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According to research commissioned by BT, thousands of small UK businesses are not protected from cyberattacks due to having no or insufficient cybersecurity.
1,000 decision makers at UK businesses were questioned about cybersecurity. The answers showed that 51% of micro businesses, businesses with 0-5 employees, are not protected from cyberattacks.
Not necessarily because they don’t have any cybersecurity measures in place, but because they are using cyber protection that has been made for domestic use rather than business use. This inappropriate level of protection leaves small businesses open to becoming victims of cyberattacks.
Almost Half Of UK Businesses Suffered Cyberattacks Or Breaches
The research results are also confirmed by the recent Cyber Security Breaches survey conducted by the Government. This survey has found that almost half of small UK businesses have suffered either a cybersecurity breach or attack in the past year.
The Government’s survey also showed that the frequency of cyberattacks are increasing. With 31% of businesses experiencing breaches or attacks at least once a week. Therefore, the Government is calling on small UK businesses to put appropriate cybersecurity measures in place to keep them safe online.
While the frequency is increasing, the number of attacks is the same as the previous year, with 39% of businesses having suffered a cybersecurity issue. However, this number could be higher, as many organisations might not have identified an attack and therefore not reported it.
83% of the reported attacks came from phishing attempts, 21% from more advanced methods such as malware, denial of service or a ransomware attack.
While ransomeware attacks are relatively rare, businesses have identified it as the biggest threat and 56% have a policy in place not to pay ransoms.
Why Small And Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Are At Risk
During the pandemic, the majority of small and medium businesses moved online as a reaction to Covid restrictions, such as lockdowns. As a result, opportunistic cyber criminals have increased their activities.
The main issue is small businesses not having the right level of cyber protection, or none at all. The BT research found that 4% of SMEs don’t have cyber protection. For micro businesses, the number is even higher, with 17% not being protected at all.
The majority of SMEs believe that they are not big enough to be of interest to cyber criminals. This assumption can be a costly mistake though, with the Government estimating that businesses have lost £4,200 due to cyberattacks in the past 12 months.
Any digital business – large or small – can be a target for cyber criminals, and this is something we’ve seen during the pandemic.Chris Sims, Managing Director for BT’s Single Office/Home Office Unit
And even if small businesses have cyber protection measures in place, often they are not fit for purpose, as many businesses use domestic cybersecurity packages, which are not sufficient for business use.
How You Can Keep Your Business Safe Online
Any business, no matter how small, should have appropriate cybersecurity measures in place. Here are the key measures to keep your business safe online.
Business-Grade Cyber Security
If your company has an online presence, you should have a business-grade cybersecurity package, that will keep your data and your customers safe online. Many small businesses rely on domestic products, which are not sufficient when you are running a business.
[…] whilst consumer-grade products are great for protecting you while surfing the web, accessing emails and other personal use, they’re not designed for running a business which requires more robust protection and safeguards.Chris Sims, Managing Director for BT’s Single Office/Home Office Unit
A main tool to prevent cyberattacks is to assess risks to your business, as this will help you to identify actions to take to prevent cybersecurity issues from happening.
According to the Government survey, only 54% of businesses have undertaken a risk assessment for cybersecurity in the past 12 months. This means almost half of UK businesses have put themselves at risk of suffering from cyberattacks.
Risk assessments should be carried out on a periodical basis to keep abreast of any changes in the business.
With 83% of attacks having used phishing attempts, it is vital that all staff members are trained to spot any such threats and deal with them accordingly.
Many cyber criminals rely on people not paying attention or not being aware of their methods. So, by training your staff, you can ensure that they know how to keep your business and themselves safe online.
As part of this training, you should also include information about your cybersecurity policies, such as password policies.
The pandemic has sped up the move online for many small businesses, which is good news for our economy. However, if these businesses do not protect themselves from cyberattacks, it will also be good news for cyber criminals.


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EGS Commercial Real Estate Inc. said it recently signed nearly 25,000 square feet of new or renewed leases in the Birmingham area.
Outdoor retailer Extreme Consciousness Inc. leased 7,200 square feet of industrial space in Avondale at 41st Street North, said a news release.
Madeira USA has leased nearly 2,500 square feet of industrial space in the Valledale Business Center. The company provides embroidery thread and supplies.
Nsoro Mastec renewed its 15,000-square-foot lease at Cahaba Valley Business Park. It’s a telecommunication infrastructure development company based out of Atlanta.
EGS Brokers Stuart Brock and Brad Moffat represented the landlords in all three deals. Bob Vines of Southpace Properties represented Extreme Consciousness in its transaction and Joe Grace of Cresa Partners represented Nsoro Mastec.

domain: news


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A GAMING business has bared its teeth to bring success to Sunderland.
Wearside-based Pitbull Studio is set to become the UK headquarters of an internationally-renowned gaming business, after agreeing a sale with Epic Games.
Long-time collaborator Pitbull will now form the British division of the company, behind popular games such as Gears of War and Unreal Tournament.
The deal will see its 45-strong team transfer to Epic Games UK and the company’s managing director, Robert Troughton, move to a new role, with responsibilities for the company’s Guildford and Leamington Spa offices, as well as an active role internationally.
Robert, who founded Pitbull Studio in 2009, said: “Becoming Epic Games UK was the next logical step in our relationship with Epic.
“We’re really looking forward to expanding our amazing team here in the UK.
“The commitment to the North East base is strong, and we hope to continue to grow as part of the Epic family, as well as expanding our other bases across the UK.”
Last year Pitbull saw its head count swell from 22 to 45 and the deal has paved the way for further expansion, with a number of new roles up for grabs in the North East.
Robert added: “Pitbull is only five this year, so to have progressed so quickly in the industry is testimony to all of our staff’s hard work and talent. The support we have had from Sunderland City Council has been fantastic.”
The company is based in Sunderland’s E.volve Business Centre, in Rainton Bridge, where it moved in 2012.


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2016 is more than halfway over. It’s hard to believe, we know.
There have been a lot of changes in the marketing industry these past six months. New devices, apps, ad blockers, and more have shifted consumer expectations and pushed marketers to think more creatively than ever in order to get results.
Navigating these new norms can be challenging, but the payoff is oh so sweet when a brand does it right. Take a look at some of best marketing campaigns from the first half of 2016, and what led to their success.
Campaign: Disney’s “#ShareYourEars”
In February, Disney invited fans around the world to share their Mickey Mouse ears on social media with the hashtag #ShareYourEars. For every photo that was shared, Disney would donate $5 to Make-A-Wish, with a cap of up to a million dollars.
Celebrities like Neil Patrick Harris, Tori Kelly, Pentatonix, and many others helped spread the hashtag by sharing their own #ShareYourEars photos with their followers.
Why it worked: Social media campaigns asking individuals to share branded content can fall flat. Disney had an important insight, though: many fans already share Disney-related posts on their own, so asking them to use a hashtag was a seamless next step. In the end, Disney celebrated the campaign’s huge participation by doubling its donation to Make-A-Wish to two million dollars.
Campaign: Oreo’s “Wonder Vault”
In early February, a mysterious door appeared on a New York City street, with only an Oreo and the words “Open Here” to provide any clues. Passersby could walk up, open the vault, and receive a personal pack of filled-cupcake Oreos from a Wonka-like conveyer belt, six weeks before the new flavor hit stores.
The pop-up was part of Oreo’s Wonder Vault campaign, and actually resurfaced in LA earlier this month (this time featuring chocolate-chip Oreos) with a Twitter moment and Snapchat geofilter to amplify its reach.
Why it worked: The mystery surrounding the installation fit seamlessly with Oreo’s playful personality, and lent itself to being shared across social (I first heard about the vault from a friend’s Instagram post about going to see it during her lunch break). Plus, as more Oreo flavors are created, the overall Wonder Vault campaign will stay evergreen.
Campaign: Water is Life’s “Venmo Micro Hack”
Water is Life, a nonprofit that provides clean water resources, faced the challenge of trying to reach millennials through a social media campaign without much budget to support it.
Enter, Venmo: a peer-to-peer app used to quickly send/receive money. Though the app is largely popular with millennials, it doesn’t allow ads. So Water is Life found a loophole: sending personalized ads disguised as small in-app payments to gain users attention. Check out the video to see how the campaign worked:
Why it worked: Water is Life only spent $2.50 to send two hundred and fifty personalized payments asking users to donate. The result was a $400 spike in donations, showing that an innovative approach on an unexpected platform can pay off in a big way.
Campaign: Lockheed Martin’s “The Field Trip to Mars”
To remind children (and the world) that the next generation of astronauts, engineers, and inventors is sitting in school desks right now, Lockheed Martin took a group of students on a field trip like no other.
The Field Trip to Mars took students across 200 miles of Mars’ landscape (which was actually the streets of Washington, D.C.) in the first ever “group VR experience.” Unlike the isolated experience of a VR headset, the bus’s incredible technology made it possible for all of the children to engage with the view and one another during the experience.
Why it worked: Virtual reality has had a lot of buzz lately, but many companies are still figuring out how to take it beyond novelty. Lockheed Martin’s success came from finding a new way to use VR that still felt authentic and purposeful. Fun fact: This campaign was the single most awarded piece of work at Cannes this year with 19 Lions across 11 categories.
We’re looking forward to seeing even more innovative marketing campaigns in the second half of 2016. In the meantime, let us know about campaigns that have caught your eye this year at @QuattroPhilly!


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Land Rover Discovery Sport Gets Rs 4 Lakh Price Slash, Evoque Gets Rs 3 Lakh
At a time when carmakers are hiking their cars’ prices, JLR has come up with what’s probably the highest price slash it has ever offered on its SUVs yet in the country. However, the price cut is limited only to its range of SUVs. The locally assembled Land Rover Discovery Sport and the Evoque get massive reductions of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 3 lakh, respectively.
Based out of England, Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) price drop is accredited to the dipping pound’s value after Great Britain opted out from the European Union (Brexit). The discounts are not only restricted to locally assembled products, the cars imported get incredible reduction in prices too. For instance, the Range Rover Vogue gets a stupendous Rs 50 lakh cut in prices, while the Range Rover Sport attracts Rs 30 lakh off.
Earlier in the year, the British carmaker announced Range Rover’s fourth family member, the Velar. Sharing the same platform as the Jaguar F-Pace, the Velar will slot in between the Evoque and the Range Rover Sport.
Land Rover launched the petrol version of its Evoque SUV at Rs 53.20 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) in the country on January 11, 2017. Furthermore, it also plans to bring in a convertible version of the same by the second half of the current year. In the recent Euro NCAP safety tests, the Discovery scored a five out of five reaffirming the fact that it’s one of the safest SUVs to buy.
With such astonishing decrease in prices, the JLR SUVs are now better armed to take on their German and Swedish rivals.
Which is your personal favourite? Discovery Sport or Evoque? Let us know your answers in the comments section below.
Read More on : Land Rover Discovery Sport india


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18 MAR 2020
18 MAR 2020 Press release
Diageo announces package of support for British drinks industry
- Guinness to pledge £1m to support bartenders in Britain
- Complimentary training and online learning available for all bartenders
- Diageo to support smaller retailers, pubs and bars through flexibility on order sizes
17th March 2020: Diageo has today announced a suite of measures to help support the British drinks trade as it faces unprecedented challenges from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
Today, on St Patrick’s Day, Guinness is pledging £1,000,000 to support bartenders in the free trade across Great Britain. Thousands of bartenders will be able to benefit from the £1,000,000 fund intended for pubs and bars to put towards bartenders’ wages. A similar community fund is being set up in Ireland.
Anyone working in the drinks trade will be given the opportunity to attend a complimentary Diageo Bar Academy Training Course, viaconsisting of virtual training and online learning. Training includes modules such as the ‘business of bar tending,’ which can provide practical advice and may help to manage quieter trading periods.
Diageo is helping to support smaller retailers, pubs and bars up and down the country by providing flexibility on order size and allowing smaller customers to manage their inventory in this fast-moving situation. This will be applied across Diageo’s total trade customer base in a bid to help customers access product more easily and manage their cash flow in these challenging circumstances.
Dayalan Nayager - Managing Director Great Britain, Ireland and France at Diageo said: “The British drinks trade is facing one of its most challenging times ever and we want to help our communities when they need us most. We all need to come together to support the trade and I would urge all my fellow drinks producers to do what they can to help our British pubs, bars and retailers and restaurants over the next few months.”
Notes to Editor
- The measures will be introduced from Monday 23rd March onwards.
- Pubs and bars wanting to access the new fund should apply via MyDiageo.com from Monday 23rd The maximum available funding per free trade outlet is £600.
- Diageo customers should contact their account manager for more information on the revised Minimum Order Quantities.
For further information please contact:
Diageo Press Office: firstname.lastname@example.org +44 (0) 7803 856 200
Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits, beer and wine categories. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Buchanan’s and Windsor whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.
Diageo is a global company, and our products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange (DGE) and the New York Stock Exchange (DEO). For more information about Diageo, our people, our brands, and performance, visit us at www.diageo.com. Visit Diageo’s global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practice.
Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.


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The city of Amsterdam is the home of the first circular factory of textiles in Europe, let's discover why and how this city is the perfect location for the reuse of textiles.
A big step for circular fashion
Amsterdam will soon be the home to its first fully circular textile factory. Brightfiber Textiles plans to launch a facility in 2023 that will turn old clothes into high-quality fibres and yarns, from which new clothing can be made. The factory will have the capacity to produce about 2.5 to 3 million kilos of raw materials from waste textiles each year – that’s almost the weight of textiles collected in recycling containers in Amsterdam during the same period.
Brightfiber is run by Ellen Mensink. She began Amsterdam company Brightloops 5 years ago, which sells clothing made from discarded sweaters under the Loop.a.Life brand. The Brightfiber factory will bring this to an industrial scale, working with Wormeveer-based Wieland Textiles and its Fibersort machine that will sort and shred clothing into sustainable yarns of different colours and textures.
At the moment, less than 1% of all brand collections consist of recycled material. And 25% of recycled clothing is made largely from PET bottles, rather than old clothes. Brightfiber's factory has the potential to save thousands of litres of water per item, as well as eliminating the need for polluting chemicals and dyes. Local production also reduces transport-related CO2 emissions. The factory fits within the Netherlands' ambition to be a frontrunner in circular textiles, and has been part-financed by the Circular Economy department of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
Amsterdam’s sustainable fashion pioneers
The Amsterdam Area is home to several textile producers and fashion houses committed to decarbonising the clothing industry. Companies such as BYBORRE help designers create sustainable fabrics, while designers like Duran Lantink creates his designs after trawling the city when its residents leave things out on the street for others to take. Meanwhile, Fashion for Good, a museum and startup accelerator, is dedicated to scaling solutions for decarbonising the fashion industry worldwide. And Amsterdam’s globally renowned denim industry is increasingly setting the standard for sustainable denim production and lifecycle.
Amsterdam is a member of the Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC), a European Commission initiative supporting European cities towards the green and digital transition of their local economies through Local Green Deals. ICC helps European cities harness the power of cutting-edge technologies while improving their economic competitiveness, social resilience and their citizens' quality of life.


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Sbt.: Lenzing was awarded for the introduction of the blockchain technology for fiber identification as well as its achievements as a leading company and significant economic engine in the region
Lenzing – On November 4, 2019, Lenzing AG won the “Digital Corona” in Gold. The coveted business prize was awarded for the first time in this category. It is awarded to companies that have dynamically advanced the digitization of business processes, products, services and business models in recent years. At the premiere, Lenzing was delighted to receive the first prize for the introduction of the blockchain technology for fiber identification along the textile value chain.
“Consumers increasingly want to understand the ingredients and suppliers of the products they buy, requesting a new level of transparency and traceability. With the introduction of blockchain technology, Lenzing is pursuing the ambitious goal of creating full transparency across the value chain, driving change in an industry where less than five percent of the top 250 apparel brands can track their garments back to the fiber origin”, Stefan Doboczky, CEO of the Lenzing Group, says. Lenzing enables its customers and partners to identify TENCEL ™ branded fibers across each production and distribution step from fiber-to-retail. The technology also allows consumers to verify the garment composition and the underlying textile supply chain at the point of sale, simply by scanning the barcode with a mobile device. As a result, Lenzing also directly supports the business with its very sustainably produced TENCEL™ lyocell fibers.
With LENZING™ ECOVERO™ branded fibers Lenzing was the frontrunner in physical traceability and is now entering the age of digital traceability. After joining the platform of the technology company TextileGenesis™ earlier this year, Lenzing presented the first pilot at this year’s Fashion Summit in Hong Kong. This pioneering pilot project was conducted in close cooperation with TextileGenesis™, WWF and Hong Kong based brand Chicks. This was a significant milestone in the introduction of blockchain technology. Over the coming months, Lenzing is carrying out further pilot tests involving partners along the entire value chain and expects the platform to be fully operational as of 2020.
Strong signal for industrial location Upper Austria
In addition, Lenzing received Bronze for the “Standort-Corona” for its achievements as a leading Upper Austrian company and major economic engine in the region. With its continuously high investment activity at the Lenzing site, the company is constantly contributing to the strengthening of the economic area. In 2019, Lenzing successfully completed its expansion and modernization drive at the pulp plant at the Lenzing site, increasing production capacity to 320,000 tons per year. As part of its ambitious climate goals, Lenzing also decided to invest EUR 40 mn to expand the production of the raw material sulfuric acid at the Lenzing site. This comprises an important milestone on the path towards climate neutrality. In the future, a new air purification and sulfur recovery plant will not only optimize the company’s self-sufficiency for this raw material and enhance process reliability but improve environmental protection within the context of a clear forward-looking strategy.
With approx. 3,100 employees (as at 30.06.2019) at the Lenzing site, including more than 130 apprentices, the Lenzing Group is one of the leading companies in the industrial location of Upper Austria and, as such, also an important employer and driver of growth and innovation. The research and development activities are bundled in the central area “Global Research & Development” at the Lenzing site; at the end of June 2019, approx. 200 employees were involved in the field of new and further development of technologies, processes, products and applications in the field of wood-based cellulosic fibers.
About the Lenzing Group
The Lenzing Group stands for ecologically responsible production of specialty fibers made from the renewable raw material wood. As an innovation leader, Lenzing is a partner of global textile and nonwoven manufacturers and drives many new technological developments.
The Lenzing Group’s high-quality fibers form the basis for a variety of textile applications ranging from elegant ladies clothing to versatile denims and high-performance sports clothing. Due to their consistent high quality, their biodegradability and compostability Lenzing fibers are also highly suitable for hygiene products and agricultural applications.
The business model of the Lenzing Group goes far beyond that of a traditional fiber producer. Together with its customers and partners, Lenzing develops innovative products along the value chain, creating added value for consumers. The Lenzing Group strives for the efficient utilization and processing of all raw materials and offers solutions to help redirect the textile sector towards a closed- loop economy.
Key Facts & Figures Lenzing Group 2018
Revenue: EUR 2.18 bn
Nameplate capacity: 1,034,000 tons Employees: 6,839
TENCEL™, VEOCEL™, LENZING™, REFIBRA™, ECOVERO™, LENZING MODAL™, LENZING VISCOSE™, MICROMODAL™ und
PROMODAL™ are trademarks of Lenzing AG.


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Leicestershire CCC has arranged a three-day intra-club game this week following the postponements of games against Derbyshire.
The intra-squad match at Grace Road will start tomorrow on Tuesday April 8 at 11am and run through until Thursday April 10. Admission will be free of charge.
The Friends of Grace shop is open for hot drinks and home-made cakes, second hand books and cricket souvenirs.
The Playfair 2014 annual is now available for £7.99, along with the Cricketers' Who's Who' for £17. Limited stocks are available.


text: Enlarge this imageMalik Navid, a worker in a pink Himalayan salt mine in Khewra, Pakistan, waits to get a ma sive grinder to shoot out floor salt.Diaa Hadid/NPRhide captiontoggle captionDiaa Hadid/NPRMalik Navid, a worker at a pink Himalayan salt mine in Khewra, Pakistan, waits to get a huge grinder to shoot out floor salt.Diaa Hadid/NPRSalt is rarely thought of a make any difference of nationwide puffery. But in Pakistan, Himalayan pink salt is the topic of parliamentary debates, editorials and trending hashtags. And Pakistanis want you to know something: Upmarket salt is Pakistani. Inside the U.S., Himalayan pink salt is now well-liked in a very a sortment of works by using, from cooking to spa remedies. You can even obtain lamps constructed from it. But its origins are hardly ever highlighted and even described on goods probably because Pakistan, in which the majority of this salt emanates from, is not a spot a single a sociates with pink salt. Alternatively, the salt is often promoted as coming from some amorphous Himalayan mountain, po sibly an icy glacier. Enlarge this imageA pile of rough-hewn pink Himalayan salt cubes.Diaa Hadid/NPRhide captiontoggle captionDiaa Hadid/NPRA pile of rough-hewn pink Himalayan salt cubes.Diaa Hadid/NPRBut now, due to a convergence of political tensions with India and social media outrage, salt marketplace advocates say they are poised to pa s laws that will trademark Himalayan pink salt as Pakistani. “This is usually a exclusive solution,” claimed Sen. Shibli Faraz, the chief from the Senate, that has frequently lifted the i sue in Pakistan’s Parliament. “It can be also imperative that you trademark it as a Pakistani item.”The salt is mined from rolling red-brick hills that increase from marshes in Khewra, about two hours through the cash, Islamabad. They’re hundreds of miles from the iconic snowy peaks of your Himalayas, plus the region shimmers with heat. The hills known since the salt range are distant tendrils in the Himalayas and are a remnant of the lagoon that existed some 600 million several years in the past, explained Shahid Iqbal, a lecturer from the department of earth sciences at Quaid-i-Azam University. Mining in this article was once a small-time busine s that captivated minor attention. Some four hundred,000 a lot of salt are exported a 12 months, largely as crude rock, in line with Nadeem Babar, the adviser to Pakistan’s key minister on petroleum and natural methods. A few quarter of those people exports were transported at all around $40 a ton to India Pakistan’s neighbor, with which it’s got fought four wars. The salt was virtually blown out of mines, hauled in trucks and dispatched some 160 miles towards the border. Enlarge this imageQaisar Mahmood, a small-time Pakistani salt exporter, holds up two luggage of pink Himalayan salt ground approximately a variety of consistencies. His busine s enterprise continues to be devastated from the ban on exports to India, and he says it’s a foul idea to pre sure corporations to label salt as Pakistani, mainly because the state Cam Robinson Jersey is understood for a put of problems not fancy salt.Diaa Hadid/NPRhide captiontoggle captionDiaa Hadid/NPRQaisar Mahmood, a small-time Pakistani salt exporter, holds up two luggage of pink Himalayan salt floor around several consistencies. His busine s is devastated via the ban on exports to India, and he states it is actually a bad plan to power providers to label salt as Pakistani, because the state is understood being a area of problems not extravagant salt.Diaa Hadid/NPRBut the exports arrived to nationwide prominence this year just after Pakistani Twitter found which the country was marketing affordable salt to India, in which it was staying proce sed and bought in a markup and worse, devoid of listing the nation of origin. The revelation brought on a viral marketing campaign. “Please choose action to prevent our #pink #salt low-cost export to India,” pleaded Twitter consumer Mohammad Hazran. “We must shield our purely natural methods,” he wrote. “We are getting peanuts for this gold.” Politicians and bureaucrats took detect like Faraz, the senator. He estimated that Pakistan had gained only about $26 million final calendar year; other officials say it really is about $50 million. In all circumstances, “it was getting sold to get a tune,” Faraz claimed. He believes those figures could triple with reforms. Faraz has become advocating legislation to discourage crude salt revenue and encourage the production of high-value completed merchandise. Political functions have extra their Taven Bryan Jersey unique upheaval. On Aug. 5, India scaled back the autonomy on the portion of Kashmir that it controls. Pakistani officials feared that India’s shift would weaken Pakistan’s very own statements into the disputed territory. Pakistan retaliated by banning bilateral trade with India, which has devastated the salt field. But Babar, the adviser to the primary minister, termed it “a ble sing in disguise.” The ban on bilateral trade has “put a tough line” in front of Pakistani corporations “that they should swap what was heading to India. They have to swap it with other potential buyers,” Babar explained. He mentioned the federal government was striving to really make it a lot easier for companies by striving to minimize and simplify regulations. Pakistan’s salt sector has not seen extraordinary reform considering that the 1870s, once the British colonial rulers from the subcontinent commenced wide-scale mining. On a the latest day, a senior government engineer, Azghar Khattak, accompanied NPR reporters a few mile deep in the mines. He drove down a slim tunnel flanked by soaring chambers locations wherever the miners experienced previously hollowed out chunks of rock. Two adult males cranked on a lever that run a rusty drill to bore holes in to the salt wall. 1 man twisted newspaper pages into cartridges and filled them with gunpowder from a sack. He stuffed the cartridges right into a hole. Khattak lit a security fuse along with the miners shrank away as a person yelled, “Khabardar!” “Beware!” A crashing boom echoed as boulders of rock salt tumbled down. The miners hurled them into a truck adorned with bells and birds. From there, many of the salt was floor up in crops both of those primitive and dangerous. In a single manufacturing unit, a person hurled pink rock salt into an unlimited grinder from a nearby pile. Powdered salt shot out the other finish, filling a 55-pound https://www.jaguarsglintshop.com/Quincy-Williams-Ii-Jersey sack and thickening the air with good, salty dust that crusted the workers’ hair, garments and in some cases eyelashes. Employees swung crammed sacks on to their shoulders to put atop a increasing pile. Enlarge this imageA employee hurls and shovels pink rock salt right into a substantial grinder at a proce sing plant in Khewra.Diaa Hadid/NPRhide captiontoggle captionDiaa Hadid/NPRA employee hurls and shovels pink rock salt into a ma sive grinder at a proce sing plant in Khewra.Diaa Hadid/NPRQaisar Mahmood, a small-time salt exporter, explained that all those are typical problems for any regional plant. He stated this underscores the difficulties going through the salt sector in Pakistan. Mahmood stated he knew he could make $300 a ton marketing to Europe. But he will not converse English, would not know the market and can not satisfy European standards. “If they discover even a strand of hair, they’re going to reject the entire batch,” mentioned Mahmood, laughing as he tugged at his hair. The Indian industry is such as Pakistani current market, he shrugged. Hair isn’t a challenge. The senator, Faraz, claims Pakistan could do far better. And he says ailments will improve when he can go legal guidelines that may trademark Himalayan pink salt. He suggests the shift will allow Pakistan to accrue profits when companies use the title and it will tie Pakistan’s name to an upmarket item. Mahmood, whose company has been devastated through the ban on exports to India, explained it can be a bad idea to power companies to label salt as Pakistani, because the country is understood being a spot of difficulties not extravagant salt. Other traders disagreed. Over a recent day, Niaz Hu sain Siddiqui, a unusual Pakistani exporter of completed salt solutions, showed me a few of the things he has exported to your U.S.: bricks for spa rooms, sushi platters and tequila shot gla ses. Siddiqui, a devout Muslim who abstains from liquor, shook his head disapprovingly. He said he prefers to think about the merchandise as a toothpick holder. Enlarge this imageWorkers drill wooden bases on to Himalayan salt lamps in a retail store owned by Niaz Hu sain Siddiqui, who exports Pakistani salt products to the America.Diaa Hadid/NPRhide captiontoggle captionDiaa Hadid/NPRWorkers drill picket bases on to Himalayan salt lamps in a retail outlet owned by Niaz Hu sain Siddiqui, who exports Pakistani salt items on the U . s ..Diaa Hadid/NPRHe gestured to a common product or service: a substantial dice of salt that’s offered together with a metallic grater. “They are referred to as Zen cubes from the Usa,” Siddiqui said. Siddiqui’s shopper in the U.S. retails that dice for $16 exactly the same selling price that Pakistani organizations receives a commi sion wholesale for just about half a bunch of crude salt. Siddiqui reported if his federal government could increase Pakistan’s picture, customers would pay additional for the product. He claimed it might also enhance need for the rock salt. “If we could obtain that, I show you, this can be a distinctive world” a planet, he reported, exactly where Himalayan pink salt is proudly Pakistani.


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Advancing Digitization in Shipping
CMA CGM becomes the first ocean carrier listed on Freightos. Global freight moves towards the ‘one-stop shopping’ standard.
CMA CGM Group and global online freight marketplace company Freightos have established an ambitious pilot agreement whereby CMA CGM has become the first ocean carrier listed on Freightos. Online bookings, guaranteed pricing, and secured capacity on CMA CGM China-US trade lanes are available on the platform, with further extension to additional lanes planned in the near future.
For its part, CMA CGM says that it has reinforced its position as a digital leader within the industry and taken yet another step towards its customer-centric strategy, offering importers and exporters of all sizes direct access to instant pricing, routing, and concrete sailing information in seconds, as well as guaranteed capacity. CMA CGM rates can now be found free of charge on the Freightos website, www.freightos.com.
Real Change for Industry
“This development represents a real change for the industry because, for the first time, global shipping on key trade lanes functions like passenger travel or e-commerce, where customers can obtain guaranteed prices within seconds,” said Mathieu Friedberg, Senior Vice President – Commercial Agencies Network at CMA CGM Group. “This initiative demonstrates our commitment to customer centricity. We’ve been on a journey to provide our customers with innovative offerings to ensure them the best shipping experience. This partnership raises the bar for ourselves, and the industry, with this important step into the digital era, selling directly to shippers on Freightos.”
Zvi Schreiber, CEO and founder of Freightos, added, “This is a true win-win for the industry and a major step toward improving the customer experience. With CMA CGM selling on Freightos, smaller shippers now have direct access to a major carrier with competitive pricing. Additionally, shippers of all sizes will have access to guaranteed prices and capacity. This aligns with our goal to help logistics providers drive more value for customers, enabling smoother global trade, and ensuring more reliable and affordable supply of goods to end consumers.”
CMA CGM is a worldwide shipping group with 506 vessels calling at more than 420 ports on five continents and in 2017 the company carried almost 19 million TEUs. The company has a presence in 160 countries and, through its 755 agencies network, the Group employs 34,000 people worldwide, including 2,400 in its headquarters in Marseilles, France.
Freightos’ mission is to make global trade frictionless with the world’s online marketplace for the trillion dollar international shipping industry. The Freightos Marketplace is designed to help importers and exporters reduce logistics spend and save time with instant comparison, booking and management of air, ocean and land shipments from top logistics providers to book international shipping as smoothly as booking a flight online.
Freightos also provides patent-pending technology that empowers carriers and logistics providers around the world to automate freight sales. With Freightos AcceleRate and Freightos WebCargo power rate management, automated pricing and online freight sales are made available for more than 1,000 logistics service providers and carriers, including multi-billion dollar companies such as Panalpina and Nippon Express. Freightos has accumulated the world’s largest global database of multimodal freight rates, providing industry transparency with its Freightos Baltic Index.
An ‘Expedia’ for Freight
Freightos was founded in 2012 by Schreiber, a serial entrepreneur who has sold companies to General Electric, IBM and others. At his previous company, Schreiber shipped regularly from China to the United States and was “shocked” at the inefficiency he experienced as a shipper every time he needed to ship goods.
He said his experience wasn’t unique: “Freightos research shows it takes an average of three days for a shipper to receive a simple price quote even on a major trade lane. Twenty-five percent of containers don’t make it on to the ship you expect them to go on. Eighty-three percent of shipments don’t have proper track and trace visibility door to door.” And so he decided to create an ‘Expedia’ for freight.
Between 2012 and 2015, Freightos focused on digitizing the supply via a solution for logistics service providers to use internally. This platform, Freightos AcceleRate, does rate management, instant freight quoting, business intelligence and tender management. Additionally, Freightos acquired Freightos WebCargo with the world’s largest database of air cargo rates.
Instant, door-to-door international air & ocean freight quotes
Once the company reached the milestone where dozens of forwarders such as Hellmann Logistics, CH Robinson and CEVA Logistics, to name a few, were managing their rates in Freightos, it began building the supply side. Freightos Marketplace launched in the summer of 2016 for small and mid-size shippers on a few trade lanes. On a weekly basis, more than a thousand shippers use the platform, and it is growing rapidly. The service offers instant, door-to-door international air and ocean freight quotes and small and mid-size businesses can log in to ship.freightos.com, search and compare freight quotes from forwarders, and now also direct from CMA CGM, the third-largest ocean carrier in the world, which is offering its rates on the marketplace, enabling shippers to compare freight quotes and book online.
Once booked, Freightos also helps manage the shipments. Documents, tracking and payments are all managed digitally on the Freightos website, while logistics service providers can use the Freightos Marketplace as a sales channel. Large providers are also happy to receive new orders from new shippers with a very low cost of sale, an easy quoting process and a low customer acquisition cost.
Benefiting the shipping industry?
One benefit of the system is that Freightos is partnering with incumbent carriers, forwarders and shippers to bring digitization. “The benefits are lower cost, better transparency and a superior modern customer experience,” said Schreiber. “Our independent research shows that 86 percent of forwarders see technology as their biggest lever for growth – this is way above the other tactics they’ve discussed in the past, such as mergers and acquisitions.
“Freightos has been talking about online freight forwarding for years,” he added. “A shipper should be able to get his/her freight quote automatically online, self-service, just like you can book a hotel online. And for years it has been just talk; but today you now have several big logistics providers offering price quotes on major trade lanes on their websites. This is a big change, all within the span of one to two years, and proof the big players understand the freight experience must be online.
“Containers probably won’t be changing in the next 20 years; but everything around how the industry manages them has started to change and needs to continue changing in a big way.”
Expanding user base
Schreiber also added that as Freightos evolves, a broader range of importers and exporters tend to use the system “The initial user base centered around the long tail of smaller importers and exporters,” he said.” E-commerce stood out as a key market, belaying a rapidly growing market of first-time importers that were graduating from local sourcing to international sourcing and, with time, Freightos has expanded to significantly larger volumes. While ease of use and education was a hallmark value for smaller shippers, we now attract larger shippers who now benefit not only from a digital experience but also from more aggressive pricing. The introduction of CMA CGM’s secured capacity is a game-changer; reliability is often more important than pricing for larger importers and exporters and marrying public reviews with guaranteed capacity and competitive pricing means increased interest from top-tier companies, albeit centered on their spot shipment volume.
“A good digital platform is never complete,” he continued. “For our roadmap, we’re guided by the need to provide an exceptional customer experience, while remembering that as a two-sided marketplace, we also need to provide an outstanding, secure environment for our sellers.
“We’re continuing to make headway on creating a better shipment management experience, with more direct integrations into seller TMS systems and other data resources, facilitating better proactive exception management and user life cycle operations.”
Schreiber also knows that reliability is also a key parameter when selecting providers. He adds, “As we increase the number and quality of the Freightos sellers, we are also putting systems in place to track reliability and customer service levels, and then feed those back into rate selection. Expanding the types of sellers on the marketplace to include even more carriers, as well as ancillary services that drive value for importers in a one-stop platform is also an exciting direction that we’re pursuing.”
Improving global digital infrastructure
Schrieber stated that Freightos is working on improving its underlying global digital infrastructure. “While we’ve already automated freight pricing and sales for over 1,200 logistics providers globally, this internal automation must be augmented with increased agility. Nearly every major global industry leverages dynamic pricing based on real-time metrics to make smarter, automated decisions.”
To that end, Freightos, in partnership with the Baltic Exchange, provides indexes of container shipping prices, the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX). “We are working on a number of solutions, including derivatives, to help reduce pricing risks and improve stability. This isn’t just talk either; we’re in the process of exploring implementation with major multinational corporations,” he concluded.


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Queen Maxima of the Netherlands' best hats
Cutest couples at the SAG Awards
Stars at Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris
A look at some of the celebrities hottest moments on and off of the red carpet this week.
It's almost hard to remember that their royal romance began more than ten years ago when William and Kate were both just fresh-faced students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Kerry Washington, Jada Pinkett Smith and more fashion from the NAACP Image Awards
Personal trainer to the stars, Tracy Anderson offers the best tips and tricks to motivate you – and why it's okay to eat a piece of cake!
Naomi Watts opens up about the hunt for her perfect, "grown up" apartment with partner Liev Schreiber.
The 2016 Oscar announcers have been announced. See who is presenting at the Academy Awards on February 28.


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Bulgaria`s top five brewers sold a combined 4.84 million hectolitres of beer last year, nearly unchanged from the 4.815 million hectolitres sold in 2010, the Union of Brewers in Bulgaria (UBB) said.
UBB data covers the Business of Kamenitza, owned by StarBev, Carlsberg Bulgaria, part of Danish brewer Carlsberg, Zagorka, part of Dutch group Heineken, as well as locally-owned brewersBoliarka VT and Lomsko Pivo. The five brewers account for over 85% of the domestic market.
Beer sales were stable versus the year before but it is important to note that the market is down 10% versus its record year, 2008, UBB chairman Ruud van den Eijnden told a news conference in Sofia
, adding that the industry remains heavily affected by the global economic crisis. UBB data puts beer consumption in the country of 7.3 million at 67 litres per capita.


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Furniture sales at LaDIFF have remained robust despite current troubles.
No matter if you recognize as an extrovert or introvert, odds are you turned into rather of a homebody for the duration of the pandemic. Remain-at-dwelling orders and social accumulating limits have specified loads of people the home advancement bug, and the furnishings business has reaped the added benefits.
Sarah Paxton, president and co-operator of LaDIFF, a three-tale showroom in Richmond featuring the East Coast’s biggest range of fashionable and modern furniture, says her business has been extremely privileged in the course of an if not hard time.
“When men and women have been caught at dwelling, two matters happened,” claims Paxton. “They weren’t paying revenue on journey, enjoyment, and consuming out, so they started going through their residences in a full new way: really observing where by they needed to change or boost one thing.”
Retail companies were by no means needed to near due to point out mandates, and even for the duration of “max. 10 people” weeks, LaDIFF was capable to remain open up by appointment only, and social dis- tancing actions had been an uncomplicated attain in the building’s huge, roomy exhibit parts. And Most effective of Virginia voters have been surely some of the prospects that drove up the unexpected demand from customers for LaDIFF’s varied variety of items through the pandemic—the retailer was at the time all over again in the top a few Property Furnishings Shops in Central Virginia.
“We are grateful to our prospects for serving to us survive these kinds of an uncommon year,” suggests Paxton. “Even however issues arose from the unexpected demand, people ongoing to buy—and even now do!” LaDiff.com


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Netflix has issued a stark warning to each and every account holder in the UK amid a crackdown on password sharing.
The streaming service is among the most popular platforms across the world right now.
Its rivals include the likes of Disney Plus, which also has Star, as well as the likes of NowTV, Amazon Prime, BritBox and more.
But under a crackdown on people sharing passwords with pals, to avoid having to sign up, Netflix is now clapping back.
The streaming giant - renowned for its hit shows like The Crown, Better Call Saul and Bridgerton - is combating users with a pop-up message.
The platform is greeting its customers with a screen warning them to make sure they are using their own account.
Under Netflix rules, customers are warned they should "not" be "sharing passwords" with "individuals beyond your household."
The message that some users have reported reads: "If you don't live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching."
Customers are then told to verify their identity, which Netflix says is done by sending codes to account owners.
The firm said: "This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorised to do so."
In recent months, Netflix shows and films to have captured the public attention include What Happened at Cecil Hotel, Bridgerton and Emily in Paris.
Its films include the likes of News of the World, Mank, Da 5 Bloods, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.


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AFTER LAST-DITCH efforts to save the firm during 2010 came to nought Moto Morini was finally closed late in the year. But now some of the laid-off workers have been recalled to build a last batch of machines from leftover spares at the factory.
Liquidator Piero Aicardi reckons there are enough parts left in the factory to build as many as 45 bikes, with the production being split between 16 Scramblers and 29 Granpassos, seven of which will use frames originally built for the stillborn Granferro – a model that was revealed in 2009 but never reached production.
Originally, there was hope that Paolo Berlusconi – brother of Italian prime minister Silvio – would save Morini. He already owns the Garelli brand, and made a bid to buy the remains of Morini only to be blocked by the unions.
The final 45 Morinis are set to be sold without any warranty, with prices reflecting that; one of the final Scramblers is set to cost 6300 Euros (£5300) and the Granpassos will sell for 7100 Euros (£6000). They're all likely to remain in Italy, though.


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Slowdown spreads to services
“THE ECONOMIC slowdown facing the UK is now spreading beyond manufacturing.” That was the grim warning this week from the head of the bosses’ CBI organisation. CBI director general Digby Jones joined a growing chorus who warn recession is looming.
That threat was underlined by the new job losses announced by electronics firm Marconi this week. Another 2,000 workers will lose their jobs, after the firm has already slashed 8,000 this year.
And the scale of the crisis rolling through industry was also underlined by the panic merger of computer giants Hewlett Packard and Compaq announced this week. The merger deal will create a $25 billion company. This is less than each of the two companies was worth alone just a year ago. Jones’s warning of worse to come was prompted by a survey by accountancy firm Deloitte & Touche which showed profitability and optimism among bosses in the service sector have fallen at their fastest rate for three years. Manufacturing industry in Britain is already officially in recession. Output has fallen for the last six months.
But pro-capitalist commentators have pointed to the growth in service industries to claim overall recession could be avoided. The new survey shows that this hope could be unfounded. Some commentators point to still growing consumer spending as the hope to avoid recession.
Yet record levels of personal debt, as a new survey last week showed, are sustaining that growth. That is a fragile bubble, often maintained by people borrowing on the basis of feeling that the insane house price boom will go on. If worry about the economy turns to fear on a sufficient scale the bubble could burst and the economy could slide rapidly into slump.
WORKERS AT a Scottish electronics plant this week heard they will be on the dole before Christmas. The 100 workers at the Matushita Panasonic factory in East Kilbride makes transformers for TVs. The factory closure is the latest to hit the electronics industry.
Viasystems, which has already shut a plant in Scotland, this week announced 850 job losses at its factories at Longbenton and South Shields on Tyneside. Some 5,000 jobs have already been axed in the electronics industry this year in Scotland alone, says a new report by the Scottish Engineering bosses’ group.
It's a 40-year high
Reports from disputes around Britain
Security services were involved
Move will increase police racism


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Nokia reportedly is preparing a 10-inch tablet that uses Windows as the operating system RT. The tablet is also rumored to be released in February 2013, to coincide with the conference and exhibition event Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
This news comes from Digitimes news portal technology from Taiwan. In the production of tablets, Nokia took Compal Electronics as a manufacturer, designer Qualcomm processor as two core System on Chip (SoC), and of course Microsoft.
There were 200 thousand units of Nokia's Windows tablet ready to ship in the early stages.
Nokia does have a plan to make its own tablet. This was stated by the head of Nokia design, Marko Ahtisaari told Finnish magazine Optio Kauppalethi, March 2012. Ahtisaari said he spends a third of his time to create a tablet. "We worked for it," he said.
To date, the plan has not materialized. According to Digitimes, Nokia delayed the launch of Windows tablets since Microsoft had already Surface tablet market in October 2012.
Tablet is also rumored that Nokia will present colorful like a smart phone Lumia Windows Phone operating system.


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Even if one does take place, a TikTok sale — which has become a referendum on the U.S.-China relationship — may still be disrupted if Beijing or Mr. Trump weigh in. Mr. Trump has been highly involved, including talking to Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, and saying that Oracle could handle buying TikTok. In an Aug. 6 executive order, he imposed a deadline for TikTok’s U.S. operations to be sold by Sept. 15.
On Monday, TikTok sued the U.S. government, arguing that the executive order had deprived it of due process. The suit could give TikTok more time to operate in the United States if the courts order it, a stalling tactic that may help the app wait it out past the Nov. 3 election.
Steven Davidoff Solomon, a law professor at the University of California in Berkeley, who contributes to The New York Times, said the United States’ forcing such a huge company to sell itself was “really unprecedented.” He added, “This is a forced sale, and ByteDance is trying to keep it from being as much of a fire sale as possible.”
This account of TikTok’s deal discussions was based on interviews with more than a dozen people who were involved in or were briefed on the situation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Representatives from TikTok and ByteDance, Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter, Oracle and the White House declined to comment.
A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, called Mr. Trump’s executive order a “naked act of bullying,” and added that the U.S. government would eventually “reap what it sows.”
TikTok, which ByteDance created partly out of a $1 billion purchase of the lip-syncing app Musical.ly in 2017, has become a phenomenon in the United States and elsewhere. More than 100 million Americans regularly use the app, the company has said, especially teenagers and twentysomethings.
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As regular BB readers know, fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machines that scan the brain in real-time are now being used for a variety of unusual and interesting purposes, from studying fear to "neuromarketing" to lie detection. Yesterday's New York Times looks at the trend and profiles start-ups Omneuron, which plans to treat pain, addiction, and depression, No Lie MRI, a firm that sells "truth verification" via brain scans. From the article:
Ed Boyden, an assistant professor at the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a researcher in neuroengineering, distinguishes sharply among different brain-scanning ventures. “If you want to commercialize this technology,” he said, “then the use has to approximate real-world situations.”
Link (Thanks, Marina Gorbis!)
In his view, tests of fMRI truth verification don’t meet that criterion. For instance, in studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 and 2005, subjects were told to conceal the identity of a card under questioning. FMRI was able to distinguish falsification 77 percent of the time.
(No Lie MRI chief exec Joel) Huizenga was so inspired by this research that he decided to start his company, confident that fMRI would soon identify lies 90 percent of the time.
But Dr. Boyden says he believes that being asked to tell a falsehood that everyone knows is a falsehood is not the same thing as lying to deceive someone. Thus, whatever brain patterns fMRI detects when a person constructs such a requested fiction may be different from whatever happens when we lie.
By contrast, Dr. Boyden says: “What I like about Omneuron is that it’s working with real-world situations. They gave people visualization strategies which they could monitor – and which produced real, measurable results.”
Previously on BB:
• Reading minds with fMRI Link
• Neuroscience of altrusium Link
• Shocking Pac-Man-like game used to study fear Link
• Neurology of humor Link
• Science of forgetting Link
• Neuromarketing soda Link
• Brain scans predict buying behavior Link
• This is your brain on Super Bowl ads: research conclusion Link
• Neuroscience of branding Link
• Lie-detection via fMRI: mind-reading or coercion? Link
• Neuroeconomics: sub-prime mortgages exploit a bug in our brains Link
BB reader Karen Green points out that an article from the New Yorker last month about fMRI and lie detection is now available free at the magazine's site. Link
This gadget does exactly as promised: it looks like a thumbdrive (sort of) and fries the circuitry of any computer it’s plugged into. It’s made from camera flash parts, is charged with a standard AA battery, and delivers a 300V zap of DC destruction to the port for all your USB-murdering needs. Note that this […]
The Cobham catalog, exposed by The Intercept, features countless pages of surveillance gadgets sold to U.S. police to spy on American citizens: tiny black boxes with a big interest in you. In the creepily bland feature lists and nerdy product names is a whisper of a dark future; perhaps darker than anyone can imagine.
This image depicts the most commonly-found stylesheet colors on the web’s top sites—Paul Hebert did an amazing amount of analysis and this is just one of the intriguing visualizations he came up with. Most of these are obvious staples, especially HTML red and blue, though it’s interesting how far the blue “cluster” is from the […]
Loot Crate is a totally different kind of subscription service that mails subscribers monthly boxes filled with curated geek, pop culture, and gamer paraphernalia. Its cult following awaits a box every month filled with everything from bobble heads to T-shirts to special edition collectibles. But nothing gets Loot Crate fans as excited as the limited […]
The ARMOR-X Mini Flexible Phone Tripod is a smartphone tripod that is designed with flexible legs to rest on virtually any type of surface. Other tripods have proved useless unless I conveniently have a flat surface in front of me, which is why this particular tripod was appealing enough to try out. The ARMOR-X is compact and easy […]
You don’t need to get an advanced degree and take out massive loans to become a coder. This bundle of 10 courses was designed to teach anyone to code at home for less than it costs to go out for dinner. I was particularly impressed with this new 2017 bundle because it includes courses on […]


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As far as video games go, the reboot to Lara Croft’s story ended with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Incidentally, it’s also a free game for PS Plus subscribers this month. But it looks like that’s not where the story ends. Netflix has announced that Lara Croft’s adventures will continue beyond the games, and will be animated for the streaming platform.
The announcement came via the NXOnNetflix Twitter account. And it specifically mentions that the plot of the new animation will be set after the events of the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy. So there’s little room for doubt there. The tweet also mentions that the animation will be done by Legendary Entertainment.
The most iconic heroine in video games is jumping to animation! Tomb Raider is a new anime series from @Legendary following Lara Croft after the events of the video-game reboot trilogy.
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) January 27, 2021
Though Netflix has not provided any other details beyond what’s in the announcement tweet. Which means no images to serve as hints as to which direction the animation will be going. All this suggests that the animated Tomb Raider project is still in its very early days.
This announcement comes after a string of other video game adaptations on Netflix. We’ve seen The Witcher and Castlevania, both of which were well received, to say the least. So it makes sense that the platform wants to adapt another video game into a series for its platform. Though Tomb Raider remains an interesting choice.
(Source: Netflix / Twitter)


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In the world of cryptocurrency, there are always winners and losers, and the past 24 hours have seen significant gains for several metaverse and NFT-focused cryptocurrencies. Among the top performers are Axie Infinity (AXS), Flow (FLOW), Apecoin (APE), and Sandbox (SAND). In this article, we’ll take a closer look at each of these tokens and what’s behind their recent price surges.
Metaverse and NFT-Focused Cryptocurrencies on the Rise: A Look at Axie Infinity (AXS), Flow (FLOW), Apecoin (APE), and Sandbox (SAND)
Axie Infinity (AXS)
Axie Infinity’s AXS governance token is the biggest gainer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, with a 25.6% increase in the past 24 hours, according to Coingecko. As of writing, AXS trades at around $8.54 and has a market capitalization just north of $970 million, making it the 46th-largest cryptocurrency. However, despite today’s gains, AXS has had a tumultuous 2022, losing almost 94.8% of its value from its all-time high of $164.90 in November 2021.
NFT data platform CryptoSlam reports that Axie Infinity’s trading volume has fluctuated between roughly $18,000 and as high as $48,000 over the past few weeks. Today’s bullish price action has resulted in approximately $20,000 in AXS short trades being liquidated in the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass.
The token powering the Flow blockchain has rallied more than 5.5% over the past 24 hours and currently trades at around $1.15, according to Coingecko. In August 2022, Instagram integrated Flow-based NFTs, driving the token’s price up to $3. However, FLOW has been on a downtrend since then, having lost 97.3% of its value since its all-time high of $42.40 in April 2021.
Apecoin is an Ethereum-based token created for the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) ecosystem. It has gained nearly 4% over the past 24 hours and trades at around $4.12 per Coingecko, making it the 34th-largest cryptocurrency. APE’s daily trading volumes rose 66% to $192 million over the past day.
SAND is the token powering the virtual real estate project The Sandbox and is up 6.7% to $0.62 over the past 24 hours, participating in the widely driven NFT-based token rally. According to Coingecko, SAND gained nearly 9% over the past week. However, the bullish week hasn’t been strong enough to reverse its yearly losses, as SAND rallied as high as $8.40 in November 2021.
Axie’s NFT sales from November 21 to December 4. Source: CryptoSlam.
What’s Driving the Metaverse?
The primary reason behind the bullish price action of metaverse and NFT-related tokens is the rising sales volume over the past 24 hours. Overall NFT sales volume rose 20.75% in the last 24 hours to just above $16.5 million, according to data from CryptoSlam.
Ethereum-based NFTs saw a 31.36% spike in daily trading volumes, followed by Flow with 16.28%, likely contributing to the token’s latest rally. Yuga Lab’s NFT collections Otherdeed, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) collectively made up roughly 40% of the Ethereum-based NFT’s trading volume, helping APE ride its fortunes.
Beyond NFT and metaverse tokens, leading cryptocurrencies in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have also rallied 1.6% and 2.7% over the past 24 hours, respectively. The overall cryptocurrency market is also up 2%, amounting to more than $906 billion at press time.
The recent surge in the prices of metaverse and NFT-related tokens such as AXS, FLOW, APE, and SAND can be attributed to the increasing sales volume of NFTs in the market. While AXS, FLOW, APE, and SAND have all posted significant gains over the past 24 hours, their performance has been mixed over the long-term. Despite their recent bullish price action, investors should exercise caution and conduct thorough research before making any investment decisions. As always, the views expressed in this article are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial or investment advice.


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OPEC’s recent surprise decision to cut oil production could lead to a surge of mergers and acquisitions in the logistics sector, a top analyst has told Supply Chain Digital.
In the face of spiralling cost inflation, fuel efficiency is crucial to logistics companies who are struggling to maintain profit margins. The latest OPEC-engineered oil price rise is a major blow to the logistics industry.
Frank Kenney, a former Gartner Analyst, and currently Director of Industry Solutions for Cleo, the cloud-based integration platform, told Supply Chain Digital that the OPEC move “will impact the supply chain from the top down and trickle down to impact everyday life”.
Kenney said: “The global oil market is constantly shifting. Production levels and policies change in response to various factors such as geopolitical tensions, and changes in demand can have a ripple effect across the supply chain landscape.”
He says that the logistics market is currently seeing record levels of low-load rejections and high capacity.
“With these conditions the market is more competitive than ever in terms of securing loads, so even if fuel prices increase incrementally, manufacturers and shippers may absorb part of these costs,” he says.
Kenney adds: The rest of the costs might be pushed down the supply chain. Freight brokerage companies might be forced to absorb some of these costs, and as a result, we might see a rise in mergers and acquisitions of smaller freight brokerage firms.
Kenney feels that logistics firms are well advised to offset higher costs by investing in ecosystem-based technology.
“This can also help prepare enterprises to merge or acquire other companies and quickly integrate them into their systems,” he adds.
- Global logistics news roundup: IATA, LA & Shanghai portsLogistics
- Inflation dampening Christmas spirit among CSCOs - DeposcoSupply Chain Risk Management
- Golf driving DP World's end-to-end supply offeringDigital Supply Chain
- Interview with Tony Harris, of SAP Business NetworkSupply Chain Risk Management


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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Four more people have died in Washington State, bringing the total number of Coronavirus deaths in the United States to six.
There are now more than 100 confirmed cases in at least 11 states.
San Antonio's mayor has declared a state of disaster and public safety emergency after a woman who was released from quarantine later tested positive for the Coronavirus.
That woman has been placed in isolation.
Despite these developments, health experts stress there is no need for panic as long as people take the proper precautions.
The Centers for Disease Control says one of the best ways to protect yourself from the Coronavirus, or any virus for that matter, is good hygiene.
A lot of people are taking that advice but there's a downside to it. Some folks are inclined to start hoarding supplies.
HEB stores have imposed a limit on some products that are in high demand right now.
"We are temporarily limiting the purchase of disinfecting sprays, disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer and hand soap to four units of each product, per transaction. We are in a strong in-stock position and our partners are continuously replenishing these items throughout the day.“
That's not a daily limit, that's per shopping trip.
Signs posted inside stores and a notice on their website are spreading the word about these the limits.
The company says the move is to make sure all customers have access to products they need.
“Occasionally H-E-B limits product purchases per shopping trip to ensure our customers can find the products they want, when they need them," according to an H-E-B statement.
"It is H-E-B’s commitment to meet our customer needs.
A statement from HEB did not say how long these limits will be in place but they did call them temporary.
HEB also tells us they are restocking those products on a daily basis.


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Five stores to open in Abu Dhabi by the end of this year
Dubai: Shoe and accessory brand Aldo plans to open five stores in Abu Dhabi in the last quarter of this year, Sachin Banodkar, general manager of Aldo Group International Brands told Gulf News in an interview.
The stores will be a mixture of Aldo Group’s brands, including Aldo Footwear, Aldo Accessories and Call it Spring. There will be three stores in Deerfields Townsquare mall, and two in Ruwais Mall, which are expected to open in October and November, respectively.
In addition, two stores are planned to open in Qatar and two in Kuwait next year.
When asked about sales growth, Banodkar said: “We have been growing with strong double digit growth rates in the UAE year on year and we foresee the trend to continue in the short to medium term.”
The majority of Aldo’s customers are women. The female product categories account for “between 50 and 55 per cent” of its sales, he said.
The Aldo Group has 95 stores in the GCC, including the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
The retailer recently opened its new flagship store at Ibn Battuta Mall, covering an area of 5,984 square feet.


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Smart Contracts for E-commerce
Testnet – travis is activated
CyberMiles – Smart Contracts for E-commerce
CyberMiles Mainnet is launching soon.
Token migration from ERC20 CMT to Mainnet CMT has already started.
CMT migration progress
CMT 700 million
CyberMiles has built customized smart contract templates for e-commerce companies to deploy their business on the Blockchain with ease.
Additionally, CyberMiles’ DPoS blockchain is fully compatible with Ethereum, which means that both Smart Contracts and Distributed Applications can be transferred to CyberMiles without changing any code.
CyberMiles was built around the concept of optimal response to high e-commerce transaction demands, reaching 10,000 transactions per second (TPS).
For e-commerce businesses and their users, the safety of funds is a fundamental feature. To answer this financial security need, CyberMiles has implemented a protection defined as “pre-defense” and “post-recovery”.
Costs and fees are a critical issue in e-commerce today. The CyberMiles blockchain waives transaction fees for most common operations. It achieves this without sacrificing security of the network.
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Shopping and e-commerce marketplaces have been constantly evolving and becoming more digitized over the past few years. The current generation of innovation within shopping has mostly stemmed from mobile-based transaction methods such as Apple Pay that was initially faced with numerous critics but has gradually been accepted as the norm within the shopping industry. The time has come to pave way for the latest generation of marketplace innovations in the form of Storiqa.
What is Storiqa?
According to its website, Storiqa is an online crypto marketplace that aims to solve various problems such as financial borders, fake reviews, and extra fees that are present within the present generation of marketplaces by utilizing blockchain technology and smart contracts to help businesses streamline their sales processes and payment mechanisms. Their focus is on SMEs (Small and Medium-Scale enterprises) and they aim to achieve their focus by providing an easy-to-setup marketplace that can be heavily customizable and secure for the individual enterprises.
Storiqa is based in Russia and has already partnered with over 50 shops and vendors in Russia for their concluded test launch and they are currently seeking to expand their presence to the Asian and American markets. Moreover, Storiqa has also released their Beta MVP version, which is available for testing here.
Introducing Storiqa Wallet
As reported by Yahoo Finance, Storiqa Wallet is a mobile application through which clients can make payment both in cryptos and fiat currency inclusive of multi-currency support.
This would greatly help in increasing the efficiency of vendor and customer operations as they have the flexible option of converting and transacting their money in the form of cryptos and fiat as required and also save on higher fees imposed by traditional marketplaces.
Moreover, their ultimate goal for Storiqa Wallet would be to utilize a real-life crypto-payment alternative to current options like Apple Pay outside the marketplace ecosystem.
Success of Storiqa so far
Storiqa’s ICO sale using STQ Storiqa Tokens was highly successful achieving its $25 million hard cap and along with a $150 million market capitalization and the highly-anticipated release of their beta MVP marketplace. STQ token is also actively traded on various exchanges such as HitBTC and Coinbene. Furthermore, starting from July 2018, STQ-fiat pairs will be available on exchanges like EXMO and LATOKEN.
With an expected $2.2 trillion turnover of the global e-commerce market by the end of 2018, Storiqa seems to be well-poised to go directly against the likes of established competitors like Alibaba, Ebay and Amazon. Hence, decentralization, globalization, and a focus on SMEs by using blockchain as a transparent platform mechanism would enable Storiqa to gain a competitive advantage over other e-commerce marketplaces that currently exist.
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Raheem Akingbolu writes on the place of sponsorship in brand positioning
Music and Sports are fast becoming the most potent platform for marketing because of the affinity between fans and their preferred teams or music stars, as the case may be.
In today’s market, handlers of top brands always find the two areas tempting because they are the easiest routes to the heart of their teeming consumers.
This explains why brands jostle to associate with World Cup and other sporting global competitions.
In an interview with THISDAY, a former Chief Marketing officer at MTN Nigeria, Mr. Bola Akingbade, had opined a few years ago that a company that seeks to maintain a strong brand must employ strategies that will elicit top of mind awareness while making the brand relevant beyond its functional benefits in a bid to get maximum loyalty.
In line with this belief, the Heineken brand, from the stable of Nigerian Breweries, has consistently used its sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League to promote its brand essence and create a top of mind awareness among its high end consumers.
The brand has also appointed sport personalities and music icons as ambassador to boost its market influence.
Poised to tell a Nigerian story that will resonate through families and cultures across the country the beer brand, had three years ago, teamed up with Nigerian-American singer, Jidenna to bond more with its patrons.
In a TVC that was then airing on television, Jidenna was seen sharing gifts with his family after a trip back home, a perfect representation of the bond that is shared by many Nigerian families.
The signing of the music star as an ambassador for the campaign has since been described by many analysts as a classic move because Jidenna is seeing as someone who believes strongly in the importance of family and has never hesitated to show off his own.
For a brand that has been the go-to beer brand in over 192 countries of the world connecting families and friendships, the announcement early this year, that its promoters would facilitate the coming to Nigeria of Spanish legend, Carles Puyol with the iconic UEFA Champions League trophy, was received with a pinch of salt by many Nigerians.
According to the company, the former Captain of FC Barcelona, would be in the country to tour UEFA Champions League trophy and rub minds with stakeholders in beer industry and sports enthusiasts.
At a media briefing in Uyo, where Puyol, a three-time winner of the trophy with FC Barcelona in 2006, 2009 and 2011, was unveiled, Nigeria Breweries Marketing Director, Mr. Emmanuel Oriakhi had explained that the coming of the Spanish legend, Puyol with the iconic UEFA Champions League trophy to Nigeria was a way of rewarding consumers of Heineken and fans of UEFA Champions League competition.
He said Puyol’s visit would present the fans a unique opportunity not only to have a feel of the trophy but a wonderful photo opportunity with the strong defender, courtesy of Heineken.
According to Oriakhi, “Puyol is often ranked as one of the best center backs of all time and with an average height, he has won most aerial battles against towering footballers, either to defend or score crucial goals for his team. He is one of the legends of the number five jersey.
“Such a player fits into what we want to achieve by bringing the world’s best into our country for Nigerians to have a chance to meet him for the first time and have photo opportunities with him and the iconic UEFA Champions League Trophy too.
“We are excited to be creating premium experiences for our consumers and this is just part of the package we have in the ongoing season of unmissable moments.”
Two weeks after the announcement, the legend arrived Nigeria as promised and toured Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State and Lagos with the trophy. Although the UEFA Champions League trophy experience is in its third installment, the visit was the first time fans outside Lagos would have the opportunity to come very close to the iconic trophy because consumers in Uyo and surrounding cities enjoyed the viewing experience courtesy of Heineken.
Beside the tour, the former FC Barcelona captain involved in an “Unmissable” football match at the Uyo International Stadium, where he played with the ‘Shine-Shine Bobo’ team which, was made up of some of the brand’s most loyal consumers, as well as past and present football players like former Super Eagles captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha, Mutiu ‘Headmaster’ Adepoju, Daniel Amokachi and Augustine Eguavoen, among others.
Active footballers in the domestic football scene largely from Akwa United, a Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side, also had the privilege to flex muscles with the former international football star when team Shine Shine Bobo led by former Super Eagles captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha and a host of other former national team players, took on the Chairman’s team at the stadium.
The game which lasted an hour saw Puyol leading the ‘Chairman’ team and Okocha the ‘Shine-Shine Bobo’ team, made up of ex-Nigerian internationals, current NPFL wave makers, Akwa United players and select consumers. With fun moments like directions from coaches, the Finance Director, Nigerian Breweries, Plc, Rob Kleinjan and the Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries, Plc, Emmanuel Oriakhi, the game saw all the players and 30,000 fans treated to an hour of exciting moments.
After the Match, Puyol also joined football lovers to watch the quarter final of the Champions League between Manchester United and Barcelona at Emirald Event Center Uyo, which was won by Barcelona.
The following day, the train moved to Lagos, where ex-footballer also embarked on a tour across the state, amongst several other encounters planned.
Sustaining brand leadership
Though the event provided opportunity for sports lovers to feel the Trophy and interact with the legend, it also provided amiable platform for the Heineken brand to bond more with consumers.
Oriakhi, described the relationship between the brand and the UEFA champions’ league as ‘perfect partnership.
According to him, the status of the brand has continued to be in the rise with the partnership and it gladdens the heart of its promoters.
“From any angle one chooses to look at it, this is simply a marriage between two super brands. Heineken is a premium global brand while UEFA Champions’ League is also a unique brand that any global brand will love to identify with.
“Over the years, the partnership has been a strong brand supporting platform for the Heineken brand.
“But beyond that, we are excited to be creating premium experiences for our consumers and this is just part of the package we have in the ongoing season of unmissable moments,” remarked.
“This window of opportunity provided by Heineken for consumers and passionate fans is in its 12th year, has reached at least 33 countries across Africa, Asia, North and South America,” he added.
Speaking on his experience at the Uyo Stadium, Ekom Simon, who came from Eket, also in Akwa Ibom State to witness the match, described the sponsorship of the trip by the Heineken team as a great motivation to the locals.
“To me, this is the best a brand can do to identify with the masses, I was glad to see our local footballers playing side by side with Puyol and top Nigerian players, including Jay Jay Okocha. “This is not only a motivation for the players but an exposure for Akwa Ibomites. Personally, I feel so great and commend both the visitors and my state government that make Uyo an ideal place for such event,” he said.
So far in the ongoing campaign, the UEFA Champions League Trophy has visited South Africa, Namibia, Indonesia, Mozambique, China and now Nigeria. As the iconic Trophy begins its journey to USA, from where it would finally touch down in Madrid, Spain for the final match, there is no gainsaying the fact that Heineken, whose partnership with the UEFA Champions League dates back to the 2005/06 edition has redefined the relationship between the brand and consumers.
With the ongoing campaign about sharing ‘Unmissable’ moments which is based on the belief that every match in the competition has unmissable moments of actions for everyone to enjoy, the partnership has been raised a notch higher.


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Amazon has seen a 4000% increase in console orders compared to this time last year.
As price announcement surfaced Amazon wasted no time in opening up pre-order options for consumers eager to get their hands on next-gen consoles. As soon as the prices for the Xbox One and PS4 were unveiled the online retailer allowed shoppers to put down orders. The early order options would seem to have paid off. Amazon has reported a 4,000 percent year-on-year increase in console orders since E3. During the peak of pre-orders customers were ordering as many as 2,500 consoles per minute.
Granted, there are some factual considerations that drag this into perspective a bit. Hardware sales at this time last year were not the strongest, making them fairly easy to top. That said, a 4,000 percent increase is still pretty significant and can probably be taken as a good sign for the next-gen consoles. Most especially, recent days would point to good news for Microsoft. Since the announcement that its previously infamous used game and online restrictions were being removed, pre-orders for the Xbox One have dramatically picked up in pace and left the console in the number one seller spot of Amazon’s videogame section.
All in all, things seem to already be looking good for the next gen consoles. Even if the pace of pre-orders drops off, there is clearly a lot of excitement accrued for the Xbox One and PS4. The fact that this excitement is translating into actual sales could mean the consoles’ respective launches may already be primed for a strong start.


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The US government has filed charges against Google, accusing the company of violating competition law to preserve its monopoly over internet searches and online advertising.
The lawsuit marks the biggest challenge brought by US regulators against a major tech company in years.
It follows more than a year of investigation and comes as the biggest tech firms face intense scrutiny of their practices at home and abroad.
Google called the case “deeply flawed”.
The company has maintained that its sector remains intensely competitive and that its practices put customers first.
“People use Google because they choose to – not because they’re forced to or because they can’t find alternatives,” it said.
The charges, filed in federal court, were brought by the US Department of Justice and 11 other states. The lawsuit focuses on the billions of dollars Google pays each year to ensure its search engine is installed as the default option on browsers and devices such as mobile phones.
Officials said those deals have helped secure Google’s place as the “gatekeeper” to the internet, allowing it to own or control the distribution channels for about 80% of search queries in the US.
“Google has thus foreclosed competition for internet search,” the lawsuit said. “General search engine competitors are denied vital distribution, scale, and product recognition – ensuring they have no real chance to challenge Google.”
It added: “Google is so dominant that ‘Google’ is not only a noun to identify the company and the Google search engine but also a verb that means to search the internet.”
The suit said the deals have hurt the public by damaging search quality in terms of privacy and data protection, reducing choice and thwarting innovation.
Sally Hubbard, who works for the Open Markets Institute, a Washington think tank that has long pushed for more aggressive action against big tech firms, said focusing on Google’s search distribution deals was one of the easiest legal cases to make against the company.
On Twitter she said the lawsuit had “been so long coming but it’s wonderful to see”.
The case could be the first of many in the US that challenge the dominance of big tech firms and potentially lead to their break-up.
Other states have launched their own investigations, and said they may join the suit filed on Tuesday or file their own.
Politicians in Congress have also called for action against Google and fellow tech firms Amazon, Facebook and Apple in an effort that has united Democrats and Republicans.
The decision to file the lawsuit just a few weeks before the US presidential election has raised questions about whether it was simply a move by the Trump administration to prove its willingness to challenge the influence of the sector if it gains a second term.
But officials said they had not rushed the investigation to ensure it was filed before the election – noting that for years, many advocates have said the government was moving too slowly on such issues.
“We’re acting when the facts and the law warranted,” deputy attorney general Jeffrey Rosen said, adding that the department’s review of competition practices in the technology sector is continuing.
Google has faced similar claims in the European Union. It is already appealing against €8.2bn ($9.5bn; £7.3bn) in fines demanded by the European Commission which include:
in 2017, a €2.4bn fine over shopping results
in 2018, a €4.3bn fine over claims it used Android software to unfairly promote its own apps
in 2019, a €1.5bn fine for blocking adverts from rival search engines.
Google parent Alphabet, which has a market value of more than $1tn, is expected to fight the allegations in the US as well. Its share price was little changed on Tuesday, despite the news.
Taking on a giant like Google will be one of biggest competition cases in decades. But the case – to decide if the California-based company abuses its market power – could last years.
European regulators have led the way in taking action against the tech giants. But this move by the US Department of Justice is a sign that the mood has turned against them at home too.
The complaint says that two decades ago Google was a scrappy innovative start-up – but now it’s the monopoly gatekeeper to the internet.
Google stands accused of using anti-competitive tactics to shut out rivals and extend that monopoly. Google says people use it because they choose to rather than being forced.
Deciding who is right won’t be a quick decision.


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According to the latest reports from Automotive News, it seems that Bmw and Mercedes-Benz will shorten breaks at their factories due to the increased demand for their new models. For those who don’t know, Bmw launched their brand new 2012 650i Convertible last week, you can read all about it here.
According to the report, Bmw’s Dingolfing and Leipzig plants in Germanu will remain open over the holidays after halting output for about three weeks in 2009.
The Leipzig plant builds the X1 crossover, while the Dingolfing makes the new-generation 5-serie. The Mercedes-Benz factory found in Hamburg will also remain open through the holidays, making the E- and S-class sedans.
“This is the first strong signal that the boom over the last few months can continue into next year,” said Juergen Pieper, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Bankhaus Metzler.
For those who don’t know, the German manufacturers such as Bmw and Mercedes-Benz are back on track now from the financial crisis on a rebound in the United States and growth in China. Volkswagen’s Audi brand is also planning to add more shifts in order to face the demand. [via autonews - sub. required]