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By Emma Okonji
Having saved the federal government over N10 billion in one year through the implementation of information technology (IT) clearance on the importation of foreign IT products into Nigeria, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has opened fresh talks with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and technology start-ups in the country.
The move is to develop new ways of raising the standard and quality of locally developed products and solutions.
The Director-General of NITDA, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami who made the disclosure, told THISDAY that the move became necessary, following complaints about some substandard IT products and solutions that were developed locally.
Pantami, said the move would complement government’s effort on the huge success recorded since the establishment of its IT Clearance and Monitoring Unit, which he said would continue to save money for the federal government and the Nigerian economy.
“The essence of ensuring clearance and monitoring at NITDA’s office is to save money for government. Within one year, we have saved over N10 billion for federal government.
“I can recall a single project that was brought to NITDA for clearance and after thorough review of the project, we discovered that we were able to save N3.2 billion for government from a single project, after reducing some of the quoted figures on that single project.
“But again, we need to promote the quality and standard of all IT products and solutions that are locally developed and produced in Nigeria, in order to ensure that investors get value for their money, since we are depriving them of patronising foreign developed IT solutions that could be produced locally in Nigeria,” Pantami said.
It was for this reason that NITDA decided to collaborate with OEMs and technology start-ups to discuss new ways of helping them improve on the quality and standards of their products.
“We have a lot of local OEMs that are doing well but they need to improve on the quality of their products to attract more patronage,” he added.
According to him, “NITDA is keen on supporting local content development and promotion. NITDA wants to ensure that local content development comes with world-class quality because there are lots of complaints about the quality of our hardware and software.
“To address this, NITDA is working with industry stakeholders and Original Equipment Manufacturers to ensure that they improve on the quality.
“We have had meetings with them in Lagos to thinker how to improve on the quality of locally produced hardware and software.
“Government, through NITDA is ready to assist them to improve on quality. At one of the meetings, they raised their concerns and challenges and we told them we are willing to enforce any existing law that will give them backing and protection in the course of local content production, provided they stick to quality.
“We do not have issues working with the OEMs, but the only challenge we have with them is on the issue of quality of their products, which oftentimes, is substandard, a situation that has always scared investors from investing in local software and hardware.”
Pantami assured Nigerians that NITDA would continue to encourage investors not to import IT products or parts of IT products into Nigeria, when we have the local resources and manpower to produce such products locally in the country.
To achieve quality in local production, Pantami called on local OEMs to establish service centres in Nigeria, beginning with Abuja and Lagos to ease the challenge of fixing faulty products in Nigeria.
“We even advised them to partner among themselves to jointly establish local service centres in the country since it is expensive to establish a single service centre and maintain it, Pantami said.
“In the area of local content promotion, NITDA has been monitoring the budget of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government and we have always asked them to visit NITDA to seek clearance on IT projects because NITDA serves as the clearing house for all IT projects for MDAs. “When they come to us for clearance, we ensure that a certain percentage is dedicated to local content. Through this effort, we have been able to make the MDAs to understand that they are not allowed to import IT products that can be produced in Nigeria,” Pantami further said.


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Mid-cap firms' pension gap
MID-CAP companies are more vulnerable to pension fund shortfalls than FTSE 100 ones, according to research from actuaries Mercers. About 47% of FTSE 100 companies showed a deficit under FRS17 accounting rules, compared with 69% of smaller FTSE 250 firms.
Mercers also found that net assets of midcap companies were typically much smaller relative to their pension funds.
'FTSE 250 companies are significantly more exposed than the FTSE 100 companies,' it said.
It has been revealed that the FRS17 deadline has been delayed until 2005.
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LOS ANGELES — Paul Van Doren, co-founder of the Vans company whose iconic Southern California sneakers were beloved by skateboarders and became an international success, has died. He was 90.
The company, based southeast of Los Angeles in Costa Mesa, announced Van Doren’s death on social media Friday but didn’t provide any details.
“Paul was not just an entrepreneur; he was an innovator,” the company said. “Paul’s bold experiments in product design, distribution and marketing, along with his knack for numbers and efficiency turned a family shoe business into a globally recognized brand.”
Van Doren was a high school dropout who moved to Southern California from the Boston area. Van Doren, his brother James (who died in 2011) and business partners Gordon Lee and Serge Delia opened the Van Doren Rubber Co. in Orange County in 1966, making and selling their own shoes. At first, they struggled to produce enough of the product to fill the shoeboxes on store shelves.
Van Doren had two decades of experience in shoe manufacturing but none in retail, he recalled.
“The first person gave me a $5 bill; a pair of shoes was $2.49," he told Los Angeles Magazine last month after releasing his memoir, “Authentic.”
“But I didn’t have any money in the cash register, so I gave her the shoes,” Van Doren said. “We ended up selling 16 or 18 pair of shoes that day. You know what? I said, ‘Come back later to pay.' Every one of those people came back and paid."
Van Doren's son, Steve Van Doren, said his father's acumen helped make the business a success.
“My dad was a systems guy,” Steve Van Doren told the Los Angeles Times in 2009. “He did things like color-coding the boxes, blue for men, green for women and orange for boys, so you could see what inventory you had right away. He would only open stores that had a free right-hand exterior wall because he thought that was the best place to catch someone’s eye if they were driving by.”
Van Doren also allowed people to order customized shoes. He expanded the customer base by allowing various designs to be sold everywhere from surf shops to department stores.
In “Authentic,” Van Doren said the key to success was to give customers what they wanted.
“If it’s a checkerboard, if it’s bright pinks and yellows, or if it happens to be dinosaurs or a skull and crossbones, listen to their two cents’ worth about colors and designs,” he said.
The shoes, with their canvas tops and tough, diamond-patterned rubber soles, caught the fancy of skateboarders. The company, which kept a sharp eye on trends, was quick to catch on.
“Everybody else was kicking these kids out of the park, kicking them out of pools. And here’s a company listening to them, backing them, and making shoes for them," Van Doren told Los Angeles Magazine.
The company paid professional skateboard Stacy Peralta to wear its shoes. Vans also sold shoes individually, which benefited skateboarders who tended to wear out one at a time.
The brand's popularity soared after Sean Penn wore his own pair of Checkerboard Slip-Ons in the 1982 movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
However, knockoffs and competition ate into Vans' profits, along with misguided efforts to expand the range of its offerings with specialized shoes for football, basketball, skydiving and even breakdancing. The company was forced into bankruptcy protection in 1984 and was sold to a banking firm in 1988.
Over the years, the brand's popularity waxed and waned, losing ground to newer, high-techier kicks and regaining it when retro came back into fashion.
The firm, renamed Vans Inc., went public in 1991 and in 2004 was sold to VF Corp. of Denver, which owns a large number of footwear and apparel brands including Dickies, JanSport, Timberland and The North Face.
Today, Vans produces its shoes overseas. It continues to sell its traditional designs while also keeping an eye on trendsetters by collaborating with designers, skateboarding, BMX and surfing pros and other celebrities.
Vans racks up around $2 billion a year in sales and its shoes have been seen on the feet of Justin Bieber, Kanye West and the Kardashians.
The company also has built skateparks and sponsored various events, including the Warped Tour, an annual international traveling rock festival, and the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, Calif.


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Volkswagen’s labor leader has rejected a plan by management for a big rise in productivity at the core division, saying structural changes were causing worries among workers.
Volkswagen brand chief executive Herbert Diess plans to increase productivity by 10 percent this year, but this goal is not to the liking of works council chief Bernd Osterloh. In an interview with online platform IG Metall bei Volkswagen, he said Diess’ target is “unrealistic” and may result in job cuts among salaried employees. “We will not support a further drive towards performance,” Osterloh said. “We principally view productivity in a positive way … But we expect that VW at the same time guarantees the security of employment.” Volkswagen is facing huge costs from its emissions-cheating scandal, thus trying to revamp its troubled namesake brand where profits are shrinking amid high labor outlays and costly in-house production of engines, transmissions and other components.
Diess plans to cut investments at the division by 1 billion euros per year compared with previous targets and speed up efforts to increase cost savings. Part of the overhaul, the company recently announced it reorganized its vehicle development, appointing a senior manager for each of the four main production series covering VW’s small, compact, mid-size and battery-powered cars, giving them full responsibility for matters such as technology and redesigns. “The 12-point plan of Mr Diess is causing unease” among workers already disturbed by the fallout from the emissions crisis, said Osterloh. “At the moment there are more questions than answers. That is bad.”


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Following the Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer Bitmain, there are mining machine manufacturers interested in going public. Bloomberg quoted sources as saying that Bitfury is considering listing as soon as next year. If Bitfury is listed in the next two years, the initial valuation will range from $3 billion to $5 billion USD.
Sources pointed out that Bitfury has contacted investment banks to discuss listings in Amsterdam, London or Hong Kong. However, issues related to the future of cryptocurrencies and the lack of uniform regulation have led some investment banks to avoid consulting on such IPOs. He said the company is exploring multiple options and may decide to issue bonds or sell minority stakes, but there is still no final decision. Bitfury representative refused to respond to the rumors.
According to the report, Bitfury’s income only accounts for a small portion of the income of Bitco. The latter officially uploaded preliminary IPO documents on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September this year. Prior to this, Bitfury’s chief earnings officer, Henry Monzon, had reservations about whether Bitcoin could be listed this year, and said that all feasible fundraising methods were considered and discussed.


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About four years removed from its official announcement, the first all-electric vehicle from luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin has finally been revealed.
The Aston Martin Rapide sedan (called the Rapid E) is the electric version of the company’s gas-powered Rapide S vehicle. It was officially revealed at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 16, and while the company didn’t announce the car’s price, it was revealed that only 155 vehicles would be made.
The company’s designers and engineers implemented slight alterations to the sleek four-door vehicle to help enhance its aerodynamic properties. Since electric vehicles don’t need as much air as gas-powered vehicles, the grill of the Rapide E was altered to accommodate less air. The area under the vehicle’s exterior was built to make air pass underneath it smoothly.
The vehicle is powered by a 65kWh (602 horsepower) , 800-volt engine, and it can travel over an estimated 200 miles on a single charge. It has a top speed of 155 miles per hour, and it has twin motors mounted at its real axle, which generate 450kWh of power.
The company claimed that the vehicle will be able to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4 seconds, and it can be charged at a rate of 310 miles per hour.
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Salt & Straw, the family-run ice cream purveyor known for its artisanal, chef-driven approach to an American classic, has announced plans to open a new scoop shop at 8949 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood next year.
As an introduction to the community, Salt & Straw will be hosting a fundraiser for The Trevor Project on Friday, November 18 from 7 pm – 10 pm outside the forthcoming shop, offering $1 scoops of their inspired flavors like Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons, Chocolate Gooey Brownie, Honey Lavender and more. Proceeds from the fundraiser will go toward crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ young people ages 13-24.
“It's been an incredible journey since we first came down to Los Angeles two years ago, and we’re so thrilled to be able to continue setting down roots here,” says Kim Malek, who founded Salt & Straw in Portland with her cousin, Tyler, in 2011. “We’ve been continually inspired by all the unique enclaves like West Hollywood that make this city so vibrant, and are looking forward to becoming a part of the local fabric.”
The West Hollywood scoop shop will feature all the staple flavors that have made Salt & Straw so beloved by Angelenos since its arrival in the city’s Larchmont Village area in 2014. Recipes are created with 100% all-natural cream from Scott Brothers Dairy in-line with the company’s philosophy to source the best possible products available, and all ice creams are churned in a local kitchen in Boyle Heights to ensure optimal quality and freshness.
The West Hollywood location will be the fifth Los Angeles scoop shop in the Salt & Straw family, joining the original flagship shop in Larchmont Village and outposts in Venice, Studio City, and the Arts District. For more news on Salt & Straw and to stay up-to-speed on the newest flavors, visit www.saltandstraw.com.


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The quick service restaurant sector is one of many corporate worlds that frequently experiences shifts in customer preference and industry trends. What’s the next bandwagon? According to Nation’s Restaurant News contributor Jonathan Maze, quick serve restaurants are embracing smaller, more specialized menus. But is that necessary or even a good strategy? Is there an alternative?
“Is there an alternative to small, simple menus?”
Maze based his assertion about the latest specialized menu trend on McDonald’s experiences in the past few years. McDonald’s rapidly added new products to its menu – reaching almost 140 items in total, according to Maze – until sales started to fall in 2012. So, the fast food brand started reducing the number of offerings in restaurants, as well as considered only selling certain popular foods via the drive-through, which isn’t completely out of the picture, Maze asserted.
McDonald’s Menu has Been Losing the Fast Food Wars
Here is where Maze’s small menu ideology fails to make sense: The Street’s Real Money Contributor Brian Sozzi argued that McDonald’s is losing the fast food wars, and he has data to back it up. Out of 61 million fast food restaurant visits, 79 percent were made to quick-service restaurants, and 23 percent of those were to brands in the hamburger category, according to Sozzi, who cited NPD group research. That same report, Sozzi explained, specifically said that McDonald’s and similar restaurants had “quite weak” performances in June.
The solution: “McDonald’s badly needs new menu items right now, and it needs to issue a press release so that Wall Street and consumers know what the new items are and where they are available,” Sozzi wrote.
There might be a need to reduce the number of menu items for a lot of quick-serve brands, but some restaurants don’t think that is the solution, especially if their menus aren’t particularly massive. Instead, these other companies are trying to remove the complexity behind operations. Maze explained that Arby’s and Burger King have this strategy because despite removing some products from their offerings, taking items off the table is difficult and not always a sound idea. It’s about making operations easier and getting products delivered to the customer faster. That way, it doesn’t matter how many items a menu has.
The best way to mitigate any problems with complexity of operations and speed of service is to implement better training programs in both back of house and front of house.
And of course, training should include a variety of techniques. Food Service Warehouse highlighted the importance of using visuals in conjunction with hands-on training. Sessions with presentations can go a long way, but employees should always put their knowledge to work with role playing. Then, staff members can be sent home with manuals and supplemental materials.
Furthermore, Small Business Chronicle recommended that quick-serve restaurants should always focus on improving how well their employees work, and therefore, these companies’ managers should constantly devote resources to making their staff members more productive. In other words, only training new hires is a mistake – everyone should take classes regularly or review materials on a consistent basis. Workbooks and manuals for front of house and back of house use can act as a reference guide for existing employees. Allowing staff to access those training resources at all times is a necessity, making both physical copies and digital versions quite valuable.
Additionally, hanging posters that detail certain tasks at specific workstations can keep employees in the know. With step-by-step guides or simple bulleted reminders, staff members will have no excuse for forgetting ingredients or service guidelines.
The quick-service retail sector might be evolving rapidly, but these restaurants should not forget the basics of customer service and providing consumers with options.
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Ruger's plans for new Mayodan plant come at fortuitous time
Sturm Ruger & Co. is planning to pull the trigger on a third manufacturing facility in Mayodan at a time when gun sales continue to soar nationwide.
The Connecticut-based gun maker (NYSE: RGR) has already indicated that its two other gun facilities in Newport, N.H., and Prescott, Ariz. are at capacity and that, as we reported online earlier this week, Mayodan is the company’s preferred site for a third facility. The expansion, which is still awaiting approval of state and local incentives, would entail up to 500 jobs over five years as well as a $30 million investment by the company to establish operations.
Nima Samadi, a guns and ammunition industry analyst with IBISWorld, said Ruger is pursuing the plant amid a dramatic increase in gun sales during the past year that hit a boiling point in the aftermath of the shootings in Newtown, Conn.
“Consumers are clamoring to get guns before there is a potential change in gun laws,” Samadi said.
Meanwhile, gun shops continue to have trouble keeping their shelves stocked.
“They are doing extra shifts, hiring additional workers and even that is often not enough to keep up in some cases." he said.
Samadi couldn’t speculate about the company’s goal for the facility but he did say Ruger’s new plant in Mayodan could help the company eventually “leapfrog” over Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ: SWHC), which holds 3.9 percent of the U.S. gun and ammunition market. Ruger is close, holding 3.5 percent of the market.
“The two are very close at this point,” Samadi said. “They are both very well-known, iconic brands. Most gun enthusiasts know about them.”
Katie Arcieri covers manufacturing, transportation/logistics, aviation, textiles, tobacco and furniture. Contact her at (336) 370-2913.
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Animal Agriculture Alliance invites food industry leaders to the table for 2019 Summit
Today, the Animal Agriculture Alliance announced that its 2019 Stakeholders Summit, themed “A Seat At The Table,” is set for May 8-9 in Kansas City, Mo. The annual conference brings together thought leaders in the industry to discuss hot-button issues and out-of-the-box ideas.
“The conversation surrounding animal agriculture has been going on for much too long without engagement between key stakeholders,” said Kay Johnson Smith, alliance president and CEO. “Taking a seat at the table at this year’s summit is an opportunity for leaders from all parts of the food supply chain to connect on issues impacting animal agriculture.”
Restaurant, retail and foodservice companies, farms and ranches, government agencies, agribusinesses, and agriculture and food associations are invited to attend summit and take a seat at the table. Summit attendees will learn about key issues facing food and agriculture and gain the supportive network and tools needed for success in their business.
Registration for the summit will open later this year. Proposals to speak at the event are being accepted through Nov. 10, 2018. For more information, visit the proposal guidelines and form at https://bit.ly/2R5nEe9.
Check the summit website for the most up-to-date summit information. You can also follow the hashtag #AAA19 for periodic updates about the event on social media. For general questions about the summit please email email@example.com or call (703) 562-5160.
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A Mid-Plains Community College cowboy took the win in the team roping Saturday at the Triton Stampede in Fort Dodge, Iowa.


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Ship-buyers look for discounts as newbuild orderbook is squeezed hard
The arrival of a bearish containership charter market could lead to delivery dates for newbuild ...
Shipping association Bimco is predicting a gloomy outlook for the liner industry, with weak demand growth and a return to negative margins for ocean carriers.
The timing of the Chinese new year tends to skew container throughput during the first quarter but Bimco’s latest container review says it now has sufficient data for a “first glimpse at the real trend” and suggests there are “many pitfalls” expected in the coming months.
It advises that compared with the first three months of 2018, the number of containers shipped in Q1 19 grew just 0.5%, which it says is “massively” below the expansion of previous years, when growth hit 6.6% in 2017 and 3.6% last year.
“A growth rate as low as 0.5% is a critical issue for an industry used to much higher growth,” said chief analyst, Peter Sand.
Indeed, the industry recorded double-digit growth for the first half of the decade, which has eased to an average of about 4% in the past few years.
But this year has seen leading line Maersk take a downbeat view on its outlook, with chief executive Soren Skou disappointing investors by forecasting very modest growth of 1-3% for its liner business.
The peak season for the Asia-Europe and transpacific tradelanes, which generally runs from July to September, is a crucial period when carriers expect to enjoy their most profitable voyages. However, there are concerns around boardrooms that this year’s peak season could be a damp squib.
Bimco said it had “started to see some weakness” in intra-Asian trades, which it said provided an early indication of how the long-haul peak season would perform.
It said: “Intra-Asian volumes tend to peak before the long-haul volumes, as many of the semi-finished goods are in transit to final production stages just before the peak export season out of Asia starts in July.”
On the supply side of the equation, Bimco said that, in terms of capacity, the global container fleet grew just 1.1% during the first four months of the year, but with the delivery of mainly ULCVs expected for the rest of the year, its forecast for supply growth was currently 3.1%.
Notwithstanding that this container fleet expansion forecast would be the second-lowest growth on record, it will still mean a further move towards widening the supply-demand imbalance that is guaranteed to dent the bottom lines of all the liner industry players.
It is a scenario that even the financially stronger of the carriers can ill-afford. According to an earnings review by New York-based analyst Blue Alpha Capital, the top 11 ocean carriers, excluding MSC which does not publish any financial or operational information, were collectively $470m in the red in the first quarter.
Only Hapag-Lloyd, with a net profit of $103m, and China state-subsidised carrier Cosco, with a surplus of $82m, were in the black.
Moreover, the former’s chief executive, Rolf Habben Jansen, suggested in an earnings call presentation that he expected Q2 to turn out to be a tougher period than Q1.


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Publix recently opened its second GreenWise Market in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, at the Indigo Square shopping center.
GreenWise Market is a specialty, natural and organic store featuring grab-and-go options, organic produce, gourmet treats, local and unique products, bulk items, body care, and a variety of in-house made products. Customers can also purchase a glass of wine, locally brewed beer, locally roasted coffee, tea or smoothie to enjoy while they shop or relax in one of the store’s seating areas.
The first GreenWise Market opened in Tallahassee, Florida, in October 2018. Eight additional locations have been announced, and three of those are expected to open this year. The company said it continues to look for additional GreenWise Market locations throughout its operating area.
“We’re excited to bring the simple, yet sophisticated, environment and high-quality, unique products of GreenWise Market to the Mount Pleasant community,” said Kevin Murphy, Publix president. “GreenWise Market is more than a store. It’s a gathering place where our customers can discover local items, indulge in a decadent treat or find the items they need to support their healthy lifestyle.”


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McDonald’s, the world’s renowned restaurant chain, marks its 30th anniversary in Serbia this year.
McDonald’s was the first international company to come to former Yugoslavia and Southeast Europe in 1988 and the first chain of restaurants of its kind that introduced a new business culture and food service.
During all these years, McDonald’s also changed in terms of modernization, monitoring of technological and market trends and trends, but what has been constant since the first day and why this company is well known around the world is the top quality products, services and customer satisfaction.
“Over the past three decades, we invested heavily in Serbia, we opened 26 restaurants, employed over 1200 people and served millions of guests. All these are facts that confirm that McDonald’s is a reliable partner to the Serbian economy. This year, we plan to open another restaurant in November in Novi Sad, and in the next years we will continue with investments, opening new restaurants and hiring new people, “said Veselin Janićijević, director of McDonald’s in Serbia, adding that the employees who are extremely dedicated to their business, loyal and open to new knowledge and experience, are the most important pillar of this company’s success.
In the year that marks the thirtieth anniversary of its work, McDonald’s has introduced several new services in Serbia, such as delivering food at home in Belgrade and Novi Sad, serving table foods, where hostesses in restaurants help guests by giving guests food , he can sit and hostesses bring him food to the table. In addition to the guests at the restaurants, self order kiosks are available, where the guest himself orders food, as well as the made for you concept, where food begins to accrue after the customer has made the order.
For a 30-year success, McDonald’s partners are also responsible, local suppliers who comply with all procedures and rules when food safety is concerned and who deliver daily groceries to restaurants every day.
McDonald’s shares its success with the local community in which it operates by supporting a variety of sports, art and cultural events, but it also helps numerous associations, institutions, and people with special needs by providing them work at McDonald’s restaurants and thus helping their inclusion.


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CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) — The rush to return is on as the day after Christmas is considered one of the biggest days of the year for gift returns.
If you take a walk around Cherry Hill Mall, it’s easy to see that on the day after Christmas, for many shoppers, it’s like a marathon.
“This is home items for the most part, some of the Christmas stuff, Christmas scents, so, you know, because 50 percent off is OK and 75 is almost free,” said Claudine Namey, who is shopping at the mall with her daughter.
It’s the deep discounts that many like Namey and her daughter wait for. According to the National Retail Federation, 54 percent of consumers overall plan to spend about the same as last year while 24 percent plan to spend more. Either way, many shoppers told CBS3 Eyewitness News that strategy is key.
“It’s light right now but I like to actually come to mall, get in and out,” said Julie Jones from Camden.
“I like getting here early and taking off early, beating the crowd,” expressed Namey.
Other shoppers like Latoya Scott did all of their shopping online. However, Scott found herself away from the computer and back inside the mall to avoid spending extra money on gift return mailing shipping costs.
“Without having to do it, mail it back, I’d rather head to the store. It’s easier if they have the same brand, we can just exchange it today instead of mailing and shipping costs, you know it’s kind of easier,” explained Scott.


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SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Mini Electric Cars Fill Gap in China as Official EVs Sputter
The tiny electric car that Chen Xianping drives to work over bumpy
country roads in Shandong province says much about the hurdles facing
China's efforts to promote electric vehicles and the big car companies'
efforts to sell them.
It's not a beautiful machine. The Shifeng brand car resembles a plump
Fiat Mini with oversized headlights and has a top speed of about 50
kilometres per hour.
But Chen's little car has a big advantage: It cost only 31,600 yuan
(about $5,000), far cheaper than BYD's larger e6, which costs 369,800
yuan ($58,700). And it helps that it's not a real car in the eyes of the
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Israeli executives expressed growing pessimism regarding expectations for business and the economy as summer progresses, according to a survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics in July.
The monthly survey focuses on the outlook for the following month.
The survey results, published Wednesday, found that expectations in the manufacturing sector worsened by every measure, including anticipated orders from Israel and abroad, production and employment in August compared to July.
- As coronavirus stages comeback in Israel, economists’ outlook darkens
- Worst of Israel's economic fallout from coronavirus is yet to come
- Israel’s bleak future in a permanent coronavirus economy
Expectations in the construction, retail, wholesale and services sectors worsened across the board as well.
The hotels sector expressed a slight improvement in terms of the number of room nights it expected to see Israelis book in August this year, versus August last year, given that Israelis are not traveling abroad for vacations.
Israel’s retail sector expected sales to decline in August versus July.
The Bank of Israel’s survey of companies, conducted most recently from mid-June through late July, found that the contraction brought the net balance in the business sector to a very negative level, lower than even in Israel’s last two financial crises in the first quarter of 2009 and in 2001-02.
Israel is in the middle of a second wave of infections of the novel coronavirus, and economic activity has been limited in an attempt to stop the virus’s spread.


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Glenfiddich has unveiled its 2021 Lunar New Year Whisky bottle, designed by Rion Wang. Part of a three-edition series, the new offering tells the story of The Great Homecoming and features a bottle of Glenfiddich 21 Year Old Reserva Rum Cask Finish Whisky. The Speyside distillery and Shenzhen-based artist also collaborated on the first edition of the series, which was released in December of 2019.
The Second Glenfiddich 2021 Lunar New Year bottle features the brand’s iconic Stag, known as Fu Lu in Mandari, and celebrates his triumphant return home to Scotland. “I wanted to tell a story that evokes the warmth and excitement of Lunar New Year – the irreplaceable feeling and anticipation of finally coming home to loved ones,” commented Wang. “Inspired by the Glenfiddich spirit of experimentation and adventure, I created an illustration that comes alive with symbols of generations old and new. I loved playing with the symbiosis of Chinese and Scottish cultures – two connected countries on opposite sides of the world.”
Wang’s dynamic four-box design will show people making their way home by road, rail, air and sea, all filled with symbols and bright colors. Glenfiddich’s iconic stag represents wealth, prosperity and longevity in Chinese culture.
Glenfiddich 21 Year Old Reserva Rum Cask Finish Whisky offers aromas of barley, orange peel, marmalade, brioche, and chocolate. On the palate, the Whisky is sweet and full, offering apple, vanilla, malt, and spice. The finish is long with notes of mocha, pear, and a hint of spice.
The Glenfiddich 2021 Lunar New Year bottle is set to be released in the coming weeks and the brand has already launched a colorful campaign for the bottling, which can be watched below.
Earlier this month, Glenfiddich revealed a new campaign starring Michelle Dockery. The award-winning actress “features as a woman confident in her stride, full of power and poise, captured in striking still images.” Vogue photographer and activist Misan Harriman snapped the photos at Lyaness in London.


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After an initial healthy curiosity about electronic nicotine delivery devices around 2014, a nervous pall seems to have settled over the use of e-cigarettes and vaping. Strikingly, it is members of the public health establishment that have fanned the pessimism surrounding the battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine without the carcinogenic tar.
One leading culprit is the Centers for Disease Control which refuses to acknowledge the steep risk reduction for smokers who switch to non-combustible tobacco, overlooks evidence of immediate gains in respiratory health when e-cigarettes are used as an alternative to smoking, and dramatizes as yet unrealized harm to children. Other alarmists include various states, California, in particular, some quarters of the press, anti-tobacco advocacy groups, and special interest groups such as the American Lung Association. Internationally, negative perceptions have emerged among health care professionals in Greece and among smokers in the UK as well.
These messages have all helped to undermine the public’s confidence in the relative safety of electronic nicotine delivery over conventional combustion-based delivery.
However, at the heart of this skepticism in the US is the FDA, who has devised an onerous rule that “deems” e-cigarettes to be tobacco products and thus subject to the same regulatory regime as combustible cigarettes. The rule, which was promulgated last April and put into effect last week, places undue regulatory burden and cost on vaping manufacturers. Many companies and industry observers are extremely concerned that the rule will prevent them from maintaining the availability of their products, let alone the ability to make devices more satisfying to users and effective in weaning them off cigarettes.
We’ve heard a lot of predictions about the detrimental impact of the deeming rule from vaping companies, industry watchers, and public health advocates of harm-reduction. Now, thanks to a new survey, we are hearing from consumers themselves.
Russell surveyed 9,040 current e-cigarette users in all fifty states on what they expect to do when FDA’s deeming rule prevents them from legally buying the e-cigarette products they currently use.
The sample consisted of 8,451 current e-cigarette users who were former smokers, 282 current e-cigarette users who were also current smokers, and 307 current e-cigarette users who had never smoked. About three-fourths of those questioned said they would stock up on their preferred e-cigarettes in advance of the rules being implemented; nearly 70 percent said that they would buy their e-cigarettes and e-liquid from a non-licensed vendor (creating an unregulated “black market”); 66 percent said they would import e-cigarette products from overseas; and 65 percent said that they would make and mix their own e-liquid on their own premises.
A modest one-fifth said they would switch to an FDA-approved e-cigarette if their preferred devices are taken off the market.
Finally, only 15 per cent of vapers said they would revert to nicotine replacement products, such as nicotine patches and gums, or smokeless tobacco, which are all, of course, much safer than resuming smoking. And one in ten of the vaping non-smokers predicted they might start smoking regular cigarettes if they find themselves in a situation where they cannot legally buy their preferred e-cigarettes or e-liquids.
Respondent predictions about their future behaviors always need to be taken with a grain of salt – as actual behaviors down the line may differ – but this proviso notwithstanding, these data are important. They underscore a stunning flaw in the FDA’s rationale for the deeming rule: failure to consider unintended consequences.
While the FDA seeks data on the “population” impact of vaping (in particular, that e-cigarettes set youth on the path to smoking), it never asks about the impact of its regulations on the estimated 8.34 million established vapers in the U.S., the vast majority of whom are former smokers who have completely switched to non-combustible nicotine products or who are transitioning. What about the public health impact on them?
This question goes to the heart of a recent amicus brief submitted in support of a lawsuit filed in May 2016 the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Nicopure Labs, based in Tampa, Fl., against the FDA (disclosure: I am an amicus signer). The brief, spearheaded by the brilliant Clive Bates, makes the case that reducing the availability of vaping devices via heavy regulation will have the unintended consequence of leading to more people starting smoking, and more former smokers resuming smoking. This likelihood, which the FDA does not acknowledge, would more than offset the benefit that FDA uses to justify its rule.
The FDA’s questions about youth vaping and smoking are worth asking – but the agency’s mandate for manufacturers to submit data prior to product approval is deeply misguided. Although patterns of youth uptake, flavor preferences, and nicotine level preferences are important data, they do not trump the benefit to adult smokers’ health. The issue is whether these youth population data need to be known prior to the approval of devices and liquids that meet basic safety standards and good manufacturing practices. I believe not, especially when FDA regulations leave combustible cigarettes intact in the marketplace.
Russell has submitted his study to a peer-reviewed journal. The work was conducted independently by the Centre for Substance Use Research (CSUR); not funded by any tobacco, e-cigarette or any other company or organization. His data strongly suggest that vapers will not be passive in light of FDA actions and most will take matters of their health into the own hands. Unfortunately, their efforts to compensate (e.g. purchasing on black market; mixing their own nicotine) pose needless risk.
The regulatory politics of non-combustible nicotine products stand as one of the great paradoxes in public health. While our health agencies now strongly champion harm reduction for opiate misuse, they are making it more and more difficult to improve and save the lives of smokers. This is a deadly dereliction of duty to American public health.


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(All photos: Clifford Atiyeh/Boston.com Staff)
(All photos: Clifford Atiyeh/Boston.com Staff)
NEW YORK—Recession, you were a jabbing pain in our side, and nearly killed a few of us. You drained our balance sheets, made us sacrifice some of our private jet flights, and even forced a few journalists to pay for meals on press trips. Please, let's forget last year and get back to selling cars.Automakers want you to know, despite tough government mandates and below-record sales, that they're recovering fast. At the New York International Auto Show in Manhattan, optimism (and a new Optima) is back.
Breakout designs, advanced hybrid vehicles, and increasing fuel efficiency paired with higher performance were at nearly every stand.
Nissan’s radical mini crossover, the Juke, looks like a dune buggy with its stubby, jacked-up proportions. Its closest competitor is another Mini crossover, the Countryman, which puts a Goofy hat and two extra doors on the popular Cooper hatch. Both rely on small, high-revving four-cylinder motors, the Nissan’s turbocharged unit squeezing 180 horsepower from just 1.6 liters. These are a strange bunch, but they’re funky enough to create yet another vehicle category.
Some automakers are feeling so good they've curbed sticker shock. BMW dropped the all-new 535i’s base price by $1,650 and its 550i — packing more power and an 8-speed transmission — by $900. The second-generation Infiniti QX56, now with active suspension and a more efficient V-8, stays at $56,700.
Detroit was rather quiet. Ford showed the Lincoln MKZ version of its superb Fusion Hybrid, Chevrolet a 40 mpg-rated “Eco” model of its upcoming Cruze compact, and Chrysler, nothing.
It was the Koreans who took over New York. Hyundai and Kia continue to weed out their 1990s-era also-rans thanks to skilled US and European designers. The results, like the 2011 Kia Optima, are shocking in their sophistication. Fluid curves, high-quality interior materials, and features like a panoramic sunroof and Microsoft voice recognition make the Optima unrecognizable from the cheap, frumpy car it was last year.
Ditto for the new Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, which uses lithium-polymer cells that are lighter than traditional hybrid batteries. The Sonata promises 62 mph in electric mode and an impressive 37 mpg in the city and 39 on the highway. Hyundai is so confident it will sell a $60,000 sedan, the Equus, in the fall. Initial inspection proves these cars are more than up to snuff, but recent testing of several Hyundais and Kias reveals a general lack of ride quality and powertrain refinement.
Further evidence of an automotive boomtown comes from Porsche, which unveiled a hybrid version of its best-selling Cayenne SUV. Where regular hybrids turn a blind side to performance, the Cayenne S Hybrid can run at 97 mph on electric power — triple that of a Prius, for nearly triple the cost. Some gas may be saved.
Then there’s the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, the stripped-down race version of the company’s “gullwing” exotic. And Cadillac, in defiance of low production volumes and minimal profit, is honoring enthusiasts with the CTS-V Wagon, a 5-door with 556 horsepower.
Great cars are here again, and the best ones aren’t that fast. It’s time to raise our chins back up.
The author is solely responsible for the content.
About Boston Overdrive
|Clifford Atiyeh is an automotive writer and car enthusiast . He has spent his entire life driving cars he doesn't own.
In the garage: 1995 21-speed Iron Horse, 2002 Jeep Wrangler X (by association)
|Bill Griffith is a veteran Boston Globe reporter, having reviewed cars for more than 10 years and serving as assistant sports editor for 25 years. He was also the paper's sports media columnist.
In the garage: 2006 Subaru Baja
|John Paul is public affairs manager for AAA Southern New England, a certified mechanic, and a Globe columnist. He hosts a weekly radio show on WROL.
In the garage: Hyundai Sante Fe, Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible
|Craig Fitzgerald has been writing about cars, motorcycles, and the automotive industry since 1999. He is the former editor of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.
In the garage: 1968 Buick Riviera, 1996 Buick Roadmaster, 1974 Honda CB450
|Keith Griffin is president of the New England Motor Press Association and edits the used car section on About.com. He also writes for the Hartford Business Journal and various weekly newspapers in Connecticut.
In the garage: Mazda 5, Dodge Neon
|George Kennedy is a senior writer for WheelsTV in Acton, which produces video reviews for Yahoo, MSN, and other auto websites.
In the garage: Lifted 1999 Jeep Cherokee


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UK Gambling Commission Threatens Unlimited Fines For Operators Targeting Underage Gamblers
The UK gambling Commission is continuing their crackdown of gambling firms who target children. According to research over 450,000 children are gambling in England and Wales on a weekly basis which has set off alarm bells.
The commission plans to punish companies that glamorize gambling in their adverts or use adverts that appeal to children in their ads and could face unlimited fines. Companies like Coral which were proven to target children will now face even tougher penalties.
As of October operators will also face tougher penalties for sending spam or texts to players while also been compelled to solve customer complaints within an eight week deadline. This follows years of complaints from players about difficulties withdrawing their money and misleading bonus offers.
CEO of the Gambling Commission Neil MacArthur re-iterated the Commission’s obligation to the consumers and said,” Protecting the interests of consumers is priority for us. These changes will protect consumers from irresponsible advertising and misleading promotions, ensure that consumers can withdraw their money more easily and will mean that consumer complaints are dealt with more swiftly.’
Gambling operators have already face the wrath of the Advertising Standards Authority and firms like Coral have seen numerous adverts for their animated games been banned. These include figures with childlike appeal that included Rainbow Riches, Fishin Frenzy and Lucky Wizard which were all deemed to appeal to under 18’s.


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With its performance driven by the U.S. and Central America & Caribbean due to successful vaccination campaigns and more flexible travel protocols, travel retail giant Dufry reported gradual improvements for the first half of 2021, as Dufry CEO Julian Diaz reiterated that the company was “positive on the opportunities lying ahead” of it as it re-opens its operations globally.
As of June, Dufry reports that around 1,600 stores were open, representing over 75% of sales capacity, and expects to open up to 70% of shops and close to 85% of sales capacity by the end of August.
The company also saw continued improvements upon easing of restrictions and encouraging demand for travel retail in open locations with July net sales performance of -50.4% compared to 2019.
Summarizing its financial growth in the first six months of 2021, Dufry reports that turnover reached CHF 1,187.2 million compared to CHF 1,586.9 million in the same period in 2020 and versus CHF 4,180.1 million in the same period in 2019.
Organic growth for the first half of 2021 stood at -22.8% versus HY 2020, and 69.5% versus HY 2019.
Like-for-like performance came in at -28.1% versus 2020 because the pandemic started to impact Dufry’s business globally from Q2 2020 on.
Net new concessions represen-ted +5.3% in a temporarily muted environment for opening up new or extending contracts for existing operations.
The translational FX effect in the period was -2.4% mainly as a result of the USD devaluation, the currency in which most of the turnover was generated in HY 2021.
Dufry reports that it added 5,387 sq. meters of retail space during HY 2021, which it characterized as “in a highly disciplined manner.”
In the Americas, these additions include 700 sqm of space at the Porto Alegre Megastore duty-paid (Brazil) shops, and a number of innovative duty paid concepts in the U.S. Dufry rolled out its Hudson Nonstop concept, sup-ported by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology at Dallas Love Field Airport in Texas and Chicago Midway International Airport.
Hudson also opened new stores at Salt Lake City International Airport, a new Automated Retail location at Chicago Midway International Airport, and new stores at the Virgin Hotel Las Vegas.
Other business highlights include Dufry’s first Duty Free store in Odessa, Ukraine, as well as additional stores in Turkey, Greece and Russia.
Dufry says that its cooperation with Hainan Development Holdings (HDH) for the Global Duty Free Plaza at the Mova Mall in the city center of Haiku in Hainan, China, will proceed with the second opening of an additional 30,000 sq meters of space by the end of Q3 2021. This collaboration also adds to Dufry’s strategic partnership with Alibaba Group to operate offline and online travel retail in China.
Slow start to year
Dufry Group CEO Julian Diaz acknowledged that the first half of 2021 was characterized by a slow start due to ongoing restric-tions.
With the progress on vaccination in many parts of the world and the implementation of supportive travel protocols, he said that “Dufry sees clear signs of recovery in the respective regions. We are certainly not where we want to be yet, but the high demand for travel retail and the unique shopping experience offered by our operations give us confidence for the months to come.”
Net sales for July were already back at a level of -50.4% compared to 2019, he said. Also positive, the U.S. reported -23.9%, Central America and Caribbean excluding the cruise business was at -17.6% and the Mediterranean region, Eastern Europe and Middle East were -32.3% compared to 2019.
Dufry also refinanced, executing CHF 1,600 million in relevant maturities, now first coming due in 2024, and including extension of covenant waiver for another twelve months. The company also reports a strong liquidity position of CHF 2,172 million as of mid-2021, providing sufficient liquidity for driving re-openings and growth acceleration.
New concession wins
Diaz also discussed the opportunities from new concession wins and contract extensions, citing Brazil, Martinique, French Guiana, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, the UK and several locations in the
U.S, including the Hudson Nonstop stores featuring Amazon’s Just Walkout Technology.
“This initiative is part of a broader roadmap for further store digitalization, which also includes projects for digital engagement throughout the full customer journey. Our collaboration in Hainan, China, already features such a combination of physical store excellence and digital engagement and we are well progressing in the opening up of additional 30,000 sq. meters of retail space in the second half of the year,” said Diaz.
“We are positive on the opportunities lying ahead of us as we are progressing to re-open our operations globally, continuing to focus on commercial and operational excellence, on further diversifying our business and accelerating growth,” said Diaz, also touching on the importance of sustainability, social engagement, Diversity & Inclusion, and gratitude to its employees, management and business partners.


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The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) and Samsung have joined forces to promote Greece as a tourism destination through the Korean company’s new generation Smart TVs.
According to the new cooperation, Samsung has included the country’s official tourism website www.visitgreece.gr within its application platform on Smart TVs (VISIT GREECE Samsung TV App).
At a press conference on 16 October, Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni noted that the new cooperation is another step on the long path of promoting Greek tourism through the new technology adopted by visitgreece.gr.
Owners of Samsung Smart TVs now have immediate access to information and rich audiovisual material about Greece, simply by pressing a button on the remote control.
The VISIT GREECE Samsung TV App combines content from www.visitgreece.com and Visit Greece’s profiles on social networks.
Mrs. Kefalogianni referred to www.visitgreece.gr as “Greece’s and Greek tourism’s key communication channel with the world.”
Greece’s official tourism website counts some one million words of content in Greek and has more than 10 million visitors. The Visit Greece newsletter is sent to over 16,000 recipients worldwide.
In regards to social media channels, Visit Greece currently has 1.5 million followers on Google and over 220,000 “likes” on Facebook. The Visit Greece Youtube channel counts over five million views.


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Go-Viet CEO Nguyen Vu Duc and chief growth officer Nguyen Bao Linh have stepped down from their positions and would take on the advisory roles to Go-Viet and the company’s strategic partner Go-Jek.
Having not revealed the successors, the company said that the rest of the management board would take responsibility for the daily operating activities.
Duc took his role as founder and CEO of Go-Viet since the company’s launching last March. Earlier, he graduated Havard, worked in a large bank in Vietnam for ten years, started a fintech company, and then became a member of a Uber team in 2014.
Backed by the Indonesian ride-hailing Go-Jek since last July, Go-Viet offers bike-hailing, delivery and food services in the country, with plans to launch car-hailing.
Bringing a customer to her destination on a sunny day in March 2019, Hoang, a young driver says that he decided to join Go-Viet as the company did not charge drivers in the country any fee for the first few months of its operation.
However, on January 21, Go-Viet announced to collect fees of 20 per cent per fare from February 2019. It has also stiffened policies for drivers’ performance and reward points.
Hoang says that while a number of drivers have uninstalled Go-Viet’s app, he still works for the firm as 10 per cent of the fair would be returned at the end of each month. There is nothing sure about the time Go-Viet cut this policy as well as about the ride-hailing firm that Hoang would work for at the time.
“We have a number of choices when Go-Viet stop returning the fee. The more brands having bikes on the street, the more interest Vietnamese customers gain,” Hoang said.
Go-Viet, Grab and a number of local players such as FastGo and Be are holding the $500 million ride-hailing market of Vietnam. It is forecasted that the industry will reach $2 billion by 2025, with a growth rate of 29 per cent annually, according to reports from Google and Temasek.


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Hyderabad, August 10, 2022: Pennar Industries Limited (PIL), a leading value-added engineering products and solutions company, announced its financial results for the first quarter ended on June 30th, 2022.
Consolidated Financial Highlights – Q1 FY2023
· Net revenue at INR 699.98 crore compared to Net revenue of INR 488.31 crore in Q1 FY22, up by 43.35%
· EBITDA at INR 56.05 crore compared to EBITDA of INR 40.08 crore in Q1FY22, up by 39.85%
· PAT at INR 14.08 crore compared to PAT at INR 6.34 crore in Q1FY22 up by 122.08%


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Livewire and Activision Blizzard Media have announced their exclusive partnership to enable brands to authentically engage the mobile gaming audience across ANZ.
The partnership will provide brands and marketers with the ability to engage ANZ’s largest mobile gaming audiences, through blended in-game ads and custom creative executions.
The daily average play time for mobile games within ANZ is 20 minutes per day, a testament to the consistency and attention of the mobile gaming audience.
Livewire, a global gaming marketing and game tech company, creates experiences and integrated marketing strategies for the gaming audience using gaming publishers, talent, digital platforms, and emerging technology.
Activision Blizzard Media connects brands and players with fan-first integrated advertising experiences across gaming and esports.
Brad Manuel and Indy Khabra, co-founders of Livewire said: “Through our exclusive partnership, we look forward to reaching new audiences through mobile games like Candy Crush Saga and demonstrating the power of AAA mobile in-game advertising. Livewire reaches the entire spectrum of gaming audiences demystifying any bias.”
Alex Kinzig, director of demand partnerships, Activision Blizzard Media, said: “We’re excited to be partnering with Livewire to expand our footprint in the Australian and New Zealand markets and provide more opportunities for brands to reach a highly-engaged and leaned-in audience by integrating in our premium mobile titles such as Candy Crush Saga.”
This comes after Livewire announced its exclusive partnership with Anzu in March.
APAC advertisers will be able to run their non-disruptive in-game banner and video ads within AAA console games because of the partnership between the global gametech and gaming marketing company and the advanced in-game advertising platform.
The partnership with Anzu, the in-game advertising solution, first began in January when the two companies partnered to help APAC advertisers reach players in Roblox.
With 1.4 billion gamers in APAC, expected to grow to 1.8 billion by 2024, advertisers running their campaigns in premium titles have a unique opportunity to place themselves in front of this large and diverse audience. The APAC games market is also estimated to grow by over 10% annually with a total market cap of USD $708.3bn (£543bn) by 2026, this lucrative region has plenty of demand up for grabs.


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Earlier this week Netflix reported quarterly earnings outcomes that showed its subscriber numbers dropping for the first time in a decade, however not each streamer is experiencing that sort of pullback. Even although AT&T has offloaded HBO and the remainder of WarnerMedia to their new home with Discovery, it nonetheless had yet another set of subscriber numbers to disclose with its own earnings report Thursday morning.
The numbers confirmed HBO added practically 13 million subscribers last 12 months throughout each conventional HBO and HBO Max, together with growth of three million within the last quarter. Now each providers mix for 76.8 million subscribers worldwide, which remains to be dwarfed by Netflix’s 221.64 million subscribers and even the most recent Disney Plus count of 129.8 million. As we famous in January, HBO Max is doing nice… according to HBO Max.
At the top of the quarter, there have been 76.8 million world HBO Max and HBO subscribers. Global HBO Max and HBO subscribers elevated 12.8 million 12 months over 12 months and have been up 3.0 million sequentially, primarily pushed by worldwide as properly as home retail subscriber good points reflecting energy of the programming slate. At the top of the quarter, there have been 48.6 million home HBO Max and HBO subscribers versus 44.2 million within the year-ago quarter, up 4.4 million 12 months over 12 months.
We’ve come to the end of HBO Max’s strategy of day-and-date movie premieres that ran by the 2021 calendar 12 months, nevertheless it nonetheless has a reasonably sturdy library of content material together with new hits and choices from the Warner Bros. catalog. Also, in contrast to Netflix, HBO nonetheless has a variety of new territories the place it’s increasing, so it might be some time earlier than they run into the issue of not having any extra new clients to seek out.
AT&T CEO John Stankey isn’t the boss of HBO anymore, however he did comment on password sharing, which Netflix identified as an issue stalling its growth. As Deadline quoted him from the investor name, Stanke mentioned “We were thoughtful about how we built the product and that we gave customers enough flexibility but we don’t want to see rampant abuse.” For any extra details about the way forward for HBO Max (and (*13*)), we’ll wait till subsequent week, when Warner Bros. Discovery holds its first earnings name.


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By Max Clarke
Artists will now receive royalty payments from their recordings 70 years after they were first made, a new series of EU copyright laws assures.
This follows a long campaign waged by a number of artists, headed by vintage pop star, Sir Cliff Richard. Much of Sir Cliff’s popular music from the 1960s would be nearing the end of its copyright, meaning that it would be in the commons, and free to use by advertisers without permission.
The move marks a significant step in extending protection of musician’s creations, though the total of 70 years from the date of recording remains well below the 95 year protection offered to American singers.
Geoff Taylor, head of the British Phonographic Institute, hailed the 20 year extension as welcome news for the UK’s music industry, and likely to boost investment in creative arts:
“A longer copyright term is also good news for music fans, as it will ensure that UK record labels can continue to reinvest income from sales of early recordings in supporting new British talent and compete effectively in a global market.”
Legendary composer and jazz musician, Jools Holland also reacted positively to the news:
“It is fantastic news to hear that copyright term has been extended to 70 years. Artists put their hearts and souls into creating music and it is only fair that they are recompensed in line with the rest of Europe. It’s important that creators get paid for the work they do and this extra twenty years is much deserved.”
Join us on


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UK’s retail sales rise in Nov
The data also showed that average prices in stores were up by 0.1% year on year with the largest contribution from petrol stations. This was also the first increase on a yearly basis since June 2004.
The total amount spent in the retail industry rose by 0.5% month on month and by 5.9% year on year. Meanwhile, the amount spent on online purchasing also grew by 3% from October and by 24.9% from the same period of 2015.
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Chinese smartphone maker, Huawei has surpassed Cupertino giant Apple to become the second largest smartphone brand globally during Q2 2018. Huawei had a 15% market share followed by Apple at 11%. Samsung is still on top with 20% market share as it shipped a total of 71.9 million smartphones globally. During the quarter, Huawei shipped 54.2 million devices with a growth of 41% YoY, while shipments of Apple remained flat at 41.3 million, a growth of just 1% when compared to the same period last year. According to Counterpoint Research's Market Monitor service, global smartphone shipments declined 2% to 360 million units annually in Q2 2018, continuing the trend from a decline of 3% in Q1 2018.
"Huawei had a good second quarter in 2018 as it shipped more smartphones than Apple to capture the second spot in the global smartphone rankings, after seven years of Apple-Samsung dominance," said Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research. Huawei with its sub-brand, Honor, is offering a broad and refreshed portfolio at an affordable price which is driving growth in the overseas market.
"Honor, which is already strong in the e-commerce segment, is now adopting a multi-channel strategy through branded stores in the southeast Asia market. We expect store counts to increase in the future," Pathak noted, as reported by IANS.
Samsung led the smartphone market by volume even though it registered an annual decline of 11% owing to weak sales of its flagship Galaxy S9 series smartphones. It shipped 71.6 million units while Huawei did 54.2 million handsets in the second half.
"Even as Samsung smartphone shipment volumes declined globally, the brand posted a record second quarter in India, regaining its top position in Indian smartphone market," said the report.
Samsung will launch its Galaxy Note 9 flagship soon to counter the string of premium segment launches by its competitors and to gain some momentum before the launch of the new iPhone in September.
It will also focus on launching newer models with high specs in each price segment, to counter the growing competition.
Huawei managed to be the fastest growing (21%) smartphone brand amid a declining China smartphone market and grew fully 71% overseas, with its shipments growing 41% annually in the second half.
Top 10 players now capture 79% of the market, thereby leaving over 600 brands to compete for the remaining 21% of the market.
"Major Chinese brands like Oppo, Vivo, Huawei are now focusing on increasing their average selling prices (ASPs) by bringing in features like artificial intelligence, bezel-less displays, dual cameras and innovative industrial designs in the affordable premium segment," explained Research Analyst Shobhit Srivastava.
Xiaomi shipped 33 million smartphones globally, capturing 9% market share of the smartphone sector. Oppo and Vivo were the fifth and sixth largest brands during the quarter, capturing 8% and 7% market share, respectively. Lenovo (including Motorola) captured the eighth spot with a market share of 3%.


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ICYMI: Three Reasons to Keep an Eye on Digital Packaging Technologies
In all packaging segments, and across all applications, digital printing and production technology has been on the rise, and by most indications, will continue to grow across labels, folding cartons, flexible packaging, and corrugated.
From Dec. 1-3, the Virtual Digital Packaging Summit will take attendees through a deep dive of the latest digital technologies available, opportunities across each application, and what to expect in the future. But is digital’s growth in packaging poised to continue? Here are three reasons why that appears to be the case:
1. In a Year of Uncertainty, Packaging Continues to Thrive
There’s no question that 2020 has been a year of upheaval. From an economic standpoint, public health standpoint, and in our day-to-day lives, the impact of COVID-19 can be felt everywhere. The packaging industry however, has not just weathered the storm — it is thriving as packaging demand in several key market segments has increased.
“This is one of the few areas of the printing industry and the general economy that’s doing incredibly well,” Marco Boer, VP of IT Strategies and co-chairman of the Digital Packaging Summit, said in a video interview. “We’re all eating more at home, there’s less institutional packaging. So how do you as a converter deal with that?”
The automation elements that come with the latest in printing technology stand out as a key strategy, Boer said, and the Virtual Digital Packaging Summit will cover the advantages that automation will have moving forward.
2. The Power of Flexibility
Another impact the pandemic has had on brand owners is an increased need for flexibility in their packaging designs and delivery times. By having a digital asset supplementing conventional print, package printers and converters have been able to deliver on these needs, providing the rapid response their customers have required in challenging times.
“Those with digital assets are finding ways to make their businesses more effective, and make things more effective running through their whole plant,” Kevin Karstedt, CEO of Karstedt Partners, and co-chairman of the Digital Packaging Summit, said. “It’s a matter of flexibility. They’re adding flexibility to their operations.”
3. The Ability to Balance
As exciting as the rise of digital printing and production technology has been in the packaging industry, conventional printing technology is still poised to continue taking on the lion’s share of the output across the packaging industry. However, as printers and converters seek ways to balance their short-run work with their high-volume production runs, finding the right digital equipment to supplement their conventional will be highly advantageous.
“The key is balance,” Boer said. “Where can I offload some of these really time-sensitive, frequent runs that are very short run lengths and free up capacity on my conventional equipment? At the same time, as I learn to use that digital equipment better and better in terms of extending my run lengths, what can I do on that digital equipment that actually adds more value than what I could do with conventional equipment?”
For a deep dive into these questions and the potential for what digital printing will bring to the future of the industry, be sure to register for the Virtual Digital Packaging Summit.


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Android smartphones haven’t had performance problems for a long time. Today, even frankly inexpensive models with entry-level processors run absolutely smoothly and without lag. But performance isn’t just about the lack of hang-ups, it’s also about the actual processing power on which many tasks depend. The truth is that to make a smartphone more powerful, there is no need to change the processor in it. It is enough just to tighten its software a bit.
Google together with Qualcomm is planning to start distributing updates via Google Play that will boost the processing power of Android smartphones. This will be possible thanks to the neural networks that will form the basis of the upcoming updates. They will be able to take over some of the calculations that the processor has to perform under normal conditions, thereby reducing the load on it. This will free up some of the chip’s processing power to be used for other tasks.
How to overclock an Android phone
The task of neural networks is very simple. They will, in fact, automate those processes that the processor had to do step by step. As a result, the time to process those commands that used to take, roughly speaking, a minute, will now take 10 seconds. Of course, these are very tentative calculations and the reality may be different. However, what is important here is the fact that neural networks, thanks to machine learning technologies, will make calculations faster without overloading the processor.
Google has already experimented with software enhancements to smartphones, but only in certain tasks. For example, it is thanks to neural networks that Google Assistant has become able to answer queries almost instantaneously, as it now has an extensive range of answers to questions that users might ask. As a result, it simply pulls them up from a cache of sorts and gives them to us, without wasting time searching the Internet for answers as it used to.
Why smartphones need neural networks
Today’s Android smartphones already have the necessary foundation for neural network upgrades. They have long supported the Neural Network API, an upgrade of which will essentially overclock their hardware. There’s a catch, though. Because Google has agreed with Qualcomm to improve the performance of Android smartphones, the upgrade is worth waiting only for devices based on Snapdragon processors, and all the rest it does not shine. Well, isn’t that a monopoly?
However, it is assumed that the majority of smartphones on the market will still receive this upgrade. You don’t even have to have the latest version of Android to get it. On purpose not to put users in an uncomfortable position, Google has decided to distribute the relevant updates via Google Play. This way it won’t be dependent not only on the OS version but also on manufacturers’ willingness to adapt security updates, which many, oddly enough, still neglect.
It’s hard to say how significant this upgrade will be. But Google appears to have high hopes for its initiative. The company expects that the neural network updates will allow Android smartphones to start running much faster, and will give them additional benefits that are specific to more powerful devices. For example, they will be able to run games at higher settings, because not only the CPU but also the graphics accelerator will be upgraded.


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India’s largest poker site, Adda52.com has launched a new digital ad campaign ‘Khud Khelo, Khud Jeeto’ with OTT celebrity ‘Jatin Sarna’ aka ‘Bunty’ from Sacred Games, as the protagonist highlighting the benefits of playing the game of poker. The campaign seeks to deepen engagement with players and encourages them to rely on their own skills while playing rather than depending on others.
The video highlights that unparalleled feeling of winning on your own. Also, it focuses on the hassles that come while playing other real money games, where you depend on others to win a game.
The brand has launched the new digital ad campaign across social media channels. Talking about the campaign, Siddharth Kothari, Brand Head, Adda52.com said, “Through this digital campaign, we want to bring about a change in people’s mindset and encourage them to play poker. The ad highlights how your decisions play a critical role in your success. It is a skilled-based sport which helps the player to try various strategies throughout the game. We aim to spread awareness and change the perception about poker in the society and position Adda52 as the platform for all this thrilling experience.”
Commenting on his association with Adda52, Sarna said, “I am delighted to collaborate with Adda52 and be a part of the ongoing campaign. Playing ‘Bunty Bhai’ took me back to the good old days of shooting for Sacred Games! I got excited by the idea of poker, like it is mostly played by a very small segment in the country right now. I want the game to reach out to the masses, so that everyone can showcase their skills and win, which is what we have tried to communicate through the ad as well.


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Knight Capital Group Inc. scrambled Thursday to shore itself up and reassure panicked customers after disclosing a stunning $440 million loss from a computer-trading glitch.
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Youth trend retailer Pacsun will settle for bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies utilizing 10-year-old blockchain cost supplier BitPay, in accordance with a Tuesday (Oct. 5) press launch.
Since cryptocurrency is a rising development among the many California-based retailer’s Technology Z prospects, including crypto funds made sense, the discharge said. PYMNTS discovered that greater than 54% of present or former crypto homeowners are members of Gen Z.
“The Gen Z viewers, our major client, could be very tech oriented, and we dedicate lots of our efforts towards social media and eCommerce to align with their life and resonate with them on a extra private degree,” stated Pacsun Co-CEO Michael Relich within the launch. “Seeing their growing need towards cryptocurrency, it was clear that we wanted to regulate and provide BitPay as one other cost possibility, to additional instill their confidence in us as considered one of their go-to retailers that actually listens.”
Pacsun will assist 11 cryptos beneath BitPay, together with bitcoin, Bitcoin Money, Ethereum, Wrapped Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Litecoin and 5 U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, together with varied crypto wallets and exchanges, together with Coinbase, Exodus Pockets, Metamask, Blockchain Pockets, Electrum Pockets, Belief Pockets, Ledger Pockets, BRD Pockets, Gemini, Kraken and Binance, the discharge said.
“With digital gross sales doubling since final 12 months, we perceive the continued significance of making an distinctive on-line buying expertise for our prospects,” stated Pacsun President Brie Olson within the launch. “It’s unimaginable to pave the way in which for the style and retail business, being the primary to supply cryptocurrency funds via BitPay, and we anticipate many different firms following swimsuit contemplating the benefit it brings to the checkout course of.”
The recognition of cryptocurrency is rising at a fever pitch. In line with PYMNTS analysis, as many as 18% of the inhabitants — 46 million shoppers — could be more likely to make a purchase order with cryptocurrency.
Learn extra: How Customers Need to Use Crypto to Store and Pay in 2021 and After
PYMNTS discovered that two-thirds of cryptocurrency homeowners stated that there aren’t sufficient retailers that settle for crypto funds.
NEW PYMNTS DATA: TODAY’S SELF-SERVICE SHOPPING JOURNEY – SEPTEMBER 2021
About: Eighty % of shoppers are excited by utilizing nontraditional checkout choices like self-service, but solely 35 % have been in a position to make use of them for his or her most up-to-date purchases. At the moment’s Self-Service Procuring Journey, a PYMNTS and Toshiba collaboration, analyzes over 2,500 responses to learn the way retailers can deal with availability and notion points to fulfill demand for self-service kiosks.


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The Federal Government has been urged to review port tariff and make the ports attractive for businesses.
Importers and clearing agents, who spoke with The Nation, said the review became necessary to eliminate arbitrariness and ensure parity with other ports, particularly those of neighbouring countries.
The National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANALCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu, said port tariff is not commensurate with the services rendered by terminal operators and it makes the ports uncompetitive.
Shittu said the terminal operators need to emulate the Nigerian Shippers’ Council that has abolished service charges, bank charge, commission on turnover and concessionaires’ service charge to reduce the cost of doing business in the ports.
Also, the Managing Director, Folas Motots, Chief Fola Alakija said the council had been implementing the Inland Container Depots (ICDs) project on Build Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis to bring shipping to the door of importers.
He said despite the claim by the government that it has reduced its agencies at the ports; some of the agencies are still posing big challenges to port operations.
The importer said there was need to revive and modernise the railway as a primary mode for long distance haulage of cargo and to free the Lagos ports road from its current poor state.
According to him, the railway will also reduce the cost of transporting cargo in and out of the ports and create employment for the people.
Alakija said there was need to embrace single window operation to eliminate human contact and the use of discretion, which has been identified as major as the biggest obstacles to quick cargo clearance from the port.
He said the single window operation would not only facilitate trade, but it will also eliminate fraud and improve revenue generation.


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Victoria Beckham speaks on her new dress collection
Victoria Beckham has spoken for the first time on her new fashion endeavour; a line of high-end, high-price dresses.
Set to debut new week at New York Fashion Week, Posh explained why she will not show the collection on the catwalk, and instead will hold appointments with fashion buyers and journalists.
‘I’m just showing it to a collection of magazine journalists and boutique retailers because I want to start off small and see what the reaction is,’ the Spice Girl explained, ‘I really hope people will like it.’
In Manchester to promote her new fragrance, Signature, Posh gave the first insight into the look of her new line, describing, ‘They’re very sexy dresses. Full-length frocks and bold colours – stuff that makes women feel good.’
New York Fashion Week starts this Friday, running until Friday 12 September. For all the news and gossip straight from the shows, check back on our fashion week hub page from next week.


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Gig Economy – Cease to Exist in 20 Years
According to new report from venture backed start-up Thumbtack, an online marketplace which tends to help skilled workers locate customers, the so-called gig economy would cease to exist in 20 years. The study has forecast that logistic companies from start-ups like Uber right to tech giants like Amazon would be replacing drivers as well as delivery workers with autonomous vehicles and drones.
The study discovered that extremely skilled workers like lawyers and accountants would no longer be assured of jobs at big firms - will be the new gig economy workers. Jon Lieber, chief economist at Thumbtack and Lucas Puente, an economic analyst at the firm had mentioned in a report that `the gig economy known will not last.
In the past few years, analysts and reports have obsessively focused on transportation technology platforms such as Uber and Lyft and delivery technology platforms like Instacart and the workers required for these on-demand services. The fine focus on low-skilled `gigs’ tends to miss a larger story. The rather commoditized, interchangeable services seem to supplement income, not generating middle class lifestyles. Besides, these jobs are probably going to be automated over a period of time and performed by self-driving cars and drones'.
Autonomous Driving Technology – Reduce Death/Transportation Affordable
Uber had been frank with regards to its plans in replacing drivers with robots over a period of time. An Uber spokesperson informed CNBC that `autonomous driving technology has the ability to drastically reduce deaths in cars, making transportation even more affordable. That it is an exciting future and one Uber plans to be part of, but that transition for technical, regulatory as well as adoption reasons, at scale, would take some time. The spokesperson stated that `in the meanwhile, the focus is providing flexible work opportunities for many people in the world as possible’.
According to Oxford academics Car Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne, around half of U.S. jobs seem to be at high risk of computerization over the next 20 years. Their discoveries had been published in 2013 and are unchanged, but there are some limitations like resistance from stakeholders and relative wage levels which would determine if a job is in fact automated, according to Osborne.
Supervised by `Robo-Boss’ by 2018
However that jobs equivalent to 9% of present day’s jobs would be created. Physical robots need repair and maintenance professional, one of the several job categories which would grow around in a much automated world’. From the global point of view, over 3 million workers would be supervised by a `robo-boss’ toward 2018, as predicted late last year by research and advisory firm Gartner.
Osborne has stated that jobs which are least likely to be automated initially are those which need a high level of creativity or emotional intelligence. For instance, school teacher jobs seem to be comparatively safe due to the elevated level of social intelligence needed to teach as well as mentor children.
The Oxford study found positions which seem mostly susceptible to automation comprise of telemarketers, watch repairer, tax preparers, insurance underwriters, cargo and freight agents and others. In each category, some jobs would be automated very soon. Osborne states that `this gig economy is being pursued via digital platform and is actually getting individuals to automate themselves out of a job by delivering data back to the platform which could be utilised in providing an automated substitute.


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Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has launched online voluntary benefits for its 500 staff.
The council now provides staff with tax-efficient benefits, such as a cycle-to-work scheme, childcare vouchers and mobile phones.
Employees also have access to more than 2,000 discounts on purchases at high-street stores, supermarkets, holiday companies and entertainment firms. They will either get a discount or receive cash back, which they can transfer into a personal bank account.
Staff previously received childcare vouchers and local retail discounts, plus discounts at council swimming pools and on bus fares.
The new scheme is managed on an online platform, where staff shop for their discounts. The council does not have an HR or employee benefits team, so Kent County Council is administering it. The benefits were communicated via a road show, brochures, themed posters and emails.


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Florida trade mission to Colombia
Maggie Caruso, Senior Market Director for Florida Trend, traveled with Gov. Rick Scott and the Enterprise Florida delegation on their trade mission to Colombia this week. The mission included more than 190 participants representing 116 Florida companies, statewide organizations and higher educational institutions.
Colombia is the fifth-largest economy in Latin America and is Florida’s second largest trading partner with over $9 billion in two-way trade in 2011. Colombia is among the top five destinations for Florida-origin products, amounting to nearly $3 billion in trade.
The growth of the Colombian economy is expected to generate new export opportunities for Florida firms wanting to benefit from a strong open business climate and Florida’s traditionally close cultural and economic ties with Latin America.
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Topic: Florida-Colombia Trade Links


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Is Yorkdale Shopping Centre the Future of Malls?
A lot has gone wrong for the classic shopping mall in Canada over the past five years. Beleaguered retailers laid-off employees, filed for creditor protection or, in Target’s case, took off for good.
But amid all the upheaval in consumer demand, some shopping malls in Canada are adapting to the changes all around them. And a select few, like the Yorkdale Shopping Centre, are reaping major benefits.
What exactly happened to the profit margins of shopping malls in Canada? To put it simply, several factors combined, including the rise of ecommerce, changing consumer tastes and the millennial generation, with their own unique spending habits.
Per the Huffington Post, the rise of specialty retailers—such as stand-alone stores for brands such as Hunter boots and Canada Goose jackets—and discount stores, including Walmart and Dollarama, are also luring shoppers away from former Canadian mall stalwarts like Sears.
Meanwhile, technological advances like smartphone cameras have eliminated old legacy photography stores like Blacks. Online trading platforms like Bunz and Kijiji have lessened the need to buy new items.
And while demand has changes, Canada has been caught possessing too much shopping mall real estate: 94 square metres of retail space for every 100 people, according to data from the Shopping Centre Council of Australia. That’s far more than the United Kingdom—at 44 square metres—and Germany—at 22 square metres, writes HuffPo.
Finally, the millennial generation that malls depend on aren’t driving as many cars as their parents did, which reduces their mobility. They also prefer to spend more money on experiences such as travel over material things. The result is that the savviest mall operators have been forced to change their strategy and reinvent their spaces.
Yorkdale Shopping Centre has been a model example in that regard. Per the Globe and Mail, the North York mall lists annual sales figures of $1.6-billion, generated by 18 million visitors.
According to Jay Drexler, the national vice-president of retail leasing at Oxford Properties, which is the managing partner at Yorkdale, the centre began emphasizing a higher-end strategy about 12 years ago, beginning with the success of the shopping centre’s Holt Renfrew store. In 2009, Yorkdale’s first international luxury addition was Tiffany & Co. In the following years, writes the Globe and Mail, the shopping centre added one new luxury brand per year, which recently increased to three or four annual additions.
As Toronto’s high-end population grows, along with it comes a larger demand for high-end fashion, beauty, tech and housewares. The Globe noted that all those international luxury brands with stores in the city’s Bloor-Yorkville neighbourhood are now targeting none other than Yorkdale for their second location.
It’s not just the luxury brands that Yorkdale uses to entice new generations of shoppers. As HuffPo explains, Yorkdale doubled down on food offerings—which draw in shoppers and keep them inside longer—bringing in a Jamie Oliver restaurant and more recently, Canada’s first Cheesecake Factory.
The mall also generates buzz with Instagram-worthy events like hosting Fashion Santa, who provides an opportunity to snap selfies with the swoon-worthy, hipster version of Old Saint Nick. Wrote HuffPo.
It’s all paying dividends, too: Yorkdale leads Canada’s malls in sales per square footage, according to the Retail Council of Canada.
Drexler sees the major shifts in consumer demand and has bet on a mix of retailers in the shopping centre that will include a smaller concentration of fashion boutiques and more offerings in the beauty, home, tech and entertainment categories. Moreover, it could include popular e-commerce (businesses) that shift to bricks-and-mortar.
Clearly, this can’t easily be replicated across Canada. A mall in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan simply isn’t blessed the massive foot traffic that walk in and out of Yorkdale every day.
Armin Begic, director of the retail business group at market-research firm NPD Group, told HuffPo that malls in smaller cities will replace anchors with multiple, smaller tenants featuring the type of experiences their customers want. An example of this type of creative retailer could be Indigo Books & Music Inc., with its cafes, book clubs and children’s toy area.
Others have other solutions for malls in smaller centres, like turning them into mixed-use spaces with restaurants, dentist offices, gyms and even condos.
What’s certain is that the times are changing, and these shopping centres are doing anything they possibly can to remain relevant. What’s also clear is that, in a shifting consumer landscape, places like Yorkdale Shopping Centre are reaping the rewards like never before.
By Joseph Czikk