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Cosmetic Executive Women celebrated 20 years of its annual CEW Beauty Insiders’ Choice Awards with brand winners big and small. The fact that L’Oréal Paris won 11 awards was not a surprise to Carlotta Jacobson, president of CEW, although she noted it was a mixed bag because the indies were not forgotten. Newcomer Glamglow took home the awards for Indie Brand and Eye Treatment Prestige.
“People [say] there’s no innovation, there’s nothing new happening,” said Jacobson. “But there is. There’s always something. It’s just that you can’t come out with something that’s so revolutionary that you’ve never heard of such a thing. It’s the mixture that makes innovation. It’s not just a product someone discovered.”
Acting as the presenting sponsor, Meredith Corp. partnered with CEW to reach consumers through Meredith’s multiple media platforms, which include magazines, television and digital initiatives. In addition to driving the awareness for the awards, the partnership will align with Meredith’s Beauty Center of Excellence, a consumer-insight-driven beauty-leadership group that helps advertisers get in touch with women across all Meredith digital platforms.
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The awards, which were trending nationally on Twitter, were created two decades ago when Jacobson thought the industry wasn’t getting the best press.
“Everything [back then] on TV was about the product and how cosmetics weren’t safe,” said Jacobson. “I thought we should be doing something that’s positive for the industry and we can bring it to the consumer.”
The winners are determined exclusively by CEW’s membership of 6,000 beauty industry professionals; 193 finalists were selected from more than 750 entries.
To that end, this year marked one of several firsts for the awards. CEW presented two new categories, the Iconic Beauty Award and the Most Buzzed About Award. The Iconic Beauty Award recognized two products (one in mass and one in prestige) that have transcended 20 or more years in the industry. The winning product in mass was Maybelline New York Great Lash Mascara, while the prestige winner was YSL Beauté Touche Éclat. Sponsored by Yahoo, the Most Buzzed About Award acknowledged products consumers were talking about online in mass and prestige. The winning product in mass was L’Oréal Paris Voluminous Butterfly Mascara, while the prestige front-runner was Estée Lauder Modern Muse Eau de Parfum.
This year, instead of its usual host, actor and comedian Mario Cantone, actress Aisha Tyler charmed the audience with her quick wit and comedic performance. “I wake up looking like a man and then I use all your products and paint this personality on every single day,” Tyler told the crowd. “I may look like a fierce drag queen, but I am not. I have the height to be on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” but not the equipment.”
The 2014 CEW Beauty Award winners are:
Most Iconic Beauty Award, Mass
Maybelline New York — Great Lash Mascara
Most Iconic Beauty Award, Prestige
YSL Beauté — Touche Éclat
Indie Beauty Award —Glamglow Inc.
Eco Beauty Award — Aveda
Best Seller Award, Mass
Maybelline New York — Volum’ Express The Falsies Big Eyes Mascara
Best Seller Award, Prestige
Clinique — Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+
Most Buzzed About, Mass
L’Oréal Paris — Voluminous Butterfly Mascara
Most Buzzed About, Prestige
Estée Lauder — Modern Muse Eau de Parfum
QVC Beauty Quest Award — Dr. Macrene Skin Results 37 Actives
Skin Care Tools
Tria Beauty, Inc. — Age-Defying Laser
La Roche-Posay — Anthelios 60 Ultra-Light Sunscreen Fluid
Bath and Body
Bath and Body, Mass
Vaseline — Spray & Go Moisturizer Total Moisture
Bath and Body, Prestige
Shiseido Cosmetics America — Future Solution LX Total Regenerating Body Cream
Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare — One Step Acne Eliminating Pads
L’Oréal Paris — Revitalift Moisture Blur
Clé de Peau Beauté — Le Sérum
Cleanser & Scrub
Yes to Grapefruit — Brightening Facial Towelettes
Eye Treatment, Mass
Vichy — Liftactiv Serum 10 Eye & Lashes
Eye Treatment, Prestige
Glamglow Inc. — Brightmud Eye Treatment
Fresh — Sugar Cherry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15
L’Oréal Paris — Age Perfect Glow Renewal Facial Oil
Josie Maran Cosmetics — 100% Pure Argan Oil Light


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The exports of textile commodities witnessed an increase of 4.88% during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
The textile exports were recorded at $6044.536 million in July-November (2020-21) against the exports of $5763.117 million in July-November (2019-20), showing the growth of 4.88%, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The textile commodities that contributed to positive trade growth included knitwear, exports of which increased from $1320.740 million last year to $1510.129 million during the current year, showing a growth of 14.34%. Likewise, exports of bedwear increased by 12.28% by growing from $1013.648 to $1138.174 while the exports of towels increased by 14.24%, from $317.488 million to $362.702 million.
The exports of tents, canvas and tarpaulin grew by 58.05%, from $31.786 to $50.238, while the exports of readymade garments increased by 4.36%, from $1155.536 million to $1205.167 million and the exports of made up article (excluding towels and bed wear) increased by 15.53%, from $265.824 million to $307.115 million.
It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandise exports increased by 2.11% during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The exports during July-November (2020-21) were recorded at $9.737 billion against the exports of $9.536 billion in July-November (2019-20), showing a growth of 2.11%.

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TasCOSS made the following recommendations in its recent Submission on Consultation Paper for the Gas Industry Bill:
We see this Draft Bill as an opportunity to not only provide a “head of power” to the Minister to require a gas retailer to offer supply, but also to legislate an obligation to supply and other consumer protections for gas customers, such as the implementation of mandatory hardship policies. This is therefore our primary recommendation.
If the Draft Bill is not amended to provide these consumer protections, TasCOSS recommends that:
- Immediately the Bill becomes law, the Minister uses this power to require that at least one Tasmanian-based natural gas retailer be required to offer supply to all residential customers who request the retailer to supply natural gas to their premises.
This could be done through an amendment to the Tasmanian Gas Retail Code that could appoint a single retailer as the Financially Responsible Retailer (or Local Area Retailer) who is obligated to offer supply to all customers requesting supply (as in the National Energy Customer Framework).
- Alternatively, the Minister should immediately use this power to impose an obligation to supply on a gas retailer (or retailers) as a Community Service Obligation, funded or guaranteed, through negotiation between the parties, by the State Government.
- Failing the implementation of either of the above, the Tasmanian Government should adopt the consumer protection elements of the National Energy Customer Framework for natural gas customers in Tasmania. This would provide not only an obligation to supply, but also other consumer protections currently not enjoyed by gas consumers in Tasmania, including access to hardship policies approved by the Australian Energy Regulator.


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Facebook is everywhere. It was the top-visited website of the year for the first time in 2010; Google came in second. Technology companies are integrating Facebook into their gadgets, pre-installing FB as a core function in such items as mobile phones, iPads, e-readers, TVs, cameras, and video game consoles. This dramatically expands the reach of the social networking site beyond the computer to all portable electronic devices making Facebook nearly ubiquitous.
So what does this mean for marketers? We know that Facebook has more than 600 million monthly active users, of whom more than 230 million access the site on mobile devices. We also know that consumer technology manufacturers are trying to build a social experience around their products. Meanwhile, 40% of online consumers use social media for health information!
However, hospitals and other health care delivery settings are not in the consumer product business. But they do provide services to help people get and stay well. So, the challenge is to take the natural human inclination to share information and experiences, and make it easier to build that around the health community. It can be as simple as posting job openings on Facebook, to inviting fans to watch together a broadcast on weight loss surgery.
So, while some health professionals are reluctant to join the conversation, Facebook will continue to proliferate as a means of communication, with health care consumers searching for emotional and informational support. What could be better than providing that support for your local online community?
Susan Lilly consumes vast amounts of health industry data so you don’t have to. She has worked in the healthcare field for 20 years – in both private and public sectors – and focuses on telling the story inspired by research findings to help health care clients grow and thrive.


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NAMI CONCOURS to be featured at Bologna Children's Book Fair 2017
BOLOGNA CHILDREN'S BOOK FAIR the right place for children's content from Monday April 3 to Thursday April 6, 2017
The 3rd Nami Concours is Back!
NAMI CONCOURS 2017 was launched at 1pm on April 6th at Author's Cafe, Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy.
NAMI CONCOURS 2017: A platform for international recognition for illustrators
Since its inception in 2013, NAMI CONCOURS has quickly built a reputation as a premier platform for international recognition for picture book illustrators. The winners have bee...
9 Iranians shortlisted for Nami Concours 2015
Internet news article from EN MEHR News Agency about the 2nd Nami Concours
Book festival brings Nami Island to life
Internet news article from Korean Joongang Daily about NAMBOOK-015 festival and the 2nd Nami Concours
NAMI CONCOURS Secretariat
2F, 9-4 Insadong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 03164 KOREA
+82 2 753 1246
+82 2 773 1481


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A Roundup of Summer Startup Competitions, from Healthcare IT to Dark Matter
You weren’t actually thinking about taking Memorial Day Weekend off, were you? If you’re an entrepreneur and you want some (relatively) easy money or fame, it’s time to get moving on your entry for one of the many startup-oriented competitions underway this summer. Here are just four that have hit my inbox this week.
—Morgenthaler Ventures in Menlo Park, CA, is organizing its second annual “Health IT Startup Showcase.” It’s a search for 10 outstanding startups seeking seed or Series A funding for technology ideas that could improve the quality or cost-effectiveness of healthcare delivery. The finalists will be paired with investors and other startup founders to help them prepare for presentations to an audience of VCs, angels, and entrepreneurs at Morgenthaler’s DC to VC Summit in Mountain View, CA, on September 22. Two categories of startups are eligible: those under two years old with less than $500,000 in funding, and those under three years old with less than $1.5 million in funding. Applications are due August 9; the details are available in this PDF at Morgenthaler’s website.
—Mountain View, CA-based Evernote, maker of a cross-platform system for storing digital notes of all kinds, has organized its first-ever Developer Competition. Aimed to spur the creation of more apps for the “Evernote Trunk” (the company’s third-party app ecosystem), the competition carries $100,000 in prizes, including a $50,000 grand prize, six $5,000 finalist prizes, a $10,000 student prize, and a $10,000 “wildcard prize.” The winners will be showcased at the company’s Evernote Trunk Conference on August 18. The submission deadline is July 15; Evernote published all the details in a May 23 blog post.
—The Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, MO, announced the Startup Open this week. The competition is designed to identify the 50 most promising startups around the world. Any company that has had a “startup moment” since November 22, 2010 is eligible—meaning “any action related to launching a new business, such as incorporating a company; officially opening the doors for business; completing a first sale; or securing outside funding,” according to the foundation. Applications are due September 15. The 50 finalists will be announced on October 15, and those companies will compete for prizes during the foundations’ Global Entrepreneurship Week event in mid-November. Last year’s grand prize winner, Resolute Marine Energy founder Olivier Cebiero, received a trip to Richard Branson’s private island.
—This one’s far out—literally. Kaggle, a Melbourne, Australia-based Web startup that crowdsources scientific data analysis through online competitions, has announced a competition for new computer algorithms that could help to measure the distribution of dark matter in the universe by gauging the apparent ellipticity of images of distant galaxies. The competition is being sponsored by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Royal Astronomical Society, and the winner will be invited to present his or her solution at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The entry deadline is August 18. (Working with the Heritage Provider Network, Kaggle is also running a longer-term “Heritage Health Prize Competition” aimed at eliciting an algorithm that can predict, based solely on insurance claims data, which patients will be admitted to hospitals. You’ve got until April 3, 2013 to enter that one.)
—This one isn’t an organized competition, but it’s great for mobile game startups: San Francisco-based TinyCo, which makes games such as Tiny Zoo and Tiny Chef and is backed by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, said this week that it has set up a $5 million “TinyFund” to help developers get iOS and Android games to market. TinyCo said it will provide selected teams with up to $500,000 in funding, along with marketing, development, and business support.


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Google Warns Staff About Using AI Chatbots–Including Bard: Report
Amid its global marketing push for AI chatbot technologies, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is reportedly warning its employees about using such chatbots, including its own product, Bard. This cautionary stance is taken in light of data leak concerns and is an effort to prevent the misuse of AI programs.
That’s according to four unnamed sources speaking to Reuters. Alphabet has advised its employees against entering any confidential data into AI chatbots, highlighting its long-established policy of maintaining information security.
Further, Google urged its engineers to abstain from directly using computer-generated codes from these chatbots, citing the possibility of undesired code suggestions. While acknowledging these limitations, Google affirmed its commitment to transparency and stressed Bard’s helpfulness to programmers.
The proactive measures taken by Google reflect a growing trend among corporations to exercise caution with publicly available chat programs. Many global businesses including Samsung, Amazon.com, and Deutsche Bank have already put precautions in place with AI chatbots, while others like Apple are said to have done the same.
This corporate vigilance stems from a growing use of AI tools by professionals, often unbeknownst to their employers. A recent survey by networking site Fishbowl reported that 43% of professionals were utilizing AI tools such as ChatGPT.
The current developments suggest a broader rivalry in the tech industry, with Google vying against ChatGPT’s backers, OpenAI and Microsoft Corp, for dominance in the AI market. The success in this competition could translate to billions in investments and a significant surge in advertising and cloud revenues.
Google is extending its use of Bard to over 180 countries and in 40 languages, positioning it as a catalyst for creative innovation. But Bard still is not available in Canada yet.
However, with Bard’s launch, Google continues to extend warnings regarding Bard’s code suggestions and the potential privacy implications. The company is currently in discussions with Ireland’s Data Protection Commission to address regulatory concerns related to Bard’s EU launch.


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Nike and adidas at war as they battle for kit dominance across Europe
New deals with Manchester United and Juventus will make adidas top dogs
Nike and adidas are waging a war across Europe for dominance in the lucrative football kit market.
Repucom and PR Marketing's latest Kit Supplier Report show the the two sportswear giants are ferociously vying for the top spot - and with approximately 13million shirts sold by the 98 clubs of Europe's top five leagues last season, a 14 per cent increase on 2011-12 - the two companies are way in front of their rivals.
Premier League clubs sell the majority of shirts in Europe with over five million shirts sold by the 20 clubs last season. La Liga (3.1m) is second, followed by the Bundesliga (2.32m), Ligue 1 (1.22m) and Serie A.
Of the 25 brands supplying kit to clubs in 2014-15, Nike has become the market leader for the first time, but new deals with Manchester United and Juventus from 2015 will see adidas re-take their crown.
After adding five new clubs for the coming season, American company Nike have taken their portfolio to 26 clubs, outpacing their German rivals, who have 18, for the first time since 2009-10 - Nike now supply just over a quarter of all clubs in Europe's top five leagues (26.5 per cent), compared to adidas' 18.4 per cent.
Third placed Puma supply just nine clubs in Europe's top five leagues.
However, adidas are in charge in the lucrative Premier League, and have deals with five clubs compared to Nike's three.
"In terms of revenue it is the top ten European teams which dominate, delivering 65% of total shirt sales in the five key football leagues, most of which coming from clubs in the English Premier League, adidas’ strongest market," said Andrew Walsh, football expert at Repucom.
"Whilst Nike may be winning in the quantity stakes, adidas is certainly not bowing out in the running for market superiority, far from it in fact. The brand is now starting to flex its muscles by supplying Europe’s biggest clubs." Manchester United will end a long association with Nike after signing a record £750m deal with rivals adidas
Nike were dealt a further blow earlier this summer when Manchester United announced a blockbuster 10-year, £750m deal with adidas and the brand will also take Italian champions Juventus from Nike in 2015-16.
Currently, Nike's deals are worth €125m-per-year, while adidas' are worth €10m per-year more.
Walsh continued: "adidas’ position in the market is certainly one of ‘quality’, already official partner of World Football’s biggest tournament, the Fifa World Cup, as well as World Champions, Germany and the UEFA Champions League, now they are moving to kit out the world’s biggest clubs underlining their position as football’s leading sports brand in terms of sponsorship. A title that Nike will of course continue to rival.
"Whilst Nike looks to maximise the number of teams it supplies, Adidas is going for the most popular, most followed and ultimately biggest selling clubs in the world." Puma are the third biggest players on the market
Puma's bumper deal with Arsenal, worth £150m over five years, has seen them strengthen their place as the third biggest player on the market - they supply nine clubs in Europe's top five leagues.
"Kit deals in football are increasingly becoming more important in achieving a stronger market share for sports brands," said Dr Rohlmann of PR Marketing.
"These companies significantly benefit from supplying top clubs through both jersey sales and a rise to their reputation internationally."
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We know that International Women’s Day was Wednesday, but it’s never too late to celebrate women! We thought we’d take a look at some of the initiatives that the fashion industry have signed up to or started to support women on this day – women’s rights are arguably even more important now than ever with international politics being so unpredictable and hard-won rights being eroded slowly all over the world.
In an effort to prove that they are about more than just fluff and image, many big-name fashion houses have pledged support for IWD very publicly. Some of them have used social media to show their support while others, like Gucci, used more traditional ways to call attention to the inequality that still exists for women in the world.
What has International Women’s Day got to do with fashion anyway?
Plenty. We don’t just buy fashion and fashion magazines, women work in the fashion industry at every level, from manufacture to design, marketing and management.
Gucci, through its Chime for Change program, commandeered a full-page ad in The New York Times, The International New York Times, The Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal on International Women’s Day, Wednesday 8th March. The Chime for Change program, co-founded by Gucci, Beyoncé and Salma Hayek, aims to bring an end to extreme poverty by 2030. You can read the whole letter here:
“We have reached a critical moment in history. Recent legislation and rhetoric have put decades of progress for girls and women at risk. In 2013, we joined with CHIME FOR CHANGE to convene, unite and strengthen the voices speaking out for girls and women around the world. Today, we find ourselves under threat of seeing a generation’s worth of hard-won gains reversed.”
Madonna, Coldplay, Julia Roberts, Dakota Johnson, Freida Pinto, and Jada Pinkett Smith also signed the letter.
Michael Kors promoted IWD by talking about nine women who have inspired him over the past 35 years on the brand’s social media. From Monday, when he started with his mother Joan Kors the series featured inspirational women like Anna Wintour, Blake Lively, Kate Hudson and Michelle Obama, and ended with a story about DestinationKors.com on Wednesday.
As part of International Women’s Day, Calvin Klein C.E.O. Steve Shiffman signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles. The initiative, which was created by the U.N. Women and the U.N. Global Compact, sets out seven steps that organisations can take that will help to promote gender equality at work.
Calvin Klein has committed to establishing high-level corporate leadership roles for women, as well as agreeing to respect and support human rights and non-discrimination. Other steps include promoting education, training, and professional development for every woman who works for Calvin Klein.
Shiffman said, “I am committed to building upon the values that Calvin Klein and our parent company PVH Corp. uphold as cornerstones of our corporate culture. Every Calvin Klein associate has the right to realize their full potential at our company, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or background. As a leading global brand, we must use our reach to promote inclusion, diversity and equality as a human standard.”
We’re just going to finish with this awesome t-shirt from RedBubble.com. We love the fact it’s being worn by a man, too. We women ROCK.
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Just a couple weeks after a magazine named Detroit as one of five cities who could be awarded Amazon's "HQ2" headquarters, a new study says that the city is not even a likely contender.
According to the location decision and scoring analysis for Amazon HQ2 from REIS, Detroit isn't in the top 25 cities that could host the $5 billion headquarters. According to REIS, they provide "comprehensive and unbiased data that is used by commercial real estate professionals."
- Detroit a likely winner for Amazon 'HQ2' headquarters, magazine says
- Detroit bid for Amazon HQ2 is on the way; Website launched to showcase city
- Mark Wahlberg urges Amazon, Jeff Bezos to bring HQ2 to Detroit
- 238 cities entered in bids for Amazon's new headquarters
"Our results show that large tech-focused cities rank at the top with New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Seattle and San Jose ranking ast he top 5," they wrote. "Assuming Amazon will choose a location that is far from the Pacific northwest, that leaves New York and DC as the top two choices."
Other cities in the top 10 not in the Pacific northwest include suburban Virginia, New Orleans, Boston, Rochester, N.Y. and Chicago.
The company used the same methods that Amazon said they looked for in their requests for proposals, which include metro areas with more than one million people, business-friendly environments, proximity to airports, major highways, mass transit and more.
New York City tops the list with 593 percent of the public transportation access, but falls on the negative side for office and apartment rent.
Other cities included in the top 25 include Pittsburgh at No. 14, Denver at No. 15, Raleigh-Durham at No. 23 and Chattanooga, Tenn. at No. 25.
The study did say that Amazon's decision could come down to some factors that aren't listed in REIS' analysis.
"These measures include the tax incentives granted by the city/state, the 'creativeness' of the location, other immeasurable qualitative features and/or an underlying preference on the part of the decision makers," they wrote.
They also said the decision could come down to whether or not the owner of the company, Jeff Bezos, owns a newspaper in the city. Bezos owns the Washington Post in Washington DC.
As part of Detroit's bid, they Rock Ventures launched a website, detroitmovestheworld.com, to show the city's vision for the future.
"We are redefining the future of mobility, innovation, business and culture," Eichinger said. "With unparalleled infrastructure, unlimited access to resource sand innovative talent, Detroit's momentum is undeniable."
Part of the Detroit Moves The World campaign includes the slogan, "Move here. Move the world. Detroit was made for this."
The campaign works to showcase Detroit's ability to grow, how they're changing the world now and the wealth of knowledge and skill coming out of the city. The website shows the vision, why the city is perfect for Amazon HQ2 and a chance to get a closer look at the city.
The entire top 25 is listed below:
- New York City
- San Francisco
- Washington DC
- San Jose
- Suburban Virginia
- New Orleans
- Rochester, N.Y.
- Colorado Springs
- New Haven
- Suburban Maryland
- Salt Lake City


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Index of 1960s American muscle cars
On the heels of a 1 percent loss to Hagerty’s Muscle Car Index in 2022, results from Scottsdale and Kissimmee in January pushed the index up by 2 percent to a new all-time high. That said, not everything in the muscle car segment is looking up. While some top tier muscle cars posted truly impressive increases this past quarter, the broader market is far more mixed with some models only regaining value they lost late in 2022 and others continuing to trend downward.
The biggest surprise was the 23 percent increase by the Buick GS 455. These cars have been lagging behind sister cars like the GTO and Olds 4-4-2, but have finally caught up. Another big surprise was the 1969 Dodge Charger 500, which increased by 20 percent. Other notable gainers were the 1970 LS6 Chevelle, which climbed 12 percent after a weak showing at the end of 2022, and the Hemi Superbird, which posted a 6 percent increase. A large amount of Superbirds came to market in January at the risk of oversaturating the market, but the risk paid off with strong prices almost across the board. Meanwhile, the 1965 Pontiac GTOs continued its slide, losing another 14 percent. The 1970 4-4-2 also lost 6 percent even as its Buick GS sibling surged upward. The takeaway with the muscle car market is that is that there is still steam in the market, but the increasingly mixed results could point toward a rapidly approaching ceiling.
-Greg Ingold, April 2023
The Hagerty Price Guide Index of American Muscle Cars is a stock market style index that averages the values of the rarest and most sought-after muscle cars. The list below shows the cars that make up the index, while the graph to the left shows this index’s average value over the years. Values are for #2 condition, or “excellent” cars.


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London, UK (PRWEB) March 5, 2010
A new service has launched for UK journalists and researchers looking for case studies, experts, products, prizes and true stories.
http://www.presswishes.com allows journalists to submit their request, deadline and contact details free of charge.
Unlike many other journalist request services, Press Wishes is sent out to individuals, entrepreneurs and business owners, cutting out the middle man and allowing press to get access to the contacts they need quickly and effectively.
Emphasis is on the human side of stories, interesting products and knowledgeable and personal experts that you wouldn't normally hear of otherwise.
The Press Wishes site service has been created by DIY PR expert Paula Gardner of http://www.doyourownpr.com who works with hundreds of interesting and enthusiastic clients, many with compelling stories to tell, or expert opinions and knowledge on their subject.
For more information visit http://www.presswishes.com or contact Paula Gardner on paula(at)doyourownpr(dot)com, Tel 0208 504 4557.
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One of Yahoo’s major investors is urging shareholders to vote its four nominees on to the Internet company’s board, launching a potentially nasty fight to transform the Internet company’s board.
Hedge fund Third Point LLC, which has a 5.8 percent stake in Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, believes the struggling company would fare better if the hedge fund’s representatives were in the boardroom helping overhaul Yahoo.[dmc-related-post-wp numitems="3" title="Also read"]
Its letter to Yahoo shareholders was released Wednesday in a regulatory filing.
Yahoo’s long-running financial funk has depressed the company’s stock price.
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The curiosity of Aston Martin fans the world over will be sparked when they hear the English car manufacturer will create the first model outside the UK in its 93 year history. The Financial Times got hold of some internal documents and says the company will probably make an official partnership announcement in the coming weeks. Potential partners include Pininfarina, Magna, Karmann and Valmet.
Implications - Consumers have formed close connections with certain companies and relish in keeping up-to-date on a business's activity. Companies will benefit by expanding their clientele through new and innovative partnerships or developments. In doing so, they will keep things exciting for their current clientele and potentially expand its members from other regions.


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When it comes to app downloads, no day is more important than Christmas.
Each year, millions of new tablets and smartphones are given as gifts, which means users turn on their gadgets and quickly start downloading apps, making Dec. 25 a gold rush for software developers.
But the growth rate for Christmas Day app downloads is slowing, according to Flurry, an analytics and advertising firm.
Although Christmas 2013 saw a record-breaking level of app downloads, overall app downloads increased by 11% from a year earlier. By comparison, app downloads increased by 90% on Christmas in 2012.
Flurry based its numbers on a network of 400,000 mobile apps that it tracks globally.
"The size of the Christmas download spike is diminishing over time as the app market matures and globalizes," Flurry said in a report Monday.
"Fewer people are coming online with mobile for the very first time," Flurry said. "Consumers who are on second, third or fourth devices have apps that they like and trust, and while they still download new apps, there isn't much more impetus to do so on Christmas than any other day when they have a little downtime."
This means developers should no longer rely on Christmas as heavily as they have in the past.
"The successful developers in 2014 and beyond will be those who put in the hard work of identifying a target group of users, creating apps that work well for them, and continually refining and reinventing mobile experiences to profitably retain those users," Flurry said.


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In it, but not of it. TPM DC
Chrysler's product strength is in the pickup, SUV, and minivan segments - all of which are relatively low in fuel efficiency. On a standalone basis, Chrysler will struggle to comply with increasing fuel efficiency standards, and it may even have to restrict the sale of certain models to make sure it is in accordance with proposed standards.
Meanwhile, GM and Chrysler spent more than $3 million each on lobbying during the fourth quarter of last year -- and part of that money went towards beating back efforts to increase fuel-efficiency standards.
It was on George W. Bush's watch that automakers were allowed to lobby themselves into the ground by opposing stronger emissions limits (and filing lawsuits to block state-level emissions measures), but lobbying restrictions have not yet been formally placed on GM or Chrysler. Although the administration vowed in January to restrict lobbying at companies that receive government bailouts, The Hill reported last week that the Treasury Department is delaying the actual release of those regulations.


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For years, proponents of so-called “net neutrality” have been calling for strong regulation of broadband “on-ramps” to the Internet, like those provided by your local cable or phone companies. Rules are needed, the argument goes, to ensure that the Internet remains open and free, and to discourage broadband providers from thwarting consumer demand. That sounds good if you say it fast. Nothing is broken and needs fixing, however. The Internet has been open and freedom-enhancing since it was spun off from a government research project in the early 1990s. Its nature as a diffuse and dynamic global network of networks defies top-down authority. Ample laws to protect consumers already exist.More of Robert M. McDowell’s article here.
From The Wall Street Journal, OPINION JOURNAL: “‘Net neutrality’ sounds nice, but the Web is working fine now. The new rules will inhibit investment, deter innovation and create a billable-hours bonanza for lawyers.”
So what’s next, mandatory Chapstick for kids in cold climates? When you think you can do anything you want in government, you’ve lost all sense of the term “LIMITED GOVERNMENT.”
This should be interesting (from CNS News):
A black farmer who was an original litigant in the racial discrimination case against the U.S. Department of Agriculture is prepared to testify before a congressional committee about the way some attorneys rounded up plaintiffs – including homeless people and others who never farmed. The potential witness told a Republican congressman the attorneys went through neighborhoods, looking for people to be among the nearly 16,000 plaintiffs who received $1 billion in compensation for alleged farm-loan discrimination.[FBI] agent believes at least 50 percent of the black farmers’ claims were fraudulent.
Yes they can. Sadly.
The statists will not be satisfied until they control every aspect of your life, from the food you eat, to the kind of car you drive, to the temperature of your home, to demanding that you purchase health insurance. Next week, FCC democrats are likely to pass new internet regulations. Reuters reported:Gateway Pundit has the rest of the story.Contentious Internet traffic rules facing a vote next week are likely to be adopted without radically veering from a proposal unveiled earlier in the month, telecommunications policy analysts said on Wednesday. The Federal Communications Commission will vote on Dec. 21 on whether to adopt regulations that ban the blocking of lawful traffic but allow Internet service providers to ration Web traffic on their networks.
Can we all just focus on the operative word, “SUSPECTED?”
The U.S. government is shutting down websites suspected of copyright infringement or selling counterfeit goods as Congress debates a bill that would give feds more authority to do so. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency within the Homeland Security Department, has seized more than 70 websites in recent days, according to the Wall Street Journal, and posted a notice saying that the domain name has been seized by ICE through court-ordered warrants. The notice also states penalties for willful copyright infringement and trafficking in counterfeit goods. Neither ICE nor Homeland Security responded to messages seeking comment.I sure hope I’m not SUSPECTED of anything.
- DOJ seizes domain names of more than 70 websites suspected of piracy (hotair.com)
- Homeland Security Seizes Dozens of Piracy Websites (escapistmagazine.com)
- Homeland Security Seizes Websites as Part of Piracy War (blippitt.com)
- US shuts down counterfeit goods, music sites (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
- US shuts down counterfeit goods, music sites (alternet.org)
- A Torrent of Gov’t Seizures in Online Piracy War (cbsnews.com)
- U.S. Government Seizes Multiple Domain Names and Sites (zacjohnson.com)


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The early adopters of Web 3.0 providing secured transition to Metaverse in MENA
TCTx is the Metaverse arm of Telephony Communication Technologies, one of the early adopters of Web 3.0 technologies in MENA where customers will be able to access a wide range of solutions in Digital, Blockchain, FinTech, Xaas, ICT, Mobility, Telco, and Managed Services to improve efficiency, transformation and grow their businesses.
TCTx is one of the first Metaverse companies from Dubai, building the Digital Twin of the world. After securing the initial approval from the government, Dubai Digital, TCTx is creating the biggest Sustainable Smart City that will provide everything a business enterprise needs to perform in a virtual world in which users can interact with other users.
TCTx aspires to become pioneers in digital transformation with immersive experiences in the future. They have partnered with a group of innovative individuals and entities who are exceptionally passionate about emerging Web 3.0 technologies offering a portfolio of a wide range of services everything a smart city needs such as a Home, Office, Building, Workspace, Sharing space, Hotels, Restaurants, Supermarkets, Hospitals, Fashion, Movies, Sports, Technology and Security.
Today, companies developing Metaverse are focused on building new innovations and features to enable users to interact with each other efficiently and effectively in the digital world. Shefiq Abdulla, Chief of Avatars, TCTx said, “We are excited to start our journey and bring our Telephony business to a new level in the Metaverse! As a leader in web 3.0 and Metaverse transition in the MENA, we empower businesses in the region towards their ultra-digitalization goals. We want to contribute to building Dubai as the most significant digital economy in the world. We want Dubai and UAE to be the Silicon Valley of MENA.”
“We are very excited to announce our soft launch on 28th June on the birthday of Elon Musk, the biggest ambassador of decentralized technology, and the main launch on 15th July on the birthday of our leader, HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Due to the rapid development of exceptional technologies all companies should be ready for the new digital revolution in web 3.0.”
With 70+ years of experience serving businesses across the Middle East, 20+ years of experience building technologies and implementing innovation, and 150+ certifications and accreditations, TCTx has a vision to create a sustainable socio-economic digital framework for communities to ensure a secured transition to Web 3.0 and Metaverse. These technologies are still largely unknown territory to even most tech companies in the region. That is where TCTx’s ambitious leadership is unique in its offerings.


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More than 40 vehicles were recently broken into at a mixed-use development in south Forsyth County.
Officials with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said more than 40 cars were broken into at 6500 Halcyon Way on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
According to an FCSO incident report, “multiple entering autos” were reported and stolen items include several firearms, camping equipment, cash, purses/handbags/wallets, drugs/narcotics, sunglasses and a wristwatch. The total value of the listed items was more than $4,000.
The report also lists that the majority of the listed had been damaged.
No other information is currently available, and the incident is under investigation.


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Catalyst launches rare waterproof case for Apple's 2018 iPad Pro
AppleInsider may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made through links on our site.
Catalyst on Wednesday announced a new rugged case for Apple's 2018 iPad Pros — in a rare or possibly solitary example of one that's fully waterproof.
The Catalyst Waterproof Case sports an IP68 rating, good for immersion down to depths of 6.6 feet. Although a number of rugged cases already exist for iPads, relatively few support 2018 iPad Pros, and the Catalyst may be the first to be waterproof rather than just water-resistant.
The company is also promising milspec 810G drop protection up to heights of 4 feet, and a rubber bumper for both protection and grip.
Other features include a bundled adjustable stand, four lanyard attachments, and a "hard coated" lens for shooting photos and video underwater. An acoustic membrane is meant to preserve sound from internal speakers while keeping out liquids.
Catalyst is now taking preorders ahead of a July shipping window. The 11-inch model is $149.99, while the 12.9-inch version is $169.99.


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Fake Internet Coupons May Cost Frito-Lay Millions
Fraudsters are increasinlgy circulating fake product coupons online.
June 21, 2010— -- The company that brought us the Frito Bandito is battling real-life bandits who are circulating fake Doritos coupons on the Internet, likely costing Frito-Lay millions of dollars.
The phony coupons, which offer consumers a free bag of Doritos tortilla chips without buying anything, first showed up on Web sites in 2009, but were quickly removed after Frito-Lay notified site owners, according to company spokeswoman Aurora Gonzalez. Similar coupons have surfaced in the last two months and have spread through e-mail.
Now the coupons are turning up by the thousands at retailers across the country. "It's exponentially larger than any other fraudulent redemption we've seen before," Gonzalez said.
Frito-Lay has dealt with counterfeit coupons in the past, but this case is different.
The coupons have been distributed as an attachment to e-mail messages, which people forward to their friends to pass on what appears to be a good deal. Eventually, the coupons get forwarded so many times that the scam becomes so widespread it's difficult to stop and nearly impossible to trace.
Bud Miller, executive director of the non-profit Coupon Information Corporation, said most coupon scams get stopped before they have a chance to do much damage, but they can be very costly.
"A single counterfeit, if it goes viral, can easily cost a million dollars," Miller said.
Both Frito-Lay and retailers are sharing the costs of the fraudulent coupons as Frito-Lay tries to educate retailers and consumers about the fakes, Gonzalez said. Making sure retailers know about the coupons and can accurately identify them is a daunting task.
"When you think about how many stores there are and how many people there are working in the stores, you have to reach a lot of people," said Gonzalez, who declined to say how much money the company has lost to the scam.
Since the coupons have been circulating online and in e-mail, Gonzalez said Frito-Lay is trying to leverage the same technologies to stop the scam. They have posted an image of the counterfeit coupon next to a legitimate one on the homepage of the company's website. It shows elements of the coupons that could be used to identify them as fakes, such as not including specific ounce weights for the product, and not requiring any purchase to get the free bag of chips.Real Doritos Coupon
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24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events


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A lot of the buzz about the new Republican-controlled Senate is about international trade deals, particularly the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and so-called Fast Track authority. As we previously discussed, the problems with Fast Track and TPP are plentiful. They aren’t good for working families. They cost jobs and increase inequality. Here are eight things you need to know about TPP, Fast Track and other potential trade deals this year:
1. Trade deals are confusing enough, but they’re made worse by the alphabet soup of acronyms needed to figure out what’s going on. TPP stands for “Trans-Pacific Partnership,” and is a trade and economic policy deal being negotiated in secret between the United States and 11 other countries, including labor and human rights violators such as Vietnam, Brunei and Mexico. Allowing human and labor rights violators into the agreement gives them a free pass (why work any harder to raise standards when they have the access to the U.S. markets they want?) and accelerates the race to the bottom in wages that is already hurting U.S. workers like you and me. The deal also could increase corporate control over our economy and weaken our ability to respond to a recession. The TPP could still be fixed, but none of the negotiators seem interested in challenging its corporate power agenda—and how can working people have a real influence when the actual text of the deal is secret?
2. TTIP, which stands for “Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership,” a trade and economic policy deal being negotiated in secret between the United States and the 28 countries of the European Union. Unlike the TPP, the TTIP’s main goal isn’t to send more U.S. jobs overseas and turn them into sweatshop jobs (though some of that could happen). What the TTIP is really about is eliminating “regulatory barriers” to trade. The problem is, one person’s regulatory barrier is another person’s essential standard (whether that means lead in lipstick, or reporting requirements for big banks, or the right of local governments to protect their drinking water supply). So the TTIP still poses risks if it’s not negotiated correctly.
3. TISA, which stands for “Trade in Services Agreement,” a trade and economic policy deal being negotiated in secret between the United States and 49 other countries. The biggest risk of the TISA is that it hands over essential public services to the private sector—who will squeeze out every last dime of profit from the taxpayers while degrading services and turning decent jobs into minimum wage, no benefit, dead-end jobs.
4. The deals are being negotiated in secret with important people who will be affected by the deal, most notably working families, not represented in the negotiations. (While some labor unions do get to “advise” the president on trade policy, business advisers outnumber labor advisers by about 15 to 1. And we do not get to participate in the negotiations or see the negotiating texts.)
5. If Fast Track is approved, Congress must vote on the TPP within 90 days of the date the president submits it to Congress, which means that there will be little time to read the agreement to find out what’s even in it.
6. Fast Track would limit the ability of anyone to fix the agreement to make it better. The vote will be all or nothing with no chance to add amendments. Meanwhile, supporters will try to round up votes by predicting dire consequences if the deal doesn’t pass.
7. Fast Track will also prevent senators who oppose a trade deal to filibuster it.
8. But the most important thing you should know about trade in 2015 is that the story isn’t written yet. The battle for jobs is not over, and you can make a difference. Most of the mainstream media isn’t reporting much (if anything) on the TPP, TTIP, TISA or Fast Track. And they certainly aren’t highlighting the risks. So you have to speak up. Be the voice of the news for the people who don’t know the risks. Call your member of Congress and sign the petition here to stop Fast Track in its tracks.
Reposted from AFL-CIO NOW
Tags: aflcio, labor, tpp, trade, union
Yesterday, the AFL-CIO’s own Thea Lee joined AARP, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam America and the Generic Pharmaceutical Association in urging President Obama to fix proposals in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—a trade and economic governance deal currently under negotiation—that could leave us all paying more for life-saving prescription medicines.
One of the most harmful of the provisions Lee warned against including in the TPP was part of the U.S.-Korea FTA. It gives companies that make drugs or medical devices special rights—over and above those they already have under domestic law—to appeal government decisions about whether to include a drug or device in a government health program (such as Medicare) and how much to pay for it.
Public health advocates, doctors and patients don’t receive similar rights—they aren’t even mentioned in these provisions. No trade agreement should “stack the deck” toward higher prices for life-saving drugs and devices. Yet the U.S.-Korea FTA does, and the TPP might do the same. America’s working people can’t afford unnecessary price increases for pharmaceutical products—to say nothing of our brothers and sisters in developing countries.
Another potentially harmful provision reportedly included in the draft TPP is patent protection so extreme it will lead to “evergreening” (indefinite perpetuation) of medicinal patents, thus preventing price competition from generic drugs. The AFL-CIO has a long history of supporting intellectual property rights—after all, workers in creative and innovative fields rely on intellectual property protection to support their pay and benefits. But extreme patent protections (like rules requiring a new 20-year patent term every time the drug changes from liquid to pill to capsule, or rules that prevent people from challenging the validity of a patent) are unnecessary and can put our families’ health at risk. That’s just wrong. Such rules hurt patients and simply shouldn’t be in international trade deals.
Finally, to expand access to affordable medicines, many in the coalition argued the TPP must omit investor-to-state dispute settlement, also known as ISDS or corporate courts. These, too, have been in trade deals like NAFTA. Corporate courts provide foreign investors with private justice, complete with their own special rules and their own private “courts” staffed by private lawyers, unaccountable to the public. Pharmaceutical companies could use ISDS to challenge states’ Medicaid drug pricing policies, such as their use of drug formularies or rebates. These challenges could raise costs for these programs (making it less likely states will pursue the ACA Medicaid expansion).
The TPP must not straitjacket nations’ policy choices regarding how to organize their health care delivery systems. Instead, these agreements should promote U.S. medical and pharmaceutical exports in ways thatrespect the human right to health care and national choices about how to best defend that right.
Read the full AFL-CIO/AARP/MSF/GPHA/Oxfam letter here.
Sign a petition here demanding the TPP not interfere with affordable medicines or harm working families in other ways.
Reposted from AFL-CIO NOW
Tags: aflcio, Corporate Accountability, Health Care, labor, Thea Lee, tpp, trade, union
During the secret discussion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, extreme corporate interests are pushing for a Fast Track process that would not only hurt working families in the United States, but in the other countries involved in any final deal. Here are seven reasons why Fast Track is off track.
1. People oppose it: More than 60% of voters oppose Fast Track for the TPP free trade deal.
2. It doesn’t reflect modern values: Fast Track is a copy of the approach to trade taken by President Richard Nixon, pursuing the passage of trade deals regardless of the effects a deal might have on wages, jobs, small businesses and the environment.
3. It’s a job killer: Past trade deals have cost American jobs in large numbers. For example, the North American Free Trade Agreement led to the loss of more than 682,000 jobs.
4. It makes it harder for workers to get a raise: Previous Fast Tracked deals have depressed wages and weakened the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain.
5. It increases inequality: Previous trade deals have greatly exacerbated CEO-to-worker pay disparities, so that the current ratio is 354-to-1.
6. It’s undemocratic: Fast Track limits debate and prohibits amendments and doesn’t give the public the opportunity to influence the process.
7. It gives corporations more power: By including “investor-to-state dispute settlement” provisions, foreign investors in the United States and U.S. investors operating in foreign countries can skip traditional methods of complaining about laws they don’t like and sue nations directly in private arbitration tribunals made up of for-profit arbitrators. This would give corporations and foreign interests an influence over our economy that the rest of us don’t have.
Reposted from AFL-CIO NOW
Tags: aflcio, Corporate Accountability, inequality, Jobs, labor, tpp, trade, union
If the United States acted forcefully to end currency manipulation by China and other nations—and there is legislation to provide the government the tools to do so—it could create as many as 5.8 million jobs (40% in manufacturing) and reduce the nation’s trade deficit by as much as 72.5%, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Currency manipulation is the largest single cause of the U.S. trade deficit, and the Chinese government is the world’s biggest currency manipulator. It deliberately keeps the value of its currency artificially low and that artificially raises the price of U.S. exports to China and suppresses the price of Chinese imports into the United States. This artificial price advantage is one of many pull factors that encourages U.S. businesses to shut down operations here and manufacture in China instead. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
U.S. workers can compete with anyone in the world, but they cannot compete successfully on a lopsided playing field. [Currency manipulation] is a major contributing factor in our lopsided trade relationship with China. Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturing companies and workers bear the brunt of these unfair policies.
The EPI report finds that:
- Eliminating currency manipulation would reduce the U.S. trade deficit by $200 billion in three years under a “low-impact” scenario and $500 billion under a “high-impact scenario.” This would increase annual U.S. GDP by between $288 billion and $720 billion (between 2.0% and 4.9%).
- The reduction of U.S. trade deficits and expansion of U.S. GDP would create 2.3 million to 5.8 million jobs, reducing the U.S. jobs deficit by between 28.8% and 72.5%.
- About 40% of the jobs gained would be in manufacturing, which would gain between 891,500 and 2,337,300 jobs. Agriculture also would gain 246,800 to 486,100 jobs, heavily affecting some rural areas.
Read the full EPI report here.
Bipartisan legislation in Congress (H.R. 1267 and S. 1114) would crack down on currency exchange rate manipulation and hold countries that manipulate their currencies accountable. Trumka says:
We call on Congress to fight on the side of American workers and domestic manufacturers and farmers to put an end to currency manipulation now.
While China is the largest currency manipulator, other nations do so, too. Japan, which is one the 12 TPP nations, (China is not involved) has been accused of weakening the value of the yen to benefit its auto industry.
Currently Japan exports some 130 cars to the United States for every car that U.S. automakers export to Japan. One of the major reason for that imbalance is currency manipulation says the UAW.
As a consequence of Japanese government currency intervention, in a market such as the United States, Japanese imports have seen several thousand dollars in effective subsidies while, at the same time, exports from the United States to Japan have seen several thousand dollars in added costs….The impact of these policies undermines American auto exports and American jobs and the investment they support.
Yesterday, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), both sponsors of S. 1114, said that without currency manipulation rules as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade and investment agreement and other pending trade agreements, Congress is unlikely to approve the trade bills. Says Brown:
The trade agenda is not moving until currency is part of it.
The Obama administration’s is pushing to have the TPP agreement considered under Fast Track rules in Congress.
Under the Fast Track process, Congress can only vote yes or no on the full agreement. It cannot amend or improve the bill.
Sign the petition to Congress to stop bad Fast Track trade deals over the next four years, including the TPP.
Also, if you haven’t signed a letter for a better TPP, do it here.
Reposted from AFL-CIO NOW
Tags: china, Jobs, Michigan, Ohio, Sandy Levin, Sherrod Brown, tpp, trade, uaw
Fast Track—it’s a term that’s in the news more lately these days. And for good reason. Early in January, Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) have introduced a bill that would bring back a bad idea that’s been dead since 2007.
Sign the petition to stop Fast Track dead in its tracks.
This Fast Track bill would re-establish a process (first used in the Nixon administration) that allows a trade deal negotiated in secret to pass Congress under a process that allows no amendments, limited debate and not nearly enough public scrutiny. Ever since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), trade agreements have been about much more than reducing tariffs. Now they are about providing extreme patent protections for pharmaceutical companies, promoting deregulation, weakening “Buy American” policies and providing extraordinary legal rights and privileges to large, foreign corporations. Should those policies really be made behind closed doors, out of the public view?
Whatever justification there may have been in the past for this undemocratic policy, surely we can do better today. We know from experience that once legislators have the Fast Track ticket in their hands, they are likely to finalize an agreement that will send jobs overseas, hold down wages, harm small businesses and give global corporations even more influence over our economy. Workers, communities and small businesses—in the United States and in the countries we trade with—need updated, 21st century trade and economic policies that promote good jobs and benefits for all, not simply massive profits for a few.
Reposted from AFL-CIO NOW
Tags: aflcio, buy american, Corporate Accountability, Dave Camp, fast track, Max Baucus, NAFTA, orrin hatch, tpp, trade
Congress is considering new legislation that would “fast track” new trade deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), moving them through Congress more quickly by limiting the transparency, accountability and oversight necessary for such trade deals to serve America’s working families rather than extreme corporate interests. Republicans Dave Camp (Mich.), Max Baucus (D-MT) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced the fast track legislation and AFL-CIO has launched a petition calling on Congress to oppose this undemocratic and anti-worker legislation. While proponents of these trade deals often make bold promises about the benefits of such agreements, in reality they do little more than increase trade deficits and hurt America’s working families.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently made it clear how strongly the labor federation opposed fast track:
The Trade Promotion Authority bill submitted today by Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus and Senate Finance Ranking Member Orrin Hatch is out of date, poorly conceived and bad for American workers. For that reason, the AFL-CIO opposes this legislation in the strongest of terms and will actively work to block its passage.
As we’ve seen previously, such deals increase our trade deficits and they often do so at the detriment of not only the American economy, but the rights of workers in the countries we trade with. NAFTA alone has led to the displacement of 700,000 jobs. Workers in countries like Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Jordan and Bahrain, have been the targets of detention, persecution, threats, and murder. These deals frequently lead to increased corporate profits and control of the world economy and less and less life, liberty, and happiness pursuit for workers.
Working families and their advocates are standing up against these trade deals and things like fast track that make these deals less democratic and accountable to the people. In New York, a group of lawmakers, union, and environmental activists is took to the steps of City Hall to protest fast track.
New York AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento said that the TPP proposal “will not provide adequate transparency, accountability, or oversight. It fails to protect American workers and American jobs.” Rep. José E. Serrano (D-NY) echoed those sentiments: “Fast-tracking is simply a way in my opinion, of doing things without Congress really knowing about it. We’re always told that these trade agreements will create jobs, and a better environment, and then five years later we find out it’s not true.”
Sign the petition and tell Congress that repeating failed policies is not the way to create jobs and grow the economy.
Reposted from AFL-CIO NOW
Tags: aflcio, Dave Camp, fast track, Jobs, Max Baucus, orrin hatch, Richard Trumka, tpp, trade
The people of Wisconsin may not see eye-to-eye on many recent political issues but one issue that most people can agree on is outsourcing. In a state like ours where manufacturing has been a major part of the economy throughout history, shipping jobs overseas has been a blow to nearly every Wisconsin community.
But here’s what you may not know: Current tax loopholes actually incentivize moving overseas for companies, while doing nothing to support companies that move back to the United States from abroad. Those tax incentives encouraged and rewarded 47 companies in Southeastern Wisconsin alone to move operations overseas – while doing very little for a company like Master Lock as it moved 100 jobs back to Milwaukee.
With such a large manufacturing base and a steady loss of jobs in the state the impact of outsourcing reaches just about everyone. Our organizers hear daily from members who either lost their job to outsourcing or know someone who did. The effects are so enormous that between 1994 and 2011 Wisconsin lost over 81,000 manufacturing jobs. A majority of those workers were certified as having lost jobs due to imports and offshoring.
Members from across the state have voiced their support for the Bring Jobs Home Act, a bill that would eliminate the tax loopholes for companies moving out of the country and reward them for bringing jobs back.
Vivian, a Working America member from Oshkosh, said, “We all want the American Dream: job, family, home and a good life. You cannot have this without a good job.”
As corporate greed increases, the American dream is disappearing. The current generation faces higher unemployment and lower wages even though they are better educated than those before them. This is first generation that will not be better off than their parents.
As Working America member Chris from Brown Deer put it, “Until we eliminate the incentives that corporations have to send high-paying, full-time jobs overseas, we will continue to suffer as a nation.”
Even now, corporate profits continue to soar and wages continue to decline; corporate CEO’s are more concerned about their bank accounts than they are about the people whose livelihoods depend on earning a decent wage. We need to reward companies that do the right thing instead of paying them to move jobs overseas. The Bring Jobs Home Act helps us move away from the “profits before people” mentality to make sure that the people of this country have the ability to buy the goods we are selling.
The thing is, many of these corporations that we pay to ship jobs away were made in America. They began here, found success here and they should be proud to attach “Made in America” to their products.
Tags: economy, Jobs, outsourcing, trade, Wisconsin


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Disney+ price rise is coming soon, but you still have time to dodge it for an entire year
YOUR monthly Disney+ subscription is set to increase in a few weeks, but here’s a nifty trick to avoid the price rise for the next 12 months. You can thank us later.
Disney has confirmed plans to increase the monthly cost of its Disney+ subscription service from February 23, 2021. That means anyone who subscribes for the first time at the tail-end of next month will need to cough-up £7.99 a month – a price rise of £2 compared with the £5.99 a month subscription cost since Disney+ launched in the UK on March 24, 2020.


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Pumpkins will be fewer and smaller in size this Halloween, according to local farmers.
Eastern New Mexico farmers are experiencing drops of 20 to 30 percent lower than usual.
Extreme drought and heat took its toll, they said.
“We irrigate our pumpkins, but there is just nothing you can do about 100-degree days,” said Kenneth Davis, owner of Davis Farms Pumpkin Patch north of Clovis. “If that happens you are going to get low pollination, and therefore low yields. About all you can do is hope and pray that don’t happen.”
“We have seen other years that had a short supply but I think this is the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Davis, who has been pumpkin farming for 23 years. There’s no doubt about that.”
Davis said that New Mexico’s pumpkin yield is about 80 percent of normal.
According to Davis, blistering temperatures prevent bees from being as active. This causes pumpkin blossoms to fall off of the vine without being pollinated, and, as a result, no fruit is produced.
“I would tell people to go shopping early and get ready to pay for them because the price is up as a result of the shortage. Some people are going to have to do without; there are not as many pumpkins as there usually is,” said Davis.
It could be worse.
Russ Wallace of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service tells the Dallas Morning News that the weight of the state’s harvested crop is expected to be 40 to 50 percent lower than normal, while Hurricane Irene took its toll on crops on the East Coast.
Scott Meeks, partner of Pumpkin Patch in Clovis, said his crop of ornamental pumpkins has dropped by 30 percent this year. The size of pumpkins has also decreased. What is normally a 16-to-18 pound pumpkin is a 12-to-14 pounder this year.
Meeks said that New Mexico farmers are shipping pumpkins all over the country to offset a national shortage.
“You take the drought here in the West and the flooding in the East, and you’re looking at a national shortage,” Meeks said.
According to Meeks, the state’s low humidity, cool nighttime temperatures, high altitude, and dry climate are conducive to pumpkin growth.
Most of the Texas’ pumpkins come from West Texas. Farmers used soaker hoses and irrigation in attempt to keep pumpkin vines moist, but Wallace says high temperatures simply shut down plants.


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Tag : iOS 11 confirmed features
title : Top Apple iPhone 8, iPhone 7S Features Confirmed by iOS 11 and Foxconn Insider
summary : June 6, 2017 - Apple fans can expect three iPhone upgrades this 2017 – the iPhone 7 direct sequel that will be called the iPhone 7S with the supersized iPhone 7S Plus and the 10th anniversary edition iPhone 8 that supposedly will also go by the name iPhone X. And thanks to iOS 11 and leaked details, we now have an idea how these devices will look and behave.
date : Jun 06, 2017 07:30 AM EDT


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Some 63 percent of men and 60 percent of women plan to settle down romantically this year with
A total of 7 percent of millennial women reporting saving money to buy a wedding dress and 14 percent of millennial men saying they are likely to purchase an engagement ring in 2018, according to a Propeller Insights study. That’s compared to only 11 percent of Gen Xers and Baby Boomers who say finding love is on their list of New Year’s resolutions.
“Many millennials are ready for that next big relationship, which means they’re also ready to start thinking about building their financial future with another person,” said Emily Brauer Gill, director of brand and communications with Varo Money.
Whatever the age or generation, debt experts say it’s important to include reviewing a potential partner’s credit report as part of a courtship that leads to marriage.
“If you are embarking on a relationship, the one thing people are looking for is trust so including a credit report in the discussion of a potential partnership is very important because you’re going to be making some financial decisions that affect both of you,” said John Heath, directing attorney with Lexington Law, a legal firm that specializes in improving the credit report scores of their clients nationwide.
Without two stellar credit reports in a partnership or marriage, acquiring a home or new car can cost more immediately and in the long run due to higher interest rates attached to a loan or mortgage.
“The worst case scenario is that the behaviors that created a low scoring credit report will continue into the relationship or marriage and put the spouse with a high ranking credit report at financial risk,” Heath told Newsmax Finance.
A credit score lower than 700 is an indicator that an individual has a potential money or credit problem, according to experts.
“Scores will always be subjective because they’re based on a person’s spending habits but over 700 is where you can access good credit opportunities in what’s called A paper,” Heath said. “Any score under 670 would cause me to question a potential partner’s spending or credit card habits.”
Red flags to look for in a credit report include:
- Maxed out credit cards: If someone has maxed out their credit cards, their financial responsibility may not be developed enough to enter a partnership, says Heath.
- Unresolved Court Judgments: “It means the person may have their wages garnished in the future, which means there may be barriers to their earnings coming into the relationship,” said Heath.
- Bankruptcy: Credit counseling services are often used to avoid bankruptcy but where there’s been an actual court filing in bankruptcy court, it indicates an inability to avoid the consequences of mismanagement. “I would inquire as to what drove this person to file for bankruptcy because it’s a champion indicator of a bigger problem,” Heath said.
- Charge Offs and Late Payments:“If there’s repeat instances where the loved one charged off a credit card balance or was late in making credit card payments of 30, 60 and 90 days, it means the person may have trouble consistently earning or may not be a good financial steward of their resources,” said Heath.
All is not lost, however, in circumstances in which love conquers any doubt created by a negative credit report as long as assets remain separate not co-mingled.
“The minute that you open a joint bank account, credit card or buy property together, the risk of joint financial responsibility, garnishment or a lien comes into play,” said Heath.
A bad credit report need not be a deal breaker if the person is willing to work with a credit counseling agency.
“Working with a credit counseling service means the problem that created a bad credit report is being addressed,” Heath said. “It’s a positive indicator because it shows the potential spouse is willing to try to handle their finances.”
In some instances, a bad credit score is only a matter of removing negative notations.
“We all have a story and in some cases that story is misunderstood,” said Heath. That’s where Lexington Law and other credit repair agencies can help a potential spouse who is a good catch despite having a bit of a past.
“We create an opportunity for our clients to correct mistakes and tell the story behind the mistakes that may show up on their credit report,” Heath said.
“We make sure credit reports are fair, accurate and substantiated, which can be a very time consuming and emotional process. While our clients concentrate on developing other areas of their lives, including romance, we bring convenience by tying up loose ends on their behalf.”
Juliette Fairley is an author, lecturer and TV host based in New York.


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October 26 2012 has been quite a big, and potentially expensive, day for technology fans all over the world, as not only has Microsoft’s newest computer operating system — Windows 8 — gone on sale, but the company has also released its first own-brand tablet, the Surface.
As if that wasn’t enough, arch-rival Apple’s small tablet, the iPad Mini, has been made available as a pre-order, and predictably gone on to sell quite well.
Windows 8 is available as a downloadable update to Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP SP3 computers, for just £24.99. This price will continue to January 31 2013, at which time it will be increased to an as yet undisclosed sum. If you’d prefer a physical copy, the price goes up dramatically, as directly from Microsoft it costs £49.99.
Of course, the other way to get Windows 8 is to buy a new computer, of which Microsoft claimed there were 1000 different models certified for the new operating system, meaning you should have plenty of choice.
As for the Microsoft Surface tablet, if you didn’t pre-order one, you’re going to have to work hard to find one, as the basic 32GB model sold out on Microsoft’s online store prior to today’s launch. Surface prices vary depending on the accessories you choose, with a simple tablet costing £399, or £479 if you choose the Touch Cover with built-in keyboard.
Finally, eager buyers could buy an Apple iPad Mini today, just a few days after the product was officially announced. Like most other Apple products these days, there was a mad rush to place an order online, resulting in the tablet going out of stock almost straight away. Delivery times have slipped to two weeks after the November 2 release date. This was only for the basic, £329 16GB model though, the more expensive 32GB and 64GB models had earlier delivery dates, however you would have to splash out £349 and £429 respectively.
We’re sure many of you purchased one of these new items, but how many bought all three?


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Elemi Restaurant receives $10,000 grant from PepsiCo to help with employee retention
El Paso's modern Mexican restaurant Elemi received a $10,000 grant from PepsiCo's Juntos Crecemos platform.
Juntos Crecemos is a new $50 million platform aimed at strengthening Hispanic-owned businesses, specifically restaurants, bodegas and carnicerías (meat markets) in the midst of a pandemic that has threatened the survival of small businesses.
Since the rise of the pandemic, 86% of Hispanic business owners have reported significant negative impacts, including complete closure and were only half as likely as their white counterparts to receive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans according to a Stanford University survey, stated a PepsiCo release.
Elemi, owned by Emiliano Marentes and his wife, Kristal, is one of the fortunate beneficiaries.
Before the pandemic, the Downtown restaurant was thriving for two years with its authentic hand-made blue corn tortillas, and specialty tacos like El Campesino, which are made with confit portobello mushrooms, grilled eggplant, avocado, queso and black beans.
In June of 2020, the restaurant was featured in celebrity Padma Lakshmi's Hulu show, "Taste the Nation," after visiting and cooking with the Marentes in their restaurant kitchen.
"It's been a wild ride as far as not knowing if we were going to be successful and we were grateful we were busy before the pandemic," Emiliano Marentes said.
The coronavirus, however, caused the restaurant to lose some of its employees and customers.
"We had to close the restaurant two times last year so it was like opening a new restaurant each time and trying to bring our employees back," he said. "Having to stop and restart everything was hard."
More:Want to watch the game with a cold beer? Here's where to find El Paso sports bars
Marentes said he had a staff of about 17 to 19 but probably retained six to eight employees through the pandemic.
He is excited to be able to use the grant to retain employees and to give them a raise.
"It was surprising and we're grateful. We're still trying to figure it out ... but this will help grow our staff. It's been hard to bring people onboard and we're finally getting to that point. But the people that are working here, we've been able to give them raises and invest in the people that are here," he said.
More:What are the best new El Paso restaurants? A guide to your favorite food and drinks
María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; email@example.com; @EPTMaria on Twitter.
If you go:
What: Elemi Restaurant.
Where: 313 N Kansas St.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday.


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The Fresh Market will open its first store in western Pennsylvania.
Mt. Lebanon commissioners gave final approval with a unanimous vote Tuesday night for the gourmet supermarket chain to demolish the old Roth Carpet store on the corner of Route 19 and Connor Road and construct a new building.
The Fresh Market representatives have said that construction will begin as soon as possible.
The Fresh Market's application had been under consideration since last summer. Mt. Lebanon officials had concerns about traffic.
Two new driveways will be built along Connor Road. One driveway will be exit-only. Traffic will be prohibited from making a left turn from the main entrance point from 4 to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends.
The developer must conduct a one-year follow-up study summarizing the operation of the driveways and the left turn restriction. The study will review all crashes at the site driveways to determine if a crash pattern has developed that would be cause to revise the assess plan for the site. The report must be submitted to Mt. Lebanon officials and .
The developer was also given permission to reconfigure the parking lot to create 98 parking spaces that it will share with the JoS. A. Banks store next door. The Mt. Lebanon zoning ordinance would have limited parking to 55 spaces.
is less than half a mile down on Route 19 from the new The Fresh Market location.


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Manyavar, the ethnic wear brand for men has launched its third exclusive brand outlet in Chennai. This is also the brand's 75th exclusive brand outlet (EBO) in India. Spread over an area of 1,750 sq.ft, the store offers the complete range of men's ethnic wear including kurtas, sherwanis, shirts and suits.
The brand is soon going to launch its second outlet at Mantri Square mall in Bangalore. With 13 EBOs in South India, the brand occupies almost 16,000 sq.ft of retail space in South India. Currently, Manyavar has 75 EBOs across India and plans to have atleast 200 EBOs by the end of FY 2010-2011. Manyavar registered a turnover of Rs.150 crores in the current fiscal year.


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International trade and movement of goods have become the primary drivers of demand for logistics real estate over the past 10 years. Large warehouse and distribution buildings have been constructed along the coasts in close proximity to sea ports handling inbound containerized cargo flows as well as inland near intermodal rail yards that facilitate the movement of goods to end consumers. Although the sector was not immune to the recession, its impact was muted by corporate cost reductions that resulted in supply chain reconfigurations and further outsourcing, generating demand for logistics real estate. At mid-year 2011, logistics real estate stood above its pre-recession peak, a result not seen in the overall industrial sector.
The future looks equally bright. Containerized cargo is expected to grow at a multiple of the overall economy and sea ports and rail companies are making considerable infrastructure investments to keep up. Although investment into the real estate logistics sector slowed to historic lows during the past two years, positive demand has driven vacancies down and new speculative construction is on the horizon.
The First Half 2011 Grubb & Ellis Logistics Market Trends report provides an overview of the U.S. logistics sector as well as an in-depth look at local drivers and performance across 12 sea port and eight intermodal logistics markets.


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The 13th generation Intel Raptor Lake ES CPU has been subjected to all benchmark tests to study its performance
The CPU Intel Raptor Lake ES Intel (here for more on the company) backed up a full battery of benchmark tests, courtesy of Expreview. This upcoming 13th Generation Core CPU from Intel has a speed limit of maximum clock of 3.8 GHz and, as such, it tests against a Core i9-12900K clocked at the same speed, for a fair comparison. Both CPUs were used with an unknown Z690 motherboard, 32GB of DDR5 5200MHz memory with unknown timing, and a GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics card. According to Expreview, the 13th generation CPU is on average around 20% faster than the 12th generation CPU, although the eight more E-Cores may have something to do with this in some benchmarks.
Intel Raptor Lake CPU Test Results
In Sisoft Sandra 2021 the ES champion is up to 51.5% faster in double precision floating point testwhich is the extreme outlier, but has an advantage of about 15-25% in most other tests. In many other tests, it is ahead of anything from less than three percent up to 25 percent, with the most multithreaded benchmark types seeing the biggest gains. However, in some of the single-threaded tests, Alder Lake is outperforming Raptor Lake by 10 percent or more. For example in Pov-Ray and Cinebench.
Most gaming tests favor Intel’s 12th Gen over the 13th Gen ES champion, though it’s possible that the limited clock speeds are holding back the Raptor Lake CPU. The two are head to head or Alder Lake is ahead on some heads, albeit only slightly. Keep in mind that it’s still early days and everything from UEFI support to drivers will be improved before Raptor Lake launches later this year. There’s also the limited clock speed which will likely play a significant role in final performance as well, but that at least provides a first taste of what’s to come.
And you? what do you think of these 13th Generation Intel Raptor Lake ES CPU test results ? tell us yours below in the comments and stay connected on TechGameWorld.com, for the latest news from the world of technology (and more!).
The article Benchmark test on Intel Raptor Lake ES CPU comes from TechGameWorld.com.


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Italy may have a shortage of extra virgin olive oil this year, but it will still have plenty of other products to export in the next months. The European country produces some of the finest wines and olive oils in the whole world, but let us say that it’s not just a matter of how prodigal Mother Earth has been here. Italians have always been recognized for their inventiveness, as the beautiful promo-video “Italia – the extraordinary commonplace” circulating on the Internet in the last few days accurately shows.
So it’s no surprise that Italy exports not only its outstanding products but the necessary technology and know-how to produce them.
Some of the state-of-the-art technology in the olive oil and wine-making fields was on display at the second edition of Enoliexpo exhibit which took place from January 30 to February 1 in the town of Fermo, in the central region of Marche.
The event was launched with a press conference at the Chamber of Deputies in Rome, an eminent location that confirms the interest and willingness of Italian Government in upholding the national olive growing sector.
Pietro Sandali, general manager at Unaprol, a partner of the exhibit, stressed the importance of investing in scientific research to improve the Italian olive oil industry’s efficiency and competitiveness, which is mainly based on traditional, fragmented production, against the global market’s challenges.
The biennial fair included exhibitors featuring tools and machinery, nursery products, harvesting and processing materials and technology linked to the wine and olive oil production and hosted a number of interesting conferences featuring corporations such as DowAgroscience (the Italian branch of the American company offering sustainable agricultural production solutions), Unaprol and the Regional Agricultural Agency, ASSAM.
One of the most appreciated meetings was dedicated to the phytosanitary management of the phytophagous parasites such as the olive fly and moth, an issue that was hugely appreciated by Italian olive growers due to the difficult harvest experienced this year.
The experts were optimistic that another “Black Year” could be prevented, forecasting a better harvest for next year and an increase in olive oil production for the Marche Region, which this season faced a dramatic loss of about 50 perent.
Sandro Nardi, Assam’s phytosanitary service manager, invited the growers to pay close attention to trees’ warnings, and to be ready to intervene, armed with new products that have proven to be effective against the olive fly.
Franco Famiani of the University of Perugia confirmed the importance of prompt agronomic care, including adequate pruning, good harvest timing and correct fertilization to reach an optimal and lasting balance to guarantee good outputs.
Barbara Alfei, Assam’s panel leader, illustrated the results of a wrong phytosanitary plant protection on olive oil quality: a strong olive fly infestation, she explained, defaces the chemical and sensorial features, jeopardizing the extra virgin classification of the product.
The conference, dedicated to the theme “competitive olive growing between research and innovation,” was organized by Unaprol in collaboration with Coldiretti Marche and Pandolea (the olive oil women association).
Maurizio Servili from the University of Perugia presented the interesting results of research for the Unaprol’s Scientific Observatory to exploit olive oil production waste products such as waters and pomaces, and explained how to control extra virgin quality in difficult year by working on the milling temperatures and timings.
Dalt – an IT company specialized in Business Intelligence and technology solutions for agriculture – proposed Oleum: a specific management information system to help olive oil producers manage and monitor the production process, tracking the “history” of every batch.


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As E3 2012 ends, Microsoft begins to roll out its Xbox 360 update for the spring. Microsoft has not announced what the upgrade will entail, but promises that it will prep for future enhancements, according to the Official Xbox Magazine.
If you got an Xbox 360 system update: Spring Update rolling out to a few this week -- everyone else next week, Microsoft's Larry Hryb, also known by his gamertag, Major Nelson, posted on Twitter. The system update contains behind the scenes improvements & prep for future enhancements.
It is unclear exactly what Nelson means by these future enhancements, but it could have something to do with Microsoft's SmartGlass project. At E3 2012, the company announced that it will be developing an app for iOS, Android and Windows mobile devices that will be directly linked to a player's console. This will allow gamers to stream content from their Xbox systems directly to their phone or tablet, but Microsoft hinted that there will be more of an emphasis on the gaming aspect. This could mean that players will be able to manage their game content or post achievements to Facebook, but until Microsoft makes more announcements it is difficult to say.
The company unveiled a ton of service announcements at this year's E3, putting a strong emphasis on the implementation of TV, movies and music into its gaming console. Microsoft's Phil Harrison, however, assured that the gamers have not been forgotten and will have plenty of revelations to look forward to in time.
Game consumption on the console is going up, he said to Edge. Entertainment consumption is going up, and is now higher than games, but games are growing as well. I have no concerns about what that means for gamers, whether they're core gamers or casual gamers or somewhere in between.
Xbox 360 owners are already seeing some of this shift toward multi-media entertainment. Paramount has just announced that it will launch an app for Microsoft's console that will allow users of its UltraViolet app to stream movies on their television via the Xbox 360. Previously, UltraViolet users were only able to view movies on their computers through the Cloud, as the Verge has reported.
Microsoft has promised that this new Xbox update will give fans a behind the scenes look at upcoming developments. Does this mean players will see a preview of what to expect with the new Xbox '720' console? It's too soon to say, but Xbox players likely will find out what Microsoft has in store next week.


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KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 (Bernama) — The public welcomed the government’s move to exempt reading materials from being imposed with the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The move is seen to have eased the burden on students and teachers who are inclined to use the materials, and at the same time, encourage more people to read.[br]
Checks by Bernama at several bookshops around the Klang Valley found that the premises did not charge any GST on books purchased.[br]
A sixteen-year-old student S. Abilashini said she was not charged any GST on the five workbooks she bought at a bookshop in Batu Caves, although she was charged the tax on stationery.
“It’s good that only the pen and calculator that I bought were charged GST and the workbooks were not. This gives me the opportunity to buy more books to prepare for the coming SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) examinations,” she said.[br]
A government pensioner Aazad Abbas, 57, was also thankful that the religious books he purchased today were not charged with GST.[br]
“(I am) thankful that there was no GST charged for the books purchased, but I hope the government can control the prices of books to encourage people to read,” he said. Meanwhile, an employee of a 1Malaysia Bookshop in Wangsa Maju, Roziah Zainal Arifin, 28, said the bookshop had well received, and was ready to implement GST at the premises. She explained that the bookshop had displayed a list of things including stationery that would be charged with GST throughout the shop for customers to easily check the types of items charged with the tax.[br]
“The 1Malaysia Bookshop is also maintaining discounts of up to 15 per cent for selected books,” she said.[br]
Zarunida Mior Nasir, 26, who works at the Pustaka Rakyat bookshop in Sri Gombak said all employees had been briefed by the management on the implementation of GST on certain items.
She said the briefing also made it easier for employees to settle any doubts or questions from customers regarding the items that were charged with the tax.[br]
The government has exempted GST from all reading materials including children’s colouring books, workbooks, textbooks, dictionaries and religious books.
However, magazines, digital books and stationery would still be charged the six per cent-rated tax.[br]
The tax is seen to be an important phase in the government’s efforts to strengthen the country’s economy with the people’s interest in mind.[br]
Source : http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v8/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=1122295


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Nakheel Malls, the retail arm of Dubai-based master developer Nakheel, has teamed up with Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club to create a giant, zombie-themed entertainment zone at The Night Market in Deira Islands. The facility will feature more than 12 activities and attractions.
Zombie Apocalypse Park (ZAP) will boast a thrilling line-up of live acts, games, battles and events, powered by glow-in-the-dark technology. Activities include paintball games, escape games, VR 9D cinema, haunted house, axe throw, archery, haunted corn maze, air soft battle games, laser tag, trampolines, target shooting, zombie apocalypse attack and zombie runs.
The ZAP collaboration was cemented at a signing ceremony led by Nakheel CEO, Sanjay Manchanda and Joseph Estephan, general manager, Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club.
Set to open in mid-2020, the 65,000 sqft fantasy land will have its own car park, zombie-themed café, party room for private events and ZAP activities shop.
“We are committed to creating unique, unforgettable experiences, attractions and facilities at our existing and upcoming retail developments. The Zombie Apocalypse Park will be a huge draw at The Night Market, attracting tourists, businesses and schools for team-building events and families and individuals for a new kind of entertainment. We are delighted to partner with Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club for this exciting new venture at our latest retail project,” said Omar Khoory, managing director of Nakheel Malls.
“Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club aspires to be recognised as the leader in providing high-quality facilities in sports, recreation and hospitality, delivering diversified, innovative and unforgettable experiences for individuals, families and companies. With this collaboration, we are expanding our reach to provide a phenomenal entertainment experience at The Night Market, and are honoured to be partnering up with Nakheel Malls,” added Estephan.
Words by Farimah Moeini, Snapchat Head of Industry – Retail and Travel TheJuly 5, 2021 | By RetailME Bureau
Snapchat has been betting big on Augmented Reality’s (AR) retail future consideringJune 22, 2021 | By Jibran Chouguley
Nando’s has revealed their revamped Sheikh Zayed Road outlet where newcomers and
UAE-based Al Maya Group announced that it will be boosting import of
UAE-based grocery retail chain, Grandiose has opened its first hypermarket in Abu
UAE-based Carrefour announced its theme and plans for Ramadan 2021. The brand
Locally owned supermarket Spinneys celebrates 60 years of doing business in the
UAE-based Carrefour will become the first retailer in the region to offer new levels
The Organic Farmers’ Market is back in Bay Avenue for its 12th
UAE-based Lulu Group recently inaugurated its first-ever all-female staff store in Jeddah,
Jones the Grocer, the gourmet grocer and cheese retailer launches the Jones
UAE-based Al Maya Supermarkets is hosting a two-week food festival at select
Locally-owned supermarket Spinneys has launched its ‘Power of Plants’ initiative in the
Extravagant, conceptual, great food and views are some of the ways that
Abu Dhabi’s state investment company ADQ is in talks to invest about $500 million
The once powerful department stores that anchored malls and streets around the
Who isn’t a sucker for discounts? Customers today are spoiled for choice
The various e-commerce and virtual retail stores that cater to different product
A private helicopter carrying the chairman and managing director of Lulu Group,
Words by Shubhojit Mahalanobis, Director of Danube Home UAE’s tourism & hospitality sector
Tighter restrictions on hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and entertainment venues on account of
All hotels and restaurants have been directed to temporarily hold entertainment activities
The new Dubai Gold Souk is “very much on track”, according to
Gone are the days of traditional brick-and-mortar as well as purely e-commerce
The Dubai Gold & Jewellery Group’s ongoing jewellery campaign, held in association


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Yesterday Kim Dotcom launched Mega.
The new service was launched exactly one year after MegaUpload was shutdown by the US government
The new service is being run out of New Zealand and will be competing against the likes of Dropbox and Google Drive.
In the first 24 hours the new service reported hundreds of thousands of signups as well as experiencing capacity issues.
Here’s a video of the launch event.
- Mega hits 1 million users after one day as Kim Dotcom officially launches the service (thenextweb.com)
- Mega goes live: Megaupload reborn with focus on file safety (slashgear.com)
- Dotcom’s ‘Mega’ struggles to keep up with demand – TVNZ (tvnz.co.nz)
- Kim Dotcom’s crazy cloud service Mega goes live for all – will you use it? (venturebeat.com)
- Dotcom’s Mega site ‘no middle finger’ to US (stuff.co.nz)