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- 1 min read
Samsung heir to be richest stockholder in South Korea
Lee Jae-young, vice chairman of global tech giant Samsung Electronics, is expected to emerge as South Korea's richest stockholder following his father's death, a market tracker said on Monday.
Lee Kun-hee, Samsung Electronics chairman and chief of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, died on October 25 at age 78, more than six years after being hospitalized for a heart attack.
The late Samsung chairman has been the country's richest stockholder for the past 10 years, with his stock value reaching 17.7 trillion won ($15.6 billion), according to FnGuide.
The younger Lee captured the No 2 spot with 7.3 trillion won, followed by former Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo with 4.5 trillion won.
FnGuide forecast Jae-yong would become the richest stockholder in Asia's fourth-largest economy with his stock value reaching 11.3 trillion won after inheriting his share of wealth from the late Samsung chairman.
Hong Ra-hee, the wife of the deceased tycoon, would see her stock value soar to 9.1 trillion won from 3.1 trillion won, becoming the second-richest person in the country, it said. Hong currently ranks fifth in the country's stock-rich rankings.
The late Lee's two daughters -- Boo-jin, chief of Hotel Shilla Co., and Seo-hyun in charge of the Samsung Welfare Foundation -- would jointly hold the title of South Korea's third-richest stockholder with stock value of 5.6 trillion won each, up from the present 14th spot.
FnGuide said Jae-yong and Hong would hold the top and No. 2 positions, respectively, even after paying hefty inheritance taxes. Samsung heirs are estimated to pay around 10 trillion won in inheritance tax for the late chief's stock assets.


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November 10, 2016
It’s that time of year again….
John Lewis brighten up 2016 with their Christmas campaign
John Lewis released their long and hotly anticipated Christmas campaign today. In an attempt to put smiles on our faces this Christmas, the advert tells the story of Buster the boxer dog who is determined to beat six year old Bridget at enjoying her Christmas gift of a trampoline. The video also features a fox, badger and a squirrel who all have a go on the toy whilst Buster looks on from the window.
The story of Buster does not stop there- the campaign has been extended to Snapchat, Twitter and VR for the first time. Shoppers at the John Lewis Oxford Street flagship store can virtually bounce with Buster and the other animals using the Oculus Rift headset, triggering the animal bounces with their arms.
Additionally, Snapchat users will be delighted to hear that John Lewis have sponsored a Buster filter, which is available until midnight tonight (10th November), or in any John Lewis store thereafter. The retailer will also be one of the first British brands to experiment with Twitter stickers, allowing users to customise their photos with images of Buster and the other wildlife.
If you haven’t already seen the advert, you can watch it here:
Percy Pigs gifted with Santa hats
Marks and Spencer have gone the extra mile with their festive food this year, giving their Percy Pigs a makeover and (for the first time ever) providing them with Santa hats.
For a very merry Percy-mas, the bags are available now to buy at £1.50 – or two for £2.50!
Royal Mail Festive Stamps
The Royal Mail have released six festive designs ahead of Christmas featuring a snowman, a Christmas pudding, Christmas tree, lantern, stocking and the famous red-breasted robin which has become synonymous with the Royal Mail. The link dates back to the 19th century, when postmen sported red coats, and therefore were known as “red breasts”.
The return of seasonal Starbucks cups
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, when Starbucks release their latest edition of red Christmas cups. This year comes with a twist, as Starbucks have turned to their customers to design their latest cups.
Snowflakes, Santa and reindeer all make appearances in the 13 chosen designs, which hail from six different countries including the USA, Canada, UAE, Indonesia, Russia and South Korea.
‘We hope that this year’s red holiday cup designs express the shared spirit of the holidays as told by our customers,’ said Sharon Rothstein, Starbucks’ global chief marketing officer.
Festive Greggs Stop
Greggs launched their Christmas menu on Tuesday, creating new festive additions to their much loved sausage rolls and pasties. The menu features a festive bake, made from chicken breast, sage and onion stuffing and sweetcure bacon in a creamy cranberry and sage sauce, wrapped in a golden puff pastry with a crunchy crumb topping.
There is also a version of the sausage roll available for Christmas – a turkey, bacon and cranberry roll, which (as an added bonus) also only contains 200 calories!
If these things don’t signal Christmas to you, we don’t know what will!

domain: news


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American cannabis retailer Green Growth Brands Inc. has formally launched a hostile $2.4 billion takeover bid for Aphria Inc., charging ahead with its attempt to acquire the Canadian licensed producer a mere three weeks after Aphria said it was not interested in the Ohio-based company’s overtures.
The all-stock offer would see Aphria shareholders receive 1.5714 shares of Green Growth, which closed Wednesday down 2.8 per cent at $5.81, for each Aphria share. That works out to a slight discount to Aphria’s closing price Wednesday of $9.23.
Green Growth, however, said it is also planning to complete a $300 million equity financing that values its own shares at $7, though the takeover offer would not be contingent on the financing deal.
“The combination of Aphria’s Canadian supply and wholesale agreements with Green Growth’s vertically integrated operations and rapidly growing retail footprint in the United States best positions us to capitalize on the massive growth opportunities in North America and beyond,” Green Growth CEO Peter Horvath said in a press release Wednesday.
Aphria advised its shareholders to take no action on the hostile bid until its board puts out a formal recommendation. The Leamington-based company also noted in a statement issued late Tuesday night that Green Growth’s proposal “significantly undervalued the company relative to its current and future value.”
“We are determined to protect Aphria shareholders from opportunistic offers that fail to reflect the substantial value and growth prospects we have built at Aphria. We will evaluate GGB’s offer in this spirit,” said Irwin Simon, recently-appointed independent chairman of the company.
Aphria recently announced a leadership shuffle that will see founder Cole Cacciavillani and CEO Vic Neufeld “transition out of their roles,” to be replaced by Simon and current president Jakob Ripshtein. Neufeld had come under intense scrutiny from investors and Aphria shareholders after a December short-seller report accused him of “insider self-dealing” through the acquisition of a number of Latin American cannabis assets.
While Aphria’s stock plunged following the report, it has since regained some ground, much of it since Green Growth first floated the possibility of a takeover offer.
Although based in Ohio, Green Growth’s cannabis presence is largely in Nevada, where it owns two retail outlets, and has obtained licensing from the state to open an additional seven stores. The company has said in the past that it is targeting a run-rate revenue of US$54 million annually, once all its Nevada stores are in operation. By contrast, Aphria generated revenue of $37 million in 2018, mostly based on the sale of cannabis to the Canadian medical market.
Some analysts and industry observers have questioned whether Green Growth will be able to generate the $300 million in equity financing it is proposing in conjunction with the takeover bid. But in its statement Wednesday, the company confirmed that an entity called All Js Greenspace LLC had agreed to purchase up to $150 million of Green Growth shares as a backstop to completing the full $300 million financing.
All Js is an Ohio-based holding company connected to the Schottenstein family, best known for fashion retailer American Eagle.
A November 2018 press release indicated that All Js had a substantial stake in Green Growth — then known as Xanthic Biopharma — including voting rights, for “investment purposes.”
Green Growth has had the backing of the Schottenstein family since its founding and Horvath was formerly chief global commercial officer at American Eagle.
As the Financial Post previously reported, Aphria too has a Schottenstein connection. In the summer of 2017, the Ohio-based family partnered with Aphria to bid for a marijuana cultivation licence in the state.
The links between Aphria and Green Growth were scrutinized in a recent report by the same short sellers that targeted Aphria for its Latin American transactions. Hindenburg Research and Quintessential Capital Management alleged, in late December, that both companies share some of the same insiders, including Aphria board member Shawn Dym, who was a former board member for Green Growth.
The report also pointed out that outgoing Aphria CEO Vic Neufeld was at one point a board member of Green Acre Capital, which owns a fund that was one of the largest shareholders in Green Growth.
The American retailer subsequently put out a statement refuting any suggestions that it was a related party to its takeover target, saying informal relationships that exist within the industry are separate from official “related party influence” with Aphria.
If successful, the bid will be the largest cross-border takeover in the cannabis industry, creating the “only large-scale cannabis company to bridge U.S. and Canadian markets,” according to Green Growth. The company’s offer to Aphria’s shareholders will remain open until May 9.


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just-style authors and correspondents
Articles by Ahmed Abdullah
Pakistan’s second Textile Policy aims to double the country’s textile and clothing exports to US$26bn in the next five years as it seeks to reap full benefits of the EU GSP+ scheme.
Following Pakistan's accession to the EU's GSP+ scheme, Chinese firms are eyeing the country as a competitive destination for foreign investment in the textile and garment sectors.
Pakistan's textile and clothing exports grew 8% to US$6.9bn in the first half of the current fiscal year, helped by improved availability of yarns and fabrics for domestic garment makers.
Textile producers in Pakistan are upbeat about the year ahead, with opportunities seen to include market access under the European Union's GSP+ trade scheme, the changing dynamics of the Chinese textile industry, labour unrest and higher wages in Bangladesh, and the local availability of cheaper fibres, especially cotton.
Thousands of garment export consignments remain stranded at Karachi Port and across Pakistan after an 11-day strike by transport workers, which ended on Monday.
A strategy that could contribute to targets to double Pakistan's textile and clothing exports over the next three years by making the industry socially accountable has been unveiled.
Chinese investors are to set up woven and knitted garment factories in Punjab, Pakistan's largest textile-producing province, following an agreement signed with the China National Textile & Apparel Council (CNTAC).
The Walt Disney Company (WDC) is to phase out the sourcing of Disney-branded products from Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Pakistan and Venezuela over concerns the countries no longer meet its guidelines on working conditions.
Pakistan's National Tariff Commission (NTC) has decided to remove anti-dumping duty on imports of polyester staple fibre (PSF) from China after a four-month evaluation.
Over 250 export-bound garment containers are stuck at Pakistan's Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT) after problems with security scanning facilities led to a backlog.
- What the EU-Vietnam trade deal means for duties
- US apparel retailers' January 2016 sales roundup
- Esquel backs Chinese Sea Island cotton production
- US apparel import growth led by Bangladesh
- Ultimate frontier Myanmar uplifts Bogart Lingerie
- Sears looks to lift apparel via sourcing changes
- Eco-friendly garment factory opens in Bangladesh
- Nike accelerates digital strategy with new hire
- Clothing and sports chains in activewear battle
- Southeast Asia – a strategic sourcing review
- Southeast Asia strategic sourcing review – a focus on Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar
- Wearable technology: The future market potential for smart garments and e-textiles
- Global market review of denim and jeanswear – forecasts to 2021
- Wearable Technology Market by Product, Application, Type, & Geography - Global Forecast to 2020
- Practical Price Negotiation


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Since its launch in 2012, Ripple, a significant participant in cryptocurrencies and real-time gross settlement systems, has frequently made news. Its digital payment technology is more well-known than its XRP coin. In contrast to Bitcoin and Ethereum, which may be more known for their virtual currencies, Ripple is well known for its digital payment system, which enables quick, cross-border transactions. The platform is praised for its capacity to offer worldwide financial transactions of any duration that are chargeback-free, immediate, and almost fee-free. However, the company’s native cryptocurrency, XRP, has recently experienced a significant increase in transactions, sparking the market. This resembles the inventive transaction mechanisms used by Ripple.
The Rise in XRP Transactions
The price of XRP has seen significant volatility recently. In 2021, it reached its maximum point; however, in 2022, it fell precipitously, reaching $0.52 on October 9, 2023. This pattern contrasts with other well-known virtual currencies like Ethereum, which, on the other hand, have consistently set new marks. Early in 2021, the US SEC filed a complaint against Ripple, which was a turning point in the history of XRP. As a result, the asset’s price rose to $0.5 before dropping to a low of less than $0.2.
Recently, a number of events have made it possible to experience improved performance in XRP. The first on this list is Ripple’s continual pursuit of technological progress to maintain the speed, scalability, and security of XRP transactions. They contribute to enhancing the reliability and use of the digital currency out of a desire to make it better. At the same time, the reach of XRP’s applications has been greatly broadened by Ripple’s strategic alliances with international financial institutions. The agreements show off XRP’s utility as well as its potential to revolutionise international payments in the emerging age of digital banking.
Furthermore, XRP’s price movement, particularly over time, highlights its adaptability and potential for growth. The end result is that it peaked in 2021 and then plunged in 2022, and the variables now influencing the value are portrayed throughout this unpredictable yet hopeful trip. Despite this significant legal setback in 2020, XRP has recovered, demonstrating its resiliency in the face of market opinion that favours this asset. Despite the uncertainties surrounding cryptocurrencies, it seems clear that XRP was on its way to 10 dollars for a number of reasons, including.
Market Response and the Effects on Casinos
The bitcoin market is well renowned for being extremely sensitive and responsive to any significant occurrences. There were other exceptions as the number of XRP transactions increased. As XRP volume started to rise, the markets were audibly buzzing with activity on all trading platforms, forums, and news organisations. More investors became interested in XRP as activity increased, which may signal a rising trend. As traders attempt to understand the larger significance of XRP’s change, many other cryptocurrencies will frequently see fluctuations as a result of such a significant shift from a mainstream crypto asset like XRP.
The growing online gaming industry is continually looking for faster, safer, and more trustworthy transactional methods. In this context, the expansion of online ripple casinos may have far-reaching consequences. For casinos, especially online ones, the advent of XRP may be practical because they may include it into their payment system. Its attractiveness is due to the fact that it provides quick and affordable cross-border transactions that are efficient. With cryptocurrency’s increasing acceptance, players may also want to think about adopting digital currencies like XRP, which might speed up users’ deposits and withdrawals of money.
The gaming sector is currently investigating the benefits it can gain from utilising XRP and some of its key players. The creation of cutting-edge payment methods for online gambling is inevitable, according to Jane Smith, one of the subject’s leading authorities. It is not just the market; its growth indicates a significant development in the world of gaming transactions. Online casino businesses looking to improve UX may benefit greatly from the speed and lower costs of XRP transactions. Additionally, they show that such endorsements are powerful indicators of XRP’s potential influence on the iGaming industry.
The future of XRP and Ripple is bright given the stellar trajectory. If the current trend keeps up, XRP might soon establish itself as a popular choice in sectors outside of banking. The flexibility of Ripple’s platform opens up a wide range of opportunities, from revolutionising remittances to potentially becoming a crucial component of routine e-trade transactions.
Additionally, Ripple’s emphasis on relationships with established economic establishments is in a good position as financial authorities across the world increase the amount of searches into the cryptocurrency region. Such partnerships may speed up the device’s regulatory clearance process while also increasing acceptance.
The XRP currency of Ripple is going through a transformation. The current increase in transactions isn’t usually just a brief bump; rather, it seems to be evidence of the cryptocurrency’s growing usefulness and worth. XRP is on the verge of establishing new paradigms, from reinventing cross-border transactions to undoubtedly revolutionising the gaming industry. The full extent of its impact won’t be known for some time, but the current market hype is well-deserved.


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Marketplace giant, eBay, is set to embrace omnichannel presence with its new physical and digital catalogue.
eBay is launching a physical catalogue, showcasing 40,000 of Australia’s retailers. This is the first catalogue that eBay’s releasing, and is switching their focus on an omnichannel approach. The marketplace will send out two million copies of the catalogue to Australian households, alongside digital copies on its site.
The ‘Winter’ catalogue is set to feature home and garden, men’s and women’s fashion, heating, bedding, entertainment, toys and much more. eBay aims to showcase 90 per cent of what’s ‘brand new’ and available on the site. ‘Hot Deals’ include Apple AirPods, a Dyson Hot + Cool Fan and the KitchenAid Cook Processor.
eBay’s Chief Marketing Officer, Julie Nestor said: “We’re adopting a similar strategy many traditional bricks and mortar retailers have – by having both a physical and online presence.”
The catalogue aims to target a new audience with a traditional approach, for Australian shoppers who prefer to sit down and flip through with a catalogue, rather than just click through. “We wanted to find a way to showcase our fantastic range of products. We know retail catalogues have long been the way Aussie shoppers prefer to browse and purchase the best deals,” Nestor said.
While digital catalogues have trickled into the mainstream for consumers who shop online, there is still a demand for printed copies. In recent times, sustainability has played a huge role in Australian buyer behaviour, with consumers often turning to environmentally friendly alternatives for the sake of the planet. eBay’s catalogue follows this route for consumers, as Nestor explained: “eBay is committed to operating in the most environmentally sustainable way. Our catalogue is printed on PEFC stock to ensure our impact on the environment is minimal.”
Alongside the launch, eBay Plus members will also get an extra ten per cent off the products featured in the catalogue. “There has never been a better time to be a member of Australia’s leading shopping membership program,” said Nestor. The membership, which is available for AUD$49 annually, provides customers with free delivery and returns, double FlyBuys points and other exclusive offers.
The physical copies will be distributed to households throughout this week, with the digital and shoppable version launching on the site on 21st May.


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The HMD Global launched the company’s latest Android One smartphones Nokia 6 2018 that was introduced at the MWC 2018 event. It sports a 5.5-inch 1080p 2.5D curved glass display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. It is powered by Snapdragon 630 Mobile platform and runs on Android 8.0 (Oreo). It comes with Face unlock and also have Pro Camera mode. The company has also promised to offer latest Android security updates every month and also update to Android P.
It has a 16 MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, dual-tone LED flash, ZEISS optics and an 8 MP front-facing camera. It packs a 3000mAh battery with support for fast charging that can charge the phone up to 50% in 30 minutes. It has an unibody metal design made of 6000 series aluminium, has Nokia’s Dual Sight/Bothie feature.
Ajey Mehta, Vice President India, HMD Global said:
2017 has been an instrumental year for us – we set up our business operations in the country and launched a portfolio of devices that received overwhelming response from the consumers. Today, we are taking the next significant step forward with the launch of three new Nokia Android smartphones. In 2018, we will continue to strengthen our presence in the country. I am delighted to announce the launch of our exclusive online Nokia phones shop for selling Nokia devices and accessories. We will further our commitment to India by deepening our presence in offline as well as online channels.
Nokia 6 2018 specifications
The mobile sports a 5.5-inch 2.5D curved glass display with 450 nits brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.
It is powered by 2.2 GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 630 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 508 GPU and runs on Android 8.0 (Oreo).
The device comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, the storage memory can be expanded up to 128GB using microSD.
It has a 16MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, PDAF, 1.0um sensor, f/2.0 aperture and an 8MP front-facing camera, 1.12um sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 84˚ wide-angle lens.
Connectivity and Sensors
The device supports 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS, NFC, USB Type-C (2.0). It has 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio and Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD). It also has Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock feature.
Battery and Dimensions
The mobile packs 3000mAh built-in battery with fast charging, it has size measurement of 148.8x 75.8x 8.6 mm.
Price and availability
The Nokia 6 2018 is priced at Rs. 16, 999 and it comes in Black/Copper, White/Iron and Blue/Gold colors. It is available offline from April 6th.
- Customers on Airtel get a cashback of Rs 2000 on Nokia 6.
- Free subscription to the Airtel TV app till December 31, 2018.
- Complimentary 12-month Accidental Damage Insurance by Servify on opening the Kotak 811 savings account and activating it.
- Zero cost EMI on credit cards and through Bajaj FinServ and Home Credit.
- ICICI bank offers 5% cashback till May 31, 2018.
- 25% instant discount on domestic hotels at MakeMyTrip.
Share us your views on Nokia 6 2018 smartphone in the comments section below.
For more similar updates, stay tuned with our NEWS section.


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The world has too much time on its hands – Here’s Doom running on an Apple Watch
Logically speaking we knew this was a possibility, we just didn’t think that anyone would actually do it – Someone’s gone and put FPS grandfather Doom on the Apple Watch. Why? It was a way to test out Apple’s native apps function in watchOS 2. Plus, it’s freaking Doom. The collection of developers involved managed to get the venerable shooter working, with even the touchscreen controls from the Watch responding – though anyone actually trying to play the game on their wrist will need the patience of a saint in order to get to the end (of the first level) in this quick-and-dirty hack. Still, Doom makes the jump to yet another platform.
Source: Lior Tubi (YouTube)
Batman will return by end October (but will that be too late?)
Batman: Arkham Knight was a fantastic game. As long as you played it on the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4. PC gamers… were not so lucky, with the game being riddled with errors and being rendered nigh-unplayable. The problem was so bad that Warner Bros. halted sales of the PC version but #PCMasterRace gamers will have their time soon – by the end of October according to Warner. Downloadable content will also be supported as soon as the game goes on sale again but we can’t help but wonder – has Batman’s return to the PC been delayed for too long?
McGuyver is getting a reboot (made from string, gum and a small racoon)
You’d think that this isn’t a tech story but you’d be wrong. McGuyver was a South African TV favourite back in the day and he could be on the way back, according to a report from Variety. A series reboot, exploring how McGuyer got his fantastic ability to get out of any sticky situation using the contents of his pockets, is in the works – though there’s no time-line on when we can expect the new series. How is this tech-related? Anyone who can build a working satellite from an old toaster and three-fifths of a tractor deserves their own tech category, okay?
Daimler is testing its series-produced self-driving trucks on public roads
Self-driving trucks just got a little closer to being reality, with a recent test being conducted by Daimler in Germany. The test was of their Highway Pilot semi-autonomous driving system and the truck used was a production model Mercedes-Benz Actros. The testing ground? Autobahn 8 between Denkendorf and Stuttgart. And Daimler was confident enough in their test to put Minister-President of the state of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschmann and Daimler Executive Board member Dr Wolfgang Bernhard behind the wheel for the test. What does it all mean? That self-driving cars, even ones made from the current lot of vehicles on the road, are a real possibility, of course.
If you’re going to shave, might as well do it with lasers
That’s the idea behind the Skarp Laser Razor, anyway. This Kickstarter project hopes to raise enough money to convince people that slicing hairs off their face using a handheld laser is a good idea – and to build the Skarp razor at the same time. We say ‘hopes’, they’ve topped $3 million in funding since the campaign went live and there are still a couple of weeks for backers to get in on the ground floor. If you’re keen, it’ll cost you about R2,850 (that the $190 backing tier, plus shipping to SA) to back the Skarp and get what could be the last razor you’ll ever need to buy. As far as we know, you don’t have to sharpen a laser. Hey, maybe this is how we eventually get light sabers.


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- What target locations are closing?
- What Hallmark stores are closing?
- Is Lowes going out of business 2020?
- Is Walgreens closing in 2020?
- Why are GNC stores closing?
- Is Bath and Beyond closing?
- Who bought out Walgreens?
- What stores are closing for good in 2020?
- Are Target stores closing for good?
- Is Target closing stores in 2020?
- Why is WalMart closing stores suddenly?
- Is Kohl’s closing stores in 2020?
What target locations are closing?
Closed stores:Broadway Oakland, CA.Buckhead South Atlanta, GA.South Loop Chicago, IL.Lake Street Minneapolis, MN (goal of opening in late 2020)Uptown Minneapolis, MN.Washington Square W Philadelphia, PA..
What Hallmark stores are closing?
Here’s the list of closing stores:2940 E. 2nd Ave., Denver, CO.2730 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver, CO.265 E Eau Gallie Blvd., Indian Harbour Beach, FL.7443 Madison St, Forest Park, IL.2451 Sycamore Rd, DeKalb, IL.6105 Merle Hay Road, Johnston, IA.641 Belmont St Shaws Plaza, Brockton, MA.Skaket Corners, 9 West Rd Ste.More items…•
Is Lowes going out of business 2020?
Store closures will reportedly include 26 Ronas, 6 Lowe’s, and 2 Reno-Depots that are expected to close in January and February of 2020. … Ellison, Lowe’s president and CEO said.
Is Walgreens closing in 2020?
Stores closing in 2020: The last of 200 Drugstore chain Walgreens has been taking a big dose of downsizing. The company announced in the summer of 2019 that it would shut down about 200 of its U.S. stores, and that work is still going on.
Why are GNC stores closing?
In a letter to shoppers, GNC said the COVID-19 pandemic “created a situation where we were unable to accomplish our refinancing and the abrupt change in the operating environment had a dramatic negative impact on our business.” GNC identified 248 stores that would close imminently as part of the restructuring process.
Is Bath and Beyond closing?
In October, company officials announced plans to close 60 stores across all of its concepts. In January, officials said 20 of the 40 Bed Bath & Beyond stores scheduled to close would be delayed until the first half of 2020.
Who bought out Walgreens?
Stefano PessinaWalgreens Boots AllianceTypePublicNet incomeUS$456 million (2020)Total assetsUS$87.174 billion (2020)Total equityUS$21.136 billion (2020)OwnerStefano Pessina (16%)15 more rows
What stores are closing for good in 2020?
Store Closing List 2020: Macy’s, Pier 1, Zara, Nordstrom, and MoreBath & Body Works. … Signet Jewelers. … Gap. … Victoria’s Secret. … Papyrus. … Zara. … Chico’s. … JCPenney.More items…•
Are Target stores closing for good?
On Monday, Target announced that it will be closing all U.S. stores on Nov. 26 as part of its ongoing efforts to create a safe shopping experience during the coronavirus pandemic.
Is Target closing stores in 2020?
Target Stores Closures 2020: 150 Locations To Close, Some Stores To Convert To Kmarts. … The retail operator reportedly has 284 Target stores in the country, which will be pared down to 125 locations as Wesfarmers shifts its focus to Kmart.
Why is WalMart closing stores suddenly?
Business Insider says the shift in focus isn’t unexpected, and there’s another simple reason for their shift in focus, their slow growth, and their closings: they’ve simply opened as many stores as is financially viable, and the U.S. just doesn’t need more Walmarts and Walmart off-shoots.
Is Kohl’s closing stores in 2020?
Kohl’s sales fell 43.5% in the first three months of 2020 with coronavirus closing stores. … Kohl’s reported that its net sales in the first quarter of 2020 were $2.16 billion, down from around $3.8 billion during the same time in 2019. Kohl’s closed all its 1,159 Kohl’s stores and 12 FILA outlets in 49 states March 19.


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It’s time Apple considered creating something akin to their MacBook Air, but in a smartphone. Considering their most recent announcement about the big bummer that is China’s current economy and their overall slightly-too-high expectations for sales of the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, it might well be time to consider something with as few frills as possible. I believe it’s time for an iPhone with the bare essentials.
If you’ve looked at the most recent Counterpoint Research Market Monitor (Q3 2018) report, you might think I’m nuts. Why would Apple want to do anything other than what they’re doing now, now that they’ve got 47% of the “premium smartphone segment” in the market – that’s smartphone shipments, mind you, not end sales.
Read full post here:


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Find Some Craft Supplies at the Legion
April 18, 2012 by Sarah
Craft Supply Swap 2 will take place at the American Legion Memorial Center on April 21 from 9 am-12 pm. Those who attend are asked to bring a donation of non-perishable food for the Main Township Emergency Food Pantry and the Niles Township Food Pantry. The event is sponsored by the Morton Grove Public Library and the Morton Grove Department of Senior and Family Services.
Everyone is being asked to donate their left over craft supplies and in return will be able to pick up supplies they might need themselves. The types of supplies needed to trade at the swap are yarn, fabric swatches, button, stamps, scrapbooking supplies and decorative items. The scrapbooking supplies will most likely include designer papers. Morton Grove stationery printers often supply the decorative paper that many people like to use in their scrap books.
The Main Township Emergency Food Pantry “supplies 150 boxes of food every month, which go towards feeding over 300 individuals” and over 3000 people use the Niles Township Food Pantry each month. With the economy the way it is currently and with many people losing their jobs or having to take large wage cuts, food pantry’s are becoming more and more important for a community. Those of us who do have enough food to eat should think of those who don’t and strive to help them. Public events such as the Craft Supply Swap help to raise both food and awareness of the importance of food banks.


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One of the world’s top tourist destinations, Antalya in Turkey welcomed visitors from 174 countries, which equates to 1.7 million tourists in the month of May according to new data. In the first five months of the year, the number of foreign tourists was up to 19% to 3.1 million in total. The Antalya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism reported that the city welcomed an estimated 14 million foreign tourists in 2018 and signs are already positive for this record number to be increased in 2019.
Numbers of Foreign Tourists in Antalya
Looking at May on its own, 1.7 million foreign tourists flocked to Antalya in May, with local tourists standing at almost 46,000. In May 2018, Antalya welcomed almost 1.6 million tourists, however, in the first five months of this year, the number of tourists visiting Antalya has increased by 19%. In the period of January to May 2018, there were 2.6 million tourists that visited the city. In the same period this year, data shows the number of foreign tourists in the city was up to 3.1 million. There is also an increase of local tourism by 2% when compared to the previous year, equating to 169,372 local visitors.
Where do Antalya tourists coming from?
From the period January – May this year, tourists from Russia held the top spot. Russian tourists rose by a massive 20% from 805,040 in 2018 to 1.2 million this year according to the statistics.
German tourists stand in second place with 617,354 tourists visiting Antalya. 192,267 tourists from Britain came in third, followed by 164,922 visitors from the Ukraine and 133,956 tourists from the Netherlands.
Making up the rest of the top 10 countries whose populations chose to visit Antalya were Denmark, Poland, Belgium, Lithuania and Israel.
Why are tourists choosing Antalya?
There are various reasons why tourists choose Antalya for their holiday destination. Not only does the city offer some spectacular historical monuments but it also boasts a modern nightlife. Both foreigners and Turks choose to visit Antalya as it is a truly serene location set alongside the Mediterranean Sea.
Top 5 Reasons to Visit Antalya
Research has shown that there are five reasons that always come up top when visitors are asked why they choose Antalya for their holidays. In no particular order the reasons are as follows:
1. Kaleici – this is the old historical centre full of shops, hotels and stunning architecture.
2. Luxury Life – Antalya is made up of two main resort districts. Prices at these resorts are usually all inclusive, giving everyone the chance to experience luxury resort life.
3. Hadrian’s Gate – The famous three arched gates were constructed in 139 A.D. to celebrate the visit of Emperor Hadrian.
4. Koprulu Canyon – Opened in 1973, this National Park in Turkey offers canyons to explore and many swim holes.
5. Duden Waterfalls – Due to a water recycling station these falls drop dramatically over a cliff in the Mediterranean Sea.
Built to exceptional standards throughout, these mansion-style villas are located in an elite area of Yalikavak with panoramic sea views stretching endlessly – these are some of the most impressive that you will find in Bodrum.
Our unique U shaped houses for sale in Gumusluk are designed from top to bottom with luxury living in mind, featuring an authentic fusion of architecture to create some of the most stunning properties in the Bodrum peninsula.
Located in a residential area of Fethiye, this brand new designer villa is found in Ciftlik and has its own private garden with large swimming pool to enjoy – this property is just minutes away from the nearest town centre and all daily amenities.
Close to schools, shopping malls, hospitals, and everything else needed for family living in Istanbul are these fantastic Beylikduzu villas for sale – complete with beautiful views out towards the sea and natural settings.


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Seems that "Dead Space 2" and "Crysis 2" aren't the only games EA is locking down for the year 2011. In a forum posting on the "Star Wars: The Old Republic" message board, BioWare staffer Sean Dahlberg stated that while there is no specific date to speak of, the team is targeting a Spring 2011 release. Given that that's more than a year away, I'd say that's pretty specific!
Here's Dahlberg's full statement:
While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It’s not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can’t wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.
While that does seem like a long time to wait, it's probably for the best. The potential productivity hours lost to that game will likely cause 2012-esque disasters...a year early, no less!


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Those who buy a luxury home this year will pay more money to the Government. The transfer tax rises half a point and buyers of properties worth more than one million euros will pay 11.5% tax. | EFE
The Tax Agency of the Balearic Islands last year received 688.39 million in taxes from the purchasing of second-hand home. Most of the income corresponds to luxury real estate transactions, those over one million euros, which in 2021 paid 11% in taxes, mostly carried out by foreign citizens. That means that, for the purchase of a one million euro home, the buyer paid the ment 110,000 euros in tax.


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Samsung Galaxy S7 only costs 250 quid to make!
Samsung has recently launched the Galaxy S7 around the world and this premium smartphone is getting a huge markup
Samsung has just launched the Galaxy S7 around the world - their latest premium handset and one that is already receiving rave reviews. With a gorgeous design, top quality camera and high performing specs, it's bound to be one of the best sellers of the year.
If you wanted to pick up the phone Sim free right now you'd likely pay more than €600, which is roughly what a new premium smartphone costs these days. However, you might be interested to note that the hardware components inside the S7 actually cost significantly less. How about less than half, or close to €250 all told ?
That's quite a markup, with the facts coming via a teardown by IHS. They broke apart a shiny new smartphone and priced the indivdual components, including that Qualcomm processor and camera module, seperately and the cost came up to this much lower sum. Now it's easy to say that Samsung is just doing this to make a huge profit, and there's no doubt that the company will make a tidy sum on every unit sold, but the picture isn't quite so simple.
Consider the fact that every aspect of the look of the device had to be carefully designed and refined over the last several months, and that the the way it all fits together needed just as much care and attention. Then there are costs like delivery to countries all over the world, and different import taxes and duties as well as the deals the company enters into with various networks to ensure a low starting price. Add in a global marketing campaign including a major press event at Mobile World Congress and it's safe to say that margin will be much smaller by the time it actually reaches Samsung's coffers.


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Recently the CyanogenMod team have published their CM Installer app to the Google Play store in effort to expand the adoption of their custom rom but yesterday Google contacted them and told them that the app was violating their policies, thus the CM team have removed the app.
For those of you who are wondering what this app does, it helps users to install the CM custom rom with an easy user interface. It helps the user connect his phone easily to the computer over ADB and according to sources, the app was encouraging users to "void their warranty".
Just today an update was posted at their official website claiming that their app was actually not in violation of their TOS and that it was a "mischaracterization of Google’s statement". Still, the app for now seems to be unavailable from the Play Store and no information has been posted whether it will be re-published for download.


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Mishaps at local businesses lead to lawsuits
MUNCIE, Ind. — A local woman who alleges "oil or another foreign substance" struck her eye and face near the meat counter at a Munciie Walmart store has filed a related lawsuit.
Amy Hunt — represented by the Ken Nunn Law Office of Bloomington — contends she was in the Walmart store at 1501 E. 29th St. on July 25 when an employee "washing the deep fryer negligently" caused the substance to strike her face, causing "serious injury."
The injuries, not detailed in the Delaware Circuit Court 1 lawsuit, are also described a "permanent," and are said to have resulted in medical expenses.
Defendants in the suit are Walmart Stores East and the employee at the meat counter, referred to as "John Doe."
Hunt asks that a jury determine damages in the case.
In other recent lawsuits:
• Jerry Malone, also represented by the Ken Nunn Law Office, has filed suit against Walmart over a fall at the East 29th Street store last Dec. 7.
In the Circuit Court 5 suit, Malone reports he "slipped and fell in a powdered substance on the floor," suffering "serious injuries."
The suit asks that a jury determine losses as a result of Malone's "permanent injuries."
• A Muncie woman has filed a Delaware Circuit Court 3 suit over injuries she suffered in a fall at the Pay Less Supermarket at 1500 W. McGalliard Road on Aug. 27, 2020.
Tammy Helton reports she "slipped and fell, due to a yogurt spill, on the floor," resulting in "pain and suffering."
Her lawsuit is filed against the corporate owner of Pay Less, Kroger Limited Partnership.
Helton is represented by the Hensley Legal Group of Indianapolis.
• In a Delaware Circuit Court 1 suit, Xavier Branson, now 20 and of Muncie, seeks damages from David M. Reynolds over a September 2015 incident that saw the then-teenager struck by a vehicle at Howard and Mound streets.
The suit alleges Branson suffered "severe personal injuries resulting in pain and physical limitation."
Branson is represented by Indianapolis attorney Kimberly Danforth.
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Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at email@example.com.


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Eat that frog now
Mark Twain once said “if it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning.” Why? Because then you can go through the day knowing that the worst thing that can possibly happen to you has already happened. It’s a perfect way to start a new era. That’s the wisdom to follow in dealing with Turkey’s mounting economic problems. Turkey has procrastinated enough in a rapidly changing world. Now is the time to stop delaying any further.
Turkey now has a new system of government where policy coordination is going to be technically easier. The Strategy and Budget Office of the Presidency alone as a policy coordination unit, is a vast improvement over what we had in the past. We are also at a stage where the new priorities of the country have to be set. Specifically, we need new growth and job creation policies.
Let me give you a few numbers. Between July 2017 and July 2018, the Turkish Lira lost 33.4 percent of its value to the U.S. dollar. Since the beginning of this calendar year, Turks have to pay 33.9 percent more to get a U.S. dollar.
The lira is going down, yet inflation is going up. Consumer prices have increased 15.85 percent between July 2017 and July 2018. Producer prices rose 25 percent during the same period. What does this mean? It means that companies are feeling even higher costs, but cannot yet pass the full impact on to their customers. But just wait. The Central Bank’s new target for the end of 2018 already looks far-fetched.
The lira is coming down and inflation is going up, while annual job creation figures are steadily declining. In January 2018, annual job creation was 1.1 million a year, and declined to 700,000 by April, according to official figures. All these figures are symptoms resulting from longstanding Turkish procrastination, if you ask me. Turkey is late to turn from leveraging to deleveraging in the corporate sector. Now is the time to tackle the malady creating all these symptoms. If we don’t, that bad cholesterol will keep clogging up our arteries.
Turkey needs a new strategy for growth and job creation. It’s obvious that whatever we had is not working. Turkey’s new plan will no doubt have to take into account the technological revolution, and plan for the long term. But in order to jumpstart the economy on a new sustainable growth path, you need to stop the bleeding first. Let me add another nugget of wisdom: “When you’ve got to eat a frog, don’t spend too much time looking at it.” Eat that frog now.


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CHICAGO, June 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- National Cyclospora Lawyer Jory Lange is investigating the Cyclospora outbreak linked to Garden Salads sold at ALDI, Hy-Vee, and Jewel-Osco stores. According to the FDA, 76 people have contracted Cyclospora. 16 people have been hospitalized in this Cyclospora outbreak. This Cyclospora outbreak has sickened 28 people in Iowa, 23 people in Illinois, 10 people in Minnesota, 7 people in Missouri, 7 people in Nebraska, and 1 person in Kansas. The case count is likely to continue to rise.
"Cyclospora is a tiny one celled, microscopic parasite that causes an intestinal infection known as Cyclosporiasis. Like most intestinal parasites, Cyclospora is spread when human feces contaminates food," says national Cyclospora Lawyer Jory Lange. "Cyclospora outbreaks are often linked to fresh produce. Frequently, the fecal contamination occurred in the fields where the produce was harvested. Consumers get sick when the contaminated produce is sold grocery stores."
"When a grocery store sells food contaminated with Cyclospora parasites, each of the corporations throughout the entire chain of distribution of that produce may be legally liable for the harm caused. Often, these outbreaks are not just about the grocery stores that sold the food. They also about the farms where the fresh produce was harvested, the companies that imported the produce from Mexico to the United States, and the companies that distributed the contaminated produce within the United States," says Jory Lange.
The FDA recommends that consumers should not eat ALDI Little Salad Bar Brand Garden Salad sold in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri; Hy-Vee Brand Garden Salad sold in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska; and Jewel-Osco Signature Farms Brand Garden Salad sold in Illinois.
Compensation for Cyclospora
Those who contracted Cyclospora parasites ALDI, Hy-Vee, or Jewel-Osco garden salads may be entitled to compensation. To learn more about making a claim for Cyclospora compensation, please visit the Lange Law Firm's website, www.MakeFoodSafe.com or call 833.330.3663.
About the legal team:
Jory Lange is one of the nation's leading Cyclospora Lawyers. Mr. Lange has helped families affected by food poisoning from the Midwest to New York, from Florida to California, and in states across the nation.
SOURCE The Lange Law Firm


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The actor spoke with Campaign India about her experiences in advertising and how far she thinks the industry has come
An effort by Lifebuoy, the Ministry of School Education Punjab and Grey Pakistan revised a cherished part of the school curriculum so girls won't be left out
Over 126 years after William Lever founded the soap brand to aid Cholera-ravaged England, Lifebuoy is returning to its roots as it becomes a billion-Euro brand and mounts a global expansion
FMCG giant has unveiled range of measures to assist global effort to tackle COVID-19, including €100m in donations.
India retains seventh position among top ranked countries
The company has launched an audio-call system that allows brands to talk to up to 25,000 consumers at a time—no internet required.
Top news, insights and analysis every weekday
Sign up for Campaign Bulletins


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Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA) stock continued its bullish momentum rising 1% in the pre-market session on December 28th, 2018 (Source: Google finance). The company received an upgrade by Edward Jones from Hold to Buy.
Meanwhile, Aarobust shopping season from before Thanksgiving through Christmas has given retailers much to cheer about this year. According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which provides insights into overall retail spending trends across all payment types, including cash and check, holiday sales increased 5.1 percent to more than $850 billion this year, which is the strongest growth in the last six years. Online shopping also saw large gains of 19.1 percent compared to 2017. The Mastercard SpendingPulse report details holiday shopping from November 1 through December 24. Key findings of the report indicate that despite weather challenges, this was a winning holiday season for retail overall.
Total apparel had a strong season with a growth rate of 7.9 percent compared to 2017, recording the best growth rate since 2010. The category followed through on a strong momentum that started during the back-to-school season and accelerated through fall right up to Christmas.
Home improvement spending continued to surge across the U.S. with spending during the holiday season up 9.0 percent. This trend started before the holiday season and helped the sector power through to a strong finish.
Department stores finished the season with a 1.3 percent decline from 2017. This follows two years with growth below 2 percent, some of which can be attributed to store closings. However, the online sales growth for department stores indicated a more positive story, with growth of 10.2 percent.
Electronics and appliances were down 0.7 percent. The home furniture and furnishings category grew 2.3 percent.
Poor weather did pose an issue during some primetime shopping periods. This included cold weather on Black Friday morning on the East Coast and wet weather conditions the weekend of December 15-16, on both the East and West coasts. Conditions were also less than ideal on Friday, December 21, in the East, with storms that impacted the final run of the season.
Moreover, during the third quarter, net revenue increased 15% as reported, or 17% on a currency-neutral basis. The new revenue recognition rules contributed 3 percentage points to this growth.
During the third quarter of 2018, Mastercard had repurchased approximately 5.6 million shares at a cost of $1.2 billion and paid $260 million in dividends. Quarter-to-date through October 25, the company repurchased an additional 1.8 million shares at a cost of $385 million, which leaves $0.8 billion remaining under current repurchase program authorizations


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‘Left of field’ shocks to global supply chains such as the tensions playing out in the Red Sea are the biggest risk to inflation and interest rates, the Reserve Bank governor has warned.
Cooling inflation has given homebuyers more confidence to jump into the property market amid forecasts of several interest rate cuts later this year, while those with a mortgage hold out for some repayment relief.
But RBA governor Michele Bullock has warned it’s too soon to rule out future rate hikes just yet.
Addressing her first parliamentary hearing since taking over the top job, Ms Bullock said the main risks to inflation reaccelerating were likely to be unforeseen.
“What we’ve observed over the last few years is that supply shocks can come from left field,” Ms Bullock said.
“We had the pandemic, we had Russia-Ukraine, now we’ve got the Middle East, we’ve got concerns about supply chains there.
“We are seeing an impact on shipping costs and so there’s a potential that there’s some supply issues out there. So that’s a risk.”
Recent attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea – through which about 12% of global trade and 30% of all global container shipments pass – have driven up freight costs as ships use longer, more costly shipping routes.
Red Sea shipping disruptions put pressure on freights and supply chains:
NAB chief economist Alan Oster said while the impact remains minimal compared to the supply chain disruptions of the pandemic, it poses a risk to inflation.
“Geopolitical factors remain a risk,” Mr Oster said in the NAB Forward Review report.
“Recent disruptions to shipping through the Red Sea and Suez Canal have seen a spike in freight rates which, if sustained, will add to global inflation and is already causing some factory disruptions.”
Ms Bullock said that while the increases to date have been small relative to those seen during the pandemic, the way households respond is a concern.
“Typically, we would try to look through those sorts of things, but I also highlight that inflation expectations being anchored is important.
“If you keep getting supply shocks, which keep pushing inflation up, at what point do people seem to think well, actually, this is just the new world? So I think we’ve got to be alert.”
A flow on effect
The RBA’s newly updated economic forecasts see Australia’s inflation rate easing to 3.1% by June 2025, although it’s not expected to reach the middle of the 2-3% target range for more than two years.
If realised, inflation will have remained above the target range for four years.
“That’s quite a long time, and we think that if it stays outside of that much longer then it just increases the risks that inflation expectations [rise],” Ms Bullock said.
“When people see things that are in their face all the time, like grocery prices and fuel and those sorts of things, when they see those prices going up quite quickly, they get this in their mind that [inflation will continue to rise].”
The RBA held interest rates at 4.35% in February, but said returning inflation to target within a reasonable timeframe remains the highest priority.
“At this stage, the board hasn’t ruled out a further increase in interest rates but neither has it ruled it in,” Ms Bullock said.
AMP deputy chief economist Diana Mousina said the theory is that inflation expectations influence future actual realised inflation, although questioned how reliable the correlation actually is.
“Central banks pay close attention to inflation expectations, especially in the recent period of high inflation, out of concern that inflation expectations will become unanchored and lead to prolonged high inflation,” she said.
Housing costs and essential items keeping prices elevated
A sharp slowdown in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the past year has seen markets price in several interest rate cuts later this year.
Annual inflation cooled to 4.1% in the December quarter, down from a peak of 7.8% a year earlier.
However, while the cost of discretionary items – such as clothing, footwear and furnishings – has eased, the price of essential goods and services have been much slower to respond, which Ms Bullock said poses a risk to inflation reversing.
“Some of the ‘goods’ side has been very kind to us but if some of that reverses and services inflation doesn’t come down enough then we’re not going to be reaching our band,” Ms Bullock said.
CBA head of Australian economics Gareth Aird said the RBA’s 13 interest rate hikes to date have been successful in pulling down the rate of inflation for discretionary goods.
Instead, he said the risks lie within four essential items.
“It has primarily been a tale of four expenditure items; the cost of building a home (good), rent (service), electricity (good) and insurance (service). These are all housing related,” Mr Aird said.
“There will be pockets of both goods and services inflation that prove a little sticky because monetary policy is unable to directly influence price changes for some non-discretionary components of the basket – particularly those influenced by strong population growth.
“But overall we expect ongoing disinflation to be the key theme in 2024.”
CBA expects three rate cuts this year, beginning in September, and a further three cuts in the first half of 2025 to take the cash rate to 2.85%
PropTrack data shows national rent prices have surged by a third in the past two years, with the share of all rental properties sitting vacant more than halving since the pandemic.
While supply chain disruptions pushed up building costs in recent years, the latest inflation data shows these price pressures have cooled dramatically, with labour costs largely responsible for continued price rises.
PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan said financial pressures look to be easing in housing, with slowing price growth, expectations of lower interest rates, and a slower pace of rental increases.
“This will be welcome news for households feeling cost-of-living pressure,” Mr Ryan said.
Ms Bullock said that while much of the persistent inflation sits within essential items, consumers still have the ability to cut back in other ways.
“What a lot of people do is they downgrade, they move from a [branded item] to a home brand perhaps, or they shop at Aldi, or they look for ways to reduce the costs while still consuming their essentials.
“People make decisions about ‘what do I really need?’ and ‘what can I put off consuming at this point in time?’”


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JACKSONVILLE — Former Hart Transportation Inc. owner Billy Hart said he sold his company because it was too expensive to stay in business.
The trucking industry is consolidating and some industry experts say it’s because of government regulation that requires a large capital investment. Another factor is increased competition with national trucking companies.
Hart’s company made The Business Journal’s 50 fastest-growing private companies list in 2009, but he now says small trucking companies are being swallowed. He sold his business to commercial carrier Universal Am-Can Ltd. in late 2011.
“Banks weren’t lending and I wasn’t looking for equity partners,” he said. “I looked out into the future and saw this was the best option for the company.”
Hart said all of his former employees were retained by Universal or found another job. Hart Transportation employed about 300 people, with about 200 company drivers and the rest self-employed owner/operators. Revenue for 2011 totaled more than $25 million and focused on dry freight, which is the transportation of nonperishable goods.
To move to the next level, making more than $50 million in revenue, would have required a significant investment in equipment to meet government regulations, Hart said.
Among the equipment improvements needed to be competitive was retrofitting electronic recorders in trucks, at a cost of about $2,000 for each truck, Hart said, which would have cost his company at least $500,000. He also cited new federal safety regulations.
The Comprehensive Safety Analysis, launched in 2010, is designed to enhance the enforcement of current truck safety regulations by making it easier for the U.S. Department of Transportation and state authorities to identify unsafe carriers, the agency’s website said.
“Significant costs are coming down that will cause the owner/operator to go away as a small business,” Hart said. He declined to say how much Universal Am-Can paid for his company.
There’s a lot of pressure on small trucking companies, said Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Association. Consolidation is happening, but it can be hard to see because the industry is fragmented with hundreds of thousands of companies due to low barriers of entry.
Costs for new trucks have increased recently, in great part due to increasing government requirements, Costello said, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s changing regulations on engines. The truck part of a tractor-trailer now costs around $118,000 brand new, compared with about $95,000 in 2009 — an increase of 24 percent.
Hart said he paid on average $48,000 for used trucks.
“It’s getting harder for all companies, but it’s even harder for small companies to buy this equipment,” Costello said.
If large companies want to buy small companies, they most likely don’t want the old equipment, Costello said. But buying a small trucking business for its drivers might be tempting.
Universal bought Hart’s customer relationships and the equipment was sold separately, Hart said. Many of the people Universal kept after the transition were drivers.
Universal Am-Can, based in Warren, Mich., is a national trucking company that was founded in 1981. The company primarily operates through a contractor network of 565 agents, plus owner-operators. Through that network, Universal uses about 3,100 tractors and 3,000 trailers.
Universal Am-Can Ltd. is a subsidiary of Universal Truckload Services Inc. (Nasdaq: UACL). The company’s net income for the first quarter of 2012 was about $3.6 million, compared with $2.9 million for the same period in 2011. Revenue for fiscal 2011 was $588.1 million.


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LinkedIn Data Breach From 2012 Comes Back to Haunt Users
A new report says a hacker is selling information from 117 million accounts.
— -- A LinkedIn breach from four years ago may have been more damaging than previously believed after a hacker reportedly posted 117 million usernames and passwords belonging to members of the professional networking site.
Log-in credentials said to belong to LinkedIn users have been offered for sale on the dark web for around $2,200, according to a report from Motherboard, a tech website run by Vice. (The dark web refers to websites where people can browse anonymously and in some cases, use it to conduct illegal business).
A hacker reportedly told the website the information was obtained during a breach in 2012.
Cory Scott, LinkedIn's chief information security officer, wrote in a blog post that the company required "a mandatory password reset for all accounts we believed were compromised as a result of the unauthorized disclosure" in 2012. He said LinkedIn also advised all members to change their passwords as a security best practice.
Scott said the company was made aware on Tuesday of the data for sale.
"Yesterday, we became aware of an additional set of data that had just been released that claims to be email and hashed password combinations of more than 100 million LinkedIn members from that same theft in 2012. We are taking immediate steps to invalidate the passwords of the accounts impacted, and we will contact those members to reset their passwords. We have no indication that this is as a result of a new security breach," he said.
Scott also highlighted extra layers of security LinkedIn has in place, including email challenges and dual factor authentication.
"We encourage our members to visit our safety center to learn about enabling two-step verification, and to use strong passwords in order to keep their accounts as safe as possible," he said.


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(Pocket-lint) - Odeon cinemas and Harvester restaurants in the UK are among the first companies to embrace Apple's new Passbook feature in iOS 6.
The cinema chain is allowing people who visit its website to add a 30 per cent off voucher to the Passbook app at the click of a button, rather than insist users install a dedicated app.
Users who opt to add the voucher to their iPhone will be able to claim the money off between Sunday and Thursday until 18 October for any movie excluding Madagascar 3 (don't ask us why).
Meanwhile Harvester is offering money off when diners show the Passbook coupon after visiting the Harvester website.
Apple recently launched Passbook within iOS 6 as a virtual wallet to keep vouchers, airline tickets and store cards in one place. The feature is open to any developer and should save customers having to dig out a specific email or boot up an app.
Up until now only a handful of companies in the UK have used the service since its launch last month. They include Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines and Starbucks.
You can get the voucher, whether you are an iPhone user or not, at the Odeon website.


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Billions of Gmail, Outlook, Android and iPhone users told to search ‘McDonalds’ now – or your bank could be emptied
SECURITY experts have spotted a Mcdonald's scam doing the rounds this week and you should probably check your inbox.
The dangerous message has been spotted in text form but similar survey scams appear via email too.
Experts at cybersecurity company Trend Micro have flagged the scam.
They gave an example of what the message might say.
It reads: "Hey Bryant, Mc-Customer! You’ve been selected to receive free meals for a month as a special thank you for being a valued customer. <URL>"
The message may even be addressed to you.
You'll be encouraged to click on a scam URL link that will take you to a dangerous survey.
Once the seemingly innocent questions are over you'll be asked to provide personal details like a delivery address for a prize you'll never receive.
The scammers are promising things like a PS5 or iPad Pro.
However, you'll just risk giving away important information that could even lead to your bank being drained.
Most read in News Tech
How to avoid "smashing"
Smishing is the SMS version of phishing that we usually see in email form.
You can set up spam protection on your phone to try and stop smishing.
On Android, there's an “Enable spam protection” feature.
Apple has a "Filter Unknown Senders" feature on its iPhone that can flag strange messages.
You should also follow the common techniques to spot phishing.
You should be thorough when checking who the text or email is from.
Even if it looks official, you should double-check the email or phone number and look for any spelling mistakes or slight abnormalities in the sender's email address.
Never feel pressured into opening an attachment and avoid clicking the phrase "enable content."
You should also be wary of links in text messages.
If you're certain a text you have received is a scam then delete it.


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Envisics, a pioneer and global leader in augmented reality holographic technology has today announced receiving over $50m as part of its Series C strategic funding round. The round was led by Hyundai Mobis – a strategic investor from the Series B round in 2020 – with additional investments from new strategic shareholders InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of Jaguar Land Rover, and Stellantis.
“Since our Series B funding round, we have focused on growing Envisics into a key enabler for next generation mobility experiences,” said Envisics’ CEO and founder, Dr. Jamieson Christmas. “The caliber of our investors demonstrates the significance attached by global automakers to the transformation of vehicle interfaces and interior architectures. Our solutions are an exceptional fit for OEM requirements and provide platforms that enable the creation of unique brand experiences. Envisics stands apart as the only company that has created and delivered dynamic holographic technology as a viable product at scale.”
“Hyundai Mobis is very pleased to continue our strategic partnership with Envisics to jointly develop AR-HUDs and to improve the in-car experience,” said Younghoon Han, Vice President and Head of Electronic Control and Convenience, Hyundai Mobis. “Hyundai Mobis expects to provide next-generation AR-HUDs with cutting-edge holographic technology, and to deliver an intuitive, safe, and convenient HMI to global automakers by strengthening our partnership with Envisics.”
General Motors will be the first company to deploy the Envisics 2nd Generation AR-HUD technology, debuting in the 2024 Cadillac LYRIQ.
The AR HUD market is entering a growth phase fueled by the introduction of new technologies. Based upon global market research, the addressable AR HUD market is forecast to deliver a compound annual growth rate of 28%, growing from 1.6 million units in 2022 to 19.1 million in 2032.


text: This just in, OnMobile has announced the deployment of Ad RingBack Tones (AdRBT). The release states it will be launching soon with ‘a leading Indian operator.’ CS had exclusively reported on Airtel launching Ad CRBT (NYSE: BT) and this seems to be two parts of the same story. If that’s the case, OnMobile’s AdRBT platform would be made available to multiple operators with Airtel possibly enjoying a limited period of exclusivity for partnering on the pilot. The rest of the release corroborates the feature list we had mentioned, adding that AdRBT subscribers will receive special discounts and offers from the Operators for participation. Looks like cold hard cash will have to wait.


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NEW YORK – Each fall, lover-beauty.com’s workforce soared from 150 to 2,000 as online retailers met orders for Halloween Costumes Outlet and decors.
The company offers seasonal staff in a warehouse in North Mankato, Minnesota, which is a well-behaved motivator – those who will be referred to town greeting card maker jobs. Joe Riska, the company’s head of human resources, says the business takes 300 to 400 after lover-beauty.com left its seasonal staff.
He said: “Now that they’ve spent a season, that they can do a good job, now they can go to work for another company,” he said.
Small businesses that need extra help during holidays or other rush hours are looking for employees who are willing to work hard to help them meet the higher demands they make on their products or services. So the goal of some owners hiring and managing is to turn temporary workers into long-term ones or to help them find other jobs. This is a crucial strategy when the 4.1% national jobless rate reduces the number of candidates.
Melissa Hassett, vice president of Manpower Human Resources Group, said that if businesses provide only short-term salaries to them, it’s hard for them to find seasonal employees. Many of these workers want to learn new skills. Haset said: “Many people will like more career growth.
However, Carrie Gonell, a lawyer for employment at Morgan Lewis in Columbia Mesa, Calif., Said that owners need to manage the expectations of their seasonal workers and know they are getting Long-term job opportunities. Some workers want to win the job when the season is over.
Gonell advises landlords who want to get those employees off when their business slows, “Make sure you say the job is seasonal.”
At Fun.com, seasonal staff start arriving in August and spend most of their work on Halloween. During Christmas, about 10% will continue to process the holiday goods. It is difficult to hire and manage many temporary workers, so the company increases the number of HR staff from three to fifteen a year. It recruits college students looking for human resources experiences that they can list in their CV, says Rica.
When appliance maker NewAir recruited employees during the busy season, warehouse manager Ronnie DeLeo told prospective employees that they had a chance to keep their jobs when the surge in sales ended. While they are working, they will compete with NewAir’s existing staff for permanent job opportunities.
NewAir, which makes small appliances such as ice wine and ice makers, provides seasonal help during summer and winter holidays. The company’s Cypress warehouse in California employs about 20 people and employs a total of 10 employees when orders from online customers and retailers soar, as well as during packaging and shipping.
During the interview, candidates learned that the company tracked staff productivity on public scoreboards, and everyone knew that the best performing staff would continue working after the peak season.
DeLeo said: “I have encountered some situations, I have some new, new, motivated people, their work is much faster, more motivated than the current staff.
Andrew Stephenson, director of product marketing, said the company works with employees to help employees who need to improve their performance and, in some cases, pay severance pay when employees are left behind. Stephenson said competitive strategy is part of NewAir’s long-term growth plan.
“We want to double – even less than triple – our business in the coming years,” he said. “In the warehouse, the speed is going up and we have to be staffed accordingly. ”
Hugh Jones employs 25 mosquitoes every spring as his mosquito franchise installs and maintains outdoor pest control systems by the end of October. Jones, including Greensboro, Winston-Salem and the North Carolina High, believes that providing career counseling and guidance to his seasonal staff will motivate them to do their jobs well.
Jones said: “We are here to help you find a good job, not to say ‘here to work, it’s great.’
Jones serves breakfast twice a month for crew members and brings motivators to talk about life and work. He said many seasonal workers are in their 20s and have not figured out what they want to do. If they are interested in a particular job, he will try to pair them with those already engaged in such work, so that they can learn more. Two years ago, one of Jones’s staff told him he wanted to be a firefighter.
Jones said: “I met a fireman and took him to talk to him, and now, two years later, he is a firefighter.”


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Sony’s official PlayStation 5 page has been updated again. The last update came in March, following Mark Cerny’s in-depth talk. The PS5 page now features three bullet points about the next-gen system:
Harness the power of a custom CPU, GPU, and SSD with Integrated I/O that rewrite the rules of what a PlayStation console can do.
Marvel at incredible graphics and experience new PS5™ features.
Discover a deeper gaming experience with support for haptic feedback, adaptive triggers and 3D Audio technology.
Obviously these bullet points don’t tell us anything new, but the simple fact that the site has been altered already has fans talking about incoming announcements. And to be fair, such speculation isn’t unfounded — official sites like this tend to be tampered with when the corporate cogs are turning. It could well be that Sony is gearing up for the big reveal.
What’s more, with The Last of Us: Part II’s State of Play set for tomorrow (at the time of writing), it does kind of feel like Sony is making way for the PS5. After all, rampant rumours still reckon that the console’s reveal is happening in June. Let’s hope that this update is a sign that something’s about to happen. Finally.
Do you think the PS5 event is imminent? Can you feel it in the air? Tell us that you’re tired of speculating in the comments section below.


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Builders' merchant Travis Perkins yesterday said its acquisition of DIY chain Wickes would boost earnings even though consumer spending has slowed.
The group, which bought Wickes for £950 million after the end of its financial year, sounded the upbeat note as it revealed that annual profits lifted 17 per cent to £190.4 million.
It said a record number of smaller acquisitions in the year to December 31 helped drive the improvement and added that it had made a good start to 2005.
Northampton-based Travis said: "Despite a slowing of consumer spending in February, we see enhanced earnings growth from the Wickes acquisition."
Travis Perkins chief executive Geoff Cooper added that while Wickes enjoyed a "very good" first quarter, it suffered poor trading in February.
Travis increased its network of stores from 700 to 751 in the year to December 31 then added 172 outlets through the purchase of Wickes. The combined group employs around 16,500 staff.
The chain was part of the privately- owned Focus Wickes group, and its customers are mainly tradesmen or serious DIY enthusiasts.
It said it would continue to grow the business by investing in new sites for Wickes and its existing branches.
During the year, turnover rose by nine per cent to £1.83 billion while on a like-for-like basis sales were 1.8 per cent higher.
Over the year, the group refurbished some of the outlets acquired in the takeover of Keyline in 1999, including Colchester and Swindon, as well as Travis Perkins branches in locations including Caerphilly, Northampton and Slough.
It also overhauled its IT network to offer high-speed broadband internet access, bringing greater capacity at lower operating costs.
The group added: "After another year of good progress, we remain confident of our ability to achieve further growth in the future."
The board raised the final dividend 25 per cent to 21 pence from 16.8 pence for a total payout of 30.5 pence, up from 24.4 pence.


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Wisconsin Cheese Tour
Posted on October 19, 2014 - Kalamazoo
The Cheese Lady of Kalamazoo recently went on a Wisconsin cheese tour, visiting over 8 creameries throughout the state, in search of new domestic cheese offerings. I also visited Frommagination in Madison, which is a premier cheese shop in the Midwest, winning Retailer of the Year in 2013. Keep an eye out for new, exciting cheeses from this trip!


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Nissan GT-R buyers get Silverstone race day
by Vijay Pattni
Buyers of the storming new Nissan GT-R will be treated to FREE track days at two of the world's best ever racing circuits.
Nissan is gearing up for the UK launch of its most anticipated sportscar - the new Nissan GT-R - by offering UK and European buyers the chance to race around Silverstone, home to next Sunday's British Grand Prix, and Germany's famous Nurburgring course.
Read the full story now.


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In august 2008, Mrs. Fields well known Brands – the parent agency of cookie chain Mrs. Fields and also frozen yogurt chain TCBY – filed because that bankruptcy. Mall website traffic was declining. The frozen yogurt sector was overrun with brand-new competitors. The end seemed near.
You are watching: What does tcby yogurt stand for
But in which method in the previous year, renowned Brands" franchise unit growth doubled. Next year, the is meant to twin again. COO David Bloom calls the a "renaissance" because that Mrs. Fields, which opened its first store in 1977, and also TCBY, established in 1981.
What happened? The two chains uncovered found the crucial to a brand-new era of famed Brands: cashing in on every other"s strengths.
Famous Brands freshly announced that, together of June, it would practically exclusively be arising dual-branded Mrs. Fields/TCBY locations, complying with successful tests by franchisees. Franchisees who increased to offer both TCBY and Mrs. Fields reportedly quickly doubled your profits, with tiny increase in franchise fees, occupancy costs or staffing.
"From a company standpoint, it really significantly readjusted our model," states Bloom. "In warm weather, we eight on the TCBY side, while Mrs. Fields is a little bit softer, and also vice versa. So, when we placed those two brands together, we took the seasonality out and
Related: Why Domino"s Latest ad Was a Smart, If Unintentional, Marketing Play
Beyond balancing each other out, the two brands together are much more than the amount of your parts. Mrs. Areas has traditionally been a food-court mainstay, and struggled as foot traffic in malls has plummeted in recent years. Meanwhile, TCBY was slow-moving to adapt to a frozen-yogurt market that has adopted chains such together Pinkberry and also Red Mango, which market unconventional flavors, healthy and balanced toppings and a model that allows customers serve themselves.
When the two combine, Mrs. Fields has the chance to venture out the the mall and also TCBY has actually a mystery ingredient – fresh cookies – that various other fro-yo chains lack.
"It"s one of those concepts that simply resonates through people, like milk and also cookies," claims Bloom. "It doesn"t take a lot come convince people it"s a an excellent idea."
While both chains struggled to find prime places to open Mrs. Fields and also TCBY individually, the twin branded locations sparked landlords" interest. This year the firm opened 85 new stores in the U.S., plus 35 worldwide – twice the number it opened the year before. Next year, Bloom states the agency is feather to double the number again.
While double branding has actually been key in Mrs. Fields and TCBY"s comeback, the brand-new locations actually market three streams that revenue: sales indigenous cookies and also frozen yogurt, add to gift was in the type of Mrs. Areas Gifting Stations.
Famous Brands started testing gifting stations in Hong Kong 2 years ago. Mrs. Fields stores that market the service dedicate about fifty percent of their square clip to gift products, such as cookies, brownies and also popcorn, and also ordering kiosks that permit customers customize and ship gifts anywhere in the world. In the last year, Mrs. Fields" gift merchandise, i beg your pardon is specifically popular for providers sending presents for this firm holidays, profession shows and business conferences, lugged in $50 million.
Related: Franchisees take 7-Eleven to Court because that Alleged racial Discrimination
Gifting train station at new Mrs. Fields/TCBY locations enable Famous brands to introduce a brand-new kind of franchise that brings ecommerce into the kingdom of franchisees. Many franchises, specifically in the food industry, have focused on technology as a method to get customers right into their stores, v coupons and also deals, or to rate up business, v online and also digital ordering. With gifting stations built into most brand-new franchises, franchisees have the chance to add an entirely different form of revenue to your stores.
"Putting ecommerce right into a brick-and-mortar organization is rather the divine grail in exactly how you maximize the return on invest for franchisees and also brands," states Bloom.
The roadway to renaissance started at famous Brands" shortest point, once the firm declared bankruptcy in 2008 – and also then directly avoided advertising bankruptcy again in 2011. In December 2011, renowned Brands ceded control that the agency to creditor Z Capital and also The Carlyle Group. In July 2013, Z resources bought the end The Carlyle team to end up being the single owner of well known Brands. That"s when, follow to Bloom, points finally began to click.
See more: Reading Lily Daw And The Three Ladies ’ By Eudora Welty
With the new twin branded franchises and an exploding ecommerce business, Mrs. Field"s and also TCBY"s strategies are ultimately going from experimentation stages to major changes.
"Now, we"re in somewhat of a renaissance, i think," claims Bloom. "It"s going come be an extremely interesting. Yes, the brands, ns think, shed some relevance in the last couple of years, yet in the last pair years began to ramp up. Now, it"s just exploding."


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If you have followed gold and silver market news over the past few years, it is likely you have seen various reports on fake gold and silver products.
In March 2012, a 1 kilo tungsten gold bar turned up in the United Kingdom.
Then in September 2012 there were reports on a slew of 10 oz tungsten gold bars bought and sold in New York’s jewelry district.
The big problem with these news reports is that they have given little to no solution on how the public at large can avoid fake bullion products.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/d2pkjrl


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- The 8 States Most Likely to Legalize Marijuana Next
- Behind Russia's Current Crisis: It's Not the Ruble, It's Putin
- Would you invest in the U.S. Postal Service?
- Why Jim Cramer Says it Could be Too Late to Enter the Stock Market Rally Now
- Apple (AAPL) Stock Declining Today Amid Allegations of Poor Working Conditions in China
Cognizant chief strategy officer Malcolm Frank tells TheStreet's James Rogers that the next big trend in tech will be 'code halos' -- virtual 'halos' of information that surround people and objects.
Despite low turnout, NYC demonstrators attempt to form three-mile unemployment line calling for job creation on Super Tuesday.
The OWS protesters tell their story and vow to never give up fighting for the 99%.
Goldman Sachs headquarters and ports are the targets of Occupy Wall Street's latest action -- 'squidding.'


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Technology is supposed to make us smarter, safer and stronger - yet it also can be dangerous, as we have seen recently with the burning batteries issue. The most heightened public awareness of this risk of advanced battery technology came with reports of some batteries on the new Samsung 7 spontaneously bursting into flames, prompting [...]
In this PSDcast Gene Armstrong of supercapacitor developer Paper Battery talks to Alix Paultre of Power Systems Design about energy management in small wireless Internet of Things (IoT) devices. As devices shrink, the amount pf power they can store also goes down and energy budgets and managment become critical to the device's operational life, especially [...]
Shreefal Mehta, president and CEO of PBC Tech offers his predictions for 2016.
Paper Battery Co. is preparing to put its ultrathin lithium batteries on the market as it heads toward full-scale production. The Troy, New York, startup, which spun off of research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been working since 2008 to get its batteries to full-scale production.
Gene Armstrong, Director of Applications at PBC Tech, writes about new technologies:"Because a supercap’s ability to hold a charge per unit weight has been small, it’s been a niche player until now. But new materials are adding energy density to a supercap’s technical advantages..." and expanding application markets: "Smaller supercaps can supply energy to embedded [...]


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U.S. farmers urge lawmakers to continue trade aid until China deal is secure
U.S. farmers are urging House lawmakers to work with the Trump administration to continue the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) as the President Trump’s trade deal with China appears less secure amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
The administration created the MFP in 2018 after Trump imposed tariffs on China, which retaliated by purchasing significantly less American crops. The program was renewed in 2019.
This year’s payments came from a $16 billion aid package announced last year, of which $14.5 billion has been used as direct payments to farmers, according to the Department of Agriculture.
In the recently signed “phase one” trade deal with China, Beijing agreed to increase purchases of U.S. goods by $200 billion over the next two years, including $32 billion on U.S. crops.
U.S. farmers received the last wave of payments in early February, right as the COVID-19 coronavirus began to spread in China, locking down entire metro areas in the country and causing a ripple effect on the global economy. The administration has said that they still expect China to uphold their end of the trade deal amid the outbreak.
“The signals are, they want to comply,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said at a House hearing last week.
At the same hearing, Perdue said the likelihood that another wave of MFP payments would come was “less than 10 percent.”
The Agriculture Department announced Tuesday that the first phase of the China trade deal has been implemented, with China purchasing a number of American in-season goods.
“These implementation measures are promising steps showing that China is taking steps to fulfill their purchase commitments,” Perdue said in a statement. “Under President Trump’s leadership, this agreement will produce positive gains for the entire economy, especially our agriculture sector. We look forward to China continuing to achieve their commitments in future months.”
Weeks before, Trump teased the prospect of furthering the MFP, tweeting that “if our formally targeted farmers need additional aid until such time as the trade deals with China, Mexico, Canada and others fully kick in, that aid will be provided by the federal government.”
According to the the latest monthly survey of farmer sentiment by Purdue University and the CME Group, 45 percent of producers expect additional MFP payments this year. This polling was done prior to Trump’s tweet and Perdue’s testimony.
At a House Agriculture Committee hearing on Tuesday, members heard from farmers who have been affected by tariffs. Robb Ewoldt, director of the Iowa Soybean Association, told the committee that MFP payments have only accounted for about a third of profit losses, leading many in the industry to incur debt during the trade war.
“The amount of debt we’ve accumulated, you just can’t pay that by selling corn and beans,” Ewoldt said.
In 2019, the number of farmers filing for bankruptcy hit an eight-year high, according to data released by the federal court system.
It’s still unclear how the new trade deal will affect the soybean market.
Public health officials have warned that the virus, much like influenza, lies dormant during the summer seasons but could surge again in the fall, as U.S. farmers begin to harvest soybeans.
“As far as trade with China picking up, it’s hard to tell when that’s going to happen,” David Salmonsen, an economist with the American Farm Bureau, told The Hill. “That was a historical pattern but now with this coronavirus virus, we’re not sure.”
The Agriculture Department did not respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Legislation to regulate the liquids used in vaping and e-cigarettes was put on hold Thursday as senators began to consider possible changes to the bill.
The bill’s author, Sen. Carlin Yoder, R-Middlebury, said the controversial proposal still needs tweaks before it’s ready for a final vote.
The Senate could have approved the bill Thursday and sent it to the governor to be signed into law.
But Yoder said he’s not backing off the legislation, which is meant to protect consumers by regulating the manufacture, sale, possession and use of e-liquids, and to prohibit their use by minors.
“There are absolutely no regulations in the vaping business,” Yoder said. “Currently, technically, a 5-year-old could go in and purchase the stuff.”
Yoder said e-liquid containers don’t have childproof caps and he cited a case in which a baby died after drinking the liquid. “That’s why it’s necessary,” Yoder said.
The bill also requires e-liquid bottles to have labels that list all ingredients as well as a batch code – and limits the ingredients manufacturers can use.
It also requires retailers to have a retail tobacco certificate – a $5,000 expense the first year with a $1,000 renewal every five years.
But critics say the legislation could put many small vape shop owners out of business.
James Colib, who declined to give the name of his shop, said the bill calls for large corporate-style machinery, along with “casino-style security” and tough regulations that many small businesses won’t be able to afford.
“If it goes through the way it is now I will get shut out of business, my two employees will be out of work, and then all my customers will be buying their supplies out of state online,” Colib said.


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LED outdoor advertising market is facing an inflection point, and display companies need to change
The development of LED outdoor large screen is closely related to the prosperity of outdoor advertising market. Both share weal and woe. The development of outdoor advertising is closely related to the economic development. The economic situation is booming, and outdoor advertising will also flourish, and vice versa.
In 2010, China’s GDP surpassed that of Japan and became the world’s second largest economy after the United States. With the rising tide, China has also rapidly grown into the world’s second largest advertising market. In 2016, the market size of China’s outdoor advertising industry reached 117.4 billion yuan, accounting for 18.09% of the advertising market size of 648.9 billion yuan. According to the statistics of the China Commercial Industry Research Institute, by the end of 2018, China’s advertising business volume was nearly 700 billion yuan, ranking second in the world, and the scale of outdoor advertising was further expanded.
(In 2019, China will still be the largest contributor to the growth of global advertising, with an increase of more than US $4.8 billion, ranking the first in the world)
The growth of outdoor advertising will undoubtedly promote the development of outdoor LED display. However, in 2018, China’s GDP reached 90 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.6% over the previous year, and the growth rate was the lowest in recent years. As the domestic economic growth slows down, the development of outdoor advertising also slows down, and the outdoor LED display market is inevitably impacted.
China’s LED display screen originated in the late 1990s, originated from the emergence of single and dual color display screens, until the rise of LED full-color screens, which gradually replaced the original neon light box advertising, and finally became the most important outdoor advertising carrier in the city. After the Beijing Olympic Games, the development of LED outdoor display has experienced rapid growth in successive years. Relevant data show that in 2018, the scale of outdoor LED in China has shown a trend of rapid growth for nine consecutive years. It is estimated that by 2021, the scale of outdoor LED display in China will reach 15.7 billion US dollars (about 100 billion yuan), with an annual growth rate of 15.9%.
Such a huge market is a huge treasure house for LED display enterprises. In order to compete for the outdoor display market, the competition among enterprises is also very fierce. However, in recent years, due to the rectification and cleaning of outdoor advertising, the outdoor advertising market has been affected to a certain extent, and the traditional outdoor LED display market has also been impacted to a certain extent
Outdoor advertising cleaning, the development of traditional LED outdoor large screen is blocked, but it brings opportunities for the development of LED transparent screen. LED transparent screens are mostly attached to glass curtain walls, or are favored by the market for their indoor installation and outdoor viewing, which will not affect the overall beauty of the city when the screen is off. Its unique creativity and novel display effect also inject fresh vitality into the outdoor advertising market.
However, although the outdoor LED display screen is affected by the cleaning of outdoor advertising, which provides a good development opportunity for the LED transparent screen of the subdivided products, after all, the LED transparent screen has its limitations and is difficult to act as the main force of LED outdoor advertising. No matter how the situation develops, outdoor LED display is still the “darling” of outdoor advertising, and is a very important and cool advertising carrier.
In the face of the slowdown in the growth of the outdoor LED display market, the industry competition has shown a more intense posture. In order to gain competitive advantages, some enterprises start with products, or improve the display effect, or integrate third-party technology to enhance competitiveness; Others take the quickest means – price reduction.
For a long time, lowering prices is the fastest way for enterprises to expand market share. However, price reduction is also a double-edged sword. Although it can enable enterprises to expand market share in the short term, it has squeezed profits and its growth mode is not sustainable. And if there is a price war, it will seriously damage the interests of the entire industry, and the result will be a burning stone. It is precisely because the price war harms others rather than benefits itself that it is deeply hated and rejected by the industry.
In the face of the slowing development and increasingly fierce competition in the outdoor LED display market, enterprises need to change the past business model, and need to innovate in products, so as to achieve the goal of “I have what I have” and “I have what I have”. The way of competition is not only the price advantage of products, but also the competition of quality and enterprise brand.
It can be seen from the development trend of the current household LED display screen that the outdoor display screen is developing in a landmark and functional way. In the past, LED outdoor display screens were unpopular, largely because of the randomness of their installation, which did not well accommodate the development of the urban environment, leading to their widespread criticism. Some landmark outdoor screens not only avoid this problem, but also add a display of scenery to the city. In the future, with the development of 5G, LED outdoor display will usher in new development space, such as the development of lamp pole screen.
Of course, the most important thing is to understand the development trend of the outdoor advertising market. Now is the digital era, and the outdoor advertising media is gradually moving towards digitalization. As the terminal display media, how to better adapt to the market development and meet the use requirements of advertisers is the top priority. After all, for LED display companies, only by making money for advertising owners can they make more money.