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- Gen Zs in New York City have been obsessed with a 41-day-old potato leek stew.
- On the other side of the world, in Bangkok, a family has been cooking bovine stew for over 50 years.
- The Thai perpetual stew is the best soup I've ever tried, and is worth flying to Thailand for.
In New York City, a 41-day-old soup is all the rage among Gen Zs.
Annie Rauwerda first cooked a potato leek stew on June 7 — and now, over a month later, the stew is still simmering, according to a report by The New York Post. The stew draws in dozens of young New Yorkers every weekend who say they're curious about the unusual dish.
Indeed, this seemingly neverending broth — aptly called perpetual stew — is fascinating. The dish has roots in medieval recipes which detail a pot of soup that's never emptied and continues to boil every day, with the goal of making it last, well, forever, according to a 1994 article by The Lewiston Tribune.
On the other side of the world, in Bangkok, Thailand, there's a family that's been cooking their version of perpetual stew for over 50 years. As an avid traveler and Gen Z myself, I'm always looking for unusual food to try around the world. So last year, in late July, I took a 13-hour-long train ride from the northern city of Chiang Mai to Bangkok, and then a 40-minute cab ride for a taste of the stew.
Wattana Panich, a roadside restaurant located in the heart of Bangkok, serves a Thai-Chinese stew that's simmered for over half a century. Nattapong Kaweenuntawong, the restaurant's owner, told me the family business has been running for three generations.
"We never make it new, instead, we store it every night, and we add new ingredients and water to it every day," Kaweenuntawong said in Thai, adding that his mother and wife often take turns cooking the soup.
The stew comprises bovine, buffalo, goat, and other meats in an herbaceous, flavorful broth — and it was mind-blowingly delicious. It's made with ingredients like lemongrass and local chillies, as well as Chinese herbs. Despite using many ingredients in the recipe, a bowl of soup costs just 150 baht, or $4.40.
The soup's meaty, umami flavor was unparalleled, even in a city like Bangkok, where over 320,000 restaurants compete for diners, according to a 2020 report by The Bangkok Post. Food is one of the major draws of Bangkok's booming tourism and Thailand at large, with the local restaurant industry's market size amounting to 400 billion baht, or $11.8 billion, per the report.
Wattana Panich isn't as popular with tourists as other restaurants in the city. The fluorescent lighting, metal stools, and the hot dining area — the soup is cooked just an arm's length away — contribute to the local, artisanal feel. The majority of its diners appeared to be people who live around the area. But the stew was well worth going out of my way for — it was so good that I returned six months later for one more bowl of Kaweenuntawong's family's stew.
So if any Gen Zs from New York City find themselves halfway across the world in Bangkok, I suggest you try the hearty stew. Trust me when I say you'll never look at soup the same way again.


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Because of the consumer’s pursuit of thin and light equipment, major smartphone manufacturers have turned their attention to the 3.5mm headphone jack. At present, flagship machines such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ and P30 Pro have canceled the 3.5mm headphone jack. This is also a helpless move by major manufacturers after the balance between battery life and thickness. However, VIVO does not seem to be ready to follow the wind to cancel the 3.5mm headphone jack on the NEX 2019.
Recently, VIVO NEX product manager Li Xiang was very active on Weibo. He not only was replying to the questions but also provided some information about the headphone jack of the upcoming VIVO NEX flagship. He said that the 3.5mm headphone jack is still there. This is undoubtedly a boon for anyone who wants to keep a 3.5mm headphone jack. It seems that VIVO does not fully adopt the aggressive design route of the previous APEX 2019. As you remember, the latter came without a hole.
At present, VIVO has not released more details about the new NEX flagship. There are only a few things officially confirmed. Say, the company said it will adopt the waterfall screen design and will come with the screen camera technology. Previously, it was also reported that VIVO has solved the ‘window effect’ problem faced by the screen camera technology. So the NEX series new machine is expected to be the first with this technology.
We expect the device to be announced later this year and we can’t wait to see what VIVO has been cooking.

domain: news


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The UK government has announced that despite budget cuts at home, aid to Africa will be increased over the next few years. The announcement has been welcomed by charities and African dictators, who are looking forward to spending the cash bonanza.
In order to prevent the aid being stolen or diverted into the corruption which sadly afflicts the continent, much of the aid is to be delivered in the form of food and drink produce which is manufactured in the UK.
Uganda is to receive a batch of 20 million turkey Twizzlers. Botswana will be delivered 10 million packets of Monster Munch. South Sudan will be the grateful recipient of a million litres of Aunt Bessie's roast chicken gravy. Somalia will get 8 million packets of Mr Porky's pork scratchings. Zambia is due to expect 15 million frozen packets of Findus Crispy Pancakes. The Democratic Republic of the Congo will get 800,000 packets of Marks and Spencer's delicious own brand sugary gelatinous snacks Percy Pigs. Libya will receive a 2 mile long eel pie.


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Nokia D1C Android phone specs leaked, price start at ₹ 10,000: All You Need To Know
A New Leak about the upcoming phone from Nokia, After long time Nokia is excepted to get back into smartphone queue and ready to smash box office next year with a device currently dubbed Nokia D1C.
Nokia D1C is going to be one of the first Nokia Phones powered by Android to be launched as per this tip. The D1C has garnered considerably interested over the past few weeks as everyone has their fingers crossed in hopes the phone will revive Nokia’s glory days. We have seen numerous details of the device leak recently, confirming that it is indeed on its way to market.
Which will be launched at the Mobile World Congress 2017 (MWC). According to tips, we have received, the new Nokia D1C android smartphone will come in two variants; 2GB RAM at $150 which is around Rs 10,000, and 3GB RAM variant at $200 or around Rs 13,000. This tips itself says that this price leak is not from their usual sources so it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
The specifications in the report are more in line with what has already been leaked earlier. According to sources, both variants of the Nokia D1C will support a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, Adreno 505 GPU, 32GB of internal storage, Android 7.0 Nougat and will come in two display sizes; one will be a 5-inch Full HD version and another will be 5.5-inch Full HD.
The rear camera will be 13-megapixel for the smaller sized Nokia D1C, while the bigger one will sport a 16-megapixel rear camera. The front camera is expected to be 8-megapixel in both variants of Nokia D1C android smartphone, says the report. Earlier leaks have also indicated similar specifications from the Nokia phones.
The company behind Nokia’s comeback – HMD Global has confirmed its presence at MWC 2017.
In May of this year, Nokia had announced that it will grand HMD Global(A Finnish company) the exclusive global license to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next 10 years.
This, along with the fact that Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri is also set to speak at MWC 2017, all but confirms the fact that Nokia is set to launch new smartphones at the 2017 Mobile World Congress.
According to HMD Global CEO Arto Nummela, “India is the key market for Nokia’s next phase of this journey.” This is could be the reason why they are opting for a Rs 10,000 smartphone to start the re-launch of the Nokia brand. Nokia devices will be manufactured by Foxconn, which also manufactures Apple’s iPhones.


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Although the company did the mention anything about the device’s identity, but many has speculated it to be the Honor 20S upper mid-ranger smartphone which was recently spotted at the Google Enterprise directory.
Right now, Honor has officially confirmed that the device to be announced is indeed the Honor 20S. The company has took it further by opening up pre-registration of interests for the device’s debut sale which will commence on September 4th – shortly after it’s official announcement.
Honor 20S Specifications
According to reports, the Honor 20S could be the Honor YAL-AL50 / TL50 smartphones which were recently certified by the Chinese TENAA authority.
If that’s true, then we could expect the device to come with a 6.26-inch display with 1080 x 2340 pixels screen resolution. The device will be driven by a Kirin 980 SoC under the hood, with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB onboard storage in it’s memory compartment.
On it’s back panel, there is also a triple-camera setup which comprises of a 48MP+8MP+2MP optical sensors. At the front, there is also a 32 megapixels camera for selfie and video calling purposes.
Furthermore, you can also find a 3,650mAh non-removable battery which is said to support up to 20W fast-charging.


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TechCircle Business Transformation Symposium & Awards 2021 are scheduled today from 1:30 pm onwards. The event is intertwined between symposium sessions and a grand awards ceremony. The Business Transformation symposium focuses on an organization’s process improvement, agility, structure, employee engagement and crisis management. Watch: TechCircle Business Transformation Symposium & Awards 2021
Organizations who are upskilling continuously to make better systems in place are the ones who will survive in the coming decade.
As per a recent McKinsey report, globally, ever since the pandemic, the rate of adoption for consumer interaction with digital has upped by 3 years. A huge percentage is now showing dependency on digital businesses, and this is a clear indication that those who adapt to it will be the ones at the forefront.
The Business Transformation Awards acknowledge business and technology leaders who have improved organizational processes and taken it new heights. They’re trailblazers who are set to be class-apart in achieving milestones and kept the organization afloat, especially during an ongoing pandemic. Their will, determination and zeal to grow together is what makes them truly worthy of the award.
Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint.
our App Now!!


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SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co on Tuesday reported a 109% increase in first-quarter profit thanks to a rise in vehicle output as a global chip shortage eased and demand for its high-margin sport-utility vehicles remained strong.
Hyundai reported a net profit of 3.3 trillion won ($2.47 billion) for the January-March period versus a profit of 1.6 trillion won a year earlier.
That compared with a Refinitiv SmartEstimate for first-quarter profit of 2.3 trillion won from 16 analysts.
($1 = 1,336.2400 won)
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Hyundai, Kia sued in US for lack of anti-theft technology in some models
Hyundai planning to invest $18.2 billion in EV production by 2030
Hyundai Motor considers buying General Motors India's Talegaon plant assets
Hyundai Motor India to increase vehicle prices from January 2023
Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors report best-ever wholesales in FY23
Emerging markets have an edge over mature markets, says BlackRock
Google, Meta, other Big Tech cos face UK crackdown as govt unveils new law
Serum Institute & Biocon Biologics reach new equity investment structure
Temasek scouts for opportunities in healthcare, retail and tech firms
Govt set to approve Micron Technology's $1-billion semiconductor plant
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


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Huami and AliveCor are joining forces to develop better heart rate monitors. AliveCor is a producer of personal ECG technology, while Huami is best known as a manufacturer of smart watches and other wearables.
The two companies will leverage their respective expertise to design and manufacture new ECG devices that are expected to ship globally in 2020. The announcement indicated that the devices would have new form factors and offer greater medical utility, but did not offer any specifics as to what that would entail.
The deal includes a licensing arrangement that will allow Huami to integrate AliveCor’s ECG tech into the rest of its wearable portfolio.
“AliveCor’s intelligent, medical grade, heart care platform will be a key component of Huami smart watches and heart trackers going forward,” said Huami CEO Wang Huang. “Our new partnership is critical to building these as well as entirely new medical grade services.”
“[Our] agreement achieves our goal of delivering AI driven subscription services to enterprise customers and consumers at affordable price points,” added AliveCor CEO Priya Abani.
Huami recently unveiled the Amazfit GTS smartwatch, which comes with a wide array of health and fitness applications. The company also integrated Amazon Alexa into the Amazfit Verge earlier this year.


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Summary List PlacementIn 2016, simply a year after it was founded, the electrical van and bus startup Arrival caught the eye of what would be a dream consumer for any commercial-vehicle company: UPS..
In an interview with Expert, Arrival president Avinash Rugoobur stated he didn’t keep in mind which company reached out to the other very first, but, he said, UPS rapidly saw Arrival’s potential and sent staff members to the start-up’s offices to work with its engineers.
Over the next 4 years, UPS checked elements and model vehicles and, in 2020, revealed it had actually ordered 10,000 vans from Arrival with an option to buy another 10,000 If UPS ends up buying all 20,000 vans, the offer might bring in a little over $1 billion, Arrival said in a 2020 investor presentation.
Read more: Elon Musk stated Tesla plans to construct an electrical van ultimately, but has actually been held back by battery cell output.
Though it has yet to provide a last automobile to UPS or anyone else, Arrival didn’t have to do much convincing to close its deal with the logistics giant, Rugoobur stated. Their multi-year cooperation meant UPS was currently acquainted with Arrival’s technology. In a news release, UPS stated Arrival was the first company that had established an electric shipment vehicle that met its requirements.
” I believe they understood if we kept going the method we were going that we would have something very unique and special for them,” Rugoobur stated.
It also helped that, due to Arrival’s small production technique, UPS understood it might purchase a smaller number of vans than a significant manufacturer would have been comfortable offering, he stated.
A promising however unproven business design.
Arrival’s financiers and partners, which include BlackRock and Hyundai, are banking on an organization model that has a lot of upside, but is still unverified. Utilizing novel products and an innovative production procedure, Arrival states it can build electrical vans and buses that are lighter, more spacious, and cheaper to own than their gas and diesel-powered rivals. And, the business states, its manufacturing method will permit it to begin making a profit much faster than other automobile startups while making better margins in the long run.
” Arrival is transforming the method the industry is going to run,” Rugoobur stated.
In November, the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) CIIG Merger Corp. announced it would take Arrival public, likely in2021
Read more: Tesla, Nio, and other EV stocks soared in2020 These 4 key elements can keep the rally going, a professional states.
Amongst the main reasons the vehicle market is so difficult to split for startups is that establishing vehicles and building factories is really pricey. Prior to your very first model rolls off the assembly line, you have to spend numerous millions, or even billions, of dollars to get all the pieces in location..
Those intimidating repaired costs indicate it’s important to offer as many vehicles as possible. With each sale, you get closer to recovering the money you spent to prepare it for production.
That reasoning leads car manufacturers to develop large factories that can produce hundreds of countless systems each year. Though buses and vans are made in lower numbers than sedans and SUVs, they’re developed using a comparable production process and philosophy, said Steve Tam, an analyst at ACT Research who covers the commercial-vehicle market.
Smaller is better.
In the 2020 investor presentation, Arrival anticipated that developing the capacity to produce an overall of 100,000 cars per year throughout 10 smaller factories will require less cumulative space than a single Volkswagen plant. Considering that Arrival projects that each factory will be less pricey to build and run than the average automobile plant, it can make a revenue off a smaller sized number of vehicles than a typical car manufacturer would require, Michael Ableson, Arrival’s CEO of North America, told Insider.
The secret to making the microfactory technique possible was developing a composite material for body panels that, according to Arrival, is more powerful and lighter than steel. The product can be colored, developed into exterior and interior panels through extrusion– a process in which material is pressed through a mold to change its shape– and signed up with to other panels with a strong adhesive. That means Arrival doesn’t need a few of the pricey equipment– like marking presses, paint makers, or welding robots– that other vehicle producers do, Ableson stated.
Put all of those pieces together, and Arrival thinks that for every single 100,000 vans and buses it makes, it will have to invest about half of what Volkswagen does to produce the exact same number of vans at its factory in Wrzesnia, Poland.
The effect of Arrival’s unconventional technique could ripple beyond the commercial-vehicle industry– if it works. Rugoobur stated there’s no factor a production system modeled on Arrival’s couldn’t make 10 million automobiles each year.
If Arrival prospers, the similarity General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen may start remembering.
Are you an existing or former Arrival employee? Do you have a news suggestion or opinion you ‘d like to share? Contact this press reporter at email@example.com, on Signal at 646-768-4712, or via his encrypted e-mail address firstname.lastname@example.org.
Financiers looking to Wall Street’s SPAC trend to discover the next Tesla ought to look out for these 2 threats, professionals say.
Tesla might ‘quickly’ begin producing its Semi truck now, however it does not yet have adequate battery cells to power them, Elon Musk stated.
Wall Street’s new SPAC fascination is a technology Elon Musk buffoons as a ‘fool’s errand.’ Here’s why financiers think he’s incorrect.
Elon Musk’s move to Texas is a publicity stunt that reveals how Tesla is maturing as an automaker.
SEE ALSO: EXCLUSIVE: SpaceX is completing a massive new financing round.
Sign up with the discussion about this story” NOW WATCH: The racist origins of marijuana restriction


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The US Dollar appears to be on a retracement run from last weeks weakness, so I expect the US dollar to be bullish for the majority of this coming week, but I do expect a strong pullback (clear from indicators, above moving averages, high strength etc) from its inner uptrend line (If it succeeds in breaking above the 97.00-97.2 band).Things to bare in mind: Monday is a bank holiday in the states, so expect low volatility across the board, not just USD pairs. On Thursday, the retail sales index is out for the month, and it is predicted to be above previous reading of -0.1%. As you are all well aware, the long term strength of a currency is about business confidence and investability, so the higher the reading of the retail sales, the more consumer spending there is, indicating more consumer confidence. I have a feeling that when this news hits, the USDollar will have already broken above the 97.00 mark.
Here is my analysis
The Euro appears to be on a shallow downtrend, currently lying on a key price level (113). If it breaks below, expect a continuation to the lower trendline, if it represents a clear rejection then expect a price retracment to the upper trendline. Indicators suggest a short term bullrun at market open, but I am not expecting much, as there will be even less volume being traded then usual this Monday (bank holiday).
The Pound, as per usual, sits in an uncallable position, with Brexit negotiation news falling silent temporarily for Armistice Day, us traders are on hold for the time being. However, I attended the JP Morgan Quarterly Review in Harrogate last week, and their analysts seem to think that a firm uptrend is likely to take place in the next few weeks, as Brexit talks come”close” to some sort of deal. Technically, the Pound looks bearish for the time being (cleared its moving averages and oscillators signalling south) I wish I could speculate further, but these are uncertain times form the pound. CPI is to be released on Wednesday, this is very important because A: it indicates business and consumer confidence, and B: inflation is the main incentive for the Bank of England to raise interest rates from their all time low (0.25, on a steady hike up).
The Yen looks bearish this week, rejecting of its downward sloping trendline and breaking past its moving averages. This will be aided by the expected negative quarterly economic growth rate to be released later this week.


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PwC Predicts Kenya’s Total Room Revenue Will Grow to $645m in 2022
Total room revenue in Kenya will surge at a compound annual rate of 8.1 per cent to $645 million in 2022 from $436 million in 2017 according to PwC’s annual hotels outlook 2018-2022.
Despite several setbacks such as past terrorist attacks, travel advisories against travelling to Kenya, and the election period last year, the country is expected to bounce back significantly.
In fact, Kenya experienced a rise in the number of guest nights in early 2018. According to PwC, guest nights are likely to rise 9.1 per cent this year.
“We expect tourist arrivals to Kenya to increase 8.8% in 2018, building on the pickup in December 2017. Going forward, assuming a period of relative stability, we expect tourism to Kenya to increase at a 6.9% compound annual rate, rising to 2.06 million in 2022 from 1.47 million in 2017,” PwC predicts.
Kenya is also likely to benefit from KQ’s direct flight to the US and its efforts of promoting itself as a beach destination. In addition, the country will benefit from an additional 1,800 rooms as hotels such as Hilton, Radisson Blu, Pullman, Best Western, and Mövenpick open new hotels in the country over the next two years.
Average occupancy rate is expected to increase to 58.1 per cent in 2022 compared to 47.3 per cent in 2017. The number of available rooms is expected to rise at a compound annual rate of 2.6 per cent from 19,000 rooms in 2017 to 21,700 in 2022.
Guest nights will rise at a compound annual rate of 5.4 per cent to 4.6 million in 2022 compared to 3.3 million in 2017.
General Africa Outlook
According to the report, overall room revenue in Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, and Tanzania surged 2.7 per cent in 2017 compared to the 10.6 per cent increase in 2016
Room revenue decline in Tanzania and Kenya resulted in double-digit increases in Mauritius and Nigeria. Room revenue in South Africa surged 4.6 per cent.
“The hotel and tourism markets in each of the countries in our report are all displaying signs of continued growth over the forecast period. Tourism remains an important part of each economy with some countries being more dependent on it than others. […] the smallest change or disruption can have a serious impact on the future growth of a market. It is therefore important that investors, hotel operators, tourism bodies and governments continue to work together to grow this important industry and ensure its sustainability so that all stakeholders derive maximum benefit,” said Hospitality Industry Leader PwC Southern Africa Pietro Calicchio.
In 2022, total room revenue will increase to $319 million in Tanzania, Mauritius will experience a 7.2 per cent compound annual rate, Nigeria’s total room revenue will rise to $380 million, and South Africa’s total room revenue will rise to $1.6 billion.


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On Tuesday, shares in Asia-Pacific strengthened their positions, with tech stocks in the region jumping following similar gains overnight for their counterparts on Wall Street.
The mainland Chinese stocks rose on Tuesday. The Shanghai Composite added 0.7% to end its trading day at 3,593.15. The Shenzhen component gained more than 1% to close at 14,499.77.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index advanced 1.43% in the final hour of trade.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 added 0.65% to finish its trading day at 29,215.52. The Topix index gained 0.36% to 2,026.57.
South Korea’s Kospi added 0.74% to 3,029.04.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed near the flatline at 7,374.90. Minutes from the country’s central bank’s October monetary policy meeting showed the Reserve Bank of Australia expects the Australian economy to return to growth in the December quarter and to its pre-Delta path in the second half of the next year.
Tech stocks saw gains on the day. The Hang Seng Tech index in Hong Kong gained more than 3%. Shares of Alibaba and Meituan listed in Hong Kong jumped 1.3% and 1.8% respectively.
Softbank Group’s stock rose 3.06%, while shares of South Korean chipmaker HK Hynix advanced 0.62%.
Investors also closely monitored shares of Apple suppliers in Asia after the company announced new products on Monday.
The Cupertino-based company announced new MacBook Pro laptops using its M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. New laptops have an HDMI port to connect to displays and TVs, an SD card slot for photographers. The price of the 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, while the 16-inch model starts at $2,499.
The company presented its third-generation AirPods with a new design. Apple’s newest earphones will support spatial audio, thanks to new sensors that support features spatial audio. Its newest earphones have more powerful bass than previous models. It also announced a new HomePod Mini speaker. Apple will offer new colors to HomePod Mini buyers.
In Japan, shares of Apple suppliers fell on Tuesday. Shares of Taiyo fell around 2% while Murata Manufacturing dropped 0.74%.
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) added 1.69%. Luxshare’s stock in mainland China jumped 6.32%.
Get the latest economy news, trading news, and Forex news on Finance Brokerage. Check out our comprehensive trading education and list of best Forex brokers list here. If you are interested in following the latest news on the topic, please follow Finance Brokerage on Google News.


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The spot, created by Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO, features a British solider who on Christmas Day during the First World War goes in to No Man’s Land separating the British and German trenches.
In the ad - the theme of which Marketing revealed last month - the British soldiers play against the Germans in the neutral territory.
The 220-second spot references the real-life match that took place on Christmas Day in 1914.
In the ad, the British soldier connects with a German counterpart and slips a bar of chocolate into his pocket as a gift.
The campaign is part of Sainsbury's 20-year relationship with the Royal British Legion.The chocolate bar in the ad will be available to buy in the same early-20th century-style packaging for £1, with all profits going to the charity.
Mark Given, Sainsbury’s head of brand communications, said: "This year, we wanted to reflect that theme of sharing in our Christmas campaign through the lens of one of the most extraordinary moments of sharing in modern history, when on Christmas Day 1914, British and German soldiers laid down their arms, and came together on neutral territory to share stories, mementoes and even a game of football.
"The Christmas truce is an emotive and cherished story in our history that is especially poignant in this First World War centenary year.
"That’s why we have worked together closely with the Legion to ensure we bring this moment to life with authenticity and respect.
"We know many of our customers feel as passionately about the incredible work of the Legion as we do. We hope our campaign will raise awareness and funds for the Legion and inspire our customers to share a memorable Christmas with family and friends."
Sainsbury's has also produced a behind-the-scenes short on the making of the ad and a story-behind-the-ad film.
This article was originally published on Campaignlive.co.uk


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TESCO shoppers have stuck by the supermarket despite stores pulling household favourite items from shelves.
Many customers stood by the shop's decision to pull Unilever products when the company demanded a 10 PER CENT price rise.
Angela West-Smith, who earlier popped into a Tesco Express store in London Bridge, said: "It's not Tesco's fault, is it.
"Unilever asked for more money and it's cheeky really. I think Tesco are alright to say I'm not going to give you it.
"You can still get [the products] somewhere else."
Matt Bhol echoed Angela's feelings, saying: "I think it's fair enough for Tesco to take it off the shelves, I think.
"Ten per cent more to a consumer is not very good."
He added: "Brexit has affected things in certain ways and I think it could be good in the long-run for Tesco there could be other products - maybe UK based - on the shelves and it could be stronger for us."
But not everyone was as accepting of Tesco's decision to take the popular items out of stock.
Tom Dowdell said: "I think it's probably the supermarket's responsibility to take that hit and to keep stocking the products the customers want, regardless of any fluctuation in the market."
Karl Jaynes admitted he would feel "p***** off" if he'd come into the store and wasn't able to find products he was looking for.
He said: "I'd be a bit angry if I'd come all this way to Tesco and they didn't have these products."
Tom seconded this opinion, saying: "You don't want to go into a Tesco store and potentially not get your Marmite or any other products you would expect them to stock - so it's pretty ridiculous they would stop stocking."
Panic was today spreading across the country as Marmite lovers stockpile their favourite spread in the face fears of a national shortage.
Shoppers have been gripped in a desperate fever to get their hands on the yeast-based delight with images of shelves stripped bare being shared across social media.
The panic began after a bitter row between Tesco and supplier Unilever broke out, with the supermarket giant refusing to pay the cost increase of 10 per cent demanded by the Dutch-British company.
#Marmitegate has since begun to trend on Twitter with people sharing their panic –and memes – online.
People have revealed they were already planning on stockpiling the black stuff with Sarah Hapgood tweeting: “Old lady nearby earlier talking about the Marmite crisis. Remind me to stockpile some when I get home. If it’s not too late by then …”
The brands Unilever are no longer delivering to Tesco
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter
Ben & Jerry’s
Astonishingly half-a-dozen of the products which Unilever claim must rise in price because of Brexit - including Marmite and Pot Noodle - are made in the UK, The Sun Online has exclusively revealed.
The global consumer goods company is in the middle of an almighty row with Tesco, after Britain’s biggest supermarket refused to swallow a 10 per cent price increase.
However, Grocery insiders have warned that Unilever is using Brexit as an “excuse” to raise prices, as many of its products are made in the UK.
The Sun Online has tracked down six everyday Unilever products that are found in UK households which are made in this country.
A factory in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire produces 6,000 tons of Marmite each year - around 50 million jars - and is home to the controversial breakfast spread.
The factory, which also makes another iconic Unilever product, Bovril has helped the area earn the glowing title of ‘the brewing capital of Great Britain’.
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The United Arab Emirates isn't known for its aversion to fossil fuels.
The country has made its money from the stuff, and rapidly expanded in the last four decades into the vastly wealthy, oil-rich nation it is today.
Yet as of December last year, McDonalds delivery trucks in the country have reached the 800,000-mile mark on a different sort of oil--recycled cooking oil.
100 percent of the used oil from the UAE's McDonalds restaurants is turned back into biofuel, through biodiesel producer Neutral Fuels. The fuel is left completely unblended with regular fossil fuels, making it 100 percent biodiesel.
The scheme has been running in the UAE for 17 months. As Design News reports, McDonalds is one of the biggest companies to attempt such a scheme thus far.
In the UAE, Neutral fuels collects over 6,600 gallons of used oil per month, in trucks already running on biodiesel. Those same trucks also deliver new oil and other supplies to the restaurants.
The UAE isn't the only country the company is operating the system in. McDonalds vehicles in the UK get 100 percent of their fuel from recycled cooking oil-based biodiesel. In Europe as a whole, 80 percent of the company's waste oil is turned into biodiesel, and 37 percent of the total fleet is run on the fuel.
Even in the U.S, 75 percent of eligible restaurants recycle their cooking oil, contributing an average of 1,450 gallons of used oil every year.
Not only does using waste oil ensure products are recycled, but it's also significantly cheaper than biodiesel made from feedstock.
Neutral Fuels estimates that up to 95 percent of biofuel production costs are feedstock--and of course, the recycling aspect means that overall impact is lower than growing crops specifically for fuel.
Not every company can access enough cooking oil to power its own fleets, but it's comforting to know that such a large company as McDonalds is prepared to make the effort--even if you're more of a Burger King fan...
[Hat tip: GeorgeK52]


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In Wisconsin, a Vote for Biden or Trump could Come Down to Grocery Prices
10:51 JST, March 19, 2024
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Dawn Mohr stopped by the local Piggly Wiggly to pick up $6 worth of pork steaks last week and immediately remembered just how much she’s grown to hate grocery shopping.
“Everything is so damn high,” she said, shaking her head at $3.09 bottles of Coca Cola. “Good ol’ Biden.”
Mohr, a 54-year-old home health-care aide, mostly shops the clearance aisles. Her $17 hourly paycheck, which inched up 80 cents in the past two years, is hardly enough to cover the basics anymore. She says there’s no question she’ll vote for Donald Trump again. Every trip to the supermarket cements her resolve.
“When Trump was president, there wasn’t inflation,” she said. “We could afford food.”
The mood around the sodas past Aisle 9 of the Piggly Wiggly is a stark reminder of what matters most to Americans this election year. In poll after poll, voters say inflation – and grocery prices in particular – is a leading concern.
That’s true in this Midwestern manufacturing town overflowing with well-paying jobs, rock-bottom unemployment and some of the lowest gas, food and housing prices in the nation. Kitchen and bath product maker Kohler Co. and food manufacturers Johnsonville and Sargento Foods are all headquartered nearby, providing a steady stream of stable careers. The unemployment rate, at 2.1 percent, is one of the lowest in Wisconsin.
Still, Sheboygan residents have one persistent gripe: As with elsewhere in the country, grocery prices have risen 25 percent in four years, driving much of their economic discontent.
“Even though inflation is coming down, prices are still up and people feel it,” said Stefano Viglietti, who owns three area restaurants and a specialty Italian market with his wife. “There’s still a fair amount of angst about prices. People here aren’t bazillionaires. They’re working middle class, and when the price of eggs or milk goes up, they have to make adjustments for everything else.”
In interviews with more than three dozen shoppers at three stores, almost all cited high food prices as a major financial hurdle. Many said they were sticking with the candidate they voted for last time – either because Trump was better for the economy, or because they valued President Biden’s position on other issues like abortion rights. But nearly a third said inflation had led them to revise their opinions, and some were even considering voting for the first time because of food prices.
Wisconsin is one of six swing states this fall that will determine who becomes the next president. A poll released last month by Marquette Law School found the state’s voters were split evenly between Biden and Trump, with 49 percent support for each. In 2016, the state helped clinch the presidency for Trump; four years later, it did the same for Biden.
Grocery prices are among the top issues driving down Biden’s popularity nationwide. Although food inflation is stabilizing – grocery prices remained flat in February from a month earlier, and some items, such as rice, chicken, milk and coffee, actually got cheaper – families are still experiencing sticker shock at the checkout line.
“Groceries play a significant factor in people’s perception of inflation,” said David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University. “We go to the grocery store every week, sometimes more frequently, and we feel those price increases every time.”
In Sheboygan County, where the Piggly Wiggly is located, 57 percent of residents voted for Trump the last time around, which means Biden has a tougher job here than in other parts of the state.
Lois Garcia, 59, voted for Biden four years ago. This time around, she’s rethinking her support because of higher food prices and health insurance premiums.
“What’s most important to me is: What will these presidents do for us?” said Garcia, who works with dementia patients at a senior living facility and was buying a can of nacho cheese sauce. “Jobs are important, pay is important, education for our children is important. But Trump did help us out with the cost of things, and that’s important, too.”
Grocery prices began rising early in the pandemic and have remained high even as life has returned to normal. Supply chain snags and labor shortages – combined with heightened demand, as more Americans ate at home – pushed up food costs across the board. More recently, rising wages, the war in Ukraine and a host of natural disasters, including droughts and the largest avian flu outbreak in history, have kept costs elevated.
Even though both inflation and perceptions of the economy have recently begun to improve, people remain downbeat on the president and his handling of the economy. Nearly half of voters, a record 47 percent, say they strongly disapprove of the president’s performance, according to a poll released this month by the New York Times and Siena College.
Back at the Piggly Wiggly, grocery prices remained front and center. The store was awash with signs promising “More ways to save.” There were markdowns and “pig deals,” and cash-back rewards on gas, all aimed at winning over price-sensitive buyers.
Many here, like Nikki Gorski, said they’d begun shopping strategically, checking weekly fliers for the best prices, and charting their grocery trips accordingly. Today, she’d stopped in with her young sons for tortillas and turkey.
Gorski’s family lives on one income; her husband works for a local manufacturer, while she stays home with their sons. They’ve had to make a number of trade-offs in recent years, she says: No more dining out. No more organic milk. More chicken instead of beef.
“Yes, groceries are expensive and we’re making sacrifices,” she said, adding that her weekly grocery bill had jumped from $150 to $300 in the past few years. But, she stressed, she was more concerned about women’s rights and other issues on the ballot than the price of food. “I’m voting Biden,” she said, “no matter what.”
The Biden administration has taken steps to make groceries more affordable by bringing down fertilizer prices and encouraging competition in the agriculture industry. As prices fall, the White House is urging grocery stores and other corporations to pass on savings to consumers.
“This election is a choice between Scranton and Park Avenue,” campaign spokesman Seth Schuster said. “President Biden has made it his mission as president to lower costs for Americans – from prescription drugs to housing to groceries.”
Still, Biden has struggled to convince Americans that their finances have improved under his watch, even though he has presided over a period of brisk economic growth – with nearly 15 million new jobs and the longest stretch of low unemployment since the 1960s. Wages have grown four times as fast as grocery prices in the past year, though many voters say they have yet to feel relief.
“Why do we have these super rich [people] telling us everything is okay when everything has gone up at least a dollar or two?” said Steve R., 36, a factory worker who voted for Trump in 2020 but plans to skip this year’s election. He spoke on the condition of withholding his last name because he feared political backlash.
“I hate to not vote, but at the end of the day I don’t feel like either of them deserve it again,” he said of Trump and Biden. “Give me a blue-collar worker, someone who knows what it’s like when the price of eggs spikes and meat doubles.”
In a statement, the Trump campaign said Americans are still reeling from the effects of high prices. “Under President Trump, inflation was nonexistent, gasoline was cheap, groceries were affordable, and the American Dream was alive and well,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
Some shoppers, though, said grocery prices weren’t a particularly big deal, especially in this part of the country, where many have jobs in agriculture and food processing.
“I was raised on a dairy farm so I always support dairy prices, no matter what they are,” said Rachel Longseth, 69, whose cart was filled with cream cheese, ricotta and pasta for stuffed shells. “I feel that good food is worth spending money on, so I’m okay with higher prices for meat and produce and dairy. The cereal? No. But then again, we don’t eat much cereal so I just move past.”
Longseth, a retired medical secretary, and her husband are still shopping the way they used to, she said. And she doesn’t plan to change her voting habits, either: She’ll support Biden again.
“There’s never been any question about how I would vote in the election,” she said. “And no amount of inflation or bad news would change that.”
Economists say Trump’s proposed policies, including new tariffs on imports and deportations of undocumented immigrants, could drive grocery prices even higher. But for many Trump voters, the nostalgia of pre-pandemic prices overshadows current campaign promises.
Shane Reynolds, a 71-year-old retired roofer, lives on Social Security checks and says it’s become harder to afford groceries.
“Things were 100 percent better under Trump,” he said. “There was no inflation. Prices really skyrocketed since Biden took over. I have to walk past half this stuff now because I can’t afford it.”
He picked up a Cornish hen for $5.79 and some potatoes. His eyes lingered on a display of sports drinks, marked down nearly $3 to $5.99. Reynolds paused.
“Gatorade’s on sale, but I still can’t afford it,” he said, pushing his cart to the next aisle.
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Tackling the takeaway coffee cup crisisToday, Costa Coffee announced a commitment to recycling the same volume of cups it puts to market. Here, Peter Clayson, General Manager of Business Development and External Affairs at DS Smith Recycling, discusses what this means for the recycling industry and looks at how collaboration across the supply chain will prove invaluable in tackling on-the-go waste.
Costa’s financial commitment to recycling half a billion coffee cups is another significant step forward in being able to recycle all of the 2.5 billion coffee cups we use every year in the UK.
This comes at a pivotal time, with the coffee retail sector growing and coffee cup recycling still a hot consumer topic, and is great news for recycling in the UK.
In March, we were excited to announce that following on from trials we had run, we were able to recycle up to 2.5 billion cups at our recycled paper mill in Kent – the largest of its kind in the UK. From today, Costa’s initiative will help get a significant proportion of those 2.5 billion cups to us.
During the trial, we recycled 40 tonnes of coffee cups – more than four million individual cups. These cups were blended in controlled conditions, at a variety of trial ratios, with pure recycled paper grades – producing approximately 3.5bn square metres of paper that met our stringent quality standards.
With this new capacity available, we challenged government, collectors, recyclers, and coffee retailers to collaborate to deliver the collection infrastructure needed to help correctly segregate and collect coffee cups for recycling. This voluntary initiative by Costa is a great example of that, helping to provide the financial investment needed to support better on-the-go recycling.
High-profile action from industry leaders is obviously a pivotal step, but there is more work still to be done. The UK is still mid-table when it comes to recycling performance, and we’ll continue to look for opportunities to engage with the government to make us world class. If we don’t, we miss the opportunity to get to the desired position wherein every used coffee cup is being recycled.
We look forward to continuing our work with Costa to realise the full potential of recycling coffee cups, and receiving more of their cups at our Kemsley paper mill.


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Electronics retailer RadioShack announced on Friday that it will be offering Apple's iPhone in several of its stores starting in November.
The company will be selling the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a limited number of company-owned locations in New York City and the Dallas-Fort Worth areas. It will expand into all of its stores some time in 2010.
In addition to Apple's own stores and AT&T retail locations, the iPhone has found its way into WalMart and Best Buy stores. Adding RadioShack to the mix will give consumers even more places to buy an iPhone.
RadioShack hasn't announced an official launch date yet, and it hasn't said when it plans to offer the iPhone outside of its initial rollout areas.


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As per Insider Gaming, "this is still the case, with more than 100 journalists receiving the opportunity to buy cheap Diablo IV Gold see a behind-the-scenes presentation as well having the chance to interact with the game. It's believed the embargo for the event and hands-on impressions will lift on December 7.
"During the presentation, Rod Fergusson invited all of the audience members to watch The Game Awards as they'll be making announcements."
Blizzard confirms that Diablo 4 is still getting Set Items, though you'll likely be waiting until post-launch for them to be used in-game.
Game designer Joe Shely explains during a recent roundtable that reimagining sets in a manner that works with Diablo 4 properly wouldn't be possible until the beginning of next year, but the team is considering adding them to their live streaming service.
"As we've been building the game, it seemed that we could create sets in a new method that was different from what we've seen during Diablo 3. But, we needed some additional time to incorporate them into the game with a style that would be compatible with the rest of Diablo 4, so you will not see them at the beginning on the map," Shely explains. "We consider sets to be amazing, and we'd like to create them in a way that is right - and that's what we're looking into buy Diablo 4 Gold for the live services we're planning to offer."


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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the COVID-19 pandemic requires everyone to practice actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses.
Many people around California, including the Central Coast, are going under "shelter-in-place" orders. However, people are still able to leave for certain "essential" activities.
Aside from washing your hands with soap and water for, at least, 20 seconds, and using hand sanitizer that contains, at-least, 60 percent alcohol, you want to keep your home sanitized.
The CDC recommends people clean frequently touched surfaces and objects daily using regular household detergent and water. This includes:
- Light switches
- Cabinet handles
For dirty surfaces, use detergent and water before disinfecting. The CDC provides a link to products a list of products with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved emerging viral pathogens claims, maintained by the American Chemistry Council Center for Biocide Chemistries (CBC). That link for "Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)—Fighting Products" can be found here.


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Aiming at taking India’s domestic manufacturing to new heights, the government of India has launched six technology innovation platforms for the development of technologies for globally competitive manufacturing.
These platforms have been designed and developed by IIT-Madras, HMT in association with IISc, Bangalore, Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI), International Centre for Automotive Technology (iCAT), and Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), BHEL.
These platforms will work towards facilitating Indian industry (including original equipment manufacturers, Tier-1 Tier-2 and Tier-3 companies and raw material manufacturers), start-ups, domain experts/ professionals, R&D institutions, and academia (colleges & universities), by providing them technology solutions, suggestions, and expert opinions, on issues involving manufacturing technologies, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises mentioned in a statement.
“These platforms are a gift to the nation, which will help bring all India’s technical resources and the concerned industry on a single platform to kick start and facilitate identification of technology problems faced by domestic Industry and crowdsource solutions for the same,” Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Prakash Javadekar said.
With more than 39,000 already registered on these platforms, the exchange of knowledge with respect to research and development and other technological aspects will be provided to students, experts, institutes, industries, and labs across the country.
The announcement has come in the backdrop of production linked incentive (PLI) schemes launched last year that creates global manufacturing majors in India by removing sectoral disabilities and creating economies of scale to develop complete component eco-systems in the country.
Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February this year invited global firms to take advantage of the ₹1.97 trillion PLI schemes in 13 sectors to boost their manufacturing in India.


text: Lifestyle Style Supermodel Christie Brinkley, 62, Shares Her Botox Tips: 'You Still Should Look Like You' The industry vet gets real about plastic surgery and more in a new interview By Sarah Kinonen Updated on December 19, 2019 10:39 AM Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Ruven Afanador for NewBeauty Although supermodel vet Christie Brinkley was told her modeling days were over at 30, the 62-year-old industry icon is still thriving in the industry (she recently launched an eponymous skincare line and this fall, she shared a NYDJ campaign with Ashley Graham). Her most recent gig? Landing the cover of NewBeauty, in which she opens up about Botox, her skincare routine and more. Brinkley, who has openly admitted to undergoing a few procedures over the years (including fillers), advises those interested in similar anti-aging treatments should proceed with a delicate hand. “If you want to look refreshed, it has to be with a light hand,” she told NewBeauty. “It’s one of the biggest mistakes when people deliberately go for that ‘done’ appearance — to each his own, obviously, but that’s not good. It’s important to choose the right doctor if you want to do anything along those lines. Don’t change your face; maybe just change a wrinkle or two that’s bothering you. You still should look like you.” RELATED VIDEO: Christie Brinkley’s Changing Looks! Aside from slight cosmetic enhancements (and really good genes!), Brinkley credits her smooth supermodel skin to her veggie-rich diet (she’s a vegetarian) and her line of Christie Brinkley Authentic Skincare products, of course. “It’s important for me to really believe in any product that I put my name on, or else I wouldn’t put my name on it,” she said. “I see women all the time commenting on my Instagram pictures saying, ‘I’m not going to buy her skincare because she goes to a dermatologist and it’s all fake! She doesn’t really use that.’ Yes, I do! I wouldn’t tell you to use it if I didn’t use it too. I couldn’t be doing this so long if I didn’t have credibility.” Ruven Afanador for NewBeauty Ruven Afanador for NewBeauty And speaking of Instagram, the model says she’s been noticing a new body positivity movement within social media (thanks to celebrities like the Kardashians), which is a vast contrast to the size expectation she experienced during her early modeling days. “There’s just sort of a social thing that always happens, whether we are aware of it or not,” she said. “Right now, it seems like every young woman is obsessed with her derrière, whereas it wasn’t that long ago that everyone wanted that thin, linear not-very-healthy, ‘heroin-chic’ look. Now, it seems like everyone is back to appreciating every type of woman.” For more on Brinkley’s routine (and a few of her favorite beauty hacks), pick up the latest issue of NewBeauty, which hits newsstands Sept. 27. Have you ever tried Botox? Share below!


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Snapchat unveiled a redesign that separates content from friends and content from brands in a move to increase its user base by appealing to an older demographic.
“… We are separating the social from the media, and taking an important step forward towards strengthening our relationships with our friends and our relationships with the media,” Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel wrote in an op-ed on Axios. “This will provide a better way for publishers to distribute and monetize their Stories, and a more personal way for friends to communicate and find the content they want to watch.”
The redesign will begin rolling out Friday, and will be available globally in the coming weeks.
The format includes a new “Friends” page on the left of the main camera screen that serves as a container for all social content. For instance, chats and stories with friends will all be grouped under the Friends umbrella, instead of being split up on separate pages. And for the first time, a new algorithm will organize the feed that so that the people users interact with more frequently appear at the top.
On the right side of the camera, the existing “Discover” feed serves as a container for more premium content such as that from TV networks, celebrities, and vloggers, rather than appearing among items shared with friends.
In his op-ed, Spiegel focused on the importance of curating content based on individual behavior and preferences. The philosophy is less in line with Facebook’s practice of sorting feeds based on what’s popular, and more akin to Netflix’s recommendations based on what a user previously watched.
“The combination of social and media has yielded incredible business results, but has ultimately undermined our relationships with our friends and our relationships with the media,” Spiegel wrote. “We believe that the best path forward is disentangling the two by providing a personalized content feed based on what you want to watch, not what your friends post.”
Essentially, “the left side is of the app is now for sharing and discussing, while the right side is for searching and consuming,” according to The Verge.
This concept is not necessarily new to the app. As The Verge puts it, the redesign is more of “a simple moving of furniture.” But it does tidy up what goes where, rather than blending content from friends and brands, which blurred lines between casual and professional users and created results that were sometimes confusing—especially for older, non-millennial users.
Spiegel surprisingly admitted as much when parent company Snap fell $30 million short of third quarter revenue expectations. He told shareholders the app needed to be more accessible, particularly to users older than 34, in order to grow its base beyond its core millennial demographic.
“The one thing that we have heard over the years is that Snapchat is difficult to understand or hard to use,” he said, Fast Co. Design reports. “As a result, we are currently redesigning our application to make it easier.”


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A survey done by the real Christmas Tree Board in September found 94% of people planning to buy a real tree said their piney scent brings them joy, but the cost of that joyful smell may put some people back more this year.
The same industry group surveyed wholesale growers, with 25% saying they expected to raise wholesale prices between 5% and 15% this year — though that's down from 71% of growers last year.
A total of 48% of wholesalers surveyed said they planned to increase prices by 5% or less, with more than a quarter of growers saying they wouldn't increase prices at all. Industry experts say artificial trees should be about the same price on average because of resolved supply chain issues.
"On the artificial side, costs are actually about the same as last year," said Mac Harman, founder of Balsam Hill and a member of the American Christmas Tree Association. "On the real tree side, we're seeing prices up just a little bit. And I think that's largely driven by fuel prices."
The American Christmas Tree Association says trees can cost anywhere from $25 to $2,500, with the average price of a six-foot fresh tree at around $80. The same size averages $100 for an artificial tree.
Once the growers sell to retailers, those sellers can slap on their own price increases. Prices for fresh trees vary across the country as most trees come from locally sourced farms with different growing conditions and other factors.
"If you're going to a family farm, that's a choose-your-own farm, they may have more expensive real estate costs, especially if you live in a high income area," Harman said. "But you won't have those fuel charges other than putting the fuel in your own car to get there."
If you want the fresh Christmas tree scent without the cost, most national forests allow people to cut their own tree, but you'll need a permit.
Harman says every year the industry sees more people switching to artificial trees, with 77% of American households expected to decorate a fake tree this year. He says his company has also seen consumers buying decorations that seem to correlate with Taylor Swift fandom, with red and gold accents topping Balsam Hill's decor sales this year.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com


text: The Ivanka Trump brand has rejected charges of abuse relating to conditions at a Chinese factory, according to a report in Footwear News. Abigail Klem, president of the brand, has stated that its footwear licensee, Marc Fisher Footwear, has not worked with the Ganzhou Huajian International Shoe City Co. since March. Apart from producing Ivanka Trump's shoes, Marc Fisher makes footwear for Guess, Tommy Hilfiger and Kendall + Kylie. The factory, which is located in Jiangxi province, makes 20 million pairs of shoes a year, and 10,000 to 20,000 of these have been produced for the Ivanka Trump brand. The factory is under investigation by a New York-based organization, China Labor Watch, for alleged minimum-wage violations and demands for excessive hours of labor. Similar charges arose last October concerning another factory, the Xuankai Shoes Co. At the time, Marc Fisher Footwear called the reports erroneous, adding that the company had strict social compliance regulations.


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SA martech innovator goes global
Think that instant messaging platforms have overtaken SMS as the marketing leader in the digital realm? Think again.
The SA market is many things: complex, challenging, diverse and variable. It’s a landscape of challenges, but also a space where entrepreneurs and innovation can thrive. This is certainly the story of Mobiz, an SA company created by entrepreneur Greg Chen that recently received R18m in funding from Kalon Venture Partners, a local venture capital firm, to continue with its SMS success story in an instant messaging world.
Mobiz aims to create deeper personalisation and customer engagement using SMS messaging – a communication tool thought out of date but, as it turns out, one that is still a good way to build brand engagement.
The SMS goes straight into the digital environment and can be customised to do anything that’s needed, so brands can really leverage it to build marketing campaigns and customer engagement, says Chen.
Existing databases can be used by consumer-facing businesses with large volumes of customers to create targeted messaging that’s aligned with specific campaigns or customer retention programmes. For example, he explains, a unique link in the SMS text can take the user through a deeply personalised journey from the moment they click or tap on it – from the device to a customised landing page that is able to offer account information, or promotions that fit with their buying habits and behaviours. “It’s a blend of the staple tech of the SMS with emergent tech and analytics that allows for improved communication across vastly different customer bases,” he says.
“Using a secure and trusted link in an SMS, brands can build targeted landing pages that are hyperpersonalised using customer data that makes it easier for marketers to achieve personalisation at scale. Clients in the entertainment space, for example, can deliver favourite TV shows based on what that specific customer watched before. This is a smart way of pulling people deeper into the company’s offerings and network without being invasive.”
During the pandemic, Mobiz underwent significant growth as the platform became incredibly relevant for organisations looking to engage with customers while improving their invoicing and payment solutions. The platform allows for streamlined online payment integration, and with Mobiz’s collaboration with MTN, Cell C and Vodacom, they are able to zero-rate the data costs and remove the data barrier for the user.
“Currently, more than 50% of consumers in emerging markets, particularly Africa, don’t have access to data at any given moment,” says Chen. “This made it essential for the networks to come on board so that customers could pay, connect and manage their brand relationships during the different stages of lockdown.”
The growth opportunity that the pandemic afforded Mobiz saw the company refine its offering for the local market, and expand its reach into the global one. The funding of R18m by Kalon Venture Partners in 2020 allowed the organisation to expand its reach into the US and make a move from the enterprise focus of SA to the small to medium enterprise (SME) in the US. It is also a market that’s ripe for the SMS picking – according to research, 98% of text messages in the region are opened with 95% responded to within three minutes of delivery.
“We have developed a streamlined platform for SMEs that provides them with curated templates that can be used with ease – Wix for SMS, if you will,” says Chen. “This will allow for the SME, both in the US and in SA, to get the kind of digital marketing reach usually reserved for enterprises.”
Global expansion plans, a smarter and sassier SMS platform for SMEs, and a growing local enterprise customer base – all ticks in the right boxes for a local business that’s taken legacy technology to the next level. Mobiz includes Lewis Group, MultiChoice, Momentum, Cash Crusaders and Food Lover’s Market among its many clients, and the goal is to continue this expansion as the company broadens its reach and redefines its capabilities.
“If you had said that SMS would be a more trusted and reliable way of building customer engagement a few years ago, most people would have laughed; today it is one of the most powerful digital marketing tools on the market,” says Chen.
The big take-out:
SMS can be used to build marketing campaigns and improve customer engagement
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The Elder Scrolls Online: Deadlands Concludes Its Oblivion Storyline This November
Players will finally get the chance to foil Dagon's plans in ESO's upcoming DLC, which concludes the game's year-long Gates of Oblivion storyline.
The Elder Scrolls Online players will at long last be able foil Dagon's evil plans, all while exploring mysterious new regions never-before-seen in the Elder Scrolls universe with the arrival of the game's Deadlands DLC.
Deadlands marks the end of the year-long Gates of Oblivion storyline, which with Deadlands' release will encompass four DLC packs. Deadlands will be hitting PC, Mac, and Stadia on November 1. Console players will be able to explore the new DLC on November 16.
Bethesda says players of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will recognize some areas in Deadlands, such as The Burn, a region with molten rivers and fire-infused monsters. But there will be completely new areas to explore as well, like The Sever, a region that houses deadly storms and fierce winds. Deadlands will also introduce a massive new capital city, Fargrave. Located in a mystical desert, the city is roofed by a massive skeleton.
Deadlands can be purchased through the in-game Crown Store and is also included at no extra cost for ESO Plus subscribers. It's the largest update to the game since the Blackwood update in June, which added a new region and player companions. The latest Gates of Oblivion update, Waking Flame, introduced new dungeons, item sets, and collectibles.
The Elder Scrolls Online recently received next-gen updates for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, prioritizing frame rate over resolution while also auto-enabling HDR for all consoles aside from the base Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The Elder Scrolls VI is currently "in the design phase," according to Todd Howard.


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Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Shares of Samsung Electronics closed up 8.7 percent, its biggest daily gain since January, 2009. Expectations that Samsung would dole out some of its cash to shareholders through a share buyback help fuel the rise.
Former president of Nanya Technology Corp. (南亞科技) Charles Kau (高啟全) will likely make his decision on whether to join China's Tsinghua Unigroup this week, according to local media sources yesterday, which will ultimately decide the future of the domestic DRAM industry.
Taiwan's communications regulator has approved a long-anticipated handset from HTC Corp. (宏達電) that the Taiwanese smartphone maker hopes will bolster its lineup and fend off competition from other budget phone vendors.
Twitter is embracing Jack Dorsey as its CEO in hopes that its once-spurned co-founder can hatch a plan to expand the short messaging service's audience and end nearly a decade of financial losses.
Five of Acer Inc.'s (宏碁) products have been honored at the 2015 edition of Japan's Good Design Awards for their design excellence.
Google's new parent company hit the stock market on Monday with an inked credo to "Do the right thing" -- a spin on the founding principle "Don't be evil."
The owner of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other newspapers is offering buyouts to employees.
U.S.-based DuPont Co. on Monday announced that CEO and Chairwoman Ellen Kullman, who earlier this year fought off a bruising challenge from a major activist investor, will retire at the end of next week.
Volkswagen says 8 million cars in the European Union are affected by an investigation into whether the automaker manipulated emissions tests, according to a letter received Monday by German lawmakers.
General Mills is recalling 1.8 million boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios produced at a plant in Lodi, California, saying the cereal is labeled gluten-free but actually contains wheat.


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Heart Machine’s action-adventure throwback to the 16-bit era coincidentally has no heart at all.
Thanks to Microsoft, you'll be able to coast through the hottest months with SPF 0.
Teddy Diefenbach is making the move from indie to triple-A, but he's not alone.
The gorgeous hyper-stylized indie game, Hyper Light Drifter, will be arriving on PC and Mac March 31st. Created by Heart Machine, Hyper ...
Typically, E3 is first and foremost chance for console gaming to shine, but this year PC gaming will be getting a flashy press conference of its own.


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Gary Sawka Sells 3,000 Shares of CAI International, Inc. (CAI) Stock
CAI International, Inc. (NYSE:CAI) Director Gary Sawka sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $109,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,746.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.
Gary Sawka also recently made the following trade(s):
- On Tuesday, October 31st, Gary Sawka sold 3,365 shares of CAI International stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $124,505.00.
CAI International, Inc. (NYSE:CAI) traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.93. The stock had a trading volume of 213,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 298,898. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $702.90 million, a P/E ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 2.32.
CAI International (NYSE:CAI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 19th. The transportation company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.20. CAI International had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 10.93%. The company had revenue of $90.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. equities analysts predict that CAI International, Inc. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION WARNING: “Gary Sawka Sells 3,000 Shares of CAI International, Inc. (CAI) Stock” was first reported by American Banking News and is owned by of American Banking News. If you are reading this piece on another website, it was illegally stolen and reposted in violation of United States & international copyright & trademark legislation. The original version of this piece can be read at https://www.americanbankingnews.com/2017/11/03/gary-sawka-sells-3000-shares-of-cai-international-inc-cai-stock.html.
CAI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of CAI International in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Cowen and Company increased their price target on CAI International from $23.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. TheStreet upgraded CAI International from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. ValuEngine upgraded CAI International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research lowered CAI International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $35.80.
Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CAI. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of CAI International in the first quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of CAI International by 451.7% in the first quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 51,880 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 42,476 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of CAI International by 18.9% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 13,425 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 2,130 shares in the last quarter. American International Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CAI International by 7.1% in the first quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 9,650 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CAI International by 91.9% in the first quarter. TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC now owns 78,559 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,237,000 after purchasing an additional 37,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.27% of the company’s stock.
About CAI International
CAI International, Inc is a transportation finance and logistics company. The Company purchases equipment, primarily intermodal shipping containers and railcars, which it leases to its customers, and also manages equipment for third-party investors. The Company operates through three segments: container leasing, rail leasing and logistics.
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2013 is going to be a crucial year for personal radio service Pandora, as it targets further global expansion, faces a powerful new rival from Apple, and ramps up the lobbying process for its next set of royalty rates, under the flag of the Internet Radio Fairness Act.
Pandora executives have been stressing the importance of the latter in all public statements recently, but on the competition side… not so much.
“My sense about Apple entering streaming radio is that Pandora will continue to do the same things we’ve done all these years and the rest will sort itself out,” CTO Tom Conrad tells Business Insider, filing the mooted iRadio alongside past competitors like Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and MySpace Music.
“I can say that generally I am not terribly competition-centric in my thinking of Pandora…”
Under the water, though, Pandora’s legs are paddling furiously to position its service against new rivals – its recent relaunch of its mobile apps as Pandora 4.0, for example, will help it roll new features out more quickly across both web and mobile.
Meanwhile, a House Subcommittee hearing on the Internet Radio Fairness Act late this month will be a key date for Pandora to press its royalties demands.
On the latter front, though, Pandora may be forced to respond further to a story that’s gaining legs – about stock sales by its executives since the company’s IPO last year.
Digital Music News reports that a small number of Pandora execs have sold $63m of shares in the last year – not unusual or unethical following an IPO. However, the story has the potential to turn toxic if opponents succeed in shifting the radio fairness debate to an argument about music artists being paid less if Pandora’s royalty commitments drop.


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Wednesday 23 February 2022 – FINANCE Minister Enoch Godongwana’s big hike in sin taxes means another big payday for criminals in illicit trade and more misery and suffering for legitimate businesses and hard-up South African consumers, Tax Justice SA (TJSA) warns today.
The excise increases of up to 6.5% will simply fuel the rampant shadow economy, less tax will be collected and thousands of honest livelihoods will be lost, the non-profit watchdog adds.
TJSA founder Yusuf Abramjee says: “Illicit trade has reached record levels over the last two years as a result of lockdown restrictions and their ongoing fallout. Criminals manufacturing and selling illicit alcohol and cigarettes have been making billions with apparent immunity.
“These crooks don’t pay taxes and aren’t about to start doing so. Instead, today’s excise increases, which are above the rate of inflation, will simply boost their profit margins and encourage hard-up consumers to buy their tax-evading products.”
In his maiden budget speech, Mr Godongwana acknowledged the importance of tackling illicit trade. He said that a search and seizure operation on Monday had uncovered yet another cache of illegal tobacco products, bringing the total value of illicit tobacco seized during the pandemic to over R350million. Three operators’ trading licences had been cancelled during the same period, one operator had been liquidated and eight cases had been referred for criminal prosecution.
Abramjee says: “This action against illicit trade is welcome, but it is long overdue and R350million is just a fraction of the sums being stolen from the South African people.
“We need to see more arrests, prosecutions and jail terms for the kingpins. Smuggling at our porous borders is rife and we must strengthen controls and checks against tax-evading contraband flooding into our country.
“Our nation already has one of the world’s biggest black markets in alcohol and tobacco. Mr Godongwana’s budget will empower the organised syndicates running these massively lucrative operations, while squeezing honest companies and workers who are struggling to make ends meet.
“If Ministers were serious about finding the money needed to uplift millions of struggling citizens, they would crack down on the illegal economy that loots our nation of R250 million every single day. That’s enough to cover the estimated cost of a basic income grant for all.
“Instead, the Government continues to reward the looters and today has sent out yet another clear signal that, in South Africa, crime really does pay.”


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Podcast: MilliporeSigma says education vital to creating unbreakable chain for sustainability
MilliporeSigma discusses the importance of people, education, and the benefits of embracing discomfort to bolster sustainability efforts.
January 21, 2020
Celltrion has confirmed it will build a biosimilars plant in China and may merge its healthcare and pharma units.
A spokesman told Bioprocess Insider: “Celltrion plans to build a plant in China in a move to directly advance into the world’s second-largest biopharmaceutical market. Celltrion signed a business agreement with the city government of Wuhan and the provincial government of Hubei Province on 20 January 2020.
“The company’s business roadmap centers on building a plant with a production capacity of 120,000 liters in China to boost capacity amid rising demand. The plant will not only manufacture biopharmaceutical products but also include CMO business,” he added.
Celltrion’s headquarters and facilities in Songdo, South Korea. Image/GoogleStreetview
The spokesman went on to say that “Celltrion will eventually also set up its sales and manufacturing infrastructure in China and a portfolio of 16 products tailored for the Chinese market will be set up by 2030.
The comments came after Celltrion chairman Seo Jung-jin announced plans for the China plant at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference last week.
Also, according to the Yonhap News Agency, Celltrion will sell Remsima, a biosimilar version of Janssen Biotech’s autoimmune disease drug Remicade (infliximab), in China.
The subcutaneous formulation of Remsima was approved by the European Commission for patients with rheumatoid arthritis in November 2019
Celltrion Healthcare, the firm’s distribution arm, has applied for a further extension to the marketing authorization to include inflammatory bowel disease.
This EU decision is expected in mid-2020.
In related news, Celltrion is considering merging its Celltrion Healthcare Co. and Celltrion Pharm Inc businesses.
According to a regulatory filing published last Friday (here in Korean), the firm is conducting an internal review to assess such a merger.
Celltrion Pharma is the firm’s drug business, while Celltrion Healthcare handles distribution in overseas markets.
According to the Pulse newswire, Seo shared the possibility of a merger at the JP Morgan conference.
He told delegates such a move would create synergy by integrating development, production and distribution.
Seo also shared details of Celltrion’s drug development plan, which will involve a new platform technology and drug repositioning.
According to a company statement the tech – the Antibody Delivery Enhancing Domain (ADED) – is designed to increase the delivery efficiency of antibody-drug conjugates and their cell penetration.
Celltrion said the approach “has the potential to enhance cancer treatments.”
Celltrion partnered with ADED developer iProgen Biotech last year. At the time the firm said the plan was to develop novel ADCs against validated antibody targets, including HER2 and CD20.
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Essential Work of Owens & Minor in Lehigh Valley Earns President’s Praise
By Nicole Radzievich Mertz on May 14, 2020
Owens & Minor, a leading medical supply wholesaler, landed in the national spotlight Thursday when President Donald Trump visited its Lehigh Valley distribution center to laud the company’s role and the work of its Lehigh Valley employees in the fight against COVID-19.
Nimbly ramping up production, Owens & Minor has delivered millions of pieces of critical personal protective equipment to health care workers treating those stricken by the novel coronavirus.
Owens & Minor, based in Virginia, is among five companies tapped by the federal government to collectively provide 600 million N95 respirator masks over the next 18 months. The company also recently partnered with the White House, New York City and UPS to produce 1 million cubic feet of non-woven, laminated material that was delivered to New York City garment workers to make medical gowns for the city’s hospitals.
“I’ve come to this major medical supply distribution hub because the workers here at Owens & Minor have played a critical role in this national effort, and it’s a critical role you’ve fulfilled incredibly well…” Trump told employees at the Upper Macungie Township facility. “From the moment this terrible virus reached our shores, each of you has worked relentlessly to get the vital supplies to our health care warriors.”
Trump was joined by key members of his administration including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and Administrator of Federal Emergency Management Peter Gaynor, CEO of United States International Development Finance Corp. Adam Boehler and Rear Adm. John Polowczyk.
Three Owens & Minor employees took the stage to thank Trump for his visit and reaffirm the company’s commitment to shipping supplies to workers on the front line.
Dennis DiCarlo, an Owens & Minor operations supervisor, said it was “day-to-day business” with “little modifications” as they ship out medical supplies during the crisis.
“Whenever you’re dealing with the medical field, it’s – it’s a serious thing,” he said. “But…it’s exponentially grown with what we’re dealing with now. And if we make a mistake, it’s amplified.”
Eric Yost, who worked for the company for 26 years, recalled how technology streamlined the delivery of products to hospitals over the years so the company could meet the challenges of today.
“We got it in. We got it out,” Yost said, referring to the protective personal equipment during recent weeks. “We got it to the hospitals that were in dire need of all of this.”
Carol Timm, safety and training coordinator, called her co-workers the “unsung heroes that save lives every day.” She recalled the moment her team got the order to start transporting the masks and gowns to the hospitals during the pandemic.
“Teammates from all different shifts just stopped without hesitation and they flowed like magic in this facility,” she said. “It was amazing to be able to see that, and they did phenomenal.”
The remarks were preceded by a tour of the 200,000-square-foot distribution facility at 7437 Industrial Boulevard, where 110 employees work.
The facility, which operates seven days a week, is one of more than 40 distribution centers Owens & Minor operates nationwide. Its network of 7 million square feet of warehousing space allows it to reach 90% of U.S. health care providers within four hours, according to its website.
The company has manufacturing facilities in Lexington, N.C., and Del Rio, Texas. The company has ramped up production amid the pandemic.
“I am pleased with the way that our teams performed in a very challenging environment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Edward A. Pesicka, president and CEO said during the May 6 earnings call. “I have seen our values play out in real life as our teams worked with customers, suppliers, and various agencies of state and federal governments to provide creative solutions to these challenges.
Owens & Minor traces its roots to 1882 when the Owens & Minor Drug Co. opened its first retail location, a retail storefront, in an iron-front building that still stands today in downtown Richmond. It since has diversified its business and grew into a Fortune 500 company, ranking No. 317.
The company’s warehouse in Upper Macungie Township is a strategic location for the distribution business. Lehigh Valley is valued as a central location between Philadelphia and New York City. It has easy access to those markets through interstates 78, 80 and 476, but lower costs than more metropolitan areas
Lehigh Valley is a hub for fulfillment and distribution centers for companies including FedEx, Amazon and Walmart, contributing to the region’s a large share of jobs deemed essential during the pandemic.
The region’s share of wholesale companies, such as Owens & Minor, are particularly essential. The Pennsylvania State Data Center says 71% of wholesale businesses in Lehigh Valley are essential, nearly 30% higher than the statewide average. In addition, 91% of the Valley’s wholesale workforce are deemed essential compared to 72.8% statewide.
A research report by Apartmentlist.com found that Lehigh Valley ranked in the top 10 among the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas for the percentage of workers in “exposed” occupations: those that are deemed essential but are least able to be done from home.
Workers in those occupations – including nurses, material handlers, manufacturing production workers, and truck drivers – make up nearly 40% of Lehigh Valley’s labor force.
Don Cunningham Discusses Economic Impact of Coronavirus on Lehigh Valley
Don Cunningham, President & CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), made several public appearances last week to discuss the economic impact[...]Continue to Next Page


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Food companies to standardize date labels
Simplified and consistent date labeling will help companies halve food waste by 2025, said Peter Freedman, managing director of the Consumer Goods Forum.
Renault rolls out Duster Sandstorm edition at Rs 10.9 lakh
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The lesser known side of Geetha Muralidhar, Chairman & Managing Director, ECGC
I want to take up teaching after retirement. I want to teach m...
Enforcement Directorate summons Rabri Devi in railway hotels corruption case
Rabri, wife of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, has been summoned to be present before the investigating officer (IO) of the case on September 26, they said.
'Indices may see low double-digit growth'
Shekhar Sambhshivan said that India is being immune to geopolitical risks as it has developed economic resilience over time and it should become more resilient to global shocks as the economy strengthens.
What changed your market while you were sleeping
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index rose 39.28 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 22,370.
Top stocks in focus on Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Here is a list of top stocks that are likely to be in focus in today's trading session.
Online battle begins with Flipkart aiming for 70-30 lead over Amazon
Apart from usual suspects - Flipkart and Amazon India - Paytm Mall, Snapdeal and ShopClues will also enter the battleground this year.
18 of the 43 McDonald's outlets in capital reopened: Vikram Bakshi
However, many of the 169 stores across the north and east region have been operating even past the deadline set by the termination notice.
Split of Chairman, MD posts at listed firms: PSUs may be first
Sebi rules require that the listed companies may voluntarily separate the two posts to avoid any conflict of interest, but the regulator has so far refrained from making it mandatory.
Yippee top gainer in instant noodles
Several lesser known brands such as Joymee, Paam Eatables, Marwari noodles and others too have gained over 2% market share of the Rs 4,000-crore noodle market.
Businesses stay optimistic amid GSTN’s tech hiccups
Filing returns has emerged as a sore point after GST rollout on July 1, pushing the portal’s functioning to the centre stage at the last GST Council meeting on September 9.
BSF, ITBP chiefs stress on need for technology in border management
At the moment, BSF is working on a Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System which will be deployed along the International Border with Pakistan.
Pizza Hut to double outlets to 700 by 2022
The pizza chain runs a franchise model in the country, where investments come from franchise partners, Varma added.
Retailers boost holiday hires in stores to help tackle online sales
As online purchases become a growing percentage of total sales, retailers want to be better prepared for the spike in online order volumes during the holidays with stronger on-the-ground support.