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The index of U.S. leading indicators unexpectedly declined in March for the first time in seven months, a sign the world’s largest economy will cool.
The Conference Board’s gauge of the outlook for the next three to six months fell 0.1% in March after climbing 0.5% in the prior two months, the New York-based group said today. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.1% increase.
The figures underscore an economy that hit a rough patch at the end of the first quarter as manufacturing eased and higher payrolls taxes began to bite. At the same time, advancing stock prices this year and lower borrowing costs will help keep household spending, which accounts for about 70% of the economy, from faltering.
“It’s lackluster-to-moderate growth in the near-term,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida, who correctly projected the drop in the LEI. The tax increases and federal budget cuts are a drag, he said. The economy is “not quite as strong as we’d like to see.”
Estimates of 48 economists in the Bloomberg survey ranged from a decline of 0.4% to an increase of 0.6%.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said today that its factory index declined in April to 1.3 from 2 the prior month. Readings greater than zero signal expansion in the area covering eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. The median forecast called for 3.
Stocks fell after earnings from UnitedHealth Group Inc. and EBay Inc. disappointed investors. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index decreased 0.1% to 1,550.35 at 10:53 a.m. in New York.
Another report showed little change in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits. First-time jobless claims climbed by 4,000 to 352,000 in the week ended April 13, the Labor Department said.
“Businesses at least need the workers they have and probably could use some more,” said Tom Simons, an economist at Jefferies LLC in New York, who projected claims would rise to 350,000. “Claims will probably stay in this range for some time.”
Five of the 10 indicators in the leading index contributed to the March decrease, including a decline in applications for home construction, fewer factory orders and a drop in consumer expectations. Building permits in March fell 3.9% to a four-month low 902,000 annualized rate, the Commerce Department said this week.
“Data for March reflect an economy that has lost some steam,” Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement today. “The biggest challenge remains weak demand, due to nervous consumer sentiment and slow income growth.”
The Conference Board’s index of coincident indicators, a gauge of current economic activity, fell 0.1% in March after rising 0.5% in the prior month.
The coincident index tracks payrolls, incomes, sales and production, which are the same measures tracked by the National Bureau of Economic Research to determine the beginning and end of U.S. recessions.
The gauge of lagging indicators advanced 0.3% after no change in February.
Siemens AG, Europe’s biggest engineering company, made 21.3% of its revenue from the U.S. in fiscal year 2012 and is among companies that anticipate further growth in the economy.
“A manufacturing renaissance is what is talk of town in the U.S.,” Siegfried Russwurm, head of Siemens’ industry division, said in an April 11 industry teleconference. “In the long run, we see a good business climate there, although currently it is a little bit bumpy.”
The economy is projected to grow at a 1.5% annual rate in the second quarter after an estimated 3% pace in the first three months of the year, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists from April 5 to April 9.
Part of the reason for the projected second-quarter slowdown is an increase in the levy used to finance Social Security, which returned to 6.2% from 4.2%. A worker earning $50,000 a year is taking home about $83 less a month because of the higher tax.
Fed policy makers yesterday said the U.S. expansion remained “moderate.” Household spending, they said in the Beige Book business survey, “grew modestly” as some sales were restrained by the tax increase and higher fuel costs.
At the same time, stocks climbed to all-time highs this month. Through yesterday, the S&P 500 gained 8.8% this year.
Higher home prices have also boosted household wealth. Property values rose 10.2% in the 12 months through February, the biggest gain in almost seven years, according to Irvine, California-based CoreLogic Inc.


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The South Korean government will allow foreign workers with non-professional work visas (E-9) to work in restaurants facing severe labor shortages.
The measure was taken as part of efforts to innovate civil regulations agreed during a meeting of relevant ministers chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Wednesday. A total of 167 regulations were addressed, including 50 inconveniences and burdensome regulations for the public and 117 regulatory difficulties for small and medium-sized businesses.
Under the measures, the E-9 quota for the restaurant industry is expected to be expanded from 3,000 to 10,000 in stages. There is also a possibility that the government could implement the measure as a pilot project.
The employment permit system, introduced in 2004, issues E-9 and H-2 visitor visas for small and medium-sized enterprises to hire foreign workers. E-9 visa holders can only work in industries such as agriculture, fisheries, manufacturing, construction, and some service sectors where Korean workers are reluctant to work. The total quota for this year is 120,000. The government plans to include the restaurant industry in these avoided sectors. Overseas Koreans, including those who entered with an H-2 visa, are already allowed to work in restaurants, so the benefits of this regulatory innovation will be extended to foreign workers, particularly those from Southeast Asia.
The government has been expanding the eligibility for foreigners to work in the restaurant industry. This year, it expanded the employment sectors for H-2 visa holders to include the entire restaurant industry. It also extended the working hours for international students on D-2 visas to work part-time during weekdays. However, as complaints continued about the shortage of labor in the restaurant industry, the government has decided to revise the E-9 visa program.
The government’s latest innovation plan also included allowing online sales of contact lenses. Until now, consumers had to purchase disposable contact lenses by visiting an eyeglass store or via overseas websites. The perfume duty-free limit, which has been set at 60 ml since 1979, will also be raised to 100 ml. Additionally, it will become possible to raise bees in national forests, and expired Onnuri Gift Certificates will also be accepted.
By Kim Dong-eun, Lee Jin-han, and Yoon Yeon-hae
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]

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US consumer price growth stable for July
U.S. consumer prices did not rise in July due to a sharp drop in the cost of gasoline, delivering the first notable sign of relief for Americans who have watched inflation climb over the past two years.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was unchanged last month after advancing 1.3% in June, the Labor Department said on Wednesday in a closely watched report that nevertheless showed underlying inflation pressures remain elevated as the Federal Reserve mulls whether to embrace another super-sized interest rate hike in September.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.2% rise in monthly CPI in July on the heels of a roughly 20% drop in the cost of gasoline. Prices at the pump spiked in the first half of this year due to the war in Ukraine, hitting a record-high average of more than $5 per gallon in mid-June, according to motorist advocacy group AAA.
But the Fed has indicated that several monthly declines in CPI growth will be needed before it lets up on the increasingly aggressive monetary policy tightening it has delivered to tame inflation currently running at four-decade highs.
U.S. consumer prices have been surging due to a number of factors, including snarled global supply chains, massive government stimulus early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Food is one component of the CPI that remained elevated in July, rising 1.1% last month after climbing 1.0% in June.
In the 12 months through July, the CPI increased by a weaker-than-expected 8.5% following a 9.1% rise in June. Underlying inflation pressures, which exclude volatile food and energy components, also showed some encouraging signs.
The so-called core CPI rose 0.3% in July after climbing 0.7% in June, but increased 5.9% in the 12 months through July, the same pace as in June.
Inflation in the cost of rent and owners’ equivalent rent of primary residence, which is what a homeowner would receive from renting a home, held almost steady last month. Shelter costs comprise about 40% of the core CPI measure.


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A yellow diamond discovered in the Northwest Territories
YELLOW KNIFE –
Owners of a diamond mine in the Northwest Territories say workers have recovered what is likely Canada’s largest fancy bright yellow diamond.
The Arctic Canadian Diamond Company says the 71.26-carat diamond was recovered from its Ekati mine on August 25.
Fancy colored diamonds are rare gems where the stone has a strong color.
Yellow diamonds get their color from the presence of nitrogen.
The color intensity grading system for fancy diamonds ranges from pale to fancy vivid.
A 552-carat rough yellow diamond was discovered at the Diavik Diamond Mine in the territory in 2018.
It holds the record for the largest gem-quality diamond found in North America and one of the 30 largest in the world.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on September 23, 2022.


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本篇論文代寫-伍爾沃斯公司的員工問題講了伍爾沃斯公司的員工在Indeed網站上發表了他們的觀點和想法，聲稱公司的工作時間不公平，升職的機會非常少。昆士蘭州伍爾沃斯一家商店的團隊稱，工作場所存在欺凌行爲。一名員工聲稱他們在商店裏沒有受到公平對待。新南威爾士州一家伍爾沃斯商店的值班經理說，加班工資很少。伍爾沃斯商店發現的主要問題是工作時間不公平，工作場所存在欺凌行爲。僱員沒有得到很好的待遇，他們不知道這些權利和有關文書。應該有公平的工作條件，這影響了員工的精神狀況。本篇論文代寫文章由加拿大第一論文 Assignment First輔導網整理，供大家參考閱讀。
Views of the three employees
The employees of Woolworth have posted their views and thinking on the Indeed website and claimed that company has unfair Woking hours and offers very minimum chance for promotion. The team of a store in Queensland of Woolworths stated that there was bullying at the workplace. One employee claimed that they are not treated fairly at the stores. A duty management of a store of Woolworths in NSW stated that are paid very little for overtime works. The main issue that has been identified at the stores of Woolworth is that they are unfair Woking hour and bullying is involved at the workplace. The employees are not treated well, and they do not know about these entitlements and relevant instruments. There should be fair working terms and conditions, and it has affected the mental condition of the employees.
Media report of recent dispute concerning your entitlement
The Woolworths is facing the huge problem as the employees are claiming that they are treated unfairly. The employees have stated that there is an unfair working hour and bullied at the workplace. Some workers were paid very low, and it shows that the company is not following the rules and standards of the National Employment Standard. The fair work act was not applied, and there were unfair terms and conditions for the employees (Toscano, 2016). The case study shows that the employees are facing huge issues in the workplace in the company. The acts show unfair activities carried out by the management of the company.
The employees of Woolworths are facing problems at their workplace. The employees claimed that there are unfair working hours, fewer chances to get promotion and bullied at the workplace. The managers of the company should take adequate steps to provide equal rights to the employees. The act is not ethical, and it is of major concern. The National Employment Standards are ten minimum employment entitlements that are provided to the employees. The entitlements include maximum weekly hours, flexible working arrangements, annual leave, parental leave, compassionate leave and personal carers leave, community service leave, long service leave, public holidays, redundancy pay and notice of termination and fair work information statement. It is very much important for the companies to follow the standards. The employees should be treated equally and should be provided with their rights as per the standard.


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Every year, January’s chill is offset by the radiating electricity of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and the National Auto Dealers’ Association (NADA) conference, where the hottest new vehicles and trends in automotive take center stage to spark excitement across the industry.
From connected cars and eco-tech to innovative full-size pick-ups and motorized unicycles, brands revealed big developments sure to draw excitement from tech-savvy Hispanic shoppers. Accordingly, Univision’s Auto Team and Univision News were on hand to cover the announcements, hearing first-hand from some of the leading executives at major manufacturers, like Toyota, Nissan, Honda, GM, Ford and more about their biggest news.
Given the fact that Hispanic population growth continues to climb at staggering rates, the importance of the Hispanic consumer is on many auto executives’ lips. Mark Fields, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, recognizes the value of the pace of Hispanic population growth to Ford’s business: “When you look at the population and the demographics, it’s the fastest growing demographic. And we have worked very hard… to make sure that we have the right emphasis on this great community [of Hispanics].”
But even more than population growth, the most recent Polk Hispanic registration data (January-October 2014) shows that across the industry and across segments Hispanics continue to be a huge driver of industry acceleration:
- Nearly 1 in 3 incremental new vehicles sold is to a Hispanic consumer (28%)
- Toyota and Nissan hold the #1 and #2 spots in new vehicle sales to Hispanics, with one-third of each brand’s incremental growth coming from Hispanics
- Automakers revealed new full size half-ton pickups this year, promising great traction with the Hispanic consumer, who delivered +16% growth in the segment in 1-3Q CY2014
- Luxury brands like #1 BMW and #2 Lexus continue to see Hispanic sales growth – in fact Lexus saw 46% growth in Hispanic sales in 1-3Q CY2014
- Even more staggering, the luxury compact segment is seeing 100% of its growth from Hispanic sales
These numbers are hard to ignore, and smart marketers know that much of their future growth lies with Hispanic consumers. Chevrolet Global CMO Tim Mahoney is among them: “If we want to find new roads and grow as a brand,” he said, “we want to grow with the Hispanic community.”
Source: Polk New Vehicle Registrations (Personal including Lease): Enhanced Ethnic Data; U.S.; Jan-OctCY13, Jan-Oct CY14; (Note: All figures based on Jan-Oct CY14 performance unless otherwise noted; All Rankings based on Hispanic New Vehicle Registrations)


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Music industry veterans Marcus Russell and Alec McKinlay (Ignition Management; Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Catfish and the Bottlemen) have invested in fan-to-fan ticket resale platform Twickets – as the fight against online ticket touts steps up a notch.
Twickets is also receiving backing from a group of established Spanish music managers and promoters, led by Neo Sala, founder of Spain’s largest concert promoter, Doctor Music.
The executives are investing in a new funding round, which has seen reinvestment from the entire original founding board.
This includes Ian McAndrew (Founder & CEO, Wildlife Entertainment; Royal Blood, Arctic Monkeys), Harry Magee and Richard Griffiths (Co-Founders, Modest! Management; One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, Olly Murs), Chris Wright CBE (Co-Founder Chrysalis Records, Heart FM, LBC), Tony Wadsworth CBE (former Chairman of EMI Music and the BPI) and Steve Parish (Chairman & Co-Owner, Crystal Palace FC).
The round opens today on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs at www.seedrs.com/twickets, giving the public their first opportunity to invest in Twickets’ future growth.
The company aims to raise £700,000 to further drive its growth.
Part of that growth includes an agreement to become Crystal Palace FC’s official resale partner and an expansion into Spain via a partnership with Doctor Music.
The upcoming service will enable the Crystal Palace fans to buy and sell tickets through the platform at face value; the first time a Premier League club has used a face value ticket resale platform.
Twickets was launched In February 2015 by Richard Davies, the respected digital entrepreneur, founder of one of the UK’s first digital agencies, Good Technology, and owner of Future Platforms, one of the UK’s leading mobile app developers.
Davies said: “Our second round of investment is an exciting opportunity to further expand the business internationally, and welcoming top industry players like Neo Sala, Marcus Russell and Alec McKinley into the Twickets family is a great development.
“As well as this, investing through Seedrs is an opportunity for fans to be a part of our continued growth. We are also incredibly proud to become the first face value resale platform to represent a Premiership football club. Working with Steve Parish and the staff at Crystal Palace to facilitate fair resale of match tickets between club members is an exciting and important step for Twickets.
“We are looking forward to launching in Spain and working with our new partners at Doctor Music to offer Spanish music fans an alternative, ethical method of purchasing concert tickets.”
Steve Parish, Crystal Palace FC Chair, added: “I was really happy to invest in something that seemed an ethical way of solving the problem of secondary ticketing. It soon dawned on us that partnering with Twickets was a fantastic opportunity for the club, to make sure that when supporters couldn’t go to a match, they could get their tickets to other supporters.”
Doctor Music’s Founder and CEO, Neo Sala, commented: “I have been looking forward to the day that a service like Twickets launches in Spain to put a stop to touts who profit from everyone else’s hard work and take fans’ hard earned money to see the artists they love and support. I am pleased to be partnering with Richard and his team and look forward to Twickets Spain launching soon.”
The online ticket touting industry is estimated to be worth £1bn in the UK alone.Music Business Worldwide


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To celebrate the 100th anniversary of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing," the brand has proudly announced its status as official timepiece of the Indy 500 and released the new Limited Edition Indy 500 Centennial Chronograph watch. It will be awarded to the winner of the event on Sunday, May 29, 2011.
Offered in a limited series of 1000 pieces, the new Tag Heuer watch is set in a 44mm fine-brushed steel case. It demonstrates a fixed polished bezel with a tachymeter scale in black and an inscription "Indy 500" in red. The case is armed with a scratch resistant top sapphire crystal. Its back side marks the 100-year anniversary of the great race. The water-resistance of the case is assured down to 200 meters.
The model reveals a grey stylized dial. It is adorned with a pattern, borrowed from the renowned "Yard of Bricks" start/finish line of the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Encouraged by a racing car's dashboard, the dial of the new Tag Heuer Limited Edition Indy 500 Centennial Chronograph watch is equipped with hand-applied indexes and luminous hands.
The display ensures central hours and minutes. The small seconds are shown in a counter at 3 o’clock. The chronograph functions are presented through a 30-minute sub-dial at 9 o’clock, a 1/10th of second counter at 6 o'clock and a central seconds hand. The counter at 6 o’clock includes a printed "Indy 500" logo. The date indication appears in the aperture at 12 o’clock.
The new Tag Heuer watch is accompanied by a black rubber strap or a polished steel bracelet.
Discover a fine range of TAG Heuer watches:


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The Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 has topped the sales charts in the United Kingdom so far this year. The much-liked bike has been seeing success the world over, but, this surely will give the Indian manufacturer a boost towards similar future products.
The reasons for buying a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 understandably varies, however value for money as well as eligibility to A2 licence holders make strong points. This is indeed quite a change from last year, where the BMW R 1250 GS, which costs a hell of a lot more, stood atop this hill. The Interceptor 650 until June 2020 stood at 196 units sold, which barely scratches its sales figures in India, but still a large amount in Briton.
The Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 along with its sibling the Continental GT 650 run on a 648-cc SOHC twin-cylinder engine that produces power figures at the crank of 47 hp and 52 Nm of torque. Transmission is done by a six-speed gearbox that works to a tee. Pricing for the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 in India starts at Rs 2.65 lakhs ex-showroom.
We have two stories in our upcoming issue, one where we test the Powertronic ECU system and the other our ery own Bike India Project Bike build, where we have customized our own Interceptor 650. You do not want to miss these two stories that will be out in the August issue of Bike India magazine.


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U.S. retail sales rose last month in spite of the rising Delta variant and supply chain constraints.
Piece of the Week: Harwell Godfrey’s Pendant for the NAACP
All proceeds from the sale of the made-to-order piece will benefit the organization dedicated to fighting for justice for black lives.
Right now, Americans are being called to recognize, understand and act to end racial inequity and discrimination in our country.
It’s a task that requires participation from all but attention particularly paid to the historically repressed few whose voices have been muffled and ignored.
Even businesses, long trained to remain neutral on anything remotely political for fear of alienating customers, are being asked to publicly pledge themselves to the fight for equality for all people.
To highlight black jewelry designers for the sake of their race would, in this editor’s opinion, feel like missing the point, doling out a sort of praise couched by obligation at best or, at worst, a self-serving agenda to prove my own morality.
After all, the thousands protesting now aren’t asking for special treatment for black people; they’re asking for regular and just treatment.
One voice that feels particularly resonant in this moment is that of a company donating 100 percent of proceeds from this “Piece of the Week” jewel to the NAACP.
Lauren Harwell Godfrey is the creative force behind Harwell Godfrey. As a black woman in an overwhelmingly white pool of American jewelry design contemporaries, her voice and actions take on a significant importance in the current climate.
However, it’s important to emphasize, any recognition she receives is predicated on the basis of her extraordinary talent.
Harwell Godfrey has become one of the most exciting fine jewelry brands to watch in the past couple of years, demonstrating an aptitude for joyful color and bold geometric motifs.
She first created this pendant in malachite to raise money for World Central Kitchen’s mission to feed the food insecure during COVID-19.
Now, a made-to-order onyx version will benefit the NAACP. With a lead time of six to eight weeks, the sketch at top is a sneak peek of what the onyx, 18-karat yellow gold and diamond pendant with bail will look like.
The gold triangle motif is a Harwell Godfrey signature. Here, it represents the reparation of a broken heart and is a hopeful plea for the future.
Priced at $2,500 retail, so far it’s raised over $13,000 for the NAACP.
For more information, visit the designer’s website.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Harwell Godfrey (@harwellgodfrey) on Jun 4, 2020 at 1:52pm PDT
It showcases the brand’s signature motifs in new ways.
Health care coverage is a big expense for small businesses - find out how to lower costs long-term instead of every 12 months.
It’s part of Sotheby’s “Black & Brilliant” sale, opening today.
De Beers noted how strong the Vegas shows were, while Alrosa grappled with supply issues in August.
All proceeds will go toward its miner toolkit initiative.
Increase profit margins, generate traffic and attract new customers with an Estate assortment by partnering with Windsor Jewelers, Inc.


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FlightHub, an online travel agency based in Montreal, has put together its top 10 destinations for the holiday travel season.
We asked that FlightHub review these numbers and see if there are any unique travel trends for the upcoming holiday season.
After getting a look at the numbers ourselves, we saw some unique travel choices. But first, here are the top 10 travel destinations.
FlightHub’s Top 10 Holiday Destinations
- London, UK – 7.50 per cent of bookings
- Manilla, Philippines – 5.56 per cent of bookings
- Bangkok. Thailand – 4.14 per cent of bookings
- Paris, France – 3.38 per cent of bookings
- Mumbai, India – 2.89 per cent of bookings
- Delhi, India – 2.79 per cent of bookings
- Toyko, Japan – 2.77 per cent of bookings
- Fort Lauderdale. Florida, US – 2.75 per cent of bookings
- Los Angeles, California, US – 2.55 per cent of bookings
- New York, New York, US – 2.41 per cent of bookings
Holiday travel constitutes both adventure travel and family travel; this explains why destinations like New York and Los Angeles are always popular as they appeal to both forms of travel around the holiday season.
Meanwhile, India is considered to be one of the fastest growing tourism markets in the world, with an average annual growth rate of 7.9 per cent expected until 2023. What is no surprise is London, which routinely ranks as the top travel destination year-to-year.
Beyond the day to day travel business, FlightHub is on the verge of launching a new mobile app, complimenting their existing services. They are a product of Montreal’s Momentum Ventures, a company fronted by CEO Matt Keezer.
Keezer believes that this strong travel season bodes well for 2016, noting that “FlightHub is getting off to a good start and will be hitting 2016 in full stride.”
“Introducing our new app and improving customer service are our key priorities for next year,” he added.
This content is sponsored.


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Performance Tracking > 2013 Holiday Season > Introduction |
WebSitePulse 2013 Holiday Retail Performance and Uptime Report
Weak holiday season for retailers this year
The 2013 Holiday Season is expected to be tough for retailers this year. In fact, analysts at Morgan Stately predict sales growth will be the weakest since 2008 – only 1.6%, money.cnn.com reported. For comparison, sales in 2012 grew with 3.5%.
Experts say sales will be sluggish due to low consumer confidence and despite low gas prices and a rising stock market in the United States. Another factor is that people will have less time for shopping this holiday season, as late Thanksgiving means six fewer days to Christmas than last year, explained Bill Simon, head of Walmart’s US business, for The Financial Times.
Retailers, therefore, will be forced to reduce prices drastically in order to attract buyers. This holiday season is even said to bring “the most intense promotional environment since 2008,” according money.cnn.com.
Considering that promotions are expected to flood online and walk-in stores this year, we are led to believe that some of the most popular online stores will reach such high online visitors’ traffic that they may not even be able to handle it without any outages. Out of pure curiosity and the belief that websites should be well-prepared to bear heavy traffic load, we decided to monitor 10 of the most popular websites during the whole holiday season – from Nov 21st, 2013 until Jan 6th, 2014. We will be closely watching their availability and performance, and report their statistics on a daily basis.
As always, slow websites or such that experience availability interruptions during transactions will cause nothing but revenue losses and disappointed customers who would likely seek the products and services of their online competitors.


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Linens 'N Things now throwing in the towel in Middletown
NEW YORK — Specialty retailer Linens ’n Things, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May, plans to begin liquidation sales at its stores as early as Thursday after failing to find a buyer that wanted to operate the company.
“It’s a straight going-out-of business liquidation sale,” said James Schaye, president and chief executive of Hudson Capital Partners, one of the members of the investment group buying the company’s assets. He expects the process for the company’s approximately 371 remaining store locations, including one in Middletown, will take about 11 weeks.
Earlier this year, the chain closed its store in Central Valley.
Last week, the Linens Holding Co., the parent of Clifton, N.J.-based Linens ’N Things, said it would put itself up for a sale in an auction on Tuesday.
The company agreed to a preliminary “stalking horse” bid from a joint venture between Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC, Great American Group LLC, Hilco Merchant Resources LLC, Hudson Capital Partners LLC, SB Capital Group LLC and Tiger Capital Group LLC for about $475 million for its assets.
A stalking-horse bid is an initial offer on a bankrupt company’s assets from an interested buyer chosen by the company. Linens ’N Things planned an auction including the initial bid along with others for its assets on Tuesday, but since it received no other qualified bids, it canceled the auction, according to documents filed late Monday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
After facing weak sales and a slumping home furnishings market, Linens ’N Things, based in Clifton, N.J., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. In August, the company said it reached a plan of reorganization with the bankruptcy court. However, it later decided to auction its assets as conditions in the financial markets worsened.


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The familiar fruits and nuts we take for granted in our kitchens today can be traced back to a medieval city in the mountains of Uzbekistan.
Plant remains that date to around 1,000 years ago include apple, grape, and melon seeds, peach and apricot pits, as well as walnut and pistachio shells.
They were dug up in Tashbulak, once a bustling stronghold of the Qarakhanids – a nomadic civilisation that conquered and controlled a vast central corridor of the Silk Road trade network.
Lost and abandoned for a thousand years, it lies buried inches below the close-cropped grass of an isolated pasture – and only now is giving up its secrets.
Its inhabitants have remained unknown and overlooked for centuries – even though many of our most popular foods were first were cultivated there.
Higher value goods, such as fruits and nuts, spread along the ancient Silk Road and fuelled their popularity in cuisines across modern Europe, Asia and North Africa.
Ultimately, it demonstrates how the Silk Road shaped what foods we all eat now, say scientists.
Anthropologist Professor Michael Frachetti, of the University of Washington, St Louis, said: “The insights gained from this archaeobotanical study help link the juicy details of ancient cuisine to our modern tables, and in doing so highlights the long term impact of interactions between diverse communities and regions on a global scale.”
The study, published in the journal PLOS One, is among the first systematic analyses of medieval agricultural crops in the heart of the Silk Road.
It connected countries as far east as Japan to Europe. The well-trodden paths were once home to an international network of bustling cities, desert oases and market towns.
These exchange routes functioned like the spokes of a wagon wheel, placing Central Asia at the heart of the ancient world.
But most research has focused on the presence of East Asian goods in the Mediterranean, or vice versa – most notably silk, metal, glass and pastoral products.
The latest findings add to evidence from historical sources that agricultural goods were an important commodity as well.
Study leader Dr Robert Spengler, of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany, said: “Our everyday fruits and nuts have their roots in the Silk Road.”
His team analysed preserved ancient seeds and plant parts recovered from Tashbulak in the foothills of the Pamir Mountains of eastern Uzbekistan.
The site is currently under excavation by a collaborative international Uzbek/American project co directed by Prof Frachetti.
The plant remains represent one of the first systematic studies of the crops that people were growing along the Silk Road.
It shows there was a rich and diverse economy in Central Asia during this period, including a wide array of cultivated grains, legumes, fruits and nuts.
Tashbulak is 2,100 metres above sea level, above the maximum elevations at which many of these fruit trees can be grown, suggesting the fruit remains recovered at the site were carried from lower elevations.
Historical sources attest to the importance of fresh and dried fruits and nuts as a source of commerce at market bazaars across Inner Asia.
These trade routes facilitated the spread of many of our most familiar crops across the ancient world.
For example, the earliest clear archaeological evidence for peaches and apricots comes from eastern China, but they were present in the Mediterranean by the Classical period.
Likewise, grapes originated somewhere in the broader Mediterranean region, but grape wine was a popular drink in the Tang Dynasty.
We can now say that all of these fruit crops were prominent in Central Asia by at least a millennium ago, likely much earlier.
Dr Spengler said: “The ecologically rich mountain valleys of Inner Asia fostered the spread of many cultivated plants over the past five millennia and, in doing so, shaped the ingredients in kitchens across Europe and Asia.”
Central Asia is a key homeland and dispersal point for many important arboreal crops, such as apples and pistachios.
In his forthcoming book, “Fruit from the Sands,” Dr Spengler traces the spread of domesticated plants across Central Asia.
In the book, set to hit shelves in April 2019, he states: “The plants in our kitchens today are archaeological artifacts, and part of the narrative for several of our favorite fruits and nuts starts on the ancient Silk Road.”


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Transparency Market Research delivers key insights on the global FIDO authentication market. In terms of revenue, the global FIDO authentication market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 10.7% during the forecast period, owing to numerous factors, regarding which TMR offers thorough insights and forecasts in its report on the global FIDO authentication market.
MORE FIDO in the News
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Agents shut down a popular Web site that, including versions of "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." Homeland Security agents from several divisions served search warrants on 10 people around the country suspected of being involved with the Elite Torrents site, and took over the group's main server.
The agency said it was the first criminal enforcement action aimed at copyright infringers who use the popular BitTorrent file-swapping technology.
According to the investigators, "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" was made available through the Elite Torrents site before being shown in theaters and was downloaded more than 10,000 times. Investigators said that the site had 133,000 members and that it distributed more than 17,000 individual movie, software and music titles.
Bram Cohen's BitTorrent program is one of the most widely used tools for legally and illegally downloading files such as movies and software, but it apparently has barely helped him earn a living. Now the programmer is aiming to, with a San Francisco-area start-up devoted to BitTorrent products.
The first product, to be released soon, will be an advertising-supported search engine that scours the Web for links to BitTorrent files. The search tool, which will be based on Web-crawling technology owned by Cohen's company, could be a boon to downloaders who previously have had little in the way of navigation for BitTorrent files.
While federal authorities ramp up the attack on domestic piracy, two U.S. senators are urging the Bush administration toto respect copyright law, warning that those nations have become havens for movie and software piracy.
Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican who chairs the Senate copyright subcommittee, made an ominous statement about what might happen if unfettered piracy continues.
"Before Russia enters the (World Trade Organization), many of us will have to be convinced that the Russian government is serious about cracking down on the theft of intellectual property," Hatch said during a hearing.
Copyright infringement is a serious offense--at least that's the message sixth-graders in American Fork, Utah, will be getting. At their elementary school commencement this week, the students were slated to receive a warning from the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office about themusic, movies and games from the Web.
Spammers and phishers are learning more about potential victims to better hone their attacks.
Web sites that use e-mail addresses as identifiers for password reminders and registration arethat want to generate detailed profiles of people, security company Blue Security said in a research report.
with the technique described in the report, spammers and phishers automatically run thousands of e-mail addresses through Web site registration and password-reminder tools. Because many online businesses return a specific message when an e-mail address is registered with the site, attackers can find out whether that address represents a valid customer.
Using information gathered from a number of sites, attackers can tailor malicious e-mail messages for individual recipients. That makes it more difficult for Internet users to distinguish real messages from those that are junk or part of a cyberscam. Also, customized messages are less likely to be caught by spam filters, experts said.
As Internet scams proliferate, Bank of America is launching a double-edged system it says will betteragainst phishing and spyware. The new service, SiteKey, is designed to let people know when they are on an authentic Bank of America site. It will also verify the identity of the customer.
When people register for SiteKey, they pick an image from a list and type in their own phrase to be associated with their account. When they enter their login name and hit the SiteKey button on the Bank of America site, that same image and phrase are displayed in response, said Sanjay Gupta, an electronic commerce executive at the bank. This verifies that the user is in fact on the real Bank of America Web site, he said.
Firefox users are getting extra protection from Internet service company Netcraft, which has released a version of its toolbar to help users of the Web browser . The


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Attendees at IT&CM China provide feedback on their experience at the event and how beneficial it was to them
Apart from being a hosted buyer at IT&CM, we also exhibited at the show for our inbound business in India. The show looks very promising, though it is much smaller than many of the other trade shows. Chinese buyers have shown keen interest, but knowledge about India is very limited. India needs more presence in the China market to grow tourism and provide a face-to-face platform for interaction. An increase in direct flight connectivity and ease of business visa for Chinese groups can boost MiCE from China to India. International M.I.C.E, elaborated on the special efforts made to screen the buyers at the exhibition this year. He said, “This year, we have devoted even more efforts to broaden the breadth of our buyers, leveraging on our 12 years of extensive acquisition and validation experience. We achieved this through enhanced buyer screening, resulting in breakthroughs in both quality and quantity. The year 2018 produced a significant increase in the number of association and business buyers, made possible in part because of the support from Corporate Travel World (CTW) China, CBEF and our various association partners.”
Jason felt that through the years, IT&CM China has gained a reputation amongst MiCE industry professionals as a bridge between the Chinese market and the rest of the world. He said, “The successful showing of IT&CM China in the past years has drawn new and returning exhibitors, with many establishing a bigger presence this year. The biggest pull is the high quality of MiCE buyers we invite every year, connecting them with industry partners through our advanced business match-making and scheduled appointment system, as well as presenting a conductive networking environment.”
He further added that IT&CM’s ability to constantly improve delegate’s experience and keep abreast with trend developments and market demand is critical for its success.
He explained, “An improved business matching formula was launched years ago to enhance delegates’ experience. Since then, the pre-show appointment scheduling system has continued to benefit the participants as it allows them to schedule up to 100 per cent of their appointments prior to the show, maximising their time for their business conversations.”
According to Zhuyuan, the show’s ability to deliver on preferred buyers will result in an improved retention of exhibitors as it consequently brings about business opportunities through well-organised business negotiations, exhibitions, workshops, social events, as well as pre-show and post-show city tours that are set to benefit both buyers and exhibitors.


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BARC India introduces change in terminology
Renames popular measurement metric Rat'000 to Impressions'000 with immediate effect
In an official release from BARC India, the company says that the new terminology does not imply any change in the way television viewership is measured. Nor will the introduction of Impressions'000 have any impact on past data BARC India has released so far. The metric Rat% will continue to be used as it is, and will see no change.
The decision to usher under this new terminology in the new year has been taken to avoid confusion in the marketplace and as BARC India gears up for its digital measurement initiative.


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The British Linux company Canonical is teaming with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to create Ubuntu Kylin, a Linux distribution specifically for China.
Kylin will include support for Chinese characters and input methods, and it will integrate with Chinese web services, including music services, online banking tools, and the mapping service operated by local web giant Baidu. The plan is to release the distribution next month.
The reference architecture is being defined by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's The China Software and Integrated Chip Promotions Centre, or CSIP. Canonical and CSIP will also be working with the CCN Open Source Innovation Joint Lab in Beijing. The project is part of China's most recent Five Year Plan, which includes strengthening the country's information technology industry.
Tim Yeaton -- CEO of the open source management and research company Black Duck Software -- says he's been working with Chinese companies to promote open source since 1997. But things got more serious in 2004 when the China Open Source Software Promotion Union (COPU) -- a non-government organization -- was founded. Yeaton is now an adviser to the group, along with Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth, GNOME Foundation chairman Dave Neary, and many others.
Dell and Canonical have been selling Ubuntu notebooks in China since 2011. But China already had its own distribution of Linux: Red Flag Linux, which was backed by the government-owned ShangHai NewMargin Venture Capital and the Ministry of Information Industry's venture capital arm CCIDNET Investment, according to a 2007 paper titled The Emergence of Open-Source Software in China. Many government agencies have promoted the operating system as an alternative to Windows. Red Flag held 30 percent of the desktop market in China, the paper says.
Meanwhile, developers are slowly starting to get into open source. Ronan Berder -- a French developer living in Shanghai -- wrote last month that open source community building among developers has been slow going, comparing it to the early days of open source in the west. But Lupaworld provides a Chinese language source for open source software news, and OS China is a Sourceforge style code hosting service that houses around 24,000 projects, though most of them are forks of English language projects. And Chinese developers are contributing back to common open source projects as well. The latest release of the Linux kernel includes 11,000 contributions from Chinese developers, according to Black Duck's research.
Red Flag has always been the country's biggest open source project. But it seems that Canonical wants make free software even bigger.


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Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, collapsed on board a flight in July 2016 after eating an artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette she had bought at a Pret outlet in Heathrow Airport.
Her family have called for a change in food labelling laws after an inquest confirmed that the teenager from Fulham, south-west London, had had an allergic reaction to sesame in the sandwich.
Pret has now announced that full ingredient labelling will be introduced to all products that are freshly made in its shop kitchens, and labels will list all ingredients, including allergens.
The company said it will start trialling full ingredient labelling on product packaging from next month, rolling it out to all UK shops as quickly as possible.
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Clive Schlee, Pret chief executive, said: “I want to say again how deeply sorry we are for the loss of Natasha. I said we would learn from this tragedy and ensure meaningful changes happen.
“I hope these measures set us on course to drive change in the industry so people with allergies are as protected and informed as possible. Nothing is more important to Pret right now.”


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In 2017, Didi Taihuttu, his wife, and their three children sold everything they owned and invested all of their money in Bitcoin.
From a profitable computer training business Mr. Taihuttu started at age 24, to their 2,500 square foot home, shoes and toys, it was all sold.
The proceeds were invested in cryptocurrency as the Dutch family embarked on a new life, documenting their travels on YouTube and other social media platforms.
At the time, Bitcoin was trading at around $ 900, peaking in December of the same year at just over $ 14,000.
Even when he slumped into the $ 3,000 range in 2018, Mr. Taihuttu bought more, doubling his investment, convinced cryptocurrencies were about to rebound.
This bet paid off. By mid-June 2019, the price had climbed back above $ 10,000, peaking at nearly $ 59,000 in March 2021. After another collapse in the mid-1930s, Bitcoin has since recovered to $ 46,400. today.
Meanwhile, the family travels the world with backpacks and no luxuries, teaching their children that they can be happy without such things, according to their website.
They have lived in over 40 countries, do not own a house, do not have a bank account, and describe their lifestyle as “decentralized nomad”.
Without bank accounts and their wealth denominated in volatile cryptocurrency, Taihuttu told CNBC in a recent interview that the family protected their wealth in six “secret vaults” on four continents.
“I have hidden the hardware wallets in several countries so that I never have to fly very far if I need to access my cold wallet, in order to exit the market,” he explained.
A “cold wallet” is where cryptocurrency has been moved offline and is not stored on computers connected to the Internet, in order to protect it from hackers. A private key, or password, is required to remove the crypto from the wallet.
Most cryptos are stored in “hot wallets” which are connected to the internet and allow owners relatively easy access to trade and spend their currency. The difference is mainly a question of security.
Mr. Taihuttu keeps 26% of their holdings “hot” for trading and for making potentially risky bets in the market – many of which appear to be paying off.
The remaining 74 percent is kept in cold wallets – two in Europe, two in Asia, one in South America and one in Australia.
While it may conjure up an image of a hidden safe or buried treasure chest, the family told CNBC the wallets are hidden in a variety of ways and in various places, including at friends’ homes and in private homes. self-storage sites.
While the family won’t say how much cryptocurrency they hold, the mix includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, and some Litecoin.
Mr Taihuttu says that while it’s easy to top up the crypto storage with new coins, getting them back involves going to the physical location.
He intends to store a cold wallet on all continents for easier access as the family continues their journeys as digital nomads.


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Opinion: Will a hedge fund make a better savior for Daughters’ hospitals?
When Prime Healthcare Services dropped its bid to rescue the six floundering Daughters of Charity Health System hospitals, pundits raised two questions: Did Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris put the kibosh on the deal by demanding too much from Prime? Or is it just not possible to preserve a struggling hospital chain that caters to the poor in this state?
We’ll get the answers to both questions soon enough.
On Friday, Daughters -- which owns St. Francis and St. Vincent medical centers in Los Angeles and four hospitals in the Bay Area -- announced a deal to turn over management of the chain to a New York City hedge fund, BlueMountain Capital Management, and a Los Angeles-based hospital-management company it sponsors, Integrity Healthcare. According to Daughters, BlueMountain will invest $250 million in the chain to return it to sustainability. If all goes well, the fund will have the option to buy the hospitals in three years.
This should sound familiar, given that the outlines of BlueMountain’s plans are a lot like those of a previous bidder, Blue Wolf Capital Partners -- also a New York City hedge fund. (Evidently, the color of money in that city is no longer green.) Daughters rejected the Blue Wolf bid because, among other reasons, the firm wasn’t proposing to invest much of its own money into the system. Instead, it planned to cover the chain’s sizable debt by cutting costs and selling some of its assets.
Put another way, Blue Wolf seemed to be taking a page out of the private-equity playbook and was trying to acquire the chain with proceeds from its own operations.
BlueMountain has pledged to put up significantly more of its investors’ money than Blue Wolf offered, albeit less than Prime had planned to invest. BlueMountain has also promised to put the chain’s pension plan on more reliable financial footing, although unlike Prime, the firm isn’t offering to assume liability for those benefits. Instead, they will remain the responsibility of the hospital chain.
The main issue for the public, though, isn’t who owns or operates the hospitals or where their funding is coming from. It’s whether the hospitals can continue to serve the people who rely on them. That’s particularly important in South Los Angeles, where St. Francis’ trauma center carries much of the life-saving load.
And that, in a nutshell, is the question the attorney general will have to answer. Because the Daughters hospitals are nonprofits, state law gives Harris the power to block or set conditions for any sale or transfer.
The terms Harris set for Prime’s proposed purchase will not carry over to the new deal, said Kristin Ford, a spokeswoman for Harris, adding that the office will start reviewing BlueMountain’s proposed transaction from scratch as soon as it applies for approval. “We can’t comment on what the outcome is going to be at this point,” she said, “but we’re obviously going to be looking at the same issues in terms of the community’s access to healthcare.”
She added, “That’s why the AG is required to approve these, in order to ensure that communities aren’t harmed in the process of the transaction.”
The main problem for Prime was Harris’ insistence that it maintain an extensive list of services at St. Francis and the chain’s three other acute-care hospitals for 10 years. This demand, Prime argued, all but guaranteed that it wouldn’t be able to turn the chain around.
BlueMountain doesn’t plan to close any of the hospitals, but the announcement Friday didn’t commit the fund to supporting the hospitals or their individual services for any particular length of time. Executives at the fund and the chain declined to elaborate Friday.
It’s conceivable that Harris imposed the detailed 10-year requirement on Prime because she didn’t think a for-profit company (or Prime in particular) could be trusted to keep the hospitals and their costliest services going. But given how much money the chain has been losing in recent years -- $130 million in 2014 alone -- any new owner or management team will have to make significant changes if it hopes to keep the chain afloat.
Those fiscal pressures could lead Harris to demand a similar commitment from BlueMountain and its hospital management team not to shutter any major services for a considerable period of time. And that demand, in turn, could determine whether BlueMountain moves ahead with the deal or follows Prime out the door.
Follow Healey’s intermittent Twitter feed: @jcahealey
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Publix to open Oct. 17; Big Lots opens in York County
By Rodrigo Arriaza
Sep 25, 2018 at 9:45 AM
WILLIAMSBURG — The long-awaited Publix grocery store in the Monticello Marketplace shopping center in James City County is set to open next month.
The store will hold a grand opening ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 7 a.m, according to a news release from Kim Reynolds, media and community relations manager for Publix. The new grocery store is located at the 69,000-square-foot site of the former Martin’s Foods grocery store at 4660 Monticello Ave., which closed in July 2017.
The store is expected to employ 140 people, according to a past Virginia Gazette report.
The grocery store chain has more than 1,200 stores across the U.S., and the Monticello Marketplace grocery store will be the first Publix on the Peninsula when it opens.The Williamsburg store will join 15 other Publix locations that are either open or are planned to open across Virginia, according to the store locator on the company’s website.
Big Lots will bring its “store of the future” concept to Greater Williamsburg with a new 52,000-square-foot store in York County’s Victory Village shopping center. The grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremonies are set for 8:45 a.m. Oct. 5.
The store is open in the shopping center on Mooretown Road and will be near other big-box stores including Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. The shopping center was previously known as the Williamsburg Marketcenter before it was purchased by Miami, Fla.-based real estate company Lionheart Capital in 2016. It was rebranded as the Victory Village shopping center earlier this year.
The store held a soft opening Saturday, according to store manager Michelle Blair, but is planning a grand opening ceremony for the first week in October, where attendees can participate in giveaways and meet with vendors and local community partners. York County officials will be on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, she said.
Blair said the new Big Lots on Mooretown Road will be the first store in the area to follow the company’s “store of the future” initiative, which places a greater emphasis on the retail chain’s furniture offerings. At more than 50,000-square-feet, the store is substantially larger than other Big Lots stores, she said, and it fills that space with a larger assortment of Big Lots branded home, bed and bath brands.
“It’s kind of the way that Big Lots is heading,” Blair said. “The plan is that the company is going to convert all the stores to this (format), everything in the store is furniture-focused and it’s an overall neater presentation.”
Blair said she previously managed the retail chain’s Hampton location, and that the new Williamsburg store has hired 73 employees in anticipation of the grand opening, with the majority of them working part-time.
As part of the grand opening celebration, Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater WIlliamsburg have joined the new Big Lots store as its charitable partners, according to Michael Jones, manager of first impressions at the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Between Oct. 5 and Nov. 17, the Mooretown Road Big Lots store will donate $5 to the organization for every customer who participates in the store’s Big Rewards program, which allows shoppers to redeem a $5 credit for every three qualifying purchases made at the store.
“We will be there at the opening to welcome everybody and to explain a little bit about what Habitat does,” Jones said. “Hopefully it will raise a lot of money for our organization because we have homes and programs in Williamsburg, but we’re always looking to do more.”
The retail space was previously occupied by Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods before the grocer closed its doors in 2009, according to Jim Noel, York County’s economic development director. Noel said he struggled to market the large retail space to grocers and big-box stores after the economic downturn following the great recession.
“I’ve always fully believed that, because of the hospital and the other retail in that area, the property was well-grounded, it was just a series of unfortunate events in the greater economy that caused it to (go downhill),” Noel said. “I think the center will be fine long-term, it just went through a rough patch and the timing was horrible with the recession.”
The new Big Lots store at 6610 Mooretown Road is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays. For more information, visit local.biglots.com/va/williamsburg/5368, or call 757-603-4906.
The event was originally scheduled to take place earlier this month, but was postponed due to Hurricane Florence. Chris and Dan Nelson, the owners of the local heating and cooling service company, will be at the event along with other service-based businesses in the area to meet and network with attendees, according to Courtney Riley, Proximo’s owner and president.
Other locally based businesses at the event will include: FSI-Foundation Systems Inc., Pyramid Roofing and The Drying Co./ThermalTec. Food and drinks will be provided by the Gloucester-based Good Life Kitchen and The Virginia Beer Company.
Riley estimated about 85 people to attend the networking event.
“Cool Off With The Nelson’s” will be at the HVAC company’s headquarters at 8105 Richmond Road in Toano from noon to 4 p.m. The event is invitation-only, but area businesses and residents interested in attending can contact Proximo Social Media Strategist MaKenna R. Wood at email@example.com or Erica Bradley, the marketing company’s vice president, at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Online world by the numbers
As more Canadians shop online – and shop online more often – new industries and different cities emerge as the key drivers of growth. Here’s the latest snapshot of the e-commerce landscape in Canada.
Canada Post releases Hanukkah stamp recognizing eight-day Festival of Lights
Small business month spotlight
MATH Sport’s custom-made running shoes is changing the way shoppers buy sneakers.
Online retailer gift guide: outdoor apparel
Whether it’s the backcountry, the rink or the slopes, these outdoor retailers offer the best apparel and gear for winter holiday fun.


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Web site redesigns suggest mobile coming-of-age in traditional publishing
A recent slew of responsive news Web site launches show how traditional publishers are beginning to see mobile as a tool with unique storytelling and engagement potential and moving away from a view of the technology as a novelty or extension of their operations.
The Chicago Tribune, the Montreal Gazette and other news brands have unveiled redesigns with improved site speed and performance and features that let consumers create their own personalized mobile newspapers. The redesigns represent a redefinition of news delivery and a bow to the mobile audience?s ability to control its media choices.
?Traditional newspaper publishers are finally figuring out that they have to adapt their content delivery to accommodate the way mobile consumers consume information,? said Chuck Martin, CEO of the Mobile Future Institute. ?Publishers have been created from the get-go in a broadcast fashion, as in they gather all the news and information, package it and then broadcast it, via print, to consumers.
?The problem with that model is that mobile is inherently a pull mode, where the consumer looks for and pulls information themselves at a time and location they individually control,? he said. ?There were a few publishers that got this early on and now it appears there are some major entities who are also figuring this out, finally.?
Mobile?s acceptance in news follows similar patterns of innovation-adoption in other fields.
?It?s only natural that when a new and disruptive technological capability comes along, that we move what we were doing in the old method to the new,? Mr. Martin said. ?An example is how advertising moved from print to the Web in its early iterations, hence those early static online ads.
?Mobile is the same, as publishers viewed mobile as an extension of what they already were doing online,? he said. ?The reality is that mobile is its own thing.?
Tailoring the outreach to the small-screen world.
Publishers have learned that the smaller smartphone screen has to be treated much differently than the screen of a personal computer. They also are grasping that allowing the consumer to select his or her news preferences has to be a priority.
?Mobile traffic is growing exponentially, and publishers can ignore this fact at their own peril,? said Dan Mall, founder of SuperFriendly, a Philadelphia-based design studio.
?The big lesson here is that people try to access content where they want to, not where publishers want them to. Utilizing approaches like responsive design?sites that flex to the form factor of the device accessing it?allows organizations to create content once and distribute in as many places as possible,? he said.
The Chicago Tribune recently launched a mobile application that lets users cherry-pick news from specific communities and specific sports teams.
The Tribune was the first of eight Tribune Publishing brands expected to introduce apps by year?s end that let users prioritize and follow topics of most interest to them, while providing a consistent platform for marketers to launch premium ads.
Tribune sports coverage on app.
?I?ve been asked: If you have one of the most sophisticated responsive sites ever built, why do you need a mobile app?? said Bill Adee, executive vice president for digital at Tribune Publishing.
?What we found is that a certain segment of users want and expect an app from us. That?s why we are launching a new news app this year, just months after launching a brand-new responsive site,? he said.
?We also believe it will boost our paid subscriptions. People are trained to buy content ? music, etcetera ? from Apple.?
The app?s user focus helped solve the problem of optimizing news delivery in mobile?s small-screen world.
?The screen size requires us to make the most of the space that we use to capture our users? attention,? Mr. Adee said. ?It?s easier to do this if the user is making the decisions on what news should be there.?
The Montreal Gazette recently launched a redesign that featured fully differentiated products across print, Web, tablet and smartphone. The redesign, which came on the heels of parent Postmedia?s redesign of the Ottawa Citizen, aimed to let each product attract its own distinct audience while allowing advertisers to engage with specific customers.
?Our strategy is rooted in the understanding that our audiences vary by platform and that people consume news differently depending on the time of day and the devices they are using,? said Rob McLaughlin, Postmedia?s regional vice president for editorial for Western Canada.
A unique tool to engage and inform audiences.
?How you consume news while you wait for your bus in the morning on your smartphone is different than how you consume news on your tablet sitting on your couch in the evening. So we?ve tailored and customized our mobile products to fit with that reality,? he said.
Postmedia has invested in producing content designed specifically for mobile audiences.
?It?s not just about cutting and pasting or providing automatic feeds of content into those devices from our Web sites,? Mr. McLaughlin said. ?We are tailoring both the experience, through interface design and functionality, and the content, through the news selection, writing and use of multimedia, specifically for targeted audiences on mobile devices.
?One of the lessons we?ve learned is to understand that the mobile market is not just an extension of the newspaper,? he said. ?It?s a powerful medium that gives us the ability to create compelling and engaging content targeted at a specific audience segment at a specific time of day.?
Research shows that U.S. adults will spend nearly 44 percent of their overall media time with digital this year, including nearly 20 percent on mobile?compared to 19.2 percent on laptops and PCs.
Mr. Mall?s favorite examples of effective news design for the mobile consumer are from independent companies that aggregate content. He likes Flipboard, a mobile application that takes the consumer?s interest and collates relevant stories into a way to browse.
Acknowledging consumer's power to control media choices.
He also gives a thumbs-up to Blendle, a Dutch app that lets consumers browse newspapers from the Netherlands, focusing specifically on making each experience feel native to its source.
One of the most under-appreciated priorities for every mobile and responsive project are site speed and performance.
?Design and development teams frequently focus on the interactive and visual bells and whistles,? said Patty Toland, partner with? Filament Group.
?But they don?t take the time to carefully think through how to make their sites as lightweight as possible, structure their code to avoid single points of failure that can slow their site load speed or make it fail entirely in some contexts.?
Michael Barris is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York.


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Conduent Appoints Iyengar as European Leader
Conduent Incorporated, a leading business services provider, has named Srikanth Iyengar as Group Chief Executive-Europe. In his role, Iyengar will be responsible for transforming and growing the company’s presence in Europe.
Iyengar will be based in the U.K. and report to Conduent CEO Ashok Vemuri. Iyengar joins Conduent from Capgemini, where he was a member of the Group Executive Committee and Group Sales Officer and also had direct oversight of the company’s strategic global accounts.
“Srikanth brings a wealth of experience in delivering growth and operational excellence in business services,” Vemuri said. “Under his leadership, Conduent Europe will drive significant profitable growth by implementing a focused strategy and making our operations more streamlined and efficient.”
Visit www.conduent.com to learn more.
Ramco Develops Payroll Software for Japan
Ramco has announced that its payroll software is now available in Japan. Instead of offering payroll solutions through partners, Ramco has now developed software in both Japanese and English to provide customers with a single solution. According to the company, the software is fully localized and reduces the number of software solutions customers need, making it more cost-efficient.
Ramco Systems CEO Virender Aggarwal said a growing number of multinational organizations are looking to consolidate their worldwide operations on a unified platform.
“Our success in addressing Fortune 500 and MNCs and drive to strengthen our APAC Payroll coverage led to the addition of Japan Payroll,” Aggarwal said. “We are confident that Japanese MNCs will benefit significantly from Ramco’s highly configurable and innovative platform, which will help streamline their national expansion by automating companywide payroll and administrative processes.”
Visit www.ramco.com to learn more.


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Parkland Corp. last week announced it has acquired the license for the exclusive use of the On the Run trademark in the majority of the U.S. The company said the move positions it to expand On the Run across the U.S. to create a unified, North American convenience store brand.
“We are excited to expand the On the Run convenience store brand across the U.S. and harness the advantages of our scale,” Ian White, senior vice president, strategic marketing and innovation at Parkland said in a press release. “As we continue to advance our ambitious growth strategy, the time is right to create a unified, North American retail and convenience store brand. On the Run is an established retail brand that we can quickly and efficiently scale by leveraging the capabilities we have established in the Canadian market.”
Parkland said the deal allows it to rebrand existing U.S. convenience stores and use the On the Run brand at newly developed sites, plus positions the company for future acquisitions in the U.S. Parkland also said it will be able to provide dealers with an enhanced, bundled offer that combines a leading convenience store brand with multiple forecourt fuel brands.
“The On the Run retail brand provides a solid platform for our continued U.S. growth,” said Doug Haugh, president, Parkland USA. “Building on our existing On the Run brand image, product assortments and private label goods in Canada, we look forward to meeting the convenience needs of our U.S. customers under the On the Run banner. Our U.S. customers will enjoy enhanced interior and exterior rebranding elements, larger and brighter canopies and a variety of new product offerings, all backed by their same local and friendly service teams.”
Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: retail, commercial and wholesale.


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Marijuana seems to be all the rage in Alaska. Although recreational marijuana was legalized in Alaska in 2014, when Measure 2 passed with 53.2% of the votes, it still continues to be demanded and faces steady growth.
The speed at which the industry developed is almost unrealistic. Due to estimations, the recreational marijuana industry has grown 524% since 2016, thus making it a leader in the agriculture sector.
Even during COVID-19 restrictions, when almost all the fields were at a standstill, Alaska’s cannabis market continued to grow registering an unprecedented 73 new jobs. Surely, it was less compared to the results of the previous years, yet for 2019 and 2020 it was still an astonishing number.
Moreover, the marijuana industry is predicted to develop and generate approximately a 78% rise from 2020-2030, creating over 650 new job vacancies. According to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, marijuana tax collections have risen dramatically, tripling since 2019.
At present, there are more than 150 retail shops in the state, and this number has a tendency to increase, due to the record applications for marijuana retailer’s licenses.
As to what is the most common way of consuming cannabis, the state’s health department has provided a report, stating that about 86% is smoking. However, consumers are looking for other consumption options. For instance, edible consumption has been in demand, too.
In hindsight, marijuana laws have always been laxer in Alaska than in any other state. Medical marijuana has been legal for decades. Patients have been able to grow their own marijuana at their homes.
As a final note, recreational marijuana still faces an increase in Alaska and the market is predicted to have constant growth, becoming a leader in the state’s agriculture sector.


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Study Shows Financial Potential Of Underserved Areas
Retailers could be missing out on $1.1 billion in potential sales in South and West Louisville. That’s according to a study from the Social Compact group of Washington D.C.Most of the money is believed to be in the form of cash spending, which isn’t always tracked by retail analysts. Social Compact came up with the figure by combining census data with residents’ spending, bill paying and other life habits.The report also shows a higher population and median income in areas such as Shively, Newburg and downtown. Social Compact President John Talmage says the data can lure retail businesses closer to urban areas.“The fact of the matter is that the suburbs are saturated," he says. "There’s been a tremendous overbuild of retail in suburban neighborhoods. They’ve got to find their way back to these neighborhoods. Many of them are trying to get here, they just need the information to try and get here faster.”Mayor Jerry Abramson says the data will be given to national retailers and financial groups in hopes of spurring economic activity in West Louisville and along Dixie Highway.


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Grand Legend Furniture, a Thiruvananthapuram-based furniture company, is planning a major foray into the domestic market.
Consumers in Russia have rushed to buy goods, fearing higher prices as the rouble plummeted by over 40 per cent year-to-date.
It said on Wednesday that together with rental income from its shopping centres, total revenue was 29.3 billion euros, a 2.8% increase.
The India expansion plan includes opening at least 40 stores, both owned and franchise, over the next five years involving an investment of over Rs 100 crore.
At present, Ikea has 48 suppliers in India with 45,000 direct employees and about 400,000 people in its extended supply chain.
“We are extremely proud that Urban Ladder caught Mr. Tata’s attention,” said Ashish Goel, cofounder & CEO at the Bengaluru-based Urban Ladder.
Built at Ahmedabad factory, sporting a giant 10.5-feet chair outside its gate, these chairs are often bespoke — designed to suit the body type of the buyer.
Giving his creations a Wang-touch, the $8,800 (Rs 54,000 approx) beanbag chair’s base stands on nine sides, unlike the usual symmetrical eight.


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So long, Jago
Killer Instinct has swapped out its first free playable character as of a new 675MB update. Since launch in November, Jago has been freely available to test out. Now, it’s Sabrewulf.
The full list of patch notes from developer Double Helix can be viewed at the link below. There’s balancing and general improvements, like a forced pause when player two’s controller is removed and the display of rank-up/rank-down notifications for both players at the start of a match.
As someone who hasn’t been playing the game and can’t comment on specific gameplay tweaks with any real confidence, I will say it’s nice to see those nasty “Chosen One” Achievements reduced. Previously, players needed to 2,000 matches completed with each character. That number is now a more sane 200 wins, which should be great news for completionists.


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SEAL Training Academy”s recently launched website aims to offer civilians a glimpse into the workout exercises of Navy sailors. The website offers an online workout program developed by a Navy SEAL and D1 athlete.
More and more companies offer innovative online workout programs, like the popular CrossFit. SEAL Training Academy is entering this new market while breaking the one-size-fits-all policy of many other online workouts. The Academy is the first of its kind to tailor to your current fitness level. Whether you are a professional athlete, a weekend warrior, or are simply looking to get the perfect beach body, the SEAL Training Academy offers you customized choices from over 50 workout programs based on your abilities and objectives.
“Gym memberships are becoming outdated and consumers are demanding new and diverse fitness experiences,” explained former D1 athlete and SEAL Training Academy Co-founder, Doug Nelson. “We offer a new but old take on fitness workouts, giving civilians a glimpse at true Navy SEAL training without having to wear the uniform to reap the benefits.”
The workout is based on the Navy’s Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) program, designed to develop candidates’ mental, physical and leadership skills. Moreover, the trainings are accessible to all since little to no equipment is necessary, and its cross functional fitness program is even designed for real-life situations.
SEAL Training Academy states that it has dedicated itself to giving civilians the real Navy SEAL experience. The company is further unique in offering leadership and teamwork development programs for corporate or athletic teams through its HigherGround program. Its Navy SEAL Camps also allow visitors to experience what it is like to live as a Navy SEAL.
“I can personally vouch for the life-changing benefits of learning how far your body can push itself,” added Nelson. “Everyday obstacles seem meaningless after you have pushed yourself to and beyond your physical and mental limits.”


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T V NARENDRAN
Share market update: BSE Capital Goods index up; Havells India jumps 3%
The S&P BSE Capital Goods index was trading 1.42 per cent up at 17,169.39 around 11:48 am.
Criminalising instant talaq to help Muslims: Amit Shah
“Hindus, Christians and Jains are not going to benefit from it (triple talaq bill) bec...
V-Bazaar aims Rs 750 cr turnover by 2021, to have 120 stores
V-Bazaar aims to add around 60-65 more stores as part of its expansion strategy,...
Tata Steel launches its steel retail store in new avatar
This outlet will provide a ‘one stop destination’ for consumers intending to go ‘steel shopping’.
Kanyakumari to Kashmir: How a few South Indians had vital links to Kashmir's modern history
South India has a few vital links to Kashmir’s modern history, and by extension, to its destiny.
Slowdown in auto industry has impacted steel sector: Tata Steel CEO
The demand for steel in India has to pick up and that depends a lot on construction and automobile sectors, he added.
Former India cricketer V B Chandrasekhar committed suicide over debts: Police
According to a senior police official, Chandrasekhar ended his life by hanging himself at his house in the city on Thursday evening due to debts.
We are not expecting a V-shaped demand recovery: Deven R Choksey
The market definitely wants a positive commentary from the government side.
Share market update: BSE Capital Goods index flat; BHEL up 1%
The S&P BSE Capital Goods index was trading flat at 16,938.32 around 12:08 pm.
Copyright © 2019 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service


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Ecosense will continue our manufacturing and shipping operations during the recently issued state and local “stay at home” orders to stem the spread of COVID-19. Under recent guidance, we can remain operational as we are a supplier to essential businesses. We are well stocked and able to ship orders in the time frame you have come to expect from Ecosense – 48 hours on our most popular SKUs and 2 weeks on everything else.
Additionally, our manufacturing footprint extends well beyond Southern California, allowing us greater flexibility to continue operations as this situation evolves. During this time, however, only employees considered absolutely essential will be permitted to work onsite, and we are taking extra measures to ensure their safety and prevent further spread of the disease. We will continue to monitor the situation and update you as new developments arise.


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Taco Bell to Open First Restaurants in Japan The taco chain plans to add 1,300 new locations internationally by 2023.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
In Japan and craving Waffle Tacos? Soon, there will be a solution.
On Thursday, Asrapport Dining Co. announced that it had signed a franchise agreement with Taco Bell to bring the fast-food chain to Japan. This would be the first time that Taco Bell opens up shop outside of U.S. military bases in Japan.
"We believe that 'Taco Bell' holds strong growth potential and will enable us to create a new QSR category by cultivating the strong latent demand for Mexican inspired foods within Japan," Shusaku Higaki, Asrapport Dining's CEO, said in a statement.
Currently, Asrapport focuses on pub and barbecue "Izakaya" restaurants, with 429 locations of various franchises open in Japan. The company has not yet announced how many Taco Bell locations it plans to open, or when the restaurants will be open for business.
In December, Taco Bell announced plans to add 1,300 new locations internationally by 2023, a huge boost from its current 250 international locations. Other countries targeted for growth include the U.K., Korea, Chile, Peru and India.
Both of Taco Bell's sister brands, KFC and Pizza Hut, already have locations open in Japan. Hopefully, Taco Bell will follow in the footsteps of Pizza Hut and open a (fictional) restaurant staffed entirely by cats, as the pizza chain memorably did in a Japanese ad campaign.


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Arizona Is America’s Covid-19 Hot Spot and on the Brink of Crisis
Hospitals are close to full in state with most coronavirus infections and hospitalizations per capita in nation
Arizona has the highest Covid-19 infection rate in the U.S. and is on the brink of running out of space in crowded hospitals, according to public-health and hospital officials.
The state hit a record for new infections last week, with 11,324 in a single day. It has the highest per capita rate of new Covid-19 infections in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the highest rate of Covid-19 hospitalizations, according to the Covid tracking project.
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Amazon is offering the latest 2022 TCL 50-inch 4K QLED Dolby Vision HDR Smart Google TV for $352.99 shipped. This is down from a normal going rate of $430 and marks a new all-time low that we’ve tracked at Amazon. Delivering a quantum dot QLED 4K panel, this TV also has up to 60 localized dimming zones to pair with Dolby Vision HDR which delivers a “striking distinction between bright and dark areas” of the image. It also features Google Assistant built-in as well as “Hey Google” support thanks to packing built-in Android TV. On top of that, it’s also compatible with other HDR standards including HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG. You’ll also find three HDMI 2.0 ports with eARC support, as well as Ethernet, USB, and more for plenty of inputs. Dive into our hands-on review to find out why we found this TV to offer a “solid mid-range experience” and then head below for more.
The post TCL’s latest 50-inch Dolby Vision QLED 4K Android TV falls to new low at $353 (Reg. $430) appeared first on 9to5Toys.


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Garden Day is one of this year’s crop of online gardening events. It’s today (May 10th) and we’re invited to drop our tools to just simply enjoy our gardens, terraces, balconies, window boxes or potted plants.
And The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is also going online from May 18th-23rd.
The NGS is offering virtual garden tours of some of its gardens. They’re free but they’re facing an 80% drop in


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Economic indicators are released every week to provide insight into the overall health and performance of an economy. They serve as essential tools for policymakers, advisors, investors, and businesses because they allow them to make informed decisions regarding business strategies and financial markets. In the week ending March 7, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY ) rose 1.32% while the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP ) was up 1.79%.
Among all economic indicators, some of the most closely watched are those surrounding the labor market. They garner so much attention for a variety of reasons. First, they provide insight into the health of the economy. Second, they impact individual’s lives, which can influence consumer behavior and investor sentiment. And third, they inform government policy decisions.
Last week featured a handful of employment updates including the BLS’ February Employment Report, January’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) report, and February’s ADP Private Employment Report. Each of these reports offer insights into different aspects of the U.S. labor market. This article will highlight the key data points from each report and explore their potential implications.
Economic Indicators: Employment Report
The U.S. labor market added more jobs than expected last month. However, a surprising uptick in the unemployment rate along with downward revisions to prior months points to a cooling labor market. The February employment report revealed 275,000 jobs were added last month. That surpasses the expected 198,000 addition. The two previous months’ jobs numbers were also revised lower. That suggests the labor market is not as strong as initially thought. February’s jobs numbers were a slight pickup from January’s revised 229,000 addition.
The report also indicated the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%. That is its highest level since January 2022. Additionally, wage growth increased 0.1% from January, lower than the expected 0.2% growth and slowed to 4.3% on an annual basis. Overall, the jobs report showed unexpected softening of the labor market despite the hotter-than-anticipated job growth. Regarding the Fed, rate cuts later this year should still be on the horizon. However, the timing remains uncertain.
Economic Indicators: Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS)
The latest JOLTS report revealed that the labor market was little changed in January. The number of job openings inched down by 26,000 from December to 8.863 million. It came in just above the predicted 8.800 million vacancies. Other key data points from the report showed that the number of hires and quits fell slightly from the previous month. Hires dropped 100,000 to 5.7 million and quits fell 54,000 to 3.4 million. Meanwhile, the number of layoffs was stable, at 1.6 million.
The JOLTS data serves as a barometer for assessing labor demand. Any disparity between workforce demand and supply could potentially exert upward pressure on inflation. For much of 2023, the gap between the two had consistently narrowed. That’s because the overall trend in job openings steadily declined from its 2022 peak. However, in January, the number of job openings per employed worker ticked up to 1.5. That is its highest level in the past four months.
Economic Indicators: ADP Employment Report
Private sector hiring remained steady last month. The ADP employment report showed that 140,000 private jobs were added last month, just below the projected 149,000 addition. The pickup in February was most notable among large (500+ employees) to midsize (50-249 employees) companies, as they added 114,000 jobs combined, accounting for approximately 81% of February’s private job growth. The six-month moving average, a more stable indicator amid monthly volatility, inched up for the first time in five months to 127,000. However, despite the slight increase, the latest average is the second lowest level since November 2020 during the peak of COVID-19 layoffs.
The report also highlights a continued deceleration in annual pay growth, with pay gains for job-stayers dropping to 5.1%, the slowest since August 2021. The stabilization of job growth, coupled with the ongoing deceleration in pay growth in the private sector, offers the Fed a positive indication that inflationary pressures remain subdued.
The Week Ahead
The upcoming week will feature the latest inflation, consumer spending, and consumer sentiment data. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release February’s Consumer Price Index (CPI). Headline consumer prices are expected to increase 0.4%, while core prices are expected to increase 0.3% from January. Then on Thursday, the Census Bureau will release retail sales data for February. Retail sales, which will impact interests in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT ), are expected to rise 0.5% from January. Finally, on Friday, the preliminary report for the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which could impact interest in the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY ), is predicted to remain at February’s final reading of 76.9.
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