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New Delhi (NVI): The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between India and Japan, for partnership between the two countries to facilitate specified skilled Indian workers.
The Memorandum Of Cooperation has been done on a “Basic Framework for Partnership for Proper Operation of the System Pertaining to Specified Skilled Worker.”
According to an official statement, “The present MoC would set up an institutional mechanism for partnership and cooperation between India and Japan on sending and accepting skilled Indian workers, who have qualified the required skill and Japanese language test, to work in 14 specified sectors in Japan.”
These Indian workers would be granted a new status of residence of ‘specified skilled worker’ by the government of Japan, it added.
Meanwhile, a joint working group will be set up to look into the implementation of the MoC.
“The Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) would enhance people-to-people contact, foster mobility of workers and skilled professionals from India to Japan,” the Government said.
Under the MoC, the 14 sectors include nursing care, building cleaning, material processing industry, industrial machinery manufacturing industry, electric and electronic information related industry.
Apart from this, construction, shipbuilding and ship-related industry, automobile maintenance, aviation, lodging, agriculture, fisheries, food and beverages manufacturing industry and food service industry would have enhanced job opportunities to work in Japan, the statement noted.


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Today the NFLPA put out their list of the top 50 NFL players in terms of merchandise sales. Three Raiders players made the list, one of whom was in the top 20.
The best merch sales on the Raiders was Josh Jacobs who came in at 17 on the list. Next up was Darren Waller at 31. And finally, Derek Carr who just snuck into the top 50 at 46 overall.
This list is compiled from sales from March 1 – November 30 of last year.
Jacobs and Waller were both coming off their first Pro Bowls and Derek Carr is the entrenched starting quarterback. He was 20th among quarterbacks on the list.
I would like to think that in the next round, we’ll see a surge in Maxx Crosby merchandise sales. He finished the season as the Raiders’ best player, making his first Pro Bowl and then becoming a favorite among NFL players and fans for his story and character.
Unfortunately, merchandise sales always seem to favor offensive skill position players. There were only seven defensive players among the top 50 in merchandise sales. Promising for Crosby’s chances of making the list is all seven are pass rushers.

domain: news


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Jack in the Bo
The sandwich will be tested in the Reno, Nevada, and Monterey, California, markets from Oct. 15 until Dec. 12, or while supplies last. It features a split-top bun, mayo, lettuce and tomato and is available in classic or spicy flavors, a la carte or as a combo option. The Unchicken Sandwich Combos will be priced at $6.99 each, which is aligned with the pricing of other sandwiches on the chain’s menu.
Jack in the Box’s substitute chicken filet is sourced from Raised & Rooted, an alternative protein product line launched by Tyson Foods
According to Jen Kennedy, SVP, chief product and innovation officer, Raised & Rooted has been the chain’s partner for quite some time.
“Their team was deep into plant-based research when we decided to partner,” she said.
This announcement revisits a strong narrative from the quick-service space that has been largely absent since COVID-19 grinded the gears of menu innovation to a halt–that is, plant-based meat is having quite a moment.
Burger King’s Impossible Whopper, for example, generated a double-digit jump in traffic upon its initial launch, while White Castle locations that initially tested the Impossible Slider experienced a 250% jump in sales. Del Taco’s Beyond Meat taco quickly became one of the best-selling new products in the chain’s history.
Notably, Jack in the Box’s test marks just the second time a major chain has experimented with a chicken alternative. KFC’s partnership with Beyond Meat, established last year, marked the first foray into the category. Results from that initial Beyond Fried Chicken test in August were strong enough to expand the product’s availability into new markets just months later.
Such sales results no doubt indicate some consumer intrigue at the very least. Add to that the allure of the so-called chicken sandwich wars ignited (and sustained) by Popeyes and there are plenty of reasons for Jack in the Box to test the waters here. While the chain won’t disclose the sales mix from its traditional chicken products, Kennedy said chicken is a top product of purchase, just like it is across the industry.
“Since there has been a recent explosion of popularity in the chicken category, we wanted to introduce a plant-based option in this space rather than the predictable meatless burger patty,” she said. “Chicken is definitely having its moment.”
So, too, is plant-based protein.
IRI data analyzed by The Good Food Institute shows that plant-based meat sales in March were 454% higher year-over-year. Plenty of indications point to that demand increasing even more during the COVID-19 crisis. According to Nielsen data, for example, grocery sales of plant-based meat increased by 264% during the nine-week period ending May 2. This trend bodes well for the timing of Jack in the Box’s test.
“We’re seeing a shift with how consumers are approaching their food choices–they are incorporating more variety to their diets. With the influx of flexitarians who may want meat some days and opt to participate in meatless choices on other days, we thought it was strategic for us to enter this plant-based conversation in a way that still felt unique to our brand,” Kennedy said.
She adds the opportunity is even greater when considering the growing delivery channel, as chicken sandwiches are what delivery customers have ordered the most during the pandemic.
This specific test will gauge consumer touchpoints, like reactions to taste, sales and key performance indicators from its accompanying marketing campaign–a Chicken Scented Face Mask (available online) meant to illustrate how much the sandwich tastes like real chicken. While both the scent-driven campaign and the plant-based test pull pages directly from KFC’s playbook, Kennedy said, “we are always trying to think of how we can be innovative while forging our own path.”
Whether or not this particular path will resonate remains to be seen, but chances are good it will at least appeal to younger consumers. The Food Institute reports that 65% of Gen Z consumers want a more “plant-forward” diet, while 79% choose to go meatless at least once a week. For now, however, the goal is simply to see how consumers react in the two initial markets.
“As the industry continues to show a continued interest and increase in plant-based food consumption, our Jack’s Unchicken Sandwiches are a timely, enticing addition to menus for meat and plant eaters alike,” Kennedy said. “If the test is successful, hopefully it will usher in a runway of further innovation in this lane.”


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Japan aims to boost the size of its domestic circular economy, which focusses on reducing carbon emissions through reuse of products and resources, to 80 trillion yen by 2030, government sources said.
The move to promote its circular economy, currently worth 50 trillion yen and intended to foster sustainable economic practices by reusing and recycling goods and materials, comes as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government is stepping up efforts to achieve a carbon neutral society by 2050.
Initiatives will include recycling raw materials and distributing used goods, which are intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a major culprit of global warming, the sources said.
Japan income fund, JPMorgan Japan Small Cap Growth & Income (LONJSGI), targets Japan income without compromising on Japanese growth opportunities. This Japan income investing opportunity gives investors access to a diverse and fast growing sector managed by local managers.


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Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 8:01 am
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with a comeback.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: Procter & Gamble made a surprise announcement last night. It's bringing back its former CEO as the company's new CEO. A.G. Lafley will replace Bob McDonald. Procter & Gamble is behind names like Crest toothpaste and Tide laundry detergent. The 170-year-old company has been struggling to grow in emerging markets. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Bitget, the world’s top cryptocurrency exchange, is proud to announce its sponsorship of Team Spirit, Russia’s leading esports organization and winners of The Dota 2 International 2021.
Bitget will be featured for several brand presences as part of the arrangement, including logo placement on jerseys, in-game, and social media channels. In addition, other esports and GameFi-related trade tournaments, freebies, and promotions will be held in conjunction with this collaboration.
“In Team Spirit, we see the sports spirit of fairness and competition, which is also what we value.” We both have a strong desire to learn about new disciplines and advancements. “We hope that this relationship will help familiarize more people with the crypto business and expose esports fans to the investing prospects given by digital finance,” said Sandra Lou, CEO of Bitget.
“While this is not our first step into the esports sector, it will not be our last cooperation in the space,” Sandra concluded. We feel there is a natural synergy between both, and we are eager to investigate deeper and help improve the value of cryptocurrencies and decentralized technologies in esports and virtual worlds.”
Team Spirit is a Russian esports organization that was established in 2015. The professional multi-gaming organization has been actively involved in the global esports landscape since its inception and has squads in three disciplines: Dota2, CS:GO, and Hearthstone. Team Spirit won The Dota 2 International 2021 in October 2021, being the only Eastern European team to do so since Natus Vincere in 2011, while also winning the largest prize pool in esports history of US$18 million.
Nikita Cheshir Chukalin, CEO of Team Spirit, commented, “We are really glad to have Bitget as our partner and look forward to seeing how such a cross-border collaboration will produce greater synergy and value for both sides.” We are thrilled to see that companies in the most forward-thinking industry are joining forces with us. Bitget — unquestionably a forward-thinking firm – shares many of our values. Cryptocurrency and esports, which appeared to be out of reach and virtual, are now practically inseparable components of our life. Team Spirit is looking forward to future cooperation and seeing the progress of both communities.”
Bitget is a cutting-edge digital asset trading platform with over 1.8 million users worldwide that caters to a global audience by delivering spot and crypto derivatives trading functionality as well as digital asset purchasing services.
It has grown to become the world’s largest crypto copy trading platform, with One-Click Copy Trading as one of its hallmark features. Bitget bought Bitkeep, a decentralized wallet, in July 2021 to become a new entrant in the DeFi, Dapp, and NFT areas, forming a powerful digital ecosystem.
Bitget also has strong agreements with worldwide brands. It is the official partner of Juventus, an Italian footballing powerhouse with over 120 years of history, and Professional Gamers League (PGL), a well-established esports platform.
Bitget is a well-known global cryptocurrency exchange that was founded in July 2018. Bitget, which has over 1.8 million customers in 48 countries, intends to help to the global adoption of decentralized finance.
Bitget has grown to become the world’s largest crypto copy trading platform since its inception, thanks to the increasing popularity of its core One-Click Copy Trade products. Bitget was ranked third in the world in terms of derivatives volume as of January 2022, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitget is dedicated to delivering comprehensive and secure trading solutions to our users all over the world, in keeping with our motto of Better Trading Better Life.
Bitget announced its sponsorship of world-renowned football side Juventus as its first-ever sleeve partner in September 2021, and PGL Major’s official eSport crypto partner shortly after.
About Team Spirit
Team Spirit is a Russian esports organization that was established in 2015. The professional multi-gaming organization has been actively involved in the global esports landscape since its inception and has squads in three disciplines: Dota2, CS:GO, and Hearthstone.
Team Spirit won The Dota 2 International 2021 in October 2021, becoming the first second-ever Eastern European team to do so, winning the largest prize pool in esports history of US$18 million.


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India’s initial ladies-led unicorn readies its IPO | Vogue Sector Information
For decades, Falguni Nayar guided the founders of Indian businesses by roadshows in Europe and the U.S. as they created their way to stock market debuts. Now the former financial commitment banker is steering her have startup to an historic first public giving.
Nykaa, her brainchild, has grown into India’s major e-commerce website for attractiveness merchandise, with the endorsement of Bollywood stars and a fervent following between 20-somethings. The startup, formally known as FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd., filed preliminary documents late Monday for an initial public presenting, which Bloomberg Information has described could benefit the business at a lot more than $4 billion.
One notion Nayar picked up from her time doing the job with business people was the relevance of a motivating business mission. With Nykaa, she observed the chance to support India’s women of all ages glimpse right after on their own, relocating away from the country’s conventional deference to gentlemen.
“I was encouraged by people die-really hard founders,” Nayar said in a current interview about Zoom from her home in Alibaug. “Our information to women of all ages has been that the spotlight of her everyday living must be on herself. You are significant in your tale and should really feel no guilt at staying center phase.”
The concept resonated. Launched in 2012, the Mumbai-headquartered startup now features far more than 2,500 manufacturers of all the things from mascara and makeup remover to velvety kohl Indian eyeliner and the entire body tattoo artwork known as mehendi. By means of its web-sites, applications and 70-moreover brick-and-mortar suppliers, the firm strike profits of 24.5 billion rupees ($330 million) in income and other profits in the fiscal 12 months ended in March, according to its filing. That figure rose by additional than 35% all through that interval, irrespective of pandemic-mandated retail outlet closures and supply issues. The startup is worthwhile.
If the IPO goes as prepared, Nykaa will be India’s first girls-led unicorn to go public. Nayar owns about fifty percent of the firm with her partner and their twin kids, which means the price of their stake could exceed $2 billion if the startup reaches or surpasses initial projections.
“It was a market waiting around to be tapped and Falguni’s dived appropriate in,” claimed Arvind Singhal, chairman of Technopak Advisors Pvt, a major consulting firm. “India’s younger population has climbing aspirations and gals throughout social strata are extra empowered with each and every passing generation.”
Nayar founded the company 9 yrs ago, figuring if she was going to get started a business enterprise it experienced to be prior to she turned 50. “The stage of no return,” she reported.
The name she picked is derived from the ancient Sanskrit word for heroine.
Nayar had found that in the West full floors of large-stop department retailers were focused to cosmetics and other splendor items. But tens of millions of Indian girls nonetheless had to visit dingy neighborhood “bangle” or “variety” shops for their natural beauty desires. These mom & pop outlets, typically staffed by male homeowners, stocked cosmetics and vogue jewellery alongside craft kits and other knick-knacks. Alternatives ended up minimal, shows weak, and there was no opportunity to sample items.
Nayar’s target was to develop a slick, integrated purchasing expertise where by customers could store on the web or in actual physical shops, relying on what they were looking for with that distinct stop by. They could check out a single of Nykaa’s colorfully stocked specialty stores to, say, attempt on lipsticks or eyeshadows. On the web, they could get tutorials, which includes from stars like Janhvi Kapoor or Debasree Banerjee.
Nykaa resisted cutting price ranges to lure consumers, in distinction to other e-commerce startups.
“We didn’t want to be a price reduction retail store,” Nayar stated. “We’d relatively offer the proper color of lipstick at total cost, than the erroneous shade at half off which would make the customer unsatisfied in minutes of donning.”
From 60 each day orders at launch, product sales climbed to much more 1,000 orders within just months. Nykaa built on its momentum by customizing merchandise for Indian skin tones, pores and skin sorts and regional weather. It released an array of nail hues, now up to 2,700 shades. It also initiated customers to make-up essentials, these as foundation, and now delivers 1,500 shades. Nykaa’s possess selection of lipsticks have enjoyable Indian names these as Maharani (wife of the maharaja) and Mishti (sweet person).
“They really have almost everything,” claimed Sakshi Jain, a 21-calendar year-previous who just graduated university. “I can evaluate charges, study comprehensive evaluations and then obtain. All my pals store at Nykaa also.”
Bangalore college or university university student Sayeree Nandi started browsing items on Nykaa at the get started of the pandemic and has since turn into addicted to the app.
“It’s far more handy than heading to numerous physical merchants or searching on Amazon,” stated the 21-calendar year-outdated. She reads reviews right before getting — skin treatment items are her weak point.
Level of competition is rising. Giants like Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.-managed Flipkart On the net Products and services Pvt. are expanding in the $15 billion attractiveness current market, alongside with specialty stores these kinds of as LVMH’s Sephora. Local rival Purplle landed backing from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Nykaa’s technique has been to construct on its direct by investing in know-how, marketing and merchandise extensions. Its on line companies use algorithms to advise goods dependent on what consumers have purchased prior to, considerably like Netflix Inc. endorses motion pictures.
It’s employed to dimension to slash unique tie-ups with foreign models. Global brand names these types of as Estee Lauder Cos. and MAC Cosmetics Inc. began to characteristic their solutions in India as the industry has grown. They’ve tailored merchandise way too — Estee Lauder offers little 7- and 20-milliliter dimensions of very best-sellers for the spending budget conscious.
Nykaa has expanded to a few independent applications, which includes, most not long ago, an application for men’s products.
“At social and perform gatherings, extremely senior, extremely-productive gentlemen have been quizzing me about pores and skin and hair care so I decided to start Nykaa Person so men could store with no fear,” said Nayar.
Anchit, her son who graduated from Columbia University, runs the beauty e-commerce business, when daughter Adwaita, with an MBA from Harvard Enterprise Faculty, operates the vogue vertical. Her spouse, Sanjay Nayar, is India chairman of KKR & Co.
Ravi Mehta, the London-primarily based controlling director of Steadview Capital and an early investor in Nykaa, mentioned he thinks Nayar’s company has a particularly powerful organization design amid India’s internet providers.
“It’s a single of the quickest-increasing corporations by revenues of the much more than 15 startups that are lined up for IPOs,” Mehta claimed in a mobile phone dialogue. Steadview’s India-centered tech fund has invested in nearby startups, including Zomato Ltd., Policybazaar and Lenskart Methods Pvt.
India is continue to a small industry in the splendor environment and its relatively low conventional of living usually means these who can indulge in Nykaa items are a tiny sliver of the country’s 1.3 billion population. But the variety is escalating with the economy — and the societal changes that are empowering extra women of all ages. Technopak estimates the beauty market will increase a lot more than 8% every year until 2025.
India has occur a lengthy way from the time when most gals shopped for just two beauty merchandise — a red lipstick and a kajal eyeliner. Nykaa is now functioning to persuade them they can indulge and up grade to hair masks and night time-facial area serums too.
“We nonetheless have ways to go,” stated Nayar.


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Excellent day for newspaper coverage today - 16 cuts secured for clients - very well done team!
Here at 72Point we obviously like to keep abreast of the current news agenda so that we are fully up-to-date on everything that is happening in the media world. So the large majority of us have become adept at skim reading for survey based news stories, and anything which might affect the sell-in of stories [...]
We get asked various questions which crop up time and time again. – Can we ensure the brand is mentioned in the newspaper? – What papers are you expecting to use the story? – Can we send a picture of the product? – Are you confident it will get picked-up? The list goes on. But [...]
Infographics are a power tool. Forget about an entire PR campaign – if you absolutely nail it, you can reach literally thousands and thousands of people with immersive, long-lasting visual content that speaks volumes about your brand’s campaign and about your brand as a whole (showing off your flair for the digital and understanding of [...]


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Updated below with take-aways from the April 14 Retail Sales Report.
On April 11 World Trade Organization economists predicted that 2022 global GDP will grow about one-third less than previously predicted because of, “1) the direct impact of the war in Ukraine, including destruction of infrastructure and increased trade costs; (2) the impact of sanctions on Russia, including the blocking of Russian banks from the SWIFT settlement system; and (3) reduced aggregate demand in the rest of the world due to falling business/consumer confidence and rising uncertainty.”
Domestic consumption in China is currently disrupted by anti-covid measures. Economic activity in Japan is slowing. In March Eurozone consumer confidence collapsed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. India’s consumer sentiment also suggests reduced consumption ahead. For millions of consumers worldwide sharp increases in food and fuel prices will leave much less disposable income available for anything else.
In contrast, US retail sales in January and February were the highest ever recorded (see chart below, through February), but the February sales increase did not make up for retail price-increases. Some continued softening in real net spending is likely, but nothing precipitous is — so far — being signaled for March to current (more).
According to the March US Consumer Price Index (released this morning) gasoline prices are up 48 percent compared to twelve months ago, food-at-home is up ten percent, and food-away-from-home is up almost seven percent. Other price movements are mixed, including several recent price declines for many types of apparel and even used cars. But, for example, used car prices still average a whopping one-third above prices one year ago.
Employment is strong. Wages are increasing, even if not always matching inflation. Low earning Americans are likely to spend what they must for food and fuel. What will higher earners decide to do? Many still have much higher savings than usual. Many have just recently begun to spend again on services. Prospects and prognostications are mixed (see here and here).
For most of 2021 US demand and supply was out of whack. There was much more demand for “stuff” than timely capacity to make and ship at volumes and velocities demanded (my wife and I still cannot purchase two long out-of-stock chairs). Demand for stuff (other than new cars and electronic gear?) is diminishing. US spending on experiences — eating out, entertainment, recreation including travel — is increasing. Demand capacity is getting much better calibrated with supply capacity.
Many prices are increasing too, which tends to clarify the distinction between “effectual” and “absolute” demand. But — so far — prices on a wide range of durable goods seem to be stabilizing and (at least until recent China lockdowns) both inventories and flows have displayed less friction. Reviewing these and other market shifts, Craig Fuller at FreightWaves recently wrote, “This is all good for consumers – prices for freight will come down. Supply chain bottlenecks will ease. What were recently inventory shortages are now gluts, and will likely result in price discounts, not increases. This is a late-stage supply chain correction.” Craig is not as affirmative on implications for freight markets.
If the goal is rough equilibrium of supply and demand — with strong employment and positive financial prospects — then less demand for imported stuff and more demand for domestic services is helpful. And… we still have reasonably high demand across a wide range of product categories. Can we keep it? The second chart below is Personal Consumption Expenditures. This suggests we are currently consuming about $700 billion more per month than would have been the case without various pandemic factors at play. We don’t need further increases in demand. A slow, modest deceleration of demand, consistent with “full” employment and an inflation rate closer to four than today’s 8.5 percent would be a tonic… If all the Chicken Little’s could somehow be reassured.
Reduced demand for energy outside the United States — especially by China — increases the possibility of somewhat lower USA pump prices. An early ceasefire in Ukraine could have a similar impact on global food inflation. The combination of lower fuel costs and a less anxious global food market will at least soften US food price increases. (My guess is that we are in the midst of a systemic structural shift in US food prices.) But with or without this help, a great deal depends on how Americans spend their money. If we suddenly reduce spending (demand destruction), everyone is in trouble. If we persist with personal consumption expenditures no higher than February and at or above $16,000 billon per month for the next three to six months (demand deceleration), we should be able to pull US supply chains — and the US economy — through this particular storm without losing our way.
Next storm? Ask me when landfall is predictable. But, as usual, it will depend on demand.
April 13 Update: What’s above is much more open to positive possibilities than most current analyses. So, I am glad to see DHL’s Jim Monkmeyer’s comments at Bloomberg: “We have backlogs for cars, for RVs, for raw materials that are going to drive and spread that demand over a longer period of time — and I think that’s a positive… My hope is that we’re heading to maybe a slight slowdown that isn’t going to be the recession doom and gloom — I’m not in that camp… It’s funny how last year we all hoped for a slight slowdown. Now we’ve got it, and everybody’s worried of course that we’re going to swing the other way.”
April 14 Update: The US Census March Retail Sales Report confirms that US consumers continued to spend with considerable gusto. Total dollars spent increased from $587,808 million in February to $590,365 million in March. Because of inflation, we are buying slightly less with each dollar than the prior month. So, let’s describe March retail sales as flat. But flat is a very relative measure: in February 2020, mostly pre-pandemic, US retail sales were $459,610 million. March 2022 spending is differentiated from one year ago (at the start of sustained supply chain disequilibria). We are spending 37 percent more at gas stations and 9.5 percent more at grocery stores (mostly reflecting increased prices). We are spending 9.7 percent less on electronics and appliances and almost one-fifth more at restaurants and bars (reflecting considerably stronger consumer demand). In terms of the deceleration prescription outlined above: so far, so good.


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The UK tech industry is welcoming a new player to the scene: its first official union.
Called the United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW), the union is a branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which says it will represent and fight for workers interests in the tech industry.
Anyone who develops or deploys tech is welcome to join, as well as general workers for tech companies, whether they are a developer, project manager, courier or warehouse assistant. A spokesperson for the branch told Wired that workers from companies including Asos, Google, Monzo and Deliveroo are planning to join.
“These tech sector workers are leading the way as a new generations realise the value of collectivising struggle and begging to self-organise to build industrial strength, and we are delighted they believe the CWU is the best union to help them achieve this,” said CWU’s head of recruitment and organising Ray Ellis.
The idea for the union started percolating two years ago with the Google walkouts, which saw the tech giant’s staff across the globe, including London, protest against claims of sexual harassment and systemic racism at the company.
Helping to unionise those involved with the gig economy-side of the industry could have massive implications for the companies in the sector, such as Deliveroo and Amazon. The e-commerce giant has attempted to crack down on efforts to unionise in the past, however. Yet the UTAW isn’t just for gig economy workers, but anyone in tech sector, says general secretary Dave Ward.
“It’s indicative of our union’s outstanding reputation in the trade union movement and our innovative communications approach that these self-organised workplace leaders have specifically approached us as the union they want to join and work with to recruit and organise in the sector. They align themselves with our radical, outward-looking model of trade unionism and we’re equally enthusiastic about adding this new dimension to the CWU’s industrial agenda.”
The moves to unionise represent a broader shift in tech workers who want to better the industry and hold the companies they work for accountable, says Sam Franklin, CEO of Otta, a tech recruitment platform. “It’s not surprising to see big tech workers unionising to hold their employers to account. Job seekers tell us they want to work for companies that are benefiting society. They strive to work for companies with a strong mission and strong values, and dismiss employers with questionable business goals. There has never been more focus on better working conditions, enduring efforts to increase diversity and inclusion, and much more,” he said.


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As Asia’s top trade fair for the hardware and DIY sectors, in which specialist traders and buyers are offered a comprehensive category of products and service, China International Hardware Show (CIHS) is a platform preferred by many within the region. The landmark event of the industry is also firmly established as the world’s second largest hardware show after the International Hardware Fair in Cologne, Germany.
CIHS 2010 showcased 2,300 companies from 19 countries and regions, and occupied over 110,000m2 of floor space. The trade fair welcomed over 35,000 trade visitors from 85 countries, who sourced for and obtained information about the latest products and innovations on tools, DIY and building hardware, security systems, locks and fittings. According to the organisers, CIHS 2011 is already 80% sold out. Apart from the return of the well-received Innovative Products Zone from last year, trade buyers can look forward to the debut appearance of the Protective Products Zone, as well as the Mould & Abrasives Zone.


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Christmas is supposed to be a season for joy and celebration – but for millions of families it is one of the toughest times of the year as they struggle to put food on the table and heat their homes.
That’s why Lichfield foodbank is asking shoppers to spread some festive kindness and support local people in crisis this Christmas by donating to Tesco’s annual winter food collection.
From Thursday 18 to Saturday 20 November, customers at Tesco Extra on Church Street in Lichfield will be greeted by foodbank volunteers and encouraged to pick up food items as they shop, to drop in special donation trollies on the way out of the store.
The food donations will be used to support people across the local area who are struggling to put food on the table this Christmas and could be forced to use a food bank over the festive period. Customers are being asked to donate long-life items such as tinned potatoes and vegetables, tinned ham, mince pies and treats to contribute to the 600 Christmas food bags which the food bank anticipates will be needed this year.
The collection has been organised by Tesco who will generously top up customers’ food donations with a financial donation of 20% of the value of the items donated, which will support Lichfield foodbank in the provision of emergency food parcels and practical support in the New Year.
David Clarke, chair of Lichfield foodbank, is asking local people to give generously to the food collection during their supermarket shop.
“This is a very difficult time for many people. Since the end of August, we have seen an unprecedented increase in demand for our services.
No one in Lichfield and the surrounding villages need go hungry.
Whilst we will work with anyone and everyone to bring an end to local people needing emergency food at all, we will continue to support everyone in the community who needs our help until that day comes.
Your donations of our most-needed items will be invaluable this Christmas.
Thanks to Tesco and the generosity of its customers, we hope to continue to offer vital support to families and children during the festive season and over the coming months.”


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Microsoft Corporation is an American global innovation company that produces PC programming, purchaser hardware, PCs, and related administrations. Its most popular programming items are the Microsoft Windows line of working frameworks, the Microsoft Office suite, and the Internet Explorer and Edge internet browsers.
Its leader equipment items are the Xbox computer game control center and the Microsoft Surface arrangement of touchscreen PCs. Microsoft positioned No. 21 in the 2020 Fortune 500 rankings of the biggest United States enterprises by absolute revenue; it was the world’s biggest programming producer by income as of 2016. It is viewed as one of the Big Five organizations in the U.S. data innovation industry, alongside Amazon, Google (Alphabet), Apple, and Facebook (Meta).
Microsoft (MSFT.O) is set to get an unqualified EU antitrust endorsement for its $16 billion bid for man-made brainpower and discourse innovation organization Nuance Communications (NUAN.O), three individuals acquainted with the matter told Reuters.
The most recent tech bargain, Microsoft’s second greatest after its $26.2 billion LinkedIn buy in 2016, follows elevated administrative examination of “executioner acquisitions” by which tech goliaths purchase and shut down beginning new businesses and likely adversaries.
Microsoft reported the Nuance bargain, which would support its quality in cloud administrations for medical services, in April and it has effectively gotten administrative endorsement in the United States and Australia, without cures given. understand more
Known for its spearheading discourse innovation and aiding dispatch Apple’s (AAPL.O) Siri menial helper, Nuance serves 77% of U.S. medical clinics.
The European Commission, which is planning to settle on Microsoft’s proposed Nuance buy by Dec. 21, declined to remark. Microsoft declined to remark.
Microsoft has additionally been in fundamental conversations with Britain’s CMA antitrust organization in front of a proper solicitation for endorsement of the Nuance bargain, the sources said. The organization’s solicitation is relied upon to be documented in January, they added.
A CMA representative said it doesn’t theorize on which cases it may examine. Its size doesn’t list Microsoft’s proposed Nuance takeover as one it is taking a gander at.
The European Commission last month requested that clients and contenders list worries about the arrangement, for example, regardless of whether Microsoft could incline toward Nuance over its rivals or unjustifiably group its contributions, Reuters revealed only on Tuesday.
The effort was the broadest by an antitrust authority exploring the arrangement, a source said. L1N2SO0AR
Tech organizations have inclined up acquisitions of AI-centered firms to attempt to remain in front of contenders as more incorporate this innovation into their items and administrations.


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Cannabis lawyers are heading to Brussels next week to challenge a recent decision by the European Union to reclassify food products containing cannabidiol (CBD) and prohibit their sale.
While the rest of the western world moves towards acceptance of cannabis products either medically or recreationally, the European Union pushed back in February, updating a classification of CBD under the Novel Food Regulation.
The law ((EU) 2015/2283), which applies across all member states, means any product deemed as ‘novel’ must gain authorization from food authorities before it can be sold as a foodstuff within the EU. Food can be considered ‘novel’ if it was not consumed by humans to any significant degree prior to May 1997.
These regulations apply to food supplements, ingredients, and substances intended to be incorporated into food. In the case of CBD, this includes extracts, oils and other derived products that are intended for ingestion by humans.
The decision caused an outcry amongst pro-cannabis groups having come almost out of the blue, and now the legal troops have been mobilized in a bid to overturn the decision.
London law firm Mackrell Turner Garrett, together with a leading food and trading standards barrister, was instructed by the Cannabis Trades Association UK (CTA) to make representations to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Robert Jappie, head of cannabis law at Mackrell Turner Garrett and Jonathan Kirk QC, of Gough Square Chambers, will travel to Brussels on March 12 to meet with EFSA officials.
They are taking issue with the change by the EU in its submission for the term ‘cannabinoids’ states: “Extracts of Cannabis sativa L. and derived products containing cannabinoids are considered novel foods as a history of consumption has not been demonstrated. This applies to both the extracts themselves and any products to which they are added as an ingredient (such as hemp seed oil).”
Although EFSA’s Novel Food Catalogue is merely advisory, domestic regulators rely on it for guidance and are likely to act first, ask questions later.
Austria’s government interpreted the EU law in such to ban CBD even prior to the change, taking a hardline stance to the emergence of multiple shops selling oils, and even CBD-infused cakes, on the high street.
Such is the immaturity of Europe’s technically regulated CBD market, it’s true worth is almost impossible to price. US analysts say CBD could be a $22bn market by 2022; by comparison, any EU sector would larger.
While unexpected, the EU’s decision is a reminder to the business of its independent thinking and willingness to act quickly in cases where it observes a potential threat to consumers.
The soaring popularity in Britain is not in question, however, and can be evidenced in the CTA’s growing membership; since formation in 2016, it now boasts more than 700 members who produce a wide range of legal CBD products.
“The growth of the UK’s CBD industry has been spectacular in the last three years and its contribution to the UK economy is thought to exceed £100m ($130m) per annum,’ said Jappie.
Novel food is defined as food that was not consumed to a considerable degree by citizens of the EU prior to 1997 when the first regulation on novel food came into force.
The EU claims CBD falls into this category, however supporters say hemp flower products such as hemp seed and hempseed oil (extract) are already authorized, and the ban is unlawful
“Only food products that are enriched with isolated CBD should be considered novel,” said Mike Harlington, chairman of the CTA. “Hemp extracts are not novel and this is the position we have presented for almost two years now. Our position remains unchanged. Our members’ products remain legal, and will not be removed from sale.”


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February 22 2018
How Companies Are Using Location Data, in 5 Charts
The use of artificial intelligence is becoming more common in smartphones, connected home devices, wearables and connected cars. By 2020, there will be 20.4 billion connected devices in use, according to market research firm Gartner. Location data is getting easier and easier to acquire.
How to Make Friends & Influence People
As important as customer relationships are their ad tech providers’ data partnerships. Companies with strong data partnerships can open up new worlds of opportunity to brands by providing new audience insights and ways to reach them.
February 16 2018
The January Jury’s out: five resolutions you need to keep in 2018
“New year, new you” This cliché is ubiquitous across the twittersphere and beyond. But if we’re to learn anything from 2017, we need to make good on the issues that held us back.
Here are five resolutions really worth sticking at all the way through 2018.


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You are here
Oxley Holdings' Q1 profit balloons to $250.8m
[SINGAPORE] Formerly known as the king of shoebox units, Oxley Holdings has made it to the big boys' table, with net profit for the first quarter ended September surging to a record $250.8 million, from just $6.6 million a year ago.
For the quarter under review, revenue soared to $686
CALL +65 6388 3838 EMAIL firstname.lastname@example.org


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It's all politics: Cosco-backed Peru port project at risk
China’s Peruvian dilemma
State-owned port group China Merchants has launched an initiative in Shenzhen to boost consolidation and transhipment volumes.
In a bid to break Singapore and Hong Kong’s stranglehold on international transhipment and consolidated imports into China, the terminal operator has teamed up with less-than-container-load (LCL) specialist FS International to create the Qianhai Multi-Country Consolidation platform (MCC Qianhai).
The platform connects China Merchants’ Shekou Container Terminals with a 12,000-square metre container freight station in the adjacent Shenzhen Qianhaiwan Free Trade Port, accessible in 20 minutes by tunnel.
Crucially, four years after originally floating the idea, China Merchants struck a deal with Sehnzhen Customs to allow a 14-day no-declaration period for LCL transhipment cargo.
According to Richard Chan, commercial director of China Merchants Port Holdings, this is a “big breakthrough in China”, and brings Shenzhen’s CFS groupage and consolidation services in line with Hong Kong and Singapore.
“The function is similar to that which a free port can provide,” he told The Loadstar.
“Over the past 30 years this practice was concentrated in Singapore and Hong Kong, because they are the main free ports in Asia. But the situation now is that China is not only a major exporter, but its import volumes keep on increasing, too.
“These kind of CFS groupage and consolidation activities, for import, export and transhipment, should all happen under one hub, instead of the previous practice where export consolidation was done directly from Shenzhen, but all the import and transhipment happened in Singapore and Hong Kong, and then back to China. This doesn’t really make sense,” he claimed.
He said for service providers, the cost of using MCC Qianhai would “definitely” be lower than Hong Kong, and that cargo with final destination in China would gain a “very good transit advantage”.
ASEAN exports to China will also benefit from transhipment in Shenzhen instead of Hong Kong, according to Mr Chan, since only direct shipments into China are entitled to tax free status under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.
MCC Qianhai is a key project in the economic integration of the so-called Greater Bay Area, a recently coined term for the nine cities within Guangdong province combined with Hong Kong and Macau, China’s two special administrative regions. The government wants to transform the entire area into one “megapolis” of 69 million people.
And with the opening of the controversial Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on Wednesday, the future for Hong Kong’s port and logistics activities appear uncertain.
“Hong Kong is facing a shortage of land, with the government trying to acquire more to build public housing, so sooner or later those warehouses will be forced to move,” said Mr Chan.
“Zhuhai is approaching those warehouse operators to move their operations to the Zhuhai Free Trade Zone.”
This would be a suitable substitute for Hong Kong’s export consolidations, he noted, but claimed MCC Qianhai was the better alternative for import and transhipment cargo because of its new “special policy for the free trade port”.
He added: “Hong Kong doesn’t have the warehouse space and the closest area is Qianhai, only 15 minutes’ drive away and with 165 weekly sailings from Shekou. So I have strong confidence in MCC Qianhai and, maybe in a year’s time, we can have a firm position to be one of the major MCC hubs in Asia, like Singapore and Hong Kong.”


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RIDGEFIELD, Conn. -- An Italian rococo giltwood console, an English silver-plated flatware service by Walker and Hall of Sheffield, and a set of eight Waterford crystal wine glasses are among the items being auctioned off by Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards and his model wife, Patti Hansen.
The sale, which includes items from the couple's Upper East Side apartment as well as their Weston home, will benefit SPHERE and The Prospector Theater. The two Ridgefield nonprofits work with adults who have autism, a cause near and dear to the couple's hearts.
According to The Daily Mail, Hansen’s 24-year-old-nephew has autism and has received services from both organizations.
Other items for sale include furniture from England and France as well as a host of paintings and other decorations.
The auction, being handled by Hudson, N.Y.-based Stair Galleries, will be held Saturday, June 24. Go HERE to view the complete listing.
Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.


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It’s hard to believe but CompCon 2019 is looming on the horizon!
After an amazing inaugural event last year, we’re thrilled to announce that CompCon is a go for October 21-22, 2019 at the Terra Gallery in San Francisco.
Today Shawn is joined by Jess Krason, Marketing Events Manager at Payfactors and the organizer of CompCon.
They’ll chat a little about this year’s event and how it might compare to last year’s conference.
And, just for Comp + Coffee listeners, we have a special discount code.
Use the discount code KRASON to get your ticket for $99 — that’s $150+ off the price of your ticket!
As always, if you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe and give us a 5-star rating!


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NEW YORK, TORONTO, and FLORIDA – International convenience brands Uber Eats and Circle K announced separate partnership deals this week with Leafly and Green Thumb Industries Inc. (GTI), respectively, paving the way for qualified shoppers in Toronto and Florida to purchase cannabis more easily.
The Leafly-Uber partnership marks the first time cannabis will be via a major third-party delivery platform. Torontonians 19+ may place delivery orders through the Uber Eats app through a newly added cannabis category from the first three Toronto dispensaries to participate: Hidden Leaf Cannabis, Minerva Cannabis, and Shivaa’s Rose. According to Leafly, menu data is passed from Leafly to Uber via a custom API integration. Customers will need to be within the delivery radius of the licensed cannabis retailer to place their order.
“We are partnering with industry leaders like Leafly to help retailers offer safe, convenient options for people in Toronto to purchase legal cannabis for delivery to their homes, which will help combat the illegal market and help reduce impaired driving,” said Lola Kassim, Uber Eats Canada’s general manager.
In accordance with Toronto’s cannabis regulations, all orders will be delivered by each retailer’s CannSell-certified staff, meaning independent third-party delivery drivers currently working with Uber and Uber Eats will not be able to deliver cannabis.
“Leafly has been empowering the cannabis marketplace in Canada for more than four years, and we support more than 200 cannabis retailers in the GTA [Greater Toronto Area],” Leafly Chief Executive Officer Yoko Miyashita said. “We are thrilled to work with Uber Eats to help licensed retailers bring safe, legal cannabis to people across the city.”
On the dispensary side, Hidden Leaf owners Marissa and Dale Taylor see the partnership as a “great way for us to expand our reach and grow our business across the city.”
In Florida, the recently announced Circle K-GTI partnership will greatly expand the RISE Express dispensary chain’s footprint through one of the largest convenience store brands in the country. Beginning in 2023, GTI plans to lease space with a test rollout of ten RISE Express-branded dispensaries adjacent to Circle K stores. According to a prepared statement from GTI, Florida patients will be able to purchase a selection of products including RYTHM flower, Dogwalkers pre-rolls, incredibles gummies, and &Shine vapes at the same location where they buy gas and snacks.
“The opening of RISE Express stores at Circle K locations is a game-changer,” said GTI founder, chairman and CEO Ben Kovler. Convenience is a strong channel in retail, and people want more access to cannabis.
“The new RISE Express model is a huge step forward in making it easier and more efficient for patients to purchase high-quality cannabis as part of their everyday routine when stopping by their local convenience store,” he added.
The Leafly-Uber partnership, in particular, raises questions about the future of menu listing and other ancillary technology companies like Leafly, Weedmaps, and Eaze that risk being squeezed from the current online shopping equation by much bigger, better-funded companies with the technology, infrastructure, and desire to deliver the goods.
“This is occurring in a federally legal and mature market—Canada. This is a concern that cannabis-related businesses have—that when other major players are allowed to come into the space the landscape will look very different, and these big players will absorb and acquire existing entities,” said Irina Dashevsky, partner and co-chair of the Cannabis Law practice group at Greenspoon Marder LLP.
“But this deal is also a signal of the normalization of cannabis and a nod that it can be in the same conversation as alcohol. The compliance aspect of this deal will be important and is interesting—to ensure that all age restrictions and regulations are adhered to and that this isn’t an opportunity to game the system. It may be that companies like Uber Eats don’t want to take on the burden of compliance and therefore would prefer to partner—at least in the short term,” she added.
In Florida, the Circle K-GTI deal shows no real threat to the status quo. “The critical thing to note is that only licensed entities can retail cannabis. Circle K isn’t licensed and isn’t allowed to just sublease a license from GTI in a manner that allows it to simply add cannabis to the mix of stuff it retails,” said Dashevsky. “This means you are not buying weed from the Circle K employee at the counter or even from Circle K … you’re buying weed from a dispensary employee who is badged as an agent by the regulator and that weed has gone through the seed-to-sale tracking system and is compliant with all requirements. It’s a neat forward-looking deal and nice to see non-cannabis entities are comfortable with alignment with cannabis entities.


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The State Food and Drug Administration of the PRC (“SFDA”) issued a notice on December 10, 2012 with respect to the classifications of 17 medical devices. This notice was the fourth one related to medical device classifications issued by SFDA in 2012.
Under the Chinese medical device regulatory system, medical devices are classified into three classes based on their risks to humans and are subject to different regulatory oversight.
- Class I covers low risk devices and requires only general controls.
- Class II covers medium risk devices that require certain specific controls.
- Class III covers high risk devices — such as implant devices and life-supporting and life-sustaining devices — that require strict controls.
According to SFDA’s latest notice, two medical devices, ultrasound tumor therapy system and skin diagnostic imaging device, are classified as Class III medical devices. Ten medical devices are classified under Class II, including pressure distribution measuring system, sweat sensor for traditional Chinese medication, medical image processing software, fluorescence imaging and graphics software, exhalation heating and filter for ventilator, medical laser fiber, cochlear implant signal converter, contrast sensitivity device with glare, fibercholedochoscopy, and diffused optical tomography with ultrasound in the diagnosis of breast conditions. Non-contact viewing devices for ophthalmic surgeries are classified as Class I.
Additionally, SFDA confirms in the notice that four products are not regulated as medical devices, namely, high-efficiency disposal device for injection needles for medical purposes, manufacturing system for one-stop irrigation solvent, air purifier for medical purposes, and mobile carts.


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Sony recently revealed figures for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. According to the data shared, Sony seems to have overcome the shortage of supply for PlayStation 5 consoles, because there’s an increase of demand. The Japanese electronics company continues to record impressive sales for its second quarter in two years.
All is well at Sony
Sony announced it had sold 6.3 millions PlayStation 5s during the last three months. This is more than three times the amount that the company sold in the same time period in the year prior (2 millions). So, the total sales for the PS5 console surpassed 38.4 million copies. However, on the software side however, the news isn’t as good. Gaming software revenue increased in general, however the number of units sold decreased by 70.5 millions in 2021’s fourth quarter and 68 million in the second quarter in 2022. PlayStation Network monthly active users were up slightly, from the 106 million mark in 2021 to 108 millions. PlayStation Plus subscribers remained stable at 47.4 million.
Sony announced $22.7 billion of revenue an increase of 35 percent, and a net earnings of $945.4 million in the quarter, a decrease of 7% in the quarter that ended March 2023. For the entire financial year 2022, it produced $84.8 billion revenue. Although the company grew its revenue to 16 percent, they also increased its net income by a small amount by a small amount to $8.9 billion. The Japanese company’s gaming division was able to earn $1.8 billion of net profits even though it saw an increase of 27 percent from year to year. In terms of revenue, the gaming segment produced $26.8 billion in revenue increasing by 33 percent. Apart from the previous console and game-related side the company also makes cameras. The net profit of this segment of the company increased by 37 percent, up to $1.56 billion.


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Alagie Saidy Barrow, former director of Research and Investigations at the Gambia’s maiden Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), has authored a book entitled: “The Dictator Is Us, My truth commission journey“.
The book is being printed by Global Hands Publishing – The Gambia and is expected to be released on 1st December 2022.
On the front cover of the book, the author Mr. Saidy Barrow said: “Until Gambians take a long hard look in the proverbial mirror and wake up to the reality that the dictator Yahya Jammeh was not an aberration, that he is of us and made by us, we will continue to delude ourselves into thinking that we are better than the tyranny we created, nursed, nourished, and unfortunately, accepted for twenty-two years“.
In a Facebook post by the author on Sunday morning, he said:
“I’m working with a dedicated group of Gambians under the umbrella of Global Hands Publishing. Our target is to get the book released on December 1st and launch it in The Gambia sometime in December. Other countries will follow sometime in 2023. The publishers are doing all they can to get the books in The Gambia by mid-December.
For those outside The Gambia, the book will be available online on major book-selling platforms by December 1 barring any hiccups.
I cannot say how grateful I am for all your support through the years. Without you all, I would not have had the heart to start writing this book. So thank you all.
Importantly, my share of any proceeds from this book will all be dedicated to the victims of the APRC government. I’m not yet 100% set on the modalities of how to do this but the proceeds will definitely be for the victims. I welcome ideas and suggestions on how to ensure we can set up a lasting project that will benefit the victims of the Jammeh/APRC tyranny.
Once again, to everyone sending messages of encouragement, I’m grateful. I’ll share the launch date once the publishers finalize everything.“


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With strong demand and container shortages continuing throughout the Christmas and New Year period, sea freight rates from Asia have not softened and show little sign of easing before the Chinese New Year (CNY) holidays in February – at the earliest.
Consumer demand across Europe remains strong, with companies unable to restock in the face of this sustained demand and it will take some time to balance this out, which is why we may not see demand levelling off post-CNY. Maybe not until March, or even into the second quarter.
The China freight rate index, China Shanghai Containerised Freight Index, reported spot rates rising above $4,000 per TEU ($8182 a FFE) on the 31st December, equivalent to a 264% increase year over year and the highest we’ve seen quoted.
Anticipating a lull in demand, carriers typically announce blank sailings six to eight weeks before Chinese New Year. But so far only seven blank sailings have been announced on the Asia-Europe trade, over the three-week Chinese New Year period from the end of January, around 10% of capacity, compared with the 40% blanked last January.
Another major factor and influence, if not the most relevant, is that all carriers now have at best shortages of equipment and at worst no containers at all in many of the base ports throughout Asia. Regardless of the cost carriers physically cannot load product and several carriers have stopped offering services into the UK and Europe on their ad hoc spot platforms and are unable to perform their basic functions of shipping containers for contracted customers. This is creating a ‘pay to play’ market where containers, when they are available, are being auctioned to the highest bidder.
While there are reports in the press that some China factories will remain open to service backlogs of orders, we believe that they are more likely to close as normal for the public holidays and that the carriers actions are intended to rebalance container flows.
There is still a lot of catching up for China factories to do and it will be a while before their order backlogs are resolved and tight equipment availability remains a severe problem for the foreseeable.
Metro’s commercial experts monitor the container market from Asia continuously and are in constant contact with our origin teams for local assessments, so that they can react proactively to changing conditions and developments. We have a significant number of experts in Asia and UK operations managing shipments to consignment level with each now becoming a ‘project’ movement absorbing many hours of time.
While we may hope for more market stability this year, all the signs are that we will face another challenging time. Having closed off most of our contracts with partner carriers we are ahead of the market and well placed to deliver reliability and cost effective solutions based on a fixed validity pricing structure.
Protect your supply chain and budgets for 2021, by providing us with your forecasts now, so that we can secure you a deal for the year ahead, that has fixed validity and consistency in pricing.
Call Ian Barnes and/ or Grant Liddell to discuss the latest market situation and your plans for the year.


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On April 25th, the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre welcomed entrepreneurs and small business owners from across the Yukon for the Startup Canada Tour. The event featured informative workshops, expert panels, and inspiring keynote speeches, all focused on the challenges and opportunities of starting a business in the Yukon and beyond.
The day was a great sucess with a keynote presentation from Bob Baxter, President of Yukon Brewing, who shared his experience building a successful company in the North. The event also marked the launch of the Government of Yukon’s new private sector sick leave program, which aims to support businesses and workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the day, attendees had the opportunity to learn from successful entrepreneurs and industry experts on topics such as branding, supply chain management, and funding. We also had a chance to witness our members’ successes and participation in the event, including Karen McColl for interviewing The Honourable Ranj Pillai, and bootcamp alumni Natasha Peter, Teresa Ward, Ben Pereira, and Joline Beauregard, as well as Caitlyn MacMaster, Nicky Rosenberg, Barrett Horne, Shayna Hammer, and Lisa Preto. Special thanks to sponsors Myles Hougen from Yukon Built and Bob Baxter from Yukon Brewing.
One highlight of the event was the StartupGlobal Pop-up Pitch Competition, which gave entrepreneurs the chance to showcase their innovative ideas and compete for a spot in the national finals. The Top 3 pitchers delivered compelling presentations, demonstrating the diverse range of talent and creativity in the Yukon.
As the Startup Canada Tour continues to Halifax on May 2nd, then onto Vancouver on May 11. Get all the updates here. We want to extend our thanks to everyone who made the Whitehorse event a success. It was a day full of inspiration, learning, and celebration of Yukon entrepreneurship, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for these innovative and resilient businesses!


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Intended as a measure to prevent partners from reverting to paper-based document transmission-rather than comply with the electronic transmission requirements of HIPAA-Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM, Detroit) has held a number of information sessions for customer groups, trade associations, billers and vendors.
"BCBSM currently has an electronic claims processing rate that is among the highest of health plans in the nation," reports BCBSM's CIO, William Smith. Eighty-five to 88 percent of claims received by BCBSM from physician offices and hospitals are sent and processed electronically. Additionally, 98 percent of prescription drug claims are processed electronically, according to Smith. "If we allow these organizations to revert back to paper, BCBSM will have huge operational issues and administrative costs" says Smith. "We can't allow that to happen."
Sense of Urgency
BCBSM hosted an informational session geared toward conveying a sense of urgency to billers and payors that the organization believes are not up-to-speed regarding the impact of HIPAA on their practices, Smith reports. Additionally, BCBSM prepared HIPAA-readiness updates and hosted statewide, face-to-face information sessionswith customer groups, trade associations and chambers of commerce. For its own employees, the carrier developed classes on the law's privacy provisions.
In anticipation of billers and payors being ready for compliance at different times, BCBSM built a dual operating environment that accepts both compliant and non-compliant transactions. The only third-party vendor piece of software within the environment, according to Smith, is Foresight's (Columbus, OH) Validator software. Smith explains that the online self-service testing tool is used by software vendors and developers who do business with the company to validate whether transactions meet HIPAA standards.


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Ahold Said to Seek US Foodservice Buyer
Global grocery retailer Ahold reportedly is considering selling all or part of its US Foodservice distribution unit.
Company officials declined to comment on a Financial Times report Wednesday that cited unnamed sources as saying the Netherlands-based company was considering the divestment to pay down debt and restore its credibility after a recent accounting scandal.
Ahold has been struggling to achieve accurate accounts since its February announcement that Maryland-based U.S. Foodservice had overstated profits by about $880 million from 2000 to 2002.
The plan to sell US Foodservice has been mapped out by Dudley Eustace, Ahold's interim chief financial officer, and other executives as part of a strategy to reduce euro12 billion ($14 billion) in debt, the Times reported.
Private equity and venture capital groups have expressed interest, the newspaper said.
A source told the newspaper that his company was in early talks with a corporate partner to buy parts of US Foodservice, but added that a sale of the whole company would be logical. Given that talks were preliminary, the investor said it was too early to talk about price, according to the report.
U.S. Foodservice, the second-largest food distributor in the United States after Sysco Corp., caters food and meals to schools, hospitals, restaurants, the army and prisons.
Ahold shares in Amsterdam closed 6 percent higher at euro5.98 ($7).


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At WWDC today, Steve Jobs announced that over 130 million e-books have been downloaded from Apple’s iBookstore. That’s an increase of 30 million since March, when Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) last provided download figures.
Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) does not release figures on how many e-books have been downloaded from the Kindle Store, but here are some statistics that help put Apple’s 130 million figure in perspective:
-Amazon recently announced announce last month that it is now selling more e-books than print books–105 e-books sold for every 100 print books.
-Also in March, Random House announced that all 17,000 of its e-books would be available through the iBookstore.
-It’s generally believed that the Kindle’s market share for e-books is at 60 to 65 percent, while Apple’s hovers around 10 percent.
-Apple’s iBookstore carries over 200,000 titles, and the Kindle store has over 950,000 titles.
-The 130 million figure provided by Apple does not differentiate between free and paid e-book downloads.


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Reflecting the growing importance of technology and gadgets to the British consumer, Apple held three spots in the top five alone, with the iPhone, Apple itself and the iPod. Technology brands dominated the list overall, with Apple joined by Nintendo, YouTube, BlackBerry, Google, Bang & Olugsen and PlayStation.
Aston Martin, the favourite car of James Bond, swapped places with the iPhone to take second place, and was one of three car manufacturers in the top 20. It was joined by Ferrari and Mini, which this year celebrates its 50th birthday.
Up-market classic brands like Dom Perignon and Rolex also maintained their 'cool factor' and are still present in the list despite the economic downturn.
Falling out of the top 20 were Agent Provocateur, Ducati, Nike and Facebook, all of whom remained top of their respective catergory. Lamborghini also dropped out of the top 20.
Stephen Cheliotis, Chairman of the CoolBrands council and Chief Executive of The Centre for Brand Analysis said: “Aston Martin has finally lost its top spot in the rankings but only just – in fact considering cool is seen to be very fluid and changeable the top twenty shows remarkable consistency with 15 of last year’s top twenty in there again; equally most of the category winners are the same – so much for cool being a fleeting thing.
"That said, it would be easy for the brand leaders to take their eye off the ball, become complacent and let others steal their thunder, so they really should be congratulated for continuing to maintain their lead in the eyes of the experts and consumers.”
CoolBrands 2009/10 Top Twenty:
1. iPhone (up one place)
2. Aston Martin (down one)
3. Apple (same position)
4. iPod (up 36 places)
5. Nintendo (up two places)
6. YouTube (down one place)
7. BlackBerry (up 16 places)
8. Google (down two places)
9. Bang & Olufsen (down five places)
10. PlayStation (up five places)
11. Xbox (down 28)
12. Tate Modern (down two)
13. Dom Perignon (down two places)
14. Virgin Atlantic (down two places)
15. Ferrari (down two places)
16. Sony (same position)
17. Mini (up 11 places)
18. Vivienne Westwood (up 23 places)
19. Rolex (down ten places)
20. BBC iPlayer (New entry)


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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After a year of COVID-19 restrictions, Kentucky's bourbon industry is overflowing with visitors, so much so that most of the bourbon tours are booked for the next month and a half.
"I think everybody is just so excited to get out of the house," marketing manager at Heaven Hill Distillery's Kentucky visiting experiences Anna Hibbs said. "We are on track to exceed pre-pandemic numbers in terms of the people coming so that's a huge deal. We're in June and nobody knew what to expect when we reopen."
Heaven Hills Distillery recently opened a $19-million tourist center where visitors can learn about whiskey while taking sips.
"We are booked about four to six weeks out right now," Hibbs said admitting the demand comes as a bit of a surprise. "How comfortable they would feel, what they would see and do how long they would take to rebound, but I think it's safe to say that Kentuckians and people around us are ready to get back out there"
Adam Johnson is the senior director of Kentucky Bourbon Trail Experience and a part of the Kentucky Distillers Association.
"We anticipated things would be busy. I don't know if anybody expected things to be just out of the gate running full steam ahead," Johnson said. "Here at the KDA, we're just hearing about a lot of traffic across our membership, across our partners that we work with including transportation partners, our restaurants."
Vice President of Marketing Communications at Louisville Tourism Stacey Yates says most of the traffic is on weekends with hotels reaching up to 80% occupancy. The primary driver of travel is bourbonism.
"We're such an easy drive for people too. So we're seeing from the six hour radius people coming in," Johnson said.
The pent-up demand is what experts call a good challenge becomes it signals a brighter future for the bourbon industry after a year of unknown.
"Every day our guys are trying to add more tours, stay open a little later, bring on more tour guides," Johnson said. "That's something they're constantly working on so hopefully by the fall it will feel more like normal along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail."


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Since winning the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov have used every opportunity to chastise US Big Tech and the threat they believe it poses to society. Across Washington, Brussels and London, lawmakers voice similar concerns. So far, however, global regulation has yet to diminish the market share of companies such as Amazon, Apple and Meta.
One of the difficulties in shaping comprehensive regulation is the breadth of concerns. In addition to competition, politicians worry about online privacy, safety and bias.
Some countries have made moves. In Korea, app store operators such as Apple can no longer force developers to use their own in-app purchase systems and pay out a chunk of revenue. Europe’s Digital Services Act demands that companies improve content moderation.
The US has yet to impose limitations on a similar scale, though work is under way to broaden the scope of regulation. See the antitrust bill from senator Amy Klobuchar, which seeks to ban Big Tech companies from prioritising their own products and services.
Competition policy in the US remains focused on keeping consumer prices low. But the Federal Trade Commission, led by Lina Khan, is seeking to expand antitrust definitions. In July it sued Facebook’s parent company Meta to block its acquisition of LA-based virtual reality company Within. VR remains a nascent sector — and a loss-making business for Meta. But the FTC points out that Meta already dominates VR via devices and apps. If successful, the case could slow down vertical integration M&A across the sector.
Still, it is unclear how far the US will go to hobble its most successful home-grown sector. Consumers are more concerned about inflation than tech power. Ostensibly free services such as search and social networks remain popular.
That helps tech lobbyists. Note that one of the biggest changes made by Congress in recent years — the $50bn Chips Act — did not curb the tech sector but supported it.
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According to the BMO Mobile Banking Survey released today, the majority of mobile owners in Canada take advantage of financial apps with two-thirds (69 per cent) of respondents saying they began using them within the past year.
The survey, conducted by Pollara, revealed:
In total, 68 per cent of Canadians own a mobile device, with 70 per cent of those saying they use mobile banking apps
Those who use mobile apps for banking use them frequently, with nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) saying they use them on a weekly or daily basis
The most popular tasks using a mobile banking app include checking account balances (55 per cent), followed by reviewing transactions (44 per cent), managing bill payments (41 per cent) and transferring money between accounts (35 per cent)
While only one-in-five (20 per cent) currently have a financial app that provides alerts, 27 per cent say this would be one of the most useful features offered by a mobile banking app
Younger Canadians have been the quickest to embrace mobile banking technology, with seven-in-ten (71 per cent) of those under 35 using mobile banking - this compares to 55 per cent of those between the ages of 35-44, 40 per cent of those aged 45-54 and 26 per cent per cent of those aged 55-64
While the most popular methods of banking remain in-person or at an ATM (95 per cent), mobile banking, including banking apps, is quickly gaining in popularity.
"The adoption rate among our customers of mobile banking has outpaced even that of online banking, showing the growing appetite for this type of technology for everyday banking needs," said Dan Dickinson, Managing Director, Mobile and Online Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal. "Mobile banking and financial apps provide Canadians with a number of benefits and features that make it easier and less time-consuming to manage finances on the go."
While mobile banking apps have surged in popularity, concerns about privacy and security among all age groups represent the number one reason why some Canadians are avoiding using the technology.
"We know that customers are looking for convenience and security over anything else when it comes to their everyday banking," added Mr. Dickinson.Dickinson. "Our online and mobile banking solutions are 100 per cent guaranteed to protect our customers against unauthorized transactions. However, it's also important that customers do their part - both for online banking and other online transactions - to minimize fraud and protect their information."
Mr. Dickinson added that there are a few simple ways Canadians can protect their information, including choosing strong passwords and changing them on a regular basis, and never writing down passwords or PINs.


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Buzz: Dell to sell mobile phones?
A Dell Inc. executive said April 1 that the computer maker has room to be more experimental with consumer gadgets, but declined to comment on whether it plans to sell mobile phones. Details... more »
TI, India medical school team on health care monitoring
Texas Instruments Inc. has entered a collaborative agreement with Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, to develop semiconductor technologies that will help improve the quality, comfort and accessibility of health care. Details... more »


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The Berroco team (Emily, Alison, Ashley and I) are on the road this week, presenting the Fall 2015 collection at The National Needlearts Association trade show in Columbus, Ohio. The show is where we get to share our new yarns and designs with yarn shops from all over.
While fall weather is (thankfully) still a few months away, the time to talk fall knitting is now! We’re just a week away from officially unveiling our new collection for Fall/Winter ’14. Can’t wait that long? Here’s what you need to know… Read more
It’s hard to believe that in just a few weeks Norah, Amanda and I will be on our way to sunny Long Beach, California. We won’t be wasting any time on the ocean, though. We’ll be at The National Needlearts Association’s annual winter trade show.


text: IGN is reporting that the next chapter in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XIII, has barely gotten into the production phase. "According to Sony's press materials, the highly anticipated RPG sequel is now 13% complete. Yes, a low, unlucky completion percentage. But thankfully it's not as low as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which is listed as 1.3%!" And remember, even if it's completed sometime late next year or early in 2009 folks in the states will probably have a wait while the game is localized.


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Last week’s Uber hack started with a contractor’s Uber login details being bought on the “dark web”, the company says, as it blames cybercrime group Lapsus$ for the attack, and claims no user data was breached.
The claim comes a week after incident response firm CrowdStrike said malware use was plummeting because it was so easy to buy valid user credentials on cybercrime forums that give an initial entry point to networks.
The Uber hack update, posted late UK time on 19 September, also said however that the contractor’s personal device was infected with malware, giving access to their Uber credentials. The company also confirmed the contractor was subjected to MFA push spamming, until they finally gave in and accepted a request.
“From there, the attacker accessed several other employee accounts which ultimately gave the attacker elevated permissions to a number of tools, including G-Suite and Slack. The attacker then posted a message to a company-wide Slack channel, which many of you saw, and reconfigured Uber’s OpenDNS to display a graphic image to employees on some internal sites,” said the Uber hack update post.
The latter part of the quote above seemingly confirms the report from an anonymous Uber employee, quoted by Yuga Labs’ Sam Curry, saying any attempt to load a website instead brought up “a pornographic image and the message ‘F*** you wankers.’”
But while initial reporting of the hack suggested the attackers gained access to significant swathes of Uber’s IT infrastructure, the company denied they had accessed anything significant.
“We’ve not seen that the attacker accessed the production (i.e. public-facing) systems that power our apps; any user accounts; or the databases we use to store sensitive user information, like credit card numbers, user bank account info, or trip history,” said Uber.
“We reviewed our codebase and have not found that the attacker made any changes. We also have not found that the attacker accessed any customer or user data stored by our cloud providers (e.g. AWS S3).”
Uber said an internal system used to “manage some invoices” was breached, with the attacker exfiltrating data from the system. The company said it was “analysing” the stolen data.
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The Uber hack update did confirm its Slack and HackerOne environments had been breached, as widely reported.
In the case of the latter, it said all bug reports the hacker could have accessed had been remediated.
Uber’s confirmation that the breach started thanks to stolen credentials underlines the trend towards credential trading, rather than malware, which researchers have been seeing. Given the growing spread of compromised credentials, and the systemic weaknesses in some approaches to MFA, the time is ripe for a new approach to trust and authentication.
The company said it had identified compromised employee accounts, "disabled many affected or potentially affected internal tools" (which given early screenshots showed had included most environments must be... a challenge for productivity) rotated keys for internal services, locked down its codebase and was "further strengthening our multi-factor authentication (MFA) policies" (without providing further details on what that means.)


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Fisker Inc has announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2022 and offered an update regarding reservation numbers for its Ocean electric SUV.
The EV startup said it has over 56,000 reservations as of August 1, 2022, including 5,000 preorders for the limited-edition Ocean One launch model. This effectively means the Fisker Ocean One is sold out, which is great news considering that each customer had to put down $5,000 to secure their order.
"This is a historic moment, where thousands of customers committed $5,000 for a vehicle many have only seen in pictures, demonstrating our customers' excitement for the Fisker Ocean vehicle and the value proposition of our brand and product. It's clear Fisker's approach to price positioning and design, plus our unwavering commitment to sustainability, is the right one for the future!"
Henrik Fisker, Fisker Inc CEO
The executive added that preorders for the Fisker Ocean One came from all nine launch markets—Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. More importantly, he noted that these 5,000 preorders "represent approximately $350 million of potential revenue for Fisker once all vehicles are delivered"—assuming no one cancels their preorder.
It's also worth noting that Fisker Ocean reservations increased by 11,000 since the Q1 2022 earnings call, when the company announced 45,000 reservations.
Gallery: Fisker Ocean at Goodwood FoS 2022
Preorders aside, Fisker also said that its manufacturing partner Magna-Steyr has completed 55 Ocean prototypes, which are currently performing various final testing before the start of production scheduled for November 17, 2022. The contract manufacturer continues to build additional prototype vehicles.
Two of these prototypes recently landed at Fisker Inc's Manhattan Beach, California headquarters, allowing employees to see the vehicle up close and Henrik Fisker to drive it on some familiar local LA roads.
As for Fisker's second vehicle, the PEAR, reservations have increased to over 4,000, an increase of 800 units since the previous update in early June.
Speaking of the sub-$30,000 entry-level model, Fisker said that development is progressing well and the company continues transitioning engineering and purchasing teams to the project. Based on the Fisker-developed SLV1 platform, the PEAR will be built by Foxconn from 2024 at its recently acquired plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The EV startup expects an annual output of at least 250,000 PEAR vehicles per year once the plant ramps up production.
Moving to the financial part, Fisker said it had $851.9 million of cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2022, which it deems "sufficient to fund the production launch of the Fisker Ocean in November 2022 and for additional vehicle development throughout 2022."
Operating losses in Q2 2022 totaled $88.7 million, including $1.2 million of stock-based compensation expense, while the net loss totaled $106 million and $0.36 loss per share.


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FIPP's Global Digital Subscription Snapshot for November 2019 reveals the music streaming services with the most subscribers worldwide. As this infographic shows, Spotify currently boasts the largest figure, with 100 million premium subscribers. As FIPP points out, the Swedish giant and China's Tencent are the only major global players that don't have a US origin, "making the market less dynamic and diverse than it’s video counterpart."
Spotify's rise to the top has been an impressive one. By its fifth birthday in 2013, it had around 8 million premium subscribers. In the years since however, the service’s subscriber numbers have skyrocketed, reaching the magic 100 million by the end of Q2 2019. Spotify has also been able to keep the juggernaut that is Apple at bay. Apple Music, with its unrivalled financial and marketing power (not to mention a ready-installed base of hundreds of millions), may have managed to amass 60 million subscribers, but has so far failed to climb to the top of the music streaming perch - something most people expected to have long since occurred.


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Union City is sprawling, with concrete and metal covering nearly every square inch the eye can behold. But at the Troy Towers apartment complex on the hill overlooking Hoboken, a small patch of green is developing.
Starting on Sunday, June 16, the complex, located at 380 Mountain Road, will host a weekly farmers market, bringing the best “Jersey Fresh” products north for hungry Union City residents.
The market, which is in its second year of operation, was originally the brainchild of Troy Towers Board of Directors member Mary Jed Olson, who reached out to the New Jersey Commerce Bureau with a simple, yet powerful, idea.
“I thought it was great to have fresh produce around,” she said.
With the help of the Commerce Bureau, Olson and the rest of the board worked out a contract to bring certified “Jersey Fresh” products to Union City, culminating in the opening of the farmers market at Troy Towers last year.
The market developed slowly last summer, running every other week.
As the temperatures rise and the selling season begins, Olson knows that she and the rest of the board of directors need more local support.
“We could use more participation,” she said.
In an effort to build community awareness of the market, Olson and the board of directors have decided to open up the market on a weekly basis all the way from Father’s Day to the end of October.
It’s all part of an effort to give the market a measure of consistency within the community in hopes of attracting a bigger local following.
“We could use more participation.”- Troy Towers Board of Directors member Mary Jed Olson
And if people know that the market is there, then it is one step closer to gaining permanent footing in Union City.
Olson’s efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Recognizing the potential present within the farmers market, other companies and groups have reached out to Olson to try to include their products at the fair as well. Olson says that an Amish group attempting to sell a line of jams and jellies and a flower seller have approached her.
But Olson has no plans to expand just yet, as she is intent solely on bringing the best produce that the state has to offer to Union City.
“Right now, we’re just grateful to have New Jersey fresh product,” she said.
The market is held every Sunday through Nov. 17 at 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, see http://www.jerseyfresh.nj.gov/cgi-bin/agriculture/jerseyfresh/search.pl?type=urban&county1=hudson.


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Activity on the Aer Lingus site peaked on Monday, reaching pre-pandemic amounts final recorded in March 2020.
Reid Moody, the airline’s Main Strategy and Setting up Officer claimed need is sturdy for St Patrick’s Working day weekend, where the additional bank holiday getaway is providing folks an incentive to go absent.
Talking on Morning Ireland, he mentioned there is a ton of curiosity in vacation to the Usa around that lengthy weekend.
Weekend breaks abroad and ski breaks are also well-known, in accordance to Mr Moody, when a lot of people appear to be planning to travel throughout the February midterm.
He mentioned there is strong demand for the standard routes to the Canaries, Spain and Portugal about Easter and the Summertime, though there is also a substantial quantity of interest in the US routes.
Mr Moody claimed there has also been a great deal of need for inwards tourism and enterprise travel.
Somewhere else, Nicola Duggan, the Basic Manager of the Sneem Lodge in Co Kerry, said they have also witnessed a development of improved bookings for the season forward.
Speaking on Morning Eire, Ms Duggan explained they have witnessed greater bookings with the announcement of the further lender holiday in March.
“March/April past yr we ended up shut, so we would review it to 2019,” she said.
“So we are observing an boost from 2019, something up to 20% of enhance.”
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Ms Duggan stated they count a great deal on the domestic market place and they are “incredibly confident” in it.
Having said that, she explained they are worried about the over 55s and the active retirement industry, which she said they have not found the return of because the pandemic started.
“We’ve found trickles of it, but not a big amount of it, and this is a substantial section of our company as nicely,” she said.
“We are hopeful that we will see it come again and we hope that the development of bookings carries on in the next few of months, but we would like to see all of the markets arrive back.”


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Over the weekend Google has announced that it’s purchased the cyber-security company VirusTotal for an undisclosed sum of money. Virus Total uses 44 different antivirus products and scan engines to check for viruses that the user’s own antivirus solutions may have missed in their searches.
VirusTotal providers users with a free service that analyses suspicious files and URLs and facilitates the quick detection of viruses, worms, trojans, and all kinds of malware.
Currently their website is still up and running and at the present time Google has not amounted plans for the new purchase. VirusTotal explained in a press statement:
“VirusTotal will continue to operate independently, maintaining our partnerships with other antivirus companies and security experts,” the startup said in a blogpost announcing the acquisition. We’ve worked hard to ensure that the services we offer continually improve. But as a small, resource-constrained company, that can sometimes be challenging.”
It will be interesting to see how Google uses the new purchase to help improve its services, keeping viruses and malware at bay, as more information is announced we will keep you updated.
Source: Computer World
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A lawsuit filed last week may have far-reaching implications for the animal-rights movement.
Feld Entertainment and the Ringling Brothers Circus sued the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), its lawyers and several other animal-rights groups under the auspices of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. Full story.
The nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) unearthed the lawsuit in federal court records.
“America’s farmers, ranchers, hunters, fishermen, research scientists, fashion designers and restaurateurs have seen for decades how the animal-rights movement can behave like a mobbed-up racket,” says David Martosko CCF director of research. “But it’s still shocking to see the evidence laid out on paper. In a treble-damage lawsuit like this, a jury could actually do the humane thing and finally put HSUS out of business completely.”
In its Feb. 16 lawsuit, Feld leveled bribery, fraud, obstruction of justice and money-laundering charges against HSUS and two of its corporate attorneys; three other animal-rights groups; the Washington, D.C., law firm of Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal, and all three of that firm’s named partners.
Last week, CCF launched www.HumaneWatch.org, an online watchdog project dedicated to analyzing HSUS' activities. Here's news on the Web site of a full-page advertisement that the Center for Consumer Freedom took out in Tuesday's editions of The New York Times.
"The new HumaneWatch Web site is the only place the public will be able to read this lawsuit," Martosko added.
Source: Cattle Network, Center for Consumer Freedom