, delivered to three separate locations (The VU Market, Miller Market and the Ridgeway Market) by 10 a.m. and the vendor had to have already met all of the health code and insurance requirements.
“I figured a business that already made sushi would be ready to keep up with the volume that would be requested,” Simon said. “I wanted to go somewhere that was already prepared and…experts at making sushi. It had to be a win-win for both us and their side.”
Since taste in sushi is subjective, Simon was more concerned with how students perceived each of the sushi businesses and their products.
“Sushi is very personal,” Simon said. “[The selection process] was more about appearance and value. I was more concerned with what the students and [the] University wanted.”
On July 31, Simon invited 22 students to come for a taste test of the two companies that showed a strong interest in the offer. Based on an anonymous evaluation of presentation and taste, students chose WasaBee sushi.
Starting Sept. 21, WasaBee began delivering 50 units to each location. Within a month they had increased the number to 60 units per day, which quickly jumped to 80 units per day. Before long the dining facilities were stocking 100 sushi units in all three locations each morning.
Simon was surprised by the amount of appeal WasaBee received on campus and credits the small sushi house with meeting the high level of production.
“WasaBee has done a great job delivering their product,” Simon said. “We like to do business with them. They're good people and they're responsive to our requests. They deliver on time. They've been great for us.”
Both Simon and Jake Porter, WasaBee's representative to Western, agree that the low cost of WasaBee was a strong factor in deciding whose sushi to serve on campus.
“One thing that draws people [to WasaBee] is we keep the cost down,” Porter said. “We have top quality ingredients and we charge reasonable prices.”
The idea to sell WasaBee sushi also came partially as a byproduct of the decision to bring Rocket Donuts to
campus, said Simon.
“Rocket Donuts was a success story for all of us,” Simon said. “We used their model for WasaBee, so to speak.”
Simon believes that, given the success of WasaBee, there are definite possibilities to incorporate more local food venues into Western's dining services.
“We're always looking to be more sustainable and we're always looking to buy local,” Simon said. “Right now we're taking a big step forward and we're looking ahead to move farther forward.”
Porter agrees that the sushi exchange has worked out tremendously well.
“Initially we just wanted to expand beyond the restaurant, but it's really gone great,” he said.
In order to meet the stipulation of delivering before 10 a.m., WasaBee chefs arrive at 6 a.m. to prepare the sushi.
According to Porter, the key to WasaBee's delicious taste is a mixture of fresh ingredients and careful attention to the temperature they cook at.
“Every aspect [of the sushi] has to be top quality,” Porter said. “Everything has to be fresh; otherwise it's not
going to taste right.”
WasaBee's low-priced sushi has earned them the best sushi in Bellingham award from the Bellingham Business Journal as well as twice from the Cascadia Weekly. Porter credited his kitchen team with the success and believes that they can carry it forward.
The fish WasaBee uses in their sushi is delivered from local providers and their rice is imported from the same Japanese company that supplies Japanese Iron Chef Masahiro Miyamoto and his restaurant in New York City.
One common misconception about sushi is that all sushi is prepared raw, said Porter. Some dishes, like the popular California Roll and Prawn Roll, among others, actually contain cooked fish.
“Some people are apprehensive to try sushi if they've never eaten raw fish before,” Porter said. “I say, as long as you try something you'll find what you like.”


text:
Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain has launched two new ASIC machines for miners to enjoy. With roughly 18 million of 21 million BTC units already extracted, the world of bitcoin mining is getting rather tough and competitive, and the introduction of new equipment is likely to add strain to an already up-and-down industry.
Bitmain Is Making Its Mark Once Again
In addition to Bitmainâ€™s machines, a new air-cooled mining container released by Northern Bitcoin based in Frankfurt, Germany will soon make its way onto the public market.
The new miners are known as S17e and T17e. They are alleged to more efficient and durable that Bitmainâ€™s previous products, as well as more secure. While the costs of the machines are not yet public information, people are eager to get their hands on these new machines and Bitmain is already taking orders. Those who make purchases now can expect to receive their machines by late November - right as bitcoin is alleged (by some analysts) to begin a new trek towards $20,000 per unit.
However, Bitmain is a company known for experiencing delays. Thatâ€™s what makes these miners more “special.” The company says that it will provide compensation to all customers who pre-order the devices and do not receive them by the set timeframe. In addition, theyâ€™ll be eligible to receive larger rewards from the companyâ€™s growing mining pool.
While the company has not provided specific comments, this could potentially be to make up for some of its sketchy history in the past. Bitmain, a number one provider of bitcoin ASIC machines, was recently caught mining coins through its customers devices without their knowledge or permission. The company was hit with a class-action lawsuit by several individuals who say the company was profiteering off their energy payments.
Maybe this new rewards program is a way of apologizing to the people itâ€™s wronged…
Northern Bitcoin, on the other hand, is providing a full container of 144 ASIC miners designed for commercial mining projects. The container is 20 feet long and designed to be kept outdoors. It also comes equipped with a built-in filter that utilizes cold outside air to lower the temperatures of mining machines.
When Can We Expect It?
CTO of the company Moritz Jager claims:
The new air-cooled technology has been optimized for year-round cool locations. With the new container variant, we are thus extending our option to open up new locations in Scandinavia for our bitcoin mining.
Unfortunately, a date has not been set on the release of the container, nor is there any word on when it will be ready for customers to purchase. At the same time, cryptocurrency mining has grown heavily over the past several years into an industry thatâ€™s requiring more workers and more energy with each step, and a 20-foot container is likely to make a solid mark.
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that uses encryption (cryptography) to regulate the generation of currency and verify the transfer of funds, independently of a central bank. Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third party adversaries.
Blockchain 101 · Crytpo Currency Market
Trezor: Hardware Wallet
Binance: Exchange for Traders
Ledger Nano S: Hardware Wallet
Coinbase: Exchange for Investors
CoinSwitch: Wallet-to-Wallet Exchange


text:
Production of Apple's larger iPad has reportedly beed delayed as suppliers focus on iPhone 6, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal. The publication cites sources familiar with Apple's plans who said the following:
"The top priority for the supply chain is to meet the overwhelming demand for the larger screen iPhones," the source said.The output of the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus remains unsatisfactory. It would be challenging for display makers to split resources and spend a few months to ramp up production for a new larger screen iPad now."
WSJ says that Foxconn is having trouble meeting iPhone 6 demand, and since Foxconn is also responsible for building important parts in the iPad, this has postponed the launch of the much-rumored iPad Pro.
If Apple's rumored iPad does indeed get launched, the it will be the first time when the company will introduce a bigger size than the current 9.7-inch version.
Previous rumors suggested that an an early 2015 launch is on the cards for the device, but it could be pushed back into the middle of next year if mass production doesn't start this year.
Apple will livestream the launch event of the new iPads, so maybe that's when we'll hear more details about the iPad Pro.


text:
- Despite a highly touted announcement last November, Mitsubishi and Nissan-Renault have not yet finalized a plan to develop a midsize car that would replace the Mitsubishi Galant.
- A Galant replacement would target the Ford Fusion, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, among others.
- The Galant was discontinued in 2012.
CHICAGO — Despite several months of discussions, Mitsubishi and Nissan-Renault have not yet finalized a plan to develop a midsize car for the Japanese automaker to sell in the United States. The car would replace the Mitsubishi Galant, a Japanese offering that lagged the pack in the midsize sedan segment.
Mitsubishi announced last November that an agreement had been reached between the two automakers to develop a midsize sedan that would be based on a Renault model.
Mitsubishi has not offered a midsize sedan in the U.S. market since the 2012 model, the last year for its Galant.
"We have had multiple meetings with them, but no final decisions yet on what direction," Don Swearingen, executive vice president, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc., told Edmunds. "We have to have the right product at the right price."
Asked if there is a target date for U.S. sales, Swearingen said, "We don't really have the timing in place. The direction to our management is move as quickly as possible."
In that November announcement, Mitsubishi also said Nissan-Renault would develop a global compact sedan for the Japanese automaker and an electric vehicle. Swearingen did not reveal the status of those discussions.
"Our interest here in the U.S. is more focused on the D segment (midsize sedan)," he said. "We have a lot of Galant customers coming out of their vehicles, and we are getting them into a lot of other Mitsubishis."
Swearingen was interviewed at the 2014 Chicago Auto Show.
"But if (car shoppers) are still looking for that sedan in that D segment, we just don't have it," he said. "We know that is a huge gap we need to fill."
"That is a huge segment. We have sold many cars in that segment, and we know it is something that consumers still want," he said. "We are looking at this partnership as an opportunity to better utilize a production facility. We want to make sure that we can not only deliver a competitive product, but we can make it at a competitive price, and make it efficient for ourselves and our partners."
Although the Galant was assembled at Mitsubishi's plant in Normal, Illinois, Swearingen said it is more likely that the new sedan would be imported. Renault has capacity outside the United States.
Among the issues to be determined is whether the midsize sedan would have its own styling or be a rebadged Renault model.
"We are discussing both of those topics," he said.
Edmunds says: The midsize sedan segment is one of the most competitive vehicle segments in the United States. A stylish Renault-designed model might be the right direction to draw buyers to Mitsubishi.


text:
By Euro Weekly News Media • 01 February 2015 • 17:54
THE 35th edition of Fitur International Tourism Trade Fair in Madrid closes its doors today (February 1) with positive results for the tourism sector.
Fair director Ana Larrañaga announced that about 225,000 people visited the fair, which was opened by King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain on January 28.
Provisional figures spoke of the best results for the fair since the financial crisis began, with a 5 per cent increase in professional visitors this year and a 12 per cent increase in international participation.
Shopping and health tourism sectors were positive additions to the fair this year as destinations search for new ways to beat seasonal slumps and attract visitors all year round.
With new technologies providing great new ways to attract the public’s attention, stands offered a variety of interactive tools including virtual bike rides-
Next year’s edition of the fair is already being planned, and promises to have even more to offer the public than this year, Larrañaga said.
Did you visit Fitur this year? Let us know what you liked the most…..
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our
Share your story with us by emailing [email protected], by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.


text:
Written by Bella Dalima
19 Sep, 2014 | 9:19 pm
Big onion farmers in the Anuradhapura district are facing severe hardship as a result of a reduction in prices. They say that private traders are currently purchasing big onions at between Rs.30 and Rs.35 per kilogramme.
The reaping of the big onion harvest in areas including Galnewa, Meegalewa, Thalawa, Thambuththegama, Nochchiyagama and Maha Iluppalama, has already commenced.
Farmers who decided to cultivate big onions, notwithstanding the dry weather conditions experienced in the recent past, at present are facing a crisis as they are unable to sell their harvest for a proper price.
Farmers are stockpiling their onion crops in the hope that they will get a better price in the near future. Meanwhile, big onions which were being sold at Rs.70 to Rs.80 per kilogram at the Dambulla Economic Centre last week, are only fetching between Rs.50 and Rs. 55 per kilogramme at present.
Farmers have now been driven to selling their produce to private traders at low prices.
Big onion farmers are facing such a fate against a backdrop where the government has introduced a certified price of Rs.60 per kilogramme of big onions for this harvest season.
The Ministry of Co-operatives and Internal Trade says that it has commenced purchasing big onions under the certified price in the Matale district.
Farmers however, have not shown much enthusiasm towards selling their produce at this centre established in the Dambulla town.
20 Apr, 2021 | 01:32 PM
12 Mar, 2021 | 07:51 AM
Are you interested in advertising on our website or video channel
Please contact us at [email protected]


text:
taking extra precautions when facing extreme heat like this. Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center was a busy place Thursday, and really all week since the sweltering heat began. Ambulances were coming and going, many of them carrying patients having trouble dealing with the heat. The hospital's emergency department is extremely busy, according to their hospital's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hsieng Teh Su, who said people need to Stan Smith Halo Blue
know when they're medically in trouble. "We're seeing more than usual people with symptoms with dehydrations, lots of our patients have other medical problems, Adidas Stan Smith White Brown
so dehydration exacerbates those medical conditions," Teh Su.
Bell Ambulance. "People with asthma, people with special medical conditions, people that don't respect the heat, they suffer from it. So, staying hydrated, wearing light breathable clothing, things like that are very important for people," Fortkamp said.
"When they start to be confused, for example, or so lightheaded, they can hardly stand, or, of course, if they've lost consciousness, those are our danger signs and symptoms for us. "On the front lines, Bell Ambulance crews told 12 News they set a record for their 40 year old company on Tuesday with more calls than ever before. "It really kind of sneaks up on people. People think they're invincible, and they're not, no matter their age, so it's been pretty wild," said EMT Brett Fortkamp, with Adidas Stan Smith White Zebra
WISN Adidas Originals Stan Smith Core Black/Running White 12 News has been checking regularly with the local medical examiners because when there was a similar heat wave in 1995, scores of people died. But so far, there have been no heat related deaths to report. "So tonight was kind of one of the best performances that we all had in the playoffs together at the same time, just being aggressive from start to finish, and hopefully that's what we can see for the next three games. "Riding big performances from their Big Three, the Heat tied the NBA Finals with a 109 93 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4. "It was on our shoulders," James said. "We had to figure out how to wi.
Adidas Stan Smith 80s Mid Lenticular Rainbow
Nike Free Shoes For Men
Stan Smith Adidas Red
Nike Lunartempo 2 Lb
Adidas Stan Smith Velcro Womens
Adidas Stan Smith Pony Tail
Adidas Stan Smith Shoes Ebay
Stan Smith Adidas Skateboarding
Nike Lunarglide Shoes
Nike Free 2018 Release
Nike Free Flyknit 4.0 Black/Wolf Grey
Adidas Stan Smith Gold Silver
Stan Smith Boost
Adidas Stan Smith All White Womens
Stan Smiths Black Jd


text:
In its Galaxy, A Event held simultaneously in Bangkok, Sao Paulo, and Milan. Samsung has introduced five new models of the Galaxy A series, which include fingerprint scanners embedded in the screen and risky designs.
This April 10, Samsung has held three events simultaneously in Bangkok, Sao Paulo, and Milan. Which has served the company to launch five new models of its Galaxy A series?
It is true that the new terminals are not at the level of the last flagships presented, the Galaxy S10, but present some novelties in terms of very interesting specifications such as the fingerprint scanner embedded in the panel.
In recent years, the Galaxy A range has been evolving quite a lot and currently includes models with prices and specifications of all kinds. Thus, the A20e model, for example, takes the most basic design and condenses it into a low-end terminal.
Table Of Contents Summary
Samsung launches five new models of the Galaxy A range
Under the slogan “Prepared for your Live”, Samsung has presented new additions to its Galaxy A series in Bangkok. Where he has assured that they have always had in mind the new generation of young people when it comes to designing them.
Thus, DJ Koh, President, and CEO of the Division of Mobile Communications and IT of Samsung Electronics have highlighted the company’s goal of satisfying the wishes of the new social era: better screen, camera, and battery life.
Samsung wants to promote the use of applications and services such as the Instagram Stories and the TikTok app. To get closer to the culture of the millennials and offer solutions to digital natives.
New Galaxy A70 and Galaxy A80
Among the five models presented at the Samsung event, two stand out above all for their premium quality. The Galaxy A70 and the Galaxy A80. Both present some interesting differences and novelties.
For the first time on a Samsung smartphone. The A80 hides its rear and front cameras via a rotating slide system. Notch presence also means full-screen videos.
In addition, the presence of the fingerprint reader embedded in the Galaxy A80 screen is quite new in a mid-range smartphone. In any case, it will not be available until next May 29.
On the other hand, the A70 houses the front lens in a notch in the shape of a drop of water. Thus, the camera embedded in the screen in a hole-shaped notch is only present in the S10 range. Where we saw it for the first time.
First reversible camera
The rear camera of the Samsung Galaxy A80 consists of three lenses: the main, the depth and the wide angle. The most curious thing is that they are also the same used as a front camera thanks to a rotating system.
A model for everyone
We already had the opportunity to test the Galaxy A50 in the last edition of the Mobile World Congress, but Samsung has presented it again in conjunction with the A70 – although they present some differences in specifications – and just below the A80.
The company has also announced two low-end models: the A20e and the A40. Both have a dual camera and a notch in the form of a drop of water. Although they are less powerful models, they will also have installed the Android 9 Pie with the One UI.


text:
For Santa Rosa, 2016 brought big shifts in the car-buying landscape
Jennifer Alcocer already leases one electric car, but last week she was looking at a second, a new model that? on a single charge can travel more than twice the distance of her current ride.
“I’ve totally had the range anxiety,” said Alcocer, referring to the fear that electric vehicle drivers have about running out of power before reaching the next charging station.
Enter the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt, an electric-powered hatchback with an EPA-estimated range of 238 miles and a base price of $37,495. The Bolt, this month named car of the year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, is eligible for $10,000 in state and federal tax credits for buyers.
“It’s Tesla range for half the price,” said David Barnes, general manager at Platinum Chevrolet in Santa Rosa, where Alcocer and husband Kevin Tedrick stopped by Tuesday afternoon.
Sonoma County auto dealers enjoyed strong sales again last year, and high-tech offerings like electric vehicles and advanced safety features continue to attract buyers into showrooms.
Even so, it’s unclear how much more sales can grow at a time when the wider new car market appears to be slowing. And Sonoma County’s used car business just got more competitive with the recent addition in Santa Rosa of CarMax, the nation’s largest used car dealer with a website that allows local buyers to easily find and acquire vehicles from other company stores in the region.
“Anyway you cut it, business is extremely good in Sonoma County,” said Jim Bone, the dealer and a partner in the Jim Bone Auto Group in Santa Rosa.
Car sales, he said, have benefited from strong employment and rising wages.
For the first 10 months of 2016, Sonoma County dealers sold 18,546 new cars and light trucks, according to global information services company Experian. That was just 240 more than from the same period in 2015, but still on track to be the best year in more than a decade.
In contrast, during the depths of the last recession, county car dealers sold just 9,700 new vehicles in all of 2009. In 2010, the total rose to fewer than 10,600 vehicles.
However, after an unprecedented six straight years of increasing sales, the state’s new car market “seems to be running out of steam,” the California New Car Dealers Association stated in a November outlook.
Sales growth for new cars was flat in the third quarter. But the state’s buyers still purchased roughly 2 million new cars in 2016 for the second straight year, the best results in a decade.
“We’re slowing down near the top,” said Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association. “That’s the good news.”
The association forecasts dealers will enjoy relatively strong new car sales for at least the next two years. The market is benefiting from rising household incomes, relatively low interest rates and new tech innovations.
The innovations include recent advanced safety features, including a car’s ability to automatically brake to avoid a pedestrian in a crosswalk or another vehicle making a quick stop.
Also available this year are more affordable electric cars that can travel from, say, Santa Rosa to Redding on a single charge.
That kind of range drew Alcocer and Tedrick to check out the Chevrolet Bolt. The couple already have an electric Mercedes B Class hatchback, with an estimated range of 87 miles.
Tedrick said he had been thinking of making his next car the upcoming Tesla Model 3, a sedan with a base price of $35,000 that is scheduled for release later this year. But he acknowledged being impressed with the Bolt, and he thought plenty of other drivers would find it a value when compared to gasoline-powered vehicles that require oil changes and other engine-related maintenance.
“It makes a lot of sense,” he said.
Electric cars now make up less than 2 percent of new cars sales in California, according to the dealers association. In comparison, regular hybrids make up almost 5 percent, but their share has slipped over the past two years, while plug-in hybrids account for less than 2 percent.
Late last year, two local dealers benefited from an electric car incentive program offered by electricity provider Sonoma Clean Power. The public agency gave $2,500 discounts to consumers who purchased or leased a Nissan Leaf or a BMW i3, the electric models of the two manufacturers that opted into the incentive program.
Buyers acquired 180 Leafs from Bone’s Nissan dealership between late October and early January, the dealer said. Normally he would have sold about 25 Leafs for that period.
“It put a lot of electric cars on the road,” Bone said of the program.


text:
Since AMD released its a report on VR-Zone, we'll see the first two quad-core Phenom chips next month. The site reports that the 2.2GHz Phenom X4 9500 and the 2.4GHz Phenom X4 9600 will launch sometime in November. These Phenom 9000-series parts will feature 512KB of L2 cache per core, 2MB of shared L3 cache, a 3.6GHz HyperTransport 3.0 bus, and an 89W power rating. A third chip will join the line in December--the 2.6GHz Phenom X4 9700 that will have a 4GHz bus and a 125W power rating.last month, PC users have been wondering when that native quad-core goodness might arrive in the form of AMD Phenom desktop CPUs. According to
The higher-end Phenom FX line is expected to debut in the first quarter of 2008 with the Phenom FX-82, which reportedly will feature a clock speed of 2.6GHz or higher.
For its part, AMD would neither confirm nor deny the Phenom rumors making the rounds this week.


text:
Disney To Cut $3 Billion In Content Costs
During Disney’s latest quarterly financial results investor call, Disney CEO Bob Iger has announced that the company is looking to make over $5.5 billion in cost savings, which include $3 billion in non-sports related content.
This will see Disney looking at the cost of making their shows and films, plus they will be taking a look at how much they are creating. It’s likely that we will now see an increase in the number of shows cancelled, the number of projects being greenlighted and releases spread out, but with a focus on its core brands like Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar, but it will be more selective in these projects, due to the cost involved in making them.
Bob Iger said during the call:
“We are going to take a really hard look at the cost for everything that we make, both across television and film. Because things in a very competitive world have just simply gotten more expensive, and that’s something that is already underway here. In addition, we’re going to look at the volume of what we make. And with that in mind, we’re going to be fairly aggressive at better curation when it comes to general entertainment,”
Disney will also become more selective in what content it makes for its general entertainment business, which will likely see more content being shared between streaming and linear. We are also likely to see more films getting a theatrical release, rather than going straight to streaming, plus more content being licensed out to other platforms to increase revenue.
It’s also why we are likely to see the number of expensive shows from Marvel and Star Wars much more spaced out, as Disney had scheduled at least five Marvel shows and three Star Wars shows, for Disney+ in 2023, so we are likely not to see the overlap between shows like last year and have shows delayed to spread out the costs.
The other $2.5 billion in saving will be in general operating costs, with $1 billion of cost-cutting already underway. Bob Iger has also revealed that over 7000 jobs are set to be cut from the company.
With costs going up around the world and the boom in subscriber numbers slowing down, Disney+ needs to become profitable by 2024, and ultimately, Disney has been spending too much on creating new content for streaming than it can bring in.
What do you think of Disney cutting costs?


text:
The Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings Benchmarks report, which accessed more than 3,000 digital campaigns since its launch in Southeast Asia in 2015, found that in the first half of 2017, more than nine in 10 (93%) digital ad campaigns leveraged mobile and mobile achieved an on-target reach equal to or higher than digital or desktop benchmarks for all but two reported age benchmarks.
In the face of rapidly evolving business and economic landscapes around the world, the importance of organizational intelligence and foresight thinking as a tool to unearth early indicators of change and unlock growth has never been greater.
While gaming across Asia remains serious business, followership, engagement and the most popular titles vary greatly market by market. What is an established pastime in South Korea remains a relatively new yet fast-growing phenomenon in Japan.
Beyond in-store clinics and the traditional health care aisle of the store, a handful of departments should be top of mind for drug store retailers where more multicultural dollars are spent in comparison to non-Hispanic whites.
Countries in the emerging markets of Southeast Asia, comprising of the Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, continue to be on the radar of companies looking for expansion thanks to its large populations of young and optimistic consumers with increasing spending capacity and willingness to spend.
While today’s consumers certainly scrutinize the foods that fill their pantries, they aren’t just eating at home. In fact, eating out isn’t just for special occasions; it’s a way of life for nearly half of global respondents.
Consumers around the world are increasingly focused on clean eating and the benefits of eating more healthfully, with 70% of global respondents saying they actively make dietary choices to help prevent health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension.
Modern retail has long been guided by a powerful premise: the bigger, the better. But the retail landscape is shifting, and this mantra no longer holds true in all cases. This report explores the pain and pleasure points in global consumers' shopping experiences.
In a world of choice, social responsibility is increasingly a factor for purchasing one product over another. In fact, 66% of respondents say they’re willing to pay more for products and services that come from companies who are committed to positive social and environmental impact.
When it comes to learning about which diapers are best, 44% of global respondents go direct to the people they know and trust for recommendations, which is the top source of information in every region.
From the pureed food on spoons to the formula in bottles, you’d be hard pressed to find a parent who didn’t want the best for their baby. And they're willing to spend for it. But for baby care manufacturers, there’s plenty at stake in the battle for baby bucks.
Nearly half (49%) of global respondents in Nielsen’s Global Health & Wellness Survey consider themselves overweight, and a similar percentage (50%) is actively trying to lose weight. But men and women are not necessarily aligned with the steps they take in the battle of the bulge.
In the wake of New Year’s resolutions, it seems like every other person is actively trying to lose weight. And they are—50% of global respondents in Nielsen’s Global Health & Wellness Survey say they are taking steps to drop a few pounds this year. Among those, 75% are changing their diet. But are they willing to pay more for healthy foods?
Health and wellness are hot topics around the globe, and they have been for years. Despite the immense amount of attention devoted to the topic, however, the obesity rate is high—and rising. The good news, however, is that consumers around the world are taking steps to take charge of their health.


text:
Sportsbikes banned at Pikes Peak
This just in, the organisers of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb have just decided that sportsbikes will not be allowed to participate at the hill climb from the next edition. The decision comes after due consideration to the incidents last year and the year before when two competitors lost their lives.
In 2014, Bobby Goodin lost his life when he was unable to stop his Daytona 675R after crossing the finish line of the hill climb. In the 2015 edition, Carl Sorensen passed away after his motorcycle went off a cliff 9 miles into the hill climb. The two casualties have been the only ones to have happened to motorcyclists since 1982.
As a result of the losses in life, the organisers have decided to ban all motorcycles without a single piece handlebar. Mind you, the new regulation strictly says that the competing motorcycle has to come factory fitted with a single piece handlebar. While there is no official word about the technical reason behind the ban, it does seem to stem from a thought that motorcycles with clip-on handlebars are much faster. Officially the organisers have said, "Only motorcycles manufactured with one piece handle bars as original equipment will be permitted. Only OEM one-piece handlebars will be permitted. This Rule does not apply to bikes in the Pikes Peak Challenge Sidecar Class."
Thankfully this still means that motorcycles like the Ducati Multistrada, that we have been seeing so much of on the peak, can still take part.
Image source: asphaltandrubber.com
- NewsBREAKING: BMW R 18 Cruiser arrives in India, launch by the end of September 2020
- NewsJuly 2020 automotive retail sales still 36 per cent less YoY
- ReviewExclusive comparison test: 2020 Skoda Karoq vs VW T-Roc
- NewsMaserati Ghibli and Quattroporte Trofeo pack 580PS V8 under the hood
- NewsKawasaki Versys 650 BSVI launched in India at Rs. 6.79 lakh


text:
Created by the development team behind Project CARS and former ‘Need for Speed’ developer, World of Speed is a F2P car racing game that takes arcade style racing into the new era by combining AAA graphics and visuals with massive multiplayer online competition.
Team Racing: World of Speed introduces a new level of connected competition allowing players to team up and compete in an ever-expanding number of gameplay modes where completing team-based objectives determines the victor.
Clubs: Players can team up with friends and other players to form clubs where they can customize their logos, earn access to a club garage social hub, compete against other clubs, show off in the Airfield Playground and battle in high-stakes races in Territory Wars.
Lots and lots of cars: Players can earn and collect a continuously growing roster of cars ranging from everyday city runners to the fastest super cars on the planet while housing them in their own costume garage.
Locations: Race across iconic licensed circuits and custom built tracks based off real-world locations, including Brands Hatch to London, Monaco and Moscow.
- Status: Pre-Release
- Business Model: Free to Play
- Developer: SlightlyMad Studios
- Publisher: my.com
- Category: Stand-alone
- Genre(s): 3D, MMO, Simulation
- Platforms: PC
- + Tons of real world locations
- + Arcade style gameplay
- + Clubs and social features
- - Limited information available
Articles You May Enjoy
- Magicka: Wizard Wars Announces Curse Voice Integration
- Announcing a new integration between Curse Inc.’s VoIP communication platform, Curse Voice, and Magicka: Wizard Wars.
- Nosgoth Vanguard Class Preview
- Nosgoth has recently left Closed Beta and officially entered Open Beta last month. Since then, the Nosgoth team has been working hard.
- Armored Warfare Hits 1 Million Early Access Registrations
- Obsidian Entertainment and My.com announce that more than 1 million gamers have signed up to be part of the Early Access Tests.


text:
SINGAPORE – Having an archive quantity of apartments interacting with its minimal profession period in 2010, this new recent spike in selling pricing from Casing and you can Creativity Panel (HDB) flats is expected become softer inside 2022, possessions experts said.
Ooi Boon Keong/Now Prices for resale social apartments have gone up, despite measures implemented by the Regulators so you’re able to cool the house .
- More than 31,100000 flats would be getting its lowest occupation period this year, the highest number as the 2007 whenever info first started
- Property analysts told you the rise for the HDB resale costs is anticipated to get soft from inside the 2022
- They assume an increase out-of cuatro to eight percent in 2022, reducing throughout the twelve.seven per cent rise in 2021
- Reasons were a heightened supply of selling flats in the industry, a high amount of BTO programs to soak up the fresh new need for resale flats and you may easing from design bottlenecks
SINGAPORE – Which have a record number of flats interacting with the minimal career months this season, the fresh latest spike for the resale cost off Construction and you can Innovation Board (HDB) flats is expected to get softer inside the 2022, possessions analysts told you.
They expect selling cost to improve from the cuatro to 8 each penny, which is however high by the historic standards, even in the event better down regarding sizzling improve out of several.eight % in 2021.
Residents must entertain their flats to have an excellent five-year minimum industry months ahead of he is allowed to sell her or him into open market.
Flats completed in 2017 have a tendency to arrive at its minimal industry period during the 2022. That seasons, 29,325 HDB residential products was basically finished, HDB study demonstrated.
This is actually the high matter just like the 2007 whenever suggestions began. It’s very better over the nine-12 months mediocre away from 16,667 flats which have hit minimum community period out of 2013 to 2021.
The reasons analysts gave on the slow upsurge in rates within the 2022 is a greater supply of resale apartments on the market, increased amount of BTO strategies to soak up brand new need for selling apartments and the easing of framework bottlenecks.
Ms Christine Sun, elderly vice-president https://guaranteedinstallmentloans.com/payday-loans-pa/ away from search and analytics on property enterprise OrangeTee and you may Wrap, asserted that the highest quantity of flats that are prior lowest community several months getting 2021 is located in Bukit Batok, Punggol, Sembawang, Woodlands and you may Bukit Merah.
The spike inside housing supply may use certain downwards pressure to the prices throughout these locations. For this reason, specific portion may see cost rising in the a slowly pace this season, she said.
Mr Nicholas Mak, your mind of lookup and consultancy agency during the Time Realty Community, told you even if, you to definitely flats which have only attained the minimal industry months could possibly get subscribe to the rise inside selling prices as they are even more attractive and able to demand higher pricing.
This type of HDB apartments were brand-new, have extended renting and higher designs like a lot more confidentiality and you will integrated vehicles parks, versus earlier of those, the guy told you.
Experts said that reducing the financing-to-worthy of limitations had minimal perception once the of a lot Singapore customers pick personal loans from banks, which can be offered at a much lower rate versus dos
Mr Mak plus detailed your big source of BTO flats over two years in addition to Government’s warranty away from sufficient also have manage reduce the fomo (fear of getting left behind) or kiasu-ism (fear of losing out) among homeowners.
Thus, some consumers whom could reduce their home purchase is capable of doing thus, causing a moderation out of interest in BTO apartments and you will selling flats.
not, Ms Wong Siew Ying, direct out of lookup and you will content during the PropNex Realty, asserted that brand new ramping upwards of brand new BTO flat supply get maybe not instantly temper need for HDB resale units.
Consumers with additional pressing home needs will get choose to order regarding resale sector, instead of awaiting good BTO investment are finished in the next few years, she told you.
The development business might have been impacted by supply chain bottlenecks owed so you can Covid-19 regarding insufficient manpower and you can information, that could cause BTO plans getting completed on a slow pace.
Within the a research authored by possessions webpages and you may SRX Property into Thursday (Feb ten), it had been stated that HDB resale prices rose step one.1 per cent history times as compared to , right up to your nineteenth straight month. From inside the 12 months-on-seasons words, the newest hike are a dozen.nine %.
Charges for every area sizes improved past day seasons-on-12 months, having around three-room flats moving by the fourteen.seven %, four-space of them of the 13.step 1 percent, five-room apartments from the 13.2 % and you can professional condominiums from the 14.step 1 %.
The highest transacted speed having a resale flat so it times was within $step one,338,888, for an excellent four-place Design, Generate market System (DBSS) apartment on Natura Attic.
Costs for selling flats have left right up, even after strategies adopted of the Government two months ago to chill the property sector.
As a result the most amount borrowed HDB often provide to buyers might possibly be 85 % of the house price.
It assume the Authorities will see how the market costs before deciding for the whether or not to create even more cooling strategies this current year.


text:
The Nokia 8 is the Finnish phone brand’s first flagship Android phone. It recently passed the Scratch, Burn, and Bend Durability Test and got FCC approval for its 6GB RAM with 128GB storage variant. It’s also getting Android 8.0 Oreo soon as it’s almost ready. We’re just excited that it’s coming to the United States following Australia and Germany but unfortunately, we learned it’s no longer coming to the US.
We said before it won’t be ready for the US and China so this new information is not really surprising. We saw the phone on the US website but the decision was changed. We have no idea why but perhaps the Nokia 8 will be replaced by the Nokia 9. The latter is almost ready having been leaked in images and a 360-degree video. It was also sighted on the FCC. There was a 4GB RAM variant before but it’s reportedly canceled in favor of the 6GB and 8GB RAM models.
If you may remember, this phone also showed up on AnTuTu with 4GB RAM and a Snapdragon 835 processor. So far, we know the phone will have that bezel-less edge-to-edge 3D glass display, 128GB ROM, 6GB or 8GB RAM, rear fingerprint scanner, and Iris scanner. Let’s wait and see for Nokia’s final decision.


text:
A procedure to authenticate the names of those who play online games will go into effect on Friday to bolster a system specifically designed to prevent adolescents from becoming addicted to the Internet.
That procedure was adopted to prevent the young from overindulging in online gaming, Song Jianxin, a senior official with the General Administration of Press and Publication, told a news conference.
The new regulation, initiated by the administration and seven other government organs, will lead to the establishment of a national database that registers the names of all online gamers.
The Ministry of Public Security's national citizen identity information center will process the ID data gamers submit to play games online. Only an adult who has obtained a special ID card from the Ministry of Public Security, bearing both his name and ID numbers specific to him, will be given unhindered access to online games.
Those who cannot meet that requirement will be automatically directed to the anti-addiction system, which will make it more difficult for a gamer to do well in a particular game the longer he plays it.
Song said game operators were told of the new rules in early July. They will be given two months to test the procedures before the regulation formally takes effect on Oct 1.
In April 2007, China introduced an anti-addiction system that was to be attached to all online games. Gamers, though, found they could bypass it by making up the ID numbers needed to access online games. The new procedure requires them to both type an ID number and the name attached to it, which will have to match the records kept by the Ministry of Public Security before gamers will be considered to be adults.
Guo Yuanpeng, 13, said he spends about three hours a day playing online games during his summer vacations. Guo said he has sometimes used false ID numbers to gain access to them.
"It's pretty easy," he said. "I changed the figures in my ID card number every time before I played a game, and that let me stay online all the time."
By June, China was home to about 485 million Internet users, 27 percent of whom were younger than 19. By the same date, about 311 million of those users were playing online games, according to the latest report by China Internet Network Information Center.
Yu Yi, an analyst of domestic research company Analysys International, said more and more teenagers are taking to playing online games and the new procedure is a response to that trend.
Even so, he said he doubts the regulation will really make a difference because teenagers can always borrow the ID information of adults they know.
Hover Xiao, an analyst with the research company IDC, agreed. He said the system will prevent players from overindulging in online games to some extent, but that gaming addictions are social problems that are not likely to be solved by government regulations.


text:
At the launch of the new Maruti Suzuki Dzire, company officials announced that there are four new cars planned for 2017. Two of them are updates to existing models and two are thoroughly modified. One of those was the Dzire. That cuts the list down to two updated models and one new car. Here’s our list of three upcoming Maruti cars that we think the company is prepping for launch in 2017.
Upcoming Maruti Cars
1. Maruti Swift (New)
No prizes for guessing this one. It’s a long time coming and thanks to the Dzire, we already know what the 2017 Maruti Swift is going to look like in flesh. Sort of!
- Engine: 1.2-litre petrol/1.3-litre diesel
- Transmission: 5-speed manual/5-speed AMT
- Launch Date: December 2017
- Price: Rs. 5 lakh – Rs. 8.5 lakh
2. Maruti S-Cross (Update)
The S-Cross has had its share of ups and downs starting with a down. After the success of the Ciaz, India’s favourite carmaker got overly confident and messed up the pricing big time. The price correction arrived late. The damage was done by then and the S-Cross never recovered. A spacious car with an explosive and frugal 1.6-litre diesel engine made it a tonne of fun.
Features of the 2017 S-Cross facelift could include a new grille with vertical chrome slats, new alloy wheels that don’t look like wheel covers, flat-bottom steering wheel, rear AC vents and minor touch ups here and there.
The upcoming S-Cross was recently spotted doing test runs around Maruti’s Gurgaon plant suggesting an impending launch.
- Engine: 1.3-litre diesel/1.6-litre diesel
- Transmission: 5-speed manual/6-speed manual
- Launch Date: October 2017
- Price: Rs. 8 lakh – Rs. 12 lakh
3. Maruti Brezza (Update)
Ignis, Baleno, Dzire, Ciaz, S-Cross and the upcoming Swift, all pack two airbags and ABS as standard equipment. That leaves the Brezza alone selling passenger airbag and ABS for extra cash in lower variants. Maruti Suzuki is proactively adding safety features and getting rid of the option packs on all cars with a starting price tag above Rs. 4.6 lakh starting with the Ignis. The Brezza could get the safety treatment similar to what the Ciaz experienced, which could bring about some change in its price tag. As the demand for petrol cars increases, we could also see the Brezza launch with the 1.0-litre Boosterjet engine.
- Engine: 1.3-litre diesel
- Transmission: 5-speed manual
- Launch Date: July 2017
- Price: Rs. 7.5 lakh – Rs. 9.8 lakh
*All prices ex-showroom, Delhi. Tentative launch dates provided based on the available information, product life cycle and market trend.
Also Read: Top 5 #FunToDrive Cars Under Rs. 10 Lakh
New Suzuki S-Cross Official Video-
- 5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Datsun GO, GO Plus this Diwali - October 12, 2018
- Mini Electric Production Designs Unveiled for the First Time - July 13, 2018
- More Volvo XC40 Variants Inbound? - July 11, 2018


text:
A study published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine dives into why certain foods are more addictive than others.
It turns out cheese happens to be highly addictive because it contains casein, a protein found in dairy products.
The casein "breaks apart during during digestion to release a whole host of opiates called casomorphins".
And casomorphins "...really play with the dopamine receptors and trigger that addictive element," Cameron Wells told Mic.
In pedestrian terms, it's crack.
And it's not your fault that you're addicted to delicious, wonderful cheese.
Because even scientists say that cheese is "dairy crack."
Just enjoy your cheese responsibly.


text:
LBS Bina Group Bhd launched the third and newest phase of its Alam Perdana township, Rentak Perdana, at its sales gallery near Puncak Alam.
Its group managing director, Tan Sri Lim Hock San, said the affordable landed property project was well-received by buyers.
“Affordability, connectivity and community are three of the most important factors that buyers look for in a new home.
“With LBS Alam Perdana, our mission is to build a township that brings people in the community closer and foster a sense of togetherness,” he said
Rentak Perdana, when completed, will have 856 double-storey terrace houses and 28 double-storey semi-detached houses with total gross development value of RM475mil.
The development is being built to be a gated-and-guarded neighbourhood with the prices of terrace homes starting from RM509,900.
The neighbourhood will also have two recreational parks with various facilities, including a yoga lawn, barbecue area, jogging track and a few types of sports courts, to encourage community activities.
Lim said the group had achieved RM1.06bil in net sales, with unbilled sales standing at RM1.715bil. The group’s sales target is to hit RM1.8bil by the end of the year.
He also announced that in gratitude for the support the group had received from buyers, it was also launching the LBS Owner’s Bonus campaign, which seeks to reward loyal customers with attractive perks.
Owners are entitled to a complimentary personal accident insurance plan for three years worth up to RM150,000, and a lucky draw entry where 10 lucky winners stand a chance to receive an LBS “Future-Ready” Investment Plan worth up to RM450,000.
Additionally, customers can enjoy an extra 2% rebate for subsequent purchases, as well as a 1% cash incentive for introducing a friend who ends up making a purchase.
LBS Alam Perdana’s first two landed neighbourhoods, Simfoni Perdana and Irama Perdana, were also met with encouraging response, selling 88% and 100% of units, respectively.
The LBS Owner’s Bonus campaign ends September 30, 2018.
Members of the public and potential homebuyers were invited to join in the festivities during the launch with a mini carnival, featuring food and beverage booths as well as fun games.


text:
The British public relations agency ING has placed Warsaw on its list of five European cities with the greatest potential for developing their brand on the Internet.
ING has included a total of 40 European cities in its report, which are most often the subject of online discussions compared to other cities. The company has also conducted an analysis of which of them have unexpectedly received a lot of attention from users, and which have comparably the greatest potential for further development of their brand on the web.
According to ING experts, Warsaw is among the five cities on the continent that have the chance for the greatest increase in popularity among internet users. The authors of the report compared the Polish capital to Rome and Copenhagen – as a city with a rich cultural offer and offering attractive living conditions. In this category, apart from Warsaw, Oslo, Zurich, Stockholm, and Copenhagen were also ranked.


text:
Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreens are closing thousands of stores throughout the US, moving away from the visions of US cities and suburbs with hubs for medicine and household essentials.
Thousands of drugstore chains in US cities are closing down, including CVS’s, Rite Aid’s, and Walgreens. Rite Aid specifically filed for bankruptcy last week, and will supposedly be closing around 400 to 500 of its 2,200 stores in the US.
Rite Aid’s bankruptcy has been a result of the competition from larger rivals in the industry, as well as expensive legal battles for its alleged role in fueling the opioid crisis, as well as a debt load of $3.3 billion.
Walgreens, on the other hand, is experiencing walkouts among their pharmacists and technicians throughout the US due to low pay and understaffing issues; the same thing is happening for some CVS stores in Kansas City as well. All of these issues among drugstore chains have also been lingering since the pandemic.
David Silverman, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency that analyzes financial markets, spoke with the media regarding this recent downfall of drugstore chains in the US.
“The pandemic was not a strong time for drugstores.”
Rite Aid is the third largest standalone pharmacy chain in the nation, according to CNN, and its bankruptcy reflects the struggles that the retail pharmacy industry has been experiencing within the past few years.
For most drugstores, their sales are dependent on filling prescriptions. In recent years, however, their profits have declined due to lowered reimbursement rates for prescription drugs. Household essentials, snacks, and other supplies typically sold in a drugstore are also facing declines in sales.
Drugstores are currently being beaten by big-box stores and companies that include pharmacies such as Walmart and Amazon; especially for household goods. With the pandemic as well, less people were choosing to go to pharmacies, and were getting fewer elective procedures to avoid being in healthcare facilities, causing a decline in prescriptions being filled.
Additionally, theft within drugstores has become a major issue within certain parts of the country. You may have even noticed your local CVS, Rite Aid, or Walgreens locking up more and more products to prevent this. However, by locking away so many items that require an employee to retrieve it for you is discouraging for customers, especially considering many of these retailers are understaffed.
“Theft appears to be hitting drug retailers more than other categories.”
As a means of maintaining business, many drugstores are trying to embrace the more profitable aspects of the healthcare industry by becoming primary care providers. According to CNN, CVS recently acquires health insurer Aetna while Walgreens took a majority stake in Village MD, a primary care network.
As these retail pharmacy chains expanded in the past, independent pharmacies all over the nation felt the impact and had to close. In fact, according to global management consulting firm McKinsey, from 1980 to 2022 independent pharmacies decreased by nearly 50% throughout the US.
“Roughly one out of every eight pharmacies closed between 2009 and 2015, which disproportionately affected independent pharmacies and low-income neighborhoods,” according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at email@example.com.


text:
Don’t miss a thing! Sign up to the Daily Star’s newsletter
We have more newsletters
Russian fans of McDonald's have turned away from the replacement fast-food chain forced upon them when the original version made the decision to leave the country due to President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
The red-and-yellow brand vacated the country within days of Putin sending troops into the neighbouring country in February this year, and expressed its disgust at Putin's actions.
But rather than just upping sticks and leaving, its bosses sold the branches to another company which saw them rebrand to Vkusno I Tochka – which means "tasty and point".
READ MORE: UK's top Bengali porn star dreamt of bedding Rishi Sunak two weeks before he became PM
However, the logo was simliar to the famous giant M, the colours scheme was the same, and the restaurant interior didn't change – nor the did menu.
And while the food looked familiar, it was no longer classic McDonald's quality – and now Russians are turning against it.
According to Sergey Mironov, who is the ombudsman for the restaurant business in Moscow and surrounding areas, revenue has dropped by around 20%.
Speaking to TASS, he said: “"Vkusno I Tochka turnover has decreased by 15-20%, according to our estimates.”
And the worrying trend for the business could be set to hit KFC, after the famous US chicken chain took a similar route to McDonald's.
Putin's gymnast 'lover' proudly wears 'Z' brooch in support of Ukraine bloodshed
Branches of the rebranded chain – of which the name has yet to be revealed – is set to open in the next few months, alongside small franchisees that never actually closed.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) approved the purchase of all Russian outlets by company Smart Service Ltd LLC.
It now owns 70 restaurants, as well as being the franchisor for more than 1,000 partner outlets.
Environmental protesters storm £1000-a-head Salt Bae restaurant and get kicked out
Despite the new ownership, the classic KFC recipes – including its famous coating on its fried chicken – remains propitiatory material of the United States-based company, which therefore means the new Russian company can not use it.
This, Mironov said, will leave the restaurant chain a shadow of its former self, and an instant turn off for its original customer base.
To get more stories from Daily Star delivered straight to your inbox sign up to one of our free newsletters here .
- For more of the latest news from the world of the Daily Star, check out our homepage
'I tried vegan Christmas turkey options but they tasted like a Ford Escort's exhaust'
United States F-15 fighter jet's risky landing at Brit base with shower of sparks
Putin's 'secret lover' refuses to confirm if he 'pooed' himself in rare public outing
Daily Star's Favourite Wrestler Lana Austin finally crowned new women's champion
- Vladimir Putin
- Russia Ukraine war
Source: Read Full Article


text:
Supplements aren't intended to be a food substitute because they can't replicate all of the nutrients and benefits of whole foods, such as fruits and vegetables. So depending on your situation and your eating habits, dietary supplements may not be worth the expense.
Natural Health News A new study has shed some light on which plant food supplements are most popular across Europe, with consumers using them to complement their diets or to maintain health.
The study, published in the journal in PLOS ONE, examined the popularity of different botanical supplements in different European countries Finland, Germany, Italy, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom and compared different methods of taking these supplements, from capsules and pills to powder sachets and drop dispensing bottles.
For the purposes of the study, botanicals were defined as concentrated sources of botanical preparations that have nutritional or physiological effect [and] are marketed in dose format. For this reason herbal teas, juices and similar products, were not included in the survey, though these are also undoubtedly popular ways of taking herbal products.
The 2359 participants were selected so as to make up a representative cross-section of demographics with gender and age …
If you're generally healthy and eat a wide variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, low-fat dairy products, lean meats and fish, you likely don't need supplements.
Make sure to read the rest of the article at Nyrnaturalnews.