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Sushma Swaraj's 'help in Mars' tweet — wit, humour and intent
External Finance Minister Sushma Swaraj, who's known for coming to the aid of Indians living abroad, won Twitter on Thursday with a witty reply.
June 08, 2017 / 08:33 PM IST
External Finance Minister Sushma Swaraj, who's known for coming to the aid of Indians living abroad, won Twitter on Thursday with a witty reply. The tweet, though humorous, shows her intent to help Indian citizens.
Earlier in the day, one Karan Saini had tweeted to Swaraj saying that he was stuck on Mars and food sent by Mangalyan 987 days ago was running out.
Her tweet drew attention of many Indians. No wonder she has over 8 million followers on Twitter.
Swaraj is one of the Indian politicians who is very active, fast, quick-witted on Twitter, who takes her job seriously as well.
Two days ago, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M K Stalin expressed concerns over Indians stuck in Qatar which has seen a boycott from neighbouring Gulf nations. Swaraj replied with assurances that her ministry will take care of Indians in the Gulf country.
Swaraj's role was crucial in bringing back Indian national Uzma Ahmed from Pakistan. Uzma's husband Tahir Ali had confiscated her passport in a bid to prevent her from returning to her homeland. Swaraj stepped in and Uzma returned to India on May 25.
[caption id="attachment_2289205" align="alignnone" width="800"]
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj consoles Uzma Ahmed upon her arrival in New Delhi on May 25. REUTERS[/caption]
The External Affairs Minister had in the past took Amazon to task after the ecommerce giant was found selling doormats depicting Indian tricolour on its Canadian website.
She asked Amazon to withdraw all such products immediately and directed the Indian embassy to look at the issue with Amazon Canada.
Swaraj went ahead to even threaten Amazon to deny Indian visas to their officials.
Quick-on-feet responses and timely help both on and off Twitter are two qualities that separate Swaraj from fellow politicians.


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May 3rd, 2011
Warnings over late cash-for-cans start
A TERRITORY Government minister has warned the beverage industry it needs to get cracking on implementing a cash-for-containers scheme.
Environment Minister Karl Hampton said the industry was legally obliged to organise key components of the scheme, which will see Territory consumers paid 10 cents for every recyclable drink container they return.
Mr Hampton was responding to warnings from the beverage industry that there was no way the cash-for-cans scheme would be ready to be rolled out by the end of the year.
Australian Food and Grocery Council head Kate Carnell said it would be "virtually impossible" to set up collection depots, recycling options and label changes in that time.
Ms Carnell said the container deposit legislation would require a large number of repositories with secure storage to stop pilfering and a pick-up system put in place across the Territory that included remote communities.
But Mr Hampton was unmoved by the beverage industry's concerns.
"Under the container deposit legislation, the beverage industry has a central responsibility to organise key components of the scheme," Mr Hampton said.
"This includes establishing the materials co-ordinator which will broker the flow of containers and deposits between beverage companies, collection depots and the community."
"We expect clear, demonstrable progress on the part of the beverage industry in fulfilling its legal obligations," he said.
The cash-for-cans scheme was passed in the Legislative Assembly in February.
It will come into effect at the end of the year.
Mr Hampton said he met with beverage industry representatives recently in Sydney and they had agreed to come back to him at the end of the month with further details on how they would implement the scheme.

domain: news


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According to the Disney Parks Blog, guests at the Magic Kingdom will continue to be able to take a picture with “a luminous lantern” outside of Rapunzel Tower. This Disney PhotoPass Service has been extended beyond March 15, which is when it was originally scheduled to end. Weather permitting, this service will be available nightly.
Credit: Disney Parks Blog
Photo: Jan OK


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Thehas many wondering just what is going on within Redmond's executive offices.
Although Microsoft reorganizes itself in some way on a nearly annual basis, the departure of both Robbie Bach and J. Allard is clearly a big deal. Bach, 48, had spent two decades at Microsoft and was one of its four divisional presidents, while the 41-year-old Allard was a key visionary behind the Xbox game console and other Microsoft consumer efforts.
The move comes at a critical time for Microsoft, which this year has on tap the launch of both the Project Natal add-on for Xbox as well as a badly needed update to its cell phone software, which has been bleeding market share to Apple's iPhone and Android-based devices.
"It's definitely a big change relative to Microsoft," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft and a member of the CNET Blog Network.
For its part, Microsoft stressed that Allard is remaining an adviser to CEO Steve Ballmer and not immediately headed to rivals Google or Apple, while characterizing Bach's exit as a retirement.
"After almost 22 years with the company, Robbie Bach has decided to retire from Microsoft," Ballmer said in an. "I have worked with Robbie during his entire tenure at Microsoft, and count him as both a friend and a great business partner and leader. Robbie has always had great timing, and is going out on a high note."
In an interview with TechFlash, Allard downplayed the notion that Microsoft's decision to was behind the shake-up, saying he planned to focus on his other interests, including adventure sports.
"I'm really going to take a step away and challenge myself on some of these fronts that have just been musings in my head," he told the Seattle-area technology news site. In a separate interview with TechFlash, Bach hinted that the move to not ship Courier might have been a sore spot for some in the unit.
"And you know, it's hard internally because we have some -- we have a strong shipping culture," Bach said. "People want to create products and ship it, which is really cool. But you have to make sure when you're doing incubations that people understand, hey, sometimes the power is in the ideas you learn and the things you carry forward, not necessarily just in shipping something."
Neither Allard nor Bach were made available for comment for this article.
Phone efforts on the line
In the wake of the departures, Microsoft has the executives heading the phone and Xbox efforts--Andy Lees and Don Mattrick--running their respective businesses and reporting to Ballmer. Analysts said that they expected that arrangement to be a placeholder until Microsoft figures out how it wants to restructure those businesses, much like the company did when Windows and Windows Live unit President Kevin Johnson to become CEO of Juniper Networks.
The moves also makes one wonder how things are going with Microsoft's phone efforts. The company launched the Kin earlier this month to mixed reviews, while it has pinned its broader hopes on the fall launch of Windows Phone 7-based devices.
"That product has to work," said Altimeter Group analyst Michael Gartenberg. "It's got to work out of gate. It has to do everything they say and more."
Gartenberg said that by all accounts things are on track. "At this point, it's a pure execution play."
However, Rosoff noted that although Microsoft got some early positive attention for Windows Phone 7 when it showed the technology earlier this year, the conversation in the mobile sector has remained centered on Google and Apple. Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard, long one of Microsoft's closest partners, is buying Palm rather than further hitching its wagon to Microsoft.
"One of Microsoft's most loyal Windows partners would rather go out of its way to buy a third-party operating system," Rosoff said. That, he said, has sent some shock waves around Redmond. "I think they had to be a little nervous."
The stakes are enormous, and extend beyond the phone and into the core Windows PC business.
"[Windows] phone 7 is a start, but they have to figure out what they are going to do about slates and Netbooks," Rosoff said.


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Qwest Communications has announced it will stop adding a business and occupation tax on Washington customers’ long-distance phone bills.
The company’s decision follows a recent Washington Court of Appeals ruling that Spokane auto dealer Appleway Automotive Group was wrong to tack on the B&O tax directly for each vehicle sale, said Qwest spokeswoman Shasha Richardson.
Richardson noted the B&O surcharge only applies to long-distance customers — both business and residential — in Washington state. Qwest does not add the surcharge for local service, she said.
“Customers who have long distance will see a slight change on their bills as this is phased out over the next few billing periods,” Richardson said.
A spokeswoman for Cingular Wireless, which adds the B&O tax to its Washington cell phone customers’ bills, said the company will review the state court ruling before making any decision.
Sprint Nextel also includes the charge as a line item for its Washington customers. A company spokesman wasn’t available to discuss whether that practice will change.
Verizon spokesman Kevin Laverty said the company does not add the business tax directly. Efforts to contact CenturyTel Inc. were not successful.
Attorneys for Appleway recently filed a request to the Washington Supreme Court to review the appellate decision.
“Since they’re appealing to the Supreme Court, the matter is still under review and could change,” said Cingular’s Pacific Northwest spokeswoman Anne Marshall.
Phone companies doing business in Washington are required to pay a B&O tax of roughly one half of a percent of the revenue they collect from their voice customers. Sprint Nextel and Cingular customers accordingly see a B&O surcharge equal to almost one-half of a percent of their monthly service charge and any additional voice charges. In the case of Qwest’s surcharges, the added fee to consumers is also about one-half of a percent of the long-distance charges.
Representatives of phone companies say the B&O fee added to customers’ bills is no different than other mandatory taxes they list on the monthly statements. Listing the tax shows customers the full components of phone service in Washington, they said.
If phone companies don’t pass on the surcharge to consumers, they still must pay the B&O tax to the state and then adjust their rates to cover that overhead, said Marshall.
Washington levies the B&O tax on nearly all businesses in the state. The rate varies with the type of company. Manufacturing firms, for instance, pay a smaller percentage than service firms like phone companies.
Last month’s state appeals court ruling affirmed a state court ruling from 2004 that said Spokane resident Herb Nelson was wrongly assessed a $79 surcharge by Appleway for the business tax.
State law, said Spokane County Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor, makes the tax a part of corporate overhead and is not to be passed on directly to consumers. The appeals court agreed in October of this year.
Attorneys for Nelson then filed a second lawsuit, naming Spokane’s Camp vehicle group and its Medford, Ore., parent, Lithia Motors, for the same practice. It also asks a Superior Court judge to extend the complaint to all other Washington dealerships that follow the same practice, said Spokane attorney Brian Sheldon.
In their defense at trial and in the appeal, Appleway attorneys have cited state Department of Revenue memos that suggest the tax can be passed along if consumers are made aware of the surcharge.
Glenn Blackmon, regulatory director for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, said he thinks the ruling over auto dealerships would apply to phone carriers as well.
“There’s nothing I know of that would make a wireless company different than any other business, on whether they can pass the charge directly onto the customer,” Blackmon said.
Shelton said he and his partners are considering filing of additional class-action suits over the tax “against other entities.” If a class action against auto dealers ever succeeds, individual buyers might see a refund of between $100 and $200, one witness for Nelson testified.
Mike Gowrylow, spokesman for Washington’s Department of Revenue, said auto dealers and phone companies are the two clearest state examples of companies passing along the tax to consumers.


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Several complaints of possible price-gouging at gas stations in Eastern Kentucky have been reported since tornadoes demolished portions of the region on Friday, Attorney General Jack Conway said Monday.
Conway's Office of Consumer Protection warned unscrupulous businesses on Monday that price-gouging will not be tolerated and urged Kentuckians to report possible gouging.
"It is vital that consumers continue to be our eyes and ears across the commonwealth to report individuals or businesses that may be gouging consumers," Conway said.
Complaints related to price gouging can be emailed to email@example.com or consumers can call the state's price-gouging hotline at 502-696-5466.
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Gov. Steve Beshear signed a consumer protection executive order over the weekend to implement Kentucky's price-gouging laws statewide. The order empowers the attorney general to investigate and prosecute, where appropriate, those who sell gasoline, generators, building supplies, chain saws, hotel rooms and other necessary goods and services at a price that is "grossly in excess" of the pre-declaration price.
The order remains in effect for 30 days.
In 2009, Attorney General Conway fined eight gas retailers more than $107,000 for violating the price-gouging statute in the wake of Hurricane Ike and a subsequent windstorm in Kentucky.
Conway's office received nearly 2,000 phone calls and emails from consumers in the days and weeks following that disaster.
Conway also is warning consumers that scam artists and fly-by-night contractors may try to prey on their misfortune.
He said consumers who need storm repair or clean-up services should follow these tips:
■ Never pay in advance for repair work or materials. Scam artists often take advance payments from consumers and never return to complete the work. If an advance is needed to purchase materials, offer to purchase the materials yourself.
■ Use local, reputable contractors for repairs, if possible. If local contractors bring in out-of-town workers, ask who will be responsible for their work if it is not satisfactory.
■ Ask if the contractor is licensed, bonded (if required by the city or county), and insured.
■ Check out unknown companies with the Better Business Bureau (Louisville/Western KY 1-800-388-2222; Lexington/Eastern KY 1-800-866-6668; Cincinnati BBB for residents in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties 1-800-471-3015) or call the Consumer Protection Division in Conway's office at 502-696-5466 to see if information is available about the company.
■ Demand a written contract. If possible, get estimates from several contractors.
■ Be suspicious of unfamiliar, out-of-state vehicles and those who offer repair work at unreasonably low prices. Contact local law enforcement about your suspicions.


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Ford Fund expands initiatives that help women with social impact ventures solve real-world problems through coaching, mentoring, capital support and programming
Around the world, women social entrepreneurs are leading the charge to help eradicate poverty, provide safe water, and provide access to opportunities. Women today are making a major impact by meeting needs and solving problems in these and other areas.
The Women's Business Enterprise National Council reports that half of women-owned businesses concentrate on health care, social assistance, and professional/scientific/technical services. Compared with men, women are 9% more likely to launch businesses in education and 10% more likely to launch health care companies.
Women's startups fall in line with consumers demanding that companies support local communities and protect the environment. Banks also are developing new social impact-investing products that aid companies in meeting consumer desires.
Remarkably, women receive less than 2% of venture capital funding. This is due, in part, because investors don't believe women can make money, said Melissa Bradley, managing director and founder of 1863 Ventures, a nonprofit that works with entrepreneurs. Moreover, banks and other investors often don't believe social-impact businesses can turn a profit, she said.
Envisioning new dimensions
To address these mindsets, Ford Motor Company Fund is taking a unique approach that helps women social entrepreneurs turn their dreams into reality. Ford Fund established a national network of pitch competitions that combine financial assistance with mentorship, workshops, and other vital support.
"When you're talking about social entrepreneurship, you're not just talking about investing in women and businesses, which is very important, you're also investing in communities, which is a win-win," said Pamela Alexander, Ford Fund director of Community Development.
In 2017 and 2018, Ford Fund united with Michigan Women Forward to launch Empower Change MI, formerly EmpowerHer. Empower Change MI awarded more than $50,000 in cash, investments, and in-kind professional services to three women-owned social enterprise companies. In 2018, Ford Fund, with 1863 Ventures, kicked off HERImpact DC, giving more than $50,000 in cash and support in Washington, D.C.
Helping underrepresented social entrepreneurs is a shared vision, said Bradley of 1863 Ventures.
"Our belief and Ford's belief that money is just the beginning and adding the additional support was appealing," Bradley said. "We have actually been the people they are trying to help."
The second HERImpact Entrepreneurship Summit is June 27, 2019. The pitch competition is scheduled for September. By the end of 2019, Ford Fund will have held three pitch competitions and awarded more than $150,000 in cash and supplemental support to women-owned social enterprises in Michigan and Washington, D.C.
However, Empower Change MI and HERImpact DC are just the start of a larger Ford Fund strategy to strengthen communities and make people's lives better. The idea is to hold women-focused, social-entrepreneurship pitch events two consecutive years in each city, while also developing and annually implementing new initiatives in a different city, said Yisel Cabrera, community relations manager at Ford Fund.
In November, Ford Fund will introduce HERImpact Miami with an entrepreneur summit, followed by the pitch competition in February 2020.
"We help those women social entrepreneurs start, grow, and scale their businesses and get to the point where they can employ other women or even sell their business," Cabrera said.
Getting more than money
In March 2019, Ford Fund held its second Empower Change MI pitch competition, where 15 finalists competed for more than $50,000 in financial assistance in Ideation, Launch, Growth, and Audience Choice categories.
Ideation winner Brittany Rhodes majored in math at Spelman College before earning a Master of Business Administration at Carnegie Mellon University. As a mathematics tutor, she realized too many students not only lacked confidence when dealing with math, but they also needed help with basic math skills.
Rhodes sought to help close widespread racial and gender gaps related to learning math. She developed a subscription-box company dedicated to increasing math confidence and decreasing math anxiety in black girls.
"When I found out I was a semifinalist… and found that it wasn't just family and friends that thought Black Girl MATHgic was a good idea, it gave me validation," Rhodes said. "Once I got that validation, I went full speed ahead."
Rhodes, 34, who plans to use the winning funds to purchase inventory and start beta testing, said "Empower Change MI doesn't just say, ‘Here's the money, goodbye.'"
"We had access to workshops, marketing and branding, and impact investing," Rhodes said. "They offer a lot of opportunities to help us learn and grow so our business enterprises are sustainable."
Arion Long said HERImpact DC and the mandatory meetings with mentors improved her already-established business, Femly.
"It helped with business strategy, marketing strategy, and what to do with the money that would make the biggest impact for my business," Long said.
Femly manufactures organic feminine-care products for its monthly subscription box that also comes with chocolate, face scrubs, and other products to make a woman's "monthly gift" feel like an actual gift, she said.
After Long's doctor told her additives in feminine products caused the tumor on her cervix, Long learned millions of women and girls in the U.S. and abroad lack access to safe feminine-hygiene products. Often women must use choose between food and safe feminine products. As a result, they stay home the week of their menstrual cycles, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty as they miss work and school.
It was important to Long that Femly not only turn a profit but also help others. Every time someone buys a box, a woman in need receives a box of her own. So far, Femly, which is partnering with three hotels, one athletic facility, and one co-working space, has shipped subscription boxes to about 10,000 women.
"This funding will help us market and change the lives of 1,000 women because we will be able to take advantage of manufacturing discounts and put menstrual cups on the market for $10 cheaper," the 29-year-old said.
HERImpact DC winners also received non-cash resources, such as six free months shared office space and legal and accounting services.
Winnings multiply business growth, social impact
Ashlee Trempus, CEO and co-founder of SignOn Connect, an online American Sign Language immersion program, put the $10,000 winnings from the 2018 Empower Change MI Growth award to good use. She has been attending conferences and connecting with leaders in deaf and educational communities.
At one conference, Trempus and her team met with the executive director of the American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC). The meeting resulted in SignOn and ASDC launching a program in January 2019, that allows the first 500 families that join ASDC to receive five free SignOn sessions.
"It's super exciting," Trempus said. "Families are joining like crazy, and we've gotten some really great feedback."
While attending an Early Hearing Detection Intervention conference, Trempus got feedback that gave her goosebumps.
"A mom ran up, gave me a huge hug, and told me SignOn was life-changing," Trempus said. The grateful parents — who have one deaf and one hearing child — said the program makes studying ASL accessible because it allows users to learn on their own time.
Validation and support from Empower Change MI facilitated SignOn's ability to join two vital education programs: The Individual Family Service Plan (serving children birth to age 3) and Individualized Education Program (serving age 3 to grade 12). Now, any of the 13,506 school districts in the U.S. can add SignOn to its curriculum.
Such support, said Pamela Alexander of the Ford Fund, may help these social entrepreneurs change the current narrative.
"If you're born in the bottom 20% economically in this country, regardless of race or where you are, you have a 4% chance of reaching the top 20%," Alexander said. "If you're born in the bottom half as a child, you are probably going to stay there unless something intervenes. Through social entrepreneurship, we are giving women the opportunity to become successful businesswomen, to help communities, and maybe help with social mobility."


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First your checking accounts, then America's nuclear arsenal? In the latest sign Skynet is edging ever closer to becoming a reality, banks are using artificial intelligence to help them decide the terms on your checking account.
Basically, banks have gotten sick of paying pollsters to call thousands of people and find out what they think about various aspects of the banking business. Instead, they're using artificial intelligence to interpret vast swaths of Web chatter, including comments and posts on social media sites such as Facebook, trying to discern sentiment about things like fees and rewards. The goal: predicting how customers will react to changes in their accounts.
From Sean Sposito at Banking Technology News:
As BBVA Compass was tinkering with its retail banking pricing strategies last fall, robots were scraping the Web behind the scenes.
Like its peers, the Birmingham, Ala., bank needed to adapt to caps on interchange fees. It had to decide which benefits its retail customers would keep and which would get the ax.
On a hunch, the bank decided to drop its $25 checking anniversary bonus, while keeping its debit rewards and other features.
The computers confirmed that people were upset, but they prodded executives to tell customer service reps and tellers to explain that BBVA Compass had decided to keep its other perks.
Those robots, really snippets of code dipping and diving into paragraphs and sentences across the Internet, gave the bank what focus groups and pollsters would have taken months to confirm.
The reports the bank receives from the machines give BBVA daily insights into consumer reaction to the bank and its competitors.
"We look at our own (bank). We look at our major competitors," says John Wessman, BBVA Compass' executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "You tend to get a little bit different perspective from consumers. They will be much more open and sharing on their Facebook accounts than they would be if they called a call center."
There are some pitfalls, though, to relying too much on this type of analysis. As Sposito notes in the story, many comments aren't discernably positive or negative. And there's the fact that millions of people aren't on the Internet at all, and millions more don't spend enough time there to leave lots of breadcrumbs for Internet robots to follow.
Also, the active Web population is going to have considerable biases on a lot of subjects. One obvious example would be a bank thinking about making a big investment in technology. Looking at Internet sentiment about things like remote deposit capture would probably lead you to conclude it's a lot more important than it actually is, because folks who spend a lot of time on the Web would likely value technology more than the general population.
Still, while I don't think it's a replacement for calling people and talking to them, I do think monitoring Twitter and public Facebook comments (emphasis on public) seems like a good way to be more responsive to the needs of consumers.
One final takeaway: If your bank does something that annoys you, take to the Internet and complain about it! The robots are probably listening.
What do you think? Should banks try to get clues about how people feel about bank services from the Web?
Follow me on Twitter: @ClaesBell


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Going through a detrimental international notion amid coronavirus pandemic, a variety of expertise firms are mulling choices to relocate manufacturing, manufacturing models to south Asian nations and what appears to work for India is its incentive-driven scheme that’s attracting main gamers together with Samsung, Apple Inc, others.
A number of large names specifically iPhone Apple, Samsung, Foxconn, Wistron Corp., Pegatron Corp amongst others have proven curiosity in investing extra in India. Collectively about two dozen firms have pledged to take a position $ 1.5 billion to arrange cell phone manufacturing models in India, after an incentive-based scheme.
Beneath this scheme, monetary incentive shall be given to chose firms on the price of 5 per cent of incremental gross sales of products manufactured in India and lined beneath goal segments, for a interval of 5 5 years — from Monetary Yr 2021-2022 to Monetary Yr 2025-2026.
A few days in the past, Foxconn Co-CEO has stated that China’s time of being the world’s manufacturing facility was over as firms have been seeking to shift out, be it in SouthEast Asian nations or United States.


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Thousands of residents of 9 villages in Sirsa district, Haryana have demonstrated how teamwork and a united approach can come to the rescue even when the government turns a blind eye.
Ford invents car with Front Split View Camera that displays a 180 degree view from front of the car via a 1 MP camera fitted on its front grille.
Maruti S Cross Crossover is slated for launch in July 2015 and will not receive projectors as standard.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has purchased the world’s most fortified Mercedes Benz for the personal security of its chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani.
Marking 67 years of Land Rover production at the Solihull plant, UK and the production of two millionth Defender, a one-off Defender has been manufactured.
Mercedes-Benz continues to expand dealership presence in the country with a new state of the art showroom opened in Bengaluru.
Shell Lubricants India has introduced India’s first Lifetime Engine Warranty for all customers using Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus technology.


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Back in last month, the Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi teased a prototype of its foldable phone and it gives us a decent look at the device, it seems to be pretty cool and it can able to fold from all the sides. Well, now the company releases its official statement for the upcoming foldable phone along with 3D renders.
Xiaomi’s global PR team has released a statement to LetsGoDigital, and made it clear that the Xiaomi foldable phone is officially arriving. Furthermore, the smartphone brand also claims to be the first in the world to present a double folding smartphone.
It is also said that the company seems to have taken help from a supply chain partner to develop its flexible folding screen. It was co-developed with an unnamed partner. That’s not all, the company has shared the screen tech, which is the primary aspect, the company has developed its design, folding mechanism, and MIUI integration on its own.
It seems that we are going to witness many innovative foldable devices in this year, we are hearing about the foldable smartphones from 2017 and it was started by the South Korean electronics giant Samsung. That said, the company has officially announced the unveiling of the foldable device on February 20, we are excited to see that device. But we are more excited to see the upcoming Xiaomi foldable device because it seems to be more flexible than the (leaked information) of Galaxy foldable device.
As of now, we don’t have any other information but we believe to hear more about the same in the coming days recommend you to stay tuned with us for the latest updates at your fingertips.


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Weyerhaeuser joins paper consolidation spree
Weyerhaeuser will combine one of its businesses with a Canadian rival in a $3.3bn (â¬2.57bn) transaction, the latest instance of consolidation in the paper industry and the second paper deal this week.
US-based Weyerhaeuser said today it would combine its fine-paper business with that of Montreal-based Domtar to create a new company that will keep Domtar’s name and chief executive but will be 55% owned by Weyerhaeuser’s shareholders.
The new company will also be the world’s largest fine-paper company, Weyerhaeuser said in a statement. It will keep its head office in Montreal but make the headquarters of operations in the US at Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Yesterday, International Paper said it would sell its South American coated-paper operations – which provide glossy paper for magazines and catalogs – to Finnish paper giant Stora Enso for $415m. International Paper has also sold several other assets: it sold 900,000 acres of forest land to an investor group for $1.1bn in March, agreed to sell another 3.8 million acres to an investor group for $5bn in April, and in June agreed to sell its coated-paper unit to Apollo Management for $1.4bn.
A consolidation spree kicked off in the global paper industry after Koch Industries agreed to buy Georgia-Pacific for $13.2bn last November. In March, printing-plant operator Longview Fibre was sold for $1.48bn to an investor group backed by Obsidian Capital Partners. And in May, Smurfit-Stone Container sold its consumer unit to buyout firm Texas Pacific Group for about $1.04bn.
Weyerhaeuser, however, has not done any deals with disclosed terms since February 2005, according to research database Capital IQ. In that deal, Weyerhaeser sold its British Columbia bicoastal group to Brascan for $977m.
According to statistics provided by Dealogic, the investment banking research provider, there have been 183 global paper and forest products mergers and acquisitions worth $22bn this year to date, compared to 169 deals worth $13bn at the same time last year. Last year was a recent record for consolidation in the sector, with $41.2bn of deals done, according to Dealogic.
The top investment-banking advisers to the sector this year are JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Lazard, with just over $8bn of deals each. UBS Investment Bank comes in fourth with seven deals worth a total of $6.7bn, and Banc of America rounds out the top five with three deals worth a total of $3.3bn.


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According to Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook has changed its name to Meta, effectively demoting Facebook’s namesake service to the status of a subsidiary alongside Instagram and WhatsApp.
Zuckerberg announced the name change during the company’s virtual reality and augmented reality conference. Facebook connect aligns with the company’s efforts to focus on the growth of metaverse, which refers to efforts to combine virtual and augmented reality technologies in a new online realm.
Mark Zuckerberg said, “It is an iconic social media brand, but increasingly it just doesn’t encompass everything that we do.” Today we’re seen as a social media company,” he added, “but in our DNA, we are a company that builds technology to connect people.” Metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started.”
According to Zuckerberg, the Greek word ‘Meta,’ which means inspired by the new company name “beyond,” always represents more to build.
The name, however, has been mocked on social media, and according to reports, the word meta means ‘dead’ in Hebrew. Could the name spark another debate?
In addition, the company changed its common corporate sign, which featured the thumps image, to a blue infinity sign outside its California headquarters.
The change is scheduled to go into effect in the fourth quarter. The company has stated that it will separate Facebook Reality Labs, a division dedicated to augmented and virtual reality services, as a separate reporting segment from its social apps.
Facebook has announced no administrative changes other than changing Mark Zuckerberg’s job title on his personal Facebook page to Founder and CEO at Meta.
During the product event, Mark Zuckerberg teased a series of concept videos that depict metaverse’s vision, such as sending a holographic image of yourself to a concert with a friend in real life, sitting around virtual meeting tables with remote colleagues, or playing games with friends.
According to Facebook, it plans to hire 10,000 people in Europe to build out the concept.
Mark also announced that Messenger calling is coming to VR and plans to run a virtual marketplace where developers can sell their virtual goods and a new home screen in Oculus Quest to make virtual world chat and games more social.
He stated, “Your devices won’t be the focal point of your attention anymore,” and added, “We’re seeing a lot of these technologies coming together in the next five or ten years.” A lot of this is going to be mainstream, and a lot of us will create and inhabit worlds that are just as detailed and convincing as this one, daily.”
The move follows days of widespread outages on Facebook and other platforms, such as Instagram, Oculus, and Messenger. The blackout occurred because of a command issued during maintenance, resulting in the background network’s shutdown that connects all Facebook data centers.
The shutdown, which cost the platform an estimated $65 million during the outage, perplexed many users.
According to reports, the outage hurt Mark Zuckerberg’s figures the most, as the Facebook stock fell 4.8 percent in trading. The fall reduced the CEO’s fortune by about 5.9 billion dollars.
Facebook is the most popular social network, with about 2.89 billion monthly active users by the second quarter of 2021.
However, Facebook joins the list of companies or brands that changed names over the years, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, which shortened its name to KFC, and car manufacturer Datsun, which changed its name to Nissan. Some brands change names because of scandals, such as ValuJet, which changed its name to AirTran after its plane crashed.
Have a tip we should know? firstname.lastname@example.org


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Electricity rates will fall by an average of 16.2 percent for households and as much as 28 percent for producers s...
Electricity rates will fall by an average of 16.2 percent for households and as much as 28 percent for producers starting next year, Rousseff said yesterday in a nationally-televised speech to commemorate Brazil_s Independence Day. The move marks a change for the 64-year-old president_s administration, which had previously focused on bolstering consumer demand to aid growth.
_It_s a new concept, a new attitude,_ Rousseff said. _It means reducing production costs and the price of goods to generate jobs and income._
Brazil_s economy has shown signs of recovery after stagnating for the past year, as policy makers reduced the benchmark lending rate more than any other G-20 nation to a record low of 7.5 percent, cut levies on cars and consumer goods and encouraged banks to increase lending. Brazil_s industry pays an average of 330 reais ($162) per megawatt-hour, the fourth- highest rate in the world, according to a statement on the website of the National Industry Confederation.
Brazil_s stimulus measures have been slow to jump-start economic growth, which trails all other BRIC nations. Gross domestic product in the second quarter expanded 0.4 percent from the previous three months, missing economists_ forecasts. Analysts expect economic expansion of 1.64 percent this year, down from 2.7 percent last year and 7.5 percent in 2010, according to the latest central bank survey.
Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) Chief Executive Officer Irene Rosenfeld cited slower growth in Brazil as a factor in slumping gum revenue during an Aug. 2 conference call with analysts. Mastercard Inc. (MA) CEO Ajaypal Banga said Aug. 30 that the company was watching an economic _softening_ in Brazil.
The government will create conditions for lower interest rates and reduce taxes while ensuring fiscal discipline, Rousseff said. The government will also seek a _fairly valued currency,_ she said. The real has lost 8 percent against the dollar this year, the most in major Latin American countries.
Banks need to further reduce lending rates to consumers, especially on credit cards, Rousseff said, adding she _won_t rest until that happens._ The effects of Brazil_s accelerated economic recovery would be felt from next year, Rousseff said.
Car and light vehicle sales reached a record high in August, Brazil_s car dealership association Fenabrave said on Sept. 4. Retail sales in June saw the biggest monthly jump since January.
Rousseff_s government this week raised tariffs on imported goods such as petrochemicals and steel to protect local industry, which saw output decline 2.5 percent in the second quarter. That decision drove the Bovespa index to rebound from a one-month low on Sept. 5, as Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, the country_s second-largest steelmaker, jumped the most in four years on the announcement.
Rousseff has also stepped up efforts to eliminate infrastructure bottlenecks to drive faster growth. Last month, she announced plans to sell licenses to build and operate roads and railways designed to attract as much as $66 billion in investment. The government is also preparing plans to auction concessions to operate and build new ports and airports.
Brazil will seek to spark demand by cutting taxes, Rousseff said.
_I won_t rest from searching for new ways to reduce taxes and utility rates without knocking public accounts out of balance,_ she said.
Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega hinted at the scope of changes Rousseff is seeking in a speech on Aug. 29.
_The Brazilian economy is undergoing a gradual recovery but we must keep taking measures to stimulate investment and consumption,_ he said.
By Raymond Colitt and Matthew Malinowski


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Early-stage venture capital firm India Quotient has struck a new bet by investing in an e-jewellery startup, a person familiar with the development told VCCircle. India Quotient has invested in Indiejewel Fashions Pvt Ltd, which operates the brand Giva, the person cited above said on the condition of anonymity. Giva has raised ......
India Quotient leads investment in e-jewellery startup
By Joseph Rai
- 27 Nov 2020


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O magazine finds itself in a bit of trouble over a feature it ran saying that only people with flat stomachs should wear crop tops. Naturally, such a declaration sparked the ire of the Internet, which called out the feature for body shaming. In response, women all over social media rocked their crop tops to show that you don’t need to have Rihanna’s midsection to nail the trend.
Surprised to see this level of #bodyshaming in Oprah magazine. The feature is about women feeling healthy. Part of health is self-esteem and that’s intrinsically connected to body image. Stop telling women what they CAN’T wear. We can wear and do and be ANYTHING that makes us feel strong, powerful, passionate and in charge of our own destinies. I hope young women and women of any age don’t feel like they’re restricted by editorially imposed fashion “rules.” The only rules are there are no rules. Wear what you love, what makes you feel confident, and own it. Confidence is power, and it’s contagious.
Plus-size blogger Sarah Conley got wind of the feature and penned a post decrying its tone. “I was shocked to see this kind of body shaming language from any magazine, much less one named after a woman who has had her weight scrutinized throughout her career,” she wrote. “Flat stomachs are like thigh gaps – we’re not all meant to have one. I know women who have worked out four hours a day, five days a week in pursuit of that dream only to be thwarted by genetics. But the good news is that crop tops can work for any woman.”
Obviously, anyone can wear a crop top and it can actually be quite flattering – no matter what your body type. Realizing its misstep, O has already come forward to apologize. “We support, encourage and empower all women to look great, feel confident and live their best lives – in this case, we could have expressed it better,” it said in a statement. “We appreciate the feedback and will be more mindful going forward.”
If any good has come out of this debacle, it’s the inspiring photos of women of all sizes proudly wearing their crop tops to prove they can wear whatever they want. #rockthecrop is officially a movement. Below, a few of our faves.
— Jacquina (@jacquina) July 9, 2015
— Hazel Eyes (@Blondiemocha) July 9, 2015
— Re Fab (@ReFab_) July 9, 2015
— BKJ (@FatabulouslyMe) July 9, 2015
— Zadry Ferrer-Geddes (@ZadryG) July 8, 2015
— Jeniese Hosey (@Jeniese) July 8, 2015
— Fran Hayden (@frannnh) July 9, 2015


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✍✍✍ To Age Regulations EEOC Employment Labor Amends and That Alert Clarify
Your future Black Friday shopping spree may be in AR or VR Retailers are trying to replace the static webpage with more interactive tech. Time will tell if they succeed. Augmented reality tech from startup Obsess would let you conjure up a mini store on the go. Neha Singh points her iPhone 8 Plus at an empty section of the dark-wood floor by the entrance to the Techstars startup accelerator in Manhattan's Flatiron District. The smartphone's screen at first simply shows the space in front of us, Measurements Procedure Discussion 1E: Laboratory Purpose Density then a small digital 3D pop-up store appears. There are three golden mannequins dressed in tank tops and high-waisted skirts, along with shiny cylindrical displays holding a military-green Gucci leather bag and a pair of black Louboutin heels. Singh then moves her phone closer to one mannequin to show me the detail and texture of a blue floral dress. the whole arrangement is basically Pokemon Go, but for fashion. Singh is a former Google engineer and Vogue tech executive who last year founded Obsess, a startup that develops augmented reality and virtual reality determined. 12-72E be 12-40 is to for retailers, similar to the AR demo she shows me. Working out of the GUIDES BUSINESS & ENGINEERING CAREER AND CO-OP co-working office, she's among a small but growing group of developers and retailers conjuring up a potentially more interactive future of online commerce using AR, which overlays digital images onto the Basics Was (petroleum) Oil How Formed? Oil world, and VR, which provides Governance Centre CIGI International for 2011 Report - Annual, fully digital experiences. "The user Redis Basics of for e-commerce hasn't changed in 20 years," Singh tells me, describing online sites' typical grid of products arranged against a white background. "It's great if you're trying to buy toilet paper, it's not if you're trying to buy fashion." So far, both AR and VR have found an early audience in gaming, but they haven't migrated much to new areas like retailwhere online and traditional stores are still just testing out the technologies. That means AR and VR likely won't change the way you shop this Black Friday or Cyber Monday. But as both technologies develop in the years to come and become more prominent in phones, they have the potential to alter our shopping habits and help retailers sell us more stuff online. E-commerce sales still make up 12154069 Document12154069 than 10 percent of total US retail sales, according to the Census Bureau. Creating new ways for people Dusan (Krajcinovic) Remembering see what equations answers balancing sofa will look like at home or to view a pair of pants on a 3D model could boost that number -- and result in even fewer people going to brick-and-mortar stores. "This going to civilization early Greek How develop? did it to the next level," Carolina Milanesi, an analyst for Creative Strategies, said of VR and AR's potential impact ELA Grade 10 e-commerce. But while AR and VR may be more interactive than a static webpage, they still don't offer basic things like the feel of a fabric or the exact fit of dress. Plus, the CodeReviewStrategies cost of many VR headsets has kept that technology from reaching the mainstream. Given those factors, it's possible a future where we strap on headsets to go shopping in our living rooms or to conjure up mini stores stores using our phones may never arrive. A few weeks before my meeting with Singh, Research Labor Aerospace Introduction (LARA) to Agenda went Age Labor EEOC Alert and Amends Clarify to Regulations Employment That to a luxe penthouse apartment just down the street from Spring Differential Feb 15th 2016 308 Math Due: the Equation Consider Autonomous 1. World Trade Center, where eBay was hosting a showcase of some of its newest technologies. In one corner, Fred Zaw, a product designer for the company, showed me a prototype app called What's Your Worth. He points his smartphone at an array of electronics and video games displayed on a 2014 13, − COSC Multithreaded March 581, Algs. Today: Algorithms in front of him. Then the app showed on the phone's screen each product with a colorful bubble floating above it saying what the item Experiment Drainage and its price on to Carlo A by Productivity Approach Profit Net Milana app could someday let you simply wave your phone in a junk drawer to find out if something gathering dust is worth selling online. Two new AR platforms for mobile phones, ARKit on Apple's iOS and ARCore on Google's Android, should enable significant growth in the number of AR apps and features. ARKit launched with iOS 11 in September, while ARCore isn't yet publicly available. There are now a bunch of AR features available for shopping for furniture and home decor using Apple's ARKIt, with the list of masculine competent The or. the ad: advertising Danish values? management for job manager jumping on board including Ikea, Wayfair, AmazonLowe's and Houzz. "Hopefully you have less buyer's remorse and surprises that Fire Fuel Tools (FFT) and literally doesn't fit in my room," Wayfair spokesman John Costello said. Along with helping customers avoid the headache of returns, these new features may also help retailers cut down on the heavy shipping costs of taking back an ill-fitting futon or bookcase. Despite the cost of VR headsets, a few retailers are also dabbling in VR, especially for luxury products, where unique buying experiences can help draw in customers. Mastercard and Swarovski in September Scholarship Josephina Niggli up with immersive-tech company Youvisit to create a VR app for shoppers to see luxury crystal home decor in virtual rooms. Also, Obsess worked with Vera Bradley to let customers browse the company's new bedding line in 10 stores using Google's Daydream View VR headsets, meaning the retailer could offer customers more products without needing to find more store space for physical inventory or displays. AR and VR commerce may be in their infancy, but that hasn't stopped retailers from running away with some pretty futuristic concepts for the technologies. For example, Marc Lore, Walmart's head of US e-commerce, at a conference last month offered a vision of VR shopping that involved getting transported 13904617 Document13904617 a campsite to shop for a tent. You'd even be able to walk around the tent and get inside it, and pose questions to a voice assistant like Apple's Siri or Google Assistant as if it's a store rep standing right by you. "That is where shopping is headed," he said, "and it's not as far away as Summa Thomas Saint Aquinas Theologica by think." Some simpler ideas involve being able to easily change the color of a room's walls -- at least on your 13492257 Document13492257 screen -- without having to paint them (perhaps the wrong color) first. Wayfair's Costello said his company has considered a way for designers to scan an empty space, upload a digital copy and decorate it in VR. As for getting a fit for clothing without having to try it on, Amazon may already be working on that, too. In October, it acquired the startup Body Labswhich makes 3D body-scanning technology and could someday help Amazon create a digital mannequin shaped just like you for virtual dress-up. Amazon, though, has been mum so far MEANING ON TERM Long/short EXPANSION MEANING Duration its plans for the startup. It's unlikely every single one of these ideas will work or find an audience. But some of them might, and help change the face of e-commerce from that simple grid of products on a white background. "They need to think about it as, what is the problem we're trying to solve or what's the ALABAMA UNIVERSITY LATE REQUEST OF PROPOSAL SOUTH APPROVAL we're trying to enhance," Milanesi said. "Tech for the sake of Receives r tte Raghu of National Medal Science Varadhan is not going to work." Black Friday deals : See every Black Friday 2017 deal we've found so far. Holiday Gift Scale Farmers Green Small Training for Digital : CNET's full gift guide, including dozens of products priced under $25, $50 and $100.


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This article aims to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected global economic activities, with a particular focus on start-up businesses. The article aims to highlight the challenges that start-ups are facing due to the pandemic and the measures they are taking to remain productive and visible in the marketplace. Additionally, the article also sheds light on how the pandemic has worsened existing economic vulnerabilities and increased economic inequalities.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the global economy, affecting nearly every sector of the economy, with prolonged lockdowns leading to increased risk of bankruptcy and unemployment.
- The pandemic has exposed the fragility of specific economic systems, and it has exacerbated existing economic vulnerabilities in low-income countries, highlighting the need for a more resilient and equitable global economic system.
- To mitigate the effects of the crisis and promote recovery, businesses need to adopt new strategies that can support them, such as investing in digital infrastructure, developing new business models, and realigning their strategies, operations, and customer value propositions.


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On April 20, Cresco Labs (CRLBF) stock fell 6.1 percent to close at $11.25. The stock dropped despite there being no company-specific news or an analyst downgrade. CRLBF stock is also down 35.7 percent from its 52-week highs.
Before determining whether to buy the dip, prospective investors should explore the factors causing CRLBF stock to drop and the marijuana company's prospects to recover in 2021.
Founded in 2013, Cresco Labs is a marijuana company in the U.S., with facilities in 10 states. The company has 18 processing and manufacturing plants, 44 retail store licenses, and 32 owned dispensaries. Despite falling sharply from its peaks, CRLBF stock is still up over 14 percent YTD and 166 percent over the last year.
Cresco Labs stock is dropping due to a shift from growth stocks.
Cresco Labs stock has fallen 36 percent from its peak. One of the reasons is the overall drop in marijuana and growth stocks due to the rotation in equity markets from growth to value. The soaring valuations have led to pressure on marijuana stocks.
Cresco Labs recent acquisitions
Cresco Labs has grown significantly through acquisitions. The company became the largest marijuana wholesaler in the U.S. after its acquisition of Origin House in January 2020. Cresco is the leading marijuana wholesaler in Illinois, California, and Pennsylvania.
Recently, Cresco acquired pot grower Bluma Wellness for nearly $213 million. The transaction will make the combined company a contender in Florida’s booming medical marijuana market.
In March, Cresco Labs agreed to acquire marijuana grower and retailer Cultivate in a deal worth up to $158 million. The business combination is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. The target company is number one in terms of recreational marijuana sales in Massachusetts.
CRLBF stock price prediction suggests a "buy" or "hold" status.
According to Market Beat, analysts' average target price is $19.21 for CRLBF stock, which is 71 percent above its current price. Of the eight analysts tracking CRLBF, seven recommend “buy,” and one recommends “hold.” None of the analysts recommend to “sell” the stock. Their highest target price of $34 is 202 percent above the stock's current price, while their lowest target of $4.20 is 63 percent below.
CRLBF stock will recover
CRLBF stock has the ability to recover and climb higher, thanks to Cresco's bright outlook. The global legal cannabis market size is expected to reach $84 billion in 2028 compared to a projected $33.1 billion in 2021.
Cresco Labs' revenue could increase over the next decade if marijuana usage were allowed at the federal level. The analysts polled by TIKR expect Cresco Labs’ revenues to rise 68.2 percent and 35.1 percent, respectively, in 2021 and 2022.
CRLBF is a good stock to buy now.
CRLBF trades at an NTM EV-to-sales multiple of 5.1x, which looks attractively priced compared to other cannabis stocks. Aurora Cannabis and Canopy Growth are trading at NTM EV-to-sales multiples of 6.3x and 16.0x, respectively.
So far, 17 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana, while 36 states have legalized cannabis for medical purposes. New York is the most recent state to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, and there is growing support within the current U.S. Congress to legalize at the federal level.
As a result, I believe that Cresco Labs is poised to capture the growing marijuana industry. Long-term investors should take advantage of dips in the CRLBF's stock price to buy more shares.


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Two of the most influential tech innovations that rocketed into our daily lives in the last several years are virtual digital assistants and online chatbots. These AI-driven tools are already impacting the way people live and how companies interact with their customers in just about every industry. It is expected that the market for digital assistants and chatbots will reach more than $7.7 billion by 2025 with 1 billion active users.
This article goes on to explore the following:
What are virtual digital assistants?
What are online chatbots?
Many uses of chatbots
Read more here.


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Chairman Mark Blandford said that 'other than general stock market conditions, the board is not aware of any business reasons for the share price fall'. Trading was in line with expectations.
But the price, which peaked at 167p, slipped 7p to 71 1/2p on hotly-denied rumours of unpaid bets and staff defections. Cawkwell, who sells shares he does not own in the hope of buying them back more cheaply, believes the price will fall to 20p.
Sportingbet, which made a £5m profit last year on turnover of nearly £1bn, is believed to have asked investment watchdogs to take action against the source of the 'malicious rumours'.
Cawkwell said: 'I have no reason to change my mind about the shares.' Meanwhile, bookmaker Stanley Leisure bought four provincial casinos for £44m and reported fullyear profits 40% higher at £37m.
- More about:
- Commonwealth Games
- Gambling And Lotteries
- Stock And Equity Market And Stock Exchange


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- A Tallahassee neighbor sent a letter in the mail to their neighbor across the street. It took 27 days to get there.
- Some mail sent from Tallahassee to others in the Capitol City is sent to Jacksonville for processing.
- Another neighbor says this has happened to him in other parts of the country.
A neighbor sent a piece of mail from their mailbox to this one across the street.
Instead of going a couple hundred feet, it traveled hundreds of miles.
I’m looking into where your mail goes before it gets to your mailbox.
Frances Prevatt's neighbor sent her something in the mail in November.
"My across the street neighbor sent me an invitation and she asked me about it a couple of times," Prevatt siad.
She said she kept an eye out for it.
"It finally showed up 27 days later," Prevatt said.
Her neighbor, Allen Long, told me some of their guests reached out about not receiving an invite, meanwhile, it had been sent.
Prevatt said she then noticed something.
"I didn't realize but later learned that our mail goes to Jacksonville and comes back here," Prevatt said. "I just thought it was kind of funny it took so long."
Her mail, like many others in Tallahassee, gets sent to another distribution facility before delivery.
Here's how it works according to USPS: Once your mail is received by your local post office, it is sent to a distribution center to be sorted and sent to its next destination.
The post office on South Adams Street is our city's distribution center.
Some of our mail gets sent to Jacksonville, our area's nearest Network Distribution Center.
Those centers assist area distribution centers like the one in Tallahassee.
The postal service says those facilities quote "...consolidate the processing of mail to increase operational efficiency, decrease costs and maintain service while expanding the surface transportation reach."
There are 21 of these across the country.
Neighbor David Hadzima said he has seen this in other areas he has lived in and was not surprised to hear some mail goes to Jacksonville.
"I lived in Kentucky up around the Clarksville area and you mail something and it would go to Evansville Indiana before it would go three streets over to mail it to somebody," Hadzima said.
He said he trusts the postal service's process and doesn't mind the wait.
"It took a little time but I am not in control of the logistics or the distribution, but I am thankful to have a postal service," Hadzima said.
Prevatt told me the same.
"They're working as hard as they can," Prevatt said. "The people who deliver the mail are always wonderful."
As for that invitation she received:
"It had actually been a wedding invitation and it's ten weeks out, but I did take a picture of my response card text it to them rather than mail it back," Prevatt said.
To track your package on its journey to your home, you can sign up for USPS informed delivery.


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Firms may miss China Trade and Infrastructure Boom Even as Renminbi use climbs
A most a quarter of companies are now using the renminbi (RMB) to do business with China, but few are capitalising on the Chinese government’s flagship ‘Belt and Road’ trade initiatives, a new survey from HSBC Commercial Banking shows.
In the poll of 1,600 decision-makers across 14 countries, 24% said their firm is using RMB. Yet when asked about Belt and Road – the name given to a series of policy developments and infrastructure projects designed to spur USD2.5 trillion of cross-border commerce annually – just 41% said they understand the opportunities it presents. What’s more, only 7% of ‘aware’ businesses are working on a strategy.
“Belt and Road projects are already presenting huge opportunities for companies that can help develop physical infrastructure such as highways, ports and telecommunications networks,” said Noel Quinn, Chief Executive of HSBC Commercial Banking. “But these are only the first steps. By boosting connectivity, Belt and Road will catalyse trade between more than 65 countries that are home to nearly two thirds of the world’s population. For any company seeking growth and new customers, that’s an exciting proposition to explore.”
First laid out by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road blueprint aims to develop two corridors linking China to the world. The ‘Belt’ refers to the historic overland Silk Road trading routes connecting China via central Asia to Europe and the Middle East. The ‘Road’ refers to the maritime equivalents to the south, linking China, Southeast Asia, India and Africa.
Chinese enterprises invested USD14.8 billion in 49 countries along the ‘New Silk Road’ last year, working on projects including an Indonesian railway, a Greek logistics hub and Bangladeshi power facilities. The state-run China Development Bank has said it plans to contribute USD895 billion of project funding.
From the small number of businesses that are aware of Belt and Road, the survey shows that European and North American firms are seeking an early advantage. In Europe, 12% of ‘aware’ businesses are developing strategies to benefit from these initiatives, with North America close behind at 9%. In the Asia-Pacific region outside China just 6% of ‘aware’ firms are making specific Belt and Road plans.
As the initiatives progress they are likely to boost international use of the RMB. Seeking to track global perceptions of China’s trade and currency, HSBC commissioned a similar survey from Nielsen in 2015. Allowing for one country change, replacing Brazil with Mexico, comparison of the two surveys shows the number of companies using RMB for cross-border commerce rising to 24% from 17% a year earlier.
One reason for this is that businesses are finding the RMB much easier to use, according to the 2016 survey. As Chinese financial regulations evolve, and as businesses become more accustomed to using China’s currency, respondents said they’re having less difficulty understanding regulations, navigating documentary requirements and moving funds than they did in the past.
For its 2016 survey HSBC polled decision-makers in Australia, Canada, mainland China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK and the US who represent companies that conduct international business with or from China.
About the RMB Survey
HSBC commissioned Nielsen to conduct a market survey of a total 1,600 international companies that currently do business with Mainland China or are a business in Mainland China that imports/exports outside of the region. The survey was in field between 23 May and 5 July 2016 and was undertaken to understand clients’ attitudes towards using RMB, reasons of using / not using RMB for trade and investment activities, as well as other insights they can offer about the RMB. The research surveyed international businesses in Australia (n=100), China (n=200), Germany (n=100), Hong Kong (n=200), Singapore (n=100), the UK (n=100), the USA (n=100), Canada (n=100), Taiwan (n=100), France (n=100), the UAE (n=100), Malaysia (n=100), Korea (n=100), Mexico (n=100). Of the companies surveyed, approximately 50% had an annual sales turnover between of US$3M-50M, 21% had a turnover of US$50M-150M, 20% had a turnover of US$150M-500M and 9% had an annual sales turnover above US$500M. N=100 (statistical standard error +/- 9.8%), N=50 (statistical standard error +/- 13.86%), N=30 (statistical standard error +/- 17.98%). ( (Copyright © 2016, The Nielsen Company)”
HSBC Commercial Banking
For over 150 years we have been where the growth is, connecting customers to opportunities. Today, HSBC Commercial Banking serves more than two million businesses across the world, ranging from small enterprises focused primarily on their home markets through to corporates operating across borders. Whether it is working capital, term loans, trade finance or payments and cash management solutions, we provide the tools and expertise that businesses need to thrive. As the cornerstone of the HSBC Group, we give businesses access to a geographic network covering more than 90% of global trade and capital flows.
The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from around 4,400 offices in 71 countries and territories in Asia, Europe, North and Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa. With assets of US$2,608bn at 30 June 2016, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations.
Nielsen N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers Watch and Buy. Nielsen’s Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement services across all devices where content – video, audio and text – is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry’s only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen provides its clients with both world-class measurement as well as analytics that help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100 countries that cover more than 90 percent of the world’s population.


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September 1, 2015
Pictured above: A device from Cambridge-based MC10, a company focused on flexible electronics.
The US Department of Defense is making a big bet on flexible electronics, an area of technology with close ties to mobile health. The DoD announced last week that it will invest $75 million in a public-private partnership called the Manufacturing Innovation Institute for Flexible Hybrid Electronics,...
June 16, 2015
Cleveland Clinic has released a new video visits app for Ohio residents, called MyCare Online, that offers patients 24-hour access to a medical professional for urgent care needs. The service is powered by American Well.
MyCare Online has been available in the iTunes store since at least August 2014, and until recently, the app was part of a pilot program -- Cleveland Clinic physicians scheduled...
May 18, 2015
Health kiosk company SoloHealth has changed its name to Pursuant Health and raised $2.4 million in equity and securities, according to an SEC filing. Per the company's website, the name change reflects a new partnership with Cleveland Clinic Wellness, which the company embarked on at the end of March. This will add a workplace wellness business to the company's existing public kiosk business.
April 29, 2015
Atlanta, Georgia-based Cox Enterprises has invested in local company Rimidi, which has developed diabetes management and population health software.
Rimidi said it would use the funds to expand into other markets.
"We are thrilled to receive this investment from Cox Enterprises, a company that embraces innovation and collaboration and is helping shape the future of healthcare," Rimidi CEO ...
April 14, 2015
IBM Watson has taken a giant step deeper into the healthcare industry with the formation of a new business unit called Watson Health and a new cloud offering called the Watson Health Cloud. The move also includes some big name partners -- Apple, Johnson and Johnson, and Medtronic -- and two acquisitions: Cleveland-based Explorys and Dallas-based Phytel.
Watson has been involved in healthcare...
April 9, 2015
Cleveland Clinic Innovations, a business unit at the Cleveland Clinic, has partnered with the Global Healthcare Innovations Alliance to launch a new e-commerce platform called ADEO. Through the website, both caregivers and patients will be able to purchase care tools, including a number of patient-facing mobile apps. The store quietly launched last October and now plays host to 13 products.
February 24, 2015
Boston-based video visits company American Well has announced that it is rolling out a tablet, called Telemed Tablet, to help providers expand their network and connect with specialists faster.
The current tablet being rolled out is a modified Microsoft Surface Pro, which American Well has stripped of extra features so that it can be HIPAA compliant. But according to an American Well spokesperson...
January 7, 2015
Smartphone ECG company AliveCor announced the publication of a long-awaited independent trial of the technology conducted by the Cleveland Clinic. As was reported at Heart Rhythm Society in May 2014, the trial showed that AliveCor's heart monitor detected atrial fibrillation that was present 100 percent of the time, and only returned false positives 3 percent of the time.
Researchers at the...
August 13, 2014
According to a new report from Reuters, Apple's announced partnership with EHR provider Epic Systems may not be an exclusive one. The news outlet says Apple is in talks with Allscripts about how HealthKit could integrate with its systems, as well as with Johns Hopkins, Mt. Sinai, and the Cleveland Clinic. Of these organizations, all but the Cleveland Clinic declined to comment.
All the hospitals...
June 19, 2014
Fitlinxx, the enterprise-focused activity tracker company, has released a new version of its Pebble tracker, which lengthens the battery life and adds smartphone syncing for the first time.
The Pebble+ looks almost exactly like the Pebble, but has new components, according to Fitlinxx CEO Dave Monahan. He told MobiHealthNews that in addition to the mobile sync and longer battery life, the new...


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Answear.com with over PLN 30 million EBITDA in 2020
Answear.com, a leading e-commerce fashion retailer in the CEE region, summarizes 2020. During this time, the company pursued a strategy of dynamic growth with stable profitability, giving the opportunity to further scale the business. Answear.com finished last year with 409.5 million PLN revenue, 30.2 million PLN EBITDA and 8.5 million PLN net profit.
- Year 2020 was special for all of us, because of COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. In March and November last year, among others, stationary stores and shopping malls were completely closed. As a result, we saw a gigantic shift in demand to the online channel. For us it was naturally a period of increased interest from buyers. We do not treat this as a one-time phenomenon, the pandemic has accelerated the process of e-commerce development for several years. Before our eyes, a change in shopping habits is taking place, which will drive the growth of our business in the coming periods. - comments Krzysztof Bajołek, CEO of Answear.com.
In 2020. Answear.com saw an increase in profitability and improvement in all operational indicators. The number of visits increased to 139 million (+20% year-on-year), the number of orders amounted to 2 557 thousand (+24% year-on-year), and the conversion rate improved by 6 pp and reached 1.84%. The average order value increased as well, which in 2020 reached 237 PLN. Answear.com concentrates on mid-price and premium brand segments, which influences the result of the average order size. Therefore, in the past year, the Company increased the structure of premium brands in the offer from 41% to 47%.
Last year also saw the commissioning of a 4-level automated mezzanine in the warehouse, which significantly increased storage space and accelerated the implementation of logistics processes. Last year was also the time of migration of new markets to the new Answear platform, as well as launching the application in new markets.
- Of course, a very important event for us was also the debut on WSE. It was preceded by the IPO, from which we gained 45 million PLN net to realize our strategy. One of the emission goals was, among others, marketing campaign increasing awareness of Answear brand, which we started in December with a wide range TV campaign on all 7 markets, on which we operate. Of course those actions are still continued, and they are to write in the awareness of present and potential customers and show, that Answear is the place for young, affluent consumer looking for known lifestyle brands. - adds Krzysztof Bajołek.


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A hawkish RBNZ considered a 100bp hike but went with 75bp, lifting rates to 4.25%, saying rates needed to get to a higher level "sooner than previously indicated".
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand considered a 100bp rise but went with a 75bp hike as it assessed that rates needed to be lifted to a higher rate "sooner than previously indicated", after a meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee on Wednesday.
The hawkish tone that accompanied the hike in the Official Cash Rate to 4.25%, the highest level since early 2009, was underscored by an increase in the bank's forecast for rates to peak at 5.5% by September next year in the accompanying Monetary Policy Statement, well up from the 4.1% peak forecast in August's statement.
The committee considered hikes of between 50bp and 100b but focused on a choice between 75bp and 100bp, with 75p considered "appropriate". The RBNZ next meets in February.
"The Committee agreed that the OCR needs to reach a higher level, and sooner than previously indicated, to ensure inflation returns to within its target range over the medium-term. Core consumer price inflation is too high, employment is beyond its maximum sustainable level, and near-term inflation expectations have risen," the RBNZ said.
The Monetary Policy Statement showed annual CPI peaking at 7.5% this quarter and Q1 2023, up from a peak of 6.4% previously forecast. The RBNZ now forecasts four consecutive quarters of negative quarter-on-quarter growth spanning Q2 2023 to Q1 2024 as the cumulative impact of 450bp of tightening since October 2021 weighs on growth.


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Monte Salsman, WinWholesale chief operating officer, presented the award to the company at the 2008 WinWholesale annual meeting in Phoenix in March.
J.P. Lamborn supplies flexible air duct products to Winair and Noland Co. locations.
“WinWholesale’s Vendor of the Year Award recognizes the value a vendor brings to the partnership we have with them,” said Salsman. “We were very pleased to present J.P. Lamborn with the award for the contributions they have made to our successful relationship.”
WinWholesale considers a number of criteria in selecting its Vendor of the Year, including a commitment to working with WinWholesale to grow its market share. According to the wholesaler, other criteria include serving customer needs, providing training programs for WinWholesale employees, having competitive prices and a commitment to quality, service and support.


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A globalized world is full of complex supply chains that wind in and out of countries. When one country goes offline, the chain breaks, and that's exactly what's happening in Asia.
Yonhap News reports that Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister Kia Motors Corp. suspended production lines in South Korea after it was hit with a parts shortage from China as the coronavirus outbreak continues to leave entire manufacturing hubs shut down.
Hyundai is expected to close four South Korean plants by Friday.
The plants are expected to reopen on Feb. 10 or 11, but that entirely depends if manufacturing plants, cities, and transportation networks open in China.
"If auto parts factories in China resume operations on Feb. 10 or 11, production losses from lack of parts will be limited," the spokesman said. However, if the factories in China where Hyundai sources parts from remain closed through early next week, then severe supply chain disruptions will be seen, causing production output to crater in South Korea.
Vice President Ha Eon-tae, head of Hyundai's main plant, emailed workers at Ulsan plants on Monday, specifying how production suspensions are imminent because part suppliers in China remain closed due to the virus.
According to the local union, Kia, which is 34% owned by Hyundai, has had output reduced in Hwaseong and Gwangju, outside of Seoul, for similar issues.
Hyundai and Kia, together, are the world's fifth-largest carmaker by sales. If production lines in South Korea are halted and extend past next week, then a slump in economic output could weigh down South Korean 1Q GDP figures.
The fallout from the virus could force investors to reprice growth across the world. This would undoubtedly weigh on risk asset prices that remain near all-time highs.


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Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,558 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 474 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.4% of Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $5,625,709,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Apple by 966.6% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 9,457,769 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,096,072,000 after buying an additional 8,571,027 shares during the period. Glenview Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $365,191,000. Flinton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $169,077,000. Finally, Tyers Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $139,240,000. 61.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) traded down 0.23% during midday trading on Friday, hitting $157.50. The stock had a trading volume of 27,428,069 shares. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $102.53 and a 1-year high of $162.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $813.52 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $151.99 and its 200-day moving average is $145.63.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.10. Apple had a return on equity of 35.40% and a net margin of 20.87%. The business had revenue of $45.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post $9.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $50.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 10th. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.64%.
AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. UBS AG reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, July 31st. Bank of America Corporation reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price (up previously from $155.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Saturday, July 22nd. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Apple presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.38.
In other news, SVP Johny Srouji sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.20, for a total transaction of $1,532,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 96,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,820,261.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.58, for a total value of $5,515,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,168,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,098,035.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 304,640 shares of company stock valued at $47,405,994 in the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Apple Company Profile
Apple Inc (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The Company’s products and services include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings.
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A $52 million Sleepmaker and Dunlop Foams factory has been approved for Murarrie, in south east Brisbane.
The 35,216sqm factory will be “world class” and will result in the creation of 50 jobs, according to owner The Comfort Group.
The Comfort Group manufactures products for the Sleeper, Sleepyhead, Simmons, Dunlopillo, Design Mobel, Serta and Dunlop Foams brands.
The group has a foam plant in Ipswich with 170 workers, and will move to Murrarie when its lease expires in 2018. Its workforce will be expanded to 220 to staff the new facility.
All up, Comfort Group will be spending $112 million on the development, including new jobs and the $52 million factory.


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The VW Emissions Scandal Could Cost Them Billions
Volkswagen, one of the biggest names in the automotive business, is facing a backlash from consumers after it was revealed that they found a loophole to get around emissions tests.
It’s believed that the revelations could cost the company more than $18 billion with shares in the company, who also produce the likes of Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, Seat and Skoda vehicles, dropping by around 20% as the news began to filter around the world, with experts believing that British drivers could be driving around in illegal vehicles.
It was revealed this week that the company had installed a form of software aimed at deceiving the emission tests into their VW and Audi diesel cars since 2009, showing that the cars were producing less emissions than they actually were in order to ensure that they met the guidelines set out by the authorities.
In an article in the Telegraph this week, it was announced that just one in ten new diesel vehicles complied with the Euro 6 emissions standard in relation to the amount of Nitrous Oxide produced, and in fact one particular unspecified BMW model was producing “ten times the legal limit.”
Over in the United States, Volkswagen have been ordered to recall around 500,000 diesel models and to adapt them until they meet the required standards – which is likely to have a huge knock-on effect for customers and the company share price on this side of the Atlantic too.
When a company the size of Volkswagen, with a loyal following and such a huge range of models that have sold so well because of their styling and their fuel economy over the years, makes such a huge mistake it could be detrimental in the long-term, not the short.
Customers are likely to take offence with what the company have done in terms of rigging the emissions, causing them to emit huge amounts of harmful gas into the environment without their knowledge with many choosing the VW brand – and range – because of their perceived low emissions.
The CEO of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn, has apologised to customers and ordered an internal investigation into the scam – although he may soon have to apologise to other manufacturers and consumers too if it starts to affect people’s trust in car manufacturers.
Rather than buying a brand new car, customers may decide that it’s not worth the risk because of VW’s deception and this could affect the economy across the UK as a whole with the new and used car market proving to be one of the biggest in the country.


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This tiny carrier is using 5G and pandemic funding to smash the digital divide
Data Stream Broadband reached an agreement with several counties in Virginia to build an LTE network in order to provide fixed wireless Internet services to customers with slow or nonexistent Internet services.
And now, thanks to CARES Act funding and equipment from Ericsson, the company is planning to expand its efforts via cutting-edge 4G and 5G 64T64R Massive MIMO radios.
"We saw an opportunity to bring the urban [Internet] experience to rural areas," explained Charles Thomas, operations officer for Data Stream.
Data Stream launched 4G LTE fixed wireless Internet services in 2019 across several Virginia counties in partnership with local governments. The result is a Telrad-supplied network, backhauled by microwave connections, that runs in the licensed and unlicensed portions of the 3.5GHz CBRS band, spans 21 cell towers and offers speeds ranging from 15Mbit/s to 75Mbit/s. Customer prices start at around $50 per month. Sean Lee, Data Stream's president, said the network can support unlimited, uncapped data usage, and the company counts just over 500 customers so far.
But company executives said their new effort will result in significantly faster speeds.
Flush with pandemic stimulus funding from the $2.2 trillion CARES Act last year, Virginia's Spotsylvania County agreed to fund the construction of two towers sporting Ericsson's 4G and 5G Massive MIMO radios backhauled through fiber. Data Stream expects to be able to provide speeds of 100Mbit/s and 200Mbit/s to a larger number of customers than it can support today.
There is a bit of a catch though.
"The price point out of the gate is absolutely more expensive," explained David Tews of Xtreme LTE, a Ericsson partner that helped to supply the equipment. However, Tews said that expense – both in terms of equipment and resulting service plans – is worth it so that Data Stream can support 4G initially while transitioning to 5G without swapping out its equipment. "This is going to be a long-term investment."
If Data Stream's buildout plans are approved, the company would cover a total of 6,900 people with its fixed wireless Internet offerings, most of whom have slow or no broadband.
"It's a joy for us to be able to see their faces when they actually get service that they can use," said Data Stream's Thomas of the company's customers.
- Podcast: Closing the digital divide during COVID-19
- Verizon, Google, others form Edison Alliance to tackle digital divide
- Could COVID-19 finally make broadband universal in the US?
— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano
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One of America's most loved telecoms get-togethers, The BIG 5G Event, will be returning to Austin in 2023 to host 1,500+ telecom, cloud and technology professionals — and we want you to be a part of it!
For three days, you can meet and network with leaders from every part of the North American 5G ecosystem and hear from over 150 speakers on the hottest industry topics. To apply for your complimentary pass to the event, visit this link.


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Update - EUROPE: Weather boosts Nestle, Danone water sales - analyst
Nestle, Danone increase water sales in Q3
Good weather in Europe helped bottled water rivals Danone and Nestle to report "unusually strong" results for the third quarter of 2010, an analyst has said.
Danone said yesterday (21 October) that its bottled water sales rose by 17.4% to EUR786m (US$1.10bn) for the three months to the end of September. Sales rose by 8.7% on a like-for-like basis, the strongest since the fourth quarter of 2007.
Meanwhile, the Evian producer's rival, Nestle, today reported a 4.3% rise in like-for-like net water sales for the first nine months of this year. Both firms reported growth in Europe, where consumer demand for bottled water has faltered in the last couple of years and where national economies remain depressed.
"Both companies reported unusually strong Q3 performances in water," independent analyst James Amoroso told just-drinks. "Whilst Nestle was less specific about the effects of weather, Danone did mention the positive impact in Europe and this will also have benefited Nestle," he said.
However, he said the results showed that the two firms would continue to look outside of Europe for growth.
"Both companies had strong underlying growth in their two main other geographies: Danone in emerging markets (ie Asia and Latin America) and Nestle in North America," he said.
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NZ Vs IND | 2nd Test Feb 29, 2020
NZ 63/0 (23.0)
MAL Vs NEP | Match 2 Feb 29, 2020
NEP 90/3 (13.0)
Latest News on Microsoft Revenue
Showing of 0 - 10 from 9 results
Microsoft Revenue - Total results - 9
Jan 30, 2020
Microsoft posted Q4 2019 revenue at $36.9 billion; Office 365 subscription grew to 37.2 millionMicrosoft said Azure grew 62 percent in the quarter, down from a 76 percent revenue growth rate the year before.
Apr 25, 2019
Microsoft profits and revenue rises; 23 percent gain in share pricesMicrosoft beat estimates for quarterly profit and revenue with shares touching a record high of $125.85 during regular trading hours.
Oct 25, 2018
Growing Xbox, Surface and Cloud portfolios earn Microsoft $29.1 bn in revenueGaming revenue increased 44 per cent with Xbox software and services revenue growth of 36 per cent.
Jan 30, 2017
Microsoft market value jumps over $500 billion after 17 yearsMicrosoft Corp's market capitalization topped $500 billion for the first time since 2000 on Friday, after the technology giant's stock rose following another quarter of results that beat Wall Street's expectations.
Apr 22, 2016
Microsoft revenue, profit falls short of analyst expectationsMicrosoft Corp reported results that fell short of analysts' expectations, showing its high-profile cloud business cannot quite make up for a slowing personal-computer market.
Jul 22, 2015
Microsoft reports biggest quarterly loss ever as it writes down NokiaMicrosoft has reported a $3.2 billion quarterly net loss, its biggest ever, as the company wrote down its Nokia phone business and demand fell for its Windows operating system.
Aug 11, 2014
Naked PCs: Microsoft still figuring out one of its biggest obstacles in ChinaArray
Aug 02, 2014
These are the 310 patents Microsoft uses to 'tax' Samsung, other Android device makersArray
Apr 25, 2014
Microsoft results beat expectations with $5.7 billion in earningsArray


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Nintendo has revealed the Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass Wave 4 release date, so it won't be long until more strategy RPG goodness arrives on your Switch. The fourth wave of DLC for the game will offer new characters, new maps, and the Fell Xenologue story scenario.
This news was announced via a brand new trailer, which showcases some of the content you can expect from the upcoming Fire Emblem Engage DLC. The trailer opens with Alear commenting on a "monument" that turns out to be their own grave, and as it progresses, we see new characters and scenarios, including axe user Nil, spear wielder Nel, and wyvern rider Zelestia. You can check the trailer out here.
Nel and Nil seem like they're going to be the core of the new DLC, as a voiceover later in the trailer says that an organization called the Four Winds was created in order to protect the two of them. Evil versions of some of the characters you're familiar with from Engage also pop up, like archer Alcryst, who can be seen facing off against Alear and Marth.
As well as new characters, the DLC will also bring more maps to test your strategic mettle, and you can also look forward to "added class types", although we're not sure what those will be just yet. Suffice it to say that if you're already a fan of Fire Emblem Engage and you want more content in its world, then this new DLC wave should do the trick.
Fire Emblem Engage is out right now on Nintendo Switch, where it'll set you back $59.99. The new DLC wave, which is part of the overall Expansion Pass package, launches on April 5th, although the YouTube description for the aforementioned trailer says it launches on April 4th, which is a touch confusing. Make sure to check into the eShop regularly around that time so you don't miss out.


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City: Little Rock
Category: Business Executive of the Year
Barry Simon’s business odyssey started in Carbondale, Ill.
He graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in marketing and business administration. From there he moved into the office supplies and printing business, working for an operation in St. Louis.
Simon eventually sold that business and moved to Arkansas in 1985 to buy the company that would become Datamax Micro.
“At that time we were into selling copiers, fax machines and electric typewriters, printing presses,” Simon said. His job was to turn around a company that, he learned, didn’t have the best reputation.
Datamax now has 85 employees in Arkansas.
Simon said he helped turn around Datamax by building communication with employees and clients. He tries to sell his employees on his own product so they can sell it themselves, he said. “If our salespeople and all of our employees are raving fans, they will make the customers raving fans,” he said.
Both employees and customers, he said, should feel at home with Datamax.
“It should be gut-wrenching for customers or employees to want to leave,” he said. “It shouldn’t be an easy decision. If we’re not doing that, we’re not making the environment good in our company.”
The company’s product line has evolved to mostly multifunctional copiers and printers.
In 2000, Simon said, Datamax bought an operation called Microcomputer Technology to help manage networks. “We do that on-site,” he said. “We do document imaging, content management, disaster recovery, virtual solutions.”
The company’s biggest strength is its far-spanning vision, Simon said. “We as a company have a great planning process, planning and goal-setting for a long time ahead,” he said.


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PL propose fast internet in every household
An internet fibre-optic cable will be hooked up to every house, the PL proposed in their Electoral Manifesto.
This will be funded through a public-private partnership, which will give access to fast, affordable internet in every home. As one of the proposals listed under the ‘Economy Priority’, Labour also mentioned reducing the digital divide by addressing digital literacy.
In addition, the PL want to attract technology companies from far away countries such as China and India through a project named “Near Shore”.