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Electric motor and controller manufacturer YASA closes £18m funding round, sets stage for rapid growth
YASA, the world’s leading manufacturer of axial-flux electric motors and controllers for hybrid and pure electric vehicles, today announced closing a £18m (€20m) funding round. The new funding will enable the company to scale to meet rapidly growing customer demand from the automotive and aerospace sectors. Existing investors Parkwalk Advisors and Universal Partners have been joined in the round by Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI) and Inovia Capital.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190909005993/en/
YASA P400 axial-flux electric motor (Photo: Business Wire)
YASA’s innovative axial-flux electric motor and controller designs offer best-in-class power and torque densities and are ideally suited to both hybrid and pure electric applications, allowing manufacturers to improve electric vehicle performance whilst reducing vehicle weight.
This news follows YASA’s announcement in May 2019 that a luxury hybrid electric car now in series production is powered by a custom YASA motor.
Speaking of the new funding round, Charles Conn CEO at OSI said, “We have been tracking YASA’s progress for a number of years and are pleased to have the opportunity to invest in one of the UK’s most exciting high-growth technology companies that is well positioned to take advantage of the rapid move to electrification in both automotive and aerospace sectors.”
Patrick Pichette, General Partner at Inovia Capital said, “YASA exemplifies what we look for in our portfolio companies – a company with high-growth potential and a team that’s passionate about building a better world through the discovery and application of innovative technology. YASA’s electric motors and controllers are opening up entirely new opportunities for vehicle manufacturers, enabling them to create exciting electric driving experiences while reducing the impact on the environment. We look forward to enabling the company to grow and secure its place at the centre of the electrification revolution.”
Dr. Chris Harris, YASA’s CEO said, “This funding round is helping prepare the company to meet the rapidly increasing volume of demand for our electric motors and controllers from our automotive customers. We’re pleased to welcome OSI and Inovia onboard as investors – both share our long-term vision for the company and bring tremendous operational experience that will help us realise our full potential.”
YASA is the world’s leading manufacturer of axial-flux electric motors and controllers for automotive and aerospace applications. YASA’s proprietary electric motor and controller products offer the smallest, lightest form factor for a given power and torque requirement. The privately-held company is based in Oxford, the UK’s automotive manufacturing heartland. Investors include Parkwalk Advisors, Universal Partners, Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI) and Inovia Capital.
Inovia Capital https://inovia.vc
Inovia Capital is a full-stack venture firm that partners with audacious founders to build enduring global technology companies. We seek to transform venture capital by perfecting the craft of investing in people first. We roll up our sleeves to serve founders with dedicated, long-term mentorship, a global talent network, and strategic support for global scale. Together, we rewrite the rules of complex legacy industries, push technology frontiers and pursue bold visions of a better future. Inovia Capital manages over US $1B across five funds including early and growth stages, and holds offices in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, San Francisco and London.
Oxford Sciences Innovation https://www.oxfordsciencesinnovation.com
OSI is the venture firm formed in partnership with Oxford University to develop its advanced science into new platform companies. OSI has raised £600m from GV, Lansdowne, Sequoia, Temasek, Tencent, Wellcome and other global investors, and has been helping scientists build businesses that address global challenges - from infectious diseases to renewable energy - since 2015.
Parkwalk is the largest growth EIS fund manager, backing world-changing technologies emerging from the UK’s leading universities and research institutions. With £250m of assets under management, it has invested in over 100 companies across its flagship Parkwalk Opportunities EIS Fund as well as the award-winning enterprise and innovation funds Parkwalk manages for the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol.
Parkwalk invests in businesses creating solutions to real-world challenges, with IP-protected innovations, across a range of sectors including life sciences, AI, quantum computing, advanced materials, genomics, cleantech, future of mobility, MedTech and big data.
Universal Partners http://www.universalpartners.mu
Universal Partners Limited (“Universal Partners”), an investment holding company domiciled in Mauritius and listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius and JSE Securities Exchange, is an investor in owner managed, founder led, high potential companies that require growth capital and strategic assistance to achieve their potential. Universal Partners has an experienced Board of Directors and Management team, who have grown a variety of businesses in different industries and geographic regions, in private and public markets. Universal Partners has to date invested in a portfolio of fast growing companies, where it has been able to partner with management and other shareholders to facilitate achievement of ambitious business plans.
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New Generation in Cryptocurrency Mining by BitHarp23.9.2019 17:45:00 EEST | Press release
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Jabil Photonics to Demonstrate Coherent SiP based 100G/200G CFP2-DCO Product at ECOC 201923.9.2019 15:48:00 EEST | Press release
Jabil (NYSE: JBL) today announced that its Photonics business unit, a leading provider of customized end-to-end design, manufacturing and test solutions for optical communication products, will be demonstrating its coherent 100G/200G CFP2-DCO module this week at the ECOC Exhibition (Hall 4, Booth 498) in Dublin, Ireland. Jabil’s CFP2-DCO is a hot-pluggable module designed to support single-wavelength data coherent transmission at 100Gbps using DP-QPSK and 200Gbps using DP-16QAM modulations. The CFP2-DCO is designed for DWDM networks ranging from metro and data-center interconnect (DCI) to long-haul applications, as well as 100Gbps point-to-point (P2P) coherent solutions for unamplified links in 5G and cable access networks up to 80km. Powered by Elenion Technologies’ next generation Silicon Photonics (SiP) coherent engine, the Jabil Photonics CFP2-DCO sets a new standard for price-performance. The module incorporates an ultra-narrow linewidth external cavity micro-ITLA laser with gridl
CE China 2019: Suning Launches New Biu Products23.9.2019 15:43:00 EEST | Press release
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FLIR Introduces M300 Series Marine Cameras23.9.2019 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
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New Data Shows CFPB Enforcement Actions Have Decreased Under Mulvaney
Inside Subprime: Dec 18, 2018
By Grace Austin
The federal consumer finance watchdog agency has seen its reach shrink under the current administration, according to newly released data.
Under acting director Mick Mulvaney, who was appointed in November 2017, direction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has shifted, toward one more lenient on financial institutions, with “new strategic priorities…to recognize free markets and consumer choice,” as outlined in the agency’s end-of-the-year financial report.
This year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s enforcement actions against financial institutions have decreased. Enforcement actions reached a high in 2015, at 55 total. In 2018, there have been 10 total. It’s been part of a gradual decline since 2016. According to analysis from the Washington Post, in 2018, consumers also received less victim compensation — about $90 million less than in 2017.
There was one bright spot, though: the enforcement actions included those against predatory payday loans and title loans providers.
The CFPB only issued five final rules informed by public feedback this year, and had the lowest number of rules finalized or resolved within 9 months of receiving final public comments ever. One of those includes a “rulemaking to a rule” to create protections for consumers against payday and title loans, which the agency announced it will be revisiting in January 2019.
Other numbers in the 2018 financial report reflect a smaller agency. The agency’s workforce has decreased by about 10 percent over the past year. The CFPB had a high of 1,668 employees in 2017, and now has just over 1,500 workers.
Funding has also declined. The CFPB receives its primary funding from the Federal Reserve, which it must request. Requested funds had grown steadily since the agency’s founding. But in 2018, requested funding dipped to about 60 percent of the year before.
One of the main goals of the agency is to provide financial education to Americans. The CFPB releases papers and publications on subjects that concern consumers, such as financial scams, retirement savings and credit card debt. In 2018, there were 125 publications released by the agency, about half the amount released the year before.
Now, the agency has a new leader. Director Kathy Kraninger took office in early December. She’ll serve five years as head of the CFPB. Kraninger has little experience in consumer finance, though. She’s expected to continue the policies of Mulvaney during her tenure.
Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, are looking at ways to ramp up consumer finance enforcement and regulation as the CFPB relaxes. Legislators are looking at such actions as bringing back the Consumer Advisory Board and investigating the actions of student loan lenders. It sets 2019 to be an interesting year for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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EARTHblog » Nick Magel
By Nick Magel
February 13, 2012
Today, activists from the No Dirty Gold campaign left Macy’s a message at its downtown Washington D.C. storefront. The activists decorated the Macy’s front entrance with a giant balloon banner reading: “Macy’s, Don’t Break our Hearts. Dump Dirty Gold!” - referring to Macy’s failure to sign on to the No Dirty Gold campaign’s “Golden Rules” for responsible metals’ sourcing.
The activists showed up at Macy’s the day before Valentine’s Day to let shoppers know that Macy’s has thus far taken no action to help rid the jewelry industry of dirty gold: gold that may have been produced at the cost of human rights abuses, labor violations, and environmental destruction, among others.
Valentine’s Day is one of Macy’s busiest shopping seasons in the year, with the jewelry departments full of shoppers looking to buy gold jewelry for their special someone. Some of these prospective shoppers in Washington DC were greeted today by the large banner, held by over 3 dozen helium balloons, floating over the store’s main entrance informing shoppers about Macy’s dirty secret.
By Nick Magel
January 26, 2012
Colombia is in the middle of a mining bonanza. The national geology and mining regulation body, Ingeominas, reports that between 2008-2010 over 15,000 applications for mining operations were submitted. According to the new report “Mining in Colombia: at What Cost?” (PDF) nearly 40% of Colombia lands are under extraction and exploration licenses. Over 8.4 million hectares have been leased solely for mining, or just about 4x the size of New Jersey.
In the Colombia highlands mining is not a new way of livelihood. Artisanal mining has been a cornerstone of community sufficiency for generations, as is the case in Marmato. Marmato is a small village, in the department of Caldas, with a 500-year history of small-scale artisanal mining. In many ways the community of Marmato embodies the growing struggles of communities that sit on Colombia’s resource rich lands. In this case it’s gold. Marmato sits on “Montana de Oro”, or Mountain of Gold, so it is no surprise that large multi-national mining companies are anxious to tap into the area’s known deposits.


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Donald Trump praises China talks; aides downplay friction over Huawei arrest
Updated : December 07, 2018 10:10 PM IST
Major companies have expressed concerns about the how the arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada at the request of US authorities would affect US-China relations or that it would cause a potential backlash against American firms operating in China.
Kudlow said the investigation of whether Huawei violated US sanctions against Iran were on a "separate track" from the trade talks and was a matter of national security and US law.
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- Two-thirds of UK consumers (66%) say they are aware of cryptocurrencies.
- Growing UK crypto consumer awareness will draw more wealth managers.
- Insider Intelligence publishes hundreds of insights, charts, and forecasts on the Fintech industry. Learn more about becoming a client.
The news: Two-thirds of UK consumers (66%) say they are aware of cryptocurrencies, and 29% of those who are aware of them have invested in them—demonstrating that cryptos have become part of the financial services mainstream, per a Coinbase 2021 survey.
What about ownership? Further trends in the survey data augur continued growth in crypto ownership in the UK, given the high proportion of new investors and high engagement among investors.
51% of UK consumers who own cryptos bought them from 2019 onward, suggesting that this asset class has only recently broken into the investing mainstream.
And 55% of investors who already own cryptos are planning to increase their holdings in the next year, indicating an active investment environment.
The bigger picture: We expect more incumbent investment managers, like wealth managers, to react to growing investor crypto interest by offering exposure to their clients in 2022.
Crypto exchanges, like Coinbase, and digital trading platforms, like Robinhood, have thus far been the main beneficiaries of spiking crypto trading activity.
Yet interest in investing in this nascent asset class is cross-demographic: 72% of global high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) have bought crypto, per a 2021 Capgemini survey.
We expect wealth managers to follow the lead of large players like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley and offer crypto exposure to their wealthy clients.
Crypto exchanges also have an opportunity to scoop up business from this lucrative segment by tailoring their offerings to HNWIs and adding the high-touch experience that these clients are accustomed to. For example, the premium offering from Singapore-based exchange Coinhako offers clients access to a dedicated relationship manager.
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African farmer delegation touring US Midwest
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A dozen farmers and business owners from Africa are visiting farm equipment factories in the Midwest to study technology that might help them produce more soybeans and corn back home — while manufacturers in the U.S. are hoping the visit could lead to new opportunities in a market that is expected to grow in coming years.
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The customer journey is a top priority for communications execs—but few have created a dedicated customer experience (CX) budget for their brands, according to the 2017 Planning Report from the Leapfrog Marketing Institute, the research arm of performance marketing solutions company Leapfrog.
One surprising result in the report finds that only 38 percent of executives have a budget dedicated specifically for the customer experience. The good news is 60 percent of those who do have dedicated CX budgets have increased them since last year, and an additional 9 percent have a dedicated CX budget for the first time. Only 7 percent report a decrease in budget since last year.
“With the growing proliferation of devices and screens, CMOs know the importance of building relevant and personalized customer experiences across all touchpoints,” said Jason Wadler, chair of the Leapfrog Marketing Institute and EVP at Leapfrog, in a news release. “The fact that only two out of five executives report having a dedicated customer experience budget means CMOs must work harder to bring their enterprises in line with customer expectations or risk losing to more agile competitors.”
The report focuses on how budget owners are evolving their strategic and financial plans to become more consumer-centric. It explores the growing alignment between marketing and technology, and the budgetary planning process in which companies build their customer experiences. In addition, the report examines the planning differences between B-to-B and B-to-C companies.
Additional insights include:
Budget accountability for ROI is surprisingly low, especially given the growing need for marketers to deliver results that boost financial metrics. Only 44 percent state that greater than half of their budgets are accountable for measurable ROI.
Collaboration with internal teams
Reinforcing the growing collaboration among key business partners, seventy percent of executives work with their internal partners on higher level strategic activities, such as creating financial plans (37 percent) or prioritizing projects (33 percent), compared to the 19 percent who worked more tactically with their partners to simply establish budget allocations.
Financial planning: B2B vs. B2C
There are also meaningful distinctions in how B2B and B2C companies collaborate on their strategic and financial plans, and their focus on dedicated CX budgets.
For B2C companies, the technology team is a prominent partner (60 percent), just behind marketing and finance. For B2B companies, the sales team ranks as the second highest (68 percent), even exceeding finance in priority.
As for a dedicated CX budget, 32 percent of respondents at B2B companies cited they have one, compared to 51 percent of B2C companies. Yet, 65 percent of B2B companies have shifted budgets to be consumer-centric, compared to only 40 percent of B2C companies.
To gather this data, the Institute analyzed survey responses from 119 executives who are responsible for marketing budgets. The Planning Report also provides perspectives from Leapfrog Marketing Institute Advisory Panel members: Deborah (Deb) Hall-Lefevre, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Couche-Tard; Bill Pearce, Assistant Dean at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business; and Tony Wells, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer North America for Schneider Electric.


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Despite tremendous potential, Nepal has failed to fully capitalize on its export opportunities within its immediate neighborhood due to its limitations in production capacity and supply-side issues as well as various tariff, non-tariff and para-tariff barriers imposed by the destination countries.
Experts emphasized the need to address these challenges in order to boost regional trade—be it merchandize, service or electricity—during a discussion held today by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE). The discussion programme titled “Nepal’s regional trade: Prospects and challenges” was part of the seminar on Small State Capabilities: Navigating Competition and Foreign Policy Priorities in Nepal, led by the Asia Foundation (TAF).
The deliberation mostly concentrated on Nepal’s trade with Bangladesh and India and the prospects of diversifying existing merchandise trade into electricity trade as well. Nepal's heavy reliance on India for its exports and trade is evident, while its trade activities with countries beyond India remain lackluster. A study conducted by SAWTEE on Nepal-Bangladesh trade has found that Nepal's exports to Bangladesh have mainly centered on agricultural products, with lentils making up approximately 90 percent of exports over the past five years.
As Nepal moves closer to graduating from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status, it becomes crucial to explore alternative markets to mitigate the impact of tariff increment in some of its major trade destinations. In this context, there exists substantial potential to strengthen bilateral trade ties with Bangladesh, Mr. Kshitiz Dahal, Senior Research Officer, SAWTEE, pointed out during his presentation.
He argued that while non-tariff barriers do exist, it is the tariff/para-tariff barriers that constrain Nepal’s export to Bangladesh. Mr. Dahal, the author of the report, said that a Preferential Trade Agreement (PFA) could remove this constraint but there are various challenges to successfully conducting a PTA.
Rabi Shanker Sainju, Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Industry, Government of Nepal, pointed out that the time to trade with China via the land route is much lower than via the sea route for which he recommended that the constraints to utilizing the land route be addressed. Furthermore, he emphasized that despite the close geographical proximity, the trade costs between Nepal and its neighbouring countries are high. The high trade cost remains a barrier for Nepal even though there is substantial market potential in these countries, he added.
With regard to the prospect of electricity export from Nepal to India and Bangladesh, Dipak Gyawali, Former Minister for Water Resources, pointed out that rather than direct export of electricity, Nepal is better off exporting goods by using electricity to power its own factories. He pointed out the growing regulatory barriers imposed by India on electricity purchase from Nepal, as well as, Nepal’s higher cost of generation do not make electricity export conducive.
Dr. Durgesh Man Singh, Former Member, National Planning Commission and Former Ambassador to India, highlighted that initiatives at the highest political level between Nepal and India during the 1990s saw bilateral trade and investment flourish in a meaningful manner. He suggested that stakeholder consultations between the central government of Nepal and Bangladesh should be mobilized to enhance trade and investment.
Bhawani Rana, Former President, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), called attention to shrinking Indian investment in Nepal. She urged that it’s a high time that Nepal tapped into the huge market in the bordering states of India. According to Ms. Rana, despite huge potential for trade, Nepal’s exports to China are impeded due to infrastructure and logistics constraints. She recommended a coordinated effort from the private sector, government agencies, policymakers, and political parties to enhance trade and exports.
Neeru Rayamajhi Khatri, President, Federation of Woman Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal (FWEAN), said that there are high-value with huge export potential produced by women entrepreneurs mostly engaged in MSMEs comprising agro-forestry-based products including pickles, snacks, handicrafts, felt, paper, textiles, pashmina, rudraksha, among others. She suggested that proactive actions from Nepali diplomatic missions are needed to promote Nepali products in the region.
Satish Joshi, Director, VRock and Company Pvt. Ltd., expressed the inevitability of trade in electricity for Nepal, taking into account the climate and environmental perspectives and said that Nepal will have a surplus even after meeting its own demands.
The event saw the participation of around five dozen participants, including trade


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BlackBerry-maker RIM hit with new patent lawsuit
Mobile Telecommunications Technologies, LLC, claims in an action filed in Texas that RIM is infringing on five of its patents.
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Research In Motion has been hit with a lawsuit alleging it infringed patents used in its popular BlackBerry Enterprise business email service.
Mobile Telecommunications Technologies, LLC, a company based in Lewisville, Texas that says it owns a portfolio of former SkyTel Communications technology, claims in an action filed in Texas Tuesday that the BlackBerry maker’s system infringes five patents.
The patents cover several software functions including those that store and resend undelivered data messages, that handle call back numbers, and which allow a server to process extra-large emails. MTEL also says the BlackBerry calendar infringes a patent that covers prewritten messages.
More: RIM’s loss is Canada’s tech sector’s gain
The complaint seeks an injunction against Waterloo-based RIM’s use of the technology and unspecified damages.
The complaint says MTEL or its predecessors registered the patents between 1996 and 1999, were pioneers in wireless communications “and [are] credited with launching the world’s first two-way wireless paging service, dubbed SkyTel 2-Way.”
A spokesperson for RIM said the company would vigorously defend the suit while a lawyer for the plaintiffs confirmed the filing but declined further comment.
RIM, like many mobile technology companies, has faced a number of patent infringement claims, including an action in January by Wi-LAN Inc. that said it infringed two patents for frequency systems used in Bluetooth communications.
Varia Holdings LLC accused RIM in March of infringing its patent related to the use of emoticons in phone text messaging while in the same month Graphics Properties Holdings Inc. said BlackBerry phones were improperly using its patented display technology.
RIM has also been accused of infringing voice-command, imaging, battery charging and circuit board patents.
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- Short-form video giant TikTok recently surpassed 1.5 billion downloads.
- Young South Africans have taken to the app enthusiastically, with many in a position to generate some form of income as so-called TikTok influencers.
- The most popular accounts have in excess of 20 million fans.
- For more stories go to Business Insider South Africa.
Short-form video giant TikTok recently surpassed 1.5 billion downloads, which makes it one of the world’s most popular social media apps - despite the fact that many people outside of their teens have never even heard of it.
Young South Africans have taken to the app enthusiastically, with many in a position to generate some form of income as so-called TikTok influencers.
Popular themes for local videos vary, but most tend to fall within sporting spoofs, acting out South Africanisms, magic tricks, or - as with most videos on the platform - lip-syncing to songs in bedrooms.
The app is centred around short, sharp, videos under 60 seconds - sometimes they’re carefully choreographed and scripted, other times they’re simple, spontaneous, or seemingly off the cuff.
Its popularity has exploded among teens in particular, as they attempt to outgun their peers with quirkier, more outrageous, or more suggestive clips.
Increasingly, though, older users have also taken to the app - with actors, comedians, musicians, and magicians adding it to their arsenal of social media tools to help pull in more views from more fans.
Much of TikTok’s growth has been down to an explosion of users in India - who accounted for 31% of the app downloads this year.
But South Africans have also been quick on the uptake - even though the app only officially launched here last year, millions are now using TikTok to get some social media attention.
Although it’s difficult to officially establish just how popular the platform is in South Africa, local hashtags offer some insight. #tiktoksouthafrica and #southafrica have amassed a combined 7,000 videos and 350,000 fans. Videos categorised with the hashtag tiktoksouthafrica already have in excess of 400 million views.
And although South African users are yet to break into any global top 100 TikTok influencer lists, some, including former South Africa’s Got Talent contestant Wian Van Den Berg, are getting close.
The 22-year-old Van Den Berg, who goes by WianMagic on TikTok, makes short street magic videos in the vein of David Blaine - tricks like turning chocolate packets into chip packets, pulling abnormally large straws from McDonald’s takeaway packets, “finding” R100 notes in lemons at Food Lover’s Market, and attaching rubber snakes to “unsuspecting” victims.
He has 1.9 million followers, and his 120-odd videos, most of which are just a few seconds in length, have been liked by other TikTok users more than 20.1 million times. This puts him just outside of the global top 1,000 influencers - but comfortably in the top 1%.
The size of his following, and the engagement with his posts, is enough to generate at least some income on the platform.
One TikTok user with 880,000 fans told Business Insider US that she earns between R295 and R735 by doing a single TikTok livestream. And sometimes she can make as much as R1,400 with a single “live”, although she says the app does take “around half” of the money she makes.
According to TikTok ranking website TikRank, Van Den Berg currently has potential earnings of R419,401 thanks to his TikTok presence.
Just behind Van Den Berg in the local rankings is Chané Grobler - a 19-year-old from Pretoria. Grobler has amassed 1.5 million followers on the platform with her thousands of videos - they consist mainly of bedroom choreography and lip-syncing to backing tracks.
One of her most popular TikToks is a skit set to Katy Perry’s E.T., in which there appears to be some kind of suburban teenage love triangle - with the caption of “Oof that escalated quickly ????”. It has 858,800 likes, 2,800 comments, and has been viewed 3.4 million times.
Her videos have generated 51.1 million likes and in excess of 300 million views - which, according to TikRank's calculations, is enough to generate potential earnings of R117,482.
Although these local TikTok users may be achieving some degree of local fame, or infamy, in the context of the international rise of the platform they still have some way to go.
Of the independent creators who gained notoriety from TikTok, the most popular accounts have in excess of 20 million fans.
At the very top of the global TikTok list is 17-year-old Loren Gray, who also favours lip-syncing videos and skits - at last count she had 35.2 million followers.
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Also from Business Insider South Africa:
- South Africa has the most expensive home fibre internet connections of any country, according to a new survey
- This eye-popping video shows how South Africa became the country with the longest working hours in the world
- Uber's safety centre for SA is based in Egypt - here's how it works
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CENTERVILLE, Ohio (WDTN) — Centerville Police are looking for an identity theft suspect.
Police say a man on January 10th used a cloned credit card number at the Walmart on York Commons Boulevard in Dayton.
The suspect bought prepaid gift cards with the credit card number.
Police say the suspect is a black man, with average height and build, wearing khaki pants a black jacket and a black winter hat.
There are no surveillance pictures of a vehicle in connection with the identity theft.
Police did provide a photo of the suspect from a surveillance camera near the entrance of the Walmart.
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call Centerville Police at 937-428-4706.


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Lately, game developers have been winning hand over fist when it comes to generating enormous valuations. And while most of the attention has focused on massive acquisitions in the public markets, it should be noted that startup investment is humming along too.
The latest large financing round, reported Monday, is a $116 million Series B for Tripledot Studios, a London-based casual mobile games developer with a popular solitaire app and several puzzle games.
The financing, led by 20VC, reportedly sets a valuation of $1.4 billion for the 5-year-old company and brings total funding to date to more than $200 million.
The fundraise comes as game industry startup funding is on fire. So far this year, companies in the gaming space have raised over $1.46 billion in venture and growth funding globally, per Crunchbase data.
Annual venture funding to companies in the gaming space, meanwhile, hit an all time high in 2021, according to Crunchbase data, with nearly $12 billion in total investment. That’s almost double investment for all of 2020, which came out to around $6.5 billion.
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Consolidation in the gaming space is off the charts as well. Things hit a crescendo in January with Microsoft announcing its planned $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard—which would be its biggest bet on gaming yet and the company’s largest purchase ever.
It should also be noted that consolidation in the gaming industry boomed in 2021 as well. According to Crunchbase data, last year was the busiest year for purchases of gaming companies globally in at least a decade, with about 180 companies related to online games and video games acquired.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily.


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New Delhi: The Government has taken important initiative to implement depot online system across all food storage depots of FCI in the country. All the depots will have all their operation online by March 2016. This was stated by Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food &Public Distribution while releasing logo and tag line capturing the essence of this prestigious initiative on the eve of launch of Digital India Week.
Shri Paswan said that depot online project is a part of overall vision of Government of India to transform the food distribution supply chain in the country. It would facilitate process automation, standardization and efficiency of the management of foodgrain distribution and would enable real time monitoring of operations and timely data reporting.
The Food Corporation of India has already initiated the process for implementing depot online project and as a part of the process, a contest was held on MyGov platform for designing a logo and tagline for depot online system. The contest was aimed at obtaining the most innovative logo and a tagline capturing the essence of this prestigious initiative. Huge response was received and more than 500 contestants participated. The contest was won by Shri Anurag Saxena. Shri Paswan gave away cash award to the winner in a brief ceremony held at Krishi Bhavan, today.
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DUNLOP ON THE PACE IN BENNETTS LIGHTWEIGHT TT CLASS WHILE HARRISON TOPS THE MONSTER ENERGY SUPERSPORT BOARD
DONATION OF FULLY EQUIPPED AMBULANCE WORTH ₹ 30 LAKHS TO SUJAY HOSPITAL FOR UNDERPRIVILEGED BY DIGNITARIES
BCCI signs Letter of Intent with UN Environment
ACP Ghazal enters in Creative Eye Ltd Serial Ishq Subhan Allah which comes on Zee TV
2014 The Global Indian New Network (TGINN)


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1100 13th Street, NW, Suite 1000Washington, DC 20005202.887.6400Toll-free: 800.544.0155
All Contents © 2020The Kiplinger Washington Editors
By Harriet Lefton, Contributing Writer
| April 10, 2019
Welcome back, bulls.
A stellar first quarter and a strong jobs report has sent the market into full-on rally mode. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has now gained nearly 15% since the start of the year. And several drivers – including the growing possibility of a trade deal with China – may give the broader stock indexes a chance at hitting all-time highs this spring.
With the 10-year bull-run back on track, we turned to TipRanks’ Analysts’ Top Stocks tool to pinpoint some of the market’s most compelling investing opportunities. This tool reveals the companies with the most bullish “Strong Buy” consensus, based on top-performing analysts’ ratings of these stock picks over the last three months.
Here are 10 of the analysts’ best “Strong Buy” stock picks in anticipation of a continued rally. We’ve ranked them by potential upside based on analyst targets – from 4% to 103%.
Data is as of April 9.
Market value: $4.1 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $64.50 (4% upside potential)
TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy
Cybersecurity stock Verint Systems (VRNT, $62.04) is buzzing right now. The company delivered another robust round of quarterly financials and guidance near the end of March, leading to a big round of applause from the Street. “The Comeback Kid Delivers,” writes Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives, who boosted his price target from $58 to $63. VRNT has been pushing toward that target ever since.
Ives says Verint is at a real inflection point, with investments in advanced technologies – such as machine learning and robotics – beginning to pay off.
“VRNT is seeing strong demand for its Customer Engagement hybrid cloud portfolio,” he writes. On the cyber intelligence front, because of Verint’s strong reputation and product-based approach, “the company was able to drive strong growth and expects this trend to continue into double-digit territory throughout FY20.”
“As the visibility in VRNT increases, margins ramp, and the value proposition of its analytics framework continues to take hold, we believe the multiple will further expand,” Ives writes. For further insights on this tech stock, turn to TipRanks’ VRNT Research Report.
Market value: $210.1 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $132.36 (13% upside potential)
Walt Disney (DIS, $116.86) is a mainstay among analyst stock picks, and Wall Street still is largely in the bull camp. The company is gearing up to launch its own Disney+ streaming service, placing it in direct competition with powerful rivals such as Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon.com’s (AMZN) Amazon Prime.
Goldman Sachs analyst Drew Borst is forecasting 7.5 million global subscribers by 2020, then a whopping 73 million by 2025. Disney has just completed the biggest entertainment merger in Hollywood with the purchase of many of 21st Century Fox’s (FOXA) film and TV assets, and once that’s done, it will own 60% of streaming provider Hulu.
“It is the dawn of a new era at Disney,” Borst says. “The $70 bn acquisition of Fox is now closed and the approaching debut of Disney+ streaming service in late (calendar 2019) marks a momentous shift in the company’s content monetization model from third-party licensing to direct-to-consumer streaming.”
Despite near-term investment headwinds, the analyst is confident that Disney+ represents a positive long-term strategy. Borst thinks the service will enable DIS to develop better direct-to-consumer relationships, with higher long-run margins and better consumption data.
The analyst initiated coverage on Disney on April 4 with a “Buy” rating and $142 price target (22% upside potential). Discover more about Disney’s investing potential in the TipRanks’ DIS Research Report.
Market value: $901.8 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $2,125.16 (16% upside potential)
While retail stocks all round the world struggle, Amazon.com (AMZN, $1,835.84) continues to deliver impressive growth quarter after quarter thanks to the company’s multi-pronged approach. Not only is it America’s e-commerce leader, but it’s also the global leader in cloud computing with its extremely valuable Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit, and it’s diving even further into media via its Amazon Prime operations.
Five-star Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein has just finished a deep dive into AWS. The results have furthered his conviction in Amazon’s investing thesis, leading him to raise his price target from $1,975 to $2,085 (potential upside of 14%).
“We think AWS is well positioned as AI leads productivity improvements, forcing faster enterprise cloud adoption,” Helfstein writes. The benefit for AWS is twofold: 1) most organizations will gain access to AI through their cloud platform, driving cloud adoption; 2) AI applications and services are high-margin recurring revenues that will tie-in enterprise providers. He estimates AWS revenue to increase from $8 billion in 2018 to $13 billion in 2021.
Interestingly, Helfstein also argues that with each new successful Amazon Web Services “vertical,” Amazon is increasingly likely to spin out AWS into a separate unit. “We view this as possible when AMZN matures its advertising and video businesses,” he writes.
The Street views Amazon as one of the best stocks to buy right now. Of the 36 analysts covering AMZN shares, 35 rate it a “Buy.” For more information on Amazon’s latest market activity, get a free AMZN Research Report from TipRanks.
Market value: $3.2 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $15.33 (59% upside potential)
Low-cost cannabis producer Aphria (APHA, $9.67) has enjoyed a tremendous run recently, with shares exploding 70% year-to-date. That’s following a horrific 2018 in which the company was hit by a short report alleging that insiders profited from acquiring international assets at extortionate prices.
But an investigation by a special board committee subsequently held that these allegations were unfounded, and the stock has been back on an upward trajectory ever since.
The committee did note, however, that “certain of the non-independent directors of the Company had conflicting interests in the Acquisition that were not fully disclosed to the Board.” As a result, chairman Irwin Simon has now taken over the CEO role. Simon is the founder, and former CEO of multibillion-dollar company Hain Celestial Group (HAIN), bringing with him extensive experience growing and guiding large companies in consumer markets.
“If management can execute, there is the potential for a very substantial re-rating of the stock price from current levels,” top-rated Clarus analyst Noel Atkinson writes to investors. “Aphria’s list of near-term operational milestones is significant, and successful execution in a timely fashion could transform the company both in terms of financial results and investor sentiment.”
These milestones include the launch of cannabis oil soft gels and optimizing growing techniques at its Leamington, Ontario site. The company plans to expand production at Leamington to 70,000 kilograms of cannabis per year. Find out what other analysts think of this cannabis stock in TipRanks’ APHA Research Report.
Market value: $1.9 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $63.80 (21% upside potential)
Dave & Buster’s (PLAY, $52.65) received a slew of analyst “Buy” ratings following its Street-beating fourth-quarter results on April 3. The food-and-games franchise reported positive comparable-store sales growth in its Food & Beverage business for the first time in two years, while earnings of 75 cents per share beat expectations of 64 cents by a wide margin.
“We maintain our Buy rating on Dave & Buster’s (PLAY) and raise our price target to $67, from $64, following the release of better-than-expected F4Q18 (January 2019) results,” writes Maxim Group’s Stephen Anderson.
Even following a post-earnings rally, Anderson believes the stock is trading at an “attractive valuation.” Anderson sees shares surging by more than 27% from current levels, and notes that the company has now expanded its share buyback program by $200 million, to $600 million.
“We also believe accelerated share buybacks will offer another lever for EPS growth” Anderson writes about this stock pick. According to his calculations, these additional share buybacks will add about 9 cents per share in earnings this fiscal year, and as much as 28 cents per share in fiscal 2020. You can check out more analysis of Dave & Buster’s in TipRanks’ PLAY Research Report.
Market value: $4.4 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $52.75 (34% upside potential)
CarGurus’ (CARG, $39.35) mission is to be the most trusted and transparent auto marketplace in the world. With a database of more than 5.4 million used cars, CARG’s website assists users in comparing local listings for used and new cars, and contacting sellers. It also boasts an active network of more than 40,000 American dealers.
But what sets CarGurus apart is its focus on the consumer.
“CARG’s differentiated, consumer-centric marketplace is enabling it to quickly grow site traffic while rival platforms seem constrained in their ability to respond/follow,” writes five-star SunTrust Robinson analyst Naved Khan. Indeed, CARG’s monthly audience size is now double that of competing marketplaces, and traffic continues to grow at a healthy clip.
Meanwhile revenue from auto dealers is also ramping up. “CarGurus’ rising site traffic/connection volumes, compelling dealer ROI and slew of new product launches should help drive strong growth in AARSD (annual revenue from subscribing car dealers) over the near-to-medium term, with scope for meaningful margin improvement,” writes Khan, who has a “Buy” rating and $52 price target (32% upside) on CARG.
Adding to the bullish activity comes a recent upgrade from Goldman Sachs. Citing traffic growth and marketing efficiency, Daniel Powell upgraded CarGurus to “Buy” while ramping up his price target from $43 to $48. Find out more from TipRanks in its CARG Research Report.
Market value: $64.3 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $240.67 (42% upside potential)
Insurance giant Cigna (CI, $169.13) has 100% Street support right now. All eight analysts that have published recommendations on Cigna during the past three months rate the stock a “Buy.”
“Remain buyers as story remains on track,” recommends five-star Oppenheimer analyst Michael Wiederhorn. Fresh from management meetings, he reiterates his “Buy” rating with a $254 price target (50% upside potential).
“We continue to have confidence in Cigna’s outlook, and believe the stock looks particularly attractive despite the noise around drug pricing and Medicare For All,” writes Wiederhorn, who says the company’s valuation of roughly 7.5 times 2021 EPS targets “highly compelling.”
Most importantly, Cigna noted that the Express Scripts integration remains on track, with strong employee retention and a stable ESRX client base. Cigna completed the massive $67 billion merger back in December, and so far management has not seen any notable health-plan losses.
“Overall, Cigna continues to project robust growth from the ESRX deal, but we believe the market is unfairly punishing the company due to some of the industry noise. As a result, we maintain our Outperform rating and would continue to be buyers,” the analyst concludes. Find out what other analysts think of Cigna in TipRanks’ CI Research Report.
Market value: $3.9 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $60.60 (47% upside potential)
Wyndham Destinations (WYND, $41.29) – one-half of the previous Wyndham Worldwide, which split off into WYND and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (WH) this year – is one of America’s largest hospitality companies with more than 220 timeshare resorts. Shares have already surged more than 17% year-to-date as the company continues to deliver on multiyear growth targets. And according to Wall Street’s experts, there still is significant upside potential left to run.
In addition to the 40%-plus price potential for shares, based on analysts’ estimates, Wyndham Destinations also offers a generous dividend yield of 4.5%.
This dividend is one of the reasons Deutsche Bank’s Chris Woronka likes Wyndham so much: “We continue to view WYND as a consistent free cash flow generation vehicle and a prudent capital allocator, marked by programmatic share repurchase and reliable dividend increases,” writes this top-performing analyst.
And all this comes at a very reasonable valuation. “At less than 7x forward year EV/EBITDA, we believe the stock should attract incremental interest from deep value and yield-based investors,” Woronka writes. He has a “Buy” rating on Wyndham Destinations with a $60 price target. Discover more from TipRanks in its WYND Research Report.
Market value: $8.8 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $209.00 (69% upside potential)
Some of you may already be familiar with Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT, $124.01). This nearly $9 billion gene-therapy company already has an FDA-approved product. Exondys 51, the first-ever FDA-approved treatment for a rare but deadly genetic disease called Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), is already on the market.
With more than 20 therapies in various stages of development and research focused on RNA, gene therapy and gene editing, SRPT represents a very intriguing investing opportunity. “We think Sarepta has a clear lead in DMD gene therapy and their data has set a high bar for competition,” writes Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Alethia Young.
Specifically, on March 28, Sarpeta unveiled data from its ongoing Phase 3 study evaluating casimersen and golodirsen for DMD patients with a different genetic mutation. The data was positive, and Sarepta is now gearing up to a file a new drug application (NDA) for casimersen.
“We are very encouraged by these levels of dystrophin expression by casimersen,” writes five-star Cowen & Co. analyst Ritu Baral. “Given FDA accepted golodirsen’s NDA, we remain optimistic on the probability of acceptance and success for accelerated approval of casimersen.” She has a “Buy” rating on the stock and $213 price target (74% upside potential).
An even bigger catalyst is fast-approaching. The crucial FDA decision date for golodirsen is set for August 2019; should the FDA approve the drug application, SRPT shares could move significantly higher. For more information on Sarepta, get a free SRPT Research Report from TipRanks.
Market value: $6.4 billion
TipRanks consensus price target: $38.67 (103% upside potential)
Clinical-stage biotech stock Amarin (AMRN, $19.06) is best-known for its potentially groundbreaking fish-oil drug Vascepa.
The company just announced submission of its supplemental new drug application (sNDA) to the FDA for Vascepa to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events for statin-treated patients with cardiovascular (CV) disease. This follows the company’s presentation of the landmark REDUCE-IT trial results highlighting the relative risk reduction (RRR) benefits of Vascepa, on top of statin therapy.
While investors anticipated the FDA submission, a more unexpected bullish signal came from the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The ADA has now updated its Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes for 2019 to include recommending icosapent ethyl (i.e., Vascepa) to reduce CV risk.
“As this decision was informed by the REDUCE-IT trial and the prominent role of cardiovascular disease in diabetics patients, we see this as a real-time win for Vascepa being recognized as a possible means of helping an at risk patient population,” writes top H.C. Wainwright analyst Andrew Fein.
Fein believes the medical community is beginning to appreciate the possible impact and longer-term benefits of Vascepa in CV disease patients, and concludes “we maintain our positive outlook on program expansion and most notably the prospects for benefiting a CV patient population representative of the leading cause of death in this country and globally.”
As a result, Fein reiterated his “Buy” rating on Amarin on April 1 with a $51 price target (167% upside potential). See what the rest of Wall Street has to say about Amarin in TipRanks’ AMRN Research Report.
Harriet Lefton is head of content at TipRanks, a comprehensive investing tool that tracks more than 5,000 Wall Street analysts as well as hedge funds and insiders. You can find more of their stock insights here.


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Oak Cliff’s place as the stronghold for vegan food in Dallas endures with Lucky Mouth Grocery.
Husband-and-wife business partners Adriana Martinez Miers and David Miers started the business online, where they take orders that customers pick up from the Design District. After less than a year and a half, they’ve secured a brick-and-mortar location, on the ground floor of the Victor Prosper apartment building on West Davis at Zang.
The grocery will carry the same vegan snacks and packaged and frozen foods it now sells online as well as grab-and-go salads, sandwiches and soups.
Eater reports the grocery could open as soon as November.


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The iPhone continues its trek across the world-- the next country to have a rumored release is Japan, and sources there say that DoCoMo will likely be the company to release the Gadget of the Year there. But both NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile have spoken with Apple, and DoCoMo, says a local news agency, might not want to be as generous with sharing the subscriber revenue as some other companies Apple has worked with before.
Then again, is Japan really that excited about the iPhone anyway? They've had some pretty awesome personal communication devices for years, and while the iPhone is definitely a quality device, my suspicion is that it won't stick out nearly as high above the rest of the options over there. Of course, on the third hand, Apple may consider the Eastern market all bonus cash anyway, and may take a dive on the subscription rates just to get what they can.
All speculation at this point, of course-- it's up to DoCoMo and Apple to decide what they want to do and how they want to do it.


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U.S. financial markets were on the rise Thursday on word that the People’s Republic of China noted improved trade negotiations with the Trump Administration were possible, ahead of new talks scheduled for next month.
Tech stocks for companies subject to trade tariffs rose, with Apple and Microsoft each up.
In the media sector, CBS was up 1.5%, to $42.36. Entercom gained 2%, to $3.53.
Also up: iHeartMedia, rising 3.6% to $13.72.


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Uzbekistan: Central Bank refutes import contracts payments stopped
‘Recently, a number of online publications have been disseminating information about commercial banks ceased payments under import contracts, including imported goods. In this regard, the Central Bank officially declares that payments on imported contracts for goods (works and services) are delivered timely and in full. And information about their suspension is absolutely untrue,’ stated the Central Bank.
Earlier, Fergana reported that all banks of Uzbekistan had ordered to suspend payments under import contracts and signing of contracts for payment of supplies of imported goods until 22 April. The fact of the verbal ban on payments was confirmed by a source in the management of the National Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Uzbekistan to Fergana. This took place after a conference call chaired by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who had threatened the leaders of large companies and economic associations with tough measures - for the further import growth, especially of the raw and other material analogues produced in Uzbekistan, as well as the diversion of foreign exchange resources for non-traditional imports.


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Rihanna poses for yet ANOTHER topless shot... but this time it's for a good cause: Singer stars in MAC charity campaign
- Singer, 25, is new face of Viva Glam
- All proceeds go to AIDS charity
- Says she wants to reach out to as many young people as she can
- Beauty brand was founded by two gay men in 1985
With 24m Twitter followers and 85m Facebook fans, there's no doubt that Rihanna is one of the world's most influential stars.
And now, the Barbadian singer is using her popularity to raise awareness for AIDS.
Rihanna, 25, is the new face of Viva Glam by MAC - a make-up collection that donates every penny of the selling price to help women, men and children living with and affected by AIDS.
Viva Glam: Songstress Rihanna, who already has her own range of cosmetics with MAC, is the new face of the charity collection which donates all proceeds to help fight AIDS
The singer showcases her platinum cropped locks in a topless campaign - wearing nothing save for a slick of red Viva Glam lipstick.
Speaking about her new campaign, Rihanna said: 'I'm honored to join forces with the MAC Aids Fund and UNAIDS in the fight against AIDS.
'I want to help reach as many young people around the world as I can.'
Red hot: Rihanna has created a £15 lipstick and £14 lipglass in two strikingly bold shades of red that 'perfectly captures her fearless, confident style', says the brand
Speaking about the £15 lipstick and £14 lipglass, a spokesperson for MAC said: 'Rihanna launches our new MAC Viva Glam with two strikingly bold shades of red frosted lipstick and lipglass, perfectly capturing her fearless, confident style.'
The MAC makeup brand was established by two gay men from Toronto back in 1985.
They added the Viva Glam campaign in 1994 to raise money for some dying friends, according to Estée Lauder, which bought MAC in 1995.
Beauty and brains: Rihanna has unveiled several collections with the beauty giant, which have all sold out in record time
Rihanna follows in the footsteps of her famous friends Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga, who have also fronted the charitable campaign.
A spokesperson for the cosmetics giant says they hope having Rihanna on board will boost awareness.
It seems like they'll have no trouble if the singer's recent collaborations are anything to go by; her cult red RiRi Woo lipstick sold out in just three hours.
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Small Canadian meat producers may finally get a hoof up, seven years after the first infected animal with mad cow disease led to a regulatory crackdown.
The provincial government has developed two new licenses to allow some producers to sell uninspected meat directly to consumers up to a certain amount each year. It’s a boon for small and remote farmers who were forced to go underground or stop producing altogether when uninspected meat became illegal to sell six years ago.
Class E licenses, allowing farmers to slaughter up to 10 animals a year, will be available in any area of the province, given a “proven lack of slaughter capacity.”
Class D licenses are issued in nine designated areas and allow 25 animals a year and sale to retail within the area. D license holders aren’t allowed to sell meat outside the designated areas is to ensure they don’t compromise A and B facilities.
Lisa Daniels was one of the first people to receive a new Class D license. She runs a 20-acre farm in Powell River and was part of a consultation group with the government to change rules many saw as draconian.
“It took farmers being legitimate business people to being criminals,” she says. “There was never a chance where we could say, ok, we can actually grow our business.
“I hate underground stuff and basically that was the result in rural and remote areas: meat was going underground.”
But she says if you went underground you could run into problems with B.C. assessment.
“If your income is illegal, you can’t show it, and it doesn’t count, so people would be losing their farm status.”
Daniels says some small producers simply stopped raising animals. She and her husband continued, but their only option for complying with the rules was to ship their animals on a ferry to Vancouver Island where they would be slaughtered and shipped back at a huge cost to them.
Since the spring, Daniels has been working with a Class D license which allows her to slaughter up to 25,000 pounds live weight and sell directly to consumers or to retail.
“For us, that’s a fair bit,” she says.
Many producers fall outside the Class D license areas. The Robson Valley is not deemed remote or populated enough to be eligible for Class D licenses.
Northern Health, responsible for implementing the licenses in the health authority, will be accepting applications for Class E licenses in November, which allows 10,000 pounds to be sold directly to consumers but not to retail.
Valley farmers respond
For farmers like Mac Cochrane, that’s good news. He and his wife Deb slaughter eight to 10 animals a year. He says it’s “just” profitable for him to bring the animals to a slaughterhouse north of Barriere, once you factor in hauling the stock three hours, returning home, and then picking them up again a week or two later. The closest slaughterhouses are north of Barriere, Prince George and Edson, all a three-hour drive from the Robson Valley.
The cost of the freight alone can run up to $800, and the whole process of slaughter, cutting and wrapping can add up to thousands of dollars.
“It gets pretty expensive before you’ve made a nickel,” says Valemount farmer Jim Stewart.
He says the farm gate license would be a relief for small farmers, many of whom have continued to sell uninspected meat, despite the regulations – rules which were slippery to enforce anyway.
“The sad part of it is you don’t get sick from the local beef,” he says. “I don’t think the government recognizes that you’re going to buy eggs from me, and they’re going to be good eggs or you’re not going to buy from me. It’s as simple as that.”
Mark Froese of the McBride Farmer’s Institute says while the 10 animal limit will satisfy most of the group’s two dozen members in the McBride area, the number is arbitrary and should be higher.
“I don’t see the distinction between 10 and 25 animals. It may as well be 25.”
Froese farms 70-100 bison and says he has shipped them all over eastern B.C. for slaughter, but the cost and time aren’t the only hurdles. If he wants to ship them to a provincial facility in Prince George, it’s a three month wait.
“If you phone today, they’ll give you a date three months down the road when you’re supposed to deliver.”
The new system will have meat inspection officers visit each farm initially. Northern Health is training four officers who will train license holders in proper slaughter technique across northern health, says Lucy Beck, regional director of public health protection. The officers will also enforce and monitor production.
The training will likely take one day, and enforcement will be based on a “complaint basis” with license holders inspected every 3-5 years, she says.
Class E license applicants will have to go through a feasibility study which looks at how far away they are from a slaughter facility – it means it’s not certain Robson Valley farmers will be able to obtain a license.
“What exactly is a part of the feasibility study hasn’t been determined yet,” she says. “They haven’t said yet that if you’re within this distance you can get a license, and if you’re within this distance you can’t.”
With only four officers for 600,000 square kilometres of territory to potentially cross beginning in January, she says it could take several months, especially due to winter weather conditions, she adds.
Slaughterhouses in Peril?
Part of the controversy surrounding the new licenses comes from abattoir operators. Class D licenses let the permit holder slaughter other people’s animals, for example, which some see as threatening the viability of existing abattoirs.
“We’re in a hard spot with these licenses to be quite honest,” says Kevin Boon, general manager of the B.C. Cattlemen Association. “You want to help the small guy, but at the end of the day, they’re not the guys who keep our industry running.”
He says the association is in favour of D and E licenses in areas of the province only where it’s nearly impossible to access abattoirs on a timely basis. Cutting travel costs is also more humane for the animals, he notes.
But some abattoirs have put a lot of investment into their operations, he says. He also has concerns about these license holders expanding production beyond their quota, hurting slaughterhouses even more.
“We do have some concerns around the E licenses as to who is going to police or monitor and enforce these regulations,” he says. “What is the chance they’re going to stay within those 10 animals?”
But farmers such as Mark Froese say they don’t think this will have a huge impact on their business, since the licenses target producers that were never taking full advantage of abattoirs – whether federal or provincial.
In Canada provincial and federal legislation both govern the sale of meat. Federal inspection is generally for meat that is crossing provincial, territorial or national borders.
Due to the cost of running a federal facility, there are far fewer in B.C. than provincial slaughterhouses. Boon says it’s not the equipment. More than 85 per cent of beef cattle raised in B.C. is trucked to Alberta for federal inspection.
“For the beef producer, it’s very hard to access a federally inspected plant,” he says.
Boon says there are discussions going on right now between the three western provinces, B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan, about a cross-border trade agreement. They are working on standardizing the meat inspection regulations, so meat crossing a provincial border doesn’t have to be inspected by a Canadian Food Inspection Agency official.
Boon says that would probably exclude a Class E license since other provinces are licensed differently.
McBride resident Mike Monroe has been working on opening a slaughterhouse on his property on Mountainview Road. The facility would be Class A certified, which means the operator could slaughter as well as cut and wrap meat for local producers. The scale would be 20 head of cattle a week.
“It’s been a long struggle, but we’re getting close,” Monroe says. “We’re in the final push.”
A local slaughterhouse would negate the need for Class E licenses, according to the new rules, which are based on lack of slaughter ability in an area. But the slaughterhouse would allow local producers to process their meat more affordably, boost industry in the area and allow producers to sell their meat to restaurants and stores.
It also means that if an agreement is reached to allow inter-provincial trade, Valley producers using a local or regional slaughterhouse could sell their meat, for example, at the Jasper Farmer’s Market.
A boost for organics
While he has concerns over enforcement, Boon says he sees the value in farm gate sales.
“The farm gate sales tend to go to the people who are really concerned about where their beef comes from,” he says. “They want to be able to walk out and see the animal, how it’s raised, what it’s eating. That gives those little guys a little more opportunity to make a little more money off it.”
Daniels’ farm in Powell River is certified organic. The new licenses mean she can now put an ad in the paper advertising her meat.
“If you can’t recover some of the costs, people are less likely to be part of the organic thing. Now I can do that without being afraid I’m breaking the law.”
She is also now able to contact a local restaurant for one type of poultry, for example. While she would like to grow the meat as part of her farm now, part of her philosophy is sustainability, and so they will always be a small operation.
She wants to attract young people to farming.
“That’s the best thing about these new regulations is the business will start to look more attractive to young people and that’s where it needs to go.”


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Online Shopping News, Movies & Articles
Kiwi shoppers are more and more experiencing personalised, focused manipulation online, but the regulation has very little to say about it. The audio version of an in-depth article on how the means ahead for buying was shaped by its previous. A new report accuses the web retail giant of working an “unregulated, monopoly tollbooth” as the fees it takes from unbiased sellers have risen. The Swedish furniture maker says it is responding to buyer demand for more house delivery.
- People could have began largely giving up on many of their pandemic habits, including use of hand sanitisers and face masks, however one behavior Indian shoppers seem to be sticking to is online purchasing.
- ShopeeFood online orders had seen elevated sales on the ten.10 Brands Festival on Oct 10, compared to 9.9.
- The speedy rise of online shopping is slowing however web retail is right here to stay.
- As shoppers turn out to be extra environmentally aware, search for retailers and brands to cut back their packaging waste, mentioned Anthony Martin, CEO of Choice Mutual Insurance Agency.
- Sometimes they may have a class record, corresponding to furniture, sports tools, gardening, and so on.
- Ecommerce thrived in 2020 because of retailer closures and shoppers’ concern of contracting the coronavirus in public.
The new legislation means that any purchasing centres over 34,000 square metres will not be able to charge customers or employees for parking. Australia’s retail sector has bounced again after a grim December had shopkeepers fretting about the means forward for their companies. Consumers encountered 60 billion out-of-stock messages from online retailers between March 2020 and February 2022, based on Adobe. When we pay for a book online or register for an e-learning course, we’re paying for knowledge.
Australia’s greatest purchasing centre has simply turn into even larger with the opening of a new $70 million entertainment and eating precinct. If you grew up in Australia, you almost undoubtably would have shopped in these stores. Shoppers are now more probably to see an out-of-stock message on one out of each 59 product pages, a 235% enhance from pre-pandemic. The odds then of seeing an out-of-stock message were 1 in 200, in accordance with Adobe. “Folks have $2 trillion extra in their financial savings accounts now than they did pre-pandemic. So thatsheer amount of money, we consider, is inflicting this quantity of inflation to be digestible,” CEO Niraj Shah told buyers, in accordance with a SeekingAlpha transcript.
In the 12 months previous to the 2021 survey, 90% of people aged 16 to seventy four within the EU had used the internet, 74% of whom had purchased or ordered goods or services for personal use. Online shopping elevated by 1 proportion level in contrast with 2020 (73% of internet users) and by eleven pp in contrast with 2016 (63%). March 2022 marks roughly two years since the coronavirus pandemic spurred many U.S. shoppers to enter lockdown mode as COVID-19 unfold rapidly throughout the nation. Many shoppers flocked online to buy their essential items, pushing ecommerce sales to new heights.
For instance, printer toner, rest room paper, or windshield liquid for your car are items that do not range. They would require the name on the cardboard, the long 16-digit quantity, the expiry date, and a 3-digit quantity on the again. Sometimes they may have a class listing, such as furnishings, sports activities tools, gardening, and so on. Ideally, you must include a mixture of letters, numbers, and higher and lower instances. ShopeeFood online orders had seen elevated gross sales on the 10.10 Brands Festival on Oct 10, compared to 9.9. Also, in accordance with survey responses, small retailers in China were most geared up to sell their merchandise online and those in South Africa have been least prepared.
In reality, data commerce or K-commerce is a massive global industry. NewEgg, Ocado, and TigerDirect also focus totally on online shopping amenities. The retailer both delivers to the shopper’s house, office, a neighbor, or a close-by retailer location. The major appeal is that we can find and purchase gadgets we require without ever needing to go away the house. Online and offline purchasing should be seen as providing enhanced comfort, seamlessness and enjoyment of customers’ purchasing expertise.
A language barrier reportedly discourages many web shoppers, as most e-commerce platforms are in English, and at instances in Hindi. According to an evaluation by Banklesstimes, the emergence of ecommerce has increased the potential of fraudulent activities. The pandemic offered con artists with a brand new alternative to rip-off customers. India will now be preserving tabs on your Online Shop News spending online, electronic merchandise similar to cell phones and Covid administration products, as a half of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey , which was launched final week. More than 15 brands have thus far signed up with the corporate to launch and display round one hundred products on Flipverse.
Picture It: The Final Word Golden Girls Reward Information
Months after the trial period was meant to end, workers bodycams are still being worm at Woolworths shops everywhere in the country. A national survey carried out by Finder discovered that of the 1,114 respondents, 53 per cent – an equal of 10.6 million Australians – admitted they’ll “struggle” to cover expenses over the vacation period. Online retailer has accomplished a detail with administrators to purchase furnishings retailer Brosa after the latter went into voluntary administration last week. Most shops across Australia might be closed today as Christmas Day celebrations unfold. A 19-year-old man has been stabbed in the again throughout a fight inside a South Australian purchasing centre. The move will see some 1,600 tonnes of plastic spared with up to 80 per cent of buyers already opting to bring their very own baggage.
One method companies can adapt is by offering hybrid roles during which salespeople interact with prospects online, thereby increasing their expertise pool and decreasing geographical limitations on the employees they can recruit. The highest shares of internet users who purchased or ordered items or services over the internet in the 12 months prior to the survey had been recorded within the Netherlands (94%), Denmark (92%) and Sweden (89%). On the other hand, fewer than 50% had shopped online in Romania (44%) and Bulgaria (42%).
Us Retailers Want To Protect Client Data
“With continued shortages of employees inside choose domains, automation investments will continue to extend,” Traub mentioned. “Examples for small enterprise include online pricing automation to steadiness profitability and income development, in addition to inventory administration techniques to make sure the right quantity of inventory is readily available. The movement toward extra sustainable packaging could be seen within the emergence of corporations developing new packaging materials out of plant-derived materials.


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A tea company run by two brothers from UCF became the fan-favorite at a renowned entrepreneurship competition with international reach. Yaupon Brothers American Tea Company won the People’s Choice award and $5,000 at the Blackstone LaunchPad Pitch Competition on Feb. 23.
“It is always great to advance to the final round of any pitch competition,” Kyle White says. “This one does feel different as we are surrounded by some fantastic competition from ventures launched at schools such as UCLA, Cornell, USC and UC Davis. This event being in partnership with Blackstone and Google is also a bit surreal!”
Among a field of 60+ student startups from the U.S. and Ireland, Yaupon was selected as one of eight finalists to compete in the final round of the competition. In addition to the first-, second- and third-place finishers chosen by a panel of judges, viewers selected Yaupon as the winner of the People’s Choice award by casting votes online. The competition was held virtually as part of the Startup Grind Global Conference, an event that brings together leaders in technology and big brands on the forefront of innovation.
“Winning this award means a great deal for us,” White says. “Outside of the prize money, it validates our idea of using Yaupon to help Florida farmers while also providing a cleaner, more ethical and American-grown tea option. We are thrilled to bring home the award for UCF as this university has done so much for us.”
Yaupon tea is sold in more than 500 stores nationwide and is also carried by Amazon.
Founded by Kyle and Bryon White in 2012, Yaupon Brothers American Tea Company grows, processes and sells tea made from the yaupon holly. The slow-growing tree is North America’s only naturally caffeinated, antioxidant-rich plant and is also abundant in Central Florida. Earning more than $380,000 in revenue in 2020, Yaupon tea is sold in more than 500 stores nationwide and is also carried by Amazon. Four years ago, the brothers won the UCF Joust New Venture Competition with their business. Now, Kyle helps other students launch their ideas as a coach in UCF’s Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars.
“The LaunchPad has helped us in every imaginable way, not just for this moment, but for every moment and challenge we have faced as a business,” White says. “Starting a business as a student can be scary and stressful. But there are so many resources at UCF. Between the free databases from the library, coaching from the LaunchPad, and utilizing your professors and the alumni network – there is an abundance of help.”


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Indian investigators seized data and documents from top sellers on Amazon.com Inc’s and Flipkart’s marketplaces in a second day of raids on Friday over suspected competition law violations, sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) started early on Thursday raiding two top domestic sellers on Amazon’s platform – Cloudtail and Appario – as well as some sellers on Walmart’s Flipkart, following allegations the sellers and marketplaces had breached competition law.
The raids relate to an investigation the CCI ordered in January 2020 in which Amazon and Flipkart face allegations of promoting preferred sellers on their websites and giving priority to listings of some sellers, Reuters has reported.
On Friday, CCI investigators were collecting emails, documents and data from computers, after questioning several officials of the seller companies, said two of the sources.
The CCI officers “are collecting relevant evidence for the investigation”, said the first source, who added that data from mobile phones – such as WhatsApp chats – was also seized.
The watchdog does not make details of its raids public.
The raids follow a Reuters investigation last year which was based on Amazon internal documents and showed the company gave preferential treatment for years to a small group of sellers on its platform, including Cloudtail, and used them to bypass Indian laws.
It showed Amazon for years helped these sellers with discounted fees, among other advantages. Amazon has denied any wrongdoing. The CCI last year told an Indian court the Reuters report corroborated evidence it had against Amazon.
A second source with direct knowledge said CCI’s officers were trying to find details of top sellers operating on Amazon and Flipkart for the period 2016-2020.
The second and a third source said CCI officers on Thursday asked Cloudtail’s CEO to come to the office in Bengaluru city as it was being raided and answer questions.
Indian retailers, key supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have long contended that Amazon and Flipkart’s platforms benefit a few big sellers who get special advantages. The companies say they comply with all Indian laws.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Mark Potter)
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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In the company’s neuromorphic analog solution, neurons are physically implemented as a circuitry element that works with analog signals according to the mathematical simulation of a single neuron. The device is offered as the first Tiny AI true analog design to be used next to sensors.
“This achievement validates the intensive work of our multinational team,” says Aleksandr Timofeev, CEO and founder of POLYN Technology. “Our chip represents the most advanced technology bridging analog computations and the digital core. It is designed with neuroscience in mind, replicating pre-processing the primary cortical area of the human brain does at the periphery before learning at the center.”
The NASP chip enables full data processing disaggregation between the sensor node and the cloud, says the company, and truly embodies the Tiny AI concept. The NASP test chip contains several neural networks and is implemented in 55-nm CMOS technology.
Its design, says the company, proves the NASP “neuron” model as well as the scalability of the technology and efficiency of the chip design automation tools developed by POLYN.
“Our first chip is created from trained neural networks by NASP Compiler and synthesis tools that generated Netlist and the silicon engineering files from the software math model simulation,” says Yaakov Milstain, COO of POLYN. “We will continue to refine our technology for creation of new generation chips.”
The company says that it anticipates the chip will be available to customers in the first quarter of 2023 as its first wearables product, with a fusion of PPG and IMU sensors for the most accurate heart rate measurement along with recognition and tracking of human activity.


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Double-digit deficit was recorded in foreign trade in May.
According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce, exports in May increased by 14.4 percent year on year to 21.7 billion dollars, while imports increased by 16 percent to 34.3 billion dollars. In the one-to-one period, the foreign trade deficit increased by 19 percent to $12.7 billion.
Compared to the same month of the previous year in May; The ratio of exports to imports decreased by 0.9 points to 63.1 percent. Excluding energy data, the ratio of exports to imports decreased by 7.1 points to 70.1 percent. Excluding power and gold data, the ratio of exports to imports decreased by 4.6 percentage points to 77.4 percent.
Foreign trade deficit increased to 56.1 billion dollars in 5 months
Looking at the first 5 months of the year, compared to the same period of the previous year; exports remained flat and reached 102.5 billion dollars, while imports increased by 8.9 percent to 158.6 billion dollars.
Foreign trade deficit, on the other hand, increased by 29.5 percent in the same period and amounted to 56.1 billion dollars.
Country profile in foreign trade did not change in May
The countries with the highest exports in May are respectively; Germany (1 billion 810 million dollars), USA (1 billion 307 million dollars) and England (1 billion 51 million dollars). The share of the top 10 countries with the largest share in exports in total exports was 47.5 percent.
The countries with the highest imports in May are respectively; Russian Federation (4 billion 575 million dollars), China (4 billion 347 million dollars) and Germany (2 billion 672 million dollars).
The share of the top 10 countries with the largest share in imports in total imports was 60 percent.
Source: Bloomberg HT


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Netflix Canada is increasing the monthly subscription rates. While the basic plan remains the same at $9.99 a month, the standard plan is increasing by $1 to $14.99 and the premium plan is going up by $2 to $18.99 a month.
Netflix says it’s implementing the price increase so it “can invest more in films and shows as well as the quality of members’ product experience.”
The company says new members who sign up will see the updated prices effective immediately. The new charges will roll out to existing members according to their billing cycle over the coming weeks.


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A recent report found that a majority of domestically packaged food tested and labeled as “natural” in fact contain a significant level of genetically modified ingredients, spurring calls for food manufacturers to be honest about what their products contain.
Independent product testing organization Consumers Reports conducted a survey of more than 80 processed foods purchased between April and July 2014 that contained corn or soy. Findings showed that foods labeled as “non-GMO” or “organic” didn’t contain genetically modified versions of the crops. Foods labeled as “natural” or without any claim about GMO content, however, contained large amounts of GMO ingredients, the group said.
Consumers are being misled by the “natural” label, Urvashi Rangan, executive director of Consumer Reports Food Safety and Sustainability, told Reuters.
Traits of genetically modified crops include resistance to pesticides and herbicides and what proponents consider increased nutritional value. While nearly 70 percent of American produce contains GMOs, debates about its safety have taken place since the first commercial cultivation of genetically modified crops in 1996. Food manufacturers claim that crops don’t harm the human body, but critics point to studies that link GMOs to health problems in humans and animals and environmental issues.
Tuesday’s report comes in the midst of a showdown between food manufacturers and regulatory agencies centered on how food should be labeled. Earlier this year, Vermont passed a law that require food companies to accurately label food that contains GMOs. Voters in more than 20 states — including Colorado and Oregon — will take the issue to the ballot box on Nov. 4.
Food manufacturers, however, show no sign of backing down. Last month, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a coalition of more than 300 food companies, reached out to federal government to allow food that contains GMOs to be labeled as natural. They may have a long fight ahead of them, however. A 2012 poll showed that more than 90 percent of Americans support labeling of food that contains GMOs.
And even aside from the issue of GMOs specifically, food companies have been able to lead deceptive marketing campaigns to make their products to appear healthier than they are. “Natural” counts among of the misleading buzzwords — along with “organic,” “wholegrain,” and “gluten free” — that can trick customers into thinking they’re buying groceries with more nutritional value. Convoluted nutritional labels can also make it difficult for people to figure out what exactly is in the food they’re buying.
Earlier this year, the FDA announced that it would make updating nutritional labels one of its top priorities. The Obama administration unveiled those changes in February — which included more accurate serving sizes and adding and dropping certain nutrients from the list of vitamins and minerals with daily value percentages — although it will take several years for the new labels to hit grocery shelves.


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Google is also looking to strengthen its enterprise customers with opensource-led technology development capabilities through partnerships with seven firms
For businesses, a Qubole on the cloud will help reduce the cost of operations for data analytics
Anunta Technology and Citrix in association with The Economic Times CIO (ETCIO.com) hosted a CIO Conclave on “The Future Workplace: Unlocking Innovation with End-User Computing,” on 19th March, 2019 at Sofitel, BKC, Mumbai.
The 2-century-old media group is now on the right track.
A gripe for retailers is that selling on Amazon loses the direct customer relationship they get from their own website or store.
Talks on to resolve 3 pending cases and settle a slew of other charges against IT company.
Qualcomm has unveiled a new chip for speeding up artificial intelligence work, aiming to diversify beyond its stronghold in mobile phone chips
Electronics research organisation is also at work on building a supercomputer by 2022
It’s almost heretical to say that there’s someone greater than Jobs but a new biography argues that his successor is not just a better team leader but also more liberal and ethical
Future Group’s data science and tech division hires former entrepreneurs and top executives from online firms
They have been tasked with building a customer credit platform, last-mile delivery capabilities, a rural distribution model, the group’s first fashion brand and sachet sized insurance products.
With the new update, Windows 10 users will gain more control over installation of updates
Asia’s richest man is sharpening his focus on e-commerce with a string of tiny acquisitions and stake purchases.
To support needs today and tomorrow, computing power and storage is being inserted out on the network edge in order to lower data transport time and increase availability. Edge computing brings bandwidth-intensive content and latency-sensitive applications closer to the user or data source. (Brand Connect Initiative)
Co valued at $1.26 bn; successful open offer to take PE shareholding to 56%
In a race to gather top experts in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), another former Google employee, Ian Goodfellow, has been roped in by Apple to work in its intriguing "Special Project" team.
After facing resistance from Mindtree founders and employees, L&T said it was open to the idea of the current leadership team continuing post-acquisition
AMAZON.COM-BROADBAND/Amazon plans to launch satellites to offer broadband internet
The service has been available on Android since last year and has over 5 million users.
SoftBank, an existing investor in Uber, had proposed to infuse primary capital at a reduced valuation in Swiggy, which also derailed the discussions
The suit alleges HCL failed to hire Gregory Handloser due to its systematic and discriminatory scheme.