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Georgia a top-10 exporting state for the first time
Georgia was ranked among the nation’s 10 top exporting states last year for the first time, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday. Georgia businesses exported $38.8 billion in goods in 2020, reaching 215 countries and territories and suffering the lowest rate of export contraction among the top-10 states, despite the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. “Over the last year, hardworking Georgians showed their tenacity and their determination to transform obstacles into opportunities,” Gov. Brian Kemp said. “These numbers are yet another example of their strength.”
Georgia’s total trade last year reached $137.7 billion, spanning 221 countries and territories.
The state’s top five export markets were Canada, Germany, China, Mexico and Singapore. Several export markets experienced significant growth, with exports to Germany increasing nearly 50%, followed by China and Hong Kong at 45% and 41%, respectively.
Increased exports to China reflect purchases made under a trade agreement the U.S. and China signed in January 2020. The return of market access for U.S. poultry proved a huge benefit to Georgia producers.
About two-thirds of Georgia trade involves the 12 strategic markets where the state maintains representation: Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Europe, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Peru, and the United Kingdom.
“Georgia’s network of international representatives around the world provides our state’s businesses with a unique resource,” said Pat Wilson, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
“Particularly during 2020 — when needs, supply chains, and conditions were changing rapidly — our international offices provided timely information that proved to be an incredible asset for our state’s growers, manufacturers, and business community as a whole.”
About 90% of Georgia merchandise exports are manufactured goods, and the state’s manufacturing exports have grown by more than 30% over the last 10 years.
Aerospace products, the state’s second-largest manufacturing industry, remain the state’s No. 1 export, totaling $9.98 billion in 2020. Aerospace exports to Hong Kong surged more than 140% last year, while Germany remains the top customer for these products.


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“I love the idea of stopping in for a checkup before buying Hot Pockets at a Walgreens.” – Jeff
Hey there carnivores,
Markets were up on Wednesday, even though COVID numbers were too.
And today we’re talking about Walgreens taking things in-house.
Jeff & Jason
Walgreens is bringing things in house, closing a deal with VillageMD to host doctors’ offices right in its stores. Wow, where else can you buy an Arizona Iced Tea and get a rectal exam. Talk about a one-stop shop.
Doctors and cents
Within the next five years, VillageMD will open 500 to 700 clinics at Walgreens’ locations across the US, and it will get paid handsomely for it. VillageMD will get $1B in equity and debt over the next three years in return for a 30% stake in the company by the end of the deal.
Not to be outdone…
In addition to recently installing healthcare facilities inside two of its stores (so, like Subway), Walmart is also dipping its toes in the insurance waters, moving to provide supplemental health insurance to Medicare recipients. This must have been at the behest of its greeters.
How serious is Walmart? Serious enough to file last year with the Arkansas Secretary of State to sell insurance. It’s also got jobs listed on its website for insurance agents in the Dallas area. Will Jake from State Farm sell out?
COVID is really forcing companies to get creative, huh? Neither move was entirely unexpected by the Wal’s, though. For Walgreens, it was really only a matter of time before they cut out the middleman and brought MDs into stores. This should help bolster prescription and retail sales.
In the meantime, Walmart has been making moves to compete with Amazon, and you know what Big Body Bezos doesn’t sell? That’s right. Health insurance.
☑ Allstate is going National.
“Eat sh*t, Jake from StateFarm.” – the “safe drivers save 40% guy”
Allstate will acquire insurance company National General for roughly $4B in straight cash, homie. This deal will add 42k agents to Allstates family, and expand the insurance company’s portfolio into the personal property-liability business. Sounds sexy.
Car insurance companies, unlike virtually every other business, have actually benefited during the pandemic. Millions of people, following stay at home orders, have driven less, and accidents have dropped significantly.
Twitter rose 7.37% on reports that it will be launching a subscription platform. Internet sleuths figured out @Jack’s master plan after Twitter posted a job opening. According to Twitter’s job board, the social media giant is looking for an employee to help build out the platform, with the code name ‘Gryphon’… which everyone knows is Latin for “HR f*cked up the job posting.”
Twitter later changed the posting, removing any mention about the internal teams that the new hire would work with, namely, Payments and Twitter.com.
A subscription model would give Twitter an additional revenue stream, which could definitely help as 80% of the company’s income comes from advertising.
☑ A one-way flight to the unemployment office.
United Airlines sent a memo to front line employees on Wednesday that it will likely lay off roughly one third (36k) employees due to weak demand in the airline industry. Thanks ‘rona.
Since United (and other airlines) graciously accepted $25B via a federal bailout, it’s required to give potentially laid-off employees a 60-day heads up. Additionally, it can’t cut anyone until October 1. This follows American Airlines announcement last week that it will likely furlough 20k employees this fall.
☑ We live in a society.
Daily trading volume of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin rose 683% Wednesday compared to the same day last year, as a TikTok user challenged his followers to buy the coin to push up the price. Somebody aced Finance 101.
The goal was to get the price up to $1 per coin, but even with the 71% price gain, it stands at $0.0043, so just a bit outside… for now.
Between Kanye announcing his presidency, and now this, I’m scared for what today may bring.

domain: news


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The investment industry must back the current polarisation regime or risk the market becoming dominated by the biggest providers with the biggest marketing budgets, Investec has warned.
Speaking at last week's Sway Senate Programme conference in Madrid, Investec managing director Jamie MacLeod said the fund management industry must support IFAs.
MacLeod said the investment market is becoming increasingly reliant on the IFA sector which has a 60 per cent share of the retail fund sales. He believes discarding the current polarisation rules in favour of multi-ties would only benefit the bigger players to the detriment of many smaller aspiring investment houses.
The warning comes as AITC director general Daniel Godfrey, speaking at the same event, raised fears that product multi-ties would lead to higher charging products and poorer quality advice.
Godfrey said that instead of changing the rules, the Government, FSA and industry should promote independent advice and set in place measures to build public confidence and standards in the industry.
MacLeod says: “The industry must support the debate that it is good for private investors to receive indep endent advice. Imagine multi-ties. What investors would get is the product that would have used its marketing muscle rather than its product integrity.”
Godfrey says: “I recognise the system does not work perfectly as it stands. The answer is not to abolish polarisation but to raise standards and promote independent advice.
“The industry has focused too much on competition for distributors rather than meeting clients' needs. They should channel resources into providing what has the best results for clients rather than distributors.”
Sway Conference, p8


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Khodrocar - These days, when the capital market hosts stray liquidity and car buying and selling sites are not allowed to record prices, the car market has been marginalized and many car industry activists believe that the motive for brokerage in this market has disappeared and stray capital from This market has left, but currency fluctuations have caused a price shock in this market.
"Since last month and at the same time with the beginning of currency fluctuations, we have witnessed an average increase of 30% in car prices in the market.” Mahmoud Mokhles, deputy manager of Tehran’s car show owners union told khodrocar reporter.
"From the last two weeks until now, the price of cars in the market has been increasing and since the production and supply to the market is not done enough, the number of cars in the market is not enough and is limited, and in this situation, car owners and sellers are determined. Determine the price of the car and set the prices in the market.” He added.
"Currently, the foreign car market has 500 million to two billion tomans at its disposal, and cars above two billion tomans have far fewer transactions.” He said.
"In the past, at the same time with the increase in the exchange rate, we saw the price of cars in the market, but with the decrease in the exchange rate, prices in the market were not adjusted, and this time the same thing happened and with a slight decrease in the dollar, we are in the market of cars.” He continued.
"Prices will be high until the car enters the market sufficiently and there is no alternative to it, which has also contributed to the stagnation of the car market and now we see that although the transaction is limited, the amount of purchase and sales have plummeted.” He added.
"A review of car prices shows that since two weeks ago, prices have not increased much, but compared to the previous month, we have seen a price increase of about 30%, so that the price of sports jokes was bought and sold for 800 million tomans until last month, but now This price has reached about one billion and 100 million tomans. Meanwhile, Santa Fe Zero has also increased in price by about 300 million Tomans.” He told.
With purchasing power declining dramatically but still not reaching zero, preserving the value of money seems to be the main reason for recent purchases as currency fluctuations and the devaluation of the national currency these days make thinking of buying instead of saving has strengthened.


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And so it begins. Earlier this week, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released a list of the negotiating objectives it hopes to achieve when the U.S., Canada and Mexico meet next month to begin “tweaking” the North American Free Trade Agreement.
While it’s still early days, the USTR’s list provides more reason to hope than despair. In a clear nod to Trump’s base, its language has the flavour of economic nationalism. But it also includes many good suggestions that would genuinely improve the pact, if implemented. But that’s a big if. While Canada and Mexico are likely to accept some of the USTR’s terms, others will almost certainly prove controversial — many for the wrong reasons. Notwithstanding Ottawa’s pro-trade talking points, when it comes to protecting too many sectors of our economy, Canadians are known to act every bit as protectionist as Trump sounds in his stump speeches to the U.S. heartland.
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Given that Trump rode to power at least in part on a wave of protectionist sentiment, it is no surprise that the USTR expresses some goals that suggest the U.S. is approaching trade as a zero-sum game. The very first item on the list, for example, is a commitment to “improve the U.S. trade balance and reduce the trade deficit with NAFTA countries.”
It's no surprise that the U.S. is approaching trade as a zero-sum game
That makes no sense, as any economist worth his salt will tell you. In a trade-liberalized world, nations produce those goods and services that it’s to their comparative advantage to produce, and import those goods and services for which it’s not. This naturally leads to trade surpluses in some sectors and deficits in others.
That’s not a bug, it’s a feature of free trade, and it’s not a reality U.S. negotiators can just wave away. The U.S. might try to create the appearance of fulfilling this objective by protecting targeted industries (such as, say, manufacturing) through “Buy American” policies or other protectionist measures. We hope not, but it’s something our negotiators will have to be ready for.
But beyond these worries, the USTR is also pushing for a number of commendable changes. Among other things, it wants to reduce the burdens businesses face complying with cross-border regulatory differences; to have all partners adhere to international labour and environmental standards; to ensure non-discriminatory practices in government procurement (albeit with a discouraging number of exceptions); and to expedite e-commerce across borders and raise the value of goods North Americans can buy online without paying duties (to US$800, up from CAD$20, although no duties would be better). Such changes would get us a little closer to what genuinely “free” trade means. There’s a lot of positive material for our negotiators to work with here.
But the U.S. is also pushing for a number of commendable changes, that would get us closer to genuinely free trade
But other demands will make Ottawa squirm. The U.S. wants to eliminate non-tariff barriers to agricultural exports; promote competition in telecommunications; provide open conditions for services trade; and eliminate barriers to investment in all sectors. In other words, it wants Canada to dismantle the various measures its erected to protect powerful industry groups in our agricultural, telecommunications, financial services and other sectors, which only hurt our consumers and the economy.
Ottawa talks a good game on free trade, but if history’s any guide, it’s not about to sacrifice these special interest groups on the free trade altar. In both its recent CETA and TPP negotiations, it proved unwilling to give much ground. That’s unlikely to be different this time.
But we do note that there are two important distinguishing factors at play in NAFTA 2.0: transparency and a highly engaged electorate.
Canadians can expect a great deal of transparency about what’s coming down the tubes on NAFTA. Not because the Liberals have at last decided to start delivering on their long-promised transparency agenda, but because in 2015, the U.S. Congress passed the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act, which gave the House and Senate unprecedented powers to monitor trade talks and provide input on them. The act also includes public notice and consultation requirements, which is what led to the negotiating objectives being published this week, and will result in draft changes to the agreement being released as well.
There are two important distinguishing factors at play in NAFTA 2.0: transparency and an engaged electorate
This is an important difference from both the CETA and TPP talks, where the public was kept largely in the dark about those agreements’ terms during their negotiation. The enhanced transparency around NAFTA will either put more pressure on our leaders to serve consumers’ best interests (as opposed to interest groups’), or at least expose them for their double talk on free trade.
Second, unlike with CETA and TPP, the government is not starting with a blank slate. Millions of people already rely on NAFTA’s terms, and will not treat proposed changes as mere academic exercises.
Perhaps this will tip the scales in those moments when the government has to choose between concessions that are good for all Canadians, or those that benefit only a select few. It would be a welcome surprise if it ended up being the Trump administration—so widely derided for its protectionist rhetoric—that ends up making Canadian trade freer.


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Farmers are receiving great yields from white potatoes this season and they are grateful. Shortly after the passage of hurricane Maria, Government to ensure food security and to quickly revive the agriculture sector, provided several farmers with free seeds and fertilisers for short term crops such as white potatoes.
Two containers of white potatoes were made available in collaboration with the government of Canada through PROPEL. The Hon Minister for Agriculture, Johnson Drigo and other officials of that ministry visited Calibishie last week to get a first-hand view of the abundant harvest.
“I want really to thank the government and people of Canada through PROPEL for its assistance in supplying to the ministry double the amount of seeds that we received for last year’s season and I also want to thank the farmers for their hard work. We are seeing a very, very big bumper crop of white potatoes this year and we are looking forward to next year when we will double the number of acres. This year we established over seventy acres, our hope is to do over 100 acres next year in white potatoes. It looks like a new crop that we will be producing not only for food security but also as part of the export strategy of this country,” Hon Drigo said.
He applauded particularly the women farmers who are very committed to the trade. The agriculture minister says several women are now leading several farmers groups around the country.
One such woman is Octavia Hunter who has been a farmer for forty years and currently serves as President of the North Eastern Women Farmers Group. She received eight bags of seeds at one hundred pounds per bag and fertilizer.
“We got the potatoes from the PROPEL company and we planted; we followed all of the instructions, we kept our records, we sprayed on time, we did what we had to do, and the weather also permitted us very well to be successful,” she said. “All in all, it was a very good harvest. Last week Monday I sold nineteen bags for DEXIA at 52 pounds per bag and yesterday we harvested eighteen trays at about 80 pounds in a tray and today we have the rest to harvest…I might get another ten trays today…”
She is excited about this crop which she says is relatively easy to grow. A good report for the ministry of agriculture which eyeing the white potatoes as a potential cash crop. “Single women can do it by themselves. I can come and plant my potato, I can get the tiller and do everything…plant my potato, weed my grass, fertilise my potato and I can move on without having men to come and do work for me so it’s a very crop, it’s a very crop and it coming in fast…I think its successful,” Hunter gloated.
Hon Drigo says his ministry’s aim is that in a few years from now there will no longer be a need to import white potatoes. To make sale of the produce even easier for farmers, Government has made special arrangements with the Dominica Export Import Agency (DEXIA) to purchase all the white potatoes and in turn sell to local retailers.
Hon Drigo informed, “There are retailers who have been in discussion with the ministry very early on who are prepared to purchase these potatoes through DEXIA…we do want the farmers to have the responsibility of looking for sale for these potatoes especially since we are looking at food security.”
White potatoes in the Agriculture Resilience Strategy
Meantime, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Reginald Thomas says the Ministry of Agriculture is eyeing the possibility of expanding the production of white potatoes through-out the country. It has already been ascertained that the crop can be successful in Dominica. This is the second year of harvest for the farmers in the North East.
“White potatoes are imported in large quantities annually and it has been shown we have the growing conditions for us to be able to produce potatoes. I think the government of Dominica which now looking at diversifying its productive base could look at expanding the production throughout the island and as the conditions provide, to grow it year-round if possible as a means of doing some import substitution,” he said.
He says other areas are being tested out to decide the most suitable locations for planting potatoes on island. While last year, only one container of seeds was imported, this year double the amount was given out free to farmers for planting. Dr Thomas says it is the ideal crop to build into Dominica’s resilience strategy in agriculture.
“White potatoes is not going to go away; it is a crop that is going to be part of our root crop programme; it is also a crop that lends itself to resilience (all the root crops) and this particular crop, we will try to build it into our resilience strategy as we look to actually have food in the event that there is something, a storm or some other event, that we have food for our population. These are some of the strategies that we will use at it relates to building resilience in agriculture, building resilience in our food system.”
Dr Thomas says there are several lessons to be learnt as the Ministry of Agriculture seeks to encourage more farmers to plant. He spoke of what success in this expansion would look like.
“Importantly, we want to reduce the sale price per pound of potatoes to ensure that it is competitive with the imported potatoes and that the farmers have no issue once they produce to sell that product. So, this is a strategy to build the sector, and to build the sub-sector as it relates to white potatoes. So, lessons learnt we will see how we can implement these measures to expand our production.”


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The return of the workforce will help the company avail of more benefits from the UK government’s job retention bonus — if it is able to keep all the 20,000 workers who were furloughed.
If the current trend of moderation in cases is sustained, recovery could gather pace and yield a possible GDP upgrade — which would mean a smaller contraction in FY21 than forecast.
The average return for the Nifty 50 in October has been 2.6 per cent in the last 10 years. The highest monthly return for the index in October was 9.8 per cent in 2013, while the lowest was a negative 5 per cent in 2018.
NSDL classifies sectors based on the nomenclature set by the BSE. The country’s oldest exchange has divided 4,700 listed securities or issuers into 35 sectors and any FPI investment outside these issuers is classified under the others categories.
The company’s recent indications to investors and analyst comments suggest that it would continue with similar capex at least for FY22 and FY23 as well. That would translate into a reduction of over Rs 42,000 crore at JLR and Rs 9,000 crore in India over three years.
Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor and Royal Enfield are major players who have charted out a new output plan for September-October, adding to their earlier Diwali plans drawn up in June-July. Continued preference for personal mobility choices and strong rural buying are manufacturers’ reasons for betting on a brighter Diwali.
Experts say it is a challenging task, Co. may have to resort to exits from some subsidiaries including stake sale in PV business
Bosch was to execute Rs 24000 crore orders in the coming five years that though significantly eroded, can still be recovered with a recovery in the markets.
The company earns two-third revenue by selling lighting parts in the overseas market while the rest is obtained from the domestic two-wheeler segment.
The stock of the Gurugram headquartered company gained 5 per cent on Wednesday trade, while the BSE Auto index rose 1.64 per cent.
The stock of Hero Moto, the country’s largest motorbike maker, trades at a one-year forward price-earnings multiple of 18.7, a 3% premium to Bajaj Auto, according to the data from Bloomberg.
Tata Motors on Tuesday announced Thierry Bollore, former CEO of Groupe Renault as his replacement.
A sharp pickup in demand for personal mobility has meant both Hero and Bajaj are already planning to ramp up production to pre-Covid levels. Some two-wheeler makers are, in fact, looking to increase output to 110-120% of normal levels closer to the festival season.
Maruti Suzuki is projected to post its first loss as a listed company, while Eicher Motors, TVS Motor and Ashok Leyland too are expected to post losses in the quarter disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
JLR to prioritise simplification, synergies, scale including working with partners: N Chandrasekaran
N Chandrasekaran also said the Jaguar Land Rover remains a key pillar of the wider Tata Group.
Factories in this manufacturing belt can produce some 6 million vehicles a year, about a sixth of the country’s installed capacity.
Market leader Maruti in fact hoping to recover to 90% by the end of FY-21.
Royal Enfield’s (RE) volumes have contracted for the past six quarters in a row. The total volume for FY20 fell by 15.6% to nearly seven lakh units. It further skidded by 85% to 19,204 units in the first two months of the current fiscal.
Preference for personal transport driving demand for two-wheeler manufacturers.
Auto parts co hopes to double topline to $18 B in FY21 on back of acquisitions and stimulus in developed markets


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Digital library legal dispute ends up in Google’s favour
The long-running Digital library legal dispute has finally come to an end with the Judge ruling in Google’s favour.
The dispute started way back in 2005 when the US Authors Guild accused the search engine giant of digitally copying millions of books for an online library without permission that amounted to massive copyright infringement.
Google in its defense responded saying that as it was only putting excerpts of texts online, so there was nothing illegal or unethical about its plans.
Denny Chin, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, dismissed the case on Thursday saying that Google’s scanning project of more than 20 million books, and making “snippets” of text available online doesn’t violate any copyright law and was “fair use” adding that the project provides “significant public benefits” as it provides vital educational benefits and other related public benefits.
“In my view, Google Books provides significant public benefits,” Chin wrote.
“Indeed, all society benefits.”
Chin said the search giant’s scanning project has given “new life” to “out-of-print and old books that have been forgotten in the bowels of libraries”.
Google welcomed the decision saying that “This has been a long road and we are absolutely delighted with today’s judgment.”
“As we have long said, Google Books is in compliance with copyright law and acts like a card catalog for the digital age.”
Paul Aiken, the Authors Guild’s executive director, with a promise to appeal against Chin’s decision responded: “We disagree with and are disappointed by the court’s decision today.”
“This case presents a fundamental challenge to copyright that merits review by a higher court. Google made unauthorized digital editions of nearly all of the world’s valuable copyright-protected literature and profits from displaying those works. In our view, such mass digitization and exploitation far exceeds the bounds of fair use defense.”


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American Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers issued a permanent injunction in the case of Epic Games v. Apple on September 10. Based on the ruling, Apple must allow other forms of in-app purchases:
“Apple Inc. [is]… permanently restricted and prohibited from prohibiting developers from including in their applications and their metadata buttons, external links or other calls to action that direct customers to the purchase mechanisms, in addition to in-application purchases and (ii) communicate with customers through contact points voluntarily obtained from customers through the account registration within the application “.
The injunction concludes a long and fierce legal battle between the companies. Epic argued that Apple’s App Store fees were a monopoly tax, while the iPhone maker said the fees were a necessary operating cost. However, González-Rogers explained in the complete rule that neither company was absolutely right.
“The relevant market here is mobile digital game transactions, not games in general and not Apple’s own internal operating systems related to the App Store,” González-Rogers wrote. Following that definition, “the court cannot, ultimately, conclude that Apple is a monopoly under federal or state antitrust laws. However, the test showed that Apple is engaging in anti-competitive conduct under California competition laws. “
In other words, Apple’s effort to block alternative payment methods in apps was anti-competitive. Going forward, Apple will need to allow developers to offer other forms of in-app purchases if they choose.
Apple also had some victories in the ruling
Still, the ruling wasn’t all bad news for Apple. González-Rogers ruled in Apple’s favor regarding Epic Games’ breach of the App Store contract. She ordered the company to pay Apple 30 percent of $ 12.1 million for money earned between August and October 2020 plus 30 percent of the revenue earned from November 2020 to today. Additionally, González-Rogers ruled that Apple’s decision to terminate the Epic Games developer account was legal:
“(2) a statement that (i) Apple’s termination of the LAP and the related agreements between Epic Games and Apple were valid, legal, and enforceable, and (ii) Apple has a contractual right to terminate its LAP with anyone or all subsidiaries, affiliates, and / or other wholly owned entities of Epic Games under the control of Epic Games at any time and in Apple’s sole discretion. “
That also means that Apple is not obligated (at least legally) to reset the Epic Games account. If Apple decides not to allow Epic to return to the App Store, Fortnite it will not be available for Apple devices in the future.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said the ruling was not a victory for developers or consumers in Twitter. Sweeney went on to say that Fortnite will return to the iOS App Store “when and where Epic can offer in-app payment in fair competition with Apple’s in-app payment.”
Today’s decision is not a victory for developers or consumers. Epic is fighting for fair competition between in-app payment methods and app stores for one billion consumers. https://t.co/cGTBxThnsP
– Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 10, 2021
For Apple, it welcomed the ruling with the following statement:
Today, the Court has affirmed what we have known all along: the App Store does not violate antitrust law. As the Court recognized, “success is not illegal.” Apple faces stiff competition in every segment in which we operate, and we believe that customers and developers choose us because our products and services are the best in the world. We remain committed to ensuring that the App Store is a safe and trustworthy marketplace that supports a thriving developer community and more than 2.1 million US jobs, and where the rules apply equally to everyone. “
It’s worth noting that the iPhone maker didn’t mention any of the concessions the ruling required it to grant and continued to promote the idea that App Store rules apply equally to all developers, despite evidence to the contrary. .
What’s next for Apple and Epic?
The edge notes that these new restrictions echo some interim restrictions against the address imposed on Apple outside the US For example, Apple recently allowed application developers to offer alternative payment methods by email, agreed to allow external registration links for ‘reader’ apps like Netflix and Spotify following a Japanese regulatory investigation. Also, a recent South Korean Law it also opened the door to alternative payment systems in the app store.
The ruling is likely to have significant impacts beyond Apple and its App Store. Epic sued Google for similar reasons, and the search giant is also fighting an antitrust lawsuit filed by several US state attorneys general.
However, it remains to be seen how much the ruling will affect developers and users of Apple’s platform. It also remains to be seen which appeals, if any, follow the ruling.
Source: The edge


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By now, you’ve probably heard that Fitbit has issued a recall for its Force wristbands, which caused mysterious and painful contact dermatitis in 1.7% of users. It’s a voluntary recall, and many customers who haven’t experienced any skin rashes are wondering whether they can keep their wristbands if they really like them. The short answer: yes.
Where the answer gets a little more complicated is the question of whether the promised software update that would allow Fitbit users with certain smartphones to screen phone calls using their wristbands: the bands would show who’s calling you without having to do anything taxing like picking up your phone.
If you’ve had a happy and rash-free experience with your Force, you can keep it. “All of our community forums and online help portal for Force remain active and online,” a Fitbit representative told Consumerist. They will continue to support the device and won’t turn off its syncing ability or anything terrible like that. However, what Fitbit can’t tell us is whether that promised Caller ID update that was supposed to launch sometime this month will ever come. They might save that for their next-generation device, which the company also promises is coming soon.


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Nissan LEAF batteries will cost £19k to replaceThu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700
Nissan LEAF Battery Cost is a whopping £19k
We’ve long wondered just what it would cost to replace all the batteries in an electric car like a Nissan LEAF. After all, we all know just how expensive lithium ion batteries are for a laptop, so the price for an electric car like the LEAF must be enormous. And it is.
Nissan’s Andy Palmer has revealed that the the LEAF’s battery pack, which consists of 48 ‘modules’, would cost £19,392 if you wanted to replace it. That’s £404 for each ‘module, which we are assuming is effectively a ‘battery’ in its own right which is then daisy-chained together with the other modules to create the power pack.
Not only are the batteries as ridiculously expensive as we’d always expected (a recent SonyVaio battery at an irritating £60 reinforced our view that car batteries would be a mad price), their shelf-life isn’t as great as had been implied. In fact, Nissan expect the battery pack to degrade by at least 20% in five years.
That degradation would mean a real-world average range of perhaps 80 miles dropping to a touch over 60 miles. But do you buy that? We plug our laptops in regardless of the state of charge whenever they’re near a plug, and as a result the 2-3 hours usage when new drops to less than half an hour in two years.
Why are car batteries going to be any different? Especially as many will be subjected to battery-burning fast charging if owners want to venture more than 30 miles from home. But you’re not worried because the batteries are warranted for years, right? Wrong.
The batteries in a Nissan Leaf are warranted against defects, but not for degradation. So as long as the batteries can hold a charge – any charge – Nissan won’t be entertaining warranty claims. The batteries will have to pack up completely for that to happen it would seem. Which could leave you with a useless range – and a useless LEAF – in a relatively short space of time.
To be entirely fair to Nissan they have bitten the bullet and revealed the cost of the batteries, and they have also said they expect the cost to drop in the next few years as the volume of batteries manufactured grows.
But until the hidden costs of an electric car are sensible, why would anyone buy a Nissan LEAF – apart from to make a misguided statemet?
By Cars UK


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Boost Mobile's new 10-year network agreement with Telstra provides "significant expansion opportunities for Australia’s fastest growing independently owned mobile brand" and ensures a bright future for the youth-focused brand.
Ok, so the creative renaming of the ACCC is my idea, and not Adderton’s, but Peter has done the sums, and clearly, the communications competition conundrum isn’t adding up - why were there no consumer protections put in when the TPG and Vodafone merger was approved?
Boost Mobile is the best of the telcos using the Telstra network, with competitive plans offering plenty of data, data rollover, data-free Apple Music, unlimited calls and texts and international call inclusions, too - and with its Refurb Shop, Boost has great prices for refurb tech that's definitely worth upgrading to.
Increasing from a 5Mbps speed capped limit to a whopping and quadrupled "up to 20Mbps" speed capped limit for otherwise unlimited data usage, TPG's felix mobile service just made itself even more attractive.
It has been 20 years since Boost Mobile launched, becoming a massive brand in the US and a great success in Australia too, supporting a range of sports but also by offering and even pioneering genuinely competitive offers on Australia's best network.
Mobile virtual network operator Boost Mobile claims telecommunications carriers in Australia are holding back on supporting eSIMs as they may well end up losing customers.
Boost Mobile founder and chief executive Peter Adderton has urged the ACCC to reject the proposed merger between Vodafone Hutchison Australia and TPG Telecom on the grounds that it would remove from the telco space the one factor that has led to increased competition over the last year or so – a fourth big mobile player.
A satirical, light-hearted television campaign inspired by Australian-born 360fly chief executive Peter Adderton has been banned by key US networks including ABC, NBC, and CBS.
I find it strange that things like watching streaming media such as Netflix or listening to music should be classifieded[…]
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There's a lot more in US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' decision than you have reported here. Apple won all[…]
I'm a retired proofreader with a lot of free time on my hands and would happily work as a moderator[…]
All this ruling does is clarify the situation and confirm the commonsense proposition that what has long been generally unlawful[…]


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Italy's Consob doubtful on Proto's pact in RCS
MILAN Oct 31 (Reuters) - Italy's market watchdog Consob said on Wednesday that financier Alessandro Proto had not complied with its requests of information about his shareholder pact in publisher RCS Mediagroup.
"There are no elements to prove the truthfulness of what Proto has communicated to the Commission and the market about the RCS shareholder pact," Consob said in a statement.
The market watchdog had asked Proto to disclose the identity of his partners in the pact and provide other information by a Wednesday deadline.
Shares in RCS were highly volatile recently, reacting to Proto's announcement of stake building. (Reporting by Francesca Landini)
- Housing, jobs data weaken, but overall economic picture still upbeat
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- 'Duck Dynasty' anti-gay fallout sparks debate on religion, tolerance
- UPDATE 3-Saab wins Brazil jet deal after NSA spying sours Boeing bid
- Zuckerberg to sell Facebook shares worth about $2.3 billion |


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It’s a great week to be a sports fan. There’s the Olympics that started on Friday. I was up until 3 a.m. watching badminton and equestrian events of all things. If you go to nbcolympics.com later on in the day, you’ll be able to check out some of the events live. You have to download Microsoft Silverlight (which isn’t that bad) and you get nice little buffet of sports to choose from.
Personally, I like to watch some of the weirder sports that you don’t get to see every day like women’s team handball or judo.
But this is a video game blog (that’s Sega’s Beijing Olympics 2008 pictured up there) and without further ado, here’s this weeks highlights.
Apparently, the photoshop guy wasn’t working that late. Next, Electronic Arts issued a statement about how they would handle the player on the cover and how he would affect the league in the new game.
2. It was a good week for preorder bundles. Cliff Bleszinski announced that players would get a replica chainsaw gun otherwise known as a Lancer if they order a special Gears of War 2bundle.
At $140, it’s one of the most expensive special edition’s we’ve seen. But if you can get a real-sized gun with a chainsaw on it, it may be worth it.
On the Sony front, the folks over at LittleBigPlanet are offering a bundle that includes a burlap bag and SackBoy Krato and SackGirl Nariko from God of War and Heavenly Sword respectively. The characters are downloadble character, but they look hella cool. Now if they can only make real Kratos SackBoys …
3. Footy enthusiast Patrick Cant tries his hand at Wonder World Amusement Park. He found it lacking on a number of different levels. Please hide your kids.
4. The Wall Street Journal posted a good interview with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata. He says that there’s not going to be any more Wii peripherals in the future after Wii Speak and Wii Motion Plus.
That lead me to wonder if Nintendo has run out of good Wii ideas. Until we see screenshots of what Shigeru Miyamoto is up to, Nintendo will likely have to depend on third party titles for its motion-sensing console.
5. In the girliest game ever category, we have news that a Project Beauty is coming out. It is a virtual makeover game where players can apply makeup to their scanned-in faces. This would appeal to wannabe supermodels or Kiss fans.


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UK Firms Scramble To Resolve HGV Driver Shortage
Haulage firms are advertising driver roles with salaries of up to £50,000 per year, in a desperate bid to attract more staff.
The Guardian reports that logistics firms are also trying to lure in new starters with a retention bonus of £5,000. Industry leaders have warned that the shortage could lead to price rises in the shops and empty shelves at Christmas.
Jo Pick, people director for operations at logistics firm Wincanton, told the publication that they currently had a shortfall of 600 drivers.
The firm have a fast-track scheme for current staff, as well as an apprentice scheme which is proving to be popular. They are encouraging people who wouldn’t have considered HGV driving before, such as women.
Pick said: “A lot of the movement in the industry recently has been just moving the same driver population around different companies, so we want to focus on trying to stop that merry-go-round and increase the driver workforce overall.”
According to the Road Haulage Association (RHA), there has been a perfect storm of issues which have led to the current situation. Many drivers from Eastern Europe returned home after Brexit, and some drivers left the industry over Covid concerns. There is also a backlog of driver testing and training in the UK due to the lockdown restrictions.
Being a trucker has always had something of an image problem too; it can be a tough job with long hours away from home, and can lead to a poor diet and limited opportunity to exercise. Many drivers currently working are in the older age groups, and are retiring at a faster rate than new recruits can be brought in.
The RHA has called for the government to relax immigration rules, so that truck drivers can be included on the Shortage Occupation List as a short term measure to ease the pressure on the haulage industry.
If you need ratchet straps, please get in touch today.


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701 W. Haven Avenue
On July 23, 2021, the New Lenox Community Park District unveiled its newest quality of life addition, a sleek and modern outdoor Fitness Court® with a supporting mobile app. This capital project is a featured part of a 2020 initiative launched by the National Fitness Campaign (NFC), a nationwide consulting organization that partners with cities and schools to plan, build and fund healthy infrastructure.
The new Fitness Court® is an open-air wellness center that allows users to leverage their own body weight to get a complete workout. Created with adults of all ages in mind, the Fitness Court is adaptable for all fitness levels. New users can also download the free Fitness Court App – a coach-in-your-pocket style platform – that transforms the outdoor gym into a digitally supported wellness ecosystem. The Fitness Court App, entitled “Fitness Court”, is available for iOS and Android. For more information, contact the New Lenox Community Park District at (815) 485-3584.


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Indian government is awaiting a good proposal from tech giant Apple to set up a manufacturing unit in the country, said Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu.
The Minister said India as part of Make in India programme is eager to manufacture more of products and partner with US tech giant.
“We are waiting for a good proposal from Apple. Please give us a concrete proposal. If the proposal comes, we will examine it. We are always open for that,” Prabhu told reporters after a third meeting of the Council for Trade Development and Promotion. “India is users of Apple, India should be manufacturers of Apple. We should be a partner of Apple. We are looking forward to hear from them,” he added.
LIVE: Presser by Union Minister @sureshpprabhu on 3rd meeting of Council for Trade Development & Promotion https://t.co/3StI3SsS1C
— PIB India (@PIB_India) January 8, 2018
Last year Apple’s Chief Executive Tim Cook’s visited India and met PM in this regard.
“I’m very, very bullish and very, very optimistic about India. So we’re bringing all of our energies to bear there,” Cook had later said in August in 2017 in reply to a question on how he saw the India market while taking questions at Apple’s third-quarter earnings. However, Govt didn’t accept the early proposal of the company.
Apple has requested concessions, including duty exemption on manufacturing and repair units, components, capital equipment and consumables for a period of 15 years. It also wants relaxation in the statutory 30 percent local sourcing of components.
Instead, Indian government raised the customs duty from 10 percent to 15 percent for electronics and mobile products. Following this iPhone maker has to raise prices across iPhone models in the country.
Entrackr’s queries to Apple did not elicit any response till the publication of this report.
iPhone giant considers India as one of the most important markets globally. Its reportedly touched $2 billion sales in India.
According to the Registrar of Companies (Roc) filing, Apple India posted sales of Rs 11,619 crore ($1.8 billion) for the year ended March 2017, up from Rs 9,937 crore in the year-ago period (translating to 17% growth in a country)
In the last year ended March 2016, the firm had reported a growth of 53%.
Meanwhile, Apple’s local assembler in India, Wistron is also planning move beyond iPhone to set-up another smartphone manufacturing unit in Bengaluru.


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DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S., German and British motorists spend billions searching for parking spots and paying for more time than they need to avoid tickets that would likely cost them less, concluded a study released on Wednesday by traffic data aggregator INRIX.
As cities become more congested, the direct and indirect costs of parking are a headache for motorists and policy makers who often have conflicting goals.
Drivers want cheap, plentiful parking spots, while many large cities’ governments want to discourage vehicle traffic, reduce congestion and cut air pollution.
Automakers and technology companies, meanwhile, hope to profit by offering smooth parking guidance for motorists using smartphone apps or automated parking technology.
INRIX, based in Kirkland, Washington, provides traffic data to parking services and automakers. It also owns the ParkMe parking reservation app. German automaker BMW recently began offering the INRIX on-street parking locater service in its 5-series sedans.
The study of parking costs was based on information from the company’s parking database and survey responses from 18,000 drivers in 30 cities in Britain, Germany and the United States.
The study concluded that the average U.S. driver overpays $97 for parking a year, by buying extra time than needed while average parking ticket costs are $12 a year.
Motorists in major U.S. cities spend an average of $345 a year in lost time and wasted fuel to find parking places, according to INRIX estimates.
In the UK, motorists pay for excess parking time by an average of 209 pounds ($269), although average parking ticket costs are 39 pounds a year. The search for parking consumes time and fuel valued at 733 pounds.
In Germany, motorists pay 98 euros ($112) more than needed for their parking, to avoid an average 8 euros in parking fines. Germans waste an average 896 euros a year hunting for places, the study found.
Fewer than 10 percent of respondents in the three countries used one of the many smartphone apps designed to help motorists find reserve and pay for a space in advance.
Reporting by Joe White; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Riham Alkousaa
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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Marlborough wine companies assess damage after 7.5 earthquake
Engineers will be out in force in wineries around Marlborough on Monday, checking tanks and assessing damage after the devastating earthquake overnight.
Wine was spilt and there were reports of damage at some wineries, which comes at a bad time for the industry as it prepares for the next vintage.
There was some damage at the Riverlands Industrial Estate, south of Blenheim, where tanks holding as much as 240,000 litres split, sending wine over the road.
Yealands Wine Group operating manager Michael Wentworth said their Seaview winery, near Seddon, was without power.
* Live: 7.5 New Zealand quake causes casualties, tsunamis, and destruction
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* Quake in Ward, Marlborough, worse than three years ago, residents say
* Marlborough residents told to get away from coast after earthquake
In a statement posted to their website, the company said there had been "notable damage at the winery, and it remains closed for safety reasons while the damage is being assessed and cleaned."
"We've got damage to tanks and as a result of the shaking we've lost some wine, but it's too early to estimate how much that is," Wentworth said.
Wine Marlborough chairman Rhyan Wardman said the winery he worked in, Giesen Wines in the Riverlands estate, was not badly damaged.
"We've had a number of barrels that have toppled but otherwise we've come through this pretty much unscathed," he said.
"Today is all about assessment of our infrastructure, we've got engineers on site to check our tanks and cat walks, so we'll probably have a clearer picture at the end of the day about how we fared."
Wine was pouring out of some tanks at the Riverlands estate overnight, which would be costly for wine companies, but Wardman said the high standard of engineering would have prevented too much damage.
"In terms of the wineries themselves it's probably a bit early to say whether this is going to be a big setback, but my sense is it's not," he said.
"We've been through a number of earthquakes, so the engineering is up to a high standard."
Wardman said it was fortunate the earthquake struck on a Sunday evening instead of Monday night, when there might have been more people around the estate.
"It's an anxious time for all of us that live and work here," he said.
There were reports last night that emergency services responded to reports of people being trapped under wine tanks at Riverlands.
However, Marlborough Kaikoura Rural Fire Authority principal rural fire officer Richard McNamara said the reports were unfounded.
There were difficulties, but these had been resolved, he said.
WineWorks managing director Tim Nowell-Usticke said the bottling facility in the Riverlands Industrial Estate was not operating on Monday, but there was minimal damage.
"We've reaped the benefits of making sure all our finished goods, that's bottled wine, is stored in highly earthquake resistant racks," he said.
The company was unable to shift wine from its distribution centre on Monday, to either Christchurch or across Cook Strait because of road closures.
- The Marlborough Express


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Ford (s f) has announced the marriage of smartphones to its in-vehicle information system, a union that will enable owners of future Ford vehicles to control software on their mobile devices through the Ford Sync hands-free service. The move will not only leverage the more than 2 million Sync systems in use, but will mean mobile programmers could see greater demand for their software.
To wed a smartphone with a car, Ford developed Sync AppLink, a downloadable software upgrade for its in-vehicle computing platform that will first appear in the 2011 Fiesta model. Sync AppLink will extend smartphone application control via voice recognition, allowing consumers to use supported software on their smartphones in hands-free mode through the Sync system. In order to entice developers to implement functionality that supports Sync AppLink, Ford is creating a new mobile application developer network.
Ford, after all, needs developers — and the mobile software they create — more than developers need Ford. The app economy is thriving in the smartphone space — Apple’s App Store generates more than $250 million per month, 70 percent of which goes to developers. So Ford will make it easy for developers to “Sync-enable” an application by offering an API that connects a software title with the hands-free control functionality already offered by the Sync platform. And since the feature is a “value-add,” developers can justifiably charge more for a Sync-compatible application.
The Sync platform is a partnership between Ford and Microsoft (s msft), yet ironically, the first phones to support Sync AppLink won’t be running Microsoft’s smartphone platform. Instead, Ford chose to target Google’s Android (s goog) and Research In Motion’s (s rimm) BlackBerry handsets; applications that can use the Sync system will appear in their respective app stores. Ford will also offer its own Sync apps for these handsets, such as those for traffic or navigation, and will leverage pre-installed smartphone applications — the popular Pandora music-streaming title, for example.
Related content on GigaOM Pro (subscription required):
The App Developers Guide to Working with Ford Sync
To hear more about Ford’s efforts to connect cars and mobile phones, come to Green:Net on April 29 in San Francisco and hear from Edward Pleet, who heads up the company’s product and business development connected services division.
Image courtesy of Ford


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Indian origin led startup launched overseas transaction platformFebruary 09, 2017 17:16
A financial technology startup based in Singapore by an NRI today launched an online platform by which people can transfer funds to India cheaply.
SingX Pte Ltd is planning to expand its services from Singapore to allow online money transfer to Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia, where it holds licenses along with other countries.
The app was launched in mid January 2017, using the service Singapore based consumers can transfer money to Indian consumers at fraction of charges.
They claimed that it would be a fraction of what consumers typically pay money transfer through regular banking charges.
SingX is backed by some of the country’s most experienced bankers, the foreign exchange platform can help consumers and small/medium sized enterprises save up to 90% of remittance charges.
Atul Gard the SingX’s Principal Founder and CEO said that the company wants to create the Airbnb of global payments with the Country’s first peer-to-peer foreign exchange platform.
Garg said that they their targets are consumers and SMEs, the segments they believe are undeserved and consumers are paying higher rates of remittance.
SingX’s technology will provide them with a smarter way of moving their funds, swiftly, smoothly and cheaply. Consumers no longer have to stand in bank queue’s or fill up the forms.
Sid is of Indian-origin in Singapore with over 25 years of baking and payment experience.
According to a report in 2016 by the Boston Consulting Group commissioned by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, estimates cross border payments at USD 30 trillion and growing at 10 per cent. The estimated revenues from cross border payments are USD 300 billion.


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Out of the more than 206,000 mobile malware attacks blocked by Kaspersky solutions for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region in just six months measured between January to June 2021, over 30,000 of these attacks combined originated from Nigeria (14,071), Kenya (10,697), and South Africa (5,499).
For African countries monitored, Nigeria only trails Egypt (19,466) by the number of attacks blocked, pointing to how prevalent mobile threats have become in the highly connected country.
In fact, Kaspersky’s latest research showed that when looking at the top 10 countries by share of users attacked by mobile malware Nigeria places eighth (at 11.76 percent). Even though Kenya and South Africa might not feature prominently, the mobile malware threat is still a concern, along with the shift to more targeted based attacks these countries are seeing.
The top three most prevalent malware behaviours that Kaspersky has seen in Kenya and Nigeria are Trojans, Trojan-Downloaders; and Trojan-Droppers. In South Africa, these are Trojans, Trojan-Proxy; and Trojan-Downloaders.
A Trojan is a type of malware that is often disguised as legitimate software which attackers can use to try and gain access to user systems. As the name suggests, Trojan-Downloaders download and install new versions of malicious programmes, including Trojans and Adware on victim computers.
Meanwhile, Trojan-Droppers usually save a range of files containing malicious programmes to the victim’s drive. Once installed, a Trojan-Proxy allows an attacker to use the infected device as a proxy to connect to the Internet.
Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa, Bethwel Opil, said: “mobile malware remains a significant threat for corporate and personal users across Africa. These attacks are usually very diverse with hackers leveraging a range of methodologies and technologies to compromise victims’ devices.
Trojan-Downloaders and Trojan-Droppers are especially dangerous given their potential to contain significantly damaging payloads.” In addition to installing cybersecurity solutions on their mobile devices, like Kaspersky Total Security, the firm offered a few additional ways users can enhance their security. Cybersecurity wants users to create a strong password. By putting a strong password on their smartphone, the device can become unusable if it is lost or stolen and the password attempt fails a certain number of times.
Kaspersky cautioned that users should not trust SMS.
It explained that mobile malware uses text messages, so users should never respond to requests for credit card details or other private information. It stressed that users should check their browser for the lock symbol. The lock icon in the address bar indicates that the sight is secure when entering personal data.
“Install apps from reputable sources. Popular shopping sites such as Amazon or eBay have their own mobile applications. You must check to see they are the official apps from the company before you initiate a download. This can be done by checking the developer information and user ratings on the download page,” it stated.


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MoneyLion, the financial operating system revolutionizing the way middle-class Americans save, invest and build their credit, today announced that it will be expanding its popular MoneyLion Plus membership with a full suite of checking and savings capabilities.
With these additions, the new MoneyLion Plus membership will provide a comprehensive banking option for anyone with access to a smartphone, becoming the one and only financial membership consumers need to build wealth, improve credit and manage day-to-day spending.
MoneyLion Plus was developed to help the 138-million-plus Americans who have less than $2,000 in savings take back control of their finances. Offering simple investing, low-cost borrowing at 5.99% APR, credit building tools, and cashback rewards, the membership provides everyday Americans the resources/tools they need to make their financial goals more approachable and attainable. Since launching in December 2017, MoneyLion Plus members have realized over $1 million in savings, and the expansion of the membership offering announced today will build on this momentum by including investing, borrowing and now checking accounts in a single, subscription-based membership.
“In the past, these types of financial tools have only been available to the wealthy - as a result, financial middle class wealth has stagnated and for many Americans, actually decreased over the past decade,” said MoneyLion CEO and co-founder, Diwakar Choubey. “Working Americans deserve better than exorbitant overdraft fees and lack of access to affordable credit and financial advice. MoneyLion Plus is bringing user friendly, transparent, private bank-like services to the fingertips of the middle class for the first time, something we think is way overdue.”
2018 marks 10 years since the peak of the global financial crisis. But while technology has improved much of the banking system, America’s middle class is yet to benefit from its full potential. Tailored specifically for the needs of middle-income Americans, MoneyLion Plus Banking reverses this trend, leveraging AI and big data to deliver the world’s most rewarding membership program for the financial middle class.
“Subscription pricing models provide consumers with simplicity and predictability and have changed the way Americans consume content, order groceries and select their wardrobe,” continued Choubey. “We’ve found that on average, the most financially vulnerable consumers are paying $95 a month in bank fees. For less than the cost of an Amazon Prime membership, MoneyLion offers the comprehensive services of the biggest financial institutions, without the exorbitant fees that prevent consumers from reaching their goals.”
MoneyLion will be introducing the checking and savings capabilities, as well as issuing debit cards, over the coming months. Existing MoneyLion Plus members will gain exclusive, early access to these accounts as they become available.


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“America’s favorite bachelor couple,” Sean and Catherine Lowe, who caught the nation’s attention after finding love on a hit reality show, are now enlisting the help of Sears celebrity designer, Ty Pennington, fans from across the country and Sears shoppers to design the patio of the couple’s new home via this web series from the retailer.
“We’ve been in our new house in Dallas a month so it’s pretty empty right now; we’re looking forward to making it a home. While we have similar tastes designing the inside of our home, when it comes to outdoors Catherine and I have different styles and goals,” said Sean Lowe. “I like things to be a bit more “manly” — a place where my guy friends will want to hang out with me and grill steaks. Catherine is looking for something chic and sophisticated — more of a family entertaining space. We can’t wait to see what Ty and the rest of America recommend!”
“We are so thankful for what Sears outdoor living, Shop Your Way, Kenmore and Ty are doing for us,” said Catherine Lowe. “With the warm Dallas weather, our outdoor space is something we can use just about year-round. It’s just as important for entertaining as our indoor living area.”
In addition to the “Celebrity Challenge” web series
Sears outdoor living has created an online hub where members can:
- Watch all eight episodes and vote for the patio and grill products they think best suit Sean and Catherine’s needs
- Enter the sweepstakes to win Shop Your Way points and outdoor living products
- Learn about other Sears outdoor living products and features
“I visited Sean and Catherine in Dallas recently to chat about their likes and dislikes when it comes to outdoor decor. I think I have a pretty good idea of what they are looking for, but need America’s help,” said Ty Pennington. “Join me and my friends from Sears each week and follow this exciting journey and outdoor transformation.”
Sears has a great selection of outdoor living collections and grills at Sean and Catherine’s disposal, including collections from Ty Pennington Style, Grand Resort, La-Z-Boy Outdoor, their private brand Kenmore and Kenmore Elite.
Check out www.sears.com/outdoorliving to follow the transformation reality style with Ty, Sean and Catherine and for a chance to participate in the design experience. Join in the conversation by using the hashtag #outdoorliving.


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US-based meat-free bacon company Hooray Foods has ceased operations after four years on the market.
The San Francisco-based business revealed in a statement on social media it would shut down, noting it had sold five million strips of Hooray Bacon.
The company said its faux bacon products should be available in stores for the next few months.
It added: “With your support, we reached our goal of national distribution in grocery stores and restaurants; however, the economics of running a company of this size simply do not match our revenue, and we are unable to continue producing our product for sale.
“We are incredibly grateful to each of our customers, business partners, employees, and investors who enabled us to bring a more realistic and delicious plant-based bacon to the table.”
Founded in 2019 by Sri Artham, who was chief executive, Hooray Foods made meat-free bacon using ingredients such as coconut oil, rice flour, mushrooms and beetroot, and it contains zero cholesterol.
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In 2021, Hooray Foods said that it had received around $4m in total seed funding after a $2m investment from New York-based venture-capital fund Evolution VC Partners, which saw founder and CEO Gregg Smith joined the Hooray Foods’ board of directors.
The meat-alternatives category has seen sales come under pressure in some developed markets in recent quarters, including in the US.
Ethan Brown said the US market was showing particular signs of slowing demand due to a misconception of the category on the whole and the environmental benefits of choosing plant-based meat-alternatives over animal-based counterparts.
In July, loss-making US plant-based food business Tattooed Chef said it was seeking a buyer after failing to raise funds to secure its future.
In the UK, there have been companies that have gone under. Last month, LoveSeitan, the plant-based business behind the Facon Bacon brand, had ceased operating.
The Meatless Farm Co., another UK start-up, went out of business in June. The loss-making alternative-meat company, set up in 2016, went into administration but its brand was saved when peer VFC Foods stepped in as a buyer.


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Other parts of this series:
- The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Singapore
- The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Malaysia
- The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Hong Kong
- The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Japan
- The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Thailand
- The brave new world of Open Banking in APAC: Indonesia
Following the rollout of Open Banking regulations in the UK and the launch this year of the EU’s Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), countries across the Asia-Pacific region are following suit to establish their own frameworks to enable banks to share select customer data with third-party providers (TPPs), and TPPs to run transactions on customer accounts.
There has been very little regulatory conversation about Open Banking in Thailand and to date, regulators have not initiated any frameworks or regulation on the issue. That said, Thailand wishes to become a value-based economy and sees tremendous potential from fintech and improved digital services.
This ambition was encapsulated in the “Thailand 4.0” initiative, launched by the government in December 2015, and has been backed up by measures taken by regulatory and supervisory bodies in the years since. E-payment regulation aims to boost fintech innovation by providing a framework for how e-money and electronic payment services are provided, while regulators have promoted the use of APIs by releasing their own.
In December 2016, for instance, the Bank of Thailand (BOT, the central bank) launched a regulatory sandbox for products related to loans, payments and fund transfers. In March 2017 the Office of Insurance Commission announced intentions to launch an insurtech sandbox, allowing agents, insurers and fintech companies to test innovative products. In October that year, the BOT announced e-payment regulation that aims to facilitate innovative payment schemes and a cashless economy.
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also taken two initiatives: in June 2017 it launched a series of sandboxes for securities, derivatives, clearing houses, know-your-customer initiatives and e-trading. And in January 2018 it launched an API portal for financial product information, exchange rates and more.
Key initiatives, opportunities & risks
Several market players have taken the initiative to develop e-payment and Open Banking-related services, in tandem with the government’s push to encourage innovation.
In December 2016, for instance, Kasikorn Bank released their K-Payment Gateway, allowing SMEs to accept and process payments. In May 2018 Kasikorn Bank also showcased their QR API system, which allows customers to transfer funds between other banks.
Bangkok Bank has taken several ground-breaking steps: It was the first in the country to launch a developer portal—in January 2017. The portal had just four APIs but paved the way for other banks in the country to develop similar platforms to encourage innovation. In May 2017 Bangkok Bank also launched a 12-week fintech InnoHub program, partnering with Nest and 8 early-stage fintechs.
Meanwhile, in May 2018, Siam Commercial Bank launched a partnership with social media group Line Thailand to allow corporate users to receive notifications of deposits, withdrawals and card spending. In August 2018 SCB also announced a partnership with The Mall Group to launch co-branded cards, QR payments, banking services and parking reservation services. The SCB and Mall Group partnership has resulted in a multitude of new products that leverage SCB’s APIs.
Another key initiative is Bank of Ayudhya’s Krungsri Mortgage Loans app, announced in June 2018, which will be available through social media, Line and property search portals, giving customers visibility into mortgage affordability.
While these examples demonstrate local players’ wish to innovate, the opportunity to leverage innovative ideas outside payments remains largely unexplored. As ASEAN’s second largest economy, Thailand risks falling behind regional powerhouses. Bangkok Bank’s developer portal, for instance, while innovative, remains some way behind those of regional leaders. Competition on the payments space from regional giants like Paytm, WeChat and Alipay could disrupt Thai banks and fintechs, while larger regional banks with established developer portals could steal digital customer market share.
Thailand’s banks now have the opportunity to establish API standardisation before developing their capabilities. In particular, they should continue to partner with third party providers—as SCB has with The Mall Group—to create ecosystems on which a broader range of innovative products can be developed. API standardisation and adoption in Thailand will be difficult to achieve without TPPs and banks focusing on building larger interconnect ecosystems. TPPs and Thai banks would benefit from having regional Open Banking support organisations such as the ASEAN Fintech Innovation Network (AFIN) to help standardise banking and data infrastructure. AFIN has worked with industry and regulators, TPPs and banks in other jurisdictions (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.) by providing a sandbox for the three parties to collaborate. There is an opportunity to apply this same framework in Thailand, thereby facilitating API standardisation and ecosystem collaboration.
This article was written in collaboration with Ewa Wojcik, Sam Waldman, and Hakan Eroglu. Many thanks for their input, research and analysis.


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When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade (or glazed strawberry lemon streusel muffins). When Chrysler gives you lemons, you’re SOL. Since April 30, Judge Arthur Gonzales has to approve payment on claims against Chrysler incurred before C11. That includes “lemon law” settlement checks to customers who bought defective Dodge, Chrysler or Jeep products. Not happening. “San Diego attorney Ellen Turnage represents a client who reached a settlement with Chrysler over a 2006 Dodge Magnum with a bad suspension. The car has been returned to Chrysler, but the automaker’s check bounced. ‘Now he’s got no car and no money, so he can’t go buy a new one,’ Turnage said of her client. ‘He’s stuck. We’re hanging on to a glimmer of hope that at some point this will all be resolved.'” As the LA Times reports, Turnage’s pessimism is well-justified. Instead of saying, sorry, we’ll expedite this, the new Chrysler is telling aggrieved customers to FO&D.
The company said it had no plans at this point to ask the bankruptcy judge to approve payments to settle lemon law complaints. “This is a complex process and there are a lot of issues being discussed,” said Chrysler spokesman Mike Palese. “This could be one of those issues that comes up in the course of the bankruptcy, but I can’t say that we have any plans to present it at this time.”
Chrysler advises customers with pending lemon law complaints to file a proof of claim form with the Bankruptcy Court and join the ranks of the automaker’s unsecured creditors.
“In that case, you’ll be lucky to get pennies on the dollar,” [Atlanta attorney Alex] Simanovsky said.
Can we see the details on that government-backed warranty now, please? [thanks to pixarwolf for the link]


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Michelin-star chef Tom Kerridge has slammed 27 diners for booking to eat at his Corinthia Hotel restaurant in central London on Saturday, and then failing to show up.
In an irate post on Instagram, he lambasted their “selfish” behaviour for putting hospitality sector jobs at risk, saying "This industry, like many others, is on the verge of collapse.”
"Your behaviour is disgraceful, short-sighted and downright unhelpful. YOU are putting people's jobs more at risk.
"You are the worst kind of guest, and that is 'selfish'. I hope you have [a] good look at yourselves..."
Restaurants are already operating at reduced capacity after suffering months without revenue due to the coronavirus lockdowns, and the quiet period at the start of the year. At a time when restaurants need every available table occupied in order to make reopening viable, no-shows are a no-go.
Even before the coronavirus crisis hit, no-shows have been a particular bone of contention for chefs, including Matt Orlando of Amass in Copenhagen, who wrote an impassioned open letter to no-show diners. Non-refundable deposits and even payment-in-full in advance have been touted as possible solutions.
More and more states in America are legalising marijuana in various forms, leading to an increasing number of top chefs and food professionals coming up with inventive ways to elevate their edibles. Here's a round-up of the best.
As Scotland's restaurants prepare to reopen with restrictions, the country's foremost chef, Tom Kitchin, says 'enough is enough' and demands that restaurants be allowed to open fully. Here's the full story.
The photo of Camilla Moccia, bent over in despair over the closure of her trattoria, has gone viral in Italy as a symbol of the suffering faced by those across the hospitality industry. Here she speaks to Fine Dining Lovers about the photo and her plight.
With a $1.9 trillion stimulus package winning final approval in Congress, what are the implications for the restaurant industry going forward? Will the Biden-Harris administration help the sector to rebound in the wake of the pandemic, or will restaurants continue to struggle? Andrew Friedman investigates.


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PHOENIX --People in Arizona and across the nation, for buying a ruby , are putting down big bucks for something they think is the real deal.
But in reality, they're getting ripped off.
"It's really an amazing transformation from basically junk to a gem," said Craig Lynch, president of the Arizona Jewelers Association.
Lynch is talking about a scheme where jewelry dealers convince consumers into thinking they're buying 100-percent genuine rubies, but they aren't.
"They're being duped that this is ruby," Lynch said. "It's partly ruby and mostly glass and they're paying exorbitant prices for them."
In fact, according to Lynch, many jewelry dealers are passing off the glass-filled rubies for the real thing.
"It fools the person," he said. "It looks like it's 10 times that value."
How do you know they're not the real thing? Well, Raymond Mason of the Arizona Gemological Society says simple household cleaners and heat will dull and crack the glass over time.
"In any abnormal heat, they're at risk," Mason said. "Any abnormal chemicals, household chemicals like ammonia, will also etch the stone."
Faux rubies fall apart after being heated up.
Lynch said usually consumers never know they've been taken advantage of until it's too late.
"For the consumer, even some of the basic jewelers have a hard time identifying it because it is a brand-new process," Lynch said.
The best advice is to not buy jewelry from anyone you aren't familiar with.
The experts say you should also avoid buying jewelry over the Internet, on cruise ships and overseas to keep from getting taken advantage of.
By the way, rubies are just the beginning. According to the experts, tiny pieces of diamonds and sapphires, for example, will be "morphed" into looking like the real thing when they're not.


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A Scotch whisky firm posted a 44% growth in profits last year, despite seeing turnover dip due to a decline in “bulk trades of mature whisky”.
Ian Macleod Distillers, which produces the Glengoyne, Macleod’s, Smokehead, Isle of Skye and Tamdhu brands, said its turnover fell 1.5% to £52.1million for the year ended September 30, 2014.
However, the drop was offset by an increase in single malt sales and a profitable export business.
Its pre-tax profits on ordinary activities rose 44% to £8.5million, while operating profits were up 24% to £9.3million.
The company’s finance director, Mike Younger, said turnover dipped because bulk trading — a process that involves exchanging stock with other distillers and recording it as turnover — fell back down from unusually high levels in 2013.
The company was also buoyed by the performance of its two joint ventures, a bottling plant next to its headquarters in Broxburn and a distribution business in Norway.
They posted turnovers totalling £6.2million for the period under review, an increase of £425,000 year-on-year.
Ian Macleod also has a subsidiary based in India, which “is becoming properly established in the market and reports a minor profit.”
Back home, the company raised the value of its stocks by £15million to £65million.
Mr Younger added: “The group has benefited from the increasing and strong demand for Scotch whisky and this is evidenced by the growth in recent year.
“The group has invested significantly in operational assets and stock to support the growth.”
Ian Macleod, which was established in 1933, describes itself as the tenth largest Scotch whisky company in the world, selling more than 15million bottles of spirits every year.
It has completed the construction of six new warehouses at the Tamdhu distillery, which is bought from Glasgow-based whisky maker Edrington in 2011.
Ian Macleod, which employs 101 people, also owns the Glengoyne distillery near Glasgow.
The company has eight directors, who were paid a total of £1.58million, down £125,000 year-on-year.
The best paid director pocketed £358,000, about 50% less than a year earlier.
A dividend of £1.87 per share was paid out during the year, but thedirectors have not recommended paying a final dividend.


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Ireland’s agriculture minister has sought assurances from Poland’s food safety authorities that beef burger filler supplied by Polish companies to Irish and UK processors will not again contain horse DNA.
Simon Coveney told journalists last night (28 January) that he has been in touch with his counterpart in Poland over the issue.
His comments came during a press conference following an EU Council of Agriculture Ministers meeting – Ireland currently holds the presidency of the Council.
“There’s an ongoing discussion with Polish authorities to establish how it could have happened and to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” Coveney said. He added that the matter was not raised during the Council meeting.
Last weekend, Irish officials named Poland as the source of the horse DNA that was earlier this month found in beef burgers on sale in Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland in the UK and Ireland. The findings have prompted recalls and questions about the adequacy of traceability measures in the food supply chain.
Earlier today, undeclared horse meat DNA has been found in Spanish burgers, a leading consumer organisation revealed.


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Article by Charlie Smith, The Georgia Straight
Health Canada has unveiled its latest measure to monitor the pot market.
A new cannabis tracking system will be introduced to ensure that legal cannabis doesn’t end up in the illegal market.
According to the government, it will also prevent illegal weed from being sold through legal means.
“We have been clear about our objective of keeping profits out of the hands of criminals and organized crime,” Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair said in a news release.
He’s also promised “routine and unannounced inspections and rigorous personnel and physical security requirements”.


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Bonfatto’s Italian restaurant, currently located on Zion Road in Bellefonte, is moving back to its roots.
Less than a year away from 100 years in business, the restaurant is heading back, just down the road from the location where it all began on High Street in downtown Bellefonte.
“It’s really kinda cool, going back downtown,” said Bonfatto’s owner David Letterman. “It feels like this is where we belong.”
Third generation owner David Letterman is feeling a little nostalgic, remembering his days working in his grandparent’s produce store.
“I used to go down with my grandmother when I was little, she would put me up on a pepsi crate, so I could push the buttons on the cash register.”
And just outside the back window of the new location is where Letterman’s grandparents lived.
He says the timing’s right for a change in location. His lease is about to be up on his current place, and the new building became available last year, which, beyond sentimental connections to downtown, Letterman feels is a strong business decision as well.
“Downtown is evolving and with the waterfront property soon to be developed,” said Letterman. “I think it’s a great location, a centralized location, it’s close to the park, close to walking…everything that’s down there it’s close to.”
The new digs will bring a new feel, and new name.
“Its gonna be called Bonfatto’s Italian Market and Corner Cafe. So we will have authentic Italian deli, and some ready prepared meals, grab-and-go’s, we’ll have some retail space, of course our famous bonanza subs, ice cream, a few salads, and sandwiches, soup…so it’s going to be very simple…smaller than what we are right now and a whole different feel and pace.”
The market and cafe plans to open at the beginning of February 2019.
Until that time, they’ll continue to serve customers at their location on Zion road.


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Recent figures published by the International Monetary Fund have revealed that the rate of economic growth in the UK and USA is set to take a slower than expected pace.
London, UK (PRWEB) July 29, 2017
Recent figures published by the International Monetary Fund have revealed that the rate of economic growth in the UK and USA is set to take a slower than expected pace. The IMF stated that due to ‘weaker than expected activity’ at the start of 2017, their predictions for the growth of the UK economy had been downgraded from 2 percent to 1.7 percent.
About Credico UK: http://www.credico.uk.com/about/
Speaking on the reasons behind this change of pace, the IMF confirmed that the UK’s current Brexit negotiations had played a considerable role. Speaking to the BBC, IMF's chief economist Maurice Obstfeld said that; 'We have long predicted that Brexit would have some negative long-term effects.’ However while acknowledging that the uncertainty surrounding how Brexit would ultimately impact the economy, it has been the slow start to the year that has been the driving force behind the downgrade.
However, while the overall growth of the economy is set to be lower than expected, there is some good news to come from the IMF report. Employment was noted as being at a record high suggesting that economic climate for 2017 isn’t all doom and gloom.
Credico UK understands that in light of this report, many UK businesses may be concerned as to their potential performance over the remainder of 2017. ‘When the economy is weaker, it’s no surprise that consumers tighten their belts. In these situations, brands have a greater, more immediate responsibility to offer customers the support they need to feel confident in how and where they are spending their money,’ outlined a spokesperson for Credico UK.
The firm is adamant that the greatest tool at brands disposal in securing customer confidence and a consistent sales revenue is face to face interactions. This form of interaction allows brands precious time to engage with individual consumers, taking on board their queries and concerns and offering them tailor-made solutions. ‘This approach is all about creating a safe and open dialogue for consumers and providing a personalised brand experience. It puts consumers at the heart of the sales and marketing process and builds the trust and confidence needed to generate long term brand loyalty,’ concluded Credico UK.


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A growing number of small companies use a "temporary- to-permanent" staffing strategy that lets temporary-placement agencies act as recruiters for permanent employees. Three employers told us why they're sold on that approach:
· "Over the past six months, we've recruited about 39% of our permanent employees through temporary agencies," says Angie Green, manager of training and development at Hancock Information Group, a 70-employee market-research company based in Longwood, Fla. Hancock saves time and resources by letting temp firms do initial screenings. But because there's more at stake than just a temporary assignment, says Green, "it's imperative that the agencies understand our business. I encourage them to visit the company so they can observe the work in progress." That kind of pampering isn't uncommon; the temp industry is so fiercely competitive that good firms will jump through hoops to earn your business.
· Steve Safigan's highly cyclical tax-preparation business uses temps to staff up during peak periods. "We bring in 40 people in October and train them for three months to work in customer and technical support during our busy season," says Safigan, president of Universal Tax Systems, in Rome, Ga. And because the company is growing quickly, when the dust settles after tax time, 25% to 50% of those temps join the company as permanent employees. "We get an opportunity to evaluate these people over an extended period of time," says Safigan. "We have confidence that we know who the cream of the crop are."
· "We go the temp route when we're unsure of our long-term needs," says Burt Hashizume, cofounder of $12-million Pixel-Vision, a manufacturer of flat-panel monitors in Acton, Mass. "We want to make sure any uptick in our business is permanent before we hire permanent employees." When sustained growth seems certain, Hashizume says, he can choose from temps "who have proven ability and will fit into the company culture." About 20% of the company's 40 employees started there as temps.


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The automotive world and past is buzzing about the huge airbag recall protecting many thousands and thousands of vehicles within the U.S. from almost two dozen brands. REPLACE 6/16/2017, 11:00 a.m.: Takata will file for chapter as early as subsequent week,” in line with sources speaking to Reuters The submitting is no shock. UPDATE 6/20/2015, 12:15 a.m.: Honda has confirmed that an eighth particular person’s loss of life was attributable to a faulty airbag in one among its merchandise.
In a press release, Honda mentioned: We have now turn out to be aware of proof that means that Takata misrepresented and manipulated check information for certain airbag inflators.” According to Automotive News , Honda has been Takata’s biggest customer for a few years.
Safe Software Service helps manage signing permissions for complete ecosystems of software program authors/developers and publishers/approvers, together with both inside and external partner/supplier groups. In accordance with Automotive News and Bloomberg , the campaign is a robust digital advertising campaign” that can embrace pink Pressing Airbag Recall Discover” banner ads on websites comparable to CNN and Facebook.
REPLACE 7/8/2015, 9:55 a.m.: The airbag in a Nissan X-Path began a hearth after the Takata-equipped system went off with excessive power throughout a crash in Japan, according to Automotive News The passenger-aspect airbag exploded, smashing the passenger-side window and sending excessive-temperature fragments into the dashboard, causing a fireplace.” The motive force sustained minor injuries in the crash.
The FAME-India (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (hybrid &) Electrical vehicles in India) scheme is proposed to be carried out over a interval of 6 years, till 2020. REPLACE 2/27/2017, 6:30 p.m.: Takata has officially pleaded responsible to criminal wire fraud for protecting up the engineering defects which have led to not less than 17 deaths and the most important recall in automotive historical past.


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The 10-year partnership comes as the carmaker looks to boost its visibility in its new home. The North American headquarters of Toyota moved to Plano this year.
Terms of the naming-rights deal were not announced.
The $200 million, 16.7-acre entertainment and dining complex in Las Colinas is officially dubbed the Toyota Music Factory. The name was revealed to The Dallas Morning News last week ahead of the official announcement.
The anchor concert hall, booked exclusively by Live Nation, is now the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, and the VIP Lounge is the Toyota Lounge.
The Toyota Music Factory, developed by the ARK Group, is expected to draw up to 2.5 million guests a year. It opened Saturday with a set by bearded rockers ZZ Top.
About two dozen restaurants, bars and music spots are expected to begin opening this month.
When Toyota announced plans to leave its longtime California home for the Lone Star State, company officials vowed to become part of the fabric of the community.
Toyota is already the title sponsor of Toyota Stadium and Toyota Soccer Center, a 145-acre multipurpose sports and entertainment facility near the Dallas North Tollway in Frisco. It is the home stadium for the FC Dallas soccer team.
While Toyota has many sponsorships in North Texas, including selling the "official truck" of the Texas Rangers, this marks only its second Dallas-area naming rights deal, a spokesman said.
"Toyota takes pride in calling North Texas home and looks to be an active part of the community," said Jack Hollis, group vice president and general manager of the Toyota division at Toyota Motor North America. "When it comes to sponsorships, we associate ourselves with places and events that the community engages, whether that be through sports, music or entertainment. We don't just put our logo somewhere but rather look to enhance the customer experience through different fan engagements" and opportunities to interact with Toyota vehicles.
ARK Group president Noah Lazes said in a statement that his company is "deeply honored to have Toyota participate on the highest level of sponsorship as the title sponsor for the Music Factory. I cannot think of a more distinguished Fortune 50 company to have involved," he said, "especially since they are now headquartered in the Dallas Fort Worth market."
But Toyota is not the only newcomer seeking to plant a flag beyond the corporate office.
Also Tuesday, Jim Lites, president and chief executive of the Dallas Stars hockey team, and Dave Pace, Jamba Juice chief executive, announced a three-year partnership beginning with the 2017-18 NHL season.
Jamba Juice relocated last year from California to Frisco's Hall Office Park.
The agreement includes development plans to open Jamba stores at several Dr Pepper StarCenters, the first of which will debut at Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco this October.
Under the deal, there also will be some Jamba Juice presence at American Airlines Center, the Stars' home base. A signature Stars smoothie will debut before start of the 2017-18 NHL season and will be available at all Jamba locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Financial terms of the deal were not immediately released.


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Diner removes certain word from name because it sounds a little too much like Putin
QUEBEC, Canada - There are a lot of different ways to protest.
A diner in Quebec decided to show support for Ukraine in a truly unique way. While it hasn't changed the items offered on its menu, it has decided to change the name of a popular Canadian dish.
Poutine is a popular Canadian dish that includes French fries, cheese curds and gravy. Also, the word "poutine" sounds like the name "Putin" when said out loud.
This connection prompted the apparent inventor of the dish to take action.
Le Roy Jucep, located in Drummondville, Quebec, decided to show solidarity with Ukraine by taking the word "poutine" out of its trademark. The diner claims to have invented the dish and is considered a somewhat famous restaurant among Canadians.
The diner posted its decision to Facebook last Friday, but it has since removed the post due to receiving hateful replies and phone calls, Montreal CTV News reports. The business' Facebook page still lists it as the inventor of "poutine," although the name has been changed to say "The Inventor of Fries, Cheese and Gravy."
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When the story made headlines, however, the restaurant posted a follow-up, saying, "Very touching to learn that our tiny message of support has been sent from Drummondville all the way to Ukraine! If we could make someone smile there, that's already a win! We are with you from the bottom of our hearts."
Poutine first started being served in the 1950s. It's a popular dish in Canada and some northern U.S. states, although there are some regional variations.
For example, in New Jersey, a similar dish is served which is known as Disco Fries. It's essentially the same thing, except it uses melted cheese instead of cheese curds.


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Football Association of Wales enters partnership with Boots
The Football Association of Wales has announced a three-year partnership between Boots and the Women’s National team.
FA Wales Chief Executive Jonathan Ford, commented on the biggest commercial agreement in women’s sport in Wales: “Boots want to inspire women to be their best self and we at the FAW want to inspire women to be their best self in football and achieve their potential on and off the field, whether that’s as an elite player, someone who plays for fun, a coach, referee or even wider in the game.
“We want to partner with brands who can support us in raising awareness around the women’s game in Wales, to challenge perceptions and come on the journey with us to reach our ambitious target of 20k girls playing in Wales by 2024.
“It’s the biggest sponsorship deal to date for women’s sport in Wales – we hope that a successful partnership with Boots will highlight the benefits to brands considering sponsoring women’s sport in Wales, and we can move forward to secure further investment into the women’s game. Boots are paving the way for commercial brands to get behind Women’s Sport in Wales.”
As part of the deal, Boots have an ‘extensive suite of rights’ which will include matchday advertising and pitch-side branding, as well as possible player appearances and hospitality.
Helen Normoyle, Marketing Director at Boots UK said: “It’s so exciting to see how women’s football
has evolved and really taken off over the last few years, especially as a retailer who is proud to
champion women’s right to live well, feel better and look great.
“Boots has always had a strong heritage of supporting women and in fact, we even founded our very
own women’s sports team as early as 1894. 43% of women believe there aren’t many female
sporting role models but we know that this simply isn’t true.
“Via our partnership, we are excited to give these inspirational women to tell their stories to help
encourage other women to experience the transformative confidence sport can bring”.
(Featured Image: Matthew Lofthouse)