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The Mexican government has terminated the production of corona beers due to the massive pandemic of the novel coronavirus. The beer company Grupo Modelo has declared that this is the pause of production and marketing of corona beers because the government has closed down all the non-essential businesses.
Coronavirus pandemic has been crushing across the world. The unpredictable effects are ruining each of the corners in the societies. In this current scenario, the Mexican government has decided to terminate all non-essential businesses in public or private sectors until 30th April.
The only reason behind this crucial step is to curb the spread of the coronavirus. According to the report of Johns Hopkins, Mexico, is running with 1500 positive cases patients and 50 deaths.
Last Thursday, Grupo Modelo stated in an announcement that they would stop their
productions and marketing operations of its 11 breweries across the country by Sunday. This action will be imposed forcefully along with its other brands like Modelo, Pacifico, Leon,
Victoria and Estrella Jalisco. Those brands beer are export to 180 countries across the globe.
A Constellation Brand (STZ) in the United States handles the distribution and import of beers. Initially, Grupo Modelo has the plan to guarantee the supply of beers until and unless the Mexican government includes them in non-essential business. According to CEO Bill Newlands, in terms of earning calls, this company has an ample stock of beers that can meet the customer’s needs in any condition.
The coincidental name of Corona beer with the virus hasn’t decreased the sales of the
company. For the first three months of this year, the sales of this beer brand have grown up to 9% Corona and Modelo are the top-selling beers in these three months. The purchase of beers has also been accelerated in the first three weeks in March.
The sale of Mexican Beer increasing
According to the report of the company, the sale of beers rose up by 24% compared to the previous year. Other than Corona, Hand Seltzer which launched at the beginning of
March has off to a good start.
Due to lockdown, Americans are forced to buckle down in the presence of the novel coronavirus. As a result, rising in sales of these beers and other alcohols in this month.
Nielsen (NLSN) sales numbers indicate that beer sales are increased by 34% over the year.
According to the distributors of Grupo Modele, the US has an ample stock of Mexican beers for the next six weeks. So their customers shouldn’t run to stock up their favorite beers.
The termination of production will not hamper the sock of the US market. It is just scaling down the production of beers to such level and resume it when situations come under control or the termination once lifted.
Grupo Modelo has already donated 300000 numbers of sanitizer bottles to the hospital and health care sectors as a social response to the coronavirus pandemic. Grupo Modelo stated that, if the federal government considered them in an appropriate way by confirming beer as an Argo industrial product, then they will initiate a business plan to work with 75% of their stuff and work from home.
In this meantime, they will guarantee the supply of beers across the US. Food production and agriculture are listed in the essential businesses by the Mexican government.
There are 15000 families and 800000 grosser in the US market, lives on this beer production and sale them for income. So this will help these families for stabilized their daily income. The government has identified that Argo-industries are essential for the country.
Beer is being part of these industries as an essential component and export product. The reason to stop production and marketing of corona beer, as its business activities come under the non-essential business lists of the Mexican government. To curb the spread to this pandemic novel coronavirus is the priority of the Mexican government.
The only aim is to protect the people of Mexico from this fatal devastation. This shut down will help Mexico to fight back with the novel coronavirus. Termination of production is to stop the business activities to some extent and resume it once the suspension is lifted. It is a medical emergency where the Mexican government has decided to shut down all public and private business sectors.
Twitter user David Wolf wrote:


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The Digital Reader → Engadget: PocketBook USA has announced its Qualcomm Mirasol display-based e-book reader in a CES 2011 press release. It seems PocketBook’s e-book reader will be called Mirasol for now, but I doubt that will last since Qualcomm has invested significantly in marketing its Mirasol display technology.
Rumor has it that PocketBook’s Mirasol will cost a bit (because the Qualcomm Mirasol display costs 1.5 times that of an equivalent-sized E Ink display) with refresh rates of about 12fps, which would not be fast enough for video. The color reflective e-reader from PocketBook will be announced at CES 2011 and is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2011.
PS: And at the end of it all PocketBook has stated that the company is not ready to confirm and stated the press release was an accident.

domain: news


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1. Korean design information is searched throughout the whole world!
- The European design search service (DesignView) has started a service to provide Korean design information.
In the future, as the range of using Korean design information is greatly expanded, international awareness of Korean designs is expected to be more improved.
According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the service to provide Korean design information has been started in DesignView which is the biggest design search service operated by the European trademark and design office, the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).
To this end, in October 2014, KIPO concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with OHIM to exchange design information. Accordingly, the Republic of Korea is the first Asian country to have started the service of Korean design information in DesignView.
In DesignView, it is possible to search information of about 2,770,000 designs of 26 countries/institutions including France, Italia, Spain, etc. The information search range of designs of Asian countries starting with the Republic of Korea will be expanded.
DesignView provides the Korean language supporting service including a ‘Hangul (Korean alphabet) translation function’ and a ‘Hangul search function*’. The Hangul translation function is to translate the homepage menu into the Korean language so that any Korean is able to easily search the information of overseas designs. When a user enters a search word in Hangul to search design information, the Hangul search function searches the information by translating the search word into one of the languages, such as English, French, Portuguese, etc., provided by OHIM.
(*The Hangule search function service is to be provided from January 2015.)
2. KIPO leads to root out the distribution of counterfeit products!
KIPO leads to improve national brands by strengthening a control executive power and creating an IP respecting culture in order to root out the distribution of counterfeit products.
Korean counterfeit products are mainly manufactured and brought through China. Recently, as the market scale of online shopping malls has expanded, the scale of counterfeit products distributed online where it is easy to avoid crime has increased. Specially, counterfeit products of poor quality have been seriously dangerous to people’s health and safety.
KIPO will efficiently block the counterfeit products brought to be distributed, reinforce the control executive power and prepare and carry forward a new alternative to enhance the awareness of people.
KIPO and the Korean Customs Service together strengthen the control of counterfeit criminal through the joint control against online sale sites which have servers located abroad and intend to bring counterfeit products into Korea.
3. Sel-ka-bong (selfie stick), a hot seller of 2014, the number of patent applications related to it has rapidly increased
A sel-ka-bon has been explosively popular by youngsters due to the worldwide selfie craze and the number of patent applications related to the sel-ka-bong has rapidly increased in 2014.
According to KIPO, the sel-ka-bon-related technology has been filed in Korean applications since 2011. Only 1~2 applications were filed every year until 2013 and 8 applications were filed until November 2014, passing 2 times the number of the applications filed during the last 3 years. Especially, since the patent applications related to the sel-ka-bong were all filed by individuals, the general public’s interest in the sel-ka-bong is considered as high.
In foreign countries, the number of applications related to the sel-ka-bon filed during the last 10 years (2004~2013) was only13 in US and 15 in Japan. This indicates that the activity of filing the relevant applications was not active until 2013.
According to KIPO, the first sel-ka-bon was invented by Hirosh Ueda and Yujiro Mima (Japanese) in 1983, published in Japan 1984 and registered as a patent in US only in 1985. This sel-ka-bong, which was invented at the beginning of 1980s when a commercial digital camera just appeared, comprises a camera fixing unit, a length-adjustable rod and a switch positioned in a handle and shows the degree of completion as the same as the recent sel-ka-bon(s). But, considering that the patent term is 20 years, this patent lapsed and therefore anyone can use it.
4. KIPO helps to secure the competitiveness of medical device-related patents
- A plan to enhance the patent competitiveness in the medical device industry is prepared
To develop the medical device industry as a future promising industry, KIPO plans to enhance the patent competitiveness in the medical device industry and start positive support from 2015.
Due to the narrow home market and small business structure, the Korean medical device industry lacks the market competitive power in comparison with the foreign global companies, Johnson & Johnson, GE Healthcare, Medtronic, etc.
In the view of IP rights, the number of Korean applications in the medical device field has increased but the awareness of small/medium companies to the IP rights is still insufficient. Furthermore, the medical device-related US applications filed by Korean applicants is only 1.8% of the total relevant applications. Therefore, the Korean medical device industry lacks the patent competitiveness in the global market and is very weak to the IP offensives of global companies.
The present plan is focused on supporting Korean small/medium companies related to medical devices to secure excellent patents by themselves and therefore to have the patent competitiveness when domestic and foreign patent disputes occur. To this end, KIPO has selected the three (3) driving strategies of:
- supporting the creation, protection and utilization of a patent to be successful in market advance;
- building the infrastructure to enhance the awareness of IP; and
- providing high-quality examination services.


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Deflation in commercial-lease rates and a swelling inventory of vacant retail properties are allowing many restaurant chains to keep expanding in spite of the nation’s gloomy economic outlook.
Relatively unimpeded by the financial crisis, some mature brands and midtier growth concepts with strong balance sheets say they are in the driver’s seat for the first time in years when it comes to picking sites and winning concessions from landlords.
Shopping malls and so-called lifestyle centers are one retail arena where chain operators wield greater bargaining power. With dozens of high-profile, big-ticket retail centers bludgeoned by the credit crisis and besieged by vacancies, some operators claim they are positioned better to influence lease terms.
Well-known brands such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Maggiano’s Little Italy and The Cheesecake Factory are finding that strong brand images and high average-unit volumes are lending them negotiating clout, operators and brokers say.
Even midtier growth concepts, such as the Stevi B’s pizza buffet chain, note they are having a say when it comes to negotiating sites.
“I wouldn’t say there is a wholesale change in commercial rentals, but I would say we are seeing some historic cracks in the way things used to be or used to get done,” said Mark Dufton, who leads the restaurant division of DJM Realty in Boston. “A good example is that we are seeing landlords consider rent restructurings [for distressed tenants] for the first time in a significant number of years. For years, landlords were deaf to this.
“But they are far more welcoming about restructuring leases, they are asking lower rates and they are doing everything they can to help tenants with good track records find ways to keep them on the premises. They want to shore up their positions and stop the vacancies.”
While some businesses are sitting on the sidelines sobered by the emerging reality that it may take a long time before the federal government’s $700 billion investment in the banking industry loosens up commercial credit, several foodservice operators remain in the expansion game buoyed by their growing power with landlords and the proliferation of choice sites to pursue. Officials at Chicago-based Technomic Inc. project that more than 1,000 casual-dining restaurants will close in the next 12 months.
Tampa, Fla.-based Beef ‘O’ Brady’s is among those brands taking advantage of the environment. The company operates or has joint-venture relationships in four of the chain’s approximately 260 family-oriented, full-service sports bar restaurants, most of which are concentrated in the South, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. But president Nick Vojnovic said the company has a signed a letter of intent to acquire a closed Applebee’s in Bangor, Maine, making it the first unit for the brand in New England.
“It’s perfect for us,” Vojnovic said. “It’s practically a brand new store, too. Applebee’s only operated it for one year before they shut it down.”
Noting that the typical Beef ‘O’ Brady’s is about 3,000 square feet, Vojnovic said the company is examining the viability of making deals on another four or five shuttered restaurants, including in former Applebee’s or Bennigan’s sites.
In the meantime, Vojnovic said, his brand has struck pay dirt working deals with hotels and resorts that want branded full-service operators to replace their ailing proprietary concepts. Three such deals are nearing completion with the Best Western discount lodging chain and a Trade Winds Resort property, he said.
Of the 50 new outlets Beef ‘O’ Brady’s opens annually, Vojnovic estimated that 10 or more would be opened in shuttered restaurants with comparable footprints.
He said most of the deals are being financed with bankers approved to do Small Business Administration loans.
“We’re very aggressive,” he said. “Who knows when we might have these kinds of opportunities again?
“We’re telling our franchisees to sit tight if they see a site they’re interested in and talk to the landlords first. Why spend for a new facility when we can get it on the cheap and open it six months quicker instead of in a year?”
Also benefiting from the shake-out are the 500-unit Buffalo Wild Wings sports-theme, full-service chicken wing chain, based in Minneapolis; Brinker International’s 46-unit Maggiano’s Little Italy chain; and the 140-unit Cheesecake Factory chain, headquartered in Calabasas Hills, Calif. Each has been enjoying rent abatements or lucrative tenant allowances from shopping mall landlords and other commercial property owners, either to keep the lucrative brands happy or to lure them aboard as anchor tenants, brokers say.
People used to go to shopping centers to shop first and eat later, but now they see the restaurant anchor as destination dining and may not intend to shop at all, said Steve Frishman, principal of Chicago-based Mid-America Real Estate Group, a real estate consulting firm and brokerage.
“This may not apply to large, enclosed regional malls, but when it comes to these upscale lifestyle centers, what I’m seeing is that the developers are courting the restaurant chain du jour, be it P.F. Chang’s, Cheesecake Factory, Maggiano’s or White Chocolate Grill, to anchor the marquee spaces in the front of the mall,” he said. “Spaces that would have been held for Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and others are being subdivided for foodservice.”
The courted operators “are getting sweetheart deals, big allowances [and] low risk,” he added, “and the developer gets the sexy name to attract customers and put his center on the map.”
Some landlords still are playing hardball, however, said Bobby Fitzgerald, president of The White Chocolate Grill, a four-unit casual-dining chain based in Scottsdale, Ariz., with a $25 check average. The company recently restructured its lending facilities with Bank of America to continue to grow at a rate of about two to three new stores a year. The newest White Chocolate Grill opened a few weeks ago right outside an upscale mall in suburban Denver.
Fitzgerald, who prefers to build new restaurants rather than convert existing ones, has traveled the country looking at abandoned Bennigan’s outlets without much luck. Although he said he saw one in Rockville, Md., that matched his brand’s physical requirements, the quality of most available parcels for conversion leaves a lot to be desired and landlords don’t appear eager to make deals.
“It’s a ton of restaurant space out there, but there are more quality operators than there are quality spaces,” he said. “And, it seems to me, every time a quality space comes available, it’s the landlord who is sitting back doing the picking.”
But Jordan Krolick, a veteran McDonald’s and Arby’s real estate strategy and site selection executive who was recently named president and chief executive of 25-unit, 10-year-old Stevi B’s Pizza, which is owned by Argonne Capital, believes landlords are more accommodating.
Krolick, who said Atlanta-based Stevi B’s prefers to open in strip centers, ideally in end-caps, has seen rental rates drop from $25 per square foot to $17 in recent months. Such drops enabled Krolick to sell a 10-unit Stevi B’s franchise to an IHOP operator recently, he added.
“With our price point and quality, we drive traffic to strip centers, and landlords like concepts that drive traffic,” Krolick said. “We get 4,000 customer visits a week—families, kids, office-workers. Landlords love that kind of traffic.”


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Apple shows off the brilliance of its iPhone 7 camera
One Night on iPhone 7: Images shot on the phone will be displayed across 25 countries from today.Meryl D'Souza February 1, 2017
An ad promoting the iPhone 7 Plus by Apple in December last year boasted that its latest device sported a camera fit for movie production – a bold claim. The ad showed two children playing out Bill Shakespeare’s classic Romeo & Juliet in a realistic setting, only to reveal that we're actually watching a school play being recorded by a father on his iPhone 7 Plus. Sorry for the spoiler.
It’s ambitious, but not as much as one would imagine; the iPhone 7 sports one of the best cameras in the world. We even compared it to its nearest, and maybe only, rival the Samsung Galaxy S7. Of course, our pictures aren’t nearly as good as the ones featured in Apple’s latest campaign.
Over the past couple years you may have noticed Apple’s ‘Shot on iPhone’ billboards around the UAE. It’s one of the tech giant’s regular campaigns with the sole intention of showing off how great its cameras are. For a third consecutive year, the streets in UAE will adorn a collection of artistic photographs taken with the latest iteration of the iPhone.
For this year’s campaign titled ‘One Night on iPhone 7’, the California company focused on the 7’s low-light capabilities. From the Arctic ice caves to the rooftops of Shanghai, the images shot from around the world followed the dawn, dusk and darkness trend. Starting today, all the spectacular images will be displayed across 25 countries including the UAE.
Here are some of the best:


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Ju Teng International Holdings Ltd (HK: 3336) managed to raise its first half net profit 6.8% year-on-year to 260 million hkd despite seeing its top line edge down by 0.4% to nearly 4.3 billion.
Gross profit for the January-June period rose 34.5% year-on-year to 793 million hkd, with the gross profit margin improving to 18.4% versus 13.7% for the year-earlier period.
Had a one-off withholding tax expense of approximately 51 million hkd in relation to the repatriation of dividends not been incurred, first half net profit would have reached 311 million hkd, representing an increase of approximately 27.7%.
“In the first half, market concerns emerged over the US Fed’s expected commencement of pruning its fiscal stimulus when the EU economies were yet to recover from the sovereign debt crisis.
“Also, the growth in emerging markets has been slow when the new leaders of the Chinese government have determined to adjust the national development blueprint. Hence, consumer confidence was depressed,” said Ju Teng Chairman Mr. Cheng Li-Yu.
Interim basic EPS increased 4.1% year-on-year to 22.6 HK cents, with end-June net asset value per share at 4.9 hkd versus 4.7 as at end-2012.
“Global sales of PCs have not reached the expected growth, and therefore the growth of Ju Teng was hindered.
“Ju Teng has used the recession over the past few years as an opportunity to expand, carrying out comprehensive product mix reconstruction,” Mr. Cheng said.
Over the past six months, the firm has expanded its production capacity of metal casings, and has committed to developing production solutions using composite materials (including carbon fiber and glass fiber).
“The enhanced profit margin will help us endure the weaker economy and mitigate the future impact of cost increases.”
He added that in the first half, Ju Teng has captured the trend of high-end products and provided metal casing for brands from regions including Korea, the US and Greater China.
In the first half, the portion of revenue contributed by metal casings has further risen to approximately 25%, driving the increase in the profit margin.
Amid the growing demand for slimmer and slimmer casings, Ju Teng -- with its diversified casings technology -- expects another triumph in this niche market.
“Looking ahead to the second half of 2013, Ju Teng’s performance is expected to further improve thanks to the completion of several orders and management believes there will be more brands adopting composite materials for slim casings.
“The Group will spare no efforts in promoting its metal and composite material casing technology with a view to enhancing product margins with optimized product mix,” Mr, Cheng said.
Ju Teng also achieved a significant business breakthrough by tapping into the smartphone market by providing casings for smartphones for a US brand.
“As more breakthroughs in mobile technology are expected, management believes that smartphones will become the main growth driver of IT products.
AIRMATE interim net profit up 17.8%
Airmate (Cayman) International Co Ltd (TWSE: 1626) saw its first half revenue rise nearly 10% year-on-year to 7.72 billion twd thanks healthy product diversification.
This led to a 17.8% jump in the bottom line to 516 million twd.
In Airmate’s key PRC market, business benefited from a successful distribution strategy and enhanced brand recognition, with first-half sales up 26.4% year-on-year due to stronger performance of fans and heaters.
Sales of heaters outperformed with strong demand still expected this year, and the company forecasts sales of heaters will be higher in full-year 2013.
“Via strong brand recognition, Airmate will focus on promoting home appliances (air purifiers and humidifiers in Northern China and dehumidifiers in the Yangtze River region).
“The goal is to achieve top three status in terms of market share,” Airmate management said.
The company added it plans to establish a second manufacturing base in Central China which it says will enjoy clear logistical and geographic advantages.
Airmate (Cayman) Intl is mainly engaged in the R&D, manufacture and sale of electric fans and electric heaters. The company’s products include electric fans, mainly consist of standing fans and cooling fans, as well as desk fans, wall fans and ceiling fans; electric heaters, mainly consist of convection-type and quartz tube-type heaters, as well as heating wire series, ceramic radar-type, mica plate series, electric fireplace series, electric heating table series and others; small appliances, mainly consist of high-speed health juice machines, electromagnetic ovens, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, electric cookers and air purifiers, and electrotechnical products, consist of integrated ceiling and bathroom lighting series and others. It distributes the products in China, Northeast Asia and other markets.


text: March 15, 2021: It’s Newsday. Bill is joined by Dr. Eric Quiñones, Chief Healthcare Advisor at World Wide Technology. Amazon Care’s partner “Care Medical” has filed to operate in 17 more states. This is concierge level service. They'll meet you in your office, your home, wherever you are. What can hospitals learn from Amazon and big tech? How can we be more consumer centric? Mercy and Humana partner to expand access to virtual. Home care is the next frontier. And working from home is not a slam dunk. It's challenging. But what big questions does returning to the office raise for CIOs?


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Spring training starts for Social Madness
The madness is in full swing — Social Madness, that is.
The Puget Sound Business Journal’s very own corporate social media strategy competition already has 60 companies ready to duke it out as they grow their social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and leverage social media for better brand awareness and customer engagement.
With less than a month to go to the May 15 nomination deadline, is your company in spring training for the Social Madness competition? If not, it should be.
A year ago, the Business Journal and several of its sister publications held the precursors to Social Madness with various brand competitions. The Battle of the Brands took companies that had been voted the Most Respected Brands in their particular industry categories and pitted them against each other in a bracket-style contest.
For each company that advanced, the secret to success was social media.
Those who participated experimented with strategy, learned some important lessons and found a surprise or two along the way that they are willing to share. The Business Journal has scheduled a two-hour social media “crash course” on April 20 to help local companies hone their strategies just in time for the big competition to begin.
Tara Sharp, social media and community relations manager for Windermere Real Estate Services, said her residential real estate firm harnessed the power of its network of 7,000 agents for the Battle of the Brands. They spread the word and voted early and often; they reached out to vendors; they held a food drive when battling a nonprofit; and took out Facebook ads to spread the news that they were top brand in their category, asking people to vote to make them the overall victor.
- Most popular
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- McGinn-era tunnel study proving true: Bertha project was 'high risk'
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- Paseo's new owner says he'll reopen with same recipes
- Construction starts next year on huge project in downtown Seattle
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- Juno Therapeutics increases IPO, aims for up to $212M
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Project Director (Residential and Interiors) Vulcan | Seattle, WA
Center Director Impact Washington | Mukilteo, WA
Pike Specialty Foods Manager Pike Brewing | Seattle, WA
Sr. Accountant (Real Estate) Vulcan Inc. | Seattle, WA
Finance Business Manager Vulcan Inc. | Seattle, WA


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News earlier this month that taking vitamins was a waste of time in
combating cancer or heart disease was selectively reported and
failed to give consumers a balanced view, John Cordaro, president
of the Council for Responsible Nutrition,...
Milk drinking among American teenagers has increased for the first
time in six years, claims a new report, which finds that effective
marketing of flavoured milk could help improve the diets of many


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Japan Open Update September
Think it is safe to start packing your bags if planning a Ski Holiday to Japan this coming winter. As long as you have booked your holiday with Nozawa Holidays or a registered Travel Agent and floor the requirements we can issue you with an ERFS certificate to enter Japan under current Guidelines.
However some more positive news from Japan the last few days suggest that we may see a full open as early as October. Click on this link to article in The Japan Times for more details ; Latest Update Japan Borders Opening
Open Skies for Japan
The government is planning to allow independent tourists to come to Japan and exempt them from visas if they have been vaccinated three times or submit a pre-arrival test result, Fuji TV reported Monday. It also intends to abolish the daily arrival cap, which is currently set at 50,000, the report added.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reportedly plans to make a decision as early as the end of this week, with an eye to implementing the revisions by October.
A few reasons we believe this may well happen
- Lots of pressure from many Japan Tourist bodies and leaders even the Mayor of Tokyo
- The Japan Business Federation pushing saying before Covid 80% of travellers to Japan were independent
- The Yen is at 25 Year lows which makes Japan a very tasty destination for travellers and will help boost the ailing Japanese economy
- The former Prime Minister Abe san’s Funeral is coming up and think even the top wigs are finding current entry arrangements troublesome
- The Coronal cases in Japan are dropping rapidly. Well less than half in the past few weeks.
Welcome back either way to Nozawa
So all looking positive as Japan finally looks at living with Covid as the rest of the world has for a some time now. For all that have booked or wanting to book I would suggest you dont apply for a visa yet as if things open up soon you wont need it. The Visa is also only valid for 3 months so if coming in January say the earliest you can apply is November.
For those coming early and keen to lock things in just drop us a mail to firstname.lastname@example.org and we can help with the process. This is kind of what it will look like;


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Pakistan’s organic cotton from the virgin lands of Baluchistan has demonstrated great potential. The organic cotton project announced by Artistic Milliners in 2020 is now ready for the next big transformation: farm-to-fashion transparency and traceability. Dubbed ‘Milliner Cotton Organic’, the project is all set to meet global quality and authenticity standards.
Bringing to market
BESTSELLER and its brand JACK & JONES are together with Artistic Milliners now collaborating to bring this new generation of organic cotton to market.
“Milliner Cotton Organic is going to be a game changer for the industry. It is very encouraging for us to have our long-standing brand partner BESTSELLER on board. Their support goes beyond the funding. Together, we are working with blockchain-based traceability to implement processes that eliminate all kinds of loopholes from the value chain,” says Omer Ahmed, CEO at Artistic Milliners.
“We are also grateful to our implementation partners WWF-Pakistan for working so passionately on this project and bringing a real, positive impact. As one of the pioneer contributors of OCA in Pakistan, our project holds great potential of scalability on global standards. Pakistan’s organic cotton sourced via Milliner Cotton Organic Project is being grown in one of the most underdeveloped communities. With long-term pre-orders for their cotton, the farmers are seeing a new ray of light. The entire community will prosper.”
Artistic Milliners will continue to expand on its community work for farmers and female cotton pickers. They will not only receive fair profits but also benefit from basic life-skills training and financial literacy for greater awareness of the world around them.
“Direct-to-farm is unquestionably a good and well-founded approach when it comes to sourcing organic cotton. We have a long-standing, prosperous relationship with Artistic Milliners that has lasted more than six years. Artistic Milliners is one of our very closest partners. We are in constant close collaboration with them on how to innovate and renew the denim business and a lot of innovative projects been launched together with them over the years. We have no doubt that this project will also be a success,” says Kim Frydensbjerg Klausen, Production Buying Manager in JACK & JONES.
Joining Organic Cotton Accelerator
In 2020, Artistic Milliners became one of the pioneer Pakistani contributors to the Organic Cotton Accelerator (OCA). OCA is multi-stakeholder organisation fully dedicated to organic cotton and committed to bringing integrity, supply security and measurable social and environmental impact to organic cotton. Artistic Milliners aims to transition Milliner Cotton Organic to the OCA FED Programme in 2022.
“Artistic Milliners has done some impressive groundwork with Milliners Cotton Organic, which comes across as both authentic and promising. At BESTSELLER, we are deeply committed to sourcing and using materials that have less impact on the environment – and Milliners Cotton Organic fits the bill,” says Camilla Skjønning Jørgensen, Sustainable Materials & Innovation Manager, BESTSELLER.
"At the same time, BESTSELLER and Artistic Milliners wanted to ensure a direct-to-farm approach where we can improve and demonstrate the business case for the organic cotton farmers and suppliers – making this endeavour wholesome for the entire community.”


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Pride and Joy Dairy recently surrendered its milk processing license, effectively giving up its ability to sell retail raw milk to consumers.
The dairy sold raw milk at the Richland Yoke’s Fresh Market, according to its website.
To regain its license, Pride and Joy will have to submit a written plan to the state Department of Agriculture detailing how it will remedy health concerns at its Toppenish facility.
The dairy’s processing license was suspended in October after new testing confirmed that a strain of salmonella found in raw milk at the Toppenish facility was an exact match for a strain that sickened two consumers of the raw milk in January. Pride and Joy also has a facility in Granger.
At the end of October, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also tested the raw milk, confirming the earlier findings of the state Department of Agriculture and Department of Health that linked the product to the salmonella illnesses.
In surrendering its license, the dairy declined to contest the Department of Agriculture’s suspension.
The dairy still has a milk producer license, as well as its organic certification, so it can continue to produce milk, but in order to sell it, the dairy must send the milk to another facility for processing, which includes pasteurization.
Pride and Joy’s owners, Cheryl and Allen Voortman, have repeatedly disputed the findings from the state’s testing. They have sent samples of the milk to independent labs that did not find salmonella in the product.
However, Ag Department spokesman Hector Castro said, salmonella does not exist in a uniform layer throughout a given carton of raw milk; thus, it is entirely possible for a sample to come back negative despite the presence of salmonella in the milk.
An email sent to Cheryl Voortman on Friday was not immediately returned.
The Stipulation and Final Order says that for the department to consider granting a milk processing license, Pride and Joy must submit a written plan including:
▪ Specific investigative steps taken to identify the cause of the presence of pathogens in its finished, bottled retail raw milk product.
▪ Specific findings from its investigative steps taken.
▪ Specific corrections Pride and Joy has taken to reduce the risk of producing and processing adulterated retail raw milk products.
Cheryl and Allen Voortman signed the order on Nov. 2. The final signed copy was sent out by the department on Nov. 6.


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Jaguar design supremo Ian Callum is stepping down after more than 20 years in the role.
The Coventry car maker has announced its director of design, who heads-up the team at the Jaguar Design Centre in Whitley, will leave at the end of June.
He will be replaced by Julian Thomson, the current Jaguar creative design director, but will continue to play a role as a design consultant.
Mr Callum has been the creative force behind Jaguar since 1999, building a design team around him which breathed new life into the marque.
He will be remembered for ditching Jaguar’s retro design language when it came to saloons - moving away from the XJ, S-Type and F-Type to the XF, XE and all-new XJ.
It represented a sea change which marked a radical departure from the retro-styled models which still harked back to the days of Sir William Lyons..
He also created the F-Type - Jaguar’s first two-seater sports car since the legendary E-type - and took Jaguar into the brave new world of SUVs with the F-Pace, E-Pace and I-Pace models.
The all-electric I-Pace - Jaguar Land Rover’s first all-electric car - will perhaps be seen as his crowning glory.
It claimed three major global industry honours recently when it was declared 2019 World Car of the Year, World Car Design of the Year and World Green Car.
Mr Callum said: “I have had an incredible career at Jaguar.
“One of my biggest highlights was creating XF because it represented the beginning of a new era moving Jaguar from tradition to contemporary design – it was a significant turning point in our story.
“Designing the F-Type was a dream come true for me, and I-Pace was an opportunity to create something hugely innovative that would really challenge the perception of Jaguar – and its success is testament to just how far the brand has come.”
He added: “I came into this role with a mission to take Jaguar design back to where it deserved to be.
“It has taken 20 years, but I believe I have achieved what I set out to do.
“Given the strength of both our products and the design team I feel that now is the right time to move on, both personally and professionally, and explore other design projects.
“Designing Jaguar cars was a lifelong dream for me and I’m delighted to remain involved as a consultant for the brand.”
Paying tribute to his successor he said: “I have worked closely with Julian Thomson for 18 years – he is a hugely talented designer and absolutely the right person to lead Jaguar design into its next chapter.”
Mr Callum spent the first 12 years of his career at Ford Design Studios, moving on to become chief designer of TWR Design, where he was responsible for the Aston Martin DB7, Vanquish and DB9.
Considered one of the world’s foremost car designers, in 2005 he was awarded the title of Royal Designer for Industry from the RSA.
In 2014 he received the Minerva Medal – the highest accolade bestowed by the Chartered Society of Designers, awarded for a lifetime’s achievement in design.
Jaguar Land Rover’s CEO Dr Ralf Speth said: “The contribution Ian Callum has made to Jaguar’s industry-leading design reputation cannot be over-stated.
“Ian stands for the most forward-thinking, rule-breaking and emotive approach to automotive design.
“He has created a new Jaguar design language – and his passion for Jaguar has seen the range completely transformed during his 20 years in charge.
“Innovative, beautiful, future-facing and true to our pioneering heritage, Jaguar’s current and award-winning cars are testament to Ian’s dedication – you can see his ‘signature’ in each and every one."
Mr Speth added: “In my view, the World Car Design of the Year winning F-Type, F-Pace and I-Pace – true game changers – are perhaps his greatest achievements. I believe they will be future icons.
“Both personally, and on behalf of everyone at Jaguar, I would like to thank Ian for all he has done, and I am delighted he has committed to continue to be Jaguar’s brand ambassador as a design consultant.
“I’d also like to congratulate Julian in his new position as director of design. Now is Julian’s time to shape his team, and the next generation of Jaguars.
“I am excited about the future for Jaguar, and Julian continuing the brand’s position as a world-leader in automotive design.”
As creative design director, Mr Thomson has been responsible for establishing the future strategic design direction for the brand.
Since joining Jaguar in 2000, he has overseen the development of the design concepts for the entire current product range.
He began his career at Ford, before moving to Lotus, where he became head of design, then chief of exteriors at Volkswagen Group’s Concept Design Centre.
The footage below is a trailer for a film about Jaguar going electric
Mr Thomson said: “I’m honoured to take up the position of director of design, Jaguar.
“It will be a great privilege to lead such a talented team, and continue to build on our success. “Automotive design has always been fast moving, but today it is changing at a rate faster than ever before.
“I’m passionate about ensuring Jaguar design leads that change and the cars that will drive our future.”
Ian Callum’s career in cars
1984 - Ford RS200 Rally Car
1989 - Ford Ghia Via concept
1989 - Ford Escort Cosworth
1993 - Aston Martin DB7
1996 - Volvo C70
1997 - Ford Puma
1997/8 - Nissan R390 GT1 Le Mans
1998/2001 - Aston Martin Vanquish / Project Vantage
2000 - Aston Martin AM305
2001 - Jaguar R Coupe Concept
2003 - Aston Martin DB9
2003 - Jaguar RD6 Concept
2005 - Jaguar XK
2007 - Jaguar XF/CXF/Sportbrake
2009 - Jaguar XJ
2010 - Jaguar C-X75 Concept
2012 - Jaguar F-Type Convertible
2013 - Jaguar F-Type (C-X16)
2014 - Jaguar XE
2015 - Jaguar F-Pace (C-X17)
2017 - Jaguar E-Pace
2018 - Jaguar I-Pace (I-Pace Concept)
Have you tried the new groundbreaking CarCloud app? It's changing car ownership forever, offering free reminders for tax, MOT and other car needs as well as a free valuation service. It's simple to use and there's no charge - download here for iOS or here for Google Play.


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Soleheatonfeet provides early details on the release, expected to sport a white leather base, navy overlays and a mix of club-inspired accents hits throughout. Images of the shoe have not yet leaked, but ZSneakerheadz shared a mock-up of what the shoe may look like.
While the Jordan 4 is expected to hit retail later this summer, the "PSG" Jordan 7 will land sometime next spring. Stick with Sole Collector for updates and a first look in the coming months.
Air Jordan 7 Retro "PSG"
Release Date: Spring 2021
Color: White/College Navy-Sport Royal-University Red
Style #: CZ0789-105


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Urban mobility specialist Tern has announced that it will be partnering with Dutch-X for distribution of goods to retail customers in New York.
Dutch-X, has recently acquired a fleet of Tern electric cargo bikes to help make greener and more efficient. The group has paired Tern’s electric cargo bikes with an existing fleet of Carla Cargo trailers, which carry up to 150 kg (330 lb).
Marcus Hoed, Dutch-X co-founder, said: “A lot of our customers are asking for logistics solutions that are cleaner, greener, and more sustainable. For example, about 40% of RFP requirements were related to sustainability. We 1 are really happy to see our customer’s priorities shifting in this direction.”
Safety concerns pushed Dutch-X to upgrade its fleet with Tern cargo bikes equipped with Bosch motors and batteries. Hoed added: “We worked with the New York City Fire Department and they advised us to choose systems that have undergone UL testing and certification.”
“A lot of bad batteries are coming into the U.S., and we’ve now shifted to using UL-certified batteries exclusively. Manufacturers keep pushing component prices down, and that often means sacrificing quality and safety,” he said.
Tern’s GSD and HSD electric cargo bikes are designed to adjust quickly without the need to use tools. Additionally, Bosch has previously supplied Tern with a version of the firmware that lowers the Tern bike’s maximum speed to 12 mph to meet New York regulations for commercial cargo bikes.
“It’s great to know that we have that level of support from Tern and Bosch. And we love that Bosch follows automotive standards when it comes to spare parts availability. When we need battery replacements three or even five years from now, they’ll be available,” said Hoed.


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Latest Industry News from Meat Management
A guide to the nutritional benefits of lamb by Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) has produced new research on consumer preferences.
The UK Government has announced the addition of two Level Three Food Industry courses to their Lifetime Skills Guarantee programme.
Kantar’s latest report shows fresh processed poultry was the only key category to achieve growth across both value and volume sold (7.5% and 5.9% respectively).
Middleton Food Products Ltd is the family owned and operated dry blend manufacturing section of The Middleton Group based in the heart of the UK. Watch this short video and see how Middleton Foods utilise modern machinery combined with the latest...
A group of 11 UK companies across the meat industry aim to reduce waste and build consumer confidence in food supply chains through a new data and technology project.


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CLINTON — The Clinton City Council approved on Monday an upgrade to the computer that operates the water plant.
“…We have a computer that runs the water plant, and if it’s not running, then they have to run it by hand,” said commissioner John Wise. “It’s quite an extensive start up and shut down procedure.”
The council already authorized the purchase of a new computer for the plant.
“We were under the assumption that the new computer and all the hardware, everything would go in …and everything work just like it should,” Wise said. “Well, it never goes that way.”
Wise said there were some glitches in the system and that personnel were still working on remedies to the problem. He also said he learned that an upgrade was necessary that also involved the system’s Ethernet connection.For the complete article see the 11-20-2012 issue.
Click here to purchase an electronic version of the 11-20-2012 paper.


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Target has signed a lease for a small-format store in downtown Evanston that is projected to open in March 2018, according to a Thursday news release.
The 27,400-square-foot store, slated for The Shops at Sherman Plaza, will be the company’s 84th location in the Chicago area, according to the release. The Evanston location — 1620 Sherman Ave. — will be the company’s ninth small-format store in the area.
Target already has a location in Evanston at 2209 Howard St., but according to the release, Target is focused on expanding small-format stores in urban and suburban neighborhoods, as well as near college campuses.
Ald. Judy Fiske (1st), whose ward will include the store, said she thinks the small-format store is a good fit for downtown Evanston.
“Our downtown is really a walkable downtown,” Fiske said. “Their larger stores are placed in shopping centers where there’s tons of parking, but the smaller stores fit in better with an established and walkable downtown community.”
The new location does not need approval from City Council, Fiske said, as the space will be leased through Sherman Plaza’s private leasing agent, Highlands REIT, Inc. Although she said she is unsure how long the city has been working to attract Target, she said it seems they’ve been talking about it “for years.”
Fiske said the long wait time is to be expected because corporate tenants tend to take longer to sign contracts than smaller businesses.
“I’m just really glad that it finally happened,” Fiske said. “It says really, really good things about our downtown.”
The new location will include apparel, grocery and technology departments, among others. The store will also include a CVS pharmacy and an option to pick up online orders in-store.
“We’ve been searching for the right location in Evanston for a Target store, so we’re thrilled to bring our small-format concept to downtown,” senior vice president of properties for Target Mark Schindele said in the news release. “We think students, downtown employees, residents and visitors will enjoy Target’s easy and inspiring experience.”


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Among manufacturers, there’s a clear preference in how to display fiberglass pools — up and out.
There’s just no substitute for the high visibility of a fiberglass pool shell propped up outside.
“Display pools are far and away the best advertising media we have found for fiberglass pool builders outside of the Internet,” says Ted Baudendistel, general manager of Trilogy Pools, one of the fiberglass brands for Latham, N.Y.-based Latham Pool Products. “Somebody driving down the road sees something that’s big and unfamiliar but attractive. That generates a lot of interest.”
To display these pools otherwise would be to ignore one of the big advantages these dealers have: Fiberglass pools can be displayed in ways that would be totally out of the question for their concrete-pool competitors, says Kirk Sullivan, president of San Juan Pools in Lakeland, Fla. What people respond to, he says, is just how big these things are.
“It’s the scale of things that people are attracted to,” he says.
It makes financial sense to use the pools this way, says Rick Black, a business development manager for Latham. A pool displayed outside an office can stay there a long time. It can get the dealer a seat at the kitchen table when customers who have been looking at the vessel all summer long are ready to make a purchase.
It’s better than a billboard, he says, because after the pool has done its advertising work, it isn’t just thrown away. “If they invest in a display pool at the beginning of the season, at the end of the season they offer it as a display special and they sell it to a homeowner who puts it in their backyard and they get their money out of it,” he says. “So it’s an investment, not an expense.”
Other times, inground installations are the most appropriate way to show off these products.
Here, a handful of fiberglass manufacturers share their strategies and offer tips for displaying one-piece fiberglass pools to maximum effect.
Manufacturers prop up their own products as a key marketing and advertising strategy.
For instance, Tallman Pools of Jonesboro, Ga., is a believer in getting model pools upright as a way of attracting potential buyers. The company displays several models that way at its factory, and has one bearing the company’s website and phone number propped up along Interstate-75.
It’s hard to pass up. Unwieldy as they might seem, fiberglass pools are light enough to be hoisted to a dealer’s rooftop, propped up against the back wall of a showroom, even put on a trailer and towed in a parade.
They can make a quick impression convention floors. Sullivan likes the idea of a vertical indoor display at trade and garden shows because it makes the pool more visible to people than anything else there.
“When people are scanning the home and garden show, they see you towering above the other displays,” Sullivan says. “Being large and visible, you don’t have to explain what it is. They walk up and go, ‘Wow!’ If you put a 24-foot pool in the ground with an 8-foot deck around it and invite people over, they say, ‘Well, that’s kind of small.’”
Bold colors can boost the impact. In South America, dealers selling fiberglass pools by Brazilian manufacturer iGUi know this well. The color of the pools is almost more important than the office, says Fred Saad, the first U.S. dealer for the brand. In Brazil, dealers typically prop pools of various hues right next to small but brightly painted offices. Potential customers can’t miss them.
“In Brazil, the stores don’t do a lot of marketing,” he says. “They want a 500-square-foot store. That’s all they care about. They want paint in bright colors. They want four pools standing up on the street with lights inside them.”
In the past few years, San Juan has made a slight change in its approach to color when it comes to display pools. This came after Sullivan sat in on a trade show seminar about color. The presenter showed compelling research suggesting that people find blue conservative and even boring, but that yellow suggests excitement, high technology and cutting-edge innovation.
Sullivan conducted his own experiment by taking three pools to a show in Atlanta and standing them up like a kind of teepee. Because the pools faced in opposite directions, attendees could see only one at a time. One was white, one blue and the other yellow. Sullivan set up a badge scanner to see which of the three attracted the most traffic: the yellow pool got all of the scans.
“After that, I made all of my display pools bright yellow,” he says. “There’s something in our DNA: If you look at the color yellow, the human brain does something different with that color than it does with others.”
Today, the San Juan Pool company logo is outlined with yellow.
Behind the scenes
Certain costs and other considerations come into play when displaying fiberglass pool shells in this fashion.
As much as Sullivan likes to turn a swimming pool shell into an advertising beacon, it can get expensive at conventions such as home and garden shows or trade shows. A pool on a trailer is roughly 40 feet long, which means Sullivan had to buy four 10-foot standard booths in order to display the pool horizontally. But the manufacturer employs a simple strategy to help mitigate this issue — Sullivan sits the pools on their end so they fit in a single booth space, potentially cutting the exhibiting bill by 75 percent.
And at some shows, it can cost an arm and a leg to hire riggers to remove the pools from their trailers and set them on the show floor. At a show in Chicago, Sullivan needed two forklifts to manipulate a pool off and on the truck, a hair-raising experience in itself.
“And I would get an $8,000 to $15,000 bill,” he adds. “I said, ‘There’s got to be a safer, faster way to do it all myself.’”
So San Juan Pools designed and built in-house a type of trailer that could be used to transport pools around the country, and then turned into a moveable display. After arriving at a show, the driver uses a remote control to lift the pool into a horizontal position, detaches the trailer from the truck by removing a pin, then wheels what is now a big dolly onto the show floor — all without paying unionized employees at overtime rates.
San Juan now has a half dozen of the trailers in different parts of the country, on loan to dealers who need them.
When fiberglass shells will be displayed this way, professionals should keep in mind how they will be maintained over time. Black recalls a dealer who had mounted a pool on two telephone poles over his sales office. The display was catchy, but also very difficult to clean.
“If you put a white shell up on telephone poles right next to the highway, after a few years it’s going to start looking dingy,” he says. “And there’s no way to get up there and clean it.”
Tallman says its model pools can remain on display for years, freshened occasionally by company employees with a power-washer. But the company recommends dealers change out the vessels every 18- to 24 months, mainly because traffic is more local and people seeing the same pool over and over again lose interest.
Sometimes it isn’t practical to display the shells outdoors or out of the ground.
For instance, because Miami is in a hurricane zone, city codes prevented Saad from propping shells outside his store.
So he moved the show inside. He’s set up the pools against the back wall of his 3,000-square-foot showroom, a converted boat store the company bought in 2014 on busy South Dixie Highway.
The showroom floors are polished. The pools, brightly lit with LED fixtures, sparkle with a glossy finish.
High traffic doesn’t hurt. Saad estimates 50,000 to 100,000 cars pass the building every day, and at least 10 potential customers pull in for a closer look. Although the ceiling limits the pool size to roughly 18 feet, the display is still effective.
“They wonder what the pools are,” he says. “They’re used to concrete.”
In certain cases, an inground installation is best. While some may doubt that a 24-foot pool installed and filled will elicit the same response as a decorated pool being wheeled down the street in a parade, a well-executed installation can help potential customers visualize the pleasure of having their own pool.
Some Latham dealers have created outdoor pool parks consisting of a couple installations with different deck treatments and waterfeatures.
“The guys who invest in putting a pool in the ground at their retail location really get the whole enchilada,” Black says. “They get to present a working model of the pool with moving water, they can feature their equipment, their automation system, lighting, different deck treatments. It’s the equivalent of going up to a car lot and being able to sit in a car and see how all the different features work.”
This, combined with out-of-the-ground displays, can add a new dimension at lawn and garden shows. For instance, working with show organizers, Sullivan has made a finished and fully landscaped pool the centerpiece of the show. He gets even more mileage from the display by offering to give the pool away in a drawing. Show organizers typically are happy to comp Sullivan the cost of a display booth, and often enlist a local radio deejay to cover the drawing. It’s good publicity for the show, and the manufacturer. Attendees who win a pool are delighted with Sullivan’s offer of a $2,500 cash buyout.
“You get … about a month and a half of promotion for 2,500 bucks,” he says. “It’s a way of getting a huge bang for not very much.”


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Seungwoo has sold out all the tickets to his first solo fanmeet.
Before he rejoins VICTON, Seungwoo will be holding his solo fanmeet on February 8th. Tickets went on sale on the 31st at 8PM KST, and all the tickets were completely sold out in under a minute. His label revealed, "We were asked a lot of questions even before the sales started, and there was a lot of competition. All the tickets were sold out as soon as the tickets opened."
After his fanmeet, Seungwoo will be rejoining VICTON for their comeback in March.


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Mahindra to focus on EV, petrol engines and connected vehicles
The growing concerns over air quality, road safety, sustainability and urban congestion, among consumers and society at large, are driving the regulations and policies for motor vehicles and urban development, Mahindra said.
In its annual report for 2018-19, the company's board told the shareholders that Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has earmarked Rs 500 crore for its electric vehicle (EV) project under the new EV policy of Maharashtra government.
The new EVs under development include electric versions of SUVs KUV100 and XUV300, the report said.
"The business landscape is changing rapidly and so are the enablers for success. What has been the winning combination in the past, is no more a winning formula today and in times to come," it said.
While getting the right product at the right cost through an efficient channel worked in the past, the company said, "Going into the future, the product, the cost and the channel will be essential, but not sufficient. Much more will be needed to win at the marketplace. The winning mantras are going to be around providing a solution, delivering an experience and having a purpose."
The growing concerns over air quality, road safety, sustainability and urban congestion, among consumers and society at large, are driving the regulations and policies for motor vehicles and urban development, it said.
"These will impact choice of fuel, ownership patterns and will have a significant impact on the future of the automotive industry," M&M added.
The company said that with an objective to sustain growth, it was pursuing several strategic initiatives in all key areas of business, which includes strengthening the product portfolio, refreshing and updating existing products and strengthening research and development (R&D) and technology capabilities.
"Technology focus areas are around gasoline engines, emission, safety, connected vehicles and electric vehicles," it said, adding the company was also pursuing expansion in overseas markets.
In a connected vehicle, internet as well as other technologies, such as bluetooth, are used to establish communication with the vehicle.
Stressing on the importance of EVs, especially with the government's push for the technology, M&M said it continued to focus and invest in development of new products and advanced technologies specific to electric vehicles.
"Keeping in mind the needs of the future, (the) company is developing the EV versions of the KUV100 and the XUV300," it said.
Specifically, on the front of EVs, M&M said it is investing over Rs 500 crore under the new EV Policy of the Maharashtra government.
"This investment will be utilised towards product development and capacity enhancement for electric vehicles and related components," it added.
In 2018-19, M&M said it along with its subsidiary Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd (MEML) sold a total of 10,276 EVs -- 1,811 four-wheelers and 8,465 three-wheelers -- as against 4,026 EVs in the previous year.
M&M also said that as part of its agreement with Ford, the two partners would jointly develop connected vehicle solutions to be deployed across their products.
Moreover, in April this year, the two partners have also agreed co-development of a mid-size SUV on Mahindra platform, under which M&M will also manufacture and supply the new vehicle to Ford. RKL RKL RUJ HRS
Ashok Leyland is the sixth vehicle manufacturer, after Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Maruti Suzuki India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and MG Motor, to announce plant shutdown amid the second wave of rising COVID-19 cases. While the demand outlook for commercial vehicles (CVs) is affected temporarily, Ashok Leyland said it would continue to meet the requirements of defence vehicles on time.
Is the `Kitna Deti Hai !’ approach logical to the battery-operated electric vehicles? In India, the focal point of the customer appraisal of an EV is range as certified by ARAI. But on the road, the actual mileage may vary depending on many other things. It is really difficult for a real customer to get a good result between the actual and estimated range ratio. The ARAI testing is highly controlled and standardized, but in real-world driving, the correlation can vary dramatically depending on the vehicle, the battery, and the charging method.


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Delete cookies from Chrome It was postponed. With this delay, organizations will have more time to test Google’s Privacy Sandbox APIs.
Delaying the removal of cookies from Chrome is not surprising, as this has already been repeated by Google. According to Google, this plan is scheduled to be implemented in mid-2023, and support for miscellaneous cookies will be implemented in the second half of 2024. In fact, the duration of this project will be from 2022 to 2024. In the following, we will share the implementation steps of this plan with you.
Delete cookies from Chrome
The Privacy Sandbox plan was unveiled for the first time in 2019. After the unveiling, Google announced that this plan will be implemented in 2022; But after reviews by the US Department of Justice and the UK’s Competition Authority (CMA), its implementation date has been pushed back to mid-2023. Google has announced that support for miscellaneous cookies will be possible in the second half of 2024.
Anthony ChavezGoogle’s Vice President of Privacy Sandbox said about the implementation of this plan:
The most consistent feedback we’ve received is that we need more time to evaluate and test the new Privacy Sandbox technology before third-party cookies are deprecated in the Chrome browser. This feedback is consistent with our commitment to the UK Competition Authority to ensure that the Privacy Sandbox provides effective privacy protection technologies and that the industry has sufficient time to adopt these new solutions.
According to the timeline defined by Google, the trial version of Privacy Sandbox will be available to millions of users in different countries at the beginning of next month. The next step of this plan was also determined.
The mentioned scheme will gradually be used by more people during the years 2022 to 2023. What we expect about this plan is that it will be officially available to the public by 2023. A deliberate approach to the transfer of miscellaneous cookies demonstrates that the web is capable of progressing without relying on cross-site tracking identifiers or stealth techniques.
The replacement process for miscellaneous cookies by Google was previously known as Federated Learning of Groups or FLoC. In early 2022, Google introduced a new approach called Topics for its users, which has the ability to track their interests. Google’s goal is to categorize the websites you visit based on 300 pre-prepared topics.
The way Topics works is that when the user visits the website, 3 random topics of his liking are displayed. In this way, the publisher of the site has the ability to share this information with its advertising companies, and this will be very useful for displaying advertisements.
What do you think about procrastination? Delete cookies from Chrome What is? Please share your thoughts in the comment section with Tekrato Technology News Follow with us.


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AMERICA NEWS NOW
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer extracurricular China, has reported subpar fiscal results arsenic good arsenic important layoffs. Its banal is down astir 50 percent implicit the past 12 months. A look nether the hood of the trillion-dollar behemoth reveals a bid of concern decisions that haven’t rather panned out.
Amazon has go a mainstay of consumerism successful America and beyond, offering to present thing from a needle to...


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GM Stock: Why General Motors Company Is a Dividend Stock to Own Forever
Today’s GM Stock Could Be Future Proof
Despite its handsome yield, General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) stock is having a hard time finding an audience. In the past 12 months, General Motors stock returned a measly 0.8%.
If you look a bit further back, you’d see that this is understandable. Less than 10 years ago, the company had to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy and needed a huge government bailout to stay alive.
However, the General Motors Company we see today is very much different. It not only provides solid dividends to income investors, but also has the ability to stay relevant for decades to come. This makes General Motors a dividend stock to own forever.
First of all, in today’s ultra-low interest rate environment, General Motors stock’s dividend is too attractive to ignore. Paying $0.36 per share on a quarterly basis, GM stock has an annual dividend yield of 4.9%.
Of course, you can always argue that the automaker’s dividend yield is high because of its subdued stock price. And the reason for that is the concern surrounding the automotive industry in general. Who knows if companies like GM can survive the next recession? And more importantly, what if the world moves away from internal combustion engines?
Well, GM’s chief financial officer, Charles K. Stevens, has addressed the first concern earlier this year. During an earnings conference call, he said that the company has, “made tough decisions on capital deployment, which includes our downside protection.” (Source: “General Motors Mary Teresa Barra on Q4 2015 Results – Earnings Call Transcript,” Seeking Alpha, February 3, 2016.)
GM Stock 2017 Outlook: Dividend Yield, Splits, Prediction, and Everything You Need to Know
5 Cheap Dividend Stocks for 2017
In particular, he said that even if U.S. auto sales fall from last year’s record of over 17 million units to just 10 to 11 million units, the company could still break even. This is because GM has refrained itself from taking volume and share and has proactively managed down U.S. dealer inventories.
The second concern is a more serious one. Even if GM survives the economic downturns that are expected to happen at some point in the future, will it still have a chance when consumers embrace electric vehicles (EVs)?
In fact, this concern is exactly why Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is able to trade at much higher multiples than Detroit’s “Big Three.” Despite producing a much smaller amount of vehicles and not even being profitable yet, investors believe that Tesla is going to take over the auto industry once the world moves from combustion engine-powered vehicles to electric ones.
But note that General Motors is not standing still. The auto giant has big plans to tackle the competition and when these plans bear fruit, the company shall be on its way to better performance.
Why General Motors Company Is a Dividend Stock to Own Forever
In fact, the company already has a plug-in in its lineup: the Chevrolet Volt. Although the Volt is still a plug-in hybrid rather than a fully electric vehicle, consumers loved it. So far into 2016, GM has sold 14,295 Chevrolet Volts in the U.S. This number makes the Volt the second-best-selling plug-in vehicle in the country this year, only behind the Tesla Model S. (Source: “Monthly Plug-In Sales Scorecard,” Inside EVs, last accessed September 13, 2016.)
And that’s just the start. GM has a fully electric vehicle in the pipeline, the Chevrolet Bolt. The Bolt would be GM’s first long-range, affordable EV. On Tuesday, September 13, the company said that the new Bolt will have a range of 238 miles on a single charge and is expected to come to showrooms later this year. (Source: “Bolt EV Offers 238 Miles of Range,” General Motors Company, September 13, 2016.)
The Bolt’s estimated range of 238 miles is higher than the projected 215-mile range of the Tesla Model 3, which is expected to hit the market in late 2017, one year after the Bolt. General Motors said that the Bolt has an expected price of below $37,500, and that’s before the available federal tax credit.
What this means is that Tesla will have to face a serious competitor in the affordable long-range EV market. The Bolt is expected to start selling one year before Tesla’s Model 3. GM could benefit from the first mover advantage in this mass market.
The Bottom Line on GM Stock
At the end of the day, keep in mind that while working on future vehicles, General Motors’ existing lineup continues to perform well. Solid sales results led to improvements in financials. In the second quarter, GM’s revenue grew 11.0% year-over-year to a record $42.4 billion, while adjusted earnings per share increased 44% year-over-year to a record $1.86. (Source: “GM Reports Second Quarter Net Income of $2.9 Billion, Up 157 Percent,” General Motors Company, July 21, 2016.)
If you want to add a long-term investment to your dividend portfolio, you should consider taking a serious look at GM stock.


text: Cambridge's first outdoor ice rink for Christmas Thursday 13 September 2007 PDF Print CAMBRIDGE’S FIRST OUT DOOR ICE RINK Organisers Cambridge on Ice want to make the ice rink an annual event Cambridge’s Christmas celebrations have received a huge boost with the announcement that Parkers Piece is to be the venue for the city’s first temporary outdoor ice rink running for six weeks from 24th November 2007 right through to January 6th 2008. Cambridge on Ice will be open from 10.00am – 10.00pm seven days a week except Christmas Day. Alongside the ice rink, skaters and spectators will be to enjoy seasonal food and drink at its fully licensed Ice Café. A viewing platform will give spectators a ‘ring side’ view of all the on-ice activity. There will also be undercover skate hire and changing facilities. Around the ice rink, there will be traditional Christmas decorations including trees, coloured lights and decorations and traditional fairground rides to complete the festive atmosphere. The ice rink will be large enough to hold some 200 skaters comfortably for each 45 minute session and the organisers of Cambridge on Ice are confident that around 35,000 residents and visitors to the city will take to the ice over the six week period. “We are thrilled to be bringing Cambridge’s first outdoor ice rink to the city,” said Lizzy Dickinson, a Cambridge Resident and a director of Cambridge on Ice, adding: “Other towns and cities have hugely popular temporary ice rinks over the Christmas period and we are confident that our ice rink will be a welcome addition to Cambridge’s seasonal celebrations. We hope this will become an annual event.” Families, individuals, groups and companies looking for an unusual and exciting start to the festive season can book their ice rink tickets from 17 September by calling 01223 357851 or at www.cambridgeonice.co.uk -Ends- September 2007 For media enquiries contact Steve Greenhalgh, Real Public Relations 01954 231911 or email firstname.lastname@example.org This press release was distributed by ResponseSource Press Release Wire on behalf of Real Public Relations in the following categories: Children & Teenagers, Men's Interest, Entertainment & Arts, Home & Garden, Women's Interest & Beauty, for more information visit http://pressreleasewire.responsesource.com/about.


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Globalink best in Kazakhstan
Globalink has been rated as the "best service provider in the country" in Kazakhstan for 2014. Siddique Khan, president and CEO of Globalink, accepted the corresponding award from the Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, at a ceremony held in the country's capital Astana.
The Altyn Sapa presidential prize is considered a very prestigious award among Kazakh companies. Selected annually, nominees who are recognized as leaders contributing to the promotion of their respective industry sectors are judged on criteria ranging from quality to the implementation of international standards and customer satisfaction.
Established in 1994, Globalink is an international freight forwarding, relocation and project logistics management company operating throughout the CIS region and the Middle East. (elg)


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Officials of the SCCI and the Republic of Guatemala during the meeting on Monday.
The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) recently welcomed Lars Pera, Ambassador of the Republic of Guatemala to the UAE, and Jose Bassila, Commercial Counsellor at the Embassy of Guatemala.
The visiting delegation was received by Abdullah Sultan Al Owais, Chairman, SCCI, Mohammed Ahmed Amin Al Awadi, Director-General of the SCCI, and Fatima Al Mokarrab, Director of the SCCI International Relations Department.
The meeting touched on the importance of capitalising on the strong ties between the two countries in stimulating joint investments in various sectors, including food security, and cooperation in waste management and natural tourism fields.
The two sides agreed to organise a coordination meeting with the SCCI counterpart in Guatemala and considered signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance and develop bilateral cooperation at all scales.
Highlighting the importance of the meeting in enhancing the prospects of commercial and investment cooperation, Abdullah Sultan Al Owais underlined that the Emirate of Sharjah has enormous competitive advantages which make it one of the top business destinations in the region. This includes a flexible and stimulating legislative system for business growth, a sophisticated infrastructure, a strategic location in the middle of the major world markets.
Al Owais shed light on the role of the Sharjah Chamber in supporting those companies wishing to launch their businesses and investments in the emirate through the provision of all the necessary facilities and diverse services for the success of their business.
Lars Pera, in turn, invited Sharjah’s business community to visit his country to learn closely about the potential investment opportunities, adding that Guatemala enjoys huge potentials in different sectors.
Pera extended an invitation to Emirati businessmen and investors to organise a trade mission to Guatemala, affirming his country’s keenness to provide all the support and facilities for the success of their investments. For his part, Mohammed Ahmed Amin Al Awadi said that the Sharjah Chamber is eager to enter the Central American markets as a fertile market for agricultural and food products, as well as services, logistics, and financial sectors, noting that the SCCI is keen to enhance its presence in the vital and emerging markets that provide opportunities for growth and expansion for its partners from the business community and private sector companies in the emirate.
Earlier the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) revealed that it has completed about 49,131 electronic transactions during the last four months covering a wide array of services offered by the Chamber to the business sector, such as certificates of origin and membership ratifications.
The Chamber also stated that all its services have become 100 per cent electronic, including an integrated system of smart services to help investors and customers complete their transactions remotely in accordance with the highest international practices and standards.
“This large number of online transactions clearly reflects the readiness of the SCCI’s digital infrastructure and the efficiency of its services to cater to the needs of the business community. This comes as part of the Chamber’s commitment to supporting the efforts of the Emirate of Sharjah in establishing advanced, innovative, and sustainable digital services, in line with the directives of the wise leadership and Sharjah government that always call for the ongoing and strong support for various business sectors in the emirate,” said Mohammed Ahmed Al Awadi, Director-general, SCCI.
The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) recently received a delegation from the Tunisian Consulate in Dubai to discuss enhancing bilateral commercial and economic ties
The Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD) announced that the economic development indicators in Sharjah achieved a remarkable growth in the first quarter of 2021.
The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), on Monday welcomed a high-profile delegation of Central America ambassadors to the UAE to explore means of enhancing economic cooperation and trade exchange relations
Real estate expert Walid Al Zarouni, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the “W Capital” real estate brokerage company, said that Dubai has become a global city, a preferred destination for living, working, entrepreneurship and tourism, and a destination for many from all over the world, for the purpose of investment and residence, in light of the urban shift that it witnessed in the last two decades.
' The UAE will extend its voluntary cut of 144,000 barrels per day until the end of December 2024 as a precautionary measure. This is in coordination with the countries participating in the OPEC + agreement,' says minister.
The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has successfully concluded its trade mission to India after five days of fruitful meetings and discussions with Indian business


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Apple Stock News: Apple Card Users Earned More Than $1 Billion
Apple Stock News: Apple announced that the Apple Card has garnered over 12 million users in the U.S., resulting in cardholders earning over $1 billion in Daily Cash rewards in 2023. Daily Cash is earned on every purchase, with 3% cash back on Apple and select partner purchases, 2% on all Apple Pay transactions, and 1% on other purchases. Users can opt to receive Daily Cash on their Apple Cash card or deposit it into the Apple Savings Account, which offers a 4.50% APY. Almost 30% of users make two or more payments per month, and 600,000 users have added trusted individuals to their Apple Card. Despite nearing its five-year launch anniversary, the Apple Card remains exclusive to the United States. Additionally, Apple’s partnership with Goldman Sachs, the provider of Apple Card, is expected to end within the next 12 to 15 months, prompting Apple to find a new partner while assuring uninterrupted service for users.
iPhone 16 Models to Lack Significant Design Changes
Apple’s upcoming iPhone 16 models, set to launch later this year, will reportedly lack significant design changes, as indicated by Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo suggests that more comprehensive generative AI features may not be introduced until the iPhone 17 series in 2025 at the earliest. Foldable designs and advanced AI are considered key trends for high-end smartphones, and Kuo speculates a potential decline in iPhone shipments in 2024 due to Apple’s delayed focus on these areas. Rumors about the iPhone 16 include a “capture” button for video-related actions, responding to pressure and touch. Notably, the higher-end Pro models are expected to feature larger displays, with the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max having 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch screens, respectively, compared to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max’s 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch displays. The significance of these changes is subjective.
Interactive 3D Globe
CARROT Weather‘s popular app will be on Apple Vision Pro from Friday, featuring witty forecasts and redesigned for visionOS with key weather details. The app includes an interactive 3D globe highlighting global weather patterns. Users can engage with CARROT, an AI character, and play mini-games. The visionOS app launches around 7 a.m. Pacific Time, requiring a subscription ranging from $4.99 to $14.99 per month or $19.99 to $59.99 per year. CARROT Weather joins 250+ apps with native visionOS support on the Apple Vision Pro launch day, compatible with over a million iPad and iPhone apps.
Global User Protections
Apple expresses “deep concern” over proposed amendments to the Investigatory Powers Act in the UK, fearing unprecedented government powers to block global software updates. The legislation could enable the Home Office to reject security updates without public disclosure, alarming critics who dub it a “Snooper’s Charter.” Apple opposes the requirement to inform the government of security changes, particularly for global impact, and the immediate action on feature disablement without review. The company warns of adverse effects on privacy, innovation, and commerce, considering the withdrawal of services like FaceTime and iMessage in the UK to protect user security. Civil liberties groups also oppose the bill, arguing it turns companies into tools of surveillance. The proposed changes face debate in the House of Lords.


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Updated: July 15, 2021 9:39:35 am
soccer-field-texture,A 46-year-old woman was allegedly cheated of Rs 60,000 by online fraudsters after she attempted to order food online for her parents’ marriage anniversary by calling a number posted on a social media page.
As per the complaint filed by the woman, she lost the money in two separate transactions on June 19 and 20. An FIR was registered on Tuesday.,football-under-500
dream-league-soccer-uniform,As per the complaint, the woman was looking for food delivery options to celebrate her parents’ anniversary.
soccer-games-today-what-time,On a social media page, she found a number listed for a famous restaurant on Tilak Road.
The woman called the number on the evening of June 19. The person who responded asked for an advance of Rs 10,000 and, on that pretext, asked for credit card details. While no food was delivered, the woman lost Rs 49,600 from the card a day later.,online-cricket-odds
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Resveratrol sometimes seems like the duct tape of red wine-it has an infinite number of uses. A team of scientists now suggests the polyphenolic compound found in red wine may help heal broken hearts. Wine Spectator's Jacob Gaffney explains.
For the full article, check out the new issue of Wine Spectator, on newsstands October 26, 2010.
To continue reading this page, become a WineSpectator.com member today!
Do you have a Wine Spectator magazine subscription? Save 50% on your Online Membership right now!


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Taco Bell Franchisor, LLC is facing a proposed class action lawsuit over allegations that the restaurant’s late-night drive-thru-only policy fails to meaningfully accommodate visually impaired customers who are unable to operate motor vehicles at night.
According to the case out of California federal court, many Taco Bell locations offer “late-night hours” after their lobbies close when food can be ordered only at the “drive-thru” window. Taco Bell’s company policy, the case states, forbids pedestrians from ordering at the drive-thru window due to safety concerns, and requires customers be in a car to purchase food. The lawsuit argues that this restriction prohibits those with visual disabilities who are unable to drive from enjoying independent access to the restaurant’s services during late-night hours. From the case:
“As it exists today, the Taco Bell System does not include any policy, procedure, protocols, or infrastructure for assisting, aiding, or serving visually-impaired would-be customers of Taco Bell-branded restaurants when the interiors of those restaurants are closed to the public but while the drive-thrus of those restaurants are still open to the public.”
Whereas sighted customers can independently browse and order food in the drive-thru without assistance, those with visually disabilities “must hope for a companion with a car or paid taxi services” to assist in ordering late-night Taco Bell food, the case stresses.
According to the suit, there are “a variety of modest accommodations” that the defendant could implement to ensure that blind and visually disabled customers have “full and equal access” to Taco Bell’s late-night services. The case contends that Taco Bell’s failure to make such accommodations constitutes discrimination in violation of both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The suit seeks a permanent injunction requiring Taco Bell to take necessary steps to ensure its late-night drive-thru restaurants are fully accessible to the blind.
Camp Lejeune residents may soon have the opportunity to claim compensation for harm suffered from contaminated water.


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MIT Names Tesla and Toyota Among World’s Smartest Companies
We all know Toyota is one of the best-selling car brands in the world—but how smart is Toyota really? What does it even mean for an automaker to be smart? Those are just some of the questions tackled in the most recent edition of the MIT Technology Review, which just released its latest list of the world’s 50 smartest companies of 2016.
Of the companies featured, only two automakers made the cut: Tesla, ranked fourth, and Toyota, ranked 17th. It might seem odd to see them in the company of tech giants like Alphabet, Nvidia, and Microsoft, but editors said they picked the companies that “best combined innovative technology with an effective business model” and with that in mind, it’s clear that Tesla and Toyota certainly fit the bill.
Tesla stood out for advancing its Autopilot technology and introducing the more affordable Model 3 electric car, though the American company fell from the top of the rankings compared to last year; meanwhile, after leaving the list in 2013, Toyota returned thanks to “dramatically rethinking its future” by making major investments in studying future mobility, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
In late 2015, as part of a five-year $1 billion program, Toyota established the Toyota Research Institute, which will develop the automaker’s expertise in programming software, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicle technology, and robotics, with the goal of improving future mobility by making it safer and more convenient for everyone.
The Japanese automaker also gained a few points for launching the Mirai, the world’s first mass-market hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, which has a range of over 300 miles and emits only water vapor, as well as for its work on building a network of affordable hydrogen fuel stations.
It seems that focusing on non-traditional automotive technology and leaving the international combustion engine behind is truly starting to be the way to go for automakers.
Source: MIT Technology Review


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Last week, The Wall Street Journal announced that Facebook is said to be incorporating the infamous #hashtag# into its site by using the hashtag as a way to group conversations. Now so far this is just a rumor but most often rumors come true, especially when Facebook is involved.
Facebook owned Instagram already uses hashtags which allows users to sort photos using the symbol (e.g. #summer). Insiders of this development have shared that Facebook is testing whether their hashtags will be used in a similar fashion to Twitter’s, which allows
users to click on a hashtag to pull up posts about similar topics/ events. This feature allows users to quickly locate conversations around trending topics #PopeFrancis, and then continue to build on those conversations which gives users more reason to stay logged in.
It is unknown how far along Facebook is into the development of the hashtag and its feature on Facebook however we shouldn’t expect to see it anytimesoon.
The battle between social media networks continues! The introduction of hashtags to Facebook increases the fight between Facebook and Twitter for users and advertising dollar. Although both entered the social market with different purposes, Facebook was a connection to family & friends whereas Twitter was a real-time broadcasting device for the rest of the world it seems things are changing. Can’t we all just get along?
Hashtags & Advertising:
Hashtags may open new doors and opportunities for brands and businesses. Hashtag’s provide a new way for businesses and brands to access a new market/group who may not have liked the brand or any connections to those who did, therefore didn’t know of its existence. It’s a new way to be introduced to brands without the impersonality of the ‘old’ style promoted post.
We all love a good promotion on Facebook (well I know I do). Hashtags present a great way to further promote competitions, promotions and offers brands run.
For example just say a shoe brand is running a competition offering 20% of new shoes. They could promote their hashtag, #newshoes20%off, in posts that would appear in the newsfeed. How is this any better to the current set up? Well, by clicking on the hashtag, it will reveal anyone using this hashtag in conversation, therefore providing a way to track this feature for advertisers and also by making it easier for Facebook users to find relevant information about the promotion and brand.
Most of us hate the bombarding ads on Facebook but we all know they are not going away anytime soon, so lets make them relevant. A way to incorporate hashtags with advertising is to show results related to what people want/like. Let’s say when a Facebooker searches for a hashtag #Shoes their search results will be directed to a page that lists any conversations containing that hashtag. Adverts then could be placed on these pages, and even targeted so that they are relevant to hashtag.
With enough user uptake and promotion, combined with a clever strategy, hashtags could be a great way for brands to improve exposure on Facebook.
#Do you think this rumor is true? Do you think the introduction of hashtag’s on Facebook is #good #bad?
Share your thoughts…


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From: Monty Solomon [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2004 9:07 PM
Subject: Double Jeopardy for kids caught in Pepsi Apple promo
Double Jeopardy for kids caught in Pepsi Apple promo
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 01/02/2004 at 11:17 GMT
Four children bullied by the Recording Industry Association of
America will re-enact their shame for tens of millions of TV viewers
today, at the behest of two giant American corporations: Apple
Computer and Pepsi Cola Inc.
Instead of using actors to dramatize their shame, the RIAA, Apple and
Pepsi have forced the children themselves to conform with the
copyright regime, and to look suitably browbeaten as a series of
captions reads: INCRIMINATED S ACCUSED S BUSTED S CHARGED.
Is this a medieval costume drama? A low-budget dramatization of some
era of America's dark and troubled past, recorded by Hawthorne, when
public humiliations were commonplace? Or is it some strange and
sadistic imported Japanese game show - the kind where people assent
to be filmed eating worms ?
No, it's a home-grown artifact which will be broadcast at great
expense across the nation during the annual US Superbowl sport event
today. The advertisement features four victims of the RIAA's legal
jihad wearing the Scarlet Letter of their own shame for the benefit
of the TV cameras - and quite disgustingly, the RIAA insisted that
the agency couldn't hire stand-in actors to replay the script,
insisting that the 'perpetrators' play themselves : a move which is
likely to go down in history as one of the greatest public relations
disasters in history.


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The US Government endorsement of artificial feeding has been and continues to be a huge financial benefit to the US formula industries. The US policy has left citizens without Code regulation, baby friendly support and mandatory maternity leave for decades. The blame for formula shortage and the current desperation of mothers must be put squarely on the policy makers, the regulators and the industry with their heavy lobbying to deregulate and sabotage breastfeeding and all parents rights to protection.
Elisabeth Sterken, Director, INFACT Canada, IBFAN Global Council.
For updated IBFAN briefings on this recall visit the contaminants page on the IBFAN GIFA website.
Formula shortage in the USA: https://youtu.be/SIGvs7avNYA
FDA is questioned on the delay on Contamination of baby and infant foods
updated March 3, 2022
‘I almost lost my baby’: Parents demand answers from FDA
Two weeks after a nationwide recall of infant formula tied to five hospitalizations and two deaths, the FDA is refusing to answer questions about why it took months to take action, while parents, lawmakers and advocates ratchet up pressure on the agency. As POLITICO recently reported, the FDA, CDC and formula maker Abbott Nutrition knew about the first infant seriously sickened by Cronobacter sakazakii, a rare bacteria, in September. It was more than four months before FDA sent inspectors to investigate the plant where the formula was made. It took another three weeks to order a recall. The timeline has raised questions about the government’s response and whether quicker action could have prevented illnesses and deaths. POLITICO has repeatedly asked the FDA to explain why there was a monthslong lag between illnesses being reported, an inspection and then ultimately pulling products off the market. The agency has repeatedly declined to do so.
2022 – News on contaminated products
Three products (Similac, Alimentum and EleCare) recalled by Abbott in February 2022 have caused an outbreak of serious infections in the US, with at least four children hospitalised. Three of the infections are due to Cronobacter sakazakii (formerly Enterobacter sakazakii) and one is due to Salmonella. Two deaths are under investigation by the US authorities.
March 1st 2022: “The United States Food and Drug Administration, FDA, warns against using another powdered baby formula after a 2nd death”: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/01/1083696031/fda-warns-against-using-another-powdered-baby-formula-after-a-second-death?t=1646207848860
“A baby who used Abbott’s Similac PM 60/40 contracted a Cronobacter sakazakii infection and died”: https://www.insider.com/more-infant-formula-recalled-after-another-baby-dies-2022-3?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sf-bi-ti&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR3rp2WEkSfGiCVlDPr8MFpY0XvKg97kN51yl5EBsYvtNqqhW9sFVmbcjHE
FDA Warns Consumers Not to Use Certain Powdered Infant Formula Produced in Abbott Nutrition’s Facility in Sturgis, Michigan
Three of the babies were sick with Cronobacter sakazakii and one had Salmonella Newport, the FDA said.
Cronobacter bacteria can cause severe, life-threatening sepsis infections or meningitis while salmonella can cause gastrointestinal illness and fever, according to the FDA.
“We deeply regret the concern and inconvenience this situation will cause parents, caregivers and health care professionals,” Joe Manning, Abbott executive vice president, nutritional products, said in a statement.
The FDA said it initiated an onsite inspection at the facility and findings to date include several positive “Cronobacter sakazakii results.”
“As this is a product used as the sole source of nutrition for many of our nation’s newborns and infants, the FDA is deeply concerned about these reports of bacterial infections,” said Frank Yiannas, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response, in a statement.
Food Safety in the archives
With recent worries about the possibility of contamination from nuclear power stations in Ukraine, there will inevitably be concerns about safety of breastmilk and baby foods and we are hoping that WHO, UNICEF, the Infant feeding in Emergencies and health authorities will be able to provide guidance.
Over the years IBFAN has followed this issue closely. IBFAN GIFA website.
Here is a page from a 1988 Baby Milk Action newsletter following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. At the time we worked closely with an investigated journalist, Felicity Arbuthnot, who was tracking the dumping of contaminated products.