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On a quiet Friday afternoon in downtown Ithaca, N.Y., a handful of current and former Starbucks workers, donning their signature green aprons, lined up in front of a microphone across the street from one of the city’s two remaining Starbucks locations. One by one, they testified before a few dozen local protesters about how their jobs had become unbearable in recent months: surveillance, intimidation, and arbitrary discipline by managers—all to punish them for forming a union. And on May 26, Starbucks would be shutting down their union altogether by shutting down the cafés that employed them.
“I have been facing union-busting by Starbucks for a year and a half,” barista and former Cornell student Kolya Vitek told the crowd, “and I can tell you it is disgusting, and it is exhausting and it’s terrible. And I’m mad…. we do not deserve this. We just want rights and we just want dignity.”
The closure of the last two locations in Ithaca appears to be an escalation of what workers describe as a pattern of systematic anti-union abuse at Starbucks stores across the country.
Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), a national network of Starbucks unions backed by the Service Employees International Union, has filed a total of about 500 unfair labor practice charges against the company before the National Labor Relations Board. Last March, a NLRB judge issued a landmark ruling against Starbucks for committing “hundreds of unfair labor practices” during the Buffalo union drive, surveilling and unfairly disciplining workers. Ordering the reinstatement of 30 workers, the judge cited “a general disregard for the employees’ fundamental rights.”
Benjamin South, a former shift supervisor at the Starbucks in Collegetown, a bustling student neighborhood by the Cornell campus, was not surprised that the company would rather pull out of the city than accept the union; he was fired shortly after a walkout. “It makes me very angry and sad,” he said, “because everybody knew after it happened to me and other people, it was just gonna be a matter of time.… And it’s a little bit bittersweet because it means that they couldn’t stop the union. But for the people without jobs, it’s a scary and terrifying thing.”
Talia Silva Vallejo, who works at the Ithaca Commons location, where workers had gathered, said she was interested in working at Starbucks when she arrived in Ithaca from Chile, because her homeland is arguably the ground zero of Starbucks unionization. Starting in 2009, a robust student movement fueled a successful union drive that eventually organized the vast majority of the country’s outlets.
But Vallejo said she did not expect the level of anti-union hostility from her American Starbucks managers, particularly the targeted enforcement of obscure rules and being constantly monitored by managers, presumably to deter workers from organizing.
“I got, for instance, written up for being [just a few] minutes late,” she recalled. “Others got written up for not smiling enough. So those kinds of attitudes—you can really see that they were trying to, overall, have us fear what they could do.” Ultimately, however, the mistreatment only motivated more workers to organize.
Since Starbucks announced its plan to shutter the remaining two locations, workers have walked out in protest, and students have mobilized to urge Cornell University to cut its business ties to the company.
Commons barista Ian Willing said the disproportionate discipline of pro-union workers (he recalls being sent home for wearing a shirt that was the wrong color) made him want to join the union more. But he will also miss his job—not least because he recently racked up enough hours to qualify for the much-hyped Starbucks college program, which subsidizes workers’ tuition for online coursework. Unless he finds another Starbucks job, he may not be able to continue his schooling. “I like my job. I like being a barista,” he said. “I like saying ‘Hi’ to customers and everything. It’s just the company that makes it miserable to go there, and it makes me scared to show up to work, because I’m scared I’m going to get fired.”
The union struggle in Ithaca goes back to the spring of 2022, when all three Starbucks locations voted overwhelmingly to unionize with SBWU. The Ithaca stores were among the first to unionize in the country, bouncing off the momentum of the first Starbucks union victories in Buffalo. Ithaca has since stood as the only city where every Starbucks is union, while SBWU has now organized around 300 cafés nationwide.
But workers soon began reporting systematic retaliation from management, culminating in the closure of the Collegetown Starbucks after a strike over unsafe working conditions resulting from a failed grease trap.
With the other two stores set to shutter, the workers have filed charges with the NLRB alleging that the closures were “retaliation for union activity and to discourage union activity” and seeking injunctive relief. In the meantime, the union plans to negotiate over severance for the workers. Starbucks, in a statement to The Nation, said that it planned to engage in “effects bargaining,” or negotiations over compensation and transfers that workers might receive. If it finds that the closures were aimed at union busting, the NLRB could also order back pay for the workers or force the locations to reopen.
Several other Starbucks cafés have closed after workers began organizing. Last May, Buffalo Starbucks workers claimed that two stores had been shut down to suppress a union drive, and that July, Starbucks announced the closure of 16 locations in several cities, prompting NLRB complaints from two stores in Seattle that had recently unionized, along with a Portland store just weeks away from a union vote. Starbucks justified the closures as part of an effort to “reinvent” the brand to “recreate an environment…where we uplift one another with dignity, respect and kindness.”
In an e-mail to The Nation, Starbucks stated that it respected workers’ decisions about unionization and that its recent business decisions were aimed at improving the “Starbucks experience” and were unrelated to unionization. In addition, the company contended that the Ithaca locations had suffered from frequent absences, high turnover, and shortages of managers.
Pro-union Starbucks workers argue that the staffing problems had been “manufactured,” with the company deliberately reducing workers’ hours in the months following the union votes. Last year, workers reported that the chronic short staffing at busy stores had intensified a pressure-cooker work environment. One worker told Ithaca Voice that after his hours were cut, he had to “choose between food and being able to pay his rent,” and another said the stress forced her to take a medical leave of absence.
Perhaps the one consequence Starbucks fears is bad publicity. To that end, the news of the closures prompted a group of Cornell undergraduates to work to pressure the administration to “divest” from the company, by getting Starbucks-branded products out of campus dining facilities.
Heading into finals week, the students organized a solidarity rally, marched to the administration’s office building, and occupied the premises through the next morning. The students have had two initial meetings with administrators and begun discussions on the steps for ending the university’s contractual arrangement with Starbucks. (Disclosure: The author is a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell, whose students participated in the campaign.)
The students declared in a statement, “Cornell is not neutral in this fight. By selling Starbucks products in Cornell Dining cafés through the We Proudly Serve Starbucks program, Cornell is actively using students’ tuition to support rampant union-busting.”
It’s perhaps not a coincidence that Starbucks chose to shutter its last two stores in Ithaca just as the academic year draws to a close and students are heading home for the summer. But the students behind the divestment campaign have vowed to keep the pressure on the administration through the next semester.
And SBWU workers see themselves continuing the union movement even if their bargaining unit will be effectively dissolved at the end of May.
Evan Sunshine, a Cornell student and barista who has worked for Starbucks since high school, believes the fact that Ithaca was targeted with these closures reflected how effective their organizing was. “We’re so militant.… We experience a lot of unfair labor practices, but the fact is we fight back, where a lot of stores don’t. So that’s kind of what makes us so different.”
If Starbucks were attempting to make an example out of Ithaca, its workers are determined to make their resilience a model for other cities where workers are struggling to organize their stores. Stephanie Heslop, who had never been in a union before her experience at Starbucks, said their movement would outlast their workplace, long after they cast off their aprons.
“I hope the fact that we never stop fighting is inspiring to people because we’ve only ever asked for very reasonable things—things that we deserve. And the fact that they are fighting back this hard, I think, just shows what we’re dealing with,” she said. “They’re never going to give us what we need and deserve. We’re going to have to fight for it. And I’m really proud of my coworkers—that we respect ourselves and each other enough to fight.”


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After the answer to the rumors about Samsung buying WebOS being a resounding “no”, the next question is what will Samsung do about Google’s acquisition of Motorola. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company will be taking the fight to Google head on by focusing on its own mobile platform Bada and reduce its reliance on the Android OS.
Samsung plans to turn its Bada OS into a software suite capable of being used in smartphones and smart TV’s, similar to what Google’s Android OS does currently with its smartphone, tablet and TV set-top box services. Samsung plans to use its already large share in the smartphone market and bring third party developers to the Bada platform to help adapt and create new tools and services for the software.
Since Bada’s first launch in 2009 on the Samsung Wave, the sales in Europe and Asia have managed to top one million worldwide sales in just four weeks from launch, with the Samsung recently launching three new Bada smartphones in Asia. The platform itself has a few steps to tackle but there is no reason why the Bada OS can’t reach Android competitor status if nurtured the right way.

domain: news


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The Samsung Galaxy S3 is Samsung’s newest flagship. It is also a big hit amongst smartphone users. Because of this, Samsung expects this handset to hit its first 10 Million (cumulative sales) this month of July. This is according to the Korean Tech Giant’s Head of Telecommunication Business Shin Jong-Kyun.
Last May 29 in Europe and June 7 in South Africa, Samsung launched the 3rd generation Galaxy S, the Samsung Galaxy S3. This handset is considered as Apple’s (iPhone 4s) main competition. Samsung is planning to add more emerging markets as part of their global roll-out. This is for them to double their smartphone sales to a whopping 200 Million units of smartphones.
May of this year, Samsung reached 28 markets all over Europe and the Middle East. The South Korean tech giant’s confidence in the market is boosted by tons of support from about 300 mobile phone carries in about 145 countries all over the globe. Please note that these numbers are only reflection of demands and according to mobile phone operators only. We all know how Samsung loves to keep their sales figures hidden from our eyes.
Over the last two years, it was quite obvious that flagship devices in the Galaxy Series are always Samsung’s top sellers. A lot of research points out that Samsung was able to sold at least 52 Million of flagship Galaxy handsets since they’ve debuted two years ago. One of this is the Galaxy S, this particular handset became iPhone’s biggest challenger. Because of this, Apple has been keeping their eyes open when it comes to Samsung.
The first quarter of this year, figures indicates that these powerhouse duo have pulled away from all of their competitions and they have formed a race with a combined 55% marker share and they get about 90% of profits in this business.


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Businessman Howard Schultz, who has previously said he is mulling a White House run in 2020, announced Wednesday that he is taking a “detour from the road” to recover after having multiple operations on his back.
Coffee giant Starbucks and environmental charity Hubbub are launching a trial program to lend passengers at Britain’s Gatwick Airport reusable cups while waiting for their flights in hopes of cutting down on waste.
Luckin isn't banking on the US-China trade war to drive success, its CFO said.
Schultz drew a stark comparison to Trump's decision not to release his tax returns before the 2016 elections.
The former Starbucks executive wouldn’t say whether he’d sell his shares in the coffee company if he ran for president and won.
Despite his progressive credentials, Democrats say Schultz's campaign could re-elect Trump.
There’s a significant growth opportunity in China, said Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson.
The company is introducing a recyclable coffee cup and replacing plastic straws for most drinks with a new lid.
The Seattle-based coffee chain will replace its previous rewards structure with a new, tiered program.
The former Starbucks CEO is thinking of running for president as a "centrist independent."
The former Starbucks CEO is not a fan of President Trump.
Since 1999, Schultz has contributed about two-and-a-half percent of his vast wealth to the family nonprofit.
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said Trump is insecure and regards his Twitter attacks as a sign of weakness.
The former Starbucks CEO has not been shy about voicing his political opinions.
“We’re living at a most fragile time,” Schultz said during a 60 Minutes interview.


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Virgin Voyages Raises Capital as CEO Retires and Fourth Ship is Delayed
Virgin Voyages, the cruise line started by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, completed its next round of funding as it continues to rework its launch plans and moves toward completing its four cruise ship fleet. The company announced a further delay in the effort while also rearranging its itineraries and the retirement of its founding CEO Tom McAlpin. The first large new cruise brand launched in years, the company has faced a series of challenges starting with the pandemic which hit just as their first ship was due to enter service.
The company reports it has closed on an additional $550 million in a capital raise led by the Private Equity Group of Ares Management along with additional capital from existing investors including Virgin Group and Bain Capital. The new funding will enable Virgin Voyages to strengthen its financial position while supporting the brand’s expansion.
“With this new investment alongside our partners at Virgin Group and Bain Capital, we believe the company is on strong footing to capitalize on its differentiated product and value proposition in the growing cruise industry,” said Aaron Rosen, Partner and Co-Portfolio Manager of Special Opportunities in the Ares Private Equity Group.
Virgin Voyages reported a previous funding round in August 2022 raising another $550 million in an effort led by BlackRock and Goldman Sachs as the placement agent. Bain and Virgin Group also contributed additional capital for that round as well as continued support from existing lenders.
Coinciding with the closing, Virgin Voyages reports that Tom McAlpin, an experienced cruise industry executive who joined the line in January 2015, is retiring from his role as CEO. He will transition to Chairman of the Board of Directors to be replaced by Nirmal Saverimuttu, who is currently President and Chief Experience Officer. Saverimuttu is credited as being the founding leader of Virgin Voyages developing the concepts, attracting McAlpin to the group, and the first Chief Commercial Officer for the startup. The Maritime Executive profiled the launch and their efforts to disrupt the cruise industry in the January/February 2020 issue.
“It is hard to express just how proud I am of all that the Virgin Voyages crew has created and the strong endorsement we are receiving from Ares,” said McAlpin today. “While I will miss the day-to-day, I believe it is the right time to step aside as CEO.”
Virgin Voyages was challenged by the timing of its launch which came just as the pandemic took hold in early 2020. The first ship, Scarlet Lady was laid up for more than a year before they began commercial service. The company’s second cruise ship Valiant Lady entered service in 2022 and after an 11-month delay, the third cruise ship Resilient Lady entered service in May 2023. The company had announced in June 2022 that it would delay the third ship.
As part of today’s announcements, Virgin Voyages reports it has “made the tough decision to postpone Brilliant Lady’s launch.” The fourth cruise ship was due to enter service late this year and be based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The company said it is “evaluating new possible launch dates,” citing what it said were unexpected construction, supply chain, and staffing challenges.
To account for the delay, the cruise line also announced further changes in its planned deployments. The Valiant Lady, which had been scheduled to operate from Miami this coming winter, will instead sail from San Juan to cover for the delayed ship. She will move to Miami for the summer of 2024 to replace the Scarlet Lady, which will be dry docking and then sailing in the Mediterranean before returning to Miami at the end of 2024. The Resilient Lady after starting the company’s cruises in Australia will sail in the Greek Islands between May and July 2024 and then mark the company’s return to the UK in August and September 2024. She will return to the Mediterranean after those cruises and then in October 2024 depart for Australia and New Zealand.
Virgin Voyages is highlighting that while they will be operating with three cruise ships, the company will still be introducing 19 new ports and 27 new itineraries. The current program offers a total of 63 itineraries.


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Clients of MTN Group and Liquid Telecom are set to benefit from a larger connectivity footprint across Africa.
This follows an announcement by the two companies to jointly offer customers access to the largest fixed and wireless paths across the continent.
The partnership, which covers wholesale, carrier-to-carrier, high speed broadband, enterprise and fixed data services, enables MTN and Liquid Telecom access to each other’s fixed and wireless networks in countries on the African continent, where one party may not currently have presence.
According to Liquid Telecom, the partnership is in response to the increasing demand from businesses across West Africa for the company’s broadband service.
“We have a well-deserved reputation in East, Central and Southern Africa, for providing quality broadband to businesses. We are laying 100km of new fibre every week but have decided to partner for the time being in West Africa so that we can immediately meet demand from businesses there,” says the CEO of Liquid Telecom Group, Nic Rudnick,
The partnership enables Liquid Telecom to offer businesses gigabit-speed services accompanied by negotiated SLAs and consistently excellent 24/7 customer service.
The additional countries which Liquid Telecom will now have a presence in are Benin, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan and Swaziland.
The agreement with Liquid Telecom gives MTN the ability to service its multinational enterprise customers in Burundi, DRC, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
“This partnership will provide great benefits to our customers. We will be able to leverage each other’s products and services to improve our offerings to carrier and enterprise customers in Africa, the Middle East and Europe” says MTN’s Enterprise Business Unit Head of Global Sales, Elia Tsouros,
Tsouros further adds that they have the opportunity to offer customers services beyond their footprint, thanks to the combined footprints of both companies and their partners.
Together, Liquid Telecom and MTN will be able to condition networks with complex requirements faster and sell each other’s wholesale, carrier, enterprise and fixed services on the combined network – providing more choice to businesses of all sizes, competitively.


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Blog: The just-drinks Weekly Round-Up
Olly Wehring | 3 March 2014
On just-drinks last week:
- Anheuser-Busch InBev released its full-year results on Wednesday. While the top-line figures show no major cause for concern (sales up by 3%, profits up by 10%), dipping volumes in 2013 were described by the brewer as "below expectations". Wall Street appeared less worried, however: Could A-B InBev soon be crowned 'The King of Drinks'? For a full round-up of our coverage of the numbers, click here.
- PepsiCo must be getting tired of having to repeat itself, after its latest rejection of Trian Partners' call for the US company to split its operations on Friday. It is clear that its findings of a strategic review, unveiled earlier in the month, have not placated the fund manager. So, what will?
- We heard an interesting take on the future for white spirits from an executive at William Grant & Sons last week. Is there such a thing as loyalty at the premium end of the sub-category? Meanwhile, in Scotland, a brace of companies voiced their concerns should the pending independence vote find in favour of the move. The silence from the Scotch whisky industry on the matter, I feel, has been deafening.
- Some more figures showed a healthy state of affairs for the wine industry last week: California is celebrating a record year for exports in 2013. With Chile reporting similarly upbeat numbers in mid-February, is the wine category shaping up for an upbeat 2014?
We start our daily preview of this month's ProWein exhibition today. Leading up to the event, which opens in Dusseldorf on 23 March, we'll provide a run-down of which companies will be attending and what they will be highlighting. For your firm to appear in the ProWein daily diary, email details to email@example.com.
June last year, and Adolfo Hurtado, the gregarious chief winemaker & general manager for Concha y Toro's Cono Sur, is in a sunny mood as he goes about his day at the Chilean winery....
Philadelphia’s soda tax came into force on Sunday, and is reportedly causing a stir in the city's check-out aisles....
Earlier this month, I was most-kindly invited by Accolade Wines to visit the Royal Albert Hall in London. The reason? They wanted to see a tennis great in action, and then give them a guided tour thro...
Do you like whisk(e)y? And, I mean, really like whisk(e)y? Are you at a loose end in the first half of 2017? If so, then I've found just the job for you....
Pernod Ricard has introduced a new Absolut vodka flavour to the US market. ...
Most of the time, changes at the top of a company present themselves in press releases, stock exchange filings or responses from a spokesperson....
- Interview - Pernod Ricard's luxury director
- What's coming up in wine in 2017? - Comment
- The just-drinks Analyst - 2017 forecasts
- Chile's winemakers caught out by Brexit "disease"
- The Cognac Category - Everything you need to know
- Edrington readies Americas, GTR exec switches
- Diageo Australia names new commercial head
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- Global vodka insights - market forecasts, product innovation and consumer trends
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Special occasions rush She buzzed by a best black friday phone deals few as well as was among the first at the display.
"I pretty important gotten a dozen, She stated. "It was worth getting black friday hdtv deals up for, Lucci is part of a loyal clique that renders a traditions of shopping the day after Christmas. With the presents are opened and the vacation ham is eaten, The merriment for the girls remains Dec. 26 with transactions and new purchase. When were hardly the crowds of a Black Friday, Many die hard shoppers braved the wintry drizzle Saturday to land early bird bargains within Valley. Those discounts started even trapped on tape. Sitting. Its earliest opening ever after the yuletide season day. Time period? To lure customers during what has been only difficult holiday seasons for retailers. "Stores are opening earlier and offering offers to get them there just like we can on Black Friday, Conditions Charles Marinello, A principal in Retail pursuits inquiring Group in Easton. "But the goal wasn't transpiring Dec. 26. blackfridaysales This has been shopping on the web all season long, After a winter storm walloped the new england the weekend before any party, Retailers made special resorts to open earlier with the idea of making up for lost holiday sales. Totally a big day for returns, The day after Christmas this year kicked off what retailers hope has to be big year end finish. The next week is typically huge for retailers. Yr as soon as, It built 15 p. C of transaction, Based on hunt from ShopperTrak, Which computer video display units sales and traffic at higher 50,000 entrepreneurs. Captain captain christopher Remaley, 17, Of bathing, Was among those primed for the doors to open there. His mother and family members went to black friday 2015 offers the Christmas aisles, Where the values on some holiday room decor were cut in half.
He went to electronics industries captive market and found games for his PlayStation. "It is tad early, But we got might be aware of came for, Said Remaley as he loaded a number his mother's Christmas wreaths into the sport utility vehicle. In equal deprive mall, Jennifer Eggleston was searching Kohl's department shop for accessories and gifts for next year.
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HomePod mini, to date, has remained the only speaker sold by apple after even the Pill + by Beats which is not “smart” like the HomePod but still has an integrated battery that allows it to be used even without being connected to a power source.
According to what was stated by Mark Gurman Bloomberg in the latest edition of its weekly newsletter Power On, in Cupertino they would have already discussed internally and prototyped in recent years a sort of battery-powered HomePod whose development, evidently, would not have continued.
It is difficult to hypothesize at this point that Apple can actually bring one to the market in the short term even if the exit of the Pill + still leaves a fairly important gap in the offer.
HomePod mini was launched on the US market in October 2020 in two color variants. Also from October, but last year, three new colors were launched. From November, finally, HomePod mini has also arrived in Italy, sold at a price of 99 euros.
HomePod mini, as mentioned, is powered by cable and it would not be bad to actually have one with an integrated battery to be recharged, if necessary. via a MagSafe base that Apple is trying to cut back on most of its products.


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Directors at Churchill Insurance will spend today out of the boardroom
answering phones, sorting mail and selling policies.
All of the directors and managers must spend nine of these "In
Touch" days every year in customer-facing areas to make sure staff
understand the products, deliver the proper level of service and are trained
The chief executive will serve breakfast in the canteen and the finance
director will be in the postroom.
Meanwhile, the managing director will be on the reception desk, the
technical director will take sales calls, and the operations director will work
with the mail distribution service.
Group HR director Marie-Ange Bouchard, who will be answering policyholders’
enquiries, said, "This initiative has been going for years, and is a
powerful tool to see what is really happening with people facing the customers.
It’s a way to check whether things are working the way they should be."


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Windsor’s Auto Collision Experts reaches out for community involvement
Allison Dyer Bluemel
Windsor: 240 1st St.
Fort Collins: 1617 E. Mulberry St. and 900 E. Lincoln Ave., Unit H
If you go
Windsor’s Auto Collision Experts will host a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. Tuesday at 240 1st St.
Coffee and donuts will be served and staff will greet customers and provide tours.
If motorists only remember one thing after they get in a car wreck and begin the insurance claim process, Windsor’s Auto Collision Experts hopes it’s that they have a choice.
Unlike health insurance claims, motorists can choose to work with any body shop they want and their auto insurance provider must work with that business, Auto Collision Experts Spokesman Tempy Bowman said.
“We want to make people aware that when they get in a wreck they can chose,” he said. “We’d like them to choose local.”
In addition to keeping their money local, Bowman said that a benefit of choosing local — especially in this case — is that the company genuinely cares about the Windsor community.
In an industry where community and customer outreach hasn’t been part of the historical business model, Auto Collision Experts stands out, Bowman said.
“We’re really trying to brand ourselves that we’re your hometown collision team,” he said.
The shop’s dedication to the community extends beyond their lobby, however.
The Windsor shop’s owner Steve Price is particularly charity minded, Bowman said.
Price bought the Windsor location approximately three years ago. The Windsor store combines with two Fort Collins locations to repair 2,500 cars per year, on average.
“If I say ‘we should support this charity because it raises our profile’ (Price) says no we should support this charity because it’s a good charity,” he said. “He cares about kids.”
That combined with Bowman’s position on the Windsor Severance Weld Re-4 School Board and work with the Weld Re-4 Education Foundation is the perfect storm of charitable involvement.
“We really felt there was a need to bring in more funding,” Bowman said. “We want to fill that gap and bring technology in that all the neighboring districts have. Once Steve heard that he said, without question, we’ll support that.”
From out in the community to inside the shop, Bowman said he continues to be impressed with the quality of care and service Auto Collision Experts provides its customers, peers and neighbors.
“What has most surprised me is the culture of caring about the customer service,” he said. “It’s like it’s in the DNA of the business.”


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The A6100 is coming: A short explanation of the double delay story.
The A6100 is finally being released but I want to give you a short insight about why the A6000 successor rumor was so difficult to track and be reliable:
Yesterday a trusted source told us Sony would release a RX1RII press release soon. As you see today he was right on this. The same source confirmed days ago the A6100 is coming soon. That is usually an example of how sources can be defined as reliable. But this is doesn’t mean their rumors become truth every time. Because we still deal with pre-release information. And Sony can change this for at any time for multiple reason. Two examples:
- Back in September another trusted source told us the Sony Europe stores would close overnight (article here). He also told us that Sony would release the A6xxx within one month. As we saw he was correct on the information about the online stores, they were indeed closed (article here). But Sony then decided again to postpone the A6xxx launch.
- Back in May three trusted sources(!) told me the A6000 successor would be released sometimes in Spring. But Sony delayed the launch. But thanks to wikileaks we know the original sources information was correct as indeed Sony had that camera on their product launch roadmap
This is why you always have to be aware that because we deal with pre-release information things can sometimes change in the meantime.
And now something else: The last 16 months I have been particularly busy with my personal life (became father and had some other projects to do). I told you starting from February 2016 I would finally have more time to work on more rumors and this is already happening in those days.
Stay tuned on SAR because we have more rumors coming the next hours and days ;)


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TORONTO, Ont. — Canadian trucking firms are still unsure of how the Covid-19 pandemic will affect their businesses long-term, but for now it’s been a boon for freight volumes. “We actually saw an increase last week on a week-over-week comparison,” said Derek Koza, president and CEO of Wellington Group of Companies. “We are seeing the … Continue reading Covid-19 gives freight demand a bump – but will it last?
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Salt sprinkling internet chef sensation Salt Bae, aka Nusret Gökçe, is expanding his London restaurant, the branch of Nusr-Et in Knightsbridge, to feature a 70-seater terrace, just in time for the ... second half of summer.
While the restaurant was trailed for years and months preceding its much-hyped opening in September 2021, the London branch of Nusr-Et has stayed firmly out of the news in the ten months since. Anecdotally, Eater has learned the restaurant can suffer when Gökçe isn’t present, which is most of the time. He is after all, the brand and the draw, as much as his people will tell his millions of online admirers that the £500 steaks are legit.
The Evening Standard reports now that the terrace, which opens on 28 June and will run from midday until late, will serve steaks and chops form the grill as well as the likes of beef carpaccio, steak tartare, prawn tempura roll, salmon and avocado sushi, and baklava for dessert.
So, Nusr-Et will have more space, but when Gökçe rolls out of town onto his next appearance, is the restaurant going to have any more guests?
It may well depend on the weather.
On the subject of which, watch out for that wind, Mr. Bae.


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Consumers check out Huawei’s first HarmonyOS car, the Aito M5, at a store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, on Jan. 3, 2022.
Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images
BEIJING — The first electric car with Huawei’s HarmonyOS operating system is set to begin deliveries at a ceremony on Saturday in Shanghai, according to an announcement on social media.
In December, Huawei’s consumer business group CEO Richard Yu spent an hour at a winter product launch event promoting the car, the Aito M5. But the Chinese telecommunications company has emphasized it will not make cars on its own, rather working with auto manufacturers on autonomous driving and other technology.
Seres is the automaker behind the Aito M5. The company is also known as SF Motors and is a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of automaker Sokon, which is based in Chongqing, China, according to the parent company’s website.
The mid-sized SUV costs 249,800 yuan ($39,651), after subsidies, according to the Aito website. In December, Tesla raised the post-subsidy price for its Model Y in China by 21,088 yuan to 301,840 yuan.
The Aito M5 is similar to Chinese start-up Li Auto’s Li One in that the vehicle comes with a fuel tank for extending driving range when the battery has run out of power.


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"If it looks like I'm going to win, the markets will be happy. If it looks like the president's going to win, the markets should not be terribly happy."
Hmmm. Are markets irrational? That's what Romney seems to imply given the facts.
The prediction market in favor of Obama's reelection has risen substantially since October 2011 (chart 1).
Meanwhile, the Dow has generally been rising over that same period (chart 2).
I don't put much credence in anyone being able to predict the Dow and there are many factors at work. Still, one could say the market's rise that is coincident with Obama's re-election probability is perfectly rational.
Since the 1960s the stock market has generally done better under Democrat administrations, whose policies try to lift all boats and expand the middle class (chart 3). It's not surprising that profits might surge if businesses have more consumers to buy their products.


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Nigerian Afro beats singer Wizkid in collaborative effort with athletic apparel giants.
Nike released the much anticipated ‘Star Boy’ Jersey today, 10th September, 2018 at selected Nike stores which was sold out in just 10 minutes.
Trust lovers of the starboy, as one of his fans recreated the ‘Star Boy’ Jersey which he claimed he bought before it was sold out, this drew the attention of the popstar and he promised to give him the original.
See Wizkid’s Reply:
- Related Tags:Wizkid
- Categories:Entertainment News


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The long awaited Animal Crossing New Horizons and Mario event will kick off in March.
During todays wave of Animal Crossing New Horizons announcements, Nintendo revealed that the long awaited Mario Event will take place in New Horizons sometime in March after the January Festivale Event concludes.
Animal Crossing has seen previous collaborations with Mario as Pocket Camp received a Mario event and themed furnitures when Mario Run first launched on mobile and New Leaf packaged a huge Mario themed collection as well.
Nintendo announced that history would repeat itself with a brand new Mario event coming to New Horizons. Nintendo was shy to announce any more specific details about what players can expect but promised that more information would follow, most likely in the upcoming March announcement closer to the release date of the event.
If the New Horizons crossover event is anything like the one in Pocket Camp we can look forward to a bunch of cool themed items and maybe we can even welcome Mario as a special guest on our islands?
Hello Kitty is coming to New Horizons
Nintendo also revealed that Animal Crossing New Horizons will welcome back Hello Kitty!


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The world's two largest economies have agreed to a preliminary "phase one" trade agreement text on Friday that would significantly draw down mutual economic recriminations they have imposed on one another.
In announcing the breakthrough, U.S. President Donald Trump said he has decided to cancel a new round of tariffs that were set to be imposed on Sunday and reduce some already-imposed import duties in exchange for a series of concessions from China.
"We have agreed to a very large Phase One Deal with China," Trump said on Twitter. "They have agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of Agricultural Product, Energy, and Manufactured Goods, plus much more."
He did not provide additional details on what China would concede, but said 25% U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would remain in place while 15% tariffs placed on other goods would be halved.
"We will begin negotiations on the Phase Two Deal immediately, rather than waiting until after the 2020 Election. This is an amazing deal for all. Thank you!" Trump said.
The U.S.-China trade dispute has sent shockwaves through global markets amid fears that it could cause a global economic slowdown.
At issue for Washington is a lopsided trade imbalance with China -- the U.S. had a $378.6 billion trade deficit with China in 2018, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative -- as well as concerns over intellectual property theft, including what the Trump administration says is Beijing's policy of forcing American firms to transfer intellectual know-how in order to do business in China.
Trump has imposed wave after wave of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and China has responded in kind.
To date, the U.S. has imposed tariffs on $360 billion in Chinese imports
Trump announced in October that Washington and Beijing agreed to a "phase one" of a larger trade deal, but the time since has been spent negotiating the details of that agreement, and committing them to paper.Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news stories offered to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS), and in summarized form. Please contact us for subscription options.


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Chemsultants International Network, a company that develops and tests adhesive coating materials, is laying the groundwork to expand its diverse base of operations in Mentor. Late last year, the company bought 10 acres on Tyler Boulevard for its new corporate campus. Though the exact configuration still is being drawn up, the new campus easily will double the 45,000 square feet Chemsultants now occupies at 9349 Hamilton Drive. 'Those 10 acres have the potential to put three, 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot buildings' there, said Joe Mausar, Chemsultants market and sales manager. Cost of the proposed construction project is at least $2 million. Ground will be broken in about a year, Mr. Mausar said. The 30-person company likely would pattern the new complex after its existing three-building campus, which is sandwiched between other manufacturing companies on Hamilton Road. The buildings house the company's Chemsultants Inc. business unit, which includes its customer training center and testing labs, plus production operations and a process development center, which fall within another unit, ChemDevelopment Inc. Chemsultants International also employs seven at Chem-Instruments Inc., a manufacturing operation in Fairfield, near Cincinnati, that makes adhesive-testing equipment.
Chemsultants sticking to expansion plan
Gary Avalon, Chemsultants International's group marketing director, said the company's work for packaging manufacturers during the past few years has expanded to include such items as blister packs - a cardboard-based package with protruding plastic bubbles that encase items such as batteries. The company also is assisting companies that are involved in modern technologies such as radio frequency identification tags,or RFID, and fuel cell development. 'The intent has been to expand our business by upgrading our coating capabilities,' he said. The effort is paying dividends in new customers in such industries as electronics, health care and pharmaceuticals. It also is driving higher sales. Chemsultants International has seen double-digit growth every year for the past 12 years. Mr. Avalon expects the company's revenue in 2005 to crest at $15 million, a 15% increase over last year. The company has been working with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base neat Dayton and NASA Glenn Research Center to develop polymer exchange membranes for hydrogen fuel cells. The fuel cells could be used for systems on jet fighters and spaceships, among other things. Case Western Reserve University and Virginia Tech University also are partners in the fuel cell project.
While that project remains in the development phase, commercialization of the fuel cell components will ensure further growth of the company, Mr. Mausar said. The company expects to hire five this year. Mr. Mausar acknowledges that while many outside the adhesives industry - or even Mentor - aren't familiar with Chemsultants, its wide-ranging services are garnering the company more domestic and international business. Customers from as far away as France, India and Israel either visit the Mentor campus to use the company's prototype laboratories or stay in close contact with the company about product issues. 'The good thing is that so many industries use what we produce,' Mr. Mausar said. Graftech International Ltd., a maker of graphite and carbon products used in fuel cells, electronics and steelmaking, uses Chemsultants International's services periodically. Last year, it used the Chemsultants labs to develop for a Graftech customer a graphite product that required an adhesive with a low release capability, said Jeff Gough, project manager for fuel development at Graftech's research and development lab in Parma. 'Chemsultants has been very helpful in developing coating techniques for our fuel cell products,' Mr. Gough said. 'We're lucky that we only have to drive a short distance to their prototype facility. I don't know of another one around.'


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Brainseed Factory’s upcoming platformer Typoman is coming exclusively to the Wii U during Q3 of this year – the game was specifically hand picked by Nintendo for their Nindies@home program, so you can be sure it’s going to be something special.
“Nintendo to us stands for everything which is so wonderful about gaming and being part of the Nindies@Home program is like a dream coming true.” says Bilal Chbib, founder of Brainseed Factory. “After we presented Typoman at the Indie MegaBooth at Gamescom last year we have made huge improvements to the previous prototype. E3 is a great opportunity to show gamers an excerpt of what they can expect in the final game.”
As it’s part of the Nindies@home scheme you are able to download a special free demo of the game from now until the 22nd June on the Nintendo eShop. If you need any extra incentive anyone who downloads the demo will get 15% off the game upon release – pretty sweet deal there.
Check out some gameplay footage of the game below:


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Report: Lebanese Military Summoned After Man Discovers Israeli Peppers at Supermarket
The Lebanese military intelligence and police force were summoned today after a man, who wished to remain anonymous, discovered packets of peppers that were made in Israel at a Spinneys supermarket located in the southern town of Sidon, according to the Lebanese Daily Star newspaper.
The packets contained three kinds of peppers, and prompted the man who discovered them to immediately contact the “local authorities who in turn contacted the Lebanese Army.”
According to the report, the case was then referred to the military judiciary who were charged with investigating how the products made it into the country.
“Spinneys had a similar incident almost ten years ago when shoppers discovered mugs made in Israel being sold at the retailer,” wrote the Daily Star.
Spinneys is a high end supermarket chain in the Middle East whose majority shareholder is Dubai based private equity firm Abraaj Capital.


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By Armina Ligaya The Canadian Press
TORONTO — At a gallery in Toronto’s west end, people sip champagne, dine on canapes and listen to a panel discussion on mindfulness; the product they are here to fete is nowhere to be found, but brand elements are peppered everywhere, including mugs held by the panellists.
“Did you ever think that you would be at a cannabis brand launch?” said Linda Burlison, director of digital marketing and commercialization for licensed producer MedReleaf at the launch of its newest recreational brand, AltaVie last week.
“Fifty years from now, you can tell your kids, your grandchildren, that you were right there at that very moment that was at the cusp of when prohibition ended in Canada.”
It may be mere months before adults will be able to walk into a store and score legal weed, but the strict rules for marketing and advertising mean it is far from a free for all. While deep-pocketed producers ink contracts with celebrities, other marijuana companies are exploring creative tactics to generate brand buzz, such as the use of augmented reality, branded mindfulness sessions, mobile promotional campaigns and cannabis-flavoured products ‚Äî minus the active drugs (for now).
Advertising medical cannabis is essentially banned in Canada, with some exceptions. And while recreational pot rules are expected to be less stringent, the federal government has proposed strict restrictions, akin to those imposed on tobacco.
That means cannabis companies cannot rely on a blitz of broadcast ads, billboards and flashy packaging often used to promote new products, prompting some innovative strategies to get marijuana brands in front of consumers.
Health Canada’s guidelines for cannabis packaging require packages to be a single, uniform colour without images or graphics other than the logo and a health warning.
The recently outlined packaging rules forced MedReleaf to reassess its strategy, Burlison said.
“That made us sort of stop and go: OK, so we’re going to have these restrictions in place for packaging,” she said in an interview. “How can we continue to get the word out to people without perhaps featuring the packaging we might have hoped to have had out there?”
The AltaVie brand, which Burlison said will “definitely” introduce edibles, is already selling marijuana-flavoured (but drug free) chocolate-coated toffee called Cannabis Crunch in a bid to acquaint consumers with their offerings before regulations involving edibles, expected in 2019. MedReleaf has already released a cannabis-inspired (and marijuana-free) beer under its first recreational brand, San Rafael ‘71, as well.
Royal Canadian Cannabis, a pre-license marijuana producer based in Alberta is looking to add some pop to the standardized packaging marijuana products are required to have by using augmented reality technology.
To the naked eye, its packages could have only a logo and a standard warning. But when viewed through the lens of a smartphone, a customer may be able to click on different elements of the package and access brand information, such as a video, “to sort of circumvent or navigate these regulations in a creative way,” said co-founder Jonathan Kowal.
Canadian agricultural tech company Future Farm Technologies Inc. is betting other cannabis companies will look to augmented reality, announcing plans earlier this month to spin off its augmented reality assets into a marijuana-sector focused Nextech AR Solutions, which will provide “augmented reality-enhanced packaging” as well as a “virtual budtender platform form for dispensaries.”
Toronto-based Patio Interactive offers cannabis companies who want to use augmented reality the ability to show customers 3D models of the cannabis buds for particular strains.
“They’re pretty interested in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible,” said co-founder Charles Bern.
Marijuana bill C-45 is not yet finalized but the proposed rules stipulate, among other things, that it is prohibited to publish, broadcast or otherwise disseminate promotion of cannabis or related accessories or services “by presenting it or any of its brand elements that associates it or the brand element with… glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring.”
The use of a person, character or animal, real or fictional, in any manner that could be seen as appealing to young people is also forbidden.
Still, companies have been signing up celebrity investors to sing their praises, but limiting their endorsement to the stock, not a cannabis product or brand.
Last month, Vancouver-based licensed producer Invictus MD brought on KISS co-founder Gene Simmons as “chief evangelist officer” and investor. Simmons, who maintains that he has never smoked cannabis in his life, said he is “bullish” on Invictus.
“I have $10 million in stock in the company,” Simmons said during a recent stop in Toronto. “Bullish is the only way to talk about it, because it’s one of the few words that I can use that is legal… I’m trying to be careful about what is acceptable language.”
Some have signed on figures more closely associated with cannabis culture.
In December, Hamilton, Ont.-based cannabis producer Beleave Inc. signed a brand licensing agreement with filmmaker Kevin Smith and actor Jason Mewes, better known as their on-screen stoner characters Jay and Silent Bob in films from the mid-90s and early 2000s, while Canopy Growth Corp. has a partnership with “Smoke Weed Everyday” rapper Snoop Dogg.
Others companies are looking to tactics already used by other regulated industries, such as alcohol and pharmaceuticals.
Toronto-based marketer Snipp Interactive last month launched a Cannabis Marketing Resource Centre. More than 20 producers, most of them based in Canada, have signed up to learn more, according to Snipp’s founder Atul Sabharwal.
Snipp’s clients already include Corona-beer maker Constellation Brands and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Sabharwal plans to apply the same legally-compliant marketing methods used in those industries to the marijuana sector.
Snipp’s toolbox includes mobile promotions and loyalty campaigns, largely focused on customers who have already made a purchase and finding ways to engage with them and prompt them to tell others about their experience.
And as more companies have lined up production and supply for the upcoming recreational pot market, competition for market share is heating up.
“It’s a race,” Sabharwal said.
“There is definitely a realization: ‘Now, we have got to compete.’ Now, they are scratching their head, saying, ‘How do we compete comprehensively?”


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At the recent Cosmoprof Asia event, B Kolor Makeup & Skincare walked away with the Innovation Circle Award in the colour cosmetics category for its baked highlighting powder. We spoke to the Italian company's director Mario de Luigi to find out...
The Brazilian cosmetics and personal care industry has faced enormous challenges over the course of the last year, but, as the president of the country's industry association points out, the worst of the crisis seems to be over and the first signs...
During the recent in-cosmetics Latin America event Cosmetics Design caught up with Caroline Gomes de Fritas from Croda to discover how the skin and hair care solutions it was platforming at the event are being heavily influenced by the all-important trend...
Cosmetics Design recently spoke to Gay Timmons, the founder of ingredient supplier Oh Oh Organic, to find out about how her quest to find sustainable and ethically produced palm oil took her to the South American country of Ecuador.
Exceedingly high-levels of competition in the beauty market means that staying one step ahead of future growth potential is vital. We spoke to Irina Barbalova of Euromonitor International to find out what to look for.
Cosmetics Design spoke to Belinda Carli, director of The Institute of Personal Care Science and the formulations consultant for the in-cosmetics events, to find out what this year's buzz was all about.
The Cosmetics Design team has put together a helpful video preview for in-cosmetics Paris 2016. Just click on the video to learn about some of the highlights from the educational programme, several new features this year, including the formulation lab,...
In this latest edition of CD Buzz we look at how technology is helping to reinvent our industry, pointing consumers into an increasingly focused direction and enhancing beauty routines to make them more personalized and effective.
The Cosmetics Design video news feature CD Buzz debuts here with a look at how the Coty-P&G deal is serving to re-shape the industry as well as our stance on the changing landscape of personal care and cosmetics packaging.
With Korea tipped as the fourth largest beauty market in Asia, one wonders why the last personal care ingredients focused event was in 2005. Here, show organiser Ivan Rahal explains why Reed Exhibitions has chosen 2015 to fill in the gap.
The emerging Asian economies are lucrative new markets, but with legislation changing at a fast pace, it can be challenging keeping up to date on requirements. Here, regulatory specialist Alain Khaiat reveals the latest developments..
When Burberry took its beauty business in-house in April 2013 all eyes were on to see how one of the world’s best known fashion brands would position itself in the beauty market and it has definitely helped according to its new product development team.
Two years after launching its Care Creations brand to reach all consumers from different markets around the world, BASF has now developed new innovations based on consumer needs, which are just as important to ingredient suppliers.
At last week's in-cosmetics Hamburg event Cosmetics Design spoke to Euromonitor International's head of beauty and personal care, Irina Barbalova to find out what are the latest developments in the emerging markets, particularly in Brazil and...
Following a successful in-cosmetics workshop on the regulatory issues facing the industry, Annelie Struessman of CONUSBAT, chair of the workshop, stopped off to give the Cosmetics Design team the low-down on what was discussed.
The male grooming category has been promising plenty of opportunities for many years, but it never seems to have delivered, a fact that has been underlined once again by the recent downturn in the category attributed to the fashion for beards and facial...
Cosmetics Design caught up with Daniel Oliveira, of ABIHPEC's business intelligence unit, who explained that there are still big opportunities in the market for cosmetics and personal care, despite signs of the economy slowing down.
In an exclusive interview at the in-cosmetics event in Hamburg, Beiersdorf R&D corporate director Andreas Clausen tells Cosmetics Design that conversing and sharing ideas with the industry is still leading to some key innovation.
in-cosmetics Asia 2013 its most successful show-to-date with 6,007 unique visitors from across Asia and beyond, a 16 per cent uplift compared to 2012 and here is an exclusive CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com video from the show.
In this video interview Stéphanie Sandrock-Beunat, global beauty care strategic marketing manager at Dow Chemical, spoke about the continued evolution of the EcoSense portfolio and the reasons behind the development of the latest product launches.
One of the first major hurdles to launching a product in a market outside of the US is ensuring that the product complies with international regulations. Consultant Carl Geffken shines some light on the subject.


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NEWPORT BEACH, Ca. (Dec. 3, 2008) – The Resort at Pelican Hill, a new ultra luxury resort, has officially opened on the coast of Newport Beach in southern California. The highly anticipated resort blends the principles of classical Italian architecture with casual California elegance to take its place among the world’s finest destinations.
“With unbelievable attention to detail a stay at The Resort at Pelican Hill is an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind immersive experience,” said Gary C. Sherwin, President and CEO of Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau, following the official debut of the resort on Nov.26, 2008. “Pelican Hill is destined to become iconic around the world for the California good life – it is indeed the new global benchmark in resort luxury.”
The Resort at Pelican Hill is perched on 504-acres of sun-trenched, terraced hillside. Inspired by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, the resort village features expansive hotel Bungalow Suites and Villa accommodations that dot the hillsides and provide magnificent unobstructed views of the blue Pacific Ocean.
Situated on Newport Coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean, The Resort at Pelican Hill is located adjacent to renowned Crystal Cove State Park and is in close proximity to other popular destinations such as Corona Del Mar, Balboa Island and Fashion Island. Convenient John Wayne/Orange County Airport is within a ten-minute drive of the resort and all Newport Beach area hotels.


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Mumbai, September 15, 2022: Putting spotlight on Indian Auto Industry’s pivotal role in the nation’s economic growth, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the apex automobile industry body, marked its 62nd Annual Convention with deliberations on recovery and future potential of the automotive industry.
The 2nd special plenary session on “Indian Auto Industry for India’s Economic Growth”, Guest of Honour, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India said “For making India a 5 trillion dollar economy and to achieve the Government’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the automobile industry will play a critical role. Within the next 5 years, we are looking at making the auto industry touch a market size of 15 lakh crore. We strongly urge the industry to be quality, innovation and safety centric. With a thrust on innovation in renewable sources of fuel like ethanol based Flex Engine and green hydrogen, vehicular pollution can be reduced substantially.”
Mr Vinod Aggarwal, Vice President, SIAM and Managing Director & CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd., Mr Sunjay Kapur, President, ACMA and Chairman, Sona Comstar, Dr Bornali Bhandari, Senior Fellow, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and Mr Girish Wagh, Chairman, SIAM Commercial Vehicle CEOs Council and Executive Director (CVBU), Tata Motors Ltd also spoke in this session.


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The GreenPort Congress and Cruise Conference, set for May16-18, 2018, at the Baltimore (MD) Convention Center and hosted by the Maryland Port Administration, will provide port community stakeholders with a meeting place to both learn about and discuss the latest in sustainable development and environmental practices. This knowledge will enable them to effectively implement the changes needed to reduce their carbon footprint and to be more sensitive to environmental considerations. The emphasis is on highlighting innovations in equipment and technology that will allow port users to adhere to policy, while illustrating practical solutions through case studies from the global logistics chain.
The Trois-Rivières Port Authority
(TRPA) recently entered into an agreement with Logistec Stevedoring Inc. for the leasing and operation of its general cargo terminal. This agreement, which takes effect January 1, 2018, strengthens a business relationship extending back 50 years.
The Port of Seattle Commission
on December 5 voted to purchase Salmon Bay Marina, located on the Ship Canal adjacent to the port’s Fishermen’s Terminal facility. Potential uses for the five-acre property include light industrial facilities that could support maritime and manufacturing companies in the area.
The Port of Los Angeles this month debuted portoflabonds.org
, a dedicated investor website designed to communicate more effectively with current and potential bond investors who support port infrastructure projects, institutional investors, and smaller investors, such as local banks and individuals, and members of the public.
Following a month-long public comment period, the governing board of the Port Authority of New York & Jersey
on December 7 approved the agency’s 2018 Budget consisting of $3.2 billion for operating expenses and $3.4 billion for capital expenses.
The board of commissioners of the Port of Bellingham
has approved an updated mission statement that "is succinct, to the point, and more accurately reflects the core mission of [the] port."
has completed the deepening of the West Turning Basin, which now allows deeper draft access to the container cargo facility operated by GT USA at North Cargo Berth 5 and 6.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on November 28 released its Record of Decision (ROD) for a major expansion project at the Port of Gulfport
Carnival Cruise Line
will deploy Carnival Elation to Port Canaveral
for a series of year-round Caribbean cruises starting May 12, 2019. Geneva-based MSC Cruises
joined port officials December 7 to celebrate the completion of cruise Terminal F at PortMiami
. The new facility will homeport MSC Seaside, MSC Cruises’ new flagship, as well as MSC Divina.
Nearly 5,000 merchant mariners visit Oakland
annually on container ships. The port has taken steps to ensure that they will continue to find temporary respite here from their shipboard duties.
The ports of Long Beach
and Los Angeles
are soliciting proposals for new technology to reduce at-berth emissions from non-container vessels, such as tankers, vehicle carriers, bulk and general cargo ships.
Effective January 1, 2018, port authority access fees charged to container trucking companies authorized to operate within the Port of Vancouver
(BC) will be changed to benefit smaller companies.
Lauren Gleason, a career specialist in supply chain and transportation, is joining the Massachusetts Port Authority
as deputy port director of business development. Port Everglades
corporate and public relations professional Maisy Alpert has attained the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) designation conferred by the Universal Accreditation Board, a consortium of nine organizations that direct this competency credentialing program.
Port Business Opportunities:
Posted Date:December 7, 2017
Deadline: 01/09/18 2:00 PM
Posted Date: January 8, 2018
Deadline: 05/19/2017 12:00 PM EST


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GrameenPhone (GP) added a net 1.3 million new subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2009, up from 160,000 in the same period of 2008, to take its total mobile user base to 23.3 million and retain its clear leading position in the Bangladeshi cellular sector. The Telenor subsidiary claimed that the quarterly growth gave it a 44.4% share of the country’s mobile market at the end of 2009, whilst it attributed the rise in its take-up rate to its decision to introduce lower start-up prices by subsidising the SIM card tax. In a statement, GP complained that the SIM tax ‘continues to be a significant bane for the industry and a barrier for [cellular] penetration in the country’, adding that subscriptions spiked each time the company opted to subsidise the levy.
GP’s revenues, excluding one-time payment of interconnection arrears, increased by 2.6% year-on-year in the three months ended 31 December 2009 to BDT16.75 billion (USD247 million), mainly led by an increase in subscription volumes as well as tariff revisions. Blended monthly ARPU in October-December decreased from BDT268 in 2008 to BDT244 in 2009, largely due to reduced interconnection rates (adopted on 26 March 2009), alongside ‘intake of new subscriptions from the financially constrained segment.’ EBITDA margin in Q4 2009 stood at 52.6%, down from 59.6% in the last quarter of 2008, mostly because of higher subscription acquisition costs. The GSM operator’s 4Q net profit – adjusted for one-off items – stood at BDT2.35 billion. Following GP’s recent initial public offering (IPO) its shares are held by Telenor (55.8%), Grameen Telecom (34.2%) and other investors, both public and institutional (10.0%).


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Wall Street: Tuesday close
DISAPPOINTING sales at retail giant Wal-Mart triggered profit-taking on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 47.48 points at 8679.25, and the Nasdaq shed 1.72 to 1539.68.
Analysts said the market had little reaction to suicide bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia, which killed at least 29 people, including seven Americans.
Pundits had expected some retreat after two straight winning weeks for blue-chips and a four-week winning stretch for the broader market.
'It should be a minor pullback,' said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist, Weeden & Co, noting the more upbeat tone among investors and on Wall Street. 'You have had this surge in the market and this surge is very different than the other rallies (during the three-year bear market). It is very broad-based. Every stock is participating....This one has all the earmarks of being a broader-based, sustainable rally, and with that declines tend to be somewhat shallow.'
Wal-Mart fell $1.21 to $55.49 after meeting analysts' first-quarter earnings expectations but missing their revenue estimates.
May Department Stores declined 42 cents to $22.17 after missing Wall Street's earnings forecast.
Other earnings-related losers included energy concern El Paso, which slipped 16 cents to $7.50 on first-quarter profits that undershot forecasts.
Broker downgrades pressured other stocks. Cisco Systems fell 20 cents to $16.47 after Sanford Bernstein cut its rating on the networker to 'underperform' from 'market perform'. Pacific Sunwear dropped 95 cents to $23.39 after Fulcrum lowered its recommendation on the retailer to 'sell' from 'neutral'.
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Note to Consumers: If the tube says Kolgate and costs $.05?
A Somerville, Mass., man said he got sick after using a bad batch of toothpaste. The Boston Herald reported that Tom Kielty bought what he believed to be a tube of counterfeit Colgate toothpaste at the QF Mart on Highland Avenue in Somerville last week. He said he suffered upset stomach and diarrhea.
Right now, investigators are scrambling to find out how many tubes of counterfeit toothpaste were sold in the U.S. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration recalled counterfeit Colgate tubes that contained a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze. They said the phony toothpaste comes in 5-ounce tubes, which the company does not sell, and it has misspellings on the packaging.
Other cases have been reported in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.


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More than 500 advertisers from across Europe attended Quantcast’s latest Supernova event. The host of the afternoon was the magnificent mathematician Hannah Fry who started the presentation with some Mathematics of Love, explaining what defines a low-risk and high-risk relationship.
We heard from some of the biggest names in the ad world such as Rory Sutherland, VC Creative Director at Ogilvy One and writer for The Spectator’s Wiki Man column; Jon Mew, the CEO of IAB UK, as well as from brands and publishers – Sue Hunt, Sales Director at The Mail Online; Nic Travis, Head of Digital Marketing at MBNA and Philip Sandler, Digital Marketing at Homeserve.
They were also joined by some big Hollywood names – Riz Ahmed, hero of Disney’s Rogue One, Neil Corbould, Special Effects Supervisor (he won the Oscar for Special Effects for The Gladiator and Gravity) and Ben Morris, Creative Director at ILM known for visual effects in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Gravity and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The panellists revealed a Hollywood secret – it’s not magic, it’s a lot of work and late nights behind every second of a film.
The main theme was Machine learning, AI and the role of technology in the advertising industry. Machine learning gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed, take advantage of the efficiencies and it’s based on three pylons: data, model and decision.
Peter Day, Quantcast’s Head of Engineering in Europe explained how advertising can take advantage of the latest technology to reach their customers more effectively at scale. Marketers speak a lot about data and spend lots of time on projects that fail. Data is observation, but it’s not always simple to interpret and it doesn’t fit all the patterns. Nevertheless, we need a model – a mathematical fraction to help us explain the figures, make predictions and turn data into insights. What separates companies are decisions, we have to find patterns in data otherwise all the information can be very messy and unnecessary.
Rory Sutherland gave an amazing presentation warning of the dangers of unimaginative thinking in the ad industry and also about one of the most important goals of marketers: building consumer trust. Rory pointed out that: “Any idiot can sell things by dropping the price” but you have to make your customer and audience trust you. He gave the example of Uber which has brought innovation to the market, giving us the certainty that the cab will arrive (i.e. location tracking) and actually made public transport more reliable. See his recent article in The Spectator for the full story. And Rory’s final advice was: “Test counterintuitively because your competitors won’t”.


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ForgetMeNot Africa (FMN Africa), which delivers unified messaging for telecos, has announced that it is launching its Message Optimiser service throughout Africa. The service will be publically demonstrated for the first time in Africa at East Africa Com on 1 and 2 April in Nairobi, Kenya.
In November 2008, LonZim plc acquired a controlling interest in FMN Africa. LonZim has established a strong presence in both the communications sector and financial services technology in the region, through its investments in Celsys, and Paynet, both of which offer strong synergies with FMN Africa and further opportunities to enhance LonZim's portfolio of investments.
Message Optimiser (MO) enables carriers to immediately provide cost-effective comprehensive unified messaging services, including email, Instant Messaging (IM) and SMS, without the end user requiring any Internet access, device upgrades, or application downloads.
With an implementation cycle of a matter of weeks, the company says, carriers can quickly enjoy additional revenue streams, monetizing channels previously unavailable to them, and offering a unique differentiator point; an array of value-added messaging services to their entire customer base. Since it does not require a data contract, Message Optimiser allows operators to increase ARPU and reduce churn amongst its pre-pay customers.
End-users benefit from the simplicity of ForgetMeNots Handset Initiation technology, which turns even the most basic mobile phone into a smarter, Internet-capable, multi-channel messaging device, providing two-way email and two-way IM for both pre-pay and post-pay users alike. Handset Initiation technology is becoming vital, not only for developing nations where PC and Internet access is very low, but also in allowing users globally to have access to email and IM without the need for more expensive Smartphones, a PC or Internet connection.
In todays maturing mobile markets, mobile operators are increasingly focused on customer retention and service differentiation, says FMN Africa CEO, Jeremy George. Message Optimiser meets both needs, offering a new revenue stream from their existing subscriber base, while offering customers a unique service.


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The U.S. Constitution gives every citizen the right to privacy, but it also grants the right to freedom of speech and courts frequently have to walk a fine line between the two. The law gets especially difficult to navigate when public figures sue journalists for defamation.
The writers of the Constitution recognized the value in not restricting the right of journalists to investigate and report on whatever they found newsworthy. Because of this, the law requires public figures to bear a higher burden of proof than private citizens when filing for defamation, including evidence that the publisher new the statements were false and made them with the intention of harming the public figure’s career.
The idea behind the law is that it is in the best interests of the public to have access to information on public figures. This is especially true of a democracy in which the public should have the right to know what the people they’re voting for are really up to, but the term “public figure” now includes all sorts of entertainers and athletes, in addition to politicians.
At the same time, the news has become increasingly sensational. With multiple 24-hour news channels, not to mention various online news sites, the term “news” has grown from the facts we need to know to speculation about things that interest us and hold our attention.
While sex tapes involving celebrities may certainly be attention grabbing, it’s hard some argue to make the case that they’re truly newsworthy. Terry G. Bollea, better known as the WWF wrestler, Hulk Hogan, was recently awarded $115 million by a jury for the release of a sex tape involving himself and the wife of his best friend at the time.
Clips of the tape, as well as a full description of everything that happens on it, were released on the news site, Gawker. Although Bollea himself has discussed many details of his sex life in public, he was outraged at the release of a tape, which he says was made without his knowledge or consent.
According to the lawsuit, the tape was kept in the office of Todd Clem, the husband of the woman in the tape and Bollea’s former friend. Clem, a radio shock jock who had his name legally changed to Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, claims the tape was stolen from his office. No one seems to know how it got into Gawker’s hands. The site says it was submitted by an anonymous source.
With an award of $55 million in compensatory damages and $60 million for emotional distress, the total of $115 million is even more than the $100 million Bollea was asking for. It’s a significant victory for the personal privacy of celebrities all over the country, but Gawker says it isn’t over yet. Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker, released a statement in which he said the jury did not get to hear all the facts of the case, that they are preparing to appeal the decision, and that he is confident they will win the case in the end.
Our Chicago libel and slander lawyers concentrate in this area of the law. We have defended or prosecuted a number of defamation and libel cases, including cases representing a consumer sued by a large luxury used car dealer in federal court for hundreds of negative internet reviews and videos which resulted in substantial media coverage of the suit; one of Loyola University’s largest contributors when the head basketball coach sued him for libel after he was fired; and a lawyer who was falsely accused of committing fraud with the false allegation published to the Dean of the University of Illinois School of Law, where the lawyer attended law school and the President of the University of Illinois. One of our partners also participated in representing a high profile athlete against a well-known radio shock jock.
Our Chicago defamation attorneys defend individuals’ First Amendment and free speech rights to post on Facebook, Yelp and other websites information that criticizes businesses and addresses matters of public concern. Our Chicago Cybersquatting attorneys also represent and prosecute claims on behalf of businesses throughout the Chicago area including in Lombard and Des Plaines, who have been unfairly and falsely criticized by consumers and competitors in defamatory publications in the online and offline media. We have successfully represented businesses who have been the victim of competitors setting up false rating sites and pretend consumer rating sites that are simply forums to falsely bash or business clients. We have also represented and defended consumers First Amendment and free speech rights to criticize businesses who are guilty of consumer fraud and false advertising.
Super Lawyers named Chicago and Oak Brook business trial attorney Peter Lubin a Super Lawyer in the Categories of Class Action, Business Litigation, and Consumer Rights Litigation. Lubin Austermuehle’s Oak Brook and Chicago business trial lawyers have over a quarter of a century of experience in litigating complex class action, consumer rights, and business and commercial litigation disputes. We handle emergency business lawsuits involving injunctions, and TROS, defamation, libel, and covenant not to compete, franchise, distributor and dealer wrongful termination and trade secret lawsuits and many different kinds of business disputes involving shareholders, partnerships, closely held businesses and employee breaches of fiduciary duty. We also assist businesses and business owners who are victims of fraud or defamatory attacks on their business and reputations.
Lubin Austermuehle’s Romeoville and Oak Lawn defamation and slander lawyers have more than two and half decades of experience helping business clients unravel the complexities of Illinois and out-of-state business laws. Our Chicago business, commercial, class-action, and consumer litigation lawyers represent individuals, family businesses and enterprises of all sizes in a variety of legal disputes, including disputes among partners and shareholders as well as lawsuits between businesses and consumer rights, auto fraud, and wage claim individual and class action cases. In every case, our goal is to resolve disputes as quickly and successfully as possible, helping business clients protect their investments and get back to business as usual. From offices in Oak Brook, near Schaumburg, and Palatine, we serve clients throughout Illinois and the Midwest.
If you are the victim of a defamatory attack on your business or a consumer who has been sued to stop you from posting criticism of a business online at Yelp or anywhere else, contact one of our Oak Brook and Chicago defamation lawyers for a free consultation at 630-333-0333 or online by filling out our contact us form.


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OnePlus today launched “Smash The Past”, a contest to win one of the first 100 OnePlus Ones and the first invites to give away to friends and other OnePlus fans. Those with the eagerness to attempt thi can apply at oneplus.net/smash to send OnePlus a video of them smashing their current phone. 100 chosen smashers will win a 16GB OnePlus One for just $1 and three invites to give to friends.
Once selected, the lucky applicants are expected to record a video of them smashing the phone and upload it to YouTube. In the video, they will introduce themselves, show that the phone is actually working, and be as creative as possible in the smash.
The 100 lucky applicants will receive their OnePlus One smartphones during the first weeks of May. Subsequent invites will begin rolling out later in May. Applicants must reside in one of the 16 countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and the USA) in which the OnePlus One has launched and be 18 years or older to enter.
The OnePlus will be available for those with invites starting mid-late May on their e-commerce site. For those who aren’t interested or are not chosen for “Smash the Past”, more invites will be available through OnePlus forum and social media contests, media giveaways and other channels.
You can read their terms & conditions before accepting to submit an entry.


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Australian travellers are divided on how much a robot could add to the holiday experience, according to a global study by travel deals company Travelzoo. The study reveals that two thirds of Australians are open to the idea of a robot working in roles such as a receptionist in a hotel, however almost half admitted they find robots quite frightening.
The Travelzoo Future of Travel project includes a poll of over 6,000 people in Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Australia to understand if consumers are ready for robots and artificial intelligence to play a major role in travel and hospitality.
Robots are already being used in many international hotel chains such as Marriot International, Holiday Inn and Hilton and some cruise lines have put robot bartenders and guides into their ships. Industry reports cite the total spend on robots will exceed USD40 billion by 2020, with Asian countries Japan, South Korea and China leading the market in both spend and development.
As a global average the Travelzoo research reveals nearly 80% of consumers expect robots to play a big part in their lives before 2020, with three quarters believing they will make their lives significantly better. Almost two thirds are comfortable with robots being used in the travel industry.
In Australia opinions were mixed. Notably 93% of respondents have concerns that robots could be weak in softer skills such as showing emotions and the same number are worried about robots taking away jobs from humans. Australians are also concerned that robots will be unable to understand informal language such as slang, irony and the Australian sense of humour.
Those in the Australian pro-robot camp highlight the unlimited energy levels of robots and eight in ten respondents believe robots can handle data faster than their human counterparts. The majority of perceived benefits are around data handling, memory and skills like communicating multiple languages.
Australians also prefer their robots to look like machines rather than humans, however their voice should sound human rather than robotic. Chinese respondents by contrast prefer their robots to look human – with 76% saying they prefer this.
Commenting on the survey findings, Cemlyn Jones, said, “Right now is a very exciting moment in the history of the travel industry – ground breaking technology is revolutionizing what is possible from the perspective of customer service, entertainment and personalization. Robots and artificial intelligence are making their debut on the tourism stage, and our research into global acceptance of robots working in the travel industry is largely positive.”
“It is fascinating to see some cultural stereotypes emerge from the research into global acceptance of robots. The UK and Australian participants worry the most about humour and irony being lost on robots, and the French and Spanish are completely unaccepting about replacing their waiters with robots – even if a human waiter is much less efficient than a robot!”
Jones concluded, “While the advent of technology such as robot butlers and bartenders is hugely exciting, it’s also very clear from our research that consumers from all markets surveyed see the combination of robots and humans working in tandem in customer-facing roles in travel as the ideal solution.”
About the study
The survey for Travelzoo’s Future of Travel project was conducted in December 2015 via an online questionnaire by third-party research agency Norstat. The questionnaire was completed by 6,211 travellers in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. A separate study of 788 Travelzoo members in Australia was conducted online using QuestionPro software in February 2016.
Travelzoo is a global media commerce company. With more than 28 million members in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and 25 offices worldwide, Travelzoo® publishes offers from more than 2,000 travel, entertainment and local companies. Travelzoo’s deal experts review offers to find the best deals and confirm their true value.


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TAI will deliver 2023 GÖKBEY general purpose helicopters to the Gendarmerie General Command in 3.
Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI) General Manager Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil made important statements regarding the latest situation in the programs run by TAI. Temel Kotil, in his statements regarding the TAI works within the scope of the GÖKBEY project, stated that they will start the production of 2021 GÖKBEY general purpose helicopters for the Gendarmerie General Command by 3 with a new decision.
Stating that GÖKBEY helicopters, which started mass production in 2020, will also be delivered in 2022, Temel Kotil stated that they will reach the capacity to produce 2023 GÖKBEYs per month and 24 in a year from XNUMX.
Gökbey Certification Flights
Stating that the plane, which will have a capacity of 2020 people in December 12, can be used as a military logistics and ambulance helicopter, Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil emphasized that Gökbey would be the first in his class
Kotil reported that Gökbey has been conducting certification flights as of December 2020. Stating that all conditions were tested in the flights in question, Kotil stated that this process took a long time and if necessary, the process could be extended for another 2 years. Kotil stated that the Gökbey general purpose helicopter is planned to be produced 2 units per year, 24 per month.
TS1400 Delivered to TAI
The first prototype of the TS1400 was delivered to Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) within the scope of "Delivery of the First National Helicopter Engine TEI-TS1400 and Design Center Opening Ceremony".
Speaking at the ceremony, TEI General Manager and Chairman of the Board Mahmut Faruk AKŞİT thanked all TEI employees who contributed to the Turboshaft Engine Development Project (TMGP). In his speech, Aksit stated that despite all the difficulties encountered during the project, the engine was successfully developed and thus the first prototype of the engine was delivered to TUSAŞ. Before the delivery ceremony of the national engine TS1400 prototype to TAI, the TS1400 core engine was successfully retested in the presence of President Erdogan and guests.
The TS129 development engine, which was developed as part of the Turboshaft Engine Development Project (TMGP) carried out by TEI and planned to power the domestic GÖKBEY general purpose helicopter and T1400 ATAK attack helicopters, was first started in October 2020.
TEI continues its efforts to train the engine for the first general purpose helicopter to be produced in GÖKBEY. Akşit explained that they developed a much more powerful engine than their counterparts and said that the TS1400 engine produced 129-800 horsepower more than the engine used in GÖKBEY's tests and currently powering our T400 ATAK attack helicopters (LHTEC-CTS2-1014A, 100 pieces 150 kW). .


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In what appears to be a pre-IPO investment, low cost handset company Micromax has raised Rs. 200 crore ($43 million) from three investors – Sequoia Capital, Sandstone Capital LLC and Madison India Capital. Micromax had previously raised $45 million from TA Associates in late 2009. With this round of investment, Mohit Bhatnagar, MD at Sequoia Capital, will join the board of the company.
The company apparently reported revenues of Rs 1600 crore and a net profit of Rs 150 crore in 2009-10, according to The Economic Times. ET adds, quoting unnamed sources, that Micromax is looking to raise Rs. 600-800 crore via an IPO. A Voice & Data survey earlier this year had put Micromax at 4.3% marketshare.
Micromax is one of many low cost handset companies that have come in over the last two years or so, and completely changed the dynamics of the handsets business in India, virtually knocking established players like Nokia out of the low cost handset market. Indian handset companies – Micromax, Lemon, Spice Mobiles, T-Series, Lava International, Karbonn Mobiles, Intex, Accord, Wyncomm, Oscar, Max Mobile, Meridian Mobiles among many others, source devices from China. These devices are priced low, often are lower in performance, but still have the features of high-end phones. The pitch – Value For Money – works well with those who change their handsets often, and want to own a device that looks high end, but doesn’t cost as much.
Additionally, many of these handset manufacturers have managed to develop handsets with features attractive for Indian consumers:
– The X1i and others, with standby battery life that lasts upto 30 days.
– The GC series, with handsets that support both GSM and CDMA networks
– Qwerty handsets at low cost (around Rs. 2000)
– Touch screen handsets as low as Rs. 5000-5500
Micromax started operations in 2002 as an embedded software and e-commerce solutions company, but came into prominence only after it entered the handsets business in 2008. It now has a presence in 23 states in India, and a sales network in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.


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Wizards of the Coast has announced the next genre spanning, multimedia story line for their Dungeons & Dragons universe and it is all about dragons! Tyranny of Dragons will task the brave adventurers of the Sword Coast with stopping legions of evil aligned dragons from collecting five ancient dragon masks. Why do they want these masks? To release that saucy minx Tiamat from the Nine Hells! There are also normal evil dragons and your run of the mill Dragon Heretics causing mischief throughout major cities like Waterdeep and Neverwinter. Head to the Tyranny of Dragons site for more information.
So far, Tyranny of Dragons sounds similar to the Sundering. It will span video games, mobile games and role playing sessions at hobby stores. Unless Wizards is being hyperbolic, Tyranny is set to be the largest story yet. It will be hard to top The Sundering, but I am really excited to see what they have in store.
Speculation time! The Sundering had six huge books and they are not all released yet. I wonder if Tyranny of Dragons will have such a heavy focus on releasing books. I hope they focus on a nice tight trilogy, but there has to be at least one book right? They mentioned video games and mobile games so I hope that they release an immersive and polished game. Something that would be at home on Xbox Arcade or PSN.