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The United States Postal Service reported new delivery performance metrics for the fiscal second quarter dating from Jan. 1 through Mar. 25. Weekly service performance scores have improved for consecutive 4 weeks as the Postal Service continues its top-down focus on operational precision across the postal network to improve delivery reliability. For the week ending Mar. 25, service performance scores for First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail and Periodicals rose to the highest levels since pre-2021 peak holiday season. Second quarter service performance scores covering Jan.1 through Mar. 25 included: *First-Class Mail: 87.2 percent of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 1.9 percentage points from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 92.4 percent of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 81.8 percent of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of .9 percentage point performance from the fiscal first quarter.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ‘DELIVERING FOR AMERICA’ PLAN
*Preserves affordable, six-day mail and expands seven-day package delivery
*Generates $24 billion in net revenue in part from enhanced package delivery services for business customers, including same-day, one-day and two-day delivery offerings
*Improves cash flow to allow for investment of $40 billion in workforce, new vehicles, improved Post Offices, technology improvements, and infrastructure upgrades
*With congressional support accelerates move to an electric delivery vehicle fleet
*Adjusts select delivery standards to improve efficiency and reliability
*Enhances customer experience via new suite of consumer and small business tools
*Stabilizes workforce with a goal of cutting non-career employee turnover in half, and creating more opportunity for growth including more predictable progression into career workforce
*Aligns pricing to reflect market dynamics
*Asks for bipartisan legislation in Congress to repeal the retiree health benefit pre-funding mandate and to maximize future retiree participation in Medicare
The United States Postal Service today released its 10-year Plan, ‘Delivering for America’, to return the organization to financial sustainability and achieve service excellence while maintaining universal six-day mail delivery and expanding seven-day package delivery.
“The need for the U.S. Postal Service to transform to meet the needs of our customers is long overdue,” said Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Louis DeJoy. “Our Plan calls for growth and investments, as well as targeted cost reductions and other strategies that will enable us to operate in a precise and efficient manner to meet future challenges, as we put the Postal Service on a path for financial sustainability and service excellence.”
“The Board challenged Postal management to devise a Plan that was firmly rooted in our public service mission to bind the nation together,” said Ron Bloom, Chairman of the United States Postal Service Board of Governors. “The Plan will achieve service excellence, adapt the Postal Service to the evolving needs of the American people and address our obligation for financial sustainability. Through a wide-ranging process involving numerous talented and dedicated public servants throughout the organization and insightful input from many stakeholders, they have done just that. This Plan will revitalize this American treasure and we are excited to work with our union leaders, stakeholders and newly nominated Governors, once they are confirmed, as we move it forward.”
The comprehensive Plan includes a combination of investments in technology, training, Post Offices and a new vehicle fleet; modernizing the Postal Service’s processing network; adopting best-in-class logistics practices across delivery and transportation operations; creating new revenue-generating offerings in the rapidly expanding e-commerce marketplace and pricing changes as authorized by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
Successful implementation of the Plan requires partnership from legislative and regulatory stakeholders as its composition includes:
*Self-help initiatives to provide billions in new revenue and cost reductions, while improving the predictability and reliability of service
*Judicious implementation of new and existing pricing authorities
*Legislative changes to retiree health benefit funding rules including requiring Medicare integration and eliminating the pre-funding requirement
DeJoy continued, “The Postal Service’s problems are serious but, working together, they can be solved. Our 10-year Plan capitalizes on our natural strengths and addresses our serious weaknesses. It ensures that we can better meet the nation’s evolving delivery needs, and do so with the higher degree of efficiency, precision and reliability that our business and residential customers expect and deserve. It can and must be done.”
The Plan was developed through a rigorous and holistic process that included reviewing reports by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and consulting with numerous stakeholder groups.
Investing in People, Technology and Infrastructure
The Postal Service Plan will spur cash flow and savings to make $40 billion in capital investments over the next 10 years, many of which have been long-delayed due to the organization’s financial challenges of the past decade. This includes a recent multi-billion dollar contract to modernize the Postal Service’s delivery vehicle fleet, which is over 28-years old on average and unsuitable for accommodating growing package volume. The first of the new vehicles are expected to appear on carrier routes beginning in 2023. With Congressional support, our delivery fleet can be electric by 2035, substantially reducing our carbon footprint.
“Investing in the Postal Service’s future means investing in our people,” said DeJoy. “For too many years, Postal employees have been asked to do more with less – forced to employ antiquated systems, utilize outmoded equipment, and drive outdated vehicles. This drives up costs and slows down service for customers. We cannot afford to keep this up. We believe firmly in putting the 644,000 women and men of the Postal Service in the best possible position to succeed in their mission of service, while also enabling a more predictable progression from non-career employees into the career workforce. Our goal is to significantly reduce non-career annual turnover rates.”
Other planned investments include advanced package processing equipment; Post Office and facility upgrades; deployment of new mobile devices for carriers; new employee uniforms; best-in-class information technologies across the enterprise; and enhanced training and development to empower the workforce.
Enhanced Customer Experience and New Revenue Generating Offerings to Meet Business and Consumers’ Expanding E-Commerce Needs
The Postal Service has one of the best last mile delivery networks in the world, which enables the delivery of goods and services to more than 160 million addresses across the country. The Plan identifies several strategies to leverage this unparalleled end-to-end delivery network to generate $24 billion in new package net revenue growth and meet business and consumers’ rapidly evolving e-commerce needs.
This includes a new suite of services called USPS Connect, connecting businesses, large and small, to urban and rural communities across the nation. The Postal Service will expand its core package products, namely Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, First-Class Package Service and Parcel Select to offer same day, next day and 2-3 day delivery options six to seven days a week.
Other offerings will include an enhanced Informed Delivery platform, enabling business and residential users to do more, such as provide carriers instructions on where to leave or pick-up packages, notify USPS to hold mail or schedule redelivery of packages before important items reach their mailboxes. Through these and other actions, the Plan also strengthens the mail channel for the nation’s commercial and personal needs.
Adjust Select Delivery Standards to Dramatically Improve Service Reliability
To drive greater network efficiency, the Postal Service will submit filings with the Postal Regulatory Commission to modify the service standards for First-Class Mail Letters and Flats, as well as First-Class Package Service. These modifications will shift volume from unreliable air transportation to more reliable ground transportation, and enable network improvements that will allow us to meet or exceed 95 percent on-time delivery across mail and shipping product classes. First-Class Mail traveling within a local area will continue to be delivered in one or two days and 70 percent of First-Class Mail will continue to be delivered within three days or less.
The Postal Service also anticipates using its processing facilities differently to reflect the dramatic increase in package volume and declines in mail volumes, and accommodate new revenue generating e-commerce offerings to better meet the needs of our customers. The plan anticipates an evaluation of facility operations, using the applicable regulatory processes.
Legislative Initiatives and Administrative Elements to Better Compete and Achieve Financial Sustainability
The most significant item the Postal Service is asking the 117th Congress to pass is legislation to require that retiree health benefits be integrated with Medicare, and that the expense associated with these benefits be based on vested benefits, which would reduce the Postal Service’s cash flow expenses by approximately $44 billion over 10 years. Legislation is also being supported to address burdensome retiree health benefit prefunding. We also propose that the Administration require the Office of Personnel Management to use a simple and fair method in how it apportions Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) liabilities for employees who transitioned to the Postal Service from the Post Office Department. These requested changes will benefit current retirees, current employees and the Postal Service.
In addition, in the coming weeks, the Postal Service will submit a number of filings with the Postal Regulatory Commission regarding pricing, products and services, and infrastructure.


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Tom’s Guide has a post by Paul Wagenseil on a lecture given by security researcher Melissa Elliott (better known as 0xabad1dea) at DEFCON on August 3rd. Elliott spoke about how a cheap $10 USB TV tuner dongle, better known to us as an RTL-SDR, can be used to pick up ‘accidental radio emissions’ which can then be used to fingerprint devices. Back in the 1970s the NSA had a program codenamed Tempest that was designed to investigate and study these compromising emanations. Elliott, who is a researcher at the security company Veracode in Boston, demonstrated using an RTL-SDR to pickup various emissions from electronic devices.
“I managed to go most of my life not knowing that my electronics were all leaking all of the signals that detail what they’re getting up in their private little electronic lives,” Elliott said.
But a visit to the U.S. National Radio Quiet Zone on the Virginia-West Virginia border, site of the world’s largest moveable radio-astronomy telescope, taught Elliott otherwise.
“Their biggest challenge to getting the science done is the very electronics that they need to measure and process the signal, because those same electronics blast the signal out at the sky,” Elliott said.
“They have a microwave oven, which is a Faraday cage” — a structure enclosed by a wire mesh to prevent electricity from getting in or out — “inside another Faraday cage, inside another room, which is also a Faraday cage,” she recalled. “That is how much they had to shield things just so they could reheat their pizza at 2 a.m.”
So Elliott found a website that sold USB tuners for $10, and found free software to tune and analyze the signals.
At DEF CON, she demonstrated how much radio noise electronic devices emit by using a netbook she bought for $50 on a trip to China. - Link to Story
The DEFCON Website gives this description of her talk:
If it’s electronic, it makes noise. Not necessarily noise that you and I can hear, of course – unless you know how to tune in. The air around us is filled with bloops, bleeps, and bzzts of machines going about their business, betraying their existence through walls or even from across the street. The unintentional noise lurking among intentional signals can even reveal what the machine is currently doing when it thinks it’s keeping that information to itself. Attacks exploiting electromagnetic radiation, such as TEMPEST, have long been known, but government-sized budgets are no longer needed to procure the radio equipment. USB television receiver dongles can be used as software-defined radios (SDR) that cost less than a slice of Raspberry Pi. The goal of this talk is to show you that anyone with twenty bucks and some curiosity can learn a great deal about your computers and other equipment without ever leaving a trace, and you shouldn’t neglect this risk when managing your organization’s security.

domain: news


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U.S. companies are increasingly considering onshoring finance, IT, and other business services operations at home, with many mid-size U.S. cities now offering attractive alternatives to India and other offshore locations, according to a new survey.
Consulting firm The Hackett Group said the diminishing gap in labor costs, proximity to customers and headquarters, and state tax incentives are among the reasons that firms are looking at onshore locations, particularly for facilities handling complex and higher-value processes.
“Companies are realizing that the United States is becoming an increasingly viable option for elements of their service delivery organization,” Hackett Group Principal Jim O’Connor said in a news release.
While labor and operating costs are still high in the United Sates compared with Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia, he noted that “the gap is shrinking, and there are significant other benefits [to staying onshore]. In more and more cases, those benefits outweigh the additional cost.”
“In addition, the backlash against offshoring has made keeping jobs ‘at home’ a attractive option for U.S. companies,” he added.
One U.S. company that has made the decision to locate business services operations domestically is Verizon Communications, which has consolidated nearly 1,500 finance operations staff into two U.S. service centers over the past two years.
“By keeping our finance operations in the U.S., we’ve derived an array of benefits,” said Karan Mehra, Verizon’s director of corporate finance restructuring told The Hackett Group. “Talent was perhaps our primary deciding factor. We wanted to make sure we could recruit the quality talent that we needed, and that we could put strong training and development in place.”
Other advantages of onshore locations she cited were maintaining control over finance operations and processes and avoiding extended travel times when visiting service centers.
Top 10 U.S. locations, according to The Hackett Group, included Syracuse, N.Y.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; Lansing, Mich.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Atlanta, Ga.; Allentown, Pa.; Green Bay, Wisc.; Richmond, Va.; and Longmont, Colo.


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February is American Heart Month, or “Heart Health” month, a time dedicated where consumers of fresh fruit and vegetables can prioritize their cardiovascular health.
“Onions are full of health benefits, and produce marketers have the unique opportunity to help educate consumers on the many advantages of increasing consumption of allium vegetables during American Heart Month”, said Falon Brawley, Director of Marketing at Onions 52 BB #:104705.
Brawley continued, “We are delighted to partner with Registered Dietitian, and Certified Diabetes Educator, Laura Ashley Johnson, RDN, CDE., to help promote easy and creative ways to increase onion consumption. While we can’t claim ‘An onion a day will keep the doctor away’, there are several studies on the health benefits of onions that are compelling, and research compiled by the National Onion Association (NOA) BB #:161204 shows that onion consumption may contribute to increased cardiovascular health.”
“Not only are onions a versatile and delicious ingredient in many recipes, but research has shown they’re also rich in nutrients that can benefit the body in so many amazing ways”, noted Laura Ashley Johnson, RDN, CDE.
Brawley confirmed, “Onions of all varieties not only provide great flavor to almost every meal, but they also contain key vitamins and minerals, quercetin, and other potent antioxidants that may offer unique heart health benefits. Laura Ashley’s easy to make, onion-centric recipes will be shared on the Onions 52 website [www.onions52.com] and social media channels beginning February 21”.
About Onions 52
Onions 52, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Syracuse, UT. They are the country’s leading grower-shipper of yellow, red, white, and sweet onions. For more information, visit onions52.com.
Website – www.onions52.com
Instagram – www.instagram.com/onions52weeks
Facebook – www.facebook.com/onions52
Twitter – www.twitter.com/onions52


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Virtual reality technology is expected to change they way people with their PC, smartphones and game console. But Apple users may be left behind because Palmer Luckey who is the founder of Oculus Rift said graphics hardware in Apple computers is not up to his level, and he also said Apple should build a better computer.
Rift support] is up to Apple. If they ever release a good computer, we will do it. It just boils down to the fact that Apple doesn’t prioritize high-end GPUs. You can buy a $6,000 Mac Pro with the top of the line AMD FirePro D700, and it still doesn’t match our recommended specs. So if they prioritize higher-end GPUs, like they used to for a while back in the day, we’d love to support Mac. But right now, there’s just not a single machine out there that supports it.
At the first place, Apple does not make their computers for gaming. Instead, its internal hardware and software tuned to offer stability while optimizing available resources for users to be able to complete their task editing videos, graphics, music and app development without any problem. It is normal for PC user to upgrade their PC regularly but not Mac users.
Some report also said Apple is already secretly developing their own research team who have expertise in virtual reality technology. Apple already brings Doug Bowmen, who is an expert in virtual reality and 3D user interface. Apple has no comment on their plan. One thing that I realize, virtual reality device is expensive and not everyone able to wear the device without feel nausea.
Back to the main topic, is it the Apple computer is not sufficient to run Oculus Rift, or the software they made for the Oculus Rift is not being optimized?


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News event Naraka, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings… NetEase Live announced!
Chinese video game giant NetEase Games will hold a live presentation in a few days.
NetEase Games is a Chinese publisher and developerwhich in a few years has become a major player in the industry. The firm will host a live presentation on May 20 at 7:30 p.m..
NetEase Connect 2022, Friday, May 20
Beyond. #NetEaseConnect 2022, the annual global product launch event, is going live NEXT FRIDAY, May 20th at 10:30 PST/ 13:30 EDT. 🥳
— NetEase Games_EN (@NetEaseGames_EN) May 11, 2022
Prepare yourselves. NetEase Connect 2022, the annual global product launch event, will go live NEXT FRIDAY, May 20 at 7:30 p.m. PT.
Get ready to tune in and get exclusive first-hand news about your favorite NetEase games. Guess what games you’ll see this year?
The event will be broadcast on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook, featured in English on IGN Japan Editor-in-Chief Daniel Robson and IGN Southeast Asia Editor-in-Chief Esra Krabbe. NetEase announcement present about fifteen different titles, of different genres and on different platforms. Indeed, NetEase develops lots of mobile games, but not only.
Naraka: Bladepoint, Harry Potter: Magic Emerges, The Lord of the Rings: Call to Arms…
Among the most anticipated games of the presentation, let’s first mention Naraka: Bladepoint, already released on PC and PS5 and generally very popular. Fans are waiting to see new content featured in this NetEase Connect 2022. Among the other games, we particularly expect to see news of two mobile games adapted from the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings licenses. The first is Harry Potter: Magic Emerges, already available since September in China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The game, slated to be a massively multiplayer tactical RPG, is set to release globally this year on iOS and Android.
The second title has already been released all over the world, it’s The Lord of the Rings: Call to Arms. Fans are also waiting for new title content in this live presentation. We could also see other titles like the Mobile port of Dead by Daylightduring the presentation dedicated to the Japanese public, which will take place at 1:30 p.m. on the same day. Finally, note that NetEase is developing Diablo Immortal for Blizzard, so it is possible that we will see a bit of it during the live broadcast.
NetEase Connect 2022, showing about fifteen games, will take place on May 20 from 7:30 p.m. French time. A presentation of a dozen titles, dedicated only to the Japanese public will take place earlier in the day, from 1:30 p.m.


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Such is the life of an explorer, Levison is now ready to undertake an exciting new adventure, and rather than leaving the car unused and unloved, he is eager for the 911 to embark on a journey of its own.
Tristan Judge, director of The Market by Bonhams, commented: â€œBeing a successful photojournalist in some of the far reaches of the world, Levisonâ€™s eye for beauty clearly extends to his taste for cars. No doubt, the winning bidder will assume Levisonâ€™s sense of style, and who knows even his craving for adventure!â€
With its iconic looks, driver appeal and fine German engineering and build quality, the Porsche 911 is indeed the quintessential sports car. This matching numbers model certainly lives up to the billing, boasting a silver metallic finish, gorgeous Fuchs alloys, and has 76,000 miles on the odometer.
The Market by Bonhams is no stranger to sellingÂ classicsÂ owned by celebrities, this year alone selling a BMW 635csiÂ formerlyÂ owned by 007 legend, Sir Sean Connery, a 2005 Maserati Quattroporte owned by Rocket Man, Sir Elton JohnÂ and a Range Rover SportÂ owned by former England football captain, David Beckham.
The car is expected to sell for betweenÂ Â£50,000 and Â£70,000, with the auction starting on Tuesday 19thÂ October and ending on Thursday 26thÂ October.
Tristan concluded: â€œNot only will the winning bidder be delighted with the thrill of owning a Porsche of this calibre, but also be able to revel in the fact this car was owned by a true adventurer.â€
For more information about the Porshe 911 S, as well as a host of other classic cars, visitÂ www.themarket.co.uk.
*Article Source https://themarket.co.uk/


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The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, celebrated the one-year anniversary of the non-tradable token (NFT) market last week, announcing the signing of a multi-year deal with Portugal and Manchester United football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. The most active player in the game.
Binance hasn’t released many details, except that the first collection will launch “late this year” and will be available exclusively on Binance NFT.
“My relationship with fans is very important to me, so the idea of bringing unprecedented experiences and reach through this NFT platform was something I wanted to be a part of,” said Ronaldo, who is famous for one name in most places. The world will confirm it as a quick Google check.
What’s not clear is what kind of access or experiences it will include, but suggesting that NFTs may offer more than just pictures or video. Some celebrities offer real access – Bill Murray, for example, announced an NFT line last week that provides access to at least two events a year, where he will meet and greet not only original stories but also stylized likeness coin holders.
See also: NFT Weekly: Shopify Launches ‘Tokengated Commerce’; Bill Murray Doing His Job
Eminem and Snoop Dogg…
Bored Ape NFT owners Eminem and Snoop Dogg took their own cartoon monkey NFT to the recording studio and returned with a music video with animated versions.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) avatars are one of the hottest NFT collectibles on the market, and even with broader NFT prices doing as well as the rest of the collapsing crypto market, the 60% drop in BAYC collections has left them still selling for six. numbers.
One of the reasons BAYC has been so successful – apart from having famous owners like Eminem and metaverse maestro Snoop Dogg showcase them – is that unlike many other NFT collections, they’re sold under full commercial use licenses.
Read more: Seth Green’s Kidnapped Bored Monkey Shows The Growing Commercialization of NFTs
Seth Green was recently working on a new television show starring the Bored Ape bartender in a live-action band that was discontinued after his BAYC NFT was stolen, forcing him to buy it back for $300,000 – much more than he paid in the first place. .
And this week, it was reported that BAYC-themed LA restaurant Bored & Hungry has stopped accepting crypto for payment for meals. The owner told Investing.com that despite the decor costing him $330,000 at Bored Apes, few customers care about being able to pay with digital assets.
Related: Bored Ape NFT Themed LA Restaurant No Longer Accepts Crypto
… And M&Ms (No Relationship)
In completely unrelated news to the musician, candy maker Mars recently filed NFT trademarks for the M&M brand.
While many brands do this largely to be proactive in protecting their assets, the widespread use of cartoon M&M characters in candy-shell chocolates over the years suggests they can be a more active participant in the metaverse marketing community.
See also: Mars Wants to Convert M&Ms to NFTs
EU Punt could be NFT regulation
The European Union is poised to dive into where NFTs should or shouldn’t be in Crypto Asset Markets (MiCA), the broad crypto regulatory law that NFTs are expected to pass soon.
NFTs weren’t such a big deal when they started working on MiCA, and they were left out of the original drafts of the legislation. However, with the hype around one-of-a-kind tokens and increasing cases of theft and fraud, the movement to add controls such as the requirement for NFT marketplaces to register has grown.
Read more: EU Lawmakers to Discuss NFT’s Fate, Private Wallets in Crypto Regulation
But with mounting pressure to pass MiCA and some tougher and more important issues still being resolved, such as anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, rescuing both NFTs and decentralized finance (DeFi) for a MiCA 2 is getting US support . Like Christine LaGarde, head of the European Central Bank.
Become a member here For daily updates on Crypto coverage of all PYMNTS.


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At a speech in London today, Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to support the UK’s third largest export earner – Tourism. This is an important sector for Brighton & Hove supporting 15,000 jobs and bringing in £500m to the local economy.
David Cameron outlined four elements that affect the tourism sector:
- what government does nationally
- the role of local government and the support of the local area.
- how the private sector in tourism is stimulated
- policy in other areas that will impact the tourism industry.
In the speech he suggested that the current business rates system fails to support the development of tourism, adding that; “If a local council does more to attract tourists to its area they know they’ll be picking up costs but they’ll get none of the additional business rate revenue. Central government sucks in 100 per cent of this revenue generated by all local economic growth.”
“Local authorities must be allowed to invest some of this back into their own communities. This wouldn’t just help tourism – it would help all sectors of local industry across our country. And it’s a vital part of how we can begin to rebalance our economy”. It is uncertain whether 'investment in local communities'means into tourism businesses directly or the wider community, or whether the reference to retaining local business rates heralds a long term future for the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive [LABGI] scheme.
He listed a number of ways that the government intended to help tourism including stopping the removal of the tax breaks on furnished holiday lettings, working more closely with international partners to improve the local delivery of visa services in key markets like China and India and the new £1bn Regional Growth Fund which the industry could bid into for innovative projects.
He also suggested that there was plenty of scope for improvement in other areas e.g. “the speed of our broadband to the speed of our railways to the time it takes to clear customs at Heathrow”
Tourism & Heritage Minister John Penrose has been tasked to produce a tourism strategy by the end of this year in anticipation of a tourism bonanza for the London 2012 Olympics and other sporting events after that.
David Cameron ended his speech with a pledge to raise the UK into the top five tourist destinations in the world. It currently ranks 24th.
Read related items on:
Tourism, entertainment and hospitality


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Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday, Aug. 28, called her her first negotiating session with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer “very constructive.”
Freeland said talks aimed at forging a new North American trade agreement would continue.
“What has really paved the way for what Canada believes will be a good week is the fact that Mexico has made some significant concessions, particularly in the area of labor and of rules of origin on cars,” Freeland told reporters outside Lighthizer’s office.
Freeland said Canadian officials would meet with Mexico on Tuesday evening before resuming talks with Lighthizer on Wednesday morning.
Canada is under pressure to accept new terms on auto trade and dispute settlement rules after the U.S. and Mexico agreed on Aug. 27 to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
President Donald Trump said the U.S. would proceed with a deal with Mexico alone and levy tariffs on Canada if it does not come on board with the revised trade deal. He spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shortly after the announcement, and both agreed to continue the conversation on trade.
Select Details of the Agreement
While details of the agreement are still under wraps, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative put out select details, which include enforceable provisions on labor requirements, zero tariffs on agricultural products, enhanced protection on intellectual property, the liberalization of financial services, and a requirement that 75 percent of automobiles be made in the United States or Mexico.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Aug. 28 that he believed the United States could also reach a trade deal with Canada this week.
“The U.S. market and the Canadian markets are very intertwined,” Mnuchin said. “It’s important for them to get this deal and it’s important for us to get this deal.”
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told Mexican television on Aug. 28 the three sides would work for a three-way deal.
“We are now going to devote long hours to the negotiation with Canada,” he said.
Mexico’s president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador has also said he wants Canada to be part of the deal.
“We’re very interested in it remaining a three-country deal,” he said, according to AFP. “The free-trade agreement should remain as it was originally conceived.”
Negotiations among the three partners, whose mutual trade totals more than $1 trillion annually, have dragged on for more than a year, putting pressure on the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar. Both currencies gained against the U.S. dollar on Aug. 27, but the peso weakened the next day.
Canada’s main stock index opened higher on Aug. 28 on the prospect of Ottawa reaching a deal this week, before dipping.
A sticking point for Canada is the U.S. effort to drop the Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism that hinders the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Aug. 27 that Mexico had agreed to eliminate the mechanism.
Trump says he still could put tariffs on Canadian-made cars if Canada didn’t join its neighbors, and warned he expected concessions on Canada’s dairy protections.
Canada’s dairy farmers operate under a protectionist system that manages supplies and prices, and imposes high tariffs to limit imports. U.S. demands have ranged from ending those tariffs to scrapping a milk ingredient pricing system called Class 7.
“It seems like a pretty steep challenge to now resolve these issues in three days,” said David Wiens, a Manitoba dairy farmer and vice president of industry group Dairy Farmers of Canada.
If a deal isn’t reached with Canada, Mnuchin said, the United States would proceed with a separate trade agreement with Mexico. The Mexican government has also taken that position, even as it says it wants a trilateral deal.
The president must notify Congress 90 days in advance of a trade deal being signed, and the White House said Trump will sign the deal if Congress approves it.
Julie Gordon & Sharay Angulo, as well as Epoch Times staff member Holly Kellum contributed to this report.


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"If the Speaker is not taking any action against (the defectors) immediately, we will approach the High Court or Supreme Court seeking justice," Reddy said.
The TDP opposed the resolution while the BJP raised a protest for not considering certain changes it had proposed in the resolution.
The Chief Minister's statement came following a request made by Leader of Opposition K Jana Reddy and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Legislature Party leader Akbaruddin Owaisi.
"Caste calculations have been worked out and leaders who fit into the grand plan have been identified to make BJP stronger across the state."
Jana Partners LLC, the $11 billion hedge fund run by Barry Rosenstein, took new stakes in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba and fast food company McDonald's.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories were down on profit booking in early trade after Sucampo Pharmaceuticals and others filed patent infringement lawsuit.
The stock has been weak since the beginning of December. The slide has aggravated as Russia’s rouble slipped to an all-time low.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories has acquired Habitrol brand, a nicotine replacement therapy transdermal patch, from Novartis Consumer Health Inc.


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Tuesday night’s Mega Millions jackpot ticket sold at Stop & Shop in Belchertown
BELCHERTOWN, Mass. (WWLP) – Tuesday night’s winning Mega Millions ticket was sold right here in western Massachusetts. The $31 million Mega Millions jackpot Quic Pic ticket was sold at the Stop & Shop store in Belchertown. The store will receive $50,000 for the sale of the winning ticket. Those winning numbers from Tuesday night’s drawing are 33-41-47-50-62, MegaBall 20.
According to the Massachusetts State Lottery, that jackpot comes with a $16.3 million cash option if the winner wants to take the money right away. There is no word on the identity of the winner. The ticket must be claimed within one year at the Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters located at 150 Mount Vernon Street in Dorchester. 22News will continue to follow this story and will bring you the latest information as it becomes available.
Wednesday’s ticket is the fourth largest Mega Millions jackpot won in Massachusetts:
1. January 24, 2023: $31 million sold in Belchertown
2. October 16, 2012: $61 million ticket sold in Hyannis and split with ticket sold in California
3. August 19, 2011: $32 million ticket sold in Dorchester
4. July 2, 2004: $294 million ticket sold in Lowell


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The past few days have been a little wild for fans of The King of Fighters franchise. After SNK announced that it would be delaying the reveal trailers for both The King of Fighters XV and Samurai Shodown Season 3, a Spanish press release for the “Ultimate Edition” of King of Fighters XIV mistakenly included images from the new sequel. Maybe as a reaction to that fumble, the company has gone ahead and uploaded the trailers that were meant to be shown a day earlier.
It turns out those images weren’t fake, either. The in-game footage looks exactly the same and it’s incredibly smooth. It almost has a CG-render look to it, which will likely become more stylized as we get closer to release. The trailer doesn’t add much more to what we learned from the image leak. It’s been “confirmed” for a 2021 release and those six characters are definitely playable.
As for Samurai Shodown, we now know who that Last Blade character is. While the first character for season three will be fan-favorite Cham-Cham (scheduled for March 2021), Hibiki Takane will be entering the fray to represent SNK’s other historical-based fighting series. That probably isn’t leading up to a revival for the series, but her inclusion will give fans a reason to be excited again.
Samurai Shodown might be old news as far as the mainstream audience is concerned, but its continued support from SNK is nice to see. After being gone from the spotlight for such a long time, the reboot came out and proved that SNK was back to making quality fighters. With Capcom still struggling with Street Fighter V, SNK is primed to take the crown again.
What I do hope can happen with the success of these games is that Capcom gets itself into gear and the two companies collaborate again. Capcom Vs. SNK 2 is a masterpiece and it would be great to see a third installment after more than 20 years. That would be better than single guest characters in other games.
For now, the future is looking bright for The King of Fighters. I can’t wait to see what SNK has planned.
Source: Read Full Article


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16 Nov Yue Yuen’s Q3 Sales Impacted By Vietnam Factory Shutdowns
Yue Yuen reported a profit against a loss in the nine months ended September 30, 2021. Sales jumped 5.8 percent.
The Group recorded revenue of US$6,441.2 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2021, representing an increase of 5.8 percent compared to revenue of US$6,086.7 million in the same period of 2020, with the solid recovery seen in the first half of 2021 largely offset by the disruption to its manufacturing operations in Vietnam and weak retail sales in the third quarter.
In the first nine months ended September 30, 2021, revenue attributed to footwear manufacturing activity (including athletic/outdoor shoes, casual shoes and sports sandals) increased by 3.2 percent to US$3,300.5 million, compared with the corresponding period of last year. The volume of shoes shipped during the period was 179.0 million pairs, with demand for the Group’s shoe products remaining solid. However, the earlier recovery of shipments was neutralized by the negative impact of the recent pandemic lockdowns in Vietnam, increasing slightly as compared with the same period of last year.
The average selling price increased by 3.1 percent to US$18.43 per pair, as compared with the corresponding period of last year, led largely by its continued efforts to upgrade its mix with a focus on more high-value orders.
In the first nine months of 2021, the Group’s total revenue with respect to the manufacturing business (including footwear, as well as soles, components and others) was US$3,656.0 million, representing an increase of 5.4 percent as compared with the corresponding period of last year.
During the period, the revenue attributed to Pou Sheng, the Group’s retail subsidiary, increased by 6.3 percent to US$2,785.2 million, compared to US$2,619.3 million in the corresponding period of last year. In RMB terms (Pou Sheng’s reporting currency), revenue during the first nine months in 2021 decreased by 1.7 percent to RMB18,021.3 million, compared to RMB18,341.3 million in the corresponding period of last year, which was mainly attributed to market dynamics and sporadic pandemic outbreaks across China in recent quarters.
In the first nine months of 2021, the Group’s gross profit increased by 24.2 percent to US$1,560.3 million, while the gross profit margin increased by 3.6 percentage points to 24.2 percent. The gross profit of the manufacturing business increased by 20.2 percent to US$560.5 million whilst the gross profit margin expanded by 1.8 percentage points to 15.3 percent, alongside positive operating leverage, especially in the first half of 2021. As the Group’s manufacturing operations in Vietnam resumes, it will continue to streamline its cost structure by aiming to return to the higher-order fill rate and more balanced capacity utilization seen earlier in the year, so as to restore operational efficiency.
The gross profit margin for Pou Sheng increased by 5.8 percentage points to 35.9 percent as compared to the same period in 2020, which was mainly attributed to disciplined discount controls and an enhanced sales mix.
Selling & Distribution Expenses, Administrative Expenses and Other Income/Expenses
The Group’s total selling and distribution expenses during the first nine months of 2021 amounted to US$882.8 million (2020: US$734.6 million), equivalent to approximately 13.7 percent (2020: 12.1 percent) of revenue. Administrative expenses for the nine months of 2021 were US$447.3 million (2020: US$438.2 million), equivalent to approximately 7.0 percent (2020: 7.2 percent) of revenue.
Net other expenses for the first nine months of 2021 decreased by 62.2 percent to US$73.3 million (2020: US$193.8 million), equivalent to 1.1 percent (2020: 3.2 percent) of revenue. The sharp decrease was mostly due to a high base in the corresponding period of 2020, the majority of which were one-off charges totaling US$105 million arising from factory adjustments on the manufacturing side.
Profit/Loss Attributable To Owners Of The Company
In the first nine months of 2021, the profit attributable to owners of the company was US$99.6 million, compared with a loss of US$154.1 million attributable to owners of the company recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the Group recognized a non-recurring profit attributable to owners of the company of US$31.2 million, which included a gain of US$14.2 million due to fair value changes on financial instruments at fair value through profit or loss (“FVTPL”), as well as a combined one-off gain of US$32.0 million on the disposal of a joint venture and associates, that was partly offset by an impairment loss of US$14.0 million on interest in an associate. In the same period of 2020, the Group recognized a non-recurring loss attributable to owners of the company of US$12.1 million, which included a loss of US$21.0 million due to fair value changes on financial instruments at FVTPL, as well as an impairment loss of US$9.0 million on interest in an associate, that was partly offset by a one-off gain of US$15.7 million on the partial disposal of an interest in a joint venture. Excluding all items of non-recurring in nature, the recurring profit attributable to owners of the company for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, was US$68.4 million, compared to a recurring loss attributable to owners of the company of US$141.9 million for the corresponding period of last year.
Despite reporting a strong start to the year, the Group has faced challenges stemming from the pandemic and other sudden changes in its business. It has gradually resumed production at its manufacturing plants in Vietnam since the beginning of October in compliance with local safety criteria. It aims to increase production to normal levels in the coming months. As it heads into its peak season in the fourth quarter, the Group is closely monitoring the pandemic in its key manufacturing regions while allocating its manufacturing, where needed, to balance demand, its order pipeline and labor supply. With an eye on its medium-term recovery, the Group will continue to maintain the flexibility to sustain efficiency and productivity and leverage its core strengths, adaptability and competitive edge against short-term disruptions to safeguard growth and profitability.


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Pinterest is taking us back to the years of late night infomercials and Home Shopping Network, but for the internet. Aimed straight at the generation that has no idea that people used to call to buy what they saw on television, Pinterest TV will have exclusive, live, shoppable, creator-based shows starting next week.
TikTok, Instagram and Facebook are all experimenting with live-shopping tools, which have proven especially popular in China and other countries outside of the United States. Pinterest has doubled down on its investments in and experiments with shopping technology, and the company also recently explored a potential acquisition by PayPal (though the talks fell through) that could have helped create a shopping super app.
Every week on Pinterest, a collection of influencers will provide themed shows that include products that watchers can purchase. While Pinterest TV is launching with a series of relatively well-known creators, the company is asking other users to reach out and ask for help producing their own shows. The feature will allow streamers to live chat with their audiences and answer questions, while Pinterest will also provide a behind-the-scenes studio for the company's staff to work with creators on building their episodes.
The first set of Pinterest TV shows include Olympic gold medalist and knitter Tom Daley learning skills from grandparents, "Project Runway" alumnus Christian Siriano talking about the most-searched fashion trends and Manny MUA giving beauty tips. The products sold on the show will include items from brands like Allbirds, Outdoor Voices and Crown Affair.


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Mumbai, July 1 (LocalWire): The state tourism minister JP Panigrahi led a delegation at a set of roadshows by industry major FICCI in Mumbai on the 28 and 29 June.
Over 200 tour and travel operators from the city, who conducted rapid B2B networking with 18 leading tour operators from Odisha, were part of the delegation.
Commissioner-cum-secretary Vishal Dev initiated the presentation by highlighting Odisha across segments such as heritage tourism, ecotourism, ethnic tourism and spiritual tourism among others.
The IAS officer is known to have led Odisha’s emergence as India’s most vibrant sporting destination, emphasised the importance of the segment in terms of enhancing the state’s global brand image.
‘Bhubaneswar, one of India’s smartest and most liveable cities, is being increasingly connected to other parts of India and the world and also received commendations for conducting the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup 2018, following the stellar organisation of the Asian Athletics Championships 2017.’
His presentation highlighted the key facets of Odisha’s tourism potential starting from stunning naturally endowed locations and sprawling biodiversity to significant monuments and unique art and craft.
‘We are especially focusing on segments like ecotourism, ethnic and handicrafts tourism, besides capitalising on niche segments like heritage homestays and adventure tourism, so that more tourists can explore the unexplored parts of Odisha – apart from the most popular destinations like Puri and Konark.’
The government expressed its intent to encourage exciting experiences like houseboat tourism and caravan tourism.
Hospitality doyen Vithal V Kamat while announcing his interest in expanding his group’s presence in Odisha, commended the leadership and the state government for being amongst the most dynamic, responsive and investor friendly in India. ‘While Odisha provides the best of shopping and culinary experiences, it is arguably amongst the most exotic destinations in the world.
The government of Odisha has convinced me to not just expand my presence in the state, but now I’m looking forward to settling down here.
Retained clients are the best indicators of your success in this sector.
Make Odisha your key offering and see your client retainership rise exponentially.’
Panigrahi hailed the government’s resolve and success at leading the state’s
recovery from Fani’s devastating impact. ‘I take great pride in announcing that Odisha will be celebrating Jagannath Rathyatra from 4 to 12 July, just 2 months after the cyclone ravaged Puri.
It is with this very dedication under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that we call upon you to collaborate with us in our endeavour to give the best of India’s best kept secret to India and the world.’
The roadshow concluded with a beautiful performance of Odissi dance.
Odisha, which witnessed 1.5 crore tourist footfalls in 2018, hopes to see the numbers rise to over 2.5 crore in 2021.
The state boasts some exciting tourist circuits including diverse wildlife tours across 18 protected areas and two national parks, an enigmatic Buddhist circuit, apart from the spiritually exhilarating Golden Triangle Heritage Circuit of Bhubaneswar -Puri – Konark.


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(RTTNews) – Luxury electric car maker Tesla Inc. (TSLA) has recalled more than 475,000 cars in the United States over technical issues that could increase the risk of accidents.
Tesla has recalled 356,309 vehicles to address potential backup camera issues, which affect the 2017-2020 Model 3s. The company will repair a cable that over time can separate after wear and tear, blocking power to the rear view camera.
Another 119,009 Model S vehicles were recalled due to issues with the front trunk. The company will repair the front trunk latch that could cause the hood to open unexpectedly. This recall affects Model S vehicles manufactured between 2014 and 2021.
The recall almost equates to Tesla’s total global deliveries last year, with the company delivering nearly 500,000 cars in 2020, according to Tesla’s annual report.
In both cases, reports state that “Tesla is not aware of any accidents, injuries or deaths” related to the faults.
The recalls come after the US regulator launched a safety investigation into Tesla’s “Passenger Play” feature that allows Tesla users to play video games on car touch screens while in motion. Tesla said last week that the feature would now only be available when a car is parked after the NHTSA’s preliminary assessment of the gaming feature was announced.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.


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Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By TOM DAYKIN
May 6, 2011
Vodka is the main ingredient in a lot of cocktails. But Guy Rehorst doesn’t want the vodka and other spirits made by his Milwaukee company adding to the mix at the local landfill. So on Earth Day, Rehorst’s Great Lakes Distillery announced a new campaign to persuade customers to return their empty bottles to Great Lakes, which is cleaning and reusing them.
The program to reuse liquor bottles appears to be the first of its kind in the nation, according to Frank Coleman, a senior vice president at the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. For most breweries, wineries and distilleries, the cost of cleaning and reusing their relatively inexpensive bottles would be too high, Rehorst said. But Great Lakes uses thicker, costlier glass bottles to help market the company’s high-end craft products, Rehorst said. He figures reusing the bottles will save Great Lakes a couple thousand dollars annually. More importantly, the effort will help the environment, Rehorst said. Reuse is a much “greener” practice than recycling, which uses significant amounts of energy to convert old bottles into new glass.
The reuse program also provides another distinct selling point for Great Lakes, a small craft distillery competing with much larger companies.
The major distillers distribute their spirits throughout the nation, making a reuse program impractical, Rehorst said. Great Lakes sells 90% of its products – including gin, brandy, absinthe and rum – within 100 miles of Milwaukee.
Great Lakes began testing the bottle reuse program a few weeks ago with a couple of Milwaukee restaurants, Comet Cafe and INdustri Cafe. “We honestly weren’t sure what kind of reception we’d get,” Rehorst said. At Comet, 1947 N. Farwell Ave., 25 to 35 bottles have been saved each week for Great Lakes to pick up, said Sam Hutchinson, beverage manager. The bartenders have been storing the empties in some milk crates kept behind the bar. “It’s truly grass-roots,” said Hutchinson, adding that the program blends well with Comet’s “green” efforts to buy foods and beverages from local vendors. Great Lakes employees inspect the bottles for damage and reject bottles that have cracks and chips. The bottles are then washed and sanitized, and undergo another inspection before being refilled.
Other Great Lakes wholesale customers are joining the program. They include an expanding list of taverns, as well as Otto’s Beverage Centers, which operates seven stores in the Milwaukee area. “I don’t know if it’s going to work, to be honest,” said Otto’s owner Dave Luebke. “I don’t know if the average person is going to walk to the back of a liquor store with an empty bottle. … We’re just trying to help out a local company.”
At Otto’s, the 50 cents a bottle that Great Lakes provides bars and stores for returning the empties will be passed on to the customers who bring them to the stores, Luebke said. Great Lakes’ Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Vodka sells for $27.99 a bottle at Otto’s, he said. Also, Great Lakes consumers are invited to drop off their empty bottles at the distillery, in the Walker’s Point area at 616 W. Virginia St., Monday through Saturday, from noon to 6 p.m.


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Ever since its discovery, cannabidiol (CBD) has made waves throughout both the medical cannabis and nutrition industries; however, it’s that latter for whom this product has been a bit of a headache.
The 2014 Farm Bill helped bring mainstream CBD products to consumers by defining industrial hemp as anything containing 0.3% THC or less; however, despite this bill, hemp’s membership in the cannabis family technically still makes it a Schedule 1 controlled substance by the DEA. In other words, it’s legal and illegal at the same time. Medical marijuana suffers from a similar conundrum, being legalized in some states but still illegal federally, leading to DEA raids on legitimate dispensaries. Naturally, producers of hemp-derived CBD don’t want to run into that legal mess.
The Hemp Farm Act of 2018 seeks to change that. Aside from once again clarifying that anything at or below the 0.3% THC threshold is industrial hemp, it also removes hemp from the DEA’s list of Schedule 1 drugs. In short, producers of oils, tinctures, foods, vape products and other hemp items will breathe easy, knowing that their businesses won’t face potential run-ins with law enforcement.
A bi-partisan bill introduced by Republican Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and co-sponsored by Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), the Hemp Farm Act of 2018 has the potential to create thousands of jobs and businesses while offering a new option for health-conscious consumers.
The Hemp Farm Act of 2018 was introduced on April 12th and hopes are high that it will succeed, both for CBD advocates and the economy.


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Tax benefits, higher limits expected as govt tries to revive economy
Govt trying to leave taxpayers with more cashbusiness Updated: Feb 02, 2015 23:27 IST
The finance ministry is working out ways to spare consumers with extra cash in their hands so that it will help revive the economy’s growth by giving a fillip to sagging credit demand.
According to sources, several discussions have been held within the ministry to examine possible ways of achieving this.
“We want people to be left with more money in their hands so that it can in turn be spent, and that is how there will be credit demand too. This will be important to revive growth,” said a senior government official.
One of the ways is to raise the tax deduction limit on interest on home loans by Rs 50,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh annually from the current Rs2 lakh a year. If the proposal sees the light of day, an individual who has to pay equated monthly instalments (EMI) on a home loan would be left with a larger chunk of disposable income in his/her hands.
Sources said that there could be a few more methods of similar kind where consumers get “some” tax benefits to provide a thrust to certain sectors and the overall economy.
Earlier, finance minister Arun Jaitley too highlighted several times that he advocated maintaining lower taxes. “I am not in favour of raising the rates of taxation as that could become counter-productive,” he said at the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland.
Lenders have also brought up the issue of tepid credit demand with the finance ministry. Banks have been asked to analyse the reasons for low credit demand, and ways to reverse the trend.
First Published: Feb 02, 2015 22:51 IST


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The Grand S3 isn't a beefed up version of the Galaxy S III, an easy mistake to make just from skimming the name alone. No, it's the latest version of ZTE's flagship handset. This time around, the company is using more than competitive pricing to draw attention to its kind-of-premium device. Anyone who buys this phone in the future will apparently be able to unlock it using their eyes.
ZTE has partnered with EyeVerify to incorporate its Eyeprint ID solution with an upcoming version of the Grand S3, a phone that's already on sale in China. It is one of the first smartphones to implement this technology, which allows users to scan their retinas using a phone's front-facing camera. This should provide folks with a theoretically more secure way to get around retyping passwords than using their face or a Bluetooth device.
Since specs still matter, let's go through them. The Grand S3 rocks a 5.5-inch, 1920 by 1080 display. It's powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core processor, 3 gigs of RAM, a 3100 mAh battery, and Android 4.4. As for storage space, there are 16GBs of internal memory supplemented by a micro SD card slot. In short, the phone is mostly good, but shipping with Android 4.4 is kind of a bummer.
ZTE plans to bring this phone outside of China, but we'll have to wait and see for the when.
ZTE Grand S3 Becomes One of the World’s First Smartphones to Offer Leading EyeVerify Solution
iF Design Award winner ZTE Grand S3 among the first to offer innovative password-free smartphone experience
BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ZTE, a leading global mobile device maker, today announced at the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona that a new flagship device, the ZTE Grand S3, will be launched with a pioneering eye-based biometric solution from EyeVerify. The solution, Eyeprint ID™, allows users a password-free method of unlocking the Grand S3, offering an enhanced level of privacy and security to the device. ZTE’s Grand S3 is one of the first smartphones in the world to offer this solution.
“EyeVerify is excited to launch Eyeprint ID™ for users of ZTE devices - enabling highly accurate biometric authentication that eliminates password pain”
“We are delighted to announce our partnership with EyeVerify that brings their leading Eyeprint ID™ solution to the ZTE Grand S3,” said Adam ZENG Xuezhong, Executive Vice President of ZTE Corporation and CEO of ZTE Mobile Devices. “Our ZTE Grand series of smartphones is focused on offering the most secure devices in the market for business users worldwide. Coupled with EyeVerify’s leading solution, the ZTE Grand S3 represents an unbeatable option for smartphone privacy.”
Eyeprint ID™ offers ZTE Grand S3 users an innovative password-free mobile experience that is convenient, secure and private. The cutting-edge solution works by imaging unique vein patterns in the human eye using the Grand S3’s front facing camera.
"EyeVerify is excited to launch Eyeprint ID™ for users of ZTE devices - enabling highly accurate biometric authentication that eliminates password pain," said Chris Barnett, EVP Global Sales & Marketing at EyeVerify.
Prior to its debut at Mobile World Congress 2015, the ZTE Grand S3 was initially launched domestically in China on January 17th, 2015. The Grand S3 received an iF DESIGN AWARD 2015 in recognition of its top-class design, which is based on ZTE’s ‘minimalist design philosophy’.
Eyeprint ID™ will feature in upcoming devices in ZTE’s Grand series, and will soon be integrated with mobile payment and other applications. The enhanced privacy offered by Eyeprint ID™ positions devices in ZTE’s Grand series among the most secure devices for business users in the market. To date, devices in ZTE’s Grand series have sold more than 5 million units globally, including the Grand S, Grand Memo, Grand Memo 5S, Grand S2, and Grand X Max in the United States. The original ZTE Grand S and Grand S2 first appeared at CES 2013 and 2014 respectively, with the Grand S representing the first Grand series device made available in the U.S. market in 2013.
The enhanced ZTE Grand S3 with Eyeprint ID™ is currently available for purchase online in China, priced at 2999 RMB.


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tech2 News StaffApr 16, 2015 11:49:28 IST
Huawei has unveiled its flagship P8 smartphone, a device that stacks up against the latest models from Samsung and Apple in technical specifications if not marketing budget. The company has also announced the larger P8 Max with a massive 6.8-inch 1080p display. Apart from the larger display, the only change is the battery, which has been spruced up to 4,360mAh.
The P8, which runs Google's Android operating system, has a 5.2 inch display screen -- slightly larger than the Samsung Galaxy S6, unveiled last month, and the iPhone 6 -- and an eight-core 64-bit processor. It is powered by Huawei's Kirin 930 octa-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM . It also supports storage space starting from 16GB and expandable via microSD card slot.
Made from a single piece of metal, the phone is thinner than its rivals, with a width of 6.4 millimetres, Huawei said at a packed global launch event in London.
On the camera front, it is armed by a 13MP snapper on the back and also gets an 8MP front-facing camera.
Huawei, a major player in the telecoms network equipment market, ranked fourth in global smartphone sales last year, shipping 68 million units, giving it a 5.5 percent share, according to research group Gartner.
The market is dominated by Samsung and Apple, which Gartner said had combined sales of nearly 500 million units.
Huawei, and fellow Chinese companies Lenovo and Xiaomi, are leading the challenge to the two big players, particularly in their home market.
The Huawei P8 is likely to cost less than $530, while the larger P8 Max will be priced around $581. It is expected to reach the UK and Europe later this month, followed by the US in May.
With inputs from Reuters
Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.


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It’s set for September.
ALEXANDRIA, VA – International Vision Expo West 2017 in Las Vegas, NV, will feature more exhibitors and numerous expanded exhibitor booths in the trendsetting Galleria on the show floor, according to a press release.
More than 140 luxury brands will be featured in the show's exclusive Suites program in the Venetian Hotel.
“The continued growth of the Galleria reflects Vision Expo’s commitment to providing attendees with one convenient fashion destination for the latest trends, cult favorites, and emerging designers not found anywhere else,” said Mitch Barkley, vice president of shows for The Vision Council.
Melissa Ashley, senior vice president of Reed Exhibitions, said: “No one has more brands for the high-end customer than Vision Expo, whether it be the latest trends or timeless fashion. For buyers with discerning tastes we’re thrilled to showcase a record number of brands in the Suites, representing the industry’s most established luxury fashion houses and the latest exclusive upmarket boutiques.”
Daily happy hours, pop-up talks and a boutique buyer panel will add excitement to the Galleria. Vision Expo will also celebrate the largest collection of luxury brands in the industry throughout the two floors of the luxury Suites pavilion with a number of events, including champagne toasts and exhibitor anniversary celebrations, according to the release.
This year’s Vision Expo West offers 173,000 square feet of exhibit space where more than 430 exhibitors and 5,000 eyewear brands from around the world will debut fall lines, accessories, eyewear trends and more. With over 90 percent of optometrists and opticians reporting that Vision Expo is a good source to find the latest trends in eyewear, attendees will want to search online for the full listing of new exhibitors.
This year’s event, taking place at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas (Education: Sept. 13– Exhibition: Sept. 14–16), will bring together an expansive showcase of designer eyewear fashions, the latest in medical innovation, and education taught by prestigious lecturers on hot industry topics.
To register for Vision Expo West, visit www.VisionExpoWest.com.
Hear What the Industry Thinks About the Ultimate Lens Package by Essilor
Eye care professionals, patients, and Essilor sales consultants shared their feedback on the Ultimate Lens Package. Watch to see why they believe the innovation behind the lens can make the difference for your practice and for your patients. For more information on the Ultimate Lens Package, contact an Essilor Sales Consultant or click here.


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Evaluation: Body-off restoration represented with its original engine. Looks fresh top to bottom and probably better even than when it was new.
Bottom Line: There were more trucks than just Broncos bringing big money in Scottsdale this year. Early Power Wagons are famously rugged but have started selling for prices that are so high you’d never want to put them through a hard day’s work again. Even so, this result is a standout as only a handful of Power Wagons have broken six figures. It was reported sold at Mecum’s Harrisburg auction in 2015 for $77,000 and also reported sold for $101,200 at Russo and Steele’s Scottsdale sale three years ago, so truck fans clearly have a continuing high opinion of it.


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With the increased size and frequency of data breaches, it has become apparent that there is a right way and a wrong way to respond to a data breach. While StubHub handled their intrusion well by immediately contacting their affected customers and helping them change their password to secure their account from further unauthorized activity, other companies have not been so diligent.
From taking months before finally announcing the news to not apologizing to customers, let’s take a look at some of the worst responses we’ve seen to data breaches, along with highlighting best practices you can use to make sure your organization handles it correctly.
Over the 2013 holiday season, 40 million credit/debit card numbers and 70 million records (including the names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers of shoppers) were stolen from in-store Target purchases.
The hack originated on November 13, and though the network security firm FireEye sent alerts to Target on November 30th and December 2nd, Target did not take action nor was it the first to break the news to the public-- Krebs on Security broke the story a week earlier. After the news broke, customer service lines were jammed for hours and Target’s initial announcement on its website was not prominently displayed.
Most industry analysts agreed that Target did not react well to the breach initially and the consequences were apparent in their most recent earnings report, which estimated the cost of the data breach at $148 million for Q2.
Over a two-week period in April of this year, AT&T vendor's employees accessed customer accounts without authorization and retrieved customers’ personal records (including social security numbers and birth dates). It took AT&T two months to disclose the breach via a published message that was not sent to all of its customers. Additionally, AT&T has been unclear about how many customers were affected.
A total of 145 million eBay users were victims of a breach that took place in February/March 2014. Using an internal eBay corporate account, hackers gained access to usernames, e-mail addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth. eBay’s response? Dave Kennedy, CEO of security consultancy and breach response firm TrustedSec, considers this “one of the worst responses [he's] seen in the past ten years from a company that’s experienced a breach.” Here’s a list of eBay’s attempts to respond to the breach:
- Posted a note on its corporate website, ebayinc.com, leaving out many pertinent details.
- Posted an incomplete alert on PayPal.com (instead of eBay.com), leaving customers confused about which credentials they needed to reset. Also, the alert only included the words “place holder text”, so many customers didn't know what steps they should take.
- Finally posted a note on eBay.com, but failed to mention whether financial information had been leaked. Instead of forcing users to change passwords, eBay only asked them to change their password, leaving users vulnerable if they did not see the notification.
The Proper Data Breach Response
So, what are some better ways to handle hacks and security breaches?
- Take responsibility and be completely transparent with your users. Communication and immediacy are important to minimizing the damage.
- Make sure customer communications are posted prominently, where customers will see them.
- Increase your customer support efforts so your company can take a proactive approach in helping customers reset passwords and address customer concerns.
- Restore trust by communicating security measures your company is implementing to prevent a future data breach.


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RIVERDALE — A Weber County woman is stuck with $125,000 in deactivated gift cards that she bought from a Home Depot employee who embezzled them.
The man was convicted of communications fraud after Ogden police said he stole $330,000 in Home Depot cards from his employer and sold them to people after advertising them on ksl.com classifieds.
But Kaitlyn Peterson has filed a civil lawsuit against Home Depot, because after it detected the fraud it deactivated $165,000 worth of cards, and she was unable to finish redeeming those she had bought.
Peterson was building a home in October 2017 when she saw a ksl.com ad for a Home Depot gift card, discounted to $475, according to her lawsuit in 2nd District Court in Ogden.
She arranged to meet Daniel Martinez, 34, at the Riverdale Home Depot to verify the card. She used the card to buy several items for her project. The card worked fine and she paid Martinez.
Peterson saw a second ad by Martinez two weeks later for another $475 card. She messaged him that she was interested in the second card and asked how he obtained them.
The lawsuit said Martinez told her he was an early investor in Bitcoin, a type of digital currency. He said he was an online gamer and trader and earned Bitcoin credits by winning games. Then he withdraw Bitcoin in cash or exchanged credit for electronic gift cards, he told her.
Home Depot cards were “very popular and easy to sell and he would make more money converting his Bitcoin to Home Depot cards and selling them,” she said.
Peterson accepted the explanation, her lawsuit said, because she had no experience with Bitcoin and the first card worked well.
She told Martinez she would be interested in all the Home Depot cards he had because she was building a home and knew she could use them all.
“Martinez offered increasing discounts for increasing purchase amounts at one time,” the suit said, and Peterson bought numerous cards and redeemed several a week at Home Depot without a problem.
On May 25, 2018, Home Depot deactivated or declined the cards, and Peterson was rebuffed when she appealed to customer service, according to the suit.
Home Depot in March this year told Peterson’s attorney that it denied responsibility.
The suit argues that Home Depot should have had better employee and gift card security. Instead, the company “did nothing and allowed Martinez to operate with impunity selling fraudulent egift cards to plaintiff for eight months.”
Home Depot attorneys on Monday had the state court suit transferred to U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
Aaron Shumway, a Las Vegas attorney representing the retailer in the case, declined to comment.
Jason M. Yancey of Layton, Peterson’s attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.
An Ogden police probable cause statement said a Home Depot internal investigator reported that Martinez admitted he generated the cards. Ogden police said they found Martinez’s ads on ksl.com and said at least one other person was bought the stolen cards.
In a plea bargain with the Weber County Attorney’s Office, Martinez on May 21 pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of third-degree felony communications fraud and a charge of theft by deception was dismissed.
On July 1, 2nd District Judge Reuben Renstrom sentenced Martinez to a suspended prison term of 0 to 5 years and put him on three years of court probation.
Renstrom ordered Martinez to pay $161,499 restitution “in behalf of Home Depot,” in payments of at least $500 per month, according to court records.


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Haters love to blame "hoarders" and "panic buyers" for the lack of toilet paper on store shelves and to decry the "irrationality" of people who rushed stores to stock up amid the coronavirus pandemic. But at Medium, Will Oremus explains the truth lies elsewhere. Yes, there were some who panic-bought, especially when pictures of empty shelves hit social media. But the vast majority of people are not hoarding TP. Here's the simple reality: With at least three-quarters of the United States under stay-at-home orders, people will legitimately need more toilet paper (one estimate pegs it at 40% more) because they're not using bathrooms at work, school, and restaurants these days.
Commercial and consumer toilet paper aren't the same thing: The former comes on supersize rolls, is thin, and is shipped in bulk. And they often aren't made in the same mills. Now there's "a huge leap in demand for a product"—that would be consumer toilet paper—"whose supply chain is predicated on the assumption that demand is essentially constant." If you're thinking commercial makers should just switch gears, Oremus explains the problem: "Shifting to retail channels would require new relationships and contracts between suppliers, distributors, and stores; different formats for packaging and shipping; new trucking routes—all for a bulky product with lean profit margins." Investing in that shift likely wouldn't be worth it, because those manufacturers would have to flip back when this is all over. (Read the full piece for more on how there's a similar issue with bananas.)


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On 15th March 2023, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt delivered his Spring Statement to Parliament. The measures announced in the statement aim to help with immediate cost-of-living pressures while facilitating a sustainable plan for long-term economic growth. According to Hunt, growth can be delivered by “removing obstacles that stop businesses investing, tackling labour shortages that stop them recruiting and breaking down barriers that stop people working.”
Detailed within the Spring Statement, the latest economic outlook from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) revealed an improved position from November’s report. Specifically, the gross domestic product is expected to contract by just 0.2%, down from the OBR’s original prediction of 1.4%, with the UK now predicted to avoid a technical recession. However, the OBR cautioned that spending power is still forecast to drop by 6% over this fiscal year and the next, the largest two-year fall since Office for National Statistics began in the 1950s.
Measures for Individuals
The announced measures that impact individuals include the following:
- The Energy Price Guarantee has been extended until June 2023, and prepayment charges will be brought in line with comparable direct debt charges.
- The pension annual tax-free allowance has been increased from £40,000 to £60,000, and the Lifetime Allowance has been abolished.
- The free 30-hour child care for eligible working parents will be expanded to include children as young as 9 months from September 2025.
- The fuel duty has been reduced by 5p per litre, and its rate will be frozen for the next 12 months.
- A “returnerships” apprenticeship scheme will target older workers and help them return to the workplace.
- A more rigorous set of benefit sanctions will target those who fail to meet strict work-search criteria.
Measures for Businesses
The announced measures that impact businesses include the following:
- Corporation tax will rise from 19% to 25% from April 2023, affecting businesses with more than £250,000 in profits. Businesses with profits between £50,000 and £250,000 will get marginal relief.
- A new “full expensing” policy will be introduced—initially for three years—allowing companies to deduct eligible investments to lower their taxable profits.
- The Draught Relief will be extended from 5% to 9.2% to support the hospitality industry.
- £900 million in funding will help the UK create a new “supercomputer” to boost the artificial intelligence industry.
- Leisure centres will receive £63 million to help with rising operational costs.
- Twelve new “investment zones” will be created, designed to bolster innovation. There will be at least one zone in each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In his Spring Statement, Hunt announced a range of measures to support households and promote economic growth. However, while the OBR forecast now points to a more favourable economic outlook, consumer spending power will remain low for the foreseeable future. Consequently, it’s wise for both individuals and businesses to continue to brace for economic uncertainty and consider ways to cut costs.
Visit the government’s website to read the Chancellor’s statement in full. For further guidance and cost-cutting solutions, contact us today.


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Toyota world’s leading automaker has been developing fuel-cell vehicles for more than two decades, but the technology has been eclipsed by the immense rise of chargeable electric vehicles promoted by the other brands such as Tesla.
Prior to the Tokyo Motor Show starting on Oct. 24, Toyota revealed a prototype of the new hydrogen sedan built on the same platform as it’s luxury Lexus brand’s LS coupe. The company stated that the new Mirai model boasts longer driving range than its predecessor and completely redesigned fuel cell stack and hydrogen tanks.
Its sporty redesign with a longer wheelbase and lower-slung chassis is a marked departure from the first-generation Mirai, which looks like a bulked-up Prius hybrid.
The new car also has a 30% improvement in driving range over the previous iteration’s approximately 700 kilometers (435 miles), according to the company.
Reuters reported that Costing consumers about 5 million yen ($46,500) after subsidies in Japan, the original Mirai is one of three fuel cell cars available to consumers. Hyundai Motor Co sells the Nexo, while Honda Motor Co Ltd leases out the Clarity.
According to Reuters, Toyota has sold fewer than 10,000 of the Mirai, a fuel cell sedan is touted as a game-changer at its launch five years ago. By contrast, Tesla sold 25,000 of battery-powered Model S sedans in its first year and a half.
However, Toyota declined to disclose a price for the model and said it would be available from late next year in Japan, North America, and Europe.


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Spam goes here
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Vans took to Instagram to tease a new "Harry Potter"-themed range — and the brand sent fans of the boy wizard into a frenzy.For now Cheap Nike ShoX , the skatewear brand has provided limited information on the collection, which will include footwear, apparel and accessories made with the film franchise in mind. Both women's and men's sized items will be available. Product shots, pricing and a release date are still forthcoming.Swirl patterns themed after the four "Harry Potter" houses — Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff — are used on the Vans.com/harrypotter page. This could provide a clue to the patterns that will be used on items in the range./p/BwkFJFWnzRb/Vans is not the first brand to develop shoes inspired by J.K. Rowling's best-selling series.In February www.thetopsneaker.com , BBC International expanded its existing Warner Brothers partnership to include girls' shoes — slippers, boots and sneakers — that bring the wizarding world to life.As for Vans, the brand has a long history of creating shoes and apparel inspired by pop culture. The brand often celebrates music (recent shoe collections have paid homage to the late "Space Oddity" singer David Bowie and to '70s rock band Pink Floyd, which rang in its 50th anniversary this year).All products featured have been independently selected and curated by our editorial team. If you buy something through the links included on our site, FN may earn a commission.Watch the video below to see how to clean your sneakers using organic soap.Want more?Vans Launches Delicious Collab With This Gourmet Fried Chicken and Waffles RestaurantSurvey: Vans Is Gaining Ground With Teens as Adidas Falls Behind Serena Williams is out at the Miami Open.The tennis star was forced to withdraw from the tournament today due to a previously undisclosed knee injury.Williams has won the Miami Open eight times, with the most recent victory coming in 2015. The Nike-sponsored athlete would have played the Chinese star Wang Qiang Cheap Yeezy , the No. 19 seed, had she remained in tournament play.“I am disappointed to withdraw from the Miami Open due to a left knee injury...It was an amazing experience to play at the Hard Rock Stadium this year and would like to thank the Miami Open for putting on an amazing event," Williams stated. “I hope to be back next year to play at this one-of-a-kind tournament in front of the incredible fans here in Miami.”The 23-time grand slam champ's exit was unexpected, as she showed no signs of injury during her first-round match against Rebecca Peterson. Women's Tennis Association had no information on how she became injured, either.While Williams' exit is the biggest news to come out of Miami, the 37-year-old is not the only big name to be out early.Naomi Osaka — currently ranked No. 1 globally after winning this year's Australian Open — fell in the round of 32 to Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei Cheap Yeezy From China , going down 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3. The 21-year-old's rank could be in jeopardy depending on who wins the tournament.Roger Federer came to close to a second-round exit after losing his first set to Radu Albot but came back to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.Click through the gallery to see Serena Williams' on-court style over the years.Want more?Serena Williams Rocks Nike x Off-White Sneakers at the Miami OpenControversial Serena Williams Cartoon Deemed Not Racist by Australian Press Council9 Times Serena Williams Stole the Show in Nike Ads
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Six Australians have made it into the international finals of this year’s Talent Unleashed Awards where they will be judged by Sir Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak.
The winner – among five internationally – will be offered a five-day business-mentoring workshop at the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship in South Africa during Global Entrepreneurs Week in November 2014.
The finalists are:
- Amber Blumanis, creator of Stopover app, APAC Rising Star Award
- Filip Eldic, co- founder of BlueDot Innovation, APAC Best Start-Up Award
- James Nathan, Founder and CEO of Food Orbit, APAC Community Impact Award
- Ken Taggart, founder of Chatty Kidz, APAC Digital Content Award
- Philip Andrews, director and co-founder of Liquid State, APAC Digital Content Award
- Sebastian Eckersley-Maslin, founder of BlueChilli, APAC Inspirational Leadership Award.
Stopover app is a tool that keeps travellers occupied while waiting for their next flight or stopover flight at airports. It offers a range of activities such as learning a new language, and users can even go find themselves someone to date via the app.
Blue Dot Innovation is geolocation software that uses the precise location of a person’s smartphone for making payments in retail stores, for example. The technology could allow a customer to enter a store and purchase product via their phone, with the software picking up on the location and details of the seller to process the payment. It uses Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, and mobile towers to get the precise location of the phone.
Food Orbit allows farmers to connect with wholesale buyers such as chefs and restaurateurs is an online platform that enables wholesale buyers such as chefs and restaurateurs through an online platform. By cutting out the middleman, Farmers can ensure they get a fair price for their produce.
Chatty Kidz is a learning app that helps bring long distant families together by having parents work with their kids on educational content on the iPad, using Skype video chat.
Liquid State publishes documents to a custom branded app for tablets and phones.
BlueChilli is a venture tech company that builds and invests in digital start-ups. It helps launch two new online businesses every month, with the aim to build and invest in 100 new businesses by 2016.
“The Australian submissions were as strong as those from more developed tech start-up cities in the region. It’s a positive sign that this important industry is not giving up as a result of the recent government changes,” founder and managing director of Talent International, Richard Earl, said in a statement.
Commercialisation Australia, a $213 million grants program for startups, was cut in this year’s Federal Budget. Innovation Investment Fund, a venture capital program that has co-invested more than $300 million with private sector investors in venture capital funds to grow startups, was also cut.


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The Internet of Things is increasingly spying on you. Fridges that compromise your email, smart TVs that record your conversations, and of course smartphones are such privacy disasters the President might get in trouble for owning an unsecured one. But the case of We Vibe might be the strangest yet.
Canadian company Standard Innovation put out a vibrator, the We Vibe 4 Plus, that connects with an app via Bluetooth. That’s already something that feels poorly considered, but the app wasn’t secure, allowing anybody in Bluetooth range to take over. If that weren’t creepy enough, it also recorded temperature and vibration intensity without customers’ knowledge, sending it back to home base and essentially revealing sexual habits to Standard Innovation.
If you’re wondering what Standard Innovation was doing with that data, that’s a good question that doesn’t seem to have a particular answer. However, customers were upset, for obvious reasons, and the company was quickly dragged to court. It’s now officially out $3 million in a class-action lawsuit, which works out to $10,000 a buyer before the lawyers take their fees. As for the rest of us, this serves as an important lesson; if something that doesn’t need to be connected to the internet is, buyer beware.
(via The Guardian)


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Today something happened that alerted the community of Dark Souls, since a vulnerability was found in the latest installment of the franchise that can be exploited by hackers and people with malicious intent to damage other users’ PCs. As a precaution, many have left the title temporarily and this could also affect FromSoftware’s highly anticipated upcoming game, THE FIRE RING.
This is not the first time that security has been breached within a game by the award-winning Japanese studio. In 2016, some users similarly found an exploit in the online game of Dark Souls III which caused people to corrupt other players’ save files by giving away hacked items.
These repetition of similar events, but mainly the most recent remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability, is causing users to fear that THE FIRE RING has an exploit that leaves your equipment vulnerable. This could be seriously negative for Bandai Namco, as the launch of THE FIRE RIG is close, which means that, in case the problem also affects THE FIRE RING, FromSoftware would have to work around the clock to get the fix ready as part of the game’s day 1 patch.
Find out: a new LEVEL UP t-shirt is now available, run for yours.
The vulnerability of Dark Souls III is present in ELDEN RING?
It is important to mention that neither Bandai Namco nor FromSoftware have offered a statement in this regard, so the only information about this problem comes from user reports.
Unlike Dark Souls III, THE FIRE RING It is not yet available, but we remind you that Bandai Namco carried out a testing period that allowed some dataminers and users to play more than allowed.
Thus, according to the developers of the Blue Sentinel mod (which helps prevent the exploit), they were able to confirm that this RCE vulnerability is also present in THE FIRE RING or at least in its trial version, which doesn’t sound crazy if you have the same online communication system or netcode.
In case you missed it: THE FIRE RING It is already the most desired game on Steam.
The problem of Dark Souls III could affect the premiere of THE FIRE RING?
According to information shared on Discord, Blue Sentinel developers are seeing if they can work on a patch for THE FIRE RING in order that, in case the problem exists, there is a way to play online in the premiere safely.
However, there is some relief after one of the game’s community managers for Bandai Namco, Izmar, confirmed that he had received the feedback from players and had already reported the issue to company staff. Likewise, the user assured that he also mentioned the risk that the problem could be in THE FIRE RING.
So far, Bandai Namco has not commented on this problem through its social networks, so it is unknown if it will release a patch to fix it or a tentative date. Although the Blue Sentinel mod was quickly updated to address the exploit in the online game of Dark Souls III, the official recommendation is not to play online until Bandai Namco fixes this issue.
What do you think about this situation? Tell us in the comments.
THE FIRE RING will debut on February 24, 2022 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. You can find more news related to him if you visit his file.
Related video: THE FIRE RING – Gameplay Reveal Trailer
Stay informed with us, at LEVEL UP.


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Tourists can go wild with
adventure sport in Cochin
Aiming to include Ernakulam in the world circuit of tourism, the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) is planning a new project in which the tourists would be provided experience in wildlife spotting and adventure sport. The DTPC will form a tourism circuit connecting Bhoothathankettu, Thattekad and Neriamangalam in this regard.
The Council has already initiated a project for adventure tourism at Bhoothathankettu. Once completed, it will be connected with Thattekad and Neriamangalam.
The adventure trip will be included in a three-day package under which the tourists coming to Kochi can travel to Bhoothathankettu and spend an entire day and night there. They can also experience trekking, river rafting and night camping at Bhoothathankettu.
On the second day, they can move to Thattekad where the entire day will be set aside for boating and bird watching. By evening, they can go to Neriamangalam where a night camp will be arranged.
On the next day, they can return to Ernakulam or move to Munnar. "We are planning a new tourism circuit which will certainly get popular among tourists. The tourism circuit will be realised only after getting the approval of the district administration and the Forest Department," said DTPC secretary T N Jayashankar. "The circuit will also bring in development in the area and create more job opportunities.
However, the project will be very significant for tourism sector in the district as more tourists, especially foreigners, who are interested in adventure would get attracted to it. We are planning to send the proposal to higher authorities and expect to get the nod this year," Jayashankar added.
"Adventure-related tourism packages are popular among the tourist coming to our state. Most of them are interested in trekking and jungle trail. The new circuit will be made by keeping in view the interests of these tourists," the DTPC official said.
Source: Express News Service, Jan 11, 2012


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POPSTAR Olly Murs has announced a series of UK Arena dates for March 2013.
His tour this year sold over 150,000 tickets and included two nights at London’s O2 Arena.
Olly, whose current album ‘In Case You Didn’t Know’ has been certified platinum, is about to embark on a series of American dates with One Direction.
Murs is to support One Direction on their US tour Photo:JonathanLGardner
His music will get its first release in the US later this year.
He is currently working on his third album, which is due for release later this year and will star in the ITV2 documentary series ‘Life On Murs’ beginning this Thursday, which follows him on his sold our 2012 tour.
Tickets for the 2013 Arena dates go on sale Friday April 20 and include a date at SECC, Glasgow on FRIDAY 15th March 2013. Tickets, priced £32.50 go on sale 20th April 2012 available from www.ticketSOUP.com® or tel 0844 395 4000


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Earlier this year, PlayStation announced a new handheld peripheral for the PlayStation 5 dubbed the PlayStation Portal. Looking like nothing more than a DualSense controller that’s been chopped in half and fitted with a screen, the PlayStation Portal vaguely resembles a Nintendo Switch, I guess.
Speaking with BBC News at the end of last month, Sony head Eric Lempel clarified that the PlayStation Portal was not a rival to the Nintendo Switch or the Steam Deck, and reiterated that the device does nothing more than act as a portable screen for the PlayStation 5. Players are required to have a PS5 to use the Portal, and the Portal cannot stream games from any of PlayStation’s cloud services on its own. The device is intended for those who wish to play away from their TV or while someone else in the household is using the TV (provided their internet connection is strong enough).
Players interested in using PlayStation’s remote play feature can do so right now with their smartphone, or you can wait and buy the $200
Wii U GamePad PlayStation Portal later this month, on November 15th.
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The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism announced that American businessmen have offered to invest in the hotel sector as privately owned enterprises or joint ventures with Myanmar partners.
The announcement was made after Senator Jim Webb, Christopher Kingsley from Brownstone Furniture and special delegates met with U Htay Aung, Minister of Hotels and Tourism.
The Americans have expressed interest to invest in Yangon, Pyin Oo Lwin and Bagan, to accommodate the growing number of visitors to Myanmar.
The Ministry of Hotel and Tourism office welcomed the interest to invest and explained the current situation in investment sectors.
There has been an unprecedented surge of foreign visitors to Myanmar since 2011. The number of visitors in 2012 skyrocketed to a record high of one million people. The demand for accommodation has hit the roof. However, Myanmar does not have the infrastructure to accommodate all the visitors yet. The issue has been widely covered in the international media. It has been reported that catering to the demands of all the visitors will not be possible for the next five years.
Hotels in Myanmar have also been criticized by local travel and tourism enterprises for its low standards and expensive rates, in comparison with other Asian countries.
Yangon, with 210 Hotels and a total of 9163 rooms, is facing an acute shortage of rooms. The Minster of Hotels and Tourism said that over 1000 of hotel rooms added by end of the year.