text:
|Longji rice terraces, China|
Photo by (Stephan) on Flickr
Since rice is the main staple food of 1.3 billion Chinese people, successful non-GM crop development on the scale needed will likely have world-wide implications.
China has traditionally taken a very precautionary attitude to GM crops. Its biosafety assessment has taken more than five years to complete. Even after a GM product has been granted a safety certificate, it must undergo strict production tests at the local level (there are 28 autonomous provinces in China) before products reach the public.
With the goal of achieving 100% self-sufficiency in rice, wheat and corn (the country's three main staple crops), China is putting in place 'Plan (2011-2020)' to develop a modern agricultural crop seed industry.
In this Plan, GM is mentioned only twice and briefly. GM safety evaluation must be standardised, as must regulatory aspects of the introduction of GM varieties across different autonomous regions. New non-staple GM varieties should be developed. In other words, China is bucking the trend being imposed by the biotech industry everywhere else in the world: staple GM crops are out.
Looming large in the government awareness are doubts about the viability of gene technology in its current state. The main domestically created GM rice at present is an insecticide-generating one, 'Bt Shanyou 63'. This rice is touted as having an increased yield of 8%, but in fact this 'increase' is a saving on the cost of pesticide which has been factored in as yield. Shanyou 63 is nothing more than a 20-year old strain to which a Bt toxin gene has been added and has no potential to increase yield.
Suspension of GM rice commercialisation has followed several years of public and scientific debate in China.
Its Government has clearly been listening to scientists' appeal for caution. For example, The 'father of hybrid rice', Yuan Lon ping, has told it honestly:
“One of the major features of GM crops is their ability to resist insects, but even scientists do not know whether such an ability in these crops will have any effect on human beings”.Government biodiversity scientist, Xue Dayuan, has also been heeded when he told the authorities they still need to set up effective risk-evaluation and management mechanisms, and still need to further standardise GM agricultural crop safety evaluation. The Minister of Agriculture has pledged to ensure the safety of GM crops.
Factors such as the non-Chinese patents attached to current GM rice lines are, no doubt, significant in the decision not to proceed with GM rice because these would inevitably threaten China's food security.
Sadly, the policy on GM corn in China is likely to be more accepting. Already 20% of domestically-used corn is genetically transformed. Concerns have been raised that currently only two conventional corn varieties are being widely grown there, and these might soon have to be withdrawn due to increasing susceptibility to pests. Such lack of crop diversity is a clear threat to China's future grain security. Exacerbating this are the changing dietary patterns in China. Consumption of rice and wheat are reducing while the demand for corn-fed meat, eggs and dairy is increasing. After many years of being an exporter of corn, last year China became a net importer. Add to all of this is a perception that safety-considerations for GM animal feed are less than those for GM foods, like rice, directly consumed by humans.
Let's hope that the unfolding of Plan 2011-2020 in China demonstrates to all that:
- there are clear benefits to be had from a non-GM route to food production
- non-GM agriculture is efficient on a huge scale
- non-GM food is essential for self-sufficiency in food production.
Rice is Life: A film from Greenpeace, about how rice is so much more than just food in China.
- China says “no” to the commercialization of GE rice, Greenpeace East Asia, 25.09.11
- Chee Yoke Ling, China Suspends Commercialisation of Genetically Engineered Rice and Wheat, Third World Network Biosafety Information Service, 6.10.11
- Jiang Yunzhang, Commercialization of genetically modified staple food: not to proceed for 5 years, Economic Observer, 23.09.11
- Liu Linlin, Ministry seeks to ease GM food safety fears, Global Time (China), 30.09.11


text:
George Zimmer set the stage for a $1 billion-plus payday for shareholders of Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers - and he wasn't even there to toast the merger.
Men's Wearhouse said Tuesday that it's buying its rival Jos. A. Bank Clothiers for $1.8 billion. Men's Wearhouse, which Zimmer founded 40 years ago in Houston, will pay $65 a share for Jos. A. Bank, a deal that would value the combined company at $4.5 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The agreement ends a takeover tussle that began in October, about four months after Zimmer put his own company in play by encouraging it to consider going private.
Zimmer's disagreements with management led to his ouster as chairman, which Oscar Gruss & Son said may have removed an obstacle to Men's Wearhouse merging with its rival. In the time it took the company and Jos. A. Bank to settle on a price they could agree on, shareholders became $1.7 billion richer as the stocks soared, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
"The clear winners are definitely the shareholders," said Betty Chen, a San Francisco-based analyst at Mizuho Securities USA. "Jos. A. Bank holders benefit from a higher offer price, and Men's Wearhouse holders benefit from a much stronger company with better accretion. This is a rare deal scenario where it's a win-win."
On Tuesday, shares of both companies rose on the news: Stock of Men's Wearhouse, based in Fremont, Calif., was up nearly 5 percent to $57.14, while shares of Jos. A. Bank, based in Hampstead, Md., increased nearly 4 percent to $64.22.
Industry watchers had speculated that a merger was inevitable given the challenges the companies face in the competitive menswear landscape. With more than 1,800 U.S. stores and $3.5 billion in annual sales, the combined company's reach in men's clothing will fall behind only Macy's, Kohl's and J.C. Penney.
The companies also have complementary businesses. Men's Wearhouse, which sells men's sportswear and suits through its 1,200 stores at its Men's Wearhouse, Moores and K&G chains, caters to young male customers looking for their first suit. Meanwhile, Jos. A. Banks focuses on a more established clientele that's looking for good deals at its 623 stores. Both chains have 15 locations in the Houston area.
A spokesman for Men's Wearhouse declined to comment on any layoffs or management changes beyond what was in the joint news release: "Management will consist of the most qualified individuals from both organizations."
However, Jos. A Bank's chairman, Robert Wildrick, is planning to leave the company after the sale, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The combined company will be run by Men's Wearhouse's chief executive officer, Douglas Ewert, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is still private.
Zimmer was ousted in June after disagreements with management over strategy, including his desire to consider taking Men's Wearhouse private. Zimmer, the former face of Men's Wearhouse in TV commercials, still owned about 3.5 percent of the company, according to an August filing.
"That's really his brand, and he's probably been spending a lot of his career competing against the likes of a Jos. A. Bank," said Louis Meyer, a special situations analyst at Oscar Gruss & Son in New York. As the founder, he may have been a "roadblock" to a merger, Meyer said.
It didn't take long for Jos. A. Bank to step in with a bid after Zimmer left. Men's Wearhouse turned down the offer and began its pursuit to buy Jos. A. Bank instead. The back and forth over which retailer would be the target and at what price continued into the new year.
In the middle of the back-and forth, Jos. A. Bank said last month that it was buying Everest Holdings, the parent company of Eddie Bauer. But the company left the door open for a deal with Men's Wearhouse by saying if it received a superior acquisition offer, it would pay a termination fee to end the Eddie Bauer deal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

domain: news


text:
Payments platform PayNearMe has announced enhancements to its iGaming solution that enable U.S. operators to dramatically speed up the market and simplify the deposit and payout experience across a wide range of payment types — including Apple Pay and Google Pay — through a single integration.
PayNearMe’s expanded iGaming solution makes deposits and payouts easy for both players and operators. Operators can now accept players’ cash and electronic payment deposits, and rapidly distribute payouts without having to manage multiple payment providers. Players benefit from a simplified deposit experience that supports a multitude of payment options to fund their accounts.
“Managing multiple third-party vendors and contracts is not only an administrative burden for operators, but it also creates a disjointed experience for players during a crucial touchpoint: deposits. Operators can now consolidate key payment types — including Apple Pay and Google Pay — onto a single payments platform built specifically for iGaming,” Michael Kaplan, Chief Revenue Officer and General Manager at PayNearMe, said.
“PayNearMe has deep expertise in the gaming industry and is a long-time partner of BetMGM, creating the industry’s best customer experience around cash deposits. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve the customer experience on BetMGM, so when PayNearMe made it possible for us to expand its frictionless payments experience across more deposit types, we knew it was the best bet for both our business and our customers,” Maria Tomlinson, Head of Payments at BetMGM, said.
PayNearMe’s Smart Link technology gives players the ability to make a deposit in two clicks, without having to navigate through the cashier page. This frictionless deposit experience is especially useful when players are making in-the-moment betting decisions and need to be able to quickly and easily fund their accounts.
Using PayNearMe Smart Link, operators can text, email, or use native app push notifications to send players reminders, announcements, incentive promotions, or other player engagements, along with a link they can click to make a deposit anytime, anywhere.


text:
It started with an ice cream stand.
Aged 15, and armed with a copy of Auto Trader, Dan Healey sourced a traditional trolley originally used in New York’s Central Park and convinced his dad to take him to pick it up.
They came home with two, and even went back for a third.
Next step: finding an ice cream maker near his home in Rochdale, talking a couple of pals into manning the other stalls for a share of the profits, and becoming Dandino – ice cream vendor extraordinaire.
Transformation complete, he was soon turning over £500 a weekend through the summer and the trolleys earned him enough to buy his first car, costing £14,000, at the age of 17.
“The way I started out, I should have been on track to do really, really well,” laughs Healey, now owner of the Manchester bespoke furniture business Den. “I remember coming back home tipping the money out of the aprons my mum had made onto the kitchen table to be counted.
“I loved economics. It was the one thing I excelled at at school; but that business was more successful than I ever imagined.”
He’s being modest about his achievements now, because it’s fair to say Healey is rapidly becoming the go-to man for commercial styling in Manchester.
His bespoke schemes now grace Rosso Restaurant, Bem Brasil, Barton Arcade, The Circle Club, Deansgate’s menswear boutique Intro and most of the bars in the Northern Quarter, including Home Street Home, Simple, Soul and Thomas St.
Right now, Den is working on projects for casino Manchester 235, the Thai restaurant Chaophraya for its national roll-out, Nicky Clarke hair salons, and an under-wraps radical new club in China Town.
With six staff now on board, Den’s turnover has hit £500,000
“It’s nowhere near big enough to pay people what they’re worth to the business,” says Healey.
“But the potential is massive. It’s almost like we’ve spent most of our time digging the foundations.
“We haven’t got a big house but we’ve got very deep foundations; when we get above the ground it’ll be a very difficult house to knock down.”
What started as a retail store in a former sewing machine shop in the Northern Quarter, on the corner of Oldham Street and Hilton St, has become a predominantly business-to-business operation.
That’s partly why, in the last 18 months, Healey has made a major investment in a huge warehouse space in Bury, where Den’s outlet shop and manufacturing facilities now occupy the first and second floors.
Ever the entrepreneur in search of fresh opportunities, that’s where he’s planning to build a bar and performance space.
Business rates – at a discounted rate of 98 per cent in Bury but costing him a steep £22,000 a year in Manchester city centre – might encourage Healey to shift the whole operation out of town.
But currently it’s a good front for the company, with Mr Healey convinced the store ‘owes him a pay day’ before long.
The Bury outlet has also allowed the company to expand its hire business.
As Mr Healey shows me around, he points out white leather-trimmed benches ready to go to a wedding, curved seating that regularly does the rounds at glittering parties and reconditioned tables and chairs perfect for pop-up bars.
On trend and just 37, Healey certainly doesn’t come across as a cut-throat businessman. But he does have a sharp entrepreneurial spirit, and it’s one that was largely inspired by a desire to get closer to his dad.
A furniture retailer himself, Healey’s father was a very focused businessman who went through the drama of losing a company – and 40 staff – and fought his way back to success with two furniture shops in Rochdale and Bury.
Talking shop was the only way to get his attention, Healey says.
Mr Healey was, then, born into a furniture family and all four Healey sons have gone into the industry, some taking over the shops his dad founded, others going their own way.
He fell into the latter camp, swapping ice cream for sportswear and eventually moving into trading and transporting vintage and reclaimed furniture.
Pretty soon, he was driving up and down the country selling furniture into over 90 shops north of Manchester.
But with costs soaring, Healey couldn’t find a way to grow it profitably and decided to join forces with a design business based in central Manchester – Pulse, on Whitworth Street West.
The venture, which for Healey only lasted a couple of years, introduced him to Lorna Lucas, a designer at Pulse who he poached for Den in
2003, taking on the store (Den Furniture and Interiors) in 2005 with her and mosaic artist Mark Kennedy.
But though the partnership proved to be tense and ended in a large tax bill, Lorna’s legacy lives on in the company’s best selling signature sofas.
Before Lorna left, the pair laid the foundation for what’s become a second arm for the business: Den Contracts, an interiors business that designed Manto bar and worked with a few footballers on home schemes.
It was obvious to Mr Healey it was the way the business should go, and so the pair went their separate ways to allow him to pursue his vision.+ It was a wise decision.
Seven years on, Healey has workshops for every part of the furniture making process, with all parts sourced and assembled at the Bury warehouse.
He’s not worried the current economic climate disrupting his high end business.
“Working with Lorna was like being in a Cold War because we wanted such different things – it was like we had a limit on what we could earn anyway,” Healey laughs.
“People who are doing things right aren’t affected; people who are doing a good job get on.
“I think it gets rid of a lot of dead wood. As long as you realise you can’t always do just what you love doing and expect to make a living, you’ll survive – some people get so tunnel-visioned into doing one thing.
“I never forget it’s about making money,” he smiles.
“I’d go back out selling ice cream if I had to.”


text:
By Michel Montignac
By Michel Montignac
For the past 10 years, scientists in the Western countries have raised the alarm regarding milk which they say is a product to be wary of, a dangerous product. Meanwhile, traditional nutritionists continue to endorse the product promoted by the powerful milk lobby.
For those who still believe in its virtues, milk is absolutely necessary for a balanced diet. It is our main source of calcium allowing children to build sound bones and women to prevent osteoporosis.
Those who oppose this view point out that humans only started drinking animal milk 8 000 years ago and that, paradoxically, our bone structure seems to be in worse shape than that of our Palaeolithic ancestors.
In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) even pointed to the fact that the countries which consumed the most milk (principally Finland) held the world record for femur bone fractures. These countries also have to cope with infant diabetes epidemics (Type 1).
We can also see, comparatively, that Asian countries (Japan, China…) which historically had never drank milk have begun to present the same pathologies since they started adopting Western eating habits. What is even more serious is the fact that in recent years hundreds of studies have shown the ties between consuming milk products and male prostrate cancer and female genital cancer.
A wide-scope Swedish epidemiological study published in 2004 (1) involving 60 000 cases has further confirmed these findings.
Another study (2) carried out by a joint Japanese and American research team and published in June 2005 now explains why milk products can cause cancer. Since industrial milk cows are bred to calve every year, they produce milk with levels of estrogen which are critical enough to put women at high risk of breast, ovary and uterus cancer.
It is also important to note, as I have taken care to highlight in all my publications, that milk and un-drained fresh milk products are fattening. Several studies have in fact shown that, despite their low Glycemic Indexes, milk products trigger high insulin responses.
A complementary study published in 2004 (3) confirms that milk and milk products affect insulin levels. It further shows that milk serum is in fact the true cause of this effect; a hypothesis which I had formulated some years ago and which has now received scientific validation.
(1) Larson S. “Milk and lactose intakes and ovarian cancer risk in the Swedish Mammography Cohort” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2004; 80:1353-57.
(2) Ganmaa D. “The possible role of female sex hormones in milk from pregnant cows in the development of breast, ovarian and corpus uteri cancers” Medical Hypotheses, August 2005, 65(6):1028-37; Elsevier.
(3) Nilsson M. “Glycemia and insulinemia in healthy subjects after lactose-equivalent meals of milk and other food proteins: the role of plasma amino acids and incretins” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2004 ; 80:1246-53


text:
Muddy Puddles has launched a SS20 Capsule Collection and introduced its first UV protective Swimwear, created from eco-friendly fabrics using recycled plastic bottles.
The ‘Save our Oceans’ collection, inspired by a shared passion for the state and future of the world’s oceans and our planet is designed using bold, eye-catching prints depicting the ocean, and the animals and nature inhabiting the seawater.
The new range is inspired by the sea in bright blues, greens, yellows and coral colours and features vibrant prints of waves, seaweed and their signature yellow raindrops.
Muddy Puddles has also added a new thought-provoking navy whale print inscribed with ‘recycle to save me’ slogan.
Items are designed to be unisex so that they can be passed on to other children irrespective of gender.
The SS20 collection will be available frm the end of February.


text:
Diamonds: Anglo American to pay US$5.1 billion for 40% of De Beers
Friday, November 4, 2011
Anglo American PLC has negotiated a price of US$5.1 billion to buy 40% of diamond giant De Beers from the Oppenheimer family. Anglo’s stake will jump from 45% to either 75% or 85%; the Botswanan government has an option to increase its own stake.
“This has been a momentous and difficult decision as my family has been in the diamond industry for more than 100 years and part of De Beers for over 80 years,” said De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer. The Oppenheimers are selling their entire remaining stake in the company they took over in the 1920s. They retain 2% of Anglo, founded in 1917 by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer. Until Nicky’s resignation this year Anglo’s board has always featured an Oppenheimer.
As-of June De Beers assets totalled US$8.2 billion with US$1.2 billion pre-tax profit over the prior six months, compared to a US$863 million pre-tax profit last year. The firm owns two Canadian mines and one in South Africa, along with joint ownership with Botswana in two of the world’s biggest diamond mines.
Part of the sale deal promises the Oppenheimers will be given part of any value increase if the firm is floated within two years. Nonetheless, Anglo CEO Cynthia Carroll denied this means a flotation is planned. She also said there is no connection between the purchase, which is set to be finalised next year, and Chilean state-owned copper firm Coldeco’s recent major purchase of 49% of various Anglo property. The Oppenheimers receive 20% of any price increase if a float occurs within a year, and 10% if one happens the year after.


text:
After 12-years of negotiations, the first European beef and veal was presented to the Korean business and consumers during the COEX Food Week on November 20-23. The EU is proud to demonstrate its high quality beef and veal, which follows the highest animal health and welfare standards in the world. EU beef is produced under strict safety criteria, applying a traceability system from the farm to the table, guaranteeing healthy and safe food via clear labelling policy not only to the EU citizen, but now to the Korean consumers as well. Most of all, the EU prohibits the use of growth hormones in farm cows since 1981, as well as the use of antibiotics for purposes of growth in livestock since 2010.
Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Korea H.E. Michael Reiterer congratulated the first Dutch veal show case presented by the well-known cook Raymon Kim during the Food Week. Ambassador Reiterer said “The EU is a single market and all beef production follows the same regulations. Today Dutch and Danish beef are available in the market. Korean consumers can expect the same quality and taste in the beef from other EU Member States as showcased today. And we hope to provide more high quality EU beef to the Korean consumers in the future from all our Member States.”


text:
What’s Up in Weed
March 23, 2018
By: Andrea Hill
I am pleased to bring you this instalment of my blog, rounding up what’s currently happening in the cannabis industry in Canada and abroad.
Welcome to the Big Leagues! Cronos Group Inc. lists on the NASDAQ Global Market
- SkyLaw client Cronos Group Inc. became the first cannabis company ever to list on a major U.S. stock exchange when it announced that its shares are now trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “CRON”.
- While cannabis remains illegal under U.S. Federal laws, U.S. investors can buy shares of foreign companies like Cronos that operate legally in their respective countries and have no operations in the U.S.
- “This up listing to Nasdaq is a major corporate milestone and reflects the significant progress we have made in strengthening our corporate governance and expanding our global footprint,” said Mike Gorenstein, CEO of Cronos Group. In addition to owning two licensed producers in Canada, Cronos has multiple international cannabis production and distribution platforms, including in Israel and Australia.
- Cronos also recently announced a joint venture with U.S. cannabis giant MedMen Enterprises to bring America’s most recognized cannabis brand to Canada.
- Cronos has been a client of SkyLaw since December 2015 and we congratulate the hard-working team at Cronos on all of their achievements.
The finer details: Health Canada offers insight on regulations to the Cannabis Act
On Monday, Health Canada issued a Summary of comments and proposed approach to the regulations to the Cannabis Act, based on the feedback of over 3,000 Canadians and 450 industry stakeholders. While the text of the regulations will only be revealed once the Cannabis Act is officially in force, this publication is meant to provide stakeholders with as much detail as possible in the meantime. Here are some of the highlights:
- More scrutiny on shareholders. Further to the Cannabis Act’s provision for the Minister to require “financial information” about an applicant, including information about its shareholders, Health Canada is mulling the best way to allow for scrutiny of shareholders of corporate applicants.
- This concern is driven by a persistent worry that organized crime may involve itself in the new regulated cannabis industry through investments in licensed entities.
- The government’s original proposal had been to require security clearance for shareholders who held at least 25% of any applicant; however, the government has realized that this could be easy to undermine.
- Health Canada is now considering other screening methods, including a requirement that applicants submit information about their investors –which would be kept on file and taken into account when licences were being issued or up for renewal if public safety concerns were raised.
- Health Canada is also considering requiring licensees to regularly report financial information to help the government identify suspicious financial relationships or arrangements that may warrant regulatory action.
- Fresh genetics. Health Canada is considering how to enable the introduction of new plant genetics into the legal system.
- Currently, the ACMPR only permit licensed producers to purchase cannabis starting materials from other licensed producers, with few exceptions – giving the black market a big edge on diversity of strains.
- Although accessing strains from outside the regulated market could be a boon to LPs, Health Canada noted that the regulations would need to ensure that organized crime would not benefit from criminal activity with cannabis (for example, by selling genetics to licensed entities).
- Outdoor grows. Citing broad support for outdoor cultivation of cannabis, Health Canada appears prepared to allow this, despite the possibility of greater risk of theft and diversion.
- Physical security measures, such as fences and video surveillance, would still apply. Further consideration is being given to how odour control and good production practices could be tailored to outdoor grows.
- Micro vs. standard licences. The government has previously proposed “standard” and “micro” licences for cultivation and processing. The government’s vision for “micro” licences is that they will facilitate the participation of small-scale growers and processors in the legal cannabis industry. However, it was unclear what the maximum thresholds would be for “micro” licensees.
- A micro-cultivation licence is proposed to cover 200 square metres of canopy – approximately 2,150 square feet. No limits on height or production capacity are contemplated for now. Health Canada offered a diagram of what 200 square metres looks like – and used a hockey rink for scale. So Canadian!
- A micro-processing licence is proposed to allow for the processing of up to 600 kilograms of dried cannabis per year – designed to correlate to the estimated annual output of a single micro-cultivation licence.
- Non-violent, lower-risk criminal records may pass security clearance. Citing support from “a strong majority” of respondents for this idea, Health Canada is considering allowing individuals with histories of non-violent, lower-risk criminal activity who are not associated with organized crime to obtain security clearance and participate in the legal cannabis industry.
- Health Canada noted that many respondents had argued that allowing such individuals to participate in the legal industry could be a step towards displacing the illegal market and lowering barriers for racilized or marginalized communities who may have had more frequent encounters with law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
- Detailed packaging and labelling requirements. Plain is the order of the day, according to Health Canada’s packaging and labelling proposals.
- Label and package backgrounds would be opaque or translucent and must be a single uniform colour (excluding anything metallic or fluorescent), without coating, texture, foil, or cut-outs. Branding – including a logo or company name – would be subject to size limits.
- A series of health warning messages, which would be rotated over the year, would be displayed on a yellow background. Every package would contain a standardized red octagonal cannabis symbol. Here’s an idea of what one type of packaging might look like:
- An informational document developed by Health Canada, containing health and safety information about cannabis, including precautions and directions for use, would be provided to consumers with every packaged product.
- Medical cannabis will stay – for now. Health Canada noted support among respondents for its proposed regulatory approach to continue the medical cannabis program as distinct from the recreational program. It sounds like the ACMPR would effectively be turned into regulations to the Cannabis Act. However, adjustments may be coming: the government may make it easier for patients to transfer their medical documents to a different LP, among other changes.
- The government, which is only obligated by law to provide “reasonable access” to cannabis for sick people, will re-evaluate the need for a separate medical cannabis system within five years of the Cannabis Act coming into force.
- The taxation of medical cannabis may be an evolving subject. Health Canada indicated that most respondents did not support applying excise taxes to medical cannabis, and noted that the 2018 Federal budget provided for excise tax exemptions for low-THC cannabis oils of the basis of their “potentially therapeutic role”. Pharmaceutical products derived from cannabis will also be exempt from excise taxes.
- I would not be surprised to see a continuing policy evolution here as research into the medical effects of each of CBD, THC, and other cannabinoids continues.
Introducing the Ontario Cannabis Store – Safely.
- The LCBO has unveiled the new name and logo for the Ontario Cannabis Store:
- The LCBO explained that the brand is designed to convey a safe, simple, and approachable environment for consumers. It’s hard to argue with the “safe” point. Even the wittiest Twitter users could only come up with “The Ox” as a nickname.
- The LCBO also revealed the inaugural board of directors of its cannabis subsidiary, the Ontario Canabis Retail Corporation. The five directors have professional backgrounds in mental health care, medicine, municipal law, human resources and of course, the LCBO.
- The logo is one of the first government forays into recreational cannabis branding in the shadow of extensive promotional restrictions in the draft Cannabis Act. The Act prohibits any promotion of cannabis that links it with “a positive or negative emotion about or image of, a way of life such as one that includes glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring”.
- While the simplicity of the OCS branding is undeniable, public reaction has featured plenty of emotion, especially when it was revealed that the LCBO expects the total cost of all brand development related to the OCS to be $650,000.
Health Canada drops vault requirements, claiming zero diversion to illegal market
- Health Canada recently introduced some important changes to physical security requirements for licensed producers. Stating that it has not had any cases of diversion of cannabis to the illegal market since June 2013, the regulator announced that LPs will no longer be required to meet the vault and storage requirements outlined in the Directive on Physical Security Requirements for Controlled Substances.
- Instead, LPs can store cannabis in “a secure area” of their facility that features “physical barriers, an intrusion detection system, and 24/7 visual monitoring and recording capability.”
- The “secure area” concept sounds a lot like a vault, but there are important distinctions. While the requirements for a “secure area” sound like they could be met by little more than a locked room with cameras, an alarm, and a passcode entry system, vaults built according to the Directive had to have characteristics tied to the value of product they contained, and could often become a six-figure expense for applicants.
- Without a doubt, this policy change will reduce cost barriers for applicants who have not yet constructed their production facility. For everyone who has already invested in expensive vaults, however, this change could leave the bitter taste of money unnecessarily spent.
- First Production-Only Licence issued: Congratulations to CannMart Inc. for scoring the first-ever “production licence” – an ACMPR licence for only packaging, labelling, and associated product testing. The production licence is the third variation of licence type identified by Health Canada on its website, and could offer the potential for a more streamlined licensing process for applicants which don’t want to be involved in cultivation.
- Province of Broken Hearts: Home to 100 of 268 rejected applications, British Columbia leads the country in rejected ACMPR applications, according to data released by Health Canada. Reasons for such rejections were not provided, but the security clearance process is known to be strict, and the government has made no secret of its desire to rid Canada’s cannabis scene of black and grey markets.
- Chief Ganja Officer: Jamaica got its first legal medical cannabis dispensary when Kaya Farms opened on Saturday. The company even has a Chief Ganja Officer, my favourite officer title yet. Jamaica’s Cannabis Licensing Authority was established in 2015 to license and regulate the island’s “ganja and hemp industries” within a closed-loop system (licensed entities may only transact with other licensees).
- Permitted use of the plant is strictly medical and scientific, however. The Authority has had to correct at least one article proclaiming that Kaya would provide recreational ganja to locals and tourists.
- And Canadians might not have access to Jamaican ganja anytime soon: import and export of cannabis is prohibited under the island’s laws. The Authority has pointed tointernational treaty obligations and correspondent banking as important factors in ruling out international cannabis trade and a domestic recreational regime for the time being.
- “Correspondent banking” is the means by which domestic banks work with foreign correspondent banks to facilitate foreign exchange transactions that are important for tourism and remittance of funds from friends and family overseas. Jamaica’s concern is that foreign banks may not maintain services with local banks if they service clients who obtain funds from activities the foreign bank views as illegal. The situation is another reminder of the important role that banks play in the unfolding story of cannabis legalization.
What’s Up in Weed is not legal or financial advice. It is a blog by SkyLaw which is made available for informational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice from a lawyer. This blog is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without our permission.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact us. The SkyLaw team would be delighted to speak with you.
© Copyright SkyLaw 2017. All rights reserved. SkyLaw is a registered trademark of SkyLaw Professional Corporation.
Subscribe to What’s Up in Weed
Click here or enter your email address below to receive our weekly blog by email:


text:
Gov. McMaster tours new Anderson facility that is adding 120 new jobs
Amid the noise of moving cranes and beeping equipment, Gov. Henry McMaster cut a ribbon Tuesday afternoon at a new Pregis facility in Anderson.
A couple hundred people came to welcome in the 168,500 square foot and $80 million plant that is expected to create 120 new jobs, a press release said.
"I'm happy to be here at this great American plant, where I notice even the pipes are red, white and blue. You don't see that anywhere," McMaster said.
The governor said South Carolina did not close during the pandemic and never will.
"Let the people of South Carolina do what they do best, and that is work," he said.
The plant would make films that are used in food, packaged good and medical devices. It would also include a laboratory to develop and test materials.
The company has dozens of facilities across North America and is involved in creating the films for various products through a process called extrusion.
"We make a lot of products that help protect the essential items that go to your home, like the food that's on your shelves or at the grocery stores," president and CEO Kevin Baudhuin said.
Previously, the space was a plastics facility. It was purchased and improved and turned into the space it is now, said Jon McClure, president of South Carolina operations for Pregis.
In less than a year, McClure said they went from a concept to full production.
"It is short from a miracle... Its kind of fun to do the impossible," he said.
South Carolina is a business-friendly state with a regulatory structure that made it ideal for the plant, McClure said.
He sees the local technical schools and universities as adding to the growing workforce.
"Out of our first 10 hires, 4 of them were Clemson graduates," he said.
With the plant being close to Clemson, McClure said they're discussing expanding connections with the university now.
The plant is expected to be operational by September, according to a statement from Upstate SC Alliance.
Sarah Sheridan is Anderson's community reporter. She'd appreciate your help telling important stories; reach her at email@example.com or on twitter @saralinasher.
3 facts about me: I grew up in Chicago so I'm obsessed with the SC mountains, my husband and I photograph weddings on the weekends, and Jacob Banks is my JAM. 🎶


text:
Bitcasa made headlines when their service promised to free users from the constraints of using a typical hard drive. Bitcasa got its start by proclaiming that it would store as much data as a user could upload for around $10 per month. To many users, this number seemed unrealistic. After all, how could Bitcasa make any profit selling unlimited storage for this low of a price? Bitcasa seemed to wise up and raise its unlimited storage account to $99 per month which seemed reasonable to some users. When you think about it, if you’re the company who sells unlimited cloud storage space, it makes sense that you will be the vendor that attracts users who require the most space for their files.
That’s exactly what happened. Bitcasa CEO Brian Taptich recently conducted an interview with GigaOM highlighting his companies recent troubles in regards to delivering unlimited cloud storage services. Taptich was quoted as saying, “One user who was storing 82 terabytes of data was costing the company around $3,000-$4,000 a month.” It doesn’t take math genius to understand that several customers who fit this profile could potentially bankrupt a cloud storage provider.
Taptich went on to say, “It’s not fun to stare at your earliest and largest users in the eye and say ‘we just can’t do it anymore;’ It’s a terrible feeling. You wish you could subsidize those [customers] forever.” On top of all of this, one of Bitcasa’s biggest assets became its biggest liability. Because Bitcasa uses a proprietary encryption method, all of the data on Bitcasa’s servers looked the same. When it came time to begin doing data migrations, it was difficult for Bitcasa to differentiate which data belonged to which customer. Taptich mentioned, “When it came to time to migrate, we didn’t know what to migrate; I don’t know what’s in there or what’s not.”
The pivot from unlimited storage was necessary for Bitcasa to stay afloat. One disgruntled user sued Bitcasa over its pivot to no longer offer unlimited cloud storage services and in court, documents showed that Bitcasa’s current model was unsustainable and that its current pricing structure was “likely to push Bitcasa into bankruptcy within weeks, if not days.” Taptich reminds Bitcasa users “The roadside is littered with the carcasses of people who’ve tried fixed-fee all-you-can-eat services and we aren’t trying to be one of those failures.”


text:
Foska won good reputation from Venezuela
Recently,we received a good feedback from our Venezuelan customer.
Four months ago, this client made a 20 feet container order, which includes around 300 different items. Yesterday he sent us email
and said Foska products sold very well in their country. Now he is preparing the next Foska order.
We will insist on providing all customers with high quality products, so as to bring more praise to FOSKA.


text:
After plans to open a second location in Middleboro fell through, Kinfolks Award Winning BBQ will officially open their second location in the Highland Shopping Plaza in South Easton next summer.
EASTON — After plans to open a second location in Middleboro fell through, Kinfolks Award Winning BBQ now hopes to open their second location in the Highland Shopping Plaza next summer.
Sylvester English, founder and owner of Kinfolks, said that the new location will be located in the old Radio Shack next to PieZoni's Pizza. The project will be a complete rebuild, according to the post on Kinfolks’s Facebook page announcing the new location, with an expected opening in summer 2020.
English said he decided to make the announcement due to his customers’ eagerness about a second location.
“I was absolutely getting badgered by my customers about Middleboro and when I’m going to open,” English said. “It was an absolute onslaught.”
English opened his first store-front location in Taunton (289 Winthrop St.) in November, he said. Prior to that, the Tallahassee native operated out of a Brockton location for roughly a year before moving to a trailer outside of Globe Liquors on Route 44 in Taunton in August 2013.
The original plan for his second location was to open a brick-and-mortar location on Center Street in Middleboro, according to a May 2018 post on the business’s Facebook page. But after the permits and plans were approved by the city, the plan fell through, English explained, when his construction team determined that the location was not structurally sound.
During his search for another location, English said he was contacted by Ohio-based realty developer Phillips Edison & Company Inc. that owns Highland Shopping Plaza and was interested in Kinfolks moving into the available 2,410-square-foot space.
“It’s double the size of the Taunton location,” he said. “I’ll be able to have double the people in there.”
And if all goes well, he said there may be the possibility of collaborating with them to open more Kinfolks locations – maybe even outside of the state, he noted, given their available spaces all over the U.S.
“I just started with a Walmart tent, a smoker and a cooler filled with ice on the side of the road,” he said. “I just got out there and started selling barbecue. Fifteen years later, here I am.”
He added: “To gain this much respect and popularity and love from the communities that surround me, it’s amazing.”
Staff writer Corlyn Voorhees can be reached at email@example.com


text:
Content related to ‘Facility Management’
Delos®, Mayo Clinic collaborate on first ever, human-centered research center dedicated to creating healthier indoor spaces.
With so many distractions, it’s almost surprising any work gets done at all. Here’s a look at 10 interesting ways to combat productivity killers.
Several recently released software products for facility management tasks are highlighted.
Nearly half of American workers consume at least three cups of coffee each day, and 37 percent say they can’t even get dressed for work without their first cup, according to a Staples survey.
Facility manager wants to know if it’s best to manage his company’s onsite cafeteria in-house, or hire a third party.
This webinar explores the convergence of Operational Technology platforms such as lighting and temperature controls, and Information Technology (IT).
Among employees whose offices provide free snacks or beverages, most of those who say their office cupboards and fridge are always nicely stocked report being extremely or very happy with their current job.
Two inspirational speakers will open and close IFMA’s flagship annual event, the World Workplace Conference and Expo held in Denver, Colorado, USA, Oct. 7-9, 2015.
As of January 2015, LEED has redefined the requirements for LEED-compliant de-icers.
Facility manager wants to know if his distribution center’s weekly sprinkler tests are a one- or two-person job.


text:
Container shortage in India due to the uneven import-export scenario is taking costs through the roof for both, shipping lines as well as the importers and exporters.
“Freights have jumped on all routes in the range of 20-100 percent depending on the sector. Exporters are operating on losses at times as customer is not ready to absorb the hike,” Mark S. Fernandes, director, IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Business Standard.
Imports to India plummeted 22-24 percent in the April-November period, while exports have risen to 29 percent in the same period creating equipment (container) imbalance in the domestic market, informed industry officials.
“China was a strong importing partner for India. After Chinese imports came under scanner and bans were placed on Chinese goods, the imports to the country have gone for a toss, resulting in this equipment imbalance for India,” said Umesh Grover, secretary general at Container Freight Station Association of India (CFSAI).
Increased freight cost has impacted the margins of exporters across the sectors. “We are in a helpless situation. Customer is not ready to pick up goods at increased prices, while shipping lines


text:
Q&A with Jürgen Eckhardt, head of Leaps by Bayer
Quirinale Treaty to be signed by Macron and Draghi should boost cooperation in sectors from defense to telecoms.
Brussels ready to take risks with bets on emerging companies.
The clampdown on combustion engine spells trouble for people addicted to riding off into the sunset.
EU lawmakers and regulators are pushing for new restrictions for personalized advertising.
Presented by Equinor.
In an unprecedented move, European Commisson orders cancer-test startup to prepare for possibility that deal may ultimately be blocked.
EU commissioners Thierry Breton and Mariya Gabriel both appear to be in charge of startup policy.
More aggressive EU scrutiny of takeover deals for startups threatens to increase uncertainty in an already complex sector.
From banking reforms to policing supply chains, mergers and online content, it’s busy season in Brussels.
With the Taliban taking over, Afghans fear the end of open access to the internet, censorship and reprisals.
Europe’s entrepreneurs have lots of money and a list of demands, but policymakers’ attention is elsewhere.
Kustomer takeover plan gets extra scrutiny as regulators look to tackle digital giants buying up promising startups.
Investment in EU startups is going up, very quickly.
Having run out of cash, an EU fund meant to boost promising tech companies will hand out certificates instead.
A group of French startups joins a case that could change the way the tech giant runs its App Store.
Governing parties’ post-Merkel pledges include no new taxes, no diesel bans and a return to balanced budgets.
Let’s stop chasing a European Google, said Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.
‘There is no sovereignty without local champions,’ says French president.
Culture sector hopes show will lead to wider reopening soon
Paris, Berlin and The Hague blast EU proposals as ‘lacking ambition’ on merger controls, amid growing defiance from capitals.
Bertrand Piccard, chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, and 1,000 innovators, experts, business and political leaders call for more ambitious environmental regulations to unleash the potential of clean technologies
The US tech giant’s targeted advertising practices raise a lot of questions, the CNIL writes in a confidential note.


text:
Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Wednesday January 30.
Cramer thinks it is ironic that, the day Aubrey McClendon announced he is leaving his position as CEO of Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Kinder Morgan Partners (KMP) announced it was acquiring its partner, Copano Energy (CPNO). McClendon's vision was of a scenario in which natural gas would be used as a fuel for vehicles, but with the fulfillment of this plan a long way off, and as natural gas prices fall, things were difficult for McClendon at Cheaspeake. KMP is acquiring more natural gas resources, but the main purpose is to use gas for plastics, since there isn't enough demand for it as a fuel domestically. Cramer thinks these two events happening together might mark the bottom in natural gas prices, and it is possible that Rich Kinder, CEO of KMP, will reach the natural gas "Promised Land," that McClendon dreamed of.
"There is no such thing as equal justice under the market," said Cramer, introducing his discussion of why there seems to be a double standard for Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN). Apple fell 12.4% on the day it reported, because iPhone numbers were 47.8 million rather than the expected 48 million and fears of competition. The fact that gross margins and iPad sales were better-than-expected was ignored by The Street. However, Amazon missed earnings by 6 cents and fell short of revenue targets, and AMZN rose 10% in the aftermarket. Amazon has such a rich valuation, one would have expected it to get punished. Amazon is getting brownie points for the fact that it is investing in its business and doesn't have any significant competition. Apple, on the other hand, isn't growing as fast as it once did, and people are buying other smartphones and tablets. Ebooks are a major driver for Amazon, but Cramer noted that management didn't disclose the kind of numbers investors should expect to hear. However, that didn't matter to analysts, who are more gentle in their judgment of Amazon than of Apple. Apple has "lost its invincibility," a trait that Amazon now has, or at least, that is the perception. The only thing Apple can do now to reverse this state of affairs is to use its $137 billion in cash to buy Amazon at $123 billion.
Core Labs (CLB) is Cramer's "favorite tech company in the oil and gas industry," which provides tools to help drillers determine the places to drill and ways to increase production. CLB beat earnings by 4 cents on higher revenues and raised guidance. The stock has risen 10% since Cramer recommended it a year ago, and 228% since he first discussed the stock in 2006. CEO David Demshur discussed the ramping in oil production and predicted there could be more major discoveries in North America. He also discussed opportunities for offshore drilling in Mexico. Core Labs' technology helps find additional oil in older wells that were thought to have run dry. The company has a strong exposure to oil: 80%, compared to natural gas, 20%. Cramer thinks this is the best quarter Core Labs has reported since the CEO first appeared on Mad Money, and would look for a decline in the stock to buy.
Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS: Trade right alongside a Wall Street pro! Start your 14-day FREE trial today.
Get Cramer's Picks by email - it's free and takes only a few seconds to sign up.


text:
On May 7th, a group of students between ages 11 and 18 finally pitched the businesses that they’ve been working hard to develop over the past seven months. After the Investor Panel pitch, they officially graduated from Lynchburg, Virginia’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy, an entrepreneurship program that prepares the next generation of leaders.
Even though every student had an excellent pitch, this year’s YEA! winners include:
- Will Bailey, CEO of Will’s Gills, won the Saunders Scholarship and received $685 in seed money. Bailey will compete in Boca Raton at the regional competition later this month.
- Joanna Myers, owner of J Sights Photography, received a $500 Sam’s Club gift card for her pitch.
Initiated by the Lynchburg Regional Chamber’s Leadership Lynchburg program, the academy is supported by local companies, entrepreneurs, professional mentors and Lynchburg, Virginia’s Economic Development Authority (LEDA). In the past two years, 37 student businesses have launched and, this year alone, $6,000 was invested into 11 student businesses.
The YEA! program is a national program that helps empower our youth and teach them valuable business skills that are easily transferable in their future careers. Statistically, all academy graduates finish high school on time and 99 percent enroll in college.
For more info, read “Young Entrepreneurs Make Their Pitches To Investors”


text:
The average price stood at $1.62 million, Redfin finds
Luxury home prices across the U.S. remained flat in the final quarter of 2016, rising 0.7% year-over-year, according to a Redfin report released Wednesday.
The average price of luxury homes, which the Seattle-based national brokerage defines as the top 5% most expensive homes sold, reached $1.62 million in the fourth quarter of last year. The pace of growth pales in comparison to the rest of the market, where prices increased 6.1% to $312,000.
“The Trump rally in the stock market did little to move prices in luxury real estate,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at Redfin, said in the report. “Cities with booming luxury markets attracted traditional high-income buyers seeking a place to live, work and grow their families. Prices in cities with more transient luxury buyers, looking for investments or a place to park their wealth, had more tepid growth to close out 2016.”
Among the more than 1,000 cities Redfin tracks with at least 40 luxury sales and an average price of $1 million and higher during the timeframe, Santa Clarita, California, saw the largest price increase in the last quarter of 2016. The average luxury home prices rose 113.8% to $2.025 million there.
Santa Clarita, an affluent suburb outside of Los Angeles, has seen lots of new construction over the past few years, which is attracting buyers looking for good public schools and more space.
“Most luxury homebuyers in Santa Clarita commute to Los Angeles, but they get far more bang for their buck living in this suburb,” John Underwood, an agent at Redfin, said in the report.
Other cities that recorded a more than 20% price increase in the fourth quarter include West Palm Beach and Tampa in Florida, as well as San Francisco, California.
Meanwhile, four cities saw double-digit price drops, including Reno and Paradise in Nevada, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas.
|Cities with biggest changes in luxury home prices|
|Santa Clarita, CA||$2,025,000||113.8%|
|West Palm Beach, FL||$1,173,000||29.0%|
|San Francisco, CA||$5,816,000||24.4%|


text:
Nunns realize dream of opening home decor store
Belfast — In a cozy shop just off Searsport Avenue, Eric and Shiloh Nunn greeted local customers at their new home decor business with smiles and a piece of cake Thursday afternoon, Nov. 1.
Thursday was the first day of operation for Nunn's Home ...
Become an iMember - Subscribe Now!
- Full access to online content
- Unlimited news archives access
- Posting ability
- 25% off classified line advertising [runs online and in print]
- News alerts emails
- Paper delivered to you


text:
From Community Animal Network, P.O. Box 8662 Newport Beach, CA: The Community Animal Network’s pet adoption cages are decorated for the Halloween season at C.A.N.’s weekend Fashion Island pet adoption event sponsored by Russo’s Pet Experience. Some of the kittens and cats are dressed in festive costumes, too.
Almalfi, the last of the purebred Rag Doll mix kittens, is wearing his “little devil” costume. All the Rag Dolls found homes briskly, but Almalfi has just been returned. There were a lot of tears shed over the decision to return Almalfi, whom they had called Rocky, but the Newport Coast family’s child developed a severe allergy.
It will be lucky for someone else now to adopt the sweet silver Rag Doll mix.
See the info at: Pet Of The Week – Daily Pilot.


text:
September 8, 2020
Sierra Leone’s leading GSM operator, Africell Mobile Company has unveiled its latest promotion aimed at changing the lives of their esteemed subscribers for the better.
The ‘Afrimoney Korbor Korbor’ Show will provide lucky subscribers the golden chance of winning millions of Leones on a daily basis and the grand of Le1 billion Leones.
The 40 days promotion will come up every week day (Mondays to Fridays) on various radio and TV Stations across the country between 8 and 9pm.
There will be six winners and one qualifier for the finals on a daily basis with five of them taking home a million Leones each, another with fifteen million Leones and one qualifier for the grand draw.
In order to qualify for the daily basis, subscribers need to use Afrimoney to pay DSTV and EDSA Bills as well as buying data using E-money.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Head of Mobile Money-Group, Andy Widmann, said they were extremely excited about the launch of the promotion, describing it as a new dawn for everyone.
“We have made significant investments to the platform. Last week we operated the entire Afrimoney system to a world class platform offering more stability and access,” he said and noted that the Afrimoney platform will help build more services, partnerships and offerings to their clients.
He assured that the Afrimoney platform hope to bring more availability, stability, products and services and that it is part of their commitment to Sierra Leone as a whole.
“We believe in the positive social impact of mobile money. We have increased the number of our agents and we will continue to do so to make Afrimoney more available. We have also increased the incentives of our Agents,” Widmann added.
According to him, the Afrimoney platform will help increase financial inclusion, offering more products and services to the underserved and contribute to the country’s economy and people of Sierra Leone.
The Head of Mobile Money-Group added that they are doing a lot to increase the value, efficiency and availability of Afrimoney.
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Joe Abass Bangura described the Afrimoney platform as a huge project, recognizing every staff who put their effort into the project to make it a success.
He urged Sierra Leoneans to use mobile money regularly as the economic effect of it cannot be measured.
“There are places in this country where you will never have formal financial services and the only thing that would be able to give people the foot print is the use of mobile money and Afrimoney should be the only option,” he said.
He said they are working round the clock to making sure that they bring Sierra Leoneans the affordability and quality of services they promised as a company to maintain their edge in the market.
“As we launch into this new era where mobile money is the channel for people to be able to conduct financial transactions and Afrimoney taking the lead in that direction, we are pleased to announce the launch of “Afrimoney Korbor Korbor Show,” he announced.
“Starting now, millions of Leones are going to be won every day till the end of the promotion and there is a grand prize of One billion Leones in the final draw that we will be held on November 4, 2020.”
Africell’s Deputy Media Manager, Nancy L. Joseph informed the press that the 40-day promo will be aired on AYV, FTN, Star TV and all major radio stations right across the country.
“The draw will be done for active Afrimoney subscribers who cash in and cash out a minimum of Le 2000,” she said.
Madam Joseph spoke about a road show that they will be doing to let their esteemed subscribers know about the promotion and benefit they will in using Afrimoney.
Also, she added that during the road show, Afrimoney Agents will have the opportunity to win Le 500, 000 if they cash in the sum of Le 1,000,000, whether electronic or cash.


text:
HMV’s chances of remaining on the high street have brightened after Hilco effectively took control of the stricken entertainment chain’s debt.
The distressed investor, which was already working alongside HMV’s administrator Deloitte to manage the retailer, has bought out the lenders led by RBS and Lloyds Banking Group.
A source close to Hilco said that it had bought HMV’s debts to provide stability during the administration process. Hilco already owns HMV Canada, which was sold off in 2011 as the group battled to stay afloat.
It is likely that Hilco will try to use its experience in Canada to try to trade the business, rather than seeking to reap the proceeds of breaking it up.
The sale of the debt to Hilco comes after a…


text:
Illinois AG Sues Four Ice Companies
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against four ice companies that allegedly agreed not to compete against each other. The suit claims that the four packaged ice manufacturers — Lang Ice Co., Home City Ice, Sisler’s Dairy and Products Inc. and Tinley Ice Company — made deals to divvy up markets, trade customers and share price information in central and northern Illinois.
The deals violate Illinois’ Antitrust Act, said Madigan.
“Consumers suffered when retailers were forced to pay higher prices for ice and passed on that increased cost to consumers,” Madigan stated in the complaint.
The companies manufacture and deliver packaged ice directly to consumers, businesses, government entities and groups for special events.
The alleged conspiracy began in January 2003 when Crystal Clear Ice, a large ice manufacturer and distributor in the Chicago area, went out of business and referred all of its customers to Home City Ice, according to the suit.
Home City Ice then split the customers based on their location and yearly sales revenue with its remaining competitors in the Chicago area.
“This method ensured that each co-conspirator could get an equal share of the ‘Good, Bad, and Ugly’ accounts,” Madigan stated in the complaint.
The companies further agreed to not solicit each other’s customers, and tried to discourage customers from switching suppliers by giving them false information or denying service.
In July of 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Home City’s offices as a result of an investigation into its non-compete practices with ice companies, according to the suit.
Madigan is seeking an injunction against the illegal conduct, civil penalties, damages for overcharges on behalf of the state and fees and costs of the investigation and litigation.
Lang Ice Co. declined to comment. Home City Ice, Sisler’s Dairy and Products Inc. and Tinley Ice Company couldn’t be immediately reached.


text:
Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener.
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- The markets are full of "cons," Jim Cramer told "Mad Money" viewers Thursday, but there are a few "pros" out there as well. He said that while it may seem like everything that was good is now bad and everything that was bad is now worse, there are a few silver linings. Cramer reminded viewers that, historically, being optimistic has been a winning strategy, even if that optimism is being very challenged at the moment. So what cons are the markets worried about? The most obvious is the fiscal cliff, something the markets were hoping would be solved with new leadership in Washington. But now that the president is still the president and Congress is likely still gridlocked, is there any hope? Cramer said the Republicans have to know they must strike a deal since not striking one has already cost them the White House. Then there are disappointing earnings. Cramer said earnings are always a game of expectations and expectations are still too high given the environment. Take Starbucks ( SBUX). The company was trading in the low $50s when it reported over the summer, when expectations were too high. Shares immediately plummeted into the mid $40s. This week, the company reported again and expectations were in line and shares rallied back into the low $50s. There's no reason to panic, said Cramer, prices just need to be readjusted. Europe is another con against the market, said Cramer, but here, too, that's old news. Perhaps more important than a sagging Europe are hopes of a resurgent China, which might happen under new leadership in the coming year. Hurricane Sandy put a damper on the markets as well, noted Cramer, but after the devastation comes rebuilding. Once people have their power turned back on and get back to work, things will start flowing again in the Northeast. Cramer said the markets are clearly ratcheting down ahead of the fiscal cliff, but soon there will be capitulation, and that will be the time to buy, buy, buy.
Recession-Proof AbbottLooking for a stock that's both recession-proof and doesn't have anything to do with the fiscal cliff? Cramer said investors need to consider Abbott Labs ( ABT), a stock he owns for his charitable trust,
Executive DecisionIn the "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer once again spoke with Cheryl Bachelder, president and CEO of AFC Enterprises ( AFCE), purveyors of the Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen chain of quick-serve restaurants. Shares of AFC are up 85% for the year and 14% since Cramer last spoke with Bachelder in August. Bachelder said that Popeye's new flavorful menu is bringing excitement to the stores and is part of the reason the company delivered a an earnings beat of 2 cents a share on a 6.3% rise in same-store sales. She said the company's fourth annual crawfish festival is once again being well received and is proving that seafood should remain a mainstay on the Popeye's menu.
Bachelder also noted Popeye's is increasingly becoming a national advertiser and is growing its footprint at 4% a year. The company is closing underperforming stores and opening new ones in different neighborhoods and recently purchased 29 former KFC locations out of bankruptcy. AFC is also currently about one-third complete in the remodeling of it's stores, something that will be completed at all locations in three years. Cramer once again praised Bachelder for a remarkable turnaround and growth story. He continues to recommend the stock.


text:
Visualizing Major Layoffs at U.S. Corporations
Hiring freezes and layoffs are becoming more common in 2022, as U.S. businesses look to slash costs ahead of a possible recession.
Understandably, this has a lot of people worried. In June 2022, Insight Global found that 78% of American workers fear they will lose their job in the next recession. Additionally, 56% said they aren’t financially prepared, and 54% said they would take a pay cut to avoid being laid off.
In this infographic, we’ve visualized major layoffs announced in 2022 by publicly-traded U.S. corporations.
Note: Due to gaps in reporting, as well as the very large number of U.S. corporations, this list may not be comprehensive.
An Emerging Trend
Layoffs have surged considerably since April of this year. See the table below for high-profile instances of mass layoffs.
|JP Morgan Chase & Co.||Financial Services||~500||June|
Here’s a brief rundown of these layoffs, sorted by industry.
Ford has announced the biggest round of layoffs this year, totalling roughly 8,000 salaried employees. Many of these jobs are in Ford’s legacy combustion engine business. According to CEO Jim Farley, these cuts are necessary to fund the company’s transition to EVs.
We absolutely have too many people in some places, no doubt about it.
– Jim Farley, CEO, Ford
Speaking of EVs, Rivian laid off 840 employees in July, amounting to 6% of its total workforce. The EV startup pointed to inflation, rising interest rates, and increasing commodity prices as factors. The firm’s more established competitor, Tesla, cut 200 jobs from its autopilot division in the month prior.
Last but not least is online used car retailer, Carvana, which cut 2,500 jobs in May. The company experienced rapid growth during the pandemic, but has since fallen out of grace. Year-to-date, the company’s shares are down more than 80%.
Fearing an impending recession, Coinbase has shed 1,100 employees, or 18% of its total workforce. Interestingly, Coinbase does not have a physical headquarters, meaning the entire company operates remotely.
A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period. In past crypto winters, trading revenue declined significantly.
Brian Armstrong, CEO, Coinbase
Around the same time, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced it would fire hundreds of home-lending employees. While an exact number isn’t available, we’ve estimated this to be around 500 jobs, based on the original Bloomberg article. Wells Fargo, another major U.S. bank, has also cut 197 jobs from its home mortgage division.
The primary reason for these cuts is rising mortgage rates, which are negatively impacting the demand for homes.
Within tech, Meta and Twitter are two of the most high profile companies to begin making layoffs. In Meta’s case, 350 custodial staff have been let go due to reduced usage of the company’s offices.
Many more cuts are expected, however, as Facebook recently reported its first revenue decline in 10 years. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear he expects the company to do more with fewer resources, and managers have been encouraged to report “low performers” for “failing the company”.
Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here.
– Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta
Also in July, Twitter laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team. An exact number was not available, but the team was estimated to have less than 100 employees. The company has also enacted a hiring freeze as it stumbles through a botched acquisition by Elon Musk.
More Layoffs to Come…
Layoffs are expected to continue throughout the rest of this year, as metrics like consumer sentiment enter a decline. Rising interest rates, which make it more expensive for businesses to borrow money, are also having a negative impact on growth.
In fact just a few days ago, trading platform Robinhood announced it was letting go 23% of its staff. After accounting for its previous layoffs in April (9% of the workforce), it’s fair to estimate that this latest round will impact nearly 800 people.
Thematic Investing: 3 Key Trends in Cybersecurity
Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and sophisticated. Here’s what investors need to know about the future of cybersecurity.
Thematic Investing: 3 Key Trends in Cybersecurity
In 2020, the global cost of cybercrime was estimated to be around $945 billion, according to McAfee.
It’s likely even higher today, as multiple sources have recorded an increase in the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks during the pandemic.
In this infographic from Global X ETFs, we highlight three major trends that are shaping the future of the cybersecurity industry that investors need to know.
Trend 1: Increasing Costs
Research from IBM determined that the average data breach cost businesses $4.2 million in 2021, up from $3.6 million in 2017. The following table breaks this figure into four components:
|Cost Component||Value ($)|
|Cost of lost business||$1.6M|
|Detection and escalation||$1.2M|
|Post breach response||$1.1M|
The greatest cost of a data breach is lost business, which results from system downtimes, reputational losses, and lost customers. Second is detection and escalation, including investigative activities, audit services, and communications to stakeholders.
Post breach response includes costs such as legal expenditures, issuing new accounts or credit cards (in the case of financial institutions), and other monitoring services. Lastly, notification refers to the cost of notifying regulators, stakeholders, and other third parties.
To stay ahead of these rising costs, businesses are placing more emphasis on cybersecurity. For example, Microsoft announced in September 2021 that it would quadruple its cybersecurity investments to $20 billion over the next five years.
Trend 2: Remote Work Opens New Vulnerabilities
According to IBM, companies that rely more on remote work experience greater losses from data breaches. For companies where 81 to 100% of employees were remote, the average cost of a data breach was $5.5 million (2021). This dropped to $3.7 million for companies that had under 10% of employees working from home.
A major reason for this gap is that work-from-home setups are typically less secure. Phishing attacks surged in 2021, taking advantage of the fact that many employees access corporate systems through their personal devices.
|Type of Attack||Number of attacks in 2020||Number of attacks in 2021||Growth (%)|
As detected by Trend Micro’s Cloud App Security.
Spam phishing refers to “fake” emails that trick users by impersonating company management. They can include malicious links that download ransomware onto the users device. Credential phishing is similar in concept, though the goal is to steal a person’s account credentials.
A tactic you may have seen before is the Amazon scam, where senders impersonate Amazon and convince users to update their payment methods. This strategy could also be used to gain access to a company’s internal systems.
Trend 3: AI Can Reduce the Cost of a Data Breach
AI-based cybersecurity can detect and respond to cyberattacks without any human intervention. When fully deployed, IBM measured a 20% reduction in the time it takes to identify and contain a breach. It also resulted in cost savings upwards of 60%.
A prominent user of AI-based cybersecurity is Google, which uses machine learning to detect phishing attacks within Gmail.
Machine learning helps Gmail block spam and phishing messages from showing up in your inbox with over 99.9% accuracy. This is huge, given that 50-70% of messages that Gmail receives are spam.
– Andy Wen, Google
As cybercrime escalates, Acumen Research and Consulting believes the market for AI-based security solutions will reach $134 billion by 2030, up from $15 billion in 2021.
Introducing the Global X Cybersecurity ETF
The Global X Cybersecurity ETF (Ticker: BUG) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Cybersecurity Index. See below for industry and country-level breakdowns, as of June 2022.
|Sector (By security type)||Weight|
|🇰🇷 South Korea||0.9%|
Totals may not equal 100% due to rounding.
Investors can use this passively managed solution to gain exposure to the rising adoption of cybersecurity technologies.
You may also like
Green2 months ago
Explained: The Relationship Between Climate Change and Wildfires
More carbon in the atmosphere is creating a hotter world—and gradually fueling both climate change and instances of wildfires.
Economy2 months ago
Visualized: The Value of U.S. Imports of Goods by State
U.S. goods imports were worth $2.8T in 2021. From east coast to west, this visualization breaks down imports on a state-by-state basis
Misc2 months ago
Sharpen Your Thinking with These 10 Powerful Cognitive Razors
Here are 10 razors, or rules of thumb, that help simplify decision-making, inspired by a list curated by the investor and thought leader Sahil Bloom.
Misc2 months ago
Brand Loyalty is Declining for Most Luxury Automakers
Brand loyalty has declined for most luxury automakers, but three brands—Tesla, Maserati, and Genesis—appear to have bucked the trend.
Which Countries Produce the Most Wheat?
Global wheat production is concentrated in just a handful of countries. Here’s a look at the top wheat-producing countries worldwide.
Visualizing Global Wheat Production by Country (2000-2020)
Wheat is a dietary staple for millions of people around the world.
After rice and corn (maize), wheat is the third most-produced cereal worldwide, and the second-most-produced for human consumption. And considering wheat’s importance in the global food system, any impact on major producers such as droughts, wars, or other events, can impact the entire world.
Which countries are the largest producers of wheat? This graphic by Kashish Rastogi visualizes the breakdown of 20 years of global wheat production by country.
Top 10 Wheat Producing Countries
While more than 80 different countries produce wheat around the world, the majority of global wheat production comes from just a handful of countries, according to data from The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Here’s a look at the top 10 wheat-producing countries worldwide, based on total yield in tonnes from 2000-2020:
|Rank||Country||Continent||Total yield (tonnes, 2000-2020)||% of total (2000-2020)|
|#1||🇨🇳 China||Asia & Oceania||2.4 B||17.0%|
|#2||🇮🇳 India||Asia & Oceania||1.8 B||12.5%|
|#3||🇷🇺 Russia||Asia & Oceania||1.2 B||8.4%|
|#4||🇺🇸 U.S.||Americas||1.2 B||8.4%|
|#5||🇫🇷 France||Europe||767 M||5.4%|
|#6||🇨🇦 Canada||Americas||571 M||4.0%|
|#7||🇩🇪 Germany||Europe||491 M||3.5%|
|#8||🇵🇰 Pakistan||Asia & Oceania||482 M||3.4%|
|#9||🇦🇺 Australia||Asia & Oceania||456 M||3.2%|
|#10||🇺🇦 Ukraine||Europe||433 M||3.1%|
China, the world’s largest wheat producer, has yielded more than 2.4 billion tonnes of wheat over the last two decades, making up roughly 17% of total production from 2000-2020.
A majority of China’s wheat is used domestically to help meet the country’s rising food demand. China is the world’s largest consumer of wheat—in 2020/2021, the country accounted for approximately 19% of global wheat consumption.
The second-largest wheat-producing country is India. Over the last two decades, India has produced 12.5% of the world’s wheat. Like China, India keeps most of its wheat domestic because of significant food demand across the country.
Russia, the world’s third-largest wheat producer, is also the largest global exporter of wheat. The country exported more than $7.3 billion worth of wheat in 2021, accounting for approximately 13.1% of total wheat exports that year.
Russia-Ukraine Impact on Global Wheat Market
Because Russia and Ukraine are both significant global wheat producers, the ongoing conflict between the two countries has caused massive disruptions to the global wheat market.
The conflict has had an impact on adjacent industries as well. For instance, Russia is one of the world’s major fertilizer suppliers, and the conflict has led to a global fertilizer shortage which could lead to food shortages worldwide.


text:
By Amey Stone
Fitch senior director Eric Ause comments:
GE’s dropped offer for SLM won’t likely impact its strategy to make bolt-on acquisitions in adjacent product markets like 3-D printing. There will still be opportunities in other businesses to target acquisitions that offer relatively high sales growth or synergies, and where GE can leverage its technological expertise and scale.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday:
GE’s offer for SLM was dependent on securing 75% of the German company’s shares, but last week a fund belonging to Elliott Management Corp. said it held more than 20% of SLM, creating a significant stumbling block.
Elliott said previously it “believes that GE’s offer is not in the best interests of SLM shareholders.”
GE said the minimum acceptance threshold wasn’t met at the time of the expiration of the acceptance period on Monday.


text:
Marc Webb, director of The Amazing Spider-Man, has officially joined Twitter today with the account @MarcW. What’s more, he’s made his very first post a brand new image of Andrew Garfield perched atop a lamppost.
“Peter Parker,” he tweets, “Good balance.”
Also starring Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen and Sally Field, The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters on July 3rd.
Click on the image below for a larger version in our gallery:


text:
Ashley Kramer, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Sisense reports on how 2022 will see a new culture of analytics.
This year, data-led businesses moved away from the dashboard and focused on storytelling for their data. Data teams became the norm to ensure every part of the organisation benefited from the data at their fingertips. More Australian and New Zealand organisations are now harnessing the power of AI and data to drive revenue growth and improve efficiencies.
But now it is time to level up. The base has been laid and now organisations need to build on their knowledge and understanding of data.
For 2022, we will see three major shifts in data-driven organisations. Firstly, organisations will redesign the way they let their employees digest data, organisations will be more flexible when it comes to remote working and finally, prescriptive guidance will become an integral part of a business.
Let’s dive deeper into these predictions for 2022.
- Organisations will redefine what it means to build a ‘culture of analytics.’
For too long, business leaders have assumed that upskilling their workforce with data classes/certifications and investing in self-service tools would lead to a data-driven organisation. They are finally ready to admit that it’s not working. Self-service BI does not “close the skills gap.” Not everyone has the time or interest in becoming a data analyst or data literate, especially now in today’s post-COVID landscape where teams are understaffed and people are valuing their time differently in and outside of work.
In 2022, organisations will redefine what it means to build a “culture of analytics” and change the paradigm by bringing insights to workers in a more digestible way – turning to methods and solutions like embedded analytics that won’t require them to learn new skills or invest additional time.
- The most data-driven organisations will combat tool fatigue by bringing data to workers where they are.
The rise of work-from-home and the digital acceleration brought on by the pandemic means that more people than ever are using different tools in different places to do their jobs – from email to collaboration software like Slack and Teams to the many-point solutions needed to get work done across departments. As a result, workers everywhere are experiencing tool fatigue, distractions and inefficiencies from jumping around from software to software or being forced to use tools that don’t fit into their personal workflow.
Rather than investing in data/analytics solutions that add yet another tool to the mix, we’ll start to see more organisations in 2022 delivering insights to employees directly within their workflows via embedded analytics (for example, directly within Slack, Teams, etc.). In this environment, workers can make data-driven decisions without thinking twice and without any disruptions.
- Automation turns prescriptive analytics into prescriptive guidance.
For years we heard that the future of analytics will go beyond descriptive analytics (what happened) and predictive analytics (what will happen) to prescriptive guidance (what to do about it). AI combined with automation will finally make this possible by dynamically combining relevant data and alerting knowledge workers to take action, in advance, before an event occurs. Customer Service reps will be notified to reach out to potentially angry customers before they even call in.
Sales leaders will react immediately to dips in revenue pipeline coverage due to upstream activities without waiting until the end of the quarter. Retail managers can optimise inventory before items sell out by combining more than just sales data, such as purchasing patterns of other items, external market trends, and even competing promotional campaigns. Prescriptive analytics will finally evolve from telling us just where the numbers are going, to helping us make smarter, proactive decisions.
As Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Sisense, Ashley leads the go-to-market and product strategy, brand awareness and revenue growth. Ashley has more than 15 years of executive and technical experience at organisations such as Tableau, Alteryx, Amazon, Oracle and NASA. She has a strong track record of scaling businesses, transforming product and marketing organisations, integrating acquisitions, and effectively delivering product strategy and vision. Ashley’s leadership experience includes building Tableau’s cloud product (Tableau Online), driving Alteryx’s transformation to a data science platform and leading Sisense’s highly customisable, AI-driven analytics cloud platform. Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Sisense goes beyond traditional business intelligence by providing organisations with the ability to infuse analytics everywhere, embedded in both customer and employee applications and workflows. Sisense customers are breaking through the barriers of analytics adoption by going beyond the dashboard with Sisense Fusion – the highly customisable, AI-driven analytics cloud platform, that infuses intelligence at the right place and the right time, every time. More than 2,000 global companies rely on Sisense to innovate, disrupt markets and drive meaningful change in the world. Ranked as the No. 1 Business Intelligence company in terms of customer success, Sisense has also been named one of Forbes’ Cloud 100, The World’s Best Cloud Companies, five years in a row. Visit us at www.sisense.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.


text:
Producer prices fell from June to July, according to data from the Producer Price Index (PPI).
– The prices that Norwegian industry receives for their goods have been relatively stable over the past year, especially when compared to the exceptionally strong price growth we witnessed from mid-2021 to mid-2022, says head of division for price statistics at Statistics Norway Espen Kristiansen.
From June 2021 to July 2022, prices of manufactured goods in the PPI increased by over 35 percent.
– Since last summer, industrial prices have experienced some fluctuations, but they have been declining for three consecutive months since April this year, says Espen Kristiansen.
For the metal industry, the price growth picked up towards the end of 2020, as depicted in the figure below. It increased significantly throughout 2021, before reaching a peak in May 2022. From May 2022 to November 2022, prices experienced a notable decline, before stabilizing somewhat. Subsequently, they decreased by 3.4 percent from June to July this year.
In the figure, we can also observe that the prices of chemical products followed a similar trend to the metal prices in the same period, albeit with slightly more moderate changes. From June to July this year, the prices of chemical products decreased by 3.7 percent. There were also price declines in fish and petroleum products in the last month.
– Fish, metals, and chemical products are goods that are largely exported, and we can see that in recent months, it's the prices abroad that are causing the overall price development for the industry to decline, says head of division for price statistics at Statistics Norway Espen Kristiansen.
The Norwegian krone has strengthened against the euro over the past couple of months, and against the US dollar (USD) from June to July, which could have contributed to falling export prices. When the krone strengthens, Norwegian exporters receive fewer kroner for the goods they sell in foreign currency.
Declining price growth for food products
The prices of food products increased by 0.1 percent from June to July, thereby mitigating the decline in industrial prices last month.
Although food prices slightly rose in July, we have witnessed a significant decrease in the rates of change over the past few months when comparing to the same month last year. In the latter half of 2022 and the early months of this year, the twelve-month growth rate for prices in the food industry was around 20 percent. In recent months, the growth has decreased sharply, and in July, the price growth was at 8.1 percent compared to the same month last year.
The prices of meat and meat products increased by 1.2 percent, while the prices of fruits and vegetables rose by almost 5 percent from June to July. Norway has limited exports of both food types, and they are mostly goods sold in the domestic market.
On the other hand, as mentioned earlier, Norwegian seafood producers sell a significant portion of their products abroad. The producer prices of seafood decreased by over 3 percent, mitigating the price increase of food products in July.
A decrease in the price of natural gas.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) fell by 2.9 percent from June to July. It was the extraction of crude oil and natural gas that had the largest contribution to the fall, with the decrease in natural gas prices weighting in the heaviest. The price of crude oil experienced a slight increase. The price of gas has fallen by over 80 percent since the peak level in August last year. One must go back to June 2021 to find a lower level of the gas price.